chicagotribune--2020-02-28--Backers say proposed power line would be a vital link to renewable energy. Foes say it would scar pr

Backers say proposed power line would be a vital link to renewable energy. Foes say it would scar pristine Wisconsin landscape and cost too much.

“ The attitude is they are going to do whatever they want to do , and there ’ s nothing @ @ @ @ @ can do to stop them , ” Schwarzmann said .
“ But we ’ re @ @ @ @ @ ’ re not just going to take this lying down . ''

CASSVILLE, Wis. — An electrical substation along the Mississippi River is all that remains of the Nelson Dewey Generating Station, one of the dozens of coal-fired power plants that closed across the Midwest during the past decade.
Demolishing the aging Dewey plant, named after Wisconsin’s first governor, marked another victory in a long battle to improve air quality, fight climate change and shift the region toward cleaner, less expensive energy.
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Conservationists hoped the site would someday be added to Nelson Dewey’s former estate, now a state park. Or perhaps absorbed into the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge, a meandering stretch of protected river bluffs and flood plains where migratory birds breed and bald eagles spend the winter.
Instead, Wisconsin ratepayers — and others as far away as Michigan and downstate Illinois — could be forced to pay clout-heavy energy companies more than $1 billion for a new high-voltage power line that would start near the Dewey substation.
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The proposed Cardinal-Hickory Creek line would cut across the wildlife refuge and stretch northeast toward Madison on towers as tall as 17-story buildings through the Driftless Area — a geological anomaly where the pancake flat Midwest gives way to forested hills and the picturesque barns of family-owned dairy farms.
(Jemal R. Brinson)
An ongoing dispute about the high-voltage line is part of a broader debate about who pays for and benefits from the rapidly changing business of electricity generation and transmission, not just in the Midwest but nationally. It also is about an outdated regulatory process that favors corporate profits over considerations about the planet’s climate and the ecology of local communities.
Backers contend the line would benefit homeowners and businesses by linking urban areas east of the Mississippi to low-cost renewable energy in rural Iowa and Minnesota.
“The project is part of a solution that enables new generation capacity in wind-rich areas to replace the older fossil fuel plants that are being retired throughout the region,” Tom Dagenais, the power line’s lead planner, told Wisconsin regulators last year.
Hundreds of pages of regulatory documents reviewed by the Chicago Tribune tell a more complex, largely contradictory story. Only the project’s investors are guaranteed to benefit if the line is built, the records show.
Wisconsin officials approved the power line in August even though their own professional staff determined the cost would exceed the purported gains. Independent experts concluded the line isn’t needed to keep the lights on. Others testified it could increase climate change pollution by providing a conduit to new markets for coal plants in the Upper Midwest and Great Plains that otherwise would be slated to close.
Cars drive down Main Street in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. Mount Horeb is in the path of the Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Line Project. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
“There are cleaner, faster, cheaper alternatives readily available,” said Howard Learner, president of the nonprofit Environmental Law and Policy Center, a Chicago-based group challenging the project in state and federal court. “We can do better and deserve better.”
Upheaval in energy sector
Plans for a massive new power line come as demand for electricity is flat or declining in many states, including Illinois and Wisconsin. A glut of relatively inexpensive natural gas and a growing supply of wind and solar power is driving down wholesale electricity prices. As a result, traditional energy companies are finding it increasingly difficult to make money from coal and nuclear plants.
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Some companies have responded by pressing state lawmakers for subsidies, such as the 2016 Illinois bailout of Chicago-based Exelon after the company threatened to close nuclear plants near the Quad Cities and downstate Clinton.
Ohio awarded new subsidies last year to its two nuclear plants and a pair of power plants supplied by one of the state’s biggest coal companies. In another bid to prop up what’s left of the coal industry, lawmakers in Indiana are considering legislation that would make it more difficult for utilities to shut down money-losing power plants that burn the fossil fuel.
Then there are companies like the chief investors in the Cardinal-Hickory Creek project: the American Transmission Co. and ITC Midwest LLC. Spun off from traditional utilities, the companies are guaranteed a profit if they build new transmission lines.
Analysts generally agree transmission networks need to be overhauled to reliably deliver electricity generated only when the wind blows or sun shines, rather than carry energy produced by coal and nuclear plants that operate around the clock whether or not they are needed.
Yet there are key differences between a power line like Cardinal-Hickory Creek, which would carry electricity from myriad sources, and others that by design would only transmit wind or solar power. Fast-declining prices for battery storage and advances in local grid improvements also challenge the idea that expensive, multistate transmission lines are still necessary.
A mostly-frozen waterfall cascades down a rocky cliff on the property of Driftless Defenders Outreach Team Leader Betsy D'Angelo. D'Angelo is part of the group that opposes the Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Line Project. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
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One of the experts who testified against the Cardinal-Hickory Creek line is Jon Wellinghoff, an energy consultant who led the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission under former President Barack Obama. New technology can make existing transmission lines more effective at a fraction of the cost to build a new one, he told Wisconsin regulators.
“I’m not anti-transmission, I’m anti-stupid,” Wellinghoff said in an interview. “But for now the rules are still stacked in favor of the more you spend the more you make, regardless of whether or not your project is a good idea.”
The Driftless landscape
In Iowa County, west of Madison, esoteric debates about the electric grid aren’t the main focus for hundreds of people who during the past five years organized, packed town halls and bombarded state lawmakers with calls and letters urging them to reject the Cardinal-Hickory Creek line.
What unites the politically diverse opponents is the thought of garish towers stretching across a pastoral Midwestern landscape.
A group of pine trees grows on a bluff on the Driftless Area property of Driftless Defenders Outreach Team Leader Betsy D'Angelo. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Doug Thomas stands by the stone barn, completed in 1881, on his property in Barneveld, Wisconsin. Barneveld is in the path of the Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Line Project. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Untouched by ice age glaciers that scoured other parts of the region, the Driftless Area features jagged limestone cliffs, deep valleys and spring-fed trout streams. Over the years it has become a mecca for sustainable agriculture, recreation and tourism, retaining the influence of Norwegian farmers who settled the area during the 1800s.
The topography drew architect Frank Lloyd Wright to build Taliesin, his home and studio near Spring Green, and inspired Aldo Leopold, the scientist and writer who helped pioneer wilderness conservation, private land restoration and soil-saving practices still used throughout the Driftless.
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Today the area’s friends are outdoors enthusiasts and land preservationists. Others include current or former Chicago-area residents who, like Learner, either own homes in the Driftless or moved here permanently.
“I’m hard-pressed to think of another issue that has galvanized regional solidarity in this unpredictable, stubbornly independent region,” Curt Meine, a conservationist and author who wrote an acclaimed biography of Leopold, said about the proposed power line.
“Shaped by the landscape, people here have resisted corporate agriculture that dominates the rest of the Midwest,” Meine said. “Once they got up to speed about how fast the energy landscape is changing, they realized whatever is built now is probably going to be outmoded by the time it’s done.”
John Hess, president of the Iowa County Historical Society, keeps a folder with copies of the brief, polite letters he’s written urging Gov. Tony Evers and executives at the American Transmission Co. to drop the project. Unsatisfied with their responses, Hess, who also leads a township south of Spring Green, joined county officials who are challenging the power line in court.
“Other than agriculture, our main economic driver here is tourism,” said Hess, who grew up near Milwaukee, worked in the Chicago suburbs for two decades and moved to the Driftless 35 years ago. “If this power line comes through here and messes everything up, it could be devastating.”
The nonprofit organizations represented by Learner and his team of lawyers are the Driftless Area Land Conservancy and the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, a group of hunters and anglers led by George Meyer, who served as chief of the state Department of Natural Resources under former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson.
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Echoing landowners in the area, Meyer told state regulators the heavy equipment needed to build the power line would damage forests and streams that local and state officials have spent decades restoring and protecting.
An anti-American Transmission Company sign is posted along Main Street in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
“My members definitely aren’t a bunch of tree-huggers, but they care deeply about this important natural resource,” Meyer said in a recent interview. “For many others in the area, this is the first time they’ve gotten involved in a dispute like this. The fact that the state rebuffed the clear will of the people is disheartening."
A cost for 12 states’ ratepayers
One of the selling points that persuaded the three-member Public Service Commission of Wisconsin to unanimously approve Cardinal-Hickory Creek is the cost would be split between ratepayers in 12 states overseen by one of the region’s grid operators.
Because Michigan uses the most electricity on this particular regional grid, its ratepayers would end up paying 21% of the cost to build the power line — more than any other state. Wisconsin ratepayers would only pay 15% of the costs, while those in Illinois would pick up 10% of the tab.
Unlike downstate ratepayers, ComEd customers in northern Illinois aren’t directly affected because the area is part of a separate regional grid. But the forced cost-sharing arrangement for Cardinal-Hickory Creek prompted Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul to formally oppose the power line.
Wisconsin commissioners said they were swayed by promises the power line would help meet their state’s climate goals. Evers, a Democrat elected in 2018, pledged last year that all of the state’s electricity will be carbon-free by 2050.
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The commissioners also said they agreed with arguments from the project’s backers, who contend the line is needed to ensure the electric grid remains reliable.
Driftless Defenders Outreach Team Leader Betsy D'Angelo stands on her property, which is on part of the Driftless Area. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
“For me, the risks of not building this line and being wrong are just too great,” Rebecca Valcq, a former utility lawyer who Evers appointed to chair the Wisconsin commission, said before the August vote.
Opponents urged Valcq and then-Commissioner Mike Huebsch to recuse themselves from voting on the power line. Valcq formerly represented the parent company of WE Energies, the state’s largest investor-owned utility and owner of 60% of the main company behind Cardinal-Hickory Creek. Huebsch, who stepped down shortly after the vote, served on an advisory board for the regional grid operator that pushed for the project.
Before approving the power line, both denied having conflicts of interest. Valcq called the accusation “opportunistic at best and at worst contemptible.” A spokesman said in an email that commissioners will not comment while the matter is under litigation.
As lawyers prepare to meet again in court to determine the fate of Cardinal-Hickory Creek, energy markets continue to change.
Another Wisconsin utility, the Dairyland Power Cooperative, announced last month it will close one of its coal plants by next year. Since 2013, economic realities have led Dairyland and other companies to scrap five of the state’s 12 coal plants and one of its two nuclear plants.
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Dairyland executives said the Genoa Generating Station isn’t needed now that they are building a new gas-fired plant. The company also is a minor investor in the Cardinal-Hickory Creek project.
The icy Mississippi River flows through O'Leary's Lake Recreation Area in Hazel Green, Wisconsin. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Meanwhile, new large-scale wind and solar farms are in the works for Wisconsin, which lagged behind neighboring states during former Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s time in office.
The surge of renewable energy projects within the state raises more questions about why a new high-voltage line is necessary to transmit electricity generated in other states.
Joe Schwarzmann, a Driftless resident whose land would be crossed by the Cardinal-Hickory Creek line, said he struggles to understand why Wisconsin officials agreed with the project’s backers.
“The attitude is they are going to do whatever they want to do, and there’s nothing those of us out here can do to stop them,” Schwarzmann said. “But we’re not giving up. We’re not just going to take this lying down."
mhawthorne@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-28--Chicago police release chilling video showing three people opening fire into South Side convenience

