chicagotribune--2020-01-29--Column: Kris Bryant losing his service time grievance is a win-win for the Cubs and a win-lose for C

Column: Kris Bryant losing his service time grievance is a win-win for the Cubs and a win-lose for Cubs fans

“ I don ’ t think the Cubs ’ decision with what ’ s going to happen with Kris Bryant @ @ @ @ @ Boras ’ business , ” Manfred replied .
“ I think the Cubs — I @ @ @ @ @ make decisions that are best for the long-term competitiveness of that club , and focusing @ @ @ @ @ ( is ) with a club on a day , or days , I don @ @ @ @ @ fair evaluation of what the club is up to .
The Cubs are in the @ @ @ @ @ ’ s going to make them the most competitive over the longest period of time @ @

The Cubs picked up their first win of 2020 with the technical knockout of Kris Bryant in his grievance hearing, but whether it’s time to hoist the “W” flag at Wrigley Field is debatable.
An arbitrator’s decision to deny Bryant’s grievance over his 2015 spring training demotion means the Cubs can keep him under contract through 2021, as expected, theoretically keeping their window to win open for at least two more years.
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But it’s more likely the win means only that the Cubs will get more in return for Bryant when they trade him to stay under the luxury-tax threshold and bring back some young talent to an organization that has failed to draft and develop any stars since Bryant’s arrival.
So it’s a win-win for the Cubs and a win-lose for Cubs fans.
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“It’s going to be a whole lot different, this team without him,” Javier Baez recently said of the Bryant trade rumors. “But we’ll see what happens. If that happens, we’ll see who’s coming (back), who’s not. Hopefully we keep Kris here his entire career. ... If (a trade) happens, I don’t know what is going to be the reaction of the fans — and the players, to be honest.”
We already know how Cubs fans will react.
Few are happy the popular third baseman is even on the trading block or that the Cubs’ only free-agent signings have been outfielder Steven Souza Jr. and reliever Jeremy Jeffress, a couple of cheap pickups of players returning from injuries. Watching the Reds sign Nicholas Castellanos on Tuesday was the capper to one of the most depressing offseasons in years.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 167 Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant stand at the plate during the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field on July 26, 2021. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
But while most of the returning Cubs would be upset at the loss of Bryant, they won’t be as upset as fans. They’re used to the business of baseball, in which no one is considered irreplaceable. If the players from the 2016 championship had their way, the Cubs would have re-signed Dexter Fowler and Jake Arrieta, neither of whom has lived up to his hefty free-agent contract, making management’s decision to part ways look wise.
No one wants to believe the Cubs can come out ahead in a Bryant trade, but it can be done. If the Cubs do trade Bryant, the onus would be on President Theo Epstein to convince fans it was the right decision.
Epstein declined an interview request Wednesday.
How do White Sox fans feel about the Chris Sale trade three years later? After Yoan Moncada’s breakthrough season in 2019 and the promise of Michael Kopech after Tommy John surgery, most would probably say they are happy with it.
The Cubs could get a return that would benefit the organization for five or six more years. A Bryant trade also would facilitate the signing of Baez — the Cubs’ most valuable asset — to an extension. The sting of Bryant leaving would be quickly replaced with the happiness over Baez staying.
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Most fans have forgotten Bryant was demoted on the same day as Baez and Addison Russell, who also were first-round picks and two of the organization’s top prospects at the time.
“I probably can be in this game for a long time and not send down three players that talented on the same day ever again,” Epstein said that afternoon in Mesa, Ariz.
While Baez eventually turned out to be as big a star as Bryant, if not bigger, he wasn’t ripping up the Cactus League that spring, and no one seemed concerned his demotion was connected with service time manipulation. No grievance was filed. There were no angry denunciations from Baez’s agent about his not making the team despite getting a late-season call-up in 2014. And there was not a peep out of Baez himself.
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The focus was all on Bryant, who became a cause celebre around baseball. After agent Scott Boras ripped the Cubs’ decision to demote his client, I asked Commissioner Rob Manfred at a spring training game in Fort Myers, Fla., what he thought about the move.
“I don’t think the Cubs’ decision with what’s going to happen with Kris Bryant is really any of Mr. Boras’ business,” Manfred replied. “I think the Cubs — I know the Cubs — will make decisions that are best for the long-term competitiveness of that club, and focusing on whether a particular player (is) with a club on a day, or days, I don’t think is a fair evaluation of what the club is up to. The Cubs are in the best position to decide what’s going to make them the most competitive over the longest period of time.”
Boras said he believed the “integrity” of the sport was under assault and said the service time loophole should be fixed in the next collective bargaining agreement.
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“My job is to clarify things,” he told me that spring. “When the commissioner says (Bryant’s status is none of my business), I don’t agree with it, and the union doesn’t agree with it. When the commissioner says it’s none of our business to represent a player as an attorney ... that’s why I sent him (former union chief) Marvin Miller’s book. I said, ‘Apparently you didn’t read this.’ ”
The loophole wasn’t fixed in the next CBA, so the players have no one to blame but themselves. If it was that important, the union should have fought harder for a change.
There’s no need to feel sorry for Bryant, who will make $18.6 million this year and should command more than $250 million when he becomes a free agent after 2021.
He lost a battle, but he’ll win the war, wherever he winds up.


