chicagotribune--2020-03-31--With buildings closed due to the coronavirus, North Shore private schools turn to virtual classrooms

Several teachers and administrators stressed the need to make sure students who need additional help still get it when they @ @ @ @ @ assistance .
Nanci Caplan , director of student services at Schechter , said after announcements @ @ @ @ @ where social and emotional needs are met .

E-learning is not all academic at Solomon Schechter Day School as students rehearse for an upcoming musical. (Solomon Schechter Day School of Metropolitan Chicago)
Students at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Glenview and Solomon Schechter Day School of Metropolitan Chicago in Northbrook start their day of remote learning the same way they did when meeting face-to-face.
There’s announcements, a prayer and then birthday wishes.
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Students across Illinois have been forced to shift from learning in their classrooms to receiving their academic training at home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. For private schools along the North Shore, that means changing instructional approaches while maintaining some classroom traditions.
“We want to give them as much of what they get from day to day as we can,” said Lena Kushnir, Schechter’s head of school. “We say the Pledge of Allegiance, the prayer for the state of Israel and I wish happy birthday to the students celebrating their birthday.”
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Amy Mills, principal of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, offers a similar start to the day by sending a video via email to begin the day at 9 a.m.
“Giving them normalcy is important,” Mills said. “We do the announcements and birthday wishes. Sister Paulanne Held leads the Lenten prayer.”
Loyola Academy in Wilmette also starts its day with announcements. Senior Catherine Flannery of Chicago likes the way Principal Charlie Heintz brings some normalcy to her day.
“Mr. Heintz starts us out like he does every day,” Flannery said.
While most North Shore public schools spent the week starting March 16 on spring break, some area parochial schools take their vacation in conjunction with Easter or Passover in April, giving them less time to plan.
Some schools organized their days into regular classes where students would use their electronic devices for online meeting platforms like Zoom, Skype for Business and Google Classroom.
Regina Principal Kassie Porreca said multiple electronic platforms are used depending on the situation. Assignments, homework and videos from teachers are all posted on Google Classroom.
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“We do a lot of things to keep education challenging and rigorous,” Porreca said. “They’re still in school and they’re still learning. Each class meets in-person (online) at least twice a week.”
Mark McGuire, a Loyola social studies teacher, said periods are 30 minutes rather than the usual 55 and lunch is eliminated, thereby shortening the day. Students spend less time in front of a screen that way.
“It’s a framework but we have to trim some away so the students still respond to it,” McGuire said. “We’re adapting and try to be successful. By this time of year, the students know the teachers and what’s expected.”
Tony Frank, the head of school at Rochelle Zell, said teachers have the ability to decide which platform to use while conducting remote classes.
“Some of the teachers like to use Skype for Business, while some prefer to use Zoom instead,” Frank said. “They both let the students and teachers interact. I want the teachers to do what will be successful for them and their students.”
Remote learning is not completely new. Most of the schools used the technique last year when school was closed during the frigid days of the polar vortex.
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“It let us hit the road running,” said Stephen Schacherer, principal of St. Norbert School in Northbrook. “The faculty and students had a sense for it. We weren’t prepared for two weeks but we are learning. The lesson plans were ready to go and all of our curriculum is being delivered.”
While remote learning allows students to maintain their studies while schools are closed for a prolonged period of time, Heintz said there are shortcomings.
“It’s good we have it in this (currently) not perfect world,” Heintz said. “It’s not a substitute.”
One major challenge is replicating a laboratory setting for sciences like chemistry or physics. Mary Stenson, a math teacher at Regina who oversees English, science and social studies as the curriculum head, said teachers have found a practical way to manage.
“Teachers create videos with a demonstration,” Stenson said. “The science teachers can talk to them about what is being done and they see how it works.”
The two weeks of remote learning has had its glitches, but administrators and teachers say they have been able to quickly find solutions. When passwords are forgotten or there is too much online activity in a home, there is help.
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One day OLPH’s website, an integral part of its e-learning plan, went down for 45 minutes. Mills said it was restored by 9:20 a.m. and that school day got a late start.
“We have problems and we solve them,” Mills said. “Our technical department is very responsive. They get the message quickly and take care of it.”
Some of the schools have students who do not have internet connections at home, but officials said the situation was remedied. Heintz said Loyola purchased 15 Wi-Fi hot spots and had them delivered where needed.
Several teachers and administrators stressed the need to make sure students who need additional help still get it when they are unable to drop-in for assistance. Nanci Caplan, director of student services at Schechter, said after announcements students go to their homeroom where social and emotional needs are met.
“They talk about the new reality,” Kaplan said. “We want them to process it all and express their feelings.”
Students approach the day differently. Catherine Flannery at Loyola keeps a strict routine, while Regina junior Anne Berg waits until her first class is over to have breakfast.
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Not required to wear the school uniform, Berg said some of the time she attends virtual class in her pajamas.
Flannery said keeping her routine intact as much as possible is important. After she awakes, she dresses for the day and logs onto class.
“It really helps my mental health right now,” Flannery said.
While athletic programs are currently shut down, student activities are part of the day at Loyola and Regina. Berg, who is on the student council, said they will be meeting virtually during the week starting March 30.
Flannery said there are student activities at Loyola, too. There was a talent contest where people posted their routines online and students voted on the best.
While the online interaction has helped, she said she wants to make it back to campus this year.
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“I miss being with my friends,” Flannery said.
Steve Sadin is a freelance reporter.


chicagotribune--2020-03-31--‘The Last Dance,’ ESPN’s 10-part documentary on Michael Jordan and the Bulls, will debut April 19

“ As society navigates this time without live sports , viewers are still looking to the sports world to escape @ @ @ @ @ , ” ESPN said in a statement .
“ We ’ ve heard the calls @ @ @ @ @ move up the release date for this series , and we ’ re happy to @ @ @ @ @ been able to accelerate the production schedule to do just that .

Like Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Bulls, ESPN’s “The Last Dance” apparently cannot be held back.
Years in the making and originally scheduled to launch in June in conjunction with the NBA Finals, the long-awaited 10-part documentary about the Jordan-led team’s pursuit of its sixth and final championship instead will run on five successive Sunday nights beginning April 19, ESPN announced Tuesday.
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One-hour episodes will debut in pairs weekly, beginning at 8 p.m. Central time, through May 17.
“As society navigates this time without live sports, viewers are still looking to the sports world to escape and enjoy a collective experience,” ESPN said in a statement. “We’ve heard the calls from fans asking us to move up the release date for this series, and we’re happy to announce that we’ve been able to accelerate the production schedule to do just that.
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“This project celebrates one of the greatest players and dynasties ever, and we hope it can serve as a unifying entertainment experience to fill the role that sports often play in our lives, telling a story that will captivate everyone, not just sports fans.”
So excited to officially share the news: The Last Dance - Coming April 19th! @espn -- and outside of the US on @netflix #thelastdance #thewaitisover🍿🏀 pic.twitter.com/5s0p0OWyDD — Estee Portnoy (@esteep) March 31, 2020
The scheduling change, which fans lobbied for via social media, comes as the coronavirus pandemic has millions of people home-bound and looking to TV for diversion in the absence of live sports.
Promos for the series had changed earlier in March to say “The Last Dance” was “coming soon” rather than “coming in June,” despite ESPN publicly downplaying expectations.
April 19th can’t come fast enough. I CAN NOT WAIT!! 🗣Yessir!🍿 #LastDance — LeBron James (@KingJames) March 31, 2020
This naturally stoked speculation ESPN would expedite the documentary series combining behind-the-scenes video and interviews with not only Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Steve Kerr, Phil Jackson and other principals, but also other NBA stars and peripheral figures such as former President Barack Obama.
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ESPN indicated in mid-March that such a move would be far easier said than done.
For one thing, ESPN has multiple partners on the project, including Jordan’s Jump 23, NBA Entertainment and Mandalay Sports Media, along with Netflix, which will distribute the series internationally beginning April 20. Also, the miniseries wasn’t finished.
“Overall, any original content project that we can conceivably move up, we are obviously considering that, including films,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN’s executive vice president of programming, acquisitions and scheduling.
“I know some have asked about ‘The Last Dance,’ and the reality is that the production of that film has not yet been completed, so we are limited there at the moment. Obviously, you can’t air it until it’s done.”
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“The Last Dance” is directed by Jason Hehir, whose well-received documentaries include “Andre the Giant,” “The ’85 Bears” and “The Fab Five.”
“Michael Jordan and the ‘90s Bulls weren’t just sports superstars, they were a global phenomenon,” Hehir said in a statement. “Making ‘The Last Dance’ was an incredible opportunity to explore the extraordinary impact of one man and one team.
"For nearly three years, we searched far and wide to present the definitive story of an era-defining dynasty and to present these sports heroes as humans. I hope viewers enjoy watching our series as much as we enjoyed the opportunity to make it.”


chicagotribune--2020-04-02--‘The Masked Singer’ reveals the identity of the White Tiger: Here’s the star under the mask

On balance , Gronkowski said the experience was `` a blast . ''
Why the White Tiger ?
`` They @ @ @ @ @ and they were all good , '' he said .
`` All the costumes on @ @ @ @ @ The White Tiger stood out to me .
It bit me , and I felt @ @ @ @ @ choice .
That 's who I needed to be .
I felt like it represented @ @ @ @ @ that , wearing the costume is a project on its own .
You 've definitely @ @ @ @ @ that .
Another conditioning level right there .
You 're sweating by the time it @ @ @ @ @ amount of sweat .
It 's definitely hard to move in , you 've got @ @ @ @ @ . ''

