chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Architecture in Chicago for fall 2020: A vital season awaits, despite the pandemic. Our 12 picks not

Architecture in Chicago for fall 2020: A vital season awaits, despite the pandemic. Our 12 picks not to miss.

A head-turner at the U of C : Construction is expected to wrap up this fall on the University of @ @ @ @ @ Forum , a high-rise meeting place designed by New York architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro @ @ @ @ @ side of the Midway Plaisance , the glass-sheathed building consists of a two-story base and @ @ @ @ @ tower flaunts a series of stacked boxes , several of which are dramatically cantilevered .
@ @ @ @ @ spaces for workshops , academic symposia and lectures .
The building ’ s ground floor @ @ @ @ @ and cafe .
The university plans to hold some classes in the Rubenstein Forum this @ @ @ @ @ the coronavirus pandemic , the building won ’ t be fully operational or formally opened @ @ @ @

The new Bank of America Tower along the Chicago River on Monday, Aug. 31, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Despite the dark shadow cast by COVID-19, the fall architecture season in Chicago promises a luminous array of exhibitions, books and buildings. It will culminate the construction boom that took shape after the Great Recession. Here’s a preview:
Vista Tower reshapes the skyline: The Vista Tower, Chicago’s third tallest building and the world’s tallest building designed by a woman architect, is finally ready for its close-up.
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Designed by Chicago architect Jeanne Gang and her firm Studio Gang, the 101-story hotel and condominium tower is expected to welcome its first residents in mid-October. Work to complete the tower’s exterior is still ongoing, but it already has reshaped the city’s skyline.
From its base at 345 E. Wacker Drive, Vista rises as a cluster of three interconnected high-rises, or “stems,” as Gang calls them. Each stem appears to curve inward and outward, giving the tower a distinctly sculptural presence. In Chicago, only the Willis and Trump Towers are taller.
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The new Bank of America Tower along the Chicago River on Aug. 31. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago’s tallest office building since 1990: Another superlative is in store: Chicago’s tallest office building since the completion of Two Prudential Plaza in 1990.
It’s the Bank of America Tower, designed by Chicago’s Goettsch Partners and located at 110 N. Wacker Drive. Although it has 56 stories, the high-rise climbs to a height of 815 feet because of its higher-than-average ceiling heights and 45-foot-high lobby.
Replacing the low-rise General Growth building, the glassy tower sits alongside the south branch of the Chicago River. Architectural highlights along the river include a strongly vertical, serrated facade and a covered, 45-foot-wide riverwalk framed by exposed structural columns. Completion is expected in September.
A new hotel on Navy Pier: With relatively few visitors because of the coronavirus pandemic, Navy Pier closed Sept. 8 until next spring to save money. But the lakefront attraction is still expected to get the first hotel in its 104-year history.
Designed by Chicago’s Koo architects, the hotel has been built atop existing structures near the pier’s east end. Part of the Hilton Curio Collection, it has about 220 rooms and is named The Sable in honor of a World War II training ship, an aircraft carrier, that docked at Navy Pier.
The hotel’s developer is aiming for a Nov. 1 opening. Koo’s design includes subtle nautical references and framed views of Lake Michigan and the skyline.
A head-turner at the U of C: Construction is expected to wrap up this fall on the University of Chicago’s David Rubenstein Forum, a high-rise meeting place designed by New York architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
Located on the south side of the Midway Plaisance, the glass-sheathed building consists of a two-story base and an eight-story tower. The tower flaunts a series of stacked boxes, several of which are dramatically cantilevered. It will house multi-purpose meeting spaces for workshops, academic symposia and lectures.
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The building’s ground floor will include a wine bar and cafe. The university plans to hold some classes in the Rubenstein Forum this fall, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, the building won’t be fully operational or formally opened until next year.
The work of Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi will be showcased in a traveling exhibition titled “Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People,” coming to Chicago's Wrightwood 659 gallery. (Iwan Baan/Wrightwood 659 Gallery)
Chicago showcase for an Indian master: In 2018, Balkrishna Doshi became the first Indian architect to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the field’s highest honor.
This fall in Chicago, about 20 of Doshi’s projects, from private homes to entire cities, will be showcased in a traveling exhibition billed as the first U.S. exhibition of his work.
Called “Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People,” the show appears at the Wrightwood 659 gallery, at 659 W. Wrightwood Ave. in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, Sept. 9 to Dec. 12. On view will be drawings, models, sketches, films, photography and full-scale installations that illustrate the experience of Doshi’s buildings. Tickets are only available online; wrightwood659.org.
Open House adapts to COVID-19: Open House Chicago, the popular festival that gave participants a free, behind-the-facade peek at interiors throughout the city, will have a new (and, I hope, temporary) format this fall, one forced by the coronavirus pandemic.
The festival will present self-guided exterior tours and online explorations of buildings and urban spaces in more than 20 city neighborhoods, as well as the neighboring suburbs of Evanston and Oak Park. The neighborhoods will include 10 areas on the South and West Sides that are the focus of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Invest South/West program, which seeks to revive struggling business districts.
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To celebrate Open House Chicago’s 10th anniversary, the festival will run 10 days, for Oct. 16-25, instead of the usual two days. For more information, go to openhousechicago.org.
The Farnsworth House's photo exhibition “Side by Side: Farnsworth House + The Philip Johnson Glass House" compares and contrasts the house with a modernist icon it influenced. (Robin Hill photo)
The Farnsworth House and the Glass House: The Farnsworth House, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s modernist masterpiece in far southwest suburban Plano, will mount a photo exhibition that compares and contrasts the house with a modernist icon it influenced, Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, Conn.
Called “Side by Side: Farnsworth House + The Philip Johnson Glass House,” and scheduled to run Sept. 13 to Nov. 22, the exhibit will display pairs of images of the two houses by photographer Robin Hill. It will appear in a gallery alongside the house’s visitor center.
Admission is included with a guided tour of the Farnsworth House, which will continue the fascinating exhibit “Edith Farnsworth’s Country House.” That show fills the house with furnishings that resemble those of its namesake, Chicago kidney doctor Edith Farnsworth.
Does one size fit all? From the size of credit cards to batteries, global standards are ubiquitous. Yet not everything is uniform. Airline guidelines for carry-on bags differ, for example.
The Art Institute will explore the impact of standards and deviations from them in a new exhibition, “Ambiguous Standards Institute: An Institute Within an Institute,” that runs Nov. 21 to May 3, 2021.
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Wooden crates will display 10 case studies of standards investigated by the Ambiguous Standards Institute of Istanbul, a research and education establishment.
An empty stairwell to the State/Lake CTA "L" station during the evening rush hour March 17 in Chicago's Loop. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago’s heavy-metal heart: Chicago’s Loop wouldn’t be the same without the elevated tracks and CTA trains that form its thunderously loud core. But how did the “L” come about? And who saved it from being torn down in the 1970s?
In November, Southern Illinois University Press will publish a book, by former Chicago Tribune reporter Patrick T. Reardon, that addresses these and other questions.
Titled “The Loop: The ’L’ Tracks That Shaped and Saved Chicago,” the illustrated, 304-page book calls the “L” “the most important structure ever built in the city.”
Midcentury houses for the Midwest: Fans of mid-20th century modernism, especially as it took shape in the Midwest, will likely want to check out another book that went on sale in late August, “Modern in the Middle: Chicago Houses 1929-1975.”
Published by Monacelli Press and written by architectural historian Susan Benjamin and Michelangelo Sabatino, an architecture professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology, the book explores how Chicago and its suburbs played a pivotal but overlooked role in developing the modern single-family house.
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More than 50 houses are surveyed, including homes by such noted architects John Vinci and Henry Dubin. The book contains 325 historic images, many from the archives of Chicago photography firm Hedrich Blessing.
Elsewhere: Eisenhower Memorial opens (finally): After years of controversy and design changes, the Eisenhower Memorial is scheduled to open in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 17. The architect is Los Angeles-based Frank Gehry, whose Chicago works include Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion.
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Honoring the nation’s 34th president and commander of Allied forces in Europe during World War II, the memorial is a four-acre park just off the National Mall. The site, alongside the U.S. Department of Education building, has a view of Capitol Hill.
Key design elements at the heart of the memorial include a transparent stainless steel tapestry that represents the cliffs of the Normandy coastline, site of the D-Day invasion, in peacetime; large-scale bronze statues and stone bas reliefs.
Speaking of tributes to former presidents ... Studio Gang is one of three finalists vying to design the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota. Its competitors are Copenhagen-based Henning Larsen and Oslo-based Snohetta. A winner is expected to be named in September.
As for the Obama Presidential Center, the long-running federal review of the project’s impact on historic Jackson Park is nearing the finish line, but a ground-breaking has not yet been scheduled. The architects are Tod Williams and Billie Tsien of New York.
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Blair Kamin is a Tribune critic.
bkamin@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @BlairKamin


chicagotribune--2020-09-03--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened Sept. 2 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

