chicagotribune--2020-02-14--Mongolian hot pot restaurant opens in Uptown Park Ridge

The hot pot consists of a broth that is brought to each table and heated on a hot surface in @ @ @ @ @ Japanese hibachi without the grilling .
Once the broth is hot , diners can add @ @ @ @ @ beef , pork or chicken ) or seafood , mushroom , tofu , vegetables , @ @ @ @

A restaurant that has brought East Asian hot pot dining to Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood is now in Uptown Park Ridge.
Grand Mongolian Hot Pot opened Feb. 1 at 510 W. Touhy Ave., formerly Noodles and Company, in the Shops of Uptown.
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It’s a second location for owner Ganzo Amgalanbaatar, who opened his first Mongolian hot pot concept at 2904 N. Broadway Ave. in Lakeview a little more than a year ago.
Manager Edward Gerel, who, like Amgalanbaatar, is a native of Mongolia, said a desire to introduce communal-style hot pot dining to suburban residents led to the opening of the Park Ridge location.
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The hot pot consists of a broth that is brought to each table and heated on a hot surface in the center, reminiscent of Japanese hibachi without the grilling. Once the broth is hot, diners can add their choice of meat (beef, pork or chicken) or seafood, mushroom, tofu, vegetables, noodles and rice.
“Everything is fresh,” Gerel said.
Some of the most popular ingredients on the menu, he said, are the beef, chicken and pork combo platter; fresh shrimp; shiitake and enoki mushrooms; fried and fresh tofu; and Mongolian dumplings.
Gathering around a hot pot is typical of holiday celebrations in some East Asian countries, Gerel said.
“At Christmas, people here have dinner together with turkey, but East Asian people make a hot pot and sit around the table,” he said.
Binh Dihn, a customer who admits he has dined at “a lot” of hot pot spots, had high praise for the food at Grand Mongolian Hot Pot when he stopped in for a late lunch on Feb. 13.
“Compared to other Asian hot spot places, this is the one I’d go to,” he said.
Kimberly Bolanos, who was trying a hot pot for the first time, admitted that she had wondered “how all this works,” but found it to be a good experience.
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“I recommend trying it at least once,” she said.
Grand Mongolian Hot Pot is open for lunch until 3 p.m. and reopens for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and from 5 to 10:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Soup-based meals are heated and shared at the table at Grand Mongolian Hot Pot in Park Ridge. (Jennifer Johnson / Pioneer Press)
Soup-based meals are heated at the table at Grand Mongolian Hot Pot in Park Ridge. (Jennifer Johnson / Pioneer Press)
jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune


chicagotribune--2020-02-14--Barack Obama makes a surprise appearance at NBA All-Star Weekend to pitch in during a charity event

Barack Obama makes a surprise appearance at NBA All-Star Weekend to pitch in during a charity event — and drop some of his basketball insight: ‘It shows how big of a basketball head he is’

“ It was definitely nice , ” Carter said , “ just knowing that he was one of the presidents @ @ @ @ @ The fact that he was so cordial , taking pictures with everybody , talking with @ @ @ @ @ good of a person he is , so that was definitely a lot of fun @ @

Miles Bridges poses with the MVP trophy after scoring 20 points in the Rising Stars game. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Former President Barack Obama walked into a small, cordoned-off section of Wintrust Arena for an NBA Cares service event and received a familiar greeting as cheers, smiles and outstretched hands surrounded him.
Every person in attendance was prepped in advance of Obama’s arrival. A security detail swept the space and cameras were fixed before his entrance.
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Obama had done his homework too. He worked the room and dropped stats and sports references, bonding with players, coaches and children on hand for the event.
My best video of President Obama from the Rising Stars event. It was amazing to watch him work that room. He shook every hand and knew small details about every player. pic.twitter.com/4m8gI2nSsu — DeAntae Prince (@DeAntae) February 14, 2020
Once Obama settled in, he was flanked by Hawks guard Trae Young and Pelicans forward Zion Williamson on an assembly line to pack backpacks with school supplies. Bulls center Wendell Carter Jr., who shook hands and exchanged words with Obama, stood by in awe of the 44th president.
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“It was definitely nice,” Carter said, “just knowing that he was one of the presidents of these United States. The fact that he was so cordial, taking pictures with everybody, talking with everybody — it shows how good of a person he is, so that was definitely a lot of fun.”
Carter, Williamson and Young were on hand to participate in media day for Friday night’s Rising Stars game at the United Center. For all three players, the only thing more shocking than meeting Obama was hearing his basketball knowledge.
Carter, who has dealt with injuries often in his two-year career, received encouraging words from Obama about his latest ailment, a high ankle sprain that has kept him out since Jan. 6 and prevented him from playing in the Rising Stars game.
“He knew what college I went to (Duke), knew that I played for the Bulls and was wishing that I’d get healthy soon,” Carter said. “It shows how big of a basketball head he is. It was pretty neat.”
Williamson and Young had more face time with Obama than any other players, and both came away with similar experiences. Each player raved about the details Obama casually dropped about their basketball careers.
Zion Williamson was stationed with President Barack Obama at the Rising Stars’ NBA Cares event. He said he was shocked Obama knew so much about his game. pic.twitter.com/zCM9qjauUN — DeAntae Prince (@DeAntae) February 14, 2020
“It was even crazier when he started talking about my Duke games, him being at the game when my shoe blew out,” Williamson said. “He was even talking about my recent games. I’m like, ‘Man, you’re keeping up with me?’ ”
Young echoed Williamson and shared that Obama has faith the Hawks — 15-24 and sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference — can turn things around.
Trae Young, who was eye-to-eye with President Obama, talked about how exciting it was to meet No. 44 at the Rising Stars’ NBA Cares event. pic.twitter.com/AugjqFR6V6 — DeAntae Prince (@DeAntae) February 14, 2020
“He just loves watching me,” Young said. “He watches me all the time and was telling me how it’s going to turn for the Hawks in the future, and it’s crazy that he knew all these different things about me.”


chicagotribune--2020-02-14--Foxx’s office can keep private lawyers in Smollett probe, judge rules

“ Although Ms. O ’ Brien did a service to the county in filing the petition she did ... that @ @ @ @ @ the court granting parts of the petition , ” Toomin said .
“ She does @ @ @ @ @ today to bring any other action .
”

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx at a news conference after filing the first motions to clear cannabis convictions, in the lobby of Leighton Criminal Court Building on Dec. 11, 2019. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office can continue to use private lawyers to represent it in the special prosecutor’s investigation of the Jussie Smollett matter, a judge ruled Friday.
In addition, Judge Michael Toomin issued a broad shutdown of Sheila O’Brien, the retired appellate judge who tried to challenge Foxx’s use of outside attorneys — saying she could no longer file any paperwork in the Smollett case without his explicit permission.
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O’Brien last year successfully argued that a special prosecutor should be appointed to probe the hot-button Smollett case. After Toomin appointed veteran attorney Dan Webb in August, Foxx’s office retained ex-federal judge Ruben Castillo’s firm to assist it in cooperating with the investigation.
O’Brien filed paperwork last month that the Illinois attorney general’s office has a duty to represent state officials in such circumstances.
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But the state’s attorney has every right to hire outside lawyers in specialized matters or when the office itself doesn’t have the manpower to address an issue, Assistant State’s Attorney Cathy McNeil Stein argued Friday.
[ Double-jeopardy claim for Jussie Smollett could hark back to landmark case against mob hit man ]
Before retaining Castillo’s firm, the office already expended significant resources to cooperate with O’Brien’s special prosecutor petition, as well as a separate probe by the county inspector general, she said.
“This office has taken lawyers that are supposed to be doing the good work of the county ... and pulled them away from that,” she said.
Webb himself said he saw nothing out of the ordinary about working with Castillo’s team, with which he has been communicating for months.
“We found it to be routine and ordinary,” he said in court.
Toomin agreed, saying it was a commonly accepted practice to let outside attorneys handle certain matters for county prosecutors, and if anything looked wrong with the invoices, the county board would decline to pay.
And O’Brien, who filed numerous long-shot motions leading up to Toomin’s appointment of the special prosecutor, can no longer try to intervene in the Smollett matter without the judge’s say-so.
“Although Ms. O’Brien did a service to the county in filing the petition she did ... that ended with the order of the court granting parts of the petition,” Toomin said. “She does not have the standing here today to bring any other action.”
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[ A timeline of the Jussie Smollett case ]
The Smollett case has drawn national attention and continues to fuel criticism as Foxx faces a reelection fight.
Police concluded that the actor staged the attack near his home in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood last January, hiring two brothers to carry out the hoax while using racist and homophobic slurs and shouting that he was in MAGA country — a reference to President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan.
Smollett was charged with faking the crime, but Foxx’s office abruptly dropped all 16 counts of disorderly conduct with little explanation at an unannounced court hearing.
The legal fallout continues to reverberate. In August, Webb — a former U.S. attorney — was named a special prosecutor and given a broad mandate to investigate the case, including looking into if Smollett should again be criminally charged for his actions that night.
On Tuesday, the case took a new twist, as Webb announced that his special grand jury had indeed reindicted Smollett on six counts of disorderly conduct. The actor is expected back in court Feb. 24.
Webb’s probe of prosecutors’ action in the case remains ongoing.
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mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-14--Zach LaVine gets asked on ESPN if he has confidence in Bulls management. Predictably, a ‘Fire GarPax

Zach LaVine gets asked on ESPN if he has confidence in Bulls management. Predictably, a ‘Fire GarPax’ chant breaks out on national television.

