chicagotribune--2020-03-02--Spring break is coming and the coronavirus is spreading. Here’s what to know before you go.

Any time a lot of people are living in close proximity , it can be easier for illnesses to spread @ @ @ @ @ t mean people should avoid cruises , Landon said .
She hopes the industry learns @ @ @ @ @ Japan , where a two-week quarantine failed to keep COVID-19 from spreading to hundreds of @ @ @ @ @ and the MS Westerdam in Cambodia , which let passengers disembark only to have one @ @ @ @ @ virus .

Women wearing protective face masks walk near the closed Duomo cathedral in Milan, on Feb. 24, 2020. It closed following security measures taken in northern Italy against the novel coronavirus. (Andreas Solaro/Getty-AFP)
As the spring break travel season approaches, the continuing spread of coronavirus has some travelers questioning whether it’s safer to avoid destinations that previously raised few concerns.
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The vast majority of the nearly 97,000 cases of COVID-19 confirmed worldwide have been in China, where the virus was first reported. But the World Health Organization says there are now about 17 times as many new infections outside China as in it, and the outbreak’s reach is spreading, with cases reported in more than 75 countries.
Health officials are hopeful the virus can be contained. Regions that have taken less aggressive measures than the extraordinary lockdowns implemented by China have still managed to keep the virus in check, said Dr. Mike Ryan, the World Health Organization’s chief of emergencies.
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Data from travel app Hopper suggests concerns about the virus aren’t keeping travelers home. As of late February, searches for flights from the U.S. to international destinations were only down about 3% compared with the first week of January, and most of the decline was driven by reduced demand for trips to China, said Hayley Berg, economist at Hopper.
Few travelers seemed nervous about destinations outside Asia until cases were reported in Italy, said Randy Lynch, CEO of Chicago-based private luxury travel firm Kipling & Clark.
“I think most people are in that semi-pause situation,” he said. “They want to go, they’re just waiting to see what happens."
Here’s what to consider when planning a trip:
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How should travelers decide which destinations to avoid?
The World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been providing regular updates on the status of cases, and both the CDC and U.S. State Department offer advice on travel to particular destinations.
The CDC currently recommends avoiding nonessential travel to mainland China, South Korea, Italy and Iran, and advises older adults and those with chronic medical conditions to consider postponing nonessential travel to Japan.
While there’s reason to be cautious, travelers shouldn’t feel the need to call off a trip today, said Emily Landon, medical director for infection control at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Concerns rise for destinations closer to the center of the outbreak. She advised travelers keep a close eye on updates from health and government officials and decide what level of risk they’re comfortable with, taking into account personal factors like whether the traveler or a family member has health issues or works in an environment such as health care.
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“Plan what you want, build in flexibility, and understand what your line is so if something crosses the line of what’s acceptable, you can change,” Landon said.
Is there a reason to worry about cruises?
Any time a lot of people are living in close proximity, it can be easier for illnesses to spread, but that doesn’t mean people should avoid cruises, Landon said. She hopes the industry learns from the Diamond Princess in Japan, where a two-week quarantine failed to keep COVID-19 from spreading to hundreds of passengers, and the MS Westerdam in Cambodia, which let passengers disembark only to have one later test positive for the virus.
Travelers who are concerned about the virus but want to take a cruise should ask how the ship will handle a sick passenger, “and if the plan doesn’t make sense, don’t get on,” she said.
About 13% of travel agencies surveyed by Travel Leaders Network earlier this month reported large numbers of cruise cancellations, mostly in China and Asia.
“While we are getting inquiries, we are not seeing many cancellations outside of China and Asia,” said John Lovell, president of leisure travel, supplier relations and networks at Travel Leaders Group.
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“Cruise bookings in the Caribbean, Europe and Alaska are solid," he said. "People are not going to give up their vacations or stop traveling.”
Should travelers wear masks?
Surgical masks are good at keeping someone who’s sick from spreading an illness to others, but they aren’t as good at protecting the wearer, Landon said.
An N95 respirator, which filters out smaller particles, is more effective, if it’s used properly. Landon doesn’t recommend them unless the traveler has been properly fit for the mask and knows how to keep it clean and avoid contamination.
Washing hands regularly, carrying hand sanitizer or sanitizing wipes and avoiding people who are coughing can reduce the risks of picking up an illness, whether COVID-19 or the common flu.
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Will insurance cover canceled trips?
Trip cancellation policies cover losses associated with trips canceled for specific reasons, and fear of being exposed to an illness is rarely one of them.
Only a couple of policies at travel insurance website Squaremouth cover cancellations to areas where the CDC has issued a travel alert, said Chief Marketing Officer Megan Moncrief.
Travelers can upgrade to policies that let them cancel a trip for any reason, but premiums can be 40% greater than those on a standard travel insurance package, and they often only cover about 75% of the traveler’s losses. In most cases, the policy has to be purchased at the time of booking or shortly thereafter.
“Usually it’s not a good investment … but there are some situations where it’s the only thing they can buy for what they’re concerned about,” said John Cook, president and CEO of QuoteWright Insurance.
Travel insurance packages often will reimburse people for quarantines, but only if the traveler is quarantined, Moncrief said. It doesn’t apply if the person intended to travel to a destination where a quarantine has been imposed, though some travel delay policies may cover expenses, like alternate accommodations and meals, if travel restrictions interrupt a trip, she said.
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Is there any other way to recover costs?
Contact the travel provider to ask about options for postponing a trip or to seek refunds. Local travel agents said some travel companies they work with in Asia are letting travelers postpone trips with no penalty.
Downers Grove-based Abercrombie & Kent is allowing customers who’ve scheduled luxury small group trips to China through April postpone or switch to an alternate trip at no fee, said spokeswoman Jean Fawcett.
Jon Davis, of Lincoln Park, said he was able to get a credit for a United Airlines flight to Japan, though he’s hoping the airline will agree to a refund. Davis had planned to run the Tokyo Marathon on March 1 but canceled his trip after the race was called off for all but a select group of elite athletes due to concerns about COVID-19.
Felicia Edens’ family was able to get a refund on a hotel room on Boracay, an island in the Philippines, after she and her husband canceled a trip they’d planned to take earlier this month. But Edens, who lives on Chicago’s North Side, said her family wasn’t able to recover the cost of their flight, since the insurance they purchased expired.
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Edens and her husband initially planned to travel as scheduled. They didn’t appreciate “the full gravity of the situation” and didn’t didn’t want her mother, who paid for the trip, to lose money, she wrote in an email. But her mother, who departed early, advised them not to go.
“It seemed that there were so many precautionary measures being taken that she didn’t want to put us at risk at all or have to deal with anxiety during the trip,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed.
lzumbach@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-02--Owners of older iPhones could get $25 from Apple in settlement over performance slowdowns

That admission led to Apple offering discounted battery replacements at $ 29 , but many people claimed they had already @ @ @ @ @ buy new phones because Apple didn ’ t reveal the cause of the problem .
@ @ @ @ @ could just buy new batteries , they might not have bought new phones , some @ @ @ @ @ .

Lisa Gao, of Chicago, compares a new jet-black iPhone 7, right, with her iPhone 6 on Sept. 16, 2016, at an Apple Store in Chicago. Owners of older iPhones — the iPhone 6, 6S, 7 and SE models — could receive $25 from the company as part of a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit. (Kiichiro Sato / Associated Press)
San Francisco — IPhone owners could get $25 from Apple after the company agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle claims over intentionally slowing down older phones to preserve older batteries.
Apple and lawyers representing iPhone consumers agreed to a deal stemming from Apple’s 2017 admission that it was slowing down phone performance in older models to avoid unexpected shutdowns related to battery fatigue.
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That admission led to Apple offering discounted battery replacements at $29, but many people claimed they had already spent hundreds of dollars to buy new phones because Apple didn’t reveal the cause of the problem. If they had known they could just buy new batteries, they might not have bought new phones, some consumers in the case said.
Apple did not admit wrongdoing. As part of the settlement, the company will pay $310 million to $500 million, including about $93 million to lawyers representing consumers.
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IPhone users who were named in the class-action lawsuit will get up to $3,500 each. The rest of the settlement money will be distributed to owners of iPhone 6, 6S, 7 and SE models who meet eligibility requirements related to the operating system they had running. They must file claims to get the award. If too many people file, the $25 amount could shrink.
A federal judge in San Jose, California, still needs to approve the settlement.
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chicagotribune--2020-03-02--Niles, Lincolnwood libraries end overdue fines, Park Ridge Library Board asked to consider doing the

Niles, Lincolnwood libraries end overdue fines, Park Ridge Library Board asked to consider doing the same

After April 1 , if a Niles-Maine Library card holder checks out materials , fails to return them by their @ @ @ @ @ are not renewed , a block will be placed on the card until the items @ @ @ @ @ library said in a press release .
With the block in place , the cardholder @ @ @ @ @ out additional materials or use online and streaming services , according to the library .

