According to recently released information, bird collision deaths have dropped by as much as 95% at McCormick Place Lakeside Center after bird-friendly window film was installed on the convention center’s glass.

Work started before the final balloon even hit the ground, but it will take a couple of days for crews to fully clear all of the barriers around the United Center and McCormick Place.

The nine-acre garden was built on top of an underground parking garage.

U.S. District Court Judge Andrea Wood ruled that the 1.4-mile march route proposed by Chicago officials was sufficient to ensure that the Coalition to March on the DNC can protest while Democratic delegates gather to celebrate their nominee for president.

Here’s a look at the challenge facing the Chicago Police Department during the Democratic National Convention and the rules officers will have to follow during the protests that the gathering is sure to trigger.

The Democratic National Convention will close off wide swaths of the Near West Side around the United Center and downtown around McCormick Place, under a security plan law enforcement authorities released Thursday. “Chicago is ready,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “We were born ready.”

Bird-friendly window film is being installed on the convention center’s approximately two football fields’ worth of glass. Work on the $1.2 million project began in early June and is expected to take approximately three months.

In mid-April, the Chicago Department of Planning and Development is set to release an update to the city’s sustainable development policy. No section of the policy will make bird-friendly design mandatory.

Monday’s meeting of the McPier board was dominated by discussion of the mass death of 1,000 birds in a single day, killed after colliding with McCormick Place. Bird conservationists want a solution in place by spring migration.

Chicago is one of the deadliest cities for migrating birds and Thursday’s “insane abundance of migratory action” led to “insane mortality,” birders said. The remedy is as simple as flipping off a light switch.

This year’s C2E2 took place in the summer, less than eight months after its 2021 iteration, as organizers gradually revert to the event’s original spring calendar, which was disrupted due to COVID-19 restrictions.

It’s another sign that Chicago is returning to normal: Conventions are beginning to return to the city, including the Chicago Auto Show, which is set for mid-July at McCormick Place in the South Loop. We hit the streets as part of our community reporting series.

The 113th edition of the Chicago Auto Show will be the first convention to return to Chicago since the pandemic began in March 2020, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday, and it marks a major step toward normalcy after a harrowing year.

Chicago’s convention industry took a huge financial hit when COVID-19 shut down the city. McCormick Place, North America’s largest convention center, is looking to rebound this summer with dozens of events scheduled through the end of the year.

“Today, we are pleased to report that the curve is flattening, and our local hospitals and health care systems continue to operate with capacity,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a joint statement.

The state reported another 2,126 COVID-19 cases and 59 fatalities Sunday. Despite those rising numbers, Illinois is not seeing so many severe cases that the medical system is overwhelmed.