chicagotribune--2020-02-20--Former Bulls guard Ben Gordon describes his struggles with mental illness in The Players’ Tribune: ‘

Former Bulls guard Ben Gordon describes his struggles with mental illness in The Players’ Tribune: ‘I was obsessed with killing myself’

The Bulls selected Gordon out of Connecticut with the No .
3 pick in the 2004 draft , and he @ @ @ @ @ NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in his rookie season of 2004-05 .
He @ @ @ @ @ in five seasons with the Bulls from 2004-09 .
They reached the playoffs in four @ @ @ @ @ as far as the second round once .

Former Bulls guard Ben Gordon opened up about his struggles with mental illness — including thoughts of suicide — in an article in The Players’ Tribune that posted Thursday.
He describes himself at one point in his life as believing he was in “some type of purgatory.”
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“I was obsessed with killing myself,” Gordon wrote. “It’s all I researched, all I thought about. One night my panic attacks got so bad that all I could think about was escape.”
Gordon recalls channeling his “obsessive” tendencies into basketball throughout his life, an outlet he struggled to replace once his NBA career ended in 2015.
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“On the outside, I’d be totally blank,” he wrote, describing his reputation as a player. "I wouldn’t say anything. You could talk (expletive) to me, you could bump me, you could do anything to me, and I was a blank slate.
“But inside, I had a million and one thoughts going on.”
The Bulls selected Gordon out of Connecticut with the No. 3 pick in the 2004 draft, and he went on to win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in his rookie season of 2004-05. He averaged 18.5 points per game in five seasons with the Bulls from 2004-09. They reached the playoffs in four of those seasons, advancing as far as the second round once.
Gordon signed with the Pistons as a free agent in 2009, eventually finishing his 11-year career with stints with the Hornets and Magic.


chicagotribune--2020-02-20--Bulls never lead in their 7th straight loss, 103-93 to the Hornets

The Bulls ’ injury bay reads nearly as deep as its roster .
They missed three starters and had only @ @ @ @ @ Gafford returned to the frontcourt rotation for the first time since Feb. 2 , checking @ @ @ @ @ quarter ahead of Cristiano Felicio .
Gafford fouled out in the fourth quarter with five @ @ @ @ @

The United Center was brimming with excitement and star power during All-Star Weekend. Just a few days later, the start of Thursday’s game against the Hornets had the empty feeling of a movie set after all the props had been disassembled and cleared out.
The Bulls had talked this week about attacking the final 27 games with purpose and gusto, despite dealing with a rash of injured players. They lacked any spark until the third quarter, when they found their 3-point stroke and fought back from a 21-point deficit.
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But the Bulls still suffered their seventh straight defeat — their longest skid of the season — in a 103-93 loss to the Hornets. Despite a short-lived rally, they never led.
The Bulls missed their first 17 3-point attempts, breaking the drought on a wide-open look from the left corner by Zach LaVine with 8 minutes, 41 seconds remaining in the third quarter. They took — and, of course, missed — all 15 first-half 3-point attempts.
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“They jumped on us,” LaVine said. “We didn’t play with the same energy.”
Despite the Bulls priding themselves on defense, the Hornets shot 52.4% in the first half and 47.3% for the game. The Bulls held Devonte’ Graham, who entered the game averaging 18.1 points, scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting.
Here are four takeaways from the Bulls’ loss.
1. The Bulls will need a mental edge to survive the final 26 games.
The Bulls players claim they have the fortitude to finish the season on a strong note.
Veteran Thaddeus Young pointed to getting through a 19-63 season when he was with the 76ers in 2013-14.
“It’s very frustrating,” he said. “I’ve been on teams like this in the past. (My) last year with the Sixers, we were horrible. I’m battle-tested. I can get through it. It’s all about keep fighting, keep pushing, and hopefully the tides can turn and we can start getting some wins. I’m going to go hard no matter what.”
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 12 Bulls guard Zach LaVine peeks at the video board in the second quarter. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
LaVine echoed the sentiment, insinuating these upcoming games are gut checks. He said it’s important for players to tune out rumors about management changes.
“It ain’t my job,” he said of worrying about changes at the top of the franchise. “I lace my shoes up and get ready to play. There’s rumors about everything in this league. As a player, you can’t get distracted from the task at hand or what your job is. Your job isn’t worried about that. You go out there and play the game. That’s what my job is.”
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LaVine, who scored 19 points with seven assists and seven rebounds, warned against looking toward the end of the season.
“You’ve got to stay locked in,” he said. “You can’t be looking at that April date. You can’t be in vacation mode. We have a lot of season left. This is our job. This is a dream job, something millions of people wish they could do. It’s a tough situation. Nobody likes being in a losing situation, but you get to see who’s fighting with you and who’s not, too. Go out there and battle.”
2. Thaddeus Young’s season-high night is something to build on.
So what has changed for Young, who scored a season-high 22 points in 36 minutes?
“More minutes,” he said, cracking a smile in front of his locker.
Young was 10-of-18 shooting to go with 11 rebounds — his second double-double in three games. He scored eight points in the third quarter when the Bulls threatened a comeback, pulling within 70-68.
“Just went out there and played the game and took what came to me,” Young said.
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Coach Jim Boylen said he appreciated Young’s third-quarter competitiveness.
“Thad competes,” Boylen said. “He tries to make plays. He moves on from a mistake and keeps playing. I thought in the second half he was a big part of our run.”
Young, who entered the game averaging 9.7 points, has averaged 13.8 points in his last 10 games, the same amount of time starting power forward Lauri Markkanen has missed with a pelvis injury.
“I’ve been playing longer stretches,” he said. “Just going out there and doing me, playing basketball and playing free.”
3. The Bulls’ strong third quarter wasn’t enough to counter that slow start.
The excuses could be plentiful.
The Bulls were short-staffed with three starters out and only nine players available. They were coming off the All-Star break and hadn’t gotten their legs back. They were adjusting to different lineups and players moving into different positions.
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Whatever the reason, the Bulls fell behind by 21 points in the first half and trailed 60-44 at halftime.
“I thought we were sluggish in the first half, kind of getting our legs under us,” Boylen said. “I don’t know exactly why, but I thought we recovered in the third, made a run and made it a game. Our group was disappointed (at halftime). They knew they didn’t play well and needed to be more active and came out and responded.”
The Bulls outscored the Hornets 29-19 in the third quarter, making 5 of 6 3-pointers during one stretch. They also locked in on defense, scoring six points off six turnovers.
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“We don’t want to go out there and lose by 40,” LaVine said of the Bulls’ halftime mentality. “We at least want to go out and make a comeback. We had to make some type of adjustment.”
4. The injury bay remains deep.
Nearly as deep as its Bulls’ roster.
Daniel Gafford returned to the frontcourt rotation for the first time since Feb. 2, checking in early in the first quarter ahead of Cristiano Felicio. Gafford fouled out in the fourth quarter with five points in 16 minutes.
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The Bulls were without Otto Porter Jr. (left foot fracture) and Wendell Carter Jr. (right ankle sprain), who both began practicing again this week after long recoveries. Markkanen missed his 10th straight game.
Chandler Hutchison (shoulder) suffered a setback in his last game against the Wizards, and Boylen said Thursday he doesn’t expect the forward back soon.
“To say he’s day to day is probably a stretch,” Boylen said before the game.
The Bulls also were without Kris Dunn, who it was announced Thursday needs 4-6 more weeks before another examination on the MCL sprain he suffered Jan. 31.


chicagotribune--2020-02-20--Suspect in deadly CTA pedestrian tunnel shooting charged with murder, aggravated battery after ‘shoc

Suspect in deadly CTA pedestrian tunnel shooting charged with murder, aggravated battery after ‘shocking’ attack, police say

Beck , who spoke Thursday evening following a Police Board meeting at the Public Safety Headquarters in Bronzeville , said @ @ @ @ @ with first-degree murder and aggravated battery , was picked up in Oak Park on an @ @ @ @ @ 22 prior arrests including one as recently as January for criminal trespass .

The body of a shooting victim is removed from a CTA subway station at State Street and Jackson Boulevard in Chicago on Feb. 17, 2020. A man was shot and killed and two others were wounded in a CTA pedestrian tunnel, according to police. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Authorities on Thursday announced the arrest and charging of a suspect in the early Monday shooting in a pedestrian tunnel that connects the Red and Blue line Jackson stop that left one dead and two others wounded.
Interim police Superintendent Charlie Beck identified the suspect as Torrez D. Cathery, 23.
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Torrez Cathery, 23, of the 7300 South Perry Avenue in Chicago, was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery for a deadly shooting in the CTA's Blue Line on Feb. 17, 2020 at State Street and Jackson Boulevard. (Chicago police department)
Beck, who spoke Thursday evening following a Police Board meeting at the Public Safety Headquarters in Bronzeville, said Cathery, who was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery, was picked up in Oak Park on an arrest warrant. The warrant was issued Wednesday, according to court records. Cathery had 22 prior arrests including one as recently as January for criminal trespass.
The attack happened just after 2 a.m. Monday. One man was shot in the abdomen and chest, and died at the scene in the 200 block of South Dearborn Street.
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Killed was Edward Charleston, 24, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. A second man was shot in the head and the arm, while a 19-year-old woman was shot in the lower back.
Cathery was involved in some sort of dispute with one of the victims in October. During that incident, one of the men displayed a knife, said Beck.
Early Monday, one of the shooting victims from that morning was with a group when he spotted Cathery, said Beck. He said the group followed Cathery into the pedway connecting the Jackson Red Line station with the Blue Line.
As the group approached, Cathery was alleged to have turned around and fired a 9mm handgun, said Beck. Twelve bullet casings were found on scene, he said.
Beck described surveillance video of the incident as “shocking.”
“It not only shows (the gunman) turning and firing at the group,” said Beck, “but after one of the individuals goes down, he walks over and shoots into him execution-style right above him.”
There were also 6-month-old twins within the group that was fired upon, Beck said, but neither were injured.
Members of the joint Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, made up of Chicago police and U.S. Marshals Service officers, arrested the suspect, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a tweet. The tweet said the arrest occurred in Oak Brook, but authorities later corrected the information to say the arrest took place in Oak Park.
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Federal agents tazed the suspect and placed him into custody, Guglielmi said in the tweet.


chicagotribune--2020-02-20--Review: In ‘Kill Move Paradise’ at TimeLine Theatre, black lives are cut short — then they turn on t

Review: In ‘Kill Move Paradise’ at TimeLine Theatre, black lives are cut short — then they turn on the audience

The characters suggest some might be sleeping .
They imply everyone can well afford their tickets .
They try to @ @ @ @ @ palpable unease : You are so fragile , they say , evoking an in-vogue term @ @ @ @ @ people are faced with even a small amount of what the author Robin DiAngelo called @ @ @ @ @ such as being accused of implicit bias .
This is a nomenclature that about half @ @ @ @ @ acknowledges , at least to some extent ; the other half finds being called racist @ @ @ @ @ and the end of open conversation .

