chicagotribune--2020-11-24--Chicago City Council set for final vote on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s 2021 budget plan

“ It should not pass on the heels of the largest protest movement in U.S. history , ” she added @ @ @ @ @ of a pandemic , in Chicago ’ s most violent year in recent memory , @ @ @ @ @ people fighting off illegal evictions , we need and deserve so much more than this @ @ @ @ @ ”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot scored a relatively narrow but important victory Tuesday as the City Council adopted her $12.8 billion budget for 2021 that relies on a property tax hike and controversial debt refinancing to help close a massive deficit.
Aldermen voted 28-22 in support of Lightfoot’s $94 million property tax increase. The mayor’s full budget also passed 29-21.
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It wasn’t as decisive a margin as her 2020 spending plan got, to say nothing of the overwhelming budget wins enjoyed most years by her predecessors.
But given the unusually bad financial forecast for the city during the COVID-19 pandemic and her combative relationship with many aldermen, Lightfoot happily accepted it, saying she would celebrate like last year with a scotch, a cigar and a steak.
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She thanked those who voted for the plan and struck a conciliatory tone toward those who opposed it.
“I hope what Chicagoans who were able to watch the City Council debate also understand is that you witnessed democracy in action,” she said. “It is often messy, confounding and, at times, frustrating. But for me, it remains the best system of government in the world.”
Lightfoot’s spending plan has plenty of bad news, though the proposed property tax increase wasn’t as high as what some aldermen had feared she would seek, making her job lining up at least 26 votes somewhat easier than it might have been.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks at a news conference at Chicago City Hall on Nov. 24, 2020, after presiding over a videoconference meeting of the City Council. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
It also includes a provision to raise property taxes annually by an amount tied to the consumer price index. It raises gas taxes by 3 cents and relies on an increase in fines and fees collection, including a plan to boost revenue by ticketing residents who are caught going 6 mph over the limit by speed cameras.
And most nonunion city workers will be required to take five unpaid furlough days during the year, all part of a package to address a shortfall of around $1.2 billion.
In addition, Lightfoot is asking to refinance $501 million in city debt for the 2021 budget, which would provide a jolt of new revenue next year but likely cost taxpayers more down the road. Similar borrowing tactics under Mayors Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel drew deep criticism, but the Lightfoot administration said the city’s current financial disaster makes such a move appropriate.
Lightfoot has spent weeks lining up the votes needed to pass what she calls her “pandemic budget” through the City Council. Aldermen pushed back hardest on the property tax increase, a politically difficult vote at the best of times and especially unpopular with the city’s economy hit hard by coronavirus closures and layoffs.
Lightfoot defended the proposed hike as fiscally responsible and a small hit for city residents.
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Black Caucus Chairman Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, thanked the mayor for increasing violence prevention funding and agreeing to a pilot program in which crisis teams rather than just police officers will respond to mental health incidents. Sixteen members of the Black Caucus voted in favor of the property tax hike, and four members voted against it.
“We won’t be judged by the great things that happen downtown, or the things that happen out in Sauganash to Beverly, but what did we do to help the residents in North Lawndale, South Shore or even out far south in Altgeld Gardens?” Ervin said. “Because today, the things we’re doing today, they’re not easy. But today’s decisions are necessary.”
As she’s negotiated with the City Council, Lightfoot has had to fight what she has characterized as her reluctance to play politics with aldermen by making concessions in the spending plan or offering carrots in specific wards to increase the support.
But bowing to the pressure from council members, she has made several significant changes to her budget plan in recent weeks, such as eliminating hundreds of proposed layoffs and increasing anti-violence funding, that helped her get the backing she needs.
After the vote, Lightfoot defended the deals she struck and said she doesn’t see them as being inconsistent with her vow not to horse trade.
“I don’t buy votes and I never will, but the democratic process is about compromise,” she said.
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The mayor also said she isn’t worried about the tight margins.
“I govern to 26,” she said. “A rubber stamp City Council does a disservice not only to the members but the people.”
Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza, 10th, cited the canceled layoffs as a key reason for her supporting the budget.
Ald. Chris Taliaferro, 29th, downplayed the cost of the property tax hike, saying the $56 a year it translates to for homes worth $250,000 is “the cost of one meal for my family.” That money, however, will improve safety for residents, he said.
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Not everyone was convinced by the argument.
Northwest Side Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, 33rd, voted no. She said the budget fails to respond to the realities in Chicago, both with people suffering economic hardship during the pandemic and those calling for more social justice in the city government’s outlook.
”This is a budget that relies on regressive revenue measures like parking meters and ticketing instead of looking at alternatives directed at making the wealthy pay,” Rodriguez Sanchez said. “We’re voting on a budget that includes promises without plans, plans without personnel or metrics or ways to hold our agencies accountable in their execution. If a budget is a statement of values, this budget process reflects that we don’t regard mutual respect or collaboration as a value.”
South Side Ald. Jeanette Taylor, 20th, said the budget is unfairly balanced on the backs of taxpayers.
“Don’t give me crumbs and tell me it’s cake,” she said.
Lightfoot muscled her property tax hike on Chicago homeowners through the council the same day she introduced a plan to let the Cubs, which is owned by the Ricketts family, defer a $250,000 payment to the city for infrastructure improvements near Wrigley Field on the grounds the team has lost revenue during the pandemic.
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Much of the opposition to the budget came from aldermen against the property tax increase or who wanted to see more police defunding. Lightfoot also lost a chunk of votes from Northwest and Southwest Side aldermen including Marty Quinn, 13th, and Matt O’Shea, 19th, who said they were also opposed to Lightfoot’s cuts to police funding.
Lightfoot’s 2020 budget passed 39-11, and she took a combative approach to aldermen who voted no. After the vote, Lightfoot launched a website shaming Chicago aldermen who voted against her first budget, casting it as a civic tool for the public despite criticism that it was petty and bullying.
On Tuesday, Lightfoot was more forgiving than she has been in some prior disagreements with the City Council. “I also want to thank those who did not vote for the budget,” she said. “We have to move forward together.”
It might not be so easy for her to get past her fights with aldermen, however.
After voting against her budget last year, North Side Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, voted for this year’s package. Vasquez noted Tuesday that while the 11 no votes last autumn were mostly progressive Black and Latino aldermen, this year much of the opposition came from white aldermen in wealthier wards where residents vehemently opposed the property tax increase.
“I want this council and this city to remember that last year, when a coalition of mostly Black and brown alders voted no on the 2020 budget, we were publicly targeted by a custom-built campaign website,” Vasquez said. “I do not expect we will see the same treatment of some of the committee chairs and other powerful, privileged white aldermen this year.”
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Two other aldermen who voted no last year, Ald. Maria Hadden, 49th, and Ald. Mike Rodriguez, 22nd, also supported this year’s budget, but not without reservations.
“This is not a people’s budget, and the process we followed is not one that faithfully incorporated the input of the people of this city,” Hadden said before her vote. “I won’t pretend this budget reflects the values that our administration and City Council claim to hold. I’m voting aye because that was the price of the non-law enforcement mental health response model being included in the pilot for this year.”
Behind the scenes, Lightfoot worked hard to generate support for her budget. In a meeting with the Black Caucus, Lightfoot told aldermen that those who don’t support her budget shouldn’t expect their wards to be prioritized and added, “Don’t come to me for s--- for the next three years” if they didn’t support her spending plan.
Lightfoot also approached the Latino Caucus to remove exceptions in Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance, the city’s sanctuary law, that allow police to cooperate with federal immigration authorities under limited circumstances. The city’s welcoming ordinance has been criticized by activists for years due to such allowances.
The move was pitched as a budget sweetener to help secure their support, though some Latino aldermen balked at that and she decided not to link it to the budget.
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Lightfoot’s proposed five-year, $3.7 billion capital plan also helped her get support from trade unions in convincing aldermen. The plan passed 41-8 on Tuesday.
Many progressives remain unimpressed with Lightfoot’s budget priorities. At a Monday news conference, members of the United Working Families community organization and other grassroots groups called on aldermen to vote no.
Emma Tai, executive director of United Working Families, said Lightfoot ignored progressive ideas such as a proposed tax on Amazon and other retailers with large successful delivery operations in Chicago in favor of a property tax hike that will hurt struggling homeowners and renters.
“Instead of a moral budget, we got a do-nothing budget,” Tai said.
“It should not pass on the heels of the largest protest movement in U.S. history,” she added. “In the midst of a pandemic, in Chicago’s most violent year in recent memory, and with working and poor people fighting off illegal evictions, we need and deserve so much more than this budget has to offer.”
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
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gpratt@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-11-24--Column: Trump lost and his lawsuits are garbage. But please keep donating! The grift must go on.

