chicagosun-times--2020-08-21--As murders soar in Chicago, judges are freeing more violent crime suspects on electronic monitoring

The number of criminal defendants freed on bail and ordered to wear electronic-monitoring bracelets has soared this year in Cook County , including more than 1,000 people charged with murder , robbery or illegal possession of guns , a Chicago Sun-Times analysis has found .
Police Supt .
David Brown says many of those being set free on electronic monitoring are responsible for the steep rise in killings this year in Chicago .
On Aug. 9 , 43 people facing murder charges were in the county ’ s electronic-monitoring program — 40 % more than on the same day last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 160 people charged with robbery and about 1,000 charged with illegal gun possession — twice as many for those crimes as on Aug. 9 , 2019 .
The Chicago Police Department has pointed to Cook County judges ’ skyrocketing use of electronic monitoring as a key factor in the city ’ s shocking 50 % rise in killings this year .
Brown has hammered on that at news conferences following one violent weekend in Chicago after another , blaming a court system he has said won ’ t keep violent offenders behind bars @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — when a 7-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy were among 17 people shot to death in Chicago — Brown said : “ My hope is that the deaths of these young people will not be in vain and will prick the hearts of the decision-makers who release violent offenders on electronic monitoring back into these very communities to mete out this kind of violence every weekend.
” None of the three men now charged in 7-year-old Natalia Wallace ’ s death was on electronic monitoring when she was killed , court records show @ @ @ @ @ @ @ examples of people who ’ ve committed crimes while on electronic monitoring .
And they cite others who they say shouldn ’ t have been placed in the program after being charged with violent acts .
Cook County State ’ s Attorney Kim Foxx is among county officials who ’ ve pushed back against the police department ’ s assertion that people free on bail are responsible for Chicago ’ s rise in violent crime .
Foxx says the statistics don ’ t back that up .
For instance , Foxx says that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for illegal gun possession in the first six months of 2020 , only a relative few — 26 — were “ repeat offenders.
” Others say a decrease in police activity like arrests and traffic stops is also a likely factor in the rise in violence .
Chief Cook County Judge Timothy Evans says judges — who decide how much bail should be and can impose special conditions of bail including electronic monitoring — “ must balance the right of the defendant to be presumed innocent with any evidence that the defendant would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the physical safety of any person.
” To protect the public , people charged with crimes who are granted bail with the condition they go on electronic monitoring typically are required to stay home except to go to work or school .
The number of people released with monitoring has risen this year because of the coronavirus pandemic , which has seen more detainees freed on bail to reduce the jail population to try to keep the virus from spreading .
More than 3,330 people are now in the county ’ s electronic-monitoring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year , according to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart ’ s office , which is required to track them .
Nearly 5,000 others charged with crimes and awaiting trial are being held at the Cook County Jail , which has the capacity to hold twice as many people .
In 2016 and 2017 , the most common charge being faced by suspects on electronic monitoring was drug possession .
Since 2018 , the No .
1 charge has been gun possession , though it ’ s unclear whether a reform of the county @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a role in that .
Under the reform , judges have been required to set bail felony defendants can afford to pay .
The aim was to keep people who pose little risk to the public from languishing in jail because they are too poor to make bail .
Evans has said the reform hasn ’ t made Chicago more dangerous .
He released a study last year that found people freed on bail weren ’ t responsible for rising violent crime .
“ As the city continues to face violent weekends , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ justice practices in the Circuit Court of Cook County , ” Evans wrote in a Sun-Times opinion piece last year .
“ The criticism is misleading because pretrial defendants released on bond are not driving the weekend crime statistics .
In fact , 99.8 % of felony defendants released on bail do not receive charges of new gun-related violent crime while their cases are pending.
” But criminologists then published a paper that refuted Evans ’ analysis , saying his study ’ s methodology was flawed and that violent crime had , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the bail reform .
One factor that Foxx and Evans haven ’ t taken into account in their statistics is the police department ’ s low rate of solving shootings .
People freed on bail and ordered to wear electronic-monitoring bracelets could be shooting other people but just not getting caught .
The Sun-Times asked the police department for data showing any links between violent crime and people on electronic monitoring .
The department responded with examples — a list of 29 people that Brown has used to criticize the electronic-monitoring program @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who ’ s accused of jumping from a stolen GMC truck and robbing a female driver at gunpoint in March in Logan Square , taking her iPhone X , AirPods , wallet and house keys .
The police arrested Thomas near the Parkway Gardens housing complex on the South Side after , they say , he rammed their vehicle with the stolen truck .
Charged with armed robbery , he posted $ 500 in bail and was placed on electronic monitoring in early April .
On June 9 , the sheriff ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unauthorized leave ” by Thomas from his electronic monitoring .
Three hours later , he shot an off-duty Chicago cop in a knee during an attempted robbery and the officer returned fire , hitting Thomas in the legs , police say .
Thomas was arrested at a hospital the next day and is being held without bail .
• Dimitris Horns , 18 , who was arrested in February in Englewood for possessing a firearm illegally .
Police said they saw a bulge under Horns ’ sweatshirt and that he ran when they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during the chase .
Horns posted $ 500 to get out of jail on bail and was placed on electronic monitoring .
In late May , sheriff ’ s officials in the electronic-monitoring unit got an alert about Horns ’ bracelet being tampered with and Horns being on unauthorized leave .
He was declared a fugitive after investigators visited his home and found his cut-off bracelet .
On July 8 , the police say he shot a man in the face during a robbery of $ 130 in Englewood .
He was charged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ escape .
• Omar Guzman , 24 , who was convicted of illegal gun possession in 2014 and 2017 and was arrested in late 2019 on a charge of being an armed habitual criminal .
This February , he posted $ 2,500 bail and was freed on electronic monitoring .
In May , police officers said they caught Guzman with a gun in North Austin .
He again was charged with being an armed habitual offender .
He was placed on electronic monitoring again after posting $ 10,000 bail .
On July 10 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alert for his unauthorized leave , but his monitoring device showed he was back in his residence that night .
The next morning , sheriff ’ s officials visited his home and gave him a warning .
In July , Guzman was charged with failing to register as a gun offender .
He remains on electronic monitoring .
• Leoji Allen , 21 , who was charged with an armed robbery in January and placed on electronic monitoring after posting $ 1,000 bail .
Five days later , prosecutors charged Allen with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in December .
Allen then posted $ 2,500 bail in the December holdup .
He ’ s remained on electronic monitoring since January .
Dart ’ s staff says the sheriff doesn ’ t think that people who , like Allen , have been charged with violent crimes should be freed on electronic monitoring while awaiting trial .
“ The sheriff has long voiced his concern that EM should not be used for individuals who are charged with violent crimes — up to and including murder — and that it should be reserved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” the sheriff ’ s spokesman Matt Walberg says .
“ The purpose of electronic monitoring was never to replace pretrial detention for violent offenders but to reduce overcrowding by releasing individuals who pose no risk to their communities to home supervision , ” Walberg says .
Dart had tried to keep people charged with violent crimes from going free on electronic monitoring , but the federal appeals court in Chicago found that only judges can decide the conditions for granting bail and that the sheriff must follow them , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ imposition of electronic monitoring has put a strain on the sheriff ’ s office .
“ We have not received any additional financial or human resources to meet that demand , ” Walberg says .
To better track people in the program , the sheriff ’ s office is shifting from electronic-monitoring equipment that operates on radio frequencies to bracelets that are tracked via global-positioning satellites .
The new system doesn ’ t require sheriff ’ s employees to set up control boxes in the homes of people on monitoring , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the GPS technology will allow messages to be sent through a bracelet if a person isn ’ t following the rules .