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 3, episode 10 of “The Masked Singer,” which aired April 1 on Fox.
Former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is the latest celebrity to be revealed on “The Masked Singer,” as the show’s final nine contestants faced off for the first time on Wednesday night’s episode.
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As the White Tiger, Gronkowski performed "I'm Too Sexy," by Right Said Fred. In previous weeks he performed "Ice, Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice, "We Will Rock You" by Queen, and "Good Vibrations,' by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.
"I really didn't know what I was getting into," said Gronkowski, who's now an NFL studio analyst for Fox Sports. "It was difficult at times, learning the first song and the first dance routine. I've never done that before. Now that I've got time on my hands, I figured, why not?"
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On balance, Gronkowski said the experience was "a blast." Why the White Tiger? "They showed me three different costumes and they were all good," he said. "All the costumes on the show are outstanding. The White Tiger stood out to me. It bit me, and I felt it was definitely the right choice. That's who I needed to be. I felt like it represented me. On top of that, wearing the costume is a project on its own. You've definitely got to get used to that. Another conditioning level right there. You're sweating by the time it's over, and insane amount of sweat. It's definitely hard to move in, you've got to get used to it."
Rob Gronkowski and host Nick Cannon in the “The Super Nine Masked Singer Special: Groups A, B & C” special two-hour episode of THE MASKED SINGER airing Wednesday, April 1 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (Michael Becker/FOX / HANDOUT)
Gronkowski said he was most proud of his performance on "Ice Ice Baby," which is his go-to karaoke song. "Good Vibrations" was a challenge, however: "I was out of breath and I missed a couple of lyrics. That shows how difficult it is, no matter who you are."
Ultimately, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg and Robin Thicke both thought it was Gronkowski, while Nicole Scherzinger believed it was John Cena and Ken Jeong picked another football player, J.J. Watt.
"The size I was, my performance, my dance moves, I felt like Jenny did figure it out right away because her husband's a big New England fan," he said. "She had my movements down. It's cool she knew, that's cool to have Jenny as a fan. And everyone knowing my moves, because my moves are so legit they knew it was me underneath. I can't blame them. But it would have been cool if they didn't know."
Gronkowski said he had to bite his tongue over the past few months, as most people had figured out his identity. "I've heard from everyone," he said. "No matter where I went. I was in Disney World and the workers were asking me if I was the White Tiger. I was going on Instagram Live and all the comments were, 'are you the White Tiger?' It was cool to see how big of a following the show has."
Gronkowski was the first star to be kicked off in the Super 9, as the final phase of this season's competition got underway. His exit this season follows Lil Wayne, Drew Carey, Chaka Khan, Tony Hawk, Dionne Warwick, Tom Bergeron, Sarah Palin, Bella Thorne and JoJo Siwa.
Still left this year: Turtle, Kangaroo, Frog, Kitty, Banana, Rhino, Astronaut and Night Angel. While White Tiger was the Group A singer with the least amount of votes, Banana had the least amount from Group B, and Rhino was last in Group C.
For the Super 9, Fox pulled out all the stops: Not only was the episode two hours long, but Nick Cannon brought back his turban, and "Eric from San Bernardino" showed up to pull an April Fool's prank on the panelists, who thought he was Snoop Dogg.
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Here's a recap of the other contestants and their performances on Wednesday:
Turtle
Song: "Higher Love," by Steve Winwood
Voice-over: “Just like my costume, I’m hard core about being the best at everything I do. I realized that to win, I had to become one with the Turtle, like a method actor. First, I run a 10K before each show, wearing a 40 lb. vest to get used to the heaviness of my shell. That’s a quarter my body weight. Next, to win this I know you need to have more than a good voice. So I added tons of choreo. Even though I’m not a dancer. Entering the Super 9, it’s really hitting how badly I want to win that trophy.”
What are you not? “I’m not known for just one thing.”
Panel guesses: Drew Lachey, Brian Littrell, Nick Lachey, Chris Evans
Kangaroo
Song: "Not Ready to Make Nice," by Dixie Chicks
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Voice-over: “Coming into this competition, I knew I had to put on a brave hidden face. After all, I came here to show my strength, and bounce back after being vilified by the kanga-rumors about my past. After my first performance, I started believing in myself like never before. But I’ve got to be honest, I’m incredibly nervous every time I’m on that stage. When you see me jumping, I’m just trying to shake my nerves. Tonight, I feel even more out of my league. But that’s why I’m singing a fighter’s anthem. I’ve been put through hell this year and this performance is my response.”
What are you not? “I may be a kangaroo, but I’ve never lived in Australia.”
Panel guesses: Amber Rose, LeAnn Rhimes, India.Arie
Kitty
Song: "It's All Coming Back to Me Now," by Celine Dion
Voice-over: “Since starting young, for a large part of my life I’ve struggled with my self-image, regardless of my success. My mind only saw darkness and ugliness when I looked in the mirror. Even when I first got here, I felt like I was at a party meant for other people, like I was the odd cat out. But there’s something special to me that happens when I put on the Kitty costume. She makes me feel assertive, and confident, and beautiful. Every week I get to let my freak flag fly, and show the depth of my soul. That newfound confidence has been building to tonight. I feel like I deserve to be here and could go all the way.”
What are you not? “I was not dreaming when Robert Redford helped me to get my very first role.”
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Panel guesses: Nicole Richie, Vanessa Hudgens, Emma Roberts, Avril Lavigne
Banana
Song: "Sweet Home Alabama," by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Voice-over: “When I first got here, I was just a party boy looking for a good time. But after that first performance, I didn’t want to take this costume off. But man, a traumatic injury from my past made me forget the lyrics for my second performance. But I rallied the next go-round. Now I can’t believe I’m in the Super 9, and I’m not ready for the trip to end here.”
What are you not? “I can tell you this, blue collar has many, many meanings. When I say blue collar, I’m a funny guy, but not stand-up funny.”
Panel guesses: Bret Michaels, Brad Paisley, Billy Ray Cyrus
Frog
Song: "Jump," by Kriss Kross
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Voice-over: “Let me tell you, I love, love, love being the Frog. On that stage, the passion for performing I’ve lost over the years has been totally reinvigorated. Plus, this getup allows me to do things I couldn’t do when I had to be all concerned about my image. I can be the same guy on stage that I am at home with my fam. I know there are some crazy talented vocalists in this competition, but I’m busting my butt to entertain you in ways they can’t. I even take a power nap before each performance, so these frog legs can give you every inch of my energy.”
What are you not? “I am actually not a trained dancer at all. Do you feel me, baby?”
Panel guesses: Sisqo, Omarion, Lil Romeo
Night Angel
Song: "Rise Up," by Andra Day
Voice-over: “My time on this show has honestly felt like cloud nine. I’ve avoided putting myself front and center for years. I get scared of standing alone after facing rejection in my past. And helping others for so long has made spreading my own wings incredible. Even though I’m behind a mask, I feel I can see endless possibilities in my future. Thanks to this show, and that’s why tonight I’ve chosen a song that’s become my new mantra.”
What are you not? “I’m not just a voice, I’m a mogul.”
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Panel guesses: Tamar Braxton, Brandy, Tisha Campbell
Rhino
Song: "What A Man Gotta Do," by Jonas Brothers
Voice-over: “My journey on ‘Masked Singer’ has been pushing me and forcing me to grow in places I never dreamed. Earlier in life, I tried to be what everyone wanted me to be. I became comfortable playing a role. But I learned over the years that true progress happens at the edge of your comfort zone. Airplanes aren’t built so they can stay safe in a hangar. They’re built to take to the sky. And so tonight, I’m doing my most upbeat, dancey song yet. Now, are you ready for some truth bombs? It’s funny the panel thinks I’m an athlete because of my size. Music has been my passion since I was a child. One, I’ve risen up the Billboard charts and two, you may even have an album of mine.”
What are you not? “I’m not nearly as tall as you think I am.”
Panel guesses: Vince Gill, Duff McKagan, Derek Jeter
Astronaut
Song: “Never Gonna Give You Up,” by Rick Astley
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Voice-over: “My ‘Masked Singer’ journey couldn’t have come at a better time in my life. For years I’ve been searching for a chance to blast away labels that have been imposed on me. On my old planet, something happened that changed the course of my career. I was forced to start over. But negativity made it tough to launch again. But here, in this new world, I have an incredible support system around me. I’m free to break boundaries and explore new territories. No tether attached. I’m not a competitive guy, but boy, do I want to plant my flag in that finale.”
What are you not? “Not as much what I’m not, but I’ve never had traditional voice training.”
Panel guesses: David Archuleta, JC Chasez, Ryan Tedder


chicagotribune--2020-04-02--As spring rains arrive amid the coronavirus crisis, towns prep for flooding: ‘Last year was really s

As spring rains arrive amid the coronavirus crisis, towns prep for flooding: ‘Last year was really scary. You never know what the river is going to do.’

Last year , Rock Island needed to rent pumps in order to get water out of the city at a @ @ @ @ @ month .
The river was above flood stage for nearly 90 days in 2019 .
@ @ @ @ @ the city has applied for federal flood relief so the city can buy its own @ @ @ @ @ the river rises .
This type of response , Tweet said , was once needed @ @ @ @ @ Now , he said , “ it ’ s pretty much every year , and @ @ @ @ @ .
”

