chicagotribune--2020-03-08--Chicago police investigating officer-involved shooting in Forest Glen neighborhood

The two people ran from the area and while it wasn ’ t clear if either of them was shot @ @ @ @ @ at St. Bernard Hospital later Sunday with a gunshot wound to the hip , police @ @ @ @ @ and transferred to Stroger Hospital for treatment .
Through investigation , he was determined to @ @ @ @ @ .

Interim police Superintendent Charlie Beck walks on the scene of a shooting where an off-duty officer exchanged shots with a theft suspect on March 8, 2020, in the 5200 block of North Lawler Avenue. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
One man is in custody and charges are pending after an off-duty cop caught two people trying to steal a car part on the Northwest Side and gunfire was exchanged, officials said.
The officer, who is assigned to bike duty in the Town Hall district, was on his way into work in his personal vehicle about 8:30 a.m. when he saw two people in the 5200 block of North Lawler Avenue, who were in the process of stealing a catalytic converter, interim police Superintendent Charlie Beck said during a news conference.
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The officer, who was not named, then approached the two would-be thieves. According to a police spokesman, “the officer identified himself and attempted to intervene.” That’s when one of the thieves drew a weapon and started shooting at the officer, who returned fire, Beck said.
The officer was not injured.
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The two people ran from the area, and while it wasn’t clear if either of them was shot, but one man arrived at St. Bernard Hospital later Sunday with a gunshot wound to the hip, police said.
He was stabilized and transferred to Stroger Hospital for treatment, police said.
The man matched the description of one of those involved in the shooting, so he was taken into custody and charges are pending, said Officer Anthony Spicuzza, a spokesman for the Chicago police.
Earlier, in a Twitter post, Anthony Guglielmi, chief spokesman for police, said the two people took off in a car and that one of the two had been dropped at an area hospital.
Preliminarily, an officer heading into work noticed individuals acting suspiciously near vehicles. He announced his office, to investigate which prompted an armed encounter between he and a gunman. Shots were fired and offenders fled in a car. One was dropped off at area hospital — Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) March 8, 2020
The officer will be placed on administrative duty for 30 days, as is routine. The use of force is being investigated by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability with the full cooperation of the Chicago Police Department, a spokesman said.
No arrests had been announced Sunday morning and authorities continue to investigate.
jvillagomez@chicagotribune.com
pfry@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-08--A proud Lake Michigan beach town battles erosion and one of the country’s newest national parks; ‘It

A proud Lake Michigan beach town battles erosion and one of the country’s newest national parks; ‘It really comes down to the survival of our town’

“ But these things do rebound naturally over time .
So if the lake levels do go down , eventually @ @ @ @ @ available offshore , it will slowly make its way back onshore and rebuild the beach @ @ @ @ @ `` But it ’ s not going to happen overnight .
And for areas where @ @ @ @ @ , the shoreline is not going to heal itself fast enough for those different things @ @ @ @ @ way they were .
”

