🗣️ Where to take your tourist friends

Riot Fest Back at Douglass Park

The popular music festival will be on Chicago’s West Side next month after organizers announced Riot Fest would be in Bridgeview instead. [Block Club]

• Riot Fest’s location has long divided organizers, the Park District, and residents. [City Cast Chicago 🎧]

Is CPS CEO Getting Pushed Out?

Sources say Mayor Brandon Johnson is getting ready to dismiss Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez after he disagreed with the mayor and Chicago Teachers Union over how to handle the school district’s budget deficit. Johnson’s office said it does not comment on personnel issues. [WBEZ, Sun-Times]

A Visitor’s Guide to Chicago

With the DNC expecting over 50,000 visitors from across the country, there are definitely things tourists should — and should not do — while exploring Chicago. We recap sites to see, sites to skip, and etiquette to follow. [City Cast Chicago 🎧]

Got a Mysterious Bug Bite?

Residents in the Chicago suburbs are reporting rashes of bites, which are believed to be caused by Pyemotes mites. The mites have been able to multiply thanks to feeding on cicada eggs in tree branches. [WGN]

Would you swim in the Chicago River? Ergh, probably not.

Most Hey Chicago readers said no after we posed the Q last week amid the Olympics Seine River drama and a local fight for an open swim in the river.

Andrew H.: “I kayak all the time in Bubbly Creek, and I know how nasty it is after a heavy rain.”

John H.: “I’ve seen the mutant fish that inhabit the river.”

Natalie W.: “That's a one way trip to the hospital I'm afraid.”

But like Friends of the Chicago River executive director Margaret Frisbie said, transplants have a more open mind.

Emory W.: “I’m newer to the city and have a very positive view of the river. It seems like measures have been implemented to make it cleaner. Plus, swimming in the river may help further incentivize the public, local government, and private sector to maintain its cleanliness.”