chicagotribune--2020-09-28--What to know in the final weeks of the 2020 census

Officials have warned about an undercount in the Chicago region , particularly in communities of color .
Census tracts with @ @ @ @ @ rates in Chicago include Back of the Yards , West Englewood , Little Village and @ @ @ @ @ that are already struggling with lack of resources and stand to lose the most from @ @ @ @

Elizabeth Navarrete, right, gives a response to census worker Lu Babatu on Sept. 11, 2020, at a 2020 census community giveaway day hosted by Metropolitan Family Services on Chicago's Northwest Side. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
As the United States nears the end of its 2020 census count, the response rate in Illinois has just surpassed 2010 levels, while Chicago’s rate continues to lag behind, hovering around 60%.
Responses are particularly low on the South and West sides, with some areas reporting rates just above 30% as officials warn that an undercount in these neighborhoods will only exacerbate existing inequities.
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Here is what to know about the final weeks of the 2020 census:
When’s the last day I can fill out a census form?
The 2020 census count was set to end Sept. 30 but last week, a federal judge in California ruled the Census Bureau must extend the deadline to Oct. 31. The decision came after a coalition of civic organizations and local governments filed a lawsuit against the agency.
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The Trump administration filed a notice Friday that it would appeal the court order, creating uncertainty about the end date.
While the case moves through the courts, the bureau is prohibited from winding down operations. However, a number of Chicago census workers have reported their hours had been cut in half after Labor Day, with some receiving no work at all.
Residents are still encouraged to fill out their census forms as soon as possible.
Where can I fill out the census?
The 2020 census can be completed online or over the phone in English at 844-330-2020 and in Spanish at 844-468-2020. Households can also complete the form by mail by returning questionnaires.
Ellisa Johnson, deputy regional director for the Census Bureau in Chicago, said households should still have enough time to respond by mail if they prefer, but questionnaires must be postmarked by the Sept. 30 deadline and arrive by Oct. 7.
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What questions are asked on the census form?
The 2020 census includes fewer than a dozen basic demographic questions about the household and its residents. The form asks the name, sex, age and race of every person in the house.
If there is more than one person living in a home, the bureau also asks for a description of the resident’s relationship — there are options for roommates, same-sex partners or siblings.
Two people walk past an advertisement on a truck promoting the 2020 census Sept. 16, 2020, in the 3000 block of West 26th Street in the Little Village neighborhood. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Does the 2020 census include a question about citizenship?
No, the 2020 census does not include questions about immigration or citizenship status.
The U.S. Department of Commerce sought to include the controversial question, but the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the effort.
Still, advocacy organizations in the area have noticed many immigrant communities remain fearful of the census, and they continue to urge all households to complete the form, regardless of citizenship status.
Will my answers be confidential?
The Census Bureau is bound by federal law to keep all personal information collected confidential. Personal information “is never published,” according to the bureau’s website, and “cannot be used against respondents by any government agency or court.”
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Census data is only to be used for statistical purposes.
Are census workers still visiting homes?
Yes, census workers are still visiting homes. Census workers should be visiting the homes of those who have yet to respond, and if no one answers, they will leave a postcard reminding residents to complete the census, according to Johnson.
What happens after the deadline?
After the counting deadline, census officials begin to analyze the data. Johnson said some households may be recontacted as officials work to verify information and correct any errors.
If a household does not fill out the census on its own, Johnson said the bureau has “a number of undisclosed operations and ways that continue to collect the data.”
Census officials have until Dec. 31 to review the data and hand it over to the president.
What is at stake for Illinois?
Census data determines the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives and dictates how the government will distribute hundreds of billions of dollars in federal aid for the next decade.
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Experts predict Illinois is at risk of losing one or two House seats because of population loss alone.
Officials have warned about an undercount in the Chicago region, particularly in communities of color. Census tracts with some of the lowest response rates in Chicago include Back of the Yards, West Englewood, Little Village and North Lawndale, all neighborhoods that are already struggling with lack of resources and stand to lose the most from an inaccurate count.


chicagotribune--2020-09-28--Chef partnerships becoming more common during COVID-19 pandemic as pros adapt to survive

When the brewery was looking to restart operations , it needed a new manager for the kitchen .
Head of @ @ @ @ @ invited the Moms to take over full time , and it has blossomed into a @ @ @ @ @ the pair said .
Mom ’ s has been able to bring back staffers six @ @ @ @ @ for service at Marz and two for the Community Kitchen Program .
And , as @ @ @ @ @ brewery home , Marz added its version of a “ pub burger ” to the @ @ @ @ @ cheeseburger with nori fries .

The founders of Mom's, Kelly Ijichi, right, and Randi Howry have partnered with Marz Brewing and work out of its kitchen in Chicago. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
When the lease ended for Mom’s at Politan Row food hall earlier this year, co-founders and chefs Kelly Ijichi and Randi Howry had planned to do some traveling. During the past couple of years, they had co-mothered their Japanese comfort food restaurant from a transient pop-up concept to full-time tenant at the West Loop food hall, and they wanted to take time and reflect on what was coming next.
As with the rest of the industry, COVID-19 changed their plans. These days, you can find Mom’s in another new format: serving its food at Marz Brewing in Back of the Yards. Mom’s on Marz — the official, alliterative name for the partnership — is one of a host of joint ventures opening throughout the city as a result of the pandemic shutdown.
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“You’re seeing a lot of creativity that’s out there, and a lot of really amazing food, and a unique variety of things that I don’t think we’ve had the opportunity to have before,” said Ijichi.
Daniella D'Andrea, from left, Randi Howry, Gavin Shorpshire and Kelly Ijichi work at Mom's, a Japanese restaurant partnering with Marz Brewing and working out of its kitchen in Chicago on Sept. 24, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Eggplant Donburi, a rice bowl, is made at Mom's, a Japanese restaurant that partnered with Marz Brewing. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
“Obviously, our industry is facing a really dark time, but that has been one cool thing, seeing a lot of food that I don’t think we would (otherwise) be seeing right now, because I think a lot of people are just really going for it,” she said.
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The COVID-19 shutdown forced a collective change of plans among the restaurant industry, putting workers in unexpected and often urgent situations. Every element of the dining experience had taken on a new or different importance: safety measures, kitchen space, outdoor areas, walk-up windows, even the type of cuisine.
In general, resources tightened more than ever, and thousands of employees were furloughed. As pros looked for ways to innovate and survive, collaborative efforts like shared kitchens, ghost kitchens, joint pop-ups and more have seen a new lift in recent months, particularly among independent restaurants or fledgling entrepreneurs. Ghost kitchen is a term for a commercial kitchen shared among culinary entrepreneurs without offering dine-in service.
Considering the pandemic’s widespread effects, such arrangements have inevitably spawned a variety of forms, but almost all of these operations allow chefs and owners to share certain costs and resources while maintaining more of their own autonomy. In most cases, it’s a situation of friendly colleagues and/or co-workers capitalizing on existing trust to support each other.
The marriage between Mom’s and Marz was born as much out of familarity as it was necessity, said Ijichi. She and “co-Mom” Howry had hosted a popular Sunday brunch series at Marz prior to the pandemic and later began assisting the brewery with its Community Kitchen Program efforts, cooking several hundred meals per week to distribute to people in underserved communities.
When the brewery was looking to restart operations, it needed a new manager for the kitchen. Head of operations and co-founder Ed Marszewski invited the Moms to take over full time, and it has blossomed into a “great partnership,” the pair said. Mom’s has been able to bring back staffers six days per week, four for service at Marz and two for the Community Kitchen Program. And, as a nod to its new brewery home, Marz added its version of a “pub burger” to the menu: a short rib cheeseburger with nori fries.
It’s a true partnership in the business sense as well, as Mom’s and its staff are employed as part of the Marz operations.
In Logan Square, Superkhana International has a similar arrangement with Takeaway Bagel, the popular walk-up that operates inside the Indian restaurant’s kitchen.
Kelly Helgesen has the hands that make the bagels at Takeaway. Previously the pastry chef down the road at Lula Cafe, she skipped over to Superkhana to get a break from the kitchen, working as a food runner. She’s known the co-owners, Yoshi Yamada and Zeeshan Shah, even longer. Chef Jason Hammel is a co-owner at both Lula and Superkhana.
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Kelly Helgesen, right, and Tim Lafreniere of Takeaway Bagel work behind the counter at Superkhana International on Sept. 19, 2020 in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
During the first couple months of 2020, Helgesen had been mulling a return to the kitchen, she said, but COVID-19 changed those plans.
The shutdown also had a dramatic effect for Superkhana, however, in part due to the restaurant’s cozy interior and semi-enclosed outdoor area — poor settings for dining under COVID-19 restrictions. Eventually, Superkhana leaned into carryout and delivery operations, including a large, arched walk-up window.
Their respective needs created an obvious chance to collaborate, said Shah and Helgesen, which led to the birth of Takeaway Bagel. Superkhana was focusing on lunch and dinner service, so Helgesen could work the mornings, and the restaurant was trying to fill out its operating schedule.
“I thought Logan Square really needed a place to get a bagel,” Helgesen said. Hers are sourdough bagels that come in three varieties: plain, everything and cocoa nibs, plus a rotating selection of house-made schmears.
The two operations are now official business partners. Given the uncertain outlook of COVID-19, the plan is for things to remain that way for the foreseeable future, Helgesen and Shah said. Helgesen’s bagel efforts have been a success, regularly selling out and drawing increased attention. This past weekend, Takeaway Bagel debuted a pizza bagel as its first crossover with Superkhana.
“We’d advise people to order ahead and not risk just walking up,” Shah said and laughed.
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Sangdi Chen orders a Takeaway Bagel from Dana Perez through the window at Superkhana International on Sept. 19, 2020. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Tim Lafreniere, of Takeaway Bagel, makes a baked egg custard, braised kale, sharp cheddar, and bacon jam bagel. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Milly’s Pizza in a Pan is one of the city’s most popular ghost kitchen operations, and it operates in Logan Square too, sharing a communal kitchen space at Envision Unlimited Westtown Center.
Not all of these arrangements are quite so formal. Chef Palita Sriratana (Pink Salt) has been operating Room Service, her Thai pop-up, out of Split Rail in West Town thanks to an invitation from chef and owner Zoe Schor: “She said, ‘We’re closed on Monday and Tuesday if you want to use the space.’”
Sriratana and Schor came to a professional agreement about using the kitchen, part of which includes Sriratana incorporating Split Rail’s cocktail kits as an add-on to her meals.
“I think (symbiosis) is a great way to describe the situation. I mean, I could not be running this concept without Zoe and Michelle (Szot, Split Rail general manager) offering this space to me,” said Sriratana. “In return for their generosity, I at least hope that the foot traffic of my customers can feed into Split Rail.”
Coincidentally, Mom’s, Superkhana and Pink Salt were all born as pop-up concepts, so their operators are familiar with less-traditional restaurant operations. Sriratana and Ijichi both agree, however, that the restaurant industry — particularly among independents — has shifted toward a more collaborative, less competitive, atmosphere since the pandemic shutdown.
“At this point, it’s people really just understanding that we’re all in the same boat. Not to say that competition isn’t a thing, but it’s a different playing field now,” Ijichi said. “We’re all pulling from the same shared resources, so why not have more open conversations about what that looks like and how we can help each other?”
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“And how we can all adapt,” Howry added.
Sriratana expects an influx of these concepts to continue. She knows of industry colleagues who have tested alternative models or menus on micro scales, often out of their home, and have asked her for advice on taking it a step further.
“I kinda just told them, why don’t you partner with a restaurant and then figure it out?” she said. “It helps both businesses. We cross promote for each other.”
“The only way we’re gonna make it through this pandemic is if these restaurant owners help each other. Not that I was ever that type, but there’s no point in really trying to compete or be cutthroat right now. The only way we’re going to get through this time is to go together.”