Of course , the website ’ s fine print shows just how swiftly Trumpian grifters part fools from their money @ @ @ @ @ donation , up to $ 5,000 , goes first to a Trump political action committee @ @ @ @ @ Only after meeting that $ 5,000 threshold does a dime from the 75 % cut @ @ @ @ @ recount account .
The remaining 25 % of each donation goes to the Republican National @ @ @ @ @ , if you donate $ 100 , no money goes to the election fund while @ @ @ @ @ ’ s PAC and $ 25 goes to the RNC .
You would have to @ @ @ @ @ any money would go to the election account , and even then it would only @ @ @

Supporters of President Donald Trump protest Michigan election results, outside the Capitol in Lansing on Nov. 23, 2020. Republicans have divided themselves into two camps as they struggle to cope with the reality that Trump has, indeed, lost the election. (Emily Elconin/The New York Times)
Soon-to-be-not-president Donald Trump lost the election.
He is losing every court case he and his Elite Strike Farce of buffoon-American lawyers present.
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His claims of massive voter fraud (there wasn’t any) and a grand conspiracy (there isn’t one) are only slightly less ridiculous than his expressed belief that he won in a landslide (he didn’t, and actual landslides should sue him for damaging their brand).
This remarkable streak of failure might leave some asking: “When does this all become just a bit too embarrassing, even for Trump?”
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The answer is simple: Never.
Trump isn’t capable of feeling embarrassed. In his mind, he has never done anything to merit such an emotion. He has never lost at anything. He has never failed.
More importantly, however, is that for Trump and his children and the many who sold their souls for a spot in Trump’s polluted orbit, the grift must go on. Admitting failure, while crucial for democracy in this instance, would be unacceptably bad for grifting. This crowd of faux patriots will gladly run roughshod over the country if there’s money to be had.
Need proof? Immediately after the Nov. 3 election, people on Trump mailing lists began getting emails pleading for donations to fund recounts or to help with something called the “Official Election Defense Fund.” That fund’s website shouts, “THE DEMOCRATS WANT TO STEAL THIS ELECTION!” and “We can’t allow the Left-wing MOB to undermine our Election.”
Of course, the website’s fine print shows just how swiftly Trumpian grifters part fools from their money: 75% of each donation, up to $5,000, goes first to a Trump political action committee called “Save America.” Only after meeting that $5,000 threshold does a dime from the 75% cut make it to a so-called recount account. The remaining 25% of each donation goes to the Republican National Committee. Put more simply, if you donate $100, no money goes to the election fund while $75 goes to Trump’s PAC and $25 goes to the RNC. You would have to donate about $6,667 before any money would go to the election account, and even then it would only 25 cents.
The New York Times first reported on the “Save America” PAC, quoting Brendan M. Fischer, an attorney at a watchdog group called the Campaign Legal Center: “Small donors who give thinking they’re helping to defend the integrity of our election are in fact largely helping to finance Trump’s post-presidential political ventures.”
Trump can use his PAC to pay for travel, polling and for his own post-presidency political team. We wouldn’t want Donald Jr., Eric or Ivanka to go hungry, would we?
The best thing for the country, for our national security and for the hundreds of people dying each day from COVID-19 would be for Trump to concede and allow a smooth transition to a Biden administration.
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But what’s best for the country is not what’s best for Trump, so he thumbs his nose at precedent and norms and decency and continues to squeeze his deeply deceived followers for cash and adoration.
He does what he has done his entire life when faced with his own failure: He lies. He spins conspiratorial tales. He blames others. And he insists everyone around him do the same.
So there are lawyers, and I use the term loosely, filing lawsuits in swing states across the country alleging voter fraud and all manner of Election Day chicanery, hoping, perhaps, that the power of prayer will help them overcome an acute lack of evidence and, in many cases, legal arguments that imagine a version of the Constitution that doesn’t exist.
Trump’s team has won only one case — a minor Pennsylvania ruling that is not expected to impact the vote count in that state. The team has lost more than 30 cases, and counting.
The overarching theory about fraud in the 2020 presidential election, as presented by the Trump campaign’s attorneys in a news conference last week, was summarized by The Associated Press like this: “Trump attorney Sidney Powell spun fictional tales of election systems flipping votes, German servers storing U.S. voting information and election software created in Venezuela at the direction of Hugo Chávez — the late Venezuelan president who died in 2013.”
The Trump team has now tried to distance itself from Powell by saying she’s not actually on the Trump team, despite the fact that she spoke at the Trump team news conference. Some have referred to these attorneys as “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” but that’s an insult to both gangs and people who can’t shoot straight.
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As for the mountains of evidence showing THE TRUTH behind how DEMOCRATS STOLE THIS ELECTION and TRUMP ACTUALLY WON IN A LANDSLIDE … well, we’re told that’s coming any day now.
We’ll likely see evidence of this grand conspiracy around the same time we see a completed border wall paid for by Mexico. We’ll see it when we see Trump’s taxes, once that now-legendary audit has ended. We’ll see it when we see the big, beautiful Trump health care plan, or perhaps when Melania Trump finally holds that news conference, which Trump said in 2016 would happen “in the next couple weeks,” to address reports she violated immigration laws when she first came to the United States.
In other words, we’ll see proof of a rigged election when one-term President Donald Trump admits he lost to Sleepy Joe Biden: Never.
But we’ll see plenty of Trump saying, “Keep donating!” He needs your money to fight the “Left-wing MOB” that stole the election! Give, give, give!
Because the grift, if not the presidency, must go on.
rhuppke@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-11-24--Will Illinois run out of hospital beds? Available data suggests a grim winter if trends don’t change

Will Illinois run out of hospital beds? Available data suggests a grim winter if trends don’t change.

But public health experts say the real challenge isn ’ t space but staffing .
Hospital workers are getting sick @ @ @ @ @ skilled enough to do critical care work are now heavily recruited around the country by @ @ @ @ @ own crowded buildings .
In one sign of the challenge , the number of ICU @ @ @ @ @ could operate suddenly dropped by about 500 last week .
According to the state , @ @ @ @ @ submit a count of the number of beds that could be staffed within four hours @ @ @ @

