chicagotribune--2020-03-17--Sunset Foods to dedicate hour of business each day to elderly, immune compromised amid coronavirus p

Sunset Foods to dedicate hour of business each day to elderly, immune compromised amid coronavirus pandemic

“ We ’ ve really been incredibly pleased and touched by the reaction from our community and our neighbors , @ @ @ @ @ Our customers have been gracious and patient .
We are grateful to be in the @ @ @ @ @ ”

Sunset Foods soon will be reserving the first hour of operations at its grocery store locations throughout the northern suburbs for elderly and immune-compromised individuals.
The decision comes in response to the coronavirus pandemic that has led to panic buying and left grocery shelves barren across the country.
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The new policy takes effect Wednesday, representatives with the Highland Park-based company said Tuesday. The hour will take place from 7 to 8 a.m. each day at the company’s five locations in Lake Forest, Libertyville, Long Grove, Highland Park and Northbrook.
Sarah Hanlon, director of marketing for Sunset Foods, said the idea came from numerous customers inquiring about blocking off a window of time that would allow certain individuals to shop with lowered risks amid the spread of the new coronavirus.
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“We thought it was a great idea to be able to kind of support that group,” Hanlon said.
The hour will be reserved for elderly and immune-compromised customers for as long as necessary, she said.
The move follows several actions by the company to communicate with their customers about protocols the company is taking to ensure a safer shopping environment during the outbreak, including higher sanitation practices and monitoring inventory closely, according to Hanlon.
“We’ve really been incredibly pleased and touched by the reaction from our community and our neighbors,” she said. "Our customers have been gracious and patient. We are grateful to be in the communities we are in.”
jnorman@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-17--Column: Signing Robert Quinn makes Leonard Floyd another top-10 draft bust for Bears GM Ryan Pace. W

Column: Signing Robert Quinn makes Leonard Floyd another top-10 draft bust for Bears GM Ryan Pace. Will Mitch Trubisky be the next one?

The Patriots ’ competition in the AFC East can finally breathe a sigh of relief after Brady announced Tuesday morning @ @ @ @ @ a 21st season with the team .
It was long ago that a Bears front-office @ @ @ @ @ for Brett Favre ’ s retirement from the Packers to see the balance of power @ @ @ @ @ North .
That was before the Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers .
While Brady ’ s @ @ @ @ @ division titles in 20 seasons — the Packers with Favre and Rodgers have consistently kept @ @ @ @ @ .

Bears linebacker Leonard Floyd heads to the sideline after a Lions touchdown in the first quarter on Nov. 28, 2019, in Detroit. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
If the Bears traded for Khalil Mack because Leonard Floyd didn’t turn into the player they envisioned when they drafted him with the No. 9 pick in 2016, their impending signing of Robert Quinn will happen because they know their best chance of winning this year is playing lights-out defense.
In other words, the Bears need to reload on that side of the ball for the inevitability their quarterback lets them down again.
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The Bears got a better pass rusher than Floyd when they agreed to terms Tuesday with Quinn, who turns 30 in May, on a five-year, $70 million contract that reportedly includes $30 million in guarantees. Floyd was lost as a pass rusher, and though general manager Ryan Pace sought every possible way to support him, the bottom line is another busted top-10 draft pick is gone, along with his $13.2 million contract for 2020.
The next faulty draft pick in line is quarterback Mitch Trubisky, who could be quickly replaced by whichever veteran the Bears acquire. Less than 24 hours before the new league year, Tom Brady is headed to the Buccaneers, Teddy Bridgewater is out of play after agreeing to a deal with the Panthers and the Bears’ top option appears to be trading for the Bengals’ Andy Dalton or the Jaguars’ Nick Foles.
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In other words, the Bears still could be running fourth in the NFC North arms race.
The Patriots’ competition in the AFC East can finally breathe a sigh of relief after Brady announced Tuesday morning he will not return for a 21st season with the team. It was long ago that a Bears front-office member told me to wait for Brett Favre’s retirement from the Packers to see the balance of power shift in the the NFC North. That was before the Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers. While Brady’s dominance is unparalleled — 17 division titles in 20 seasons — the Packers with Favre and Rodgers have consistently kept the Bears under their heel.
Since Favre took over in Week 4 of the 1992 season, the Packers have started six quarterbacks, with Brett Hundley (nine starts), Matt Flynn (six), Scott Tolzien (two) and Seneca Wallace (one) accounting for the non-Favre/Rodgers starts. The Bears have rolled through 32 starting quarterbacks in that span, seven under Pace, and those figures are likely to climb by at least one in the coming season.
Quinn is an interesting addition from the standpoint that defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano and outside linebackers coach Ted Monachino won’t have to talk about how they’re teaching him to finish. That was the case with Floyd, who was terrific in coverage but lacked the power to win with anything but speed on the edge.
Quinn is an accomplished pass rusher, totaling 19 sacks for the Rams in 2013, his third season in the league. He has 80½ career sacks in nine seasons and jump-started his career last year when he had 11½ sacks in 14 games for the Cowboys playing opposite DeMarcus Lawrence. With Akiem Hicks and Roy Robertson-Harris in the middle, Mack and Quinn figure to feast on quarterbacks.
This will be Quinn’s fourth team in four seasons, and from 2015 through 2018, he had only 24 sacks in 50 games. A combination of injuries and poor fits in a 3-4 scheme didn’t work in his favor. Yes, the Bears also run a 3-4 base defense, but they’re in a sub package for about 70% of the snaps, so that probably won’t be a significant hindrance.
Quinn has to create havoc and help the defense get off the field; otherwise, he won’t be much aid to Trubisky or name-your-other-quarterback. The major issue facing the Bears entering this offseason was an offense that was in the bottom five in too many major statistical categories in 2019.
What have they done about it so far? They guaranteed $9 million to 33-year-old tight end Jimmy Graham and re-signed inside linebacker Danny Trevathan, like Quinn about to turn 30, to a three-year contract with $13.625 million guaranteed.
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In keeping Trevathan, the Bears allowed one of their drafted and developed players, Nick Kwiatkoski, to leave for the Raiders. They gave Kwiatkoski a similar contract to what Trevathan received from the Bears when looking at the benchmark figures: length, total value and guarantees.
Pace has had success in free agency when he targets players coming out of their rookie contracts and entering their prime years. It’s fair to say Quinn, Graham and Trevathan have played their best football. Kwiatkoski, on the other hand, would have checked that box Pace looked for previously as a player coming out of his rookie deal.
Maybe Graham can experience the kind of bounce-back Quinn enjoyed in Dallas last season and Quinn and Trevathan can help restore some of the ferocity the defense was missing at key points last season.
Otherwise, these moves are liable to make it look like a desperate March for a team that doesn’t have a clear solution at quarterback. Not yet anyway.


chicagotribune--2020-03-17--Governor accuses Chicago election officials of ‘political posturing’ after they complain he should h

Governor accuses Chicago election officials of ‘political posturing’ after they complain he should have postponed voting because of coronavirus

“ Not surprisingly , they could not even begin to explain the legal basis for their request , ” he @ @ @ @ @ they explain how they believe that they and election authorities across the state could effectively @ @ @ @ @ vote-by-mail .
Nor could they promise the people of Illinois that the state would be @ @ @ @ @ on the suggested day of May 12th .
”

Voter Vickie Jones, 61, left, and Latisha Hollis, 42, center, sign in to vote at a polling place at the Thurgood Marshall Branch of the Chicago Public Library in 17th Ward. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker accused Chicago officials of “political posturing” after they complained that the governor should have postponed Tuesday’s election because of the coronavirus, which they blamed for drastically low turnout and polling places that lacked proper equipment.
“It is not a time for games,” the governor said at a news conference where he announced the state’s first death from the coronavirus and also disclosed that more than 20 people at a DuPage County nursing home have tested positive.
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“It is not a time for political posturing,” he continued, visibly upset. “It is not a time to complain that you’re being asked to do uncomfortable things, to make hard choices, to go above and beyond in your responsibilities.”
Pritzker accused city election officials of attempting “to shift the blame for their failings.”
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Earlier in the day, as voting got off to a shaky start, a spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners complained to reporters that the board was rebuffed last week when it asked the governor to halt in-person voting and switch to casting ballots by mail.
[ Illinois primary updates: Get the latest news and results here ]
“We were urging the postponement of the election ... and a conversion to vote by mail for the safety of the voting public,” Jim Allen said in a conference call as numerous polling places reported problems with equipment because they had changed locations at the last minute as a precaution because of the coronavirus.
Allen reported “extremely low turnout” as polls opened: Only 10,500 votes cast by 7 a.m. and 14,400 votes in the second hour. By 2 p.m., 173,720 voters had cast ballots in Chicago.
He said election officials suspected the low turnout was the result of people staying at home and following the directives of public health officials amid the coronavirus outbreak. Precautions also prompted the election board to change more than 200 polling places in the last week. Relocating election materials to new sites was the “biggest issue of the morning,” Allen said.
“We did the best we could,” he said. “We certainly had no idea when we were making these purchasing moves ... there would be a global pandemic.”
Anticipating problems, Allen said the election board spoke with Pritzker’s staff on March 11. “At the time we predicted that there would be fear among voters, that there would be legitimate concerns among our poll workers, and that we would lose polling places,” he said.
“There’s nothing magical about March 17 unless you’re St. Patrick,” Allen continued. “No one was going to get elected today. These were nominations. ... It was a snowball we could all see coming down the hill.”
Pritzker, at his daily briefing on the coronavirus outbreak, shot back that he did not have the authority to call off the election, even if he had wanted to.
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“Last week, the Chicago board asked me to do something that is unquestionably not within my legal authority,” he said after giving the daily update. "They wanted me unilaterally to cancel in-person voting on March 17, convert Illinois to an all vote-by-mail state and extend vote by mail to May 12.
“Not surprisingly, they could not even begin to explain the legal basis for their request,” he said. “Nor could they explain how they believe that they and election authorities across the state could effectively convert the election to all vote-by-mail. Nor could they promise the people of Illinois that the state would be able to hold an election on the suggested day of May 12th.”
Pritzker said he was limited by the state constitution and would not cross the “boundaries of our democracy.”
“If people want to criticize me for that, well go ahead,” he continued as state and Chicago health officials stood behind him. "I’ll wear it like a badge of honor. Every step that we’ve taken during this crisis, my legal team has understood and laid out our legal authority to do it. ... We have worked with the individuals or entities involved to get to the right answer.
“All of them have stepped up to the plate — all, except the Chicago Board of Elections.”


chicagotribune--2020-03-17--Hoping the 10-part documentary about Michael Jordan and the ’97-98 Bulls will be released early? ESP

Hoping the 10-part documentary about Michael Jordan and the ’97-98 Bulls will be released early? ESPN says ‘The Last Dance’ isn’t done yet.

