chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Officials report new highest one-day COVID-19 case total — 4,554 —

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Officials report new highest one-day COVID-19 case total — 4,554 — and 38 additional deaths as statewide positivity rate rises above 5%

The results announced Friday do not negate the previous ones , and the WHO study was not as rigorous as @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. National Institutes of Health .
But they add to concerns about how much @ @ @ @ @ because none of the studies have found it can improve survival .

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois public health officials on Friday reported 4,554 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19, topping the single-day record of 4,015 set just a day earlier.
The state also said the seven day-average of coronavirus tests coming back as positive has climbed to 5.1%, surpassing a threshold recommended by the World Health Organization for safely reopening economies.
Advertisement
The record comes as the state also reports the highest number of test results returned in a 24-hour period. The 87,759 results reported Friday outstrips the previous high of 74,286 on Sept. 19. There were 2,529 newly confirmed cases that day.
There also were 38 more fatalities reported Friday, bringing the statewide death toll to 9,165 since the pandemic began. In all, there have been 336,174 known cases of COVID-19 in Illinois.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, Chicago Public Schools announced Friday that all students will continue with remote learning when the second quarter starts in November but that some of the district’s “most vulnerable” children will have the option to begin returning to schools before the end of the calendar year.
In explaining their rational for offering in-person classes first to pre-kindergarten and some special education students, CPS officials cited enrollment figures they released Friday that show a drop of 34% in total preschool enrollment from last year.
Here’s what’s happening Friday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
5:40 p.m.: Lake County moved off COVID-19 warning status, but officials warn return to all-remote schooling is a possibility
Lake County was removed from orange COVID-19 warning status by the Illinois Department of Public Health Friday, and is now the only county along the Wisconsin state line not so situated, according to department’s website.
While the reclassification may give residents a temporary sigh of relief, Hannah Goering, the marketing and communications manager for the Lake County Health Department, said it could be short-lived.
Read more here. —Steve Sadin
5:25 p.m.: COVID-19 numbers are rising in Illinois. How worried should the Chicago area be?
Illinois just announced a record number of new COVID-19 cases. Positivity rates for coronavirus testing are up too. So are hospitalizations and deaths.
But a deeper look at the data can soften the sense of alarm somewhat — at least for the Chicago area, where many pandemic metrics have remained steady for months until some recent upticks. And the state as a whole is still in better shape than its neighbors on most of those same statistics.
Advertisement
As a pandemic-weary public braces for winter, the latest Illinois figures have prompted researchers and public health officials to offer a mix of warnings and reassurance. They worry a second surge may be starting in Illinois while also noting that the shifting pandemic threatens some areas more than others.
Here are the figures researchers cite most often. —Joe Mahr
3:45 p.m.: Kane, Will counties back on state COVID-19 warning list; Kane health director outlines ‘concerning’ trends
Kane and Will counties have returned to the state’s list of those showing “warning signs” of increased coronavirus risk.
They were among 34 counties statewide on the list Friday, based on measures of the virus' spread. Their addition to the warning list came the same day Illinois public health officials announced a record-high number of new COVID-19 cases for the second day in a row, and said the seven-day statewide average for positive coronavirus tests had surpassed the threshold recommended by the World Health Organization for safely reopening economies.
Kane County Health Department Executive Director Barbara Jeffers warned of concerning trends in the county, and urged residents to change their behavior and limit activities that could spread COVID-19.
“Unless we change our behavior as a community, we can expect to see more illness, death and economic hardship,” Jeffers said in a statement. “This is avoidable and by taking precautions, together we can improve the situation for our residents and our businesses.”
Advertisement
Read more here. —Sarah Freishtat
1:29 p.m.: Child care centers don’t drive coronavirus infections, national study shows
A large national study published Wednesday by the American Academy of Pediatrics provides some of the clearest evidence yet that child care centers don’t hasten the spread of the novel coronavirus, even in communities where overall infections are high.
“This is the largest study of COVID transmission in child care programs that’s been attempted in the U.S., and I think globally,” said Yale professor Walter Gilliam, who led a team of researchers in the groundbreaking study. “These are very positive findings, and they should be very comforting,” both to child care providers and the families who rely on them.
The study surveyed 57,335 providers serving almost 4 million children across two-thirds of counties in the United States, including Puerto Rico. It found that those who continued to work during the first three months of the pandemic were no more likely to have fallen ill than those who did not.
Read more here. —Los Angeles Times
1:06 p.m.: Coronavirus cases surge in key battleground states as election nears
Rising coronavirus cases in key presidential battleground states a little more than two weeks before Election Day are the latest worry for election officials and voters fearing chaos or exposure to the virus at polling places despite months of planning.
Advertisement
The prospect of poll workers backing out at the last minute because they are infected, quarantined or scared of getting sick has local election officials in Midwest states such as Iowa and Wisconsin opening more early voting locations, recruiting backup workers and encouraging voters to plan for long lines and other inconveniences.
Confirmed virus cases and COVID-19 deaths are on the rise in the swing states of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Read more here. —Associated Press
12:44 p.m.: Illinois reports 4,554 new COVID-19 cases, the second record high in as many days, as positivity rate tops 5%
Illinois public health officials on Friday reported 4,554 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19, topping the single-day record of 4,015 set just a day earlier.
The state also said the seven day-average of coronavirus tests coming back as positive has climbed to 5.1%, surpassing a threshold recommended by the World Health Organization for safely reopening economies.
Before this week, the single-day high case count was 4,014, set on May 12. The state reported 5,368 new cases on Sept. 4, but that was due to a backlog in processing test results.
Advertisement
Friday’s record comes as the state also reports the highest number of test results returned in a 24-hour period. The 87,759 results reported Friday outstrips the previous high of 74,286 on Sept. 19. There were 2,529 newly confirmed cases that day.
There also were 38 more fatalities reported Friday, bringing the statewide death toll to 9,165 since the pandemic began. In all, there have been 336,174 known cases of COVID-19 in Illinois.
The virus has been surging in Illinois in recent days, as it has been around the U.S and in Europe.
Read more here. —Dan Petrella
11:01 a.m.: Igloos and greenhouses launch in West Loop today, kicking off cold-weather shift for Chicago’s outdoor dining
With the arrival of cooler weather in Chicago, restaurants and bars are beginning to make accommodations to lengthen the outdoor dining season, an attempt to retain expanded capacity during an era of coronavirus occupancy limits indoors. Friday, five prominent restaurants in the Fulton Market district will begin welcoming guests to dine “al fresco” in igloo and greenhouse structures.
Beatrix, Duck Duck Goat, Gus’s Fried Chicken, Kuma’s Corner and the Publican make up the participating restaurants in the Dining Together, Apart initiative, an effort from Anheuser Busch and Stella Artois to help restaurants extend their outdoor dining service into the colder months. Though diners were seen using the spaces Thursday, the initiative kicks off Friday.
Advertisement
Read more here. —Adam Lukach
10:40 a.m.: Pfizer says it won’t seek emergency authorization for coronavirus vaccine until mid-November, after Election Day
he chief executive of Pfizer said on Friday that the company would not apply for emergency authorization of its coronavirus vaccine before the third week of November, ruling out President Donald Trump’s assertion that a vaccine would be ready before Election Day on Nov. 3.
In a statement posted to the company website, the chief executive, Dr. Albert Bourla, said that although Pfizer could have preliminary numbers by the end of October about whether the vaccine works, it would still need to collect safety and manufacturing data that will stretch the timeline to at least the third week of November.
Read more here. —The New York Times
10:37 a.m.: Large study led by the World Health Organization finds antiviral drug remdesivir didn’t help COVID-19 patients
A large study led by the World Health Organization suggests that the antiviral drug remdesivir did not help hospitalized COVID-19 patients, in contrast to an earlier study that made the medicine a standard of care in the United States and many other countries.
The results announced Friday do not negate the previous ones, and the WHO study was not as rigorous as the earlier one led by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. But they add to concerns about how much value the pricey drug gives because none of the studies have found it can improve survival.
Advertisement
The drug has not been approved for COVID-19 in the U.S., but it was authorized for emergency use after the previous study found it shortened recovery time by five days on average. It’s approved for use against COVID-19 in the United Kingdom and Europe, and is among the treatments U.S. President Donald Trump received when he was infected earlier this month.
Read more here. —Associated Press
10:29 a.m.: A record-shattering avalanche of early votes is transforming the 2020 election
More than 17 million Americans have already cast ballots in the 2020 election, a record-shattering avalanche of early votes driven both by Democratic enthusiasm and a pandemic that has transformed the way the nation votes.
The total represents 12% of all the votes cast in the 2016 presidential election, even as eight states are not yet reporting their totals and voters still have more than two weeks to cast ballots. Americans' rush to vote is leading election experts to predict that a record 150 million votes may be cast and turnout rates could be higher than in any presidential election since 1908.
Read more here. —Associated Press
8:41 a.m.: CPS will begin to bring back students for in-person learning but hasn’t said when
Chicago Public Schools announced Friday that all students will continue with remote learning when the second quarter starts in November but that some of the district’s “most vulnerable” children will begin returning to schools before the end of the calendar year.
Advertisement
A CPS news release did not specify when the first students — those in pre-kindergarten and some in special education — will begin phasing back in to in-person learning, saying administrators will make that decision in consultation with public health official “closer to the start of the second quarter” on Nov. 9.
But officials said the goal is to “add additional grades as early as January. Later this year, the district will be engaging parents in other grades to assess their interest in returning to classrooms.”
The Chicago Teachers Union immediately vowed to fight the plan, with CTU attorney Thad Goodchild calling it “Ill-timed, reckless and illegal” and vowing that the union will use “all available resources” to roll it back.
Read more here. —Staff report
7:10 a.m.: Open House Chicago starts, in virtual, socially distanced remake
Open House Chicago, the yearly showcase of Chicago architectural marvels, landmarks and oddities, starts Friday.
Remade this year for the pandemic age, the tours put together by the Chicago Architecture Center in partnership with building owners and scores of volunteers looks different this year, with no in-building tours and scores of online-audio walking tours.
Advertisement
The tours are using a smartphone app to guide people around Chicago and nearby suburbs.
Read more here. —Chicago Tribune staff
6:44 a.m.: Oak Park District 97 delays return to in-school learning until 2021
Though it had hoped to welcome students back to in-person classes before the end of the calendar year, Oak Park District 97 officials are now saying that won’t occur until after winter break, at the earliest.
In a letter sent to parents Oct. 14 signed by the board of education, it was announced District 97 will delay any transition to on-site, hybrid learning until after winter break. The move means students would, at the earliest, return to some form of in-person learning in January.
In early October, Superintendent Carol Kelley said the district was on track to have hybrid learning opportunities for all students by the end of the second trimester on Nov. 30. The school board, however, asked administrators to extend the reopening timeline at its Oct. 13 board meeting.
Read more here. —Steve Schering, Pioneer Press
Advertisement
5 a.m.: Decatur Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe tests positive for COVID-19
Decatur Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe announced Thursday morning that she has tested positive for COVID-19.
Moore Wolfe made the announcement during her daily coronavirus update interview on Byers & Co. on WSOY-AM.
“I did test positive for COVID,” Moore Wolfe said, adding she got the positive test result Wednesday afternoon.
“We are in quarantine in our house and hopefully we haven’t been spreading it,” Moore Wolfe said, adding a second family member also has tested positive.
“I cannot urge enough for people to take this seriously,” she said. “I do. I wear a mask. I try to stay socially distant. I may not be as good as I was in the very very beginning of this, but it’s all around us.”
Her announcement came a day after Macon County health officials announced 78 new cases of coronavirus.
Advertisement
Moore Wolfe said she is fever-free and suffering symptoms she generally associates with nagging seasonal allergies.
“The symptoms I have, it’s like fall allergies that I get all the time so I don’t know how long I’ve had this. I don’t know if this is new and in the beginning or if I’ve been carrying it.”
Moore Wolfe said she began contact tracing and has been reaching out to people she has come into contact with who might be at risk.
She said discussions already are underway to determine how she will be handling city business and taking part in Monday’s Decatur City Council meeting.
—The Decatur Herald & Review
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
In case you missed it
Here are five stories from Thursday related to COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--COVID-19 numbers are rising in Illinois. How worried should the Chicago area be?

