chicagotribune--2020-08-15--Mayor Lightfoot, police brass address criticism over response to looting that rocked Chicago but con

Mayor Lightfoot, police brass address criticism over response to looting that rocked Chicago but concern remains: ‘We’re setting ourselves up for a three-peat Chicago doesn’t want'

It took until Friday for Lightfoot and Brown to announce detailed plans to prevent another such episode : Police will @ @ @ @ @ monitor social media around the clock ; they will redeploy faster in the face of @ @ @ @ @ will work with the city to put in place measures for a “ geographic lockdown @ @ @ @ @ bridges over the river ; and they will work with state and federal partners to @ @ @ @ @ will face .

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, at lectern, speaks during a news conference at Milton Lee Olive Park on Aug. 14, 2020, held to announce her plan on how to handle any future looting incidents in the city. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Standing across from boarded-up businesses Thursday evening on the suddenly not-so-Magnificent Mile, Chicago police Superintendent David Brown said the city put an extra 1,000 cops on the street in recent days in the hope it would prevent looters from again rampaging through downtown.
And on Friday, more response plans came into focus, with Brown promising better intelligence and rapid deployment of police resources to defend the city. The Chicago Police Department is ready, he said, to make arrests and head off the kind of destruction that shocked the city this week.
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But not everyone is so sure.
Days after one of the biggest crises Mayor Lori Lightfoot has faced, some city officials wondered out loud about City Hall’s ability to handle another wave of looting like the one that hit in the early morning hours Monday. Scrutiny of Lightfoot has grown, with questions remaining even after Friday’s announcement of a new plan, including why new defensive tactics weren’t already in place after looting earlier this year amid unrest after the killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd.
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Without them, Chicago was caught flat-footed. City Hall and law enforcement sources familiar with the situation said there was no specific plan in place to deal with the kind of problem that unfolded rapidly downtown, when seemingly coordinated caravans of looters began ransacking stores.
Southwest Side Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, said the repeat incident is alarming.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks during a news conference at Milton Lee Olive Park Aug. 14, 2020, held to announce her plan on how to handle any future looting incidents in the city. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
“I think the mayor, her public safety office, the superintendent, are not ready, not prepared, and are not learning from the mistakes and the lost opportunities for the first riot and protest so we fell victim a second time,” Lopez said. “What worries me is I’m seeing all the same bad decisions being made again. We’re setting ourselves up for a three-peat Chicago doesn’t want.”
Authorities have said a call for looting may have spread over social media in the wake of the shooting by police of a 20-year-old in Englewood, though they have not released the posts they base that claim on.
Brown on Monday said 400 cops were dispatched to prevent looting after police noticed the online threat. But many officers who were part of that response scrambled from other parts of the city as the problem was escalating.
It took until Friday for Lightfoot and Brown to announce detailed plans to prevent another such episode: Police will start a 20-person unit to monitor social media around the clock; they will redeploy faster in the face of a looting threat; they will work with the city to put in place measures for a “geographic lockdown,” such as raising bridges over the river; and they will work with state and federal partners to maximize the criminal cases looters will face.
Asked at the Friday announcement of the plans why it had taken until then to formulate such a strategy, Lightfoot disputed criticism that her administration has been slow to react.
“It’s not what took so long. When we see new challenges and threats to our city, we have to be nimble, we have to adjust,” she said.
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Ald. Brian Hopkins, whose 2nd Ward includes much of the area looted last weekend, said he supports the plan presented Friday by Lightfoot.
“What was outlined today, I felt, was necessary and appropriate, and it seems like we are moving in the right direction to take the necessary steps that this doesn’t happen again,” Hopkins said.
But Hopkins, who was critical of the Lightfoot administration’s handling of last Sunday night’s troubles, expressed some reservations.
“One of the problems with this mayor that we’ve come to recognize is her words and her actions are not always fully in alignment,” Hopkins said.
The tumultuous chain of events that preceded the looting began about 2:30 p.m. Aug. 9 when 20-year-old Latrell Allen was shot by Chicago police in the South Side’s Englewood neighborhood, allegedly after he fired first.
Not long afterward, authorities said misinformation spread over social media that police had shot and killed a 15-year-old boy.
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Several hours later, about five minutes before midnight, police said they first got word about a social media post about caravans of vehicles that might be headed toward downtown for looting.
Around the same time, police said they learned break-ins were occurring near 87th Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway. And some 35 minutes later, close to 12:30 a.m. Monday, groups of vehicles were arriving downtown, their occupants scattering and raiding stores.
City officials said Lightfoot herself became engaged in the early hours of Monday morning.
Traffic jammed the streets as looters jumped out to break windows of high-end retailers along the Magnificent Mile, in the Gold Coast and other areas. Some looters were seen calmly hauling stacks of clothes and other goods on foot.
“This was an incredibly chaotic situation and it evolved rapidly,” Chicago police spokeswoman Margaret Huynh said in an email.
Undermanned police repeatedly pulled up in squad cars with their blue emergency lights flashing to shoo away groups of looters, only for them to return to the stores when the cops left. Stores were broken into more than 2 miles outside the Loop, including at a Best Buy on the North Side.
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By about 4 a.m., the looting began to dissipate. Shattered glass, broken mannequins, shoe boxes and trash were strewed on downtown streets.
By sunrise, the sounds of bells blared throughout an otherwise quiet downtown. Officials by then had raised bridges over the Chicago River, cutting off vehicle movement.
Two police supervisors, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media, pointed to a lack of organization on the part of Chicago police to effectively manage the unrest as it escalated.
One of them who worked downtown during the looting said mobilizing 400 cops can be difficult to attempt at the drop of a hat. It can take 45 minutes to mobilize large groups of officers, and it typically only happens in response to a situation that has already begun.
“You can’t move resources until you see something concrete,” said the police supervisor. “It could be nonsense … That’s a huge undertaking.”
The supervisor said there was no time for the department to plan on which officers were doing what.
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“They only had like 15 minutes of warning,” the supervisor said. “(The looters) didn’t care who was there.”
At Friday’s news conference, Lightfoot and Brown promised police would be ready to more rapidly deploy from other parts of the city at any sign of trouble. Police did not detail how they planned to make that happen.
Another issue in the early hours of Monday, several sources said, was a failure to raise downtown bridges sooner to cut off access to some of the city’s top shopping areas on the Near North Side.
Huynh, the police spokeswoman, said officers on the scene wanted the bridges raised “immediately” after they arrived, but referred questions to the Chicago Department of Transportation. That department’s spokesman, Michael Claffey, said the city right away deployed 30 employees to raise all 14 downtown bridges, but the bridges did not begin to go up until 4 a.m.
Lightfoot and Brown said that issue would be addressed as well, with police better coordinating with city officials to make a decision on raising them quicker and limiting access to downtown.
On last Sunday night, Hopkins said, what the city seemed to try was a step late, and little seemed to work.
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“We waited for the looters to get tired, the stores and shelves to be empty, and the looting stopped,” he said. “We simply had no ability to stop it ourselves, period.”
“It was an endless game of whack-a-mole where the moles never really got whacked,” he said.
Police did make about 100 arrests. No defendants who had appeared in court so far have directly mentioned the Englewood incident, and did not appear to be from the neighborhood.
Adam Bercovici, a security consultant and former Los Angeles Police Department lieutenant, stressed that officers need to take an aggressive stance against looters, and the officers need to be quick on their feet and organized in those situations, something CPD now pledges it will be.
“You need to have arrest circles or arrest teams that come in and take specific looters or ringleaders into custody,” Bercovici said. “If it’s a straight looting, criminal stuff, you need to just grab those people that you think are the ringleaders and get them out of there.”
“If you don’t organize it, if you don’t train for it, you’re basically throwing hundreds of people against hundreds of people and you end up having … some chaos,” Bercovici said.
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In the wake of the latest round of looting, businesses in the downtown area expressed concern to city officials about the unrest. The head of a prominent local property management firm sent Lightfoot a scathing letter saying ensuring the well-being of residents “has been made exponentially more difficult in recent months due to the lack of responsiveness” from city officials.
In the letter, Steven P. Levy, president of Sudler Property Management, said Chicago homeowners his company represents don’t feel safe.
“From Hyde Park to the Gold Coast to Edgewater, residents across the city are adjusting their daily routines out of fear,” Levy wrote to Lightfoot.
Lightfoot on Friday said she fully understood the gravity of the situation, and that no resident or business owner should feel unsafe living or working here.
Kimberly Bares, CEO of the Magnificent Mile Association, said she’s implored the city before and after Monday morning’s looting to maintain “permanent resources” of cops in the Central patrol district, which includes the Loop, and the Near North patrol district that covers the Magnificent Mile, Streeterville and other parts of downtown. Officials Friday said they would increase police deployment numbers.
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At times late this week, North Michigan Avenue has been flooded with cops.
To avoid a repeat of the destruction from earlier in the week, Brown said the Police Department was prepared to throw as many officers as it takes to protect downtown and the retail corridors in the neighborhoods.
“Chicago does not belong to looters and thieves,” Brown said Friday. “Chicago belongs to the good people who work hard every day to earn an honest living.”