“ I know some have asked about ‘ The Last Dance , ’ and the reality is that the production @ @ @ @ @ yet been completed , so we are limited there at the moment .
Obviously , @ @ @ @ @ it until it ’ s done .
”

There’s a very simple reason ESPN hasn’t moved up the scheduled debut of its long-awaited “The Last Dance” despite obvious demand amid the vacuum of fresh sports programming.
The 10-part documentary on Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Bulls isn’t finished.
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“Overall, any original content project that we can conceivably move up, we are obviously considering that, including films,” Burke Magnus, ESPN’s executive vice president of programming, acquisitions and scheduling, said in a Q&A the network issued Tuesday.
“I know some have asked about ‘The Last Dance,’ and the reality is that the production of that film has not yet been completed, so we are limited there at the moment. Obviously, you can’t air it until it’s done.”
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Some fans got excited over the weekend when a promo for “The Last Dance” was amended, changing a promised June debut with a tag that said, “Coming Soon.”
RED ALERT: ESPN has changed the end of their ads for The Last Dance documentary to “Coming Soon” 👀 pic.twitter.com/Sw7c2R2iCw — Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) March 15, 2020
Magnus’ remark leaves open the possibility “The Last Dance” indeed could be expedited.
But it also might be read as an acknowledgement the docuseries — a collaboration of four production partners originally scheduled to launch in conjunction with the NBA Finals — might run even later.
ESPN has been scrambling since the sports world began shutting down last week in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition to covering the disruption through extra editions of “SportsCenter” and ongoing shows such as “Get Up!” and “First Take,” ESPN has been scouring its libraries and assessing its live production capabilities.
With scheduling and programming personnel working remotely since Friday, the multichannel operation also has been looking into repeating “classic” games. That requires securing the proper licensing, however.
“Re-airing full-game presentations is not a right that we or other media companies typically have at our disposal at all times,” Magnus said. “Each one of these circumstances requires individual conversations with the specific league or property to determine what’s possible.”
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Because this week coincides with the beginning of NFL free agency, ESPN has made that a central focus of shows that continue to operate.
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Magnus said ESPN is open to other types of programming, including unconventional content along the lines of what it has “done in the past for special event anniversaries, ‘The Ocho’ day and more.”
“The Ocho” has been an August stunt in recent years. It echoes an ESPN parody from the 2004 Vince Vaughn-Ben Stiller comedy “DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story,” showcasing competitions that rarely get TV exposure, such as cornhole, disc golf, trampoline dodgeball, cherry-pit spitting and arm wrestling.
Movies and documentaries also will be part of the ESPN mix, Magnus said, with many empty slots to fill on the schedule.
“The challenge is that now we need to replicate that dynamic 24 hours a day, seven days a week across multiple networks,” Magnus said. “That’s what is in front of us in terms of long-range planning.”
NBCSCH to re-air Bulls and Blackhawks playoff games
NBC Sports Chicago, meanwhile, announced Tuesday that it will re-air postseason games at 7 every night from the Bulls’ 1996 NBA championship run and the Blackhawks’ 2010 Stanley Cup title run.
We know you all need sports back in your life. That's why we'll be airing some classic Blackhawks and Bulls games starting tonight! #HawksRewind #BullsRewind https://t.co/MH8hpwQO2k — NBC Sports Chicago (@NBCSChicago) March 17, 2020
The lineup was to begin Tuesday night with Game 2 of the Hawks-Predators Western Conference quarterfinals, and it wraps up with the Bulls’ NBA Finals clincher against the SuperSonics on April 15 and the Hawks’ Cup clincher against the Flyers on April 16.


chicagotribune--2020-03-17--Tracking QBs in NFL free agency: Tom Brady won’t return to the Patriots; Panthers working to sign Te

Tracking QBs in NFL free agency: Tom Brady won’t return to the Patriots; Panthers working to sign Teddy Bridgewater and trade Cam Newton

What it means : It was known the Bears likely weren ’ t going to bring Daniel back for a @ @ @ @ @ ’ s backup , so he moves on to be Matthew Stafford ’ s backup @ @ @ @ @ his fifth team in 11 seasons , a remarkable career for someone who has made @ @ @ @ @ the Bears , Daniel was a veteran presence to help guide Trubisky through coach Matt @ @ @ @ @ and he also served as a team leader and the Bears ’ representative to the @ @ @ @ @ three games , throwing six touchdown passes and four interceptions .
His presence is valued @ @ @ @ @ him a $ 13.05 million deal , which contains a voidable clause .

