chicagotribune--2020-07-01--Column: Superintendent Brown’s plan for curbing Fourth of July violence is like putting a Band-Aid o

Column: Superintendent Brown’s plan for curbing Fourth of July violence is like putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound

Most of what he said Monday was smoke and mirrors for the lack of a substantive plan going into what @ @ @ @ @ holiday period of the year .
We would be much better off if he had @ @ @ @ @ conference with information we didn ’ t already know .

Police Superintendent David Brown apparently doesn’t like it when people suggest that he hasn’t been in Chicago long enough to grasp the violence that has plagued our city for decades.
“I keep hearing … ‘you are new here,’” he said at a news conference Monday where he revealed his plan to curb shootings during the typically deadly Fourth of July weekend. “I will never accept … this level of violence, never.”
Advertisement
We hear you, Superintendent Brown.
That’s exactly how many Chicagoans feel every time he holds a news conference and tells us what we already know. The last thing we need is a police superintendent who acts as though people don’t understand the violence they live with day in and day out.
Advertisement
There is no doubt that Brown, who has been on the job a little over two months, has good intentions. It is questionable, though, whether he has any fresh ideas.
We assumed that before applying for the top law enforcement job in a city that has garnered a reputation for its violence, Brown would have done his homework and stepped in on day one with a plan for a new approach.
Surely, he must have studied what his most recent predecessors, Eddie Johnson, Garry McCarthy and Jody Weis, did right and thought about how he might avoid the mistakes that caused them to fail.
So far, we haven’t heard anything new. Week after week, Brown has taken to the podium following a weekend of unbridled violence and regurgitated the same tired lines Chicago police superintendents have been feeding us for years.
At a time when Chicagoans and people across the nation are demanding police reforms, he is clinging to the law and order narrative that is both outdated and ineffective. A policing strategy in which the main component is simply locking more and more people up has never been a successful long-term solution to violence.
If that’s the best idea Brown can come up with, then he isn’t suited for Chicago.
Most of what he said Monday was smoke and mirrors for the lack of a substantive plan going into what traditionally is the most violent holiday period of the year. We would be much better off if he had shown up at that news conference with information we didn’t already know.
We’ve been well aware for a long time that street corner open-air drug markets are the “pipeline to shootings and murders in Chicago.” We need our top cop to tell us how he plans to shut them down permanently.
Advertisement
We’re used to hearing police superintendents complain about repeat offenders being let out of jail too soon. We’re clear on why these folks are problematic.
But most of us don’t like the idea of locking Black and brown people up and throwing away the key. We want our superintendent to work with the state’s attorney and the courts to devise fair and equitable detentions, coupled with support systems that help offenders better integrate into society upon their release.
Residents of the South and West sides don’t need Brown to remind them of their “duty and responsibility” to put a stop to the killings. They don’t need him to lecture them about “failing our children” and “robbing them of their future.”
Everybody gets that. These, after all, are their children we’re talking about. And whether the rest of us acknowledge it, they’re our children, too, regardless of where we live.
What residents of violence-plagued neighborhoods want from Brown is a partnership based on trust and mutual respect. As the liaison between residents and police officers, Brown, as a newcomer, has a unique opportunity build bridges and coax both sides to meet halfway.
That’s not on his agenda this Fourth of July.
Advertisement
Brown’s strategy is to saturate the streets with 1,200 additional cops to round up as many people as possible on Thursday and Friday, throw them in jail by Saturday and then blame the Black and Hispanic communities if they refuse to help him do it.
He’s begging the courts to keep “evil murdering bastards,” as he called them, behind bars through the weekend. We’re all for getting “evil murdering bastards” off the streets, but what’s his plan for the “evil murdering bastards” waiting to take their place?
His strategy might keep the homicide numbers down over the holiday, but beyond that, it amounts to putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. What happens the next weekend once the extra cops are gone and the “evil murdering bastards” are again roaming free?
Only one thing can happen. There will be more shootings.
There’s nothing wrong with pleading for residents with information about shootings to come forward. But it’s insulting for Brown to preach about how “silence emboldens, empowers those who continue to terrorize our neighborhoods.”
It is a stereotypical myth that most Black people prefer to protect criminals rather than turn them in. There is no code of silence among residents, but the fear of outing criminals who terrorize neighborhoods is real. People have been killed for doing it.
Advertisement
Chicago Tribune Opinion Weekdays Read the latest editorials and commentary curated by the Tribune Opinion team. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >
Brown can’t expect everyone to step up and risk their lives without a commitment from the police to at least attempt to protect them. His challenge is to figure out how to keep people alive once they turn a neighbor, acquaintance or relative in.
It is also true that COVID-19 led to the release of some criminals who needed to be behind bars. But it’s a cop-out to use that as an excuse for the rash of shootings that occurred in Chicago during the pandemic.
Several cities across the country did the same thing, and none of them had more than 110 people shot on Father’s Day weekend or saw 15 people killed on a single day of May 31 during the height of the recent civil unrest.
Brown has acknowledged on several occasions that Chicago can’t arrest its way out of the violence problem. There aren’t even enough jail cells to hold everyone.
Chicagoans are willing to stop treating Brown like a novice cop who doesn’t yet understand the violence. But once we do that, we are obligated to hold his feet to the fire.
dglanton@chicagotribune.com
Advertisement
Twitter @dahleeng


chicagotribune--2020-07-01--Colleges campuses are trying to reopen in the fall. The main source of opposition? The faculty.

Notre Dame ’ s position on in-person instruction is among the most rigid , showing how far universities are willing @ @ @ @ @ to return to campuses after classes were abruptly moved online this spring .
College faculty @ @ @ @ @ and more likely to develop complications from a COVID-19 infection than students , say that @ @ @ @ @ person could expose family members in their homes to the virus , and also question @ @ @ @ @ to a variety of new safety protocols that are supposed to be in place .

The University of Chicago is letting instructors decide whether fall classes will be virtual or in person. Faculty at other colleges like Notre Dame are clamoring for the same option. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Just because students might be returning to college campuses this fall doesn’t mean professors will be joining them.
Controversy over whether instructors need to be in the classroom during the fall term has erupted at campuses including the University of Notre Dame, where professors are pushing back, noting the dangers of face-to-face classes while the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage.
Advertisement
These faculty members say they alone should determine how they will teach this fall. Notre Dame, however, is asking those with objections to in-person instruction to submit documentation of medical conditions and a formal request for accommodations. Those who taught remotely prior to the pandemic likely will not need to obtain special approval, said Paul Browne, a spokesman for Notre Dame.
But Eileen Hunt Botting, a political science professor who is spearheading the faculty opposition, said the application process is invasive, requiring colleagues to share personal medical information, and there’s no guarantee that a professor who is uncomfortable teaching on campus will be granted an exemption.
Advertisement
“We want to encourage students to choose to study online as much as possible during the pandemic,” said Botting, who’s taught at Notre Dame, outside South Bend, Indiana, since 2001. “We ought to encourage faculty and staff to teach and work online during the pandemic if simply to eliminate unnecessary crowds on campus milling about on the sidewalks, unintentionally spreading the virus.”
Notre Dame’s position on in-person instruction is among the most rigid, showing how far universities are willing to go to compel professors to return to campuses after classes were abruptly moved online this spring. College faculty, who are generally older and more likely to develop complications from a COVID-19 infection than students, say that being forced to teach in person could expose family members in their homes to the virus, and also question whether all students will adhere to a variety of new safety protocols that are supposed to be in place.
On the other end of the spectrum, the University of Chicago recently announced that it will not require any of its instructors, including graduate students, to teach in person for the fall quarter, which begins Sept. 29 for most classes. In an update released Tuesday, U. of C. said a limited number of classes will be held in-person. New students will be given priority to enroll in such courses so they can acclimate to the university setting.
“Due to these extraordinary circumstances, the University is temporarily suspending the normal requirement that teaching be done in person,” the Office of the Provost said in a message to faculty on Friday.
The school will not require faculty to submit medical records or impose a deadline on the decision, said spokesman Jeremy Manier.
That might present a challenge to students as they consider not just which classes to take but also whether they should move back to campus at all or continue taking virtual courses at home. Some schools are designating how courses will be offered when students register and notifying them about any changes.
Na’ama Rokem, an associate professor of modern Hebrew literature and comparative literature at U. of C., said she was pleased the school leadership is trusting its staff to make the decision on their own and that it won’t ask faculty to share personal medical information.
“We’re very happy about this,” said Rokem, who is also an elected member of the university senate. “This represents, precisely, the faith of the institution in our judgment, as the people who carry out the teaching and research mission of the university.”
Advertisement
Rokem said she is slated to teach only one class this fall — an advanced course for graduate students — and will likely offer it remotely. She said she feels confident she can develop a high-quality online class with all the time she has to prepare over the summer break, as opposed to the abrupt switch this spring. Most of the colleagues she’s conversed with are also planning to teach online, Rokem said.
“Of course we all want to be back in our classrooms. This is what we’re there for,” she said. “There’s no desire to stay online forever, but I think with some experience, a lot of us have the sense that if we plan well, it can actually be a decent temporary replacement.”
In a statement, the school’s local chapter of the American Association of University Professors also praised the new policy, but urged U. of C. to be more transparent in its decision-making process and to include members of its faculty unions.
“Absent a democratic decision-making procedure, and absent much essential information such as the exact level of risk, including predicted numbers of infections and deaths, that is being factored into the university’s planning models, we see no reason to believe that any kind of instructional reopening in the Fall will be safe,” the statement says.
The U. of C.’s chapter said it was also concerned about staff who can’t work remotely — such as those in libraries, dining halls and maintenance — who might not be allowed to stay at home. The group said there should also be systems in place to ensure that lower-rung faculty, including instructors seeking tenure or contract renewals, don’t feel pressured into offering in-person classes.
With coronavirus cases surging in the southern and western parts of the country, colleges are constantly fine-tuning reopening plans for the fall. Some have been especially hard hit by the costs of adapting, doling out millions of dollars in refunds for room and board, and losing revenue from canceled events.
Advertisement
And every college seems to be handling the question of in-person instruction differently.
At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the format of each course will be decided by individual programs and academic departments, depending on the type of course and faculty availability, said spokeswoman Robin Kaler.
“We recognize that faculty and graduate instructors may have health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic that may prevent them from returning to face-to-face instruction, and we want to insure that they have an opportunity to engage with students remotely,” Kaler said in an emailed statement.
In May, however, a group of faculty said they opposed any further reopening of campus, which would include holding in-person classes this fall. In a statement on its website, UIUC’s Campus Faculty Association said that “adequate protection on a residential campus the breadth and size of ours is nearly impossible” with students from across the country socializing, living and learning in close quarters.
In Evanston, Northwestern University is continuing to devise its plans for fall instruction, including policies to address personal situations that would make working on or commuting to campus difficult for faculty, according to spokesman Jon Yates. Other challenges could stem from child care, if schools need to remain closed, or from preexisting medical conditions.
NU administrators have said “a significant portion of instruction will be conducted remotely” but hopes to provide opportunities for face-to-face learning as well.
Advertisement
College leaders are walking a fine line: They want to keep students and staff safe, but some also worry that enrollment will drop off if they can’t provide a full on-campus experience. And they know that many students and their parents are wary of paying hefty tuition costs just for online classes taken at home.
Notre Dame is doubling down on its promise to offer in-person instruction. The premier Catholic institution released an ambitious plan in May, signaling to students they could return, and revising the fall schedule. Notre Dame is starting classes about two weeks early, eliminating fall break and conducting finals online in case a second wave of COVID-19 emerges in the winter.
“Notre Dame is fundamentally about the on-campus experience, where the whole person is enriched — intellectually, spiritually and physically,” Browne said in an email. “That kind of enrichment can’t be realized remotely alone.”
Instructors who apply for accommodation will not be automatically approved to teach remotely, but administrators reviewing the requests were told “to be as understanding as possible,” Browne said.
Botting, the political science professor, said she received a medical exemption to teach online in the fall after following the accommodation process but is still speaking out for colleagues who morally object to fully reopening campus.
“As a Catholic university, Notre Dame has an obligation to put the lives of its community first in any policy that it crafts, and right now, Notre Dame is effectively expecting the vast majority of its population to return to work on campus during a pandemic in which there is no vaccine and no effective treatment,” she said. “Notre Dame isn’t a bubble. No campus is a bubble. Everything we do will have consequences in the wider community, especially in a pandemic.”
Advertisement
Notre Dame students and alumni have also raised concerns on behalf of faculty, with another petition that also calls for decisions about in-person teaching to be left to instructors.
Rokem said faculty at U. of C. is also keenly aware that allowing thousands of students to flood the Hyde Park campus could adversely affect neighbors in surrounding areas that are majority Black. The concern is particularly acute because of racial disparities documented in minority communities, showing that Black Chicagoans were dying at higher rates compared with others in the early days of the pandemic.
“There is a very serious conversation going on about our responsibility to the community that we are in,” she said. “We are on the South Side of Chicago, and we are in an environment that’s been impacted very severely.”
echerney@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-01--Bud Billiken Parade canceled amid pandemic but televised special, scholarships go on