chicagotribune--2020-09-28--Peoria high school mourns after 4 recent graduates killed in car crash

Principal Devon Hawks said in a statement that “ these young ladies will be missed and our hearts go out @ @ @ @ @ impacted .
”

PEORIA — Teachers and staff at a central Illinois high school are mourning the weekend deaths of four young women who were killed when their vehicle left a roadway and slammed into a tree.
All four women killed in early Sunday’s crash in Peoria were Manual Academy graduates. Authorities identified them as Jazzman Burns, 22, a 2016 graduate; Quanylan Thomas, 19, a 2019 graduate; and 18-year-olds Tyesha Thomas and Diamond Williams, both 2020 grads.
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“One life lost is tragic; four from one event is unconscionable. My heart breaks for these families,” said Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood.
Peoria police said the car carrying the women was traveling at a high speed about 3:45 a.m. Sunday when the driver lost control and struck a tree, the Journal Star reported.
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All four were pronounced dead at the scene. Police and the coroner’s office continue investigating the fatal crash. Autopsies and toxicology tests were pending.
Manual Academy planned to provide support Monday on the front lawn of the school for current and former Manual students affected by the deaths.
Principal Devon Hawks said in a statement that “these young ladies will be missed and our hearts go out to their families and everyone impacted.”


chicagotribune--2020-09-28--Trump vs. Biden: Track the race for president in key battleground states

Of those , 218 electoral votes are in states rated as likely or solidly Democrat and expected to vote for @ @ @ @ @ electoral votes are tied to states rated as likely or solidly Republican and expected to @ @ @ @

Bill Ruthhart, Chad Yoder, Jonathon Berlin

Going into Tuesday’s voting, the list of battleground states that President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden were fighting for was a long 13. By the end of the night, that list had shrunk to a half-dozen.
By Wednesday morning, all eyes were on three familiar battlegrounds: Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Propelled by the late counting of votes from Democratic strongholds, Biden had taken a lead in Michigan and Wisconsin by late morning Wednesday, while Trump remained in front in Pennsylvania with hundreds of thousands of votes outstanding.
Regardless of where those states land, the margin in the race to 270 Electoral College votes promises to be thin. Here is a look at results in hand so far from Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as well as some of the other battlegrounds that have been projected already or are closer to projection.
Also included here are final FiveThirtyEight polling averages for those states — polling that, as in 2016, proved to underestimate Trump’s sway with voters.
Those polls had Biden up 8.2 points nationally, for example. In key Midwest states, Biden led Minnesota by 9.3, Wisconsin by 8.2 and Michigan by 8 points. Trump won states where he was leading — Iowa, Texas and Ohio.
State by state


chicagotribune--2020-09-28--Pandemic-related canning supply shortages real in Illinois, but there are solutions

“ Whenever someone tells me they don ’ t have the equipment or the time to can , I tell @ @ @ @ @ Peterson said .
“ It depends on how much you have .
If you have @ @ @ @ @ you know you ’ ve already given some of it to the neighbors ...
Freezing @ @ @ @ @ methods ( of food preservation ) , if you have the space .
At the @ @ @ @ @ ( what to do with them ) always becomes a big question .
”

The pandemic-related trend that saw more people trying their hand at home gardening this summer may have led to a bountiful harvest of fresh produce, but it’s left some scrambling to find canning supplies as they try to save the last of their colorful crops to enjoy during the grayer days of winter.
“Canning supplies are in short supply everywhere,” said Brandon Pennell, manager at Midland Farm & Home Supply in Jacksonville. “We have people ask for lids all the time. ... Everybody grew a garden this year.”
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When canning, clean Mason jars free of nicks can be reused. But seals and lids should to be new to provide the seal necessary to keep food safe for longer-term storage. It’s also not a good idea to buy more than you expect to need for one year, according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, meaning stockpiling doesn’t work.
“We’ve had a lot of canning goods for a while,” Pennell said. “Everybody waited until the last minute to get (what they needed) and we sold out.”
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While Midland has more supplies on order, the entire canning industry has seen an unprecedented demand for supplies as more consumers prepare meals at home during the pandemic, said a spokesperson for Newell Brands, owner of Ball, which produces Mason jars and other canning supplies.
“The demand has resulted in supply constraints, extended lead times and recently limited product availability at stores and online,” the spokesperson said. To replenish the stock as quickly as possible, the company said it’s increased glass production, found additional lid manufacturers and expanded its pack-out locations.
A spokesperson for Buchheit Inc. said the shortage isn’t Ball’s fault so much as it is the result of a perfect storm of conditions -- with COVID-19 restrictions affecting everything from access to the raw materials needed to make the canning products to the workers available to do so and the transportation to get the finished products where they need to be.
“I know when I’ve gone into our bigger stores, Walmart, there’s not a lot in stock,” said Lisa Peterson, Extension educator for nutrition and wellness for Christian, Jersey, Macoupin and Montgomery counties.
But even in a pinch, making do with previously used lids isn’t acceptable.
“We want them to be using safe jars,” Peterson said. “... You should not be canning unless you have those two-part lids.”
Still, there’s no reason for those struggling to find canning supplies to worry, she said.
“Whenever someone tells me they don’t have the equipment or the time to can, I tell them to freeze,” Peterson said. “It depends on how much you have. If you have a huge first crop and you know you’ve already given some of it to the neighbors ... Freezing is one of the easiest methods (of food preservation), if you have the space. At the end of tomato season, (what to do with them) always becomes a big question.”
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Freezing is just one food preservation method that isn’t canning, and the University of Illinois Extension website has information on a range of options, including fermenting foods, drying foods, making jams and jellies, and pickling foods. One section deals specifically with processing tomatoes, from canning to freezing to drying, and with a nod to fall, one section focuses on preserving apples, from juicing to freezing, canning and dehydrating them.
“We did it preemptively,” Peterson said of the webinar on preserving apples. “But apples are coming in,” as are questions to the Extension office on how to can applesauce and what types of apples freeze well.
Both are part of a webinar series Extension created during the summer to feature different methods of food preservation, she said. Both sections also include links to the webinar videos on the University of Illinois Extension YouTube channel.
“Should I be pressure-canning, water-bath canning?” Peterson said. “Should I be freezing, should I be drying?”
She’s fielded many such questions since new gardeners harvested their first crops this summer.
“When you have 60 questions come through on pickling ...” she said.
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The Associated Press contributed.
— Jacksonville Journal-Courier


chicagotribune--2020-09-28--Kenosha officer thought Jacob Blake was trying to abduct child and said Blake turned toward him with

