chicagotribune--2020-10-15--McLean county health officials concerned about possible 2nd COVID spike at Illinois State University

“ How can we use what we learned in the fall semester and apply it to the spring semester ?
@ @ @ @ @ What might we expect in the spring semester and how can we plan ahead ?
@ @ @ @ @ the spread of COVID-19 in the community .
”

BLOOMINGTON — McLean County health officials don’t want a repeat of late August and early September when COVID-19 cases spiked after some Illinois State University students returned to Normal from summer break.
That’s why representatives of the county health department want to meet with ISU and Town of Normal officials to develop a plan to mitigate COVID spread after students return to Normal following winter and spring breaks.
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“We want to take what we learned in September,” county health department Administrator Jessica McKnight said Wednesday night following the monthly meeting of the county Board of Health.
“How can we use what we learned in the fall semester and apply it to the spring semester?” she said. “What might we expect in the spring semester and how can we plan ahead? The goal is to control the spread of COVID-19 in the community.”
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During the board meeting, held virtually and at the Government Center, board President Carla Pohl said health department officials would meet with ISU representatives to discuss how to limit COVID spread after students return to campus in January and following spring break.
While some students are on campus and others are doing remote learning, the university is transitioning to all remote learning after Thanksgiving until the end of the semester before Christmas. That means many students will be gone between Thanksgiving but returning in January.
In addition, ISU decided recently to go ahead with spring break to give students and staff a mental health break, even though some universities have canceled spring break, fearing students would travel, then return to campuses with COVID and spread it around.
Pohl’s fear is that “in March, we will have a repeat performance of September” when COVID cases rose in McLean County, largely because some students returned to Normal and didn’t adhere to social distancing guidelines.
McKnight said discussions with ISU and Normal officials will include COVID testing, contact tracing and personal responsibility -- three things that help to control the spread of the virus.
“We know winter already is going to be rough with flu and travel and the holidays,” McKnight said after the meeting. "As a community, how can we start now with planning?
“We are amping up our testing and contact tracing and we want to provide more messaging about personal responsibility,” she said.
Some messaging will apply to the general population, not only college students.
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“We will try to work on some COVID-19 messaging, especially as it relates to (controlling COVID spread during) the holidays,” Pohl said.
Also at the meeting, the board learned that the health department’s Take Cover Initiative with Illinois Heart & Lung Foundation, in which the health department collects homemade masks and distributes them to non-profit agencies, has a surplus of masks. Agencies interested should contact Tammy Brooks at the health department.
— The Pantagraph.


chicagotribune--2020-10-15--Iowa Supreme Court sides with GOP on directive used to invalidate tens of thousands of absentee ball

Iowa Supreme Court sides with GOP on directive used to invalidate tens of thousands of absentee ballot forms

Auditors in three counties defied Pate ’ s guidance and mailed forms to thousands of voters with their names , @ @ @ @ @ and voter pin numbers already filled in .
Voters just had to review , sign @ @ @ @ @ which the three auditors said were intended to make voting by mail as easy as @ @ @ @ @ .

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa’s highest court upheld a state directive Wednesday that was used to invalidate tens of thousands of absentee ballot requests mailed to voters pre-filled with their personal information.
The Iowa Supreme Court issued its ruling in favor of President Donald Trump’s campaign and Republican groups as Trump held an evening rally in Des Moines.
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The court rejected a Democratic challenge that argued the directive issued by Republican Secretary of State Paul Pate was unconstitutional.
Pate instructed county elections commissioners in July that all absentee ballot request forms they mailed to voters must be blank in order to ensure uniformity statewide.
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Auditors in three counties defied Pate’s guidance and mailed forms to thousands of voters with their names, addresses, dates of birth and voter pin numbers already filled in. Voters just had to review, sign and return the forms, which the three auditors said were intended to make voting by mail as easy as possible during the coronavirus pandemic.
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate in 2016. (Charlie Neibergall / AP)
The Trump campaign and GOP groups filed lawsuits to invalidate those forms, saying auditors overstepped their authority. Two judges in three separate cases agreed, invalidating about 70,000 applications that had been returned by voters and issuing injunctions blocking the counties from processing any others. Affected individuals had to fill out new blank applications to request absentee ballots or vote another way.
Democratic groups argued in a separate lawsuit that Pate did not have the authority to issue the directive, and a Polk County judge agreed.
The Iowa Supreme Court put that decision on hold last week after Republicans and Pate appealed and threw it out Wednesday. Justices agreed with the GOP that the lower court ruling was a “collateral attack” on the other court injunctions that invalidated the pre-filled forms, and would create more confusion if allowed to stand.
They rejected Democrats' claims that Pate’s directive undermined the constitutional right to vote, noting that anyone affected can take advantage of Iowa’s expansive early voting and Election Day opportunities.
“In this proceeding, we are not persuaded that the obligation to provide a few items of personal information on an absentee ballot application is unconstitutional, thereby forcing us to rewrite Iowa’s election laws less than a month before the election,” the court wrote in an unsigned opinion.
Pate praised the ruling, saying the court “reaffirmed a commitment to election integrity.”
“None of this voter confusion would have happened if not for the irresponsible and unlawful actions of the auditors in Johnson, Linn and Woodbury counties,” he said.
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Separately, the court voted 5-2 to grant a Democratic request to review the constitutionality of a new Republican-backed law that blocks county auditors from using voter registration databases to fill in any missing information on absentee ballot request forms. Unlike prior elections, the law requires auditors to contact those individuals by phone, email and mail to fill in missing information themselves.
Democrats and a Latino civil rights organization argue the law could leave thousands of requesters who cannot be reached in time without access to absentee ballots. Republicans say the law is a safeguard against fraud.
The court ordered the parties to file final briefs by Friday afternoon, signaling a decision could come before the Oct. 24 deadline to request a ballot by mail.


chicagotribune--2020-10-15--94-year-old woman caring for sister in Chicago area travels to Detroit to cast her ballot: ‘Vote bec

94-year-old woman caring for sister in Chicago area travels to Detroit to cast her ballot: ‘Vote because your life depends on it’

“ Vote because your life depends on it , ” Madison told FOX 2 Detroit .
“ And this year @ @ @ @ @ that you vote .
Not only for you but for your children and their children @ @

DETROIT — A 94-year-old woman who has been caring for a sister in Illinois traveled nearly 300 miles to Detroit to cast an absentee ballot in the fall election.
“I wanted to make sure my vote counted,” Mildred Madison said Monday. “This was very easy. I could sit in my wheelchair.”
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Madison said she decided to go to Detroit after her August primary ballot arrived late. She traveled from the Chicago area with a son and daughter.
“Vote because your life depends on it,” Madison told FOX 2 Detroit. “And this year it truly depends on it that you vote. Not only for you but for your children and their children.”
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Indeed, she wore a mask with one word: VOTE.


chicagotribune--2020-10-14--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened Oct. 14 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

“ We know that this election in 2020 will be one of the most historic and consequential elections for women @ @ @ @ @ Kay Devine , from the Chicago nonprofit Women Employed , during the news conference .
@ @ @ @ @ and having to be safe and look out for one another has pushed our coalition @ @ @ @ @ with our outreach and mobilization ”

