chicagotribune--2020-06-03--More than 20 people were shot in Chicago over 12 hours

As Chicago wrestles with fallout from the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the COVID-19 pandemic , summer violence @ @ @ @ @ ongoing problem for citizens and police in the city .

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 6 Police at the scene where four people were shot on the 8400 block of Colfax in the South Chicago neighborhood on June 2, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
As Chicago wrestles with fallout from the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the COVID-19 pandemic, summer violence in the city remains an ongoing problem for citizens and police in the city.


chicagotribune--2020-06-02--The Spin: Mayor Lightfoot pleads for calm in TV address | Despite unrest, Chicago 'will reopen’ Wedn

The Spin: Mayor Lightfoot pleads for calm in TV address | Despite unrest, Chicago 'will reopen’ Wednesday, mayor says | Sen. Duckworth blasts President Trump ‘draft dodging wannabe tin-pot dictator’

“ As he was walking there , he was followed — behind him — by the chairman of the Joint @ @ @ @ @ fatigues and the secretary of defense , walking along like lap dogs behind a draft @ @ @ @ @ ” she said in Washington , D.C. , today where she and a group of @ @ @ @ @ reform legislation aimed at ongoing national outrage over Floyd ’ s death .
You can @ @ @ @ @ at about the 36-minute mark here .