And so the message for Chicago-area residents — as frustrating as it can be for some — is similar to @ @ @ @ @ for months : We ’ re not as bad off as we once were .
@ @ @ @ @ a lot .
But the virus continues to linger .
And signs point to more @ @ @ @ @ and vigilant .

Illinois just announced a record number of new COVID-19 cases. Positivity rates for coronavirus testing are up too. So are hospitalizations and deaths.
But a deeper look at the data can soften the sense of alarm somewhat — at least for the Chicago area, where many pandemic metrics have remained steady for months until some recent upticks. And the state as a whole is still in better shape than its neighbors on most of those same statistics.
As a pandemic-weary public braces for winter, the latest Illinois figures have prompted researchers and public health officials to offer a mix of warnings and reassurance. They worry a second surge may be starting in Illinois while also noting that the shifting pandemic threatens some areas more than others.
“Chicago is doing a little better than downstate Illinois, Illinois is doing a little better than Wisconsin, etc. But broadly, COVID is not going well,” Chicago’s public health commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady, said in a Facebook Live session on Thursday.
Wearing masks to protect from transmitting COVID-19, people stand in line for early voting at Truman College in Chicago on Oct. 14, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday told reporters he was deeply concerned about a “new wave” of infections. Earlier in the week, he implored residents to wear masks and avoid close contact with others.
“To date, Illinois has had relative success keeping this virus at bay,” Pritzker said Wednesday, “and we’re still doing better than many of our neighbors. But we can’t let up.”
At the same time, researchers caution that — even seven months into the pandemic — its trajectory remains hard to predict. Without frequent, random testing to gauge the virus’s true spread, the public is left with a buffet of data options that have various quirks and can be tricky to interpret.
Here are the figures researchers cite most often, how the Chicago area measures vs. other parts of Illinois, and reasons for concern as fall moves into winter:
Case counts are rising, but …
Researchers and public health officials agree there’s reason to be nervous in the greater Chicago region. Look no further than the count of new COVID-19 cases reported each day.
The Chicago region — defined by the state as Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kankakee, Lake, McHenry and Will counties — peaked this spring at roughly 2,350 reported cases per day, based on a seven-day rolling average.
After “bending the curve,” that average fell below 500. Then cases began increasing slowly this summer. That growth eased a bit in September but took a sharper turn higher this month. The latest case figures have averaged more than 1,800 daily.
In other words, we saw a dramatic drop in cases, only to see much of that improvement wiped out.
There are caveats. To start with, assume more people have been infected than these numbers show, as some people never develop symptoms and many don’t get tested. In Chicago, according to Arwady, roughly 3% of residents have officially tested positive during the pandemic, but she suspects 15%-20% actually had the virus at some point.
Perhaps more importantly to interpreting trends, far more people are being tested now than in the spring, when testing supplies were scarce. So it’s difficult to tell how many of the growing case numbers are part of bigger outbreaks, and how many are the result of increased testing detecting more cases.
That’s where another metric comes into play: the positivity rate, which is the number of confirmed new cases divided by the number of tests given. This statistic has been tracked consistently since May, and it offers a less alarming assessment of the Chicago region. The positivity rate was largely flat since late June before ticking above 5% this month. But that’s still below the 8% threshold of concern set by the state.
Still, taken as a whole, the figures are concerning, particularly in the past week, Arwady said. In the city of Chicago, she said, a boost in testing alone can’t explain the rise in cases, which has been seen in all races and ethnicities, in all age groups and across the city.
“We are seeing real increases here,” she said.
Other indicators: Little movement
Hospitalizations are a steadier barometer of the pandemic impact than case numbers, because sick people tended to go to the hospital even when testing was limited. But researchers caution that hospitalization figures can lag a couple of weeks behind infection trends, because it can take people a while to get sick enough to be hospitalized.
Still, the admissions figures for the Chicago area appear to have followed a trajectory similar to the positivity rate — with some relatively small ups and downs, including an uptick this month.
With that uptick, the entire region was seeing about 100 new hospitalizations a day for COVID-19-like symptoms in early October, roughly a fourth of the numbers seen during the first wave’s peak.
One caveat: The data is based on symptoms similar to those caused by COVID-19 — not on actual testing. So it is not possible to discern from these figures exactly how many of the patients were infected; about 25 people a day were typically admitted for such symptoms well before the pandemic began.
In addition, younger people now account for a larger number of cases, and this group is less likely, in general, to require hospitalization. That means the latest hospital figures may not track as closely with the pandemic’s spread.
Another lagging indicator is the most grim: deaths directly tied to COVID-19. While this figure doesn’t include other so-called excess deaths likely related to the pandemic, researchers say the death count still offers one of the best indications of the pandemic’s toll.
In the Chicago area, the trend line for deaths has also been relatively flat in recent months. Even with a slight rise in October, deaths remain an eighth of what they were at the peak of the first wave.
Overall, most indicators have been relatively flat for the region since early summer, but with increases this month that offer an early warning sign of potential trouble ahead.
The same can’t be said for much of the rest of Illinois.
“In the other regions this is absolutely not the case,” said Jaline Gerardin, a Northwestern University assistant professor of preventive medicine who works with the state on virus modeling.
“They’ve had a substantial second wave, about as large or larger than their first and in some regions still on the upswing,” she said.
The pandemic’s rural phase
When looking at raw numbers, the Chicago area remains the epicenter of the pandemic in Illinois. But that’s because of the lopsided way people are crowded into the northeast corner of the state, which holds roughly two-thirds of all Illinoisans.
The pandemic looks far different when looking at infection rates, a metric that adjusts for the population differences.
Early in the pandemic, state officials split Illinois into four regions for tracking purposes. The Northeast region, which includes Chicago and its suburbs, initially had the highest rate, topping 27 cases per 100,000 people this spring. Then the region saw a dramatic drop, while other regions' rates began climbing.
By early July, the infection rate in the South region surpassed that of the Northeast. A month later, the Central region followed suit, and the North Central region joined them a couple of weeks after that.
Now two of the four regions — North Central and Central — have rates topping 30 cases per 100,000 residents. That’s higher than the rate ever was in the Northeast region, even at the pandemic’s peak.
On other metrics — death rate, positivity rate and hospital admissions — the northeastern part of the state now has either the lowest or second-lowest rates of the four regions.
The difference in death rates is stark. Though all of the numbers are small, less than one death per day per 100,000 residents, the NorthCentral region’s death rate is twice that of the Northeast region. For the Central and South regions, it’s triple.
Even looking at raw case numbers, the regional trends are apparent.
Take two dates when Illinois set records for the most confirmed cases. The first was on May 12, in the thick of the first wave, when the state announced 4,014 new cases. Nearly 90% of those cases came from northeastern Illinois.
On Friday, when the state announced a new record of 4,554 new cases, northeastern Illinois accounted for 61% of those cases — less than the 68% of the state’s residents who live there.
Stephen Kissler, a Harvard University researcher who studies mathematical models that measure disease spread, said the virus has trickled out of the country’s major population hubs into other areas.
“Many of the communities that are getting hit now are not the ones that were hit earlier in the spring,” he told reporters in a conference call Wednesday.
And he said that, even with some limited immunity potentially developing in early hot spots, “in all but the very hardest hit communities in the country, there’s still plenty of susceptible people around to sustain further outbreaks coming into the fall and winter.”
Despite the growing numbers seen in Illinois, a Harvard University dashboard still ranks the state’s risk of resurgence in the nation’s middle tier, ranking Illinois 17th this week based on the rate of new cases.
It can be difficult to compare states' positivity rates because of how differently numbers are reported. But in looking at other metrics compiled by The COVID Tracking Project, Illinois had the 18th highest weekly average of hospitalized COVID patients and the 21st highest weekly death rate.
Notably, of the five states that border Illinois, all have higher hospitalization rates and all but one have higher death rates. In Wisconsin, for example, hospital admission rates are double those seen in Illinois.
Worry ahead?
Public health officials and researchers caution that a lot of unknowns remain that could lead to spikes in cases. Among them:
· Cold weather: Viruses tend to like it, or rather the drier air that comes with it. Plus the weather forces people indoors, where there’s no breeze to dissipate the airborne virus. The coronavirus family of infections, which birthed COVID-19, tends to peak in December or January, but Kissler said it could be a couple of months earlier with COVID-19, in part because so many people have yet to be exposed.
· Schools: Early national numbers indicate schools haven’t sparked the number of outbreaks some experts feared, Kissler said. But with more schools returning to in-person learning, that could change. Illinois won’t release names of districts that have seen outbreaks, making it difficult for the public to track.
· Shifting demographics: Case trends suggest that more younger people are now getting infected. That group is less likely to get really sick from the virus — a good thing — but the age shift could make it harder to identify outbreaks before they infect more vulnerable people.
· The holidays: November and December traditionally bring people together, with many college students coming home and extended families intermingling. This can fuel the spread of disease, although the pandemic is expected to reduce the number and extent of gatherings.
· Pandemic fatigue: The vast majority of people remain susceptible to the virus, with a vaccine not expected for wide distribution until mid-2021. People may grow tired of wearing masks and socially distancing, and politically charged debates over those precautions don’t help.
And so the message for Chicago-area residents — as frustrating as it can be for some — is similar to what it’s been for months: We’re not as bad off as we once were. Masks and distancing have helped a lot. But the virus continues to linger. And signs point to more spread. So be careful and vigilant.
“The bottom line is … I think people are getting COVID fatigue,” Arwady said. "I think this is real, that people are feeling like they are tired of wearing their masks and they are tired of social distancing.
“The problem is if people let up on this — (if) they get COVID fatigue — that starts to slip just a little bit, and we see cases potentially really shoot up.”
jmahr@chicagotribune.com