Kenosha officer thought Jacob Blake was trying to abduct child and said Blake turned toward him with knife, his lawyer says

The mother of the three children , who called police that day , filed a complaint against Blake that had @ @ @ @ @ filed in July accusing him of sexually assaulting a woman in May .
Blake , @ @ @ @ @ warrant for those charges when police arrived at the scene Aug. 23 , pleaded not @ @ @ @ @ this month via video from from his hospital bed .
A trial date was set @ @ @ @

Madison Taft and Black Lives Matter activists march through a Kenosha neighborhood Jan. 5, 2021, after news that no charges will be issued against the Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
The Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times last month told investigators he thought Blake was trying to abduct one of his own children and that he opened fire because Blake started turning toward the officer while holding a knife, the officer’s lawyer contends.
Brendan Matthews, the attorney for Officer Rusten Sheskey and the Kenosha police union, told CNN that when Sheskey arrived at the scene on Aug. 23 in response to a call from a woman who said Blake was at her home and shouldn’t be there, he heard a woman say, “He’s got my kid. He’s got my keys.”
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Sheskey saw Blake put a child in the SUV as he arrived, but he didn’t know that two other children were also in the back seat, Matthews said. He said Sheskey told investigators he opened fire because Blake “held a knife in his hand and twisted his body toward” the officer, and that he didn’t stop until he determined Blake “no longer posed an imminent threat.”
Matthews said if Sheskey had allowed Blake to leave and something happened to the child, “the question would have been ‘Why didn’t you do something?’”
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Cellphone video captured by a bystander and posted online shows Sheskey and another officer follow Blake with their guns drawn as he walks around the front of the parked SUV, opens the driver’s side door and lean into the vehicle. Sheskey, who is white, then opened fire, hitting the Black man seven times and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down, according to his family members and lawyer.
Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey. (Wisconsin Department of Justice/AP)
The shooting sparked outrage and led to several nights of protests and unrest, including a night in which authorities say an Illinois 17-year-old shot and killed two protesters and wounded a third.
Ben Crump, an attorney for Blake’s family, did not immediately respond to a Sunday email seeking comment about Matthews' interview and his voicemail wasn’t accepting new messages. But he previously said Blake was only trying to break up a domestic dispute that day and that he did nothing to provoke police, adding that witnesses didn’t see him with a knife.
Blake’s uncle, Justin Blake, said Saturday that the allegation that Blake was attempting to kidnap his own child was false, the Kenosha News reported.
“That’s ridiculous,” Justin Blake said. “It’s gaslighting. Outright lies.”
The bystander who recorded the shooting, 22-year-old Raysean White, said he saw Blake scuffling with three officers and heard them yell, “Drop the knife! Drop the knife!” before gunfire erupted. White said he didn’t see a knife in Blake’s hands.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is leading the investigation, previously said in a news release that a knife was found in the vehicle, but it didn’t say whether Blake had been holding it at any point during the confrontation or whether police knew it was there before Sheskey shot him.
In a statement previously released by Matthews on behalf of the police union, Matthews said Blake was armed with a knife but that officers didn’t see it until Blake reached the passenger side of the vehicle. As Blake opened the driver’s door of the SUV, Sheskey pulled on Blake’s shirt and then opened fire. Three of Blake’s children were in the backseat.
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The mother of the three children, who called police that day, filed a complaint against Blake that had led to felony charges being filed in July accusing him of sexually assaulting a woman in May. Blake, who was wanted on a warrant for those charges when police arrived at the scene Aug. 23, pleaded not guilty to the charges earlier this month via video from from his hospital bed. A trial date was set for Nov. 9.
Sheskey and the other two officers who were at the scene were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.


chicagotribune--2020-09-28--Tracking Chicago homicide victims

Tracking Chicago homicide victims

Though there are homicides recorded throughout the city they are most concentrated in the South and West sides .

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chicagotribune--2020-09-29--Daywatch: Lightfoot eases COVID-19 restrictions, domestic violence may be underreported in pandemic

Daywatch: Lightfoot eases COVID-19 restrictions, domestic violence may be underreported in pandemic and 11 books to read during National Hispanic Heritage Month

Meanwhile , here in the city , Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that she wouldn ’ t commit to allow in-person @ @ @ @ @ mayor said that the decision on whether or not CPS will return in classrooms for @ @ @ @ @ in the next few weeks .

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Good morning, Chicago. Monday marked a grim global milestone: we passed one million deaths from COVID-19 around the world. In Illinois, public health officials reported 1,709 new known cases of the coronavirus and 13 additional confirmed deaths.
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Meanwhile, here in the city, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that she wouldn’t commit to allow in-person learning this fall. The mayor said that the decision on whether or not CPS will return in classrooms for its second quarter will come in the next few weeks.
Here’s more coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
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The staff at Roots Handmade Pizza in the South Loop prepares for dinner service at the rooftop canopy area on Sept. 28, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
All summer long, Chicagoans were told to stay outside, socially distance themselves and wear masks to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, with Mayor Lori Lightfoot playing the stern disciplinarian making sure everyone complied.
Now, with the cold months bearing down on the city, Lightfoot is loosening the pandemic rules to welcome more people to get together inside bars and other businesses.
A file photo of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot at the Chicago Cultural Center August 31, 2020. On Tuesday Lightfoot’s administration released a report dubbed “Our City, Our Safety: A Comprehensive Plan to Reduce Violence in Chicago.” (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Domestic violence remains a stubborn piece of the puzzle in the effort to deal with Chicago’s overall violence issues, and may be underreported during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report issued by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration.
Dancers Daniel "Bravemonk" Haywood and Kelsa "K-Soul" Robinson perform Sept. 22, 2020, at the Dorchester Art + Housing Collaborative. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
It’s no secret that some of Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods have suffered from a certain level of financial disinvestment, often systemic and spread out over decades.
But one Chicagoan’s efforts to inject new enthusiasm and a sense of community, anchored by artistic and cultural endeavors, are attracting global attention — and similar efforts might be the key to stimulating more equitable real estate development on Chicago’s South Side, a new report suggests.
CPS speech pathologist Beth Eysenbach was walking her parents' dogs, including Pepper, a miniature schnauzer, when she started feeling sick with what she presumed was COVID-19. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
On Friday, March 13, when private schools around Chicago were starting to shut down, a CPS speech pathologist drove from her home on the North Side to south suburban Homewood to spend the weekend with her parents. When she got there, her mother had a high fever, and her father had a cough and weakened appetite.
Author Erika L. Sánchez watches a rehearsal for an adaptation by Steppenwolf Theater of her book, “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter,” in Yondorf Hall on Feb. 15, 2020. (Camille Fine / Chicago Tribune)
National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated in the United States from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 to remember the contributions of Latinx people with origins in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. To celebrate, here’s a reading list of 11 books by Latinx authors.


chicagotribune--2020-09-29--New city report on battling crime problem highlights domestic violence in Chicago, and contends it m

New city report on battling crime problem highlights domestic violence in Chicago, and contends it may be significantly underreported during pandemic

“ We knew that meant that victims of domestic violence were now being asked to ( stay at home ) @ @ @ @ @ wants to continue to harm them or even try to kill them , ” said @ @ @ @ @ for Connections for Abused Women and Their Children .
“ And so we knew then @ @ @ @ @ in , in some cases , … increased risks of harm and increased acts of @ @ @ @ @ tactics .
”

