chicagotribune--2020-07-29--Ogden Dunes the latest beach to close, but at Indiana Dunes National Park, it’s ‘like Cancun spring

Ogden Dunes the latest beach to close, but at Indiana Dunes National Park, it’s ‘like Cancun spring break every day’

In Porter County , the Ogden Dunes Beach and all beach accessways closed effective Wednesday until further notice per the @ @ @ @ @ concerns , according to a release that requests that people not go onto any beach @ @ @ @ @ until the closure is lifted .

Nice weather and the calm waters of Lake Michigan resulted in large crowds at the Indiana Dunes State Park in Chesterton Wednesday July 1, 2020. Andy Lavalley/Post-Tribune (Andy Lavalley / Post-Tribune)
As officials in surrounding communities close beaches because of crowding and concerns about COVID-19, most of the beaches in Porter County remain open, at least for now.
Gary officials closed the beach at Marquette Park, as well as the shelters and adjacent parking, for two weeks effective Wednesday, following a recent decision by Whiting to shutter the beach there.
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In Porter County, the Ogden Dunes Beach and all beach accessways closed effective Wednesday until further notice per the town council because of COVID-19 concerns, according to a release that requests that people not go onto any beach accessways or the beach itself until the closure is lifted.
The beach at Indiana Dunes State Park and those within the Indiana Dunes National Park remain open, though the national park is working on a proposal to handle crowds that the superintendent there described as being “like Cancun spring break every day.”
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The closing of nearby beaches funnels more people to the already crowded beaches that are still open.
“It’s going to get worse,” said Paul Labovitz, superintendent at the national park, which includes Kemil, Porter and West beaches, as well as the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk.
Any other time, he said, park superintendents within the National Park Service have the latitude to change facility operations but in the COVID-19 climate, there’s a process that stretches upward in the chain of command to the U.S. Department of the Interior.
“We’re trying to figure out a smart strategy to continue to allow people to get outside, which is good for them, without exposing them to harm,” Labovitz said.
Park officials are working on a proposal to present to higher-ups for handling the growing crowds at the beaches, an issue that started at the beginning of the season with Memorial Day weekend.
In the meantime, park officials have come up with their own strategy.
“We are managing our parking in a dynamic way,” Labovitz said, adding when there are long lines, park staff tries to redirect potential beachgoers through a phone number about available beach parking to areas that are less crowded, at 219-395-1003.
The problem, he said, is that there are no beaches that are less crowded.
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Illegal behavior on the beaches, including drug use and underage drinking, became enough of a problem for both the national park and the state park, where alcoholic beverages are prohibited, that law enforcement officials from several departments worked together on a crackdown campaign this month, which Labovitz said worked.
“We wrote more tickets collectively in July than we did in 2019,” he said, adding those tickets went to both Illinois and Indiana residents.
At the state park, which, unlike the national park, charges a gate fee for entrance, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources will continue to work with health experts and take a data driven approach, according to an email from JB Brindle, director of the division of communications.
“While keeping the properties open, we take precautionary steps when necessary,” he said. “During the past five months, those steps have included temporarily closing or limiting access to selected facilities and activities for the health and safety of our guests and staff.”
Officials continue to monitor the situation there, Brindle said, adding there are no announcements concerning the beach at the state park at this time.
“Guests at all of our properties are asked to maintain social distancing and wear a mask when social distancing is not possible,” he said.
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Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.


chicagotribune--2020-07-29--IHSA pushes football, boys soccer and girls volleyball to 2021: ‘The spring is better than nothing’

“ I ’ m not real happy about this .
This is not a plan .
I want every sport @ @ @ @ @ .
If the governor says certain sports can play in the fall and the IHSA @ @ @ @ @ to the fall , then I want an explanation of why those sports are being @ @ @ @ @ in the summer , when they ’ re going to be competing against travel and @ @ @ @ @

Richards football players go through drills during summer camp in Oak Lawn on Wednesday, July 29, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
The long wait regarding the fate of high school football this fall is over.
The decision? The kids will have to wait longer to take the field.
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The Illinois High School Association on Wednesday put the football season — at least in the traditional sense — on ice due to continuing concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a new plan introduced by the IHSA, there will be a streamlined football season from Feb. 15 to May 1. Girls volleyball and boys soccer have also been moved to that time frame.
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The only fall sports in 2020 the IHSA plans to conduct, starting Aug. 10 and ending Oct. 17, are boys and girls cross country, boys and girls golf, girls tennis and girls swimming.
The new plan, which awaits final approval from the Illinois Department of Public Health, calls for condensed versions of four seasons, with “winter” sports starting Nov. 16 and ending Feb. 13, “spring” sports starting Feb. 15 and ending May 1, and “summer” sports starting May 3 and ending June 26.
Decisions about state tournaments will be made “on a sport-by-sport basis as each season progresses,” according to the news release.
“This plan, like nearly every aspect of our current lives, remains fluid,” IHSA executive director Craig Anderson said in a news release. “Changes may come, and if they do, we will be agile while putting safety and students first. It was important that we provide a framework today for our student-athletes, coaches, administrators and officials to begin preparing for the 2020-21 school year.”
According to the IHSA’s release, the organization’s bylaws don’t prevent schools that utilize remote learning from participating in sports. Many school districts in the Chicago suburbs are planning to start the 2020-21 school year with remote learning.
Richards football coach Tony Sheehan wrapped up summer camp Wednesday, shortly before the announcement.
“It makes the most sense,” Sheehan said of the IHSA’s plan. “It’s going to be different not playing in the fall, and the kids will be disappointed. The spring is better than nothing, and it gives the kids something to look forward to.”
Even if it’s not exactly football weather during February in the Midwest.
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Marist football coach Ron Dawczak doesn’t believe it will play a major factor.
“The coaches were joking, wondering if Under Armour makes parkas,” Dawczak said. “I think the weather could play into things a little. But even in the fall the weather … we were playing in an ice storm last season.
“But what the IHSA proposed, this is what I was hoping for. This is the best outcome. Our kids are really excited. The players are excited there is a concrete date to start the season.”
Richards coach Tony Sheehan makes a point as his players go through drills during summer camp in in Oak Lawn on Wednesday, July 29, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Before the IHSA’s board meeting ended Wednesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced there will be restrictions for youth, high school and adult recreational sports, saying “it is obvious there won’t be enough protection for kids on our playing fields.”
Pritzker said sports would be categorized into three risk levels — lower, medium or higher — based on contact between athletes and proximity during play. That guidance set four levels of play, including no contact on Level 1, scrimmages on Level 2, conference or region play on Level 3 and state championship games at Level 4.
Pritzker’s plan seemed to open a window for baseball and softball to be played in the fall. Aurora Central Catholic baseball coach and athletic director Sean Bieterman was less than pleased that the IHSA chose to go with a shorter “summer” season for baseball and softball.
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“In the end here, three major government organizations, the IHSA, ISBE (Illinois State Board of Education) and governor’s office, pointed fingers at each other of who was to make this decision,” Bieterman said. “And in the end, they followed their traditional way to do things — delay, delay, delay. Cancel, cancel, cancel. Rinse, repeat.
“I’m not real happy about this. This is not a plan. I want every sport to get in this year. If the governor says certain sports can play in the fall and the IHSA is not moving those sports to the fall, then I want an explanation of why those sports are being played at a reduced season in the summer, when they’re going to be competing against travel and club sports nonstop.”
High school sports came to an abrupt halt March 13, when the Class 1A and 2A boys basketball finals weekend and sectional finals in 3A and 4A were canceled.
The decision came on the heels of the NCAA canceling its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments and professional sports being halted by the NBA and NHL.
When Pritzker announced on March 17 that schools would be closed, the IHSA put the spring sports season on hold.
For nearly a month, Anderson kept a hopeful outlook, leaving open the possibility of starting a shortened season in May and extending it later into June.
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On April 21, spring sports were officially canceled.
In early June, as part of its Return to Play plan, the IHSA allowed student-athletes in fall sports to begin voluntary strength and conditioning activities.
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Several restrictions were imposed that included limiting the numbers in groups, requiring social distancing and wearing masks. Athletes also were to be monitored at the start of the activity for symptoms of COVID-19.
While most schools went on with conditioning and camps, Lake Zurich shut down its summer camps after 36 student-athletes tested positive — several having taken part in the camps.
It added to the heat that the IHSA already was facing to come up with some kind of decision regarding the 2020-21 sports year.
A bleak picture — at least for now — is a bit brighter.
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“Kudos to all of the IHSA for all the hard work they put in,” Lincoln-Way East athletic director Mark Vander Kooi said. “I think Craig and the IHSA were committed to giving all sports an opportunity to play.
“They put a lot of work in this. They really thought this out. Obviously, no one wants to be here, but this is where we’re at with it. So hats off to them.”
Rick Armstrong and Pat Disabato contributed.


chicagotribune--2020-07-31--Daywatch: Pritzker says state is ‘at a danger point', the future of online school and electric scoot

Daywatch: Pritzker says state is ‘at a danger point', the future of online school and electric scooters return to Chicago

Though some districts have pledged to return to in-person classes , most appear headed to full-time online instruction or a @ @ @ @ @ education by internet will remain a staple in Illinois .
Students , parents and teachers @ @ @ @ @ mostly unenthusiastic but understanding about their experiences with virtual learning in the spring , noting @ @ @ @ @ quick adoption of an educational model for which many were not prepared .

