The closures began Monday, nearly a month before the event, to allow for setup. Motorists should be prepared for heavy traffic and reroutes throughout the event, according to the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications. Both the CTA and Metra will provide additional service.

More than half of Grant Park will remain open to the public throughout the event, including popular features such as Buckingham Fountain, Butler Field and Lower Hutchinson Field.

All of NASCAR demobilization activities are expected to conclude July 18, the city said.

Last year’s race drew criticism for traffic and limited lakefront accessibility, prompting officials to say setup and takedown time this year would be reduced from 25 days to 19 days. When asked in April to clarify the timeline, city officials said building and taking down the main parts of the course, and the closure of major roads needed to do so, would be reduced by six days.

The city said at the time it did this partly by moving some deliveries of equipment off busy Columbus Drive to Ida B. Wells Drive. That means eight fewer days of lane closures on Columbus, NASCAR said.

Here’s a complete list of street closures throughout the event.

Pre-race activity in Grant Park

• June 10: Ida B. Wells Drive will close from Michigan Avenue to Columbus Drive starting at 12:01 a.m. to allow for construction of the main viewing areas; and limited parking restrictions will be put in place along southbound Columbus Drive between Jackson Drive and Balbo Drive

• June 19 to June 20: Temporary road closure from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. on northbound Michigan Avenue from Congress Circle to Jackson Drive to allow for a pedestrian walkway to be installed while viewing structures are being assembled

• June 26 – Beginning at 8 p.m.: Northbound traffic lane closure on Congress Circle

• June 27 – Beginning at 7 p.m.: Curb lane closure of Columbus Drive between Jackson Drive and Roosevelt Road

Significant street closures

• June 27 – Beginning at 7 p.m.: Closure of Jackson Drive between Michigan Avenue and Columbus Drive

• June 28 – Beginning at 8 a.m.: Closure of Balbo Drive from Columbus Drive to DuSable Lake Shore Drive (intersection will remain open)

• June 28 – Beginning at 7 p.m.: Full closure of Balbo Drive from Michigan Avenue to Columbus Drive

• June 29 – Beginning at 7 p.m.: Southbound lane closure on Columbus Drive from Balbo Drive to Roosevelt Road

• July 1 – Beginning at 1 a.m.: Closure of Columbus Drive between Jackson Drive and Roosevelt Road. Closure of Jackson Drive between Columbus Drive and DuSable Lake Shore Drive

• July 1 – Beginning at 9 p.m.: Closure of southbound DuSable Lake Shore Drive between Randolph Street and McFetridge Drive. Reopening at 6 a.m. on July 2

• July 2 – Beginning at 6 a.m.: Closure of Congress Circle and entrances at Michigan Avenue, Van Buren Street and Harrison Street

• July 4 – Beginning at 9 p.m.: Closure of westbound and eastbound Roosevelt Road between Michigan Avenue and DuSable Lake Shore Drive. Closure of northbound Michigan Avenue between Roosevelt Road and Jackson Drive

• July 5 – Beginning at 12:01 a.m.: Closure of northbound and southbound DuSable Lake Shore Drive between Randolph Street and McFetridge Drive. Closure of southbound Michigan Avenue between Roosevelt Road and Jackson Drive. Closure of the northbound lane of Indiana Avenue at 13th Street. Closure on Monroe Street between Columbus Drive and DuSable Lake Shore Drive

Race weekend street closures – July 6 and July 7

• Southbound DuSable Lake Shore Drive from Randolph Street to McFetridge Drive

• Northbound DuSable Lake Shore Drive from McFetridge Drive to Randolph Street

• Northbound Michigan Avenue from Roosevelt Road to Jackson Drive

• Southbound Michigan Avenue from Jackson Drive to 8th Street

• Monroe Street from Columbus Drive to DuSable Lake Shore Drive

• Columbus Drive from Roosevelt Road to Monroe Street

• Roosevelt Road from DuSable Lake Shore Drive to Michigan Avenue

• Jackson Drive from Michigan Avenue to DuSable Lake Shore Drive

• Balbo Drive from Michigan Avenue to DuSable Lake Shore Drive

• Ida B. Wells Drive from Michigan Avenue to Columbus Drive

• Congress Circle from Harrison Street to Van Buren Street

• Northbound Indiana Avenue from Roosevelt Road to 13th Street

• Post Place: Entrance and exit of Lower Wacker Drive

• Garvey Court: Entrance and exit of Lower Wacker Drive

• Reopening Schedule: The northbound section of DuSable Lake Shore Drive is set to reopen on July 8 at 6 a.m. After the event, select streets will gradually reopen

