chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 1,360 new known COVID-19 cases and 25 additional deaths reported as

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 1,360 new known COVID-19 cases and 25 additional deaths reported as researchers find lack of vitamin D might increase risk for infection

“ I don ’ t know if there will be another package in the next few weeks or not , @ @ @ @ @ event at a hospital in his home state of Kentucky .
He said that talks @ @ @ @ @ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi haven ’ t been fruitful , and that any embrace of @ @ @ @ @ “ descended ” as the fall elections near .

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Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois health officials on Thursday announced 1,360 new known cases of COVID-19 and 25 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 240,003 and the statewide death toll to 8,115 since the start of the pandemic. Officials also reported 40,795 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 4.4%.
A lack of vitamin D may be associated with a higher risk for getting COVID-19, according to newly published research out of the University of Chicago. Patients with untreated vitamin D deficiencies were nearly twice as likely to test positive for COVID-19 as patients with sufficient levels of the vitamin, according to the research, which was published Thursday in the journal JAMA Network Open.
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Meanwhile, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reported a spike in positive COVID-19 cases among undergraduate students, saying the infections are tied to large parties and gatherings over the weekend, according to a media release.
About 780 new cases have been identified since classes began Aug. 24, said Martin Burke, a chemistry professor leading the school’s testing program, during a Wednesday afternoon news conference, correcting a previous figure released by the school that said more than 400 cases had been identified.
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Here’s what’s happening Thursday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
5:19 p.m.: Indiana virus caution urged as IU seeks fraternity closures
Indiana health officials are warning residents to take coronavirus precautions seriously over the Labor Day weekend, even as new statewide COVID-19 risk ratings show most counties have minimal or moderate virus spread.
Indiana University officials have asked all 40 fraternity and sorority houses on its Bloomington campus to shut down because high rates of coronavirus infections, but say they have no authority to force them to close.
Read more here. —Post-Tribune
4 p.m.: Chicago homeless shelter creates remote-learning spaces for kids living there and seeks donations
One little girl grinned as she showed off her new Elsa backpack. Another girl crafted a green nameplate for the desk that will be hers for remote learning. Both were checking out the spaces where they’ll learn online when school starts Tuesday.
For months, the children at the Sylvia Center have been sharing just one room with each of their families.
Sylvia Center is one of the homeless shelters run by Cornerstone Community Outreach. Right now, said program supervisor Amanda Learmond, it houses families that include about 25 children, from elementary age to high school.
The children have already been constricted by staying in the shelter, she said, where they must wear masks as soon as they step outside of their room. They feel stuck, and they feel bored.
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Read more here. —Alison Bowen
3:58 p.m.: A vaccine by November? Dr. Fauci says it’s unlikely, but ‘not impossible.’
Could the U.S. really see a coronavirus vaccine before Election Day?
A letter from federal health officials instructing states to be ready to begin distributing a vaccine by Nov. 1 — two days before the election — has been met, not with exhilaration, but with suspicion among some public health experts, who wonder whether the Trump administration is hyping the possibility or intends to rush approval for political gain.
The skepticism comes amid growing questions about the scientific credibility of the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and their vulnerability to political pressure from President Donald Trump.
Read more here. —Associated Press
1:42 p.m.: American Airlines chops 83,000 flights from its October schedule
American Airlines has cut 83,000 domestic flights from its October schedule during the last two weeks even as it holds onto hope that another round of federal stimulus grants could save jobs and service to some cities.
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Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines has cut its global schedule by 55% from a year ago for the October month, the company confirmed, including a 48% decrease in domestic flying as the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of letting up and passengers show little eagerness to return to the skies.
Read more here. —Dallas Morning News
12:57 p.m.: ‘You get to feel so desperate’: Thousands of Americans not getting enough unemployment aid to qualify for extra $300
The administration rolled out the new $300-a-week benefit, using money from a $44 billion disaster relief fund, after Congress and the White House failed to agree to extend the $600 payment. It was initially announced as $400, but that included an additional $100 from state funds that almost no states are providing.
Yet because of a raft of restrictions and bureaucratic hurdles, more than 1 million of the unemployed won’t receive that $300 check, and their financial struggles will deepen. Many were low-paid workers whose state unemployment aid falls below the $100 weekly threshold. That stands to widen the inequalities that disproportionately hurt Black and Latino workers, who are more likely to work in low-wage jobs.
Some gig and contract workers won’t qualify, either. What’s more, the Trump administration’s program requires the unemployed to certify that their job loss stemmed from the coronavirus — a provision that could trip up many. And the disaster relief money that is funding the new benefit could run dry in coming weeks.
Read more here. —Associated Press
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12:07 p.m.: 1,360 new known COVID-19 cases and 25 more deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Thursday announced 1,360 new known cases of COVID-19 and 25 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 240,003 and the statewide death toll to 8,115 since the start of the pandemic. Officials also reported 40,795 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 4.4%.
—Chicago Tribune staff
10:14 a.m.: Lack of vitamin D might increase risk for COVID-19, University of Chicago researchers find
A lack of vitamin D may be associated with a higher risk for getting COVID-19, according to newly published research out of the University of Chicago.
Researchers looked at 489 patients tested for COVID-19 at University of Chicago Medicine between March 3 and April 10, whose vitamin D levels had been measured within a year of being tested for COVID-19.
Patients with untreated vitamin D deficiencies were nearly twice as likely to test positive for COVID-19 as patients with sufficient levels of the vitamin, according to the research, which was published Thursday in the journal JAMA Network Open. The findings were reported earlier this year before the study was officially published.
Read more here. —Lisa Schencker
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9:35 a.m.: Stimulus check updates: Mitch McConnell raises new doubts on Congress getting COVID-19 relief done
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell expressed doubts about whether Congress can get a deal on another pandemic relief package when lawmakers return to Washington after a monthlong recess, despite the Trump administration’s push for a quick, targeted stimulus.
“I don’t know if there will be another package in the next few weeks or not,” McConnell said at an event at a hospital in his home state of Kentucky. He said that talks between top administration officials and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi haven’t been fruitful, and that any embrace of bipartisanship in the Capitol has “descended” as the fall elections near.
His comments come a day after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testified to Congress that parts of the U.S. economy urgently need additional fiscal stimulus to fully rebound from the COVID-19 crisis. Mnuchin told a House panel the most important thing is “that we deliver some relief quickly to the American workers impacted by this.”
Read more here. —Bloomberg News
8:30 a.m.: New US unemployment claims fall below 1 million, but layoffs remain elevated
The number of laid-off Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to roughly 880,000 last week, a sign of possible improvement but evidence that the viral pandemic keeps forcing many businesses to slash jobs.
The latest figures, released Thursday by the Labor Department, suggest that nearly six months after the eruption of the coronavirus, the economy is still struggling to sustain a recovery and rebuild a job market that was devastated by the recession. In the previous week, more than 1 million had sought jobless aid.
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All told, the government said that 13.3 million people are continuing to receive traditional jobless benefits, up from 1.7 million a year ago.
Read more here. —Associated Press
6:55 a.m.: Illinois attorney general warns of robocalls discouraging voting by mail during coronavirus pandemic
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office Thursday morning warned voters that robocalls with false information targeting state residents are trying to discourage people from voting by mail.
The robocalls come after the state expanded voting by mail in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The recorded robocalls falsely claim that people who vote by mail will have their information shared. Among the claims are that voter information will be shared with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help track people for a mandatory vaccine program, shared with police to find people with outstanding warrants and shared with creditors.
“Many Illinois residents will opt to vote by mail as we all take precautions to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the spread of COVID-19,” Raoul said in the release. “We have already seen efforts to discourage people from voting by mail, and it is likely that those efforts will intensify as the November election approaches.”
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—Chicago Tribune staff
6 a.m.: For some CPS employees, the school year is already off to a rough start, even before classes begin Tuesday
The windowless conference room with poor air circulation was hardly an upgrade from the cramped office where Chicago Public Schools clerk Ramona Rojas was initially assigned when she returned to work last week.
In the main school office, nothing stood between Rojas and the maskless people who kept coming in even after she taped signs to the walls.
The school supplied three masks and two buckets of disinfectant wipes, but those can only protect her from so many virus particles. With her stress levels rising, Rojas said she took her laptop and moved to the conference room at the suggestion of her principal.
Rojas, a clerk at Prussing Elementary in Jefferson Park, is also a grandmother, has asthma and lost two relatives to the coronavirus. So she doesn’t take it lightly that CPS employees like herself who are returning to work in school buildings comply with health and safety guidelines and receive the protections they need. Meanwhile, students resume remote learning Tuesday.
“I felt like I was not being supported. I felt like everybody was looking at me like I was doing something wrong,” Rojas said.
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The Chicago Teachers Union has been fielding complaints from members around the city as they return to schools. Cases like Rojas’ raise the question of what to do when a co-worker is not following the rules, whether they are employed by CPS or staffed by a third party.
Read more here. —Hannah Leone
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
In case you missed it
Here are five stories from Wednesday related to COVID-19.


chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Watch live: Gov. Pritzker attends a memorial service to honor those who have lost their lives to COV

Watch live: Gov. Pritzker attends a memorial service to honor those who have lost their lives to COVID-19

Gov .
Pritzker to join faith leaders for a 6:30 p.m. memorial service to honor those who have lost their @ @ @ @ @ the latest coronavirus updates here .

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chicagotribune--2020-09-03--88-year-old man reported missing by family is killed when car hits him as he crosses Lake Shore Driv

88-year-old man reported missing by family is killed when car hits him as he crosses Lake Shore Drive

The driver of the Camry and a passenger in the car that hit Soria notified city officials and stayed on @ @ @ @ @ , according to a police report .
The driver , a 63-year-old man from the @ @ @ @ @ police he was driving north on Lake Shore Drive when a car in front of @ @ @ @ @ he then saw a pedestrian and tried to swerve before the collision .

Reynaldo Soria with his wife, Maria Leonor, during a family trip to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in 2020. Soria was struck by a car and killed Wednesday Sept. 2, 2020, while crossing the 5200 block of North Lake Shore Drive in the Uptown neighborhood. (Family photo)
Reynaldo Soria’s family spent hours looking for him Wednesday after he didn’t come home from a morning trip into the city.
The 88-year-old from the Irving Park neighborhood was suffering from dementia, and family members worried he’d gotten lost on his way home. By evening, they filed a missing-person report and spread out across Chicago in hopes of finding him.
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Hours into their search, however, about 11:30 p.m., Soria was struck by a Toyota Camry while crossing the 5200 block of North Lake Shore Drive in the Uptown neighborhood, police said. He was transported to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he later died.
“We knew he was somewhere looking to get home,” said his daughter, Catalina Soria Vlamakis. “At first I was like ‘This is not happening, right? This is not happening. It’s not true.’ ”
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Police arrived at her father’s house about 3 a.m. to deliver the news, Vlamakis said. The 52-year-old from Naperville said some family members were still driving in the city looking for him, and didn’t learn he’d died until they got home.
The last the family heard from Soria was about 4 p.m. Wednesday, Vlamakis said. He had answered his wife’s call and said he was on his way home.
The driver of the Camry and a passenger in the car that hit Soria notified city officials and stayed on the scene after the collision, according to a police report. The driver, a 63-year-old man from the Pulaski Park neighborhood, told police he was driving north on Lake Shore Drive when a car in front of him swerved. He said he then saw a pedestrian and tried to swerve before the collision.
But the driver hit Soria with the right side of the car, and Soria hit the car’s hood and windshield before falling on the pavement, according to the report.
There were no charges or citations filed as of Thursday morning but the investigation remained open, police said. Police were reviewing city surveillance video of the collision.
Originally from Mexico City, Soria lived with his wife and had 20 kids, 10 living in Mexico and 10 in the United States, according to Vlamakis. He immigrated to the U.S. around 1968 and loved to read, dance and entertain.
“He loved to sing a lot,” Vlamakis said. “He always liked to remember the good times.”
Soria was in denial about his dementia, which had made him angry and upset, Vlamakis said. The family often tried to take him places because he loved the outdoors and it helped take his mind off the dementia.
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Vlamakis said she regrets that she didn’t come to see her father “every single day” since she lives in Naperville.
“My father, he was tormented,” Vlamakis said. “I feel like he was tormented because of what he was going through every day about his dementia. Now, I feel like he’s at peace.”
Vlamakis said her father wanted to be buried in Mexico.
kelsmith@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @KelliSmithNews


chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Police called to Greektown hostel twice in 4 hours: First for report of sexual assault, then for app

Police called to Greektown hostel twice in 4 hours: First for report of sexual assault, then for apparent drug overdose by victim’s roommate

Police then spoke to the man from the other room , who gave officers conflicting stories .
Initially , he @ @ @ @ @ leave the hostel the night before or know anyone there , the police report stated @ @ @ @ @ them he knew the victim and was with him the night before .

Chicago police twice responded to a Greektown hostel on Wednesday, once when a man reported he had been raped and, four hours later, when his roommate was discovered dead of an apparent drug overdose.
The first call came in around 10 a.m. Wednesday for a report of a criminal sexual assault at the Chicago Parthenon Hostel at 310 S. Halsted St. A 27-year-old man told police he could only remember having a few drinks the night before and the “image” of a man, according to the report.
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The victim also said he couldn’t remember where in the hostel he woke up, according to a police report. He was taken to the University of Illinois Hospital for treatment.
Police talked to a hostel employee who told them he saw the victim and another man, who was staying at the hostel in another room, leaving a nearby restaurant and returning to the hostel.
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Police then spoke to the man from the other room, who gave officers conflicting stories. Initially, he told officers he did not leave the hostel the night before or know anyone there, the police report stated. But then he told them he knew the victim and was with him the night before.
The same hostel employee summoned police again about 1:30 p.m. This time it was for the victim’s roommate who was found dead there, according to the police report.
The manager told police the roommate, a 32-year-old man with a Florida-issued ID, was last seen about 8:30 p.m. the night before by another employee, the report stated. The man had mentioned he intended to kill himself, but the threat was not taken seriously, according to the police report.
The 32-year-old was found in a shared bathroom by a custodian when she went to clean, the report stated. Police found a brown powdery substance, thought to be heroin, on the sink along with drug paraphernalia.
An autopsy was inconclusive on Thursday, and a cause of death was pending further studies, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
An employee who answered the phone at the hostel Thursday afternoon referred a Tribune reporter’s inquiries to a supervisor. Someone associated with the hostel who called the reporter back declined to provide more information about the incidents.


chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Democrat Joe Biden met with Jacob Blake’s family in Milwaukee, then with community members in Kenosh

Democrat Joe Biden met with Jacob Blake’s family in Milwaukee, then with community members in Kenosha: ’This is not who we are.’