Corrections and clarifications

Publishing information quickly and accurately is a central part of the Chicago Tribune ’ s news responsibility and a value @ @ @ @ @ .
Our editorial code of principles governs professional behavior and journalism standards .
Everyone in @ @ @ @ @ live up to this code of conduct .
Download the file .

· The photograph of then-White Sox manager Tony La Russa on Page 1 Thursday had an incorrect date in the caption. The photo was taken in 1983, not 1981.
· On Page 2 of Friday’s Arts and Entertainment section, the review of “Rebecca” misidentified in one instance the leading actor. She is Lily James, not “Emily in Paris” star Lily Collins.
Advertisement
The Tribune regrets the errors.
Publishing information quickly and accurately is a central part of the Chicago Tribune’s news responsibility and a value shared in all our publications. Our editorial code of principles governs professional behavior and journalism standards. Everyone in our newsroom must agree to live up to this code of conduct. Download the file.
Advertisement
To report an error, fill out this form.


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--As Chicago proposes making Pilsen one of the city’s largest landmark districts, residents fear more

As Chicago proposes making Pilsen one of the city’s largest landmark districts, residents fear more displacement: ‘Saving buildings will not save people’

City officials say the proposal is part of a strategy aimed at preserving Mexican American communities in Pilsen and Little @ @ @ @ @ sought to preserve the exteriors of nearly 900 Baroque-inspired buildings built between 1875 and 1910 @ @ @ @ @ Leavitt Street to Sangamon Street , as well as other residential and commercial buildings between @ @ @ @ @ to 21st Street .
At recent community meetings , the planning department has presented an @ @ @ @ @ the number of buildings covered by the district to 465 .

Marcos Carbajal, co-owner of Carnitas Uruapan, stands outside the restaurant on 18th Street in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood on Oct. 15, 2020. He is also manager of his father's building, which would be part of the historic landmark district. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Nearly 45 years ago, Marcos Carbajal’s father opened a restaurant that would become a staple of the Pilsen neighborhood in the first building the Carbajal family was able to buy after migrating from Mexico.
After aggressive gentrification in the area over the past two decades, Carnitas Uruapan is one of the few family-owned businesses left on 18th Street that recall the identity of one of Chicago’s largest Mexican American neighborhoods.
Advertisement
In an attempt to preserve the character and culture of the area, including the Baroque-style building that’s home to Carnitas Uruapan, city officials two years ago proposed designating part of Pilsen as a city historic landmark district. The area now is under preliminary landmark status and if made permanent, it could be one of the city’s largest landmark districts and the only one in a Latino neighborhood.
The area, originally home to a population of Czech immigrants who built many of its distinctive buildings and gave Pilsen its name, already is covered by a national and state historic district, which provides some tax incentives for building owners.
Advertisement
Marcos Carbajal, co-owner of Carnitas Uruapan in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Carbajal and other property owners, as well as the area’s aldermen, oppose the ordinance, citing unnecessary expenses and hurdles to maintaining their buildings that they believe could force some to leave their longtime homes.
“We are the owners of these properties and we have the right to choose what we want to do with them, not the city,” said Carbajal, who grew up in Pilsen watching his father, Inocencio Carbajal, grow their business of Michoacan-style carnitas.
According to Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, in recent weeks more than 300 property owners within the proposed Pilsen Historic District, like Carbajal, have signed affidavits opposing the ordinance spearheaded by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.
Far from benefiting the residents in his ward, Sigcho-Lopez argues the ordinance would inflict exorbitant expenses on working-class property owners and so push more Latino families out of the neighborhood.
During a community town hall Wednesday, city Plan Commissioner Maurice Cox acknowledged the concerns and the opposition to the ordinance but said the department considers the designation “an important tool for the preservation of Pilsen.”
Gerardo Garcia, coordinating planner for the planning department, said the goal of the designation is to preserve the area’s architecture and help the people of Pilsen remain there. The idea that the designation will result in increased costs for maintenance of landmarked properties “is just not true,” he said.
“Just as important as those buildings are the people that inhabit them, that use them, that bring vibrancy to their communities, and their stories,” Garcia said.
But Carbajal said preserving his building’s facade won’t maintain the neighborhood’s identity. He realized that after he was told the signage that makes his nearly 50-year-old storefront stand out does not meet landmark standards.
Advertisement
The carnicería has a modern black canopy sign running the width of the building, with a white silhouette of a pig in the middle of the shop name, Carnitas Uruapan, in large white letters. The district’s preliminary landmark status has kept Carbajal from renovating his sign, he said.
A shopkeeper sweeps up along 18th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
A process to get approval to repair the sign, which in the past only took a few minutes and $150, has dragged out for almost a year, he said. He has had to hire a permit expediter, costing him more than $2,000.
According to Carbajal, the Landmarks Commission wants him to “change the entire storefront to make it look more minimal so that the architecture of the building can be seen,” erasing the character his family has added to the building.
“The way they pick and choose what is historically valuable is arbitrary and kind of silly,” Carbajal said.
The current culture of the neighborhood was fostered by Mexican immigrants like his father, who were able to transplant their language, food and art to the Lower West Side decades ago.
City officials say the proposal is part of a strategy aimed at preserving Mexican American communities in Pilsen and Little Village. The initial ordinance sought to preserve the exteriors of nearly 900 Baroque-inspired buildings built between 1875 and 1910 along 18th Street corridor from Leavitt Street to Sangamon Street, as well as other residential and commercial buildings between Ashland and Racine avenues down to 21st Street. At recent community meetings, the planning department has presented an alternate plan that would reduce the number of buildings covered by the district to 465.
Advertisement
A historic landmark designation would mean the city would review any repairs that require building permits to ensure they match buildings' original Bohemian Baroque construction.
Caroline Skolnik Muñoz, said the ordinance wouldn’t be worth it.
When she and her husband first learned of the historic district in December 2018, “it looked good on paper,” because of its potential to preserve history and stop displacement, she said.
That changed after she and some of her neighbors began investigating what the landmark district could mean for them. They say it will result in restrictions on the use of their properties and a complex permitting process.
“But the most concerning part is the potential amount of homeowners and renters that could be forced to leave because they won’t be able to keep up with repair costs, attracting a higher-income demographic, raising rent and raising taxes,” Skolnik Muñoz added.
Advertisement
Residents, members of the Pilsen Alliance and supporters march on Oct. 1, 2020, protesting a proposal to designate part of the Pilsen neighborhood as a historic landmark district. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Even after the community voiced disapproval of the proposal and sent letters against it, the Landmarks Commission designated the area as a preliminary landmark district in May 2019. So city guidelines apply while a vote on the ordinance is pending.
Spurred by the potential demolition of historic buildings in the district, that same month the commission voted unanimously to recommend the landmark district to the City Council for a final vote.
The vote was delayed after a plea from Sigcho-Lopez for a one-year extension on the proposal.
In July, the City Council approved another six-month extension so the planning department could get reaction from residents to the proposal. Before going to the City Council for a final vote, the ordinance must pass through the zoning committee, but under city landmark rules, because the commission has approved it, the district would go into effect in January if no vote takes place.
“We want a vote,” demanded Moises Moreno, director of the Pilsen Alliance advocacy group, during a rally against the Historic Landmark Proposal on Oct. 4 in Pilsen’s Plaza Tenochtitlan.
In a letter to aldermen, zoning chair Ald. Tom Tunney, 44th, said he intends to hold a special hearing on the matter in November after community meetings with the planning department and the zoning committee are completed. Tunney’s chief of staff Bennett R. Lawson confirmed in an email to the Tribune that Tunney plans to consider the Pilsen district plan in a November meeting, but did not specify a date.
Advertisement
In May, Sigcho-Lopez introduced an alternate “demolition-free district” ordinance, also pending in the zoning committee, that would protect the same area as the proposed district, plus the former St. Adalbert’s Catholic Church, 1650 W. 17th St.
Sigcho-Lopez said the ordinance is the best alternative to the proposed landmark district to halt Pilsen gentrification. Instead of following the usual procedure for approving changes in buildings in landmark districts, it would prohibit the city from issuing demolition permits or approvals for major projects until the local alderman holds a public meeting about each request.
Marissa Meza, a Pilsen resident and property owner, said she is disappointed with the way city officials have responded to the community’s concerns.
Meza, Skolnik Muñoz and 10 other property owners in the district participated in an advisory committee that met in the summer with Sigcho-Lopez, administration officials and representatives of the Landmarks Commission, Meza said.
The committee discussed alternate ways to guarantee affordable housing in the area, halt gentrification and preserve architecture, “but I don’t think they considered anything of what we discussed,” Skolnik Muñoz said.
City officials say they are trying to respond to neighborhood concerns by adding special provisions to the ordinance. Incentives include a property tax assessment freeze. To qualify there’s a minimum investment of 25% of the property’s market value, according to the city.
Advertisement
The incentives from the planning department intends to offer as part of the landmark district are “absurd,” Meza said.
“We don’t have that kind of money just lying around,” Meza said. “This is all created for people who have money, not for us.”
There is also a three-year, $3 million Adopt-A-Landmark pilot program to assist commercial property owners who have been in the district for at least 10 years. Another $3 million from the Department of Housing would also be available to homeowners to help them maintain affordable rent, Garcia said during the most recent town hall meeting.
Still, Meza said, “It’s been our property for over 60 years and all of a sudden they want to mandate over it? No.”
Laura Paz, a Pilsen property owner, and once an activist featured in the book “Chicanas of 18th Street,” said that she has seen Mexican residents pushed out of Pilsen for decades, “and this landmark will make no difference.”
“Saving buildings will not save people.”
Advertisement
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct what would be reviewed under a historic landmark designation. The city would review any repairs that require building permits.
larodriguez@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @laura_n_rod


