Big Blast At Thornton Quarry To Help Relieve Flooding Problems
The "last blast" on Monday at the Thornton Quarry, along I-80, was the first step toward using the big hole to help relieve flooding on the South Side and in the south suburbs.
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The "last blast" on Monday at the Thornton Quarry, along I-80, was the first step toward using the big hole to help relieve flooding on the South Side and in the south suburbs.
Strong storms knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses Wednesday night, blew over several freight train cars, flooded many Chicago area streets, and cost a maintenance worker his life.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' plan would involve building levees, restoring some lands to their natural states as marshes or prairies, as well as flood-proofing some homes.
Would you be more likely to die in a heat wave or a tornado?
Because of high and fast-running water caused by last week's storms, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and its Conservation Police have banned boating along the Fox River between the dam at McHenry and the dam at Montgomery.
Severe thunderstorms moved through the Chicago area Thursday afternoon, bringing heavy rains and high winds.
Rescue teams moved from the Flint Creek in Lake Barrington to the Fox River on Wednesday in search for a man and his dog, who were seen earlier in the day caught in the water floating downstream.
Heavy rainfall that continued for several hours early Wednesday in the north and northwest suburbs left many streets and homes flooded.
Continuous heavy rainfall for several hours Wednesday morning caused flooding in several northern suburbs, and forced state police to shut down part of the Edens Expressway.
Hundreds of people in flood-affected areas lined up outside a North Side state assistance agency on Wednesday to apply for food assistance.
In just three weeks, local residents will lose their chance to get federal funding to pay for cleanup from flooding that hit from mid-April through early May.
CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot looks at how residents of the west suburb are coping, weeks after flooding ruined homes.
Residents of an Albany Park street that was inundated with flooding in April are now concerned that the city of Chicago seems to be taking the sandbags away from the North Branch of the Chicago River.
Thousands of homes and businesses in the Chicago area were left in the dark overnight, and many local streets were flooded, after heavy thunderstorms soaked the region late Tuesday and early Wednesday.
President Obama has signed a disaster declaration for 11 counties in northeastern Illinois, including the entire Chicago metropolitan area. WBBM's Bob Roberts says it opens the door for homeowners and businesses to seek disaster assistance.
Two hundred families still can't return home in Marseilles. CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports.
Like the hole itself, it grew into a bigger job than first thought. Tonight, the hole is bigger than ever, the sewer smell worse than ever, and the residents are being told it will take at least a couple more weeks.
The Chicago Automobile Trade Association, the Chicago area's major new-car dealer group and sponsor of the Chicago Auto Show, has issued an alert to its members warning of the flood of damaged cars likely to be brought in.
The crowd cheered when Village President Richard Grenvich and Fire Department Shift Commander John Kaiser said no one in Forest View died. No one was seriously hurt and 258 people were rescued, some minutes from drowning. Power and water never shut down.
The clean up is underway in Chicago's suburbs, reports WBBM's Lisa Fielding.
The Village of Niles is honoring three public services department employees tonight who rescued a bicyclist from flood waters last Thursday morning.
There's a new deal today that Chicago city officials hope will help flooded home owners on the Northside.
Governor Quinn has declared flood disasters in four additional Illinois counties. WBBM's Bob Roberts reports that the work of assessing damage is still far from over.
Now the clean-up begins for thousands of Chicago area residents whose homes and businesses were inundated by flooding.
A levee breach along the Des Plaines river sent water rushing into homes and basements in southwest suburban Forest View.
An Aurora man has been arrested on kidnapping and murder charges, after a deadly wrong-way crash last week on the Dan Ryan Expressway.
Thousands of dollars of new and unused school supplies – including books, beakers, and maps – were thrown in the trash outside an elementary school in Avondale ahead of the new school year.
Crews need about a week and a half to tear down the festival site before the city can begin its own inspection — and past cleanup costs have topped $1 million.
The Chicago Cubs are poised to acquire pitcher Clay Holmes and outfielder Tyrone Taylor from the New York Mets for touted infield prospect Jefferson Rojas.
Nationally, data centers used 17.4 billion gallons of water in 2023 — a figure projected to reach 72.6 billion gallons by 2028, raising concerns about states' water supplies.
Mayor Brandon Johnson has yet to announce if he's running for re-election, but certainly sounded like he was giving a campaign speech at a brief press conference on Monday.
Chicago Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) filed a lawsuit last week, taking the Illinois State Board of Elections to task for what he said are unnecessarily high hurdles for third-party candidates to get on the ballot.
Chicago's Mamdani moment might come in the form of a more socialist City Council. The Chicago DSA is working to oust aldermen and advance taxing the rich.
The order came after Republican Senators Thom Tillis and John Cornyn threatened to block Blanche's confirmation for Attorney General if the fund was not rescinded in writing.
A new court ruling will keep Illinois from having to turn over its full list of voter information to the federal government.
The Trump administration is taking aim at power grid operator PJM Interconnection over rising electricity bills that affect Illinois and Indiana residents.
Chicago remained the most bed bug-treated city in the country, according to Orkin's latest annual rankings covering a full year of residential and commercial treatment data.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul this week warned residents cleaning up from last month's storms to be on the lookout for scams.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday signed several new consumer protections into law, including a ban on junk fees.
CBS News Chicago has learned that Illinois home insurance premiums are not only higher than the nation's average, but going up faster too.