Chicago police release chilling video showing three people opening fire into South Side convenience store

As the two look into the store , the third runs up to join them , a gun apparently in @ @ @ @ @ of them opens the door and all three crowd around it , then raise their @ @ @ @ @ back away .
One continues firing as they turn and run off the same direction @ @ @ @ @ is seen leaving the store .

In an image from video released by the Chicago police, three people fire nearly 20 shots into Ali’s Minimart at 79th Street and Avalon Avenue late Tuesday afternoon, killing one person and wounding four others inside. (Chicago Police Department)
Chicago police have released a chilling video of this week's fatal shooting at a South Side convenience store, showing three people rushing up, opening the door and peering inside before all of them open fire.
The three — two men and a woman — fired nearly 20 shots into the store at 79th Street and Avalon Avenue about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, hitting five people inside.
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Jaya Beemon, an 18-year-old nursing student who had stopped there with her date, was killed and he was wounded in the leg. A 17-year-old girl was shot in the arm, chest and ankle, an 18-year-old woman was shot in the back and a 63-year-old man was hit in the leg.
The video, from a camera outside the store, opens with the three shooters walking on the sidewalk in front of the store. They are hunched over and their hands are in their pockets. Two of them cross the parking lot to the store, occasionally looking back at the street, while the third stays behind.
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As the two look into the store, the third runs up to join them, a gun apparently in her right hand. One of them opens the door and all three crowd around it, then raise their arms and fire as they back away. One continues firing as they turn and run off the same direction they came. No one is seen leaving the store.
In the video, police described one of the suspects as wearing a dark jacket with light jeans, another wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt and the third a dark jacket with brown fur around the collar. They were seen driving off in a white Chrysler 300 with damage to the right rear side.
Police asked anyone with information to call detectives at 312-747-8271.
Family members said Beemon was following the footsteps of her mother and her aunt who are both registered nurses. She had been on a date with a fellow nursing student at Malcolm X College on Tuesday, spending the day at the Shedd Aquarium, before she and her date stopped at the store for snacks.
Her mother, Nyisha Beemon, was arrested after she screamed and collapsed on seeing her daughter’s body at the University of Chicago Medical Center. She was charged with battery and resisting arrest, and was kept in police custody for hours after the shooting.
The arrest has angered the family and prompted complaints from the American Civil Liberties Union. The Chicago Police Department said it is reviewing the arrest.


chicagotribune--2020-02-28--Concealed carry license holder, would-be robber exchange gunfire in Little Village

About 6:50 p.m. , a male walked up to a 33-year-old woman in front of her house in the 4100 @ @ @ @ @ and pulled out a gun , according to Chicago police .

A woman and a would-be robber both escaped unscathed after shooting at each other Thursday night in the Little Village neighborhood.
About 6:50 p.m., a male walked up to a 33-year-old woman in front of her house in the 4100 block of West 24th Place and pulled out a gun, according to Chicago police.
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When he demanded her belongings, she refused and pulled out her own gun. The two exchanged gunfire, police said.
No one was shot, and the would-be robber ran off in an unknown direction, police said. The woman has a valid firearm owner’s identification card and concealed carry license, a source said.
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ayin@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-28--You might think, ‘Who asked Dashboard Confessional to come back?’ Chris Carrabba has some answers fo

You might think, ‘Who asked Dashboard Confessional to come back?’ Chris Carrabba has some answers for you

Though , in thinking about it a bit more , he said the artists who influenced him growing up were @ @ @ @ @ raised on a diet of equal parts hip-hop , metal , goth and college rock @ @ @ @ @ draw from Sick of It All and Quicksand , the Cure , Wu-Tang Clan and @ @ @ @ @ none of it was out of bounds , ” Carrabba explained .
“ What I @ @ @ @ @ within it all was that it drew an emotion out of me , and it @ @ @ @ @ emotions .
”

Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba is revisiting two of his most beloved albums on tour. But he's still game for reinvention. (Dave Bean)
Nostalgia is a tricky proposition for Chris Carrabba.
On one hand, he revels in it: “Let’s enjoy this thing we once enjoyed together so well,” said the Dashboard Confessional singer, who is in the midst of an anniversary tour celebrating 20 years as a band. On select nights, he’ll be playing his two best-known albums in their entirety, 2001’s “The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most” and 2003’s “A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar.”
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In January, he also unveiled “The Best Ones of the Best Ones,” Dashboard’s first-ever career-spanning compilation album. But talk to the soft-spoken singer long enough, as we did when he called one recent morning, and it becomes readily apparent that despite his appreciation for a nostalgic moment, in reality he has always viewed Dashboard Confessional as a living, breathing entity, forever subject to change.
“One thing about my live performances,” said Carrabba, who, over time, has become one of the most successful acts to emerge from the early-aughts emo-rock scene, “is I do allow myself to be affected by the song I’m singing right then and there. It’s not like musical theater, where you’re just delivering something on a nightly basis with the same intention. My songs just don’t lend themselves to that. My songs live with chaos and unpredictability.”
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It’s this raw, unfiltered emotion that’s long resided at the core of Dashboard songs and what has long made Carrabba, who plays the House of Blues on consecutive nights beginning Saturday, such a compelling — if not occasionally melodramatic — live act.
To hear the singer-songwriter tell it, he has always viewed his studio albums as simply the starting point for each song’s narrative. Seeing as he almost never listens back to the recorded version of his songs, to play it live and watch it evolve over the years is to see each song blossom into its full potential.
“Because songs are not like printed poetry that just live forever to be interpreted,” Carrabba said. “If you play it live, they are really malleable and they continue to evolve. The song is never done. It just lives. For some people, the studio recording becomes a really important moment. For me, it’s all about right now.”
In preparing to play two of his most adored albums, Carrabba said he has also found it’s not necessarily wise to perform the songs in the order they appeared on the album.
“You have to allow yourself to step back,” he said, and what he’s found is that you have to “up the ante” for a live show and not simply expect the track listing to provide the most exciting experience for fans.
“Certainly, the audience has listened to the songs in that order, but does it really work live? Invariably the answer, unfortunately, is not really,” Carrabba said. “So you have to make an agreement with yourself right away to compromise a little bit if you want to deliver the songs in the best way you can.”
Still, even Carrabba has his limits for how far he’s willing to push things. Where certain artists like Bob Dylan or the Counting Crows’ Adam Durtiz are known to transform a song so drastically in their live set it barely resembles the original version, Carrabba feels he’d be doing a disservice to fan if he were to do the same.
“My feeling is to safeguard the song as much as possible,” he said. “You’re allowing things to change, but also trying hard to not lose the original melody. Sure, a song is going to change and drift, but I’m more concerned with the music around it evolving, and that’s where I find I can change the songs a bit.”
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A song’s melody, he noted, is the one element of a song fans can grip tightest.
“And so you don’t want to take that piece, which I believe is the most precious, away from them," Carrabba said. "Fans aren’t out there with drumsticks or guitars; they’re out there with their voice. So for me to change that too much would be robbing them of the song. That collective moment of us singing together is so paramount to me and my audience.”
Carrabba is decidedly humble in conversation, often downplaying his influence. When it’s explained to him that his music has been cited as highly influential by artists of all genres, ranging from rock to hip-hop, he said, “of course I’m surprised to hear that.”
Though, in thinking about it a bit more, he said the artists who influenced him growing up were certainly varied. Having been raised on a diet of equal parts hip-hop, metal, goth and college rock, “for me to draw from Sick of It All and Quicksand, the Cure, Wu-Tang Clan and maybe even Lindsey Buckingham — none of it was out of bounds,” Carrabba explained. “What I realized is the common thread within it all was that it drew an emotion out of me, and it supercharged my own songs with emotions.”
He paused and added, “And then I went on my own trip.”
Dan Hyman is a freelance writer.
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ct-arts@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @chitribent
When: 7 p.m. Sunday and Monday
Where: House of Blues, 329 N. Dearborn St.
Tickets: 312-923-2000 or www.ticketmaster.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-28--Chicago police to announce strategy to combat CTA crime spike, including adding 50 officers to 'L' p

Chicago police to announce strategy to combat CTA crime spike, including adding 50 officers to 'L' patrol unit and center to monitor cameras in real time

Beck said the new detective unit will focus on CTA-specific types of crimes , while traditional detective units will continue @ @ @ @ @ crimes on the CTA , such as shootings , homicides and robberies that lead to @ @ @ @ @ new unit to focus on less severe crimes can help it respond faster , through @ @ @ @ @ , detecting patterns and making arrests more quickly , he said .

