Afternoon Edition: A cicada cataclysm is coming this summer

Good afternoon, Chicago. ✶

And happy Friday.

It’s chilly out and, unsurprisingly, I’m dreaming of summer.

That’s mainly because this past week saw several summer music festivals announce their returns, along with jam-packed lineups. I’m talking Pitchfork, ARC Music Festival and more.

Also returning this summer, but maybe a bit less exciting, are two different groups of periodic cicadas — a phenomenon happening for the first time in more than 200 years.

So in today’s newsletter, we’re breaking down some of the big questions before the buzzing starts.

Plus, we’ve got reporting on the city evicting migrants from shelters this weekend, why the 20th state Senate District race is so hotly contested this year and more community news you need to know this afternoon. 👇

⏱️: A 7-minute read

— Matt Moore, newsletter reporter (@MattKenMoore)

TODAY’S TOP STORY

In historic year for cicadas, expert says Illinois is ‘the epicenter of everything great’

Reporting by Mary Norkol

Buzz of the broods: The buzzing of cicadas that marks any Midwestern summer will be even more intense this year as billions or even trillions emerge in a convergence of insects that no one alive has ever experienced. Two types of periodical cicadas will come above ground at the same time. One brood, or breeding group, emerges every 13 years, and the other comes every 17 years.

Once in a lifetime: The last time this natural phenomenon took place was 221 years ago — that’s 34 years before Chicago was formally incorporated.

When to expect them: The periodical cicadas emerge once the soil that is around 7 inches into the ground reaches 64 degrees. Scientists estimate that will be in late May or early June this year. The cicadas that buzz in the area every year usually don’t emerge until later in the summer, so it’s not expected that the two will overlap.

Where they’ll be: When the cicadas emerge from their years feeding underground, one brood that emerges every 17 years will be centered in northern Illinois, while the 13-year brood will be found in the southern part of the state. The two converge near Springfield, but there aren’t likely to be many, if any, places where both broods can be found at once. Even so, you won’t know because the broods look and sound identical.

Unpacking the phenomenon: Find the answers to more questions here or click the button below.

READ MORE

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

Sun-Times file

• Migrant evictions begin Sunday: The city will give a reprieve to migrant families with children under age 18 until the end of the school year but will carry out evictions of migrants in shelters strictly for adults.
• Questions remain after fatal stabbing: As Police Supt. Larry Snelling announced charges Friday against a convicted felon accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend and killing her 11-year-old son, Snelling repeatedly said the attack “should’ve never happened.”
• Council to consider $2.25M payout: Just under a decade after 19-year-old Roshad McIntosh was shot and killed by a Chicago police officer, a City Council committee on Monday will consider a proposed $2.25 million payout to settle a lawsuit filed by his family.
• Plan for prisons to be demolished: Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday announced a $900 million plan to demolish and rebuild Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill and Logan Correctional Center in downstate Lincoln. The plan still requires legislative approval.
• Preckwinkle’s political power: With a roster of people who used to work for her or alongside her in county government that includes Mayor Brandon Johnson, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has put her stamp on the next generation of Black and Latino leaders in Illinois politics.
• Lurie Children’s Hospital outage update: Lurie Children’s Hospital began reactivating MyChart on Thursday, more than six weeks after the hospital had to take all of its systems down because of a cybersecurity threat.
• Bears’ trade for Allen explained: Keenan Allen, for whom the Bears sent the Chargers a fourth-round pick Thursday night, erases the immediate need for a wide receiver to put opposite DJ Moore, Bears beat reporter Patrick Finley writes.

2024 ILLINOIS PRIMARY 🗳️

Pat Nabong and Mitchell Armentrout/Sun-Times

Guzmán and Toro fight for the 20th District

Reporting by Mitchell Armentrout

Race to watch: Chicago’s most hotly contested state legislative primary race has been simmering since last summer. All eyes are on the 20th state Senate District, which spans Logan Square, Avondale and Irving Park.

Who’s running?: State Sen. Natalie Toro and Chicago Teachers Union organizer Graciela Guzmán. Toro won the appointment to her seat in July over Guzmán with the backing of moderate Democrats on the committee that filled the vacancy of former state Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas, who resigned to join Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration.

Round two: Toro and Guzmán’s fight for the 20th state Senate District once again pits establishment Democratic power in Springfield against the progressive movement that carried Johnson to the fifth floor of City Hall.

What Toro says: Toro — a former kindergarten and third grade teacher who grew up in the district, which spans Logan Square, Avondale and Irving Park, told the Sun-Times that she doesn’t think the “centrist vs. progressive” narrative can be applied to this race. “I’m a single Latina teacher living in Logan Square. You couldn’t make a better progressive in a lab,” said Toro, 36. “I’ve fought for expanding protective orders, insurance coverage for fertility, tax deductions for renters. I don’t know what isn’t progressive about any of that.”

