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| What Chicago's Talking About |
| | A ‘Nasty’ Deal For Bridgeport and Chinatown? | Hundreds of neighbors packed an Amtrak community meeting, mostly opposing a proposed rail facility in the area. Attendees cited environmental concerns, with one calling the plan “a nasty real estate deal.” [Block Club] | | | Border Patrol Agent Convicted of Raping, Robbing Sex Workers | Luis Uribe was found guilty of using his gun and badge to attack four Chinese women around Chicagoland over nine months in 2022. He will be sentenced in January, facing life in prison [Tribune 🔒] | | Board President Candidates Weigh In on School Closures | Enrollment is dropping at Chicago Public Schools, but many communities are still recovering from mass closures in 2013. With a school closure moratorium set to lift in January, only one school board presidential candidate, Hilario Dominguez, said he would not support closing schools. Others say they would weigh the options. [WBEZ] | | The Circus Is in Town | Tonight is the last night to catch the Flotsam River Circus on the Chicago River. On today’s podcast, we discuss ways to enjoy the circus arts in the city. Also discussed: Flock cameras and documentaries. [City Cast Chicago 🎧] | |
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| | | This year marks the 34th anniversary of Downtown Oak Park’s Oaktoberfest. The two-day festival celebrates the fall season with great music, craft beer, and food. The event will be held on Friday, September 25, from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and Saturday, September 26, from noon to 10:00 p.m. The festival is located in Downtown Oak Park, south of Lake Street on Marion Street and North Boulevard. Admission is free. |
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| So, I Jumped in the River |
|  | It was a perfect 70 degrees and sunny the morning of my big jump. (Jenny Winter / City Cast Chicago) |
| So, I jumped in the Chicago River. Considering the river was once the city’s bathroom, you might think me brave. Or stupid. But ever since exploring the waterway via hot tub, I’ve wondered, viscerally, what it would be like to wade in. | | The second-annual Chicago River Swim was a fundraising effort for ALS research and swim education. On Friday, I took a small part in the festivities, jumping in alongside other passionate Chicagoans, some politicians, and former Bear Charles “Peanut” Tillman. | | And I gotta say: Come on in, the water’s fine! Well, mostly. | | The Big Jump | As a multitude of speakers assured us before the jump, the water quality had been tested repeatedly. That didn’t exactly assuage my nerves — “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” But I took a literal leap of faith. | | Once I jumped in, I immediately forgot about the river’s nasty reputation. The water was perfectly warm. It smelled only slightly metallic. And I gotta say, floating on your back while staring up at Marina City towers is downright dreamy. | | Sure, after the swim, I couldn’t stop thinking about the risk of fecal coliform. There’s a reason swimming in the Chicago River is technically prohibited. But ongoing efforts to clean the river show. | |  | The water felt warmer than the lake has this whole summer. (Emmi Mack / City Cast Chicago) |
| The River’s PR Problem | When I told my friends I planned to jump in the river, they shuddered. Visibly shuddered. I couldn’t blame them. It was once the “Stinking River,” flowing (slow and brown) into Lake Michigan, sickening Chicagoans. | | Famously, the flow was reversed in 1900. But that didn’t mean the water was suddenly clean. Treated as a dump for decades, river pollution remained bad until the 1970s. That’s when the Deep Tunnel Project began to prevent sewage runoff in the river and lake. | | Fifty years later, the project is still underway, expected to complete in 2029. Who knows? By then we might be meeting each other for a dip in the Loop. | |
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DJ White Shadow, U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (5th), and Peanut all jumped in the river together. Best friends! | |  | Iconic Chicago trio. (Emmi Mack / City Cast Chicago) |
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