Chicago police patrol the UIC-Halsted stop on the Forest Park branch of the CTA's Blue Line on Feb. 25, 2020. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Chicago police plan to beef up patrols and investigations to address a spike in crime on the CTA’s rail system.
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The department on Friday announced it will add 50 officers to the unit that patrols the “L,” bringing the total to 250. And, in a first for the department, each of those officers will be equipped with tracking devices for the department to better monitor and adjust how they’re deployed, interim police Superintendent Charlie Beck said.
The department will open a Strategic Decision Support Center in the downtown police district, which will give police a central location to monitor the system’s 32,000 cameras in real time. The center, to be funded in part by billionaire and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, will house a CTA crime analyst and four detectives dedicated to solving the most common types of crimes that plague the system, such as cellphone robberies and thefts, Beck said.
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“If someone steals a cellphone, time is of the essence if you’re going to use the tracker ability of the cellphone to make an arrest,” Beck said. Detectives will focus on making those types of arrests, and on monitoring “recidivists” who repeatedly commit crimes on the transit system, he said.
“Either we monitor them more closely when they’re riding the trains or ban them from the trains,” Beck said.
The realignment of police power on the CTA follows an increase in high-profile crimes, along with a boost in overall crime on the system, as documented in a September Tribune investigation. Crime doubled between 2015 and 2018 and arrest rates fell, despite the addition of cameras in every station and rail car, the Tribune reported.
The city ended 2019 with slightly less nonviolent crime on the "L" than the year before, but violent crime continued to rise. Several recent high-profile incidents, including a fatal shooting in a downtown CTA pedestrian tunnel, have focused public attention on the problem and prompted the department to announce more patrols.
Friday’s announcement appears more comprehensive, building on decisions made in the last year to increase the unit’s size and figure out how better to use technology to solve crimes.
A Tribune analysis of crime records shows arrest rates have improved slightly for thefts but not robberies, which involve force or the threat of force.
The department made arrests in just 11% of "L" robberies last year, a figure unchanged from 2018 and nearly half the arrest rate for robberies in 2015. As for thefts, the department’s arrest rate sank from about 7% in 2015 to 2% in 2018, but rebounded to 4% in 2019.
The department said crime to date this year has seen a slight decrease compared with the same time last year, and arrests rose. But Beck said he expects to see more improvement when the department adds the new officers to the Public Transportation Unit on March 4.
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All public transit officers will be deployed with GPS devices so the department can track their movements. Beck said the department has used GPS to track patrol cars, but never individual officers. It’s a way to better ensure officer safety, direct officers to crime scenes and ensure officers are deployed to places where crime is more likely to occur, he said.
“We want to make sure that everybody we have working there is at the right place at the right time,” Beck said.
Helping figure out where to deploy officers will be a CTA crime analyst, stationed at the new support center, Beck said.
Beck said the new detective unit will focus on CTA-specific types of crimes, while traditional detective units will continue to handle the most violent crimes on the CTA, such as shootings, homicides and robberies that lead to serious injuries. Allowing the new unit to focus on less severe crimes can help it respond faster, through pulling videos, identifying suspects, detecting patterns and making arrests more quickly, he said.
Griffin’s contribution would cover the build-out costs of the room, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. A budget was not yet available. Through the University of Chicago Crime Lab, Griffin has helped fund other rooms of this type and the detective bureau’s area technology centers, Guglielmi said.
Beck said traditional district officers will continue to do most patrolling of stations and platforms, while most of the Public Transportation Unit officers will be on trains. The department will continue to deploy tactical teams and undercover units to supplement the boosted patrols and investigations.
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The department is looking to change another way police help tackle CTA crime: officers working overtime. For decades, the CTA has paid for officers from Chicago and some suburban departments to work overtime patrolling the rail system. The last three-year deal, passed in 2017, anticipated that about 60 officers a day would patrol for extra hours.
Without going into specifics, because the Police Department is still in negotiations with the police officers’ union and CTA, Beck said the goal is that the department fill those slots “with the best, most motivated officers” available.
Regarding the idea of banning certain individuals from the system, Beck said at a Friday news conference at the Roosevelt Red Line station that such a ban could be pursued through a court order or settlement agreement. The CTA also has an ordinance that allows it to ban people from the system.
After the news conference, President Dorval Carter said a ban is a tool the agency is “reluctant" to use because of how important transit is for people. If the agency did pursue such a ban, it would work with the Chicago Police Department, he said.
The CTA has its own security team, which collects information from CTA cameras to give to police, and pays private guards, working in two-person teams, to patrol trains and platforms.
Kevin Ryan, vice president of security at the CTA, told the Tribune he hopes the CTA may be able to use private guards to help enforce “quality of life” issues on the system, such as the ban on smoking or playing loud radios.
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There have been increased complaints on social media about this type of rule-breaking. “People don’t seem to want to pay attention to the rules,” Ryan said.
Passengers at the CTA Roosevelt station on Friday said they were glad more police are being added to the system. “I’m scared to ride the Red Line at night,” said Nicole Rose, 38, of Lawndale.
mwisniewski@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-27--5 Chicago police officers hospitalized after their vehicles collide in South Chicago

About 11:40 p.m. , an unmarked police vehicle and a marked one collided in the 9200 block of South South @ @ @ @ @ Chicago police .
Both vehicles were on their way to assist a call .

Five Chicago police officers were hurt following a crash between their vehicles Thursday night in the South Chicago neighborhood.
About 11:40 p.m., an unmarked police vehicle and a marked one collided in the 9200 block of South South Chicago Avenue, according to Chicago police. Both vehicles were on their way to assist a call.
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Three officers in the unmarked vehicle and two in the other vehicle were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, police said.


chicagotribune--2020-02-27--Ask Amy: Wonderful grandson is terrible at the table

You want to be the people in his life who completely accept him , right now -- just as he @ @ @ @ @ feeling more comfortable , he will relax and start watching how you comport yourselves , @ @ @ @ @ model and offer gentle instruction .

Dear Amy: We have recently been reunited with our son's child after 10 years. He is 13 -- and is delightful, well behaved, and intelligent.
However, unfortunately, he has terrible table manners.
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We went to a restaurant and it soon became apparent that he has never been shown how to use a knife, a napkin, etc.
I didn't want to be critical, so I tried saying things like, "I find it easier to cut my food if I hold the knife this way," or, "I put my napkin in my lap so I can wipe me mouth," -- that sort of thing.
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This was met with a blank look and the behavior resumed.
It won't be possible to speak to his mother about it, and again, I don't want to be critical.
How can I teach him table manners, other than modeling good behavior?
— Mannerly Grandmother
Dear Mannerly: You have just met this boy. I infer from this that there has been substantial upheaval in his life -- perhaps a parental split and possibly a custody shift.
If his father is on the scene, it would be most logical to speak with him about it. You might assume that he has mainly eaten directly out of fast-food bags.
I wouldn't present this as a top-line concern, however -- because the whole family is readjusting to your grandson's re-emergence, you should step carefully and kindly into his life.
Adolescent boys are sensitive and tender creatures, with acute awareness about being judged by others, and they are surrounded by conflicting and confusing messages about how they should behave.
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For now, don't correct him, hint, nudge, or use body language to convey your disapproval.
You want to be the people in his life who completely accept him, right now -- just as he is. When he is feeling more comfortable, he will relax and start watching how you comport yourselves, and over time you can model and offer gentle instruction.
A great way to introduce table manners is to involve him in cooking a meal. All teens should know how to make a stack of tasty pancakes.
Show him how to set the table. And then sit down and eat together.
Dear Amy: My boyfriend has made a habit out of using birthdays and holidays as an opportunity to upgrade his own lifestyle -- under the guise of generous gift giving.
After buying himself the latest upgraded laptop, he gave me his used laptop for Christmas. (He did spend money getting it cleaned up.)
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For my last birthday he took that opportunity to upgrade his own set of scuba gear and gave me his used gear.
The thing is, I'm not a diver, and my current laptop is perfectly adequate for my needs (the one he gave me is much less portable).
He gets upset if I politely decline these gifts, so these items are really just taking up valuable closet space at this point.
Am I ungrateful or am I justified in feeling a bit stuck in an ungrateful recipient position?
I'm also not able to figure out why exactly this irks me, and it seems ingenious to fake enthusiasm as I'm walking gifts over to the closet.
Your reaction?
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— Gift Horse
Dear Gift Horse: This irks you because it is irksome.
There is nothing at all wrong with giving a loved one a reconditioned, used, vintage, second-hand gift (in my opinion), as long as the item is personal in nature, wished for or asked for -- and not the direct descendant of the giver's own upgrade!
(I'm talking about you -- unwanted, unloved, and unused scuba gear!)
You should convey to your guy, "Honey, if you want to give yourself new stuff, then good for you! But I don't want your castoffs. In the future, you should sell the stuff you don't want and use the proceeds however you wish."
You might be able to drive this point home the next time you upgrade your phone. Wrap up the old one and present it to your guy.
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He might say, "Thanks, babe -- but I don't need this. I don't want it. I already have one!
And you can say, "Exactly."
Dear Amy: Thank you for your empathetic reply to "Survivor," the abused person who wanted to confront a childhood bully, years later.
Ask Amy Daily No-nonsense advice for better living delivered to your inbox every morning. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >
You wrote: "Vengeance doesn't quiet rage; it stokes it."
Put another way: Revenge is like drinking poison and hoping the other person will die.
— Beth
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Dear Beth: Yes! This profound statement rings so true.
Get the latest no-nonsense advice for better living delivered to your inbox every morning with our Ask Amy newsletter. Sign up here.
(You can email Amy Dickinson at askamy@amydickinson.com or send a letter to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or Facebook.)
Copyright 2019 by Amy Dickinson
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency


chicagotribune--2020-02-27--Blackhawks score 5 goals in the 3rd period — including Dominik Kubalik’s hat trick — to beat the Lig

Blackhawks score 5 goals in the 3rd period — including Dominik Kubalik’s hat trick — to beat the Lightning 5-2

“ I ’ m really happy that it happened , ” said Kubalik , who has seven goals in his @ @ @ @ @ all NHL rookies with 29 on the season .
“ I have no idea ( @ @ @ @ @ .
I would like to know as well .
I ’ m just trying to @ @ @ @ @ be around the net .
I ’ ve been lucky .
”

