chicagosun-times--2020-12-30--30 public schools in Chicago are named for slaveholders; surprised CPS promises changes

Share All sharing options for : 30 public schools in Chicago are named for slaveholders ; surprised CPS promises changes One of the city ’ s oldest public high schools , once heavily Jewish , for decades home to a nearly all-Black student body , it boasts fiercely proud alumni and a reputation for powerhouse athletics .
It ’ s named for the fourth chief justice of the United States Supreme Court , widely regarded as the most influential leader of the nation ’ s highest court , honored with his face on postage stamps and his name on law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also was a slaveholder his entire adult life , with at least 200 Black slaves on his Virginia plantations .
That part of Marshall ’ s history didn ’ t keep an all-white Chicago Board of Education from naming the school on West Adams Street in East Garfield Park for him when it opened 125 years ago .
“ That ’ s our heritage , ” says Anyiah Jackson-Williams , Marshall ’ s valedictorian from the class of 2020 .
“ I ’ m African American .
It really was a shocker to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the people that was a slave owner.
” Across the city , at least 30 public schools are named for people who owned or traded enslaved Black or indigenous people , according to a Chicago Sun-Times review of every public school name in Chicago .
Some , like Marshall , were Southern plantation owners , among them Presidents George Washington and James Madison .
Others , perhaps surprisingly to some , were Northerners — like John Hancock , John J. Audubon , Patrick Henry and Alexander Hamilton .
They span the city .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Heights that ’ s named for Washington ’ s plantation — where hundreds toiled in bondage — today has a student population that ’ s 98.7 % Black .
Chicago Public Schools officials say they weren ’ t aware of how many schools remain named for slaveholders until shown the Sun-Times ’ findings .
They also say they didn ’ t realize before being asked about those findings regarding the nation ’ s third-largest public school system , in which nine of 10 children identify as Black , Brown or indigenous , that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ named for African Americans by a ratio of four-to-one , Latinos by nine-to-one and indigenous people by more than 120-to-1 .
One public school — a government-funded but privately run charter school — is named for an Asian American woman and her Italian American husband .
The couple donated money for its new building .
Now , amid the nationwide racial reckoning sparked by the violent death of George Floyd , an African American man whose death in late May was caught on camera as a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ school officials say they are reviewing school names and that changes will be made .
“ It ’ s dehumanizing , and it ’ s something that we have to work on and change , ” says Maurice Swinney , the top CPS official for racial equity .
“ And we got to disrupt it , we got to stop it , we got to change it .
And , for me , it ’ s important that all of this work be through a process that really starts to teach what this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reckon with racist ideas and that helps people to really have conversations with race that are not generally happening outside of friend circles.
” Swinney says he ’ ll lead an effort to change the names first at those schools named for anyone involved in slavery , with people of color at the center of the discussions .
He says CPS might then look at schools named for 35 others known to have publicly said or done racist or misogynistic things .
“ I stand around changing the names and making sure that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ process of changing the name , so the name change isn ’ t cosmetic and people still feel harmed by the process that should have been empowering , ” Swinney says .
One publicly funded charter school also might be renamed .
The privately managed charter school network Acero Schools has a school named for a Spanish priest who was known as an advocate for the rights of slaves — but only after owning slaves himself .
Acero says it will ask community members if they want to change it .
Across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ growing sentiment that problematic symbols and names of public institutions need rethinking : • Confederate flags and statues have been removed .
• Other school districts are in the process of renaming schools , with San Francisco ’ s school board considering replacing the names of one-third of its schools .
• In Chicago , statues depicting Christopher Columbus were taken down to protest the treatment — including torture and rape — of the indigenous people he and his crews found in the New World .
• CPS erased Columbus ’ name from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ honor , instead celebrating Indigenous People ’ s Day .
• The Chicago City Council is debating a proposal to rename Lake Shore Drive for Jean Baptiste Point DuSable , Chicago ’ s first non-indigenous settler and de facto founder .
• What was until 2019 Congress Parkway now bears the name of pioneering Black investigative journalist Ida B .
Wells .
But Columbus didn ’ t come down without a fight .
And proposals to rename Balbo Drive , named for an Italian Fascist pilot , have stalled after some Italian American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 1837 , has been changing school names for one reason or another for more than 100 years .
Board of Ed rules require that the school community approve the change and that any namesake already be dead .
In Lake View , Agassiz Elementary School plans to retire that name because Louis Agassiz , a prominent Swiss scientist , also championed a belief that God created human “ races ” as separate species .
The North Side school ’ s leaders plan to rename it after one of three Black woman recently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s Harriet Tubman , NASA pioneer Katherine Johnson or civil rights icon Rosa Parks .
That would add to the ranks of Chicago schools named for women .
Today , for every Chicago public school named for a woman , nearly six are named for a man .
But a similar proposal , in 2017 , ended up being voted down by Agassiz ’ Local School Council , wary of costs topping $ 20,000 for changing signs and such .
The council also was hesitant about relinquishing the positive associations people have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they ’ re disgusted by Agassiz ’ s beliefs .
That ’ s the trick — getting rid of a name associated with slavery or racism without losing what a school ’ s name means to its community , Reggie Bridges says .
“ Marshall ” matters , says Bridges , class of 2020 at the West Side school .
“ I have family members who graduated from Marshall as well , ” says Bridges , who lives nearby while home from college .
“ If anybody would say , ‘ I went @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Marshall is , what Marshall was all about .
The name is a part of the school .
“ We represent , ” he says .
“ It ’ s always John Marshall .
We always represent to the fullest , and us not knowing who the person really was , it ’ s disturbing now that you told me that.
” Unlike Bridges , his classmate Jackson-Williams remembers learning in class about Marshall owning slaves , which was a shock to hear .
But she ’ s unsure about the possibility of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of the biggest alumni associations , ” Jackson-Williams says .
“ Marshall was a really big-time school back in the day .
It would be , like , too late to change the name .
The name is already stuck with the school and the school history also.
” “ I feel like they should have talked about him more , ” he says .
“ Honestly , Marshall , that is an all-Black school .
To be there representing Marshall , the person that we ’ re praising is someone who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , was a horrible person … ” The 18-year-old stops to consider the names of the people behind the four other schools he attended since kindergarten .
“ So crazy , ” he says , that all but one — James Weldon Johnson Elementary — were named for white people .
By the time John Hancock affixed his giant signature to the bottom of the Declaration of Independence , enslaved people he inherited were taking care of him in Massachusetts , a state most Americans don ’ t associate with slavery .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot of people that signed the Declaration were slave owners , ” says 15-year-old Tamara Ward , a sophomore at Hancock College Prep High School .
“ It doesn ’ t change how I think about my school.
” Hancock College Prep is the only test-in school on the Southwest Side , the last part of the city to get such a competitive program .
That designation , as her classmate Adrian Salazar puts it , boosted the pride of Hancock ’ s students “ like you earned your spot there , so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ everybody.
” About 92 % of students at the school in West Elsdon identify as Latino , with a smattering of white , Black and Asian American students .
“ The community that this school is in is mostly minorities , and most students support the Black Lives Matter movement and are anti-racists , ” says Ward , who ’ s African American and Puerto Rican .
“ So the name of a slave owner goes against what we stand for and doesn ’ t represent us at all.
” The inequities she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than who John Hancock was .
“ Compared to other selective-enrollment schools on the North Side , we don ’ t have a pool or a park , so it seems we ’ re less privileged than other selective-enrollment schools , ” she says .
“ It makes me a little bit angry .
The Brown neighborhoods have less than the white neighborhoods , and it really shows the institutionalized racism in our city.
” To Cortez Stewart , a senior who ’ s recorded a podcast about being Black at Hancock , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” of the gap between America ’ s ideal vision of itself and reality .
“ We still have George Washington on the single dollar bill and stuff like this , ” says Stewart , 17 , one of about 20 Black students at Hancock .
“ It definitely makes me think about how this country can still celebrate these figures with so much knowledge of what they have done in the past.
” A history lover , Stewart searched out his ancestors ’ stories on his own .
“ I wasn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ until I looked it up myself and did research , ” he says .
“ In U.S. history , I had to bring up these topics in history .
In our textbooks , the horrific details of our founding fathers weren ’ t brought up.
” He says the school was lax about celebrating Black History Month and Kwanzaa , too , until he and others spoke up .
Now , he says , “ We finally got them to put up posters for African American History month.
” Kids see these signs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Oregon professor who has studied the effects of racism on students .
“ I don ’ t think the fact that a slaveholder or somebody who was a confederate or a member of the Klan alone is an impact all by itself , ” Rosiek says .
“ It ’ s the fact that they ’ re in a context where symbolically the lesser status of their schools is marked in all kinds of ways .
Things like the names on buildings contribute to the sense that the inequity is not accidental @ @ @ @ @ @ @ students is they ’ re moving into a school system that is systematically hostile to them.
” So change them all , Rosiek says .
“ Nothing about this history of George Washington is harmed by not having his name on a school , ” he says .
“ Our national discourse is advanced by having a conversation of what that name means.
” Most of the problematic names date back decades or longer .
Since then , more schools have been named for people of color and women .
That “ does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the same time , now we have more information , and now that we have access to it , it feels like we should make a change , ” Hancock student Salazar says .
“ We ’ re named for somebody who did some good for our country but mistreated people of color just because of their race.
” In Chicago , schools have been named for influential Jews in North Lawndale and other areas heavily settled by Jewish families .
Czech immigrants who settled in Pilsen celebrated the 1903 opening of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ North Center named a high school after Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen .
Schools also commemorate the owners of the land they ’ re built on : Northwest Side beekeeper Laughlin Falconer , North Side cucumber farmer and pickler Lyman Budlong , South Side rancher Thomas Morgan , the Southwest Side ’ s John F. Eberhart .
Two schools built before they were brought into the city ’ s school system honor saloon keepers Luke O ’ Toole and Matthew Gallistel .
As Black people and immigrants of color came to the city for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life , the school system heeded their wishes to honor heroes who mean something to them .
The name of Puerto Rican baseball phenom and humanitarian Roberto Clemente replaced that of a white judge on the high school in the city ’ s Puerto Rican stronghold at Western Avenue and Division Street .
Chicago teenager Emmett Till , whose murder in Mississippi sparked the civil rights movement , replaced the name of a Scottish president of Princeton University on a grade school in Woodlawn , where he and his mother lived .
CPS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ judges and inventors in Chicago — Sarah Goode , for instance , was the first Black woman granted a U.S. patent .
Schools honor civil rights activist and teacher Al Raby , West Side social worker Nancy Jefferson and Mother Consuella B. York , who ministered to Cook County Jail inmates .
Closings since 2013 also have erased the names of at least seven other prominent Black figures .
New schools have commemorated people their communities want to remember .
Chicago television journalist Michele Clark died in a plane crash .
Socorro Sandoval @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in tragedies .
Officers Irma Ruiz , Donald Marquez and Eric Solorio were killed in the line of duty .
Yet , of the 510 Chicago schools named for people — more than 140 others have names tied to geography or the school ’ s purpose — more than 360 memorialize someone who was white and 81 for someone Black , 39 Latino and three indigenous .
“ It just shows the roots of segregation within the city that still exists , ” says Layan Nazzal , a junior at Taft High School @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chicago ’ s built on , and the lasting effect is really harmful .
Schools on the South Side are not getting the same attention schools on the North Side get.
” CPS , with more than 4 % of its students Asian American , has no school named for anyone Asian .
Black children make up 36 % of CPS ’ student enrollment , yet just 12 % of schools are named after Black people .
And there ’ s a dearth of schools named for Latinos even as Latino kids account @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Considering this is the fact that these communities are really what make Chicago up , that ’ s really sad , ” says Nazzal , 16 .
“ We always give significance to the white people in the city .
Irish and German immigrants worked hard and manufactured the city to what it is today .
But Black and Brown communities also did that.
” Fifteen of 39 schools named for Latinos that Chicago taxpayers fund are part of Acero Schools .
One of Chicago ’ s largest charter chains , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ notable Latino figures in 2017 : Victoria Soto , a teacher killed during the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School , Mexican American journalist Jovita Idár , early Mexican feminist and scholar Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz , and Clemente .
Unlike charter chains that name schools for wealthy , often white donors , Acero and its predecessor UNO Charter School Network let its school communities choose who will be honored , Acero spokeswoman Helena Stangle says .
Two have chosen local soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan .
That means @ @ @ @ @ @ @ de las Casas school community to decide whether to keep that name , Stangle says , given his history of enslaving indigenous people before he turned to advocating for them but replacing them with African slaves .
No timeline , but fixes ‘ won ’ t be ignored ’ With the addition of a single “ s , ” what long was called Douglas Park on the city ’ s West Side cast aside the racist legacy of Steven Douglas , instead honoring orator and abolitionist Frederick Douglass , while keeping confusion to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first Black Supreme Court justice , could provide a similar fix for the West Side .
Black leader and educator Booker T. Washington could switch in for the first president since Mayor Harold Washington already has a grade school .
And maybe singer Aretha Franklin takes the place of Benjamin Franklin .
“ For some cases , that might be the thing , ” CPS ’ s Swinney says .
“ Sometimes , it can seem that simple .
For other people , it may be more complex.
” The goal , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ name really represents a core set of values and beliefs that we know generationally won ’ t be questioned.
” Given the impact on the schools of the coronavirus pandemic , Swinney says “ I want to give a timeline [ for changing school names ] .
But I feel like that would be a mistake to do that .
But I will say it won ’ t be ignored.
” CPS is looking at how the Agassiz change plays out as a model .
“ If we don ’ t engage people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will only be cosmetic , ” Swinney says .
CPS doesn ’ t make schools post biographical information on their websites or identify namesakes in any way , so it ’ s not clear at many schools just who they were .
Dozens of schools have opted to explain on their own , though none has mentioned slavery .
Cuffe Elementary in Auburn Gresham , whose student population is 98 % Black , has embraced little-known historical figure Paul Cuffe as its mascot .
Born to a Black and indigenous family in 1759 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s captain and whaler .
“ We call ourselves ‘ The Captains , ’ so everything relates to the captains , ” says Lakita Reed , Cuffe ’ s principal , who changed the color of the school uniforms to a sailor ’ s blue and gold and whose newsletter is called the “ Captain ’ s Update.
” An animated Captain Cuffe , cheery and muscular in sailing garb , tops the school ’ s website .
Each Jan. 17 , everyone sings “ Happy Birthday , ” and students learn during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a merchant and whaler .
“ One thing I always tell them when we start talking about Cuffe — a lot of Blacks don ’ t know how to swim , ” Reed says .
“ You can learn how to swim because Cuffe did .
To be the captain , you have to be strong .
You have to be a leader.
” Who was your school named for ?
Use our tool to look up a little of the history behind the namesakes of each public school in Chicago .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ here .