“ We believe they ’ ve done a great job , ” Reinsdorf said at the time .
“ I @ @ @ @ @ , with some of our fans and some in the media , they look at @ @ @ @ @ me .
”

Let’s check in on how things are going for the Bulls during NBA All-Star Weekend … oh.
During an appearance Friday on ESPN’s “First Take,” Zach LaVine was asked if he had confidence that executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson can build a winning team around the Bulls guard.
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Before LaVine could answer, Bulls fans attending the live show at Navy Pier erupted with jeers and a “Fire GarPax” chant, alluding to Paxson and general manager Gar Forman.
“FIRE GARPAX” chants have broken out on national television. pic.twitter.com/PqkIP41ogZ — Josh J. (@JoshJBullsHoops) February 14, 2020
Of course, “Fire GarPax” has been a rallying cry for Bulls fans for years now, reaching online petitions and billboards.
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Meanwhile, Bulls COO Michael Reinsdorf told the Tribune last March that criticism of Paxson and Forman “perplexes” him.
“We believe they’ve done a great job,” Reinsdorf said at the time. “I know that in this market, with some of our fans and some in the media, they look at it differently. That perplexes me.”
As for LaVine’s answer — which was interrupted by chuckles at the chant — it was pretty standard.
“They might speak differently, man, but I’m with the team,” he said. “I’ve got to put the team first.”
LaVine then paused, laughing: “They’re terrible, man,” he said of the fan reaction.
“I’ve got to put the team first, but it’s just the situation we’re in right now.”
LaVine is the only Bulls representative in All-Star festivities and will take part in Saturday night’s 3-Point Contest. No Bulls were named to the All-Star team.


chicagotribune--2020-02-14--Review: Songs alone can’t save ‘Summer: The Donna Summer Musical’ at the Nederlander Theatre

None of this is to disparage the late Summer , who overcame all manner of personal obstacles to pursue her @ @ @ @ @ of that era had so many hits .
Even fewer of any era , to @ @ @ @ @ pack so much emotion into what could have been merely dance-fueled vessels , experimentation with @ @ @ @ @ .
I guess I have to speak for myself here , but I well up @ @ @ @ @ , “ On the Radio , ” a reaction , I think , to exquisitely @ @ @ @ @ perfect pitch .
It ’ s not about the lyrics , which deal with cake @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s the recollection of Summer ’ s signature emotional investment in her work @

“MacArthur Park." “Love to Love You Baby.” “I Feel Love." “On the Radio.” You don’t have to have been a denizen of Studio 54 to enjoy spending an evening in the company of that particular catalog of hits, a synthesized song suite that, in full disclosure, has enormous nostalgic resonance for me.
I still mourn for the beautiful relationships that might have happened, if only Donna Summer’s “Last Dance” had retained its initial slow tempo at teen discos.
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That was probably all in my head, but such memories are the landscape of the nostalgic jukebox musical, a genre that, when it works, can seem to peel away time. Aesthetic snobs often mock and deride. But they fail to understand that theater is fully capable of delivering the elixir of youth. And for that, people will pay good money.
The problem, though, with “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical,” now touring through Chicago, is that it focuses too little on what the music meant (and means) to its fans and too much on signaling, often inartfully, the virtue of its subject.
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None of this is to disparage the late Summer, who overcame all manner of personal obstacles to pursue her groundbreaking career. Few artists of that era had so many hits. Even fewer of any era, to my mind, managed to pack so much emotion into what could have been merely dance-fueled vessels, experimentation with the first wave of synthesizers. I guess I have to speak for myself here, but I well up when I hear, say, “On the Radio,” a reaction, I think, to exquisitely rich melody, longing and perfect pitch. It’s not about the lyrics, which deal with cake, orgasms, whatever; it’s the recollection of Summer’s signature emotional investment in her work.
Dan’Yelle Williamson, Alex Hairston, Olivia Elease Hardy and the company of the national tour of "The Donna Summer Musical." (Matthew Murphy photo)
If you are a fan, you may well find enough of that here to sustain your enjoyment. As has been popular of late, the show breaks Summer into thirds: a young Donna (Olivia Elease Hardy), a mid-career Donna (Alex Hairston) and a mature Donna (Dan’Yelle Williamson, who really nails “MacArthur Park.”) All three of the women on the tour are just fine; in fact, Hardy, who is still a student, is an exceptional young talent. And most of Summer’s big hits are in the show.
But you do have to sit through some pretty rough scenes that veer back and forth between the personal and the professional, getting trapped in the behind-the-music-with-the-guys-in-suits stuff that so rarely works in these kinds of shows. It is a very rough book, carelessly abandoning most of its scenes in mid-flow for self-serving monologues. And since the tour is slightly cut down, that’s more obvious than was the case on Broadway.
Summer, of course, upset a lot of her gay fans with a homophobic remark at a Cleveland concert, at the height of the AIDS crisis to boot. It’s an issue the show addresses in about the most absurd fashion, with the Donna character surrounding herself with pictures of gay disco-goers; it feels more like the scrubbing of a brand by an estate than anything real.
But the songs? As genuine as they come. If you’re going, take someone who understands.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
Review: “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical” (2 stars)
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When: Through Feb. 23
Where: James M. Nederlander Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St.
Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes
Tickets: $27-$100 at 800-775-2000 or www.broadwayinchicago.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-14--Senn High School teacher removed as district investigates whether Latina student told to 'go back to

Senn High School teacher removed as district investigates whether Latina student told to 'go back to your country’

The 17-year-old student , whom the Tribune is not naming because she is a minor , told the Tribune that @ @ @ @ @ an assembly at the end of January , first asking her if her legs were @ @ @ @ @ , a senior , told him that she chose to remain seated because of her @ @ @ @ @ got offended , '' interrupted her and made the remark about her

Students at Senn High School led a protest and sit-in, calling for the removal of a teacher there on Feb. 12, 2020, in Chicago. Student Tionda Cobb filmed the protest. (Tionda Cobb)
A Senn High School teacher accused of telling a Latina student to “go back to your country” during an assembly last month has been removed from the classroom as Chicago Public Schools investigates whether the teacher violated the district’s anti-discrimination policy, according to officials.
In a letter sent to parents Thursday, Senn Principal Mary Beck said that “new information came to light” as the district’s Office of Student Protections and Title IX opened an investigation, prompting it “to remove this individual from working in our school.”
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“At the conclusion of OSP’s investigation, a final determination will be made regarding whether it is appropriate for this individual to return to Senn," Beck wrote. “I will update the school community when a final determination is made.”
The employee has been assigned to stay at home with pay pending the outcome of the investigation, according to district spokesman James Gherardi.
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The incident under review was reported by a student after the teacher allegedly confronted her for remaining seated as the national anthem played during an assembly on Jan. 30.
The “alleged actions of the teacher in question run counter to our beliefs and priorities as a school district,” Gherardi said in an emailed statement. The district recently learned about the alleged comments, which included "unacceptable language that violated the district’s anti-discrimination policy.”
The 17-year-old student, whom the Tribune is not naming because she is a minor, told the Tribune that the teacher approached her during an assembly at the end of January, first asking her if her legs were broken. When the student, a senior, told him that she chose to remain seated because of her beliefs, the teacher “got offended," interrupted her and made the remark about her
The student, who said she is Mexican American and was born in the United States, said she was distressed by the encounter and felt that the teacher, whom she hasn’t had as an instructor, racially profiled her. She said she was ultimately asked to leave the assembly for causing a disruption.
“I, personally, was very offended,” the student said, “a little bit upset, angry and disgusted. … Educators aren’t supposed to let their political beliefs get in the way of their jobs.”
The student and another senior, 18-year-old Tionda Cobb, who was approached by the same teacher for sitting during the anthem, said they sent an email to school Principal Mary Beck detailing what happened.
“We were silently exercising our rights, our beliefs, and our opinion,” Cobb wrote in the email, which she provided to the Tribune. She also wrote that the teacher asked her if she gets free lunch and told her that she had no respect for people who have died for this country.
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The two students said they organized a protest at the Edgewater high school Wednesday because they felt the principal failed to adequately respond to the situation.
During the protest, which was captured in photos and video posted on social media, students are seen sitting in a main hallway, chanting, banging on a drum and calling for the removal of the teacher.
Police were called and arrested a 15-year-old student who allegedly pushed a school administrator during the demonstration when a fight broke out, officials said.
Beck sent an email to parents Wednesday, acknowledging the protest and saying that concerns regarding the staff member were brought to her attention several weeks ago. Beck wrote that she could not elaborate on the issue, but insisted that she “immediately handled it in accordance with CPS policy,” according to the email.
“Today, members of our student body chose to stage a ‘sit in’ in order to exercise their student voice,” she wrote. “This protest was organized by a group of students who wanted to raise concerns regarding a previous experience they had with a staff member."
Beck said she met with the students directly involved in the encounter and brainstormed solutions to improve feelings of student safety and expression for the future.
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Beck wrote that the students also raised concerns about “past incidents,” which will now be investigated immediately. The 17-year-old student said other students had complained about the same teacher before.
Counselors and social workers are available at the school to help students process emotions related to the recent events, Beck said.
echerney@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-14--Charles Barkley sounds off: Lauri Markkanen ‘has regressed,’ Zach LaVine ‘didn’t deserve’ an All-Sta

Charles Barkley sounds off: Lauri Markkanen ‘has regressed,’ Zach LaVine ‘didn’t deserve’ an All-Star slot and the game’s new format is ‘stupid’