A newly returned book zips down the conveyor belt of the Park Ridge Public Library's automated return station on March 10, 2019. (Eric Davis / Pioneer Press)
The days of accumulating fines for books that didn’t quite make it back to the library on time are coming to an end soon at some area libraries.
Jumping on what has become a growing trend around the country, the Niles-Maine District Library Board in February voted to eliminate most overdue fines beginning on April 1.
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Likewise, Lincolnwood Library will end overdue fines as of July 1, according to Library Director Josephine Tucci. And other area library boards, including Park Ridge and Des Plaines, have been asked to do the same.
“It’s becoming extremely common in public libraries,” explained Susan Dove Lempke, executive director of the Niles-Maine District Library. Going fine-free, she said, will benefit children, patrons on fixed incomes and low-income families in the district.
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The Chicago Public Library dropped overdue fines last fall, and a number of the 24 suburban libraries that, like Niles, are members of the CCS Library Consortium, have done the same, she said.
“Almost half of our consortium is now fine-free,” Lempke said. “[The consortium] did a poll of the other libraries and almost everyone is looking at this.”
After April 1, if a Niles-Maine Library card holder checks out materials, fails to return them by their due date, and they are not renewed, a block will be placed on the card until the items are brought back, the library said in a press release. With the block in place, the cardholder will be unable to check out additional materials or use online and streaming services, according to the library.
The Niles-Maine District Library, 6960 W. Oakton St. in Niles. (Eric P. Davis / Pioneer Press)
Currently, the library charges an overdue fine of 15 cents per day for most materials, according to the library’s website.
The only circulated items that will continue to generate overdue fines after April 1 are Roku devices and hotspots, Lempke said.
Diane Foote, executive director of the Illinois Library Association, said the elimination of overdue library fines is a national trend, spurred by an effort to get patrons — particularly families with children — back into their local libraries and using their resources again.
“The existence of fines is a real barrier to services for those who need them the most,” she said. “What it ends up doing is keeping people away from the library. It doesn’t result in them coming to the library and paying their fine. They just don’t come back.”
Last year, the American Library Association passed a resolution urging libraries to “actively move towards” eliminating patron fines. The resolution stated that fines “present an economic barrier to access of library materials and services,” and said evidence has shown the removal of fines increases library use.
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Heidi Smith, executive director of the Park Ridge Public Library, said she has asked her library’s board of trustees to take up the topic of ending late fees at a meeting planned for March 10.
“We’re seeing a lot of libraries making the change or discussing it, but this will be our first real discussion of it,” she said.
The Park Ridge Library currently fines patrons 20 cents per day, up to a maximum of $5, for overdue books and $1 per day for DVDs.
One of the issues the Park Ridge Library Board will likely explore is the lost revenue that will come with eliminating fines. Smith said that in 2019, the library collected $30,404 in fees.
Revenue generated from overdue materials dropped considerably after the Park Ridge Library joined the CCS Library Consortium in 2018 because the new catalog system that was adopted automatically renews many materials when they reach their due date, said Gareth Kennedy, president of the Park Ridge Public Library Board.
Five years ago, when the library board discussed an issue involving long-overdue materials, the library’s director reported that $84,825 in overdue fines had been collected during the previous fiscal year.
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“What (the board) has to decide is whether they want to eliminate (fines) all together and lose that source of revenue,” Kennedy said.
The library has come under fire in recent years for instituting new revenue streams based on charging users. Fees adopted by the board included an hourly charge for in-library computer use, admission fees to certain library programs for non-residents, and a fee for tutors and others conducting for-profit business within the library.
Lempke acknowledged that the Niles-Maine Library has also seen a drop in revenue from overdue fees as a result of automatic material renewals, but said the amount reflected “a third of 1% of our entire budget” and a new passport service implemented by the library now generates even more revenue for the library.
The Oak Park Public Library ended overdue fines in 2017 in an effort to improve library access and equity, said David Seleb, executive director.
“It’s one of the best things we’ve ever did,” he said. “There have been no negative consequences or any unpleasant ramifications.”
Seleb said the library has not seen a trend of patrons holding on to materials for long periods of time, though the library will place a temporary hold on their cards if items are not returned after 42 days.
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“Our experience is that people bring back their materials just as regularly and promptly as they did before, if not more so,” he said.
“We were one of the early libraries in the Chicago area to do this two and a half years ago,” Seleb added. “Since then, there have been many more, including the Chicago Public Library. I think this is a trend you are going to continue to see, and more and more libraries are going to do this for the same reasons we did: for access to library materials and equity in their communities.”
The Skokie Public Library eliminated overdue fees on youth materials in 2019 and last month the board voted to extend the policy to all materials, Lempke said. Other area libraries that have ended fees include the Morton Grove Library, Indian Trails Public Library in Wheeling, and Eisenhower Library in Harwood Heights.
Staff of the Des Plaines Public Library have also recommended to the board that fines be eliminated, said Heather Imhoff, spokeswoman for the library.
“If the board approves it, it could be happening as early as this summer,” she said.
jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter: @Jen_Tribune


chicagotribune--2020-03-02--Illinois basketball coach Brad Underwood gets a 3-year contract extension in his 3rd season: ‘I am e

Illinois basketball coach Brad Underwood gets a 3-year contract extension in his 3rd season: ‘I am excited by the growth we’ve seen’

“ Serving as head coach at the University of Illinois is a professional dream come true , ” Underwood said @ @ @ @ @ I am honored to be one part of what is a collective effort in working @ @ @ @ @ it needs to be .
Building a program is hard work ; there are no @ @ @ @ @ am excited by the growth we ’ ve seen .
We are gaining momentum and @ @ @ @ @ .
”

As Illinois men’s basketball enjoys its most successful season in a decade, the university moved quickly to try to keep coach Brad Underwood in Champaign for years to come.
Underwood received a three-year contract extension through the 2025-26 season, Illinois announced Monday. The deal bumps his base salary to $3.4 million — which would rank second in the Big Ten this season behind Michigan State’s Tom Izzo ($3.9 million) and 14th in the country, according to a list of coaches’ salaries that Stadium published in October — with annual increases that raise it to $4 million by the final year.
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The deal includes subsequent extensions every time the Illini qualify for the NCAA Tournament from 2022 to 2025, allowing the contract potentially to extend through 2029-30.
If Underwood leaves for another job, his buyout is $8 million and decreases each year of the agreement. He would receive a $750,000 retention bonus if he remains through the final year of the contract.
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The contract also keeps Underwood’s assistant coaching staff — Orlando Antigua, Chin Coleman and Stephen Gentry — and athletic trainer Adam Fletcher on board through 2021-22. Their salary pool will increase by more than 25%, the school said.
“Serving as head coach at the University of Illinois is a professional dream come true,” Underwood said in a statement. “I am honored to be one part of what is a collective effort in working to get Illinois basketball where it needs to be. Building a program is hard work; there are no short cuts. But I am excited by the growth we’ve seen. We are gaining momentum and continuing to climb that mountain.”
The Illini (20-9, 12-6) are tied for second in the Big Ten and will finish with their first winning conference record since 2010. They’re likely assured of an NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time since 2013.
Illinois’ turnaround in Underwood’s third season, after finishing 12-21 and tied for 10th in the Big Ten at 7-13 last season, is the largest among teams from the six major conferences.
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“I am extremely pleased with the upward trajectory of our Fighting Illini men’s basketball program and believe we are headed toward a championship future,” athletic director Josh Whitman said in a statement. “Under Coach Underwood’s leadership, our student-athletes have showed steady progress on the court and in the classroom.
“He has instilled a culture based on competitiveness, toughness, preparation and accountability that is yielding exciting results. His ability to project a vision for the program’s future, to recruit elite players to Champaign-Urbana and to develop them into a winning team has exceeded even my admittedly high expectations at this relatively early stage in his tenure.”
The first, and most important, of those recruiting successes was landing Morgan Park star Ayo Dosunmu, now a sophomore guard who is the face of the program, making a series of clutch shots while leading the Illini in scoring (16.4 points per game) and assists (3.1 per game).
Freshman center Kofi Cockburn, another top-50 national recruit who has 12 double-doubles this season, followed in last year’s class.
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Signing Dosunmu marked a change in Illinois’ record of missing out on top-flight Chicago-area recruits, and Underwood has a commitment from four-star Morgan Park guard Adam Miller. He’s expected to join the Illini next season with four-star point guard Andre Curbelo of New York and three-star forward Coleman Hawkins of California.
Illinois hired Underwood in March 2017 from Oklahoma State, where he led the Cowboys to a 20-13 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance in his only season there. The Illini went 14-18 and 4-14 in the Big Ten in his first season.
Before going to Oklahoma State, Underwood coached three seasons at Stephen F. Austin after seven seasons as an assistant coach at Kansas State and South Carolina.


chicagotribune--2020-03-02--'The Deed’: Entrepreneur Sean Conlon previews Season 2 of his ‘absolutely real’ Chicago house-flippi

'The Deed’: Entrepreneur Sean Conlon previews Season 2 of his ‘absolutely real’ Chicago house-flipping show

The Season 2 premiere is set in suburban Riverside , where a couple goes $ 100,000 over budget as they @ @ @ @ @ home while being their own general contractor for the first time .
Season 2′s six @ @ @ @ @ several months ago — “ around the same time Moses headed off into the desert @ @ @ @ @ but the host said his TV series accurately portrays what it ’ s like flipping @ @ @

