chicagotribune--2020-06-15--Chicago sues Trump administration over refusal to allow Obamacare special enrollment period amid pan

Chicago sues Trump administration over refusal to allow Obamacare special enrollment period amid pandemic

Providing another window for enrollment has received bipartisan support in Congress as well as a thumbs-up from some of the @ @ @ @ @ , and the president ’ s refusal to go along with one came as a @ @ @ @

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration accused President Donald Trump in a federal lawsuit filed Monday of playing politics with Americans’ health by refusing to open a special enrollment session for the Affordable Care Act despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The ACA — also known as Obamacare — calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to open a special enrollment period when consumers face “exceptional circumstances."
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The 60-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleged Trump’s decision in April not to reopen enrollment was yet another attempt in the president’s three-year campaign to sabotage the signature legislation of his predecessor.
The move has denied the ability of thousands of Chicago residents to shop for health coverage on the program’s 38 federally controlled exchanges, according to the lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of the city by the non-profit Democracy Forward.
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Meanwhile, Chicago and other cities have had to pick up the slack by providing uncompensated care to uninsured residents, the suit alleged.
Included with the lawsuit was an affidavit from the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady, stating Chicago "is harmed as a whole when its residents feel they cannot obtain necessary medical care."
“The more uninsured and under-insured individuals that do not seek care, the more the novel coronavirus will spread, further harming the city, its budget, its economy, and its well-being,” Arwady stated in the affidavit.
More than 49,000 Chicago residents have been infected by the coronavirus as of Monday, and as many has a half a million have lost their jobs, according to statistics cited in the suit.
Chicago Corporation Counsel Mark Flessner said in a statement that a special enrollment session is “mandated” by the law.
“Although never OK, now is not the time to play politics by blocking our residents from lawful access to the health benefits they desperately need,” Flessner stated.
The lawsuit, which names Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Medicaid and Medicare chief Seema Verda as defendants, seeks a preliminary injunction forcing the Trump administration to reopen enrollment.
A spokesman for the Trump administration could not immediately be reached for comment.
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Providing another window for enrollment has received bipartisan support in Congress as well as a thumbs-up from some of the nation’s largest insurers, and the president’s refusal to go along with one came as a surprise to many.
Instead, Trump touted a plan to cover coronavirus treatments for uninsured patients by paying hospitals for their costs, according to an April 3 story in Politico.
“This should alleviate any concern uninsured Americans may have about seeking the coronavirus treatment,” Trump said at the time, according to the story. “So that, I think, answers the question pretty well and very much in favor of our great people.”
The lawsuit, however, contends that the decision was purely ideological.
“(The) conclusion to the contrary rests on an impermissible basis for action—the President’s desire to sabotage a duly-enacted law,” the suit stated.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-15--Aldermen plan to file ordinance seeking removal of police from Chicago Public Schools

“ For years parents , teachers and students have questioned why police are in schools , ” Taylor , a @ @ @ @ @ in a news release .
“ The trauma and harm that was done by this @ @ @ @ @ .
The money we spend on CPD in CPS can be used for a nurse @ @ @ @ @ restorative justice programs that our students will need once returning to school .
”

Ald. Jeanette Taylor, 20th, talks to reporters Jan. 28, 2020, in Chicago. Taylor is one of the aldermen who announced the introduction of a plan to end the agreement that allows Chicago police officers to work in Chicago public schools. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
A group of aldermen on Monday announced they would introduce a plan to end the agreement that allows Chicago police officers to work inside Chicago public schools, amid growing calls from activists to stop the practice.
It remains to be seen whether the ordinance from South Side Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th, Ald. Jeanette Taylor, 20th, and Northwest Side Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, gains any traction in the City Council.
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Mayor Lori Lightfoot has opposed the idea of pulling cops out of schools, saying they’re needed to keep schools safe.
The ordinance orders police Superintendent David Brown to end the deal that assigns police to schools within 75 days.
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The announcement comes a day after at least 150 people gathered outside Hyde Park Academy during a virtual Chicago Public Schools high school graduation ceremony, calling on Lightfoot to defund police and end the $33 million contract Chicago Public Schools has with Chicago police to provide school resource officers.
“For years parents, teachers and students have questioned why police are in schools,” Taylor, a freshman progressive alderman, said in a news release. “The trauma and harm that was done by this practice can never be erased. The money we spend on CPD in CPS can be used for a nurse, counselor, and real restorative justice programs that our students will need once returning to school.”
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @_johnbyrne


chicagotribune--2020-06-15--Column: The Lakefront Trail will reopen. Now it’s time to change how the City that Works gets to wor

Column: The Lakefront Trail will reopen. Now it’s time to change how the City that Works gets to work.

After all , fewer than 2 % of Chicago commuters bike to work .
But the number of pedaling commuters @ @ @ @ @ reaching almost 24,000 in 2018 from just about 2,000 in 1980 , according to a @ @ @ @ @ Active Transportation Alliance .
That increase may be understated because thousands of Metra commuters use @ @ @ @ @ get from the big downtown train stations to their jobs .

A woman runs on a trail near West Wilson Drive on Chicago's lakefront near Montrose Harbor on Feb. 23, 2021. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
It was a giddy, guilty pleasure to be one of the hundreds of people who on Sunday defied Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s order to stay off the Lakefront Trail.
The sun shone. The lake sparked. The skyline rose majestically. And the police weren’t handing out tickets, just announcing on speakers that the lakefront is closed.
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The stream of cyclists, joggers and walkers — my favorite was a biker giving his cute little dog a ride in one of those baby bike trailers — said otherwise.
Astute observers interpreted the lack of enforcement as a sign that Lightfoot was ready to lift the ban, which initially made sense but increasingly looked like a heavy-handed response to the coronavirus.
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And that’s what happened Monday when City Hall announced that the 18-mile trail will reopen to walkers, runners, cyclists and in-line skaters on June 22.
Hooray! The people have a sliver of their lakefront back — as long as they keep moving. Congregating, gathering, and things like fitness classes and picnicking are still verboten. Somewhere in urban planning heaven, a smile is spreading across the mustachioed mug of Daniel Burnham, who once wrote: “The lakefront by right belongs to the people.”
But in the spirit of Danny B, who famously made no little plans, why stop at just reopening the trail?
It’s time to think big and explore a paradigm shift in downtown Chicago’s commuting patterns.
With the pandemic making thousands of people afraid to take public transit, city officials shouldn’t simply reopen the trail. They should be doing everything they can to promote bicycling as a way to get to work, from turning car-oriented streets into pop-up bike routes as Paris has done, to ensuring that downtown office buildings have showers so bike commuters don’t stink up the joint.
The benefits — better public health achieved through more exercise and less air pollution — could be enormous.
Is this a pipe dream?
After all, fewer than 2% of Chicago commuters bike to work. But the number of pedaling commuters gradually has been rising, reaching almost 24,000 in 2018 from just about 2,000 in 1980, according to a 2020 report by the nonprofit Active Transportation Alliance. That increase may be understated because thousands of Metra commuters use the Divvy bike-sharing network to get from the big downtown train stations to their jobs.
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In addition, bike sales have been booming nationwide in response to the pandemic. The demand for new bikes is so intense that it’s being compared with the rush to buy toilet paper at the beginning of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, bike commuting is playing an essential role as European cities emerge from quarantines.
Last month in Paris, The New York Times reports, street workers put up traffic barriers and painted yellow bicycle symbols onto the pavement, creating pop-up “corona cycleways” that are now heavily used. Residents around Paris even can get a subsidy of about $554 to purchase an electric bike or a smaller subsidy to fix an old bike.
So how about it, Chicago?
Why not a “corona cycleway” on LaSalle Street?
Why not temporarily turn empty garages into bike storage sheds?
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Why not build more downtown bike spots, like the McDonald’s Cycle Center in Millennium Park, which offers secure bike parking, lockers, showers and towel service, and a bike repair shop? And why not reopen the McDonald’s facility, along with other parts of Millennium Park, instead of keeping it closed?
I don’t mean to oversell what an increase in bike commuting can accomplish. Cycling has a gender gap; far more men than women commute by bike. Some suburbanites may be reluctant to bike through crime-ridden areas of Chicago. And there’s this thing called winter, which can make even the most ardent cyclist prefer the warmth and safety of an SUV or a Metra train car.
Nevertheless, this is a moment of tremendous possibility, one that the mayor and her transportation commissioner, Gia Biagi, should seize.
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With some 280 miles of on-street bike lanes and 48 miles of off-street trails, including the Lakefront Trail, Chicago in recent years has made great strides in transforming stretches of asphalt into something other than drag strips for cars.
Yet in response to the pandemic, Chicago’s Transportation Department is taking baby steps, not bold ones, to advance the cause of bike commuting.
The department has been upgrading and restriping old bike lanes, creating new ones and adding bike parking where it’s needed. That’s pretty tame stuff compared to what Paris has done.
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With the Lakefront Trail finally reopening, it’s time to follow the bold strokes of Burnham, who found inspiration in the boulevards of Paris. Let’s write the latest chapter, friendly to both bike commuting and a greener city, in the ongoing story of Chicago as “Paris on the Prairie.”
Blair Kamin is a Tribune critic.
bkamin@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @BlairKamin


chicagotribune--2020-06-15--Gov. J.B. Pritzker cool to hotel industry’s push for larger gatherings in next phase of reopening

