chicagotribune--2020-09-18--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 2,056 new known COVID-19 cases and 25 more deaths reported; a look

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 2,056 new known COVID-19 cases and 25 more deaths reported; a look at Chicago’s economy and dining scene six months into the pandemic

Illinois public health officials Thursday announced 2,056 newly diagnosed cases of COVID-19 and 25 more deaths .
That raises the statewide known case tally to 268,207 throughout the course of the pandemic .
The state reported death toll is now 8,392 .
The statewide seven-day rolling positivity rate stands at 3.6 % .
The region that includes Will and Kankakee counties , which had harsher rules imposed by the state after it surpassed a positivity rate of 8 % for three straight days , stood at 6.4 % as of Wednesday , below the threshold that would restore rules in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gov .
J.B. Pritzker ’ s reopening plan .
Meanwhile , the Big Ten announced Wednesday that football will resume this fall , declaring a unanimous vote and a plan to play eight regular-season games in eight weeks beginning the weekend of Oct. 23-24 .
However , Pritzker slammed the door on the possibility that Illinois ' high school athletes might join their college counterparts , saying football and other contact sports are still too risky in the midst of the pandemic .
Additionally , some suburban schools have decided to reopen closed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ limited number of elementary-age kids , but for a fee .
A heavily criticized recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month about who should be tested for the coronavirus was not written by CDC scientists and was posted to the agency ’ s website despite their serious objections , according to several people familiar with the matter as well as internal documents obtained by The New York Times .
The guidance said it was not necessary to test people without symptoms of COVID-19 even if they had been exposed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a time when public health experts were pushing for more testing rather than less , and administration officials told The Times that the document was a CDC product and had been revised with input from the agency ’ s director , Dr. Robert Redfield .
But officials told The Times this week that the Department of Health and Human Services did the rewriting itself and then “ dropped ” it into the CDC ’ s public website , flouting the agency ’ s strict scientific review process .
“ That was a doc @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the HHS and the task force , ” said a federal official with knowledge of the matter , referring to the White House task force on the coronavirus .
“ That policy does not reflect what many people at the CDC feel should be the policy.
” 4:35 p.m. : Do you actually need to wipe down everything to protect yourself from COVID-19 ?
If you were wiping down every single Amazon package , can of chickpeas , and takeout container at the start of the pandemic , you certainly weren ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s biggest maker of disinfectant cleaning materials , says it ’ s still recovering from high demand of its popular disinfectant wipes , not expected to return to shelves until 2021 .
In the beginning , we were all encouraged to take every precaution that we could .
But do we still need to sanitize everything in sight ?
With months of research now behind us , experts say the answer is probably not .
Yet , that doesn ’ t mean surfaces present zero risk .
3:06 p.m. : Southport Lanes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gambling den and bowling alley .
One thing the Lakeview institution is not : A COVID-19 survivor .
The bar , restaurant and bowling alley will close its doors for good Sept. 27 , after 98 years in business at 3325 N. Southport Ave. “ It ’ s another COVID casualty , ” said Steve Soble , who has owned the business since 1991 with Howard Natinsky .
“ It ’ s really , really bad out there.
” 2:57 p.m. : When will you be able to get a coronavirus vaccine ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ another .
Here is what we know .
Americans are desperate to know when a coronavirus vaccine will be available to finally curb the pandemic that has already taken nearly 200,000 lives in the United States , and allow schools and the broader economy to reopen .
Scientists and vaccine makers have long said that a handful of vaccines could be available by the end of the year , if everything goes according to plan .
But in recent weeks , President Donald Trump has insisted that a vaccine will be ready before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fears that one could be rushed against the advice of scientists and regulators .
Testing and producing a vaccine is a complex process with a lot of uncertainties .
But the best guess for now , experts say , is this : If every aspect of the vaccines ' development and distribution goes exactly as planned — and history has shown that rarely happens — certain people in high-risk groups could get vaccinated this year .
Most other Americans , however , will quite likely have to wait until well into next year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chicago ’ s economy six months into the pandemic During a six-month period , hundreds of thousands of area jobs were lost , consumer spending dropped 43 % , and more than half of temporary business closures became permanent .
Despite hopes to “ get back to normal , ” the recovery has been slow , and it ’ s unclear what any long-lasting changes are , said Jose J. Vazquez-Cognet , an economics professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign .
“ When a business person and a consumer don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can ’ t make decisions very well , ” Vazquez-Cognet said .
“ That ’ s the worst thing for the economy.
” Here is a snapshot of the economic impact of the virus on the Chicago area over the past six months .
1:50 p.m. : How the coronavirus pandemic has affected Chicago dining six months in Six months ago Wednesday at 9 p.m. , all Illinois restaurants and bars were shut down for on-premise dining or drinking .
Since then , a gradual reopening has allowed some business to return to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ city held its breath during the stay-at-home order this spring , summer offered a solution for many with the approval of serving at outdoor spaces .
Then , tentatively , food and beverage establishments were allowed to open indoor spaces with limited capacity .
But as coronavirus cases waxed and waned , restrictions changed , and the city walked back on its allowance for bars to host patrons inside .
As winter approaches , these businesses now grapple with how to operate when the weather shifts .
Looking back at the past six @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it ’ s helpful to consider some of the numbers that help tell the story of what restaurant owners , chefs , bartenders and servers have endured .
1:45 p.m. : How Nick Kokonas pivoted hard at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic , launching Tock to Go and other innovations Nick Kokonas is not afraid of bluntly questioning restaurant conventions .
Along with helping to create a series of successful projects with chef Grant Achatz as co-owner of the Alinea Group ( Alinea , The Aviary , Next and Roister ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Tock , a online reservation system that has helped restaurateurs around the world manage guest bookings .
So it makes sense that during one of the most tumultuous years for restaurants in recent history , Kokonas was one of the first to adapt .
In late February and early March , not only was he one of the few restaurateurs in Chicago talking about how the coronavirus pandemic could seriously challenge the restaurant industry , he was also attempting to come up with ways to survive .
1:15 p.m. : After four @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a century , the unkept promise of ‘ a great health plan ’ may be catching up to President Trump When Donald Trump first ran for the White House , he promised to “ come up with a great health plan , ” one that would repeal the Affordable Care Act but replace it with something better , something that would maintain its biggest selling point : protecting people with preexisting medical conditions .
Once elected , he swore he had a “ wonderful plan ” and would be “ putting it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , during the worst health crisis in a century , the unkept promise may be catching up to Trump .
There still does not seem to be any plan , because other than abolishing the Affordable Care Act — which requires insurers to cover preexisting conditions and which the White House is asking the Supreme Court to overturn — the Republican Party can not agree on one .
And with tens of thousands of Americans losing their health insurance to a coronavirus-induced recession , fears of inadequate or nonexistent health care coverage have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2,056 new known COVID-19 cases and 25 more deaths reported Illinois health officials on Thursday announced 2,056 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 25 additional fatalities .
The Illinois Department of Public Health is now reporting a total of 268,207 cases , including 8,392 deaths , in 102 counties in Illinois since the start of the coronavirus ' spread .
The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 3.6 % .
Within the past 24 hours , laboratories have reported 57,800 new tests , according to the IDPH .
1,558 people in Illinois are in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 359 patients were in the ICU and 144 patients are on ventilators , according to state health officials .
10:49 a.m. : Lincoln Park ZooLights will go on , but with a new , $ 5 charge Park Zoo ’ s holiday ZooLights festival will go on this year , but with a first-time-in-decades cover charge to help the zoo offset pandemic-year losses , the institution announced Thursday .
Tickets to the annual bedecking of zoo grounds with holiday lights will be $ 5 per person regardless of age or membership status @ @ @ @ @ @ @ zoo members Sept. 24 and to the general public Oct. 1 .
10:27 a.m. : 42 Wisconsin football players and staff members — 29 since Sept. 1 — test positive for COVID-19 as the Big Ten prepares for its season Forty-two players and staff with the Wisconsin football team have tested positive for COVID-19 as the Big Ten makes plans to get the season started .
Public Health Madison & Dane County says the 42 people tested positive since June when athletes and staff returned to campus .
Twenty-nine of the positive tests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Health officials in Madison and Dane County are urging fans not to gather to watch football games when the Badgers begin their season in October .
8:45 a.m. : Attorney general says coronavirus lockdown orders second only to slavery as government intrusion on liberty In remarks Wednesday night at conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan , Barr had called the lockdown orders the “ greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history ” since slavery .
“ You know , putting a national lockdown , stay at home orders , is like house @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was a different kind of restraint , this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history , ” Barr said to applause from the crowd .
Rep. James Clyburn , D-S.C. , the No .
3 House Democratic leader , told CNN that Barr ’ s remarks were “ the most ridiculous , tone-deaf , God-awful things I ’ ve ever heard ” because they wrongly equated human bondage with a measure aimed at saving lives .
“ Slavery was not about saving lives .
It was about devaluing lives , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a threat to human life.
” 8:18 a.m. : COVID-19 danger continues to drive joblessness in US , even as unemployment claims fall The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to 860,000 , a historically high figure that reflects economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak .
Before the pandemic hit the economy , the number signing up for jobless aid had never exceeded 700,000 in a week , even during the depths of the 2007-2009 Great Recession .
The Labor Department said Thursday that U.S. jobless claims fell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that 12.6 million are collecting traditional unemployment benefits , compared with just 1.7 million a year ago .
A Deerfield High School staff member has tested positive for COVID-19 , according to a notification from Principal Kathryn Anderson emailed to parents , students and staff Tuesday night .
“ The staff member is now in isolation .
We are closely working with the Lake County Health Department on contact tracing .
The health department will contact the staff member directly and any close contacts will be identified , contacted and provided guidance , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Township High School District 113 spokeswoman Karen Warner said the staff member had been at the school recently .
Anderson stated in the notification and Warner also said Wednesday that federal privacy laws prevent the district from releasing the individual ’ s identity or any additional information about the individual .
5 a.m. : Remote learning , in school ?
Some suburban public schools closed by COVID-19 have reopened for e-learning supervision — at a price to taxpaying parents .
After being inundated with emails and calls from frustrated parents who wanted their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Arlington Heights School District 25 officials sought a way to help .
Working with the Park District , they decided to reopen closed schools for moderately priced remote learning supervision to a limited number of elementary-age kids .
But as Arlington Heights resident Chuck Miller sees it , the flaw in the program comes down to a math problem his second grader could solve : At $ 50 per student per day , it would cost the Millers $ 1,000 a week to enroll their four children — a sum he said is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The irony isn ’ t lost on him that the program is taking place in schools that were deemed unsafe to fully open for in-person classes .
Here are five things related to COVID-19 that happened Wednesday : Citing the pandemic ’ s ‘ unprecedented ’ impact on November vote , Gov .
J.B. Pritzker asked election officials to put federal funds behind drop boxes , election judge recruitment .
Chicago Public Schools reported it ’ s seen 258 coronavirus cases and eight deaths since March among staff and contractors .
Big @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with at least 8 games in 9 weeks — and ‘ significant medical protocols.
’ Wisconsin Dells ' Tommy Bartlett water ski show , closed by coronavirus , is shutting down for good .
Chicago ’ s architectural biennial keeps the city at the forefront of design .
But will it be held in 2021 ?

