chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Mayor Lori Lightfoot: Chicago’s coronavirus budget shortfall at least $700 million

It ’ s unclear how much of the gap could be closed by an influx of $ 1.1 billion in @ @ @ @ @ About 54 % of the CARES Act money — $ 613 million — has to @ @ @ @ @ while the city has more discretion to spend the other 46 % as it chooses @ @ @ @ @ be spent on COVID-19-related duties , however .

For months, Mayor Lori Lightfoot declined to say how big of an impact the coronavirus was having on Chicago’s budget.
But on Tuesday, she announced that taxpayers face a shortfall of at least $700 million due to COVID-19, throwing the city’s precariously balanced spending plan out of whack.
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“That’s a sobering number, and it presents a sobering challenge, any way you look at it,” she said.
City Hall estimated a $175 million revenue loss in March and April as the statewide stay-at-home order was in full force and the local economy tanked. Amusement, hotel, parking and restaurant taxes dipped. McCormick Place’s convention business plummeted after a series of cancellations. The airports saw fewer flights. Lightfoot aides projected similar losses for May.
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To fill the hole in an $11.6 billion budget, the mayor said all options including property tax hikes and staff layoffs are on the table, though she hopes to deal with the problem without having to take such radical steps.
To start, Lightfoot said the city will attempt to use $100 million from refinancing debt earlier this year and will try to do more refinancing as well. She said the city will push off some projects and evaluate hiring priorities for 2020.
But, she said, the city needs to look at other options.
“Nothing about this moment is ordinary, and it will continue to require us to make some very difficult decisions,” Lightfoot said. “Our businesses have been suffering and many of our small businesses, unfortunately, have been forced to close.”
It’s unclear how much of the gap could be closed by an influx of $1.1 billion in federal CARES Act money. About 54% of the CARES Act money — $613 million — has to go toward specific expenses, while the city has more discretion to spend the other 46% as it chooses. The money has to be spent on COVID-19-related duties, however.
On Monday, Lightfoot administration officials said the city doesn’t have “imminent” borrowing plans and that the shortfall for 2021 could be more than $1 billion.
Complicating matters: The city is preparing for the possibility of a second surge in coronavirus cases later this year, which could further upend Chicago’s finances.
The city also is concerned about an uptick in cases due to protests and unrest following the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, Lightfoot said.
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Given the unprecedented scale of the economic dislocation caused by the pandemic, freshman North Side Ald. Andre Vasquez said the $700 million budget shortfall estimate sounded “a little conservative.”
“I expected the number to be north of a billion,” said Vasquez, 40th. “So I’ll be interested to hear more about where that estimate came from.”
Vasquez was among a group of progressive aldermen who pushed their own budget priorities last fall, and he called on the Lightfoot administration to consider some of those now.
He pointed to the city collecting payments in lieu of taxes from nonprofits that often receive tax exemptions. He also said it’s time to revisit a corporate head tax on some companies, while acknowledging the city would need to thread a needle on levying such a per-employee tax.
“So many businesses have taken such a huge hit during the pandemic, we would need to look closely at only taxing those that have managed to weather it or thrive,” Vasquez said.
Vasquez said he wouldn’t be surprised if Lightfoot resorts to the politically toxic property tax increase. “If that were the case, we would have to make sure people were still getting a high level of city services,” he said.
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Southwest Side Ald. Raymond Lopez, a frequent Lightfoot critic, called for the city to look inward instead of hiking taxes. He said the city should also consider legalizing video gambling to add a quick infusion of cash.
“Before anyone says even one word about cuts, increasing taxes or what have you, we really need to do a top-down true forensic zero-based budgeting for every department," said Lopez, 15th.
Far South Side Ald. Anthony Beale, another regular opponent of the mayor’s, said the mayor should have enacted a stiffer city hiring freeze months ago.
“Once again, we’re late,” said Beale, 9th.
West Side Ald. Jason Ervin, who chairs the City Council Black Caucus, said the city’s response to the budget hole will depend on where the shortfall is occurring.
“We need more detail on some of this, whether it comes in aviation, special events, some other area,” said Ervin, 28th.
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“But it seems like every year, city departments go through an exercise where they’re doing less and less and less in terms of services,” Ervin said. “So depending on the specifics, we may need to make some very painful decisions.”
Chicago is no stranger to yawning budget deficits. Indeed, several months after Lightfoot took office last year, she held a televised speech to announce predecessor Rahm Emanuel had left her with an $838 million shortfall.
She closed that gap without a large property tax increase, in part by trying to get $163 million more from federal authorities for the cost of ambulance rides by the Chicago Fire Department, money that has been slow to materialize.
She also hiked fees on Uber and Lyft rides downtown, doubled the tax on food and drinks bought in Chicago restaurants and pushed through an increase to the personal property lease tax on some computer leases of cloud software and cloud infrastructure.
And she relied on several one-time fixes, like a huge tax increment financing surplus, $215 million from debt refinancing and the elimination of vacant positions in city government.
Other recent examples of huge budget chasms include the 2012 shortfall, which Emanuel pegged at $636 million, a deficit he inherited from former Mayor Richard M. Daley. As the budget hole widened again heading into 2016, Emanuel got aldermen to approve $588 million in property tax increases, mainly to help fix the city’s underfunded pensions.
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gpratt@chicagotribune.com
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Reports of racist, anti-Semitic images involving students prompt response from Resurrection High Sch

Reports of racist, anti-Semitic images involving students prompt response from Resurrection High School

“ As a Catholic school , we are committed to encountering the Risen Lord in one another .
Racial , @ @ @ @ @ derogatory behavior prevent us from doing so , ” the school ’ s letter said @ @ @ @ @ pray that this becomes a moment of serious reflection for these students and a life @ @ @ @ @ .
”

Officials at an all-girls Catholic high school near Park Ridge are calling on the school community to “continue to fight racism” after images of students, described as racist and anti-Semitic, were recently reported to the school.
In a June 2 letter to parents that was also shared on the school’s website, Resurrection College Prep High School President Sister Donna Marie Wolowicki and Principal Richard J. Piwowarski wrote that the school earlier that day was made aware of images depicting two students engaging in behavior that contained racist and anti-Semitic images.
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The letter states that school officials “addressed (the behavior) with the students and families and have taken appropriate and necessary actions.”
Wolowicki declined to share what these actions were and if the students remained enrolled in the school. The school year ended on May 22.
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“As a Catholic school, we are committed to encountering the Risen Lord in one another. Racial, anti-Semitic and other types of derogatory behavior prevent us from doing so,” the school’s letter said. “We hope and pray that this becomes a moment of serious reflection for these students and a life lesson for all our students.”
Resurrection College Prep High School is located at 7500 W. Talcott Road in Chicago’s Norwood Park neighborhood. According to the school’s website, it has an enrollment of approximately 475 students from across the city of Chicago and suburbs.
jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Driver charged in fatal April crash in Burns Harbor

The Michigan City man who was the driver in an April wreck in Burns Harbor in which his passenger was @ @ @ @ @ cord wrapped several times around his arm like a tourniquet ” when rescuers extricated him @ @ @ @ @ wearing a home detention ankle monitor , according to court documents .

The Michigan City man who was the driver in an April wreck in Burns Harbor in which his passenger was killed had “a phone cord wrapped several times around his arm like a tourniquet” when rescuers extricated him from the car and was wearing a home detention ankle monitor, according to court documents.
Nicholus Wilke, 29, is charged with felony counts of operating while intoxicated causing death; possession of cocaine; and possession of a hypodermic needle; and misdemeanor counts of operating while intoxicated endangering a person and operating while intoxicated.
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The crash occurred around 11:19 a.m. on April 15 on U.S. 12 when Wilke, driving eastbound, swerved left of center and collided with a westbound semitruck, police said at the time.
His passenger, Courtney Deming, 25, of Michigan City, died at the scene. Wilke was transported to Methodist Hospital Northlake in Gary and later flown to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois, police said then.
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According to the charging documents, police found Wilke and Deming unconscious with shallow breathing when they were trapped inside a red 2014 Chevrolet Sonic.
The truck driver, who told police he wasn’t injured but was “just shook up,” said he got a load at the steel mill and was heading westbound when the Chevrolet came into his lane and crashed into his truck.
A witness told police that the Chevrolet had been swerving all over the road and speeding up and slowing down again before passing him at a high rate of speed in a no passing zone and hitting the truck.
Fire personnel extricating Wilke from the car found he was wearing a home detention ankle monitor, documents said, and first responders looking for Deming’s identification found a syringe with a reddish clear substance in it on the floor of the drivers’ side of the car, along with a plastic bag with a white powdery substance in it.
First responders also found a syringe underneath Deming on the passenger side seat, documents said.
The white powdery substance field tested positive for fentanyl, according to court documents.
Wilke is being held at Porter County Jail without bond, which is to be set at his initial court hearing, according to online court records. The case has been assigned to Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary DeBoer; no initial hearing had been scheduled as of Tuesday.
Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--When can Illinois move to phase 4 of reopening plan? Here’s where each region stands.

With each of the state ’ s four regions in Phase 3 of Gov .
J.B. Pritzker ’ s Restore @ @ @ @ @ starts on moving on to Phase 4 , where more businesses and activities are allowed @ @ @ @ @ Illinois — from restaurants and salons to open space to non-COVID-19 procedures at the hospital @ @ @ @ @ depends on a host of metrics laid out by Pritzker .