“ I ’ m not going to lie to you .
I ’ ve been very disappointed in the Bulls @ @ @ @ @ “ I have no idea what they ’ re doing .
I have no idea @ @ @ @ @ Markkanen .
I thought he was going to be the next big thing , and @ @ @ @ @

You know what amuses Charles Barkley? The idea that Zach LaVine should have been an NBA All-Star.
You know why?
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“Because he didn’t deserve it,” Barkley said during a free moment Thursday night before TNT’s pregame show from Chicago’s House of Blues.
And why is that?
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"Because he didn’t deserve it," Barkley said flatly.
The top basketball TV analyst working today, Barkley is in town with the rest of TNT’s studio show crew as part of the channel’s All-Star Weekend coverage.
What makes the Hall of Famer the best in the business is his rare blend of insight, humor and the chutzpah to say what few others will.
LaVine and his fans may be sore his All-Star Weekend participation on his home floor was limited to Saturday night’s 3-Point Contest.
But as Barkley sees it, players on losing teams can’t count on being selected for the NBA’s midseason showcase.
LaVine and the Bulls are 19-36, just five games out of the No. 8 slot in the Eastern Conference but also only 5½ games from last place
“I’m not going to lie to you. I’ve been very disappointed in the Bulls,” Barkley said. “I have no idea what they’re doing. I have no idea what has happened to Lauri Markkanen. I thought he was going to be the next big thing, and he has regressed."
And what of Bulls coach Jim Boylen?
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“Jim Boylen is a good friend of mine, and I’ll leave it at that,” Barkley said. “Jim Boylen is a good friend of mine, but I don’t know what the Bulls are doing.”
See? Even when Barkley holds back, he doesn’t hold back.
LaVine, of course, isn’t alone in feeling overlooked.
Beal emotional after the game, tells @cmillsnbcs "It's disrespectful" that he wasn't named an NBA All-Star pic.twitter.com/UIoNv0nVTm — NBC Sports Wizards (@NBCSWizards) January 31, 2020
Bradley Beal of the 20-33 Wizards said it was “disrespectful” he wasn’t named an All-Star.
Devin Booker of the 22-33 Suns also voiced complaints over his perceived snub, although he eventually scored a spot in both Sunday’s game and the 3-Point Contest as a fill-in for the Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard.
Phoenix Suns GM James Jones has released a statement: “I’ve played with and against multiple All-Stars in this league and Devin Booker is undoubtedly an NBA All Star.” — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 31, 2020
“When you’re 5-75, you don’t have the right to feel snubbed,” Barkley said. “Seriously, all the guys that say they got snubbed are on the worst teams in the NBA. You’re not even competitive.
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“Like, if your team is pretty good, you’re snubbed. If your team is in last place, you’re not snubbed. You don’t deserve it.”
Barkley is even less impressed with the new All-Star Game format the NBA is trotting out Sunday night on TNT and TBS.
The first three quarters will be scored as separate games with the teams winning money for charity.
Then in the fourth quarter, the overall winner will be the team that reaches a target score determined by the total points the leading team had across the first three quarters, plus — in honor of the late Kobe Bryant — 24 points.
Or something like that.
The fourth quarter will be televised without commercial breaks, which is good because announcer Marv Albert, analysts Reggie Miller and Chris Webber and reporter Allie LaForce might need the time to explain how all of this works.
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The whole thing is strange, to say the least.
“It’s a very fine line between strange and stupid,” Barkley said.
Well, on which side of the line does it fall?
“I’m on stupid,” he said.
The whole weekend is just meant to be fun and should be viewed that way.
“All these people come up with these stupid rules to try to make it like … it’s Game 7, life or death,” Barkley said. “No, this is an exhibition. We’re here to have fun. … This is the only break (during the season) these guys get. The best players are here. Hopefully the other guys are resting up.”
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Viewers, too, should try to sit back and enjoy it for the spectacle that it is. Winning and losing isn’t necessarily the most important thing.
“Listen,” Barkley said, “these guys all play for different teams. They’re not going to go out and try to kill each other because somebody (will) get hurt and we’ll be like, ‘Oh, man, they shouldn’t have been playing that hard.’
“Out of all the sports, we have far and away the best (All-Star) weekend. On Friday night, we show the young stars, which is great for the fans. On Saturday night, which is the best night, we have the Slam Dunk and 3-Point Contest. Then Sunday should be just fun.
“Could they go out and play a little harder? Yes. But I don’t want them to come out and kill each other in an exhibition game.”
Or to get into one when your team is subpar. Got it, Zach?


chicagotribune--2020-02-14--Longtime Bulls scorekeeper Bob Rosenberg puts his 6 championship rings on the auction block — and bl

Longtime Bulls scorekeeper Bob Rosenberg puts his 6 championship rings on the auction block — and blames losing his job with MLB for the decision

“ When it comes to scoring baseball games , you can imagine it ’ s an individual skill set that @ @ @ @ @ you really need to have seen a lot of baseball games but also know the @ @ @ @ @ nuances of the rules well , have good judgment and thick skin .
And Phil @ @ @ @ @ those , ” Prieb said .
“ We had been thinking of Phil for some @ @ @ @ @ t even sure if he ’ d be interested or not , but fortunately he @ @ @ @ @ that direction .
”

Bob Rosenberg lost a baseball job he cherished, and because of the subsequent loss of income, he said he’s parting with perhaps the most coveted collection of rings in Chicago sports history.
Rosenberg had been an official scorer for select White Sox and Cubs games for 32 years until he was let go last fall. But he’s best known for being the scorekeeper for the Bulls since they began play in 1966.
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And as a longtime staffer, he received all six Bulls championship rings from the 1990s. This week, with Chicago playing host to the NBA All-Star Game, Rosenberg has placed the entire set up for auction through Huggins and Scott Auctions, based in Silver Spring, Md.
He’s asking for at least $300,000.
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“The reason (I’m selling them) is I’ve lost — with not having the job (with) Major League Baseball — about 20 grand a year,” Rosenberg said. “I’m not rich. And you’ve got bills to pay. ...
“But I wanted to talk to (Sox and Bulls Chairman) Jerry (Reinsdorf) to tell him that I was doing that. But I haven’t seen him or talked to him.”
Reinsdorf typically spends his winters in Arizona, and the Sox started spring training Wednesday with pitchers and catchers reporting to Camelback Ranch in Glendale.
Sox spokesman Scott Reifert declined to comment, saying it’s a personnel matter between Rosenberg and Major League Baseball.
“I’m 78 years old,” said Rosenberg, who lives in Aurora. “I’ll be 79 in March, and I haven’t looked at those (Bulls) rings in at least seven or eight years. They’ve been in the bank” in a safe deposit box.
Former White Sox and Cubs official scorekeeper Bob Rosenberg, circa 2013. (Jessica Zerby / RedEye )
Still, he was reluctant to part with a revered piece of Chicago sports memorabilia.
“I felt bad about doing it, but when you don’t have a major job, you’ve got to pay with something, right?” he said. “The only thing I have is Social Security and then the Bulls during the winter. But baseball was the big one.”
The auction house set the reserve at $300,000, the minimum the consignor will sell it for, but the company estimates it could go for as much as $400,000. Rosenberg said he placed the set on eBay about 10 or 15 years ago to test the market, and a Japanese bidder offered $450,000, but Rosenberg opted not to sell and took it off the site.
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Auction house co-owner Bill Huggins said he was surprised when Naperville-based partner Tom Morgan called and told him Rosenberg walked into his collectibles store, Triple Crown Trading, with six Bulls championship rings.
“When we did a little research, so few people have all six of these rings,” said Huggins, who co-hosts “Sports Collecting with Tom Morgan” on ESPN Radio affiliate WMVP-AM 1000. “A lot of them have three and three — three of one three-repeat and three of the next three-peat.”
The Bulls won titles in 1991, ’92 and ’93 and then again in ’96, ’97 and ’98.
Huggins also said it was “just blind luck” that the time frame (Feb. 7-20) of the company’s first of four yearly auctions aligned with Chicago hosting All-Star Weekend.
“I honestly did not know the All-Star Game was going to be in Chicago, being played when the auction is live. That’s a small little plus,” Huggins said.
As of Thursday afternoon, the collection had only one bid of $100,000. Huggins said all bidders will be vetted.
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If the notion of selling a complete set of Bulls championship rings seems striking, the events that led to the auction are equally intriguing.
Rosenberg said that on Nov. 19, Laurel Prieb, MLB’s vice president of special projects, told him the organization was going “in a different way” with the official scorer job but didn’t elaborate.
“I said: ‘What’s the reason? What did I do?’ Never answered,” Rosenberg said.
Rosenberg later learned that Prieb hired Phil Rogers, a former Tribune baseball columnist and co-author of former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig’s memoir, “For the Good of the Game: The Inside Story of the Surprising and Dramatic Transformation of Major League Baseball,” a New York Times bestseller.
Prieb is Selig’s son-in-law.
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Prieb denied that his or Selig’s relationship with Rogers played a role in Rosenberg’s firing.
“That is just not factual,” Prieb said. “I mean, it’s factual that there are ties, yes, but that one has anything to do with the other, that’s absolutely not true.”
Major League Baseball employs about 90 independent contractors as scorers, four in Chicago.
“We look at everybody every year and make decisions accordingly,” Prieb said. “I was in touch with Bob when we decided the change was (happening) and advised him we decided to go in another direction and certainly thanked him for everything he’s done for baseball over time.”
Prieb said his department had considered Rogers in the past.
“When it comes to scoring baseball games, you can imagine it’s an individual skill set that comes into play in which you really need to have seen a lot of baseball games but also know the rules well, know the nuances of the rules well, have good judgment and thick skin. And Phil certainly subscribes to all of those,” Prieb said. “We had been thinking of Phil for some time. We weren’t even sure if he’d be interested or not, but fortunately he was, so we went that direction.”
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Rogers said Major League Baseball called him about the job and not the other way around.
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“(Rosenberg’s) taking 2 and 2 and getting 88,” Rogers said. “I don’t know what the deal is between MLB and Rosey. I know in late October, I got an unsolicited call (asking) if I have any interest in scoring.”
Rogers, who wrote for the Tribune for more than 16 years and then for MLB.com until he was laid off in 2018, called being a scorer “the most thankless job in baseball. It’s like playing in traffic.”
Fielders don’t like being charged with an error, nor do pitchers like having questionable hits running up their ERAs. It’s not uncommon for players to take up issues with scorers.
However, Rogers said he was intrigued by the opportunity and wanted to try it for at least a season. He also has been focused on “big writing projects” that could lead to books.
As for Prieb, he declined to comment on Rosenberg’s decision to sell the Bulls rings.
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“I wish Bob the best,” Prieb said. “He has served the industry well for a long time. Life has obviously moved on for everybody, and this is just an area in which we determined to make a change.”
This story has been updated.


