chicagotribune--2020-03-03--Former Edward Vrdolyak associate sentenced to 2 years in prison in tobacco settlement scheme

In 2014 , Soso emailed both Berman and Vrdolyak to vent his frustration that Vrdolyak had been withholding money he @ @ @ @ @ threatened to sue Vrdolyak , warning that the legal action would make “ front page @ @ @ @ @ a can of worms that I would rather stay closed , ” according to a @ @ @ @ @ in Bhachu ’ s sentencing filing .

A Chicago lawyer was sentenced Tuesday to two years in federal prison for tax evasion stemming from a scheme with former Ald. Edward Vrdolyak to reap millions of dollars in legal fees from the state’s massive settlement with the tobacco companies despite having done no work on the case.
Daniel Soso, 67, pleaded guilty last year to one count of income tax evasion for failing to report more than $3 million in income in the deal, which prosecutors said netted Soso and Vrdolyak at least a combined $10 million in illicit payments from the historic $9.3 billion settlement beginning in 1999.
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Dressed in a black suit and striped tie, Soso fought back tears as he apologized to the “people of the United States” and the dozens of supporters in the courtroom gallery who appeared to support him.
Soso, a onetime Chicago police officer, said that growing up as a boy on Chicago’s Far South Side, he idolized the cops and firefighters he read about in the newspapers, and always wanted to be “one of the good guys.”
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It wasn’t until August 2014, Soso said, when “an FBI agent showed up at my door with a grand jury subpoena with my name fixed to it ... that I realized I’d been lying to myself."
In handing down the sentence, U.S. District Judge Robert Dow said that while Soso had clearly done a lot of good in his life, cheating on taxes was a serious offense and “especially egregious for a lawyer” who should know better.
The judge said red flags should have been raised for Soso as soon as he was told in 1996 he was in line for a massive legal fees for doing nothing.
“That’s a fee you should not have accepted,” Dow said. “When something looks too good to be true, often it’s because it is too good to be true.”
Soso must report to prison by May 5. Vrdolyak, 82, who also pleaded guilty, faces up to about 2½ years in prison when he is sentenced April 2.
Soso’s attorneys had argued for as little as probation, saying he had already paid dearly for his crime, including losing the respect of colleagues and his legal career.
“Mr. Soso now stands before this court a broken and defeated man,” attorney Jeffrey Steinback said in a recent court filing. “He is extraordinarily humbled and contrite, deeply ashamed and angered with himself; that his actions have not only affected his life, but also the lives of his closest loved ones.”
Prosecutors, however, said that sparing Soso from a significant term behind bars would “contribute to the current climate of cynicism that well-heeled white collar criminal defendants and the politically connected are held to a different standard than others.”
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Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu wrote that a sentence of probation would also “call into question why anyone should hesitate before cheating on their taxes when all that lies ahead is a possible lecture” from a judge if they get caught.
According to court records, Vrdolyak’s role in the tobacco settlement came after then-Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan negotiated a contingency arrangement promising 10% of the payout to four law firms that handled the litigation. That figure was dramatically reduced after years of court arbitration, but in the end, several law firms were to share in a total of $188.5 million.
One of those firms was Seattle-based Hagens Berman, which was headed by attorney Steve Berman. Identified only as Individual B in the indictment, Berman entered into a secret agreement in 1996 to pay Vrdolyak and Soso fees from the settlement and hide the payments from the attorney general and tobacco companies, the charges alleged.
Berman was not charged with wrongdoing. Vrdolyak’s lawyers have argued in court filings that not only was Vrdolyak’s cut of the settlement aboveboard but it also was blessed by key players, including Ryan.
But prosecutors said Vrdolyak’s name was purposefully left off the settlement paperwork because he was a controversial figure.
“Indeed, it is easy to include that news that a political insider like Edward Vrdolyak and his associate were going to pocket $65.4 million would have raised all sorts of red flags,” Bhachu wrote in his filing Tuesday.
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Meanwhile, evidence uncovered in the probe showed that efforts to keep the deal under wraps became frayed over time.
In 2014, Soso emailed both Berman and Vrdolyak to vent his frustration that Vrdolyak had been withholding money he was owed. He also threatened to sue Vrdolyak, warning that the legal action would make “front page news and most definitely open a can of worms that I would rather stay closed,” according to a copy of the email quoted in Bhachu’s sentencing filing.
Bhachu also revealed for the first time in Tuesday’s filing that Ryan was issued a “non-target letter” by prosecutors and was interviewed several times about his recollection of the tobacco settlement.
“Ryan stated that if Vrdolyak was involved in the tobacco litigation, it was behind his back,” Bhachu wrote.
After “questions arose” about Vrdolyak’s possible involvement, Ryan said he instructed his then-chief of staff to investigate, but no record of any deal was uncovered, Bhachu said.
“Ryan further stated that if he had found out Vrdolyak had received money from the litigation, Ryan would have tried to get the money returned,” Bhachu said.
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jmeisner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--Jonathan Toews is the NHL’s all-time king of shootouts — but the Blackhawks captain wants to get rid

Jonathan Toews is the NHL’s all-time king of shootouts — but the Blackhawks captain wants to get rid of them

“ It would be fun , ” he said .
“ Everyone loves the five-minute 3-on-3 .
Probably have to @ @ @ @ @ as how many guys you ’ re using .
Definitely an exciting time of the @ @ @

Jonathan Toews owns the NHL record for most career shootout goals with 50, a mark he reached Saturday against the Panthers, but the Blackhawks captain would rather see tie games settled in overtime.
Toews and Patrick Kane both scored in Saturday’s shootout victory in Florida, but both have said they would like to see the 3-on-3 overtime extended from five minutes to 10.
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“I’m right there with him,” Toews said after the morning skate before Tuesday night’s game against the Ducks at the United Center. “And the shootout, we can end it.
“I can be the all-time leader and that’ll be it,” joked Toews, who passed the Red Wings’ Frans Nielsen (49). “We’ll turn the page on that. I like 3-on-3 as well.”
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The NHL instituted shootouts starting in the 2005-06 season for games tied after overtime. Eighty-two games have been decided via shootout this season, according to hockey-reference.com, and the Hawks are 4-4 record in such games.
They are 5-4 in games decided in overtime.
Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton also likes the idea of extending the 3-on-3 extra sessions.
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“It would be fun,” he said. “Everyone loves the five-minute 3-on-3. Probably have to lengthen your bench as far as how many guys you’re using. Definitely an exciting time of the game.”
The natural next question becomes whether eliminating shootouts would bring back ties.
Toews said it shouldn’t come to that.
“Eventually someone’s going to score in 3-on-3,” he said. “Someone gets tired, there’s a 2-on-1, pucks go back and forth. So I think that’s a good way to finish it.
“I think fans like watching that too. Some nights you play a great game, you can’t find a way to score 3-on-3, you lose in a shootout and you feel like you should have won the game.”
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Shootouts aren’t going away for now, though, so Toews and Kane, who ranks third all time with 47 shootout goals, will keep doing what has worked for them so well.
Toews said it comes down to “keeping it simple and ... really bearing down and keeping that focus. And it’s nice to be able to convert in some of these big games that we need points.”


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--9 reputed gang members from DuPage County arrested following 5-month investigation, authorities say

Eight of the men — the ninth is a juvenile — appeared in court Friday and Saturday following their arrests @ @ @ @ @ juvenile , whom authorities did not identify , was released to the custody of his @ @ @ @ @ .
The others had bonds set that ranged from $ 2,000 to $ 225,000 .

Nine DuPage County residents who are reputed street gang members face a variety of charges stemming from a five-month joint local and federal investigation, authorities said Monday.
Eight of the men — the ninth is a juvenile — appeared in court Friday and Saturday following their arrests late last week. The juvenile, whom authorities did not identify, was released to the custody of his parents, according to prosecutors. The others had bonds set that ranged from $2,000 to $225,000.
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The men are alleged members of the La Raza street gang, prosecutors said. Their arrests capped a multi-agency investigation that began last fall and included the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Addison police and the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office. .
The eight adults arrested include three Bloomingdale residents:
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· Eli Resendez, 33, two counts of felony delivery of a controlled substance
· Samuel Resendez, 29, one count of felony delivery of a controlled substance
· Missael Resendez, one count of felony delivery of a controlled substance
Four Addison residents arrested include:
· Christopher J. Hernandez, 24, unlawful possession of a firearm by a gang member and felony criminal damage
· Nikko DePasquale, 26, two counts unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon
· Armando Carrasco Jr., 18, two counts felony criminal damage to property
· Ryan Villanueva, 22, two counts of misdemeanor possession of a firearm without a firearm owner’s identification card.
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Ricardo Favela, 41, a Bensenville resident, was charged with a count of felony delivery of a controlled substance.
The minor was charged with three juvenile felonies: possession of a firearm by a street gang member, unlawful use of a weapon and reckless discharge of a firearm.
Eli Resendez faces the highest bail amount, $225,000, and DePasquale’s bail was set at $200,000. Favela’s bail was set at $150,000.
“Gang activity continues to be a problem throughout the region, but with coordinated efforts between multiple law enforcement agencies such as this, we will continue making progress in ridding our communities of dangerous individuals as alleged in this case,” State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement released Monday.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--Lawyer for man accused of killing police Cmdr. Paul Bauer calls incident self-defense while prosecut

Lawyer for man accused of killing police Cmdr. Paul Bauer calls incident self-defense while prosecutors say Bauer was ‘executed’

Legghette sensed that someone was chasing him but didn ’ t who or why .
He at first thought maybe @ @ @ @ @ blue coat - Bauer - was an attorney running to make it to court on @ @ @ @ @ was after him related to his drug dealing , Kamin said .