In Rock Island, public works crews are staggering their hours. In central Illinois, dredging work continues at the confluence of the Illinois and Sangamon rivers, though the main focus has been on making sure local restaurants in the river town of Beardstown are able to weather the coronavirus crisis. In Chester, on the Mississippi River south of St. Louis, the river already is at flood stage, affecting downtown’s Water Street. But levels are nowhere near where they were last summer, and the river is expected to drop in coming days.
Throughout the state, with the ramifications of coronavirus shutdowns changing life for Illinois communities large and small, the preparations for spring flooding, which ravaged large swaths of the state last year, have continued despite the abnormal circumstances. As local, state and federal agencies scramble to react to the public health needs of COVID-19, cities and towns throughout Illinois must also keep one eye on the weather forecast and river levels.
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Spring rains, arriving in earnest throughout much of the region in recent days, will not wait for the coronavirus. Public works departments, emergency management officials and those who live in Midwestern communities along the Mississippi, Illinois and smaller regional rivers are continuing to prepare if, or when, water levels rise again.
In mid-march, the National Weather Service’s spring flood outlook forecast that the southern Great Lakes and Midwest will likely see above normal precipitation for the April through June period.
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“This unfortunately includes the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio River basins,” the weather service reported. “These precipitation probabilities have increased from previous outlooks.”
The good news, said Bob Smerbeck, senior meteorologist with Accuweather.com, is that this spring likely will be drier throughout the Midwest compared with the “perfect storm” of 2019 that started with a snowy winter in the upper Great Plains, followed by big rains in March and a dip in the jet stream that fueled lots of moisture for weeks throughout the Mississippi River Valley.
“That pattern was relentless,” Smerbeck said. “Last year, everything went wrong. ... Although we will see some flooding this year, we don’t think it’ll be as bad as last year.”
An aerial view of flooding caused by the damaged Len Small levee, upper left, on the Mississippi River near Cairo, Illinois, seen on Nov. 6, 2019. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Flooding on the Mississippi River and its tributaries throughout Illinois and the Midwest caused an estimated $6.2 billion in damage in 2019, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The floods, which overwhelmed towns, farms, roads, bridges, levees and dams, contributed to the deaths of four people across 13 states.
The flooding in Illinois and the surrounding states last year was the costliest since 2008, when Midwest states suffered $12.1 billion in damage. The Quad Cities, along the Mississippi River on the Illinois-Iowa border, was particularly hard hit.
But so far, the coronavirus has had minimal effect on flooding preparations in Rock Island on the banks of the Mississippi. The city has been rotating shifts for the city’s three dozen public works field employees in order to minimize social interactions. Crews are now rotating on a one-day-on, one-day-off schedule, Rock Island city manager Randy Tweet said.
Sandbags are already prepared if needed, with more materials on hand if spring rains lead to a swelling of the river like a year ago. Last week, the Mississippi River registered about 15 feet, Tweet said. At 18 feet, Rock Island moves to install its portable flood wall.
“We’ve obviously been dealing with this for decades, so we have a pretty good organization plan that we follow,” Tweet said.
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Last year, Rock Island needed to rent pumps in order to get water out of the city at a cost of $10,000 per month. The river was above flood stage for nearly 90 days in 2019. This year, Tweet said the city has applied for federal flood relief so the city can buy its own pumps to have onsite when the river rises. This type of response, Tweet said, was once needed only every few years. Now, he said, “it’s pretty much every year, and sometimes multiple times per year.”
Farther to the south, in Beardstown, a town of about 5,500 on the Illinois River about 75 miles southwest of Peoria, Mayor Leslie Harris said they are mostly focused on how the coronavirus has been affecting local restaurants and businesses.
A year ago, downtown Beardstown was swamped with floodwaters. But it’s still early in spring, and the river was at 17 feet last week, well below the 32- to 34-foot height of the town’s flood wall, Harris said. Paving work to repair Main Street along the river and other downtown roads damaged by last year’s floodwaters continues, the mayor said, and she hopes the municipal sewers have recovered from the aftermath of 2019′s heavy rains.
“We’re all working together and taking (the coronavirus) seriously,” Harris said, though spring flooding is always on the radar. “Last year was really scary. You never know what the river is going to do.”
At the state level, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency began flood preparation outreach in January and then held statewide meetings with local jurisdictions in February to make sure communities were tracking supplies and updating their plans in the wake of massive flooding throughout Illinois one year ago. Rebecca Clark, a spokeswoman for IEMA, said the coronavirus has not changed operations or preparations.
“As we move into the spring months, we work hand-in-hand with the National Weather Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to evaluate river levels, forecast outlooks and to monitor levee health and frost depth,” Clark said via email. “There have been minimal requests for state assistance as it pertains to flooding."
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency plans, trains and runs exercises in order to be ready to support local and state agencies in the event of a disaster that stretches beyond their capabilities. If a local jurisdiction becomes overwhelmed, said Cassie Ringsdorf, spokeswoman for FEMA Region 5, it can reach out to the state, and if the damage is beyond state resources, the governor can request help from FEMA.
Allen Marshall, spokesman for the Rock Island District of the Army Corps of Engineers, said most of the levee inspections in the district are done well in advance of spring rains and have already been completed, so the coronavirus outbreak has not dented that work.
The pandemic also has not yet changed any plans for the scheduled summer closures of a series of locks and dams on the Illinois River to allow for long-needed repairs and upgrades.
Even as conditions and restrictions shift as the state and region cope with the spread of the virus, Marshall said the Army Corps will do its best to balance its mission with the reality of the situation.
“Public safety is always highest on our list of priorities, and I don’t see that changing,” he said.
In early March, the offices of U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth announced that $4.1 million in emergency federal funds will be directed to the Illinois Department of Transportation, the Army Corps and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for infrastructure repairs caused by last year’s rains and flooding.
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A warmer spring and less snow on the ground in the upper Midwest are the main differences between this year and a year ago, Smerbeck said, although the soil throughout the region is still packed with moisture, meaning that new rain will more easily run off into streams and rivers. Moderate-to-major flooding is still a concern for portions southern Illinois through May, he said, with higher risks toward southern Missouri and the Mississippi Delta regions.
The forecast for April calls for above-average precipitation for central and southern Illinois, Smerbeck said, while areas to the north near Chicago should be in for average rainfall.
One trend keeps coming to the forefront: storms with higher available moisture and more intense rains, Smerbeck said, dropping several more inches than in the past.
“There are more hard-hitters,” Smerbeck said. “It makes sense to expect more intense rain events.”
A year ago, flooding began to plague Illinois in late spring. Persistent rains caused widespread damage to cities and towns along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, particularly in the western and southern parts of the state. The flooding left communities waterlogged for months, delaying or wiping out the planting season of corn and soybeans for farmers.
In Beardstown, Mayor Harris is hopeful that her goal of rehabilitating the town marina will be able to go on as scheduled this year. With the river not yet a concern, the town has been focused on the governor’s stay-at-home order and its effect on local businesses.
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Last weekend, local churches came together to pass out sandwiches to the community, and one of the local banks held a drive-thru candy bag drive.
“We have no fear yet,” Harris said. “We’re just trying to help our current businesses that are essential, and for people to keep calling in their food orders and picking up food and giving them some business.”


chicagotribune--2020-04-01--Favorite for Chicago police superintendent emerges as search officially narrows to three

Brown , 59 , was with the Dallas Police Department for more than 30 years , retiring as its chief @ @ @ @ @ , five police officers were killed , and several others wounded , in an ambush-style @ @ @ @ @ .
Brown also found himself in the national spotlight when officers under his direction killed @ @ @ @ @ him a remote-controlled robot carrying an explosive and detonating it .

Finalists for Chicago police superintendent are Ernest Cato, a CPD deputy chief, Kristen Ziman, chief of police in west suburban Aurora, and David Brown, an ex-Dallas police chief. (Chicago Tribune and Getty photos)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s next police superintendent will either be a woman leading a suburban police department, a former police chief from Texas, or a high-ranking Chicago police official, though sources familiar with the process said a favorite had emerged late Wednesday.
Those sources said former Dallas police Chief David Brown was the leading candidate, and a decision was imminent. Lightfoot is expected to name her choice Thursday, the sources said.
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The three candidates were officially announced Wednesday by the Chicago Police Board as finalists to succeed interim Superintendent Charlie Beck.
Brown is one of two African American candidates on the board list given to Lightfoot for her consideration, along with Chicago police Deputy Chief Ernest Cato. The third name on the list was Aurora police Chief Kristen Ziman, who is white and openly gay.
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Both Brown and Ziman have experienced leading a department when some of their officers were killed or injured in mass shootings.
Brown, 59, was with the Dallas Police Department for more than 30 years, retiring as its chief in 2016. That year, five police officers were killed, and several others wounded, in an ambush-style rifle attack in downtown Dallas. Brown also found himself in the national spotlight when officers under his direction killed the suspect by deploying near him a remote-controlled robot carrying an explosive and detonating it.
The announcement of the finalists sets up a pivotal choice for Lightfoot as the department grapples with trying to reduce gun violence, implement reforms from within CPD as part of a federally mandated consent decree, and adapt to the ongoing COVID-19 emergency.
“This was a difficult decision," said Chicago Police Board President Ghian Foreman. "We had really good people who applied and I think that there were a number of candidates who would have made a good superintendent. It was our job to whittle it down to three.”
Sources familiar with the finalists had also placed former Los Angeles police official Sean Malinowski, who is white, on a shortlist of candidates being considered by the Police Board. He worked as Beck’s chief of staff when Beck was chief of the LAPD, and worked as a top consultant for Chicago’s force when it needed to set up its crime-fighting nerve centers — Strategic Decision Support Centers — throughout the city.
Foreman declined to comment about why Malinowski or other candidates aside from the top three were not finalists.
Reaction from community leaders to the list was immediate.
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Marshall Hatch, longtime pastor of the New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church on the West Side, said he’s most familiar with Cato because he’s worked in that area and is thought of highly by various community groups.
“I just don’t see what Mr. Brown would bring as an outsider,” Hatch said. “And I don’t know that the candidate from Aurora has been sufficiently tested in big-city politics (and policing) to really be viable.”
University of Chicago law professor Craig Futterman, who specializes in police accountability issues and has been overseeing the progress of CPD’s reform efforts, said he doesn’t know enough about the candidates to determine who’d be best suited to run the department, but he said it needs a leader who isn’t afraid to break away from past practices that have put the department in a negative light.
“And that means things like … the courage to hold police officers accountable when they lie or abuse the public, the courage, just as importantly, to embrace the community as a real partner in reform," Futterman said. “We’re long past the incremental gestures toward reform. My experience in both monitoring and overseeing the consent decree just confirms that CPD just remains so resistant to change.”
The nine-member Police Board compiled a five-page job application that listed more than a dozen requirements for the job, including, among other things, ensuring the 13,000-strong Chicago Police Department is compliant in a timely manner with the consent decree and overseeing policies concerning the mental health of officers.
Candidates were asked to talk about themselves in a video presentation, outlining their law enforcement experience and why they’re best suited to be Chicago’s next top cop.
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Ziman, 46, was in the national spotlight last year as Aurora’s police chief when the west suburb was reeling following a mass shooting that claimed the lives of five employees of the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse, and left injured another employee and five Aurora police officers. The gunman was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police.
She grew up in the Aurora Police Department, joining the force as a cadet at 17 and working her way through the ranks to become, in her mid-30s, its first female commander. She was back in the news recently when it was disclosed she had tested positive for COVID-19.
Cato, 54, is a Chicago police deputy chief in charge of three patrol districts — Austin, Harrison and Ogden — primarily on the West Side, which include some of the most violent areas of the city. He has been viewed as a rising star in the department, in part due to his willingness to work with community organizations that offer mediation on gang conflicts and help with social services and jobs. Cato is a 29-year CPD veteran who was a lieutenant before being promoted in October 2017 to commander of the West Side’s Austin patrol district and then deputy chief last year.
jgorner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-27--Niles-based businesses donate stock of face masks to first responders, hospitals

Meyer also supplied some Chicago firefighter friends with more than 300 additional masks that were distributed among Chicago firehouses , @ @ @ @ @ masks went to a customer of American Science and Surplus , who in turn donated @ @ @ @ @ Chicago Hospital , Meyer said , while a neighbor provided about 200 masks to a @ @ @ @ @ .