“ We have yet to see action .
I was always raised to go off action and not words because @ @ @ @ @ down every single time .
And the action we want is to hold these officers @ @ @ @ @ things ) that we get held accountable to .
If I was that officer , @ @ @ @ @ Kenosha County jail right now , ” she said in reference to the Blake shooting @

Bill Ruthhart, Rick Pearson, Genevieve Bookwalter

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks as he meets with members of the community at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Sept. 3, 2020. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
KENOSHA, Wis. — Making a rare campaign trip to Wisconsin on Thursday, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden spoke by phone with paralyzed police shooting victim Jacob Blake and met with his family before heading to riot-torn Kenosha, where he urged the country to seize the moment and confront 400 years of institutional racism in America.
“I think we’ve reached an inflection point in American history. I honest to God believe we have an enormous opportunity — that the screen, the curtain’s been pulled back on just what’s going on in the country, to do a lot of really positive things,” Biden told a group of community residents at a Kenosha church just a few blocks from where several businesses burned during the violent unrest following Blake’s shooting.
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“People are beginning to figure out who we are as a country. This is not who we are. This is not who we are,” Biden said of the violence in Kenosha and other cities. “I am not pessimistic. I am optimistic about the opportunity if we seize it.”
The former vice president, speaking through a mask, lashed out at President Donald Trump’s rhetoric for fueling racial division, contending it was a diversionary tactic by the president to avoid focus on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which he said has caused more than 180,000 deaths and led to a weakened economy, mass unemployment and business closures.
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“I thought you could defeat hate. Hate only hides. It only hides,” he said of Trump’s rhetoric. “And when someone in authority breathes oxygen under that rock, it legitimizes those folks to come on out, come out from under the rocks.”
Biden’s visit occurred two days after Trump visited Kenosha to deliver his law-and-order reelection message while saying he didn’t believe law enforcement is systemically racist and contended that those protesting for structural changes were ignoring those Americans who want safety.
For Biden, Thursday’s trip was a test of the former vice president’s efforts to portray himself as an empathetic leader in contrast to the brash style of the Republican incumbent.
After arriving in Milwaukee, Biden met privately for an hour in an airport building with the family of Blake, the 29-year-old Black man who was paralyzed after being shot in the back by a white Kenosha police officer last month. During the visit with Blake’s father, two sisters, brother and members of his legal team, Biden spoke by phone to Blake, who was moved out of an intensive care unit a day earlier. Blake’s mother also joined the meeting with Biden by phone.
Biden later recounted moments from the 15-minute call with Blake.
“He talked about how nothing was going to defeat him, how, whether he walked again or not, he was not going to give up,” the former vice president said.
Biden said his takeaway from the meeting with the family was the “overwhelming sense of resilience and optimism to the kind of response that they’re getting.” He said Blake’s mother told him that she was “praying for Jacob, but I’m praying for the policeman as well. I’m praying that things change.”
Inside Kenosha’s Grace Lutheran Church, Biden listened to a handful of speakers from among about two dozen community members who were gathered, and kept masked and socially distanced. The group included a firefighter, members of the law enforcement community, business owners, and union members and activists.
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Seeking to contrast himself with Trump, Biden repeated the story of how he decided to get into the presidential contest after watching Trump’s reaction to white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, being confronted by demonstrators, including one who was killed.
“He said there were very fine people on both sides. No president has ever said anything like that,” Biden said. “Not all his fault, but it legitimatizes the dark side of human nature. And what it did, it also exposed what had not been paid enough attention to — the underlying racism that is institutionalized in the United States. Still exists. Has existed for 400 years.”
Biden also sought to emphasize his support for peaceful protest versus violent looting and rioting.
“ ‘Protesting is protesting,’ my buddy John Lewis used to say,” Biden said, referring to the late civil rights icon and congressman.
“But none of it justifies looting, burning or anything else. So regardless how angry you are, if you loot or you burn you should be held accountable as someone who did anything else. Period. It just cannot be tolerated across the board.”
Biden spoke frequently of the work of the previous administration where he served as vice president under the nation’s first Black president, Barack Obama. He called for increasing the nation’s minimum wage, moving prison from punishment to reform, more affordable housing, better school funding to equalize educational opportunity, making it easier for minorities to get loans for startup businesses and establishing a commission on law enforcement.
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“There’s a lot we’re able to do. The public is ready to do these things. I promise you,” he said.
Black Lives Matter activists raise hands and chant "don't shoot" as they walk on 60th Street near Grace Lutheran Church before Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's arrival in Kenosha on Sept. 3, 2020. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Among those speaking to Biden was Porsche Bennett, an organizer for Black Lives Activists Kenosha. Rather than read from a piece of paper in her hand, she instead told Biden, “I have to give you the truth of the people and the truth of the matter is we are heavily angry.”
“We protest to get our voices heard. We protest to show that not just Blacks are tired of what’s going on,” Bennett said, citing a diversity of support.
“We have yet to see action. I was always raised to go off action and not words because you’ll be let down every single time. And the action we want are hold these officers accountable to the same things that we get held accountable to. If I was that officer, I would be in the Kenosha County jail right now,” she said in reference to the Blake shooting.
Biden said that while he’s long supported efforts to help the African American community, “I can’t understand what it’s like to walk out the door, or send my son out the door or my daughter and worry about just because they’re Black they may not come back.”
While campaign events are usually heavily scripted, the Biden campaign said it did not provide the activist a script to read from and suggested it came from the local Black Lives Matter organization.
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As Biden spoke inside the church, Blake’s uncle, Justin Blake, addressed the crowd gathered outside and said the family would continue to push for a criminal indictment of Rusten Sheskey, the Kenosha police officer who shot his nephew. Biden has said he believed charges against the officer should be filed.
Justin Blake also used the moment to call for not only police reform, but also reparations for African Americans and more investments in struggling minority communities.
“I want to talk about why we don’t have jobs, why there’s no money, why we continue to live in poverty when we built this country. In 2020, systemic racism is over, white privilege is over,” Blake said to cheers. “We can grow as a people, we can grow together and not apart. We believe Vice President Biden is going to be part of that healing.”
Raven Spence puts up a yard sign for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden near the Grace Lutheran Church on Sept. 3, 2020, in Kenosha. (Morry Gash / AP)
Sitting outside the church, Glendora Cunningham sat in the shade in a yellow lawn chair hoping to catch a glimpse of the former vice president from a side street near the church’s back exit.
Cunningham, 62, said she long has admired Biden and the work he did during the Obama administration, and said she always loyally votes for Democrats. She said she hopes Biden gets elected so that the White House once again will offer a message of unity for the nation.
“Trump’s not for us. He’s for his rich friends. He’s not for the poor, he’s not for the poor. He’s really not for anyone other than himself,” Cunningham, a Kenosha resident, said. “I just hope Vice President Biden will bring peace to the world, because it’s all about love. We need to get everyone in this country back together.”
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She called the Blake shooting “terrible” and said it was clear from the video “that they didn’t have to pull on his shirt, tug him and then shoot him.” Cunningham also criticized Trump for not even mentioning Blake’s name during his visit to Kenosha earlier this week.
“The president didn’t personally meet with the family. That is wrong,” she said. “That makes a difference when you do that as president, show some sympathy. I’m glad Biden did it.”
During the president’s visit to Kenosha on Tuesday, he pledged law and order as a counter to “reckless far-left politicians” who “push the destructive message that our nation and our law enforcement are oppressive or racists.”
“I think people are calling for structural change, and then you can take the people of Kenosha that aren’t here and that you won’t see and that aren’t protesting. But they want change also. They want law and order. That’s the change they want,” Trump said Tuesday.
He continued that theme in a campaign rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on Thursday night, accusing Biden of staying quiet throughout the summer as “rioters viciously attacked law enforcement and Democrat-run cities.” He reiterated his offer to send in the National Guard help to cities that ask for it and again took credit for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ decision to deploy the National Guard. Trump said Evers “took a while” to make the decision.
“The National Guard’s fantastic. I went to see them two days ago. Biden went there today, there was nobody there. There was nobody there. ... I was gonna say, ‘Hey, listen, we ended that problem.’”
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Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden arrives at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee on Sept. 3, 2020. (Carolyn Kaster / AP)
As Biden made the trip to Wisconsin, his campaign debuted a new one-minute ad in the state, as well as in Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, featuring the candidate with running mate Sen. Kamala Harris and aimed at addressing police violence against Black people.
“We have to let people know that we not only understand their struggle, but they understand the fact that they deserve to be treated with dignity. They’ve got to know we’re listening,” Biden says in the ad.
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“We can’t turn away. Now is the time for racial justice,” he said. “I believe with every fiber in my being we have such an opportunity now to change people’s lives for the better. It’s about who we are, what we believe and, maybe most importantly, who we want to be.”
In the ad, Harris called for creation of a national standard on use of force “and conditioning federal funds for police departments on adoption of that standard.” She also called for reining in the legal doctrine of qualified immunity that helps shield police officers in cases of accountability.
But as the Biden-Harris team sought to tie federal funding to police to use of force, Trump sought to put “on notice” cities with what he considered to be unchecked violence by threatening federal funding for “anarchist jurisdictions.” He specifically named Seattle; Portland, Oregon; New York; and Washington.
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Trump, in a memo, said “it is imperative that the federal government review the use of federal funds by jurisdictions that permit anarchy, violence, and destruction in America’s cities.”
The memo also called for Attorney General Bill Barr to begin “identifying anarchist jurisdictions” and to publish a list of state and local jurisdictions that have “permitted violence and the destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract these criminal activities.”
The Kenosha visit marks Biden’s first campaign appearance in the Midwest since a Detroit rally on March 9, the night before the Michigan primary. Following his victory there, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated in the U.S., leaving Biden to cancel rallies and campaign virtually in Illinois and Wisconsin before Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race.
Biden finished the trip at a backyard event in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa, where he discussed his plans for school safety amid the pandemic.
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chicagotribune--2020-09-03--What you need to know about Black Lives Matter in 10 questions