Dr. Michael Gottlieb, left, and Dr. Keya Patel work Nov. 23, 2020, in the lobby of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, which had been transformed into a triage area for less seriously ill patients with COVID-19-like symptoms. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
The city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, briefly ran out of intensive care beds earlier this month. For a time, just 11 ICU beds were free across all of North Dakota. And last week, availability in some parts of Minnesota was down to single digits.
In Illinois, the state health director warned last week that some hospitals have already reported running low on beds amid the state’s second massive COVID-19 surge.
“We are not at the point where we are going to have anybody just flailing in the hallway because we can’t get them a bed ... (but) that is a real possibility,” Dr. Ngozi Ezike told reporters Friday. “That has happened in other parts of this country, in other parts of this world. We’re not going to let that happen in Illinois, but it takes all of us to make sure that that doesn’t happen.”
As COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen to unprecedented levels in Illinois and other states, the same questions from the spring surge are reemerging: Will Illinois hospitals run out of beds? And if they do, where and when?
Last week, the Pritzker administration released projections from two sets of researchers that estimated the future number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, including those in intensive care units. These models don’t directly address when beds might run out, but a Tribune analysis of the more pessimistic projections suggests that, if trends don’t improve, all of the state’s currently available ICU beds could be in use by early December.
One caveat is that both models assume no changes in people’s behavior, and the researchers expect the state’s new “Tier 3″ restrictions will have a positive effect.
Registered nurse Kara Pedersen, left, and Dr. Michael Gottlieb work Nov. 23, 2020, in the lobby of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, which had been transformed into a triage area for less seriously ill patients with COVID-19-like symptoms. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
In fact, the latest state data on hospitalizations offers hints of improvement — a possible bending of the curve. But those following the data say it’s too early to tell if the changes are significant or just statistical fluctuations. Any improvements also could be undone by infection surges related to holiday gatherings.
Doctors say their biggest concerns for overcrowding are in the ICUs, the specialized units in hospitals that handle the sickest of the sick. In one of the state’s 11 regions — encompassing Will and Kankakee counties, with more than 800,000 residents — there were just 22 open ICU beds on Thursday night, a situation Ezike described the next day as “dire.”
Which hospitals had available beds? It’s impossible to tell from the state data. The state gathers information on specific hospitals but has declined to make it public.
Amid a surge of patients, hospitals do have some flexibility to free up beds, such as by delaying procedures for patients who do not have COVID-19. They did that this spring, and some are doing it now.
An advocacy group of health care workers that has been sounding the alarm about hospital capacity, the Illinois Medical Professionals Action Collaborative Team, noted that any adjustments hospitals make to handle more patients can cause collateral damage.
“Hospitals have levers that they can pull to increase bed capacity when faced with these surges, but none of these levers are without harm,” said the group’s CEO, Dr. Vineet Arora, a University of Chicago professor of medicine.
“When people say, ‘Well when is COVID going to overwhelm your hospital?’ — by the time you’re having that conversation, you’re already harming somebody,” she said. “If you’re somebody who requires that elective surgery to diagnose and treat your cancer, you’re not getting that care.”
The better news is that doctors and nurses have figured out better ways to treat people since the springtime surge, making it less likely that people hospitalized with the virus end up dying from it.
However, the current surge is striking all parts of Illinois, not just the Chicago area, which adds to the challenges. The sheer volume of cases now also is leading to more deaths, and health advocates say the heavy caseload threatens to again raise a patient’s odds of dying if doctors and nurses do not have time to provide the best care.
Already, many health care workers feel stretched to the limit, said Dr. Kamaljit Singh, director of infectious disease research at NorthShore University HealthSystem.
“Our hospitals and staff — including hospitals around the state and country — are close to a breaking point,” Singh said at a news briefing Thursday.
A flood of patients
Here’s what is clear: The number of COVID-19 patients has risen dramatically in less than two months.
The figures have surpassed the highest daily bed usage from the spring, with the figure now topping 6,100. That’s a significant rise from less than 1,700 on Oct. 1, when Illinois began seeing sharp rises across the state, although recent days show signs that the surge may be slowing.
Intensive care units, while not yet breaking the statewide spring surge record, have also seen dramatic climbs, from fewer than 400 COVID-19 patients on Oct. 1 to more than 1,200, though here also there are hints that the curve may be bending.
The Pritzker administration has not released specific projections on when beds could run out, although the governor and Ezike have repeatedly warned it will happen if trends don’t change. On Friday, Pritzker said residents shouldn’t be fooled into complacency because they hear hospitals still have open beds.
“People have been pushing this online, this idea that ‘Oh, there’s plenty of space in the hospitals.’ They’re not looking forward,” Pritzker told reporters, later adding: “What you’re looking at is directionally and the speed at which COVID patients are filling up these beds. So we’re trying to look forward weeks, right, so that we don’t end up at Christmastime in the situation where they’re at 105% (capacity).”
The state regularly asks researchers at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University to forecast whether hospitals will overflow. But the last set of projections the state was willing to release was from nearly two weeks ago, and only predicted trends up to Dec. 11. Both models assumed people’s behavior wouldn’t change. The U. of I. forecast anticipated the state would have enough ICU beds available, at least through that date, but Northwestern’s version suggested the state was more likely to run out of beds by then.
Pritzker at a briefing last week highlighted a more detailed set of projections that were specific to COVID-19 patients and predicted, among other things, that many more COVID-19 patients could fill ICU beds in the spring of 2021 than was the case this year.
Both universities noted that these projections were again based on the worst-case scenario — that state residents wouldn’t change their behavior. Still, updated projections provided to the Tribune on Thursday offer a stark assessment of how quickly ICUs could fill up with COVID-19 patients if the worst trends of the fall were to continue.
Under the University of Illinois projection, the number of COVID-19 patients in ICU beds is expected to reach 2,300 to 4,300 by New Year’s Day, with a median prediction topping 3,400. And the state has only 3,300 ICU beds, by last count.
In addition, ICUs are currently caring for roughly 1,400 patients who don’t have COVID-19. Do the math, and the state wouldn’t have enough ICU beds even under the model’s rosiest scenario.
Again, it’s possible for hospitals to add more ICU beds, and the state could also open up more space, such as the field hospital at McCormick Place that went largely unused earlier in the year. This time, Pritzker said, the state would first tap a closed Blue Island hospital that had 28 ICU beds when it was last operating.
But public health experts say the real challenge isn’t space but staffing. Hospital workers are getting sick, too, and those skilled enough to do critical care work are now heavily recruited around the country by hospitals desperate to staff their own crowded buildings. In one sign of the challenge, the number of ICU beds that hospitals said they could operate suddenly dropped by about 500 last week. According to the state, officials had pushed hospitals to submit a count of the number of beds that could be staffed within four hours, if needed.
Hospitals can help ease the pressure by reducing the number of ICU patients who don’t have COVID-19. In the spring, hospitals statewide saw a 70% drop of the number of non-COVID-19 ICU patients in a matter of weeks — both by cutting nonemergency surgeries and because fearful sick people stayed away.
If hospitals collectively had the same drop this fall, they’d end up with just over 600 patients a day in the ICUs who did not have COVID-19, down from a peak of roughly 2,000.
To analyze when the state might run out of ICU beds, the Tribune took the U. of I.’s median projection for the number of COVID-19 patients in ICUs, then added in the number of patients who could be there for other reasons. Even if that second number fell to around 600, the number of ICU patients overall could fill all available beds by Dec. 11, according to the Tribune’s analysis.
Advocate Aurora Health said it has already started trying to free up more beds by delaying some inpatient elective surgeries. The system, which has 10 hospitals in Illinois and hospitals in Wisconsin, now has hundreds more patients than it had in the spring. Edward-Elmhurst Health hospitals in Elmhurst and Naperville reported they have had to add beds because of rising patient counts.
Other hospitals, such as Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, had not yet had to delay elective surgeries as of Thursday, though it added an additional unit with negative pressure to handle more COVID-19 patients. Amita Health St. Alexius Medical Center Hoffman Estates, though “very, very busy,” had not added beds as of earlier last week, said Dr. Michael Handler, chief medical officer of Amita’s northwest region.
Hospitals are also trying to be creative about how to accommodate more patients, such as by using nontraditional spaces. Rush University Medical Center, last week, converted its main lobby into a triage center for less seriously ill patients with COVID-19-like symptoms.
‘Beyond tragedy’
The U. of I.’s model predicted what could happen with COVID-19 patients needing ICU beds if Illinoisans didn’t collectively change their behavior to slow the spread of the virus. Northwestern offered two models: one that assumed similar conditions, plus one that predicted what could happen if the curve of the fall surge is bent as well as the spring’s.
Those Northwestern models show just how drastically different the scene at hospitals could be.
On one extreme, with no change in people’s behavior, Northwestern’s model projected an even worse hospital scenario than the U. of I.’s.
Assuming, again, that the number of non-COVID-19 patients falls to around 600, the Tribune found that ICU beds statewide could be full by Dec. 10 under the first Northwestern model’s median projection. That Northwestern model also suggests that the overflow conditions could last into March — although researchers caution that predictions get less reliable as they extend further into the future.
Another big caveat: Both the U. of I. and Northwestern forecasts were based on trends through the middle of last week and don’t account for the slower growth of recent days, which could alter trend lines.
Researchers said last week that they expect that Illinoisans, as a whole, will do more to limit the virus’s spread. People did so in the spring — bending the curve without overwhelming hospitals. If Illinoisans succeed again, the state would, collectively, likely have enough ICU beds, according to the Tribune’s analysis of Northwestern’s more optimistic model.
Will the state bend the curve again? That’s the big question, and not just in Illinois. Across the country, a pandemic-weary public is navigating a politically charged atmosphere in which social media can amplify critics’ complaints that restrictions are overkill.
“Doctors and nurses tell me that some people who come into emergency rooms with COVID — sometimes struggling to breathe — are screaming at hospital workers about how the disease is a political hoax or some sort of hospital profit scheme,” Pritzker told reporters Wednesday. “It’s beyond tragedy for all involved.”
With the fate of jobs and small businesses also a concern — and no federal relief in sight — the restrictions have increased more gradually than in the spring. That may make it harder to see — at least for a few weeks — how well the mitigations limit the spread of the virus.
“There’s just going to be this period of uncertainty for a few weeks, where we can’t even tell whether these mitigations we’re using are bending the curve,” said Jaline Gerardin, a Northwestern University assistant professor of preventive medicine who works with the state on virus modeling.
Nigel Goldenfeld, a University of Illinois physics professor who is working with university colleague Sergei Maslov to develop COVID-19 forecasts, said it’s clear Illinoisans can avoid the worst of the projections.
“The bottom line is that if everyone pitches in and cooperates, we have a good chance of avoiding a health care and economic catastrophe,” Goldenfeld said.
Regional numbers
The predictions Pritzker released are for the state’s overall health system. But each hospital is unique and can experience the pandemic in vastly different ways. Consider Chicago’s Roseland Community Hospital this spring.
When a Tribune reporter visited there in April, state figures showed plenty of available ICU beds in the city overall. But Roseland’s ICU had been at capacity for weeks, with more patients stacked in the emergency room waiting for a bed.
On Friday, when discussing the rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations, Ezike described similar scenarios already occurring across the state, with hospitals asking to go on “bypass” status, meaning they’re too full for ambulances to drop off patients.
More broadly, Ezike on Friday described increasingly precarious scenarios where the state is having to help hospitals figure out how to shift patients to ensure everyone gets treatment.
“We’re playing a little bit of, not to be glib, but a game of checkers trying to move people where there’s an available bed,” she said.
Like many states, the Pritzker administration collects basic figures on the numbers of COVID-19 patients, other patients and open beds each day for each hospital. Just recently in Ohio, a judge ruled that state should release each hospital’s daily counts after a media organization argued it was important for the public to know how individual local hospitals were faring.
In Illinois, the Pritzker administration has chosen so far not to release the data. The Tribune asked for it Nov. 11, but the administration said it will take the maximum time to respond under Illinois law, which the state said is Nov. 30.
The state does release some metrics by region, including the percentage of ICU beds available. Anything below 20% concerns the state. As of late Sunday night, the regions encompassing DuPage, Kane, Kankakee, Will and suburban Cook counties were under that level, as was the region for west central Illinois.
IMPACT, the health care workers group, argues that the critical threshold is 10%, which is its rough estimate of when the average hospital would stop accepting transfers to preserve remaining ICU space for its own worsening patients or to account for time to move people in and out.
The state’s modelers also project COVID-19 hospitalization increases by region, and Northwestern was willing to release its regional projections to the Tribune. The Tribune then compared the median projections with the total number of known ICU beds in each region.
Those worst-case projections — assuming no behavior change by Illinois residents — suggest that every region except for one would run out of ICU beds just based on COVID-19 patients alone, not counting any non-COVID-19 patients taking up beds.
If the curve can be bent like it was in the spring, all of the regions would have enough beds, the projections suggest.
Isn’t COVID-19 less deadly anyway?
The good news of the pandemic is that doctors across the country have learned more and gotten better at treating patients.
One New York study found that the death rate for COVID-19 patients in one hospital system had dropped from nearly 26% in March to less than 8% in August. They found the drop was significant, even after adjusting the figures to account for differences in people’s age and level of sickness.
“In March and April, we had no idea how to manage these patients,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Leora Horwitz. “We’d never seen this disease before.”
But Horwitz cautioned that another reason for better outcomes this summer could have been the fact that the system was less crowded. Just how much the odds worsen in overwhelmed hospitals is “the million-dollar question.” After all, frantic doctors and nurses — or those moved into new roles in newly opened ICU wings — may struggle to do as well as peers with more time and experience.
“It is really important to understand, these (improving) numbers are not written in stone,” she said.
Public health advocates also say that the overall chances of death from COVID-19 are worsening across the state because so many people are getting infected. So even if COVID-19 may be less likely to claim a single infected person, the rapid spread of the disease means that it can play those lower odds over a far larger group.
That’s one reason the number of COVID-19 deaths has been rising.
And that number doesn’t count the additional deaths that could result when people postpone necessary surgeries unrelated to COVID-19, such as for cancer and heart conditions, or avoid going to the hospital when they are sick.
“People stop coming (to the hospital),” Arora said. “They’re seeing stay-at-home advisories. And they’re seeing an increase in cases. And they start to think, ‘Oh, I should just stay at home.’ And that’s actually dangerous because, by the time that happens, you’re actually making trade-offs.”
jmahr@chicagotribune.com
lschencker@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-11-24--Artist hopes mural of 23-year-old killed in June shooting makes others pause before causing harm