Ten years ago, Marcello Kilyan was behind bars for gun and drug crimes. Soon he will be on CNBC’s “The Deed: Chicago” because host Sean Conlon invested in one of his real estate projects.
Conlon lent Kilyan six figures to finish rehabbing an abandoned East Garfield Park greystone on Adams Street that Kilyan’s company purchased for $47,500. The negotiation and renovation are featured on an episode of “The Deed: Chicago” Season 2, which is scheduled to premiere at 9 p.m. Wednesday.
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Conlon’s support “means everything,” Kilyan, 32, told the Tribune by phone. “It’s amazing. It’s so great that somebody is willing to see beyond mistakes and complications and difficulties and really look forward to seeing what I have done and what I have become today.”
“The Deed: Chicago” premiered in spring 2017 with four Season 1 episodes that followed Conlon — a Chicago real estate mogul — as he helped local property flippers with their stalled projects. Conlon offers advice and loans for a share of the profits, but he does not purchase the homes or perform the remodel work himself.
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The Season 2 premiere is set in suburban Riverside, where a couple goes $100,000 over budget as they try to build a single-family home while being their own general contractor for the first time. Season 2′s six, hour-long episodes were filmed several months ago — “around the same time Moses headed off into the desert,” Conlon joked — but the host said his TV series accurately portrays what it’s like flipping homes here.
“What made our show so incredibly difficult to film is it’s absolutely all real. There’s nothing scripted. There’s nothing planned. I use all my own money to fund the deals, and I got massively, intimately involved in all of them, and long after the show finished, I was still dealing and helping people out on it, so none of it’s fabricated,” Conlon told the Tribune.
The Irish immigrant has a rags-to-riches story that’s made for TV, but he makes it clear that he’s not a TV personality hosting a real-estate show. He calls himself “a guy who has done billions of dollars of real-estate deals over a quarter of a century who just happens to be doing a show. I think there’s a big, succinct difference there.”
Conlon runs real estate merchant bank Conlon & Co., in partnership with minority shareholders former Mayor Richard M. Daley and his son Patrick Daley. Conlon said he also does advising work for the Chicago-based firms Sterling Bay, which is behind the Lincoln Yards megadevelopment, and CA Ventures, which is investing in student housing overseas.
Kilyan said he reached out to Conlon for partnership and mentorship about four years ago, and the CNBC show’s team ended up contacting him in 2018 about his portfolio. His company purchased the East Garfield Park building in summer 2017, according to public records.
He is set to appear on next week’s episode with @properties real estate broker Cecilia Frakes, who was his girlfriend at the time. Conlon let Frakes train at his firm, so she could be better prepared to sell the East Garfield Park home. Frakes and Kilyan are so grateful for the experience, they plan to invite Conlon to their upcoming wedding.
“I was really just getting my feet wet when all this started,” Frakes said. “Marcello and I always had this kind of dream of what we’re doing now. But with Sean’s help, it kind of just gave us a little extra boost.”
tswartz@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-02--Otto Porter Jr. will play for the Bulls tonight after missing 51 games, but Zach LaVine is doubtful

Otto Porter Jr. will play for the Bulls tonight after missing 51 games, but Zach LaVine is doubtful with a strained left quad

“ This is the longest I ’ ve ever been out , ” Porter said at the shootaround Monday morning @ @ @ @ @ lot about yourself .
You learn a lot about the team , the game and @ @ @ @ @ So for me , it was just getting back in the gym , starting all @ @ @ @ @ and building back up .
”

Since the first nine games of the season, the Bulls have been left to imagine what could have been with a healthy roster.
Starting with forward Otto Porter Jr. going down with a left foot injury Nov. 6 that eventually was diagnosed as a fracture, injuries have touched nearly every player on the roster.
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And as the Bulls prepared to welcome back Porter on Monday night against the Mavericks after missing 51 games, the injury bug had affected yet another player.
Zach LaVine missed Monday’s game with a Grade 1 strain in his left quadriceps, an MRI confirmed, according to coach Jim Boylen, who called LaVine day to day. LaVine, who wanted to play all 82 games this season, walked into the United Center before the game with a noticeable limp, the injury lingering after he said he tweaked his quad during pregame warm-ups Saturday in New York.
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“I know he’s very disappointed,” Boylen said. “He had a goal to play all 82. It’s hard on him. I know he’ll come back when he can. We won’t take any chances.”
Injuries have forced the Bulls to cycle through a plethora of lineup combinations, but LaVine has been their most reliable player. He started each of the first 60 games and leads the team with 25.5 points per game, carrying increased offensive pressure as the Bulls pieced together a lineup each night.
LaVine initially believed he could manage the injury and play through it, as he has a few nagging injuries this year, but Boylen said the team did not want to push it.
Porter’s return should help make up for LaVine’s scoring absence, at least partially, though the Bulls planned to limit Porter to about 16 to 20 minutes in his first game back. Porter is one of the team’s best perimeter threats, a career 40.5% shooter from beyond the 3-point arc who was averaging 11.2 points when he was injured.
“This is the longest I’ve ever been out,” Porter said at the shootaround Monday morning. “You learn a lot about yourself. You learn a lot about the team, the game and what you can do. So for me, it was just getting back in the gym, starting all over again from square one and building back up.”
Denzel Valentine replaced LaVine in the starting lineup Monday because Boylen wanted to bring Porter off the bench to begin re-integrating him.
“I just want to see him out there,” Boylen said about his expectations for Porter. “Get in the stance. Make a shot, get knocked over, get up and run back. Hopefully we can hear his voice. He’s got a powerful voice on our team.”
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The Bulls were getting closer to getting back to some semblance of full strength before LaVine’s injury.
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Center Wendell Carter Jr. returned to the starting lineup Saturday, though he is also under a minutes restriction and got winded shortly into his first game back. He will spent the next few weeks playing his way into shape.
And forward Lauri Markkanen practiced with the G League Windy City Bulls on Monday, his first full practice since suffering a stress reaction in his right pelvis that has kept him out since Jan. 22.
Boylen wanted to wait and see how Markkanen responded the day after the practice before making any decisions about his status, but he said Markkanen is “close” and expected to travel with the team to Minnesota for Wednesday’s game.
Those four players — LaVine, Carter, Markkanen and Porter — were supposed to be the pillars of the starting lineup coming into the season. Instead they have been limited to those nine games together since the Bulls acquired Porter at the trade deadline last February.
And seemingly every time they appear to get some momentum and one player returns from injury, it’s quickly followed by another setback during this cursed season that has not gone according to expectations.
“We’re in a difficult moment,” Boylen said. “We’ve got a lot of moving parts. What I expect is guys to come out and play their minutes as hard as they can.”


chicagotribune--2020-03-02--Commentary: When Roman Polanski wins a directing award, does an entire #MeToo movement lose?

Thompson , who runs the sterling film website “ Observations on Film Art ” with her husband , David Bordwell @ @ @ @ @ sympathizes '' with the women who walked out at the Césars Friday .
“ What @ @ @ @ @ adds , `` is that a lot of other people besides Polanski worked on Polanski @ @ @ @ @ of people .
I don ’ t see how you can condemn the entire film @ @ @ @ @ director ... .
( W ) ould some protesters go so far as to say @ @ @ @ @ taken a job on the film ?
That nobody should ’ ve worked on it @ @ @ @ @ pretty far .
And I think we shouldn ’ t go that far in judgment @ @

