chicagotribune--2020-09-22--Chicago Golden Gloves boxer, valedictorian —  charged in killing of Alabama State student — turns hi

Chicago Golden Gloves boxer, valedictorian —  charged in killing of Alabama State student — turns himself in after meeting with the Rev.  Pfleger

“ Everybody think y ’ all can ’ t do it , but I believe in y ’ all .
@ @ @ @ @ about going in the streets and doing any of the things that I did , @ @ @ @ @ that you was given .
Think about you still being here .
...
Think about @ @ @ @ @ learning , think about the stuff that you can teach people now , you feel @ @ @ @ @ things , ” he said .

By all appearances, 20-year-old Ivry Hall — Tilden Career Academy’s 2018 class valedictorian and a Golden Gloves boxer — was doing everything right.
He was faithful in church, an athlete and mentor, and had a scholarship to Alabama State University, where he was an A student.
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Then, on Friday, he was arrested on a murder charge.
As a child, Hall was running with gangs, selling drugs, getting in fights and robbing people. His start in life was undeniably tough, and he said he began hustling as a way to help his single mother put food on the table.
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But when his mother died of cancer when he was 12, Hall said he turned his life around, determined to become the man his mother would have wanted him to be. His transformation into a superior athlete, student and mentor, who used his worst experiences to bring out the best in others, was widely celebrated.
He was invited to box in front of Cubs players at a Joe Maddon charity fundraising event, where he was interviewed by the Tribune. A short documentary film by Jon Melton and Jake Oleson called “Ivry” touted his journey from mentee to mentor, and when he arrived at Alabama State, a historically Black university, the local paper, the Montgomery Advertiser, detailed his journey from Englewood to Alabama.
Now he stands accused in the slaying of fellow university classmate Adam “Belle” Dowdell, 22, of Alabaster, Alabama. Dowdell had been missing for six days when a body was found Sept. 14 less than a quarter-mile from the campus, according to a news release from Montgomery police. Authorities later confirmed it was Dowdell; he had been fatally shot.
Hall was charged with Dowdell’s killing and was being held in the Montgomery County Jailon $250,000 bond, authorities said.
And it wasn’t the only crack in Hall’s crumbling facade. He was arrested in Chicago this summer after getting into a fight with his girlfriend, whom he suspected of cheating, according to a police report.
The Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church on the South Side, who has been a mentor to Hall, was shocked when he learned last week that Hall was a suspect in the killing.
“I really don’t know this — what he’s being accused of, I’ve not seen nor known that person. I don’t know him. I do know the Ivry who’s a kind kid, who’s a gentle spirit, who’s been faithful at church, who’s always pushing himself as a student. That’s the Ivry I know and that I believe in,” Pfleger said.
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Reached by phone Sunday, Dowdell’s sister declined to share details about her brother’s life, saying the family was reluctant to comment because they’ve received death threats from people in Chicago. During a vigil Thursday near Dowdell’s family home, his mother, Toya Cohill, addressed a large group that had gathered to release balloons in Dowdell’s memory, saying she wouldn’t wish what happened to her son on her worst enemy, the Advertiser reported.
Jonathon Hampton, left, and Ivry Hall box during the third annual Respect 90 Main Event charity boxing fundraiser Aug. 17, 2017, in Chicago. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
“We all had hoped for a different outcome,” Alabama State President Quinton T. Ross Jr. said in a statement. “Losing a student is always difficult, and the (university) is in mourning over his death. Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with Adam’s mother and the rest of his family and friends as they face this tragic loss.”
Late Friday, police announced the arrest of Hall, a promising boxer, who has credited the mentorship of Pfleger and the Chicago boxing group Crushers Club with steering him away from the gangs he had been involved with as early as age 8.
"I always wish that I could graduate valedictorian, and look, I did," Hall said. "I was beyond happy." Congratulations... Posted by Chicago Golden Gloves on Friday, August 10, 2018
Pfleger said he recently met with Hall, who had returned to Chicago, and advised him to go back to Alabama and turn himself in to authorities, which he did.
“I’ve talked to him at length. He was back in Chicago for a couple of days. I spoke with him and sought to pastor him and counsel him, and we contacted the police and set up his returning to Montgomery. He’s in Alabama now; he turned himself in on Friday. He does have a lawyer, and now we’ve got to be sure we get all the information and all the stuff out of what happened, that’s what’s important now,” Pfleger said.
Dowdell had last been seen Sept. 8 when he left his dorm to go to an ATM and did not return. Dowdell was a transfer student majoring in physical education and an outstanding football player. He was reported missing the day after he was last seen, and school, local and federal authorities launched an investigation to locate the sophomore who was described as a middle child, an uncle, an athlete and an aspiring special education teacher.
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His killing was the 46th of the year in Montgomery, police said.
Hall was homeless for a time, Pfleger said, and he graduated as Tilden’s valedictorian in 2018, though it took him nearly two hours each way on several buses and trains to get to and from the school. Hall is one of 13 students on a scholarship from St. Sabina, Pfleger said. He recently began his junior year at the school after becoming the first in his family to graduate high school and enroll in college.
As his Golden Gloves fight approached, Hall was the subject of a short documentary. In it, Hall is seen mentoring elementary school-age students, using his inspirational story to instill in others the same drive to seek better circumstances through education and athletics. In the documentary, Hall works with a student and asks the boy his age. “Twelve,” the boy responds.
“When I was 12 years old I had about three tattoos. I done already had like three guns. I’d been locked up twice. I sold drugs. I got shot at, I shot at people. You ever heard of karma?” Hall asks.
Ivry Hall, a Chicago Golden Gloves athlete, is the feature of this incredible documentary which was just selected as a... Posted by Chicago Golden Gloves on Thursday, July 19, 2018
“Karma? Yeah,” the boy responds.
“Where you do stuff and it backfires on you,” Hall says. “I did all that stuff and I didn’t realize what I was doing until my mama passed away. If I get shot, none of my friends gonna be there with me. If I get locked up, ain’t nobody going to come in there to see me, give me anything.
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“Now I got people in heaven watching down over me, and I know I gotta make them smile in heaven. I didn’t make them smile when they were down here, so I gotta make them smile in heaven,” he says.
In an interview with the Tribune when he boxed at a Joe Maddon Respect 90 fundraiser in 2017, Hall said he ran with gangs at 8 and started smoking and dealing drugs at 9 because his mother was struggling to make ends meet for her kids, plus a grandchild and foster child.
When his mother died, he realized he needed to do better. He joined the Crushers Club, founded by Sally Hazelgrove as a way to help at-risk youth in Englewood. Hazelgrove did not return a call seeking comment.
Ivry Hall, a boxer with Englewood's Crushers Club, used his gang experience and boxing's life lessons to reach at-risk boys. (Videolicious - Chicago Tribune)
“If I hadn’t started boxing I wouldn’t be as smart as I am. ... Back then, before I started boxing, I was fighting, getting suspended from school,” Hall said at the time. “The meaning of boxing is not to beat somebody, it’s like, it teaches you a lot, like self-discipline. I actually learned integrity from boxing … there’s more to life than just fighting and gangbanging and stuff.”
Pfleger said his heart goes out to Dowdell’s family.
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“This is tragic because there’s obviously a young man whose life was lost, there’s another young man who’s now in jail, and that’s two very sad realities and so, you know, it’s just another sad story in this day in which we live in where there’s so much violence and loss of life and young men incarcerated. All I can say is I’m very, very sad. This has been very hurtful, painful, and sad,” Pfleger said.
He said he met Hall when another member of the church brought the then-teenager with him to services while Hall was a student at Tilden and essentially homeless.
“He really wanted to better his life and live his life and achieve his dreams. He was faithful in school and faithful in church, and I always saw Ivry as kind of a miracle kid who came from where he was to now being a student in college. He’s somebody I’d always had great admiration for because of the odds he was beating,” Pfleger said.
He said Hall has been an honor student at Alabama State University, averaging As and Bs. He was sent home in the spring amid the pandemic and worked in the city during the summer. He believes Hall returned to Alabama to begin school about a month ago.
But while he was home earlier this summer, Hall was arrested in an unrelated case. Karie James, a Chicago police spokeswoman, said Hall was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic battery.
A police report attached to the court file said Hall became enraged with his girlfriend because he believed she was cheating and he wanted to go through her call log. When she refused, he caused her to swerve and crash a vehicle, then he tried dragging her from the vehicle, the police report states. When that failed, he punched her with a closed fist, causing a minor cut to her right wrist and a scratch on the same forearm, according to the report. She declined medical attention, it said.
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The charge later was dropped in court with the possibility of being reinstated at the discretion of prosecutors.
Hall’s arrest in Alabama was at least the second in as many weeks in which a student from Chicago was arrested in connection with the shooting death of a college classmate. A Western Illinois University student was charged with fatally shooting his roommate Sept. 15 in an unrelated but similar case.
In the documentary, Hall lost his big Golden Gloves fight in a split decision. But he told the younger students that they must keep at it, must keep proving themselves and taking advantage of the advantages they’ve been given.
“Everybody think y’all can’t do it, but I believe in y’all. ... So before you think about going in the streets and doing any of the things that I did, just think about the chance that you was given. Think about you still being here. ... Think about the stuff you’re learning, think about the stuff that you can teach people now, you feel me? Think about those things,” he said.
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It’s a sentiment Pfleger echoed when talking about Hall, whom Pfleger said he will continue to stand by.
“I also want to say, anybody who knows Mike Pfleger over the past 45 years I’ve been here, I don’t give up on anybody,” he said. “And I’m not about to start now.”
Chicago Tribune’s Megan Crepeau contributed.
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-09-21--Column: Group says it’s near deal to buy Emmett Till house and turn it into museum