Shomari Legghette, 47, gestures as he walks out of the courtroom on Oct. 28, 2020, after being sentenced in the first-degree murder of Chicago police Cmdr. Paul Bauer. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
One of the most high-profile police murder trials in recent Chicago history opened Tuesday with lawyers giving jurors two starkly different views of the two figures at the center of the case: slain police Cmdr. Paul Bauer and Shomari Legghette, his alleged killer.
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Prosecutors portrayed Bauer as the pride of his department, a devoted officer needlessly gunned down while trying to tackle Legghette, a cowardly criminal who opened fire out of fear cops would discover his bulletproof vest, his cocaine and his 9 mm Glock.
But a defense lawyer painted Bauer’s death as just the opposite: Bauer was the one who was aggressive and out of control, and Legghette was just a low-level “street hustler” who acted in self-defense when a man he did not know was a police officer attacked him out of nowhere.
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Bauer’s February 2018 slaying, in broad daylight in a stairwell in the Loop, shocked Chicago. Legghette, a 46-year-old four-time felon, was quickly arrested and scorned as the product of the kind of lenient justice system Bauer often criticized.
Two years later, Legghette sat at a table in a courtroom at the Leighton Criminal Court Building as his trial for the slaying began. Feet away were rows of uniformed police officers there to support a fallen comrade, ranking prosecutors including State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and Bauer’s widow, Erin, flanked by her family and supporters.
As Assistant State’s Attorney Risa Lanier described Bauer’s last moments, as a cop on-duty and answering the call to pursue a fleeing suspect, a young police officer in the gallery wiped away tears.
Legghette “executed” Bauer, Lanier said, after he led police on a foot pursuit through parts of downtown.
“He did so for no reason other than his own desperate attempts to avoid the police, to avoid custody, to avoid being detained, to avoid what even began as an attempt to have a simple conversation,” Lanier said.
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After attending a training that morning, Bauer gave chase with his handcuffs unholstered and his radio at full volume, Lanier said — an attempt to blunt any arguments that Legghette did not know Bauer was a cop.
“He would answer the call and perform the functions of a Chicago police officer for the very last time,” she said.
Her opening remarks were precise and animated. The veteran prosecutor rolled her hands over each other as she described Legghette and Bauer tumbling into the stairwell, and snapped her fingers sharply while she described the volley of gunfire.
In his opening statement, Scott Kamin, Legghette’s attorney, described the shooting as a clear-cut case of self-defense. Legghette did not know that Bauer was a police officer, he said, promising jurors that they would hear Legghette’s story, in his own words, from the witness stand. .
Kamin admitted his client was a low-level drug dealer, and said he was in the area to meet a woman he was eyeing as a girlfriend and then get back to hustling his neighborhood.
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Kamin also acknowledged the episode for Legghette began when he declined to speak to two people he did recognize as officers, cops who attempted to stop him for appearing to urinate in public on Lower Wacker Drive. Legghette began to leave, Kamin said, then a few moments later once he got to the street level he sensed that someone might be chasing him for an unknown reason.
Shortly after that, Legghette would encounter Bauer, Kamin said, while still not realizing that he was the target of police officers. He at first thought maybe the strange man in a blue winter coat — Bauer — was an attorney running to make it to court on time, or perhaps someone was after him related to his drug dealing, Kamin said.
Kamin said Bauer’s coat covered his police uniform. Legghette meanwhile was wearing body armor and had a gun for protection because of his work in the dangerous drug trade.
Bauer ran after Legghette and pushed him down the stairwell, then put him in a chokehold, Kamin said.
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“What Mr. Legghette did in firing at this guy who’s choking him, I mean, it was reasonable,” Kamin said.
“He’s upset about the incident, too, he’s never shot anybody in his life,” Kamin said. " … He never used this gun before, that was a normal person being upset. Normal person who deals drugs, maybe does other crimes, I don’t know."
By not making it clear that he was a police officer, “Cmdr. Bauer brought it on himself,” Kamin said.
Legghette sat at the defense table with his seat leaned back so far that from some angles his head was barely visible.
In a surprising note, Kamin’s opening statement hinted that Legghette may testify he was not the only person to fire gunshots in the stairwell that day.
After firing at Bauer to get him to release the chokehold, Kamin said, Legghette “hears some more shooting, but he doesn’t know what that is … then they stop, OK, they stop, somebody is at the top of the stairwell telling him to surrender.”
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Police, prosecutors and witnesses have never said that anyone but Legghette fired shots that day. But in a letter he wrote to ABC-7, Legghette reportedly wrote that he believes Bauer was actually killed by friendly fire from police.
To guard against jurors believing that claim, prosecutors asked four civilian witnesses Tuesday if they saw any police fire their weapons after the first volley of gunshots echoed from the stairwell.
All of them said no, though each described hearing the boom of gunshots echoing from the stairwell.
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“To hear that was completely a shock to my system,” Scott Verhey said. “I’m guessing at least five shots, and very quick, it was like a single burst.”
Also testifying Tuesday was Chicago police Cmdr. Warren Richards, who attended training with Bauer the morning before he died.
Prosecutors showed him the portrait of Bauer that has since become famous, displayed in shop windows and on posters around the city in his memory for months after his death. Bauer is in full uniform, his head tilted, smiling.
“That’s Paul Bauer,” Richards said, his voice growing hoarse.
“Were you friends?” Assistant State’s Attorney John Maher asked.
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“Yes, sir,” Richards said. “Proudly.”
The trial is expected to continue into next week.
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[ Trial of man accused of killing Cmdr. Paul Bauer won’t include past incidents involving officer ]
[ Family of Chicago police commander killed in the line of duty sues online gun marketplace ]
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mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com
pnickeas@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--‘Bachelor’ shares vile messages sent to contestants

“ They described the whole thing as just harassment , which I thought was kind of a cop-out , ” @ @ @ @ @ could have confronted its own issues ; it ’ s been criticized for being too @ @ @ @ @ enough to vet contestants with offensive tweets .
“ They didn ’ t do that @ @ @ @ @ the blame on the fans .
”

At the end of last night’s episode of “The Bachelor,” producers allotted time to address the online hatred contestants receive.
Former bachelorette, and the only African American lead in the show’s history, Rachel Lindsay read messages some of this season’s contestants received as she and host Chris Harrison told viewers that such hate was not OK. Cameras showed the teary faces of the women, many of whom were women of color.
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Messages, which were so vile that some words were blocked out, included racist language. Another contestant said she received messages in her work email telling her to kill herself.
The segment was reminiscent of a video from two Chicagoans, radio host Julie DiCaro and ESPN reporter Sarah Spain, in which they listened to men read terrible tweets about them, including “I hope you get raped again.”
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Spain issued support to Lindsay, tweeting, “So much love to my girl @TheRachLindsay for handling a tough conversation so well & respect to @BachelorABC for having a real, honest conversation about online harassment.”
So much love to my girl @TheRachLindsay for handling a tough conversation so well & respect to @BachelorABC for having a real, honest conversation about online harassment.
Our PSA applies now even more than when we made it a few years ago, sadly. https://t.co/3AFMqVoT9a — Sarah Spain (@SarahSpain) March 3, 2020
Along with society, the dynamics of the show have shifted. When the show began, social media did not exist. Now viewers live tweet the show, and podcasts and blogs are devoted to distilling nearly every scene.
With the internet making it easier than ever to attack strangers and fire off terrible messages anonymously, anyone whose life is somewhat public is at risk of being attacked.
Jade Roper Tolbert, who met her husband through spinoff show “Bachelor in Paradise,” said this week that criticism she receives even includes messages about her 2-year-old daughter, like one message calling her toddler “an idiot.”
Lindsay specifically spoke on the show about the added burden of being a woman of color in a franchise that has few.
“I wanted to pave a way for women who look like me who hadn’t been represented in this role on this show,” she said. “But sometimes I feel like my efforts are in vain.”
In an interview, she told the Associated Press that diversity is the franchise’s biggest problem, saying, “The girls all look the same way.” When someone told her she should be on the show, she said her first reaction was, “Black people don’t go far on that show.”
Evie Psarras, a communication professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who has researched reality television and watches “The Bachelor,” said the segment was layered.
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First of all, she commended the series for confronting the online hatred.
“I think that it’s great that they talked about this,” she said. “It’s good to always address this issue of trolling.”
But the conversation was framed around harassment, she said, where it could have instead discussed racism.
“They described the whole thing as just harassment, which I thought was kind of a cop-out,” she said. The show could have confronted its own issues; it’s been criticized for being too white and for not doing enough to vet contestants with offensive tweets. “They didn’t do that. They placed all of the blame on the fans.”
Typically, the leads are chosen from among the most recent and final contestants. But the most recent Bachelorette, announced this week as former contestant Clare Crawley, was not a finalist from this season. Psarras said the show’s producers can and do choose whoever they want.
“They can actually control media representation,” she said, with more diverse casting.
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Contestants, she said, are in a tough position. They might be contractually obligated to use social media to promote the show or hope to leverage it toward business opportunities.
Meanwhile, they skyrocket to a measure of fame for which many are unprepared. Past cast members have said they’ve experienced mental health difficulties under the spotlight.
“There’s no real protections in place for these regular people to deal with the onslaught of hate,” Psarras said.
And she noted the show itself creates a space for fans to like or dislike contestants. Storylines include disagreements and fights; even last night’s episode, the “Women Tell All,” revisited issues among the women.
“Producers are fostering this competitive sort of hate-filled environment,” she said. “It’s like, OK we have all the women together and we want to spark these controversies again and we want to remind everyone about the fights that they had,” before designating time to discuss harassment.
Seeing tear-streamed faces, she said, might humanize the issue for some. But she was not convinced it would matter to many.
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“Showing contestants crying, I almost feel like, is an exploitation of women’s emotions,” she said, “which is the show in a nutshell.”
abowen@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--Three killed when small plane is ‘destroyed upon impact’ in crash on Interstate 55 in Lincoln, Illin

Three killed when small plane is ‘destroyed upon impact’ in crash on Interstate 55 in Lincoln, Illinois, authorities say

Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the scene and that I-55 would remain closed to traffic for several hours , @ @ @ @ @ The FAA also was headed to the scene .

Three people died Tuesday morning when a small plane crashed and burst into flames on Interstate 55 in central Illinois, state police said.
All three occupants of the plane were killed in the crash in Lincoln about 8:50 a.m., said Illinois State Police spokeswoman Mindy Carroll in a statement.
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The plane crashed in the median of the road and “was destroyed upon impact,” according to a statement from Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Logan County coroner’s office was dispatched to the scene.
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Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the scene and that I-55 would remain closed to traffic for several hours, Illinois State Police said. The FAA also was headed to the scene.
Lincoln is about 150 miles southwest of Chicago and about 30 miles northeast of Springfield.
A photograph shared on Twitter by Twitter user Dara Entwistle showed flames and smoke coming from a roadway median, with some debris strewn around a metal median barrier.
Just awful. Small plane crash at the 126 exit on 55 at Lincoln just a few minutes ago. 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/ps6aAvZXkV — Dara Entwistle 🇺🇸 (@Showjock2) March 3, 2020
“Just awful,” Entwistle said in the tweet. “Small plane crash at the 126 exit on 55 at Lincoln just a few minutes ago.”
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Check back for updates.
Chicago Tribune’s Jessica Villagomez contributed.