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Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois public health officials Thursday announced 2,056 newly diagnosed cases of COVID-19 and 25 more deaths. That raises the statewide known case tally to 268,207 throughout the course of the pandemic. The state reported death toll is now 8,392. The statewide seven-day rolling positivity rate stands at 3.6%.
The region that includes Will and Kankakee counties, which had harsher rules imposed by the state after it surpassed a positivity rate of 8% for three straight days, stood at 6.4% as of Wednesday, below the threshold that would restore rules in place statewide under the fourth phase of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reopening plan.
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Meanwhile, the Big Ten announced Wednesday that football will resume this fall, declaring a unanimous vote and a plan to play eight regular-season games in eight weeks beginning the weekend of Oct. 23-24.
However, Pritzker slammed the door on the possibility that Illinois' high school athletes might join their college counterparts, saying football and other contact sports are still too risky in the midst of the pandemic.
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Additionally, some suburban schools have decided to reopen closed buildings for remote learning supervision to a limited number of elementary-age kids, but for a fee.
Here’s what’s happening Thursday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7:55 p.m.: COVID-19 testing guidance was published against CDC scientists' objections, officials say
A heavily criticized recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month about who should be tested for the coronavirus was not written by CDC scientists and was posted to the agency’s website despite their serious objections, according to several people familiar with the matter as well as internal documents obtained by The New York Times.
The guidance said it was not necessary to test people without symptoms of COVID-19 even if they had been exposed to the virus. It came at a time when public health experts were pushing for more testing rather than less, and administration officials told The Times that the document was a CDC product and had been revised with input from the agency’s director, Dr. Robert Redfield.
But officials told The Times this week that the Department of Health and Human Services did the rewriting itself and then “dropped” it into the CDC’s public website, flouting the agency’s strict scientific review process.
“That was a doc that came from the top down, from the HHS and the task force,” said a federal official with knowledge of the matter, referring to the White House task force on the coronavirus. “That policy does not reflect what many people at the CDC feel should be the policy.”
Read more here. —The New York Times
4:35 p.m.: Do you actually need to wipe down everything to protect yourself from COVID-19?
If you were wiping down every single Amazon package, can of chickpeas, and takeout container at the start of the pandemic, you certainly weren’t alone. Clorox, the world’s biggest maker of disinfectant cleaning materials, says it’s still recovering from high demand of its popular disinfectant wipes, not expected to return to shelves until 2021.
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In the beginning, we were all encouraged to take every precaution that we could. But do we still need to sanitize everything in sight?
With months of research now behind us, experts say the answer is probably not. Yet, that doesn’t mean surfaces present zero risk.
Here’s how to approach things now. —The Philadelphia Inquirer
3:06 p.m.: Southport Lanes has been a speakeasy, brothel, gambling den and bowling alley. One thing the Lakeview institution is not: A COVID-19 survivor.
Southport Lanes has lasted nearly a century by evolving, at various times serving as a tavern, bowling alley, speakeasy, brothel and illegal off-track horse betting venue.
But the Lakeview institution, which opened not long after another pandemic, couldn’t survive COVID-19.
The bar, restaurant and bowling alley will close its doors for good Sept. 27, after 98 years in business at 3325 N. Southport Ave.
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“It’s another COVID casualty,” said Steve Soble, who has owned the business since 1991 with Howard Natinsky. “It’s really, really bad out there.”
Read more here. —Ryan Ori
2:57 p.m.: When will you be able to get a coronavirus vaccine? Scientists say one thing, President Trump another. Here is what we know.
Americans are desperate to know when a coronavirus vaccine will be available to finally curb the pandemic that has already taken nearly 200,000 lives in the United States, and allow schools and the broader economy to reopen.
Scientists and vaccine makers have long said that a handful of vaccines could be available by the end of the year, if everything goes according to plan. But in recent weeks, President Donald Trump has insisted that a vaccine will be ready before the presidential election Nov. 3, raising fears that one could be rushed against the advice of scientists and regulators.
Testing and producing a vaccine is a complex process with a lot of uncertainties. But the best guess for now, experts say, is this: If every aspect of the vaccines' development and distribution goes exactly as planned — and history has shown that rarely happens — certain people in high-risk groups could get vaccinated this year. Most other Americans, however, will quite likely have to wait until well into next year.
Read more here. —The New York Times
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2:19 p.m.: A snapshot of Chicago’s economy six months into the pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic quickly inflicted damage on Chicago’s economy as government shutdowns and social distancing restrictions forced business slowdowns and closures.
During a six-month period, hundreds of thousands of area jobs were lost, consumer spending dropped 43%, and more than half of temporary business closures became permanent.
Despite hopes to “get back to normal,” the recovery has been slow, and it’s unclear what any long-lasting changes are, said Jose J. Vazquez-Cognet, an economics professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“When a business person and a consumer don’t know what to expect, they can’t make decisions very well,” Vazquez-Cognet said. “That’s the worst thing for the economy.”
Here is a snapshot of the economic impact of the virus on the Chicago area over the past six months.
Read more here. —Katie Surma
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1:50 p.m.: How the coronavirus pandemic has affected Chicago dining six months in
Six months ago Wednesday at 9 p.m., all Illinois restaurants and bars were shut down for on-premise dining or drinking. Since then, a gradual reopening has allowed some business to return to the struggling establishments.
As the entire city held its breath during the stay-at-home order this spring, summer offered a solution for many with the approval of serving at outdoor spaces. Then, tentatively, food and beverage establishments were allowed to open indoor spaces with limited capacity. But as coronavirus cases waxed and waned, restrictions changed, and the city walked back on its allowance for bars to host patrons inside. As winter approaches, these businesses now grapple with how to operate when the weather shifts.
Looking back at the past six months and to what the future holds, it’s helpful to consider some of the numbers that help tell the story of what restaurant owners, chefs, bartenders and servers have endured.
Read more here. —Grace Wong, Kori Rumore and Jonathon Berlin
1:45 p.m.: How Nick Kokonas pivoted hard at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, launching Tock to Go and other innovations
Nick Kokonas is not afraid of bluntly questioning restaurant conventions. Along with helping to create a series of successful projects with chef Grant Achatz as co-owner of the Alinea Group (Alinea, The Aviary, Next and Roister), he’s also the CEO of Tock, a online reservation system that has helped restaurateurs around the world manage guest bookings.
So it makes sense that during one of the most tumultuous years for restaurants in recent history, Kokonas was one of the first to adapt. In late February and early March, not only was he one of the few restaurateurs in Chicago talking about how the coronavirus pandemic could seriously challenge the restaurant industry, he was also attempting to come up with ways to survive.
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Read more here. —Nick Kindelsperger
1:15 p.m.: After four years, during the worst health crisis in a century, the unkept promise of ‘a great health plan’ may be catching up to President Trump
When Donald Trump first ran for the White House, he promised to “come up with a great health plan,” one that would repeal the Affordable Care Act but replace it with something better, something that would maintain its biggest selling point: protecting people with preexisting medical conditions.
Once elected, he swore he had a “wonderful plan” and would be “putting it in fairly soon.”
After four years, during the worst health crisis in a century, the unkept promise may be catching up to Trump. There still does not seem to be any plan, because other than abolishing the Affordable Care Act — which requires insurers to cover preexisting conditions and which the White House is asking the Supreme Court to overturn — the Republican Party cannot agree on one.
And with tens of thousands of Americans losing their health insurance to a coronavirus-induced recession, fears of inadequate or nonexistent health care coverage have never been greater.
Read more here. —The New York Times
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12:10 p.m.: 2,056 new known COVID-19 cases and 25 more deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Thursday announced 2,056 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 25 additional fatalities. The Illinois Department of Public Health is now reporting a total of 268,207 cases, including 8,392 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois since the start of the coronavirus' spread.
The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 3.6%. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 57,800 new tests, according to the IDPH.
1,558 people in Illinois are in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 359 patients were in the ICU and 144 patients are on ventilators, according to state health officials.
—Chicago Tribune staff
10:49 a.m.: Lincoln Park ZooLights will go on, but with a new, $5 charge
Park Zoo’s holiday ZooLights festival will go on this year, but with a first-time-in-decades cover charge to help the zoo offset pandemic-year losses, the institution announced Thursday.
Tickets to the annual bedecking of zoo grounds with holiday lights will be $5 per person regardless of age or membership status, and they go on sale to zoo members Sept. 24 and to the general public Oct. 1.
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Read more here. —Steve Johnson
10:27 a.m.: 42 Wisconsin football players and staff members — 29 since Sept. 1 — test positive for COVID-19 as the Big Ten prepares for its season
Forty-two players and staff with the Wisconsin football team have tested positive for COVID-19 as the Big Ten makes plans to get the season started.
Public Health Madison & Dane County says the 42 people tested positive since June when athletes and staff returned to campus. Twenty-nine of the positive tests were from Sept. 1 through Sept. 15.
Health officials in Madison and Dane County are urging fans not to gather to watch football games when the Badgers begin their season in October.
Read more here. —Associated Press
8:45 a.m.: Attorney general says coronavirus lockdown orders second only to slavery as government intrusion on liberty
Attorney General William Barr drew sharp condemnation Thursday for comparing lockdown orders during the coronavirus pandemic to slavery.
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In remarks Wednesday night at conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan, Barr had called the lockdown orders the “greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history” since slavery.
“You know, putting a national lockdown, stay at home orders, is like house arrest. Other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history,” Barr said to applause from the crowd.
Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the No. 3 House Democratic leader, told CNN that Barr’s remarks were “the most ridiculous, tone-deaf, God-awful things I’ve ever heard” because they wrongly equated human bondage with a measure aimed at saving lives.
“Slavery was not about saving lives. It was about devaluing lives,” Clyburn said. “This pandemic is a threat to human life.”
This is not the first occasion that Barr has condemned stay-at-home orders.
Read more here. —Associated Press
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8:18 a.m.: COVID-19 danger continues to drive joblessness in US, even as unemployment claims fall
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to 860,000, a historically high figure that reflects economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak.
Before the pandemic hit the economy, the number signing up for jobless aid had never exceeded 700,000 in a week, even during the depths of the 2007-2009 Great Recession.
The Labor Department said Thursday that U.S. jobless claims fell by 33,000 form the previous week and that 12.6 million are collecting traditional unemployment benefits, compared with just 1.7 million a year ago.
In Illinois, first-time claims for unemployment benefits totaled 23,339 last week, down from 25,478 a week earlier.
Read more here. —Associated Press
7:10 a.m. As Black, Latino neighborhoods hard hit by COVID-19, Chicago launches plan to correct racial inequities in life expectancy
Chicago’s Health Department and community groups was scheduled to launch a plan to tackle racial inequities in health and “the life expectancy gap between the Black and white” communities in the city, according to a city release.
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The five-year plan, Healthy Chicago 2025, “seeks to address social conditions that have been created by decades of segregation and systemic racism, the effects of which have been highlighted by COVID-19,” according to a release from the mayor’s office.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, city Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady and others will be part of the online launch of the program on the city Health Department’s Facebook page and the city’s website.
—Chicago Tribune staff
6 a.m.: Deerfield High School worker tests COVID-19 positive days after district extended remote learning
A Deerfield High School staff member has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a notification from Principal Kathryn Anderson emailed to parents, students and staff Tuesday night.
“The staff member is now in isolation. We are closely working with the Lake County Health Department on contact tracing. The health department will contact the staff member directly and any close contacts will be identified, contacted and provided guidance,” Anderson said in the notification.
Township High School District 113 spokeswoman Karen Warner said the staff member had been at the school recently. Anderson stated in the notification and Warner also said Wednesday that federal privacy laws prevent the district from releasing the individual’s identity or any additional information about the individual.
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Read more here. —Alicia Fabbre
5 a.m.: Remote learning, in school? Some suburban public schools closed by COVID-19 have reopened for e-learning supervision — at a price to taxpaying parents.
After being inundated with emails and calls from frustrated parents who wanted their kids back in class this fall, Arlington Heights School District 25 officials sought a way to help.
Working with the Park District, they decided to reopen closed schools for moderately priced remote learning supervision to a limited number of elementary-age kids.
But as Arlington Heights resident Chuck Miller sees it, the flaw in the program comes down to a math problem his second grader could solve: At $50 per student per day, it would cost the Millers $1,000 a week to enroll their four children — a sum he said is unrealistic for many families, including his.
The irony isn’t lost on him that the program is taking place in schools that were deemed unsafe to fully open for in-person classes.
Read more here. — Karen Ann Cullotta
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Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
In case you missed it
Here are five things related to COVID-19 that happened Wednesday:
Citing the pandemic’s ‘unprecedented’ impact on November vote, Gov. J.B. Pritzker asked election officials to put federal funds behind drop boxes, election judge recruitment.
Chicago Public Schools reported it’s seen 258 coronavirus cases and eight deaths since March among staff and contractors.
Big Ten football is coming back in October with at least 8 games in 9 weeks — and ‘significant medical protocols.’
Wisconsin Dells' Tommy Bartlett water ski show, closed by coronavirus, is shutting down for good.
Advertisement
Chicago’s architectural biennial keeps the city at the forefront of design. But will it be held in 2021?