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

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is reporting a spike in positive COVID-19 cases among undergraduate students, saying the infections are tied to large parties and gatherings over the weekend, according to a media release.
About 780 new cases have been identified since classes began Aug. 24, said Martin Burke, a chemistry professor leading the school’s testing program, during a Wednesday afternoon news conference. He corrected a previous figure released by the school that said more than 400 cases had been identified.
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Meanwhile, Illinois health officials on Wednesday announced 2,128 new known cases of COVID-19 and 27 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 238,643 and the statewide death toll to 8,091. Officials also reported 32,751 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 4.5%.
Here’s what’s happening Wednesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
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8 p.m. (update): ‘Irresponsible and dangerous’ partying by some students leads U. of I. to crack down on social activity and warn of suspensions
Despite an expansive testing program and models that predicted how many COVID-19 cases would pop up on campus, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is confronting a grim reality shared by other colleges attempting to stay open: Partying among undergraduate students is leading to hundreds of more infections than anticipated, jeopardizing the in-person experience for everyone.
UIUC, the state’s largest university, has tallied roughly 780 new cases on its downstate campus among students, faculty and staff since classes began Aug. 24, according to Martin Burke, a chemistry professor leading the school’s testing program. Earlier Wednesday, the school had characterized the number as “more than 400″ before clarifying during a news conference.
To deal with the surge, UIUC officials announced a number of changes to its contact tracing efforts, stricter disciplinary actions against students flouting the rules and a crackdown on social activity through Sept. 16.
Read more here. —Elyssa Cherney
5:30 p.m. (update): COVID-19 cases spike at University of Illinois after large weekend parties
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is reporting a spike in positive COVID-19 cases among undergraduate students, saying the infections are tied to large parties and gatherings over the weekend, according to a media release.
About 780 new cases have been identified since classes began Aug. 24, said Martin Burke, a chemistry professor leading the school’s testing program, during a Wednesday afternoon news conference. He corrected a previous figure released by the school that said more than 400 cases had been identified.
“In the past few days, the number of positive cases has increased at a rate that is on track to double the number of cases every week,” according to the UIUC release. “If that trend continues, the university would experience 75-100 new cases each day and would expect to have as many as 8,000 positive cases over the course of the semester.”
School leaders also said Wednesday that some infected people could require hospitalization if cases the virus continues to spread.
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Officials detailed plans to counteract the increase at a 3:30 p.m. news conference. The strategy includes increasing staffing to monitor student behavior, contacting students who test positive more quickly and asking undergraduates to limit non-essential social events.
Read more here. —Elyssa Cherney
4:25 p.m.: CDC tells states to prepare for COVID-19 vaccine by late October or early November
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has notified public health officials in all 50 states and five large cities to prepare to distribute a coronavirus vaccine to health care workers and other high-risk groups as soon as late October or early November.
The new CDC guidance is the latest sign of an accelerating race for a vaccine to greatly ease a pandemic that has killed more than 184,000 Americans. The documents were sent out on the same day that President Donald Trump told the nation in his speech to the Republican National Convention that a vaccine might arrive before the end of the year.
Over the past week, both Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, and Dr. Stephen Hahn, who heads the Food and Drug Administration, have said in interviews with news organizations that a vaccine could be available for certain groups before clinical trials have been completed, if the data is overwhelmingly positive.
Public health experts agree that agencies at all levels of government should urgently prepare for what will eventually be a vast, complex effort to vaccinate hundreds of millions of Americans. But the possibility of a rollout in late October or early November has also heightened concerns that the Trump administration is seeking to rush the distribution of a vaccine — or simply to hype that one is possible — before Election Day on Nov. 3.
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Read more here. —The New York Times
4 p.m.: As Aurora hits 5,000th case of coronavirus, mayor stresses preventative measures
Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin Wednesday recommitted to the tenets of the Mask Up Aurora campaign.
Speaking a day after Aurora reached its 5,000th confirmed case of COVID-19 – which includes a total of 118 deaths – Irvin said the city remains committed to the three W’s: washing hands often and using hand sanitizer; watching your distance from other people; and wearing a mask.
“It’s a simple thing that can have a huge impact,” Irvin said of mask-wearing. “But it only works if you wear it.”
Read more here. —Steve Lord
2:46 p.m.: Federal Reserve survey finds widespread pessimism about US economic future
The latest Federal Reserve survey of U.S. economic activity found generally modest gains in August but also pessimism about the future given the threats posed by the coronavirus.
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The Fed report made public Wednesday said that a theme echoed across the country is the continued uncertainty stemming from the pandemic and its negative effect on consumer and business activity.
The report, based on responses gathered before Aug. 24, found that economic activity had increased modestly from late July but remained well below levels seen before the pandemic hit in March.
The coronavirus outbreak has pushed the country into a deep recession and resulted in millions of people losing their jobs and thousands of businesses struggling to survive. This despite the Fed and Congress providing massive amounts of economic support.
Read more here. —Associated Press
2:40 p.m.: Amid COVID-19 spike blamed on weekend parties, U. of I. tells students to stay home
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is seeing a large uptick in COVID-19 cases after some undergraduates partied over the weekend without masks or social distancing, officials say.
They plan to crack down even more on social gatherings, saying students could face immediate suspensions. Students are being asked to stay int their residences for the next two weeks, only leave home for essential needs and avoid gathering even in small groups.
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If the current trend isn’t reversed, the campus could end up with 8,000 cases by the end of the semester, officials warned.
Read more here. —Elyssa Cherney
2 p.m.: Winter patios? Dining igloos? As pandemic persists, bars and restaurants are prepping for one of the strangest winters Chicago has ever seen
As bad as things have been for Chicago bars and restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic, they’re about to get worse.
Winter is coming.
The late-summer transition from sun-dappled patios to indoor tables and booths rarely occupies a second thought across Chicago and its suburbs. But amid shifting attitudes about health and safety during a persisting coronavirus pandemic, the change is likely to be far less intuitive than in years past.
“We’re in terror of it,” said Michael Roper, owner of the Hopleaf Bar. “The patio represents most of our business right now.”
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Read more here. —Josh Noel
12:15 p.m.: Families in suburban Cook County public housing to get free internet in Comcast program funded by federal CARES Act dollars
All families with school-age children in suburban Cook County public housing buildings will be eligible for free broadband internet under a program funded through federal coronavirus stimulus money, officials announced Wednesday.
The Housing Authority of Cook County joined Comcast under the company’s Internet Essentials Partnership Program to begin delivering internet to nearly 14,000 children in more than 6,500 households, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said in a news conference at Richard Flowers Community Housing in Robbins.
”The challenges being faced today are unlike any that I encountered during my tenure. In fact, they’re greater than what we’ve ever seen in modern history,” Preckwinkle said. “And that leaves us trying to connect teachers and students in new and creative ways. We must now use technology to provide meaningful instruction to our young people.”
Every student who lives in the public housing complexes or has a voucher qualifies for the program, which will run for at least nine months. About 600 families are currently signed on to the service, HACC executive director Richard Monocchio said. The county is paying for the $9.95 per month bundle for these families with about $600,000 in federal CARES Act money.
Read more here. —Alice Yin
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12:11 p.m.: 2,128 new known COVID-19 cases and 27 more deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Wednesday announced 2,128 new known cases of COVID-19 and 27 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 238,643 and the statewide death toll to 8,091 since the start of the pandemic. Officials also reported 32,751 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 4.5%.
—Chicago Tribune staff
11:06 a.m.: Steroids confirmed to improve survival rates for severely ill coronavirus patients, studies show
New studies confirm that multiple types of steroids improve survival for severely ill COVID-19 patients, cementing the cheap drugs as a standard of care.
An analysis of pooled results from seven studies, led by the World Health Organization and published Wednesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that steroids reduced the risk of death in the first month by about one-third compared to placebo treatment or usual care alone in these seriously ill patients who needed extra oxygen.
Read more here. —Associated Press
10:52 a.m.: Illinois receives approval for extra $300 in weekly jobless benefits from FEMA
Illinois received approval Tuesday for an extra $300 in weekly federal unemployment benefits authorized by President Donald Trump through an executive order in August.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is responsible for doling out the funds, said in a Tuesday news release it approved the state for the Lost Wage Assistance program, which President Trump ordered last month to extend federal jobless benefits after a $600 weekly supplement expired in late July. Trump authorized the use of up to $44 billion from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund for the payments.
The agency said it will work with Gov. J.B. Pritzker to implement a system to pay the benefits. Neither the state nor FEMA immediately responded to a question Wednesday about when jobless workers could expect to begin receiving the payments.
Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez
10:33 a.m.: United Airlines plans to furlough 16,370 employees Oct. 1 unless it gets more federal aid
United Airlines plans to furlough 16,370 employees this fall as the coronavirus pandemic continues to take a toll on air travel.
In a memo to employees, Chicago-based United said additional funding from the federal government is “the one thing” that could prevent job cuts and delay the impact on employees until next year.
Airlines already received billions of dollars through the federal coronavirus aid package this spring, in exchange for agreeing to avoid layoffs before Oct. 1. But demand for travel remains sharply reduced, and United executives have said they don’t expect flying to return to normal until a vaccine is widely available.
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Read more here. —Lauren Zumbach
8:36 a.m.: CDC halts evictions for some renters due to COVID-19. Here’s who qualifies.
The Trump administration has issued a directive halting the eviction of certain renters through the end of 2020 to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Federal, state and local governments have approved eviction moratoriums during the course of the pandemic for many renters, but those protections are expiring rapidly.
A recent report from one think tank, the Aspen Institute, stated that more than 20 million renters live in households that have suffered COVID-19-related job loss and concluded that millions more are at risk of eviction in the next several months.
Read more here. —Associated Press
7:48 a.m.: ‘Additional ventilators ... are no longer required’: Feds say national stockpile is full, cancel orders
The Trump administration is canceling some of its remaining orders for ventilators, after rushing to sign nearly $3 billion in emergency contracts as the COVID-19 pandemic surged in the spring.
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The Department of Health and Human Services issued a statement Tuesday affirming that the national stockpile has now reached its maximum capacity for the life-saving breathing machines, with nearly 120,000 available for deployment to state and local health officials if needed. Though the orders were billed as a cost-saving measure, Democrats said the cancellations show the White House vastly overspent in its quest to fulfill President Donald Trump’s pledge to make the United States the “King of Ventilators.”
Read more here. —Associated Press
6:45 a.m.: Chicago sports teams, city officials tout mask wearing in One Home Team campaign
Several Chicago sports teams planned to join city officials to encourage young people to wear masks and following other health guidelines as part of the city’s We Are All One Home Team campaign, according to the mayor’s office.
The Chicago Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, Sky, and White Sox will join the city in flying flags for the public relations campaign, according to a release from the mayor’s office.
The city previously released a Snapchat filter allowing people to add a mask to photos and handed out 30,000 masks as part of the campaign, which also has included billboards and social media ads.
“The City encourages all residents to participate in the campaign by posting and sharing photos of their masks on social media using the hashtag #TeamUpMaskUp,” according to the release.
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—Chicago Tribune staff
6 a.m.: Universities suspending students who party without masks and flout social distancing
College students, beware: You could temporarily lose your spot on campus ― or worse, get expelled ― for partying with your peers this fall.
It happened at Purdue University in Indiana, where 36 students received “summary suspensions” earlier this month for attending an off-campus gathering that lacked face masks and social distancing, just hours after a warning from administrators.
As colleges across the country allow students to return for fall classes, many are ramping up enforcement of new rules to curtail the spread of COVID-19. The stakes are high: Universities that can’t contain the virus on campus have paused in-person classes or reverted to remote learning entirely, sending students home for the rest of the semester.
In recent weeks, some colleges have said they will check social media to monitor student behavior, review security footage when students mingle in large groups and, most severely, kick students out of classes for violating school policy.
Read more here. —Elyssa Cherney
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6 a.m.: Your top 10 questions about coronavirus testing, answered
Want to get a COVID-19 test solely because you’re visiting your grandparents?
In Illinois, there’s nothing stopping you.
COVID-19 testing has come a long way since May. You don’t need symptoms — or a doctor’s OK — to find out if you’re infected with the highly contagious virus. Drive-thru testing is common, and the wait can be short or nonexistent.
Hospitals, individual doctors and the state of Illinois are offering multiple options — including, in some cases, a less invasive testing method, in which the swab doesn’t go far up your nose.
We asked health experts what you need to know to navigate the new testing landscape.
Read more here. —Nara Schoenberg
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Here are five stories from Tuesday related to COVID-19.