Rodger Howell looks at erosion behind a protective seawall during a winter storm in Ogden Dunes, Indiana, on Feb. 13, 2020. The town filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Park Service over permit interference issues. Howell, one of the plaintiffs, is the beach nourishment and protection committee chair for Ogden Dunes. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
The sand stretched so far and burned so hot kids jumped from tiptoes to beach towels to cool their feet. When summer hit in Ogden Dunes, a small Indiana town whose identity was tied to a beach on Lake Michigan’s southern coast, technicolor umbrellas popped up. Residents relaxed.
“A lot of the people I’ve met go, oh, when I was a little kid I used to burn my feet trying to get down to the beach because it was so big,” said resident Rodger Howell. “And now you can dip ‘em right in the water.”
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Now, erosion is chewing up parts of northwest Indiana’s shoreline. In Ogden Dunes alone, the beach is decimated; a sliver remains on the west end. The town along with neighboring communities including Beverly Shores, Long Beach and Portage have declared emergencies.
Rodger Howell looks at erosion and damage to properties behind a protective seawall during a winter storm in Ogden Dunes, Indiana, on Feb. 13, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Harbors constructed decades ago disrupted the natural flow of sand. That, combined with near-record high lake levels, diminished ice cover, and major storms, has caused severe damage like that seen in Chicago and other Great Lakes coastal areas. In a town flanked by steel mills and one of the newest national parks — where ownership between the beach and water is split — stakeholders are at odds.
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In January, 50 residents and officials of Ogden Dunes filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court over shoreline protection, claiming dunes, roads and private homes are “in danger of total destruction” if current protections fail. The lawsuit alleges the National Park Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have interfered with the permit process.
On a recent afternoon, beach access was blocked by caution tape encased in ice. At the water’s edge, a splash from a 4-foot wave could harden a winter coat. Patios hovered over crumbling dunes.
“It really comes down to the survival of our town,” said Howell, one of the plaintiffs and chair of the beach nourishment and protection committee for Ogden Dunes. “We’re not looking for help. We’re looking to do this ourselves. We’re looking to get our permits and put this in place. And we’re looking to do what’s been previously agreed that we can do.”
Lake Michigan creeps up to properties behind a protective seawall in Ogden Dunes, Indiana, on Feb. 12, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
However, one of the priorities of the Park Service, which controls property bordering Ogden Dunes, is restoring the natural shoreline and considering long-term impacts.
The lawsuit could signal future battles at a time when solutions dependent on federal studies and funding are sluggish, and as scientists predict more variability in lake levels spurred by climate change.
“This is the challenge of coastal shoreline management, is people want to build in exactly the most beautiful, fragile and dangerous places,” said Richard Norton, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan who studies both policy and legal aspects of coastal management. “And then having built there, they want to do everything they can possibly do to protect that structure. And so more and more, we’re putting priority on protecting the beach house.”
Norton said armoring can come at the expense of the beach.
“It’s heart-wrenching. You don’t ever want to see someone’s house go into the lake,” Norton said. “At the same time, does that mean that we’re going to let everybody armor and never have a beach come back? How do you reconcile that? That’s the challenge that we’re facing.”
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‘In danger of total destruction’
Residents started to become concerned about shoreline protection and sought permits more than a decade ago, Howell said.
“What’s happening here is quite unnatural,” he said. “Without that structure (the Port of Indiana) blocking us to the east, our beach certainly would be smaller with the high lake level, but we think there’d certainly be a lot more. … So we don’t view this as a natural crisis. It’s a man-made one.”
The lawsuit pins the main cause of the erosion on structures at the port, including the Burns Waterway Harbor, ArcelorMittal Harbor, U.S. Steel Harbor and Burns Small Boat Harbor — and says erosion has been exacerbated by high lake levels.
“We were certainly here before the port and the park,” Howell said. “We’re not questioning their right to exist. In fact, we helped with the creation of the park. We appreciate industries there. We just want to cooperate with them.”
Sand bags are piled up at a home in Ogden Dunes, Indiana, on Feb. 12, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Protections installed in the 1980s and ’90s are now exposed to Lake Michigan, according to the complaint, and at least one section of the steel wall is failing. There have been two more structural failures since the complaint, Howell said.
“If any portion of the sheet piling fails, the town infrastructure, including town-owned dunes, beach access ways, roads and utilities — and private homes — are in danger of total destruction,” the lawsuit says. “This in turn could lead to the release of sewage and other pollutants into Lake Michigan endangering the public and wildlife, and will endanger the lives of the occupants of those residences.”
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Protection plans were approved by the state, but the Park Service “repeatedly interfered," according to the lawsuit, and the Army Corps also interfered “by conditioning approval of the project” on the Park Service.
Paul Labovitz, the Indiana Dunes superintendent, said in an email, “the most resilient lake edge is a natural shoreline.”
Some homes on the east end are potentially at risk, Labovitz said, but he does not think the survival of the town is at stake. Labovitz also said the Park Service is concerned that armoring in Ogden Dunes could further erode the bordering West Beach and the Portage lakefront beach.
The Army Corps said the Park Service would only approve beach nourishment, not armoring with large stones as proposed in the permits, the lawsuit says, but the Park Service has allowed stone protection at Indiana Dunes National Park’s Portage lakefront and beach.
“What we would say is that the town of Ogden Dunes is not responsible for beach nourishment,” Howell said. “We aren’t the cause of the starvation."
Indiana state Sen. Karen Tallian, who represents Ogden Dunes, agreed the situation is too dire to delay permits.
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“People are so frustrated,” Tallian said. "We don’t think he (Labovitz) has the jurisdiction to say no. And secondly, it doesn’t make sense that he’s saying no, because if we start losing the houses along the shore of Ogden Dunes, you’re going to have a multimillion-dollar disaster.”
‘Compromise that we live with to this day’
The town of Ogden Dunes was incorporated in 1925, and was meant to be an upper-middle class, restrictive community with golf courses, shooting ranges and a yacht harbor. The Great Depression hit and tanked those ambitions, said Dick Meister, the outgoing president of the Ogden Dunes Historical Society and DePaul University emeritus professor of history. But in later years, an increasing number of middle-class families not only had summer cottages in the town, they became full-timers.
There are about 1,000 residents now, the majority of whom are Indiana residents, and nearly 60 homes dot the coast.
Tallian said she knows it’s been said that “rich people shouldn’t be building their houses along the lake."
“But you’ve got to go to Ogden Dunes and look. Some of those houses were built there in the 1920s,” Tallian said. “And when I first moved to Ogden Dunes in the ‘70s, we had lots and lots of beach. It was never even a thought that we wouldn’t have beach.
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Jennifer Petti, born and raised in Ogden Dunes, said she recently moved back from Alaska.
“Who comes back anywhere from Alaska?” she said. “I love this place. My siblings are like this too. It’s in your DNA. The beach is our home. And it’s not the East Coast or the West Coast. It’s the southern shore of Lake Michigan.
“And where do you meet each other?” Petti asked. “On the beach.”
Signs are posted to keep people away from a home in Ogden Dunes, Indiana, on Feb. 12, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Petti remembers families, coolers, blankets, neighbors next to one another. Kids used to play in the dune grass, catching frogs. The shore was lined with sailboats and windsurfers.
“There’s no place for that now,” Petti said. “I know there’s hope. But to go from that memory to this, is heartbreaking.”
The shoreline crisis is not new; neither are clashes with the Park Service over the beach, said Meister, who’s working on a series of articles for the historical society’s newsletter.
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High water levels and devastating storms came and went across decades, Meister said. But things changed for Ogden Dunes with the construction of industrial structures starting in the 1960s.
Some residents, including Save the Dunes founder Dorothy Buell, fought for protection of the dunes. But the port moved forward, and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was established in 1966 as part of the deal.
“That compromise that created the park is a compromise that we live with to this day,” said Colin Deverell, Midwest program manager of the National Parks Conservation Association. “So much of the erosion challenge at Indiana Dunes National Park is due to the extreme development of the shoreline, which is only exacerbated by climate change, with increasingly severe storms and warmer winters.”
The construction of the Burns Waterway Harbor in 1967 began trapping sand on the east side of the breakwaters, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, “creating sand starved conditions,” and resulting “in erosion and loss of the beaches and sand dunes on the Ogden Dunes shoreline.”
In a 1960 report from the Army Corps, officials said the Port of Indiana would lead to annual erosion of the shoreline west of the harbor. Just how much was significantly underestimated, according to later Army Corps reports.
Cary Troy, an associate professor of civil engineering at Purdue University, said you can think of the shoreline as a conveyor belt — “where as long as what you’re losing is equal to what you’re gaining in terms of the sand moving along the coast, you won’t have erosion, even if the rates of the transport of sand along the coast are very high.”
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The natural movement of sediment leads sand to the middle of Indiana at the southernmost point, Troy said.
“But as soon as you put in a barrier,” Troy said, “you disrupt that conveyor belt, and that will lead to a pile up, or a loss of sand, depending on what side of the barrier you’re on.”
(Jemal R. Brinson/Chicago Tribune)
Up until 2015, sand from dredging was occasionally used to replenish beaches in the Ogden Dunes area. Dredging activities have been limited in recent years due to high lake levels, according to the Indiana natural resources department. But residents said even before 2015, there wasn’t enough sand being placed on the beach.
Now, the town wants to reinforce walls up to 25 feet from lot lines and place rock revetments. According to the lawsuit, the Army Corps and Park Service have failed to comply with state and federal regulations that provide "that Ogden Dunes is an area where erosion rates have been increased by man-made structures and as such, is exempt from the ‘let nature take its course’ philosophy.”
But there’s a patchwork of ownership and controlling interests. While Ogden Dunes owns the beach, the state of Indiana holds the land from the water’s edge to the ordinary high water mark in trust for the citizens of Indiana, according to the Department of Natural Resources. The Army Corps has control over the water’s surface, but the Park Service has jurisdiction within its property boundary — and regulates the area between the high water mark out 300 feet, according to Labovitz.
“You can fight about who owns it, really,” Meister said. “But there are stakeholders who have different goals.”
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‘Going storm to storm’
Lorelei Weimer, executive director of Indiana Dunes Tourism, said the extent of erosion damage became apparent a few years ago when a wheelchair-accessible ramp at the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk area, one of the newest additions to Indiana Dunes National Park, landed in the water.
“And we realized we’ve got some issues going on,” Weimer said.
In November 2018, drone footage of the Portage lakefront showed a dune that could potentially be breached. Weimer said there was hope the dune could be protected.
“We wanted to make sure people understood we were not crying wolf,” said Weimer, who advocated for months at the statehouse to secure funding for a study of the shoreline and beach nourishment. “And the reality of it is this past November, that dune breached. And so now you’ve got this pavilion that’s sitting on this little island, and we’re certainly hoping that it’s not going to fall in the water.”
In nearby Beverly Shores, which was affected by the Michigan City Harbor, most homes were wiped out decades ago, and now “the lake is lapping at the road that’s behind," said Geof Benson, the president of the Beverly Shores Town Council.
Between 2012 and 2019, Beverly Shores’ beach lost about 3,000 dump trucks of sand, according to Troy.
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Beverly Shores is working with the Park Service, which owns the damaged land adjacent to the road.
“We’re not suing them,” Benson said. “That’s the biggest difference.”
National Park Service employees work on emergency erosion control at Lake View Beach in Beverly Shores, Indiana, on Feb. 12, 2020. The beach is scheduled to be closed unto at least May 1. The pink Florida Tropical House can be seen in the background. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Seawalls without revetments are failing, Benson said. There are talks about moving the Florida Tropical House, featured in Chicago’s 1933 World’s Fair, as water encroaches. The town has reached out to get quotes on what it would take to safeguard the road, which houses utilities. That could mean more debt.
“Maybe if somebody ever gets around to an emergency declaration, we might make some of it back,” he said.
Gov. Eric Holcomb signed an executive order in preparation for a declaration, and a website was created to report damage. But some residents are frustrated the state hasn’t declared an emergency.
“The value of what we’re going to lose could be a lot higher than the money to shore it up,” Weimer said.
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In Chicago, Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a state disaster proclamation in February, allowing municipalities to apply for federal funding after a January storm caused $37 million in damages.
A declaration cannot occur unless infrastructure is damaged, according to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, and the erosion is not tied to a single incident — presenting another obstacle.
Long-term interests, short-term needs
The high lake levels have forced the hand of stakeholders along the Great Lakes, said Troy, the Purdue professor. The challenge is balancing long-term interests with real short-term needs.
Beach nourishment is generally “a long-term process that leads to a healthy coast over longer periods of time,” Troy said. “And when you have houses that are threatening to fall into the lake, that requires more of an immediate solution. And I think that’s where a lot of the conflict is arising.”
If lake levels remain high, and storms continue to pummel the shoreline, there may only be more pressure to implement armoring structures, said Richard Norton, of the University of Michigan.
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“That’s going to just create more and more conflict,” Norton said. “Erosional processes are probably going to prompt more lawsuits around these harbor structures as property owners downdrift of them, more and more, are seeing erosion accelerated, and they want to find someone to help, take action.”
There’s also the potential for public nuisance claims, if neighbors pursue each other for armoring that accelerates erosion on nearby properties, Norton said, as well as possible public interest group litigation as beaches disappear.
Regardless of the outcome of the Ogden Dunes lawsuit, the one thing everyone agrees on is the need for a long-term solution. A study completed by the Army Corps in 2010 said protection structures will eventually need replacement as the shoreline erodes. But the next step, a viability study, is paused due to lack of funding and state support.
The most likely solution raised in the study involves a bypass piping system that would transfer dredged material from east to west near Ogden Dunes, according to David Bucaro, Army Corps outreach manager.
The national park name change led to a more than 80% increase in visitation, said Weimer, of Indiana Dunes Tourism, so a solution to protecting beaches is critical.
Deverell, of the National Parks Conservation Association, agreed a long-term solution is needed. “But we have to be careful,” he said. “Further developing the shoreline will only make the problem worse.”
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The Park Service released an environmental impact statement in 2014 about shoreline management for Indiana Dunes, Deverell said, “and as a national park, a natural shoreline is what is preferred.”
Labovitz said the park’s preferred solutions are beach nourishment — a key component of long-term planning. Short-term needs can mean protecting structures “that probably shouldn’t be there,” he said.
Solutions to stabilize coastlines can be challenging, Troy said. Drone surveys have shown that with water levels at current near-record highs, as much erosion can happen over one or two storms as you’d see in a few years.
“But these things do rebound naturally over time. So if the lake levels do go down, eventually if there’s sand available offshore, it will slowly make its way back onshore and rebuild the beach," Troy said. "But it’s not going to happen overnight. And for areas where infrastructure and property is threatened, the shoreline is not going to heal itself fast enough for those different things to be back to the way they were.”
An earlier version of the Burns Waterway harbors map has been updated.


chicagotribune--2020-03-08--Kendall Coyne Schofield ready ‘to make history’ tonight as part of an all-female broadcast crew for

Kendall Coyne Schofield ready ‘to make history’ tonight as part of an all-female broadcast crew for the Blackhawks-Blues game

“ And we possess the same skill sets and we play the same game .
We love the game in @ @ @ @ @ ’ s been a negative perception around women in hockey our whole life that we @ @ @ @ @ , we ’ re slower , the game is boring , they don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ not fun to watch ( and ) they don ’ t bring in any money @ @ @ @ @ no point in watching them .