The number of criminal defendants freed on bail and ordered to wear electronic-monitoring bracelets has soared this year in Cook County, including more than 1,000 people charged with murder, robbery or illegal possession of guns, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis has found.
Police Supt. David Brown says many of those being set free on electronic monitoring are responsible for the steep rise in killings this year in Chicago.
On Aug. 9, 43 people facing murder charges were in the county’s electronic-monitoring program — 40% more than on the same day last year.
La Voz Sidebar 2023 Lea este artículo en español en La Voz Chicago.
Also in the program were 160 people charged with robbery and about 1,000 charged with illegal gun possession — twice as many for those crimes as on Aug. 9, 2019.
The Chicago Police Department has pointed to Cook County judges’ skyrocketing use of electronic monitoring as a key factor in the city’s shocking 50% rise in killings this year. Brown has hammered on that at news conferences following one violent weekend in Chicago after another, blaming a court system he has said won’t keep violent offenders behind bars.
After the Fourth of July weekend — when a 7-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy were among 17 people shot to death in Chicago — Brown said: “My hope is that the deaths of these young people will not be in vain and will prick the hearts of the decision-makers who release violent offenders on electronic monitoring back into these very communities to mete out this kind of violence every weekend.”
Natalia Wallace, 7, was shot to death July 4 while playing on a sidewalk with other children in front of her grandparents’ home on the West Side. Three men have been charged with murder in Natalia’s death. Provided
None of the three men now charged in 7-year-old Natalia Wallace’s death was on electronic monitoring when she was killed, court records show.
But the police point to other examples of people who’ve committed crimes while on electronic monitoring. And they cite others who they say shouldn’t have been placed in the program after being charged with violent acts.
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx is among county officials who’ve pushed back against the police department’s assertion that people free on bail are responsible for Chicago’s rise in violent crime.
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. Pat Nabong / Sun-Times
Foxx says the statistics don’t back that up. For instance, Foxx says of the more than 1,800 arrests for illegal gun possession in the first six months of 2020, only a relative few — 26 — were “repeat offenders.”
Frank Main / Sun-Times
Frank Main / Sun-Times
Others say a decrease in police activity like arrests and traffic stops is also a likely factor in the rise in violence.
Chief Cook County Judge Timothy Evans says judges — who decide how much bail should be and can impose special conditions of bail including electronic monitoring — “must balance the right of the defendant to be presumed innocent with any evidence that the defendant would pose a real and present threat to the physical safety of any person.”
Chief Cook County Judge Timothy Evans. Rich Hein / Sun-Times file
To protect the public, people charged with crimes who are granted bail with the condition they go on electronic monitoring typically are required to stay home except to go to work or school.
The number of people released with monitoring has risen this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen more detainees freed on bail to reduce the jail population to try to keep the virus from spreading.
More than 3,330 people are now in the county’s electronic-monitoring program, up from about 2,200 last year, according to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s office, which is required to track them.
Nearly 5,000 others charged with crimes and awaiting trial are being held at the Cook County Jail, which has the capacity to hold twice as many people.
In 2016 and 2017, the most common charge being faced by suspects on electronic monitoring was drug possession.
Since 2018, the No. 1 charge has been gun possession, though it’s unclear whether a reform of the county’s bail system in 2017 had a role in that.
Under the reform, judges have been required to set bail felony defendants can afford to pay. The aim was to keep people who pose little risk to the public from languishing in jail because they are too poor to make bail.
Evans has said the reform hasn’t made Chicago more dangerous. He released a study last year that found people freed on bail weren’t responsible for rising violent crime.
“As the city continues to face violent weekends, blame is being placed on the pretrial justice practices in the Circuit Court of Cook County,” Evans wrote in a Sun-Times opinion piece last year. “The criticism is misleading because pretrial defendants released on bond are not driving the weekend crime statistics. In fact, 99.8% of felony defendants released on bail do not receive charges of new gun-related violent crime while their cases are pending.”
But criminologists then published a paper that refuted Evans’ analysis, saying his study’s methodology was flawed and that violent crime had, in fact, increased significantly as a result of the bail reform.
One factor that Foxx and Evans haven’t taken into account in their statistics is the police department’s low rate of solving shootings. People freed on bail and ordered to wear electronic-monitoring bracelets could be shooting other people but just not getting caught.
The Sun-Times asked the police department for data showing any links between violent crime and people on electronic monitoring.
The department responded with examples — a list of 29 people that Brown has used to criticize the electronic-monitoring program.
The list included:
Chrishawn Thomas. Chicago Police Department
Chrishawn Thomas, 18, who’s accused of jumping from a stolen GMC truck and robbing a female driver at gunpoint in March in Logan Square, taking her iPhone X, AirPods, wallet and house keys. The police arrested Thomas near the Parkway Gardens housing complex on the South Side after, they say, he rammed their vehicle with the stolen truck. Charged with armed robbery, he posted $500 in bail and was placed on electronic monitoring in early April. On June 9, the sheriff’s office received an alert for an “unauthorized leave” by Thomas from his electronic monitoring. Three hours later, he shot an off-duty Chicago cop in a knee during an attempted robbery and the officer returned fire, hitting Thomas in the legs, police say. Thomas was arrested at a hospital the next day and is being held without bail.
Dimitris Horns. Chicago Police Department
Dimitris Horns, 18, who was arrested in February in Englewood for possessing a firearm illegally. Police said they saw a bulge under Horns’ sweatshirt and that he ran when they approached him and tossed a .40-caliber handgun during the chase. Horns posted $500 to get out of jail on bail and was placed on electronic monitoring. In late May, sheriff’s officials in the electronic-monitoring unit got an alert about Horns’ bracelet being tampered with and Horns being on unauthorized leave. He was declared a fugitive after investigators visited his home and found his cut-off bracelet. On July 8, the police say he shot a man in the face during a robbery of $130 in Englewood. He was charged with aggravated battery, armed robbery and escape.
Omar Guzman. Chicago Police Department
Omar Guzman, 24, who was convicted of illegal gun possession in 2014 and 2017 and was arrested in late 2019 on a charge of being an armed habitual criminal. This February, he posted $2,500 bail and was freed on electronic monitoring. In May, police officers said they caught Guzman with a gun in North Austin. He again was charged with being an armed habitual offender. He was placed on electronic monitoring again after posting $10,000 bail. On July 10, sheriff’s officials got an alert for his unauthorized leave, but his monitoring device showed he was back in his residence that night. The next morning, sheriff’s officials visited his home and gave him a warning. In July, Guzman was charged with failing to register as a gun offender. He remains on electronic monitoring.
Leoji Allen. Chicago Police Department
Leoji Allen, 21, who was charged with an armed robbery in January and placed on electronic monitoring after posting $1,000 bail. Five days later, prosecutors charged Allen with a separate armed robbery that had taken place in December. Allen then posted $2,500 bail in the December holdup. He’s remained on electronic monitoring since January.
Dart’s staff says the sheriff doesn’t think that people who, like Allen, have been charged with violent crimes should be freed on electronic monitoring while awaiting trial.
“The sheriff has long voiced his concern that EM should not be used for individuals who are charged with violent crimes — up to and including murder — and that it should be reserved for those facing low-level, nonviolent crimes,” the sheriff’s spokesman Matt Walberg says.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. Brian Rich / Sun-Times file
“The purpose of electronic monitoring was never to replace pretrial detention for violent offenders but to reduce overcrowding by releasing individuals who pose no risk to their communities to home supervision,” Walberg says.
Dart had tried to keep people charged with violent crimes from going free on electronic monitoring, but the federal appeals court in Chicago found that only judges can decide the conditions for granting bail and that the sheriff must follow them, according to Walberg.
He says the vastly expanded imposition of electronic monitoring has put a strain on the sheriff’s office.
“We have not received any additional financial or human resources to meet that demand,” Walberg says.
To better track people in the program, the sheriff’s office is shifting from electronic-monitoring equipment that operates on radio frequencies to bracelets that are tracked via global-positioning satellites.
The new system doesn’t require sheriff’s employees to set up control boxes in the homes of people on monitoring, according to the sheriff’s office, and the GPS technology will allow messages to be sent through a bracelet if a person isn’t following the rules.