TAMPA, Fla. — Dominik Kubalik recorded a hat trick with three goals in the third period, and the Blackhawks rallied past the Lightning 5-2 on Thursday night.
Slater Koekkoek scored his first goal of the season and Brandon Saad also scored as the Hawks beat the Lightning for the first time in regulation since Dec. 13, 2009.
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The Hawks scored three goals in a span of 5 minutes, 20 seconds and five goals in the third period to erase a two-goal deficit. Kubalik tied the game at 5:02 of the third, provided an insurance goal on the power play at 11:43 and capped it with his third goal of the period into an empty net at 17:29.
“I’m really happy that it happened,” said Kubalik, who has seven goals in his last seven games and leads all NHL rookies with 29 on the season. “I have no idea (what’s clicking). I would like to know as well. I’m just trying to do the same thing ... be around the net. I’ve been lucky.”
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Friendly reminder that rookie Dominik Kubalik's got 5(!) goals in his last 7 games.#Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/mayA7cUzZv — Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) February 28, 2020
Kubalik is the third Hawks rookie to score three goals in one period, joining George Hay (Feb. 19, 1927) and Ryan Hartman (Jan. 8, 2017).
Corey Crawford finished with 37 saves.
The Lightning had won eight consecutive games against the Hawks and were 14-0-2 in the last 16 regular-season meetings.
Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point each had a goal and an assist for the Lightning, who lost their fourth consecutive game. Curtis McElhinney stopped 22 shots for the Lightning, who had been 28-0-4 when entering the third period with the lead.
“You don’t see that happen very often, and it hasn’t happened to us too often,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “It tends to happen once per year. You don’t want it to happen, but it happened tonight and you just have to make sure you don’t let it happen again.”
Koekkoek, a 2012 first-round pick by the Lightning who was traded to the Hawks last season, fired a shot from the right point through traffic for the winner. It was his first goal since April 5.
“It felt amazing,” Koekkoek said. “I was lucky enough to get the winner.”
After a combined eight power-play chances through the opening 32 minutes, Point finally broke through at even strength at 15:31 of the second period. He wheeled around the zone from the left circle to the high slot and zipped a wrist shot through traffic for his 24th goal.
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Kucherov scored 17 seconds into the third period from off to the side of the net on a snap shot off a feed from Point for his 32nd goal.
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The Hawks gained momentum on a fifth power-play chance after Luke Schenn was whistled for interference at 2:28 of the third. Eight seconds after the man advantage ended, Saad scored off a rebound in front at 4:36.
“We responded really well in the third, especially after we gave up the second (goal),” Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. “It could’ve (gone) the other way, but the guys responded and we found a way.”
On the next shift, the Lightning were called for an intentional offside, sending the faceoff back to the Lightning zone. Kubalik found another rebound and tied the game 26 seconds after Saad’s goal.
Koekkoek’s winner came at 9:56, two minutes after the Lightning failed to convert on a fifth power-play chance, and Kubalik scored his second goal on the power play at 11:43.
“It’s a tough one to swallow,” Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. “We did a lot of good things for 42 minutes, then we take a couple of penalties, so we are playing with a little bit of fire.
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“I don’t know how many positives we can take out of today, but at the end of the day you can’t give up five goals in one period. That’s not good enough.”
The Hawks next play Saturday against Joel Quenneville’s Panthers in Sunrise, Fla.


chicagotribune--2020-02-27--YouTube TV effectively drops the Cubs’ Marquee network before ever carrying it. Is removing Sinclair

YouTube TV effectively drops the Cubs’ Marquee network before ever carrying it. Is removing Sinclair’s regional sports channels a negotiating ploy or something more?

“ I ’ d say YouTube is one of the outliers .
It ’ s a different type of negotiation @ @ @ @ @ maybe a little less certain on that one than I am on Comcast and some @ @ @ @ @

If you’re wondering why streaming service YouTube TV has yet to cut a deal with Marquee Sports Network, now you have an answer.
YouTube TV said Thursday its negotiations with Sinclair Broadcast Group to carry Sinclair’s regional sports networks are at an impasse, and it plans to drop the 20-plus channels it carries this weekend.
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With Sinclair being the Cubs’ partner in Marquee, the channel that launched last weekend effectively has been dumped before the subscription streaming service from Google parent Alphabet ever picked it up.
We purchase rights from Sinclair to distribute content to you. Despite our best efforts, we’ve been unable to reach an agreement with Sinclair. As a result, we will no longer offer FOX Regional Sports Networks, including YES Network, beginning February 29th. — YouTube TV (@YouTubeTV) February 27, 2020
These standoffs are rarely permanent, but they can stretch on. And Marquee’s status is tied to all of those other Sinclair-owned regional sports channels, most branded as Fox Regional Sports Networks.
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The Cubs are one of more than 40 Major League Baseball, NBA and NHL teams whose local TV rights are tied up in Sinclair regional networks.
The fact YouTube TV is cutting off its subscribers from them is ironic in that the service has in recent years been the presenting sponsor of the World Series and NBA Finals.
All of that marketing money has been spent to be associated with sports from which it now will be disassociated.
Sinclair President and CEO Chris Ripley, whose company’s share price has dropped considerably since it said it was acquiring all of those regional sports networks, told analysts Wednesday on his quarterly earnings call that Marquee was “an active negotiation.”
Yet Crane Kenney, the Cubs president of business operations, sounded Thursday morning as though he believed getting YouTube TV on board might be a challenge for Marquee.
“It’s hard to predict what they’re going to do,” Kenney told Cubs radio flagship WSCR-AM 670’s Mike Mulligan and David Haugh. “Obviously Alphabet is the owner there and does have some different views on the way they’re going to approach the market.
“I would say if you can leave aside for a second the whole question of Marquee, just in general, the video marketplace is undergoing a lot of change. I would put YouTube in the camp of more of an unknown than some of the others.”
It’s possible YouTube TV is posturing for negotiating leverage, leaving sports fans caught in the crossfire. But that doesn’t mean its concerns are frivolous.
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“We do not take this decision lightly,” YouTube TV tweeted. “This is a reflection of the rising cost of sports content. You may have noticed several other TV services have also decided to remove Fox Regional Sports Networks from their lineups.”
We do not take this decision lightly. This is a reflection of the rising cost of sports content. You may have noticed several other TV services have also decided to remove FOX Regional Sports Networks from their lineups. — YouTube TV (@YouTubeTV) February 27, 2020
FuboTV dropped the Sinclair sports channels at the beginning of the year, and Sling (the streaming business of Dish Network, which has said it is determined to upend the regional sports network business model) purged them last summer.
What might make the YouTube TV move upsetting to some Cubs fans is it had been eyed as a potential alternative in case no carriage agreement is reached with Comcast’s Xfinity, the largest TV service provider in the market, serving roughly half of Chicago-area homes.
Marquee will be the only channel for people in what MLB designates as the Cubs TV market to watch the roughly 150 regular-season games the team controls.
And even cord cutters have to sign up with some service to get Marquee, which isn’t being made available as an a la carte offering.
Such was the excitement over rival subscription streaming service Hulu + Live TV announcing its pickup of Marquee ahead of last week’s launch that no one seemingly noticed the absence of a start date for actually carrying the channel.
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Other options, should Xfinity subscribers choose to defect, include AT&T TV Now, U-Verse and DirecTV. But it’s probably too soon for that.
Opening day isn’t until March 26.
“I’m not sure what Comcast is waiting for,” Kenney said on the Score. “But we’ll obviously keep working on it and look forward to getting them up before the opening day of the regular season.”
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Comcast — which owns a stake in NBC Sports Chicago with the White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks — has at least one big incentive to drag its feet.
Until Xfinity starts carrying the channel, Comcast doesn’t have to pay for it.
For that matter, any service not carrying Marquee is saving money, but at some point it also risks losing customers.
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The other side of that equation, however, is the Cubs and Marquee are counting on the cash. A Bloomberg report Thursday said Marquee’s Cubs TV rights deal is valued at about $132 million per season, more than twice what the team scored under its previous TV arrangements.
But that math works for Marquee only if the new channel gets the carriage deals it expects, so that it sees the steady flow of cash those agreements yield and an optimal audience to deliver to advertisers.
“Ultimately, we’ll have about 80 carriers,” Kenney said. “We’ve got over 40 now. The traditional linear cable companies like Comcast, it’s much more straightforward in the conversation. They’re sports consumers and really are negotiating over price and some other carriage terms.
“I’d say YouTube is one of the outliers. It’s a different type of negotiation, so I would be maybe a little less certain on that one than I am on Comcast and some of the others.”


chicagotribune--2020-02-27--Former Glen Ellyn man found guilty in strangulation of ex-wife

Defense attorney Neil Levine characterized the killing as an unplanned attack that happened when Granados learned his former wife was @ @ @ @ @ In his testimony Tuesday , Granados said things got “ fuzzy ” and that he @ @ @ @ @ to the bathtub and turning on the water in an attempt to revive her .