Mayor Lori Lightfoot presides over the City Council meeting as Jeff Levine (cq), attorney with the City's law department, left, and Mark Flessner, right, Corporation Counsel, look on at the start of a virtual meeting of the City Council from her office at City Hall in Chicago on Wednesday, April 22, 2020. COVID-19, coronavirus (JosÃ© M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot gave a televised address last night in which she asked residents to “stand for peace” amid unrest - some of it violent - here and in other cities in the aftermath of a white Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, an unarmed African American man.
Despite the mix of peaceful protests and looting across Chicago, the mayor said earlier in the day that she’s sticking to her plan to lift some of the coronavirus restrictions starting Wednesday. That means you can get a haircut and dine at a restaurant with an outdoor area, among other things.
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U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth blasted President Donald Trump this afternoon as a “draft dodging wannabe tin-pot dictator,” one day after he declared in a televised news conference that he was the “president of law and order,” and threatened to send the military into states where unrest continues over the Minneapolis police officer killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man.
And Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, a former co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, apologized over comments he made during a meeting with African American pastors and community leaders over unrest in Omaha. In a video that’s gone viral, an Omaha pastor said he walked out of the meeting after “Gov. Ricketts said ‘the problem I have with you people.’ ... He called black pastors and black leaders in Omaha ‘you people.’”
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Welcome to The Spin.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot wears a mask as she prepares to speak about coronavirus recently at the Historic Water Tower in Chicago. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune / Chicago Tribune)
From the Tribune’s Gregory Pratt: “Despite widespread looting and heightened public health concerns brought on by thousands of people protesting in tight groups across the city, Chicago will move ahead with looser coronavirus restrictions as planned on Wednesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced.”
Lightfoot previously said restaurants, hotels and many more businesses would get to start opening June 3 with reduced capacities and tight rules in place designed to stop COVID-19 cases from spiking. That timeline seemed imperiled in recent days as fallout from the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd led to nationwide protests and civil unrest, but Lightfoot said the city will move forward with its plan as scheduled.
In making the decision, Lightfoot said she relied on local chambers of commerce and business owners she met while touring sites of destruction over the past several says who told her the city needs to return to some sense of normalcy to give people hope.
A new kind of service charge as more Chicago businesses reopen Wednesday: Fees to offset costs for COVID-19 protection: The Tribune’s Ryan Ori has the details here.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth speaks at a news conference Jan. 7, 2019, at O'Hare International Airport. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)
Illinois U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Army combat veteran, has long blasted President Trump in the past, calling him a draft dodger after he received five deferments for military service during the Vietnam War.
But her suggestion on Tuesday that he’s a “dictator” raised the level of rhetoric. She points to what news outlets, including The Associated Press, called a “split screen moment” yesterday: As he was declaring in front of cameras that he is the “president of law and order” in a Rose Garden address before reporters and cameras, law enforcement officers were aggressively shutting down a peaceful protest in a nearby park, firing tear gas and deploying flash-bangs to disperse the crowd.
Duckworth, of Hoffman Estates, said all of it was for a “photo op” that allowed the president to exit the news conference and walk to the St. John’s Episcopal Church, near the White House as TV cameras were rolling and reporters were looking on.
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“As he was walking there, he was followed — behind him — by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in military fatigues and the secretary of defense, walking along like lap dogs behind a draft dodging wannabe tin-pot dictator,” she said in Washington, D.C., today where she and a group of Senate Democrats were pushing police reform legislation aimed at ongoing national outrage over Floyd’s death. You can listen to her full remarks at about the 36-minute mark here.
Duckworth is working with other Democrats to advance the legislation that among other things would set aside federal money for anti-bias and use-of-force training and authorize the U.S. attorney general to award grants that would allow states to tap an independent investigator — and, if warranted, a prosecutor — in police excessive force cases. Whether Republicans will support the proposal remains to be seen.
Nevertheless, the plan comes as Chicago police are under federal court oversight mandating changes to training, supervision and discipline.
This isn’t the first time Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran who lost both legs when the helicopter she was piloting was shot down, has accused Trump of being a draft dodger. In 2018, Duckworth referred to Trump as “Cadet Bone Spurs” because he received a deferment during the Vietnam War because of bone spurs in his heels. He received four college deferments as well.
White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement: “The senator should check the facts instead of spread lies in an attempt to smear the President. These so-called peaceful protestors were throwing projectiles, climbing onto a historic building, and intelligence had showed they were prepared to escalate. Responding law enforcement followed appropriate procedure to clear the area in preparation for the 7 p.m. curfew and expand the perimeter away from one of our nation’s most historic churches, which crowds attempted to burn the night before.
“As President Trump has said, we cannot allow the voices of peaceful protestors to be drowned out by angry mobs, which is why the President will continue to take decisive action to stop the violence and restore the security of all Americans.”
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Mayor Lightfoot says she’ll see Trump in court if he tries to send in military: ‘This is a man who likes to bluster’ — Late yesterday, President Donald Trump held a Rose Garden news conference and threatened to mobilize the U.S. military to end “riots and lawlessness” that have erupted in cities across the U.S. since the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. Gregory Pratt has the full story here.
