Chicago Tonight, Monday, August 17 2026

Princess Diana didn't follow the royal script. My interests are humanitarian. And when her life crumbled around her, the fairy tale was coming to an end. She fought back. She was very nervous about what was going to happen. Absolute shock. How Princess Die changed the face of royalty over her short lifetime. She broke all the folks for all the rules. On Diana's Decades. Tonight at 9 on WTT. Hi, Chicago. I'm Ernest. You're watching WTTW. Hello, and thanks for joining us on Chicago tonight. I'm Brandis Friedman. Here's what we're looking at. I still believe Chicago can be the city that works. A longtime lobbyist for Bally's, the United Center, and Moore makes his pitch for Chicago's tough job. Mayoral candidate John Kelly shares his plans for city. And a crosstown classic with playoff implications. We preview the big matchup. First off tonight, Cook County has issued a disaster proclamation for storms that swept through the area last Tuesday, meaning the county can pursue more resources to help residents and businesses recover. The National Weather Service confirmed six tornadoes across Chicago land, as well as destructive straight line winds across multiple south suburban cities, leading to flooding, structural damage, downed trees and power lines. Since then, the county's Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security has been working to provide generators, excavators, and portable light towers where needed, along with help in clearing roads and removing debris. Impacted residents are asked to complete the resident damage survey online by August 24th. Hundreds of invasive juvenile silver carp are swimming farther north than ever. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources says the carp were discovered only 80 miles away from Lake Michigan as crews worked to rapidly remove them. Experts say if the silver carp are able to enter Lake Michigan, it could devastate local fishing industries and the aquatic ecosystem. The presence of juveniles suggests that the invasive cart population in the Illinois River is growing. This discovery comes just weeks after the Army Corps of Engineers halted construction on the Brandon Road Inter Basin Project, which is designed to block the invasive fish from entering the Great Lakes. 200 Cook County Forest Preserve workers are off the job today, striking over their contract with the county. Teamsters Local 700 represents maintenance staff, truck drivers, and mechanics whose jobs include plowing roads, conducting prescribed fireburns, and keeping facilities clean.

They say the key sticking points are lack of parity in pay raises with non-union staff as well as compensation for overtime. Their contract expired at the end of December and members have voted down the offer from the Forest Preserve. District officials say they offered a 2% raise in January and another in July plus a 4% raise in 2027 along with other concessions. Meanwhile, the Forest Preserves remains open to the public during the strike. Chicago's baseball teams have been in the spotlight for months now, and that's not going to change this week as fans get part two of the Crosstown Classic. The Cubs and White Sox are set to face off in a three-game series starting tonight at Wrigley Field, and it's an exciting time. for fans on both teams as both teams are looking playoff bound. The Cubs hold the fifth best record in baseball and are currently the top wild card spot in the National League. Meanwhile, the socks continue to surprise as they take a five and a half game lead over the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central. We'll have more on this week's showdown later in the program. Up next, one-on-one with mayoral candidate John Kelly. He joins us right after this. Chicago Tonight is made possible in part by the Alexandra and John Nichols family, the Pope Brothers Foundation, and the support of these donors.

Election Day for the next mayor of Chicago is still more than six months away, but the race is off and running for nearly a dozen candidates. One of them is John Kelly. As a veteran lobbyist, he's seen one side of city hall while representing a client list that includes valleys and the United Center. Now, as a first-time candidate for office, he says he's hoping to make Chicago live up to its nickname as a city that works. Joining us is candidate for Chicago Mayor John Kelly. Welcome. Congrats on the race. Thank you. So what do you see as your qualifications to lead the city of Chicago? Well, I'm definitely not a career politician like a lot of the folks that I'm running against. I'm a problem solver. And when I go to all these neighborhoods just this weekend, we went to a lot of fast because you need to do that when you're getting petitions. People were like just solved the problems. We've got 2.5 million views on our video, the city that used to work. We want to make it work. We want the city to be safe. We want the city to be clean, especially the transit is something that I highlighted. And I'm not highlighting these things, Brandis, because consultants or political pros are telling me. I'm highlighting because that's what people tell me to highlight when I go across the city and campaign. So they want a problem solver. I'm going to be running against four career politicians in this large field, and the four of them have run for 14 different offices over the course of their career. And in fact, two of them are going to be running for two offices at the same time. That really shows Chicago voters. They want the title. I want the job. So we mentioned your background as a lobbyist. How are you planning to navigate potential conflicts of interest from your career, from your time spent there? It's a very simple and straightforward answer, like I have said to numerous interviews. My number one concern are the Chicago taxpayers, full stop. I've been a lobbyist my whole career. You can dig up anywhere you'd like. We've never had any ethical issues or any concerns. And I think that the mayor of Chicago really needs to be a lobbyist. And you need to lobby the city council. so that you don't have a budget issue like we have that's leading to this Bally's problem, which is embarrassing the city. You also need the lobby Springfield so that we can go get what is rightfully ours in the city of Chicago. You have to go down there and fight for dollars for the city of Chicago, as well as the federal government. So I have one guiding principle when I become mayor of Chicago. It's if someone comes in to my office, a former client, family friend or a friend, I'm going to tell them no if what they're proposing is not what's right for Chicago. So I think that it's a really easy solution for me because I have that inner belief that I'm going to do what's best for Chicago residents and full stop. Okay, so let's take a look at a clip from a video that was posted to your campaign's X account today. For Engine 123, Tower 39, Engage Park. Great crew of guys here. Great view of the city from up here. And they call over to 116, that's 60th at the National, and we had two visits at one day. So we had a great day today. Learned a lot about ambulances. We need more ambulance in the city, Chicago. Learned about the aging of the fire trucks. So a very informative visit. They're fun, but they're very informative talking to all the folks.

