chicagotribune--2020-12-10--Police: Person questioned in stabbing death of Chatham man, 61, inside his home

A relative discovered the 61-year-old victim dead inside his apartment in the 8200 block of South Indiana Avenue around 10:45 @ @ @ @ @ citing early reports .
The victim suffered numerous stab wounds to the body , but @ @ @ @ @ forced entry into the home , police said .

Chicago police were questioning a person of interest who turned himself in Wednesday afternoon in connection to the death of a man found fatally stabbed inside his Chatham neighborhood apartment earlier in the day, .
A relative discovered the 61-year-old victim dead inside his apartment in the 8200 block of South Indiana Avenue around 10:45 a.m., Wednesday police said, citing early reports. The victim suffered numerous stab wounds to the body, but there appeared to be no forced entry into the home, police said.
Advertisement
The victim was identified as Kevin L. Sudduth Sr., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday.
The 60-year-old male suspect turned himself in to the front desk at the Grand Crossing police station on South Cottage later in the day wearing bloody clothing and with blood on his hands, police said.
Advertisement
No criminal charges had been filed.
wlee@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-10--It will be a soggy, possibly snowy weekend in Chicago. But first, there’s an opportunity to see the

It will be a soggy, possibly snowy weekend in Chicago. But first, there’s an opportunity to see the northern lights in northern Illinois.

Viereck , as well as astronomers at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago , said timing is the all-important component .
@ @ @ @ @ Wednesday night and Friday .
There are myriad factors that must occur for the lights @ @ @ @ @ important of which is it happening at night .
But for those who have always @ @ @ @ @ have never traveled to Canada or Alaska , where the lights are visible much of @ @ @ @ @ is a rare treat .

Before you break out a parka for weekend snow, break out your bucket list: The northern lights may be visible in northern Illinois, saving weather enthusiasts the trouble of a trip to Canada or Alaska.
The aurora borealis, most often seen above or near the Arctic Circle, could be visible as far south as roughly the Wisconsin state line Wednesday or possibly Thursday, forecasters said Wednesday.
Advertisement
Speaking from Colorado by phone Wednesday, Rodney Viereck, a scientist with the national Space Weather Prediction Center, said the event is the result of a solar flare that will create a geomagnetic storm.
The northern lights illuminate the sky over Lake Elora in northern Minnesota early on July 15, 2012. (Brian Peterson/The Star Tribune)
“There are several types of space weather storms, and this part of the event started with a moderate solar flare at the sun,” he said. “Geomagnetic storms impact things like the electric power grid, satellite navigation and GPS, but what people most often associate with geomagnetic storms is the aurora.”
Advertisement
Viereck, as well as astronomers at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, said timing is the all-important component. The flare could arrive between Wednesday night and Friday. There are myriad factors that must occur for the lights to be visible, most important of which is it happening at night. But for those who have always wanted to see them but have never traveled to Canada or Alaska, where the lights are visible much of the year, the opportunity is a rare treat.
“It’s looking like it will probably arrive (Thursday). It’s difficult to pinpoint more than that. We can see it leave the sun and we kind of guess at its speed, but there are 93 million miles it has to travel,” Viereck said. “It’s sort of like a hurricane leaving the coast of Africa, and we have to wait and see when it will hit the United States.”
Astronomers Michelle Nichols and Geza Gyuk from the Adler Planetarium said in an email that “Aurorae are very difficult to predict accurately, and just because they are predicted doesn’t mean they will be seen.”
Relatively speaking, the solar flare is small. But Viereck said it is “just perfectly aligned” and “is coming straight to earth.”
The alignment should prompt a moderate geomagnetic storm, which makes the northern lights visible in parts of the country where they’re not usually seen. Viereck said it has been about two or three years since there was a storm of this potential magnitude.
A strong geomagnetic storm is expected to bring the Northern Lights further south than normal tonight. Best chances in Illinois will be closer to the Wisconsin border, especially after 9 pm. Whether it makes as far south as us remains to be seen. #ILwx pic.twitter.com/SHIyVgzozp — NWS Lincoln IL (@NWSLincolnIL) December 9, 2020
Those wishing to take a chance at seeing the aurora should follow four steps, he said:
Go as far north as possible. It is more likely you will see the northern lights the farther north you go.
The lights are “really most brilliant and exciting to look at within an hour or two of midnight,” Viereck said. Be ready to stay up from at least 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. in pursuit of the lights.
Get away from the city lights. “The darker the sky, the better you can see it,” Viereck advised.
Find a location where you can see the horizon to the north. Getting vertical will help, so a hill or tall building is ideal. Unless you’re really far north, such as Minnesota or Canada, the lights will not be overhead, rather in the distance to the north.
Viereck said the geomagnetic storm isn’t inherently rare, and it is possible the northern lights could be visible in the U.S. as often as quarterly. This time, things just look to be set up for a better view.
“It could line up perfectly if the timing is just right and it comes in strong, but of course, there are lots of caveats,” he said. “And nobody is perfect on these sorts of predictions. It’s like the weather — we do our best.”
Advertisement
Nichols and Gyuk from the Adler also stressed the uncertain nature of the potential event.
“Sometimes you just get lucky,” they said.
By Friday night, northern Illinois residents will want to turn their eyes to the sky for a different reason, said Kevin Birk, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Chicago may not get much in the way of snow, but a system rife with moisture will move through beginning Friday afternoon, leading to a mostly wet weekend, he said.
“Looking at things, it appears this storm system is going to go in a track where most of Chicago is going to see mostly rain from this. But areas to the north or northwest might end up with a snowstorm,” he said.
Birk said the Rockford area and parts of McHenry County could get as much as 6 inches of snow if the system moves as expected.
“It’s certainly worth watching here because it’s got a lot of moisture in it,” Birk said.
Advertisement
That means once the system arrives late Friday afternoon, it should begin to rain and rarely let up for more than 24 hours.
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-12-11--Bail denied for man who police say opened fire on Chicago cops who had pulled him over in Rogers Par

Bail denied for man who police say opened fire on Chicago cops who had pulled him over in Rogers Park

The officers had been tracking Olugbode following a tense 24-hour encounter between him and his 28-year-old former girlfriend that began @ @ @ @ @ of stealing money from him a day after they spent the day running errands in @ @ @ @ @ demanded that she return the money but later ordered her to come to his home @ @ @ @ @ the missing cash , prosecutors said .
The woman complied and traveled with Olugbode to @ @ @ @ @ called police .

Bail was denied Thursday to a man accused of firing on a trio of Chicago police officers following an angry and tense sequence of events with an ex-girlfriend over money in the city’s Rogers Park neighborhood, according to Cook County prosecutors.
The result was a sudden eruption of gunfire in a heavily residential part of the North Side community that left the alleged gunman, Kenneth Olugbode, 31, seriously wounded and hospitalized with numerous gunshot injuries. No officers were hurt.
Advertisement
During a bail hearing broadcast on YouTube, authorities said that police body-worn video footage captured Olugbode, a felon wanted on an aggravated assault warrant out of Louisiana, taking cover behind his car door during a traffic stop in the 6900 block of North Ravenswood Avenue on Tuesday. The footage allegedly showed him firing two shots at three plainclothes officers just before 5 p.m.
Olugbode, of West Rogers Park, was charged with attempted murder and aggravated unlawful restraint.
Advertisement
Two of the officers fired 18 shots at Olugbode’s Toyota Avalon, while the third officer fired a single shot before taking cover, authorities said. Olugbode fell to the ground from the still-moving Avalon, bleeding and wounded in both shoulders, his right hip and right hand. The Avalon hit the squad car. Video also allegedly captured Olugbode’s weapon about 6 feet from his body, prosecutors told Judge Susana Ortiz.
Olugbode remained at Amita Health St. Francis Hospital in Evanston in serious condition, authorities said. Ortiz ordered the absent Olugbode held without bail but ordered the case return to court in a week so that he may attend the hearing and address the charges. The judge also held him without bail for the Louisiana extradition warrant.
The officers had been tracking Olugbode following a tense 24-hour encounter between him and his 28-year-old former girlfriend that began Monday when he accused her of stealing money from him a day after they spent the day running errands in his car. He initially demanded that she return the money but later ordered her to come to his home to help him look for the missing cash, prosecutors said. The woman complied and traveled with Olugbode to his home but escaped and called police.
As the woman spoke with responding officers, prosecutors said Olugbode allegedly sent the woman a video of her dog inside his car with a threat to kill her pet if she didn’t return the money, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy told the judge.
The woman kept contact with police and reached out to them Tuesday after Olugbode contacted her in an attempt to meet, Murphy said. The officers, who prosecutors said had their police insignia visible, allowed Olugbode’s Avalon to pass their unmarked vehicle before they began following him near Clark Street and Devon Avenue and activated their emergency equipment.
The Avalon continued traveling, slowing down multiple times, but continuing at a low speed for nearly a mile until the police vehicle pulled ahead of Olugbode’s car on Ravenswood Avenue, Murphy said.
Following the shooting, authorities cuffed Olugbode and administered first aid until Fire Department officials arrived. Authorities said police searched the area for the woman’s dog but were unable to find it, adding that the animal’s fate wasn’t known.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability responded to the scene, and the officers involved in the shooting will be assigned to routine 30-day administrative duties.
Advertisement
wlee@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @MidNoirCowboy


chicagotribune--2020-12-11--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: US panel endorses widespread use of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine; 11,101

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: US panel endorses widespread use of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine; 11,101 new COVID-19 cases and 196 additional deaths reported

