chicagotribune--2020-08-18--Lightfoot responds to President Trump’s criticism for raising Chicago bridges, says move protects Tr

Lightfoot responds to President Trump’s criticism for raising Chicago bridges, says move protects Trump Tower

Lightfoot made the comments on MSNBC Tuesday morning after being asked about criticism from President Trump about her decision to @ @ @ @ @ a Wisconsin event on Monday , Trump said Lightfoot “ literally raised up the drawbridges @ @ @ @ @ from ransacking the city .
”

Police officers guarding the Trump International Hotel & Tower hold back protesters during a rally and march to remember the May 25 killing of George Floyd on May 30, 2020, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said President Donald Trump’s son, Eric, has sent her “little notes” after the city’s protected Trump Tower downtown from “protesters and vigilantes.”
Lightfoot made the comments on MSNBC Tuesday morning after being asked about criticism from President Trump about her decision to raise the bridges. At a Wisconsin event on Monday, Trump said Lightfoot “literally raised up the drawbridges to prevent hordes of rioters from ransacking the city.”
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In response, Lightfoot said, “One of the bridges we put up is near Trump Tower because our protesters and vigilantes would love nothing more than to attack Trump Tower.”
“So those little notes that I get from Eric Trump after every time that we’ve protected that property, if they want us to stop, say the word,” Lightfoot added.
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Eric Trump is executive vice president of The Trump Organization. An email to the Trump organization was not immediately returned.
Lightfoot’s thinly veiled threat to stop protecting Trump Tower is likely just that. Although the building has been controversial due to the president’s role developing it and the prominent Trump branding on its side, it’s a key building in Chicago’s skyline.
Lightfoot frequently throws barbs at Trump, who regularly invokes Chicago to bolster his law and order campaign theme.
gpratt@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @royalpratt


chicagotribune--2020-08-17--Rip currents played role in drownings at Porter Beach, Portage Lakefront involving two Illinois resi

Rip currents played role in drownings at Porter Beach, Portage Lakefront involving two Illinois residents: officials

He is certain he went by the teen a few times Sunday but because of the high waves , was @ @ @ @ @ .
Still , he wishes he could have done more to help .

Family of a Chicago teen who went missing in the waters near Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk on Sunday watch as emergency crews and dive teams search on Monday, August 17, 2020. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)
First responders recovered the body of an Illinois teen late Monday morning who went missing while swimming off of the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk the previous day, and officials said another Illinois resident brought in from Porter Beach died late Sunday.
The Porter County Coroner’s Office was not immediately releasing identification of the two people who drowned, pending notification of relatives.
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There were multiple rescues along the lakefront Sunday, according to Terri Millefoglie, a conservation officer with Indiana Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement.
Portage dive team members search the waters at the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk on Monday, August 17, 2020, for the body of a 16-year-old Chicago resident who went missing on Sunday. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)
Responders were dispatched to the area near the riverwalk Sunday because five people were in distress in the water as a result of strong rip currents in the area, according to a release from Millefoglie.
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Rescuers were able to transport four of them to area hospitals; the search for the Illinois boy, 16, resumed Monday morning. A diver with the Portage Fire Department located his body around 11:12 a.m.
The other victim, a 21-year-old man, was transported to Porter Regional Hospital from Porter Beach on Sunday and died in the intensive care unit at 11:54 p.m., according to the coroner’s office.
A beach hazard had been issued by the National Weather Service Sunday and continued Monday, noting waves of 4 to 6 feet and strong rip currents.
The victim whose body was recovered Monday was located in 7 feet of water near the Portage Riverwalk break wall, Millefoglie said in a release.
Portage dive team members search the waters at the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk on Monday, August 17, 2020, for the body of a 16-year-old Chicago resident who went missing on Sunday. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)
Jeremiah Schwanke said he was on his personal watercraft on Lake Michigan by the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk Sunday morning when people on the beach started waving him down to ask for help because a handful of young swimmers were in trouble.
Schwanke, of Lakes of the Four Seasons, said he was able to bring two of them to shore.
“I’m having a hard time,” said Schwanke, who said he returned to the riverwalk Monday morning as first responders from multiple agencies continued to search for the missing teen’s body.
He is certain he went by the teen a few times Sunday but because of the high waves, was unable to get to him. Still, he wishes he could have done more to help.
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“I talked to the family” at the riverwalk, he said. “I told them sorry. It’s just hard.”
The drowning is still under investigation, Millefoglie said.
Assisting agencies include the U.S. Coast Guard; Porter Fire Department; Burns Harbor Fire Department; Portage Fire Department; Portage Police Department; Ogden Dunes Fire Department; Lake County Marine Unit; and Porter County Coroner’s Office.
Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Viral video claims people were caught on Chicago River bridge as it was being raised. City says they

Viral video claims people were caught on Chicago River bridge as it was being raised. City says they actually climbed up.

“ I post content all the time and I try to make sure it all is thought-provoking , ” he @ @ @ @ @ follows and is followed by “ a diverse crowd from different backgrounds , which I @ @ @ @ @ as to why this went viral .
”

The video is jarring yet jovial: Six people laughing and joking at the edge of a raised bridge, the Merchandise Mart behind them, the Chicago River far, far below.
The footage as of Tuesday afternoon had been shared more than 42,000 times after it was posted to Twitter with the caption, “Chicago officials raised the bridge not knowing a group was still crossing.”
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Except that’s not what happened, Chicago police and transportation officials said Tuesday.
They believe the people in the video — decidedly carefree despite their precarious position — actually climbed the upraised bridge, probably along the railings, to shoot the video.
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Chicago officials raised the bridge not knowing a group was still crossing
pic.twitter.com/tgEzb70RcM — Drone Talk (@udylanme) August 17, 2020
Michael Claffey, a representative of the Chicago Department of Transportation, called the action “extremely reckless and potentially deadly behavior.” It’s also illegal.
Claffey said the department is working with Chicago police to “investigate the incident and hold all individuals participating in this ... behavior accountable for trespassing.”
It wasn’t immediately clear how investigators determined the people were not accidentally carried up with the bridge span, but an official insisted, “The claim that they were on the bridge when it was raised is not credible.”
A Chicago police spokeswoman, Maggie Huynh, said the transportation department and police “became aware of the incident through the video posted to social.”
Chicago police did not answer questions about the investigation, including whether they’ve used surveillance video to identify the people in the video and if they intend to seek charges.
“At this time, specifics of the incident are under investigation by Chicago Police Department,” Huynh said.
It’s not clear what day or time the video was made. Huynh said downtown bridges were up nightly from Aug. 10 to Aug. 16, “to prevent looting in the downtown area.” Authorities also refute claims on social media that the group was stuck and waiting for help.
“There were no calls of service to the bridge during this time frame,” Huynh said.
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The video was posted Monday by Dylan Brandon, a Hyde Park resident who said he found it on Twitter, where he has a few hundred followers. He said he posts interesting content he finds to his Twitter and YouTube pages.
“I post content all the time and I try to make sure it all is thought-provoking,” he said, adding that he follows and is followed by “a diverse crowd from different backgrounds, which I think is a vital detail as to why this went viral.”
He said he doesn’t know the people in the video “at all,” and said he tweaked and reworded the caption for clarity, which proved a recipe for success.
Still, Brandon said he didn’t expect his post to get the traction it did. “This is my biggest post but I’ve had similar numbers before,” he said. “I had no idea it would get this much response.”
The power of a headline.
74,000 followers: post video with reservations about bridge climbing story. 469 retweets, 727 likes
579 followers: post same video stating "Chicago officials raised the bridge not knowing a group was still crossing": 31,800 retweets, 125,000 likes pic.twitter.com/4WtIAcC9I1 — CWBChicago (@CWBChicago) August 18, 2020
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
@312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--‘You can’t possibly imagine.’ Family talks about woman killed by SUV driver who hit her, then  circl

‘You can’t possibly imagine.’ Family talks about woman killed by SUV driver who hit her, then  circled and hit her again

“ It is gut-wrenching , ” Logue said .
“ You can ’ t possibly imagine what would possess this @ @ @ @ @ ‘ Hey , let me just try to kill these two people on this corner.
@ @ @ @ @ was standing outside waiting on an Uber , that ’ s the only reason they @ @ @ @ @ ”