chicagotribune--2020-02-14--A man with a revoked gun license killed his 18-month-old son in Joliet. Here’s how he and thousands

A man with a revoked gun license killed his 18-month-old son in Joliet. Here’s how he and thousands of others slipped through the system.

“ The fact is without additional resources to be able to remove illegally possessed ( firearms ) … the odds @ @ @ @ @ another tragedy will occur , ” Kelly said .
“ We have been able to @ @ @ @ @ means we have to sacrifice in other areas .
But if we are going to @ @ @ @ @ anything close to 100 % compliance then we have to have additional resources .
”

Stacy St. Clair, Cecilia Reyes, Annie Sweeney, Sarah Freishtat

Cassandra Tanner Miller's 18-month-old son was shot to death by his father with a gun that he was no longer legally allowed to possess. Illinois State Police had ordered Christopher Miller to relinquish his weapons after they deemed him too dangerous to own a firearm, but he ignored the directive. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
By the time Christopher Miller showed up at his estranged wife’s backdoor in September 2019 with a pistol in his waistband, state authorities already had declared him too dangerous to own firearms.
He had lost his gun license 20 months earlier after being charged with aggravated battery for brutally beating a man in a Naperville parking lot. He disregarded orders to relinquish any weapons, and no one made sure he complied.
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Miller startled his wife that autumn afternoon as she moved around the kitchen making a snack for her daughter. With cocaine and alcohol in his system, he stared at Cassandra Tanner Miller with hazel eyes so dilated they appeared black.
“Are you all ready to die today?” he asked as he suddenly burst into the Joliet house.
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Within minutes, Miller had choked his wife until she lost consciousness and fatally shot his 18-month-old son, Colton, with a .22-caliber Ruger — one of at least three handguns in his possession despite orders from the Illinois State Police to relinquish any firearms in January 2018. Miller fired that illicit gun so many times, at least 10, the coroner could not definitively track the bullets that shattered the toddler’s skull.
Cassandra Tanner Miller shows a picture of her son, Colton, who was killed by her estranged husband with a gun he shouldn't have had. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
With his son dead, Miller, a captain in the Illinois National Guard, put the Ruger to his head and pulled the trigger.
The Miller murder-suicide serves as yet another indictment of the system’s failure to effectively reduce the growing backlog of people deemed too dangerous to possess firearms. The issue first came to light on Feb. 15, 2019, after a convicted felon fatally shot five co-workers and wounded several others, including five police officers, at the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse in Aurora with a pistol he never should have been allowed to keep.
Disgruntled employee Gary Martin had been ordered to relinquish that handgun five years earlier, after authorities discovered he erroneously had been issued a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card and purchased the Smith & Wesson despite a felony conviction for beating his girlfriend with a baseball bat. He never complied and authorities never followed through, leaving the weapon available for him to kill his colleagues before dying in a shootout with police.
[ Aurora mass shooting: Gunman opened fire after being told he was losing job ]
The tragedy prompted frightening admissions from police about the depth of the revocation problem and their difficulty addressing it without additional resources. A Tribune investigation in the months that followed found their warnings justified, with about 80% of revoked cardholders failing to account for their guns with local law enforcement.
Since the Aurora shooting and a year after officials sounded the alarms, the number of revoked FOID cardholders who have not accounted for their guns rose 14%, from 26,797 in February 2019 to 30,602 people in December.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 38 During a ceremony on Feb. 15, 2022 marking the third anniversary of the mass shooting at Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, the family of Vicente Juarez, one of the victims, gathers in front of the five crosses honoring those who died that day in 2019. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
This increase means an additional 5,800 firearms may still be in the possession of people ineligible to possess them — a nearly 20% jump over the same time period. All told, at least 36,600 guns remain unaccounted for in Illinois, according to state records.
“We’ve made minimal progress at best,” said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, an early proponent for revocation reforms. “We need to get very serious about this. … When you see the numbers we are looking at, the public would be rightfully scratching their heads.”
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Just as Martin and Miller ignored orders to relinquish their weapons, the Illinois Senate ignored law enforcement’s pleas for help enforcing rescinded FOID cards.
Christopher Miller, 35, shot his 18-month-old son, Colton, and then killed himself with a gun that he was no longer legally allowed to possess. (Stickney Police Department)
And in doing so, those legislators ignored the risk posed to people such as Colton Miller, a little boy who loved monster trucks, Batman and his big sister.
When his mother held his body for the last time at the funeral home, Colton had a prosthetic skull to replace the one his father destroyed with bullets. It’s a fate no mother should have to endure, but one that seemed particularly cruel to Tanner Miller, who left her husband a year before so her children could grow up in a home free from domestic violence and drug use.
Five months after Colton’s death, Tanner Miller struggles to understand how a system that legally declares people too menacing to possess firearms does so little to ensure that they actually relinquish their weapons.
“A gun didn’t kill my son,” Tanner Miller said. “A criminal who was not supposed to have a gun anymore killed him.”
‘It’s not all hopeless'
In the wake of the Pratt shooting, Illinois State Police made major changes to how FOID card revocation details are shared among law enforcement, taking the unprecedented step of creating a portal listing every revoked cardholder statewide.
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The database, which is accessible to most police departments, includes crucial details about firearms purchasing history for each revoked cardholder and the reason for the revocation. It also states whether revoked FOID holders have turned in their cards and legally transferred their guns to someone else’s possession.
The new database has been accessed 13,000 times by some 600 law enforcement agencies, according to Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly, who has made revocation compliance a top priority since taking office shortly before the Pratt shooting.
The state also has led 200 revocation missions since May, Kelly said. The number of returned firearm disposition records — paperwork confirming revoked cardholders have legally transferred any weapons — has doubled in the past year from 2,039 in 2018 to 4,219 in 2019.
The Tribune found the compliance rate among revoked FOID holders improved from to 22% to 27% since the newspaper first reported on the state’s backlog in May. The updated records span nearly five years, from March 2015 to the end of 2019.
“It’s not all hopeless,” Kelly said. “Since the tragedy in Aurora, there has been real progress made.”
While police agencies improved compliance rates on new revocations, there has been little progress on those that existed prior to the Pratt shooting. The Tribune’s analysis of once closely held Illinois State Police data — including how often each rescinded cardholder made a serious inquiry about purchasing a gun from a licensed dealer — shows that the ballooning backlog poses a public safety threat to every county in Illinois.
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Statewide, about 7 of every 10 revoked FOID cardholders still failed to account for their firearms, the data shows. In some communities, that rate exceeded 90%.
The backlog changes almost daily, but there has never been time when those compliant with their revocation orders outpaced those who flouted them.
Among other findings in the Tribune’s investigation:
• Domestic violence-related infractions are still the most common reason for a resident’s card to be revoked, followed by mental health concerns and felony convictions.
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• The state rescinded more than 3,400 FOID cards for domestic violence-related reasons since the Pratt shooting. Of those former cardholders, 73% have not accounted for any guns.
“The fact is without additional resources to be able to remove illegally possessed (firearms) … the odds still remain too high that another tragedy will occur,” Kelly said. “We have been able to cobble this together but that means we have to sacrifice in other areas. But if we are going to have any chance of reaching anything close to 100% compliance then we have to have additional resources.”
To reduce the backlog, state Rep. Kathleen Willis, D-Addison, proposed legislation that, among other things, would have raised the FOID application fee from $10 for a 10-year FOID card to $20 for five years. Some of the additional revenue would have funded law enforcement teams to track down revoked cardholders and account for their weapons.
The legislation — which also included a fingerprint requirement for more thorough criminal background checks before applicants obtain a FOID card — sparked heated debate as members of the gun rights community objected to the fee increase as a Second Amendment infringement and vowed to sue if it passed. Many gun advocates told the Tribune they support keeping firearms away from those barred by law, but they object to FOID cardholders bearing the cost alone.
The Illinois House ultimately approved the bill in a 62-52 vote that followed about three hours of impassioned speeches on the House floor.
Despite optimism that it would move through the Senate, it stalled there with Democratic sponsors acknowledging they ran out of time to sway lawmakers who feared curtailing Second Amendment rights.
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“I was disappointed it didn’t pass in the Senate,” said Rep. John Connor, D-Lockport. “There’s no guarantee that the legislation would have prevented Colton’s murder. But it sure would have put some things in place that could have.”
[ Illinois gun licensing bill prompted by Aurora mass shooting fails, but supporters vow to bring it back ]
'It’s not about taking away anyone’s rights’
Two weeks after Miller’s arrest in 2018, Illinois State Police sent a letter to Miller, Joliet police and the Will County sheriff’s office informing them that Miller’s FOID card was revoked, an ISP spokeswoman said. Joliet police say they have no record of receiving the notification and Will County had no jurisdiction over the matter because Miller lived in neighboring Kendall County.
Christopher Miller, in his Illinois National Guard dress uniform. (Family photo)
Miller told his wife about the revocation notice and promised to take care of it. Tanner Miller, who was eight months pregnant with Colton and struggling in the abusive marriage, assumed police would ensure he complied or arrest him again.
The Joliet Police Department had one of the state’s few dedicated revocation compliance teams before the Pratt shooting, but the four-member task force only works on FOID cases about once a week. The bulk of the team’s investigations focus on burglaries, robberies and home invasions.
