chicagotribune--2020-10-28--Inspector general finds shortcomings in how Chicago Police Department supports officers involved in

Inspector general finds shortcomings in how Chicago Police Department supports officers involved in shootings

The report also includes a cautionary note , detailing the fates of two officers , who each failed to complete @ @ @ @ @ in the wake of shootings , according to the documents reviewed by the inspector general @ @ @ @ @ and the second was involved in another shooting a month after the first .

An evaluation by the city’s inspector general of mandatory training for Chicago police officers involved in shootings found that not all department members complete the requirements before returning to the street.
The report released Tuesday by Inspector General Joseph Ferguson’s office examined 52 cases since February 2017 and June 2018 when an officer had discharged their weapon, a review done in an attempt to discern whether the department is following its own guidelines requiring that officers involved in shootings be reassigned to administrative duty for 30 days.
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During that period, the officer is supposed to complete a trauma debriefing with a department counselor and attend another eight-hour course on stress and coping, which also includes a session at the shooting range so officers can get reaccustomed to firing their weapons. Lastly, there was supposed to be individualized training developed for the officers involved.
Of the 52 cases examined, which included both on- and off-duty shootings, the inspector general could not document that 11 out of the 52 had completed the debrief portion, according to the report, while 10 had not completed the eight-hour training.
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All failed to take part in individualized training, because it was unclear to both the office of the first deputy superintendent, which oversees the department’s return-to-work policy, and the Education and Training Division that officers had to do this, Ferguson’s office found.
“Personnel from ETD ... stated that they did not believe individualized training was mandatory before OIG’s inquiry and had not received guidance on the intended purpose of the training,” according to the report. “Similarly, OFDS personnel stated that OFDS did not consider individualized training as a return-to-duty requirement before releasing members from administrative duty.”
The evaluation also found documentation deficiencies, training delays that prevented officers from returning to active duty by the 30th day, as well as failures to tailor training to individual officers.
The department, in a response included in the report, agreed to many of Ferguson’s recommendations.
“CPD agrees that the Post-Discharge Firearms protocols should be standardized, and we are working to determine the best way to do this," the report stated.
Counseling and assistance for officers involved in shootings is widely considered a best practice to help them address any trauma experienced before they return to face often high-pressure situations on the street. Officers involved in shootings are more at risk to experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress, for example, experts have said.
The report also includes a cautionary note, detailing the fates of two officers, who each failed to complete one part of the trainings in the wake of shootings, according to the documents reviewed by the inspector general. One committed suicide, and the second was involved in another shooting a month after the first.
“While these outcomes are a result of a complex set of causes and OIG can not establish a causal link between non-compliance with return-to-duty requirements and these incidents, they highlight the life or death stakes of ensuring that members who discharge their firearms receive the support they need from the department," the report reads.


chicagotribune--2020-10-28--Downtown Chicago alderman breaks from Democrats to endorse Kim Foxx’s GOP opponent

Reilly oversees some of the swankiest chunks of the city that over the summer faced looters striking commercial corridors and @ @ @ @ @ up windows .
He has blamed the chaos on Foxx for what he describes as @ @ @ @ @ approach to prosecuting crime , including after the Aug. 10 lootings that touched his ward @ @ @ @ @ detractors that week by announcing her office approved 90 % of felony charges for more @ @ @ @ @ civil unrest following George Floyd ’ s death in Minneapolis .

Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly, a recent critic of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, bucked his fellow Democrats and the Chicago mayor on Tuesday to endorse the Republican challenger in one of the most anticipated local races this November.
Reilly’s decision was announced by Patrick O’Brien’s campaign in the afternoon, but earlier last week the 42nd Ward alderman’s political committee Citizens for Alderman Reilly gave $1,000 to the GOP challenger’s political war chest, state records show. Reilly also sent text messages and calls touting his endorsement to his ward’s residents, he confirmed.
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“Alderman Brendan Reilly 42nd Ward Chicago and his constituents know, firsthand, the consequences of Kim Foxx’s failure to aggressively prosecute repeat gun offenders and violent criminals downtown,” O’Brien wrote in a tweet.
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Endorsement Alert: “Alderman Brendan Reilly 42nd Ward Chicago and his constituents know, firsthand, the consequences of Kim Foxx’s failure to aggressively prosecute repeat gun offenders and violent criminals downtown. pic.twitter.com/Y3OwxNkRFF — O'BRIEN 🇺🇸 for STATE’S ATTORNEY (@OBrienforSA) October 27, 2020
Foxx’s campaign responded with a statement knocking Reilly’s commitment to Democratic values. Reilly is also a delegate for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
“This is no surprise to the campaign,” Foxx spokeswoman Alex Sims wrote in a statement. “I think it’s a shame that these ‘Democrats’ are ignoring Pat O’Brien’s ‘Trump-like’ law and order vision and his abysmal history of wrongful convictions.”
Reilly oversees some of the swankiest chunks of the city that over the summer faced looters striking commercial corridors and prompting business owners to board up windows. He has blamed the chaos on Foxx for what he describes as a “revolving door” approach to prosecuting crime, including after the Aug. 10 lootings that touched his ward. Foxx had countered her detractors that week by announcing her office approved 90% of felony charges for more than 300 arrests related to civil unrest following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.
“I’m very disappointed in the State’s Attorney’s Office,” wrote Reilly. “Chicago neighborhoods are suffering from the Office’s failure to aggressively prosecute gun crime and repeat violent offenders. The Police are arresting the same people for the same crimes, over and over. The Police have come to call the system a ‘revolving door.’”
That same criticism was implied by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who has endorsed Foxx’s reelection, after the latest spurt of lootings. She warned prosecutors against letting suspects cycle through the system without consequences, but it appears tensions have flamed out. A week ago, Lightfoot tweeted her strongest praise for Foxx in recent months: “We can’t go back to the bad old days. Chicago simply can’t afford more of Pat O’Brien.”
We can't go back to the bad old days. Chicago simply can't afford more of Pat O'Brien. https://t.co/BCjBnO3Des — Lori Lightfoot (@LoriLightfoot) October 20, 2020
In his statement, Reilly said he supports keeping suspects accused of low-level offenses out of jail, but he believes Cook County’s criminal justice system needs to hold “violent criminals, gun crime and repeat offenders” accountable.
“When there aren’t (consequences), you get what we’ve experienced for the past 4 years: lawlessness; more violence; more homicides; and more victims,” Reilly said. “I’m a proud member of the Democratic Party and a Biden Delegate, but this is the one race I’ll be voting independent of the ticket.”
ayin@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-28--Waukegan police shooting victim says, ‘We had our hands raised’; Rev. Al Sharpton joins family at si

Waukegan police shooting victim says, ‘We had our hands raised’; Rev. Al Sharpton joins family at site of shooting

At the earlier press conference called by her attorneys , Williams , 20 , appeared via a Zoom link and @ @ @ @ @ of the Oct. 20 incident on the city ’ s south side .
She said @ @ @ @ @ in her car , which was parked in front of her house .
Williams said @ @ @ @ @ smoke when a police car pulled up behind her car .

Zharvellis Holmes, left, mother of Marcellis Stinnette, and his grandmother, Sherrellis Stinnette, center, listen as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, right, and others speak Oct. 28, 2020, outside the Illinois State Police headquarters in Des Plaines. They had viewed video of the shooting death Stinnette and the wounding of Tafara Williams by Waukegan police last week. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Tafara Williams said Tuesday that she and her boyfriend Marcellis Stinnette did nothing to cause the Waukegan police shooting last week in which she was wounded and Stinnette was killed, adding that when the officer opened fire on them, “We had our hands raised in the air.”
She said she begged for their lives during the shooting.
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“Please don’t shoot, we have a baby. We don’t want to die,” Williams said, describing the incident from her hospital room, where she is recovering from gunshot wounds.
Later Tuesday, the Rev. Al Sharpton, the political commentator and civil rights leader, appeared with members of Stinnette’s family at the site of the shooting on Martin Luther King Drive.
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Sharpton stood in front of the small brick building where Williams crashed her car and said, “We are returning to the scene of a crime. The answer to a crime is not just firing a policeman. The answer is accountability."
At the earlier press conference called by her attorneys, Williams, 20, appeared via a Zoom link and gave her first public account of the Oct. 20 incident on the city’s south side. She said she and Stinnette were sitting in her car, which was parked in front of her house. Williams said she had come outside to smoke when a police car pulled up behind her car.
The officer, she said, had his hand on his gun and asked for her name. The officer commented to Stinnette that he knew her boyfriend from a previous encounter, according to Williams.
Williams said that after getting the officer’s permission to leave, she drove away slowly, she turned south onto Martin Luther King Drive. Williams said it seemed as if another police officer was waiting for them as she turned.
“There was a crash, and I lost control,” Williams said. “But he kept shooting.” She did not elaborate on the details of the crash.
Handout photo of Marcellis Stinnette who was shot and killed by Waukegan police on October 20th. (Family photo)
Her attorneys, Antonio Romanucci and Ben Crump, along with Williams' parents and other family members, met the media Tuesday at a press conference on the steps of Waukegan’s city hall. The attorneys, who are also involved in high-profile alleged police brutality incidents around the country, said they had come from a meeting with Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham, which they called positive.
Cunningham has pledged to release police video from the incident, and the attorneys said they thought that would come Wednesday after they review it with the families of the victims.
The officer who fired on the couple has been terminated from the department, and federal authorities have been called in to assist in the investigation.
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Romanucci said he wants Waukegan to be “ground zero” for an improved way of dealing with alleged instances of police brutality.
“We want to make this city the model of transparency and accountability,” Romanucci said. “What Waukegan has done will give this family a sense of peace. It will not restore what has happened.”
He said the officer profiled the couple because they are Black. The officer who first confronted them is white, and the officer that opened fire is Hispanic, according to reports.
“That was their crime,” he said.
The family of Tafara Williams, pictured on the back of several T-shirts, who was wounded by a Waukegan police officer, gather outside of Waukegan City Hall in Waukegan on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Although Romanucci said the city’s pledges of transparency are encouraging, the family will file a lawsuit seeking monetary relief, but also policy changes.
“Waukegan has taken the right steps, but we need to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he said.
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Crump said he spoke with Williams about incidents involving Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Jacob Blake – national cases where Crump is involved.
“When does it end, America?” Crump asked. “How many more Black people have to be killed because of police brutality, excessive force, implicit bias?”
Williams' parents, Tina Jones and Trevor Williams, also spoke.
Jones called her daughter, “the strongest person I’ve ever met. She loves everybody and has a heart of gold.”
“I ask the federal government to make this speedy because I can’t sleep at night,” Trevor Williams said.
Lake County authorities have said that the investigation could take several weeks before the results are turned over to the state’s attorney for review and possible charges.
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Zharvellis Holmes, Stinnette’s mother, also addressed the media and a group of supporters at the evening gathering, and urged people to remain peaceful.
“We don’t want no looters," she said. "We don’t want no violence. I don’t want anybody coming to burn anything.”