Police work the scene where a woman was killed after being struck by a vehicle on Hubbard Street late Aug. 10, 2020, in Chicago. The driver fled the scene. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Birthday dinners were an important tradition for Zoraleigh Ryan.
“No matter how old you are ... it’s just something she always did with us,” said Ryan’s older daughter Amber Logue.
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Last week, Ryan celebrated her youngest daughter Shannon turning 20 with a dinner at a steakhouse in downtown Chicago. The two left the restaurant and were walking down Hubbard Street about 11 p.m. Aug. 10 when an SUV drove straight at them, struck them, circled the block and hit Ryan a second time, killing her.
Prosecutors say the driver, Edgar Roman, 25, admitted to police that he hit the women and has been charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. But prosecutors gave no motive for the brutal attack.
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“It is gut-wrenching,” Logue said. “You can’t possibly imagine what would possess this person to just say, ‘Hey, let me just try to kill these two people on this corner.’ All they were doing was standing outside waiting on an Uber, that’s the only reason they were standing right there.”
Zoraleigh Ryan, 55, was killed after being struck by a vehicle on Hubbard Street on Aug. 10, 2020. Ryan and her daughter, Shannon, were leaving a celebratory dinner downtown, when a SUV drove straight at the pair, hitting them both before circling the block and driving toward them again. (Family photo)
Ryan, 55, was born in the Chicago area and raised her family here until moving to Arizona several years ago. Ryan was back in Chicago this month to attend her stepdaughter’s baby shower and celebrate her youngest’s birthday.
Logue described her mother as “top-notch.” She graduated from Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, where she was an honor roll student and member of the track team. Ryan worked her way up to an accounting job at Arthur Andersen and later Accenture. Ryan was a single mother and moved her family from Chicago to south suburban Crestwood.
Ryan and her children became very involved in their church. And it was there that Ryan met her husband, Michael Ryan, in the late 1990s. “We were literally there every Sunday and Wednesday,” Logue said. “She was a Sunday school teacher, she helped with tutoring after school.”
The family lived in the south suburbs until around 2014 when her son was in a serious motorcycle accident in Arizona, and they relocated to help him through recovery.
Ryan had a large family with six children and stepchildren and about 13 grandkids. “We like big families,” Logue said with a laugh. “My grandmother was one of 13, so it’s funny that mom had the same amount of grandkids.”
Ryan’s mother, Stephanie Logue Smith, lives just 10 minutes away from the family in Arizona. The two were like best friends, Logue said, and Ryan’s sudden death has taken a toll on her grandmother, who lost her other child to leukemia decades ago.
“They could talk about anything,” Logue said. “They had such a remarkable bond.”
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Ryan liked to stay busy, according to her family. She visited her mother every day and loved to exercise and go on long walks. Logue said her mother was like Wonder Woman, taking care of everyone in the family and always working to lift others up.
“Put your mind to something and do it, that was her biggest saying,” Logue said. “She was very positive.”
When Ryan and her daughter were hit by the SUV, a bystander later identified as Adonnis Taylor ran to help the two. Shannon Ryan told Logue the man was able to shield her and push her away as the SUV approached a second time.
Logue did not know much about the man but was grateful Shannon Ryan was kept safe.
She suffered a broken wrist and an injury to her ankle but is recovering. “She is physically healing. ... She’s doing better, she’s going to be OK,” Logue said. “Mentally, because she hasn’t grown up here, she’s not familiar with the violence. That’s not normal to her, hearing something, seeing something, like she’s broken right now.”
The family has planned a small service for Ryan in Chicago and a second memorial in Arizona. After the funeral services, the family hopes to have Ryan buried next to her brother and father in West Virginia.
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ssherry@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Recreational marijuana sales in Naperville pass final hurdle with city council’s adoption of new zon

Recreational marijuana sales in Naperville pass final hurdle with city council’s adoption of new zoning ordinance

“ Green Thumb has had a great relationship with the city of Naperville since 2015 and we ’ ve been @ @ @ @ @ medical cannabis to many of its residents who are patients at 3C Naperville .
We @ @ @ @ @ serving new customers in the community , ” said Linda Marsicano , spokeswoman for Green @ @ @ @ @ statement .

Naperville City Council members voted 6-3 Tuesday night to approve a new zoning ordinance under which up to three recreational marijuana dispensaries can operate within city limits. (Erin Hegarty / Naperville Sun)
Three companies, Green Thumb Industries, ZenLeaf Naperville and PDI Medical, have submitted applications to sell recreational marijuana in Naperville under new zoning approved this week that allows up to three dispensaries to operate in the city.
Green Thumb Industries, which operates the city’s only medical cannabis dispensary 3C Naperville, has requested to add recreational marijuana sales to its existing location at 1700 Quincy Ave., company spokeswoman Linda Marsicano said.
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The business is to be rebranded Rise Naperville, and recreational marijuana sales could start sometime this fall, Marsicano said.
“We care very much about our (medical) patients and will continue to serve them with minimal disruption during the remodel,” she said.
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ZenLeaf Naperville’s application seeks to open a recreational marijuana dispensary at 1516 N. Naper Blvd., near Ogden Avenue, city spokeswoman Linda LaCloche said. The location would be less than a mile from Interstate 88.
PDI Medical is an affiliate of Cresco Labs and does business as Sunrise, LaCloche said. The location they are considering is at 2740 W. 75th St., just off Route 59 and close to the city’s border with Aurora.
The council voted 6-3 Tuesday to approve zoning that sets guidelines for recreational pot sales in Naperville.
Among the restrictions, retail stores cannot operate within one mile of an existing dispensary and must be at least 1,000 feet from primary or secondary schools and 250 feet from residences.
Additionally, they can only operate in areas zoned for business or for office, commercial and institutional space and in districts created for industrial, health services, and research and development uses.
“The very in-depth deliberation we’ve been through and the amount of shaping and forming of this ordinance we have made on virtually every category has been thoughtful and considerate of both sides of this vote,” Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico said.
Council members Kevin Coyne, Patty Gustin and Paul Hinterlong voted against the rule change, which reverses an earlier council decision to ban recreational marijuana sales in the city.
Green Thumb Industries was among the first Illinois medical dispensaries awarded a license to also sell recreational marijuana, which is why it was able to submit its application to the city so quickly.
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3C Naperville opened in January 2016, after the sale of cannabis for medical purposes became legal. Rise is Green Thumb Industries’ brand of retail dispensary locations.
“Green Thumb has had a great relationship with the city of Naperville since 2015 and we’ve been honored to provide relief via medical cannabis to many of its residents who are patients at 3C Naperville,” Marsicano said in a statement issued after the city council vote. “We look forward to welcoming and serving new customers in the community.”
Initially the council voted to prohibit recreational pot stores before sales became legal in Illinois on Jan. 1. Council members later decided to gauge residents’ opinions on the matter in a nonbinding March referendum; a majority said they favored recreational pot being sold in the city.
Some residents and council members argued the city should require retailers to obtain a conditional use permit from the council before being allowed allowed to sell recreational marijuana. The extra step would create more transparency, proponents said.
Coyne made a motion Tuesday night to add that provision to the ordinance, but didn’t have enough support to pass it.
Chirico said the city has been told an Illinois cannabis market study indicates Naperville could collect as much as $1 million annually in sales tax from marijuana sales.
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Almost $61 million in recreational pot was sold in Illinois in July alone and $300.1 million since sales became legal in January. Municipalities can collect up to a 3% tax on sales, which is the amount Naperville will assess.
ehegarty@tribpub.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Daywatch: Chicago changes quarantine list, CPS announces new fall plan and city contests viral video

Daywatch: Chicago changes quarantine list, CPS announces new fall plan and city contests viral video of people claiming to be stuck on raised bridge

The video is jarring yet jovial : Six people laughing and joking at the edge of a raised bridge , @ @ @ @ @ , the Chicago River far , far below .
The footage as of Tuesday afternoon @ @ @ @ @ 42,000 times after it was posted to Twitter with the caption , “ Chicago officials @ @ @ @ @ a group was still crossing .
”

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Good morning, Chicago. Here’s the coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
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A sign reminds people to maintain a social distance of 6 feet in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, on July 28. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
The city of Chicago has removed Wisconsin and Nebraska from its mandatory quarantine order, but is putting Iowa and Kansas back on this Friday.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration added Wisconsin and Nebraska to the 14-day self-quarantine order in late July. Kansas and Iowa were pulled from the list earlier this month, but will be back on as of Friday, according to the mayor’s office.
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Lt. David Wolf of the Kane County sheriff's office walks to an armored vehicle stored in St. Charles on July 21, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
A military surplus program allows local law enforcement officials to acquire gear ranging from filing cabinets and computer keyboards to armored vehicles and assault rifles for just the cost of shipping.
Illinois police departments have obtained 1,319 items worth $4.7 million through the program since August 2017, according to a Tribune analysis of federal data. The program’s popularity comes amid growing debate on policing practices following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
CPS schools, including Carl Von Linne Elementary School, will be starting the year with remote learning. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Public Schools had barely released its fall remote learning plan Tuesday when the Chicago Teachers Union announced it had filed a grievance over the guidance that union President Jesse Sharkey said was made “without imagination or input from teachers.”
The fall plan has a stricter structure and more accountability measures than the spring, when schools were suddenly forced to figure out remote learning amid an evolving pandemic.
Then-Chicago mayoral candidate Carol Moseley Braun participates in a debate at WGN-TV in Chicago in 2011. Moseley Braun, the first Black woman elected to the Senate, announced the Illinois delegation’s official nominating votes for former Vice President Joe Biden on Aug. 18, 2020. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The Illinois delegation to the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday celebrated its wide array of female leaders, many of whom gave speeches commemorating the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote and condemning what they described as President Donald Trump’s sexism and attacks on women.
Analysis: 6 key takeaways from night 2 of the Democratic National Convention
Bridges are in the up position in Chicago on Aug. 10, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
The video is jarring yet jovial: Six people laughing and joking at the edge of a raised bridge, the Merchandise Mart behind them, the Chicago River far, far below. The footage as of Tuesday afternoon had been shared more than 42,000 times after it was posted to Twitter with the caption, “Chicago officials raised the bridge not knowing a group was still crossing.”
Except that’s not what happened, Chicago police and transportation officials said Tuesday.