chicagotribune--2020-01-29--Chicago police sergeant wounded in wrist by suspect in fatal shooting, then continues pursuit and pu

Chicago police sergeant wounded in wrist by suspect in fatal shooting, then continues pursuit and pulls gun on him

“ While en route to the hospital , the officer and the transporting unit observed the offender in the pickup @ @ @ @ @ Interim Superintendent Charlie Beck said at the hospital .
The driver asked the sergeant , @ @ @ @ @ to go directly to the hospital or should they apprehend the offender .
He elected @ @ @ @ @ .
”

William Lee, Jeremy Gorner, Rosemary Sobol

Police guard the 4100 block of West Madison Street, near a shooting scene where a Chicago police officer was wounded in the wrist, in the West Garfield Park neighborhood in Chicago on Jan. 29, 2020. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
A Chicago police sergeant was wounded in the wrist as he tailed a white pickup truck suspected in a fatal shooting, then was picked up by other officers and continued the pursuit, pulling a gun on the suspect after he was stopped near Stroger Hospital, according to authorities.
The 36-year-old suspect was arrested, and a gun was confiscated, police said. The officer was taken to Stroger, across the Eisenhower Expressway, and was listed as stable. The man who was killed was 26.
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The sergeant had been working undercover in an unrelated investigation when he saw the man shot in the head around Madison Street and Karlov Avenue around 2:30 p.m., police said.
Police stand outside Stroger Hospital after an officer was wounded in the wrist by gunfire near the 4000 block of West Madison Street on Jan. 29, 2020, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago police Interim Superintendent Charlie Beck, left, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot attend a news conference at Stroger Hospital after an officer was wounded in the wrist by gunfire in West Garfield Park on Jan. 29, 2020. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
The sergeant pursued the suspect’s truck about a block south to Wilcox Street, where the suspect fired twice and hit the sergeant in the wrist, police said.
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Harrison District tactical officers in the area met up with the sergeant and started driving him east toward Stroger, police said. “We have the officer in our car, we’re driving him to Stroger right now,” an officer radioed. “He’s got a gunshot wound to his left forearm.”
On the way, the sergeant spotted the suspect and the tactical team started chasing the truck.
“While en route to the hospital, the officer and the transporting unit observed the offender in the pickup truck," Chicago police Interim Superintendent Charlie Beck said at the hospital. The driver asked the sergeant, “Did he still want to go directly to the hospital or should they apprehend the offender. He elected they should apprehend the offender.”
Police vehicles seal off the area from 4000 to 4200 West Madison Street on Jan. 29, 2020, in Chicago. A police sergeant witnessed a shooting on the street and pursued the suspect, resulting in the officer being shot, according to police. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
The truck was stopped at Harrison Street and Damen Avenue, about 3 miles from where the sergeant was shot, police said.
At some point, the sergeant pulled his gun, but the suspect got away from him on foot before the tactical officers arrested him a short distance away, police said. A gun from the suspect was confiscated.
The officer, in his early 40s, has been on the force for more than 20 years, Beck said. “He is resting. His family is at his side. He is lucid, he is talking to his children on the phone."
Beck turned things over to trauma surgeon Dr. Leah Tatebe, who treated the officer.
“He is expected to be released in the next 24 hours,” Tatebe said.
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Mayor Lori Lightfoot spoke next, thanking all the officers working in the area as a “larger part of the team” for their efforts “to take care of one of their own."
“There’s no question that the officer’s work today in recognizing a danger that the community was in (as the gunman fled) … ended up saving other lives," Lightfoot said.
“We owe him and the rest of the team a debt of gratitude," Lightfoot said.
“Anyone who ever doubts that our officers are courageous, fearless, selfless and run towards danger to serve the public, today is another testimony to that fact that they do all of those things every single day," Lightfoot said, adding she was glad no other lives were lost.
Beck took questions from the media, saying no other suspects were being sought and confirming that while other officers have been shot at, the sergeant was the first officer to be shot in 2020.
No charges had been filed as of Wednesday evening for the alleged gunman, who has dozens of arrests dating back to 2002, when he was acquitted for armed robbery.
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Records show the suspect has at least seven convictions, including a 2007 aggravated fleeing or eluding for which he received probation; a 2007 aggravated battery to a police officer for which he was sentenced to community service; a 2009 manufacture or delivery of heroin, which carried a four-year sentence; and a 2014 manufacture or delivery of heroin and cocaine, for which he was sentenced to four years.
Additionally, he was convicted in 2012, 2015 and 2017 of driving on a suspended or revoked license. He was sentenced to one year in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections, 24 months of probation for the 2015 conviction and one year in the IDOC for the 2017 conviction.


chicagotribune--2020-01-29--Township High School District 113 halts popular physical education waiver after learning it ran afou

Township High School District 113 halts popular physical education waiver after learning it ran afoul of state law

In the last three years alone , more than 700 students have opted to take health education during the summer @ @ @ @ @ any other summer course , according to figures provided by District 113 in response to @ @ @ @ @ .
This school year , one-third of sophomores at Highland Park and Deerfield high schools @ @ @ @ @ requirement over the summer .