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Good morning, Chicago. Here’s the coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks at Illinois State Capitol on May 20, 2020. The governor made downstate visits on July 30, 2020, warning about the rising number of coronavirus cases. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker took his admonition that parts of Illinois could be headed for a reopening reversal downstate on Thursday, as the state continues to see elevated levels of COVID-19 cases and other key metrics.
State officials on Thursday reported 1,772 newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus over the prior 24 hours. That’s the first time the count has climbed above 1,700 since Memorial Day.
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Chicago police Superintendent David Brown, center, arrives for a news conference at the 10th District Police Station in Chicago on July 27, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago’s violence is an old problem, and the Police Department’s latest plan to fight it is a new version of an old solution — a citywide unit tasked with flooding crime-plagued neighborhoods with cops.
Superintendent David Brown’s Community Safety Team reworks a program that past police leaders have credited with tamping down the surges of violence that always seem to return, particularly to parts of the South and West sides. Some academics lend credence to versions of this approach, saying research shows that “hot spots policing” can ease violence, at least temporarily.
Tori Mraz, 16, a junior at Wauconda High School, poses for a portrait outside of her school on July 30, 2020, in Wauconda. Mraz said, "As much as I want to learn in school, I'll be safer at home and still able to learn." (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Though some districts have pledged to return to in-person classes, most appear headed to full-time online instruction or a hybrid approach, ensuring that education by internet will remain a staple in Illinois. Students, parents and teachers interviewed by the Tribune were mostly unenthusiastic but understanding about their experiences with virtual learning in the spring, noting that the pandemic forced the quick adoption of an educational model for which many were not prepared.
CPS parents weigh difficult options for fall as officials try to quell fears about open schools and remote learning
Pedestrians walk on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago on July 14, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
As Illinois continues testing for COVID-19, many people showing symptoms end up with negative results. Instead, they may have fallen ill with a common cold or the flu. While some people may wonder why they might catch a cold during this time of social distancing and hand washing, the answer is fairly simple, according to medical professionals.
A woman on a electric scooter joins a pack of bicyclists as they zoom past Milwaukee Avenue near Ashland in Chicago during the morning rush hour, Aug. 13, 2019. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
The next round of the electric scooter pilot program is slated to launch Aug. 12 in Chicago, including 10,000 scooters from Bird, Lime and Spin, according to city and company officials. The program, which follows one last year involving 10 companies, allows vendors to station scooters everywhere except the lakefront, the central business district and The 606 trail.


chicagotribune--2020-07-31--You may be seeing small clusters of the flu or other ailments for the same reason COVID-19 is contin

You may be seeing small clusters of the flu or other ailments for the same reason COVID-19 is continuing to spread: ‘Strict social distancing isn’t in place’

“ The initial symptoms can be very similar which is why there ’ s such an emphasis on testing , @ @ @ @ @ But protecting yourself against coronavirus is protecting yourself against the flu — one thing we @ @ @ @ @ against the flu that we can ’ t with coronavirus is to get the influenza @ @ @

Air travelers with and without face masks use a moving walkway toward their gates at Midway International Airport in Chicago on April 19, 2022. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
As Illinois continues testing for COVID-19, many people showing symptoms end up with negative results. Instead, they may have fallen ill with a common cold or the flu. While some people may wonder why they might catch a cold during this time of social distancing and hand washing, the answer is fairly simple, according to medical professionals.
Dr. Desler Javier, an internal physician at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, said that not everyone adheres to social distancing measures, contributing to cases of the flu and other respiratory illnesses.
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“If everyone lived in a bubble no one would get a contagious disease,” Javier said. “Unless everyone is social distancing 100% of the time, you’re still going to get pockets of outbreaks.”
Strict social distancing measures could ultimately curb both viruses, said Dr. Ben Singer, a pulmonary and critical care specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
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“Social distancing isn’t in place, that’s the reason why COVID-19 continues to spread in the U.S.,” Singer said. “In regions of the country that choose to enact strict social distancing, the flu will have a hard time spreading, but as we see that is hard to do when things reopen.”
Over the past week, the average number of deaths per day in the U.S. has climbed more than 25%, from 843 to 1,057, according to The Associated Press. Hard-hit states such as Florida on Wednesday reported 216 more deaths, breaking the single-day record it set a day earlier; Texas confirmed 313.
In Illinois, the state announced 1,772 new known cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the eighth straight day with more than 1,000 new cases.
“We’re at a danger point,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a news conference Thursday in Peoria, warning again that Illinois could be headed for a “reversal” in its reopening as the state continues to see a resurgence in coronavirus case numbers.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, doctors and health officials are also preparing for flu season. With similar symptoms and methods of transmission, doctors are readying for the upcoming influenza season, Singer said.
“Every year the flu has a large burden on the health care system, we have huge numbers, but if you add a pandemic on top of it it can become very concerning,” Singer said.
In spite of recent safeguards in place to limit coronavirus spread, the flu is not going anywhere, according to some medical professionals.
In the United States, cases of the flu cluster in late fall and early winter, Singer said. An outbreak of influenza during the last couple of summer months would be unprecedented, he added.
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Both COVID-19 and influenza spread through respiratory droplets, often referred to as aerosol transmission. However, COVID-19 is more infectious than the flu, though symptoms for both diseases include fever, cough, shortness of breath and fatigue.
“The initial symptoms can be very similar which is why there’s such an emphasis on testing,” Singer said. “But protecting yourself against coronavirus is protecting yourself against the flu — one thing we can do to protect ourselves against the flu that we can’t with coronavirus is to get the influenza vaccine.”
Dr. Michael Lin, an infectious disease specialist at Rush University Medical Center, said flu season will be approached with “cautious optimism” as professionals look to the Southern Hemisphere, which is experiencing fewer cases of the flu.
“I think there will be a large portion of people that will be motivated to get a flu vaccine because of COVID-19,” Lin added.
However, it is difficult to measure if social distancing regulations limited the spread of the flu in late March as this past flu season was tapering off, Singer said.
“The prediction would be that social distancing measures designed to protect against the spread of COVID-19 should also prevent the spread of influenza,” Singer said.
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Factors that contribute to someone becoming infected with either coronavirus or influenza are unclear. The likelihood of falling ill with either disease is driven by what is circulating in the community, Lin said.
“Most people have almost no immunity to COVID-19 which is why we’re seeing such rapid spread,” Lin said.
Treatments also vary. Currently, there is no FDA approved treatment for coronavirus.
jvillagomez@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-31--As violence surges, Chicago police try a new version of an old solution. Can it work?

The report helped give rise to the consent decree , a court order calling for broad reforms in the way @ @ @ @ @ former federal prosecutor overseeing progress toward reform has noted that the department has taken some @ @ @ @ @ further limit when cops can use force .
Still , reform advocates have voiced skepticism @ @ @ @ @ to reform , as the city missed more than 70 % of its deadlines during @ @ @ @ @ order .