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Assault rifles and armored trucks: Illinois police agencies have obtained $4.7 million in military g

Assault rifles and armored trucks: Illinois police agencies have obtained $4.7 million in military gear since Trump lifted Obama’s restrictions on a federal surplus program

“ Let ’ s face it , for a while there , the bad guys had better weapons than we @ @ @ @ @ , who is also president of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police .
“ @ @ @ @ @ our citizens if we don ’ t even have the weaponry that ’ s being @ @ @ @ @ there been abuses of that system ?
I ’ m sure there have been .
@ @ @ @ @ ’ s being used properly ... if you ’ re using it for things to @ @ @ @ @ ’ s a positive .
”

Jennifer Smith Richards, Stacy St. Clair

Lt. David Wolf of the Kane County sheriff's office walks to an armored vehicle stored in St. Charles on July 21, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
At the first parade following Ron Hain’s 2018 election as Kane County sheriff, a deputy drove up in an 18-ton, 10-foot-tall armor-protected truck once deployed for combat in Iraq.
Obtained for free under a military surplus program two years earlier, the massive vehicle was built to withstand underbody land mine blasts and rocket-propelled grenades. For years, it had projected Kane County’s power and might as it rolled through parades across its jurisdiction.
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But on that day, the new sheriff ordered the armored truck back to the garage.
To Hain, it was one thing to use that kind of vehicle for SWAT training or transport. But deploying the truck as a public relations tool sent the wrong message.
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“It’s a way of brandishing your police power and it’s not necessary,” Hain said. “I don’t like it and I don’t think the public likes it.”
Critics of the 1033 military surplus program, which has been reinvigorated after President Donald Trump lifted restrictions put in place by President Barack Obama, argue that no police officers should look like they are going to war, whether by wearing a military-style uniform, carrying an M16 rifle or driving a combat-ready truck.
“It’s a message of intimidation and terror. It’s the same message that is used overseas when our military occupies someone else’s country,” said Aislinn Pulley, co-founder of the Chicago chapter of Black Lives Matter. “And what is that message? The message is we will destroy you; we will kill you if you step out of line.”
Many law enforcement officials contend weapons obtained through the surplus program help even the playing field as gun violence has increased across the state. Other supporters of the program note that it has helped cash-strapped police departments obtain many ordinary supplies for the cost of shipping, including generators, filing cabinets and computer keyboards.
Since August 2017, Illinois law enforcement agencies have obtained 1,319 items worth $4.7 million through the program, according to a Tribune analysis of federal data. That includes several armored vehicles like the one Hain took off public display, as well as assault rifles, combat boots, tactical vests that hold ammunition, night vision sniper scopes and “advanced combat optical gunsights.”
Last year, departments across the state procured 875 items, which is more military surplus equipment than they’d received in a single year since 2015.
The program’s popularity among some Illinois agencies comes at a time when the nation’s attention is focused on policing practices following the May killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, as well as the deaths of other Black people in police custody. Some critics, researchers and activists question whether dressing and equipping local law enforcement as if they were soldiers affects the way officers deal with the public and respond to hostile situations.
The Trump administration, which deployed federal agents in camouflage to Portland, Oregon, to control protesters, has taken the firm position that a militarily equipped police force reduces crime. But several studies have concluded that military gear doesn’t make the public safer and can lead to more violent behavior by police officers.
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Last week, several officers from the Chicago Police Department carried long guns through city streets amid fallout from an officer-involved shooting in Englewood. Police also drove an armored vehicle — not obtained from the military — through the West Side to help control angry crowds.
A Chicago police officer with a rifle walks near the scene of a police-involved shooting in the Englewood neighborhood on Aug. 9, 2020. A police spokesman said none of the equipment or weapons used in the unrest was from the military’s surplus program and that those acquisitions are reserved for training only. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Community activist Darryl Smith watched in dismay that day as police holding assault rifles faced neighborhood residents who sought answers about the recent shooting. It took conversation between neighborhood leaders like Smith and police officers to defuse the situation.
He said he wants the police to have the equipment they need to be safe but that equipment should be used only at the appropriate times and in appropriate ways.
“You can’t turn a blind eye to the fact that there are a lot of guns on the street with multiple-shot drums and clips. The police are outmanned in gun power, so they do need to be armed in certain situations,” Smith said. “But to bring out assault rifles like that in Englewood on Sunday? I thought it was overkill. It sent a message of intimidation and made the situation even more tense.”
A Chicago Police Department spokesman said none of the equipment or weapons used in last week’s unrest was from the military’s surplus program and that those acquisitions are reserved for training only.
Crystal Lake police Chief James Black, whose department does not use the surplus program, said he understands why it is considered an asset to some communities.
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“Let’s face it, for a while there, the bad guys had better weapons than we did,” said Black, who is also president of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police. “How do we adequately protect our citizens if we don’t even have the weaponry that’s being used against us? Have there been abuses of that system? I’m sure there have been. But I think if it’s being used properly ... if you’re using it for things to keep people safe, it’s a positive.”
A warrior mentality
The military surplus program, run by the Department of Defense, was created in the 1990s amid a period of military downsizing to offer excess equipment to police departments and sheriff’s offices. In Illinois, about 400 of the state’s approximately 875 law-enforcement agencies have participated, federal data shows.
The most-procured items in Illinois — nationally, too — most years are military-grade 5.56-millimeter rifles, known as M16s. Local law enforcement has obtained more than $1.47 million worth of used Defense Department M16s over the life of the program, or about 3,200. Illinois agencies also accepted more than 800 of older M14 rifles. Also popular is a reflex sight to help with rifle aim.
The Chicago Police Department has received 336 M16s and 40 newer M17s since the program’s inception, the Tribune found.
Chicago Police Department spokesman Luis Agostini said the city uses the military surplus program as a cost-effective way to get rifles and other equipment it needs to train officers and that it is not cultivating a military culture.
“Sanctity of life, de-escalation, officer safety and proportional response continue to serve as the cornerstones of the Chicago Police Department’s use of force policy,” Agostini said by email.
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One of the most visible types of military equipment is the mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle known as an MRAP, similar to Kane County’s armored hand-me-down. An MRAP or similar armored truck has found a home with 19 law enforcement agencies in Illinois. In all, agencies have received 190 military utility trucks over the years, including armored ones.
A Kane County sheriff's office armored vehicle, stored in St. Charles, on July 21, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Last year, the Charleston Police Department received two MRAPs and the Jo Daviess County sheriff’s office got one. Charleston, a Coles County city of about 20,600 people that covers just under 9 square miles, has not used the vehicles, according to the department’s response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Tribune. Jo Daviess sheriff’s officials did not respond to questions from reporters.
Obama in 2014 banned the military from passing along used MRAPs, as well as bayonets and grenade launchers, after many Americans were stunned to see armored trucks rolling through the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, amid protests over the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a police officer.
When Trump reversed the ban in August 2017, armored vehicles and bayonets began shipping to out to police departments again, though the Defense Department decided not to give out any more grenade launchers.
The U.S. Senate recently voted down a defense spending bill with bipartisan support that would have ended the transfer of some types of military equipment to local law enforcement. Senators settled on a narrower measure that would ban some items, such as drones and lethal grenades, and required better training on de-escalation and constitutional rights. The U.S. House of Representatives passed its own version; if a reconciled bill is approved, it will go to the president.
In some communities — particularly those of color or with little wealth — the military equipment contributes to an atmosphere in which residents feel like enemy combatants of their own government, said Pulley of Black Lives Matter. The antagonistic environment can cause residents’ mental and physical health to suffer.
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“It feels horrifying and it produces PTSD in communities,” Pulley said. “The same psychological conditions that we know our soldiers face when they return from war and we know civilians who lived through war face are now in our communities, as well.”
The idea of militarism in law enforcement isn’t just about equipment, academic experts said. It can become a mindset.
“The rhetoric in policing has always been ‘We’re at war’: war against drugs, war on crime, war on this, war on that,” said Matt Petrocelli, a criminal justice professor at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. “We are telling these officers that they’re warriors. And we’re giving them the apparel of warriors — we’re dressing them as warriors. We’re giving them literally the equipment of warriors.”
David Alan Sklansky, a law professor at Stanford University who is a former federal prosecutor, said the police “shouldn’t think of themselves and act as an occupying army. They shouldn’t think of themselves as a thin blue line separate from the community. They should view themselves as part of the community.”
Sklansky thinks pulling back from the military surplus program “is one piece of the larger need for police departments to move away from a warrior mentality and toward a guardian mentality.”
“Restricting or even eliminating the 1033 program will not cure all the problems in policing; it will not establish a relationship between the police and the community. It is not a panacea,” he said. “But there are no panaceas in the area of law enforcement.”
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Everyday equipment
Many law enforcement officials argue that the 1033 program isn’t about militarizing local police. Instead, it helps them save money on everyday items and gives officers access to equipment their departments couldn’t otherwise afford.
In the western suburbs, the Forest Park Police Department has obtained roughly 930 items through the program, ranging from a paper shredder and radios to tarps, electrical generators, blood-glucose testers and rope.
Forest Park also received a dozen “chest rigs,” or tactical military vests designed to hold multiple magazine cartridges for combat situations. Officers don’t fill them with ammunition, the department said, but instead pack them as “go vests” with emergency medical supplies like tourniquets.
The data shows the department received a “mine detecting set” valued at more than $35,000 in 2014.
“That item is a metal detector with ground-penetrating radar ability. We’re obviously not checking Madison Street for mines. If you think outside the box, that is a metal detector that we use all the time when looking for evidence,” Hall said. “We’ve gotten tons of things we would have had to pay for that we’ve been able to save money.”
The Kane County sheriff’s office estimates it has saved several hundred thousand dollars on mundane items such as laser printers, generators and warehouse lifts over the years.
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Late last year, it procured a used forklift from a Navy base in Norfolk, saving the department about $15,000. Officials initially planned to use it for inmate training at the local jail and other warehouse use, but when the pandemic hit and the sheriff’s garage became the clearinghouse for the entire county’s supply of protective personal equipment, the forklift became invaluable to that mission as well.
Lt. David Wolf, who has overseen Program 1033 procurement for the sheriff’s office for nearly a decade, said he and his staff scour the surplus website on a weekly basis, looking for anything that can save the county money. His department, for example, has snagged gardening tools to use in the inmate garden.
“These are surplus items from military bases, which are really their own little cities,” Wolf said. “So anything you would find or need in a city, you can probably find there.”
The Round Lake Park Police Department got a snowmobile through a military surplus program several years ago, police Chief George Filenko said. There’s a retirement community within the jurisdiction with residents who needed help during a storm.
“The first time we had to use it, we put one of our officers who was a trained snowmobiler and a paramedic on it and put them out there. They made over a dozen rescues that day,” Filenko said.
‘Not a believer’
When contacted by Tribune reporters, Illinois agencies with mine-resistant trucks said they kept no records on vehicle use that would show when agencies deployed them.
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The Rockford Police Department confirmed it has two MRAPs, though an older one isn’t in use. Rockford responded to a request for records by listing the types of occasions when it might use an armored vehicle: some SWAT situations, to rescue residents in floods, for display at community events and parades.
This year, for example, Rockford police sent an MRAP to a hostage situation at a bank, where officers on the scene used it as protection. The truck — painted blue, with “RESCUE” lettered on it — also was used in a domestic violence incident so officers could safely get close to the home.
Though MRAPs were staged and ready to use in June during protests over the killing of George Floyd by police, they weren’t deployed, said John Pozzi, a retired deputy chief who now oversees military surplus procurement at Rockford.
Pozzi said that in some situations the truck “reduces the need for violence.”
“It is an intimidating-looking vehicle,” Pozzi said. “Sometimes that show of equipment, I don’t want to call it a show of force, but the show of equipment actually facilitates a de-escalation.”
In Kane County, a mine-resistant personnel carrier obtained through the surplus program was put into use after gunshots rang out last year at the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse in Aurora. The Kane County sheriff’s office, one of many area agencies providing assistance, loaded deputies into the armored Mamba, which was built in South Africa in the late 1980s.
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But the vehicle never made it to the Pratt warehouse, where a gunman killed five co-workers and wounded several officers before dying in a standoff. It broke down en route, leaving the deputies stranded and unable to help with the mass shooting.
“One of the reasons I’m not a believer of the military vehicles is because, quite often, they’re passed down to law enforcement after 20 or 30 years of military life and they’re unreliable,” Hain said.
The department stopped procuring the military-specific M16 rifles, too, for similar reasons. As popular as the rifles are, they also can cost money once they’ve been delivered because they need upgrades and repairs to use as police rifles.
“They’re not modern weapons coming to us straight out of Afghanistan. Most, if not all of them, were made in the Vietnam era,” said Tom Hall, the Forest Park police sergeant who is in charge of monitoring the lists of available supplies.
Filenko, the Round Lake Park police chief, said the department once sent back a remote-controlled robot for removing explosive devices because it had been roughed up in combat.
“It’s kind of like buying something on eBay and when you get it it’s not what you expect,” Filenko said.
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The Kane County sheriff’s office spent $5,000 to repair the Mamba after it broke down but has stopped relying on the vehicle for critical missions. Since the Pratt shooting, the Mamba has been used for SWAT training and not much else, Hain said.
“I always joke around that I want to pour a cement pad out in front of the office and let it be a playground or a monument,” Hain said. “These old military vehicles are, by and large, useless.”
The department has now purchased a new armored personnel carrier designed specifically for law enforcement use. The BearCat, which cost more than $300,000, has the technology to handle 21st-century necessities such as laptops and phone chargers. Unlike the Mamba’s narrow, V-shaped design, the BearCat’s rectangular-shaped hull is large enough to fit a stretcher and more than one paramedic if someone needs to be extracted from a violent scene or hostage situation.
Lt. David Wolf of the Kane County sheriff's office looks at damage to an armored vehicle stored in St. Charles, July 21, 2020. The windshield was cracked during a response to unrest in Aurora. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
During the unrest following Floyd’s death earlier this year, the BearCat was positioned behind a line of officers dressed in riot gear as they formed a barricade to stop looting and violence from spreading further down Aurora’s main street.
At one point, someone fired a gun at the BearCat, hitting the passenger side of the windshield. The bullet did not break through the resistant glass, which protected a paramedic seated there from potential injury.
Though some agencies argue that military surplus trucks can help with crowd control during times of unrest, critics of the program say such situations are exactly when a tank-type vehicle should not be sent to the scene.
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“This movement toward armored vehicles for crowd control — no, no, no. Absolutely not. There’s only a very few times in American history when you can say we needed armored vehicles to control this situation,” said Petrocelli, the Southern Illinois professor. “You roll an armored vehicle into a neighborhood, that’s about as militaristic as you can get.”
sstclair@chicagotribune.com
jrichards@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Glencoe financial advisor faces federal charges in wire fraud scheme involving foreclosed homeowners