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--Arlo White, voice of the Premier League on NBC, will call Chicago Fire games this summer

White ’ s availability for the Fire will be limited to the Premier League offseason , from mid-May to mid-August @ @ @ @ @ summer by his duties at the Tokyo Olympics .
His involvement with the Fire had @ @ @ @ @ far back at last fall .

Whatever the revamped and rebranded Chicago Fire look like on the pitch, their matches will sound first-class on TV.
Arlo White and Tony Meola — leading soccer announcers for NBC and Fox, respectively — are the new TV voices of the Fire with Tyler Terens.
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The new announcers, whom the club named Tuesday, will work the 24 local telecasts earmarked for WGN-9 and ESPN Plus this season.
If possible, do what you love and love what you do... pic.twitter.com/qvqNR5TreL — Arlo White (@arlowhite) February 29, 2020
White, NBC Sports Group’s lead play-by-play man for Premier League and Olympic soccer, will call Fire matches as his busy schedule allows.
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Meola, Fox’s No. 2 analyst at the 2018 World Cup, will be joined otherwise in the booth by Terens, seen as a rising star in U.S. soccer announcing circles.
Terens also will serve as host of Fire telecasts that aren’t scheduled for national broadcasts on ABC, ESPN, FS1, Univision or UniMas.
The new announcers succeed Dan Kelly and Frank Klopas, the latter becoming an assistant on new Fire coach Raphael Wicky’s staff.
The announcer hires are just the latest bit of upheaval in the months leading up to the Fire’s season-opening 2-1 road loss to the Seattle Sounders in stoppage time Sunday, carried nationally on ESPN.
Since Joe Mansueto assumed control of the Fire, the team has brought on a new coach and sporting director, turned over much of its roster, relocated back to Soldier Field, rebranded and supplemented its local TV deal with streaming service ESPN Plus (now in its last season) with a multiyear over-the-air broadcast agreement with WGN.
The first WGN telecast is set for Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. road game against the New England Revolution, with a live pregame show at 12:15 on ESPN Plus.
White, 46, hails from Leicester, England, but developed an affinity for Chicago and the Bears and Cubs as a youth in the 1980s.
It’s a big day for this 13 year-old Ginger kid from Leicester.
This was my first visit to Wrigley Field in July 1986. My Aunt Kath (from Leicester) & Uncle Bill (Chicagoan) had flown me out on my own! That 2 week vacation changed everything, and still resonates with me today.. pic.twitter.com/8922RgTLan — Arlo White (@arlowhite) September 3, 2019
While in recent years he has been based in the United Kingdom, he was for a time play-by-play voice for NBC Sports Group’s MLS coverage and U.S. national team games and before that the play-by-play voice of the Sounders.
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White’s availability for the Fire will be limited to the Premier League offseason, from mid-May to mid-August, and further curtailed this summer by his duties at the Tokyo Olympics. His involvement with the Fire had been rumored at least as far back at last fall.
Meola, 51, was the 2000 MLS MVP and a 2012 inductee into the United States Soccer National Hall of Fame.
Over the last 30 years, the former goalkeeper has served as a World Cup analyst for TNT, ESPN, beIN Sports and Fox. He and JP Dellacamera were Fox’s No. 2 announcing team at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Since 2013, Meola has cohosted a soccer program for SiriusXM radio.
Goin’ live for @TheChampions show in less than 10. It’s finally match day and we have this glorious beast (not @DevonKerr9), joining us in the studio https://t.co/fJPJUYvU6Y pic.twitter.com/8TMoLQtLBN — Tyler Terens (@TNTerens) February 18, 2020
Terens, 26, has been the voice of the United Soccer League’s Phoenix Rising FC the last two seasons.
A 2016 graduate of New York’s Hobart College, where he played four seasons of Division III soccer, he has called more than 500 soccer matches, including CONCACAF Champions League, Gold Cup and Nations League games.


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--Eaglets have 2 daddies — and a mom. Near Fulton, a rare bald eagle throuple, or three-way couple, ha

Eaglets have 2 daddies — and a mom. Near Fulton, a rare bald eagle throuple, or three-way couple, have come together to mate and parent.

While male eagles typically share egg-warming duties , jumping in when the females need to hunt and eat , Hope @ @ @ @ @ I , couldn ’ t bring himself to incubate the eggs for more than a @ @ @ @ @ males work hard to feed their ravenous offspring , Valor I provided only for himself @ @ @ @ @ ’ s eaglets would survive in 2012 , and the next year , Hope showed @ @ @ @ @ , the steady and hard-working Valor II .

Bald eagles Valor II, from left, Valor I and Starr, photographed in February 2020, share a nest near Fulton, Illinois, and are incubating their eggs together. (Stewards of the Upper Mississippi River Refuge)
In the leafy backwaters of the Mississippi River, a bald eagle named Hope was losing patience with her handsome young mate.
While male eagles typically share egg-warming duties, jumping in when the females need to hunt and eat, Hope’s mate, Valor I, couldn’t bring himself to incubate the eggs for more than a few minutes. While other males work hard to feed their ravenous offspring, Valor I provided only for himself. Neither of the pair’s eaglets would survive in 2012, and the next year, Hope showed up with a new mate, the steady and hard-working Valor II.
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But a funny thing happened on the way to the eagle equivalent of divorce: Valor I stayed in the vicinity of the nest near Fulton, Illinois, and Hope and Valor II allowed him to do so. Within a few years, cameras had caught the eagle trio in a rare three-way committed relationship — the avian equivalent of a trendy human throuple, or three-person couple.
And when Hope, who mated with both males, disappeared in 2017, the two Valors continued to cooperate, successfully raising two eaglets on their own and accepting a new adult female, Starr, into their family.
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The eagles’ saga has attracted 1.4 million YouTube views from 89 countries, including Venezuela, Nigeria and Kuwait.
“It’s definitely our own little soap opera,” said Pam Steinhaus, visitor services manager at the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.
It’s unclear how many eagle throuples there are, because documenting mating and family life is difficult. The Valor trio live 80 feet above ground in a towering silver maple; a former U.S. Army Ranger climbed the tree to install cameras, Steinhaus said. Other documented trios include a case in Alaska in the 1970s and one in California in 1992, but it’s unclear if those trios simply involved a third helper bird contributing child care or were actual mating relationships.
The Illinois trio’s nest near Lock and Dam 13 can be seen from Lock Road, about 3 miles north of Fulton and 140 miles west of Chicago.
Valor II successfully raised two eaglets with Hope in 2013, with Valor 1 hanging around but apparently uninvolved in mating or child care, Steinhaus said.
In 2014, three adult eagles were spotted, but it was unclear how they were interacting. In 2015, the three adult eagles successfully raised three offspring, but it wasn’t until 2016 that all three eagles were seen nest-building and sharing in parenting duties.
And then, in March 2017, with two eaglets hatched, disaster struck. A rival pair of eagles, perhaps in search of a nest of their own, attacked the trio’s nest repeatedly. Hope fought bravely but disappeared after a long night battle. Her body was never found, Steinhaus said.
With Hope gone, her two mates stepped up, successfully raising two eaglets despite repeated attacks by the rival eagles.
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“We call that the father-of-the-year award,” Steinhaus said. “Through that whole time, they had daily attacks — all the way through April, and even into May. They were constantly on guard.”
And then came the cliffhanger: With the eaglets out of the nest, would the Valors separate? Would they allow a new female to join them? Would a female want to join this unconventional family?
By September 2017, eagle-watchers had their answer: A young female named Starr joined the nest, bonding with both males.
The Valors were likely loyal to the nest, not each other, Steinhaus said, but they continue to work well together. Starr has been seen mating with both males.
The trio appears to be tending two eggs this year, incubating them in a three-way rotation. The males have helped build the already massive nest to its current dimensions of about 8 feet wide by 10 feet deep, and if all goes well, the eaglets should start hatching in mid-March.
nschoenberg@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--Chicago bar owner gives up food for Lent, drinks beer instead

Chicago magazine has the story of Pat Berger , the owner of Paddy Long ’ s and Kaiser Tiger , @ @ @ @ @ .
Along with coffee , unsweetened tea , water and “ a plethora of vitamins @ @ @ @ @ subsisting on a diet of beer .
Though he ’ s drinking a variety of @ @ @ @ @ Great Central Brewing Co. to make a doppelbock specifically for his unique situation .
And @ @ @ @ @ , it isn ’ t a shy beer .