The nonprofit has reached out to the Chicago sculptor Richard Hunt to see if he would design a piece that @ @ @ @ @ shrine to the family story , ” Davis said .
The piece could go in @ @ @ @ @ now-vacant property to the north of the house if Blacks in Green can acquire it @ @ @ @ @ and he is still considering , ” Davis said .
“ We would have to @ @ @ @ @ , too .
”

A nonprofit says it is near a deal to buy the building at 6427 S. St. Lawrence Avenue ini Chicago, seen on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017, where Emmett Till once lived. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago / Chicago Tribune)
A plan to transform the South Side house of civil rights icon Emmett Till into a museum appears closer to reality now that the head of a nonprofit says her group is near a deal to buy the brick two-flat.
“We’re expecting to close immediately. … We’re already raising money for the stabilization of the building,” Naomi Davis, founder and CEO of the local nonprofit Blacks in Green, said Monday.
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The group, which promotes sustainability, economic development and land stewardship in African American communities, has raised the funds to buy the house at 6427 S. St. Lawrence Ave., Davis said. She declined to disclose the purchase price.
“We’re looking to create something worthy of the historic import of that family, the time, the place,” Davis said. “We understand that it changed everything in America in its own way.”
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The current owner, Blake McCreight, of BMW Properties of Chicago, bought the house in September 2019 for $107,000. McCreight did not return phone calls Monday and Tuesday..
On Sept. 3, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks unanimously granted preliminary landmark status to the house, the first step toward permanent landmark status that would protect the property from demolition or insensitive alterations.
During that meeting, McCreight said he did not know about Till’s connection to the house when he bought it. He learned of its history from the advocacy group Preservation Chicago, which urged city officials to give the house landmark protection.
Blacks in Green made an offer Sept. 1 to buy the house, Davis said. The group recently accepted McCreight’s counteroffer, she said, though a deal was not signed as of Monday afternoon.
[ Remembering slain teen Emmett Till in his hometown of Chicago via civil rights tourism and a mobile app ]
Built in 1895 in the West Woodlawn neighborhood, the two-flat was the home of Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, before he traveled to Mississippi in the summer of 1955 to visit relatives. The 14-year-old was tortured and murdered Aug. 28, 1955, for allegedly whistling at a white woman at a convenience store.
Till’s mother chose an open-casket funeral at a South Side church to show mourners and the world the horror and violence her son endured. His death helped ignite the civil rights movement.
Davis did not have a cost estimate for turning the house into a museum.
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Blacks in Green already owns a nearby parcel at 6354 S. St. Lawrence, home to the Mamie Till-Mobley Forgiveness Garden. The group recently planted 14 trees there to honor the 14 years of Emmett Till’s life.
[ Column: A plaque on Emmett Till’s house is just a first step. Chicago can do a better job of preserving Black history sites. Even city’s top planner says so. ]
The nonprofit has reached out to the Chicago sculptor Richard Hunt to see if he would design a piece that would be “a fitting shrine to the family story,” Davis said. The piece could go in the garden or on a now-vacant property to the north of the house if Blacks in Green can acquire it. “We have asked and he is still considering,” Davis said. “We would have to raise the money for that too.”
At the landmarks commission meeting, Ald. Jeanette Taylor, 20th, expressed support for the museum plan.
Blair Kamin is a Tribune critic.
bkamin@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter @BlairKamin


chicagotribune--2020-09-21--Man who appears to be Dreadhead Cowboy slows traffic on Dan Ryan while riding on horse

The man appeared to be Adam Hollingsworth , known as the Dreadhead Cowboy , who can be spotted at Black @ @ @ @ @ .

Adam Hollingsworth rides his horse on the Dan Ryan Expressway with motorcycles and motorists to support Kids Lives Matter. (Vashon Jordan Jr./@vashon_photo) (Chicago Tribune Handout)
A Chicago man known as the Dreadhead Cowboy was arrested Monday afternoon as he galloped down the Dan Ryan Expressway while livestreaming the message, “Kids' Lives Matter.”
Adam Hollingsworth, 33, was stopped by state troopers at 95th Street after he rode his brown and white horse about seven miles on the expressway, escorted by several supporters on motorcycles and jamming rush hour traffic.
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He was charged with reckless conduct, disobeying a police officer and criminal trespass to state-supported property. State police said his horse was taken to an animal shelter because it was bleeding from the left hoof, had an injury on the right hoof and sores on its right side from the saddle.
As Hollingsworth rode south on the expressway, police trailing behind him, he streamed himself on Facebook Live saying, “I shut down the Dan Ryan, Kids Lives Matter.”
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State police and Chicago police had met with Hollingsworth earlier this month about a potential protest on the expressway, according to the state police. His request was denied because officials believed it would dangerous as well as illegal, state police said.
Shortly before 4:30 p.m., state police received calls about someone riding a horse at 47th Street. Officers arrived at 71st Street and saw Hollingsworth riding down the interstate, surrounded by motorcycles and vehicles in local lanes, according to a statement from the state police.
Hollingsworth refused to exit the expressway, and was ordered off the horse and placed under arrest, state police said. Officers escorted him as he and some supporters exited at 95th Street. One of them, Darron Luster, 55, of Chicago, tried to “forcefully gain control of the horse,” according to state police. Luster refused to release the horse and was arrested for obstructing and resisting arrest.
Earlier this summer, Hollingsworth partnered with Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office to encourage people to fill out their census forms. The mayor dubbed him the “Census Cowboy.”
But late Monday, the mayor criticized Hollingsworth’s actions. “What is clear is that this stunt not only seriously endangered the horse, but also the rider and all travelers on the expressway,” she said in a statement. “There is a right way and a wrong way to call attention to issues of great importance, and this stunt was decidedly the very wrong way.”
The horse was taken to Chicago’s Animal Care and Control, according to Chicago police. The agency was working to transport the animal “to a temporary shelter where it can receive proper care,” the mayor’s office said.
Additional charges were pending, according to state police.


chicagotribune--2020-09-21--Chicago releases outdoor dining guidelines for fall and winter, but some restaurants worry about cos

Chicago releases outdoor dining guidelines for fall and winter, but some restaurants worry about costs

“ It ’ s great that there ’ s information out there , but it ’ s just a distraction @ @ @ @ @ “ Those restaurants that may have had a bit of outdoor dining and somewhat be @ @ @ @ @ this summer , they ’ re going to start running out of money .
Those @ @ @ @ @ major outdoor dining , you ’ re going to see a big wave of closures @ @ @ @ @ outdoor dining is going to do is buy us October and November and those left @ @ @ @ @ in capacity in late February or April .
”

Questions still swirl around how to successfully execute outdoor dining during fall and winter, but Monday, the city of Chicago shared guidelines to help bars and restaurants make plans. Yet some restaurant owners expressed concern about the costs for adding heated outdoor structures like tents or geodesic domes.
To participate, all establishments must have a sidewalk cafe permit, an outdoor patio license or an expanded outdoor dining permit. Guidelines on the structures, heating devices and other safety considerations are outlined in the memo — this initial overview was released Friday, and is a reiteration of existing fire and safety codes. More information, resources and regulations are expected to be released later this week.
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[ Here’s our running list of Chicago restaurants and bars to close permanently due to COVID-19 ]
Winners of the Winter Design Challenge, launched by the city to encourage creative solutions to stretching the season, are yet to be announced, so it’s up to each individual restaurant and bar to figure out plans for the chillier weather.
Currently, there are nearly 1,000 sidewalk cafes, more than 650 patios and nearly 400 bars and restaurants participating in the expanded outdoor dining program. In the past, sidewalk cafes and outdoor patios were allowed to operate year-round.
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While some restaurants may see this as an opportunity to extend outdoor dining, other smaller restaurants see fall and winter outdoor dining as yet another expense that they have to incur. Andrew Lim, chef and owner at Perilla, which opened last July, said the pandemic has been a struggle for him and his team financially, physically and mentally, and the added cost doesn’t work for small businesses like his.
“Honestly who wants to eat outside in the dead of Chicago winter?” he wrote in an email message. “For those operators and corporate restaurants who can afford to create a structure or get an electric heater for every party, I’m happy they’re able to do so. Unfortunately, these new guidelines do not change or help our situation.”
[ Dining with heaters, blankets and plastic domes? With more than 5,000 Illinois restaurants predicted to close, extending patio season may be crucial ]
Ultimately, the goal for many restaurant owners is to get the city to approve increased capacity for indoor dining.
The possibility of loosening the current 25% capacity restriction for in-person dining exists if the city is able to get its case numbers and positivity percentage down, said Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago’s public health commissioner, during a news conference last week. Although Arwady said she did not think restaurants were a major source of spread in Chicago, there is still an increased risk in any indoor setting, and the city is also prepared to tighten restrictions should cases spike again.
Others said they have questions about the permitting system, wondering if they need to submit yet another set of application materials, which would require paying architects to redraw plans, just so they could have outdoor dining for another few months.
The Fifty/50 group is lucky enough to be able to afford some of the expenses that come with cold-weather outdoor dining, said Scott Weiner, co-owner and executive board member of the Illinois Restaurant Association, but he worries about smaller restaurants or restaurants in less-affluent neighborhoods.
“It’s great that there’s information out there, but it’s just a distraction,” Weiner said. “Those restaurants that may have had a bit of outdoor dining and somewhat be able to pay the bills this summer, they’re going to start running out of money. Those that didn’t have major outdoor dining, you’re going to see a big wave of closures and bankruptcies. All the outdoor dining is going to do is buy us October and November and those left standing may have some increase in capacity in late February or April.”
Here is a breakdown of the rules and regulations for cold-weather outdoor dining:
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Structures
All structures must be weighted, anchored or secured to the ground, but businesses are not allowed to screw, cut or drill into sidewalks and streets. They must also have fire-resistant certification, and during severe weather events may be deemed unsafe and removed.
Tents and other temporary structures for multiple parties are allowed on private property or in the public way as long as they have 50% of the sides open to allow air flow. For individual parties, the structure must have adequate ventilation.
If a structure is more than 400 square feet, it must have a Department of Buildings-issued permit.
People dine at the City Winery river domes along the Chicago Riverwalk on April 6, 2018. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
[ By the numbers: From 79,000 jobs lost to 48,000 cups of milk tea delivered, how the coronavirus pandemic has affected Chicago restaurants. ]
Heating devices
Heating equipment specifications must be provided on site plans when submitting a permit application.
Electric heaters must be installed by a licensed contractor, and gas heaters are only allowed in open, uncovered areas. All safety guidelines related to each device must be followed and all employees should be trained on the fuel tanks and leak detection.
All heating equipment should be unplugged or disconnected for overnight storage.
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All heaters should have a minimum of 3 feet of clearance between the device and other objects, including tent sides.
Safety considerations
Heating devices must be kept away from combustible materials, including tents.
Enclosed areas with heating devices must have marked entrances and exits.
Businesses are required to have fire extinguishers that cover both the indoor and outdoor spaces.
Inclement weather plans are required both in writing and in employee training.
Establishments are required to post placards about the increased risk of transmission when guests are in an enclosed space, such as a plastic dome.
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gwong@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-21--St. Charles man sentenced to prison after hitting police officer