Glencoe financial advisor faces federal charges in wire fraud scheme involving foreclosed homeowners, prosecutors say

Martinez advertised on the radio proposing to assist in buying or selling properties that ran the risk of foreclosure .
@ @ @ @ @ people both locate and then purchase a home while holding on to their money as @ @ @ @ @ down payment , prosecutors say .
She either provided or arranged financing for people to @ @ @ @ @ loans and investments , prosecutors say .

A Glencoe financial advisor is facing a series of federal wire fraud charges involving $450,000 of fraudulent real estate transactions, the U.S. Attorney’s office announced Monday.
Mary Martinez, also known as Mary Flores, 53, was charged with 10 counts of wire fraud after a grand jury was first impaneled in May 2019. Prosecutors allege that Martinez deceived people who were seeking to purchase new homes after facing foreclosure or having poor credit, according to the indictment.
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Through a series of companies she owned, Martinez pretended to offer real estate, financial and mortgage services to people who lost their homes through foreclosure beginning around July 2011 through March of this year, according to the indictment. Those defrauded may have been looking to buy a new home or improve their credit, but Martinez’s actions led to losses totaling roughly $450,000, the government alleges.
Martinez advertised on the radio proposing to assist in buying or selling properties that ran the risk of foreclosure. She promised people to help people both locate and then purchase a home while holding on to their money as they were saving toward a down payment, prosecutors say. She either provided or arranged financing for people to pay high interest rates on loans and investments, prosecutors say.
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She is believed to have taken money from others and used the funds to pay for her personal and business expenses including rent and retail purchases, the indictment stated.
Martinez is also accused of gaining access to people’s personal savings, retirement funds and college funds by claiming to help with the purchase of a new home, the complaint alleges.
“It was further part of the scheme that Martinez convinced certain victims ... to invest money with Martinez’s company, in the form of loans, usually secured by mortgages and promissory notes, by falsely representing her company would pay substantial interest on those loans, and that the loans would be repaid within a specified period of time,” the indictment adds.
The government’s case lists a series of transactions going back to November 2015 where people wired money into Martinez’s bank accounts in Deerfield that were intended to be used as part of a down payment on a house.
By November 2018, Martinez told one person she would not be able to pay back money she owed, according to prosecutors.
“I’m not able to do all the amount owed this year,” she allegedly wrote via text message. “I’m hoping to have something in December with goal of finishing this obligation early 2019.”
Attempts to contact Martinez were not successful.
An arraignment has not yet been scheduled.
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Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter.


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Illinois Democrats celebrate women leaders at virtual convention, take aim at ‘bully boy’ Trump

“ The 19th Amendment corrected a great wrong .
It showed our nation and the world that our form of @ @ @ @ @ adapt to correct our mistakes and to get it right , ” Lightfoot said .
@ @ @ @ @ again being put to the ultimate test as our current president bends and tears at @ @ @ @ @ document to his own will .
We know from our own history that we , @ @ @ @ @ ... We never shrink from a fight .
”