chicagosun-times--2020-08-21--At CPS high schools, a stark racial divide on when cops are called on students and arrests

In eighth grade , Angelo McFarland and his friends were detained by Chicago police officers after a group of boys started an argument with them at school .
Nisa Perez , a special education student , was dragged out of a classroom by a cop for having headphones on in class , then reprimanded for resisting him .
Davione Jackson stood in a hallway at his school , watching officers respond to a typical teenage fight by pulling Tasers and grabbing students .
Destiny Bell saw an argument between officers , classmates and alumni outside the building after school escalate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kids for loitering after final dismissal .
For years , Black students and community activists have complained about having uniformed police officers in their schools , saying the result is that school staff members target Black children , getting cops involved over routine disagreements , which leads to officers escalating those situations and criminalizing Black teenage behavior .
They also say the police don ’ t know how to handle the needs of students in special education and shouldn ’ t be the ones to respond to a student ’ s crisis .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ backs that up , according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of Chicago Public Schools records that finds there ’ s a stark divide in how Black students and those in special education are treated compared to other students .
Among the Sun-Times ’ findings : • Students who attend a high school that has a Chicago police officer stationed inside are four times more likely to have the police called on them than kids at high schools that don ’ t have in-house cops .
• Students at majority-Black high schools are almost @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police called on them than kids at schools with a student population that ’ s more heavily white than the citywide average .
• Black girls face some type of intervention by school police officers at a rate eight times higher than white girls and nearly 14 times higher than Asian American girls .
• Cops are called on children in special education more than three times more often than other students .
• At high schools that have police officers inside , cops intervene more frequently at schools with majority-Black student populations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ minority .
• And student arrest data released for the first time by CPS this past week shows that those police notifications have led to arrests of Black students at a rate 91⁄ times higher than white students , six times higher than Latino students and 38 times higher than Asian American students .
Of 11,527 student arrests made in Chicago over the past nine school years — including the shortened 2019-2020 year — 9,001 have been Black students .
That ’ s 78.1 % .
That ’ s even though Black students @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ enrollment in that time , records show .
The “ appalling ” data at CPS largely mirrors the disparate rates of policing in schools nationally , says Pauline Lipman , an education policy studies professor and researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago .
“ All the research pretty much shows the same thing : Police in schools actually don ’ t keep students safe , ” says Lipman , who has studied CPS policies for over two decades .
“ Police in schools make Black and Brown students in particular @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It affects their educational experience and can begin to set them on a path in which various institutions criminalize them .
This is an extremely serious finding and one that should be a very strong argument , particularly in this moment of national reckoning , for removing police from schools.
” Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS leadership have declined to issue a blanket removal of cops from schools even as they face public scrutiny that ’ s only gotten stronger since the Chicago Board of Education approved a $ 33 million contract last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ again this summer as the nation has grappled with the history of racism in America and the role of police in Black communities and schools .
Jadine Chou , CPS ’ safety and security chief , says the school system has been working to eliminate school-policing disparities , particularly for Black students .
“ Nothing is more important to all of us here at CPS than ensuring all of our students are treated fairly and have equitable access to our schools , ” Chou says .
Lightfoot and CPS have proposed reforms to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , or SRO , program .
On Wednesday , CPS officials will present a revised , $ 15 million agreement to the school board for approval .
The board , which decided in June not to terminate its relationship with the police department , faces another key vote in which it could elect not to renew the police contract that ’ s set to expire at the end of this month .
The Sun-Times analyzed 1,758 police notifications among 296,966 students at 505 CPS-run , non-charter schools during 2018-19 , the latest full @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number of police calls per 100 students in each demographic group .
At CPS , the term police notifications refers to any time a school ’ s administration contacts the police to respond to a disciplinary incident , which can lead to “ police actions such as arrest.
” Even as the disparities between Black students and their peers have remained constant , the total number of police notifications and the rate of calls have drastically fallen over the past decade .
Both figures are now a fraction of what they were in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Similarly , the records that CPS just released show the number of student arrests have decreased by 80 % since 2011 .
The majority of calls during the 2018-19 year — 1,054 — were concentrated at 94 high schools serving a total of 76,791 students .
The police got involved with students in preschool through second grade 26 times .
Third- through fifth-graders were the subject of 95 police calls .
And 572 notifications were for sixth- through eighth-graders .
Altogether , officers were called 1.37 times per 100 students in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ become clear when race and school participation in the SRO program are taken into account .
At 70 non-charter high schools that have officers in their building , 1.52 police notifications were made per 100 students — a total of 1,014 .
For the 23 high schools without in-house officers , it was 0.39 calls per 100 children — 40 total notifications .
Of the 15 schools in the SRO program with the highest rates of police calls , 10 were majority-Black schools .
Of the 15 schools with officers that had the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ non-Black .
McFarland , now 18 , graduated in June from Austin College and Career Academy High School , which in recent weeks decided to keep officers in its building .
McFarland says that when he was an eighth-grader at Sumner Elementary School , a group of boys got into an argument with him and his friends .
Security guards and teachers at the school stepped in , then one of the adults called the police .
The officers detained all of the boys , who were in seventh and eighth grades .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ handled very differently , without elementary students being made to feel like criminals over an argument , if the school had social workers and counselors to talk them through their struggles .
“ The kids that actually started saying stuff to us and tried to get into it with us , I feel like maybe they didn ’ t have anybody to talk to , ” he says .
“ Maybe something was going on at their house that nobody ever knew about .
The only reaction that they know is violence .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as schools , as human beings , if we just have the proper resources and the right education and the right people to teach us , we wouldn ’ t have these situations .
Every time the word Black comes into a sentence , police come into it.
” He says school and governmental leaders need to understand the degree to which Black people fear the police and how students carry those feelings with them every day .
“ If I see officers running toward me , the first thing that I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ die , ” McFarland says .
“ I fear for my mom .
I know how big of an impact it ’ s gon na be on her if she loses one of her sons .
It makes you feel that you don ’ t have a place in this world.
” Lipman , the UIC professor , says Black and Latino students face hostile policing in the streets , and “ when they go to school , they see the same police in a school that ’ s supposed to be a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That only magnifies the trauma that they ’ re already experiencing in the community.
” Latino students don ’ t face the same rates of police notifications at CPS schools as Black students , but they are still a little more than 21⁄ times more heavily policed than white students , records show .
A predominantly Latino school , Schurz High School in Irving Park on the Northwest Side , logged the most calls to police in the 2018-19 year .
Officers intervened with students at Schurz 229 times that year .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which had more than twice the number of students enrolled .
Taft had 75 notifications , about three times fewer .
Even taking into account that it has 1,600 students — making it CPS ’ 11th-largest school — Schurz calls the cops at the third-highest rate in the city , with 14.65 calls per 100 students .
Other schools with high rates of notifications were Tilden High School , with 21.3 calls per 100 students , and Marshall High School , with 10.6 calls per 100 students .
The Local School Councils @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Marshall all voted earlier this month to keep their police officers .
Even when the presence of in-house officers is removed from the equation , a disparity still exists between majority-Black schools and those with more white students than the citywide average of 10.8 % .
No CPS high schools are majority-white .
At CPS ’ 37 majority-Black high schools in 2018-19 , 1.66 police calls were made per 100 students .
At the 18 schools that were more heavily white than average , there were 0.62 notifications per 100 kids — a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ amounts to about half as many total police notifications at the whiter-than-average schools than the majority-Black schools — 168 vs. 313 — despite the whiter schools serving 8,500 more students — 27,063 vs. 18,537 .
Overall , 58.8 % of police calls that year involved Black students , who now make up 35.9 % of CPS ’ enrollment .
Black girls face one notification per 100 students — eight times the rate of white girls , 14 times more than Asian American girls and about 21⁄ times more than Latina girls .
Aja @ @ @ @ @ @ @ urban education and race studies at Wayne State University in Detroit , says Black girls routinely are seen as troublemakers because they don ’ t conform to the idealized version of white girlhood or womanhood .
That leads to higher rates of police intervention .
“ Oftentimes , they ’ re kicked out of class , or they ’ re in trouble because they may talk back , ” says Reynolds , a former Chicago community organizer working with Black girls on the South Side .
“ And their talk-back may be them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it comes through a Black girl ’ s body , it ’ s seen as talking back .
“ The basis of how we understand womanhood , who represents that , who represents femininity , is really boxed into this cisgender , white , middle-class woman , ” Reynolds says .
“ And then Black girls and women aren ’ t often seen in that same way.
” Perez , an incoming senior at Lindblom Math and Science Academy , was in special education at her elementary school when an officer pulled her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on .
“ I remember it so vividly because I was screaming , ‘ Stop , ’ ” Perez says .
“ I didn ’ t understand .
It was no warning .
I hadn ’ t fought anybody , I hadn ’ t did anything .
I was literally sitting in class .
I ’ m just scared at this point .
It was a hard year for me , it was a lot going on .
I remember being in this situation , and it was , like , what was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ school wasn ’ t heavily policed , yet I still had an experience like that , ” she says .
“ And that was a light experience compared to a lot of other young Black women who have been in CPS and have had much worse experiences.
” Jackson and Bell say they feel they have targets on their backs at school because of their Black skin .
Chou , CPS ’ safety and security chief , points to policies put in place last fall that limit the circumstance under which officers can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prohibiting police involvement in school discipline , as a way the school system is trying to change the system of policing in schools .
The reduction in police calls has been steady in Chou ’ s nearly nine years on the job .
Chou attributes those reductions to the introduction of training and the elimination of a zero-tolerance policy .
“ We ’ re training staff to understand how to approach situations with a trauma-informed lens , ” she says .
“ We ’ re training staff on implicit racial bias to understand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do to eliminate those shortcuts that sometimes people take in making assumptions and how we react to a situation .
“ We ’ ve made tremendous progress .
Our goal is to eliminate the school-to-prison pipeline .
We ’ re on this journey , and we ’ re committed to making sure that happens.
” At the mayor ’ s direction , the Local School Councils at about 70 high schools have considered whether to keep officers in schools .
Fifty-four schools decided to keep their cops for the upcoming school year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Officials at some schools have said their officers are friendly and keep students safe from outside trouble .
Others have said they ’ ve been forced to choose between an officer or nothing , complaining about CPS ’ stance that schools that give up their SROs can ’ t use that money for anything else .
Schools with fewer Black students generally were the ones to kick out the police .
Nearly all majority-Black high schools chose to keep them .
That leaves most majority non-Black schools without cops and all but two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the building .

