chicagotribune--2020-06-25--Brothers at center of Jussie Smollett case change minds again, say they will cooperate with authorit

Brothers at center of Jussie Smollett case change minds again, say they will cooperate with authorities

But even if the Osundairos had stood firm in their opposition to voluntarily testifying — or if they waver again @ @ @ @ @ a death blow to Smollett ’ s case .
Prosecutors could still have issued subpoenas @ @ @ @ @ brothers to appear in court or face legal consequences .
Judges at the Leighton Criminal @ @ @ @ @ known , in extreme circumstances , to keep witnesses in custody to ensure their presence @ @ @

Actor Jussie Smollett leaves the Cook County Jail on March 16, 2022, after he was ordered to be released pending appeal of his conviction and 150-day sentence. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
A day after claiming they would no longer cooperate with Jussie Smollett’s prosecution, the case’s key witnesses — a pair of bodybuilding brothers who told police they helped the actor stage a hoax hate crime on himself last year — reversed course, saying they would now continue voluntarily working with authorities.
The new developments in the strange Smollett saga stem from a dispute over property police seized in a raid at the brothers’ home in the early stages of the investigation, when Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo were treated as suspects rather than witnesses.
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The brothers’ attorney asked for the return of those belongings, including several firearms, ammunition and magazines, but the process became “a paperwork nightmare,” according to a letter from their attorney, Gloria Schmidt Rodriguez, addressed to a Chicago Police Department lawyer.
“I hope this effort from your office and your clients was worth it because my clients are advising that whether they receive their items or not, they will no longer be cooperating with the prosecution of Mr. Smollett,” Schmidt Rodriguez wrote in the letter, dated Wednesday and obtained by the Tribune.
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But by Thursday, a 9 mm handgun that had been missing from a previous inventory inspection had been located, and so the brothers would continue their voluntary cooperation, according to a news release from Schmidt Rodriguez’s office.
Attorneys are scheduled for a hearing before Cook County Judge James Linn on Friday, which could determine what items, if any, will be returned to the brothers from police inventory.
Special prosecutor Dan Webb’s office did not return a request for comment Thursday.
The brothers are top witnesses in the case against Smollett. Their statement to police turned the onetime “Empire” actor from victim to suspect, launching a high-profile case that has seen roller-coaster twists since Smollett was first charged last year.
But even if the Osundairos had stood firm in their opposition to voluntarily testifying — or if they waver again — it might not be a death blow to Smollett’s case. Prosecutors could still have issued subpoenas that would have compelled the brothers to appear in court or face legal consequences. Judges at the Leighton Criminal Court Building have even been known, in extreme circumstances, to keep witnesses in custody to ensure their presence at trial.
“If I’m a lawyer and I say, ‘my guy’s not cooperating,’ what that means is, if you want to talk to them you’ve got to subpoena them,” said K.S. Galhotra, a longtime Cook County public defender now in private practice. “… They’ll walk into the courtroom and testify on the witness stand, but (prosecutors) don’t get to spend six hours in the office going over the prior statements and preparing them for testimony.”
And Cook County is no stranger to recalcitrant witnesses. It is not uncommon for key witnesses who initially cooperated with police to take the stand at trial years later and deny their previous statements or claim they do not remember making them.
When that happens, prosecutors can introduce as evidence a witness’s previous sworn statements — for example, grand jury testimony.
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Brothers Abimbola Osundairo, left, and Olabinjo Osundairo depart after attending a court appearance for Jussie Smollett on Feb. 24, 2020, at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
But while the Osundairos gave sworn testimony before a grand jury in February 2019, that indictment was abruptly dropped the next month, complicating the situation. And they never went before a grand jury on Smollett’s new charges, Schmidt Rodriguez told the Tribune.
That doesn’t necessarily preclude the previous grand jury statements from being introduced to a jury in the new case, Galhotra said.
But even if their previous grand jury transcripts couldn’t be used, the brothers’ statements to police were recorded on video, according to police records. That video also could be played for jurors if the brothers declined to play ball on the witness stand.
But now that the brothers’ handgun has been located, Schmidt Rodriguez said, they intend to remain cooperative.
“Abel and Ola Osundairo continue to stand 100 percent by their earlier statements and testimony about their involvement in the staged attack,” her statement Thursday afternoon read.
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The temporarily missing handgun was not the only concern sources raised with the way Chicago police have handled evidence in the high-profile matter.
For example, the sweatshirt Smollett wore the night of the alleged attack was apparently checked out of the evidence holding area in April 2019 — after Smollett’s first case was dropped — by someone who signed their name as “Sig Nature,” sources familiar with case said.
A special Cook County grand jury indicted Smollett in February on six counts of disorderly conduct alleging he orchestrated a racist and homophobic attack on himself in downtown Chicago in January 2019.
The allegations were similar to charges brought by State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office last year. Foxx had recused herself from overseeing the prosecution, revealing she’d had contact with a member of Smollett’s family early in the investigation at the request of Tina Tchen, Michelle Obama’s former chief of staff.
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But in appointing attorney Webb as special prosecutor last year, Cook County Judge Michael Toomin wrote that Foxx botched the recusal by handing the reins to her top deputy. Because the recusal was invalid, the entire process played out without a real prosecutor at the helm, he wrote.
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--When can Illinois move to phase 4 of reopening plan? Here’s where each region stands.

With each of the state ’ s four regions in Phase 3 of Gov .
J.B. Pritzker ’ s Restore @ @ @ @ @ starts on moving on to Phase 4 , where more businesses and activities are allowed @ @ @ @ @ Illinois — from restaurants and salons to open space to non-COVID-19 procedures at the hospital @ @ @ @ @ depends on a host of metrics laid out by Pritzker .

Chad Yoder, Nausheen Husain, Jennifer Smith Richards, Jonathon Berlin

With each of the state’s four regions in Phase 3 of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan, the clock starts on moving on to Phase 4, where more businesses and activities are allowed. The plan to reopen Illinois — from restaurants and salons to open space to non-COVID-19 procedures at the hospital to concerts and festivals — depends on a host of metrics laid out by Pritzker.
The metrics focus on a rolling average of positive coronavirus cases and hospitalizations to keep track of the direction of the outbreak as well as availability of hospital beds and ventilators that would be needed to handle a possible surge. There are also benchmarks for testing and tracing positive tests.
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
A key element of the plan is that a region can move both forward and backward, where more parts of society can open and shut depending on the seriousness of the outbreak.
Here is a breakdown of where each region stands.


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood

Search below by street address , ZIP code or city , then click on the map to see the number @ @ @ @ @ state is not providing data for any ZIP code with five cases or fewer .

Note: With Chicago and Illinois moving into phase 5, the Tribune is no longer updating this data. If the state moves back into bridge phase, the Tribune we reassess. Daily metrics on COVID-19, like cases, deaths and hospitalizations, can be found here. And Daily metrics on the vaccination effort can be found here. More on where the coronavirus stands nationally and around the world can be found here.
Illinois releases the number of positive COVID-19 cases by ZIP code daily. The map below shows the cumulative cases for each area as well as other analysis of the data.
• Check out the Tribune’s coronavirus coverage.
• Tracking daily Illinois coronavirus deaths, cases and tests.
Search below by street address, ZIP code or city, then click on the map to see the number of confirmed and probable cases. The state is not providing data for any ZIP code with five cases or fewer.
Data as of June 10.
The map search tool above works best in Chrome or Firefox and may not perform consistently in Internet Explorer.
Note: Because of a coding error this map was displaying the incorrect rates for new cases in the last 7 days per 100,000 people — the issue should now be resolved.. The Tribune adjusted the data shown on the map below to focus on new cases, those the state tracked in the last 7 seven days. The totals for the entire pandemic are still available, but in the pop-up after tapping or clicking on a ZIP.


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--Illinois coronavirus graphs: 6,810 deaths, 139,434 confirmed cases, 1.46 million tests, 4.78% positi

Illinois coronavirus graphs: 6,810 deaths, 139,434 confirmed cases, 1.46 million tests, 4.78% positivity rate for northeast region

In the 62 days since April 24 , the state has released more than 20,000 tests a day 36 times @ @ @ @ @ a day 13 times .
As of Thursday , the state posted 1.46 million test @ @

Johns Hopkins University & Medicine tracked coronavirus cases, deaths and test totals from Jan. 22, 2020 through March 10, 2023, but is no longer providing this data. These charts will no longer be updated.
Check the Illinois Department of Public Health for the most up-to-date data for Illinois.
[ Remembering the lives of those in Illinois who died from coronavirus ]
Can’t see these charts? Go here.


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--As Chicago reopens, questions remain about how COVID-19 spreads. Hospital researchers are looking fo

As Chicago reopens, questions remain about how COVID-19 spreads. Hospital researchers are looking for answers.