Businesses “ know their industry better than any elected official will know their industry , ” Pritzker said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ listen to the epidemiologists who say that , in indoor facilities in particular , that @ @ @ @ @ some limits of numbers of people who can get together .
”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday said he’s not ready to embrace a push by the hotel industry to allow meeting rooms and ballrooms to reopen at half capacity when the state moves into the next phase of the governor’s reopening plan.
Hotels and motels have remained open since Pritzker issued his stay-at-home order in March to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. But gatherings are limited to 10 or fewer people under phase three of the governor’s “Restore Illinois” plan, which took effect May 29.
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With the move to phase four — which is on track to take place June 26 in all four regions of the state — the cap on gatherings would increase to 50. Pritzker is expected to release industry-specific guidelines for phase four, which would include limited dine-in service at restaurants and bars, in the coming days.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks June 4, 2020, during an event in Chicago's Austin neighborhood. Phase three of the governor’s “Restore Illinois” plan took effect May 29. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
The Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association says allowing gathering spaces to accommodate groups at up to 50% of their normal capacity would help the struggling tourism and lodging industries while not jeopardizing public health.
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The industry’s plan includes measures such as providing personal protective equipment for employees and ensuring attendees wear face coverings, temperature checks for workers and guests, and limiting table capacity.
“If a standard of safety can be implemented for other industries, it can be implemented to an even greater level at private events held within our venues,” Michael Jacobson, president and CEO of the hotel association, said in a statement.
Pritzker said at an unrelated event in Belleville that he is “open to listening to different industries” about reopening procedures but will continue to consult with scientists about how to ease restrictions.
Businesses “know their industry better than any elected official will know their industry,” Pritzker said. “But I also need to listen to the epidemiologists who say that, in indoor facilities in particular, that we need to stay to some limits of numbers of people who can get together.”
Pritzker has faced pushback from Republican lawmakers and some industry groups over the pace of the state’s reopening, but as cases of the coronavirus spike in many other states that have reopened more quickly, Illinois is seeing a continued decline in new infections and deaths.
On Monday, state health officials reported 473 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 19 additional deaths, bringing the overall number of known cases to 133,016 and the death toll to 6,326 since the pandemic began.
The number of new cases is the lowest since March 30, when 460 were reported. The daily number of new cases has now been below 1,000 for 10 straight days, and the daily death toll has been less than 100 for 11 days. The 18 deaths reported Sunday and 19 reported Monday are the lowest and second-lowest totals since April 2, when 16 fatalities were recorded.
The pandemic has hit the tourism industry particularly hard, with large festivals like Lollapalooza called off and nearly 100 events at McCormick Place canceled since the pandemic began.
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As it stands, gatherings of more than 50 people would not be allowed to resume until Illinois reaches the fifth and final phase of Pritzker’s plan, which would require a vaccine for the coronavirus, an effective and widely available treatment, or the elimination of new cases for a sustained period.
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-15--Tracking Illinois coronavirus: 6,326 deaths, 133,016 confirmed cases, 1.21 million tests, 6.62% posi

Tracking Illinois coronavirus: 6,326 deaths, 133,016 confirmed cases, 1.21 million tests, 6.62% positivity rate for Northeast region

As the coronavirus spreads and local , state and national governments work to contain and mitigate the outbreak , the @ @ @ @ @ .

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


chicagotribune--2020-06-15--COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood

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

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


chicagotribune--2020-06-15--We’ve lowered the paywall on this essential coverage of coronavirus in Illinois

Testing for COVID-19 has greatly expanded in Illinois , with the state announcing more than 10,000 test results a day @ @ @ @ @ expansion has allowed the state to open up its guidance for who should be able @ @ @ @ @ .
The Illinois Department of Public Health is saying that testing is available without a @ @ @ @ @ anyone with coronavirus symptoms or an underlying risk factor .
Tests are also provided to @ @ @ @ @ of the pandemic , such as medical workers , first responders and employees of prisons @ @ @ @ @ the map for coronavirus testing site near you .

As a public service to our readers and community, we have lowered the paywall on some of our most critical stories so everyone can access this important information. We rely on the support of our subscribers to fund our journalism. If you’re not already signed up, we hope you will consider subscribing.
We are updating a daily live blog with the latest developments on the reopening of Chicago and Illinois. This is where you’ll find updates on the number of COVID-19 cases in our area, as well as the most up-to-date recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Public Health, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
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As summer nears, Chicagoans are desperate to get out and about — to have a summer picnic with family, to get back to work, to get a haircut. Here’s how and when you might be able to do those things.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Tuesday a five-phase plan to get Illinois reopened as the COVID-19 pandemic slows its toll on health care providers. The plan, from “Rapid Spread” to “Illinois Restored,” splits the state up into regions and allows each region to open a different phase should the impact of the pandemic be different throughout the state. The plan also emphasizes that a region can move backward if the health metrics indicate enough risk. Read more.
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Testing for COVID-19 has greatly expanded in Illinois, with the state announcing more than 10,000 test results a day since April 24. The expansion has allowed the state to open up its guidance for who should be able to get a coronavirus test. The Illinois Department of Public Health is saying that testing is available without a doctor’s order to anyone with coronavirus symptoms or an underlying risk factor. Tests are also provided to people on the front lines of the pandemic, such as medical workers, first responders and employees of prisons or nursing homes. Search the map for coronavirus testing site near you.
All Illinois residents over age 2 must wear a face mask when they can’t maintain a 6-foot social distance in public. Studies show that the coronavirus can spread between people interacting in close proximity, including people who are not showing symptoms. Here’s where you can find them, what kind to get and how to make your own.
Americans are brainstorming with neighbors, posting questions on social media, and googling for tips and advice. The question at the center of all the hand wringing and head scratching: How do you thank the essential workers who remain out in the world, exposing themselves to greater risk of contracting the novel coronavirus, so that we can buy our groceries, receive our mail, travel by public transportation, and get health care if we need it? Here are some creative ideas to inspire you.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 68 (Chicago Tribune)
They were mothers and fathers, daughters and sons. Many were proud grandparents. Two were sisters from a tight-knit South Side family. All were loved, relatives say, and will be forever missed. As the number of deaths attributable to the coronavirus ticks upward, the Tribune is working to chronicle those who have lost their lives in the Chicago area or who have connections to our region. These are some of those victims.
Hundreds of Chicago restaurants have pivoted their operations to delivery, takeout or curbside pickup after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that all bars and restaurants in Illinois are closed for dining-in service through April 30. We’re collecting information on restaurants across the area that are still open for delivery or take out. Find a restaurant near you.
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A sign in the windows of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, seen on March 11, 2020, reminds people to wash their hands. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
You wake up with a sore, scratchy throat, and begin coughing and sneezing. It’s probably a run-of-the-mill cold, or it could be the beginning of a bout of seasonal flu. But with dozens of cases of the novel coronavirus surfacing in Illinois, some people are bound to wonder: Could this be the coronavirus? Here’s what experts advise for Illinoisans who fear they are showing signs of coronavirus.
The spread of the coronavirus pandemic has placed an extra burden on Chicagoland nonprofit organizations. Here is an evolving list of where you can make donations to organizations helping those in need.


chicagotribune--2020-06-15--Aurora police release video of traffic stop to address concerns on social media about arrests

When an officer tried to pull Ward out of the car , Mitchell-Lomax allegedly stopped him from unbuckling her seatbelt @ @ @ @ @ officers pull both occupants out of the car after a short struggle .
As he @ @ @ @ @ vehicle , Mitchell-Lomax allegedly swung his arms and struck one of the officers in the @ @ @ @ @ police said .