Chicago’s violence is an old problem, and the Police Department’s latest plan to fight it is a new version of an old solution — a citywide unit tasked with flooding crime-plagued neighborhoods with cops.
Superintendent David Brown’s Community Safety Team reworks a program that past police leaders have credited with tamping down the surges of violence that always seem to return, particularly to parts of the South and West sides. Some academics lend credence to versions of this approach, saying research shows that “hot spots policing” can ease violence, at least temporarily.
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The teams are also potentially a politically savvy tactic in that they allow Brown to send officers to tough neighborhoods without reallocating beat cops from safer wards whose aldermen might object to losing police.
Brown’s move comes with risks, however. The Police Department has a well-established history of loosely supervising cops and failing to root out abuse and misconduct, and members of at least one past special unit committed serious crimes. Members of another former unit were responsible for a particularly troubling 2011 fatal shooting that city disciplinary authorities ruled unjustified.
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The new unit is also ramping up amid months of protests over police brutality that have highlighted long-running tensions between cops and many Black and brown Chicagoans. Even as protesters call for new ways to address violence that don’t involve cops, the city is poised to once again attack the problem with police.
Karen Sheley, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said reform advocates fear serious uses of force by police deployed to trouble spots but also worry about the consequences of more commonplace tactics such as aggressive street stops and searches.
“Those incidents, they build up too. It can really create a lot of damage,” she said. “We don’t need that right now. There’s already too much anger and resentment of the Police Department.”
Brown’s move is a central element of his attempt to slow runaway violent crime. As of July 26, homicides had jumped 52% to 433 in 2020 compared with the first seven months of last year, according to the department’s numbers. Shootings were up by 48% during the same period.
Brown — Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s hand-picked superintendent who took charge three months ago — rolled out his plan Monday with an acknowledgment of the problems of past teams. To address that, he added a new twist: The unit’s roughly 300 officers will help with community-relations programs such as food drives, prayer circles and peace marches.
The superintendent said at a news conference that his new team, which started operating in recent days, would not be “like what CPD has had in the past.”
“They have been successful at reducing crime significantly, and they’ve had their challenges with misconduct,” Brown said. “And part of that, I’ve diagnosed, was because there wasn’t a big push to interact with the community in a positive way. And so, we try to learn from our mistakes.”
The unit is being introduced alongside a new team of 250 cops who will be tasked with handling the large protests that have flared sporadically since the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer in late May. Meanwhile, the Chicago Police Department plans to continue using the Summer Mobile Patrol Unit in trouble spots during the generally violent summer months.
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Brown’s move is not entirely a break from the recent past. While no permanent citywide anti-violence team tasked with responding to crime hot spots has existed for nearly a decade, CPD has used saturation teams based in five areas covering the entire city, including neighborhoods with little violent crime.
Many members of the new unit will come from those teams. The city’s violent crime disproportionately plagues neighborhoods on the South and West sides, meaning that deploying the Community Safety Team to hot spots is likely to focus cops in those areas.
Brown has noted that other big cities use similar teams and referenced the Los Angeles Police Department’s Metropolitan Division. That division, however, has faced allegations of racial disparities in enforcement and misconduct chronicled by the Los Angeles Times.
The Police Department did not make Brown available for an interview with the Tribune.
It remains to be seen precisely how Brown’s nascent team will operate, but policing experts generally agreed the research shows that focusing on small geographic areas with high crime can measurably, if temporarily, reduce crime.
For example, a 2014 review of the research by three academics then affiliated with Harvard University found that “hot spots policing generates small but noteworthy crime reductions, and these crime control benefits diffuse into areas immediately surrounding targeted crime hot spots.” The studies used to draw that conclusion, however, covered a range of different policing tactics, some of which differ significantly from a citywide anti-violence team.
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“It can tamp down crime (but) it tends to be temporary and it’s not a phenomenal decrease,” said John Eck, a criminal justice professor at the University of Cincinnati.
But the research also suggests that crime can return after police stop focusing on those areas, said Tammy Rinehart Kochel, a criminal justice professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Both Kochel and Eck advocated for “problem-oriented policing,” an approach that calls on cops to identify the problems that lead to crime, and work with community groups and other organizations to fix deeper issues.
Academic studies reviewed by the Tribune don’t show whether Chicago’s past specialized anti-violence units have reduced crime, and a host of factors drive crime rates. Still, the police brass in recent decades have sometimes credited them with making the streets less violent.
In 2003 , the department introduced the Targeted Response Unit, which policed hot spots identified through an operations center. Police said that effort played a key role in the city’s murder count dropping 25% in 2004, and the tally stayed flat for years. Some residents told the Tribune they’d tolerate dealing with more cops if it cut into crime.
Meanwhile, the Special Operations Section worked in tandem with that team to patrol trouble spots and target gangs and drugs.
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But some SOS members embarked on their own criminal enterprise, falsifying reports, robbing drug dealers and others, and committing home invasions. More than 10 cops were convicted in state or federal court, and ringleader Jerome Finnigan spent roughly a decade in federal prison after pleading guilty to crimes including ordering the killing of an officer who he believed was cooperating with investigators.
As the scandal unfolded, the department disbanded SOS in 2007.
In 2008, homicides topped 500 for the first time in five years. Then-Superintendent Jody Weis’s crime-fighting efforts included forming the Mobile Strike Force, a unit with the same purpose as SOS but promoted as having strong oversight.
Then, after Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office in 2011, police Superintendent Garry McCarthy disbanded the Mobile Strike Force and Targeted Response Unit in part over concerns their tactics alienated people. “Don’t burn down the city to save it,” McCarthy said in 2012.
That year, homicides rebounded above 500 again. Shortly after the high-profile slaying of 15-year-old high school band majorette Hadiya Pendleton, McCarthy again bolstered saturation teams tied to specific areas.
Reform advocates’ concerns about the new unit are rooted in the department’s history of lax supervision and limited consequences for misconduct. Those shortcomings are at the heart of recent efforts to reform the department sparked in 2015 by video of white officer Jason Van Dyke shooting Black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times.
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The uproar over the video triggered an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice that concluded in 2017 that cops had little meaningful supervision from superiors who signed off on uses of force without scrutinizing them and tolerated misconduct. The report found that “CPD’s pattern of unlawful conduct is due in part to deficiencies in CPD’s training and supervision.”
The report helped give rise to the consent decree, a court order calling for broad reforms in the way police treat people. The former federal prosecutor overseeing progress toward reform has noted that the department has taken some steps to tighten supervision and further limit when cops can use force. Still, reform advocates have voiced skepticism of city leaders’ commitment to reform, as the city missed more than 70% of its deadlines during the first year under the order.
Aislinn Pulley, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Chicago, said history shows that a revival of a citywide team would be dangerous to minorities. She dismissed the community relations effort Brown has touted as an empty “PR move.”
“What we can logically expect is that we will see even more instances of violations,” she said.
Reform advocates have noted past abuses by the teams, and officers from one of the now-defunct citywide units were responsible for a problematic use of force that has yet to lead to any discipline being carried out against the cops — the fatal shooting of Calvin Cross, 19.
Dana Cross sits with a poster photograph of her son, Calvin Cross, on July 30, 2020, in Glenwood. Calvin was 19 when he was fatally shot by Chicago police in 2011. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Calvin Cross in an undated photo. (Family photo)
Around 11 p.m. on May 31, 2011, Cross was walking with a friend in the West Pullman neighborhood when he caught the attention of three cops in an SUV. The officers were on the Mobile Strike Force, though they’d been detailed to the Far South Side district while that special unit was being disbanded, according to two of the cops’ later testimony.
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The three officers were patrolling the neighborhood after earlier reports of gunfire, and at least two wore “black battle dress” uniforms, according to a disciplinary ruling from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. Officer Macario Chavez carried a semi-automatic rifle.
The officers reported that Cross pulled out a gun and they exchanged gunfire as he fled. Cross ended up lying in an overgrown vacant lot as Chavez and another officer kept firing, according to the disciplinary ruling. Chavez fired all 28 rounds in the rifle and several more from his handgun. The cops shot Cross in the face, chest, side, arm and finger, COPA wrote.
Despite the officers’ accounts of Cross shooting at them, the only gun recovered at the scene was a revolver a cop found on the sidewalk that the Illinois State Police determined to be in such poor condition it could not fire.
COPA ruled that the rounds Chavez fired later in the confrontation were unjustified, and agency officials said they’d have recommended he be fired but the investigation went beyond the five-year state statute of limitations for firing a cop for using force. Instead, COPA sought a 30-day suspension, and the Police Department agreed.
Chavez, however, has yet to serve it. He remains on “full active duty status” while he appeals the proposed discipline, said Police Department spokesman Luis Agostini. Chavez could not be reached for comment.
COPA did not allege any wrongdoing by the other two cops. The city settled a lawsuit with his family for $2 million.
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Cross’ mother, Dana, said she was worried that the new citywide unit could give officers too much leeway and lead to someone else being killed.
“They’re not giving justice for it happening, but they’re opening doors for it to happen again,” she said.


chicagotribune--2020-07-31--Chicago parents struggle to get rid of car seats, children’s items after COVID-19 closures: ‘Recycli

Chicago parents struggle to get rid of car seats, children’s items after COVID-19 closures: ‘Recycling is really seeing a decline’

Thrift stores such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army also won ’ t take car seats , cribs or baby @ @ @ @ @ could violate the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission ’ s standards .
If those items @ @ @ @ @ in an accident , it could put future users at risk , said Dan Michael @ @ @ @ @ president of stores and donations .

Jaron Newton, director of operations at Cradles to Crayons warehouse, pulls the only baby walker he has in the warehouse on July 30, 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
If you’re hoping to donate your child’s car seat or crib this year, many thrift stores and retailers likely won’t take it. But throwing it away may not be the best option, either.
Some Chicago-area parents say they’ve been struggling to get rid of unneeded car seats and other children’s items because of COVID-19. Most resale shops have for years limited what children’s items they’ll take, but even after reopening in recent weeks, many also have limited donations because of staff shortages.
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Trashing children’s gear can harm the environment, but to limit face-to-face contact, corporations such as Walmart and Target have canceled their trade-in programs, which had allowed people to exchange car seats for a credit, discount or upgraded product.
“It stinks (the programs) are closed,” said Tory Andrews, 34, a parent from the Northwest Side who has been trying to give away her child’s car seat. “I don’t understand why they are closed, but the pandemic is affecting nearly everything.”
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Donnika Jones-Hamlin, 39, a mother from Willow Springs, has been trying to get rid of her twins’ car seats for more than four months. The process has been very frustrating, she said in a Facebook message.
“This is crazy, as mothers are still having babies,” she said. “There are women in need and I have (items) to give and I can’t. Doesn’t make sense.”
Thrift stores such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army also won’t take car seats, cribs or baby walkers because reselling those products could violate the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s standards. If those items are expired or were compromised in an accident, it could put future users at risk, said Dan Michael, Goodwill’s vice president of stores and donations.
“Because we have no way of knowing the history of that particular item, we don’t accept them, we don’t sell them,” Michael said.
Volunteers sort clothing items at the Cradles to Crayons warehouse on July 30, 2020. (Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune)
Target and Walmart previously hosted car seat trade-in events with the help of TerraCycle, a global sustainability company that helps salvage hard-to-recycle waste. In its most recent event with the organization last year, Walmart recycled more than 8 million pounds of car seats in just a few days, said Brett Stevens, TerraCycle’s global vice president of materials sales and procurement.
“It goes to show there is some pent-up demand for this recycling solution because people feel bad about putting what is essentially a 15-pound, on average, item into the garbage,” Stevens said.
Retailers primarily hosted trade-in programs for promotional reasons, because trashed car seats can harm the environment, Stevens said. The events have “a significant cost” to disassemble the plastic and metal parts to recycle them.
“Sustainability is critically important now as recycling is really seeing a decline, but as we see, COVID kind of takes precedence over all of that,” Stevens added. He said businesses are “now more focused on keeping employees safe, keeping the lights on (and) keeping shelves stocked.”
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Some parents have turned to Facebook’s Marketplace to sell or give away car seats and other materials, while others plan to gift them to family members or friends. But selling them directly raises other COVID-19 concerns.
Maria Calderon, 24, has been trying for weeks to sell her son’s outgrown car seat. The Cicero resident thinks she might be having difficulty because people are having financial troubles and are afraid to come into contact with sellers given the coronavirus.
“I haven’t had any luck,” Calderon said in a Facebook message. “Because of COVID I lost my job and I can’t afford to buy (my son) another one until I sell this one.”
Some business and service organizations have also been unable to take donations because of staffing issues.
Cradles to Crayons, a service group that collects donated children’s items and distributes them to communities in need, ceased taking volunteers and donations from March through June after COVID-19 hit, according to Executive Director Shoshana Buchholz-Miller.
Kris Over delivers boxes with mostly socks, pajamas and underwear to the Cradles to Crayons warehouse on July 30, 2020. (Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune)
“Even now, with some volunteers back, we are accepting gently-used products but we have such a high volume of products that we’re getting,” Buchholz-Miller said. “We just don’t have enough people.”
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Eric Pelz, 39, of Portage Park, earlier this year tried to donate his family’s baby crib to organizations including Cradles to Crayons. But Pelz, who is a father of three boys, said he had to throw the “perfectly good” crib away after workers told him they couldn’t take it because of short staffing.
“That was painful to my heart,” Pelz said.
With closures and other donation issues during the pandemic, the best ways to get rid of items like a car seat may be just to disassemble the material to recycle the metal and plastic parts or wait until retailers reinstate trade-in programs, which likely won’t be until 2021, according to Stevens.
“What you’re seeing is a temporary delay in these types of programs,” Stevens said. “I think that will change after there’s a vaccine for COVID. I would expect at that point that you’ll start to see more regular ramp up of these programs.”
kelsmith@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @KelliSmithNews