So, John, we've seen before instances where campaigns, politicians are using city resources like fire trucks, though. Are you aware that the Board of Ethics has ruled on this that it is not allowed to be used in campaign videos for elected officials or photos for that matter? Well, that wasn't a campaign video. This is part of my tour of the city of Chicago. There are 96 fire department, firehouses in the city of Chicago, and I'm going to visit all of them. We're there as a private citizen asking them questions. We don't distribute any kind of campaign literature. We don't ask them for signatures. What we're doing is talking to Chicago Firemen because elected officials are not talking to them. We're talking to police officers. And I'm prepared to take those kind of political hits where how dare you go to a firehouse and actually sit down and talk to Chicago Firemen. The response I'm getting from the men and women of the fire department is great. Yesterday, I had two firefighters off duty. come up to me at the Taylor Street Festival and ask me to please come visit their firehouse. We're not talking politics. In fact, I'm letting the firemen and policemen do all the talking. So it's not a campaign side. You're not asking them for their signature or their vote, but you are using the resource in a video that is appearing on your campaign website. So is that the same as being a private citizen? appearing. I believe that we're going to continue to go to these Chicago firehouses and all of these neighbors in the city of Chicago and talk to the people that really matter and let them do the talking to us. So we understand that this is what happens when you run for office. It becomes kind of a political football. And I think this kind of stuff that we're talking about is what Chicago wins are sick of. They want a candidate. I hope all the candidates go to the firehouses. I hope they all go to the police departments and talk to city workers. You know, why can't stop and talk to a city worker if they have a city truck. So it's not something that we're intentionally trying to use it for political purposes. And I think if you were to ask some of those firemen off the record, they would say they value and appreciate the conversations that we had. So we're going to continue to do it because I'm committed to go on to see all these firefighters and these police officers. So a city budget task force has estimated, as you know, that the city could face a $700 million budget shortfall in 2027. How would you address that problem as mayor? Well, we have a $17 billion budget. It's grown billion. of dollars. I believe when Rahm Emanuel was mayor, the budget was close to $12 billion. Now here we are, X amount of years later, and it's $17 billion. The number one way for us to get out of this budget problem is through growth. 30% of our downtown is vacant. That's because of the failed leadership of the mayor. It's the failed leadership of the politicians I'm running against who have been sitting there watching the mayor put the city in the state of the client. When your economic engine... is only spartering at 70% of its maximum power. The city doesn't operate functioning. We're not able to produce the revenue. And now homeowners that I talk to all over the city are seeing that with a downtown that's 30% of the, they pay the bill on their property taxes. So we definitely need a growth strategy for the city of Chicago. People go all around the country brand us. We talked about different cities off air. People go to other cities, and there's cranes. We have one crane. Chicago is the greatest city in the world. And we have the tools necessary to fix the problems. I just think that those tools are in the wrong hands. A city like Chicago, sorry, should not have just one crane.