American Science and Surplus, headquartered in Niles, has donated approximately 1,000 N95 face masks, like this one, to hospitals and first responders around the Chicago area. (American Science and Surplus / HANDOUT)
With face masks in high demand — and short supply — during the COVID-19 pandemic, American Science and Surplus, a retailer, and Rich Foods, a food supplier, have donated substantial quantities of them to hospitals and first responders.
American Science and Surplus owner Patrick Meyer said his business, headquartered in Niles, has distributed about 1,000 N95 masks, which have gone to police, firefighters and hospital workers in recent days. He took the unusual step of giving them away rather than advertising them for sale.
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“Usually when we carry them, people like to use them around the house, for painting and other projects,” Meyer said. “We usually don’t sell them for medical purposes.”
But with news that hospital staffs and first responders were struggling to find fresh masks to protect themselves from exposure to coronavirus, Meyer said he decided to donate the masks to those who could most benefit from them.
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“For them to reuse a mask for a couple of days is heart-wrenching,” he said. “We just decided that whatever we can drum up here, we’re going to donate instead of sell.”
With manufacturer dates from the mid-2000s, the masks, Meyer acknowledged, likely would not have been preferred by medical facilities prior to the pandemic, though N95 masks in general are recommended for use by medical professionals and first responders, he said.
A resident of Niles, Meyer said he reached out to two Niles police officers he knows and supplied them with about 100 face masks for the entire department to use.
With donations of hand sanitizer and hand wipes from Notre Dame College Prep and a local Walmart, the department is well-supplied, indicated Acting Cmdr. Anthony Scipione.
“At this point we’re pretty much stocked and ready for any call we have to respond to,” he said.
Meyer also supplied some Chicago firefighter friends with more than 300 additional masks that were distributed among Chicago firehouses, he said. About 400 masks went to a customer of American Science and Surplus, who in turn donated them to the University of Chicago Hospital, Meyer said, while a neighbor provided about 200 masks to a Chicago hospital where she works.
“It’s not that easy for us to get around, so typically we’ve been donating directly to people who work at different places,” Meyer said.
Another Niles-based company also donated its excess supply of N95 masks to local first responders.
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Rich Products, a global food supplier, provided the Niles Fire Department with masks, but because the department had an adequate supply, a decision was made to donate the masks to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, the village of Niles said.
Meyer said his supply of N95 masks is now largely depleted and he does not anticipate getting any more in stock due to the nationwide shortages. Other types of more “basic” face masks sold out “several times,” he said.
American Science and Surplus operates three retail stores in Chicago, Geneva and Milwaukee in addition to its warehouse in Niles. It carries a variety of items, from the unusual and educational to supplies for the household and hobbies.
Some items that have seen a surge in sales amid the pandemic are vinyl gloves and empty containers that customers are using for homemade hand sanitizer, Meyer said.
“We’ve had people calling us up for stuff we’ve been sitting on for five years,” he said.
jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter: @Jen_Tribune


chicagotribune--2020-04-02--Hosts Connor McKnight and Julie DiCaro are among the cuts at WSCR-AM as parent Entercom responds to

Hosts Connor McKnight and Julie DiCaro are among the cuts at WSCR-AM as parent Entercom responds to ad declines from the coronavirus pandemic

My 8+ year tenure at the Score came to an end today .
I was lucky to work with and @ @ @ @ @ people .
I ’ m proud I was able to work at the station that @ @ @ @ @ but it doesn ’ t make the reality any less painful that I had a @ @ @ @ @ I don ’ t .

WSCR-AM 670 hosts Connor McKnight and Julie DiCaro were among those let go in a national cost-cutting initiative by parent Entercom Communications in response to advertising declines amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The full extent of the job cuts in Chicago, where Entercom has six other stations besides The Score — WXRT-FM 93.1, WBBM-FM 96.3, WBMX-FM 104.3, WUSN-FM 99.5 and WBBM-AM 780, which simulcasts on WCFS-FM 105.9 — was not immediately known.
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Dan McNeil and Danny Parkins, who co-host weekday afternoons on The Score, noted on the air that reporter David Schuster was among those cut loose from the sports talk station and suggested more cuts were likely in time.
My 8+ year tenure at the Score came to an end today. I was lucky to work with and learn from so many great people.
I’m proud I was able to work at the station that got me into the medium but it doesn’t make the reality any less painful that I had a job I loved & now I don’t. — Rick Camp (@RickCCamp) April 2, 2020
Rick Camp, a WSCR midday producer, said via Twitter he had been let go after more than eight years at the station.
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The station has yet to say how it would make do with its reduced workforce.
McKnight and DiCaro confirmed their ousters via social media.
These are tough and uncertain times. Moreso for others than myself, that’s for sure.
Today’s show was my last on The Score. As a result of the pandemic, plans had to be altered and my position was eliminated. — Connor McKnight (@C1McKnight) April 2, 2020
“These are tough and uncertain times. Moreso for others than myself, that’s for sure,” McKnight, who was hired to partner mid-mornings with Dan Bernstein in a major WSCR shake-up two years ago. “Today’s show was my last on The Score. As a result of the pandemic, plans had to be altered and my position was eliminated.”
McKnight first joined WSCR-AM in 2009 through the station’s “Score Search” talent contest, then left for Tribune Broadcasting’s short-lived FM outlet The Game (WGWG LP 87.7), which operated for nine months in 2014.
After a stint at WGN-AM 720, McKnight joined WLS-AM 890 and was for a time its White Sox pregame and postgame host, but the station tore up its multiyear contract with the team in early 2018 as part of parent Cumulus Media’s bankruptcy proceedings.
DiCaro, who practiced law for 15 years before segueing into media, hosted a weeknight program on The Score and co-hosted another on Saturdays.
“Obviously, there are bigger things in our world to worry about at the moment, but it bums me out that the number of women working in sports in Chicago just keeps dwindling,” DiCaro said via Twitter.
Obviously, there are bigger things in our world to worry about at the moment, but it bums me out that the number of women working in sports in Chicago just keeps dwindling. — Julie DiCaro (@JulieDiCaro) April 2, 2020
Entercom Chief Executive David Field sent an email to all employees Thursday morning saying that the coronavirus pandemic had badly hurt advertising revenue.
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“The severity of the situation necessitates us making significant cost reductions in order to cope with the realities at hand,” Field wrote in the memo, announcing there would be jobs cuts and furloughs.
No specific numbers were shared.
"Some very close friends are out of work right now, and it’s sad," McNeil said during his show Thursday. "It’s been tough on everybody, and I wish nothing but the best for our teammates who got launched today. ... This sucks, man. This is an absolute suckfest.”
Field also announced salary reductions of between 10% and 20% for those earning more than $50,000 annually, elimination of 401(k) matches, first quarter and second quarter bonuses and a suspension of its dividend.
“I am deeply saddened that we need to make these painful moves at this time, but they are necessary under the circumstances,” Field wrote.
Field, who said his salary will be reduced 30%, indicated the company hoped to restore regular salaries, bonus eligibility and its 401(k) plan match at the start of the third quarter.


chicagotribune--2020-04-02--Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls former Dallas police chief David Brown the right leader in a time of cris

Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls former Dallas police chief David Brown the right leader in a time of crisis, announces him as choice for police superintendent

“ I had no hesitation about detonating the explosive , ” Brown said in the book .
“ ( Johnson @ @ @ @ @ havoc and bloodshed on my officers and was threatening to snuff out the lives of @ @ @ @ @ showed signs of surrender .
If I were presented with the same circumstances today , @ @ @ @ @ same choice — without question , I ’ d do it again .
”