Chad Yoder, Nausheen Husain, Jennifer Smith Richards, Jonathon Berlin

With each of the state’s four regions in Phase 3 of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan, the clock starts on moving on to Phase 4, where more businesses and activities are allowed. The plan to reopen Illinois — from restaurants and salons to open space to non-COVID-19 procedures at the hospital to concerts and festivals — depends on a host of metrics laid out by Pritzker.
The metrics focus on a rolling average of positive coronavirus cases and hospitalizations to keep track of the direction of the outbreak as well as availability of hospital beds and ventilators that would be needed to handle a possible surge. There are also benchmarks for testing and tracing positive tests.
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
A key element of the plan is that a region can move both forward and backward, where more parts of society can open and shut depending on the seriousness of the outbreak.
Here is a breakdown of where each region stands.


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood

Search below by street address , ZIP code or city , then click on the map to see the number @ @ @ @ @ state is not providing data for any ZIP code with five cases or fewer .

Note: With Chicago and Illinois moving into phase 5, the Tribune is no longer updating this data. If the state moves back into bridge phase, the Tribune we reassess. Daily metrics on COVID-19, like cases, deaths and hospitalizations, can be found here. And Daily metrics on the vaccination effort can be found here. More on where the coronavirus stands nationally and around the world can be found here.
Illinois releases the number of positive COVID-19 cases by ZIP code daily. The map below shows the cumulative cases for each area as well as other analysis of the data.
• Check out the Tribune’s coronavirus coverage.
• Tracking daily Illinois coronavirus deaths, cases and tests.
Search below by street address, ZIP code or city, then click on the map to see the number of confirmed and probable cases. The state is not providing data for any ZIP code with five cases or fewer.
Data as of June 10.
The map search tool above works best in Chrome or Firefox and may not perform consistently in Internet Explorer.
Note: Because of a coding error this map was displaying the incorrect rates for new cases in the last 7 days per 100,000 people — the issue should now be resolved.. The Tribune adjusted the data shown on the map below to focus on new cases, those the state tracked in the last 7 seven days. The totals for the entire pandemic are still available, but in the pop-up after tapping or clicking on a ZIP.


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Tracking Illinois coronavirus: 6,018 deaths, 129,212 confirmed cases, 1.08 million tests,  8.96% pos

Tracking Illinois coronavirus: 6,018 deaths, 129,212 confirmed cases, 1.08 million tests,  8.96% positivity rate for Northeast region

As the coronavirus spreads and local , state and national governments work to contain and mitigate the outbreak , the @ @ @ @ @ .

Johns Hopkins University & Medicine tracked coronavirus cases, deaths and test totals from Jan. 22, 2020 through March 10, 2023, but is no longer providing this data. These charts will no longer be updated.
Check the Illinois Department of Public Health for the most up-to-date data for Illinois.
[ Remembering the lives of those in Illinois who died from coronavirus ]
Can’t see these charts? Go here.


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Top cop strips officer of police powers, moves him to administrative tasks following obscene gesture

Top cop strips officer of police powers, moves him to administrative tasks following obscene gesture at protesters

The image was taken by a photojournalist during a protest that started Thursday in Lincoln Park and was posted on @ @ @ @ @ Club Chicago .
In a Friday news conference , Lightfoot said she wanted the officer @ @ @ @ @ the decision rested with police Superintendent David Brown .
Brown chose to relieve the officer @ @ @ @ @ for conduct unbecoming ” of a sworn department employee , according to a police statement @

A Chicago cop who was called out by Mayor Lori Lightfoot after being photographed making an obscene gesture at protesters last week has been stripped of his police powers and moved to administrative tasks, according to the Police Department.
The image was taken by a photojournalist during a protest that started Thursday in Lincoln Park and was posted on social media and on Block Club Chicago. In a Friday news conference, Lightfoot said she wanted the officer to be fired, although the decision rested with police Superintendent David Brown. Brown chose to relieve the officer “of his police powers for conduct unbecoming” of a sworn department employee, according to a police statement.
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“The officer used a vulgar, offensive gesture directed at a member of the public while on duty and in uniform. The member will be limited to administrative duties,” it said.
Soon after the photograph was posted to Twitter, a response came from a verified Chicago police Twitter account saying the department had launched an investigation.
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“We do not tolerate misconduct of any kind,” it said.
Asked why the officer should be relieved of his police powers, while she herself used a code for vulgar language regarding President Donald Trump last week, Lightfoot said Tuesday that the circumstances were different.
“I think there’s a big difference. First of all, I’m a public official, and I coded my words,” Lightfoot said. “This officer is sworn to serve and protect the community, and in heated circumstance, no doubt. But he went against his training. And he brought shame to his department.”
The officer’s fate will be decided by the nine-member Chicago Police Board — the city panel, once headed by Lightfoot, that decides punishment in the most serious allegations of officer misconduct. But before the board hears such cases, an investigation must be completed by the Police Department’s bureau of internal affairs or the city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
It was not clear whether COPA’s investigation was complete or whether Brown made the choice to strip the officer of his powers prior to its completion.
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Hurricane season? With Cristobal here, 16 times remnants of Atlantic storms passed through Illinois

Here ’ s a look back at some of these low pressure systems in order of how much rain was @ @ @ @ @ s official recording site — from least to most — the dates they affected the @ @ @ @ @ reported by the Chicago Tribune :

Though Illinois is just about as far northwest that tropical storm remnants from the Atlantic Basin have traveled, Chicago has experienced heavy rain and flooding, strong winds and an occasional tornado from hurricane remnants at least 17 times since 1886.
Here’s a look back at some of these low pressure systems in order of how much rain was recorded at the city’s official recording site — from least to most — the dates they affected the area and how each was reported by the Chicago Tribune:


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Caregiver facing 20-40 years in death of 2-year-old; detective says home was ‘barren and filthy’

Gary Hanney , a witness said in a Porter County courtroom Tuesday , provided more care than his then-girlfriend ever @ @ @ @ @ children , though his frustration with being left with the children , described as “ @ @ @ @ @ met with men before going to work as a stripper likely led him to shake @ @ @ @ @ later died of her injuries .

Gary Hanney, a witness said in a Porter County courtroom Tuesday, provided more care than his then-girlfriend ever did for her three young children, though his frustration with being left with the children, described as “feral,” while she met with men before going to work as a stripper likely led him to shake the youngest child, who later died of her injuries.
Hanney, 32, was in court before Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer for sentencing after pleading guilty to a felony count of neglect of a dependent in the death of the girl, 2.
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Though Hanney won’t be sentenced until June 23 because witnesses he wanted to take the stand could not appear in court until then, Clymer directed Deputy Prosecutor Rebecca Buitendorp to go ahead with her witnesses, who painted a graphic account of the girl’s injuries and horrific details about her treatment and that of her older siblings.
Hanney’s plea agreement dismisses a felony count of aggravated battery; a felony count of neglect of a dependent; two felony battery counts; and a felony count of maintaining a common nuisance.
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He faces a sentence of 20 to 40 years. He must serve 75% of the sentence.
The girl, referred to in court as C.B., died of abusive head trauma, according to the plea.
The girl had extensive bruising on much of her body, including injuries to her head and neck, and internal injuries to her brain and eyes that were consistent with being shaken, Dr. Shannon Thompson, who works with the child investigation team at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, said.
Hanney’s claim that C.B was on the bed and when he sat down, she was “launched” onto the floor was not consistent with the girl’s injuries, she said.
Hanney and Tamika Conley, 26, who lived together in the 1400 block of Camelot Manor at the time of the child’s death in July 2017, faced similar charges.
Conley, who remains in Porter County Jail, submitted a plea agreement in the case in December 2018. According to that document, if Clymer accepts her plea, her sentencing will be set no earlier than 30 days after Hanney’s sentencing.
Sgt. Janis Crafton, who was a detective specializing in child abuse cases at the time of the girl’s death, said Conley had a son, 6, and daughter, 4, at the time of the girl’s death. She had no contact with the boy’s father, limited contact with the older daughter’s father and didn’t know who C.B.’s father was.
Conley left the two older children with the older daughter’s father for a year while she was pregnant with C.B., Crafton said, and had been kicked out of numerous apartments for marijuana use. Conley met Hanney in the fall of 2016.
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“Mr. Hanney was probably the most stable thing these children ever had,” she said.
Shortly after they met, they and Conley’s children moved in with Hanney’s parents for several months after Conley claimed to be pregnant, Crafton said, adding Conley claimed to have a miscarriage and the pregnancy was never confirmed.
The time the children had with Hanney’s parents, who were in the courtroom Tuesday, was “probably the best time they had in their short lives,” Crafton said, adding previously Conley would keep them locked in a room so she didn’t have to care for them and gave them antihistamine pills so they would sleep at night.
The couple moved to a mobile home at Camelot Manor, she said, adding Hanney worked for his dad and Conley worked at McDonald’s at the time but by July 2017, Hanney had been fired because of drug use and Conley quit McDonald’s and started working as a stripper at a club in Gary.
On July 18, 2017, Hanney called 911 because he said C.B. was not breathing and not responsive. The 911 dispatcher talked him through CPR, Crafton said.
“Mr. Hanney was very appropriately upset,” she said, adding Conley, in the background, appeared calm.
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C.B. was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center in Hobart and later transferred to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.
“Essentially, she was declared brain dead,” Crafton said, adding she was taken off life support on July 21. Crafton met with Conley at the Porter County Jail before then and Conley agreed to donate the girl’s organs.
With Hanney and Conley in jail, there was no one to care for C.B.’s remains so Crafton and a caseworker paid for cremation.
“I offered the ashes to Tamika (Conley) and her very flippant answer was, ‘You care for her so you take them,’” Crafton said.
In the hours before C.B.’s fatal injuries, Conley and Hanney had been arguing, Crafton said, because Conley was meeting with three men to have sex before she went to work. Hanney had been driving around the region, according to cellphone records, to find Xanax or heroin. Heroin was found in his system after his arrest.
Conley demanded Hanney come home and threatened to leave the children alone, something that apparently had happened before, Crafton said.
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She left at 2 p.m. and Hanney texted her at 9:20 p.m. about C.B. but couldn’t reach her because she couldn’t have her phone at work, Crafton said, adding the manager gave her a message and she left for home around 9:40 p.m. The call to 911 was placed at 10:12 p.m.
Around 7:45 p.m., Hanney was texting with a man who appeared to be a drug dealer. Between texts to the drug dealer, Crafton said, Hanney was conducting internet searches about breathing and other health issues for 2-year-olds.
During searches of the couple’s trailer, Crafton found little food; small bags associated with heroin; drug paraphernalia; burned toys; and a stained mattress for the older children. She described the home as “barren and filthy.”
The son had never been enrolled in school, couldn’t read or write and didn’t know the alphabet, she said, adding Hanney was the children’s sole caregiver. She said later the children often went to a neighbor’s for food and were always hungry.
“I just think it’s totally sad that Mr. Hanney was the only one who cared for these children and was thrown into a situation with three feral children with no boundaries and no idea what to do,” she said, adding his frustration clearly led to C.B.’s death.
Under cross examination from defense attorney Bryan Truitt, Crafton she has interviewed other parents in similar circumstances but said of Conley’ reaction during the 911 call about C.B., “I’ve never had anyone that flat when their 2-year-old is basically dying.”
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Sarah Fink, director of Porter County Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA, said she took on the case of Conley’s surviving children because other staff wouldn’t do so because it was so gruesome.
For a victim’s impact statement, she read a letter from the children’s adoptive mother, who took them in as foster children after C.B.’s death.
“To hear and to know what these children have been through has been heartbreaking for me,” she wrote.
“I want closure for these three children,” the mother wrote.
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Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Lollapalooza, Taste of Chicago, other summer festivals canceled by city