Ryan Emens’ pulsing set for “Kill Move Paradise,” the new show at TimeLine Theatre, looks like a half pipe in a skateboard park. On to that ramp, one after another, are flung a series of bodies, all belonging to African-American men.
In James Ijames’ play, directed with passionate visual panache and visceral emotional force by Wardell Clark, the bodies seem to be alive but are, we quickly come to see, dead.
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In a play that feels variously indebted to George C. Wolfe’s “The Colored Museum,” Amiri Baraka’s “Dutchman,” Peter Handke’s “Offending the Audience," Robert O’Hara’s “Bootycandy” and Jean-Paul Sartre’s “No Exit,” we’re in a purgatorial netherworld, except the focus is not on the moral rectitude of the inhabitants but on the systemic racism that, the play implies, took away their very lives.
The men, all richly played by Kai A. Ealy, Charles Andrew Gardner, Cage Sebastian Pierre and (at the performance I saw) young Trent Davis, take some time to figure out where they have landed, but their main impulse, which matches that of the playwright, is causal. How could you have forgotten to signal a left turn at one moment, and be shot at the next? How could you be selling CDs and then be suddenly sent off to meet your maker?
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In the corner of the stage is a dot-matrix printer, spitting out the names of real African Americans, unarmed and killed, mostly by people in authority. The men come to see that a “cohort” is being gathered, pending transportation to a final destination.
In many moments, incontrovertibly excellent, the work functions as a declaration that black lives matter, that the bodies you see before you do not deserve this fate, that enough is enough, that there is a problem here that all Americans need to solve. These performers, I intuit, are working on this at some personal cost.
In arguing that all white people are causally complicit in this carnage, Ijames connects to a long political tradition in radical playwriting, dating back at least half a century. But he goes much further.
The men spend time watching the audience, watching them. And then they begin to try and provoke a reaction: Why are you sitting here staring? Do you see me? Do I scare you?
Ealy, who plays a character named Isa, is tasked with this difficult job, intentionally uncomfortable for an audience. And in these moments, Ijames explicitly articulates what many radical theater people these days feel about older, white audiences.
The characters suggest some might be sleeping. They imply everyone can well afford their tickets. They try to find a viewer expressing some palpable unease: You are so fragile, they say, evoking an in-vogue term for what happens when white people are faced with even a small amount of what the author Robin DiAngelo called “racial stress,” such as being accused of implicit bias. This is a nomenclature that about half of white America understands and acknowledges, at least to some extent; the other half finds being called racist to be both deeply offensive and the end of open conversation.
These are all valid tools for political activism and I have no beef with attacking a comfortable audience. It can make for dynamic theater. And it does here, albeit wobbly-dynamic.
But it helps when the writer acknowledges the many paradoxes at work here, starting with theater (outside of academia, at least) being a voluntary act that costs people time and money, and that the people who are willing to plunk down cash and a Saturday night out to be told of their fragility almost certainly belong in that first half. Given that people have an absolute right not to come, that means the activist doesn’t reach some of the most desirable targets. Bunkers result.
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Moreover, the premise is reductive. Ridiculously so. Not all the audience around me Wednesday was rich or sleepy or white. Some had big hearts and profound self-awareness. And if Ealy and the rest of this play and production were fully secure and certain about what to do about that, how to control for that, it was not fully evident.
Cage Sebastian Pierre, Kai A. Ealy and Charles Andrew Gardner in "Kill Move Paradise" at TimeLine Theatre Company. (Lara Goetsch photo)
Still, this work is rooted in the deepest kind of frustration and, I think, it behooves our shared democracy for most of us to listen and get past what most certainly can be a visceral kind of resistance. Some will. Some will walk out, and TimeLine will be sending out apologetic emails.
And, yes, also changing some hearts and igniting understanding.
If you’ve read me over the years, you’ll know my lifelong position that theater is at its most effective when it brings people together, moves us, challenges us, and makes us see the unseen. Thanks to these actors, and a director willing and able to show us the cost, the performative cost, of just staying alive, the most secure moments of “Kill Move Paradise” do precisely that. I’ve seen numerous plays with this theme over the last few weeks, and this is a vivid addition. Clark finds many moments of truth and he builds a beautiful ensemble spirit.
I suspect Ijames would say that he is writing about a crisis and, in times of emergency, polite deference is for the birds. He has evidence. But like most things in theater and life, the solution will require unity.
Can you shock people in that direction? If you go to this, you’ll have to let me know what you think.
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Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
Review: “Kill Move Paradise” (3 stars)
When: Through April 5
Where: TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave.
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
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Tickets: $42-$57 at 773-281-8463 or timelinetheatre.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-20--David Ross insists he have the final say on the lineup: 4 takeaways from Cubs spring training

“ It gives you time to either be ( upset ) or get over being ( upset ) or be @ @ @ @ @ it , ” Rizzo said .
“ It gives you time to get excited for @ @ @ @ @ want to go .
Here , it ’ s been exciting .
I know Kris @ @ @ @ @ ”

MESA, Ariz. — Here are four takeaways from Cubs camp Thursday.
1. Manager David Ross ensures he’s the boss with lineup decisions.
New manager David Ross welcomes feedback from the team’s research and development department. But the decision to put slugger Kris Bryant at the leadoff spot was exclusively his.
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“I kept throwing around different ideas for me, and who the ideal leadoff hitter was,” Ross said Thursday. “I kept coming back to KB, and he was all in.”
The Cubs haven’t had a true leadoff hitter since Dexter Fowler left for the Cardinals as a free agent after the Cubs won the World Series in 2016. Ross doesn’t want to use batters at the top spot who are “still building careers,” and he remembers the impact the pesky and productive Jacoby Ellsbury and Shane Victorino had at the top two spots as Ross’ teammates on the 2013 World Series champion Red Sox.
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“Trying different things and not sticking with it, it just feels unsettled, and I wanted to settle that spot in my mind,” Ross said.
The Cubs used 11 leadoff batters in 2017, 10 in 2018 and 11 in 2019.
Ross said he can detect when the analytics staff disagrees with his views by its silence, but he is adamant about making the final decision on his lineup.
“But there are a lot of smart guys up there,” Ross said. “They put in a lot of hard work and care about the Cubs. It would be dumb not to use them.”
Likewise, Ross doesn’t see the need to consult with his players before submitting the lineups.
“They can bank on 1-2 (Bryant and Anthony Rizzo),” Ross said with a smirk.
2. Kris Bryant isn’t shocked by David Ross’ decision to bat him leadoff.
Batting leadoff for parts of three seasons at the University of San Diego alleviated any shock Kris Bryant may have felt when manager David Ross informed him Saturday of his intentions to bat Bryant leadoff.
“I was more surprised in college, just because I was used to hitting third my whole life,” Bryant said. "(Now), I’m not looking at it as a complete surprise or even shocking to me.”
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Rizzo and Kyle Schwarber are among the players happy that Ross settled on a leadoff batter before exhibition games begin Saturday.
“It gives you time to either be (upset) or get over being (upset) or be excited and getting used to it,” Rizzo said. “It gives you time to get excited for it, either way you want to go. Here, it’s been exciting. I know Kris is excited about it.”
3. David Ross is mum on pitchers batting eighth.
Manager David Ross understandably didn’t commit to whether he would bat pitchers in the eighth spot instead of their typical ninth position. Cubs pitchers batted eighth 49 times in 2018 under former manager Joe Maddon, but Yu Darvish (five times) was the only pitcher to bat eighth in 2019.
“The hitting of the pitcher eighth makes sense in some context, like if you’re trying to get somebody on base in front of KB. There’s a lot that goes into that.
“But I’ve also been a guy who has seen that eighth spot come up in the first inning with a rally going, and it can kill it.”
Ross said he would gather data from the research and development department and make that decision on a game-by-game basis.
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4. Javier Baez and Jason Kipnis appear to have healthy hands.
Shortstop Javier Baez participated in live batting practice, an apparent sign his left thumb has healed.
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“I haven’t heard anything from the training staff,” Ross said. “From what I’ve heard, he’s 100 percent.”
Second baseman Jason Kipnis, who suffered a hamate fracture in his right wrist toward the end of 2019 with the Indians, has appeared healthy during infield drills.
“He is moving well,” Ross said.
Non-roster invitee Hernan Perez has lost 10-15 pounds and is getting a look as the backup shortstop.
“He’s a guy I’ve competed against," Ross said. "I like his at-bats, his energy and what he brings to the team.”
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Ian Happ will get a large majority of his work in center field, with David Bote competing primarily at second base and as the backup to Bryant at third.
Pitchers Alec Mills, Tyler Chatwood and Adbert Alzolay will start the first three games of the exhibition season, which is scheduled to begin Saturday against the Athletics at Sloan Park.


