chicagotribune--2020-01-21--Robberies up sharply in Chicago’s swanky Near North Side, raising residents’ concerns

“ When the commanders are saying , ‘ We ’ re doing our best and we ’ ve identified a @ @ @ @ @ ’ s great , '' he said in a telephone interview days after the meeting @ @ @ @ @ ’ t there more police dispatched into this neighborhood to be able to roam the @ @ @ @ @ on bicycle , on horseback , on scooter , whatever it is , so that @ @ @ @ @ have going on ?
This is a neighborhood that is not used to it .
@

A few hundred concerned citizens huddled in a gymnasium in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood hoping for answers from police about a recent spate of robberies in the downtown area and other parts of the Near North Side.
Police sought to bring a sense of calm while appealing for help from the standing room-only crowd that overflowed into the lobby of the Lake Shore Park field house.
Advertisement
“We are having people sitting in their cars targeting people and drive around. You see the same car drive around four or five times. That is something that we need to know,” Chicago police Cmdr. Daniel O’Shea, who heads the Near North patrol district, said in a raised voice. “Please do not hesitate to call 911.”
Several recent robberies — some of them within a block of one another near Water Tower Place — continued a worrisome trend for those at the community meeting.
Advertisement
Robberies have more than doubled in the last five years in this swath of Chicago’s central business district and some of the city’s most affluent neighborhoods, including Gold Coast, Streeterville, Magnificent Mile, River North and several others.
Last year, robberies totaled 416 in those neighborhoods, just two more than in 2017 but more than double from 204 in 2015, according to city crime data.
Chicago police officers talk with a man on Chicago Avenue near Rush Street in Chicago on Jan. 10, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
In 2019, the entire Near North patrol district, which also includes the Lincoln Park area, recorded 509 robberies, its most in at least 10 years, the official police statistics show.
While that pales by comparison to certain pockets of the city’s South and West sides that struggle with violent crime and poverty — the West Side’s Harrison District, for instance, saw at least 720 robberies last year — residents as well as tourists expect better for an area boasting the highest real estate values in the city.
O’Shea told the Chicago Tribune that robbers often target unsuspecting pedestrians talking on their cellphones while oblivious to their surroundings, snatching their phones away. In other cases, they demand money or other valuables without displaying a weapon but threatening harm. In the worst incidents, they resort to violence, beating up the victim.
[ Emergency room medical resident, 34, shot while walking dog on North Side ]
One 59-year-old man, for instance, was tackled from behind as he walked in the 200 block of East Pearson Street on Dec. 30 and repeatedly punched on the head by an attacker who then rummaged through his pockets, police said.
The rash of robberies has continued into 2020 with 23 for the entire Near North patrol district in the first 12 days of January, the most over the last five years for that period, the police statistics show. Some happened within a block of each other in the tony Gold Coast, home to luxury condominiums, lavish shops and department stores, and iconic landmarks such as the Drake Hotel and the former John Hancock Center.
Some of the recent incidents involved as many as two or three suspects in their late teens or 20s teaming up on the robberies before fleeing in a white SUV or white sedan, police said.
Advertisement
Just last Thursday, a robber struck in broad daylight in the 800 block of North Dewitt Place near Lake Shore Park, pushing a 70-year-old woman, grabbing her purse and fleeing in a car east toward Lake Shore Drive.
In recent years, particularly during the summer, police had to deal with large groups of teens who traveled mostly on the CTA to the Magnificent Mile and other high-end spots on the Near North Side, creating disturbances and, in some cases, robbing passersby.
Officers stand along North Michigan Avenue on Jan. 13, 2020, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
But police said that in the latest spate of robberies, suspects typically drive to the posh area by car, often stolen, before jumping out, holding up a passerby and then quickly driving off.
“One of the challenges that we are facing is that (the area) is right off Lake Shore Drive,” O’Shea told the crowd at the community meeting earlier this month. “These people are coming in stolen cars and getting off the drive. They are attacking people, and they’re getting right on Lake Shore Drive and going southbound.”
Police presence around the Gold Coast, Magnificent Mile and Streeterville areas has been beefed up because of the spike in robberies, O’Shea said. In addition to plainclothes tactical officers, O’Shea has used undercover cops as well as officers used to saturate hot spots in parts of the city seeing upticks in crime. The department also regularly assigns officers to overtime shifts along North Michigan Avenue.
Police offered practical tips on being more vigilant. Walk in well-lit areas. Don’t travel alone. Wear your purse under your coat. And don’t be preoccupied with that cellphone as you walk about.
Advertisement
“He’s trying to size you up,” Near North District Officer Theresa Kelly warned the crowd in a booming voice. “To him, you’re just an unaware, vulnerable victim.”
Victims should try their best to remember a suspect’s description. Accurately recalling three features would be better than 10 vague ones, police said.
Kelly suggested some consider buying a personal alarm, a small noise-making device that fits in the palm of your hand.
“She’s got five of them,” the officer said of one of attendees, drawing laughter from the crowd.
O’Shea explained how police have to weigh the risk of pursuing fleeing robbery suspects in police cars with the inherent danger to the public.
Still, he said, criminals are too brazen to care about any of that.
Advertisement
“They have no fear of the police,” he told the crowd. “No fear of prosecution.”
Some at the meeting voiced concerns about whether police and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office were doing enough to deal with the problem.
One man talked about calling 911 after spotting a crime in progress yet no officers showed up. Others groaned when police talked about how prosecutors must approve before felony charges can be filed.
After the meeting, one woman who’s lived in the Gold Coast/Streeterville area for 16 years told a Tribune reporter that she can’t walk outdoors without feeling uneasy.
Most of the recent spate of Gold Coast robberies occurred near Gary Osifchin’s condo building. Before moving downtown last month, he had lived in New York City for 15 years and said he never felt unsafe.
A marketing executive by trade, Osifchin was caught off guard by the robbery spree and disappointed at how vigilant he needs to be in what he thought was one Chicago’s safest neighborhoods. He said he’s even purchased a personal alarm that blares as loud as 130 decibels with flashing lights.
Advertisement
“I came home Saturday night from being out with friends, and I made sure that I just took an Uber right to my door, that I didn’t take the subway and walk over," Osifchin, who attended the community meeting, said in a later telephone interview. "So I mean it’s already changing my behavior.”
Realtor Stephen DiPadua, a Gold Coast resident for seven years, said he worries about criminals who “will approach anyone at anytime.”
He wants a more robust police presence in the area.
“When the commanders are saying, ‘We’re doing our best and we’ve identified a white vehicle,’ that’s great," he said in a telephone interview days after the meeting. "But why aren’t there more police dispatched into this neighborhood to be able to roam the neighborhood either on foot, on bicycle, on horseback, on scooter, whatever it is, so that we can eradicate what we have going on? This is a neighborhood that is not used to it.”
jgorner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-01-21--Fashion Fair Cosmetics, once queen of black beauty, is planning a comeback — but it will have to fac

Fashion Fair Cosmetics, once queen of black beauty, is planning a comeback — but it will have to face Rihanna, rivals and social media realities

That creates a challenge for Rogers and MayberryMcKissack , who will compete against the likes of megawatt celebrity Rihanna , @ @ @ @ @ to her high-end Fenty Beauty brand , a partnership with LVMH .
Fenty turned the @ @ @ @ @ the fall of 2017 , introducing 40 shades of foundation — there are now 50 @ @ @ @ @ other makeup products designed to illuminate a diversely hued cosmetics audience that was often ignored @ @ @ @ @ brands .
Forbes predicted Fenty ’ s sales would soar to more than $ 200 @ @ @ @