A former Glen Ellyn man who fled to Mexico after strangling his former wife in 2011 was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder and sexual assault by a DuPage County jury.
Jurors began their consideration of the evidence against Juan Granados about 1 p.m. and returned with their verdict about three hours later, capping a day that started with more than two hours of closing arguments and a week of testimony.
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That evidence included an admission from Granados, who testified Tuesday, that he remembered grabbing Nancy Bustos around the neck on Oct. 15, 2011, in their apartment as their 4-year-old son sat on a couch in the next room.
Granados’ defense team had asked Judge Brian Telander to give jurors the option to consider a lesser finding of second-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter. But the judge ruled Wednesday that the defense had not produced enough evidence at trial to meet the legal standard that would allow consideration of the lesser charges.
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Juan M. Granados (DuPage County Sheriff's Office)
Authorities said Granados sexually assaulted and strangled Bustos, 36, and then fled to Mexico, where he remained for six years before being extradited to face charges. During his time in Mexico, he married another woman, prosecutors reminded jurors during closing arguments.
Granados and Bustos divorced in 2010 after a decade of marriage that produced two children, though they continued to reside together. His defense team and prosecutors presented varying pictures of the couple’s relationship and the fatal altercation.
Prosecutors said Bustos, by 2011, was slowly trying to extricate herself from a long-term abusive relationship with Granados. She had met a new man and was planning on moving out of the shared apartment, Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Lindt told jurors.
Defense attorney Neil Levine characterized the killing as an unplanned attack that happened when Granados learned his former wife was involved with someone else. In his testimony Tuesday, Granados said things got “fuzzy” and that he remembered carrying Bustos’ body to the bathtub and turning on the water in an attempt to revive her.
Lindt, though, said Granados was trying to erase evidence of his crime, and she chided Granados for what she called his convenient loss of memory.
“It started the minute his hands hit her neck, and it stopped the minute she was dead,” Lindt told jurors. “He missed the murder.”
Following the killing, Granados collected his son, who is developmentally disabled and blind, and drove to his mother’s residence in Hanover Park. After dropping off the child, he drove to Mexico. The couple’s other child was with Bustos’ family at the time.
Bustos, Lindt said, ignored warning signs and escalating threats from Granados, but put up a fight in her final minutes of life.
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“She fought to not be raped. She fought for her life and to see those two kids again,” the prosecutor said.
In a statement, State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said, “This afternoon, a jury properly found that Juan Granados is the man responsible for the senseless murder of Nancy Bustos. Their verdict however, will not bring Nancy back to her children, her family and the countless others who loved her. Their loss will be with them forever.
Granados is due back in court in April for post-trial motions. He faces a maximum sentence of 75 years in prison.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.


chicagotribune--2020-02-27--3 takeaways from White Sox spring training, including Edwin Encarnacion’s stiff back and Paul Konerk

3 takeaways from White Sox spring training, including Edwin Encarnacion’s stiff back and Paul Konerko’s visit to camp

“ If you take care of your business in your own division , beat up on the teams you should @ @ @ @ @ the other teams , it ’ s there .
I ’ m probably talking like @ @ @ @ @ health and all that ( is important ) .
But it does seem , mathematically @ @ @ @ @ .
”

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Luis Gonzalez drove in the winning run with a ninth-inning single Thursday as the White Sox rallied to beat the Mariners 6-5 at Camelback Ranch.
The Sox tied the game in the eighth on Adam Engel’s sacrifice fly. One inning later, Gonzalez knocked in Laz Rivera with a bases-loaded single to right to complete the comeback.
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Zack Collins hit a two-run home run, Tim Anderson went 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI and Luis Robert went 1-for-2 with a double and a walk.
Zack Collins blasts his first home run of the spring! pic.twitter.com/AR6jnv3nEB — Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) February 27, 2020
Here are three takeaways from Thursday.
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1. Back stiffness sidelines Edwin Encarnacion, while Gio Gonzalez and Jace Fry make progress.
The Sox scratched designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion from Thursday’s game because of back stiffness.
“We did it out of precaution,” manager Rick Renteria said. “We’ll give him a couple of days. He says he’s fine, but he also wants to make sure that he’s doing OK. We’re going to play it by ear, day to day, but nothing that anybody should concern themselves with.”
Starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez, who has been recovering from left shoulder soreness, threw a 20-pitch bullpen session.
Reliever Jace Fry said he’s throwing again and plans to be on the mound “at the end of the week” as he rebounds from a sore back.
“The main thing is I took four days off throwing, so we had to load back up and gain the arm strength before we got back on the mound,” Fry said. “We’re not really worried about it. We know we have it under control. It’s getting better. It’s just moving forward from here.”
Fry said back issues have popped up in the past.
“It’s something I’ve dealt with and maintained over my career, and I had a little episode where the back tightened up on me,” Fry said. "I had a couple of back spasms, but we’ve got it under control now and we’re moving forward.
“I’ve had the back pain, low back tightness and soreness. It’s mainly keeping to the routine and when it happens like this, to settle it down as quick as I can.”
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2. Paul Konerko is high on the 2020 White Sox.
Paul Konerko knows a thing or two about successful Sox teams.
The six-time American League All-Star, a key member of the 2005 World Series championship team, visited camp Thursday. He likes the makeup of the 2020 Sox.
“I expect, as a fan of this team, they should be playing important games in September,” Konerko said. "I really think one of those wild-card spots or better is completely in play. I don’t see why not.
“If you take care of your business in your own division, beat up on the teams you should, play pretty good against the other teams, it’s there. I’m probably talking like every other fan, and health and all that (is important). But it does seem, mathematically, there for the taking.”
3. Results are just part of Ian Hamilton’s story.
Ian Hamilton struck out one batter in a scoreless eighth, his second outing of the spring.
Hamilton, the No. 18 prospect in the organization, according to MLB.com, was limited to 16 games in 2019 because of multiple stints on the injured list.
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He began the season on the 10-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation. He was reinstated April 4 and optioned to Triple-A Charlotte, then returned to the injured list May 22 with left quadriceps discomfort. While on the injured list, he was hit by a foul ball in June and suffered multiple facial fractures.
Hamilton returned to the mound Monday against the Dodgers. He allowed two home runs in the sixth, but the result was just part of the story.
“It was great to see that (the Sox) see something," Hamilton said Wednesday.
He added with a laugh: “And it was great to walk off the field under my own power too.”
The Sox selected Hamilton in the 11th round of the 2016 draft out of Washington State. He made 10 appearances with the Sox in September 2018 and went 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA.
Hamilton said the recovery process continues.
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“The beginning was the worst because my face was real swollen, just couldn’t do anything,” he said. "Going outside wasn’t fun at all. I realized how much stress your face and head have when you’re doing anything, running or lifting weights. Once the swelling and pain went away a little bit, it was easier to get back into the routine.
“Everyone goes, ‘You look great,’ but I don’t feel like it’s recovered yet. Having that outing (Monday) feels very close to being there.”
As for his goals this spring, Hamilton said: "It’s been trying to find that muscle memory for good form and just trying to feel comfortable on the mound. It’s great to be back.”


chicagotribune--2020-02-27--Videotaped incident showing Cook County judge leaving child alone in a cell may have been ‘scared st

Videotaped incident showing Cook County judge leaving child alone in a cell may have been ‘scared straight’ attempt

Judge Jackie Portman-Brown was captured on security footage last week , her black robe swinging , as she hustled the @ @ @ @ @ lockup and then left her for about 10 minutes .
The sources told the Tribune @ @ @ @ @ be a young relative of Portman-Brown ’ s .

A video shows Judge Jackie Portman-Brown lead a young girl into the lockup behind her courtroom and leave her for alone for approximately 10 minutes. (Chicago Tribune Handout)
A Cook County judge captured on video leaving a young girl locked in a holding cell alone behind her courtroom may have done so in a “scared straight” type of disciplinary effort, sources familiar with the matter said.
Judge Jackie Portman-Brown was captured on security footage last week, her black robe swinging, as she hustled the girl forward into an empty lockup and then left her for about 10 minutes. The sources told the Tribune the child is believed to be a young relative of Portman-Brown’s.
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The judge has not returned messages seeking comment.
Portman-Brown has since been removed from her post hearing adult felony cases at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. A spokesman for Chief Judge Timothy Evans said she was reassigned to administrative duties Wednesday, but did not specify the reason.
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Video released to the Tribune via a public records request shows Portman-Brown and another woman with a physical hold on the young girl, marching her into the lockup, apparently by force, around midday Feb. 19.
The footage blacked out the child’s face. But sources who saw the child told the Tribune she is a girl about 6 to 8 years old and was visibly distressed.
The lockup areas behind felony courtrooms are designated for defendants in custody to wait for their cases to be called. The security footage shows it was empty during the incident — except for the child.
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Portman-Brown can be seen sitting the girl down on a bench, the girl’s toes barely reaching the ground, and then walking away. A female sheriff’s deputy appeared to lock the door to the holding cell, and turned away.
After a few moments, the female deputy could be seen beckoning the child forward. The girl, who wore a pink shirt and a puffy silver coat, stepped up tentatively as the deputy leaned down and appeared to try to talk to her.
The girl appeared to fidget with her hands, as if anxious.
She was alone inside for about 10 minutes before the deputy seemed to unlock the door, taking her gently by the hand and leading her back outside.
Two sheriff’s deputies who are seen in the footage have been de-deputized and assigned to desk duty pending an internal investigation, according to a spokesman for the sheriff’s office.
A spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office declined to comment on whether the office was investigating.
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Portman-Brown was elected to the bench in 2008 after spending time as a county prosecutor and then as general counsel for the Independent Police Review Authority, the Chicago agency that investigated allegations of police misconduct at that time.
By turns admired and criticized for her brash personality on the bench, Portman-Brown was assigned to bond court and two specialty court calls before getting her own felony courtroom about a year ago.
One of those specialty programs, the Cook County HOPE court, ended in 2018 after outside reviews raised concerns about Portman-Brown’s temperament, Injustice Watch and City Bureau reported that year.
HOPE court, an intensive probation program, was terminated after the state yanked funding, finding that among other issues, court employees found Portman-Brown to be vindictive and bullying, the report noted.
A 2016 profile on CBS Chicago dubbed Portman-Brown “The Tough Love Judge." It featured footage of Portman-Brown in her signature red lipstick telling defendants she is “not your typical judge.”
“If you remain in violation of your probation from this day forward, I will lock you up,” she said, her alto voice booming across the courtroom. “I. Will lock. You UP!”
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In the profile, Chief Judge Evans sang Portman-Brown’s praises, calling her “talented, capable and compassionate.”
Portman-Brown is only the most recent judge at the Leighton Criminal Court Building to find herself at the center of scandal in the past few years, though the circumstances of her removal — particularly the involvement of a young child — still shocked courthouse regulars.
Judge Joseph Claps was hit with a misdemeanor gun charge in 2018, when cameras caught what appeared to be gun falling out of his jacket in the lobby.
He was acquitted at trial a few months later when his defense successfully argued that prosecutors could not prove the object he dropped was, in fact, a firearm. Claps has since returned to the bench in his felony courtroom.
Judge Mauricio Araujo was taken off the bench the same year for allegedly insulting a female prosecutor and insinuating he may have had sex with her. Judge William Hooks returned to his bench in the building in January 2019 after briefly being reassigned and referred into anger management by superiors.
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com
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chicagotribune--2020-02-27--Reliever Brad Wieck undergoes surgery after being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, plus 2 othe