John Marshall Metropolitan High School is a West Side institution.
One of the city’s oldest public high schools — once heavily Jewish and for decades home to a nearly all-Black student body — it boasts fiercely proud alumni and a reputation for powerhouse athletics.
It’s named for the fourth chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, widely regarded as the most influential leader of the nation’s highest court, honored with his face on postage stamps and his name on law schools in Chicago and elsewhere.
Marshall also was a slaveholder his entire adult life, with at least 200 Black slaves on his Virginia plantations.
That part of Marshall’s history didn’t keep an all-white Chicago Board of Education from naming the school on West Adams Street in East Garfield Park for him when it opened 125 years ago.
“That’s our heritage,” says Anyiah Jackson-Williams, Marshall’s valedictorian from the class of 2020. “I’m African American. It really was a shocker to me. He’s one of the people that was a slave owner.”
Anyiah Jackson-Williams, valedictorian of John Marshall Metropolitan High School, was shocked to learn the school’s namesake owned slaves. Provided
Across the city, at least 30 public schools are named for people who owned or traded enslaved Black or indigenous people, according to a Chicago Sun-Times review of every public school name in Chicago.
Some, like Marshall, were Southern plantation owners, among them Presidents George Washington and James Madison.
Others, perhaps surprisingly to some, were Northerners — like John Hancock, William Penn and Alexander Hamilton.
They span the city. One South Side elementary school in Washington Heights that’s named for Washington’s plantation — where hundreds toiled in bondage — today has a student population that’s 98.7% Black.
Chicago Public Schools officials say they weren’t aware of how many schools remain named for slaveholders until shown the Sun-Times’ findings.
They also say they didn’t realize before being asked about those findings regarding the nation’s third-largest public school system, in which nine of 10 children identify as Black, Brown or indigenous, that schools named for white people outnumber those named for African Americans by a ratio of four-to-one, Latinos by nine-to-one and indigenous people by more than 120-to-1.
WHO IS YOUR CPS SCHOOL NAMED FOR? Use our tool to look up a little of the history behind the namesakes of each public school in Chicago. Search
One public school — a government-funded but privately run charter school — is named for an Asian American woman and her Italian American husband. The couple donated money for its new building.
Now, amid the nationwide racial reckoning sparked by the violent death of George Floyd, an African American man whose death in late May was caught on camera as a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, Chicago school officials say they are reviewing school names and that changes will be made.
“It’s dehumanizing, and it’s something that we have to work on and change,” says Maurice Swinney, the top CPS official for racial equity. “And we got to disrupt it, we got to stop it, we got to change it. And, for me, it’s important that all of this work be through a process that really starts to teach what this history really means, that starts to reckon with racist ideas and that helps people to really have conversations with race that are not generally happening outside of friend circles.”
Swinney says he’ll lead an effort to change the names first at those schools named for anyone involved in slavery, with people of color at the center of the discussions.
He says CPS might then look at schools named for 35 others known to have publicly said or done racist or misogynistic things.
Maurice Swinney, chief equity officer for the Chicago Public Schools, says he’ll lead an effort to change names of schools whose namesakes were involved in slavery. Provided
“I stand around changing the names and making sure that people of color are prioritized in the process of changing the name, so the name change isn’t cosmetic and people still feel harmed by the process that should have been empowering,” Swinney says.
One publicly funded charter school also might be renamed. The privately managed charter school network Acero Schools has a school named for a Spanish priest who was known as an advocate for the rights of slaves — but only after owning slaves himself. Acero says it will ask community members if they want to change it.
CPS changes part of a national reckoning
Across the nation, there’s been a growing sentiment that problematic symbols and names of public institutions need rethinking:
Confederate flags and statues have been removed.
Other school districts are in the process of renaming schools, with San Francisco’s school board considering replacing the names of one-third of its schools.
In Chicago, statues depicting Christopher Columbus were taken down to protest the treatment — including torture and rape — of the indigenous people he and his crews found in the New World.
CPS erased Columbus’ name from the October holiday long marked in his honor, instead celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
The Chicago City Council is debating a proposal to rename Lake Shore Drive for Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, Chicago’s first non-indigenous settler and de facto founder.
founder. What was until 2019 Congress Parkway now bears the name of pioneering Black investigative journalist Ida B. Wells.
But Columbus didn’t come down without a fight. And proposals to rename Balbo Drive, named for an Italian fascist pilot, have stalled after some Italian American groups pushed back.
In July, police officers stood guard at the site of the Christopher Columbus statue at Roosevelt Road and Columbus Drive after protesters tried to topple a Christopher Columbus statue there. The city removed it after and put it in storage. Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
CPS, established in 1837, has been changing school names for one reason or another for more than 100 years. Board of Ed rules require that the school community approve the change and that any namesake already be dead.
In Lake View, Agassiz Elementary School plans to retire that name because Louis Agassiz, a prominent Swiss scientist, also championed a belief that God created human “races” as separate species. The North Side school’s leaders plan to rename it after one of three Black women recently chosen as finalists: the Underground Railroad’s Harriet Tubman, NASA pioneer Katherine Johnson or civil rights icon Rosa Parks.
That would add to the ranks of Chicago schools named for women. Today, for every Chicago public school named for a woman, nearly six are named for a man.
Graph not displaying properly? Click here.
But a similar proposal, in 2017, ended up being voted down by Agassiz’s Local School Council, wary of costs topping $20,000 for changing signs and such. The council also was hesitant about relinquishing the positive associations people have for “Agassiz Elementary” even if they’re disgusted by Agassiz’s beliefs.
Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates was killed in a plane crash while trying to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. | AP 1 of 11 Slain Chicago Police Officer Donald J. Marquez | Sun-Times file photo 2 of 11 Nancy Jefferson | Sun -Times file photo 3 of 11 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., center, said in a news conference that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley could do more “to deal with problems we confront in the Negro community” in Chicago, Aug. 13, 1966. | AP 4 of 11 Irma Ruiz | Sun-Times file photo 5 of 11 Chicago Police Officer Eric Solorio. | Sun-Times file photo 6 of 11 The police star of Officer Eric Solorio at Chicago Police Headquarters. Officer Solorio died after sustaining severe injuries in a squad car accident. | Sun-Times file photo 7 of 11 Emmett Till poses in Chicago about six months before he was killed in 1955 while visiting Mississippi. The 14-year-old black boy was tortured and killed for allegedly whistling at a white woman. | AP 8 of 11 Army Pfc. Omar E. Torres was 20 when he was killed by a makeshift bomb while serving in Iraq. | Provided 9 of 11 Inmates at the Cook County Jail celebrate the Rev. Consuella York’s 70th birthday in1993. Mother York preached to inmates at the County Jail. | Sun-Times file photo 10 of 11 U.S. Army PFC Daniel Zizumbo, 27, From Chicago, died February 27, 2007 in Bagram, Afghanistan, from an improvised explosive device. | Sun-Times file photo 11 of 11
School names matter, students say
That’s the trick — getting rid of a name associated with slavery or racism without losing what a school’s name means to its community, Reggie Bridges says.
“Marshall” matters, says Bridges, class of 2020 at the West Side school.
“I have family members who graduated from Marshall as well,” says Bridges, who lives nearby while home from college. “If anybody would say, ‘I went to Marshall,’ everybody knows what Marshall is, what Marshall was all about. The name is a part of the school.
“We represent,” he says. “It’s always John Marshall. We always represent to the fullest, and us not knowing who the person really was, it’s disturbing now that you told me that.”
Reggie Bridges, 18, a recent graduate of John Marshall High School, says “it’s crazy” that four of the five CPS schools he’s attended were named for white people, including the storied U.S. Supreme Court chief justice, who bought and kept hundreds of Black slaves. Pat Nabong / Sun-Times
Unlike Bridges, his classmate Jackson-Williams remembers learning in class about Marshall owning slaves, which was a shock to hear. But she’s unsure about the possibility of changing the name.
“We have one of the biggest alumni associations,” Jackson-Williams says. “Marshall was a really big-time school back in the day. It would be, like, too late to change the name. The name is already stuck with the school and the school history also.”
Bridges wishes he’d known about Marshall’s plantations sooner.
“I feel like they should have talked about him more,” he says. “Honestly, Marshall, that is an all-Black school. To be there representing Marshall, the person that we’re praising is someone who didn’t really care for us, was a horrible person … ”
The 18-year-old stops to consider the names of the people behind the four other schools he attended since kindergarten.
“So crazy,” he says, that all but one — James Weldon Johnson Elementary — were named for white people.
By the time John Hancock affixed his giant signature to the bottom of the Declaration of Independence, enslaved people he inherited were taking care of him in Massachusetts, a state most Americans don’t associate with slavery.
“I’ve always known that a lot of people that signed the Declaration were slave owners,” says 15-year-old Tamara Ward, a sophomore at Hancock College Prep High School. “It doesn’t change how I think about my school.”
Hancock College Prep is the only test-in school on the Southwest Side, the last part of the city to get such a competitive program. That designation, as her classmate Adrian Salazar puts it, boosted the pride of Hancock’s students “like you earned your spot there, so you want to represent it and show everybody.”
About 92% of students at the school in West Elsdon identify as Latino, with a smattering of white, Black and Asian American students.
“The community that this school is in is mostly minorities, and most students support the Black Lives Matter movement and are anti-racists,” says Ward, who’s African American and Puerto Rican. “So the name of a slave owner goes against what we stand for and doesn’t represent us at all.”
Tamara Ward, a 15-year-old sophomore at John Hancock College Preparatory High School, knew Hancock owned slaves. Even worse, she says, is that her Southwest Side school, whose student population is mostly Latino, doesn’t have a park or a pool like North Side schools with mostly white students do. Yolanda Mendez
The inequities she sees are a bigger problem for Ward than who John Hancock was.
“Compared to other selective-enrollment schools on the North Side, we don’t have a pool or a park, so it seems we’re less privileged than other selective-enrollment schools,” she says. “It makes me a little bit angry. The Brown neighborhoods have less than the white neighborhoods, and it really shows the institutionalized racism in our city.”
To Cortez Stewart, a senior who’s recorded a podcast about being Black at Hancock, school names are “just another reminder” of the gap between America’s ideal vision of itself and reality.
“We still have George Washington on the single dollar bill and stuff like this,” says Stewart, 17, one of about 20 Black students at Hancock. “It definitely makes me think about how this country can still celebrate these figures with so much knowledge of what they have done in the past.”
Cortez Stewart, 17, a senior at John Hancock College Preparatory High School, says school names are “just another reminder” of the gap between America’s ideal vision of itself and reality. Pat Nabong / Sun-Times
A history lover, Stewart searched out his ancestors’ stories on his own.
“I wasn’t taught about how people owned slaves until I looked it up myself and did research,” he says. “In U.S. history, I had to bring up these topics in history. In our textbooks, the horrific details of our founding fathers weren’t brought up.”
He says the school was lax about celebrating Black History Month and Kwanzaa, too, until he and others spoke up. Now, he says, “We finally got them to put up posters for African American History Month.”
Kids see these signs, says Jerry Rosiek, a University of Oregon professor who has studied the effects of racism on students.
“I don’t think the fact that a slaveholder or somebody who was a confederate or a member of the Klan alone is an impact all by itself,” Rosiek says. “It’s the fact that they’re in a context where symbolically the lesser status of their schools is marked in all kinds of ways. Things like the names on buildings contribute to the sense that the inequity is not accidental. What that then communicates to the students is they’re moving into a school system that is systematically hostile to them.”
So change them all, Rosiek says.
“Nothing about this history of George Washington is harmed by not having his name on a school,” he says. “Our national discourse is advanced by having a conversation of what that name means.”
Most of the problematic names date back decades or longer. Since then, more schools have been named for people of color and women.
That “does make me feel better, but, at the same time, now we have more information, and now that we have access to it, it feels like we should make a change,” Hancock student Salazar says. “We’re named for somebody who did some good for our country but mistreated people of color just because of their race.”
Adrian Salazar, a 15-year-old sophomore at John Hancock College Preparatory High School, says now that he knows Hancock owned slaves, “it feels like we should make a change.” Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
CPS names reflect city’s history
In Chicago, schools have been named for influential Jews in North Lawndale and other areas heavily settled by Jewish families. Czech immigrants who settled in Pilsen celebrated the 1903 opening of Joseph Jungman Elementary. Scandinavian immigrants in North Center named a high school after Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.
Schools also commemorate the owners of the land they’re built on: Northwest Side beekeeper Laughlin Falconer, North Side cucumber farmer and pickler Lyman Budlong, South Side rancher Thomas Morgan, the Southwest Side’s John F. Eberhart. Two schools built before they were brought into the city’s school system honor saloon keepers Luke O’Toole and Matthew Gallistel.
As Black people and immigrants of color came to the city for work and the promise of a better life, the school system heeded their wishes to honor heroes who mean something to them.
The name of Puerto Rican baseball phenom and humanitarian Roberto Clemente replaced that of a white judge on the high school in the city’s Puerto Rican stronghold at Western Avenue and Division Street. Chicago teenager Emmett Till, whose murder in Mississippi sparked the civil rights movement, replaced the name of a Scottish president of Princeton University on a grade school in Woodlawn, where he and his mother lived.
CPS has schools celebrating pioneering Black doctors, judges and inventors in Chicago — Sarah Goode, for instance, was the first Black woman granted a U.S. patent. Schools honor civil rights activist and teacher Al Raby, West Side social worker Nancy Jefferson and Mother Consuella B. York, who ministered to Cook County Jail inmates.
Closings since 2013 also have erased the names of at least seven other prominent Black figures.
New schools have commemorated people their communities want to remember. Chicago television journalist Michele Clark died in a plane crash. Socorro Sandoval and Maria Saucedo were young teachers killed in tragedies. Officers Irma Ruiz, Donald Marquez and Eric Solorio were killed in the line of duty.
Yet, of the 510 Chicago schools named for people — more than 140 others have names tied to geography or the school’s purpose — more than 360 memorialize someone who was white and 82 for someone Black, 39 Latino and three indigenous.
“It just shows the roots of segregation within the city that still exists,” says Layan Nazzal, a junior at Taft High School. “It’s like what Chicago’s built on, and the lasting effect is really harmful. Schools on the South Side are not getting the same attention schools on the North Side get.”
Graph not displaying properly? Click here.
CPS, with more than 4% of its students Asian American, has no school named for anyone Asian.
Black children make up 36% of CPS’ student enrollment, yet just 12% of schools are named after Black people.
And there’s a dearth of schools named for Latinos even as Latino kids account for 46% of public school students.
“Considering this is the fact that these communities are really what make Chicago up, that’s really sad,” says Nazzal, 16. “We always give significance to the white people in the city. Irish and German immigrants worked hard and manufactured the city to what it is today. But Black and Brown communities also did that.”
Taft High School junior Layan Nazzal, 16, says it’s “really sad” that so few public schools in Chicago are named for anyone Black or Brown. Pat Nabong / Sun-Times
Fifteen of 39 schools named for Latinos that Chicago taxpayers fund are part of Acero Schools. One of Chicago’s largest charter chains, Acero added the names of four more notable Latino figures in 2017: Victoria Soto, a teacher killed during the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Mexican American journalist Jovita Idár, early Mexican feminist and scholar Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Clemente.
Unlike charter chains that name schools for wealthy, often white donors, Acero and its predecessor UNO Charter School Network let its school communities choose who will be honored, Acero spokeswoman Helena Stangle says. Two have chosen local soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
That means it will be up to the Bartolomé de las Casas school community to decide whether to keep that name, Stangle says, given his history of enslaving indigenous people before he turned to advocating for them but replacing them with African slaves.
No timeline, but fixes ‘won’t be ignored’
With the addition of a single “s,” what long was called Douglas Park on the city’s West Side cast aside the racist legacy of Steven Douglas, instead honoring abolitionists Anna and Frederick Douglass, while keeping confusion to a minimum.
A worker for the Chicago Park District removes the sign at the park on West Ogden Avenue and South Albany Avenue in September a day after the Chicago Park District decided to rename the park. The park used to be named Douglas Park after former slave owner Stephen Douglas. It’s now named for Black orator and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Perhaps Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice, could provide a similar fix for the West Side. Black leader and educator Booker T. Washington could switch in for the first president since Mayor Harold Washington already has a grade school. And maybe singer Aretha Franklin takes the place of Benjamin Franklin.
“For some cases, that might be the thing,” CPS’s Swinney says. “Sometimes, it can seem that simple. For other people, it may be more complex.”
The goal, he says, is “that the name really represents a core set of values and beliefs that we know generationally won’t be questioned.”
Given the impact on the schools of the coronavirus pandemic, Swinney says “I want to give a timeline [for changing school names]. But I feel like that would be a mistake to do that. But I will say it won’t be ignored.”
CPS is looking at how the Agassiz change plays out as a model.
“If we don’t engage people of color in this process, it will only be cosmetic,” Swinney says.
CPS doesn’t make schools post biographical information on their websites or identify namesakes in any way, so it’s not clear at many schools just who they were. Dozens of schools have opted to explain on their own, though none has mentioned slavery.
Cuffe Elementary in Auburn Gresham, whose student population is 98% Black, has embraced little-known historical figure Paul Cuffe as its mascot. Born to a Black and indigenous family in 1759, he was a wealthy ship’s captain and whaler.
Lakita Reed, principal of Paul Cuffe Elementary School in Auburn-Gresham, which was named for a sea captain from the 1700s who was Black and indigenous. Provided
“We call ourselves ‘The Captains,’ so everything relates to the captains,” says Lakita Reed, Cuffe’s principal, who changed the color of the school uniforms to a sailor’s blue and gold and whose newsletter is called the “Captain’s Update.”
An animated Captain Cuffe, cheery and muscular in sailing garb, tops the school’s website. Each Jan. 17, everyone sings “Happy Birthday,” and students learn during Black History Month about his extraordinary life as a merchant and whaler.
“One thing I always tell them when we start talking about Cuffe — a lot of Blacks don’t know how to swim,” Reed says. “You can learn how to swim because Cuffe did. To be the captain, you have to be strong. You have to be a leader.”
Contributing: Caroline Hurley, Nader Issa
Who was your school named for?
Use our tool to look up a little of the history behind the namesakes of each public school in Chicago.
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chicagosun-times--2020-12-30--‘Cobra Kai’: Johnny’s complex now, and ain’t that a kick in the head

