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Whether you spent your weekend drinking green beer or relaxing at home, start the week with these stories from WTTW News. |
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An accessible pedestrian signal, or APS, at the intersection of Lincoln and Catalpa avenues on March 13, 2025. (Nick Blumberg / WTTW News) |
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A federal judge has ordered the city of Chicago to make about 71% of its 2,713 signalized intersections with pedestrian crossings accessible to people who are blind or have low vision within 10 years – with the remainder made accessible within a further five years.
The order comes after a 2023 ruling in federal court that Chicago’s long-running failure to protect blind pedestrians violated the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, following on the heels of a similar ruling in New York City. Judge Elaine Bucklo’s opinion chided the city for years of scattershot, unfulfilled promises to install accessible pedestrian signals, known as APS. Those use audio cues to help people with visual disabilities know when it’s safe to cross.
Here's the backstory:
That’ll be a drastic shift from the city’s current pace of upgrades, according to information provided to WTTW News. While Chicago made more crosswalks accessible to blind and low-vision pedestrians in 2024 than in previous years, those accessible intersections still make up a vanishingly small portion of the city’s signalized crossings.
Last year, the city added 36 accessible pedestrian signals, known as APS, which use audio cues to help people with visual disabilities know when it’s safe to cross, the Chicago Department of Transportation told WTTW News. That brings the total number of accessible signals to just 85 out of the 2,713 signalized intersections with pedestrian crossings that the city maintains.
That outpaces the nine signals the city installed in 2022 and 12 added in 2023, which fell far short of the city’s own goal to install 150 APS across those two years. In early 2024, CDOT told WTTW News it had 135 APS “in various stages of construction, design, or procurement,” far more than the 36 it added. APS use audio cues to help people who are blind or have other vision disabilities know when it’s safe to cross.
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A graphic that says "Chicago's Famous Foods." (WTTW News) |
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Chicago is home to a plateful of iconic foods. There’s Italian beef sandwiches, gyros, and brownies but more than anything else, Chicago is known for its hot dogs and its pizza.
Hot dogs:
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Chicago was butcher to the world. The Stockyards were humming along as were Frankfurt-loving German immigrants in need of cheap eats. Enter the Chicago-style hot dog. Chicago’s seven standard toppings come from around the world and represent our immigrant roots.
The poppy seed bun is here via Poland. The hot dog itself, the pickle spear and mustard have Jewish and German roots. Diced white onions and sliced tomatoes? That’s Italy and maybe Greece. The relish hails from England, although the unnatural neon color is all ours. Sport peppers rep the deep south and/or Mexico. And, as one of the country’s biggest celery producers at the time, Chicago’s Lakeview community contributed the sprinkling of celery salt.
Pizza:
Chicago is famous for its deep-dish pies — inches of pan-baked crust and oozing cheese covered in tangy tomato sauce and toppings — a creation largely credited to what is now Chicago’s Pizzeria Uno in 1943.
But locals know the real deal is thin crust. Also known as “tavern style” because it originated as a go-to treat in Chicago bars following prohibition. Taverns encouraged customers to stay awhile and drink more beer by offering snack-sized squares of cracker-thin pizza, often for free. |
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Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke (Heather Cherone/ WTTW News) |
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New State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke this week marked her first 100 days in office since being sworn in as Cook County’s top prosecutor following her election victory last fall. The former appellate judge who replaced Kim Foxx immediately enacted a series of policy changes last December, tasking prosecutors with seeking to detain all those charged with felony offenses involving a modified firearm — such as “ghost” guns or those that include an extended or drum magazine or an automatic switch.
Since then, O’Neill Burke’s office has requested pre-trial detention in 202 felony firearm cases involving those modified weapons, and in those cases, judges have granted those requests 115 times. Through her first 100 days, O’Neill Burke’s office has a detention rate of 51% in felony and misdemeanor domestic violence cases (1,128 total cases), 85% in felony crimes on CTA train and bus lines (42 cases) and 100$ in domestic violence murder and attempted murder cases (12 cases), according to data released by the state’s attorney’s office Friday. The state’s attorney’s office has also approved 857 felony retail theft charges in 773 separate cases through O’Neill Burke’s first 100 days. |
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Back in the Day: March 17, 1843 - Chicago Holds Its First St. Patrick’s Day Parade |
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On this day 182 years ago, Chicago was six years old and had less than 10,000 residents but it still had enough Irish-Americans to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. March 17, 1834, marked the first St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago. Though the new city’s Irish population was around 775, they marched down Clark street and as a Chicago Tribune feature notes, “with “Smiling John” Davlin as grand marshal and Capt. Patrick Kelly leading an Irish military unit known as the Montgomery Guards.” It continues, “At Madison Street they turned east to Michigan Avenue. There they entered St. Mary’s Catholic Church for mass.” The Loop tradition continued until 1896 and was revived in 1956 by Irish-American Mayor Richard J. Daley after his election in 1955. |
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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 your community and local government.
Local School Council Advisory Board
The LSCAB advises Chicago's School Board on "issues related to Local School Council elections, operations, powers and duties, and school improvement plans." They meet on the third Monday of every month and it's open to the public. That's tonight at 6 p.m. at 2651 West Washington. Here's the agenda.
Chicago City Council's Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight
On Tuesday at 10 a.m. this Committee will host public comment at the beginning of the meeting. Agenda here. |
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What's your favorite fun fact or piece of trivia about Chicago? |
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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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