Illinois on Thursday reported its highest number of new coronavirus cases in more than a week and the third-highest daily death toll since the pandemic began .
The high numbers come two weeks after the Thanksgiving holiday that health officials worried could be a COVID-19 superspreader event .
One day ’ s numbers aren ’ t enough to indicate whether those fear came true but public health officials have said we ’ re entering the period when a possible post-Thanksgiving surge would begin to show up in the data .
The 11,101 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases reported Thursday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases were reported Dec. 1 .
It ’ s also the first time in six days that the case count topped 10,000 .
That ’ s partly attributable to the highest number of test results over the previous 24 hours since Dec. 1 .
The 196 fatalities reported Thursday bring the statewide death toll to 13,861 since March .
The only days with higher reported death tolls were Dec. 2 , with 238 , and Dec. 5 , with 208 .
The record-setting total on Dec. 2 was due in part to delayed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Meanwhile , a U.S. government advisory panel endorsed Pfizer ’ s coronavirus vaccine on Thursday , in a major step toward an epic vaccination campaign that could finally conquer the outbreak .
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to follow the recommendation issued by its expert advisers .
Here ’ s what the FDA approval will mean for Chicago and the rest of Illinois .
A day earlier , Chicago officials said they hope to vaccinate all city adults in 2021 as they laid out their plans to roll out the vaccine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Richard ’ s Bar may be one of the most infamous taverns in Chicago , known for its rumored mob connections ( its owner is the sister of a supposed mob associate ) and its smoky atmosphere ( despite the city banning smoking indoors ) .
Now , it ’ s adding another item to that list : flouting city guidelines regarding coronavirus .
The bar reportedly was serving patrons inside as recently as Wednesday evening , according to Block Club Chicago , and had a sign posted on the door stating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ indoor service shutdown mandated by the state and city .
Chicago ’ s Department of Business and Consumer Protection confirmed that it is investigating the bar .
A new , hand-written sign reading “ Carry-Out Only ” on a piece of cardboard , was affixed to the door as of Thursday evening .
Read more here .
— Grace Wong A U.S. government advisory panel has endorsed Pfizer ’ s coronavirus vaccine , in a major step toward an epic vaccination campaign that could finally conquer the outbreak .
The Food and Drug @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issued Thursday by its expert advisers .
The advisory group , in 17-4 vote with one abstention , concluded that the shot appears safe and effective against the coronavirus in people 16 and older .
A final FDA decision is expected within days .
Millions of shots would then ship to begin vaccinating health care workers and nursing home residents .
Widespread access to the general public is not expected until the spring .
Read more here .
— Associated Press Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is hitting the brakes on emerging COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawmakers , saying Republican senators won ’ t support $ 160 billion in state and local funds as part of a potential trade-off in the deal .
McConnell ’ s staff conveyed to top negotiators that the GOP leader sees no path to an agreement on a key aspect of the lawmakers ’ existing proposal — a slimmed-down version of the liability shield for companies and organizations facing potential COVID-19 lawsuits — in exchange for $ 160 billion in state and local funds that Democrats want .
1:30 p.m. : Column : Seth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hobbies into customized coronavirus masks .
He died after being hospitalized with COVID-19 .
He filled his years with the things he loved best and meticulously chronicled his adventures on his delightful blog , sethsaith.blogspot.com , where he also reviewed hundreds of albums , plays , concerts , movies and books .
His blog contained an impressive collection of lists — “ My 100 All-Time Favorite Artists of Popular Music — 2020 , ” followed immediately by “ The Next 30.
” The coronavirus pandemic pressed pause on just about every one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reality he took in stride .
About a month ago , Arkin found a new endeavor to occupy some of his free time .
He started ordering customized masks for dozens and dozens of friends and acquaintances , some of whom he hadn ’ t seen or worked with in years , based on their hobbies and interests .
Last Friday , Arkin ’ s sister Allison posted a note on his Facebook page , in and among the photos of the masks his friends had been sharing for the past few days @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and is on a ventilator in the ICU , ” she wrote .
“ Please keep him in your prayers.
” 1:24 p.m. : On Wednesday , COVID-19 killed more Americans than died in Normandy on D-Day Just when the U.S. appears on the verge of rolling out a COVID-19 vaccine , the numbers have become gloomier than ever : Over 3,000 American deaths in a single day , more than on D-Day or 9/11 .
One million new cases in the span of five days .
More than 106,000 people in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is pushing medical centers to the breaking point and leaving staff members and public health officials burned out and plagued by tears and nightmares .
All told , the crisis has left more than 290,000 people dead in the U.S , with more than 15 million confirmed infections .
The U.S. recorded 3,124 deaths Wednesday , the highest one-day total yet , according to Johns Hopkins University .
Up until last week , the peak was 2,603 deaths on April 15 , when New York City was the epicenter of the nation ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reports 11,101 daily COVID-19 cases , highest in more than a week , and 196 deaths , third most since pandemic began Illinois on Thursday reported its highest number of new coronavirus cases in more than a week and the third-highest daily death toll since the pandemic began .
The high numbers come two weeks after the Thanksgiving holiday that health officials worried could be a COVID-19 superspreader event .
One day ’ s numbers aren ’ t enough to indicate whether those fear came true but public health officials have said we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possible post-Thanksgiving surge would begin to show up in the data .
The 11,101 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases reported Thursday is the highest daily total since 12,542 cases were reported Dec. 1 .
It ’ s also the first time in six days that the case count topped 10,000 .
That ’ s partly attributable to the highest number of test results over the previous 24 hours since Dec. 1 .
The case positivity rate — the percentage of cases as a share of total tests — averaged 9.5 % for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 10.6 % for the week ending Dec. 1 .
The 196 fatalities reported Thursday bring the statewide death toll to 13,861 since March .
The only days with higher reported death tolls were Dec. 2 , with 238 , and Dec. 5 , with 208 .
The record-setting total on Dec. 2 was due in part to delayed reporting over the long Thanksgiving weekend .
As of Wednesday night , there were 5,138 patients in Illinois hospitals with COVID-19 , 1,081 of them in intensive care and 606 on ventilators .
Those figures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the month .
12:22 p.m. : An assisted living facility in Clarendon Hills had zero COVID-19 cases until October .
Then it had dozens .
While nursing homes and assisted living facilities have , in some cases , been a hotbed of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began in mid-March , The Birches Assisted Living in Clarendon Hills didn ’ t see its first positive case until Oct. 27 .
In the six-plus weeks since that time , about 40 of the 70 residents , along with about 20 staff members , have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is the second wave in senior living , and it is hitting most communities in the area four times harder than the spring , ” said Jacqueline Sander , executive director at The Birches .
“ As the nation opened up over summer , senior living was still locked down and most of us in the industry had no cases.
” With that being the case , Sander said the senior living industry worked hard to minimize social isolation , since many seniors have been unable to see their loved ones .
She @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the first positive test , for a resident , at The Birches .
12:07 p.m. : Chicago Bears are set to resume practice Thursday afternoon after closing Halas Hall in the morning because of a positive COVID-19 test The Chicago Bears paused all in-person activities and closed Halas Hall on Thursday morning after an individual tested positive for COVID-19 — the team ’ s fourth positive test this week — but were set to return to practice in the afternoon .
Players already had started trickling into Halas Hall early Thursday when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The individual who tested positive was notified and put into isolation , and the team sent players and staff home “ with an abundance of caution , ” coach Matt Nagy said .
He then held a virtual team meeting to notify them of the circumstances .
11:39 a.m. : COVID-19 pandemic relief set to expire in Illinois as Congress negotiates aid package .
Here ’ s what to know .
As Congress negotiates a fresh round of coronavirus relief , the clock is ticking on several forms of federal aid , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
While several federal programs tied to the March package are set to expire later this month , other forms of pandemic relief have been extended in Illinois .
11:15 a.m. : How COVID-19 is devastating household finances in the Chicago area and Illinois , in 5 charts The coronavirus pandemic has forced employers of all sizes to shrink their operations or shut down , temporarily or for good .
Laid-off workers in turn have less money to spend at other businesses .
The health crisis has sunk the nation ’ s economy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ news about vaccines , much remains uncertain .
Since mid-April , the U.S. Census Bureau has routinely surveyed adults to see how households have been affected by the pandemic , both economically and socially .
The latest survey on the state of household finances shows continued worries about job security and illustrates who is bearing the brunt of the recession locally .
11:01 a.m. : Six Flags Great America adds drive-thru to Holiday in the Park Six Flags Great America has just created a new way to experience its third annual Holiday in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on select days through Jan. 18 , Great America will allow patrons to have , ’ 'an extremely rare opportunity to drive around inside the park , ” said the park ’ s president Hank Salemi .
It ’ s called Holiday in the Park Drive-Thru , and it will not overlap with the Holiday in the Park Lights walk-through experience , which opened Nov. 27 and runs on select days through Dec. 30 .
10:27 a.m. : ‘ Incredible landmark ’ : Advocate Aurora doctors excited as COVID-19 vaccine approval is closer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ System on Thursday morning expressed excitement at the possibility of an imminent emergency use authorization by the FDA of Pfizer ’ s COVID-19 vaccine , and looked ahead to vaccine plans for the system ’ s 26 hospitals .
An FDA advisory committee was meeting Thursday to discuss the vaccine trial data before making a recommendation to the agency , which could issue an approval soon after the meeting .
The health system has hospitals in Illinois and Wisconsin , and is working with both states to obtain doses once the FDA approves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pfizer vaccine released on Tuesday looked promising .
Citronberg said he did not have final numbers on how many doses each hospital will initially get , and noted that Illinois and Wisconsin have different frameworks for distribution .
Still , the health system is in the process of prioritizing which staff members will be able to be immunized first , as the doses will be limited .
It will not be mandatory .
Citronberg said the hospitals are working to identify the people who spend the most time working in areas where COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ units and on COVID-19 floors .
” The fact that this vaccine was able to be developed in such a short period of time is one of the great scientific achievements of our time , ” he said .
Total undergraduate enrollment at Illinois colleges and universities is down by 7.2 % this fall compared to last year , worse than the national decrease of 4.4 % recorded as students returned to school during the coronavirus pandemic , according to state date presented this week .
While graduate enrollment climbed by 1.5 % @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it wasn ’ t enough to offset undergraduate losses .
Overall post-secondary enrollment in Illinois dropped by 5.4 % this year , data from the Illinois Board of Higher Education shows .
Blue Nose co-founder Jordan Isenberg said in an interview that he made the decision in late October , after the state ordered suburban Cook County bars and restaurants to close for indoor business for a second time to stem the spread of COVID-19 .
He kept the decision largely to himself while winding down the business , he said .
7 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chicago music was one that , because of a pandemic , was like no other The show must go on , even if there are no shows .
That is the greatest lesson of Chicago music in 2020 .
In a year where culture as we ’ ve known it was seemingly shut down overnight , Chicago ’ s music scene continued to survive , albeit in a different manner than we ’ ve come to expect .
Despite the promise of our pre-pandemic world , the state of Chicago music was already @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issues plagued the city ’ s music scene , from potential closures of independent music venues to a mass exodus of young musicians seeking greater fame , fortune and opportunity on the coasts .
However , much like how the pandemic shined a light on society ’ s racial and economic troubles , it also revealed the fragility of the city and the country ’ s entertainment community as a whole .
One can not underestimate the social , economic and cultural ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the city ’ s music @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which found ways to bounce back ( however temporarily ) as lockdown restrictions eased in the summer months , music venues remain closed for the foreseeable future .
5 a.m. : Pandemic , civil unrest drive record-shattering increase in firearm permits , gun shopping in Illinois in 2020 Illinois residents shopped for more guns and applied for more firearm permits in 2020 than at any other time in history , according to statistics released Wednesday by state police .
With events during this unprecedented year driving the demand , there had been more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ purchasing guns , authorities said , representing a 45 % increase over 2019 .
The state also has received a record 445,945 applications for firearm owner ’ s identification cards as of November 2020 , a 167 % jump from the 166,649 applications in 2017 .
The Illinois State Police did not release numbers for any other years but said the 2020 applications “ blew past ” a previous surge in 2013 after concealed carry licenses were first offered .
“ It ’ s a reflection of the great deal of unease and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in this state and across the country , ” Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said .
“ It ’ s undeniable.
” Read more here .
—Annie Sweeney and Stacy St. Clair 5 a.m. : Tenants ’ advocates , real estate industry gear up for clash over proposed Cook County residential tenant , landlord ordinance A simmering debate between tenants ’ advocates and the real estate industry in Cook County is set to boil this month when a Board of Commissioners panel is expected to vote on a proposal to toughen suburban @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crisis .
The proposal , dubbed the Residential Tenant Landlord Ordinance , brought by county commissioners Scott Britton and Kevin Morrison , would cement heightened landlord regulations throughout the suburbs , where about 245,000 households are renters not covered by such codes that only exist in three cities in the county : Chicago , Evanston and Mount Prospect .
It is based on the city of Chicago ’ s own code that has guided leases since 1986 , much to the ire of some landlords who say it overreaches and stifles the market @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tuesday , supporters of the proposed Cook County ordinance said while the need for suburban renters to have such protections always has existed , the feared eviction wave from the coronavirus pandemic makes the stakes all the more drastic .
Here are five things that happened Wednesday related to COVID-19 :