Asked about Sunday’s game between the Blackhawks and Blues, hockey commentator Kendall Coyne Schofield already had it mapped out in her head.
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“The last game (a 6-5 Blues win), there were a lot of goals, I thought the Blackhawks responded well,” Coyne Schofield told the Tribune. “There were little mistakes (by the Hawks), whether it was turnovers in the D-zone in two of the Blues goals — cost them the game. … I’m expecting a tight game, a low-scoring game that’s going to be back and forth.
“It’s going to be physical. The Blackhawks in the end need all the points they can get, and the Blues aren’t going to come out and hand these points to the Blackhawks.”
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Coyne Schofield has prepared for this game for at least a week. She has prepared for this moment for most of her life.
“I think of being a little girl sitting on the couch watching a Blackhawks game as a kid, if heard a woman’s voice, I’d be ecstatic,” she said.
The 2018 Olympic gold medal-winning forward from Palos Heights will help make broadcast history when she joins an all-female crew calling the Hawks-Blues game Sunday at the United Center for NBCSN, beginning with “NHL Live” coverage at 6 p.m.
It will mark the first time an NHL game in the U.S. will be broadcast and produced entirely by women. And it falls on International Women’s Day.
Kendall Coyne Schofield of the U.S. women's hockey team shows off her gold medal from the 2018 Olympics before a White Sox game on April 7, 2018, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Kate Scott will call play-by-play, and Coyne Schofield and 1998 Team USA gold medalist A.J. Mleczko will serve as analysts. Anchor Kathryn Tappen joins three-time Canadian Olympic gold medalist Jen Botterill in the studio, while producer Rene Hatlelid and director Lisa Seltzer helm production.
Meanwhile in Canada, Sportsnet will air the Flames-Golden Knights broadcast featuring an all-female team.
“In order to make history, we have to know history,” Coyne Schofield said. “There’s a lot of pioneers before us who laid the foundation for women in the broadcasting industry. Then to be alongside some of the greatest players ever in A.J. Mleczko and Jen Botterill, that’s pretty cool in itself.”
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Momentum has been building toward Sunday night since pioneer Sherry Ross started providing radio color commentary for the Devils in 1992.
On March 8, 2008, Claudine Douville and Daniele Sauvageau called the Lightning-Devils game for the French-language, Montreal-based RDS network (Helene Pelletier and France St-Louis hosted the intermission), making them the first all-female NHL broadcast.
Mleczko became the first woman to work in the booth for an NHL postseason game on April 12, 2018, for NBC Sports.
Those milestones are bearing fruit for the upcoming generation.
Caley Chelios, a Lightning radio analyst and daughter of Hawks legend Chris Chelios, said she has been looking forward to watching Mleczko and her co-stars call the Hawks-Blues game since she learned about plans for the special broadcast earlier this year.
“Hearing A.J. (call playoff games in 2018) it kind of opened doors for me, for other women,” she said.
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Chelios, who is in her first full season with the Lightning broadcast team, said TV and radio analyst jobs are often unattainable for women, and they’re sometimes pushed to roles such as studio host or rinkside reporter — if they’re welcomed at all. However, her staff in Tampa, Fla., has encouraged her to break convention, she said.
“I wanted to do more than just be able to do rinkside questions and interviews with players and I really enjoyed — and what came naturally to me — just talking about the game,” Chelios said. “I love watching games, I loved breaking it down.
“I grew up with older brothers who played and I played, and my dad was always our biggest supporter but also so good at breaking things down and giving us constructive criticism. I always thought it would be fun to add that perspective from what I learned from him growing up playing and watching hockey at every level.”
The former Northwestern communications major said that when she was in college she worried about the limitations she would face if she pursued a career as an NHL analyst.
“Would you be respected? Would your voice sound awkward? I think at the end of the day, it’s needed, and it’s cool and it’s progressive and it’s great that the NHL wants to include more women," Chelios said. "With everything Kendall and A.J. have done in the last year, it’s important to carry that momentum forward.”
Momentum hasn’t always been a straight line, even for someone with Coyne Schofield’s resume. Two moments from January 2019 exemplify some of the conflict she has endured.
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She became the first women to compete in the NHL All-Star Skills Competition, clocking in at 14.346 seconds in the fastest-skater event. Days later, on-air partner Pierre McGuire received backlash for comments he made to Coyne Schofield during her broadcast debut that some viewed as condescending and perhaps even sexist.
“Tampa’s going to be on your left. Pittsburgh’s going to be on your right,” McGuire told her before the Penguins-Lightning game on NBC. “What are you expecting out of this game? We’re paying you to be an analyst, not to be a fan tonight!”
Coyne Schofield defended McGuire on Twitter at the time, but she told the Tribune she has had encounters in which people doubt her hockey knowledge or question her participation in opportunities such as the skills competition.
This past week... pic.twitter.com/h73xEA6QWc — Kendall Coyne Schofield (@KendallCoyne) January 31, 2019
“I knew that this opportunity had to chance to change the way people view girls and women in hockey” said Coyne Schofield, who also has worked as a Hawks ambassador. “For our whole life we want to be hockey players. We don’t want to be girl hockey players, we don’t want to be women’s hockey players, we want to be hockey players.
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“And we possess the same skill sets and we play the same game. We love the game in the same way. There’s been a negative perception around women in hockey our whole life that we’re not as good, we’re slower, the game is boring, they don’t hit, they’re not fun to watch (and) they don’t bring in any money, so there’s no point in watching them.
"All these are things that we hear. When we finally have the opportunity to be put on a platform to showcase our skills, alongside the NHL All-Stars, we seize the moment.”
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Coyne Schofield knows the impact that one moment can have on girls and women who play hockey or are fans. She recalled meeting a young woman in the locker room at Fifth Third Arena, where the Hawks practice, and she told Coyne Schofield: “I started playing hockey because I saw you skate. It’s a moment that you have to take a deep breath.”
Coyne Schofield knows Sunday’s national broadcast on NBC can have a similar effect, and she has been preparing with her on-air partners and producers through email exchanges and dry runs.
Meanwhile, she has been taking career advice from Campbell-Pascall, Mleczko and Eddie Olyczyk. She also has bent the ear of trailblazers in other sports, such as Jessica Mendoza, the softball great working Major League Baseball games for ESPN, and Beth Mowins, who so enthralled Coyne Schofield that the hockey player was more fixated on watching Mowins make history as the first woman to call a nationally televised NFL game than watching her own husband, Broncos tackle Michael Schofield, who played in that game.
Ultimately, though, it comes down to believing in herself, Coyne Schofield said.
“I’ve been playing this game since I was 3 years old," she said. "I skate with those NHLers all summer long. I know the game as well as they do. There’s no reason I can’t share that knowledge of the game with the audience that is watching.”


chicagotribune--2020-03-08--Amid growing coronavirus concerns, residents are torn over Coachella festival coming to their Califo

Amid growing coronavirus concerns, residents are torn over Coachella festival coming to their California town

`` I just came from Sonoma , where they had people quarantined .
People are n't usually held in isolation @ @ @ @ @ , '' said Cooper , 69 and a Palm Springs local .
She worked most @ @ @ @ @ registered nurse , and knows firsthand how scary such a disease can be .
Coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ elderly .
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises older people to `` stay @ @ @ @ @ possible , '' and in a retirement town where the median age is around 53 @ @ @ @ @ .

Indio, Calif. — At the Empire Polo Club in Indio, six weeks before the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is set to kick off, the peaked white tents are going up across the rolling green lawns. The rainbow-tinted "Spectra" observation deck looms over the field, ready for fans from around the world to soak in the panoramas as Travis Scott, Rage Against the Machine, Frank Ocean and more than 150 acts perform.
Twenty-five miles away, Barbara Cooper and Steve Widders walked their dog on a hiking path by the Indian Canyons Golf Resort in Palm Springs, and they were growing a bit nervous — about coronavirus possibly coming to their town, and how it might affect one of the biggest weeks for tourism in their area.
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"I just came from Sonoma, where they had people quarantined. People aren't usually held in isolation for something like the flu," said Cooper, 69 and a Palm Springs local. She worked most of her life as a registered nurse, and knows firsthand how scary such a disease can be. Coronavirus is especially dangerous for the elderly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises older people to "stay at home as much as possible," and in a retirement town where the median age is around 53, that's a concern.
But Palm Springs is also a tourist town that is counting on the revenue from the hundreds of thousands of music fans that pour in from around the world for Coachella. Canceling one of the country’s preeminent music festival is worrisome in its own right.
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"A lot of the local economy depends on tourism here, and it'll definitely affect restaurants, spas and hotels," Cooper said.
"I'm not really worried about getting coronavirus, because I'm not going to Coachella," Widders, 70, said laughing. "But the economics are a big concern."
As the industry behind the spring and summer music festival season confronts the strain of novel coronavirus causing the disease COVID-19, festival fans are bracing for just about anything. As of Saturday, there were a reported 377 cases in the U.S. and at least 60 cases in California, with 17 deaths nationwide. In just the last week, both Ultra Music Festival in Miami and Austin's South by Southwest music, film and tech conferences have been called off over fears of the virus.
So far, Coachella, held over two weekends between April 10-19, is proceeding as scheduled. Executives from festival promoter Goldenvoice or its parent company AEG have not made any announcements regarding cancellation or postponement of the festival, which has been long sold out — 125,000 fans are expected daily for each of its two weekends. Regarding what the coronavirus might mean for Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival, scheduled for mid-July, and Lollapalooza in early August, representatives for the respective festivals have not responded to requests for comment.
The authority to shut the festival down rests with Riverside County Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser. Riverside County public health officials said they're in close contact with organizers and stand ready to make decisions based on the risks to the public.
"We want to make sure we can do anything to protect the community," said Kim Saruwatari, the director of public health for Riverside County.
South by Southwest’s cancellation by city and county officials may have set a powerful precedent in how such massive music festivals deal with COVID-19.
AEG is not likely to unilaterally cancel the festival. If it calls off Coachella simply out of its own caution, the promoter's insurance company would not be responsible for reimbursing AEG for its losses. However, in the event of a county-, city- or state-mandated cancellation, a "force majeure" clause ("superior force," often referred to as the "hand of God") would be triggered, and insurance would cover AEG's expenses and lost revenue.
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One industry executive familiar with Coachella's financials said that it nets between $75 million and $100 million in profits annually, and that an insurance payout in the event of a force majeure could total between $150 million and $200 million.
Upon cancellation, ticket buyers would receive refunds.
Not everyone is hitting the panic button yet in the industry. One national festival executive who does not work on Coachella, speaking anonymously to be able to comment freely, said that "unless we're told by the government to shut it down, we're still moving forward with all our festival plans for the year."
However, if Coachella does follow the examples set by Ultra and South By Southwest, the fallout could be significant for the Greater Palm Springs area, where hospitality is a dominant industry.
Around 388,000 people live in the Coachella Valley. Recent studies from the Greater Palm Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau peg tourism as a $7-billion industry in the area, with 1 in every 4 jobs supported by it. Even before its 2017 expansion to 125,000 daily visitors, the Coachella festival brought an estimated $704 million in economic activity to the area in 2016. The city of Indio nets over $3 million in tax revenue every year from the festival's ticket sales alone.
At the hipster hotspots of the Coachella Valley, many fear the impact of a canceled festival.
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"It would affect Palm Springs big time," said Tony Martinez, the manager at Bootlegger Tiki, a popular bar just off the main drag of downtown Palm Springs. His bar doesn't get too much Coachella-specific spillover, he said, so he's not so worried about those particular two weeks. But if a potential Coachella cancellation sends notice that resorts and large events are unsafe in California, it could be a brutal season for tourism.
"People won't travel and we rely on them coming here," he said.
Over at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs, Coachella is a peak time on its calendar. The hip boutique hotel hosts reams of Coachella-timed after-parties and pool parties, and it's a popular spot for well-heeled guests to stay while attending the festival.
Executive chef Ysaac Rodriguez was winding down in the hotel's Amigo Room bar on Thursday night. He said that right now, coronavirus hasn't scared off many guests at all — "It's still going strong," he said, pointing to the tight crowds dancing to disco vinyl in the cavern-like pub by the pool.
But if Coachella canceled, the Ace would feel it immediately.
"We depend on it," Rodriguez said. "If they cancel, it would be really detrimental.
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"I don't think they will cancel," he said, striking a note of wait-and-see optimism. "But we want people to be safe too. You have to balance it."
Just steps away from the Empire Polo Club in the Tack Room Tavern, however, Patty Copeland and Carole Taylor were each visiting family members who were longtime residents in the Coachella Valley. They were worried that the festival would bring COVID-19 too close to their kids or their elderly family members nearby.
"Hell no, I wouldn't want them to go," Copeland said. She came from Minnesota and has two music-fan children in their early 30s. "You can't go overboard and buy out everything at Costco, but you want to be sensible."
"Absolutely I wouldn't want my daughter going," Taylor agreed. Her 30-year-old daughter has attended three Coachella and Stagecoach country music festivals, but given that they both live in San Francisco, just miles from a cruise ship rife with infected patients docked offshore, "I don't even want her going to work right now."
Thirty-year-old Haley Lightcap knows that balance better than most. On Friday afternoon, she was lounging at the Saguaro Hotel in Palm Springs for a friend's party. She's from Austin, and for years managed the Eastside Tavern there, which was a popular rental for tech and media firms during South by Southwest (HBO once bought it out for an interactive "Westworld" experience).
She hadn't been to Coachella before, but knows firsthand how important major music events are to cities heavily reliant on tourism, and what a major event cancellation would do to a smaller city's economy. That's even truer for the bartenders, hotel staff and others who have little margin of error in their budgets.
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"South by Southwest covered six months of our operating expenses," she said. "I would make six months' pay in three weeks."
She's not personally worried about the virus, though. Music fans have always been coming into contact with gross stuff at festivals. She's lived through worse.
"I got swine flu when that was going around and I was fine," she joked.
That's not exactly what a parent wants to hear from their kid as they embark on a festival, though. But simmering fears probably won't keep many fans away. Barring a cancellation prompted by local government, crowds will still come streaming through the gates as they have done for decades.
But as she looked out over the expanse of lawn, where the bones of the concession areas and tent stages begin to rise, concerned mom Copeland wouldn't want anyone she loved to take their chances.
“I know my kids are adults, but I’d say please, please don’t go,” she said, the nick of a tear in her eye. “It’ll still be there next year.”


