Good morning, Chicago.

Hours before heavy rains swamped Chicago and Cook County suburbs on July 2, the region’s $3.8 billion flood-control project appeared ready as can be to bottle up storm runoff.

The Deep Tunnel’s massive sewers, capable of holding 2.3 billion gallons, were almost empty, according to Metropolitan Water Reclamation District records.

At the end of tunnels hundreds of feet below the Chicago River, Des Plaines River and North Shore Channel, the McCook Reservoir — more than 20 times larger than Soldier Field — was just 17% full of raw sewage and runoff being stored until it could be safely treated.

But the first sign of trouble came before 8:30 a.m., when runoff mixed with human and industrial waste began pouring into the Des Plaines from an overflow pipe at 40th Street in southwest suburban Lyons, district records show.

Two hours later, the same thing happened at a pump station in north suburban Wilmette and another, much larger facility off Lawrence Avenue in Chicago, where fetid gunk flowed into the North Branch of the Chicago River for nearly a day. Waste and runoff would end up pouring out of 19 other overflow pipes across the county, from Evanston to Westchester, many for hours at a time.

“When you have a slow-moving storm that’s dumping a large amount of rainfall, it doesn’t take much to cause problems,” said Zachary Yack, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

Read the full story by Michael Hawthorne and Adriana Pérez.

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Canada is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in modern history, and experts said climate change is increasing the fires’ intensity, frequency and reach.

Last month, Chicago and several other cities in the United States were under dayslong air quality alerts due to lingering smoke. Breathing in smoke has a plethora of negative health effects. On Sunday, as wildfire smoke once again blew into the region, air quality was considered unhealthy for everyone in the Chicago area, according to AirNow, a website combining county, state and federal air quality data.

Harris was among several Democratic politicians who gathered at the Apostolic Church of God in the Woodlawn neighborhood for Rainbow/PUSH’s annual conference to celebrate Jackson’s more than half-century of influence on civil rights and American politics. Harris called Jackson “one of America’s greatest patriots, someone who deeply believes in the promise of our country.”

Brandon Johnson’s election as mayor and Illinois’ enactment of liberalized social policies under Gov. J.B. Pritzker served as rallying points for the three-day Netroots Nation conference, the largest national gathering of progressives and a precursor to next year’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

More than 3,000 activists and group leaders registered for the conference, which ended Saturday, with speakers including Johnson, Democratic U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Illinois’ Jan Schakowsky, Jesús “Chuy” García and Delia Ramirez.

Repercussions from Northwestern University’s football hazing scandal have thrown the Big Ten school’s athletic department into upheaval in just a matter of days, spurring leadership shake-ups, football recruits decommitting from the team and concerns over possible legal action.

Yet the long-term ramifications of the public relations crisis remain to be seen — from potentially marring the reputation of the prestigious research university to galvanizing opposition against a planned $800 million football stadium rebuild in the wake of so much athletic program controversy.

Another Powerball drawing ended with no winner Saturday night, sending the jackpot soaring to an estimated $900 million.

Ticket buyers for Monday’s drawing have a chance at either $900 million paid out in yearly increments or a $465.1 million, one-time lump sum before taxes.

In a summer and city filled with music festivals, Pitchfork Music Festival, taking place at Union Park on July 21-23, continues to set itself apart by curating an eclectic set of performers across a variety of music genres.

This year is no exception, with acts as uber-popular as Bon Iver sharing space with emerging artists like Palm, and genres like reggae, hip hop, rock, electro-pop and R&B getting a chance to shine. We’re especially excited for this year’s abundance of local artists like Ric Wilson, Sen Morimoto, Deeper and Ariel Zetina, who prove Chicago artists are just as vital as any other city’s musicians to a festival focused on “what’s next.”