chicagotribune--2020-09-02--There was only one Bob Rohrman. Auto dealer and TV pitchman dies at 87.

But it was his ubiquitous TV commercials that made him a household name in Chicago .
During Halloween , he @ @ @ @ @ caped vampire gesturing in front of a cardboard cemetery set to “ take a bite @ @ @ @ @ ” while at Christmastime he was Santa Bob , hyping holiday sales .
Other characters @ @ @ @ @ , a “ Star Wars ” Stormtrooper and a king .

Of all the Chicago auto dealers who ever graced the small screen as their own TV pitchman, few were as delightfully campy as Bob Rohrman.
Rohrman’s low-budget commercials radiated good humor and bad production, featuring his mustachioed and bespectacled face peering out from a variety of goofy costumes, a uniquely awkward delivery and flubbed lines that often devolved into a joyous cackle.
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The spots were punctuated by a cheesy cartoon lion and the tag line: “There’s only one Bob ROHRRRR-man!”
Bob Rohrman, of the Bob Rohrman Auto Group, died Sept. 1, 2020. He was 87. (Family photo)
Somehow it all worked, turning the Bob Rohrman Auto Group into one of the largest family-owned dealership groups in the Midwest, and its spokesman/founder into something of a Chicago celebrity.
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Rohrman, 87, died of natural causes Tuesday evening in his Schaumburg condo, a family spokesman said Wednesday.
Born in a log cabin on a rented farm in Lafayette, Indiana, as the ninth of 11 children, Rohrman “started from humble beginnings,” according to his dealership website and a 2015 autobiography, “A Fantastic Ride, " which he handed out to customers.
A 1952 graduate of Lafayette Jefferson High School, Rohrman began selling cars at Glenn R. Pittman Ford in his hometown after serving two years in the Army during the Korean War. In 1963, he launched his first dealership, a Lafayette used-car lot, and opened his first new car dealership, a Toyota franchise, seven years later.
Over the years, his auto group expanded to Illinois and Wisconsin, and now comprises 27 dealerships, including 12 in the Chicago area.
But it was his ubiquitous TV commercials that made him a household name in Chicago. During Halloween, he was Count Bobula, a caped vampire gesturing in front of a cardboard cemetery set to “take a bite out of high prices,” while at Christmastime he was Santa Bob, hyping holiday sales. Other characters included Dr. Bob the Car-Deal-Ologist, a “Star Wars” Stormtrooper and a king.
For some, the favored spots were his blooper reels, a succession of outtakes only slightly less polished than the finished product, where Rohrman would blow his lines, crack himself up and good-naturedly mug for the camera.
Divorced three times, Rohrman’s private life went public in 2009, when he filed an alienation of affection lawsuit against a Chicago plastic surgeon for allegedly seducing his third wife, Ronda, wooing her with expensive meals and gifts.
[ Watch 15 favorite Bob Rohrman TV commercials: ‘There’s only one Bob ROHRRRman!’ ]
Rohrman, who maintained a modest home in Lafayette throughout his adult life, contributed tens of millions of dollars to a variety of causes, including a $3.5 million donation in 2007 to help build the Rohrman Performing Arts Center at his high school alma mater.
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Last year, Rohrman donated $15 million to renovate the football field at Purdue University’s Ross Ade Stadium, which was renamed Rohrman Field in his honor.
[ Empire and its jingle bought by private equity firm ]
Rohrman is survived by three sons, two daughters, 16 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, 27 car dealerships and a treasure trove of TV commercials. Funeral services are pending.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-04--Daywatch: Joe Biden meets with Jacob Blake’s family, CPS substitute teachers left behind and sibling

Daywatch: Joe Biden meets with Jacob Blake’s family, CPS substitute teachers left behind and siblings create luxe picnic service

“ I think we ’ ve reached an inflection point in American history .
I honest to God believe we @ @ @ @ @ that the screen , the curtain ’ s been pulled back on just what ’ @ @ @ @ @ country , to do a lot of really positive things , ” Biden told a @ @ @ @ @ a Kenosha church just a few blocks from where several businesses burned during the violent @ @ @ @ @ shooting .