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Man questioned by police after fatal stabbing during fight in South Side apartment

Darius Vaughn , 30 , was pronounced dead at 1:14 a.m. in the 6200 block of South Laflin Street , @ @ @ @ @ medical examiner ’ s office .
Vaughn had been taken to the University of Chicago @ @ @ @ @ , according to Chicago police .

Detectives were questioning a 61-year-old man after he stabbed a younger man to death in an Englewood neighborhood apartment early Friday, according to police.
Darius Vaughn, 30, was pronounced dead at 1:14 a.m. in the 6200 block of South Laflin Street, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Vaughn had been taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center following the attack, according to Chicago police.
Advertisement
Vaughn was involved in a fight with the 61-year-old about 12:40 a.m. when the older man took out a knife and stabbed Vaughn several times in the back, according to a police media notification.
Police did not release information on what led to the fight or the relationship of the men. Vaughn lived in the 6900 block of South Drexel Avenue in the Woodlawn neighborhood, according to the medical examiner.
Advertisement
The 61-year-old man was being questioned by Area 1 detectives, according to police. An autopsy for Vaughn on Friday determined he died from multiple sharp force injuries in a homicide.


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Woman killed when vehicle is hit by man driving stolen car on West Side

Bussell was driving west on 16th Street just after 10:45 p.m. Thursday when the male driver of a Ford sedan @ @ @ @ @ her vehicle , according to a police media notification .
The driver of the Ford @ @ @ @ @ dead at the scene .
A boy who was riding in the stolen Ford was @ @ @ @ @ fair condition , according to police

A South Side woman was killed when the driver of a stolen car hit the vehicle she was driving, then ran off late Thursday in the Lawndale neighborhood, police said.
Juanita Bussell, 21, was pronounced dead at 11 p.m. following the crash in the 1600 block of South Homan Avenue on the West Side, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Advertisement
Bussell was driving west on 16th Street just after 10:45 p.m. Thursday when the male driver of a Ford sedan heading north on Homan hit her vehicle, according to a police media notification. The driver of the Ford fled and Bussell was pronounced dead at the scene. A boy who was riding in the stolen Ford was taken to Stroger Hospital in fair condition, according to police
A third car also was hit in the crash, but no one in that vehicle was injured, according to police.
Advertisement
An autopsy for Bussell, of the 8200 block of South Ingleside Aveue in the South Chicago neighborhood, Friday found she died of blunt force injuries suffered in the crash. The major accident investigation unit continued to search Friday for the driver of the Ford.


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Pritzker says ‘we are in a new wave here’ as Illinois reports 4,554 new COVID-19 cases, the second r

Pritzker says ‘we are in a new wave here’ as Illinois reports 4,554 new COVID-19 cases, the second record high in as many days

As of Friday , only the nine-county region in the northwestern corner of the state was under stricter rules due @ @ @ @ @ remaining above an 8 % threshold .
Two other regions — the Metro East area @ @ @ @ @ Will and Kankakee counties — were previously under the tighter rules , but they were @ @ @ @ @ rates came down .

CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
The daily count of COVID-19 cases reported in Illinois Friday was 4,544, well above the previous record high of 4,015 set just a day earlier as Gov. J.B. Pritzker declared the state is in a “new wave” of the disease.
The state also said the seven-day average of coronavirus tests coming back as positive has climbed to 5.1%, surpassing a threshold recommended by the World Health Organization for safely reopening economies.
Advertisement
[ COVID-19 numbers are rising in Illinois. How worried should the Chicago area be? ]
“I am deeply concerned,” Pritzker said Friday at a news conference in Elgin. “Let me be clear, we are in a new wave here. Anybody that hasn’t noticed this, turn on the television. We’re in a new wave of COVID-19, rising cases, rising positivity all across the nation, not just in the state of Illinois.”
Before this week, the single-day high case count was 4,014, set on May 12. The state reported 5,368 new cases on Sept. 4, but that was due to a backlog in processing test results.
Advertisement
Friday’s record comes as the state also reports the highest number of test results returned in a 24-hour period. The 87,759 results reported Friday outstrip the previous high of 74,286 on Sept. 19. There were 2,529 newly confirmed cases that day. As of Thursday, the state is now including results from antigen tests in its daily totals.
There also were 38 more fatalities reported Friday, bringing the statewide death toll to 9,165 since the pandemic began. In all, there have been 336,174 known cases of COVID-19 in Illinois.
[ COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital data in your area ]
Statewide, the seven-day average of daily cases topped 3,000 for the first time Friday, hitting 3,237. A week earlier, the seven-day average was 2,267. That’s an increase of nearly 43%.
During the period ending Thursday, the rolling seven-day positivity rate surpassed 5% for the first time since Illinois started reporting the figure in June, although the rate was much higher early on in the outbreak when far fewer people were being tested.
In guidance earlier this year, the World Health Organization recommended that governments consider reopening only when the positivity rate remains below 5% for 14 days.
However, Pritzker said he is not considering returning the entire state to an earlier phase of his reopening plan, under which indoor service at restaurants and in-person instruction at schools were prohibited.
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
“We put in a program of regions, 11 regions, and we have mitigations that go into place when a region crosses a line either on hospitalization and cases or on positivity rate,” Pritzker said.
As of Friday, only the nine-county region in the northwestern corner of the state was under stricter rules due to the rolling positivity rate remaining above an 8% threshold. Two other regions — the Metro East area near St. Louis, and Will and Kankakee counties — were previously under the tighter rules, but they were loosened once again after positivity rates came down.
Advertisement
Still, the positivity rate has been trending upward in each of the 11 regions. In far southern Illinois, it hit 8% Saturday and has since been hovering just below. If the seven-day average is at or above 8% for three straight days, the stricter rules would go into effect.
Pritzker on Friday signed 30-day extensions of his coronavirus-related executive orders, extending the mask requirement, a moratorium on evictions and other measures through Nov. 14.
[ Illinois coronavirus graphs: The latest data on deaths, confirmed cases, tests and more ]
Separately, state health officials warned Friday that 34 counties are at risk for a resurgence of the virus, up from 26 counties last week.
While Lake County has been removed from the warning list this week, Kane, McHenry and Will counties were added. The other counties on this week’s list are: Adams, Alexander, Boone, Cass, Christian, Clay, Clinton, Crawford, DeKalb, DeWitt, Jasper, Jefferson, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Kane, Lee, Macon, McDonough, Mercer, Monroe, Pike, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Stephenson, Union, Vermilion, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Whiteside and Winnebago.
Counties are added to the list when they reach two or more bench marks indicating the virus that causes COVID-19 is spreading locally, such as more than 50 new cases per 100,000 residents or when the death toll increases by more than 20% for two straight weeks.
Kane County last week saw 114 new cases per 100,000 residents and seven total deaths, up from two deaths the previous week and one the week before.
Advertisement
[ Kane, Will counties back on state COVID-19 warning list; Kane health director outlines ‘concerning’ trends ]
At the same time, McHenry County saw 102 new cases per 100,000 residents and a seven-day rolling positivity rate of 8.6%.
Will County saw 133 cases per 100,000 residents and 13 deaths, up from 10 fatalities the prior week and six the week before.
State health officials continue to warn about outbreaks related to large gatherings and people and businesses disregarding social distancing and mask requirements.
“You wear your mask,” Pritzker said Friday. “You’re going to be healthy if you do.”
The virus has been surging not only in Illinois in recent days but around the U.S. and in Europe as well.
All of the regions that have been seen their reopenings rolled back since Pritzker introduced the 11-region plan over the summer border states that are seeing serious outbreaks.
Advertisement
“We’ve had one of the lowest positivity rates in the Midwest and the lowest among our neighbors,” the governor said. “But one of the challenges now is that three of the worst five states in the country are bordering Illinois: Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin."
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Willie Wilson’s Senate campaign changes ads that lacked disclaimers as Democrats file FEC complaint