Eighth graders Ella Friedman and Grace Strickland use exercise equipment in their physical education class at Caruso Middle School in Deerfield. Officials at Deerfield Public Schools District 109 recently said they have no plans to cut back on physical education even as the state relaxes requirements. (Brian OMahoney / Pioneer Press)
Hundreds of rising sophomores at Highland Park and Deerfield high schools have seized the chance each year to get health education out of the way during summer school.
A policy at Township High School District 113 has allowed students who fulfilled the health course requirement over the summer to skip a semester of physical education in their sophomore year and enroll in an elective course of their choosing.
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But district officials abruptly halted the popular exemption after recently discovering the district’s policy was at odds with state law, which requires that students participate in a physical education course a minimum of three days per five-day school week.
“There is no provision in the school code that says if you take health education during the summer you’re exempted from PE during the school year,” said Superintendent Bruce Law.
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In the last three years alone, more than 700 students have opted to take health education during the summer, far exceeding enrollment in any other summer course, according to figures provided by District 113 in response to a Freedom of Information request. This school year, one-third of sophomores at Highland Park and Deerfield high schools had fulfilled the health education requirement over the summer.
The discrepancy between the district’s policy and the state law came to officials’ attention after the school district had PRESS, the policy arm of the Illinois Association of School Boards, conduct an audit of all district policies, said Karen Warner, a spokeswoman for District 113.
Officials then fast-tracked a correction to the policy in January since students were in the process of selecting courses for next school year, she said.
State law requires that students take 18 weeks of health education, the equivalent of one semester, in high school. In District 113 and many other districts, health education replaces physical education the semester that students are enrolled.
“At the high school level, students are often enrolled in health education when they they would normally be enrolled in their physical education class,” said Laura Nussle, director of governmental affairs for the Illinois Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (IAHPERD), an advocacy group.
District 113 also happens to be tightening its rules at a time when Illinois has relaxed some physical education mandates that have been in place for decades.
In 2017, the state reduced its daily physical education requirement to a minimum of three days a week.
Previously, school districts could request a two-year waiver from state requirements for reasons that might include space constraints, financial hardship or the need to devote more time to improving student achievement. The exemption could only be renewed twice.
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But the new law allows school districts to request a five-year waiver with no limit on the number of renewals.
“Given that the waivers can be renewed indefinitely, that means a child in Illinois may never participate in physical education,” Nussle said.
Illinois law doesn’t specify how much time students must spend in physical education, and legislative efforts to change that last spring were unsuccessful. Bills backed by IAHPERD requiring 150 minutes a week in the elementary grades, and 225 minutes a week in middle school and high school sparked a backlash from school administrators who said districts would have to cut academic programs to comply.
School administrators in Highland Park and Deerfield say they have no plans to cut back on physical education in response to the state’s newly reduced three-day minimum.
At North Shore School District 112, officials still are planning to offer physical education five days a week, adding the district has certified and licensed physical education staff at all of its schools, said Superintendent Michael Lubelfeld.
The most recent Illinois School Report Card for Deerfield Public Schools District 109 shows that students at the district’s four elementary schools received an average of three days a week of physical education during the 2018-19 school year. That was up from two days a week the year before.
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Tyler Bernstein, an eighth grader at Caruso Middle School in Deerfield, works out during a physical education class at the school. (Brian OMahoney / Pioneer Press)
District 109 Superintendent Anthony McConnell said the district only counted days when students were taught by a certified PE instructor.
“We did a recess with a certified teacher every day, so we actually met the (previous) mandate for five days,” McConnell said.
Middle school students in the district have physical education five days a week.
Illinois has long allowed high schools to grant PE exemptions to junior and senior athletes who participate in an interscholastic sport sponsored by the school district and recognized by the Illinois High School Association.
New state rules now open the athletic exemption up to students during all four years of high school.
In addition, school boards may allow students in seventh and eighth grade to request exemptions based on participation in interscholastic sports and extracurricular athletics. Such requests are to be considered on a case by case basis.
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Last year, District 112 revised its PE exemption policy to allow for such requests but no students, yet, have requested the waiver, according to Nicholas Glenn, spokesman for the K-8 school district.
A spokesperson for District 109 said board members have not adopted that policy, which is permitted and not mandated by the state.
Under limited circumstances, high school juniors and seniors also may receive PE waivers to take a course needed for graduation or required for admission by their chosen college.
The recent trends do concern IAHPERD, Nussle said.
“IAHPERD recognizes that we need to ensure daily PE so that kids can reap the physical, mental and social benefits, always remembering that healthy, active kids make better learners,” Nussle said.
The chair of the physical education department at Deerfield High School also believes today’s students need physical activity more than ever.
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“Having seen the increase in anxiety, stress and the amount of time that our kids are on technology, it has become increasingly apparent that there is a need for more physical education, not less,” said Marc Pechter, chair of the physical education, health and traffic safety department at Deerfield High School.
kberkowitz@pioneerlocal.com


chicagotribune--2020-01-29--Former Glendale Heights man pleads guilty to murder in stabbing death of Aurora man at graduation pa