With the COVID-19 pandemic , Sengstacke-Rice said she had been monitoring the news and looking for ways to hold the @ @ @ @ @ second largest in the nation .
Weeks back she realized the state would need to @ @ @ @ @ Gov .
J.B. Pritzker ’ s reopening plan and the Aug. 8 parade could not @ @ @ @ @ So Defender Charities partnered with ABC 7 to produce a one-hour special called “ Bud @ @ @ @ @ , ” which will include performances by the student teams and surprise celebrity guests .

The Bud Billiken Parade is canceled but in its place, a show will go on.
The parade has been a South Side staple for 90 years, drawing celebrity appearances, up to a million viewers in person and on television, and large donations to a scholarship fund aimed at helping graduating seniors as they prepare for college. Drill and dance teams, cheerleaders and bands prepare all year for the incomparable showcase that can lead to sponsorships and funding, said Myiti Sengstacke-Rice, the CEO of the Chicago Defender Charities, the nonprofit arm of the now online-only Defender newspaper.
Advertisement
With the COVID-19 pandemic, Sengstacke-Rice said she had been monitoring the news and looking for ways to hold the parade, which is the second largest in the nation. Weeks back she realized the state would need to be in phase five of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reopening plan and the Aug. 8 parade could not go on as planned. So Defender Charities partnered with ABC 7 to produce a one-hour special called “Bud Billiken: Celebrating 91 Years,” which will include performances by the student teams and surprise celebrity guests.
“Things change and we just have to adjust,” she said. “For a minute I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t have our parade but there’s always good in everything if you can look at it differently. So we said, how can we step in and help where help is needed? We just kept going.”
Advertisement
Sengstacke-Rice wasn’t able to say which celebrities may show up, only hinting the person has been a past grand marshal. That puts Chance the Rapper, Chaka Khan, rapper T.I. and former President Barack Obama among possible guests. Oprah, Michael Jordan, L.L. Cool J and Spike Lee also have attended.
“We’ll have guest appearances from some of our famous grand marshals. I can’t drop names of people; for me to say that they’re going to be in the special would be a little premature,” she said.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was an honorary marshal in 2019, and she’s a confirmed guest.
“Due to the challenges of COVID-19, for the first time since its inception, we will be celebrating Bud Billiken a little differently this year. However, that doesn’t take anything away from the spirit of this great Chicago tradition that marks the end of summer and the start of a new school year,” Lightfoot said in an email.
“The spirit of the event is still alive and well, and especially in these uncertain times, we will reflect on the progress we’ve made with an understanding that there is still much more work to be done to create a better future for our children.”
Sengstacke-Rice, who represents the fourth generation of the parade’s founding family, has reflected on what it means to have this unprecedented situation break tradition on her watch. But it has been hardest, she said, on the students who now must worry whether their practice spaces will be shut down or if they’ll be able to raise enough money this year to fund their programs in hopes of attending the parade next year.
“It’s emotional and it’s been a challenge for the kids. When they found out yesterday we weren’t able to have a parade they cried; they were very upset,” she said.
At the end of the parade each year, there’s a grand finale that is a competition between groups in four performing arts categories: dance, drill, cheerleading and band. They’re judged and the winners get “bragging rights” for the entire year, Sengstacke-Rice said. The teams raise money throughout the year by holding showcases, but the parade has been an opportunity to become sponsored by large brand names.
Advertisement
“We pair kids with sponsors but not just to support them financially, but we’ve had it lead to them getting internships, jobs. It’s a great opportunity, it’s more than just the money, it’s the relationship that’s formed out of it,” she said.
Without the showcase and competition this year, the focus has been on raising money for scholarships.
Historically, Sengstacke-Rice said, the charity has been able to gift $2,500 to about half a dozen graduating seniors to help them move to college. This year they have selected eight recipients and continue to process applications.
The special on ABC 7 airs at 1 p.m. Aug. 8 and segments of the special honoring the scholarship recipients have been taped in the past weeks, Sengstacke-Rice said.
At the parade’s conclusion, the charity also gives out thousands of school supplies. Sengstacke-Rice said she’s worked with Chicago Public Schools to find a way to get back-to-school items to children in need.
The first year without a parade comes one year after the Chicago Defender newspaper ceased print publication and moved online only. The paper, founded in 1905, was hailed for its role in spurring the Great Migration of African Americans to Northern states and continuing commitment to journalism for African American communities in Chicago. Robert S. Abbott, Sengstacke-Rice’s great-granduncle, started the parade in 1929 because Abbott wanted to showcase the talents of his newsboys. He named the parade using the word “billiken,” which is a charm doll given to children, and merged the name with Bud, a character from the junior section of the Chicago Defender, to create a mascot for Chicago’s youth.
Advertisement
“I’m so grateful for the Chicago Defender Charities because the whole idea of the newspaper and the parade was all birthed out of someone’s vision that had a heart for their community and thought, how can I make a difference and how can I make a change — and did that and here it is still standing 115 years later for publishing and 91 years later for the parade,” she said. “That’s huge. That’s huge and I’m so grateful for it.”
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-07-01--Chicago student who contracted COVID-19 dies a week before she was due to graduate high school

“ I ’ m talking about , the age she is , she don ’ t need nobody helping .
@ @ @ @ @ own , ” he said .
When he was out of work for a while @ @ @ @ @ she helped him file for unemployment .
He had to convince her to let him @ @ @ @ @