Toxic as it sounds, imagine the inside of convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein’s head. Imagine what he’s thinking, now that his rampant sexual predation has come to a presumptive close, and with his life’s third act plodding along in less glamorous circumstances than the Oscar-winning movie producer surely imagined for himself.
If Weinstein has Roman Polanski on the brain, is he interior-muttering six little words, over and over?
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Some guys have all the luck.
On Friday at the César Awards, France’s equivalent to our Academy Awards, the 86-year-old Polanski — convicted decades ago on charges of statutory rape of a 13-year-old in the United States and still a fugitive from justice — won the best director prize for his latest film, “An Officer and a Spy."
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A beautifully crafted historical drama, it concerns the late 19th-century political scandal involving Alsatian French artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew, wrongly accused of selling secrets to the Germans. The charge of treason, fed by the glaring anti-Semitism behind the Dreyfus affair, was taken up by novelist Emile Zola. The famous newspaper editorial of the day — titled “J’Accuse!” — gives Polanski’s docudrama its French release title.
Protests raged outside the Paris auditorium on Friday long before the Césars began. An activism group called Osez le Feminisme, or “Dare to Be Feminist,” viewed the inclusion of Polanski among the nominees, and his film’s 12 nominations in all, as a cold rebuke to France’s late-starting #MeToo movement. Polanski has been dogged by several accusations of sexual assault across the decades since his 1977 Los Angeles arrest.
“For women who have had the courage to speak out about the abuse they suffered,” protest organizer Ursula Le Menn told the press Saturday, “there is an enormous pain seeing this man distinguished.”
At the announcement Friday of Polanski’s win, several audience members stormed out, notably the star of the superb French drama “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” Adèle Haenel, and the film’s writer-director, Celine Sciamma. Sciamma’s movie, conspicuously overlooked in many key categories Friday, continues its international success on the art-house circuit, including several Chicago area theaters.
Fearing what he called “a feminist lynching,” Polanski and other nominees affiliated with “An Officer and a Spy” declined to attend. They did not, therefore, hear in person Haenel’s farewell cries of “Shame!” and “Bravo, pedophilia!”
There are so many issues packed into this single moment. With France playing cultural catch-up with the #MeToo movement, the ongoing, naggingly persistent question regarding what it means to have a known criminal, Polanski, rewarded for his latest screen effort, takes on extra baggage.
Controversy erupted after 86-year-old Roman Polanski — convicted decades ago on charges of statutory rape of a 13-year-old in the United States and still a fugitive from justice — won the César Awards best director prize for his latest film, “An Officer and a Spy." (Jarek Praszkiewicz/AP Photo)
From Michael Jackson to Woody Allen, in widely varying degrees of verifiable offense, how much can we separate the behavior, criminal or otherwise, of the artist from the nature and quality of the art?
Like many, Chicago-based filmmaker and University of Illinois-Chicago professor Jennifer Reeder wrestles with the implications of the Polanski win and the César walkouts.
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“It’s a combination of things," Reeder says. “The protests (at the Césars) related to a sense that ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ was ignored, by and large. So that’s the context for watching a man considered an auteur, with a history of abusing his power, awarded yet again.”
On the other hand, she says, "it’s important not to ignore the work itself. It’s important we look at Polanski’s work in a more complicated way. Scrutinize it! Examine it!” If Polanski’s film, which currently has no distribution deal in the United States either for theatrical or streaming release, ever becomes legally available, she plans on seeing it.
Reeder has shown earlier Polanski films in her classes, from “Rosemary’s Baby” to “Chinatown.” She also devotes classroom time, she says, “to talk about why Roman Polanski doesn’t live in this country anymore.”
Polanski’s recent on-screen incarnation may well be the last time he ever comes off like a hero in the eyes of popular culture. In Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood,” we catch glimpses of Polanski as he tools around the Hollywood Hills with his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, two timeless, stylish emblems of industry cool in Tarantino’s eyes.
At the Venice Film Festival last September, “An Officer and a Spy” received the Silver Lion (second place, effectively) from a jury headed by Argentinian director Lucretia Martel. There, too, the inclusion of Polanski’s film in festival competition provoked great controversy. Prior to opening, festival director Alberto Barbera defended the overwhelmingly male-directed feature competition slate as well as the inclusion of Polanski’s drama.
“I am convinced,” he said during the opening press conference, “that we have to distinguish between the artist and the man.”
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Not long afterward, jury president Martel countered: “I don’t separate the work from the author,” adding that she has “recognized a lot of humanity in Polanski’s previous films.”
Cinema scholar and historian Kristin Thompson, honorary fellow in University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Communication Arts, attended the Venice festival and caught the world premiere of Polanski’s film.
"I have to say: very well-directed,” she says, acknowledging that for countless moviegoers, activists and abuse victims appalled by Polanski’s fugitive status, quality remains a non-issue.
Thompson, who runs the sterling film website “Observations on Film Art” with her husband, David Bordwell, says she “completely sympathizes" with the women who walked out at the Césars Friday. “What bothers me,” she adds, "is that a lot of other people besides Polanski worked on Polanski’s film. Hundreds of people. I don’t see how you can condemn the entire film on the basis of the director .... (W)ould some protesters go so far as to say that nobody should’ve taken a job on the film? That nobody should’ve worked on it? That’s going pretty far. And I think we shouldn’t go that far in judgment.”
The worldwide #MeToo movement hasn’t moved at the same rate of speed or enlightenment, country to country, person to person. So many sharp, well-intentioned minds have changed so quickly on so many personal fronts. Kate Winslet worked with Polanski on the 2011 film “Carnage.” She co-starred in Woody Allen’s 2017 film “Wonder Wheel.” Polanski’s rap sheet was well known; Allen was a different matter, having been accused (though never charged) of child sexual abuse by his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow.
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In 2017, Winslet told The New York Times: “Having thought it all through, you put it to one side and just work with the person. Woody Allen is an incredible director. So is Roman Polanski. I had an extraordinary working experience with both of those men, and that’s the truth.”
Four months later, Winslet recanted, acknowledging an internal reckoning and the “bitter regrets I have at (my) poor decision to work with individuals with whom I wish I had not. Sexual abuse is a crime. It lies with all of us to listen to the smallest of voices.”
For Reeder, recently praised by “Parasite” Oscar winner Bong Joon Ho as one of 20 directors worldwide paving the cinematic way forward, the Allen conundrum is relatively easy. “I’ve never been a big fan of his, so it’s easier for me to turn away from his work," she says. As for Polanski, she says, she plans on seeing “An Officer and a Spy" if it ever becomes available.
"Seeing, critiquing, arguing over that film, and others like it,” she says, “is important. But that doesn’t mean I’m forgiving. Or forgetting.”
“An Officer and a Spy” currently has no U.S. distribution or streaming plans.
“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” continues in limited release in the Chicago area.
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Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.
mjphillips@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @phillipstribune


chicagotribune--2020-03-02--James Lipton, ‘Inside the Actors Studio’ host, dies at 93

Lipton , also an actor , writer , lyricist and dancer , was considered by some to be an obsequious @ @ @ @ @ were guests on “ Inside the Actors Studio , ” as a 2002 article in @ @ @ @ @ , and Lipton and the show were parodied by Will Ferrell on “ Saturday Night @ @ @ @ @ him , however , may have been confused about his mission : He was not @ @ @ @ @ pry secrets from celebrities about their transgressions but an acting teacher interested in drawing from @ @ @ @ @ about their acting techniques and experiences for the benefit of the students assembled and secondarily @ @ @ @ @

James Lipton, who created, hosted and executive produced the Bravo series “Inside the Actors Studio” and served as dean (and then dean emeritus) of the Actors Studio Drama School at New York City’s Pace University, has died. He was 93.
“Inside the Actors Studio” had run for more than two decades and more than 240 episodes on Bravo beginning in 1994. It moved to Ovation TV in its 23rd season, which premiered last October.
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Ovation confirmed the news on Twitter, writing, “Beloved Inside the #ActorsStudio host James Lipton has died at 93. We’ll miss him dearly, but we wish him peace as he arrives at those pearly gates.”
Lipton, also an actor, writer, lyricist and dancer, was considered by some to be an obsequious interviewer of the celebrities who were guests on “Inside the Actors Studio,” as a 2002 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer made clear, and Lipton and the show were parodied by Will Ferrell on “Saturday Night Live.” Those who criticized him, however, may have been confused about his mission: He was not a crusading journalist seeking to pry secrets from celebrities about their transgressions but an acting teacher interested in drawing from the performers he interviewed information about their acting techniques and experiences for the benefit of the students assembled and secondarily for the television audience.
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He shared some 18 Emmy nominations for “Inside the Actors Studio” with his fellow producers — and won one in 2013 — after first receiving a nomination in 1988 for outstanding achievement in music and lyrics, shared with Cy Coleman, for the song “Comedy Ain’t No Joke,” which was performed as part of the Bob Hope special “Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC.”
He received a lifetime achievement award from the Daytime Emmys in 2007 and shared a nomination for best writing in a drama in 1974 for “The Doctors.”
The origins of “Inside the Actors Studio” lie in Lipton’s effort, during the early 1990s, to create a three-year educational program for actors that would distill what he had learned in his own 12 years of study. In 1994 he arranged for the Actors Studio, which had taught method acting for more than six decades, to join with New School University to form the Actors Studio Drama School, a formal, program granting master of fine arts degrees. After the Actors Studio’s partnership with the New School ended, the Actors Studio established the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in 2006.
Within the Actors Studio Drama School, Lipton created a non-credit class called “Inside the Actors Studio,” in which accomplished actors, directors and writers would be interviewed by him and would answer questions from acting students. These sessions are also taped and aired on the Bravo network for the benefit of the general public. The series “Inside the Actors Studio” is viewed in 125 countries.
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Lipton had earlier produced a number of specials for television, including a dozen Bob Hope birthday specials; NBC entertainment special “The Road to China,” produced in the country; and the first presidential inaugural gala, for Jimmy Carter, that was televised.
He appeared as himself in the 2005 feature adaptation of the TV series “Bewitched” and provided the voice of the Director in the 2008 Disney animated film “Bolt” while voicing himself in MGM’s 2008 animated feature “Igor.”
He voiced himself on episodes of “The Simpsons” in 2002 and 2011 and appeared as himself on a 2006 episode of NBC’s “Joey,” starring Matt Le Blanc, entitled “Joey and the Actors Studio”; on 2009 episodes of “Family Guy” and “Saturday Night Live”; and on 2012 episodes of “Celebrity Apprentice” and “Glee.”
He recurred on critical and cult favorite “Arrested Development” as Stefan Gentles, warden of Orange County Prison, in 2004–2005 and 2013; played the Devil in a 2008 episode of ABC’s “According to Jim”; and played Dr. Richard Rohl in a 2012 episode of “Suburgatory.”
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During an interview with Daniel Simone, author of “The Lufthansa Heist,” on the show, Lipton was asked if he had anticipated the success of “Inside the Actors Studio.” He responded: “Not in my wildest imaginations. It was a joint, arduous effort involving many people. At a point and time not too distant in the past, I had three lives. I was the dean of the Actors Studio, the writer of the series, its host and executive producer. I maintained a preposterous 16-hour schedule.”
Louis James Lipton was born in Detroit; his father was journalist Lawrence Lipton, who abandoned the family upon his divorce when James was 6. Afterwards the family was impoverished, and James started working when he was 13. During high school he was a copy boy for the Detroit Times, as well as an actor in the Catholic Theater of Detroit and on radio (he was one of several actors to portray Dan Reid, the Lone Ranger’s nephew, on “The Lone Ranger,” which originated from Detroit’s WXYZ). Lipton attended Wayne State University for a year in the mid-1940s and enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces.
He moved to New York with the intention of becoming a lawyer, returning to acting initially only to finance his education.
Lipton studied acting with Stella Adler, Harold Clurman and Robert Lewis. He also studied voice and dance (including modern dance and classical ballet), and he choreographed a ballet for the American Ballet Theater.
Lipton appeared on Broadway in 1951 in Lillian Hellman’s play “The Autumn Garden.” He played a shipping clerk-turned-gang member in Joseph Strick’s 1953 crime drama “The Big Break,” an independent film.
He was head writer in 1952 on the soap opera “The Guiding Light,” on which he played Dr. Dick Grant, both on radio and television, for at least a decade in total; served as head writer for “Another World” in 1965, wrote for the soap “The Edge of Night” in 1968-69 and was head writer for “Return to Peyton Place” (1972) and for the prime-time soap “Capitol” for eight episodes from 1984-87.
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Lipton penned the libretto and lyrics for the musical “Sherry!,” based on the Moss Hart-George S. Kaufman play “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” with music by his childhood friend Laurence Rosenthal; the musical had a brief run on Broadway in 1967. The original cast was never recorded; in 2003 a studio cast recording featuring Nathan Lane, Bernadette Peters, Carol Burnett, Tommy Tune and Mike Myers spurred renewed interest in the show. He also wrote the book and lyrics of the Prohibition era-set “Nowhere to Go but Up,” which had a brief Broadway run in 1962 directed by Sidney Lumet.
His 1981 novel “Mirrors” was born out of Lipton’s experience in the world of dance and dancers; Lipton adapted the book into the screenplay for a 1985 NBC TV movie of the same name starring Tim Daly. He was also author of the nonfiction “An Exaltation of Larks,” a collection of “terms of venery” — the names for different groups of animals, dating back to the English hunting tradition of the Middle Ages — both real and created by Lipton himself. The latter book has been in print since its initial publication in 1968.
Lipton’s memoir “Inside Inside,” an account of his experiences as founding dean of the Actors Studio Drama School and creator and host of “Inside the Actors Studio,” was published in October 2007. Author Jay McInerney wrote: “With all due respect to the actors and actresses he has famously interviewed, James Lipton is as interesting a character as any of them. Happily, he has the wit, erudition, and storytelling skills to do justice to his own amazing story.”
Lipton was twice married, the first time to actress Nina Foch from 1954 until their divorce in 1959.
He is survived by his second wife, Kedakai Turner, to whom he was married since 1970.