The airing of the two different ads prompted Kristina Zahorik , president of the Illinois Democratic County Chairs Association , @ @ @ @ @ the Federal Election Commission asking it to investigate the matter and fine the campaign .
@ @ @ @ @ stations to stop airing “ noncompliant advertisements ” and offering cheaper campaign rates to Wilson @

Willie Wilson at a news conference at the Thompson Center in Chicago on May 12, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Willie Wilson’s third-party campaign challenging U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin acknowledged Friday two ads it aired lacked a federally required candidate disclaimer, which had led the head of a major Illinois Democratic organization to file a federal complaint.
Scott Winslow, a spokesman for Wilson’s campaign said the required statements had been taped, but were “inadvertently dropped” from the ad during production. “Those two were corrected by the production company (Thursday) and resubmitted to advertising stations,” he said.
Advertisement
At issue is a requirement in federal election law known as the “Stand By Your Ad” disclaimer. Familiar to anyone who watches television during a busy campaign season, it’s the requirement that features a candidate stating their name and that they “approve this message.”
Wilson appeared in the two ads but they lacked the “Stand By Your Ad” disclaimer.
Advertisement
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
The airing of the two different ads prompted Kristina Zahorik, president of the Illinois Democratic County Chairs Association, to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission asking it to investigate the matter and fine the campaign. The organization also asked TV stations to stop airing “noncompliant advertisements” and offering cheaper campaign rates to Wilson.
In one 30-second ad, Wilson decries the plight of working families and high drug prices, saying, “I’m Dr. Willie Wilson. Vote for me and send me to Washington. God bless.”
In a 15-second ad, Wilson also appears, saying “I’m financing my own campaign in good faith to the voters of Illinois and promise to serve with integrity at all times. I’m asking for your support.”
Wilson, a wealthy food-and-medical glove distributor has put more than $3 million into his challenge of Durbin, who is seeking a fifth term.
rap30@aol.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Column: Love letters in the alley: When a Chicago cop finds a stash of old letters in the trash, he’

Column: Love letters in the alley: When a Chicago cop finds a stash of old letters in the trash, he’s transported to Chicago during World War II. And vows to get the letters back to the family.

Wolforth , who is 42 and a Chicago police officer , found the old-fashioned cursive handwriting hard to decipher so @ @ @ @ @ of letters that night , but on subsequent evenings , once his family was asleep @ @ @ @ @ letter or two up to his living room .
Sitting in a chair with these @ @ @ @ @ fusty with age and ornamented with purple 3-cent stamps , he was transported back to @ @ @ @ @ a world threatened not by a pandemic but by a global war , to an @ @ @ @ @ named Cathie lived with her family , waiting for her husband to come home .

Letters sent by Catherine Moran Lee in 1945 to her husband, Leo Lee, who was was serving in the war. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
One day this summer, in the midst of the pandemic, Eric Wolforth took a walk to the store to buy milk and diapers. He followed his usual route, west along Catalpa Avenue, then a right turn into an alley.
A few doors up he spotted piles of junk around a cluster of garbage bins. Knowing that Chicago alleys often contain discarded treasure — he once salvaged a fancy stroller — he headed toward the mess.
Advertisement
On top of one garbage bin sat a small box. Poking from the top were red and blue stripes he recognized as the marks of old airmail envelopes. He pulled out several letters.
In the upper left corner of the envelopes was a return address for Mrs. Leo Paul Lee at 5506 Glenwood Ave. The letters were addressed to LT (j.g.) Leo Paul Lee aboard the USS Broome, stationed in New York. They were postmarked 1945.
Advertisement
“These look interesting,” he thought. He tucked the letters in his reusable grocery bag and resumed his trip to Jewel.
Police Officer Eric Wolforth stands in the Andersonville alley where he found a discarded box of 1945 airmail letters, mostly addressed to Leo Lee, who was serving in the war, Oct. 7, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
That night in his basement, where as the father of a newborn and a toddler he spends a lot of time doing laundry, Wolforth began reading. The earliest in the batch was dated January 6.
Dearest angel,
Gosh, hon, I am sorry that I made you sad. … I didn’t think I was writing sad letters to you.
The writer went on to lament Chicago’s weather (“so cold”), to say how much she loved receiving her husband’s letters (“so do write”) and to wish for a Florida vacation (“after the war”). It was signed “Cathie.”
Wolforth, who is 42 and a Chicago police officer, found the old-fashioned cursive handwriting hard to decipher so he read only a couple of letters that night, but on subsequent evenings, once his family was asleep, he would carry another letter or two up to his living room. Sitting in a chair with these fragile envelopes, which were fusty with age and ornamented with purple 3-cent stamps, he was transported back to mid-20th century Chicago, to a world threatened not by a pandemic but by a global war, to an apartment where a 25-year-old woman named Cathie lived with her family, waiting for her husband to come home.
CATHIE’S WORLD
Tuesday, Jan. 9
Dearest Lee Bee,
Advertisement
Gosh, it is below zero outside. I have had a slight sore throat. …
I hate to call (the doctor) as he will give me the sulpher pills and make me go to bed. They make you so weak. …
Darling, please keep safe. The news said last night that N.Y. or Washington could expect a V-bomb attack in the next 30~60 days. Isn’t that terrific.
We have heard bad news. Dorothy Twohey’s husband was wounded in action, shrapnel in the legs. They are sending him home. …
This war will last a long time and I only hope you will have safe assignments for the duration.
All my love to you,
Advertisement
Cathie
In 1945, Edgewater on Chicago’s North Side was a thriving community with an abundance of Catholic churches. As Wolforth would learn, Cathie Moran’s family went to St. Ita’s, named for a sixth-century Irish abbess and built in the grand style of a Gothic cathedral. Her father, John J. Moran, ran a fur shop in the Garland Building downtown while her mother, Corinne, focused on their four children, Cathie, Jack, Tom and Bob. They were a close-knit family in a close-knit neighborhood, living a life unlike the one Leo Paul Lee had known.
Catherine Moran Lee and Leo P. Lee on their wedding day in Chicago, 1944. (Lee family photo)
Lee grew up privileged and lonely under the care of two affluent uncles. He attended boarding school then Princeton University before transferring to the University of Notre Dame, intending to become a priest. His plans for priesthood ended when, through his roommate, he met Catherine Moran, and was welcomed into her big, Irish family.
In 1944, while millions of Americans were enlisted in World World II, Lt. Leo Lee came home for his wedding at St. Ita’s. After a reception and honeymoon at the Edgewater Beach Hotel, he rode the train back to his Navy ship, while Cathie stayed with her family in their second-floor Glenwood Avenue apartment with its bookcases, big windows and Chickering piano.
A few months after their marriage, the letters destined for an alley 75 years later began.
Dear baby. Dearest Leo. Darling. Angel plum.
Advertisement
Cathie wrote Leo almost every day, sometimes several times a day, letters full of endearments and professions of love, along with compliments (“You are so handsome when you are tan”); accounts of domestic duties (dishwashing, sewing, pie baking); and family news (her little brother Bob was throwing snowballs, her mother was sick).
In some letters, Cathie thanks Leo for his gifts. They include corsages for her and her mother to wear to church (“You are an angel to send them to us”) and a Parker 51 pen and pencil set (“I am thrilled”). In response to Leo’s offer to send stockings, she writes, “Don’t get silk stockings as I don’t consider them any better than the rayons that we get now.” But a few days later:
Darling, I have changed my mind about the stockings. I would love some silk ones. … I tried to get stockings downtown the other day and there weren’t any in the store.
Woven into all the talk of silk stockings, lemon creme pie and movies at the Bryn Mawr Theatre, however, is a darker feeling: worry.
Cathie worries for her friend Betty, who has a baby and whose husband may be sent to fight in the Pacific when the war in Europe ends. She worries for her 23-year-old brother Jack, stationed in England, who could be sent there too.
She worries for Leo, that he might fall from the ship’s deck while on night watch, that he might get seasick out on patrol in the Atlantic, that, according to photos he has sent, he has gotten too thin.
Advertisement
And she worries for herself.
Thursday, Jan. 11:
Honestly, I don’t know what’s gotten into you to apply to gunnery and fire direction school … when you know it would mean the Pacific and you wouldn’t see me for years … and then you’d come home all shot up.
Friday, Jan. 12
Darling, you are everything in the world to me and I would die inside if anything ever happened to you. … I haven’t worried about you since you were in the navy, except for the time you were on the French destroyer. I want you to be safe above all things.
Monday, Jan. 15
Advertisement
A year ago today Mother and I went downtown and bought my wedding dress. … I don’t know why I ever waited so long to get married … As I told you the main reason was that I didn’t want to have a baby during war time.
The letters continue through the frigid January of 1945, love mixed with fear, the mundanity of daily life mixed with the gravity of war. And in a hot summer decades later, Eric Wolforth has a realization:
He needs to get these letters back to Cathie Moran’s family.
A 1945 letter sent by Catherine Moran Lee to her husband, Leo Lee, on their 10th anniversary. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
A QUEST
Some of the letters included copies of the 1945 Moran Weekly Bugle. The Bugle, drawn in pencil on white paper, had a staff of two: Tom Moran, 15, and Bob Moran, 10. Cathie’s little brothers.
Tom and Bob served as the Bugle’s editors, cartoonists and columnists, supplying news of the family and neighborhood, along with Chicago sports scores, weather and a “jokes section.”
In one edition, “Bob’s column” reported that Bob got a haircut and that Sister Josepha kept Bob after school for fighting with a guy named Tippy.
Advertisement
“Tom’s column” on page 2 began: “It is an outrage! This column, recently adjudged the nation’s finest, has been pushed back onto the second page. I won’t stand for it.”
As Wolforth read the Moran Weekly Bugle, it occurred to him that Bob or Tom might still be alive. His search, however, revealed that there were many Bob and Tom Morans in the world, and he gave up on finding the right ones.
The Moran Weekly Bugle, a newspaper drawn by the two younger brothers of Catherine Moran Lee and sent in 1945 correspondences to her husband, Leo Lee, is among the letters recently found and returned. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Still, he continued to follow the love story of Cathie and Leo. He spent an hour online researching Leo’s ship, the USS Broome. Curious about the building on Glenwood, he figured out that it had been sold for a gut rehab this July, but not by anyone in the Moran family.
And he kept reading Cathie’s letters, occasionally chided by his wife for caring more about the family in the letters than about his own.
There were no letters from March and February of 1945, but they picked up again in April, with a different return address. Cathie now wrote from an apartment on the naval base in Portsmouth, Va., on new stationery embossed with her full married name, Catherine Moran Lee.
She recounted the fun she was having with the other women in the apartment complex — Gloria, Barb, Anne, Sid — all of them apparently waiting for their husbands, who apparently sometimes visited.
Advertisement
The women took a driving trip to Norfolk in Barb’s ’34 Buick, which broke down along the way. They went shopping at the commissary, where they used their ration books. They cooked, knitted, went to movies, played garbage poker.
April 14, 1945
Dearest Leo,
Gloria and I are sitting in the back yard in our bathing suits trying to get tan. … We are having a marvelous time so please don’t worry about me. …
I really am enjoying myself here. It is so much fun having our own apartment. …
I feel married when I am away from home. I don’t know how I stood those months at home just sitting around all day. It was so boring. …
Advertisement
I love you very much, sweet.
All my love to you,
Cathie
But in Virginia, as in Chicago, worry intruded on daily life, and in this world before TV and the internet, worry, along with hope, often came via the radio. Through the radio Cathie received the shocking news in April that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had died, then heard the speech of his successor, Harry Truman, “a simple, direct speech and I liked it.”
Friday, Apr. 27
We are so behind in the news since Gloria took her radio to the repair shop.
Advertisement
Sunday, Apr. 29
Last night Barb and her mother came over and brought their radio. We listened to all the news broadcasts. I do believe the war with Germany is in its last stages. It does seem encouraging with all these peace rumors going around.
On Tuesday, May 1, she wrote Leo to say she loved him with all her heart and soul and felt sure he would be coming back soon. She was right, and that letter was the last one in the pile. One week later, Germany would surrender and by September the war was over.
It was the letters from Virginia that gave Wolforth an idea. On Cathie’s new letterhead, he’d seen her full married name for the first time. So late one night this August he Googled “Catherine Moran Lee.” And there it was, a 2012 obituary in the Chicago Tribune:
Catherine Elizabeth Moran Lee, loving wife of the late Leo P. Lee. Beloved mother of Robert (Susan) Lee, Corinne (William) McClintic, Richard (Terry), Stephen and the late Patrick Lee.
He spent another few minutes searching the internet, then sent an email.
Advertisement
At 11:30 p.m. that same night, while on vacation with her family in Michigan, Corrine McClintic looked up from her needlepoint and glanced at the email on her phone.
“Who is Eric Wolforth?” she wondered.
She read the message, which was from some guy talking about how he’d been walking to the grocery store and found some letters, and she thought, “Is someone messing with me?”
Then she saw the photo he’d sent, of her mother’s stationery.
When her email popped into his inbox, two minutes after he’d sent his, Wolforth felt “electrified.” At last. He would get the ending to the love story.
“It was like a big soap opera,” Wolforth said recently, “and I was left dangling. What happened to the family? To Grandma and Grandpa? I wanted to know these big story arcs.”
Advertisement
‘FOREVER INDEBTED’
A few weeks later, Julie Sullivan, Bob Moran’s daughter, dropped by Wolforth’s to pick up the letters. There were 65, including some to Leo from Cathie’s parents. Sullivan’s mom, Bob’s widow, speculates that they had been stashed under the basement stairs and forgotten when the Morans moved out in the 1960s. Leo must have brought them home. Where his many letters to Cathie wound up is anyone’s guess.
Corinne McClintic, Catherine Moran Lee's daughter, and Julie Sullivan, Corinne's cousin, stand outside the old Moran home at 5506 N. Glenwood Ave., Oct. 7, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
That night, at a safe social distance because of the pandemic, Sullivan helped Wolforth piece together Cathie’s world after the war.
Cathie and Leo enjoyed a good life, but not without hardship. They had five children, one stillborn. They moved around a lot because of Leo’s career with various steel companies. When Leo developed early onset Alzheimer’s, they settled in a condo in Wilmette, and she efficiently took over managing the finances. After he died, when she was 65, she had an active life with family and friends.
“She never let on to us how much she missed him,” their daughter Corinne McClintick said recently. “It was not until the day she died that she referenced my father coming to get her. Her love and excitement was evident that day, and she could hardly wait for my father to ‘pick her up.’”
As for Cathie’s siblings, Bob, who went into the fur business, and Tom, who became a doctor, married and had kids. So did Jack, also a furrier, after returning home devastated by the loss of his three best friends, killed in the war. Bob, who outlived all his siblings, died in 2013.
But they all live on in the fusty, fraying letters, which have been passed around the family tenderly, evidence of life once upon a time, when the great crisis of the world was different than it is now, but no less daunting.
Advertisement
Chicago Tribune Opinion Weekdays Read the latest editorials and commentary curated by the Tribune Opinion team. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >
“We are forever indebted,” McClintic said.
Eric Wolforth also is grateful.
“I think about the letters frequently, and they’ve evoked a lot of thoughts,” he said.
He hears a lesson for today in how the Morans stuck together, with hope, in the midst of hard times. He visualizes Bob and Tom walking to St. Ita’s past his house, and wishes the same sense of fun for his boys. He thinks of his own life. "Like who will remember my family in 75 years?” Emails and iPhone photos, he fears, will never capture the past as well as penmanship on paper.
He knows he wasn’t meant to read someone else’s love letters, but in doing so, he learned about the unique power of letters to communicate life, and to preserve it. He thinks with awe about how far those letters traveled through space and time before landing in an alley, then back into the hands of a family who, through them, learned more about themselves.
He thinks, too, about how the crises of the world come and go, and so do people, and how, in any era, there’s serendipity in the ordinary acts, like walking to the store for milk and diapers.
Advertisement
mschmich@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Woman killed, child injured in fiery one-vehicle crash on Eisenhower near Harlem