Aquasha Moore and Darious Dorsey had agreed if their baby was a boy, the father would get to name him. If they had a girl, naming rights went to Moore.
In early May, in a Chicago courtyard decorated with pink and blue balloons, well-wishers sided with Team Girl or Team Boy by picking a cupcake with pink or blue frosting. When the couple broke into their cupcakes and saw the circles of pink inside, Moore, who was wrapping up her senior year at Dunbar Vocational Career Academy, jumped up and down with excitement.
Advertisement
Her best friend, LaDerricka Lee, helped her settle on the name: A’zariah Akira Dorsey.
[ Para leer en Español, haga click aquí ]
The young couple would have one more month to dream about the family they were starting.
Advertisement
On May 29, while hospitalized after symptoms of COVID-19 and liver problems, Moore, 18, whose name was also spelled A’quasha, gave birth two months early. A’zariah did not survive. Five days later, Moore died from autoimmune hepatitis, with novel coronavirus infection also noted by the Cook County medical examiner.
She is among more than 6,200 people in Illinois — including more than 2,300 Chicagoans — who have died since March after contracting the coronavirus.
The day Dorsey held his lifeless baby daughter in the hospital was also the last day that Moore was responsive, talking and looking around, he said. Moore had difficulty holding A’zariah because she was on dialysis, but Dorsey and Moore’s family were able to show her the baby girl.
“She just wanted to see the baby,” Dorsey said. “I’m really glad she got to. ... It’s stuff like that, had me like, ‘OK, I am at peace.’
“She knows I love her," Dorsey added. “She heard me say I love her.”
Aquasha Moore, 18, was wrapping up her senior year at Dunbar Vocational Career Academy when she died of COVID-19 and hepatitis just before she was due to graduate. This photo was a tribute to her during the high school's virtual graduation ceremony. (Dunbar Vocational Career Academy/HANDOUT)
He loved her strength, smarts and spirituality. Until the end, her friends believed her that she would pull through, even though, they said, Moore was often sick as a child and dealt with serious health problems earlier in high school.
Days after the couple learned they were having a girl, Lee got a text from Moore saying she woke up unable to smell or taste and thought she might have the coronavirus. Moore kept eating the food Dorsey cooked her so the baby would grow healthy. But then she started experiencing more severe symptoms. She was soon hospitalized, with visits limited because of the pandemic.
Lee was 7 and Moore was 8 when the girls met in Wentworth Gardens, where they have spent most of their lives.
Advertisement
“She was my first friend,” Lee said. “She knew everything about me; I knew everything about her.”
They had nearly all their classes together, and when Moore was in the hospital or homebound, Lee would bring her schoolwork and fill her in on lessons. She sometimes talked about being tired of having health issues, but kept her attitude positive, Lee said.
Moore liked tacos, nachos and pizza, slow music, dancing and English class. When she recently bought her first car after saving for months, Lee taught her how to drive.
“She was smart, a real nice person and a bright person,” Lee said. She was looking forward to being the godmother of the child she helped name.
Moore and Dorsey connected last September through a mutual friend. They talked on the phone for about a week and a half before meeting in person, he said. She brought a friend, and the friend did most of the talking, but every time he caught her eyes, she’d look back.
The couple enjoyed eating well and going shopping together, or staying in and watching movies.
Advertisement
He admired her determination and independence, working at Mariano’s to put away money and planning for their child.
“I’m talking about, the age she is, she don’t need nobody helping. She did everything on her own,” he said. When he was out of work for a while because of the pandemic, she helped him file for unemployment. He had to convince her to let him do anything for her.
But her spirituality is what really got him. “I’m not a Christian, but I believe in God, my grandmother was a Christian,” Dorsey said. “If you have a healthy relationship and you believe in God, anything can happen. She believed in God.”
She was always praying, he said, especially for a healthy baby.
Dorsey said he was only 3 when he lost his own father to gun violence, and it was important for him that his own child have both parents around.
She was planning to move in with him, and he was getting a room ready to have her and a baby there.
Advertisement
On May 29, Dorsey woke up to a phone call from the doctor: The baby didn’t make it. He rushed to the hospital.
“When I was holding her, it was like she was alive to me. I wanted to take her home so bad,” Dorsey said. “She was so pretty. I was crying so bad, I couldn’t even hardly hold her.”
Dorsey has since updated his Facebook bio to read, “Aquasha & A’zariah Akira Dorsey’s Keeper Forever.” He got their names, Moore’s face and their baby’s footprints tattooed on his arm.
Even from her hospital bed, Moore did her schoolwork, determined to graduate and go on to study at Malcolm X College to become a nurse. She was focused on that, and planning her baby shower.
During Dunbar’s virtual graduation ceremony in June, after all the other seniors’ photographs were shown, Principal Gerald Morrow spoke.
“We’d like to take this time to acknowledge one of our seniors, Aquasha Moore, who passed away during the COVID-19 pandemic," Morrow said. “We will always remember her and we will acknowledge her on today as well as a graduate of the 2020 class of DVA. As we say, Dunbar Strong.”
Advertisement
Morrow asked for a moment of silence while the screen displayed her photo in yellow cap and gown and the words “in loving memory.”
On Facebook, Dorsey shared her graduation photo, writing: “Imma forever be proud until the last breath gone out my body.”
hleone@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-01--Foxx: Drop misdemeanor charges related to recent protests

A representative of the office said they could not provide an estimate of how many cases likely would be dropped @ @ @ @ @ case would still be examined individually .

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx speaks at the Thompson Center on May 31, 2020, the day after protests led to widespread damage downtown. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office has instructed prosecutors they should be inclined to drop certain misdemeanor charges — and some felonies, under certain circumstances — related to recent protests against police brutality.
“It is the official policy position of the CCSAO that we will not be prosecuting peaceful protestors,” reads a memo dated Tuesday.
Advertisement
A representative of the office said they could not provide an estimate of how many cases likely would be dropped, and emphasized that each case would still be examined individually.
Under the new policy, certain misdemeanors related to protests should have a “presumption of dismissal,” including disorderly conduct, trespassing to state land, public demonstration and curfew violation.
Advertisement
Other types of charges should have a “presumption against proceeding” unless there is camera footage supporting the case or a police officer is the victim.
That category includes some felonies, such as aggravated battery to a peace officer.
And in a less publicized policy shift, prosecutors have been instructed to drop any charges — misdemeanor or felony — that stemmed from an initial stop for curfew violation or a violation of the city’s disorderly conduct ordinance.
In a June 19 email obtained by the Tribune, First Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Magats wrote that prosecutors should let him know if they felt any individual case falling into those categories should continue.
Rank-and-file prosecutors tend to bristle at such top-down policy changes, saying they remove individual prosecutors’ discretion to treat each case on its unique merits.
Hundreds of people were arrested at demonstrations in late May and early June protesting the death of George Floyd, who was killed when a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-01--‘This is great to see her. I am ecstatic': After months of waiting during COVID-19 pandemic, some nu

‘This is great to see her. I am ecstatic': After months of waiting during COVID-19 pandemic, some nursing homes are allowing visitors

The Illinois Department of Public Health recently began allowing two visitors at a time if participants meet outside , wear @ @ @ @ @ 6 feet apart .
Facilities also must write rules for the visits , so not @ @ @ @ @ for visitors at the same time .
Workers at Hillcrest also checked visitors ’ temperatures @ @ @ @

Mary Quinlan, 96, gives her daughter, Maeve Quinlan, a virtual hug during their outside visit on June 30, 2020, at the Citadel of Wilmette. It was the first time they had seen each other in months. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
At 93, Arthur Cook has served in the Navy in World War II, raised six children and retired long ago. Now, surviving a worldwide pandemic while living in a nursing home, a highlight of Cook’s life is seeing his loved ones.
Due to the coronavirus shutdown that prohibited visitors at nursing homes statewide since March, Cook was unable to visit with his family for more than three months. On Tuesday, as some nursing homes reopened to visitors, he reunited with two of his grandchildren.
Advertisement
“It feels good,” he said, as he blew a kiss through his surgical mask at the Hillcrest Nursing Center in Round Lake Beach. “It was hard to realize we had to keep away from everybody. But seeing my grandchildren now — I love them both!”
The Illinois Department of Public Health recently began allowing two visitors at a time if participants meet outside, wear masks and keep at least 6 feet apart. Facilities also must write rules for the visits, so not all homes have been ready for visitors at the same time. Workers at Hillcrest also checked visitors’ temperatures and blood oxygen.
Advertisement
During their visit, Cook’s adult grandchildren, Roy and Heidi Cook, of Round Lake, shared family news with their grandfather. One of his sons had just lost his job after 41 years due to the coronavirus, but would visit soon. And they were surprised at how long and curly their grandfather’s white hair had gotten.
“The barber can’t come in,” he explained. “I’m a hippie.”
Nursing home officials say their residents thrive on such contacts, and research shows that people with strong family and social bonds generally are healthier than those without.
Statewide, nursing homes have been an epicenter of the pandemic, with more than 22,000 cases and nearly 3,800 deaths among residents — more than half of all fatalities in Illinois. Many nursing homes had a history of problems with infection control and lack of adequate staffing even before the pandemic.
When the virus spread early this year, many facilities were caught short on protective equipment, and there was a severe lack of tests to tell which residents and workers had the virus, which is believed to spread even when people show no symptoms.
In that context, only a few homes statewide have reopened to visitors, according to the Health Care Council of Illinois, an industry association.
Many long-term care facilities are hesitant to move forward because of safety concerns, council Executive Director Pat Comstock said in a statement. “Now that the state has withdrawn liability protection,” she said, “these visits could also be used against nursing homes who are already being vilified in a global pandemic and targeted with opportunistic lawsuits.”
Hillcrest has been fortunate to have only four residents and eight workers test positive, most of whom showed no symptoms, and there are no cases now, administrator Alan Rosenbaum said.
Advertisement
“I’m so proud of my staff for their long hours and hard work, they have done a great job in an extremely difficult time,” he said.
At Citadel of Wilmette, which also reopened to visits Tuesday, visitor Maeve Quinlan wore a little extra Jo Malone perfume on herself. Her mother loves the scent.
Her 96-year-old Irish-immigrant mother, Mary Quinlan, has lived at Citadel for a little over a year and had not seen her since February, except for FaceTime dates.
Mary, wearing a mask, a protective gown and a gray shawl draped over her shoulders, slowly walked out toward her daughter with the guidance of a walker and a nurse aide. Forbidden from touching, Maeve offered her mother an air hug.
“It just gives her joy,” Maeve said of the visit. “It gives purpose to her day. Now it gives her something to look forward to, that that could happen again.”
As they visited, Maeve updated her on family members and guided her through a photo album full of pictures from Mary’s life — photos of her family, her wedding and her 95th birthday celebration.
Advertisement
State records show that Citadel’s Wilmette location reported 14 total cases and five deaths over the course of the last few months. Staff said there are no current cases.
Maeve Quinlan attests that the facility has taken great precautionary steps to take care of her mother and other residents, and has been transparent with the families through frequent updates.
Back at Hillcrest, 85-year-old Lauren Pierce and her son Tony Pierce wore Hawaiian shirts to mark their reunion.
Arthur Cook, 93, visits with grandchildren Heidi and Roy Cook outdoors at Hillcrest Nursing Center on June 30, 2020, in Round Lake Beach. Arthur Cook hasn't been outside or visited in person with family members since February. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Arthur Cook, 93, gives his grandchildren, Heidi and Roy Cook, virtual hugs during an outdoor visit at Hillcrest Nursing Center in Round Lake Beach. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
For visitors like Pierce, it was a relief to finally be able to see a loved one. Because his mom is hard of hearing, she can’t talk by phone or online.
“It’s been tough,” he said. “This is great to see her. I am ecstatic.”
Pierce brought photos for his mother to see, and she immediately recognized her father. But like anyone, Pierce said, she could be stubborn. She didn’t like wearing her mask, at one point saying, “Leave me alone.”
Advertisement
But as she was wheeled away, she lowered her mask to reveal a broad smile.
One key step the facility took was to require employees to only work at Hillcrest during the outbreak, Rosenbaum said, to prevent workers from spreading the pandemic from other facilities.
The 20-minute visits were scheduled in advance online, with 10-minute breaks in between them for staff to disinfect the chairs. The visits took place two at a time under small open-air tents in the front parking lot, sometimes interrupted as trucks passed by.
Mary Quinlan, 96, speaks with her daughter, Maeve Quinlan, during their outside visit on June 30 at the Citadel of Wilmette. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Promising news has come lately in terms of the number of new cases in Illinois. Long-term care facilities have begun showing significant drops in the number of residents and workers dying of COVID-19.
State data released Friday tied 123 additional deaths to the virus. That’s about half the number of deaths in the previous week, and far lower than a weekly death toll that approached 500 in early May.
Advertisement
The latest data offers promising signs beyond a lower weekly death tally. Of facilities that have seen an outbreak, 56 have gone at least 28 days without a positive case.
Still, the state data reflects the wide reach of the virus, now confirmed in at least 603 facilities in 45 counties. That’s 10 more facilities, and one additional county, than the week before.
Recent federal data has shown that some facilities across Illinois continue to struggle with short staffing and a lack of protective gear.
Chicago Tribune’s Joe Mahr contributed.
Kaitlin Edquist is a reporter for Pioneer Press.
This story has been revised to correct a gender reference of Pat Comstock of the Health Care Council of Illinois.


