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Happy Monday. Yesterday, the names for Chicago’s three piping plover chicks were revealed, and they’re instantly iconic. The chicks are now officially called Ferris, El and Bean. Enter the new week with these stories from WTTW News. |
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(WTTW News) |
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In the aftermath of the scandals triggered by the arrests of former Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward) and former House Speaker Michael Madigan, elected officials followed a well-worn playbook and raced to the nearest microphone to proclaim Chicago was actually, finally, really ready for reform this time.
But despite the sound and fury about the need for reform, no substantive reforms have been imposed, leaving good government advocates angry and frustrated. Chicago’s place in the national imagination as the most corrupt of corrupt American cities had been secured, once again.
The lack of urgency to respond to the revelations that both Burke and Madigan routinely sought to corruptly leverage their elected office for perks or cash — without anyone around them blowing the whistle or even voicing the mildest objection — represents a missed opportunity to pay down Chicago’s “deficit of legitimacy,” Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said.
“I’m not sure we have missed the window of opportunity completely, but we might have,” Witzburg told WTTW News. “Have we built better systems? I don’t think so.”
The evidence presented during the trials of Burke and Madigan should have been a “catalyst” for systemic reform, Witzburg said.
“We cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a different outcome,” Witzburg said. “The people in power are not entitled to the status quo.”
Not only has Mayor Brandon Johnson failed to seize the opportunity to strengthen Chicago’s ethics rules after Burke and Madigan were convicted, but he has actively worked to block changes designed to crack down on corruption, several city officials told WTTW News.
Johnson has also feuded with Witzburg, the city’s watchdog, and Ald. Matt Martin (47th Ward), his handpicked chair of the City Council’s Ethics and Government Oversight Committee.
What might be done?
Over objections from the mayor’s office, Martin will ask the Ethics Committee on Monday to advance a proposal designed to prevent the city’s top lawyer from intervening in ongoing probes that risk “embarrassment or political consequences” for city leaders.
If it wins the committee’s endorsement, a final vote by the full City Council could come as soon as Wednesday.
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(Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News) |
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Shootings and homicides across Chicago are each down more than 30% through the first half of 2025 compared to the same time last year after the city recorded its fewest homicides for any June in more than a decade.
According to data from the city and Chicago Police Department, total violent crime is down at least 22% thus far in 2025, while there have been 90 fewer homicides and more than 400 fewer shootings compared to last year.
Through the first half of 2025, the CPD recorded 188 homicides and 665 shootings, which mark declines of 32% and 39%, respectively. City data shows significant declines in other categories of violent crimes including carjackings (down 51%), robberies (down 32%), aggravated assaults (down 18%) and aggravated batteries (down 9%).
The number of sexual assaults recorded this year is up less than 1%, according to the data.
Chicago also closed out the first half of 2025 with its fewest homicides in any June since 2014, according to the CPD. With 34 homicides recorded last month, June 2025 saw half the number of homicides as June 2024 (68).
Aside from June 2014, no other single month of June in Chicago has had fewer than 40 homicides since at least 1970, according to CPD data. |
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Chipmunk specimens in the Field Museum’s collection were used to assess how mammals are adapting to urbanization. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News) |
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Over the past 100 years, the bodies of chipmunks in Chicago have gotten bigger, but their rows of teeth have gotten smaller.
A pair of research scientists at the Field Museum think they know why. It’s us.
The little rodents are eating people food — either because we’re feeding them or they’re scavenging our leftovers.
“We hypothesize they are eating more soft food, and that is requiring less bite force, and that is reflected in the tooth row length and robustness,” said Anderson Feijó, assistant curator of mammals at the Field.
Feijo and his colleague Stephanie Smith are co-authors of a newly published study in the journal Integrative and Comparative Biology, where they shared their findings on the ways wildlife — specifically chipmunks and voles — have adapted to increased urbanization in Chicago.
Drawing on the Field's vast mammal collection, Feijo and Smith were able to analyze hundreds of specimens of chipmunks and voles gathered in Chicago as far back as the late 1890s up to present day. They paid particular attention to the animals' skulls, taking meticulous measurements and creating 3-D scans.
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Back in the Day: July 14, 1874 - The Chicago Fire of 1874
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With the Daily Chicagoan’s Back in the Day series, we prefer to highlight the lesser-known episodes of Chicago history. While you likely know about the Great Chicago Fire, which occurred in 1871, burned over 17,500 buildings and destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles of the city, did you know that another destructive fire took place just three years later? On this date in 1874, a fire started less than a mile from the site of the original Great Chicago Fire, near the northeast corner of Clark and 12th Street (which is now called Roosevelt). Over eight hours, it destroyed 47 acres, burning more than 800 buildings and killing 20 people. The inferno affected neighborhoods that were predominantly Jewish immigrant and African-American. As the Triibe points out, 85% of Black-owned property in the city burned. Known as Chicago's forgotten fire of 1874, it displaced the majority of Black families living in the downtown area. Most of these families then moved to less populated communities on the South Side. These new communities would eventually form what would become Chicago's "Black Belt."
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This Week’s Civic Events and Meetings |
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Every Monday, WTTW News highlights the best ways to get involved with local government
City Council’s Committee on Finance
On Monday at 10 a.m., the City Council’s Committee on Finance will weigh whether to approve five separate lawsuit settlements alleging police misconduct and wrongful conviction. The agenda and more details can be found here.
City Council
A regular meeting of the Chicago City Council will happen on Wednesday at 10 a.m.
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What's the best place to get Italian ice in the Chicago area? Tell us where and why. |
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published. |
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5:30 PM | 10:00 PM |
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Want more WTTW News content? Follow WTTW on Instagram to check in with us daily, go behind-the-scenes, and more. |
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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry |
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