chicagotribune--2020-07-31--Online education was a mess in the spring. As COVID-19 prompts schools to stay virtual, will it get

Online education was a mess in the spring. As COVID-19 prompts schools to stay virtual, will it get better this fall?

Teachers need time to optimize their online abilities and few have gotten it , she said .
Her organization has @ @ @ @ @ to districts so they don ’ t have to build it from scratch , but @ @ @ @ @ Board of Education “ won ’ t return our phone calls ” ( ISBE said @ @ @ @ @ not discussed the proposal with virtual school officials ) .

Sara Havel, left, co-president of the teachers union in District 181, holds a sign along with dozens of other teachers outside of the district building on July 30, 2020, in Clarendon Hills. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Chicago Public Schools to make a hurried switch to remote instruction earlier this year, Lidia Muro said it didn’t work out so well for her 5-year-old stepson Elijah, then a kindergartner at Marvin Camras Elementary.
Some of the schoolwork he was given required logins and passwords his parents didn’t receive, she said. Communication with his teacher was lacking. And while it took Elijah a single day to finish math lessons that were supposed to stretch over months, he fell behind in reading.
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“The program was mostly games, I think,” Muro said. “Educational games are good, but (children) can only do games for so long.”
Contrast that with the experience of Wauconda High School junior-to-be Tori Mraz. She found her school’s online classes to be rigorous but flexible, and while a lack of face-to-face instruction created challenges, she gave virtual education high marks.
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“I did really well,” said Mraz, 16, who woke at 6 a.m. each day to start her assignments. “It was on my own time, my own pace. If I had questions, I didn’t feel rushed. If I wanted to email for help, I could, or text my friends. We would FaceTime and they’d explain it to me. I feel I worked a lot harder because of all that was going on.”
Tori Mraz, 16, a junior at Wauconda High School, poses for a portrait outside of her school on July 30, 2020, in Wauconda. Mraz said, "As much as I want to learn in school, I'll be safer at home and still able to learn." (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Such is the varied landscape many will face when school resumes. Though some districts have pledged to return to in-person classes, most appear headed to full-time online instruction or a hybrid approach, ensuring that education by internet will remain a staple in Illinois.
Students, parents and teachers interviewed by the Tribune were mostly unenthusiastic but understanding about their experiences with virtual learning in the spring, noting that the pandemic forced the quick adoption of an educational model for which many were not prepared.
But as online instruction promises to continue at least through the end of 2020, some are worried it might not improve.
“A lot of my classes, if I’m going to be 100% (candid), I didn’t pick up anything from them,” said Grace Higgins, 15, a sophomore-to-be at Lyons Township High School. “I guess it was OK for the end of the year, but I’m kind of nervous for (the year) coming up because it’s so difficult to learn.”
Online learning vs. crisis learning
Experts say nerves are understandable because what happened in the spring wasn’t truly online learning — it was “emergency remote teaching” or “crisis learning,” where the unique strengths of the internet as an educational tool were left untapped.
If teachers don’t get the support and training they need to make the adjustment, they say, the experience might once again be subpar.
“One of my fears is that everyone will get this bad taste and they’ll think online learning doesn’t work,” said Charles Hodges, professor of instructional technology at Georgia Southern University.
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Some teachers and administrators said they did the best they could in an unprecedented situation, and that they properly emphasized their students’ emotional well-being over academic achievement.
Fifth grade teacher Christine Feeney holds a sign along with other protesting teachers outside of the school district building on July 30, 2020, in Clarendon Hills. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
“If kids feel like they belong and there’s a culture of purpose, that goes a long way to keep them connected,” said Robert Schuetz, technology coordinator at Palatine High School. “What’s most important at this time is kids understanding we care about them. What can we do to keep them afloat during this uncertain time?”
Ibrahim Haleem, who teaches physical education at Palos West Elementary, said he kept his classes simple, employing yoga videos or workouts delivered via Zoom — things that didn’t require equipment or even much space.
“We can’t guarantee everyone has a backyard or is living in a house,” he said. “We really had to water down what we could do. We had to assume the students had almost nothing.”
Uneven results
Olivia Bertels, who teaches English and social studies at Chicago’s Lee Elementary, learned how to build an online class during a prior job in Kansas. She said it works best when students are allowed to go at their own pace and at a time that suits them, seeking support when necessary.
But CPS, like many districts, emphasized live classes, she said, and consequently she sometimes had just one student participating out of a class of 30.
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“With the live classes, it’s a lecture,” she said. “You’re forcing kids to sit there and listen to you, absorb this content. That’s just not always going to work. When a kid is staring at a screen, it’s not the same.”
Jesse Sharkey, head of the Chicago Teachers Union, said the sudden move to remote learning “was more chaotic than it should have been” and produced uneven results. Some students thrived, he said, while others struggled or were shut out altogether by insufficient technology or nonexistent home internet access.
CPS has announced it aims to bring children back to school two days a week, with the rest of the time devoted to virtual education. The union is pressing for full-time remote instruction, saying it’s still not safe enough to return, and has not ruled out striking over the issue.
Sharkey said time devoted to preparing schools for in-person lessons would be better spent improving virtual classes.
“The biggest thing we could use right now is a clear lead from the district,” he said. “That would allow principals and teachers to plan together. Right now, people are on the edges of their seats wondering what’s going to happen. That’s interfering with our ability to do the best kind of planning.”
CPS did not respond to the Tribune’s request for an interview.
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Teachers in Community Consolidated School District 181 have similar complaints, saying administrators have prioritized a return to in-person classes at the expense of planning for virtual instruction, which families can request.
Special education teacher Ashley Eighner, right, holds a sign along with other protesting teachers outside of the district building on July 30, 2020, in Clarendon Hills. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
“We would like to be more prepared,” said Lori Andreoni, a PE teacher at Monroe School and co-president of the Hinsdale Clarendon Hills Teachers’ Association, which is pushing for a hybrid model. “We would like to engage in those collaborations so we have a set plan in place we can prepare for.”
A spokeswoman said district officials “strongly believe (remote education) will be comparable to our in-person learning.”
Lessons learned
Some districts that are starting the school year fully online say they learned from the harried adoption of digital instruction, and that the experience should be significantly better this fall. For one thing, they note, students’ grades will count this time, which should produce an accountability lacking in the spring.
“It’ll be the same level of expectation as if we were in-person,” said Rosanne Williamson, assistant superintendent for educational services Glenbrook High School District 225.
Her district has rolled out a virtual summer school and offered teachers “countless professional development sessions” to improve their online skills. Elgin-based U-46 will use a single virtual learning platform instead of a hodgepodge of technology. And Township High School District 113 in Highland Park has trained teachers on digital tools meant to improve student engagement.
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But Jennifer Kolar-Burden, director of curriculum for the Illinois Virtual School, which has offered online classes for 20 years, said students, parents and educators should temper their expectations.
Teachers need time to optimize their online abilities and few have gotten it, she said. Her organization has offered to provide digital curriculum to districts so they don’t have to build it from scratch, but she said the Illinois State Board of Education “won’t return our phone calls” (ISBE said in a statement it has not discussed the proposal with virtual school officials).
Kolar-Burden predicted most schools will have “a slow-paced learning environment” that might be an improvement over the spring, but far from ideal.
“As long as teachers are teaching efficiently, it will be fine,” she said. “It could be better, but it’ll be OK.”
jkeilman@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @JohnKeilman


chicagotribune--2020-07-31--8-year-old boy shot in Altgeld Gardens

8-year-old boy shot in Altgeld Gardens

At about 8:40 p.m. in the 700 block of East 132nd Street , the boy was on the sidewalk with @ @ @ @ @ man approached and fired shots at another man standing nearby , police said .