The NFL’s free-agency negotiating period opened Monday, and the quarterback carousel ride has proved to be a wild one this year as expected. The activity continued Wednesday with the Bears trading a fourth-round pick to the Jaguars in exchange for Nick Foles.
Nearly half of the teams in the league entered this week with some level of uncertainty at quarterback. And many quarterbacks were eager to figure out where they would be playing next season. That of course included Tom Brady, who announced his departure from the Patriots on Tuesday and is destined for Tampa to join forces with Bruce Arians and the Buccaneers.
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Now the Bears finally made their move to get a quarterback to challenge Mitch Trubisky.
We are tracking all of the quarterback news here as developments unfold.
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March 24
The Panthers are releasing Cam Newton after failing to find a trade partner, according to multiple reports.
What it means: The Panthers announced last week they were seeking a trade for Newton after they brought in Teddy Bridgewater to be their new quarterback. NFL Network reported the Panthers tried to work out deals with the Bears and Chargers for the former No. 1 overall pick and three-time Pro Bowler, but neither accepted.
The #Panthers tried to send Cam Newton to the #Bears and #Chargers. They found no takers and at this point, no starting jobs available. Release was the only option. Carolina has just $2M in dead money with this release, but Cam is now free. — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 24, 2020
The Bears traded for Jaguars quarterback Nick Foles, and the Chargers’ quarterback situation remains up in the air. One issue for teams looking to bring in Newton is team physicals currently are not allowed because of coronavirus concerns. Newton has dealt with shoulder and foot injuries over the last two seasons.
March 19
The Broncos informed Joe Flacco he is being waived with a failed physical designation, ESPN reported.
What it means: Flacco, 35, is moving on after just eight starts in Denver. The former Super Bowl MVP went 2-6 in those eight games and then was placed on injured reserve with a neck injury. Rookie Drew Lock filled in by going 4-1 in December. And when the Broncos signed backup quarterback Jeff Driskel this week, it spelled the end for Flacco. Now he must not only get healthy, but also find a new team for what would be his 13th season in the league. After 11 seasons in Baltimore, the Ravens traded Flacco to the Broncos for a fourth-round pick last year.
March 18
The Bears have sent a fourth-round pick to the Jaguars in exchange for Nick Foles, a deal ESPN’s Adam Schefter first reported.
What it means: Finally, Bears fans know who the second quarterback will be at Halas Hall when the Bears are allowed to begin offseason activities at some point. And we use the phrase “second quarterback” loosely. Because the early buzz in league circles is that the Bears expect Foles not only to compete with Mitch Trubisky for the starting job, but also to win it heading into the regular season.
QB play is about talent, yeah. But it is also about fit. Relationships. Chemistry. Comfort. Nick Foles is all of that for Matt Nagy. I love the move. Now they have a real chance to make some noise! — Louis Riddick (@LRiddickESPN) March 18, 2020
Foles, 31, will be entering his ninth season. He has great familiarity with the system the Bears run and with many of the coaches who will oversee it. Foles and Bears coach Matt Nagy were together in 2012 with the Eagles and again in 2016 with the Chiefs. Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazor was Foles’ quarterbacks coach with the Eagles in 2013, when Foles threw 27 touchdown passes and only two interceptions. Bears quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo was in the same role with the Eagles in 2016 and 2017, alongside Foles for his storybook run in lifting the franchise to its first Super Bowl championship at the end of the 2017 season. DeFilippo was also the Jaguars offensive coordinator last season.
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Simply put, familiarity and comfort will be pluses for Foles and the Bears as they begin their union. Now it remains to be seen how Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace will frame the quarterback competition and what will be next for Trubisky.
March 17
The Tom Brady domino has fallen. The six-time Super Bowl champion will be a Buccaneer in 2020.
What it means: Brady took to social media Tuesday morning to bid farewell to the Patriots, the franchise that drafted him in the sixth round in 2000 and turned him loose to become the most decorated quarterback in league history.
LOVE YOU PATS NATION pic.twitter.com/lxSQZmnjPL — Tom Brady (@TomBrady) March 17, 2020
With his six Super Bowl rings and fond memories in New England, Brady will now spend his age 43 season in Tampa, Fla., joining forces with Bruce Arians and an impressive cast of pass-catching weapons, including Chris Godwin and Mike Evans. It’s an intriguing union, as hard as it is to envision Brady in Buccaneers colors. His new deal is reportedly worth $30 million per season.
It also means Jameis Winston’s run in Tampa is over with the former No. 1 pick now searching for a new home. Winston’s talent can, at times, prove enticing. He threw for 5,109 yards and 33 touchdowns last season, totals that easily surpass the Bears single-season records. But Winston also threw 30 interceptions last season and has averaged 22 turnovers per season in his career. The Bears aren’t expected to express interest in Winston as a possible insurance policy behind Mitch Trubisky. As a footnote, Brady now has a tour date at Soldier Field scheduled for this fall with the Bears on tap to host the Buccaneers. A date and time should be announced this spring.
Philip Rivers is headed to join the Colts, agreeing to a one-year deal that reportedly is worth $25 million.
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What it means: The Bears were never a suitor for Rivers, whose 16-year run with the Chargers has come to an end. The 38-year-old veteran will now take his 59,271 career passing yards and 397 touchdown passes to Indianapolis, reuniting with Frank Reich. Reich was Rivers’ quarterbacks coach with the Chargers in 2013 and his offensive coordinator in 2014 and 2015. Thus familiarity was obviously a large factor in the connection. The signing also checks another quarterback off the “Available” list and another team off the “In Need” list.
The Panthers have an agreement with Teddy Bridgewater to replace Cam Newton as their quarterback.
What it means: Newton, the No. 1 pick in 2011, is on his way out after nine seasons with the Panthers. Bridgewater was courted by multiple teams before agreeing Tuesday night to a three-year, $63 million contract with the Panthers, the Associated Press reported.
In an interesting move, the Panthers announced on social media that they “give Cam Newton permission to seek a trade.” Newton took exception with the wording of the posts and replied on Instagram.
“Stop with the word play,” Newton wrote. “I never asked for it. There is no dodging this one. I love the @panthers to death and will always love you guys. Please do not try and play me or manipulate the narrative and act like I wanted this. You forced me into this.”
Newton, who will turn 31 in May, led the Panthers to four playoff berths, including a 24-10 loss to the Broncos in Super Bowl 50. But he played in only two games in 2019 after he suffered a Lisfranc injury in his left foot and needed surgery.
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Bridgewater, 27, threw for 1,384 yards and nine touchdowns and went 5-0 with the Saints in 2019 while Drew Brees was injured. He was a first-round pick by the Vikings in 2014 and started 28 games for them before he suffered a gruesome knee injury in 2016. He has started six games since the knee injury.
Drew Brees is signing a two-year deal with the Saints, NFL Network reported .
What it means: Brees, who turned 41 in January, returns for his 15th season with the Saints, all of which have been played under coach Sean Payton. It will be the 20th NFL season overall for Brees, who was a Chargers second-round pick in 2001. Brees missed five games in 2019 with a thumb injury, the first time he missed more than one game in a season since 2003. His return to the Saints, which was a foregone conclusion, comes with a $50 million price tag.
Chase Daniel is headed to the Lions on a three-year deal, ESPN reported .
What it means: It was known the Bears likely weren’t going to bring Daniel back for a third season as Mitch Trubisky’s backup, so he moves on to be Matthew Stafford’s backup. The Lions will be his fifth team in 11 seasons, a remarkable career for someone who has made only five starts. For the Bears, Daniel was a veteran presence to help guide Trubisky through coach Matt Nagy’s offense, and he also served as a team leader and the Bears’ representative to the NFLPA. He also started three games, throwing six touchdown passes and four interceptions. He aided a win over the Lions on Thanksgiving in 2019 and came in early in the first quarter to replace an injured Trubisky in Week 4 last season and contributed to a victory. Daniel’s presence is valued enough that the Lions gave him a $13.05 million deal, which contains a voidable clause.
Tom Brady announced he will not return to the Patriots.
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What it means: Brady’s historic run in New England is over after 20 remarkable seasons.
FOREVER A PATRIOT pic.twitter.com/QSBOJBs4uy — Tom Brady (@TomBrady) March 17, 2020
It doesn’t mean Brady will be taking up residence in Lake Forest. It does mean that the six-time Super Bowl champion and four-time Super Bowl MVP could choose his next employer soon.
It’s believed that the Buccaneers and Chargers are the leading (maybe only) teams pushing for Brady right now and after his business is settled, we could see the marketplace heat up with action for quarterbacks. One source said Monday that Teddy Bridgewater would likely wind up with the team (Bucs or Chargers) that does not land Brady. It’s Tom’s move right now.
March 16
The Raiders reportedly are nearing a deal with Marcus Mariota.
What it means: Mariota, the No. 2 pick in the 2015 draft, was benched by the Titans last season and supplanted by Ryan Tannehill, who helped rescue their season, led them to two playoff victories and then cashed in big last weekend in free agency. Now Mariota will get a fresh start in Las Vegas, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, with a chance to revive his career in Tannehill fashion.
"He will come in and make a QB room better."@RapSheet on a possible deal for Marcus Mariota in Las Vegas 👇 pic.twitter.com/RUf6KX21Vg — NFL Network (@nflnetwork) March 17, 2020
Raiders general manager Mike Mayock rated Mariota as his No. 1 quarterback in the 2015 draft — ahead of Jameis Winston — and now will help oversee Mariota’s next step. The initial expectation is Mariota will compete behind Derek Carr with the Raiders. The possibility of Mariota joining the Bears was never high. He shares the same agents at Rep 1 Sports as current Bears starter Mitch Trubisky, and there was little desire to pit those two against one another.
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The Browns agreed to terms with Case Keenum on a three-year deal.
What it means: Keenum will be paid $18 million, with $10 million guaranteed, to back up Baker Mayfield, ESPN reported. Keenum joins the sixth team in his nine-year NFL career. He spent last season with the Redskins, going 1-7 in eight starts before they turned to rookie Dwayne Haskins. Keenum completed 64.8% of his passes for 1,707 yards with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions in 2019.
#Browns agree to a 3-year, $18 million deal with QB Case Keenum as a backup to Baker Mayfield https://t.co/ktsTrnrLri — Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) March 16, 2020
The Cowboys placed the exclusive franchise tag on Dak Prescott.
What it means: The Cowboys used the tag to prevent Prescott from hitting the free-agent market. They now have until July 15 to work out a long-term deal with him, or they will pay him a salary expected to be about $31.6 million for the 2020 season, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Prescott, a Cowboys 2016 fourth-round draft pick, has started all 64 games over four seasons and has twice taken the Cowboys to the playoffs. He completed 65.1% of his passes for a career-high 4,902 yards in 2019, but the 8-8 Cowboys missed out on a postseason berth.
The Vikings agreed to a two-year contract extension with Kirk Cousins.
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What it means: Cousins is now on board with the Vikings through 2022 after they worked out a deal that will reduce his salary cap hit by $10 million in 2020, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported. The deal is reportedly worth $66 million in new money and $96 million over three years.
For the #Vikings and QB Kirk Cousins, it’s a 2-year deal worth $66M, source said. In all, it’s 3 years, $96M. $61M guaranteed at signing. — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 16, 2020
Cousins, 31, completed 69.1% of his passes for 3,603 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2019, his second year with the Vikings and eighth in the league.
March 15
The Titans agreed to a four-year, $118 million contract extension with Ryan Tannehill.
What it means: Tannehill was named the league’s comeback player of the year in 2019 after he came off the bench to replace Marcus Mariota. Over 10 regular-season starts, he led the Titans to a playoff berth, and they then advanced to the AFC Championship game. He completed 70.3% of his passes for 2,742 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Now he’s receiving big money to try to replicate those results. The deal includes $62 million in fully guaranteed money and $91 million in total guarantees, according to NFL Network.
The announcement ends talk of a potential Titans union with Tom Brady, and it all but officially ends the Titans’ five-year run with Mariota, their No. 2 overall draft pick in 2015. Mariota will become a free agent Wednesday.


chicagotribune--2020-03-17--Tracking the Bears’ moves in free agency: Robert Quinn provides upgrade at edge rusher; Leonard Floy

Tracking the Bears’ moves in free agency: Robert Quinn provides upgrade at edge rusher; Leonard Floyd, Nick Williams, Chase Daniel and Kevin Pierre-Louis headed elsewhere

What it means : The Bears get an upgrade at edge rusher with the swap .
Quinn , who will @ @ @ @ @ joins the Bears and All-Pro edge rusher Khalil Mack for his 10th NFL season .
@ @ @ @ @ with the Cowboys in 2019 , the second-most in his career behind the 19 he @ @ @ @ @ All-Pro .
He also had 22 quarterback hits and 13 tackles for a loss , @ @ @ @ @ passes defended .
Quinn was a Rams first-round pick in 2011 , and he spent @ @ @ @ @ the team before spending a year each with the Dolphins and Cowboys .
He has @ @ @ @ @ career .
The deal , for $ 70 million with $ 30 million guaranteed , @ @ @ @ @ , with Mack and Akiem Hicks , even more formidable .