A study out of Singapore that was published in the journal Nature late last month also found that patients shed @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus into the air and on surfaces during the first week of their illness , @ @ @ @ @ their symptoms .
That study examined 30 patient rooms , though air was sampled from @ @ @ @ @ that the amount of the virus detected on surfaces decreased significantly after the first week @ @ @ @

The Fulton Market area of Chicago is no longer the ghost town it was during the depths of the COVID-19 virus pandemic shutdown. As restrictions on restaurants are eased, a worker takes a woman's temperature before she can enter Federales restaurant on Morgan Street on July 1, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Chicagoans are slowly returning to restaurants, offices and camps this month, even as much remains unknown about how, exactly, the novel coronavirus spreads.
It’s a question researchers across the globe have been trying to answer for months — and now a team at the University of Chicago is joining efforts to find out, by attempting to measure where and how the virus spreads in the rooms of COVID-19 patients at the university’s hospital.
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The research could have implications for health care workers and, potentially, communities at large as they reopen.
“We’ve learned about this virus in the last couple of months — going from zero knowledge to now some knowledge — that it’s spread through breathing,” said Dr. Jayant Pinto, a professor of surgery at the University of Chicago. “What’s not known, or what’s not known clearly, is how much is that risk.”
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[ Illinois will enter phase 4 of its coronavirus reopening plan Friday. Here’s a guide to what’s allowed. ]
Pinto and other researchers began placing small, brown, box-like monitors last month in the rooms of COVID-19 patients at the University of Chicago Medical Center to sample the air for traces of the coronavirus. So far, the monitors have been placed in only a couple of patients’ rooms, but Pinto hopes to put them in as many as 20.
The monitors now sit near the ends of patients’ beds, about 10 feet from their heads. The researchers plan to place additional, closer monitors as well.
Researchers are trying to learn how much virus is in the air near an infected person, where in the air it is and at what point in a patient’s illness the most virus is in the air.
The results could help hospitals find ways to further reduce risks for front-line health care workers. But the findings could also increase understanding of how the virus is transmitted outside the hospital, Pinto said.
“If we could understand what factors influence how much virus people are exhaling ... then we could learn and advise people about what activities and what situations might be associated with high risk or lower risk,” Pinto said.
[ US health officials believe 20 million Americans have had coronavirus, nearly 10 times as many infections as confirmed cases ]
Results of similar studies have already helped inform how some hospitals care for COVID-19 patients.
Researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center conducted a similar study in March, taking air and surface samples from the rooms of 13 patients who caught the illness aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
One of the main findings of that study, which has not yet been published, was that the amount of the coronavirus in the air and on surfaces didn’t seem be linked to the severity of a patient’s symptoms, said Joshua Santarpia, an associate professor of pathology and microbiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and lead author of the study.
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“The amount of contamination we observed in one’s environment didn’t seem to be tied to how bad they were feeling,” Santarpia said.
The Nebraska researchers also found the virus on the floor of patients’ rooms and in the hallways outside their rooms. That finding led them to ask health care workers to remove some of their personal protective equipment before they head into the hallway, so as not to carry the virus outside the room.
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
A study out of Singapore that was published in the journal Nature late last month also found that patients shed high loads of the novel coronavirus into the air and on surfaces during the first week of their illness, regardless of the severity of their symptoms. That study examined 30 patient rooms, though air was sampled from only three. Researchers found that the amount of the virus detected on surfaces decreased significantly after the first week of the illness.
None of the studies, so far, has been able to measure how infectious the virus is when it’s detected in the air or on surfaces. The overall risk of infection when a person is exposed to the virus in the air or on surfaces is unknown.
Until these questions are answered, experts advise people to continue to wear masks and stay at least 6 feet away from others. A review and meta-analysis of 172 studies on COVID-19, SARS and MERS, published online June 1 in the journal The Lancet, found a large reduction in infection when people stood at least 1 meter apart — a little more than 3 feet — and said standing 2 meters apart might be even more effective.
Most respiratory droplets, such as those created when a person talks, coughs or sneezes, fall out of the air and land on surfaces within 3 to 6 feet of the person, said Dr. Emily Landon, chief medical epidemiologist at University of Chicago Medicine. Some activities, such as singing or exercising, may make the droplets travel farther, she said.
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[ Tracking the coronavirus in Illinois: Here's a look at deaths, confirmed cases, tests, positivity rate and more ]
And the more closed and crowded a space, the more dangerous it seems to be, she said.
Landon said she is looking forward to more studies that investigate exactly how people who contracted the illness got it. Those studies — showing how far one person was from another and for how long — may be the best for helping to shape how people should behave around others, she said.
Studies such as the one at the University of Chicago may be most useful for helping health care workers better protect themselves, Landon said.
But the researchers behind the study hope it could also eventually have broader implications, such as helping people decide how best to quarantine at home when they’re sick or helping cities figure out ways to measure the amount of virus in the air in places with a lot of foot traffic, such as “L” stations.
“These are the kind of realities we have to think about as we learn to live with this virus,” Pinto said.
lschencker@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--$13,000 reward offered for information leading to the arrest of 3-year-old boy’s killer

Last weekend , at least 106 people were shot , 14 of them fatally , including Mekhi .
The violence @ @ @ @ @ Monday took a particular toll on children .
Twelve of the shooting victims were younger @ @ @ @ @ of those victims died .

Myesha James, center, the mother of 3-year-old Mekhi James, hugs Charles Morrison, Mekhi's father, during a vigil for their son in the Austin neighborhood on June 22, 2020, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
A $13,000 reward is now being offered for information leading to the arrest of the person who shot and killed a 3-year-old boy who was riding in the back seat of a vehicle with his father the day before Father’s Day.
Mekhi James suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the back and his father, 27, suffered a graze wound to the abdomen. They were shot about 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the 600 block of North Central Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood.
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Mekhi’s death disturbed many Chicagoans, including Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and highlighted the deadly violence that ripped through the city last weekend.
Mekhi James, 3, was fatally shot June 20, 2020. (Family photo)
“Our city’s collective heart breaks to hear the unfathomable news of a 3-year-old boy who was shot and killed tonight on Chicago’s West Side,” Lightfoot tweeted Saturday night. “There are simply no words to describe such a heinous, unconscionable act of cowardice to shoot at a toddler.”
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Initially, the Rev. Ira Acree of Greater St. John Bible Church offered a $2,500 reward for any information that could lead to the arrest of the person who shot Mekhi.
But since then, several other organizations and people have stepped up to increase the reward, Acree said.
Last weekend, at least 106 people were shot, 14 of them fatally, including Mekhi. The violence between Friday afternoon and early Monday took a particular toll on children. Twelve of the shooting victims were younger than 18, and five of those victims died.


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--We’ve lowered the paywall on this essential coverage of coronavirus in Illinois

Testing for COVID-19 has greatly expanded in Illinois , with the state announcing more than 10,000 test results a day @ @ @ @ @ expansion has allowed the state to open up its guidance for who should be able @ @ @ @ @ .
The Illinois Department of Public Health is saying that testing is available without a @ @ @ @ @ anyone with coronavirus symptoms or an underlying risk factor .
Tests are also provided to @ @ @ @ @ of the pandemic , such as medical workers , first responders and employees of prisons @ @ @ @ @ the map for coronavirus testing site near you .

As a public service to our readers and community, we have lowered the paywall on some of our most critical stories so everyone can access this important information. We rely on the support of our subscribers to fund our journalism. If you’re not already signed up, we hope you will consider subscribing.
We are updating a daily live blog with the latest developments on the reopening of Chicago and Illinois. This is where you’ll find updates on the number of COVID-19 cases in our area, as well as the most up-to-date recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Public Health, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
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As summer nears, Chicagoans are desperate to get out and about — to have a summer picnic with family, to get back to work, to get a haircut. Here’s how and when you might be able to do those things.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Tuesday a five-phase plan to get Illinois reopened as the COVID-19 pandemic slows its toll on health care providers. The plan, from “Rapid Spread” to “Illinois Restored,” splits the state up into regions and allows each region to open a different phase should the impact of the pandemic be different throughout the state. The plan also emphasizes that a region can move backward if the health metrics indicate enough risk. Read more.
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Testing for COVID-19 has greatly expanded in Illinois, with the state announcing more than 10,000 test results a day since April 24. The expansion has allowed the state to open up its guidance for who should be able to get a coronavirus test. The Illinois Department of Public Health is saying that testing is available without a doctor’s order to anyone with coronavirus symptoms or an underlying risk factor. Tests are also provided to people on the front lines of the pandemic, such as medical workers, first responders and employees of prisons or nursing homes. Search the map for coronavirus testing site near you.
All Illinois residents over age 2 must wear a face mask when they can’t maintain a 6-foot social distance in public. Studies show that the coronavirus can spread between people interacting in close proximity, including people who are not showing symptoms. Here’s where you can find them, what kind to get and how to make your own.
Americans are brainstorming with neighbors, posting questions on social media, and googling for tips and advice. The question at the center of all the hand wringing and head scratching: How do you thank the essential workers who remain out in the world, exposing themselves to greater risk of contracting the novel coronavirus, so that we can buy our groceries, receive our mail, travel by public transportation, and get health care if we need it? Here are some creative ideas to inspire you.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 68 (Chicago Tribune)
They were mothers and fathers, daughters and sons. Many were proud grandparents. Two were sisters from a tight-knit South Side family. All were loved, relatives say, and will be forever missed. As the number of deaths attributable to the coronavirus ticks upward, the Tribune is working to chronicle those who have lost their lives in the Chicago area or who have connections to our region. These are some of those victims.
Hundreds of Chicago restaurants have pivoted their operations to delivery, takeout or curbside pickup after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that all bars and restaurants in Illinois are closed for dining-in service through April 30. We’re collecting information on restaurants across the area that are still open for delivery or take out. Find a restaurant near you.
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A sign in the windows of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, seen on March 11, 2020, reminds people to wash their hands. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
You wake up with a sore, scratchy throat, and begin coughing and sneezing. It’s probably a run-of-the-mill cold, or it could be the beginning of a bout of seasonal flu. But with dozens of cases of the novel coronavirus surfacing in Illinois, some people are bound to wonder: Could this be the coronavirus? Here’s what experts advise for Illinoisans who fear they are showing signs of coronavirus.
The spread of the coronavirus pandemic has placed an extra burden on Chicagoland nonprofit organizations. Here is an evolving list of where you can make donations to organizations helping those in need.


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--Watch live: Gov. J.B. Pritzker provides update on coronavirus in Illinois as state prepares to enter

Watch live: Gov. J.B. Pritzker provides update on coronavirus in Illinois as state prepares to enter phase 4 of reopening plan

Gov .
J.B. Pritzker is scheduled to provide an update on the coronavirus in Illinois as the state prepares to @ @ @ @ @ reopening plan on Friday .
Get the latest COVID-19 updates here .