Pat Berger, owner of Paddy Long's and Kaiser Tiger, is drinking mostly a doppelbock made for him by Chicago-based Great Central Brewing Co. (Paddy Long's)
You’ve probably heard of people abstaining from alcohol for Lent, the period between the Christian celebrations of Ash Wednesday and Easter. But what about giving up food and living off beer?
Chicago magazine has the story of Pat Berger, the owner of Paddy Long’s and Kaiser Tiger, who is doing just that. Along with coffee, unsweetened tea, water and “a plethora of vitamins,” he’s subsisting on a diet of beer. Though he’s drinking a variety of brews, he did commission Great Central Brewing Co. to make a doppelbock specifically for his unique situation. And with an ABV of 7.1, it isn’t a shy beer.
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It’s not some frat boy fantasy. Berger claims there is historical precedent for his quest. In a post on Paddy Long’s website, Berger writes that he’s following a 300-year-old German monk Lenten beer fast: “In the 17th Century, the Paulaner monks in Bavaria would limit themselves to only beer and water during Lent.”
According to Chicago magazine, Berger did consult with a couple of doctors before starting. They made sure to tell him he needs to take some vitamins to get enough thiamine and Vitamin C.
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Berger writes that he’s usually drinking four beers a day, and without any food he really feels each one. Though tempted by the food coming out of his two restaurants, he has remained steadfast and has also lost 20 pounds.
nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--Richard Lewis looks in pain in ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ As it turns out, he is

By the early 1980s , Lewis was gathering career momentum and technical polish as a stand-up comedian .
A 1984 @ @ @ @ @ Street prompted me to write in my review : “ The material pours out of @ @ @ @ @ a word sounds rehearsed or manipulated for laughs .
Yet the laughs are there – @ @ @ @ @ because Lewis ’ material rings of high craft and because the scenarios he laments go @ @ @ @ @ expects from one-liners .
… He can communicate more with twisted body language than most @ @ @ @ @ He is the rare kind of comedian who broadens the art .
”

Richard Lewis performs at Zanies in 2018, before a new wave of troubles arrived. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
If Richard Lewis looks as though he’s in pain during this season’s episodes of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” on HBO, there’s a reason for that.
He is.
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And was – all through shooting last year.
Not just the psychic angst for which Lewis is so famous and which he shares so generously on the show and has, of course, during the past 49 years of his stand-up comedy.
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No, this time Lewis’ pain is of a decidedly more physical variety, and it has continued since “Curb” filming ended last year. For he has endured two surgeries in short order: The first last September, to relieve back pain that he describes as having been “100 out of 100”; the second in January, to repair a shoulder that shattered when he slipped after stepping out of a swimming pool, where he was trying to rehab from the back surgery.
None of which seems to have dulled his mordantly comic view of his troubles.
The swimming pool incident reminded him that he hadn’t “had on a bathing suit since I was (vacationing) in Florida when I was 9,” recalls Lewis. “I only went about a foot past the sand, and I had the glass goggles on. It looked like a goldfish (swam) across my screen, and I ran out of Miami Beach screaming.
“And I never went back in.”
In retrospect, Lewis might have been better off if he’d stayed away from the water, but he was determined to get his back into shape. So now he’s at home with his arm in a sling, hoping the next several months of physical therapy might help him avert a third operation, to replace his right shoulder.
On the positive side, Joyce Lapinsky, his wife, got him a new toilet.
“When she saw how much of a drag it is to get in and out of a bed when you can’t use your arm, she bought me this Japanese toilet,” explains Lewis, with obvious enthusiasm.
“When you walk into the bathroom, it opens automatically. I call it Sal.
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“But that’s just the beginning. Without getting too graphic, there’s a little children’s waterfall in there.
“If I’m tired, and I get up in the middle of the night, it has a remote control: What kind of squirt do you want?”
Clearly, when your body is wracked with pain, you take your pleasures where you can find them. Still, “at night is when the Ingmar Bergman dreams are coming,” says the comedian.
The ultimate challenge, though, was trying to work – to be funny! – while you’re in misery, which is what Lewis had to do while shooting “Curb’s” 10th season. His back pain, which had bothered him on and off for decades, had been getting progressively worse.
He acknowledges that part of the problem has been his notoriously stooped-over posture, which leaves him “walking around like Groucho’s cousin” and long has given him comedic material onstage. Various strategies – acupuncture, cortisone shots and whatnot – did not help.
“He tried a ton of therapies – he had to be desperate,” says Lapinsky, whom he met in 1998 and married in 2005.
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But Lewis says he had to soldier on, feeling “obligated” to his longtime friend/antagonist and “Curb” creator Larry David, and to the production itself.
“After 20 years of being associated with the whole show, it was too much on my mind that I couldn’t let him down,” says Lewis.
Recalls Lapinsky, “Larry and the production were kind enough to push off some of his scenes – push them back on the timeline,” in hopes that Lewis’ pain would decline.
Eventually, though, Lewis had to show up on set. Between scenes, “He’d be in a trailer, laying down in pain,” remembers Lapinsky. “Then they’d just perk him up and bring him in for the shoot.”
Lewis, of course, recognized the black comedy in all of this.
“When they finally needed me, I wasn’t really that great standing up,” says Lewis.
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“So I had two days’ work with six scenes, and, fortunately, all the scenes were in restaurants. I don’t know what I would have done if it were anything else.
“They had to have me in these scenes. So they rented a room in an office building across the street (from the shooting location), with two medics in the room with me. They became medic/clothing stylists. They never had more fun.
“I mean, they’re medical people. But they’d say: ‘No, Richard, I wouldn’t wear the corduroy.’
“And I’d say: ‘Just help me put my pants on, this is what they want me to wear.’
“‘No, I’d go with the blue and the shorts.’
“Then they’d put me in a wheelchair and wheeled me across the street. And people are honking their horns: ‘Hey, Lewis!’
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“And the medics were smiling and emailing, taking this tortured man to this set.
“The medics are now probably doing ‘Hello Dolly’ somewhere.”
So how do you perform, improvise, stay funny amid this agony?
“I was just so relieved that I was sitting down, number one,” says Lewis. “And I just was so highly charged, my adrenaline kicked in.
“You’re coming toward the last 10 or 15 minutes on the set, and you want to end killing it, having them want you to come back. That’s how I felt in these scenes.”
After shooting was done, Lewis’ pain got so fierce that, “I’m not exaggerating, I was screaming and crawling on my knees to get to the bathroom by my bed,” he says. “I wasn’t (yet) thinking of an operation. I was thinking: If I can get through this, I can get through anything. … And my wife could only just stand there and watch.”
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Back surgery became inevitable, and afterward, “the pain was gone,” says Lewis.
But the poolside slip in January devastated his shoulder.
“The thing is, leading up to his back surgery, he was in such pain for so long with it, that his body totally deconditioned,” says Lapinsky.
“The back surgery, if you’re in good shape but you have a sciatic episode and you go in for surgery … you’ll come out, you’ll be in some pain for bit.
“Well, he wasn’t in that condition. Same with the shoulder. Some other people would go in and have the shoulder surgery and come out and go through therapy for the shoulder. His therapy is for his entire body.”
Lewis shared his woes with David, who seemed unfazed.
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“I told him I had an operation," recalls Lewis. "And I said: ‘I may have to wear a sling,’” if there were to be an 11th season of “Curb.”
“He said: ‘I think I can figure out how to work that in. Don’t worry about that. I can come up with an accident for you.’
“The guy has written 100,000 scenes,” adds Lewis, underlining David’s wizardry in indeed coming up with a comic scenario for practically any situation.
It’s not surprising that David and “Curb” would treat Lewis “like a king,” as Lewis puts it, considering David’s admiration of Lewis’ art, which goes back to their early days in stand-up, in the 1970s.
Even then, Lewis’ nascent comedy “was distinctive in that it was coming from his life,” David told me in 2009.
“I suppose at that time, people really weren’t digging that deep as he was.”
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By the early 1980s, Lewis was gathering career momentum and technical polish as a stand-up comedian. A 1984 appearance at Zanies on Wells Street prompted me to write in my review: “The material pours out of him confessional-style, and not a word sounds rehearsed or manipulated for laughs. Yet the laughs are there – and in unbelievable abundance – because Lewis’ material rings of high craft and because the scenarios he laments go much deeper emotionally than one expects from one-liners. … He can communicate more with twisted body language than most comics can with words. He is the rare kind of comedian who broadens the art.”
In 1989, Lewis hit the big-time, winning the co-lead opposite Jamie Lee Curtis in the ABC-TV sitcom “Anything But Love,” which was canceled in 1992.
Lewis battled alcoholism but got sober in 1994, winning a small part in one of the great films about the disease, “Leaving Las Vegas” (1995) and a starring role in “Drunks” (1997), neither of which did much for his career.
Then, a surprise.
“Larry David came to my house when I was 50; I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do,” says Lewis, who felt his career was fading. “I was quickly starting to realize that people who were 30 years old” didn’t know who he was.
“You lose a little of that heat, unless you’re on another show.”
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David was cooking up “Curb,” and, in effect, revived Lewis’ career, though that wasn’t his plan.
“The thought never entered my mind – that’s not why I cast him,” David told me in 2009.
“I cast him because he was a close friend, and I felt like we could bring what we had offstage into the show, which was a combative, funny relationship,” which dated back to when they were in summer camp together as teens.
The two have done exactly that, though it remains to be seen if their sparring matches will continue, should there be an 11th season.
“Right now, I’m not worried about ‘Curb,’ because it’s pointless,” says Lewis. “I’m in rehab.
“Even if I call Larry (and say): ‘I don’t know about coming back,’ he says, ‘In six months, July or August, you’ll be much better.’
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“And he’s right. … Right now, I have to focus on getting my life back.”
And what about stand-up comedy? That’s the arena in which Lewis always has been at his best, pacing the stage, running his fingers through his hair, working his way – comedically – through his problems and, in a way, ours.
“I’m not thinking about stand-up,” says Lewis.
“I feel that I did it. And traveling, all that stuff. I’ll be 73 (in June). Who knows from day to day what’s going to happen?
“I want to spend as much time with my wife as possible, and not always leaving. It’s been almost 23 years (they’ve been a couple).
“I’m so lucky. I’m so riddled with gratitude that I have a wife who’s doing everything for me, except the rehab.
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“When I get down, I think it could be a lot worse, really.”
Howard Reich is a Tribune critic.
hreich@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--‘Bachelor’ contestants recount racist social media messages: ‘This has to stop’

`` I felt so strongly about this and having this moment at the end to talk about those things because @ @ @ @ @ .
I 've dealt with it my whole life , but when you 're put @ @ @ @ @ hits you just a little bit different and it 's one of those things where @ @ @ @ @ strong in it , but it 's not okay , '' Hightower told Variety at @ @ @ @ @ has to stop .
Nothing that we did on the show deserves that . ''