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Good morning, Chicago. With winter on the horizon, we might have a new coronavirus worry ahead: A lack of vitamin D may be associated with a higher risk for getting COVID-19, according to research from the University of Chicago.
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Also, on Thursday, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said that getting a vaccine by November it is unlikely but “not impossible” — contrary to what the CDC said the day before.
And, if you’re looking for a distraction this weekend, try out our new puzzles and games page to pass the time and challenge your mind.
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Here’s more coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks as he meets with members of the community at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Sept. 3, 2020. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
Making a rare campaign trip to Wisconsin on Thursday, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden spoke by phone with paralyzed police shooting victim Jacob Blake and met with his family before heading to Kenosha, where he urged the country to seize the moment and confront 400 years of institutional racism in America.
“I think we’ve reached an inflection point in American history. I honest to God believe we have an enormous opportunity — that the screen, the curtain’s been pulled back on just what’s going on in the country, to do a lot of really positive things,” Biden told a group of community residents at a Kenosha church just a few blocks from where several businesses burned during the violent unrest following Blake’s shooting.
Protesters gather on Sept. 3, 2020, near a memorial for Daniel Prude at the site of his death in Rochester. (Ted Shaffrey / AP)
The last time Tashyra Prude spoke to her father, he told her how astonished he was that his youngest child was turning 18 and making plans for college.
Just days after her birthday in March, Daniel Prude died when police in Rochester, New York, confronted him on a street, wrapped a hood over his head and pushed his face to the pavement, according to video released this week. Prude was from Chicago and was visiting relatives there.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot at the Chicago Cultural Center on Aug. 31, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday ripped the latest White House threat to cut federal funding for Democratic-run big cities, calling it “nonsense” meant to shore up Republican President Donald Trump’s political support in an election year while promising to sue his administration if it pursues the city’s money.
Nicole Perez has been a substitute teacher with Chicago Public Schools for a decade. (Raquel Zaldivar / Chicago Tribune)
Nicole Perez has been a day-to-day substitute teacher with Chicago Public Schools for 10 years. With CPS turning to remote learning beginning Sept. 8, Perez said substitute teachers are still in the dark about how they fit into the district’s plan for virtual learning.
Siblings Olayinka Sanni, from left, Tunji Sanni and Supo Sanni prepare for a picnic event at D'Angelo Park in the South Loop on Aug. 29, 2020, in Chicago. The siblings own and operate a luxury picnic service called Picnics in the Chi. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
The Sanni siblings have always known how to throw a good party. Growing up in a tightknit Nigerian household and community, the celebrations of their culture were and are known to be elaborate and extravagant — from the colors to the decor. The four siblings used that creativity to start Picnics in the Chi, a picnic service that caters to clients who want to connect with loved ones in a luxe, outdoor setting.


chicagotribune--2020-09-04--Daughter of Daniel Prude speaks out against his death at hands of police: ‘This is unjust and this h

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

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

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


chicagotribune--2020-09-04--Column: Lynn Osmond steers the Chicago Architecture Center through turbulent waters

In the past , tours accounted for the vast majority of the center ’ s revenue .
Yet with the @ @ @ @ @ months of the pandemic , there was a desperate need for new revenue .
A @ @ @ @ @ the federal Paycheck Protection Program provided a temporary stopgap .
But after it ran out @ @ @ @ @ , the center was forced to cut full- and part-time staff , reducing its work @ @ @ @ @ , Osmond said .

No need to hit a jazz club or Second City if you’re hungry for some improv. Thanks to COVID-19, there is plenty of improvisation going on at the Chicago Architecture Center, the nonprofit best known for its architecture tours.
Consider the center’s popular Chicago River cruise, a 90-minute, docent-led tour that glides by iconic skyscrapers. It used to run seven days a week, 250 people per boat. Now, with tourist traffic down, that’s been cut to 3½ and crowds are limited to 90. Because tickets go for an average of $48 apiece, that means a lot less revenue.
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“Some Saturdays we’re selling out. And then on a Sunday, we’re going out with a boat that’s a quarter full. It’s random,” Lynn Osmond, the center’s longtime president and CEO, said in a recent interview.
In 2018, when Osmond opened the center’s sparkling new home at 111 E. Wacker Drive, with its towering skyscraper models, it marked the fulfillment of years of planning and fundraising — and promised a future of limitless possibilities. All that changed in mid-March when the center shut down for an unanticipated, nearly 3½-month hiatus.
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Osmond and her staff had to rethink nearly every aspect of the center, from its Open House Chicago architecture festival to its business model.
Lynn Osmond, president and CEO of the Chicago Architecture Center, at the center in Chicago on Aug. 28, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
In the past, tours accounted for the vast majority of the center’s revenue. Yet with the tours canceled in the early months of the pandemic, there was a desperate need for new revenue. A $1 million loan from the federal Paycheck Protection Program provided a temporary stopgap. But after it ran out at the end of June, the center was forced to cut full- and part-time staff, reducing its workforce to 52 from 82, Osmond said.
To stave off additional cuts and carry on its mission of public education, the center is moving aggressively to win grants from philanthropies.
It’s also altered its walking tours, which typically cost $26 per person, to accommodate social distancing. Previously, attendance was capped at 15 people. Now, the limit is six, and everyone has to wear a mask or face shield.
Other innovations include September boat tours led by architects whose have designed buildings along the river and an online lecture series, which will feature a November talk by Jeanne Gang. Even when the pandemic ends and in-person attendance resumes, that format will likely continue.
“COVID, for us, is probably a game changer for how we deliver our programs,” Osmond said.
The biggest changes have remade Open House Chicago, which in the past enticed visitors with behind-the-scenes peeks at building interiors, from Art Deco lobbies to Gothic Revival naves. COVID-19 rendered such tours potential superspreaders.
This fall, the free-of-charge festival will offer exterior and online tours only. Instead of being concentrated on a single weekend, it extend over 10 days, from Oct. 16 to Oct. 25, with the aim of making crowds less dense.
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Taking advantage of the outdoor format, Open House will have walking and bike tours of landscapes like the network of South Side parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, including Jackson Park, planned site of the Obama Presidential Center.
The festival also will feature more residential architecture than before. (Few homeowners were willing to let thousands of people tromp though their houses.) Among the highlights: A tour of Wicker Park mansions called “Beer Baron Row.”
A new app for mobile devices will provide text about the sites, which are in more than 20 neighborhoods, as well as photos and audio clips.
“We have to transform ourselves through technology,” Osmond said. She and her staff solve one problem and “then it’s on to the next crisis.”
Blair Kamin is a Tribune critic.
bkamin@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter @BlairKamin


chicagotribune--2020-09-04--Federal task force kills Portland shooting suspect during arrest

On July 26 , Reinoehl was shot near his elbow after he got involved in a scuffle between an armed @ @ @ @ @ of young people of color .
The man who was carrying the gun , Aaron @ @ @ @ @ Oregonian/OregonLive that he and a friend had just left a bar when they saw the @ @ @ @ @ man .
His friend began filming them with a phone , and the group confronted @ @ @ @ @ , he said .