chicagotribune--2020-02-20--Louis Vuitton, H&M stores on Mag Mile robbed 45 minutes apart; 5 held after fleeing on Red Line subw

Louis Vuitton, H&M stores on Mag Mile robbed 45 minutes apart; 5 held after fleeing on Red Line subway tracks

Police rushed there and spoke with staffers , who told police they fled in a black , four-door Volkswagen with @ @ @ @ @ also spotted a license plate number .
Officers were able to track the car to @ @ @ @ @ Avenue , where the car , loaded with Louis Vuitton bags and black masks in @ @ @ @ @ found with its front , left wheel shredded , police said .
The suspects were @ @ @

Five suspects who Chicago police said grabbed “a large amount” of merchandise from a North Michigan Avenue H&M store fled using Red Line subway train tracks before police arrested them an entire stop later.
The incident temporarily caused “major delays” to trains, which as of 2:15 p.m. were running normally again, according to the CTA.
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Not more than 45 minutes later, police responded to another theft — an armed robbery at Louis Vuitton — where masked thieves stole several handbags from the North Michigan Avenue boutique and fled in a black Volkswagen.
About 11:30 a.m., 18th District police officers were notified of an organized theft from the H&M, 840 N. Michigan Ave., where a “large amount” of merchandise was stolen, police said. Officers met with victims and tracked suspects to the Chicago Avenue Red Line station, 800 N. State St., and onto the tracks.
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But officers monitoring the police radio realized they were sprinting north to the Clark/Division Street station, 1200 N. Clark St., and hustled there, where they saw five males fitting the description of the thieves, including one who carried a large, black plastic bag filled with stolen clothing that still had retail tags attached.
“The offenders ran on the @cta tracks through to the Division station where they were met by officers and placed into custody,” police tweeted.
Some suspects were taken into custody on the subway platform after running down an up escalator, while others, at least one of whom had clothing stuffed into his jacket, were arrested in the ticketing and turnstile area, police said.
Charges were pending for the suspects, who were positively identified when they were taken back to the H&M, where workers implicated them. The stolen items were recovered, and Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt said no one was injured.
Another Mag Mile theft occurred in the same area about 45 minutes later, police confirmed.
In this incident, at least two robbers who implied they had a weapon entered the Louis Vuitton store, 919 N. Michigan Ave., about 12:15 p.m.
Police rushed there and spoke with staffers, who told police they fled in a black, four-door Volkswagen with tinted windows. The workers also spotted a license plate number. Officers were able to track the car to 32nd Street and South Eberhart Avenue, where the car, loaded with Louis Vuitton bags and black masks in its back seat, was found with its front, left wheel shredded, police said. The suspects were already gone.
Interim police Superintendent Charlie Beck, who spoke Thursday evening following a Police Board meeting at the Public Safety Headquarters in Bronzeville, spoke briefly to reporters about the thefts in the Michigan Avenue area.
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"We do have increased police patrols there and we’re going to continue that increase,'' Beck said, adding that police know in summer months there will be more people and more victims.
In answering a reporter’s question about the items stolen, Beck said Louis Vuitton purses are a hot item for thieves.
"Purses have a really high resale value,'' Beck said.
rsobol@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-20--Naperville lawmaker wants to end century-old law banning booze on trains, even if it’s not enforced

“ I was shocked to learn that people were technically breaking the law by ordering a glass of wine on @ @ @ @ @ in a news release .
“ There ’ s no reason responsible adults shouldn ’ @ @ @ @ @ an alcoholic beverage on a train .
”

Evening commuters on the Chicago & North Western — what is now a Metra line — enjoy a game of cards, and some drinks, in 1982. (Walter Neal / Chicago Tribune)
A Naperville lawmaker wants to repeal an archaic state law that bans the drinking of alcohol on trains, even though the law hasn’t been enforced since the 1920s.
Democratic state Sen. Laura Ellman is taking aim at the Railroad Intoxicating Liquor Act of 1911, which prohibits drinking alcohol on trains and around train stations, and gives conductors the ability to arrest imbibers and charge them with a misdemeanor.
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“I was shocked to learn that people were technically breaking the law by ordering a glass of wine on Amtrak,” Ellman said in a news release. “There’s no reason responsible adults shouldn’t be able to enjoy an alcoholic beverage on a train.”
Ellman said even though the law isn’t generally enforced, it does not mean that it can’t be.
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“It’s time to strike this archaic and arbitrary law off the books in the state of Illinois,” she said.
The legislation, S.B. 2961, has been assigned to the Senate Transportation Committee, where it awaits consideration.
Drinking is permitted on both Metra and Amtrak trains, though Metra discontinued its bar car service in 2008. Metra does ban alcohol during some high-volume events and festivals, including Taste of Chicago.
“We haven’t had any issue with the law currently on the books,” said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari.
Eating or drinking anything on CTA trains and buses, including alcohol, is prohibited, though the rule is widely ignored.
mwisniewski@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-21--Cubs spring training opener — their 1st game on Marquee Sports Network — pushed to Saturday night be

Cubs spring training opener — their 1st game on Marquee Sports Network — pushed to Saturday night because of rain in forecast

“ ( The Cubs ) did everything they could when it came to me getting hit by a pitch , @ @ @ @ @ , ” Olt said with a smile .
“ Did Kris do really well to @ @ @ @ @ Yes .
...
I didn ’ t know anything about the legal terms .
”

MESA, Ariz. — Here are five takeaways from Cubs spring training Friday.
1. The Cactus League opener has a different time and look.
The start of Saturday’s exhibition game against the Athletics at Sloan Park — the Cubs debut on Marquee Sports Network — was switched from 2:05 p.m. to 7:10 p.m. Central time because of a threat of rain that is expected to subside in the afternoon.
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There was a large financial incentive for the Cubs to push back their opener. Marquee plans to televise 28 exhibition games, and many station employees have spent this week taping interviews and preparing other duties at the Cubs complex.
As for the game, manager David Ross confirmed that Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo will bat 1-2 but declined to disclose the rest of the lineup, which must be submitted to Major League Baseball before it’s released.
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2. Craig Kimbrel is taking care of his own business.
Cubs closer Craig Kimbrel estimates he needs to pitch in seven to eight spring training games to declare himself ready for the season.
Kimbrel expects to throw live batting practice in a few days. He said he threw off a mound only once before arriving in Arizona and said he slowly builds arm strength leading up to the season.
“That’s what spring training is — get the body ready and get used to what I’m going to be doing for six months,” Kimbrel said.
Kimbrel said expects to pitch on consecutive days at least once this spring.
The seven-time All-Star downplayed the suggestion he needs to pitch with a chip on his shoulder after posting a 6.53 ERA in 23 appearances in 2019.
“A lot of people want me to prove something to them,” Kimbrel said. “As far as going into the season, I don’t have a chip on my shoulder, nothing like that.”
3. Yu Darvish has some new threads.
Five days after questioning why the Astros weren’t forced to surrender their 2017 World Series trophy for stealing signs, Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish — who pitched for the Dodgers in the 2017 World Series — received a T-shirt from a company mocking the Astros.
The shirt featured the World Series trophy on top of a trash can with the words “HOUSTON CHEATED” circling the top of the trophy and “TRASH-TOWN” across the middle. The bottom of the shirt read, “2017 CHUMPS.”
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4. Mike Olt and Kris Bryant cross paths.
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Former Cubs third baseman Mike Olt, whose wrist fracture led to Kris Bryant’s promotion from the minors in mid-April 2015 and later was at the center of a grievance filed by the Major League Baseball Players Association, was a visitor to Cubs camp.
Olt, who now works for Chandler Bats, chatted with Bryant.
“(The Cubs) did everything they could when it came to me getting hit by a pitch, getting X-rays and all that,” Olt said with a smile. “Did Kris do really well to deserve to be there? Yes. ... I didn’t know anything about the legal terms.”
5. Steven Souza has caught David Ross’ eye.
Outfielder Steven Souza, who missed all of last season because a knee injury, has garnered the attention of manager David Ross.
“He’s a guy, when he’s healthy, he’s pretty real,” Ross said. “He’s another guy I’m waiting to see. A whole year without at-bats is a real hurdle for me. His swings look great in his live batting practice. He hit a home run the other day.”
The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Souza has no limitations, but Ross intends to “slow-play” him because of his injury.
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“I really like the way he goes about his work,” Ross said. “He’s got a little edge to him, too, just in the locker room and talking to him. He’s putting in the work. He’s on a good program with the trainers and making sure he’s ready. From what I’ve seen, he looks great and his swing path is right on point.”


chicagotribune--2020-02-21--In his first days home, Blagojevich spun a web of half-truths and — to some — hypocrisy

“ Everyone is trying to morph those facts , ” Cramer said .
“ These prosecutors who investigated and convicted @ @ @ @ @ the ( U.S. Department of Justice ) for about 10 years .
And the president @ @ @ @ @ twisted connect-the-dots between Jim Comey and Rod Blagojevich ?
When you have to go through @ @ @ @ @ the best answer is the most simple one , which is Rod Blagojevich is the @ @ @ @ @ in Illinois .
And that is a pretty high bar .
”