Eric E. Ericson , 63 , was sentenced to four years in prison Friday after he was found guilty by @ @ @ @ @ to a police officer and resisting a police officer , Kane County State ’ s @ @ @ @ @ said in a news release .
His jury trial held in August was the first @ @ @ @ @ Kane County Judicial Center after court cases were delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic .

A St. Charles man was sentenced to prison for hitting a police officer in the face while being served with an arrest warrant, prosecutors said.
Eric Ericson, 63, of St. Charles. (Kane County States Attorney / HANDOUT)
Eric E. Ericson, 63, was sentenced to four years in prison Friday after he was found guilty by a jury of aggravated battery to a police officer and resisting a police officer, Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office officials said in a news release. His jury trial held in August was the first to be conducted at the Kane County Judicial Center after court cases were delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Prosecutors said in court that around 9 p.m. April 30, 2019, St. Charles police attempted to serve Ericson with an arrest warrant for violating a court order in the 1400 block of South 4th Street.
As police were serving the warrant, Ericson fled out the back door and hid behind a shed in the backyard. A uniformed officer walked toward Ericson and ordered him to stop, officials said. Ericson struck the officer with his hand near the officer’s left eye. Officers tackled Ericson to the ground as he continued to resist arrest.
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Ericson is eligible for day-for-day sentencing and receives credit for 142 days served at the Kane County jail.
mejones@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-21--Video of controversial fatal police shooting last month in Pilsen is made public

In the hours after the shooting , the police department issued an official statement claiming Vega was armed with a @ @ @ @ @ the scene .
But an internal report issued by Near West ’ s commander on @ @ @ @ @ by the Tribune , was more vague , saying Vega was with at least three @ @ @ @ @ that group fired shots .
Vega ’ s brother , meanwhile , has said Vega @ @ @ @ @ shot .

Chicago’s civilian investigative police watchdog on Monday released video of a shooting last month by a Chicago police officer that killed a 26-year-old man in the city’s Pilsen neighborhood.
Miguel Vega was shot by police on Aug. 31 in the 1300 block of West 19th Street. Chicago police have said Vega was shot after officers were fired upon as they got out of their unmarked car about 10:45 p.m. Officers from the Near West patrol district had been responding to a call of a suspicious person when they noticed a group of five people standing on the sidewalk, the department has said.
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Vega’s mother, Maria Vega, previously called for the release of any video of the incident, saying she did not believe the police version of events and that officials refused to answer questions.
“I want to see those videos of the officers' body cameras,” Maria Vega demanded hours after her son died. “I want answers from the police and justice for my son. If my son was at fault, I’ll accept it, but it doesn’t make sense right now.”
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In the bodycam video released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability on Monday, officers can be seen hurriedly exiting their squad car, one of them firing a pistol over the open door of the vehicle up the sidewalk.
The shooting officer’s passenger-side window was also broken. Audio of the shooting officer’s camera does not come on until he has moved up the block to arrest a man he finds near a curb.
“My whole window is shot up! Good thing I (expletive) ducked!" the officer said to other cops on scene.
Another man, apparently Vega, can be seen lying on the sidewalk after being struck by a bullet.
“We’ve got an ambulance coming to you, brother, OK?” the officer said to Vega, who was shot in the head and was seen with blood on his face. “Keep talking to me, man. Keep talking to me, brother. You’re going to be all right.”
The officer can be heard directing others to look for a weapon that might have been discarded as police approached the area. Officers eventually can be heard to say they located a gun, a few parked cars from where Vega could be seen lying in the sidewalk.
“Don’t touch it! Don’t touch it! Don’t touch it! Do not touch it!” one officer exclaimed. “We got it. We got it.”
The shooting remains under investigation by COPA, but the city’s video release policy allows the agency to release video, recordings of 911 calls and police reports within 60 days of such an incident. On Monday, COPA released 12 video clips, most of them from body cameras, 21 days after the shooting, one of the shortest time frames the agency has even taken to release such material to the public.
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The officer who shot Vega fired 11 times, according to a police report that’s part of the case.
In the hours after the shooting, the Police Department issued an official statement claiming Vega was armed with a gun that was recovered at the scene. But an internal report issued by Near West’s commander on Sept. 1, and obtained by the Tribune, was more vague, saying Vega was with at least three other people and someone from that group fired shots. Vega’s brother, meanwhile, has said Vega was unarmed when he was shot.
The internal report said that while one gun was recovered, a second one was also used, though the identity of a possible second shooter was unclear. Police said two men initially arrested in the case have since been released without charges.
In a Tribune story earlier this month, police accountability experts called into question whether the 60-day policy allowed COPA too much time to withhold video of police shootings from the public. A Tribune review of two years of cases posted on the COPA website showed that most were posted on or just prior to the 60-day deadline.
jgorner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-21--The Spin: In Chicago last year, Ginsburg called for end to partisan Supreme Court nominating process

The Spin: In Chicago last year, Ginsburg called for end to partisan Supreme Court nominating process | Trump’s possible SCOTUS pick Amy Coney Barrett has local ties | Thousands of parking tickets issued despite Lightfoot’s relief plan

Election : While some experts say the Supreme Court pick may nudge fence-riding Republicans to vote in November — the @ @ @ @ @ of a conservative to the nation ’ s highest courts , as the AP points @ @ @ @ @ Times also reports “ some White House officials worry that Judge Barrett ’ s positions @ @ @ @ @ but also suburban women and independent voters who would favor a more mainstream pick , @ @ @ @ @ certain .
Mr. Trump and his advisers may have to weigh how much support they @ @ @ @ @ if he selected another nominee versus the risk of alienating parts of their base if @ @ @ @ @ Barrett ’ s abortion record .
”