“ One of the reasons to have the mural was for us — for myself , my family and Brandon @ @ @ @ @ be able to have this as a process to grieve , ” Lane said .
@ @ @ @ @ the mural is because I want people to know what happened to Brandon , and @ @ @ @ @ life taken .

A mural for Brandon McGhee, who was fatally shot earlier this year, is seen Nov. 20, 2020, next to a memorial near the CTA Western Blue Line station in Chicago. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
A golden frame filled with the cosmos went up on a brick building near the Western Blue Line. Its creator, speckled in paint, finished off glints of light on the stars. In a few clean lines, he wrote, “memorial mural in progress.”
For longtime Chicago artist Tyrue “Slang” Jones, the project was personal.
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Brandon McGhee, 23, was walking near that wall in June, after a hot summer day spent visiting his mom, when he was shot and killed in one of the most violent weekends Chicago has seen in recent years. McGhee went to the same grammar school as Jones’ kids. McGhee’s mother, LaDonna Lane, was an old family friend.
McGhee would have turned 24 earlier this month. Since then, visitors have stopped by the mural to drop off flowers, light a candle or spend some time with thoughts of McGhee.
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Tyrue "Slang" Jones with his mural of Brandon McGhee, at the Western Blue Line CTA station in Chicago on Nov. 6, 2020. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
“I was just honored to be able to do it,” Jones said. “When I sit back and look at it, it’s something that I’m proud of.”
Jones remembers McGhee as a young kid, looking out for one of his daughters who would watch the after-school basketball games. McGhee was more worried about keeping her safe from rogue hoop shots than the game.
“Everyone says I’m judgmental,” Jones joked. “I like to just say I’m observant. I pay attention to details, that’s why I paint.” But he never found fault with McGhee. “I remember him always being just such a cool kid.”
When Jones learned of McGhee’s death, he said he “lost all the air” out of his chest. And when he learned Lane hoped to memorialize her son with a mural, he was all in.
McGhee and Lane were best friends, Jones said. “That boy was close to his mother.”
Lane sent photos of her son. Jones practiced drawings. He thought about the afterlife, what’s up there in the clouds, space.
“It’s like a story,” Jones said, about the beginnings of creating the mural. “To sit down and write a story, you kind of have a basic idea.”
He worked in the days leading up to and after the election, sometimes through tears as he thought of McGhee, and finished just in time for what would have been his 24th birthday. As friends and family came to visit the memorial, they broke into applause for the artist as he was trying to sneak away.
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Alex Garcia watched as the mural came closer and closer to looking like his friend.
Brandon McGhee with mother, LaDonna Lane. (LaDonna Lane)
“I was kind of scared at first. I was like, man, I don’t know,” Garcia said. “But (Slang) did such a great job. I couldn’t even look at it for too long at first because it just reminded me so much of him.
“All the smallest details, memories popping up in my head,” Garcia said. Like all the basketball games. And what it would be like to play one more time.
“He was someone you could always depend on,” Garcia said. “Someone that was always going to be there for you, never turn his back on you.”
Khalil Williams, who met McGhee in high school and was with him in his final moments, planned to visit the mural with friends.
McGhee was “pretty good at anything that he put his mind to,” Williams said, and “a beautiful soul.” When he thinks of McGhee he thinks of his work ethic, his fashion, his music, all the good times. The mural is a testament to McGhee’s character, Williams said. “Even though he was here for a short time — the amount of people that he touched, the amount of people that he loved, that he helped.”
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Since McGhee’s death, everything “weighs heavy,” Williams said.
“It always just hits me a certain type of way,” he said. “I don’t want to do that alone — that pain, that emptiness, that sorrow. I don’t want to go through that alone. So I’m going to have people with me. And I’ll probably bring something that he enjoyed. ... And just stay right there with him for a while.”
In the mural’s final version, McGhee floats out of space; his name reaches past the top corner. A note in neon says: “His light shines forever.”
“It’s a thing that I usually say to friends when people are passing, when they’re mourning, is that light is forever,” Jones said. “I believe everything is connected.”
Jones grew up in Wicker Park when gangs were “terrible” and said he had his share of close calls. He remembers some of the guys who gave him, a kid who spent a lot of his time drawing, a hard time, and also how many of them changed as years went by.
“The sadness in these random acts of gun violence is these few seconds not only are taking someone away permanently, from something that everyone could have walked away from,” he said. But there are “so many people touched.”
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“There’s not one person that gets buried or moves on or gets killed in some act of gun violence that wasn’t deeply loved,” he said.
Jones said maybe the mural could get someone to think and pause and change course before harming another person. In all the time he spent spraying each burst of the galaxy, he wondered if someone tied to that June day walked right by him. Or who might see a photo of the mural on their phone from someone grabbing a shot for Instagram.
Even if the mural only makes one person’s heart smile, Jones said, it was worth it.
“And that one person, mostly, is LaDonna. I really wanted to do right by his mother because that’s her only baby,” he said.
Lane said she loves the mural. She brings flowers when she visits. Friends stopping by send her pictures. Someone keeps lighting the candles. On Sunday, a few flickered near McGhee’s portrait, as the train barreled on overhead.
“One of the reasons to have the mural was for us — for myself, my family and Brandon’s friends — to be able to have this as a process to grieve,” Lane said. “Another reason to have the mural is because I want people to know what happened to Brandon, and that there was an innocent life taken.
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“I want people to know who he was.”


chicagotribune--2020-11-24--Chicago police officer seriously injured during traffic stop, officials say

A crashed car sits at the scene where a police officer was seriously injured during a traffic stop when the @ @ @ @ @ with an officer on the driver ’ s side door , dragging the officer near @ @ @ @ @ “ L ” station Monday Nov. 23 , 2020 in Chicago .

