On the heels of the flood, an engineering failure caused the Michigan Avenue Bridge to snap open, nearly threatening the important holiday shopping season on the Magnificent Mile. Then negative national publicity flared about the serious rioting and looting on the West Side following the Bulls' second consecutive championship. Spiegel and Oscar Mayer were but the latest large businesses to close headquarters facilities and desert Chicago. Never warm, Daley's relationship with Republican Gov. Jim Edgar turned downright chilly in 1992, frosted in part by the governor's reluctance to help fund the Loop flood cleanup. Four people are killed, four are injured and 18 buildings are damaged in natural gas explosions on the Near Northwest Side.
Investigators later say a surge in gas pressure caused the blasts.
He is later convicted and sentenced to five years. No one is seriously injured. He is later sentenced to three years. Bears lose to the San Francisco 49ers in playoff game. At the century's end, they are still engaged.