Aurora police released a 20-minute dashboard camera video of a traffic stop in response to a video taken by a bystander that spread on Facebook over the weekend.
A two-and-a-half-minute bystander video posted on Saturday shows a woman shaking on the ground as police arrest her, and the woman screams “I can’t breathe." The police department’s edited video shows the woman apparently breathing heavily and in duress after she declines to give her identity to police and is then arrested and handcuffed.
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“The video posted on social media only shows a short portion of the traffic stop and doesn’t provide any information about what happened,” police officials said in a statement. “Unfortunately, people have rushed to judge the incident without having all the facts.”
The driver, Jajuan Mitchell-Lomax, 22, of Aurora, was charged with aggravated resisting arrest, and the passenger, Alexus Ward, 22, of Maywood, was charged with obstructing identification and resisting arrest, police said.
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Mitchell-Lomax and Ward could not be reached by the Beacon-News.
During the arrests, the man and woman never had any pressure applied to their neck nor were they restrained in any way that could prevent them from breathing, police officials said. Both were taken to local hospitals and released shortly after without injuries, police said.
The arrests Saturday came three days after the police department released a summary of its policies on Facebook amid calls for police reform. Police said officers are banned from using chokeholds and suffocation and officers are trained to apply force only as a last resort.
Just after 6:30 p.m. Saturday, an Aurora police officer observed a white Chevrolet Malibu stopped at a red light at New York Street and Eola Road with the passenger door open. The door was then closed and the officer saw Mitchell-Lomax and Ward in what appeared to be a physical fight.
The vehicle made multiple quick lane changes once the light turned green and the officer continued to observe fighting as they struck each other with their fists and arms, police said.
The officer approached the vehicle after making a traffic stop and saw Ward breathing heavily with tears in her eyes and asked if everyone was OK, the police video shows.
After the officer asks for identification from Ward, she and Mitchell-Lomax became irate and began yelling, police said. Ward and Mitchell-Lomax told police they had no probable cause to stop them or ask for Ward’s ID. The officer said he wanted to ensure the occupants were safe and to see if a crime, battery to an individual, had occurred.
Police said officers are allowed to demand the name and identification of people involved in potential criminal activity and have a statutory duty to investigate crimes. Mitchell-Lomax provided his driver’s license while Ward refused and later provided an officer a false name, police said.
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Other officers arrived at the scene, and for 8 minutes, Aurora police ask for Ward’s name and birthday before telling her she had to get out of the car, police said.
When an officer tried to pull Ward out of the car, Mitchell-Lomax allegedly stopped him from unbuckling her seatbelt. The video shows four officers pull both occupants out of the car after a short struggle. As he was pulled out of the vehicle, Mitchell-Lomax allegedly swung his arms and struck one of the officers in the chin with his hand, police said.
Two officers wrestled Mitchell-Lomax to the ground after pulling him out of the car. An officer struck him twice in the side with his knee during the arrest, police said, which is an acceptable use of force under the department’s policy. Mitchell-Lomax then turned on his stomach and placed his arms behind his back.
Once on the ground, Ward screamed for the officers to get off of her stomach and repeats multiple times “I can’t breathe,” the police video shows. Bystanders nearby began to film the incident at that point. Police said the woman was hyperventilating, and officers called paramedics to assist.
An ambulance arrives at the scene about six minutes later. Mitchell-Lomax also requested medical attention after he said his ribs hurt.
Ward and Mitchell-Lomax were taken to a local hospital and later released.
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Mitchell-Lomax’s charges were upgraded to a felony count of aggravated resisting arrest because of injuries sustained by one of the Aurora police officers during the incident. One officer had an injury on his left forearm and the left side of his forehead while taking the driver into custody.
Hospital staff told police they did not observe any injuries on Ward. During the booking process at the jail, she said she was injured by officers during her arrest. Officers took photos but said they did not observe any injuries.
At the jail, Mitchell-Lomax said that during his arrest he was injured by officers and had a bruise on his left hip. APD officers tried to take pictures of the injuries for record-keeping but were only able to obtain two profile pictures of the man before he told the officer he didn’t need to take any more pictures, police said.
Two witnesses observed the physical fight in the vehicle between the driver and passenger before the vehicle was pulled over and reported it to the police. Both witnesses came to the department and provided written statements, police said.
mejones@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-15--Remembering the lives of those in Illinois who died from coronavirus

As the number of deaths attributable to COVID-19 ticks upward , the Tribune is working to chronicle those who have @ @ @ @ @ Chicago area or who have connections to our region .
These are some of those @ @

They were mothers and fathers, daughters and sons. Many were proud grandparents. Two were sisters from a tight-knit South Side family. All were loved, relatives say, and will be forever missed.
As the number of deaths attributable to COVID-19 ticks upward, the Tribune is working to chronicle those who have lost their lives in the Chicago area or who have connections to our region. These are some of those victims.
If you know of someone or would like to offer a remembrance of someone please share your information here. To file a death notice, go here.
Subscribe to the Chicago Tribune: Our mission is to deliver trusted and meaningful local news. Your support allows us to continue providing the award-winning, watchdog and in-depth journalism our community deserves. Subscribe here.


chicagotribune--2020-06-15--Lightfoot says assertion that Chicago cops were asked to protect U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush’s office amid

Lightfoot says assertion that Chicago cops were asked to protect U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush’s office amid unrest is ‘simply not true’

Rush told reporters he got a call that his campaign office had been burglarized and later saw surveillance footage of @ @ @ @ @ office , ” including three supervisors , with their feet up on desks and another @ @ @ @ @

Mayor Lori Lightfoot denied that Chicago police officers who were seen lounging in U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush’s office during civil unrest earlier this month were directed by someone in the congressman’s office to be there to protect it.
“I believe that allegation is just simply not true,” Lightfoot said Monday at an unrelated news conference.
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Lightfoot and Rush last week condemned images they said depicted Chicago police officers making popcorn, drinking coffee and sleeping on a couch in the congressman’s South Side campaign office while nearby businesses were being looted amid unrest two weeks ago.
Rush told reporters he got a call that his campaign office had been burglarized and later saw surveillance footage of officers “lounging in my office,” including three supervisors, with their feet up on desks and another asleep on the couch.
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“They even had the unmitigated gall to go and make coffee for themselves and to pop popcorn, my popcorn, in my microwave while looters were tearing apart businesses within their sight and within their reach,” Rush said.
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City Hall did not release the video from inside Rush’s office, providing only selected screenshots in a slideshow that played behind the mayor during a news conference last week. CPD did not provide a timeline and would not say when the officers were inside Rush’s campaign office.
A Rush spokesman said the office learned about the building being burglarized on May 31, when the alarm system went off, but did not discover the police presence until two days later when a security service provided video footage that was reviewed on June 3.
New Chicago police union President John Catanzara called the news conference “despicable” and said the looting at the shopping center was done by the time the officers shown in the images arrived.
Catanzara suggested police brass had bad information. He said based on the light outside the windows in the images, it was the early morning hours, and the officers were bored and exhausted from guarding the office all night.
gpratt@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @royalpratt


chicagotribune--2020-06-15--United taps frequent flyer program for $5 billion loan, warns fall furloughs possible

The additional funds would leave the airline with $ 17 billion in readily available funds this fall , United said @ @ @ @ @ .
That includes a $ 4.5 billion loan available to the airline through the $ @ @ @ @ @ package .
United said it believes it has the collateral necessary to borrow all $ @ @ @ @ @ t yet determined whether to tap those funds .

Workers outnumbered travelers in this photo taken at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on April 16, 2020. (TERESA CRAWFORD/AP)
United Airlines is using its frequent flyer program to borrow $5 billion as passenger travel, which ground to a near-halt during the COVID-19 pandemic, starts to pick up but remains far short of a typical summer travel season.
The loan secured by its loyalty program isn’t expected to change how the program works for passengers, and is being used to provide a financial cushion in case there is a future spike in COVID-19 cases.
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The additional funds would leave the airline with $17 billion in readily available funds this fall, United said in a news release Monday. That includes a $4.5 billion loan available to the airline through the $2.2 trillion federal coronavirus relief package. United said it believes it has the collateral necessary to borrow all $4.5 billion but hasn’t yet determined whether to tap those funds.
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In addition to lining up funding, United has been working to slash costs while waiting for passenger travel to recover. Passenger revenues were down 98% in April compared with the same month last year, United said.
The airline said it’s starting to see signs people are flying again. United expects passenger revenues to grow 50% to 100% between June and July, though that will still be down as much as 88% compared with last July, normally part of the busy summer travel season.
The airline’s domestic flying capacity is expected to be down about 70% in July compared with the same month last year. Still, that’s roughly double the airline’s flying in June. International capacity in July is expected to drop about 80%.
Thousands of employees have volunteered for unpaid leave, reduced work hours or voluntary separation programs since March, including about 1,300 management and administrative employees who took voluntary separation packages. That’s about 10% of the airline’s white-collar workforce, and employees who took the packages will leave this month.
United has also reduced capital expenditures, suspended raises, frozen hiring, reduced executive pay and eliminated base salaries for the CEO and president.
The airline warned in a Monday regulatory filing that “furloughs or other measures” may still be needed to further cut payroll costs this fall. United and other airlines that received financial assistance from the federal government through the coronavirus relief act are required to avoid involuntary layoffs and pay rate cuts through Sept. 30.
The airline declined to comment further but said it would begin notifying employees affected next month.
lzumbach@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-15--Chicago aldermen advance $200,000 settlement for sister of man who died after paramedics didn’t trea

Chicago aldermen advance $200,000 settlement for sister of man who died after paramedics didn’t treat him

The sister of a man who died after Chicago Fire Department paramedics responded to a call that he needed help @ @ @ @ @ assistance is in line for $ 200,000 from the city .

The sister of a man who died after Chicago Fire Department paramedics responded to a call that he needed help but did not provide medical assistance is in line for $200,000 from the city.
The City Council Finance Committee advanced the settlement Monday for the sister of Charles Myles.
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According to city attorney Renai Rodney, paramedics were dispatched to a home in West Garfield Park in July 2012 in response to a 911 call for medical assistance for Myles, 54.
When the paramedics arrived at the house, they said “family members took Myles inside the house and shut the door,” Rodney told aldermen.
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“The paramedics did not provide any medical assistance to Myles, nor did they prepare an ambulance run sheet for the call documenting the lack of treatment,” Rodney said. “Later that morning, Myles was found dead.”
Myles’ sister alleges in a lawsuit against the city that the paramedics were “willful and wanton” in failing to treat or transport Myles, Rodney said.
The proposed settlement will go to the full City Council for consideration Wednesday.
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @_johnbyrne


chicagotribune--2020-06-15--Chicago’s Millennium Park reopens from coronavirus shutdown with restrictions

Chicago ’ s Riverwalk downtown officially reopened Friday , with restrictions aimed at limiting activity and crowds .
Though Lightfoot @ @ @ @ @ closed , residents have been able to access Lake Michigan as security around the trails @ @ @ @ @ on when the lakefront could reopen is expected soon , and could mirror the rules @ @ @ @ @ on crowds and workers checking to ensure social distancing is followed .

