WLS-AM (Chicago, IL)

Every year, National Hot Dog Day is celebrated on the third Wednesday of July, and there’s no shortage of deals in the Chicago area. The observance will take place Wednesday, and plenty of national and local food spots will offer special discounts and meal offers to customers. From free hot dogs to limited-time food specials, here are some deals available in the Chicago area.

Chicago just barely made the top 20 in the American College of Sports Medicine’s 2026 ranking of the country’s fittest cities. Chicago came in at number 19, with a personal health rank of 43 and a Community + Environment rank of 12. The ranking takes into accounts a number of personal and public health behaviors and conditions.

It’s a rare sight (and smell) indeed at the Chicago Botanic Garden, as an infamous “Corpse Flower” has begun to bloom. Officials at the Botanic Garden made the announcement on Monday, as one of the garden’s “Titan Arum” flowers began blooming Monday morning. The flower, named “Alice,” will likely continue to bloom for only a short period, for around 24-to-36 hours, but while it does, it will emit the noxious odor that makes the flower famous.

The Illinois Tollway Monday night held its first public hearing over proposed rate hikes that could be the largest in state history. The proposed hikes, part of a $26.5 billion capital program, would fund the next 15 years of roadwork on the tollway system, NBC 5 traffic and transportation reporter Kye Martin said. If the proposal is approved, the rate increases would be the Illinois Tollway’s first rate hikes in more than a decade.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Drivers hit and killed 7% fewer people walking on U.S. roads in 2025 compared to the year before – the largest annual reduction since pedestrian deaths began falling three years ago, according to a new data analysis from the Governors Highway Safety Association. The projected 6,732 pedestrian fatalities in 2025 were still 5% above the 2019 level, the last year before the pandemic caused widespread changes in traffic patterns and reductions in enforcement.

A huge crowd of adorable shih tzu’s and their owners gathered in Chicago’s popular Lincoln Park on Saturday for a meet up event. The meetup event was organized through social media by Chicagoan Krista Wright and New York influencer Olivia Caputo, both dog moms to shih tzus named Enzo. More than 160,000 people follow Caputo’s Instagram account, @enzoistheshiht, and Wright’s family-run local business, Green Pet, also helped host the event.

Regardless of how his name is pronounced, Roch Cholowsky has a new title: No. 1 pick. Cholowsky, the standout UCLA shortstop, went to the Chicago White Sox with the top selection of the 2026 MLB draft and is expected to sign a record-setting bonus. While the White Sox debated between Cholowsky and Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson, who went to the Tampa Bay Rays at No. 2, they opted for a player who by next season could join their suddenly ascendant major league team.

Chicago has officially solidified its status as a premier global destination, ranking as the number five Best City in the U.S. in Travel + Leisure‘s newly released 2026 World’s Best Awards. The annual survey, a definitive benchmark for the travel industry, highlights the destinations and experiences that resonate most deeply with modern globetrotters. The annual World’s Best Awards are fueled entirely by the experiences of real travelers.

A Chicago baseball team’s fanbase is tied for first across Major League Baseball for “heavy in-game drinking” according to a new study. The study by the Action Network analyzed survey responses from nearly 3,500 baseball fans across the county to find out how much they eat and drink before and during games.

People across the Chicago area reported feeling the rumblings of an earthquake that hit Lake Michigan off the shore of the north suburbs on Wednesday afternoon. The 2.9 magnitude earthquake began trembling around 2:40 p.m. CT roughly 20 kilometers off the shore of Kenilworth, Illinois, according to U.S. Department of the Interior’s United States Geological Survey. The depth of the earthquake was 5 kilometers, USGS said. By 3:30 p.m., more than 50 people had reported they felt the quake to USGS.