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--Column: Is 2020 the worst year ever?

Column: Is 2020 the worst year ever?

When we talk about 2020 as the worst year ever we mean many entangled things : A pandemic .
The @ @ @ @ @ by the pandemic .
The governmental mismanagement of the pandemic .
The ways the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ our social system .
The ways it has divorced us from routines we rely on @ @ @ @ @ our delusion that the future is in our control .

Workers clean up merchandise boxes outside the Best Buy store on North Avenue in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood following looting on Aug. 10, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
2020. Worst year ever.
You’ve heard that, haven’t you? Maybe even said it. I hear it from friends and on social media, from commentators on the news. It’s the name of a podcast.
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I heard the phrase a few days ago when I stopped by the strip mall where I often go for coffee. The doors of most of the stores — Pottery Barn, West Elm, Best Buy — were shattered, casualties of the city’s overnight looting.
In the North Side parking lot that morning, people were sweeping up glass while workers fastened boards on what had been doors and windows. In the middle of the parking lot, Darnell Crittenden,a longtime security guard known around the mall as Officer D, stood surveying the scene. He’d had to take a $55 Uber to work from his home on the West Side because his regular bus was canceled in response to the chaos.
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“One thing I know,” he said, shaking his head, “is that out of the 54 years I’ve been in Chicago, this city ain’t like it was. I try to go back in the Officer D time machine, and it was bad, but not as bad as it is now.”
As we walked over to the nearby Binny’s Beverage Depot, where the doors had been shattered and the liquor shelves ransacked, he added, “2020 has been the worst year ever, for everybody.”
The past few days in Chicago have accentuated that feeling for a lot of people. But it’s useful to remember that the 2020 doomsday mood didn’t start last week, and it’s hardly confined to Chicago, and that in the long rocky history of the world this is probably not the worst year ever.
When we talk about 2020 as the worst year ever we mean many entangled things: A pandemic. The death and economic destruction caused by the pandemic. The governmental mismanagement of the pandemic. The ways the pandemic has exposed the failures of our social system. The ways it has divorced us from routines we rely on and people we love and our delusion that the future is in our control.
And “worst year ever” encompasses the social upheaval that flared after police killed a Black man named George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd’s death led to legitimate and important protests, some of them accompanied by looting. And while the protests may lead to productive change, for now they leave the country shaken. That shakiness is one reason this year feels so hard.
But 2020 isn’t the first “worst year ever.”
Some historians say that the truly worst year was 536. That’s the year a volcano erupted in Iceland and the sun dimmed for a year and a half, leading to a catastrophic global cold spell.
You could argue that 1918, the year of the Spanish flu pandemic, was the worst. Or that any of the years of the Great Depression, from 1929 to 1933, deserve the title.
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You could say that in modern history, 1968 was the worst. In that year, the Vietnam War raged, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated, police beat protesters at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and all over the country rebellions erupted in the streets.
But most people alive today didn’t live through any of those years, and we feel most deeply what we know firsthand. We know this year. 2020.
This worst year ever has been far worse for some than others, but it’s touched us all. Our loss, grief and anger is collective. It’s deepened by the constant media invasion telling us what an awful year it is.
But for most people there’s more than one kind of “worst” year. There’s this public collective kind, and there’s the private kind. This year the public and private may overlap — the death of a loved one, the loss of a job ― but if pressed, a lot of people would acknowledge that this isn’t the worst year of their lives.
Sometimes when we say “worst” what we really mean is strange. This is a very strange year, and frightening in its unfamiliarity. Even so, most of us can look around on most days and find pleasure and beauty not conjured by the word “worst.” A sunrise, a sunset, the light of an August afternoon in a tree.
And it helps to remember that 2020 isn’t over yet. There are three months until November and a presidential election. Who knows? The worst year ever could turn into something far better.
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mschmich@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--Heading off to college? Be prepared to sign a statement ‘voluntarily’ accepting the risk you’ll catc

Heading off to college? Be prepared to sign a statement ‘voluntarily’ accepting the risk you’ll catch COVID-19

“ Schools think it ’ s fair and appropriate to notify their community that there are risks so that the @ @ @ @ @ make their own risk assessment , ” said Lannon , who ’ s drafted a @ @ @ @ @ university clients .
“ We put the people on notice so they can ’ t @ @ @ @ @ known about the risk , I wouldn ’ t have gone , ’ or ‘ @ @ @ @ @ allowed my children to go.
‘ ”

The Illinois Institute of Technology amended its form to make clear it was not a waiver "by which you are agreeing not to sue the University." (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Arlen Moller was on vacation in early August when he tried opening his work email, intending to contact a few of his students at the Illinois Institute of Technology about their fall schedules.
But Moller, an associate psychology professor, could not access his inbox. Instead, IIT’s portal directed him to a page outlining COVID-19 protocols for the fall semester. And before Moller could use his email again, he needed to check a box saying he understood the information.
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Most of the three-page document seemed beneficial — it detailed basic safety precautions for in-person classes, such as frequent hand washing and wearing a mask indoors. One line, however, stood out.
It said that anyone returning to IIT’s Bronzeville campus is making the decision “voluntarily ... to assume the risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and to assume responsibility” for following the rules.
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“It raised alarms for me. ... It caught me by surprise,” Moller said. And then he wondered: Is this a liability waiver?
That’s a question echoing across college campuses as students, faculty and staff are being confronted with similar documents as a prerequisite for returning.
Many of them don’t explicitly waive liability or prevent the signer from filing a lawsuit if they get infected with COVID-19 on campus, according to experts.
But no matter what the forms are called — acknowledgments, codes of conduct, student compacts — some attorneys say they can help universities avoid financial repercussions of a COVID-19 outbreak on campus.
In addition to IIT, Northwestern University, Saint Xavier University and Illinois State University have all sent out documents to students or staff members with language about the risks of contracting COVID-19 in the course of school activities.
Outside of Illinois, students at the University of Alabama and the University of New Hampshire have raised concerns that such forms could be used as liability waivers to shield universities from accountability. This week, after student objections, Penn State said it would change the language on its form saying students “assume any and all risk of exposure to COVID-19.”
Many of the forms also include statements that universities cannot guarantee risk-free environments and that those returning to campus are doing so voluntarily.
Attorney Paul Lannon, co-chair of law firm Holland & Knight’s education practice, said the agreements work in everyone’s favor by providing an understanding of the expectations on campus. Many schools have sent out documents called “assumptions of risk” notices — which are distinct from liability waivers — that also communicate what schools are doing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
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“Schools think it’s fair and appropriate to notify their community that there are risks so that the members of the community can make their own risk assessment,” said Lannon, who’s drafted a number of these forms for university clients. “We put the people on notice so they can’t say ... ‘Had I known about the risk, I wouldn’t have gone,’ or ‘I wouldn’t have allowed my children to go.‘”
The notices, Lannon said, can be used as evidence in a civil case, but they can also help students hold a school accountable if it didn’t deliver on its promises, say, to have facilities regularly cleaned or to enforce social distancing.
Lannon also stressed that accepting the terms, commonly through an electronic signature, is a choice. Those who object to the agreements can choose to defer or enroll in a different school.
But Heidi Li Feldman, a law professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., said students, parents and faculty members should be more skeptical.
At the Tribune’s request, Feldman reviewed the documents sent by Northwestern, Saint Xavier and IIT. She said all three documents seem intended as contracts, though it’s not clear if they would be enforced in court.
Feldman also cautioned families to be wary of how universities are framing options for hybrid learning, which combine in-person and online experiences.
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“The more you try to present people’s exposure to COVID-19 as a voluntary choice on their part — and you can create that image with circumstantial evidence, not just with explicit waivers — the more you’re laying the groundwork for saying later that you voluntarily agreed to take the risk inherent in coming to a campus,” she said.
It’s no secret that universities have turned to Congress for protection. A May letter from the American Council on Education asked lawmakers to shield colleges from the huge costs of defending themselves in court over COVID-19 lawsuits. The letter specified there should still be recourse for those “harmed by truly bad actors who engage in egregious misconduct.”
And not everyone is bothered by the idea. Some students see signing the waivers or agreements as a necessary trade-off for continuing their studies in person and understand the challenges universities are facing. Some faculty members have also praised universities for clearly communicating and promising to enforce codes of conduct.
The approach, however, is still troubling to Moller.
He recalled the day when he first saw IIT’s form, titled “COVID-19 Fall 2020 Semester Guidelines for Students, Faculty and Staff.”
Moller said he ultimately decided to click the box signaling his acknowledgment because he needed to log into his email and tend to his work. But Moller quickly contacted human resources with questions and said he might need to consult with a lawyer, according to a copy of the email he provided.
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A few days later, IIT clarified its position by adding a new introduction to the form. The guidelines, IIT said, were intended to highlight the risks of the COVID-19 pandemic and to show how the university is mitigating those risks — such as supplying face coverings to anyone who needs them on campus.
“This notice is not a waiver and release by which you are agreeing not to sue the University; the notice is simply asking you to acknowledge that you received and understood the information contained in it,” the clarification said. “Acknowledgment of the notice allows one to access our network.”
IIT spokesman Jess Goode said the university has communicated other important announcements, such as rules for technology and ethics, through its portal in a similar fashion. He said the prompt was used to ensure everyone read the rules.
At the time, though, Moller said the move felt coercive. It hit especially hard, he said, because he’s slated to teach a hybrid class in the fall that involves in-person elements. Though his preference was to stay fully remote, Moller said he agreed to work on campus because he’s sympathetic to IIT’s circumstances.
“I’m accepting some level of risk for the good of the university, and I feel like I’m only willing to do that if there’s a collective sense of taking care of each other and goodwill, and this maneuver threatens that goodwill,” he said. “I don’t know if the administration realizes the harm that potentially was done.”
At Northwestern, some law students are also speaking out about language in a COVID-19 code of conduct they had to sign. As part of the rules, students had to acknowledge that “tuition and fees will not be refunded or prorated” if more classes are moved online or activities are canceled, according to the form.
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Ana Pajar Blinder, a second-year law student, said the financial language caught her off guard because most of the document discussed communal measures about staying safe on campus.
“It felt completely out of place,” she said. “The tone of the student acknowledgment form to me was one more of camaraderie ... and then there was a separate line about the impossibility of a prorated or reduced tuition, which to me felt much more callous and antithetical to the values the school tries to instill.”
Northwestern is already raising tuition for students — by 3.5% for undergraduates and 2.98% at the law school — so this additional condition felt like a “knife twist,” Blinder said. The tuition increases were approved earlier this year.
A spokesman for the school declined to comment.
Feldman, the Georgetown professor, encouraged families alarmed by contract-like documents to take action.
“Students don’t realize their power,” she said. “So if anyone — a landlord, a university, an employer — ever gives you a contract to sign and you are not comfortable with it, negotiate it. Don’t tick the box. Start with the registrar’s office or call the university counsel’s office.”
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She also said that more colleges should follow the lead of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which is asking its campus community to take a voluntary “pledge” about following COVID-19 precautions. UIUC’s approach, Feldman said, is more effective than intimidating students and faculty with legal prose.
echerney@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--Boy, 12, shot after playing basketball with cousins on South Side, police say

