Today in Chicago History: Fire engulfs Union Stock Yards
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Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
1934: 'Big Jim' O'Leary's palatial gambling mecca at 4183 S. Halsted St. was destroyed when the second-biggest fire in Chicago history blazed, taking out nearly 90% of the Union Stock Yards, injuring 50 firefighters and killing hundreds of cattle.
During Chicago's auto racing heyday, a NASCAR race in Soldier Field ended in a razor-slim victory by Fireball Roberts1935: Midwest Auto Racing Association hosted its first car race at Soldier Field.
The venue hosted its first NASCAR race in 1956 — the Grand National.
1971: Ald. Fred Hubbard disappeared with $100,000 from the Chicago Plan, a federally funded jobs program he had headed. He was arrested by FBI agents in August 1972 at a poker game in a suburb of Los Angeles. Hubbard was brought back to Chicago, where he pleaded guilty to 16 counts of embezzlement and was sentenced to two years in prison in January 1973.
The Dishonor Roll: Meet the public officials who helped build Illinois' culture of corruptionAfter serving all but 10 weeks of his prison term, he ended up driving a cab. Later, Hubbard used a false name, Andrew Thomas, to land a job as a substitute teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. The ruse was discovered in 1986 when Hubbard, then 57, was accused of propositioning a 13-year-old girl at a grade school. In recent years, he was back behind the wheel of a taxi, but he lost that livelihood in 1991 when his driver's license was suspended.
What to know about the Chicago Bears' possible move to Arlington Heights — or a domed stadium on the lakefront1982: The Chicago Park District included a $20 million dome for Soldier Field on its list of projects.
'We're just finishing a $32 million renovation of Soldier Field,' Park Board President Raymond Simon said. 'But if you look 10 years down the road, and if Soldier Field were utilized 150 days a year, we would be making a lot of money.'
The Tribune Editorial Board responded by saying it had endorsed a domed sports arena near the lakefront since 1964, but argued that taxpayers should not foot the bill: 'They are carrying a heavy enough burden without having to worry about status symbols, however attractive.'
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On July 5, just a day after Independence Day, Contreras escorted Daneli to O'Hare International Airport and watched as the young girl boarded a flight back to the country she once fled. 'It's heartbreaking to see their dreams shattered. But this is about more than dreams, it's about their safety,' Contreras said. Daneli returned with nothing but a small backpack, a few English words she had learned, and a broken heart, leaving her family behind once again. 'She would much rather do that than be detained and deported,' Contreras said. Under U.S. immigration law, unaccompanied minors, children under 18 who arrive at the border without a parent or legal guardian, are supposed to receive special protections. They are typically placed under the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement and granted humanitarian parole while their cases are processed. But in recent months, immigration advocates and attorneys say the system is being quietly dismantled. 'We're seeing more and more unaccompanied minors having their parole revoked and being thrown into immigration proceedings where they're completely unequipped to defend themselves,' said Davina Casa, pastor and leader of the Monarchy Organization. The group provides legal guidance and other services for immigrants in Illinois. Its main goal is to reunify families. Casas and Contreras have worked closely together to help Xally and other children arrive safely in the United States. What's more concerning, she said, is that in March, the Trump administration cut federal funding for legal representation for unaccompanied minors. Only after 11 immigrant groups sued, saying that 26,000 children were at risk of losing their attorneys, did a court order temporarily restore the funding, but the case is still ongoing. Those groups argued that the government has an obligation under a 2008 anti-trafficking law to provide vulnerable children with legal counsel. That same law requires safe repatriation of the children. But Casas is skeptical of that. Even if the funding has been restored, the demand can't keep up. In April, more than 8,300 children ages 11 and under were ordered deported by immigration courts. That is the highest number for that age group in any month since tracking began over 35 years ago, according to court data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, as first reported by The Independent. Since Trump took office in January, judges have ordered the removal of over 53,000 immigrant children, according to the data collected. Most of those children are elementary school age or younger. Approximately 15,000 were under the age of 4, and another 20,000 were between 4 and 11 years old. Teenagers have also been affected, with 17,000 ordered deported, though that number is still below the peak seen in 2020, during Trump's first term. Some of the children are unaccompanied minors, like Xally and Daneli, but it's unclear how many, since immigration authorities stopped tracking that data years ago. In the Chicago area, it's hard to know how many children are currently being detained or deported, due to gaps in the available data. But according to data obtained by the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the Tribune, at least 16 minors were deported or left the U.S. after being booked in Chicago-area ICE detention centers during Trump's first 150 days back in office. Another seven cases are still pending. If all seven of those cases result in deportation, that would bring the total to 23 minors — about the same number as were deported in the final 150 days of the Biden administration. But the latest available ICE data doesn't capture any efforts since late June. When Xally learned that Daneli had returned home, she panicked. The two girls had spent a few nights at the church, confiding in each other the fear that few other young girls would understand. 'Would I have to do that too?' she asked herself. 'I don't want to. I like school here, I want to go back after summer break.' Xally is enrolled at Robert Abbott Middle School in Waukegan, where she would enter eighth grade if she stays in the country. Meanwhile, her summer has been shadowed by fear and uncertainty. Just days after receiving the letter, her family quietly marked her 13th birthday — no guests, no music, no gifts. She can't even go anymore to the beach, a place that once felt like the freedom and safety she and her mother had desperately sought after being released from federal custody.