Then-Chicago mayoral candidate Carol Moseley Braun participates in a debate at WGN-TV in Chicago in 2011. Moseley Braun, the first Black woman elected to the Senate, announced the Illinois delegation’s official nominating votes for former Vice President Joe Biden on Aug. 18, 2020. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The Illinois delegation to the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday celebrated its wide array of female leaders, many of whom gave speeches commemorating the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote and condemning what they described as President Donald Trump’s sexism and attacks on women.
The virtual gathering served as a substitute for what would have been a daily round of speeches at a delegation breakfast at the DNC in Milwaukee until concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic forced the festivities to be held remotely.
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The nearly 90 minutes of speeches highlighted top women elected officials in the state, several of whom spent significant portions of their remarks emphasizing the need for Trump to be voted out of office in favor of former Vice President Joe Biden.
“Donald Trump’s incredible attacks on women in every possible way that we see every day is intentional,” said veteran U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, of Evanston. “He really is a woman hater.”
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Schakowsky noted the president’s penchant for using the term “nasty” to refer to many women, including most recently California U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, the party’s vice presidential candidate.
“Women in general to Donald Trump are nasty, don’t deserve equal pay for equal work, don’t deserve to control our own bodies,” she said. “It’s been really, really tough.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot started her remarks by lauding former first lady Michelle Obama’s blistering Monday night convention remarks against Trump, calling it a “searing and inspiring speech at a time when we really needed it most.”
Like many of her colleagues, Lightfoot acknowledged Tuesday’s 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. She compared that fight to the current one against Trump.
“The 19th Amendment corrected a great wrong. It showed our nation and the world that our form of government has the capacity to adapt to correct our mistakes and to get it right,” Lightfoot said. “Today that constitution is again being put to the ultimate test as our current president bends and tears at every page to reshape the document to his own will. We know from our own history that we, our democracies are resilient. ... We never shrink from a fight.”
State Comptroller Susana Mendoza provided the most political red meat of the evening, comparing Trump to former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, saying “both made us a laughingstock to our neighbors and our allies and both vigorously pursued policies that harm women, working families and marginalized populations.”
“Now, I don’t now about you, but I’m certainly tired of an incompetent, inexperienced, uncaring, vacuous bully boy like Donald Trump occupying the highest elected office in the land,” Mendoza said. “Folks, we do not have to live this way.”
In keeping with the day’s theme, the Illinois delegation’s official nominating votes for Biden were announced by former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, the first Black woman elected to the Senate.
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“Discrimination has denied too many Black Americans the chance to own a home and build wealth. Joe Biden has a plan to end racism and sexism, and help more people of color see the American Dream of owning a home,” Moseley Braun said in a recorded message from Old State Capitol in Springfield. “This isn’t just about racial justice, it’s about strong communities and more economic security for working families.”
While the delegation’s day largely focused on women’s rights and issues, the controversy embroiling Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan also lingered, with some of Tuesday’s speakers again facing questions about whether the longtime powerful leader should step down.
Two years ago, Madigan eventually fired his chief of staff and key campaign operatives after he faced criticism that he did not do enough to deal with complaints of sexual harassment involving lawmakers and staff. Madigan, who has served as House speaker for all but two years since 1983, also has been implicated in an alleged federal bribery scandal involving Commonwealth Edison.
The utility has agreed to pay a $200 million fine and cooperate with federal prosecutors for three years over what investigators allege was a near decadelong effort to gain influence with Madigan through the use of jobs and contracts to his allies. Madigan has not been charged with any wrongdoing and has denied he ever made a legislative decision “with improper motives.”
During a news conference earlier in the day to preview the evening of speeches, some officials were asked whether Madigan should resign his leadership post and chairmanship of the state party because of the sexual harassment scandals and federal investigation.
U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, of Matteson, said she has told Madigan that if the federal allegations connected with ComEd turn out to be true, he should step down from both positions. Mendoza agreed. Neither addressed Madigan’s handling of the sexual harassment complaints, and Schakowsky virtually departed the online news conference without answering the question.
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“I think what we need to focus on right now is making sure we’re successful in November, and whatever we deal with after that, we deal with after that,” Kelly said of Madigan. “But I just think we need to keep our eyes on the main prize, and that’s Biden, Harris and all the other Dems who are running.”
bruthhart@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @BillRuthhart


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 1,740 new known COVID-19 cases and 27 more deaths reported as Wisco

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 1,740 new known COVID-19 cases and 27 more deaths reported as Wisconsin removed from Chicago’s travel quarantine order

“ You have to be aware of that , ” Kelly said .
“ I ’ m not paralyzed by @ @ @ @ @ to be realistic .
I have to have a replacement for me and our coaches @ @ @ @ @ were to get sick .
We have to think in those lines as it relates @ @ @ @ @ .
”