Lightfoot said a later date for Lollapalooza was considered “ and that was part of the discussion and why we @ @ @ @ @ but it became clear that that later date probably wasn ’ t going to get @ @ @ @ @ , far enough away from where we are in the cycle of COVID-19 here in @ @ @ @ @ forward to welcoming them back next year .
”

People dance at the Perry's stage during the last day of Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Aug. 4, 2019. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Summer is over in Chicago before it even began.
The city announced Tuesday it is canceling special events through Labor Day, including Lollapalooza, Taste of Chicago, the Air and Water Show and the Chicago Jazz Festival to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The city had already announced the cancellation of its summer festivals devoted to gospel, blues and house music.
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Following the City and State guidelines for Phase 3, DCASE has announced a slate of more than 150 reimagined summer events that will include at-home dance parties, virtual concerts, farmers markets and community meals for frontline workers. https://t.co/23ne27MdW2 — Chicago DCASE (@ChicagoDCASE) June 9, 2020
Lollapalooza — Chicago’s largest music festival — typically draws 100,000 people to Grant Park for each of its four days, and it was said to be the highest revenue-generating event for the Chicago Park District last year. Festival promoter C3 Presents had not announced a lineup for the July 30-Aug. 2 event, and tickets were not for sale. More than 170 acts typically play Lollapalooza each year.
“The reality is, bringing 100,000 people en masse, in close quarters, which is what the daily head count is every single day at Lollapalooza, bringing that many people from all over the country, downtown, in Grant Park, every single day, we might as well just light ourselves on fire. It makes no sense,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at a news conference Tuesday.
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Lightfoot said a later date for Lollapalooza was considered “and that was part of the discussion and why we delayed for so long, but it became clear that that later date probably wasn’t going to get us out of the woods, far enough away from where we are in the cycle of COVID-19 here in Chicago. So we look forward to welcoming them back next year.”
Lightfoot also said no money was exchanged between the Park District and C3 Presents for this year’s event. The Park District is guaranteed to get $1.5 million from C3 each year, even if Lollapalooza is not held, but the contract does have an allowance for Park District breach of contract.
The Park District — which also gets a share of the admission, sponsorship, food and beverage revenue — will renew its contract with C3 Presents, Lightfoot said. The contract, inked in 2012, is due to expire next year. For their part, Lollapalooza organizers on Tuesday promised a “spectacular celebration” for next year.
“We wish we could bring Lollapalooza to Grant Park again this year, but we understand why things can’t move forward as planned,” festival organizers said in a statement. “The health and safety of our fans, artists, partners, staff and community is always our highest priority.”
[ Lollapalooza is canceled for 2020, which is a chance for the giant music fest to become something better ]
Lollapalooza’s cancellation will be felt by hotels, restaurants and even more local businesses already having a tough year. Anderson Economic Group, a research and consulting firm with an office in Chicago, says the cancellation could result in 300 fewer jobs and more than $35 million in lost sales for Chicago businesses, an estimate that includes spending on lodging, food, retail goods and services.
Organizers said they will instead offer a virtual event during what was supposed to be Lollapalooza weekend. They promise “performances from around the city and beyond” with a full schedule to come next month.
“We’ve been at both (Taste and Lollapalooza) forever; we’re going to miss them,” said Marc Malnati, of Lou Malnati’s pizza. “I mean, it’s not a hobby — we sell a lot of pizza out there — but it doesn’t make or break our year. But they’re great exposure for marketing and our brand, and I love being out there. I love how the pizza tastes, when the humidity off the lake affects the dough. It’s untouchable.”
The Taste of Chicago was scheduled for July 8-12 in Grant Park. The festival, which began as a one-day affair in 1980, is a summer staple that clocked more than 1 million visitors in 2019, according to the city. Eighty-plus eateries took part last year, and some 600 artists and performers were hired to entertain attendees. This year’s food and music lineups had not been announced.
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In its place, the city announced “Taste of Chicago To-Go,” which is slated to include an expanded Community Eats program July 8–12 that would support about 25 neighborhood restaurants and food trucks while providing free meals to nonprofits serving healthcare and other front-line workers. The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events said it will also organize a food truck procession on July 8 and online cooking demos July 8–12.
This is not the first time the Taste has been canceled. Then-mayor Harold Washington nixed the event in 1983, saying the city couldn't afford it without corporate sponsorship. Sponsors stepped up, and Taste resumed in 1984.
“We always look forward to festivals, and we count on the extra money, and Taste is the largest one we’ve participated in over the years,” said John Meyer, chef/owner of BJ’s Market & Bakery, a fixture at Taste as well as the Chow Town lineup at Lollapalooza.
The Air and Water show was to take place Aug. 15-16 at North Avenue Beach. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds were slated to headline the popular weekend show that has been held on Chicago’s lakefront since 1959. The city estimates the event draws some 2 million spectators annually and is the largest and longest-running free air show of its kind in the country.
The 42nd annual Chicago Jazz Festival was to have stretched from Aug. 28 through Sept. 6, the main events taking place the last four days at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Though the schedule had not been announced, the festival famously casts a spotlight on revered and emerging Chicago artists, as well as visiting headliners. The loss of the Chicago Jazz Festival also carries symbolic weight, since this event gave rise to other city-sponsored music fests, including the Blues and Gospel Music Festivals.
“Our primary goal, even before we knew as an organization what was going to happen, is of course the safety of everyone — the safety of our city, our musicians, our members,” said Heather Ireland Robinson, executive director of the Jazz Institute of Chicago, which programs the festival.
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“And even though our wonderful mayor has opened up the city, and there are changes coming over the next week, in the last couple weeks we said, ‘Let’s make sure we’re safe, and let’s figure out all the ways to keep the music going and plan for a bit.’ And get ready for a great festival in 2021.”
With the Chicago club scene reeling from the shutdown caused by the coronavirus, DCASE announced a series of about 20 live events featuring Chicago musicians performing at local clubs and other locations. These are planned to be in-person concerts broadcast to larger audiences.
“We’re going to emphasize virtual, but I think there will be some opportunities for small groups to gather at some of these events,” Lightfoot said.
Jazz events would occur in August and September in place of the Chicago Jazz Festival. These events are being conceived now, according to sources. DCASE is envisioning these performances in consultation with the Jazz Institute, Constellation, Jazz Showcase, the Hungry Brain and other venues.
“It hurts,” said Orbert Davis, artistic director of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic. “There’s two sides of the Jazz Festival that make it phenomenal: hearing and seeing the music onstage, but also being a community of Chicago. It’s all Chicago celebrating our own, in a sense. So that (loss) is devastating.
“But whatever we have to do to keep the music alive, we have to do greater than we’ve ever done before, with the hopes of it coming back again. If we keep that hope, it will come back stronger than ever.”
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Riot Fest organizers have not made an announcement about their event, scheduled for Sept. 11-13 in Douglas Park on the West Side. Organizers announced in January that My Chemical Romance would headline, but the rest of the lineup has not been revealed. Three-day passes have been on sale for months.
The Pitchfork Music Festival was supposed to be held July 17-19 in Union Park. Three days after the Illinois stay-at-home order for coronavirus began March 21, a Pitchfork representative applied for a permit for the festival to occur in Union Park from Aug. 21-23, according to paperwork obtained from a Freedom of Information Act request to the Park District.
Pitchfork was canceled in early May, and the proposed August date was not publicly announced. A festival spokeswoman did not return a Tribune request for comment.
Chicago Tribune journalists Howard Reich, Doug George, Ariel Cheung and Phil Vettel contributed to this report.
tswartz@tribpub.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Stray bullet from shootout shatters window at Hyde Park Art Center

Police say two men had just gotten out of a Mercedes on Cornell when the men exchanged gunfire in the @ @ @ @ @ of the shots shattered a large second-story window that houses the art center ’ s @ @ @ @

A stray bullet shattered a window pane at the Hyde Park Art Center, 1600 E. 50th St., according to Chicago police. (William Lee / Chicago Tribune)
A stray bullet from a gun battle between two men shattered a large window at the Hyde Park Art Center Tuesday afternoon, Chicago police said.
No injuries were reported from the shots fired just before 1 p.m. in the 5000 block of South Cornell Avenue in the East Hyde Park neighborhood, according to police and art center officials.
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Police say two men had just gotten out of a Mercedes on Cornell when the men exchanged gunfire in the largely residential area. One of the shots shattered a large second-story window that houses the art center’s largest exhibit space.
No one was inside the art center at the time the shots were fired, said Daniel Urbina-McCarthy, the art center’s deputy director, as he swept up a mound of shattered glass.
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Police didn’t immediately release a description of the gunmen and no arrests had been made.
The 80-year-old art center serves professional and amateur artists of all ages and hosts massive art installations and large community murals.
wlee@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @MidNoirCowboy


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Bail denied for man accused of firing at Chicago cop, hitting his protective vest

Polk then turned the weapon on his nephew before fleeing the home on his bicycle , but he returned while @ @ @ @ @ home , authorities said .
After an attempt by the nephew to speak with Polk @ @ @ @ @ cleared the home ’ s dining room .

