Good morning, Chicago.
Jumping from a plane, not ideal right? Well, the divers at Skydive Chicago would tell you it’s an experience everyone needs to have.
The skydivers met last week for the first time in three years to attempt record-breaking dives. More than 450 people flew out of their planes into different formations in sizes the world hadn’t previously seen.
Divers flew from 19,000 feet up headfirst, mimicking a Superman flight as they shot toward the ground at 180 mph in a group of 200. They had just 60 seconds to form a predetermined snowflake, unlink hands and deploy their parachutes. Another 250 skydivers coordinated to break the 250-way Illinois state record, one where divers flew parallel to the surface.
Skydive Chicago owner Rook Nelson led the efforts. His skydiving lineage started with his grandfather, who was in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. The stories Nelson’s father heard motivated him to skydive at 16 and start his own school. Then it was Nelson’s turn.
“I don’t know exactly how the story goes, but they tossed me out of an airplane when I was 4 years old,” Nelson said. “I did a couple jumps as a little child, and then I started jumping in 1994 at the age of 14. You couldn’t keep me out of the airplane.”
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Kalen Lumpkins.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including the suburb facing a nearly $30 million budget deficit, Southwest’s new policy that will impact plus-size travelers and the best patios around Chicago, just in time for National Dog Day.
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Gov. JB Pritzker talks near Trump Tower in Chicago on Aug. 25, 2025, about President Donald Trump’s possible plan to deploy National Guard troops. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
As President Donald Trump appears to waffle on National Guard in Chicago, Gov. JB Pritzker says, ‘do not come’
President Donald Trump appeared to waver yesterday on whether he would attempt to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago, saying Gov. JB Pritzker should be asking for the help — a request the second-term Democrat has made clear isn’t forthcoming.
“We may wait. We may or may not. We may just go in and do it, which is probably what we should do,” Trump said. “You know, I hate to barge in on a city and then be treated horribly by corrupt politicians and bad politicians like a guy like Pritzker,” Trump added, mocking the Illinois governor’s weight and labeling him “a disaster.”
Following the president’s comments, Pritzker indeed made it clear he wasn’t inviting Trump to send the National Guard.
‘Leave our kids alone’: Schools reopen in DC with parents on edge over Trump’s armed patrols
When the president of the United States has called in the military domestically
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks to attendees during a rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago Forum, Aug. 24, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
In Chicago, US Sen. Bernie Sanders says progressive agenda is ‘what the American people want’
A longtime leader of Washington’s leftist wing, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders said in Chicago that his deeply-rooted push for income equality, guaranteed health care and other policies meant to lift up the working class are not “radical” and they’re “what the American people want.”
The independent from Vermont made Chicago the latest stop on his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour Sunday, where the 83-year-old addressed a couple thousand supporters, many of them much younger than he is, about why he thinks billionaires and corporate interests have too much influence over American policies.
City of Aurora officials, working through the 2026 budgeting process, say they are facing a nearly $30 million deficit. (R. Christian Smith/The Beacon-News)
Aurora facing nearly $30 million budget deficit, city officials say
Aurora is facing a $29.7 million deficit in the 2026 budget’s general fund, city officials say.
That preliminary number, shared at a meeting with reporters, is based on early work city officials are doing to build next year’s budget. Not included in that nearly $30 million figure is the additional $10.3 million requested by departments as a part of the budget process, which officials say they still need to go through.
Oak Park School District 97. (Steve Schering/Pioneer Press)
Former superintendent Ushma Shah cites ‘punitive action’ in resignation from Oak Park Elementary School District 97
Former Oak Park Elementary School District 97 Superintendent Ushma Shah, who abruptly resigned her position just days before the new school year began last week, did not leave for personal or family reasons, according to her resignation letter obtained by Pioneer Press through a public records request.
Rather, Shah wrote that she resigned because she believed that the board was ready to take “punitive action” against her, and that she and the board did not have the level of mutual respect that she needed to continue on in her job.
Southwest Airlines jets parked at Midway International Airport, July 25, 2024, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Southwest Airlines’ new policy will affect plus-size travelers. Here’s how.
Southwest Airlines will soon require travelers who can’t fit within the armrests of their seat to pay for an extra one in advance, part of a string of recent changes the carrier is making.
Chicago White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. catches a fly ball for the out on Kansas City Royals’ Mike Yastrzemski during the seventh inning of a baseball game, Aug. 15, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Chicago White Sox’s Luis Robert Jr. displaying his all-around game: ‘It’s just the confidence that he brings’
After a slow start to the season, Luis Robert Jr. has had a productive second half. He has a .312/.367/.477 slash line with five home runs, 18 RBIs and 24 runs in 29 games since the All-Star break.
Shane Smith and Tyler Gilbert allow 2 hits as White Sox blank the Kansas City Royals 7-0
Northwestern coach David Braun enters the field with players for a game against Indiana on Oct. 5, 2024, at Martin Stadium in Evanston. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Will a reset spark a turnaround — and which transfers will make an impact? 5 questions for Northwestern.
With quarterback Preston Stone leading a group of key transfers, Northwestern looks to rediscover some of its success in coach David Braun’s first year, when it went 8-5 and he was named 2023 Big Ten Coach of the Year. As the Wildcats prepare to open the season Saturday at Tulane, here are five questions for their season.
The Bears hosted Butler College Prep’s girls flag football team at Halas Hall with Bears President/CEO Kevin Warren, QB Caleb Williams and WR Rome Odunze on Aug. 14, 2025. (Chicago Bears)
As girls flag football continues to grow, Chicago Bears look to middle schoolers
Grand Crossing resident Fallan White, 15, is doing what she can now to make a name for herself. Not even old enough to drive, the wide receiver for Butler College Prep’s flag football team will graduate in 2028 — the same year flag football will make its Olympic debut at the Summer Games in Los Angeles — and she’s making sure she’s ready.
“It’s better to start off early than wait,” she said.
White was one of more than a dozen players from Butler in Lake Forest on Aug. 14 to partake in the festivities that surround Chicago Bears training camp.
Emergency officials remove one of the seven people killed at a Brown’s Chicken eatery on Jan. 8, 1993, in Palatine. (Jim Prisching/Chicago Tribune)
Column: New book ‘Something Big’ revisits the Brown’s Chicken massacre
The Brown’s Chicken massacre and the subsequent and frustrating search for the perpetrators and eventual murder trial captivated the media, traumatized suburban parents everywhere and became part of what writer Patrick Wohl writes is America’s “fixation with true crime.”
His new book, “Something Big: The True Story of the Brown’s Chicken Massacre, A Decade-Long Manhunt, and the Trials That Followed” (Post Hill Press), is a sensitive and thoughtful journey back to that distant horror and how it continues to affect lives, writes Rick Kogan.
Carolina Soto gives Kōl, the dog of Chicago Tribune food critic Louisa Kung Liu Chu, a pup cup of whipped cream on the patio at Superdawg Drive-In in Wheeling on Aug. 14, 2025. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Guide: Our restaurant critic’s dog and a pack of food industry pups share their favorite patios around Chicago
We asked a pack of pups — along with their chef, restaurateur and journalist parents — to share their favorite pet-friendly patios and dog dining tips, just in time for International/National Dog Day today, and before the end of summer.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/26/daywatch-jumping-out-of-planes-for-fun/