Some of our favorite movie characters from the 1980s and early 1990s have resurfaced in the 21st century , from the return of Matthew Broderick ’ s Ferris Bueller in an ad for Honda to Bruce Willis reprising John McClain from “ Die Hard ” for Advance Auto Parts to Bill Murray repeating his Phil Connor from “ Groundhog Day ” in a commercial for Jeep to Annie Potts ’ Janine Melnitz from “ Ghostbusters ” appearing in an ad for Quickbooks to Chevy Chase and Beverly D ’ Angelo returning as the Griswolds from “ National Lampoon ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Ford Mustang Mach-E. Quickbooks also featured Martin Kove ’ s notoriously hiss-worthy villain John Kreese from “ The Karate Kid ” as a kinder , gentler version of himself who is now operating the “ Koala Kai ” dojo — but we know that ’ s not what REALLY happened to Kreese .
Whereas all those previous examples were one- or two-minute updates on beloved characters from three decades ago , we ’ ve been gifted with three full seasons featuring the modern-day adventures of the surviving main players from “ Karate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , outrageously corny and ridiculously addictive “ Cobra Kai ” streaming series , which played on YouTube Red for two seasons before Netflix acquired the show , with Season Three debuting Friday and a fourth season already in the works .
Who knew we were so thirsty to catch up with Ralph Macchio ’ s Daniel LaRusso , William Zabka ’ s Johnny Lawrence and yes , Kove ’ s Martin Kreese some 35 years after Kreese told Lawrence to “ sweep the leg ” ?
( Sadly , the wonderful Pat Morita @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nomination for his portrayal of Mr. Miyagi in the original film , has been gone since 2005 — although Mr. Miyagi looms large as the guiding influence of Daniel ’ s life in the streaming series . )
I ’ ve binged the entire Season 3 , and while the initial big kick of seeing the return of these characters has lessened and the soap-opera plot developments are becoming increasingly ludicrous , it ’ s still great escapist fun .
In the “ Cobra Kai ” universe , Daniel and Johnny and Kreese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 35 years until they started crossing paths practically every other day .
Daniel is living the country club life he once envied from the outside looking in , with a lucrative car dealership chain in the San Fernando Valley , a loving family and a beautiful home .
Meanwhile , Johnny Lawrence is a divorced deadbeat dad who is estranged from his teenage son , pounds beers 24/7 , lives in a shoebox apartment and still has anger management issues .
As for Kreese — he literally emerged from the shadows at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ control over the Cobra Kai dojo and is even more of violent sociopath than he was during the Reagan administration .
( Ah , but as we learn in Season 3 , the bully wasn ’ t always a bully .
He was a teenage victim of bullying himself .
And then came ... his Vietnam experience . )
One of the great things about “ Cobra Kai ” is how it shows us events past and present from the points of view of Johnny and Kreese , as we learn more about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ characters .
As Daniel and Johnny renew their petty rivalry , with Daniel ’ s daughter Sam ( Mary Mouser ) and Johnny ’ s son Robby ( Tanner Buchanan ) getting caught up in the crossfire , it ’ s often Daniel who comes across as the self-righteous bully , while we begin to understand and empathize with Johnny and even Kreese ( to a certain extent ) .
The callbacks to the original films are frequent and fantastic , with a number of cast members reprising their roles .
( I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to note Season 3 includes Daniel returning to Mr. Miyagi ’ s homeland of Okinawa . )
As was the case with the first two seasons , there are LOTS of karate fights once again , often staged as if the combatants have spent more time in dance classes than dojos .
The young actors do a fine job in their vanilla “ West Side Story ” universe , but it ’ s the adults who pack the biggest punches in “ Cobra Kai.
” Courtney Henggeler is terrific as Daniel ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only real grown-up in the room .
Martin Kove clearly relishes reprising the Kreese character , who has been through hell and is about 100 years old now but still looks like he could kick your ass .
Macchio retains his youthful vigor and plays Daniel as a good guy who sometimes is a little too pleased with his good guy self .
And then there ’ s William Zabka , who has transformed Johnny from a one-kick pony into a funny , politically incorrect , self-destructive , deeply flawed but redeemable man @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lawrence worth rooting for .

