Daywatch: Why pollen season is lasting longer this year

Good morning, Chicago.

Fall is in the air. Chicago evenings have a crisp breeze. But something has been bugging Annie Andrews.

Specifically, bees and wasps and a whole lot of sneezing.

“It’s gotten to a point, like, I couldn’t stop sneezing during a shift,” said the 28-year-old restaurant server. Earlier this week, she thought, “I need to take an allergy pill again.” When she waits tables outside, the insects swarm patrons, who desperately ask her to be moved elsewhere, anywhere the bees and the wasps aren’t.

Chicagoans from all over can likely relate. Pollen has concentrated in the city over the past three weeks, mostly from ragweed. Wednesday counts were the highest recorded so far this year — the last time the area had so much ragweed was in 2018, according to Loyola Medicine.

Allergy season is getting worse, climate science nonprofit Climate Central reports. And shorter winters are contributing to more days with high pollen counts and buzzing insects that can derail residents’ hopes for peaceful patio dining.

Read the full story from the Tribune’s Adriana Pérez.

Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including how friends are remembering Charlie Kirk, a Solo Cup factory site proposal in the suburbs and why Blackhawks rookie camp is getting chippy.

Charlie Kirk before speaking at a Turning Point USA Campus Clash event at the JW Marriott Hotel in Chicago on Oct. 16, 2018. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

Friends recall Charlie Kirk, who started Turning Point USA in Chicago suburbs, as man who ‘inspired millions’

Charlie Kirk told the Tribune in 2018 that his political awakening began in middle school after a teacher badmouthed then-President George W. Bush. He recounted times he sparred with teachers at Wheeling High School. He also led a boycott after Wheeling’s cafeteria raised the cost of a cookie from a quarter to 50 cents.

Officials plead for help in finding Charlie Kirk’s shooter

President Donald Trump shakes hands with New York Yankees Aaron Judge in the New York Yankees locker room before a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Sept. 11, 2025, in New York. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)

President Trump draws cheers and boos while marking 9/11 by attending a New York Yankees game

President Donald Trump attended the New York Yankees 9-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers last night, drawing a mixed reaction from a raucous crowd while marking the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

During the national anthem, the president was shown on the stadium jumbotron and received boos from some in the crowd, cheers from others.

A detainee is brought into the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview on Sept. 9, 2025. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

Hundreds of hotline calls but no clear arrest numbers days into federal immigration ‘blitz’

Immigration rights groups have seen a massive spike in hotline calls for legal and other help as federal Homeland Security officials this week launched a much-anticipated immigration enforcement surge in the Chicago area, the groups said yesterday.

“The Trump deportation machine is out of control, and it’s our communities and our families that are being torn apart,” Lawrence Benito, executive director at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said Thursday at a news conference in Brighton Park, a heavily Latino neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

The Kane County Board this week approved a recommendation that county offices and departments reduce their expenses by roughly 8% from last year’s budget. (R. Christian Smith/The Beacon-News)

Kane County Board OKs recommendation that departments, offices reduce expenses to help close budget shortfall

In the latest attempt to solve a looming budget shortfall, the Kane County Board has OK’d a recommendation that county offices and departments reduce their expenses by roughly 8% from last year’s budget.

Highland Park Plan Commission members look at a map of a proposed residential development at the former Solo Cup factory site, with areas that cannot be built on colored in red. Developers said the site’s unique constraints create design challenges. (Joe States/Pioneer Press)

Solo Cup factory site proposal moves to Highland Park council

A proposed residential development for the former Highland Park Solo Cup factory site has cleared the Plan Commission despite resistance from area residents who fear the project’s density and potential impact on traffic.

Just a few weeks prior, the project’s future had seemed far less certain, with the vast majority of public comments criticizing the development and several commission members voicing their outright opposition. Others raised issues with its overall design.

Bears kicker Cairo Santos kicks off during first half of a preseason game against the Dolphins at Soldier Field on Aug. 10, 2025,. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

5 things we learned from Chicago Bears, including Cairo Santos taking blame for late kickoff that fell short

All three phases fell apart when the Bears allowed 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter of a 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night.

Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower labeled it a “tale of two halves” for his group’s role in the defeat. With the offense out of sync after the initial drive and the defense failing to stop the run in the fourth quarter, it only added to the collapse.

The quarterbacks’ struggles were well-documented this week. Here’s what stood out for Hightower and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.

5 things to watch in the Bears-Detroit Lions game — plus our Week 2 predictions
Column: Dayo Odeyingbo heard the cries for Bears to add a pass rusher. Is the free agent the solution?

Blackhawks defenseman Artyom Levshunov, left, defends center Ryan Gagnier during practice, Sept. 10, 2025, at Fifth Third Arena. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Blackhawks rookie camp gets chippy — ‘That brings teams together’ — as coaches emphasize playing fast

Day 2 of Blackhawks rookie camp involved a brief exchange of words that led to a skate cutting a player’s face and f-bombs hurled at teammates. That builds team chemistry, according to Rockford IceHogs coach Jared Nightingale.

“Hockey is an emotional sport — I think it’s good,” Nightingale said. “I saw a couple players going at it. It’s not always a bad thing. I know we’re all waiting to play against something other than your own teammates. That brings teams together.”

Director Christopher Wayland goes over a scene with production members during rehearsal of Kimberly Dixon-Mays’s play, “Rabbits in their Pockets,” at Lifeline Theatre, Sept. 2, 2025, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Lifeline Theatre’s ‘Rabbits in Their Pockets’ is inspired by African and Caribbean oral traditions

“Rabbits in Their Pockets” is a contemporary drama about the relationship between sisters Ash and Harley when they prepare to fix up and sell their childhood home. Both have plans on what the sale of the house could hold for their future, but that’s where third-party Inola comes in, stirring the pot between the pair in an ethereal way. (No spoilers.)

The work melds Black joy, mental health, memory, magical realism and STEM. And it all comes from the mind of Dixon-Mays, a poet and poetry journal editor for RHINO; and a dramaturg with a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Theatre/Drama from Northwestern University.

Puerto Rican musician Bad Bunny performs on March 28, 2024, at the United Center in Chicago. (Vincent Alban/Chicago Tribune)

Why Bad Bunny isn’t touring in the US

Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny explained why he didn’t include dates in the United States for his “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” world tour, citing concerns over ICE enforcement outside his concert venues.

“There was the issue of — like f— ICE could be outside [my concert],” he said in an interview with I-D. “And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”

This image released by HBO shows Cristin Milioti in a scene from “The Penguin.” (HBO via AP)

Who will win at the Emmys?

Sunday’s 77th Primetime Emmy Awards arrive with clear favorites but few sure things.

Will the acclaim for “Adolescence” carry it to limited series dominance, or will “The Penguin” complete a run that began with big nomination numbers and continued with a big performance at the Creative Arts Emmys? Will top overall nominee “Severance” reign like “Succession” and “Shogun” did before it? And can any comedy stop “The Studio?”

There were about 30 building wraps in downtown San Diego this year ahead of Comic-Con International. The “Demon Slayer” movie building wrap was on the side of the Omni San Diego Hotel. (Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

‘Demon Slayer’ could win the box office this weekend

The Sony Pictures title, released through the studio’s anime banner Crunchyroll, could be No. 1 at the domestic box office, with expectations ranging from $40 million to as high as $60 million. It could beat fellow openers “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,” “The Long Walk” (based on a Stephen King novel) and “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/12/daywatch-why-pollen-season-is-lasting-longer-this-year/