Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
This afternoon will be sunny, but windy, with a high near 43 degrees. Tonight’s low will be around 32 degrees. Tomorrow will be pretty much the same: sunny and windy, with a high near 42.
Top story
City does nothing to punish recycling law-breakers, watchdog finds
If the city is going to improve its dismal rate of recycling, it’s going to have to start following its own law and police businesses, apartment buildings and condo associations, according to a new report.
The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation, which oversees recycling in addition to trash pickup, does not enforce rules requiring tens of thousands of businesses, apartment buildings or condos to recycle, an audit released by City Inspector General Joseph Ferguson found.
Under a city law amended in 2017, buildings that fail to provide recycling services can face fines of $500 to $5,000 a day after an initial warning to comply. The problem is the department “makes no attempt to identify non-compliant commercial or high-density residential buildings,” the report said.
“The Chicago Recycling Ordinance was amended in 2017 to include stronger enforcement provisions but our audit shows that this responsibility has not been met,” Ferguson said in a statement.
Rather than identifying buildings that don’t recycle, the department responds to public complaints by sending ward superintendents to inspect them, a strategy that hasn’t resulted in a crackdown on violators, the report said. Ferguson’s office identified 97 complaint-based inspections between January 1, 2017 and December 30, 2019. From those inspections, the department issued three citations, including one for $290.
The department also doesn’t follow the law to require 15 private trash haulers in the city to fill out reports to make sure recycling is being offered at these buildings. In all, there are about 60,000 businesses in Chicago required to hire private garbage and recycling hauling services. Additionally, there are thousands of residential buildings with five or more units that have similar requirements. Another problem, according to the report, is that the sanitation department does not have a list of which residential buildings are required to recycle.
“Without enforcement of the ordinance, many of these households and businesses may not be recycling,” the report said, which is unnecessarily filling landfills. Citing figures from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the report said landfills in the Chicago metro area may reach capacity around 2029.
“Recycling reduces the amount of trash sent to landfills, thereby increasing their life expectancies,” the report said. “Recycling also reduces municipalities’ dependence on landfills, thereby reducing the greenhouse gases that landfills emit.”
Chicago residents have complained to the city for years that landlords were not providing recycling at apartment buildings even though the law required it. In 2015, one resident launched the site mybuildingdoesntrecycle.com to report on derelict landlords or condo associations. In 2019, a Better Government Association investigation found only a tiny fraction of big buildings were even inspected for compliance with the law. A separate BGA investigation a year earlier found that Chicago’s 9% residential recycling rate was the worst in the country among big cities.
In the Ferguson report, the sanitation department said it was already working with other city departments toward improving its practices. It is also awaiting a comprehensive study of the city’s waste management.
Read Brett Chase’s story here.
More news you need
- Illinois has fallen into its deadliest stretch of the coronavirus pandemic so far: public health officials today announced COVID-19 has claimed 192 more lives while spreading to another 10,959 people. The latest daily death toll is second only to the all-time high 238 coronavirus deaths reported yesterday.
- A 15-year-old boy is charged with participating in the fatal beating of a 74-year-old man found burned in September on the South Side. The teen faces a count of first-degree murder and concealment of homicidal death in the Fernwood murder.
- Mayor Lori Lightfoot didn’t come right out and say it today, but she left little doubt that she believes it’s time for embattled Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to give up the gavel. “Our democracy depends upon the people believing that the leaders stand for them,” she said. “That doesn’t happen when there is a cloud that hangs.”
- Chicago rapper G Herbo and several members of his crew were charged in federal court with using stolen credit card details and IDs to pay for private jets, expensive meals and designer puppies over the last four years. Herbo is charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
- November sales of recreational weed surpassed $75 million for a second straight month, and one researcher believes total sales of legal marijuana — including medical cannabis — could surpass $1 billion by the time 2020 is over. Since marijuana was fully legalized, dispensaries across the state have sold more than $580 million worth of recreational pot.
A bright one
Family of late Cubs executive Salty Saltwell puts memorabilia collection up for auction
Eldred “Salty” Saltwell collected plenty of memorabilia over his more than 30 years with the Cubs. Now, fans and collectors can buy parts of Cubs history.
The family of the former Cubs executive, who died earlier this year at age 96, has put much of his collection up for auction.
The documents from Saltwell’s files date back to the beginning of the 20th century, through the 1950s, and includes items from player contracts and trade documents to payroll checks and rental agreements.
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Among the items for sale:
- 1916 Chicago Cubs Player Contract Signed By Roger Bresnahan
- 1920 Grover Cleveland Alexander Contract – Pitching Triple Crown Season
- 1926 Hack Wilson Contract
- 1926-1927 Joe McCarthy Managerial Contract
- 1928-1930 Rogers Hornsby Contract Recording Trade To Cubs and MVP Season
- 1929 Chicago Cubs Team Signed Photo Album
- 1930 Letter From Rogers Hornsby To MLB Commissioner Landis Promising Not To Engage With Gamblers
- 1939 Dizzy Dean Contract
- 1942 Jimmie Foxx Contract Recording Trade To Cubs
- Hack Wilson’s Lifetime MLB Silver Pass
There’s even something for White Sox fans: a 1918 check made out to Sox owner Charles Comiskey.
Here’s how to score some of this stuff.
From the press box
Former Bulls star Jimmy Butler landed on the web’s gossip pages recently after he reportedly hung out “a few times” with pop star Selena Gomez, whose dating life often makes headlines.
And big changes finally appear to be coming to the roster of the Cubs, who non-tendered outfielders Kyle Schwarber and Albert Almora yesterday as they look to remodel their team for 2021. Schwarber and Almora are now free agents.
Your daily question ☕
Who was the top artist on your Spotify Wrapped this year? Did your music taste change in 2020?
Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday, we asked you: What’s your plan for getting through the winter during the pandemic? What are you doing to stay occupied at home? Here’s what some of you said…
“We have a quarantine baby boy here, born 17 days ago, keeping us very busy.” — Pete Kurasz
“Basement remodeling project.” — Kevin Roecker
“Reading, art projects, music, writing handwritten letters, meditation and baking lots for those in my neighborhood.” — Angie Mamrot
“Making coquito.” — Sergio X. Lopez
“Staying in a lot, as I do in the winter.” — Sandy Mckie Villalobos
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