Some of our favorite movie characters from the 1980s and early 1990s have resurfaced in the 21st century, from the return of Matthew Broderick’s Ferris Bueller in an ad for Honda to Bruce Willis reprising John McClain from “Die Hard” for Advance Auto Parts to Bill Murray repeating his Phil Connor from “Groundhog Day” in a commercial for Jeep to Annie Potts’ Janine Melnitz from “Ghostbusters” appearing in an ad for Quickbooks to Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo returning as the Griswolds from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” in a spot for the Ford Mustang Mach-E.
‘Cobra Kai’ Season 3
Untitled Available Friday on Netflix
Quickbooks also featured Martin Kove’s notoriously hiss-worthy villain John Kreese from “The Karate Kid” as a kinder, gentler version of himself who is now operating the “Koala Kai” dojo — but we know that’s not what REALLY happened to Kreese. Whereas all those previous examples were one- or two-minute updates on beloved characters from three decades ago, we’ve been gifted with three full seasons featuring the modern-day adventures of the surviving main players from “Karate Kid” saga in the wildly entertaining, outrageously corny and ridiculously addictive “Cobra Kai” streaming series, which played on YouTube Red for two seasons before Netflix acquired the show, with Season Three debuting Friday and a fourth season already in the works.
Who knew we were so thirsty to catch up with Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso, William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence and yes, Kove’s John Kreese some 35 years after Kreese told Lawrence to “sweep the leg”? (Sadly, the wonderful Pat Morita, who earned a best supporting Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Mr. Miyagi in the original film, has been gone since 2005 — although Mr. Miyagi looms large as the guiding influence of Daniel’s life in the streaming series.) I’ve binged the entire Season 3, and while the initial big kick of seeing the return of these characters has lessened and the soap-opera plot developments are becoming increasingly ludicrous, it’s still great escapist fun.
In the “Cobra Kai” universe, Daniel and Johnny and Kreese hadn’t crossed paths in some 35 years until they started crossing paths practically every other day. Daniel is living the country club life he once envied from the outside looking in, with a lucrative car dealership chain in the San Fernando Valley, a loving family and a beautiful home. Meanwhile, Johnny Lawrence is a divorced deadbeat dad who is estranged from his teenage son, pounds beers 24/7, lives in a shoebox apartment and still has anger management issues. As for Kreese — he literally emerged from the shadows at the end of Season 1, eventually took control over the Cobra Kai dojo and is even more of a violent sociopath than he was during the Reagan administration. (Ah, but as we learn in Season 3, the bully wasn’t always a bully. He was a teenage victim of bullying himself. And then came ... his Vietnam experience.)
One of the great things about “Cobra Kai” is how it shows us events past and present from the points of view of Johnny and Kreese, as we learn more about the back stories of these initially one-dimensional characters. As Daniel and Johnny renew their petty rivalry, with Daniel’s daughter Sam (Mary Mouser) and Johnny’s son Robby (Tanner Buchanan) getting caught up in the crossfire, it’s often Daniel who comes across as the self-righteous bully, while we begin to understand and empathize with Johnny and even Kreese (to a certain extent). The callbacks to the original films are frequent and fantastic, with a number of cast members reprising their roles. (I’ll say no more other than to note Season 3 includes Daniel returning to Mr. Miyagi’s homeland of Okinawa.) As was the case with the first two seasons, there are LOTS of karate fights once again, often staged as if the combatants have spent more time in dance classes than dojos.
Courtney Henggeler is a “Cobra Kai” standout as Daniel’s wife Amanda. Netflix
The young actors do a fine job in their vanilla “West Side Story” universe, but it’s the adults who pack the biggest punches in “Cobra Kai.” Courtney Henggeler is terrific as Daniel’s wife Amanda, who is often the only real grown-up in the room. Martin Kove clearly relishes reprising the Kreese character, who has been through hell and is about 100 years old now but still looks like he could kick your ass. Macchio retains his youthful vigor and plays Daniel as a good guy who sometimes is a little too pleased with his good guy self. And then there’s William Zabka, who has transformed Johnny from a one-kick pony into a funny, politically incorrect, self-destructive, deeply flawed but redeemable man.
Finally, we have a Johnny Lawrence worth rooting for.