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, with his wife Patti at his side, speaks to supporters and the media in front of their Ravenswood Manor home on Feb. 19, 2020. (Jose Osorio/Chicago Tribune)
As disgraced ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich stood in front of TV cameras this week and declared himself a political prisoner finally home from eight years of exile, his former running mate watched in disbelief.
Former Gov. Pat Quinn — the lieutenant governor who became the state’s chief executive after Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office in 2009 — had heard most of the routine before. The story of his immigrant parents, the poetry recitations and the historical references have been part of Blagojevich’s repertoire since his earliest days in politics.
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But with Blagojevich fresh off his stint in federal prison, this time was different. What upset Quinn most, he said, was the pronounced self-pity, the lack of contrition and, perhaps more than anything, the audacity to discuss criminal justice reform.
[ What’s next for Rod Blagojevich? Can he practice law? Run for office? Become a poet? ]
Quinn inherited a backlog of nearly 3,000 clemency petitions when he took over from Blagojevich, who largely shirked his responsibility to review requests for commutations and pardons. The situation became so dire at one point, Cabrini Green Legal Aid sued Blagojevich to get him to act on their requests.
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“It is ironic that someone who didn’t care about those people waiting for an answer, or the families waiting for them at home, was the beneficiary of a commutation,” Quinn said. “There was no remorse. There was no contrition. What we saw was disgraceful.”
In his winding "homecoming” speech and various media interviews since having his sentence commuted Tuesday by President Donald Trump, Blagojevich has woven a web of half-truths and, to critics, hypocrisies around his newly found freedom. He has promoted unfounded conspiracy theories, attacked his former prosecutors and downplayed his own criminal behavior.
And as he has been since the moment of his arrest, Blagojevich remains unrepentant. If anything, a lengthy incarceration has only strengthened his belief that he is the victim of political corruption and not the perpetrator.
He also seems emboldened by Trump’s bombastic style, which drastically changed the political and cultural landscape while Blagojevich was behind bars. That new reality allows for hurling allegations regardless of their veracity, excoriating perceived opponents in the media and often shouting down the truth.
[ Rod Blagojevich’s rise and fall and presidential commutation, a Chicago story ]
Some are more qualified than others to see through the former governor’s effort to rewrite the history books.
“It’s strange, because if anyone knows about his guilt, it’s Rod Blagojevich," said James Matsumoto, the jury foreman at his first criminal trial. "He heard the evidence at two trials. He has to know what he did was criminal.”
Disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, center, talks to reporters as he leaves his Chicago home on Feb. 19, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
‘A freed political prisoner’
Blagojevich was first tried in 2010, with the jury convicting him on one count of lying to the FBI and deadlocking on the rest. At his retrial in 2011, he was convicted of several shakedowns and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
The punishment was more than double what his predecessor, ex-Gov. George Ryan, received after his corruption conviction in a licenses-for-bribes scandal, prompting many to question whether the judge acted too harshly. In Blagojevich’s eyes, his tragicomic legal ordeal was more persecution than prosecution.
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[ Calling himself a ‘freed political prisoner,’ Rod Blagojevich thanks Trump and remains unbowed ]
“I’m returning home today from a long exile a freed political prisoner,” he told the media Wednesday from the stoop of his Chicago house. “I want to say again to the people of Illinois who twice elected me governor: I didn’t let you down. I would have let you down if I gave in to this. But resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.”
Looking older and significantly grayer since his incarceration, Blagojevich spent his first days of freedom trying to restore a tarnished legacy. He showed no interest in a thoughtful debate about the appropriate punishment for his misdeeds, but rather he appeared determined to re-litigate his case.
Blagojevich’s argument begins with the incorrect assertion that the same people who took him down have also tried to unseat Trump. It’s an easily disproved accusation that Trump also pushed when announcing Blagojevich’s commutation Tuesday morning, and on Twitter the following day.
[ How Patti Blagojevich helped earn her husband’s release ]
“He served 8 years in prison, with many remaining. He paid a big price. Another Comey and gang deal!” the president tweeted Wednesday.
Former FBI Director James Comey was U.S. deputy attorney general when the investigation into Blagojevich’s administration began, but he moved to the private sector in 2005 and played no role in Blagojevich’s arrest in 2008. Blagojevich had been in prison for more than a year when Comey assumed the FBI’s top post.
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is surrounded by the media and well-wishers outside his home in Chicago on Feb. 19, 2020, a day after President Trump commuted his sentence. (Jose Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Blagojevich’s prosecution was overseen by Patrick Fitzgerald, then U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. Fitzgerald did not have any role in the Mueller investigation, though he has been representing Comey, a longtime friend, since Trump fired him in May 2017.
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It is true that Robert Mueller was the FBI director at the time of Blagojevich’s arrest by agents in the FBI’s Chicago office. But then-U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, a George W. Bush appointee and frequent Trump defender, made the decision to tap the governor’s phones.
The facts, however, haven’t stopped Blagojevich from pushing the idea that he and Trump were targeted by mutual enemies.
“This is the larger fight that is before all of us as Americans,” Blagojevich said on FOX News Wednesday. “Some of these same people again have tried to do at the Major League-level to a Republican president what they were able successfully to do to a Democratic governor. And they are threatening to take away from all of us our rights to choose our own leaders through free and fair elections.”
[ Rod Blagojevich saga timeline: From arrest to Trump's commutation ]
The assertion defies both time and logic, said former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Cramer, who worked under Fitzgerald.
“Everyone is trying to morph those facts,” Cramer said. “These prosecutors who investigated and convicted Blagojevich have been out of the (U.S. Department of Justice) for about 10 years. And the president is making some sort of twisted connect-the-dots between Jim Comey and Rod Blagojevich? When you have to go through these legal gymnastics, maybe the best answer is the most simple one, which is Rod Blagojevich is the poster child for public corruption in Illinois. And that is a pretty high bar.”
Randall Samborn, a lawyer and former longtime spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, including during the Blagojevich convictions, dismissed any suggestion that Fitzgerald or his prosecutors played any role in the Trump investigations.
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And while Mueller was leading the FBI during the time of the Blagojevich investigation and prosecution, the practice at the time was to allow local teams of federal agents and prosecutors much more control — unlike what is transpiring today in Washington, Samborn added.
“Local FBI agents and prosecutors had some degree of independent autonomy in conducting investigations and prosecutions, unlike the more recent reaching across the transom by (Department of Justice) officials that we’ve seen in recent weeks,” Samborn said.
Claiming legal mistreatment
The former governor complains that the “uncontrolled” prosecution team improperly applied federal law to railroad him, another claim that does not withstand scrutiny. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals called the evidence against Blagojevich “overwhelming” and upheld the conviction, while the U.S. Supreme Court twice refused to hear his arguments.
The Illinois Senate voted unanimously to remove him from office for abusing his power. The Illinois House also had widespread bipartisan support for his impeachment, with only Blagojevich’s sister-in-law, then-Rep. Deb Mell, D-Chicago, voting against it.
“For Rod Blagojevich to say somehow he is innocent is absurd," Cramer said. "And several courts and a jury thought it was absurd.”
As Blagojevich continues to disparage federal prosecutors, some worry about the damage his claims could cause. With several aldermen and state lawmakers currently under investigation or indictment for allegedly abusing their positions, the U.S. attorney’s office is once again proving itself to be one of the most reliable weapons in the fight against public corruption, former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti said.
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[ Rod Blagojevich is back. So is Second City’s ‘Rod Blagojevich Superstar’ ]
“The only constant in Illinois politics is that we rely upon federal prosecutors to fight corruption,” said Mariotti, who also worked under Fitzgerald. “You don’t want that public trust undermined, especially at this moment in time."
Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich arrives at Denver International Airport in Colorado on Feb. 18, after being released from prison earlier in the evening. "I can't wait to get home," Blagojevich said at the airport after President Trump commuted his 14-year sentence. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Blagojevich was convicted in 2011 on several corruption charges, including that he brazenly tried to sell President Barack Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat in 2008. Trump has said he believed the 40th Illinois governor — the fourth to go to prison since the 1970s — was treated unfairly when U.S. Judge James Zagel sent him away for 14 years.
The commutation thrilled Blagojevich’s wife and two daughters, but drew strong rebukes from politicians in both parties. Illinois’ five-member Republican congressional delegation, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker derided Trump’s decision to release him roughly four years early, saying it sent the wrong message about the consequences of political corruption and was unfair to his victims.
Hospital shakedown
Both Blagojevich and Trump shrugged off his actions as normal political talk, glossing over the fact he was convicted of trying to shake down the former Children’s Memorial Hospital for a $25,000 campaign donation in exchange for more state funding for pediatric specialists. The former governor did not mention that specific allegation during his public remarks Wednesday, though he did tout his efforts to provide more affordable health care for children in Illinois.
On wiretaps played during his criminal trial, Blagojevich mentioned a Medicaid reimbursement rate increase worth up to $10 million and his desire to hit up hospital CEO Patrick Magoon for contributions in almost the same breath. The rate hike would have gone to pay doctors who were backlogged in treating children for asthma, diabetes, epilepsy and rheumatoid arthritis.
Children’s Memorial, which has since changed its name to Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, said in 2008 that no one at the hospital participated in the scheme. They also issued a statement expressing disappointment that money to care for “Illinois’ neediest children has been tied to an alleged pay-for-play scheme.”
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When asked about the scheme on FOX News, Blagojevich quickly retorted: “I actually sent that hospital $8 million."
The hospital received the state funding after Blagojevich was arrested.
The former governor appeared to be parroting arguments he raised in his post-trial appeals — none of which succeeded to persuade any court that he didn’t try to extort Magoon.
“The hospital was pretty clear they were being shaken down,” Cramer said. “You have to laugh at the nerve. In the annals of public corruption, who shakes down a children’s hospital?”
Blagojevich had been scheduled to be released in March 2024. Instead, he finds himself back in Chicago and required to do community service until he finds a job. He has not said where he intends to seek employment, but he has expressed an interest in helping those who are wrongly incarcerated or serving unfair sentences.
“(Injustices) that not only destroyed their lives and steal from them their futures, but hurt their children and families,” Blagojevich lamented.
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Blagojevich means it when he talks about reforming the system, a spokesman said in an email Friday.
“For the last 8 years, Gov. Blagojevich has seen firsthand how broken and racist the criminal justice system is — especially towards African-Americans and Latinos, who have been so unfairly treated," wrote Mark Vargas. "There are a lot of people that are deserving of clemency, and he certainly wishes now that he had done more about it as governor. Historically, clemency is granted at the end of one’s term in office, and Gov. Blagojevich never got that chance to act.”
During his tenure, Blagojevich ruled on 1,024 requests, granting clemency to 72 individuals.
The suggestion raised some eyebrows among those familiar with Blagojevich’s lackluster record on criminal justice reform, including his former lieutenant governor. When Quinn assumed office in 2009, the 2,838-petition backlog created under Blagojevich’s administration was the largest in the nation. Some of the untouched requests dated back to January 2003, Blagojevich’s first month in office.
Given the law at the time, some petitioners were asking for pardons that would make it easier to have low-level crimes such as misdemeanor battery and felony retail theft erased from their records. Every year that their pleas went unheard made life more difficult, said Cynthia Cornelius, director of programs at Cabrini Green Legal Aid.
“It means your future is on hold,” Cornelius said. “People were seeking clemency in order to secure housing, employment, schooling or certifications. The years went by and they were still waiting.”
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The group sued Blagojevich in 2006 for dodging his responsibilities, but he triumphed on appeal. Cornelius called his commutation a “travesty," saying there are hundreds of thousands of prisoners more deserving of an early release.
Still, she hopes Blagojevich keeps his promise to help them.
“I’m willing to give anyone the benefit of the doubt,” she said. “I hold out hope that because of what he experienced, he’ll have empathy for people still serving.”
Quinn addressed 4,268 clemency cases, approving 1,777 of them during his six years in office, according to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board. He worked through the backlog during four-hour review sessions each weekend and said he always looked for contrition or an apology from the petitioner.
He saw neither from Blagojevich this week. It makes him doubt whether the politician formerly known as Federal Inmate 40892-424 could usher in needed reforms.
“If he really cares about criminal justice reform,” Quinn said, “he has a lot of explaining to do — starting today.”
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sstclair@chicagotribune.com
asweeney@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-21--Kevin Hart asks for dismissal of a $60 million sex tape lawsuit after court documents were thrown on