Officials work at a scene late Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020, where a man suspected of fatally shooting a supporter of a right-wing group in Portland, Ore., the week before was killed as investigators moved in to arrest him in Lacey, Wash. (Ted Warren/AP)
LACEY, Wash. — A man suspected of fatally shooting a supporter of a right-wing group in Portland, Oregon, last week after a caravan of Donald Trump backers rode through downtown was killed Thursday as investigators moved in to arrest him, the U.S. Marshals Service said Friday.
The man, Michael Forest Reinoehl, 48, was killed as a federal task force attempted to apprehend him in Lacey, Washington, about 120 miles north of Portland. Reinoehl was the prime suspect in the killing of 39-year-old Aaron “Jay” Danielson, who was shot in the chest Saturday night, a senior Justice Department official told The Associated Press.
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Federal agents from the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service had located him on Thursday after a warrant was issued for his arrest, and Reinoehl pulled a gun during the encounter, the official said. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
A U.S. Marshals Service statement later said the fugitive task force “attempted to peacefully arrest him.”
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“Initial reports indicate the suspect produced a firearm, threatening the lives of law enforcement officers. Task force members responded to the threat and struck the suspect who was pronounced dead at the scene,” the statement said.
The U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task forces, comprised of deputy marshals, other federal agents and local law enforcement officers from a variety of agencies, are responsible for apprehending violent felons and other wanted suspects.
Reinoehl’s death came shortly after Vice News published an interview with him, where he confessed to the shooting, saying he acted in self-defense.
Thurston County Sheriff’s Lt. Ray Brady said four members of the fugitive task force fired their weapons, including two Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies, an officer from the Lakewood Police Department and an officer from the Washington State Department of Corrections.
Brady said investigators haven’t yet determined how many rounds were fired.
The suspect was alone at the time of the shooting, Brady said, with no children or other people present.
Brady said he doesn’t think the suspect lived at the address where he was shot, and it’s not clear what brought him to Lacey.
“We don’t know that specifically yet,” Brady said. “I do not believe that was his residence.”
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A Washington State Patrol Crime Lab worker looks at evidence markers in the early morning hours of Friday, Sept. 4, 2020, in Lacey, Wash. at the scene where Michael Reinoehl was killed. (Ted S. Warren/AP)
Reinoehl had described himself in a social media post as “100% ANTIFA.” A regular presence at anti-racism demonstrations in Portland, he suggested the tactics of counter-protesters amounted to “warfare,” and had been shot at one protest and cited for having a gun at another.
“The tracking down of Reinoehl — a dangerous fugitive, admitted Antifa member, and suspected murderer — is a significant accomplishment in the ongoing effort to restore law and order to Portland and other cities,” U.S. Attorney General William Barr said in a statement.
Police on July 5 cited Reinoehl on allegations of possessing a loaded gun in a public place, resisting arrest and interfering with police.
On July 26, Reinoehl was shot near his elbow after he got involved in a scuffle between an armed white man and a group of young people of color. The man who was carrying the gun, Aaron Scott Collins, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he and a friend had just left a bar when they saw the group harassing an older Black man. His friend began filming them with a phone, and the group confronted them, calling them Nazis, he said.
Reinoehl later that day spoke to an AP videographer. His arm was wrapped in a bloody bandage; he said he was on his way to meet protest medics so they could change it.
He said he didn’t know what had started the altercation between Collins and the group, but that several people had decided to intervene when they saw Collins fighting with minors.
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Michael Reinoehl is seen during a protest in front of Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler's residence on Aug. 28, 2020. (Beth Nakamura / The Oregonian)
“As soon as the adults jumped in, he pulled out a gun,” Reinoehl said. “I jumped in there and pulled the gun away from people’s heads, avoided being shot in the stomach and I got shot in the arm.”
Reinoehl also was wanted on a warrant out of Baker County in Eastern Oregon, where court records show he skipped a hearing related to a June case in which he has been charged with driving under the influence of controlled substances, reckless driving, reckless endangerment and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Police said he drove on an interstate at up to 111 mph, with his daughter in the car, while racing his 17-year-old son, who was in a different vehicle.
Protests have erupted daily in the Pacific Northwest city since the killing of George Floyd.
With unruly demonstrations in Portland nearing the 100-day mark, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and other Democratic leaders on Thursday called for an end to violence even as federal agents were continuing to arrest protesters who allegedly assaulted law enforcement officers.
“The violence must stop,” Brown wrote. “There is no place for white supremacy or vigilantism in Oregon. All who perpetrate violent crimes must be held equally accountable.”
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The statement does not single out the small minority of left-wing protesters who have been setting fires, vandalizing buildings and throwing objects at police. But Brown’s spokesman, Charles Boyle, said it “is a collective call to action for an end to violence in Portland and affirms that those who commit violent acts must be held accountable.”
Brown’s condemnation of violence was also signed by almost two-dozen state and local politicians, a host of organizations including the local NAACP chapter, and the city’s professional sports teams: the Trailblazers NBA team, the Timbers soccer team and the Thorns women’s soccer squad.
Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell has denounced protesters who broke windows and set a fire this week to a business in the upscale apartment building where Mayor Ted Wheeler lives. Protesters are angry that Wheeler has not stopped officers from using batons and tear gas against Black Lives Matter protesters. Wheeler now reportedly plans to move out of the building.
As of a week ago, 74 people were facing federal charges for crimes allegedly committed during demonstrations in Portland since at least May 29, U.S. Attorney Billy Williams said.
Gene Johnson in Seattle, Gillian Flaccus in Portland, Oregon, Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, and Andrew Selsky in Salem, Oregon, contributed to this report.


chicagotribune--2020-09-04--Column: Video of police suffocating Daniel Prude is horrifying. But Americans need to watch it, and

Column: Video of police suffocating Daniel Prude is horrifying. But Americans need to watch it, and bear witness.

But those videos must be watched .
People need to see what happened to Prude , whose death was ruled @ @ @ @ @ complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.
” People need to see Floyd @ @ @ @ @ People need to see Blake being shot in front of his children .

Protesters stand amid clouds of chemical irritant released by police outside the Public Safety Building in Rochester, New York, Sept. 3, 2020. Seven police officers involved in the suffocation death of Daniel Prude in Rochester were suspended Thursday by the city's mayor, who said she was misled for months about the circumstances of the fatal encounter. (Adrian Kraus / AP)
Video from police body cameras shows Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man from Chicago, being suffocated by police officers on a street in Rochester, New York, on a cold, early morning in March. Prude died seven days later after his family had him removed from life support.
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White Americans need to watch that video.
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Prude’s death happened two months before George Floyd’s death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer launched an ongoing wave of national protests against police brutality and racial bias in policing. But the video of Prude was only released this week, on Wednesday, after his family obtained it through a public records request.
The video of what police officers did to Prude, who was naked and handcuffed, is horrifying. The police officers around him are, at one point, laughing and cracking jokes while he’s face down on the street with a fabric bag known as a “spit hood” tied over his head, suffocating.
An image from a police body camera shows a Rochester police officer putting a hood over the head of Daniel Prude, on March 23, 2020, in Rochester, New York. (Rochester police via Roth and Roth LLP)
It’s painful to hear Prude’s final sounds. It was painful to watch video of Floyd slowly dying on the street in Minneapolis. And it was painful to hear the crack of gunshots as a police officer in Kenosha shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back at close range.
But those videos must be watched. White Americans need to see what happened to Prude, whose death was ruled a homicide caused by “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.” They need to see Floyd’s final breaths. They need to see Blake being shot in front of his children.
In the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., are the words of Elie Wiesel, author and Holocaust survivor: “For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.”
We must.
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We can’t understand what we don’t see. We can’t fix what we look away from. We can’t make sure horrible acts aren’t repeated if we avert our eyes.
So watch the video and see how Prude was treated. He was found to have phencyclidine, or PCP, in his system. Did that and his erratic behavior, while cuffed and naked, warrant a death sentence?
The father of five had traveled to Rochester in March to visit one of his brothers. A family member said Prude had been struggling with the recent deaths of his mother and another brother.
On the evening of March 22, he was taken to a Rochester hospital for a mental health evaluation for suicidal thoughts. He was released to his brother, then around 3 a.m. the next day, the brother called 911 because Prude had fled the house.
“I placed a phone call for my brother to get help. Not for my brother to get lynched,” Joe Prude said during a news conference in New York.
When police found Prude he was in the street naked and agitated, shouting nonsensically as a light snow fell. The police asked him to get on the ground and put his hands behind his back, and he quickly complied.
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Police say Prude was spitting, so they put a spit hood on him, at which point Prude became more agitated. Officers then slammed the naked and handcuffed man to the ground, with one white officer holding Prude’s head down on the street with both hands.
Per an Associated Press report:
“Another officer places a knee on his back.”
“ ‘Trying to kill me!’ Prude says, his voice becoming muffled and anguished under the hood.”
“ ‘OK, stop. I need it. I need it,’ the prone man begs before his shouts turn to whimpers and grunts.”
Joe Prude said: “How did you see him and not directly say, ‘The man is defenseless, buck naked on the ground. He’s cuffed up already. Come on.’ How many more brothers gotta die for society to understand that this needs to stop?”
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It’s a good question. How many videos like this have to come out before Americans — all Americans — stand up and say: Enough. This is not fair. This is not justice, in any sense. And this must stop.
For that to happen, I believe, people who look like me must bear witness.
If you can watch the protests happening across the country and shake your head at the anger and chaos, or at the destruction that has sometimes bubbled up from communities enraged, you better be able to watch the raw, painful events that have prompted civil unrest.
You need to feel the visceral pain of watching the life snuffed out of a naked man in need of help and compassion, and figure out if what you’re seeing from the people we count on to protect us seems right. Or fair. Or just.
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Because it’s easy to denounce the outcry if you’re evading the moments that chip away at the souls of those who bear witness. It’s easy, and it’s cowardly.
We shouldn’t look away from videos of these horrible events. Because we need to understand the ghastly weight of these tragedies, no matter how uncomfortable.
We owe it to the dead, and the living. We must bear witness.
rhuppke@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-04--Rochester mayor suspends officers involved in Daniel Prude’s suffocation death following release of

Rochester mayor suspends officers involved in Daniel Prude’s suffocation death following release of body camera footage

“ My father should have been met with a mental health specialist .
He should not have been killed in @ @ @ @ @ 18-year-old daughter , Tashyra Prude , said in an interview with The Associated Press .
@ @ @ @ @ that .
He was treated like an animal .
And I want this to be @ @ @ @ @ not only my father , but justice for people like Breonna Taylor , who were @ @ @ @ @ ”