chicagosun-times--2020-12-30--Teen girl shot in Englewood

Teen girl shot in Englewood

A 17-year-old girl was shot Wednesday in Englewood on the South Side .
She was in her parked car about @ @ @ @ @ block of South Racine Avenue , when someone approached her and opened fire , Chicago @ @ @ @ @ struck in the leg but drove to the 1000 block of West 70th Street , @ @ @ @ @ to the University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition , police said .

A 17-year-old girl was shot Wednesday in Englewood on the South Side.
She was in her parked car about 1:50 a.m. in the 6100 block of South Racine Avenue, when someone approached her and opened fire, Chicago police said.
She was struck in the leg but drove to the 1000 block of West 70th Street, where fire officials took her to the University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition, police said.
Area One detectives are investigating.


chicagosun-times--2020-12-30--5 shot, 1 fatally, Tuesday in Chicago

5 shot, 1 fatally, Tuesday in Chicago

Five people were shot , one of them fatally , Tuesday in Chicago , including a man who was shot to death inside a restaurant in Austin on the West Side .
About 6:40 p.m. , someone walked into the restaurant in the 5500 block of West Chicago Avenue , pulled out a gun and fired shots at a 30-year-old man inside , Chicago police said .
The man was struck in the chest and taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood , where he was pronounced dead .
The Cook County medical examiner ’ s office has not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a man was shot in Englewood on the South Side .
The man , 26 , was outside on a porch about 7:40 p.m. in the 400 block of West Normal Parkway when someone fired shots , striking him multiple times in the lower body , police said .
A relative brought the man to the University of Chicago Medical Center , where he was in fair condition .
He told officers he didn ’ t see the shooter or know where the shots came from .
A woman was shot in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 5:30 p.m. the 25-year-old was in a vehicle in an alley in the 700 block of North Central Avenue , when someone pulled out a gun and fired shots at her , police said .
She was struck in the right arm , shoulder and taken to Loyola Hospital where she was stabilized .
Two people were wounded in separate shootings Tuesday morning in Far South Side neighborhoods .
In the first shooting , a 49-year-old man was shot as he sat on a porch in Roseland on the Far South Side .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ walked to the porch and shot the man in his arm , police said in a statement .
The shooting happened about 6:50 a.m. in the 11400 block of South Harvard Avenue .
About 10 minutes prior , a 38-year-old man was wounded in a drive-by in West Pullman .
He was entering his vehicle about 6:40 a.m. in the 11900 block of South Lafayette Avenue , when two males in a silver-colored SUV fired shots as they drove by .
He was struck in the arm and was taken to Christ Medical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Six people were shot , three of them fatally , Monday citywide .
Read more on crime , and track the city ’ s homicides .

Five people were shot, one of them fatally, Tuesday in Chicago, including a man who was shot to death inside a restaurant in Austin on the West Side.
About 6:40 p.m., someone walked into the restaurant in the 5500 block of West Chicago Avenue, pulled out a gun and fired shots at a 30-year-old man inside, Chicago police said. The man was struck in the chest and taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he was pronounced dead. The Cook County medical examiner’s office has not identified the man.
In non-fatal shootings, a man was shot in Englewood on the South Side. The man, 26, was outside on a porch about 7:40 p.m. in the 400 block of West Normal Parkway when someone fired shots, striking him multiple times in the lower body, police said. A relative brought the man to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was in fair condition. He told officers he didn’t see the shooter or know where the shots came from.
A woman was shot in Austin on the West Side. About 5:30 p.m. the 25-year-old was in a vehicle in an alley in the 700 block of North Central Avenue, when someone pulled out a gun and fired shots at her, police said. She was struck in the right arm, shoulder and taken to Loyola Hospital where she was stabilized.
Two people were wounded in separate shootings Tuesday morning in Far South Side neighborhoods. In the first shooting, a 49-year-old man was shot as he sat on a porch in Roseland on the Far South Side. A gunman parked in an alley, walked to the porch and shot the man in his arm, police said in a statement. The shooting happened about 6:50 a.m. in the 11400 block of South Harvard Avenue. About 10 minutes prior, a 38-year-old man was wounded in a drive-by in West Pullman. He was entering his vehicle about 6:40 a.m. in the 11900 block of South Lafayette Avenue, when two males in a silver-colored SUV fired shots as they drove by. He was struck in the arm and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in good condition.
Six people were shot, three of them fatally, Monday citywide.
Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.


chicagosun-times--2020-12-29--Horoscope for Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020