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)
All 11 regions of Illinois in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s statewide reopening plan saw increases in COVID-19 test positivity rates from a week ago and the statewide positivity rate rose by over 1% in the past week, with most regions seeing rises in hospital admissions of people with COVID-19 like symptoms during the past week, too, Pritzker said at a news briefing in Chicago on Wednesday.
The state reported 2,862 newly diagnosed cases of coronavirus and 49 additional deaths on Wednesday, raising the state-reported totals to 327,605 known cases and 9,074 deaths throughout the course of the pandemic. The seven-day statewide positivity rate was 4.6% for the period that ended on Tuesday.
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Meanwhile, the state’s top public health official urged residents on Wednesday to prepare for holiday celebrations differently this year as the state continues to see an uptick in newly-diagnosed cases and hospitalizations of people with COVID-19-like symptoms.
To avoid having “our holidays marred by tragedy on the back end,” Dr. Ngozi Ezike said people who are sick around the holidays need to avoid gatherings entirely. Her comments came as the state released guidance for holiday travel and parties that included limiting the number of guests and seating arrangements aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.
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Here’s what’s happening Wednesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
6:30 p.m.: University of Chicago business school shut down and dozens of students in quarantine after off-campus party
The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business is temporarily shifting to online classes and more than 100 of its students are under quarantine after a COVID-19 outbreak was connected to a large, off-campus gathering where some didn’t wear masks.
U. of C. administrators shared the news in a school-wide email Wednesday, saying Booth’s downtown and Hyde Park campuses will be closed for two weeks.
Read more here. —Elyssa Cherney
5:50 p.m.: Women’s March Chicago to host ‘Zoom to the Polls’ on Saturday — one of hundreds of events across the country to encourage voting
Women’s March Chicago will host a predominantly virtual event dubbed “Zoom to the Polls” on Saturday, one of hundreds of Women’s March activities planned across the country that day to encourage voting in the Nov. 3 election.
“We’re going to work to get people out to vote, because this election is the one we must do,” said Jaquie Algee, Women’s March Chicago board president, cq at an online news conference Wednesday.
Participants can view a livestream of the event from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. on the group’s Facebook page.
Women’s March Chicago is also hosting an in-person outdoor gathering in the Roseland neighborhood from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Phalanx Family Services, 837 W. 119th Street.
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Other Women’s March events are scheduled locally and across the country on Saturday, some in person and others online in the form of webinars or other virtual programming.
An in-person rally dubbed “Vote. March. Dissent.” is planned at Federal Plaza in Chicago. cq About a dozen other local rallies are scheduled.
At an in-person Women’s March gathering planned in Washington D.C., participants are expected to wear masks during a short march and rally, and then meet on the National Mall for a “socially distant text-banking telethon” with the goal of sending 5 million text messages urging recipients to vote.
“We know that this election in 2020 will be one of the most historic and consequential elections for women yet,” said Mary Kay Devine, from the Chicago nonprofit Women Employed, during the news conference. “This time of COVID and having to be safe and look out for one another has pushed our coalition had to be particularly creative with our outreach and mobilization”
—Angie Leventis Lourgos
5:05 p.m.: A special high-dose flu shot for seniors is in limited supply in Illinois
A high-dose flu shot designed for people 65 years of age and older is in limited supply in Illinois.
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Some pharmacies and doctors' offices still have enough of the shot, but those that don’t blame shipping delays from a manufacturer of the vaccine, as well as increased demand for it amid COVID-19.
It’s possible that the U.S. will have a mild flu season — following a light season in the southern hemisphere and because of mask use and social distancing — but experts don’t know for sure. Public health leaders are still urging people to get flu shots so they don’t have to contend with COVID-19 and the flu at the same time.
Read more here. —Lisa Schencker
2:53 p.m.: Indiana health commissioner tests positive for COVID-19 as state’s mask order remains in place but no new restrictions added despite virus spread
Indiana’s statewide mask order will remain in place, but tougher restrictions on businesses and crowd sizes aren’t being reinstated, despite recent sharp increases in COVID-19 hospitalizations and rates of new infections in the state, Gov. Eric Holcomb said Wednesday.
Holcomb, a Republican, said some people were showing disregard for the safety of others, putting the ability of schools to remain open and the health of those most at risk of severe illness from the virus in jeopardy.
“Those inactions are costing, just to be blunt, health care costs, lost wages, business failures. Don’t kid yourself, we’re all paying this bill,” Holcomb said. He went on to add, “Throwing caution to the wind, ultimately ends up costing us all. It is the literal definition of whistling past the graveyard, pretending this isn’t around us.”
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Holcomb decided three weeks ago to lift nearly all of Indiana’s restrictions while extending the mask mandate, which was scheduled to expire Saturday. His new order will extend it for a month.
Read more here. —Associated Press
12:26 p.m.: COVID-19 positivity rates increase in all of Illinois' 11 regions; state issues travel, gathering guidance for holidays
All 11 regions of Illinois in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s statewide reopening plan saw increases in COVID-19 test positivity rates from a week ago and the statewide positivity rate rose by over 1% in the past week, with most regions seeing rises in hospital admissions of people with COVID-19 like symptoms during the past week, too, Pritzker said at a news briefing in Chicago on Wednesday.
The state reported 2,862 newly diagnosed cases of coronavirus and 49 additional deaths on Wednesday, raising the state-reported totals to 327,605 known cases and 9,074 deaths throughout the course of the pandemic.
The seven-day statewide positivity rate was 4.6% for the period that ended on Tuesday.
State officials also issued a warning Wednesday about the upcoming holiday season, and the Illinois Department of Public Health released guidance on travel, hosting overnight guests and seating arrangements that separate people from different households.
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“The safest way to celebrate with the members of your household is to connect with people outside of your household virtually, but I know we all know that many people will be gathering and getting together with family and friends,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Wednesday.
Read more here. —Jamie Munks
9:14 a.m.: Wisconsin judge temporarily blocks governor’s order limiting capacity at bars and restaurants
A Wisconsin judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked an order from Gov. Tony Evers' administration limiting the number of people who can gather in bars, restaurants and other indoor places.
The Tavern League of Wisconsin sued on Tuesday. Sawyer County Circuit Judge John Yackel on Wednesday blocked the order and set a court date for Monday.
Read more here. —Associated Press
6:55 a.m.: Challenges to Pritzker’s COVID-19 restrictions back in court
After months of maneuvering, attorneys will be in court in Sangamon County Wednesday arguing over Gov. JB Pritzker’s powers to impose controls to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.
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The hearing involves multiple cases filed by attorney Thomas DeVore on behalf of clients in six counties who contend that the coronavirus pandemic is not a public health emergency under the definition of Illinois law.
Because of that, the lawsuits argue that Pritzker doesn’t have the authority impose restrictions like limit on businesses in order to control the spread of COVID-19.
The essentially identical lawsuits were originally filed in Edgar, Bond, Richland, Clinton, and Sangamon counties. In each case, plaintiffs want the court to declare a public health emergency does not exist and that Pritzker be barred from exercising powers under the Emergency Management Act in those counties.
The Illinois Supreme Court ordered that all of the cases be combined and heard in Sangamon County.
Read more here. —State Journal-Register
6:30 a.m.: 5 hot tips for the Chicago International Film Festival, starting Wednesday
Here we are. Another October, not like all the others, and another Chicago International Film Festival, also not like the others — yet fully in sync with the virtual/in-person hyrbid model followed by so many festivals around the world, in the COVID-19 pandemic’s introductory year.
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The 56th edition of CIFF is smaller than usual, but small being relative, it’s a big sort of smaller, with 58 feature-length narrative and documentary offerings, various shorts programs and “Industry Days” events via Zoom.
How might this year’s festival resemble previous years' versions? Digital attendance for the beloved general public is not unlimited. Rather, it’s capped at whatever a film’s distributor or rights-holder determines — 300, 500, whatever.
Read more here. —Michael Phillips
6 a.m.: CPS students petition to shorten the class day — and end homework — during remote learning, citing headaches, stress and too much screen time
After a month of remote learning, Idalia Rizvic was getting headaches, feeling stressed and struggling to finish her schoolwork early enough to hang out with her family before bedtime.
So last week, the eighth grader at Boone Elementary in West Rogers Park started an online petition to shorten the virtual school day.
“Covid has been a stressful time for all, and online school adds onto that,” Idalia wrote. “We still get the same amount of work, and ‘homework’ has lost its purpose.”
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After spring’s abrupt transition to remote learning, many students indicated they wanted more live instruction and engagement. But for some, stricter schedules this year have been too much. As families and educators wait for Chicago Public Schools to say whether the second quarter will bring students back to classrooms, many feel that either way, something needs to change.
Idalia’s mother, Senada Rizvic, said the past month has been “too much screen time, less sleep, more headache.”
A petition started by a Senn High School student seeking a half-day class schedule cited research on the effects of too much screen time. If students must have seven-hour remote learning days, the petition states, they shouldn’t be assigned homework.
Another, anonymous petition to shorten the day states, “With COVID-19 cases still rising it’s clear that it’s much safer to stay home, but 8 hours of staring at the screen is not mentally and physically healthy for students.”
But not all families are on the same page in that regard. Another anonymous group, “Parents for In-Person Learning,” is petitioning CPS and city officials to reopen schools entirely.
Read more here. —Hannah Leone
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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 Tuesday related to COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:


chicagotribune--2020-10-14--Mother tells of events before son’s arrest in murders of two Lake County teens

Roxann Kerner , who often looked over from the witness stand and smiled at her son and the jury at @ @ @ @ @ , was granted use immunity for her testimony before the jury was brought into the @ @ @ @ @ could be held in contempt of court if she refused to answer questions and the @ @ @ @ @ from perjury .