Kevin Hart asks for dismissal of a $60 million sex tape lawsuit after court documents were thrown on his driveway

The way in which the papers were delivered to Hart ’ s residence , the comic ’ s attorneys say @ @ @ @ @ the case should be dismissed as a result .
Sabbag ’ s case had previously @ @ @ @ @ issues with the filing , but she has since amended and refiled the complaint .

Kevin Hart is asking a judge to dismiss the $60 million sex tape lawsuit against him, saying he wasn’t properly served in the case when court documents were thrown out of a car onto his driveway.
New court documents say that a process server working for plaintiff Montia Sabbag simply “drove by Hart’s home and threw a summons and complaint out of a car window in the sight of” a security guard stationed outside the residence last month.
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Sabbag, who appeared in a scandalous 2017 sex tape with the Philly-born comic, initially filed her suit last year, claiming that Hart conspired with other defendants to film their sexual encounter.
Hart’s security guard, Ray Dudgeon, said in a statement that the papers landed “several yards away from” him, and that he has never been “authorized to accept service of legal papers on behalf” of Hart.
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Photos attached to Dudgeon’s statement show papers strewn on the ground next to a grey Ford sedan.
The way in which the papers were delivered to Hart’s residence, the comic’s attorneys say, was improper, and the case should be dismissed as a result. Sabbag’s case had previously been dismissed over technical legal issues with the filing, but she has since amended and refiled the complaint.
In the suit, Sabbag claims that while she and Hart had a consensual sexual encounter in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2017, she was not aware they were being filmed and did not consent to recording.
She added that Hart worked with fellow defendant J.T. Jackson to film the encounter to get publicity for a then-upcoming comedy tour. Jackson was later charged with extortion over the incident, with Hart claiming that he was also a victim.
In a Netflix docuseries released last year, Hart called the scandal the “lowest moment of my life” due to the effect it had on his wife, Eniko.
“The worst part is just knowing how you made somebody feel,” Hart said. “When I got to see that firsthand with Eniko, when I got to see the effect my reckless behavior had, that was crushing. That tore me up.”


chicagotribune--2020-02-21--Cubs Marquee TV network launch delayed on Hulu streaming service

“ As soon as we learned that there are some services that would not broadcast the first spring training game @ @ @ @ @ proactive with our fans to let them know , because we were sure there were @ @ @ @ @ trying to decide whether they should stay with their current service or switch to another @ @ @ @ @ .

Chicago Cubs infielder Kris Bryant, from left, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, and infielder Javier Baez get ready for batting practice during spring training at Sloan Park on Feb. 21, 2020, Mesa, Ariz. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
The Cubs first spring training game Saturday has been pushed back until 7:10 p.m. Chicago time due to inclement weather.
The launch of the Marquee Sports Network on streaming service Hulu + Live TV could be pushed back a lot further — perhaps until opening day on March 26.
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The exclusive TV home of the Chicago Cubs, Marquee on Monday announced it had partnered with Hulu to broadcast the entire season on the streaming service. But on Friday, Hulu said subscribers would not be able to watch Marquee when the network debuts Saturday, promising only that it would be live ahead of the regular season opener next month.
That news may come as a disappointment to customers who signed up for the $54.99 monthly streaming package on Hulu in anticipation of seeing the Cubs’ full 28-game spring training TV schedule, including the first game against the Oakland Athletics.
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“The provider determines the launch date for the service,” Cubs spokesman Julian Green said Friday.
A partnership between the Cubs and Sinclair Broadcast Group, Marquee has lined up a number of cable and satellite providers to carry the fledgling regional sports network, including AT&T and RCN in the Chicago area. The network is still is trying to reach an agreement with Comcast to secure a spot on the cable giant’s Chicago-area channel lineup.
On Friday, the Cubs issued a news release clarifying which cable providers will carry Marquee when the network begins broadcasting at 1 p.m. Saturday.
“As soon as we learned that there are some services that would not broadcast the first spring training game, we wanted to be proactive with our fans to let them know, because we were sure there were fans making decisions today, trying to decide whether they should stay with their current service or switch to another one,” Green said.
Marquee is scheduled to air at least 145 regular-season games. It also will feature expanded pregame and postgame coverage, classic broadcasts from the archives and other programming.
Saturday’s programming lineup includes a documentary on Ernie Banks and contributions from actor and comedian Bill Murray, the Wilmette native and Cubs superfan who was in Chicago last week filming segments for Marquee’s inaugural broadcast.
RCN Chicago, which is available to about 380,000 homes in Chicago, Evanston, Lincolnwood and Skokie, is set to go live Saturday when Marquee flips the switch, with the network airing on channels 377 and 679 (HD). AT&T will carry the network at its launch on U-verse and DirecTV.
Tom McKay, general manager of RCN Chicago, said the cable provider was looking to leverage its Marquee partnership to sign up Cubs fans who couldn’t watch the games on Comcast or other platforms.
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“We’re expecting, once this thing launches this weekend, that we should benefit,” McKay said. “We service a lot of the North Side of Chicago, which is Cubs town. The Comcast customers that are going to be missing it will be coming this way.”
A dozen Cubs regular-season games are reserved for national broadcasts, but Marquee became the exclusive local TV home this season after the team parted ways with NBC Sports Chicago, the regional sports network it formed in 2004 with the Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox.
The Cubs also exited local over-the-air TV after 71 years, pulling the plug on WGN-9 and ABC-7 and moving a combined 70 games to Marquee this season.
Marquee and NBC Sports Chicago are battling it out for sports viewers and a share of carriage fees — the amount cable and satellite providers pay for programming. Those fees show up on many cable bills as a line item for sports programming.
For RCN Chicago customers who subscribe to the company’s most popular programming package, the addition of Marquee will add $2.75 per month to the sports fee, McKay said.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-21--Speeding SUV plows into 3 pedestrians, causing chain reaction crash on Near West Side

After hitting the people , the SUV “ clipped the front fender of a pickup truck ” before smashing into @ @ @ @ @ parked , which caused the Mustang to back into a Jeep that was also parked @ @ @ @ @ , that Jeep possibly also collided with the SUV .

Police monitor the scene of a car crash at Randolph and Halsted streets in Chicago that reportedly caused several injuries Friday, Feb. 21. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
A possibly intoxicated man behind the wheel of a sport utility vehicle traveling at “high speed” hit three pedestrians and several other vehicles before crashing up against a tavern on the Near West Side Friday afternoon.
Police are investigating whether the driver who caused the crash, which happened about 4:30 p.m. at the southeast corner of Randolph and Halsted streets, was "under the influence.'' No charges have been filed yet as of Saturday afternoon, said Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
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A 47-year-old man behind the wheel of a black Hyundai Santa Fe SUV was southbound on Halsted at “high speed” when he attempted to make it through the green light at Randolph, said Officer Michelle Tannehill, a police spokeswoman, and Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
But the driver “swerved out of control” crossed over lanes and into oncoming traffic, and ran into three men who were crossing the street, according to Tannehill.
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After hitting the pedestrians, the SUV “clipped the front fender of a pickup truck” before smashing into a red Mustang that was parked, which caused the Mustang to back into a Jeep that was also parked, said Langford. Additionally, that Jeep possibly also collided with the SUV.
When it was all over, the SUV was “pinned” between the Mustang and Haymarket Pub & Brewery, 737 W. Randolph St., which was packed with patrons, said Langford.
“Lots of witnesses saw it," Langford said of the crash.
Chicago Police monitor the scene of a car crash on Halsted Street at Randolph Street in Chicago that reportedly caused several injuries on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
A 45-year-old who suffered head injuries was taken in critical condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, while the two other victims, 36 and 45, who both suffered “minor” injuries and were in good condition to Stroger and Northwestern, according to police.
The motorist who was driving the speeding vehicle had a cut to his head and was in good condition at Stroger and the driver of the “clipped” pickup declined medical treatment.
Halsted from Washington Street to Randolph was closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic and vehicular traffic was slowly able to move west on Randolph, Tannehill said.
Six ambulances were sent to the scene.
Check back for details.
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rsobol@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-21--Chicago Police Department bringing back anti-carjacking task force after spike in vehicle robberies

In the later attack , a 42-year-old man driving a white 2014 Jeep SRT was stopped at a light in @ @ @ @ @ Ontario Street just before 11 p.m. when a dark brown Volvo rear-ended him , police @ @ @ @ @ .
When the man , who ’ s from Chicago , got out and stood @ @ @ @ @ look for damage , two men wearing ski masks got out of the Volvo .
@ @ @ @ @ a handgun on the driver and got into the Jeep , then drove off , @ @ @ @ @ in the mask , who got back in the Volvo and drove off .