Cheryl Mayberry McKissack, left, and Desiree Rogers, are the new chiefs of Fashion Fair Cosmetics, a legacy makeup brand geared toward women of color. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Growing up in Trinidad in the ’80s, Patrice Grell Yursik remembers her mother smoothing on Fashion Fair face powder and popping the pink compact into her purse before leaving for work. Sometimes, she organized her mom’s collection of pink-lidded Fashion Fair lipsticks lined up on a mahogany dressing table.
The lipsticks and powder matched her mother’s skin perfectly, said Yursik, now 40 and a well-known beauty blogger based in the South Loop.
Advertisement
Back then, the iconic makeup brand, launched in 1973 by Ebony and Jet magazine publisher Johnson Publishing, was well-known as the best and nearly only option for black women looking for cosmetics made to flatter their skin tones.
Today, Fashion Fair — affectionately known as the makeup your grandmother and mother wore — only can be found on resale sites like eBay.
Advertisement
Makeup artist Amelia Washington applies makeup at the Fashion Fair cosmetics counter at the former Carson's store at North Riverside Park Mall on July 16, 2014. (Alex Garcia / Chicago Tribune)
In April, Johnson Publishing went bankrupt and took Fashion Fair Cosmetics, which had struggled for years, with it.
Last month, former Johnson Publishing executives Desiree Rogers and Cheryl MayberryMcKissack, with the help of Alec Litowitz, founder and CEO of Evanston-based hedge fund Magnetar Capital, acquired Fashion Fair for $1.85 million. They are promising to breath new life into the brand for the modern consumer.
The group already had purchased Black Opal, a mass-market cosmetics brand for women of color, for an undisclosed amount in September. It is sold locally at Walmart and CVS. Rogers and MayberryMcKissack, who work out of an office in the Merchandise Mart, said they plan to have new Fashion Fair products on the market by the holiday season.
But as they work to revive Fashion Fair for a new generation of buyers, they are dealing with a much-changed industry.
A Fashion Fair product display on July 16, 2013. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Women of color, and particularly black women, have an almost mind-numbing selection of makeup brands in drugstores, specialty stores such as Ulta and Sephora and on the Internet to give their lips that perfect tint and their complexions a smooth, polished look. By next year, black consumers are expected to spend $2.25 billion annually on beauty products, according to research firm Mintel.
That creates a challenge for Rogers and MayberryMcKissack, who will compete against the likes of megawatt celebrity Rihanna, who has successfully wooed women to her high-end Fenty Beauty brand, a partnership with LVMH. Fenty turned the industry on its head in the fall of 2017, introducing 40 shades of foundation — there are now 50 — highlighters, lipsticks and other makeup products designed to illuminate a diversely hued cosmetics audience that was often ignored or marginalized by other beauty brands. Forbes predicted Fenty’s sales would soar to more than $200 billion by 2025.
And it’s not just Rihanna who Rogers and MayberryMcKissack have to reckon with.
View of Sephora loves Fenty Beauty by Rihanna store event on April 5, 2018, in Milan, Italy. (Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Sephora loves Fenty Beauty by Rihanna)
What started as a few brands that catered to women of color has morphed into a showdown in which deep-pocketed cosmetics giants such as L’Oreal and Estee Lauder are battling upstart, trendy brands like Mented Cosmetics and PAT McGrath Labs that have cultlike followings, and others, like Juvia’s Place, launched by entrepreneurs of color.
Advertisement
Rogers and MayberryMcKissack say they are undaunted, armed with a brand rich in history that will deliver products designed for black women by black women.
“We think it’s important for women of color to not only be consumers of the product, but we need to have a seat at the table by owning these products,” said MayberryMcKissack, 64, who served as chief operating officer and digital media chief at Johnson Publishing from 2013 to 2016.
“For us, it’s a bit personal,” added Rogers, who was CEO of Johnson Publishing from 2010 to 2017. “We are old enough to remember when we couldn’t find our own shades of (foundation)."
“We’re not doing makeup for everyone," said Rogers, 60. “The fact is that women of color are still having trouble finding the right shade.”
The duo have been tight-lipped about their plans for Fashion Fair.
The brand, which previously was sold by well-appointed women at department store beauty counters, is starting from scratch, Rogers said.
Advertisement
Rogers and MayberryMcKissack said the ultimate goal, between Fashion Fair and Black Opal, is to provide options for a range of budgets.
To succeed and attract younger consumers, industry insiders say Rogers and MayberryMcKissack will have to embrace the realities of the beauty industry.
Today’s beauty ecosystem is ruled by “influencers” like Yursik who share their thoughts about products and demonstrate their application on websites and YouTube channels with their thousands, and sometimes millions, of followers.
Black beauty influencers have given a face to consumers who for years had never seen their images reflected in the cosmetics they purchased. In turn, the influencers' audiences — people of color — have flocked to the makeup, skin care and hair brands they see on women who look like them.
Advertisement
A model has her makeup done with Fenty Beauty products backstage at the Fenty Puma by Rihanna Spring/Summer 2018 Collection at Park Avenue Armory on Sept. 10, 2017, in New York City. ( Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Fenty Puma by Rihanna)
While older consumers of black beauty products rely on advertising to help them decide what makeup to buy, younger consumers — the coveted “GenZennials" between the ages of 18 and 34 — are buying what their friends and family are wearing and favorite beauty bloggers are buying, said Toya Mitchell a senior consumer analyst at Mintel.
Sales channels will be another challenge. Fashion Fair, Mitchell noted, was primarily sold in department stores, some of which have closed.
Yursik, who has more than 247,000 followers on her Facebook page, regularly tries out beauty brands and shares her thoughts with her audience. She said she’s excited to see what her 80-year-old mother’s favorite makeup has in store for her.
Advertisement
“Fashion Fair will have a different road ahead of them,” Yursik said. “They could benefit from celebrating what they used to do and partnering with influencers in a smart way ... change their approach to marketing, to product development and launching new products."
Rogers and MayberryMcKissack said they are already tackling these challenges. They are well-equipped with market research, even taking notes from women who’ve stopped them on the street with questions and suggestions. Rogers said they are also working on developing eco-friendly products with top-notch ingredients and are crafting a message they are certain will speak to black women.
At Black Opal, a new website is in the works, along with new marketing to speak to customers, Rogers said. A new line of skin care products is scheduled to launch in 2020. They are reaching out to makeup artists for feedback and to promote their products.
In the meantime, MayberryMcKissack and Rogers are betting black women will be excited to support two black women rebuilding two decades-old brands to make them look good.
Advertisement
That’s a smart strategy, according to Ahmad Islam, CEO of Near North Side-based marketing and advertising firm Ten35. The legacy of being an iconic black-owned brand is one of Fashion Fair’s greatest strengths, he said.
“It’s a brand that has a strong legacy of being relevant in the black community, which is a solid place from which to build,” Islam said. “Any time you’re trying to bring a brand back, you have to understand where the brand was, what it stood for and why it was successful."
Mintel’s Mitchell agreed.
“There is a level of trust we share with black-owned beauty businesses,” Mitchell said. “If you are creating for me and mine and we share the same issues, I trust that you got it right."
crshropshire@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-01-21--Oakbrook Terrace mayor resigns amid federal corruption investigation tied to red-light cameras

In a news release issued Monday and provided to the Tribune , the small western suburb announced that it “ @ @ @ @ @ of Ragucci , effective at 11:59 p.m. Jan. 17 .
By Monday evening , his @ @ @ @ @ removed from the homepage of the suburb ’ s website .

Oakbrook Terrace Mayor Tony Ragucci has resigned his office amid an ongoing federal corruption probe, according to a news release from his suburb.
Ragucci submitted his resignation Friday, the same day the Tribune reported that he’d recently paid $30,000 from his campaign fund to a lawyer representing him.
Advertisement
Oakbrook Terrace Mayor Tony Ragucci was first elected to the office in 2009. (City of Oakbrook Terrace)
The Tribune reported that he was among several elected officials and politically connected contractors embroiled in a federal investigation involving SafeSpeed LLC, a controversial company that operates lucrative red-light cameras at intersections in dozens of Chicago-area suburbs.
In a news release issued Monday and provided to the Tribune, the small western suburb announced that it “has received the resignation” of Ragucci, effective at 11:59 p.m. Jan. 17. By Monday evening, his name and picture had been removed from the homepage of the suburb’s website.
Advertisement
The resignation abruptly ends the third term for the former police officer who was first elected mayor in April 2009.
Ragucci’s interest to federal investigators comes amid a broader series of public corruption probes from Chicago City Hall to Springfield over the past 14 months, beginning with the raid of Chicago Ald. Edward Burke’s offices in November 2018.
The investigation of SafeSpeed first came to light in September when the FBI and IRS agents raided the offices of then-state Sen. Martin Sandoval, Lyons Mayor Christopher Getty and Jeffrey Tobolski, the mayor of nearby McCook who doubles as a Cook County commissioner.
After those raids, Ragucci told the Tribune that he had not been questioned by agents and the city had not received any requests for information from federal authorities on the red-light camera controversy.
The mayor has since avoided all inquiries from the Tribune, including last week. His lawyer, Thomas Crooks, has declined to comment on the investigation.
On Tuesday evening, Ragucci was a no-show at the monthly City Council meeting that he typically presides over. A clerk told a Tribune reporter that the mayor had been at City Hall earlier in the day but was not feeling well.
SafeSpeed and its owners and officers have been among Ragucci’s heaviest political donors over the years, election records show, while Ragucci’s relationship with SafeSpeed has long been controversial.
A 2017 Chicago Tribune investigation documented how, as chairman of the powerful Senate Transportation Committee, Sandoval intervened on SafeSpeed’s behalf to push state transportation officials to change their stance and allow the company’s cameras to be installed at the relatively safe intersection of Illinois 83 at 22nd Street in Oakbrook Terrace.
Advertisement
The push came even though IDOT’s policies required that cameras target dangerous corners to improve safety.
Oakbrook Terrace’s 2020 budget projects the two red-light cameras in operation there — both provided by SafeSpeed — will bring in $5 million in revenue over the current fiscal year.
SafeSpeed in turn charges Oakbrook Terrace about $2.3 million to operate the cameras, plus an additional $2,000 a month in “service fees,” according to the budget posted on the city’s website.
SafeSpeed’s owner, Nikki Zollar, has said the company does “not tolerate wrongdoing or public corruption and we support efforts to root it out.”
No one involved in the SafeSpeed investigation has been charged with any wrongdoing.
Ragucci, 64, was a police officer in Oakbrook Terrace for 25 years before being elected mayor, and he touted his quarter century with a badge as prepping him for life as an Illinois mayor.
Advertisement
Earlier this month, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the FBI seized $60,000 from a safe in Ragucci’s home in October, although the reason for the seizure was not disclosed.
A month later, Ragucci’s campaign fund made the $30,000 payment to Crooks, according to campaign finance records.
Chicago Tribune’s Jason Meisner and David Heinzmann contributed.


chicagotribune--2020-01-22--Cook County prosecutors could tip hand Wednesday about which R. Kelly charges will go to trial first

Prosecutors have also alleged that Kelly sexually abused L.C.
, then a 24-year-old hairdresser .
Lanita Carter , who has @ @ @ @ @ her accusations , has said she went to braid Kelly ’ s hair on Chicago @ @ @ @ @ in 2003 but that he greeted her with his pants down and tried to force @ @ @ @