And that's why we're in this budget problem because we're not allowing business people to come to Chicago to start their businesses. So you talk about efforts to grow the tax base. If those efforts, you know, should not materialize in time to fix the 2027 shortfall, how else would you grow revenue or cut costs? There's no way that adding 30% more revenue to this city will not result in positive aspects for the budget. Yes, you have to be fiscally responsible, and I understand how that works. But the key is, is you have to hire... the best and brightest people in the city of Chicago. How can we hire the best and brightest when sometimes we run them out of town? I sat with a businessman who used to have 800 employees at his downtown office, and when I was there with him, he had only 100. So we lost not only a lot of employees, a lot of revenue, but we have a brain drain in the city where people are leaving because these companies are moving elsewhere. We cannot... bring people that can sit down with the mayor and talk about these budget problems if the streets are not clean, the streets are not safe. So I disagree. I think that by adding 30% in growth to the downtown area, we can start tackling these budget issues. Okay, so our reporting also shows that you registered to vote in Chicago in 2024 and that you owned a home in Orland Park until December 2025. Tell voters how committed you are to the city of Chicago. My family history in the city of Chicago dates back to 1890. 101 years later, after my grandfather built a hotel in Woodlawn, I graduated from Mount Carmel High School in 1991. My grandfather was a Chicago police officer. My sister was a Chicago public school teacher. My mother owned a currency exchange, which is a small business on the southeast side. We have been in the city of Chicago for decades. We did spend some time growing up out in the suburbs. We've been in the city since 2024. I've been a resident of the city. I voted in the presidential election after 2024 in the city. I am very committed. I've had my business in this city. And I think that those are coming from my opponents that are afraid of the candidacy that I have because I'm talking directly to Chicago voters about their problems and not doing partisan politics like they're doing with these shots. But I welcome them because that's the thing. You know, I met a lady on the CTA on Roosevelt Road, and the first thing she asked me, you're running for mayor, Mr. Kelly? I hope you have thick skin. So we've got the thick skin to see through this race. We're very committed to the city and always have been. Okay. So you mentioned the CTA. The most recent CPD, Chicago Police Department data, shows that crime on the CTA is down 28.5% compared to this time in 2025 and down 31.5% since 2024. What do you think still needs to change about the city's approach to public transit and crime? When it comes to crime, again, I always go back to why I'm doing this. I'm out campaigning every day. Crime and safety is how someone feels. People don't say, oh, this crime is down to certain percentage. I feel that percentage safer. People in the city of Chicago, they're as safe as they feel, and speaking with them, they're telling me that they don't feel safe. On July 24th, a woman was beaten and robbed by an unruly group of teenagers, and she was robbed and sent to the hospital at the Roosevelt Station, which is why I was there talking to people.

Two days later, Brandis, another woman was beaten, robbed, and sent to the hospital by an unruly group of teenagers. I don't care where crime stats people are trying to talk about. Chicago residents do not feel safe, and they tell me that every single day. That's why I've made it a center point of the campaign because I'm responding to what the voters are telling me. So Chicagoans are as safe as they feel. They don't look at crime stats and wake up and read those. Okay, that's where we'll have to leave it. Best of luck to you on the campaign trail. John Kelly. Thanks for joining us. You bet. And additional candidates running for mayor have also been joining us here on Chicago tonight. You can visit our website to find those interviews at WTTW.com slash mayor 2027. And we're back right after this. For the next three days, Chicagoans will be choosing sides. Blue versus black, North versus South, Cubs versus Sox. For only the second time in 18 years, Chicago's rival baseball teams will face off in a cross-town classic in which both squads boast winning records. The Cubs enter Monday's game with a better record at 72 wins and 53 losses, but must fend off a hot first-place white socks team coming off an impressive sweep against division rival Detroit. So joining us to preview the series are Mike Mulligan of 1043 to score. And Jesse Rogers, a reporter for ESPN covering the MLB and the Chicago Cubs. Welcome both of you. Thanks for joining us. Sure thing. Okay, so an exciting time to be a Chicago baseball fan because a lot of times this part of the year, everybody's just talking about bears preseason. But this year is different. The White Sox just swept the second place Tigers, putting them five and a half games up, six games up on Minnesota and Cleveland. Mike, over to you first. How surprised are you that the White Sox are not only in first place, but they are that far ahead this late in the season? Well, I mean, honestly, things could have gone a lot differently in Detroit. It was their lead in the division was down to two and a half games. And we were talking on Friday about the possibility that the socks could be going to Wrigley Field no longer in first place. And that just scared you. That was by far their most important and their best probably. series performance certainly on the road that we've seen this year. And the Sox just have this resiliency. I think this season has been a shocker. And this is a team that went through three years of losing 100 plus games, including 121, the worst season in MLB history. two years ago. So incredible that they're in charge of the division and just had this statement series. Yeah, that's a pretty big turnaround. Jesse, the Cubs, they're coming off of a rough couple of losses against St. Louis. Actually, they have a better record than the Sox, but they're in a tough division, right? Five games behind Milwaukee. Just how good are the Cubs this year?