State troopers were dispatched to what they determined was a one-vehicle crash in which the vehicle “ became fully engulfed @ @ @ @ @ to a news release from state police .
Photos from the scene showed the vehicle @ @ @ @ @ roof .

A woman was killed and a child seriously injured in a one-vehicle crash Friday morning on the inbound Eisenhower Expressway that left the vehicle they were in “fully engulfed” in fire, according to authorities.
The child was sent to the hospital following the crash about 4:20 a.m. on Interstate 290 just west of Harlem Avenue, according to Illinois State Police.
Advertisement
Morning rush traffic passes by an inverted, charred vehicle lying on the inbound side of the Eisenhower Expressway after an early morning crash that killed a woman and injured a child on Friday, Oct. 16, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
State troopers were dispatched to what they determined was a one-vehicle crash in which the vehicle “became fully engulfed” in fire, according to a news release from state police. Photos from the scene showed the vehicle had flipped over onto its roof.
There were only two people in the vehicle when it crashed, according to Trooper Gabriela Ugarte, a state police spokeswoman.
Advertisement
All lanes and shoulders on the eastbound side of the expressway were closed at Harlem until about 9:20 a.m., according to police.


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Republican challenger Pat O’Brien outraises incumbent Democrat Kim Foxx in Cook Count state’s attorn

Republican challenger Pat O’Brien outraises incumbent Democrat Kim Foxx in Cook Count state’s attorney race

Alex Sims with Foxx ’ s campaign said in an emailed statement : “ We are confident in our race @ @ @ @ @ home stretch .
Our donors have contributed an additional $ 220,000.00 in the past 24 @ @ @ @ @ about getting our message out .
They are committed to telling Mr. O ’ Brien @ @ @ @ @ convictions and if we continue to do that , we know we will win this @ @ @