chicagotribune--2020-03-02--Feds want 10 years in prison for two Chicago cops convicted of using bogus warrants to steal drugs,

Feds want 10 years in prison for two Chicago cops convicted of using bogus warrants to steal drugs, cash

And the damage continues to unfold , according to prosecutors .
To date , the Cook County state ’ s @ @ @ @ @ dismissed 37 criminal cases that were tainted by Elizondo ’ s and Saglado ’ s @ @ @ @ @ 10 civil rights lawsuits against the officers and the city are pending in federal court @ @ @ @

Chicago police Officer David Salgado, left, and Sgt. Xavier Elizondo appear at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on May 24, 2018, on charges of embezzlement and conspiracy to commit theft. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Federal prosecutors are asking for 10 years in prison for a veteran Chicago police sergeant and an officer under his command who were convicted last year of using bogus search warrants to raid homes and steal cash and drugs.
In a court filing Friday, prosecutors said the conduct of Sgt. Xavier Elizondo and Officer David Salgado was such a fundamental breach of the public’s trust that the longtime tactical cops deserve far more time behind bars than sentencing guidelines call for.
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And the damage continues to unfold, according to prosecutors. To date, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office has dismissed 37 criminal cases that were tainted by Elizondo’s and Saglado’s involvement, and at least 10 civil rights lawsuits against the officers and the city are pending in federal court, prosecutors said.
“The institutional havoc wrought by defendants’ conduct is real,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean Franzblau and Ankur Srivastava wrote in their 17-page filing. “The defendants not only harmed individual victims, but they also impaired the public’s confidence in law enforcement.”
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Elizondo and Salgado are scheduled to be sentenced March 11 by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly. The guideline calculations in the case call for up to seven years in prison for Elizondo and 6½ years for Salgado.
Their two-week trial in October laid bare the shady world of anonymous Chicago police informants who were paid by Elizondo and Salgado to lie on search warrant affidavits presented before Cook County judges.
Several informants testified that after a successful raid, Elizondo and Salgado would pay them in cash, drugs or cigarettes that had been seized, sometimes meeting them in alleys or grocery store parking lots.
The jury also heard rare testimony from a sitting Cook County judge, Mauricio Araujo, who signed a search warrant outside the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in December 2017 based on information provided by an informant who was secretly cooperating with the FBI.
In a risky move, Elizondo took the witness stand in his own defense, claiming he always “had a knack” for recruiting informants to tip him off about guns, cash and drugs on the city’s West Side.
To win over cooperators, he often pretended to be a dirty cop who was willing to cut them in on a share of whatever was found in a raid, he told jurors.
So it wasn’t surprising, Elizondo testified, that he was caught in an FBI sting in 2017 telling an informant that “whatever falls out of the bag” would be his.
“It’s a lie that I tell,” he testified. “It could be drugs, it could be jewelry, it could be whatever you want it to be.”
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In their sentencing memo, prosecutors said Elizondo “perjured himself repeatedly” in his testimony and deserves extra time behind bars for it.
Prosecutors also revealed that another informant came forward during the trial and told investigators that he’d been paid by the officers to give false testimony to secure four search warrants in 2017. That information was expected to be presented during the sentencing hearing next week.
Elizondo and Salgado were each found guilty of conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges. Elizondo was also convicted on one count of attempting to destroy evidence, while Salgado was also found guilty of one count of lying to the FBI.
The verdict marked the latest in a long line of embarrassing cases for the Chicago Police Department in which officers have been caught allegedly profiting from the drug trade they were supposed to be investigating.
Elizondo, 47, who’s been with the department for 23 years, and Salgado, 39, an officer since 2003, were placed on paid desk duty in January 2018 after they were targeted in a pair of elaborate FBI sting operations designed to catch them in the act.
Both officers remained on paid desk duty Monday, according to a department spokesman.
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jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
An earlier version of this story included a photo that was incorrectly identified as Officer David Salgado.


chicagotribune--2020-03-02--Man accused of fleeing cops at 145 mph and crashing into 2 homes — yet causing no serious injuries.

Man accused of fleeing cops at 145 mph and crashing into 2 homes — yet causing no serious injuries. ‘I don’t know how that happened’

Despite early reports that the Jeep had been stolen and used in an armed robbery in the south suburbs , @ @ @ @ @ misdemeanor criminal trespass to a vehicle , according to court records .
In court , @ @ @ @ @ passenger who was arrested with Rodriguez following the crash .

The Cook County judge seemed astonished.
Before him stood Casey Rodriguez, 27, who prosecutors said drove up to 145 mph on Interstate 57 before crashing into two Far South Side homes — without killing himself or anyone else.
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“I don’t know how that happened,” Judge David Navarro told Rodriguez, who faces aggravated fleeing police as well as 23 other charges that include a mix of felonies, misdemeanors and traffic citations.
Casey Rodriguez (Cook County sheriff's office)
Rodriquez’s red Jeep was clocked blowing the speed limit by 90 mph near Country Club Hills about 2:40 a.m. Sunday. A high-speed chase continued for more than 11 miles into the city’s Roseland neighborhood, with Illinois state troopers and Chicago police in pursuit, authorities said.
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Once off the expressway on the Far South Side, Rodriguez ignored red lights and stop signs all along Halsted Street between 99th and 105th streets before crashing into two homes near 107th Street and Normal Avenue, where no one was seriously injured.
On the same expressway just two days prior, an alleged drunk driver driving 85 miles per hour struck another car, shoving it off the roadway and down on railroad tracks, killing its driver. Navarro heard that case before hearing Rodriguez’s.
WLS-Ch. 7 reported that the collision at the home left gaping holes in two adjacent homes, with residents inside both homes narrowly escaping major injuries.
Despite early reports that the Jeep had been stolen and used in an armed robbery in the south suburbs, Rodriguez was only charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass to a vehicle, according to court records. In court, prosecutors did not mention a passenger who was arrested with Rodriguez following the crash.
“There’s no conditions of bond that I can set that would ensure the safety of the public or anyone,” the judge said, taking several long pauses before denying bail.
The judge also approved separate violations of parole and bond for Rodriguez, who was on parole from the Pontiac Correctional Center for a 2016 gun possession conviction, and out on bond for a 2018 residential burglary case.
Rodriguez said nothing during the hearing. He lives in the 5500 block of North Broadway, is a married father of two and a former Senn High School student, according to his court-appointed attorney.
Rodriguez is expected to return to court Friday.
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wlee@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @MidNoirCowboy


chicagotribune--2020-03-02--Highland Park girls soccer players choose food pantry for random act of kindness

Joe Trost , executive director of the PepsiCo Showdown , said thousands of students from hundreds of high schools took @ @ @ @ @ throughout the Chicago area , Northern Illinois , Central Illinois , Dallas , Phoenix and @ @ @ @ @ intended to show how high school student-athletes can enhance the lives of others with small @ @ @ @ @ long as a game , he said .