chicagotribune--2020-06-30--Huge local demand for fireworks leads to low supply just before the Fourth of July

It ’ s not your imagination .
You ’ ve been hearing more fireworks than usual .
Between homemade displays @ @ @ @ @ city fireworks shows like the one at Navy Pier , Chicagoans have taken Fourth of @ @ @ @ @ hands .
This has led to a huge increase in fireworks sales which , in @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19-related factory closures , has also led to a shortage .

It’s not your imagination. You’ve been hearing more fireworks than usual. Between homemade displays, and cancellations of popular city fireworks shows like the one at Navy Pier, Chicagoans have taken Fourth of July celebrations into their own hands. This has led to a huge increase in fireworks sales which, in a market hit hard by COVID-19-related factory closures, has also led to a shortage.
Robert Tomsich has been in the fireworks business for over 30 years, but he said this season is the busiest he’s ever seen. He owns Lightning Family Fireworks in Gary, Indiana. He has hired more staff to keep up with demand he thinks is caused by people feeling cooped up by COVID-19 stay-at-home orders.
Advertisement
“We’ve been working harder, longer hours and probably twice a week for the past two or three weeks, we’ve been scrambling,” Tomsich said.
Tomsich said closures of Chinese factories because of the coronavirus has led to a 30 to 40% decrease in imports of fireworks. To get stock, he said he has to travel hundreds of miles to scope out fireworks and have them shipped back to Gary.
Advertisement
Increased sales of fireworks are evidenced by the more than 7,000 emergency calls made to the city for fireworks noise complaints this year, according to data by the Office of Emergency Management and Communications — a 736% increase over last year.
Sale, possession and use of consumer fireworks other than small items like sparklers are prohibited in Illinois, but Tomsich said he sees many buyers from Chicago and the suburbs.
[ Where are Fourth of July fireworks for 2020 around the Chicago area? Our list of 12 ]
Lila Zayas, owner of Smokeshop Fireworks in Whiting, Indiana, said she saw an unexpected sales spike for the celebration of Juneteenth.
Meanwhile, sales at Smokeshop are also booming. Zayas said her main suppliers, which do most of the importing from China, are out of fireworks. Some product shipments have been delayed and won’t come in until after the Fourth, she said.
“I can’t even get sparklers,” Zayas said.
She speculated that extra money from CARES federal stimulus checks or the unemployment benefit bonus might be some of why people are buying more, Zayas said. Some of her customers are also buying in bulk because they are unable to find the fireworks they want elsewhere.
Marilyn OConnor of Boom Town Fireworks in Dyer, Indiana, said people are buying fireworks because there isn’t much else to spend money on right now. She said about half of the customers who buy from her have never purchased fireworks before.
The Fourth falling on a Saturday also factors into demand, she said. OConnor, who purchases fireworks wholesale from China, said manufacturing issues started even before the COVID-19 pandemic with the closure of some Chinese factories that were unable to sustain being open for only half of the year.
Advertisement
Boom Town is not experiencing a shortage, OConnor said, because the company keeps one year’s supply in reserve. She said the fireworks market as a whole is experiencing strain because the demand for product exceeds the supply.
OConnor said she feels joyful that she is able to continue supplying fireworks for people who want to “party in their backyards.”
“Look at all the losses people have sustained this year,” OConnor said. “People need happy experiences.”
lleazenby@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @leazenby_lauren


chicagotribune--2020-06-30--For some Chicago families, diapers and other baby items are tough to find or afford amid pandemic. ‘

For some Chicago families, diapers and other baby items are tough to find or afford amid pandemic. ‘There’s certainly a desperate need.'

New Moms is one of the groups collaborating with the mayor ’ s initiative .
Bozeman said they have always @ @ @ @ @ with baby items , but the coronavirus crisis meant many people either lost jobs or @ @ @ @ @ sacrifice paychecks to be with their children after day cares and schools closed .

Volunteer Janet Godsey prepares diapers, formula and supplies to be distributed at the Austin location of New Moms, a group that helps young new moms get on thVolunteer Janet Godsey prepares diapers, formula and supplies on June 30, 2020, to be distributed at the Austin location of New Moms, a group that helps young new moms get on their feet.eir feet, Tuesday, June 30, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune) (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Unemployment through the COVID-19 crisis and shuttered stores after recent looting have made baby items like diapers harder to find and afford for many Chicago families.
On Tuesday afternoon, New Moms, a group that works to support young mothers and their families, hosted its weekly distribution of baby items, including formula, wipes and diapers. Parents and their children walked up with masks on to collect the products outside the organization’s office in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side.
Advertisement
Within the first 45 minutes, said chief operating officer Pamela Bozeman, volunteers had given out about 900 diapers.
“There’s certainly a desperate need,” she said. The organization especially needs diapers in sizes 4, 5 and 6, she added. It also accepts donations of baby wipes and baby formula such as Enfamil and Similac — in cans or single serve.
Advertisement
Volunteers distribute diapers, formula and other baby supplies on June 30, 2020, at the Austin location of New Moms, a group that helps young new moms get on their feet. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
On June 12, Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked Chicagoans to donate baby items to help families who need them. Nonprofit group Share Our Spare is collecting donations and will distribute them to sites across the city. They are hoping to get 100,000 diapers by July 20.
“One of the most significant challenges — as well as one of the most unnoticed — has been the ability to obtain clean and healthy essential items for babies and infants,” Lightfoot said in a statement announcing the donation collection.
Alex Goodfellow, executive director of Share Our Spare, noted that 1 in 3 families struggled to provide enough diapers for their children, a need that has only been exacerbated by recent increased unemployment. She added that diapers are not covered in government assistance programs.
New Moms is one of the groups collaborating with the mayor’s initiative. Bozeman said they have always tried to supply their families with baby items, but the coronavirus crisis meant many people either lost jobs or had to stay home and sacrifice paychecks to be with their children after day cares and schools closed.
Jalisa Newell, a mom who stopped by Tuesday to pick up items for her two-year-old son Jaleel, said she had to stop working at her job at FedEx when his daycare closed.
Jalisa Newell and her 2 year-old son Jaleel Newell pick up supplies at the Austin location of New Moms. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
“I’ve got to stay home with him,” Newell, 22, said as Jaleel watched New Moms volunteers try to make him smile, offering him a piece of candy. Jaleel loves basketballs and balloons, cars and trucks. When volunteers offered the candy, he reached for the entire box.
Newell said being able to get diapers has helped during an in-between time. She hopes that the daycare will reopen and she will be able to return to work.
Bozeman said she saw families who were seeking help for the first time. “They’ve never had to pick up a box of supplies,” she said.
Advertisement
Many people are finding themselves challenged amid the coronavirus, but she noted that the most vulnerable are especially hard hit.
Some families live in neighborhoods where there aren’t many grocery stores, and the looting after George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis shuttered the options they did have.
Volunteers Janet Godsey, left, and Frances Bronson prepare diapers, formula and supplies to be distributed at the Austin location of New Moms. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
“Being a new mom is already an incredibly fragile time,” Bozeman said. “For our moms in particular, they are trying to do their very best as their child’s first parent, first teacher, first doctor.”
Their families stretch out the supplies as best they can. Some parents attend multiple donation events to try and find enough items.
“A family really is trying to piece together or weave together help,” she said.
At the event, Betty Williams, 82, picked up formula, diapers and wipes for her six-week-old great-granddaughter.
Advertisement
“This will last quite awhile,” she said.
abowen@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-30--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 23 more deaths reported as Dr. Fauci warns of potential for 100,000

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 23 more deaths reported as Dr. Fauci warns of potential for 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day