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is honored with a moment of silence prior to the start of a game between the Chicago Cubs and the Minnesota Twins at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Saturday, September 19, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
It was just a year ago that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was in Chicago telling an audience that the process of nominating judges had become too partisan and that “we need to get back to the way it was when people were examining the qualifications for someone to be a judge rather than try to guess how they would vote on contentious cases.”
Days after her death, a partisan battle is unfolding over how to fill the seat, with abortion and the fate of the Affordable Care Act in play.
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Chicago U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett is said to be one of President Donald Trump’s top choices to fill the vacancy. Her appointment would represent a pendulum swing from a 5-4 conservative-liberal split to a 6-3 divide on the nation’s high court.
Dick Durbin, Illinois' senior senator, a Democrat and Roman Catholic who sits on the committee, even was criticized over his line of questioning; in a Tribune opinion piece he responded to the criticism, writing that he focused on “issues she raised personally in her writings and speeches which could directly impact the discharge of her duties as a circuit court judge.”
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Democrats want to put the brakes on any preelection nomination by the Republican White House and GOP-controlled US Senate while Trump and Senate Republican leaders say publicly that they want to press the pedal to the metal. (That’s a pendulum swing, too, from 2016 — an election year when Democrats wanted to move ahead with outgoing President Barack Obama’s nominee for a Supreme Court vacancy and Republicans successfully put a brick on it.)
During a mid-March news conference, Lightfoot said parking tickets in Chicago would be written for only safety issues through April 30, an attempt to ease the growing economic burden triggered by the pandemic.
Turns out, according to a story from the Tribune’s Stacy St. Clair, Jennifer Smith Richards and Gregory Pratt, 35,000-plus tickets were issued during the March and April stretch. They largely were downtown, but also outside the central business district in “mostly in Black and Latino neighborhoods, communities already struggling with the coronavirus' devastating impact on public health and unemployment rates,” my Tribune colleagues note.
And the ‘Census’ cowboy
Welcome to The Spin.
Amy Coney Barrett, a judge on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, is said to be one of President Donald Trump’s top choices to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat. (Robert Franklin/AP Photo)
President Trump is expected to formally announce his Supreme Court nominee this week — it will be a woman, he said. Trump also pushed back on Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins' call to wait and see who wins the Nov. 3 presidential race.
“We won. And we have an obligation as the winners to pick who we want,” Trump said on Saturday.
As Durbin prepared to leave Chicago for Washington today, he spoke on MSNBC television from Chicago and didn’t want to speculate on Coney Barrett’s possible nomination. Instead he blasted GOP leaders in the Republican-controlled Senate for rushing the appointment rather than waiting for after the election. Democrats say they want whoever wins the election — they’re hoping Democratic nominee Joe Biden defeats Trump — to make the pick. It’s up to the Senate to approve the nominee.
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“Are the Republicans so convinced Donald Trump is going to lose that they have to fill this vacancy now? I wonder,” Durbin said at an unrelated news conference this morning on the South Side.
What we know about Barrett: “Barrett’s opponents have interpreted her scholarly articles and Catholic faith as suggesting she is a religious extremist who could be willing to overturn precedent and end legal abortion,” my Tribune colleagues wrote in 2018 when she was mentioned as a finalist for the Supreme Court seat that went to Brett Kavanaugh. “Supporters and former colleagues, however, describe an exacting legal thinker committed to separating her faith from her interpretation of the Constitution and law.” Read the full story here.
Why didn’t she get the seat in 2018? “A finalist when Mr. Trump chose Justice Kavanaugh, Judge Barrett interviewed with the president in 2018 and impressed him and his advisers,” The Wall Street Journal reports. “But she also had been on the appellate bench less than a year after 15 years teaching law. That short experience, and the prospect that she could spark a particularly bitter confirmation fight over abortion rights in a closely divided Senate, were among the factors the White House considered at the time." Read the full story here.
Not just abortion: With a liberal vs. conservative battle over the future of the Affordable Care Act, some believe she may become part of a bloc on the bench that could invalidate the nation’s health insurance law, which will be taken up when the court reconvenes next month. The New York Times takes a deeper look here.
Election: While some experts say the Supreme Court pick may nudge fence-riding Republicans to vote in November — the motivator being the lifetime appointment of a conservative to the nation’s highest courts, as the AP points out — The New York Times also reports “some White House officials worry that Judge Barrett’s positions might galvanize not just Democrats but also suburban women and independent voters who would favor a more mainstream pick, and her nomination is hardly certain. Mr. Trump and his advisers may have to weigh how much support they would gain from those voters if he selected another nominee versus the risk of alienating parts of their base if they shy away from Judge Barrett’s abortion record.”
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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks at the University of Chicago on Sept. 9, 2019, when she received the Harris School of Public Policy Dean’s Award. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
In September 2019, Justice Ginsburg was in town to accept an award at the University of Chicago and in a wide-ranging address there, talked about how the process of nominating justices had become too partisan.
“Things have changed, and it shows up on both sides of the aisle,” she said. “I don’t know what it will take, but we really should get back to the way it was when people were examining the qualifications for someone to be a judge rather than try to guess how they would vote on contentious cases.” The Tribune’s Jessica Villagomez covered the event and you can read her full story here.
During that visit, Ginsburg met separately with Mayor Lightfoot and first lady Amy Eshleman. They mayor is cherishing that memory of meeting someone not only of sharp intellect but also a “great sense of humor.”
“During their conversation, the Mayor expressed deep gratitude and recognition for the profound impact Justice Ginsburg’s trailblazing career has had on not only women like the Mayor who have devoted their career to law but women across every profession in the United States,” the mayor’s office said in a statement to The Spin.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker only rarely opens the door to discussing his family, but he did just that when asked about the Friday death of Ginsburg, revered by women who see her as someone who fought for equality. “Having a 17-year-old, now an 18-year-old daughter — she just turned 18 over the weekend — her rights in part have been determined in part by the work Ruth Bader Ginsburg did ... I’m deeply saddened.” The governor said this should be a time to reflect on her contributions, not politics.
Justice Ginsburg’s Chicago ties: The Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet has the details here.
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More than 225,000 registered voters in DuPage and Will counties had applied to vote by mail as of Sept. 11, 2020, according to officials from the two counties. (Suzanne Baker / Naperville Sun)
Watch Casten, Ives Redpath at forum: Tonight marks the first virtual faceoff between freshman Democratic U.S. Rep. Sean Casten and challengers Jeannie Ives, a Republican former state lawmaker, and Libertarian Bill Redpath, in the race for the 6th Congressional District seat, which includes stretches of the west and northwest suburbs. Casten and Ives are forceful orators, so it should be a show. There’s more information here if you want to tune in to the 7 p.m. candidate forum.
Illinois secretary of state’s office letter to voters causes confusion for some mail-in ballot applicants: My Tribune colleagues Dan Petrella and Kelli Smith have the details here.
Cook County Jail set for in-person voting despite COVID-19 setbacks: ‘It’s also about social justice, it’s about fairness, it’s about hope’ - The Tribune’s Kelli Smith has the details here.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot announces the “We Are Not Playing” initiative at Soldier Field in Chicago on April 6, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
A city spokeswoman denied recently that the mayor ever said parking tickets wouldn’t be issued for expired meters or other nonsafety reasons as the pandemic reached Chicago, St. Clair, Smith Richards and Pratt report.
But audio from the mayor’s March 18 news conference “shows that Lightfoot twice said tickets would ‘only’ be issued for safety reasons. Lightfoot also stated — twice — that expired parking meters were the kind of infraction that would not be considered a public safety threat, though she said drivers should still feed the meters,” my Tribune colleagues note.
The mayor told reporters on March 24 that the “emphasis is supposed to be limited to public safety reasons.” She singled out, as she had done previously, “expired parking meters as something she did not consider to be a public safety threat, though she repeated that drivers would have to keep feeding the meters,” St. Clair, Smith Richards and Pratt write.
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She said the message would be conveyed to Chicago Parking Meters LLC, which paid $1.15 billion to the city a dozen years ago in return for the right to keep all the meter revenue and raise the rates over the course of the 75-year lease.
“Three days later, Lightfoot’s administration wrote a letter directing the company to ticket expired parking meters in the downtown area effective immediately,” my colleagues write. “It contradicted what she’d told the public, but Chicagoans were not made aware of the switch.”
Other City Hall news: Chicago aldermen on Monday created a new City Council subcommittee to study ways to provide reparations for descendants of slaves, the Tribune’s John Byrne reports. Read the story here.
Chicago Heights Mayor David Gonzalez on Sept. 15, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
The Tribune’s Ray Long writes: "Already caught up in a high-profile federal bribery scheme, Commonwealth Edison is embroiled in an escalating fight with dozens of cash-squeezed Chicago suburbs that are demanding the power company deliver millions of dollars in utility taxes the communities say they are owed.
“The crux of the dispute stems from how utility taxes are collected. Towns are allowed to levy their own taxes on utilities such as phones and electricity. Those local charges show up on consumers' monthly bills, and ComEd collects the tax and distributes the money to the individual towns.”
Suburban frustration with how well ComEd handles the complex details of that job dates back at least 20 years. But the need has grown amid a pandemic that has slowed the economy, causing local sales tax revenues to drop and busting government budgets, Long reports. Read the story here.
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Under former Assessor Berrios, commercial property valued too low shifting tax burden to homeowners: study — The Tribune’s Hal Dardick writes: “Under Fritz Kaegi’s predecessor as Cook County assessor, commercial properties as a group were valued far too low, valuations varied widely among similar properties, and the property tax burden was unfairly shifted onto the owners of less expensive properties, according to a new study Kaegi commissioned from an international nonprofit organization.
“The broad undervaluation of commercial properties under former Assessor Joseph Berrios meant residential property taxpayers paid more than their fair share of the county’s tax levy while many higher-end commercial property owners got an unauthorized break, Kaegi said in an interview." Read the full story, which notes that residential property taxpayers ended up paying more than their fair share, here.
Other suburban news: McCook police chief on paid administrative leave following extortion indictment —The Tribune’s Jason Meisner has the story here.
Cook County Board to vote on giving top watchdog two more years before appointing replacement: The Tribune’s Alice Yin has the story here.
Illinois set a new one-day statewide testing high for COVID-19 over the weekend and is now averaging 52,000 tests per day, third highest in the nation, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced today. There were 1,477 newly diagnosed cases and seven additional deaths, raising the statewide tally to 275,735 known cases and 8,457 deaths. Read the updates here.
High school students, parents rally in the Loop, demand Gov. Pritzker allow fall sports: The Tribune’s Madeline Buckley has the story here. The governor indicted today that while he felt for those students – and parents rooting them on – aiming for college scholarships that the science about the virus and its spread dictates holding off.
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Nursing home staffers face stress and their own COVID-19 worries: Read the Tribune story here.
Thanks for reading The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Have a tip? Email host Lisa Donovan at ldonovan@chicagotribune.com.
Twitter @byldonovan


chicagotribune--2020-09-21--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 1,477 new known COVID-19 cases and 7 more deaths reported as state

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 1,477 new known COVID-19 cases and 7 more deaths reported as state passes 5 million tests and Chicago releases outdoor dining guidelines for fall and winter

“ We ’ re not trying to get rid of remote learning , we ’ re not trying to force @ @ @ @ @ school that can ’ t do that , we want our kids back in school @ @ @ @ @ “ There are districts all around us … where schools are offering full in-person education @ @