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
For the latest updates, click here for Friday’s live blog.
Illinois on Thursday reported its highest number of new coronavirus cases in more than a week and the third-highest daily death toll since the pandemic began.
Advertisement
The high numbers come two weeks after the Thanksgiving holiday that health officials worried could be a COVID-19 superspreader event. One day’s numbers aren’t enough to indicate whether those fear came true but public health officials have said we’re entering the period when a possible post-Thanksgiving surge would begin to show up in the data.
The 11,101 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases reported Thursday is the highest daily total since 12,542 cases were reported Dec. 1. It’s also the first time in six days that the case count topped 10,000. That’s partly attributable to the highest number of test results over the previous 24 hours since Dec. 1.
Advertisement
The 196 fatalities reported Thursday bring the statewide death toll to 13,861 since March. The only days with higher reported death tolls were Dec. 2, with 238, and Dec. 5, with 208. The record-setting total on Dec. 2 was due in part to delayed reporting over the long Thanksgiving weekend.
Meanwhile, a U.S. government advisory panel endorsed Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine on Thursday, in a major step toward an epic vaccination campaign that could finally conquer the outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to follow the recommendation issued by its expert advisers. Here’s what the FDA approval will mean for Chicago and the rest of Illinois.
A day earlier, Chicago officials said they hope to vaccinate all city adults in 2021 as they laid out their plans to roll out the vaccine.
Here’s what’s happening Thursday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
6:15 p.m.: Chicago dive Richard’s Bar reportedly defies pandemic shutdown
As far as bad behavior goes, Richard’s Bar may be one of the most infamous taverns in Chicago, known for its rumored mob connections (its owner is the sister of a supposed mob associate) and its smoky atmosphere (despite the city banning smoking indoors). Now, it’s adding another item to that list: flouting city guidelines regarding coronavirus.
The bar reportedly was serving patrons inside as recently as Wednesday evening, according to Block Club Chicago, and had a sign posted on the door stating that it will not comply with the indoor service shutdown mandated by the state and city. Chicago’s Department of Business and Consumer Protection confirmed that it is investigating the bar. A new, hand-written sign reading “Carry-Out Only” on a piece of cardboard, was affixed to the door as of Thursday evening.
Read more here. —Grace Wong
(Updated): 4:41 p.m.: US panel endorses widespread use of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine
A U.S. government advisory panel has endorsed Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, in a major step toward an epic vaccination campaign that could finally conquer the outbreak.
Advertisement
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to follow the recommendation issued Thursday by its expert advisers. The advisory group, in 17-4 vote with one abstention, concluded that the shot appears safe and effective against the coronavirus in people 16 and older.
A final FDA decision is expected within days. Millions of shots would then ship to begin vaccinating health care workers and nursing home residents. Widespread access to the general public is not expected until the spring.
Read more here. —Associated Press
(Updated) 2:55 p.m.: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell signals no GOP support for emerging COVID-19 relief deal
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is hitting the brakes on emerging COVID-19 aid package from a bipartisan group of lawmakers, saying Republican senators won’t support $160 billion in state and local funds as part of a potential trade-off in the deal.
McConnell’s staff conveyed to top negotiators that the GOP leader sees no path to an agreement on a key aspect of the lawmakers’ existing proposal — a slimmed-down version of the liability shield for companies and organizations facing potential COVID-19 lawsuits — in exchange for $160 billion in state and local funds that Democrats want.
Read more here. —Associated Press
Advertisement
1:30 p.m.: Column: Seth Arkin turned his friends’ artwork and hobbies into customized coronavirus masks. He died after being hospitalized with COVID-19.
Seth Arkin was a voracious world traveler, a faithful Cubs fan, a devoted patron of Chicago’s cultural offerings and a bit of a Bruce Springsteen groupie.
He filled his years with the things he loved best and meticulously chronicled his adventures on his delightful blog, sethsaith.blogspot.com, where he also reviewed hundreds of albums, plays, concerts, movies and books. His blog contained an impressive collection of lists — “My 100 All-Time Favorite Artists of Popular Music — 2020,” followed immediately by “The Next 30.”
The coronavirus pandemic pressed pause on just about every one of Arkin’s favorite pursuits, a reality he took in stride.
About a month ago, Arkin found a new endeavor to occupy some of his free time. He started ordering customized masks for dozens and dozens of friends and acquaintances, some of whom he hadn’t seen or worked with in years, based on their hobbies and interests.
Last Friday , Arkin’s sister Allison posted a note on his Facebook page, in and among the photos of the masks his friends had been sharing for the past few days.
“My brother Seth has Covid and is on a ventilator in the ICU,” she wrote. “Please keep him in your prayers.”
Advertisement
On Tuesday, Arkin died. He was 52.
Read more here. —Heidi Stevens
1:24 p.m.: On Wednesday, COVID-19 killed more Americans than died in Normandy on D-Day
Just when the U.S. appears on the verge of rolling out a COVID-19 vaccine, the numbers have become gloomier than ever: Over 3,000 American deaths in a single day, more than on D-Day or 9/11. One million new cases in the span of five days. More than 106,000 people in the hospital.
The crisis across the country is pushing medical centers to the breaking point and leaving staff members and public health officials burned out and plagued by tears and nightmares.
All told, the crisis has left more than 290,000 people dead in the U.S, with more than 15 million confirmed infections.
The U.S. recorded 3,124 deaths Wednesday, the highest one-day total yet, according to Johns Hopkins University. Up until last week, the peak was 2,603 deaths on April 15, when New York City was the epicenter of the nation’s outbreak.
Advertisement
Read more here. —Associated Press
12:58 p.m.: Illinois reports 11,101 daily COVID-19 cases, highest in more than a week, and 196 deaths, third most since pandemic began
Illinois on Thursday reported its highest number of new coronavirus cases in more than a week and the third-highest daily death toll since the pandemic began.
The high numbers come two weeks after the Thanksgiving holiday that health officials worried could be a COVID-19 superspreader event. One day’s numbers aren’t enough to indicate whether those fear came true but public health officials have said we’re entering the period when a possible post-Thanksgiving surge would begin to show up in the data.
The 11,101 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases reported Thursday is the highest daily total since 12,542 cases were reported Dec. 1. It’s also the first time in six days that the case count topped 10,000. That’s partly attributable to the highest number of test results over the previous 24 hours since Dec. 1.
The case positivity rate — the percentage of cases as a share of total tests — averaged 9.5% for the week ending Wednesday, down from 10.6% for the week ending Dec. 1.
The 196 fatalities reported Thursday bring the statewide death toll to 13,861 since March. The only days with higher reported death tolls were Dec. 2, with 238, and Dec. 5, with 208. The record-setting total on Dec. 2 was due in part to delayed reporting over the long Thanksgiving weekend.
Advertisement
The state has average 148 deaths per day over the past week.
As of Wednesday night, there were 5,138 patients in Illinois hospitals with COVID-19, 1,081 of them in intensive care and 606 on ventilators. Those figures are all down from the start of the month.
—Dan Petrella
12:22 p.m.: An assisted living facility in Clarendon Hills went 4 months without COVID-19 cases. Then it had dozens.
While nursing homes and assisted living facilities have, in some cases, been a hotbed of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began in mid-March, The Birches Assisted Living in Clarendon Hills went more than four months without a positive case.
The Birches, 215 55th St., had its first positive test, with a staff member, May 5, following the state’s executive order to lock down on March 20, said Jacqueline Sander, executive director of The Birches. The first case for a resident was May 7, for someone who was asymptomatic. Mass testing for all residents and staff began May 8, Sander said.
She said there were eight residents and two staff members who tested positive during that first wave in the spring, and the last resident taken off of isolation occurred on June 16.
Advertisement
There were no active cases again until Oct. 27; however, since that time about 40 of the 70 residents, along with about 20 staff members, have tested positive for virus.
“This is the second wave in senior living, and it is hitting most communities in the area four times harder than the spring,” Sander said. “As the nation opened up over summer, senior living was still locked down and most of us in the industry had no cases.”
Read more here. — Chuck Fieldman, Pioneer Press
This story was corrected to reflect that The Birches Assisted Living in Clarendon Hills had cases of COVID-19 in May-June. An earlier version of the story incorrectly reported The Birches had had no cases before October.
12:07 p.m.: Chicago Bears are set to resume practice Thursday afternoon after closing Halas Hall in the morning because of a positive COVID-19 test