With a current backlog of about 600 rescinded cardholders who haven’t accounted for their guns, Joliet currently does not have the money or the personnel needed to clear the list and handle the incoming revocations, a department spokesman said. Most communities wouldn’t be able to do it either.
“Having funding for a dedicated multijurisdictional task force — state, county and city — that exclusively focuses on FOID revocations could help address the backlog and address new revocations within a given area,” Joliet police Sgt. Christopher Botzum said. “Most departments do not have the manpower to dedicate a person to address the issue.”
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And that’s how Miller ended up armed with a pistol at his wife’s backdoor on that warm Saturday afternoon in September.
After barging into the home, he punched Tanner Miller repeatedly in the face, hit her with a 3-foot candleholder and then choked her until she lost consciousness. He also attacked his 9-year-old stepdaughter, biting and pinning her down until she managed to break his hold and pull her mother outside the house to safety.
Cassandra Tanner Miller's estranged husband burst into her home, strangled her until she became unconscious, attacked her daughter and fatally shot their 18-month-old son before turning the gun on himself. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Tanner Miller and her daughter, Camryn, made it as far as the next door neighbor’s garage when they heard gunshots coming from the second story of her home.
“Colton just didn’t die that day,” she said with a sob that sounded closer to a howl. “We all died in that house.”
Tanner Miller, who has a FOID card but does not own firearms, has not read the pending revocation legislation. But she says something has to change and it need not devolve into a debate over the Second Amendment.
“It’s not taking away anyone’s rights. It’s taking guns away from people who legally shouldn’t have them," she said. “It’s about addressing the crime of (not complying with) a revoked license before it turns into a crime scene.”
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Cassandra Tanner Miller wears a necklace containing a lock hair from her son Colton, who was fatally shot by her estranged husband with a gun he did not legally possess. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
The Senate could vote on the so-called Fix the FOID legislation during the current session, with the support of Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park. Pritzker went to Aurora hours after the Pratt shooting and publicly promised change, but instead saw the revocation backlog significantly increase in his first year.
“As we mourn,” the governor said in a statement Wednesday, “we must honor the memories of our fellow Illinoisans and do everything in our power to prevent future tragedies and enact common sense reform.”
Even still, the legislation likely will face even stronger opposition from gun rights advocates, who are currently suing state police over a backlog of the more than 60,000 FOID applicants who are waiting for approval.
[ Gun rights groups sue Illinois State Police, saying delays in FOID and concealed carry applications infringe on right to bear arms ]
The Second Amendment lobby also questions whether the extra money would go directly to revocation teams. They’re skeptical of any additional funding following the release of a Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability document showing that between 2015 and 2018, $13.2 million had been swept from the State Police Firearms Services Fund and into the general fund.
Illinois State Police acknowledge the money was moved under the previous administration to fill budget holes but pledged the FOID fee increase would be used for its intended purpose. The gun advocates remain unmoved.
“You’re talking about a fundamental constitutional right,” longtime gun rights lobbyist Todd Vandermyde said. “If it’s a public safety issue then the state needs to fund it on its own. … We’re not going to pay more for our rights.”
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Senate sponsor Julie Morrison, D-Deerfield, says the bill remains a top priority, though there is no timetable for its potential passage.
“Sitting around and wringing our hands doesn’t do anything,” Morrison said. “Feeling sorry for the victims’ families doesn’t get us anywhere. We need to take action and that’s what this bill does. It fixes a major flaw that we have recognized due to that tragedy.”
State Sen. Julie Morrison talks with gun control supporters at a rally outside the State Capitol. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Meanwhile, families of Pratt victims are seeking their own relief, filing lawsuits against the ISP.
The state currently faces two complaints from victims’ families and four others from survivors of the Pratt shooting for issuing Martin a FOID card and then failing to enforce its subsequent revocation. The pending suits allege Illinois State Police knowingly created a public safety risk by allowing the revocation backlog to grow so large.
Those killed were union chairman Russell Beyer; human resources manager Clayton Parks; plant manager Josh Pinkard, forklift operator Vicente Juarez and college student Trevor Wehner, who had started his internship that day.
Juarez’s family said it would mean a lot to the family to see lawmakers take action.
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“Other families wouldn’t have to go through what we went through if they (do) this faster and get that settled,” Juarez’s son, Christian, said.
Several missed opportunities
ISP Director Kelly says the agency has been looking at how other states handle revocations, including California, which resolved 53,000 cases in five years. The effort came after the state legislature earmarked $24 million for the state attorney general’s office to manage the list of prohibited gun owners and train law enforcement teams to locate them and account for any weapons.
Dr. Garen Wintemute, an emergency room doctor by training who also researches gun violence at University of California at Davis, said the California approach is the only one of its kind in the country.
But Wintemute said there is no reason Illinois can’t take a similar tack.
“It’s a big investment, but, yes, it can be done,” he said. “They key question is what will it take for Illinois leadership and Illinois citizens to develop a sense of imperative to make this happen?”
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Even without the changes to state law, there were several opportunities to force Miller to relinquish his guns. The Tribune could find no record of any public servant trying.
Tanner Miller says she contacted the Illinois National Guard for help after leaving her husband and told them about his arrest, which should have disqualified him from service. Miller, who served for a decade and never deployed, remained with his unit. An Illinois National Guard spokesman declined to comment, citing an ongoing internal investigation into the matter.
When Miller surrendered to the Naperville Police Department on Jan. 10, 2018, following the battery charge, he posted $5,000 and was released with an order to go to the DuPage County courthouse for his arraignment six weeks later.
That less common circumstance — his posting his bond immediately — meant Miller did not appear before a judge at a bond hearing, so no conditions of his release were set. Facing a felony charge, Miller, per the long-standing practice in DuPage, likely would have received an order to turn in his FOID card and account for any weapons.
When Miller appeared for his arraignment, prosecutors did not ask to revisit his bail or consider his revoked status.
Christopher Miller fatally shot his toddler son, Colton, and then himself with this .22-caliber Ruger pistol. Illinois State Police had ordered him to relinquish his weapons after they deemed him too dangerous to own a firearm, but he ignored the directive. ( Joliet Police Department)
More than a year after his arrest, and months after the Pratt shooting, Tanner Miller says she called DuPage County prosecutors as they were prepping for the trial, and told them her estranged husband still owned guns despite having a revoked FOID card. She had been listed as a possible witness and was concerned for her safety if she testified against him.
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DuPage County State’s Attorney’s spokesman Paul Darrah confirmed that Tanner Miller raised this concern, and said prosecutors instructed her to get an order of protection. Darrah said he couldn’t “speculate” whether prosecutors should have notified the judge or local law enforcement about Miller’s illegal gun possession.
In August 2019 while still out on bail, Miller was arrested for felony cocaine possession in Stickney and booked into Cook County Jail. Police reports do not mention his FOID revocation.
Cook County prosecutors made no mention of possible firearms at his bond hearing — even though every state’s attorney’s office in Illinois has been given access to the revocation database as part of ISP reforms last year.
A representative of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said in an email that prosecutors look at FOID revocation status “where it is relevant to the case,” including charges that involve guns or violent crimes. Prosecutors knew Miller was facing trial for felony battery in DuPage, but they determined his FOID status was not germane to his drug case and did not check.
Miller was released on a personal recognizance bond and walked out of Cook County Jail, where a defendant’s revocation status is not part of the background check conducted prior to release.
In the fierce debate over gun rights, the courts seem to be one of the few places where both sides find common ground. Most agree prosecutors and judges need to be doing more to address FOID revocations, so the burden doesn’t rest solely with law enforcement.
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“When they’re brought into the system with a disqualifying factor, that’s the chokepoint,” the gun lobbyist Vandermyde said. “The prosecutors in the courtroom and the judges should be cognizant of the role they play.”
‘A reminder of when my life stopped’
In the five months since the murder-suicide, Cassandra Tanner Miller has become an advocate for both stronger FOID revocation enforcement and domestic violence awareness. She is currently working with state lawmakers on the passage of “Colton’s Law,” which would create a task force to examine gaps in existing domestic abuse laws.
The work offers a much-needed distraction from the relentless grief she fights. She and her daughter have moved to a different suburb, and she’s in the process of selling her Joliet home. It’s a necessary part of their healing process, but bittersweet because it means giving up the place where Colton played, sang and gardened alongside her in the final year of his life.
Colton Miller's Batman costume hangs in the laundry room of his mother's house in Joliet. He was shot to death by his father before he had a chance to wear the costume. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
His Halloween costume — a full Batman suit — still hangs, never worn, in the laundry room. He had picked it out at Costco during a regular Monday trip there with his mom a few days before the shooting.
“It hangs there as a reminder of when my life stopped,” Tanner Miller said. “We had 56,400 beautiful minutes in this house and 30 minutes destroyed the rest of my life.”
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Still, she pushes on, advocating for reforms and calling attention to shortcomings in the law. She does it partly to prevent future tragedies and partly to make sure Colton isn’t forgotten.
“He doesn’t have a voice anymore. The victims of the Aurora shooting don’t have a voice anymore," she said. “But I still have a voice and I need to use it.”
sstclair@chicagotribune.com
creyes@chicagotribune.com
asweeney@chicagotribune.com
sfreishtat@tribpub.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-14--Lincoln Park High School council plans to investigate the investigators — but CPS calls the move ill