An 8-year-old boy was shot Thursday night in the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood on the Far South Side, according to police.
At about 8:40 p.m. in the 700 block of East 132nd Street, the boy was on the sidewalk with a 27-year-old woman when a man approached and fired shots at another man standing nearby, police said.
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The boy, who suffered a gunshot wound to the back and a graze wound to his right arm, was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in good condition, according to police.
The 27-year-old woman, shot in the abdomen and right leg, was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition, police said.
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No one was in custody, and Area Two detectives are investigating.


chicagotribune--2020-07-31--7 wounded, including 8-year-old boy, in shootings on South Side Thursday, police say

The victims were outside on the sidewalk when a gunman approached on foot and fired shots at another male standing @ @ @ @ @ That ’ s when the 8-year-old suffered a “ through-and-through ’ ' gunshot wound to @ @ @ @ @ to the right arm .
The boy was taken to Comer Children ’ s Hospital @ @ @ @ @ in good condition .

Seven people, including an 8-year-old boy, were wounded Thursday in shootings on the South and Far South sides, Chicago police said.
The child was with a 27-year-old woman about 8:40 p.m. in the 700 block of East 132nd Street in the city’s Altgeld Gardens neighborhood when they were both shot, police said.
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The victims were outside on the sidewalk when a gunman approached on foot and fired shots at another male standing nearby, police said. That’s when the 8-year-old suffered a “through-and-through’' gunshot wound to the back and another one to the right arm. The boy was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where he was listed in good condition.
The woman was shot in the abdomen and right leg and was recovering at the University of Chicago Medical Center,where she was listed in fair condition, police said.
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Another Far South Side shooting took place about 5:50 p.m., in the 200 block of West 103rd Street, police said. A 34-year-old man was shot during the incident, and he was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center to be treated.
About an hour earlier, shortly after 4:40 p.m. in the 1000 block of West 115th Street in the Morgan Park neighborhood, a 35-year-old man was attacked.
Police said he was inside of a vehicle when he heard shots and felt pain. He suffered wounds to the arm and back, and was taken in serious condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said.
Another person was shot about 4 p.m. in the 7100 block of South Stony Island Avenue in the Grand Crossing neighborhood. A 32-year-old man was shot in the left arm and was taken in good condition to the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said.
Earlier Thursday, two men were shot in a drive-by in the South Chicago neighborhood.
Police said about 8:15 a.m., two men, ages 36 and 40, were standing on the sidewalk in the 8300 block of South Colfax when they were struck by gunfire from at least four gunmen riding in a blue sedan with tinted windows, police said.
The youngest suffered a wound to the groin area, and the oldest was shot in the left arm and right knee. Both victims were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, but their conditions were not known.
No one was in custody, and police were investigating.


chicagotribune--2020-07-31--House Speaker Michael Madigan: ‘I have no plans to resign’ after polling Democrats to gauge support

House Speaker Michael Madigan: ‘I have no plans to resign’ after polling Democrats to gauge support amid ComEd bribery scandal

“ I understand that the last couple of weeks have been difficult for our caucus and party , and I @ @ @ @ @ with members of the Democratic caucus on this matter .
The feedback is positive and @ @ @ @ @ and my leadership roles , ” Madigan said in a statement issued Thursday night .
@ @ @ @ @ to resign .
”

House Speaker Michael Madigan, left, with House Republican Leader Jim Durkin before a debate in the Illinois House on raising the statewide minimum wage in 2019. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, implicated in a federal bribery and influence scandal involving ComEd, said Thursday he has “no plans to resign” after polling his members.
“I understand that the last couple of weeks have been difficult for our caucus and party, and I have had many candid conversations with members of the Democratic caucus on this matter. The feedback is positive and demonstrates continued support for me and my leadership roles,” Madigan said in a statement issued Thursday night. “I have no plans to resign.”
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Madigan denied any wrongdoing, saying “I have never made a legislative decision with improper motives and any claim otherwise is unfounded.”
Madigan has faced growing calls to step down from his legislative post, as well as his chairmanship of the state Democratic Party, after ComEd paid a $200 million fine and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors who accused the utility of a “yearslong” scheme to provide jobs, contracts and payments to Madigan allies to win favor with the speaker.
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Madigan, described by federal prosecutors as “Public Official A,” has not been charged with any wrongdoing and a spokeswoman said the speaker “has never made a legislative decision with improper motives and has engaged in no wrongdoing here.”
Madigan is the nation’s longest-serving statehouse speaker, holding the post since 1983 with the exception of two years in the mid-1990s when the GOP took control.
The sources, two members of Madigan’s 73-member House majority, said the 78-year-old speaker was asking members of his caucus if they agreed with two Democrats, state Reps. Terra Costa Howard of Glen Ellyn and Stephanie Kifowit of Oswego, who have asked Madigan to step down from his governmental post. Howard also said Madigan should resign as state Democratic chair.
The sources asked not to be identified in order to speak candidly about Madigan.
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Costa Howard and Kifowit symbolize the concerns of elected Democrats in what had traditionally been suburban and exurban Republican areas who feel they may be vulnerable politically due to the controversy surrounding Madigan.
Costa Howard, a freshman, is in a Nov. 3 rematch against former Republican state Rep. Peter Breen of Lombard, whom she defeated to win office in 2018. Breen has repeatedly criticized Costa Howard for backing Madigan for speaker and for taking campaign money from him.
Kifowit, elected in 2013, does not have a Republican opponent.
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Later Thursday, state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, joined in the call for Madigan to step down from his governmental and party leadership posts.
“I cannot pretend that we have another minute to wait and see or look the other way and hope for the best. The stakes are too high,” said Cassidy, citing how the Madigan controversy could have a negative impact on voters considering a change to a graduated rate state income tax, which she supports.
“Speaker Madigan must step down from his leadership roles, both in the House and in our party,” said Cassidy, who has long been critical of how Madigan wields his power.
The speaker said he’s focused on the effort to defeat Republican President Donald Trump in November and expand Democratic representation statewide.
The personal polling by Madigan indicated the speaker, long known as Illinois’ most powerful politician, was feeling some heat after more Democrats, primarily women, have been calling for the speaker’s departure from his governmental post, his party chairmanship, or both.
Earlier Thursday, state Sen. Iris Martinez of Chicago, a member of the Democratic State Central Committee, restated her call for Madigan to step down as party chairman. Martinez first called for Madigan’s ouster as Democrats dealt with issues of sexual harassment in the speaker’s governmental and political office.
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“Though Madigan again claims he did nothing wrong, his many controversies are too distracting for him to remain in leadership,” Martinez said.
“Defeating Donald Trump is a priority matter for all Democrats. Every day that Madigan remains chairman … is another day we are focused on Madigan’s controversies instead of our critical electoral contests,” she said.
Martinez urged other members of the state Democratic Party to call for Madigan’s resignation and to convene the state central committee in a special meeting to elect a new chair.
“Our party and our state deserve better,” she said.
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said Madigan should resign if the allegations involving him are proven true.
Republicans, who have long sought to use Madigan against Democrats and have blamed him for the state’s ills, have also stepped up calls for the veteran Democrat’s resignation.
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Illinois House Republican leader Jim Durkin on Thursday called on Madigan to resign immediately, modifying an earlier position that the speaker needed to step down if the allegations surrounding him were true.
“It is abundantly clear that Michael J. Madigan is unable to execute his responsibilities as speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and as state representative for the 22nd House District,” Durkin said in a statement.
“I call for the immediate resignation of Speaker Madigan from the Illinois House of Representatives and will be filing a resolution to have the House chamber vote on a new speaker immediately,” he said.
Durkin said the details outlined by federal prosecutors against ComEd “are a disgrace of the highest level to the citizens of Illinois and to the institution of which we serve, the Illinois House of Representatives.”
rap30@aol.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-31--CPS parents weigh difficult options for fall as officials try to quell fears about open schools and

CPS parents weigh difficult options for fall as officials try to quell fears about open schools and remote learning

“ If COVID-19 were going to be over in a month or two months , this would be an easy @ @ @ @ @ say , let ’ s wait it out , ” she said .
“ But @ @ @ @ @ the earliest I think we are likely to even start seeing a vaccine is early @ @ @ @ @ it will take at least a year for the full rollout of that vaccine .
@ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 planning , we ’ re thinking about the next year and a half to @ @ @ @ @ ”