The boy , who was an “ unintended target ’ ' of the gunfire which happened in an area of @ @ @ @ @ in fair condition to Comer Children ’ s Hospital , police said .

A 12-year-old boy playing basketball in a South Side park was shot by bullets intended for someone else on Friday night, according to police.
The seventh grader was with several cousins playing ball at Mamie Till-Mobley Park, 6372 S. Ellis Ave., in the city’s Woodlawn neighborhood when about 8:10 p.m.,they took a break and the boy sat down on a park bench.
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Suddenly, five gunmen stepped from a gangway across the street and three of them opened fire, hitting the boy multiple times in both of his legs, police said.
The boy, who was an “unintended target’' of the gunfire which happened in an area of gang conflict, was taken in fair condition to Comer Children’s Hospital, police said.
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The assailants ran away and police said they were reviewing video surveillance from police cameras in the area to try and find them.
Twenty shell casings were found on the scene from a 9mm handgun.
Earlier, police said there was a second victim.
Chicago Tribune reporter Jeremy Gorner contributed to this report.
rsobol@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--7 out of 10 people arrested at CPS schools are Black, and most are younger than 18

About 64 % of the people arrested at schools last year were male .
Nearly 11 % were younger than @ @ @ @ @ younger than 16 and 94 % were younger than 18 .
That ’ s the @ @ @ @ @ at least 2012 , the first year for which data was provided , when 89 @ @ @ @ @ younger than 18 , but the average age for the past nine years has only @ @ @ @ @ .

Demonstrators rally on their way to Mayor Lori Lightfoot's house during the Student Summit and March for Police Free Schools on Aug. 13, 2020, in Logan Square. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
More than 73% of people arrested at Chicago Public Schools last year were Black, though Black students account for only 36% of the student population, according to data released Friday by CPS.
Meanwhile, Hispanic or Latino people, who make up 47% of CPS enrollment, accounted for 23% of arrests on school grounds, while only 3% of those arrested were white people, who make up 11% of the population.
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The data showing arrests at schools does not specify if the person arrested was a student, but only includes arrestees 21 and younger, and their average age was 15.4. CPS officials have not provided information specifically on student arrests.
The arrest data released Friday shows even starker racial disparities than police notifications at schools, a term meaning school administrators contacted police to respond to an incident. When that happens, the responding officers determine “police actions such as arrest,” according to CPS documents.
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Though the most recent year’s misconduct information has not yet been made publicly available, CPS data for the 2018-19 school year show about 59% of 1,758 police notifications were for Black students, 35% for Latino students and 3.5% were for white students.
The disproportionate number of school arrests for Black people has persisted even as the total number of arrests at schools has significantly declined over recent years. In the 2011-12 school year, 3,485 people were arrested on school grounds. The next year, that number was 3,630. But since then, it has gone down every year, dropping from 1,000 in 2018-19 to 464 last year.
“While the district has made substantial progress in reducing the number of arrests on school properties by 72 percent since (2012), we remain fully committed to addressing disparities and will continue to work with school communities to create a holistic student-centered approach to school safety,” CPS spokeswoman Emily Bolton said in a statement.
About 64% of the people arrested at schools last year were male. Nearly 11% were younger than 14, 52% were younger than 16 and 94% were younger than 18. That’s the highest percentage of juveniles since at least 2012, the first year for which data was provided, when 89% of those arrested were younger than 18, but the average age for the past nine years has only fluctuated between 15.4 and 15.7.
The information is based on arrest data the Chicago Police Department provided CPS, and includes people 21 and younger who were arrested at school addresses between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. during the academic year. It does not note if each was for an incident that also occurred at the school, or if it resulted in criminal charges. It notes that the University of Chicago Crime and Education Labs conducted a descriptive analysis of the data.
Its release comes on the due date for Local School Councils at 72 high schools that had assigned police officers last year to vote on whether to keep them. As of late Friday, 54 campuses had opted to keep school-based officers, and 17, nearly 24%, had voted to remove them, according to CPS. One school, Prosser Career Academy in the Hanson Park neighborhood, has a new vote scheduled for Monday.
The district asked all of the schools to vote by Friday because the district’s current $33 million contract with the Chicago Police Department expires this month, and the Board of Education is expected to consider a new agreement at its Aug. 26 meeting.
CPS’s new proposed budget, also on the agenda for the next board meeting, would cut the spending for officers by more than half, in part because the district will stop paying for mobile school patrols and because schools will continue remote learning until at least November.
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hleone@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--Chicago man steals county-owned truck after bonding out on theft charge: DuPage County officials

Several hours later , Darien police spotted Britter snoozing behind the wheel of the truck , which was parked on @ @ @ @ @ just south of I-35 .
He was taken into custody without incident about 5 a.m @

A Buena Park neighborhood man didn’t waste any time after bonding out of jail when he allegedly jumped behind the wheel of a DuPage County-owned truck and drove away with it early Friday, officials said.
A judge on Friday set bail at $75,000 for Christopher Britter, charged with felony possession of a stolen motor vehicle and theft, according to a statement from the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.
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Christopher Britter, 30, of the 4300 block of North Sheridan Road in Chicago, was charged with one count of possession of a stolen motor vehicle and one count of theft after being released on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge, DuPage County officials said. (Custom Credit DuPage County State's Attorney's )
On Thursday while still at the jail complex, Britter allegedly sneaked into a DuPage County-owned truck that was unlocked, still running and parked on county property and drove away with it early Friday morning, officials said.
Several hours later, Darien police spotted Britter snoozing behind the wheel of the truck, which was parked on the side of Lemont Road just south of I-35. He was taken into custody without incident about 5 a.m.
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Before he took a nap, Britter had been released from the DuPage County Jail after posting $100, or 10% of a $1,000 bond, after being charged with an unrelated misdemeanor disorderly conduct, officials said.
Britter, of the 4300 block of North Sheridan Road in Chicago, was to appear in court again Sept. 8.


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--Former Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson dies at age 84. A Republican from Chicago, ‘Big Jim’ served 4

Former Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson dies at age 84. A Republican from Chicago, ‘Big Jim’ served 4 terms.

