Good morning, Chicago.
During severe thunderstorms, rising air shoots icy pellets the size of Dippin’ Dots ice cream into the bitter cold of upper atmospheric layers. There, supercooled water freezes onto the small particles to form hail, which then falls when it gets too heavy for the storm’s upward draft.
As climate change warms average global temperatures, hailstones larger than pingpong or golf balls will become more frequent — likely worsening the weather hazard’s already billions of dollars in annual property damage across the country, according to a study published last year in the scientific journal npj Climate and Atmospheric Science.
“Climate change is obviously occurring,” said Victor Gensini, a meteorologist and professor of atmospheric science at Northern Illinois University who led the study. “The question, for scientists, is often: How does that manifest itself (in) these smaller-scale extreme weather perils?”
Insurance companies have reported rising hail damage claims from homeowners due to severe storms. In 2024, roof repair and replacement costs totaled nearly $31 billion across the country, up almost 30% from 2022, according to an April report from Verisk, a risk assessment and data analytics firm. Hail and wind accounted for more than half of all residential claims.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Adriana Pérez.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: how neighborhood ties still propel violence in a changing Cabrini-Green, the best and worst from the City Series and our guide to Lollapalooza 2025.
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What to expect, and what not to, at the UN meeting on an Israel-Palestinian two-state solution
The U.N. General Assembly is bringing high-level officials together this week to promote a two-state solution to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict that would place their peoples side by side, living in peace in independent nations.
Israel and its close ally the United States are boycotting the two-day meeting, which starts today and will be co-chaired by the foreign ministers of France and Saudi Arabia.
- As President Donald Trump shows off his golf courses for Britain’s leader, crisis in Gaza looms
- Israeli strikes kill at least 36 people in Gaza, officials say, as some aid restrictions are eased
US-EU deal sets a 15% tariff on most goods and averts the threat of a trade war with a global shock
The United States and the European Union agreed to a trade framework setting a 15% tariff on most goods yesterday, staving off — at least for now — far higher imports on both sides that might have sent shockwaves through economies around the globe.
How one tax change in Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ that even Gov. JB Pritzker supports will work
Gov. JB Pritzker and his fellow Democrats have been unrelenting in their criticisms of the tax and spending plan President Donald Trump signed July 4.
But along with much-lambasted cuts to Medicaid, food assistance and education, the budget reconciliation plan Republicans pushed through Congress this summer includes a tax change that Democrats as well as some Republicans in high-tax blue states have backed for years.
Neighborhood ties still propel violence in a changing Cabrini-Green
Julia Tate was headed to bed a few weeks ago when her daughter burst into their rowhouse screaming. Tate’s cousin, Devon LaSalle, had been shot.
The family had urged LaSalle to not come around the neighborhood so much, but he grew up in a now-closed part of the Cabrini-Green rowhouses. He still spent a lot of time there in spite of how much had changed since he was a kid on Mohawk Street.
At 41, LaSalle was one of many people who stuck around the rowhouses even as development exploded around the now-vacant lots where the infamous high-rises once stood.
Derailed: Looming funding cuts to Philadelphia’s transit system offer a lesson for Chicago
The rhythmic rumble of the “L” isn’t a death rattle — yet.
But Chicago’s public transit systems are set to get gut-punched early next year by a funding deficit in the hundreds of millions of dollars. If state lawmakers don’t agree to allocate more money to public transit, branches on half of the CTA’s “L” lines could go silent. So many bus routes would get slashed that Chicago would have fewer of them than Kansas City. Metra trains could be spaced one or even two hours apart, depending on the day of the week.
Authorities seek to file terrorism and assault charges against suspect in Walmart knife attack
A man accused of entering a Walmart in Michigan and randomly stabbing 11 shoppers before being detained by bystanders in the store parking lot is expected to face terrorism and multiple assault charges, authorities said yesterday.
Column: City Series and Dick Allen’s Hall of Fame induction highlight a great Chicago baseball weekend
Another intriguing City Series, along with Dick Allen’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, highlighted a fun baseball weekend for Chicago Cubs and White Sox fans.
Paul Sullivan details the best and worst from the City Series and Dick Allen’s posthumous induction into the Hall.
- 3 City Series takeaways for the Cubs — including Nico Hoerner’s baseball IQ — as they head to Milwaukee
- 3 White Sox City Series takeaways, including costly errors in Sunday’s 5-4 loss to the Cubs
Column: Dennis Allen’s scheme and a fully invested Montez Sweat could energize the Chicago Bears pass rush
Overshadowed by much of the hand-wringing done this offseason regarding the Bears’ depth — or lack of — when it comes to pass rushers was a discussion of how the new scheme will affect the players on the roster, writes Brad Biggs.
- Bears training camp rundown: Offensive line shuffle begins — just as the competition is set to elevate
- Today in Chicago History: Bears linebacker Dick Butkus inducted into Pro Football Hall of Fame
Fire tore through Arlington Park racetrack 40 years ago. Less than a month later, the season’s biggest event went on as scheduled.
In the early hours of July 31, 1985, Tommy Trotter thought he smelled smoke.
“I’m a light sleeper,” he told the Tribune. “I went downstairs to check out the kitchen and it got stronger.” He could hear “cracking” in the ceiling.
The director of racing at Arlington Park racetrack in Arlington Heights, Trotter and his wife and son were staying on the second floor of the Horseman’s Lounge in the posh Post and Paddock Club. He woke up his wife, sent his son to notify security, and told the switchboard operator to call the fire department.
Leo High School choir headed to ‘America’s Got Talent’ quarterfinals in August
Imagine heading out to pick up your father’s medicine at the neighborhood CVS one day, only to be stopped by four strangers who ask: “Can I take a picture with you?”That’s was what happened to Kriston Bell, 17. When approached, the Beverly resident asked if they knew him from somewhere. Their response: “From ‘America’s Got Talent.’” The admirers took pictures to share with their kids.