Horoscope for Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020

There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions .
The moon is in Cancer .
Issues with a female family member might be confusing .
Perhaps you are expecting too much of someone ?
Or perhaps your expectations are unrealistic ?
You might also be unduly influenced by some kind of exotic philosophy or idea .
It ’ s a curious day .
( And quite touchy-feely . )
You might spend time daydreaming or being lost in a fantasy world .
You might also be confused by someone because you ’ re not sure what they want .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ you want ?
Be careful about financial decisions , especially regarding other people ’ s wealth and assets .
Today is a confusing day in many ways ; and for your sign , this confusion could affect your financial judgment .
Be careful .
Postpone important financial decisions for another day .
Be extra careful shopping because you might go overboard buying something wild and luxurious .
Easy does it .
The moon is still in your sign dancing with fuzzy Neptune .
Venus is also in the picture .
This could make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at work .
But it also might make you have unrealistic expectations from someone .
This generally leads to disappointment .
Hmmm .
This is a weird day .
Your idealism is aroused along with your romantic expectations .
However , along with these ideas and feelings , there might be an element of confusion and false expectations .
This kind of fuzzy thinking can lead to disappointment .
Don ’ t jump to conclusions .
You might have high expectations of a friend or even a group .
Are these expectations realistic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know what you expect ?
Ditto for your relations with someone at home .
Today is ripe for lots of misunderstandings !
Be extra clear in all your communications with parents , bosses and VIPs today because there ’ s a strong element of confusion and unrealistic expectations out there .
Some people are looking at the world through rose-colored glasses .
Others are just drifting a bit , in a way that is not grounded .
Be careful .
Strong feelings of escapism are classic for you today .
This is understandable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that you don ’ t use these feelings to shop for something that you will later regret .
Be careful about being tempted to spend too much on something luxurious .
( Therapy shopping gone wild . )
Today you feel warm-hearted and generous to others .
In fact , others might feel the same way toward you ?
While everyone is getting touchy-feely , be careful that you don ’ t give the farm away .
Basically , this is a poor day for important financial discussions or decisions .
Be cautious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ partners and close friends because there ’ s a strong element of confusion .
You might promise more than you can deliver or you might expect more than someone else can deliver .
You might innocently lead someone on ?
Caution .
You might want to help a nonprofit organization today or do something that is charitable for others because you like to help .
However , make sure you get your facts right .
Make sure that someone ’ s not stringing you a sob story .
Lots of room for false @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aroused , especially about romance and perhaps dealing with kids .
You might also over idealize a friend ?
What seems like attractive features could in truth lack a sound basis in reality .
This means you ’ re not doing anyone a favor — including you .
Stay realistic if you can .
If Your Birthday Is Today Basketball player LeBron James ( 1984 ) shares your birthday .
You are ambitious , goal-oriented , passionate and enthusiastic !
You work hard and you party hard !
Because you are entering a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s time to define some goals to determine what you want for yourself in the next few years .
Be confident and physically energetic about going after what you want .
Just do it !

Moon Alert
There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions. The moon is in Cancer.
Aries (March 21-April 19)
Issues with a female family member might be confusing. Perhaps you are expecting too much of someone? Or perhaps your expectations are unrealistic? You might also be unduly influenced by some kind of exotic philosophy or idea. It’s a curious day. (And quite touchy-feely.)
Taurus (April 20-May 20)
You might spend time daydreaming or being lost in a fantasy world. You might also be confused by someone because you’re not sure what they want. Or perhaps they are not sure what you want? Be careful about financial decisions, especially regarding other people’s wealth and assets.
Gemini (May 21-June 20)
Today is a confusing day in many ways; and for your sign, this confusion could affect your financial judgment. Be careful. Postpone important financial decisions for another day. Be extra careful shopping because you might go overboard buying something wild and luxurious. Easy does it.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
The moon is still in your sign dancing with fuzzy Neptune. Venus is also in the picture. This could make you feel sympathetic or concerned about someone at work. But it also might make you have unrealistic expectations from someone. This generally leads to disappointment. Hmmm.
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)
This is a weird day. Your idealism is aroused along with your romantic expectations. However, along with these ideas and feelings, there might be an element of confusion and false expectations. This kind of fuzzy thinking can lead to disappointment. Don’t jump to conclusions.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
You might have high expectations of a friend or even a group. Are these expectations realistic? Furthermore, does your friend even know what you expect? Ditto for your relations with someone at home. Today is ripe for lots of misunderstandings!
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Be extra clear in all your communications with parents, bosses and VIPs today because there’s a strong element of confusion and unrealistic expectations out there. Some people are looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. Others are just drifting a bit, in a way that is not grounded. Be careful.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
Strong feelings of escapism are classic for you today. This is understandable right now. However, be careful that you don’t use these feelings to shop for something that you will later regret. Be careful about being tempted to spend too much on something luxurious. (Therapy shopping gone wild.)
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
Today you feel warm-hearted and generous to others. In fact, others might feel the same way toward you? While everyone is getting touchy-feely, be careful that you don’t give the farm away. Basically, this is a poor day for important financial discussions or decisions.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
Be cautious when talking to others today, especially partners and close friends because there’s a strong element of confusion. You might promise more than you can deliver or you might expect more than someone else can deliver. You might innocently lead someone on? Caution.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
You might want to help a nonprofit organization today or do something that is charitable for others because you like to help. However, make sure you get your facts right. Make sure that someone’s not stringing you a sob story. Lots of room for false expectations today!
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Today your idealism is aroused, especially about romance and perhaps dealing with kids. You might also over idealize a friend? What seems like attractive features could in truth lack a sound basis in reality. This means you’re not doing anyone a favor — including you. Stay realistic if you can.
If Your Birthday Is Today
Basketball player LeBron James (1984) shares your birthday. You are ambitious, goal-oriented, passionate and enthusiastic! You work hard and you party hard! Because you are entering a new cycle, it means it’s time to define some goals to determine what you want for yourself in the next few years. Be confident and physically energetic about going after what you want. Just do it!


chicagosun-times--2020-12-29--Joe Clark, bat-wielding principal who inspired ‘Lean on Me,’ dies at 82

GAINESVILLE , Fla. — Joe Louis Clark , the baseball bat and bullhorn-wielding principal whose unwavering commitment to his students and uncompromising disciplinary methods inspired the 1989 film “ Lean on Me , ” died at his Florida home on Tuesday after a long battle with an unspecified illness , his family said in statement .
He was 82 .
Born in Rochelle , Georgia , on May 8 , 1938 , Clark moved with his family north to Newark , New Jersey , when he was 6 years old .
After graduating from Newark Central High School , Clark @ @ @ @ @ @ @ William Paterson College ( now William Paterson University ) , a master ’ s degree from Seton Hall University , and an honorary doctorate from the U.S. Sports Academy .
Clark also served as a U.S. Army Reserve sergeant and a drill instructor .
Clark started teaching at a Paterson grade school in Essex County , N.J. , before becoming principal of PS 6 Grammar School .
He was later hired as principal of the crime and drug-ridden Eastside High School .
In one day , he expelled 300 students for fighting , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and lifted the expectations of those who remained , continually challenging them to perform better .
Roaming the hallways with a bullhorn and a baseball bat , Clark used unorthodox methods that won him both admirers and critics nationwide .
President Ronald Reagan offered Clark a White House policy advisor position after his success at the high school .
Morgan Freeman starred as Clark in the 1989 film “ Lean on Me ” that was loosely based on Clark ’ s tenure at Eastside .
After he retired from Eastside in 1989 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the director of Essex County Detention House , a juvenile detention center in Newark .
He also wrote “ Laying Down the Law : Joe Clark ’ s Strategy for Saving Our Schools , ” detailing his methods for turning around Eastside High .
Clark is survived by his children , Joetta , Hazel and JJ , and grandchildren , Talitha , Jorell and Hazel .
His wife , Gloria , preceded him in death .

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Joe Louis Clark, the baseball bat and bullhorn-wielding principal whose unwavering commitment to his students and uncompromising disciplinary methods inspired the 1989 film “Lean on Me,” died at his Florida home on Tuesday after a long battle with an unspecified illness, his family said in statement. He was 82.
Born in Rochelle, Georgia, on May 8, 1938, Clark moved with his family north to Newark, New Jersey, when he was 6 years old. After graduating from Newark Central High School, Clark received his bachelor’s degree from William Paterson College (now William Paterson University), a master’s degree from Seton Hall University, and an honorary doctorate from the U.S. Sports Academy. Clark also served as a U.S. Army Reserve sergeant and a drill instructor.
Clark started teaching at a Paterson grade school in Essex County, N.J., before becoming principal of PS 6 Grammar School.
He was later hired as principal of the crime and drug-ridden Eastside High School. In one day, he expelled 300 students for fighting, vandalism, abusing teachers and drug possession, and lifted the expectations of those who remained, continually challenging them to perform better.
Roaming the hallways with a bullhorn and a baseball bat, Clark used unorthodox methods that won him both admirers and critics nationwide. President Ronald Reagan offered Clark a White House policy advisor position after his success at the high school.
Joe Clark (Morgan Freeman, right) confronts Eastside High students in “Lean on Me.” Warner Bros.
Morgan Freeman starred as Clark in the 1989 film “Lean on Me” that was loosely based on Clark’s tenure at Eastside.
After he retired from Eastside in 1989, Clark worked for six years as the director of Essex County Detention House, a juvenile detention center in Newark. He also wrote “Laying Down the Law: Joe Clark’s Strategy for Saving Our Schools,” detailing his methods for turning around Eastside High.
He retired to Gainesville, Florida.
Clark is survived by his children, Joetta, Hazel and JJ, and grandchildren, Talitha, Jorell and Hazel. His wife, Gloria, preceded him in death.


chicagosun-times--2020-12-30--A list of Chicago businesses shuttered due to the pandemic (LIVE UPDATES)