What Guzmán says: Guzmán, who worked as chief of staff to Pacione-Zayas, called their race a “litmus test” for the city’s leftward political movement — and she slammed Toro’s stated progressive priorities as “a fabrication.” “This is the most progressive district not only in the city but in the state,” said Guzman, 34, who grew up in Los Angeles and studied anthropology at Grinnell College in Iowa before coming to Chicago as an organizer.

Other candidates: Guzmán and Toro are also up against self-funded physician and farmer David Nayak, as well as Geary Yonker, a longtime community activist in a district widely considered one of the most left-leaning in the state.

Sanders takes a side: U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders earlier this week announced his endorsement for Guzmán.

We’ve got more on the race for the 20th district here — and more information you need to know ahead of Tuesday’s Primary Election here.

VOTER GUIDE

WEEKEND PLANS 🎉

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

🪩 Black Women In House Music
Friday, 10 p.m. - 1 a.m.
📍Primary Night Club, 5 W. Division St.
Come out for this celebration of Women’s History Month with tributes to House, Deep House and AfroHouse brought to you by an all-Black lineup of women DJs: Finding Ijeoma, Patricia of Chicago and DJ Lady D.
Admission: $23+

🎥 Technicolor weekend
Friday through Sunday
📍Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St.
This series highlights films made with the complex Technicolor film process that rendered movies in vivid colors. Films include Joseph Losey’s “The Boy with the Green Hair,” Jack Starrett’s “Cleopatra Jones” and more.
Admission: $13

☘️ River dyeing + St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Saturday, 10 a.m., dyeing begins; 12:15 p.m., parade starts
📍Parade steps off at Columbus and Balbo
As is tradition, the plumbers union will dye the Chicago River green, with the best viewing along the river from State to Columbus. Then, the downtown parade steps off later in the afternoon.
Admission: Free

🛍️ Chicago Vintage Fest
Saturday and Sunday, 12-6 p.m.
📍Artifact Events, 4325 N. Ravenswood Ave.
Stop by for gems from more than 150 vintage and handmade vendors.
Admission: Free

🇮🇪 South Side Irish Parade
Sunday, 12 p.m.
📍Parade steps off at Western Ave. and W. 103rd St.
Celebrate Irish pride at this annual event, which bills itself as the largest community-based parade on St. Patrick’s Day outside of Ireland.
Admission: Free

🍀 Northwest Side Irish Parade
Sunday, 12 p.m.
📍Parade steps off at Onahan School, 6634 W. Raven St.
Beginning with a 10 a.m. assembly, this parade will step off at 12 p.m.
Admission: Free

BRIGHT ONE ✨

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Mother-and-son restaurant adds a ‘pozole flight’ to menu at new location

Reporting by Gisela Orozco | Special to the Sun-Times

What began as a weekend food stand in a living room has become Peke’s Pozole restaurant, a venture led by a mother and her son. They just moved to a new location, just steps from the previous brick-and-mortar, located at 4710 S. Pulaski Rd.

Petra Guerrero, originally from Chilapa de Álvarez, Guerrero, Mexico, immigrated to Chicago 29 years ago, after her husband, and she never imagined that one day she would own a restaurant.

Guerrero worked in factories while raising her family. Her food business evolved organically, with Guerrero cooking on the weekends in her then-home in Gage Park. She eventually decided to leave her factory job, and on May 17, 2018, Peke’s Pozole opened its doors in Archer Heights. The restaurant’s name evolved from Guerrero’s nickname “Peke.”

Jonathan Macedo, Petra’s youngest son and a Chicago native, recalled that since he was a child, he would help his mom arrange furniture for the home business, and now he is his mother’s right-hand man.

The menu has grown to include tacos, picaditas, burritos and tortas, as well as red pozole (the home business had sold white and green pozole, the most common in Guerrero, Mexico).

Just a few months ago, they added two new features to the menu: cocktails and the “pozole flight,” which allows customers to taste all three pozoles in one order.

“I am proud and happy of what we have achieved as a family, that people like our seasoning, because our recipes are quality,” Guerrero said.

READ MORE

YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️

What’s something you’ll only find at a Chicago St. Patrick’s Day celebration?

Email us (please include your first and last name). To see the answers to this question, check our Morning Edition newsletter. Not subscribed to Morning Edition? Sign up here so you won’t miss a thing!

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Editor: Ellery Jones
Newsletter reporter: Matt Moore
Copy editor: Chris Woldt