The Fulton Market area of Chicago is no longer the ghost town it was during the depths of the COVID-19 virus pandemic shutdown. As restrictions on restaurants are eased, a worker takes a woman's temperature before she can enter Federales restaurant on Morgan Street on July 1, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago’s Millennium Park has reopened, with restrictions on the number of people who can visit and social distancing rules meant to limit potential coronavirus exposure, the city announced.
The park will be open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., for groups of 10 or fewer wearing face masks, city officials said. Maggie Daley Park will reopen also.
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Visitors will be required to enter at Michigan Avenue and Madison Street and exit at Michigan and Washington Street. So-called social distancing ambassadors will be in the area to keep people apart, the city said.
Though the park is reopening, it’s not going back to normal. People will be able to visit the Chase Promenades, the Boeing Galleries and Lurie Garden, but Crown Fountain and Wrigley Square will be open without their water turned on.
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Visitors won’t be able to get up close to the Cloud Gate sculpture better known as The Bean, but they’ll be able to view it “from a distance” from Chase Promenade Central.
The Great Lawn will remain closed.
Earlier this month, the city entered phase three of its planned reopening, which allowed various industries including restaurants and child care facilities, nonessential retail stores, hotels and limited services at hair and nail salons as well as barbershops to welcome back customers.
Public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady last week said the city is on pace to further reopen its economy July 1, with restrictions potentially being loosened on indoor restaurant dining, museums and gyms.
Hand sanitizer dispensers are available near Cloud Gate on June 15, 2020, in Millennium Park. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago’s Riverwalk downtown officially reopened Friday, with restrictions aimed at limiting activity and crowds. Though Lightfoot has said the lakefront remains closed, residents have been able to access Lake Michigan as security around the trails has loosened. An announcement on when the lakefront could reopen is expected soon, and could mirror the rules at Millennium Park with limits on crowds and workers checking to ensure social distancing is followed.
gpratt@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @royalpratt


chicagotribune--2020-06-15--Watch live: Mayor Lightfoot, other leaders to discuss police use of force policies

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot , the Chicago Police Department and community leaders will announce a new working group that will @ @ @ @ @ s use of force policies in a news briefing scheduled for 9:15 a.m. CDT .

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chicagotribune--2020-06-15--Truck driver charged with pushing police officer who stopped him for driving toward crowd of protest

Truck driver charged with pushing police officer who stopped him for driving toward crowd of protesters, authorities say

Before a judge at the Leighton Criminal Court Building , Kozielec ’ s court-appointed attorney said the trucker of 20 @ @ @ @ @ was merely trying to get to his place of work and not targeting protesters .
@ @ @ @ @ he his driving was political in nature , ” said Assistant Public Defender Drew Bruno @

The attorney for a Southwest Side truck driver accused of driving a semitrailer recklessly toward a crowd of protesters and shoving a high-ranking police officer to the ground over the weekend, told a judge his client’s alleged actions weren’t “political in nature.”
Authorities said Adam Kozielec, 44, ignored direct orders from a deputy police chief to stop as he drove around a police squad car blocking eastbound traffic at the intersection of California Avenue and 31st Street on Saturday. As he drove around the police vehicle, Kozielec’s semi veered toward several protesters standing nearby, but no one was struck, prosecutors said.
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The deputy chief stepped up to the semi and opened the driver’s side door, but was shoved away by Kozielec, who fled the scene, authorities said. He was arrested just before 5 p.m. Saturday in the 2600 block of West 31st Street, police said.
Kozielec, of the Vittum Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side, is facing one felony charge of aggravated battery of an officer in addition to driving with a suspended license and reckless conduct.
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On Saturday, the area around the Cook County Jail was the setting of protest marches and demands by activists to divert government money from the incarceration system amid national calls to defund police organizations following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Before a judge at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, Kozielec’s court-appointed attorney said the trucker of 20 years and father of three was merely trying to get to his place of work and not targeting protesters. “There are no indications he his driving was political in nature,” said Assistant Public Defender Drew Bruno.
Kozielec’s driver’s license was suspended at the time of the incident due to “financial reasons,” according to his attorney, but otherwise didn’t have a criminal history.
Opting not to “delve” into the topic of political motivations, Judge Michael Beach II ordered Kozielec released on $1,000 bail and to adhere to restrictions by the pretrial department.
The deputy police chief struck his arm on a metal pipe as he fell from the truck, but only suffered abrasions, authorities said.
Kozielec is scheduled to return to court next Monday
pfry@chicagotribune.com
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chicagotribune--2020-06-16--Daywatch: Lakefront Trail set to reopen as city takes steps forward, how one school reeled in 2,800

Daywatch: Lakefront Trail set to reopen as city takes steps forward, how one school reeled in 2,800 students amid COVID-19 and can you get fired for protesting?

Plunged unexpectedly into remote learning because of the pandemic , teachers throughout the region had to figure out how to @ @ @ @ @ .
Here ’ s a look at how one of the largest schools in Chicago @ @ @ @ @ used a mix of technology and personal touch to maintain connections .
Educators feared that @ @ @ @ @ these ties , some of their students — 90 % of whom live in poverty @ @ @ @ @ .

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Good morning, Chicago. Here’s the coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
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People use the Lakefront Trail near Belmont Harbor on June 15, 2020, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
The city of Chicago continued its slow return to normal on Monday as officials reopened Millennium Park, announced that bars and brewers will be allowed to serve outdoor customers on Wednesday and set the reopening of Chicago’s iconic Lakefront Trail for June 22. But all three moves will come with restrictions aimed at preventing a resurgence in the coronavirus and could be rolled back if the city sees COVID-19 cases spike down the line.
The Illinois Republican Party sued Gov. J.B. Pritzker in federal court Monday, seeking an exemption from the 10-person limit on public gatherings.
Pritzker said he’s not ready to embrace the hotel industry’s push for larger gatherings in the next phase of reopening.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot answers questions after announcing a new Community Working Group designed to review and revise CPD's use of force policies at City Hall in Chicago on June 15, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Under pressure from Chicago activists demanding broad changes to how the city polices, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a task force to review the Police Department’s use of force policies.
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The committee will include residents, students, lawyers, advocates and elected officials, Lightfoot said. Deputy Chief Ernest Cato, a veteran of the department who was a runner-up for the police superintendent job earlier this year, will co-chair the committee alongside activist Arewa Karen Winters, whose great nephew Pierre Loury was killed by police.
With schools closed due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic, Nitsia Flores, left, a senior at Curie High School, helps her sister Amalia, age 8, with schoolwork at home in Chicago, June 3, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Plunged unexpectedly into remote learning because of the pandemic, teachers throughout the region had to figure out how to stay in touch with students. Here’s a look at how one of the largest schools in Chicago, Curie High School, used a mix of technology and personal touch to maintain connections. Educators feared that if they failed to sustain these ties, some of their students — 90% of whom live in poverty — might never come back.
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago is pictured. (Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune)
Lurie Children’s Hospital again fell short of making U.S. News & World Report’s list of the top 10 children’s hospitals in the country, though many of its specialties continue to rank highly. It is the second consecutive year that Lurie didn’t make the cut, after appearing on the list the previous eight years.
Erek Slater, a bus operator and a shop steward at the CTA, speaks June 8, 2020, at a news conference at Federal Plaza in Chicago. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Thousands of people have taken to the streets and to social media in recent weeks to express solidarity with — or in some cases, objections to — the Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality. But can they say and do anything without risking their jobs? It depends, so here’s what you should know.


chicagotribune--2020-06-16--Man riding bike fatally shot in Rogers Park, police say

The man was shot in the head just before 3 a.m. Tuesday in the 7600 block of North Marshfield Avenue @ @ @ @ @ shooting broke out after a car stopped and someone inside began talking to a group @ @ @ @ @ .

A man riding a bike died early Tuesday after he was caught up in a Rogers Park shooting, according to Chicago police.
The man, 54, was shot in the head just before 3 a.m. Tuesday in the 7600 block of North Marshfield Avenue, police said. The shooting occurred after a car stopped and someone inside began talking to a group of men in the street.
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The group began shooting at the car, and a 27-year-old man inside was shot in the leg, police said. He went to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston and was reported in fair condition.
The 54-year-old man was nearby and did not appear to be involved with either party, police said. He was taken to St. Francis Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
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No arrests have been made.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-06-16--Man arrested in connection to May homicide

The shooting occurred around 10 a.m. May 31 in the 3300 block of West 71st Street in Marquette Park , @ @ @ @ @ Reyes-Hernandez were involved in a “ domestic-related argument ” before Reyes-Hernandez was shot multiple times @ @ @ @ @ inside his home .