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “The Bachelor: Women Tell All” from Season 24.
When the women of Peter Weber’s season of “The Bachelor” gathered in a soundstage in Los Angeles to recount their time on the ABC dating competition program, it wasn’t just details of what happened inside the mansion that they discussed. Host Chris Harrison brought former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay to also bring to the forefront of the conversation the unspoken consequence of being on the show: online harassment.
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Lindsay discussed the onslaught she faced after starring in Season 21 of the romance competition before she received her own season of "The Bachelorette," making her the first black bachelorette in the history of the show. She also read a few of the comments some of the girls from the current season starring Weber had received.
"No one cares that you're a half n--er, Mexican bitch," one message read.
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The crowd proceeded to cringe as Lindsay teared up while reading other messages that echoed the same tone. But although Harrison and Lindsay acknowledged the messages held tones of hate speech, they failed to call them out as racist.
This new segment in the infamous “Women Tell All” special came to fruition after Sydney Hightower voiced the problems she’d faced regarding hateful messages she’d received from “The Bachelor” fans.
"I felt so strongly about this and having this moment at the end to talk about those things because I dealt with that directly. I've dealt with it my whole life, but when you're put to that magnitude, it hits you just a little bit different and it's one of those things where you just have to be strong in it, but it's not okay," Hightower told Variety at the taping. "This has to stop. Nothing that we did on the show deserves that."
The Alabama native went on to express that the racially-toned messages were nothing new to her, saying she's experienced comments of the same nature since her youth.
"I am a strong woman, but it's because of the things I've been through. Growing up in rural Alabama and being who I am, my mother has gotten things done to her that are unspeakable and so have I," she said. "The things that have been done to me have just shaped me into who I am, and those are horrific things."
Tammy Ly shared that recently people have told her "to get Coronavirus" or to "go back to Korea and die." But the former contestant is Vietnamese, not Korean.
"It's extremely rude because they want to hurt you and they know that's the only way that they can hurt you," she said, "and it's just disgusting that people think that that's OK to say."
Shiann Lewis, another woman of color, also shared her experience, specifically noting that she has received a lot of messages with "name-calling" and "a lot of things about my hair, a lot of things about my skin tone, that I'm ugly -- just anything."
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Chris Harrison, Rachel Lindsay on "The Bachelor: The Women Tell All" MONDAY, MARCH 2 (8:00-10:00 p.m. EST), on ABC. (Kelsey McNeal/ABC / HANDOUT)
The women seemed split as to the reason for these messages. Some said it is simply the high price of fame, but Ly expressed thought that social media plays a factor largely due to its accessibility, and the accessibility of the cast members.
"As much as I love social media, it's a passage way for people to get more of their opinions out there and a lot of people's opinions are really nasty," she said.
The overall consensus revealed that many of the girls felt relieved after having the tough conversation on the show and highlighting a major oversight within "The Bachelor's" fan base, though.
"People don't realize how much of that we get in our private lives from 'Bachelor Nation' or from people that watch the show," Lewis shared. "There's so many people that watch this show, that it needed to be said. ... It's sad because it's 2020. It's been so long since this had been supposed to be put to rest, and it's not put to rest whatsoever."
“The Bachelor” airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--My worst moment: Nick Offerman nearly cracked his head open on a Chicago stage — more than once

“ Joe directed the show and co-wrote it , so he and I were kind of the two main knuckleheads @ @ @ @ @ directing and me playing the lead , but also choreographing these massive fight scenes and @ @ @ @ @ the props and the set .
We were absolutely exhausting ourselves .
And when we @ @ @ @ @ brushes and the screw guns and swept real quick so the audience could come in @ @ @ @ @ sit in a chair but I had to strap on my armor ( laughs ) @ @ @ @ @

Nick Offerman’s seven mustachioed seasons as Ron Swanson on “Parks and Recreation” were nothing short of iconic. If Offerman first made his mark playing a man with a deep antipathy for digital technology, his latest role as a high-tech maven on “Devs” couldn’t be further from that.
“He’s a somewhat eccentric Silicon Valley iconoclastic brainiac,” Offerman said of the character he plays on the new FX series on Hulu. “Imagine if Elon Musk were twice as strange. And hairier. The hairiest of the computer geniuses. He’s created a quantum computing company that is dominating the landscape and the repercussions of his success have him on a path that drives the narrative of the show." The sci-fi thriller from “Annihilation” director Alex Garland centers around "the biggest questions in life and how we will answer them when our computers become too powerful.”
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Raised in the farming community of Minooka, Offerman and a group of friends moved to Chicago after college and formed Defiant Theatre. The company would go on to create a number of distinctively high-energy, highly physical shows before shuttering about 10 years later. Offerman left for greener pastures on the West Coast midway through Defiant’s run, but continued doing theater in Los Angeles and met future wife Megan Mullally when they were cast in the same play.
Nick Offerman as a "somewhat eccentric Silicon Valley iconoclastic brainiac" in the FX on Hulu series "Devs." (Miya Mizuno/FX)
Offerman’s time on stage was formative — personally and professionally — and that’s what came to mind when asked about a worst moment. But first, a preface: “The theme here is concussions," he said. "When I was in college, I smoked my first marijuana as a sophomore with my friend Joe Foust and I enjoyed it very much — so much so that I thought it would be fun to partake of it while I was on stage in a production of ‘Man of La Mancha.’ And long story short, I ended up cracking my head open and having a severe concussion.
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“I ran this story by Joe, who is my historian, and he said, ‘No, no, no — there’s an even worse story when we did this show ‘Ubu Raw’ in 1996.”
Offerman picks it up from there.
My worst moment …
“The Defiant Theatre was a company started by a bunch of us that graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We were all the class of ‘93 or so. And I think what is considered the greatest show we did was this Kabuki-flavored version of Alfred Jarry’s (1896 play) 'Ubu Roi,’ but we spelled it r-a-w because we were terrific rascals. It was a wild bacchanal, a wonderful carnival of a show.
“And I played Pa Ubu in a fat suit and a mask that was quite substantial and heavy. It was built on a bike helmet, a huge latex head patterned after the famous Max Ernst sketch of Pa Ubu. The mask was made by a great artist named Stephanie Nelson (who works frequently as a designer in Chicago theater). It was like 12 pounds or something, built up with some newspaper and sawdust. The only part of me that was visible was my lower lip and chin.
“Thankfully my main talent in those days were those of the donkey: I had incredible stamina, I could take a lot of punishment and I could kick and bray loudly. I was also the technical director for our company. I had all the tools and I was in charge of building all the scenery. And this was a big production, so we built this huge set.
“The thing about our productions was that we never had any budget, so we had to use creativity and gumption and elbow grease. And by and large, the last couple of weeks of rehearsal and tech we would be pulling all-nighters to finish the set.
“Joe directed the show and co-wrote it, so he and I were kind of the two main knuckleheads when it came to him directing and me playing the lead, but also choreographing these massive fight scenes and we also were building all the props and the set. We were absolutely exhausting ourselves. And when we finally put away the paint brushes and the screw guns and swept real quick so the audience could come in, Joe got to go sit in a chair but I had to strap on my armor (laughs) and do the show.
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Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally. (Mike Pont/Getty Images)
“So I think it was either our final dress rehearsal or our opening night. We had a piece of scenery that was a 6-foot step ladder with a piece of plywood cut in the shape of a boulder affixed it to the front of it. The boulder would appear on stage, and Pa Ubu would climb to the top of the boulder, so I’m straddling the top of this 6-foot ladder, bellowing some bombastic foolishness.
“It was scripted in the show that I would fall face first off this thing and probably do sort of a half flip, which was a little extreme, but I had the padding of the fat suit so it was not outside the realm of my bag of tricks.
"But apparently on this night I was so exhausted, I just passed out. And I landed squarely on my head.
“Everyone in the place was immediately alarmed. And I got to my feet weaving and continued with my dialogue, but I was whispering my lines. So then Joe came out and stopped the show and said, ‘Are you OK?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, what are you talking about? What could possibly be the matter?’ I was just completely out of my mind. And he said, ‘You fell on your head.’ And I said, ‘You’re crazy, I’m fine — on with the show. Be gone.’
“So he made an announcement to the audience that we were going to carry on with the show. It’s a testament to the generosity of the Chicago theater audience that apparently no one asked for a refund. I think part of the reason people came to see our shows was that you might see a guy fall on his head.
“It sounds very scary, but apparently I was very indestructible for that decade. We always found it very funny that I was feebly going on with the show (laughs).
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Nick Offerman played the iconic curmudgeon Ron Swanson for seven seasons on "Parks and Recreation." (NBC)
“So we finished the show that night and then we got our heads together and someone said, ‘Well, we should probably take you to the hospital.’ And we tossed it around and determined that nobody had health insurance, including me, and I couldn’t remotely consider going to the hospital.
"And I said, ‘You know, I think maybe the pub is the thing to do.’ So that’s what we did.”
How was Offerman feeling the next morning?
“I mean, I had been a football player. And this was my thing — I was a pretty clumsy actor at the time, but I was very athletic and I could take a beating. A lot of our shows had me crashing through walls and doing my own stunts. So no, there was nothing remarkable the next morning. It was just business as usual.
“The bike helmet that the mask was built on absolutely must have protected me. The way Joe tells the story, it was the kind of fall that could easily have ended things — I’m deeply grateful for that ridiculously heavy helmet and mask — but he also rattled off four or five other occasions like that, and I don’t remember them at all.”
The takeaway …
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“I can pretty accurately recognize these days where I will potentially injure myself and I try to avoid that. A big part of that is just practicality. I’m often working in film and TV, and you come to understand that if you’re foolhardy and you try the stunt and you hurt yourself, you could possibly shut things down, which costs people money and then you’re a fly in everybody’s ointment.
“But first and foremost, if you’re going to be in the show, then you have you get a little bit of sleep. Beyond that, I think it was one of the first times I learned my limits. Before that I was still of the opinion that there was nothing I couldn’t do. And that night disabused me of that notion (laughs). It made me grateful for any scene of dialogue where I get to sit in a chair and speak at a moderate volume.”
“It sounds very scary, but apparently I was very indestructible for that decade," said Nick Offerman. (Richard Shotwell / Invision)
nmetz@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--For 2-sport star Anthony Sayles of Niles Notre Dame, the options seem limitless: Big Ten football, L

For 2-sport star Anthony Sayles of Niles Notre Dame, the options seem limitless: Big Ten football, Loyola basketball ... or ‘exploring the world’?