A crashed car sits at the scene where a police officer was seriously injured during a traffic stop when the driver started to drive off with an officer on the driver’s side door, dragging the officer near the 95th Street Red Line “L” station Monday Nov. 23, 2020 in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
A male police officer was seriously injured during a traffic stop near the 95th Street Red Line “L” station Monday evening, according to the Chicago Fire Department and Chicago Police Department.
Officers pulled over a Chevy Impala in the 9500 block of South Lafayette Avenue in the Princeton Park neighborhood, according to Chicago police. The driver started to drive off with an officer on the driver’s side door, dragging the officer.
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The Impala then hit a concrete pillar, causing the officer to be thrown from the driver’s side door, police said. The officer hit a “fixed object” as he was thrown.
The Fire Department received a call of an officer injured about 7:40 p.m., said Larry Merritt, a department spokesman. The officer was being transported when an ambulance intercepted at 95th Street and Eggleston Avenue and took him to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
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The officer’s partner was also taken in for observation, Merritt said.
Chicago police Superintendent David O. Brown visited the officer Tuesday morning and said in a tweet that he was “in good spirits.”
I just returned from visiting our injured officer in the hospital. He is in good spirits. Please join me in praying for his full recovery. — Chicago Police Superintendent David O. Brown (@ChiefDavidBrown) November 24, 2020
“Please join me in praying for his full recovery,” Brown said.
Two people were taken into custody after the crash, police said.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-11-24--Cook County courts go virtual after increase in state COVID-19 cases

The court also ordered that all prosecution and defense counsel review their cases to determine whether a change of circumstances @ @ @ @ @ the defendant ’ s bail that would allow them to be released from jail .
@ @ @ @ @ safety in the Cook County Jail , which has had at least 153 detainees who @ @ @ @

The Cook County chief judge entered an order Monday calling for all court matters to be held via videoconference except in “extraordinary or compelling circumstances,” according to the order.
The order made by Chief Judge Timothy Evans states that all matters in Cook County court will be conducted by videoconference and all judges and court employees except those “who are performing essential court operations” will work remotely, the order said. Attorneys and those who are self-represented can also participate in videoconferences from a location of their choosing.
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As of Monday, 173 people working under the Office of the Chief Judge have tested positive for COVID-19, including 72 with the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, according to the court. At least 11 judges and 62 detention center residents have tested positive since the start of the pandemic.
Over the past week, Illinois has averaged 11,339 new cases per day. It was a decrease from the week earlier, which had an average of 12,384 cases per day, the highest seven-day average since the start of the pandemic.
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According to the order, those who do not have access to the internet or a telephone can use space and equipment in the courthouse. Court reporters and interpreters will be remotely available for the video proceedings.
No bench trials in criminal cases or jury trials will be held until further notice, the order said. Jury trials were previously suspended earlier during the pandemic.
Criminal plea hearings can be conducted via Zoom, the order said.
The court also ordered that all prosecution and defense counsel review their cases to determine whether a change of circumstances may support a change in the defendant’s bail that would allow them to be released from jail. This is to help increase safety in the Cook County Jail, which has had at least 153 detainees who have tested positive.
[ With COVID-19 surging anew, alarms sound again for Cook County’s incarcerated ]
Earlier this month, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office told its employees to stay at home. In-court proceedings at federal courthouses in Chicago and Rockford were also suspended by U.S. District Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer on Nov. 12.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-11-24--2 shot, including 14-year-old girl, on South Side, police say

A 14-year-old girl was shot in the right arm and torso and taken to Comer Children ’ s Hospital in @ @ @ @ @ .
A 31-year-old woman was shot in the left leg and taken to the University @ @ @ @ @ fair condition .

Evidence markers sit at the scene where a 14-year-old girl and a 31-year-old woman were shot on the 1400 block of West 65th Street in the Englewood neighborhood Monday Nov. 23, 2020 in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
A 14-year-old girl and a 31-year-old woman were injured in a shooting Monday evening on the South Side, according to Chicago police.
About 8 p.m., they were standing in the street in the 1400 block of West 65th Street in the Englewood neighborhood when someone across the streets started firing shots at them, police said.
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A 14-year-old girl was shot in the right arm and torso and taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in serious condition, police said. A 31-year-old woman was shot in the left leg and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition.
No arrests were made, police said. The shooting is under investigation.
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Evidence markers sit at the scene where a 14-year-old girl and a 31-year-old woman were shot on the 1400 block of West 65th Street in the Englewood neighborhood Monday Nov. 23, 2020 in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-11-24--2 face attempted first-degree murder charges after shots fired at officers, police say

The 17-year-old boy is facing the same amount of counts for attempted first-degree murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm @ @ @ @ @ police said .
He is also facing one felony charge of aggravated unlawful use of @ @ @ @ @ 21 years old and a misdemeanor charge of trespassing .

A 17-year-old boy and a 22-year-old man already on probation for a gun charge both faces charges, including attempted first-degree murder, after shots were fired at police officers Saturday night on the Far South Side, according to Chicago police.
Kamari Pleasant and a 17-year-old boy, whose name police did not release because of his age, were taken into custody after at least one person fired shots toward officers around 10:10 p.m. Saturday in the 10400 block of South Union Avenue in the Fernwood neighborhood, police said.
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They ran from police after the shots were fired but were quickly found by a K-9 officer in the 10400 block of South Wallace Street, police said.
No one was injured, and the officers did not return fire, police said. Two weapons were found and taken into evidence at the scene.
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A third person was taken into custody but was released and not charged in the attack, said Officer Michelle Tannehill, a police spokeswoman.
Kamari Pleasant, 22, and a 17-year-old boy, whose name police did not release because of his age, were taken into custody after at least one person fired shots toward officers around 10:10 p.m. Saturday in the 10400 block of South Union Avenue in the Fernwood neighborhood, police said. (Chicago Police Department)
Pleasant is facing felony attempted first-degree murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm toward a police officer and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, police said.
The 17-year-old is facing attempted first-degree murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm toward a police officer, according to police, who said he was cited as a juvenile. He also faces a felony charge of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon by someone under 21 years old and a misdemeanor charge of trespassing.
Court records show Pleasant was on a 24-month probation following a conviction Nov. 2 on a felony charge of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in a vehicle and without a state firearms card. Pleasant was arrested about 1:50 a.m. March 10 on Albany Avenue just north of Madison Street, initially on suspicion of unlawful possession of a handgun, according to records.
A judge will set their bail at a court hearing Tuesday, police said.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-11-24--The Spin: City Treasurer denies wrongly firing employees | Lightfoot, Duckworth headline fundraiser

The Spin: City Treasurer denies wrongly firing employees | Lightfoot, Duckworth headline fundraiser for Democrats in Georgia senate races | Biden appointments have Illinois ties

New : Bridgeport Ald .
Patrick Daley Thompson introduced a plan to tax city deliveries by companies such as Amazon @ @ @ @ @ additional $ 1.25 for packages delivered that weigh 50 pounds or less , and $ @ @ @ @ @ Prescription medicine and food deliveries from restaurants would be exempted from the extra tax under @ @ @ @ @ the Tribune ’ s John Byrne reports .
The new taxes would be charged to @ @ @ @ @ , which could be a hard sell for aldermen on the heels of Lightfoot ’ @ @ @ @ @ property tax increase , Byrne notes .
Read the story here .