chicagotribune--2020-10-28--Pritzker orders tougher restrictions for Chicago starting Friday. Lightfoot says she’ll try to chang

Pritzker orders tougher restrictions for Chicago starting Friday. Lightfoot says she’ll try to change his mind.

Chicago , like many large cities across the country , was hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic in the @ @ @ @ @ Illinois is experiencing is targeting a wider area of the state : By the end @ @ @ @ @ rules will be in place for Illinois ’ most densely populated neighborhoods , as well @ @ @ @ @ rural areas downstate , after those regions hit positivity rate thresholds that triggered tougher rules @

Jamie Munks, Gregory Pratt, Dan Petrella

Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday clashed over his order for tighter restrictions that would prohibit indoor dining and bar service in Chicago, with the governor saying they’re needed to help stop the coronavirus spread and the mayor indicating she’ll try to change his mind.
Hours after Pritzker announced the rollback in Chicago starting Friday, citing increases in the city’s positivity rate and in hospital admissions for people with COVID-19 symptoms, Lightfoot in a televised interview said she’s trying to convince him not to go through with his order, citing concerns about the economy.
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“Our restaurant industry, our bars, our gyms, indoor spaces, if the governor’s order goes into effect, it’s really effectively shutting down a significant portion of our economy at a time when those same businesses are really hanging on by a thread, so we’re going to continue our engagement with the governor and his team,” Lightfoot said on PBS.
“But it’s not looking good, and if we can’t convince him that some other metrics should apply, then the shutdown unfortunately is going to take effect starting Friday by state order," she said.
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The mayor did not attend Pritzker’s news conference and did not release a statement about the announcement for a couple of hours. Hinting at behind-the-scenes drama, Lightfoot’s statement began, “Communication is the key to navigating through this crisis.”
Pritzker’s office acknowledged he had not spoken to the mayor before issuing his order.
“The governor and mayor were supposed to speak on Monday, but the mayor didn’t call the governor," the governor’s office said in a statement. "Staff were briefed on the metrics triggering mitigations.”
Pritzker’s order for the city puts it under the same rules as a broad stretch of suburbs and downstate regions amid a statewide coronavirus resurgence.
The city is “averaging more than twice as many COVID-related hospital admissions per day as it was a month ago, with a positivity rate that has almost doubled since the beginning of October,” Pritzker said Tuesday.
“For a time, late in the summer, Chicago seemed to have this more under control than other regions of Illinois,” Pritzker said. “But that’s no longer the case.”
As in other regions, the rollback in Chicago was met with dismay by restaurateurs already hard-hit by the pandemic.
“All I can say is that there are a lot of tears in this place,” said Rick Bayless, whose restaurant group includes Frontera Grill, Topolobampo and Bar Sótano.
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“Everybody on our team is ready to throw in the towel,” Bayless said. “We didn’t know if we could make it to the end of the year anyway, and now this will just about cinch it.”
The city will become the seventh of 11 regions in the state to come under the stricter, state-imposed rules, but is only the second to trigger the scaled-back reopening by reaching the combined hospital admissions and positivity rate thresholds. The first was suburban Cook County, which goes under the tighter restrictions Wednesday.
“The situation here in all of Cook County, city and suburbs alike, is bad, and it’s getting worse," Pritzker said at his daily coronavirus briefing, held Tuesday in suburban Hazel Crest.
Before taking to PBS to begin making her case against Pritzker’s order, Lightfoot issued a statement that said, "the Governor and I are aligned that we need residents to mask-up and follow the City and State’s health guidance in order to reverse these recent troubling trends, but we must remain in lock step when it comes to the rollout of new restrictions.”
In her TV interview, the mayor said, “we’ve got to be very surgical in the way that we impose these new restrictions."
“The truth is, where we’re seeing the greatest challenges is in people’s homes, in social settings that are not public,” she said. “That’s harder to regulate, to be sure, but that’s at least in Chicago where we’re seeing the challenges.”
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It doesn’t sound like the governor’s office is hearing appeals, however.
“Unfortunately, the virus doesn’t make exceptions, and it would be ill-advised to make exceptions to the rules we put in place as the best mitigations to stop the spread,” Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said in a statement.
The dispute over the upcoming restrictions marks Lightfoot’s most direct confrontation with her fellow Democrat Pritzker during the pandemic. In mid-March, Pritzker canceled classes statewide just hours after Lightfoot said she had no plans to do so at Chicago Public Schools.
The tougher rules, which take effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, will deal another blow to restaurants and bars that struggled to make up for losses from the spring, when the entire state was living under a stay-at-home order, the most restrictive measure Pritzker’s administration has put in place during the pandemic so far.
“When (coronavirus restrictions) first happened, we were (saying), ‘Yeah, we’ll get through this,’” Bayless said. “I can say our team is feeling pretty hopeless right now. We’d hit break-even for about four weeks in a row, and now we’ll be back in the red, which we don’t have the wherewithal for.”
Chicago, like many large cities across the country, was hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic in the spring. The fall surge Illinois is experiencing is targeting a wider area of the state: By the end of this week, stricter rules will be in place for Illinois’ most densely populated neighborhoods, as well as some of its most rural areas downstate, after those regions hit positivity rate thresholds that triggered tougher rules.
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Suburban counties including DuPage and Kane are already under the state’s stricter rules for businesses and gatherings, and Lake and McHenry counties may soon be joining the group given the latest metrics. Both recorded a rolling coronavirus positivity rate above 8% for the second straight day, state health officials reported Tuesday, putting them one day away from triggering the stricter rules.
The two counties had a combined test positivity rate of 8.4% as of Saturday, up from 8.1% a day earlier.
State health officials on Tuesday reported 4,000 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 382,985 since the start of the pandemic. There also were 46 additional fatalities reported Tuesday, bringing the state-reported death toll to 9,568 over the course of the pandemic.
The statewide rolling positivity rate was 6.4% statewide as of Monday, up from 5.5% a week earlier and 4.5% two weeks earlier.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike on Tuesday called the rate of increase “very significant.”
“People want to poke holes in stats. You can’t deny people in the hospital, you can’t deny people who have died with it,” Ezike said.
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The city, which is its own region in Pritzker’s reopening plan, had a 7.8% test positivity rate as of Oct. 24, the most recent data the Illinois Department of Public Health has released, up from 6.7% a week earlier.
The state was reporting 43 new hospital admissions for COVID-19-like illnesses in Chicago on Oct. 24, up from 30 on Oct. 17.
In order to return to phase four rules under Pritzker’s plan and for the state to sanction indoor dining, bar service and crowd limits of up to 50 again, the city would need to reach a trio of thresholds.
The city must log, for a three-day period, an average positivity rate of 6.5% or lower, coupled with a decrease in hospital admissions for COVID-19-like illness. In addition, there must be adequate levels of available hospital and intensive care beds.
But if the city’s average positivity rate and hospital admissions for COVID-19-like illness continue to increase for seven out of 10 days, the state could impose more stringent rules.
The city joined the rest of the state in entering phase four of Pritzker’s reopening plan in late June, when restrictions on a wide array of activities, businesses and gatherings were loosened more than they had been since March. It was then that bars and indoor dining were permitted and limits on gathering sizes rose to 50.
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Last week, Lightfoot reinstated a ban on indoor service at traditional taverns and brewery taprooms without food licenses, and asked residents to cap any social gatherings at six people.
She also warned the city is on a path for much tougher restrictions heading into the holiday season if the virus doesn’t get under control.
Late last month, Lightfoot cited a decrease in COVID-19 cases as she allowed bars that don’t serve food to reopen for indoor drinking. She also eased rules on restaurants, gyms and other retailers, allowing them to increase capacity. The changes were Lightfoot’s attempt to ease the financial burden on Chicago businesses by lifting frequently criticized restrictions.
But they also came as the number of new COVID-19 cases per day was hovering around 300, well above the 200-case threshold the mayor set months ago as a goal before moderating restrictions.
Chicago now is averaging nearly 800 new cases a day, Arwady said. To put it into perspective, she said 400 was a level of concern and 200 was the level the city wanted to stay under.
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Also Tuesday, the city of Chicago added Florida to its travel quarantine order, and officials warned that Michigan could be added next week as coronavirus cases continue to rise, Arwady said.
That makes 31 states, as well as Puerto Rico, on the city’s list of places residents can’t travel to without quarantining.
The Tribune’s Phil Vettel contributed.
jmunks@chicagotribune.com
gpratt@chicagotribune.com
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dpetrella@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-27--Hammond gang member gets life in prison for 1999 double slaying; also accused of assaulting R. Kelly

Hammond gang member gets life in prison for 1999 double slaying; also accused of assaulting R. Kelly in jail

Shortly before 11:45 a.m. June 25 , 1999 , Hammond police were sent to the 5100 block of Calumet Avenue @ @ @ @ @ men , identified as Lowry and Siegers , found on the ground inside a garage @ @ @ @ @ according to court records .
The two died of “ extensive ” head injuries due @ @ @ @ @ according to the government .