2020 is a year marked with losses for millions around the globe due to the coronavirus pandemic , and in the United States , the losses have been devastating .
As it stands , the U.S. ’ s official death toll far outpaces its contemporaries like Canada and Australia , with 339,000 lives lost here as of December 30 .
And experts say the deaths may be undercounted .
Millions of people — 10.7 million , to be exact — are still without steady employment , according to the December report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics .
Nationwide , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ according to Yelp ’ s Local Economic Impact Report , and nearly 60 % of those closures will be permanent .
In Chicago , that ’ s meant the loss of important neighborhood resources , delicious restaurants , favorite bars — some of the places that held pieces of our collective history .
And for local business owners , it ’ s meant the loss of a sole source of income or a passion project .
Read Grace Asiegbu ’ s full story on Chicago businesses that have shuttered due to the COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first Chicago school shuttered by coronavirus push back against reopening Parent leaders at a Northwest Side special education high school are pushing back against district plans to resume in-person classes next month amid the COVID-19 pandemic .
The local school council at Vaughn Occupational High School in the Portage Park neighborhood called a special meeting Tuesday to unanimously pass a resolution calling on Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson to delay the scheduled reopening “ until it is safe to return to in-person learning as determined by CPS and the Vaughn school community.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s first coronavirus cases and was the first to close after a staffer tested positive in early March .
Ten months later — as the city continues racking up hundreds of new COVID-19 cases every day — many employees are slated to return to the building Jan. 4 , while only 38 of the school ’ s 235 enrolled students have opted to return for in-person learning Jan. 11 , according to Vaughn LSC member Josh Radinsky .
LOS ANGELES — Dawn Wells , who played the wholesome Mary Ann among a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1960s sitcom “ Gilligan ’ s Island , ” died Wednesday of causes related to COVID-19 , her publicist said .
She was 82 .
Wells died peacefully at a living facility in Los Angeles , publicist Harlan Boll said .
“ There is so much more to Dawn Wells ” than the “ Gilligan ’ s Island ” character that brought her fame , Boll said in a statement .
Besides TV , film and stage acting credits , her other real-life roles included teacher and motivational speaker , Boll said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ with 178 more deaths , 7,374 new cases Illinois public health officials announced the state ’ s highest daily coronavirus figures in almost two weeks Wednesday with 7,374 new cases of COVID-19 and 178 more deaths attributed to it .
The latest caseload , which is the largest reported by the Illinois Department of Public Health since Dec. 19 , was diagnosed among 74,573 tests .
That raised the statewide average testing positivity rate for a third consecutive day , up to 7.6 % .
The death count is the highest since Dec. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s average of 122 coronavirus deaths per day over the past two weeks .
It ’ s also higher than the death rate during the state ’ s worst two-week stretch of the pandemic at the start of December , when the coronavirus was claiming 152 Illinois lives on average every day .
Ninety-nine of the latest victims were from the Chicago area , including a Cook County man and woman both in their 40s .
Read the full story from Mitchell Armentrout here .
12:30 p.m. Colorado Guardsman has 1st reported @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A Colorado National Guard member has the first reported U.S. case of a new and seemingly more contagious variant of the coronavirus that has set off alarm in Britain , while a second case is suspected in another Guard member , health officials said Wednesday .
The two were sent on Dec. 23 to work at a nursing home struggling with an outbreak of the virus in a small town outside Denver , said Dr. Rachel Herlihy , the state ’ s epidemiologist .
A state laboratory detected the cases after it began @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its spread was announced in England earlier this month , she said .
Staff and residents at the nursing home who have tested positive for the coronavirus are having their samples screened for signs of the variant , and so far no evidence of it has been found , Herlihy said .
11:30 a.m. For this Chicago entrepreneur , the new federal stimulus aid for small businesses ‘ too little , too late ’ The day Chris Costoso had feared so much finally came last month when he was forced to shut down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ keys to his storefront studio .
After nearly five years in business , that studio had become a part of him , he said .
In some cases , Costoso ’ s photos chronicle some couples ’ lives together — from engagement , to wedding and eventually to family portraits .
“ Handing over the last key to the [ building ] owner was just horrible , ” Costoso said .
“ I didn ’ t think it would hurt so much , but as a small entrepreneur , I have put everything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ until something out of my control ended it so quickly.
” On Sunday , President Donald Trump signed a $ 900 billion pandemic relief package lauded to help people , but Costoso said for him , it ’ s “ too little , too late.
” “ This latest stimulus doesn ’ t even matter to me at this point .
It ’ s whatever .
I mean , I ’ m already shut down , ” Costoso said .
“ I can only rely on myself to make something happen and to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The latest COVID-19 relief package would put $ 284 billion back into the Paycheck Protection Program , which offers forgivable loans to small businesses to keep their employees on payroll during the pandemic .
Portions of that will be dedicated to minority-owned businesses and companies in low-income areas .
An additional $ 20 billion would also go toward small business grants .
The $ 2.2 trillion CARES Act , passed in March , created the PPP program ; that first round of aid eventually reached $ 669 billion .
Costoso applied then but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ point , he feels both the federal and local government have let him down .
Businesses like Costoso ’ s that didn ’ t have strong relationships with the banks handling the PPP loans were left adrift , he believes .
In Illinois , 12 % of businesses and nonprofits getting loans from the PPP program accounted for 74 % of the money — meaning bigger employers benefited the most .
Costoso said he did everything to keep his business afloat .
He dropped the price his photo shoots from $ 650 to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of income to pay his rent on his home and his storefront , but he still fell too far behind .
And with social media hyper-politicized during the presidential campaign , it was difficult to use those platforms to market his business online .
“ People are not looking for a new photographer , and they are focused on the news with coronavirus , civil unrest , the elections and then those challenging the election results , ” Costoso said .
“ So much of our advertising and marketing on Facebook was just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a.m. Luke Letlow , Congressman-elect from Louisiana , dies of COVID-19 BATON ROUGE , La .
— Luke Letlow , Louisiana ’ s incoming Republican member of the U.S. House , has died from complications related to COVID-19 only days before he would have been sworn into office .
He was 41 .
The congressman-elect died at Ochsner-LSU Health Shreveport on Tuesday , according to his spokesman Andrew Bautsch .
“ The family appreciates the numerous prayers and support over the past days but asks for privacy during this difficult and unexpected time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Luke had such a positive spirit , and a tremendously bright future ahead of him , ” the delegation said in a written statement .
“ He was looking forward to serving the people of Louisiana in Congress , and we were excited to welcome him to our delegation where he was ready to make an even greater impact on our state and our nation.
” 9:22 a.m. Cars take on new importance , functions during pandemic Lines of them , decorated , drivers honking , people hanging out of them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The scene has played out thousands of times , for myriad reasons , as vehicles became an all-important conduit during the pandemic for showing you care about something deeply .
Jean Smith can attest .
Family and friends formed a caravan and rolled by her Hyde Park apartment building in April to celebrate Smith ’ s 99th birthday : “ It made me feel like I was on cloud nine , or cloud 99 , ” she said with a laugh .
“ To get to be 99 and have that many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the time they just throw you by the wayside , but I felt like I was Queen Elizabeth .
I thoroughly enjoyed it , ” said Smith .
“ Now I ’ m just waiting for the 100th , ” she said , hoping for a face-to-face bash .
Birthdays , graduations , rallies , protests , funerals — thanks to COVID-19 , cars played a bigger part in them all .
And of course , events handing out coronavirus essentials — like face masks and hand sanitizer — often were drive-thru .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ those working on the tally often used car caravans to spread the word to fill out the form , often focusing on neighborhoods or communities that have been traditionally undercounted .
• Illinois ’ COVID-19 testing positivity rate inched upward for a fourth straight day Wednesday as state public health officials announced the virus has killed 178 additional residents and spread to 7,374 more .
• The new cases were confirmed among 66,786 tests submitted to the Illinois Department of Public Health , raising the state ’ s average positivity rate over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s increased from 6.8 % over the weekend but is still down from over 10 % this time last month .
• ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit will call the upcoming College Football Playoff semifinal between Ohio State and Clemson at home after testing positive for the coronavirus .
8:30 a.m. Joe Biden believes we can beat COVID-19 — because we are better than 2020 How hard was that ?
How hard was it for a president of the United States — or a president-elect — to stand up in a moment of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ straight and honest and call on us to be one nation , fighting the fight together ?
We ’ ve seen presidents do it before .
Franklin D. Roosevelt , a Democrat , did it after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor .
George W. Bush , a Republican , did it after the attacks of 9/11 .
On Tuesday , we saw it again with Joe Biden .
In an unadorned address of some scant 10 minutes or so , the president-elect called on all Americans , whatever their politics , to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year with a resolve to do the simple , practical and sometimes hard stuff necessary to finally contain and beat COVID-19 .
Honest to God , how we wish the current president , Donald Trump , had somehow found the empathy and integrity to do exactly this — tell it straight and rally us to the fight — when the pandemic first arrived on our nation ’ s shores .
Tens of thousands of lives might have been saved .
Hospitals might not be facing a post-holidays surge of gravely ill patients .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ backside of this pandemic , rather than in the very heart of it , showing the world how it ’ s done .
Businesses might be closer to reopening .
Our lives might be closer to returning to some semblance of normal .