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
People who travel to and from Wisconsin to Chicago received good news on Tuesday. The state, along with Nebraska, was removed from the 14-day travel quarantine order that Mayor Lori Lightfoot implemented in July. Kansas and Iowa, which had been removed last week, were added back to the list.
The announcement came as Illinois health officials on Tuesday reported 1,740 new known cases of COVID-19 and 27 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 209,594 and the statewide death toll to 7,782.
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Meanwhile, Navy Pier officials decided to close again rather than fight for the comparatively few visitors willing to venture onto the partially reopened lakeside destination amid the coronavirus pandemic. The tourist mecca will close on Sept. 8 and stay shut until spring, pier officials planned to announce.
Here’s what’s happening Tuesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
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8:05 p.m.: CPS fall plan includes full days of remote and live learning, but prompts union grievance
Chicago Public Schools had barely released its fall remote learning plan Tuesday when the Chicago Teachers Union announced it had filed grievance over the guidance that union President Jesse Sharkey said was made “without imagination or input from teachers.”
“Today, we filed the first in a series of grievances against CPS for issuing remote learning guidance that fails to provide our school communities with the instructional tools necessary to deliver proper instruction in a remote context required by the labor contract,” Sharkey said in a statement. “The Union is demanding that CPS provide educators and students with the infrastructure necessary to conduct remote learning, and the increase of professional development time to allow for training and collaboration with parents, caregivers and students on remote learning best practices.”
The fall plan has a stricter structure and more accountability measures than the spring, when schools were suddenly forced to figure out remote learning amid an evolving pandemic.
Under the fall framework, students in kindergarten through 12th grade will get at least three hours of live instruction from their teacher. Between that, small group activities with classmates and independent learning, the district is expecting students to “be engaged” for the entire length of a typical school day, Monday through Friday. Other expectations include daily attendance and graded assignments.
Since district officials backtracked from their hybrid reopening proposal at the beginning of the month, educators and parents had grown impatient for more information on remote learning, and the plan’s release so close to the first day of school on Sept. 8 leaves them little time to figure things out. Officials delayed the release of the plan after initially promising to have it ready the first week of August.
The “entirely digital” approach does not include paper work packets offered in the spring to families without digital access or who preferred that method of learning. The plan states that “the district will ensure all students have the tools they need to succeed.”
But CTU leaders said the district has not done enough to meet students’ needs and that CPS didn’t spend enough time on their remote learning plan because they so badly wanted to include in-person classes.
Read more here. —Hannah Leone
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5:50 p.m.: Fearing an undermined election, Illinois Democrats sound alarm over USPS
Senior citizens waiting weeks for life-sustaining medication. Renters and homeowners nervous that their bills won’t arrive on time, cornering them into paying late fees. A nonprofit held up in efforts to raise money for a food pantry because the mail was delayed.
And, the growing fear that millions of Americans might not get their mail-in ballots counted for the Nov. 3 election.
Those are some of the stories and concerns that members of Illinois’ Democratic congressional delegation said they have fielded from constituents who are alarmed about the state of the U.S. Postal Service in recent months. Just on Monday, the office of Rep. Brad Schneider received about 600 such calls, the Deerfield Democrat said.
Gathered in front of Chicago’s Postal Service headquarters, eight congressmen blamed the White House.
“Seeking to dismantle the Post Office services during a pandemic is nothing less than criminal intent to destroy an institution that is constitutionally authorized and serves all of the American people,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García of Chicago said.
Read more here. —Alice Yin
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5:20 p.m.: Deadline for suburban residents to apply for Cook County rental assistance extended to next week
Suburban Cook County residents now have until 4 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 24, to apply for grants to cover rent amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The deadline was extended from Tuesday, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced that afternoon. She wrote in a statement that the decision came after brutal high-wind storms left many county residents without power or internet.
“In addition to the ongoing Cook County emergency support, it is important to ensure a fair opportunity for residents to take full advantage of the critical Cook County relief services — such as our Rental Assistance program,” Preckwinkle wrote.
Up to $4,500 is available per household to pay between one to three months of rent thanks to $20 million in federal CARES Act funds.
Suburban residents can apply at www.cookcountyil.gov/recovery.
—Alice Yin
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5:05 p.m.: Notre Dame moves classes online for two weeks after COVID-19 cases more than double in one day; campus public spaces also shut down
The University of Notre Dame is shifting its classes online for a two-week period in response to a spike of COVID-19 cases on campus since classes started a week ago.
The Rev. John Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president, announced the change in a livestreamed video for students Tuesday afternoon. It came after cases on campus jumped from 58 to 147 in just one day.
“We have decided to take steps short of sending students home, at least for the time being, while protecting the health and safety of the campus community,” Jenkins said. “For at least the next two weeks, we will move undergraduate classes to remote instruction, close public spaces on campus and restrict residences halls to residents only.”
Jenkins said the school was prepared to send students home altogether but decided to enact this stricter trial period at the advice of the county’s public health department.
Tuesday’s one-day increase marked the largest surge in cases since students returned to campus Aug. 3. At that point, only 33 of about 12,000 students had tested positive when they were assessed prior to arriving.
Read more here. —Elyssa Cherney
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5 p.m.: Senate Republicans are preparing a $500 billion coronavirus relief proposal
Senate Republican leaders are preparing a slimmed-down coronavirus relief package of roughly $500 billion that will include extended payments for unemployed people and smaller businesses, a GOP senator said Tuesday.
The measure will also include $10 billion for the embattled Postal Service, said one top GOP aide. The agency has become the focus of a campaign-season battle over whether it will have enough resources to handle an expected flood of mail-in ballots for this November’s presidential and congressional elections.
The fight between President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats over weathering the pandemic has become a critical battle that’s highlighted Trump’s troubled handling of an outbreak that has killed over 170,000 Americans, cost tens of millions of jobs and shuttered businesses in virtually every community.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
2:35 p.m.: Big Ten football parents will gather Friday outside Rosemont HQ in ‘peaceful show of force’
First came the open letters, which the Big Ten ignored.
Then Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields launched a #WeWantToPlay petition, which has garnered more than 270,000 e-signatures. And Big Ten officials didn’t respond to that either.
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The next step is a bit more, well, in-your-face.
Randy Wade, the father of Ohio State star cornerback Shaun Wade, is organizing a rally outside Big Ten headquarters. He is calling the gathering a “peaceful show of force” and hopes for a big turnout at 8 a.m. Friday in Rosemont.
“This is not an Ohio State thing,” Wade said. “This a Big Ten thing. Come on out wearing the jersey of your favorite team. Mask up and be respectful.”
Read more here. —Teddy Greenstein
1:45 p.m.: Postal Service halts some operational changes amid outcry before November election
Facing public pressure and state lawsuits, the Postmaster general announced Tuesday he is halting some operational changes to mail delivery that critics warned were causing widespread delays and could disrupt voting in the November election.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said he would “suspend” his initiatives until after the election “to avoid even the appearance of impact on election mail.”
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The abrupt reversal comes as more than 20 states, from New York to California, announced they would be suing to stop the changes. The states, along with lawmakers and others, want to ensure voters are able to use mail-in ballots if they prefer to avoid polling places due to health risks from COVID-19.
“The Postal Service is ready to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives,” DeJoy said in a statement.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
1:10 p.m.: 1,740 new known COVID-19 cases and 27 more deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Tuesday announced 1,740 new known cases of COVID-19 and 27 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 209,594 and the statewide death toll to 7,782 since the start of the pandemic. Officials also reported 34,175 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 4.3%.
—Chicago Tribune staff
12:40 p.m.: Milwaukee adding dozens of drop boxes for voters to drop off absentee ballots
Milwaukee plans to install more than a dozen secure drop boxes to make it easier for voters to drop off their absentee ballots before Election Day to combat a “full-scale attack on voting by mail,” Mayor Tom Barrett told Wisconsin Democrats on Tuesday.
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Barrett spoke to around 90 Democratic activists, office holders and others in conjunction with the second day of the Democratic National Convention. He described drop boxes as one way to fight back in battleground Wisconsin against President Donald Trump’s opposition to mail-in voting.
“As hard as the president is working to make it less appealing for people to use absentee balloting, we are doing everything we can to be make it convenient for people because of the health reasons, because of COVID-19, because it’s the right thing to do,” Barrett said.
—The Associated Press
12:35 p.m.: New cases of COVID-19 reported among staff, youth at Kane County Juvenile Justice Center
Two more staff members and one additional youth resident have tested positive for COVID-19 at Kane County’s juvenile detention center following a second round of testing, Court Administrator Doug Naughton said Tuesday.
Previously, four staff and four youth had tested positive for the virus, and those eight people have recovered, Naughton said. The three people who have newly tested positive are the only cases currently active at the Kane County Juvenile Justice Center, he said.
The youth resident is in medical isolation, and the staff are self-isolating at home, Naughton said in a statement.
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Read more here. —Sarah Freishtat
12:15 p.m.: Chicago removes Wisconsin, Nebraska from mandatory travel quarantine list — but Iowa and Kansas are going back on
The city of Chicago has removed Wisconsin and Nebraska from its mandatory quarantine order, but putting Iowa and Kansas back on this Friday.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration added Wisconsin and Nebraska to the 14-day self-quarantine order in late July. Kansas and Iowa were pulled from the list earlier this month, but will be back on as of Friday, according to the mayor’s office.
Lightfoot’s self-quarantine requirement was first implemented during the Fourth of July weekend, though it is generally not being enforced aside from signs and billboards telling people that they must self-quarantine.
The order drew much attention with Wisconsin, given its proximity and the high number of people from Illinois who spend weekends and vacations there. Many Illinois and Chicago residents, including Gov. J.B. Pritzker, have homes there.
The order requires people who have spent more than 24 hours in high-risk states to self-quarantine for 14 days after entering Chicago.
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Exceptions to the self-quarantine order include essential workers, those coming here for medical treatment and those for whom “self-quarantine is not possible, practicable or advisable.” The order also does not apply to people who are at the airport for a connecting flight, or are driving through the city on their way elsewhere.
Also exempted, according to the mayor’s office, are sports teams.
Read more here. —Gregory Pratt
[ Here's what states, territories are on Chicago's travel quarantine order ]
11:10 a.m.: COVID-19 scuttles R. Kelly’s Chicago trial on sex-abuse related charges - again
In what sounds like a broken record, R. Kelly’s federal trial has once again been postponed.
After numerous previous delays, Kelly had finally been scheduled to face a jury in U.S. District Court in Chicago in October on charges related to the alleged sexual abuse of underage girls.
But in a brief hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber sided with prosecutors in delaying the trial due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, saying that asking out-of-state witnesses to travel, and possibly spend time in quarantine, would be an undue hardship.
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Leinenweber also said that after months of being virtually shut down amid the health emergency, the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse simply doesn’t have the capacity to hold such a lengthy trial with three criminal defendants.
“Physically, it seems to be virtually impossible to proceed to trial in October,” Leinenweber said. He set a status date for the case for Oct. 13 to discuss a possible new trial date.
Read more here. —Jason Meisner
10:50 a.m.: Notre Dame football has a COVID-19 backup plan that even covers coach Brian Kelly
We’re all replaceable, right?
The Veep can step in for POTUS. Michael Keaton, George Clooney and Val Kilmer all played Batman. And Notre Dame has a COVID-19-related plan regarding coach Brian Kelly.
Asked Monday whether he has altered practice to reflect the threat of potential coronavirus cases on top of the usual injuries, the coach replied yes.
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“You have to be aware of that,” Kelly said. “I’m not paralyzed by it, but you have to be realistic. I have to have a replacement for me and our coaches all have replacements if they were to get sick. We have to think in those lines as it relates to our starters as well.”
Read more here. —Teddy Greenstein
10 a.m.: State extends deadline on rental assistance applications
The Illinois Housing Development Authority extended a deadline for tenants to apply for aid through a state rental assistance program for people whose income has declined due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The deadline for tenants who were affected by severe storms that tore through the region last week will now be noon on Aug. 28, and landlords will have until Aug. 30 to complete their required part of the application for aid.
With some tenants and landlords without power for almost a week following the derecho that passed through northern Illinois on Aug. 10, “it’s important we provide additional time to file and complete application for assistance,” Illinois Housing Development Authority Executive Director Kristin Faust said in a statement.
Eligible tenants who have seen their income decline due to COVID-19 can apply for $5,000 through the Emergency Rental Assistance program.
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—Jamie Munks
9:40 a.m.: With few visitors, Navy Pier to close down again to save money
Navy Pier will close again rather than fight for the comparatively few visitors willing to venture onto the partially reopened lakeside destination amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The human-made structure jutting into Lake Michigan and lined with restaurants, carnival rides and cultural destinations — many of them still closed — will shut down again Sept. 8 and stay shut until spring in order to save money and protect the attraction’s long-term financial health, pier officials planned to announce Tuesday morning.
“We are only seeing about 15 to 20 percent of the attendance that we would typically see this time of year, which is also typically our busiest time of the year,” said Marilynn Gardner the pier president and CEO. “We need to do this now to get to the other side of the pandemic.”
Closing as the weather turns colder and visitorship typically decreases will help the pier limit its losses in a year when the not-for-profit entity was already projecting falling $20 million short of anticipated revenues. That’s more than a third of last year’s $58.9 million take, according to the executive.
Read more here. —Steve Johnson
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9:10 a.m.: With millions stuck at home, DIY projects fuel Home Depot surge
Millions of people forced to work out of the office during the pandemic took on new projects at home and Home Depot is supplying a lot of the DIY material they need.
At Home Depot stores open at least a year, sales surged an remarkable 25% in the U.S. during the second quarter, the Atlanta company reported Tuesday.
Read more here. —The ssociated Press
8:25 a.m.: America’s shopping at Walmart during COVID-19 pandemic — Online sales nearly double, in-store sales soar 9.3%
Americans established trusted supply lines as the virus surged in new regions of the U.S. over the past few months and millions did so at Walmart, where online sales nearly doubled in the second quarter.
They shopped in Walmart’s stores, too. Sales at U.S. locations opened at least a year jumped 9.3%, the company reported Tuesday.
Walmart quickly became a lifeline for consumers early this year when COVID-19 first began to spread in the U.S. In the first quarter, online sales spiked 74%. That trend accelerated in the second quarter and broadened the gap between traditional retailers, many of them anchor stores at the mall, and big box operators like Walmart and Target.
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Read more here. —The Associated Press
8:15 a.m.: Potbelly, which returned a $10 million PPP loan in April, just got another one. This time it’s for keeps.
Potbelly has secured another $10 million Payroll Protection Program loan, and this time the Chicago-based sandwich chain plans to keep it.
The company, which returned a $10 million PPP loan it received in April under public pressure, disclosed it obtained the new loan in a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The loan was approved Aug. 7 — one day before the extended PPP program expired — through Harvest Small Business Finance, a California-based nonbank lender.
“While we qualified for a loan in the first round of the Payroll Protection Program, we returned it when it looked like many other companies would be left without help,” Potbelly said in a statement. “In the next round, the program was about to close with billions of dollars in available funds still remaining.”
Read more here. —Robert Channick
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6:30 a.m.: Illinois launches online COVID-19 hotspot map for travelers
Illinois public health officials on Monday launched a COVID-19 hotspot map for travelers to assess their risk before leaving the state. The online map shows which U.S. states have an average daily case rate of at least 15 cases per 100,000 people, which is considered higher risk.
Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike urged travelers to factor in details like how to safely manage airport terminals and rest areas.
“This virus does not recognize borders and specific regions and it doesn’t stop at the edge of a region or a county,” Ezike said at an East St. Louis news conference. “We know that people may have to travel, but potentially based on where you may go that travel may increase your risk of exposure to COVID-19.”
—The Associated Press
6:15 a.m.: Engineering firm leaving downtown high-rise, headed to North Side to spread out
A Chicago-based engineering firm is moving from a downtown office tower to a smaller loft building on the North Side in search of more space and fewer office neighbors during the coronavirus pandemic.
KDM Engineering leased 35,000 square feet in the five-story loft building at 1308 N. Elston Ave., where the firm plans to move by April, founder and President Kimberly Moore said.
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The 10-year lease is one of the first known examples of a company choosing to move away from the dense downtown Chicago office market, which has operated at a limited capacity since March because of COVID-19.
The deal is a big expansion from the firm’s 20,000-square-foot space in the Jewelers Building, a 40-story landmark at 35 E. Wacker Drive.
Read more here. —Ryan Ori
6 a.m.: Man threatened to ‘shoot up’ Niles restaurant after entering without mask, police say
A man is accused of threatening to shoot up a Niles restaurant after he entered without wearing a mask, according to police.
Eric Sunlly, 44, from Des Plaines, was charged with assault and disorderly conduct in connection with the Aug. 8 incident at Portillo’s, 8832 W. Dempster St. in Niles, police said.
A Portillo’s employee told police that Sunlly was told he needed to put on a mask after he entered the restaurant. He asked the employee to call an ambulance for him, and when the employee asked Sunlly to step outside, Sunlly became angry, police said.
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The employee told police Sunlly threatened to come back and “shoot up” the restaurant, police said.
Read more here. —Jennifer Johnson
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
Here are five things that happened Monday related to COVID-19.
Coronavirus clusters erupted at U.S. universities as a new semester begins.
The Bears announced they are not currently planning to have fans at games at Soldier Field this season.
The U.S. Postal Service warned that last-minute Illinois ballot requests may not be turned around fast enough to be counted in the November election.
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Chicago closed 5 more restaurants and bars for COVID-19 guideline violations.
At virtual Democratic convention, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says President Trump is mounting ‘full-out assault’ on the Postal Service, election and democracy.