A courtroom sketch shows defense attorneys Ashley Cohen, from left, and Jennifer Bonjean with singer R. Kelly at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago on Sept. 14, 2022. (Cheryl Cook / Chicago Tribune)
Cook County prosecutors said Wednesday they intend to take embattled R&B singer R. Kelly to trial first on their only indictment involving an accuser who was an adult at the time of the alleged attack.
The decision comes as a bit of a surprise since the other three Cook County indictments facing Kelly involve women who were underage at the time. One of those cases involves four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, a more serious charge than the aggravated criminal sexual abuse counts he otherwise faces.
Advertisement
Kelly did not appear at the brief hearing Wednesday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building due to a medical issue, his attorney, Steven Greenberg, said in court. He is being held without bond in a federal jail in downtown Chicago.
Prosecutors said they would go to trial first on a charge alleging Kelly tried to force oral sex on a woman identified in court documents only as L.C., his 24-year-old hairdresser, on Chicago’s Near North Side in 2003. He is charged with a single count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in that case.
Advertisement
The alleged incident occurred while Kelly was out on bond on Cook County child pornography charges.
Lanita Carter has since come forward publicly, saying that she went to braid Kelly’s hair in 2003 but that he greeted her with his pants down. When she resisted, Kelly ejaculated on her and spit in her face several times, prosecutors have alleged.
In setting the first of potentially four trials for Sept. 14, Judge Lawrence Flood had asked prosecutors last month to reveal at Wednesday’s hearing which indictment they would proceed on first.
Carter recently appeared in the Lifetime documentary series, “Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning,” recounting her accusations in emotional and vivid terms.
She said she had enjoyed a close, platonic relationship with Kelly, saying he was supportive and protective of her, until he surprised her at the 2003 appointment.
Carter said in the series that she reported the attack to police and ultimately appeared before a Cook County grand jury. She said grand jurors disbelieved her story and that charges were rejected.
Carter came forward again after Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx made an unusual public plea in early 2019 for Kelly’s accusers to reach out and cooperate with investigators.
Following Wednesday’s hearing, Greenberg, Kelly’s lead attorney, denied wrongdoing by the singer, 53, whose legal name is Robert Sylvester Kelly. He noted that authorities some years ago rejected charges in connection with Carter’s allegations and said the case remains flawed.
Advertisement
“It hasn’t gotten any better,” he told reporters. “It’s not like wine. It doesn’t get better with age.”
Greenberg, who previously has painted Kelly’s accusers as liars out to make a quick dollar, took a softer tone Wednesday, saying his team would check for inconsistencies with what they have said in the past.
“All these people come with baggage, and we’ll let a jury know about that baggage,” he said.
Kelly faces a combined 20 counts in the four separate Cook County indictments. The most serious charges involve four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault that allege he had multiple encounters with J.P. in 2009 and 2010 when she was just 16. The alleged victim, Jerhonda Pace, has gone public with her allegations against Kelly, describing herself as a “superfan” who met him during his child pornography trial in 2008.
Prosecutors allege that Kelly met another underage victim, identified only as H.W. in the indictment, as she celebrated her 16th birthday at a restaurant. He had repeated sexual contact with her over the next year, according to the charges.
Prosecutors have revealed they also have a video recording of Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old girl, identified as R.L., on one occasion between late September 1998 and late September 2001.
Advertisement
Kelly also faces separate trials in the spring on two sweeping federal indictments, one in Chicago and the other in New York.
The 13-count indictment in Chicago charged Kelly with conspiring with two former employees to rig his 2008 child pornography trial in Cook County by paying off witnesses and victims to change their stories. He was acquitted of all charges at that trial.
In New York, Kelly alone was indicted on a charge of racketeering conspiracy, alleging he identified underage girls attending his concerts and groomed them for later sexual abuse.
If convicted in all jurisdictions, Kelly could face the rest of his life in prison.
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-01-22--Abortions in Illinois increased about 7% over one-year period, latest data shows

“ Yet it ’ s impressive that Illinois doctors cared for over 5,000 women whose home states made it impossible @ @ @ @ @ their constitutional rights , ” said Watson , author of the book “ Scarlet A @ @ @ @ @ and Politics of Ordinary Abortion.
” “ Being forced to travel out of state for @ @ @ @ @ patient of energy , time and money they should have been able to invest in @ @ @ @ @ and having to cross state lines for an abortion may also impose emotional harm from @ @ @ @ @ led to that travel .
”

A large group gathers for the Chicago Rally for Reproductive Justice abortion rights event on May 23, 2019, at Daley Plaza in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
The number of abortions performed in Illinois has increased about 7%, with about 3,000 more terminated pregnancies reported in 2018 compared with the previous year, according to the latest data from the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The annual Illinois abortion report released last week shows 42,441 pregnancies were terminated statewide in 2018, up from 39,329 in 2017. The increase mostly came from Illinois residents, with approximately 4,000 more in-state women having abortions in 2018 than in 2017. Data for 2019 is not expected to be released for about a year.
Advertisement
Every year, thousands of women travel from out-of-state to have abortions here as well, but that number only increased slightly during the same time period.
The newest Illinois abortion statistics come as the country grows increasingly polarized over reproductive rights amid mounting threats to the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade. Wednesday marks the 47th anniversary of that historic and controversial decision, which legalized abortion nationwide.
Advertisement
As states such as Missouri, Georgia and Alabama have recently passed some of the toughest abortion restrictions in the nation, others like Illinois have increased access to the procedure.
Many abortion foes attributed the recent rise in Illinois abortions to a new state law permitting taxpayer funding for the procedure for Illinois residents, which went into effect in 2018. Although Illinois is generally considered a reproductive rights haven in the often more restrictive Midwest, many conservative lawmakers decried the passage of House Bill 40, which included abortion coverage for state employees and Illinois residents approved for Medicaid.
Former Republican state Rep. Peter Breen, an outspoken critic of that law, believes it spurred the rise in the number in-state residents who terminated pregnancies.
“We knew that abortions would continue to increase as taxpayer funding of abortions took hold, but seeing an increase of nearly 4,000 more Illinois babies aborted is shocking,” said Breen, vice president and senior counsel of the Chicago-based Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm that opposes abortion.
Yet others say it’s impossible to attribute to a particular cause any changes from one year to the next. Fluctuations in one year don’t necessarily indicate a trend, said Brigid Leahy, senior director of public policy with Planned Parenthood of Illinois. “Therefore, we cannot know to what extent implementation of HB40 affected the overall numbers.
“We have no way of knowing how many Medicaid patients would have been able to have an abortion if it were not covered and how many would have been forced to continue their pregnancies if they did not have coverage,” she said.
In mid-2018, the Tribune went inside several Illinois abortion clinics to speak with some of the women using Medicaid to pay for their procedure. One patient from the south suburbs had said the hundreds of dollars she saved on her surgical abortion would help pay her utility bills and rent.
“A lot of people don’t have finances to come to the doctor. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world,” she told the Tribune at the time. “It helps people that use it, that can’t afford it, that (are) in bad situations.”
Advertisement
There was also a slight increase in the number of women who came from other states to Illinois for the procedure, with 5,668 out-of-state patients in 2018 compared with 5,528 in 2017.
Advocates on both sides of reproductive rights debate largely attributed this travel to more restrictive laws in many nearby states. Katie Watson, professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, described the situation as sad “because these patients are like refugees.”
“Yet it’s impressive that Illinois doctors cared for over 5,000 women whose home states made it impossible for their citizens to exercise their constitutional rights,” said Watson, author of the book “Scarlet A: The Ethics, Law and Politics of Ordinary Abortion.” “Being forced to travel out of state for any medical procedure robs a patient of energy, time and money they should have been able to invest in their health and life, and having to cross state lines for an abortion may also impose emotional harm from the stigma and politics that led to that travel.”
Adrienne Guldin, of west suburban Oak Park, volunteers with the nonprofit Midwest Access Coalition, which provides accommodations and support for those traveling for abortion care. Guldin says she has hosted in her home about two dozen women traveling from out-of-town to have abortions locally since 2017.
Adrienne Guldin poses for a portrait in the bedroom used to host out-of-town guests at her home in Oak Park on Dec. 6, 2019. Guldin and her family have given more than two dozen women who travel from out of the area a place to stay while they receive abortion services at local clinics. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
“I love doing the work,” she said. “I wish there wasn’t a need. Because it should be normalized, it should be accessible, it should be affordable. … It shouldn’t be difficult for people to access the health care they need. And it is.”
Breen with the Thomas More Society forecasts that out-of-state numbers will increase in the future in the wake of the Illinois Reproductive Health Act, a sweeping expansion to abortion access signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in June.
Advertisement
This prospect is deeply troubling to Eric Scheidler, executive director of Pro-Life Action League.
“Illinois has become the abortion capital of the Midwest,” he said.
Nationwide, abortion numbers have generally declined in recent years, and 2017 marked the lowest rate in history since Roe v. Wade, according to a report by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group supporting reproductive rights. That data doesn’t include 2018, though, so it doesn’t provide a direct comparison for Illinois and national trends.
Despite the 2018 increase in Illinois, the overall rate of abortions has largely decreased over the past three decades, down drastically from the mid-1990s when around 50,000 or more pregnancies were terminated annually, according to state data.
While the annual Illinois abortion report provides basic data on the number of terminated pregnancies and some statistics about patients, there’s little information explaining changes in numbers from year to year. The report also includes an “unknown” category for the patient’s residence, and this number deviates wildly from year to year, with 60 unknowns in 2018 and more than 900 in 2017.
Ameri Klafeta, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said “it’s impossible to know with certainty why the number of abortions increased in Illinois,” adding that women make the choice to terminate a pregnancy based on a variety of very personal factors.
Advertisement
“What we can observe is that the state of Illinois has created a legal landscape and climate where we trust women to make the most intimate, most critical decisions about their own lives,” said Klafeta, director of the ACLU’s Women and Reproductive Rights Project.
eleventis@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-01-22--Alcohol-related deaths are climbing. And getting sober comes with unique challenges for women.

Norma , 59 , whose last name is being withheld because she fears revealing it will affect her employment , @ @ @ @ @ but would always relapse with alcohol and drugs .
Then , about eight years ago @ @ @ @ @ Gateway Foundation program in Chicago called Aspire .
There , she discovered comfort in the @ @ @ @ @ well as the tools to not only deal with her addiction , but also the @ @ @ @ @ d experienced throughout her life .