East Chicago, Indiana is being placed on a precautionary boil water advisory starting Monday morning for planned installations that could affect water safety.
A new Northwestern Medicine study on long COVID shows women show more neurological symptoms than men.
A lettuce supplier to fast-food giant Taco Bell has been linked to a nationwide cyclosporiasis outbreak that has sickened thousands of people, the CDC said.
Chicago just barely made the top 20 in the American College of Sports Medicine's 2026 ranking of the country's fittest cities.
In a major turnaround in the opioid crisis, overdose deaths are falling across Chicago and Cook County.
Nationally, data centers used 17.4 billion gallons of water in 2023 — a figure projected to reach 72.6 billion gallons by 2028, raising concerns about states' water supplies.
Chicago's Wishbone Restaurant will soon be closing after 36 years in business.
The Old Town Pour House isn't in its namesake neighborhood anymore, but it's returning to the central area of Chicago — specifically in the Loop.
Stella's Diner in Chicago's East Lakeview community has gone out of business.
A Wisconsin appeals court reversed a lower court ruling that had declared Act 10 unconstitutional, keeping the 2011 law limiting public workers' collective bargaining rights in place as unions prepare to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Crews need about a week and a half to tear down the festival site before the city can begin its own inspection — and past cleanup costs have topped $1 million.
Vincent Pastore played Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on all six seasons of "The Sopranos," which aired from 1999 to 2007.
If weather forces an evacuation, shelter sites are located at Grant Park North, Grant Park South, and Millennium Lakeside Garages, accessible through the vehicle entrance on Michigan Avenue.
Grant Park was filled with tens of thousands of people Thursday for the start of Lollapalooza, as warm weather greeted festivalgoers on day one of the four-day music festival.
Academy Award-winning Irish singer-songwriter Glen Hansard has died in a motorcycle crash.
Chicago Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) has sued the Illinois State Board of Elections after it disqualified him from November's ballot, arguing the state's signature requirements for independent congressional candidates are unnecessarily high hurdles for third-party candidates to get on the ballot, and unconstitutional to boot.
For more than a decade, high school students in Evanston have been helping to build affordable housing. It's part of a unique class that gets students out of the classroom to put their knowledge to the test by building homes that are then sold as affordable housing.
Thousands of dollars of new and unused school supplies – including books, beakers, and maps – were thrown in the trash outside an elementary school in Avondale ahead of the new school year.
It’s been a wild couple weeks on the political front. Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch is under fire for his handling of sexual harassment allegations against former Rep. Harry Benton, the race for Chicago mayor is heating up, and the future of the Chicago Bears’ stadium plans remains in limbo.
Weather Alerts are posted Wednesday and Thursday for the potential of another round of flooding rain, explains CBS Chicago meteorologist Albert Ramon.
Crews need about a week and a half to tear down the festival site before the city can begin its own inspection — and past cleanup costs have topped $1 million.
Mayor Brandon Johnson has yet to announce if he's running for re-election, but certainly sounded like he was giving a campaign speech at a brief press conference on Monday.
For weeks, residents at a South Loop apartment building have been climbing up to eight flights of stairs after both elevators stopped working.
An Aurora man has been arrested on kidnapping and murder charges, after a deadly wrong-way crash last week on the Dan Ryan Expressway.
Thousands of dollars of new and unused school supplies – including books, beakers, and maps – were thrown in the trash outside an elementary school in Avondale ahead of the new school year.
Nationally, data centers used 17.4 billion gallons of water in 2023 — a figure projected to reach 72.6 billion gallons by 2028, raising concerns about states' water supplies.
A clean energy initiative on the South Side of Chicago is increasing access to solar energy and electric vehicle charging stations, and community members say it's making a difference.
A glitch in the Illinois Tollway system earlier this month left about 100,000 drivers with unexpected warnings about unpaid tolls, some dating back about a year.
Chicago's Office of Emergency Management, which oversees roughly 200 traffic aides, says two were seriously injured by drivers this summer — leaving many uneasy on the job as Lollapalooza brings heavy traffic downtown.
Shavonne Worthy said she visited her mother's grave at Oakridge-Glen Oaks Cemetery in Hillside and found an empty hole where the headstone had stood for nearly 10 years — and the cemetery's new owner told her it was removed intentionally.
The Chicago Cubs are poised to acquire pitcher Clay Holmes and outfielder Tyrone Taylor from the New York Mets for touted infield prospect Jefferson Rojas.
Bears safety Coby Bryant will miss the next 8-10 weeks due to a hyperextended knee, bone bruise and small fracture suffered in Monday's training camp practice, ESPN reports.
The schools announced Monday they have agreed to a four-game home-and-home series.
Ahead of the MLB trade deadline on Monday, the Chicago White Sox have reportedly added right-handed reliever Huascar Brazobán in a trade with the New York Mets.
Buffalo Grove, Illinois, native Till Bartkovjaks, 12, is a master of judo — and he's currently getting ready to represent Team USA for the second time, in Mexico in November.
An Illinois State Police trooper has been charged with sexually assaulting a bartender after drugging her and taking her to a hotel last year in southwest suburban Tinley Park.
Thieves stole an ATM from a gas station in Chicago's Roseland community early Monday.
Two young men and a teenage boy were shot and wounded early Monday in Chicago's Park Manor community.
A man was stabbed late Sunday night in a fight with a woman on Chicago's West Side, police said.
The suspect, identified as 24-year-old Chad Williams, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.