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Chicago Public Schools’ new fall plan includes full days of remote and live learning, but prompts un

Chicago Public Schools’ new fall plan includes full days of remote and live learning, but prompts union grievance

At Monroe , where the majority of students are Latino , it ’ s common for parents to speak a @ @ @ @ @ Torres said it would help if the district facilitated a Google boot camp for parents @ @ @ @ @ they could best support their students through remote learning .
Remembering what her students experienced @ @ @ @ @ said it ’ s hard to see how they will all make the plan work @ @ @ @ @ her own three school-age children .

Chicago Public Schools had barely released its fall remote learning plan Tuesday when the Chicago Teachers Union announced it had filed a grievance over the guidance that union President Jesse Sharkey said was made “without imagination or input from teachers.”
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The fall plan has a stricter structure and more accountability measures than the spring, when schools were suddenly forced to figure out remote learning amid an evolving pandemic.
Under the fall framework, students in kindergarten through 12th grade will get at least three hours of live instruction from their teacher. Between that, small group activities with classmates and independent learning, the district is expecting students to “be engaged” for the entire length of a typical school day, Monday through Friday. Other expectations include daily attendance and graded assignments.
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Since district officials backtracked from their hybrid reopening proposal at the beginning of the month, educators and parents had grown impatient for more information on remote learning, and the release so close to the first day of school on Sept. 8 leaves them little time to work it into their own plans. School officials delayed the release of the plan after initially promising to have it ready the first week of August.
The “entirely digital” approach does not include paper work packets offered in the spring to families without digital access or who preferred that method of learning. The plan states that “the district will ensure all students have the tools they need to succeed.”
But CTU leaders said the district has not done enough to meet students’ needs and that CPS didn’t spend enough time on their remote learning plan because they so badly wanted to include in-person classes.
“Mayor Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools were trying their best to have in-person, classroom instruction to start the year, and it is clear that their energy went into designing and selling the hybrid school plan,” Sharkey said.
He said the plan needs to work for a “wider swath” of educators and families, and did not take advantage of ways to make online learning more accessible and engaging.
“Today, we filed the first in a series of grievances against CPS for issuing remote learning guidance that fails to provide our school communities with the instructional tools necessary to deliver proper instruction in a remote context required by the labor contract,” Sharkey said in a statement. “The Union is demanding that CPS provide educators and students with the infrastructure necessary to conduct remote learning, and the increase of professional development time to allow for training and collaboration with parents, caregivers and students on remote learning best practices.”
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The plan states the district “will provide a greater level of support to our teachers to ensure they are implementing remote learning practices that are responsive to student needs,” and teachers will be expected to be available to students for the whole school day.
“We are laser focused on making this school day feel as close to a normal school day as possible and ensuring the students who need us most will get devices and internet access so they can continue learning,” CPS CEO Janice Jackson said on Twitter.
CPS leaders said they will continue to work with public health officials and consider parent feedback when making decisions about the rest of the school year. In the meantime, schools will still provide grab-and-go meals.
New requirements range from 60 minutes of real-time instruction and 90 minutes of learning activities per day for preschoolers to 230 minutes of instruction and 130 minutes of activities for grades six through eight.
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Because high school schedules vary so much, the plan requirements include 80% real-time instruction and 20% activities.
Monroe Elementary world language teacher Lori Torres said she was dismayed by the plan, and that its expectations seemed “disingenuous.”
“I don’t see flexibility in the schedule,” Torres said. “I think that our district has tried to come up with a schedule that at least attempts to mirror sitting in a classroom ... but to be able to realistically see that happen remotely is, it’s lost in translation, I guess.”
At Monroe, where the majority of students are Latino, it’s common for parents to speak a language other than English. Torres said it would help if the district facilitated a Google boot camp for parents in their native language so they could best support their students through remote learning. Remembering what her students experienced in the spring, Torres said it’s hard to see how they will all make the plan work. She even wonders about her own three school-age children.
“My fourth-grader and eighth-grader can’t handle the same amount of time online, which, the difference between the two is (only) a half an hour,” she said.
And though CPS has taken big steps to help students get connected, the equity and technology issues that complicated remote learning in the spring didn’t all disappear.
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“We have pockets in our city where broadband access is not good,” Torres said. “We have had teachers in meetings who can’t have their camera on and talk at the same time because it lags. If that’s happening to us, what’s happening to our kids?”
CPS has said educators will be evaluated as they would during a normal school year and the district will revert back to normal grading, meaning all students get letter grades.
Like a regular school day, students will have lunch and small breaks. Though teachers will be expected to enter metrics using Google tools, and students are to log into Google at least daily, educators are also allowed to use other approved platforms.
”Since our sudden shift to remote learning in the spring, we have taken a data-informed approach to improve instructional quality so that students can receive the best possible education remotely,” said CPS Chief Education Officer LaTanya McDade. “We know our most vulnerable students need support from our dedicated educators and our plan for the fall implements clear expectations and processes to ensure students are learning every school day.”
The plan also states schools will use more formal “Intervention systems” to support students who aren’t participating. Other mental health supports include grief curriculum, expanded small-group trauma interventions and activities for dealing with stress or anxiety.
Rather than catching up from last year, the plan focuses on speeding up the learning process, asking schools to be “intentional about addressing unfinished learning in a way that accelerates student progress tied to grade-level standards” and to rethink traditional approaches to remediation.
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Remote learning in the spring saw wide disparities in participation, notably between the district’s white, Latino and Black students, and students with special education needs or in temporary living situations.
About a third of the district’s students lacked computers or reliable internet access. To bridge the gap, the district has distributed more than 120,000 computer devices and plans to hand out thousands more this fall, working with schools “to determine how many additional devices may need to be purchased in order to meet the needs of students.” The city is also working on a plan involving dozens of business and nonprofit partners to provide free internet to 100,000 students.
The district’s initial hybrid plan would have had most students taking in-person classes for two days a week, and the remote plan includes provisions for how in-person classes could be phased back in. The goal is to revisit the possibility of a hybrid reopening for next quarter if it is safe to do so, Jackson has said. She has said she thinks students will come back to school buildings to learn at some point before a vaccine is developed and widely distributed.
CPS officials have maintained that opposition from the union did not influence their decision to hold all classes online at least for the quarter. Instead, CPS officials said the move was the result of the worsening coronavirus outbreak in Illinois, as well as survey results indicating many parents were hesitant to send their children back to school.
Still, parents were mixed on the move to online learning as they contemplated more months of juggling work responsibilities and child care. Some with the means to do so are exploring alternative options, such as securing private tutors, switching to private schools that still plan to reopen or joining other families in creating “pandemic pods.”
hleone@chicagotribune.com
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clairehao@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-20--Protesters allege rampant physical and verbal abuse by Chicago police at recent demonstrations

The speakers voiced their complaints to Maggie Hickey , a former federal prosecutor tasked with overseeing court-ordered reforms to the @ @ @ @ @ The hearing — and a second one scheduled for Thursday — are part of the @ @ @ @ @ June as allegations began flying that police had abused protesters who flooded the streets following @ @ @ @ @ under the knee of a Minneapolis officer in late May .