After three Near North Side carjackings this week, Chicago police officials announced Friday they are bringing back a task force formed two years ago to combat a 75% spike in vehicle hijackings so far this year.
Since the start of the year, the city has experienced a 75% increase in reported carjackings over last year, police First Deputy Superintendent Anthony Riccio said at a news conference at the department’s South Side headquarters. Police have been called to 117 attacks so far this year compared with 67 in the same period last year, he said.
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In response, the department met Friday afternoon with state, county and federal officials to restart a joint task force formed in 2018 in response to a similar spike in carjackings in late 2017 and early 2018, Riccio said. The task force reduced city carjackings to a “six-year low,” he said.
“Today, we see that activity recurring,” Riccio said.
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When carjackings went down in 2019, the department sent those on the task force back to other work, he said.
The department’s plan includes putting more officers on the street in areas seeing the most carjackings, as well as use of state and federal resources, Riccio said. In particular, he highlighted a spike in the Harrison Police District on the West Side, as well as high-profile incidents in the central business district.
Cmdr. Jill Stevens of the Near North District, where several recent attacks have occurred, asked people to give up their car or other possessions and try to give officers as detailed a description as possible.
“Your life is more important than anything you own,” she said.
Thursday night, a would-be robber fired a handgun in the air after a man resisted giving up his BMW in the River North neighborhood, about an hour before another man had his SUV stolen at gunpoint a block away following a rear-end collision, police said.
Both attacks involved men wearing ski masks, but police didn’t have detailed descriptions of the attackers in either case. Stevens said investigators don’t believe the attacks were related.
In the first attack, a 28-year-old man returned to his parked white 2015 BMW M5 in the 700 block of North Hudson Street just before 9:45 p.m. Thursday and was confronted by a man who got out of a black Dodge Challenger holding a handgun, police said in a media notification. When the attacker demanded the car owner’s keys and the car owner refused, the man shot once in the air and the owner gave up his keys.
The attacker got into the BMW, and the owner, who’s from the southwest suburbs, ran off. But the attacker wasn’t able to start the car, so he took off in the Challenger, possibly driven by a second person, police said. The BMW M5 is available as a manual transmission car.
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In the later attack, a 42-year-old man driving a white 2014 Jeep SRT was stopped at a light in the 300 block of West Ontario Street just before 11 p.m. when a dark brown Volvo rear-ended him, police said in a media notification. When the man, who’s from Chicago, got out and stood next to his car to look for damage, two men wearing ski masks got out of the Volvo. One of the men held a handgun on the driver and got into the Jeep, then drove off, followed by the second man in the mask, who got back in the Volvo and drove off.
Wednesday around 9:10 p.m., two males wearing dark clothes hijacked a Porsche from a man, 54, and a woman, 48, who were about to park the car in a garage in the 1500 block of North Dearborn Street in the Gold Coast neighborhood, police said. One of the males was armed and demanded the pair’s property and keys.
They complied, and one male drove away in the Porsche and his companion left in a maroon vehicle.
Chicago Tribune’s Jeremy Gorner and Liam Ford contributed to this report.


chicagotribune--2020-02-21--Man with Alzheimer’s disease reported missing from Niles

Scipione said the couple had been shopping together when Cahill went to use the washroom and was not seen again @ @ @ @ @ car was missing from the parking lot and police determined that Cahill , who had @ @ @ @ @ the vehicle , had driven away in it , Scipione said .

Police are looking for 76-year-old Patrick Cahill, who went missing from a Niles Costco store on the afternoon of Feb. 21. (Niles Police Department / HANDOUT)
A 76-year-old man who went missing from a Niles Costco store Friday afternoon has been found safe in Indiana, police said.
Niles Acting Police Cmdr. Tony Scipione said late Friday night that Patrick Cahill, of the 5800 block of North Odell Avenue in Chicago’s Edison Park neighborhood, was located by Indiana State Police.
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In a press release Saturday, Niles police said Cahill was found on I-94 in Chesterton, Indiana shortly before 11 p.m. He was taken to a hospital for a medical evaluation, but was “reportedly in good health and spirits,” Niles police said.
Scipione said Cahill, who has dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, was reported missing by his wife Friday afternoon when she was unable to locate him inside the Costco at 7220 N. Melvina Ave. where the two had been shopping together.
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Scipione said Cahill went to use the restroom and was not seen again. The couple’s car, a gray, 2014 Honda CRV, was missing from the parking lot and police determined that Cahill, who had a set of keys to the vehicle, had driven away in it, Scipione said.
Niles and Chicago police officers searched the area and the couple’s home, but were unable to locate Cahill, police said in a news release. A Silver Alert, a public notification issued for missing and endangered senior citizens, was broadcast to the Illinois State Police shortly before 3 p.m.
jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune


chicagotribune--2020-02-21--Federal judge orders city to cease enforcing free speech restrictions at Millennium Park

In April , the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events , which runs Millennium Park , updated the rules @ @ @ @ @ new rule divided the park into 11 “ rooms , ” or sections , and @ @ @ @ @ speeches and passing out of written communications ” in 10 of the 11 sections , @ @ @ @ @ s website .

Wheaton College students Caeden Hood, from left, Gabriel Emerson, Matthew Swart, Daniel Allen and Jeremy Chong at Millennium Park on Sept. 18, 2019. All except Allen are suing the city because of rules they believe infringe on their ability to exercise their First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise of religion at Millennium Park. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
People who want to pass out literature or evangelize in Millennium Park will now be able to do so after a federal judge has temporarily barred the city of Chicago from restricting free speech privileges there.
U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey granted a preliminary injunction Thursday that allows people to evangelize and campaign in the park.
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Blakey called the city’s rules about visitors exercising their First Amendment rights in limited areas of the park “constitutionally flawed in several respects.”
The ruling comes six months after a group of Wheaton College students filed a lawsuit against the city, saying Millennium Park rules unconstitutionally restricted their freedom of speech and their free exercise of religion in a public space.
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The city has argued that Millennium Park isn’t a traditional public forum, but in his decision, Blakey shot down that argument, saying the plaintiffs have enough likelihood of succeeding in their lawsuit to warrant an injunction against the city’s rules.
“The Supreme Court expressly recognizes streets, sidewalks, and parks as traditional public forums,” Blakey said in his decision. “Traditional public forums ‘are defined by the objective characteristics of the property,’ and thus remain ‘open for expressive activity regardless of the government’s intent.’ ”
[ Read the judge’s order temporarily barring the city from enforcing free speech restrictions ]
“Certainly, given the record here, the park fits the bill as a traditional public forum: it is free, open to the public, and serves as a public thoroughfare,” Blakey wrote.
“Although the city insists a curated design divests the park of its traditional public nature, this court cannot accept this characterization based upon the facts here,” Blakey wrote. “Indeed, if a ‘curated design’ were enough to transform the nature of the forum, any park with a statue could lose its First Amendment protections.”
Wheaton College student Jeremy Chong preaches the Gospel at Millennium Park on Feb. 21, 2020, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Wheaton College’s Chicago Evangelism Team had gone to Millennium Park every Friday to evangelize and distribute free religious literature. In December 2018, while the students were passing out pamphlets, park security told the students multiple times that they were not allowed to hand out the religious material and open-air preach because it violated a Chicago ordinance.
In April, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, which runs Millennium Park, updated the rules for the park. One new rule divided the park into 11 “rooms,” or sections, and prohibited “the making of speeches and passing out of written communications” in 10 of the 11 sections, according to the city’s website.
The new rules only authorized people to give speeches and hand out information in Wrigley Square and the Millennium Monument in the northwest corner of the park, as well as the park’s open sidewalks.
The attorneys suing the city argued this was problematic because it excluded people from engaging with the public near the sculpture Cloud Gate, commonly known as The Bean, which is one of the nation’s largest tourist attractions.
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Throughout the court proceedings, the city’s attorneys have disputed claims Millennium Park is a public forum.
City attorney Andrew Mine told the judge during a court hearing that allowing the students to pass out literature could set a precedent that would “really change the character of the park.”
“The real issue is if this is ... deemed a public forum and everything is up for grabs, you can imagine lots of people would want to hand out literature and make various sales pitches,” Mine said, according to a transcript of the hearing.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Cultural Affairs did not respond to a request for comment, and the Tribune was directed to send all questions regarding the case to the Law Department. A city spokesman said, “the Law Department is reviewing the ruling.”
But after the judge's ruling, the students said they are excited they'll be able to share the word of God at one of the Midwest's largest tourist attractions.
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“We’re very excited to see what God has done and that we’re able to share the gospel in the park,” said Matt Swart, a plaintiff and sophomore at Wheaton College.
Friday evening, the students returned to Millennium Park for the first time in more than a year.
Jeremy Chong, a Wheaton College student and plaintiff in the lawsuit, stood on a step ladder facing The Bean and began preaching the Gospel. He spoke loudly and with authority as he bellowed out his statements. For a moment, his two-step ladder was his pulpit.
”The reason we are here preaching to you today is because God sent his only begotten son ... and he died on the cross for sinners, ” he said.
Gripping a Bible in his left hand, he preached for a few minutes, reciting Bible Scriptures to anyone within hearing distance of his voice.
Throughout the evening, Chong and 15 other Wheaton students approached people visiting The Bean and talked about the importance of having a relationship with God. They passed out pamphlets and even Bibles to people who didn’t have one.
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“I’m so thankful to be here,” Chong said with a smile.
There will be a status hearing in the case March 4.


chicagotribune--2020-02-21--Trial of man accused of killing Cmdr. Paul Bauer won’t include past incidents involving officer

Under Illinois law , a defendant claiming self-defense can attempt to introduce evidence of the victim 's history or tendencies @ @ @ @ @ the defendant could not have known about that history at the time of the incident @ @ @ @ @ criticized as a way to unfairly smear victims of crime .