Connor Kerner’s mother, Roxann, went through dozens of text messages she exchanged with her son, some on an encrypted app and redacted, as she explained to a jury Wednesday that she wasn’t coaxing her son for a future police interview about two missing Lake County teens but trying to get him to explain to her what happened.
Roxann Kerner was on the stand for more than two hours in Porter Superior Court Judge Roger Bradford’s courtroom, providing a timeline for her contact with Connor Kerner from Feb. 25, 2019, when she left for a two-day business trip in Detroit, until March 2, 2019, the Saturday the two were picked up by Porter County Sheriff’s Department deputies and transported to the county jail for questioning.
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Kerner, 19, of the 100 block of Kinsale, has pleaded not guilty and remains in Porter County Jail without bond, held on two counts of murder and additional felony counts of intimidation, arson, murder in the perpetration of a robbery and attempted robbery.
Thomas Grill, 18, of Cedar Lake and Molley Lanham, 19, of St. John. (Provided by St. John Police)
Kerner was 17 when he allegedly killed Molley Lanham, 19, of St. John, and Thomas Grill, 18, of Cedar Lake, on Feb. 25, 2019, at his grandparents' Hebron-area home after a drug deal went bad, then loaded their bodies into the Honda Civic they arrived in and set fire to the vehicle in a wooded area a couple miles away.
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Roxann Kerner, who often looked over from the witness stand and smiled at her son and the jury at the start of her testimony, was granted use immunity for her testimony before the jury was brought into the courtroom. Bradford explained she could be held in contempt of court if she refused to answer questions and the immunity would not protect her from perjury.
James Voyles, one of Connor Kerner’s defense attorneys, had a standing objection to the text messages being admitted as evidence in the trial.
The bulk of the text messages began the morning of Feb. 26, 2019, when Roxann Kerner, through GPS tracking on her son’s phone, discovered he had not gone to school that day while she was out of town. Connor Kerner was a senior at Valparaiso High School who only had to attend school for three hours each morning.
Connor Kerner initially texted her that he had a migraine and decided to stay home but later, as the text exchange evolved, told his mother as she questioned him about not going to school, “I understand but you don’t know about last night and that’s all that matters.”
He declined to talk to her over the phone and she sent him a link for an encrypted Zoom conversation, she said, “so he would talk to me so I could figure out what was going on.”
They later switched to an encrypted message app, Keybase, and Roxann Kerner told her son she received a message from Patricia Grill, Thomas Grill’s mother, asking if she knew her son and if he met with Connor Kerner that day.
Connor Kerner texted his mother that he was supposed to meet with Thomas Grill after Grill went to Illinois and the two were going to drive to Michigan together.
Later, she messaged him on Keybase, “Hi, you need a solid story about Thomas.”
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Roxann Kerner said in court that her son needed a solid story to answer her questions.
He later texted her that the previous night he “had a deal go bad” and drove up to Michigan to put some stuff away. Roxann Kerner told the jury “she had no idea” what her son was talking about but told him the missing teens were all over Facebook.
Roxann Kerner later texted to her son, “Get out of this now,” and instructed him to contact their attorney Mark Thiros, who is now part of his defense team.
Connor Kerner texted his mother, “I had nothing to do with this” and told her he was not in danger.
Roxann Kerner later texted her son to brace himself because there was a huge investigation into Grill’s disappearance. “You need a reason for meeting Thomas,” she texted, noting riding dirt bikes or concert tickets.
She told the court she was not suggesting a reason.
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“I was still trying to get information at that point,” she said.
But on Feb. 27, 2019, before she returned from her work trip and her son picked her up at the airport in South Bend, the text exchange between the two again returned to why Connor Kerner might have had a planned meeting with Grill.
“Because concert tickets would be a good one,” Roxann Kerner messaged to her son, before telling her that if the cops come to their house, not to say a word to them because “they’ll trick you.”
Once Roxann Kerner returned to Valparaiso, she and her son continued to exchange numerous texts, including conversation about his breakup with his girlfriend, who reported the alleged crimes to police.
The two texted about chores to be done before a showing of their home planned for March 3, 2019, before it went up for sale and her contacts with the Grills and Molley Lanham’s mother and stepfather.
Sometime before 11 a.m. March 2, Roxann Kerner said she and her son were stopped by police while he was driving her Jeep Cherokee.
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“We are surrounded by six to eight squad cars, SUVs, and I am absolutely in shock. I asked them, ‘What is going on and where are we going?’” she said, fighting back tears. “I was handcuffed on my knees with big guns pointed at my head and they’d already taken Connor.”
Sheriff’s deputies transported the Kerners to the sheriff’s department for questioning. Police allowed her to contact Thiros and she agreed to let police look at her phone.
She also found out then from police that her son was going to be charged in the deaths of Grill and Lanham.
Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.


chicagotribune--2020-10-14--Metra sues Union Pacific for refusing to send conductors to collect tickets on trains during the pan

Metra sues Union Pacific for refusing to send conductors to collect tickets on trains during the pandemic

Metra and Union Pacific have been at odds over fare collection since June , when UP refused to allow conductors @ @ @ @ @ punch tickets on its three Metra lines , citing coronavirus safety concerns .
That essentially @ @ @ @ @ which has been costing the commuter rail system $ 1 million a month in lost @ @ @ @ @ .

The train conductor ticket collection dispute between Metra and Union Pacific has arrived in court.
Metra filed a breach of contract lawsuit Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court alleging Union Pacific’s “arbitrary and capricious” refusal to send conductors back into passenger cars during the pandemic has damaged Metra’s bottom line, reputation and customer experience.
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“We want the conductors back in the trains,” Metra CEO Jim Derwinski said Wednesday. “We felt it was time to get someone else involved, and that’s going to be the court system.”
Union Pacific operates the UP North, Northwest and West commuter lines for Metra under a purchase of service agreement. They represent the only Metra lines still operating without conductors in the passenger cars, according to the lawsuit.
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“The conductors are on the trains, but we are not ready to have conductors walking through the train and interacting with the public, due to safety concerns,” Union Pacific spokeswoman Kristen South said. “We are prepared to vigorously defend ourselves in court.”
Metra and Union Pacific have been at odds over fare collection since June, when UP refused to allow conductors back into the aisles to punch tickets on its three Metra lines, citing coronavirus safety concerns. That essentially created a no-fare policy, which has been costing the commuter rail system $1 million a month in lost ticket revenue, Metra said.
In the lawsuit, Metra alleges Union Pacific caused “nearly a complete loss of fare revenue” from train lines that represent about 30% of Metra’s overall ridership.
Metra sent letters to Union Pacific in July and September demanding that conductors “walk the trains” to ensure passenger safety and collect tickets.
Last week, Union Pacific installed manned ticket verification booths at the Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago, where commuters have to show a valid ticket or their Ventra app when boarding or disembarking.
In addition to the ticket verification booths, Union Pacific resumed ticket sales operations at Ogilvie and outlying stations Sept. 28.
“The process is working well,” South said. “We’ve had people move through very quickly. The few people that haven’t had a ticket have walked over and purchased one.”
In the lawsuit, Metra alleges Union Pacific’s ticket verification process “fails to ensure that Metra receives the fares” it is entitled to under the service agreement. It is seeking monetary damages and a permanent injunction requiring Union Pacific conductors to resume walking the train cars to collect fares and promote “orderly conduct.”
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Metra has been hard-hit by the pandemic, operating at about 10% of its normal ridership as people continue to work from home and attend school remotely. The transit agency projects $682 million in lost revenue through the end of 2021.
The Chicago area’s commuter rail system encompasses 11 lines across six counties. Three of the lines are owned and operated by Union Pacific Railroad under a purchase of service agreement with Metra.
Metra and Union Pacific have been in negotiations since last fall to either extend their service agreement or create a new one.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-14--‘The coward shot her in the back': Father of pregnant woman killed in Chicago mourns loss of daughte

‘The coward shot her in the back': Father of pregnant woman killed in Chicago mourns loss of daughter

“ My daughter was a hardworking single parent .
She was a devoted mother .
She put ( her children @ @ @ @ @ activities , karate , baseball , wrestling .
She took them to the zoo .
@ @ @ @ @ for them with the money she had , ” Baker said .
“ When she @ @ @ @ @ August ) , she took the time to visit all the family members who had @ @ @ @ @ in the summer .
Family was everything to her , especially her boys .
”

So incomprehensible was the idea that anyone would want to harm Stacey Jones — a 35-year-old single mother of two boys thrilled to be pregnant with her third son — that when her father was told she’d been fatally shot, he was sure it was a case of mistaken identity.
“Stacey Jones is a common name,” said Jones’ father, Tommy Baker, hours before Chicago police announced a possible suspect was being questioned in Jones' killing.
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“She was good. She made her father proud. She smiled all the time. I can’t see a reason why someone would shoot her," said Baker, a former Army Specialist who now serves as commander of VFW Post 5932 in Clinton, South Carolina. “At first, I thought it was mistaken identity — I was absolutely sure they had the wrong Stacey Jones. I still can’t believe it.”
Jones, who moved to Chicago about two years ago to put to work her criminal justice degree from Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee, by accepting a position as a Cook County probation officer, was standing just outside her home when she was shot repeatedly in the back early Tuesday.
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Her two sons, ages 7 and 11, who were inside their Jeffery Manor home, were unharmed, according to a law enforcement source. Jones, a few weeks from turning 36, was pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Medical Center and her death ruled a homicide by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Doctors were able to save her unborn child, who a law enforcement source said had not been struck by any gunfire. He was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital and Baker said at last update, the infant remained in critical condition.
“Now I’ve got three grandboys without a mother,” Baker said, adding that whoever killed his daughter is a coward for shooting her in the back. “You took something from them. You took something from my family, from me. You took my heart, my firstborn, the sweetest little thing. It’s a loss that I’ll never get over.”
Baker said Jones was born in Alaska and grew up predominantly in Tennessee with her mother, who also was in the Army. Reached by phone Wednesday, she declined to be interviewed.
Jones was a go-getter who "always stayed happy,” and was overjoyed to be having another child, her father said. She was an excellent mother who wanted her sons to have every opportunity in life. The boys spent three months living with Baker in South Carolina while they were out of school for the summer, he said.
“My daughter was a hardworking single parent. She was a devoted mother. She put (her children) in all kinds of activities, karate, baseball, wrestling. She took them to the zoo. She did everything she could for them with the money she had,” Baker said. “When she picked them up (in August), she took the time to visit all the family members who had helped me care for them in the summer. Family was everything to her, especially her boys.”
That visit was the last time Baker would see Jones, the oldest of four children. Baker slept on his couch when Jones visited and he gave his daughter his room.
“She was the boss,” he said, “apparently even in my house.”
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That was a common thread in their relationship, his daughter pushing his limits — and sometimes his buttons, he said with the trace of a laugh — holding her own with her dad the way only his confident and loving daughter could. She managed to get self-described “pork chops and chicken guy” Baker to try healthy foods, like when she saw a recipe online, took some zucchini he was growing in his garden and turned it into a pizza crust (“Came out OK,” he said).
She got him to sit still and not complain—much—about watching hour after hour of home improvement shows because her dream was to begin buying and flipping houses.
“She took notes because she wanted to be able to do it all herself,” he said.
When it came to what was important, like seeing family, she was a meticulous planner. Since she expected to spend Christmas with her mother and the new baby, Jones — who once burned the turkey prepping a holiday meal for Baker — said she was still considering driving to see him for Thanksgiving, although she’d be nearing her due date. Since she was unsure, she decided they should plan their 2021 visit too.
But when it came to the pursuit of fun, Baker said Jones, who “never really grew up (and) stayed a kid at heart,” was as adventurous as anyone he knew.
“If somebody told her they did something, she wanted to do it too. She was just spontaneous,” he said.
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“If she had lived to make 60 I think she would’ve done everything in the world.”
Baker said he spoke with Jones on the phone at least once a week. They last spoke about six hours before she was shot, he said. They talked about their plans to use a Veterans Administration loan to jointly purchase homes, ideally one in Chicago and one in South Carolina, since her family was growing and they each needed more space for visits.
Before she took the job in Chicago in spring 2019, Jones, who was a Sigma Gamma Rho sorority member, had spent years working jobs related to counseling. She previously worked with an agency in Tennessee that helped provide immigrants job training and other skills, matching clients with applicable services.
“Every job she had was helping people. That was her goal in life, to help people," Baker said. “She grew up with a respect and appreciation for the military and law enforcement. She was in the VFW Auxilliary.”
A police source said Jones, who had her a concealed carry license, had a loaded gun in her pocket when she was shot. Baker said he gave her a gun not long after she turned 18 and it was something she would have been comfortable using, but that she never carried. He also said she was typically asleep by 10 p.m., so he doesn’t understand why she was awake and outside when she was shot.
“She never would’ve picked up a gun and walked outside, that’s not my child. I’m still trying to figure out why would she do that,” he said. “Evidently she was worried, which is why she took the gun. But the coward shot her in the back.”
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kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Daywatch: Signs of COVID-19 resurgence in Illinois, ex-top cop sued for sexual misconduct and the re

