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Ahead of a short holiday week, Chicago’s City Council on Saturday finally passed a budget. The question now is whether the mayor will veto it. Here’s what else we have… |
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Catherine Hu, conservation ecologist at the Field Museum, gathers milkweed seed in the Rice Native Garden. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News) |
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The Field Museum’s largest exhibit isn’t its grand dinosaur hall. It’s the Rice Native Garden: 100,000 square feet of plantings that wrap around the museum’s exterior. Installed in 2016-17, the garden replaced swaths of lawn and impermeable pavement with a more sustainable living exhibit.
“It’s a really beautiful demonstration of what native landscaping and habitat can look like in an urban area,” said Catherine Hu, a conservation ecologist in the Field’s Keller Science Action Center.
“We have gotten a lot of feedback from people pointing to us as an example, when they’re trying to start their own native gardens in their community, saying, ‘Look, the Field Museum can do it, we can do it too,’” Hu continued. “So I think it has been a really important inspiration for others.”
And the Field gives away pieces of this display to the public, for free.
Every fall, Field staff brings groups of volunteers into the Rice garden to harvest ripened seed, collecting roughly one-third to donate and leaving the remainder for wildlife and for the plants to reproduce.
The work is labor intensive and often prickly as seed heads are separated from stalks by hand. Hu has learned over the years to bring pruners for plants like the spiky rattlesnake master.
Once the seeds have dried and been processed — sifted through screens to remove excess plant material — they’re packaged and labeled for sharing with the Field’s partners including Chicago Public Library branches, community gardens and school gardens.
More context:
This year, the team assembled more than 700 envelopes of seeds, each containing kernels of a single species, to be distributed in January. Some partners will divide these envelopes into even smaller packets, and still they run out, Hu said.
“It’s great to hear it’s super popular,” she said. “It is a really impactful program because it is hard to source native seed — it’s expensive and a lot of people rely on us as a source.” |
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Sponsor Message |
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Winter WonderFest is back December 5-January 4 at Navy Pier! Explore the ultimate indoor holiday experience with thrilling rides, giant slides, dazzling décor, and ice skating that the whole family can enjoy. Plus, every ticket includes a ride on the iconic Centennial Wheel for unforgettable views of the Pier's holiday light displays. Whether you’re planning a family outing, hosting visitors, or creating new holiday memories, WinterWonderFest has something for everyone. Don’t miss the magic. Get your tickets today at navypier.org! |
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Argonne National Laboratory is pictured in a file image. (Credit: Argonne National Laboratory) |
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Grades for the contractors operating the two national laboratories near Chicago saw an uptick in key areas, suggesting improved management at the area’s anchors of scientific innovation over the past fiscal year, according to the latest evaluations released Thursday.
The marks for Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont all met the standard for performance goals set by the Department of Energy Office of Science, which leads the appraisal process. Grades for the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia improved in some key areas, though the lab received a B for five of eight goals.
A grade of B+ is defined as meeting expectations.
Some backstory:
Each year, the Office of Science evaluates the scientific, technological, managerial and operational performance of the private contractors that run its 10 national laboratories. The results determine annual performance fees and whether a contractor can earn additional years on its agreement through an award term extension.
The appraisals also inform DOE decisions on whether to extend or reopen a lab’s management-and-operations contract to competitive proposals when it expires.
Fermi Forward Discovery Group manages Fermilab, which named a new director Monday. UChicago Argonne operates Argonne. Both contractor organizations involve the University of Chicago.
FermiForward replaced the Fermi Research Alliance in January.
The current appraisal framework, in place since 2006, was designed to make evaluations more transparent, heighten leadership involvement, standardize how labs are graded and tie performance more directly to fees, contract length and public release of grades.
The Office of Science uses a common structure and scoring system across its labs, organized around eight performance goals, including mission accomplishment, design and operation of research facilities, and leadership and stewardship.
The Fermilab report card from 2024 had three goals that were rated a C or C+. No grade was below a B in any area for 2025.
While some scores for local national labs improved, others faltered. The contractor leadership grade for Argonne fell from an A- to a B+ in the 2025 fiscal year. Argonne also was awarded a B+ for environment, safety and health, a small improvement from 2024. |
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A CTA train is pictured in a file photo. (AlbertPego / iStock) |
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Federal transit authorities have rejected the CTA’s revised safety plan, calling it “materially deficient” as the Trump administration reiterated its threat to withhold potentially millions in federal funding after reports of “high crime rates” on Chicago’s bus and train lines.
The Federal Transit Administration on Friday said it determined the CTA failed to comply with a special directive issued earlier this month that required the agency to implement “immediate, measurable corrective actions” aimed at reducing violent crime and addressing “unsafe conditions.”
“I’ll say it plainly: CTA, city, and state leaders are failing transit riders and operators,” Federal Transit Administrator Marc Molinaro said in a statement. “This ‘plan’ fails to measurably reduce incidents of assaults and improve overall safety on buses and trains. If people’s safety is at risk, so are federal funds. CTA must act to save lives and improve safety.”
According to Molinaro, if the CTA fails to submit an acceptable plan within 90 days, the feds plan to withhold as much as $50 million in funding from the transit agency.
Molinaro issued the special directive in letters to Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker on Dec. 8.
Those letters repeatedly cited the high-profile attack on 26-year-old Bethany MaGee, who was doused with gasoline at random and lit on fire as she rode a CTA Blue Line train last month. She survived and continues recovering from her critical injuries. |
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Immigrants living in Illinois, among the states hit hardest by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, are now shielded from federal enforcement near courthouses, hospitals, university campuses and day cares under a law Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker signed last week.
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Back in the Day: Dec. 22, 2010 - Blaze at Abandoned Laundromat Kills 2 Firefighters, Injures 17 |
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On this day 15 years ago, a three-alarm fire enveloped an abandoned commercial building in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago. While the business used to be a laundromat and had been empty for years, firefighters Edward Stringer and Corey Ankum were worried that homeless people may have escaped the city’s cold weather in the building and were trapped. As they scouted the vacant structure, its wall and roof collapsed, killing them both. Seventeen others were hurt in the deadly fire and collapse, which came 100 years to the date of CFD’s most tragic event in the Union Stock Yards fire of 1910 that claimed the lives of 21 firemen. “Our first responders put their lives on the line every day,” said an emotional Mayor Richard M. Daley. “We must remember that their sacrifice is selflessly given in the spirit of saving the lives of the citizens of the city of Chicago. Each and every time we lose a member of the police and fire department, we lose part of Chicago’s history.” |
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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.
Greater Chicago Food Depository
This holiday season, why not volunteer or donate to a local food pantry? The Greater Chicago Food Depository has a variety of openings and needs that you can peruse here.
PAWS Chicago
Love animals? The city’s foremost no-kill shelter is always on the lookout for passionate volunteers. Learn more here.
Cradles to Crayons
Cradles to Crayons specializes in getting essentials and toys to kids in need. They’re always looking for volunteers. Read about how you can help here. |
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What's your favorite thing about the holidays in Chicago? |
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published. |
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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry |
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