Officers investigate where Chicago police exchanged fire with an adult male, with an officer being struck in the vest, in the 500 block of North Leamington Avenue on June 8, 2020, in the South Austin neighborhood. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
A Cook County judge on Tuesday denied bail for a man accused of firing at a Chicago police officer during a domestic disturbance, hitting the cop in his protective vest, authorities said.
Lovell Polk, 33, is charged with attempted murder and unlawful use of a weapon by someone on parole.
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Officers had responded to a domestic dispute in Polk’s home in the 500 block of North Leamington Avenue around 12:20 a.m. Monday, police said.
Lovell Polk, 33, is charged with attempted murder in a shooting of a Chicago police officer. (Chicago Police Department)
Polk fired a gun several times and ran off. He returned to the home through the basement and fired a shot at an officer standing at the top of a staircase, police said.
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In denying bail for Polk, Judge John F. Lyke on Tuesday called the man a danger to the community. Polk has convictions for unlawful use of a weapon and conspiracy to commit murder, and Lyke said he should have never had a gun.
During a bail hearing broadcast on YouTube, prosecutors said the shooting was captured on a police body camera, but there is no audio because officers had momentarily turned it off as they wrapped up their call and prepared to leave.
The incident began because Polk — who has mental disorders, according to his assistant public defender — became angry about his sister’s friend being uninterested in him sexually. He fired two gunshots into the home’s stairs, according to Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy.
Polk then turned the weapon on his nephew before fleeing the home on his bicycle, but he returned while the officers were inside the home, authorities said. After an attempt by the nephew to speak with Polk apparently failed, the officers cleared the home’s dining room.
One of the officers from the Austin police district pulled his weapon and shouted a demand that Polk show his hands, Murphy said. Polk emerged from a rear room into the kitchen and fired one shot, striking the officer once in the chest. The officer fired two shots but didn’t strike Polk.
The bullet didn’t penetrate the officer’s protective vest, Murphy said. The officer was taken in good condition to Stroger Hospital.
Police arrested Polk a few blocks away, near the corner of Lake Street and Latrobe Avenue, police said. Officers recovered a 9 mm handgun. Authorities are awaiting the results of a gunshot residue and ballistic testing on the handgun and the shell casings found at the scene.
Polk returns to court on June 29.


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Cupich says Catholic school students in Archdiocese of Chicago expected to return to classrooms in f

Cupich says Catholic school students in Archdiocese of Chicago expected to return to classrooms in fall

The school system , which had about 71,000 students enrolled this year , announced March 13 it was closing because @ @ @ @ @ to online instruction .
Most Catholic schools in the archdiocese , which covers Cook and @ @ @ @ @ finished their school year , having never resumed in-person classes .

Students in Roman Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Chicago, who have been at home since mid-March because of the coronavirus outbreak, will return to classrooms this fall, Cardinal Blase Cupich announced in a video released late Monday.
The school system, which had about 71,000 students enrolled this year, announced March 13 it was closing because of the coronavirus and switching to online instruction. Most Catholic schools in the archdiocese, which covers Cook and Lake counties, already have finished their school year, having never resumed in-person classes.
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“Have no doubt that we will employ measures that keep the safety of your children the priority,” Cardinal said in the video.
School officials will regularly clean and disinfect high contact areas, use of plexiglass barriers in common spaces, supply sanitizer and personal protection equipment, and conduct temperature checks on anyone exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms.
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“Our decision to aggressively plan for reopening our schools this year is based on the value we place on face-to-face instruction and the community learning environment that has distinguished Catholic school education over the years,” Cupich said.
Remote learning also will be available for students who prefer to stay at home.
Further details beyond what Cupich said in the video weren’t immediately released.
Chicago’s Catholic school system has received more Blue Ribbon Awards, a distinction given by the U.S. Department of Education to schools for academic excellence, than any other school system in the country.
The Archdiocese of Chicago’s total enrollment has dropped from more than 95,000 eight years ago. Despite its shrinking size, a trend that has played out in Catholic schools nationwide, it remains one of the country’s largest private school systems.
jaanderson@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Watch live: Gov. J. B. Pritzker to discuss investments in early childhood education and care, take q

Watch live: Gov. J. B. Pritzker to discuss investments in early childhood education and care, take questions from reporters

Watch live as Illinois Gov .
J .
B. Pritzker discusses investments in early childhood education and care in a @ @ @ @ @ CDT .

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chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Seniors, already at risk from COVID-19, face problems getting groceries and prescriptions

She volunteered through Shopping Angels , which delivers groceries without a fee to seniors .
It ’ s partnered with @ @ @ @ @ that connects volunteers with seniors and immunocompromised people .
Right now , co-founder Luke deWilde @ @ @ @ @ requests than requests for assistance .
They want to spread the word to elderly people @ @ @ @ @ ask for help .
Patrick Boyer , the Illinois coordinator for Shopping Angels , is @ @ @ @ @ to donate funds to provide groceries for those who have reached out and can not @ @ @

Donna Langel, 80, walks along her street in Grayslake on June 9, 2020. She said she rarely goes out except to grab a meal at a drive-thru or to pick up meals from Catholic Charities. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
When she wants a break from being cooped up at home, Donna Langel, 80, drives through a Culver’s near her home in Grayslake, gets takeout and eats lunch by the lake.
“I can watch people from my car,” she said. “It’s not that I’m just in four walls.”
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For months, she has stayed home. She has health issues her doctor said required a strict quarantine to stay safe from COVID-19.
And now, just as Illinois takes steps toward reopening, the recent looting means she and other senior citizens are staying home for a whole new reason.
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“It’s very scary,” Langel said.
Even before the Chicago area was rocked by looting and destruction, senior citizens were struggling. Many have been isolated for months during the coronavirus crisis. Few people, if any, were able to visit. Routines were disrupted. No more shopping, lunches with friends or grandchild visits.
Now, in addition to isolation, they face a lack of access to necessities like prescriptions and groceries after businesses were looted or burned.
“They don’t have any local grocery stores, the grocery stores are looted and they can’t really get places,” said Jahmal Cole, founder of My Block My Hood My City, which has been offering wellness checks and drop-offs for seniors. His group distributed 1,200 safety kits to senior citizens, filled with things like canned food and toilet paper. They have fielded similar requests from 2,600 seniors.
“We need volunteers,” he said.
Simone Mitchell-Peterson, CEO of Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly’s Chicago chapter, is worried about the mental health of the seniors the group serves. In March, she said, as the state began to shut down, many maintained a positive attitude. “As time went on, that began to morph into feeling bored, feeling anxious, feeling restlessness, sleeplessness, depression, anxiety.”
Now, she said, the George Floyd response has created fear and resuscitated traumatic experiences in their own lives. Meanwhile, they wonder how they’ll restock the pantry. With added anxiety and unrest, she said, “they’re seeing themselves being on the inside again, looking out and, ‘When do I get to do what I want to do?’”
Donna Langel, 80, right, picks up meals from Catholic Charities volunteer Rose Brisske on June 9, 2020, in Ingleside. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Since March, Langel has Zoomed with her senior group, which used to meet once a month — “that way I get to see people, get news of whatever everybody’s doing” — and she sometimes sets up chairs in her front yard to chat at a distance with whoever is nearby. But she misses her group lunches and outings to plays.
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“We just can’t go out and walk around the stores and be around people,” Langel said. “Staying home is awful.”
Even if restrictions lift, friends’ health issues mean they are similarly isolated.
“We all are doing it because many of us have heart ailments or can’t be around any other people,” she said. “It gets harder, because you know when you first start, it’s, ‘OK, these things happen,’ but then as it goes on longer you go, ‘Come on.’”
Many who work with senior citizens have tried to help, offering video chats or other ways to connect. Typically, Little Friends volunteers check in regularly, bringing groceries and offering conversation and camaraderie.
“When you’re at that later stage of your life, you don’t mess around,” Mitchell-Peterson said. “People are quick to form relationships and be engaged, and to engage others.”
But the coronavirus limited social outings. After the lootings, many seniors are telling volunteers not to come, saying it’s unsafe to visit, Mitchell-Peterson said. “They see us as friends, and they don’t want to put their friends in harm’s way."
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Volunteers have stepped up to pick up prescriptions and deliver groceries. Kristin Kempiak, a Lakeview teacher, spent an afternoon last week picking up groceries at Mariano’s. A senior wasn’t sure she could access her grocery store after looting, so Kempiak picked up groceries in another neighborhood and brought them to her door.
“I feel excited to be helping someone,” she said.
She volunteered through Shopping Angels, which delivers groceries without a fee to seniors. It works with Essential Supply, a nonprofit that connects volunteers with seniors and immunocompromised people. Right now, co-founder Luke deWilde said they have more volunteer requests than requests for assistance. They want to spread the word to elderly people who might benefit and can ask for help. Patrick Boyer, the Illinois coordinator for Shopping Angels, is also hoping to find sponsors to donate funds to provide groceries for those who have reached out and cannot afford them.
And it’s not just groceries that seniors need; state Sen. Patricia Van Pelt helped organize a GoFundMe to raise funds for protective gear, like masks, as well as food and hand sanitizer, for seniors on the West Side. They also need containers to put donated sanitizer in.
Ronald Ross has skipped errands for months. As a 78-year-old with diabetes and high blood pressure and who has had two heart operations, he is “scared to death” of the store. He is so at risk that his wife took his keys. No more grocery shopping, no more twice-weekly bowling league.
It hit home when a man in his bowling league died of COVID-19, he said.
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Now, the volunteer who drops off groceries is one of the few people he sees. Along with a weekly friendly face, he said, saving him from shopping kept him safe at home and, he added, “may have even saved my life.”
Editor’s note: This story has been changed to make it clear that looting took place around the Chicago area, not just inside Chicago, and that the seniors who are struggling are from both the city and the suburbs.
abowen@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Indiana officials report 23 more coronavirus deaths; Lake County tops 4,000 cases