“ He loves to run the ball and he can throw it with the flick of a wrist , ” @ @ @ @ @ has all the natural talent , but he keeps it within himself and leads the @ @ @ @ @ that he ’ s a very humble kid .
He ’ s a tremendous leader @ @ @ @ @ only have to tell him things once .
”

Anthony Sayles’ teammates say he oozes leadership without even having to speak.
Troy D’Amico remembers what Sayles did after D’Amico missed a game-winning shot for Niles Notre Dame against Loyola Academy.
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“He was the first one to run out and lift my head up,” D’Amico said. “Physically lift it up. He was there for me. He’s like that for everybody. He calms the storm.”
Sayles is always thinking about his teammates?
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“Definitely,” D’Amico replied. “Probably more than himself.”
The latest example came Wednesday night after Notre Dame, the state’s top-ranked Class 3A team, fell 76-69 to Curie, the No. 1 Class 4A team.
Sayles walked into the locker room and erased everything on the greaseboard. He then wrote “0-0.”
Meaning, this game is over. The regular season is over, with the Dons finishing 26-5. The playoffs begin Tuesday.
Niles Notre Dame's Anthony Sayles, right, shoots over Waukegan's Andre White Jr. on Jan. 21, 2019. (Rob Dicker / Chicago Tribune)
Clean slate.
“I wanted to let my teammates know: It’s a new life,” he said.
That’s heady stuff for a high school junior, but the 6-foot-2 Sayles is no ordinary teen. He’s a two-sport star, a quarterback drawing interest from Big Ten schools such as Iowa and Michigan State and a point guard getting serious love from mid-majors.
Loyola coach Porter Moser took in Sayles’ 17-point performance against St. Patrick on Feb. 7, and Ramblers assistant Drew Valentine watched him against Curie. Loyola has offered scholarships to Sayles, the rugged 6-5 D’Amico and athletic sharpshooter Louis Lesmond. All are juniors.
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Milwaukee coach Pat Baldwin also was in the crowd for Curie’s tight victory against Notre Dame. Sayles scored 16 points, two coming on a seemingly impossible shot as his body tumbled to the floor.
“I always keep my eye on the basket,” Sayles said. “I can’t say I practice shots like that, but I do practice tough shots. I’m happy that one went in.”
Top athletes often struggle with choosing the right college. You can double the angst for Sayles, who might be Chicago’s best football/basketball prospect since Donovan McNabb.
It’s one of the best rivalry games in the state: Notre Dame vs. St. Patrick with a packed house in Niles.
More to come on High School Lites at 11:00 @NBCSChicago! 🏀🎥 pic.twitter.com/vgc525GpWD — Preps Talk (@NBCSPreps) February 8, 2020
How challenging will the decision be?
“Oh, man,” he replied. “I don’t want to think about it. When the time comes, it will be very tough. I’ve been playing both my whole life.”
Which does he prefer?
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Sayles ducked his head and smiled, saying: “It changes throughout the season, so I’m going to go with basketball right now.”
His basketball idols are Russell Westbrook and Ja Morant: “That’s my guy. His game, his drive, his passion for everything he does.”
In football, he digs Lamar Jackson.
“And all time, Mike Vick,” he said. “I’m a dual threat. I like to get the ball down the field, and if nothing’s open, I’ll take off with my legs.”
Notre Dame football coach Mike Hennessey hailed Sayles for his decision making on run-pass options.
“He loves to run the ball and he can throw it with the flick of a wrist,” Hennessey said. “He has all the natural talent, but he keeps it within himself and leads the team in such a way that he’s a very humble kid. He’s a tremendous leader. Very coachable. You only have to tell him things once.”
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Sayles lives in Evanston with his mother, Stacey Chambers. She marvels at how calm he remains while he’s playing — and how popular he is when not in uniform.
“He’s an all-around good kid, funny and caring,” she said. “I’m kind of shy. He gets along with everybody. He has a lot of friends. His phone never stops ringing.”
Chambers said she won’t try to influence her son’s decision regarding which sport or which college.
Asked if she would like to him to stay closer to home to play at a spot such as Loyola, she replied: “I’m OK with him exploring the world, seeing everything. I’m OK either way.”
Niles Notre Dame quarterback Anthony Sayles rolls out looking to pass during a game against Montini on Oct. 4, 2019, in Niles. (Tim Boyle / Pioneer Press)
Sayles once played on the same AAU team with Moser’s oldest son, Jake.
“I have a deep past with them, and they always show love,” Sayles said of the Ramblers. “They are always going to be like a family to me no matter what decision I make.”
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Sayles’ best attributes on the hardwood are his ballhandling, his defense, his composure against traps and presses and his ability to jet to the rim. His shooting stroke remains a work in progress, as he sometimes favors a set shot when open.
“Getting to the rim has always been his strength,” Notre Dame coach Kevin Clancy said. “He is a great finisher. His body control and strength are a combination you don’t see very often at the high school level. He is special.”
And he has the “it” factor.
“His composure is huge for us — with the ball and in huddles,” Clancy said.
At some point, Sayles will have to specialize. He’ll pick between football and basketball. He won’t have the second-busiest December after Santa Claus.
What will he choose?
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“That’s my best friend, and I don’t know,” D’Amico said. “Probably whatever he’s having the most fun with.
“He’s dedicated to football and then he has to come right into basketball. It’s insane. But he does it, and I respect the hell out of him.”


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--Commentary: Why it’s so important the new ‘Bachelorette’ star is 38 years old

`` The whole process makes you so raw and so vulnerable , and that 's why it works , '' @ @ @ @ @ do n't have any outside distraction , so they 're your people .
At the @ @ @ @ @ I 'm a person who builds friendships .
I had to keep reminding myself _ @ @ @ @ @ I still have to remind myself when they call me _ that this is their @ @ @ @ @ to make peace with that .
...
This show either builds you or breaks you @ @ @ @ @ going to let it break me , because they 're making money off of people @ @ @ @ @ be damned if they , or anybody else , chooses how my life goes .
@

When her season of "The Bachelorette" premieres in May, Clare Crawley will be 39 years old.
That means she will be the oldest star the reality show has ever had, and by a serious margin: Attorney Rachel Lindsay was 32 when she embarked on her quest for love in 2017. The program's most recent lead, Hannah Brown, was barely out of college when she was the bachelorette at 24.
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I don't say this to age-shame. I say this because Clare's age is actually deeply meaningful to me.
First, a quick primer on our new leading lady, who revealed Monday on "Good Morning America" that she will succeed Brown for the gender-flipped spinoff's 16th season. Clare is no stranger to "The Bachelor" franchise. The Sacramento hairstylist first turned up on the show in 2014, when she set out to compete for the affection of bachelor Juan Pablo Galavis. Her turn on the season instantly turned her into a Bachelor Nation legend.
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After a consensual late-night romp in the ocean, he implied that Clare had somehow forced him into a hookup that would make him look bad on TV to his young daughter. Fans rallied to her defense, calling out the slut-shaming, and she only endeared herself to the audience further when she exited the show as runner-up. When Juan Pablo rejected her at the finale podium, she didn't go quietly: "What you made me go through? I'd never want my children having a father like you," she said, shedding nary a tear.
Next, she did two stints on "Bachelor in Paradise," and then turned up on the one-off "Bachelor Winter Games" in 2018. She actually got engaged on the Olympics-themed spin-off, but her relationship with the French Canadian Benoit Beausejour-Savard was not long for this world.
The fact that Clare has been named the bachelorette after all of this is, frankly, powerful. She is a 38-year-old woman who has unabashedly spoken about her intense desire to be married and have children. She has tried to find love and she has failed. But by casting her as the lead, the show has made -- and I can’t believe I’m saying this -- a progressive move. It’s a choice that flies in the face of societal expectations for straight women, positioning an unmarried woman in her late thirties not as desperate, but as desirable and worthy of love.
Clare Crawley attends the "Bachelor In Paradise" Returns To Mexico For Season 2 Premiere Party in 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Jesse Grant/TNS)
"I feel like a lot of people put (the age) out there as this negative thing, but for me, it just is more years under my belt, more learning and knowing what I want, what I don't want and what I won't settle for," Crawley said on "Good Morning America."
Before I get too carried away, I’ll pause to say: This is still “The Bachelorette.” Clare is conventionally attractive -- thin and blond and curvy. She’s also white and heterosexual. And I’m willing to bet that the dudes who show up at the mansion in a bid for her heart won’t be sporting dad bods.
In other words, "The Bachelor" franchise still has a very long way to go when it comes to accurately representing its viewership. But I'd also be lying if I didn't say that for the first time since I started watching this show, I feel seen by it.
At 34, I'm a few years younger than Clare, but I can very much relate to her yearning to find a partner. Most weekends, I'm out on a date with some new prospect I've met on Bumble or Hinge. And while I'm not ready to declare just yet that I'm dying alone, I do sometimes fall prey to bouts of self-pity as I turn up at my friends' weddings and baby showers. With every year that passes, that quiet drumbeat of worry intensifies: At what age will being single signify to the world that I am, in some way, defective?
I hate writing these words about myself, because it's 2020, and I know I'm far more than a ring on my finger. I know that in theory, because that's what strong women have been taught to believe. But in practice? That's not the world I necessarily see reflected around me, especially during late-night scrolling binges on Instagram.
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And that's why Clare's casting is such a big deal. Even if you think "The Bachelor" is vapid garbage, millions of people still watch it. And that kind of pop culture seeps into the public consciousness.
Clare knows that better than anyone. There have been moments on the franchise where other women have called out her age, branding her pathetic for daring to put herself out there past 35. When I interviewed her for my book about the series, "Bachelor Nation," a couple of years ago, Clare spoke defiantly about such taunts.
"I wouldn't trade my age to go back to a younger age for a second, because I am who I am today because of the (crap) I've gone through," she said. "When people take low blows like that, to me, it shows extreme insecurity. I'm not some old, decrepit, withered, pathetic woman. Give me a break."
As confidently as Clare came across in that interview, she also said some things that now make me anxious about her turn as the bachelorette. For one, she swore she was done with the show, retiring from the franchise because it had done her wrong. She said she hated how its editors had treated her cruelly, making her appear crazy. On "Bachelor in Paradise," for instance, she was made to look like she confided in a raccoon she met on the beach.
"I was so naive in my mentality going into the show," she admitted. "I thought: 'If I'm a good person and I treat people good and I have integrity, they can't make me look bad, right?'"
She also expressed grievances with the show's producers. She acknowledged that she became "super close" with the behind-the-scenes team, considering them to be her de facto therapists. But when she felt betrayed by how she was portrayed on the show, those same producers were unsympathetic, telling her: "That's how it goes. You know what you signed up for."
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"The whole process makes you so raw and so vulnerable, and that's why it works," she explained. "You don't have any outside distraction, so they're your people. At the end of the day, I'm a person who builds friendships. I had to keep reminding myself _ and to this day, I still have to remind myself when they call me _ that this is their job. And I have to make peace with that. ... This show either builds you or breaks you. And I'm not going to let it break me, because they're making money off of people like me. I'll be damned if they, or anybody else, chooses how my life goes."
So, yes. I'm thrilled that Clare is our bachelorette, and excited for what that could mean to single women in their thirties. But I'm also trepidatious. As Clare herself stated, she is not, ultimately, in control of the narrative that will be portrayed about her on television. The show made a positive decision in casting her _ now I can only hope that they treat her with some long overdue respect.
Times staff writer Christi Carras contributed to this report.