Protesters stand amid clouds of chemical irritant released by police outside the Public Safety Building in Rochester, New York, Sept. 3, 2020. Seven police officers involved in the suffocation death of Daniel Prude in Rochester were suspended Thursday by the city's mayor, who said she was misled for months about the circumstances of the fatal encounter. (Adrian Kraus / AP)
Seven police officers involved in the suffocation death of Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York, were suspended Thursday by the city’s mayor, who said she was misled for months about the circumstances of the fatal encounter.
Prude, 41, who was Black, died when he was taken off life support March 30. That was seven days after officers who encountered him running naked through the street put a hood over his head to stop him from spitting, then held him down for about two minutes until he stopped breathing.
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Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren announced the suspensions at a news conference amid criticism that city officials had kept Prude’s death secret for months.
While denying a cover-up, Warren acknowledged that Prude “was failed by the police department, our mental health care system, our society, and he was failed by me.”
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Hours after the announcement, a crowd of protesters unswayed by the suspensions demonstrated late into the night outside Rochester’s police headquarters. Officers doused some protesters with a chemical spray and fired an irritant into the crowd to keep activists from approaching metal barricades ringing the building.
The confrontation came on the second day of peaceful demonstrations over Prude’s death.
The mayor said she only became aware that Prude’s death involved the use of force on Aug. 4. Initially, she said, Police Chief La’Ron Singletary portrayed it as a drug overdose, which is “entirely different” than what Warren said she witnessed in body camera video. The mayor said she told the chief she was “deeply, personally and professionally disappointed” in his failure to accurately inform her what happened to Prude.
Warren said the seven officers would still be paid because of contract rules and that she was taking the action against the advise of attorneys.
“I understand that the union may sue the city for this. They shall feel free to do so,” she said.
Warren did not announce any action against Singletary. Approached at a community event, Singletary declined to comment but said he would speak later.
Messages left with the union representing Rochester police officers were not immediately returned Thursday.
Prude’s death happened just as the coronavirus was raging out of control in New York and received no public attention at the time.
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His family held a news conference Wednesday and released police body camera video obtained through a public records request that captured his fatal interaction with the officers.
The videos and other records detailed how police had gone looking for Prude after he bolted from his brother’s home early on March 23, hours after receiving a mental health evaluation at a hospital.
When officers found Prude he was completely naked, on the street in a light snow. He lay on the ground as they handcuffed him, then grew agitated, shouting and writhing and demanding that the officers give him a gun.
A crowd of protesters gather on Sept. 2, 2020, in Rochester, N.Y., near the site where Daniel Prude was restrained by police officers. (Adrian Kraus/AP)
Officers put a hood over his head because he had been spitting and then pressed his face into the pavement for two minutes, police video shows.
The hoods are intended to protect officers from a detainee’s saliva and have been scrutinized as a factor in the deaths of several prisoners in recent years.
The videos show Prude, his voice muffled by the hood, begging the white officer pushing his head down to let him go. As the officer, Mark Vaughn, says, “Calm down” and “Stop spitting,” Prude’s shouts became anguished whimpers and grunts.
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“OK, stop. I need it. I need it,” Prude says.
The officer lets Prude go after about two minutes when he stops moving and falls silent. Officers then notice water coming out of Prude’s mouth and call over waiting medics, who start CPR.
A medical examiner concluded that Prude’s death was a homicide caused by “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.” The report lists excited delirium and acute intoxication by phencyclidine, or PCP, as contributing factors.
In his final months, Prude, who was known to his Chicago-based family as “Rell,” had been having mental health problems and had been going back and forth between his Chicago home and his brother’s place in Rochester, relatives said.
“My father should have been met with a mental health specialist. He should not have been killed in the street,” his 18-year-old daughter, Tashyra Prude, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “He did not deserve that. He was treated like an animal. And I want this to be a step toward justice for not only my father, but justice for people like Breonna Taylor, who were killed by the police.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office took over the investigation of the death in April. It is still not complete.
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“The Prude family and the greater Rochester community deserve answers, and we will continue to work around the clock to provide them,” James said in a statement Thursday.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement that he watched video of Prude’s fatal encounter with police Wednesday night.
“What I saw was deeply disturbing and I demand answers,” he said, adding that he was confident James’ investigation would be thorough. “For the sake of Mr. Prude’s family and the greater Rochester community I am calling for this case to be concluded as expeditiously as possible.”
Demonstrators came out on Thursday evening for a second straight night, about 200 of them gathering near the street corner where Prude was restrained by police. Some activists felt suspending the officers was not enough.
“This is a cover up and honestly our mayor, our police chief, they should be bought up on criminal charges,” said Justin Morris.
Earlier Thursday, Prude’s brother, Joe Prude, said all his younger brother wanted that morning was “somebody to grab him up and help him.”
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“No matter how you look at the situation, the man was absolutely in his birthday suit, handcuffed behind his back, on the ground already, in freezing weather,” Prude’s brother, Joe Prude, said. “How could you sit here and label that man a threat to you when he’s already cuffed up? How could you throw a bag over his head?
Hill reported from Albany. Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak, Ted Shaffrey and Jennifer Peltz in New York and Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this report.


chicagotribune--2020-09-04--17-year-old fatally shot in West Garfield Park, police say

Shortly after 8 p.m. , the teen was outside with a group of people in the 4400 block of West @ @ @ @ @ fired shots from a black Nissan Altima , Chicago police said , striking the teen @ @ @ @ @ .
He was taken to Stroger Hospital , where he was pronounced dead , according @ @ @

A 17-year-old boy was shot and killed Thursday night in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side, according to police.
Shortly after 8 p.m., the teen was outside with a group of people in the 4400 block of West Jackson Boulevard when a man fired shots from a black Nissan Altima, Chicago police said, striking the teen in the neck and chest. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to police.
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No one was in custody and Area Four detectives are investigating.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.


chicagotribune--2020-09-04--Democrat Joe Biden met with Jacob Blake’s family in Milwaukee, then with community members in Kenosh