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chicagotribune--2020-06-25--Former Drew Peterson attorney should be suspended for 2 years for misconduct, panel says

Long known for his brash style , Brodsky garnered national attention for his representation of Peterson , the former Bolingbrook @ @ @ @ @ of murdering his third wife , Kathleen Savio , in 2004 .
Peterson also was @ @ @ @ @ disappearance of his fourth wife , Stacy Peterson , who has never been found .

A state disciplinary panel has recommended that Chicago attorney Joel Brodsky, who gained national notoriety for his representation of ex-cop and convicted wife killer Drew Peterson, should have his law license suspended for two years because of a series of bizarre antics in other cases that drew the ire of opponents and judges alike.
In a ruling issued Tuesday, the Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission said that the evidence against Brodsky “was replete with examples of (his) aggressive tactics and relentless vindictiveness,” and that his apologies for his behavior have rung hollow.
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“That mindset, combined with his demonstrated pattern of behavior, his failure to recognize the wrongfulness of much of his misconduct and his lack of sincere remorse, leaves us skeptical that he will change his tactics,” the 40-page report stated.
The two-year suspension recommended by the panel will now go before the Illinois Supreme Court for a final ruling.
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If ratified, the punishment would be retroactive to June 2019, when Brodsky’s law license was suspended on an interim basis. To win reinstatement, Brodsky will have to prove to the commission that he has been rehabilitated, according to the decision.
Reached by phone Thursday, Brodsky said he did not wish to comment.
Long known for his brash style, Brodsky garnered national attention for his representation of Peterson, the former Bolingbrook police sergeant convicted in 2012 of murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2004. Peterson also was a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, who has never been found.
The disciplinary proceedings against Brodsky began in 2018 when the commission filed a complaint detailing three cases involving reported misconduct, including a number of inappropriate emails that Brodsky allegedly sent to rival attorneys and others.
“How do you even call yourself a lawyer? You are an embarrassment to the profession,” read one 2017 email from Brodsky.
In other emails, Brodsky allegedly described a parent in a co-parenting case as “very mentally sick” and in need of “serious help.” The complaint said he sent those emails to the couple involved, opposing counsel and “various personnel” in two school districts where the couple’s child might have attended school.
In an insult-laced letter sent to a rival attorney in a divorce case, Brodsky said the lawyer “appears to be learning disabled,” implied that the rival has a drinking problem and sarcastically asked if the attorney has gay “feelings” for his client, the filing alleged.
In 2018, U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall imposed a $50,000 fine on Brodsky and ordered him to undergo anger management training for his misconduct in a mundane civil case involving a used Infiniti SUV. Brodsky’s over-the-top behavior included all but accusing a witness of inventing a son and saying his rival attorney was running a “criminal enterprise.”
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Brodsky testified at his disciplinary hearing in October that his misbehavior may have stemmed from his being bullied in his youth by a group of students who called themselves the “Anti-Brodsky Club.”
Asked by his lawyer how it felt to have his law license suspended, Brodsky testified, “It’s like having my arm chopped off.”
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--Read the Chicago Freedom School’s lawsuit vs. the city

The Chicago Freedom School , a youth activist training organization , is suing the city over allegations that police and @ @ @ @ @ the group to stop its efforts to aid protesters late last month .
Read the @ @ @


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--Youth activist organization sues Chicago police, city officials over cease-and-desist order during p

Youth activist organization sues Chicago police, city officials over cease-and-desist order during protests

The South Loop organization — which trains and educates youth on activism — was feeding protesters pizza and giving them @ @ @ @ @ before city officials entered the building and issued a cease-and-desist order threatening fines and arrests @ @ @ @ @ city violated the organization ’ s First Amendment rights , among other freedoms , and @ @ @ @ @ enforcement of the order .
It also seeks monetary damages .

A Chicago youth-activist training organization is suing the city over allegations that police and consumer protection officials illegally ordered the group to stop its efforts to aid protesters late last month.
The federal lawsuit filed Thursday morning accuses city officials of retaliating against the Chicago Freedom School for feeding and supporting those who flocked downtown May 30 to protest police brutality after George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police.
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The South Loop organization — which trains and educates youth on activism — was feeding protesters pizza and giving them water and access to bathrooms before city officials entered the building and issued a cease-and-desist order threatening fines and arrests. The lawsuit alleges the city violated the organization’s First Amendment rights, among other freedoms, and asks a judge to block enforcement of the order. It also seeks monetary damages.
The school has not been fined under the order, said Sheila Bedi, a Northwestern University law professor and attorney for the school.
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[ Read the Chicago Freedom School’s lawsuit vs. the city ]
At a news conference outside the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in the Loop, Jacqulyn Hamilton, the organization’s wellness director, said the Freedom School should have been thanked for supporting activists fighting for change instead of being confronted by cops and officials from the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.
“I believe we were targeted because we support Black and brown young people who are politically active in this city,” Hamilton said.
Law Department spokeswoman Kathleen Fieweger declined to comment beyond saying the suit was under review.
A Block Club Chicago story in early June quoted police spokesman Luis Agostini saying officers performed a “premise check” after seeing people congregating at the Freedom School. The same story quoted consumer protection department spokesman Isaac Reichman saying the department “took appropriate action” after finding the organization was offering food without a license.
The new suit follows other court actions complaining about the city’s handling of protests. Activists and attorneys, including those from the Cook County public defender’s office filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging police had routinely denied arrestees access to lawyers, including during the protests.
In early June, activist groups complained about officers’ treatment of protesters to the court-appointed monitor overseeing an overhaul of the Police Department. Former federal prosecutor Maggie Hickey announced the next day she would investigate and prepare a report.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot has voiced commitment to reforming the Police Department but faced criticism from activists who have questioned her resolve and want more elemental changes.
The new lawsuit stems from the city’s handling of heated downtown protests that came the Saturday after Floyd’s death. Beyond the protests, the city struggled to contain property damage and looting that continued for days.
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The lawsuit states that on May 30, the Freedom School in the 700 block of South State Street was offering bathrooms, phone chargers, water and pizza to activists. That evening, however, the city suspended some public transportation and then, shortly after 8 p.m., Lightfoot announced a curfew to take effect an hour later.
That left protesters stranded, and the Freedom School started coordinating rides home, the lawsuit states. Around 11 p.m., police in riot gear and consumer protection officials arrived and entered the school without a warrant over objections from staff, the suit alleges.
The order, a copy of which was provided to the Tribune by one of the school’s lawyers, accuses the school of “preparing and serving food on premises not described on license for which a retail food establishment license...is required.” The lawsuit states that the food was not prepared by Freedom School staff, nor was it sold.
Along with the claim that the city violated school staffers’ free speech rights, it alleges the violation of their Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches.


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--Illinois Tollway slashes late fees on unpaid tolls to $3 from $20

The fee change will apply to outstanding debts , which will mean big reductions if debtors pay before the end @ @ @ @ @ amnesty program , the Tollway said .
For example , someone who has accumulated five @ @ @ @ @ have , with fees and penalties , a debt of up to $ 356 under @ @ @ @ @ the new system , that debt will be reduced to $ 21 , according to @ @ @

The Illinois Tollway board on Thursday voted on reforms that will slash the penalty for an unpaid toll to $3 from $20 for passenger cars, and substantially cut existing debts for those with outstanding violations and fines. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
The Illinois Tollway board voted Thursday on reforms that will slash the penalty for an unpaid toll to $3 from $20 for passenger cars, and substantially cut existing debts for those with outstanding violations and fines.
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“It’s about improving the customer experience,” Tollway executive director Jose Alvarez said in an interview.
The Tollway board also formalized a grace period for penalties on unpaid tolls during the coronavirus pandemic from March 9 through Thursday. The Tollway did not issue violation notices during this period. Drivers who racked up unpaid tolls during this time will receive an invoice for tolls only, without a violation fee.
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The Tollway has relied on electronic tolling and not used toll collectors since mid-March to eliminate the need to exchange cash during the coronavirus pandemic. The agency plans to eventually move to all-electronic tolling. Tollway officials said toll collectors are being trained in other customer service jobs, and no layoffs are expected.
Drivers who miss tolls can avoid fees by paying online within 14 days. After that two-week period, customers with unpaid tolls will be mailed an invoice with a $3 fee per toll, and will get another notice after 30 days. After 60 days, a third notice will be sent with the fee increasing to $5 per toll, the Tollway said.
The $3 fee applies to passenger vehicles, which account for about 80% of Tollway traffic. Larger-class vehicles, such as semi-tractors, will have higher fees of up to $15.
Under the old system, a $20 fine was assessed for each unpaid toll if left unpaid. That penalty would escalate by another $50 if the notice remained unpaid for an additional 60 days.
The fee change will apply to outstanding debts, which will mean big reductions if debtors pay before the end of the year under an amnesty program, the Tollway said. For example, someone who has accumulated five unpaid tolls on I-294 could have, with fees and penalties, a debt of up to $356 under the old system. Under the new system, that debt will be reduced to $21, according to the Tollway.
If debt isn’t paid before the end of the year, the balances return to where they were before the program. This includes anyone whose bill was sent to collections.
“These changes are long overdue. Pursuing hefty violations is a costly process, and both the Tollway and customers are better served by providing as much opportunity as possible for customers to pay their tolls,” Alvarez said.
The Tollway expects the changes to be “revenue neutral,” according to Tollway Chief Operating Officer Derek Messier.
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About 90% of Tollway users have I-Pass, so they are unlikely to miss tolls, Messier said. Those who have unpaid tolls have a median number of about 7. There are a few “extreme scofflaws” with a large number of unpaid tolls and fines, Messier said.
Asked if people with unpaid tolls might avoid the Tollway, the way some former library patrons may avoid the library if they have overdue books, Messier said it is hard to say, but it’s possible.
“We did have people who missed tolls in 2019 and didn’t use it in 2020,” Messier said. “It may be they don’t want to go on because they haven’t been able to clear their balance. Hopefully this is a way to clear their balance and use the Tollway in a way that’s affordable to them.”
The Tollway brought in $52 million less in tolls in April than projected due to the state’s stay-at-home order and the resulting reduction in traffic, which dropped to 45% of normal for passenger vehicles and 80% of normal for commercial traffic.
But traffic has been growing with the gradual reopening of the state. Passenger vehicle toll transactions were up to 75% of normal and commercial traffic at 95% of normal through the beginning of June, said Tollway spokesman Dan Rozek.
Customers will have to wait until Monday to pay their debts online, as the agency’s payment system and customer service operations will be offline beginning Thursday evening through Sunday for updates. During the upgrade, customers will not incur any fines, the Tollway said.
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When the system is back up, drivers who want to pay unpaid tolls and fees can go to www.illinoistollway.com.
mwisniewski@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--Column: As coronavirus cases surge, don’t blame Trump. Nobody could have predicted a highly contagio

Column: As coronavirus cases surge, don’t blame Trump. Nobody could have predicted a highly contagious virus would spread!