chicagotribune--2020-03-03--3 takeaways from the Bulls’ 109-107 win over the Mavericks, including how 2 unheralded players made

3 takeaways from the Bulls’ 109-107 win over the Mavericks, including how 2 unheralded players made life difficult for MVP candidate Luka Doncic

Yet , boosted by the return of Otto Porter Jr. and one of their best recent defensive efforts , the @ @ @ @ @ victory against the Mavericks , improving to 2-22 against teams over .500 this season .
@ @ @ @ @ up an eight-point lead with 25 seconds left to play and Luka Doncic had a @ @ @ @ @ buzzer , but the Bulls still held on for one of their most impressive wins @ @ @

The Bulls entered Monday’s game without Zach LaVine, their leading scorer, and with just one win against a team with a winning record this season.
Yet, boosted by the return of Otto Porter Jr. and one of their best recent defensive efforts, the Bulls edged out a 109-107 victory against the Mavericks, improving to 2-22 against teams over .500 this season. Yes, they nearly coughed up an eight-point lead with 25 seconds left to play and Luka Doncic had a heave from halfcourt at the buzzer, but the Bulls still held on for one of their most impressive wins this season.
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The Bulls’ only other win this year against a team over .500 came against a shorthanded Clippers team.
“I think that’s deceiving because we have been in there a lot with winning teams and we have been right there getting ready to seal the deal,” said forward Denzel Valentine, who finished with a season-high 17 points. “So it actually feels good to come out here and beat a team like that a good team like that.”
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Here are three takeaways from Monday’s game:
1. Otto Porter Jr. showed the Bulls what they have been missing.
Otto Porter Jr., who missed 51 games this season, dropped 18 points in 17 minutes, his second-highest output of the year and the first time he’s scored that many points while playing less than 20 minutes.
“He’s got that skill level that we’ve missed,” coach Jim Boylen said. “Ability to make shots, ability to play in pick and roll. He has positional size. He has a feel, a calmness. I’m happy for him.”
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 17 Bulls center Wendell Carter Jr. blocks a shot by Mavericks forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist during the first half. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
The Bulls have been searching all year for a second reliable scoring option to play alongside Zach LaVine and perhaps Porter could have been the answer. He displayed the ability to create his own shot off a pick and roll, knock down shots from beyond the arc and spark the offense when they needed it.
As a few players have returned from injury, the Bulls are working them slowly back into the lineup. Porter said his conditioning felt great in last night’s game and while it seemed he could have played even more minutes, the team didn’t want to push him in his first game back since Nov. 6.
The Bulls have 21 games remaining this season to try and reacclimate Porter back into the rotation, but his goals for the final stretch are rather simple.
“Just stay healthy,” he said. “For me, it’s just staying healthy and just try to get some wins.”
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2. The Bulls frustrated Luke Doncic in the second half.
Mavs superstar Luka Doncic has been a triple-double machine in his breakout second NBA season, and he appeared well on his way to yet another in the first half against the Bulls. But the Bulls made life tough on Doncic in the second half with a pair of tenacious and pesky defensive efforts from two unheralded players, Shaquille Harrison and Adam Mokoka.
As the primary defenders on Doncic, they held him to eight points on 2-for-8 shooting, which included going 0-for-3 from beyond the arc. Doncic did not grab a rebound and dished out just two assists in the second half. He finished with 21 points, seven assists and five rebounds — a tame effort.
It was a tale of two halves for Luka pic.twitter.com/pJ5yjSUYzz — Bulls Talk (@NBCSBulls) March 3, 2020
“I think he was just like getting tired, getting frustrated,” Mokoka said. “We kept switching me and Shaq on him. It’s a different look on defense and we were trying to give him trouble and not give him easy step backs or easy penetration.”
Jim Boylen had been impressed by Mokoka’s defense as his playing time has increased recently out of necessity, so the Bulls coach came into the game planning to give Mokoka a chance at the tall task of defending Doncic. Credit the rookie two-way player for not being intimated by Doncic, and after the game Mokoka said he had not payed much attention to the hype surrounding the MVP candidate.
“We’d been searching for another frontline defender since Kris Dunn went out,” Boylen said. “Shaq did a hell of a job on him for some stretches and then Mokoka’s big and he’s strong and he takes the challenge. He’s learning.”
3. The Bulls were without Zach LaVine.
The Bulls played for the first time this season without their leading score, so how did they manage to pick up the slack without Zach LaVine, who was sidelined with a Grade 1 strain in his left quadriceps? With a combination of players picking up the slack.
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Denzel Valentine made the most of his first start of the season in LaVine’s place, dropping 13 of his 17 points in the second quarter. Rookie Coby White continued his recent hot streak with a team-high 19 points off the bench. And Otto Porter Jr. rounded it out with his strong performance, giving the Bulls multiple scoring threats, something they have lacked badly all season.
“We got a really good, talented team that kind of doesn’t get seen,” Valentine said. “A lot of these opportunities that people are getting, we’re taking advantage of them.”
Valentine is perhaps the poster child for a Bulls player who has struggled to receive his opportunity at times this season, spending the first half of the year trying to crack Jim Boylen’s rotation. But when he steps on the floor he has shown that he belongs.
For a team tha’s scuffled offensively for most of this season, Valentine is one of the Bulls’ biggest threats from beyond the arc and one capable of sparking the offense off the bench. His opportunities have been few and far between, but when given a chance to start, Valentine continues to flourish.
“I kind of lean on my faith, lean on my camp and keep putting in that hard work,” he said. “Sometimes your time isn’t now. But it’s going to come if you continue to be a good teammate and keeping putting in work.”
Here’s more coverage from Monday’s game
Otto Porter Jr. was the first Bulls player back on the court after halftime, a ball tucked under his arm and a wide smile on his face as he bounced toward the free-throw line to start shooting.
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The joy on his face was apparent throughout the game, Porter’s first since Nov. 6, when he suffered what was initially thought to be a sprained left foot before the Bulls discovered it was fractured.
Porter turned and played to the crowd Monday night after knocking down open jumpers. He remained on the floor with his legs spread in the air and began to laugh after getting fouled and knocked down during an eventual four-point play in the third quarter.
The injury cost Porter 51 games, and his return Monday night provided a glimpse of the offensive spark the Bulls have been missing. Porter scored 18 points in 17 minutes off the bench on 7-of-11 shooting (3 of 5 from 3-point range) in a productive return to help the Bulls to a 109-107 upset of the Mavericks on Monday night at the United Center.
“Back in the groove a little bit, back on the court, it’s been a long time,” Porter said. “My emotions, my energy was very high as I was just very excited to play.
“It’s like giving candy to a baby, you’re going to be happy. So I’m definitely happy to get back out and play basketball, get back out there with my teammates, coaches and just get the ‘W.’ ”
His contributions — along with those of Denzel Valentine, who scored a season-high 17 points in his first start of the year, and rookie Coby White, who had a team-high 19 points — led the Bulls to an unlikely victory despite playing without leading scorer Zach LaVine.
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It was the Bulls’ second victory this season over a team with a winning record.
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The Bulls wanted to ease Porter back into action, so coach Jim Boylen decided to use him off the bench instead of inserting him directly back into the starting lineup. Quickly after Porter checked in for his first stint with 4:02 left in the first quarter, he began to ignite the Bulls offense.
Porter scored 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting in the first half. He knocked down midrange jump shots coming off screens, drained an open shot from beyond the arc and looked comfortable in the offense despite missing almost four months.
“I was having fun out there. It felt good,” Porter said. “There was nothing out there that I was, like, rusty or something like that. I was out there just playing, just trying to get my rhythm back and going from there.”
Because the Bulls were trying to restrict Porter’s minutes, he was not on the court for the closing moments as the Mavericks made a late rally that made the final margin a little close for comfort. Porter’s 18 points in 17 minutes were the most he has scored in his career while playing less than 20 minutes.
When Porter initially suffered the injury, neither he nor the Bulls could have anticipated he would miss so much time. Monday marked only his 10th game of the season and 25th with the Bulls since they acquired him at the trade deadline last season.
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The Bulls entered with the fourth-worst offense in the NBA and have lacked an offensive identity all season, often relying on LaVine to bail them out of possessions headed nowhere. So Porter’s return to the rotation was a boost they desperately needed and gave them a reason to imagine what could have been had Porter been healthy this season.
“I don’t want to use it as an excuse because the beginning wasn’t ideal even having him on the team,” guard Tomas Satoransky said. “We were still learning a little bit, but he’s just such a huge part for this team. He showed it tonight.”


chicagotribune--2020-03-04--‘So much rain, so fast, so often.’ As another wet spring likely approaches, the Des Plaines River Tr

‘So much rain, so fast, so often.’ As another wet spring likely approaches, the Des Plaines River Trail is under threat.

Hart , who has worked 29 years at the forest preserve district , 17 years as trails manager , said @ @ @ @ @ been particularly challenging .
When it rains , he said , it is often a @ @ @ @ @ steady rains over the course of a day or so , it has not been @ @ @ @ @ Des Plaines trail to receive 2 inches of rain in 25 minutes .
Other trails @ @ @ @ @ preserve system also have been affected by the uptick in precipitation , Hart said , @ @ @ @ @ experiencing washouts and damage from rain and flooding .