Cook County state's attorney candidate Judge Pat O'Brien at a news conference at the corner of Division Street and Central Avenue, the site of a CPD "Operation Split Corners" drug bust on Oct. 1, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Republican challenger Pat O’Brien topped Democratic first-term Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx haul in the latest round of campaign fundraising, records show.
O’Brien’s campaign took in $401,851 compared with Foxx’s $232,786 total during the third quarter fundraising period that stretches from July 1 to Sept. 30, according to Illinois State Board of Elections. Since then, O’Brien has reported nearly $209,000 in contributions, including $75,000 he personally gave to his campaign.
Advertisement
O’Brien’s latest round of self-funding put him over the $100,000 mark, the threshold that effectively lifts state campaign contribution limits in the race.
O’Brien also outspent Foxx during the previous quarter — $207,679 to $73,776.
Advertisement
Foxx ended the quarter with $202,290 to spend, while O’Brien had $225,653 heading into the campaign’s closing weeks.
Since the end of September, O’Brien’s $208,973 in contributions outpaced Foxx’s $14,300, campaign finance records filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections show. Foxx’s campaign, however, told the Tribune that another $200,000-plus in donations will be coming in soon.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
On the campaign trail and in TV ads, Foxx and O’Brien have taken aim at each other’s record in the Cook County prosecutor’s office.
O’Brien, a former Cook County judge and a former prosecutor, has slammed Foxx for her office’s handling of the Jussie Smollett case; the actor was charged with staging a hate crime against himself in downtown Chicago last year. A special prosecutor in the case concluded that Foxx and her subordinates abused their discretion and misled the public, but their conduct did not rise to the level of criminal wrongdoing.
Meantime, Foxx has zeroed in on a high-profile 1980s murder case handled by O’Brien while he was in the prosecutor’s office, in which four men were wrongfully convicted.
In a statement, O’Brien said the fundraising is evidence that his campaign is resonating with voters and called on Foxx to reconsider holding debates; she announced in recent weeks she wouldn’t face off with O’Brien, accusing him of Trump-like bullying when the two appeared before newspaper editorial boards for endorsement sessions.
“Last quarter, my campaign raised over $400,000. Incumbent Kim Foxx raised $165,000 less than my campaign," O’Brien said. "Cook County residents have seen firsthand how Kim Foxx has failed to protect our families, victims of crime, and neighborhoods. I look forward to a spirited final stretch in this campaign. I once again implore Kim Foxx to be transparent and give Cook County residents the debates they have been asking for.”
Advertisement
Alex Sims with Foxx’s campaign said in an emailed statement: “We are confident in our race as we approach the final home stretch. Our donors have contributed an additional $220,000.00 in the past 24 hours because they are passionate about getting our message out. They are committed to telling Mr. O’Brien’s story of wrongful convictions and if we continue to do that, we know we will win this race.”
Lisa Donovan is the host of The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
ldonovan@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @byldonovan


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--3-year-old-boy shot to death at Rockford apartment building

“ At this point we feel that it ’ s contained to that one residence , ” O ’ Shea @ @ @ @ @ a room inside the house , but we can ’ t get into specifics of @ @ @ @ @ s completed .
”

A 3-year-old boy was fatally shot at an apartment building in Rockford, police said Friday.
Chief Dan O’Shea said it wasn’t a drive-by shooting Thursday.
Advertisement
“At this point we feel that it’s contained to that one residence,” O’Shea said. “It was a room inside the house, but we can’t get into specifics of the case until it’s completed.”
There were several other people at the apartment at the time of the shooting.
Advertisement
O’Shea declined to release specific information about the shooting, citing it being an “active investigation," refusing even to say whether a gun tied to the shooting had been found.
A man who was present at the time was charged with gun crimes unrelated to the shooting, said Winnebago County State’s Attorney Marilyn Hite Ross.
Lamar Glover, who lives in the four-unit building, said the boy’s family had been there for about six months.
“They seemed quiet. They were always out barbecuing,” Glover told the Rockford Register Star. “The kids were cool. I never heard any drama or nothing.”


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--CPS will phase students back into buildings starting with preschool and special education; union cal

CPS will phase students back into buildings starting with preschool and special education; union calls the plan ‘reckless’ and ‘illegal’

The union said the district did not involve educators or parents in making the plan .
On Thursday , only @ @ @ @ @ basics , leaving others clamoring for information .
On a call Thursday night with special @ @ @ @ @ did not have many answers about a return to school , saying they were in @ @ @ @ @ One CPS parent on the call said given what parents had been hearing from principals @ @ @ @ @ in major news outlets , she found it hard to believe officials on the call @ @ @ @ @ about cluster programs going back .

Chicago Public Schools announced Friday that all students will continue with remote learning when the second quarter starts in November but that some of the district’s “most vulnerable” children will have the option to begin returning to schools before the end of the calendar year.
In explaining their rationale for offering in-person classes first to prekindergarten and some special education students, CPS officials cited enrollment figures they released Friday that show a drop of 34% in total preschool enrollment from last year.
Advertisement
Plans for the new quarter were also accompanied by data from CPS revealing that there have been 177 known COVID-19 cases since March connected to people who were in CPS buildings while possibly contagious.
Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson announces the district’s goal to phase in school-based learning for the district’s most vulnerable students at CPS headquarters on Oct. 16, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
District leaders have not specified when the first students will begin returning to in-person learning, saying administrators will make that decision in consultation with public health officials closer to the start of second quarter Nov. 9. But in a news conference Friday afternoon, CPS CEO Janice Jackson said they’re eyeing early 2021 to start phasing in older elementary and high school students.
Advertisement
An official announcement stated the goal is to “add additional grades as early as January. Later this year, the district will be engaging parents in other grades to assess their interest in returning to classrooms.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who earlier this week said she was “concerned about whether or not we are doing enough for certain categories of students, particularly our youngest learners and our diverse learners,” did not appear at the news conference.
Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said her team has been investigating COVID-19 cases among children in public settings such as day cares, athletic events and summer programs, and found transmission in such settings is rare.
Furthermore, she said Chicago students who have returned to parochial and private school classrooms have a lower rate of COVID-19 than what has been detected among children who have not been learning in-person. A full data set was not immediately provided by the health department. Arwady said 31 cases were reported in September through early October among the nearly 23,000 students and staff.
Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady, with CPS CEO Janice Jackson, announces the district’s goal to phase in school-based learning for the most vulnerable students at CPS headquarters on Oct. 16, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
The health department encountered “less than a handful of situations where we could not rule out transmission in a school setting," Arwady said. Most cases at those schools have been isolated or tied to siblings, she said. Local officials have also been closely watching data emerging from other states.
The city needs to think about limiting risk, not eliminating, Arwady said.
“As a pediatrician, I remain the most concerned for our youngest children and the children with special needs who frankly are the least able to access education through screens and have the most to lose," Arwady said.
The Chicago Teachers Union immediately vowed to fight the plan, with CTU attorney Thad Goodchild calling it “ill-timed, reckless and illegal” and vowing that the union will use “all available resources" to roll it back.
Advertisement
But Arwady said if she thought the plan were dangerous, she would not be supporting it.
The union, which went on strike this time last year, did not specify its next move. But leaders and members said Lightfoot is shirking her responsibility to protect Chicago citizens and pointed to metrics showing the pandemic is worsening, surpassing parameters officials outlined over the summer. They say CPS has’t done enough to make buildings safe and has not been transparent about COVID-19 cases tied to schools.
For the first time on Friday, the district released a breakdown of confirmed COVID-19 cases by school since March, showing 172 adults and five students who were present in CPS buildings while they could have been contagious. Since fall quarter began Sept. 8, cases have steadily risen. The highest number of new cases in one week, 20, was recorded the week of Oct. 3. The district is now committing to weekly updates.
“We need more engagement, we need more collaboration, we need more transparency and we need more clarity in respect to how we can open safely,” CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said.
“We also know the mayor and CPS has yet to invest the dollars necessary to open safely,” she added, citing a “conservative estimate” of $1 billion.
“We cannot experiment or take lightly the responsibility we need to see from mayor," Davis Gates said.
Advertisement
But city officials cited equity as one of the main factors in the decision, saying the COVID-19 pandemic has already increased inequities in CPS.
“I have worked on many outbreak responses in my career,” Arwady said. “Outbreaks tend to bring long-standing inequities into the light, and their indirect effects can linger for years.”
Enrollment and attendance has been low this year at schools around the nation, and in CPS the decline has been especially profound among prekindergarten, special education, Black and Latino students, who are all attending school less than their peers and at significantly lower rates than recent years.
The district also experienced its largest enrollment loss in more than two decades. Officials believe that is driven by fewer new students enrolling, including a 44% decline in Black pre-K students.
“All over the country, we are seeing students falling behind,” said CPS Chief Education Officer LaTanya McDade. “We need to do everything possible to reverse this trend.”
CPS said it decided to use a phased-in approach, starting with preschoolers and students in “intensive and moderate” special education programs, because those “require a significantly modified curriculum with support in a separate classroom from general education peers for the majority of the day.”
Advertisement
School officials said they’re closely monitoring the pandemic and say transmission of COVID-19 has been low in schools where a “rigorous commitment” to safety protocols are in place.
The union, however, questioned CPS' ability and commitment to keeping schools safe. Union leaders said CPS has not committed to wide-ranging testing or contact tracing plans.
CPS, without committing to rapid testing at schools, said it will make sure that anyone who has symptoms or was in close contact with someone who tested positive “has access to a free COVID-19 test.”
The union said the district did not involve educators or parents in making the plan. On Thursday, only principals were briefed on the basics, leaving others clamoring for information. On a call Thursday night with special education parents, district representatives did not have many answers about a return to school, saying they were in an “assessment phase.” One CPS parent on the call said given what parents had been hearing from principals and what had been reported in major news outlets, she found it hard to believe officials on the call didn’t know anything about cluster programs going back.
Proportionally, the district has struggled to engage more students in special education cluster classrooms than any other group.
Advertisement
The district enrolled far fewer new students this year, 32,000 to last year’s 44,000. Overall, fewer than 341,000 students were enrolled as of the 20th day of school, down from more than 355,000 last year, with 281,225 students in district-run schools and 59,433 in charter, alternative and options schools.
That includes 63,313 bilingual students to last year’s 66,946, and 49,655 students with special education programs, down from 51,691 last year. Not all special education students are in cluster classrooms.
At district-run elementary schools, enrollment dropped from 202,239 to 194,153. For high schools, the change was much smaller, from 73,954 to 73,506.
Preschool accounts for 41% of the district’s enrollment loss this year, with high school enrollment slightly up. The district canceled some of its tuition-based prekindergarten programs after not enough parents were willing to pay for online classes without child care.
The number of Black preschool students decreased 44%, a figure that was 29% for Latino students, 22% for white students and 9% for Asian students, according to CPS.
“The stunning decline among Black children enrolled in pre-K casts a somber light on how the pandemic and remote learning negatively impact our youngest learners,” said McDade said.
Advertisement
Overall, 4-year-old preschool enrollment plummeted from 14,300 to 9,540, and 3-year-old enrollment went from 3,192 to 1,954. At 21,960, kindergarten enrollment was also lower than last year’s 24,241.
Even with fewer students, attendance has suffered during remote learning.
Through last Friday, the district’s cumulative attendance rate was 91%, down from 95% this time last year. For students in special education cluster classrooms, attendance fell from 91% to 84%.
District-reported attendance rates this year have been 88% for Black students, 92% for Latino students, 97% for Asian students and 96% for white students — the only demographic group for which the attendance rate did not decline. CPS acknowledged the attendance data “casts light on inequities that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
For those who do return to in-class learning, the district outlined safety precautions such as providing cloth face coverings, grouping students and educators in pods or small class sizes, daily temperature and symptom screenings.
In addition to staff hired specifically to support contact tracing, CPS is hiring 400 more custodians, or about two for every three school buildings. The district also got a hospital-grade disinfectant mister for each school and installed more sanitizer and soap dispensers.
Advertisement
The district is putting $65 million into enhancing or replacing ventilation systems and said it will only use classrooms that have sufficient “natural or mechanical” ventilation. Building engineers are taking part in assessments of all classrooms and the district has contracted a certified environmental hygienist to assess air quality.
hleone@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Opposition to Pilsen as historic landmark district

For nearly two years , residents , property owners , the aldermen and activists have been trying to stop the @ @ @ @ @ the Pilsen neighborhood as the largest historic landmark district in Chicago .