The Chicago Bears have been quite active as they build their 2020 roster.
On March 18, general manager Ryan Pace made his biggest move of the offseason, trading a fourth-round pick to the Jaguars to acquire veteran quarterback and former Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles.
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The Tribune’s team is tracking all of the Bears’ moves — with players arriving and exiting — and providing insight into what each move means.
[ Bears draft tracker: 7-player class is complete, from a local tight end to a pair of cornerbacks and a speedy receiver ]
May 13
Former Bears cornerback Prince Amukamara is signing with the Raiders, according to NFL Network .
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What it means: Amukamara will begin his 10th NFL season in Las Vegas after the Bears released him earlier this offseason. The deal reportedly is for one year. Amukamara was a Giants first-round pick in 2011 and played five seasons with the Giants, one with the Jaguars and three with the Bears. He had three interceptions, including a pick-six, and 29 passes defended in his Bears career. The Bears cut Amukamara to clear $9 million in salary-cap space and drafted his expected replacement last month when they took Utah cornerback Jaylon Johnson with the 50th pick.
May 5
Edge rusher Aaron Lynch signed a one-year deal with the Jaguars, the team announced .
What it means: Lynch played two seasons in a reserve role for the Bears, totaling five sacks, 22 tackles, 7 tackles for a loss and 17 quarterback hits. A 49ers fifth-round pick in 2014, Lynch will join the Jaguars for his seventh NFL season. He has 20 career sacks. The Bears already had secured reserve outside linebackers to play behind starters Khalil Mack and Robert Quinn. They signed former Browns first-round pick Barkevious Mingo to a one-year deal and traded a future draft pick to grab Tulsa’s Trevis Gipson in the fifth round of the draft last month.
April 30
The Bears are adding veteran safety Tashaun Gipson on a one-year deal, according to Pro Football Talk.
What it means: The Bears appear to have a starting safety to play alongside Eddie Jackson. Gipson has started 104 games over eight NFL seasons, including 62 over the last four years with the Jaguars and Texans. He has 23 career interceptions, three of which came in 2019 in his lone season in Houston, and 47 career passes defended, including eight last year. He also had a pick-six in 2019.
Gipson, who will be 30 in August, signed with the Browns as an undrafted free agent out of Wyoming in 2012. He made the Pro Bowl in 2014, when he returned six interceptions for 158 yards and one touchdown.
The Texans signed Gipson to a three-year, $22.5 million contract last year, but he finished the season on injured reserve with a back injury. They cut him this week.
The Bears are signing veteran receiver Ted Ginn Jr. to a one-year deal, an NFL source confirmed.
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What it means: Ginn, who turned 35 this month, will join the Bears for his 14th NFL season after three with the Saints. He had 30 catches for 421 yards and two touchdowns in 16 games last season. The 2007 Dolphins first-round pick also spent time with the 49ers, Cardinals and Panthers.
Bears cornerback Prince Amukamara knocks a ball down in the end zone as Saints wide receiver Ted Ginn is unable to make a catch in the second quarter at Soldier Field on Oct. 20, 2019. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
He had three straight seasons of at least 700 receiving yards from 2015-2017, including a career-high 10 touchdown catches in 2015 with the Panthers. He has played in 15 playoff games in his career. And he also was a punt and kick returner earlier in his career, with seven career return touchdowns.
Ginn provides the Bears with a speedy, experienced competitor to join a fairly young receivers room beyond veteran Allen Robinson.
April 29
The Bears signed wide receiver and returner Trevor Davis to a one-year deal, the team announced .
What it means: A fifth-round draft pick by the Packers in 2016, Davis joins the Bears for his fifth NFL season. Davis, 26, played in 31 games with the Packers, totaling nine catches for 122 yards. He bounced between the Packers, Dolphins and Raiders in 2019 and had seven catches for 83 yards in nine games (four starts) with the Raiders.
He also is an experienced return man. He had a career-high 24 punt returns for 289 yards (12.0 average) and 31 kickoff returns for 707 yards (22.8) in 2017. And among his three teams in 2019, he had 22 punt returns for 145 yards (6.6) and 23 kickoff returns for 506 yards (22.0).
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April 28
The Bears signed defensive tackle John Jenkins to a one-year deal, the team announced .
What it means: The Bears are bringing back the seven-year NFL veteran to serve as depth on the defensive line after Nick Williams left for a two-year contract with the Lions. Jenkins has played for five teams since he was drafted in the third round in 2013, including eight games for the Bears in 2017. He played in all 16 games for the Dolphins last year, making five starts, with 34 tackles, including two for a loss, and a sack.
April 22
Tight end Trey Burton signed a one-year contract with the Colts, the team announced .
What it means: It took Burton five days after the Bears cut him to latch on with a new team. He reunites with coach Frank Reich, who was the offensive coordinator with the Eagles for two seasons when Burton was there. Burton’s contract is for the veteran minimum, NFL Network reported, which will deduct from the $4 million the Bears owe him for this season.
The Bears cut Burton after an injury-plagued 2019 season in which he caught just 14 passes for 84 yards over eight games.
We have signed TE Trey Burton. — Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) April 23, 2020
April 17
The Bears are releasing tight end Trey Burton, the team announced.
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What it means: Burton’s tenure in Chicago comes to an end two years before his four-year, $32 million contract is up.
The Bears are cutting him after he totaled 14 catches for 84 yards and no touchdowns during an injury-plagued 2019 season. It’s the latest development for Burton in a dramatic 16-month span that started when he was a late scratch for the 2018 playoff loss to the Eagles because of a groin injury. He had sports hernia surgery last offseason, battled a groin injury over eight games in 2019 and then had hip surgery in December.
The Bears signed veteran tight end Jimmy Graham this offseason, and Burton’s departure could mean they’re eyeing another in next week’s draft.
The Bears are signing former Packers offensive lineman Jason Spriggs to a one-year deal, ESPN reported.
Packers' Jason Spriggs runs a drill at training camp on July 25, 2019. (Morry Gash/AP)
What it means: The 6-foot-6, 301-pound Spriggs adds depth to the Bears at tackle after free agent tackle Cornelius Lucas left for the Redskins. Spriggs, a 2016 second-round pick, has started just nine games for the Packers in his career. He’s dealt with back and elbow injuries leading up to the 2019 season and spent the year on injured reserve. An Elkhart, Ind., native, Spriggs, who will turn 26 next month, was an All-American at Indiana in his senior season in 2015.
The Bears signed free-agent kicker Ramiz Ahmed and exclusive-rights free agents J.P. Holtz and Rashaad Coward, the team announced.
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What it means: Ahmed joins the Bears on a one-year deal as apparent competition for kicker Eddy Pineiro. He last kicked in 2018 at Nevada, where he made 15 of 20 field-goal attempts and 40 of 44 extra-point attempts. He made Nevada’s team in 2017 in a walk-on tryout and did kickoffs that season. The Bears settled on Pineiro after a wild kicking competition last year, and he was 23-for-28 on field goals and 27-for-29 on extra points in his rookie year.
Holtz and Coward return as expected. Coward is expected to compete for the starting spot at right guard with newcomer Germain Ifedi after Coward started 10 games in 2019. Holtz, one of nine tight ends on the roster, played in 14 games for the Bears in 2019 and had seven catches for 91 yards.
April 16
Defensive back Sherrick McManis is expected to re-sign with a one-year contract.
What it means: Veteran defensive back Sherrick McManis is expected to re-sign with the Bears on a one-year contract. The longtime special teams standout will be entering his ninth season with the organization after arriving via a trade during the 2012 preseason. McManis missed the final four games last season with a groin injury that didn’t require surgery. He had 11 tackles in defense last season and a forced fumble in the Week 5 loss to the Raiders in London.
McManis, a Peoria native and Northwestern product, had eight stops on special teams last season. The 32-year-old has 88 special teams tackles in the last eight seasons. He’s the third free agent in the secondary to re-sign with the Bears following safeties Deon Bush and DeAndre Houston-Carson. All three are on one-year contracts.
April 15
Defensive end Roy Robertson-Harris signed his restricted free-agent tender.
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What it means: The move ensures Robertson-Harris will be back in the fold in 2020. The Bears tendered the former undrafted free agent at the second-round level, meaning he will earn $3.259 million this season. That higher tender ensured no other teams would attempt to lure him away with an offer sheet.
Had the Bears tendered Robertson-Harris at the original-round level, they would have had only right of first refusal on an offer sheet because he was undrafted coming out of UTEP. The 26-year-old had 30 tackles, 10 quarterback hits and 2½ sacks in 15 games last season. Provided he remains healthy, he figures to do well for himself in free agency next March.
By signing the tender, Robertson-Harris will be eligible to participate in the team’s virtual voluntary offseason workout program.
March 25
The Bears are bringing back third-string quarterback Tyler Bray, ESPN reported.
What it means: Bray returns for a third season as the Bears’ third-string quarterback. He spent the last two years on the practice squad behind Mitch Trubisky and Chase Daniel. Bray, 28, has a long history with coach Matt Nagy, dating back to their mutual arrival in Kansas City in 2013. Bray also spent the 2016 Chiefs season with new Bears quarterback Nick Foles.
He has one career pass attempt in one career regular-season appearance, in 2017 with the Chiefs. Even with the signing, the Bears could still draft a quarterback to add to their mix.
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The Bears agreed to a one-year deal with former Seahawks offensive lineman Germain Ifedi, NFL Network reported.
What it means: The Bears are in need of competition at right guard with Rashaad Coward and depth at tackle behind Charles Leno and Bobbie Massie. The 6-foot-5, 325-pound Ifedi played both guard and tackle during his four seasons with the Seahawks.
Seahawks offensive guard Germain Ifedi tries to stop Bears linebacker Khalil Mack during the fourth quarter at Soldier Field on Sept. 17, 2018. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Ifedi, who will turn 26 in June, was a 2016 first-round draft pick and started 60 games in Seattle, including 100% of their offensive snaps in 2019. He has been called for 12 holding and 29 false start penalties in his career, according to Pro Football Reference.
March 23
The Bears are re-signing safety DeAndre Houston-Carson to a one-year contract, a source told the Tribune.
What it means: Houston-Carson, a sixth-round pick in 2016, is back in the mix as a core special teams player. Houston-Carson has been one of the team’s most dependable players in that area for the last two seasons. With the addition of fellow safety Jordan Lucas, the Bears have been making sure they add depth for special teams coordinator Chris Tabor.
The Bears are bringing back veteran defensive lineman Brent Urban, news that his wife, Kate, announced on Twitter.
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What it means: Urban, 28, appeared in nine games in a reserve role last season after injuries forced some depth moves on the line beginning in October. Urban made 16 tackles and added two pass breakups. A one-year deal for Urban isn’t surprising as the Bears are going to need to add depth to the line, especially after Nick Williams departed for the NFC North rival Lions on a two-year contract. Urban will be in position to compete for a roster spot.
@AdamSchefter DE Brent Urban is re-signing with the Chicago Bears on one year deal. Per source. I’m the source. — Kate Salerno Urban (@Kate_KanSkate) March 23, 2020
The Bears agreed to terms on a one-year deal with outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo, NFL Network reported .
What it means: Mingo, 29, looks like a replacement for Aaron Lynch. He’s a veteran that can play a backup role on defense and a core special teams player.
Defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano had Mingo in Indianapolis and special teams coordinator Chris Tabor was in Cleveland when the Browns used the No. 6 pick in 2013 on him. While he has never panned out as a pass rusher — five of his 10 career sacks came during his rookie season — he’s a reliable player that has missed only two games and he has developed as a versatile guy on special teams. The contract is worth $1.187 million. The Bears become Mingo’s sixth team in the last six years.
March 22
The Bears signed safety Jordan Lucas to a one-year deal, NFL Network reported .
What it means: Lucas, 26, joins the Bears after playing two seasons each with the Dolphins and Chiefs. He has played in 49 career games but started just four, in 2018 in Kansas City, when he totaled 32 tackles, a sack, his lone career interception and two passes defended.
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Chiefs safety Jordan Lucas gestures during the first half of a game against the Chargers on Dec. 29, 2019. (Ed Zurga/AP)
Lucas, a former Dolphins sixth-round pick, was a key special teams player for the Chiefs last season, playing 63% of those plays. He provides more depth for a group of safeties that includes Deon Bush, who re-signed with the Bears on Friday and might compete for the starting spot alongside Eddie Jackson. Lucas’ contract is for $1 million.
March 21
Cornerback Artie Burns is joining the Bears on a one-year contract.
What it means: Agent Drew Rosenhaus confirmed Saturday’s move, a one-year “prove it” deal that puts Burns in position to compete for a starting cornerback job opposite Kyle Fuller.
Steelers cornerback Artie Burns tackles Chargers wide receiver Mike Williams during a game on Oct. 13, 2019. (Kyusung Gong/AP)
Burns was a first-round pick out of the University of Miami in 2016, selected No. 25 overall by the Steelers. But he never became the impact playmaker the Steelers hoped. The organization did not pick up his fifth-year option last year and Burns fell deeper into a reserve role. Over four seasons in Pittsburgh, Burns started 32 of the 58 games he played in. He recorded three interceptions as a rookie but only one more over the following three seasons.
Burns has intriguing length and speed and offers a skillset that could allow him to replace Prince Amukamara as a reliable man-to-man cover corner. But he will certainly have to earn that role whenever the Bears are cleared to get back on the practice field. Kevin Tolliver is also in the mix for that job. And the Bears signed CFL star Tre Roberson earlier this winter to compete as well.
March 20
The Bears are signing safety Deon Bush to a one-year contract, ESPN reported.
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What it means: The $1.4 million deal means Bush will return for a fifth season in Chicago. The Bears are in need of a new starter at safety alongside Eddie Jackson after Ha Ha Clinton-Dix signed with the Cowboys. It remains to be seen whether Bush will get a chance to compete for the starting spot or if the Bears have someone else in mind to fill that role, either through free agency or the draft. Bush, a 2016 fourth-round pick, has started eight games over four seasons. He played in 15 games in 2019, playing 5% of the Bears’ snaps on defense and 63% on special teams. He had eight tackles and two passes defended.
Safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is headed to Dallas to play for Cowboys.
What it means: The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is reporting that Clinton-Dix’s one-year deal in Dallas is worth $4 million with $2.5 million guaranteed, a similar “prove it” deal to what he signed with the Bears last March. It’s no surprise the Bears allowed Clinton-Dix’s contract to expire or that the 27-year-old safety is moving on, now joining his fourth team since 2018.
Dix was signed to play free safety, per source. That would mean that Xavier Woods would move to strong safety https://t.co/2zyAabm4Oh — Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) March 20, 2020
He will reunite in Dallas with his former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy. Clinton-Dix had two interceptions last season for the Bears, including a 59-yard touchdown return against the Redskins in Week 3. He was solid on the back end of the defense. But the Bears also awarded Eddie Jackson a record-setting extension in January, dishing out $33 million guaranteed and keeping Jackson under contract through the end of the 2024 season. There was little chance the Bears were going to spend big to fill that second safety spot.
While the Bears were happy with Clinton-Dix’s play last season, they would ideally like to find a second starting safety who has a more complementary skill set to Jackson, a defensive back who will allow the Bears to use Jackson’s biggest strengths as a free-ranging ball-hawk more easily. General manager Ryan Pace has had success identifying safeties in the draft. He chose Jackson with a fourth-round pick in 2017 and scooped up Adrian Amos in Round 5 two years earlier. The Bears may still browse the bargain bins of free agency for help and depth at the position. But keep a close eye on next month’s draft as well.
March 19
The Bears are bringing back long snapper Patrick Scales on a one-year deal.
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What it means: Scales, 32, will return for his sixth year in Chicago. One of those years, 2017, was spent on injured reserve, but he played in all 16 games each of the last two seasons. He’ll be back with a special teams unit that also includes returning punter Pat O’Donnell and kicker Eddy Pineiro.
The Redskins are signing former Bears offensive lineman Cornelius Lucas to a two-year deal .
What it means: The Bears will be in search of a new swing tackle after Lucas leaves for the $5.3 million deal. Lucas started a game in September and then the final five of the year filling in for injured Bobby Massie. The Redskins will be his fifth team in seven NFL seasons.
March 18
The Bears have acquired Nick Foles from the Jaguars in exchange for a fourth-round pick in next month’s draft.
What it means: No one is more invested in learning what this move means than Mitch Trubisky, the incumbent starting quarterback who has received multiple votes of public confidence from general manager Ryan Pace since last season ended.
Trubisky’s inconsistency and the unraveling of the Bears offense in 2019 was well-documented and created a new sense of urgency behind closed doors at Halas Hall. So while Pace has publicly said he expects Trubisky to be the starter when next season begins, the Bears’ desire to create real competition opens the door for Foles to slide into the starting role fairly easily and soon.
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Per @NFLNetwork reports, we have traded for QB @NickFoles.
(NFL policy currently prohibits teams from making any official announcements.)@SNICKERS | #DaBears — Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) March 18, 2020
Foles’ chemistry with the offensive coaching staff — he spent time in previous stops with coach Matt Nagy, offensive coordinator Bill Lazor and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo — is a major plus. And his understanding of Nagy’s offensive system gives him a chance to hit the ground running when the the Bears get the all-clear to begin practicing this spring or summer. In giving up a fourth-round pick for Foles, the Bears have only two selections in the top 150. Foles’ contract with the Jaguars, which the Bears will inherit, runs through 2022 and has a base salary of more than $15 million for this season. Before long, Pace and Nagy will have to communicate their vision for their quarterback situation. It will be interesting to see when the team schedules those first public comments.
Leonard Floyd has agreed to a one-year deal with the Rams worth $10 million.
What it means: A day after the Bears released him, Floyd found a new home in Los Angeles, reuniting with first-year Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley, who was Floyd’s position coach with the Bears in 2017 and 2018. The Bears exercised the fifth-year option on Floyd’s rookie deal last year but wiggled out of it Tuesday, freeing themselves from a $13.2 million commitment. Now Floyd gets a one-season “prove-it deal” in Hollywood. The Bears, for what it’s worth, are scheduled to play the Rams in Los Angeles next season.
March 17
The Redskins are signing inside linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis to a one-year deal, NFL Network reported.
What it means: Pierre-Louis leaves the Bears after one season. He did a nice job filling in for most of four games after Roquan Smith was injured. He had 37 tackles, two tackles for a loss, two quarterback hits, three passes defended and an interception and also played on special teams. His play earned him a deal worth up to $3.45 million as he joins his fifth team for his seventh year in the league.
The Bears are signing edge rusher Robert Quinn to a five-year deal and releasing Leonard Floyd, NFL Network reported .
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What it means: The Bears get an upgrade at edge rusher with the swap. Quinn, who will turn 30 in May, joins the Bears and All-Pro edge rusher Khalil Mack for his 10th NFL season. He had 11 ½ sacks with the Cowboys in 2019, the second-most in his career behind the 19 he had in 2013 as an All-Pro. He also had 22 quarterback hits and 13 tackles for a loss, two forced fumbles and three passes defended. Quinn was a Rams first-round pick in 2011, and he spent his first seven seasons with the team before spending a year each with the Dolphins and Cowboys. He has 80 ½ sacks in his career. The deal, for $70 million with $30 million guaranteed, makes the Bears defensive front, with Mack and Akiem Hicks, even more formidable.
Floyd’s departure isn’t entirely surprising given he was owed $13.2 million in 2020. Floyd had a career-low three sacks in 2019. The Bears’ No. 9 overall draft pick in 2016 never quite lived up to the expectations for him. Bears general manager Ryan Pace has said multiple times he likes what Floyd provided in coverage and on run defense, but the Bears also noted his pass rushing production was not where they would like it to be. Floyd becomes Pace’s second first-round pick to leave, behind Kevin White.
Chase Daniel is headed to the Lions on a three-year deal, ESPN reported .
What it means: It was known the Bears likely weren’t going to bring Chase Daniel back for a third season as Mitch Trubisky’s backup, so he moves on to be the backup to Matthew Stafford.
Bears quarterback Chase Daniel sits on the bench before the first half against the Lions at Soldier Field on Nov. 10, 2019. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
The Lions will be his fifth team in 11 seasons, a remarkable career for someone who has made only five starts. For the Bears, Daniel was a veteran presence to help guide Trubisky through coach Matt Nagy’s offense, and he also served as a team leader and the Bears’ representative to the NFLPA. He also started three games, throwing six touchdown passes and four interceptions. His presence is valued enough that the Lions gave him a $13.05 million deal, which contains a voidable clause.
The Lions agreed to terms with defensive lineman Nick Williams on a two-year deal.
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Bears defensive tackle Nick Williams celebrates after sacking Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins at Soldier Field on Sept. 29, 2019. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
What it means: Nick Williams, 30, received his first significant pay day in the NFL after totaling six sacks last season when his playing time expanded because of injuries on the defensive line. Williams appeared in all 16 games with five starts and totaled 42 tackles. He’d made just 19 tackles with no sacks in 28 previous career games.
The Bears will hope to replace a chunk of Williams’ playing time (he was on the field for 49 percent of the snaps) with greater health. Akiem Hicks’ injury led to a lot of his playing time.
Can say thank you enough to the McCaskey family and the @ChicagoBears organization for giving me the opportunity. Thanks to my teammates and to the fans! Big Bear 97 Out ✌🏾 #OnePride 🦁 What’s good 😤 pic.twitter.com/9kVcmREelU — Nicholas Williams (@NickWilliams_98) March 17, 2020
The Lions are re-tooling their defensive front with coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn under pressure to break out of losing ways in Detroit and Williams is expected to be just one new piece along the defensive line, a familiar face the Bears will see twice a year. He reportedly will earn $10 million over the next two seasons. That’s not a bad deal for a guy that was on a minimum-salary benefit contract last year.
March 16
The Bears agreed to terms with veteran tight end Jimmy Graham on a two-year deal.
What it means: ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the Bears will guarantee Jimmy Graham $9 million on a two-year deal that could be worth up to $16 million.
It’s a hefty price to pay for a 33-year-old veteran in the twilight of his career. But it also speaks to the Bears’ desperate need for production at tight end. Last season, six Bears tight ends combined for 46 catches, 416 yards and two touchdowns, woeful production for an offense that relies heavily on the tight end. Graham, in a 2019 season that could be characterized as ordinary at best, provided the Packers with 38 catches, 447 yards and three touchdowns.
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Bears GM Ryan Pace, of course, has familiarity with Graham from their days together with the Saints. From 2010 to 2014, Graham averaged 77 catches, 950 yards and 10 touchdowns and was selected to three Pro Bowls. That was a long time ago. And while it’s difficult to forecast how much Graham has left in his tank, he will be given every opportunity to be a major difference-maker in the Bears offense. His arrival also raises legitimate questions as to whether the Bears are ready to pull the plug on Trey Burton for 2020, even with $4 million of guaranteed money still owed.
The Raiders agreed to terms with former Bears linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski on a three-year deal.
What it means: The Bears say goodbye to their 2016 fourth-round pick, a player who served them well when they needed him during the 2019 season.
Kwiatkoski earned himself a solid new deal when he filled in for eight starts last year while veteran Danny Trevathan was injured, totaling 76 tackles, eight tackles for a loss, three sacks, four passes defended, a forced fumble and an interception. The Bears had to decide between trying to keep Kwiatkoski or Trevathan, and they went with the latter. Kwiatkoski’s deal is for $21 million with $13.5 million in guarantees, NFL Network reported.
March 13
The Bears tendered restricted free agent defensive end Roy Robertson-Harris .
Roy Robertson-Harris (95) goes after Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins for a sack in the second quarter t Soldier Field on Sept. 29, 2019. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
What it means: The tender is believed to be at the second-round level, making it unlikely another team will try to sign him. The Bears have the right of first refusal and would receive a second-round draft pick if they didn’t match another team’s contract offer. Robertson-Harris, who joined the Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2016, had 30 tackles, 10 quarterback hits and 2 ½ sacks in his third season on the field.
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March 12
The Bears signed inside linebacker Danny Trevathan to a three-year contract extension, NFL Network reported.
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers fumbles the ball as Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan flips over in the third quarter at Soldier Field on Sept. 5, 2019. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
What it means: The Bears bring back a key piece of their defense on and off the field. The eight-year NFL veteran, who turns 30 later this month, had 70 tackles, two for a loss, four quarterback hits, a sack and a forced fumble over nine games in his fourth season with the Bears. He sat out the remainder of the year with an elbow injury. He will team up with Roquan Smith for a third season. His return, on a deal that could be worth $24 million, could signal the departure of inside linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski to another team in free agency.
Feb. 21
The Bears released cornerback Prince Amukamara and wide receiver Taylor Gabriel.
Bears wide receiver Taylor Gabriel signs autographs on Nov. 24, 2019 at Soldier Field. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
What it means: The Bears cleared $13.5 million in salary cap space when they cut the veterans. But they now must find a starting cornerback to pair with Kyle Fuller and a speedy, deep-threat wide receiver to replace Taylor Gabriel.
Prince Amukamara, 30, started 44 games over three seasons with the Bears. He had three interceptions and a touchdown, all in 2018, along with 29 passes defended over three years. Gabriel, 29, had 96 catches for 1,041 yards over two seasons with the Bears. He was limited to nine games in 2019 as he dealt with two concussions. The Bears very likely will add to both rooms in the offseason. But cornerbacks Kevin Toliver and Tre Roberson and wide receivers Javon Wims and Riley Ridley are among the current players who could compete for playing time after the roster moves.
Feb. 20
The Bears signed veteran tight end Demetrius Harris to a one-year contract.
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Browns tight end Demetrius Harris tries for a catch in front of Steelers strong safety Terrell Edmunds (34) during the second half on Dec. 1, 2019. (Don Wright/AP)
What it means: Demetrius Harris, 28, joins the Bears to potentially fill a role as their “Y” blocking tight end. He spent his first five NFL seasons with the Chiefs in Kansas City when Bears coach Matt Nagy was a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator there. He had 57 catches for 605 yards and six touchdowns with the Chiefs. The Browns released him in February after one season in which he had 15 catches for 149 yards and three touchdowns. The addition of Harris is likely the first of several moves to rebuild the Bears tight ends room this offseason.
Jan. 29
The Bears signed CFL cornerback Tre Roberson to a two-year contract.
Calgary's Tre Roberson celebrates an interception against Ottawa during the second half of the Grey Cup at Commonwealth Stadium on Nov. 25, 2018. (Codie McLachlan / Getty Images)
What it means: Tre Roberson, 27, picked the Bears from nine NFL contract offers after he had an All-Star season with the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders in 2019. The former Indiana and Illinois State quarterback, who spent time with the Vikings on their practice squad in 2016 and in training camp in 2017, had seven interceptions and two touchdowns in his second season in the CFL. The 6-foot, 190-pound Roberson provides needed depth at cornerback in a room that includes Kyle Fuller, Buster Skrine and Kevin Toliver.