• Priority Streets: The priority streets for reopening are DuSable Lake Shore Drive, Michigan Avenue and Columbus Drive. Other street closures will remain in place until the demobilization of the track wall, fence and viewing structures is completed. All NASCAR-related demobilization activities are expected to conclude by the end of the day on July 18

Streets with local access only for residents, businesses and their employees

Sidewalks will remain open throughout the setup and teardown (June 10 – July 18).

• Southbound Michigan Avenue from Monroe Street to Jackson Drive

• Southbound Michigan Avenue from 8th to Roosevelt Road

• 8th Street from Wabash Avenue to Michigan Avenue

• 9th Street from Wabash Avenue to Michigan Avenue

• 11th Street from Wabash Avenue to Michigan Avenue

• Balbo Drive from Wabash Avenue to Michigan Avenue

• Harrison Street from Wabash Avenue to Michigan Avenue

• Ida B. Wells from Wabash Avenue to Michigan Avenue

• Jackson Blvd. from Wabash Avenue to Michigan Avenue

• Van Buren Street from Wabash Avenue to Michigan Avenue

• Monroe Street from Michigan Avenue to Columbus Drive

• Southbound DuSable Lake Shore Drive from Randolph Street to Monroe Street

• Northbound Michigan Avenue from 13th to 16th Street

• Northbound Indiana Avenue from 14th to 16th Street

• Columbus underpass and the Chicago Lakefront Bicycle Path will remain open throughout the event (this includes Monroe Street and Roosevelt Road)

• Pedestrians traveling west must utilize and access sidewalk on the north side of Monroe Street, Roosevelt Road or Columbus Drive underpass only

Alternative routes available – streets may be closed by the city of Chicago, if deemed necessary

• DuSable Lake Shore Drive northbound will remain open from South Shore Drive to I-55 merger

• To visit the Museum Campus from the South: Exit DuSable Lake Shore Drive at 31st Street and utilize Fort Dearborn Drive to proceed north and access 18th Drive

• To visit the Museum Campus from the North: Access Stevenson Expressway (I-55N), and merge onto DuSable Lake Shore Drive Exit at 18th Street

• DuSable Lake Shore Drive Southbound will remain open from Hollywood Boulevard to Randolph Street

• Inner DuSable Lake Shore Drive will remain open in both directions

• Dan Ryan Expressway (I-90/94) will remain open in both directions

• Kennedy Expressway (I-90/94) will remain open in both directions. Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) will remain open in both directions

• Stevenson Expressway (I-55) will remain open in both directions

• In the Loop, the following streets will remain open: State Street, Dearborn Street, Clark Street, LaSalle Street, Wells Street, Franklin Street, Upper Wacker Drive, Lower Wacker Drive, Randolph Street, Washington Street, Madison Street, Roosevelt Road – West of Michigan Avenue, 18th Street

Around 7 a.m., Chicago police officers rang their doorbell in Auburn Gresham to ask if she knew Nelson.

Nelson, 44, had been shot and killed early Monday outside BJ Wright Court Apartments in Little Italy, according to police and the security company that employed him.

Officers found Nelson lying outside in the 1400 block of South Morgan Street about 4:10 a.m. He suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the torso and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. Police said the shooter was in a dark-colored sedan.

Now Thomas and the two children she shared with Nelson are trying to make sense of his sudden death.

“It doesn’t seem real, because he was such a workaholic,” said Thomas, 42. “We are just in disbelief.”

Thomas and Nelson met at Roberto Clemente High School more than 20 years ago and had been together ever since, she said. Nelson was a doting father to their daughter in particular, Thomas said. He’d take her to museums, restaurants and to the lakefront for “quality time” and they’d been planning to go to the zoo Tuesday, she said. Later in the summer, Nelson had been looking forward to his first-ever plane trip, for a friend’s birthday in Georgia.

He had hoped to one day own his own security company and pass the firm on to his 11-year-old son, Thomas said.

“I want people that work like me, reliable (people) like me,” Thomas remembered him saying.