Lincoln Park High School council plans to investigate the investigators — but CPS calls the move illegal

Thursday evening , dozens of people filed into the school auditorium for the council ’ s first public meeting since @ @ @ @ @ , which has prompted also at least five investigations — not including the council ’ @ @ @ @ @ in effect , investigate the investigators — and the suspension of the varsity boys basketball @ @ @ @ @ and girls varsity coaches were suspended , and a dean of students and another coach @ @ @

A vote is taken by the Lincoln Park High School Local School Council to hire outside counsel to investigate recent activities at the school during a meeting at the school's auditorium on Feb. 13, 2020. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
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Controversy at Chicago’s Lincoln Park High School showed no signs of waning Friday after Chicago Public Schools officials called the Local School Council’s plan to hire an independent investigator “illegal.”
Council members voted Thursday to hire an independent lawyer to “uncover the full details” of the ousting of top administrators.
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But CPS said the council’s move goes beyond its legal authority that it would obstruct ongoing investigations into alleged misconduct and “greatly risk retraumatization of the multiple student victims who must be prioritized at this time.”
“Too many adults in the school community are needlessly creating an environment that is perpetuating the life-altering harm done to multiple students, and they are impeding the community’s ability to heal,” a CPS spokesman said in a statement released early Friday.
The adults on the Local School Council responded with a statement of their own, asserting their independent investigation would help restore trust among students and parents, and aligns with their obligations to the people who elected them.
“We take this responsibility to get to the bottom of what happened very seriously and will proceed properly under the law and with all due respect for the rights and interests of the parties involved,” the council said.
At Thursday’s meeting, council members said they still have questions about how the misconduct investigations are being handled.
“We are not satisfied that CPS conducted a fair, thorough investigation or were forthcoming with enough substantial detail that we understand the decision to remove our administration,” the council said in a statement read by a member.
Lincoln Park High has been mired in controversy the past few weeks after allegations ranging from sexual misconduct to interference in investigations led to the removal of several school officials and coaches, including Interim Principal John Thuet and Assistant Principal Michelle Brumfield, who were both abruptly terminated late last month.
Matthew Ryan, an attorney for Thuet and Brumfield, said of the LSC’s independent investigation that the fired administrators “support any effort to determine why they were terminated. Mr. Thuet and Ms. Brumfield have always put the interests of students first, and the investigation should be conducted accordingly.”
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Thursday evening, dozens of people filed into the school auditorium for the council’s first public meeting since the start of the scandal, which has prompted also at least five investigations — not including the council’s new plan to, in effect, investigate the investigators — and the suspension of the varsity boys basketball team. Both the boys and girls varsity coaches were suspended, and a dean of students and another coach were reassigned.
Council members decided to hire an attorney to perform an independent probe into the misconduct allegations and subsequent investigations. Officials have said the claims of misconduct involve both adults and students.
[ Lincoln Park High School scandal has sparked 5 investigations and top leaders’ removal. Here is how it unfolded. ]
Separately, a school official also announced an increase in security on campus, as tensions and student protests in recent weeks have at times led to physical fights among students.
Calvin Davis, an administrator brought in after the leadership shake-up, told the council that CPS will bring in up to 10 more additional security officers at Lincoln Park, nearly doubling its existing staff. Security procedures for students entering the school building have also been revised.
“They started to do a more thorough check in the interest of safety as students enter the building, without making it a police state,” Davis said.
Lincoln Park High School Local School Council student representative Kieran O'Brien was met with loud applause after saying students "feel that many of the role models of our school are now gone." (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
The new protocol will include “random” security checks on students when they enter the school each morning.
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A parent on the Local School Council, David Marren, said while he believes the random checks are an appropriate measure, the presence of extra guards, or “white shirts," has been off-putting for students.
New people brought into the school "have been contributing to the tension at the school. ... What they really need is familiar faces interacting with them,” Marren told the Tribune.
There was a consistent theme throughout Thursday’s meeting from most of the board members, parents, teachers and students in attendance: an overwhelming disappointment with how CPS has handled the situation.
[ Lincoln Park High School student sues Chicago Board of Ed over alleged sexual assault; CPS briefs Local School Council members on misconduct investigations ]
But perhaps the most emotional response of the night came when Kieran O’Brien, the board’s student representative, read a letter from Lincoln Park’s student voice committee.
“Since the traumatic struggles of the past weeks, Lincoln Park students have experienced a lack of focus, the ability to be engaged and the feeling of security within our environment,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien added that the students were “very stressed and overwhelmed” by the upheaval of the school’s administrators and the lack of clarity on the school’s future staff.
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"We feel that many of the role models of our school are now gone, and as students who are in the most vulnerable stages of life, we as a whole need positive and influential role models in our schools," O'Brien said to cheers and roaring applause.
Dave Keats, the parent of a Lincoln Park student, said the school needs to move on from the scandal as quickly as possible.
"Our reputation is at stake," Keats said. "As many years as it's taken to build this great reputation, it's only taken a couple of days to destroy."
Keats said the school community would be judged by how well they respond to the crisis and how fast they find new principals to lead the school into the future.
In its statement, CPS said Lincoln Park administrators “failed to promote the best interests of their students and endangered victims who were counting on their support. While we understand this is a challenging time for the school community, administrators must prioritize the safety of all students and failures of integrity cannot be excused.”
Local School Councils are elected bodies in CPS made up of community, teacher and parent representatives. Created by The Chicago School Reform Act of 1998, their responsibilities include approving how school resources are allocated, coming up with school improvement plans, and selecting and evaluating principals.
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But CPS says the council has no legal authority to hire its own investigator, who could not legally access school records. The council deferred questions about their investigatory powers to the attorney, who could not be reached Friday.
Independently, Marren wrote in an email to the Tribune that the CPS central office put a freeze on spending for all LPHS departments this week. CPS denied that late Friday, saying: "This is not true. The school maintains access to its normal procurement and budget functions.
Ryan, the attorney, said Thuet was never formally interviewed as part of an investigation before his termination, though he was in “near constant contact” with district officials.
“If they construed any of those contacts as an interview, he certainly did not know about it, or have any inkling that he was being interviewed or that his job was at risk,” Ryan said Friday.
Similarly, he said, Brumfield was not interviewed and did not know her job was at risk before her termination.
“We still have no clear idea why we were terminated,” they said in a letter provided by Ryan, in what marks Thuet’s first public comments since his firing. “We’ve heard allegations through the media, but CPS has told us nothing directly. Any suggestion that either of us engaged in, tolerated or minimized any ‘sexual misconduct’ is false, offensive, and destructive. So too are claims of a cover up or improper reporting."
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The letter also noted that CPS entered into a federal consent decree over its handling of sexual misconduct allegations and said the district “rolled out its new process and procedures clumsily," providing administrators little training and sometimes contradictory instructions on new procedures and rules. “If we made procedural mistakes, we don’t know what they were, and it’s telling that CPS has not told us,” Thuet and Brumfield wrote.
Thuet never directed Brumfield to interfere with an investigation related to the girls basketball coach, Ryan said, adding that the Office of Student Protections directed Thuet to ask the student who’d received the alleged communication from the girls basketball coach what had happened. Thuet passed this instruction on to Brumfield, who spoke with the student.
CPS also said none of the staff members who have been removed but not terminated are currently receiving pay pending the outcome of investigations.
jaanderson@chicagotribune.com
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hleone@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-14--Emily Post’s great granddaughter on how to tell your neighbor to stop smoking weed, even if it’s leg

Emily Post’s great granddaughter on how to tell your neighbor to stop smoking weed, even if it’s legal

If confrontation isn ’ t your thing and you know your neighbors , try leaving an air filter , a @ @ @ @ @ for when they get the munchies ) with a note saying something like , “ @ @ @ @ @ not the type of person to do this , but the smell of pot is @ @ @ @ @ and I thought I could help get you started with a way to diffuse the @ @ @