chicagotribune--2020-09-19--Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies

Treja Kelley had been hesitant to come forward after witnessing the murder of her 17-year-old cousin .
But she found @ @ @ @ @ stand last year and helped secure a guilty verdict .
Her testimony , though , @ @ @ @ @ head , prosecutors said .
Just a few months after testifying , Kelley was shot @ @ @ @ @ not far from where her cousin had been slain .
She was 18 and pregnant @

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chicagotribune--2020-09-18--Illinois receives $1.3 billion from FEMA for $300 in weekly federal jobless benefits authorized by P

Illinois receives $1.3 billion from FEMA for $300 in weekly federal jobless benefits authorized by President Trump

The Illinois Department of Employment Security announced Friday it began disbursing the funds Sept. 6 for the weeks between July @ @ @ @ @ has paid out more than $ 650 million to about 700,000 eligible claimants .

Exterior of the closed Illinois Department of Employment Services office at 2444 W. Lawrence Ave. in Chicago on Tuesday, July 14, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois has received $1.3 billion from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for six weeks of an additional $300 in weekly federal unemployment benefits authorized by President Donald Trump.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security announced Friday it began disbursing the funds Sept. 6 for the weeks between July 26 and Aug. 15 and has paid out more than $650 million to about 700,000 eligible claimants.
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The agency said in a Friday news release it will continue to pay out funds for the weeks between Aug. 16 and Sept. 5.
In August, Trump signed an executive order authorizing FEMA to spend no more than $44 billion for the Lost Wages Assistance program after a $600 weekly federal unemployment supplement expired at the end of July.
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Only claimants who qualify for at least $100 in weekly unemployment benefits, either through state programs or the federal pandemic assistance program, are eligible.
Earlier this month, Illinois officials said about 55,000 low-income claimants wouldn’t be eligible and warned the funds could last as little as three weeks.
FEMA has warned that funds for the unemployment benefits program will run out, and Congress remains at an impasse over additional coronavirus relief packages that could extend federal jobless benefits.
abjimenez@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @abdel1019


chicagotribune--2020-09-18--AJ Freund murder: Andrew Freund Sr. pleads guilty to charges in connection to his son’s death, gets

AJ Freund murder: Andrew Freund Sr. pleads guilty to charges in connection to his son’s death, gets 30 years in prison

During the call , Freund had said he and the boy ’ s mother , JoAnn Cunningham , last saw @ @ @ @ @ when they put him to bed in his Mario sweatshirt and sweatpants .
Freund had @ @ @ @ @ missing after he went to wake the boy in the morning .