The company of other women inspired Jessica Foody to quit drinking and she eventually started leading sharing circles and coaching others in their recovery. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
There was no stereotypical rock bottom for Jessica Foody, but the signs were there.
The now 33-year-old Chicago woman, then in her late 20s, held down a steady job as a nurse and appeared to be a typical, successful professional — except when she drank.
Advertisement
Foody said she couldn’t stop at just one glass of wine and used alcohol to quell the crippling anxiety she’d struggled with since childhood. One glass would turn into two, then three and more. Some mornings, she’d wake up not knowing what had happened the night before.
“It was like Russian roulette. I just didn’t know how it would end,” she said. “Nothing bad happened. ... I was just getting further and further away from the woman I wanted to be.”
Advertisement
Foody eventually decided to quit drinking after reading an article that inspired her to quit for one year. She was successful in the challenge but returned to alcohol just after the year was up. Foody now says she didn’t have enough of the right kind of support.
[ They're young, they're fun and they're alcohol-free. The 'sober curious' movement takes off in Chicago. ]
Part of it, she said, was she didn’t know any other sober women her age. It wasn’t until she met other women in recovery that she was successful in her sobriety.
“The first time I shared openly about my struggles was with other women,” she said. “It’s just such an important thing for women to be open about their recovery.”
Foody’s preference isn’t unusual. Addiction experts say women in recovery often have different needs and obstacles than men, and accommodating them is important at a time when research shows women are drinking more, and in higher amounts. The stakes are high: A report released earlier this month by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism shows alcohol-related deaths in the U.S. overall are climbing, especially among women.
[ Among the sober and ‘sober curious’? Your bartender ]
“For many, many years, up until the ’90s and 2000s, almost all the (research) in the drug and alcohol fields focused on men,” said Dr. Kathleen Brady, an addiction psychiatrist at the Medical University of South Carolina who studies gender differences in substance use treatment. “Gender is an important issue. We really have to be looking for gender-specific differences” within traditional treatment programs.
Those differences for women include difficulty sharing in coed groups, a greater risk of psychiatric issues like depression or anxiety with addiction, as well as more logistical challenges to treatment, such as child care. Women are also more likely to have a partner who has a substance-use issue, Brady said, which is problematic to sobriety.
While everyone needs an evaluation from a trained, addiction professional, as well as in-patient treatment programs for those with severe addiction, Brady said it’s important for professionals to then create individualized treatment plans. What works for some might not work for others, she said.
[ Commentary: For the ‘sober-curious,' going dry is a healthy choice; for those in recovery, it’s a matter of life or death ]
For many women, that could mean looking for single-gender therapy groups where they are more comfortable sharing, especially when it comes to trauma, Brady said.
Advertisement
Women tend to understand one another better in a single-sex environment, and relate to feelings of shame or difficulties in getting sober, said A’nna Jurich, executive director at Gateway Foundation treatment center in Carbondale. Recognizing this, the nonprofit treatment center last fall opened Her Story, a woman-only, in-patient program that focuses on addressing substance abuse, coupled with treating trauma.
Women not only avoid or delay treatment because they can’t be away from their children, but they also feel too ashamed to admit they have a problem, she said. A comforting environment among other women who understand can help.
“Women take everything on their shoulders. Women get a lot of ‘how can you do this when you have kids.’ They hear those messages a lot,” Jurich said. Fathers, however, hear “‘you’re such a good dad for coming in.’”
[ U.S. drinking more now than just before Prohibition ]
Having a place where women can share openly and be vulnerable is a key component to sobriety, she said.
The company of other women inspired Foody to quit drinking the second time around. She had signed up for a weeklong yoga retreat in Mexico for women in any type of recovery. Although Foody said she initially signed up for her anxiety, not her drinking, when she arrived, she was surprised to discover every other attendee was a sober woman.
She said it was eye-opening, and she hasn’t had a drink since — more than 2½ years.
Advertisement
Being surrounded by other sober women “made me want what they had,” Foody said. So when she returned from the retreat, Foody decided to seek that out and formed her own local group of sober women to share their recovery journey.
Jessica Foody sets up chairs before a sharing circle at Head and Heart Therapy on Jan. 19, 2020, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
That has led Foody to become a certified recovery coach, working one on one with women. She also leads a Sharing Circle in Ravenswood for She Recovers — the group that hosted the yoga retreat that supports women in recovery.
“The sharing circles mean so much to me,” Foody said. “Women might not feel comfortable going to a 12-step group. My goal is that every woman leaves the sharing circle feeling seen and heard, and ... to feel empowered.”
“It’s hard for women to be honest in groups of men,” said Marissa Kirch, a social worker and manager of addiction treatment services at the Northwestern Medicine Ben Gordon Center in DeKalb. “Being able to open up is important in being able to get and stay sober.”
[ Alcohol deaths have risen sharply, particularly among women ]
Kirch oversees several programs at the center that are specifically geared toward women, including a woman-only sober-living home. Other group programs deal with issues that are unique to women in addiction, like domestic violence, prostitution, exotic dancing and body image.
“The main thing is being able to provide them that space for them to open up,” she said. “In coed groups, we see women aren’t as forthcoming with trauma, intimacy and relationships.”
Advertisement
Norma, 59, whose last name is being withheld because she fears revealing it will affect her employment, went through several treatment programs but would always relapse with alcohol and drugs. Then, about eight years ago, she found a woman-only Gateway Foundation program in Chicago called Aspire. There, she discovered comfort in the camaraderie of women, as well as the tools to not only deal with her addiction, but also the abuse and trauma she’d experienced throughout her life.
“These are other, fellow women. ... Even though we don’t have the same exact story, we have a lot in common,” she said. “We’ve been through a lot of pain.”
She said that growing up, she didn’t have people to talk to about her problems, and she was especially distrusting of women due to previous family relationships and abuse. But at the program, she learned to overcome that, she said, and found it was helpful to talk about her struggles.
[ Dry January isn’t for everyone, experts say. Some drinkers need treatment. Others are trying Dry-ish January ]
Norma also said she felt comfortable around other women because they understood her. “For a woman ... society expects a lot to be a mother. Men are looked at different, I believe, than women. (Addiction) is not supposed to happen to a woman, but we’re human beings, too.”
Holly Whitaker, 41, New York City-based author of “Quit Like a Woman,” writes that traditional treatment, including Alcoholics Anonymous, might not work or be enough for some groups, including women.
She said she discovered this several years ago, when she was drinking a few bottles of wine a night, using marijuana and struggling with bulimia. When she realized she wanted to address her addictions, Whitaker first turned to her doctor and the traditional health care setting.
Advertisement
But therapists alone didn’t work for her, she said, and treatment centers with their high price tags weren’t covered by her insurance. Whitaker said she attended AA meetings for a year but didn’t feel comfortable. “I tried it; it felt wrong. ... I thought it was working against my recovery.”
Whitaker said she felt uneasy about the idea of “powerlessness” — part of the first step in AA — especially as a woman. “I don’t think I’m powerless to alcohol.” Instead, she said she knows she can’t have alcohol and chooses a life without it.
She said she understands the reasoning for the step and its meaning of surrendering to a higher power, and recognizes that AA works for many people. But the defining concepts of the group, which Whitaker writes in her book were developed decades ago by men, aren’t ideal for everyone.
An AA public information officer said many women find solace in AA meetings and pointed to the organization’s creation in 2018 of materials specifically aimed at women and some for the LGBTQ community, including stories of how others like them found help in AA.
But Whitaker said she found other ways to stay sober without giving up her power. That included meditation, using positive affirmations and enrolling in a course on joy. She then started teaching others what worked for her.
Nearly seven years since her last drink, Whitaker now heads up a company she founded. Tempest is a digital, female-centric “sobriety school.” She said it’s an alternate and more affordable resource that offers tools to help participants “reexamine their relationship with alcohol.”
Advertisement
Whitaker said her practices reinforce the idea that recovery is a journey.
“We all want to boil it down (to) ‘and then I went to rehab and then I got better,’” she said. But “it’s a long process.”
kthayer@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-01-21--Ask Amy: Dating Prince Charming necessitates love contract

Before reporting , you and Prince Charming should make sure you are both aware of the company policy and have @ @ @ @ @ .
You should understand that reporting your relationship might ( but might not ) necessitate @ @ @ @ @ company for him .

Dear Amy: After 12 years together, most of which were wonderful, my husband and I divorced. Thankfully, we are still friends.
Fast-forward two years: I found someone that I truly believe could be "The One." I never thought this could happen, and I'm happier than I've ever been!
Advertisement
"What could be wrong?" you ask. Well, Prince Charming and I work at the same company. I am in a leadership position and he is an indirect subordinate.
While technically this romantic relationship is not against company policy, they do have a notification policy which asks us to notify HR and our direct supervisors of the relationship.
Advertisement
I'm worried that by making our relationship public, our supervisors, peers, and the company may treat or view us in a negative light. I want to follow the rules, but I don't want to jeopardize my/his career or brand with the company.
Prince Charming has gone so far as to seek other employment, but with no luck (even though he doesn't really want to leave).
How do you recommend we navigate these waters and protect our relationship and our careers at the same time?
— Inconveniently in Love
Dear Inconvenient: Unless you are Michael Scott and you work at Dunder Mifflin, reporting your relationship to HR does not mean that you are grabbing a megaphone and announcing your relationship to all of your colleagues. It means that you are following company policy.
If you are in a supervisory position and your company has a reporting policy for romantic relationships between co-workers, then you must report it.
The policy is in place in order to relieve you of the burden of trying to decide whether to disclose your relationship. You have to, and so you should.
Before reporting, you and Prince Charming should make sure you are both aware of the company policy and have read the handbook regarding relationships. You should understand that reporting your relationship might (but might not) necessitate a job shift within the company for him.
Advertisement
You should agree not to engage in professional favoritism or public displays of affection at work.
You should agree to be extremely discreet, and to not discuss your relationship with co-workers, even after signing your "love contract."
Your supervisors and HR professionals face the same challenge regarding your relationship that you two do -- to remain discreet, appropriate, and professional.
Dear Amy: I am 61-year-old, divorced man. I am highly educated and have raised two successful kids on my own. I live alone. My kids live far away, and my only relative is an older brother.
My parents died when I was young and I lived with different extended family until the age of 15, when I became a ward of the court.
During my youth, I suffered severe abuse from my brother.
Advertisement
I'll spare you the details, except it involved getting beaten into unconsciousness. I suffer from GAD and PTSD.
The older I get, the more I resent my brother's cruelty, which nobody knows about except for me. It must appear odd when I skipped the holidays to be alone, but I can't stand being around him.
Should I just cut him out of my life, or just suck it up and act like nothing happened and keep him in my life?
I've confronted him about it, and he says it wasn't a big deal and that it made me tougher.
— No Extended Family
Dear No Family: Because you have been diagnosed with GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) and PTSD due to the childhood abuse you have survived, I don't think "sucking it up" is an option for you.
Advertisement
You should not force yourself to spend time with your unrepentant abuser.
You survived a heartbreaking and traumatic childhood. You have lived a successful life. I hope you are pursuing ongoing professional help for your continued challenges.
You have the right -- and responsibility -- to protect your health and keep your distance from your tormentor. Break the chain. Make your own family. Celebrate your success and survival.
Dear Amy: "Unsure Grandmother" described raising her 21-year-old daughter's grandchild.
The child's mother is completely irresponsible.
Neither you nor the grandmother says anything about the father of the child.
Advertisement
Ask Amy Daily No-nonsense advice for better living delivered to your inbox every morning. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >
He has as much responsibility to care for the child as the mother does.
Even if grandma didn't mention him, shouldn't you have said something about him? Mom didn't make this child by herself.
— BB
Dear BB: You're right. It seems that everyone in this equation ignored the responsibilities and rights of the father, including me.
Get the latest no-nonsense advice for better living delivered to your inbox every morning with our Ask Amy newsletter. Sign up here.
(You can email Amy Dickinson at askamy@amydickinson.com or send a letter to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or Facebook.)
Copyright 2019 by Amy Dickinson
Advertisement
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency


chicagotribune--2020-01-21--O’Hare to begin screening passengers from Wuhan, China, as deadly coronavirus reaches US

The state health department is advising health care providers across Illinois to ask all patients with a fever or respiratory @ @ @ @ @ traveled to Wuhan or been in contact with someone diagnosed with the virus , and @ @ @ @ @ have the illness .
The department is coordinating the collection of specimens to be sent @ @ @ @ @ .