Reliever Brad Wieck undergoes surgery after being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, plus 2 other takeaways from Cubs spring training

But , he said : “ There ’ s going to be moving parts .
There are on every team @ @ @ @ @ matchups that get sent down from up top that we ’ ll look at as @ @ @ @ @ to projecting the lineup for us to be in the strongest position possible is put @ @ @ @ @ .
”

SURPRISE, Ariz. —
Here are three takeaways from Cubs camp Thursday.
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1. Brad Wieck underwent surgery to repair a heart condition.
Cubs reliever Brad Wieck underwent surgery Monday to prevent recurrence of an atrial flutter, an abnormal heart condition.
Team doctor Stephen Adams diagnosed Wieck with an abnormal heartbeat via an electrocardiogram during a physical just before spring training began. After consultation with a cardiologist, Wieck underwent a cardiac ablation.
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Wieck, 28, who posted a 3.60 ERA in 14 appearances after being acquired in a trade in July, returned Wednesday to Arizona and will rest for at least the rest of the week and is scheduled to be evaluated next week.
“That’s why we do those physicals early on,” manager David Ross said. “Kudos to Dr. Adams for being on top of things and making sure he’s going to be all right. The good news is it seems to be a fairly common procedure. All signs point to him having a nice, healthy recovery.”
Former Cubs infielder Mark DeRosa underwent a similar procedure in late February 2008 and was ready by the start of the regular season.
“I’m not going to put any limitations on (Wieck) or us,” Ross said. “We’re going to let it play out. … There’s no such thing as minor surgery. The saying is the only minor surgery is the one they do on you."
DeRosa’s condition wasn’t considered life-threatening, but he opted to undergo the procedure instead of treating the condition with medication.
2. David Rose is undecided on revealing lineups in advance.
Ross has yet to commit to informing his players in advance of each series of when they will start, a practice then-manager Joe Maddon started last season.
“I’m still finding my rhythm on that,” Ross said. “Exactly how far in advance, guys are going to dictate a lot. We’re going to try to get the players as much as advance notice as they need, but there’s also information that I will still be processing through and finding my rhythm.
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“They’ll still have to adjust to my schedule as much as I’m going have to try to make them feel comfortable.”
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As a former backup catcher, Ross appreciated when he knew in advance when he would start.
But, he said: “There’s going to be moving parts. There are on every team with matchups we like, matchups that get sent down from up top that we’ll look at as well. When it comes to projecting the lineup for us to be in the strongest position possible is put the right guys in there.”
3. Rowan Wick gets an early ‘wake-up call.’
Reliever Rowan Wick appreciated the attention the coaching staff gave him during a bullpen session Wednesday, two days after he was tagged for five runs on four hits in two-thirds of an inning against the Padres.
“It was a wake-up call to go back to the drawing board, watch some video and throw a bullpen,” Wick said. “I’m not worried at all.”
Wick said he made a few adjustments after not spotting his fastball and lacking sharpness on his curve.
“It’s better it happens now than in a month,” he said.


chicagotribune--2020-02-27--New editor for Chicago Tribune named as part of newsroom leadership restructuring

Dold , 64 , was hired at the Tribune ’ s suburban operation in 1978 before moving to the Tribune @ @ @ @ @ the editorial board in 1990 .
In 1994 , he won a Pulitzer Prize for @ @ @ @ @ named editorial page editor in 2000 .
During his tenure as Chicago Tribune editor , @ @ @ @ @ Pulitzer for feature photography and had four finalists .

The Chicago Tribune's offices at One Prudential Plaza are seen in 2018 in Chicago. On Feb. 27, 2020, Tribune Publishing announced a leadership restructuring: Colin McMahon, the company's chief content officer, has been named editor-in-chief at the newspaper. Bruce Dold, who has been publisher and editor-in-chief since February 2016, and Peter Kendall, who has been managing editor since January 2015, are leaving the newspaper. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Weeks after a management shake-up at the top of the company, Tribune Publishing on Thursday announced a reorganization of the leadership of its flagship paper, the Chicago Tribune.
Bruce Dold, who has served as publisher and editor-in-chief of the paper since February 2016, will leave the Tribune April 30, capping a 42-year career at the newspaper that included a Pulitzer Prize.
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Succeeding Dold will be Colin McMahon, Tribune Publishing’s chief content officer, who will immediately add the title of Chicago Tribune editor-in-chief.
[ How ownership of Tribune Publishing — parent company of the Chicago Tribune — has changed since 2006 ]
Peter Kendall, one of two managing editors at the Tribune, is leaving the newspaper as part of the restructuring, effective Friday. His position will not be filled. Chrissy Taylor will continue to serve as managing editor.
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Colin McMahon was named editor-in-chief of the Chicago Tribune on Feb. 27, 2020. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune)
The reorganization is the latest in a series of changes at the company since Alden, a secretive New York hedge fund with a reputation for dramatic cost-cutting, took a 32% stake in Tribune Publishing in November.
However, Tribune Publishing spokesman Tilden Katz said the restructuring was decided locally. “This was a business decision, made in Chicago, by Tribune Publishing senior executives," Katz said. "We have great confidence in the newsroom leadership going forward.”
Dold, 64, was hired at the Tribune’s suburban operation in 1978 before moving to the Tribune staff in 1983 and joining the editorial board in 1990. In 1994, he won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. He was named editorial page editor in 2000. During his tenure as Chicago Tribune editor, the paper has won one Pulitzer for feature photography and had four finalists.
Kendall, 60, joined the Tribune as an intern 32 years ago. Before he was named managing editor in January 2015, he led the Tribune’s metropolitan news coverage. During his management tenure, the Tribune’s work changed laws, put people in prison and chronicled championships.
Bruce Dold, who has served as publisher and editor-in-chief of the paper since February 2016, will leave the Chicago Tribune April 30, 2020, capping a 42-year career at the newspaper that included a Pulitzer Prize. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
McMahon, 56, has served as senior vice president/chief content officer for Tribune Publishing since February 2019 and also oversees Tribune Content Agency, which creates and distributes nonlocal content. Before taking on a corporate role in 2017, he was associate editor at the Chicago Tribune.
He joined the Tribune in 1987 as a copy editor and served as a foreign correspondent before moving into several managerial roles that included leading a major newsroom reorganization to support the launch of the Chicago Tribune’s digital platform.
The departures of Dold and Kendall follow the exits this month of several reporters and editors from the Chicago Tribune, as well as from other papers in the chain, as part of a program to reduce costs and head count through voluntary buyouts.
Chicago Tribune Managing Editor Peter Kendall is leaving the newspaper as part of a restructuring. His last day will be Feb. 28, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Also this month, Tribune Publishing announced the exit of CEO Tim Knight, who was succeeded by CFO Terry Jimenez.
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Alden’s stake in the company came about mostly by acquiring the stake of former Chairman Michael Ferro. Two Alden representatives subsequently were added to the newspaper company’s board, expanding it to eight members. As part of that agreement, Alden is restricted from increasing its stake in the company to more than 33% until June 30.
In addition to the Chicago Tribune, Tribune Publishing owns the Baltimore Sun; Hartford Courant; Orlando Sentinel; South Florida Sun Sentinel; the New York Daily News; the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland; The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania; the Daily Press in Newport News, Virginia; and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia.


chicagotribune--2020-02-27--‘Printer’s Devil’ by Ratboys is yet another great album by a Chicago band, and you get two chances t

‘Printer’s Devil’ by Ratboys is yet another great album by a Chicago band, and you get two chances to hear them this weekend

It ’ s fun because both recordings come from woman-fronted bands that sound like they ’ re at an apogee @ @ @ @ @ even as you hope they aren ’ t ) .
Most interestingly , both play @ @ @ @ @ “ Chicago sound ” by discarding it .
Once upon , Chicago bands were identifiable @ @ @ @ @ best described ( aside from “ that Chicago sound ” ) as normal , but @ @ @ @ @ the ‘ 80s , when many of us remember hearing Big Black and thinking , @ @ @ @ @ before knowing that it was .
Naked Raygun twisted up punk , Out of Order @ @ @ @ @ skirl that the late , great Manipulation turned into a jackhammer , and on it @ @ @ @ @ from here had a clear , regional sonic identifier .
“ Spiderweb , ” the @ @ @ @ @ in 2009 also had that Chicago sound , like really smart art kids doing an @ @ @ @ @ movie soundtrack .