Bail was denied Tuesday for a high school senior accused of fatally shooting a transgender woman in her Southwest Side home last month.
Prosecutors said in court that Orlando Perez, 18, provided an extensive confession to shooting Selena Reyes-Hernandez several times inside her home in the 3300 block of West 71st Street in Marquette Park early on May 31.
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Perez, of the 7200 block of South Homan Avenue, told investigators he left Reyes-Hernandez’s apartment after finding out she was transgender.
But Perez said he “kept seeing her face and it kept bothering him and he was mad as hell,” prosecutors said during a hearing on first-degree murder charges.
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Perez said he returned with a gun, walked into the home and shot her in the head and back before running out, according to Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy. He left but went back inside and fired three more shots as she laid on the floor, Murphy said.
Prosecutors said a number of security cameras saw Perez arriving with Reyes-Hernandez in her car just before 5:30 a.m., then leaving about 20 minutes later. Cameras also captured him returning to the home about an hour later, this time wearing a face covering and pulling out a handgun before entering a gate.
Several hours later, a relative found Reyes-Hernandez unresponsive. Police recovered seven 9 mm casings with a Luger ammo stamp and two unfired bullets, along with the victim’s cellphone that showed Perez washing his hands in her bathroom, Murphy said.
Police identified Perez through still images and served a search warrant at his home, where police recovered a 9 mm handgun containing bullets with ammo head stamps identical to the casings found at the scene, prosecutors said.
Perez’s court-appointed attorney asked for a reasonable bond, claiming Perez was a senior at Bogan High School who was on track to graduate. A Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman wouldn’t confirm that Perez was a CPS student, citing privacy rules.
Judge Arthur Wesley Willis denied bail for Perez, calling him a danger to the community. He is scheduled to return to court July 6.
Reyes-Hernandez had spent the day with three friends, attending a birthday party before having drinks at a friend’s home, prosecutors said. She dropped a friend off at home about 5 a.m., nearly 25 minutes before she met Perez, authorities said. The two lived about four blocks apart.
Attempts to reach the victim’s family weren’t successful.
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pfry@chicagotribune.com
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chicagotribune--2020-06-16--Rockefeller Foundation pledges $10 million to increase economic opportunity for minority-owned busin

Rockefeller Foundation pledges $10 million to increase economic opportunity for minority-owned businesses in Chicago and 9 other cities

One of the issues the Rockefeller Foundation hopes to address is access to capital and credit for businesses owned by @ @ @ @ @ .
Many minority-owned businesses lack a relationship with larger banks , experts say .
During @ @ @ @ @ small business owners said the lack of such a relationship made it difficult to access @ @ @ @ @ Program , a federal aid program administered through the U.S. Small Business Administration .

The Rockefeller Foundation has launched an initiative that will invest $10 million in 10 U.S. cities, including Chicago, to promote economic equity for low-wage workers and minority-owned small businesses.
The program, called the Rockefeller Foundation Opportunity Collective, plans to allocate funds to nonprofits, businesses, faith-based organizations and government institutions with the goal of helping minority-owned small businesses gain access to credit and preventing commercial gentrification in communities of color.
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The New York-based foundation hasn’t finalized which groups will receive the funding. The funds are part of a $65 million pledge the group made earlier this year to help low-wage workers and their families. As part of that pledge, it created the U.S. Equity and Economic Opportunity Initiative at the Rockefeller Foundation, which aims to support economic stability and mobility for communities of color.
In addition to Chicago, the group plans to invest in Atlanta; Boston; El Paso, Texas; Miami-Dade County, Florida; Houston; Louisville; Newark, New Jersey; Norfolk, Virginia; and Oakland, California.
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The foundation will conduct webinars with organizations from each city during the next month to discuss the program, and review applications to determine funding.
One of the issues the Rockefeller Foundation hopes to address is access to capital and credit for businesses owned by people of color and women. Many minority-owned businesses lack a relationship with larger banks, experts say. During the coronavirus pandemic, some small business owners said the lack of such a relationship made it difficult to access loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, a federal aid program administered through the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Otis Rolley, senior vice president of the Rockefeller Foundation’s U.S. Equity and Economic Opportunity Initiative, said black and brown communities continue to face systemic barriers in accessing credit. Those communities also face gentrification issues as mom and pop shops owned by people of color are replaced with larger chain stores and restaurants when they close.
“Small businesses in black and brown communities face commercial displacement. We want to find a way to help them stay on main street,” Rolley said. “Economic justice is essential in advancing the American dream.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot applauded the program in a news release, saying she hoped it could serve as a model for bringing “historic systems of racism and injustice to an end once and for all.”
“By drawing on the comprehensive resources of our communities, this visionary program will not only provide critical support to our neighborhoods devastated by the COVID-19 crisis, it will also help address the deeper, generational fissures of inequality across our cities,” Lightfoot said.
abjimenez@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @abdel1019


chicagotribune--2020-06-16--Column: Supreme Court’s LGBT discrimination ruling is much-needed good news in 2020’s dark days

1 ) “ Consider , for example , an employer with two employees , both of whom are attracted to @ @ @ @ @ are , to the employer ’ s mind , materially identical in all respects , @ @ @ @ @ man and the other a woman .
If the employer fires the male employee for @ @ @ @ @ fact he is attracted to men , the employer discriminates against him for traits or @ @ @ @ @ female colleague .
”

Joseph Fons holds a Pride Flag as he stands in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building after the court ruled LGBTQ people cannot be disciplined or fired based on their sexual orientation June 15, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
Just when it seemed the year 2020 had fully embraced an “All Bad News, All The Time” format, the U.S. Supreme Court let some light break through our dark days.
In a landmark 6-3 decision, the court ruled that employers can’t fire lesbian, gay or transgender people simply for being who they are. The ruling says Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, national origin and sex, applies to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
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Justice Neil Gorsuch, a conservative appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote the opinion: “An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law.”
Those 15 words mean a lot and will buoy anyone doubting the moral universe’s justice-bound bend. Frankly, a step toward greater equality couldn’t have come at a better time.
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At its midpoint, this has been a dim year. A pandemic taking more than 110,000 American lives, months spent largely quarantined, massive job losses, a swift and forceful public outcry over police brutality against black Americans, tear gas and rioting, a president incapable of leading but always ready to spit gasoline on fires.
The nation has been convulsing. And with the coronavirus still very much alive, protests ongoing and an administration that exists in an unceasing tornado of lies and provocations, calm is nowhere in sight.
So let’s take Monday’s court ruling as a win for fairness, and a moment of sanity in a year that has felt unhinged.
The fact that companies in most states could still fire people for being gay, lesbian or transgender always took many by surprise. It was one of those issues society had moved forward on faster than the law.
So it had to be spelled out, as Gorsuch wrote: “Today, we must decide whether an employer can fire someone simply for being homosexual or transgender. The answer is clear. An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex. Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.”
At the heart of this is fairness, same as the issue of race and policing that has led hundreds of thousands to protest the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis. Why do we see example after example of black people being treated violently by the police?
In the LGBT discrimination opinion, Gorsuch laid out two hypothetical examples:
1) “Consider, for example, an employer with two employees, both of whom are attracted to men. The two individuals are, to the employer’s mind, materially identical in all respects, except that one is a man and the other a woman. If the employer fires the male employee for no reason other than the fact he is attracted to men, the employer discriminates against him for traits or actions it tolerates in his female colleague.”
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2) “Or take an employer who fires a transgender person who was identified as a male at birth but who now identifies as a female. If the employer retains an otherwise identical employee who was identified as female at birth, the employer intentionally penalizes a person identified as male at birth for traits or actions that it tolerates in an employee identified as female at birth. Again, the individual employee’s sex plays an unmistakable and impermissible role in the discharge decision.”
Both those examples highlight profoundly and transparently unfair situations. And a vast majority of Americans know they’re unfair.
Some still look to demonize LGBT people, claiming their sexual orientation is a “choice” or their gender identify is somehow wrong. Anyone who holds those views would dispute my earlier description of LGBT workers as people “being who they are.”
No matter. That argument, overrun by progress long ago, has been rendered wholly insignificant. LGBT workers are now protected against discrimination. It’s the law of the land, and that law has been established with the help of two conservative Supreme Court justices, Gorsuch and Chief Justice John Roberts, appointed by Republicans, in part, to keep things like this from happening.
Fairness and common sense, at least in this case, prevailed.
And that shock of light in 2020’s darkness should give us more than momentary hope. Fairness and common sense are central to protests against police brutality. Fairness and common sense are central to issues like immigration, health care, tax cuts and even the handling of a pandemic.
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A president only capable of looking inward is incapable of fairness or common sense. So the hope is that those two things find a way to prevail, in spite of the president and in spite of the powerful people who want things kept only their way.
Monday was a victory for the LGBT community and a victory for basic human decency.
America’s convulsing will continue. But this good news gives us hope of more light to come.
rhuppke@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-16--Pandemic learning: How one Chicago high school reeled in nearly 2,800 students

In Tingwall ’ s engagement tracker , the portion of students participating in most of their classes has jumped by @ @ @ @ @ from late April , to 55 % .
By the district ’ s laxer measure @ @ @ @ @ students turn in at least one assignment once a week — Curie , with 98 @ @ @ @ @ , has handily outpaced Chicago ’ s average despite its high student poverty rate .
@ @ @ @ @ the number of missing students to a couple dozen .
Still , it will be @ @ @ @ @ students reassemble in the school ’ s now-abandoned classrooms .