A gang member was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to life imprisonment for a 1999 Hammond double slaying where the two victims were fatally beaten with a small sledgehammer.
Jeremiah Farmer, now 39, of Hammond was charged in the killings June 25, 1999, of Marion Lowry, 74, and Harvey Siegers, 67, who were beaten at their business, Calumet Auto Rebuilders.
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During the hour-plus sentencing, Farmer represented himself. He appeared combative, argumentative and occasionally profane. At times, he raised his voice and frequently interrupted U.S. District Court Judge Phillip Simon of the Northern District of Indiana in Hammond.
In one exchange, Farmer, a Latin Kings member, appeared to threaten the federal judge.
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Farmer was convicted in July 2019 of conspiracy to commit racketeering activity and conspiracy with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, marijuana and Xanax, according to court records. He faced a mandatory life sentence.
More recently, Farmer is also accused of beating singer R. Kelly on Aug. 26 at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago. He was transferred to a federal facility in Michigan after the alleged attack on Kelly.
When the sentence was read, Farmer appeared to show no emotion.
Shortly before 11:45 a.m. June 25, 1999, Hammond police were sent to the 5100 block of Calumet Avenue for a report of two men, identified as Lowry and Siegers, found on the ground inside a garage at Calumet Auto Rebuilders, according to court records. The two died of “extensive” head injuries due to blunt force trauma, according to the government.
A postal worker, who found the men in the auto shop, said she was delivering mail in the area when she “saw a guy running through the back parking lot behind the cleaners” at “full speed” with “something in his hand,” court records state.
Throughout the proceeding in Hammond, Farmer proclaimed his innocence for the murders and characterized detectives, prosecutors and the judge as “corrupt.”
During court, he looked directly to the court’s other end, apologizing to the victims' families, saying they would get “closure on this case with an innocent man.”
Farmer spent at least 30 minutes going back over the case. Simon said the case had already been decided by a jury and Farmer needed to use the time to make the argument for a lighter sentence.
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“It doesn’t matter,” Farmer said later. “You guys are all corrupt. There’s no justice in this court. I’m done.”
Later, he briefly stood, before being told to sit down by a bailiff.
“Thank you for the two life sentences you are going to give me,” he said. “Throw in another murder.”
Farmer was talking about “government corruption” when Simon reminded him again that he needed to focus on the sentencing and wrap up his comments.
“The best thing you can do is die,” Farmer retorted.
Those words drew a muted gasp in court. Two other witnesses, including a bailiff, confirmed he appeared to threaten the judge, characterizing the exchange as him wishing Simon was dead.
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Farmer later objected as Siegers' daughter, Nancy Van Drunen, 64, approached to read her victim impact statement.
“I didn’t kill anybody, I don’t have the right to listen to this,” he said.
Simon told Farmer he would have to be kicked out if he interrupted her.
Van Drunen said her father lived for a few more days before he died on his 67th birthday in 1999. At the hospital, he had extensive brain damage and his hands showed signs he tried to fight back.
Watching him die was “gut-wrenching,” she said.
“I don’t want to pray for God’s mercy on Jeremiah’s soul, (but I must),” Van Drunen said. “The struggle is worth it, because my faith has sustained me.”
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She asked for the maximum sentence. The Lowry family had their impact letter read in court.
“This is not a close one,” Assistant U.S. Attorney David Nozick said. “He clearly and richly deserves two consecutive life sentences.”
In the past decade, with numerous federal gang cases, the 1999 double murder stood out “as brutal and savage and shocking as we’ve seen,” he said.
In court, Farmer admitted he beat Kelly, saying he wanted the “media help to prove his innocence” on his murder case.
Simon cited other criminal history, including a different case, where Farmer allegedly broke into a woman’s house demanding drugs, then shot her twice in the stomach, leaving her unable to bear children.
Lowry and Siegers - who had fed police information - were “trying to run a business in a community overrun with gang violence,” Simon said. “Their reward was this incredibly violent attack.”
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The Lake County prosecutor’s office charged Farmer in 2001 in the double homicide. That case was later dismissed “after critical witnesses recanted their statements to police following threats and intimidation,” prosecutors said.
The shop where Farmer was accused of killing Lowry and Siegers was located within what the Latin Kings considered to be their neighborhood “and employees of the business had repeatedly had conflicts with members of the Latin Kings,” an indictment stated.
Sometime between 1999 and 2001, Farmer “tattooed his own face with two teardrops, to commemorate having killed” the two, according to the indictment.
Recently, his behavior in custody, alluding to Kelly, was “deplorable,” Simon said.
“Child molester!” Farmer said in response.
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Farmer had some mitigating factors including “serious mental health issues,” substance abuse history, a 7th-grade education and rough upbringing including the suicide of his mother in recent years. He also had “no work history at all,” living off Social Security benefits, Simon said.
Farmer “showed absolutely no remorse” for the slayings, Simon said.
Afterwards, both families asked a reporter not to include the R. Kelly assault, saying it took the focus off the murders.
“We didn’t ever know if this day would come,” said Lowry’s daughter, Kelly, outside court, who declined to give her last name.
Van Drunen thanked the Hammond detectives, federal prosecutors and the judge that stayed with the case.
“Twenty years is a long time,” she said afterwards. “God will be the eternal judge.”
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The Chicago Tribune contributed.


chicagotribune--2020-10-29--Northwestern and Loyola share plans to allow more students on campus this winter despite COVID-19 su

Northwestern and Loyola share plans to allow more students on campus this winter despite COVID-19 surge gripping Chicago and suburban Cook County

But for now , NU intends to invite first- and second-year students to live on campus and take classes next @ @ @ @ @ permitted to do so this fall , and the school ’ s positivity rate has @ @ @ @ @ the email said .
In the last week , 49 new cases have been reported @ @ @ @ @ according to NU ’ s public dashboard .

Northwestern University in Evanston and Loyola University Chicago both shared plans Wednesday for expanded campus reopenings next term despite the ongoing surge of COVID-19 prompting greater restrictions in Chicago and its suburbs.
The announcements from the schools, which have predominantly residential campuses, come as the state reported 6,110 newly confirmed cases of the virus ― the second-highest daily tally since the pandemic began. The rising numbers and increasing hospitalizations have triggered bans on indoor dining and caps on gatherings in eight of the state’s 11 regions under the governor’s plan.
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Northwestern officials acknowledged the mounting cases in an email to students about the plans, noting an uptick in infections among graduate students, faculty and staff, and cautioned that any decisions could be amended due to public health conditions.
But for now, NU intends to invite first- and second-year students to live on campus and take classes next term. Only upperclassmen were permitted to do so this fall, and the school’s positivity rate has stayed below 1%, the email said. In the last week, 49 new cases have been reported among the campus community, according to NU’s public dashboard.
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“As long as the positivity rate stabilizes and does not continue increasing, we will be able to continue to support the COVID-related needs of our community,” the NU email said. “The vast majority of you have been wearing masks, socially distancing and following protocols for testing, contact tracing, and quarantine and isolation."
Students returning to campus will come back beginning Jan. 3 in a staged fashion, must follow a modified quarantine and undergo testing. In general, NU “experienced a better Fall than initially projected,” finding that many of the positive cases stem from small clusters of students at off-campus gatherings and not between employees and students in the classroom.
Earlier this month, though, the school’s renowned Kellogg School of Management suspended in-person classes for two weeks because dozens of MBA students socialized together in large groups and some contracted COVID-19.
Also on Wednesday afternoon, Loyola announced in an email to students, faculty and staff that it will increase the number of in-person classes ― up to 10% of all undergraduate courses ― and reopen dorms to students who want to live in single rooms. Loyola largely kept its residence halls closed this semester and shifted the bulk of its classes online.
Loyola officials also said in the email that spring break will be canceled, replaced with two long weekends, as some schools are doing to discourage the spread of COVID-19 through travel, and that the university’s efforts rely on increased asymptomatic surveillance testing.
“We eagerly prepare to come together in person and on campus in greater numbers this spring,” the email said. “Like other universities, we have learned much since the beginning of the pandemic and we trust our community to remain informed, vigilant, and caring so that we can best experience a spring semester in an expanded operational capacity.”
Loyola’s COVID-19 dashboard shows 26 new COVID-19 cases from the last seven days that it administered testing.
Loyola' spring semester begins Jan. 19 for undergraduates. For filling the dorms, Loyola will give preference to first-year students who previously held housing contracts, the school email said. Residence hall density will be reduced, and no more than two students will have to share a bathroom.
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echerney@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-28--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Lightfoot drops opposition to Pritzker’s order for tighter Chicago

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Lightfoot drops opposition to Pritzker’s order for tighter Chicago restrictions as state reports 6,110 new confirmed cases and 51 more deaths