chicagotribune--2020-03-08--Elizabeth Warren surprises on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in coronavirus opening

A lot can happen in a short week ’ s time .
Last weekend , “ Saturday Night Live ” @ @ @ @ @ press conference about COVID-19 that turned into an impromptu democratic presidential hopefuls press conference because @ @ @ @ @ story .
But just seven short days later , most of those candidates had dropped @ @ @ @ @ leaving Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden last men standing , and COVID-19 became a top @ @ @ @ @ that canceled due to concerns ( everything from SXSW in the U.S. to Mip TV @ @ @ @ @ states of emergencies declared in places including New York .
So the March 5 episode @ @ @ @ @ sketch comedy show put its spotlight on the virus -- but threw in a surprise @ @ @ @ @ .

A lot can happen in a short week’s time. Last weekend, “Saturday Night Live” opened its episode with a press conference about COVID-19 that turned into an impromptu democratic presidential hopefuls press conference because the primaries were the bigger story. But just seven short days later, most of those candidates had dropped out of the race, leaving Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden last men standing, and COVID-19 became a top news story for the events that canceled due to concerns (everything from SXSW in the U.S. to Mip TV in France) and the states of emergencies declared in places including New York. So the March 5 episode of NBC’s late-night sketch comedy show put its spotlight on the virus -- but threw in a surprise political cameo for good measure.
Elizabeth Warren appeared in the sketch as herself, visiting Kate McKinnon’s Laura Ingraham via satellite. McKinnon’s Ingraham told her she “certainly ran a memorable campaign” and then ran footage that she said was Warren debating Mike Bloomberg, but was just the viral clip of Warren’s Golden Retriever Bailey stealing someone’s burrito.
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When asked if she was endorsing anyone, Warren said, "It's tough. Maybe I'll just pull a New York Times and endorse them both."
But more seriously, she added that she was proud of her campaign because "we built a wide coalition of teachers, preschool teachers, middle school teachers and teachers' pets. And not only did I not accept money from billionaires, I got to give one a swirly on live TV.
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"But now, I've got time to do a little self-care," she continued. "Hanging out with my dog Bailey, prank-calling banks, drag-racing Subarus, avoiding Twitter."
McKinnon did a quick change into a matching outfit and slid into the shot with Warren to "thank you for all that you've done in your lifetime."
“I’m not dead, I’m just in the Senate,” Warren said.
The majority of the sketch had its attention on COVID-19, or more broadly, coronavirus, though.
"The left continues to wage its deceitful, dishonest and, frankly, gay smear campaign against President Trump," she said before showing a clip of what she said was "loco libs driving to Whole Foods to buy he last bottle of organic Purell" but was actually a clip of Vin Diesel in the "Fast and the Furious" franchise.
"The left is trying to whip people into a fear frenzy of lies," she continued, "which just isn't right -- that's our thing."
She went on to say that the virus is an urban legend -- "and yes, I said urban as a dog whistle. The point is, you've got much bigger things to worry about." This list, which she then read off, included "women who keep their maiden names, Montessori schools, Mexican teenagers rehearing a dance for a quinceañera in a public park" and "black marching bands -- they're too good."
Cecily Strong joined McKinnon in the sketch, resuming her role of Judge Jeanine Pirro who said, “Americans are not at risk” of the virus -- “especially not our viewers, who skew elderly, are in bad health, live cloistered together in homes specifically for sick people and have smoked their entire lives.” Claiming she wasn’t worried, she said, “If you see me avoiding Chinese restaurants, it’s not 'cause I’m scared, it’s 'cause I don’t trust the Chinese. A fortune cookie once told me to lower my voice and I’ve never looked back.” Also, she noted, “alcohol is a disinfectant, so mama’s going to live forever.”
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Mikey Day and Alex Moffat also appeared in their recurring respective roles of Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
"Our father has everything under control," said Day's Tump as Moffat's Trump just mimicked his body language and hand gestures off to the side. "Democrats would love for people to get sick so they could use it to their advantage -- like how we give Eric raw chicken so he misses important meetings."
Darrell Hammond appeared as Chris Matthews, who recently exited MSNBC amid inappropriate comments about women and Sanders. "The race is down to Hitler and an ice cream cone to see who can beat the Michelin man," he said in response.
“No Time to Die,” Daniel Craig’s final film as James Bond, has been delayed until November due to concerns over COVID-19, but the actor still took the stage at Studio 8H in New York Saturday to host “Saturday Night Live.” And in doing so, he brought with him one of his favorite scenes from the upcoming film.
During his monologue, Craig first reminded people that "Fleabag's" Phoebe Waller-Bridge was brought in to punch up the script for the film, which he said meant he would sometimes turn to the camera and say, "The name's Bond, James Bond. Is it bad that I fancy the pope?"
The clip featured a tuxedo-clad Craig walking into a casino to tell Chloe Fineman he always thought her "game was stealing state secrets." He had her blow on a pair of dice before asking her where he boss was, but he quickly got distracted from his mission when it turned out he rolled a seven and that made him a winner.
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Craps gave him a bigger rush than his usual spy work, as he stripped off his tie and said his heart was beating fast. He also nixed his usual martini, shaken not stirred order for a vodka and Red Bullin a pint glass.
Even when Fineman's character gave up the goods on her boss, Craig's Bond wasn't moving from the table.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make, I'm buzzed," he said.
The craps dealer (played by Mikey Day) turned out to be a Spectre agent, but even buzzed, Craig's Bond was the quicker shot and got him right in the heart.
"Everyone all right?" he asked.
“Yeah,” said Kenan Thompson. “Especially since you just rolled Snake Eyes!”
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Later in the episode, “SNL” worked COVID-19 into its sketches by tweaking actions in the soap opera “The Sands of Modesto” for actor safety. This included McKinnon disinfecting a phone and her own face at the start of the sketch, closing doors with her elbows, saying goodbye to her daughter (Chloe Fineman) by doing a jig where they touched feet and kissing Daniel Craig through a plastic shield.
Rachel Dratch resurrected Debbie Downer for a wedding sketch. She started in a full face mask -- “Unfortunately, with COVID-19 you can display no symptoms and still be wildly contagious,” she told her table mates. “They say to forego masks, but good luck nabbing one when we’re facing a worldwide pandemic.”
And Strong brought back her “Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party” to also comment on the virus, which culminated in her agreeing to wear a mask because she was showing symptoms -- and then pulled out a Momo mask on a stick with which to cover her face.


chicagotribune--2020-03-08--'We want to be here. We want to win.’ White Sox lock up Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert and Yoan Moncada w

'We want to be here. We want to win.’ White Sox lock up Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert and Yoan Moncada with long-term success in mind.