Officers salute outside the Near North District station Feb. 13, 2020, during a memorial for Cmdr. Paul Bauer, who was killed in 2018. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
The man accused of killing Chicago police Cmdr. Paul Bauer in 2018 was barred Friday from telling jurors about allegedly aggressive incidents from Bauer’s past — blunting the defense’s attempt to paint Bauer as a combative, out-of-control cop.
Cook County Judge Erica Reddick denied the request to introduce the incidents, all of which were well over a decade ago, saying they didn’t have much relevance to Bauer’s character in 2018 when he had a fatal confrontation with accused gunman Shomari Legghette.
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“First the remoteness issue stands out,” Reddick said. "The most recent of any of the events you seek to introduce, the one closest in time, is approximately 15 years ago.”
The defense had sought permission to tell jurors about incidents involving Bauer that date to the 1990s, and a 2003 police pursuit Bauer was involved in that killed a pregnant woman who was crossing a street.
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[ Tracking the ‘Baby Glock’ that killed Cmdr. Bauer: A Wisconsin shop, a gun club and a shadowy sale on the internet ]
The defense had argued the 2003 incident would bolster Legghette’s claim, sure to be controversial, that he shot Bauer in self-defense.
Before Reddick issued her ruling, Legghette defense attorney Scott Kamin made a last attempt to convince her that the incidents matter.
“I think it’s important to know what kind of pursuer, follower of the rules, Cmdr. Bauer was,” Kamin said.
Despite the ruling, Legghette’s claim of self-defense still is likely to be the centerpiece of his case, which is set for jury selection Feb. 27. Attorneys have indicated in court that Legghette will likely take the stand in his own defense.
[ Wife of slain police commander writes letter thanking Chicago for 'outpouring of love and support' ]
Friday’s decision was among the last key motions to be decided before the start of the trial. Reddick also granted a defense request to restrict the dress of Chicago police officers or department supporters who attend the trial, saying it was “paramount” that there not be outside influences on the jury.
“I don’t want this to turn into a visual display,” she said, adding that she will instruct court personnel to monitor clothing throughout the proceedings.
Bauer was the highest-ranking Chicago police officer killed on the job in decades. His broad-daylight slaying in the Loop shocked the city, and next month’s trial is expected to draw crowds to the Leighton Criminal Court Building.
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[ Family of Chicago police commander killed in the line of duty sues online gun marketplace ]
When Reddick heard arguments Wednesday on whether Bauer’s past conduct could be considered at trial, officers in attendance murmured in frustration when defense attorney Kamin argued that Bauer’s on-duty conduct years ago should be fair game so jurors can decide “what kind of person Bauer was.”
Under Illinois law, a defendant claiming self-defense can attempt to introduce evidence of the victim's history or tendencies toward violence, even if the defendant could not have known about that history at the time of the incident. The practice has been criticized as a way to unfairly smear victims of crime.
Kamin wanted jurors to hear about a 1998 incident in which Bauer allegedly punched a handcuffed suspect, and a 1997 allegation that he did not appropriately notify a superior officer that he executed a warrant at the wrong address.
[ Complete coverage: Fallen Chicago police Commander Paul Bauer ]
But Kamin’s main argument centered on the 2003 incident in which Bauer, then a sergeant, was involved in a pursuit through downtown.
The Tribune has previously reported on that chase, in which the suspects, who had stolen a wallet from a River North restaurant and fled in a Dodge, ran a red light and struck an SUV that in turn hit and killed a 25-year-old pregnant woman who was waiting to cross busy Madison Street. A lawsuit brought by the woman’s husband was settled for $12 million and helped prompt wholesale changes in how police handle vehicle pursuits.
The crash is evidence that Bauer “did unreasonably aggressive things and he was an unreasonably aggressive officer,” Kamin said during those arguments.
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“The jury needs to know what Bauer could have done or was capable of doing,” he said.
Assistant State’s Attorney John Maher argued those allegations are far too old to shed any real light on Bauer’s actions decades later, the position the judge sided with Friday.
Instead, the trial will hinge on what happened inside the dim Loop stairwell where Bauer was killed. There is no video and no witnesses to the actual shooting, other than Legghette.
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Maher said that while Bauer never identified himself as a police officer, he was carrying a police radio on full volume and had his handcuffs out. Bauer was on duty and in full uniform that day.
The dramatic chain of events leading to Bauer’s death began when officers patrolling Lower Wacker Drive approached Legghette, who appeared to be urinating against a wall or pillar. Legghette declined to speak with them, then took off running, authorities said.
Bauer, downtown for a meeting with aldermen after attending training for handling mass shootings earlier in the day, heard a radio call of a fleeing suspect and spotted Legghette running nearby moments later, authorities said.
Bauer chased Legghette to the top of a stairwell outside the Thompson Center and attempted to detain him, authorities said. The two struggled and ended up on a landing below.
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Legghette, who was wearing body armor, drew a handgun and fired seven shots, fatally wounding Bauer, prosecutors have said.
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com
asweeney@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-21--Bears release cornerback Prince Amukamara and wide receiver Taylor Gabriel, clearing $13.5 million i

Bears release cornerback Prince Amukamara and wide receiver Taylor Gabriel, clearing $13.5 million in salary-cap space while creating 2 needs

Gabriel , 29 , was due to earn a $ 5.5 million base salary .
Cutting him creates $ 4.5 @ @ @ @ @ and he will count as $ 2 million in dead space this season .
Two @ @ @ @ @ caught three touchdown passes in the Week 3 victory over the Redskins — limited him @ @ @ @ @ .
Gabriel caught 96 passes for 1,041 yards and six touchdowns in two seasons with @ @ @

The Bears will head to the scouting combine in Indianapolis next week in search of a starting cornerback and a vertical threat on offense.
The Bears on Friday released veteran cornerback Prince Amukamara, who started 42 games for them over the last three seasons, and wide receiver Taylor Gabriel. By making the moves now, the Bears allow the players to get a head start on finding new employment.
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Amukamara, 30, was due to earn a $9 million base salary this year, and the move clears $9 million in salary-cap space. He will count as $1 million in dead money against the 2020 cap.
Amukamara suffered a pulled hamstring at the end of the Bears’ Nov. 28 victory in Detroit. He missed the next game and was slowed in the final three games.
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Gabriel, 29, was due to earn a $5.5 million base salary. Cutting him creates $4.5 million in cap space, and he will count as $2 million in dead space this season. Two concussions — one after he caught three touchdown passes in the Week 3 victory over the Redskins — limited him to nine games in 2019. Gabriel caught 96 passes for 1,041 yards and six touchdowns in two seasons with the Bears.
Amukamara turned into a solid addition for the Bears, who originally signed him to a one-year, $7 million deal in 2017. After he played well, they re-signed him to a three-year, $27 million contract. of which he earned $18 million over the last two seasons. The key for replacing him with the saved salary-cap space will be finding the next Amukamara, a player who can come in on a prove-it deal or is perhaps undervalued because of durability concerns.
The Bears don’t have a clear replacement for him on the roster. They could consider Kevin Toliver, who is entering his third season, but the former undrafted player won’t get the job without facing competition.
The Bears signed CFL all-star Tre Roberson to a two-year contract, and he will compete for a roster spot. But it might be overly ambitious to consider him a potential starter, at least at this point.
While the Bears have some young receivers who will compete for playing time, such as 2019 fourth-round pick Riley Ridley, they need a speed addition to the offense. Fortunately for them, it’s a strong draft for wide receivers.
Gabriel’s speed attracted the Bears, who signed him in 2018. He was the third wide receiver for the Falcons after Julio Jones and Mohamed Sanu. Thrust into a role as a starter and a No. 2 option for the Bears, Gabriel was overpromoted.
He earned $14 million the last two seasons.


chicagotribune--2020-02-21--After another long trip next week, the Blackhawks play most of their March games at home. The only p

After another long trip next week, the Blackhawks play most of their March games at home. The only problem: They’re below .500 there.

“ On a day like yesterday , we want to be very precise as far as the message we want @ @ @ @ @ think we did that , ” Colliton said .
“ And now it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ that sharpness into how we play .
And that will be the focus .