In eighth grade, Angelo McFarland and his friends were detained by Chicago police officers after a group of boys started an argument with them at school.
Nisa Perez, a special education student, was dragged out of a classroom by a cop for having headphones on in class, then reprimanded for resisting him.
Davione Jackson stood in a hallway at his school, watching officers respond to a typical teenage fight by pulling Tasers and grabbing students.
Destiny Bell saw an argument between officers, classmates and alumni outside the building after school escalate to where cops were shoving and tackling kids for loitering after final dismissal.
La Voz Sidebar 2023 Lea este artículo en español en La Voz Chicago.
For years, Black students and community activists have complained about having uniformed police officers in their schools, saying the result is that school staff members target Black children, getting cops involved over routine disagreements, which leads to officers escalating those situations and criminalizing Black teenage behavior. They also say the police don’t know how to handle the needs of students in special education and shouldn’t be the ones to respond to a student in crisis.
The school system’s own data backs that up, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of Chicago Public Schools records that finds a stark divide in how Black students and those in special education are treated compared to other students. Among the Sun-Times’ findings:
Students who attend a high school that has a Chicago police officer stationed inside are four times more likely to have the police called on them than kids at high schools that don’t have in-house cops.
Students at majority-Black high schools are almost three times more likely to have the police called on them than kids at schools with a student population that’s more heavily white than the citywide average.
Black girls face some type of intervention by school police officers at a rate eight times higher than white girls and nearly 14 times higher than Asian American girls.
Cops are called on children in special education more than three times more often than other students.
Graph not displaying properly? Click here.
At high schools with police officers inside, cops intervene more frequently at schools with majority-Black student populations than those where Black students are a minority.
And student arrest data released for the first time by CPS this past week shows those police notifications have led to arrests of Black students at a rate 91⁄ 2 times higher than white students, six times higher than Latino students and 38 times higher than Asian American students. Of 11,527 student arrests made in Chicago over the past nine school years — including the shortened 2019-2020 year — 9,001 have been Black students. That’s 78.1%. That’s even though Black students have accounted for 39% of CPS’ enrollment during that time, records show.
Community activists protested outside the home of Miguel del Valle, the Chicago Board of Education’s president, in June as the board was voting on whether to continue its contract for police officers in schools. Pat Nabong / Sun-Times
Disparate policing also seen nationally
The “appalling” data at CPS largely mirrors the disparate rates of policing in schools nationally, says Pauline Lipman, an education policy studies professor and researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
“All the research pretty much shows the same thing: Police in schools actually don’t keep students safe,” says Lipman, who has studied CPS policies for over two decades. “Police in schools make Black and Brown students in particular more fearful of going to school. It affects their educational experience and can begin to set them on a path in which various institutions criminalize them. This is an extremely serious finding and one that should be a very strong argument, particularly in this moment of national reckoning, for removing police from schools.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS leadership have declined to issue a blanket removal of cops from schools even as they face public scrutiny that’s only gotten stronger since the Chicago Board of Education approved a $33 million contract last August with the Chicago Police Department and again this summer as the nation has grappled with the history of racism in America and the role of police in Black communities and schools.
Jadine Chou, CPS’ safety and security chief, says the school system has been working to eliminate school-policing disparities, particularly for Black students.
“Nothing is more important to all of us here at CPS than ensuring all of our students are treated fairly and have equitable access to our schools,” Chou says.
Lightfoot and CPS have proposed reforms to what they call the School Resource Officer, or SRO, program. On Wednesday, CPS officials will present a revised, $15 million agreement to the school board for approval. The board, which decided in June not to terminate its relationship with the police department, faces another key vote in which it could elect not to renew the police contract that’s set to expire at the end of this month.
Protesters hold a banner that says “Fund Black Futures” on East 63rd Street in Woodlawn in a June demonstration against police officers in schools. Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times file
Breaking down the racial disparities
The Sun-Times analyzed 1,758 police notifications among 296,966 students at 505 CPS-run, non-charter schools during 2018-19, the latest full academic year. The analysis measured the number of police calls per 100 students in each demographic group.
At CPS, the term police notifications refers to any time a school’s administration contacts the police to respond to a disciplinary incident, which can lead to “police actions such as arrest.”
Even as the disparities between Black students and their peers have remained constant, the total number of police notifications and the rate of calls have drastically fallen over the past decade. Both figures are now a fraction of what they were in 2011, when 5,166 calls were made.
Similarly, the records that CPS just released show the number of student arrests have decreased by 80% since 2011.
Graph not displaying properly? Click here.
The majority of calls during the 2018-19 year — 1,054 — were concentrated at 94 high schools serving a total of 76,791 students.
The police got involved with students in preschool through second grade 26 times.
Third- through fifth-graders were the subject of 95 police calls.
And 572 notifications were for sixth- through eighth-graders.
Altogether, officers were called 1.37 times per 100 students in the 2018-19 school year.
The racial disparities become clear when race and school participation in the SRO program are taken into account.
At 70 non-charter high schools that have officers in their building, 1.52 police notifications were made per 100 students — a total of 1,014. For the 23 high schools without in-house officers, it was 0.39 calls per 100 children — 40 total notifications.
Of the 15 schools in the SRO program with the highest rates of police calls, 10 were majority-Black schools. Of the 15 schools with officers that had the lowest notification rates, 11 were majority non-Black.
7th-, 8th-graders’ argument criminalized
McFarland, now 18, graduated in June from Austin College and Career Academy High School, which in recent weeks decided to keep officers in its building. McFarland says when he was an eighth-grader at Sumner Elementary School, a group of boys got into an argument with him and his friends. Security guards and teachers at the school stepped in, then one of the adults called the police. The officers detained all of the boys, who were in seventh and eighth grades.
