12 nights without power in Gary

Good morning, Chicago. ✶

🔎 Below: With no power and a spotty generator, every day is a struggle for a family of seven as they approach two weeks without electricity in Northwest Indiana.

🗞️ Plus: Chicago Public Schools students head back to school, a nonprofit offers job trainings and life lessons, and more news you need to know below.

📝 Keeping score: The Cubs trounced the Mariners, 19-2; the White Sox bested the Mets, 2-1; the Sky lost to the Fever, 113-90; the Stars beat Racing Louisville, 3-2.

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⏱️: A 7-minute read

TODAY’S WEATHER ☀️

Sunny with a high near 79.

CHICAGO JIGSAW PUZZLE 🧩

Piece together history to reveal more about today’s photo from the Sun-Times archives.

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TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎

12 nights without power in Gary: ‘Why is this OK?’

Reporting by Elvia Malagón, Erica Thompson and Kaitlin Washburn

Powerless: Thousands in Gary, Indiana, are still without power after an Aug. 11 storm with 99 mph winds pummeled Northwest Indiana, including Melissa Dixon, who has been weathering the storm’s aftermath with her family of seven. Sun-Times journalists spent time with Dixon in Gary to learn how one family is surviving in trying conditions. The state’s utility company, NIPSCO, anticipates electricity in Gary won’t be fully restored until Tuesday.

How they cope: Other Gary residents the Sun-Times spoke with have spent the last two weeks filling up generators at gas stations, passing time watching DVDs in their cars or communing with neighbors over hot lunch at a local school that doubles as a community resource center. They shared their stories with us on Friday, as the wait for electricity and debris to be cleared continued.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Neighbors sue: NIPSCO did not protect its power lines from tree damage ahead of the storms that tore through the area this month, residents allege in a class-action lawsuit. NIPSCO “strongly” disagrees with the lawsuit and defended its vegetation management practices in a statement.

Additional coverage:

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EDUCATION 🍎

Things to watch as new CPS school year starts

Reporting by Sarah Karp and Emmanuel Camarillo

Back to school: Chicago Public Schools enters a new school year Monday under a cloud of uncertainty. Here’s a look at the big issues WBEZ and the Sun-Times will be watching as the new school year gets underway.

Money worries: Last month, the Chicago School Board amended the district’s budget to assume the state will kick in more money to prevent layoffs and other cost-cutting measures. But those funds aren’t a sure bet.

Staffing issues: Schools are scrambling to bring back some laid-off staff or get by without the positions they lost. District leaders have expressed concerns about “consequences” later in the year if extra money doesn’t come through from the city or state.

Enrollment dip: Enrollment dipped last year, and may fall again this year — setting up the district for more hard conversations about how it divides up resources.

School board: The district is about to get a new school board that could shift the balance of power and direction of the district.

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TAXES 💰

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file

Total of Cook County property taxes billed goes up for the 32nd consecutive year, treasurer’s office says

Reporting by Violet Miller

Total amount rises: With Cook County’s 2025 property tax bills set to go out by the end of the month, a new report from county Treasurer Maria Pappas’ office finds the total amount of property taxes billed has risen for the 32nd consecutive year.

By the numbers: Commercial property values increased by 0.2%, not nearly enough to offset a rise in property values for homeowners, whose bills continued to outpace the 2.7% inflation rate. The tax levy increased by nearly 4% last year.

Key context: It’s a continuation of a yearslong trend of the property tax burden shifting from downtown to the city’s neighborhoods, and even suburban residential properties. The COVID-19 pandemic reduced occupancy in many downtown buildings, leading to dips in property values and businesses’ tax bills dropping nearly 20%. In the meantime, residential bills increased more than 16% in the 2021 to 2023 reassessment cycle — and hundreds of thousands of homeowners saw even larger increases.