Thompson also was instrumental in the creation of what is known as the “ McPier ” authority , which brought @ @ @ @ @ under one governmental unit .
Thompson formerly took classes at a previous incarnation of Navy @ @ @ @ @ jetty renovated to ultimately become the state ’ s top tourist destination .
It was @ @ @ @ @ deal with Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1989 that came with $ 150 million in @ @ @ @ @

Former Gov. James Thompson looks over several of pieces of his art collection to be auctioned off at the John Toomey Gallery on Dec. 4, 2014, in Oak Park. (Chuck Berman/Chicago Tribune)
As Illinois’ longest-serving governor, “Big Jim” Thompson was a larger-than-life figure in state history, his 6-foot-6 frame dominating the political landscape for 14 years as he guided the state through recession, became a builder and left a legacy that includes restoring Navy Pier, keeping the White Sox with a new stadium and opening a controversial downtown office building that bears his name.
James Robert Thompson, who rode his success as a federal prosecutor to the Illinois statehouse and was governor from 1977 to 1991, died Friday night after suffering from heart problems. He was 84.
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“It was very sudden,” said wife Jayne Thompson, her voice breaking. “I was told that his heart simply stopped.”
Thompson was a Republican moderate from Chicago, his interest in the city helping him to be able to work with the Democrats, though he had prosecuted many of them, including former Gov. Otto Kerner over a scandal involving horse racetrack stock.
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James R. Thompson, 34, at the Federal Building on June 5, 1970. (William Yates / Chicago Tribune)
Viewed as a political outsider with no allegiances, Thompson announced his candidacy for governor after leaving the U.S. attorney’s post in 1975. In his first bid for elective office, he won the GOP primary the next year with 87% of the vote and then took on then-Secretary of State Michael Howlett in the general election.
Howlett had defeated one-term Gov. Dan Walker in the Democratic primary, and the divided party proved no match for newcomer Thompson, who got 65% of the vote.
Two years later, Thompson won reelection against then-Comptroller Michael Bakalis and twice defeated former U.S. Sen. Adlai E. Stevenson III in 1982 and in 1986. The 1982 contest was the closest governor race in Illinois history, ultimately decided in Thompson’s favor by 5,074 votes following a state Supreme Court ruling. In 1986, the Democratic ticket was infiltrated by followers of extremist Lyndon LaRouche, and Stevenson launched a third-party bid that failed.
“I never thought I’d last this long,” Thompson confessed in 1989 as he announced his decision not to seek a fifth term as Illinois chief executive. He recalled that after making a bad first impression on a central Illinois newspaper editor during his first campaign, “He told me that I was as green as gooseshit, and I was.”
Gov. James Thompson points out his favorite aspects of the State of Illinois Center during a recent party for construction workers involved in the erection of the $172 million building that would provide office space for 3,000 state employees, on Jan. 16, 1985. The building would later be renamed the James R. Thompson Center. (James Mayo / Chicago Tribune)
Thompson was far from a button-downed lawyerly bureaucrat and knew the value of populist appeal. He opened the annual state fair clad in jeans with a ride down the Giant Slide. He made a spur-of-the-moment decision to ride a horse around the Capitol Rotunda. He was a staple of the holiday parade circuit.
And when Republicans in the Illinois House sought passage of a bill to make Illinois a Right-to-Work state, where union membership was not a mandatory job requirement, Thompson called local beer distributors in Springfield, had them set up shop on the lawn of the Governor’s Mansion and invited protesting labor members to have a drink. The bill never passed.
“I never dreamed it would be 14 years; it’s never been my style to begin with,” Thompson said. “I like to build things and then never stay around to run them.”
It is as a builder that will serve as Thompson’s legacy, even as the state now looks to sell what was once an opulent but now considered white elephant known as the James R. Thompson Center. Designed by architect Helmut Jahn, it opened in 1985 at a cost of $172 million. Lawmakers named it after him in 1993.
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One of Thompson’s more dramatic political moments came in summer 1988. The Sox were threatening to move to Florida and wanted a new stadium.
Thompson worked the House floor, granting legislators’ wishes in exchange for their votes. One Republican said he was granted an endorsement for secretary of state, a race that never came to pass.
Facing a midnight deadline to pass the stadium bill with 60 votes — it would take 71 after the deadline — lawmakers kept the roll call open even though midnight had come and gone. The bill was declared passed with 60 votes, and a staff member used white-out over the 12:03 a.m. timestamp and wrote 11:59 p.m. in pen.
“You bet I was worried,” Thompson told reporters moments after he left the House floor after doing some arm-twisting on his party’s side of the aisle. “I didn’t know it would pass. ... Now we should build a stadium.”
The Sox deal proved controversial because it called for the state to spend at least $150 million to construct a new Comiskey Park, plus improvements, as well as giving the team a multimillion-dollar break by allowing it to forgo rent unless the team drew more than 1.2 million fans a year.
Moment of silence for former Illinois Gov. #JimThompson before double header baseball
Chicago pic.twitter.com/s2OLjnrZGQ — john j. kim (@jkimpictures) August 15, 2020
Thompson also was instrumental in the creation of what is known as the “McPier” authority, which brought McCormick Place and Navy Pier under one governmental unit. Thompson formerly took classes at a previous incarnation of Navy Pier and saw the rundown jetty renovated to ultimately become the state’s top tourist destination. It was a product of an end-of-session deal with Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1989 that came with $150 million in state pier repair money.
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In addition, Thompson launched a $2.3 billion statewide infrastructure repair plan called “Build Illinois.” A curator of antiques, with stops at local antique shops a staple of his statewide travels, Thompson also created the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.
Thompson twice sought increases in the state’s income tax after campaigning that Illinois’ finances were in good shape. He oversaw a temporary hike in 1983 that took the rate from 2.5% to 3% for two years. In 1989, he raised taxes permanently back to 3%, the rate that lasted until taxes were bumped again in 2011.
Gov. James Thompson is joined by Sen. Philip Rock, D-Oak Park, left, and Sen. James Philip, R-Elmhurst, on Nov. 9, 1983, as he signs a bill to reorganize the Regional Transportation Authority. (Phil Greer / Chicago Tribune)
Also in 1989, with inflation raging, Thompson signed into law an annual 3% cost-of-living adjustment for public employees’ pensions. The compounded increase, particularly at a time of low inflation and low interest, has been a major driver to the state’s current unfunded pension liability of nearly $140 billion.
His penchant for collecting antiques led to controversy as he assigned some as gifts to be purchased and given to him by others.
Politicians from both parties offered remembrances of Thompson on Saturday.
Loretta and I extend our sympathies to Jayne and Samantha on the passing of Governor Jim Thompson. We were political adversaries yet personal friends back in the day when that was not uncommon. Try as we might, we Democrats just could not beat Big Jim. https://t.co/5F01co6taE — Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) August 15, 2020
Gov. Jim Thompson, a lifetime public servant and Illinois' longest serving governor, was a bipartisan leader and passionate advocate for our state. Both Amy and I send our sincerest condolences to the Thompson family, especially Jim’s wife Jayne and daughter Samantha. — Mayor Lori Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) August 15, 2020
“On behalf of the entire state of Illinois, MK and I offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of former Governor Jim Thompson,” Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a statement.
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“As the longest-serving governor in Illinois history, ‘Big Jim’ was known to treat people he encountered with kindness and decency. He dedicated himself to building positive change for Illinois, and he set an example for public service of which Illinoisans should be proud. He will be remembered and revered as one of the titans in the history of state government,” Pritzker said.
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider said in a statement that “Thompson exemplified a state government that worked and treated others with legendary kindness.”
“He helped send a corrupt Governor to jail as a prosecutor, rebuilt the state’s infrastructure, saved the White Sox, and presided over a healthy and prosperous Illinois,” Schneider said.
Illinois Senate Republican leader Bill Brady of Bloomington said Thompson “strived to find common ground and build consensus.”
Former Gov. James Thompson in his office at the law firm of Winston & Strawn in 2003. (Bill Hogan/Chicago Tribune)
“That ability to bring people together, despite a difference of opinion, is a testament to the type of leader he was and is a reminder what can be accomplished when Illinoisans work together for the betterment of our state.”
Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the state’s senior senator, offered his thoughts on Twitter.
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“We were political adversaries yet personal friends back in the day when that was not uncommon. Try as we might, we Democrats just could not beat Big Jim,” said Durbin, the lieutenant governor candidate on the unsuccessful Democratic ticket with Bakalis in 1978.
Illinois House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs called Thompson “a friend, mentor and an exemplary statesman who loved Illinois. He was a hands-on governor who loved the process of getting things done in Springfield, and his accomplishments still stand strong today. Our state was fortunate to have such a dedicated leader.”
Michael Madigan, the state Democratic chairman who first became House speaker after Thompson’s 1982 reelection, called him “a cherished friend.”
Gov. James Thompson, right, and House Speaker Michael Madigan meet with parents and representatives of education groups in Madigan's office in an effort to work out a school reform package on July 1, 1988, in Springfield. (Chuck Berman / Chicago Tribune)
“Jim Thompson should be credited with the modernization of Illinois government as best illustrated by the structure that bears his name. His pioneering commitment to the arts strengthened the fabric of our state. He was a hard-nosed political figure and a compassionate leader,” said Madigan, who has become embroiled in controversy over a federal investigation involving ComEd. “Illinois is a better place because of Jim Thompson’s work.”
Born in Oak Park on May 8, 1936, the son of Dr. and Mrs. J. Robert Thompson, the future governor attended Samuel Morse Grade School, North Park Academy, the University of Illinois at Chicago and Washington University in St Louis. He was awarded a law degree from Northwestern University Law School in 1959.
From 1959 to 1964, he was a prosecutor in the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. He then joined the faculty of Northwestern University Law School as an associate professor, where he co-authored four textbooks on criminal law and criminal justice.
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Gov. Jim Thompson visits Marianjoy Rehabilitation Center in Wheaton on Aug. 26, 1982. Among his stops was to have a chat with Jason Branon, 10, of Villa Park. (Chuck Berman / Chicago Tribune)
He was appointed head of the Illinois Department of Law Enforcement in 1969 and a year later became first assistant U.S. attorney. He was appointed U.S. attorney for northern Illinois in November 1971 at the age of 35, and made his first bid for governor four years later.
It was during his initial bid for governor, in June 1976, when he took a brief timeout to marry his former student and law clerk, Jayne Carr, of Oak Park, who then was an assistant Illinois attorney general. A daughter, Samantha, was born in 1978.
In a statement, Thompson’s family said his “love and devotion to his family mirrored his lifelong dedication to his beloved State of Illinois.
“His guiding principle in public and private life was to help people and do what he could so they could have an opportunity to succeed. In that process, he achieved big things for Illinois that matched the life he lived,” the family statement said.
Upon his decision to leave the governor’s office, Thompson was asked how he expected people to judge his tenure. He said he thought they would be fair and take a long view.
Then, he added, “How they remember me is going to be unique, and I don’t have the slightest idea what they’re going to think.”
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The Thompson family said a memorial service will be scheduled at a later date because it would be impossible to accommodate a public wake under COVID-19 restrictions. Other arrangements are pending, the family said.