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

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

Bill Ruthhart, Rick Pearson, Genevieve Bookwalter

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks as he meets with members of the community at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Sept. 3, 2020. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
KENOSHA, Wis. — Making a rare campaign trip to Wisconsin on Thursday, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden spoke by phone with paralyzed police shooting victim Jacob Blake and met with his family before heading to riot-torn Kenosha, where he urged the country to seize the moment and confront 400 years of institutional racism in America.
“I think we’ve reached an inflection point in American history. I honest to God believe we have an enormous opportunity — that the screen, the curtain’s been pulled back on just what’s going on in the country, to do a lot of really positive things,” Biden told a group of community residents at a Kenosha church just a few blocks from where several businesses burned during the violent unrest following Blake’s shooting.
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“People are beginning to figure out who we are as a country. This is not who we are. This is not who we are,” Biden said of the violence in Kenosha and other cities. “I am not pessimistic. I am optimistic about the opportunity if we seize it.”
The former vice president, speaking through a mask, lashed out at President Donald Trump’s rhetoric for fueling racial division, contending it was a diversionary tactic by the president to avoid focus on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which he said has caused more than 180,000 deaths and led to a weakened economy, mass unemployment and business closures.
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“I thought you could defeat hate. Hate only hides. It only hides,” he said of Trump’s rhetoric. “And when someone in authority breathes oxygen under that rock, it legitimizes those folks to come on out, come out from under the rocks.”
Biden’s visit occurred two days after Trump visited Kenosha to deliver his law-and-order reelection message while saying he didn’t believe law enforcement is systemically racist and contended that those protesting for structural changes were ignoring those Americans who want safety.
For Biden, Thursday’s trip was a test of the former vice president’s efforts to portray himself as an empathetic leader in contrast to the brash style of the Republican incumbent.
After arriving in Milwaukee, Biden met privately for an hour in an airport building with the family of Blake, the 29-year-old Black man who was paralyzed after being shot in the back by a white Kenosha police officer last month. During the visit with Blake’s father, two sisters, brother and members of his legal team, Biden spoke by phone to Blake, who was moved out of an intensive care unit a day earlier. Blake’s mother also joined the meeting with Biden by phone.
Biden later recounted moments from the 15-minute call with Blake.
“He talked about how nothing was going to defeat him, how, whether he walked again or not, he was not going to give up,” the former vice president said.
Biden said his takeaway from the meeting with the family was the “overwhelming sense of resilience and optimism to the kind of response that they’re getting.” He said Blake’s mother told him that she was “praying for Jacob, but I’m praying for the policeman as well. I’m praying that things change.”
Inside Kenosha’s Grace Lutheran Church, Biden listened to a handful of speakers from among about two dozen community members who were gathered, and kept masked and socially distanced. The group included a firefighter, members of the law enforcement community, business owners, and union members and activists.
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Seeking to contrast himself with Trump, Biden repeated the story of how he decided to get into the presidential contest after watching Trump’s reaction to white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, being confronted by demonstrators, including one who was killed.
“He said there were very fine people on both sides. No president has ever said anything like that,” Biden said. “Not all his fault, but it legitimatizes the dark side of human nature. And what it did, it also exposed what had not been paid enough attention to — the underlying racism that is institutionalized in the United States. Still exists. Has existed for 400 years.”
Biden also sought to emphasize his support for peaceful protest versus violent looting and rioting.
“ ‘Protesting is protesting,’ my buddy John Lewis used to say,” Biden said, referring to the late civil rights icon and congressman.
“But none of it justifies looting, burning or anything else. So regardless how angry you are, if you loot or you burn you should be held accountable as someone who did anything else. Period. It just cannot be tolerated across the board.”
Biden spoke frequently of the work of the previous administration where he served as vice president under the nation’s first Black president, Barack Obama. He called for increasing the nation’s minimum wage, moving prison from punishment to reform, more affordable housing, better school funding to equalize educational opportunity, making it easier for minorities to get loans for startup businesses and establishing a commission on law enforcement.
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“There’s a lot we’re able to do. The public is ready to do these things. I promise you,” he said.
Black Lives Matter activists raise hands and chant "don't shoot" as they walk on 60th Street near Grace Lutheran Church before Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's arrival in Kenosha on Sept. 3, 2020. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Among those speaking to Biden was Porsche Bennett, an organizer for Black Lives Activists Kenosha. Rather than read from a piece of paper in her hand, she instead told Biden, “I have to give you the truth of the people and the truth of the matter is we are heavily angry.”
“We protest to get our voices heard. We protest to show that not just Blacks are tired of what’s going on,” Bennett said, citing a diversity of support.
“We have yet to see action. I was always raised to go off action and not words because you’ll be let down every single time. And the action we want are hold these officers accountable to the same things that we get held accountable to. If I was that officer, I would be in the Kenosha County jail right now,” she said in reference to the Blake shooting.
Biden said that while he’s long supported efforts to help the African American community, “I can’t understand what it’s like to walk out the door, or send my son out the door or my daughter and worry about just because they’re Black they may not come back.”
While campaign events are usually heavily scripted, the Biden campaign said it did not provide the activist a script to read from and suggested it came from the local Black Lives Matter organization.
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As Biden spoke inside the church, Blake’s uncle, Justin Blake, addressed the crowd gathered outside and said the family would continue to push for a criminal indictment of Rusten Sheskey, the Kenosha police officer who shot his nephew. Biden has said he believed charges against the officer should be filed.
Justin Blake also used the moment to call for not only police reform, but also reparations for African Americans and more investments in struggling minority communities.
“I want to talk about why we don’t have jobs, why there’s no money, why we continue to live in poverty when we built this country. In 2020, systemic racism is over, white privilege is over,” Blake said to cheers. “We can grow as a people, we can grow together and not apart. We believe Vice President Biden is going to be part of that healing.”
Raven Spence puts up a yard sign for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden near the Grace Lutheran Church on Sept. 3, 2020, in Kenosha. (Morry Gash / AP)
Sitting outside the church, Glendora Cunningham sat in the shade in a yellow lawn chair hoping to catch a glimpse of the former vice president from a side street near the church’s back exit.
Cunningham, 62, said she long has admired Biden and the work he did during the Obama administration, and said she always loyally votes for Democrats. She said she hopes Biden gets elected so that the White House once again will offer a message of unity for the nation.
“Trump’s not for us. He’s for his rich friends. He’s not for the poor, he’s not for the poor. He’s really not for anyone other than himself,” Cunningham, a Kenosha resident, said. “I just hope Vice President Biden will bring peace to the world, because it’s all about love. We need to get everyone in this country back together.”
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She called the Blake shooting “terrible” and said it was clear from the video “that they didn’t have to pull on his shirt, tug him and then shoot him.” Cunningham also criticized Trump for not even mentioning Blake’s name during his visit to Kenosha earlier this week.
“The president didn’t personally meet with the family. That is wrong,” she said. “That makes a difference when you do that as president, show some sympathy. I’m glad Biden did it.”
During the president’s visit to Kenosha on Tuesday, he pledged law and order as a counter to “reckless far-left politicians” who “push the destructive message that our nation and our law enforcement are oppressive or racists.”
“I think people are calling for structural change, and then you can take the people of Kenosha that aren’t here and that you won’t see and that aren’t protesting. But they want change also. They want law and order. That’s the change they want,” Trump said Tuesday.
He continued that theme in a campaign rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on Thursday night, accusing Biden of staying quiet throughout the summer as “rioters viciously attacked law enforcement and Democrat-run cities.” He reiterated his offer to send in the National Guard help to cities that ask for it and again took credit for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ decision to deploy the National Guard. Trump said Evers “took a while” to make the decision.
“The National Guard’s fantastic. I went to see them two days ago. Biden went there today, there was nobody there. There was nobody there. ... I was gonna say, ‘Hey, listen, we ended that problem.’”
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Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden arrives at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee on Sept. 3, 2020. (Carolyn Kaster / AP)
As Biden made the trip to Wisconsin, his campaign debuted a new one-minute ad in the state, as well as in Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, featuring the candidate with running mate Sen. Kamala Harris and aimed at addressing police violence against Black people.
“We have to let people know that we not only understand their struggle, but they understand the fact that they deserve to be treated with dignity. They’ve got to know we’re listening,” Biden says in the ad.
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“We can’t turn away. Now is the time for racial justice,” he said. “I believe with every fiber in my being we have such an opportunity now to change people’s lives for the better. It’s about who we are, what we believe and, maybe most importantly, who we want to be.”
In the ad, Harris called for creation of a national standard on use of force “and conditioning federal funds for police departments on adoption of that standard.” She also called for reining in the legal doctrine of qualified immunity that helps shield police officers in cases of accountability.
But as the Biden-Harris team sought to tie federal funding to police to use of force, Trump sought to put “on notice” cities with what he considered to be unchecked violence by threatening federal funding for “anarchist jurisdictions.” He specifically named Seattle; Portland, Oregon; New York; and Washington.
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Trump, in a memo, said “it is imperative that the federal government review the use of federal funds by jurisdictions that permit anarchy, violence, and destruction in America’s cities.”
The memo also called for Attorney General Bill Barr to begin “identifying anarchist jurisdictions” and to publish a list of state and local jurisdictions that have “permitted violence and the destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract these criminal activities.”
The Kenosha visit marks Biden’s first campaign appearance in the Midwest since a Detroit rally on March 9, the night before the Michigan primary. Following his victory there, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated in the U.S., leaving Biden to cancel rallies and campaign virtually in Illinois and Wisconsin before Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race.
Biden finished the trip at a backyard event in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa, where he discussed his plans for school safety amid the pandemic.
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bruthhart@chicagotribune.com
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chicagotribune--2020-09-04--30 million migrating birds were predicted to fly over Illinois on Thursday night. Friday could be a

30 million migrating birds were predicted to fly over Illinois on Thursday night. Friday could be a good day for birding.

Local birding organizations recommend shutting off any nonessential lights from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. One study carried out in @ @ @ @ @ trip through beams of light had the potential to throw birds off their migratory course @ @ @ @ @ Cornell Lab of Ornithology noted the high number of migratory birds passing through the city @ @ @ @ @ the top of the list for generating light pollution .