State statistics posted online Tuesday show Indiana with 892 COVID-19 deaths during May , a drop from the 1,037 recorded @ @ @ @ @ first hit the state in March , when 113 deaths were recorded .
An additional @ @ @ @ @ far in June , although there is often a delay of several days before some @ @ @ @ @ total .

Twenty-three more people have died in Indiana with coronavirus infections, giving the state 2,339 deaths of those with confirmed or presumed infections in less than three months, health officials said Tuesday.
All of the newly recorded deaths have happened since May 31, with most of them occurring Sunday or Monday, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
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According to the Department of Health, Lake County added 46 new positive results Monday, bringing the county’s total to 4,005, the state’s second highest county total. Marion County, home of Indianapolis, has 10,444 cases, according to the state.
Porter County’s Department of Health is reporting 584 cases and 31 deaths.
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State statistics posted online Tuesday show Indiana with 892 COVID-19 deaths during May, a drop from the 1,037 recorded in April. The outbreak first hit the state in March, when 113 deaths were recorded. An additional 116 deaths have occurred so far in June, although there is often a delay of several days before some deaths are included in the total.
According to the state, Lake County has had 217 deaths due to the virus.
Those only include deaths involving confirmed coronavirus infections. The state has recorded 181 additional deaths considered coronavirus-related by doctors but without confirmation of the illness from test results.
The latest state statistics showed 306 COVID-19 patients were in the intensive care units of Indiana hospitals and that 39% of ICU beds remained available as of Monday. That’s 104 fewer coronavirus patients in those ICUs than on May 20, and about half of the 621 ICU patients on April 23.


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--We’ve lowered the paywall on this essential coverage of coronavirus in Illinois

Testing for COVID-19 has greatly expanded in Illinois , with the state announcing more than 10,000 test results a day @ @ @ @ @ expansion has allowed the state to open up its guidance for who should be able @ @ @ @ @ .
The Illinois Department of Public Health is saying that testing is available without a @ @ @ @ @ anyone with coronavirus symptoms or an underlying risk factor .
Tests are also provided to @ @ @ @ @ of the pandemic , such as medical workers , first responders and employees of prisons @ @ @ @ @ the map for coronavirus testing site near you .

As a public service to our readers and community, we have lowered the paywall on some of our most critical stories so everyone can access this important information. We rely on the support of our subscribers to fund our journalism. If you’re not already signed up, we hope you will consider subscribing.
We are updating a daily live blog with the latest developments on the reopening of Chicago and Illinois. This is where you’ll find updates on the number of COVID-19 cases in our area, as well as the most up-to-date recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Public Health, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
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As summer nears, Chicagoans are desperate to get out and about — to have a summer picnic with family, to get back to work, to get a haircut. Here’s how and when you might be able to do those things.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Tuesday a five-phase plan to get Illinois reopened as the COVID-19 pandemic slows its toll on health care providers. The plan, from “Rapid Spread” to “Illinois Restored,” splits the state up into regions and allows each region to open a different phase should the impact of the pandemic be different throughout the state. The plan also emphasizes that a region can move backward if the health metrics indicate enough risk. Read more.
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Testing for COVID-19 has greatly expanded in Illinois, with the state announcing more than 10,000 test results a day since April 24. The expansion has allowed the state to open up its guidance for who should be able to get a coronavirus test. The Illinois Department of Public Health is saying that testing is available without a doctor’s order to anyone with coronavirus symptoms or an underlying risk factor. Tests are also provided to people on the front lines of the pandemic, such as medical workers, first responders and employees of prisons or nursing homes. Search the map for coronavirus testing site near you.
All Illinois residents over age 2 must wear a face mask when they can’t maintain a 6-foot social distance in public. Studies show that the coronavirus can spread between people interacting in close proximity, including people who are not showing symptoms. Here’s where you can find them, what kind to get and how to make your own.
Americans are brainstorming with neighbors, posting questions on social media, and googling for tips and advice. The question at the center of all the hand wringing and head scratching: How do you thank the essential workers who remain out in the world, exposing themselves to greater risk of contracting the novel coronavirus, so that we can buy our groceries, receive our mail, travel by public transportation, and get health care if we need it? Here are some creative ideas to inspire you.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 68 (Chicago Tribune)
They were mothers and fathers, daughters and sons. Many were proud grandparents. Two were sisters from a tight-knit South Side family. All were loved, relatives say, and will be forever missed. As the number of deaths attributable to the coronavirus ticks upward, the Tribune is working to chronicle those who have lost their lives in the Chicago area or who have connections to our region. These are some of those victims.
Hundreds of Chicago restaurants have pivoted their operations to delivery, takeout or curbside pickup after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that all bars and restaurants in Illinois are closed for dining-in service through April 30. We’re collecting information on restaurants across the area that are still open for delivery or take out. Find a restaurant near you.
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A sign in the windows of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, seen on March 11, 2020, reminds people to wash their hands. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
You wake up with a sore, scratchy throat, and begin coughing and sneezing. It’s probably a run-of-the-mill cold, or it could be the beginning of a bout of seasonal flu. But with dozens of cases of the novel coronavirus surfacing in Illinois, some people are bound to wonder: Could this be the coronavirus? Here’s what experts advise for Illinoisans who fear they are showing signs of coronavirus.
The spread of the coronavirus pandemic has placed an extra burden on Chicagoland nonprofit organizations. Here is an evolving list of where you can make donations to organizations helping those in need.


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Chicago is losing out on $1.4 billion in spending as trade shows keep canceling because of coronavir

Chicago is losing out on $1.4 billion in spending as trade shows keep canceling because of coronavirus. International Manufacturing Technology Show is the latest to be scrubbed.

Organizers announced Monday they pulled the plug because ofuncertainty surrounding when conventions can resume in Illinois under Gov .
J.B. @ @ @ @ @ plan .
Currently , the state is in the beginning of phase three , but @ @ @ @ @ 50 people wouldn ’ t be able to resume until phase five .

The International Manufacturing Technology Show, the city’s largest trade show at McCormick Place drawing tens of thousands of attendees, has been canceled amid the coronavirus health crisis.
The show, which was scheduled to take place at McCormick Place Sept. 14-19, had more than 129,000 people signed up to attend, and was expected to account for more than 99,300 hotel room nights, McCormick Place spokeswoman Cynthia McCafferty said.
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The nearly 100 events scheduled for McCormick Place that have now been scrapped were expected to generate more than $1.4 billion, including spending at hotels, restaurants, entertainment and transportation, McCafferty said.
The Association for Manufacturing Technology, a McLean, Virginia, trade group, owns and manages the show, which has been held every even-numbered year in Chicago since 1947. The event, known as IMTS, draws attendees from more than 100 countries to showcase industrial machinery and technology. In 2014, engineers built a car using a 3-D printer.
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Organizers announced Monday they pulled the plug because ofuncertainty surrounding when conventions can resume in Illinois under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s five-phase reopening plan. Currently, the state is in the beginning of phase three, but large gatherings of more than 50 people wouldn’t be able to resume until phase five.
In order to reach that phase, a vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, needs to be available or there needs to be a highly effective treatment in place.
Peter Eelman, vice president of exhibitions and chief experience officer for the association, said it was unlikely that would happen before the show was slated to begin in September. Also, the size of the event made it particularly challenging, he said.
“Without any trades show having started yet, we are a pretty big lift,” Eelman said in an interview.
The association plans to return in September 2022. “We are going to continue to support Chicago as it brings trade shows back to the city,” Eelman said.
Eelman said the show’s organizers are working to create two digital programs, called IMTS Network and IMTS Spark, to connect exhibitors and the manufacturing community. IMTS Spark will provide educational and networking opportunities, he said.
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Visitors who registered for the event also have the options to receive a refund or transfer their registration fee to a tax-deductible donation to Miles For Manufacturing, a 5k run raising funds for programs that prepare students for careers in manufacturing technology.
More than 96 events scheduled for McCormick Place, drawing more than 844,000 attendees and occupying some 850,000 hotel room nights, have canceled since March due to health concerns associated with the coronavirus pandemic, according to McCafferty.
McCormick Place had its first event cancellation related to the COVID-19 pandemic March 2 after Rosemont-based International Housewares Association called off their trade-only event, The Inspired Home Show, which was scheduled for mid-March.
abjimenez@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter @abdel1019


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Planning to travel this summer? Want to know how to protect yourself from coronavirus when away from

Planning to travel this summer? Want to know how to protect yourself from coronavirus when away from home? Send us your questions.