Besides his job as a security guard with Benford Protection Group, Nelson also worked part time at a 7-Eleven store, she said: “He didn’t want to be sitting in the house. He was like, ‘I can’t just sit. I’ve got to work.’”

Thomas “always” worried about Nelson’s safety on the job in the past — earlier this year a man tried to hit him in a car outside the apartment complex where he died, she said. But she was still stunned.

“You never think it’s going to happen to you,” Thomas said. “You never think they’re going to come to your door, that it’s going to be your loved one.”

In a statement, Benford Protection Group condemned the attack as “cowardly and reprehensible,” offering condolences to Nelson’s family and praising his work with the firm.

“Officer Nelson was a dedicated member of our team, who was loved and respected by the clients he served and the colleagues with whom he worked,” the statement read. “His dedication, bravery, service and sacrifice will not be forgotten.”

The company said it would offer grief counseling to employees, adding that they were cooperating with the police investigation. Police said no one was in custody as detectives continued their investigation.

“Just to be able to check this off my bucket list is huge,” Holland, 36, said. “It’s amazing. Absolutely amazing.”

The rare titan arum — fittingly dubbed a corpse flower — is on display and in bloom at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe. The flowering structures, known as the largest unbranched inflorescence in the word, are exceedingly rare. It’s a sight to see — and, well, smell.

The plant emits the rotten stench to attract its natural pollinators, carrion beetles and flesh flies. Amid a crowd of curious visitors, 5-year-old Sally Uttech crinkled her nose.

“It smells bad,” she muttered.

The Botanic Garden has housed titan arums since 2003, and now nurtures 18 of the endangered species. They’re native to rugged rainforests on Sumatra, an Indonesian island along the equator. Most of the remaining plants are cultivated inside gardens around the world.

It can take more than a decade for a titan arum to develop before its first bloom. Even then, the cycle is unpredictable. Scientists are often unsure if new growth is a leaf or a flower bud, which usually emerges every three to four years. For Plant Production Manager Tim Pollak, it adds to the excitement.

“We’re certainly proud of the fact that we’re able to get them into bloom in such a successful way,” Pollak said, who tends to the plants year-round. “Knowing that it is the world’s largest inflorescence is breathtaking,” Pollak said.

The titan arum currently in bloom for the third time, named Sumatra, last flowered in 2017. A second flower, Spike, is set to bloom for the fourth time in the coming week.

When a bud emerges, the plant grows 5 to 6 inches per day for about two weeks, with the spiky spadix rising above the spathe. Finally, the growth slows, the spathe unfurls, and the plant blasts a foul-smelling odor over an hourslong period. The plant turns a maroon, meat-colored hue to attract pollinators.

In years when the flower isn’t in bloom, it sprouts a massive leaf, which stretches up to 15 feet in the air.

The growth of more corpse flowers is largely a collaborative effort with other gardens around the country. The Botanic Garden freezes and ships pollen so that the titan arums can reproduce with other members of the species.

“We’re acting as a pollen bank with other facilities,” Pollak said. “The botanic garden world is very cooperative, in the sense that we need pollen, you need pollen, we’re willing to share it.”

Dozens huddled around the two titan arums on a recent morning, which sat inside wooden planters. Many visitors took photos beside them. Others dared to whiff the plant as they approached.

Holland drove three hours from the Quad Cities with his family just to catch a glimpse. He first heard about the elusive plant 15 years ago. When he heard that two at the Botanic Garden were set to bloom, he closely monitored them online.

“I told my boss, ‘When I get the alert, I’m gone. I’m going to disappear for 24 hours or so,’” Holland said with a laugh. “My wife texted me yesterday that Sumatra opened, and I’m like, ‘We’re going first thing in the morning.’”

Travis VanZuiden, 37, and Veronica Spriggs, 38, decided to drive three hours from Iowa just to catch a glimpse of the plant. It lived up to their expectations.

“They’re big, they’re rare, they’re unusual,” VanZuiden said as he stared. “It doesn’t even look real.”

The couple said the smell wasn’t as bad as they thought. Its sheer size seemed to distract from the odor, they said.

“He’s been talking about this for years, and I was like, ‘Well, okay,’” Spriggs said. “But seeing it now, I understand. It’s very cool.”