Federal prosecutors indicted Michael McClain, one of Michael Madigan’s oldest and most trusted friends, last week, but a key question lingers: Will he flip?
My colleagues Jason Meisner and Ray Long go deep to show how Chicago and Illinois’ embarrassing history of public corruption offers some insight.
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President-elect Joe Biden announced today that Avril Haines is his pick for director of National Intelligence making her the first woman, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate, to hold the cabinet post. She’s also got Chicago ties. Meantime, one of Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s top aides has been appointed to become a senior member of the Biden White House staff.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois’ U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth are co-hosting a virtual fundraiser early next month for the two Democratic U.S. Senate candidates in Georgia facing January runoff races with Republican incumbents. The races will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.
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And there’s drama in the typically low-profile Chicago treasurer’s office after a pre-Thanksgiving purge of staff. On Friday, Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin fired four staffers. A top aide who was fired says in an email obtained by the Tribune that she was fired for refusing to participate in “unethical conduct.” Conyears-Ervin, who is married to Chicago Ald. Jason Ervin, says that’s not true.
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Lobbyist Mike McClain at the State Capitol in Springfield in 2012. At right is Rep. Luis Arroyo. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
The Tribune’s Jason Meisner and Ray Long write: If there’s no direct evidence of Madigan’s participation in the ComEd bribery scheme, any case against him could hinge on the testimony of an insider, someone who could give a jury a believable guide to how the operation was conceived and directed, where the money came from and went, and, most importantly, who ultimately benefited.
Meisner and Long note: McClain, 73, likely marks the clearest path for investigators if they were to get to Madigan, especially considering the speaker’s well honed reputation for caution, from avoiding phone and email conversations to leaving much of the day-to-day business of politics to a trusted circle of advisers.
Similar scenarios have played out in Illinois before, with varying results in cases involving Democrat Richard M. Daley’s City Hall and in Republican George Ryan’s Secretary of State’s office — a post he held before being elected governor. Read more here.
Feds want up to 3½ years in prison for former Chicago Ald. Edward Vrdolyak in tobacco settlement scheme, the Tribune’s Jason Meisner reports.
Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin at her office in City Hall on Nov. 21, 2019. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune / Chicago Tribune)
From the Tribune’s Gregory Pratt: “A former top aide to Chicago city Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin alleged in an email to a city ethics official that she was fired after refusing to participate in unspecified ‘illegal and unethical conduct’. Conyears-Ervin meanwhile told the Tribune that’s false.”
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Neither Conyears-Ervin nor her fired former chief of staff, Tiffany Harper, would share details of those allegations. But Harper sent an email to the city’s Ethics Board’s executive director stating in part: “I have no doubt that our terminations are related to our refusal to participate in the illegal and unethical conduct that we discussed with you earlier this fall.”
Conyears-Ervin said it’s her prerogative to make staff decisions based on what’s in the best interest of taxpayers. She said the layoffs were about moving the office in a “new direction.” Read the story here. The treasurer’s office is the custodian and manager of all cash and investments for city government, the four city employee pension funds, and the Chicago Teacher’s Pension Fund.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot arrives for a news conference to detail the pilot program, "Grounds for Peace," that will help to put vacant lots to use in Chicago on July 2, 2019. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Lightfoot’s proposed 2021 budget package, which includes the mayor’s proposed $94 million property tax increase, is poised for an up-or-down vote tomorrow before the full City Council.
As the Tribune’s John Byrne noted last week, Lightfoot has been fighting for months to get the 26 votes she needs on the full council to achieve a majority for her budget. But in what seemed to be a good omen last week, the city council’s Budget Committee voted 26-8 to green light Lightfoot’s spending package, part of her $12.8 billion budget brought on by the pandemic.
The votes: But as the Tribune’s Byrne points out, aldermen are known to sometimes switch their votes between committee and the council, or to support spending but not a tax hike.
The math: Lightfoot needs to close a projected $1.2 billion budget hole and as first reported in the Tribune, she’s relying on a 3-cent gas tax hike and the property tax increase in part to do that. An initial plan to layoff 350 unionized employees was pulled off the table after higher-than-expected cannabis sales tax revenues would cover the $13 million in savings that might have been achieved through job cuts. Still some furloughs remain on the table.
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In addition, Lightfoot is asking to refinance $501 million in city debt for the 2021 budget, which would provide a jolt of new revenue next year, but likely cost taxpayers more down the road.
New: Bridgeport Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson introduced a plan to tax city deliveries by companies such as Amazon to the tune of an additional $1.25 for packages delivered that weigh 50 pounds or less, and $2.50 for heavier deliveries. Prescription medicine and food deliveries from restaurants would be exempted from the extra tax under Thompson’s plan, the Tribune’s John Byrne reports. The new taxes would be charged to residents who order the packages, which could be a hard sell for aldermen on the heels of Lightfoot’s proposed $94 million property tax increase, Byrne notes. Read the story here.
Cook County’s 2021 pandemic budget also up for a vote tomorrow: The Tribune’s Alice Yin wrote previously that the county will dip into reserves but won’t hike taxes here. Meantime, activists have decried a 4% budget cut in the sheriff’s office, Yin reports. They believe the cuts should be deeper.
With lessons from 2008 recession, mortgage crisis in mind, Cook County Board President, Chief Judge Tim Evans launch program that provides free legal services - regardless of income - to those facing eviction, foreclosure or massive debt tied to COVID-19. Read my full story here.
Obama surprises Chicago high school students with virtual visit and free copies of his memoir ‘A Promised Land,’ the Tribune’s Kelli Smith reports.
Mayor Steve Chirico during the Memorial Day Parade in Naperville, in 2019. (Mike Mantucca / Naperville Sun)
Naperville Mayor Steven Chirico is defending his decision to attend his daughter’s wedding in Naples, Florida, as pictures surfaced and circulated online, my colleagues at the Tribune and Naperville Sun report. His niece, a former BuzzFeed personality with nearly 100,000 Twitter followers blasted Chirico online, igniting a spark of hypocrisy since just last week he warned Naperville residents a mask mandate may soon materialize. Read the story here.
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Data points: In Illinois — 8,322 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, 47 additional deaths reported today. More updates here.
Pritzker sees ‘glimmer of hope’ in declining coronavirus cases and positivity rate, but officials warn not to let guard down ahead of Thanksgiving, the Tribune’s Dan Petrella reports.
Can harm reduction, the philosophy that stems HIV transmission and heroin overdoses, help curb a Thanksgiving COVID-19 meltdown? Because a swath of the population will gather over the holidays, in defiance of recommendations, everyone from public health officials to elected leaders should focus their messaging on how to do it in the safest possible manner, some experts say. The Tribune’s John Keilman has the story here.
Nearly 700 nursing home workers went on strike Monday at 11 facilities in Illinois — most in the Chicago area — seeking higher pay and greater protections from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tribune’s Robert McCoppin reports.
As virus surges anew, alarms sound again for Cook County’s incarcerated, the Tribune’s Annie Sweeney and Megan Crepeau report.
President-elect Joe Biden walks from his motorcade to speak to reporters Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, in Wilmington, Delaward. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
Joe Biden announced a series of cabinet nominees, who will need Senate approval, and White House staff who do not. You can get updates on the appointments here. And here’s a look at a few who have Chicago and Illinois connections:
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Avril Haines for the post of director of National Intelligence. She received her bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Chicago and, if approved, would become the first woman to oversee the DNI, according to the Biden campaign. She held multiple posts in the Obama-Biden administration including serving as deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Reema Dodin has been appointed deputy director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. She serves as deputy chief of staff to Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin. She’s heading to a White House office tasked with advancing the president’s legislative agenda on Capitol Hill by working with members of Congress and their staffs. Originally from California, Dodin is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
More news: Michigan election officials certify Biden victory over Trump — That’s despite Trump’s delay tactics. Read The Associated Press story here.
Sen. Duckworth and Mayor Lightfoot are headlining a Dec. 3 virtual fundraiser for Georgia Democrats Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock who are facing Republican incumbents U.S. Sen. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by The Spin. Tickets for the Zoom event range from $15,600 to $100.
The Georgia races have taken on national significance as the outcomes will determine whether the Republicans retain a majority in the U.S. Senate, the Democrats take the chamber or whether the races result in a 50-50 partisan split — a tally that would give the Democrats an edge if and when Vice President Kamala Harris is summoned to cast a tiebreaking vote.
It also offers another example of the strong national profile, particularly in the Democratic Party, enjoyed by Duckworth, who was among the contenders to be Biden’s running mate before he chose California Sen. Kamala Harris. Duckworth’s name has been floating around as a possible Biden cabinet pick.
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Twitter @byldonovan


chicagotribune--2020-11-24--City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin denies wrongly firing chief of staff, other employees

“ As we come to the close of this year we are making changes to make the personnel changes to @ @ @ @ @ our agenda and the personnel needed to carry it out , ” Conyears-Ervin said in @ @ @ @ @ four people let go have served us well , with dignity and proficiency and we @ @ @ @ @ said , it is time to move forward .
”

A former top aide to Chicago city Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin alleged in an email to a city ethics official that she was fired after refusing to participate in unspecified “illegal and unethical conduct.”
Conyears-Ervin meanwhile told the Tribune that’s false. Conyears-Ervin’s former chief of staff, Tiffany Harper, was fired Friday along with three colleagues. In a statement over the weekend, Conyears-Ervin said she pushed the workers out as part of an office shake-up designed to move her office in a different direction.
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But in an email to Steve Berlin, executive director of the city’s ethics board, Harper said she believes she and two other officials were let go “without cause or reason.”
“I have no doubt that our terminations are related to our refusal to participate in the illegal and unethical conduct that we discussed with you earlier this fall,” Harper wrote. “As such, I would like to preserve my right to file a whistleblower complaint with the Board of Ethics as well as request steps for filing such a complaint.”
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Harper did not elaborate in her email about her allegations or identify who might be the subject of her complaint. She did not immediately comment to the Tribune when asked about her email.
Conyears-Ervin denied the general allegations in the email and declined to further comment about the matter.
“2020 has been a tough year for many. While I thank these individuals for their service to the treasurer’s office, we are moving in another direction,” Conyears-Ervin said. “Any statement or suggestion of anything further than the office moving in another direction is absolutely false.”
Conyears-Ervin also said it isn’t unusual to make staff changes and defended the moves.
“As the city treasurer, I’m going to always do what I believe is in the best interest of the taxpayers,” she said.
In an email to the Tribune, Berlin said the board’s advisory opinions are confidential but noted city ethics law contains whistleblower protections. Asked specifically about the situation involving Conyears-Ervin and her staff, Berlin said, “any whistleblower proceedings that may be held would be conducted fairly and expeditiously by the Board of Ethics.”
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Over the weekend, a Conyears-Ervin spokeswoman released a statement saying the firings were an attempt at remaking the staff.
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“As we come to the close of this year we are making changes to make the personnel changes to create a better fit between our agenda and the personnel needed to carry it out,” Conyears-Ervin said in the statement. “The four people let go have served us well, with dignity and proficiency and we wish them well. That said, it is time to move forward.”
A former state representative, Conyears-Ervin was elected city treasurer in April 2019. Last year, she clashed with Mayor Lori Lightfoot over the Police Department’s decision to stop providing the treasurer with a police security detail. In a contentious exchange of emails, Lightfoot stood by the decision to strip Conyears-Ervin of her detail.
gpratt@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-11-24--Michigan, Maine certify results, Pennsylvania still expected: Track progress in key battleground sta