Oh, they're very good. They're a well-rounded team. They pretty much have strengths in all areas of the game. They just suffered an injury at shortstop. Dansby Swanson is going to be out for a while, but they have enough to overcome. They're as deep as they've been in years. They have enough pitching. They play good defense. They have just enough power, I think, in a good lengthy lineup. Like, there's a lot of good things about the Cubs. They're very good. It remains to be seen if they're great. The playoffs will determine if the Cubs are a great team. That's what's the separator right now because they made the playoffs last year. It's not good enough just to make it. They have the highest payroll in the division by far. So we will find out over the next eight to ten weeks just how good they are. Losing Swanson's going to hurt for a while, but he should be back before the postseason. And if they can catch Milwaukee, all the better, because that will give them a first round buy in the playoffs. And that's always much needed at the end of a long season. And Jesse, you mentioned Dansby Swanson. You broke that story this afternoon. How will that impact the team? Well, it's a loss defensively. That's the big thing. He was batting eighth, ninth in the lineup. They can overcome, I think, offensively, you know, what they need to do. Pedro Ramirez is a good-looking rookie that's going to play second base now. And Nico Horner will move over to short. Nico's a fine infielder. He can handle it. But it is a loss because this is one of the best short stops in the league. And, you know, anytime you're deep and then you lose a guy and you become a little bit thinner there, you start to worry. What if there's another injury? So they can overcome it. Just got to be careful that, you know, something else doesn't pop up. And the fact of the matter is he is a go-glove caliber defender. So you will lose something there. But at least they have really good players to sort of fill in for him until he gets back. Mike, which team would you say has more at stake in tonight's three game series? Yeah, we had an argument about that this morning. I feel like the Cubs, what are they, 19 games over 500? I get it. They still trail Milwaukee. But if they can get that to, I don't know, three and a half games, something like that, they still play them straight up seven times. That's a decent strike ratio for them. I feel like the White Sox. Just given where they've been and where they're at, they need more wins. You know, they're 39 games left in this season. Their magic number is 36. It's not like they have some, you know, they're the class of the AL Central. Don't get me wrong. But like I said, they had a really good weekend, so they probably look a little better than they really are. They just got to keep kind of trying to churn it out.

Jessie, how important would you say it is to be a division winner as opposed to being a wildcard team, right? Like how much more of an advantage could that be for the Sox? And could it be a disadvantage for the Cubs? Yeah, I mean, I think so. It's not like wildcard teams haven't won the World Series. I mean, there's different formulas in October that work. But if you want to set up your pitching staff, having that buy is so much better. You get a few days off. You can line up your top pitchers for the next series. Meanwhile, the team you're going to play is playing in a wild card round. They're using up their pitching. So I think it's huge. It's not necessarily going to. you know, crush the Cubs if they don't get the buy, but it just gives the socks such an advantage to have one. So that's the way I look at it. It's more of a plus than anything than a negative on the other side in my world. I think you can win either way. But man, setting up your staff and giving a few days off to those pitchers is huge. Mike, what would you say have been the keys to success of each team? Well, I think that the Cubs are a great defensive team. You know, they're built to be a great defensive team, and we've seen it over and over again. You know, PCA has had an MVP-type season, MVP, and he's just been sensational all year long, and he's been carrying this team for stretches. They now have increased their pitching staff. I mean, I don't know. how exactly the hierarchy will work come playoff time. But, man, they went out and got some great pitching. The socks have power. The socks, you know, they went out and got Munitaka Murakami from Japan, who, by the way, I believe is Faced Shoda Imanaga. six times in Japan. There were six homers against them in Japan, something like that. So here's hoping. But, you know, they've just got this unbelievable vibe with all these young guys. And it's just been a ton of fun to watch them find success through that. Jesse, what do you think some of the possible downfalls of these two teams could be in the final six weeks of the season? Well, the funny thing is I actually think the socks are built better for the postseason especially. Left-handed power is really important. You face mostly righties, and you need to run into some home runs. They've proven that for a long time now. That's why they have so many come from behind wins because they can get into the late innings and all of a sudden the left-handed comes up because they have so many good ones and he hits a home run. And they have a veteran bullpen. Even though it's a young team, they have a veteran bullpen the White Sox. So their formula actually works for the stretch run and the playoffs. Even if they're not as strong in the starting staff, inexperience would be the one thing with the White Sox in general. Just, you know, other than that bullpen, it's an inexperienced group. It's playoffs are a different story. But I actually think they're fine for the rest of this regular season. They've proven a lot, especially this past weekend. The Cubs.