Officers responded to a shots fired call on the 5800 block of West Division Street at around 9:48 p.m. and discovered the man on the ground. A handgun was recovered in his hand, according to police.

The man sustained two gunshot wounds to the head and two to the chest. He was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in critical condition and was later pronounced dead, police said.

The circumstances of the shooting are unknown, and no one is in custody.

The teen was standing in the lot on the 3400 block of South King Drive at around 10:13 p.m. when shots were fired. He was taken to UChicago Medicine in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to police.

Police could not immediately confirm if the shooting was connected to a drive-by shooting that happened earlier Friday night in the same neighborhood.

No one is in custody, police said.

The complaint, filed in federal court, alleges that the Fenton Community High School District 100 Board of Education is responsible for “permitting, enabling and empowering” the misconduct of longtime teacher and track coach Michael Berago.

Berago, 40, was fired from Fenton High School in March after a school investigation into misconduct, according to the complaint. The lawsuit alleges the woman, named as “Survivor A” in court documents, was sexually harassed, assaulted and raped by Berago while she was a minor in 2015 and 2016.

“She’s coming forward to seek justice and to hold this institution accountable and to make sure this doesn’t happen to other children,” said lead attorney Patrick Thronson. “She felt that enough was enough. The fact that Berago could be retained in employment was immensely disturbing to her.”

The Fenton Board of Education did not immediately return a request for comment. Amid the investigation into Berago’s misconduct, Superintendent James Ongtengco was placed on administrative leave in March.

A criminal investigation into Berago is ongoing, Bensenville police said in an email.

Berago declined to comment on the lawsuit or allegations of sexual abuse.

The complaint describes a pervasive culture of silence and negligence at Fenton, where school staff were allegedly aware of Berago’s serial abuse but took no substantial action, according to the complaint. Administrators received multiple complaints about Berago’s conduct with several students in 2011, according to the lawsuit. The complaint says Berago was hired at Fenton in 2007 as a 23-year-old.

“The lawsuit details a very, extremely concerning and disturbing pattern of conduct by Fenton High School over the course of many years,” Thronson said. “Fenton High School, the lawsuit alleges, was grossly negligent in its failure to protect students from the predation of Michael Berago.”

The lawsuit states Berago began to groom “Survivor A “in the spring of 2015, when she joined the track team that he coached. He began texting her on a school-issued cellphone, and the messages soon became sexual in nature, the lawsuit says. Berago would “rape her” in his car before track practice and throughout the school day, according to the complaint.

The signs of their inappropriate relationship were “open and obvious” to other school staff, the lawsuit says.

In December 2016, the woman allegedly was summoned to a meeting with the superintendent and a school resource officer, who confronted her about Berago’s conduct, the complaint states. She was “fearful, intimidated and alone” and denied the relationship, according to the lawsuit.

The superintendent and the school resource officer never reported the meeting to the woman’s parents and did not comply with Illinois’ mandatory reporting law, the complaint says.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified dollar amount and asks the court to order the Fenton Board of Education to implement policies and procedures to prevent future abuse from staff. “I think people who have not been through that can only imagine what that’s been like,” Thronson said.

The 21-year-old recruit was traveling westbound on the 2600 block of West Gunnison Street when his vehicle was struck by gunfire around 12:15 a.m., police said. He sustained a gunshot wound to the head before he hit a parked vehicle, according to police.

The recruit was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he is listed in good condition. A 24-year-old man who was a passenger in the vehicle was not injured, police said.

No arrests have been made.

“He’s always up there,” said the truck’s driver, Jeremiah Smith, 27, as he stared at the image. “I always know that.”

Twelve hours a day, six days a week, Smith drives the truck through the Chicago area, raising awareness for the scores of Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas. But the man on the screen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, is more than a distant figure. 

To Smith, he’s like a brother. When Smith was 6 years old, he met Hersh’s grandmother, a tutor at his elementary school, and was taken under her wing. It’s a story of familial love, a bridge of backgrounds — stronger than ever as a war wages on. 

“I wouldn’t want nobody else to drive the truck,” Smith said, clutching the Star of David around his neck. “I just want that guy to come home.”

‘I was always with Marcy’

Smith grew up in Cabrini-Green Homes, a public housing complex on Chicago’s Near North Side. His mother didn’t have a high school diploma, and his childhood was marked with violence. He saw his first dead body when he was 6. 