If we had known that , federal officials could have looked at how those first states handled the coronavirus and @ @ @ @ @ OTHER states to plan ahead so they would be better prepared .
They could have @ @ @ @ @ made in places like Michigan , New York , Illinois and Massachusetts and then learned @ @ @ @ @ states like Texas and Florida and North Carolina and Arizona do a better job .

The numbers of coronavirus cases in Texas, Florida and Arizona are skyrocketing, driving the national tally of new COVID-19 cases to a near-record level.
If only there was some way President Donald Trump and his administration could have seen this coming! Alas, there’s no way anyone could have predicted that a highly contagious virus that ravaged some states and cities in America would eventually move on to other states and cities in America and do the same thing. It’s just one of those “Who would’ve thunk it?” moments.
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On Tuesday, there were 34,700 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States, the highest level since late April. Weird, right? Like most, I didn’t foresee a deadly respiratory disease transmitted primarily when people are in proximity to each other becoming a problem simply because many in Southern and Southwestern states started coming into proximity to each other.
Florida had 5,500 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, a 25% increase over the previous week.
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The Associated Press reported: “While newly confirmed infections have been declining steadily in early hot spots such as New York and New Jersey, several other states set single-day records this week, including Arizona, California, Mississippi, Nevada, Texas and Oklahoma. Some of them also broke hospitalization records, as did North Carolina and South Carolina.”
Dr. Marc Boom, CEO of the Houston Methodist hospital system, told the AP: “People got complacent. And it’s coming back and biting us, quite frankly.”
Hmmmm. I did not expect that to happen. And clearly the federal government missed it as well, otherwise I’m sure they would have helped Florida and Texas and Arizona and other states better prepare. To not do so would be borderline criminal!
Hospitalizations in Texas have doubled and new cases have tripled over the past two weeks, prompting Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to say the state is facing a “massive outbreak.”
I feel bad for Abbott. The dang thing just came out of nowhere.
I know hindsight is 20/20, but imagine if there had been a way of guessing the same virus that broke out in states like New York and Illinois earlier this year would wind up doing the same in these other states.
If we had known that, federal officials could have looked at how those first states handled the coronavirus and maybe figured out ways for OTHER states to plan ahead so they would be better prepared. They could have looked at mistakes that were made in places like Michigan, New York, Illinois and Massachusetts and then learned from those mistakes and helped states like Texas and Florida and North Carolina and Arizona do a better job.
Man, that would’ve been so handy!
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But who would have expected this virus to stick around through June? Heck, I recall President Trump saying, “It looks like by April, you know in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away — I hope that’s true.”
We all hoped that was true. And who were we to question the sensible prognostication of the president of the United States of America? That guy has literally never been wrong.
I suppose with a little foresight, we could have put in place a national testing and contact tracing strategy and implemented effective virus-prevention protocols in all the states that hadn’t yet experienced serious outbreaks. But what would be the point of that if we knew it was going away as soon as shorts season hit?
WHOOPS! What are you gonna do? It’s just a total shocker.
And I suppose the best path forward now is to not worry too much or use any of the knowledge we’ve accumulated to prevent future outbreaks. It’s not like we’re psychics.
Besides, I’m sure nothing else bad is going to happen.
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And if it does? Well, that will be one doozy of an unexpected surprise.
rhuppke@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--Cops: Concealed carry holder shoots man who fired shots at him outside West Side home

The older man returned fire , shooting the other man multiple times , police said .
The attacker fled the @ @ @ @ @ private vehicle to Mount Sinai Hospital , where he was in critical condition being treated @ @ @ @ @ according to police .

A man who holds a state concealed carry permit for a handgun told police he shot a man who fired shots at him outside a Little Village home late Wednesday, officials said.
The 24-year-old was in the yard of a home in the 2400 block of South Kedvale Avenue a little after 9:15 p.m. Wednesday when a 23-year-old man started shooting at him, according to a police media notification.
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The older man returned fire, shooting the other man multiple times, police said. The attacker fled the scene and went in a private vehicle to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was in critical condition being treated for multiple gunshot wounds, according to police.
Investigators found and took into evidence a gun near where the attacker was seen running away from the home, police said.
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The concealed carry holder was taken to Harrison Area headquarters to give a statement to detectives, police said.
Check back for updates.


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--President Trump returns to Wisconsin today – and a lot has changed since his raucous rally in Januar

President Trump returns to Wisconsin today – and a lot has changed since his raucous rally in January

Marinette has not been a hotbed of the virus , with just a few dozen cases and three deaths .
@ @ @ @ @ have tested positive for COVID-19 , but they have all recovered and are now back @ @ @ @ @ .
Everyone who enters the facility is now screened , he said .

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda in the Rose Garden of the White House on June 24, 2020. (Evan Vucci / AP)
MADISON, Wis. — The last time President Donald Trump visited Wisconsin he staged a massive, raucous rally at an arena in downtown Milwaukee.
When he returns Thursday to the battleground state, he'll be reminded how much has changed since January.
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The Republican president planned a trip to conservative, rural Wisconsin for a private tour of a shipyard far from Milwaukee, where coronavirus restrictions now prevent large rallies. A day earlier, the governor activated the National Guard in the capital to protect state property from angry protests against racial injustice.
When Trump last campaigned in the state in January, the unemployment rate was 3.5%. Now, 12% of Wisconsin workers are jobless.
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Trump's standing in Wisconsin appears to be suffering from the extraordinary period of turmoil, and his visit was part of a concerted effort to shore up support in friendlier areas that can make or break his reelection chances.
[ Democrats confirm plans for nearly all-virtual convention in Milwaukee, but Joe Biden plans to accept nomination in person ]
Besides the visit to Marinette, he intended to participate in a town hall to be broadcast by Fox News Channel from an airport in Green Bay. The trip comes days after he dispatched Vice President Mike Pence to the conservative Milwaukee suburbs.
The two parts of Wisconsin targeted by Trump this week — suburban Milwaukee and the Green Bay media market in northeast Wisconsin — are areas where he needs to run up a big vote advantage in November.
Some polls have suggested Trump has ground to make up in Wisconsin. A Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday showed Democrat Joe Biden with an 8 percentage point lead over Trump. Trump trailed Democrat Hillary Clinton in nearly every poll conducted in Wisconsin in 2016 — often by similar margins — before he won the state by fewer than 23,000 votes.
Marinette County helped deliver that win. Trump carried the county, about 170 miles (275 kilometers) north of Milwaukee along the shores of Lake Michigan's Green Bay, with 65% of the vote.
Unlike Trump's rally in Oklahoma last weekend and his visit to a Phoenix megachurch Tuesday, his tour of the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard was not scheduled to be open to the public. He planned to speak to 500 to 600 people inside the shipyard, all of whom were required to wear masks, the shipbuilder's spokesperson Eric Dent said in an email.
Trump, who generally refuses to cover his face, will not, Dent said.
“We are not asking or requiring the president to wear a mask, as we are going to go to great lengths to give him the appropriate social distance,” he said.
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[ On the ground in Wisconsin: Trump’s team goes door-to-door while Democrats stay virtual amid the coronavirus ]
Marinette has not been a hotbed of the virus, with just a few dozen cases and three deaths. Thirteen employees at the shipbuilder have tested positive for COVID-19, but they have all recovered and are now back to work, Dent said. Everyone who enters the facility is now screened, he said.
Trump’s appearance gives him a chance to score points with blue-collar workers who know the importance of the shipbuilder to the region’s economy, said John Nygren, a Republican member of the state Assembly who was born and raised in Marinette.
“Granted, Trump is not traditional in a lot of ways, but it’s a great opportunity from a working-class standpoint to show Republicans can stand up for them,” Nygren said.
Trump planned to promote a contract won in April by Fincantieri Marinette Marine to build as many as 10 Navy frigates. The shipbuilder plans to invest $200 million to expand the Marinette facility because of the contract. The company employs about 2,500 people now, and the deal could add 1,000 jobs and be worth $5.6 billion if all the ships are built. It’s the first new major shipbuilding program for the Navy in more than a decade.
Biden said in a statement Thursday that Trump was coming to Marinette “to take credit for Obama-Biden administration-fueled successes in an attempt to paper over the fact that Wisconsin has been bleeding blue-collar manufacturing jobs over the past few weeks. Instead of offering real relief to working families, he’s trying to claim credit for progress in Marinette he did not build.”
Trump’s visit to Marinette is believed to be the first time a sitting president has come to the city. As a candidate, John F. Kennedy campaigned in Marinette in 1960, when he gave a speech on the importance of loans for farmers. Pence was at the same Marinette shipyard in November to promote Trump’s trade deal with Mexico and Canada.