The ultimate goal is to no longer be needed in these communities , Tendaji said .
“ Our goal is @ @ @ @ @ really juicy , wonderful invitation to doing the work to make sure that Black people @ @ @ @ @ keep us safe .
We are all that ever has kept us safe , ” @ @ @ @ @ are also some things I ’ m really hoping about , like ending our existence @ @ @ @ @ for this kind of institution or for us to need to be an institution .
@

In response to the death of George Floyd, protesters marched on Ashland Avenue from Union Park on June 5, 2020, calling for the Chicago Police Department to be defunded. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
You’ve seen it on protester signs and in your neighbor’s yard, or maybe it’s painted in block letters on your street — but what is Black Lives Matter? What’s the difference between the phrase, the hashtag and the group of people behind it? And how is it connected to this summer’s unrest in Chicago?
Recent coverage has sparked public interest surrounding Black Lives Matter, as well as public questions. Here are 10 frequently asked questions about Black Lives Matter, answered:
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What does Black Lives Matter mean? What about Blue Lives Matter and “All Lives Matter”?
Black Lives Matter began as a slogan in response to police violence and racist violence against Black people. The phrase means that Black lives matter as much as those of any other racial group, and is used to call attention to racial discrimination and racist violence.
Roman Oliver, 5, holds tight to his mother, Carolyn Oliver, as they attend a peace rally and march in celebration of Juneteenth in Chicago on June 19, 2020. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
The countermovement Blue Lives Matter was created in 2014, in response to Ismaaiyl Brinsley’s shooting and killing of two NYPD officers, presumably in retaliation for the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. The officers’ deaths inspired other members of law enforcement to start the movement, with some arguing police were under attack or that the Black Lives Matter movement is anti-police. Blue Lives Matter NYC is a registered nonprofit organization that supports police officers and their families.
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“All Lives Matter” is a slogan directly criticizing Black Lives Matter protests and its specific focus on Black lives. Those who use the slogan argue that saying “Black Lives Matter” diminishes other racial groups. There is no movement, organization or leader associated with the “All Lives Matter” slogan.
Is Black Lives Matter a political movement?
“The line between social and political movements is really blurry,” said Atef Said, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago . “Social movements are ... people who have some collective grievance who do collective action.”
Black Lives Matter as a movement seeks social change through various community-led efforts to support Black people and diminish the effects of racial discrimination. The network and its local chapters have various programs and events such as a video series on being a Black artist or food drives for communities that struggle to get fresh food.
Activists march through the North Lawndale neighborhood during a rally to defund police on July 24, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
“Black Lives Matter, it is a political movement too,” Said said, calling Black Lives Matter an “uprising” and a movement for civil rights.
Black Lives Matter Global Network has said it’s committed to “struggling together and to imagining and creating a world free of anti-Blackness, where every Black person has the social, economic, and political power to thrive,” according to its website.
What is the history of the Black Lives Matter Global Network?
Black Lives Matter Global Network is a decentralized, grassroots movement that seeks to end the criminal justice system’s abuse of Black people. It exists as a global network but also has small community chapters, including Black Lives Matter Chicago.
According to the Black Lives Matter website, #BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 by Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, after the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer. The hashtag became an organizing tool for communities to raise awareness about violence against Black people, including the deaths of Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland and Tanisha Anderson. In 2014, Michael Brown was killed by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer, sparking community action that helped to build the project into a movement with chapters across the country.
Participants gather and shout "All Power to the People" at the One Million Man March rally at Daley Plaza in Chicago on June 19, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Out of this movement grew the Black Lives Matter Global Network (BLMGN), often shortened to Black Lives Matter, a decentralized network of organizers serving their individual chapters. Through community organizing — like the highly publicized protests — these chapters operate under the principles laid out by the founders: to amplify Black voices and condemn systemic violence against Black people.
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Said said there is a misconception that the movement is leaderless because of its grassroots, decentralized nature. It doesn’t look like the civil rights movements of the past, he said: “Black Lives Matter is not leaderless — it is leader-ful.”
What about the Chicago chapter?
Black Lives Matter Global Network consists of several community-based chapters spread out across the United States and Canada. Officially recognized chapters are supported by BLMGN and share a set of principles, but each has its own unique structure.
The Chicago chapter, Black Lives Matter Chicago or BLMChi, is a BLMGN officially recognized chapter and has two paid staff members, including Executive Director Amika Tendaji. Tendaji runs administrative tasks and oversees several working groups that are focused on functions such as communications or art interactions. These groups are made up of organizers who perform a volunteer staff role at BLMChi. “The people who are holding the main organizing work would have that (organizer) distinction,” Tendaji said. BLMChi has a membership of about 100 active members, who must go through a formal orientation process to be considered members.
Black Lives Matter Chicago Executive Director Amika Tendaji runs administrative tasks and oversees several working groups that are focused on functions such as communications or art interactions. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Black Lives Matter Chicago is funded largely through its own fundraising, but it can petition BLMGN for funds. Recently, it used funds to create Tendaji’s and another paid position. Tendaji said it’s a misconception that they have a large operating budget or are affiliated with the Black Lives Matter Foundation.
“We have no connection to any (George) Soros money,” she said. “There’s a Black Lives Matter Foundation. We have access to ask them for money, but we don’t have knowledge of how much money they have nor agency over how that gets directed.”
The goals of BLM Chicago are aligned with that of BLMGN, but with an eye toward how change can be made in Chicago specifically. “We focus on the abolition of policing, prisons, surveillance, all things carceral,” Tendaji said. “In this moment, we are very focused on the very extensive, large budget the Chicago Police Department gets. (It should) address more of the root causes of violence and harm with what is actually spent in marginalized communities that really need it.”
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What does BLM Chicago want to do?
BLM Chicago has released its 10 demands, a list of actions the organization is demanding of the city of Chicago. Here are a few you may have seen in news coverage:
“Defund the Police”: The phrase “defund the police” in most contexts denotes the process of reallocating funds away from a municipal police department and toward other departments or agencies funded by the city. The Chicago Police Department spends 37% of the city’s Corporate Fund, the city’s general operating fund. BLMChi wants the city to instead invest in the community, reopening closed schools and mental health centers, as well as opening housing for the homeless, drug treatment centers and crisis centers.
Ending the school-to-prison pipeline: The Chicago Police Department currently holds a contract with Chicago Public Schools to put officers in many CPS schools. BLMChi wants to cancel this contract and instead use funds to hire more aides and social workers for more “restorative practices” in schools. It also wishes to close the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, one of the largest juvenile detention facilities in the country.
Police accountability: This encompasses many actions BLMChi wants taken. Generally, it wishes to have police shooting cases reopened for investigation, prosecution of police involved in wrongful killing or torture, and firing of police who engage in abusive behavior. It also advocates for the release of Jon Burge torture survivors and wants to close the Homan Square “black site” interrogation facility.
Attendees cheer during a Black and Latino unity rally in Pilsen on June 8, 2020, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Does the Chicago Chapter condone looting?
Black Lives Matter Chicago organizer Ariel Atkins went viral in early August for calling the looting of downtown stores a form of “reparations.” The statements were made in the wake of the Aug. 9 shooting of 20-year-old Latrell Allen by police in Englewood. Atkins showed support for the looters, cited anger as the reason for their actions and claimed that history has not been changed through peaceful protests.
But, as an organization, Tendaji said BLM Chicago does not condone looting.
“There was definitely some misspeak, some things missaid in the press recently from one of our folks that may have sounded like support for or condoning looting,” Tendaji said. “Organizationally, we certainly don’t have anything to do with — or condone — illegal activity that, you know, really frightens and, quite frankly, pisses off a lot of Black folks.”
Tendaji said BLM Chicago’s organizers are typically on the same page because they work so closely. “But — the same for everybody around the world, now — folks are much more stressed, much more tired, much more anxious,” she said. “This is the time where people speak out more without having actually thought about ‘What am I saying?’”
FroSkate hosts a peaceful protest calling for Black power, the defense of Black lives, the divestment of the police and the investment in Black communities, in Grant Park on July 4, 2020. Skateboarders, roller skaters, rollerbladers and cyclists participated in the rally. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
However, Tendaji did share one sentiment with Atkins: Part of the reason for the looting is the economic hardship caused by COVID-19. “When protesters attack high-end retail stores that are owned by the wealthy and service the wealthy,” reads a BLMChi news release, “that is not ‘our’ city and has never been meant for us.”
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“We understand that people do not have what they need in this moment,” Tendaji said. “This pandemic has really caused an economic crisis. The Black community, in Chicago, was hit the hardest. … We understand — that is the better framework — people desperately needing resources.”
What about the Black Lives Matter Foundation?
Robert Ray Barnes registered the name Black Lives Matter Foundation in 2015. It is not related to the better-known Black Lives Matter Global Foundation, Inc., which is connected to the Black Lives Matter Global Network. The similarity between the names has caused confusion for people looking to donate to the BLMGN movement. The slogan “Black Lives Matter” is not trademarked.
The Black Lives Matter Foundation has a different mission than BLMGN and instead seeks to promote peaceful interactions with police through organized meetings and events rather than organizing protests, according to Barnes’ mission statement posted on donation site Benevity. The foundation does not yet have any programs in action.
Barnes has faced criticism and legal trouble for his foundation. Buzzfeed News estimated Barnes raised at least $4.35 million in June, although a portion of the money was frozen before Barnes and his foundation could use it. California’s attorney general’s office also issued a cease-and-desist order in 2019 for the foundation for not filing annual financial reports.
How is the Black Lives Matter Global Network funded?
The Black Lives Matter Global Network is funded through donations and grants using its legal title Black Lives Matter Global Foundation, Inc. From 2016 to July 2020, the grant-making program Thousand Currents hosted the collective. Now, the Black Lives Matter Global Network has a partnership with the TIDES Foundation, another grant-making platform.
How can you tell who is in BLM?
Anyone can be involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, but not everyone involved is a member of the Black Lives Matter Global Network.
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There is the national face of the network, which hosts its own programs and events — this is the Black Lives Matter Global Network. Then, there are 17 chapters in various cities across the United States and Canada. While these groups all exist under the same umbrella of Black Lives Matter, the chapters have their own programs and community-focused projects. Each chapter also has its own agenda and “some are more radical than others,” Said said.
Activists march through Evanston to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake, who was shot by Kenosha police. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
To become a chapter, a group must meet certain requirements set by BLMGN. Because Black Lives Matter is a decentralized network, there aren’t exact numbers on everyone involved in the collective.
For example, in June, a number of Oak Park residents created a “Black Lives Matter” mural. The project wasn’t affiliated with the Black Lives Matter Global Network or the local Chicago chapter, but was instead an independent effort from a neighborhood exercising activism.
What are the Chicago chapter’s goals for the future?
Tendaji said her hope is that BLM Chicago can soon occupy physical spaces and become trusted political advisers within Chicago’s communities. “To have a presence for folks from Austin to Auburn Gresham to Roseland — all over the city,” she said. “To be able to be like, that’s where you can find Black Lives Matter Chicago and that’s a good space to listen.”
The ultimate goal is to no longer be needed in these communities, Tendaji said. “Our goal is to continue to be this really juicy, wonderful invitation to doing the work to make sure that Black people know and understand that we keep us safe. We are all that ever has kept us safe,” she said. “There are also some things I’m really hoping about, like ending our existence — not having the need for this kind of institution or for us to need to be an institution.”
mpolk@chicagotribune.com
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chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Chicago homeless shelter creates remote-learning spaces for kids living there and seeks donations