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Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois set a new one-day statewide testing high for COVID-19 over the weekend and is now averaging 52,000 tests per day, third highest in the nation, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday. The 74,286 tests during a 24-hour period reported on Saturday, a new high, pushed Illinois past 5 million tests over the course of the pandemic.
Officials on Monday reported 1,477 newly diagnosed cases and seven additional deaths of people with COVID-19, raising the statewide tally to 275,735 known cases and 8,457 deaths.
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Meanwhile, questions still swirl around how to successfully execute outdoor dining during fall and winter, but Monday, the city of Chicago issued some new guidelines to help the food and beverage industry make plans.
To participate, all restaurants and bars must have a sidewalk cafe permit, an outdoor patio license or an expanded outdoor dining permit. Guidelines on the structures, heating devices and other safety considerations are outlined in the memo.
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Here’s what’s happening Monday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
5:25 p.m.: State elections board OKs $4 million for extra drop boxes, poll worker recruitment
The Illinois State Board of Elections unanimously approved a request from Pritzker to reallocate up to $4 million in federal election security funding to help local election authorities pay for additional drop boxes to collect absentee ballots and to recruit additional poll workers.
The $4 million would come from the $27.1 million the elections board received in federal election security grants through the Help America Vote Act for 2018 and 2020. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission has issued guidance authorizing such uses.
The additional funding would become available once local election authorities use up the $16.8 million in funding from the federal coronavirus relief package approved earlier this year. State election officials said the additional money most likely will be shifted from funds that were dedicated to upgrading the state’s voter registration system.
“We know we still have to do that. ... That’s not going away,” State Board of Elections Chairman Charles Scholz said. “We’ll just have to replenish and work with the governor and the General Assembly and perhaps the federal authorities.”
The board will consider requests for reimbursement from the state’s 108 local election authorities on a case-by-case basis, Scholz said.
Read more here. —Jamie Munks and Dan Petrella
4:20 p.m.: Orland Park plans revised lawsuit against Pritzker over COVID-19 restrictions
Orland Park plans to file an amended lawsuit against Gov. J.B. Pritzker challenging restrictions put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to federal court filings.
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The move comes after the village had been dealt a setback last month in the lawsuit, which was filed in mid-June.
Orland Park had been given a Sept. 2 deadline to file a response to the governor’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, instead filed notice of its plan to seek U.S. District Court Judge Andrea Wood’s approval to file the amended complaint. Wood gave Orland Park until Oct. 8 to do so.
In its motion, Orland Park said that since the lawsuit was originally filed, it and other plaintiffs in the case “have discovered additional relevant facts” and that there is also the potential “for additional parties to the litigation.”
In a response filed Sept. 3, attorneys for the Illinois attorney general, representing Pritzker, asked Wood to deny the village’s request and instead insist on a response to the governor’s motion to dismiss.
Attorneys criticized the village’s filing as “bare-bones” and that it “cryptically asserts” that the plaintiffs had allegedly uncovered new facts but doesn’t provide any details.
“They do not elaborate on why these facts and parties need to be added,” according to the governor’s response.
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Read more here. —Mike Nolan
4:15 p.m.: Bradley University to resume in-person classes after drop in COVID-19 cases — but strict rules remain
In-person classes are set to resume at Bradley University Wednesday after a two-week quarantine for all students helped drive down COVID-19 infections connected to the Peoria campus.
Bradley officials say that many strict rules for socializing will remain in place; students will still be barred from patronizing off-campus restaurants and bars or inviting guests over.
The all-student quarantine was put into place Sept. 8 after the school saw a dramatic rise in cases.
“While we were able to reverse the dangerous trajectory we were on, we haven’t eliminated COVID-19 from our campus community,” Bradley’s website says. “We must remain vigilant. The number of new cases being diagnosed and the number of students who would be in quarantine have decreased significantly.”
If cases remain low, Bradley intends to continue with in-person instruction until Thanksgiving break. But if there’s another spike, the school plans to ask all students to vacate dorms and return home, after quarentining in place for two weeks, and to finish the semester remotely.
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Bradley joins other colleges -- most notably, the University of Notre Dame -- that overcame a surge of cases by implementing a two-week pause on in-person clases and cracking down on student misconduct.
As of last week, Bradley had tallied 250 COVID-19 cases since Aug 24. The school has issued 10 written warnings and nearly a dozen $250 fines to students flouting rules on gathering, social distancing and mask wearing, officials said. Three students were banned from campus and one was suspended for the year, though those matters are still pending.
In the past week, 132 tests were positive out of 1,207 administered at on-campus and off-campus sites.
Until further notice, students must wear masks whenever they are out of their rooms, continue to social distance from others and practice proper hand hygiene. Students cannot eat or drink at off-campus venues, visit anyone else’s room or residence or invite others over. Dining halls are open for carry-out, only.
Bradley says it has “no evidence transmission is happening via brief, casual interactions or in the classroom setting.” It has also expanded its testing program to include asymptomatic, surveillance and targeted populations.
—Elyssa Cherney
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4:05 p.m.: Massive 3.5-acre rooftop deck opens at Old Post Office amid pandemic
The Old Post Office has opened the nation’s largest private rooftop deck, giving office workers in the riverfront behemoth 3.5 acres of outdoor space to spread out during the coronavirus pandemic.
The rooftop deck, which cost $19 million to build, opened Monday to tenants in the building.
It comes at a time when few workers are in the building, and amid concerns that the overall Chicago office market could be in for a long recovery from the virus. Few companies are looking to move at the moment, and many tenants want to shrink their space.
The rooftop includes a quarter-mile running and walking track; three-season, heated bar and pavilion; basketball court; heated paddle tennis courts for winter play; and landscaping that includes more than 40,000 plants and trees, with 58 varieties.
Here’s what it looks like. —Ryan Ori
2:29 p.m.: Less than a quarter of CPS students recommended for summer school completed it
Just 24% of eligible Chicago Public Schools students completed virtual summer school this year, according to data released by CPS.
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While the summer programs were all voluntary and this year were held remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the district “highly recommended” participation for eligible students.
A total of 58,694 students were eligible for nine different summer programs, including remediation such as credit recovery and programs for students with special education plans and English learning students. Overall, 14,218 students completed a program. Many other students enrolled but didn’t finish.
Read more here. —Hannah Leone
2:25 p.m.: Nursing home staffers face stress and their own COVID-19 worries
During a year most have found stressful, Ed Cortez finds meditation calming.
Cortez, 53, works at Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care in North Riverside, where his duties as a housekeeper include cleaning bathrooms and dining areas — keeping everything sanitary.
“Our job is making sure everything’s going to be maintained safely,” he said. “Not only protecting yourself, but protecting the residents as well.”
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Across the country, challenges exist at places like nursing homes, from outbreaks of the coronavirus to families wrestling with limited visiting policies. This can also cause stress for staffers who watch the angst of family members while trying to reduce the risk of COVID-19.
To help combat some of this stress, Caledonia received a tablet with meditation and breathing exercises from Caring for our Caregivers. The group is donating tablets loaded with stress-reducing techniques so staffers can access tools whenever they have a few moments.
Read more here. —Alison Bowen
1:07 p.m.: CDC abruptly reverses guidance on how coronavirus is transmitted, says it mistakenly posted that COVID-19 is airborne
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has removed an update on its website that stated coronavirus commonly spreads through the air, saying the post was shared by mistake.
“A draft version of proposed changes to these recommendations was posted in error to the agency’s official website,” the organization wrote Monday.
“CDC is currently updating its recommendations regarding airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Once this process has been completed, the update language will be posted.”
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The CDC has contended in the past that COVID-19 is primarily transmitted through close contact between people.
Read more here. —New York Daily News
12:20 p.m.: Chicago releases outdoor dining guidelines for fall and winter
Questions still swirl around how to successfully execute outdoor dining during fall and winter, but Monday, the city of Chicago issued some new guidelines to help the food and beverage industry make plans.
To participate, all restaurants and bars must have a sidewalk cafe permit, an outdoor patio license or an expanded outdoor dining permit. Guidelines on the structures, heating devices and other safety considerations are outlined in the memo.
Winners of the Winter Design Challenge, launched by the city to encourage creative solutions to stretching the season, are yet to be announced, so it’s up to each individual restaurant and bar to figure out plans for the chillier weather.
The guidelines are subject to change, so be sure to stay updated as the city releases more information and resources.
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Here is a breakdown of the rules and regulations. —Grace Wong
12:15 p.m.: Too much screen time for students is among CTU concerns about remote learning in Chicago Public Schools
A Chicago Public Schools teacher on Monday called on the district to make class schedules “more humane” because her students are spending too much time in front of their digital devices.
A CPS clerk also cited the risks she and her colleagues feel they’re taking by having to do their jobs in person at district buildings.
And a clinician discussed during a teachers union-hosted press call the concerns her colleagues have about the prospect of resuming in-person speech and physical therapies.
Read more here. — Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas
11:34 a.m.: Illinois hits one-day COVID-19 testing high and passes 5 million tests since pandemic began
Illinois set a new one-day statewide testing high for COVID-19 over the weekend and is now averaging 52,000 tests per day, third highest in the nation, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday.
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The 74,286 tests during a 24-hour period reported on Saturday, a new high, pushed Illinois past 5 million tests over the course of the pandemic.
During a press conference in Springfield, Pritzker lauded the state’s testing program as “by far the best testing state in the Midwest,” and one of the fastest states in delivering test results.
Officials on Monday reported 1,477 newly diagnosed cases and seven additional deaths of people with COVID-19, raising the statewide tally to 275,735 known cases and 8,457 deaths.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike acknowledged there are some health care providers and hospital systems that impose criteria for testing that can limit access, including a requirement that the person being tested has symptoms.
“We are reaching out and asking that these providers remove these barriers,” and open up testing by joining the department’s network of lab providers, Ezike said.
—Jamie Munks
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11:05 a.m.: Nearly 9 million eligible Americans may miss out on $1,200 stimulus checks, GAO warns
A government watchdog says millions of Americans are in danger of missing coronavirus relief payments of up to $1,200 per individual because of incomplete government records.
The Government Accountability Office, Congress' auditing arm, said in a report Monday that possibly 8.7 million or more individuals who are eligible for the economic impact payments have yet to receive those payments because of inadequate IRS and Treasury Department records.
That was one of a number of findings in the latest GAO report on the handling of the unprecedented $2.6 trillion in support passed by Congress last spring to cushion the impact from a sharp recession triggered by the global pandemic.
Read more here. —Associated Press
7:30 a.m.: Arlington Heights families call for return to classrooms and parental choice in District 25: ‘This is not learning’
Families of students enrolled in Arlington Heights School District 25 became one of the latest Thursday to hold a rally and call for a return to in-person instruction.
Dozens of students, their parents and other stakeholders demonstrated outside of the district’s Dunton Administration Building in Arlington Heights ahead of the start of the school board meeting.
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“The purpose of tonight is to hopefully get the board to hear us in regards to reestablishing an in-person option,” said Renee Schlenhardt, rally organizer, parent and creator of the Facebook page Reopen Illinois District 25 Schools.
“We’re not trying to get rid of remote learning, we’re not trying to force anyone to go into the school that can’t do that, we want our kids back in school,” she said. “There are districts all around us … where schools are offering full in-person education.”
Read more here. —Karie Angell Luc
6 a.m.: Mayor Lori Lightfoot said City Hall would only issue parking tickets for safety violations early in the pandemic. 35,000 car owners received tickets anyway.
With schools closed, restaurants shut down and an economic collapse looming in the early weeks of the pandemic, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced plans to stop ticketing, booting and impounding cars throughout the city to ease financial pressures on Chicagoans.
But the city issued more than 35,000 parking tickets during the period Lightfoot told the public they’d be getting a break.
A Tribune analysis of city parking data found that nearly half of the tickets were given to cars for expired meters in the downtown area — an infraction Lightfoot specifically had singled out as exempted from punishment.
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Read more here. —Stacy St. Clair, Jennifer Smith Richards, Gregory Pratt
6 a.m.: Cook County Jail set for in-person voting despite COVID-19 setbacks: ‘It’s also about social justice, it’s about fairness, it’s about hope’
During the March primary, Cook County Jail for the first time in its long history operated as an election precinct for in-person voting, according to county officials.
Officials are now preparing to have voting at the jail during the general election — but COVID-19 has complicated those efforts.
“We’re all waiting to see how this is going to play out,” said Mary Cortese, 42, one of about 1,500 pretrial detainees who voted at the jail during the primary. “We’re still getting the information, it’s just slowed things down.”
The jail was made an election precinct after Illinois passed legislation last year requiring counties with at least 3 million residents — only Cook County fits that description — to establish a “temporary branch polling place in the county jail.”
Read more here. —Kelli Smith
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In case you missed it
Here are five things that happened related to COVID-19 this weekend:


chicagotribune--2020-09-21--After uproar over process, applicants will get a 2nd chance to qualify for a marijuana retail licens

After uproar over process, applicants will get a 2nd chance to qualify for a marijuana retail license in Illinois

“ … ( W ) hen we heard significant concerns from numerous stakeholders about the process to award dispensary licenses @ @ @ @ @ to take a pause to fix their concerns , within the bounds of our landmark @ @ @ @ @ J.B. Pritzker said in a news release .
“ While this process remains a marathon @ @ @ @ @ we believe that these new steps will inject more equity and fairness in the first @ @ @ @ @ provide insight as we improve the process for future rounds .
”

Toi Hutchinson, senior adviser to the governor on cannabis control, speaks at a news conference at the Thompson Center in Chicago on Jan. 2, 2020. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Business owners hoping to open recreational marijuana shops in Illinois will get a second chance at qualifying for a license, after Gov. J.B. Pritzker Monday announced a procedure to let applicants correct their applications or get rescored.
The move comes after applicants and lawmakers raised an uproar over the process, saying that it was shutting out the very minorities it was supposed to benefit.
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Under the new procedure, any applicant who didn’t get a perfect score of 252 will receive a notice of deficiencies in their application, and a score sheet identifying the parts of the application where they lost points.
Applicants may then amend their applications, or ask the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to rescore their original application if they believe there was an error in scoring.
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Many applicants complained that they received different scores on identical parts of their applications in different regions, or that they never were given notice of any deficiencies in their applications, as required by the law that legalized marijuana in Illinois, effective this year.
The marijuana legislation was designed to give preference to people from poor areas harmed by the war on drugs, or those who’d had previous low-level marijuana convictions.
Of more than 700 applications, only 21 finalists this month received perfect scores on their applications to qualify for a lottery to win 75 licenses statewide. The cannabis industry in Illinois is dominated by wealthy white males, and many of the finalists included politically connected or wealthy white business owners.
“…(W)hen we heard significant concerns from numerous stakeholders about the process to award dispensary licenses, I said we needed to take a pause to fix their concerns, within the bounds of our landmark law,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a news release. “While this process remains a marathon and not a sprint, we believe that these new steps will inject more equity and fairness in the first round of license awards and provide insight as we improve the process for future rounds.”
Pritzker’s administration has already suggested changing the law to allow all applicants who meet or exceed a cutoff score to the lottery, rather than requiring a perfect score. It also suggested limiting the number of applications one entity can submit. Currently, applicants can apply for up to 10 licenses, which limits diversification.
The law also requires ownership by a military veteran and social equity applicant to achieve a perfect score. That cannot be changed except by modifying the law, which can’t be done until at least the veto session late this year.
That seems to leave out applicants without veteran ownership, like Nonna Knapp, a previous medical dispensary owner.
She was “thrilled” to hear that applicants would get a chance to fix their scores, but said veteran ownership should not be a requirement to qualify.
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Before the next round of 110 more dispensary licenses are awarded, the state will conduct a disparity study to “correct any structural challenges to equity,” said Toi Hutchinson, the governor’s senior cannabis adviser.
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As the Tribune reported last week, the Pritzker administration agreed to meet with members of the Black and Latino caucuses and other “stakeholders” regarding the complaints about the application scoring.
The first round of licenses to grow and sell recreational cannabis in Illinois went to previously existing medical marijuana companies. The Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, which represents many of those companies, supported this kind of scoring correction, spokeswoman Pam Althoff said.
Many of the companies had helped social equity applicants fill out their applications or gave them legal advice, Althoff said, as was encouraged in the law.
“So we too were questioning what happened and how there could be such scoring discrepancies,” she said. “We’ve been on board with this (change) since the beginning.”
Like the retail store licenses, new state licenses for craft growers, infusers and transporters have been indefinitely delayed by the coronavirus pandemic and other factors. The state hired consulting firm of KPMG for $7 million to review and score the application for all the licenses.
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Applicants have complained that KPMG knew who they were. A KPMG spokesman said that it had two teams of scorers — one that had to know the applicants' names to verify their social equity or veteran status, and another to do the scoring that did not know who the applicants were.
rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-21--Illinois hits one-day COVID-19 testing high and passes 5 million tests since pandemic began; state e

Illinois hits one-day COVID-19 testing high and passes 5 million tests since pandemic began; state elections board OKs $4 million for extra drop boxes, poll worker recruitment

The additional funding would become available once local election authorities use up the $ 16.8 million in funding from the @ @ @ @ @ earlier this year .
State election officials said the additional money most likely will be @ @ @ @ @ dedicated to upgrading the state ’ s voter registration system .

CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois set a new one-day statewide testing high for COVID-19 over the weekend and is now averaging 52,000 tests per day, third highest in the nation, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday.
The 74,286 tests during a 24-hour period reported on Saturday, a new high, pushed Illinois past 5 million tests over the course of the pandemic.
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During a news conference in Springfield, Pritzker lauded the state’s testing program as “by far the best testing state in the Midwest,” and one of the fastest states in delivering test results.
Officials on Monday reported 1,477 newly diagnosed cases and seven additional deaths of people with COVID-19, raising the statewide tally to 275,735 known cases and 8,457 deaths.
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Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike acknowledged there are some health care providers and hospital systems that impose criteria for testing that can limit access, including a requirement that the person being tested has symptoms.
“We are reaching out and asking that these providers remove these barriers” and open up testing by joining the department’s network of lab providers, Ezike said
Also on Monday, the Illinois State Board of Elections unanimously approved a request from Pritzker to reallocate up to $4 million in federal election security funding to help local election authorities pay for additional drop boxes to collect absentee ballots and to recruit additional poll workers.
The $4 million would come from the $27.1 million the elections board received in federal election security grants through the Help America Vote Act for 2018 and 2020. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission has issued guidance authorizing such uses.
The additional funding would become available once local election authorities use up the $16.8 million in funding from the federal coronavirus relief package approved earlier this year. State election officials said the additional money most likely will be shifted from funds that were dedicated to upgrading the state’s voter registration system.
“We know we still have to do that. ... That’s not going away,” State Board of Elections Chairman Charles Scholz said. “We’ll just have to replenish and work with the governor and the General Assembly and perhaps the federal authorities.”
The board will consider requests for reimbursement from the state’s 108 local election authorities on a case-by-case basis, Scholz said.
Pritzker signed a law in June that aims to expand voting by mail for the November election to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 at crowded polling places. One provision allows local election authorities to set up secure collection sites for people who don’t want to send their ballots through the U.S. mail.
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However, citing a recent survey by the elections board, Pritzker said only half of the state’s 108 local election authorities plan to offer ballot drop boxes. And 60 of the local jurisdictions report they are having trouble recruiting enough election judges to work the polls Nov. 3.
With the additional funding, election authorities would be able to purchase more drop boxes and increase pay for election judges, among other things.
jmunks@chicagotribune.com
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-21--Albany Park residents walk the few blocks where 2 were killed and 5 others were wounded in attacks l

Albany Park residents walk the few blocks where 2 were killed and 5 others were wounded in attacks last week. ‘We are with you all. We know the pain.’

Aragon said she was not naive .
She knows the walk on its own won ’ t change anything .
@ @ @ @ @ show support and share resources with those who needed them .
It was also a @ @ @ @ @ as mental health services , social services , school programs and jobs .
The community @ @ @ @ @ make those changes , she said .