McFarland says the situation could have been handled very differently, without elementary students being made to feel like criminals over an argument, if the school had social workers and counselors to talk them through their struggles.
“The kids that actually started saying stuff to us and tried to get into it with us, I feel like maybe they didn’t have anybody to talk to,” he says. “Maybe something was going on at their house that nobody ever knew about. The only reaction that they know is violence.
“If we, as a community, as schools, as human beings, if we just have the proper resources and the right education and the right people to teach us, we wouldn’t have these situations. Every time the word Black comes into a sentence, police come into it.”
He says school and governmental leaders need to understand the degree to which Black people fear the police and how students carry those feelings with them every day.
“If I see officers running toward me, the first thing that I think is I’m gonna die,” McFarland says. “I fear for my mom. I know how big of an impact it’s gonna be on her if she loses one of her sons. It makes you feel that you don’t have a place in this world.”
Pauline Lipman. University of Illinois at Chicago
Lipman, the UIC professor, says Black and Latino students face hostile policing in the streets, and “when they go to school, they see the same police in a school that’s supposed to be a supportive and caring and nurturing learning environment. That only magnifies the trauma that they’re already experiencing in the community.”
Latino students don’t face the same rates of police notifications at CPS schools as Black students, but they are still a little more than 21⁄ 2 times more heavily policed than white students, records show.
Schurz High School had most police calls
A predominantly Latino school, Schurz High School in Irving Park on the Northwest Side, logged the most calls to police in the 2018-19 year. Officers intervened with students at Schurz 229 times that year.
Predominantly Latino Schurz High School, 3601 N. Milwaukee Ave., logged the most calls to police in the 2018-19 year. Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times
The next -closest was Taft High School, which had more than twice the number of students enrolled. Taft had 75 notifications, about three times fewer.
Even taking into account that it has 1,600 students — making it CPS’ 11th-largest school — Schurz calls the cops at the third-highest rate in the city, with 14.65 calls per 100 students.
Other schools with high rates of notifications were Tilden High School, with 21.3 calls per 100 students, and Marshall High School, with 10.6 calls per 100 students.
The Local School Councils at Schurz, Taft, Tilden and Marshall all voted earlier this month to keep their police officers.
Marshall High School had 10.6 police calls per 100 students. Its Local School Council voted earlier this month to keep its in-house police officers. Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times
Even when the presence of in-house officers is removed from the equation, a disparity still exists between majority-Black schools and those with more white students than the citywide average of 10.8%. No CPS high schools are majority-white.
At CPS’ 37 majority-Black high schools in 2018-19, 1.66 police calls were made per 100 students. At the 18 schools that were more heavily white than average, there were 0.62 notifications per 100 kids — a rate almost three times lower.
That amounts to about half as many total police notifications at the whiter-than-average schools than the majority-Black schools — 168 vs. 313 — despite the whiter schools serving 8,500 more students — 27,063 vs. 18,537.
Overall, 58.8% of police calls that year involved Black students, who now make up 35.9% of CPS’ enrollment.
Graph not displaying properly? Click here.
Black girls face one notification per 100 students — eight times the rate of white girls, 14 times more than Asian American girls and about 21⁄ 2 times more than Latina girls.
Aja Reynolds. Provided
Aja Reynolds, a visiting assistant professor of urban education and race studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, says Black girls routinely are seen as troublemakers because they don’t conform to the idealized version of white girlhood or womanhood. That leads to higher rates of police intervention.
“Oftentimes, they’re kicked out of class or they’re in trouble because they may talk back,” says Reynolds, a former Chicago community organizer working with Black girls on the South Side. “And their talk-back may be them advocating for themselves. But because it comes through a Black girl’s body, it’s seen as talking back.
“The basis of how we understand womanhood, who represents that, who represents femininity, is really boxed into this cisgender, white, middle-class woman,” Reynolds says. “And then Black girls and women aren’t often seen in that same way.”
Nisa Perez, 17, outside her Washington Park home. Ashlee Rezin Garcia / Sun-Times
Perez, an incoming senior at Lindblom Math and Science Academy, was in special education at her elementary school when an officer pulled her out of a classroom for having headphones on.
“I remember it so vividly because I was screaming, ‘Stop,’” Perez says. “I didn’t understand. It was no warning. I hadn’t fought anybody, I hadn’t did anything. I was literally sitting in class. I’m just scared at this point. It was a hard year for me, it was a lot going on. I remember being in this situation, and it was, like, what was solved? For what?
“My school wasn’t heavily policed, yet I still had an experience like that,” she says. “And that was a light experience compared to a lot of other young Black women who have been in CPS and have had much worse experiences.”
Jackson and Bell say they feel they have targets on their backs at school because of their Black skin.
A steady drop in police calls
Chou, CPS’ safety and security chief, points to policies put in place last fall that limit the circumstance under which officers can be called to interact with students, prohibiting police involvement in school discipline, as a way the school system is trying to change the system of policing in schools.
The reduction in police calls has been steady in Chou’s nearly nine years on the job. Chou attributes those reductions to the introduction of training and the elimination of a zero-tolerance policy.
Police notifications have fallen sharply since Jadine Chou has been the Chicago Public Schools’ chief of safety and security. Colin Boyle / Sun-Times file
“We’re training staff to understand how to approach situations with a trauma-informed lens,” she says. “We’re training staff on implicit racial bias to understand what we, as adults, need to do to eliminate those shortcuts that sometimes people take in making assumptions and how we react to a situation.
“We’ve made tremendous progress. Our goal is to eliminate the school-to-prison pipeline. We’re on this journey, and we’re committed to making sure that happens.”
At the mayor’s direction, the Local School Councils at about 70 high schools have considered whether to keep officers in schools. Fifty-four schools decided to keep their cops for the upcoming school year, and 17 have removed them.
Officials at some schools have said their officers are friendly and keep students safe from outside trouble. Others have said they’ve been forced to choose between an officer or nothing, complaining about CPS’ stance that schools that give up their SROs can’t use that money for anything else.
Schools with fewer Black students generally were the ones to kick out the police. Nearly all majority-Black high schools chose to keep them. That leaves most majority non-Black schools without cops and all but two majority-Black CPS high schools with officers in the building.