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--Rally against police brutality ends near Grant Park after failed attempt to walk on Dan Ryan Express

Rally against police brutality ends near Grant Park after failed attempt to walk on Dan Ryan Expressway

The group , which gathered at Robert Taylor Park at 39 W. 47th St. around noon , instead marched north @ @ @ @ @ onto Michigan Avenue in the South Loop , carrying signs with names of people who @ @ @ @ @ with police .
The march wrapped up around 5 p.m. near Grant Park .

Anti-police-brutality protesters gather in the intersection of East 35th Street and South Indiana Avenue as the group marches north on Aug. 15, 2020, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
A massive presence of Chicago police officers and Illinois State Police troopers blocked a group of about 200 protesters from marching on the Dan Ryan Expressway on Saturday afternoon, thwarting a planned protest meant to disrupt traffic there to draw attention to police brutality.
The group, which gathered at Robert Taylor Park at 39 W. 47th St. around noon, instead marched north through Bronzeville, and then onto Michigan Avenue in the South Loop, carrying signs with names of people who died due to violent encounters with police. The march wrapped up around 5 p.m. near Grant Park.
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“We’re here on this stage to fight for justice for stolen lives,” organizer Rabbi Michael Ben Yosef told the crowd before the march.
People protesting police brutality march north on South Indiana Avenue from 47th Street on Aug. 15, 2020, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Yosef, president of humanitarian group Tikkun Chai Inter-National, hoped for a crowd of up to 25,000 to march onto the expressway, reminiscent of a similar one in 2018 organized by the Rev. Michael Pfleger to put a spotlight on crime, joblessness and poverty plaguing city neighborhoods.
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In that earlier march, demonstrators started by using half of the northbound lanes, while traffic proceeded in the remaining lanes. Eventually, though, the marchers took over all northbound lanes.
But Yosef acknowledged Saturday afternoon that the turnout fell short of expectations, saying the crowd should have been bigger.
He demanded an end to what he said was qualified immunity for law enforcement officers, an abolishment of police unions and the redirection of police funding to mental health services he said was shuttered by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The group is marching East away from the Dan Ryan with a lot of police on each side. pic.twitter.com/ZczolD7VX1 — Madeline Buckley (@Mabuckley88) August 15, 2020
A woman carrying a poster board with a photo of her husband spoke to the crowd, relaying that her husband died of COVID-19 in the Cook County Jail in April.
“He walked in a healthy man,” she said, criticizing mass incarceration.
The event, though, drew some criticism, as a group of counterprotesters used microphones to proclaim that the event brought floods of officers into the South Side neighborhood and disrupted life in the neighborhood.
“Take this back to the North Side,” a counterprotester said.
Chicago and state police officers block East 43rd Street at the Dan Ryan Expressway as anti-police-brutality protesters march north. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
A man hands out water bottles as Illinois State Police officers in riot gear wait in the intersection of East 35th Street and South Indiana Avenue. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
As the march began to step off, a wall of Chicago police officers and Illinois State Police troopers in riot gear blocked 47th Street so the crowd could not walk west to the Dan Ryan Expressway.
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The marchers turned around and instead marched east on 47th, away from the highway, and then turned north on Indiana Avenue.
Lines of law enforcement officers blocked off cross streets on foot and bicycle, moving with the crowd, so the marchers could not try again to move toward the expressway. A trail of police vehicles followed the crowd from behind.
“I have been protesting since May almost every weekend,” said Amira Abuarqoub, a 20-year-old from the northwest suburbs, noting that she was not surprised to see such a large police presence.
Even though the crowd did not make it onto the Dan Ryan, Abuarqoub said it felt meaningful to take to the streets to send their message.
She carried a sign with the name of Joseph Jennings, an 18-year-old shot and killed in Kansas in 2014.
mabuckley@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--‘I’m going to find some place to loot,’ said suspect who livestreamed himself on social media trying

‘I’m going to find some place to loot,’ said suspect who livestreamed himself on social media trying to break into ATM wielding a hammer, prosecutors said

A judge , who ordered him held on $ 10,000 D-bond , meaning Neal has to come up with $ @ @ @ @ @ his next court date , said he took into consideration the mayhem that was transpiring @ @ @ @ @ downtown while Neal allegedly burglarized the ATM .

A 20-year-old man announced: “I’m going to find some place to loot” while filming himself on Facebook Live breaking into a Gold Coast neighborhood ATM with a hammer during the second widespread Mag Mile looting of the summer, prosecutors said Saturday afternoon.
The suspect, Aaron Neal, was in court Saturday, facing felony charges of burglary and criminal damage to property to the ATM, which prosecutors said was left a “total loss,” needing more than $2,000 in repairs. It was Neal’s first arrest.
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A judge, who ordered him held on $10,000 D-bond, meaning Neal has to come up with $1,000 to go free until his next court date, said he took into consideration the mayhem that was transpiring as hundreds of looters swept downtown while Neal allegedly burglarized the ATM.
“All this taking place during unrest within the city that caused major damage apart from this,” the judge said during Neal’s first court appearance, audio of which was broadcast live on YouTube from the Leighton Criminal Court Building.
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About 2 a.m. Monday, Neal showed up with a group and walked into a vestibule containing an ATM at 1 E. Delaware Place in the Gold Coast neighborhood, prosecutors said during the bond hearing.
After the group left, Neal came back and began filming on Facebook Live on his phone.
“He began hitting the ATM with a hammer in an attempt to break it open,” prosecutors said.
Some from the group returned, and he continued filming himself, at one point saying: “He was going to find someplace to loot,” prosecutors said.
“This incident is corroborated by the fact that, per the state’s proffer, you put your actions over the internet for public display,” the judge said. In addition, police found surveillance from the lobby.
Neal, who lives with his family and turned himself in after police found his name and then his grandmother, has no criminal background and is a “life-long” resident of Chicago, said prosecutors and Courtney Smallwood, his court-appointed attorney.
Neal is out of work from a factory in Joliet because of COVID-19 downsizing, and he receives unemployment assistance from the state. He graduated from Kelly High School and is enrolled in city college, where he studies business. It marked his first arrest, Smallwood said.
Before setting the bond, the judge was interrupted by Neal, who said “I apologize,” before being quickly halted by Smallwood and the judge who told him: “This isn’t conversation time.‘'
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Neal, of the 7100 block of South Oakley Avenue, will return for another hearing on Aug. 24 at the Old Orchard courthouse in Skokie.


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--2 dead, at least 14 wounded in shootings overnight on South, West sides

In the latest deadly shooting , a 28-year-old man was found unresponsive in the driver ’ s seat of a @ @ @ @ @ block of West 110th Place in the Morgan Park neighborhood .
He had suffered wounds @ @ @ @ @ , and was pronounced dead at the scene .