The Chicago Bears paused all in-person activities and closed Halas Hall on Thursday morning after an individual tested positive for COVID-19 — the team’s fourth positive test this week — but were set to return to practice in the afternoon.
The Bears conducted meetings virtually in the morning and rescheduled their 1:10 p.m. practice for 2:30 p.m.
Advertisement
Players already had started trickling into Halas Hall early Thursday when the Bears received the positive result. The individual who tested positive was notified and put into isolation, and the team sent players and staff home “with an abundance of caution,” coach Matt Nagy said. He then held a virtual team meeting to notify them of the circumstances.
Read more here. —Colleen Kane
11:39 a.m.: COVID-19 pandemic relief set to expire in Illinois as Congress negotiates aid package. Here’s what to know.
As Congress negotiates a fresh round of coronavirus relief, the clock is ticking on several forms of federal aid, but there is still help available in Illinois.
While several federal programs tied to the March package are set to expire later this month, other forms of pandemic relief have been extended in Illinois.
Here’s the help that’s still available.
Read more here. —Robert Channick, Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz, Abdel Jimenez, Ryan Ori, Lauren Zumbach
Advertisement
11:15 a.m.: How COVID-19 is devastating household finances in the Chicago area and Illinois, in 5 charts
The coronavirus pandemic has forced employers of all sizes to shrink their operations or shut down, temporarily or for good. Laid-off workers in turn have less money to spend at other businesses. The health crisis has sunk the nation’s economy into a recession, and despite promising news about vaccines, much remains uncertain.
Since mid-April, the U.S. Census Bureau has routinely surveyed adults to see how households have been affected by the pandemic, both economically and socially.
The latest survey on the state of household finances shows continued worries about job security and illustrates who is bearing the brunt of the recession locally.
Read more here. —Mary Ellen Podmolik and Jonathon Berlin
11:01 a.m.: Six Flags Great America adds drive-thru to Holiday in the Park
Six Flags Great America has just created a new way to experience its third annual Holiday in the Park Lights.
Starting Wednesday and on select days through Jan. 18, Great America will allow patrons to have, ’'an extremely rare opportunity to drive around inside the park,” said the park’s president Hank Salemi.
Advertisement
It’s called Holiday in the Park Drive-Thru, and it will not overlap with the Holiday in the Park Lights walk-through experience, which opened Nov. 27 and runs on select days through Dec. 30.
Vehicles are allowed to drive through the park up to 3 mph following a designated route.
Read more here. — Sheryl DeVore
10:27 a.m.: ‘Incredible landmark’: Advocate Aurora doctors excited as COVID-19 vaccine approval is closer to reality
Doctors at Advocate Aurora Health System on Thursday morning expressed excitement at the possibility of an imminent emergency use authorization by the FDA of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, and looked ahead to vaccine plans for the system’s 26 hospitals.
An FDA advisory committee was meeting Thursday to discuss the vaccine trial data before making a recommendation to the agency, which could issue an approval soon after the meeting.
”This is an incredible landmark,” said Dr. Robert Citronberg, executive medical director of Infectious Disease and Prevention at Advocate Aurora Health. “It’s the ticket out.”
Advertisement
The health system has hospitals in Illinois and Wisconsin, and is working with both states to obtain doses once the FDA approves emergency use. Preliminary data of the Pfizer vaccine released on Tuesday looked promising.
Citronberg said he did not have final numbers on how many doses each hospital will initially get, and noted that Illinois and Wisconsin have different frameworks for distribution.
Still, the health system is in the process of prioritizing which staff members will be able to be immunized first, as the doses will be limited. It will not be mandatory.
Citronberg said the hospitals are working to identify the people who spend the most time working in areas where COVID-19 is present, particularly in intensive care units and on COVID-19 floors.
”The fact that this vaccine was able to be developed in such a short period of time is one of the great scientific achievements of our time,” he said.
—Madeline Buckley
Advertisement
9:50 a.m.: Illinois colleges and universities suffer enrollment losses after pandemic disruptions
Total undergraduate enrollment at Illinois colleges and universities is down by 7.2% this fall compared to last year, worse than the national decrease of 4.4% recorded as students returned to school during the coronavirus pandemic, according to state date presented this week.
While graduate enrollment climbed by 1.5% at both public and private institutions, it wasn’t enough to offset undergraduate losses. Overall post-secondary enrollment in Illinois dropped by 5.4% this year, data from the Illinois Board of Higher Education shows.
Community colleges suffered the most, with a 13.7% reduction in students, and new freshman and transfer student populations dropped significantly.
But not all the news was bad.
Read more here. —Elyssa Cherney
9:54 a.m.: Suburban Blue Nose Brewery closing ‘when the beer runs out’ due to coronavirus pandemic economic toll
Small southwest suburban Blue Nose Brewery is closing due to the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, its co-founder said this week.
Advertisement
Blue Nose co-founder Jordan Isenberg said in an interview that he made the decision in late October, after the state ordered suburban Cook County bars and restaurants to close for indoor business for a second time to stem the spread of COVID-19. He kept the decision largely to himself while winding down the business, he said.
Read more here. —Josh Noel
8:10 a.m.: FDA meeting on vaccines today is ‘important day for America,’ commissioner says
Commissioner Stephen Hahn says Thursday’s meeting of the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory panel is “an important day for all of America.”
The FDA head hopes it will lead to the beginning of the end of the pandemic and a return “to a more normal and healthy life.”
Read more here. —Associated Press
7 a.m.: The year that was in Chicago music was one that, because of a pandemic, was like no other
The show must go on, even if there are no shows. That is the greatest lesson of Chicago music in 2020. In a year where culture as we’ve known it was seemingly shut down overnight, Chicago’s music scene continued to survive, albeit in a different manner than we’ve come to expect.
Advertisement
Despite the promise of our pre-pandemic world, the state of Chicago music was already in a confusing place. Long simmering issues plagued the city’s music scene, from potential closures of independent music venues to a mass exodus of young musicians seeking greater fame, fortune and opportunity on the coasts. However, much like how the pandemic shined a light on society’s racial and economic troubles, it also revealed the fragility of the city and the country’s entertainment community as a whole.
One can not underestimate the social, economic and cultural ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the city’s music scene. Unlike restaurants and retail stores which found ways to bounce back (however temporarily) as lockdown restrictions eased in the summer months, music venues remain closed for the foreseeable future.
Read more here. —Britt Julious
5 a.m.: Pandemic, civil unrest drive record-shattering increase in firearm permits, gun shopping in Illinois in 2020
Illinois residents shopped for more guns and applied for more firearm permits in 2020 than at any other time in history, according to statistics released Wednesday by state police.
With events during this unprecedented year driving the demand, there had been more than 500,000 serious inquiries to date about purchasing guns, authorities said, representing a 45% increase over 2019.
The state also has received a record 445,945 applications for firearm owner’s identification cards as of November 2020, a 167% jump from the 166,649 applications in 2017. The Illinois State Police did not release numbers for any other years but said the 2020 applications “blew past” a previous surge in 2013 after concealed carry licenses were first offered.
Advertisement
“It’s a reflection of the great deal of unease and a reflection of the tension we have in this state and across the country,” Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said. “It’s undeniable.”
Read more here. —Annie Sweeney and Stacy St. Clair
5 a.m.: Tenants’ advocates, real estate industry gear up for clash over proposed Cook County residential tenant, landlord ordinance
A simmering debate between tenants’ advocates and the real estate industry in Cook County is set to boil this month when a Board of Commissioners panel is expected to vote on a proposal to toughen suburban renters’ rights amid the pandemic-sparked housing crisis.
The proposal, dubbed the Residential Tenant Landlord Ordinance, brought by county commissioners Scott Britton and Kevin Morrison, would cement heightened landlord regulations throughout the suburbs, where about 245,000 households are renters not covered by such codes that only exist in three cities in the county: Chicago, Evanston and Mount Prospect.
It is based on the city of Chicago’s own code that has guided leases since 1986, much to the ire of some landlords who say it overreaches and stifles the market.
During a virtual news conference on Tuesday, supporters of the proposed Cook County ordinance said while the need for suburban renters to have such protections always has existed, the feared eviction wave from the coronavirus pandemic makes the stakes all the more drastic.
Advertisement
Read more here. —Alice Yin
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
In case you missed it
Here are five things that happened Wednesday related to COVID-19:


chicagotribune--2020-12-11--Chicago dive Richard’s Bar reportedly defies pandemic shutdown

“ We understand you ’ re just doing your job , as we are also just doing our job , @ @ @ @ @ for our employees and patrons , ” the notice says .
“ Please be advised @ @ @ @ @ try and close our facility on an immediate basis , without specific facts regarding an @ @ @ @ @ or if any of our licensure is wrongfully threatened , we may pursue legal damages @ @ @ @ @ as well as the specific government employee who takes any such unlawful action .
”

As far as bad behavior goes, Richard’s Bar may be one of the most infamous taverns in Chicago, known for its rumored mob connections (its owner is the sister of a supposed mob associate) and its smoky atmosphere (despite the city banning smoking indoors). Now, it’s adding another item to that list: flouting city guidelines regarding the coronavirus.
The bar reportedly was serving patrons inside as recently as Wednesday evening, according to Block Club Chicago, and had a sign posted on the door stating that it will not comply with the indoor service shutdown mandated by the state and city. Chicago’s Department of Business and Consumer Protection confirmed that it is investigating the bar. A new, handwritten sign reading “Carry-Out Only” on a piece of cardboard, was affixed to the door as of Thursday evening.
Advertisement
Richard’s Bar was issued four citations July 26 for not social distancing and for staff not wearing face masks. A hearing for these violations is scheduled for January and Richard’s Bar could be fined up to $12,500, according to Block Club Chicago. More complaints were made to the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Nov. 28, according to the report.
Richard's Bar at 491 N. Milwaukee Ave., in Chicago on Dec. 10, 2020. The bar has been reportedly defying the statewide restaurant and bar pandemic shutdown by serving patrons indoors. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
The notice posted on the River West dive bar’s door essentially told officials to kick rocks should they come knocking. The notice, according to Block Club Chicago, assured customers that the bar was taking extra precautionary measures and that all patrons needed to wear a face mask. Then it addressed “government agencies” saying that the bar owners have retained legal counsel and will provide any notices or citations to him.
Advertisement
[ Long before fatal stabbing, Richard’s Bar was already a Chicago legend — for better and for worse ]
“We understand you’re just doing your job, as we are also just doing our job, but providing a safe environment for our employees and patrons,” the notice says. “Please be advised that should the health department try and close our facility on an immediate basis, without specific facts regarding an outbreak upon our premises, or if any of our licensure is wrongfully threatened, we may pursue legal damages against the overreaching government agency as well as the specific government employee who takes any such unlawful action.”
A copy of a section of the Illinois Department of Public Health Act is also on the notice.
During the pandemic, Chicago’s Department of Business and Consumer Protection has levied fines for a number of establishments and even closed some temporarily for not obeying state and city guidelines. Isaac Reichman, spokesman for BACP, said if the department receives complaints against an establishment for continuing to violate regulations, they have the authority to not only shut it down, but keep it closed until a reopening plan is submitted and approved.
“The few businesses that choose to flout the rules are putting their community at risk and disrespecting the tens of thousands of businesses that are operating responsibly,” Reichman wrote in an email. “While this matter remains under investigation, businesses like this that openly disregard regulations have faced and will continue to face consequences.”
A sign reading "carry-out only" in the window of Richard's Bar, 491 N. Milwaukee Ave., in Chicago on Dec. 10, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Calls to Richard’s Bar’s legal counsel, Thomas DeVore, were not returned and attempts to reach someone at the bar were unsuccessful.
DeVore has filed multiple lawsuits against state agencies and Gov. J.B. Pritzker regarding coronavirus restrictions, and was publicly shamed by Pritzker, who accused him last month of posting a “bounty” to harass his family during Thanksgiving. The lawsuits range from one against the Illinois High School Association for enforcing mask mandates, in which he claims his children will be immediately and irreparably harmed during sporting activities if they have to wear masks, and another against Pritzker for applying the emergency orders across the entire state despite differing levels of outbreaks.
gwong@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-10--After 21 years, man extradited from Mexico to face charges in 1999 killing of flight attendant in De

After 21 years, man extradited from Mexico to face charges in 1999 killing of flight attendant in Des Plaines

It wasn ’ t until October 2007 when a family of immigrants told detectives about a relative in Mexico who @ @ @ @ @ threatened to kill any relative who gave him up .
The relatives said they fled @ @ @ @ @ of them with a screwdriver and also threatened to kill a second relative and her @ @

Whoever killed flight attendant Young Kavila, deeply gashing her neck, left plenty of evidence behind at her apartment in Des Plaines.
The killer had wiped his hands on her bed covers and had briefly dropped a bloody knife there. He also left clear finger and palm prints on the kitchen counter and a doorknob. But it would take 21 years to track down the suspect in Mexico and bring him back to Cook County to face murder charges.
Advertisement
Luis Rodriguez-Mena was extradited from Mexico and handed over to Des Plaines police at O’Hare International Airport on Tuesday. His case was profiled in the Tribune’s “Fugitives From Justice” series about suspects going free because of a lack of coordination between the United States and Mexico.
Luis Rodriguez-Mena was extradited from Mexico and handed over to Des Plaines police at O’Hare International Airport to face murder charges in the 1999 killing of flight attendant Young Kavila. (Des Plaines Police Department)
“We hate to leave anything unfinished. I’m ecstatic that it’s being put to bed, so to speak,” Des Plaines police Chief William Kushner said at a news conference Thursday. “The case is closed. We have the offender in custody, and I’m certain that the justice system here in Cook County will handle the case appropriately and do the right thing.
Advertisement
“It gives me closure,” he added. “I can only imagine the sense of closure it gives to the officers that actually worked the case from the start.”
For two decades, the FBI, U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, Interpol and the Mexican government worked — sometimes with little or no communication among themselves — to bring Rodriguez-Mena into custody. When authorities finally arrested him, he fought extradition for several months before finally being brought back to the States.
Randy Akin, one of the first detectives on the case who worked on it for about three years, said he was “elated, truly elated” by the arrest. “This was the only one left open,” he said. “It’s good to see how the system works.”
Flight attendant Young Kavila was killed in 1999. (Provided by Edbar Zaman)
Kavila, 30, was killed Nov. 30, 1999, after arriving in Chicago on a flight. She stopped to buy groceries and takeout Chinese food before going home around 10 p.m. But Rodriguez-Mena allegedly had gotten into her apartment in the 600 block of Colonial Lane and was waiting for her.
Kavila fought back as Rodriguez-Mena tried to sexually assault her in the kitchen, according to police. She used a small personal grooming razor to slash her attacker, but police say Rodriguez-Mena had a boot knife and cut her throat. Then he left.
Kavila’s roommate arrived minutes later and found her lying faceup on the kitchen floor. A diamond ring, necklaces and her wallet were missing.
It wasn’t until October 2007 when a family of immigrants told detectives about a relative in Mexico who bragged of the homicide and threatened to kill any relative who gave him up. The relatives said they fled Mexico after Rodriguez-Mena threatened one of them with a screwdriver and also threatened to kill a second relative and her family.
In 2011, then-Des Plaines police Detective Jennifer De Pastors stands near the apartment where Young Kavila was killed. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Detective Jennifer De Pastors, who retired several years ago, confirmed links to the crime scene fingerprints and DNA, and authorities filed first-degree murder charges against Rodriguez-Mena, a factory worker who had lived near Kavila’s apartment before abruptly returning to his childhood home in central Mexico.
Advertisement
Police located an ex-girlfriend of Rodriguez-Mena’s who had his child in 2001, and genetic testing concluded there was a 99.98% chance the child was related to the person whose blood was found at the homicide scene.
FBI agents at the time turned the case over to their Mexican counterparts, according to Tribune reporting in a 2011 story. Rodriguez-Mena learned of the manhunt and was able to stay off the grid around the time the Mexican pursuit began.
Rodriguez-Mena had been living openly at his parents’ house in the town of In Jiutepec at least until July 2007, when he secured a driver’s license in his own name, government records in central Mexico show. After that, Rodriguez-Mena’s family kept moving him around Mexico, according to Kushner.
The yellow-painted house in Jiutepec, Mexico, where Luis Rodriguez-Mena fled after he allegedly killed flight attendant Young Kavila in 1999. (Gary Marx / Chicago Tribune)
“They were aware of this right from the beginning when he fled to Mexico. In 1999, he admitted to his family members that he had killed a flight attendant in Des Plaines,” Kushner said. “They hid it from everyone. They kept hiding him and kept moving him around.”
Kushner joined the Des Plaines Police Department in 2012. At that time, officers began working the phones and reaching out to contacts in the U.S. Justice Department, U.S. Customs and Immigration, Homeland Security, Interpol and the U.S. Marshals Service to develop more information.
In February 2014, warrants were issued for Rodriguez-Mena.
Advertisement
It was unclear Thursday exactly how officials were able to finally apprehend Rodriguez-Mena. FBI spokeswoman Special Agent Siobhan Johnson wrote in an email that, “Releasable information is limited to Mexico. No additional information is available at this (time).”
Attempts to reach Kavila’s family by phone were unsuccessful.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-12-10--Chicago police say new online tool measures trust, feeling of safety in city neighborhoods

“ I think that there ’ s been a long history of distrust particularly ... between communities of color and @ @ @ @ @ And it shows .
This reflects that , ” Jordan , now the advocacy director @ @ @ @ @ New York University ’ s School of Law , said of Thursday ’ s data @ @ @ @ @ if there is a ray of hope is that CPD releasing this data on their @ @ @ @ @ take ownership of what has been reported , and that them taking ownership and being @ @ @ @ @ are saying and the disparities between communities of color and white communities will prompt them @ @ @ @ @ actions ) to correct this .
”