Parents clamored for details about remote learning options at Chicago Public Schools’ fourth virtual feedback session on Thursday, even as officials laid out plans for a partial return to the classroom this fall and said an eventual return to the classroom is inevitable.
“At some point students will return to school,” said CPS CEO Janice Jackson. “It may be on Sept. 8, it’s possible it could be later in the year, but whatever the case may be, students will be returning to school.”
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Jackson and other CPS leaders described the district’s tentative hybrid plan for fall, which for most students would include two days of in-person instruction, with students grouped in small “pods” meant to silo them off reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19. The rest of the week would involve two days of remote learning and one day with live online classes.
Officials, including Chicago’s Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady, said the plan is backed by science.
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Still, some parents appeared unconvinced, submitting dozens of questions about opting out of the hybrid model. They asked for clarity about their options if they decide to keep their child home and details about what full-time virtual school might look like.
“Can parents have the option to choose remote learning if there are health risks at home such as parents or grandparents with underlying conditions? There should be some options,” an attendee of the event asked.
A CPS staff member replied that parents can opt out of in-person schooling, and Jackson further clarified that parents will not need to give a reason if they decide to keep schooling virtual.
The decision to stay home, though, is fixed for at least a quarter, officials said, after receiving questions about whether parents will be able to change their minds.
If parents enroll their students in the hybrid model, they can choose to keep the students home at any point if they feel unsafe, officials said. But if the student is enrolled in the all-virtual option, the child would have to wait until the next quarter to come back to school if parents change their minds.
“If a pod of 15 students and a teacher is working together for three or four weeks, to have someone come into the pod that hasn’t been a part of it puts it in jeopardy,” Jackson said.
Several parents also asked whether their children would lose their spot in a school if they opted for virtual learning instead of the hybrid, in-person model.
“You aren’t transferring from your school. You won’t lose your space in that school,” Jackson said. “We want to assuage the concerns people had related to that.”
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And in response to questions about what an all-virtual week would look like, Jackson said the students would have four days of at-home work with access to prerecorded lessons and digital materials. One day a week, they would join their classroom for live, virtual learning.
Arwady, who answered questions during the session, said she supports the hybrid model, and noted that it allows for flexibility and enables officials to plan for the long term.
“If COVID-19 were going to be over in a month or two months, this would be an easy decision. We’d say, let’s wait it out,” she said. “But the bottom line is, the earliest I think we are likely to even start seeing a vaccine is early 2021, and I think it will take at least a year for the full rollout of that vaccine. So when we think about COVID-19 planning, we’re thinking about the next year and a half to two years at minimum.”
Officials said they formed the hybrid plan, knowing they may have to switch back to an all-virtual model if the outlook worsens later this year.
“We will not make a decision to have students go back to a school environment unless it is absolutely safe to do so,” Jackson said.
Thursday’s session was the second-to-last of five virtual events during which CPS officials have received thousands of questions and comments about the district’s plan for the fall. The district will release an updated plan in August after gathering the feedback.
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The final session is scheduled for Friday at 9 a.m. The registration link can be found here.
mabuckley@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-31--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Pritzker warns ‘we’re at a danger point’ as 1,772 new known COVID-1

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Pritzker warns ‘we’re at a danger point’ as 1,772 new known COVID-19 cases and 18 more deaths reported

Attendees on those dates were notified about the cases but are not considered to be at high risk of transmission @ @ @ @ @ , such as requiring masks and social distancing , Charles said .
Those who had @ @ @ @ @ close contact with an infected person received a phone call or text alert with instructions @ @ @ @ @ to a university message .