Domestic violence remains a stubborn piece of the puzzle in the effort to deal with Chicago’s overall violence issues, and may be underreported during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report issued by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration.
The 103-page report dubbed “Our City, Our Safety: A Comprehensive Plan to Reduce Violence in Chicago” acknowledged how Chicago’s intractable gun violence, which has given the city an unflattering national reputation, has overshadowed domestic, or family-related, violence, such as domestic batteries, crimes that are statistically more common.
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“Although it does not garner the same level of media attention, the incidence of domestic violence is actually greater than that of community or gun violence,” according to Lightfoot’s report, which was to be released publicly Tuesday morning.
As the mayor has done in the past, the new report calls the city’s violence problem a public health crisis and one that reflects entrenched racial inequity. The report calls for prevention efforts and community empowerment despite funding challenges, after the city endured a summer spike in homicides.
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But the report paid special attention to domestic violence, and the effect the pandemic could be having on it. Crime experts and law enforcement leaders across the country had warned about possible upticks in domestic crimes and family-related incidents as the coronavirus lingered and government restrictions kept more people in their homes and with fewer options to avoid abusive relationships.
“Unlike street crime, domestic violence occurs largely indoors where it is harder to detect, and reporting is driven by a survivor’s willingness to contact police,” the report stated. “Victims of domestic violence are experiencing new challenges with reporting incidents, as family justice centers, courts, and nonprofit offices, have shifted to online operations.”
The report noted instances of reported domestic violence dipped along with some other crime categories as the pandemic took hold, but still, a full one-fifth of reported crime in the first six months after coronavirus restrictions went into effect in Illinois involved some sort of domestic-related dispute, according to a Tribune review of crime data.
In fact, while down overall in Chicago for several years, domestic-related incidents over the last six months made up the highest percentage of overall reported crime seen in that category in at least a decade, according to the newspaper’s review. In the same period each year going back to 2010, reported domestic-related crimes made up between about 14% and 17% of total reported crime, the statistics show, compared with 2020′s 20%.
Domestic batteries alone made up more than 10% of all reported crimes in that six-month period in 2020, according to the data.
The new city report noted the Chicago Police Department handles some 500 calls a day related to domestic incidents, and that 269 homicides between 2014 and 2019 were considered domestic-related. Experts have said quarantines associated with the pandemic would further exacerbate the issue.
“We knew that meant that victims of domestic violence were now being asked to (stay at home) with the very person who wants to continue to harm them or even try to kill them,” said Stephanie Love-Patterson, executive director for Connections for Abused Women and Their Children. “And so we knew then that was going to result in, in some cases, … increased risks of harm and increased acts of violence, and other abusive tactics.”
Amanda Pyron, executive director for The Network, a local advocacy group for victims of domestic violence, said since March it has seen a “huge increase” in contacts to the Illinois Domestic Violence hotline, which the group operates. For example, during the first three weeks of March, the hotline averaged 419 calls a week, according to data provided by Pyron, but the first three full weeks of April saw an average of about 542 calls a week, the data show. And those numbers increased in May and June.
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“So what’s apparent is that survivors are experiencing domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic and during this time when activity is still restricted, even though there’s no (stay-at-home) order,” Pyron said. “There’s a lot of additional stress on everyone. And while that stress isn’t going to cause domestic violence, it is going to exacerbate abusive situations."
Lightfoot’s report also noted that much of the city’s domestic violence occurs in neighborhoods also seeing the most shootings and homicides. These are neighborhoods on the South and West sides that have struggled for years with poverty, disinvestment and systemic racism.
Chicago recorded 560 homicides from January through Sept. 20, the highest number of slayings for that period in years. And the city’s nearly 2,400 shootings — incidents that left victims killed or wounded — this year is indeed the highest since at least 2016.
In an interview with the Tribune, Lightfoot’s deputy mayor of public safety, Susan Lee, noted that gun violence gets a lot of attention because of its lethality, and that sometimes the public never knows the scope of the domestic violence problem since many of those cases go unreported. But both types of violence can arise through the same societal conditions, she acknowledged.
“In trying to address violence in a holistic way, we know that gun violence and domestic violence are not mutually exclusive,” said Lee. “And that, you know, some gun violence is about domestic violence and some domestic violence escalates and leads to retaliatory cycles that can lead to gun violence, and so these are interrelated issues that are rooted in the same kind of conditions in the communities that exacerbate violence overall.”
The report noted Black people are “overrepresented” among Chicago’s shooting and domestic violence victims. Last year, Black people made up 80% of the city’s shooting victims, and 66% of domestic violence survivors from 2011 to 2018, the report stated. Black people constitute 30% of the city’s population, the report stated.
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Among the mayor’s long-term public safety goals was to make available more and better services for victims of gun violence and domestic violence. For instance, during Pritzker’s stay-at-home order, the city partnered with Lyft and Uber to help domestic violence victims travel safely from one place to another, the report stated. It also noted how the city set aside $207,000 from the U.S. Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, to increase the capacity of the Illinois domestic violence hotline, as well as domestic violence shelters.
Some of the city’s goals for dealing with domestic violence, according to the report, include:
*Providing training for street outreach workers — who normally intervene in gang conflicts that lead to gun violence — so they can identify domestic violence victims and refer them to service providers.
*Making “safe and secure” housing accessible to domestic violence victims through the Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund rental assistance program.
*Developing an awareness campaign, including through social media, for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.
*Developing protocols to address teen-dating violence and implementing training for school staff on the issue.
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*Establishing and reviewing disciplinary procedures for Chicago police officers specifically accused of sexual misconduct and domestic violence.
Other parts of Lightfoot’s report focus on her goals for reducing violence, which has risen since George Floyd’s Memorial Day death at the hands of police in Minnesota sparked outrage in several U.S. cities, including Chicago, and reignited a national conversation about systemic racism and law enforcement’s treatment of Black Americans.
Lightfoot’s goals, however, could be complicated by a COVID-19-induced budget shortfall in 2021 of more than $1 billion. Earlier this month, the Lightfoot administration said the budget woes may prompt the city to slow down its replacement of retired Chicago police officers or leave some police positions unfilled next year.


chicagotribune--2020-09-29--Column: New book looks at masculinity in the age of Trump and our country’s problem with the ‘Real M

Column: New book looks at masculinity in the age of Trump and our country’s problem with the ‘Real Man’

I think this starts with us abandoning the idea that there ’ s one way for any human to be @ @ @ @ @ am , and my kids are who they are .
You are , I hope @ @ @ @ @ and your children will be who they ’ re going to be .
This doesn @ @ @ @ @ ’ t matter , but it does mean the things we do , the things @ @ @ @ @ we choose to spend our time shouldn ’ t conform to some precise recipe for @ @ @ @

A new book by comedian Michael Ian Black, called “A Better Man,” tackles the subjects of men and “toxic masculinity” in an American moment when bullying seems all the rage. (ImagineGolf / Getty Images)
I was scrubbing the upstairs bathroom tub, listening to a track from the 1972 film adaptation of the Broadway musical “Cabaret” and thinking about masculinity.
What prompted this — the thoughts on masculinity, not the tub scrubbing or “Cabaret” listening — was a new book by comedian Michael Ian Black. It’s called “A Better Man,” and it tackles (please note the manly word choice) the subjects of men and “toxic masculinity” in an American moment when bullying, refusing to admit you’re wrong and putting on the airs of some idealized “tough guy” seem all the rage.
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I’ll get to the substance of the book in a moment, but first, let’s return to the bathroom.
We clean the house each weekend, my wife and kids and me. I usually handle the upstairs, which allows me to listen to music and lose myself in clouds of Ajax and vacuum cleaner dust.
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Growing up, my parents loved musicals, and “Cabaret” was a favorite. A song from that soundtrack came up on my playlist Sunday as I was cleaning.
In my head was the content of Black’s book, which is framed as a letter to his son as he prepares for college. The book delves into the unanswerable question of what it means to be a man and the absurd measures our culture has set up for gauging who is or isn’t manly.
Leaning over the tub, I paused my scouring a moment and wondered what listening to a show tune while cleaning the tub said about my manliness. And I realized I didn’t care.
A lyric in the song I was listening to —"Mein Herr," which, conveniently, is German for “My Man” — put it nicely: “And though I used to care, I need the open air.”
I no longer care how anyone defines my man-ness. I haven’t cared for quite some time, in fact, and that, I argue, is how we should hope our children feel.
Other things I did Sunday included watching football, planting a tree in the backyard and oiling the garage door tracks. Are those more manly endeavors? Do they up my man-cred in some way that makes any difference to anyone on earth?
In his book, Black describes a Twitter troll who once accused him of not being a “real man.” Black asked the troll to define “real man” and he couldn’t: “He doesn’t know. I don’t blame him. I don’t know either — I only know my own experiences.”
Black writes: “Traditional masculinity is an elaborate system of ritualized posturing. A kind of drag show. It’s men in carefully assembled attire lip-syncing the songs of their fathers and grandfathers. At their most grandiose, both drag shows and displays of traditional masculinity are campy exhibitions of gender blown out to cartoonish proportions. The only difference is that drag performers have a sense of humor.”
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A persistent cultural focus on the harder-edged definitions of masculinity comes with consequences. There’s a reason boys are shooting up schools. There’s a reason some men have become socially unmoored in America’s evolving culture, and a reason they’ve turned angry and embraced the snarling, “(expletive) your feelings” emotion ginned up by the modern-day Republican Party.
Real-man imagery doesn’t involve expressing emotions or asking for help. As Black puts it, “The relentless American marketing campaign of the Real Man has (expletive) a lot of us up.”
None of this excuses bad male behavior. But what Black’s book does, and the reason I think it’s essential reading for both men and boys, is frame out the problem and acknowledge there’s no one right thing we, as men or boys, need to do. Rather, there are many right things we can do to make our lives and the lives of those around us better.
“How do you do it?” Black asks near the end of the book. “One guy at a time. One guy asking for help, opening his heart to another, standing up for others. One guy living a conscious life. One guy doing the simple, hard work of being a man. One guy practicing love.”
I think this starts with us abandoning the idea that there’s one way for any human to be. I am who I am, and my kids are who they are. You are, I hope, who you are, and your children will be who they’re going to be. This doesn’t mean gender doesn’t matter, but it does mean the things we do, the things we like and the ways we choose to spend our time shouldn’t conform to some precise recipe for masculinity or femininity.
Because there isn’t one.
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After pondering my Cabaret-accompanied cleaning, I thought of a more stereotypically manly and muscular song I love, “Good Times, Bad Times” by Led Zeppelin. Robert Plant sings: “In the days of my youth, I was told what it means to be a man. And now I’ve reached that age, I’ve tried to do all those things the best I can.”
I used to pump my fist and shout along with those lines. Now they just seem silly, though I still think the song rocks.
If one of my kids asks what it means to be a man, I’m going to tell him this: Be kind. Be thoughtful. Try, always, to be a good person. Be yourself. Be happy.
And know that at the end of the day, the only one who can truly define what it means for you to be a man is you.
rhuppke@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-29--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Chicago eases restrictions on bars and restaurants; state reports 1

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Chicago eases restrictions on bars and restaurants; state reports 1,709 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 13 additional deaths

That hope , though , is tempered by a contemporaneous pandemic that has shuttered Chicago theaters , possibly for many @ @ @ @ @ turned the later half of 2020 into a struggle for financial survival both on institutional @ @ @ @ @ have disappeared .
The talent that makes up the sector is being forced to seek @ @ @ @ @ over when , or if , they will return .
Governmental help of adequate scope @ @ @ @ @ many hands from many sectors are outstretched .