“ We had a very frank and productive conversation with the governor and his team and my team as well @ @ @ @ @ of issues and we came out of that discussion really committed to making sure that @ @ @ @ @ ” Lightfoot said .
“ Obviously we ’ ve got to work and make sure @ @ @ @ @ the businesses across Chicago that are going to be affected .
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CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
A day after indicating she would try to talk Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker out of tightening COVID-19 restrictions in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday she had met with the governor and won’t try to block his order to ban indoor bar and dining service in the city.
“We had a very frank and productive conversation with the governor and his team and my team as well. We explored a lot of issues and we came out of that discussion really committed to making sure that we work hard together,” Lightfoot said. “Obviously we’ve got to work and make sure that we communicate effectively to the businesses across Chicago that are going to be affected.”
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Meanwhile, the state also said Lake and McHenry counties will become the 8th of 11 regions in Pritzker’s reopening plan where coronavirus metrics have exceeded state thresholds, leading to tighter restrictions. Indoor bar and dining service will be banned in those counties beginning Saturday after the average positivity rate exceeded 8% for three consecutive days, the governor’s office said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Illinois health officials also announced 6,110 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 statewide, the second-highest daily cases count since the pandemic began after a count of 6,161 last Saturday. In all, there have been 389,095 known cases in Illinois. With 51 additional fatalities also reported, the statewide death toll stands at 9,619.
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Here’s what’s happening Wednesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
8:05 p.m.: CPS parents appeal to Board of Ed for more details on reopening plans
What happens if a student takes off their mask in a pod? What if someone in their pod has a medical mask exemption? What are the health and safety protocols for students who need help eating or using the restroom? What if a sibling has to quarantine?
On the deadline for students in preschool and special education cluster programs to decide whether they will return to in-person learning next quarter, parents and educators sought details and advocated for their children at the Chicago Board of Education meeting Wednesday.
Many also tweeted their concerns at Chicago Public Schools and Mayor Lori Lightfoot in a campaign this week organized by Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education.
The parents' advocacy group said CPS has failed at communicating its plans, even as the district revealed more details at the meeting.
Read more here. —Hannah Leone
7:50 p.m.: Loyola, Northwestern unveil plans to open campuses further, even as COVID-19 surges
Northwestern University in Evanston and Loyola University Chicago both shared plans Wednesday for expanded campus re-openings next term despite the ongoing surge of COVID-19 prompting greater restrictions in Chicago and its suburbs.
The announcements from the schools, which have predominantly residential campuses, come as the state reported 6,110 newly confirmed cases of the virus ― the second highest daily tally since the pandemic began.
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While acknowledging the lingering challenges of the virus, officials at both campuses said they will allow more students on campus and in dorms and expand in-person offerings.
Read more here. —Elyssa Cherney
6:55 p.m.: Pritzker tied COVID-19 cases to restaurants and bars in Kane, DuPage counties. But health departments paint a vague picture of the data.
The day after he announced increased restrictions on bars and restaurants to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Kane and DuPage counties, Gov. J.B. Pritzker doubled down on his heightened mitigation measures.
“In region 8 (Kane and DuPage counties), for example, the number one place — the number one identifiable place that people said when they were contact-traced, that they had been to either just before they got tested or after they got tested but before they got their result, was a bar or a restaurant,” he said last week at a daily COVID-19 news conference. “And that’s true across the state.”
But information made public by health departments in Kane and DuPage counties presents a more vague picture about the exposure locations identified in COVID-19 contact tracing. Local health departments have not made public information about the locations visited by those who tested positive for COVID-19, and business owners and some officials continue to question whether restrictions on restaurants and bars are targeting the right places.
Officials with both health departments say eating and drinking indoors can pose a virus risk, and they encourage residents to follow state rules and take precautions. But a Kane County Health Department spokeswoman said the agency had limited data from county contact tracing about locations, and it would be difficult to make any assumptions. The DuPage County health department did not definitively identify the top locations turning up in contact tracing.
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Read more here. —Sarah Freishtat
4:40 p.m.: As state halts indoor dining in Chicago, a Pilsen restaurant tests out sidewalk enclosure. Its designer wants to build more, but needs financial backing.
Finding creative ways for restaurants and bars to serve guests outside might be a vital means for establishments to survive the winter, especially after Illinois moves to shut down indoor dining in Chicago and suburban Cook County this week.
The city’s outdoor dining design contest netted 600 entries, with officials selecting three winners to receive $5,000 for proposals vetted for their feasibility and practical application.
Eric Cup and his McKinley Park custom manufacturing company Bridgewater Studio were not one of winners, but they were sure their ideas could be rapidly deployed across the city. So last week, they got together with Azul 18 in Pilsen and constructed the first version of their design.
Now, Cup is looking for corporate sponsors to financially support the project and restaurant partners interested in having the design executed at their business.
“I thought (the Winter Design Challenge) was a good idea, but I really feel that something has to happen now,” Cup said. “A sense of urgency to mobilize on this is just vital for these people to survive the next few months. ... We don’t need a perfect solution, we need a good solution now.”
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Read more here. —Grace Wong
4:35 p.m.: Families remember loved ones lost to COVID-19 with ofrendas, homemade altars for Day of the Dead
When she was growing up, as the Day of the Dead approached Sophia Irizarry would help her grandmother set up an altar in their living room to remember and honor their loved ones.
Putting up the ofrenda was a celebration in itself, she recalls. Her grandmother would look at old photos and reminisce about those who had died, telling her tales of the old times and decorating the altar with their favorite dishes, cempasuchil flowers and lots of catrinas — skeletal figures associated with the holiday.
Dia de los Muertos, celebrated in the United States Oct. 31 through Nov. 2, and coinciding with All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day on the Roman Catholic calendar, was her grandmother’s favorite holiday, she said.
Her grandmother, Ramona Fuentes, taught her that “It’s a time full of nostalgia, but at the same time, gratefulness for everything that each person left in the world,” she said.
This year, Irizarry had to set up the ofrenda on her own. Her grandmother unexpectedly died from COVID-19 complications June 10 at age 82. Now her photo adorns the top of the ofrenda, just as photos of many other people who have died from the virus are a part of ofrendas for other Mexican American families this year.
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Read more here. —Laura Rodríguez Presa
4 p.m.: Antibody drug tested in Cook County may be helpful to some COVID-19 patients, results show
A new antibody-based drug shows promise in treating outpatients who have mild to severe COVID-19, according to initial results of research conducted in part at Cook County Health and Northwestern University.
Patients given the drug were hospitalized or visited the emergency room less often than those given a placebo, Cook County Health officials said. The patients receiving the drug also showed improvement within two to six days, a shorter disease course that is not only good for patients but also may reduce the amount of time a person is infectious, helping protect other people.
The drug, manufactured by Eli Lilly and AbCellera Biologics Inc., was tested on 452 outpatients at 24 medical institutions across the country, including Cook County’s vast public health system and the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Most of the 14 patients who took part at Cook County Health were Latino or Black, populations that have been hit especially hard by the disease.
The results of the continuing study, which is being run by Eli Lilly, were published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.
The drug, administered through a one-time infusion, includes the replicated antibodies of one of the first patients in the United States to survive COVID-19. It’s classified as a monoclonal antibody treatment, the same type of medication given to President Donald Trump after he was diagnosed with the disease and which he described as “a cure.”
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The drug in the Eli Lilly trial was formulated using a single antibody. The drug Trump received was made by Regeneron and involves two antibodies.
Dr. Gregory Huhn, an infectious disease expert who led the arm of the Eli Lilly research conducted at Cook County Health, made it clear that the drug is a treatment, not a cure.
“Our hope has been that the antibody drug will reduce COVID symptoms quickly after diagnosis and help to eradicate the virus more quickly,” Huhn said. “While a vaccine is still necessary, this drug therapy has the potential to prevent bad clinical outcomes and complications of COVID-19.”
Read more here. —Hal Dardick
3:25 p.m.: IHSA board goes against Pritzker, will start boys and girls basketball seasons on time
The Illinois High School Association decided Wednesday the boys and girls basketball seasons are on after all.
The IHSA took a stand at a special board meeting, deciding to go against the guidelines announced Tuesday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health.
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Practice for boys and girls basketball was scheduled to begin Nov. 16, with games being played by Nov. 30.
“We’ve been on an emotional roller coaster,” Hillcrest boys basketball coach Don Houston said. “Is the season starting or isn’t it? Now we know and it feels great.”
Craig Anderson, the executive director of the IHSA, had a Zoom meeting with athletic directors statewide at 3 p.m. to announce moving forward with winter sports despite the IDPH changing basketball from medium risk to high risk.
Read more here. —Pat Disabato
3:10 p.m. (update): Lightfoot drops opposition to Pritzker’s order for tighter restrictions in Chicago
A day after indicating she would try to talk Gov. J.B. Pritzker out of tightening restrictions in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday she had met with the governor and won’t try to block his order to ban indoor bar and dining service in the city.
"We had a very frank and productive conversation with the governor and his team and my team as well. We explored a lot of issues and we came out of that discussion really committed to making sure that we work hard together.
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“Obviously we’ve got to work and make sure that we communicate effectively to the businesses across Chicago that are going to be effective.”
Earlier Wednesday, Pritzker had defended his decision to tighten restrictions in Chicago and most other regions of the state.
Read more here. — Jamie Munks, Dan Petrella and Gregory Pratt
2:10 p.m.: Cook County launches jobs training, placement program for suburbs as stricter COVID-19 measures go into effect
The day stricter state-imposed coronavirus restrictions took hold in suburban Cook County, officials announced a jobs program funded by $4 million in federal stimulus money to train and employ residents who are out of work due to the pandemic.