With schools closed due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic, Nitsia Flores, left, a senior at Curie High School, helps her sister Amalia, age 8, with schoolwork at home in Chicago on June 3, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Allison Tingwall bangs on the door of a Chicago Lawn house, curtains drawn on all windows. Her face cloaked by a black mask, the Curie Metropolitan High School principal steps back and waits.
Most of Curie’s 2,800 students have at least emailed a teacher since the pandemic shuttered the school and shifted learning online a month earlier, but about 110 seem to have vanished. Now, Tingwall and her assistant principals have deployed to track them down.
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For the school, in the predominantly Latino immigrant neighborhood of Archer Heights on Chicago’s Southwest Side, a lot rides on a bid to reel in its scattered students. Six years ago, Curie accounted for 10% of school arrests in the city. By last September, the school had become a fledgling success story, with fights and arrests dramatically down, and the on-time graduation rate up; Tingwall saw a surge of “Condor pride” among students.
But with its educators scrambling to get the hang of teaching remotely, could Curie hold on to those fragile gains?
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Curie Metropolitan High School Principal Allison Tingwall in an empty classroom at the school in Chicago on June 5, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Chicago, like school districts around the country, pushed hard to get computers to students who needed them. But Tingwall and her staff of 280 quickly realized that this spring’s steeper challenge was to sustain the vital bonds between teachers and students — relationships tested in a city hard hit by the pandemic, with the racial and income fault lines it exposed.
Especially in economically stressed communities, it is often these personal relationships that propel learning, leading students not only to log on, but to stay fully plugged in. If Curie failed to sustain these ties, some of its students — 90% of whom live in poverty — might never come back.
Tingwall worries about losing kids to the impersonal void of cyberspace. But she takes pride in knowing 1,800 of them by name, and she is undaunted. A one-time engineering major, she works at a standing desk to stay “on her toes.” To her, optimism is a job requirement.
That April day, it takes Tingwall two tries to track down a missing senior: first at her home, and then at her grandparents’ house across the Southwest Side in Chicago Lawn. On that doorstep, the senior tells Tingwall she started a restaurant job and doesn’t have a computer. Tingwall hands the girl a Chromebook.
“No excuses now, right?” she says.
Mid-April: Determination
One April morning, Nina Hike is explaining the formula for magnesium hydroxide to 25 students, represented on her laptop screen by photos of themselves or avatars on Google Meet. Then in an instant, a technical glitch wipes them all away.
Across the city, the coronavirus crisis has forced seasoned educators such as Hike to reinvent themselves as reluctant tech whizzes, struggling to keep their students’ attention in cyberspace.
Working from home in Chicago on June 1, 2020, Curie High School science teacher Nina Hike teaches chemistry to roughly 55 students in a live video class. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
During the first three weeks after school buildings closed in mid-March, Chicago urged teachers to slow the pace and focus on “enrichment.” Determined to cling to a pre-pandemic normalcy, Hike forged ahead, posting typed lessons and assignments five times a day, five days a week. Only a third of her students followed along, but those who did really drilled down on writing chemical formulas.
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On April 13, the district officially launched remote learning, with livestreamed lessons and virtual office hours. After a quarter century of teaching, Hike, 47, had to quickly master a new vocabulary — OpenBoard, Nearpod, Edpuzzle — apps that promised to help her replicate her Curie lab online.
But in her physical lab, she could lock eyes with her students, scanning their faces for clues of how a lesson was going. She could do experiments that brought chemistry alive.
Now, all she sees are impassive avatars — and that’s of the students who log in. Where are so many of her kids — some of her best students? Where is wisecracking Adrian, with whom she lingered after class so she could nudge him toward AP chemistry next fall? Is he sick, depressed, struggling to log on from his cellphone?
At the dining room table in her West Side home, Hike scrambles to log back into Google Meet, squandering too many of the scarce minutes she has with her students. “Are you coming back?” they message her. “We can’t see you.” Hike has been shut out of her own cyber classroom.
Several miles away, Curie social studies teacher Erik Johnson records a video lecture for his freshman seminar with his parrot, Captain Crunch, perched on his shoulder and a “Star Wars” poster behind him.
Johnson, 30, calls himself “the feelings guy,” a Mr. Rogers for Curie’s “freshies.” He wants nerdy kids — all kids — to have a home in his classroom in a way he didn’t back in high school. Amid the upheaval, teachers such as Johnson see a chance to try innovative ways to reach students, including the freshman class, which has participated in remote learning at the lowest rates.
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“It’s really important you treat this like regular school,” he records himself saying.
Erik Johnson, a social studies teacher at Curie, outside the high school on June 8, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
This isn’t regular school. With no daily attendance, and grades that by school district policy can only improve, there’s no captive audience, no grade book incentives. But Johnson is ready to hustle for those teenage eyeballs. He and his students are all surviving something together, and he hopes it will bring them closer.
Take Nitsia Flores, a senior in honors civics. Usually quiet in class, she now emails Johnson almost daily, trying to get the hang of how school is supposed to work.
In truth, Flores, 18, feels nothing like her online avatar, the chipper video game character Pikachu. She’s had too little sleep and not enough caffeine. Like many students on the Southwest Side, she struggles to juggle school and new responsibilities.
Nitsia Flores, center, a senior at Curie, does schoolwork at home in Chicago on her phone while her sisters Xitlaly, 15, left, and Amalia, 8, use laptops and sister Neomi, 2, sleeps, on June 3, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
In her family’s living room, she tries to write an English essay and follow a video art class. With her are three younger sisters and two cousins, whom she babysits three days a week. One cousin does jumping jacks, demanding to watch “Frozen” for the 20th time. Her toddler sister cries and complains of a tummy ache. Her eighth-grade sister pleads for help logging on to her own video class. Flores recently confiscated the girl’s cellphone after, together with one of her sister’s teachers, she brainstormed ways to help the middle schooler focus.
Flores has lost the thread of the art class, and she remains stuck mid-sentence on the essay.
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Suddenly, she leaps from her seat.
“QUIET!” she shouts. “I need two minutes of quiet!”
The younger girls freeze and stare in astonishment at their even-keeled sister and cousin, her face now streaked with tears. Flores drops back down in her seat, wipes the tears and gets back to work. Only three English essays to go, and she’ll be caught up.
Principal Tingwall, her teachers and other staff bank on relentless outreach to every family to rebuild their school community online. The school creates an “engagement tracker,” a spreadsheet where teachers account for their interaction with each student. Tingwall, 36, crunches the numbers each week.
The early all-out push to reach families pays off in an uptick in participation. But a few weeks into formal remote learning, Curie, like other schools across a weary city, starts to lose ground, with fewer than 40% of students participating in a majority of their classes.
Curie Metropolitan High School Principal Allison Tingwall with one of the bags of mementos being put together for graduating seniors on June 5, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Curie head of security Michael Morris cuts locks off student lockers so the lockers can be cleaned out, June 5, 2020. The students were not able to clean out their own lockers. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Tingwall feels like a first-year principal again, emailing her staff at all hours of the night, her to-do list swelling. The school must hand out 450 computers from its stockpile plus 450 more from the district. She has to devise a way students can safely collect belongings from thousands of lockers.
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She needs to connect with parents and Local School Council members to figure out some kind of celebration for seniors, many of them first-generation high school graduates denied their ceremonies.
Claudia Muniz, the council’s president and the mom of a senior, tells Tingwall half-jokingly she’ll build a stage in the park herself if she must.
Tingwall also makes a point of calling every family affected by COVID-19 as the virus tears through Chicago’s Latino community and closes in on Curie. Before long, she has to enlist assistant principals to help.
Late April: Disillusionment
Hike, the chemistry teacher, fires off a mass email with the subject line “Your Grade Depends on Your Participation.” She warns, “I am calling parents this week if you don’t join Google Meet today at 3 p.m.!!!”
Hike is not the only Chicago teacher feeling feisty. Curie’s educators have seized “a spirit of persistence,” as counselor Linda Bhavilai puts it. In a bid to draw out students, they livestream themselves cooking French recipes and hosting morning yoga. They strip down their curriculums to help kids keep up. One teacher vows to do 10 burpees, 10 squats and 10 crunches for each submitted assignment.
In Facebook exchanges, teachers from across the city scheme about how to get students to turn on their cameras during video lessons. One educator recommends showing students how to add fake backgrounds to mask shabby surroundings.
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Hike has tried it all but feels like she’s hitting an invisible wall.
Only a quarter of Hike’s students are logging in. They don’t need fancy apps and slick videos, she has decided. They need a clear grading policy to hold them accountable. Later in the spring, Chicago would deliver just that — despite pushback from the teachers union and others who don’t think students should be graded during a pandemic.
Curie science teacher Nina Hike teaches chemistry to her students in a live video class. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
For now, Hike’s stern email works: Later that week, almost three-quarters of her students show up for a Google Meet class. Even Adrian is there, holding back his wisecracks in that unfamiliar virtual setting. At the end, as other students sign off, she calls him out: “Adrian, will you start turning in your work?”
He and a couple of other students linger online and they chat, as in old times. School’s just enrichment, Adrian says. It doesn’t count. He spends too much time playing “Call of Duty,” feeling stuck and unproductive. It all feels unreal.
“It’s hard getting used to doing school online,” he says. “I’d rather be in front of a teacher.”
“Hey, this isn’t my best teaching right now,” Hike says, “but we’ve got to get through it.”
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By late-April, much of the early excitement Johnson, the social studies teacher, felt about remote learning has faded. His job is less time-consuming and stressful. But his screen is full of avatars, not actual faces. There he is again, recording himself talking to his computer.
In her weekly update for staff, Tingwall tries to articulate the malaise plaguing some of her educators.
“Remote learning may be able to crack into students' minds,” she writes, “but I think the pain of this reality is knowing that remotely reaching students' hearts is not the same.”
Hike gives a test and insists students turn on their cameras to prevent cheating. It’s really a ploy to see faces she hasn’t glimpsed for weeks. There’s Adrian, with his easy smile and oversize headphones. She called his dad recently about those missing assignments but was foiled by her broken Spanish.
When the district announces in late April that teachers will be allowed to issue grades and high school students won’t automatically advance to the next grade, participation surges. Students who don’t complete assignments can now get incompletes and have to make up work later.
At first, Hike is relieved. She can add zeros for skipped assignments in students’ online grade books, alerting them and their parents that they need to shape up. But then she begins to agonize over who will get credit. How can she pass judgment when she has no clue what’s keeping students from doing the work?
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Late May: Acceptance
Word is out that school counts now, and Johnson wakes up to 37 emails, most from students desperately asking how they can catch up in his classes. Johnson falls back into his role as the “feelings guy,” a first responder for kids’ crises.
He starts recording a podcast reviewing the week’s lessons and assignments, set to upbeat music from “Super Mario,” the classic video game. He asks kids to fill out a daily check-in form about how they are feeling, even if it’s just with emojis.
One boy sends a long email about the tangle of fears and uncertainty that tightened after the death of a family friend from COVID. Recognizing that “Super Mario” score — part of the carefree soundtrack of his childhood — lifted his spirits.
“As a gamer, you shouldn’t let yourself be defeated,” Johnson writes back.
In civics, Johnson scales back requirements to four essential assignments. He records a podcast inviting students to join him on “a little adventure of cleaning out your school inbox.”
Flores, for one, gets caught up in civics and other classes — even as she and some outspoken South and Southwest Side friends petition the district to shift to an all-pass grading approach. She is on track to graduate.
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This spring in his home office, Johnson has felt marooned away from his students. But he decides he will keep a couple of things from pandemic school: The podcast. The option to turn in assignments digitally, since it allows more back-and-forth than paper homework.
In late May, Hike sets aside some of those precious video lesson minutes to stray from her planned lecture on converting grams to moles. Chicago has erupted in protests over the killing of a black Minneapolis man, George Floyd, by a white police officer. For Hike, rebuilding the school’s community calls for navigating such fraught moments with her students.
They leap at the chance to hash out complex feelings, unmuting themselves for once and typing furiously in the chat box.
“I know you came for chemistry,” she says, “but we can’t ignore what’s happening in our community.”
After weeks of soul-searching, Hike has decided: Unless kids were slacking off before the school closed and have not been in touch since, she will pass them. She doesn’t know what’s keeping them from schoolwork, and she cannot judge them. What if one of her students runs into her next year and says, “Hey, you gave me an incomplete, and my grandma had just died.”
But she won’t tell students that. She will keep emailing and calling and threatening and cajoling. Adrian turned in some assignments, but she wants more. She’s calling the house again, armed with a written script in Spanish. She is not giving up on ushering him into AP chemistry next fall.
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June: Looking ahead
In early June, Tingwall turns her gaze toward fall. Like principals across Chicago, she has to make decisions without knowing whether school will still be online or in the building or a mix of the two.
Everyone will have to catch up academically, as some departments covered a quarter of the material they’d planned for spring. Tingwall is especially worried about freshmen who scattered in March before fully embracing what she calls the “Curie Way.”
Curie Principal Allison Tingwall in an empty classroom at the school in Chicago. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
She believes Curie is emerging from this trying spring more connected to its families than it had been, and she plans to keep digital avenues for outreach open. With hundreds more laptops in homes, the school has narrowed the digital divide facing students and that will help in the long run.
In Tingwall’s engagement tracker, the portion of students participating in most of their classes has jumped by more than 15 percentage points from late April, to 55%. By the district’s laxer measure — only tracking how many students turn in at least one assignment once a week — Curie, with 98% of students doing so, has handily outpaced Chicago’s average despite its high student poverty rate. The school also has winnowed the number of missing students to a couple dozen. Still, it will be a relief when teachers and students reassemble in the school’s now-abandoned classrooms.
Tingwall remembers something she has been meaning to do: She looks up the senior whose grandparents’ house she visited. Not only has the girl logged on; she’s improved her grades. Was it the computer that Tingwall brought, or the sight of her principal on the girl’s doorstep? Tingwall will never know for sure.
This story is a partnership between the Chicago Tribune and Chalkbeat Chicago, a nonprofit newsroom focused on public education.


