Your Daily Guide

Bally’s Construction Halted Over Mob-Tied Dumpsters

Waste hauler D&P Construction Co. Inc. has a known history of mob control, yet Bally’s is utilizing D&P dumpsters to construct its new casino in River West. The Illinois Gaming Board paused construction quickly after questions were raised. [Sun-Times]

• So far, the temporary Bally’s site shows disappointing returns. [City Cast Chicago 🎧]

Landlord Sentenced to 53 Years for Hate-Crime Killing

Plainfield landlord Joseph Czuba attacked his tenants, a Palestinian-American mother and her 6-year-old son in October 2023, killing the boy. On Friday, he was sentenced to 53 years in prison for the murder of Wadee Alfayoumi and the attempted murder of Hanan Shaheen, plus hate-crime charges. [WTTW]

Former Gov. George Ryan Dead at 91

Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan died Friday at age 91. He served as governor from 1999 to 2003. During that time, Ryan lifted the state’s death penalty but he’s perhaps most remembered for spending five years in prison on corruption charges. He was one of four Illinois governors to do jail time following their term. [NBC Chicago]

Everything You Need to Know About Air Quality in Chicago

In April, weather apps across Chicago sounded the alarm, detecting high air pollution levels. But the air was actually fine. In today’s City Cast Chicago episode, state climatologist and researcher Trent Ford explains how air quality is monitored in Chicago. [City Cast Chicago 🎧]

Growing up in Chicago, I learned early that our Windy City nickname isn't really about the wind, but about politicians who were "full of hot air." Whatever that meant.

But in what's shaping up to be one of the windiest springs on record, I thought I’d dig a little deeper. Perhaps there’s some truth to the age-old moniker.

💨 A windy season

As a hat girl, I can attest — it’s been a windy spring. March is generally windy due to seasonal changes, but this year, 20 March days carried gusts over 30 mph. Ten had gusts over 40 mph.

The rest of the country was feeling it too. Forty-eight states had above-average wind, and the National Weather Service issued a record number of wind alerts.

April and May tend to be windy in Chicago anyway due to a large difference in the temperature between the land air and the lake air, but Chicago does not even crack America’s top 10 windiest cities.

However Chicago’s lake breeze may indeed have contributed to the city’s nickname as the Windy City.

⚾️ The lake and baseball

Recorded mentions of Chicago as a physically windy city (no caps) date back to 1873 with the Daily Globe referencing Chicago’s self-promotion as a summer resort town thanks to summer lake breezes. The same year, The Philadelphia Inquirer called Chicago "the great city of winds and fires."

In 1876, Chicago was billed as the Windy City (yes caps) multiple times in reporting on the city’s contentious baseball rivalry against Cincinnati. Likely, the reference was intended to slam Chicagoans as, well, windbags.

Also in 1876, the Cincinnati Enquirer used the phrase “That Windy City” when covering a tornado that had torn through Chicago. (Yes, tornadoes can hit Chicago.) Etymologist Barry Popick told the History channel the mention was “clearly double-edged … They used the term for windy speakers who were full of wind, and there was a wind-storm in Chicago.”

Later, in 1885, the Cleveland Gazette featured dispatches from Chicago with a cover headlined, “FROM THE WINDY CITY,” implying the term was already well known.

Notably, this all predates Chicago’s campaign for the World’s Fair — and our beloved windbag politician story.

🏛️ The famous windbag politician theory

Now, here’s the story I learned as a kid. The year? 1890-something. Imagine it: Chicago, freshly reborn from the flames of the Great Chicago Fire, is desperate to prove its chops by hosting the World’s Fair. New York City is the place to beat.

In an editorial at the time, New York Sun journalist Charles Dana slammed the bid by Chicago’s politicians, whom he viewed as “full of hot hair.” Dana urged readers to ignore the “nonsensical claims of that windy city.” The piece spawned the idea that Chicago politicians were longwinded liars. BS-ers. Being Chicagoans, we doubled down on the insult. Wore it like a badge of honor.

However … no one can track down this article. Is this theory really just an urban legend?

All we know for sure is Chicago went on to crush the World’s Fair in 1893, our politicians can be, to put it nicely, “windy,” and it has been an unusually blustery spring.