chicagotribune--2020-03-17--Park Ridge teacher accused of hate crime against elderly neighbor reports she was victim in alleged

Park Ridge teacher accused of hate crime against elderly neighbor reports she was victim in alleged attack

According to police , the woman accused Sweeney of striking her in the face with a purse before the two @ @ @ @ @ the ground .
When interviewed several days later , the woman said she was “ @ @ @ @ @ struck her with a purse and a bag and that she responded by grabbing Sweeney @ @ @ @ @ .
”

Nancy Sweeney, of Niles, was charged with aggravated battery and committing a hate crime on Feb. 28, according to Niles police. - Original Credit: Niles Police Department (Niles Police Department / HANDOUT)
A Park Ridge elementary school teacher charged with a hate crime against an elderly neighbor appeared in court last week as more details about the alleged incident have emerged, including a claim that it was the teacher herself who was attacked.
Nancy Sweeney, 45, of the 7000 block of Touhy Avenue in Niles, declined to comment as she left the Skokie courthouse following her brief hearing on March 13 before Judge Paul Pavlis. Her case was continued to April 3.
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Greg Walker, Sweeney’s attorney, said his client “maintains her innocence,” but did not wish to comment further on the allegations.
Sweeney, a fourth-grade teacher at Franklin School in Park Ridge-Niles School District 64, was arrested Feb. 28 and charged with felony aggravated battery and committing a hate crime in connection with an alleged altercation that occurred at the Renaissance condominium complex in Niles on Feb. 20, police said.
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According to a police report obtained by Pioneer Press through a Freedom of Information Act request, an 87-year-old resident of the complex told investigators that Sweeney, a neighbor, became angry with her on the evening of Feb. 20 while she was walking inside a heated underground garage connecting her building with Sweeney’s.
According to police, a friend of the woman told detectives that Sweeney did not like the pair taking their walks inside the garage and using the service door to enter and exit, even though they have been allowed to do so.
The alleged victim told police she was confronted by Sweeney, who called her an “(expletive) German Nazi” and accused her of touching the door in the garage.
According to police, the woman accused Sweeney of striking her in the face with a purse before the two struggled and both fell to the ground. When interviewed several days later, the woman said she was “knocked backwards” when Sweeney struck her with a purse and a bag and that she responded by grabbing Sweeney “to slow her fall.”
Sweeney reportedly left the garage immediately after the alleged altercation, according to police.
According to the police report, a clump of the woman’s hair had been pulled out and was discovered in the garage. The hair was collected as evidence, police said.
A responding police officer noted a red scratch on the woman’s forehead and blood on her left sleeve, the police report said. Paramedics were called, but the woman declined any treatment, police said.
On Feb. 24, after police had made attempts to contact Sweeney, Sweeney called the department and filed a police report alleging that it was she who had been the victim in the physical altercation.
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“I was attacked by a lady who said she’s proud to be a Nazi,” police recorded Sweeney as saying.
Sweeney acknowledged she had not initially contacted police to report the incident.
According to the police report, Sweeney told an officer, “No, I let it go …. She thinks she’s a Nazi. She’s freaking nuts.”
Four days later, Sweeney arrived at the police station with her attorney where she was placed under arrest. She declined to make any statements, police said.
Niles Acting Police Cmdr. Anthony Scipione said the Cook County State’s Attorney approved a hate crime charge against Sweeney because the victim is of German descent.
The woman identified Sweeney from a photo line-up as the person who had attacked her in the garage, police said.
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A motion-detecting surveillance camera in the garage captured only the woman and her friend walking in the garage, but did not show the alleged battery, according to the police report.
According to police, Sweeney had contacted the department in November of 2018 to report that people who did not live in her building were walking inside it, but officers who responded determined that residents from an adjacent building were using the common garage and that no trespassing had taken place.
According to Park Ridge-Niles School District 64, Sweeney was placed on paid administrative leave on March 4, the morning after district officials learned about her Feb. 28 arrest.
District Spokesman Peter Gill said Sweeney has taught at Franklin School for 13 years. Court documents indicate her teaching career spans 21 years.
District 64 Supt. Eric Olson sent an email to parents last week, stressing that Sweeney’s arrest was not related to any students and that the district is “currently conducting its own investigation into these allegations.”
jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter: @Jen_Tribune


chicagotribune--2020-03-17--Watch live: Gov. J. B. Pritzker and health officials discuss Illinois coronavirus cases

A day after Gov .
J.B. Pritzker limited crowd sizes to under 50 , voters across Chicago and Illinois headed @ @ @ @ @ to cast their ballots in the state ’ s primary election amid concerns about how @ @ @ @ @ voter turnout .
Get the latest updates from Illinois here .

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chicagotribune--2020-03-17--Lyle Waggoner, ‘Carol Burnett Show’ and ‘Wonder Woman’ star, dies at 84

Many of Waggoner 's roles centered on him being a good-looking guy , which he played up in humor on @ @ @ @ @ . ''
When Burnett took the stage at the top of her shows to take @ @ @ @ @ it was not uncommon for the asker to want Waggoner to come out and give @ @ @ @ @ led him to print work , as well , and he was the first male @ @ @ @ @ .