Run with the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership, the program made possible by Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act money will funnel grants toward seven workforce agencies in the suburbs, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced Wednesday. Participants can take part in job placement, career coaching and skills training on job hunting and interview preparation.
“This assistance is coming at a critical time in the U.S. employment market,” Preckwinkle said at a North Riverside news conference. “COVID-19 has forced many local businesses to adapt to unprecedented circumstances. As restrictions go into effect, and we know that more restrictions are going into effect ..., we will see more restaurant workers and hospitality industry professionals experience a decline in service, reduction of hours for employees, and in some cases closures.”
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Suburban residents can apply for the jobs program here.
Read more here. —Alice Yin
11:50 a.m.: Pritzker defends tighter restrictions in Chicago in face of pushback from Lightfoot, adds Lake and McHenry counties to list of regions where indoor bar and dining banned
A day after Mayor Lori Lightfoot indicated she would try to change Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s mind about shutting down indoor dining and bar service in Chicago later this week, the governor reiterated that the restrictions will take effect in the city Friday, as planned.
“We have now a COVID storm that’s hit the entire country, frankly, I think there’s nobody that could turn on a television set, watch news, without seeing that it’s happening everywhere, and it’s happening across the state of Illinois. Chicago hasn’t been immune from that,” Pritzker said Wednesday at an unrelated news conference in Chicago.
“So as I announced yesterday, the same mitigations that went in place for other areas of the state that have tripped those metrics, where we’ve got people getting sick and going into the hospital … we’ve imposed the same sets of mitigations and we’ll be doing that for the city of Chicago,” he said.
Also Tuesday, the state said Lake and McHenry counties will become the 8th of 11 regions in Pritzker’s reopening plan where coronavirus metrics have exceeded state thresholds, leading to tighter restrictions. Indoor bar and dining service will be banned in those counties beginning Saturday after the average positivity rate exceeded 8% for three consecutive days, the governor’s office said.
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Pritzker’s administration has reimposed tougher restrictions in regions from suburban Cook County to southern Illinois when they’ve reached state-set thresholds indicating a resurgence of the coronavirus.
In the face of growing criticism, he defended those measures on Wednesday as being “effective,” citing two regions where the state tightened rules and the COVID-19 test positivity rate then dropped to a level where indoor dining and bar service could resume.
Read more here. — Jamie Munks and Dan Petrella
10:50 a.m.: COVID-19 outbreak on Wisconsin — 12 people, including 6 players and head coach Paul Chryst — forces cancellation of Saturday’s Big Ten game vs. Nebraska
Wisconsin has become the first Big Ten football team to have its just-started season impacted by COVID-19.
Because of a team outbreak — including a positive test for coach Paul Chryst — the Badgers' game Saturday against Nebraska will be canceled.
The team will suspend all activities for seven days, the university announced Wednesday. The Big Ten’s schedule does not allow room for makeup games, meaning Saturday’s game will not be rescheduled.
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As of Wednesday morning, 12 people within the football program had tested positive for COVID-19 in the previous five days, according to a news release. Six players and six staff members tested positive with additional results pending.
Read more here. — Shannon Ryan
9:45 a.m.: Dr. Ngozi Ezike’s emotional moment shows health care workers feel COVID-19 fatigue too
At an Oct. 23 news conference, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike became emotional while talking about the nearly 10,000 lives lost in Illinois — “People who started with us in 2020 and who won’t be with us at the Thanksgiving table.”
Ezike paused and turned away from the camera as she wiped her tears and took some time to compose herself. She said she understands the emotional toll and knows how hard it is for everyone.
“I don’t get to live in some COVID-free bubble, exempt from all the pain and tragedy of this pandemic,” she said. “If you’re talking about COVID fatigue from having to keep wearing a mask, think about the COVID fatigue for health care workers, respiratory therapists, who are going to have to go through this whole episode again of trying to fight for people’s lives,” she added.
This has been an extreme year for health care workers. They are not removed, Ezike said, from stressors others face in a challenging moment where “you can’t actually see the end.”
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Along with the stressors of parenting children who are remote learning and the near absence of friends and family, the past seven months have been a cycle of hypervigilance and fear for health care workers.
Data released Monday from the American College of Emergency Physicians revealed that many are feeling stress and burnout. Among the 862 emergency room physicians surveyed, 87% were more stressed now than since the start of the pandemic. Burnout causes included concerns about family, friends and personal health.
Read more here. — Alison Bowen
7:56 a.m.: Boeing will cut 11,000 more jobs as aircraft business slows
Boeing will cut more jobs as it continues to bleed money and lose revenue during a pandemic that has smothered demand for new airline planes.
The Chicago-based company said Wednesday that it expects to cut its workforce to about 130,000 employees by the end of next year, down 30,000 from the start of this year. That is far deeper than the 19,000 reduction that the company announced three months ago.
Boeing Co. updated its jobs plan on the same day it reported a $449 million loss for the third quarter, a swing from the $1.17 billion it earned in the same period last year. The loss was narrower than analysts expected, however.
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Revenue tumbled 29% to $14.14 billion.
Read more here. —Associated Press
7:55 a.m.: 4 inmates have died from COVID-19 at East Moline Correctional Center, out of 29 in state prisons
Four inmates at the East Moline Correctional Center have died from COVID-19, all of them in October, according to authorities.The fourth death, a man in his 50s, was Monday, according to Lindsey Hess, public information officer for the Illinois Department of Corrections.
As of Tuesday, 343 inmates and 33 staff have tested positive for coronavirus at the minimum-security prison, 100 Hillcrest Road, East Moline. Deaths are not being reported on the websites for the facility or IDOC.
Hess said no EMCC staff members had died.
There have been 29 inmate deaths from COVID-19 at Illinois prisons, according to Hess. Stateville Correctional Center, near Chicago, has had 13 inmates die; a man in his 50s was the first death on March 29. The next highest number of COVID-19 deaths has been at Robinson Correctional Center, where three of the five deaths were men in their 70s.
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Read more here. —Sarah Hayden, Quad City Times
6:45 a.m.: COVID-19 Restrictions go into effect in suburban Cook County, Metro East regions of state
By Wednesday, more than half of Illinois residents will be under stricter measures meant to slow a surge of the coronavirus as suburban Cook County and the Metro East region outside St. Louis join four other regions where the state has shut down indoor dining and bar service and lowered the cap on crowds to 25.
At the beginning of last week, only one of the 11 regions in the state’s reopening plan was subject to those rules.
By Friday of last week, suburban Cook County had had eight consecutive days of test positivity rate increases and seven days of increased hospital admissions. State figures Wednesday morning were only updated through Saturday.
It is the first region to surpass the state-set thresholds for those two metrics at the same time. The other region have triggered tougher rules by reaching an 8% positivity rate threshold for three consecutive days. As of Saturday, the rolling seven-day positivity rate for the Cook County suburbs was 8%.
Friday, Chicago will go under similar restrictions, as the city also has seen a recent surge. — Chicago Tribune staff
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6 a.m.: For special education families, an agonizing choice on returning to school: Risk COVID-19 exposure or accept ‘heartbreaking’ limits of remote learning
When Katherine Buitron’s son froze mid-sentence and collapsed on his Chromebook during a virtual class, some of his classmates were scared. Others seemed to think he just fell asleep, she said.
She moved her son and closed the Chromebook.
After the seizure, he had bad headaches and double vision. Subsequent doctor’s appointments took even more time away from classes. In addition to epilepsy, the fifth grader has autism and dyslexia, and is immunocompromised, Buitron said. His two siblings also are in special education programs, but none is in the first groups of students tapped by Chicago Public Schools to return to in-person learning.
The family has already decided they’d continue remote learning anyway, because of health concerns, but would have a hard time making an informed decision based on the sparse plans the district has presented.
“They expect parents to make choices without the full information,” Buitron said.
Even with the limited details, Deidra Kenar, another CPS parent whose children have individualized education programs, would love for them to return to school.
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“We feel like the longer and longer they are away,” she said, “the more and more challenges that are coming up for them.”
Although their families don’t yet have the option to send their children back to school before the end of the calendar year, for thousands of other CPS families with special education students, decision day is Wednesday.
Along with prekindergartners, about 5,000 students in moderate and intensive cluster programs have been identified as the first who could resume in-person learning. That includes those who attend specialty schools where most or all students are what CPS classifies as diverse learners.
Based on families' responses to opt-in forms due Wednesday, district officials will decide whether they can support in-person learning five days a week or use a hybrid model for specialty schools, CPS spokesman James Gherardi said.
Read more here. —Hannah Leone, Karen Ann Cullotta
6 a.m.: After their mom died from COVID-19, her kids give a final toast with a beloved, hard-to-find token of her youth: Tab diet pop
Kathleen Berger died in May from coronavirus-related causes, leaving behind eight kids and a legacy encapsulated by a bright pink soda pop can.
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Berger, who was 73, was a voracious consumer of Tab, the saccharin-infused cola known for its distinctive packaging, vaguely metallic taste and aerobic studio vibe. Introduced in 1963 by the Coca-Cola Co., it was once the nation’s dominant diet soda, producing a legion of fans so hard-core they called themselves Tabaholics.
But Tab lost its mojo over the decades, surpassed by Diet Coke and other carbonated descendants, and Coke finally dispatched the brand earlier this month with a eulogy of buzzwords (“We’re prioritizing bets that have scale potential across beverage categories, consumer need states and drinking occasions”).
The retirement led to hoarding that soon made Tab, which was already hard to find, as rare as a white truffle. As of Tuesday, the asking price on eBay for a single can went as high as $25.
Berger, whose Tabaholism was second to none, would have recoiled at such a markup. That left her children, who are spread from Seattle to Elmhurst to suburban Boston, with a challenge: locate enough Tab in the wild so they could give a final, video chat-enabled salute to their mother.
“We were all like, ‘All right, let’s go out and try to find some, and then we’ll do this toast to Mom,’” said her son, Matt Berger. “And then none of us could find it anywhere.”
Read more here. —John Keilman
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chicagotribune--2020-10-28--Waukegan police officer had body camera off during fatal shooting of Marcellis Stinnette; officials