JoAnn Cunningham, 37, reacts as a sentence of 35 years is announced, July 17, 2020, for the murder of son, AJ Freund. (John Starks/Daily Herald)
The father of 5-year-old AJ Freund on Friday pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the Crystal Lake boy’s death and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Andrew Freund Sr. of Crystal Lake., whose son’s body was found in a shallow grave in April 2019, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, aggravated battery of a child and concealment of a homicidal death.
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He was sentenced to 11 years for aggravated battery of a child, 14 years for involuntary manslaughter and five years for concealment of a homicide.
Judge Robert Wilbrandt said the charges will be served consecutively, “for the protection of the public.”
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As part of a plea agreement, Freund must also cooperate in an investigation into the Department of Children and Family Services. Two former agency workers face charges in connection to AJ’s case.
Freund must serve at least a minimum of 18 years in prison, 30 years if the sentences handed down Friday are served in full. If he is eventually released from prison, Freund would be required to spend time under supervised release and would be listed on the state’s registry for violent offenders against youths.
Under the plea deal, Freund will get credit for time already served since he was taken into custody on April 26, 2019.
[ Timeline of the AJ Freund saga: The family’s interactions with DCFS and how the tragedy unfolded ]
The 61-year-old defendant appeared in McHenry County court in an orange jail-issued jumpsuit and a white face mask to protect against COVID-19. Freund declined to speak when given the opportunity during the hearing but listened as a prosecutor spent about 15 minutes recounting grueling details of the lengthy investigation into the abuse and death of AJ.
On the night of his April 15, 2019, death, AJ had been forced into a cold shower and beaten before being put to bed naked, wet and cold, according to authorities.
Days later, his parents falsely reported AJ missing.
“We have a missing child,” Freund in a calm voice told a 911 dispatcher early on April 18, 2019.
During the call, Freund had said he and the boy’s mother, JoAnn Cunningham, last saw AJ at about 9 p.m. when they put him to bed in his Mario sweatshirt and sweatpants. Freund had said he realized AJ was missing after he went to wake the boy in the morning.
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Freund later told authorities that Cunningham had engaged in “some hitting" just before AJ’s death, and the boy was put in a cold shower. Freund described Cunningham "taking the spray nozzle thing and putting it like right in his face,” causing the boy to fall in the tub, court records said.
Cunningham awoke Freund early April 15, 2019, to tell him AJ wasn’t breathing, and the parents searched for information on child CPR on Freund’s phone. After determining that AJ was dead, Freund told Cunningham he would “handle it"; he stored the boy’s body in a plastic tote in the basement and buried him several days later, authorities have said.
A communitywide search involving the FBI and police lasted nearly a week, until Freund led authorities to his son’s remains, which were recovered from a shallow grave in a remote area about seven miles from his since-demolished Crystal Lake home.
Cunningham, 37, had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced in July to a 35-year prison term.
Earlier this month, criminal charges were filed against two former child welfare workers for how they handled a hotline abuse investigation prior to AJ’s death, accusing them of endangering the life of a child and reckless conduct.
The grand jury indictment said that in late 2018, the defendants, “while not acting in good faith in (their) official capacity … and in a willful and wanton manner,” put AJ in circumstances that endangered his life or health. That case is still pending.
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Many comments on the 10,000-member Facebook group called Justice For AJ Freund! decried the father’s sentence on Friday, arguing he should serve more time or life in prison.
“NO justice. RIP AJ,” one member posted on the site.
A pool report from the Northwest Herald contributed.
eleventis@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-18--Fair tax or tax hike? Emotional arguments project hope and fear as voters set to decide what could b

Fair tax or tax hike? Emotional arguments project hope and fear as voters set to decide what could be Illinois’ biggest taxation shift in decades

Of 22 proposed amendments submitted to voters since the 1970 state constitution was adopted , 14 were approved and eight @ @ @ @ @ amendment ratified by voters was in 2016 , when the so-called transportation lockbox was added @ @ @ @ @ attempt to keep transportation construction dollars from being used to fund unrelated parts of government @ @ @ @ @ 67.5 % of those who voted .

Before Illinois voters consider any candidate on the Nov. 3 ballot — the presidential contenders, a member of Congress, a state lawmaker or a local judge — they will be asked to cast a simple yes or no vote on what could become the biggest change in state taxation in decades.
The question at the top of the ballot is whether the Illinois Constitution should be amended to replace a mandated flat-rate income tax with a graduated-rate tax structure that increases the levy as income rises.
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More than any candidate being voted on, the proposed graduated-rate tax amendment represents what could be one of the most fundamental and long-lasting changes in how state government in Illinois functions.
Supporters contend a graduated-rate system is a fair way to shift the tax burden and generate more money to help end Illinois’ long-term financial structural imbalance. Opponents contend it’s a job-killing move that offers no guarantees that higher tax brackets for the wealthy won’t creep down to the middle class.
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[ Illinois income tax calculator: How would Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed graduated income tax affect you? ]
“It’s the ultimate policy wonk question” for voters not often asked to take sides on such weighty policy questions, unlike places like California where ballot initiatives flourish, said University of Illinois at Chicago political scientist Christopher Mooney.
The potential ramifications of the tax change are wrapped in the emotion of millions of dollars of pro and con arguments projecting hope or playing on fear, Mooney said.
"People in Illinois are not used to dealing with this,” Mooney said. “We’re not used to having to think fairly deeply about significant policy issues. We just don’t do it here.”
The debate goes beyond partisan polarization to a larger issue of trust in government in a state with a long history of political scandal, in addition to traditional public wariness of taxes. Those issues are exacerbated by a climate of institutional and economic uncertainty due to a pandemic that has disrupted lives, jobs and paychecks.
Fueling the debate on each side are major infusions of cash from billionaires, organized labor and business groups.
[ Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s graduated-rate income tax: Here’s what you need to know ]
The proposed amendment is the signature agenda item of Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, worth an estimated $3.4 billion, according to Forbes, and is also backed by a funding arm of the billionaire founder of eBay. Opposing the amendment is Citadel hedge-fund founder Ken Griffin, who’s worth $15 billion, according to Forbes. Pritzker and Griffin are spending tens of millions of dollars to promote their point of view.
Moving to a graduated-rate income tax could mean as much as $1.2 billion in new revenue this budget year for a spending plan that has seen its income decimated by the economic effects of COVID-19.
Ken Griffin, the founder and CEO of Citadel, is shown Nov. 5, 2014. Griffin is spending tens of millions of dollars to defeat the graduated-rate income tax amendment. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Pritzker has estimated a revenue loss of $6.5 billion this budget year and next and has helped to keep the spending plan solvent with $5 billion in federal borrowing. But there is uncertainty over how to pay it back as Washington remains stalemated over giving money to state and local governments.
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The income tax is the largest generator of money for state government, accounting for about half of its annual operating budget. On an annual basis, Pritzker predicted the new tax structure would generate about $3.4 billion prior to the pandemic’s effects on the economy.
To become part of the state constitution, the voting requirement is hefty. The proposal needs either 60% support among those voting directly on the ballot initiative or more than 50% of those voting in the election.
Of 22 proposed amendments submitted to voters since the 1970 state constitution was adopted, 14 were approved and eight were rejected. The last amendment ratified by voters was in 2016, when the so-called transportation lockbox was added to the constitution in an attempt to keep transportation construction dollars from being used to fund unrelated parts of government. It won support of 67.5% of those who voted.
[ Where to securely drop off your mail-in ballot in Chicago and the suburbs ]
Individual incomes in Illinois are now taxed at 4.95% regardless of the amount earned. The state income tax was instituted in 1969 at a rate of 2.5%, which held through 1982. The rate has fluctuated over the years, reaching a high of 5% from 2011 to 2014, falling to 3.75% between 2015 to June 30, 2017, and then coming up to the current rate.
Under a law adopted by the Democratic-led General Assembly last year, new rates would take effect on Jan. 1 if the amendment is ratified by voters.
Individual and joint filers would pay 4.75% on their first $10,000 in income, 4.9% on income over $10,000 to $100,000 and the current 4.95% rate on income from $100,001 to $250,000.
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At that point, the income ranges and tax diverge for individuals and people filing jointly. Individuals would pay 7.75% on income between $250,001 to $350,000 and 7.85% on income from $350,001 to $750,000. Joint filers would pay 7.75% on income between $250,001 and $500,000 and 7.85% on income between $500,001 to $1 million.
Individuals making more than $750,001 or married couples earning more than $1 million would see their entire income taxed at 7.99%.
The corporate tax rate, currently at 7%, would rise to 7.99%. Corporations also pay a personal property replacement tax of 2.5%, which is basically added onto their income tax liability.
Pritzker’s office and amendment supporters have estimated that 97% of the state’s 6.2 million tax filers would pay the same amount or less than they pay now under a graduated-rate system. Most of the increase in revenue would be paid by the 0.3% of taxpayers who bring in more than $1 million in net income.
Among the 41 states that levy an income tax, Illinois is one of nine with a flat tax, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators. Federal income taxes in Illinois and the rest of the country are paid through a graduated-rate system.
The amendment is backed by two groups with similar-sounding names: Vote Yes for Fairness and Vote Yes for Fair Tax.
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Pritzker has given $56.5 million to Vote Yes for Fairness, which is the main on-air advertiser on behalf of the amendment. It is run by Quentin Fulks, a deputy manager for Pritzker’s successful 2018 run for governor.
Vote Yes for Fair Tax, with a focus on organization, is led by John Bouman, who formerly headed the Sargent Shriver National Poverty Law Center, which also has backed the proposed amendment.
The group is heavily backed by labor, with $250,000 in funding from the American Federation of Teachers and $100,000 from the National Education Association. It also received $500,000 from the Omidyar Network, which calls itself a “philanthropic investment firm” and foundation started by Pierre Omidyar, the billionaire founder of eBay, and his wife, Pamela.
Opposing the amendment are groups including the Coalition to Stop the Proposed Tax Hike Amendment, which received $20 million from Griffin.
The organization has also received $100,000 apiece from Jay Bergman, president of Hinsdale-based Petco Petroleum Corp; Craig Duchossois, who runs the diversified Duchossois Group; MacNeil Automotive Products of Bolingbrook, which produces WeatherTech products; Richard Uihlein, a nationally conservative megadonor from Lake Forest who owns the Uline office supply company; and Muneer Satter, who started and manages his own investment firm.
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Another opposition group, Say No to More Taxes, was formed last month, funded by $300,000 from the Illinois Opportunity Project, a conservative tax-exempt organization that does not have to disclose its donors. It has connections with Illinois Policy Action, one of several other conservative opposition groups that do not have to disclose their funding along with the Illinois Business Alliance and Illinois Rising Action.
[ Want to vote by mail in Illinois? Here’s how. ]
The messaging by the pro and con groups has stepped up closer to the election, particularly through TV ads, mailings and phone calls. Vote Yes for Fairness has spent $5.5 million on TV since Aug. 20, while the stop coalition has spent $5.1 million since Aug. 28, according to an industry source.
The messages from both sides don’t always tell the whole truth.
A Better Government Association study found that supporters overstated things when they said Illinois was an outlier because in almost every state with an income tax, wealthy people pay a higher tax rate than the middle class. In fact, nearly half of states with an income tax don’t charge higher rates on the wealthy, including some with a graduated rate system.
More recently, the coalition against the amendment has been airing ads leaving out some critical context. In one, Phyllis Barklow, identified as a retired community volunteer from Park Ridge, warns that the proposal would give politicians new “powers to increase income taxes on anyone, including retirees.”
But Illinois is one of three states that does not tax retirement income, and the amendment’s adoption would not change that. Even the AARP’s Illinois arm, a supporter of the amendment, said the proposal would not affect the state’s ban on taxing retirement income, including Social Security, pensions, 401(k)s, and IRAs.
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The opposition group also has been warning that the amendment does not include voter approval of new tax rates, leaving it up to politicians to decide them. But that is already the case in Illinois, where tax rates have never been part of the constitution.
One critical difference with a flat tax, though, is that any increase approved by politicians would affect all Illinois taxpayers, regardless of income, making a tax hike more difficult politically. Under a graduated-rate tax system, lawmakers could change rates on specific income categories — potentially making them less subject to any political backlash by targeting less politically influential groups.
Still, the opposition’s attacks have forced Yes for Fairness into a defensive posture in recent weeks. Rather than singularly promoting an altruistic message like the one that asked if it was fair for first responders to pay the same tax rate as millionaires and billionaires, the group is now engaged in its own form of truth squadding the anti-amendment forces.
Each side has come out with its own studies to buttress its arguments.
The Illinois Chamber of Commerce released a study from a consulting firm that warned approval of the amendment would cost jobs, send higher incomes out of state and hurt women and minorities because it would reduce employment in industries like restaurants and health care. The pro-amendment group cited studies that showed the opposite.
And on Thursday, Yes for Fairness promoted a study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank, that said it found the long term effects of the flat tax over the past two decades deepened economic disparity, significantly impacting minority populations.
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Ultimately, though, the amendment’s fate will likely be tied to voters’ views of Illinois, its politics and their own economic situation.
The federal investigation into a bribery scheme involving ComEd, which admitted providing jobs and contracts in an effort to curry favor with veteran Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, has added to Democratic concerns about voter attitudes toward the amendment.
Pritzker has said the bribery scheme added to voter cynicism about government but said he believed voters could separate those feelings from support for his amendment proposal.
Mooney, the political scientist, said Pritzker’s support for the proposal is a “powerful argument when you’ve got a billionaire out saying ‘it’s not fair’ that he’s paying the same tax rate as a lower-income person.”
But he said opponents may be finding it easier to “manipulate people’s points of view.”
“It’s taxes and nobody likes taxes. You can throw up smoke and raise fear and fear is a powerful emotion and it’s far more powerful than that of altruism or hope on the other side in trying to make a sort of high-minded fairness argument. It’s not as gut level,” Mooney said. “It’s hard to evoke emotions that counter fear.”
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rap30@aol.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-18--Whether a restaurant survives the pandemic could depend on an uneasy dance with the landlord