Daywatch: Signs of COVID-19 resurgence in Illinois, ex-top cop sued for sexual misconduct and the real story behind ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’

On Friday , Netflix will release its much-anticipated film “ The Trial of the Chicago 7 , ” starring Eddie @ @ @ @ @ , Jeremy Strong , Yahya Abdul-Mateen II , Joseph Gordon-Levitt , John Carroll Lynch and @ @ @ @ @ But this movie is not just a star-studded drama ; this film is based on @ @ @ @ @ Chicago .
Here ’ s a breakdown of the events leading up to the trial @

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Good morning, Chicago. On Thursday, Illinois officials announced 4,015 new known COVID-19 cases, the highest number of new cases in a single day since the pandemic began. The state also reported 53 more fatalities, the most deaths in a day since late June.
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Meanwhile, CPS plans to offer in-person learning to pre-kindergarten and some special education students next quarter, while all other students will continue with remote learning full time when the second quarter begins Nov. 9. CTU called the plan “dangerous.”
Also on Thursday, President Trump and Joe Biden squared off, in a way, at dueling televised town halls that showcased striking differences in temperament, views on racial justice and approaches to the pandemic.
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Here’s more coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
A worker packages a COVID-19 test swab from a client at Prism Heath Lab, 2322 W. Peterson Ave., in Chicago, on Aug. 6, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
In the latest signs of a COVID-19 resurgence in Illinois, public health officials on Thursday reported the highest number of newly confirmed coronavirus cases in a single day since the pandemic began and the most deaths in a day since late June.
The seven-day average of new cases has continued to increase throughout this week after reaching a new high Monday, and the share of tests returning positive results also has been surging in recent days. The seven-day rolling average for the week ending Wednesday was 4.9% statewide, up from 3.7% a week ago.
Illinois is not alone in seeing the virus make a strong comeback. Wisconsin also hit a daily high for new cases on Thursday.
Meanwhile in Washington, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Americans should rethink their usual plans for Thanksgiving gatherings.
Then-Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson talks at police headquarters, Nov. 7, 2019. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Ex-Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson allegedly committed “shockingly violent” acts of sexual assault against his former driver, an officer who was with him on the reportedly drunken night that ultimately led to his firing last year.
In a lawsuit filed late Wednesday, Officer Cynthia Donald said Johnson raped and abused her repeatedly for more than three years, and later destroyed evidence of that abuse on his cellphone when the city Inspector General was investigating his conduct.
Read the lawsuit filed against Johnson here.
At least five Chicago police officers — including a commander — face suspension after a probe of Johnson’s conduct.
Marcus Mason-Vivit, shown on Loyola University Chicago's campus, resigned from his job in the admissions office, citing a "toxic atmosphere ... particularly pertaining to people of color." (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
In a scathing resignation letter that quickly circulated on social media, Marcus Mason-Vivit called Loyola’s Undergraduate Admission Office a “toxic atmosphere of hostility, intimidation, fear and manipulation ... especially pertaining to people of color” and described an incident where his boss, the dean of undergraduate admission, allegedly made a racially disparaging remark. His departure has prompted Loyola to initiate an investigation.
Now, students and faculty are rallying behind Mason-Vivit, raising questions about Loyola’s newly stated goal of “becoming a fully inclusive anti-racist institution.”
Six of the Chicago Seven defendants appear in 1970. Abbie Hoffman, from left, John Froines, Lee Weiner, Jerry Rubin, Rennie Davis and Tom Hayden were acquitted of conspiracy, but five were convicted of other charges. The guilty verdicts were later overturned. (William Yates / Chicago Tribune)
On Friday, Netflix will release its much-anticipated film “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” starring Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jeremy Strong, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, John Carroll Lynch and many more top actors. But this movie is not just a star-studded drama; this film is based on real-world events that happened in Chicago. Here’s a breakdown of the events leading up to the trial.
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The only Chicagoan of the Chicago 7 just wrote a memoir — and he says he’s a fan of the Netflix movie.
Column: Remember Mrs. Jean Fritz when you watch “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” writes Mary Schmich.
Read Tribune film critic Michael Phillips’ review here.
Amazon Echo and Echo Plus devices, behind, sit near illuminated Echo Button devices during an event by the company in Seattle in September 2017. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)
Every weekday, you can hear the Tribune’s top stories on your smart speaker devices, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Each briefing includes three to five stories, chosen by our editors to give you what you need to start the day. It also includes the weather forecast for Chicago. Here’s how to listen.


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Democratic effort to flip U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis’ seat the most hotly contested of Downstate congres

Democratic effort to flip U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis’ seat the most hotly contested of Downstate congressional races

“ There are areas where providers have left and they ’ ve lost competition , so how do we bring @ @ @ @ @ rural communities and for small business owners , to lower costs , and I think @ @ @ @ @ something we should look at , ” she said in an interview .
“ It @ @ @ @ @ the hospitals to make sure they can maintain their excellent standard of care .
But @ @ @ @ @ can we make sure that we are lowering the costs , the out-of-pocket costs and @ @ @ @