That ’ s why we want your questions about COVID-19 and heading out of town .
We ’ ll ask @ @ @ @ @ and post them on chicagotribune.com in the weeks ahead .

A passenger wears a mask while boarding a United Airlines flight at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on May 24, 2020, in Houston. (David J. Phillip/AP) (David J. Phillip/AP)
Your vacation plans may have changed slightly or completely as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
That’s why we want your questions about COVID-19 and heading out of town. We’ll ask the experts to answer them and post them on chicagotribune.com in the weeks ahead.


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--A Chicago treasure hunter was on the trail of a hidden chest worth more than $1 million — but she sa

A Chicago treasure hunter was on the trail of a hidden chest worth more than $1 million — but she says she was hacked and her ‘solve stolen’

“ It was under a canopy of stars in the lush , forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had @ @ @ @ @ where I hid it more than 10 years ago , ” Fenn said in a @ @ @ @ @ that still did not reveal the exact location .
“ I do not know the @ @ @ @ @ but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot .
”

Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas, The Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. — A bronze chest filled with gold, jewels and other valuables worth more than $1 million and hidden a decade ago in the Rocky Mountain wilderness has been found, according to a famed art and antiquities collector who created the treasure hunt.
Forrest Fenn, 89, told the Santa Fe New Mexican on Sunday that a man who did not want his name released — but was from “back East” — located the chest a few days ago and the discovery was confirmed by a photograph the man sent him.
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The discovery was a shock for attorney Barbara Anderson, 47, a treasure hunter and resident of Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, who believed herself to be the “lead solver.”
Andersen alleges she was hacked and her “solve stolen” by a man she didn’t know who’d been taunting her with texts in recent months, according to a lawsuit she filed Monday in Santa Fe. The defendants in her suit are the unnamed man and Fenn, the orchestrator of the treasure hunt.
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The hunt has prompted hundreds of thousands of people to search in vain across remote corners of the U.S. West for the bronze chest. Many quit their jobs to dedicate themselves to the search and others depleted their life savings. At least four people died searching for it.
With her “paralegal-slash-border-collie, Cupcake,” Andersen, who came upon the hunt years after Fenn announced it, made some 20 trips from Chicago to Santa Fe in her quest to unearth the treasure — which she hoped to either donate or sell off and use the proceeds to start a charity. Her Lincoln MKZ was new when, years ago, she thought she’d indulge in a unique hobby, “a fun distraction,” after a contentious divorce.
“I had thought this was going to be a fun thing," Andersen said by phone from New Mexico. “In my daydreaming, I thought I would come out here and write a funny follow-up book and thank Santa Fe for the adventure. That isn’t turning out this way at this point.”
Fenn, who did not immediately respond to a Tribune request for comment, had posted clues to the treasure’s whereabouts online and in a 24-line poem that was published in his 2010 autobiography “The Thrill of the Chase.”
“It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago,” Fenn said in a statement on his website Sunday that still did not reveal the exact location. “I do not know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot.”
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Andersen expected a thrill but now feels cheated.
“Are you wasting your time or are you not wasting your time?” she asked rhetorically. “I was hoping my life was going to change.”
Andersen said in recent years she rearranged her schedule and asked judges to move cases to allow her monthlong breaks so she could follow Fenn’s clues. Treasure hunting involved first scouring a website widely used as a forum, where Fenn himself posts updates.
In New Mexico, Andersen spent her days, metal detector in hand, scouring parts of the Rocky Mountains — where she was sure the treasure was buried because of a clue “about mildew,” contained in a picture Fenn posted with a hole in his hat in the shape of the state, she said.
She estimates she’s spent $10,000 to $30,000. She paid $4,000 just to put her furnishings in storage in Chicago as she all but moved to New Mexico on her most recent trip. She was sleeping in her SUV when she heard the news that the treasure had been found.
“All this time I’ve invested, the money, the car’s shot to heck and then some guy comes out of nowhere and just follows you and grabs it. This guy stole the treasure right from underneath me,” she said..
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Fenn, who lives in Santa Fe, said he packed and repacked his treasure chest for more than a decade, sprinkling in gold dust and adding hundreds of rare gold coins and gold nuggets. Pre-Columbian animal figures went in, along with prehistoric “mirrors” of hammered gold, ancient Chinese faces carved from jade and antique jewelry with rubies and emeralds.
He said he hid the treasure as a way to tempt people to get into the wilderness and give them a chance to launch an old-fashioned adventure and expedition for riches.
Fenn told The New Mexican in 2017 that the chest weighs 20 pounds and its contents weigh an additional 22 pounds. He said he delivered the chest to its hiding place by himself over two separate trips.
Asked how he felt now that the treasure has been found, Fenn said: “I don’t know, I feel halfway kind of glad, halfway kind of sad because the chase is over.”
“I congratulate the thousands of people who participated in the search and hope they will continue to be drawn by the promise of other discoveries,” he said on his website.
Andersen filed the lawsuit in person Monday and paid a $400 filing fee. Her next move is unclear. She said her family hasn’t been supportive of her hobby. Her two teenage children haven’t shown interest in treasure hunting.
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“You have to understand, I was into it for adventure and fun. I just happened to figure it out. And you kind of get addicted to it, to figuring out the clues and solving,” she said.
Her lawsuit aims to find out the identity of the man who found the treasure, as she believes he’s been texting and taunting her for about a year.
Andersen said she has met Fenn a few times and has exchanged emails with him. He hasn’t been responding to her since the treasure was found, she said.
“I don’t want to be filing this lawsuit. This was supposed to have a happy ending,” she said. "I can’t imagine this was the way (Fenn) ever thought this would end.”
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews
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chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Chicago Film Office to issue permits to small crews starting June 15

Guidelines issued by the Chicago Film Office include ensuring individuals stay 6 feet apart from each other on set , @ @ @ @ @ hair , makeup , costume or performance doesn ’ t allow for it ; limiting @ @ @ @ @ sets to 25 % ; encouraging castings to be done by self-taped auditions ; asking @ @ @ @ @ than 10 minutes before their audition time to limit waiting-room capacity ; wearing face coverings @ @ @ @ @ interfere with production ; providing hand-washing stations on sets ; self-screening for coronavirus symptoms before @ @ @ @ @ scripts digitally and encouraging private transportation .

The Chicago Film Office said it will issue permits to casts and crews of 10 people or fewer starting June 15 on a case-by-case basis following a months-long break because of the novel coronavirus. Productions must follow guidelines that include cleaning sets hourly and deep cleaning them every night, social distancing and wearing face coverings.
The film office expects two or three commercial productions will start in mid-June, said Christine Carrino, communications director for the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Commercials accounted for about 25% of the film projects last year, according to numbers released by the film office.
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Guidelines issued by the Chicago Film Office include ensuring individuals stay 6 feet apart from each other on set, unless the task such as hair, makeup, costume or performance doesn’t allow for it; limiting capacity of indoor spaces and sets to 25%; encouraging castings to be done by self-taped auditions; asking actors to arrive no more than 10 minutes before their audition time to limit waiting-room capacity; wearing face coverings when it doesn’t interfere with production; providing hand-washing stations on sets; self-screening for coronavirus symptoms before going on set; sharing scripts digitally and encouraging private transportation.
If two or more cases of coronavirus are reported on a single set over a 14-day period, the set owner is required to inform the Chicago Department of Public Health. Many productions rent space from Cinespace Chicago Film Studios. A crew member for the Fox TV show “Next,” which filmed at Cinespace, tested positive for the virus in early March, and the Chicago Department of Public Health worked to identify who came in contact with the crew member.
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Carrino said the film office is working with city and state officials, including the Illinois Film Office, to develop guidelines for when larger film productions can resume. California officials announced filming in that state can resume as soon Friday if productions get approval from local public health officials.
Filming production in Chicago was halted in March to slow the spread of the coronavirus. TV series such as “Chicago P.D.,” “Chicago Med” and “Chicago Fire” had to scramble to wrap up their seasons. The hip-hop drama “Empire” didn’t get to air the series finale it intended.
About a dozen TV shows were slated to film in Chicago or were already filming this year.
tswartz@tribpub.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Off-duty Chicago police officer shot during Brighton Park attack, returns fire

About 3:20 a.m. , the officer , who was not named and who is assigned to the Wentworth District , @ @ @ @ @ his vehicle ” in the 3900 block of South Artesian Avenue , according to a @ @ @ @ @ sent by the department .
He was then approached by two men he didn ’ @ @ @ @ @ of them pulled a handgun and shot at the officer , officials said .

An off-duty Chicago police officer was shot once in the leg early Tuesday as he walked to his vehicle on the South Side, according to authorities.
About 3:20 a.m., the officer, who was not named and who is assigned to the Wentworth District, was “preparing to enter his vehicle” in the 3900 block of South Artesian Avenue, according to a preliminary statement on the shooting sent by the department. He was then approached by two men he didn’t know, and one of them pulled a handgun and shot at the officer, officials said.
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The officer was shot once in the leg. He drew his own weapon and returned fire, police said. It was unclear how many shots the officer fired and it was not known if anyone was hit by a bullet fired from his gun, officials said.
The officer was taken to an area hospital, where he was listed in fair condition.
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No arrests have been made and the shooting remains under investigation. The officer will be placed on administrative duties for 30 days.
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--St. Charles-area woman charged with animal cruelty after 3 dead dogs found at her home, 9 others con

St. Charles-area woman charged with animal cruelty after 3 dead dogs found at her home, 9 others confiscated

On Thursday , the sheriff ’ s office returned to the property with a search warrant and found a bearded @ @ @ @ @ a neglected condition , causing animal control to take possession of the canine , the @ @ @ @ @ not home so she could not be arrested for the felony charge .