Chicago police Superintendent David Brown briefs reporters outside Mt. Sinai Hospital, where a Chicago police officer was transported after being fatally shot during a domestic dispute call in the Southwest Side, March 1, 2023. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced her choice of former Dallas police Chief David Brown as the next Chicago police superintendent Thursday, calling him the “humble leader” the city needs to lead it through its violence problem and the unfolding coronavirus emergency.
The selection of Brown, chosen from among the three finalists for the job named by the Chicago Police Board this week, was a crucial choice for Lightfoot, who picked a permanent top cop for the first time since being elected mayor last year.
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At a news conference Thursday making the announcement, Lightfoot said Brown in Dallas made it a mission to bring peace to neighborhoods, and led initiatives on accountability and transparency. Highlighting Brown’s lifelong history of overcoming adversity and track record of reducing crime in that city, Lightfoot declared him the best man for the job here.
“In this time, in this moment, the Chicago Police Department — indeed our city— needs this humble leader,” Lightfoot said. “A man of integrity whose mettle was forged in tragedy,” she said, mentioning his time leading the department through a mass shooting in 2016 that took the lives of several police officers.
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“I know well that a person’s true character comes through in crisis,” she said, adding Brown stepped up and showed exceptional leadership. She said when she watched news reports about the shooting four years ago, she couldn’t have imagined the day when she would be mayor of Chicago and choosing him to lead the city’s police force.
As the Dallas police chief, Lightfoot said, Brown implemented community policing initiatives, implicit bias training, published never-before-released data on officer-involved shootings and made his city “the first in the nation to institute departmentwide de-escalation training.”
“All of which helped bring Dallas’s violent crime rate down to 50-year lows,” Lightfoot said.
After he was introduced, Brown thanked Lightfoot and offered his condolences to the family of the first police officer to lose his life to COVID-19, a death the mayor had announced earlier in the day.
He said his call to serve crosses city lines, led him from Dallas to Chicago and drives his career.
“It’s a fire in my bones,” he said. “All of us are at our best when we serve others.”
He said he was honored to lead police in Chicago. “Chi-Town,” he said. “That Windy City.”
Brown said in fact, Dallas and Chicago have much in common: “strong, proud and tough.” But asked why he would want to take the job in his new city, Brown responded, “Are you kidding me? The city that produced Michelle Obama and elected Mayor Lightfoot? Sign me up for that.”
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He did mention the coronavirus pandemic and said it has shown the value of police officers. Brown pledged to help lead the city out of the crisis.
“We will get our communities up and running again,” Brown said.
Brown’s hiring by Lightfoot awaits official confirmation from the City Council later this month.
The 59-year-old Brown is the third Chicago police superintendent chosen from outside the force since 2008. That year, then-Mayor Richard M. Daley picked longtime FBI veteran Jody Weis as his police boss, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s first selection was New Yorker Garry McCarthy, who held the job from 2011 until 2015.
Brown replaces Charlie Beck, a former Los Angeles police chief who took over as interim superintendent after Lightfoot fired Eddie Johnson late last year. Lightfoot called Beck a cop’s cop and thanked him for his service.
“You came to us in a time of need,” she said, at times growing emotional and calling his departure bittersweet.
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Johnson had been hired by Emanuel in 2016 before Lightfoot dismissed him in December, alleging Johnson lied to her about a late night out in the fall when he had been drinking and was found slumped over in his city-issued vehicle.
Choosing a police superintendent is always politically risky for a mayor. The wrong choice could demoralize rank-and-file cops or anger members of the City Council, and then there’s making sure the person is up for the position, which Lightfoot has said is “one of the toughest jobs in law enforcement.”
One item on the mayor’s checklist: experience as a senior manager of a large organization. Of the three finalists for the job, Brown was the only candidate to lead a police department the size of Dallas’, which had about 3,500 cops when he retired.
Brown will now be responsible for leading CPD through a federally mandated consent decree aimed at reforming the way the 13,000-strong department trains and supervises its officers.
Asked at the Thursday news conference whether the city could meet the demands of the consent decree, Brown noted he had read “the 800 pages" of the document and answered, “We will meet this requirement of the consent decree, without question.”
As far as moving CPD away from its dark days of the Laquan McDonald scandal, which ultimately led to the formation of the consent decree, Brown said an important attribute for officers is “ethical character."
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“Doing what’s right when no one’s looking without being ordered by a court,” he said.
He will also now be in charge of crime-fighting strategies to combat intractable gun violence in the city, while Chicago’s officers at the same time try to adapt to uncertain times brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A veteran of the Dallas Police Department for more than 30 years, Brown was its chief for the 2016 shooting when five police officers were killed, and several others wounded, in an ambush-style rifle attack in downtown Dallas.
And while he was in the national spotlight, officers under his direction used a controversial method to kill the suspect in the shooting, deploying a remote-controlled robot carrying an explosive and detonating it.
Brown recounted his ultimate decision to use the tactic in his 2017 autobiography, “Called to Rise," co-written by journalist Michelle Burford. The plan Brown approved to kill 25-year-old Micah Johnson with the robot did work, but Brown in his book acknowledged some of the criticism about his department’s handling of the incident, which essentially meant executing Johnson before he could have a trial.
“I had no hesitation about detonating the explosive,” Brown said in the book.
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Brown retired the year of the shooting before working in the private sector, including as an ABC News contributor on law enforcement, race and social justice issues.
Born and raised in Dallas, Brown, a devout Christian, became a city cop in 1983 after seeing the negative effect the crack epidemic had on his neighborhood of Oak Cliff.
Brown’s climb to the Dallas department’s top post was marked by tragedy. His former partner was shot and killed in the line of duty in 1988, and his younger brother was slain by a drug dealer in 1991.
Then in June 2010, weeks into his tenure as police chief, his son fatally shot a cop in a Dallas suburb and killed another man, before he was shot and killed himself by police.
On Thursday, Brown talked about how good things have come out of the tragedies he’s experienced.
“As dark as some of those times have been, (it’s) also in those times that I have seen incredible resiliency, faith and the infinite goodness in people,” Brown said. “And I am confident the same characteristics are here in Chicago.”
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jgorner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-04-02--Getting an offer to a selective enrollment high school in Chicago is a big deal. But CPS blames a ‘c

Getting an offer to a selective enrollment high school in Chicago is a big deal. But CPS blames a ‘clerical error’ for some students getting passed up.

One set of parents who got the email said their 13-year-old daughter was extremely stressed going into the test and @ @ @ @ @ of it .
They didn ’ t want to risk her feeling devastated twice , @ @ @ @ @ re just telling her she didn ’ t get an offer at a selective enrollment @ @ @ @ @ tell her later on if she does , which is why they didn ’ t @ @ @ @ @

When the clock struck 5 p.m. on Friday, March 27, eighth grade families throughout Chicago gathered around computers as high school admissions offers started appearing online.
But a week later, some of the teens are still waiting to find out where they got in.
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Nearly 200 students who took the selective enrollment exam at King College Prep in January have since learned that they may have been affected by an error that prevented them from receiving offers from the 11 selective enrollment schools in Chicago Public Schools. CPS officials said they were alerted to the issue late Friday after hearing from families who weren’t seeing scores posted on their online CPS accounts.
Derek Nelson and Erika Chavez’s daughter is one of them. That evening, the girl’s phone starting going off with messages from friends who got in at coveted schools. But no selective enrollment offers were showing on her screen.
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“She’s a pretty mature and reserved kid, so it’s hard to read her," Chavez said. “When her dad and I finally sat down to check in on her, she did say she was disappointed and angry — or the other way around: angry and disappointed.”
Nelson knows what it’s like, though the process has changed since he was a CPS student. He didn’t get into Whitney Young and went to his neighborhood high school, Kenwood Academy. Chavez attended Lane Tech, where their daughter would love to go.
Accepting she didn’t get in to the highly competitive school would be one thing. Waiting for closure is worse.
Derek Nelson and Erika Chavez are waiting to find out what high school their eighth grade daughter, right, will be accepted to attend. They're worried her test scores might be not just misplaced but missing. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Chavez called another eighth grade parent and figured out that her own daughter was missing selective enrollment test scores, which account for one-third of the admissions criteria, along with seventh-grade grades and standardized assessments. Scores are released after the high school application deadline, and often at the same time as high school offers.
“It was disappointment and frustration,” Chavez said. “They work so hard, and there’s just so much stress around this process that begins in seventh grade. To have that transpire in addition to all the social and emotional impact of the ongoing pandemic and transition to remote learning ...”
Months or years of preparation and buildup lead Chicago students to one of the most critical moments in their young lives: finding out, in the spring of their eighth grade year, where they may go to high school in the fall.
Students can apply to as many as 20 “choice” programs and six selective enrollment schools, and get at most one selective enrollment offer and one choice offer, in addition to guaranteed admission at their neighborhood school. “Choice" programs, such as International Baccalaureate, fine arts, prelaw and pre-engineering, have varying admissions criteria, which can include auditions or portfolio reviews, point systems and lotteries.
Current eighth graders who submitted applications received first-round offers Friday, and have until April 22 to accept or decline. That date was pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic. The second-round waitlist process opens April 27.
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Among those eighth graders who did receive their offers, more than half got into their first-choice school, while about 80% received one of their top three choices, according to CPS. However, for just the selective enrollment schools, fewer than 16% of applicants got their first choice.
“We recognize the stress this places on families affected by this delay and we extend sincere apologies,” CPS said in a letter to parents.
Chavez and Nelson’s daughter had prepared for the test for a year but still stayed up late the night before studying extra vocabulary, because that was the most challenging part of the private school admissions tests she’d taken. The test took more than three hours, and she remembers feeling confident, “maybe a little bit too confident.”
“It was way easier than the private school tests,” said the 13-year-old, who attends LaSalle II Magnet School in East Ukrainian Village. “My GPA from the seventh grade was pretty good, my NWEA score was above average, I thought I’d have done well.”
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While she waits to find out, she’s trying to be patient, she said.
“I remember the test being ordinary, and I followed all the directions the lady gave me and finished the questions thinking I’d be getting my results back on March 27,” she said. “... If they couldn’t have my scores for me, did they even get them?”
The email CPS sent to parents indicated the answer may not come this week.
“... We are working to update the score information and expect to have an update for families by early next week. Please be assured that this clerical error will not impact your child’s placement in a selective enrollment school. If your child is eligible, they will be offered a seat at a selective enrollment school."
CPS officials said the letter went to 189 students, but have not explicitly provided the number of students affected by the “clerical error,” or said if their test scores have been located. The district staff is “working on a resolution,” they said.
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One set of parents who got the email said their 13-year-old daughter was extremely stressed going into the test and even more stressed coming out of it. They didn’t want to risk her feeling devastated twice, so for now they’re just telling her she didn’t get an offer at a selective enrollment school, and planning to tell her later on if she does, which is why they didn’t want to be named.
“In the event they don’t get an offer when CPS fixes the issue, we didn’t want to go through that re-traumatization,” the father said.
Parents of affected students say they are worried about next steps and they’re finding it hard to plan without knowing what their options are. They wonder if they should be working on applications for principal discretion, a process through which students who didn’t make the cut can advocate for a spot. And, meanwhile, private school deadlines are looming. Chavez and Nelson’s daughter applied to private schools too, and the family was waiting on CPS offers before making a final decision.
Though the district may have its hands full, Nelson said the shutdown has only given parents like him more time to worry, and he wonders how the error could have been prevented.
Chavez keeps thinking of her daughter and her peers, for whom the high school offers are similar to decisions seniors face about college. “It boils down to, we have been working and looking forward to this for so long, and to not have an answer,” she said.
In Humboldt Park, right at 5 p.m. on March 27, Kathleen Lyons and her daughter sat in front of the computer and opened the results page, the eighth grader hoping for a spot at the same school as her older sister. She’d felt good about the test she took in January. But they saw no selective enrollment offers, and no test results.
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Lyons remained glued to the computer, refreshing the site, until nearly midnight, while her daughter got text after text about friends getting into schools, including her top pick. Her daughter had planned to bake a cake to celebrate the news. She baked one anyway.
“She’s just waiting and waiting and waiting,” Lyons said. “She’s disappointed. All her friends know where they’re going, and it would be nice to know if you’re going with them or not.”
Lyons is trying to be understanding, while obsessively checking a parent blog and the GoCPS portal for updates.
“I feel bad, because I know the school is going through a lot,” she said. “I feel like it will work out in the end.”
hleone@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-04-02--Watch live: Mayor Lori Lightfoot discusses Chicago’s next police superintendent

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has chosen former Dallas police Chief David Brown to be the next Chicago police superintendent , making @ @ @ @ @ 12 years to lead the nation ’ s second largest police force , according to @ @ @ @ @ updates here .