Former Glendale Heights man pleads guilty to murder in stabbing death of Aurora man at graduation party in 2015

In a 2015 interview , Vargas said she and Price were attending a graduation party for her nephew on Prairie @ @ @ @ @ 2015 , when a fight broke out between Jimenez and other attendees .
Price had @ @ @ @ @ , and he and Vargas were in their car , trying to leave , when @ @ @ @ @ and stabbed Vargas , authorities said .

A man has pleaded guilty to the 2015 stabbing death of an Aurora man at a high school graduation party, according to DuPage County prosecutors.
Alberto Jimenez, 23, formerly of Glendale Heights, entered a plea of guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated battery during a Tuesday afternoon court appearance before Judge Alexander McGimpsey. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped other counts Jimenez was facing.
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Authorities say Jimenez stabbed Tehavis Price, 19, to death during an altercation at a party near West Chicago, moments after Jimenez stabbed Price’s girlfriend, Verkita Vargas. Prosecutors said she has since recovered.
In a 2015 interview, Vargas said she and Price were attending a graduation party for her nephew on Prairie Avenue on June 6, 2015, when a fight broke out between Jimenez and other attendees. Price had broken up an initial fight, and he and Vargas were in their car, trying to leave, when Jimenez opened a car door and stabbed Vargas, authorities said.
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Alberto Jimenez, formerly of Glendale Heights, pleaded guilty in the stabbing death of Tehavis Price, 19, of Aurora. (DuPage County Sheriff's Department)
When Price exited the car to confront their attacker, Jimenez stabbed him several times in the chest and upper body. Jimenez then fled but was later arrested and charged.
At one of his initial court appearances in 2015, prosecutors described Jimenez as a known gang member with several arrests.
Price was studying engineering at the College of DuPage and worked at a Portillo’s, his girlfriend said.
“This afternoon, Alberto Jimenez took responsibility for the senseless murder of Tehavis Price and the violent attack on Verkita Vargas,” State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement released Tuesday. “This is the first step in obtaining justice and perhaps some measure of closure for the family and friends of Tehavis.”
Jimenez will be back in court Feb. 25, and a date for sentencing will likely be set then. He had been scheduled to stand trial next month.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.


chicagotribune--2020-01-30--NFL’s Saints accused of helping shape the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ clergy sex abuse list

Even as the team 's attorneys went to court to keep the 276 documents from being released to the public @ @ @ @ @ court filing this week , `` Neither the Saints nor any of their personnel have @ @ @ @ @ The team says it does not object to the emails becoming public later if they @ @ @ @ @ the case .

NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Saints say they only did “minimal” public relations work on the area’s Roman Catholic sexual abuse crisis, but attorneys suing the church allege hundreds of confidential Saints emails show the team’s involvement went much further, helping to shape a list of credibly accused clergy that appears to be undercounted.
New court papers filed this week by lawyers for about two dozen men making sexual abuse claims against the Archdiocese of New Orleans gave the most detailed description yet of the emails that have rocked the NFL team and remain shielded from the public.
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"This goes beyond public relations," the attorneys wrote, accusing the Saints of issuing misleading statements saying their work for the archdiocese involved only "messaging" and handling media inquiries as part of the 2018 release of the clergy names.
Instead, they wrote, "The Saints appear to have had a hand in determining which names should or should not have been included on the pedophile list."
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"In order to fulfill this role ... the Saints must have known the specific allegations of sexual abuse against a priest ... and made a judgment call about whether those allegations by a particular victim against a named priest were, in its opinion, legitimate enough to warrant being included," the attorneys wrote. They added, "It cannot now be disputed that the Saints had actual involvement in the creation of the pedophile list."
That list, the Saints' role in it and how accurate it was have become key questions in a controversy that has swirled around the team since news of the emails broke last week.
Victims' advocates have long argued that the New Orleans Archdiocese's list of 57 credibly accused clergy, since expanded by six more names, minimizes the problem. An Associated Press analysis of the list suggests it underestimated the actual number of publicly accused clergy members in the region by at least 20.
Plaintiffs' attorneys alleged in earlier court papers that Saints executives joined in the archdiocese's "pattern and practice of concealing its crimes," and one email from late 2018 referred to Saints Senior Vice President of Communications Greg Bensel joining unnamed "third parties" in a discussion about "removing priests from the pedophile list." It was not clear which other Saints officials may have been involved.
The Saints, whose devoutly Catholic owner Gayle Benson is close friends with the local archbishop, have disputed as "outrageous" any suggestion that the team helped cover up crimes. They have accused plaintiffs' attorneys of mischaracterizing what is in the emails.
Even as the team's attorneys went to court to keep the 276 documents from being released to the public, they said in a court filing this week, "Neither the Saints nor any of their personnel have anything to hide." The team says it does not object to the emails becoming public later if they are admitted into evidence in the case.
In a lengthy statement Wednesday, the Saints said Bensel, the team spokesman, advised the archdiocese to be "direct, open and fully transparent" when it released its list to the media and to make sure all law enforcement agencies were alerted.
"Never did the Saints organization offer advice to conceal information," the team's statement said. "In fact, we advised that as new information relative to credible evidence about other clergy came to light, then those names should be released and given to the proper authorities."
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In its own statement Thursday, the New Orleans Archdiocese disputed the plaintiffs' attorneys on the Saints' role, saying it was "limited to guidance in releasing information to media" and not advising on the content of the accused clergy list.
The National Football League has not responded to repeated queries from the AP about whether such PR work by the team was appropriate or violated league conduct policies.
But victims' advocates say the Saints have at least created the appearance of impropriety.
"It's inappropriate for a football team to involve itself in a sex abuse scandal," said Kevin Bourgeois, who is both a local volunteer leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and a Saints season ticket holder.
"Their response was that they told the archbishop to be straightforward and open," said Bourgeois, who wore a black Saints jersey at a news conference this week outside the team's suburban practice facility. "And we believe that that's completely not true."
The AP, which first reported on the Saints email controversy last week, filed a motion with the court this month supporting the release of the documents as a matter of public interest.
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Both the Saints and the archdiocese have opposed the AP's involvement, and a court hearing was set Friday on whether the news organization may be heard. After that, another hearing will be scheduled to consider whether the Saints emails given to plaintiffs' attorneys may be released to the public.
The litigation has brought fresh attention to the process by which the New Orleans archdiocese came to produce its list of 57 names of clergy it deemed "credibly accused" of sexually abusing minors — the first roster of its kind to be released in heavily Catholic Louisiana.
The list was published in November 2018 as the archdiocese was reeling from a scandal in which a longtime deacon and schoolteacher, George F. Brignac, continued serving as a lay minister in the church decades after he was accused of sexually abusing children. An Orleans Parish grand jury indicted Brignac last year on claims he raped an altar boy beginning the late 1970s.
An AP investigation identified 20 clergy members who had been accused in lawsuits or charged by law enforcement with child sexual abuse who are missing from the New Orleans archdiocese list — including two who were charged and convicted of crimes.
The AP analysis included a review of bankruptcy documents, lawsuits, settlement information, grand jury reports, media accounts and a database of accused priests tracked by the group BishopAccountability.org.
Meanwhile, a new lawsuit accuses local church leaders of refusing to disclose the names of 17 people accused of abusing children at a church-run home called Madonna Manor in suburban Jefferson Parish. The names were omitted from the list even though the archdiocese has paid millions of dollars to settle claims of sexual abuse at the home, the lawsuit says.
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When the credibly accused list was released in late 2018, Archbishop Gregory Aymond expressed confidence in its accuracy and said it implicated 2 percent of local clergy following a review of 2,432 files dating to 1950.
That percentage would be significantly lower than the representation of abusive priests seen in jurisdictions around the country, said Terry McKiernan, founder of BishopAccountability.org, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit group that tracks clergy sexual abuse cases.
The church's own numbers, published by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, put the national average around 6 percent, while some advocacy groups contend it's as high as 10 percent.
McKiernan said it would be "objectionable" for Bensel to hold the dual role of directing damage control and weighing in on the contents of the credibly accused list.
"One would hope that the church is not viewing this as a PR matter anymore but a matter for truth and justice," McKiernan said. "If you have someone helping you spin not only the problem but the supposedly accurate list that describes the problem, you have a lot of work to do."
Associated Press writers Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia, Meghan Hoyer in Washington and Kevin McGill in Metairie, La., contributed to this report.


chicagotribune--2020-01-30--Southbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive near Belmont back open following fatal wreck

The car did not hit any other vehicles and the man was by himself in the car at the time @ @ @ @ @ 3:10 p.m .