chicagotribune--2020-06-16--Chicago police officer shot in knee on South Side; 2 being questioned

Around 6:30 p.m. , officers tried to stop someone in the 5000 block of South King Drive in the Bronzeville @ @ @ @ @ aggravated assault with a handgun that occurred on June 10 in the 5000 block of @ @ @ @ @ Chicago police said .

A Chicago police officer was shot in the knee Monday night on the South Side.
About 6:30 p.m., officers tried to stop someone in the 5000 block of South King Drive in the Bronzeville neighborhood who was wanted for aggravated assault with a handgun on June 10 in the 5000 block of South Washington Park Court, Chicago police said.
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As officers approached, the person pulled out a gun and fired shots at the officers, hitting one in the right knee.
The officer was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition, police said.
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The officers did not fire shots during the incident, police said.
Two people are being questioned by detectives about the shooting, police said.
A weapon was not recovered, police said.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-06-16--The Spin: Chicago’s lakefront set for limited reopening | Aldermen look to remove CPD from CPS | Lig

The Spin: Chicago’s lakefront set for limited reopening | Aldermen look to remove CPD from CPS | Lightfoot announces use of force panel

“ During this critical moment , we are more committed than ever to combatting the systemic issues of racism and @ @ @ @ @ and prioritizing the needs of our most vulnerable communities , ” King said in a @ @ @ @ @ three years will shape our city ’ s future for decades and our caucus is @ @ @ @ @ that ensures every Chicagoan has the opportunity to not just survive , but thrive .
@