A hotly contested rematch in a central and southwestern Illinois district that has drawn national attention as a top target for Democrats is one of the most closely watched of several Downstate congressional races on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Democrat Betsy Dirksen Londrigan is making her second bid to flip U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis’s Downstate congressional seat, two years after the four-term Republican incumbent narrowly survived her first challenge by just over 2,000 votes.
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The district, which sprawls from Champaign to the Missouri border north of St. Louis and includes parts of Springfield and Bloomington, went for President Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton by 5.5 percentage points in 2016.
As in 2018, health care is the central issue in the race. Londrigan has said her family’s experience navigating the health care system through her son’s bout with a life-threatening condition, along with Davis' vote in 2017 for legislation that would have repealed key parts of the Affordable Care Act and replaced them with a significantly different policies, were primary motivators in her decision to challenge him in 2018 and again this year.
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Challenger Betsy Dirksen Londrigan debates incumbent U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis on Oct. 29, 2018, at the Normal Theater in Normal. (David Proeber/The Pantagraph)
Davis said in an interview he favors a replacement for the Affordable Care Act that would include coverage for preexisting conditions. Londrigan contends his 2017 yes vote on a bill that ultimately didn’t pass in the Senate “would have gutted protections for people with preexisting conditions.”
Londrigan has indicated she would support a “public option,” a plan that would allow people to buy into a government-run insurance program as an alternative to private insurance plans.
“There are areas where providers have left and they’ve lost competition, so how do we bring competition into some of our rural communities and for small business owners, to lower costs, and I think a Medicare public option is something we should look at,” she said in an interview. “It has to be done with the hospitals to make sure they can maintain their excellent standard of care. But the idea is — how can we make sure that we are lowering the costs, the out-of-pocket costs and the premiums.”
Davis contends that Londrigan’s preferred plan would be devastating to rural hospitals, citing a 2019 American Hospital Association study that found a Medicare public option plan could result in a cut of nearly $800 billion to hospital-based services over 10 years.
“You want to talk about killing my district — it could close 39 rural hospitals in Illinois,” Davis said. “And these hospitals are the lifeline between somebody with a medical condition to get stabilized enough to get to a larger facility for further treatment. For some of the communities in my district, our hospitals are our largest employers.”
Londrigan acknowledges there are some versions of Medicare as a public option “that work, and some versions of it that don’t work.”
“The whole reason I’m in the race is to protect health care, and to make sure that every person has access to quality affordable care,” Londrigan said. “Clearly, that includes all of our rural communities, and the only plan I would ultimately vote for would make sure that our hospitals are healthy and robust and offering excellent care to people in every corner of central Illinois.”
Davis said he doesn’t support the lawsuit pending before the U.S. Supreme Court led by a coalition of Republican attorneys general that challenges the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.
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“The last thing I want to see is people lose any coverage that they may have during a pandemic," he said in an interview.
He touts bipartisan legislation he co-sponsored earlier this year to extend COBRA coverage for people who have lost their jobs during the pandemic, “so they can keep their employer-based coverage, and the government would subsidize that employer portion so that they don’t see an increase in cost if they lost their job.”
Londrigan wrapped up the second quarter with nearly $400,000 more in cash on hand than Davis, who reported nearly $1.9 million in the bank as of June 30.
“I do believe we will win, and what we have done is built on the foundation that we laid in 2018,” Londrigan said. “We marched into this race with over 2,000 volunteers — that’s a volunteer army that we built during the last cycle, and have only increased that number.”
Both parties at the national level have sought to attract attention and money to the race. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee identified Davis' district as one of 33 to focus on, in an effort to expand the party’s majority in the House. That followed a swell of Democratic victories in 2018 that included U.S. Reps. Lauren Underwood and Sean Casten flipping suburban seats previously held by Republicans.
The DCCC has also put money into Londrigan’s campaign through its “Hold the House” fund, an effort to direct funding to 30 races Democrats see as critical to maintaining their majority in the House.
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The Congressional Leadership Fund, the House Republicans' Super PAC, pumped millions of dollars in fall advertising to highlight a number of races, including Davis' effort to stave off Londrigan’s challenge a second time.
“Remember, this district wasn’t supposed to be won by a Republican when it was drawn in 2011,” Davis said. “And we’ve won it four straight times, and we expect to do it again.”
Londrigan’s campaign and its focus on health could benefit from Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden’s attention to the same issue, said Laurel Harbridge-Yong, an associate professor of political science at Northwestern University.
“They’re advocating that only a Biden administration can push forward legislation to continue to protect preexisting conditions, to the extent that narrative is more compelling to voters, that could certainly help Betsy Dirksen Londrigan," Harbridge-Yong said.
Davis is an honorary co-chair of President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign in Illinois and could be helped by the president’s “message of we’re already recovering from the pandemic, we’re going to keep moving forward, the economy’s on the rebound,” Harbridge-Yong said.
In other Downstate races, U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, the Democrat from Moline who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party’s House campaign arm, is being challenged by Republican Esther Joy King, a lawyer and Army Reserve officer from East Moline.
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Bustos is seeking her fifth term representing the district that includes the Quad Cities and runs along the Iowa border from Illinois' border with Wisconsin south to Peoria. Two years ago, she defeated a Republican challenger by 24 percentage points, the largest margin of victory by a Democrat in a district Trump carried two years earlier.
Trump won Bustos' district by 10 percentage points in the last election.
U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a fifth term Republican from Channahon, has a challenger in Dani Brzozowski, of La Salle, chairwoman of the La Salle County Democrats.
Kinzinger, who has been critical Trump, was the only Republican congressman from Illinois who was left off the list last year of co-chairs for Trump’s reelection bid in the state.
The district wraps around the collar counties and shares a border with both Wisconsin, near Rockford, and Indiana, south of Kankakee.
In the heavily Republican far southern Illinois district represented by the retiring U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, Republican Mary Miller of Oakland is facing Democrat Erika Weaver of Mattoon.
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U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, of Peoria, is being challenged by attorney George Petrilli of Springfield, in his effort to retain his seat representing the Republican-dominant central and western Illinois district that also includes Quincy.
LaHood took the seat after winning a special election in 2015, following former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock’s resignation in the wake of a spending controversy. Before Schock, LaHood’s father, Ray LaHood, represented the district before becoming transportation secretary under President Barack Obama.
Petrilli was a latecomer to the race, announcing in July he would challenge LaHood, who is seeking his third full term.
U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, of Murphysboro, is challenged by educator Ray Lenzi in his bid for a fourth term representing the far southern Illinois district that includes Carbondale and part of the Metro East region outside St. Louis.
“Given the demographics of these districts, they are drawn to be safely Republican districts,” Harbridge-Yong said of the downstate districts represented by Shimkus, LaHood and Bost.
Marie Newman on Jan. 21, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Mike Fricilone, on March 5, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)
In a Chicago area race, Democrat Marie Newman faces Republican Mike Fricilone, a Will County board member from Homer Glen, after ending more than three decades of Lipinski family representation in the Southwest Side and suburban 3rd Congressional District.
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The district is heavily Democratic, and Newman, a businesswoman from La Grange, defeated U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, a socially conservative Democrat, on her second try in the March primary. Lipinski has held the seat since 2005, while his father, Bill, represented the district for more than two decades before that.
Given the population trends over the past decade, Illinois is expected to lose one of its 18 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives through the Congressional reapportionment following the 2020 census. The redistricting process will take place next year.
jmunks@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--1945 WWII letters found, returned

1945 WWII letters found, returned

After police Officer Eric Wolforth found airmail letters from 1945 in an Andersonville alley , he took them home and @ @ @ @ @ were addressed to a guy named Leo Lee who was overseas in the military .
@ @ @ @ @ wife , Catherine Moran Lee , though a few were from Moran 's parents and @ @ @ @ @ took him a couple of months , but he finally found the Lees ' daughter @ @ @ @ @ now lives in Winnetka .

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 12 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)
After police Officer Eric Wolforth found airmail letters from 1945 in an Andersonville alley, he took them home and started reading them. Most were addressed to a guy named Leo Lee who was serving in the military. Most were from Lee's wife, Catherine Moran Lee, though a few were from Moran's parents and her young brothers. It took him a couple of months, but he finally found the Lees' daughter, Corinne McClintic, who now lives in Winnetka.


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Man charged with firing gun near place in Kenosha where on same night prosecutors allege Kyle Ritten

Man charged with firing gun near place in Kenosha where on same night prosecutors allege Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot 1 of 2 men

On Thursday , Lake County prosecutors filed their response , arguing in part that the cases cited by Rittenhouse ’ @ @ @ @ @ arguments are irrelevant .
Prosecutors wrote that Rittenhouse ’ s attorneys had used their filing @ @ @ @ @ inflammatory ‘ facts ’ which are solely meant to sway sympathy and public opinion through @ @ @ @ @ the defendant and that have no place in an extradition hearing.
” The filing contended @ @ @ @ @ requirements to extradite Rittenhouse .

Kyle Rittenhouse, center, walks into the courtroom with attorney Corey Chirafisi for a motion hearing in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Sept. 17, 2021. (Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News )
Prosecutors in Wisconsin have charged a man with firing a shot near the spot where prosecutors allege Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot one of two men killed during protests the same night in Kenosha in August.
Prosecutors wrote in documents filed late last week that Joshua Ziminski, 35, of Racine admitted he “fired off a ‘warning shot’ into the air.” He is charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct while using a dangerous weapon.
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Lawyers for Rittenhouse, 17, of Antioch, have pointed to an alleged gunshot fired near the scene by another man as part of their argument that Rittenhouse fired in self-defense at Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, of Kenosha. They’re also arguing Rittenhouse — who is charged with murder and various other counts — fired in self-defense at another man who died that night and a third who was wounded.
The prosecutors’ charges against Ziminski contain details that appear to clash with Rittenhouse’s lawyers' account. While the teen’s attorneys alleged in a court filing last week that Ziminski shot “into Rittenhouse’s direction," the charges say he was holding his arm toward the sky before he fired.
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The charges state that Ziminski told detectives the gun later was stolen from his home. He pleaded not guilty Oct. 9 and was released after posting $1,000 bond, records show. Neither Ziminski nor his lawyer could be reached for comment.
Kenosha County prosecutors have charged Rittenhouse with shooting three men with an AR-15-style rifle Aug. 25 during protests over white police Officer Rusten Sheskey’s shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake, a Black man, days earlier.
Prosecutors in Wisconsin and Illinois are seeking Rittenhouse’s return from Lake County to Kenosha County, but his defense lawyers are fighting his extradition. A hearing is scheduled Oct. 30 before Judge Paul Novak, who has not said when he plans to rule. Rittenhouse is being held without bail in the Lake County juvenile detention facility.
Rittenhouse’s attorneys argued in a petition filed last week that extradition would violate his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search or seizure, contending that the video shows “without a shadow of a doubt” he shot in self-defense. The filing also argued that sending Rittenhouse to Wisconsin would violate his 14th Amendment due process rights because he would face a “legion of hazards” if put in adult jail. The petition also contended there are technical problems with the arrest and charging documents
On Thursday, Lake County prosecutors filed their response, arguing in part that the cases cited by Rittenhouse’s attorneys to support their arguments are irrelevant. Prosecutors wrote that Rittenhouse’s attorneys had used their filing to “insert irrelevant and inflammatory ‘facts’ which are solely meant to sway sympathy and public opinion through the media in favor of the defendant and that have no place in an extradition hearing.” The filing contended that the paperwork meets the requirements to extradite Rittenhouse.
Lawyers experienced in extradition cases have told the Tribune that Rittenhouse faces an uphill climb against the extradition process, and even the judge finding problems with the paperwork wouldn’t likely end the prosecution, as authorities could correct the documents.
While fighting Rittenhouse’s return to Wisconsin, his lawyers have promoted fundraising efforts for his legal defense.
Kenosha County prosecutors have alleged that video from the night of the shootings showed the teen running across a parking lot, trailed by Rosenbaum. A witness told police that Rosenbaum, who appeared on video to be unarmed, had tried to grab the gun before he was fatally shot, prosecutors wrote.
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The teen’s lawyers alleged in their petition last week that Rosenbaum threatened Rittenhouse, chased him and lunged for his gun. The teen fired “under grave risk of immediate harm,” the petition stated.
Rittenhouse ran before someone knocked off his hat, and he tripped and fell, prosecutors wrote. Then, Anthony Huber, 26, of Silver Lake, Wisconsin, approached with a skateboard and tried to grab the gun as the skateboard “(made) contact” with Rittenhouse’s shoulder, prosecutors wrote. The gunman then fired a shot that killed Huber, prosecutors alleged.
Rittenhouse’s lawyers argued in their filing that the skateboard hit the teen’s head and he shot Huber as they wrestled over the rifle.
Prosecutors wrote that Rittenhouse then shot Gaige Grosskreutz, of West Allis, Wisconsin. Grosskreutz appeared to be holding a handgun when he was wounded in the arm, prosecutors wrote.
The filing the teen’s lawyers made alleged Grosskreutz “lowered his handgun in Rittenhouse’s direction.”
On Wednesday, Lake County prosecutors announced that Rittenhouse would not face gun charges in their jurisdiction. A news release from Lake County State’s Attorney Mike Nerheim’s office said that an investigation found that the Smith & Wesson .223-caliber rifle “was purchased, stored and used in Wisconsin” and no evidence indicated that the teen “physically possessed” the gun in Illinois.
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Antioch Police Chief Geoff Guttschow told the Tribune that officers recovered the gun in Antioch from the vehicle of one of the teen’s acquaintances after Rittenhouse came to the police station with his mother early the morning after the shootings,
Rittenhouse still faces a misdemeanor charge in Wisconsin of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18. His lawyer has argued that the teen had the right to carry the gun.