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chicagotribune--2020-04-02--Column: Ed Farmer will be remembered as a South Sider all the way through

Back in the mid-1990s , Farmer convinced me to become an organ donor to help others in need .
I @ @ @ @ @ card in my wallet , which was signed by Ventura , who was serving as @ @ @ @ @ Farmer organized seeking organ and tissue donors .
Ventura said he wound up getting an @ @ @ @ @ tissue donor after he retired , years after breaking it during a game .

White Sox announcer Ed Farmer writes out the game roster before a game against the Royals at Guaranteed Rate Field on April 26, 2017. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
The White Sox family is a close-knit bunch, from the security guards at the clubhouse door to the office of Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.
You understand why just by glancing through the media guide, where you’ll quickly notice the number of employees who have worked two, three or even four-plus decades in the organization.
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You come to the corner of 35th Street and Shields Avenue for the job, and one day you look up and realize you’ve been there your whole career.
That’s one of the reasons the loss of Ed Farmer resonates so much. Few members of the Sox family were as beloved as Farmer, the longtime radio voice who died Wednesday night at age 70.
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Robin Ventura, the former Sox manager and third baseman, put it best Thursday when discussing the death of his old friend from his home in Stillwater, Okla.
“He was a South Sider all the way through,” Ventura said. “It’s a sad day.”
[ Share your Ed Farmer memories on our White Sox Fans page ]
Farmer liked to talk and he loved to tell stories — from the minute he got out of his car in the Sox Park parking lot to the moment he left the booth after the game. And he was always networking, even before the term became popular.
“One of the greatest things about him, no matter what situation he was in, no matter who he met or who he was around, he was always himself,” Ventura said. “He was opinionated but also knowledgeable. His love of Notre Dame was funny. He never went there, but he was like the sacred son of Notre Dame.
“He just knew so many people, had different connections and would always try to connect people together. He didn’t care what was going on, he was going to connect two people. Even with his health issues, he never had bad days.”
Ed shared about his love of baseball and his hometown team with SoxTV last year. pic.twitter.com/3cNhJb8Je2 — Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) April 2, 2020
Farmer and I had a few things in common. We were born in the same hospital — Little Company of Mary in Evergreen Park — went to Catholic schools and grew up going to Sox games and loving Notre Dame football. I loved listening to his old stories, whether they were embellished or not.
But as affable as he was, Farmer could also be stubborn, such as last spring when the Sox offered him a handicapped parking pass and he refused to use it. I tried to talk him into it, telling him the word itself didn’t mean anything — that the pass would simply make his walk from the parking lot to the booth a little shorter and a lot easier.
Farmer’s response? He said he would just get to the park a few minutes earlier, but thanks anyway.
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It was the old ballplayer in him, or maybe it was the South Side attitude he could never shed, even if he wanted.
When you know everyone, as Farmer seemed to, it’s hard to tell anyone not to stop by and say hi. That’s why the Sox radio booth was often as crowded as the State Street “L” stop at rush hour.
“And he rips one into left! Konerko. Grand slam!” Will never forget how happy I was in that moment. Chills, every time. @MLBNetwork (🎥: @whitesox) pic.twitter.com/JH6Nht9z25 — Stephen Nelson (@StephenNelson) April 2, 2020
“A guy of his stature could’ve been phony and fake,” WGN-AM broadcaster Andy Masur said. “But the way he treated everyone was what I’ll remember. He was real. The true characters of the game, those old-school guys that have their opinions about how the game should be played and how it was played, there are not many of them left.”
Masur said Farmer had “a multitude of stories,” adding with a laugh: “Sometimes they ended differently than the first time you heard it.”
My favorite was about the time he went to New York with his family in high school and tried to get into Yankee Stadium during the offseason. His mother told a security guard that Ed would one day be playing in the majors, but that still didn’t convince the guard to let them inside.
Years later, Farmer finally made it to the majors and was entering a game at Yankee Stadium out of the bullpen. Back then relievers were driven to the mound in bullpen carts, and as luck would have it, the same security guard — who Farmer said he remembered because he had a couple missing fingers on one hand — was driving the cart.
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“Ed noticed the guy’s fingers, and looked at him and said ‘Remember me? You’re the guy that wouldn’t let me in,’ ” Masur said. “Then he got up and walked to the mound. He wouldn’t take the cart. What are the odds on that happening?”
Cardinals radio voice John Rooney, who was Farmer’s former radio partner with the Sox, recalled him flinging a burnt pizza onto the netting behind the plate during a game and once using a swear word after a brutal loss, referring to Detroit as the “(bleeping) Tigers.”
White Sox broadcasters John Rooney and Ed Farmer call a game against the Cubs at Wriglley Field in 2000. (JOHN LEE / CHICAGO TRIBUNE)
Farmer was a homer, no doubt about it. During a Sox losing streak in 1993, he decided to help out during a trip to Boston.
“The team wasn’t going well, so to lighten things up, I borrowed a bellhop uniform and went out one day and got the players cabs,” he told me later. “Made about $35 in tips.”
“Really?” I asked. “From the Sox players?”
Farmer scoffed and walked away.
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True story? Who knows? But in 2000, he gave the idea to Sox manager Jerry Manuel, who had been suspended for his role in the team’s brawl with the Tigers and had to go back to the hotel before the start of a game. When the team bus came back after a win, Manuel was there in the lobby wearing a bellhop hat, greeting the players as they entered.
Later that season, Farmer and coach Bryan Little bought giant Afro wigs for Frank Thomas, Ray Durham and Bill Simas to wear during pregame stretching, helping to lighten the mood.
Whatever it took.
Joe Crede rides a double decker bus with Sox radio broadcaster Ed Farmer, Geoff Blum and Aaron Rowand during the White Sox World Series rally in 2015. (Bonnie Trafelet, Chicago Tribune)
But while Farmer never took himself too seriously, he was very serious about his craft.
“Ed knew what was going to happen in a game many times before it happened,” Rooney said. “He knew his baseball, really knew his pitching, and that’s what made him a good scout and then a good analyst. He was a quick study on play-by-play as well.
“You never knew what he was going to say, what was going to come out of his mouth, but you knew it would be pretty entertaining. I like to think I learned a lot of baseball from Ed, and he learned a lot of play-by-play from me, and that’s why we got along so well.”
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In his final years on the job, Farmer became a target for a vocal minority of Sox fans who didn’t like his style. That’s an occupational hazard for all broadcasters, though much of the criticism was unnecessarily harsh and personal.
“It bothered him a little, but at the end of the day he moved forward,” Masur said. “It wasn’t in his nature to let that stuff bother him. No one wants to hear that, but it didn’t affect the way he went about his job or his personality at all."
Farmer fought through a hereditary kidney disease that eventually led to a kidney transplant from his brother, Tom, nearly three decades ago. But you wouldn’t know about his health issues from talking to him. During the SARS outbreak in Canada in 2002, he couldn’t travel to Toronto for fear of catching it, so he provided the color while watching games on TV back home.
“He battled the polycystic kidney disease like crazy,” Rooney said. “But he was so upbeat about it. He did the first game from the studio in Chicago, and you wouldn’t know he wasn’t there. Ed is definitely one of the voices of summer you’re going to miss. I don’t care if you’re a White Sox fan or a Cubs fan. We both shared the opinion that if we’re not having fun, the fan is not having fun.
“I know Ed enjoyed going to the ballpark every day and being around those people that he liked. I heard (Vin) Scully say in his message to the country on this coronavirus, that when he left the booth, it wasn’t so much the game he missed, but the people. Ed, I think, was the same way.”
Back in the mid-1990s, Farmer convinced me to become an organ donor to help others in need. I still have that faded donor card in my wallet, which was signed by Ventura, who was serving as a witness at the event Farmer organized seeking organ and tissue donors. Ventura said he wound up getting an ankle joint transplanted from a tissue donor after he retired, years after breaking it during a game.
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Maybe the best way to honor the memory of Farmer is to become an organ and tissue donor yourself.
It would be a fitting tribute to a guy who was a South Sider all the way through.


chicagotribune--2020-04-02--Guilty plea lays bare ex-state Sen. Martin Sandoval’s greed in red-light camera bribery scheme. ‘So

Guilty plea lays bare ex-state Sen. Martin Sandoval’s greed in red-light camera bribery scheme. ‘So why don’t I get that offer?’

He was more subdued during the hourlong hearing , standing at the lectern with his hands folded in front of @ @ @ @ @ his pockets .
His voice cracked a bit as he said , “ I plead @ @ @ @ @ ” to each of the two counts .
At one point as the hearing neared @ @ @ @ @ to wipe away a tear .