“You have to grow up a little bit faster than what you want when you’re living in that situation,” Smith said. “I saw people getting in fights, people getting shot, people selling drugs.”

Smith wonders if he would have been swept up in the tumult of his childhood. But then Marcy Goldberg, Hersh’s grandmother, stepped into his life. She volunteered as a tutor in Smith’s first grade classroom at George Manierre Elementary. 

“My teacher asked who wanted to go with her … I didn’t raise my hand because I didn’t care about, you know, going to class,” Smith said with a laugh. “But my teacher happened to pick me.”

The connection was instant. Marcy was struck by the playful, free-spirited child, and began to tutor him beyond their two-hour sessions at school. He visited her Gold Coast home on the weekends, joining her family for Shabbat dinner. It was his first brush with Jewish culture. 

He lived with Marcy from seventh grade through high school. He remained close with his own mother, who was grateful for Marcy’s support. 

“I was always with Marcy, everywhere she go,” said Smith. “I went out of town, I was with Marcy. Every family event, Passover, Hanukkah, I was with Marcy.”

Smith met Hersh shortly after meeting his grandmother. At the mention of his friend, Smith rattles off a string of anecdotes from their childhood together. The pair’s upbringings were vastly different, but somewhere they found common ground. 

“He couldn’t play basketball for nothing,” Smith added. “But that’s what I used to play. I’d have him on the basketball court the whole day. He’s like, ‘Just for you, I’m gonna keep running.’”

He even traveled with the family to Hersh’s bar mitzvah in Israel. Hersh didn’t know how to introduce Smith to their Israeli relatives, so he called him his “brother cousin uncle.”

“So that’s what everybody called me,” Smith said. “Hersh is just a funny kid.”

‘I’m amazed that he’s alive still’

Hersh’s parents, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, grew up in the Chicago area. After college, the couple moved to Berkeley, California, where their son was born. They relocated to Jerusalem in 2008.

Hersh, now 23, was kidnapped at the Tribe of Nova music festival in southern Israel during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants killed roughly 1,200 people and abducted about 250 more. Israeli officials say about 80 hostages, including Hersh, are still held captive in Gaza. 

As Hamas stormed the Negev desert, Hersh was evacuated into a bomb shelter, but operatives threw nearly a dozen grenades inside. Video from the attack shows militants hauling Hersh and three other survivors into a pickup truck. In the footage, he sits in the vehicle dazed and bloodied. Part of his left arm was blown off. 

After Hamas’ assault, Israel launched a war in the territory, displacing more than 1 million Palestinians. So far, more than 36,000 people have been killed in Gaza. 

Hersh’s family had no idea if he was alive until April 24, when Hamas released a three-minute video of him in captivity. He sat before a bare wall under fluorescent lighting. His hand was missing, his head was shaved. Tears stained his face. 

“I saw the video, and I cried because it was like, ‘I’m amazed that he’s alive still,’” Smith said. “I had given up hope.”

Hersh’s parents launched an international campaign, Bring Hersh Home, to raise awareness for the hostage crisis. They met President Joe Biden at the White House at the end of May. 

“Do not stop reaching out to elected officials to make sure they are screaming at the top of their lungs,” Hersh’s father told the Tribune in October. 

‘He’s just another one of my kids’

Standing beside the truck on a recent morning, Smith wore a shirt reading “Bring Them Home,” along with a pin emblazoned with his friend’s face. He always wears both when he drives. 

Sometimes, he’ll park the vehicle at specific sites, such as the pro-Palestinian encampment at DePaul University before it was disbanded, or Union Station downtown. Other days, he’ll chart wandering routes through different neighborhoods. 

People often approach Smith with an onslaught of hateful and derogatory comments, but most are just curious, he said. He tries not to get political. He just wants his friend back. 

“I feel sorry for all the innocent people that were killed,” Smith said. “But I’m just here to spread awareness about all the hostages.”

The truck was concocted by Jeff Aeder, a close friend of Hersh’s family. Aeder was inspired after he saw a similar initiative at a pro-Palestinain demonstration, and he pooled together the money to buy a vehicle in March. It’s an instrument to combat rising antisemitism across the nation, he said. 

“I’m a lover of Israel and just a compassionate human being,” Aeder said. “But you don’t have to be a lover of Israel to recognize the brutality of this massacre. It was just something that reached into your heart.”