Chicago and its suburbs have lost a lot of great businesses thanks to the coronavirus pandemic — that much became painfully obvious today.
Here’s all the news that broke relating to the pandemic.
News
8:55 p.m. Chicago businesses closed due to coronavirus pandemic
Southport Lanes was just two years shy of turning 100 years old when they closed permanently in early December. Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
2020 is a year marked with losses for millions around the globe due to the coronavirus pandemic, and in the United States, the losses have been devastating.
As it stands, the U.S.’s official death toll far outpaces its contemporaries like Canada and Australia, with 339,000 lives lost here as of December 30. And experts say the deaths may be undercounted.
Millions of people — 10.7 million, to be exact — are still without steady employment, according to the December report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Nationwide, more than 163,000 businesses have closed, according to Yelp’s Local Economic Impact Report, and nearly 60% of those closures will be permanent.
In Chicago, that’s meant the loss of important neighborhood resources, delicious restaurants, favorite bars — some of the places that held pieces of our collective history. And for local business owners, it’s meant the loss of a sole source of income or a passion project.
Read Grace Asiegbu’s full story on Chicago businesses that have shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
7:43 p.m. Parent leaders at first Chicago school shuttered by coronavirus push back against reopening
Parent leaders at a Northwest Side special education high school are pushing back against district plans to resume in-person classes next month amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The local school council at Vaughn Occupational High School in the Portage Park neighborhood called a special meeting Tuesday to unanimously pass a resolution calling on Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson to delay the scheduled reopening “until it is safe to return to in-person learning as determined by CPS and the Vaughn school community.”
Vaughn saw one of the city’s first coronavirus cases and was the first to close after a staffer tested positive in early March.
Ten months later — as the city continues racking up hundreds of new COVID-19 cases every day — many employees are slated to return to the building Jan. 4, while only 38 of the school’s 235 enrolled students have opted to return for in-person learning Jan. 11, according to Vaughn LSC member Josh Radinsky.
Reporter Mitch Armentrout has the full story.
2:19 p.m. ‘Gilligan’s Island’ star Dawn Wells dies, COVID-19 cited
LOS ANGELES — Dawn Wells, who played the wholesome Mary Ann among a misfit band of shipwrecked castaways on the 1960s sitcom “Gilligan’s Island,” died Wednesday of causes related to COVID-19, her publicist said. She was 82.
Wells died peacefully at a living facility in Los Angeles, publicist Harlan Boll said.
“There is so much more to Dawn Wells” than the “Gilligan’s Island” character that brought her fame, Boll said in a statement.
Besides TV, film and stage acting credits, her other real-life roles included teacher and motivational speaker, Boll said.
Read the full story here.
1:09 p.m. Illinois coronavirus metrics tick up with 178 more deaths, 7,374 new cases
Illinois public health officials announced the state’s highest daily coronavirus figures in almost two weeks Wednesday with 7,374 new cases of COVID-19 and 178 more deaths attributed to it.
The latest caseload, which is the largest reported by the Illinois Department of Public Health since Dec. 19, was diagnosed among 74,573 tests. That raised the statewide average testing positivity rate for a third consecutive day, up to 7.6%.
The death count is the highest since Dec. 18, and well above the state’s average of 122 coronavirus deaths per day over the past two weeks. It’s also higher than the death rate during the state’s worst two-week stretch of the pandemic at the start of December, when the coronavirus was claiming 152 Illinois lives on average every day.
Ninety-nine of the latest victims were from the Chicago area, including a Cook County man and woman both in their 40s.
Read the full story from Mitchell Armentrout here.
12:30 p.m. Colorado Guardsman has 1st reported U.S. case of virus variant
DENVER — A Colorado National Guard member has the first reported U.S. case of a new and seemingly more contagious variant of the coronavirus that has set off alarm in Britain, while a second case is suspected in another Guard member, health officials said Wednesday.
The two were sent on Dec. 23 to work at a nursing home struggling with an outbreak of the virus in a small town outside Denver, said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the state’s epidemiologist.
A state laboratory detected the cases after it began looking for signs of the variant after its spread was announced in England earlier this month, she said. Staff and residents at the nursing home who have tested positive for the coronavirus are having their samples screened for signs of the variant, and so far no evidence of it has been found, Herlihy said.
Read the full story here.
11:30 a.m. For this Chicago entrepreneur, the new federal stimulus aid for small businesses ‘too little, too late’
The day Chris Costoso had feared so much finally came last month when he was forced to shut down his photography business and turn over the keys to his storefront studio.
After nearly five years in business, that studio had become a part of him, he said.
In some cases, Costoso’s photos chronicle some couples’ lives together — from engagement, to wedding and eventually to family portraits.
“Handing over the last key to the [building] owner was just horrible,” Costoso said. “I didn’t think it would hurt so much, but as a small entrepreneur, I have put everything into my business and watched it flourish until something out of my control ended it so quickly.”
On Sunday, President Donald Trump signed a $900 billion pandemic relief package lauded to help people, but Costoso said for him, it’s “too little, too late.”
“This latest stimulus doesn’t even matter to me at this point. It’s whatever. I mean, I’m already shut down,” Costoso said. “I can only rely on myself to make something happen and to bring some sort of income in.”
The latest COVID-19 relief package would put $284 billion back into the Paycheck Protection Program, which offers forgivable loans to small businesses to keep their employees on payroll during the pandemic. Portions of that will be dedicated to minority-owned businesses and companies in low-income areas. An additional $20 billion would also go toward small business grants.
The $2.2 trillion CARES Act, passed in March, created the PPP program; that first round of aid eventually reached $669 billion. Costoso applied then but never received any aid. At this point, he feels both the federal and local government have let him down.
Businesses like Costoso’s that didn’t have strong relationships with the banks handling the PPP loans were left adrift, he believes. In Illinois, 12% of businesses and nonprofits getting loans from the PPP program accounted for 74% of the money — meaning bigger employers benefited the most.
Costoso said he did everything to keep his business afloat. He dropped the price his photo shoots from $650 to just $100 to generate some sort of income to pay his rent on his home and his storefront, but he still fell too far behind.
And with social media hyper-politicized during the presidential campaign, it was difficult to use those platforms to market his business online.
“People are not looking for a new photographer, and they are focused on the news with coronavirus, civil unrest, the elections and then those challenging the election results,” Costoso said. “So much of our advertising and marketing on Facebook was just getting ignored or washed away.”
Read Manny Ramos’ full story here.
10:37 a.m. Luke Letlow, Congressman-elect from Louisiana, dies of COVID-19
BATON ROUGE, La. — Luke Letlow, Louisiana’s incoming Republican member of the U.S. House, has died from complications related to COVID-19 only days before he would have been sworn into office. He was 41.
The congressman-elect died at Ochsner-LSU Health Shreveport on Tuesday, according to his spokesman Andrew Bautsch.
“The family appreciates the numerous prayers and support over the past days but asks for privacy during this difficult and unexpected time,” Bautsch said in a statement.
Louisiana’s eight-member congressional delegation called Letlow’s death devastating.
“Luke had such a positive spirit, and a tremendously bright future ahead of him,” the delegation said in a written statement. “He was looking forward to serving the people of Louisiana in Congress, and we were excited to welcome him to our delegation where he was ready to make an even greater impact on our state and our nation.”
Read the full story here.
9:22 a.m. Cars take on new importance, functions during pandemic
Cars.
Lines of them, decorated, drivers honking, people hanging out of them waving, screaming, singing, fist-pumping.
The scene has played out thousands of times, for myriad reasons, as vehicles became an all-important conduit during the pandemic for showing you care about something deeply.
Jean Smith can attest. Family and friends formed a caravan and rolled by her Hyde Park apartment building in April to celebrate Smith’s 99th birthday: “It made me feel like I was on cloud nine, or cloud 99,” she said with a laugh. “To get to be 99 and have that many people interested in you? Most of the time they just throw you by the wayside, but I felt like I was Queen Elizabeth. I thoroughly enjoyed it,” said Smith.
“Now I’m just waiting for the 100th,” she said, hoping for a face-to-face bash.
Birthdays, graduations, rallies, protests, funerals — thanks to COVID-19, cars played a bigger part in them all. And of course, events handing out coronavirus essentials — like face masks and hand sanitizer — often were drive-thru.
In the year of the census, those working on the tally often used car caravans to spread the word to fill out the form, often focusing on neighborhoods or communities that have been traditionally undercounted.
Keep reading Mitch Dudek’s story here.
New cases
Illinois’ COVID-19 testing positivity rate inched upward for a fourth straight day Wednesday as state public health officials announced the virus has killed 178 additional residents and spread to 7,374 more.
The new cases were confirmed among 66,786 tests submitted to the Illinois Department of Public Health, raising the state’s average positivity rate over the last week to 7.4%. That’s increased from 6.8% over the weekend but is still down from over 10% this time last month.
ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit will call the upcoming College Football Playoff semifinal between Ohio State and Clemson at home after testing positive for the coronavirus.
Analysis and commentary
8:30 a.m. Joe Biden believes we can beat COVID-19 — because we are better than 2020
How hard was that? How hard was it for a president of the United States — or a president-elect — to stand up in a moment of national crisis and put it to us straight and honest and call on us to be one nation, fighting the fight together?
We’ve seen presidents do it before. Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, did it after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. George W. Bush, a Republican, did it after the attacks of 9/11.
On Tuesday, we saw it again with Joe Biden. In an unadorned address of some scant 10 minutes or so, the president-elect called on all Americans, whatever their politics, to pull together and charge into the new year with a resolve to do the simple, practical and sometimes hard stuff necessary to finally contain and beat COVID-19.
Honest to God, how we wish the current president, Donald Trump, had somehow found the empathy and integrity to do exactly this — tell it straight and rally us to the fight — when the pandemic first arrived on our nation’s shores.
Tens of thousands of lives might have been saved. Hospitals might not be facing a post-holidays surge of gravely ill patients. The United States might be on the backside of this pandemic, rather than in the very heart of it, showing the world how it’s done.
Businesses might be closer to reopening. Our lives might be closer to returning to some semblance of normal.
Read the full editorial here.