“ It ’ s easy to play with guys like that , that want to be all in on what @ @ @ @ @ for the moment , but for the years to come .
It shows .
We @ @ @ @ @ We want to win .
We don ’ t want to play nowhere else .
@ @ @ @ @ we ’ re at , we ’ re happy where we ’ re at .
@ @ @ @ @ of this .
This is our team .
So why not take control of that @ @ @ @ @ do our thing together and have this run together ?
We want to be here @ @

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. —
Yoan Moncada singled to right field in the first inning against the Cubs, the first of three hits for the White Sox third baseman Friday in a Cactus League game at Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz.
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Left fielder Eloy Jimenez began the second inning with a walk and later scored from first on center fielder Luis Robert’s double to right-center.
It was only a spring training game. But it was a glimpse of what the Sox hope to see for years to come from some of their young core.
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“We can objectively sit here today and feel like we have three of arguably the most exciting young players in the American League under control for at least the next six years,” Hahn said Friday in Mesa. “And that is a good feeling.”
All three players signed long-term deals in the last 12 months.
In March 2019, the Sox reached a six-year, $43 million deal with Jimenez, 23, who went on to hit 31 home runs, the most among American League rookies. The Sox came to terms with Robert, 22, on a six-year, $50 million contract Jan. 2. He hit a combined 32 home runs at three minor-league levels last season. And on Friday the Sox announced a five-year, $70 million deal with Moncada, 24, who finished third in the AL last season with a .315 average.
“These are young players that are still evolving, who have very likely not reached their ceiling, and they are going to put us in a strong position for a long time," Hahn said. "Again, those are three players on a 26-man roster, so there is other work to be done around them. But it’s nice to have that base.
"Every team, when you start a rebuild, when you go about this process, you want to find core championship-caliber pieces that you can build around, and we feel we have a number of those. And a good chunk of those we have been able to extend this window through these contracts.”
Jose Abreu, Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada and others walk to a practice field during spring training at Camelback Ranch. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
The Sox also announced a five-year, $16 million extension with 26-year-old reliever Aaron Bummer on Feb. 22.
Hahn said it’s a delicate balance — players and the team needed to assess the short- and long-term future — but the culture in the clubhouse helped the Sox.
“Players have their own individual assessment they need to make,” Hahn said. "I do think there is something about the culture that has been created in that clubhouse and the buy-in from the players that increased their desire, at least to be part of this for the long term.
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“We know that it comes down to making the right financial deal for both sides, one that provides a lifetime of security for the player and one that provides us with additional control to extend this upcoming window as long as possible. So buying into the culture is important, and finding that right balance is essential.”
Moncada became the latest to buy in, citing a desire to stay on the South Side.
“My agents were the first ones to ask me what I wanted to do, what were my plans in the long run,” Moncada said Friday through an interpreter, “and I told them I wanted to stay here in this organization.”
Hahn credited shortstop Tim Anderson with setting the tone for others to follow.
“Tim has made no secret, both publicly and in that clubhouse, about ‘Hey, let’s all be in this together and let’s do this for as long as we can together,’ ” Hahn said.
Anderson, the 2019 major-league batting champion, signed a six-year deal in 2017.
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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 32 White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
“If we’ve got a chance to do something dope, why not do it for some years?” Anderson said Saturday. “I like playing with these guys, the energy. We’ve all bought in. We know what we want to do.
“It’s easy to play with guys like that, that want to be all in on what it is. Not just for the moment, but for the years to come. It shows. We want to be here. We want to win. We don’t want to play nowhere else. We’re comfortable where we’re at, we’re happy where we’re at. We’re in control of this. This is our team. So why not take control of that to be all in and do our thing together and have this run together? We want to be here."
Sustained success is the goal.
“Having players like Moncada, Jimenez, Robert under control for at least six years, not to mention Anderson and Bummer and other starters that are still here — not even mentioning guys like (second baseman Nick) Madrigal and (first baseman Andrew) Vaughn, who are going to provide us with at least six years of control going forward — you can start seeing what the better part of this decade is going to look like for this club, and we’re excited about it,” Hahn said.
Hahn said the Sox are “awfully close” to being one of those teams that gives the opposition fits.
“At the end of last season, we talked about transitioning out of the first phase of this rebuild, the goal being getting to the third stage where we’re capable of winning championships, capable of making a team real uncomfortable,” Hahn said. “We feel like we’re a lot closer to that third stage than we were when the season ended and at the end of this year, we’ll feel even closer than we feel today.
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"How quickly we get there, we’ll find out together.”


chicagotribune--2020-03-08--Frozen baseballs and the 1960s White Sox? ‘The Sodfather’ recalls a time when skirting the rules in

Frozen baseballs and the 1960s White Sox? ‘The Sodfather’ recalls a time when skirting the rules in baseball was just part of a groundskeeper’s job.

The Sox had two rooms in which to store baseballs at old Comiskey Park .
The one on the first-base @ @ @ @ @ and the one on the third-base side did not .
Before games , Gene instructed @ @ @ @ @ few dozen baseballs and put them in the room with the humidifier .
At game @ @ @ @ @ the so-called frozen balls .

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Bill Veeck had a comeback ready for those accusing his teams of cheating to gain an advantage.
“I try not to break the rules but merely test their elasticity," the late White Sox owner once said.
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Elasticity, of course, is in the eye of the beholder.
Were the Astros testing the elasticity of the rule banning the use of technology to steal signs or just outright cheating?
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Obviously, the MLB clampdown after their trash-can-banging scheme was uncovered by The Athletic — and the accompanying outcry from major-league players — suggests the Astros went well over the line. They’re now baseball’s most notorious team, villainized by the media, fans and players alike, a modern-day version of the Black Sox.
But the Astros are far from the only team in baseball history that employed nefarious methods to skirt the rules and try to win games.
One of their predecessors in the rules-breaking business played on the South Side decades ago. But fortunately for the 1960s White Sox teams, they played during an era in which rules were made to be broken.
That’s why the Sox’s saga of frozen baseballs has been romanticized over the years, reminding us of a simpler time when teams could get away with cheating if they were clever enough.
On a recent trip to Camelback Ranch, head groundskeeper Roger “The Sodfather” Bossard discussed the Sox’s scheme, which was hatched in the early 1960s during a meeting between former Sox manager Al Lopez and then-head groundskeeper Gene Bossard, Roger’s father.
Gene, who is in the Groundskeepers Hall of Fame, is credited with inventing the frozen baseball.
“It was Dad and Al Lopez who started it, and I think Dad took it to another level in 1967 with a guy by the name of Eddie Stanky," Roger said, referring to the former Sox manager. “That was my first year here, so this was all new to me.”
White Sox head groundskeeper Gene Bossard, left, talks with manager Al Lopez and coaches Don Gutteridge and Tony Cuccinello before a game in 1959 at Old Comiskey Park in Chicago. (Chicago Tribune)
The Sox had two rooms in which to store baseballs at old Comiskey Park. The one on the first-base side had a humidifier, and the one on the third-base side did not. Before games, Gene instructed his son to take a few dozen baseballs and put them in the room with the humidifier. At game time, they would use the so-called frozen balls.
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The baseballs would not freeze, but the added moisture made them heavier than the standard 5-ounce balls.
“The connotation was frozen, but actually they were just real damp, and Dad would check it,” Roger said. “If you went to the upper deck, there was a walkway, and if you dropped a normal ball it would bounce up about 20 feet. If you dropped one of these balls, it would jump up maybe 10 feet. It was a huge difference.
“I can remember taking the balls out of those red and white baseball boxes and asking him: ‘Dad, is this OK?’ He’d say, ‘Don’t worry about it, just bring the balls to the clubhouse.’ The trick was there were no outlets, no exhaust, no windows — just four brick walls and a humidifier. The walls would literally have moisture on them.”
The reason the Sox wanted the frozen baseballs for games stemmed from the team’s lack of offense and its three ground-ball pitchers, Tommy John, Joe Horlen and Gary Peters. In 1967, the Sox led the league with a 2.45 ERA, and those three were among the top-four American League pitchers in earned-run average: Horlen was first at 2.06, Peters second at 2.28 and John fourth at 2.47.
“John, Horlen and Peters were all low-ball pitchers, and Dad had the front of home plate watered down,” Roger said. “The union wasn’t that strong back then, and you could get away with it. So there was like mud in (the batter’s box) in front of home plate. They called it ‘Bossard’s swamp.’ And the infield grass was 3 inches high, and also they had the frozen baseballs.
“Ken Harrelson and I talked about it a number of times. ‘Hawk’ said they hated coming to Chicago as players because you had trouble hitting it to the warning track. The balls were a quarter- or sometimes a half-ounce heavier than normal, but they got away with it.
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"After about the third month in ’67, the league sent some people out to check on it. But Dad would show them the room that didn’t have the humidifier.”
He has designed fields for a dozen other Major League Baseball teams, but for more than 50 years, White Sox head groundskeeper Roger Bossard has called the South Side park his home — just like his father. (Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune) (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune)
Naturally, the heavier balls also worked against Sox hitters, so it wasn’t a fool-proof plan. They just wanted to keep the games low-scoring for a better chance to win. The top hitters on their 1967 team were Don Buford and Ken Berry, who both finished with a .241 average on a team that hit a collective .225.
“It was all pitching,” Roger said. “We had those three guys, the frozen balls, the swamp, the high grass and nobody in the lineup.”
The Sox were one game behind the Twins in a four-team AL race with five games left. But the Kansas City Athletics swept them in a doubleheader, then the Sox lost three straight to the Senators to finish three games behind the Red Sox.
Roger Bossard has no regrets, Every team was looking for that edge, the one thing that could make a difference in a game, which could make a difference in a tight pennant race. The Sox didn’t win a pennant in the 1960s, and eventually the frozen-ball scheme faded away.
Teams today still are looking for that small edge, though some have taken it to a different level, as the Astros and allegedly the Red Sox have done.
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The Sodfather doesn’t want his father’s methods to be lumped in with the Astros, even if they were just different shades of rule breaking.
“When they talk cheating, obviously the stuff with (the Astros) is horrible,” he said. “But back in the day, it was all part of the game.”
One thing we know about baseball: Testing the elasticity of the rules will never go out of style.


chicagotribune--2020-03-08--Column: Enjoy watching Javier Baez while you can, Cubs fans, because nothing is promised in baseball

“ You definitely think about it , especially a guy of his caliber who can put a team on his @ @ @ @ @ pitcher Kyle Hendricks said .
“ That was a huge loss , and even to @ @ @ @ @ for a few games , and for him not to be 100 % when he @ @ @ @ @ had some tough things to deal with at the end of the year .