Francesco Saladini, 13, left, and Maia Saladini, 16, gather with others in Ronan Park on Sept. 20, 2020, for a peace march in response to recent gun violence in the area, including the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Ernie Perez on Sept. 14. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)
The family of Ernie Perez stood near the edge of the crowd late Sunday afternoon as speaker after speaker talked of the growing violence in Albany Park, which took the life of the young father.
They wore white T-shirts with “EP” and a heart on front. Melanie Radillo, Perez’s 4-year-old niece, clutched a framed photo of him shown smiling and wearing a silver chain with an “E” charm. Perez’s 15-month-old son hung close to their sides.
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Perez, 26, was fatally shot in the chest a week ago in the Northwest Side neighborhood, which statistically is viewed as safe. But there were three shootings last week that resulted in seven people shot, two fatally, within blocks of each other. Three other people were shot outside the neighborhood but within the Albany Park police district, which includes Albany Park, Irving Park, North Park and parts of other neighborhoods.
So far this year, the Albany Park police district has had at least 60 gunshot victims, according to data kept by the Tribune. That makes this year the most violent for the district since the Tribune began keeping data in 2011.
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Family members of Ernie Perez, 26, including his niece, Melanie Radillo, 4, gather in Ronan Park on Sept. 20, 2020, for a peace march. Perez was shot and killed Sept. 14. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)
The district is still in the bottom half for shooting victims compared with all 22 districts, according to the data. Fourteen other districts have had more gunshot victims so far this year.
Many of the recent shootings have been caused by gang conflicts, according to Chicago police and local officials. There have been no arrests.
Ald. Rossana Rodriguez, 33rd, has said community safety teams are working on the conflicts alongside beat officers. The mayor’s office is “working to bring in teams of street outreach workers to help de-escalate the conflict through violence interruption,” she said in statements last week.
The district also has had tactical teams back in the district for “several days,” a statement made on Saturday said. Rodriguez said she spoke with Mayor Lori Lightfoot about district officers being detailed downtown following civil unrest.
Several groups in the neighborhood organized a vigil and peace walk on Sunday in response to the recent shootings. People first gathered at 4 p.m. at Ronan Park off Lawrence Avenue, flanked by Chicago police officers on bicycles. Some officers and politicians mingled in the crowd.
Perez’s family at the vigil included his mother, grandmother, sister, brother-in-law, nieces, aunts and the mother of his children. They kept mostly to themselves during the walk and had been honoring and remembering Perez at home, his older sister Pamela Lopez said, declining to comment further.
One of the organizers was Dalia Aragon, co-founder of Israel’s Gifts of Hope Foundation, named after her brother who was fatally shot in 2016 in Albany Park near their home. “It takes all of us. It’s going to take teamwork,” Aragon, 29, said into a microphone as she stood on a black park bench. “It’s going to take a united front.”
Aragon said she was not naive. She knows the walk on its own won’t change anything. But they were there to show support and share resources with those who needed them. It was also a call for more resources such as mental health services, social services, school programs and jobs. The community has to work together to make those changes, she said.
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Aragon noted that the officers were there to not only monitor the walk but also to participate in it. There needs to be an open line of communication between them and the community, she said.
Representatives from organizations such as Moms Demand Action, the Albany Park Community Center, the 33rd Ward Youth Council and the Kedzie Center spoke about how they help the community, including families of people who have died from violence, and how people can reach out.
Chicago has had more than 3,000 gunshot victims so far this year, according to the Tribune’s data. That makes it the most violent since 2017, which had more than 3,500 victims and followed the notoriously violent year of 2016, which grew past 4,000.
The group of around 200 people walked west on Lawrence. They held signs that read, “No more silence/End gun violence” and “Peace in the streets.” Several pockets of family members, like Perez’s, held photos or posters of loved ones who died in shootings over the years.
People walk along West Lawrence Avenue on Sept. 20, 2020, for a peace march in response to recent gun violence in the area. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)
They passed shops and street vendors. Some shoppers or store owners poked their heads out to see what was happening and snapped photos of the group. A few drivers honked and waved or threw up a fist in solidarity. One man drove by screaming, “Trump 2020!” The marchers did not engage.
At points, the group chanted, “What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now!”
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The stretch of Lawrence that they followed marked a timeline of last week’s violence in the neighborhood.
St. Louis Avenue and Lawrence: Five people shot in a drive-by while celebrating Mexican Independence Day at 10:25 p.m. Tuesday. A 15- and 17-year-old boy were among them. All of them survived.
Central Park Avenue and Lawrence: About two blocks north, Perez was shot about 8:30 p.m. Monday in the 3600 block of West Argyle Street. He was pronounced dead at 9:20 p.m. at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
Monticello Avenue and Lawrence: Adam Lique, 20, was shot several times around 6:20 p.m. Wednesday and was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center less than 40 minutes later. Police said they found a .380-caliber handgun on him.
The marchers ended the nearly mile-and-a-half walk at Harding Avenue and Lawrence. They formed a circle. Before family members spoke their loved one’s name into a microphone and a pastor closed in prayer, Aragon spoke directly to the families.
“I see some of the victims’ families here,” Aragon said, “and I want you to know that we are very sorry.” She continued in Spanish.
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“Los sentimos mucho.” We are very sorry.
“Estamos con ustedes.” We are with you all.
“Sabemos el dolor.” We know the pain.
“Pero estamos aquí para apoyar los.” But we’re here to support you.
Hours after the marchers went home and businesses closed for the day, an officer in the district called in gunfire over the radio around 2:15 a.m. Monday. “Sounds like loud reports east around Lawrence and Central Park area. I’ll start looking around. Ten loud reports.”
More calls came in from residents who had also heard the 10 to 12 rounds near Monticello Avenue and Argyle Street.
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A car with bullet holes in the front window arrived at Swedish Hospital shortly afterward, according to the radio traffic. One of the victims said they were shot near Carmen Avenue and Kimball Avenue.
Officers found shell casings in the 3400 block of West Carmen Avenue in the North Park neighborhood. A 24-year-old man was shot in the hand and back and in good condition, police later said. A 25-year-old man was shot several times in the head and died.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-09-21--Bannockburn doctor charged with sexual assault in Oak Brook incident

It is alleged that on Feb. 12 , 2019 , Alrashid met the woman and others at a restaurant in @ @ @ @ @ presentation dinner .
Following the business dinner , Alrashid and the woman traveled together in @ @ @ @ @ to his house , where the victim had left her car .
It is alleged @ @ @ @ @ , Alrashid sexually assaulted the woman , according to the release .

Dr. Arkan Alrashid (DuPage County State's Attorney)
A doctor from Bannockburn has been accused of sexually assaulting a female co-worker in his car, following a business dinner in Oak Brook in February 2019.
Dr. Arkan Alrashid, 54, of the first block of Broadleys Court, has been charged with two counts of criminal sexual assault, a Class 1 Felony, according to a release from DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin.
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It is alleged that on Feb. 12, 2019, Alrashid met the woman and others at a restaurant in Oak Brook for a business presentation dinner. Following the business dinner, Alrashid and the woman traveled together in Alrashid’s vehicle back to his house, where the victim had left her car. It is alleged that during the drive home, Alrashid sexually assaulted the woman, according to the release.
“These allegations are extremely disturbing and will be met with the full force of the law,” Berlin said in the release.
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A statement issued Monday evening Sept. 21 by GI Partners of Illinois, LLC, of which Alrashid is president, said Dr. Alrashid maintains his innocence and intends to plead not guilty to these charges.
“Dr. Alrashid denies these allegations and is vigorously defending the charges in court,” the statement said. “He has cooperated with the authorities and has retained defense counsel to conduct a rigorous investigation and defense. He is confident the evidence will prove that the accusations are false.”
A $50,000 arrest warrant was issued Sept. 15, 2020 for Alrashid, who turned himself in two days later at the Oak Brook Police Department. He posted $5,000, or the necessary 10% of his arrest warrant, and was released.
Judge Alex McGimpsey granted the state’s petition Monday to modify Alrashid’s conditions of bail which, among other additional conditions, now require the defendant to have no contact with the victim or her family, surrender any firearms, firearm ammunition, FOID card or other dangerous weapons, and surrender any passports.
Conditions of bail placed on Alrashid prior to Monday’s hearing required only that he notify the Circuit Clerk’s Office within 24 hours of changing residency, not violate any criminal statute of any jurisdiction and that he not leave the state of Illinois without permission of the court.
“I am proud of the work our investigators did on this case and their pursuit of justice for the victim no matter how long it took,” Oak Brook Police Chief James Kruger said. “I also appreciate the trust the victim demonstrated with us and hope this can bring some small consolation for what she had to endure.”
Alrashid’s next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 4 for arraignment in front of Judge McGimpsey.
This story has been updated.


chicagotribune--2020-09-21--Chicago police increase number of officers on roving anti-violence team

Critics of the Chicago Police Department have said they worry the new team ’ s style of enforcement could mirror @ @ @ @ @ overly aggressive tactics of units like it that disbanded years ago .
But unlike those @ @ @ @ @ have promised , the community safety team is working on community service projects to get @ @ @ @ @ the areas they serve .