An 80-year-old man apparently suffered a medical emergency and crashed while driving south on Lake Shore Drive, leaving him dead on the scene on Jan. 30, 2020, Chicago police said. (Pedram Jahanian / HANDOUT)
Traffic is getting back to normal after a fatal crash on Lake Shore Drive near Belmont Avenue caused temporary lanes closures Thursday afternoon, Chicago police said.
An 80-year-old man was driving south on Lake Shore Drive when he apparently suffered a medical emergency and lost control of the car, said Officer Zeyad Matlock, a police spokesman. The man then slammed into a barrier and spun out.
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The car did not hit any other vehicles and the man was by himself in the car at the time of the crash, about 3:10 p.m.
Emergency crews pronounced the man, whose name was not available yet, dead on the scene, said Matlock.
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It wasn’t clear how officers knew he had a medical issue and Matlock said there will be an autopsy Friday.
As of 5:35 p.m., southbound lanes of the drive, from Hollywood to Belmont, have re-opened, according to the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
rsobol@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-01-30--Chicago couple suing ‘Windy City Rehab’ stars want HGTV’s parent company added to lawsuit

“ If Discovery Inc. , were ever a proper party to this case , it seems strange that ( the @ @ @ @ @ Discovery Inc. , as a party in their original filing , ” Gramenos ’ attorney @ @ @ @ @ in a statement to the Tribune .
“ If the Morrisseys are going to keep @ @ @ @ @ ’ s next , a lawsuit against the providers that carry ‘ Windy City Rehab @ @ @ @ @ the TV sets on which people watch the show ?
”

The owners at 2308 W. Giddings St. in the Lincoln Square neighborhood have filed a lawsuit against the team behind the popular HGTV series “Windy City Rehab.” (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
A couple upset with the work the stars of “Windy City Rehab” did on their Lincoln Square home are trying to add the parent company of HGTV, the network that broadcasts the popular TV show, to their Cook County lawsuit.
Attorneys for show host Alison Victoria Gramenos and the couple, James and Anna Morrissey, appeared briefly in court Thursday to discuss the Morrisseys’ motion to amend their complaint to include Discovery Inc. The issue was not decided Thursday, but the parties were already scheduled to return to court Feb. 13 on other matters. Gramenos has been trying to get the lawsuit dismissed in favor of mediation.
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“If Discovery Inc., were ever a proper party to this case, it seems strange that (the) Morrisseys did not include Discovery Inc., as a party in their original filing,” Gramenos’ attorney, Daniel Lynch, said in a statement to the Tribune. “If the Morrisseys are going to keep expanding this case, what’s next, a lawsuit against the providers that carry ‘Windy City Rehab’ or the manufacturer of the TV sets on which people watch the show?”
The Morrisseys say they have suffered emotional distress “due to Discovery’s deceptive trade practices,” according to the proposed amended complaint filed last week. They are also seeking a “permanent injunction” prohibiting Discovery — which owns Discovery Channel, Food Network, TLC and other channels — from endorsing, sponsoring or promoting Gramenos and her Season 1 contractor, Donovan Eckhardt, on their media platforms or TV networks. An HGTV representative did not respond to a Tribune request for comment.
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“The Morrisseys allege that Discovery violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act by endorsing, sponsoring or promoting Gramenos and Eckhardt as competent real estate developers when they were the exact opposite. The Morrisseys are asking for Discovery to cover the damages they suffered as a result of the numerous defects at their property and a permanent injunction prohibiting Discovery from continuing to misrepresent Gramenos and Eckhardt on their television networks or media platforms,” the Morrisseys’ attorney, Nicole Daniel, said in a statement to the Tribune.
The Morrisseys sued Gramenos, Eckhardt and contractor Ermin Pajazetovic on Dec. 30 over issues they said they experienced at 2308 W. Giddings St. They said they were sold a $1.36 million “defective” property with a failing roof, leaking windows, deteriorating masonry and a problematic bathroom.
Gramenos’ renovation of the home was featured on Season 1 of “Windy City Rehab,” which aired last year. The series follows Gramenos and her team as they flip homes around Chicago, amid permit problems with the city and complaints from neighbors. Season 2 is expected to premiere in the summer.
Gramenos’ attorneys filed paperwork this month to dismiss the Morrisseys’ lawsuit, alleging they did not seek the formal assistance of a mediator before going to court, as required by their contract. Gramenos also expressed interest in buying back the Giddings home. The Morrisseys have said in their legal paperwork that they want to return the home for $1.44 million to cover the purchase price and costs associated with fixes they said they made.
“Despite statements by Ms. Gramenos and Alison Victoria Interiors Inc. to various media outlets that they would like to purchase the property back, neither has responded to Plaintiffs’ requests for this to be done,” Daniel said.
tswartz@tribpub.com


chicagotribune--2020-01-30--Parents were arguing over finding a place to live when gun dropped from father’s jacket and went off

Parents were arguing over finding a place to live when gun dropped from father’s jacket and went off, hitting their 23-month-old son, prosecutors say

The quarrel between the couple married for nine years , according to prosecutors , quickly escalated after Smith threatened to @ @ @ @ @ , who responded by tossing her phone through a window in the apartment , Scaduto @ @ @ @ @ throwing a jean jacket at McCoy , which is when the handgun fell from coat @ @ @ @ @ weapon discharged as both grabbed different ends of the gun .