Taylor Crosby grabs onto a concrete corner while navigating a frozen and flooded underpass below West Lawrence Avenue on the Des Plaines River Trail on the Chicago/Schiller Park border on Feb. 22, 2020. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Along the Des Plaines River Trail, as trucks trundle past on Grand Avenue and trains rumble across the bridge spanning the slow-moving waters, the ground is soggy and caked in mud. It’s clear the river has lapped across the land here, covering the forested path with a jumbled assortment of twigs and branches.
Soon, with spring approaching, the water likely will return. The river will rise, boosted by seasonal rains, snowmelt, and contributions from the region’s smaller creeks and streams. All of that water has to go somewhere.
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Much of the precipitation that falls upon Chicago’s suburbs will make its way into the Des Plaines River watershed, one of the region’s largest. Runoff from business plazas, subdivisions and apartment complexes washes across the adjacent trail, taking soil and gravel along with it. During the past several springs, the river itself has overtopped its banks, and swamped the path and underpasses that provide safe passage below busy streets.
The trail, an attraction for tens of thousands of joggers, bicyclists and pedestrians each year, according to estimates, has become a barometer of sorts for the severity and frequency of flooding in the Chicago region. And now, the threat of high water and flooding is affecting potential future plans for the trail.
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“The last three years, the rain that we have experienced has been unbelievable and a lot of the time the trail was wet and unusable, I’d say, 60 to 70% of the time,” said Mike Hart, trails manager for the Forest Preserves of Cook County.
The state is receiving heavy amounts of precipitation more frequently, which has ramifications for engineers who design the area’s roads, buildings, bridges and stormwater systems, according to a 2019 Illinois State Water Survey report.
Elizabeth Krupa, of Oak Park, walks her dog, Winter, along the Des Plaines River Trail near West Irving Park Road on the Chicago/Schiller Park border on Feb. 22, 2020. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
“We’re just trying to keep up with a changing climate,” said Jim Angel, the retired Illinois state climatologist who was co-author of the report. “It’s a different ballgame, a different climate, a different world.”
The forest preserve in Cook County is considering options for trail upgrades and improvements for the section between Touhy Avenue and the trail’s terminus near North Avenue near River Grove, and the prospect of persistent flooding has been one of the reasons engineers and planners have proposed eliminating several of the underpasses, shifting the trail eastward away from the river bank and perhaps, if funding allows, building overpasses to allow trail users to avoid busy surface streets.
On the section of the trail in central Cook County, a recent study shows about one quarter of the trail and five of the underpasses are flooded more than 40% of the year. In Lake County, where the trail winds its way from near the Wisconsin border to the Cook County line, one of the trail’s key underpasses, at Illinois Route 60/Townline Road near Vernon Hills, was flooded about 50% of the time during the past three years.
“Pretty much whenever there’s snowmelt or whenever there’s a big thunderstorm, or when we get a ton of rain, she’s going,” said Michael Harland, a 26-year-old from north suburban Lindenhurst who runs several miles on the Lake County section of the trail multiple times per week, no matter the season. “It floods fairly often, and it does seem to be flooding more.”
Harland, who often runs during the morning after finishing work on the third shift, has frequented the northern portion of the trail for years. There are times when he heads out for his daily run on a sunny day, only to find portions of the trail still underwater from storms that occurred several days ago.
“Then you just have to wait,” said Harland from the parking lot of Independence Grove in Libertyville, where a few other joggers and bicyclists hit the trail despite Tuesday’s sleet. “I find roads boring (for running). And here, you just have all the space, and you can go with the flow and think and look at the river, look at the trees, the birds, watch the squirrels scamper off. You’re with nature.”
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Waterlogged and wet
In Illinois, flooding inundated communities along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers for much of last year, delaying or wiping out the planting of corn and soybeans, swamping small towns and leading to disaster proclamations across many western and southern Illinois counties.
Last year was the second wettest on record in the U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Only in 1973 did the country receive more precipitation. Last year also was the third wettest on record in Chicago, according to the National Weather Service.
A 2019 report by a team of Midwestern researchers suggests extreme bouts of precipitation and flooding could be the new normal in the Great Lakes region due to climate change. While the United States has seen annual precipitation climb 4% between 1901 and 2015, Great Lakes states have experienced a 10% rise over this same period.
A pedestrian underpass below West Lawrence Avenue on the Des Plaines River Trail is flooded and frozen on the Chicago/Schiller Park border on Feb. 22, 2020. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
As the warmer, wetter weeks approach, the National Weather Service office in the Quad Cities, in its spring flood outlook, says there is a “high confidence on widespread rises to near or above flood stage on all area rivers” in western and northwestern Illinois. One prediction graph shows that by mid-April, the Mississippi River at Dubuque, Iowa, has a 90% chance of moderate flooding and a 50-75% chance of major flooding. Moisture in soil across the area is high — in the 99th percentile in much of the upper Midwest, including northern Illinois — meaning snowmelt or rainfall will run directly into rivers instead of soaking into the ground.
On the Des Plaines River, the all-time record high crest recorded at the gauge in downtown Des Plaines occurred in April 2013, and the fourth highest happened in July 2017. Upstream at the Gurnee gauge, the record high occurred during that 2017 flooding. The Des Plaines River, which begins in southern Wisconsin, winds its way south through the Chicago suburbs — carving a route through protected forest, prairie and wetlands — before joining the Kankakee River and forming the Illinois River, southwest of Joliet.
“We’re seeing this happen in areas that we’ve never seen before,” Hart said. And it’s happening more and more each year, he said. “We’re getting so much rain, so fast, so often.”
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In Cook County, the proposals and possible plans for relocating sections of trail to the east, farther away from the river itself and onto slightly higher ground, have received mixed responses, Hart said. On one hand, repeat flooding that causes vast sections of the trail to be unusable for most of the year is far from ideal. But the trail’s popularity is its proximity to the water and the serene views of the river, waterfowl and the riverbank it affords.
“I love where the trail is, especially when it’s dry and you can walk down and not get mud up to your ankles,” Hart said.
The mud, though, has become a more frequent presence. And that’s if the trail isn’t completely underwater. On a recent weekday, with the spring rains still weeks away, the underpass at Lawrence Avenue was covered in a sheet of ice. The southern entrance was completely inaccessible, blocked by pool of icy water.
Hart, who has worked 29 years at the forest preserve district, 17 years as trails manager, said the last few years have been particularly challenging. When it rains, he said, it is often a devastating downpour. Instead of steady rains over the course of a day or so, it has not been uncommon for sections of the Des Plaines trail to receive 2 inches of rain in 25 minutes. Other trails throughout the Cook County forest preserve system also have been affected by the uptick in precipitation, Hart said, with trails north and south experiencing washouts and damage from rain and flooding.
Taylor Crosby, left, and Anthony Gage stop before navigating a frozen and flooded underpass below West Lawrence Avenue on the Des Plaines River Trail on the Chicago/Schiller Park border on Feb. 22, 2020. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
“You also have to consider, if you know more rain is going to come, do you put in the money to the trail if you know it’s going to wash away again?” Hart said.
There have been several times when Hart and trail crews have placed new stones and re-graded the trail, then watched as torrential rains pounded the trail and the surrounding neighborhoods, raising river levels and leading to water runoff that deluges the path.
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“There are times when we do the stoning and the improvements, and then two weeks later, it’s raining again and it’s all underwater again and all that stone just washes away,” Hart said. “At what point do you stop throwing money after it?”
Underpasses underwater
For about three years, the Lake County Forest Preserves has logged daily data from each of the trail’s nine underpasses, seven of which are close to the river. Crews record whether the trail is dry and safe or covered in water, and thus closed to bicyclists, joggers and walkers, throughout the year. (People can check the site before heading out: https://www.lcfpd.org/check-status-of-trails-and-preserves/ or https://www.lcfpd.org/preserves/closures-controlled-burns/.)
Using those records, forest preserve staff were able to quantify how much each of the underpasses were covered with water, according to John Nelson, director of operations and infrastructure for the Lake County Forest Preserves. One heavily flooded underpass is at Grand Avenue/Illinois Route 132 in Gurnee that is closed 40% of the time.
Nelson said that, on average, 20% of the trail’s 31 miles in Lake County is flooded. The worst months typically are April and May, with the driest months usually occurring during the summer.
The trail is, of course, in a vulnerable location, in most cases mere feet from the bank of the river itself. Still, many sections of the trail have been experiencing more frequent and longer closures. And the region’s water woes reach beyond the Des Plaines River valley, leaving many of the other trails in the Cook County system submerged or unusable in ways not seen in years.
In Lake County, the trail was built from the mid-1980s through 2008. And in 2015, the forest preserve district acquired the final piece of property, near Lincolnshire, that allowed the path to run from the Cook County line 31.4 miles north to Russell Road in Wadsworth. It winds through 12 different forest preserves along the way.
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Grace Kordulla, left, and Joanna Nawotka wait for car traffic to pass on West Lawrence Avenue while walking along the Des Plaines River Trail on the Chicago/Schiller Park border on Feb. 22, 2020. The women chose to cross automobile traffic on the road instead of taking a pedestrian underpass because it was flooded and frozen. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Nelson said flooding is a reality on the trail, considering its location in a natural floodway. But the forest preserve district is aiming to use the data to better determine which sections flood the most and whether any improvements, such as increasing the size of culverts or perhaps paving sections of trail that frequently wash away, may be options. Those choices, however, may not make economical sense, considering how frequently water covers sections of the trail.
Angel, the author of the heavy precipitation report, notes that when much of the trail was planned, it was a “much drier climate” with less frequent heavy downpours.
While trail flooding may be inconvenient to nature enthusiasts and the fitness-minded, flooding in the forest preserves, a natural greenway with wetlands and riparian forests designed to take on floodwaters, is preferable to flooding in basements or businesses, Nelson said.
“This greenway is a benefit just for being a place where flooding and the water can go,” Nelson said. “The river has to have a place to go, and we know that.”
The trends that have developed over the past few decades, and which have accelerated in recent years, mean the area is not only experiencing increased annual and seasonal precipitation, but also more extreme weather precipitation events. Such storms create “instant runoff,” Angel said, which eventually heads toward low areas and natural floodplains, such as the Des Plaines River.
In Cook County, Hart and his crew work to smooth and repair the trail once it has been underwater for days, but with the spring season coming, he said there’s not much he and the others can do to stop the forces of nature.
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“That river just comes up so high, there’s nothing we can do in-house, we have no capability, the contractors have no capability, to do anything, considering the alignment of the trail and where it sits,” Hart said.
At the portion of the trail that hugs the east bank of the river through downtown Des Plaines, the trail and the rainbow-colored National Weather Service flood stage gauge affixed to the underpass beneath Miner Street is clearly visible and dry — for now. But the slowly rushing water is only a few feet away, and spring is on the way.