chicagosun-times--2020-08-21--Pritzker pushes to tighten utility regulations after ComEd bribery charges to fight taint of ‘excess

Pritzker pushes to tighten utility regulations after ComEd bribery charges to fight taint of ‘excessive clout and political contributions’

Gov .
J.B. Pritzker is pushing state lawmakers to clamp down on regulations for utility companies in the wake of the bombshell federal bribery case leveled against ComEd that implicated powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan .
Declaring that utilities “ can no longer write the state ’ s energy policies behind closed doors , ” Pritzker ’ s office issued a set of proposals Friday that include getting rid of the state ’ s formula rate system , banning utilities from making charitable contributions and requiring elected officials to report any relatives who work for a regulated utility company @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public rightfully questions whether any new energy laws might be inevitably tainted by the political power of utility companies that have used their excessive clout and political contributions to corrupt the political process for their own profits , and whose practices have led to criminal investigations and charges , ” Pritzker ’ s office said .
“ Their days of outsized influence on the process are ending.
” Formula rates went into effect in Illinois in 2012 to help fund a now-completed grid modernization plan , and now only help utilities “ increase @ @ @ @ @ @ @ base with little cost control , ” according to Pritzker ’ s office , resulting in a 29 % increase in delivery costs for ComEd customers .
“ We ’ re going to make the utilities come back before the Illinois Commerce Commission like they used to , to make their case to those commissioners why their rates change year over year , ” Deputy Gov .
Christian Mitchell said .
Pritzker ’ s team also wants to block utilities from recovering charitable contributions to foundations , golf outings , and other events @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elected officials ” with ratepayer money .
And among other 10 other “ transparency and ethics ” requirements , the Democratic governor wants utilities to submit to yearly independent audits of their infrastructure expenditures .
Mitchell said they ’ re putting the proposals to a working group next week in hopes of crafting a bill for the veto session in Springfield this fall , but acknowledged it would be difficult for potential legislation to come to fruition this year .
And the deputy governor stopped short of saying the proposed utility crackdown would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alleged last month against ComEd .
“ When people want to misbehave , they tend to find a way , but this makes it significantly harder to do so , ” Mitchell said .
“ And it lets people know that we ’ re going to be focused on this in a real way going forward.
” ComEd has been charged with bribery , accused of sending $ 1.3 million to Madigan ’ s associates for doing little or no work for the utility while ComEd hoped to land Madigan ’ s support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than $ 150 million to the utility .
The company is expected to pay a $ 200 million fine as part of a deferred-prosecution agreement with the U.S. attorney ’ s office .
A ComEd spokeswoman said the utility is reviewing Pritzker ’ s proposals but “ wholeheartedly agrees with the governor that the need for comprehensive energy reform has never been greater ; we share the state ’ s commitment to clean energy , sustainability , utility affordability and transparency.
” “ ComEd has already moved aggressively to implement comprehensive ethics reforms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the agreement with the U.S. Attorney ’ s Office never happens again .
However , we recognize the importance and challenge of rebuilding the trust of the public , regulators and elected officials , and look forward to working with these stakeholders to achieve the state ’ s ambitious clean energy goals , ” ComEd said .
Madigan has not been charged with a crime and has denied any wrongdoing .
A spokesman for the longtime speaker declined to comment on the proposals but noted Madigan has said he ’ ll support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform .
That group had been set to release a report in March before the coronavirus pandemic gripped the state .
Pritzker ’ s utility ethics proposals are among a broader set of energy priorities announced by his office , aiming to bolster a “ clean and renewable Illinois economy.
” Those include putting the state on a path to 100 % clean energy by 2050 , and putting 750,000 electric cars on Illinois roads over the next 10 years — making it “ the best @ @ @ @ @ @ @ producers and consumers .
”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is pushing state lawmakers to clamp down on regulations for utility companies in the wake of the bombshell federal bribery case leveled against ComEd that implicated powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Declaring that utilities “can no longer write the state’s energy policies behind closed doors,” Pritzker’s office issued a set of proposals Friday that include getting rid of the state’s formula rate system, banning utilities from making charitable contributions and requiring elected officials to report any relatives who work for a regulated utility company in their ethics filings.
“The public rightfully questions whether any new energy laws might be inevitably tainted by the political power of utility companies that have used their excessive clout and political contributions to corrupt the political process for their own profits, and whose practices have led to criminal investigations and charges,” Pritzker’s office said. “Their days of outsized influence on the process are ending.”
Illinois Deputy Gov. Christian Mitchell Rich Hein/Sun-Times
Formula rates went into effect in Illinois in 2012 to help fund a now-completed grid modernization plan, and now only help utilities “increase their profits by loading up the rate base with little cost control,” according to Pritzker’s office, resulting in a 29% increase in delivery costs for ComEd customers.
“We’re going to make the utilities come back before the Illinois Commerce Commission like they used to, to make their case to those commissioners why their rates change year over year,” Deputy Gov. Christian Mitchell said.
Pritzker’s team also wants to block utilities from recovering charitable contributions to foundations, golf outings, and other events, “often to curry favor with elected officials” with ratepayer money.
And among other 10 other “transparency and ethics” requirements, the Democratic governor wants utilities to submit to yearly independent audits of their infrastructure expenditures.
Mitchell said they’re putting the proposals to a working group next week in hopes of crafting a bill for the veto session in Springfield this fall, but acknowledged it would be difficult for potential legislation to come to fruition this year.
And the deputy governor stopped short of saying the proposed utility crackdown would prevent schemes like the one federal prosecutors alleged last month against ComEd.
“When people want to misbehave, they tend to find a way, but this makes it significantly harder to do so,” Mitchell said. “And it lets people know that we’re going to be focused on this in a real way going forward.”
ComEd has been charged with bribery, accused of sending $1.3 million to Madigan’s associates for doing little or no work for the utility while ComEd hoped to land Madigan’s support for favorable legislation in Springfield worth more than $150 million to the utility.
The company is expected to pay a $200 million fine as part of a deferred-prosecution agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office.
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, pictured at a special session of the Legislature in May. AP Photos
A ComEd spokeswoman said the utility is reviewing Pritzker’s proposals but “wholeheartedly agrees with the governor that the need for comprehensive energy reform has never been greater; we share the state’s commitment to clean energy, sustainability, utility affordability and transparency.”
“ComEd has already moved aggressively to implement comprehensive ethics reforms to ensure that the unacceptable conduct outlined in the agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office never happens again. However, we recognize the importance and challenge of rebuilding the trust of the public, regulators and elected officials, and look forward to working with these stakeholders to achieve the state’s ambitious clean energy goals,” ComEd said.
Madigan has not been charged with a crime and has denied any wrongdoing.
A spokesman for the longtime speaker declined to comment on the proposals but noted Madigan has said he’ll support the recommendations of the General Assembly’s Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform. That group had been set to release a report in March before the coronavirus pandemic gripped the state.
Pritzker’s utility ethics proposals are among a broader set of energy priorities announced by his office, aiming to bolster a “clean and renewable Illinois economy.”
Those include putting the state on a path to 100% clean energy by 2050, and putting 750,000 electric cars on Illinois roads over the next 10 years — making it “the best state in the country for electric vehicle producers and consumers.”
Read all of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s energy proposals:


chicagosun-times--2020-08-21--Rabbi Leo Wolkow, helped lead OSRUI Reform Jewish camp that nurtured faith, friendships, has died

