Midwest
DNC host Chicago, haunted by 1968 convention rioting, braces for bloodshed
Federal, state and local authorities are hoping to keep Chicago violence to a minimum during the 2024 Democratic National Convention this week.
The Chicago Police Department, the Secret Service and other agencies have been planning the operation for months and delivering public updates on the measures they are taking to prevent planned demonstrations from devolving – which they’ve done before.
“Oftentimes, it is forgotten that there was a Democratic Convention between 1968 and now,” Police Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters last week. “It was a success.”
He was speaking of Bill Clinton’s second nomination in 1996. Chicago has hosted more major party political conventions than any other city – 14 Republican conventions and 11 Democratic ones between 1860 and 1996, according to the Chicago History Museum. But 1968, marred by large-scale protests against the Vietnam War, stands out as the most infamous political convention in U.S. history.
CHAOS ERUPTS AT KAMALA HARRIS NYC EVENT AS DNC BRACES FOR CHICAGO UNREST
A demonstrator stands in front of a row of National Guard soldiers, across the street from the Hilton Hotel in Grant Park, site of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Aug. 26, 1968. (Library of Congress/Warren K. Leffler/Handout via Reuters)
This year, the first anti-Israel demonstration is scheduled for noon Monday at Union Park, a few blocks east of the United Center.
In 1968, anti-Vietnam War protesters clashed with police and National Guardsmen outside the convention that nominated Vice President Hubert Humphrey in his unsuccessful campaign against Richard Nixon. Like Vice President Kamala Harris now, Humphrey assumed the mantle of presidential nominee without winning support in the normal primary process.
The unpopular war and resulting draft were weighing heavily on the minds of many American voters – who were still reeling from a pair of assassinations earlier that year – the murders of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.
A police officer crosses the road with a photographer during an anti-war protest near the Democratic National Convention headquarters in Chicago, Aug. 26, 1968. (UPI/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
“[It’s] almost like you can change the issues and layer the events on top of each other,” one law enforcement source told Fox News Digital.
CHICAGO GETTING ‘WINDOW DRESSING FOR DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION: FORMER CHIEF
This year, organizers behind March on the DNC 2024 are demanding an end of U.S. support for Israel, legal status for 12 million illegal immigrants and abortion protections, among other left-wing items, as they pledge to rally at the start and end of the convention.
One protest planned for Tuesday at the Israeli consulate in Chicago calls to “make it great like ‘68.” The demonstration was promoted by the group Anti Imperialist Resistance on Instagram.
“Whether it’s Genocide Joe, or Killer Kamala, the butchers of Gaza cannot be allowed to gather in Chicago undisturbed,” the group’s post says.
Protesters were coordinating bus rides and drop-offs for fellow demonstrators from out of state, some of whom the source described as professional protesters.
Authorities have set up a secure perimeter around the two sites for this year’s DNC: the United Center and the McCormick Place Convention Center. And the approved route for demonstrators to march keeps them outside of it.
Chicago police officers train at McCormick Place, June 6, 2024, in preparation for the Democratic National Convention. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
By the numbers
In 1968, massive left-wing protests against the Vietnam War erupted during the convention, prompting a violent police crackdown.
Protests raged for days outside the convention, outside the Hilton hotel where attendees were staying and in famous Chicago parks. At least one delegate was accused of attacking police at a gate along the perimeter, tearing one officer’s badge from his shirt and biting another, according to a government report.
Police reroute demonstrators as they try to clear Grant Park during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 28, 1968. (AP Photo)
CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT PLEDGES DNC PROTESTS ‘WILL NOT BE 1968’ RIOTS
The 1968 report on the conflict written by Chicago Corporation Counsel Raymond Simon, gives a look into some hard numbers from the ill-fated convention.
The city canceled days off for its 12,000-person police force. Although Chicago’s population has grown by roughly 2 million in the following decades, the police force remains at about 12,000 officers.
A scene from the 1968 Democratic National Convention, held at the International Amphitheater in Chicago, from Aug. 26 to 29, 1968. (NBC/NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
Simon claimed protesters had been urged to show up with smoke bombs, fake delegate cards and football helmets, among other “props.”
Over days of protests, Simon estimated that mobs of rioters varied in size from 300 to up to 5,000. Permit applications for planned marches predicted between 150,000 and 200,000 people. The Associated Press reported at the time that only around 10,000 showed up on the day of Humphrey’s nomination – after organizers had promised 100,000.
