Good morning, Chicago.
Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon unveiled a new “smart” ballot drop box yesterday, stating she intends to use it for the March 2026 primary election and see if it can be implemented on a larger scale for future elections.
The $15,000 tamper-proof drop box features a surveillance camera to record who drops off ballots, an electronic screen to confirm successful deposits and a scanner to record the outside envelopes of the ballots. Clerk officials described it as the first of its kind nationally.
“Some people … may think, ‘Oh, it’s my vote. I’m dropping this off. Is my vote really being counted? Is it being tallied? So this provides them some assurance in a secure way,” Gordon said.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Sophie Levenson and A.D. Quig.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including the latest on the deadly Texas floods, why Chicago’s mayor is pushing a “granny flat” ordinance forward and what a hunt for home movies found.
Today’s eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History
Searchers in helicopters and on horseback scour Texas flood debris for the missing
As the search in Texas continued today for more than 160 people believed to be missing days after a destructive wall of water killed over 100 people, the full extent of the catastrophe had yet to be revealed as officials warned that unaccounted victims could still be found amid the massive piles of debris that stretch for miles.
Wisconsin Supreme Court clears the way for a conversion therapy ban to be made permanent
The Wisconsin Supreme Court cleared the way yesterday for the state to permanently enact a ban on conversion therapy in a ruling that gives the governor more power over how state laws are enacted.
Stubborn feud between gangs surfaces again in River North mass shooting
It was a jarring act of violence that again put Chicago in an unwanted spotlight and left River North on edge. A drive-by shooting into a crowd of people waiting outside a lounge on Chicago Avenue left four dead and 14 others injured, making it one of the worst such attacks in the city’s recent memory.
The party that was attacked was organized to celebrate an album release by Chicago drill rapper Mello Buckzz, a rising artist who on social media claims an affiliation with “NLMB,” a gang faction based in the South Shore and Greater Grand Crossing neighborhoods that, sources say, is linked to a host of deadly shootings in recent years.
Mayor Brandon Johnson pushes ‘granny flat’ ordinance forward
Mayor Brandon Johnson is charging ahead with an effort to make the construction of “granny flats” legal and straightforward in all Chicago neighborhoods.
Johnson said he plans to revive his bid to clear the way for garden apartments, attic-to-housing conversions and coach houses. In doing so, he also revives a daunting political fight.
Northwestern Memorial Hospital hopes to build new tower, with more than 200 beds, on Streeterville campus
The new tower would include 208 to 278 beds for medical/surgical use and 18 to 36 intensive care unit beds, according to an application filed with the state. It would also consolidate oncology services now spread across five buildings on the hospital campus, and include imaging and infusion services and operating rooms.
Newly-elected Seventh-day Adventist Church leader reflects on challenges and faith’s healthy living
Erton Köhler, a Brazil-born pastor known for his innovative approach to evangelism, is the newly elected president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church General Conference — and the first to hail from South America.
Köhler will serve as the spiritual and administrative leader for the global movement, which claims 23 million members in more than 200 countries. He was voted into the position during a recent gathering of the General Conference, the denomination’s top governing body, in St. Louis.
Chicago Bulls are embracing ‘Lachie’ Olbrich, their 2nd-round pick
Second-round draft pick Lachlan Olbrich has been getting acquainted with Chicago before the Bulls summer league team heads to Las Vegas for Friday’s opener against the Toronto Raptors.
“I love it,” he said. “The weather’s beautiful and being out by the lake has been pretty cool. Italian beef is cool (but) I can’t eat it too much; otherwise, I’ll bulk up.”
Prospects Noah Schultz and Braden Montgomery prepare to represent the Chicago White Sox in the MLB Futures Game
Pitcher Noah Schultz and outfielder Braden Montgomery will represent the Chicago White Sox at the event that brings together some of baseball’s top prospects.
‘Reptiles Alive!’ is now open at the Field Museum, changing the way you look at snakes, lizards and even birds
What is a reptile? If you think you know, think again.
“Reptiles Alive!,” a new exhibition at the Field Museum, argues even birds are technically a type of reptile. (You can dive deeper into the evolutionary link between them upstairs, where a different display analyzes the Chicago Archaeopteryx, one of the most well-preserved specimens of the first known flying dinosaur.)
Column: Where are the shows about regular people fighting back?
In the sardonic heist novel “The Payback,” out this month, three millennial retail workers — including a former computer hacker — are in dire straits thanks to their enormous student loans and a newly established law enforcement agency called the Debt Police, who operate like loan shark henchmen.
Tribune TV and film critic Nina Metz spoke with author Kashana Cauley about the origins of “The Payback” and the conspicuous absence of stories like these — of regular people banding together against the odds — in present-day TV and film.
Column: 20 years ago, UChicago’s Jacqueline Stewart went hunting for home movies. She found pure Chicago history.
Twenty years ago, Jacqueline Stewart and some UChicago colleagues launched the South Side Home Movie Project, a sublimely analog treasure hunt. Stewart was looking for South Side residents’ old home movie footage, shot on 8 millimeter, Super 8 and 16 millimeter film. Family gatherings. A game of tennis. A Bud Billiken Parade from the 1940s, or the 1950s.
Stewart and company now have more than 1,200 reels of everyday treasure in the archive, thanks to 50 or so South Side families. In return, these residents of Hyde Park, South Shore, Bridgeport, Chatham and other neighborhoods get their memories digitized, and their original, often imperiled analog film reels preserved and stored at the right, chilly temperature in an archive at the Logan Center for the Arts writes Tribune film critic Michael Phillips.