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)
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Monday announced the city was easing coronavirus restrictions on bars and restaurants, as well as on barbershops, beauty salons and gyms. The changes are Lightfoot’s latest attempt to ease the financial burden on Chicago businesses by lifting frequently criticized restrictions.
Lightfoot also said she would love to let students back into Chicago public schools in November but wouldn’t commit to allow in-person learning this fall. While many parents would like to see their children back in classrooms, Lightfoot said the safety of teachers and staff at schools also must be considered.
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The mayor’s comments came as Illinois public health officials on Monday reported 1,709 newly diagnosed cases and 13 additional confirmed deaths of people with COVID-19, raising the statewide tally to 289,639 known cases and 8,614 deaths.
Meanwhile, the worldwide death toll from the coronavirus eclipsed 1 million, nine months into a crisis that has devastated the global economy, tested world leaders' resolve, pitted science against politics and forced multitudes to change the way they live, learn and work.
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Here’s what’s happening Monday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7:50 p.m.: Worldwide death toll from COVID-19 eclipses 1 million
The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus eclipsed 1 million on Tuesday, nine months into a crisis that has devastated the global economy, tested world leaders' resolve, pitted science against politics and forced multitudes to change the way they live, learn and work.
“It’s not just a number. It’s human beings. It’s people we love,” said Dr. Howard Markel, a professor of medical history at the University of Michigan who has advised government officials on containing pandemics and lost his 84-year-old mother to COVID-19 in February.
“It’s our brothers, our sisters. It’s people we know,” he added. “And if you don’t have that human factor right in your face, it’s very easy to make it abstract.”
The bleak milestone, recorded by Johns Hopkins University, is greater than the population of Jerusalem or Austin, Texas. It is 2 1/2 times the sea of humanity that was at Woodstock in 1969. It is more than four times the number killed in the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
Even then, the figure is almost certainly a vast undercount because of inadequate or inconsistent testing and reporting and suspected concealment by some countries.
And the number continues to mount. Nearly 5,000 deaths are reported each day on average. Parts of Europe are getting hit by a second wave, and experts fear the same fate may await the U.S., which accounts for about 205,000 deaths, or 1 out of 5 worldwide. That is far more than any other country, despite America’s wealth and medical resources.
Read more here. —Associated Press
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6:55 p.m.: Notre Dame announces 39 football players are in isolation or quarantine as a result of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing
Notre Dame is undefeated on the football field but struggling with COVID-19 away from it.
The Irish postponed last Saturday’s game at Wake Forest, and on Monday the program reported some grim testing numbers: 25 players are in isolation as a result of 18 positive tests last week. Another 14 players are in quarantine due to contact tracing. Those 39 sidelined players represent about 34% of the 114 players listed on the roster.
Notre Dame, which had a scheduled open date this week and is scheduled to host Florida State on Oct. 10, is not practicing. The team has resumed “conditioning activities … in consultation with the St. Joseph County Department of Health,” the school said in a statement.
Notre Dame has not made any coaches or players available to the media since Sept. 21, when coach Brian Kelly called the team’s COVID-19 plan “an evolving situation.”
Read more here. —Teddy Greenstein
5 p.m. (update): Feds to distribute millions of rapid coronavirus tests in bid to reopen K-12 schools
President Donald Trump announced Monday that the federal government will begin distributing millions of rapid coronavirus tests to states this week and urged governors to use them to reopen schools for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
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The move to vastly expand U.S. testing comes as confirmed new COVID-19 cases remain elevated at more than 40,000 per day and experts warn of a likely surge in infections during the colder months ahead. It also comes just five weeks before the November election, with Trump facing continued criticism for his handling of the crisis.
The tests will go out to states based on their population and can be used as governors see fit, but the Trump administration is encouraging states to place a priority on schools. White House officials said at a Rose Garden event that 6.5 million tests will go out this week and that a total of 100 million tests will be distributed to governors over the next several weeks.
Read more here. —Associated Press
3:05 p.m.: Lightfoot: ‘We’re not there yet’ on in-person CPS learning
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday said she would love to let students back into Chicago public schools in November, but wouldn’t commit to allow in-person learning this fall.
When Chicago Public Schools set all-remote learning due to COVID-19 concerns at the beginning of the school year, officials said they would revisit the decision at the end of the first quarter in early November. The first quarter is scheduled to end Nov. 5, with the second quarter starting on Nov. 9.
The mayor said the decisions will come “in the next few weeks.”
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Read more here. —John Byrne
1:50 p.m.: United pilots accept deal to avoid nearly 3,000 furloughs
United Airlines' pilots agreed to a deal that will spare almost 3,000 pilots from furloughs through at least June.
Pilots agreed to work fewer hours to avoid the furloughs, with the most junior pilots who were at greatest risk of furloughs facing the greatest reductions, according to the union representing United’s 3,000 pilots, the Air Line Pilots Association.
Chicago-based United warned it planned to furlough 2,850 of its 13,000 pilots earlier this month, along with 13,500 employees in other roles, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to take a toll on air travel.
Read more here. —Lauren Zumbach
1 p.m.: Lightfoot easing Chicago restrictions on indoor bars, restaurants, fitness class sizes
Chicago bars that don’t serve food will be allowed to reopen for indoor service starting Thursday, and bars and restaurants will be allowed to serve alcohol until 1 a.m., Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Monday.
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In addition, Lightfoot said the city will now allow shaves, facials, and other personal services that previously were banned because they required the removal of face masks. The city also will increase the maximum group size for health and fitness classes and after-school programming from 10 to 15 people, officials said.
The moves are Lightfoot’s latest attempt to ease the financial burden on Chicago businesses by lifting frequently criticized restrictions. But the moves also come as the city prepares for flu season and the number of new COVID-19 cases per day hovers around 300.
Lightfoot has been eager to showcase Chicago as America’s most open big city during the pandemic, while also pledging to heed scientific advice on how much leeway to give businesses and other public places where people congregate.
Monday’s announcement keeps the city in phase four of its reopening framework, but loosens several standards.
This is the second time during the pandemic that the mayor has let bars that don’t serve food welcome patrons inside. But they will be limited to 25% of capacity under the new rules.
Although Lightfoot is easing some rules, the city will still require patrons to wear face masks “except when actively eating or drinking.” They also will be required to order from their seats at indoor bars and taverns.
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Read more here. —Gregory Pratt and John Byrne
12:05 p.m.: Illinois reports 1,709 new known COVID-19 cases and 13 more deaths
Illinois health officials on Monday announced 1,709 new known cases of COVID-19 and 13 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 289,639 and the statewide death toll to 8,614 since the start of the pandemic. Officials also reported 41,142 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 3.7%.
11:20 a.m.: One family’s COVID-19 journey, and how life changed in a weekend
When a Chicago Public Schools speech pathologist and her parents got sick back in March — presumably with COVID-19, though only her father was ever able to get tested — Illinois had recorded only a few dozen cases.
It was the same week that Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that he was shutting down schools statewide.
Since then, Beth Eysenbach and her mother have recovered, though her father did not. Now, in addition to planning his funeral, she’s getting used to how the pandemic has not just the world around her but her life, her family, and her job.
Read more here. —Hannah Leone
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9:15 a.m.: Chef partnerships becoming more common during COVID-19 pandemic as pros adapt to survive
The COVID-19 shutdown forced a collective change of plans among the restaurant industry, putting workers in unexpected and often urgent situations. Every element of the dining experience had taken on a new or different importance: safety measures, kitchen space, outdoor areas, walk-up windows, even the type of cuisine.
In general, resources tightened more than ever, and thousands of employees were furloughed. As pros looked for ways to innovate and survive, collaborative efforts like shared kitchens, ghost kitchens, joint pop-ups and more have seen a new lift in recent months, particularly among independent restaurants or fledgling entrepreneurs. Ghost kitchen is a term for a commercial kitchen shared among culinary entrepreneurs without offering dine-in service.
Considering the pandemic’s widespread effects, such arrangements have inevitably spawned a variety of forms, but almost all of these operations allow chefs and owners to share certain costs and resources while maintaining more of their own autonomy. In most cases, it’s a situation of friendly colleagues and/or co-workers capitalizing on existing trust to support each other.
Read more here. —Adam Lukach
7:19 a.m.: Pandemic-related canning supply shortages real in Illinois, but there are solutions
The pandemic-related trend that saw more people trying their hand at home gardening this summer may have led to a bountiful harvest of fresh produce, but it’s left some scrambling to find canning supplies as they try to save the last of their colorful crops to enjoy during the grayer days of winter.
“Canning supplies are in short supply everywhere,” said Brandon Pennell, manager at Midland Farm & Home Supply in Jacksonville. “We have people ask for lids all the time. ... Everybody grew a garden this year.”
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When canning, clean Mason jars free of nicks can be reused. But seals and lids should to be new to provide the seal necessary to keep food safe for longer-term storage. It’s also not a good idea to buy more than you expect to need for one year, according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, meaning stockpiling doesn’t work.
Read more here. —Angela Bauer, Jacksonville Journal-Courier
6 a.m.: For Chicago’s theaters, an opportunity for more racial diversity also comes at a time of crisis
For Jackie Taylor, the founder of the Black Ensemble Theater and a woman who has seen calls for greater diversity, equity and inclusion in the Chicago theater come and go over the years, this moment seems different.
“This has been a fight for more than 400 years,” Taylor said. “So it’s not exactly new. And we had all the demonstrations and the marches and the same conversations in the 1960s. But there has been a change in the wind. And I think, in terms of things clicking in people’s minds about racism, it is suddenly now happening on a deeper level.”
So what’s different?
“Young people,” Taylor said. “Young people, including young white people, are saying they do not want a world of white privilege, but one of inclusion. They are bringing a different essence to the fight. So there is new hope.”
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That hope, though, is tempered by a contemporaneous pandemic that has shuttered Chicago theaters, possibly for many months to come, and turned the later half of 2020 into a struggle for financial survival both on institutional and individual levels. Jobs have disappeared. The talent that makes up the sector is being forced to seek employment elsewhere, prompting worries over when, or if, they will return. Governmental help of adequate scope has not been forthcoming and many hands from many sectors are outstretched.
Read more here. —Chris Jones
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
In case you missed it
Here are five stories from last week related to COVID-19:


chicagotribune--2020-09-30--Illinois House committee investigating Speaker Michael Madigan set to hear testimony from Exelon exe

Illinois House committee investigating Speaker Michael Madigan set to hear testimony from Exelon executive

Madigan and Marquez were among the several witnesses the committee ’ s three Republicans asked to testify , but all @ @ @ @ @ the exception of ComEd .
Among those Republicans want to hear from are longtime Madigan @ @ @ @ @ Michael McClain and former ComEd and Exelon CEO Anne Pramaggiore , both of whom figured @ @ @ @ @ outlining ComEd ’ s admissions .

The Democratic chairman of the Illinois House special committee investigating Speaker Michael Madigan’s conduct in connection with an alleged Commonwealth Edison bribery scheme blocked an effort by Republicans to legally compel the powerful Democrat and others to testify.
State Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch of Hillside ruled Tuesday that a motion by Republicans to subpoena witnesses was out of order, and didn’t allow a vote. The move comes after Madigan and several other potential witnesses declined invitations to appear voluntarily.
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“The issuance of subpoenas is premature,” Welch said. “You’re asking this committee to vote to approve subpoenas that we haven’t even seen.”
The partisan spat capped an hourslong hearing in Springfield that featured testimony from David Glockner, ComEd parent Exelon’s executive vice president for compliance and audit. Glockner said the state’s largest utility agreed to make payments to Madigan associates in an effort to influence speaker.
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Glockner hewed closely to the deferred prosecution agreement ComEd entered into in July with federal prosecutors, but avoided comment on whether the utility’s efforts had the intended effect on Madigan.
“ComEd acknowledges repeatedly through the agreement that it believed or it intended to influence the speaker through its conduct,” Glockner told the six-member special investigating committee. “Whether it, in fact, influenced the speaker, whether the speaker was aware of its intent to influence, those are questions I don’t think I’m in a position to comment on.”
The committee, formed this summer after federal prosecutors alleged ComEd engaged in a “yearslong bribery scheme” aimed at currying favor with Madigan, has become a partisan flashpoint ahead of the November election.
The panel was formed at the request of House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs to determine whether Madigan engaged in “conduct unbecoming to a legislator” and should face potential discipline. Madigan and Welch have accused the GOP of political posturing. Republicans accuse Democrats of acting in defense of Madigan, who has not been charged and has denied wrongdoing.
Tuesday’s hearing got underway less than an hour after former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to conspiracy to commit bribery.
Marquez, who oversaw the utility’s extensive lobbying efforts at the Capitol as senior vice president of governmental and external affairs, admitted that he offered jobs, contracts and payments to Madigan associates in hopes of winning the speaker’s support for favorable legislation. He has agreed to cooperate in the ongoing investigation in a plea deal that could keep him out of prison.
Welch said the committee would discuss the logistics of possible testimony from Marquez in light of his guilty plea.
In an opening statement, Durkin said that if Democrats set partisan interests aside, they would see there was sufficient evidence to support a charge that would send Madigan before a disciplinary committee.
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“In order to discredit ComEd’s admissions, you would have to believe that Michael Madigan didn’t know what was going on around him,” Durkin said. “You know Michael Madigan. He’s not ignorant of what’s going on around him. He is not naive. And he is not easily surprised.”
Durkin urged the committee’s three Democrats to be “impartial arbiters of the facts."
“If you do that, there will only be one possible conclusion,” he said.
In their questioning, however, Democrats on the committee sought to deflect scrutiny from Madigan, asking Glockner repeatedly about whether other lawmakers, including Durkin, had recommended people for jobs with ComEd. Their questions closely followed the defense Madigan laid out in a letter last week declining the invitation to testify before the committee.
Madigan and Marquez were among the several witnesses the committee’s three Republicans asked to testify, but all declined the invitation, with the exception of ComEd. Among those Republicans want to hear from are longtime Madigan confidant and former ComEd lobbyist Michael McClain, and former ComEd and Exelon CEO Anne Pramaggiore, both of whom figured prominently in the court documents outlining ComEd’s admissions.
David Glockner, Exelon’s executive vice president for compliance and audit, answers questions during the House Special Investigating Committee II hearing in Springfield on Sept. 29, 2020. The committee is looking into House Speaker Michael Madigan's role in a bribery scandal involving utility giant Commonwealth Edison. (Ted Schurter/The State Journal-Register)
The panel could subpoena witnesses, but that would require one of three Democrats to vote with the three Republicans to compel testimony. One Democrat also would have to side with Republicans for the special committee to approve a charge against Madigan.
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While the deferred prosecution agreement has been public since mid-July, Glockner’s sworn testimony publicly identified some figures who aren’t named in court documents.
In one example, ComEd admitted in court documents to hiring “Law Firm A” in 2011 “in part, with the intent to influence and reward” Madigan. When the firm’s contract was up for renewal in 2016, a lawyer with the firm — “Lawyer A” — allegedly complained to McClain that ComEd sought to reduce the firm’s hours, according to court records. McClain took the complaint to Pramaggiore, writing, “I am sure you know how valuable [Lawyer A] is to our Friend,” a reference to Madigan. Pramaggiore saw to it the contract was renewed, court records allege.
In his testimony, Glockner identified the law firm in question as Reyes Kurson and lawyer as Victor Reyes. Reyes was patronage chief for former Mayor Richard M. Daley and founder of the Hispanic Democratic Organization.
ComEd’s agreement with federal prosecutors focuses specifically on two major pieces of energy legislation approved in the legislature in the past decade: the 2011 Energy Infrastructure and Modernization Act and the 2016 Future Energy Jobs Act, both of which resulted in major benefits for the state’s largest utility.
In his letter declining the invitation to testify, Madigan argued that “House Democrats won significant concessions, much to the chagrin of ComEd and Exelon, likely costing the companies millions of dollars in profits.”
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Illinois House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, discusses his request to make an opening statement during the House Special Investigating Committee II hearing in Springfield on Sept. 29, 2020. (Ted Schurter/The State Journal-Register)
Seeking to turn the tables on Durkin, Madigan noted the key role the House GOP leader and then-Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner played in negotiating the 2016 legislation, which opponents characterized as a bailout for two Exelon nuclear power plants.
“If Rep. Durkin were to put aside his current political agenda and speak honestly about his experiences with this energy legislation in which he was personally involved, I am certain he would attest that the process of negotiating that bill was bipartisan and his input was likely more valuable than mine,” Madigan wrote.
Following Madigan’s cue, Welch said after Durkin’s opening statement that he looked forward to welcoming him back to testify.
Tuesday’s fight over subpoenas was the latest in weeks of partisan squabbling since the committee first met Sept. 10.
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dpetrella@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-30--Chicago Public Schools pays $400,000 to settle lawsuits alleging physical abuse against 2 special ed

