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CBS News
22-07-2025
- General
- CBS News
Chicago woman says rotting berries from neighbor's tree are feeding rat problems in Lincoln Square
A woman from Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood said a giant tree's sweet berries are causing a sour situation, feeding into the neighborhood's rat problem, and no one will listen to her concerns. "That's why I chose to contact Channel 2 News," she said. "I need someone to listen to me." Jane, who did not want to share her last name, never fancied herself a farmer. But for the last 28 summers, she has gotten quite the haul of rotten berries landing in her backyard. CBS News Chicago met Jane as she was scooping rotten berries out of nets hanging between garages on her property and collecting them in plastic bags. The daily harvests add up. "Since I've been gathering them and weighing them, since June 14, I'm over 215 pounds of berries, just this year" Jane said. The nets don't catch all the berries; even more are piled up on the ground and nearby garages. They are not edible for humans. "You can't use these for cooking. You can't use these for donating to anybody," Jane said. Instead, the berries make a delicious meal for pigeons, bees, fruit flies and, most frustratingly, rats. Jane has taken plenty of pictures of the rats the berries attract. One mother rat was spotted carrying her baby as she stopped for a snack earlier this month. Jane says the berries are creating an unsanitary, slippery and smelly situation. "There is rat feces everywhere," Jane said. The berries fall for about six weeks straight, and end up rolling around in the nets and on the ground. Jane can't control the decaying fruit because it is not coming from her yard. It is coming from a gigantic mulberry tree on her neighbor's property. The tree in question is so big that some of its branches are held up with metal. "If we get a sudden downburst, that chain's not going to hold anything," Jane said. Jane shared her concerns with 47th Ward Ald. Matt Martin, but was told the city can't do much because the tree is on privately owned land. "It is your right to take down the branches that encroach on your property line, but I know you mentioned the problem is with the entire tree," Martin's staff wrote. "Our office does not have the capability to compel your neighbors to take down the tree." The "take matters into your own hands" advice when it comes to tree branches crossing property lines doesn't always work out. CBS News Chicago covered a similar overbearing tree story in 2021. In that case, Roula Savakis of Chicago's Peterson Park community was so frustrated with a wall of trees blocking her windows that she hacked them back. In response, her neighbors took her to court, alleging at least $100,000 of damage. Asher and Cynthia Kohn accused Savakis of violating the Illinois Wrongful Tree Cutting Act. They claimed she damaged 38 of their trees intentionally and illegally. Four years later, CBS News Chicago has learned that the Savakis family ended up selling their home to the tree-owning neighbors and relocating. In Lincoln Square, as Jane's dog Brutus went hunting for mulberry-loving rats, CBS News Chicago went looking for the tree owners. Jane and two plant experts suspect the tree is a white mulberry. "Interestingly, white mulberry was introduced to the U.S. back in colonial times because it is the preferred food of the silkworm caterpillar, which is where we get natural silk from," said Jamie Viebach, horticulture educator at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Viebach said while white mulberry is not officially listed as an invasive species in Illinois, it is non-native and very weedy. "It can basically be considered invasive (though, without the legal ramifications of the official designation)," Viebach wrote. And the tree is treated as invasive by some land managers. "It is not regulated or banned in any statewide way in Illinois, though it is often managed and removed by land managers when it is found growing in natural areas," said Chris Evans, an extension forestry and research specialist at the Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Viebach also noted that the Morton Arboretum lists white mulberry as a "problem plant." Jane agrees with the description. "This is a health issue right now," she said. "This is a safety issue." CBS News Chicago knocked on the neighbors' door, but never got an answer. The city can issue citations to homeowners whose vegetation creates a "public nuisance." CBS News Chicago was told that while Savakis' situation with her neighbors' trees in 2021 met the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation criteria for a public nuisance, Jane's berry situation does not meet those criteria and does not warrant any fines. The city said the following constitutes a nuisance per ordinance 10-32-140 (Trees, shrubs or other plant materials – Public nuisance):
CBS News
22-07-2025
- General
- CBS News
Chicago woman is fit to be tied with rotting berries falling from neighbors' tree
A woman from Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood said a giant tree's sweet berries are causing a sour situation. The woman, Jane, said she was looking for someone finally to listen to her concerns. "That's why I chose to contact Channel 2 News," she said. "I need someone to listen to me." Jane never fancied herself a farmer. But for the last 28 summers, she has gotten quite the haul of rotten berries landing in her backyard. CBS News Chicago met Jane as she was clad in blue jeans and a T-shirt honoring the old Neo nightclub in Lincoln Park, scooping rotten berries out of nets hanging between garages on her property and collecting them in plastic bags. The daily harvests add up. "Since I've been gathering them and weighing them, since June 14, I'm over 215 pounds of berries," Jane said, "just this year." There are more rotten berries beyond the nets. Even more are piled up on the ground and nearby garages — and they're not suitable for people to eat. "You can't use these for cooking. You can't use these for donating to anybody," Jane said. Instead, the berries make a delicious meal for all sorts of members of the animal kingdom — pigeons, bees, fruit flies — and most frustratingly, rats. Jane snapped photos of her hungry, hairy visitors of the order Rodentia. One momma rat was spotted carrying her baby as she stopped for a snack earlier this month. "There is rat feces everywhere," Jane said. It has made for an unsanitary, slippery, smelly situation. "It's something like old beer, fermented wine," said Jane. The berries fall for about six weeks straight, and end up rolling around in the nets and on the ground. Jane can't control the decaying