Aeder met Smith when he was 6. Now, “he’s just another one of my kids,” he said. Smith, who was already operating a trucking business, was the perfect candidate to drive the vehicle. 

“I couldn’t be prouder. He has such a big heart,” said Aeder, who is also godfather of Smith’s 2-year-old daughter. “He has an incredible fervor for this mission.”

Aeder recently bought a second truck, which will travel across the Midwest beginning in June. The driver? None other than Smith’s best friend, LaDante Clayborn. 

Clayborn used to join Marcy and Smith for Shabbat dinners growing up — he too wears a Star of David around his neck. 

“The message is always, ‘Bring them home,’” Clayborn, 28, said. “People get mad, but what’s so bad about that? If it was your son, wouldn’t you want them to be free?”

Smith and Clayborn don’t know for how long they’ll drive the trucks. The initiative ends when all the hostages are free — it’s the least he can do, Smith added. 

“Marcy saved my life,” he said. 

Smith is getting married in August. He’s doing the mother-son dance with both his birth mother and Marcy. 

He hopes Hersh will be there too. 

The demonstration came after U. of C. withheld the degrees of four seniors involved with the university’s pro-Palestinian encampment last month. It’s the latest in a wave of protests against the war in Gaza, which have swept institutions across the nation.

“It’s so energizing,” said Youssef Hasweh, 22, a senior whose degree was withheld, as he led a cheering crowd through Cobb Gate. “The fire in the student body is insane.”

The person who was arrested tried to break through a barrier erected by police, and is unaffiliated with U. of C., according to a statement from the university. Charges are being sought for battery.

Several demonstrators were also pepper sprayed by officers. The university said “a small number of protesters acted violently.”

“The university is fundamentally committed to upholding the rights of students to express a wide range of views,” the statement said.

The demonstration began in the main quad, where thousands had gathered for the university’s 538th convocation. After U. of C. President Paul Alivisatos addressed the graduates, the crowd erupted in chants, shouting “Let them graduate.” The ceremony had only begun about 10 minutes before.

Several seniors waved Palestinian flags before marching towards Cobb Gate. Hundreds of students and some faculty followed.

Convocation speaker John A. List, a distinguished service professor, seemed to address the walkout as he took the stage. He unfurled a white t-shirt reading “I (heart) UChicago 2024” and displayed it on the podium.

“There’s my sign,” List said.

As rain poured down, demonstrators gathered on East 57th Street, many holding pro-Palestinian cardboard signs. Others wore keffiyehs over their academic regalia.

Hasweh, who is Palestinian, addressed the crowd through a megaphone as his voice broke. He and the other three students have yet to hear any updates on their degrees, he said.

“The university is complicit in the genocide of my family,” he said. “Our diplomas don’t matter if theirs don’t.”

Flanked by police, the demonstrators marched down South Woodlawn Avenue, weaving through stalled cars. They turned on East 59th Street and stopped at the intersection with South University Avenue, where dozens of officers had formed a barricade.

Protesters continued to chant and face officers before both sides began to push against the barrier. Officers then pepper-sprayed several students, and a woman was tackled to the ground.

Kelly Hui, 22, another senior who did not receive her degree, said students would not rest until U. of C. divests from funds with ties to Israel and weapons manufacturers. She was set to graduate with honors and three majors — it doesn’t matter now, she added.

“I’m so proud and honored to stand with all of you today. This is my education,” Hui told the crowd. “The university is trying to repress and scare us.”

The demonstrators later marched to another graduation ceremony for students from the Renee Granville-Grossman Residential Commons, about a block away. Protesters stood near the stage, waving Palestinian flags and chanting.

One student nearby in academic regalia waved an Israeli flag. Other students and family members expressed frustration that the graduation ceremony was disrupted.

“I didn’t come here to see this,” said Bill Ballanger, who had come from Ohio for his grandson’s graduation. “This is to celebrate those kids. Get them out.”

Brianna Suslovic, a 29-year-old PhD student, looked over the sea of umbrellas as the rain beat down. She had been pepper sprayed earlier and wiped her eyes.

“Graduation should be disrupted, given the fact that there are no graduations possible in Gaza,” Suslovic said. “We’ll be out here as long as it takes for the university to acknowledge graduation shouldn’t go on without the recognition of genocide.”