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Column: Jim Loewenberg, prolific Chicago developer, backed Lakeshore East, and its Aqua and Vista to

Column: Jim Loewenberg, prolific Chicago developer, backed Lakeshore East, and its Aqua and Vista towers

Both towers were principally designed by Chicago architect Jeanne Gang and her firm Studio Gang .
Gang and Loewenberg teamed @ @ @ @ @ was seated next to Gang , then a relative unknown , at a Harvard Club @ @ @ @ @ Frank Gehry was the speaker .
Loewenberg was looking for a young architect who would @ @ @ @ @ a tall tower at Lakeshore East .
In Gang , he found one .

Prolific Chicago real estate developer Jim Loewenberg, who joined with partner Joel Carlins to transform a nine-hole golf course and driving range south of the Chicago River into a vibrant neighborhood of high-rises, including the celebrated Aqua Tower and the soon-to-be-completed Vista Tower, the city’s third tallest building, died at his downtown home Wednesday.
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He was 86. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer, according to his daughter, Robin Loewenberg Tebbe, a former executive at Magellan Development Group, where Carlins and Loewenberg had been co-CEOs.
An architect as well as a developer, Loewenberg also made his mark with high-rises along North Lake Shore Drive and in River North.
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“The impact that Jim had on downtown Chicago’s residential communities is undeniable and his contribution of Lakeshore East has forever changed Chicago," Lynn Osmond, president of the Chicago Architecture Center, said in a statement.
Born in Chicago in 1934, Loewenberg grew up in a family of architects. His father Max and uncle I.S. Loewenberg, both architects, worked with noted New York architect I.M. Pei on the University Apartments in Hyde Park. The award-winning modernist mid-rise, completed in 1961, was set in the middle of 55th Street to create an island that would discourage high-speed traffic.
After receiving his bachelor of architecture degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1957, Loewenberg joined the family architectural practice. He later developed high-rise residential projects. In the 1980s, his career took a definitive turn when he met Carlins. In 1996, the two joined forces to found Magellan Development Group.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, several of the firm’s exposed concrete high-rises in River North drew strong rebukes from architecture critics. But Lakeshore East, a master-planned 28-acre development west of Lake Shore Drive and south of the Chicago River, turned out to be a commercial and urban design success.
Built around a park with curving paths and bubbling fountains, the nearly complete mixed-use development was master planned by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. It features buildings of different heights and styles, unlike the monolithic modernist public housing projects of the 1950s and 1960s.
Such designs look good “on paper, but it doesn’t create the sense of neighborhood,” Loewenberg said In a prerecorded video tour of Lakeshore East for this year’s Open House Chicago architecture festival.
Lakeshore East’s tallest buildings are the wavy, 86-story Aqua hotel and residential tower, which won critical raves when it opened in 2009, and the soon-to-open 101-story, three-stalked Vista Tower, which includes condominiums and has space for a hotel. The Vista Tower’s co-developer is China’s Dalian Wanda Group.
Both towers were principally designed by Chicago architect Jeanne Gang and her firm Studio Gang. Gang and Loewenberg teamed up in 2004 when Loewenberg was seated next to Gang, then a relative unknown, at a Harvard Club dinner where Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry was the speaker. Loewenberg was looking for a young architect who would produce an out-of-the-box design for a tall tower at Lakeshore East. In Gang, he found one.
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“Jim trusted me and I will always hold a special spot in my heart given the creative opportunity he gave me,” Gang said in a statement. Loewenberg’s architectural firm was the project’s architect of record.
Among Loewenberg’s honors were a Chicago lifetime achievement award from the Urban Land Institute. He was also named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
Magellan Development has also done projects in Minneapolis; Miami; Nashville, Tennessee; and Somerville, Massachusetts. Last year, the company sold a 50% stake to two new partners. The goal is for the firm to become a large national player in development, management and investment.
Besides Lowenberg’s daughter, survivors include his sister, Doris Kraus; two grandchildren; two step-grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at a later date.
Blair Kamin is a Tribune critic.
bkamin@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter @BlairKamin


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Suspect held by Chicago police following sexual assault of child streamed online

Column : Like this time in 2016 , Trump looks doomed to defeat — that ’ s why Democrats are @ @ @ @ @ is way down in the polls to Joe Biden .
He was down four years @ @ @ @ @ too .

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.
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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.
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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--2020-10-17--Democratic incumbent Kim Foxx, Republican challenger Pat O’Brien face off in a Cook County state’s a

Democratic incumbent Kim Foxx, Republican challenger Pat O’Brien face off in a Cook County state’s attorney’s race defined by extraordinary climate of 2020

He outraised and outspent Foxx during the third quarter , which runs from July 1 until Sept. 30 , pulling @ @ @ @ @ her $ 232,786 total .
During that period , he spent $ 207,679 to her @ @ @ @ @ , O ’ Brien ’ s filled his coffers with another $ 208,973 , a @ @ @ @ @ of his own money , compared with $ 14,300 in contributions for Foxx .
In @ @ @ @ @ , Foxx ’ s campaign said it had taken in an extra $ 220,000 this @ @

In a year rocked by both violent unrest and streets brimming with protesters against racial injustice, Cook County voters will have a say this November in what they want in their top prosecutor: the progressive agenda of first-term incumbent Kim Foxx, or the law-and-order program of her Republican opponent Pat O’Brien.
Foxx, a Democrat elected as state’s attorney in 2016, must make the case to keep her post in one of the most closely watched local races in the county. A darling of criminal justice reform groups who is endorsed by several high-profile Illinois politicians, Foxx beat Anita Alvarez during her first election as the city reeled from the video release of the Chicago police murder of Laquan McDonald.
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O’Brien, a former Democrat who served as a Cook County Circuit Court judge and assistant state’s attorney before switching parties, is mounting a campaign in a deep-blue county that could be fired up to vote out President Donald Trump. He is relying on Foxx’s baggage from her handling of the Jussie Smollett case as well as alarm over rising gun violence and this summer’s multiple rounds of looting in Chicago.
Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx speaks with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board in January. (Raquel Zaldivar / Chicago Tribune)
Cook County state's attorney candidate Judge Pat O'Brien holds a news conference on Oct. 1, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
He outraised and outspent Foxx during the third quarter, which runs from July 1 until Sept. 30, pulling in $401,851 compared with her $232,786 total. During that period, he spent $207,679 to her $73,776. Since then, O’Brien’s filled his coffers with another $208,973, a figure that includes $75,000 of his own money, compared with $14,300 in contributions for Foxx. In an emailed statement on Friday, Foxx’s campaign said it had taken in an extra $220,000 this week.
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Also running is attorney Brian Dennehy, a Libertarian candidate who wants to “question the use of police and a cage as a means to solve that problem” of low-level offenses, according to his campaign’s Facebook page.
All three are campaigning in a tense climate across America after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who gasped, “I can’t breathe,” as a Minneapolis police officer dug his knee into his neck in May. University of Chicago political science professor John Mark Hansen said the resultant unrest, which hearkens to the civil rights movement of the 1960s, could drive more interest in the Foxx-O’Brien race than usual.
“On one side there are very strong complaints about bias in policing and bias in prosecution … and by the same token, concern on the other side about civil order being broken down,” Hansen said. “So, in some ways we’ve sort of come around again to 50 years ago.”
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O’Brien’s core message is what he described as a lack of safety during a year when fatal shootings are up 42% in Cook County compared with this period last year, according to the medical examiner’s office. A Chicago Tribune analysis found Foxx’s office dropped felony cases including murder charges and other serious offenses at a higher rate than Alvarez’s and had an overall lower conviction rate.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who endorsed Foxx this year, also has implicitly knocked prosecutors following the Aug. 10 lootings by warning them against letting suspects cycle through the system without consequences. Foxx countered by announcing her office approved 90% of felony charges for more than 300 arrests related to civil unrest following Floyd’s death.
“People are generally upset by her not being the chief law enforcement officer or acting as it for the county,” O’Brien said in a phone interview. “The community needs to be safe. I don’t think she’s providing that. Victims need to have a voice. I know that she’s not providing that.”
Foxx said she isn’t worried about O’Brien’s focus on rising crime, dismissing it as a “Donald Trump strategy” in a nod to the president’s messaging this summer that cities run by liberal politicians such as Chicago have reared out-of-control chaos.
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“Pat O’Brien has been unapologetic about echoing the sentiments that are coming from a deeply flawed president who has a message of divisiveness, and no, I don’t think that the voters of Cook County will fall for that,” Foxx said on the phone. “Just as it won’t be successful for Donald Trump, it won’t be successful for Mr. O’Brien.”
Righting the inequities that poor, Black and Latino communities bore in Cook County is a hallmark promise of Foxx’s. Her office raised the bar on felony shoplifting charges and backed Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ sweeping bail reform by no longer opposing the release of some detainees held on nonviolent offenses because they cannot pay and recommending certain defendants charged with minor offenses be released pending trial.
Then during the polar vortex in January 2019, then-Chicago-based actor Smollett allegedly staged a shocking hate crime against himself that would come to haunt Foxx for the next year and a half.
After his initial allegations of the alleged racist and homophobic attack, Smollett was charged with disorderly conduct, only to later see prosecutors mysteriously drop the charges against him.
Cook County Judge Michael Toomin appointed former U.S. attorney Dan Webb as special prosecutor to examine the case and, following a grand jury again indicting Smollett, Webb issued a report in August finding the state’s attorney’s office engaged in “substantial abuses of discretion and operational failures” but did not commit any crimes.
“It still is a valuable and important reason why I’m running,” O’Brien said. “She tried to cover up the fact that it was a political favor for somebody who was connected.”
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Foxx said she accepted responsibility by acknowledging her office “could have handled the case better” but argued “it is also indicative of the fact that we have been a very transparent office.”
The fallout from the Smollett case has also contributed to Foxx becoming a prime target of certain law enforcement groups such as the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, which endorsed O’Brien in August while giving him $57,800, the maximum campaign contribution a political fund can give. Chicago police’s largest union was planning to start door-knocking on the campaign’s behalf this weekend, mainly focusing on the Northwest and Southwest sides as well as the suburbs, FOP President John Catanzara said, framing the race as a choice of “civilized society against chaos.”
Foxx has spun that allegiance into doubt over whether O’Brien can be counted on to prosecute law enforcement misconduct.
“I have been very clear on this: You have to be able to hold police accountable. We work with them. We are partners with them, but it’s a checks-and-balances system,” Foxx said. “Mr. O’Brien, who has the backing of the FOP, who has also endorsed Donald Trump, has to be able to answer — can he hold them accountable?”
O’Brien’s record also has been condemned by Foxx, who amped up attacks on Tuesday in a digital ad highlighting four men wrongfully convicted in a 1986 murder prosecuted by him. They were held in prison for about 14 years before their convictions were vacated in 2001, and two other men later connected to the sex slaying through DNA evidence pleaded guilty in 2004.
O’Brien has said he believed the four men were guilty at the time and that his procedure was based on available confessions and testimonies. He’d be happy to go toe-to-toe with Foxx on the specifics, he said, but she won’t debate him anymore.
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“There was never any credible allegation that I had done anything wrong, and given the evidence that was before me, I essentially did what a prosecutor should do,” O’Brien said. “The situation is this: Kim Foxx has failed. I’m not surprised she’s trying to divert attention from her failures.”
ayin@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Before President Trump's visit