“ These students didn ’ t do anything to be put into homelessness , ” he said .
“ They @ @ @ @ @ situation they had no control over .
At the heart of the matter , they @ @ @ @ @ still want to play basketball on the school basketball team .
They still want to @ @ @ @ @ .
And they still want to succeed .
”

Sylvia Center program supervisor Amanda Learmond shows the designs of a donated backpack to Carmelo Gonzalez, 4, at the family shelter on Sept. 2, 2020, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
One little girl grinned as she showed off her new Elsa backpack. Another girl crafted a green nameplate for the desk that will be hers for remote learning. Both were checking out the spaces where they’ll learn online when school starts Tuesday.
For months, the children at the Sylvia Center have been sharing just one room with each of their families.
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Sylvia Center is one of the homeless shelters run by Cornerstone Community Outreach. Right now, said program supervisor Amanda Learmond, it houses families that include about 25 children, from elementary age to high school.
The children have already been constricted by staying in the shelter, she said, where they must wear masks as soon as they step outside of their room. They feel stuck, and they feel bored.
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Learmond said she started to worry about remote learning in one room with multiple family members.
When the first day of school arrives, she wants the kids to have more space.
Sylvia Center case manager Nycole Branch, left, and program supervisor Amanda Learmond tape alphabet letters on a classroom wall at the family shelter. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
“When you’re in those rooms and you’re in there all day, you’re not going to be productive,” she said. “No matter how close a family is, you need a break. And right now, my families don’t have that.”
Like many kids, she said, they are “just kind of confused” by the strange start to the school year.
So she has been working to reshape rooms that typically house families into remote-learning spaces. Rooms will be disinfected each night. She also plans to emphasis the importance of using hand sanitizer and keeping your own space clean.
The plan is that each family’s children will have their own remote-learning room, sort of a kid-friendly office, with desks and supplies. They’re hoping to include a whiteboard in each room. Donations of cleaning supplies are always helpful, she said. She wants kids to have the basic first-day items like pencils and notebooks too.
Hannah Miller, a volunteer from the AmeriCorps program, grabs a piece of tape next to containers of school supplies at Sylvia Center. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Learmond is also coordinating adult volunteers who can help throughout the school day, from helping students stay on track to rotating tutoring from teaching professionals.
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Brad Worrell has helped coordinate donations, fitting multiple desks into the bed of his truck. He is an elementary school teacher at Mary E. Courtenay Language Arts Center in Uptown, where some of its students sometimes live at the shelter.
“Getting any student to do homework can be a challenge,” he said. For students living in different places, or nowhere at all, “there’s so many other things going on, on their plate, that are more important.”
After a social media post by his wife, Grace Worrell, who is also a teacher, circulated about collecting supplies for the kids, he said they picked up 12 desks and 28 chairs from around the city.
A 9-year-old creates a nameplate for her desk in the new remote-learning center at the Sylvia Center in anticipation of the start of school. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
“These students didn’t do anything to be put into homelessness,” he said. “They’re just in a situation they had no control over. At the heart of the matter, they’re kids. They still want to play basketball on the school basketball team. They still want to have the nice tennis shoes. And they still want to succeed.”
An Amazon wish list includes cork boards, cleaning supplies, headphones and educational toys. They’re still trying to find more desks, as well as anything extra to help these rooms feel like a classroom.
On Wednesday afternoon, the center hosted an open house, where families could tour the new rooms. Children were able to choose a backpack from a slew of donated ones — red, blue, orange, yellow, floral and a Star Wars backpack that caught the eye of one little boy.
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For shelters like theirs, Learmond said, one challenge is finding ways to reduce anxiety for families.
“My parents already have so many stresses on them,” Learmond said, “that if I can help figure out school, that’s one less really overwhelming pressure.”
Many people have misconceptions about people struggling to find steady housing, Learmond said.
“The big stereotype with homelessness is that they did something bad to be here,” she said. “Maybe they got hurt and had to have surgery, and then they got laid off at work, and they couldn’t afford their rent.” She added, “Their needs are the same as our needs, their wants are the same as our wants. And they’re allowed to want things.”
Especially, she noted, for children.
“The kids just need to feel not forgotten, and they need to feel validated, and doing this is kind of validating their needs,” she said. “Oftentimes, kids’ emotions and feelings are overlooked.”
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abowen@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Man shot by Cook County sheriff’s police after traffic stop on Southwest Side

Body camera footage from the scene shows the man running with what appears to be a gun , then falling @ @ @ @ @ front yard after four shots can be heard fired .
The man then rolls onto @ @ @ @ @ appears to be his bag away from him before lying back on the grass with @ @ @ @ @ as officers yell at him to get down .