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Former Cubs manager Joe Maddon frequently expounded on the evils of “outcome bias,” or concluding the outcome of an occurrence if one thing happened rather than another.
“Outcome bias messes with a lot of people’s heads,” Maddon once said.
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That might be the case, but is it wrong to believe the Cubs’ 2019 collapse might not have happened had Javier Baez been available for the stretch run in September?
Baez suffered a hairline fracture in his left thumb while sliding headfirst into second base Sept. 1 at Wrigley Field, when the Cubs were three games out of first place in the National League Central and held a 1½ game lead over the Phillies for the second wild-card spot.
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With Baez out, the Cubs went 10-16 the rest of the way, missing the postseason for the first time since 2014 and waving goodbye to Maddon.
Would Javy being Javy have made a difference?
“You never know,” Baez said. “I was in a slump when I got hurt, but there was still a whole month of baseball left.
"For me it was frustrating because it was a small injury, but it kept me out for a month. Who knows what would’ve happened if I was playing?”
Cubs shortstop Javier Baez steals second base ahead of the tag of Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia during a Sept. 1, 2019 game at Wrigley Field. Baez suffered a hairline fracture in his left thumb on the headfirst slide and missed most of September. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
We’ll never know, of course. But we do know what happened with Baez in the lineup. He finished with 29 home runs and 85 RBIs in 138 games after finishing second to Christian Yelich in NL Most Valuable Player voting in 2018.
Baez had only one at-bat after suffering the wrist injury in Miller Park, striking out to end a 9-8 loss to the Cardinals on Sept. 21 at Wrigley Field, the dagger that for all intents and purposes ended the Cubs’ wild-card hopes. (He also was used as a pinch runner in four games.)
“You definitely think about it, especially a guy of his caliber who can put a team on his back at times,” pitcher Kyle Hendricks said. “That was a huge loss, and even to miss (Anthony Rizzo) for a few games, and for him not to be 100% when he came back. … We had some tough things to deal with at the end of the year.
“You can always do the ‘What if?’ game, but it’s good to have this clean slate and an opportunity. If we can be healthy all year, we can be pretty good.”
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Baez quietly is having a productive spring, hitting .409 after going 1-for-3 with an infield hit in an 8-5 win against the Indians on Saturday in a split-squad game at Goodyear Park.
With all the commotion surrounding Kris Bryant’s contract status, Baez has been able to work in the shadows, just the way he prefers.
While Maddon was instrumental in allowing Baez to show his flair, which in turn made him one of the most popular players in the game, Baez has a new manager in David Ross, who is hoping to win with a more cohesive unit in 2020.
“It’s pretty much the same,” Baez said of Camp Rossy. “Just everyone getting their work in, getting ready for the season. The thing about Rossy is he’s so positive. Everybody is so excited to have him around, and I’m excited, too, obviously.
“He’s like Joe that way. Obviously it’s a different mindset, but every time he talks he makes us feel better because he’s a motivator. He knows how we feel and what adjustments we’ve got to make, so that’s a good thing.
“But we’ve got to wait until the games start to see how everything goes.”
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While the consensus opinion is the Cubs will do whatever it takes to keep Baez under team control for most of the rest of the decade, there has been nothing to suggest they are close to extending him.
He knows this could be the last stand for many of the core players from 2016 but said he’s not worried about what happens next.
“We’ll see how everything goes on the business side, how many guys stay here,” he said. “But it is what it is. You have to understand how far you’re going (to last together) in this sport.”
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 21 Cubs outfielder Albert Almora Jr. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Baez seems unlikely to accept the kind of team-friendly deal Yelich just took to stay with the Brewers, and for good reason. He’ll get a much higher average annual value than Yelich’s nine-year, $215 million deal because his charisma and showmanship are almost as valuable to a franchise’s box office as his hitting.
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Cubs pitcher Jon Lester believes Baez is one of the “1-percenters” in baseball who can break the bank but noted the Cubs have another 1-percenter in Bryant.
“You can’t keep ‘em all,” Lester said. “How many teams are like that? Well, maybe three that are like, that would sign all those guys and not think twice about being over the (luxury) tax.
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“That’s a tricky thing. When you have three or four of those 1-percent guy that you’ve got to give a 7- to 10-year deal to hold on to, that’s tough.”
Lester was a popular player in Boston for years, with two rings there to his name, but the Red Sox didn’t try too hard to keep him and sent him to the A’s in the summer of 2014 instead of losing him for nothing.
Like Bryant, Baez will be a free agent after the 2021 season, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he decides to test the market instead of signing a long-term extension.
“It’s all up to what the players, what they want to do,” Lester said. “I’m sure Theo (Epstein) and those guys have approached all of our guys and talked about it, but at the end of the day I don’t blame anybody for turning anything down if they want to bet on themselves and go through the process.”
The moral of the story: Cubs fans had better enjoy watching Baez while he’s here, because nothing is promised in this game.


chicagotribune--2020-03-06--Joe Biden’s wife, Jill, courts teachers’ votes in Chicago ahead of Illinois presidential primary, to

Joe Biden’s wife, Jill, courts teachers’ votes in Chicago ahead of Illinois presidential primary, touts her credentials as an educator

“ Somebody who listens to educators , ” Biden said , “ not just speaks to us.
” She asked @ @ @ @ @ in their next secretary of education , then dashed off the stage to bring the @ @ @ @ @ of the answers .
One person said they wanted the next education secretary to be @ @ @ @ @ Miller , president of the City Colleges Contingent Labor Organizing Committee , said he ’ @ @ @ @ @ who will reverse the trend of more and more part-time professors .

Jill Biden highlighted her credentials as a community college instructor and former public schoolteacher as she campaigned for her husband, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, in the Chicago area Friday. (Hannah Leone / Chicago Tribune)
Standing before rows of Illinois educators wearing “red for ed,” Jill Biden, a community college instructor and former public schoolteacher, offered assurances that her husband has what it takes to beat President Donald Trump and transform the country with a “blue wave."
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Speaking to members of the Illinois Education Association teachers union at a hotel near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, the wife of the Democratic front-runner — in a red dress and union pin of her own — sought to make the case that having an educator in the White House would make a world of difference for America’s teachers. Former Vice President Joe Biden understands their value because, for one thing, he’s been married to one for 42 years, she said.
“No one knows how to serve our students better than you do. No think tanks, no philanthropists, not politicians. Educators," she said. “... So often, we get pushed aside. Our voices aren’t heard. But Joe Biden hears us."
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IEA President Kathi Griffin introduced Jill Biden as having displayed the “calm" and “cool” of a public schoolteacher earlier this week when she fended off protesters who stormed the stage at a Biden campaign event.
“She showed the heart of an educator,” Griffin said.
IEA officials have said they invited all of the candidates to speak to them and so far Biden is the only one to have sent a surrogate.
In a show to educators that she is one of them, Biden called them her colleagues, spoke fondly of her students and talked of the myriad roles teachers end up filling both inside and outside the classroom, from parent to therapist to biggest fan and support system.
She touched on highlights of the Biden education plan, such as his promises to increase Title I funding, promote mental health by adding more counselors and school psychologists, invest in early childhood education and enable students to attend community colleges or trade schools for two years free of debt.
Her proclamation that a Biden administration secretary of education would be an educator, one with public school experience, earned her a standing ovation.
“Somebody who listens to educators,” Biden said, “not just speaks to us.” She asked the crowd what they wanted in their next secretary of education, then dashed off the stage to bring the microphone around and amplify some of the answers. One person said they wanted the next education secretary to be an ethnic minority. Randall Miller, president of the City Colleges Contingent Labor Organizing Committee, said he’d like to see someone who will reverse the trend of more and more part-time professors.
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Erica Bray-Parker, a union delegate and civics teacher at Glenbard North High School in Carol Stream, said she’d pledged to support Elizabeth Warren, but with Warren dropping out of the race Thursday, Bray-Parker said she was feeling sad and exhausted, and not thrilled about now having to choose between two older white men. “I’m a little disappointed in the diversity of my options,” Bray-Parker said.
But she was impressed with Jill Biden and said having an educator as first lady may play in to her decision on whom to support. Bray-Parker said she appreciated how Jill Biden made sure to talk about all educators, from bus drivers to counselors to teachers.
Following her speech and a brief Q&A with Griffin, Biden chatted with smaller groups of union members. Biden shook many hands but insisted she wouldn’t be offended if someone would rather avoid physical contact — a nod to ongoing concerns about the spread of coronavirus.
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Willus Vivian, a high school teacher in Midlothian, asked Biden more about plans to recruit and retain educators of color, a priority she’d noted during her speech. He liked her answers enough to pose with her for a picture, which he quickly texted to a group.
“I’m very curious to see what we can do as a country to foster minorities to go into education," Vivian said later. "... You need to see someone who looks like you, who understands the way you were treated in education because I don’t think minorities are treated fairly in education.”
Democratic presidential candidates have long been courting the teacher vote, but it’s unclear if educator unions will line up behind a single candidate.
Locally, the powerful Chicago Teachers Union attracted support from candidates including Sanders, Warren and Biden for the contract fight that led to an 11-day strike last fall. Sanders appeared at a CTU rally leading up to the walkout and called CTU President Jesse Sharkey with congratulations after the deal was struck. Warren stood with Chicago teachers on the picket lines, and Biden tweeted and phoned in his backing.
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Sharkey and CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates announced their personal endorsements of Sanders this week, after the CTU’s governing body voted narrowly against a full union endorsement.
Sanders’ campaign has also reported “teacher" as the most common donor occupation in recent months.
In February, the American Federation of Teachers passed a resolution encouraging support for Sanders, Biden or Warren, saying those three had “significant support within our membership.” AFT President Randi Weingarten personally endorsed Warren before the Massachusetts senator backed out of the race.
The National Education Association also has not made a recommendation, nor has IEA, its Illinois affiliate.
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hleone@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-09--Blind performer’s guitar stolen again at CTA station: ‘That’s my instrument. I was thinking what am

Blind performer’s guitar stolen again at CTA station: ‘That’s my instrument. I was thinking what am I going to do?’

