Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Wednesday, March 23, 2016.
- Weather: Colder and foggy with rain possible
The temperatures will get colder, with a high of 53 and a low of 46. Showers will be likely all day, with a thunderstorm possible around 9 PM. [AccuWeather]
- Failed Chicago Spire owners play hide-and-seek with building site
Before the 2008 economic crash, there were plans for a 2,000-foot spire in Streeterville just steps from the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. The huge hole that was supposed to be the ill-fated building’s foundation is now being hidden behind a giant wall of dirt, sparing the site’s neighbors from staring into its abyss. It was set to be the world’s second-tallest building until the global economy fell apart, and with it, the plans for the Spire. [Tribune]
- Forty-two-year-old father of five and UIC engineer dies after March 9 shooting
Marteace Tiffith has passed away after being shot outside his home in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood about two weeks ago. Tiffith was a building engineer at University of Illinois at Chicago. His UIC colleagues described him as “funny” and “inspiring.” [DNAinfo Chicago]
- Map: The 40 skyscrapers currently under construction
There’s a skyscraper boom in Chicago, with an impressive 40 high-rise buildings under construction right now, mostly in the Loop and downtown. Buildings range from the new Ability Institute at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago to the London House Hotel to new Jeanne Gang-designed dorms at the University of Chicago. Curbed Chicago has a map. [Curbed Chicago]
- Player for Chicago Blackhawks minor-league affiliate charged in revenge porn case
Rockford IceHogs player Garret Ross, 23, has been charged with one count of “non-consensual dissemination of private sexual images.” The woman in the photo did not want it shared with the world, and fortunately, Illinois takes revenge porn and privacy seriously—it’s a felony charge. If Ross is convicted, he will face up to three years in prison. The Blackhawks drafted Ross in 2012. [TMZ]
- Park District hopes to rid beaches of butts with new “voting” boxes
Cigarette butts are unseemly sight on Chicago’s beaches every summer, and groups that care think it might take something fun to get smokers to stop littering. The Chicago Park District is partnering with the Alliance for the Great Lakes to construct boxes for used cigarette butts. Each box will ask smokers a question, like “Cubs or Sox?” Smokers vote by placing a cigarette butt in the corresponding hole. [Tribune]