Waukegan police officer had body camera off during fatal shooting of Marcellis Stinnette; officials say that led to his firing

The city also released footage from the body camera of the officer who fired on the couple , which was @ @ @ @ @ .
On it , there are about 35 seconds with no audio , and as @ @ @ @ @ Tamara Williams can be heard shouting from inside her crashed car , “ We didn @ @ @ @ @ ” The police officer responds , “ I was right behind you .
You almost @ @ @ @ @ .
”

Zharvellis Holmes, left, mother of Marcellis Stinnette, and his grandmother, Sherrellis Stinnette, center, listen as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, right, and others speak Oct. 28, 2020, outside the Illinois State Police headquarters in Des Plaines. They had viewed video of the shooting death Stinnette and the wounding of Tafara Williams by Waukegan police last week. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
The city of Waukegan released footage Wednesday from a fatal police shooting last week, but the officer who shot and killed Marcellis Stinnette and wounded his girlfriend activated his body camera only after firing at the couple, city officials acknowledged.
In releasing the videos, the city said the officer’s failure to activate the camera was one of the reasons Waukegan fired him Friday, just days after the Oct. 20 incident in which Stinnette, 19, was killed and his girlfriend, Tafara Williams, 20, was wounded. Both victims are Black and the parents of a 7-month-old son.
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The videos from shortly before midnight cast light on the shooting, but none show the officer, who is Hispanic, opening fire.
The city of Waukegan released footage from the fatal shooting of Marcellis Stinnette by a Waukegan police officer. (City of Waukegan) (Chicago Tribune Handout)
The officer’s dashboard camera shows him driving south on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue when the couple’s car, being driven by Williams, pulls onto the street ahead of the police cruiser, apparently from an apartment complex, and heads south. After running through a stop sign, Williams’ car attempts to head west on Helmholz Avenue, but slides off the road.
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On the dash cam, the car can be seen reversing momentarily, and a moment later the police officer is heard saying, “Get out of the…” before shots ring out. A few moments later, the sound of the car crashing into a small brick building can be heard.
The dash cam video picks up the officer a moment later saying what sounds like, “You ran me over.” During the shooting, though, the dash cam was pointed away from the couple’s car, other than the front of the vehicle before it backs out of camera range.
The city also released video of the couple’s initial encounter with a different officer, who is white, just before the shooting. That video shows Williams, with Stinnette in the passenger seat, driving away suddenly from the police officer, who had pulled up alongside them as they sat in her parked car.
In the video, the officer asks Stinnette his name, and he initially says it is King. The officer, though, identifies him and says that Stinnette is under arrest.
“What for?” Stinnette asks. “Because I said so,” the officer replies. He then tells Stinnette there is a warrant for his arrest, and the officer walks around to the passenger side of the couple’s vehicle, where Stinnette is seated.
After a few more moments of conversation, the car suddenly drives off, causing the police officer to exclaim, “Hey, hey hey, they just ran me over.” He then is heard radioing other officers for assistance.
The city also released footage from the body camera of the officer who fired on the couple, which was only activated after the shooting. On it, there are about 35 seconds with no audio, and as the audio picks up, Tamara Williams can be heard shouting from inside her crashed car, “We didn’t do anything wrong.” The police officer responds, “I was right behind you. You almost tried to run me over.”
Handout photo of Marcellis Stinnette who was shot and killed by Waukegan police on October 20th. (Family photo)
The videos are at odds with some aspects of the account Williams gave Tuesday from her hospital bed via Zoom.
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She said she drove away slowly from the first officer with his permission, but the video shows a more sudden acceleration as the officer is in the middle of attempting to arrest Stinnette, something Williams also did not mention.
The videos also do not seem to support the initial account of the officer who fired at the couple -- as reported in initial statements from Waukegan police -- that he fired at the couple’s car as it went in reverse toward him, putting him in fear for his life.
In the video, his police car pulls alongside Williams' car, which can be seen reversing only a second or two after the officer’s vehicle stops.
Authorities have not released any information about why the couple’s car was approached by the initial officer, or anything about an alleged warrant pending for Stinnette’s arrest.
Earlier Wednesday, attorneys for Williams' family reviewed the video, and they decried the lack of body camera video, with Antonio Romanucci saying the officer’s account had zero credibility because his body cam was not activated until after the shooting.
The attorney said bullet holes appeared to be in the driver’s side door, which he said would suggest the officer fired from a 90-degree angle to the car, not as it backed up toward him. There did not appear to any defects in the front windshield, or gunshot damage to the rear window of the couple’s vehicle, Romanucci said.
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“This officer had an ‘Oh crap’ moment after the shooting, and pushed the (body camera) button,” the attorney said. “He knew to push the button and say, ‘You tried to run me over.’ Those were his first words. That’s the justification.
“It’s very sad we will not be able to see the truth by video,” he said. “Had he had his body camera on, maybe we wouldn’t be standing here."
[ Waukegan police shooting victim says, ‘We had our hands raised’; Rev. Al Sharpton joins family at site of shooting ]
The videos were released with an accompanying letter from Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham, which said the body camera of the officer who fired at the couple was, “not activated properly to archive the time of the shooting.”
“We are all hurting as a result of this incident, and while I intend to allow justice to run its course and not compromise the integrity of the process, I must balance that with my commitment to the families and the community to always maintain transparency,” he said.
The Illinois State Police, along with the FBI, are continuing the investigation into the incident.


chicagotribune--2020-10-28--Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty announces he will not run for second term

“ This was not an easy decision .
I love this city .
I love many of the city staff @ @ @ @ @ partners , and residents I get to work and interact with on a daily basis @ @ @ @ @ “ But , most importantly , I love what we have accomplished together over the @ @ @ @ @ spite of a current global pandemic , economic downturn , contentious differences , and the @ @ @ @ @ for our elected leaders and government institutions .
”

Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty addresses the audience gathered at the new Fountain Square on May 18, 2019. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)
Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty announced Oct. 28 that he will not seek a second term as the elected leader of the city.
In an email announcement detailing the recent appointment of City Manager Erika Storlie, Hagerty wrote that the time seemed right to bring his work as mayor to a close.
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“This was not an easy decision. I love this city. I love many of the city staff, elected officials, community partners, and residents I get to work and interact with on a daily basis,” Hagerty wrote. “But, most importantly, I love what we have accomplished together over the last four years, in spite of a current global pandemic, economic downturn, contentious differences, and the rising public distrust that exists for our elected leaders and government institutions.”
Hagerty was elected to the post in 2017 and succeeded two-term mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl, who did not run for reelection. That race was tight, with Hagerty only beating Mark Tendam, then a city alderman, by 115 votes, according to Cook County clerk records.
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Last month, the race for Evanston mayor got a high-profile jolt when Daniel Biss, a former Democratic gubernatorial candidate and state senator, announced his plans to run for the office. At the time, Hagerty said he had not yet made up his mind on whether he would run again.
The petitioning period opened Aug. 25 for the February 2021 primary consolidated election, with filing papers due between Nov. 16-23, according to the Evanston city clerk’s office website.
All mayoral and aldermanic candidates are required to file for the primary consolidated election, according to the clerk’s office. A consolidated primary election will be held Feb. 23, 2021, which includes the mayoral race. Aldermanic primaries will be held for races in which four or more candidates have filed to run.
The consolidated election will be held April 6 and the new mayor would take office in May 2021.
Evanston’s new mayor will take office while the city is still likely to be reeling from the financial fallout related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Recent budget updates put the city’s expected end-of-year 2020 deficit at $2.1 million. Hagerty alluded to those difficulties in his note to Evanston residents.
“The challenges that lie ahead for Evanston are significant — providing essential services with less, rebuilding our local economy, wisely balancing our budget and reallocating our assets, preparing all our young adults for productive and successful careers, honoring the diversity of our community, and addressing growing socioeconomic and racial disparities,” he wrote.
During Hagerty’s term, Evanston passed a landmark local reparations initiative funded by marijuana sales revenue and opened the new Robert Crown Community Center.
This is an updating story. Check back for more details.


chicagotribune--2020-10-28--City of Waukegan releases body camera footage of fatal shooting of Marcellis Stinnette by officer

The city of Waukegan released footage from the fatal shooting of Marcellis Stinnette by a Waukegan police officer .
( @ @ @ @

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chicagotribune--2020-10-28--Pritzker tied COVID-19 cases to restaurants and bars in Kane, DuPage counties. But health department

Pritzker tied COVID-19 cases to restaurants and bars in Kane, DuPage counties. But health departments paint a vague picture of the data.

