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Wednesday marked the 90 year anniversary of Chicago’s hottest “official” temperature on record: July 24, 1934 the mercury reached 105 degrees. Note: one day earlier at Midway Airport (not official at the time) logged a high temperature of 109 degrees. July, 1934 heat wave (University of Chicago was the official weather observation site) lows/highs July 21-25:

CHICAGO — Police are investigating five robberies, some of which turned violent, that were reported early Tuesday morning in the Loop, Lincoln Park, and Lakeview. There are indications that the same people may have committed some of the crimes. In one incident, a 22-year-old woman was pepper sprayed and robbed near the Lincoln Park Zoo around 12:15 a.m. She was near the intersection of Fullerton and Cannon Drive when a man sprayed her and took her phone, according to initial information. EMS took her to St. Joseph Hospital for treatment. The other four robberies, all similar in nature, occurred within...

CHICAGO — When Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced in March that it was filing a “first-of-its-kind lawsuit” against firearm manufacturer Glock, the city drummed up publicity with a press release and widespread media coverage. There was no press release and no media coverage on Monday when the city’s attorneys unceremoniously dropped the case in a two-sentence federal court filing. The city’s lawsuit sought to hold Glock responsible because some of its handguns can be equipped with cheap, illegal after-market devices that allow the weapons to generate automatic gunfire, similar to a machine gun. ...

With President Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race and passing the baton to Vice President Kamala Harris, donors and delegates from Illinois said Monday that the mood of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month vaults from trepidation to elation. “The mood will be dramatically different,” said John Cullerton, the former state Senate president who, as a member of the Democratic National Committee from Illinois, is a delegate. With Biden staying in the contest, the convention “would have been depressing. There would have been a pessimism that Biden was not going to win. But now there is...

Residents of the 33rd Ward, social justice groups and local officials demanded an outside investigation into Chicago police officers with ties to the Oath Keepers extremist group two months after CPD officials chose not to discipline them after what the groups called an “inadequate” investigation. At a news conference outside Horner Park fieldhouse Saturday afternoon, local residents and members of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression called on the city’s inspector general to investigate the officers named in the probe— including Officer Alberto Retamozo, who is assigned to the 17th District, which covers parts of Albany Park and...

Democrat National Convention delegates are openly discussing what would happen at the August convention if Biden either refuses to step aside or drops out of the race — pointing to a “good-conscience loophole” that lets them vote for a new candidate of their choosing. DNC delegate Elaine Kamarck briefed other delegates .. that the apparent “loophole” allows for such a rebellion by letting convention-goers bolt if they no longer have a “good conscience” about their pledged choice determined by primaries and caucuses. ... DNC’s rules state: “Delegates elected to the national convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all...

CHICAGO — From 1972 to 1978, ‘The Bob Newhart Show,’ featuring Bob and Emily Hartley, put Chicago in the spotlight. Featured in the open was the Edgewater-area condominium at Sheridan and Thorndale, where the couple lived. “Every week, the opening credit sequence showed Bob walking up to this building and I think it would have to qualify as one of the most overexposed buildings in Chicago,” said John Holden, president of the Edgewater Historical Society.

I’m a major donor to the Democratic Party. Only one strategy can rescue the Dems: an open convention. Being a large donor to the Democratic Party is like having elective surgery. You know it’s the right thing to do, but you also know it will be painful. You are often going to be thrown under the bus by the very candidates you support. I would know. I maxed out my giving in the last four presidential elections to the Democratic candidate: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Biden again, this cycle. Perhaps that makes me sound partisan, but I...

CHICAGO — A 14-year-old boy has been charged with 14 felonies in connection with a violent crime spree on Sunday, as well as an attempted hijacking in June. The boy was part of a group that carjacked and robbed four people in the 1900 block of West Irving Park around 5:40 a.m. Sunday, according to CPD. As CWBChicago reported that morning, a carjacker driving a white car pulled in front of the victim’s Mazda CX3 to block their path, and two gunmen got out, took the victims’ valuables, and then drove away with the Mazda. CPD said the victims were...

Iconic actor Bob Newhart has died aged 94. The comedy legend passed away at his LA home on Thursday after a series of short illnesses, his longtime publicist, Jerry Digney, announced to THR. Newhart began his career as a stand-up comedian before launching a hugely successful acting career. His accolades include three Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award. He famously starred as Papa Elf in 2003 Will Ferrell comedy, Elf and played Susan Mayer's stepfather Morty Flicker in Desperate Housewives in 2005.

