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It’s a new week and a new month. Kick off August with these Monday stories from WTTW News.
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Shedd Aquarium's new beluga whales are adjusting behind the scenes and recently met a couple members of Shedd's existing beluga pod. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
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Barely a week after four beluga whales were transferred from Marineland, a defunct Canadian water park, to Shedd Aquarium, the newcomers have already made an impression on their caretakers.
"Sierra is a very independent woman, and she’s spunky. We have Acadia who, she’s 2400 pounds, the largest beluga that we brought here to Shedd, and she loves to eat," said Charlie Jacobsma, director of animal behavior and training at Shedd.
“And then we also have Lilouette and we have Osiris, and both of those are very, very calm and gentle ladies who just go along with the flow,” Jacobsma added.
The quartet, which had formed a tight-knit social bond in Canada, have been adjusting to their new digs behind the scenes and have been monitored round-the-clock by Shedd staff — yes, that includes an overnight shift.
Some backstory:
Prior to the relocation, a team from Shedd had paid multiple visits to Marineland, a longtime tourist attraction in Niagara Falls, Ontario, that closed to the public in 2024. They interviewed the belugas' caretakers, pored over diagnostics and records, and observed the whales in their home environment to gain an understanding of the animals' individual personalities and needs.
Since the foursome's arrival in Chicago, staff have been matching the whales' behavior against that established baseline. Dr. Karisa Tang, lead veterinarian and vice president of animal health at Shedd, was among the group that accompanied the whales from Canada to Chicago.
Two dozen belugas still remain at Marineland, out of an original 30 in need of new homes. Shedd is one of six institutions involved in the rescue operation, at the request of Canadian authorities and facilities, and has committed to taking in as many as 10 of Marineland’s belugas, so six more whales could ultimately join the aquarium's pod, which now numbers 12 including the latest arrivals.
As for releasing the belugas into the wild, Tang said it wasn't an option.
“It has not happened successfully,” she said. “These animals have been living a certain life for the past decades. Understanding what they would even need to make that happen is gargantuan.”
Shedd's belugas have their own unique role to play in the conservation of the species, from caretakers collecting data on the whales' health and behaviors to the interest in marine life they generate among visitors.
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(Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
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Cook County judges often ordered accused people to be detained while awaiting trial despite, by the court’s own assessments, being at low risk of rearrest or missing court.
That’s the assertion made in a recent report from the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice. The group sent more than 50 volunteers to the Leighton Criminal Courthouse to observe 167 detention hearings last spring.
Their goal was to evaluate the court’s landscape two years after the Pretrial Fairness Act went into effect. The act made Illinois the first state to abolish cash bail. Previously, whether or not an accused person was detained pretrial was determined by their ability to pay the set bail amount.
Now, a prosecutor will file a petition to the judge asking for a defendant to be detained. Judges will generally detain someone if they’re determined to be a flight risk or pose danger to the community. Judges also take into account the accused’s Public Safety Assessment score, which is used to calculate someone’s likelihood of not appearing in court or being rearrested or charged with a new violent offense pretrial.
Court-watchers observed that of the 30.5% of people with low scores on that assessment, 80.4% of them were either jailed or placed on electronic monitoring.
More context:
“The purpose of the act was to get away from those very general practices and really add some depth to the decision-making, and that hasn’t happened,” Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell Jr. said during a discussion about the report on Thursday.
In 73.8% of the cases observed by court-watchers, judges ordered the accused person to be detained pretrial.
A spokesperson for Cook County Chief Judge Charles Beach’s office said it was “misleading” to focus on that percentage as evidence of whether or not the law is being applied consistently because “there is no mandated number or quota for detentions or release.”
“Rather than showing a failure of the law, the current trends reflect a system where judges and prosecutors are actively exercising the discretion granted to them to address specific public safety risks,” continued the statement.
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Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias answers questions from reporters after he announced his bid for Chicago mayor on Aug. 2, 2026. (Heather Cherone / WTTW News)
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Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias launched a bid for Chicago mayor Sunday, joining the already large field of candidates eager to deny Mayor Brandon Johnson the second term he has yet to announce he will seek.
Giannoulias, 50, who is running for a second term as secretary of state in November, will simultaneously enter the contest to be Chicago’s 58th mayor.
In a video posted early Sunday morning, Giannoulias said he was running for mayor because Chicagoans “need to demand better from City Hall.”
Giannoulias formally launched his campaign at the Bronzeville headquarters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 134, signaling he had the enthusiastic support of the city’s trade unions, none of which supported Johnson during the last mayoral election.
In his speech, Giannoulias promised to bring a new kind of leadership to City Hall, vowing repeatedly not to “divide Chicagoans.”
His platform:
Giannoulias’ video and speech were light on specific policy proposals, although he promised to implement universal pre kindergarten, raise the minimum wage and expand affordable housing.
Giannoulias said he would “demand a fairer tax system that protects working families, not billionaires.”
Chicago should hire 1,000 more police officers, Giannoulias said.
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More From WTTW News:
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Via WTTW Playlist: Martin Sorge, a Chicagoan and “Great American Baking Show” winner, shares a recipe for Chicago Dog Focaccia from his new cookbook, “Great Bakes: Modern Classic Recipes from the Midwest.”
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Back in the Day: August 3, 1976 - Cubs Play a Full 92-Minute Game at Wrigley
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In 2023, Major League Baseball introduced a 20-second pitch clock to speed up gameplay. While games have gotten shorter, they’re still averaging around 2:38 over nine innings in the 2026 season, down from a peak of 3:10 in 2021. Though there was no pitch clock 50 years ago, somehow the Cubs managed to squeeze in a full game against the Philadelphia Phillies in just 92 minutes. They won 4-0. Sure, the league average at the time for a full game was 2:29, but that’s still an hour below the norm. What’s also odd is that this game was the first of a doubleheader and the second match came in at a still short 2:19.
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The 2026 Summer Festival Guide
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Every Monday, WTTW News highlights the best ways to get involved with local government.
Donate to the Red Cross
Last week, for only the second time in its history, the American Red Cross declared a national blood supply crisis. The organization cited a four-year summer low in blood donations, combined with rising demand during the summer trauma season, for causing the crisis. For ways to help out, especially if you carry type O positive blood, check out the Red Cross website.
Welcome to the Show
Chicagoan Derek Bish hosts the city’s “only live, traveling talk show” where he interviews local luminaries in music, politics, sports, journalism, comedy and the arts. The next edition is 2 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 9, at the Harold Washington Library Center. Guests include Folding Map Project creator/organizer Tonika Lewis Johnson, urban explorer Joabe Barbosa, composer Charles Joseph Smith and more. It’s free, but first come and first served. For more information, click here.
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What’s your favorite bookstore in Chicago? Tell us why.
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