Daywatch: How clean are the Chicago and Calumet rivers?

Chicago Tribune

23-05-2025

Good morning, Chicago.
Before an outing on the Chicago River, coaches from a year-round local rowing team of breast cancer survivors check forecasts for storms and lightning, strong winds or air pollutants to decide whether it's safe to head out. During the summer months, they also get in the habit of checking for bacteria levels from human poop in the water.
It might seem gross to think about, but for the group, it's necessary because some of its members have compromised immune systems due to their illness or treatment. In the last year, more often than not, test results reassured them that contact with the river wouldn't pose a health risk.
Between Memorial Day and Labor Day in 2024, microbial water quality readings in the Chicago and Calumet rivers showed that conditions remained good or low-caution for recreational users on 78 of 101 summer days, according to a report released today by local water innovation hub Current.
Current has been collecting real-time microbial water quality data in the city's rivers every summer since 2021 as part of its H2NOW program, the first of its kind in a U.S. urban waterway.
Read the full story from the Tribune's Adriana Pérez.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including the latest on the Chicago man charged in the fatal DC shooting, what care the massive House bill puts at risk for Illinois residents and what records were found in the Cook County clerk's office relating to Pope Leo XIV.
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A Chicago man who railed on social media against the ongoing bombing of Gaza fatally shot two members of the Israeli Embassy near the Jewish museum in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday before allegedly admitting to a police officer he 'did it for Palestine,' according to federal charges unsealed yesterday afternoon.
According to the complaint, Elias Rodriguez boarded a flight for Washington at O'Hare International Airport on Tuesday. Shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday, Rodriguez shot two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington as the victims were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum, the complaint stated.
In addition to cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid, a massive bill passed by the House yesterday would also prohibit the health insurance program from covering gender-affirming care — a provision that's at odds with Illinois' current practice.
The provision is a result of a last-minute change to the bill before its passage out of the Republican-controlled House yesterday.
Between a barrage of executive orders, foreign trips and norm-shattering proclamations, Donald Trump has also been busy raking in cash.
The president has amassed a war chest of at least $600 million in political donations heading into the midterm elections, according to three people familiar with the matter. It's an unprecedented sum in modern politics, particularly for a lame-duck president who is barred by the U.S. Constitution from running again.
Illinois lawmakers advanced a measure that would eliminate mandatory road testing for drivers under 87 and allow people to report close relatives they believe are no longer capable of driving safely.
A new Chicago Teachers Union report criticizes the lack of oversight of the district's over 100 charter schools.
Charter schools make up about a sixth of all schools in the district and receive public funding from Chicago Public Schools based on student enrollment, similar to district-run schools. Though charters are authorized and overseen by CPS, they operate as separate and private nonprofit organizations that manage their own day-to-day operations.
Found within the Circuit Court of Cook County archives was a Declaration of Intention signed by Pope Leo XIV's paternal grandfather in 1920. It was the first step Salvatore Giovanni Riggitano — originally from Italy — took in the process to become a U.S. citizen.
In the wake of the Illinois comptroller's office's decision to shut down a Chicago Heights crematory, at least 30 lawsuits have been filed by people who believe their loved ones remains were mishandled.
The Chicago Cubs denied a report from their flagship radio station that the 2027 All-Star Game was coming to Wrigley Field, telling the Tribune 'no decision has been made.'
The Cubs' first All-Star Game was played in 1947, and they hosted again in 1962. The Cubs were awarded the 1990 game after Tribune Co., the then-owners, agreed to install lights in 1988, ending the day-baseball-only tradition. The '90 All-Star Game at Wrigley included a rain delay in the seventh inning of a 2-0 American League win.
The Chicago Stars will depart their usual Bridgeview venue to play a 'test run' game at an Evanston lakefront stadium in September as they consider a permanent move there.
The City of Evanston has granted approval for the team, which competes in the National Women's Soccer League, to play all of its 16 home matches in 2026 at Northwestern University's Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium. The venue is the temporary home of the Wildcat football team, but the soccer club has not committed to playing there next year, said Emmanuel Salazar, spokesman for the Stars.
Few things in my life have been as consistent as 'Jaws,' writes Christopher Borrelli. It debuted 50 years ago this spring, soon after Memorial Day, and for those of us who spent summer breaks getting wrinkled in water, it ruined the next eight weeks.
That said, from Cape Cod to saltwater-free Chicago, perhaps for you, the response was just as primal: 'Jaws' inaugurated the lifelong feeling that something's down there, beneath us in the water, wherever we were swimming, even if we were wading in a neighbor's aboveground pool.
Why is Tribune film critic Michael Phillips cautiously optimistic — hope springs occasional, as they say — about the summer season, a time when all the franchisees come out to play and take you away from the sun?
His reasoning is simple.
Heading into summer means first closing the book on yet another network TV season, which still follows the fall-spring slot on the calendar. Tribune TV and film critic Nina Metz likes that regularity and thinks most viewers miss it when it comes to streaming. 'The Bear' is an outlier, premiering new episodes each June like clockwork.
This time of year is also when broadcasters announce cancellations and the biggest changes are coming to NBC, where five shows got the ax.
Shakira, Peso Pluma, Don Omar and Grupo Frontera headline Sueños, which returns to Grant Park this weekend. Expect more than 100,000 people, as the Latin music festival expands to include a second stage, a larger footprint and a dance zone for even more fun.