fruit, because it is not coming from her yard. It is coming from a gigantic mulberry tree on her neighbor's property. The tree in question is so big that some of its branches are held up with metal. "If we get a sudden downburst, that chain's not going to hold anything," Jane said. Jane shared concerns with Ald. Matt Martin (47th), but was told the city can't do much because the tree is on privately owned land. "It is your right to take down the branches that encroach on your property line, but I know you mentioned the problem is with the entire tree," Martin's staff wrote. "Our office does not have the capability to compel your neighbors to take down the tree." The take-matters-into-your-own hands advice when it comes to tree branches crossing property lines doesn't always work out. CBS News Chicago covered a similar overbearing tree story in 2021. In that instance, Roula Savakis of Chicago's Peterson Park community was so frustrated with a wall of trees blocking her windows that she hacked them back. In response, her neighbors took her to court, alleging at least $100,000 of damage. Asher and Cynthia Kohn accused Savakis of violating the Illinois Wrongful Tree Cutting Act. They claimed she damaged 38 of their trees intentionally and illegally. Four years later, CBS News Chicago has learned that the Savakis family ended up selling their home to the tree-owning neighbors and relocating. Back in Lincoln Square — as Jane's dog, Brutus, went hunting for mulberry-loving rats — CBS News Chicago went looking for the tree owners. Jane and two plant experts suspect the tree is a white mulberry. "Interestingly, white mulberry was introduced to the U.S. back in colonial times because it is the preferred food of the silkworm caterpillar, which is where we get natural silk from," said Jamie Viebach, horticulture educator at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Viebach said while white mulberry is not officially listed as an invasive species in Illinois, it is non-native and very weedy. "It can basically be considered invasive (though, without the legal ramifications of the official designation)," Viebach wrote. The tree is treated as invasive by some land managers. "It is not regulated or banned in any statewide way in Illinois, though it is often managed and removed by land managers when it is found growing in natural areas," said Chris Evans, an extension forestry and research specialist at the Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences at the U of I Urbana-Champaign. Viebach also noted that the white mulberry is a species the Morton Arboretum lists as a "problem plant." Such a description sounds fitting to Jane. "This is a health issue right now," Jane said. "This is a safety issue." Berry season will be wrapped up in a few days. Will farmer Jane be back at it next year with another season of falling berries? CBS News Chicago knocked on the neighbors' door, but never got an answer. The city can issue citations to homeowners whose vegetation creates a "public nuisance." CBS News Chicago was told that while Savakis' situation with her neighbors' trees in 2021 met the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation criteria for a public nuisance, Jane's berry situation does not meet those criteria and does not warrant any fines. The city said the following constitutes a nuisance per ordinance 10-32-140 Trees, shrubs or other plant materials – Public nuisance:
CBS News
16-07-2025
- Climate
- CBS News
A CBS Chicago photographer remembers the harrowing experience of the deadly 1995 heat wave
This week marks 30 years since a historic and horrific heat wave killed 739 people in the Chicago area — in what remains the deadliest weather event in the city's history. Officials this week have been sharing what they have learned in the decades since. But CBS News Chicago photojournalist Dino Pillizzi had a more personal reflection, as he covered the tragedy in real time back in July 1995. "I recalled it right away," Pillizzi said, "not realizing it's been 30 years already." Amid the sweltering heat, Pillizzi's initial assignments behind the camera for CBS News Chicago — or Channel 2 News, as we would have said back then — came before it was clear just how serious the situation was. "My assignment was to go to the beach at North Avenue and get, you know, people enjoying the warm weather," Pillizzi said. "It was just people being refreshed at the water — playing kids, families, and everything else. And that same day, I remember just being there a couple of hours, and I got called to go to the morgue." Pillizzi remembers just what the atmosphere was like. "It was hot and sticky, and the air was stagnant," he said. "It was hard to breathe." Pillizzi also remembers the situation in Chicago's public housing projects in such areas as the State Street Corridor on the city's South Side. "They didn't have resources to keep themselves cool. They didn't have resources," he said. "The high-rises didn't have air conditioning." More calls of fatalities came in as the intense heat wave went on. "The morgue couldn't handle the amount of people, and so they brought in refrigerator trucks that were very prominent at the Taste of Chicago weeks before — the refrigerator trucks," Pillizzi said. The deadly nature of the heat wave was illustrated vividly by scenes of body bags being wheeled toward the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. "Nowadays, we don't show any of that. We don't show body bags," said Pillizzi, "but back then, it was different." It was an emotionally challenging experience for many, including Pillizzi himself. "You kind of feel that, that guilt. Not survivor's guilt, but just guilt that there's so many people suffering, and then I have to go intrude on their suffering to get video of them suffering. It wears on you," Pillizzi said. "That was hard to know that many people died that didn't have to die." On Tuesday, Chicago city leaders commemorated the victims of the deadly heat wave, and discussed how to ensure it will never happen again. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was in attendance. "It was a tragedy that revealed just how deadly the intersections of heat, housing insecurity, racial inequity, and social isolation can be," Chicago chief sustainability officer and Department of Environment Commissioner Angela Tovar said of the heat wave. The special event at the Columbus Park Refectory on the city's West Side also featured a screening of part of a 2018 documentary about the '95 heat wave — "Cooked: Survival by Zip Code," directed and produced by Judith Helfand. After the screening, a panel discussion examined the lasting legacy of the heat wave, and how Chicago is working proactively to reduce the risks of extreme heat.