A man was shot by Cook County sheriff’s police Wednesday evening after he ran from a traffic stop and pulled a gun on officers, officials said.
The man, who was in good condition Thursday at Mount Sinai Hospital, was shot twice in the 4600 block of South Laramie Avenue about 7:20 p.m. Wednesday in the city’s LeClaire Courts neighborhood, sheriff’s spokesman Matt Walberg said. Nobody else was injured.
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The shooting happened after an officer patrolling near Stickney tried to stop a speeding car that didn’t have a front license plate and had “illegally tinted windows,” according to a news release. They said the driver briefly stopped but then fled east in his car after refusing the officer’s request to exit the vehicle.
The officer drove after the man’s car into an alley, where he noticed the man “exit his vehicle with something in his hand,” according to the release. He ordered the man to stop, but the man ran away, dropping his cellphone as he fled, officials said.
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The officer ran after the man as a second officer approached the man from the opposite direction. The initial officer in the chase noticed the man pull out a firearm from his bag, so the officer fired multiple shots, hitting the man “in the shoulder and buttocks,” according to the release.
Body camera footage from the scene shows the man running with what appears to be a gun, then falling onto the grass in a front yard after four shots can be heard fired. The man then rolls onto his back and throws what appears to be his bag away from him before lying back on the grass with his arms above his head as officers yell at him to get down.
The officers requested paramedic crews as the man continued to evade authorities, at one point running onto the front step of a residence, officials said. A sheriff’s police officer then used his Taser on the man, and police restrained and handcuffed him.
Police said they rendered first aid to the man until paramedics arrived. They found a silver and black handgun near the man, along with “suspected bags of crack cocaine.”
The man had three previous felony convictions, including one for aggravated battery to a police officer, according to the release, in 2018.
Chicago police were conducting an independent investigation into Wednesday’s events, officials said.
rsobol@chicagotribune.com
kelsmith@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Daughter of Daniel Prude speaks out against his death at hands of police: ‘This is unjust and this h

Daughter of Daniel Prude speaks out against his death at hands of police: ‘This is unjust and this has happened too many times’

“ Underneath that shell of a man that you saw — because that ’ s what I think of him @ @ @ @ @ under that shell of a man that you saw was an amazing person , a @ @ @ @ @ , ” Prude said .
“ To see that video and see my father in @ @ @ @ @ where he was complying and wasn ’ t giving anybody a hard time and was @ @ @ @ @ is devastating .
And it ’ s really taking a toll on me and my @ @ @

Protesters stand amid clouds of chemical irritant released by police outside the Public Safety Building in Rochester, New York, Sept. 3, 2020. Seven police officers involved in the suffocation death of Daniel Prude in Rochester were suspended Thursday by the city's mayor, who said she was misled for months about the circumstances of the fatal encounter. (Adrian Kraus / AP)
The last time Tashyra Prude spoke to her father, he told her how astonished he was that his youngest child was turning 18 and making plans for college.
Just days after her birthday in March, Daniel Prude died when police in Rochester, New York, confronted him on a street, wrapped a hood over his head and pushed his face to the pavement, according to video released this week. Prude was from Chicago and was visiting relatives there.
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Since his death, Tashyra Prude has attended her senior prom, her graduation and a college send-off party without him — and without answers about his death until Wednesday, when video from cameras worn by the officers was made available.
“Going off to college without my dad was one of the hardest journeys I’ve ever been on,” she told reporters in a Zoom call Thursday. “That’s something that he deserves to see. I deserved to have my father with me throughout all of this, and I was deprived of that experience.
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“I didn’t deserve this. My siblings don’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve to die,” she said. “I just want justice.”
[ Rochester mayor suspends officers involved in Daniel Prude’s suffocation death following release of body camera footage ]
The fatal encounter happened two months before the death of George Floyd in Minnesota prompted nationwide demonstrations. Floyd died when an officer put his knee on his neck for several minutes during an arrest.
In Rochester, the mayor suspended all the officers involved after the video was aired this week. Activists are demanding that they be prosecuted on murder charges, a call that Prude repeated during the news conference.
“Racist police officers saw a Black man in need and decided that he just didn’t deserve to live,” Prude said. “This is unjust and this has happened too many times. … The police are put out to protect and serve, not kill. And they did the complete opposite of their jobs.”
Relatives say Daniel Prude had been taken to a Rochester hospital for a mental health evaluation about eight hours before the police encounter that led to his death. He was released back into the care of his family and then abruptly ran into the street and took off his clothes.
Prude died of asphyxiation after a group of police officers put a hood over his head and pressed his face into the pavement for two minutes, according to video and records.
One officer wrote that they put the white hood on Prude because he was spitting continuously in the direction of officers and they were concerned about the coronavirus.
The hoods are intended to protect officers from a detainee’s saliva and have been scrutinized as a factor in the deaths of several prisoners in the U.S. and other countries in recent years.
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An undated photo of Daniel Prude. (Courtesy Roth and Roth LLP)
Tashyra Prude said she wants the public to know that her father was more than the distraught man depicted in the police video. He was an “energetic and happy-go-lucky” man who worked at a factory and always made his five children smile, she said.
“Underneath that shell of a man that you saw — because that’s what I think of him as in that video — under that shell of a man that you saw was an amazing person, a person with a bright personality,” Prude said. “To see that video and see my father in a state of helplessness, where he was complying and wasn’t giving anybody a hard time and was in need of help, is devastating. And it’s really taking a toll on me and my siblings.”
The five months it took for Rochester police to release the camera footage and other records shows there was a “cover-up,” she added, and she wants the officers involved to be charged with murder.
Nicolette Ward, an attorney for the family, also criticized officials for waiting so long to provide the footage. She called on them to fully investigate the death.
“It’s a terrifying example of the way in which police treats mentally ill individuals in America and the way that police treat Black men in America,” Ward said. “They put a bag over his head, and they squeezed the air out of him.”
Tashyra Prude was teary-eyed at times when speaking about her father, but said the outpouring of community activism and support for her family has buoyed her. She said she wants people of all races to band together and demand justice for her father, who never hesitated to let her know how much he loved her.
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Prude said if she could talk to her father one last time, “I would ask him to promise me that he would never leave me.”
A crowd of protesters gather Sept. 2, 2020, in Rochester, New York, near the site where Daniel Prude was restrained by police officers. (Adrian Kraus/AP)
A makeshift memorial is seen, Sept. 2, 2020, in Rochester, New York, near the site where Daniel Prude was restrained by police officers. (Adrian Kraus/AP)
Prude, 41, known to his big Chicago-based family by the nickname “Rell,” died March 30 after he was taken off life support, seven days after the encounter with police in Rochester.
The city halted its investigation into Prude’s death when state Attorney General Letitia James’ office began its own investigation in April. Under New York law, deaths of unarmed people in police custody are often turned over to the attorney general’s office, rather than handled by local officials. The state investigation continues.
“I want everyone to understand that at no point in time did we feel that this was something that we wanted not to disclose,” Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren said at a news briefing. “We are precluded from getting involved in it until that agency has completed their investigation.”
In this image taken from police body camera video provided by Roth and Roth LLP, a Rochester, New York, police officer puts a hood over the head of Daniel Prude on March 23, 2020. (AP)
The videos show Prude, who had taken off his clothes, complying when police ask him to get on the ground and put his hands behind his back. Prude is agitated and shouting as he sits on the pavement in handcuffs for a few moments as a light snow falls. “Give me your gun, I need it,” he shouts.
Then, they put the hood over his head and Prude demands they remove it.
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Then the officers slam Prude’s head into the street. One officer, who is white, holds his head down against the pavement with both hands, saying “calm down” and “stop spitting.” Another officer places a knee on his back.
“Trying to kill me!” Prude says, his voice becoming muffled and anguished under the hood.
“OK, stop. I need it. I need it,” the prone man begs before his shouts turn to whimpers and grunts.
The officers appear to become concerned after he stops moving, falls silent and they notice water coming out of Prude’s mouth.
“My man. You puking?” one says.
One officer notes that he’s been out, naked, in the street for some time. Another remarks, “He feels pretty cold.”
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His head had been held down by an officer for just over two minutes, the video shows.
The officers then remove the hood and his handcuffs and medics can then be seen performing CPR before he is loaded into an ambulance.
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren speaks with Mikey Campbell after a news conference Sept. 3 on the death of Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty)
A medical examiner concluded that Prude’s death was a homicide caused by “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.” The report lists excited delirium and acute intoxication by phencyclidine, or PCP, as contributing factors.
Rochester police officers had taken Prude into custody for a mental health evaluation around 7 p.m. on March 22 for suicidal thoughts — about eight hours before the encounter that led to his death. But his brother Joe Prude said he was only at the hospital for a few hours, according to the reports.
Police responded again after Joe Prude called 911 at about 3 a.m. to report that his brother had left his house.
“I placed a phone call for my brother to get help. Not for my brother to get lynched,” Joe Prude said at the news conference. “How did you see him and not directly say, ‘The man is defenseless, buck naked on the ground. He’s cuffed up already. Come on.’ How many more brothers gotta die for society to understand that this needs to stop?”
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Prude had been traumatized by the deaths of his mother and a brother in recent years, having lost another brother before that, his aunt Letoria Moore said in an interview. In his final months, he’d been going back and forth between his Chicago home and his brother’s place in Rochester because he wanted to be close to him, she said.
She knew her nephew had some psychological issues, she said. Still, when he called two days before his death, “he was the normal Rell that I knew,” Moore said.
“I didn’t know what was the situation, why he was going through what he was going through that night, but I know he didn’t deserve to be killed by the police,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.


chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Man attempted to lure girl into his car, Norridge police say

The girl , who was 12 years old , according to Norridge Police Det .
Sgt .
Brian Loughran , @ @ @ @ @ about 6:15 p.m. that evening near the intersection of Redwood and Eastwood Avenues in Norridge @ @ @ @ @ the street stopped his car , told her he had lost his pet and asked @ @ @ @ @ it .
She declined , and he asked her to get into his car to @ @ @ @ @ At that point , she ran to her home and told her mother , according @ @ @ @ @

A preteen girl was walking near her Norridge home Monday, Aug. 31, when a man stopped his car and attempted to lure her inside, Norridge police said.
The girl, who was 12 years old, according to Norridge Police Det. Sgt. Brian Loughran, was walking her dog at about 6:15 p.m. that evening near the intersection of Redwood and Eastwood Avenues in Norridge when a man driving down the street stopped his car, told her he had lost his pet and asked her to help him find it. She declined, and he asked her to get into his car to help find the pet. At that point, she ran to her home and told her mother, according to the police report.
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The subject was described as a white man of about 25 years old with long “dirty blond” hair, not clean-shaven and having a “scratchy” voice, according to the report. He was driving a gray sedan with tinted windows and scratches on the side. It may have been an Infiniti and possibly had the letter “X” in the license plate.
Norridge police said Chicago police advised that a similar incident occurred Aug. 29 in the 3600 block of Nottingham, not far from Norridge. A man driving a silver or gray car that may have been a Mitsubishi Galant approached a girl and her mother and said, “come here, little girl,” according to police.
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Anyone with information about the incident, or who would like to report a similar disturbance, is asked to call Norridge police at 708-320-7880 or else 911.


chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Column: Emmett Till House takes first step toward landmark status as questions are raised about its

Column: Emmett Till House takes first step toward landmark status as questions are raised about its future

Several commissioners said the property is likely to become a pilgrimage site of African-American history .
Others raised the possibility @ @ @ @ @ a house museum .
Maurice Cox , the city ’ s planning commissioner , proposed @ @ @ @ @ of significant sites in African-American and Latino history so owners know they ’ re buying @ @ @ @ @

The Commission on Chicago Landmarks unanimously approved a staff recommendation that the red brick two-flat at 6427 S. St. Lawrence Ave. where Emmett Till once lived be granted preliminary landmark status. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
The Chicago house of Emmett Till, whose brutal murder in Mississippi helped spark the civil rights movement, took the first step Thursday toward becoming an official city landmark as questions arose about the owner’s plans for the building.
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks unanimously approved a staff recommendation that the red brick two-flat at 6427 S. St. Lawrence Ave. be granted preliminary landmark status. That begins a multistep process that would protect the building from significant changes or demolition.
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The vote came days after the 65th anniversary of Till’s murder on Aug. 28, 1955. Till, who was 14 at the time of his death, lived with his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, in a three-bedroom apartment on the house’s second floor.
Till’s mother chose an open-casket funeral to show mourners, and the world, the horror and violence her son endured.
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The property’s owner, Blake McCreight of Express Property Solutions of Chicago, told the commission that he supports landmark status and promised to meet with community members to turn the home into something “way bigger than an income-producing property.”
[ Remembering slain teen Emmett Till in his hometown of Chicago via civil rights tourism and a mobile app ]
When McCreight bought the house, he said, he was not aware Till and his mother had lived there. He told commissioners he does not have a plan for the property.
Several commissioners said the property is likely to become a pilgrimage site of African American history. Others raised the possibility that the two-flat could become a house museum. Maurice Cox, the city’s planning commissioner, proposed the city do a survey of significant sites in African American and Latino history so owners know they’re buying a historically important property.
The City Council has final say on landmark status.
Blair Kamin is a Tribune critic.
bkamin@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @BlairKamin


chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Lightfoot reacts to Trump threat to cut federal funding for Democratic-led cities: If he ‘wanted law

Lightfoot reacts to Trump threat to cut federal funding for Democratic-led cities: If he ‘wanted law and order he’d start with the White House’

“ If the president and his team are foolish enough to think they can unilaterally cut off our funding because @ @ @ @ @ his will , as if he is an emperor and not a president who is @ @ @ @ @ once again we will see him in court and we will win , ” Lightfoot @ @ @ @ @ win , we will make him pay for what his foolishness has brought to the @ @ @ @ @