Before President Trump's visit

President Donald Trump is expected to return to Wisconsin after being diagnosed with COVID-19 , as the state still has @ @ @ @ @ in the country .

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 6 Farmer Gary Hahn flies a 15-foot Trump flag atop his grain bins at his G&M Acres, outside Janesville, Wisconsin, on Oct. 14, 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
President Donald Trump is expected to return to Wisconsin after being diagnosed with COVID-19, as the state still has one of the fastest-growing outbreaks in the country.


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--House Speaker Michael Madigan and Illinois Democrats maintain fundraising edge despite ongoing corru

House Speaker Michael Madigan and Illinois Democrats maintain fundraising edge despite ongoing corruption probe

The intensifying controversy surrounding Madigan , which includes calls for his resignation from a handful of House Democrats , hasn @ @ @ @ @ tap of campaign contributions .
The four funds together raised nearly $ 4.3 million in @ @ @ @ @ campaign finance records show .
More than half of that , $ 2.4 million , @ @ @ @ @ Michael J. Madigan , which took in $ 1.7 million from labor unions and other @ @ @ @

Then-Speaker Michael Madigan works the floor as the Illinois House convenes at the Bank of Springfield Center on Jan. 8, 2021. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s main campaign fund has continued footing the bill for legal fees related to an ongoing federal corruption probe even as it and three other funds he controls spend heavily to support Democratic candidates seeking to build on the party’s dominance in the General Assembly.
Friends of Michael J. Madigan paid more than $129,000 in legal fees from July through September to law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman, according to the fund’s most recent quarterly state campaign finance disclosure and a Madigan spokeswoman. Madigan’s campaign fund paid Katten nearly $600,000 in the first half of 2020.
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While the federal public corruption investigation has ensnared some Madigan associates, he has not been accused of any wrongdoing and has repeatedly denied doing anything improper.
Speaker Michael Madigan appears during an extended session of the Illinois House at the Bank of Springfield Center in Springfield on May 23, 2020. (Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register)
Last quarter’s legal fees were a small fraction of the $7 million spent by Friends of Michael J. Madigan and the three other funds controlled by the speaker, who also chairs the state Democratic Party. The other funds are the 13th Ward Democratic Organization, Democratic Majority and the Democratic Party of Illinois.
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The quarterly reports, filed ahead of a Thursday deadline, cover the period during which the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago announced a deferred prosecution agreement with Commonwealth Edison in which the state’s largest utility admitted to engaging in a yearslong bribery scheme aimed at winning Madigan’s favor.
The powerful Southwest Side Democrat has denied having any knowledge of the scheme, which includes payments, jobs and contracts being awarded to his allies.
Madigan has declined to be interviewed by a special House committee investigating whether he engaged in “conduct unbecoming to a legislator” and should face potential discipline. Accusing Republicans of politicizing its work ahead of the upcoming election, the committee’s chairman, Democratic state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch of Hillside, has postponed hearings until after Nov. 3.
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The intensifying controversy surrounding Madigan, which includes calls for his resignation from a handful of House Democrats, hasn’t turned off the tap of campaign contributions. The four funds together raised nearly $4.3 million in the key preelection quarter, campaign finance records show. More than half of that, $2.4 million, was raised by Friends of Michael J. Madigan, which took in $1.7 million from labor unions and other political action committees.
The four funds ended the third quarter on Sept. 30 with nearly $20 million in the bank.
Republicans have focused on the ongoing investigation and the cloud hanging over Madigan in their campaigns for seats in the state legislature, where they’re currently outnumbered 74-44 in the House and 40-19 in the Senate.
A backlash against President Donald Trump and then-Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner helped Democrats pick up a slew of suburban seats in 2018, and they’re trying to push even further into the collar counties in November.
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With multimillionaire Rauner’s money gone from the political scene and other wealthy GOP donors focused on trying to defeat Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed graduated-rate income tax on the Nov. 3 ballot, Republicans are at a huge cash disadvantage.
For comparison, the main campaign fund of House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs and two others supporting House GOP candidates raised nearly $1.2 million in the third quarter and spent more than $3 million, ending the period with less than $1 million in the bank. More than half of the money spent by Durkin’s campaign fund — $1.6 million — was transferred to the state GOP.
Senate Democrats, led by new Senate President Don Harmon of Oak Park, have similarly outraised their Republican counterparts, led by Senate GOP leader Bill Brady of Bloomington.
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--Suspect held without bail in July slaying of developmentally delayed young man in Evanston

The deadly chain of events began earlier that day when Coleman and a witness met at Coleman ’ s home @ @ @ @ @ Clyde Street in Evanston and walked to a nearby ATM so that the witness could @ @ @ @ @ , prosecutors said .
A camera at the machine snapped a picture of them .

A 26-year-old man was denied bail Friday in the fatal shooting of a developmentally delayed man in Evanston near the Howard Red Line station over the summer.
Shakiel Coleman, of Evanston, appeared before Judge Michael Hood in the Skokie courthouse, according to Cook County state’s attorney’s office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton.
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The attack happened about 1:15 a.m. on July 23 at 305 Howard St. in Evanston, near the Red Line station where the victim, 20-year-old Brian Carrion, who lived at a home for youths and was developmentally delayed, was shot multiple times by Coleman, prosecutors said.
The deadly chain of events began earlier that day when Coleman and a witness met at Coleman’s home in the 100 block of Clyde Street in Evanston and walked to a nearby ATM so that the witness could withdraw cash to buy Ecstasy, prosecutors said. A camera at the machine snapped a picture of them.
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The two then walked a couple of blocks east, to Marshfield Avenue and Howard Street, where a group “confronted” them, asking gang-related questions such as “who are you” and “what are you,” prosecutors said.
When Coleman and the companion said they were “good” and didn’t need anything, several in that group began shooting at them, hitting the witness, who collapsed after suffering suffered a graze wound to the head.
Coleman began running west on Howard and left his companion behind, about a third of a block away.
Suddenly, Carrion, who was in the area, "decided to start running after the defendant,'' prosecutors said.
It was not made clear why but prosecutors said Carrion was not part of the group on Marshfield.
Witnesses said they spotted Carrion catch up to Coleman, and their "feet began entangled'' and both fell down under the viaduct.
At that point, Coleman "quickly stood up and fired his handgun at the victim, striking the victim multiple times'' prosecutors said.
When Evanston police got to the scene they found Carrion on the ground. Paramedics tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead.
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A woman walks near the area where Evanston police are investigating a fatal shooting on the 300 block of Howard Street near the CTA Howard station in Evanston on Thursday, July 23, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Carrion was shot twice in the chest, once in the abdomen, groin, forearm and leg. Police found a neon-colored squirt gun jammed into Carrion’s pocket, prosecutors said.
Coleman’s companion, who was found nearby, was released from Amita St. Francis Hospital in Evanston.
Coleman, who has a 2012 felony conviction for burglary, also has several misdemeanor cases in his history, including one in which he was charged with resisting a peace officer in the suburbs, prosecutors said.
Coleman will be back in court Oct. 20 in Skokie.
rsobol@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-16--The Spin: Chicago police prepare for Election Day unrest | O’Brien outpaces Foxx in fundraising | Pr

The Spin: Chicago police prepare for Election Day unrest | O’Brien outpaces Foxx in fundraising | Pritzker’s state income tax bill would rise to $10.5 million under graduated tax

Last month the Cook County Democratic Party , chaired by Foxx ally Toni Preckwinkle , took the relatively rare step @ @ @ @ @ Toomin for retention on the Nov. 3 ballot .
At the time Lightfoot , an @ @ @ @ @ weigh in on the move and said , “ I ’ m deeply concerned , @ @ @ @ @ to a number of people that were going to be participating in the vote today @ @ @ @ @ this are terrible .
It looks like retaliation.
” Tickets for the event are going @ @ @ @ @ .