“ There are going to be tenants that lose their spaces and very harshly lose their livelihood , ” Vance @ @ @ @ @ s going to be landlords that may never really recover from this .
If they @ @ @ @ @ asset without losing their home , that may be a win .
That ’ s @ @ @ @ @ sad .
Then what ’ s going to happen when COVID is over is , @ @ @ @ @ this thing should be smarter and stronger .
”

Albert M. Friedman, chairman and CEO of Friedman Properties, stands in front of Nonnina restaurant, 340 N. Clark St., on Sept. 18, 2020. Friedman likened the current restaurant landscape to an episode of “The Twilight Zone,” except to note that it’s really happening. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Restaurants, their receipts less than a third of what they customarily would take in, are unable to pay rent. Landlords, with mortgages and property-tax bills due, can’t survive without income.
Since the coronavirus pandemic hit, resulting in the forced closure six months ago of restaurants and bars throughout the state, Chicago-area restaurateurs and landlords have been forced into an uneasy dance, as both camps fight for economic survival.
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It’s a give-and-take struggle that will last months more, maybe into next summer.
Partners Allan Perales and David Goldberg, whose GoldStreet Partners brokerage matches landlords to restaurant tenants, from big brands such as P.F. Chang’s to single-operator restaurants such as Tzuco and Galit, see the issue from both sides.
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[ Italian restaurant Nonnina faced closing until it struck a creative partnership with the landlord ]
“We’re seeing a lot of panic from the landlord and tenant perspectives,” Perales said. “It’s been a rough four-five months, and nobody’s winning right now. The greatest fear a landlord has is that their restaurant tenants aren’t able to pay rent. That could result in losing ownership of the building altogether, having it go back to the bank or to investors.”
And so, often with little choice, landlords are willing to deal. But how?
“There definitely is no one blanket negotiation,” Goldberg said. “It’s case by case, tenant by tenant. When we try to negotiate, we hope for a win-win, but there are different economic constraints on both sides.”
For restaurants, the constraints are obvious. The government shutdown kept them dark for months, after which they were permitted to serve only outdoors (though not all restaurants had that option), and later allowed to serve indoors at no more than 25% capacity. Income plummeted.
For landlords, the difficulty varies.
“The truth is that not all landlords are in the same position,” Perales said. “Depending on the loan you have, some landlords are dealing with their lenders, and some lenders won’t even speak to them. I’ve talked to some whose lenders won’t give them any relief. In the next six months, we’re going to see a lot of those landlords going into default.”
[ Here’s our running list of Chicago restaurants and bars to close permanently due to COVID-19 ]
What can be viewed as inflexibility by landlords, Perales said, may be a matter of limited financial options. “Tenants need to see the landlords’ perspective,” he said, “and landlords need to see their tenants’ perspective in order to work together.”
For those landlords who can and will be flexible, there are several ways to ease a restaurant tenant’s burden. First is abatement, in which the landlord agrees to waive rent entirely for several months. “Just forgiving rent is very rare,” Perales said.
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Then there’s partial abatement, in which months of unpaid rent are added to the end of the lease, extending the lease and keeping alive the hope that the money will be paid eventually. A third option is renegotiating the terms of the lease, often setting the rent as a percentage of the restaurant’s gross sales.
“If you can get to that deal, when the landlord is willing to do it, it’s the best option, really,” Perales said. “As sales go up, landlords make more money, but if they go down, it’s nice to say the rent is whatever percentage of sales. Sometimes it’s a pure percentage, or sometimes the landlord will say, ‘I can do that, but at a minimum, you’ve got to cover my real estate taxes and operating expenses.’”
Albert M. Friedman is chairman and CEO of Friedman Properties, which owns and manages more than 50 properties, totaling some 5 million square feet, most of it in the River North area. Chicago magazine once called him the “mayor of River North.”
“And I’ve apologized to every mayor thereafter,” Friedman said.
[ Southport Lanes has been a speak-easy, brothel, gambling den and bowling alley. One thing the Lakeview institution is not: A COVID-19 survivor. ]
Friedman likened the current restaurant landscape to an episode of “The Twilight Zone,” except to note that it’s really happening.
“You have the pandemic on one hand, the economy significantly impacted, and then civil unrest,” he said. “It’s a perfect storm. The smartest, most hard-working person couldn’t possibly be prepared for all this. You know about counting sheep? The other night, I started counting (restaurant clients), and it was 60. Out of necessity, we had to come up with a solution.”
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“One size doesn’t fit all,” Friedman said. “A mom-and-pop is different than a national tenant. Lunch is probably the toughest sell across the board — that’s not coming back until the office workers do. In the theater district, what do you expect to happen down there?
“So we worked on a program where we tried to understand each exact individual case,” he said. “What was their need? Where was their soft spot? We have two full-time people documenting, analyzing, to understand each situation.”
This has led to some creative solutions, including a recent deal with Nonnina restaurant, owned by Tony Priolo (who also owns Piccolo Sogno and Maillard Tavern). In return for a partial ownership stake (unspecified), Friedman Properties is keeping the Italian restaurant afloat and even investing funds into new furniture and an air-purifying filtration system.
Other arrangements are less involved.
[ From 79,000 jobs lost to 48,000 cups of milk tea delivered, the numbers show coronavirus pandemic has affected Chicago dining six months in ]
“We’ve worked out formulas that relate to a percentage of (the restaurant’s) sales,” Friedman said. “Sometimes it’s a base against a percentage. But as long as you’re willing to work with us, a quid pro quo, so there’s something the landlord ultimately will get for kindness paid at this time — if you lose a tenant, do you think that’s smart? That doesn’t make sense.”
For Howard Adelstein, vice president of Dynaprop Development Corp., the numbers are different. “We’re not a big player,” said Adelstein. “We have three properties. One of them has one restaurant tenant, another has two and the South Loop property (Pointe 1900) is heavily retail with five restaurants. This plays strongly into how we can manage issues. A property that’s strictly restaurant space is difficult; having a building with other offices helps us weather it.
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“We learned a lot from the last recession, about being well-capitalized and better prepared for a turndown or event,” Adelstein said. “Fortunately, when this hit, we were in a better position than some guys were. Having said that, that only goes so far; expenses don’t go away, real-estate taxes are a huge liability and they don’t go down. And of course mortgage and interest expenses.
“Our initial thought was, ‘everybody’s gonna take a hit, everybody will have to suffer costs to a certain extent.’ Those (restaurants) aren’t in this for something they did wrong. This is something they didn’t ask for.”
Gino Battaglia stands outside Brindille restaurant and Blue Chicago in the 500 block of North Clark Street on Sept. 18, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Gino Battaglia has been in the restaurant business, as a manager, bar owner and landlord, for some 50 years, and owns more than two dozen properties in Chicago, with a concentration in Humboldt Park. He also owns Blue Chicago (which has been closed since the state shutdown) and is landlord to adjacent property Brindille restaurant; chef/partner Carrie Nahabedian credits Battaglia’s flexibility as key to Brindille’s ability to reopen.
When chef/restaurateurs Jason Vincent and Jason Hammel hosted the now-famous, invitation-only chefs summit on March 14, when dozens of chefs shared thoughts on how to survive the newly arrived pandemic, Battaglia was there.
“The first thing I recommended is that all of them start dialogues with your landlord,” he said. “Work together. And that’s what we did. We were completely transparent with our tenants — our mortgage obligations, taxes, insurance and maintenance costs. Real estate taxes are really, really high; the building where Brindille is, those taxes are $60,000 a year. My wife and I mortgaged our house to make up for shortfalls and meet our obligations. We’re paying rent out of savings, paying employees out of savings.”
A restaurant’s location can make a big difference in its situation. Areas facing the biggest disruption from coronavirus-related bar and restaurant closures are the Loop, River North and the Fulton Market district, real estate experts say. All are high-density, high-rent areas feeling the effects of other sectors of the economy that have been hit hard: offices, tourism, entertainment and shopping.