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--Chicago-area McDonald’s workers score a court victory, as judge orders some local restaurants to do

Chicago-area McDonald’s workers score a court victory, as judge orders some local restaurants to do better on COVID-19 protections

“ The current McDonald ’ s environment leads employees , including managers , to believe they can take off their @ @ @ @ @ feet of each other as long as they do not do so in excess of @ @ @ @ @ wrote .
“ This increases the health risk for the employees , their families , @ @ @ @ @ whole and conflicts with the Governor ’ s Executive Order on social distancing potentially undoing @ @ @ @ @ as we fight this incredibly contagious disease .
”

A judge on Wednesday ordered several Chicago McDonald’s restaurants to adopt new safety measures for social distancing, training and masks, granting a partial win to workers who sued the fast food giant for allegedly failing to adequately protect them from COVID-19. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)
Workers at McDonald’s have been among the most vocal in complaining that they weren’t being adequately protected from COVID-19.
On Wednesday, a Cook County judge agreed with them.
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Cook County Circuit Court Judge Eve Reilly ordered several Chicago McDonald’s restaurants to adopt new safety measures for social distancing, training and masks, granting a partial win to workers who sued the fast food giant for allegedly failing to adequately protect them from COVID-19.
In issuing the preliminary injunction, Reilly said the restaurants were not enforcing their mask policies or training employees about social distancing in a way that is consistent with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order, creating a public nuisance. The injunction comes as the city and state move to phase four of reopening on Friday.
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The order was in response to a lawsuit seeking class-action status that was filed by five employees of four local McDonald’s, and four of their live-in relatives, against Chicago-based McDonald’s and three franchisees. The suit alleges that inadequate safety protocols endangered the public and sought injunctive relief to require the chain to provide better training and equipment.
The judge denied claims that McDonald’s was negligent and said the company had taken many measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including putting up plexiglass in the drive-thru and counters, taking employee temperatures and providing masks and gloves.
But she highlighted two “serious failures” in the company’s processes, including training managers that people can be closer than six feet apart as long as it’s not for more than 10 minutes, which she said is inconsistent with the state’s guidelines and “potentially hazardous” in combination with a failure to consistently enforce the proper wearing of masks.
“The current McDonald’s environment leads employees, including managers, to believe they can take off their masks and stand within 6 feet of each other as long as they do not do so in excess of 10 minutes,” Reilly wrote. “This increases the health risk for the employees, their families, and the public as a whole and conflicts with the Governor’s Executive Order on social distancing potentially undoing any good it has done as we fight this incredibly contagious disease.”
Reilly ordered the injunction against DAK4, a franchisee that operates a McDonald’s at 10320 S. Kedzie Ave.; and McDonald’s Restaurants of Illinois, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company that operates restaurants at 2438 W. Cermak Rd. and 3867 S. Archer Ave.
McDonald’s, in a statement, said it was pleased the judge found that strong measures were already in place.
“These measures are part of the 50 processes we have enhanced during the pandemic to keep restaurant employees and customers safe,” the company said. “We have also issued a 59-page guide outlining national minimum restaurant standards, including adhering to social distancing guidelines for customers and crew, conducting wellness and temperature checks, requiring protective barriers, face masks and gloves, increasing the frequency of handwashing and providing contactless purchasing options to customers.”
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chicagotribune--2020-06-25--Man who threatened woman with gun taken into custody after hours-long standoff with SWAT team at Sou

Man who threatened woman with gun taken into custody after hours-long standoff with SWAT team at South Side apartment

Around 6:20 a.m , the 46-year-old man exited the home and was taken to the hospital for evaluation , according @ @ @ @ @ .
Michigan Avenue near the home was still closed off around 7 a.m. , according @ @ @

A man’s threatening a woman with a gun led to an hours-long standoff with a SWAT team at the man’s Bronzeville neighborhood apartment Thursday morning, police said.
Around 2:45 a.m, a 46-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman were having a dispute inside the apartment in the 5000 Block of South Michigan Avenue, when the man pulled out a handgun and threatened the woman.
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The 46-year-old man then became distracted and the woman was able to run out a back door and call for help, according to a police media notification.
The man then barricaded himself inside of the home and a SWAT team was dispatched to the scene.
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Around 6:20 a.m, the 46-year-old man exited the home and was taken to the hospital for evaluation, according to police spokeswoman Karie James. Michigan Avenue near the home was still closed off around 7 a.m., according to police.


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--Chicago restaurants can reopen at 25% capacity Friday, but will they? Here’s what we found when we a

Chicago restaurants can reopen at 25% capacity Friday, but will they? Here’s what we found when we asked.

At Elizabeth restaurant , for example , owner Iliana Regan is sticking to take-out only .
“ If you ’ @ @ @ @ @ know how tiny we are ; we only seat 25 people , ” Regan said @ @ @ @ @ .
“ So , running at 25 % capacity is not economically viable for us @ @ @ @ @ , we don ’ t feel it ’ s safe for us to reopen for @ @ @ @ @ that the risk to our staff and guests is far too great to resume service @ @ @ @

Chef Michael Lachowicz, shown here last year in his restaurant Aboyer, said the phase four indoor reopening on Friday offers his restaurant a way to give patio diners a Plan B in inclement weather. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago restaurateurs can open their doors to indoor dining as of Friday, but not everyone plans to participate.
Relaxed rules in phase four of the coronavirus reopening plan will permit restaurants to operate indoors at 25% capacity, up to a maximum of 50 guests. That’s a bonus, albeit a minor one, for a lot of places, but not nearly enough for others.
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At Elizabeth restaurant, for example, owner Iliana Regan is sticking to take-out only. “If you’ve been here, you know how tiny we are; we only seat 25 people,” Regan said in an email to customers. “So, running at 25% capacity is not economically viable for us. More importantly, though, we don’t feel it’s safe for us to reopen for indoor service. We feel that the risk to our staff and guests is far too great to resume service right now.”
Similarly, Scott Worsham, who with Sari Zernich Worsham owns Bar Biscay and mfk restaurants, is in no hurry to open his dining rooms.
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“We are waiting it out because it’s just not safe enough for our employees,” he said. “You saw what happened at Longman & Eagle this last week.” (Longman & Eagle abruptly ended outdoor dining service after one employee tested positive for COVID-19.) “For us to open, at such low numbers, then to have to close again for two weeks, would be a death blow for us.”
Sean Cuneen, of MOD Pizza and Fox’s on Wolf, is taking a wait-and-see approach. “Gonna wait a couple of weeks,” he said in a text message. “Having to close 2-3 days from a contact trace who ate inside is too much of a financial risk, in my personal opinion. Better to stay the course than be open.”
Hiram Patel is holding off for a different reason.
“Both our locations (Tikkawala and Naansense) are in the Loop,” he said. “We’re waiting until (downtown) companies get back up and running. Maybe towards the end of July.”
Carrie Nahabedian and Michael Nahabedian won’t immediately reopen Brindille, much as they’d like to. The River North restaurant was badly damaged by vandals in late May, and still isn’t ready.
Others are being more optimistic, albeit cautiously.
Bar Biscay, a restaurant at 1450 W. Chicago Ave. in Chicago, will not reopen Friday. Owner Scott Worsham said he and his partner Sari Zernich Worsham don't think it's safe for employees yet. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
“Yes, we’re opening indoors,” said Paul Fehribach, chef/owner of Big Jones restaurant in Andersonville. “Worth it? We’ll see. There’s still no hope for getting to break even (at 25%), but we believe we can do it safely, and will do it safely. This is progress.”
The restaurants most eagerly reopening indoors are those that already are serving customers on outdoor patios — which includes Big Jones. The new guidelines allow them to add a few more tables to an ongoing operation.
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“Almost all (our restaurants) are open already in delivery/carryout and patio seating,” said R.J. Melman, president of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises. “We will continue to keep them open, with most dining rooms opening over the weekend, or early next week. We think it’s a step in the right direction, and look forward to getting more open over time.”
Some restaurants without outdoor seating have been adding it. New outdoor areas allowed Paul Virant to reopen Vie (Western Springs), Vistro (Hinsdale) and Gaijin (Fulton Market); adding a few indoor tables will increase profits. Mannish Mallick, managing partner at Rooh, won’t reopen at 25% capacity (”It isn’t enough,” he said), but is working on a patio for the adjacent parking lot, and hopes to open outdoors and indoors by June 30.
Indoor tables also can offer outdoor patios a crucial Plan B, should the weather turn ugly. Last Saturday, chef/owner Michael Lachowicz had several tables of outdoor diners at his Winnetka restaurant, Aboyer, when, as he put it, “the skies opened up.” The only alternative at the time was to offer to pack up the food to go.
“One hundred percent of our guests rolled with it, and we avoided a rainout disaster,” Lachowicz said. But next time, he’ll be able to usher most or all of those guests indoors.
Friday will be more akin to a grand opening for Gene & Georgetti in River North. That venerable restaurant was closed by a fire in October, and though it reopened for carryout and delivery at the end of March, this will be the first chance for diners to see the refurbished interior.
“We feel proud and hopeful. And grateful, too,” said owner Michelle Nicole Durpetti. “We have been through one of the most tumultuous years in our 79-year history. We cannot wait to welcome everyone back to our home.”
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For Aaron Steingold, however, his Steingold’s of Chicago deli will stick with takeout and delivery only for the foreseeable future.
“We are awaiting a vaccine,” he said.
Some restaurants serving indoors, beginning Friday:
Aboyer, 64 Green Bay Road, Winnetka
Anto Pizza & Pasta, 1547 W. Jarvis Ave.
The Barn Steakhouse, 1016 Church St., Evanston
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Chez Moi, 2100 N. Halsted St.
The Clubhouse, Oak Brook Shopping Center, Oak Brook
The Dearborn, 145 N. Dearborn St.
Found Kitchen + Social House, 1631 Chicago Ave., Evanston
Francois Frankie, 222 W. Randolph St.
Fulton Market Kitchen, 311 N. Sangamon St.
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Gene & Georgetti, 500 N. Franklin St.
Hubbard Inn, 110 W. Hubbard St.
Hutch American Bistro, 3301 N. Clark St., and Hutch American Cafe, 416 W. Ontario St.
Jefferson Tap & Grille, 325 N. Jefferson St.
Joy District, 112 W. Hubbard St.
La Pizza & La Pasta, inside Eataly, 43 E. Ohio St.
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Le Sud, 2301 W. Roscoe St.
The Loyalist, 177 N. Ada St.
Manny’s Coffee Shop & Deli, 1141 S. Jefferson St. (full menu launches July 6)
Maple Tree Inn, 18849 Dixie Highway, Homewood
Mundano, 1935 N. Lincoln Park West (opening July 1)
Next, 953 W. Fulton Market
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Niu Japanese Fusion Lounge, 332 E. Illinois St.
Oceanique, 505 Main St., Evanston
Parkway Bank Park, Rosemont: Indoor dining begins at Adobe Gila’s Bub City, Fogo de Chao, Hofbrauhaus and Kings Dining & Entertainment venues
Pelago, 201 E. Delaware Place
Piccolo Sogno, 464 N. Halsted St.
Polo Inn Bridgeport U.S.A., 3322 S. Morgan St.
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Prairie Grass Cafe, 601 Skokie Blvd., Northbrook
The Purple Pig, 444 N. Michigan Ave. (indoor dining launches early next week)
Recess, 838 W. Kinzie St.
Roister, 951 W. Fulton Market
Soho House, 113-125 N. Green St.
Takito Kitchen, 2013 W. Division St. and Takito Street, 2423 N. Lincoln Ave.