Members of the Highland Park High School girls soccer team sort through their donations to the Moraine Township Food Pantry. (Phil Rockrohr / Pioneer Press)
Highland Park High School girls soccer players wanted to step up their game for Random Acts of Kindness Week this year.
Last year, they took pizza to the city’s police department to thank them for their service and “give back to them,” said senior Alix Podbelsek, of Highland Park.
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“This year, we wanted to pick something related to the community,” she said. “The (Moraine Township) Food Pantry helps all different kinds of people in the community. Highwood partners with the food pantry, and many of the girls on our team are from Highwood.”
On Feb. 21, eight members of the team delivered 10 bags of food to the pantry and candy for its volunteers.
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“They’re wonderful,” township Supervisor Anne Flanigan Bassi said. “I had not heard of Random Acts of Kindness Week. I was so thrilled they contributed to us. It’s emblematic of a community that cares about its neighbors when they go through tough times. It’s laudable.”
The week, presented by Buddy’s HELPERS and the PepsiCo Showdown sports tournaments, kicked off on Feb. 16 and ran through Feb. 22.
Joe Trost, executive director of the PepsiCo Showdown, said thousands of students from hundreds of high schools took part in the annual event throughout the Chicago area, Northern Illinois, Central Illinois, Dallas, Phoenix and Atlanta. The week is intended to show how high school student-athletes can enhance the lives of others with small activities that take about as long as a game, he said.
“Kindness is a buzzword people like to talk about, but it’s a subject/class that each student takes,” Trost said. “It’s learned through behavior and examples, and this is something high school student athletes are hoping to do -- influence through their actions and the power of social media.”
Podbelsek said choosing the food pantry was collaborative.
“I helped coordinate what we were going to do, what day and the basic details,” she said. “We like to do things together on and off the field and act as a team.”
The players donated food taken from their own homes or from friends’ homes or bought with their own money, Podbelsek said. The candy was given to volunteers “for everything they do. We value what they do,” she said.
The food included peanut butter, cereal, crackers, rice, and canned goods such as peas, corn and tomato sauce.
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Fellow seniors Eva Hanson and Sydney Salgado, both of Highland Park, said the visit was a lesson in team-building and service.
Highland Park High School girls soccer players Sydney Salgado, left, and Eva Hanson check the expiration dates on items donated to the Moraine Township Food Pantry. (Phil Rockrohr / Pioneer Press)
“Not only is the team bonding through this, but it’s important to help the community,” Hanson said. “Other people are not as fortunate as us. Whatever we can do to help out is important.”
“We have kids at our school whose families come here,” Salgado said. “For us to donate food for those families is really great.”
In the last 12 months, township residents have visited the pantry 73 times for food, Bassi said.
“They come when they need us,” she said.
Seventy volunteers pick up donations from six grocery stores and help sort food, which is also donated by local community groups and schools, Bassi said.
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“We only stock food that we would feed to our own families,” she said. “If we would not feed it to our families, we compost it.”
Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.


chicagotribune--2020-03-02--‘Gossip Girl’ reboot at HBO Max casts Emily Alyn Lind, four more

The original “ Gossip Girl , ” which ended in 2012 after six seasons on the CW , was based @ @ @ @ @ written by Cecily von Ziegesar and centered around the antics of a group of teens @ @ @ @ @ The combination of fashion and drama on the Upper East Side made the show one @ @ @ @ @ TV at the time .

There's one HBO Max series whose cast is growing pretty quick, XOXO Gossip Girl.
Mere hours after Emily Alyn Lind was confirmed as a cast member, four more players have been added to the ensemble of the “Gossip Girl” sequel. Whitney Peak, Eli Brown, Johnathan Fernandez and Jason Gotay have all jumped aboard the new show, which was ordered straight to series in July 2019.
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Set eight years after the original’s finale, the “Gossip Girl” update will follow a new generation of New York private school teens who are introduced to the social surveillance of the Gossip Girl site. It will explore how much social media and the landscape of New York itself has changed in the intervening years.
Lind, whose recent credits include the Blumhouse-Facebook Watch series “Sacred Lies,” has joined the cast in a leading role.
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Lind will play a character named Audrey, who has been in a long term relationship and is beginning to wonder what more could be out there. Her other TV credits include the CBS medical drama "Code Black" and the ABC series "Revenge." On the film side, she starred alongside Ewan McGregor in 2019's "Shining" sequel "Doctor Sleep."
Emily Alyn Lind attends the LA premiere of "Doctor Sleep" at the Regency Theatre Westwood on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP) (Richard Shotwell/Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
The original “Gossip Girl,” which ended in 2012 after six seasons on the CW, was based on the YA novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and centered around the antics of a group of teens from the Manhattan elite. The combination of fashion and drama on the Upper East Side made the show one of the most popular on TV at the time.
The show was headlined by a star-making central turn from Blake Lively, and featured a collection of other teen heartthrobs including Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick and Taylor Momsen. Around four months ago, it was announced that Kristen Bell had signed on to return as the show’s narrator.
Peak’s credits include “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” and the forthcoming Apple show “Home Before Dark.”
Brown was a series regular on “Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, while Fernandez is best known for playing a series regular role on Fox’s “Lethal Weapon” reboot for three seasons.
Finally Gotay, who is also set to star in the Anna Kendrick-Paul Feig HBO Max series “Love Life,” is by Artists & Representatives and Schachter Entertainment.
The 10-episode new series hails from original series creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. Both will also serve as executive producers along with Joshua Safran, and Leslie Morgenstein. Gina Girolamo will executive produce for Alloy Entertainment, and Lis Rowinski will serve as a co-EP on behalf of Schwartz and Savage's Fake Empire. Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios will produce.


chicagotribune--2020-03-02--Coronavirus case confirmed at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights as local school dist

Coronavirus case confirmed at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights as local school district says 2 staffers, 2 kids staying home after possible secondary exposure

As of Monday morning , 16 people in the U.S. had confirmed cases of coronavirus , and an additional 27 @ @ @ @ @ one at Northwest Community Hospital , had tested positive for the virus by their local @ @ @ @ @ for testing by the CDC to confirm those results .
Forty-eight others who had been @ @ @ @ @ also tested positive for the illness .
Six people have died from it in Washington @ @ @ @ @ .

Dr. Daniel Reaven, foreground, walks with Eileen Gillespie, right, and others from Northwest Community Hospital for a news conference about two people with the coronavirus on March 2, 2020, outside the hospital in Arlington Heights. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
The wife of a man who is being treated for coronavirus at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights also has tested positive for the virus, marking the fourth case of the virus in the state, health officials announced Monday morning.
The announcement came soon after other new developments on coronavirus in Illinois. Earlier, hospital officials confirmed the male patient, whose diagnosis marked the state’s third case of coronavirus, was being treated at the northwest suburban hospital. And a nearby school district told parents two staffers and their two children were staying home because of the family’s babysitter’s exposure to a person who treated someone with coronavirus.
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[ Updating: Suspected coronavirus case being treated at University of Chicago Medical Center as four other cases confirmed in Illinois ]
The fourth patient, a woman in her 70s, is the spouse of the third patient, a man in his 70s who has tested positive, Illinois and Cook County health officials said in a news release.
The woman “is quarantined at home,” and the two were in good condition, according to the news release.
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In a Monday afternoon news conference at Northwest Community Hospital, Dr. Daniel Reaven, director of the emergency department, said the patient who was admitted to the hospital had a preliminary positive test for COVID-19, and officials expected to receive the results of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmation test later Monday.
The patient was in isolation and all staff who have had contact with him are being tested and monitored.
[ Got thoughts, questions or concerns about the coronavirus? Share them here. ]
“The patient is doing very well,” Reaven said. Citing health privacy, he refused to disclose additional information.
An emergency command center has been set up at the hospital as a base for CDC and state health officials.
“Along with this patient, our top priority will remain to keep our patients, staff and community safe at all times,“ Reaven said.
The hospital “is closely following recommended guidelines outlined by ... officials,” the statement said.
[ Which virus is deadlier? Comparing the coronavirus with the seasonal flu ]
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 70 Men take part in a Friday prayer on May 15, 2020 at the Tahara mosque in Marseille southern France, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, as France eases lockdown measures. (Clement Mahoudeau/Getty-AFP)
In Illinois, public health officials were monitoring 286 people for the virus, meaning they were being watched for symptoms as of Monday afternoon, said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who appeared with Ngozi at a news conference Monday, said the risk to the public remains low.
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“The best thing the general public can do at this time is to continue taking the same precautions you take during the flu season, with renewed vigilance,” Pritzker said.
After Illinois became the first state to provide local testing, in Cook County at a state lab, Pritzker said two more state labs were opening this week, one in Carbondale and one in Springfield. The state also has asked hospitals across the state to implement additional testing to improve detection efforts.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, appears March 2, 2020, with Gov. J.B. Pritzker at the Thompson Center in Chicago. They discussed updates on the state's planning and response to the spread of the coronavirus. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
In-state testing allows doctors to receive results within 24 hours. In a news briefing Friday, the CDC announced plans to have every state and local health department able to test for coronavirus by the end of this week.
In another COVID-19-related development in the northwest suburbs, the superintendent of Arlington Heights School District 25 sent parents and staff a “proactive” notice Sunday saying four people — two adults who work at district schools and their two children who are students — will be staying home because of possible exposure to someone related to a person who works at a hospital who might have worked with a coronavirus patient. District 25 Superintendent Lori Bein said she was sharing the news, “out of an abundance of caution.”
Bein said the family members work at or attend Dryden, Ivy Hill, Greenbrier and Olive Mary Stitt elementary schools. She said the family was contacted this weekend by a babysitter they had employed. The letter doesn’t specify if the exposure involved the patient at Northwest Community Hospital or one of the two other cases of coronavirus in Illinois, a couple who were hospitalized at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates.
[ Spread of coronavirus prompts U. of I. to join Loyola in calling for students studying in Italy to return home ]
“A member of the babysitter’s family, a hospital employee, was exposed to a patient diagnosed with coronavirus. None of these people have any symptoms currently. Our employees/students will stay home and self-monitor their symptoms, and they have been in contact with their physicians,” Bein wrote.
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Bein said the Cook County Department of Public Health advised her the district need not make any changes as a result of the possible exposure. She encouraged people to use common-sense measures, such as regular hand-washing, taking care to cover a cough, and not sharing food, drinks or utensils.
She said anyone who is sick should be sure to wait “until at least 24 hours after there is no longer a fever or signs of a fever (without the use of fever-reducing medications).”
As of Monday morning, 16 people in the U.S. had confirmed cases of coronavirus, and an additional 27 people, such as the one at Northwest Community Hospital, had tested positive for the virus by their local health departments and were waiting for testing by the CDC to confirm those results. Forty-eight others who had been repatriated to the U.S. had also tested positive for the illness. Six people have died from it in Washington state, officials announced Monday.
In Illinois, state health officials are working to create guidelines for those who work with the most vulnerable patients, Pritzker said. Several of the cases, and deaths, in Washington state have been among patients at a nursing facility.
The state has a hotline people can call with questions or to report suspected cases, 800-889-3931. They can call the Office of Consumer Health Insurance at 877-527-9431 about their health insurance coverage.
As of Monday, nearly 89,000 people worldwide had contracted the virus, according to the World Health Organization. About 3,050 people had died as of Monday.
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Despite the continued spread of the illness, containment is still possible, the World Health Organization’s director said.
“If this was an influenza epidemic, we would have expected to see widespread community transmission across the globe by now, and efforts to slow it down or contain it would not be feasible,” Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference Monday.
“With early, aggressive measures, countries can stop transmission and save lives,” he said.
Your coronavirus questions What are your thoughts, questions or concerns about how the coronavirus affects you? Are there any questions we can help answer? Send your questions here.
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chicagotribune--2020-03-02--Classical reviews: Yo-Yo Ma triumphs with Civic Orchestra; Daniil Trifonov goes deeply into Bach