`` It is particularly difficult given the fact that the data which has been released by our local health departments @ @ @ @ @ restaurants as significant sources contributing to the spread , yet they are being singled out @ @ @ @ @ , their establishment resides in a county that is enforcing the measures , ” he @ @ @ @ @ “ Moreover , other businesses and settings that the data reflects are contributing to the @ @ @ @ @ the enhanced mitigation measures .
This has led to misinformation and opposition to the mitigation @ @ @ @

The day after he announced increased restrictions on bars and restaurants to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Kane and DuPage counties, Gov. J.B. Pritzker doubled down on his heightened mitigation measures.
“In region 8 (Kane and DuPage counties), for example, the number one place — the number one identifiable place that people said when they were contact-traced, that they had been to either just before they got tested or after they got tested but before they got their result, was a bar or a restaurant,” he said last week at a daily COVID-19 news conference. “And that’s true across the state.”
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But information made public by health departments in Kane and DuPage counties presents a more vague picture about the exposure locations identified in COVID-19 contact tracing. Local health departments have not made public information about the locations visited by those who tested positive for COVID-19, and business owners and some officials continue to question whether restrictions on restaurants and bars are targeting the right places.
Officials with both health departments say eating and drinking indoors can pose a virus risk, and they encourage residents to follow state rules and take precautions. But a Kane County Health Department spokeswoman said the agency had limited data from county contact tracing about locations, and it would be difficult to make any assumptions. The DuPage County health department did not definitively identify the top locations turning up in contact tracing.
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At a news conference Wednesday, Pritzker said private gatherings are a significant source of spread across the country as are restaurants and bars, and he has previously highlighted studies that he said showed restaurants and bars are a “major spreading location for the virus.”
“We’re just trying to educate people as we always have, and then to the extent that we can limit interactions in places where we know there’s spread, that’s what we’re trying to do," he said. "Especially in the midst of a COVID storm.”
Though data specific to Region 8 was unavailable, statewide data from 69 of 97 Illinois counties shows in August and September, the locations people reported visiting most often within 14 days of testing positive for the virus fell into the “other” category, which includes places such as vacations, family gatherings, weddings, college parties and anything that isn’t covered by another listed location. Outside of the catchall category, the location most often reported was restaurants and bars.
The state-mandated mitigation measures include other restrictions, such as tighter caps on gathering sizes, but the provisions banning indoor service drew consternation from some businesses and public officials. The increased restrictions will remain in place until the region’s rate of tests that come back positive is at or below 6.5% for three consecutive days, and the region could be subject to further restrictions if the positivity rate does not fall below 8%. Sunday, the most recent day for which state data was available, the positivity rate for the region covering Kane and DuPage counties was 9.6%.
Some restaurant owners in Aurora questioned whether the provisions banning indoor service were targeting the right types of places. Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico has said he wanted information about how the virus was spreading in DuPage County, and if the data showed virus transmissions were occurring at places other than restaurants then the state’s heightened restrictions were “almost like window dressing.”
In a letter dated Wednesday, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin also questioned the mitigation measures, particularly what he deemed their uneven enforcement.
"It is particularly difficult given the fact that the data which has been released by our local health departments does not support bars and restaurants as significant sources contributing to the spread, yet they are being singled out if, and only if, their establishment resides in a county that is enforcing the measures,” he wrote in the letter. “Moreover, other businesses and settings that the data reflects are contributing to the spread are not subject to the enhanced mitigation measures. This has led to misinformation and opposition to the mitigation measures taken.”
In DuPage County, case investigators and contact tracers collect information about locations visited by people who have tested positive for the virus, but the health department doesn’t yet have the ability to run a report detailing the information, said Chris Hoff, the department’s director of community health resources.
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Hoff did not name the top place residents reported visiting before testing positive but said the department has found people reporting they were at restaurants, workplaces and other locations.
The county does identify places to which virus outbreaks have been linked, meaning at least two cases were definitively tied to that location within 14 days. But Hoff cautioned locations linked to outbreaks are not the same as places visited by residents who ultimately test positive.
The county’s public outbreak data includes only a small number of the county’s total cases, and only includes cases where multiple people could be linked to the same location. The outbreak data links 3,135 cases of COVID-19 to locations, while the county has had about 22,600 people contract the virus since the start of the pandemic.
Among those cases that can be linked to outbreaks, 22 cases, comprising five outbreaks, were linked to sit-down dining at a restaurant between the start of the pandemic and Oct. 20, preliminary county data shows. The data does not specify whether the cases were tied to indoor or outdoor dining, and an additional 27 cases comprising eight outbreaks are tied to fast-food restaurants and other or unknown types of restaurants.
The data shows since the start of the pandemic, outbreak-related cases tied to restaurants are fewer than cases tied to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, food production facilities and factories or manufacturers.
Between Oct. 6 and Oct. 20, no outbreaks were tied to any restaurants, preliminary county data shows.
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The county cannot always identify definitively where a person contracted the virus, but that doesn’t mean a resident did not contract the virus at that location, Hoff said.
He cautioned the nature of indoor restaurants and bars is risky. They are visited by many people, often not wearing masks as they eat and drink, and residents are likely to linger or visit with others outside their immediate household, he said.
[ Court allows FoxFire restaurant in Geneva to stay open for indoor dining despite Gov. Pritzker’s COVID-19 closure order ]
He urged residents to take precautions and follow restrictions, and avoid going out if they don’t have to. It is easier to act now than wait until the virus is out of control, he said.
“People are tired of COVID, tired of restrictions, tired of not seeing people," he said. “And every indicator we’re watching is going up. So now is not a good time to be ignoring those restrictions.”
In Kane County, where more than 16,500 residents have contracted COVID-19 so far, spokeswoman Susan Stack said it would be difficult to make assumptions about locations identified during contact tracing. An average of about 12% of respondents answered a question about locations during the contact tracing process, meaning the majority of people did not have an answer, she said.
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In a statement Friday, Kane County Health Department Executive Director Barbara Jeffers acknowledged the challenges the increased restrictions put on the food and beverage industry and encouraged Kane County residents to support restaurants and bars through takeout, drive-through, delivery and outdoor dining.
She said the department was seeing the virus spread at large and small personal gatherings and cautioned the upcoming holiday season could pose a particular problem if COVID-19 rates do not decrease.
“For the majority of our population, their risk increases based on the number of different people that they come in contact with,” she said. “These restrictions are in place to help reduce the spread of the virus. Social gatherings, including weddings, funerals, potlucks and even birthday parties, are limited to no more than 25 guests.”
sfreishtat@tribpub.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-28--Downstate judge orders Illinois not to rescore marijuana license applications while controversial is

Downstate judge orders Illinois not to rescore marijuana license applications while controversial issue plays out in court

But the law does not allow deficiency notices to be sent after the applications are scored , the plaintiffs argue @ @ @ @ @ required the state to hold off on issuing supplemental deficiency notices to applicants until a @ @ @ @ @ 5 .

A court has ordered Illinois officials to hold off on rescoring license applications for recreational marijuana dispensaries, delaying the controversial process for at least a week, records show.
State officials agreed to the ruling, which freezes a plan by Gov. J.B. Pritzker meant to resolve complaints about the scoring process.
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The order by Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Adam Giganti came in response to a lawsuit filed against Pritzker and his administration by three license applicants that already qualified for a lottery to win the licenses: SB IL LLC, Vertical Management LLC, and GRI Holdings LLC.
The Illinois Supreme Court last week declined to hear the case, so the plaintiffs filed it in the lower court. The applicants argue that the state’s ongoing delay in awarding the licenses for marijuana is unfair and illegal.
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The businesses filing suit seek a temporary injunction and a permanent court order to compel state officials to award 75 new retail store licenses as originally planned, without giving the losing applicants a second chance in this first round of licensing.
Under the state law that legalized marijuana this year, the licenses were to be awarded by May 1. The governor issued an executive order indefinitely delaying those licenses, citing the coronavirus pandemic.
Thomas Wells, left, and David Scott of Vertical Management on Oct. 4, 2020, in Bellwood. Vertical Management and two other companies filed suit against Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his administration. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
On Sept. 3, the state announced 21 applicants that earned perfect application scores to qualify for a lottery to win the 75 licenses. The three plaintiffs in the suit were among the perfect scorers who qualified.
But losing applicants filed suit, saying that the scoring process was unfair because the state failed to notify some applicants of deficiencies in their applications, and gave different scores to identical parts of applications.
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In addition, lawsuits have challenged the state’s awarding of points for majority ownership by military veterans. Because only applicants with perfect scores ended up qualifying for licenses, that meant that only veteran-owned businesses could qualify.
In response to complaints about the process, Pritzker announced his administration would issue a new round of deficiency notices, and give applicants a chance to correct deficiencies in their applications and get rescored.
But the law does not allow deficiency notices to be sent after the applications are scored, the plaintiffs argue. Giganti on Wednesday also required the state to hold off on issuing supplemental deficiency notices to applicants until a hearing can be held Nov. 5.
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The state’s delay, made in response to political pressure, the plaintiffs alleged, is hurting all applicants, many of whom are paying rent or fees to reserve property for potential use.
If the lottery is held, it would be difficult to reverse any illegally awarded licenses, the suit argues, meaning the process would “descend further into chaos.”
“Nothing in the Act allows Defendants to change the rules in the middle of the process,” the complaint states.
State officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Previously, the Illinois attorney general’s office argued that the suit had technical problems, including not naming all the affected applicants, and called the claim that the changes were due to political pressure “utter nonsense.”


chicagotribune--2020-10-28--The Spin: Lightfoot, Pritzker have ‘frank’ talk on COVID-19 restrictions | Kamala Harris makes roboc

The Spin: Lightfoot, Pritzker have ‘frank’ talk on COVID-19 restrictions | Kamala Harris makes robocalls for Kim Foxx | Trump points finger at local politicians after NYT piece on Chicago tower woes