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--12-year-old girl shot while playing with friends on West Englewood street

The girl was on the sidewalk in the 6800 block of South Wolcott Avenue about 1:15 a.m. when someone in @ @ @ @ @ and a person in the vehicle fired shots , according to a police media notification @ @ @ @ @ when she suffered a graze wound to the lower back and was taken to Comer @ @ @ @ @ where she was in good condition .

A 12-year-old girl playing with friends outside suffered a graze wound in a shooting early Thursday in the West Englewood neighborhood, police said.
The girl was on the sidewalk in the 6800 block of South Wolcott Avenue about 1:15 a.m. when someone in a white SUV drove past and a person in the vehicle fired shots, according to a police media notification. The girl felt pain when she suffered a graze wound to the lower back and was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where she was in good condition.
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The girl had been playing with friends in the street before the shooting, according to police spokeswoman Karie James.
No one was in custody in the shooting. Police didn’t immediately release further information about the SUV or any description of the suspect or suspects. Detectives were investigating.
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Check back for updates.


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--Off-duty Chicago police sergeant rescues 3 who fell off jet ski into Lake Michigan near 63rd Street

Off-duty Chicago police sergeant rescues 3 who fell off jet ski into Lake Michigan near 63rd Street Beach

Jackson , a detective sergeant assigned to the Calumet Area Violent Crimes unit , was able to get to the @ @ @ @ @ pull them onto his own jet ski soon after they went in the water about @ @ @ @ @ 30-year-old man and two women , ages 18 and 19 .
None of them had @ @ @ @

Chicago police Sgt. Donovan Jackson retells how he helped pull people out of the water Tuesday after some jet ski riders got in trouble on Lake Michigan near 63rd Street Beach. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago police Sgt. Donovan Jackson was relaxing on his boat Tuesday evening when he suddenly heard a helicopter hovering above.
When he emerged from his 33-foot Sea Ray, docked in Jackson Harbor, Jackson saw police and fire vehicles driving toward Lake Michigan.
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Jackson then rushed to the top of a nearby hill, where he saw people in the water near 63rd Street Beach and a capsized water scooter.
The 22-year police veteran was off duty, but duty still called. And for Jackson, who spent 12 years as a Chicago Park District lifeguard, instincts quickly kicked in.
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“I ran back to my boat, grabbed my life jacket, and jumped on my jet ski,” he said.
Jackson, a detective sergeant assigned to the Calumet Area Violent Crimes unit, was able to get to the stranded jet skiers quickly and pull them onto his own jet ski soon after they went in the water about 6:20 p.m. Jackson rescued a 30-year-old man and two women, ages 18 and 19. None of them had to be hospitalized.
Jackson recounted the details of the rescue at a news conference Wednesday afternoon at 63rd Street Beach with the portion of the lake where the rescue occurred in the background.
Chicago police marine unit Sgt. Eduardo Beltran, who was on duty during the rescue, said he was “extremely happy” to see Jackson and said he pulled off a “very difficult rescue.”
And although the people in the water were wearing life jackets, Beltran, who was among the emergency workers who helped lower a ladder to Jackson when his jet ski made it to a pier, said Jackson “absolutely” saved their lives.
“They were in the water for about 10 minutes, the water temperature was about 60 degrees, so they were starting to feel the effects of hypothermia, and the jet skis were partially submerged,” Beltran said.
There is concern this year with Lake Michigan’s high water levels, especially with people venturing out onto partially submerged piers, where they could be swept into the lake by waves, Beltran said. And he urged all boaters always to wear life jackets.
An earlier version of this story misidentified the unit Sgt. Donovan Jackson is assigned to.


chicagotribune--2020-06-25--Protests peaceful in Wisconsin on Wednesday night after violent protest, statue toppling outside sta

Protests peaceful in Wisconsin on Wednesday night after violent protest, statue toppling outside state Capitol

The other statue taken down represents Wisconsin ’ s motto “ Forward.
” The statue was first installed 125 years @ @ @ @ @ bronze replica in 1998 .
It sat prominently outside the Capitol , facing the University @ @ @ @ @ Street , an avenue lined with bars , restaurants and small businesses .
That corridor @ @ @ @ @ much of the vandalism since the death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis @ @ @ @ @ used his knee to pin the handcuffed Black man ’ s neck .

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin’s governor activated the National Guard on Wednesday to protect state properties after a night of violence that included the toppling of two statues outside the state Capitol, one of which commemorated an abolitionist Civil War hero.
Protesters also attacked a state senator, threw a Molotov cocktail into a government building and attempted to break into the Capitol Tuesday night, only to be repelled by pepper spray from police stationed inside. The violence broke out as a group of 200 to 300 people protested the arrest of a Black man who shouted at restaurant customers through a megaphone while carrying a baseball bat.
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On Wednesday night, about 40 people gathered peacefully outside the county jail where the man was being held, calling for his release. A crowd of about 100 people congregated outside the Capitol, where one of the statues used to stand, as Madison police watched. There was no sign of the National Guard.
Gov. Tony Evers, who toured the damage from Tuesday night and said the violence was in “stark contrast” to earlier peaceful protests, said he was activating the National Guard “to make sure people can exercise their First Amendment rights while ensuring the safety of members of the public and state buildings and infrastructure.”
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“If your goal was to advance social justice and policing reforms in the state of Wisconsin and making sure systemic racism is a thing of the past, you failed,” Evers said of the protesters on WTMJ-AM.
Republican state lawmakers and others faulted Evers and Madison's Democratic mayor for not moving more quickly on Tuesday to quell the violence.
“The mob has become very bold,” said Madison Alderman Paul Skidmore. “They see they can get away with a little, and they inch forward more and more. (Downtown Madison) is a battle zone right now, and I fear for my city.”
The violence unfolded in a city long known as a liberal bastion with a long history of protest, dating back to student demonstrations on the University of Wisconsin campus in the 1960s. About 100,000 people protested in 2011 over then-Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union proposals.
It also exposed simmering anger over the 2015 shooting by police of a 19-year-old Black man by an officer who remains on the force. That shooting has been referenced by protesters in recent weeks.
The violence started Tuesday after Madison police arrested a protester who came to a restaurant across the street from the Capitol with a bat on his shoulder. Video released by Madison police shows the man, Devonere Johnson, talking through a megaphone while walking around the restaurant’s outdoor patio and inside, saying he’s “disturbing” the restaurant and talking about God and the police before walking out.
On another video released by police, as many as five officers can be seen taking Johnson to the sidewalk and carrying him to a police squad car after he resisted arrest.
Police said on Tuesday night a group of 200 to 300 people broke windows in multiple buildings, threw a Molotov cocktail into the city-county building, brought down the statues on the Capitol grounds, broke glass at a state office building and smashed windows and lights at the Capitol.
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Democratic state Sen. Tim Carpenter was assaulted after taking a cellphone video of protesters.
“Punched/kicked in the head, neck, ribs,” Carpenter tweeted around 4 a.m. “Innocent people are going to get killed.”
One of the statues toppled, decapitated and dragged into a lake about a half-mile away was of Civil War Col. Hans Christian Heg. He was an anti-slavery activist and leader of an anti-slave catcher militia in Wisconsin who fought for the Union and died from injuries suffered during the Battle of Chickamauga.
The base of the Heg statue was defaced with graffiti Wednesday morning that read “Fire Matt Kenny,” a reference to a white Madison police officer who shot and killed 19-year-old Tony Robinson, a Black man, in 2015. Kenny said Robinson had attacked him. Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, who is Black, cleared Kenny of any criminal wrongdoing and he remains a Madison officer.
The other statue taken down represents Wisconsin’s motto “Forward.” The statue was first installed 125 years ago but replaced with a bronze replica in 1998. It sat prominently outside the Capitol, facing the University of Wisconsin campus and State Street, an avenue lined with bars, restaurants and small businesses. That corridor has been the target of much of the vandalism since the death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis after a white police officer used his knee to pin the handcuffed Black man’s neck.
The destruction followed similar unrest nationwide following Floyd’s death, but in other cities statues of Confederate soldiers and other symbols of slavery were destroyed.
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Protester Micah Le said the two statues paint a picture of Wisconsin as a racially progressive state even though slavery has continued in the form of a corrections system built around incarcerating Blacks.
“The fall of the statues is a huge gain for the movement, though I think that liberal and conservative media outlets will try to represent last night as senseless violence rather than the strategic political move it really was,” Le wrote.
Republicans called on Evers and Madison’s Democratic mayor to do more to protect the Capitol. Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos branded the protesters as “thugs.” Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who until last month had served in the state Legislature, called on Evers to resign. Evers called that a “ridiculous statement.”
“Why doesn’t he resign?” Evers said on WTMJ.
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said ilater Wednesday that city leaders and law enforcement were working “on a number of fronts” to keep any additional protests calm.
“I am not in that room, I do not micromanage our law enforcement response,” she said. “There has been broad agreement among law enforcement that deescalation and protecting people is the top concern.”
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Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, the first Black person to hold that office, condemned the violence in a tweet but said “far right provocateurs” had “fanned the flames of hate.”
Robert Bowhan owns August, a clothing store that was looted during the first night of protests following Floyd's death. Bowhan, who is white, has boarded up his windows like many other merchants. He said he didn't know what to expect in the coming days.
“Everyone is probably a little frustrated. (Merchants) feel they don’t have support from cops,” Bowhan said. “They feel threatened and feel like their livelihoods are in jeopardy and they don’t trust the government. This just scratches the surface of what our Black friends and colleagues go through on a daily basis.”


chicagotribune--2020-06-26--Column: To travel or not to travel? It’s the existential question of this pandemic summer.