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois announced 1,772 new known cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the 8th straight day with more than 1,000 new cases. Health officials also reported 18 additional deaths. That brings the state’s total to 176,896 known infections and 7,478 fatalities.
“We’re at a danger point,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a news conference Thursday in Peoria, warning again that Illinois could be headed for a “reversal” in its reopening as the state continues to see a resurgence in case numbers.
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Meanwhile, a deadlocked Senate on Thursday left Washington for the weekend without extending a $600-per-week expanded jobless benefit that has helped keep both families and the economy afloat as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc on the country. Friday’s expiration of the $600 jobless benefit sent Republicans controlling the Senate scrambling to respond.
The news came as the U.S. economy plunged by a record-shattering 32.9% annual rate last quarter, and the pandemic is still cutting a path of destruction, forcing millions out of work and shuttering businesses.
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[ Illinois’ new COVID-19 plan: How the state will manage any outbreaks in 3 charts ]
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
[ Schools reopening tracker: What suburban Chicago districts are planning for the fall ]
[ 20 questions about assessing your COVID-19 risk at restaurants, gyms and more ]
Here’s what’s happening Thursday regarding COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7:58 p.m.: America’s 2nd coronavirus surge appears to be leveling off, but deaths are mounting rapidly
While deaths from the coronavirus in the U.S. are mounting rapidly, public health experts are seeing a flicker of good news: The second surge of confirmed cases appears to be leveling off.
Scientists aren’t celebrating by any means, warning that the trend is driven by four big, hard-hit places — Arizona, California, Florida and Texas — and that cases are rising in close to 30 states in all, with the outbreak’s center of gravity seemingly shifting from the Sun Belt toward the Midwest.
Some experts wonder whether the apparent caseload improvements will endure. It's also not clear when deaths will start coming down. COVID-19 deaths do not move in perfect lockstep with the infection curve, for the simple reason that it can take weeks to get sick and die from the virus.
The future? “I think it’s very difficult to predict,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s foremost infectious-disease expert.
The virus has claimed over 150,000 lives in the U.S., by far the highest death toll in the world, plus more than a half-million others around the globe.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
5:23 p.m. (update): A deadlocked Senate leaves DC for the weekend without acting to extend $600 expanded jobless benefit
A deadlocked Senate on Thursday left Washington for the weekend without extending a $600-per-week expanded jobless benefit that has helped keep both families and the economy afloat as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc on the country.
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Friday’s expiration of the $600 jobless benefit sent Republicans controlling the Senate scrambling to respond. Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell made a procedural move to make it easier to reach a potential compromise next week that would extend the bonus unemployment benefit while talks on a broader COVID-19 relief measure grind on. But ahead of late-night talks at the Capitol, the outlook dimmed.
“I’m not very optimistic that we will have any kind of an agreement on a comprehensive bill in the near future,” said White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. He said he even doubted a deal could be struck next week.
But Democrats have so far rejected a piecemeal approach, saying the next relief bill needs to move as a complete package. Any short-term jobless benefits extension of less than $600 per week is likely to be a nonstarter with them.
Talks on the relief bill are at a standstill with few reasons for optimism despite sweeping agreement among Washington’s top power players that Congress must pass further relief in coming days and weeks.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
4:40 p.m.: Art Institute reopens — and returning visitors finally get an art fix
Early visitors, as the Art Institute let the public back in for the first time since mid-March, didn’t go to “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte,” typically the museum’s most crowded work.
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At one moment during the first hour of Reopening Day Thursday, only a security guard stood in front of Georges Seurat’s routinely besieged pointillist study of a Parisian waterfront park.
Instead, many headed straight to the Modern Wing and the museum’s newly hung Basquiat canvas — the Art Institute’s first by the 1980s art world darling — and many more queued up to get into the big El Greco special exhibition, which was open only a week before COVID-19 forced the shutdown of most public life in Chicago and the U.S.
But this wasn’t your typical, show-me-some-Impressionism crowd. The first folks allowed back in, during the noon hour Thursday, were museum members, people who really have seen it all before.
“We want to see the new painting in the Modern Wing by Basquiat,” said Melissa LaMantia, a middle school arts teacher from Glen Ellyn, in line with her husband Steve Crowley.
They weren’t just in line. They were first in line — partly out of eagerness, partly because they thought the museum was opening at 10 a.m. and decided just to wait there, on those famous, lion-flanked front steps, until the actual 12 p.m. opening.
“It’s just been so dry for culture,” said Crowley, who works in commodities, noting the couple are also “regulars” at the still-shuttered Symphony Center across the street.
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“We’re starved for art and culture,” seconded LaMantia.
Read more here. —Steve Johnson
3:20 p.m.: COVID-19 patients who were first in U.S. to undergo double lung transplants at Northwestern share their stories
Mayra Ramirez’s family hadn’t talked to her in weeks.
The 28-year-old was at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on a ventilator with a severe case of COVID-19. She wasn’t allowed visitors. Doctors would call her mother in North Carolina with updates.
Then, one day, her family was told to head to Northwestern as quickly as possible.
“They were told to come, that I wasn’t going to make it past the night, so they took the first flight out of Wilmington, N.C.,” Ramirez said. “They made the trek just with the intention of saying goodbye.”
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By the time Ramirez’s family arrived, doctors had stabilized her. But they asked her mother to make a decision: Would she allow Ramirez to become the first COVID-19 patient in the country to undergo a double lung transplant?Her mother, Nohemi Romero, said yes.
In June, Ramirez became the first COVID-19 patient in the U.S. to undergo a double lung transplant after her lungs were severely damaged by the disease. Ramirez and Brian Kuhns — a Lake Zurich man who was the second COVID-19 patient to receive a double lung transplant — spoke publicly about their experiences for the first time at a news conference at Northwestern on Thursday.
Read more here. —Lisa Schencker
2:33 p.m.: Chicago Board of Elections office closes after employee tests positive for COVID-19
The Chicago Board of Elections office closed on Thursday after an employee tested positive for COVID-19, according to the agency.
“We will update on the re-opening as soon as possible,” the board said on Twitter. “Limited phone, email and online voter assistance will continue to be provided remotely.”
The city elections board follows the Illinois State Board of Elections decision earlier this week to close its Springfield office Tuesday for about two weeks after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19, according to an agency spokesperson.
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The state board was notified Sunday that a staff member was showing coronavirus symptoms and had been tested after coming into contact with someone infected with it, the Illinois Times first reported. Test results came back positive Tuesday, which is when the office decided to close until at least Aug. 10, according to Matt Dietrich, a state board spokesman.
Several other staff members began showing symptoms Monday and Tuesday and have been tested, Dietrich said in an email.
—Gregory Pratt
1:37 p.m.: Chicago-based Grubhub sees orders jump amid pandemic but swings to 2Q loss
Grubhub saw its average daily orders jump 32% in the second quarter but swung to a loss as it spent heavily to prop up restaurants and protect drivers as the pandemic shut in consumers.
The Chicago-based restaurant delivery company lost $45 million in the April-June period, down from a profit of $1.3 million in the same period a year ago. Adjusted for one-time items, the company lost 17 cents per share, which was in line with Wall Street’s expectations, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
The earnings report is one of Grubhub’s last as a standalone company. Grubhub announced a $7.3 billion merger with Just Eat Takeaway.com last month. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021.
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Read more here. —The Associated Press
12:55 p.m.: Wisconsin issues statewide face mask mandate, declares new public health emergency
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Thursday issued a statewide mask mandate amid a spike in coronavirus cases, setting up a conflict with Republican legislative leaders who oppose such a requirement and successfully sued earlier to kill a “safer at home” order.
Wisconsin is one of 22 states that Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot listed on a self-quarantine order. Anyone returning to the city from those states are required to self-isolate for 14 days.
The Democrat Evers declared a new public health emergency, after his initial one expired in May, and ordered the wearing of masks for anyone age 5 and up starting on Saturday for all enclosed spaces except a person’s home. The new order also applies to outdoor bars and restaurants, except when people are eating or drinking.
Anyone who violates the order would be subject to a $200 fine. It is slated to run until Sept. 28.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
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12:20 p.m.: Pritzker warns ‘we’re at a danger point’ as 1,772 new cases reported
State officials on Thursday announced 1,772 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker continued to warn that the state could be on track for a reversal in its reopening.
”We’re at a danger point,” Pritzker said at a news conference Thursday in Peoria.
The Illinois Department of Public Health also announced 18 additional deaths of people who had coronavirus in Illinois during a 24-hour period. That raises the statewide death toll to 7,478, while there have been 176,896 known cases of COVID-19 in Illinois since the pandemic began.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity rate was 3.8% as of Wednesday.
In an updated reopening plan launched earlier this month, Pritzker’s administration split the state into 11 different regions and set out a plan for a reversal in the reopening of those regions if they reach certain metrics that show a resurgence of COVID-19 there.
On Wednesday, Pritzker said if things don’t change “a reversal is where we’re headed.
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”As of Wednesday night, 1,452 people in Illinois were hospitalized with coronavirus, and 353 of those patients were in the ICU, while 149 were on ventilators.
—Jamie Munks
12:10 p.m.: Coronavirus relief package talks at a standstill as $600 per-week jobless aid lapses, GDP drops
Frustrated negotiators of a massive coronavirus relief bill face heightened pressure with Thursday’s brutal economic news and the rapidly approaching lapse in a $600 per-week expanded jobless benefit that has helped prop up consumer demand.
Talks are at a standstill with few reasons for optimism despite sweeping agreement among Washington's top power players that Congress must pass further relief in coming days and weeks.
President Donald Trump is eager for another COVID relief package, also a priority for GOP allies like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer. Democrats hold a strong negotiating hand, with Republicans badly divided over their own proposal.
Raising the stakes, a bleak government report released Thursday said the economy shrank at a 33% annualized rate in the second quarter of the year, a stark reminder of the economic damage afflicting the country as lawmakers debate the size and scope of new relief. Read more here.
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—The Associated Press
10:15 a.m.: Will Chicago teachers strike —again — if CPS schools reopen this fall? Union officials remain mum so far.
The Chicago Teachers Union continues to loudly oppose the Chicago Public Schools preliminary proposal to reopen for in-person learning this fall. Having gone on strike for 11 days last fall, will teachers walk off their jobs again if their demands for remote learning are not met?
Thus far, CTU leaders are evading the question, even as their statewide affiliate, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, announced Wednesday that “health and safety strikes” are on the table if teachers deem COVID-19 protections inadequate.
When asked Wednesday if CTU is open to striking if CPS continues to push forward with reopening, CTU President Jesse Sharkey did not give a direct answer. Instead, he said: “Our own rank and file members deserve and demand protections — including the right to teach without putting our lives or the lives of our students and their families on the line.”
However, in response to what it would take to initiate the process to strike or take CPS to court, Sharkey said: “The tipping point is the continuing threat to the safety of our students, families and educators who serve them — and right now the mayor’s ‘hybrid’ plan simply lacks the essential guarantees or details to ensure the safety of students, families and educators this fall.” Read more here.
—Claire Hao
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8:10 a.m.: US economy shrank 33% in April-June period, the worst quarterly plunge ever
The U.S. economy shrank at a dizzying 33% annual rate in the April-June quarter — by far the worst quarterly plunge ever — when the viral outbreak shut down businesses, throwing tens of millions out of work and sending unemployment surging to 14.7%, the government said Thursday.
The Commerce Department’s estimate of the second-quarter decline in the gross domestic product, the total output of goods and services, marked the sharpest such drop on records dating to 1947. The previous worst quarterly contraction, a 10% drop, occurred in 1958 during the Eisenhower administration.
Last quarter’s drop followed a 5% fall in the January-March quarter, during which the economy officially entered a recession triggered by the virus, ending an 11-year economic expansion, the longest on record in the United States.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
8 a.m.: What’s different at Halas Hall this year? Bears Infection Control Officer Andre Tucker details the changes made because of COVID-19.
Chicago Bears Infection Control Officer Andre Tucker spoke with reporters on a Zoom call Wednesday morning to detail the team’s plans to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within Halas Hall this year.
Tucker, who is also the Bears head athletic trainer, is the team’s first point of contact when a player or staff member tests positive for COVID-19. He oversees club screening protocols and its disinfection program and has helped with coronavirus education for team employees.
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He also aided the development of a plan that general manager Ryan Pace said goes “above and beyond” to help make the players feel safe.
Read more here. —Colleen Kane
6 a.m.: Uptick in COVID-19 cases makes it difficult to bring back jobs. ‘Some people may be put out of the job market for a long time.’
Laura Yepez, owner of the Wicker Park Inn, thought the worst would be over by now.
Even as she laid off her small staff in March and steeled herself for the pandemic’s blow to tourism, she figured that by summer — when events like Lollapalooza usually pack Chicago’s hotels — business would perk up and she could make up for lost time.
“That’s certainly not turning out to be the case,” said Yepez, 49, who has owned the bed-and-breakfast since 2004.
With events canceled, the virus resurgent and people wary of traveling, few guests are staying at the inn and Yepez remains reluctant bring back her three employees. She is juggling housekeeping, bookkeeping and other tasks herself.
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As the economy struggles to climb out of the crisis caused by COVID-19, jobs are coming back slowly and unevenly, and worries persist that a resurgence of cases will blunt a more robust recovery.
Read more here. —Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
6 a.m.: A dozen students at Bradley University test positive for COVID-19, including some at orientation, after social gathering
Twelve students at Bradley University in Peoria have tested positive for the coronavirus — including some who helped lead orientation programs for incoming freshmen last week.
Spokeswoman Renee Charles said Bradley learned of the new COVID-19 cases on July 23, marking the first infections directly linked to campus. Charles said additional testing and contact tracing determined the outbreak appeared to stem from an off-campus social gathering that lacked masks and social distancing.
Bradley, which has about 5,000 students, began offering in-person orientations in early July, and classes are set to begin next month. Some of the infected students participated in orientations held July 20 and July 21 that included both indoor and outdoor activities, Charles said.
Attendees on those dates were notified about the cases but are not considered to be at high risk of transmission because the programs included precautions, such as requiring masks and social distancing, Charles said. Those who had more than 15 minutes of close contact with an infected person received a phone call or text alert with instructions for further action, according to a university message.
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Read more here. —Elyssa Cherney
6 a.m.: Park District workers call for more communication and safety protocols when parks are closed because of COVID-19
As the pandemic barrels ahead with no end in sight, and some parks have closed due to coronavirus cases, workers are calling for greater transparency and protection from the Chicago Park District while they helm the parks’ front lines.
Recently closed parks include Columbus Park and Haas Park, according to SEIU Local 73, which represents about 2,500 Park District workers. At least 40 Park District workers have had to quarantine after possible exposure, according to the union, and one Park District worker at Columbus Park recently died from complications of the virus.
Jeffrey Howard, Service Employees International Union Local 73 executive vice president, said “we just want to make sure that our workers are protected.”
Information on closures has been “disjointed” and unclear, he said, and that’s part of the problem. When asked how workers have been notified of closures, Howard said for weeks it was “word-of-mouth.”
“We want to be public citizens. We want to be servants of the community because we know the community needs our parks,” Howard said. “But at the same time, there are things the parks can do to make sure that their workers are safe. "
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Seven positive cases have affected programming at six parks this month, according to the Park District. Four locations are still closed.
Read more here. —Morgan Greene
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
Here are five things that happened Wednesday related to COVID-19:


chicagotribune--2020-07-30--Hit-and-run driver in custody after crash kills one bicyclist and critically injures another in Elgi

Hit-and-run driver in custody after crash kills one bicyclist and critically injures another in Elgin

The first collision occurred about 4 p.m. in the area of East Chicago Street and Villa Court , according to @ @ @ @ @ posted on Facebook .
The victim followed the driver responsible for striking their vehicle , @ @ @ @ @ down a police officer on Raymond Street , who then tried to pull the car @ @ @ @ @ .