A notice explaining precautions to be taken by people traveling to Wuhan, China, is seen at a terminal of Rome's International Fiumicino airport, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. Heightened precautions are being taken worldwide as a new strain of coronavirus has been infecting hundreds of people across the central Chinese metropolis. (Gregorio Borgia/AP)
O’Hare International Airport will begin screening travelers from Wuhan, China, for symptoms of a new respiratory virus as health officials said a man in Washington state is infected with the coronavirus, the first confirmed case of the illness in the United States.
[ UPDATE: Chicago woman who traveled to China diagnosed with coronavirus, health officials say ]
As of Wednesday, the virus has killed at least 17 and infected more than 500 people in China. The U.S. is the fifth country to report seeing the illness, following China, Thailand, Japan and South Korea.
Advertisement
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began screening passengers traveling from Wuhan to San Francisco International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport last week.
Airport screening is being expanded to O’Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport this week, and travelers from Wuhan to the U.S. are being routed to the five airports that are conducting screening, CDC officials said Tuesday.
Advertisement
[ What to know about the new coronavirus outbreak in China ]
Health authorities in China said the new coronavirus first appeared late last month. Initially, many patients had some link to a seafood and animal market in Wuhan, suggesting that the virus spread from animals to people.
A growing number of patients have not been exposed to animal markets, indicating the virus can also spread from person to person, the CDC said Tuesday. That “certainly raises our level of concern,” said Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
But it’s not clear how easily it spreads from person to person, and officials continue to believe the risk to the American public is low, she said.
Though no cases of the virus had been confirmed in Illinois as of Tuesday afternoon, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health said the department is working with the CDC, the Chicago Department of Public Health and other local health departments to monitor for cases.
Advertisement
The state health department is advising health care providers across Illinois to ask all patients with a fever or respiratory symptoms whether they’ve traveled to Wuhan or been in contact with someone diagnosed with the virus, and to isolate those who may have the illness. The department is coordinating the collection of specimens to be sent to the CDC for testing.
The Chicago Department of Public Health, Department of Aviation and Chicago Fire Department are working with the CDC and other agencies on the airport screening program, which is expected to begin this week, the health department said in a news release Tuesday.
The CDC is advising airports to look for sick travelers arriving from Wuhan who have a fever, cough or difficulty breathing, the city’s health department said. If a passenger is found to be ill during a flight, airports are advised to take the passenger’s temperature, look for other symptoms and ask whether they were in Wuhan in the past two weeks.
“This action will impact a very limited group of travelers, and the broader traveling public and airport employees are not at risk. Nevertheless, we will continue to take this seriously, as well as continue working with our partners to ensure the airport community is fully informed," Aviation Department Commissioner Jamie Rhee said in a news release.
Airlines and area hospitals said they are staying in touch with federal, state and local authorities regarding the virus.
Health care workers at Amita Health Resurrection Medical Center Chicago, which is about 6 miles from O’Hare, already ask emergency room patients displaying symptoms if they’ve traveled out of the country, and, if necessary, they isolate those who have and are at risk of specific illnesses in those areas, spokesman Tim Nelson said in an email.
Advertisement
Cook County Health, which runs Stroger and Provident hospitals, will start screening for coronavirus as soon as possible, likely within the next day or so, said Dr. Sharon Welbel, the system’s director of infection control and hospital epidemiology.
If patients have traveled to Wuhan recently and have certain symptoms, they’ll be isolated and a specimen will be collected for testing. The system posed a similar question about travel to incoming patients during the Ebola outbreak several years ago.
“We need to prepare in case it is spread very efficiently, in case there are a lot of deaths from it, but we just don’t know yet,” Welbel said. “We do want to be prepared and not caught off guard.”
Advertisement
The illness doesn’t appear to spread as easily from person to person or be as severe as coronaviruses like SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome based on initial reports, said Michael G. Ison, an infectious disease specialist at Northwestern Medicine.
Cases have so far involved people who were in Wuhan or in direct contact with someone in the region, suggesting that Chicagoans who haven’t traveled to the region or been in touch with someone who just returned shouldn’t be concerned, he said.
Still, the virus is new and there are many unanswered questions, such as what animal was the source of the virus, experts said. Identifying the source will help authorities figure out how to contain the virus, said Mary Rodgers, the head of Abbott’s global viral surveillance program.
The Washington state man diagnosed with the virus returned to the Seattle area in the middle of last week after traveling to the Wuhan area. The man is in his 30s and is in good condition at a hospital in Everett, outside Seattle. He did not visit the markets or know anyone who had been ill, officials said.
Advertisement
The CDC is advising travelers to Wuhan to avoid animals, animal markets and contact with people who are sick.
People who traveled to Wuhan and have a fever, cough or difficulty breathing should stay home except to seek medical care and call ahead to notify doctors of their symptoms and recent travel, according to the CDC.
Officials around the world have implemented similar airport screenings in hopes of containing the virus during the busy Lunar New Year travel season.
Airport screening is good at spotting people who are experiencing symptoms, Northwestern Medicine’s Ison said. But people infected with similar viruses can be contagious for five to seven days before they begin noticing symptoms, which means travelers could slip through the cracks.
Advertisement
Broader screening is “definitely not warranted, and it would cost a fortune to keep everyone contained until the tests came back,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed.
lzumbach@chicagotribune.com
lschencker@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-01-21--‘We apologize’: NBC Sports Chicago regrets missing the start of the Blackhawks’ tribute to Joel Quen

‘We apologize’: NBC Sports Chicago regrets missing the start of the Blackhawks’ tribute to Joel Quenneville as it came out of a commercial break

`` We were coming out of a break when the tribute was taking place ... and stayed with it live @ @ @ @ @ Chicago spokesman said .
`` We apologize for missing the earlier portion of the tribute @ @ @ @ @ tribute live in its entirety online and on the app .
”

NBC Sports Chicago apologized Tuesday night for missing the start of the Blackhawks’ video tribute to former coach Joel Quenneville during his first game back at the United Center leading the Panthers because it was still running a commercial.
Ironically, the first-period Coach Q montage that ran on the stadium video boards ran live in its entirety on Fox Sports Florida.
Advertisement
🎥 Chicago gives Joel Quenneville a video tribute set to "Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who; the crowd then erupts with a STANDING O! 🌋👏👏👏👏#FlaPanthers #OneTerritory #NHL pic.twitter.com/aZAFMb4ul2 — FOX Sports Florida & Sun (@FOXSportsFL) January 22, 2020
Set to The Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes,” it was a loving look back on Quenneville’s three Stanley Cup championships and 2008-19 run in Chicago, which ended with his dismissal 14 months ago.
The tribute moved Quenneville, who waved to the crowd as it gave him a standing ovation.
Advertisement
“We were coming out of a break when the tribute was taking place ... and stayed with it live,” an NBC Sports Chicago spokesman said. "We apologize for missing the earlier portion of the tribute and we immediately posted the tribute live in its entirety online and on the app.”
NBCSCH also ran the tribute in full during the postgame show about 20 minutes after the Panthers’ 4-3 victory.
During the game, however, Hawks fans on Twitter understandably were peeved by the error, taking it as a slight.
“Come on @NBCSBlackhawks, (you) knew the Quenneville tribute would be during the commercial break ... you couldn’t skip just ONE break to show the whole thing live for your tv audience?” @Chrisiewicz tweeted. “Weak.”
Come on @NBCSBlackhawks, u knew the quenneville tribute would be during the commercial break...you couldn’t skip just ONE break to show the whole thing live for your tv audience? Weak...#Blackhawks — Chris Lasiewicz (@Chrisiewicz) January 22, 2020
Another member of NBCSCH’s audience was among those appreciative that the Panthers’ TV outlet tweeted video of the segment in split-screen showing Quenneville’s reaction.
“Thank you Fox Florida for actually airing this and getting a camera on Q,” @jahnbahmb tweeted. “Us Hawks fans got to watch a commercial about a fish oil replacement supplement.”


chicagotribune--2020-01-21--Shooting of man, 43, in Logan Square leads to shots fired at police then crash, police say

The original shooting occurred at 8:35 p.m. in the 3300 block of West Armitage Avenue in the Logan Square neighborhood @ @ @ @ @ vehicle fired shots at the man , police said .
The man was hit in @ @ @ @ @ to Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital in critical condition .