Trifonov opened with a work as massive as it is distinctive : Bach ’ s Chaconne from Partita No .
@ @ @ @ @ unaccompanied violin , in Brahms ’ transcription for left hand alone .
Though the piano @ @ @ @ @ works for the left hand , the Bach/Brahms Chaconne stands apart .
Its copious keyboard @ @ @ @ @ ’ s dexterity and imagination , while its dark emotional content requires a probing interpreter @

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma (center) blows a kiss to the audience alongside conductor Ken-David Masur and the Civic Orchestra on Sunday evening in Orchestra Hall. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
The Civic Orchestra threw a 100th birthday party for itself on Sunday evening, celebrating its centennial in the best way possible: by making music.
It’s anyone’s guess as to whether Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Frederick Stock envisioned such longevity when he created the Civic as the CSO’s training orchestra in the 1919-20 season.
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But several generations of musicians — including current and past CSO members — have come through the Civic, its contributions to music in Chicago and beyond too large to measure.
The “Civic Centennial Celebration” was rendered still more significant by its soloist: Yo-Yo Ma, who played Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, with Civic principal conductor Ken-David Masur at the podium. Ma’s ties to the Civic run deep, the celebrated cellist having performed and collaborated extensively with the orchestra as the CSO’s creative consultant, his tenure ending last June.
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So anticipation was high as Ma entered the stage to play the Dvorak concerto in a concert broadcast live on WFMT-FM 98.7. After a bracingly effective orchestral introduction, Ma produced very much the intensely emotional, warmly lyrical playing listeners long have come to expect from him. Yet this wasn’t a routine or predictable performance, Ma dispatching long lines with palpable ardor and ample vibrato, the orchestra responding with full-blooded accompaniment.
The tenderness Ma brought to the adagio middle movement, and the fierce accents and lustrous tone that he produced in the finale made this a first-rate performance. Dialogues between Ma and orchestra members often achieved remarkable intimacy, a clear indication of how these young musicians feel about the cellist.
Once the piece ended, Ma shared hugs and handshakes with various Civic members, then applauded and fist-pumped their contributions. As an encore, he partnered with three Civic cellists in “The Goodbye Song,” dedicated to Judson and Joyce Green, the benefactors of Ma’s consultancy (Judson Green composed the tune, which was arranged by Michael Block).
Earlier in the evening, conductor Masur led the Civic in an exuberant but disciplined account of Berlioz’s “Roman Carnival” Overture and an atmospheric reading of Ravel’s “La Valse.”
Bravo to all involved, especially these gifted young musicians.
Daniil Trifonov
In a year when the world is celebrating Beethoven’s 250th birthday (in December), pianist Daniil Trifonov cut against the grain Sunday afternoon in Orchestra Hall.
He devoted his recital to music of J.S. Bach in a program that asked a great deal of listeners but gave them much, too.
Trifonov opened with a work as massive as it is distinctive: Bach’s Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D Minor for unaccompanied violin, in Brahms’ transcription for left hand alone. Though the piano repertoire is rich in solo works for the left hand, the Bach/Brahms Chaconne stands apart. Its copious keyboard inventiveness taxes both the performer’s dexterity and imagination, while its dark emotional content requires a probing interpreter.
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To his credit, Trifonov not only finessed the work’s ample technical demands — sometimes holding onto the piano with his right hand to do so — but sustained a narrative arc from start to finish. There was no mistaking this work’s gravity, Trifonov embracing its passing dissonances, italicizing its longing phrases and otherwise underscoring its brooding message.
Yet that was just the curtain raiser for what was to come: Bach’s “The Art of Fugue” in its entirety, 14 chapters in which the master composer crystallized the laws for fugal writing.
This dense, complex, intensely contrapuntal music requires the performer to bring forth a profusion of interwoven lines, casting some in high relief, others in the near background. Texture, tone, rhythm and mood are constantly in flux, and one marvels simply at the feat of memorizing it all.
Trifonov brought a distinctly contrasting character to each vignette, from the lyrical, legato phrases of the first to the grandeur of the sixth, from the whisperings of the 11th to the gigue-like triplets of the 13th.
Bach wrote “The Art of Fugue” as his health was failing and his astonishingly prolific life was coming to an end, which meant he didn’t finish the magnum opus. Pianist Trifonov completed writing the final section himself, boldly hammering the B-A-C-H theme that was the master’s signature.
For encores, Trifonov played music from the Bach family: J.C. Bach’s Allegro from Sonata in A Major; W.F. Bach’s Polonaise No. 8 in E Minor; and C.P.E. Bach’s Rondo in C Minor.
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A monumental performance, by any measure.
Howard Reich is a Tribune critic.
hreich@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--DACA-eligible Chicago man released after 9 months in immigration detention, thanks to his brother’s

DACA-eligible Chicago man released after 9 months in immigration detention, thanks to his brother’s activism

It was his older brother , Miguel Lopez , 27 , who spearheaded the movement for his release from immigration @ @ @ @ @ Lopez — known as Beto to his family and friends — called his brother in @ @ @ @ @ he had been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Marshalltown , Iowa , Miguel @ @ @ @ @ would do everything in his power to bring him home to their parents and sister @

Jesus "Beto" Lopez, 24, left, is greeted by supporters after a news conference Tuesday in Little Village, a week after he was released from immigration detention. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
There were many days and nights over the last nine months that Jesus Alberto Lopez, 24, spent in immigration detention thinking of giving up and accepting his deportation. But he didn’t.
Two weeks ago, after he had lost all hope of returning home to his family in Chicago, Lopez was released on a $25,000 bond. Now he is waiting to hear whether his appeal on his residency permit renewal will be accepted. Until his case is decided, Lopez’s fears that his application will be denied and he will be deported to his native Jalisco, Mexico, prevail.
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At a news conference Tuesday, Lopez thanked people who supported him while he was in jail and his lawyer detailed their plan to stop Lopez’s deportation. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, under which Lopez had been living in the United States, shields certain immigrants brought to the country illegally as children from deportation and provides them work permits.
It was his older brother, Miguel Lopez, 27, who spearheaded the movement for his release from immigration detention. When Jesus Alberto Lopez — known as Beto to his family and friends — called his brother in May 2019 to tell him he had been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Marshalltown, Iowa, Miguel Lopez assured him that he would do everything in his power to bring him home to their parents and sister.
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Through ups and downs, and a lawsuit against ICE, Miguel Lopez was able to keep his younger brother strong, his family hopeful and rally the community to keep pressure on officials to release him on bond.
For now, the brothers say they are committed to fighting for Jesus Alberto Lopez. They also want to help others facing deportation proceedings, those in detention and families looking for resources to argue their case.
Having him back home still feels surreal, said Lopez’s mother, Maria de Lourdes Gutierrez. Witnessing her two sons support each other has given her strength, she said as she smiled while glancing at them during the news conference.
On a phone call from Freeborn County Jail in Minnesota, a day after his lawyer and his brother told him he would get a bond hearing, Jesus Alberto Lopez was almost speechless.
“I still can’t believe it. Miracles happen and hard work pays off,” he said, thanking his brother and the people who organized the news conferences, phone banks and other actions to demand his release.
“I love him too much. I didn’t know it was possible to go this far to help a brother,” Jesus Alberto Lopez said, his voice cracking.
Jesus Alberto Lopez hugs his mother, Maria de Lourdes Gutierrez, prior to getting arrested and put in detention. (Family photo)
The unexpected news, however, was bittersweet. His family could not afford the $25,000 bond. Again, Miguel Lopez called on the community for help. He said some of his family let him borrow money, and the rest was collected through an online fundraiser.
“I want to give back what I can to help my community as they helped me,” Jesus Alberto Lopez said.
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He expressed regret about some of the choices that led him to detention but added that his case is an example of how the administrative laws put in place by President Donald Trump’s administration, which ordered the end of DACA in September 2017, can hurt the nearly 700,000 young people protected under the program.
Now, new applicants are not allowed, only renewals, until the U.S. Supreme Court makes a ruling.
Jesus Alberto Lopez was brought to Chicago when he was 9 years old, and his family settled in the Midway area. He was in the first class to graduate from Solorio Academy High School. He initially applied and was approved for a deferred action permit, but it expired in 2015
He chose to work as a contractor, rather than go to college, so he could help his parents. Since he didn’t need a work permit for the job, he said he did not renew his permit, although he was eligible because he had no criminal convictions. It was $500 he could use on something else.
“But it was a stupid mistake,” he said in the phone interview. “I never imagined this would happen to me, but we all make mistakes right?”
The night of May 21 when he was driving back to Chicago with some friends, Iowa police stopped the car for speeding, he said. They arrested him and three others, charging them with marijuana possession.
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Shortly after, the charges were dropped. But ICE officials were waiting for him outside the jail when he was released.
“At that moment, you just can’t run away. I thought of my parents immediately and of my uncle, because I had to go to work the next day,” Jesus Alberto Lopez said.
After he called his brother, the two didn’t think it would be nine months before they could hug each other again. The process has been emotionally draining, Miguel Lopez said, “but the strength comes from the love for my family, for people, who all deserve to live with dignity.”
Since Jesus Albert Lopez had previously been under the deferred action program and is eligible for it, Miguel Lopez and the attorneys expected his release almost immediately, said his lawyer, Wally Hilke, from Beyond Legal Aid.
Miguel Lopez poses with his younger brother Jesus "Beto" Lopez on March 3, 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
However, an immigration judge ordered his detention and issued an order of removal in September. In December, he received a letter notifying him that his DACA application had been denied. His lawyers immediately filed an appeal and sued ICEand USCIS in January demanding a release of the files on Jesus Alberto Lopez’s detention.
“It’s a time when it’s really important to fight for all the rights that people with DACA have because we don’t know how they are going to be treated with the administration going forward,” Hilke said.
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Monday morning, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman said Jesus Alberto Lopez was allowed to reapply for his permit while in detention and clarified that his application was not denied only because he was in custody. Since he didn’t renew his permit for more than three years, USCIS considered his case “abandoned” and treated him as a new applicant. And the government is no longer accepting new applications.
The spokesman also said that the agency had no power over the judge’s order to detain and deport Jesus Alberto Lopez, and “absolutely” no power over the appeal.
Hilke said that his team, along a group Miguel Lopez works with, the Chicago-based Organized Communities Against Deportations, have a two-part plan.
It includes seeking the renewal of Lopez’s deferred-action status regardless of the government’s arguments, Hilke said, and follow-up on the lawsuit, which seeks to hold the federal government accountable for failing to coordinate between the two immigration agencies to grant Lopez’s release soon after he was detained because of his DACA eligibility.
While the order of removal is still pending, the ICE spokesman said that when Jesus Alberto Lopez gets an answer from the appeals court, he’ll either be deported or the case will be sent back to the lower court.
“But I honestly think DACA is going away by June,” the spokesman added.
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The Lopez brothers are aware of that possibility, they said, but their faith remains strong.
While in detention, Jesus Alberto Lopez said, he suffered more from seeing other immigrants in pain. Laying on the hard-rock bed, often falling asleep hungry, he would listen to some begging the Lord for compassion from the agency and to see their children again.
Some fellow detainees didn’t have money to pay for bond or a team to help battle deportation, so they were forced to accept removal.
“We stuck together and supported each other,” Jesus Alberto Lopez added.
He spent his time reading, writing and drawing. “It’s been a lonely road.”
The experience also took an emotional toll on him and his family. Miguel Lopez recently started to see a therapist, and Jesus Alberto Lopez plans to do the same.
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“But even though the fight seems impossible, nothing is impossible,” Jesus Alberto Lopez added.