Two victims were fatally wounded and at least 14 others were injured in overnight shootings since Friday night into early Saturday morning on the West and South sides, Chicago police said.
In the latest deadly shooting, a 28-year-old man was found unresponsive in the driver’s seat of a parked vehicle in the 1100 block of West 110th Place in the Morgan Park neighborhood. He had suffered wounds to the arm and chest, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Shortly before 8:15 p.m.. a 48-year-old man was found fatally wounded in the rear of his West Pullman neighborhood residence in the 11600 block of South Peoria Street, police said.
The man was shot in the chest and was taken in serious condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead.
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At least 13 others, including a 12-year-old boy, were wounded in other shootings overnight:


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--2 young women clinging to life after Eisenhower Expressway shooting

The women , a 21-year-old driver and a 19-year-old back-seat passenger , were inbound on I-290 when the shooter fired @ @ @ @ @ east of Central Avenue , about 4:20 a.m. , according to a statement from the @ @ @ @

A shooting on the Eisenhower Expressway on the city’s West Side early Saturday left two women seriously injured.
The women, a 21-year-old driver and a 19-year-old back-seat passenger, were inbound on I-290 when the shooter fired from another eastbound vehicle, east of Central Avenue, about 4:20 a.m., according to a statement from the Illinois State Police.
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They both suffered “life-threatening” injuries and were taken to nearby hospitals, state police said. Two others in the car, a 23-year-old man and another 19-year-old woman, were not hurt.
All lanes were reopened by 8:30 a.m., and the shooting remains under investigation.
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State police urged anyone who saw the shooting to call them, 847-294-4400, and callers can remain anonymous.
rsobol@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital da

COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital data in your area

Among the metrics ( see below ) tracked under guidelines set by Gov .
J.B. Pritzker are the percentage of @ @ @ @ @ , the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19-like illnesses , and the capacity of hospitals @ @ @ @ @ state will decide how much or how little to restrict activities based on these metrics @

Note: With Chicago and Illinois moving into phase 5, the Tribune is no longer updating this data. If the state moves back into bridge phase, the Tribune we reassess. Daily metrics on COVID-19, like cases, deaths and hospitalizations, can be found here. And Daily metrics on the vaccination effort can be found here. More on where the coronavirus stands nationally and around the world can be found here.
To assess how different parts of Illinois are handling the COVID-19 pandemic, officials look at the state through the 11 regions of Emergency Medical Services. The city of Chicago is one region, for example, and the rest of Cook County is another.
Among the metrics (see below) tracked under guidelines set by Gov. J.B. Pritzker are the percentage of coronavirus tests that return positive, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19-like illnesses, and the capacity of hospitals to take in new patients.The state will decide how much or how little to restrict activities based on these metrics. (Cases, deaths and tests data is as of Dec. 31).
• Check out the Tribune’s coronavirus coverage.
• Remembering the lives of those in Illinois who died from coronavirus.
• Other Chicago, suburbs and Illinois COVID-19 metrics.
• See how the governor’s plan to manage the regions works.
Source: Illinois Department of Public Health
Created by the Chicago Tribune dataviz team. On Twitter @chitribgraphics


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood

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

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


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--Illinois coronavirus graphs: 7,726 deaths, 204,519 confirmed cases and 3.32 million tests

• How are Illinois regions doing ?
Check our daily charts on where each region stands on positivity rate and @ @ @ @ @ .

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


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 1,828 new known COVID-19 cases and five additional confirmed deaths

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 1,828 new known COVID-19 cases and five additional confirmed deaths reported Saturday

Additionally , 14 of Illinois ’ 102 counties were deemed at “ warning level ” for a resurgence of COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ state blaming the virus ’ s spread in part on poor messaging from local elected @ @ @ @ @ there is little public concern for consequences or enforcement ” of social distancing and isolation @ @

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois public health officials Sunday announced 1,562 new known cases of COVID-19 and 18 additional confirmed deaths.
The state has now logged 206,081 cases overall, and has reported 7,744 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
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[ Have a question about coronavirus testing? Submit it here and local health experts will provide the answer. ]
Additionally, 14 of Illinois’ 102 counties were deemed at “warning level” for a resurgence of COVID-19 on Friday, with the state blaming the virus’s spread in part on poor messaging from local elected officials in “communities where there is little public concern for consequences or enforcement” of social distancing and isolation orders.
The state Department of Public Health said some of the cases and outbreaks seen in the 14 counties stem from long-term care facilities, businesses, bars and sports camps and gatherings such as weddings or parties.
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Here’s what’s happening this weekend with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
Sunday
USPS leaders summoned to testify before House Democrats about mail delays
The Democratic-run House on Sunday demanded that leaders of the U.S. Postal Service testify at an emergency oversight hearing Aug. 24 on mail delays as concerns grow that the Trump White House is trying to undermine the agency during the coronavirus pandemic while states expand mail-in voting options for the November presidential election.
The House Oversight and Reform Committee said it wants to hear from new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and from the chair of the Postal Service board of governors, Robert Duncan.
Pressure is increasing on DeJoy, a major Republican donor and ally of the president, who has said he is modernizing the money-losing agency to make it more efficient. DeJoy has made cuts in overtime for postal workers, imposed restrictions on transportation and reduced of the quantity and use of mail-processing equipment. Read more here. —The Associated Press
Cubs remain firm they won’t be slowed by COVID-19 — even after a Reds player tests positive
The Chicago Cubs aren’t scheduled to face the Cincinnati Reds for another two weeks, but they remain confident they will complete the season despite a positive COVID-19 test by a Reds player.
“I think we’re going to play this season,” Anthony Rizzo said Saturday. “This season is getting played. And that’s our mindset. That’s our mentality, and just button everything up. Be as safe as possible. That’s what (our) guys have been doing. And doing a good job.
“It’s very unfortunate for the Reds for that to happen. It’s scary, the unknown. The Cardinals, with their schedule coming up (with two doubleheaders against the Cubs next week), it’s tough. But that’s what it is, and six more weeks of a sprint.” Read more here. —Mark Gonzales
Saturday
1,828 new known COVID-19 cases and five additional deaths
Illinois public health officials Saturday announced 1,828 new known cases of COVID-19 and five additional confirmed deaths.
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The state has now logged 204,519 cases overall, and has reported 7,726 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
—Chicago Tribune staff
Friday
Illinois puts 14 counties on COVID-19 warning list, blames local officials for failing to enforce social distancing and isolation orders
Fourteen of Illinois’ 102 counties were deemed at “warning level” for a resurgence of COVID-19 on Friday, with the state blaming the virus’s spread in part on poor messaging from local elected officials in “communities where there is little public concern for consequences or enforcement” of social distancing and isolation orders.
The warning level designation means those counties have surpassed a threshold for at least two coronavirus indicators, such as the number of deaths, weekly hospital admissions for people with COVID-19-like illness and availability of intensive care beds.
The counties on the state’s latest warning list are Bureau, Cass, Clinton, Franklin, Greene, Grundy, Hancock, Jefferson, Kane, LaSalle, Moultrie, Perry, Union and Will. It’s largely different from the list issued last week, when 13 counties were put at warning level.
Cass County in central Illinois and Perry County in southern Illinois have appeared on the warning list three weeks in a row, while Grundy and Union counties made their second consecutive appearance on the weekly list on Friday.
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The other 10 counties did not appear on the list last week.
The state Department of Public Health said some of the cases and outbreaks seen in the 14 counties stem from long-term care facilities, businesses, bars and sports camps and gatherings such as weddings or parties.
Without offering specifics, the department laid some of the blame for the spread on local elected officials.
“Inconsistent messaging from local elected leaders are contributing to ongoing transmission in some communities where there is little public concern for consequences or enforcement of social distancing, banning large gatherings, or quarantine/isolation orders,” the department said in a news release.
Read more here. —Jamie Munks
Facing a no-visitor hospital policy due to coronavirus, Lakeview woman begs to see her terminally ill husband
Christine Jeras just wanted to hold her terminally ill husband’s hand.
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Kevin Jeras has been fighting pancreatic cancer, which is now at stage 4, for almost two years. On Monday, after he experienced trouble breathing, he was hospitalized at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Lakeview.
The hospital has a no-visitor policy because of the coronavirus pandemic. Christine Jeras felt helpless Monday, she said, because she wasn’t permitted to see her husband. She spent the whole day pleading with anyone she could get on the phone.
“He didn’t survive 22 months to go out in a hospital by himself,” she said.
Read more here. —Alison Bowen


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--Watch live: Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown discusses looting arrests

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown will be holding a press briefing outside CPD HQ to discuss arrests made during recent @ @ @ @ @ to start at 10:30 a.m .

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chicagotribune--2020-08-15--Starved Rock, Matthiessen state parks to remain closed this weekend after ‘significant amount of dam

Starved Rock, Matthiessen state parks to remain closed this weekend after ‘significant amount of damage’ from storm

Both parks were hit when heavy rains and winds between 80 and 100 mph ripped across northern Illinois and other @ @ @ @ @ Monday .
The National Weather Service has confirmed 14 tornadoes touched down in the state @ @ @ @ @ as a derecho .