About Lightfoot’s TV address tonight: The mayor has spent the past several days pleading for peace as protesters marched and traveling mobs of citizens pillaged stores in the neighborhoods. The city has blocked off downtown roads to keep nonresidents out — a decision that’s been criticized as prioritizing the Loop over neighborhoods, though Lightfoot defended the decision by saying it allowed officials to put police in neighborhoods. — Gregory Pratt
Pritzker, Preckwinkle turn to religious and community leaders in urging protesters to channel anger toward criminal justice reform, economic development: The Tribune’s Dan Petrella has the details here.
Feds charge 2 more people allegedly tied to weekend looting in Chicago: The Tribune’s Sophie Sherry has the details here.
Joliet mayor says he was acting in self-defense when he grabbed and shoved a protester during George Floyd-related unrest; skirmish caught on video: Alicia Fabbre has the details here.
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A group of protesters confronts police in front of the 1st District at 17th and State Streets as they march from Harold Washington Cultural Center to the City Hall in Chicago on Monday, June 1, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune) (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
“Though protests and unrest have flared in cities across the country,” including here over the killing of George Floyd, “Chicago’s position is unusual in that the city already is in the middle of a court-overseen effort to overhaul the Chicago Police Department,” the Tribune’s Dan Hinkel reminds us in a new piece. “That push was sparked by public fury over the November 2015 release of video of white Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times.”
Hinkel goes on to write: "The shooting led to a second-degree murder conviction and a wide-ranging report by the U.S. Department of Justice that portrayed the city’s police as poorly trained and loosely supervised, with little reason to fear discipline. The Justice Department’s findings echoed long-standing complaints about flawed investigations into shootings and the disproportionate use of force against minorities, among a host of other issues.
“Following that report, the city signed a consent decree that mandates changes to training, supervision and discipline.”
But progress has been slow: Late last year, the first periodic report from the independent monitoring team hired to guide the department’s progress found the city had missed 37 of its 50 deadlines during the first six months of implementing the court order."
Siblings Pete Ricketts, from left, Todd Ricketts, Laura Ricketts and Tom Ricketts beside the Cubs dugout at Wrigley Field on Oct. 13, 2009. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
My Tribune colleague Paul Sullivan writes: "Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, a former co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, apologized for referring to black people as “you people” during a meeting with community leaders in Omaha.
“Ricketts’ comment was relayed in a video posted on Facebook by Pastor Jarrod Parker of St. Mark Baptist Church, who called Ricketts a “racist” and asked for the comment to go viral.
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Parker met Monday with Ricketts, the Omaha police chief and other black leaders in the community about the shooting of a 22-year-old black man by a white bar owner during protests of the George Floyd killing. After the video appeared, Ricketts issued a statement saying, “I chose my words poorly, and apologized when it became apparent that I had caused offense.”
Ricketts called in to an Omaha radio show Tuesday hosted by black radio personality William King, and said: “My heart is with working with the communities of North and South Omaha to improve the lives of people there,” Ricketts said. “In the heat of the moment, I said things that were trigger words.”
Ricketts also said he’s “learning the culture” of the African American community and “I made a mistake … I’m sorry.” Read Sullivan’s full story here.
The issue was trending on social media this morning, the same day as protesters marched in Wrigleyville. The Cubs posted a statement on social media that read in part: “The Chicago Cubs condemn racism in all its forms and decry violence against members of the Black community. Bias and discrimination have no place in our society.”
It is not the first time a member of the politically split family has faced criticism over racially insensitive comments. Last year family patriarch Joe Ricketts apologized after a series of emails obtained and published by Splinter News showed him endorsing racist jokes and conspiracy theories.
Joe Ricketts and his Nebraska governor son are both high-profile Republicans, as is Todd Ricketts, one of the Cubs-owning siblings who is finance chairman of the Republican National Committee and the Trump Victory Committee. Pete and Todd Ricketts’ sister Laura Ricketts is a big backer of Democratic candidates and causes.
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A statement from the Chicago Cubs. pic.twitter.com/11FWFWR1bE — Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 2, 2020
WGN anchor Joe Donlon on set Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
From the Tribune’s Robert Channick: “Competing with established cable news networks such as CNN and Fox, “News Nation” is seeking to carve out a niche with a mission of delivering “unbiased” straight news. The newscasts will broadcast nightly from 7 to 10 p.m. from studios being built at WGN’s facilities in Chicago’s North Center neighborhood."
“We’re going to tell you what happens, we’re not going to tell you what to think about it,” said Jennifer Lyons, 52, the longtime news director at WGN-TV in Chicago who is now overseeing the new national cable news broadcast.
Channick notes: "Cable news has been must-see TV in recent weeks as efforts to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and fallout from the videotaped death of an African American man, George Floyd, at the hands of Minneapolis police have gripped viewers nationwide. Lyons said the need for information “brings to light” the importance of cable news.
"However, Lyons said “News Nation” intends to shift the focus away from an increasingly partisan Washington D.C., and spend more time covering stories from the center of the country — both geographically and politically.” Read more here.
Thanks for reading The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Have a tip? Email host Lisa Donovan at ldonovan@chicagotribune.com.
Twitter @byldonovan


chicagotribune--2020-06-02--The latest from editorial cartoonist Scott Stantis

Stacker collected the top 100 narrative fiction films over 165 minutes , according to IMDb .
To qualify , the @ @ @ @ @ least 3,500 user votes .

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