A former accountant, he became an overnight sensation with the release of a 1960 live comedy album, then starred in a pair of fabled CBS sitcoms.Bob Newhart, the beloved stand-up performer whose droll, deadpan humor showcased on two critically acclaimed CBS sitcoms vaulted him into the ranks of history’s greatest comedians, died Thursday morning. He was 94. The Chicago legend, who won Grammy Awards for album of the year and best new artist for his 1960 breakthrough record, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart, died at his Los Angeles home after a series of short illnesses, his longtime publicist,...

With the Democratic National Convention about a month away, the chief judge of Chicago’s federal court has called for greater clarity in the Chicago Police Department’s policy dictating when officers may deactivate their body-worn cameras. But the order issued this month by Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer gives the city and CPD until Aug. 30 — more than a week after the conclusion of the DNC — to provide a new draft of the policy to the Illinois attorney general’s office and the independent monitoring team that assesses consent-decree compliance. Since the consent decree was entered in early 2019, the independent...

(The Center Square) – Taxpayers in the city of Chicago now owe more than $37 billion in unpaid pension costs after debts soared by at least $1.8 billion over the last 12 months. Data outlined in the city’s annual comprehensive financial report further highlights that the city’s four employee pension funds representing police officers, firefighters, municipal employees and laborers jumped by 5% in 2023. While Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson recently boasted of the city now being on the right track in terms of getting the city’s pension system in order, state Sen. Craig Wilcox, R-McHenry, sees things entirely different. “Unfortunately,...

Dear readers, The Chicago Sun-Times newspaper wasn’t printed or delivered Tuesday due to unexpected issues with the printing presses at our vendor, Chicago Tribune Company, which also prints the Tribune, the Daily Herald, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and other papers. This means our home delivery subscribers didn’t receive the newspaper and it was also unavailable at any newsstands. We’re disappointed that this happened, and I want to apologize to you, our readers. Whether you get the newspaper delivered or pick it up on the newsstands, we know you count on getting the newspaper every morning —...

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is putting unhoused people back on the streets to make room for relocated tent encampment occupants who are being moved before the Democratic National Convention next month. More than half a dozen people told the Sun-Times that they were thrown out or fear they are about to be ejected from a shelter in a former hotel off the Magnificent Mile — as city officials begin to clear a highly visible tent city abutting the Dan Ryan Expressway. A domestic violence survivor, a recovering alcoholic and others with anxiety or chronic medical conditions were among those kicked...

Mayor Brandon Johnson plans to remove the statue of former President George Washington from the hallway outside the mayor’s office on the fifth floor of City Hall in a move that, a top aide said Tuesday, has nothing to do with the first president’s role as a slave owner. Ronnie Reese, Johnson’s communications director, said the statue “is being removed from the hallway outside the mayor’s office as we make updates to some areas around City Hall.” Reese said there is no timetable yet for the removal. He wouldn’t say if it would be moved to a new home or...

A​ long-lived thunderstorm complex called a derecho raced across the Midwest Monday night, producing widespread damaging winds from Iowa to Illinois, including Chicago, Indiana and southwest Michigan. I​n Indiana, a 44-year-old woman was reportedly killed when a tree fell on her Cedar Lake home, according to ABC 7 Chicago. W​hile travelers inside Chicago's O'Hare International Airport were told to shelter in place during a tornado warning, dozens of planes sat on the taxiway with passengers inside.

In sunny Chicago, Illinois, on the weekend of Independence Day, 2024, we are told that 109 people were shot, 19 of them fatally. This of course doesn’t include the always-unknown numbers of people who were shot at but missed, and those who were shot but chose not to seek medical care, and those who were stabbed, slugged, or clubbed, because the gun is the only weapon in which most modern journalists are interested. Statistics of any kind are rarely truly comprehensive. But still, “109 shot, 19 fatally” is in itself a scary enough number for a four-day weekend in a...

The Evanston, Illinois, city council on Monday expanded eligibility of its guaranteed basic income program that it previously touted as a model that other municipalities should follow. Evanston's city council voted 5-4 to increase the age restriction for children in the program. Per The Chicago Tribune, the vote stemmed from prior concern that the program was not reaching enough residents within Evanston’s tract 8092. (According to the federal government, "census tracts are small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county.") The program did not have as many applicants as expected, with only 60 households participating with 90 spots left. Before...

CHICAGO — Two pizzeria employees were tied up during an after-hours armed robbery in the Loop overnight. An employee at Lou Malnati’s, 805 South State, called 911 after freeing themselves around 1:45 a.m. Without identifying the business by name, Chicago police said a man and woman confronted a male employee as he exited a back door near a garbage area. The male robber grabbed the employee, put a knife to his throat, and forced him back into the restaurant, police said.