An arrest warrant has been issued for a 27-year-old woman after the Kane County Sheriff’s Office found three dead dogs and nine others in varying degrees of ill health on her St. Charles Township property.
Emily Chesterfield, 7N104 West Drive, was initially charged with one count each of misdemeanor cruel treatment to animals and animal owner’s duties, for which she was issued a notice to appear in court, and is now being sought for one count of felony aggravated animal cruelty, Lt. Pat Gengler said Monday.
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A sheriff’s deputy dispatched May 30 to the woman’s home on a report of an animal hoarding situation found a partially open garbage bag that contained the remains of a small dog, a sheriff’s office news release said.
Chesterfield allowed the deputy into the house, where two other dead dogs were found, the release said.
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Kane County Animal Control took custody of nine other dogs found by a veterinarian to be in varying degrees of health.
On Thursday, the sheriff’s office returned to the property with a search warrant and found a bearded dragon and a dog in a neglected condition, causing animal control to take possession of the canine, the release said. Chesterfield was not home so she could not be arrested for the felony charge.
William Chesterfield, a relative of Emily Chesterfield, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of failure to supply proper food and water because the dog was in the room in which he was living, the release said.
raguerrero@tribpub.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Milwaukee-area lawyer spat on high school protester, later kneed police officer in groin, authoritie

Milwaukee-area lawyer spat on high school protester, later kneed police officer in groin, authorities say

“ I continue to be mentally and physically shaken .
To be assaulted by an adult in my own community @ @ @ @ @ , ” Lucas told the newspaper .
“ Again and again , I am viewed @ @ @ @ @ as a color .
”

A state representative is calling for the disbarment of a lawyer who spat on a high school student during an anti-racism rally and march in a Milwaukee suburb.
State Rep. David Bowen attended the protest Saturday and wants lawyer Stephanie Rapkin disbarred, the Journal Sentinel reported.
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Rapkin, who is white, arrived at the protest in Shorewood and parked her car in the street, blocking the march.
When protesters approached to urge her to move her car, video shows Rapkin spitting on a black teen, Eric Lucas, a junior at Shorewood High School. The 17-year-old helped organize and lead the march.
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“I continue to be mentally and physically shaken. To be assaulted by an adult in my own community during a pandemic was traumatic,” Lucas told the newspaper. “Again and again, I am viewed not as a child but as a color.”
Racism DOES EXIST!!! This woman put her car to BLOCK our protest then SPIT on this young BLACK MAN!!! One of the speakers at that. SHARE so her employer and friends and family can see her TRUE COLOR But BLACKS and BROWN cause "Violent Protest" this woman showed up to a VERY PEACEFUL Protest #MKEPROTEST Posted by Caress Gonzalez Ramirez on Saturday, June 6, 2020
Superintendent Bryan Davis says it “exposed the horrific, overt racism that still exists in our community” and was an “appalling display of racial hatred.”
Davis called on the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office to include a hate crime penalty enhancement for any upcoming charges against Rapkin.
Rapkin did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment and the phone to her law office rang busy.
She was also captured on video confronting a college student writing protest notes in chalk outside her home after the spitting incident. According to Shorewood police, she kneed an arresting officer in the groin. The police say they will seek resisting, battery and disorderly conduct charges.


chicagotribune--2020-06-09--Daywatch:  Pritzker calls ‘defund the police’ an obstacle, the story behind Nini’s Deli and a Chicag

Daywatch:  Pritzker calls ‘defund the police’ an obstacle, the story behind Nini’s Deli and a Chicago treasure hunter’s stolen solve

A bronze chest filled with gold , jewels and other valuables worth more than $ 1 million and hidden a @ @ @ @ @ Mountain wilderness has been found , according to a famed art and antiquities collector who @ @ @ @ @ The discovery was a shock for attorney Barbara Anderson , 47 , a treasure hunter @ @ @ @ @ s Rogers Park neighborhood , who believed herself to be the “ lead solver .
@

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Good morning, Chicago. Here’s what you need to know about the continued George Floyd response and coronavirus pandemic. Sign up for our breaking news alerts to get the latest updates throughout the day.
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Protesters carry a "Defund the Police" sign on West Division Street during a march from Union Park to Cabrini-Green on Saturday, June 6, 2020, to demand police accountability. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday called the rallying cry to defund the police “a poor use of words to describe what many people really want.”
President Donald Trump has seized on the phrase protesters are using in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. The Democratic Illinois governor suggested a reframing of the concept to better connect with the public.
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Calls are renewed to ‘defund the police,’ but what does that mean?
Chicago police officers stand outside Nini's Deli in Noble Square after what protesters in the area said was a skirmish between them and the owner Friday, June 5, 2020, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Nini’s Deli closed permanently this weekend after its owners were lambasted for homophobic and anti-Black Lives Matter comments and business partners quickly severed ties.
A bicyclist heads west on East State Street on May 28, 2020, in Rockford. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Two Illinois cities, Rockford and Decatur, are among the fastest-shrinking cities in the country, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates, part of an ongoing trend of Midwestern cities losing residents while cities across the Southwest and West continue to grow.
People demonstrate during a black and Latino unity rally called Together We Rise on Monday, June 8, 2020, in the 2200 block of South Damen Avenue in the Pilsen neighborhood. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
A crowd gathered in the Pilsen neighborhood Monday evening outside Lincoln United Methodist Church to share in good food, beautiful weather, live music and a collective call for unity.
Antiquities dealer and author Forrest Fenn in his home March 22, 2013, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (Jeri Clausing/AP)
A bronze chest filled with gold, jewels and other valuables worth more than $1 million and hidden a decade ago in the Rocky Mountain wilderness has been found, according to a famed art and antiquities collector who created the treasure hunt. The discovery was a shock for attorney Barbara Anderson, 47, a treasure hunter and resident of Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, who believed herself to be the “lead solver.”


chicagotribune--2020-06-10--Bridges are going up again on the Chicago River, this time for sailboats

The bridge-lifting ritual , which typically runs twice-weekly from mid-April to June and again from September to November when boats @ @ @ @ @ , is an occasion for sightseers to take photographs , and for drivers to pound @ @ @ @ @ get stuck waiting for bridges to close .

Chicago’s river bridges, which have been raised several times in the past two weeks to limit downtown access during civil unrest, will be raised again Wednesday morning for a more ordinary reason — sailboats going to the lake.
The Chicago Department of Transportation said it will raise river bridges for 10 sailboats Wednesday morning starting at about 9:30 a.m., from South Ashland Avenue to Lake Shore Drive.
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Bridge lifts also can be expected each Saturday, starting at 8 a.m., and Wednesday, starting at 9:30 a.m., until further notice, the transportation department said.
There was also a boat run Saturday, but most bridges were raised anyway for crowd control during massive demonstrations in response to the death of George Floyd, said Chicago Department of Transportation spokesman Michael Claffey. Wednesday’s bridge lift is just for boats.
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The bridge-lifting ritual, which typically runs twice weekly from mid-April to June and again from September to November when boats go back into storage yards, is an occasion for sightseers to take photographs, and for drivers to pound the steering wheel when they get stuck waiting for bridges to close.
But this year, harbors have been closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Boat owners are being allowed to bring their boats to their slips to “stage” while waiting for harbors open, according to the website of Chicago Harbors, which has 10 harbors along the lakefront.
The harbors are not yet open, said Michele Lemons, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Park District.
Each lift takes about eight to 12 minutes, with the exception of the Lake Shore Drive Bridge, which could take up to 30 minutes because of construction work.
mwisniewski@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-10--Field Museum workers petition management to try to fend off COVID-19-related layoffs

Ray DeThorne , the museum ’ s chief marketing officer , said in a statement to the Tribune Tuesday night @ @ @ @ @ the passion and commitment of the Field staff .
They care deeply about the organization @ @ @ @ @ about each other .
The Executive Team appreciates that they reached out with an offer @ @ @ @ @ facing an incredibly fluid , complex and frankly difficult situation with no clear and easy @ @ @ @ @ carefully weighing options on how to ensure the health and safety of our employees , @ @ @ @ @ reopening to the public and considering both through the lens of the long-term needs of @ @ @ @ @ . ''