But weeks in, Rey hasn’t seen a single cicada in Lincoln Square. She jokingly called the phenomenon, “the Great Cicada Scandal of 2024.” Or, she mused, “Y2Cicada.”

“It’s a lot of hype for a disastrous event that never happened at all,” Rey said with a laugh. “Y2K was the biggest example of that in my memory.”

And Rey isn’t alone. Sightings of periodical cicadas are few and far between in much of the city. But it’s a much different story for those in Far Southwest Side neighborhoods such as Beverly, as well as the suburbs where the insects’ sound is inescapable. 

This year marks a rare double emergence, with the cycles of the 17-year and 13-year cicadas aligning for the first time in 221 years. The last overlap of Brood XIX, four species that appear every 13 years in the Southeast, and Brood XIII, three species that appear every 17 years in northern Illinois, was in 1803.

In Lisle, cicadas blanketed Tim Wangler’s front yard. His walkway was littered with shells, and nearly every leaf was crawling with the insect. He didn’t mind.

“It doesn’t bother me at all,” Wangler said. “It gives me that nostalgic feeling of summer. It reminds me of being a kid.”

The Tribune has photographed Wangler during the past two cicada emergencies in Illinois, beginning in 1990 when he was 8 years old. He now has three children of his own.

“We just have cicadas everywhere,” he said. “You can’t walk without stepping on them.”

Why aren’t there lots of cicadas in the city? 

Cicadas are typically forest dwellers who like to eat the roots of trees, according to Kacie Athey, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It’s not that cicadas inherently can’t survive in the city — a 100-year-old tree could be a good home, for example — but development has made ideal conditions quite rare, she said. 

“So much of cities have been changed or paved over — trees have been taken out, suburbs have been built, and those areas wouldn’t be places that the cicadas would be able to survive,” Athey said. 

The bugs tend to congregate in areas with older trees and undisturbed soil, she said. They also really like places where there are vestiges of forests left. In Cook County, there’s a decent chance of spotting them at the forest preserves, she said. 

But, if you haven’t seen cicadas at a specific location, you’re probably not going to, Athey said. 

“The northern Illinois brood definitely comes out later than the great southern brood, just because of its temperature,” she said. “But by now, not to say there’s not still ones coming out of the ground, but any given location, if you haven’t started to see some activity, you’re probably not.” 

To better understand the frequency of cicada sightings, Athey recommends checking out Cicada Safari, an app created by Gene Kritsky at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati. Anyone can submit photographs of periodical cicadas to the app. Once an expert verifies the picture, it’s posted to a live map. 

In the Chicago area, the app Friday afternoon showed thousands of confirmed sightings in the west and southwest suburbs, including Oak Park, Downers Grove and Palos Hills. Thousands more were in north suburbs, such as Highland Park and Glenview.

Glimpses of cicadas were more sparse within city limits, the app showed. While there were a couple hundred sightings in Beverly and (unsurprisingly) about 100 near the LaBagh Woods on the Northwest Side, many neighborhoods had no more than a dozen.

Ellen Houze, a 66-year-old Beverly resident, was working outside her home Friday afternoon, while cicadas loudly buzzed. Their sound can reach decibels comparable to a jet engine or lawn mower. She started hearing the buzzing about a week ago. 

A retired teacher, Houze said she’s only seen one cicada in her yard, but in central Beverly, there are more. Some neighbors have protective netting wrapped around trees, she said. 

“You get used to it. It’s not that bad, so it’s sort of fun,” Houze said of the sound. “I was here for the other one (emergence) that happened 17 years ago and it wasn’t a big deal.” 

Yet on a recent sunny morning in the West Loop, a park was devoid of the insects. Trees and foliage dotted the landscape, and only the dull hum of city noise cut through the air. Chicagoans at the park said they hadn’t spotted a single cicada in the neighborhood.

Kevin Sievers watched his 2-year-old son climb on the playground. He wasn’t surprised that there weren’t cicadas in a densely populated, urban area.

“Every 17 years, they make a huge deal of it, but in the city, I just don’t think they ever come out,” Sievers said. “It’s just not their natural environment.”

He watched his son amble across the grass.

“He hasn’t seen a cicada, and he doesn’t know what it is,” Sievers said. “He probably won’t for a while.”