On the other end of the spectrum , the University of Chicago recently announced that it will not require any @ @ @ @ @ graduate students , to teach in person for the fall quarter , which begins Sept. @ @ @ @ @ In an update released Tuesday , U. of C. said a limited number of classes @ @ @ @ @ New students will be given priority to enroll in such courses so they can acclimate @ @ @ @ @ Read more here .
—Elyssa Cherney

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
The Fulton Market area of Chicago is no longer the ghost town it was during the depths of the COVID-19 virus pandemic shutdown. As restrictions on restaurants are eased, a worker takes a woman's temperature before she can enter Federales restaurant on Morgan Street on July 1, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois health officials Tuesday reported 724 new known cases of COVID-19 and 23 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known cases to 143,185 and the confirmed death toll to 6,923.
Confirmed deaths on Monday, 14, were the lowest daily number announced by state officials since March 30. The average number of daily deaths in the state has been declining each week recently, although state officials warn about reading too much into fluctuations in the numbers.
Advertisement
Outside of the state, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned the United States is “going in the wrong direction” as novel coronavirus cases surge across the country and said he “would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around.”
[ How to assess your COVID-19 risk when going out in public: Use this chart ]
[ Phase four of Illinois’s COVID-19 reopening: Settle in, folks, we may be here a while ]
[ Illinois enters phase 4 of reopening plan. Here’s a guide to what’s allowed. ]
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
[ Illinois coronavirus graphs: 6,923 deaths, 143,185 confirmed cases, 1.6 million tests, 4.42% positivity rate for northeast region ]
Here’s what’s happening Tuesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
Advertisement
5:58 p.m.: After months of waiting during COVID-19 pandemic, some nursing homes are allowing visitors
In a canary-yellow Hawaiian shirt, 85-year-old Lauren Pierce rolled out of Hillcrest Nursing Center in a wheelchair to see her son for the first time in three months.
”She looks good,” said Tony Pierce, wearing a white Hawaiian shirt himself.
Tuesday marked the first day of visiting hours resuming at the home in Round Lake Beach since the state banned visitors at all long-term care facilities in March. Nursing homes in Illinois have been hit hard by COVID-19, with more than 22,000 cases and nearly 3,800 deaths — more than half the fatalities in the state — connected to the virus.
Arthur Cook, 93, visits with grandchildren Heidi and Roy Cook outdoors at Hillcrest Nursing Center on June 30, 2020, in Round Lake Beach. Arthur Cook hasn’t been outside or visited in person with family members since February.
State health officials recently began allowing visits again, but only out of doors, and with participants wearing masks and keeping at least 6 feet apart. Facilities also must write individual rules for allowing the visits, per state requirements. Thus, not all homes have been ready for visitors at the same time.
For visitors like Pierce, it was a relief to finally be able to see a loved one. Because his mom is hard of hearing, she can’t talk by phone or online.
”It’s been tough,” Pierce said “This is great to see her. I am ecstatic.” Read more here. — Robert McCoppin and Kaitlin Edquist
4:16 p.m.: What happens when a restaurant worker gets COVID-19? With dining-in open across Chicago, restaurants grapple with infection risks
On June 1, The Alinea Group announced on Twitter that an employee tested positive for COVID-19. Even though that employee had not worked in eight days, every other person who worked the same day was tested, and the restaurant closed for cleaning. A few weeks later, another employee tested positive, and the restaurant repeated the same steps.
Advertisement
Early last week, Longman & Eagle, a take on a traditional drinking inn in Logan Square, announced on Instagram that it would be closing because it also had an employee who tested positive for COVID-19. Its entire staff is quarantining and being tested, and the space is being cleaned, the post said.
Although the city gave restaurants the green light to open indoor dining up to 25% capacity as part of phase four of the pandemic plan, which started last Friday, some restaurant operators are wondering if it’s worth it to do so with COVID-19 infection risks still present. Read more here. — Grace Wong
3:26 p.m.: Why does one Chicago ZIP code have more COVID-19 cases than the next? Finger-prick blood tests may help find an answer.
Northwestern University scientists will be asking Chicagoans to prick their fingers and send in a dried blood sample as part of an effort to figure out why some parts of the city are hit so much harder by COVID-19 than others nearby — research they hope could help control future disease flare-ups.
The blood tests for COVID-19 antibodies, also known as serology testing, will be conducted in five pairs of adjoining city ZIP codes initially. Each pair includes an area with much higher infection rates than its neighbor, as determined by city data from the end of April that is based on traditional coronavirus tests. Read more here. — Hal Dardick
2:53 p.m.: 23 new deaths reported in Illinois
The Illinois Department of Public Health announced 724 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Illinois on Tuesday, including 23 additional confirmed deaths.
Eleven of the dead are Cook County residents, the IDPH said in a news release. Five are from suburban Chicago counties.
Advertisement
As of Tuesday afternoon, the IDPH is reporting a total of 143,185 cases and 6,923 deaths in 101 counties across the state.
The statewide positive rate for tests performed in the last 7 full days stands at 2.6%, the department said. In the northeast region of the state, the rate is 4.4%, — Charles J. Johnson
1:23 p.m.: D.C. dispatch: Fauci says the U.S. could reach 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day
Dr. Anthony Fauci said coronavirus cases could grow to 100,000 a day in the U.S. if Americans don’t start following public health recommendations.
The nation’s leading infectious disease expert made the remark at a Senate hearing on reopening schools and workplaces.
Dr. Anthony Fauci wears a face covering as he listens during a Senate hearing on June 30, 2020. (Al Drago /AP)
Asked to forecast the outcome of recent surges in some states, Fauci said he can’t make an accurate prediction but believes it will be “very disturbing.”
“We are now having 40-plus-thousand new cases a day. I would not be surprised if we go up to to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around, and so I am very concerned,” said Fauci, infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health.
Advertisement
Fauci said areas seeing recent outbreaks are putting the entire nation at risk, including areas that have made progress in reducing COVID-19 cases. Read more here. — Associated Press
1:18 p.m.: Hyde Park Jazz Festival re-imagines itself amid pandemic
A few months ago, Kate Dumbleton had the 14th annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival pretty much mapped out.
As always, the event would feature September performances in venues across the historic neighborhood, concerts in the University of Chicago’s Logan Center, commissioned work and more.
The coronavirus pandemic shattered all that, of course, to the disappointment of executive and artistic director Dumbleton, her colleagues and anyone who has admired this most inventive of Chicago jazz festivals.
But rather than cancel the event, Dumbleton and friends have reimagined it. According to the current plan, the festival will open with a day’s worth of performances streamed live from the Logan Center on Sept. 26. “The University of Chicago protocols for building occupancy will guide decisions about whether there can be a physically distanced audience,” according to a festival statement.
On Sept. 27, the festival will present small ensembles in short sets across Hyde Park, using mobile stages to bring the music to listeners, rather than drawing large groups of listeners to particular venues.
Advertisement
Details have yet to be pinned down, and Dumbleton – like everyone else – is trying to prepare for whatever the pandemic brings us by the end of September. But Dumbleton, never known to think small, believes all the above is thoroughly achievable. Read more here. — Howard Reich
1:15 p.m.: U-46 likely to require face mask usage, hand-washing stations, office shields when school resumes
Mandatory face masks, portable hand-washing stations, Plexiglass shields for main offices and a mix of in-person/remote instruction likely await School District U-46 students and staff when classes resume in August, district officials said.
Last week, the Illinois State Board of Education laid out guidelines for schools and instruction in a post-pandemic world. On Monday, U-46 officials presented the school board with its tentative plans for reopening schools in the 2020-21 school year.
The district is conducting a districtwide survey on reopening, which is available now on the U-46.org website. Results will be shared at the July 20 board meeting, where more concrete recommendations will be made.
“I think you’re going to see quite a bit change,” Superintendent Tony Sanders said. “This is what we know at this moment in time. But as I said in the beginning, by the time we get to August I think even more might change as we learn more about (COVID-19), as we learn what other states might be doing, as we learn what other districts across the state are doing.”
In order for schools to allow in-person instruction, the state will require face coverings at all times while indoors, including at any of U-46′s schools and facilities.
Advertisement
“Masks will be the norm in every single one of our buildings,” Sanders said. Read more here. — Rafael Guerrero
11:40 a.m.: Noise from al fresco dining irritates some neighbors of downtown Arlington Heights restaurants
Some downtown Arlington Heights residents want to turn down the volume at the new Arlington Al Fresco outdoor dining area.
In an effort to support the village’s downtown restaurant district, officials closed Campbell Street and Vail Avenue this summer to traffic to allow for outdoor dining on the street. It’s been a popular attraction in recent weeks as more residents escape from their home during the coronavirus pandemic and as the state emerges from months of shutdowns.
Neighbor complaints, however, about noise from the area were sent to Village Hall the first weekend and even more residents submitted written concerns during a Village Board committee-of-the-whole virtual meeting on Monday, June 29. Village officials said they’re trying to address noise concerns. Read more here. — Elizabeth Owens-Schiele
11:20 a.m.: ‘What if I don’t get better?’ Some COVID-19 survivors struggle with symptoms for weeks, even months, mystifying doctors.
Candy Malina of the Lakeview East neighborhood tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-March, with a cough and flu-like illness she described as debilitating but never life-threatening or requiring emergency care.
Yet more than three months later, the 60-year-old social service agency administrator says she still suffers from lingering symptoms: hoarseness, coughing and gastric issues, along with an unrelenting fatigue that makes it difficult to function.
Advertisement
Since her diagnosis, she has tested negative for the virus twice. A positive serology test showed that her body is producing COVID-19 antibodies. But she does not feel recovered.
She is among an emerging group of COVID-19 survivors, dubbed the “long-haulers,” who endure symptoms for weeks — even months — past the expected recovery period, mystifying physicians and scientists who are still grappling to understand the new virus. Read more here. — Angie Leventis Lourgos
11 a.m.: The Farnsworth House reopens weeks after floodwaters hit as architecture tour scene comes back to life
Weeks after being seriously threatened by floodwaters, the Farnsworth House, a modernist masterpiece in Chicago’s far southwest suburbs, will reopen for public tours Wednesday, with a temporary exhibit devoted to its often-overlooked namesake — the late Chicago kidney doctor Edith Farnsworth.
The exhibit, “Edith Farnsworth’s Country House,” will refurnish the single-story, steel-and-glass weekend retreat, now a house museum owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, to its 1955 appearance, when it was four years old.
The reopening of the home in Plano, about 60 miles southwest of the Loop, is the latest sign that Chicago’s architectural tour scene is coming back to life after being shut down by the coronavirus.
The Chicago Architecture Center, which features exhibitions about the city’s architecture at its 111 E. Wacker Drive headquarters, will reopen Friday. The center restarted select architectural walking tours June 20.
Advertisement
Architectural tour boats on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, which were sidelined by the virus, began running again in mid-June. Read more here. — Blair Kamin
The Farnsworth House in Plano was designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1945 and constructed in 1951 for Dr. Edith Farnsworth as a country retreat along the Fox River. The home is photographed here in 2016. (Michael Zajakowski / Chicago Tribune)
10:45 a.m.: Chicago Gourmet cancels main event for 2020, plans smaller programs
This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, but Chicago Gourmet will not take place this September in Millennium Park. The main event, where thousands of paying guests crowd into tasting pavilions to sample the food of dozens of Chicago’s biggest chefs, will be suspended until at least September 2021.
According to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s “Restore Illinois” reopening plan, we are in phase four, which allows gatherings of no more than 50 people. Currently, larger events will not be allowed in the state until there is a COVID-19 vaccine.
But that doesn’t mean that Chicago Gourmet, which is in its 13th year, will be entirely silent. According to a press release, the Illinois Restaurant Association will “soon reveal new programming that celebrates Chicago’s diverse culinary landscape while safely bringing food and drink enthusiasts the memorable experiences they crave.” Read more here. — Nick Kindelsperger
10:35 a.m.: State delays awarding licenses to grow marijuana
Illinois will delay awarding more than 80 marijuana licenses meant to expand the industry, following delays in the application process brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
The state’s Department of Agriculture, which regulates marijuana grow facilities, was set to award 40 craft grow licenses, 40 infuser licenses and an undetermined amount of transporter licenses Wednesday.
Advertisement
The delays could be catastrophic for some applicants, particularly those who were paying to hold real estate for grow facilities. Read more here. — Ally Marotti
10:20 a.m: Aon to restore most salaries cut by COVID-19 pandemic — and pay employees back what they gave up
Two months after cutting pay for most employees by 20% in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Aon is restoring their salaries, repaying them for what they gave up — and adding a bonus.
The global insurance giant announced Tuesday it was ending those salary reductions July 1, in part because the likelihood of a worst-case macroeconomic outcome had “decreased significantly” since the pay cuts were implemented.
“We took decisive action from a position of strength to protect every Aon colleague against the worst-case economic scenarios from this pandemic,” Aon CEO Greg Case said in a statement Tuesday. “We based our decisions on a set of core principles and a belief that we’d emerge stronger by staying together.” Read more here. — Robert Channick
10 a.m.: Cubs’ Jason Heyward donates $100,000 to aid COVID-19 workers and increase contract tracing efforts on the South Side
Chicago Cubs right fielder Jason Heyward is donating $100,000 to University of Chicago Medicine through the Heyward Family Fund to help reduce hardships experienced by healthcare workers during the coronavirus pandemic and increase contact tracing efforts on the South Side.
“Through this donation, I want to help ease the personal burdens on our healthcare heroes and support efforts aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19, especially in vulnerable communities hit hard by the virus,” Heyward said in a statement. Read more here. — Mark Gonzales
Advertisement
6:45 a.m.: Cook County property tax bills begin arriving Tuesday, but late fees waived until Oct. 1
Cook County property tax bills should start arriving in the mail Tuesday, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, fees for paying after the usual August deadline are waived until Oct. 1, according to county officials.
The Cook County Board voted last month to allow property owners to pay the second installment of their taxes this year without incurring the usual fees if they pay after this year’s Aug. 3 deadline.
“Because of the pandemic, many homeowners and business people are juggling their bills, worried that they will have to let one bill drop,” Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas said in a news release. “Now they have extra time without paying extra money in late fees.” — Chicago Tribune staff
6:35 a.m.: Edgewater pet food pantry reopens this week after COVID-19 shutdown
As many food pantries closed during the coronavirus shutdown, Edgewater’s Care for Real charity also closed its Pet Pantry for three months and will reopen it Thursday, the nonprofit announced this week.
The pet food pantry, 5339 N. Sheridan Road, normally runs once a month, according to a news release. But Care for Real had to prioritize providing food for people in need. It reopens Thursday, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
“We didn’t want to halt the pet pantry even temporarily,” said Karen Feiler, pet pantry manger, in the release. “But clearly feeding people and ensuring social distancing came first. Now, with all our systems and precautions in place, we can resume this service.”
Advertisement
The pantry, which gives out food, treats and other pet supplies, usually serves 300 patrons a month. —Chicago Tribune staff
6 a.m.: Beaches and pools begin to reopen throughout the suburbs. But in Chicago, at least officially, the wait continues.
With Illinois in phase four of coronavirus regulations, Sunrise Beach in north suburban Lake Bluff is among the many Illinois beaches and pools now open, with capacity and social distancing restrictions, after being shuttered because of the pandemic.
When Illinois entered phase four Friday, the Illinois Department of Health issued guidelines for swimming pools, water parks, splash pads and beaches, essentially allowing locations to open to a maximum 50% capacity with safety protocols in place.
While suburban beaches have opened, Chicago’s iconic beaches remain officially closed for swimming. But “closed” has often been more of an idea than an ironclad rule recently, especially with the sultry summer weather during the final days of June.
Scores of beachgoers flocked to Montrose Beach on Monday. Couples, friends, and families lay on blankets and beach towels in the sand. Dozens played in the water, despite the conspicuously empty lifeguard chairs. A man wearing a straw hat pulled an ice cream cart across the sand.
Farther south at Oak Street Beach, two women stood knee-deep in the water while others played in the sand. Read more here. — Patrick M. O’Connell, Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas, Robert McCoppin, Sarah Freishtat, Javonte Anderson
Advertisement
5 a.m.: Bud Billiken Parade, a longtime Chicago tradition, canceled
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation of Chicago’s Bud Billiken Parade, a traditional African American back-to-school event for about 90 years, organizers announced Monday.
Tens of thousands of spectators yearly attend the parade, in which similar numbers march through Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood to Washington Park, where picnicking and a music festival takes place.
Bud Billiken is a fictional character that is considered a guardian of children was created in 1923. The parade was originally organized in 1929 by the Chicago Defender newspaper. In the past, the floats and marching bands have been accompanied by such celebrities as Spike Lee and Michael Jordan.
Chicago Defender Charities CEO Myiti Sengstacke-Rice says although the parade won’t take place Aug. 8, as planned, the charity will continue its support of scholarships for graduating high school students. — Associated Press
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
Here are three things that happened Monday related to coronavirus in Illinois:
Live from Chicago: Jazz back in action at the Green Mill and Andy’s
Advertisement
Some Illinois parents are opting for home schooling instead of sending kids back to school in the fall
Chicago Heights is creating protective equipment as schools seek alternatives to keep students safe