Organizers this year claim they are expecting tens of thousands of people to show up for marches at Union Park on Monday and Thursday.
Chicago National Guardsman Michael Sturch after he was hit in the mouth by a demonstrator during protests outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Aug. 28, 1968. (UPI/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
CHICAGO WATCHDOG AGENCY WARNS POLICE UNPREPARED FOR PROTESTS AHEAD OF DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
Simon’s report found 60% of the 641 people arrested in connection with the 1968 chaos came from outside of Illinois. Of the 280 under the age of 21, 208 were students. He blamed much of the conflict on adult “troublemakers” from out of town.
Rioters hurled bricks and other missiles at police, who responded with clubs.
Simon reported that 198 police officers had been injured in clashes, including 54 who had to be treated at the hospital. He wrote that there were also 60 civilians hospitalized.
A medic assists an injured woman during a protest against the Vietnam War at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 28, 1968. (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The Associated Press placed the number of civilian injuries at over 300. Chicago police launched internal investigations into complaints of police assaults against 22 reporters.
A separate investigation conducted by Daniel Walker on behalf of the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence dubbed the clashes a “police riot” and accused minorities of both officers and demonstrators of inciting the violence.
A CBS reporter is thrown to the ground in a scuffle with security staff on the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Aug. 28, 1968. (Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
His report included interviews with witnesses who claimed TV news cameramen had been deliberately targeted by police.
He also noted that earlier in the year, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley may have set the tone when he told police to “shoot to kill arsonists and shoot to maim looters” in response to riots after King’s assassination.
Illinois delegates honor Chicago Mayor Richard Daley on the convention floor on the final day of the Democratic National Convention, held at the International Amphitheatre, Aug. 29, 1968. (Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
Walker placed the civilian injuries in the hundreds, including dozens of non-protesters. Its author dubbed the clashes a “police riot” and found many people injured had not been accused of breaking any laws.
Democratic presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey and vice-presidential candidate Edmund Muskie, with their wives Muriel Humphrey and Jane Muskie, wave to supporters as the Democratic National Convention closes, Chicago, Aug. 29, 1968. (UPI/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
Riot police gather outside the Democratic National Convention at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago on Aug. 26, 1968. (UPI/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
This year’s DNC runs from Aug. 19 to 22.
City officials are urging anyone who sees anything suspicious during the convention to immediately call 911.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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WADSWORTH, Ill. (WLS) — Two people who were killed in a head-on crash involving a semi in the north suburbs on Thursday morning have been identified, officials said on Friday.
The Lake County sheriff’s deputies and the Newport Township Fire Protection District responded to the Route 173 crash, which happened west of North Kilbourne Road in Wadsworth, around 7:50 a.m.
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Witnesses told investigators that the driver of a 2009 Acura sedan, which was traveling eastbound, appeared to be having difficulty staying in his lane and drifted into the path of a Freightliner semi-truck, which was heading westbound.
The two vehicles then collided head-on, officials said. A third vehicle was also hit.
Chopper 7 was over the scene at 9 a.m., capturing the damage.
The sedan’s driver, a man, and a passenger, a woman, were pronounced dead on the scene.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office identified them as 51-year-old Kelly Wooten and 45-year-old Jacklyn Bradley of Stoughton, Wisconsin. Preliminary autopsy results indicate that both Wooten and Bradley died from blunt-force injuries.
The driver of the third vehicle, a 54-year-old Salem, Wisconsin woman, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The crash shut down Route 173 between Kilbourne Road and U.S. 41 in both directions.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office Technical Crash Investigations Team is investigating.
The video in the player above is from a previous report.
Copyright © 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.
The Indiana Pacers are hoping to retain their 2026 first-round pick, which is protected 1-4 and 10-30. If the selection lands between 5 and 9, it conveys to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of the Ivica Zubac–Bennedict Mathurin trade.
At the top of the 2026 NBA Draft class, three names are consistently labeled as generational talents: AJ Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer and Darryn Peterson.
Indiana would welcome any of the three. The bigger question is whether that feeling would be mutual.
On a recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons was joined by draft analysts Tate Frazier and J. Kyle Mann. During the discussion, Mann shared an interesting note about Peterson.
“I’ve gotten the impression from talking to people close to Darryn,” Mann said, “that Darryn is more likely to say, I’m interested in being the full on brain of this team. I don’t really want to play with another superstar, I want to be the center of the universe.”