Chicago Public Schools pays $400,000 to settle lawsuits alleging physical abuse against 2 special education students by staff

A video submitted as evidence is subject to a confidentiality order and has not been released to the Tribune .
@ @ @ @ @ the video shows the teacher dragging the boy `` by the hood of his hoodie @ @ @ @ @ 15-20 ft across the floor to the stairway , and down 2 flights of stairs @ @ @ @ @ hoodie as he unsuccessfully attempted to gain his footing .
”

Chicago Public Schools has agreed to pay $400,000 to settle two federal lawsuits accusing employees of using corporal punishment on special education students at elementary schools in Bronzeville and South Shore.
Each of the boys was around 9 years old at the time a staff member used physical force against him inside his own school building, according to the lawsuits. The similarities are not a coincidence, said a lawyer representing both families, Jon Erickson.
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“I think these cases demonstrate that the Chicago Public Schools has a widespread custom and practice under which special education students like these two are routinely subjected to physical and emotional abuse, and aggressive behavior by both employees of CPS and fellow students,” Erickson said.
One complaint, filed in 2016, will cost taxpayers $215,000; the other, filed in 2018 was settled for $185,000. That doesn’t account for any legal fees incurred by the district, which was named in both suits.
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The Chicago Board of Education approved the settlements last week, avoiding jury trials set for later this year.. Staff members at the center of both civil lawsuits were also charged criminally and got “do-not-hire” notices, making them ineligible for rehire.
“While the district does not comment on settlements, we take allegations of student harm seriously and we are committed to ensuring that any adult who harms or fails to protect students will be held accountable," CPS spokeswoman Emily Bolton said in a statement. "We are committed to protecting students and creating supportive school environments.”
On March 1, 2016, an ambulance picked up a 9-year-old boy from Woodson Elementary School.
According to the related lawsuit, a teacher “exchanged words" with the boy before telling other students to leave the room. The boy said she pushed him against a table, grabbed him by his clothes and dragged him out of the room, down the stairs and to the principal’s office, the lawsuit states.
A video submitted as evidence is subject to a confidentiality order and has not been released to the Tribune. According to the complaint, the video shows the teacher dragging the boy "by the hood of his hoodie out of the classroom and 15-20 ft across the floor to the stairway, and down 2 flights of stairs by the neck of his hoodie as he unsuccessfully attempted to gain his footing.”
In an answer filed in the civil suit, the teacher acknowledged that other students were asked to leave the room and admitted that she “grasped” the boy’s clothing “at some point,” but denied that she dragged him “down the stairs all the way to the principal’s office.”
The teacher’s lawyers argued she had behaved reasonably and was immune from liability because she was performing discretionary acts within the scope of her job.
The teacher was removed from the school in March 2016 and resigned “when she was made aware that the district would be seeking termination,” according to CPS.
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Prosecutors charged the teacher, Nikita Brown, 48, with felony aggravated battery, unlawful restraint and misdemeanor battery, according to court records. The felony charges were dropped when she pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor in exchange for a sentence of 18 months of probation, according to court records.
Neither she nor her lawyers could be reached Tuesday.
The civil complaint states that because CPS was notified the prior November that Brown allegedly “posed a danger to students and faculty,” the district is partially responsible for the boy’s injuries.
In the more recent case, a South Shore Fine Arts Academy guidance counselor assistant was accused in a civil lawsuit of choking a 9-year-old boy until he lost consciousness after claiming the boy had stolen markers in a special education classroom.
He also threw the boy into nearby music stands, according to the lawsuit. The assistant has denied the allegations.
In the four prior years, the assistant was accused of physically abusing elementary students at least seven times, according to the federal complaint.
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“Neither the school nor the Board disciplined (the assistant) for the use of corporal punishment aside from implementing a Performance Improvement Plan,” according to the complaint.
By continuing to employ the assistant, school and district leaders also named in the lawsuit were accused of increasing the risk that the 9-year-old would be physically harmed.
In a written response to the civil suit, the assistant acknowledged being accused of misconduct in the past but said the allegations were false, and more broadly denied physically abusing students.
The assistant, Christopher Thomas, 41, was removed from the school after the 2018 incident and was referred to law enforcement, according to CPS.
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More than a month later, on Oct. 12, Thomas turned himself in, according to police. He was charged with seven counts of felony aggravated battery, one specifying strangulation, according to authorities. Thomas pleaded not guilty and has been out on bond awaiting trial, according to court records.
A lawyer representing Thomas in the civil case said they had no comment Tuesday.
Two other CPS employees who were dismissed from the lawsuit are currently designated “inactive" after leaving their jobs at South Shore, according to CPS. Another works for the Office of the Inspector General.
In 2019, CPS changed its protocols “to ensure employees accused of physical abuse are removed from the classroom and thoroughly investigated,” according to information provided by the communications office. Whether someone under investigation could continue to work used to be evaluated case by case. Investigations into physical abuse allegations were also moved from the law department to the Office of Student Protections and Title IX.
However, Erickson questioned whether the district is following its new protocol. In another open lawsuit he’s involved with, at least one Evers Elementary teacher accused of hitting a student is still working at the school.
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hleone@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-29--Suburban parents sue IHSA, hoping to force return of high school football and other sports

“ The long-term effects of this , we haven ’ t even seen yet , ” said Chris Warden , @ @ @ @ @ is one of the plaintiffs .
“ Certainly you can see the statistics in terms @ @ @ @ @ other terrible issues that take place .
… I think it would be outstanding if @ @ @ @ @ the state would be willing to step up , make a difference for these kids @ @ @ @ @ live their lives .
”

The parents of four DuPage County high school athletes have filed a lawsuit in an attempt to force the return of football and other sports that have been postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the Illinois High School Association violated its bylaws when it agreed to follow the state’s safety guidelines.
The suit, filed on behalf of a basketball player, two football players and a competitive dancer, says the IHSA failed to follow its procedures when it “adopted as binding guidelines on IHSA schools several nonbinding guidelines issued by (Gov. J.B.) Pritzker regarding the conduct and timing of interscholastic athletics for its member schools.”
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The Pritzker administration in July issued guidance categorizing youth and high school sports at various levels of risk. Football, wrestling and competitive dance were listed as high-risk sports, meaning athletes can practice if there is no contact but cannot compete. Basketball, soccer and volleyball, categorized as medium risk, can have scrimmages but no games.
Richards High School varsity football players go through drills during practice in Oak Lawn on July 29, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
The IHSA, already facing a similar lawsuit in Montgomery County, near St. Louis, said it would defer to state officials about returning to play, and moved football, boys soccer and girls volleyball to the spring. But as other states have restarted those sports, the IHSA has sought unsuccessfully to regain authority over its schedule.
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In a motion seeking a temporary restraining order, attorney Jeffrey Widman suggested that since Pritzker has not issued an executive order on sports, his administration’s guidance is not binding. The Illinois Department of Public Health did not respond to a request seeking comment.
Widman wrote that sticking to the revised schedule means that athletes who compete in several sports will have to choose one or the other, will miss recruiting opportunities as college scouts focus on states where teens are still playing and will see their mental health suffer while they are deprived of sports' social benefits.
“The long-term effects of this, we haven’t even seen yet,” said Chris Warden, a Glen Ellyn parent who is one of the plaintiffs. “Certainly you can see the statistics in terms of kids and suicide and other terrible issues that take place. … I think it would be outstanding if some of the politicians in the state would be willing to step up, make a difference for these kids long-term and allow them to live their lives.”
The IHSA declined to address the specifics of the lawsuit but said in a statement it "has and continues to believe that we can safely conduct high school sports in Illinois, including sports deemed medium and high risk by the Illinois Department of Public Health, throughout the 2020-21 school year.
"We have provided our member schools with a contingency plan that allows for participation by all sports in modified seasons, while continuing to lobby IDPH and state leadership for expanded participation opportunities.”
A DuPage County judge is expected to hear the case Thursday.
jkeilman@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @JohnKeilman


chicagotribune--2020-09-29--Chicago police moving district patrol officers downtown, limiting time on street for neighborhood ta

Chicago police moving district patrol officers downtown, limiting time on street for neighborhood tactical cops, memos say

“ While on post , Department members will be highly visible .
Vehicles will have their Mars lights activated for @ @ @ @ @ of duty , ” according to one of the memos , which said the policy @ @ @ @ @ until further notice .
“ Department members will also ensure that they have their helmets @ @ @ @ @ if issued ) with them , and be prepared for inclement weather .
Body Worn @ @ @ @ @ if assigned , will be required .
”