Former state Sen. Martin Sandoval leaves the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse after pleading guilty to bribery and tax charges on Jan. 28, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)
State Sen. Martin Sandoval had already taken tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from a clout-heavy red-light camera company when he complained to one of its representatives in 2018 that he was getting stiffed.
After all, as the head of the Senate’s Transportation Committee, Sandoval was the one sticking out his neck on behalf of the company in Springfield, the senator told the executive during a meeting at a Burr Ridge restaurant, according to federal prosecutors.
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Yet the company, SafeSpeed LLC, was giving far more lucrative deals to other politically connected “consultants,” cutting them in on a percentage of the camera revenue that kept cash rolling every month, Sandoval told the representative, who was secretly recording the conversation for the FBI.
“So why don’t I get that offer?” Sandoval griped. “'Cause you know I’ll go balls to the walls for anything you ask me. ... It’s hard for me to swallow how (people) make so much off of you. Right? And I gotta do the work.”
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That conversation was one of several revealing moments made public as Sandoval pleaded guilty Tuesday to bribery and tax charges, and agreed to cooperate in a burgeoning, widespread probe of public corruption that has sent shock waves from Chicago’s City Hall to Springfield.
Sandoval’s 27-page plea agreement laid bare a striking level of greed, even in a state accustomed to elected officials going off to prison for trading political power for cash.
During the lengthy hearing in federal court, Sandoval admitted taking more than a combined quarter of a million dollars in bribes in exchange for his political influence or official action, including at least $70,000 in government-supplied cash from a SafeSpeed representative who was working with authorities in return for Sandoval acting as its “protector” in the state Senate.
The agreement did not divulge how Sandoval pocketed the other $180,000 other than saying he "engaged in corrupt activities with other public officials and accepted money from other people in return for using his position to benefit those people and their business interests.” Sandoval’s criminal activity “involved more than five participants,” prosecutors said.
Former state Sen. Martin Sandoval leaves the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago following his arraignment on Jan. 28, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
In pleading guilty, Sandoval became the first to be convicted in an ongoing corruption probe that has touched on a who’s who of state power players, including a handful of other elected officials; magnates in the construction, asphalt and casino industries; lobbyists; transportation officials; and Commonwealth Edison executives.
Speaking to reporters in the lobby of the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, U.S. Attorney John Lausch said prosecutors’ work in the widespread probe was “far from over" but declined to discuss who else might be in their crosshairs.
Sandoval, who was released on his own recognizance, made a brief statement to reporters as he left the courthouse, saying he was “ashamed” and took “full responsibility” for his actions.
“I apologize to the people of Illinois and most importantly the constituents that I’ve served over the last 17 years," he said. "... I intend to fully cooperate with the government, and because of that, I can no longer provide any further comments.”
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Under preliminary sentencing guidelines, Sandoval, who resigned from office effective Jan. 1, faces up to about 12 ½ years in federal prison, according to his plea deal. But in exchange for his continued cooperation in the probe, prosecutors agreed to recommend a reduced sentence of unspecified length.
Dressed in a dark gray suit and blue tie, Sandoval chatted with his attorney before the hearing, smiling at reporters and spectators filing into U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood’s 19th-floor courtroom.
He was more subdued during the hourlong hearing, standing at the lectern with his hands folded in front of him and occasionally shoved in his pockets. His voice cracked a bit as he said, “I plead guilty, your honor,” to each of the two counts. At one point as the hearing neared the end, Sandoval appeared to wipe away a tear.
Wood set a status hearing for July. Sandoval won’t be sentenced until he completes his cooperation — a potentially lengthy period.
The plea deal did not identify the red-light camera business involved in the bribery scheme, referring to it only as “Company A.” But Sandoval slipped up by referring to Safe Speed LLC when Wood asked him in court to explain his misconduct in his own words.
“I used my office as state senator to help SafeSpeed — er, company A ... (and) be its protector in the Illinois Senate and influence other officials to roll out the red-light camera program in Illinois,” Sandoval said.
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Prosecutors did not name the SafeSpeed representative who bribed Sandoval, referring to him in the plea agreement only as Cooperating Witness-1. Several sources familiar with the investigation identified the informant for the Tribune as Omar Maani, a Burr Ridge businessman who is one of SafeSpeed’s founders and biggest rainmakers.
SafeSpeed released a statement through a publicist Tuesday saying the company was “shocked and saddened” at the betrayal of public trust by Sandoval and CW-1, saying the bribe payments were not authorized by anyone at the company.
“It appears both individuals committed crimes without SafeSpeed’s knowledge and in violation not only of the law but of SafeSpeed’s culture,” the statement read.
SafeSpeed, however, declined to answer any questions from the Tribune about the extent of CEO Nikki Zollar’s awareness of the political donations being made on the company’s behalf.
Sandoval’s guilty plea at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in downtown Chicago came just a day after he was charged. He also pleaded guilty to filing a false income tax return that underreported his 2017 income as $125,905 when he, in fact, made more than double that, according to the plea deal. Sandoval failed to report more than $10,000 stemming from criminal activity, prosecutors said.
Sandoval admitted in the plea agreement that he first agreed in 2016 to receive $20,000 in annual campaign contributions from SafeSpeed in exchange for his official support in Springfield, including blocking any attempted legislation that would be harmful to the red-light camera industry.
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Campaign finance records analyzed by the Tribune show that the $20,000 was doled out in two separate payments in September 2016 The first $10,000 donation came from a separate firm run by Zollar, Triad Consulting Services, followed three weeks later by a $10,000 donation made by SafeSpeed itself, the records show.
In August 2017, Sandoval spoke with CW-1, the SafeSpeed representative, about splitting up the annual donation into smaller amounts, according to the plea deal. CW-1 told Sandoval it wouldn’t be a problem because the firm’s president “did not want the contribution to ‘shout out,’ meaning raise a red flag,” the plea agreement said.
Several months after that conversation, the Tribune published an investigation documenting how Sandoval intervened on behalf of SafeSpeed to push state transportation officials to change their stance and allow the company’s cameras to be installed at the relatively safe intersection of Illinois Route 83 and 22nd Street in Oakbrook Terrace.
The push came even though the Illinois Department of Transportation’s policies required that cameras target dangerous corners to improve safety, the Tribune found.
Details in the plea agreement seemed to indicate that Sandoval was worried about the Tribune’s report, saying he “tore up" a check provided by CW-1 "following publicity regarding Sandoval’s relationship with Company A."
To better disguise the money trail, Sandoval then arranged for an entity unrelated to SafeSpeed to make a $10,000 contribution to a campaign associated with the senator while agreeing to “explore other ways for the company to make its annual campaign contribution,” the plea agreement said.
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In March 2018, Sandoval arranged to have a colleague — identified in the plea agreement only as “Co-Schemer A” — collect $10,000 in cash from the SafeSpeed representative in exchange for blocking a proposed bill in Springfield to ban red-light cameras.
Despite the regular contributions, Sandoval was clearly unhappy with the amount he was being paid, especially since he knew SafeSpeed was paying a monthly percentage of camera revenue to “consultants” for helping convince suburbs to have them installed, according to the plea deal.
In the July 2018 meeting in Burr Ridge, Sandoval told the SafeSpeed representative that he was aware others were getting cash “on a monthly basis, infinitum,” for providing essentially the same assistance he did in helping land the company the camera deal in Oakbrook Terrace.
Later in the same discussion, Sandoval discussed receiving regular “protection” money from SafeSpeed to help fend off legislation that would harm its business, the plea deal said.
“I’m not trying to be dramatic, but I’m telling you the vultures would be all over that s--- if you had the wrong person there,” Sandoval allegedly told CW-1 of the Senate.
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Sandoval initially insisted that CW-1 would have to decide how much to pay for protection, saying that naming figures was “just not my style,” according to the plea deal.
When the representative asked him to pick a figure “off the top of your head,” Sandoval responded, “Five,” meaning $5,000 a month, prosecutors said.
The two also discussed how to disguise the payments as campaign contributions, with Sandoval at one point asking CW-1, “Do you have a bologna company or something innocuous?" to help funnel the cash, according to the plea agreement.
The next month, CW-1 again met Sandoval at a restaurant and handed over $15,000 in cash supplied by the government — a transaction likely captured on video by federal authorities.
[ Ex-state Sen. Martin Sandoval charged with bribery in red-light camera scheme ]
Sandoval was the fourth elected official to be charged in a series of sweeping political corruption investigations that first came to light 14 months ago when the FBI descended upon the City Hall offices of Ald. Edward Burke.
In pleading guilty to a felony related to his public duties, Sandoval is by law ineligible to collect his state pension. Unless the court directs the state pension system to garnish his contributions, however, Sandoval could apply for a refund of the $142,575.22 he has paid into the system. He had not applied for a refund as of Tuesday.
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The investigation of Sandoval went public in September when federal agents executed a high-profile search of his office in Springfield and his home on Chicago’s Southwest Side.
The warrant showed the FBI was looking for items related to so-called Asphalt King Michael Vondra, a major Sandoval political donor whose offices in Bartlett were also visited by agents that day. The warrant named Vondra and about 20 of his businesses and associates, including John Harris, former chief of staff to imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Sandoval’s connections to ComEd — where his daughter, Angie, works as a senior account representative — have also been probed.
Authorities have also sought evidence from Sandoval’s office about Rick Heidner, a major video gambling operator. Heidner had planned to build a southwest suburban horse track and casino, but the plan was scuttled in October after the Tribune reported that Heidner has long-standing business relationships with a mob-connected banker and a convicted bookie.
Three days later after hitting Sandoval’s office, the FBI and Internal Revenue Service also raided government buildings in a number of suburbs in Sandoval’s district, including Lyons and McCook. Authorities have also sought records on the towns of Cicero, Bridgeview and Summit.
Records show the FBI has sought information on Cook County Commissioner and McCook Mayor Jeff Tobolski and Lyons Mayor Christopher Getty as part of the probe.
Also under investigation is Oakbrook Terrace Mayor Tony Ragucci, who resigned earlier this month on the same day the Tribune reported that he’d recently paid $30,000 from his campaign fund to a lawyer representing him in the probe.
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None of the mayors has been charged with wrongdoing.
A separate probe delving into the lobbying practices of utility giant ComEd has led to FBI raids on current and former lawmakers and political operatives, including several who are close confidants of House Speaker Michael Madigan.
A paragraph has been revised to include the information that the source of the $70,000 in bribery money was the government.
Chicago Tribune’s Dan Petrella and David Heinzmann contributed.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com
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jmahr@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-04-02--Blackhawks sign Matthew Highmore and Kevin Lankinen to extensions, securing 2 young talents through

Blackhawks sign Matthew Highmore and Kevin Lankinen to extensions, securing 2 young talents through 2022

“ You look at a guy like Highmore , he ’ s playing unbelievable on the fourth line , he @ @ @ @ @ player , ” Patrick Kane said last month .
“ Plays hard , gets in @ @ @ @ @ a lot of pucks back , plays for the team , so it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ in that maybe wouldn ’ t have had an opportunity like that at the beginning @ @ @ @ @