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“Those are the trade areas that have large, sophisticated landlords matched with large, sophisticated restaurant operators,” said retail broker John Vance, a principal at Stone Real Estate. “They’ll have to figure out the next 12 to 18 months to survive this thing.”
Even the biggest real estate investors typically have mortgages to pay, though, which has led to three-way negotiations for rent relief.
“Then you get into a love triangle: tenant, landlord and lender,” Vance said. “I don’t think any lender needs to be educated about what is going on. Lenders are more open to that conversation now. But it will still be a balanced conversation, with the lender wanting to see financials so they can understand the situation.”
Well-capitalized restaurant investors and landlords are best equipped to upgrade their spaces, such as creating covered and heated outdoor areas for the upcoming winter, Vance said. But with revenues way down, it’s difficult to justify pouring more dollars into existing bars and restaurants.
“Restaurants don’t have that money right now, and restaurant investors are wary of making that kind of investment,” Vance said. “That property owner has to be large enough to invest in an existing tenant.”
Large numbers of restaurants and bars are expected to close their doors for good, which may contribute to a slow economic recovery and a yearslong effort to fill vacant storefronts. Those that survive may do so with an altered business model, experts say.
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“There are going to be tenants that lose their spaces and very harshly lose their livelihood,” Vance said. “There’s going to be landlords that may never really recover from this. If they can get out of an asset without losing their home, that may be a win. That’s cold and hard and really sad. Then what’s going to happen when COVID is over is, the people who somehow survived this thing should be smarter and stronger.”
Scott Harris, who owns Francesca’s restaurants all over the city and suburbs, said he’s doing fairly well in the suburbs, where he’s back to paying full rent, and hanging on in the city, where he renegotiated leases based on a percentage of gross sales.
“Most of our landlords have been as nice as could be,” he said. “Only two of 26 have been completely awful. Some people just want their money; they don’t care about anybody but themselves.”
Harris did close his two Taylor Street restaurants, Francesca’s on Taylor and Davanti Enoteca, but said both closings were inevitable.
“COVID was the final nail in the coffin, but, honestly, that street has been hurting for years,” he said. “Ever since Fulton Market and Randolph Street. We used to get all that business after Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Sox games, but that street’s over.”
Harsh as it sounds, there are circumstances in which a landlord would rather lose a tenant than offer assistance.
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“There are businesses and restaurants sitting on what’s perceived as a site for future development,” Goldberg said. “If you have a tenant paying very low rent, that makes the property harder to sell. Or if your tenant is paying a below-market rent, you might want to get that tenant out, if you think the market will be better in two years.”
Neal Neumann on April 9, 2020, opens the window of Bar Biscay, which converted into a bodega in the early weeks of the pandemic to adapt to economic conditions. But the Chicago restaurant closed after a dispute with its landlord, and is now in litigation. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Already, restaurants such as Bar Biscay have closed, and La Sardine decided not to reopen as a result of landlord disputes. (Bar Biscay’s owners and landlord are in litigation.) Battaglia has a dispute, also in litigation, with a tenant who moved out of a property; Battaglia’s suit alleges unpaid rent and damage to property.
“It’s expensive to lose a tenant,” Goldberg said. “The typical downtime on a restaurant space, even a great space, is nine to 12 months minimum. It takes 30 days to hire a broker, market it, than another 30 to 60 to do lease negotiations, 45 for architect blueprints, and another 60 to review and approve. And that’s if you found a new tenant right away. You could be talking a year, two years to replace a tenant, and the new tenant will want a few months’ rent free while working out the kinks. That makes it very difficult to let a restaurant go.”
Finding a restaurant to replace a departed tenant presents a problem for another reason: There are fewer of them.
In Fulton Market, the meatpacking and food distribution hub that has transformed into a mix of corporate offices, residential towers, hotels and retail, restaurant rents in some spaces have more than doubled over the past five years, said commercial real estate broker and property owner Scott Maesel.
“If somebody opened a restaurant in the last two to three years, they’re probably paying north of $50 or $60 per square foot,” said Maesel, managing director at SVN Chicago. “If your volumes are down, the rent alone is not sustainable.”
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Blackbird restaurant, shown June 29, 2020, closed after 22 years. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Boka Restaurant Group, whose Fulton Market restaurants include Girl & The Goat, Momotaro and Swift & Sons, laid off about 275 employees in August. Nearby One Off Hospitality’s Blackbird shut down after more than 22 years. La Sardine had operated that long as well.
“It shows that anybody, unfortunately, is susceptible to taking a big hit,” Maesel said. “This is the first hiccup or challenge the neighborhood has seen. The neighborhood has been on steroids, and now some of the wind has been let out of the sails.”
Many property owners who bought at peak prices have large mortgages to pay off, limiting their flexibility to renegotiate lease terms. But letting the space go vacant could create even bigger challenges.
“Who’s the next restaurant to fill that space?” Maesel said. “We’re advising our clients to work with their tenants, because there are fewer tenants out there right now.”
Future leases, Perales and Goldberg said, also are likely to contain provisions to guard against another pandemic.
“We’re seeing some leases now including pandemic language, adding provisions for riots, and figuring out an alternate rent structure ahead of time,” Perales said. “And when rent is a percentage of sales, saying to landlords, ‘well, yeah, but carve out delivery sales.’
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“We’d never thought of that before,” Goldberg said. “If you’re paying 30% for (third-party) delivery, you don’t want to give another 5 to 8% to the landlord. Every new solution creates a new set of problems.”
Friedman praised the city’s efforts to lend a hand by allowing street and alley closures to create more outdoor dining space, and by waiving fees and easing the regulatory hurdles for new outdoor spaces. These changes would never have been considered a couple of years ago, said downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd.
“We tried it at Bellevue and Rush in the Gold Coast,” Reilly said. “Turns out it’s incredibly popular, not just with the patrons but with the neighbors. We took down four blocks of Clark Street for outdoor dining, and it’s been very successful. It’s helping those guys stay afloat. We’re shutting down Kinzie Street in River North for the same kind of program.”
Reilly also is advocating for more flexible regulations governing bars and restaurants, such as expanding liquor-serving hours and increasing the level of indoor seating allowed.
“Whenever I can give these guys a little bit of aid here and there, we’re doing it,” he said. “The city does not have the resources to provide grants or loans to these businesses. That’s where the feds have to come in. What we can do, as a matter of policy, is to be flexible and lenient.”
“The key is, how long does this need to continue?” Friedman said. “If it’s 30, 60, 90 days, that’s not bad. If it lasts much longer than late spring of next year, there will be no way to save this economy. We’re going to see a large number of restaurants close that will never reopen. So many people will be laid off — think how important the hospitality industry is.”
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Friedman remains hopeful that federal assistance will arrive sooner rather than later.
“The government will come back with a round of financial help,” he predicted. “They have to; it’s critical. Probably around the election, because everybody wants to look like they’re being helpful then.”
pvettel@chicagotribune.com
rori@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-18--Relatives gather for Dajore Wilson funeral: ‘She brought joy and happiness to everyone she encounter

Relatives gather for Dajore Wilson funeral: ‘She brought joy and happiness to everyone she encountered’

At the front of the chapel , her white casket was surrounded by pink and white floral arrangements .
Some @ @ @ @ @ in the shapes of hearts , all in pink and white and red , roses @ @ @ @ @ .