Lyle Waggoner, who starred on “The Carol Burnett Show” and in the 1970s “Wonder Woman” series, has died at 84.
TMZ said that he died Tuesday at his home after battling an illness.
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Waggoner may have become best known for his roles on "The Carol Burnett Show," where he started as the announcer in 1967 but stayed on with the sketch show through 1974. Some of his most notable sketches include being interrogated by a Nazi and his finger puppet and playing a love-lorn man in "As The Stomach Turns," a slave master in "The Oldest Man," Olympian Mark Spitz to Burnett's Charo, and an alien known as the Jolly Green Thing.
But that show was hardly his only claim to fame. His very first role was in "Gunsmoke" the year before he began on "The Carol Burnett Show," and he also guest starred on classic 1960s and 1970s series such as "Lost in Space," "Marcus Welby, M.D.," "The Barbara Eden Show" and "Maude."
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Lyle Waggoner attends CBS' "The Carol Burnett Show 50th Anniversary Special" at CBS Televison City on October 4, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)
Many of Waggoner's roles centered on him being a good-looking guy, which he played up in humor on "The Carol Burnett Show." When Burnett took the stage at the top of her shows to take questions from the audience, it was not uncommon for the asker to want Waggoner to come out and give hugs. But his looks led him to print work, as well, and he was the first male centerfold in Playgirl in 1973.
After Waggoner left "The Carol Burnett Show," he booked the role of Colonel Steve Trevor, Jr. on the 1975 "Wonder Woman" series, on which he starred for four years. He then went on to appear in "Charlie's Angels," "Happy Days," Mork & Mindy," "The Golden Girls," "Murder, She Wrote," "Ellen," and in both "The Naked Truth" and "That '70s Show" as himself. His last onscreen acting role was in 2005's "The War at Home," but in 2017 he appeared on CBS' 50th anniversary special for "The Carol Burnett Show."
In the late 1970s while Waggoner was still hard at work on sets, he launched Star Waggons out of Sylmar, California. The company specializes in leasing custom trailers to studios and production companies for location work.


chicagotribune--2020-03-17--Lincoln Park Dean reinstated; other investigations pending

In response to school families clamoring for more information , CPS officials publicly revealed that the investigations encompassed a wide @ @ @ @ @ students and adults , including claims of sexual misconduct , improper student discipline , retaliation @ @ @ @ @ and systemic policy violations.
” Though in many cases the district didn ’ t specify @ @ @ @ @ , they have said that school officials didn ’ t protect whistleblowers or handle sexual @ @ @ @ @ or proper protocol .

Eli Grant, an LSC community member at Lincoln Park High School in Chicago, talks to reporters regarding the changes in the administration at the school on Feb. 7, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)
One of the Lincoln Park High School administrators suspended in a leadership shake-up earlier this year has been reinstated.
Dean John Johnson, who was removed from the school “due to multiple allegations of serious misconduct involving the athletics program,” can have his job back, according to a letter sent Monday night to Lincoln Park High families from Network Chief Laura LeMone.
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“Although the Office of Student Protections and Title IX (OSP) found these allegations to be substantiated, the district decided that it was safe for Dean Johnson to return to Lincoln Park after reviewing his role in the allegations,” the letter states.
In order to ensure district policies are applied appropriately, Johnson will get more training and support, according to the letter, which also states that Johnson will be getting a new boss.
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The school “is in the process of introducing” a director of climate and culture, who will supervise Johnson, to “build a stronger sense of community and reinforce district policy and best practices," according to the letter.
Johnson was among several Lincoln Park High School administrators and coaches removed from their posts amid multiple internal investigations into alleged misconduct and the handling of those allegations. On Jan. 31, interim Principal John Thuet and Assistant Principal Michelle Brumfield were abruptly fired, and they have jointly sued the district in federal court claiming deprivation of due process, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
CPS officials said there were no status updates on the other employees.
In response to school families clamoring for more information, CPS officials publicly revealed that the investigations encompassed a wide range of allegations against both students and adults, including claims of sexual misconduct, improper student discipline, retaliation against witnesses and “egregious and systemic policy violations.” Though in many cases the district didn’t specify whom the claims were against, they have said that school officials didn’t protect whistleblowers or handle sexual misconduct allegations with due seriousness or proper protocol.
Aside from those investigations, a staff member removed in February after allegations of engaging inappropriately with a student may also return to the school, according to the letter. The Office of Inspector General is still investigating, but “the district has determined that it is safe for this staff member to return,” the letter states.
Also on Monday, CPS lawyers entered an appearance in Thuet and Brumfield’s civil suit.
hleone@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-17--Review: ‘Broken Glass’ by Alex Beam chronicles the drama surrounding Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth

Review: ‘Broken Glass’ by Alex Beam chronicles the drama surrounding Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House

Farnsworth ’ s concerns , though , were not trivial .
Mies viewed the Farnsworth House as the embodiment of @ @ @ @ @ cost to its practicality and habitability .
One mistake , Beam suggests , was siting @ @ @ @ @ the Fox River , where flooding remained a serious threat .
The open-space floor plan @ @ @ @ @ little privacy .
The uninsulated glass made the house , which lacked air conditioning , @ @ @ @ @ to heat in winter .
The roof leaked , heating oil dirtied the windows , @ @ @ @ @ impossible to use .

The Farnsworth House, in Plano, Illinois, is the subject of "Broken Glass" by Alex Beam, a new book recounting the drama that transpired between architect Mies van der Rohe and the woman who commissioned it, Dr. Edith Farnsworth. (Michael Zajakowski / Chicago Tribune)
Architecture is a famously collaborative enterprise. But the profession’s icons have often been difficult characters, and clashes with clients have shaped architectural history. When an architect’s ideas and a client’s needs collide, the conflict can upend a project — and make for a juicy story.
In “Broken Glass,” Alex Beam offers a readable, concise account of the disputatious construction of the Farnsworth House, in Plano, Illinois, about an hour from Chicago. In this drama, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, his client Edith Farnsworth, and the glass-and-steel house they fought over all play starring roles. An abortive romance between the two principals helped nurture the project, Beam suggests, but eventually led to a bitter legal battle and lifelong enmity.
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Like Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Kahn, Mies was an idiosyncratic, charismatic figure with a strong vision, devoted acolytes, and an unconventional personal life. (Beam’s book calls to mind Franklin Toker’s fine 2003 cultural history, “Fallingwater Rising,” on Wright, Pittsburgh department store magnate E.J. Kaufmann, and the creation of that domestic masterpiece.)
Mies, the onetime director of Germany’s Bauhaus and a founder of the International Style, left behind a wife and three daughters when he immigrated to Chicago in 1938. He met the unmarried Farnsworth, a nephrologist, at a dinner party in the winter of 1945. She told him she was interested in building a country retreat on meadow land she owned, with a budget of $8,000 to $10,000, or about $110,000 in today’s dollars.
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In the house’s planning stages, a close friendship developed between Mies and Farnsworth, 18 years his junior, which blossomed, for a time, into a romance. Beam suggests that the love affair likely ended when Mies resumed his former relationship with another woman, Lora Marx. The gossip, according to the book’s epigraph, was that Farnsworth had wanted to marry, and Mies rejected the idea.
Beyond the failed affair, there were other stressors. “Relationships drown in puddles, not lakes,” Beam writes, referring to various construction-related tiffs between Mies and Farnsworth.
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe viewed the Farnsworth House as the embodiment of his aesthetic, at a cost to its practicality and habitability, according to Alex Beam's new book, "Broken Glass." (Tribune archive photo)
Farnsworth’s concerns, though, were not trivial. Mies viewed the Farnsworth House as the embodiment of his aesthetic, at a cost to its practicality and habitability. One mistake, Beam suggests, was siting the elevated house too near the Fox River, where flooding remained a serious threat. The open-space floor plan allowed for flexibility, but little privacy. The uninsulated glass made the house, which lacked air conditioning, broiling in summer and expensive to heat in winter. The roof leaked, heating oil dirtied the windows, and the fireplace was nearly impossible to use.
Beam is nevertheless admiring of Mies’s perfectionism and his “captivating” vision, his desire (in Mies’s words) to “let the outside in.” Beam notes that other architects purloined Mies’s ideas, and that Philip Johnson’s 1949 Glass House, in New Canaan, Connecticut, was one early knockoff.
Neither Mies nor Farnsworth seems to have been a keen businessperson. With Mies’s penchant for premium materials and other issues, costs kept mounting, without any clear limitations. For years, Farnsworth kept paying. Beam suggests that she expected, at least for a while, that the architect would share the house, and therefore forgo his customary fee. The cost overruns were an obvious sore point, only compounded when Mies began ordering furniture without his client’s approval.
After Farnsworth, having laid out more than $73,000 by 1951, finally stopped writing checks, the dispute erupted into a lawsuit and a countersuit. Beam, steeped in the record, is fair-minded in recreating this complicated battle. Mies “ruled more as a philosopher-king than as a manager,” he writes, and Farnsworth “isn’t always a reliable narrator.” But Beam’s dedication, “To Edith,” seems to indicate where his sympathies lie.
Morris Hirsh, from left, director of the South Side Planning Board, Raymond J. Spaeth, chairman of the South Side Planning Board and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe look at plans for a convention building in Chicago. (Chicago Tribune archive)
In the end, the two parties settled. Mies, who headed the architecture department at the Illinois Institute of Technology, left his mark on the school’s campus and elsewhere in Chicago, including twin residential towers on Lake Shore Drive and the Federal Center complex. Farnsworth lived intermittently in her glass-and-steel box, with its various inconveniences, for several years, in what Beam calls “an uneasy peace.”
Then, in a twist, she retired to Italy, where she purchased a stone villa near Florence and pursued a second career as a poet and translator. Mixing with a literary crowd, she became enamored of the Italian poet Eugenio Montale, another accomplished European who would never fully reciprocate her feelings. She and Mies would both end up interred in Chicago’s Graceland Cemetery.
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Julia M. Klein, a cultural reporter and critic in Philadelphia, has been a two-time finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing.
Twitter @JuliaMKlein
(HANDOUT)
‘Broken Glass’
By Alex Beam, Random House, 337 pages, $28


chicagotribune--2020-03-17--Highland Park paramedics under quarantine after treating patient with possible exposure to COVID-19

The three paramedics with the Highland Park Fire Department came into contact with the person while responding to an emergency @ @ @ @ @ in the city , officials said .
The person , officials said , may have @ @ @ @ @ recently leaving the country for travel .