The Blackhawks agreed to contract extensions with forward Matthew Highmore and goaltender Kevin Lankinen, and signed forwards Evan Barratt and Andrei Altybarmakyan to entry-level contracts, the team announced Thursday.
Highmore and Lankinen’s signings tick off two from the Hawks’ list of young restricted free agents they’ll try to sign — a task made tougher by what’s expected to be a flat salary cap because of the suspended NHL season.
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Highmore agreed to a two-year extension that runs through 2021-22 and averages $725,000. Lankinen’s two-year deal averages $800,000.
The Hawks like Highmore’s speed, energy and work ethic. He split the season between Rockford and Chicago and had two goals and four assists in a career-high 36 NHL games.
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“You look at a guy like Highmore, he’s playing unbelievable on the fourth line, he’s a perfect fourth-line player,” Patrick Kane said last month. “Plays hard, gets in on the forecheck , wins a lot of pucks back, plays for the team, so it’s fun to see guys come in that maybe wouldn’t have had an opportunity like that at the beginning of the season.”
Lankinen, an AHL All-Star for the first time season, posted a 8-10-2 record, 3.03 goals-against average and .909 save percentage with the IceHogs.
Barratt’s three-year entry-level deal runs through 2022-23 with an $870,000 average. Altybarmakyan’s two-year entry-level contract carries an $817,500 average.
The Hawks drafted Barrat in the third round in 2017, and the Penn State junior tied for the Nittany Lions team lead with 12 goals this season.
Altybarmakyan, another 2017 third-rounder, notched KHL career highs in goals (six) and assists (11) for HK Sochi.


chicagotribune--2020-04-02--Family, animal lovers remember Niles veterinarian who died after COVID-19 diagnosis: ‘He truly belie

Family, animal lovers remember Niles veterinarian who died after COVID-19 diagnosis: ‘He truly believed all life is precious’

“ He wanted to build things , he wanted to become an architect , ” sister Connie Markoutsas recalled .
@ @ @ @ @ Evanston Golf Club and one day , as he was walking home from there , @ @ @ @ @ on the sidewalk .
He bent down , picked up the bird and carried it @ @ @ @ @ he wanted to help the bird so badly , and he felt helpless .
That @ @ @ @ @ he wanted to become a vet .
”

Long before he became a veterinarian and helmed the Niles Animal Hospital, Dr. Peter Sakas, of Northbrook, was treating and caring for animals.
If a baby bird fell from a tree, a young Sakas was there to nurse it back to health, feeding it through an eye dropper.
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When he and his sister, Connie, caught a rabbit near their Skokie home, they raised it as a pet, feeding it until it outgrew its cage and then, after some convincing from their father, releasing it back into the wild.
“There would always be some type of stray animal, some creature in distress in the house and he was always taking care of it,” Sakas’ youngest brother Jim said.
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But it wasn’t until Sakas was a young teen that he set his sights on a career in veterinary medicine.
“He wanted to build things, he wanted to become an architect,” sister Connie Markoutsas recalled. “He caddied at the Evanston Golf Club and one day, as he was walking home from there, there was a little bird on the sidewalk. He bent down, picked up the bird and carried it home …. Pete said he wanted to help the bird so badly, and he felt helpless. That’s when he decided he wanted to become a vet.”
Family, friends and pet owners from across the Chicago area are mourning the loss of Sakas, the longtime owner of Niles Animal Hospital and Bird Medical Center in Niles, who died March 30, nearly one week after he was admitted to Glenbrook Hospital after experiencing flu-like symptoms, his brother Bill Sakas said.
He was 67.
Sakas’ daughter, Dr. Courtney Sakas, an emergency room physician at Boston Medical Center, said doctors at Glenbrook Hospital confirmed that her father had tested positive for COVID-19.
“I don’t know how he got it,” Bill Sakas said. “I don’t know if he got it at work or somewhere else.”
Niles Animal Hospital informed clients on March 26 that it was closing for a “self-quarantine period,” expected to last through April 7, after an employee had tested positive for COVID-19.
After he was admitted to the hospital, doctors placed Sakas, who had lost a kidney to cancer, on dialysis, but he appeared to be improving later in the week, as reports from the hospital had him telling jokes and laughing with his nurses, Bill Sakas said.
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“By Saturday or Sunday, things went downhill pretty rapidly,” his brother said. “All of a sudden, he was having trouble breathing and his kidney started developing blood clots.”
Peter Sakas was on a ventilator and in a medically-induced coma before he passed away, his siblings said.
“No one was with him when he died, and that’s the worst part of it,” Bill Sakas said. “None of us could see him.”
Veterinarian Dr. Peter Sakas, the longtime owner of Niles Animal Hospital, died March 30. (Bill Sakas / HANDOUT)
The father of two grown children, Courtney and Christopher, Peter Sakas joined Niles Animal Hospital in 1980 while still a veterinary student, working under Dr. T. J. Lafeber during his college breaks, his biography on the animal hospital’s website said.
When Lafeber retired in 1985, Sakas purchased the practice from him.
Throughout the day Wednesday, hundreds of Sakas’ clients, fellow veterinarians and anyone who knew him shared memories, words of appreciation and expressions of grief on his personal Facebook page. In a lengthy post, Courtney and Christopher Sakas wrote that their father’s “love and empathy knew no bounds.”
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“He truly believed all life is precious and that animals have souls,” they wrote. “He practiced medicine in a manner that was testament to those beliefs. He frequently took on cases that others considered helpless and he would often double-book himself or come in to the clinic after hours to care for the animals, both pets and wildlife, he so dearly loved.”
“He was a vet in the same way he was a person: caring and compassionate,” said Al Whitman, who attended veterinarian school with Sakas at the University of Illinois. “He was able to do good and he did it effortlessly because that is the person he was.”
Sakas was known for his care of birds, from parakeets and parrots to wild pigeons and hawks, but he would treat just about any animal brought before him, those who knew him said.
“He took care of everything,” Markoutsas said. “He helped dogs, cats, birds, hawks, deer, geese. You name it, he took care of it.”
In the mid-2000s, Sakas formed a partnership with Barrington-based Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, an organization that provides medical care to injured wildlife and releases the animals back into their habitats when they are well again, said founder and director Dawn Keller.
“He saw the cases that were the toughest, that were beyond what we could do without him,” Keller said. “We took in a really sick red-tailed, adult male hawk that had a huge mass on his neck. (Sakas) did brilliant surgery to remove the mass. It turned out it was benign, the hawk made a recovery and was released.”
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More recently, Sakas was consulting with Keller on the case of a coyote that had been struck by a car in southwest suburban New Lenox, she said.
“He was unhesitatingly there for us, always,” Keller said. “You don’t get that out of people often.”
Longtime Niles veterinarian Dr. Peter Sakas, right, is joined by his father, Steve Sakas, at his graduation from veterinary school in the early 1980s. (Jim Sakas)
John and Elise Ciribassi, also former classmates of Sakas who entered the veterinary field, shared how Sakas never hesitated to answer questions they had about cases or review them himself.
“He will be leaving a hole in our veterinarian community,” Elise Ciribassi, an educator at College of DuPage, said.
Katie Green, of Buffalo Grove, credited Sakas and his staff with saving her cockatiel, Frosty, after a serious accident last year. Sakas’ death, she said, is devastating.
“He was a huge pillar of the bird community,” Green said. “A lot of people take their birds to him. He was very intelligent and an excellent vet and there’s a lot of people’s lives he’s touched. It’s total devastation because he really was an important part of the bird community here.”
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Pam Karlson, of Chicago, visited Sakas for veterinarian services for 35 years, starting when her future husband bought her a parakeet shortly after college. She continued to see him when she added cats to her home through the years.
“I felt he always went the extra mile with the care of our pets,” said Karlson, who also worked with Sakas as a volunteer of Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation. “He called and he followed up.”
Sakas’ sister-in-law, orthodontist Jackie Rosen, recalled how Sakas consulted with her many years ago on an exotic bird with a broken beak who could no longer eat. The pair figured out how to bond orthodontic braces with rubber bands to the outside of the bird’s beak, Rosen said.
“Six weeks later, we took the braces off and the bird was healed,” she said. “Pete was probably the only one who ever put braces on a bird!”
John Garrido, founder of Garrido Stray Rescue Foundation, said he turned to Sakas to care for the many stray dogs and other animals his organization took in off the streets. Last year, the foundation rescued nearly 300 dogs and about a dozen cats, nearly all of which Sakas would see and evaluate, Garrido said.
“He was literally the foundation of our organization,” Garrido said. “It wouldn’t even exist without him.”
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The family of Niles veterinarian Dr. Peter Sakas. From left: Dr. Peter Sakas, cousin Peter Sakas, sister Connie Markoutsas, and brothers Bill and Jim Sakas. (Jim Sakas)
Friends and family recalled Sakas’ dry sense of humor, his compassion for people and animals alike, and his love of music, everything from opera to classic rock. His CD and record collection was immense, family members said.
Daughter Courtney Sakas said she and her father would joke about her decision to become a physician.
“In a teasing way, I would say, ‘There’s a real doctor in the family — I take care of people,’” she said. “He had this really characteristic twinkle in his eye and he would smirk and say, ‘You’re just a specialized veterinarian.’”
Courtney Sakas noted that she had a special appreciation for her father because he gave “patients a voice that didn’t have one.”
“There’s a book called ‘All Creatures Great and Small,’ and he completely embodied that,” she said of the James Harriot novel about a beloved veterinarian.
Son Christopher, who worked alongside his father as a veterinary assistant at Niles Animal Hospital, called Sakas his idol.
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“I plan on going to veterinary school,” he said. “He was my inspiration, being able to work with him and seeing how he interacted with people and animals and how knowledgeable, passionate and loved he was.”
Family members say Sakas didn’t consider his work a job and he likely would have never considered retirement.
“He had a lot of unfinished business,” his brother Jim Sakas said. “There were a lot of animals out there he needed to save.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are no public funeral plans for Dr. Sakas, but family hope to honor him in the future.
“He was too big of a person to contain to a physical body,” Courtney Sakas said. “He deserves to be celebrated. He’s touched so many lives.”
jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter: @Jen_Tribune