Chicago has some new clarity on a return to some additional normalcy after Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a limited reopening of the city’s Lakefront Trail, as well as bars and breweries.
The mayor, meanwhile, announced the members of a new commission aimed at reviewing the Chicago Police Department’s use of force policies.
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And, a group of Chicago aldermen say they’re planning to file an ordinance that would remove police officers from the city’s public schools.
Welcome to The Spin.
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People use the Lakefront Trail near Belmont Harbor Monday, June 15, 2020, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
"The city of Chicago continued its slow return to normal on Monday as officials reopened Millennium Park, announced that bars and brewers will be allowed to serve outdoor customers on Wednesday and set the reopening of Chicago’s iconic Lakefront Trail for June 22.
"But all three moves will come with restrictions aimed at preventing a resurgence in the coronavirus and could be rolled back if the city sees COVID-19 cases spike down the line.
"The Lakefront Trail will reopen solely for exercise and transit, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. starting Monday, but residents must ‘keep it moving,’ either while walking, running, biking or rollerblading on the trail, the mayor’s office said in a news release. Beaches and parks east of Lake Shore Drive, however, will remain closed.
“Only half the trail’s access points will be open, the mayor’s office said, and park security will work with Chicago police and the Office of Emergency Management and Communication to ensure trailgoers are following public health guidelines.” Read the Tribune’s team coverage here.
* Chicago sues Trump administration over refusal to allow Obamacare special enrollment period amid pandemic — Read Jason Meisner’s story here.
* Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan for coronavirus eviction protections advances despite concerns — More from John Byrne here.
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Illinois GOP Chairman Tim Schneider speaks at the Governor's Day rally at the 2017 Illinois State Fair in Springfield. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
The state Republican Party held a virtual convention over the weekend. GOP chairman Tim Schneider declared President Donald Trump as “a man for our time” and said Republicans need to follow former Democratic President Barack Obama’s “prescription” for victory: organize, protest and vote.
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As the Tribune’s Rick Pearson reports: “Republicans, who are in a significant minority in Illinois government, had planned to hold their state convention in Peoria but chose to hold it through digital technology due to restrictions on gatherings as a result of the coronavirus. The party faithful plan to assemble on Sept. 19 to ratify a party platform and rally for the fall.”
“'Let us work together. Let us organize. Let us rally and let our voices be heard and get everyone we possibly can to the ballot box in November,' said Schneider, a former Cook County commissioner who was installed as chairman by then-GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner, but like Rauner lost his publicly elected office in 2018." Read the rest of the story here.
The Gold Room at the Congress Hotel in Chicago on Feb. 12, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
From the Tribune’s Dan Petrella: "Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday said he’s not ready to embrace a push by the hotel industry to allow meeting rooms and ballrooms to reopen at half capacity when the state moves into the next phase of the governor’s reopening plan.
"Hotels and motels have remained open since Pritzker issued his stay-at-home order in March to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. But gatherings are limited to 10 or fewer people under phase three of the governor’s ‘Restore Illinois’ plan, which took effect May 29.
“With the move to phase four — which is on track to take place June 26 in all four regions of the state — the cap on gatherings would increase to 50. Pritzker is expected to release industry-specific guidelines for phase four, which would include limited dine-in service at restaurants and bars, in the coming days.” Read the rest of the story here.
Jeanette Taylor, alderman for the 20th Ward, talks with members of the media during a forum in reaction to the proposed site of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park Jan. 28 in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
"A group of aldermen on Monday announced they would introduce a plan to end the agreement that allows Chicago police officers to work inside Chicago public schools, amid growing calls from activists to stop the practice.
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“It remains to be seen whether the ordinance from South Side Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th, Ald. Jeanette Taylor, 20th, and Northwest Side Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, gains any traction in the City Council.” John Byrne has the story.
* Hyde Park Ald. Sophia King is taking over as head of the Chicago City Council’s 18-member Progressive Caucus, the group announced Friday.
King replaces Southeast Side Ald. Susan Sadlowski-Garza, 10th, who will have heavier responsibilities helping the city’s economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic in her role as chair of the Workforce Development Committee.
King, 4th, was appointed in 2016 by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to succeed Will Burns, who resigned to take a job with Airbnb. She won a special election, then won a full term last year.
“During this critical moment, we are more committed than ever to combatting the systemic issues of racism and all forms of discrimination, and prioritizing the needs of our most vulnerable communities,” King said in a statement. “The next three years will shape our city’s future for decades and our caucus is devoted to advancing progressive policy that ensures every Chicagoan has the opportunity to not just survive, but thrive.”
A friend of Barack and Michelle Obama, King is married to Alan King, a partner at the Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath law firm and a house music DJ.
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The caucus now finds itself in a less confrontational stance toward the mayor’s office than under mayors Emanuel and Richard M. Daley. Whereas the members were largely parts of the loyal opposition during those administrations, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has brought some members into the fold.
Progressive member Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, chairs the powerful Finance Committee, while Sadlowski-Garza helms Workforce Development.
At the same time, a group of six Democratic Socialists within the progressive caucus has taken on a more left-leaning posture, publicly advocating positions such as defunding the Chicago Police Department that are at odds with those of the mayor and some other caucus members. — John Byrne
* Chicago aldermen advance $200,000 settlement for sister of man who died after paramedics didn’t treat him — More from Byrne here.
Martesa Lee, a Chicago Transit Authority supervisor, outside of her Chicago home on Tuesday, June 9, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
From the Tribune’s Stacy St. Clair: "When CTA supervisor Martesa Lee attempted to lodge a complaint against a Chicago police officer in February, she was given a choice:
"Drop her grievance against the officer she accused of pushing her out of an unmarked crime scene on a Red Line platform or face possible arrest.
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“'Is it worth it to you?' Chicago police Sgt. William Spyker asked her.
"It was.
"Authorities arrested Lee in front of her co-workers and a platform of CTA riders after she informed the sergeant she would not let the matter go. With her hands cuffed behind her back and tears streaming down her face, she refused additional opportunities to retract her grievance and regain her freedom.
“'He pushed me,' she said, again and again.
"The incident, captured on police body camera videos obtained by the Tribune, exemplifies the kind of small, typically undocumented occurrences that can erode community trust in the Chicago Police Department, especially at a time of renewed focus on law enforcement conduct nationally. Critics contend it highlights, yet again, a decades-old ‘code of silence’ — an unwritten understanding that officers protect one another at all cost — that has led to federal oversight of the department in recent years.
“In this case, not only did the sergeant immediately dismiss Lee, he had the officer who was the subject of her complaint cuff her.” Read the rest of St. Clair’s story here.
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Mayor Lori Lightfoot makes an announcement during a news conference at City Hall Thursday, June 11, 2020, on how Chicago police officers made popcorn and coffee in U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush's office while nearby businesses were being looted last month. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
From the Tribune’s team coverage: "Under pressure from Chicago activists demanding broad changes to how the city polices, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a task force to review the Police Department’s use of force policies.
"The committee will include residents, students, lawyers, advocates and elected officials, Lightfoot said. Deputy Chief Ernest Cato, a veteran of the department who was a runner-up for the police superintendent job earlier this year, will co-chair the committee alongside activist Arewa Karen Winters, whose great nephew Pierre Loury was killed by police.
“Lightfoot’s task force was announced by the city on Monday amid national fallout from the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, though the mayor and police Superintendent David Brown said the group was created earlier this year as part of the city’s federal consent decree governing Police Department reforms.” Read the rest of the story here from Gregory Pratt, Jeremy Gorner and Dan Hinkel.
* Lightfoot says assertion that Chicago cops were asked to protect U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush’s office amid unrest is ‘simply not true’ — More from Gregory Pratt here.
Thanks for reading The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.


chicagotribune--2020-06-16--Suspect killed by law enforcement officers in Beach Park

“ These are all preliminary details , and we come to you out of the spirit of being open and @ @ @ @ @ can discuss thus far up to this point , ” Covelli said .

Lake County Sheriffs Office personnel, along with the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, investigate an officer-involved shooting by members of the Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, outside a house on North Green Bay Road in Beach Park, on June 16, 2020. (Rob Dicker / Chicago Tribune)
A 24-year-old black man wanted for murder in connection with a 2018 Zion homicide was fatally injured Tuesday afternoon when law enforcement officers returned fire while attempting to arrest him in Beach Park, a Lake County Sheriff’s Office spokesman said.
The 12:35 p.m. shooting took place after members of the U.S. Marshal Service Great Lakes Task Force arrived at a home in the 38500 block of North Green Bay Road, according to Sgt. Christopher Covelli, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.
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As law enforcement officers began approaching the home, the suspect exited his vehicle armed with a semi-automatic pistol, Covelli said. He shot at the officers, and two of the officers, both of whom are white, returned fire, according to reports.
The man was hit an unknown number of times and was pronounced dead at an area hospital, Covelli said. Officers provided CPR and other first-aid until paramedics arrived.
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People react at the scene of a fatal, officer-involved shooting outside a house on North Green Bay Road in Beach Park, on June 16, 2020. (Rob Dicker/Chicago Tribune) (Rob Dicker / Chicago Tribune)
The investigation into the shooting will be conducted by the Lake County Major Crime Task Force, which will hand over its findings to the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office, said Det. Heather Cognac, a task force spokeswoman.State’s Attorney Michael Nerheim will then determine whether charges against the officers are warranted.
The task force had learned that the suspect in the 2018 slaying was likely at the home, Covelli said, declining to identify him.
The 2018 homicide centered around the shooting death of an 18-year-old, and others have since been arrested in connection with the killing, Covelli said. The man killed Tuesday has been sought in connection to the Zion shooting since December 2018.
Lake County Sheriff's Office personnel, along with the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, investigate an officer-involved shooting by members of the Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, outside a house on North Green Bay Road in Beach Park, on June 16, 2020. (Rob Dicker / Chicago Tribune)
The Lake County Coroner’s Office, which is scheduled to conduct an autopsy on the man, will release the man’s name after family is notified, according to Covelli.
The two officers involved in Tuesday’s fatal shooting include a Lake County sheriff’s deputy who was taken to an area hospital as a precaution, and a McHenry County deputy who had a laceration to the arm, Covelli said. It was not immediately clear what caused the laceration.
Several other people, including a child, had been in the home when the shooting occurred, Covelli said. None of them were injured.
“These are all preliminary details, and we come to you out of the spirit of being open and transparent in discussing what we can discuss thus far up to this point,” Covelli said.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is a member of the Lake County Major Crime Task Force. State law requires that officer-involved shootings be investigated by an independent agency.
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Covelli said the Lake County Sheriff’s Office will hand over all information it has to the task force. Covelli, who also typically serves as a spokesman for the task force, said he will also be removed from the case.
The task force was on the scene Tuesday afternoon, collecting evidence and taking witness statements, Cognac said.
The last shooting that involved a Lake County sheriff’s deputy was also investigated by the Lake County Major Crime Task Force. That shooting took place in Wadsworth in November 2018.


chicagotribune--2020-06-16--High school student charged with fatally shooting trans woman in Marquette Park home

Perez said he returned with a gun , walked into the home and shot her in the head and back @ @ @ @ @ to Assistant State ’ s Attorney James Murphy .
He left but went back inside @ @ @ @ @ as she laid on the floor , Murphy said .