J. Kyle Mann on The Bill Simmons Podcast
If that perception holds weight, it creates an intriguing dynamic.
The Pacers were one game away from an NBA championship last season and already feature two established stars in Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam. Indiana is not a franchise searching for a singular identity, it already has one.
To be clear, Mann’s comments reflect conversations and impressions, not a public statement from Peterson himself. Still, the fit is worth examining. Indiana’s backcourt rotation already includes Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith and T.J. McConnell. If Peterson were the pick, the Pacers would find ways to get him on the floor. He is that talented. But Indiana could not offer him an immediate “face of the franchise” role the way a Brooklyn, Sacramento or Washington might.
Mann also offered insight into how Dybantsa may view a situation like Indiana’s.
“AJ, people that know them both have told me that AJ is probably more likely to fit in with an Indiana,” Mann said. “Which is interesting because AJ likes to have the ball. Is he willing to be quick off of the ball with Haliburton? I just think that’s an interesting wrinkle in this.”
J. Kyle Mann on The Bill Simmons Podcast
The contrast is fascinating.
Hearing that Dybantsa would fit in more than Peterson is intriguing. Play style wise, I would lean more towards Peterson’s fitting how Indiana likes to play, especially with how Dybantsa has been utilized at BYU.
If we’re talking locker room fit, I think Dybantsa would embody what a Pacer is all about. Comes from a small market. Wants to win and doesn’t need the big city to do it in. He’s confident but won’t let his ego interfere with the success of the team. Just a levelheaded kid with a desire to be great, and would have one of the best playmaking point guards alongside him to help maximize his talent.
These two are the most polarizing and often mentioned names amongst NBA draft circles when looking at the top two in the class. If the comments made by Mann come to be true, the Pacers would be better off drafting the uber talented 6-9 forward, Dybantsa, than drafting a 6-6 elite shooting guard who would rather be “the guy” than a guy.
You can follow me on X @AlexGoldenNBA and listen to my daily podcast, Setting The Pace, wherever you get your podcasts.
When it comes to the Iowa Hawkeyes 2026 football season, it doesn’t get much bigger than Ohio State coming to Kinnick Stadium.
No one knows at this stage where the Buckeyes will be come Oct. 3, but Iowa has a chance to make an early impression against a team that is no stranger to winning the big one.
Iowa’s B1G schedule couldn’t get off to a worse start as they head to Michigan and then welcome the Buckeyes to Kinnick.
Hopefully for Iowa’s sake, their first three games against Northern Illinois, Iowa State, and Northern Iowa are enough to get them prepared. If not, things could get ugly.
ESPN Believes Ohio State is Iowa’s Biggest Opponent in 2026
The Michigan game will certainly be a test, but hosting the Buckeyes is a different animal. That gives the Hawkeyes an advantage like no other, and if there was ever a time to give OSU a run for their money, it’s in Iowa City on Oct. 3.
“The Hawkeyes haven’t faced Ohio State at Kinnick Stadium since 2017, when Nate Stanley threw five touchdowns as they stunned the Buckeyes 55-24. An early October win over Ohio State could propel Iowa into the Big Ten title and playoff conversations,” Jake Trotter wrote.
To put things into perspective, Indiana and Oregon were the other two teams that had the Buckeyes listed as their defining game in the 2026 season. Shockingly, Iowa was actually selected against a team, that being Minnesota. Seeing as that’s for the Floyd of Rosedale, it makes complete sense.
Iowa Can’t Let Regular Season Opportunities Go To Waste
Last year was seemingly the Hawkeyes’ first time to actually make the College Football Playoffs. They came up short as their losses to No. 16 Iowa State, No. 11 Indiana, No. 9 Oregon and No. 17 USC all added up. Sure, those were by a combined 15 points, but that doesn’t matter, as it’s bad enough that a three-loss team made the playoffs.
Iowa ended with a bang as they took down No. 14 Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl, 34-27. Now, all eyes are on either Jeremy Hecklinski or Hank Brown. One of those men will have a chance to make their first B1G start at the Big House in Michigan.
It doesn’t get any tougher than that, as Iowa is immediately putting their new QB into deep water. They’ll have three games prior to that to get up to speed, but other than that, it’s go time as OSU awaits after their trip to Michigan.
Don’t forget to bookmark Iowa Hawkeyes on SI for the latest news. exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage and more!
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