I do it in part the way I flipped through travel magazines in a pre-digital age , as a way @ @ @ @ @ But I also do it because I ’ m worried about my sister in Oregon @ @ @ @ @ seen a relative since March or left her home except for a few , slow @ @ @ @ @ .
She doesn ’ t use a computer and her health isn ’ t good @ @ @ @ @ go check on her from 7 feet away instead of 2,000 miles ?

To travel or not to travel?
That existential question is afflicting many Americans in this strange summer of 2020, as we wonder whether to take a trip, and if so how and where.
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In the past few days, I’ve been Googling flights to Oregon even as the voice of caution says, “Stop it. You’re not crazy enough to fly somewhere in the midst of a pandemic.”
As I keep Googling, the voice tsks. “Are you?”
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“No,” I whimper dutifully to myself, but still I keep checking out flights.
I do it in part the way I flipped through travel magazines in a pre-digital age, as a way to dream and remember. But I also do it because I’m worried about my sister in Oregon, who hasn’t seen a relative since March or left her home except for a few, slow solo walks around the block. She doesn’t use a computer and her health isn’t good. Shouldn’t I go check on her from 7 feet away instead of 2,000 miles?
So far, after each time I’ve Googled flights — which includes inspecting the safety protocols of various airlines — I’ve shut my laptop with the same shaky resolve I muster when I’m telling myself not to polish off the vanilla ice cream in the freezer: no.
[ Should you travel this summer? Here’s a guide to flying, road trips and other vacation concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic. ]
But we’re all making choices about our pandemic behavior while under the influence of other people’s choices, and every couple of days lately, someone I know says they’ve decided to take a trip.
One friend and her husband, among the most COVID-cautious people I know, plan to drive to South Dakota. My friend canceled a trip that involved an airplane, figuring the road would be safer, and after a lot of research, she and her husband made plans to stay in a lodge he calls “COVID conscious.”
Two other friends recently flew with their teenage son from California to Chicago to stay in a relative’s summer place in Michigan.
“You got on a plane?” I said, curious, dismayed, envious, the full set of contradictory feelings stirred by other people’s pandemic travels. They explained that they’d thought hard about it beforehand, and that they boarded the plane fully equipped: wearing medical masks and goggles, with disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer at the ready. Unfortunately, many of their fellow passengers had a less rigorous approach, which is part of the travel challenge: You can control your own behavior but not the behavior of bozos.
Another friend — a disciplined mask-wearer and distancer — just decided to take a solo road trip to New York state to see her father, who’s 92. Her dad and his wife aren’t allowing anyone in their home, which she finds sensible, so she’ll stay in a hotel or B&B.
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Along the route, she plans to stop for two properly distanced outdoor visits with friends. When she told me that, my mind leaped to the panicky thought that hangs over all pandemic travel:
What about bathrooms? Are you OK using theirs? Are they going to let you?
One couple will allow it, she figures, since they offered her a place to stay, which she turned down. She won’t even ask the other couple because the man just had heart surgery.
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Part of our desire to travel this summer — or any summer — is rooted in the instinct to change our surroundings. Move around. See and feel new things. But often we want to go because we want to see people we love, whose absence feels like an amputated limb.
A friend who’s planning a long drive with her family to see her parents puts it this way: “It makes me feel a little desperate, like if I don’t go see my parents right now, it may not happen until January or later, and I already haven’t seen them since Christmas.”
She refers to “the dark thought at the darkest recesses of your mind, especially if you are thinking about loved ones who are older.” And that dark thought is: “If I don’t go now, will I regret it forever?”
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She doesn’t know yet where she’ll stay. With her parents? In a hotel? All she knows for sure is that she needs to go.
As we proceed through this pandemic, we’re constantly juggling competing needs, while trying to tease needs apart from desire. At the same time, we’re trying to navigate the intricacies of risk factors, figuring out where we fit in, and always — if we’re responsible — with an eye to how much remains unknown.
On Thursday, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the number of Americans infected with the virus is probably 10 times higher than the 2.3 million confirmed cases. It’s a number to keep in mind the next time you get an airline email with the subject line: $49 summer fares.
mschmich@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-26--Column: As coronavirus surges and Black Lives Matter protests continue, Americans are buying guns, g

Column: As coronavirus surges and Black Lives Matter protests continue, Americans are buying guns, guns, guns!

And truth be told , even the latte liberals are out buying up guns .
A Brookings Institution report found @ @ @ @ @ , applications for “ gun permits have increased the most during the COVID-19 pandemic in @ @ @ @ @ more liberal , both in terms of citizen ideology and political party of state governor @ @ @ @ @ 10 states with the largest gun permit increases are in the New England area including @ @ @ @ @ , Vermont , and Maine .
”

Faced with a raging coronavirus pandemic and widespread protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Americans are doing what they do best: stocking up on guns.
Unlike people in other developed nations, we Americans hold dear the belief that there’s no tragedy, no societal shift and no moment of conspiracy-driven paranoia that we can’t shoot our way out of using one of the many firearms we keep in our kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms, waistbands, socks, cars and in fanny packs strapped to our cats.
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According to FBI data, nearly 3 million firearm background checks were conducted in May, a 32% jump over the same month last year. And according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (I’m a member, but mainly for the cool T-shirts), the first half of this year brought in more than 2.5 million first-time gun owners.
YEEE-HAHHHH! PEW-PEW-PEW!!
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Here in Illinois, according to a Tribune report, the Illinois State Police said “more than 40,000 Illinoisans applied for a gun permit in a little more than two weeks this month, more than 500% over this time last year.”
This is obviously great news. You don’t have to be an expert on social stability to know the best way to calm a nervous, angry nation is to add a few million additional lethal firearms into the mix.
And besides, it’s our constitutional right to shoot at anything that comes on our property, whether it’s a coronavirus, a scary person yelling things we disagree with or a horde of Marxists trying to tear down the 16-foot Elvis statue in my front yard.
Sure, you could take the latte-liberal approach and direct your fears into action, finding proactive ways to improve communities and better understand either the pandemic or the root causes of the ongoing protests, but that sounds like something a French person would do.
And truth be told, even the latte liberals are out buying up guns. A Brookings Institution report found that from February to April, applications for “gun permits have increased the most during the COVID-19 pandemic in states that tend to be more liberal, both in terms of citizen ideology and political party of state governor. Four of the top 10 states with the largest gun permit increases are in the New England area including Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.”
The Tribune story quoted a concealed carry gun instructor saying: “I have seen the emergence of a new class of students seeking training: anti-Second Amendment liberals.”
WELCOME TO THE REAL AMERICA, LIBS!
If history is any guide, gun buying is the right response to virtually anything in this country. Civil unrest? Buy guns. Democratic president elected? Buy guns. Pandemic? Guns! Lollapalooza coming up? Get some guns (and earplugs). Relatives coming over for a barbecue? Guns, guns, guns!
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We need a chicken in every pot, two cars in every garage and a gun in at least one of the pots next to the chicken in case someone tries to steal our chickens or our cars.
Sure, a bad thing or two could come from stressed-out civilians owning guns during a time when violent conspiracy theories roam the internet unchecked. But hey, what’s a few accidental shootings (sorry, neighbor!) and toes blasted off between patriots?
On his Fox News show earlier this week, Tucker Carlson talked about the Black Lives Matters movement like this: “It is insidious. It will grow. Its goal is to end liberal democracy and challenge Western civilization itself.”
Yikers! None of that is true, but you better go buy a gun, just to be on the safe side.
On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman, a Wisconsin Republican, said this about Democrats and the media: “They want to tear this country apart. They want to enrage Black people, and they want to make white people feel guilty and not like America.”
So (utterly not) true! Better get some guns to defend yourself against guilty white people who don’t like America. (Or guilty coronaviruses that don’t like America.)
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At the very least, don’t worry about this recent surge in gun sales. It’s all part of a perfectly normal, well-functioning society that has learned to accept mass shootings in schools, theaters, churches, shopping malls, parking lots and restaurants as routine occurrences, the price we pay for the honor of buying guns every time we get scared.
Now if anybody needs me, I’ll be in the nothing-to-be-concerned-about sniper nest that overlooks my Elvis statue.
rhuppke@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-26--Man who lost two sisters, including Illinois’ first COVID-19 victim, hopes to spare others from simi

Man who lost two sisters, including Illinois’ first COVID-19 victim, hopes to spare others from similar tragedy