A driver is in custody for two hit-and-run crashes in Elgin Tuesday, the second of which left one bicyclist dead and a second critically injured, Elgin police said.
The first collision occurred about 4 p.m. in the area of East Chicago Street and Villa Court, according to a police department news release posted on Facebook. The victim followed the driver responsible for striking their vehicle, and was able to flag down a police officer on Raymond Street, who then tried to pull the car over, the release said.
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When the driver instead drove off at a high rate of speed, the officer gave up the pursuit only to come upon the same car at the scene of a second collision at Raymond and Purify Drive, where the two bicyclists had been struck, the release said.
The suspect’s car was left at the scene and the driver fled on foot. Officers were able to catch them two hours later, the release said.
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Sandra Sampey, 52, of Bartlett, was taken to Amita St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin, where she was pronounced dead, according to the Kane County Coroner’s Office. The other bicyclist, a 58-year-old Bartlett man, remains in critical condition at an area hospital, the release said.
The suspect remains in police custody Thursday, but Elgin Cmdr. Jim Bisceglie said he could not release the person’s identity or say if any charges had been filed.
raguerrero@tribpub.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-30--‘Everything happened so quickly’: Northwestern COVID-19 patients who were first in U.S. to undergo d

‘Everything happened so quickly’: Northwestern COVID-19 patients who were first in U.S. to undergo double lung transplants share their stories

“ I was told to hurry up ( and ) change , ” she said .
“ I was asked @ @ @ @ @ medical decisions for me .
That ’ s when I told them it would be @ @ @ @ @ who all live in North Carolina .
I only had a couple minutes to contact @ @ @ @ @ what was going on before I was intubated .
”

Brian Kuhns, of Lake Zurich, is introduced as one of two double lung transplant patients at a July 30 news conference at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Mayra Ramirez’s family hadn’t talked to her in weeks.
The 28-year-old was at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on a ventilator with a severe case of COVID-19. She wasn’t allowed visitors. Doctors would call her mother in North Carolina with updates.
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Then, one day, her family was told to head to Northwestern as quickly as possible.
“They were told to come, that I wasn’t going to make it past the night, so they took the first flight out of Wilmington, N.C.,” Ramirez said. “They made the trek just with the intention of saying goodbye.”
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Mayra Ramirez, 28, of Chicago, who received the first double lung transplant at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on June 5, speaks at a news conference at the hospital in Chicago on July 30, 2020. Mayra's mother, Nohemi Romero, is at left. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
By the time Ramirez’s family arrived, doctors had stabilized her. But they asked her mother to make a decision: Would she allow Ramirez to become the first COVID-19 patient in the country to undergo a double lung transplant?
Her mother, Nohemi Romero, said yes.
In June, Ramirez became the first COVID-19 patient in the U.S. to undergo a double lung transplant after her lungs were severely damaged by the disease. Ramirez and Brian Kuhns — a Lake Zurich man who was the second COVID-19 patient to receive a double lung transplant — spoke publicly about their experiences for the first time at a news conference at Northwestern on Thursday.
Doctors have called that first surgery a “milestone” in care for patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Such transplants aren’t right for every critically ill COVID-19 patient, but can be a lifeline for some, said Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and surgical director of the Northwestern Medicine Lung Transplant Program. Transplants can be performed on patients who’ve eliminated the virus and have no other significant organ failure, said Dr. Rafael Garza Castillon, a thoracic surgeon.
Northwestern is now considering performing the procedure on other patients, Castillon said, though he said he could not provide further details.
“We are all learning together and sharing best practices, and now lung transplant is part of COVID-19 care,” Bharat said.
Ramirez, who is now at home, said she’s feeling much better, though she’s still working to rebuild her strength and endurance. She still feels fatigued doing everyday tasks.
Before she fell ill, she said, she was an independent, active person. She moved to Chicago in 2014, after growing up in a small, rural town in North Carolina, to work as a paralegal. She had an autoimmune condition but was otherwise healthy.
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She loved spending time with her two dogs. She admitted to eating junk food on occasion, but exercised. Shortly before becoming ill, she went on a 3-mile run.
When Gov. J.B. Pritzker implemented the stay-at-home order in March, she started working from home.
But soon, she started to feel sick. She lost her senses of taste and smell, felt dizzy and had headaches. One day, she fainted, and decided it was time to go to the emergency room.
When she arrived, “Everything happened so quickly,” she said.
“I was told to hurry up (and) change,” she said. “I was asked who would be making my medical decisions for me. That’s when I told them it would be my mother and eldest sister who all live in North Carolina. I only had a couple minutes to contact them to let them know what was going on before I was intubated.”
Ultimately, she spent six weeks in intensive care at Northwestern. She underwent the lung transplant on June 5. She didn’t wake up until mid-June.
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She didn’t know at first that she had undergone a lung transplant.
“I looked at myself and couldn’t recognize my body,” she said. “I didn’t have the cognitive ability to process what was going on. All I knew was that I wanted water.”
It wasn’t until weeks after the transplant that she realized: “There’s a family out there that’s grieving their loved one. I have that person’s lungs.”
Now, as she continues to recover, Ramirez is grateful for the care she received and the opportunity she was given.
She said she doesn’t feel special, but “I think that I definitely have a purpose, and if that purpose is simply telling my story to raise awareness for people to stay safe and take this condition seriously and for centers to understand that lung transplants for terminally ill COVID patients is an option, then I’m fine with that.”
Kuhns, 62, is also recovering. The husband, father and grandfather sought medical care in March after experiencing stomach pain and severe headaches. He didn’t think COVID-19 was a serious threat, so he had continued living his life normally despite the illness’ spread.
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“I was perfectly healthy,” Kuhns said. “This thing took me down hard.”
He received his transplant July 5.
“We finally got some hope,” said Kuhns’ wife, Nancy.
She said she’s been overwhelmed with all the support the family has received, and has advice for those who also think COVID-19 is not a big deal.
“Stay safe and listen to what they’re telling you about washing, masks and everything,” Nancy Kuhns said. “It’s not a joke whatsoever. It’s not a hoax.”


chicagotribune--2020-08-01--9-year-old boy shot on Near North Side has died, police say

The child was in the 900 block of North Cambridge Avenue in the Cabrini Green neighborhood when shots were fired @ @ @ @ @ was hit in the chest , said Chicago police Officer Michelle Tannehill .

Jalisa Ford sits on the ground on Aug. 1, 2020, while rubbing the walkway where her 9-year-old son, Janari Andre Ricks, was fatally shot while playing with friends at the Cabrini Green rowhouses the previous evening. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
A gunman opened fire into a parking lot, fatally hitting a 9-year-old boy who was playing with friends behind the Cabrini Green townhomes Friday evening in an attack of “senseless violence,” Chicago police and witnesses said.
The child, identified by the Cook County medical examiner’s office as Janari Andre Ricks, was in the 900 block of North Cambridge Avenue when shots were fired around 6:45 p.m. and he was hit in the chest, said Chicago police Officer Michelle Tannehill.
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He was pronounced dead at Lurie Children’s Hospital, where he was taken, initially in “very critical” condition, said Tannehill and Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
The boy was struck “multiple times” in an attack of “senseless violence,” said Chief of Operations Brian McDermott, a police representative who spoke briefly to the media at the hospital.
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The boy was playing in a parking lot with several others when it happened and was the “unintended target” of gunfire.
“An unknown offender approached on foot and fired multiple rounds in the direction of the victim and several other bystanders,” McDermott said.
McDermott told reporters he did not have a detailed description of the shooter or an idea of his motive.
“We don’t know who the intended target was.”
“Any time a child is a victim of gun violence in the city of Chicago, it greatly saddens and affects us all,” McDermott said, urging anyone with information to come forward.
A 45-year-old woman was on her way home from her regular cancer treatments at Northwestern Memorial Hospital when she decided to stop and visit with old friends and some family in the Cabrini Green townhomes.
As they strolled and chatted, three to six deafening blasts of gunfire rang out. They didn’t know where they were coming from but began running.
“I was just saying hello, and before we knew it, we just heard the gunshots. They just started crying and we all ran,” said the woman, who identified herself as Miss Cooper.
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“I started praying.”
Cooper then picked up her cellphone and called 911.
“I called police so someone can get the little baby,” Cooper said.
The boy had been playing, running up and down with other children behind the complex, where there is a playground with swing sets and a slide.
“Kids are always running around playing tag, chasing each other, jumping rope there,” Cooper said.
Cooper, who was raised in that neighborhood, has suffered from gun violence personally. She said her son was fatally shot.
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“I am a mother. My son was shot in the street. I understand,” Cooper said.
“I grew up in that area. It’s always something.‘'
rsobol@chicagotribune.com
jaanderson@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-01--3 wounded in Friday shootings, including a man who was found lying on a sidewalk with a gunshot woun

3 wounded in Friday shootings, including a man who was found lying on a sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the head in the West Rogers Park neighborhood

About 2:35 p.m. , a 32-year-old man was shot in the Austin neighborhood in the 300 block of North Long @ @ @ @ @ He was taken with a wound to the leg to West Suburban Medical Center in @ @ @ @ @ listed in good condition .

A 9-year-old boy was among three people wounded in shootings Friday, including a man who was found lying on a sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the head in the West Rogers Park neighborhood on the North Side, Chicago police said.
Police said the boy suffered a gunshot wound to the body about 6:45 p.m. in the 900 block of North Cambridge Avenue in the Cabrini Green neighborhood. Thursday night an 8-year-old boy was shot on the Far South Side, police said.
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Shortly after 1 p.m., an adult male was found lying on the sidewalk in the 1900 block of West Granville Avenue.
Officers discovered the man had suffered a gunshot wound to the head, and he was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston where he was listed in critical condition, police said.
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About 2:35 p.m., a 32-year-old man was shot in the Austin neighborhood in the 300 block of North Long Avenue, police said. He was taken with a wound to the leg to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park where he was listed in good condition.
No one was in custody and police were investigating.