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday ripped the latest White House threat to cut federal funding for Democratic-run big cities, calling it “nonsense” meant to shore up Republican President Donald Trump’s political support in an election year while promising to sue his administration if it pursues the city’s money.
“If the president and his team are foolish enough to think they can unilaterally cut off our funding because we are not bending to his will, as if he is an emperor and not a president who is responsible to the people, once again we will see him in court and we will win,” Lightfoot said. “When we win, we will make him pay for what his foolishness has brought to the city of Chicago.”
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Earlier, on social media, Lightfoot said that if Trump “wanted ‘law and order,’ he’d start with the White House.”
“1,000 people die daily from his failure on the pandemic. Instead of taking ownership, he chooses to play politics with lives,” she added in a tweet.
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If @realDonaldTrump wanted “law and order,” he'd start with the White House. 1,000 people die daily from his failure on the pandemic. Instead of taking ownership, he chooses to play politics with lives. — Mayor Lori Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) September 3, 2020
Lightfoot’s comments followed a memo issued by the Trump administration threatening to cut funding for New York City, Portland, Seattle and Washington, D.C., over what he said was lawlessness in those cities.
Any move by Trump to strip cities of federal dollars would likely be challenged in court. Under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chicago successfully sued Trump over federal funds he withheld due to the city’s sanctuary policies for immigrants.
As he campaigns for reelection, Trump has sought to rally his base by criticizing big cities over protests, crime and looting.
Lightfoot has similarly reveled in criticizing Trump and has also clashed with White House adviser and Trump daughter Ivanka Trump, as well as her husband, Jared Kushner.
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Lightfoot’s comments Thursday marked the latest exchange between Chicago’s mayor and Trump. Lightfoot in May responded to Trump tweeting a message that included, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” in reply to rioting in Minneapolis and elsewhere following Floyd’s death by accusing the president of destabilizing the country and using a thinly veiled profanity.
“He wants to show failures on the part of Democratic local leaders, to throw red meat to his base,” Lightfoot said at the time. “His goal is to polarize, to destabilize local government and inflame racist urges. We can absolutely not let him prevail. And I will code what I really want to say to Donald Trump. It’s two words. It begins with F and it ends with U.”
Trump has made Chicago violence a frequent target of criticism as president.
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In July, Trump began sending federal agents with a variety of departments to Chicago as part of Operation Legend — an anti-violence program the mayor said she supports, so long as it’s being supervised locally by U.S. Attorney John Lausch.
But, Lightfoot has said she eyes the assistance skeptically and has cast doubt on the sincerity of Trump’s desire to help.
The mayor also criticized the Centers for Disease Control for hinting that a coronavirus vaccine might be ready before Election Day, saying the agency’s job is to focus on science and not politics.
gpratt@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @royalpratt


chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Police: More than half of 252 people arrested since Jacob Blake shooting are from outside Kenosha Co

Police: More than half of 252 people arrested since Jacob Blake shooting are from outside Kenosha County

The city on Wednesday ended a curfew that had been in place since Aug. 24 , a sign of calming @ @ @ @ @ about 100,000 midway between Milwaukee and Chicago .
President Donald Trump visited Kenosha on Tuesday @ @ @ @ @ their efforts and his Democratic rival Joe Biden was in Wisconsin on Thursday and met @ @ @ @ @ s family and Kenosha community leaders .

An aerial photo taken on Aug. 28, 2020, of the burned down Wisconsin Department of Corrections building in Kenosha. Police have arrested more than 250 people since the start of protests, unrest and looting that followed the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha police. (Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News)
KENOSHA, Wis. — More than 250 people have been arrested since the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, with more than half from outside the county that the southeastern Wisconsin city is in, police reported Thursday.
Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times in the back by a white police officer on Aug. 23, sparking three nights of unrest that resulted in roughly two dozen fires and damage to numerous downtown businesses. Two nights after the shooting, prosecutors say 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot two demonstrators and wounded a third. His attorney claims it was self-defense.
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Kenosha police updated arrest figures Thursday, saying of the 252 people arrested, 132 did not live in Kenosha County. Rittenhouse came from his home in Antioch, Illinois, about 15 miles from Kenosha, to join others who walked the streets with rifles saying they were there to protect businesses from damage.
Four people arrested filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Wednesday, alleging that police were not arresting pro-police demonstrators like Rittenhouse who were breaking a curfew, while targeting others. The city’s attorney called the lawsuit baseless and said it should be dismissed.
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The city on Wednesday ended a curfew that had been in place since Aug. 24, a sign of calming tensions in the city of about 100,000 midway between Milwaukee and Chicago. President Donald Trump visited Kenosha on Tuesday to thank law enforcement for their efforts and his Democratic rival Joe Biden was in Wisconsin on Thursday and met with members of Blake’s family and Kenosha community leaders.
The police said damage to city property was about $2 million and damage to county property was about $385,000.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was investigating more than 23 fires, police said.
[ Burned trucks, damaged street lights: Kenosha unrest has caused $2 million in damage to public-owned property, city says ]


chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Man shot by Cook County sheriff’s police during traffic stop

Cook County Sheriff 's Office released a video showing an officer shooting and wounding a male in Chicago 's LeClaire @ @ @ @ @ , 2020 .


chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Lack of vitamin D might increase risk for COVID-19, University of Chicago researchers find

People who have health conditions or take medications should consult a doctor before taking vitamin D supplements , Meltzer said @ @ @ @ @ can cause a buildup of calcium in the blood , which can lead to nausea @ @ @ @ @ and frequent urination and eventually cause bone pain and kidney problems , according to the @ @ @ @ @ take months of taking supplements or spending more time exposed to sunlight to correct a @ @ @ @ @ said .

A lack of vitamin D may be associated with a higher risk for getting COVID-19, according to newly published research out of the University of Chicago.
Researchers looked at 489 patients tested for COVID-19 at University of Chicago Medicine between March 3 and April 10, whose vitamin D levels had been measured within a year of being tested for COVID-19.
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Vitamin D capsules. (Jon Larson / Photodisc)
Patients with untreated vitamin D deficiencies were 77% more likely to test positive for COVID-19 as patients with sufficient levels of the vitamin, according to the research, which was published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Network Open. The findings were reported earlier this year before the study was officially published.
“It raises the possibility that if you take vitamin D, you might be less likely to catch COVID,” said Dr. David Meltzer, chief of hospital medicine at University of Chicago Medicine and lead author of the study. “It’s very inexpensive. It could be used very broadly.”
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Despite the link the study found between vitamin D and COVID-19, randomized clinical trials are needed to determine whether having a deficiency of the vitamin does in fact increase risk for the disease. Meltzer said he and his colleagues are launching trials in the Chicago area.
In the meantime, the study may have implications for people trying to protect themselves against COVID-19.
“Living in Chicago and knowing that a winter is coming, and we can’t all count on sunlight to give us all the vitamin D we need, it’s probably not an unreasonable thing for a lot of people to think about taking those minimal doses (of vitamin D) that get you to that recommended daily allowance,” Meltzer said.
People who have health conditions or take medications should consult a doctor before taking vitamin D supplements, Meltzer said. Too much vitamin D can cause a buildup of calcium in the blood, which can lead to nausea, vomiting, weakness, and frequent urination and eventually cause bone pain and kidney problems, according to the Mayo Clinic. It can take months of taking supplements or spending more time exposed to sunlight to correct a vitamin D deficiency, Meltzer said.
Even if subsequent research shows sufficient vitamin D levels make a person less likely to get COVID-19, people shouldn’t rely on vitamin D to protect them from the illness, he said.
“If someone takes vitamin D and then goes to a party thinking they’re not going to get COVID, they’ve made a mistake,” he said. “This is not a substitute for avoiding exposure.”
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The paper said it may be particularly important to study the issue among Black and Latino people because, as groups, they tend to have high rates of vitamin D deficiency and have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
The study controlled for other health conditions that might have also put people with low levels of vitamin D at higher risk of COVID-19.
A separate study out of the United Kingdom published earlier this year did not find an association between vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19. But Meltzer noted the U.K. study looked at vitamin D levels of patients from 10 to 14 years before they were tested for the illness.
The conclusion reached by University of Chicago researchers is “a significant finding,” said Vadim Backman, a professor of biomedical engineering and medicine at Northwestern University who was not involved in the study. And it’s consistent with other research that has shown a possible connection between vitamin D deficiencies and COVID-19, he said.
“If something as simple as vitamin D can make a difference, even if it’s a small difference, that, I think, is extremely important,” Backman said.


chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Presidential candidate Joe Biden visits Kenosha

President Donald Trump will visit Kenosha Tuesday over the objections of the city ’ s mayor and Wisconsin ’ s @ @ @ @ @ the police shooting of Jacob Blake spurred protests , violent clashes with law enforcement , @ @ @ @ @ businesses and the death of two protesters .