{"id":32088,"date":"2025-07-23T20:54:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T20:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/32088\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T20:54:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T20:54:05","slug":"nascar-street-race-moving-to-san-diego-the-rundown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/32088\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR street race moving to San Diego: The Rundown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good afternoon! It\u2019s Wednesday, and it\u2019s dangerously hot out. Here\u2019s how you can stay safe<\/a>. And here\u2019s what else you need to know today.<\/p>\n

1. NASCAR is taking its street race to San Diego in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

After previously announcing it was pausing the Chicago Street Race, NASCAR said today it was holding a race at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego next year, Kyle Williams reports for the Chicago Sun-Times.<\/p>\n

The race will occur Father\u2019s Day weekend.<\/p>\n

The Chicago Street Race faced obstacles from the city and the weather during its three-year run. But racers loved the course because of the change of pace from their usual oval tracks.<\/p>\n

Naval Base Coronado will become the first active military base to host NASCAR. Drivers will race past aircraft carriers and F-18s, but the official course layout has yet to be finalized.<\/p>\n

The Chicago Street Race \u2014 along with NASCAR holding an exhibition race inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum \u2014 imbued NASCAR with the confidence to continue experimenting with where they hold races. [Chicago Sun-Times<\/a>]<\/p>\n

2. CPS board members asked Gov. Pritzker and lawmakers to call a special session on school funding<\/a><\/p>\n

As they stare down a $734 million budget deficit, some Chicago Board of Education members are calling on the governor to hold a special legislative session this summer to drum up money for schools, my colleague Sarah Karp reports for WBEZ.<\/p>\n

They say this is an urgent need not just for Chicago but also for school districts across the state that also are grappling with budget troubles. These come as federal COVID-19 relief money runs out and the Trump administration puts other federal funding in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

Two board members in particular \u2014 Aaron \u201cJitu\u201d Brown, an elected member who represents the West Side, and Debby Pope, an appointed member from the North Side \u2014 are echoing the demands of the Chicago Teachers Union.<\/p>\n

The CTU held a news conference this month where officials and members said Illinois leaders must \u201cTrump-proof\u201d the state with additional funding for schools. [WBEZ<\/a>]<\/p>\n

3. Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an order to snuff out smoking on CTA trains<\/a><\/p>\n

Mayor Brandon Johnson said he has \u201chad enough\u201d of cigarette smokers lighting up on L trains. He called the act \u201cunthinkable\u201d and signed an executive order aimed at cracking down on CTA smokers, WBEZ\u2019s Mariah Woelfel reports.<\/p>\n

Johnson said the effort will include placing social workers at CTA stops, starting an anti-smoking campaign on the \u201cdetrimental effects of smoking\u201d and tasking city agencies with finding other short-term and long-term interventions \u201cto end smoking on our transit system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The order came as a surprise to Ald. Bill Conway (34th), who introduced a resolution last month calling for \u201cdata-driven\u201d enforcement of the city\u2019s ban on CTA smoking. He said the mayor did not reach out to him for input or to inform him of the new plan.<\/p>\n

Conway criticized the mayor\u2019s approach, saying he doesn\u2019t \u201creally quite know how community meetings or social workers help with the cause.\u201d [WBEZ<\/a>]<\/p>\n

4. ComEd bills will likely remain high as AI and data centers suck up power<\/a><\/p>\n

PJM Interconnection, the multistate electric grid operator that serves Northern Illinois, confirmed yesterday that power demand continues to be high and the price of electricity is likely going up next year, Brett Chase reports for the Chicago Sun-Times.<\/p>\n

Power consumption nationwide has skyrocketed as big data centers and artificial intelligence operations have proliferated. ComEd\u2019s rate hikes this summer are directly related to high demand across the country.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, new sources of renewable energy, including wind and solar power, have been slow to connect to an electric grid that spans from Northern Illinois to the East Coast. Renewable sources were supposed to take the place of coal plants, which have been shutting down. [Chicago Sun-Times<\/a>]<\/p>\n

5. Kim Deal on making music with Steve Albini and warming up crowds for Olivia Rodrigo<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no way to start a conversation about Chicago with Kim Deal without the name Steve Albini.<\/p>\n

The late, great producer and audio engineer behind Chicago\u2019s Electrical Audio recording studio was basically on Deal\u2019s speed dial for almost 40 years, as she came up the ranks in iconic acts like Pixies and The Breeders. From his legendary Studio A, he zeroed in on the raw power and vociferous noise characteristic of Deal\u2019s many seminal projects \u2014 albums like Pixies\u2019 \u201cSurfer Rosa,\u201d The Breeders\u2019 \u201cPod\u201d and her 2024 solo debut \u201cNobody Loves You More.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those who appreciate Deal\u2019s catalog is pop star Olivia Rodrigo: Last year, Rodrigo recruited The Breeders to open on her Guts World Tour. Every night, Rodrigo told audiences how much The Breeders meant to her, particularly their uberhit \u201cCannonball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Deal returns to Chicago for a solo set at Thalia Hall tonight, Selena Fragassi reports for the Chicago Sun-Times. [Chicago Sun-Times<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what else is happening<\/p>\n

The White House revealed its \u201cAI Action Plan,\u201d which was heavily shaped by President Donald Trump\u2019s Silicon Valley supporters. [AP<\/a>]Bryan Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison for murdering four University of Idaho students nearly three years ago. [AP<\/a>]The feds want 15 months for former City Club President Jay Doherty in the ComEd Madigan plot. [Chicago Sun-Times<\/a>]A who\u2019s who of female Chicago chefs will guest star at Ravinia\u2019s musical supper club. [WBEZ<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Oh, and one more thing \u2026<\/p>\n

The Athletes Unlimited Softball League, currently in its inaugural season, is far from the first women\u2019s pro softball league to captivate audiences, my WBEZ colleague Erin Allen reports for Curious City.<\/p>\n

Before the current women\u2019s sports boom, before Title IX, women stepped up to the plate in the 1940s and \u201850s. You may be thinking of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, celebrated in the 1992 film \u201cA League of Their Own.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there was a lesser-known professional league based in the Chicago area called the National Girls Baseball League. The name was misleading in that the teams were all local, not national; the players were mostly women, not girls; and they played softball, not baseball.<\/p>\n

It was a pro league that gave the All-American league a run for its money. The two didn\u2019t regularly play against each other, but they did have a heated rivalry. And the NGBL left behind its own storied legacy. [WBEZ<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Tell me something good \u2026<\/p>\n

What hobbies are you into these days?<\/p>\n

Dan writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cA year ago, I signed up for my first senior citizen class. I thought that they were just for old people, but since I\u2019m only 70, I did it anyway.<\/p>\n

The class was stained glass, and due to the fact that we have a great class and teacher, I\u2019ve stuck with it. The Vatican will never call to give me a commission, but I\u2019ve completed a number of projects including college and NFL emblems (not for sale).<\/p>\n

Our instructor had a commission to do a stained glass Italian Beef and I was allowed to give her a small amount of assistance with that.<\/p>\n

So I guess I\u2019d call it a new hobby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feel free to email me, and your responses may be used in the newsletter this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good afternoon! It\u2019s Wednesday, and it\u2019s dangerously hot out. Here\u2019s how you can stay safe. And here\u2019s what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[425,99],"class_list":["post-32088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}