The Rundown: How warehouses changed the southwest suburbs
Good afternoon! It’s Monday, and piping plover eggs have been spotted at Montrose Beach and Waukegan. Fingers crossed this means we’ll get photos of their chicks this summer. Here’s what else you need to know today.
1. ‘Die-80’: Life and death near the southwest suburbs’ booming warehouse hub
Three decades ago, Joliet was mostly prairie sprinkled with quiet subdivisions, my WBEZ colleague Cam Rodriguez writes. But the early 2000s ushered in the age of online shopping. Then came the rise of next-day delivery. America’s retailers needed warehouses quickly, and the area about 40 miles outside Chicago was flush with interstates and rail lines.
Few places in the nation have been transformed so completely so quickly. Since 2000, retail giants and developers have erected more than 146 million square feet of warehouse space in the Chicago area — equivalent in size to roughly 1,400 Home Depot stores.
On average, roughly 20,000 trucks pass through Joliet, a population of about 150,000 people, every day. Most stay on Interstate 80, but as many as 6,400 — more than five times as many as before the warehouse boom — use local roads and state highways.
Though the warehouses have brought jobs to the area, the trucks pummel roads, belch fumes and batter the pavement, contributing to road damage that requires millions of dollars of repairs paid for by local and state governments, according to budget and grant documents.
And crashes have become more common, according to a New York Times analysis that used satellite imagery, government documents and interviews with people who live in the areas, law enforcement officers and traffic safety experts to identify some of the largest clusters of warehouses in the Chicago area. [WBEZ/New York Times]
2. Few Chicago residents buy flood insurance, but should they?
Fewer than 1% of Cook County residents have flood insurance, Brett Chase reports for the Chicago Sun-Times. Yet almost every community in the Chicago area is at risk of flooding, and powerful storms are expected to increase in the coming decades.
Major insurers, such as State Farm and Allstate, will not automatically cover sewer-backup basement flooding as part of a regular homeowner’s plan.
Your homeowner’s insurance policy will list a number of “exclusions,” including damage from water. You need to ask your agent about additional coverage, often referred to as an “endorsement” covering basement sewer backup that damages personal items and structural things, such as a furnace. It’s important to run through multiple scenarios with an insurer or agent to make sure you’re buying the right kind of coverage.
The federal government offers flood insurance plans for people in flood-prone areas through the National Flood Insurance Program. But that plan, available to everyone in Chicago and much of Cook County, can have limited coverage of basement damage. For example, it won’t cover personal items stored in a basement or any remodeling done to a finished area. [Chicago Sun-Times]
The National Labor Relations Board said the museum’s former president and former human resources chief started retaliating against employees after they voted to form a union last April, according to a news release from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, the union representing museum employees.
Immediately after the vote, HR fired four employees, disciplined four others and threatened all employees with termination because of the union effort, according to the NLRB complaint.
Later that month, employees wrote a letter to the museum’s board of trustees alleging that management retaliated against employees for organizing. But nothing changed, according to the complaint. Three employees were disciplined in May, and in July the museum’s former President Donald Lassere laid off two employees and converted four others from full-time work to part-time.
In response, AFSCME Council 31 filed five charges against the museum. Roughly a year later, the NLRB Chicago office issued its formal complaint against the museum — a rare step since the board only issues such complaints in 3% of unfair labor practice cases each year, according to AFSCME. [Chicago Sun-Times]
4. Northwestern University named the head of Purdue University its next president
Mung Chiang, a first-generation immigrant from China, will be Northwestern University’s first Asian American president, my colleague Kalyn Belsha reports.
Northwestern officials said Chiang was chosen after an international search and stood out due to his research experience and reputation for supporting students and faculty and helping to prepare universities for the future.
Northwestern has been without a permanent leader since September, when former president Michael Schill resigned in the wake of a grilling before Congress over his handling of antisemitism, student protests and layoffs at the university.
Interim president Henry Bienen will continue to lead Northwestern until Chiang takes over on July 1. [WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times]
5. The Sufjan Stevens dance musical ‘Illinoise’ will return to Chicago Shakespeare next year
The work headed to Broadway after a sold-out run in early 2024 and comes back Feb. 9 to March 14 as a highlight of Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s 40th season, my colleague Cassie Walker Burke reports.
“It was born at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and because of the pressures of the onward life of it, it left very quickly,” Artistic Director Edward Hall said of the production, staged by a live band and dance chorus. “All of us felt that it was unfinished business.”
Tony Award-winning choreographer Justin Peck will direct, but casting has not yet been announced. Several high-profile local musicians, including Tasha Viets-VanLear and Shara Nova, performed in the Chicago staging in 2024.
The return of “Illinoise” from Broadway comes within days of a Chicago Shakespeare announcement that it is sending to Broadway its co-production of the horror-themed “Paranormal Activity,” written by Chicago’s Levi Holloway. [WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times]
Here’s what else is happening
- President Donald Trump dropped the $10 billion lawsuit he filed against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns, paving the way for a potential settlement amid worries of self-dealing. [NPR]
- An American doctor is among the newly confirmed cases in an outbreak in Congo of a rare variant of the Ebola virus with no approved vaccines or therapeutics. [AP]
- A jury rejected Elon Musk’s lawsuit claiming artificial intelligence company OpenAI, which he co-founded, put commercial gain over the public good. [New York Times]
- Review: The century-old “An Enemy of the People” rouses in TimeLine Theatre’s new home, but its arguments fall flat at times. [WBEZ]
Oh, and one more thing …
Vocalo, WBEZ’s sister station, is refreshing its lineup after almost shutting down the broadcast signal in 2024, my Chicago Sun-Times colleague Stefano Esposito reports.
The Vocalo Hotline is a weekly show debuting at 8 p.m. May 29 both on WBEZ 91.5 FM and Vocalo 91.1 FM. It’s part of a major refresh for the music station, which has struggled in recent years to attract an audience and generate sufficient revenue to cover expenses.
Hotline is set to be a one-hour radio broadcast built around listener requests, shout-outs and conversation. Vocalo DJ Nudia Hernandez will host.
“The show is designed to come to life across digital experiences as well, capturing the energy of each episode through video, social clips, artist moments and real-time audience interaction,” according to a Chicago Public Media news release. “Each episode will feature a curated mix of genres spanning pop, hip hop, R&B, house, dance and independent music, alongside artist interviews, emerging local talent and a roundup of cultural events across Chicago.” [Chicago Sun-Times]
Tell me something good …
Memorial Day weekend hasn’t happened yet, but it sure feels like summer. So I’m wondering, what plans are you looking forward to this season?
I’ll be making s’mores around a campfire for only the second time in my life, and I’m hoping it’ll go better than the first time (when no one warned me they can easily catch fire).
Feel free to email me, and your response may be included in the newsletter this week.
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