Police use pepper spray on protesters at the corner of Randolph and Dearborn streets in downtown Chicago on Aug. 15, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Activists aired a litany of abuse complaints against Chicago police Wednesday, alleging that officers have responded to recent protests by beating peaceful demonstrators, blinding them with pepper spray, making homophobic comments, damaging bikes and attacking medics.
The online videoconference gave about two dozen people a chance to air their allegations of mistreatment before the court-appointed officials investigating the police response to the protests.
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The 2½-hour session gave a concentrated dose of the kinds of accusations that have emerged piecemeal during months of protests. Several speakers offered vivid accounts of violence and humiliation by officers. Those included a man who said he saw “how blood squirts from someone’s head with every heartbeat” and a woman who said she was dragged through horse manure.
Several of the complaints stemmed from protests last month near a Christopher Columbus statue downtown. Adriana Antunez gave an impassioned account of being pepper-sprayed and bruised during that episode.
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“They protected property over people,” she said before she called police “pigs” and signed off with a profane anti-police slogan.
The speakers voiced their complaints to Maggie Hickey, a former federal prosecutor tasked with overseeing court-ordered reforms to the troubled Chicago Police Department. The hearing — and a second one scheduled for Thursday — are part of the review she launched in early June as allegations began flying that police had abused protesters who flooded the streets following the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis officer in late May.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 31 The Christopher Columbus statue is transported after being removed in Grant Park in the early hours of July 24, 2020. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Also in the session were city Inspector General Joseph Ferguson, who is participating in the investigation, and U.S. District Judge Robert Dow Jr., who is empowered to enforce reforms.
No police spoke and no one offered any substantial defense of their conduct, though a lawyer for the city voiced pride in officers who had maintained professionalism and calm. Though they had no presence at the hearing, cops have previously blamed violent agitators for hijacking protests and attacking officers.
While many speakers gave detailed accounts, the hearing did not provide a forum for them to show evidence substantiating their allegations.
The majority of the speakers Wednesday were white, and several said they’d witnessed or suffered abuse while trying to support or protect Black and brown protesters.
Michael Kaiser-Nyman said he watched a handful of officers handle a protest in a wealthier white neighborhood but then saw a heavy police presence at demonstrations downtown and on the South Side. He said he had a “really stark, personal, eye-opening experience about the different ways that people experience police presence depending on where they live and their race.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot has voiced a commitment to protecting activists’ First Amendment rights. Still, people have consistently accused the police of failing to do so in recent months. Between late May and Aug. 6, the city took 482 complaints about officers that the Civilian Office of Police Accountability classified as “protest related.”
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The protests are only the latest illustration of the long-standing tensions between minorities and the Chicago Police Department, which has a history of abuse and misconduct. That past was detailed in the 2017 U.S. Department of Justice report that described city police as poorly trained, loosely supervised and prone to excessive force against minorities.
That report led to the consent decree, a broad 2019 court order designed to force changes to police policy, supervision, training and the way officers treat people. Progress on the court order thus far has been sluggish, as the city missed more than 70% of its deadlines during the first year under the order.
Several speakers said the police response to the protests showed the consent decree will not be enough to fix the department, and some called for reducing the force’s funding or abolishing it outright.
Aislinn Pulley, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Chicago, said, “CPD is under the consent decree, but they do not believe that it is real and that it has any effect on their operating. ... There has been zero change in their behavior.”
Other complaints at the hearing included the contention that officers failed to wear masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, covered their badges and name tags, and used homophobic language. Law student Cruz Rodriguez said he heard an officer in a passing car say, “Nice short shorts, (anti-gay epithet).”
Cody Michael, of the Buena Park neighborhood, said an officer broke his baton beating him.
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“I refuse to have my tax dollars fund my own beating in the street ... and the beating and murder of Black people and other minorities,” he said.


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--FDA approves U. of I.’s ‘potentially game-changing’ COVID-19 saliva test as state records  2,295 new

FDA approves U. of I.’s ‘potentially game-changing’ COVID-19 saliva test as state records  2,295 new cases and stares down ‘troubling trends’ in some regions

U. of I. researchers developed the saliva test , which is less invasive than the nasal swabs that have been @ @ @ @ @ so far , for use on its campuses by students and faculty who are returning @ @ @ @ @ FDA ’ s approval means the university will be able to “ turbocharge these efforts @ @ @ @ @ of the saliva-based testing , Killeen said .

Nancy Markstahler collects a sample as COVID-19 saliva testing is conducted July 7, 2020, in a tent outside the Alice Campbell Alumni Center on the University of Illinois campus. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
A saliva-based COVID-19 test developed by the University of Illinois has received emergency authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, creating the potential for widespread use of a test experts say is faster, cheaper and simpler.
“This has potentially game-changing implications for our statewide testing complex as well as for testing on a national level, particularly for our high-risk communities and settings,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at the news conference Wednesday where he characterized the announcement as “some of the best news that we’ve had since this pandemic began.”
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Illinois was one of many states that struggled in the spring to ramp up its testing capacity, amid a nationwide shortage of the materials needed to conduct testing. The Illinois Department of Public Health on Wednesday said the state had for the first time surpassed 50,000 tests conducted during a 24-hour period, raising the total number of tests conducted in the state to nearly 3.5 million.
Along with the increased testing came the highest daily statewide case tally since May 24: 2,295 newly-confirmed cases of coronavirus.
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[ COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital data in your area ]
The state a day earlier ordered tighter restrictions on bars and restaurants in the Metro East region outside St. Louis, and Pritzker on Wednesday said “troubling trends” are being seen in the region that includes Kankakee and Will counties, as well as the southern Illinois region. In fact, most of the state’s 11 regions as defined in Pritzker’s reopening plan have seen increasing test positivity rates.
Increased testing is seen as one of the keys to corralling the virus, and the saliva test developed by U. of I. “produces rapid results at costs that allow and permit large-scale surveillance testing,” University of Illinois System President Timothy Killeen said Wednesday.
“That combination is a key to curbing the virus, allowing isolation early enough to limit the spread of infection, and it also identifies and isolates people with asymptomatic cases who would otherwise spread the virus unknowingly,” Killeen said.
U. of I. researchers developed the saliva test, which is less invasive than the nasal swabs that have been the most prevalent testing method so far, for use on its campuses by students and faculty who are returning for in-person instruction. The FDA’s approval means the university will be able to “turbocharge these efforts to expand the reach” of the saliva-based testing, Killeen said.
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
Marcus Jackson completes his COVID-19 saliva test on July 7, 2020, in a tent outside the Alice Campbell Alumni Center on the University of Illinois campus. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
State officials are already working on making the test available on more public university campuses, and are exploring the testing method for K-12 schools and long-term care facilities, Pritzker said.
In addition to working with the state to make the testing more widely available in Illinois, the university has created a unit “that is working to take the technology nationwide,” Killeen said.
However, a timeline for scaling up testing to the levels state and university officials said they envisioned wasn’t defined.
Saliva-based testing often limits the exposure of health care workers performing the test and can be easier physically on patients, Dr. Elizabeth McNally, director of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Center for Genetic Medicine, said earlier this year.
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“Nasal swabbing is an uncomfortable process for patients and can be associated with risk for the health care worker who is doing the swabbing,” McNally told the Tribune in April. “Another option like saliva makes it potentially easier and safer.”
[ Illinois coronavirus graphs: The latest data on deaths, confirmed cases, tests and more ]
Health experts also praise saliva tests for often requiring fewer testing materials — including chemical reagents, swabs and personal protective equipment — which have been in short supply amid the pandemic.
Dr. Martin Burke, an associate dean for research at the (U. of I.) Carle Illinois College of Medicine, said he was given the task in March of creating a team to “try to stand up and strategically deploy scalable COVID-19 testing.”
“The standard process is too slow. It’s too expensive, and it has too many supply chain bottlenecks in order to be able to do fast and frequent testing on scale,” Burke said.
Scientifically, there’s increasing evidence that “this is the medium that matters,” Burke said of saliva-based testing.
“We spread COVID-19 through saliva droplets, primarily, so you’re testing the exact medium in which that infectiousness is likely to occur,” Burke said. “It’s also much easier to collect, it requires less PPE, doesn’t necessarily require direct engagement with the health care worker and as we’ve shown, the process can be done very fast.”
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In many cases, the results are available within three to six hours, while other tests continue to have lags of days, or more than a week in some cases, before results are available.
The FDA has previously granted approval to other saliva-based tests. The green light for the U. of I. test came after a “bridging study” that found it performs at least as well as a similar test developed by Yale University. The FDA granted emergency-use authorization for Yale’s test on Saturday, and the U. of I. test was placed under the same umbrella.
Yale researchers partnered with the National Basketball Association, whose players and staff have routinely taken the saliva test before and during isolation in the NBA bubble in Florida, as part of a COVID-19 testing study.
“Providing this type of flexibility for processing saliva samples to test for COVID-19 infection is groundbreaking in terms of efficiency and avoiding shortages of crucial test components like reagents,” said FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn, referencing the Yale saliva test.
The Illinois-developed test is “different enough that it has unique features that make it very well-suited for scalability,” Burke said, adding that the test’s cost is about $10 apiece, “which is a substantial reduction in cost relative to currently what’s being utilized.”
The FDA granted emergency-use authorization to Rutgers University researchers in April for their saliva-based test, which was the first one to receive federal approval.
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Illinois daily case numbers have approached late May levels several times in recent weeks after remaining fairly consistently below 1,000 in parts of June and early July.
In late May, the state was reporting roughly half the number of tests being conducted during a 24-hour period — 25,674 tests — compared with the 50,299 tests reported Wednesday.
As of Tuesday, the seven-day statewide average positivity rate was 4.4%, up from 3.9% two weeks earlier and 2.9% on July 18.
The state Department of Public Health on Wednesday also announced 25 additional deaths of people with COVID-19, raising the statewide death toll to 7,806. There have been 211,889 known cases of COVID-19 in Illinois over the course of the pandemic.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Wednesday she’s concerned people have “grown numb” to the numbers.
“We need to remember that they’re not just numbers. These are people,” Ezike said. “These are loved ones who were so sick that they were hospitalized in the intensive care unit and unfortunately, succumbed.”
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