The mother's apartment building in the 800 block of West Eastwood Avenue is shown on Jan 28, 2020. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Travis McCoy and Adriana Smith were arguing over finding another place to live.
A gun fell from McCoy’s jacket as they quarreled, and both of them scrambled for it. The gun went off, the bullet ricocheting and hitting their 23-month-old son in the side of the head, prosecutors said Thursday as the married couple appeared side by side in court.
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In the frantic moments that followed, McCoy scooped up the boy and ran to Weiss Memorial Hospital down the street from the Uptown apartment, prosecutors said. Smith stayed behind, cleaning up some of the blood before leaving the apartment and tossing the weapon into a neighborhood park, authorities said.
McCoy ran into police officers outside the hospital and told them a story about being fired at while walking in the alley with his son, hearing gunfire and trying in vain to shield the boy.
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[ Police: Toddler was not hit by stray bullet on the street, as father claimed, but was wounded as parents struggled over gun ]
But police and prosecutors said the story quickly fell apart when a cadre of patrolmen, evidence technicians and detectives were unable to find any signs of a shooting anywhere on the street, as McCoy watched for about 30 minutes from a police vehicle, authorities said. Police went to the home, saw blood throughout, and found a spent shell casing, a bullet hole and a shattered window.
Doctors told police that the bullet struck the boy’s right temple, but said bullet fragments hadn’t penetrated the toddler’s skull, and he was expected to be released from a hospital later Thursday.
Travis McCoy, 26, left, and Adriana Smith, 28. (Chicago Police Department)
McCoy, 26, was charged with making a false complaint to 911, and Smith with obstruction of justice and destroying evidence. The two were also charged with a misdemeanor count of causing a child to be endangered.
Surveillance cameras at Smith’s apartment building in the 800 block of West Eastwood Avenue captured her cleaning up blood, as well as her leaving the apartment with her 7-year-old daughter to dispose of the gun, Assistant State’s Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said during a bail hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building at 26th Street and California Avenue.
The quarrel between the couple married for nine years, according to prosecutors, quickly escalated after Smith threatened to call the police on McCoy, who responded by tossing her phone through a window in the apartment, Scaduto said. Smith responded by throwing a jean jacket at McCoy, which is when the handgun fell from coat, she added. The weapon discharged as both grabbed different ends of the gun.
"This is a horrible, horrible tragedy,” Circuit Judge Arthur Wesley Willis said Thursday as tears streamed down McCoy’s face. But a tragedy that could have been “reasonably prevented” if McCoy, who has a prior felony conviction in North Carolina, hadn’t had a weapon, the judge said, in ordering each parent held on $10,000 bail.
He said he was troubled by the parents’ actions after the shooting, but noted that the felonies lodged against them were fairly minor with probation as a possible sentence. More serious felony charges weren’t filed as authorities hadn’t located the gun, authorities said.
They will receive electronic monitoring if released but cannot communicate with each other or their children, who have been placed in the custody of the Illinois Department of Chicago and Family Services.
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The couple’s court-appointed attorney, Emily Bock, called the shooting an “unimaginable accident” and said that while both parents panicked immediately afterward, neither of their actions delayed medical treatment to their son.
Smith was recently accepted at two college nursing programs with the hopes of becoming a registered nurse, Bock added.
Both will have seven days to challenge their bail and the order barring communication with their son and 7-year-old daughter.
Relatives and supporters for McCoy and Smith declined comment as they left the courthouse.
Both parents are expected to return to court next Thursday.


chicagotribune--2020-01-30--Philadelphia won the pop tax battle. But in Cook County and across US, Big Soda is winning the war.

Studies about the tax show that beverage sales in Philadelphia stores dropped after it took effect , while sales at @ @ @ @ @ increased .
Each side has its own take on the research , much of which @ @ @ @ @ the industry or public health advocates like former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg .
While @ @ @ @ @ the data is proof it ’ s hurting businesses and failing , supporters say a @ @ @ @ @ — and is good for public health .