Chicago police investigate a crash following the pursuit of a vehicle wanted in connection to a shooting Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020, in the 4400 block of North Western Avenue. (Morgan Greene / Chicago Tribune)
Suspects in a Logan Square shooting Tuesday night led police on a chase, fired at the officers and then crashed their car after about 4 miles, according to authorities.
Police said gang-intelligence officers were conducting surveillance at a funeral home where a wake for a known gang member was taking place, when officers heard gunfire and saw someone running on Armitage Avenue with a handgun. He then got into a silver Honda Accord, and officers began to follow.
Advertisement
When the pursuit approached the 2500 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, shots were fired at officers, police said.
No officers were injured and three people were taken into custody. The victim in the shooting, a 43-year-old man, who was found in the rear parking lot of the funeral home, and was taken in critical condition to Illinois Masonic Hospital.
Advertisement
He was hit several times about 8:35 p.m. in the 3300 block of West Armitage Avenue when shots were fired from a passing silver sedan, police said.
The pursuit ended in the 4400 block of North Western Avenue in the Ravenswood neighborhood when the car smashed into the wall of a bank, police said. No injuries were reported from the crash.
A handgun was recovered in the 2500 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, which is also in Logan Square, according to a law enforcement source. Officers closed off a section of a construction site where the gun was found.
Chicago police worked the scene from the ground and by helicopter at Montrose and Western avenues near Welles Park.
At the scene where the man was shot, police taped off a parking lot behind a funeral home and knocked on the doors of nearby businesses and homes.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
mgreene@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-01-21--Blackhawks fall 4-3 to Joel Quenneville’s Panthers as their 5-game win streak comes to an end

The Hawks ’ five-game win streak came to an end in their final game before the All-Star break .
They @ @ @ @ @ until Jan. 30 in Glendale , Ariz. , and resume play Feb. 1 against the @ @ @ @ @ 24-21-6 and remained three points behind the Golden Knights , who lost to the Bruins @ @ @

Joel Quenneville had the last laugh. But not before many at the United Center had a good cry.
The Panthers beat the Blackhawks 4-3 Tuesday night in an emotional game that included a pregame ceremony honoring Patrick Kane for his 1,000th career point and a touching video tribute to Quenneville set to The Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes.”
Advertisement
“That felt unbelievable,” Quenneville said. “It was a great feeling. Captured some special moments in the building when the enthusiasm and the excitement and the noise and Kaner’s starting the game off like that, and the building was rocking.
“It felt like a different game. Had some importance to it. It was special. It was kind of like saying thank you to me and I was thanking them and it was all good. Felt great.”
Advertisement
It was the Hawks’ first loss in six games as they head into the All-Star break. They don’t play again until Feb. 1 in Arizona.
Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s loss.
1. Their 5-game winning streak ended, but the Blackhawks are back in business.
This was a game the Hawks badly wanted. It was not a game they absolutely had to have.
A win over Quenneville would have been fulfilling. It would have moved the Hawks within one point of the final Western Conference wild-card spot, and it would have given them a six-game winning streak heading into the break.
They’ll have to live with the disappointment, but they can get by knowing they’ve saved their season from the trash heap with a run that includes 11 wins in the last 16 games.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 14 Joel Quenneville waves to the crowd as the former Blackhawks coach is honored during a timeout in the first period. Quenneville currently coaches the Panthers. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
“We wanted that win,” Jonathan Toews said. “We wanted the two points. When things are going well, you want to keep them going and not take it for granted, and unfortunately we let it slip tonight.”
It can disappear all too quickly, and with games against the Coyotes, Wild, Bruins, Jets and Oilers after the break, it might. But for now the Hawks are a playoff contender, and that’s not a bad place to be after a long bout with mediocrity over the first 35 games.
“I don’t see why (we can’t make the playoffs),” Toews said. “There’s still way more potential, another level we can get to. And that’s our goal, to keep focusing on those little details and the results will come. Been playing good hockey and everyone is buying in, playing for each other, and it’s a lot more fun to come to the rink when we’re doing those things.
Advertisement
“The wins come when you’re playing right and playing for each other.”
2. Robin Lehner took the blame.
Goalie Robin Lehner has been so good all season, it’s ridiculous to expect him to put on a goaltending clinic every game.
But Tuesday’s loss was not one for the time capsule. Lehner felt he should have stopped the Panthers’ first goal, which Evgenii Dadonov stuffed through his pads and into the net. Their third goal was a simple case of not closing up the five-hole and letting Frank Vatrano shoot right through his legs.
“Honestly, I thought we played well,” Lehner said. “I kind of let the team down today. I should’ve made a couple more saves.”
Lehner has more than done his part to keep the Hawks afloat with nine wins in his last 10 starts. He wasn’t about to dismiss all the work the Hawks have put in over the last month because of one loss.
“We’ve had a good stretch,” he said. “I’ve had a good stretch — 9-1 the past 10 games. And today, it was a couple of goals that were unfortunate that hurt us a bit. That’s tough, but it’s part of hockey and I’ve just got to regroup and go on another run.”
Advertisement
3. Kirby Dach might be about to take off.
One of the impressive things about Kirby Dach’s rookie season is he hasn’t pressed when the puck isn’t going in the net. Which it hasn’t most of the time.
Dach had one goal in 30 games entering Tuesday. But unlike other Hawks who have hit scoring slumps and suffered a general malaise, Dach hasn’t come out of the lineup. Coach Jeremy Colliton maintained that Dach’s overall game has been solid even if he hasn’t been scoring.
That faith was rewarded, finally, with some results this week. Dach had an assist in Sunday’s win over the Jets, and he scored his seventh goal of the season Tuesday on a terrific rush to the net that ended with him sending a backhander over Sergei Bobrovsky’s right shoulder.
“It feels good,” said Dach, who was celebrating his 19th birthday. “You always like to score, and for me it was a long time coming. I felt confident in my game and I just knew I had to keep going and eventually it will go in.”
Dach is getting on a bit of a roll, so the All-Star break might not come at the opportune time. But Colliton believes Dach can continue where he left off.
“He’s just got to keep getting better,” Colliton said. “But he looks so confident with the puck ... his stick, he’s just so heavy with it. He comes out of puck battles with it, he can get through the neutral zone. He just turned 19 ... he shrugs guys off, he can fight through checks, he carries guys on his back through zones.
Advertisement
“He’s making a big difference for us, and I understand that production hasn’t been there, what maybe people expect. But when I look at his game, it’s extremely positive, the progression he’s making as the year’s gone on, and he can be a big part of hopefully our success in the second half.”
Here’s coverage from Tuesday’s loss:
The Blackhawks blew a chance to pull within one point of the final Western Conference wild-card spot on Tuesday when they gave up four second-period goals and lost 4-3 to the Panthers in Joel Quenneville’s triumphant return to the United Center.
The Hawks’ five-game win streak came to an end in their final game before the All-Star break. They won’t practice again until Jan. 30 in Glendale, Ariz., and resume play Feb. 1 against the Coyotes. They dropped to 24-21-6 and remained three points behind the Golden Knights, who lost to the Bruins on Tuesday.
Chicago Tribune Sports Weekdays A daily sports newsletter delivered to your inbox for your morning commute. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >
The Hawks held a pregame ceremony to commemorate Patrick Kane’s 1,000th point and also honored Quenneville with a video tribute early in the game.
Kane scored for the first time in eight games with 1 minute, 15 seconds remaining after the Hawks pulled goaltender Robin Lehner, but they couldn’t get the tying goal. Kane extended his point streak to 11 straight games.
After a scoreless first period, each team had great scoring chances in the initial minute of the second, but Lehner came up big on a point-blank shot from the right faceoff circle by Evgenii Dadonov and Brandon Saad’s rush to the net was stopped by Sergei Bobrovsky.
Advertisement
But the Panthers soon scored twice in less than two minutes. Dadonov shoved a rebound past Lehner for his 23rd of the season, and with 13:46 left in the period Frank Vatrano slipped into the slot uncontested and fired in a wrist shot to make it 2-0.
Vatrano scored again a few minutes later for a 3-0 lead on a shot that went through Lehner’s legs. But Kirby Dach got the Hawks on the board late in the frame with a nifty backhander over Bobrovsky’s right shoulder to score his seventh and end a 13-game goal drought.
The Panthers completed their four-goal period and Vatrano picked up his second career hat trick on a power-play goal with 37 seconds remaining in the second.
Drake Caggiula’s power-play goal five minutes into the third period cut the lead to 4-2. It was Caggiula’s sixth of the season, including his third in his last four games.


chicagotribune--2020-01-21--No. 21 Illinois wins its 5th straight, 79-62 at Purdue, behind double-doubles by Kofi Cockburn and A

No. 21 Illinois wins its 5th straight, 79-62 at Purdue, behind double-doubles by Kofi Cockburn and Ayo Dosunmu

The Illini pulled off a rare feat by winning a Big Ten road game .
And the reason is obvious @ @ @ @ @ came into the game allowing 57.3 points as teams shot just 36.6 % from the @ @ @ @ @ 3s during their previous four wins .
They weren ’ t quite as good Tuesday @ @ @ @ @ 41.1 % from the field and 37.5 % on 3s — but they were more @ @ @ @

In recent seasons, at this point of the year, Illinois fans have resigned themselves to disappointment. This season, they’re imagining all the possibilities.
And with good reason.
Advertisement
Illinois’ 79-62 win at Purdue on Tuesday night gave the Illini a season sweep of the Boilermakers for the first time since 2008-09. Illinois’ five-game Big Ten winning streak is its longest since 2012-13, the last season it made the NCAA Tournament.
The No. 21 Illini (14-5, 6-2 Big Ten) are off to their best conference start since 2005-06, when they tied for second place. They also snapped Purdue’s 15-game home winning streak in Big Ten games.
Advertisement
“This is what we’re about,” coach Brad Underwood told reporters in West Lafayette, Ind., after the victory. “This is what we’re made for. It’s togetherness and toughness.”
Here are three takeaways from the big road win.
1. Permission granted for Illinois fans to dream big.
During Tuesday night’s ESPNU broadcast, announcers Dave Flemming and Dan Dakich dared to ponder Illinois’ potential.
Is it possible, they wondered hesitantly, that Illinois really could be in the running for a Big Ten championship?
Illini fans started the season hoping for a solid step forward, signified by a winning conference record and a return to the NCAA Tournament after a six-season drought. After winning at Purdue, more seems possible.
The Illini arguably played their most complete game of the season, shooting 55%, outrebounding the Boilermakers 37-19 and making seven 3-pointers.
They sit in second place in the Big Ten, a half-game behind Michigan State. A home victory against the Spartans on Feb. 11 would be massive, but Illinois needs to continue to take care of business until then.
Ken Pomeroy’s analytics website predicts a five-game losing streak in February. But it also predicted a loss at Purdue.
Advertisement
2. The Illini are clicking with chemistry.
Illinois has its stars but is at its best when its players are clicking together.
Watching Illini teammates find big man Kofi Cockburn in the post has been as entertaining to fans as it is essential to the Illini success. The freshman center finished with his eighth double-double, scoring 22 points with 15 rebounds.
Too big, too strong, too dominant on this electric and-1. 😱
Kofi Cockburn is a force for @IlliniMBB: pic.twitter.com/QJ4ZBDJdZG — Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) January 22, 2020
Plenty of those post feeds came from sophomore Ayo Dosunmu, who displayed his impressive court vision. He registered his first career double-double (surprising, right?) with 18 points and a career-high 11 assists.
Junior guard Trent Frazier’s six-game streak without a turnover ended, but he finished with only two giveaways and scored 21 points on 5 of 7 shooting from 3-point range and 6 of 6 from the line. (Cockburn also hit all six of his free throws as Illinois was 18 of 19.)
Frazier is 10 of 18 from the field in the last two games with an 18.5-point average.
3. Be smarter.
Illinois players can’t lose their tempers the way Alan Griffin did.
Advertisement
The sophomore guard was ejected with 12 minutes, 21 seconds left in the first half after getting tagged with a flagrant-2 foul when he appeared to intentionally step on Purdue guard Sasha Stefanovic’s stomach.
"That's just absolutely ridiculous, uncalled for and he should be gone."
Illinois' Alan Griffin was ejected after stepping on a Purdue player. pic.twitter.com/LzG9GWqkap — ESPN (@espn) January 22, 2020
The unsportsmanlike play was a detriment to the team; Griffin averages 8.9 points off the bench.
But more important, Griffin’s stomp could have injured Stefanovic or sparked a melee like the brawl during Tuesday’s Kansas-Kansas State game.
“He apologized to the young man and we don’t condone any of that,” Underwood said. “That’s not part of anything we’re trying to do in our program.”
Advertisement
Advertisement
Chicago Tribune Sports Weekdays A daily sports newsletter delivered to your inbox for your morning commute. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >


chicagotribune--2020-01-21--Mom of young brothers wounded in West Side barbershop shooting: ‘I’m just trying to stay strong for