You know, I think they're great for the regular season. They may not be as built for the playoffs. They don't have that kind of left-handed slug outside of PCA that the White Sox have. They don't have that veteran bullpen necessarily. They've had a lot of injuries, though guys like Jacob Webb have stepped up. If defense matters in the playoffs, and sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, that's where the Cubs can win a close tight playoff series. But if it comes down to just a few home runs for each team, I don't like the Cubs as much as I like some of the potential opponents down the stretch and in the playoffs. Hopefully they can sort of make it about something else. Make it about getting the starter out after a lot of pitches and racking up hits and a lengthy lineup. And that could be the difference for the Cubs. All right. Just a couple seconds left, gentlemen. Who wants to predict a Cubs Sox Cross Town World Series? Well, I don't think they're going to play in the World Series. That would be great, especially if they made them take the red lines. But I think two to one, I'll say, for the Cubs. All right. I'll just, I'll repeat what Craig Counsel said when someone asked him about that today. Sign me up. Stocks World Series. I think the entire city of Chicago would take that. That is where we're going to have to leave it. Thanks to both of you, Mike Mulligan and Jesse Rogers. Appreciate you. You got it. God bless. Back to wrap things up right after this.

And that's our show for this Monday night. You can stream Chicago tonight on our WTTW YouTube channel every evening and catch up on any programs you may have missed. And join us tomorrow night at 5.30 and 10. Now for all of us here at Chicago tonight, I'm Brandis Friedman. Thanks for watching. Stay healthy and safe and have a good night. Closed captioning is made possible by Robert A. Clifford and Clifford Law Offices, a personal injury law firm, working to preserve the dignity and rights of all individuals. PBS NewsHour, next on WTTW. Next time on Antiques Road Show, it's a roller coaster of emotions. No way. Yes, seriously. Oh, I got a little chill. The Pokemon market is extremely volatile. It's Antiques Road Show, next time from Shelburne Museum. Tonight at 7 on WTT. Princess Diana didn't follow the royal script. My interests are humanitarian. And when her life crumbled around her, the fairy tale was coming into an end. She fought back. She was very nervous about what was going to happen. Absolute shock. How Princess Die changed the face of royalty over her short lifetime. She broke all the folks for all the roars. On Diana's decades. Tonight at 9 on WTT. WTTW makes it possible for me and my colleagues to share the stories of our shared history with everyone. I'm Ken Burns, and I invite you to show your support by becoming a sustaining member today. Hello, and thanks for joining us.

Whether you are caring for a child who is blind, a parent losing their vision, or a veteran finding new footing. The Chicago Lighthouse is here for you and for your family. Through lifelong support, job training, education, and employment, we help people gain real skills, providing tools to live independently and build a career. We don't just help people see. We help them see who they can become. The Chicago Lighthouse, lighting up human potential. WTTW programming originates from the Renee Crown Public Media Center. Programming that enriches lives on WTTTW is made possible in part by the John F. Bird Estate. In this episode, talk show host Sarah Haynes, an actor and playwright Tracy Letts. Uncovered their roots. That's amazing. I'm related to a president. It's for real. Tuesday at 7 on WTTW. When is hitting the road an adventure and not a chore? How about when you pile into the car for a family vacation? You don't have to be a time traveler to relive the Great Midwest Road trip. The mistake I made was looking. Buckle your seat belts. It's Chicago on vacation. Tuesday at 8 on WTT. I'm Mason and you're watching WTTW.

Good evening. I'm Amna Nawaz. Jeff Bennett is away. On the news hour tonight, the 60-day window to reach a deal to end the war with Iran expires as tensions rise around key shipping routes. The president calls for joint U.S.-S.-South Korea military exercises to be scaled back, citing South Korea's unwillingness to help with the Iran war. And scientists study whether it would be feasible to build a large-scale underwater barrier to slow the melting of glaciers. Can it solve it completely forever? No, because if you keep warming the atmosphere, this is going to retreat faster. Major funding for the PBS NewsHour has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. And Friends of the News Hour, including Leonard and Norma Clorfein and the Judy and Peter Bloom-Kovler Foundation. A life with impact in this moment and into the future. A Raymond James Advice.