The Chicago music scene is hard on a brotha. Just when we were catching our breath from the flawless “Honeymoon” by Beach Bunny, the mature, confident “Printer’s Devil” (Topshelf Records) by Ratboys comes stomping onto the terra.
It’s fun because both recordings come from woman-fronted bands that sound like they’re at an apogee of execution and creativity (even as you hope they aren’t). Most interestingly, both play with the notion of that “Chicago sound” by discarding it. Once upon, Chicago bands were identifiable by a particular sound, best described (aside from “that Chicago sound”) as normal, but not. It started in the ‘80s, when many of us remember hearing Big Black and thinking, “Chicago band” even before knowing that it was. Naked Raygun twisted up punk, Out of Order burnished hardcore with an eerie skirl that the late, great Manipulation turned into a jackhammer, and on it went. Band after band from here had a clear, regional sonic identifier. “Spiderweb,” the first released song from Ratboys in 2009 also had that Chicago sound, like really smart art kids doing an alt-country cut for a horror movie soundtrack.
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But Beach Bunny and Ratboys also point to a maturity in the Chicago scene, one reflected as well in the rap from here that strips away the instant identification. Chicago bands without that Chicago sound is weird but here they are, and it’s a wonderful thing to listen to on another of the best albums you will hear this year. The hype has been steadily building since 2015, for good reason. And even if band after hyped band lets us down, every now and again we get some real magic.
Dave Sagan and Julia Steiner (Topshelf Records/HANDOUT)
“Printer’s Devil” comes from a band that defies easy categorization, but snaps into focus like that moment when an analog radio dial hits dead on the station. Even the tags on Ratboys’ Bandcamp page don’t know what to do: alternative, folk, rock, alternative rock, indie, indie rock, post-country. Yes, and no.
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“AOID,” the band’s first full-length from 2015 was almost like a sketch, lo-fi and jangly, really good but feeling incomplete, like the first statement from a band that had something great to say. “Tixis” was a favorite from that album, a brisk, percussive stomp characterized by the contrast of sonorities. Then came “GN,” the one that really got all the “alt-country” stuff going, as long as you chose to ignore the noisy, bouncy foundation and real, live guitar solos. “Control” was a monster that hints at the excellence of “Printer’s.”
“Alien With A Sleep Mask On” kicks things off with power chords, bombast and beauty, setting Julia Steiner’s high-toned, ethereal sound amid moody heaviness. If you caught the band’s 2017 stellar Audiotree live set, you’re already prepared for this album. You can be forgiven for detecting a bit of grunge in this sound, but it feels a natural outpouring of the heaviness, right down to the hooky chorus. “Look To” is flawless power pop, Steiner playing with syllables, punctuated by blissful noise that just falls apart at the end.
Hooks are everywhere, as are melody and rhythm, even as it’s weird to call an album this unreservedly noisy, beautiful. “My Hands Grow” is a sleek shuffle that hits as hard as anything because of the unerring stick work of drummer Ian Paine-Jesam, who lends a hand on two tracks. But most of the thunder comes from main drummer Marcus Nuccio. So many bands make me grouchy because most of ‘em don’t have a drummer good enough to drive the music while also setting in a rock-solid foundation. Or if they have a good drummer, there’s pound-y stuff everywhere. “Don’t need a fill here? Sure ya do.” But Paine-Jesam has the subtlety of a jazz percussionist on the winsome “A Vision” as well as the ability to put Ratboys’ music to the lash as fluently as Nuccio.
Lyrics are open and human as Steiner sings on “Anj,” “The day we met / I had a brand new heartbeat, twisting Its way through my chest / Humming like a silhouette in the dark,” before the album’s back half slows into something more languorous, paced like a set by a band that doesn’t want its fans to not hurtle out into the night, setting stuff on fire. “Victorian Slumhouse” begins the wind-down, easing you into the almost mournful “Clever Hans.”
People rushing to Ratboys via the catchy “Alien With A Sleep Mask On” will be stabbing for the next track, but let this latter part of the album unfold. It’s almost shoegaze in its determination to let a song unfold, but nowhere near as self-absorbed thanks to drama via dynamics and the creativity of a band in full flow. Notes and sounds come out of nowhere, less surprising than intriguing. The music sounds personal, but not so much so that devotees can’t find a way in. You have to pay attention to the lyrical web Steiner weaves, but it’s worth putting in the time.
The haunting, repetitive title track brings everything to a smooth, easy close, like “Listening” one for the “see, told you they were alt-country” folks. Ratboys isn’t. The inexorable build to cacophony as Steiner repeats, “Put down the line,” is irresistible, fuzz swooping in and out before it all just stops, even as it feels like it could go on forever. Steiner said in an interview with MTV News that the band let this jam sprawl for 20 minutes, with the goal to create a “meditation or mantra.” Count me as a plus-one in the call for wanting to hear that 20-minute version.
And a special shout-out to Erik Rasmussen, who recorded and mixed this album. It bums me out that most people won’t listen to “Printer’s Devil” through high-quality headphones. The standout sound quality on this album that was recorded live in the studio deserves extra attention.
Of this release, Steiner correctly says at the group’s Bandcamp page, ““There’s definitely a lot of uncertainty about what’s next, but I like to think that, in the midst of creating a lot of vulnerability for ourselves, we’re confident and becoming more self-assured.”
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The band has two performances this weekend, 9 p.m. Friday at Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln Ave (18+). Visit lh-st.com for more information; 9 p.m. Saturday at The Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia Ave (21+). Visit hideoutchicago.com for more info.
kmwilliams@chicagotribune.com
Four stars (out of four)
‘Printer’s Devil’
Ratboys


chicagotribune--2020-02-27--Michael Jordan answered a young Kevin Garnett’s trash talk in epic fashion on this day 24 years ago

With his Timberwolves teammate Isaiah Rider playing well against Jordan in a 1996 game , Garnett became a little overzealous @ @ @ @ @ he was “ too strong ” for Jordan , who did not take the jabs @ @ @ @ @ calm Jordan down and tell him that the rookie Garnett was just overexcited , but @ @ @ @ @

There are myriad ways to measure Michael Jordan’s dominance during the prime years of his career, but nothing drives it home quite like the testimony of former players. Jordan was so consistent for so long that every NBA veteran from the 1980s and ’90s has a story to share from on-court encounters with him.
Kevin Garnett, a 15-time All-Star and future Hall of Famer, is no different. Garnett described his favorite Jordan story on Showtime’s “All the Smoke” podcast with former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, diving deep into the time he made the mistake of talking trash to Jordan 24 years ago.
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With his Timberwolves teammate Isaiah Rider playing well against Jordan in a 1996 game, Garnett became a little overzealous and started to tell Rider he was “too strong” for Jordan, who did not take the jabs lightly. Rider tried to calm Jordan down and tell him that the rookie Garnett was just overexcited, but the damage was done.
Jordan then went on a tear — scoring every basket, shutting down Rider and Garnett and turning a close game into a blowout.
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“I can’t even really describe the next six to seven minutes of play,” Garnett said.
The Bulls shared footage of that game, which was played 24 years ago today, in honor of Garnett’s story. Jordan posted 35 points, six rebounds and seven assists against the Timberwolves.
Kevin Garnett told his favorite Michael Jordan story on the "All the Smoke" podcast, saying that trash talking MJ as a rookie backfired as the Bulls beat Minnesota by 21.
That game happened 24 years ago today.#RetroDay pic.twitter.com/p5LoT2YaLv — Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) February 27, 2020
“KG didn’t understand that we don’t talk to Mike like that,” Rider said in a 2017 interview with Minnesota’s Go 95.3.


chicagotribune--2020-02-27--Another manufacturer is planning to relocate its headquarters to Libertyville, officials say

Intermatic has been in business for almost 130 years and has operated its global headquarters out of Spring Grove for @ @ @ @ @ Grow stated .
The company plans to start operations in Libertyville by February 2021 , @ @ @

Intermatic, a manufacturer of energy control devices, is planning to relocate its headquarters to the Innovation Park campus in Libertyville, village officials said. (Courtesy of EVBox)
A manufacturer based in nearby McHenry County is moving its global headquarters to Libertyville, becoming the second company that has made plans in recent weeks to relocate to Innovation Park in the village.
Intermatic, which makes energy control devices and surge protectors, soon will start packing up its operations in Spring Grove in preparation for a move later this winter to a 50,000-square-foot space within the Libertyville business park near Route 45 and Winchester Road, village officials said recently.
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With the move, Intermatic will bring at least 125 new jobs to Libertyville, said Meg Grow, vice president of leasing at Innovation Park. Intermatic signed a lease for its new headquarters earlier in February, she said.
Heather Rowe, economic development coordinator for Libertyville, said officials are excited about the latest addition at Innovation Park.
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Intermatic’s lease deal follows an announcement earlier in February from EVBox, an international manufacturer of electronic car chargers, that the company plans to move its U.S. headquarters from New York City to the Libertyville business park later this year.
“We are certainly excited that they’re joining the other innovators (at Innovation Park),” Rowe said. “For (Intermatic) to grow here and add additional employees to our workforce is very exciting.”
Intermatic has been in business for almost 130 years and has operated its global headquarters out of Spring Grove for the past 60 years, Grow stated. The company plans to start operations in Libertyville by February 2021, she said.
Representatives of Intermatic could not be reached for comment.
Grow said the business park is trending toward filling its capacity with the latest lease agreements.
“The Innovation Park concept is aimed at transforming the corporate workplace into a dynamic, constantly improving environment that enhances the joyfulness, creativity, health and mindfulness of people at work,” Grow stated.
jnorman@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-27--Chicago-set ‘Candyman’ releases gory first trailer from producer Jordan Peele

Soon , McCoy becomes obsessed with the legend , basing his art installations on the elusive killer , daring his @ @ @ @ @ , too .
Bodies then start to turn up .
The trailer shows violent shots @ @ @ @ @ the end , we hear an ominous voice , perhaps that of Candyman himself .

Jordan Peele is back with another terrifying thriller, this time taking on the 1992 horror classic "Candyman."
The official trailer for MGM and Universal Pictures’ remake was released on Thursday and tells the story of an artist fixated on a mysterious hook-handed killer, deemed the Candyman.
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The newly released trailer for “Candyman," a Jordan Peele-produced version of the 1992 horror film set in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green Homes, offers a glimpse of the terror coming to theaters this summer. The latest film imagines the same set-up — say “Candyman” while looking in the mirror five times to conjure the worst sort of bogeyman — in a now-gentrified Near North Side.
"The urban legend is, if you say his name five times while looking in the mirror, he appears in the reflection and it kills you," says Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who plays an artist named Anthony McCoy.
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Candyman's mysterious wrath becomes real when a group of girls say his name five times into a mirror and slayings ensue. McCoy then goes on the hunt for the infamous Candyman, taking photos around his new neighborhood, where he encounters a man who mentions an old candy factory in the area.
"You're looking for Candyman," the man asks McCoy. "He's the monster that's part of this neighborhood."
Soon, McCoy becomes obsessed with the legend, basing his art installations on the elusive killer, daring his viewers to say his name, too. Bodies then start to turn up. The trailer shows violent shots of gruesome demises. At the end, we hear an ominous voice, perhaps that of Candyman himself.
"I am the writing on the wall, the sweet smell of blood. Be my victim," the voice says.
Nia DaCosta directed the film. Peele co-wrote the script for "Candyman" with Clive Barker and Win Rosenfeld. MGM, Rosenfeld and Peele's Monkeypaw Productions are producing. "Candyman" also stars Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Vanessa Williams, Kyle Kaminsky and Colman Domingo. Abdul-Mateen II also appeared in Peele's latest film, "Us," and starred in the HBO series "Watchmen."
The film is due out June 12, so in the meantime, read this essay about the original film’s ties to the neighborhood. It’s by Ben Austen, author of “High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and the Fate of American Public Housing.”
Watch the trailer here:


chicagotribune--2020-02-27--Women are less likely to receive CPR in public than men — because they have breasts. Using ‘Womaniki

Women are less likely to receive CPR in public than men — because they have breasts. Using ‘Womanikins’ in training can save lives, experts say.