Corbett Wilkinson climbs on a downed tree in Rogers Park after a powerful storm tore through the area Monday evening in the West Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
UTICA, Ill. — Two of Illinois' most popular state parks will remain closed at least until Monday after heavy storms downed trees, blocking roadways and trails.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources said Starved Rock State Park in Utica and Matthiessen State Park in Oglesby will remain closed until clean-up is complete.
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Both parks were hit when heavy rains and winds between 80 and 100 mph ripped across northern Illinois and other parts of the Midwest on Monday. The National Weather Service has confirmed 14 tornadoes touched down in the state during the rare storm known as a derecho.
Von Bandy, director of the Office of Land Management for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, said both parks sustained “a significant amount of damage,” mostly from downed trees and limbs.
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While trails, picnic and fishing areas and the boat ramp are closed, the Starved Rock Lodge and Conference Center and the campground at Starved Rock State Park remain open.
In a Facebook post Wednesday, park officials said tickets will be issued to people trying to sneak into the park or parking along roadsides to gain access. They said those vehicles will be towed at owners’ expense.


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--Former Illinois Gov. James Thompson dies at the age of 84

Groups of people broke store windows and looted stores along Chicago 's downtown business district early Aug. 10 , 2020 @ @ @ @ @ West Side in the afternoon to secure the shopping district after reports of looting .


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--Haymarket addiction treatment center says planned Itasca rehab would have ‘negligible’ public safety

Haymarket addiction treatment center says planned Itasca rehab would have ‘negligible’ public safety cost, but critics remain wary

Critics have used 911 calls to Haymarket ’ s Chicago rehab as evidence that the Itasca project would be too @ @ @ @ @ that approach , saying city data is inaccurate .
Instead , Polaris looked at suburban @ @ @ @ @ facilities , albeit much smaller than the proposed Itasca project , use emergency services no @ @ @ @ @ times per year .

Haymarket addiction treatment center purchased a former hotel in the 800 block of West Irving Park Road, shown in April 2020, in Itasca. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
In new documents filed with Itasca, the Haymarket addiction treatment center says its rehab envisioned for the DuPage County village would have a “negligible” effect on public safety costs, contrary to what critics of the planned 240-bed facility have claimed.
“Even with the minimal increases in projected calls, Itasca’s public safety agencies will continue to have sufficient capacity to handle these calls without the need for additional personnel or equipment,” says the report prepared by consultant Polaris Public Safety Solutions.
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The report is an attempt to rebut a criticism frequently made by those opposed to the project, but some remain wary. Real estate agent James Diestel said Friday that the treatment center “has made generally similar representations in the past that have not passed scrutiny.”
Haymarket has aroused opposition since it announced its intention last year to put a rehab in a building formerly occupied by a Holiday Inn.
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It said the facility would help to meet a growing demand for drug treatment in the suburbs, but the initial Plan Commission meeting was greeted by hundreds of protesters marching in the street, calling the project a tax drain that would pose a danger to nearby residents.
The criticism has remained steady ever since, particularly after Haymarket bought the building in April. Rumors swirled that it would be used to house COVID-19 patients, but that turned out to be false.
Public hearings on the project were put on pause after the pandemic began, but are set to resume next month.
Opponents of a Haymarket drug treatment center coming to Itasca march toward Peacock Junior High before a public hearing that was ultimately postponed in 2019. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Critics have used 911 calls to Haymarket’s Chicago rehab as evidence that the Itasca project would be too costly, but Polaris rejected that approach, saying city data is inaccurate. Instead, Polaris looked at suburban rehabs and found that the facilities, albeit much smaller than the proposed Itasca project, use emergency services no more than a few dozen times per year.
Using that to project how many calls Haymarket would generate, it concluded the rehab would need service fewer than 100 times annually, representing a sliver of the more than 10,000 calls handled each year by the village’s police, fire and emergency medical services.
The impact would be further blunted by Haymarket’s decision to hire a private ambulance service for medical calls, the report said.
Haymarket also included an economic impact study that said nearby property values would not be harmed by the project, and agreed to forgo a program for mothers accompanied by children to ease the burden on the local school system.
Village officials declined to comment on the reports’ specifics.
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“The village is going to take time to review everything it received … and will provide comments at the time of the hearing,” a spokeswoman said.
jkeilman@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @JohnKeilman


chicagotribune--2020-08-15--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened on Aug. 14 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