The clear casket carrying the body of 8-year-old shooting victim DaJore Wilson is carried out of Abundant Living Christian Center in Dolton after her funeral on Sept. 18, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Relatives gathered Friday morning to mourn DaJore Wilson at Abundant Living Christian Center in Dolton.
She was shot to death in Canaryville on Labor Day. She would have turned 9 just before Thanksgiving.
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Mourners were handed a brief program in shades of pink that read:
Our precious angel DaJore loved fashion, her baby dolls, school and most importantly her family.
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More than 100 people gathered inside for the private ceremony. Mourners wore pink masks and T-shirts, or white shirts bearing a photo of the girl. Relatives spoke of her youth and bemoaned continual gun violence.
At the front of the chapel, her white casket was surrounded by pink and white floral arrangements. Some were on easels, some in the shapes of hearts, all in pink and white and red, roses and carnations and spider mums.
DaJore attended George Dewey Elementary school. She brought joy and happiness to everyone she encountered. She was very shy but yet a diva.
After emotional remembrances, her clear casket was loaded into a hearse. Close family followed in large black passenger vans and others traveled behind them in a procession.
At the church, and later at the burial site, police parked and watched. Their presence is common during the last remembrances for homicide victims.
DaJore made her transition to glory on September 07, 2020. She is preceded in death by her grandfather … great grandmother ... and cousin.
When the hearse arrived at the cemetery in Homewood, a horse-drawn carriagewheeled toward the hearse. A young man chocked the wheels and relatives slid the casket into the white carriage.
Relatives followed behind, in cars and on foot.
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The carriage led the procession up a hill and deeper into the cemetery, where she would be buried.
She leaves to cherish her memory, her mother, Tracey Holmes; father, (D’Andre) Wilson; her twin brother, Damani, brothers, Drake and Dior …
pnickeas@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-18--City O’Hare debt document indicates COVID-19 could delay huge airport terminal revamp

The project is in the early stages , “ which has provided us the flexibility to stay on course and @ @ @ @ @ ” McGrath said .
“ On the contrary it has provided us some flexibility to @ @ @ @ @ efficient and economical way , as well as to assess longer-term impacts of the pandemic @ @ @ @ @

Overhead lighting is reflected on splatter guards at check-in counters for American Airlines in Terminal 3 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on July 31, 2020. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
The devastating impact of COVID-19 on the number of airline passengers using O’Hare International Airport could delay completion of the massive airport terminal modernization project, city officials acknowledge in a recent document.
While Lightfoot administration officials have said the $8.5 billion project is moving ahead in spite of the steep downturn in passengers and the revenue they generate to help fund the work, documents submitted this week to try to refinance airport debt show the city hedging its bets on the timing.
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“The city continues to assess COVID-19 and its potential effects on” the project, the document reads. It’s in “the early stages of design and the estimated completion date remains subject to change due to the impacts of COVID-19 or other economic and operational factors.”
Crain’s Chicago Business first reported on the possible delay.
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In a statement Friday, city Aviation Department spokesman Matt McGrath said the O’Hare project “is moving forward, period, full stop.”
“Any doubt about the City’s commitment to continuing to invest in O’Hare’s modernization and competitive position should be put to rest by the fact that we’re currently progressing with construction on three runways and a $1 billion expansion of Terminal 5,” McGrath said.
The project is in the early stages, “which has provided us the flexibility to stay on course and not make sudden decisions,” McGrath said. “On the contrary it has provided us some flexibility to move forward in a more efficient and economical way, as well as to assess longer-term impacts of the pandemic on traveler expectations.”
The city is counting on the airlines to help fund the expansion through passenger fees. But with flights canceled, jets grounded and passenger traffic plummeting because of the coronavirus, those funding sources have dropped.
The expansion will consist of a new Global Terminal and satellite concourses. The satellite concourses are being designed under the supervision of Studio Gang by Chicago architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
The airport already has started on a $1.2 billion expansion of Terminal 5, which by 2021 will have 10 new gates and 75% more space for passenger amenities.
Airport officials say the expansion is needed before major construction on the larger project can begin. The city also is working on the Runway 9R extension and finishing a new 11,245-foot east-west runway.
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter @_johnbyrne


chicagotribune--2020-09-18--Mayor Lori Lightfoot rips Chicago FOP president: ‘I don’t have a lot of good things to say about him

Mayor Lori Lightfoot rips Chicago FOP president: ‘I don’t have a lot of good things to say about him’

“ I ’ m not running in a personality contest here , so I really don ’ t care if @ @ @ @ @ .
I ’ m here to represent the members of this Police Department and that @ @ @ @ @ m going to continue to do , ” Catanzara said .
“ She has an @ @ @ @ @ just like I have an obligation to work with her , personality interests aside .
@ @ @ @ @ want to negotiate in the press but yet she certainly takes every opportunity she could @ @ @ @ @ jabs at the Police Department , trying to talk about everything from discipline to obviously @ @ @ @ @ of not replacing officers as they retire , which is absolutely ridiculous .
”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot talks about the city budget at the Cultural Center in Chicago on Aug. 31, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Amid ongoing contract talks with the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday again ripped union President John Catanzara while insisting that any deal must include enhanced police accountability measures.
“I don’t have a lot of good things to say about him in particular,” Lightfoot said. “But I care deeply about the men and women of the Chicago Police Department.”
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The FOP’s last contract expired at the end of June 2017. Lightfoot has offered the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police a 10% raise for thousands of rank-and-file cops over a four-year period — along with changes to how the city handles disciplinary issues involving allegations of misconduct.
Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7 President John Catanzara Jr. at his Chicago office on June 18, 2020. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Catanzara rejected the deal earlier this week and said he’d be making a new proposal soon, which he may try to take directly to the City Council. Any attempt at working around the mayor is unlikely to be successful, however, as the City Council historically looks to the city for guidance on labor contracts.
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Asked about the negotiations, Lightfoot said the city is committed to a fair deal but any agreement must include accountability and other department policy changes, she said, without getting into specifics.
“I’m not going to negotiate in the media,” Lightfoot said. “I think that that’s a mistake and it’s not what adults should be doing.”
When asked later Friday about the mayor’s comments, Catanzara reiterated his plans to appeal to the City Council and called on the public to pressure their aldermen about how they should take the police contract demands seriously. Catanzara also said that Lightfoot was in a way negotiating some portions of the contract in public, such as discipline and potential staffing levels.
“I’m not running in a personality contest here, so I really don’t care if she likes me or not. I’m here to represent the members of this Police Department and that’s what I’m going to continue to do,” Catanzara said. “She has an obligation to work with me just like I have an obligation to work with her, personality interests aside. And she doesn’t want to negotiate in the press but yet she certainly takes every opportunity she could over this summer to throw jabs at the Police Department, trying to talk about everything from discipline to obviously funding, now the possibility of not replacing officers as they retire, which is absolutely ridiculous.”
Lightfoot in July defended sending a series of insulting text messages to Catanzara in which she called him a “clown,” “fraud,” “cartoon character” and “liar.”
Lightfoot’s text messages to the FOP president mirrored a July 2019 controversy in which she was heard on a hot mic referring to the union’s then-vice president, Patrick Murray, as an “FOP clown.”
As Murray approached the microphone available for people to speak during public comment, Lightfoot was overheard on the dais saying, “Back again. This is this FOP clown.”
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She later acknowledged it was inappropriate for her “to say that out loud,” but wouldn’t apologize for the substance of the remark.
Lightfoot has had a rocky relationship with the FOP since becoming mayor in May 2019, particularly over police accountability measures. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot was head of the Chicago Police Board, the panel that rules on police discipline, and chaired Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Police Accountability Task Force, which suggested sweeping changes to Chicago’s policing practices.
At the same time, she has been criticized by activists who say she has been too friendly with law enforcement.
gpratt@chicagotribune.com
jgorner@chicagotribune.com


Corrections and clarifications

· A story in the Aug. 5 digital and Aug. 6 print editions referenced store addresses on East Oak Street @ @ @ @ @ rapper Carlton Weekly was killed in a shooting .
The addresses were from a police @ @ @ @ @ description should have been that the shooting occurred in front of a high-end clothing store @ @ @ @ @ East Oak Street .
In addition , a photo caption accompanying the story also should @ @ @ @ @ as the first block of East Oak Street .

· A story in the Aug. 5 digital and Aug. 6 print editions referenced store addresses on East Oak Street in describing the scene where rapper Carlton Weekly was killed in a shooting. The addresses were from a police report, but the scene description should have been that the shooting occurred in front of a high-end clothing store in the first block of East Oak Street. In addition, a photo caption accompanying the story also should have referred to the location as the first block of East Oak Street.
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Publishing information quickly and accurately is a central part of the Chicago Tribune’s news responsibility and a value shared in all our publications. Our editorial code of principles governs professional behavior and journalism standards. Everyone in our newsroom must agree to live up to this code of conduct. Download the file.
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chicagotribune--2020-09-18--Rapper made ‘derogatory’ video about rival gang members before he was killed. Now Chicago police are

Rapper made ‘derogatory’ video about rival gang members before he was killed. Now Chicago police are bracing for the retaliation.

Weekly was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital , where he was pronounced dead .
His girlfriend , who told police @ @ @ @ @ parked car , was shot twice in the left wrist .
She was taken to @ @ @ @ @ , where she was stabilized .
A 36-year-old man was hit in the back and @ @ @ @ @ in serious condition .