chicagotribune--2020-06-30--Lightfoot faces calls to release investigative report on former police Superintendent Eddie Johnson

“ That ’ s an important principle .
I know the mayor understands and appreciates it .
I know she @ @ @ @ @ and my inclination , if it was up to me , my inclination would be @ @ @ @ @ possible and take whatever lumps are associated with that , ” Melton said .

The city of Chicago released bodycam footage related to an October incident where former police Superintendent Eddie Johnson was found asleep in a car. (Chicago Tribune Handout)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday continued to resist calls to release the inspector general’s report on the October incident that led her to fire police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.
“We should always be working to establish legitimacy and rebuild trust with the public around our processes,” first-term Ald. Maria Hadden, 49th, said. “Not releasing results of high-profile investigations leaves one wondering what we’re hiding.”
Advertisement
Lightfoot’s administration earlier this week released dashcam video and other records from the night Johnson was found asleep at the wheel in a South Side intersection.
But Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s report on the matter remains sealed, despite pressure from several corners to have it made public and the mayor’s earlier push to get the City Council to approve a law allowing certain IG reports of high public interest to be released.
Advertisement
David Melton, a senior adviser at watchdog group Reform for Illinois where Lightfoot was previously a board member, said “it’s a matter of credibility when you’re dealing with such a high-profile situation to feel people get equal treatment of the law regardless of their position.”
“That’s an important principle. I know the mayor understands and appreciates it. I know she acted decisively at the time and my inclination, if it was up to me, my inclination would be to be as open as possible and take whatever lumps are associated with that,” Melton said.
The ordinance backed by the mayor last fall would have allowed the corporation counsel to decide whether to release IG investigation reports in cases that involve a death or that are “or may be” a felony, and are “of a compelling public interest.”
Kathleen Fieweger, the Law Department’s spokeswoman, defended withholding the report on Johnson, disputing that there was any conduct rising to a felony.
Lincoln Park Ald. Michele Smith, 43rd, who chairs the City Council’s Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight, said the decision not to release the IG report sounds right to her.
“That law was hard enough to pass, in terms of protecting the rights of the accused. It was meant for serious felonies, and I think it’s appropriate to uphold that standard,” Smith said.
First-term Ald. Matt Martin, 47th, said he isn’t sure whether the report legally fits the standard for release but argued the city owes taxpayers more information on the incident.
“I think additional context is appropriate and that may not include releasing the report but providing some summary of, ‘this is what occurred.' and the requisite level of detail that gives a reasonable person confidence that a felony did not occur and that releasing the report pursuant to the ordinance is not required,” he said.
Advertisement
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
Lightfoot’s surprise mayoral victory was largely built on a promise to boost transparency and reform City Hall. Her ordinance allowing IG reports to be published has already led to some tension between the mayor and Ferguson, a friend and former colleague in the U.S. attorney’s office.
In October 2019, Lightfoot’s administration released Ferguson’s investigation into the alleged cover-up of Laquan McDonald’s murder, but with a wrinkle. Top city lawyer Mark Flessner, himself a former federal prosecutor, released a letter alongside Ferguson’s report essentially saying that the city wouldn’t vouch for the report’s accuracy.
That same day, Oct. 9, records show Ferguson emailed Lightfoot chief of staff Maurice Classen and another city lawyer to complain, calling the corporation counsel’s letter “corporate lawyer ass-covering horse----.”
Classen sent a response, saying he “wanted to share how disturbing I find this content,” and copied Lightfoot.
Ferguson’s office did not return messages seeking comment on the city’s decision not to release the report on Johnson.
Advertisement
gpratt@chicagotribune.com
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com


Corrections and clarifications

Publishing information quickly and accurately is a central part of the Chicago Tribune ’ s news responsibility and a value @ @ @ @ @ .
Our editorial code of principles governs professional behavior and journalism standards .
Everyone in @ @ @ @ @ live up to this code of conduct .
Download the file .