Michigan, Maine certify results, Pennsylvania still expected: Track progress in key battleground states

Here is where the race stands in the battleground states — and the deadlines for certification .
This also lists @ @ @ @ @ law to prevent electors casting electoral votes for a party other than the one that @ @ @

The battle over the results of the 2020 election has brought new attention to an important but often-overlooked part of the U.S. election process: certification of the results.
Each state has laws that set the deadline and process for the results to be certified. This process takes place locally and eventually at the state level. Those deadlines in key battleground states are underway.
Here is where the race stands in the battleground states — and the deadlines for certification. This also lists whether a state has a law to prevent electors casting electoral votes for a party other than the one that nominated them.
How the Electoral College process unfolds
Nov. 3: Election Day
Dec. 8: Deadline for states to resolve any issues over appointing electors
Dec. 14: Electors vote in their states
Dec. 23: Electoral votes and other documentation is received by president of the Senate
Jan. 6: Congress counts the votes in a joint session
Jan. 20: New president is inaugurated
More on the politics and the process
• Love it or hate it, here’s how the Electoral College came to be
• Here’s what will happen between Election Day and Inauguration Day
• ‘We are going to reclaim the United States’: President Trump, his lawyers and allies take frantic steps to overturn Joe Biden’s victory
• What if a state can’t agree which presidential candidate won? It’s happened before, and voters don’t necessarily get the final word.


chicagotribune--2020-11-26--Daily Illinois coronavirus graphs: 155 new deaths, 11,378 new confirmed and probable cases and 114,2

Daily Illinois coronavirus graphs: 155 new deaths, 11,378 new confirmed and probable cases and 114,233 new test results

Illinois announced 11,378 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 Wednesday for a total of 685,467 .
The state also @ @ @ @ @ a total of 11,832 and 114,233 new test results for a total of 10.1 million @

Johns Hopkins University & Medicine tracked coronavirus cases, deaths and test totals from Jan. 22, 2020 through March 10, 2023, but is no longer providing this data. These charts will no longer be updated.
Check the Illinois Department of Public Health for the most up-to-date data for Illinois.
[ Remembering the lives of those in Illinois who died from coronavirus ]
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chicagotribune--2020-11-26--COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital da

COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital data in your area

Among the metrics ( see below ) tracked under guidelines set by Gov .
J.B. Pritzker are the percentage of @ @ @ @ @ , the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19-like illnesses , and the capacity of hospitals @ @ @ @ @ state will decide how much or how little to restrict activities based on these metrics @

Note: With Chicago and Illinois moving into phase 5, the Tribune is no longer updating this data. If the state moves back into bridge phase, the Tribune we reassess. Daily metrics on COVID-19, like cases, deaths and hospitalizations, can be found here. And Daily metrics on the vaccination effort can be found here. More on where the coronavirus stands nationally and around the world can be found here.
To assess how different parts of Illinois are handling the COVID-19 pandemic, officials look at the state through the 11 regions of Emergency Medical Services. The city of Chicago is one region, for example, and the rest of Cook County is another.
Among the metrics (see below) tracked under guidelines set by Gov. J.B. Pritzker are the percentage of coronavirus tests that return positive, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19-like illnesses, and the capacity of hospitals to take in new patients.The state will decide how much or how little to restrict activities based on these metrics. (Cases, deaths and tests data is as of Dec. 31).
• Check out the Tribune’s coronavirus coverage.
• Remembering the lives of those in Illinois who died from coronavirus.
• Other Chicago, suburbs and Illinois COVID-19 metrics.
• See how the governor’s plan to manage the regions works.
Source: Illinois Department of Public Health
Created by the Chicago Tribune dataviz team. On Twitter @chitribgraphics


chicagotribune--2020-11-26--COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood

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

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


chicagotribune--2020-11-26--McHenry County state’s attorney says he won’t enforce Illinois’ ban on indoor dining in restaurants

Kenneally also wrote that there is “ the legitimate question ” being litigated in court over whether the governor ’ @ @ @ @ @ by law .
So far , while two trial courts have ruled that the orders @ @ @ @ @ McHenry County judges , as well as appellate and federal courts , have upheld the @ @ @ @ @ preliminary basis .

McHenry County’s top prosecutor announced Wednesday that his office will not enforce Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order to ban indoor dining at restaurants.
State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally issued a statement that the Illinois Emergency Management Act, which gives the governor authority to issue executive orders, does not require or empower the state’s attorney to enforce the orders.
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Kenneally also wrote that there is “the legitimate question” being litigated in court over whether the governor’s repeated orders are authorized by law. So far, while two trial courts have ruled that the orders were not lawful, two McHenry County judges, as well as appellate and federal courts, have upheld the orders on at least a preliminary basis.
Kenneally said he would continue to enforce legitimate mask and distancing orders, but chided lawmakers for failing to clarify the law on “one of the most important issues this State has ever faced.”
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McHenry County State's Attorney Patrick Kenneally speaks at the McHenry Country Government Center on Dec. 5, 2019 in Woodstock. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
“Rather, the Governor has taken it upon himself to unilaterally make ‘laws’ by executive order ― without any identifiable criteria or process ― that drastically impact the day-to-day lives and constitutional rights of every Illinois resident and then execute those laws,” Kenneally wrote. “This is a dangerous combination in a constitutional republic.”
Pritzker has said the law clearly gives him authority to issue the closure orders and that they are needed to prevent further illness and deaths. Nearly 12,000 people with COVID-19 have died in Illinois, and about 6,000 patients are in hospitals. Pritzker has called lawyers who argue he doesn’t have the authority to issue the orders “snake oil salesmen.”
“Surprising that a state’s attorney doesn’t want to follow the law,” Pritzker said Wednesday about Kenneally. “These are the laws of the state of Illinois, and other jurisdictions are following the law and prosecuting these fines. And that’s what they are: fines for businesses that are failing to follow the mitigations.”
Many restaurants in McHenry County and elsewhere in the state continue to defy the governor’s indoor closure order, and customers continue to patronize them, officials said.
The McHenry County Health Department reported it had 55 complaints about restaurants offering indoor dining in defiance of the order as of Monday. In response, the department issued violation notices to 36 of those establishments, and referred 11 to the state’s attorney for enforcement.
John Dickson, an attorney representing 37 restaurants and bars that were denied a request in court to overturn the governor’s closure order, welcomed the state’s attorney’s action, but said, “This doesn’t solve the big problem.”
Restaurants and bars still face the threat of losing their state liquor or video gambling licenses, which are often vital to their businesses, he said.
Pending litigation in Springfield to resolve the issue would likely take at least two years to resolve, Dickson said, by which time the restaurants might be out of business, or the pandemic and enforcement actions may be very different.
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Tribune reporter Dan Petrella contributed.


chicagotribune--2020-11-26--Retrial in ex-Portage Mayor James Snyder’s case pushed to March due to concerns about holding a jury

Retrial in ex-Portage Mayor James Snyder’s case pushed to March due to concerns about holding a jury trial amid pandemic

Snyder ’ s attorneys have argued that the soliciting bribe charge should be dismissed on the double jeopardy standard because @ @ @ @ @ former owners of Great Lakes Peterbilt , were granted immunity with “ no-notice , mid-trial @ @ @ @ @ testimony that took “ the court completely by surprise , ” according to court records @ @ @ @ @ “ there is a strong likelihood that Mr. Snyder would have been acquitted , ” @ @ @ @ @ by the defense .