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 7 Marcos Carbajal, co-owner of Carnitas Uruapan, stands outside the restaurant on 18th Street in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood on Oct. 15, 2020. He is also manager of his father's building, which would be part of the historic landmark district. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
For nearly two years, residents, property owners, the aldermen and activists have been trying to stop the city from designating part of the Pilsen neighborhood as the largest historic landmark district in Chicago.


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Democratic U.S. Reps. Lauren Underwood, Sean Casten hold cash advantage over GOP challengers; Willie

Democratic U.S. Reps. Lauren Underwood, Sean Casten hold cash advantage over GOP challengers; Willie Wilson gives his campaign $3 million but still trails Sen. Dick Durbin

Far behind Durbin and Wilson in the Senate money race is Republican Mark Curran , a former three-term Lake County @ @ @ @ @ raised more than $ 116,000 from July through September and spent nearly $ 102,000 of @ @ @ @ @ $ 35,198 in cash to start October .
Among his expenses was repaying himself half @ @ @ @ @ he gave his campaign .

Two first-term suburban Democratic House incumbents held a cash advantage over their challengers heading into the Nov. 3 election, as did U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin even though a third-party-challenger has pumped $3 million into his self-funded campaign, third quarter federal campaign disclosure reports showed.
The reports showed Durbin had more than $4.2 million in his campaign account to start this month after raising more than $1.3 million in the previous three months.
Advertisement
Willie Wilson, a wealthy glove distributor who has been sidelined in recent days after testing positive for the coronavirus, reported nearly $2.2 million in cash available after injecting $3 million in his self-funded bid to upset Durbin under the Willie Wilson Party label. Wilson previously put $60,000 into his campaign.
Willie Wilson arrives at the Thompson Center in Chicago to speak on May 12, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Sen. Dick Durbin arrives for the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett before the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 13, 2020. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
Wilson’s disclosure reports showed he paid former state Sen. Rickey Hendon a total of $100,000 for work in August and September as a field director for his campaign. Hendon has long been a controversial activist and self promoter on Chicago’s West Side.
Advertisement
Far behind Durbin and Wilson in the Senate money race is Republican Mark Curran, a former three-term Lake County sheriff. Records showed Curran raised more than $116,000 from July through September and spent nearly $102,000 of it, leaving him with $35,198 in cash to start October. Among his expenses was repaying himself half of a $20,000 loan he gave his campaign.
Daniel Malouf, the Libertarian candidate in the race, had $2,029 to start this month while Green Party candidate David Black did not file a report.
In the west and northwest suburban 6th Congressional District, freshman Democratic U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove reported nearly $2 million in cash on hand after raising $1.1 million in the previous three months. He began the last quarter with more than $3 million in his campaign account.
His Republican challenger, former state Rep. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton, raised $1.1 million in the three-month period but spent most of it and reported having $493,239 in cash left to begin October.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
In the west and north suburban and exurban 14th Congressional District, first-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Naperville began July with nearly $3.2 million, spent $2.7 million through September and began October with $2.3 million.
Underwood’s challenger, Republican state Sen. Jim Oberweis of Sugar Grove, a dairy magnate and financial adviser, reported having $875,841 to start the month after giving his campaign a $600,000 loan. Overall, Oberweis has given his congressional campaign $1.7 million, federal records showed.
In a nationally watched congressional race Downstate, four-term Republican Rep. Rodney Davis of Taylorville began the month with a slight cash advantage over Democratic challenger Betsy Dirksen Londrigan of Springfield
Advertisement
Campaign reports showed Davis had $1.7 million in cash available to start the month while Londrigan, who lost to Davis two years ago by fewer than 2,100 votes, had $1.3 million to begin October. Londrigan outraised Davis in the July through September period, $1.55 million to $1.2 million.
rap30@aol.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Girl’s teacher saw 7-year-old being sexually assaulted during e-learning session, Chicago police say

“ DCFS has already reported a dramatic decrease in the number of cases reported ... We know these things have @ @ @ @ @ what has happened is there are fewer watchful eyes looking at students , connecting with @ @ @ @ @ they ’ re safe .
”

A man suspected of sexually attacking a child while broadcasting the sex act live online was being questioned by Chicago police detectives Friday.
The 7-year-old girl was brought to Comer Children’s Hospital after the attack, which happened about 1:30 p.m. in the West Chesterfield neighborhood on the city’s South Side, police said.
Advertisement
Police were made aware of the attack when the girl’s teacher saw it on a computer screen during a Google classroom e-learning session, police said. When officers got there, the girl identified her attacker, and he was arrested.
As of Friday afternoon, the man was still being questioned and no charges had been filed, said Officer Anthony Spicuzza, a police spokesman.
Advertisement
During an unrelated press conference on Friday, Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson called the situation "disturbing.''
She said the district in recent years has increased supports for students who experience sexual assault or harm and teachers or counselors are often the first to identify an issue a student is facing.
“We provide a lot of basic needs for our students and safety is one of them,” Jackson said.
“DCFS has already reported a dramatic decrease in the number of cases reported... We know these things have not stopped occurring, but what has happened is there are fewer watchful eyes looking at students, connecting with students to make sure that they’re safe.”
Chicago Tribune reporter Hannah Leone contributed.
rsobol@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Judge rules ‘Cheer’ star Jerry Harris to remain jailed on child pornography charges

The hearing was interrupted when somebody participating by telephone started talking without his phone on mute .
During the break @ @ @ @ @ line started speaking to Harris , who was listening in from the Metropolitan Correctional Center @ @ @ @ @ “ Love you kiddo .
No matter what , stay strong .
And know that @ @ @ @ @ replied , “ I love you too .
”

A federal judge ruled Friday that “Cheer” star Jerry Harris is a danger to the community and will remain behind bars pending trial on charges of coercing teenage boys to send him obscene photos and videos of themselves and soliciting sex from minors at cheerleading competitions.
Harris, 21, of Naperville, has been in federal custody since his arrest last month on child pornography charges. His attorneys had asked U.S. District Judge Heather McShain to release him on home detention under the supervision of several “cheer moms” who agreed to monitor him and keep him from using the internet.
Advertisement
But McShain on Friday said the crime Harris is accused of is “extremely serious” and noted that he allegedly admitted to the FBI to sexual misconduct involving five to 10 victims.
The judge also said she was concerned about allegations that Harris continued to reach out to young boys over the internet even after he learned he learned law enforcement was asking questions about his conduct.
Advertisement
“Upon learning of the investigation, (Harris) dumped his cellphone, obtained a new cellphone and continued with his same course of conduct,” McShain said. “That reveals behavior that the defendant cannot or is unwilling to control.”
The hearing was interrupted when somebody participating by telephone started talking without his phone on mute. During the break, other people on the line started speaking to Harris, who was listening in from the Metropolitan Correctional Center. One woman said, “Love you kiddo. No matter what, stay strong. And know that you are loved.” Harris replied, “I love you too.”
The woman continued, telling Harris, “We’re gonna fight this and we’re gonna stand in your corner and never leave your side. Forever, always, no matter what.”
She stopped talking after someone else interjected, “You know, everyone can hear you.”
McShain’s decision came after a lengthy detention hearing Wednesday when the mother of two of Harris’ alleged victims pleaded with the judge to keep Harris locked up.
The woman — whose complaint to authorities about Harris’ alleged abuse of her twin 14-year-old sons sparked the criminal investigation — said to release Harris now would be a slap in the face of the bravery her boys have shown.
“Mr. Harris should not be residing in a home, sleeping in a comfortable bed, and being taken care of by a group of cheer moms while my children are paying a very high price for telling the truth,” the mother said, participating in the hearing via telephone.
Advertisement
In a motion arguing for release, Harris' attorneys said the competitive cheerleading world he grew up in exposes younger children to the sexual experiences of older ones and has its own deep-rooted dangers.
“In the early years of Mr. Harris’ life, he was fully immersed into the ‘cheer’ world where sexual predators were largely unchecked with children of all ages,” Harris' lead attorney, Todd Pugh, wrote in a filing Wednesday.
At the time of Harris' alleged wrongdoing, Pugh said, the star “was in most respects a child himself interacting with other children.”
McShain said Friday that argument failed. “The defendant was not a child. He was an adult,” McShain said.
Advertisement
Harris was charged in a criminal complaint in September with production of child pornography and faces a mandatory minimum 15 years behind bars if convicted.
Harris' attorneys have not yet addressed the charges directly, and he has not entered a plea in the case. He has denied similar allegations made in a civil suit through a spokesperson.
Advertisement
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com