Mom of young brothers wounded in West Side barbershop shooting: ‘I’m just trying to stay strong for my children’

Mobley said she fears the shooting could permanently scar or change her sons for the worse , but said she @ @ @ @ @ ponder such things .
She said her hands are full care of both sons .
@ @ @ @ @ trying to stay strong for my children .
”

Police process a crime scene after five people were shot near Pulaski Road and Maypole Avenue in Chicago on Jan. 16, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Cierra Mobley is happy to have both of her young sons back home after they were among five wounded last week when gunmen opened fire at a West Side barbershop full of customers.
But with both boys still recovering, physically as well as emotionally, the gunmen still on the loose and medical bills beginning to mount, Mobley, a lifelong West Side resident, said she knows this is just the start of a struggle to get back to normal times.
Advertisement
Mobley’s sons were injured when, according to Chicago police, two gunmen opened fire outside the front window of the Gotcha Faded barbershop in the 200 block of North Pulaski Road. Michael Smith, 12, was hit in the knee and Lorenzo Matthews, 11, was hit in the abdomen, back and elbow.
All five victims survived the shooting, but Mobley said her youngest son suffered more serious injuries than his brother and had at least one additional surgery scheduled for Thursday.
Advertisement
Lorenzo Matthews, 11, and Michael Smith, 12. (Family photo)
Mobley said she thought nothing of it when Lorenzo asked to go to the popular neighborhood shop, where a classmate’s father works as a barber. “I know the area around (the shop),” she said.
But police believe the shooting is connected to a feud between gang rivals and that the gunmen were aiming for a person inside the shop.
Mobley can still recall the frantic phone call she received from her sons shortly after they were hit by gunfire.
Having both sons injured at the same time has made it impossible for Mobley to return to her custodial job, which she desperately needs to make ends meet.
“This wasn’t just one child being shot, this was both kids,” Mobley, 28, said Tuesday evening in a telephone interview. Mobley is using a crowdfunding website to raise money for pay for their medical bills, and it has raised about $2,000. “I’m off work and I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
Nearly a week after the shooting, Mobley said she hasn’t received many details from her sons, and she doesn’t want to press them too harshly after such a traumatic event. “They’re not talking about it yet and I don’t really want to push them,” she said.
Mobley said she fears the shooting could permanently scar or change her sons for the worse, but said she has had little time to ponder such things. She said her hands are full care of both sons. “I’m just trying to stay strong for my children.”
The shooting happened shortly after 6 p.m. when two men entered Gotcha Faded, looked around and walked back out. At least one turned and started firing into the shop and one appeared to laugh, according to police. After the shooting, police said other young children, including an infant, were inside the shop, but escaped injury. A police source later described all five victims as unintended victims.
Advertisement
No arrests had been made in the case as of Tuesday evening, police said.
wlee@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @MidNoirCowboy


chicagotribune--2020-01-21--Former Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville makes his long-awaited return to the United Center: ‘I was

Former Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville makes his long-awaited return to the United Center: ‘I was a lucky guy at the right time’

`` We had a couple of runs that were disappointing as well , '' he said .
`` Some frustrating @ @ @ @ @ n't just all easy or we just expect to win it and you 're going @ @ @ @ @ we had to work in different ways , but I think at the end of @ @ @ @ @ came in here were leaders .
The guys that were here through thick and thin @ @ @ @ @ gave the guys a lot of freedom of how to play the game . ''

Joel Quenneville waves to the crowd as the former Blackhawks coach is honored during a timeout in the first period. Quenneville currently coaches the Panthers. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
More than 14 months after he was dismissed, it’s still a little hard to believe Joel Quenneville is no longer the coach of the Blackhawks.
Few coaches in the history of Chicago sports have established a similar connection to one of the city’s sports franchises as Quenneville. When he walked to the podium to hold a pregame news conference Tuesday at the United Center, on some level it felt as if he had never left.
Advertisement
The gruff-but-friendly voice, the iconic mustache, the rolled-up sleeves and the sly sense of humor were all still there. This was the same old Q in so many ways.
Of course, everything is different now.
Advertisement
Behind Quenneville stood a background featuring the dozens of logos of the Panthers, his new team that swooped him up last April. And as the questions started to come in, the reminders that he was here as a visitor were clear enough.
What would his emotions be like coaching in the United Center again?
“That’s a special feeling that you don’t get to feel in a lot of buildings.”
Did the Hawks share their plans for how they would honor him?
“No.”
But the question that really hit was a straightforward hockey question focused on how the Hawks had looked recently.
"You probably know them better than I do right now," Quenneville said.
He said it with a grin on his face but he quickly followed up with a spot-on analysis of the Hawks as well as his own team.
Advertisement
“You got to give them a little credit,” he said. "They’re playing fast, they’ve got some speed in their lineup. They’re quick in all lines. They can score, they’re dangerous. I think we’ve got to be respectful for what their rush game can bring, and I think that it was kind of reminiscent when I talk about our team a lot. I say we can always score goals.
“Trying to keep it out of our net is a priority. We’ve been scoring a lot of goals, and we want to make sure we can get better without the puck, and I think that’s been a work in progress for us, but it’s a comparable time in our team’s development right now. But we’re seeing progress, and I think tonight that’s going to be a good test of how well we defend.”
The timing of Quenneville’s return allowed him to witness a pregame ceremony the Hawks held Tuesday to commemorate Patrick Kane scoring the 1,000th point of his career in Sunday’s win over the Jets.
Fans were loud, appreciative and, before the game was a minute old, a few chants of “Q!” began to be heard throughout the United Center.
During a break in the action with 13 minutes, 43 seconds left in the first period, the Hawks shared a video tribute to Quenneville. He waved to the crowd, which responded with a standing ovation and even more screams of “Q!”
Hawks fans were vocal, but none were as visual as Steve Jaklic, 64, of Brookfield, who wore a jersey bearing the name “Coach 'Q' ” on the back. Instead of one number below the name there were three: 2010, 2013 and 2015 to reflect each year the team won the Stanley Cup during Quenneville’s tenure.
Advertisement
This might be Joel Quenneville’s biggest fan. pic.twitter.com/fhoxzGTWeE — Jimmy Greenfield (@jcgreenx) January 22, 2020
“He brought a team working here for 10 years and gave us three Stanley Cups,” Jaklic said.
Although Jaklic said he was “extremely disappointed” that Quenneville was fired — “If you’re going to do it, do it before the season started or do it at the end” — he’s still a huge Hawks fan. Going to Tuesday’s game to honor Quenneville was very important to him.
“The fans are going to appreciate him, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “That’s the reason I got tickets for me and my daughter. I told her, we’re coming to this game. If you’re not, I’m going to be here. I’ve got to be here for him.”
Those Cups are why Quenneville will be remembered forever, and they’re what he remembers most from his 11 seasons with the Hawks. Trying to get him to pin down one memory that stood out was a near impossibility. Each one he brought up — and there were many — had to do with the postseason, which is no surprise for a coach who loves to say he is in the “winning business.”
He began by talking about the playoff runs they had, first about the long marches toward Stanley Cup titles, then defining moments such as Patrick Kane’s Stanley Cup-winning goal and the fact that the puck he put in the net was never found.
Quenneville then turned to beating the Bruins in 2013 and the Lightning in 2015, including the Western Conference Finals that season when they beat the Ducks in seven games.
Advertisement
“Those are the things that stood out, and the celebrations, the parades were always special as well,” Quenneville said. “But the memories of the guys finding ways to win and key games and making big plays in key moments. You think of Detroit with (Brent Seabrook) scoring and (Nik Hjalmarsson) almost scoring prior to that. Just some cool moments.”
And some not-so-cool moments.
"We had a couple of runs that were disappointing as well," he said. "Some frustrating losses. So it wasn't just all easy or we just expect to win it and you're going to win it. So we had to work in different ways, but I think at the end of the day the guys who came in here were leaders. The guys that were here through thick and thin led the charge. We gave the guys a lot of freedom of how to play the game."
Chicago Tribune Sports Weekdays A daily sports newsletter delivered to your inbox for your morning commute. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >
That’s something Jonathan Toews — whom Denis Savard named captain of the Hawks in his second season when Toews was only 20 — recalled as he reminisced about Quenneville after Tuesday’s morning skate.
“He wasn’t sitting me down and giving me the old speech and telling me what to do as a captain,” Toews said. "But he was definitely allowing myself to grow and to be a good player on the ice. Put me in every situation possible and also just kind of let me find my way as a captain with my teammates.
“I’ve always said that he was always respectful of our space in the locker room, he treated us as professionals, as adults, and the respect was mutual in that sense. very lucky to be able to play for a coach like him for all those years, being a young captain on this team.”
Advertisement
One of the final questions Quenneville was asked Tuesday was if he felt satisfaction to have been the focal point of the greatest run in Hawks history.
That's not how he viewed it.
"You say focal, I'll say the entire organization," Quenneville said. "I give Rocky (Wirtz), when he had the vision of making some changes right off the bat with John (McDonough), with Jay (Blunk), Stan (Bowman), Dale (Tallon) — I think everybody had some input on the type of team that was coming.
“Some tough years prior to that, and being the beneficiary of coming in to coach a team that had a lot of talent, lot of skill, lot of depth, competitive guys. We were in the position to have some success, and I was the right guy — I was a lucky guy — at the right time.”