At a time when the Chicago Police Department and law enforcement across the country have struggled to win the trust of Black Americans, department leaders on Thursday announced a new online tool to gauge the public’s feelings about its officers.
The so-called Chicago Police Sentiment Dashboard went live on the department’s website Thursday morning, and it gives Chicagoans the option of filling out surveys that rate each of its 22 patrol districts on how its residents view the police in those areas. The current data on each district shows two average scores — one based on the level of trust and the other on level of safety — from surveys over the last three years of more than 63,000 Chicagoans, officials said.
Advertisement
Chicago police work at the scene where two people were shot, one fatally, in the 6100 block of South Bishop Street, on Sept. 27, 2020. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
According to data released by the department, residents with the lowest levels of trust in Chicago police officers and safety in their neighborhoods are from districts on the city’s South and West sides, both of which have high Black populations.
In terms of community trust in the police, the data confirms one of the long-standing criticisms of the department as it goes through a federally mandated consent decree to improve the way its officers are trained, how they’re supervised and how they treat citizens.
Advertisement
Mecole Jordan-McBride, who has led the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability, a coalition of neighborhood groups that has offered proposals to city officials about how to improve Chicago’s police force, said she wasn’t surprised it showed a low level of trust of the department in Black neighborhoods.
But she’s hopeful the new data program will help the department better understand how residents in such communities are treated by the police and how that relationship can be strengthened.
“I think that there’s been a long history of distrust particularly ... between communities of color and the Chicago Police Department. And it shows. This reflects that,” Jordan-McBride, now the advocacy director of the Policing Project at New York University’s School of Law, said of Thursday’s data. “I think that if there is a ray of hope is that CPD releasing this data on their dashboard hopefully allows them to take ownership of what has been reported, and that them taking ownership and being transparent about what community members are saying and the disparities between communities of color and white communities will prompt them to take even more (actions) to correct this.”
The same South and West side districts seeing lower police trust levels than largely white districts on the North and Northwest sides also saw more concerns about safety. South and West side districts have more violent crime than the rest of the city.
The data program has cost the Police Department $220,000 annually since the three-year survey began, and it was funded by various donors, according to police spokesman Howard Ludwig. He also said the program will be covered in the city’s 2021 budget.
Chicago police Cmdr. Angel Novalez, of the department’s community policing office, said the goal of the data is to not only help police better engage residents in the neighborhoods but also determine where to apply crime-fighting strategies if the residents express concerns about their safety.
He said the data gives the department an idea about whether those concerns align “with our efforts” in coming up with ideas to try and reduce crime and win the hearts and minds of residents.
“We may be trying things with all good intentions and they may not be as (effective) because it may not be what the public is looking for,” said Novalez. “A lot of times in law enforcement we concentrate on law enforcement, and it’s a very small segment of society that’s just as involved. We want to ensure that those silent voices, that silent majority, has an opportunity to let us know how they’re feeling, what they’re concerned with, so we can address it.”
Advertisement
The surveys were conducted by Elucd, a national data research company, beginning in 2017. The surveys were advertised through various internet sites, including on social media, according to Sujeet Rao, chief operating officer for the company. Participants were anonymous and chosen in a balanced sample of residents based on race, income levels and other neighborhood demographics, he said. Rao also noted the program has security measures in place to prevent participants from submitting multiple surveys.
Elucd calculates the trust scores for each district by asking survey participants on a scale of 0 to 10 how much they agree that police in their neighborhoods treat local residents with respect, and how much they agree that police in those areas take concerns of those residents seriously. To calculate a safety score, residents were asked on a scale of 0 to 10 how safe they feel in their neighborhoods.
The Englewood District on the South Side, an area that has struggled with crime, scored a 50, or 5 out of 10, for both trust and safety, according to the data from November. The West Side’s Harrison District, which leads Chicago in homicides this year, scored a 50 for trust and a 43, or 4.3 out of 10, for safety, the November data shows.
By contrast, the Jefferson Park District on the Northwest Side, traditionally one of the safest districts in the city, scored an 81 in trust and a 61 in safety, according to the November data. Just to the east, the Albany Park District for November scored a 71 in trust and a 62 in safety, the data shows.
Chicago police Superintendent David Brown provides an update on the newest class of district coordination officer trainees during a news conference at the McCormick Place on Sept. 4, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
The release of Thursday’s data comes after a community survey from the federal consent decree monitor earlier this year showed that while nearly 80% of white Chicago residents said the city’s police make them feel safer, less than half the Black residents who took part felt the same.
Overall, the survey, which included Black, white and Hispanic residents, showed a shared lack of confidence in the department, with only about half of all respondents saying Chicago police officers are trustworthy.
Advertisement
The monitor’s survey included interviews with 1,000 residents between November 2019 and February 2020 — notably before the Memorial Day death of George Floyd, a Black man, who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes during an arrest. The survey found that Hispanic Chicagoans overall closely tracked with the opinions of white residents, but they were more negative on specific questions about police ability to solve crime, community cooperation and fear of retaliation from officers for filing a complaint.
Black Chicagoans, however, had the most negative experiences with police, especially for the specific younger demographic the monitor focused on — young Black men between the ages of 18 and 25, according to the survey.
NYU’s Jordan-McBride said the new data released by Chicago police on Thursday shows that no one can deny what residents in Black and Hispanic communities throughout the city are saying about its police force, especially in areas of the city that could be overpoliced with not enough social services.
“I think it’s also important that police in the communities are actively working to build relationships with community members,” she said.


chicagotribune--2020-12-10--The Spin: William Barr wasn’t interviewing for job at Chicago law firm, partner says | House Black C

The Spin: William Barr wasn’t interviewing for job at Chicago law firm, partner says | House Black Caucus backs Madigan | Rahm Emanuel’s chance for spot in Biden Cabinet dimming?

* Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin is poised to become the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee , making him @ @ @ @ @ Biden as the president-elect navigates an increasingly partisan climate and some of the most contentious @ @ @ @ @ the Associated Press is reporting .
It remains to be seen whether the 76-year-old Durbin @ @ @ @ @ ranking Democrat in the Senate and has servied on the judiciary committee for 22 years @ @ @ @ @ the committee .
Key issues to be tackled will be judicial nominations as well as @ @ @ @ @ of the story here