Turning your lights off tonight might do more than save electricity, birders say. It might save some birds.
The migration forecast map from Colorado State University and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology shows Illinois at high intensity for migration Thursday evening, a peak of activity in the next few busy days for the birds.
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Judy Pollock, president of the Chicago Audubon Society, said “it’s like a weather report for birds.”
The forecasts predict migration three hours after sunset, according to the Cornell lab, and are based on models from decades of bird movements detected by the NEXRAD weather surveillance radar network.
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For Chicago, the BirdCast predicts more than 200 million migrations across nine states. In Illinois, 30 million birds are predicted to be flying over the state Thursday night, with nearly 110,000 forecast to fly over Chicago alone.
Local birding organizations recommend shutting off any nonessential lights from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. One study carried out in New York found that a trip through beams of light had the potential to throw birds off their migratory course. A report from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology noted the high number of migratory birds passing through the city, and put Chicago at the top of the list for generating light pollution.
“They’re attracted to cities,” Pollock said. “And cities are where we have windows and glass, which birds really don’t understand and will smack into. So it’s a big problem for birds. The light really, really disrupts their migration.”
Luckily, Pollock said, Chicago has the Lights Out program, which recommends tall buildings go dark after 11 p.m. during migratory seasons.
“It’s good to be aware of how much light you’re putting out personally,” Pollock said. “It’s something sort of like recycling. If one person does it, then it doesn’t make that big of a difference, but when a lot of people start doing it, it really makes a big difference.”
Pollock also recommended opening windows Thursday night to listen for all the birds overhead — maybe thrushes, warblers or flycatchers. And keeping cats indoors.
The groundswell of migration also means that tomorrow might be a good time for birding.
“Tomorrow might be the kind of day where you can go out birding and see 100 different species of birds,” Pollock said. “So there’s a lot of possibilities.”
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Washington Park might be a good bet, she said, or a park along the river, where birds gravitate.
Shorebird migration has been in full swing, but land birds are starting to migrate, Pollock said.
Among the shorebirds that have successfully migrated: the endangered Great Lakes piping plover offspring of Monty and Rose, the shorebirds who last summer settled in Chicago as a music festival approached, and this summer successfully fledged three chicks at Montrose Beach.
Hazel and Esperanza have been spotted along Georgia’s coast, and Nish has appeared in Sarasota, Florida.
Louise Clemency, a field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said she’s happy Georgia and Florida can share in plover excitement, and join Chicagoans in hoping for their return next spring.
“In this strange time when we are all keeping our distance from each other, it’s wonderful to have the plovers remind us again of how connected we all are, too,” Clemency said.
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mgreene@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-05--Dogs fight at Bloomingdale PetSmart

Dogs fight at Bloomingdale PetSmart

Security video from Bloomingdale PetSmart shows Jordan , a dog owned by the nonprofit group Pets and Vets USA , @ @ @ @ @ another dog in 2018 .

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chicagotribune--2020-09-05--Illinois Senate President Don Harmon’s office subpoenaed by feds who wanted information on land parc

Illinois Senate President Don Harmon’s office subpoenaed by feds who wanted information on land parcel in Chinatown

The U.S. attorney ’ s office in Chicago demanded that Harmon ’ s office , which he took over early @ @ @ @ @ of former Senate President John Cullerton , turn over all documents and communications related to @ @ @ @ @ and Wentworth Avenue in Chinatown .
The parcel is a state-owned parking lot long coveted @ @ @

Senate President Don Harmon appears during a session at the Illinois State Capitol on May 20, 2020. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Add Illinois Senate President Don Harmon’s office to the long list of organizations, politicians, lobbyists and others subpoenaed in a wide-ranging federal probe that has already led to a series of political corruption charges and convictions.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago demanded that Harmon’s office, which he took over early this year after the retirement of former Senate President John Cullerton, turn over all documents and communications related to a property at Cermak Road and Wentworth Avenue in Chinatown. The parcel is a state-owned parking lot long coveted by developers.
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The possibility of the state transferring the property to developer See Y. Wong was discussed in a meeting among House Speaker Michael Madigan and former Ald. Danny Solis, 25th, the Sun-Times has reported. Madigan has been subpoenaed in the probe, Solis wore a wire for the feds and Wong has been charged with fraud.
FBI agents also discussed the transfer with state Sen. Theresa Mah, who represents Chinatown, according to the Sun-Times. And the subpoena of Madigan also sought documents and communications related to the potential land transfer.
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The subpoena, obtained by the Tribune on Friday through an open records request, was issued July 17. Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat, was told to turn over communications related to the property, including any with Madigan and former state Sen. Martin Sandoval, who has pleaded guilty to bribery and tax crimes.
The subpoena also sought communications with lobbyist Michael McClain, a longtime Madigan confidant whose home was raided by the feds, and lobbyist Nancy Kimme. And the feds demanded “contemplated or proposed legislation relating to the Chinatown parcel.”
There’s no indication in the subpoena that Harmon is a target of a federal probe.
“Clearly there is an ongoing federal investigation related to Marty Sandoval’s legislative activities,” Harmon spokesman John Patterson said in a statement. “Our office has complied with requests for information.”
At the time Wong sought the property transfer, Sandoval was chairman of the transportation committee. In that role, he would have been the gatekeeper for any legislation allowing such a transfer.
hdardick@chicagotribune.com
jmunks@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-04--Jacob Blake’s father says his son is optimistic for his future, remains paralyzed from waist down af

Jacob Blake’s father says his son is optimistic for his future, remains paralyzed from waist down after being shot

Jacob Blake , a 29-year-old Black man , was shot Aug. 23 , setting off days of protests that made @ @ @ @ @ nation ’ s ongoing debate over police violence and racial injustice .
Over three days @ @ @ @ @ set and some Kenosha businesses destroyed .
On Aug. 25 , prosecutors say a 17-year-old @ @ @ @ @ two demonstrators .
His attorneys say the teenager , who was patrolling the streets with @ @ @ @ @ in self-defense .

MADISON, Wis. — Jacob Blake’s father said Friday that his “happy-go-lucky” son is optimistic for his future, although he remains paralyzed from the waist down after being shot seven times in the back by a Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer.
A clearly exhausted Jacob Blake Sr., speaking by video chat from a Milwaukee hotel, told The Associated Press that the past two weeks have been “surreal” and “like a dream” and he’s mentally worn out. He said he’s been receiving death threats, which he said he couldn’t talk about in detail.
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“It’s been hard on everybody,” Blake Sr., who drove from North Carolina to be with his hospitalized son, said.
Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was shot Aug. 23, setting off days of protests that made Wisconsin the epicenter of the nation’s ongoing debate over police violence and racial injustice. Over three days, dozens of fires were set and some Kenosha businesses destroyed. On Aug. 25, prosecutors say a 17-year-old from Illinois shot and killed two demonstrators. His attorneys say the teenager, who was patrolling the streets with a rifle, was acting in self-defense.
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Blake was released from intensive care this week and “is doing a little bit better,” his father said.
Still, “from the waist down, no movement,” Blake Sr. said. “He can’t move.”
Blake Sr. said he talks with his son about what he’ll be able to do once he’s released from the hospital, rather than his limitations if he remains paralyzed.
“We’ll go fishing together in the chair,” he said. “I’ve got the perfect spot for us. Things of that nature, things that have nothing to do with the sickness or anything.”
Five days after the shooting, Blake Sr. followed through on his plans to attend the March on Washington commemoration in the nation’s capital. His father had marched with Martin Luther King Jr., and Jacob Blake Sr. said he considered it his “duty” to still attend the march even though his son was hospitalized.
Earlier this week, Blake Sr. said another one of his sons had a nervous breakdown and was admitted to the hospital. Two days after that, members of the Blake family met with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in Kenosha. Jacob Blake spoke to Biden by phone from the hospital.
President Donald Trump traveled to Kenosha on Tuesday. He thanked law enforcement for their efforts in quelling violence and met with people whose businesses were destroyed in fires, but he did not meet with Blake’s family.
Blake Sr. said Trump made clear he has no interest in his family. He said meeting with Biden and his wife was like speaking with an uncle and aunt.
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“He came in that room with sympathy, empathy, a caring nature,” Blake Sr. said. “It was not an interview, it was not a political thing.”
The Blake family told Biden that they want all police to be required to have body cameras, something the Kenosha officers did not have. Blake Sr. said the family also told the former vice president they want police trained in de-escalation techniques. And they want the officer who shot Blake to be fired.
All three officers present when Blake was shot are on administrative leave during the investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
The state agency said police were sent to the scene after a woman reported her boyfriend was present and wasn’t supposed to be on the premises.
Blake’s attorney Ben Crump has said that Blake was trying to break up a domestic dispute.
The Justice Department has said a knife was recovered from an SUV he was leaning into when he was shot, but has not said whether he was holding it when officers tried to arrest him.
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The man who made widely seen cellphone video of the shooting, 22-year-old Raysean White, said he saw Blake scuffling with three officers and heard them yell, “Drop the knife! Drop the knife!” before gunfire erupted. He said he didn’t see a knife in Blake’s hands.
The Kenosha police union said Blake had the knife and refused orders to drop it. Blake fought with police, including putting one officer in a headlock, the union said. Police twice used a Taser, which did not stop Blake.
Blake Sr. said that two hours before the shooting, he spoke with his son and a grandson who was celebrating a birthday. That child, along with two of Blake’s other children, were in the SUV when he was shot. Blake Sr. said he has not talked with his son about what happened just prior to the shooting.
“There’s nothing that my son did that justifies getting shot seven times in his back,” Blake Sr. said. “Nothing.”
Nasir contributed from Chicago.