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--LGBTQ people fought for decades to be recognized in the census. This time they will be — sort of.

“ If you identify as a woman , imagine that you had to pick that you are a man on @ @ @ @ @ Elgin resident , who is nonbinary transmasculine .
“ It ’ s just not what @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s what we are forced to do .
It ’ s not what @ @ @ @ @ as , it ’ s not what I want to be called , it ’ @ @ @ @ @ to be identified as .
There ’ s not an option to pick anything else @ @

Kayla Bates, who is helping organize Elgin's first pride parade, sits outside Church of the Brethren. Bates identifies as nonbinary, but the census form only has two options for gender. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
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Kayla Bates knows the 2020 census is important, but filling it out will mean yet another form that won’t allow the 30-year-old to correctly self-identify.
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“If you identify as a woman, imagine that you had to pick that you are a man on forms,” said the Elgin resident, who is nonbinary transmasculine. “It’s just not what’s true, but it’s what we are forced to do. It’s not what I want to be known as, it’s not what I want to be called, it’s not what I want to be identified as. There’s not an option to pick anything else.”
For the first time, the 2020 census will allow people living in the same household to mark themselves as same-sex partners or spouses. But although advocates have pushed for decades for a full count of the LGBTQ community, the census still won’t ask or collect information about how many people living in the United States identify as nonbinary or about their sexual orientation.
By March 12, households across the country will be able to fill out the 2020 census questionnaire by mail, phone or internet. The stakes are high in Illinois, as the numbers will be used to determine how federal money is distributed and the size of each state’s congressional delegation.
Since at least the 1990s, the National LGBTQ Task Force has pushed for more census questions that would capture the size of the LGBTQ community in the U.S., said Meghan Maury, the organization’s policy director.
“We know that if we don’t have the data about our communities, it’s hard to build political power,” Maury said. “It’s more difficult to get access to the support and services that we need, and it’s really a charter to enforce civil rights protections if there is actual data about LGBTQ folks.”
During the 2010 census, the task force launched a campaign to push back against the lack of data collected about the community. It sent out “Queer the Census” stickers that people placed on the envelope with their questionnaires. The sticker allowed a person to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or as a straight ally.
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In 2016, 75 members of Congress asked the Census Bureau to include questions about sexual orientation and gender identity in the next American Community Survey, according to the bureau’s website. But the movement toward the inclusion of the questions seemed to stop when the White House administration changed from Barack Obama to Donald Trump, Maury said.
Sample census question on same-sex partners
In a Pew Research Center survey from 2018, many people in the U.S. still didn’t think that social media profiles or government forms should include gender options besides male and female. The study showed 56% of people surveyed did not think there should be more options, while 42%were in favor.
Timothy Olson, associate director for field operations for the Census Bureau, said in a recent interview that the federal agency along with other agencies have done enough research on how to ask questions about gender and sexual orientation without it hampering an accurate count.
However, the bureau would need a specific request from another federal agency or be mandated by law to add such questions to a future form, he said.
“I’m not the politician that makes that decision," Olson said.
In 2018, California senator and former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris introduced the Census Equality Act, which would have required the collection of data on sexual orientation and gender identity in the bureau’s decennial count and surveys. However, the bill never advanced.
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Data about LGBTQ residents could be helpful in challenging discriminatory practices and will be important when it comes time to uphold future nondiscrimination legislation on the state and federal level, Maury said. In Illinois, the Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in housing, financial institutions, public accommodations and at work.
For local organizations doing census outreach, it can be difficult to convince someone to engage in the process when their full identity isn’t being taken into account, said Kim Fountain, chief operating officer at the Chicago-based Center on Halsted, an LGBTQ-focused community center.
“You see a trend or a pattern of this administration trying to erase LGBTQ lives with data,” Fountain said. “This is just one in a series of decisions that were made that are trying to either erase our identity or make it more difficult for us to thrive in this world.”
Fountain said the center is still encouraging people to participate in the census, offering a place to fill out the census form, host a town hall and include information about the census in safe sex kits that are already distributed.
At Equality Illinois, the group started to share information about the census at its recent gala and will partner with other organizations to do outreach, said CEO Brian Johnson. In addition, they plan to send information about the census through their email lists and social media.
“The only way that LGBTQ people are going to be identified as LGBTQ people is if we are in a same-sex marriage and we respond affirmatively to that,” Johnson said. “But we know that it is still critical that we are counted. LGBTQ people have multiple identities and we want to be counted in as many of those identities as we can.”
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Soon to be released by YWCA Metropolitan Chicago is a public service announcement that’s geared toward the LGBTQ community and includes Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Chicago’s first openly gay mayor.
Regan Sonnabend, the census project director for YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, one of the regional groups given state funding to do census outreach to local LGBTQ people, said the group sees the collection of data on same-sex couples as a step forward that could one day lead to more census questions about the LGBTQ community. She’s heard from the outreach groups the YWCA is working with that filling out the census has become an “act of resistance,” particularly because the LGBTQ community overlaps with other groups like immigrants.
“(There’s) this concept of completing the census because it’s a right and it’s something that you could fight for,” Sonnabend said.
Gender identity and sexual orientation are just part of someone’s identity, Fountain said. Some are also immigrants, some have disabilities, some are military veterans, some live below the poverty line.
Aisha Davis, a board member for Affinity Community Services, said the social justice organization that focuses on the Black LGBTQ community has been trying to get information out about the census in the weeks leading to the start of the count. Like Fountain, Davis has tried to stress to people that being LGBTQ is just one part of a person’s identity.
“If we don’t count ourselves or get counted, especially in the areas that we live, there is less likelihood for us to have accurate representation in Congress especially for Chicago and the state of Illinois,” Davis said.
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Guy Stehley, 62, of Andersonville, is the founder of an online group for gay fathers. Although the census will allow those with same-sex partners to identify themselves, Stehley said that won’t include someone like him who isn’t in a relationship.
“I’m not living with anybody right now, but I am gay, so I’m not going to be counted in that aspect," Stehley said.
Bates had known about the census but they hadn’t thought about how it affected their identity as LGBTQ. Bates had read about the proposed citizenship question and the worries of immigrant communities, and also had concerns about how people in prison are counted.
“I’m part of the LGBTQ community and trying to lift up my own marginalized community, and, you know, would love to pull up other people as much as I can,” Bates said.
After moving to the suburbs, Bates recently started organizing what is planned as Elgin’s first pride parade later this year. Bates isn’t sure how many people in Elgin identify as LGBTQ, but a count of the population could be a good thing.
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“I think there are a lot more of us than most cis people realize,” Bates said. “There are a lot more people who identify as a nonbinary gender, and they might start to think about that a little more, and I think that’s a good thing.”
emalagon@chicagotribune.com