Attorney General William Barr gives an update on Operation Legend at a press conference at Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020 in Chicago. He's flanked by U.S. Attorney John Lausch and Acting ATF Director Regina Lombardo. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Rumors that U.S. Attorney General William Barr was interviewing for a job at Chicago-based Winston & Strawn once he leaves the White House were shot down Thursday by the powerhouse law firm’s most public partner — Barr’s longtime friend Dan Webb.
The Black Caucus of the Illinois House has endorsed embattled Speaker Michael Madigan’s bid for reelection to the chamber’s leadership post, the Tribune’s Rick Pearson reports. Members say they believe they are “in a more advantageous position” to deliver their priorities under his leadership.
Advertisement
President-elect Joe Biden has made his pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs - Denis McDonough, who served as Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama. Illinois U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s name had been floated for the post.
Meantime, The Associated Press is reporting today that former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s chances of landing a spot in the Biden Cabinet “appear increasingly unlikely” as critics ranging from New York U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the NAACP continue to line up in opposition. Central to their concerns are how Emanuel’s administration handled the release of the police dashcam video of an officer shooting and killing Black teen Laquan McDonald.
Advertisement
And as Illinois marks one of the deadliest days of this pandemic, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel endorsed Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in what could be one of the final steps before a nationwide inoculation campaign begins, The Associated Press is reporting. In fact, it could launch in a matter of days.
Welcome to The Spin.
Attorney General William Barr gives an update on Operation Legend on Sept. 9, 2020, at a news conference at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
The whispers started last month after Barr, the nation’s top law enforcement officer, quietly flew into Chicago for a one-day trip with no official purpose. The November trip came two weeks after the Nov. 3 election when Barr’s boss, Republican President Donald Trump, lost his bid for a second term to Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden.
Barr’s visit also coincided with the U.S. attorney’s office here indicting four people in the ComEd bribery scheme linked to House Speaker Michael Madigan. Rumors had circulated that Barr had flown in to participate in some kind of news conference announcing those charges with U.S. Attorney John Lausch, but a spokesman for Lausch denied that anything like that was ever planned. Lausch and Barr never met while he was here, the spokesman says.
Rumors, too, circulated that Barr visited his old friend Webb — also a Republican who previously served as the U.S. attorney in Chicago — at Winston & Strawn while he was here. Today, Webb confirmed that he and his old pal Barr indeed had lunch that day — but not to discuss any job offer.
“Bill Barr and I have been close personal friends for more than 30 years. We hadn’t had much chance to talk since he became attorney general, and the other day he was on his way to Chicago for something else, I don’t know what, and he stopped by to meet with me and catch up. We had a pleasant, private lunch,” Webb said.
Asked whether Barr might be looking to join the high-powered firm when he leaves the White House, Webb said: “At no time did we ever discuss him coming to Winston (& Strawn) or even that he would be interested in coming to Winston. It never happened. There is no truth to it.” (Jason Meisner)
Vice President Joe Biden and Mayor Rahm Emanuel talk Nov. 25, 2013, after an event celebrating the first domestic violence shelter built in Chicago in more than a decade. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Mike Balsamo and Aamer Madhani of The Associated Press report: “Rahm Emanuel’s chances of landing a top Cabinet post in Joe Biden’s administration appear increasingly unlikely after the former Chicago mayor emerged as a source of controversy for the president-elect, who had been considering Emanuel for transportation secretary, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
Advertisement
“Emanuel, among multiple candidates in the running for the Cabinet position, appeared to slip down the list in the last two weeks after progressive leaders, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, criticized the prospect of nominating him for the post, the person said Thursday. That concern has grown deeper in recent days, particularly after the Rev. Al Sharpton raised similar concerns during a meeting with Biden and other civil rights leaders, the person said.” Read the full story here.
* Joe Biden names Susan Rice as domestic policy adviser; Denis McDonough to lead Veterans Affairs — The Associated Press is reporting that Biden is “nominating Denis McDonough, who was Obama’s White House chief of staff, as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, a sprawling agency that has presented organizational challenges for both parties over the years.”
Illinois’ Duckworth, an Army combat veteran who lost both her legs when her helicopter was shot down in Iraq, had been mentioned as a possibility to land that spot in Biden’s Cabinet.
* Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin is poised to become the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, making him a key ally of Joe Biden as the president-elect navigates an increasingly partisan climate and some of the most contentious policy areas in Congress, the Associated Press is reporting. It remains to be seen whether the 76-year-old Durbin, who is the second ranking Democrat in the Senate and has servied on the judiciary committee for 22 years, will rise to chair the committee. Key issues to be tackled will be judicial nominations as well as immigration. Read the rest of the story here
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
Speaker Michael Madigan on the House floor on Feb. 20, 2019. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
The move by the Illinois House’s Black Caucus was expected and came after Madigan appeared virtually before the group along with his only public challenger for speaker, state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit of Oswego, at a “candidate’s forum” on Saturday, Pearson reports.
Advertisement
Pearson also notes that the caucus “has been one of the most loyal constituencies for Madigan, the nation’s longest serving House speaker, who now finds his tenure in jeopardy. Madigan has been implicated in a federal bribery investigation in which Commonwealth Edison agreed to pay a $200 million fine and agreed to cooperate after acknowledging its role in a near-decadelong effort to curry favor with the speaker by offering jobs and contracts to his allies.” Read the full story here.
* The math: Madigan needs 60 votes to retain the gavel; so far he doesn’t have it, with 19 House Democrats of an expected 73-member majority in the next General Assembly saying already they will not support Madigan’s reelection for speaker.
The Black Caucus represents about one-third of the 60 members needed for election as speaker. Of its 22 members, only one, state Rep. Maurice West of Rockford, has said he will not support Madigan’s reelection to the speaker’s chair.
Paul Becvar, 38, of Yorkville, prepares to buy a weapon from Barry Torphy, owner of Bat Arms gun store in Plano, on March 18, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)
From the Tribune’s Annie Sweeney and Stacy St. Clair: “Illinois residents shopped for more guns and applied for more firearm permits in 2020 than at any other time in history, according to statistics released Wednesday by state police.”
Illinois State Police has struggled to keep up with the record number of applications for firearm owner’s identification cards, Sweeney and St. Clair report, but leaders say they’re doing what they can to remedy the issue.
Republican state lawmakers, some of whom are longtime critics of the FOID card’s very existence, are blaming Pritzker and calling on the state to suspend the permitting process until the agency can improve its response time.
Advertisement
“When it comes to our most basic rights, like the right to keep and bear arms, there is no room for error or delay,” said state Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Morrisonville. “I hear every single day from frustrated constituents who have been waiting months upon months to receive renewals or initial FOID cards and concealed carry licenses. The Pritzker administration is failing to lead on this issue. Illinoisans deserve better.”
Pritzker said this week that his office is trying to address the backlog, but that he inherited a problem - namely the funding to keep up with the fulfilling application requests - from Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Food and Drug Administration building is shown Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020 in Silver Spring, Md. A U.S. government advisory panel convened on Thursday to decide whether to endorse mass use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to help conquer the outbreak that has killed close to 300,000 Americans. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
A U.S. government advisory panel endorsed widespread use of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine Thursday, putting the country just one step away from launching an epic vaccination campaign against the outbreak that has killed close to 300,000 Americans, the Associated Press reports.
Shots could begin within days, depending on how quickly the Food and Drug Administration signs off, as expected, on the expert committee’s recommendation. Read the rest of the AP story here.
The news comes as Illinois reports 11,101 newly diagnosed coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours - its highest number of new coronavirus cases in more than a week - and 196 deaths. That’s the third-highest daily death toll in the state since the pandemic began, my colleague Dan Petrella writes.
Petrella also notes: “The high numbers come two weeks after the Thanksgiving holiday that health officials worried could be a COVID-19 superspreader event. One day’s numbers aren’t enough to indicate whether those fears came true but public health officials have said we’re entering the period when a possible post-Thanksgiving surge would begin to show up in the data.”
Advertisement
* Mayor Lightfoot, Gov. Pritzker signal they’re ready to launch vaccinations here. The Tribune’s Gregory Pratt and Jamie Munks lay out the details here.
* On Wednesday, COVID-19 killed more Americans than died in Normandy on D-Day, the Associated Press reports.
* Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell signals no GOP support for emerging COVID-19 relief deal. Read that AP story here.
* While federal pandemic relief is set to expire, there’s still COVID-19 aid available in Illinois, my Tribune colleagues report. Details here on how to get help.
Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas (Tribune photo by Charles Osgood)
The Tribune’s Hal Dardick writes: “Every two years, Cook County conducts what’s called the scavenger sale. Tens of thousands of mostly vacant and often abandoned properties with a significant amount of unpaid taxes go up for auction, with the aim of getting them into the hands of people who can return the land to productive use and put it back on the tax rolls.
County Treasurer Maria Pappas is out with a new report that concludes the 81-year-old program isn’t working. Not enough people are bidding on the properties, she says, and so the parcels often remain eyesores, a deterrent to revitalizing the neighborhoods they blight. That especially hurts struggling Black city neighborhoods and south suburbs, Pappas notes.
Advertisement
While the veteran county official makes no recommendations of her own, she contends it’s time for the General Assembly, which authorized the scavenger sale back in 1939, to come up with a better solution to restoring such properties.
* Tenants’ advocates, real estate industry gear up for clash over proposed Cook County residential tenant, landlord ordinance, the Tribune’s Alice Yin reports. The proposal calls for tougher suburban renters’ rights amid the pandemic-sparked housing crisis, Yin notes. But a representative of a landlords’ organization contends the measure will bury them in legal fees and costs that will put pressure on them to raise rents at a time when affordable housing is needed more than ever.
* More suburban news: Balmoral Park, following a rebirth after the end of harness racing, is on the market for $4 million, the Daily Southtown’s Mike Nolan reports. Read the story here.
Thanks for reading The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Have a tip? Email host Lisa Donovan at ldonovan@chicagotribune.com.
Twitter @byldonovan


chicagotribune--2020-12-10--Judge upholds firing of officer dismissed in the wake of Laquan McDonald case

“ Any conflict between what was said in that brief conversation and how the incident appeared on video can certainly @ @ @ @ @ than an intentional lie , ” Needham said in the filing .
“ For example @ @ @ @ @ hearing that he originally thought that he had been outside of his squad car when @ @ @ @ @ ( a ) fter viewing all the videos ’ he realized he was mistaken and @ @ @ @ @ simultaneously as my doors were being opened .
’ ”

A Cook County judge on Thursday upheld the firing of a Chicago police officer for his role in the alleged cover-up of police actions in the Laquan McDonald killing.
Judge Sophia Hall ruled the Chicago Police Board made a sound decision in dismissing Officer Ricardo Viramontes last year for several Chicago Police Department rule violations, including making false statements, bringing discredit to the department and failing to promote its goals.
Advertisement
A written decision from Hall was not immediately made public on Thursday. But Viramontes’ lawyer, Tom Needham, said his client was disappointed in Hall’s ruling, “hoping he would get a chance to get back the job that he loved.” Viramontes, who was a Chicago cop for 14 years, now has the option of taking up Hall’s decision with the state appellate court.
Viramontes was the third Chicago police officer whose firing was upheld by the Cook County Circuit Court in connection with the McDonald shooting. Sgt. Stephen Franko and Officer Daphne Sebastian had their police board firings affirmed by separate judges last month. A fourth officer, Janet Mondragon, is awaiting a judge’s decision in an appeal to her dismissal by the board.
Advertisement
The four lost their jobs over statements they made to an investigator, or approved in police reports, that did not line up with video footage of the 17-year-old McDonald’s slaying. They each petitioned to have their firings reviewed by the circuit court, a common course of action for any Chicago officer fired by the Police Board.
After Thursday’s ruling, Needham lamented how higher-ranking officers who initially faced firing in the case, including two members of the department’s command staff, were allowed to retire while Viramontes and the three other officers got the worst punishment.
“One of the things that’s disheartening about this case is that the sanctions that were imposed on all the officers involved in this, it seems like the higher you were in rank the less likely it was that you’d suffer some severe sanctions,” Needham said. “The people who paid with their careers were the lowest ranking people. Something about that just seems unfair.”
The allegations against Viramontes were based on statements he made to David March, the lead detective on the scene of the Oct. 20, 2014, shooting, and during his disciplinary hearing before the board in April 2019. As documented in March’s reports, Viramontes told him that McDonald turned toward Officers Jason Van Dyke and Joseph Walsh before Van Dyke shot and killed the 17-year-old.
Viramontes also told March that McDonald tried to get up with a knife in his hand after being shot. But the Police Board said squad car video that captured the shooting did not show that, and in its 55-page decision found that Viramontes was not telling the truth about what he saw.
But in a memorandum filed in court earlier this year Needham urged Hall to pay close attention to a slow-motion version of the footage played during the April hearing. Needham in the paperwork argued the footage supports his client’s story.
Among other things, Needham also said in the filing there was no evidence Viramontes “intentionally lied” to March. The officer’s interaction with the detective was short and should not have been considered a formal interview, Needham argued.
“Any conflict between what was said in that brief conversation and how the incident appeared on video can certainly be a simple mistake rather than an intentional lie,” Needham said in the filing. “For example, Viramontes explained at the hearing that he originally thought that he had been outside of his squad car when the shooting began but ‘(a)fter viewing all the videos’ he realized he was mistaken and the shooting actually began ‘simultaneously as my doors were being opened.’ ”
Advertisement
Needham wrote that Viramontes should not be held accountable for the way March wrote his reports. Needham also noted that March was never called by the city to testify before the board to explain his side of things. “In essence, the Board was saying that Viramontes was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t,” Needham wrote in his memorandum.
Needham in his filing also slammed the board for using language in its written findings that he argued was purely speculative. The lawyer pointed to the board’s statements that Viramontes was trying to justify the 16 times Van Dyke shot McDonald.
“There was no evidence that Viramontes had any relationship whatsoever with Van Dyke or any motive to deliberately lie to March about what he saw,” Needham wrote. “Nothing about his personal or professional background would lead one to believe that he is not a truthful person.”
Van Dyke was the first Chicago cop in half a century to be convicted of an on-duty murder in October 2018. But a judge cleared Walsh, who was Van Dyke’s partner, March and Officer Thomas Gaffney of criminal conspiracy charges related to the shooting in a controversial ruling a few months later.
jgorner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-10--Northern lights show disappoints, space scientist says

Astronomers had thought that because of the strength of the solar flare , the aurora borealis might be visible to @ @ @ @ @ to see it but not had the chance to travel to Canada or Alaska , @ @ @ @ @ much of the year .
He said the glancing off means the aurora will not @ @ @ @ @ either , because the Earth ’ s electric grid was not energized as it would @ @ @ @ @ geomagnetic storm .