“ I was ready to go home ... the train came , and I felt as if my guitar was @ @ @ @ @ Hernandez said .
“ So I tried to grab it , and I felt the @ @ @ @ @ O ’ Hare inbound train .
So I tried to stop the train , but @ @ @ @ @ .
”

For the second time in a decade, Juan Hernandez, a visually impaired street performer, said he was panicked when his prized PRS Custom guitar was stolen at the Jackson Blue Line station Saturday.
But a CTA employee and Chicago police, aided by surveillance cameras, were quickly able to locate the alleged thief, who was riding a Blue Line train with the guitar case in hand. Within an hour, Hernandez had his livelihood back.
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“My feelings were like, again? This can’t happen again,” Hernandez, 42, said Sunday, hours after a judge ordered the alleged thief held on $99,000 bail.
In a telephone interview, Hernandez said he was elated to have his guitar, engraved with his name, returned to him.
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“I was extremely relieved and satisfied that the Police Department was able to track him down and return my guitar to me," he said. "That’s huge. That’s my instrument. I was thinking ‘What am I going to do?’”
Hernandez said he had just packed up his guitar and was preparing to leave the station about 3:40 p.m. when the incident occurred.
“I was ready to go home ... the train came, and I felt as if my guitar was being pulled away,” Hernandez said. “So I tried to grab it, and I felt the individual had gotten on the O’Hare inbound train. So I tried to stop the train, but the doors closed on me.”
Maurice Williams, 44, was charged in the theft of a visually impaired street performer's guitar at a Blue Line platform. (Cicero Police Department)
According to Cook County prosecutors and Chicago police, Maurice Williams, a 10-time felon with eight felony theft convictions, was allegedly captured on video grabbing the guitar and case, valued at a combined $1,000. The CTA employee provided responding officers with Williams’ description, and he was quickly located aboard a Blue Line train, according to his arrest report.
Officers ordered the train stopped and arrested Williams on the train near the UIC-Halsted stop, authorities said. The guitar is inscribed with Hernandez’s name, and the case carried several personal items, including his performer’s permit.
At the Leighton Criminal Court Building, Judge Arthur Wesley Willis ordered Williams held on $99,000 bail.
Williams will be given $30 credit per day of incarceration, meaning he could be freed after spending 330 days in custody if he doesn’t post bail.
Hernandez said he often plays two to three hours a day at the Jackson Blue Line station, a popular spot for licensed street performers. “People like it because it’s more (crowded). More diverse. More people because it’s a connection to (Red and Blue) lines and the Green and Orange lines,” he said.
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But following a recent deadly shooting in a CTA pedestrian tunnel and the stabbing of another guitar-playing street performer, Hernandez said he feels unsafe and may never go back to the station.
“Jackson Blue Line has become increasingly dangerous," he said. "When I’m playing, the same people are asking around for money, spare change and just hanging around, so I don’t feel safe in that spot.”
While he hasn’t been injured, his change basket can be a tempting target for opportunists.
The incident has Hernandez considering a change of career. Despite his impairment, he said he has good office and computer skills but said he can’t find other types of work. “There’s gotta be some way that I can be able to keep a roof over my head.”
wlee@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @MidNoirCowboy


chicagotribune--2020-03-09--Dolton, Riverdale should get faster freight trains in two years, with rail construction project

The high density of rail crossings in the area also causes safety problems , since fire departments have trouble replying @ @ @ @ @ sides of Riverdale and Dolton , the IDOT report said .
Long delays also can @ @ @ @ @ to get around the trains , such as pedestrians crossing under or between stopped rail @ @ @ @ @ around crossing gates , the report said .

One of the worst intersections for freight delays in the Chicago area is at 138th Street and Indiana Avenue, at the border of the south suburbs of Dolton and Riverdale.
Rail lines crossing the intersection are used both by freight railroads and Amtrak and linked to three rail yards. Sometimes, motorists find themselves idling between two sets of tracks, waiting until the trains pass before their vehicles can move. Children returning home from school have been seen doing homework on sidewalks, waiting for long freights to crawl by.
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“There are a lot of problems for people who live or are employed in the area, who may have to go eight or nine miles out of their way to get around places where trains are traveling frequently,” said Jennifer “Sis” Killen, assistant superintendent for the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways.
Both residents and the railroads hope improvements to crossings in the area, planned for completion in 2021, will help fix the problem. Half of the $38.4 million Dolton Interlocking Upgrade project is funded by federal dollars, while 28% comes from private railroads and the rest from the Illinois Department of Transportation. The upgrade is intended to make rail traffic flow faster through the suburbs, Killen said.
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“Train speeds are going to double — from 15 mph to 30 mph is the goal,” Killen said.
The project is part of the Chicago Region Environmental & Transportation Efficiency Program, better known as CREATE, a $4.4 billion plan launched in 2003 that involves 70 rail and highway infrastructure improvement projects. When completed, CREATE supporters say it will allow the region to handle up to 50,000 more freight trains annually by 2051, reduce congestion and pollution caused by idling train, car and truck traffic, and increase safety. Currently the region sees 500 freight trains daily, or about 180,000 annually.
CREATE projects have included the Englewood Flyover, completed in 2014, which carries Metra trains over Norfolk Southern and Amtrak tracks on the South Side. Other CREATE projects involve grade separations, which allow roadways to go over or under railroad tracks.
The Dolton/Riverdale project extends from 136th Place in Riverdale to Monroe Street in Dolton, and from Eggleston Avenue to Center Street. Almost 130 Amtrak and freight trains move through the area daily. Freight railroads include Union Pacific, CSX, Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad, Norfolk Southern and Canadian National, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.
With the current configuration, local schools, such as Harriet Tubman Elementary School and ECHO (AFL) Academy for Learning, report problems with student tardiness and train noise, according to an IDOT funding application for the project. The 400 employees at Ardagh Group, a glass manufacturer and the largest private employer in Dolton, are often late for work due to crossing delays, the report said.
The high density of rail crossings in the area also causes safety problems, since fire departments have trouble replying to calls on the north sides of Riverdale and Dolton, the IDOT report said. Long delays also can lead people to take risks to get around the trains, such as pedestrians crossing under or between stopped rail cars, or motorists driving around crossing gates, the report said.
Amtrak’s Cardinal route, which travels between Chicago and New York City with stops in Cincinnati and Washington, D.C., suffers delays passing through the area that average 12 minutes — but can be as long as two hours, the IDOT report said.
The Dolton project is being designed, and work to relocate utilities will begin in the fall, Killen said. Construction will begin in the spring of next year, and finish in the spring of 2022.
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The work will involve removing a Norfolk Southern track that runs through the 138th and Indiana intersection, and building a new mainline CSX track that will provide more direct access to the Barr Yard, one of the rail yards in the area, Killen said.
The project, which involves nine at-grade road/rail crossings, also will put in new gates and improve signals, and fix the road surfaces at crossings so they’ll be less bumpy, Killen said.
With the increased speeds, there will be decreased congestion because crossing gates can stay up for longer periods. “Motorists and pedestrians will see a benefit from this,” Killen said.
Cook County spent $600,000 to help with land acquisition, which Killen said helped the project qualify for the federal money.
Transportation song quiz
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Last week’s song was written in response to a segregation-related drowning in Cairo, Illinois, and became a civil rights anthem. The song was “If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus” by Charles Neblett. Mark Cutright of Denver, Colorado, was the winner.
This week’s quiz honors Richard Wyszynski, a former West Town flutist, conductor and all-around cool guy, who passed away last week. He frequently suggested quiz questions.
Today’s song is a short, frequently performed orchestral piece. The composer compared it to someone offering you a ride in his sports car, and then you’re sorry you went along. The first person to get the right answer gets a Tribune tote bag, and glory.
mwisniewski@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-08--Ask Amy: Pondering 'the trouble with mother'

I also agree with you on the perils of being a Cubs fan .
But baseball is like family .
@ @ @ @ @ see our fate as being the price of loyalty .
The best thing about being @ @ @ @ @ happens during the offseason .
Right about now , we bury our better judgment and @ @ @ @ @ year .

Dear Readers: Every year I step away from my daily column to work on other creative projects. I've gathered some topical "Best Of" columns from 10 years ago. I'm calling today's topic: "The Trouble with Mother." I'll be back in two weeks with fresh columns.
Dear Amy: My 83-year-old widowed mother and I were having our weekly phone call last night when she began to repeat herself over and over. My mother's cognitive skills are exceptional, and this had me worried. I asked if she felt OK, and she said yes, but again she began to repeat herself.
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I took it upon myself to call 911. An ambulance went to the house. The EMTs examined her and found nothing wrong. Now she refuses to speak with me. She says I humiliated her. My brother and sister say I overreacted.
What do you think?
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— A Very Concerned Son
Dear Concerned: You did the right thing. Your mother is embarrassed, your siblings are backing her up, but there are far worse fates than embarrassment. Suffering a stroke, for instance, and not getting help.
Work with your siblings and your mother on making changes so she can continue to live safely at home. I recommend a monitoring service. For a monthly fee, she can have an intercom installed on her phone line and a "panic" button. You also should add a couple of neighbors to your contact list.
September 2010
Dear Amy: When my 80-year-old mother goes out on special occasions, she insists on wearing shoes with one-inch heels, instead of flats. She says it completes her outfit.
The problem is, she's unstable on these heels.
I've told her that the shoes are a health risk because she could fall.
I believe her judgment is impaired; she never listens to me. For instance, decades ago I warned her of the perils of being a Cubs fan. She ignored me. You know the rest.
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Amy, you're my only hope.
My mom religiously reads your column; she considers you an oracle of truth (see what I mean about impaired judgment?).
I believe that if you provide her with common sense advice, such as, "Ditch the heels, woman," she'll take your advice and the problem will be solved.
— Faithful Reader
Dear Faithful: Ditch the heels, woman!
And get some new ones!
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Your mother's shoes might not fit properly, or the heel might be too narrow for her.
I agree with you about the perils of walking while wearing unstable footwear. No pair of shoes is worth taking a tumble for. But I bet there is a pair of stylish shoes out there that will fit your mother and also look good on her when she goes out dancing.
It's time for you to take her shoe shopping.
I also agree with you on the perils of being a Cubs fan. But baseball is like family. The long suffering among us see our fate as being the price of loyalty. The best thing about being a Cubs fan is what happens during the offseason. Right about now, we bury our better judgment and start looking forward to next year.
December 2010
Dear Amy: We have lived in our rental house for about eight months. There is a kitchen drawer that has, among other things, matches and batteries in it. We have a 19-month-old son who is able to open the drawer and get stuff out of it.
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My husband, who is the primary caretaker of our son while I am at work, has admitted he has had opportunities to fix the situation because he is home.
I have also admitted that I bear some responsibility because I also knew that it was a problem and until yesterday, had never done anything about it.
Who is more responsible for the fact that the drawer has (until yesterday) never been cleaned out and the dangerous items taken out of our son's reach?
— Wondering Mother
Ask Amy Daily No-nonsense advice for better living delivered to your inbox every morning. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >
Dear Wondering: In the time it took you and your husband to bat this issue around and then for you to sit down to email me your query, your son could have ingested several batteries and learned to light his own cigarettes.
My point being: Both parents are equally responsible for removing dangers from Junior's reach.
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Ask yourself: If your son were at a daycare center or a relative's house, would you want his caregivers to argue over who is responsible for providing a child-safe environment? Or would you want someone to just take care of it?
December 2010
Get the latest no-nonsense advice for better living delivered to your inbox every morning with our Ask Amy newsletter. Sign up here.
(You can email Amy Dickinson at askamy@amydickinson.com or send a letter to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or Facebook.)
Copyright 2019 by Amy Dickinson
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency


chicagotribune--2020-03-08--2 charged with Christmas morning shooting that wounded 7-year-old girl in Brighton Park, police say

Jaime Lopez then got out of the car and fired several shots at the 38-year-old victim and two juveniles with @ @ @ @ @ The man , who turned 39 in January , was struck in the head and @ @ @ @ @ .
As Lopez continued firing at the two juveniles , one of the shots went @ @ @ @ @ struck the girl , who police previously said was watching television with her cousins that @ @

Cellphone records, city surveillance video and a license plate reader led police investigators to a man and a woman accused of taking part in a Christmas morning shooting that injured two people, including a 7-year-old girl, Cook County prosecutors told a judge Sunday.
Jaime Lopez, 22, and Gabriela Lopez, 35, appeared side by side at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on attempted first-degree murder charges, though the judge in the case barred the pair from contacting one another during the pending case.
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Jaime Lopez is of the 2200 block of West 19th Street, and Gabriela Lopez is of the 4800 block of West Irving Park Road, police said. Authorities didn’t say how the pair were related.
The girl and the then-38-year-old victim were both shot just after 1:30 a.m. Dec. 25 in the 3500 block of South Washtenaw Avenue in the Brighton Park neighborhood.
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Jaime Lopez is charged with attempted murder after the Dec. 25, 2019, shooting that injured a 7-year-old girl. (Chicago Police Department)
In court, prosecutors said both defendants and a third person were seen on surveillance video getting into a 2000 maroon Buick LeSabre sedan with a distinctive white vinyl top and leaving a bar in the Avondale neighborhood. Gabriela Lopez was described as the driver.
Gabriela Lopez’s phone records, city cameras and multiple license plate readers confirmed that the car carrying the trio traveled to South Washtenaw Avenue, where someone inside flashed gang signs to three people standing on the street, Assistant State’s Attorney Gino Betts told the court.
Jaime Lopez then got out of the car and fired several shots at the 38-year-old victim and two juveniles with him, Betts said. The man, who turned 39 in January, was struck in the head and both legs, authorities said. As Lopez continued firing at the two juveniles, one of the shots went into the nearby residence and struck the girl, who police previously said was watching television with her cousins that morning.
About a month later, a traffic stop performed on Gabriela Lopez’s Buick found Jaime Lopez as a backseat passenger along with a gun, authorities said.
Betts added that one of the juvenile targets later identified Jaime Lopez as the gunman.
Gabriela Lopez is charged with attempted murder after a shooting that wounded a girl, 7, on Dec. 25, 2019, the Brighton Park neighborhood. (Chicago Police Department)
During the hearing, Jaime Lopez weakly shook his head as he listened to the prosecutors make the allegations. Police arrested both Lopezes on Friday without incident, according to their arrest reports.
Calling Jaime Lopez a “real and present threat to the public," and citing the evidence against him, Circuit Judge Arthur Wesley Willis denied him bail but granted $100,000 bail for Gabriela Lopez. Both are expected to return to court Friday.
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In the shooting, one of the bullets crashed through a front window of a home, tore through a couch and hit the girl in the right elbow, back and chest, police said.
As emergency vehicles arrived at the scene, lights from a police car and an ambulance flashed alongside blinking Christmas decorations outside the three-flat, according to a video taken by Network Video Productions and obtained by the Tribune at the time.
(Chicago Tribune Handout (handout, chicago-tribune-handout))
A paramedic emerged from the home carrying the girl in his arms to the ambulance. Speechless and wide-eyed, two men and a woman could be seen trailing closely behind. At least six creased notecards served as makeshift evidence markers next to shell casings strewn across 35th Place.
The holiday shooting grabbed the attention of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who expressed concern for the family and called on the public to come forward with any information at the time.
“As we gather for the holiday, we renew our commitment to protect our children from harm," Lightfoot said on Twitter at the time. "To the family, CPD will do everything possible to bring the perpetrator to justice. As a city, you have our love and support.”
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A $1,000 reward had been offered in the days after the attack.
wlee@chicagotribune.com
rsobol@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-03-08--Column: Illinois outlasts Iowa 78-76 in a final-seconds thriller, and the renewal of the heated riva

Column: Illinois outlasts Iowa 78-76 in a final-seconds thriller, and the renewal of the heated rivalry is a sign basketball is thriving again in Champaign

The Illini led by 16 in the second half , but the Hawkeyes chipped away over the final seven minutes @ @ @ @ @ on Garza ’ s layup with 57 seconds remaining .
Dosunmu answered with a jumper @ @ @ @ @ restore a four-point cushion .

CHAMPAIGN — At the first glimpse of players in black and gold uniforms stepping onto the State Farm Center court, Illinois fans unleashed their loathing.
They hoisted posters mocking Iowa coach Fran McCaffery for his notorious sideline temper, aimed derisive chants at national player of the year candidate Luka Garza and reached decibels of hollering not heard in Champaign for a decade or more.
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The hostility wasn’t confined to the stands.
“We don’t like each other,” Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu said bluntly. “Simple as that.”
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Obviously.
Late in the first half, Illinois guard Da’Monte Williams and Iowa guard Connor McCaffery were separated as they stood nose to nose and jawed, the teams drawing double technical fouls. Fran McCaffery and Illinois coach Brad Underwood grew red-faced arguing with officials throughout the game.
At stake in Sunday night’s regular-season finale was the No. 4 seed in this week’s Big Ten Tournament and a double bye into Friday’s quarterfinals.
The best part? The game lived up to the intensity.
No. 23 Illinois outlasted No. 18 Iowa 78-76 with more late-game heroism from Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn.
Garza finished with 28 points and eight rebounds, but the Illini (21-10, 13-7 Big Ten) kept him from making the most important shot of the game.
With Iowa inbounding under its basket with 1.6 seconds left and trailing by two, Illinois — and every one of the 15,544 fans watching — knew Garza would be the first option.
The 7-foot Cockburn stood like a tower in the paint and blocked Garza’s shot as time expired. The Iowa center sat in disappointment near the free-throw line as Cockburn walked victoriously toward the Illini bench with his fists raised.
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“It’s Garza, man,” said Cockburn, who had 12 points and eight rebounds. “It’s been a pleasure playing against him. ... It was the most important block of my career.”
The Illini led by 16 in the second half, but the Hawkeyes chipped away over the final seven minutes, cutting it to 76-74 on Garza’s layup with 57 seconds remaining. Dosunmu answered with a jumper with 31 seconds left to restore a four-point cushion.
“Certain guys have it,” McCaffery said. “He’s got it. You’ve got to give him credit for making that shot.”
It was one of several decisive shots Dosunmu has made this season. Fans have speculated whether the sophomore will enter the NBA draft.
If it was his final game at the State Farm Center, he left a lasting memory. He scored 17 points on 7-of-16 shooting with eight assists and seven rebounds.
“I do it for them,” Dosunmu said of the fans. “They earned it. We’ll try to make noise in the postseason.”
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Illinois will open conference tournament play Friday in Indianapolis with a chance to face — cue dramatic music — No. 5 seed Iowa. The Hawkeyes (20-11, 11-9) will play the Minnesota-Northwestern winner in a second-round game Thursday.
The animosity toward the Hawkeyes added another layer to Sunday’s game. After the Illini lost 72-65 at Iowa in early February, assistant coaches engaged in a heated exchange during the postgame handshake line, leading to players snapping at each other.
There was no postgame incident this time. But the renewed rivalry signifies something special taking place in Champaign. The Illini are giving fans something to care about, something to feel invested in.
Any leftover apathy around Illinois basketball has been thoroughly exorcised in Underwood’s third season.
The Illini will make their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2013. They lost 21 games last season — the number of wins they’ve collected so far this season.
To show his appreciation, Underwood invited every player to the postgame news conference. Trent Frazier and Giorgi Bezhanishvili ate popcorn while teammates answered questions.
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“We’ve come a long way in terms of growth of this program,” Underwood said. “I’m proud of us.”
Illinois received its best game of the season from Kipper Nichols on senior night. He scored 10 points and grabbed three valuable rebounds. Senior guard Andres Feliz added 14 points.
On a night filled with emotions, Underwood hugged his son, Tyler, a senior walk-on, during a pregame ceremony.
Big win for Brad Underwood and the #Illini to cap the regular season pic.twitter.com/IvnbqOIddB — Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) March 9, 2020
After the game, Underwood followed his players with a lap of high-fives around the Orange Krush.
From pregame boos aimed at Iowa to postgame cheers for Illinois, the Illini are reveling in this season’s success. Now, to keep it going this month.
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“When you get to March, it’s playing to exhaustion,” Underwood said, “and then figuring out how to do that again.”