Opinion — ‘ Fair tax ’ amendment ?
More like trust Springfield to do what they want : University of @ @ @ @ @ expert Christopher Berry writes in a Chicago Tribune op-ed that the proposed constitutional amendment on @ @ @ @ @ as converting the state ’ s flat income tax to a graduated tax that rises @ @ @ @ @ fine print tells another story .
He writes : “ Proponents describe this as a @ @ @ @ @ the new language replaces a prior stipulation that all individual income be taxed at the @ @ @ @ @ the amendment would allow lawmakers in Springfield to create a graduated income tax , but @ @ @ @ @ them to do so .
It would also allow them to create a regressive tax @ @ @ @ @ .
”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, along with Mayor Lori Lightfoot and public health officials, provide updated public guidance about the coronavirus during a news conference Feb. 28, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
It seemed like Dodge City today as Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot sidestepped questions about apparent tension between two of the state’s most powerful Democrats over coronavirus restrictions.
Pritzker made it clear he’s not budging from his order to end indoor dining and bar service in COVID-19 hot spots such as Chicago. The governor added that he and Lightfoot, a fellow Democrat, have a “good relationship.” Speaking on “PBS NewsHour” last night, Lightfoot — as some Republicans have done — pushed back on Pritzker’s plans, arguing that additional restrictions on bars and restaurants will hurt already devastated businesses. Today, Lightfoot said she and Pritzker had a “frank” discussion about the order, which kicks in Friday in Chicago, and is moving on.
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At issue: While contact tracing amid the new surge in Chicago has shown cases are largely tied to gatherings at private homes — the restrictions take aim at other gathering spots: bars and restaurants. The state says its own tracing shows that when the source of an outbreak can’t be determined, bars and restaurants typically rank high on the list of places where infected people have visited before testing positive, necessitating such restrictions.
Some Cook County residents will be hearing from Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris on why the former prosecutor thinks State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s progressive vision is the right choice for voters this November, the Tribune’s Alice Yin reports. It will come via a robocall scheduled to go out this week.
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President Donald Trump this morning recalled how as a developer he put his faith in Chicago and built a skyscraper with his name on it, even as local politicians “ran the city into the ground.” It seemed to be a roundabout response to The New York Times report about the financial problems tied to Chicago’s Trump Tower. The paper reports he “defaulted on his loans, sued his bank, got much of the debt forgiven — and largely avoided paying taxes on it.”
Bottom line? “Those forgiven debts are now part of a broader investigation of Mr. Trump’s business by the New York attorney general,” the Times reports.
Welcome to The Spin.
Mayor Lori Lighfoot and Gov. J.B Pritzker at a news conference July 23, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
“Under pressure from Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Republican state lawmakers, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday said he isn’t changing his mind about restrictions on indoor dining and bar service in Chicago even as his administration added two more collar counties” — Lake and McHenry — to the list of regions under stricter rules, a team of Tribune reporters write. In fact, he defended the move. Read the story from Jamie Munks, Dan Petrella, Gregory Pratt and John Byrne here.
At issue: While contact tracing amid the new surge in Chicago has shown cases are largely tied to gatherings at private homes — the restrictions take aim at other gathering spots: bars and restaurants. The state says its own tracing shows that when the source of an outbreak can’t be determined, bars and restaurants typically rank high on the list of places where infected people have visited before testing positive, necessitating such restrictions.
Lightfoot finds herself in some interesting political company as she balks at Pritzker’s new round of orders. That includes Jim Durkin, the Illinois House GOP leader who said that he feels for the mayor who must answer to businesses “forced into a government-mandated bankruptcy.”
Here’s where Lightfoot and some other Downstate elected leaders differ: The mayor says she won’t file a lawsuit over the governor’s shutdown order as some others have done.
What they’re saying: The governor told reporters yesterday that he and the mayor had spoken about the mitigations. Later, Pritzker’s office issued a statement that read in part: “The governor and mayor were supposed to speak on Monday, but the mayor didn’t call the governor. Staff were briefed on the metrics triggering mitigations.”
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Today, the mayor said she and the governor had a “frank” conversation this morning about the matter. Pritzker said the two Democrats have a “good” relationship and talk regularly.
It’s not the first time they’ve seemed out of step with each other: In mid-March, the mayor said she didn’t expect Chicago Public Schools to close amid the pandemic, only for the governor just a few hours later to order schools closed statewide in response to the pandemic.
The optics: There’s other evidence of a disconnect between the two leaders. Yesterday, when Pritzker announced renewed restrictions for Chicago, he did it during a news conference in the south suburbs, which Lightfoot did not attend.
The mayor did not release a statement about the governor’s announcement for a couple of hours. My colleagues reported: “Hinting at behind-the-scenes drama, Lightfoot’s statement began, ‘Communication is the key to navigating through this crisis.’”
Today felt like a bit of a replay. The governor was in Chicago’s Pullman neighborhood for a morning event while the mayor was in the exact same community for an event hours later.
IHSA board goes against Gov. Pritzker, will start boys and girls basketball seasons on time, the Daily Southtown’s Pat Disabato writes here.
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Dr. Ngozi Ezike’s emotional moment shows health care workers feel COVID-19 fatigue too. ‘We feel trapped in many ways.’ — Read the Tribune story here.
Cook County launches jobs training, placement program for suburbs as stricter COVID-19 measures go into effect, the Tribune’s Alice Yin writes.
Court allows FoxFire Restaurant in Geneva to stay open for indoor dining despite Gov. Pritzker’s COVID-19 closure order, my Tribune colleague Robert McCoppin is reporting.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
Chicago police headquarters on Monday, Nov. 4, 2019. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
The Tribune’s Annie Sweeney and Jeremy Gorner write: "An evaluation by the city’s inspector general of mandatory training for Chicago police officers involved in shootings found that not all department members complete the requirements before returning to the street.
“The report released Tuesday by Inspector General Joseph Ferguson’s office examined 52 cases since February 2017 and June 2018 when an officer had discharged their weapon." It also “includes a cautionary note, detailing the fates of two officers, who each failed to complete one part of the trainings in the wake of shootings, according to the documents reviewed by the inspector general. One committed suicide, and the second was involved in another shooting a month after the first,” Sweeney and Gorner write. Read the full story here.
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Vice President Joe Biden, left, and President Donald Trump (Patrick Semansky/AP)
The Tribune’s Bill Ruthhart writes: “Former Vice President Joe Biden continues to hold a steady lead over President Donald Trump in Wisconsin, according to a final preelection Marquette University Law School poll in the state.
“Biden leads Trump 48% to 43% among voters, with 8% undecided, the poll found.” Read the full story here.
Data points: “All told, 55 polls have been conducted in Wisconsin this year and Trump has led in just three — and none since August, according to polling data tracked by Real Clear Politics. Biden’s average polling lead in recent days in the state is about 8 percentage points,” Ruthhart notes.
Texas tightens to a toss-up between Biden and Trump: Read the Tribune piece here.
Kamala Harris pitches ‘Kim Foxx is smart on crime’ message in robocall to Cook County residents, the Tribune’s Alice Yin reports.
Downtown Chicago alderman breaks from Democrats to endorse Foxx’s GOP opponent: My Tribune colleague Alice Yin has the details here.
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Democratic group files second complaint against Willie Wilson’s third-party bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the Tribune’s Rick Pearson writes.
Opinion — ‘Fair tax’ amendment? More like trust Springfield to do what they want: University of Chicago professor and government finance expert Christopher Berry writes in a Chicago Tribune op-ed that the proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot has been billed as converting the state’s flat income tax to a graduated tax that rises with income. But the fine print tells another story. He writes: “Proponents describe this as a ‘fair tax’ because the new language replaces a prior stipulation that all individual income be taxed at the same rate. Yes, the amendment would allow lawmakers in Springfield to create a graduated income tax, but it doesn’t require them to do so. It would also allow them to create a regressive tax, or anything in between.”
The bottom line, he says? “Fairness is not on the ballot. Trust in Springfield is.”
Data points: As I noted in The Spin yesterday, the state’s early voting numbers are the highest they’ve been in recent history. The Tribune’s Kelli Smith takes a look at what’s happening in suburban Cook County, where there have been 550,000-plus requests for mail-in ballots this election - five times greater than the number requested in 2016. Read more here.
Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka place their hands in cement during topping off festivities for the 92-story Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago on Sept. 24, 2008. (Charles Rex Arbogast / AP)
The New York Times’ latest piece on the president’s finances and taxes shines a spotlight on the struggling finances of the decade-old Chicago Trump International Hotel & Tower, reporting: “The president’s federal income tax records, obtained by The New York Times, show for the first time that, since 2010, his lenders have forgiven about $287 million in debt that he failed to repay. The vast majority was related to the Chicago project.”
The Times goes on to note: “Those forgiven debts are now part of a broader investigation of Mr. Trump’s business by the New York attorney general. They normally would have generated a big tax bill, since the Internal Revenue Service treats canceled debts as income. Yet as has often happened in his long career, Mr. Trump appears to have paid almost no federal income tax on that money, in part because of large losses in his other businesses, The Times’s analysis of his tax records found.”
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The Trump Organization’s chief legal officer tells the Times the company and Trump “appropriately accounted for and paid all taxes due on the forgiven debts.”
This morning, he offered a vague response to the piece while blasting elected leaders who he says have hurt the city via Twitter: “As a developer long ago, and continuing to this day, the politicians ran Chicago into the ground. I was able to make an appropriately great deal with the numerous lenders on a large and very beautiful tower. Doesn’t that make me a smart guy rather than a bad guy?”
As a developer long ago, and continuing to this day, the politicians ran Chicago into the ground. I was able to make an appropriately great deal with the numerous lenders on a large and very beautiful tower. Doesn’t that make me a smart guy rather than a bad guy? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2020
The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington. (J. Scott Applewhite / AP)
The Tribune’s Lisa Schencker writes: “Illinois residents who buy health insurance through the Obamacare exchange will see lower prices and more choices when they shop for new plans in coming weeks — news that comes as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear a case that could upend the health care law.” Read the rest of the Tribune story here.
The U.S. Supreme Court is slated to hear a case Nov. 10 over the future of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The case looks at the questions of whether the requirement that everyone buy insurance or pay a penalty is now unconstitutional because the penalty no longer exists, and, if it that provision is unconstitutional, whether the rest of the law is invalid.
Successful marijuana license applicants in Illinois to get court hearing on lawsuit against rescoring losing applicants, the Tribune’s Robert McCoppin reports.
Thanks for reading The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Have a tip? Email host Lisa Donovan at ldonovan@chicagotribune.com.
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