· A story on Page 1 Monday misspelled the name of the village of Lyons.
The Tribune regrets the error.
Advertisement
Publishing information quickly and accurately is a central part of the Chicago Tribune’s news responsibility and a value shared in all our publications. Our editorial code of principles governs professional behavior and journalism standards. Everyone in our newsroom must agree to live up to this code of conduct. Download the file.
To report an error, fill out this form.


chicagotribune--2020-06-30--Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs bill intended to boost prospect of long-discussed Chicago casino

Pritzker signed a measure into law last year that created a license for the casino — something mayors have been @ @ @ @ @ decades — but a consultant ’ s report required by the law described tax rates @ @ @ @ @ very onerous ” and said they would likely scare off any investors , who would @ @ @ @ @ in the low single digits .

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot appear together at a news conference at the Thompson Center on May 31, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday signed a bill that supporters hope will make a long-debated Chicago casino more attractive to potential developers.
The bill, approved during the General Assembly’s pandemic-driven special legislative session in May, marked a major win for Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who is counting on revenue from a casino to help infuse cash into the underfunded pension plans for Chicago police officers and firefighters.
Advertisement
The state’s take from the casino is earmarked for building projects that are part of Pritzker’s $45 billion “Rebuild Illinois” infrastructure plan.
“Working with the General Assembly and Mayor Lightfoot, we accomplished what eluded so many others, and now this momentous legislation tackles key priorities for the state of Illinois — helping to ensure that Chicago can pay for first responders’ pensions and alleviate the burden on property taxpayers, along with investing in universities and hospitals throughout the state,” Pritzker said in a statement.
Advertisement
Pritzker signed a measure into law last year that created a license for the casino — something mayors have been pushing for more than two decades — but a consultant’s report required by the law described tax rates in the measure as “very onerous” and said they would likely scare off any investors, who would be left with profit margins in the low single digits.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
The new law does away with a 33.3% city tax on post-payout revenue in favor of a graduated tax structure on slot machines and table games.
The city’s cut from slots, for example, would range from 10.5% on revenue up to $25 million to 34.7% on revenue above $1 billion. Outside the city, local governments only get a 5% cut from their casinos and in some cases have to split that with other nearby localities.
Lightfoot lobbied lawmakers throughout the fall and spring in an effort to win support on both sides of the aisle for the more favorable tax structure.
The new casino will serve “as the impetus for a dynamic new entertainment district in our city,” Lightfoot said in a statement.
But her administration hasn’t indicated a favored location, which figures to be a major sticking point in moving ahead.
The consultant’s report last year cast doubt on five South and West side sites suggested by the city, but pushing for a location closer to downtown could be politically difficult for Lightfoot, who campaigned on bringing more economic development to struggling neighborhoods.
Advertisement
Before a casino can open, a developer must reach an agreement with the city and be approved for an operator’s license by the Illinois Gaming Board.
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-30--The Spin: Gov. Pritzker responds to ‘attack’ ad with 2 new TV spots |  Duckworth’s insight on what B

The Spin: Gov. Pritzker responds to ‘attack’ ad with 2 new TV spots |  Duckworth’s insight on what Biden’s looking for in a VP | New transportation laws crack down on distracted driving

“ Like many of you , I have to spend a lot of time planning how to get from one @ @ @ @ @ Places which say they are inclusive and accessible will still have inclines that are a @ @ @ @ @ or an entrance that is a few inches off the ground preventing those of us @ @ @ @ @ to access it without assistance .
That experience of being unable to independently enter a @ @ @ @ @ a bathroom when I need to is humiliating , ” Duckworth said .