Three Highland Park paramedics are under quarantine after caring for a person who may have been exposed to the new coronavirus, city officials announced recently.
The three paramedics with the Highland Park Fire Department came into contact with the person while responding to an emergency call Monday at a home in the city, officials said. The person, officials said, may have been exposed to COVID-19 after recently leaving the country for travel.
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Following the call, the paramedics sought medical advice at Highland Park Hospital and immediately were quarantined once they returned to the fire station, Highland Park officials said.
The paramedics did not go out on any other public calls or interact with other personnel once under quarantine.
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Test results for the person who was treated during the call are expected to be released Tuesday evening, officials said. Until then, the paramedics will remain under quarantine, which could last even longer pending the results of the test, officials said.
The ambulance that paramedics operated at the time also has been disinfected and undergone a deep anti-viral cleaning, officials said.
NorthShore University Health System, which operates Highland Park Hospital, have stated the paramedics have a “very low risk” of contracting the virus.
“The fire department has a staffing plan in place to ensure continuity of service delivery in the event that personnel are exposed to any symptomatic case of COVID-19 or otherwise require quarantine," City Manager Ghida Neukirch stated.
Residents also can help first responders by informing emergency dispatchers of any symptoms the patient or others on site may be experiencing. Other helpful information includes disclosing recent travel or contact with an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19, city officials said.
jnorman@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-17--Stephen Colbert surprises viewers with fresh ‘Late Show’ segments

Colbert poked fun at the awkwardness of work-from-home mandates , predicting the U.S. economy will see `` a huge spike @ @ @ @ @ finally cleaning their stoves . ''
He held up the now familiar charts tracking the @ @ @ @ @ spread of the COVID-19 virus and urged viewers to adhere to social distancing guidelines to @ @ @ @ @ .
But with so much time at home for stress baking , Colbert noted , @ @ @ @ @ , `` I definitely will not be flattening my curves . ''

Stephen Colbert surprised viewers by delivering fresh material -- from his bathtub -- at the top of Monday’s “Late Show” rerun. “Late Show” was expected to be all encores this week after CBS and other networks hastily suspended production on most late-night shows to comply with coronavirus protection guidelines.
Decked out in his usual dark suit, Colbert delivered his monologue segment from a bathtub filled with bubbles.
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"If you're watching this from home right now, know that you're doing the right thing," Colbert told viewers of the social distancing guidelines that have up-ended life in the nation during the past week.
"On behalf of the socially anxious everywhere, let me just say -- way ahead of you," Colbert joked of the new edict for Americans to stay home as much as possible.
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"Late Show" delivered two ten-minute segments that aired at the top of the hour. The telecast then segued back to the scheduled rerun with guest Jim Carrey that originally aired Feb. 5.
Colbert poked fun at the awkwardness of work-from-home mandates, predicting the U.S. economy will see "a huge spike in the number of people finally cleaning their stoves." He held up the now familiar charts tracking the potential growth curve of the spread of the COVID-19 virus and urged viewers to adhere to social distancing guidelines to slow the rate of infection. But with so much time at home for stress baking, Colbert noted, holding up a pear tart, "I definitely will not be flattening my curves."
If you're curious what the LATE SHOW would be like with a bathtub but without guest, an audience, or band- that makes two of us. See you at 11:35 on CBS pic.twitter.com/0YC2rAXWT7 — Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) March 17, 2020
The "Late Show" host did his usual skewering of President Donald Trump. He also took aim at New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who garnered criticism for taking in one last workout session at his YMCA in Brooklyn on Monday before the facility closed. Colbert ribbed the mayor with a satirical spin on the Village People's 1978 disco hit "YMCA."
"It's fun to stay at your h-o-m-e, cuz if you don't we'll be d-e-a-d," Colbert warbled.
Colbert closed his segment by observing that Americans have not so much been called to do something in the face of the public health crisis but to "don't" something, which should come naturally to many couch potatoes.
"We all have to don't our part," he said. "All that sitting on our asses and watching TV was actually training to save the world."
Colbert’s monologue was followed by one of the show’s “Uninformed Correspondent” segments featuring Bootsie Plunkett, mother of “Late Show” producer Jake Plunkett, on a visit to a doctor to discuss coronavirus precautions.


chicagotribune--2020-03-17--Hobart woman among two Lake County COVID-19 victims; state says Johnson County man is second death

“ The patient was screened and assessed upon entry and was found to have a slight fever and respiratory symptoms.
@ @ @ @ @ Community said .
“ They were immediately placed in isolation and appropriate protocols have been @ @ @ @ @ Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control ( CDC ) investigate.or where they @ @ @ @ @ .
”

Nurse Tambi Kieta, on left, helps trauma program manager Jennifer Homan sanitize her hands as they perform drive through COVID-19 tests at Franciscan Health Crown Point on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)
As his wife became one of Lake County’s first two confirmed COVID-19 cases, Pastor Jeff Spencer said he’s leaning on his faith.
“I’m trusting God in all of this, I really am,” he said, a pastor for 18 years at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Hobart.
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Now, Darlene Spencer is sedated on a ventilator and he’s quarantined at home for two weeks.
“I have concerns about my wife laying in a hospital bed alone and I can’t be sitting with her,” he said Tuesday from their Calumet Township home. “Those things weigh heavy in your mind.”
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A second person has died in Indiana from a coronavirus-related death and the first two Lake County cases were announced Tuesday, according to state health officials.
The person who died, from Johnson County, was older than 60 and had been hospitalized, according to the state Department of Health. Johnson County, is just south of Indianapolis.
Jeff and Darlene Spencer (Provided by Jeff Spencer)
That announcement came after Indiana recorded its first COVID-19 death on Monday, when an Indianapolis resident died.
Community Hospital, in a release, explained how Spencer was treated.
“The patient was screened and assessed upon entry and was found to have a slight fever and respiratory symptoms.,” a release from Community said. “They were immediately placed in isolation and appropriate protocols have been implemented as the Indiana State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) investigate.or where they are being treated was announced.”
According to a release, Methodist Hospital Southlake in Merrillville is treating the second Lake County person.
"Methodist Hospitals today confirmed that its Southlake Campus is treating its first patient who tested positive for the virus COVID-19, the release said. “The patient presented at the Emergency Department. All precautions were in place, the patient was assessed and placed in isolation and is now in stable condition.”
The Lake County cases were among six additional confirmed COVID-19 illnesses, giving the state 30 cases across 15 counties. The new cases involve two people each from Franklin, Lake and Marion counties. Nearly 160 people have been tested so far, officials said.
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A LaPorte County man was being treated for the virus Friday at Porter Regional Hospital in Portage, but no Porter County residents have tested positive so far.
Woman ‘just wasn’t feeling good,’ husband says
The Spencers both work in the School City of Hammond bus department, Jeff Spencer said, and public records confirmed. He is a bus driver, while Darlene Spencer is a monitor. Hammond Superintendent Scott Miller sent a letter to parents Tuesday, without naming the couple, warning children were on their routes last week.
They are not sure how she could have gotten sick, Spencer, 65, said.
Darlene Spencer first got sick March 10-11 with a backache, slight fever, “just wasn’t feeling good,” he said.
They took her early last week to urgent care in Schererville, where she was “swabbed” for the flu, which turned out negative, given antibiotics for a kidney infection and sent home to rest, Spencer said.
By Saturday, he took her to the emergency room at Community Hospital after she had a higher fever and struggled to breathe, he said.
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“As soon as we went in, they took us to a separate room,” Spencer said. “In a very short period of time, (they) decided she was being admitted.”
Trauma program manager Jennifer Homan assists a patient during a drive-through test for COVID-19 at Franciscan Health Crown Point on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)
She was “immediately” put in isolation in the intensive care unit, he said. By Sunday morning, she was on a ventilator. As her condition worsened Sunday, she was tested for COVID-19, Spencer said. By Monday night, doctors called and said she tested positive, telling him to quarantine for two weeks.
“Right now, I’m doing OK,” he said.
Around 30 people they’d recently been around, including their two daughters, granddaughter, were notified. Churchgoers were also told, he said. His wife is also the church’s music director. Last weekend they skipped church. It will be closed for a few weeks and scrubbed down, he said.
“It is a critical situation that my wife’s in,” he said. “That just doesn’t mean she won’t recover.”
For the past few days, he’s chronicled her condition on Facebook. Since then, around 100 people have called asking if he needs groceries. A friend set up an online fundraising site. A neighbor left lunch on his front porch, Spencer said.
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“It‘s something we shouldn’t go into a panic,” he said, of buying out toliet paper and basics. “That’s just going to make it worse.”
[ Indiana college student self-quarantines in family’s lake house after leaving belongings behind in Italy ]
New rules at hospitals
Local hospitals have set up additional visitor restrictions.
This week, Franciscan Health Michigan City will start drive-through testing for COVID-19 on the hospital’s far east side, spokesman Robert Blaszkiewicz said. A doctor’s order and registration by calling 219-877-1474 is required.
Testing would be offered from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, he said. Results would be given within three to four days.
Franciscan Health Crown Point is now offering drive-through testing with a doctor’s order near its Emergency Department entrance, he said.
State officials acknowledge that likely thousands of people are infected by the virus and that testing is largely being done on those with serious symptoms or known exposure to others infected.
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Most schools around Indiana are closed to students and Gov. Eric Holcomb on Monday called for the closing of all restaurants, nightclubs and bars as of Tuesday to help stem the spread of the virus.
[ Bar, restaurant owners in Northwest Indiana caught by surprise by governor’s order shutting down all but carryout and delivery service ]
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.
Lake County Commissioner Michael Repay, D-3rd, said the spread of the virus is "weighing on us." County officials realize that it's a fair question "if we need the public" at the Government Center, located in Crown Point, but it's difficult to restrict access because the center offers needed public services, Repay said.
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On Tuesday, the building was unusually quiet, with no lines in the recorder’s or auditor’s offices. At 9:30 a.m., there wasn’t a security line, when at least a handful of people are usually in line around that time.
Before the building can be closed, Repay said "there's still a lot of continuity and decisions that need to be explored and answered."
“It’s still very much a moving target and decision,” Repay said. “I’m going to have more conversations today ... trying to find what all we can do and maintain safety.”
Alexandra Kulkulka and The Associated Press contributed.