Duncan Keith ruminated on the Blackhawks’ recent struggles, then said something that exemplifies the feeling in the locker room that all is not lost: “Nobody’s said we haven’t made playoffs yet.”
The Hawks occupy last place in the Central Division, but they remain within sight of a Western Conference wild-card spot, eight points behind the Flames entering Friday’s games.
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“We’ve got to create our own optimism by how we play,” coach Jeremy Colliton said after the morning skate Friday. “The feeling in the group is not as good because the performance wasn’t good last game. So you look at the standings and no one feels good about it.
“The way you can bring good feelings back is to play really good tonight for 60 minutes.”
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The Hawks begin their last extended road trip Sunday in Dallas — continuing against the Blues, Lightning and Panthers — before playing 11 of 15 games in March at the United Center.
That would be comforting if not for their 12-13-4 home record entering Friday night’s game against the Predators, who had won seven of their last 11, five of the wins coming on the road.
The Hawks are 14-13-4 away from the United Center and have the league’s fourth-best penalty kill on the road (82.4%) — better than their marks at home (80.7%, 17th) and overall (81.6%, 12th).
The power play, however, ranks last in the league (13.8%) despite it being a point of emphasis.
Colliton and players have talked about being more prepared and focused, particularly in the first period. But it’s the second period that has let them down, getting outscored 65-46.
Still, the Hawks believe if they focus on improving in the first period, it will carry over into the second and third.
It’s one of the problems they talked through Thursday when they took a day off the ice to conduct meetings.
“On a day like yesterday, we want to be very precise as far as the message we want to send, and I think we did that,” Colliton said. “And now it’s about bringing energy and translating that sharpness into how we play. And that will be the focus.
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“It was a good morning, there was energy, and now we have to start the game on time.”
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Alex DeBrincat said it helped to take what amounted to a mental health day.
“It was nice to get a day of rest, think about the game, go over some stuff we didn’t do as normal and isn’t up to par,” he said.
The Hawks have lost seven of their last eight games, two in overtime. They started the calendar year with three losses in four games before going on a five-game winning streak.
“We’ve faced adversity at different points in the season,” DeBrincat said. “This is another one of those times where we really need to get back together and play the kind of style we know we can win with. That’s what we’re focused on right now.”
Some of the teams on the upcoming schedule also are vying for a wild-card spot, including the Predators, and the Hawks haven’t always matched the increased intensity that comes with the playoff race.
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Next week’s trip amounts to a do-over of the 1-4 trip through western Canada.
“We just need to go on a run here, get a win streak going,” DeBrincat said before Friday’s game. “Start with tonight and beat a team that we’re competing with for a wild-card spot.”


chicagotribune--2020-02-21--State board upholds Barrington school district’s decision to fire former teacher after pornographic

State board upholds Barrington school district’s decision to fire former teacher after pornographic photos found on his computer

Students also claimed that Mizanin often engaged in off-topic “ rants , ” some of which they recorded .
Christopher @ @ @ @ @ math department , said in reports that a student complained to him in early March @ @ @ @ @ “ rambling and off-topic digressions were distracting , ” he was “ moving too slowly @ @ @ @ @ “ students were not learning the course material .
”

The Illinois State Board of Education upheld Barrington School District 220's May 2018 decision to fire a math teacher after pornographic images were found on his school district laptop. (Kaitlin Edquist / Pioneer Press)
A Barrington High School teacher is now officially — and finally — fired from the district after he had been let go two years ago but unsuccessfully appealed to the state board of education to get his job back.
The Barrington School District 220 Board of Education voted at a recent meeting to terminate former math teacher Matthew Mizanin. He was found to have pornographic photos on his school district laptop while he was under investigation for “grossly unprofessional” classroom conduct, according to official state documents.
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The official termination comes nearly two years after the SD220 board initially fired Mizanin in May 2018, based on charges that he “engaged in grossly unprofessional behavior and exercised extremely poor judgment,” according to the documents.
Being a tenured teacher, Mizanin filed an appeal of his termination with the Illinois State Board of Education.
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ISBE conducted its own investigation and announced in December that it upheld the board’s initial decision. The Barrington school board then officially terminated the teacher at the Jan. 14 meeting on a 6-0 vote.
“Upon learning of allegations of misconduct, the district terminated the teacher, and the Illinois State Board of Education hearing confirmed that termination,” district spokeswoman Samantha Ptashkin said in a statement.
Mizanin taught math at Barrington High School. He worked there for 24 years before his dismissal, Ptashkin said.
He was first investigated by SD220 in the spring of 2018 because of “unprofessional behavior” noted by students, parents and administrators throughout the school year, according to school district documents.
Mizanin could not be reached for comment.
According to the complaints described in the documents, Mizanin failed to enter grades in a timely manner, made grading errors and misplaced student tests. He used school time to conduct personal compensation-related business, pulled students out of class to discuss private tutoring and once scared a student he allegedly knew was prone to seizures.
In early December 2017, Mizanin reportedly called one of his students a “psycho” and told him to “go see the psychologist." The student’s parents said Mizanin was previously told that the student was receiving counseling, according to the documents.
Students also claimed that Mizanin often engaged in off-topic “rants,” some of which they recorded. Christopher Rohde, chair of the math department, said in reports that a student complained to him in early March 2018 that Mizanin’s “rambling and off-topic digressions were distracting,” he was “moving too slowly through the material” and “students were not learning the course material.”
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“Mizanin’s rants in front of his students were erratic, agitated, bombastic and bizarre,” ISBE hearing officer Lisa Salkovitz Kohn said in her findings.
After more complaints surfaced against the math teacher in March 2018, Mizanin was placed on a two-month paid administrative leave pending investigation. During the two months, he was not allowed on district property without advanced permission, and he was paid his normal salary for that year, which was $113,000, according to Ptashkin.
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In the course of the investigation, officials inspected Mizanin’s district-issued computer. That is when pornographic photographs were found on the laptop, according to school district reports.
Mizanin explained the photos on the computer by stating that while he was acting as a substitute gymnastics coach, he asked one of the gymnasts during a March 8, 2018 meet to help him transfer photos from his cell phone to a flash drive.
He said the student told him to use the laptop and then delete the files off the laptop. Mizanin acknowledged in reports that the student did not want help with the photos.
According to Mary Dudek, assistant superintendent of human resources, Mizanin said he offered to buy the student movie tickets, and the student agreed to finish helping him later, but the district searched the laptop before the student finished the job.
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The district documents state that Mizanin told school district officials that the student could not have seen the pictures during the file transfer. According to the ISBE hearing officer’s findings, however, Mizanin “lacked the technical knowledge to provide this assurance.”
Mizanin was not criminally charged for his actions, but he was fired by the district in May 2018 and placed on unpaid leave, Ptashkin said.
As part of Mizanin’s appeal, ISBE conducted multiple hearings from May to August 2019. The state board’s investigation wrapped up in November.
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Salkovitz Kohn presented her findings on Dec. 12, 2019. She found that the SD220 board proved it had sufficient grounds to dismiss Mizanin on the grounds originally stated in 2018.
“The Board of Education of Barrington Community Unit School District No. 220 has proved that it had sufficient grounds under the school code to dismiss respondent Matthew Mizanin for cause,” Salkovitz Kohn said in the conclusion of her findings.
kedquist@chicagotribune.com
Twitter: @kaitlinedquist


chicagotribune--2020-02-21--A homeless shelter run by a church has been shut down after city of Chicago took it to court over co

A homeless shelter run by a church has been shut down after city of Chicago took it to court over code violations

And last summer , the Rev .
Malcolm Griffith , who leads the congregation , had workers remove kitchen appliances @ @ @ @ @ pastor said in court was done to make repairs .
The residents argued the work @ @ @ @ @ came just days after being given notice of an eviction filed against them .
The @ @ @ @ @ August .

Chicago's Advocate United Church of Christ turned the house next door, at left, into a shelter for homeless people but it was eventually shut down by court order because of code violations and other problems. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
A shelter run by a Chicago church with no oversight now sits empty as it continues to face building code violations.
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Residents moved out before the city of Chicago enforced a court order to vacate the house, whose owner, the adjacent Advocate United Church of Christ, had opened its doors to people on the verge of homelessness.
The church’s lawyers had previously argued before Cook County Judge Patrice Ball-Reed that contractors couldn’t make repairs because a family still resided in the home. As proof, they provided a letter from a plumbing company that is not registered with the state or Cook County, and had no business permits from the city. The company’s letter did not list a phone number or address.
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By Wednesday, the house sat empty, with two of the front windows broken and boarded up. Two orders from the city were taped to the front door along with a note from a nearby elementary school dated Jan. 28.
During an appearance in housing court Thursday, the city asked to extend the case at least until next month because inspectors weren’t able to enter the home to verify conditions.
In November, the Tribune reported on the strained relationship between the shelter’s residents and Advocate United. Just before last year’s polar vortex, residents were left without electricity or gas service as temperatures plummeted to below minus 20 degrees.
And last summer, the Rev. Malcolm Griffith, who leads the congregation, had workers remove kitchen appliances and toilets, which the pastor said in court was done to make repairs. The residents argued the work had been overly aggressive and came just days after being given notice of an eviction filed against them. The residents won that case in August.
Residents of the shelter said appliances were removed without their consent. A turned-off refrigerator sits inside the kitchen in June. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Known as the Advocate House, the single-family house in the East Side neighborhood had operated as a shelter for years, housing as many as 18 people at a time, according to internal documents provided to the Tribune by previous residents. The former residents who spoke with the Tribune each paid a weekly “program fee” to live in the property.
“When I first got there, it was a means to an end,” Tanisha Holmes, whose family was the last to leave the shelter, said by phone. “I’m just glad we are not over there anymore.”
Holmes said she and her family left in January, days before the city first attempted to execute the vacate order. Her family had moved into the shelter in mid-2018 and now lives in separate apartments.
Tanisha Holmes and family members were the last to live in the shelter before it was shut down. She said it was "a means to and end" but she was glad to be out of the home. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
A second eviction filed by the church late last year made it difficult to find new housing, Holmes said at the time. She and the church agreed in court that following Holmes’ departure, the latest eviction case wouldn’t show up on her record.
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While the house is now empty, the church is still embroiled in a housing case that started more than a year ago over the lack of heat. The city updated its original complaint to include code violations.
This isn’t the first time the church has been sued for housing too many people. In 2016, the city took Advocate United to court for using the single-family home as a “rooming house,” but tossed the case in 2018, according to court records. Inspectors felt assured by church officials that the building would return to its original state, said a city attorney.
Reached by phone, Griffith said the church no longer plans to use the structure as a shelter. As part of the city’s vacate order, the church can’t lease the property until the code violations are resolved.
creyes@chicagotribune.com
emalagon@chicagotribune.com