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker puts on a mask during his daily coronavirus pandemic briefing at the Illinois State Capitol on May 20, 2020, in Springfield. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s campaign arm went up today with two new television ads, a response to a conservative political organization — one the governor says is tied to Republican President Donald Trump — that went on the air last week with spots that tick off a list of his alleged failures.
The dueling ads feel very much like an election-year battle, but the governor’s seat isn’t on the ballot until 2022.
Advertisement
With only weeks to go before presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden unveils whom he’ll choose to be his running mate, the Tribune’s Bill Ruthhart and Rick Pearson talk with experts about the chances U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who’s definitely in the mix, could become Vice President Duckworth. She offered her own take on the kind of running mate Biden’s looking for.
And City Hall released Chicago police bodycam footage capturing officers approaching the vehicle of then-police Superintendent Eddie Johnson asleep at the wheel in an incident that led Mayor Lori Lightfoot to fire him.
Advertisement
But here’s what the public didn’t get: Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s report on the matter. My Tribune colleagues Gregory Pratt and John Byrne along with other news outlets are reporting Mayor Lori Lightfoot is refusing to release it, despite having pushed the City Council to approve a law allowing certain IG reports of high public interest to be released.
It should be noted that the city’s watchdog was looking into, among other things, whether officers may have covered for Johnson — their boss. Questions have been raised about why he wasn’t given some manner of sobriety test, particularly after sources said they determined he had been drinking in the hours before the incident.
Welcome to The Spin.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker arrives in a mask to speak April 19, 2020, at the Thompson Center during the coronavirus pandemic. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS)
Two ads aimed at portraying Gov. Pritzker as a take-charge-in-a-pandemic, work-across-the-political-divide kind of leader began airing in the Chicago and Springfield markets, both in response to an ad bashing the governor from Illinois Rising Action, a conservative 501(c)(4) dark money group, that hit the airwaves last week. You can watch the ads launched by Pritzker’s policial arm here and here.
One Pritzker spot opens with a still photo of the Illinois Rising ad alongside muted footage of President Trump speaking at an event. The narrator asks, “Seen this ad? It’s paid for by the same Republican group that brought you Donald Trump. But why are they attacking Gov. Pritzker? Because he’s calling out the president’s failed leadership.”
Illinois Rising Action’s ad, airing in Chicago, Springfield, St. Louis and the Paducah, Kentucky, markets, reminds viewers about those toilets that were removed from a Pritzker family mansion in Chicago, resulting in a controversial property tax break. The spot also suggests he’s hiked taxes while giving “pay raises to his politician buddies,” an apparent reference to him signing off on a fast-tracked budget weeks ago that has prompted an argument about whether legislators received a cost-of-living raise as people across the globe tighten their belts over lost jobs and wages over COVID-19. Read more about it here.
Quentin Fulks, a political adviser to Pritzker, tells The Spin that Illinois Rising went after Pritzker and he’s now responding.
“We won’t let Donald Trump’s allies at Illinois Rising get away with attacking J.B. Pritzker and lying about his record just because the governor is standing up to the president. They know there is no legislator pay raise, but they are lying about it anyways because that’s what they do — lie.”
Advertisement
Fulks also went into talking points about how the governor has, for two years running, signed bipartisan budget plans; has crafted an infrastructure plan with the aid of Republicans and Democrats; and, “in the fight against the coronavirus, Gov. Pritzker has followed the advice of medical experts helping make Illinois one of the states with the biggest decreases in infections and protecting our hospitals and first responders.”
COVID-19 update: Dr. Anthony Fauci says U.S. could reach 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day as health officials testify in Senate — Read the story here.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
Then-U.S. Sen.-elect. Tammy Duckworth greets commuters outside of the Millennium Park Metra Station the day after she defeated Republican Mark Kirk on Nov. 9, 2016, in Chicago. She previously had served as the U.S. representative for Illinois's 8th Congressional District since 2013. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Duckworth, a Democrat from northwest suburban Hoffman Estates, is quietly writing an autobiography, the Tribune’s Ruthhart and Pearson write.
But the question is this: Will her powerful life story — of selling flowers in Hawaii to help her family make ends meet and later losing two legs as an Army pilot in combat — include a chapter on becoming the next vice president?
Duckworth is one of at least 13 women being vetted by Biden’s team, “and it’s the power of her biography that has helped land her in such select company,” Ruthhart and Pearson write.
Advertisement
Democratic strategist David Axelrod says of Duckworth: “She has an incomparable personal story that is very compelling. The question that Biden will have to ask relative to her is: Does she match this particular moment and does her experience measure up to the job?”
Duckworth’s take: “I believe that Joe Biden is going to pick the right person that he has the best relationship with to govern,” Duckworth said in an interview with the Tribune. “I think he’s trying to duplicate in many ways the relationship he had with President Obama, and I think that that was a strong one.”
Beltway take: ”Duckworth isn’t top of mind in a group (of potential vice president picks) that includes former presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren,” Ruthhart and Pearson note. And as I noted in Spin previously, 72% of voters don’t know who Duckworth is, according to a New York Times/Siena national poll.
The other candidates for the job of VP: The New York Times has the details here.
For the record: “She doesn’t have a long legislative track record of accomplishments. She’s run only one statewide race and never a national campaign,” Ruthhart and Pearson note. “She is not from a battleground state. And while as a Thai American she is a woman of color, many Democrats believe Biden should choose a Black woman as the nation confronts a history of systemic racism following the police killing of George Floyd.”
At a virtual fundraiser for Biden, Duckworth reflected on accessibility, using a wheelchair — Last night’s event marked the 30th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, according to a pool report of the event.
Advertisement
“Like many of you, I have to spend a lot of time planning how to get from one place to the next. Places which say they are inclusive and accessible will still have inclines that are a few degrees too steep, or an entrance that is a few inches off the ground preventing those of us in wheelchairs and being able to access it without assistance. That experience of being unable to independently enter a public space or even use a bathroom when I need to is humiliating,” Duckworth said.
“I don’t blame most Americans for not thinking about these things because, you know, for most of my adult life, I didn’t either. But the truth is that everyone, whether they realize it or not, is just one bad day away from needing accessible options to help them get around,” the senator continued.
She then took aim at President Donald Trump, saying that it’s “clear that the forces of discrimination are out and about — just take one look at this president’s Twitter feed,” she said, adding: “It’s why we need to do everything we can to defeat Donald Trump this fall, and elect Joe Biden to the White House. We need Joe. We need government policies like the ones he has proposed to achieve full equality for people with disabilities and to protect our civil rights.”
By the numbers: More than 600 people participated in the fundraiser, which raised more $150,000 for Biden’s campaign, according to Tony Coelho, the chair of the DNC disability council.
Last month, Duckworth also co-hosted a virtual fundraiser for Biden.
Chicago’s annual Pride parade may be canceled, but Mayor Lightfoot is holding a virtual celebration and fundraiser tonight: The city’s first openly gay mayor is hosting the event with special guest Billy Porter, an actor and activist, according to her political team. For more details or to attend the event, click here. There are a range of ticket prices, staring at $75 all the way up to $11,600. The money will go to Light PAC, the mayor’s political action committee.
Advertisement
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., speaks to the media at the White House in Washington in 2019. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon was among eight Republican lawmakers who were part of what he called a “classified” briefing in the wake of news reports that Russia secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing American troops in Afghanistan – intelligence, as the Associated Press reports, the White House insisted the president had not been fully brief on.
Read more about the meeting and the latest on the explosive report here.
Asked what he learned during the meeting led by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, Kinzinger shared with The Spin: “This intelligence came forward and it was included in the president’s daily briefing book,” though it’s unclear when as the threats may go back a year or longer.
Kinzinger added: “Now the important thing to remember is in many cases – I just learned this myself by the way - the presidential daily briefing book is usually 60-70 pages a day and typically what every president does is just have an intel professional come in and brief him on what he needs to be aware of and then obviously take questions and go deeper.”
Echoing comments made by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, Kinzinger said he learned in the briefing that the intelligence community wasn’t in agreement about the veracity of the information - so it may not have been part of the daily discussion.
“The briefer on this book had also had a dissenting opinion from an intel agent and so the briefer had made the decision not to include it yet until (the intelligence community) had more information.”
Advertisement
Asked whether the president should have known, if it was given to him in writing, Kinzinger, whose relationship with Trump has run hot and cold, says the central questions weren’t answered then and don’t seem to be answered to this day: Did Russia put bounties on the heads of U.S. troops or allies and were any of them killed. The congressman said those questions now may never be answered.
“The leak of this has made it far less likely we’ll ever find out, because if it’s true the Russians are covering their tracks,” he said. “But if we find out it’s true there should be serious consequences for Russia.”
Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson chats with Mayor Lori Lightfoot prior to a graduation and promotion ceremony held at Navy Pier’s Grand Ballroom in Chicago on Sept. 4, 2019. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)
The city of Chicago on Monday released records and body camera footage related to an October incident in which then-police Superintendent Eddie Johnson was found asleep at the wheel, which led Mayor Lori Lightfoot to angrily fire him.
But Lightfoot’s administration is declining to release Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s report on the matter, despite having pushed the City Council to approve a law allowing certain IG reports of high public interest to be released.
The ordinance backed by the mayor last fall would have allowed the corporation counsel to decide whether to release IG investigation reports in cases that involve a death or that “may be” a felony and are “of a compelling public interest.”
Lightfoot had no public events today, so media couldn’t grill her about it.
Advertisement
Suspension recommended for CPD sergeant who ordered arrest of CTA supervisor after she complained about cop: The Tribune’s Stacy St. Clair has the details here.
Pedestrians weave between cars blocking the crosswalks Jan. 21, 2020, at the intersection of Randolph Street and Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS)
Yesterday we had some highlights from a story my colleagues Jamie Munks and Dan Petrella wrote about new state laws kicking in tomorrow — July 1, already — most notably the minimum wage hike. Today a look at transportation-related laws that take effect after midnight:
Stricter penalties for distracted drivers — Drivers using a cellphone, laptops, tablets and other hand-held electronic devices while driving and cause “great bodily harm, permanent disability or disfigurement” could now be subject to losing their license as well as a minimum $1,000 fine under a new law.
It doesn’t apply to drivers reporting an emergency, using an electronic device with hands-free or voice-operated modes, or drivers parked on a shoulder or stopped in traffic with their vehicle in park.
Mason’s Law — Drivers who don’t yield at crosswalks and in school zones will now have their driving privileges suspended for a year if they seriously injure someone. The new law is named after 24-year-old Iroquois County resident Mason Knorr, who was killed in August 2018 in a crash involving a semi-truck driver who blew a stop sign.
Gas tax — After doubling last year to 38 cents per gallon to help pay for road improvements statewide, Illinois’ gas tax will increase by a fraction of a cent — 0.7 cents per gallon to be precise, this year.
Advertisement
Thanks for reading The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Have a tip? Email host Lisa Donovan at ldonovan@chicagotribune.com.
Twitter @byldonovan


chicagotribune--2020-06-30--Gary doctor, two nurse practitioners charged after handing out illegal prescriptions, feds say

After a short conversation , Onyeukwu handed over a prescription for 60 pills , charges state .
He did not @ @ @ @ @ mental health counseling , or alternative treatments , it said .
There were no followup @ @ @ @ @ including drug screening after the informant said he had taken Xanax and Hydrocodone , charges @ @

A doctor and two nurse practitioners were charged after illegally prescribing meds to an undercover informant at East Chicago and Gary health clinics, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said Tuesday.
Dr. Geoffrey Onyeukwu, 69, of Gary, and Akeem Kareem, 47, of Crown Point, and Francis Nwawueze, 57, of Merrillville were charged June 24 in Lake Superior Court, records show.
Advertisement
Charges alleged they prescribed medication to an undercover DEA informant from September 2018 to November 2019, records show.
The informant first got a 30-day supply of Xanax from Onyeukwu Sept. 27, 2018 at Northwest Immediate Care, 2010 E. Columbus Drive in East Chicago. The doctor shook hands, but did not perform a physical examination required by Indiana law.
Advertisement
At no point “did he get within three feet” of the patient, it said.
After a short conversation, Onyeukwu handed over a prescription for 60 pills, charges state. He did not offer a treatment plan, mental health counseling, or alternative treatments, it said. There were no followup orders for additional tests, including drug screening after the informant said he had taken Xanax and Hydrocodone, charges state.
The informant got a refill on Xanax Oct. 26 at the same clinic from Kareem, without a state-required physical exam, allegedly using Onyeukwu’s signature and DEA registration number, records state. The informant later got Xanax and Ambien prescriptions from Kareem from the East Chicago clinic on Nov. 16, 2018, charges show.
Akeem Kareem - Original Credit: provided by Lake County Sheriff (provided by Lake County Sheriff / HANDOUT)
Kareem again signed off on the prescription Feb. 8, 2019, renewing Xanax and upping the Ambien dosage, records state.
“Let’s double it,” he said unprompted, charges show.
That summer, the informant switched to a Gary clinic where his prescriptions continued, records state. Nwawueze renewed the Xanax and Ambien prescriptions on June 18, 2019, and July 23, 2019, at Northwest Procedures and Medical Center, 3814 Grant St., charges state.
When Nwawueze ran information in a database, he asked why only one prescription showed under the informant’s name, who replied they “refilled his/her prescriptions in Illinois,” charges state.
The next visit, Aug. 20, 2019, aside from the refill, the informant said they wanted to lose weight, asking for amphetamine prescriptions, such as Phentermine, Bontril, or Ritalin. Nwawueze gave the Ritalin prescription to the informant at the front counter, charges show.
Advertisement
Francis Nwawueze - Original Credit: provided by Lake County Sheriff (provided by Lake County Sheriff / HANDOUT)
When the informant returned for a refill, Oct. 16, Onyeukwu told him he couldn’t refill Ritalin, “because he had to protect his license,” charges state. They left with Xanax and Ambien, records show. Onyeukwu again renewed the Xanax and Ambien prescriptions on Nov. 6.
Onyeukwu faces five charges of Dealing in a Controlled Substance by a Practitioner, a level four felony, two charges of Unlawful Possession or Use of a Legend Drug, a level six felony. His next court appearance is scheduled July 22 before Lake Superior Magistrate Kathleen Sullivan.
Nwawueze faces seven counts of Dealing in a Controlled Substance by a Practitioner, a level four felony. His court appearance is scheduled July 13 before Magistrate Natalie Bokota.
Kareem faces five counts of Dealing in a Controlled Substance by a Practitioner, a level four felony and one count of Use of a Fictitious Registration Number, a level six felony. His initial appearance is scheduled July 20 before Lake Superior Magistrate Kathleen Sullivan.