Rosemary Sobol, Jeremy Gorner, Peter Nickeas, Gregory Pratt

LaSheena Weekly, second from left, marches with others down a sidewalk in the Gold Coast after holding a press conference about the death of her son, Carlton Weekly, 26, who performed under the name FBG Duck. Weekly asked for there to be no retaliation shootings after her son was killed in the downtown location earlier in the week. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago police were bracing for retaliation shootings on the South Side after a rapper was killed in a brazen Gold Coast attack, possibly because he had recently made a video featuring “derogatory statements” about rival gang members who have died.
Carlton Weekly, 26, who performed under the name FBG Duck, was a member of a Gangster Disciples faction that has been involved in a fierce feud with the Black Disciples on the South Side, according to police.
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Officers in at least four police districts — Wentworth, Grand Crossing, Gresham and Englewood — have been warned to use “extreme caution” because of the “high probability of further violence,” according to an advisory issued by the department.
“Intelligence suggests that both these gangs are in possession of large caliber and high capacity firearms,” it adds.
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The neighborhood where Weekly’s gang faction operates was described as a “high threat level conflict” area. It is roughly bordered by 58th and 66th streets, and St. Lawrence and Calumet avenues.
Weekly was shot Tuesday afternoon while standing in line in front of a high-end clothing store in the first block of East Oak Street, according to police. His family said he had four children under the age of 10.
Two cars, a dark Ford Fusion and a gray Chrysler 300, pulled up and four gunmen jumped out and opened fire about 4:30 p.m., police said.
Weekly was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His girlfriend, who told police she was waiting in a parked car, was shot twice in the left wrist. She was taken to Amita Health St. Joseph Hospital, where she was stabilized. A 36-year-old man was hit in the back and leg and taken to Northwestern in serious condition.
People look on as Chicago police investigate a shooting in the first block of East Oak Street in the Gold Coast neighborhood on Aug. 4, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Weekly’s family described him as a talented musician with a “big heart” who struggled with violence and gang conflicts.
His older brother Jermaine Robinson was shot and killed in a double homicide in Woodlawn on the South Side in 2017, according to police and Weekly’s Apple Music biography. Robinson was also a rapper who performed under the name FBG Brick.
The biography describes other violence in Weekly’s life: “He was stabbed by a girlfriend and (had) multiple rivalries with other gangs and rappers.”
Weekly’s mother LaSheena Weekly declined to comment Wednesday afternoon, except to say, “My son was a legend.”
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His aunt, Sherrie Weekly, was driving from her home in South Bend, Indiana, to be with LaSheena Weekly. “The world lost a good man. He had a big heart and he loved his family and friends,’' Sherrie Weekly said. “He would help anybody. He was truly a good person.’'
Her nephew had several siblings, three of whom have died — including Robinson — and five who live in the Chicago area. He leaves a daughter and three sons. “He was just talented. He had so much to give. He touched so many people’s hearts.’'
But Mayor Lori Lightfoot described Weekly as someone who “fancies himself a rapper but is also a member of a gang.” She said he had been “livestreaming his travels through the city and he was found.”
“What we’re seeing is a manifestation of a larger problem, which is that way too many young men, and particularly young men of color, have access to guns and are willing to use those guns to settle petty grievances,” Lightfoot said. “There’s been an ongoing conflict between his gang and another.”
Weekly had recently made a rap video “where he made derogatory statements toward deceased members of the Black Disciples,” a rival gang, according to the department advisory.
Among those insulted in the video was Odee Perry, namesake of the O-Block faction of the Black Disciples. Weekly belonged to the Tookaville faction of the rival Gangster Disciples, named for a young man killed in the same conflict not long before Perry, according to police.
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If Weekly were killed in retaliation, it would be the latest instance of gang violence linked to rap music in Chicago. While many videos on social media depict Chicago’s street violence and include online threats, documenting a link between a video and a shooting is not as common.
In 2012, Joseph Coleman, an 18-year-old rapper who went by the name “Lil JoJo,” was shot and killed in the Englewood neighborhood. Chicago police investigated whether a war of words between Coleman and other rappers through music or social media led to his killing.
Among his rivals was rap star Chief Keef, who was accused of taunting Coleman in a tweet in the hours after his death. Chief Keef claimed, though, that his Twitter account had been hacked.
In 2015, rapper Young Pappy, whose real name was Shaquon Thomas, was gunned down in the Uptown neighborhood, a week after a video posted online showed him making fun of a rival gang while pretending to hold a gun in his hands.
The 20-year-old Thomas was allegedly part of a Gangster Disciples faction that had been feuding with another of the gang’s factions on the North Side. Prior to his death, Chicago police said Thomas was a target in at least two other shootings in the Rogers Park neighborhood that left two people dead, including a 17-year-old boy at a McDonald’s restaurant and a photographer who was waiting for a bus.
In 2017, a South Side rapper Shootashellz, whose real name was Cedron Doles, was gunned down after taunting gang rivals, some of them already dead, with his rap lyrics. Doles’ death in the Auburn Gresham community ended up being part of an investigation by Chicago police and the FBI into an internal gang conflict within the Black P Stones.
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Chicago Tribune’s Paige Fry contributed.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to revise the location of the shooting.
rsobol@chicagotribune.com
jgorner@chicagotribune.com
pnickeas@chicagotribune.com
gpratt@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-18--McCook police chief indicted in extortion scheme that brought down mayor

Tobolski also admitted in the plea that he extorted or collected bribes with at least four other people by abusing @ @ @ @ @ or county commissioner .
The amount of bribes he collected totaled at least $ 250,000 @ @ @ @ @ not spell out how many victims were involved .

The chief of police in west suburban McCook has been charged in a federal indictment alleging he participated in an extortion scheme that took down his onetime boss in the town, former Mayor Jeffrey Tobolski.
Mario DePasquale, 47, who has served as the McCook’s police chief since 2013, was charged with extortion conspiracy in an indictment made public Friday in U.S. District Court.
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DePasquale could not immediately be reached for comment, and no attorney was listed for him on the court docket.
Calls and emails to McCook village administrators were not immediately returned.
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The four-count indictment alleged DePasquale conspired with Tobolski beginning in 2016 to shake down a business owner who ran a restaurant at a McCook-owned facility and needed the mayor’s approval to host events with liquor. At the time, Tobolski doubled as McCook’s liquor commissioner.
The charges stated DePasquale demanded the restaurant owner — identified only as Individual A — pay $1,500 in bribes for each “themed event” that he wanted to host. DePasquale later picked up the money in person, and he and Tobolski split the cash, according to the indictment.
DePasquale also told the restaurant owner he had to donate to Tobolski’s political campaign funds, which the victim did on multiple occasions, according to the charges.
Tobolski, who stepped down from his dual posts as mayor and Cook County commissioner earlier this year, has pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme and is cooperating with prosecutors in a bid for leniency. Tobolski admitted in a plea agreement that he collected $29,700 in cash from the extortion plot.
Tobolski also admitted in the plea that he extorted or collected bribes with at least four other people by abusing his official position as mayor or county commissioner. The amount of bribes he collected totaled at least $250,000, though the plea does not spell out how many victims were involved.
DePasquale has been under a cloud since his name appeared on a search warrant executed by federal agents at the McCook village facility in September 2019.
Mario DePasquale
The raid was part of a sweeping public corruption probe that has led to a slew of charges against Democratic lawmakers and power players, including ex-state Sen. Martin Sandoval and Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta.
While the charges against DePasquale and Tobolski don’t identify the restaurant involved in the extortion scheme, federal records from the Sept. 26 raid in McCook shows authorities seized checks related to the “Pub Max project” and items related to an event dubbed “Latino Night at the Max.”
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The Pub at the Max restaurant was part of the McCook Athletic & Exposition Center facility until it closed in 2018 and was replaced with another eatery.
According to a bio on the McCook website, DePasquale began his law enforcement career in the nearby suburb of Oakbrook Terrace in 1997. He was hired by the McCook Police Department in 2003 and was promoted to sergeant three years later.
Tobolski selected DePasquale as chief in 2013.
DePasquale graduated Morton West High School in Berwyn, according to the bio. He attended Culver-Stockton College in Missouri, where he was on the baseball team and received a degree in criminal justice and sociology.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-09-18--FBI seeks woman dubbed ‘serial bank robber’ after 4 heists in Chicago, Summit

An FBI photo of a woman who has held up at least three banks on Chicago 's Southwest Side and @ @ @ @ @ to the FBI .

The FBI is asking for the public’s help identifying a woman suspected of robbing several banks in the area, including one Thursday on the city’s Southwest Side.
The robber was described as a Black woman between the ages of 25 and 35 who wears a surgical mask during the robberies, the FBI said.
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She was last seen wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt, a Chicago Bears hat, blue jeans, a blue button-down shirt and a black hair covering. She implies she is carrying a weapon and requests money via a note.
An FBI photo of a woman who has held up at least three banks on Chicago's Southwest Side and one in Summit, according to the FBI. (Chicago FBI)
She is believed to be responsible for at least four bank robberies in the area including:
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Sept. 17 shortly after 4:30 p.m. at Fifth-Third Bank, 5240 W. 63rd St.
Sept. 11 shortly after 2:35 p.m. at Royal Bank, 2740 W. 55th St.
Aug. 28 shortly before 1 p.m. at Peoples Bank branch, 6162 S. Archer Ave.
Aug. 13 shortly before 4:45 p.m. at Fifth-Third Bank branch, 5640 S. Harlem Ave. in Summit
Anyone with information about the robberies or robber should contact the FBI Chicago office at 312-421-6700.
dawilliams@chicagotribune.com