CBS News
20-06-2025
- CBS News
50 years later, John Drummond looks back on the murder of Chicago Outfit honcho Sam Giancana
Thursday marks 50 years since the murder of in infamous Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana. Giancana, known as "Momo," was 67 when he was murdered at his home in Oak Park, Illinois. As recounted by the Mob Museum, Giancana was cooking sausage when he was shot six times in the head — the first time from behind. A then-45-year-old reporter for Channel 2 News whose name you are sure to know remembers it all. John "Bulldog" Drummond, now 95, tenaciously found stories as a reporter — and now he stubbornly saves them in retirement. At home, Drummond has an immense file of TV scripts, court documents, and newspaper clippings on the many stories he covered over the years. "I have to go through and throw some of them out," Drummond said as he rifled through some vintage newspaper clippings. Drummond joined Channel 2 in 1969, and soon became famous for his stories on crooks, capers, and colorful characters — and in particular on organized crime and the Chicago mob. He retired as a staff reporter in 1997, Drummond regularly returned to the air on Channel 2 when the mob and organized crime were in the news. And he's still the reporter we turn to when it's time to revisit a story like that of Giancana. "Of all the mob bosses that I ever saw, he was more surly," Drummond said. Giancana was the notorious boss of the Chicago Outfit for 1957 to 1966 — only nine years, but an eventful nine years. As recalled by the Mob Museum, Outfit boss Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo stepped aside to make way for Giancana in 1957, after Giancana consolidated the city's illegal lottery rackets by violent means. In his first year as head of the Chicago Outfit, Giancana was the Outfit's representative in the national summit of Mafia bosses in Apalachin, New York, the Mob Museum recounted. The CIA even reportedly contacted Giancana and mob boss Santo Trafficante Jr. in a plot to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro, the Mob Museum recalled. When Giancana refused to testify before a grand jury in 1965 and was sent to Cook County Jail for a year, he had a television and refrigerator in his cell, archive CBS reports noted. Sam Giancana CBS Giancana lost control of the Outfit the following year. "A lot of people didn't like the way Giancana was running things anyway," Drummond said "He's got too much ink, too much publicity running around with Hollywood stars and things of that nature — flamboyant lifestyle." Giancana went off to Mexico. But in 1974, authorities there seized him in his bathrobe and slippers and had him deported back to the U.S., as Chris Wallace reported for Channel 2 News in 1975. Giancana returned to Chicago and appeared before another grand jury. Drummond was present for Giancana's last court appearance. But he was on vacation on June 19, 1975, when the big mob news broke in Oak Park. "Sam Giancana had been murdered in the basement of his house — shot about six times with a .22-caliber pistol," said Drummond. As Bill Kurtis intoned from the Channel 2 anchor desk at the time: "A gangland hit? Perhaps. Police aren't sure yet. But it is likely he knew his killer." Drummond covered Giancana's funeral at the Montclare Funeral Home on Chicago's Northwest Side. Fifty years later, Drummond remembers all the details like he is reporting them for the first time. Drummond believes the theory that Giancana's bodyguard and driver pulled the trigger. "Nobody was ever charged — so theoretically, it's a mystery," Drummond said. "Who killed Sam?" It's a tough question that a tenacious reporter will keep asking.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Yahoo
Officer hit by car in Carrollton
All lanes of Highway 27 North in Carrollton are closed after an officer was hit by a vehicle while directing traffic, Carrollton police said. Police say the location is near Ingles. They are asking people to avoid the area. The officer was taken to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, a public information officer confirmed to Channel 2 News. Channel 2 is working to find out more. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