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Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
The number of COVID-19 cases in Illinois continues to trend upward as state public health officials Friday announced 2,264 new known cases of COVID-19 and 25 additional confirmed deaths.
The state has now logged 202,691 cases overall. The number of cases across the country now totals 5.3 million.
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By comparison, California on Thursday became the first state to report more than 600,000 coronavirus cases since the virus arrived at the beginning of the year. With more than 10,800 fatalities, the state now ranks third in the country for the worst death toll, behind New York and New Jersey. In Illinois, the confirmed death toll is 7,721 as of Friday.
[ Have a question about coronavirus testing? Submit it here and local health experts will provide the answer. ]
Additionally, 14 of Illinois’ 102 counties were deemed at “warning level” for a resurgence of COVID-19 on Friday, with the state blaming the virus’s spread in part on poor messaging from local elected officials in “communities where there is little public concern for consequences or enforcement” of social distancing and isolation orders.
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The state Department of Public Health said some of the cases and outbreaks seen in the 14 counties stem from long-term care facilities, businesses, bars and sports camps and gatherings such as weddings or parties.
And the continued rise in cases has increased pressure on school districts, which must decide whether to open their doors to students.
In one case, officials at Evanston/Skokie School District 65 say they have been in touch with law enforcement after receiving threatening emails following a Fox News story detailing their reopening plans.
An online news story reported that students of color may receive priority for limited in-person classroom spots, but the preference is based on which students would most benefit from in-person instruction, not on race, officials say.
Here’s what’s happening Friday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7:30 p.m. (update): US Postal Service warns it cannot guarantee mail-in ballots for November election will arrive in time to be counted
The U.S. Postal Service is warning states coast to coast that it cannot guarantee all ballots cast by mail for the November election will arrive in time to be counted, even if mailed by state deadlines, raising the possibility that millions of voters could be disenfranchised.
Voters and lawmakers in several states are also complaining that some curbside mail collection boxes are being removed.
Even as President Donald Trump rails against widescale voting by mail, the post office is bracing for an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
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The warning letters sent to states raise the possibility that many Americans eligible for mail-in ballots this fall will not have them counted. But that is not the intent, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in his own letter to Democratic congressional leaders.
Read more here. —Associated Press
7:14 p.m.: 3.5% of local businesses close to failing, 50% have experienced ‘significant revenue loss,’ new Naperville chamber survey says
Nearly 3.5% of the businesses that completed a Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce survey said they are on the verge of shutting their doors as a result of the ongoing pandemic and more than 50% say they’ve experienced a “significant revenue loss.”
The study is the second conducted by the chamber since the spring to gauge the pandemic’s effect on local businesses in regards to revenue, operations, employees and customers. Results from the first survey were released in May.
The final polling date was July 31 and 188 area businesses responded.
About 63% of businesses said they have enough in cash reserves to stay open 12 months or less if current restrictions on group sizes, social distancing and maximum occupancy remain in place for the long term.
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The survey also shows 33% anticipate having to reduce staff positions and/or hours in the coming weeks, 48% predict slower sales and 21% are concerned with disruptions in the supply chain.
“I think in general, retail is doing poorly. For the most part it’s been a difficult time for small businesses up and down Jefferson Avenue,” said Ian Holzhauer, the chamber’s board chairman.
Read more here. —Erin Hegarty
4:48 p.m.: Football showcase event in Naperville broke COVID-19 guidelines, park district says
A middle school and high school football showcase event held by an independent organization on field space rented from the Naperville Park District last weekend broke state COVID-19 health and safety guidelines, park district officials said.
Midwest BOOM Football rented a synthetic turf football field at Commissioners Park, near 248th Street and 111th Street, for an event Aug. 8-9, said Brad Wilson, park district director of recreation and facilities. Violations of social distancing guidelines and face-covering requirements were reported to the park district the night of Aug. 8, officials said.
Midwest BOOM normally holds its showcase event — meant to give middle school and high school athletes the chance to showcase their speed, agility, power, skills and performance in competition to college coaches, scouts and recruiting media — in the winter, but wanted to get it in before more strict guidelines on football go into place Saturday, said J.R. Niklos, general manager for Midwest BOOM.
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The event included about 200 middle school students Aug. 8 and about 300 high school students Aug. 9. The groups were broken into pods of 40 players, and the pods rotated through different stations over a period of four hours each day, Niklos said.
Hand sanitizer was available, and athletes had their temperatures checked before the event, Niklos said. Each athlete was offered a face mask at check-in, though they were not required to wear them.
Read more here. —Erin Hegarty
3:22 p.m.: Chicago Public Library branch on North Side temporarily closed after employee tests positive for COVID-19
A Chicago Public Library branch on the North Side will be closed for at least the next week and a half after an employee tested positive for COVID-19.
Staff who were in close contact with the infected employee at the Roden branch in the Norwood Park East neighborhood have been told to quarantine for the next 14 days, according to spokeswoman Olivia Kuncio.
Read more here. —Sophie Sherry
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2:25 p.m.: Illinois puts 14 counties on COVID-19 warning list, blames local officials for failing to enforce social distancing and isolation orders
Fourteen of Illinois’ 102 counties were deemed at “warning level” for a resurgence of COVID-19 on Friday, with the state blaming the virus’s spread in part on poor messaging from local elected officials in “communities where there is little public concern for consequences or enforcement” of social distancing and isolation orders.
The warning level designation means those counties have surpassed a threshold for at least two coronavirus indicators, such as the number of deaths, weekly hospital admissions for people with COVID-19-like illness and availability of intensive care beds.
The counties on the state’s latest warning list are Bureau, Cass, Clinton, Franklin, Greene, Grundy, Hancock, Jefferson, Kane, LaSalle, Moultrie, Perry, Union and Will. It’s largely different from the list issued last week, when 13 counties were put at warning level.
Cass County in central Illinois and Perry County in southern Illinois have appeared on the warning list three weeks in a row, while Grundy and Union counties made their second consecutive appearance on the weekly list on Friday.
The other 10 counties did not appear on the list last week.
The state Department of Public Health said some of the cases and outbreaks seen in the 14 counties stem from long-term care facilities, businesses, bars and sports camps and gatherings such as weddings or parties.
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Without offering specifics, the department laid some of the blame for the spread on local elected officials.
“Inconsistent messaging from local elected leaders are contributing to ongoing transmission in some communities where there is little public concern for consequences or enforcement of social distancing, banning large gatherings, or quarantine/isolation orders,” the department said in a news release.
Read more here. —Jamie Munks
1:55 p.m.: Have a question about coronavirus testing? Submit it here and local health experts will provide the answer.
What are some of your lingering questions about COVID-19 testing? The Tribune will be talking to scientists and physicians about everything from the different types of coronavirus tests to various reasons for getting tested to the impact testing has on fighting the virus. What would you like to ask experts?
Click here to submit your questions. —Chicago Tribune staff
1:02 p.m.: Facing a no-visitor hospital policy due to coronavirus, Lakeview woman begs to see her terminally ill husband
Christine Jeras just wanted to hold her terminally ill husband’s hand.
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Kevin Jeras has been fighting pancreatic cancer, which is now at stage 4, for almost two years. On Monday, after he experienced trouble breathing, he was hospitalized at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Lakeview.
The hospital has a no-visitor policy because of the coronavirus pandemic. Christine Jeras felt helpless Monday, she said, because she wasn’t permitted to see her husband. She spent the whole day pleading with anyone she could get on the phone.
“He didn’t survive 22 months to go out in a hospital by himself,” she said.
Read more here. —Alison Bowen
12:03 p.m.: 2,264 new known COVID-19 cases, 25 additional deaths
Illinois public health officials reported 2,264 new confirmed cases of coronavirus on Friday and 25 additional deaths of people with COVID-19.
Those daily figures push the known case count statewide to 202,691. There have been 7,721 with COVID-19 who have died during the course of the pandemic, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
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There were 49,541 tests conducted by labs in Illinois during the previous 24 hours, pushing the total tests conducted to date to nearly 3.9 million.
The seven-day average statewide positivity rate for cases stood at 4.1% as of Thursday, and as of Thursday night, 1,612 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Illinois. Of those hospitalized, 345 were in intensive care units and 126 patients were on ventilators.
The seven-day average statewide positivity rate for cases was 3% on July 14.
The state Department of Public Health warned that the Metro East region outside St. Louis is “seeing increases in test positivity rates and could surpass the resurgence metrics in coming days.”
Among the triggers for the state to impose stricter limits to slow the spread of coronavirus is a region logging three days in a row with an average positivity rate that surpasses 8%.
Read more here. —Jamie Munks
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10:39 a.m.: Young people across the country may be moving due to COVID-19, but it’s less clear whether Chicago millennials are following suit
A recent Pew Research Center study reported that around one in five Americans relocated this year due to COVID-19 or know someone who has, and the most popular reason for relocating was to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19.
The demographic moving the most were those in the 18 to 29 age group, which includes younger millennials and their junior Gen Z cohorts. Next highest was the 30 to 45 group, comprised of older millennials and the tail end of Gen X.
However, it’s still unclear if the national trend bears out for Chicago, and experts say it’s too soon to tell what the long-term impact will be for city real estate.
Read more here. —Milan Polk
8:57 a.m.: Chicago restaurants sue for coronavirus insurance payouts, struggle to hang on. ‘We’re just hoping it’s not too little too late.’
Hundreds of businesses across the country, from Chicago’s iconic Billy Goat Tavern to heavyweight restaurant group Lettuce Entertain You, have filed lawsuits against their insurers alleging they were improperly denied coverage of income losses sustained as a result of COVID-19 and government orders to shut down. Now they are waiting, some barely hanging on, to see if any relief will come.
Some judges have started to rule on the central question in many of the suits, which is whether the virus or the mandatory shutdowns caused “direct physical loss” or “damage” to property necessary to trigger business interruption coverage.
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So far most rulings have favored insurers. In Washington, D.C., a Superior Court judge this week dismissed a case brought by several upscale restaurants, ruling the city-mandated shutdown did not amount to direct physical loss. A state judge in Michigan last month dismissed a suit brought by a restaurateur who claimed his inability to use his restaurants triggered coverage. A federal judge in New York in May denied a magazine publisher a preliminary injunction it had sought to force its insurer to pay up, saying the virus did not damage the property itself.
But businesses notched a win on Wednesday, when a federal judge in Missouri refused to dismiss a case filed by a group of hair salons and restaurants against Cincinnati Insurance Co. The judge said the businesses plausibly argued the virus caused a physical loss of their properties that could be covered under their policies.
Read more here. —Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
8:05 a.m.: US retail sales back to pre-virus pace — but end of relief payments may bring slowdown
Americans increased their retail purchases by 1.2% in July, with solid gains in appliances and clothing, restoring sales to their level before the viral pandemic erupted in March.
Sales at retail stores and restaurants have now risen for three straight months, after enormous plunges in March and April, when the pandemic suddenly shuttered businesses and paralyzed the economy.
Still, much of that spending has been fueled by government relief spending that had put more money in people’s pockets but has since expired. With Americans’ overall income likely shrinking, economists expect a potential drop in spending and a weakening of economic growth.
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Read more here. —Associated Press
6:45 a.m.: Can you really teach how to shape a phrase of Chopin or a riff by Ellington online? Music schools sing a new tune for teaching during a pandemic.
Gifted young musicians from around the world converge in the Chicago area each fall for the same reason: to study at one of the widely revered music schools.
They bring their violins and trumpets, saxophones and cellos for the chance to learn from the masters who teach there, many of whom play in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera and the city’s many other musical institutions. The students — from as near as Hyde Park and as far as Shanghai — get to perform in superb university ensembles, participate in master classes with visiting virtuosos and otherwise revel in the cultural life of an intensely musical city.
All of this has been subverted by the pandemic. Which means the Chicago region’s top music schools have had to reinvent how they’ve been teaching the art form for generations.
Read more here. —Howard Reich
6:40 a.m.: You’re a college student planning to vote by mail in Illinois. What if COVID-19 sends you home but your ballot goes to your college?
College students hoping to register to vote in the Nov. 3 general election face extra uncertainty this year as campuses shift plans because of the coronavirus pandemic. Even so, students registered in Illinois can still vote by mail no matter their location.
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Here’s what you need to know if you’re a student hoping to vote by mail. —Kelli Smith
6:35 a.m.: Evanston school leaders report ‘ominous threats’ following Fox News coverage of reopening that highlighted approach to students of color
Officials at Evanston/Skokie School District 65 say they have been in touch with law enforcement after receiving threatening emails following a Fox News story detailing their reopening plans.
The online news story reported that students of color may receive priority for limited in-person classroom spots ahead of white students when school resumes. School officials point out their approach is more nuanced, and based on which students would most benefit from in-person instruction, not on race. They say the timing of the report’s publication coincided with a rise in messages, and in one specific case a threatening email.
On July 22, the school board approved plans for a hybrid model featuring both in-person and remote learning options. Under the district’s plan, parents can choose to have their students learn all online or return to the school building for four days per week of in-person instruction. The plans were also discussed at a virtual town hall last month.
Board President Anya Tanyavutti said Wednesday that because the district is operating at a reduced building capacity to accommodate social distancing and other concerns in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a chance more students and parents will choose in-person learning over remote learning than there are seats are available.
If that happens, the district will prioritize in-person slots for students who have learning challenges, receive free or reduced lunch, are homeless or who face other unique issues that would especially benefit from in-person instruction, board members and district administrators said. While race is not a determining factor, Evanston’s Black and Latino students comprise much of this group, officials said.
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The Fox News story published online Aug. 7 with the headline “Illinois district includes students of color in groups with first chance at in-person learning: report.” It was after the publication of that story that Tanyavutti says the emails started.
Read more here. —Genevieve Bookwalter


chicagotribune--2020-08-16--Protests turn violent in downtown Chicago

A protester argues with a Chicago police officer as police check bags and allow a few people out at a @ @ @ @ @ on LaSalle Street in the Loop on Aug. 15 , 2020 .