| Good morning, Chicago. Shedd Aquarium’s two newest residents arrived yesterday. The beluga whales were the ninth and 10th to be
transported to Shedd from the now-closed Marineland animal theme park in Ontario. The newest whales, Gimli and Yukon, are the final rehomed whales to arrive from the troubled Niagara Falls marine park. Shedd officials said that the last arrivals mark the beginning of a “much longer responsibility” of caring for the animals’ well-being. Shedd now houses 17 beluga whales total, eight of whom are from the aquarium’s existing pod plus nine new arrivals. Read the full story and see photos from the transport. Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including how changes to the Wacker House go beyond a preservation fight, what we learned from Ryan Poles and the Bears and this week’s Chicago Theater Report. Today’s eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History Damarco Watkins, 7, attends a vigil with other families, Aug. 30, 2026, who used South Chicago Chapel and Bohemian National Cemetery to handle the remains of deceased loved ones
where over 50 decomposing bodies were discovered earlier in the month in the South Deering neighborhood. Watkins’ grandmother, Shawnese Shannon, was cremated by Planet Green Crematory, a business which has the same owner as South Chicago Chapel. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune) On Aug. 3, state investigators inspecting the notorious South Chicago Chapel were confronted with an overwhelming smell and a nightmarish scene. In a ramshackle building, the temperature in one storage area rose to 88 degrees, as dozens of bodies decomposed, rats scurried around the area, and maggots covered some of the remains. Store closing signs at a different Treasure Island store at 75 W. Elm St. in Chicago in 2018. (Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune) The new Whole Foods will complement a major residential development getting underway just to the south. Shirley Pollion-Hines speaks during a news conference at the Romanucci & Blandin law firm in Chicago, on Sept. 1, 2026, about
a lawsuit filed on behalf of the estate of her grandson, Dominique Pollion, shown in a photo behind her, who was stabbed and killed while riding in a CTA train. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune) The family of a man fatally stabbed while he slept on a Blue Line train earlier this year is suing the Chicago Transit Authority, alleging the agency failed to provide him the adequate care and security it owes to passengers. A “Culex Pipiens” species of mosquito, the carrier of the West Nile Virus, at the University of Notre Dame in 2003. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune) A person in Chicago has died of West Nile virus, marking Illinois’ first death from the illness so far this year, health officials announced yesterday. Elizabeth and Hunter Case stand in their backyard in Old Town as they look at the Wacker
House next door on Aug. 21, 2026. The owner stripped lead paint from the exterior of the historic home, exposing the Cases’ young daughter to the substance. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune) When Elizabeth and Hunter Case toured what would become their family home in Old Town, life in the house was easy to picture. They saw the kids they’d planned to have filling the big open space. They saw the Christmas tree they’d place in the front window,
the garden they’d cultivate outside. What they didn’t anticipate were the doctor’s visits, the calls to police, the lawyers. And the feeling that it all could have been prevented had someone listened and taken a closer look next door. For years, an Old Town homeowner has been making unlawful alterations to his property — at the expense, neighbors say, of the house’s historic roots and their own safety. Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong celebrates after hitting a walk-off two-run homer to give the
Cubs a 7-5 win against the White Sox during the tenth inning of the City Series at Wrigley Field, Aug. 17, 2026, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune) The City Series rematch last month, which saw the Cubs take two of three from the Sox at Wrigley, was a big hit once again for the Chicago Sports Network, generating record ratings for the pay-TV home of the Sox — with the help of free-TV simulcasts on WCIU-Ch. 26. Bears general manager Ryan Poles steps up to the lectern during a news conference July 28, 2026, at Halas Hall in Lake Forest. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) With training camp and the preseason in the books, the Bears turned to some housekeeping yesterday before they open the season Sept. 13 on the road against the Carolina Panthers.
Related:
Sky guard Skylar Diggins goes up for a three-point basket during the fourth quarter against the Wings in the home opener at Wintrust Arena May 20, 2026, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune) Skylar Diggins will not play another game for the Sky this season. The team announced that the guard will be shut down for the remainder of the season with a reaggravated right knee injury, an issue that held Diggins out since a July 7 game against the Phoenix Mercury. The Auditorium Theatre in the Loop, here in 2014, is one of the buildings open to the public as part of this year’s Open House Chicago. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune) Surveying the latest in city cultural institutions this fall, their offerings are as impossible to summarize as ever. But one sticks in mind: Many of the below are meant to be held, played in, run upon, kneaded. Please touch, they implore. So, please touch, and be touched. These museums are inviting you in, up close and personal. Josef Brown, from left, playing Johnny Castle, Amanda Leigh Cobb, playing Baby, and Britta Lazenga,
playing Penny, dance during a rehearsal for the Chicago production of a pre-Broadway tour of “Dirty Dancing” at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, in Chicago in 2011. (Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune) “Dirty Dancing” has a new tour arriving in Chicago and its distinguished director, Lonny Price, says it is a whole new treatment of how Baby gets out of her corner. | 