Knowing staff cuts were likely in the aftermath of COVID-19 forcing the institution to close since mid-March, Field Museum employees launched an online petition drive to try to save jobs and persuade management to find creative solutions to the coming budget crunch.
The workers said that rather than enacting major layoffs as peer institutions have endured, they want to see the natural history museum “drawing from our unrestricted assets and savings, enacting voluntary and rotating furloughs, and reducing hours,” according to the petition posted on actionnetwork.org and signed, organizers said, by more than 200 of the museum’s staff of under 500.
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The first such effort to come to light at area museums shedding employees amidst the ongoing pandemic, the petition drive called “Save the Field Museum” begin after employees felt dissatisfied when a staff town hall meeting failed to yield the hoped-for cooperation between management and workers, two of the organizers said.
Field Museum, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, as seen from a building to the north. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
And with the museum expected to begin some combination of layoffs and furloughs by the end of the week, the workers planned to seek more publicity for their effort Wednesday in hopes of softening the blows.
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“It’s getting down to the wire,” said Roger Tuan, a web developer at the museum. “We’re hoping that public support will help sway the tide. We’re hoping the public will call upon our leadership to live up to our values. We are not labor organizers. Our real passion is science and education. We’re just doing what we can to try to save some of our colleagues.”
The move came amid a wave of layoffs at other Chicago museums and zoos that is expected to continue until nearly every institution, forced to close its doors in mid-March to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, has let workers go. Already, Adler Planetarium, Museum of Science and Industry, Brookfield Zoo, Lincoln Park Zoo, Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and Chicago Children’s Museum have laid off and/or furloughed workers to save expenses, although the magnitude of the cuts has varied widely.
Others are expected to follow suit as the institutions face the prospect this month of federal emergency funds that protected payrolls running out and no firm re-opening date in sight.
Mostly outdoor institutions the Morton Arboretum and Chicago Botanic Garden last week and this began letting the public back in.
Other Chicago institutions might be able to start allowing some visitors as early as June 26 under a hopeful reading of the city’s phased re-introduction plan, according to a webinar Tuesday sponsored by the official Choose Chicago tourism group. But that online event featured several local museum executives listening to peers who had already reopened in Houston, New Orleans and Berlin warning of increased expenses and severely diminished revenue.
“We are running at about 10 percent of what we would have expected prior to the pandemic,” said Stephen Watson, president and CEO of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, which reopened on Memorial Day. “We are certainly not revenue neutral.”
The cultural institutions are significant factors in Chicago’s status as a world-class city, and their strength as they emerge from the coronavirus carnage will be an open question: Most profoundly, Adler laid off 120 employees, which one prominent staffer said on Twitter was 60 percent of the workforce.
More immediately, individual people are losing their jobs and possibly their careers.
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“The museum really is like your family and it is really devastating to think that a third of us might be gone next week,” said Jacqueline Pozza, an assistant exhibitions registrar at the Field.
Even for those who stay, she said, the 10 percent pay reduction that staffers making over $20 an hour will be taking causes hardship. She recently moved into that category from a previous position “to make more of a living wage,” said Pozza, who has a master degree in anthropology and, she said, $80,000 in student debt.
“Ten percent is a huge pay cut for people on the bottom,” she said.
Field executives — who are also taking 10 percent cuts, a spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday — responded with empathy, if not specifics.
“Thank you for sharing this with me. I have passed it on to the Executive Team and to the Board of Trustees,” outgoing President and CEO Richard Lariviere, scheduled to retire in August, wrote to the organizers, who sent him the petition Sunday. “It has been discussed by both groups. We will be in communication with the employees of the museum throughout this week and next. These are extraordinarily difficult times. There is no wholly satisfactory or comfortable solution to the unique challenges we face. Thank you again for your message.”
Ray DeThorne, the museum’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement to the Tribune Tuesday night, “The petition demonstrates the passion and commitment of the Field staff. They care deeply about the organization, about science, and about each other. The Executive Team appreciates that they reached out with an offer to help. We are facing an incredibly fluid, complex and frankly difficult situation with no clear and easy solution. We have been carefully weighing options on how to ensure the health and safety of our employees, create an optimal plan for reopening to the public and considering both through the lens of the long-term needs of the institution we all love."
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The workers’ petition — which had more than 1,400 signatures total as of Tuesday night on the Action Network site, an 8-year-old progressive not-for-profit that makes organizing tools available — has pulled together statistics showing that Field Museum appears to be in strong fiscal shape, with 8-digit profitability in each of the last five years for which public records were available. Payroll, meanwhile, looks to be about 40 percent of total expenses.
Tuan said staff has pulled together in the crisis, including donating over $200,000 in vacation time back to the not-for-profit museum in hopes that it would save workers’ jobs or furlough time.
Another of the group’s concerns, he said, is that layoffs will disproportionately hit employees who deal directly with the public since attendance is expected to take such a severe blow upon re-opening amid social distancing measures and a possibly nervous public. Those workers, he said, tend to disproportionately be people of color.
The Field workers, who are not unionized, were assisted in their efforts by the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, a group formed to help workers threatened by the pandemic.
EWOC volunteers — who said their effort includes union organizers, many former Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign staff, Democratic Socialists of America members and United Electrical workers union members and staff — were the first to respond to the Tribune’s request for interviews and set up the calls with Tuan and Pozza.
The effort to put their thoughts into a petition, though, came from within the museum employee ranks, Tuan said.
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“We’re just basically a group of concerned employees that reached out to many people after the town hall,” he said. “It’s a grass roots effort, for better or worse.”
sajohnson@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @StevenKJohnson


chicagotribune--2020-06-10--Column: The truth about antifa’s secret senior soldiers. Trump is on to us, so I’m spilling the bean

Column: The truth about antifa’s secret senior soldiers. Trump is on to us, so I’m spilling the beans.

Here ’ s an explanation from a Tuesday story in The Washington Post that cited people like Mark Bray , @ @ @ @ @ : The Anti-Fascist Handbook ” and a historian at Rutgers University : “ Experts say @ @ @ @ @ that the participants are a coherent group .
Their numbers are small — though experts @ @ @ @ @ to pin down — and their organization is decentralized .
In most U.S. cities , @ @ @ @ @ have a visible presence .
When making their most concerted effort to gather from across @ @ @ @ @ ve only reached a couple hundred .
They spend most of their time not fighting @ @ @ @ @ tracking what neo-Nazis in their communities are doing and outing them to employees and neighbors @ @

The truth about antifa is coming out. (If you’re unsure what antifa is, or if you’re not afraid of antifa, please go watch Fox News for a few hours and then return to this column with your trousers appropriately soiled.)
President Donald Trump has accused a 75-year-old Roman Catholic peace activist critically injured by police during a recent protest in Buffalo, New York, of being an “ANTIFA provocateur.” The man was seen in a viral video approaching police like he wanted to talk and then getting pushed backward, falling and bashing his head on the sidewalk.
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The man wound up in intensive care and two officers involved in the shoving were charged with assault. At first, we here at Antifa Headquarters (I won’t tell you where it is, it’s a secret) thought we were in the clear. We thought our most valuable asset — a septuagenarian super-soldier — would not be found out.
But then came Trump’s tweet on Tuesday: “Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur.”
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Dang, how did he find out?
The actual president of the United States of America continued to write that the 75-year-old “was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. … I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?”
As soon as I saw that tweet, I knew the jig is up. Trump is on to us. He knows about the scanners. He knows we’re trained to fall harder than we’re pushed. He knows we’ve successfully recruited a small army of seemingly innocent and decent seniors and dispatched them to “black out the equipment” of police officers across the nation. (The phrase “black out the equipment” doesn’t actually mean anything, which is why it’s so nefarious that we antifa types are constantly aiming our scanners at things.)
So I’ve decided to quit and spill the beans on this secretive, radical-leftist organization. Why? Well, let’s just say it has to do with a dispute over a free T-shirt I was supposed to receive with my membership. I mean, c’mon, you don’t offer people a free shirt and then just say, “Sorry, the XL is out of stock.”
Anyway, I’ll miss the weekly check from liberal billionaire George Soros, but it seems high time Americans learned the truth.
For starters, antifa — short for “anti-fascist,” which is apparently a bad thing to be if you’re a Republican — is often described as a “loosely organized” collection of autonomous groups. (Again, I joined mainly for the T-shirt, a general aversion to fascists and because I find wearing black to be slimming.)
Here’s an explanation from a Tuesday story in The Washington Post that cited people like Mark Bray, the author of “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook” and a historian at Rutgers University: “Experts say the most common misconception is that the participants are a coherent group. Their numbers are small — though experts say the count is hard to pin down — and their organization is decentralized. In most U.S. cities, they are too small to have a visible presence. When making their most concerted effort to gather from across the nation, they’ve only reached a couple hundred. They spend most of their time not fighting or protesting, but rather tracking what neo-Nazis in their communities are doing and outing them to employees and neighbors.”
I suppose that sounds about right. But let me tell you, for a decentralized organization, antifa sure has LONG Zoom meetings. Just last week, the morning staff meeting ran way over, thanks to disagreements over gluten-free options for the upcoming bake sale.
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I mean, I get that Keith and Tonya have strong opinions about spelt, but that was time we could’ve spent aiming our scanners at police equipment.
The Post story also noted President Trump’s repeated fearmongering about the group: “Experts who have studied antifa say there is no evidence that the fringe, amorphous group is driving nationwide protests, and Trump hasn’t cited anything specific as he accused them of doing so. Some experts worry Trump is conflating antifa with peaceful protesters in a dangerous way for democracy.”
Technically, that’s correct. We haven’t managed to drive nationwide protests, use computer chips provided by Microsoft’s Bill Gates to control the minds of young conservative children or generally smash fascism as relentlessly as we’d like. (Honestly, I blame part of that on the Zoom meetings. And yes, I’M TALKING ABOUT YOU, KEITH AND TONYA!!)
But antifa’s failure to fulfill the right wing’s darkest fever dreams can be blamed largely on the group’s delay in launching its true democracy death squad, a collection of highly trained seniors who are easily injured when pushed over by law enforcement officers.
The plan was simple: Dispatch septuagenarian and octogenarian antifa warriors to protests across the country; have them slowly and politely approach police officers in a manner conspiracy theorists would interpret as a high-tech act of “blacking out equipment”; have them get pushed by police, fall down and suffer serious injuries; while the world’s attention is on the hundreds of videos of older people being assaulted by the police, all other antifa members would be bused to rural America to burn crops and generally destroy the American way of life.
It was a solid plan, and it probably would’ve worked if Trump hadn’t figured it out. Now it’s back to the drawing board for ol’ antifa.
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Whatever, I’m out of that group now. Fascism stinks and all, but I never forgive getting stiffed out of a T-shirt.
rhuppke@chicagotribune.com