Rabbi Leo Wolkow influenced generations of Jewish kids throughout the Midwest who attended a summer camp in Wisconsin that deepened their religious faith , fostered lifelong friendships and even led to marriages .
Rabbi Wolkow , who died last month at 87 , helped run Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute , the nation ’ s oldest Reform Jewish overnight summer camp .
Its alums include comic Joe Mande , who ’ s written for “ The Good Place ” and “ Parks and Rec , ” Olympic gold medal swimmer Garrett Weber-Gale , Olympic bronze medal skater Jason Brown and Daniel B.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Israel during the Obama administration .
OSRUI was founded in 1952 by Chicago-area synagogues and the Union for Reform Judaism , made up of 850 congregations in North America , according to OSRUI director Solly Kane .
It ’ s located on 220 acres in Oconomowoc , Wisconsin , a two-hour drive from Chicago .
As at other summer camps , the kids — from second through 12th grade — swim , sing around the campfire and try canoeing , horseback riding , archery , rock-climbing , talent shows and arts and crafts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Israeli dancing and religious services .
Rabbi Wolkow began teaching at OSRUI in 1965 .
“ He would find scholarships for kids who couldn ’ t afford it , ” Rabbi Ellen W. Dreyfus said .
Gregarious and warm , he ’ d hand out Tootsie Rolls and play baseball , softball and basketball with campers .
Also , according to Helen Wolkow , his wife of 62 years , “ He insisted he could teach anybody [ to read ] Hebrew in four hours.
” She said usually “ it worked.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a camp rabbi or a youth rabbi , ” said Michael M. Lorge , a former camper who ’ s on OSRUI ’ s board .
“ His sense of humor , the twinkle in his eye when he gave a camper a teasing hard time .
Or when he was pitching for the staff in baseball , and he ’ d get a camper out who was really athletic and do that little dance .
It was always to engage with the campers at their level , and that made it possible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ teacher.
” “ He was a lot of fun , ” said former camper Steve Wolf , who chairs the OSRUI board .
“ He really was able to reach kids.
” “ He influenced a generation , and then their children through them , and their children ’ s children , ” his wife said .
“ He married a lot of people , and he buried a lot of people , and he officiated so many bar and bat mitzvahs.
” Rabbi Wolkow encouraged young Jewish people to visit Israel and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Some are now in their 60s but still refer to themselves as “ Rabbi Wolkow ’ s kiddos.
” Many met future spouses at OSRUI .
“ There were so many romances that came out of that camp , ” according to his wife .
“ Just walking down the street the other day in Lincoln Park , I saw somebody with an OSRUI shirt , ” Wolf said .
He said his daughter , arriving at her first job in Washington , D.C. , met a coworker , also new , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they had gone to OSRUI.
” Young Leo grew up in Roxbury , Massachusetts .
The son of Russian Jewish parents , he was proud to have attended the prestigious Boston Latin School .
He got a bachelor ’ s degree in physics at Brandeis University and a master ’ s in education from Boston University , then went to rabbinical school at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York .
Rabbi Wolkow met his future wife when they were counselors at Camp Tevya in New Hampshire .
“ He had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she said , “ and I went up to him and asked , ‘ Are you from New York ?
’ ‘ He told me , ‘ I ’ m busy.
’ He thought I was a camper.
” From 1962 to 1964 , he was an Army chaplain at the Pentagon and in Verdun , France .
Starting in the mid-1960s , he was a rabbi at Temple B ’ nai Yehuda at 82nd and Jeffery , remaining with the congregation for 37 years , during which it moved to Homewood .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Park Forest , it became B ’ nai Yehuda Beth Sholom and now Shir Tikvah .
“ A rabbi doesn ’ t stay at a congregation for decades if they don ’ t get along , ” Dreyfus , who succeeded him , said at his service .
“ This congregation and this rabbi loved each other , nurtured each other , respected each other and grew together.
” He and his wife loved travel , visiting 93 countries .
“ I wanted to hit 100 , ” she said , “ but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They spent a year in Israel in charge of young people on a program of study , travel and living on a kibbutz .
After retiring , he was a visiting rabbi in Lake Charles , Louisiana , and a chaplain on cruise ships and often could be found playing tennis at the H-F Racquet & Fitness Club in Homewood .
Rabbi Wolkow also is survived by his daughters Lisa and Rachel and son Jason .

Rabbi Leo Wolkow influenced generations of Jewish kids throughout the Midwest who attended a summer camp in Wisconsin that deepened their religious faith, fostered lifelong friendships and even led to marriages.
Rabbi Wolkow, who died last month at 87, helped run Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute, the nation’s oldest Reform Jewish overnight summer camp. Its alums include comic Joe Mande, who’s written for “The Good Place” and “Parks and Rec,” Olympic gold medal swimmer Garrett Weber-Gale, Olympic bronze medal skater Jason Brown and Daniel B. Shapiro, who was U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Obama administration.
OSRUI was founded in 1952 by Chicago-area synagogues and the Union for Reform Judaism, made up of 850 congregations in North America, according to OSRUI director Solly Kane. It’s located on 220 acres in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, a two-hour drive from Chicago.
As at other summer camps, the kids — from second through 12th grade — swim, sing around the campfire and try canoeing, horseback riding, archery, rock-climbing, talent shows, and arts and crafts. They also participate in Hebrew lessons, Israeli dancing and religious services.
Rabbi Leo Wolkow and his family. Provided
Rabbi Wolkow began teaching at OSRUI in 1965. “He would find scholarships for kids who couldn’t afford it,” Rabbi Ellen W. Dreyfus said.
Gregarious and warm, he’d hand out Tootsie Rolls and play baseball, softball and basketball with campers.
Also, according to Helen Wolkow, his wife of 62 years, “He insisted he could teach anybody [to read] Hebrew in four hours.” She said usually, “it worked.”
“He was someone we called a camp rabbi or a youth rabbi,” said Michael M. Lorge, a former camper who’s on OSRUI’s board. “His sense of humor, the twinkle in his eye when he gave a camper a teasing hard time. Or when he was pitching for the staff in baseball, and he’d get a camper out who was really athletic and do that little dance. It was always to engage with the campers at their level, and that made it possible for him to be a very fine teacher.”
“He was a lot of fun,” said former camper Steve Wolf, who chairs the OSRUI board. “He really was able to reach kids.”
“He influenced a generation, and then their children through them and their children’s children,” his wife said. “He married a lot of people, and he buried a lot of people, and he officiated so many bar and bat mitzvahs.”
Rabbi Wolkow encouraged young Jewish people to visit Israel and continued to mentor them through college. Some are now in their 60s but still refer to themselves as “Rabbi Wolkow’s kiddos.”
Many met future spouses at OSRUI. “There were so many romances that came out of that camp,” according to his wife.
“Just walking down the street the other day in Lincoln Park, I saw somebody with an OSRUI shirt,” Wolf said.
He said his daughter, arriving at her first job in Washington, D.C., met a coworker, also new, and, while talking, “They realized they had gone to OSRUI.”
Young Leo grew up in Roxbury, Massachusetts. The son of Russian Jewish parents, he was proud to have attended the prestigious Boston Latin School.
He got a bachelor’s degree in physics at Brandeis University and a master’s in education from Boston University, then went to rabbinical school at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.
Leo and Helen Wolkow on their wedding day. Provided
Rabbi Wolkow met his future wife when they were counselors at Camp Tevya in New Hampshire.
“He had on a New York T-shirt,” she said, “and I went up to him and asked, ‘Are you from New York?’ He told me, ‘I’m busy.’ He thought I was a camper.”
From 1962 to 1964, he was an Army chaplain at the Pentagon and in Verdun, France.
Starting in the mid-1960s, he was a rabbi at Temple B’nai Yehuda at 82nd and Jeffery, remaining with the congregation for 37 years, during which it moved to Homewood. After merging with Congregation Beth Sholom of Park Forest, it became B’nai Yehuda Beth Sholom and now Shir Tikvah.
“A rabbi doesn’t stay at a congregation for decades if they don’t get along,” Dreyfus, who succeeded him, said at his service. “This congregation and this rabbi loved each other, nurtured each other, respected each other and grew together.”
Rabbi Leo Wolkow and Helen Wolkow were married for 62 years. Provided
He and his wife loved travel, visiting 93 countries. “I wanted to hit 100,” she said, “but we didn’t make it.”
They spent a year in Israel in charge of young people on a program of study, travel and living on a kibbutz.
After retiring, he was a visiting rabbi in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and a chaplain on cruise ships and often could be found playing tennis at the H-F Racquet & Fitness Club in Homewood.
Rabbi Wolkow also is survived by his daughters Lisa and Rachel and son Jason.