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MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️

Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office

• Sean Grayson dies: The 32-year-old former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy was serving a 20-year-sentence for fatally shooting Sonya Massey on July 6, 2024 in her home. Grayson had stage 4 rectal cancer that had spread to his liver and lungs, according to his legal team.
• Chicago cop charged: Officer Joseph Vecchio was arrested Friday, just a day after the Chicago Police Board announced he’s facing dismissal in two separate disciplinary cases. A judge ordered him to remain detained Saturday.
• New plea offer: Ahead of Keshia Golden’s trial for fatally stabbing her child’s father, prosecutors are expected to offer a new plea deal for significantly reduced charges and no time behind bars. Golden says she was acting in self-defense.
• 1992 case still active: Tammy Zywicki was last seen with her broken-down car in LaSalle County on Aug. 23, 1992, after dropping off her brother at Northwestern. Investigators are now seeking information about a woman who may have been hitchhiking with a truck driver seen near where Zywicki disappeared.
• Drug charges for member of clouted family: Mark Stephens, a brother of Rosemont Mayor Bradley Stephens and a son of the late Mayor Donald E. Stephens, was recently arrested during a traffic stop in the far northwest suburbs, where police found what they believe to be cocaine.
• Boat crash yields murder charges: Richard Stevenson, of Lisle, is facing a litany of charges, including murder, in connection with a fatal drunk boating crash last month on the Fox River, authorities said.

ON WBEZ 91.5 FM 📻

In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons, 9 a.m.

• Where’s Obama’s tan suit?: The Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet and Terrell Frazier, lead interviewer for the Obama Presidential Oral History, join the show to talk about Sweet’s search for President Barack Obama’s infamous suit.
• What’s that building?: Dennis Rodkin of Crain’s Chicago Business and author Brad Hunt explain the history of the Hilliard Homes.

Say More with Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith, 10 a.m.

• Bad influencer advice: You can’t scroll through social media without seeing an influencer telling you how to fix your life. Sometimes it’s great advice. Sometimes it’s not. Have you ever been influenced to do something you would later regret? Callers weigh in.

FROM THE PRESS BOX ⚾🏀🏈🎤

• Remembering Tim Bankston: Last month, Bankston was found fatally shot inside an Auburn Gresham home. Mourners on Saturday paid tribute to the former Simeon Career Academy basketball star, who became a boys basketball coach at Thornton Fractional North High School in Calumet City.
• Pope was watching: Lifelong Sox fan Pope Leo XIV tuned into his namesake-themed night, where a sold-out crowd wore pontiff-style Sox hats, according to U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who recently visited the Vatican. The Sox even mailed the pope a hat.
• Cubs history: In Sunday’s blowout win, Ian Happ and Pedro Ramirez became the fourth Cubs duo to hit grand slams in the same game.
• Sky’s playoff hopes end: Sunday’s tense game saw DiJonai Carrington trade words with Caitlin Clark, while Natasha Cloud confronted former NBA player Enes Freedom.
• Football forecast: The Bears need QB Caleb Williams to be more consistent, writes Patrick Finley.
• High school football: Loyola takes over the top spot, and Homewood-Flossmoor, IC Catholic and St. Charles North join Michael O’Brien’s Super 25 high school football rankings for Week 2.
• The Score’s new lineup: Former WGN TV sports anchor Jarrett Payton is expected to be announced Monday as Mike Mulligan’s replacement on The Score’s morning show.

CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭

Today’s clue: 1A: ___ to school (where many students are heading today)

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BRIGHT ONE 🔆

Arthur Maiorella/For the Sun-Times

Nonprofit offers job training and lessons that are ‘bigger than solar panels’

Reporting by Amy Yee

The lessons at a solar industry training center on the Near West Side go beyond installing solar panels.

JIREH Workforce Solutions staff talk with students about “limiting beliefs” that hold people back, such as the misconception that someone is destined to repeat mistakes or can’t have a good career. It’s part of a “transformation — believing in themselves and pushing themselves a little more,” Kynnée Wallace, JIREH’s executive director, said.

Founded in 2025, the nonprofit trains people for jobs in solar energy, construction, carpentry and other fields. JIREH also offers career coaching, computer skills, financial literacy and more. The program focuses on young adults from low-income communities, veterans and people involved with the criminal justice system.

Austin resident Charles “C.J.” Doyle didn’t know much about solar energy before April. But after the 23-year-old graduated from JIREH’s program, he started working for Hammond-based Greentech Renewables to install solar panels on homes across Illinois.

JIREH’s program is “bigger than solar panels. It prepares you for life,” Doyle said. “To better yourself, you have to be mentally ready. Nothing good in life comes easy.”

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YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️

What’s a job you’ve worked that has taught you something valuable? Explain.

Reply to this question via email (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in a future newsletter or story.

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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Edited by: Michael Lansu

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