This week, two experts advise on how to handle a neighbor who is smoking weed. (gradyreese / Getty Images)
Q: How should you tell your neighbor to stop smoking weed, even though its legal in some states?
A: Even if weed is legal in your state, you shouldn’t tell your neighbors to stop doing something in their own home if they can’t legally smoke in public. And before you point out someone else’s behavior, you have to look at yourself, because you don’t know which of your behaviors bothers them.
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What you should do is come from an angle of consideration. Instead of asking them to stop altogether, try asking them to smoke in a different spot in their home, and then open the conversation to things you both can work on.
Those are the things you can ask and work around. Neighbor issues can either be really simple to fix or can lead to long-term grudges.
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If confrontation isn’t your thing and you know your neighbors, try leaving an air filter, a candle and some snacks (for when they get the munchies) with a note saying something like, “Hey, I am really not the type of person to do this, but the smell of pot is getting into my apartment, and I thought I could help get you started with a way to diffuse the smell.”
Even though weed is legal in some states, smoking it can affect those who don’t partake. Try to make that interaction as good for both parties as possible.
— Lizzie Post, etiquette expert and author of “Higher Etiquette: A Guide to the World of Cannabis From Dispensaries to Dinner Parties”
A: If your neighbor is smoking weed, you can get high off the fumes. This is a concern, especially if you have a child. Even if weed is legal recreationally, you can still get kicked out of your apartment if you’re renting. So there are all sorts of reasons to be cautious and reread your lease.
Try suggesting these tips to your neighbors:
If they’re smoking inside, they can put a wet towel under the door right near the gap between the door and floor, so the fumes don’t leave their apartment. Another tip is to open a window and blow the smoke out. Or, they could go into their bathroom and consume with the ventilated fan on. Or they can vaporize, which causes less of a smell, or consume edibles.
If it escalates, let your landlord know. From a health perspective, you are being exposed to fumes you don’t want. And you are also at risk of a contact high.
Because it’s still new in Illinois, landlords are trying to figure out how to handle this in leases.
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— Dr. Rachna Patel, medical marijuana, CBD expert and author of “The CBD Oil Solution: Treat Chronic Pain, Anxiety, Insomnia, and More — Without the High”
hgreenspan@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-14--Look up how many people in your town had their FOID cards revoked — and how many haven’t accounted f

Look up how many people in your town had their FOID cards revoked — and how many haven’t accounted for their guns

And as many as 36,600 weapons are unaccounted for , the data indicates , despite laws that require people who @ @ @ @ @ turn their guns in to police or transfer them to a legal owner .
Common @ @ @ @ @ domestic violence-related infractions , mental health concerns and felony convictions .

A Tribune analysis of updated Illinois State Police data shows that as many as 30,600 Illinoisans have failed to surrender or otherwise account for their guns after police stripped them of their firearm owner’s identification cards over the last five years.
And as many as 36,600 weapons are unaccounted for, the data indicates, despite laws that require people who lose their FOID cards to turn their guns in to police or transfer them to a legal owner. Common reasons for FOID revocations include domestic violence-related infractions, mental health concerns and felony convictions. Data below is as of Dec. 31, 2019, and numbers are subject to change over time.
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Read more: A man with a revoked gun license killed his 18-month-old son in Joliet. Here’s how he and thousands of others slipped through the system.
Don’t see the map and chart? That’s probably because you are on a custom link made for search or social platforms. Try this link.


chicagotribune--2020-02-14--Hotel donating land to Glenview as part of village’s push for I-294 exit at Milwaukee Avenue

While Brady said the exit is at least five years away from reality – if approved , Tweeten said he @ @ @ @ @ with the village since 2016 .
He said a preliminary study at the time indicated @ @ @ @ @ would work best .

The franchise owner of Delta Hotels by Marriott Chicago North Shore Suites is donating land to the village of Glenview to help bring a Milwaukee Avenue exit off the I-294 tollway. (Alexandra Kukulka/Pioneer Press)
The village of Glenview and a hotel owner there are in the process of finalizing a land donation deal that is expected to be a win-win for both as the village looks to get a tollway exit at Milwaukee Avenue.
The franchise owner of Delta Hotels by Marriott Chicago North Shore Suites, a Marriott brand establishment, at 1400 Milwaukee Avenue, has offered to donate to the village 3.25 of the approximately 9 acres the hotel sits on. The transaction is expected to be finalized sometime in the first quarter of the year, according to village officials.
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Rolf Tweeten, the president and CEO of Alliance Hospitality Management which holds the franchise, operates the hotel and owns the property, said he offered the land as a way to help the village it its bid to the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois Tollway to bring a Milwaukee Avenue exit off of I-294.
“It will help the community as well as the hotel,” Tweeten said of his rationale to donate the land. “I am donating the land to get this project moving forward. It will benefit many Glenview businesses, vacant office space, encourage new businesses, assist residents by easing traffic in the area and generating tax revenue.”
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The Village Board approved at the Dec. 3 meeting a resolution and agreement authorizing acceptance of the donation, giving Glenview a key component before it begins an initial engineering study.
Currently, drivers cannot exit onto Milwaukee Avenue from northbound I-294, which makes it more challenging to get to businesses and Park District facilities on Milwaukee Avenue from the highway, Deputy Village Manager Don Owen previously said.
“It’s very complicated for people on the tollway, and therefore people in the region, to get to this Milwaukee Avenue corridor in Glenview,” Owen said.
Though the donation could eventually provide a reduction in the assessed value of the hotel property by the Cook County Assessor’s office, Tweeten said it is difficult now to estimate any property tax savings or reductions.
Jeff Brady, the village’s director of community development, said the land is located just north of the hotel at the foot of where the toll road exit is proposed. Village leaders expect that the exit will increase access to businesses, restaurants, hotels – including Delta – and Glenview Park District facilities that are all located in the Milwaukee Avenue corridor.
Echoing Brady’s reasoning for creating access to the area from the toll road, Tweeten said he also sees specific benefits for his hotel – which would be located at the foot of the off ramp.
While Brady said the exit is at least five years away from reality – if approved, Tweeten said he has been involved in talks with the village since 2016. He said a preliminary study at the time indicated an exit near the hotel would work best.
“Glenview has wanted an additional I-294 exit for decades,” Tweeten said. “The findings concluded that the northerly exit in front of my hotel was most logical.”
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Once the village has ownership of the land, Brady said it will conduct an engineering study and begin the process of working with tollway and IDOT officials, hopefully leading to construction of the exit. The study is expected to cost the village between $50,000 and $150,000, officials have said.
“We need more information and this will provide it,” Brady said. “There will be public input.”
If the findings of the initial engineering study indicate the village should go ahead with the project, Brady said a second, more detailed, engineering study will be done. He explained that it will take at least five years to get approval from IDOT and the tollway authority.
Steve Sadin is a freelancer.


chicagotribune--2020-02-14--Neon signs are disappearing from Chicago’s streetscape and skyline. Here’s why.

The buyer paid $ 7,500 for the sign itself and $ 5,000 for its removal , according to Karen Biazar @ @ @ @ @ North Clybourn Group .
Biazar said the intention was never to destroy the sign , @ @ @ @ @ used for a restaurant .

Neon signage used to adorn many buildings in Chicago’s cityscape, from downtown to neighborhood business districts from Howard Street to 111th.
But through the years, many of the signs have disappeared, the victims of closing businesses, high maintenance costs and city fees that some companies aren’t willing or able to pay.
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With the signs’ disappearance, a certain electricity and energy has vanished as well, according to Preservation Chicago Executive Director Ward Miller.
“The signs are really a significant feature of our Chicago skyline and we’ve lost quite a few of them over time,” Miller said recently.
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This week, a large sign that reads “Car Town, Fine Automobiles, OK’d Cars” that has stood alongside a used car shop at 850 N. Western Ave. for decades is disappearing. What’s left of Car Town is set to be demolished and the sign carted off to a buyer from California.
The buyer paid $7,500 for the sign itself and $5,000 for its removal, according to Karen Biazar, a real-estate consultant with North Clybourn Group. Biazar said the intention was never to destroy the sign, and it will now be used for a restaurant.
While this fate is far better than a scrap yard, its loss will have an impact on the look and feel of the block.
From the 1940s to the 1960s, used car shops and their signs lined Western and Cicero avenues from one end of the city to another, according to Miller.
“I remember being intrigued by the brightness and cheeriness of the signs,” Miller said. “They had a sort of a carnival-like, celebratory atmosphere about them.”
An old dilapidated neon sign stands at the now defunct Car Town used car lot in Chicago on Feb. 11, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Lou Mitchell’s, 565 W. Jackson Blvd., installed its neon and overhanging signs in the early 1950s. One of the restaurant’s current owners, Nick Thanas, said people come from all over the world to take pictures with their signs.
While they may help attract business, the old signs also require a lot of upkeep.
The restaurant recently replaced 114 lightbulbs on its hanging sign, and the specialty bulbs needed for the sign are not cheap, Thanas said.
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During his 30 years as an owner, he has replaced every single one of the transformers in the neon sign, each one the size of a small car battery.
To even get a sign in the first place, business owners must pay for a sign permit and public way use permit.
To get an initial sign permit, you need a zoning review and a review from the Buildings Department. An on-site zoning review costs $200, and the Buildings Department review costs between $50 and $1,000, according to the Buildings Department.
University of Chicago Law professor Beth Kregor said the entire process of permitting signs is incredibly complicated. People will buy a business with a historic sign and learn a permit was never issued for the sign.
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In addition, public way permits for any sign that extends beyond the building must be renewed by business owners every five years.
Despite the additional expenses, Thanas said the restaurant has never really considered replacing its signs.
No one makes neon signs like his anymore, and more modern LED lights just do not have the same effect, according to Thanas.
“It’s not the same,” Thanas said. “It's the difference between vinyl and CDs.”
Italian Village restaurant, 71 W. Monroe St., in the Loop, is also the proud owner of a large neon sign.
The Capitanini family opened the restaurant in 1927 and installed its sign in 1962. They wanted a sign that read left to right, like a newspaper, instead of up and down like many traditional neon signs.
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This unique shape causes the sign to stick far out from the building, making it visible all the way down Monroe, according to General Manager Joe Deininger
The sign used to turn off after hours, but eight years ago, Deininger convinced the Capitaninis to keep it on all night.
Like Lou Mitchell’s, Italian Village has no plans to change its signage.
The real risk of losing iconic signs, like these, comes when owners sell off historic property. Even if the building is protected under a landmark status, the sign may not be, preservationists say. There are two main types of landmark designations in Chicago: landmark buildings and landmark districts.
Landmark district protections could apply to features like signage, but that is not always the case, Miller said.
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Sometimes signs are landmarked along with individual buildings, such as the signs on top of the Drake Hotel. Other times, just the building itself is landmarked and not its signs.
The Santa Fe railroad sign that used to sit on top of the Railway Exchange Building, 224 S. Michigan Ave., is an example of the latter.
Preservationists like Miller fought hard for the buildings along Michigan Avenue to be named a historic district. In 2002, their efforts paid off, and a 12-block span of streetwall was designated the Historic Michigan Boulevard District.
In 2012, it was announced the iconic Santa Fe sign would be replaced with a Motorola sign for the building’s new owner.
Miller was shocked to learn the sign was not protected under the landmark district.
The sign is at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois, but moving the sign lost part of the city’s history and continuity, Miller said.
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Chicago needs to do more to encourage owners to maintain old signs, possibly through protections or ordinances if landmarks are not an option, Miller said.
“If there is some way to include these ideas and these features into the broader spectrum of landmarks protections, I think that’s worthy of a robust conversation,” Miller said.