“ We had cake and ice cream , singing , hugging and everything , ” Frieson said .
“ That @ @ @ @ @ That following Sunday we were together .
The whole ( concept ) of social distancing @ @ @ @ @ yet and we were all around each other like we normally are at different events @ @

Anthony Frieson, right, takes part in the Wash and Wear Community Face Mask Project outside of the Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corp. in Chicago. The project was distributing an estimated 100,000 reusable masks for free on June 25 in communities disproportionately hit by COVID-19. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Three months ago, Anthony Frieson lost two of his older sisters to COVID-19, and found himself quarantined at home after he also tested positive for the highly contagious virus.
It was March, in the early days of a pandemic that eventually would bring Chicago and the rest of the country to a virtual halt. But Frieson and his tight-knit South Side family saw their whole world upended, as they suffered back-to-back losses in isolation and have remained unable even to hold memorial services due to social distancing concerns.
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And they were forced to mourn under the glare of a national spotlight. One of Frieson’s sisters, Patricia, a 61-year-old retired nurse, was the first person in Illinois to die of complications related to the coronavirus, and the family was identified as one of the first in the U.S. to lose multiple members.
Hoping to spare others such pain, Frieson handed out free masks Thursday not far from the family’s longtime home in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, encouraging passersby to “wear a mask, save a life.”
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For him, and for his family, it is not just a slogan.
Anthony Frieson lost two sisters to COVID-19. One of them, Patricia Frieson, 61, a retired nurse, was Illinois' first fatality when she died March 16. Another sister, Wanda Bailey, 63, of Crete, died nine days later. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
“We’re doing OK,” Frieson said. “We’re trying to find that equilibrium in life without both of them, which is hard for us to do because my sisters meant so much to our family. … It’s going to take some time.”
There was a sense of urgency as Frieson handed out the masks. Illinois and Chicago on Friday moved to phase four in the state’s plan to reopen after most businesses closed as COVID-19 began to spread.
But the threat is “still very real to us,” he said.
“As the different areas start opening up, it’s really important no one lets their guard down,” said Frieson, 58. “When you wear a mask you’re protecting someone else and when they wear a mask they’re protecting you.”
Frieson was one of several volunteers taking part in a project to distribute an estimated 100,000 reusable masks outside schools, health care and community buildings in 16 of Chicago’s hardest-hit neighborhoods, including Austin, Chatham, Englewood, Humboldt Park, North and South Lawndale, Pilsen, Roseland and Rosemoor.
The masks were donated by Medline, an Illinois health care company. Made from the same fabric as medical scrubs, the Northfield-based company said the masks can be worn safely for up to 25 washings.
Frieson works as a developer for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, which partnered with Medline in the mask project. He said that while it may seem the pandemic has eased, based on outbreak data, the threat is not over.
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The end of normalcy
Frieson said his family had three gatherings before members began falling ill in March. It was before public health officials set widespread safety protocols.
On March 3, they gathered at Patricia Frieson’s apartment in the family’s longtime three-flat in Auburn Gresham to celebrate the 63rd birthday of another sister, Wanda Bailey, of Crete.
Wanda Bailey, 63, of Crete, who died early March 25, 2020, of COVID-19 infection and other contributing factors, stands next to her younger sister, Patricia Frieson, seated, who was the first COVID-19-related death in Illinois. (Family photo)
“We had cake and ice cream, singing, hugging and everything,” Frieson said. “That Friday we were together. That following Sunday we were together. The whole (concept) of social distancing had not even been discussed yet and we were all around each other like we normally are at different events.”
When Patricia Frieson began having trouble breathing a short time later, she and her family assumed she was having another asthma flare-up. She struggled with that condition, as well as diabetes, lymphedema and other issues.
By March 12, with her breathing more labored, the family took her to the University of Chicago Medical Center.
She died four days later, on the evening of March 16, marking the first confirmed COVID-19 death in Illinois.
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Anthony Frieson, the second youngest of nine children, said he got tested the morning before her death. Though his mild symptoms had mostly subsided by then, Frieson said he took the test because he also had recent contact with a second person, a friend, who was infected.
His results came back positive a couple of days later.
By then, a second sister, Bailey, had developed a bad cough and was hospitalized. The night her sister died, Bailey’s condition worsened and she was moved to intensive care.
The former medical coder died on March 25, just three weeks after her birthday party.
‘It’s not just numbers'
In recent days the Frieson family has taken on the task of cleaning out Patricia Frieson’s apartment, the focal point for Friday family dinners and so many other gatherings.
They were raised in Bronzeville before the family moved to an Auburn Gresham three-flat in the mid-1970s. Their parents, Dan and Effie Frieson, had migrated to Chicago from Arkansas in the late 1950s.
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Frieson said his family has shared both laughter and tears as they’ve cleaned out the apartment. He said Memorial Day was especially tough, as Bailey often filled the role as the family’s meticulous party planner.
Anthony Frieson gives out free masks during "Wash and Wear Community Face Mask Project" on June 25, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
The two sisters were especially close, regularly attending Progressive Beulah Pentecostal Church on the city’s South Side.
Frieson said they were both loving, kind, determined and guided by their deep faith. While history will likely remember them as a tragic footnote in the state’s coronavirus battle, for Frieson and his family, the wound cuts deep and will last a lifetime.
He said the outpouring of support his family has received has helped sustain them.
And so on Thursday, as volunteers fanned out across some of the city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods, Frieson handed out masks to passersby near a bustling intersection not far from the three-flat.
It was a small gesture, he said, but one he hoped might have a larger impact and spare others the kind of tragedy that has forever changed his family. He wants to encourage others to stay safe through social distancing practicing “common sense” and, of course, wearing a mask.
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“My sisters were murdered, for lack of a better term,” he said, “and the murderer — this virus — is still loose. It’s not just numbers. It’s lives. The virus didn’t go anywhere. It’s sitting out there, waiting.”
cmgutowski@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-26--‘Everything is on the table,’ Cook County board President Toni Preckwinkle warns as 2021 budget gap

‘Everything is on the table,’ Cook County board President Toni Preckwinkle warns as 2021 budget gap forecasted to be largest in a decade

“ Everything is on the table , ” Preckwinkle said in a call with reporters when asked about potential new @ @ @ @ @ she did not elaborate .
While noting a vaccine is possibly a year away , @ @ @ @ @ course of a pandemic is not within our control … so the challenges we face @ @ @ @ @ .
They ’ re of the next several years .
”

Cook County could incur a projected $410 million budget gap during the next fiscal year — the largest hole since 2011 and a sign of the extent the coronavirus pandemic has capsized local government finances.
A steep reversal of fortune from the anticipated record-low budget gap this year before COVID-19, the grim forecast means the county is mulling over hiking taxes, slashing existing funds, laying off employees and more to balance the budget, Cook County board President Toni Preckwinkle said Thursday.
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“Everything is on the table,” Preckwinkle said in a call with reporters when asked about potential new taxes and layoffs, though she did not elaborate. While noting a vaccine is possibly a year away, she added, “the course of a pandemic is not within our control … so the challenges we face are not of the moment. They’re of the next several years.”
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The $410 million figure comes from the combined deficits in the general and health funds, which are projected to rise to approximately $222 million and $187 million, respectively. It is a “middle-of-the-road” forecast that assumes there will not be more federal funding beyond the CARES Act to cover expenditures, county Chief Financial Officer Ammar Rizki said.
“We do anticipate that we will have moved into phase five of the recovery by next year,” budget Director Annette Guzman said. “However, we’re also anticipating and building into our models the potential of a resurgence of the virus at the end of this year, in the fall, in the winter, and needing to address that.”
The federal CARES Act has provided the county $429 million to offset direct expenditures from COVID-19, but the cash does not apply to lost revenue. Preckwinkle said she is hopeful the proposed federal HEROES Act, which would address lost revenue for local governments, will move forward in the GOP-controlled U.S. Senate this summer after more lobbying from the National Association of Counties with which she is working.
“We — all of us — desperately need help with lost revenue, and the federal government can provide that,” Preckwinkle said.
As the county loses out on sales, amusement and other nonproperty taxes throughout the coronavirus outbreak, total revenue for the general fund is expected to continue declining, though at a slower rate, by 7% next year while expenses may rise by 5%. Some of the expenses are driven by further responses to COVID-19, such as health care costs for procedures that were delayed until 2021 and overtime costs for public safety officers addressing the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the health fund revenue is expected to rise by 14% due to Medicaid memberships going up and likely peaking around September following widespread unemployment. But expenses are projected to balloon by 21% because of third-party managed care claims and contracts. All the while, the county must address the enduring pressure of uncompensated care, which is free medical care that Stroger and Provident hospitals provide to patients unable to pay their bill.
For this fiscal year, a $220 million general fund gap is projected as revenues are expected to drop about 15% and expenses may rise by 4%. The health fund will possibly lose out on $61 million despite anticipated revenues rising 11% because expenses will likely climb by 14%.
To address the shortfall, the county already cut funds by 6.5% to recoup $94.5 million. The Cook County Health and Hospitals system already has eliminated more than 70 nonunion administrative and manager positions to save $5 million this year and is working to cancel or renegotiate its contracts with outside agencies to recover another $30 million. As part of the job eliminations, more than 35 people were laid off. More Cook County employees could stand to see furloughs and layoffs as well.
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Dipping into reserves funding and delaying pension contributions “would not be the first thing I want to take a look at,” Rizki said, but those options, too, are being explored.
“Kicking the can is not something that we’d like to do, but unfortunately this is a tough time, not of our own doing,” Rizki said. “That just goes to show in terms of the uncertainty that you know we are seeing in terms of this pandemic.”
A public hearing on the financial projections is scheduled for July 16, while the Cook County board of commissioners will vote on the final budget mid-November.
ayin@chicagotribune.com
An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the Cook County Health and Hospitals system had laid off 70 employees; the agency has eliminated 70 positions, about 35 of which resulted in layoffs.