Through her nonprofit , Zhao , 18 , enlisted the help of Monica Hernandez , a family and consumer science @ @ @ @ @ in Naperville , to produce fabric attachments simulating breasts , similar to the Womanikin , @ @ @ @ @ school ’ s CPR manikins .
The group then provided the attachments to Glenbard North @ @ @ @ @ is starting to make some for Naperville North High School , Zhao said .
She @ @ @ @ @ to students at other schools , so they can carry on the effort .

Vivian Zhao, 18, a senior at Naperville Central High School, prepares a Womanikin attachment on Feb. 27, 2020. The Womanikin is a vest that goes over CPR training mannequins so they can look more like women. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
If a woman drops to the ground in public experiencing a cardiac arrest, studies show, bystanders are less likely to come to her aid and perform CPR. Why? Breasts.
That gender disparity — just one obstacle when it comes to improving women’s heart health, experts say — has led to the creation of so-called Womanikins: attachments for manikins (the term used for CPR training dummies) so that they look more like women.
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Experts say that better training of the public on CPR could help increase survival for those who have cardiac arrest in a public setting, when it’s often up to bystanders to intervene. And addressing disparities that exist between men and women, along with cultural or neighborhood disparities, is an important step, said Dr. Marina Del Rios Rivera, associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Vivian Zhao, 18, a senior at Naperville Central High School demonstrate the Womanikin attachment for CPR dummies in Naperville on Feb. 27, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Del Rios Rivera works with the American Heart Association and with a statewide project, Illinois Heart Rescue, to improve survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.
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“If someone receives CPR (after a public cardiac arrest), their chance of survival can double or triple,” she said, adding that rates in Illinois for an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest have gone from 4% to 11% since the project began in 2012.
Often the window of time is so short when someone stops breathing that waiting until paramedics arrive can be too late, said Del Rios Rivera. So in the event of a public cardiac arrest, strangers need to act.
But men are more likely to get that help. One study showed that women are 27% less likely than men to receive CPR from bystanders after a public cardiac arrest, and other studies found that’s due to hesitancy, mostly on the part of men, to touch women’s chests for fear of sexual harassment claims.
“It’s a culture change,” Del Rios Rivera said. “I think that women’s bodies, for a very long time, have been very much objectified and sexualized. There’s this fear of undressing a person in public. There’s this fear of, ‘Am I going to get blamed for molesting this person?’”
“At the end of the day, what people need to consider is, if you don’t act, this person is going to die,” she added.
That’s why CPR education is essential and should address gender disparity, according to Del Rios Rivera. Chest compressions focus on the sternum, not the breasts, and can be done over clothes unless someone is also using a defibrillator, she said. To further familiarize people with proper CPR, manikins should more accurately reflect the anatomy of a woman, she said.
While still rare, recent studies and talk of CPR gender disparity have led to the creation of vestlike attachments that make traditional CPR manikins look as if they have breasts.
New York ad agency Joan Creative and the organization The United State of Women helped develop the so-called Womanikin, a fabric attachment for manikins. Plans are available on its website for those who conduct CPR training to make their own.
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Naperville teen Vivian Zhao, a senior at Naperville Central High School, has made that a reality at her school. After reading about bystander CPR rates for women and the Womanikin, she formed the nonprofit All Hearts Count, which has raised more than $1,000 since last summer.
“I started realizing this issue is present at our own school because the manikin is considered unisex, but you can’t really have a unisex manikin,” she said.
By law, all Illinois high school students must receive CPR education. At Naperville Central, it’s a unit within physical education classes, where students, usually freshmen, are able to practice CPR and, if they choose, eventually become certified, said Instructional Coordinator Chair Neil Duncan.
Through her nonprofit, Zhao, 18, enlisted the help of Monica Hernandez, a family and consumer science teacher at Jefferson Junior High in Naperville, to produce fabric attachments simulating breasts, similar to the Womanikin, for Zhao’s own school’s CPR manikins. The group then provided the attachments to Glenbard North High School, and it is starting to make some for Naperville North High School, Zhao said. She’s also reaching out to students at other schools, so they can carry on the effort.
“It’s kind of brilliant,” Dr. Holly Andersen said of the Womanikin attachments. Andersen is medical director of the Women’s Heart Alliance and an associate professor of medicine and director of education and outreach at the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Adding an attachment is much more affordable than replacing an entire manikin with one that already has a female anatomy, Andersen said.
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Improving CPR education can help bystanders feel more comfortable and ultimately save lives, she said. “Instead of recoiling in fear, we want to arm people with very simple messaging.”
Despite an outcry and education from medical organizations, people still don’t realize the toll heart disease has on women, Andersen said. It’s the leading cause of death in both men and women, and rates are on the rise, particularly for younger women, she said. A recent study showed sudden cardiac death is increasing in women.
CPR training is one way to help prevent these deaths, as well as promote awareness of heart disease in women, Andersen said, adding that cardiac arrest can be the first symptom.
Sometimes women feel pain in areas other than the chest as a symptom, or might experience other symptoms, like exhaustion, indigestion or just feel that something is wrong, Andersen said. And regardless of whether or not their symptoms are classic or nontraditional, women tend to delay seeking treatment and are less likely to call 911, she said.
But “even if you control for all of those things, a woman is still more likely to die than a man,” she said. “And we don’t know why, because most of the research has been done on men.”
As organizations continue to do outreach and education, public CPR education is one way to help, Andersen said, pointing to materials from the Hands Only CPR initiative.
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“Women don’t talk about heart disease the same way they talk about breast cancer,” she said. “They feel as though they might be judged. There is a stigma that women have that men don’t seem to have.”
kthayer@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-02-28--Former coach at North Shore Country Day School charged with sexually assaulting student a decade ago

The Facebook records also reveal that during the girl ’ s junior and senior years in high school , while @ @ @ @ @ in another state , “ the defendant and victim regularly discussed logistics for when the @ @ @ @ @ her , specifically which hotels the defendant should stay in , noting when other parents @ @ @ @ @ at hotels for parent teacher conferences , ” according to prosecutors .

A Minnesota man was charged this week with the sexual assault of a North Shore Country Day School student when he was her track coach a decade ago.
Seyamack Afzali, 35, who was 24 years old at time of the alleged incident, was charged in Cook County Thursday with criminal sexual assault in connection with the allegations from 2009 involving a 16-year-old student at the Winnetka private school, according to court records.
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An investigation by the Chicago Police Department found that in April 2009, Afzali and the girl went to the girl’s home in Chicago where the alleged incident is said to have happened, according to court records.
On the same day, Facebook records reveal that Afzali sent the girl a message containing explicit language, followed by weeks of the pair carrying on, “a flirtatious conversation, constantly telling one another that they loved each other and exchanging numerous other messages that might be typical of a high school relationship, however the defendant was 24 years old at the time,” according to prosecutors.
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The Facebook records also reveal that during the girl’s junior and senior years in high school, while she was attending a school in another state, “the defendant and victim regularly discussed logistics for when the defendant would come to visit her, specifically which hotels the defendant should stay in, noting when other parents might be in town staying at hotels for parent teacher conferences,” according to prosecutors.
As Afzali and the teen’s relationship continued, they allegedly spent time together with the girl’s high school friends, with one witness who spent time with them recalling seeing Afzali and the girl “frequently kissing” and took photos of the two, according to prosecutors.
Seyamack Afzali is charged with criminal sexual assault. (Cook County sheriffs office / Pioneer Press)
According to prosecutors, when the girl turned 18 years old, “the defendant broke up with the victim.”
Chicago police began their investigation in June 2019, after the former student began undergoing therapy, which prompted her to report the allegations to Chicago police.
An arrest warrant was issued for Afzali in January, and he was arrested at his home in Minnesota last week.
A Cook County judge set bond at $30,000 for Afzali, who remained in custody Friday, according to court records.
The criminal charges against Afzali arrive after an amended civil complaint, which was filed in the Cook County Circuit Court last month by a former student under the name “Jane Doe,” named Afzali and North Shore Country Day, alleging that school officials “willfully and wantonly failed to properly supervise the activities, coaching, physical training and physical education of its students, including, but not limited to, minor plaintiff Jane Doe, while in the presence of (the) defendant.”
North Shore Country Day head of school Thomas Flemma declined to comment on the incident, citing pending litigation.
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The civil lawsuit is seeking a judgement in excess of $50,000 from both the school and Afzali, who allegedly, “committed sexual misconduct” by enticing the former student into a relationship with her when she was unable to provide consent.
Earlier this month, officials at North Shore Country Day said they had investigated the former student’s report on social media that she was sexually and emotionally abused by a volunteer coach at the school a decade ago.
The school’s internal investigation revealed two other alleged inappropriate incidents involving students at the school, the most recent of which involves allegations about a former teaching assistant at North Shore Country Day, who was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct in August for allegedly engaging in inappropriate social media and text message conversations with a 17-year-old girl from another suburban high school, according to Wilmette police.
kcullotta@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @kcullotta