After raising hopes of a spectacular light show in parts of the country that usually don’t get to see the northern lights, scientists who predicted the aurora borealis might be seen as far south as northern Illinois said Thursday the light show isn’t coming to a sky near you.
Rodney Viereck, a scientist with the national Space Weather Prediction Center, said Thursday that the solar flare that was expected to created a geomagnetic storm somehow hit the Earth less full-on than expected overnight Wednesday into Thursday,
Advertisement
“We feel bad that we may have gotten a lot of people excited unnecessarily and it would be nice to have a tempering of expectations. We feel like, darn, we missed, sorry about that — but don’t give up yet, we’re expecting more opportunities in the future,” he said.
After the solar flare left the sun, what’s known as the Coronal Mass Ejection, or CME, arrived at Earth last night as expected but the bulk of the CME likely “went south of Earth, so we missed the chance for a big storm,” he said in an email.
Advertisement
Apparently, “there was a what we call a shock in the solar wind, and none of the elements that normally create a geomagnetic storm were there,” Viereck said by phone. “So the magnetic field didn’t really get energized, the solar wind didn’t really pick up speed so what we hypothesize is that the CME really didn’t hit earth bang on. It’s called a glancing off.”
Viereck and astronomers at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago had said Wednesday that timing was also a component in determining whether there would be a light show Wednesday or Thursday night.
Astronomers had thought that because of the strength of the solar flare, the aurora borealis might be visible to people who have always wanted to see it but not had the chance to travel to Canada or Alaska, where the lights are visible much of the year. He said the glancing off means the aurora will not be visible Thursday night, either, because the Earth’s electric grid was not energized as it would be had it caused a geomagnetic storm.
Some people much farther north did report seeing the northern lights Wednesday night, but the light show never made its way down as far south as southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, as scientists had said it might.
“As for when they might occur again, big question mark. That’s the interesting part,” said Michelle Nichols, an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium.
She and Viereck said as Earth nears solar maximum in the next four to six years, a period with increasing solar activity, there could be another chance for a large solar flare.
”This will become commonplace with activity every month or two,” Viereck said. “So, maybe in the future. Maybe next time,” he said.


chicagotribune--2020-12-10--Illinois reports 11,101 daily COVID-19 cases, highest in more than a week, and 196 deaths, third mos

Illinois reports 11,101 daily COVID-19 cases, highest in more than a week, and 196 deaths, third most since pandemic began

Later Thursday , an advisory panel of the federal Food and Drug Administration voted to recommend emergency use authorization for @ @ @ @ @ Pfizer and BioNTech .
If the FDA grants authorization within days as expected , the @ @ @ @ @ arrive in Illinois by next week , in what could prove to be a first @ @ @ @ @ pandemic .

Illinois on Thursday reported its highest number of new coronavirus cases in more than a week and the third-highest daily death toll since the pandemic began.
The high numbers come two weeks after the Thanksgiving holiday that health officials worried could be a COVID-19 superspreader event. One day’s statistics aren’t enough to indicate whether those fears are coming true but public health officials have said we’re entering the period when a possible post-Thanksgiving surge would begin to show up in the data.
Advertisement
The 196 fatalities reported Thursday bring the statewide death toll to 13,861 since March. The only days with higher reported death tolls were Dec. 2, with 238, and Dec. 5, with 208. The record-setting total on Dec. 2 was due in part to delayed reporting over the long Thanksgiving weekend.
The state has averaged 148 COVID-19 deaths per day over the past week.
Advertisement
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at his daily coronavirus briefing Thursday that the high number of deaths in recent days are more likely a “lagging indicator” of the massive surge in infections prior to Thanksgiving rather than a sign of widespread transmission at holiday gatherings.
While the leading indicators, such as the positivity rate for coronavirus tests, continue trending in the right direction, Pritzker said, “we are not out of the Thanksgiving surge period yet.”
The state reported 11,101 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases Thursday, the highest daily total since 12,542 cases were reported Dec. 1. It’s the first time since Dec. 4 that the case count topped 10,000. That’s partly attributable to the highest number of test results over the previous 24 hours since Dec. 1.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker gives a state coronavirus update from the Thompson Center in Chicago on Dec. 1, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
The case positivity rate — the percentage of cases as a share of total tests — averaged 9.5% for the week ending Wednesday, down from 10.6% for the week ending Dec. 1. The state also has seen improvements in the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 over the course of this month.
As of Wednesday night, there were 5,138 patients in Illinois hospitals with COVID-19, 1,081 of them in intensive care and 606 on ventilators. Those figures are all down from the start of the month.
“I cannot overstate how preliminary this progress is,” Pritzker said, noting that next wave of holidays is just getting underway with the first night of Hanukkah on Thursday.
As they did in the lead-up to Thanksgiving, Pritzker and Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike encouraged the public to limit upcoming holiday celebrations to their own households.
“I urge you not to plan an end-of-year party or holiday party in the large gatherings that we’re used to, but start planning for the end-of-pandemic party for next year,” Ezike said.
Advertisement
Later Thursday, an advisory panel of the federal Food and Drug Administration voted to recommend emergency use authorization for the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. If the FDA grants authorization within days as expected, the first shipment of doses could arrive in Illinois by next week, in what could prove to be a first key step toward ending the pandemic.
Even with arrival of the vaccine appearing imminent, state officials continue to tweak plans for how the initial 109,000 doses Illinois expects to receive will be distributed to health care workers and nursing home residents.
The Pritzker administration announced last week that the vaccine’s first doses would be divided up among the 50 counties with the highest per capita death rates from the virus. In the Chicago area, that includes Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will counties, but not McHenry County.
But after determining that a handful of those 50 counties don’t have hospitals, state officials are working to reallocate a portion of the first vaccine shipment to hospitals in nearby counties and regional medical centers that would treat patients from those areas.
Pritzker also provided an update on his administration’s efforts to control the spread of the virus at state-run veterans homes in the wake of an outbreak at the home in LaSalle that has killed 33 residents since early November. Pritzker fired the home’s administrator Monday and placed its nursing director on administrative leave.
Members of the Illinois National Guard are now at the home providing support for more widespread testing “so that medical staff can focus on direct patient support,” Pritzker said.
Advertisement
Additional Guard members are scheduled to arrive Monday at the state veterans homes in Quincy, where 32 of 293 residents and 22 staff members have tested positive, and in Manteno, Pritzker said.
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-10--79-year-old Harold’s Chicken Shack owner cooking alone at ghost kitchen: ‘It’s so bad I can barely p

79-year-old Harold’s Chicken Shack owner cooking alone at ghost kitchen: ‘It’s so bad I can barely pay rent’

Owner Percy Billings , 79 , had said over the summer that he was not planning to open another location @ @ @ @ @ the age where he didn ’ t have the energy , but plans changed for @ @ @

Harold’s Chicken Shack #55, widely considered the best franchise of the beloved fried chicken restaurants founded on the South Side of Chicago, has opened a ghost kitchen location on the North Side.
The original Harold’s #55 at 87th Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway closed in July after the rent went up more than 40%. A takeout-only location has remained open nearby in the Chatham neighborhood. Two food trucks, which once served office workers downtown, sit idle.
Advertisement
The ghost kitchen Harold’s #55 opened quietly two months ago at 850 W. Superior St. as a one-man remote operation. Ghost kitchens or virtual restaurants offer only pickup or delivery, typically through third-party services.
Owner Percy Billings, 79, had said over the summer that he was not planning to open another location, because he was at the age where he didn’t have the energy, but plans changed for one reason.
Advertisement
Percy Billings at his now-closed Harold's Chicken #55 in the West Chatham neighborhood of Chicago on Aug. 22, 2019. The restaurant closed this summer. He's opened a ghost kitchen on the North Side to help bring in more revenue. (Louisa Chu / Chicago Tribune)
“Bills!” said Billings. “I didn’t have enough money saved up like I thought I did. This virus that’s going on got me messed up. Money got funny so I’m trying to get some more income in.”
His restaurant was once a hub in the Black community. Customers lined up to order from counter staff who called orders to cooks who fried chicken from scratch. You waited at tables that became communal by default, not high design.
“Yeah, I’m back in the kitchen,” said Billings. “You order it, I cook, someone comes pick it up and they bring it to you.”
He does have someone come in to relieve him when he has other things to do.
“It’s kind of nice if I’m not around nobody. I’m off in the kitchen by myself,” said Billings. “I can do my own thing.”
The ghost kitchen facility is also home to a number of other restaurants, including Wendy’s and Fatburger, the Los Angeles based chain.
“Business is real slow right now,” said Billings. “It’s so bad I can barely pay rent.”
With restaurants hit so hard by coronavirus closures, third-party delivery apps have come under fire for charging owners fees as high as 30%. A former executive for Chicago-based Grubhub compared the apps to payday lenders.
Advertisement
DoorDash added a so-called Chicago fee of $1.50 per order after the city capped delivery fees at 15%. The company is now worth $72 billion after its stock market debut on Wednesday.
It’s unclear if the ghost kitchen Harold’s #55 or any virtual restaurant can make as much off app-dependent ventures as they could from traditional restaurants. Commission and contract details are as confusing as any extremely fine print agreements.
Billings still plans to take his one day off per year, and answers emphatically when asked.
“Yes, yes I am. I’ll take off Christmas,” he said. Billings hasn’t lost his sense of humor though. “Why? Are you bringing me a Christmas present?” he asked, laughing. “I need all the help I can get now.”
The best way customers can help, Billings said, is to order from the Harold’s #55 Express location on the South Side. Call directly then pay by cash or credit for takeout. You can ask for curbside pickup too. “I’ll have someone out to do that,” he said.
Harold’s #55 Express, 8653 S. State St., 773-874-8653, haroldschicken55.com
Advertisement
lchu@chicagotribune.com