chicagosun-times--2020-08-21--Man hit, killed by car while crossing Lake Shore Drive in Uptown: police

A man was fatally struck by a car Friday while trying to run across Lake Shore Drive in Uptown on the North Side .
The 32-year-old was attempting to run across the 4800 block of North Lake Shore Drive toward Montrose Avenue Beach about 1 a.m. when he was hit by a northbound Toyota Corolloa , Chicago police said .
He was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center , where he was pronounced dead , police said .
The Cook County medical examiner ’ s office has not released details about the fatality .
The driver of the Toyota stayed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ No charges or citations are expected against him .
The CPD Major Accidents unit and Area Three detectives are investigating .
Less than two hours earlier , a 17-year-old boy was hit by a car while riding a bicycle north in the southbound lanes of Lake Shore in Lincoln Park , police said .
He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in fair condition .
About 40 minutes before that , a shootout between two vehicles caused a three-vehicle crash on Lake Shore near Oak Street Beach , authorities said .
No injuries @ @ @

A man was fatally struck by a car Friday while trying to run across Lake Shore Drive in Uptown on the North Side.
The 32-year-old was attempting to run across the 4800 block of North Lake Shore Drive toward Montrose Avenue Beach about 1 a.m. when he was hit by a northbound Toyota Corolloa, Chicago police said.
He was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office identified him as Freddy Subia, of Uptown. Autopsy results Saturday found he died from his injuries and ruled his death an accident.
The driver of the Toyota stayed at the scene, police said. No charges or citations are expected against him.
The CPD Major Accidents unit and Area Three detectives are investigating.
Less than two hours earlier, a 17-year-old boy was hit by a car while riding a bicycle north in the southbound lanes of Lake Shore in Lincoln Park, police said. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in fair condition.
About 40 minutes before that, a shootout between two vehicles caused a three-vehicle crash on Lake Shore near Oak Street Beach, authorities said. No injuries were reported.


chicagosun-times--2020-08-21--Teen bicyclist hit by car on Lake Shore Drive

A teenage boy was hit by a car Thursday while riding a bicycle on Lake Shore Drive in Lincoln Park @ @ @ @ @ The 17-year-old was riding the bike north in the southbound lanes about 11:30 p.m. when @ @ @ @ @ Toyota Solara in the 1700 block of North Lake Shore Drive , Chicago police said @ @ @ @ @ to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in fair condition , according to police .
He was issued @ @ @ @ @ bicycle on Lake Shore .
The 19-year-old man driving the Toyota stayed at the scene @ @ @ @ @ police said .
he was ticketed for not having car insurance .
The crash remains @ @ @ @ @ detectives .

A teenage boy was hit by a car Thursday while riding a bicycle on Lake Shore Drive in Lincoln Park on the North Side.
The 17-year-old was riding the bike north in the southbound lanes about 11:30 p.m. when he collided with a southbound Toyota Solara in the 1700 block of North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago police said.
The teen was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in fair condition, according to police. He was issued a citation for riding a bicycle on Lake Shore.
The 19-year-old man driving the Toyota stayed at the scene and was not injured, police said. he was ticketed for not having car insurance.
The crash remains under investigation by Area Three detectives.


chicagosun-times--2020-08-21--Long-awaited lakefront park honoring DuSable makes strides

A decades-long effort to take a premiere patch of the lakefront and build a park to honor Jean Baptiste Point DuSable , the Black man who founded the city of Chicago , inched closer to the finish line this week .
On Thursday , a City Council committee OK ’ d $ 5 million for the planning and design of DuSable Park , with a full Council vote as early as next month .
The land , at the mouth of the Chicago River near Navy Pier , was designated for use as a park in 1987 by Mayor Harold @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into a number of problems over the years , not the least of which was polluted soil .
In July , the city finished an environmental cleanup of the 3.25-acre plot .
It had been contaminated with thorium , a radioactive material used by a Streeterville gas lamp company nearly 100 years ago to ensure a brighter glow .
This summer , the site has been made level and seeded , further fueling the curiosity of innumerable Lakefront Trail users who for years have glanced east and wondered : Why the heck isn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
One reason : The park ’ s fate is tied to the fate of another building project not far away , on the other side of Lakeshore Drive , where plans for the once-heralded 2,000-foot-tall Chicago Spire famously fell apart , leaving a giant hole , 76 feet deep , in the ground .
Since 2014 , the Spire site has been in the hands of Related Midwest , a New York-based development firm that plans to build two smaller apartment towers there .
Related Midwest also has pledged $ 10 million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plans to break ground in 2021 ; the first tower is slated for completion in 2024 or 2025 , according to a company spokeswoman .
The city is requiring construction on DuSable Park be completed before any residents would be allowed to move into the building .
“ It finally feels real , to be honest , ” said Heather Gleason , director of planning and construction for the Chicago Park District .
“ I think the most exciting part is honoring DuSable ’ s history and his contributions to the city.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ input on how to best honor DuSable at the park .
“ There ’ s never been a question that there shouldn ’ t be a park or memorials to him .
I think this is something that I ’ m hoping we can all rally around .
I think if anything , we might debate on what the proper representation is , ” Gleason said .
There are no plans to include a playground at the park .
It ’ s envisioned as more of a passive park space with benches , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or early next year , the park district plans to begin seeking community feedback on the design , Gleason said .

A decades-long effort to take a premiere patch of the lakefront and build a park to honor Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, the Black man who founded the city of Chicago, inched closer to the finish line this week.
On Thursday, a City Council committee OK’d $5 million for the planning and design of DuSable Park, with a full Council vote as early as next month.
The land, at the mouth of the Chicago River near Navy Pier, was designated for use as a park in 1987 by Mayor Harold Washington, but the project has run into a number of problems over the years, not the least of which was polluted soil.
In July, the city finished an environmental cleanup of the 3.25-acre plot.
It had been contaminated with thorium, a radioactive material used by a Streeterville gas lamp company nearly 100 years ago to ensure a brighter glow.
This summer, the site has been made level and seeded, further fueling the curiosity of innumerable Lakefront Trail users who for years have glanced east and wondered: Why the heck isn’t that land put to use?
One reason: The park’s fate is tied to the fate of another building project not far away, on the other side of Lakeshore Drive, where plans for the once-heralded 2,000-foot-tall Chicago Spire famously fell apart, leaving a giant hole, 76 feet deep, in the ground.
Since 2014, the Spire site has been in the hands of Related Midwest, a New York-based development firm that plans to build two smaller apartment towers there. Related Midwest also has pledged $10 million to build the park.
Related Midwest plans to break ground in 2021; the first tower is slated for completion in 2024 or 2025 , according to a company spokeswoman.
The city is requiring construction on DuSable Park be completed before any residents would be allowed to move into the building.
“It finally feels real, to be honest,” said Heather Gleason, director of planning and construction for the Chicago Park District. “I think the most exciting part is honoring DuSable’s history and his contributions to the city.”
City officials expect a wide range of input on how to best honor DuSable at the park.
“There’s never been a question that there shouldn’t be a park or memorials to him. I think this is something that I’m hoping we can all rally around. I think if anything, we might debate on what the proper representation is,” Gleason said.
There are no plans to include a playground at the park. It’s envisioned as more of a passive park space with benches, lighting and pathways.
Later this year or early next year, the park district plans to begin seeking community feedback on the design, Gleason said.