chicagotribune--2020-02-16--Mike and Kim Adamle’s struggle with his CTE symptoms is the focus of NBC Sports Chicago’s ‘The Adaml

Mike and Kim Adamle’s struggle with his CTE symptoms is the focus of NBC Sports Chicago’s ‘The Adamles: Mind Over Matter’

Mike talks about how his dance lessons are helping him : “ Instead of being depressed and afraid to go @ @ @ @ @ , it forces you to engage with somebody and to look them in the eye @ @ @ @ @ hard to do when you ’ re feeling like you ’ re an idiot and @ @ @ @ @ .
”

You can’t help but be moved by NBC Sports Chicago’s “The Adamles: Mind Over Matter.”
It’s a gut punch to see the devastating effects of brain trauma on former Bears and Northwestern running back Mike Adamle and what he and wife Kim are doing to slow the advance of his dementia.
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“Mike is so humble, incredibly humble and brave,” Kim says. “It takes a big man to accept losing the traits that define us as strong, competent people.”
Kim helps Mike sort his many daily pills. Mike gets experimental ketamine treatments and does dance therapy and exercises intended to preserve his cognitive skills as much as possible.
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“It’s when he’s at his worst that I see the best,” Kim says.
The half-hour is more powerful, however, if you know how vibrant Mike was before his national and local broadcasting career was cut short by the presumed effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease that cannot be fully confirmed until after death.
But “Mind Over Matter,” set to debut at 7 p.m. Monday, assumes you already know how Mike was before the erosion of his memories and capabilities.
There are no clips from his time on CBS-2, ABC-7 and NBC-5 or programs such as “WWE Raw” and “American Gladiators.”
And despite the Adamles giving the NBC Sports Chicago video crew access for more than a year, the finished product gives little sense the crew was around anything close to that long.
With all of that time spent up close, “Mind Over Matter” should feel more intimate. Yet there is more talking than showing.
The documentary never gets closer to their everyday lives than showing Kim make Mike a breakfast of eggs and hot cereal with organic blueberries and cinnamon in a bid to help Mike’s damaged brain. We see him work on a crossword puzzle, play with the dog his family adopted last spring and take a dance lesson.
The concerns of daughters Alex and Svetlana are touched upon, but viewers see them only in family photos. They’re never heard from.
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There’s a good deal of discussion about how Mike is bearing up under this challenge before him — more from Kim than from Mike — but viewers never really get a sense of how he changed over the time the documentary was filmed.
Mike talks about how his dance lessons are helping him: “Instead of being depressed and afraid to go out or anything like that, it forces you to engage with somebody and to look them in the eye, which is kind of hard to do when you’re feeling like you’re an idiot and not feeling good about yourself.”
But dance studio personnel get almost as much time to talk about what they feel clientele get from the interaction.
One might be tempted to write this off to Mike being unable to adequately express himself. But at an event NBC Sports Chicago staged in November to promote a national special on athletes dealing with a variety of mental health issues, he was remarkably open about the price he was paying for having played six NFL seasons and how he has coped.
To know that is to be frustrated with what’s lingering just beneath the surface of “Mind Over Matter.”
Despite that, the efforts of NBC Sports Chicago’s Sarah Lauch, Ryan McGuffey and Matt Buckman do pay off occasionally, largely thanks to the Adamles’ candor and desire to share their story as they have in previous media appearances.
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“You don’t think about being Mr. Superman,” Adamle says in the documentary. “You don’t even know that part of you exists anymore. But you just wake up or get up because if you just gut it out, you’re going to be OK.”
How can you not feel something after hearing that?


chicagotribune--2020-02-16--3 takeaways from White Sox camp Sunday, including pitching prospect Jonathan Stiever’s focus on fast

3 takeaways from White Sox camp Sunday, including pitching prospect Jonathan Stiever’s focus on fastball command

“ I ’ ve always been more of a control pitcher , ” Stiever said .
`` I added a @ @ @ @ @ ) last year , ( but ) you never want to sacrifice the command , @ @ @ @ @ Guys at the higher level are going to be able to hit any velocity , @ @ @ @ @ be able to focus on commanding all four of your pitches to each side of @ @ @

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Here are three takeaways from White Sox spring training Sunday.
1. Jonathan Stiever is picking up valuable lessons.
One of Jonathan Stiever’s most valuable lessons last season came in one of his toughest outings.
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The Sox pitching prospect lasted just three innings in an Aug. 10 game for Class A Winston-Salem against Fayetteville. He threw 79 pitches.
“My pitch count got super high,” Stiever said Sunday. "I didn’t throw my changeup a whole lot. My fastball and curveball weren’t what they usually are.
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“The next outing (Aug. 16 against Potomac), I kind of had the same stuff, but I was able to use my other pitches a little bit in more effective situations and I ended up going six innings without my best stuff. That was a good learning point for me, how to approach a game if you don’t have your best stuff.”
The lessons continue for Stiever this spring as a non-roster invitee to Sox camp.
“(I’m) trying to learn a lot from big-league camp from the guys that have been here before,” Stiever said. “To see how their habits are, what they do on the mound, how they approach certain hitters. Try to learn as much as you can, take in whatever you’re able to and try to put that into your actual work.”
The right-handed Stiever, a fifth-round pick in 2018 out of Indiana, is the No. 6 prospect in the organization, according to MLB.com. He went 10-10 with a 3.48 ERA in 26 starts between Class A Kannapolis and Winston-Salem in 2019 and had 154 strikeouts and 27 walks in 145 innings.
“I’ve always been more of a control pitcher,” Stiever said. "I added a little bit of (velocity) last year, (but) you never want to sacrifice the command, especially as a starter. Guys at the higher level are going to be able to hit any velocity, so you really have to be able to focus on commanding all four of your pitches to each side of the plate.
“That’s where it starts with me. When I’m going good, I’m commanding my fastball to start and I’m able to throw my off-speed off of that.”
He worked on fastball command, along with his changeup and slider, during a bullpen session Saturday.
“I’m feeling pretty good off the mound,” Stiever said. “Ready to face hitters now. It was good to get your work in off the mound in front of coaches. Get a feeling outside. Being from (Cedarburg) Wisconsin, it’s tough to get outside. So it’s good to get back in the elements.”
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2. Luis Robert knew he was ready for the majors after his first month in Triple A.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 78 White Sox starting pitcher Dylan Cease warms up in right field before a game against the Reds at Goodyear Ballpark on Feb. 23, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Luis Robert took batting practice, chased down a few fly balls in center field and did some sliding drills as part of his workout Sunday. He’s preparing for his first season in the big leagues.
Robert is coming off a monster season at three levels in the minors and likely will be the opening-day center fielder.
When did Robert feel like he was ready for the majors?
“I gained a lot of experience during my time in Cuba, and I felt very comfortable,” Robert said through an interpreter. “Last year, after the first month in Triple A, that was the moment when I felt like, ‘OK, I’m ready for the majors.’ ”
Robert joined Charlotte in July and hit .351 with six home runs and 15 RBIs in 18 games that month. Overall, he hit .297 with 16 home runs and 39 RBIs in 47 games with the Knights.
3. The White Sox have the potential to be a team on the move.
Yoan Moncada mentioned stealing more bases as one of his goals for the upcoming season.
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Manager Rick Renteria said it’s possible the team will have multiple threats on the basepaths.
“We would like to take advantage of the talents they have, absolutely,” Renteria said. “You have Luis (Robert), Timmy (Anderson), Moncada, Leury (Garcia). You have guys that can run, so we’ve got to make sure that we (get) consistent output in terms of getting your stolen base and not making outs.”
The Sox were 10th in the American League with 63 stolen bases in 2019. Anderson led the team with 17. Robert stole 36 bases in the minors.