Portage Mayor James Snyder arrives with his representation to the first day of his trial at the federal courthouse in Hammond on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019. (Kyle Telechan/Post-Tribune)
The retrial date for former Portage Mayor James Snyder, facing a soliciting bribes charge, has been pushed to March, because of concerns in protecting jurors and courtroom officials amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kennelly, with the Northern District of Illinois, will now preside over Snyder’s case, after U.S. District Court Chief Judge Theresa Springmann recused herself due to a family emergency.
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On Nov. 13, Springmann pushed the trial to “sometime on or after” Jan. 29 following a state general order postponing jury trials through that date. On Wednesday, Kennelly set a jury trial for March 8 because of the recent rise in COVID cases in Indiana.
“I’m not really convinced this is going to safe and feasible from a standpoint of protecting jurors … and lawyers, litigants and court staff,” Kennelly said.
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Snyder’s attorney, Jackie Bennett Jr., said he’d be in favor of a bench trial but that he hadn’t discussed it with prosecutors. Kennelly said both sides would have to agree to a bench trial, but whether it is a jury trial or a bench trial “is a matter of indifference to” him.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Koster asked the judge to reconsider the order for a new trial on the soliciting bribes charge. Kennelly said Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen granted a new trial and that he wouldn’t overturn that decision.
“The trial was unfair, and there should be a new trial on this one charge,” Kennelly said.
Snyder’s attorney’s filed a motion Nov. 19 to dismiss the retrial on speedy trial grounds, arguing that any retrial date set after Jan. 30 would be outside the 70-day window provided by the Speedy Trial Act since Nov. 27, 2019, when the new trial order was issued. Prosecutors were given until Dec. 3 to respond to the motion Wednesday.
Snyder’s attorneys have argued that the soliciting bribe charge should be dismissed on the double jeopardy standard because Robert and Steve Buha, former owners of Great Lakes Peterbilt, were granted immunity with “no-notice, mid-trial” following a grand jury testimony that took “the court completely by surprise,” according to court records. With their testimony, “there is a strong likelihood that Mr. Snyder would have been acquitted,” according to court records filed by the defense.
Additionally, Snyder’s attorneys have argued in the filing that the court should use its supervisory power to acquit him because the prosecutors “deprived Mr. Snyder of eyewitnesses as to what happened between him and the Buhas … much of the evidence he had expected to place before the jury.”
Springmann denied both grounds for dismissing the case in October.
Snyder, who was indicted in November 2016, was convicted of taking a $13,000 bribe in exchange for contracts to sell five garbage trucks to the city and using a shell company to hide income assets from the IRS while owing back personal and business taxes. The jury acquitted Snyder of a third count that alleged he took a $12,000 bribe to get a company on Portage’s tow list.
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Snyder has agreed to forfeit $13,000 to the federal government, documents show.
Federal prosecutors said Snyder allegedly solicited money from co-defendant John Cortina, of Kustom Auto Body in Portage, and “Individual A” and gave them a towing contract for Portage.
Cortina, 81, in January 2019 pleaded guilty to a charge that he paid bribes to Snyder to get a spot on the tow list. Cortina did not testify during the trial.
Cortina was sentenced Jan. 22 to time served and a $12,000 fine.


chicagotribune--2020-11-26--Convicted killer’s mother faces charges after testifying at Valparaiso teen Connor Kerner’s trial

Roxann Kerner , who was on the witness stand for more than two hours during her son ’ s trial @ @ @ @ @ for her testimony outside of the presence of the jury but Porter Superior Court Judge @ @ @ @ @ be held in contempt of court if she refused to answer questions , and the @ @ @ @ @ from perjury .

Roxann Kerner, the mother of a Valparaiso teen found guilty last month of murdering two Lake County peers last year, now faces charges relating to her testimony in her son’s trial and emails she reportedly sent to a police tip line with false information, according to court documents.
Kerner, 47, of the 2100 block of Kelle Drive, Chesterton, is charged with felony counts of obstructing justice and perjury, and a misdemeanor count of false informing.
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Kerner reportedly used an email address police tracked back to her to send five anonymous tips to the Porter County Sheriff’s Department tip line, at least one of which pinned the crime on a friend of her son’s.
Additionally, she allegedly lied on the stand during her son’s trial about renting a trailer which she said was for clearing downed trees on her property but was for hauling a car.
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Connor Kerner, 19, of the 100 block of Kinsale in Valparaiso, is in Porter County Jail awaiting sentencing after being found guilty by a jury on Oct. 22 of two counts of murder; two counts of murder in the perpetration of a robbery; two counts of robbery; and a single felony count of arson. The jury, which deliberated less than 4½ hours, found him not guilty on a felony charge of intimidation.
Connor Kerner was 17 when he killed Molley Lanham, 19, of St. John, and Thomas Grill, 18, of Cedar Lake, on Feb. 25, 2019, at his grandparents’ Hebron-area home after a drug deal went bad, then loaded their bodies into the Honda Civic they arrived in and set fire to the vehicle in a wooded area a couple miles away.
Roxann Kerner, who was on the witness stand for more than two hours during her son’s trial, was granted use immunity for her testimony outside of the presence of the jury but Porter Superior Court Judge Roger Bradford explained she could be held in contempt of court if she refused to answer questions, and the immunity would not protect her from perjury.
Detectives with the sheriff’s department determined Roxann Kerner sent in the anonymous tips, from March 22, 2019, through May 2, 2019, because they came from the same internet protocol address as the emails she sent to her son using a jail communication system, according to charging documents.
A detective contacted Roxann Kerner about the tips but her attorney said she denied sending them because “she was very tech smart” and disguised her internet protocol address anyway, which police said in court documents she failed to do after logging into the jail’s email system and before emailing in a tip.
“After speaking with Roxann Kerner’s attorney regarding the anonymous tips, the Porter County Sheriff’s Department stopped receiving any Submit a Tips,” documents state.
During her Oct. 14 testimony in her son’s trial, Roxann Kerner said she sent her son to a Highland rental firm to get a hauler for downed trees on her property in advance of showing her home to potential buyers because she was in the car on a work call.
Surveillance video from the rental firm, according to court documents, showed both Kerners inside the business and being shown how the trailer worked, and a rental agreement showed the item rented was a “trailer auto hauler,” court documents showed.
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An employee at the rental company also testified during the trial that he would not have rented out an auto hauler if Roxann Kerner was moving wood, according to court documents.
Connor Kerner planned to haul the burned Honda Civic “and dump it in the Mississippi River,” according to his charging documents.
Roxann Kerner was arrested shortly after 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to a jail roster from the Porter County Sheriff’s Department. She was out of jail by Wednesday morning, according to the jail website; her bond was $1,500, according to charging documents.
Roxann Kerner’s initial hearing has been scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Dec. 9 before Magistrate Ana Osan. Her son is scheduled to be sentenced at 9 a.m. on Dec. 8 before Bradford.
Connor Kerner’s co-defendant John Silva II, 20, of Hamlet, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of robbery leading to serious bodily injuring in the case and is being held without bond. He is awaiting a trial date. Defense attorneys in Connor Kerner’s trial said Silva was responsible for the crimes that led to the deaths of Lanham and Grill.
Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.


chicagotribune--2020-11-26--Englewood couple tortured to death a disabled man who paid them to help him, prosecutors say

The couple who acted as caretakers , Dominique Beck , 29 , and Santino Carter , 38 , along with @ @ @ @ @ Gray , 48 , were each charged with first-degree murder in the July death of @ @ @ @ @ cared for in exchange for the man ’ s government benefits .
Beck also faces @ @ @ @ @ by a caregiver causing death .

A Cook County judge on Wednesday said a couple acting as a caretaker for a disabled man found dead in a South Side garage were “wicked” and “evil” in the abuse and torture alleged by prosecutors in the case.
The couple who acted as caretakers, Dominique Beck, 29, and Santino Carter, 38, along with a third man, Brian Gray, 48, were each charged with first-degree murder in the July death of the 44-year-old man they had cared for in exchange for the man’s government benefits. Beck also faces a charge of felony neglect by a caregiver causing death.
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Prosecutors said Frederick Marion Johnson’s death from multiple blunt force trauma injuries opened the door to horrid details of abuse against the man, who had numerous ailments, including schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder as well as a history of seizures.
During the hearing broadcast on YouTube, Cook County Circuit Judge John F. Lyke Jr. denied bail for both Carter and Gray, while ordering Beck held in lieu of $1 million bail.
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Johnson’s bruised body was found inside an open residential garage in the 900 block of West 71st Street about 2:45 a.m. June 25, following an anonymous phone call, authorities said. Police later found that Johnson had been reported missing two days prior by Beck, who claimed to be his sister, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said in court.
But following a lengthy police investigation and the arrest of all three suspects, Beck told investigators that Johnson’s death was sparked by Johnson defecating in the home and exposing himself to the couple’s children, Murphy said.
In speaking with police, Beck and Carter said Johnson had been kicked out of their home in the 6900 block of South Peoria Street two weeks prior because he defecated in the house.
An eyewitness later approached authorities and told them she arrived to find Carter punishing Johnson by making him bend over to touch his toes for several hours, Murphy said, adding that Carter struck the man with a wooden stick every time he got out of position.
The witness said that she saw Carter hit the man in the ribs with a large chain and that she saw him enter a room with a hammer and heard the victim cry out in pain.
Beck later admitted to believing Johnson exposed himself to her children, as well as to disciplining Johnson when he behaved poorly in their home. The discipline allegedly included making him sit in a corner, holding heavy books while doing squats and even drinking toilet water.
Police traced the anonymous tip to Gray, who later admitted he was paid $100 by Carter to help clean up the scene where Johnson was killed and hide the body, though he denied participating in a beating.
Gray told investigators that he convinced Carter to not shoot Johnson.
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The Cook County medical examiner’s office had deferred results on Johnson’s autopsy but later ruled his death a homicide.
Judge Lyke called their actions unconscionable.
“What the state just read to me shocked the conscious to say the least,” said Lyke, who added, “And if all of this is true, it’s wickedness and evilness on a whole other level.”
All three are expected to return to court next month.
Chicago Tribune’s Liam Ford contributed.