chicagotribune--2020-01-21--Ugly brawl breaks out at the end of Kansas’ win over Kansas State

Silvio De Sousa was stripped by the Wildcats ' DaJuan Gordon near midcourt and Gordon tried to go in for @ @ @ @ @ ' big man recovered and blocked his shot , sending Gordon to the floor , @ @ @ @ @ .
That triggered benches to empty and punches to be thrown in what amounted to @ @ @ @ @ one point , De Souza picked up a stool and held it above his head @ @ @ @ @ about to swing it at a Kansas State player before assistant coach Jerrance Howard grabbed @ @ @ @

LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Big 12 suspended Kansas forward Silvio De Sousa 12 games Wednesday for his role in the No. 3 Jayhawks’ brawl near the end of their 80-61 win against Kansas State on Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
The conference also suspended Kansas State’s James Love, an inactive player who fought in street clothes, eight games. The Wildcats’ Antonio Gordon was suspended three games, and Kansas’ David McCormack received a two-game suspension.
Advertisement
“This kind of behavior cannot be tolerated, and these suspensions reflect the severity of last evening’s events,” Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said in a statement. "I am appreciative of the cooperation of both institutions in resolving this matter.”
Advertisement
De Sousa was the main instigator on the Kansas side, but several other players that left the bench and were involved in an ugly fracas that spilled into disability seating behind one of the baskets.
At one point, De Sousa was preparing to swing a stool when assistant coach Jerrance Howard grabbed it from his hands.
“We are disappointed in his actions and there is no place in the game for that behavior," Kansas coach Bill Self said Wednesday.
Self also said he spoke with a fan who was caught up in the melee, and that she was banged around "to the point where I'm sure we'll correspond with her today to see how she's feeling."
The Jayhawks were dribbling out the clock when De Sousa was stripped by DaJuan Gordon, a freshman from Curie, near mid-court. Gordon tried to go for a layup, and De Sousa recovered to block his shot and send Gordon sprawling. He then stood over Gordon and barked at him, triggering both benches to empty and come together in a scrum as fans scrambled to get out of the way.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 12 Kansas' Silvio De Sousa picks up a stool during a brawl during a game against Kansas State at Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 21, 2020. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
The Jayhawks’ Marcus Garrett and McCormack also were in the thick of things along with the Wildcats’ Love, Antonio Gordon and David Sloan, who was the first player to come to DaJuan Gordon’s defense.
"The incident last night was not good for Kansas, it was not good for Kansas State, it was not good for college basketball," Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said Wednesday. "There's many people to blame and I'm the head of our program so it falls back on me."
Both Self and Weber said the Big 12 was reviewing video with more punishment likely.
Advertisement
“There will be consequences ... there will be consequences, there will be penalties,” Self said.
The schools are scheduled to meet again Feb. 29 at Kansas State.


chicagotribune--2020-01-21--Derek Jeter — who falls 1 vote short of a unanimous selection — and Larry Walker elected to the Base

Derek Jeter — who falls 1 vote short of a unanimous selection — and Larry Walker elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame

Jeter defined himself by moments more than numbers : his unexpected backhand flip from foul territory to throw out Oakland @ @ @ @ @ 2001 AL Division Series ; his Mr. November home run in the 10th inning that @ @ @ @ @ 2001 World Series ; his face-first leap into the stands after catching a 12th-inning popup @ @ @ @ @ in 2004 ; his home run into the left-field bleachers for his 3,000th hit as @ @ @ @ @ game in 2011 ; his ninth-inning walkoff single in his final home game in 2014 @ @ @ @ @ three days later that lifted his career average to .310 .

Known for two decades as No. 2, Derek Jeter is now linked to the number 1 — as in, who was the lone Hall of Fame voter who didn’t put a check mark next to his name?
Jeter came within one vote of being a unanimous pick on Tuesday, falling just shy of the standard set when longtime Yankees teammate Mariano Rivera became the first unanimous selection last year.
Advertisement
For now, the identity and motivation of the non-conformist remains a mystery.
"Well, I look at all the votes that I got," Jeter said. "Trying to get that many people to agree on something is pretty difficult to do. So that's not something that's on mind."
Advertisement
Longtime shortstop and captain of the Yankees, Jeter appeared on 396 of 397 ballots cast by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. His 99.7% moved above Ken Griffey Jr. (99.3%) for the second-highest share.
Jeter was listed on all 219 ballots made public by Ryan Thibodaux’s vote tracker before the announcement. The BBWAA will release additional ballots Feb. 4 of writers who chose a public listing.
"Everyone told me it was a foregone conclusion. I didn't buy it. So it was not a relaxing day. There was a lot of anxiety,'' Jeter said. "I was nervous, sitting around waiting for a phone call is something that is completely out of your control."
Walker got 304 votes, six above the 75% needed and up from 54.6% last year. He was making his 10th and final appearance on the BBWAA ballot and tweeted earlier in the day "I believe I'm going to come up a little short today" after checking the vote tracker and projecting he would finish at 73.3%.
As the announcement time approached, Walker had just about given up.
"I had it when they're going to call, a roundabout time, and that time had come and gone," he said. "And there was two minutes after that when the call actually came."
When Walker's phone rang, he uttered a profanity and then: "Oh my God!" He answered, and BBWAA secretary-treasurer Jack O'Connell was on the line.
"You didn't come up short this year. You passed the 75% threshold, and welcome to the Hall of Fame," Walker remembered O'Connell telling him.
Advertisement
Pitcher Curt Schilling was third with 278 votes (70%) in his eighth ballot appearance, an increase from 60.9% but still 20 votes shy. The steroids-tainted pair of Roger Clemens (61%) and Barry Bonds (60.7%) both showed slight increases in their eighth tries. Clemens rose from 59.5% last year and Bonds from 59.1%.
Jeter and Walker will be inducted on July 26 at the Hall in Cooperstown along with catcher Ted Simmons and former players' association head Marvin Miller, who were voted in last month by the Hall's Modern Era Committee.
Ballot holdovers could benefit next year, when the most prominent first-time eligibles are Torii Hunter and Mark Buehrle. The 2022 ballot will include David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez, who served a season-long suspension in 2014 for violations of the drug program and baseball's collective bargaining agreement.
Slick-fielding shortstop Omar Vizquel could be a riser after getting 52.6% in his third year on the ballot. The 11-time Gold Glove winner with 2,877 hits has seven more years to earn 75%. Other potential movers include third baseman Scott Rolen (35.5%), reliever Billy Wagner (31.7%) and slugger Gary Sheffield (30.5%).
The 397 total votes cast were the fewest since 1985.
A five-time World Series champion, Jeter became a face of baseball as he starred in the nation's largest media market from 1995-2014. He was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1996 as the Yankees won the World Series for the first time since 1978, then led New York to three straight titles from 1998-2000, the only team to accomplish the feat since the 1972-74 Oakland Athletics. The rebuilt Yankees added their 27th title in 2009.
Advertisement
Still, Jeter's resume lacked a coda.
“I had a great relationship and still do with Reggie Jackson,” Jeter said. “And Reggie used to constantly remind me when he when he came to the park, he’d always tell me, ‘You’re not a Hall of Famer yet.’”
Jeter defined himself by moments more than numbers: his unexpected backhand flip from foul territory to throw out Oakland's Jeremy Giambi in the 2001 AL Division Series; his Mr. November home run in the 10th inning that won Game 4 of the 2001 World Series; his face-first leap into the stands after catching a 12th-inning popup by Boston's Trot Nixon in 2004; his home run into the left-field bleachers for his 3,000th hit as part of a career-best 5-for-5 game in 2011; his ninth-inning walkoff single in his final home game in 2014; his last at-bat single three days later that lifted his career average to .310.
Drafted sixth overall in 1992 after he was spotted by Yankees scout Dick Groch as a high school junior a year earlier, Jeter was bypassed by Houston (Phil Nevin), Cleveland (Paul Shuey), Montreal (B.J. Wallace), Baltimore (Jeffrey Hammonds) and Cincinnati (Chad Mottola). He debuted for the Yankees on May 29, 1995, and was installed at shortstop the following spring training by new manager Joe Torre.
Jeter became a 14-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove winner despite defensive metrics that were maligned. He was appointed captain by owner George Steinbrenner in June 2003, filling a position that had been open since Don Mattingly's retirement after the 1995 season. He finished with 3,465 hits, 260 homers, 358 stolen bases and 1,311 RBIs, earning $266 million from the Yankees.
He was the ninth player elected to the Hall after playing exclusively for the Yankees, joining Lou Gehrig (1939), Bill Dickey (1954), Joe DiMaggio (1955), Earle Combs (1970), Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle (1974), Phil Rizzuto (1994) and Rivera. Jeter's No. 2 jersey was retired by New York.
Advertisement
Jeter used some of his savings to join the group purchasing the Miami Marlins in September 2017, becoming CEO. Jettisoning veterans and going with low-priced youth in a way the Yankees never did, Jeter endured a pair of last-place finishes and the lowest home attendance in the major leagues.
Walker hit .313 with .383 homers, 1,311 RBIs and 230 stolen bases for Montreal (1989-94), Colorado (1995-2004) and St. Louis (2004-05), a five-time All-Star and seven-time Gold Glove winner. He was the 1997 NL MVP and led the major leagues in batting average in 1998, 1999 and 2001.
Evaluating his offensive performance gave some voters difficulty because he spent 9 1/2 seasons in the thin air of Denver's Coors Field. Walker batted .381 with an 1.172 OPS and 154 home runs in 597 games at Coors and .282 with 229 homers and an .873 OPS in 1,391 games elsewhere, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
He received just 20.3% in his first ballot appearance in 2011 and dropped as low as 10.2% in 2014. He rose to 21.9% in 2017 before jumping to 34.1% in 2018.
Walker became the second Canadian-born player elected to the Hall after Ferguson Jenkins in 1991.
"You grew up in Canada, you're born into hockey and that's what's in your blood and veins. And just so baseball was something I had to learn along the ways," Walker said.
Advertisement
Walker played hockey until he was 16, then switched sports. He thought about what would have happened had he remained on ice.
"I would probably be missing a few more teeth," he said.