Chicago police Superintendent David Brown speaks about the expansion of the community safety team during a news conference Sept. 21, 2020, outside the 5th District station. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago police Superintendent David Brown has temporarily added 200 more officers to a new unit dedicated to responding to crime hot spots in some of the city’s most violent neighborhoods, officials said Monday.
For the next 90 days, the officers will be deployed to bulk up the community safety team, formed in July to work in areas seeing spikes in shootings and other violence. With the additional officers, the team now includes nearly 500 cops, officials said.
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Monday’s announcement of the shift of resources comes at a time when Chicago has seen an especially violent year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as civil unrest across major U.S. cities prompted by the Memorial Day death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Through Sept. 13, there had been about 2,300 shootings — incidents that left victims wounded fatally or injured — recorded in Chicago, the most the city has seen since 2016. Chicago had also recorded 544 homicides, a 49% jump from when 364 people were slain during the same time in 2019.
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But in recent weeks, Brown has pointed to double-digit percentage reductions in shootings and homicides since the team and another citywide unit started in July.
Critics of the Chicago Police Department have said they worry the new team’s style of enforcement could mirror what some considered to be overly aggressive tactics of units like it that disbanded years ago. But unlike those similar units, police leaders have promised, the community safety team is working on community service projects to get to know the residents in the areas they serve.
Newly appointed Chicago police Deputy Chief Michael Barz, of the community safety team, speaks Sept. 21, 2020, during a news conference outside the 5th District station. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Michael Barz, who was just promoted last week to deputy chief of the unit, told reporters Monday its officers coached baseball teams on the West Side over the summer and plan to soon coach basketball.
He also said officers on the team, and on their own time and with their own money, ran a backpack giveaway on the South Side in recent weeks for children from domestic violence shelters. The officers also provided other school supplies to the children as well as hygiene items such as toothpaste and toothbrushes, Barz said.
“While we will continue fighting violent crime with every resource at our disposal, it’s also important to note that the community safety team’s core aspect is community service,” he said.
The community safety team primarily responds to crime hot spots on the South and West sides, areas of Chicago where much of the city’s violence is concentrated. The other citywide unit that started in July, the critical incident response team, has about 270 officers and addresses the crime hot spots in the downtown area, but also focuses on protests or other large gatherings that form throughout the city.
In addition to the increased staffing on the community safety team, Brown said earlier this month the summer mobile patrol unit would operate for an additional 90 days. That unit, which has about 200 cops, has the same function as the community safety team but typically only operates during the warmer-weather months.


chicagotribune--2020-09-21--Connor Kerner trial to start Oct. 6 in Porter County; Valparaiso man accused of killing two teens in

Connor Kerner trial to start Oct. 6 in Porter County; Valparaiso man accused of killing two teens in drug deal gone bad

Nine jurors will be seated in the jury box and another three , as well as two alternates , will @ @ @ @ @ to maintain social distancing , Bradford said .
Spectator seats will be limited to two @ @ @ @ @ one representative from each of the victims ' families and Kerner ’ s family .

Porter County’s first murder trial since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic is slated to go forward as planned on Oct. 6 when jury selection begins at the Porter County Expo Center for the trial of Connor Kerner, 19, of Valparaiso.
Porter Superior Court Judge Roger Bradford outlined how the trial in his courtroom will be handled during a Tuesday hearing, which also provided some insight into what witness testimony will and will not be allowed during the trial, scheduled to last around three weeks.
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Kerner, of the 100 block of Kinsale, took part in the hearing via videoconference from the Porter County Jail because of the pandemic. Kerner, was 17 when he allegedly killed Molley Lanham, 19, of St. John, and Thomas Grill, 18, of Cedar Lake, on Feb. 25, 2019, at his grandparents' Hebron-area home after a drug deal went bad.
Thomas Grill, 18, of Cedar Lake and Molley Lanham, 19, of St. John. (Provided by St. John Police)
Kerner, who has pleaded not guilty, remains at the Porter County Jail without bond, held on two counts of murder and additional felony counts of intimidation, arson, murder in the perpetration of a robbery and attempted robbery.
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Indianapolis attorney James Voyles, who is representing Kerner along with Merrillville attorney Mark Thiros, suggested pushing the trial back until the pandemic is less of a concern, and said he shared those concerns with Chief Deputy Prosecutor Armando Salinas.
“Depending on what expert you listen to, it could be January, it could be next fall,” Bradford said. “It’s become so politicized, it’s hard to tell what’s what.”
Under the plans for the trial outlined by Bradford, jury selection, 50 people at a time, will take place in the morning and afternoon of Oct. 6 and the morning of Oct. 7 at the Porter County Expo Center. The impaneled jury will report for opening arguments in his courtroom that afternoon.
Nine jurors will be seated in the jury box and another three, as well as two alternates, will be placed in the gallery to maintain social distancing, Bradford said. Spectator seats will be limited to two members of the media and one representative from each of the victims' families and Kerner’s family.
If the jurors agree to waive social distancing, Bradford said, they could be seated together in the jury box. “If they agree, we can operate in a little more of a normal proceeding,” he said.
He is hoping to secure two jury rooms for breaks for jurors during the trial; if that doesn’t happen, jury breaks and deliberation will occur in his courtroom.
“I don’t like that but if it’s going to trial, it’s going to trial,” he said.
Before discussion of the logistics of the trial, Bradford went through motions by the state and the defense about what would and would not be allowed during the trial.
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One of the topics that will be off limits will be questioning witnesses about the role of co-defendant John Silva II, 19, of Hamlet, in the alleged crime, unless Silva testifies during the trial.
Regardless, his name will inevitably come up during Kerner’s trial.
The jury, Bradford said, is going to know Kerner has a co-defendant. Silva is charged with two counts of murder in the perpetration of a robbery in deaths of Grill and Lanham and was additionally charged last month with two felony counts of attempted robbery. He, too, has pleaded not guilty and remains in Porter County Jail without bond.
“It’s not hearsay. It’s public record that he’s been charged with those and part of the defense is that he did it and not Mr. Kerner,” Bradford said.
Partial text messages Kerner exchanged with his mother in the days after the alleged murders will be allowed at trial but details about any alleged drug deals between Grill and Kerner before the day of the murders will not be allowed.
“We’re not going to try the victim. We’re trying the defendant,” Bradford said.
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Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.


chicagotribune--2020-09-21--Orland Park plans revised lawsuit against Pritzker over COVID-19 restrictions

While much of the state is in Phase 4 of the governor ’ s reopening plan , tighter restrictions have @ @ @ @ @ temporarily in some regions as state health officials look at data such as the percentage @ @ @ @ @ back positive , the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 illnesses and the capacity of @ @ @ @ @ patients .

Orland Park plans to file an amended lawsuit against Gov. J.B. Pritzker over restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Scott P. Yates / AP)
Orland Park plans to file an amended lawsuit against Gov. J.B. Pritzker challenging restrictions put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to federal court filings.
The move comes after the village had been dealt a setback last month in the lawsuit, which was filed in mid-June.
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Orland Park had been given a Sept. 2 deadline to file a response to the governor’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, instead filed notice of its plan to seek U.S. District Court Judge Andrea Wood’s approval to file the amended complaint. Wood gave Orland Park until Oct. 8 to do so.
In its motion, Orland Park said that since the lawsuit was originally filed, it and other plaintiffs in the case “have discovered additional relevant facts” and that there is also the potential “for additional parties to the litigation.”
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In a response filed Sept. 3, attorneys for the Illinois attorney general, representing Pritzker, asked Wood to deny the village’s request and instead insist on a response to the governor’s motion to dismiss.
Attorneys criticized the village’s filing as “bare-bones” and that it “cryptically asserts” that the plaintiffs had allegedly uncovered new facts but doesn’t provide any details.
“They do not elaborate on why these facts and parties need to be added,” according to the governor’s response.
Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include two village residents and the co-owner of an Orland Park business, The Brass Tap. The village’s law firm, Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins, is representing the plaintiffs.
The lawsuit alleges that state-imposed restrictions ordered by Pritzker in response to the pandemic violate the due process and equal protection clauses of the Constitution and that Pritzker overstepped his authority.
The lawsuit argues, in part, that Pritzker had “failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that public health is significantly endangered without” restrictions on businesses and residents.
Last month, the Illinois Supreme Court moved to transfer a Clay County legal challenge to Pritzker’s coronavirus-related orders by Republican state Rep. Darren Bailey to Sangamon County and consolidate it with other state court cases challenging Pritzker’s authority. The court also declined the governor’s request that it weigh in on whether he has the power to issue continued emergency orders, leaving that to the lower court to decide.
A Clay County Circuit Court judge had, in July, ruled in Bailey’s case that the governor’s authority to issue emergency orders had ended.
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While much of the state is in Phase 4 of the governor’s reopening plan, tighter restrictions have been put back in place temporarily in some regions as state health officials look at data such as the percentage of coronavirus tests that come back positive, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 illnesses and the capacity of hospitals to take in new patients.
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For example, Region 7, which takes in Will and Kankakee counties, was placed under stricter controls, lifted late last week, due to increases in the number of positive tests. Bars and restaurants, for instance, had to suspend indoor service to customers during the two weeks the restrictions were in place.
In an Aug. 1 ruling in the Orland Park lawsuit, Wood denied a motion by the village seeking a temporary restraining order as well as a preliminary injunction to overturn a series of executive orders issued by the governor.
Wood ruled the village and other plaintiffs failed to show they have been unduly harmed by the governor’s order and would have "a negligible likelihood of success” in pressing their claims.
As far as whether the governor overstepped his authority, Wood wrote that the governor "has sweeping powers in the event a disaster strikes all or part” of the state, and even if he did not properly interpret the law it would not necessarily render his actions beyond his legal authority.”
Wood wrote the protective measures imposed since mid-March "have no apparent nefarious ulterior motive to restrain individual rights,” but that granting the request for preliminary injunction "would do extraordinary damage” to the state’s efforts to try to curb the spread of COVID-19.
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In allowing Orland Park to revise its lawsuit, the judge set a deadline of Nov. 5 for the governor to respond, with a status hearing scheduled for Nov. 13.
mnolan@tribpub.com