Peter Nickeas, Jeremy Gorner, Gregory Pratt

The Chicago Police Department is stripping patrol districts of officers and limiting the use of some district officers during daytime shifts in favor of a “highly visible” presence downtown, according to memos obtained by the Chicago Tribune.
The move reduces the number of officers available in at least some of the city’s 22 patrol districts to respond to 911 calls during every shift. As of Tuesday morning, districts will now have to send officers to the downtown area, a move opposed by some aldermen.
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“While on post, Department members will be highly visible. Vehicles will have their Mars lights activated for the duration of their tour of duty,” according to one of the memos, which said the policy change will remain in effect until further notice. “Department members will also ensure that they have their helmets, batons, masks (if issued) with them, and be prepared for inclement weather. Body Worn Cameras (BWC), if assigned, will be required.”
To make up for the loss of district officers, the community safety team, a new citywide unit tasked with responding to sudden flare-ups in violence in neighborhoods away from downtown, has close to 500 officers available, said Tom Ahern, a spokesman for Chicago police Superintendent David Brown. Ahern also said the city’s summer mobile patrol unit, a temporary citywide unit of about 200 officers, will be in place into November.
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A man walks by a parked police car near the intersection of Ida B. Wells Drive and South Michigan Avenue on Sept. 29, 2020, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Many officers working in those units had already been pulled from district patrols. But Ahern insisted the Police Department is “deeply invested in the neighborhoods.”
Police sources have said the department’s downtown deployment plan over the summer, following the Memorial Day death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minnesota and subsequent demonstrations and looting, has left a shortage of officers in some districts, raising concern among cops that they won’t be able to provide timely police service in neighborhoods. Over the years, patrol districts have routinely struggled to meet the demand for police service.
Ahern said the changes aren’t leaving neighborhoods vulnerable.
“No doubt officers are detailed downtown, but neighborhoods are well-protected,” Ahern said.
The department’s districts are staffed with varying number of police officers, not staffed equally per capita or per square mile. But districts with more violence generally have more officers.
Two districts cover the downtown area, as well as neighborhoods north to Fullerton Avenue and south to 31st Street.
In mid-August, some districts began sending officers downtown every day, although districts with high levels of violence were largely excluded. Chicago police leaders implemented the downtown deployment plan when high-end businesses on the Magnificent Mile and in nearby areas experienced widespread looting and vandalism.
Officers since then have been seen up and down North Michigan Avenue sitting in their patrol cars with their blue emergency lights activated near popular downtown spots like Water Tower Place and the Drake Hotel.
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The new order, issued Monday and taking effect Tuesday morning, draws officers into downtown from every district across the city, according to a copy obtained by the Tribune.
A separate order issued Friday said district tactical teams will now be limited in the hours during which they can work the streets. Those teams generally make the most arrests in districts, responding to 911 calls, executing warrants and focusing on crime patterns, including burglaries, shootings and drug activity.
The teams, typically a sergeant and eight to 10 officers, vary their start times based on district commanders’ assessment of area needs. They usually work in pairs, so a team can patrol a district with four to six vehicles.
Friday’s order forbids the teams from working before 4 p.m. without permission from department leaders. Of the more than 3,100 shootings the Tribune has tallied in the city this year, 59% took place between the hours of 6 p.m. and 3 a.m., according to Tribune data.
Tactical officers normally patrol in unmarked squad cars, but under the new order, they’re required to ride in marked cars. If no marked cars are available, they’re to ride up to four officers per unmarked car to free up marked vehicles.
That means a district whose tactical team normally operates with six squad cars could be reduced to three. That also further diminishes the number of officers in each neighborhood available to respond to 911 calls.
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One tactical unit supervisor questioned having four officers travel together, calling it “a safety issue,” with more officers at risk if the car they are in were to get into a collision and “kind of a waste of manpower.”
“... For years, years, I mean years as a department, it has been extremely frowned (upon) to put four (officers) in a car,” the supervisor said.
There’s been a yearslong dispute in Chicago over how many beat and tactical officers are in the patrol districts.
Earlier this year, then-interim police Superintendent Charlie Beck orchestrated a reorganization of the Police Department, moving hundreds of cops from specialized gang and drug units to the patrol division, including the districts.
Just before that, Mayor Lori Lightfoot discussed snippets of that plan with the Tribune, raising concerns that the work of the gang and drug units was too redundant and that districts needed more patrol resources.
“What are they doing? And how are they supporting the front-line work that the districts are doing?” she said of the specialized units, in an interview with the Tribune in her City Hall office. “They’re going to have to convince me that you need that many people when our districts, in many instances, are starving."
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“And what I hear from Northwest Side aldermen is, ‘We don’t have enough folks in our district,’” she said.
But in April, soon after Lightfoot named Brown as superintendent, he ordered dozens of officers from North and Northwest side districts to beef up patrols in high-crime areas and reduce overtime pay to officers across the department.
That redeployment was short-lived, as Brown immediately came under fire from Northwest Side aldermen.
As violence in Chicago worsened this summer, Brown set up two new citywide units to, among other things, respond to crime hot spots. Those units, the community safety team and critical incident response team, a unit of about 270 officers often assigned downtown, are staffed with cops from all over Chicago.
The latest reallocation of district officers comes at a time when Lightfoot is under intense political pressure from downtown interests to protect the central business district. But the move is likely to draw criticism from progressives who argue the city is prioritizing downtown over the neighborhoods and aldermen who think their wards are being neglected.
The City Council’s Black Caucus chair, West Side Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, said he was previously told the city wouldn’t take cops out of the areas he serves. Ervin represents neighborhoods with high crime, and removing officers “shouldn’t be happening,” he said.
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Southwest Side Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, who represents neighborhoods with frequent gang conflict, concurred.
“Creating this illusion that our downtown area is safe at the expense of the other communities throughout the city of Chicago is in direct contradiction to the rhetoric we’ve heard from Lightfoot talking about racial equity and support for the 77 communities that make up Chicago," Lopez said.
Northwest Side Ald. Anthony Napolitano, 41st, said the policy is “terrible.”
“We’re getting robbed of police resources on the Northwest Side,” he said. “We’re asking for it to not happen and it’s falling on deaf ears.”


chicagotribune--2020-09-29--Tougher restrictions return to northwest Illinois region that includes Rockford, NIU after surge in

Tougher restrictions return to northwest Illinois region that includes Rockford, NIU after surge in COVID-19 cases

The positivity rate must average at most 6.5 % for three consecutive days for the northwest region to return to @ @ @ @ @ the governor ’ s reopening plan .
If the rate swings the other direction or @ @ @ @ @ higher in the next two weeks , even more clampdowns might come .

A resurgence in coronavirus rates in a northwest Illinois region that includes Rockford and Northern Illinois University will result in a return to tighter restrictions aimed at curbing the disease’s spread, officials announced Tuesday.
The nine-county region bordering Wisconsin and Iowa will see increased mitigation efforts beginning Saturday because its seven-day average of positive cases was 8% or higher for three consecutive days — a 2 percentage point jump in two weeks, state officials announced.
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On top of that, the region has seen hospital admissions creeping up, although that uptick is not yet at warning levels.
Last week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker sounded the alarm on the area, noting the region’s positivity rate was already at a “concerning” 7.5% as of Wednesday.
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A bicyclist heads west on East State Street on May 28, 2020, in Rockford. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
“As other regions have demonstrated, stricter mitigations will lead to safer communities when people mask up, keep their distance, wash their hands and respect public health,” Pritzker said in a statement Tuesday. “It is my hope that the residents of Region 1 can turn this situation around quickly.”
The region is the third one in the state to have its reopening efforts scaled back. The first was the Metro East region outside St. Louis, where bar service and indoor dining are still closed. That area’s seven-day test positivity rate remains above 6.5% and recently increased.
The region that includes Will and Kankakee counties also reverted to tougher rules but returned to the state’s phase four restrictions after the positivity rate decreased.
Under the tighter restrictions, no indoor service will be allowed at bars or restaurants, reservations will be required and all outdoor service must conclude by 11 p.m.
Patrons will be prohibited from ordering or waiting at the bar, and all indoor gatherings must be limited to 25 guests or 25% of overall room capacity. Casinos will also be subject to the 11 p.m. close time and 25% capacity, and party buses are banned.
Schools are not subject to the restrictions, although universities have become trouble spots nationwide since fall classes began. Earlier this month, NIU moved to online-only for two weeks due to more than 120 students testing positive after what the university described were “careless and unacceptable activities” from off-campus students.
In-person classes were scheduled to resume on Monday. A spokesperson for NIU was not immediately available for comment on the region’s new restrictions.
The positivity rate must average at most 6.5% for three consecutive days for the northwest region to return to normal phase four restrictions under the governor’s reopening plan. If the rate swings the other direction or remains at 8% or higher in the next two weeks, even more clampdowns might come.
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Illinois public health officials Tuesday reported 1,362 newly diagnosed cases and 23 additional confirmed deaths of people with COVID-19, raising the statewide tally to 291,001 known cases and 8,637 deaths. Meanwhile, Chicago on Monday took a gradual step toward loosening restrictions for businesses under phase four of its more severe reopening plan.
ayin@chicagotribune.com