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown greets commanders following his announcement on the formation of citywide teams of police officers to help stem the violence, during a press conference at the 10th District Police Station in Chicago, Monday, July 27, 2020. (Antonio Perez/ Chicago Tribune) (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Republican Pat O’Brien out-raised Democratic incumbent Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx by a nearly 2-to-1 margin in the race for campaign money during the three-month reporting period ending on Sept. 30.
Candidates for local, state and federal offices had to submit their quarterly fundraising paperwork this week. At the federal level, two first-term suburban Democratic House incumbents along with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin held a cash advantage over their challengers heading into the Nov. 3 election.
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Billionaire Gov. J.B. Pritzker says if his signature graduated income tax proposal on the November ballot had been in place last year, his tab to the state would have jumped from $6.7 million to $10.5 million. A portion of his tax returns were released yesterday, but no documents were provided to do an independent assessment of that claim, my Tribune colleague Dan Petrella writes.
And Chicago police and other city officials have been devising plans to “respond to any situation” on the city’s streets for the upcoming presidential election, including civil unrest, my colleague Jeremy Gorner reports.
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Nationwide, local and federal law enforcement are preparing for scenarios including violence at the polls amid tensions over the presidential election, a pandemic and demands for racial justice that has followed recent police-involved killings of unarmed Black men and women.
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Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx is interviewed following a debate at ABC-7 in Chicago on Feb. 28, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Federal and state third quarter federal campaign disclosure reports are in and we’ve got the highlights.
Congressional races: U.S. Reps. Lauren Underwood and Sean Casten, two first-term suburban Democrats, along with Durbin, the Tribune’s Rick Pearson writes, “held a cash advantage over their Republican challengers heading into the Nov. 3 election, though Willie Wilson has pumped $3 million into his third-party challenge against the four-term senator, federal campaign disclosure reports show.” Read the full story here.
Cook County state’s attorney’s race: O’Brien topped Foxx’s haul in the latest round of campaign fundraising, records show. O’Brien’s campaign took in $401,851 compared to 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. Read my full story here.
RELATED - From Alice Yin: Chicago police’s largest union will also start door-knocking on the campaign’s behalf starting Saturday, mainly focusing on the Northwest and Southwest sides as well as the suburbs, FOP president John Catanzara said, describing the race as a choice of “civilized society against chaos.”
Congressional races: U.S. Reps. Lauren Underwood and Sean Casten, two first-term suburban Democrats, along with Durbin, the Tribune’s Rick Pearson writes, “held a cash advantage over their Republican challengers heading into the Nov. 3 election, though Willie Wilson has pumped $3 million into his third-party challenge against the four-term senator, federal campaign disclosure reports show.” Read the full story here.
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RELATED - Willie Wilson’s Senate campaign changes ads that lacked disclaimers as Democrats file FEC complaint: The Tribune’s Rick Pearson has the details here.
More campaign news - Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s busy on the campaign trail: On Monday night she’s doing more outreach for the Biden-Harris ticket by leading a virtual event to contact voters via phone bank.
Lightfoot vs. Preckwinkle? On Tuesday, the mayor is a special guest at a virtual reception and fundraiser for Cook County Judge Michael Toomin, who is up for retention on the November ballot. Earlier this year, Toomin appointed a special prosecutor to investigate Kim Foxx and her office’s handling of the Jussie Smollett case.
Last month the Cook County Democratic Party, chaired by Foxx ally Toni Preckwinkle, took the relatively rare step of voting not to endorse Toomin for retention on the Nov. 3 ballot. At the time Lightfoot, an attorney , was asked to weigh in on the move and said, “I’m deeply concerned, and I expressed my concern to a number of people that were going to be participating in the vote today, that the optics of this are terrible. It looks like retaliation.” Tickets for the event are going for $250-$5,000.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks during a news conference at the Thompson Center in Chicago on Oct. 14, 2020. (Youngrae Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Illinois’ wealthy governor is offering a peek at his own pocketbook as he lobbies voters to support his signature agenda item — a proposal atop the Nov. 3 ballot to change the currently mandated flat-rate income tax to a graduated tax that levies higher rates as income rises.
To wit: His campaign released partial income tax documents with a statement that said if the graduated income tax had been in place, the governor and first lady M.K. Pritzker would have paid $10.5 million in income taxes to the state — a sizable jump from the $6.7 million they shelled out in 2019, the most recent tax year.
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Income down: The tax documents show Illinois' first family took a hit on income last year. It was down to $2.4 million from nearly $4.4 million in 2018 and nearly $55 million in 2017, the Tribune’s Dan Petrella writes in this piece.
That doesn’t offer a full picture of the Hyatt hotel heir’s vast wealth, much of which is held in domestic and offshore trusts set up by his grandfather.
Thirteenth Congressional District challenger Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, a Springfield Democrat, left, makes a point as incumbent U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorvillle, listens during a debate Oct. 29, 2018, at the Normal Theater in Normal, Illinois. (David Proeber/The Pantagraph)
Democrat Betsy Dirksen Londrigan is making her second bid to flip U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis’ Downstate congressional seat, after narrowly losing the race two years ago, the Tribune’s Jamie Munks writes.
Illinois' 13th Congressional District, which stretches from Champaign to the Missouri border north of St. Louis and includes parts of Springfield and Bloomington, went for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton by 5.5 percentage points in 2016.
Both parties at the national level have sought to attract attention and money to the race. Read more about that and the state of the other congressional races in Illinois here.
Poll tracker fivethirtyeight lists the Londrigan-Davis battle as among the 50 most competitive U.S. House races in the country, with analysis showing Davis is “slightly favored to win” at the moment. A reminder that polls tend to be a snapshot in time and not always a predictor of outcome.
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Lawrence Underwood, a registered nurse with Christian Community Health Center, administers a free COVID-19 test to Nathan Ferguson outside Apostolic Faith Church in Chicago on Aug. 26, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
From the Tribune’s Dan Petrella: "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.”
With the state divided into 11 regions, here’s what the state has said would trigger tightened restrictions: seven-day average test positivity at or above 8% for three consecutive days or seven or more days out of the last 10 days with a daily increase in average test positivity. Track the data, regularly updated, here.
Chicago Public Schools to phase students back into buildings starting with preschool and special education: The teachers union is calling the plan for the second semester, which begins in November, “reckless” and “illegal.” The Tribune’s Hannah Leone has the story here.
On eve of President Trump’s visit, Wisconsin sets daily record for new coronavirus cases: President Trump, who was diagnosed with the virus two weeks ago and says he has recovered will campaign in Janesville tomorrow as the state sees a surge in cases: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the latest on the COVID-19 outbreak here.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and then-police Superintendent Eddie Johnson at a news conference at police headquarters in Chicago on Oct. 30, 2019. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Former Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson Johnson denies allegations contained in a lawsuit filed by a subordinate police officer who alleges he raped and abused her repeatedly for more than three years when he was running the department.
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In a statement late yesterday he said: “The allegations of sexual assault and harassment made by Ms. Donald never happened. Her accusations are not only patently false, they are egregiously dehumanizing towards true victims who have truly suffered sexual assault and harassment in the workplace,” Johnson’s statement read. “The claims are an affront to everything I believe in and stand for. I pray for Ms. Donald’s well-being and look forward to the opportunity where the facts can be presented.”
Officer Cynthia Donald’s lawsuit has tentacles to an embarrassing night last fall when Johnson was found asleep behind the wheel of a car on a city street, allegedly after a night of drinking — an incident that would later cost him his job. Donald, who had been Johnson’s driver, was with him at a Loop restaurant before he was found and police were notified.
The lawsuit also alleges “Mayor Lightfoot exacerbated the hostile work environment by ordering Superintendent Johnson to ‘dump’ (Donald) by having her relocated away from CPD Headquarters” or reassinged.
My colleagues report: “Lightfoot’s office declined comment and referred questions to the city’s law department. Spokeswoman Kathleen Fieweger released a statement saying the allegations, ‘if true, would be inexcusable.’ She did not address whether Lightfoot ordered Johnson to ‘dump’ Donald to a police district.”
The lawsuit came on the eve of the city’s inspector general releasing a report on his investigation of officers' actions that night, including a mention of Johnson’s driver — though the document didn’t mention Donald — who was subject to suspension over the incident.
The report out today from inspector general Joe Ferguson into the events of Oct. 16 and 17 of last year found, “Chicago police officers made a series of critical mistakes ranging from not supervising young officers to improperly handling body-worn camera footage.” The report also found Johnson had “consumed the equivalent of 10 drinks" that night.
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