| Good afternoon, Chicago. Readings from several popular weather apps had people across the Chicago area spending much of yesterday wondering whether their air was safe to breathe — until the dangerously unhealthy levels were revealed to be a glitch. Early in the morning, Google’s air quality map showed that Chicago had the worst air in the country. Apple’s weather app, too, showed that the Air Quality Index had climbed into the 400s, a reading so hazardous that
people are encouraged to stay indoors. (The Air Quality Index, which ranges from 0 to 500, is a measure of the density of five pollutants in the air: ground-level ozone, particulates, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide.) To put that in perspective, that’s as high as the levels reached in 2023 when smoke from wildfires in Canada blanketed much of the East Coast and turned the sky in New York City orange. Here’s what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit chicagotribune.com/latest-headlines and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices. Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History news Members of the Uvaldo family react as Judge Victoria Rossetti sentences Robert Crimo III at the Lake County Courthouse, in Waukegan, on April 24, 2025. Crimo was sentenced to seven consecutive natural life sentences without the possibility of parole in the 2022 Independence Day mass shooting in Highland Park. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Robert Crimo III will spend the rest of his life in prison for opening fire on spectators at the 2022 Highland Park Independence Day Parade. More top news stories: business Chicago Housing Authority resident and board member Francine Washington sits in the courtyard outside the Lincoln Perry Annex, the CHA resident board’s office, in Chicago on April 24, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune) A Chicago Housing Authority board member had a “sexually graphic conversation” in front of agency employees and has been reprimanded by the interim board chair, a housing authority Office of the Inspector General report reveals. More top business stories: sports The Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić is congratulated after making a basket and drawing a foul against the Grizzlies in the second half on April 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) It’s finally time for the most controversial stretch of the NBA season — the waiting period between submitting end-of-year ballots and announcing the final award winners. More top sports stories: eat. watch. do. From left: Luke Kirby and Lou de Laâge star in “Étoile.” (Amazon) In the Amazon dramedy “Étoile,” a ballet company in New York and another in Paris swap some of their talent for a season, hoping the gimmick will sell more tickets and fix some financial struggles. More top Eat. Watch. Do. stories: nation & world Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton speaks during a press conference to sign the Dignity in Pay Act into law at the Access Living of Metro Chicago on Jan. 21, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune) Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton today became the first of what is expected to be many candidates to launch bids for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Dick Durbin. More top stories from around the world: | 