Laura Mccrystal, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Opponents of a soda tax proposal demonstrate June 8, 2016, outside City Hall in Philadelphia. The measure ultimately passed. Studies about the tax show that beverage sales in Philadelphia stores dropped after it took effect, while sales at stores just outside the city increased. Each side has its own take on the research: While opponents of the tax say the data is proof it’s hurting businesses and failing, supporters say a drop is to be expected — and is good for public health. (Matt Rourke / AP)
Philadelphia — When Philadelphia became the first big U.S. city to pass a soda tax in 2016, the rest of the country was watching. Mayor Jim Kenney basked in a national spotlight, appearing on CNN as even presidential candidates weighed in on the issue. And public health advocates predicted many others would follow in Philadelphia’s footsteps.
Now, as Kenney starts a second term following a 2019 reelection campaign that saw the beverage industry spend about $1.5 million fighting the tax, it seems likely to survive as his signature achievement. But Kenney is still one of relatively few mayors whose city taxes sweetened beverages.
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Only seven cities levy a tax on soda distribution, and Philadelphia is the only one on the East Coast to do so, according to The Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank. No new taxes have taken effect since January 2018. The beverage industry has mounted an effective counteroffensive in the past three years, backing state “preemption” legislation that now bans municipalities from passing new taxes in Arizona, California, Michigan and Washington state.
“After we passed ours … the soda industry has gone into kind of hyperdrive with some of these other jurisdictions,” Kenney said in an interview last week. “It’s a shame, because that money could be going to really good purposes in many communities.”
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Philadelphia’s 1.5 cents-per-ounce tax has raised more than $200 million since it took effect in 2017. The revenue funds pre-K, community schools, and improvements to parks, recreation centers, and libraries, making it politically harder to repeal. But far outside the city, Philadelphia remains at the center of debates over soda taxes, as advocates point to it as an example to follow and opponents paint it as an abject failure.
Those debates will last for years to come, as researchers study the policy’s economic and public health impacts.
Soda taxes will likely “continue to be on a list of options that state and local policy makers are considering,” said Richard Auxier, a Tax Policy Center researcher.
The beverage industry’s political victories in recent years show it’s currently ahead in the war over taxing soda, said Marion Nestle, a professor emerita of nutrition food studies and public health at New York University. But she said increased attention to the issue still has a positive impact, because soda consumption is declining.
“People are buying fewer sugar sweetened beverages,” Nestle said. “And the tougher the fights get, and the nastier they get, the more sales go down.”
Soda taxes are also in effect in Seattle; Boulder, Colo.; and four cities in California: San Francisco, Oakland, Albany and Berkeley, which passed its tax before Philadelphia. In 2017, voters in Santa Fe, New Mexico, shot down a tax. The same year, Cook County, Ill., passed and then repealed one. Lawmakers in seven states had proposed statewide taxes on soda last year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. None have passed yet.
Some of the industry’s biggest wins have been the passage of preemption laws.
“Beverage taxes have had a harmful impact on local businesses, employees and working families, do not achieve public health goals, are tremendously unpopular, and result in major job and economic losses, particularly among those who can least afford it,” Anthony Campisi, a spokesperson for the Ax the Philly Bev Tax Coalition, said in a statement.
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Impact of tax debated
Studies about the tax show that beverage sales in Philadelphia stores dropped after it took effect, while sales at stores just outside the city increased. Each side has its own take on the research, much of which has been funded by either the industry or public health advocates like former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. While opponents of the tax say the data is proof it’s hurting businesses and failing, supporters say a drop is to be expected — and is good for public health.
Jim Engler, Kenney’s chief of staff, said he often hears from advocates, researchers, and lawmakers around the world who want to know about Philadelphia’s tax. He advises them to attach taxes to a specific program that residents care about, and to prepare for the deep-pocketed industry to fight back. In Philadelphia, the American Beverage Association spent almost $19 million fighting the tax from 2016 through last September.
“I don’t know that it’s necessarily fair to say that they’re winning the war,” Engler said. “They have just about limitless resources, and if you’re thinking about it as a war, the side that has the limitless resources is always going to be favored.”
On a trip to New Hampshire for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign last week, one voter at a senior center asked Kenney about it. The mayor said it’s paying for important programs but that he’s still facing opposition: A bill pending in Harrisburg would preempt the city from taxing soda.
“But I think we’ll fight them off,” Kenney said. “It’s just having the courage of your convictions and doing what you have to do to get it done.”
Beverage industry funds groups
Opponents have sought to use Philadelphia’s tax to stop others from gaining traction. The beverage and grocery industries appear to follow a similar playbook in each city.
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Operatives form coalition groups funded largely by the American Beverage Association, but not named after it — giving it more of a grassroots feel. In Philadelphia, that group is Ax the Bev Tax. In Washington, D.C., where a proposed tax on soda is pending, the industry-funded group Alliance for an Affordable D.C. is using studies about and news stories from Philadelphia in its campaign.
“We’ve seen the detrimental effect that similar taxes have had across the country — just look at Philadelphia,” the Alliance for an Affordable D.C. says on its website, citing reports of job losses and a grocery store closure after the tax took effect. When a West Philadelphia ShopRite closed in 2019 its owner blamed the tax, while the Kenney administration said the tax was just a scapegoat for one failing supermarket.
In Cook County, bad news about Philadelphia’s tax was a key component of the successful repeal campaign. The Kenney administration disputes the industry’s portrayal. But Engler acknowledged its effectiveness.
“The industry’s reaction has put the fear of God in other governments from trying to do this,” he said.
At home, the tax seems poised to outlast Kenney’s time in office after he easily defeated two primary challengers last year who opposed it. A majority of current City Council members support it.
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A Philadelphia Inquirer poll last April found that the programs it funds are more popular than the tax itself. While 62% of voters called the tax a failure and 55% said it should be repealed, 62% said they’d like to keep the pre-K program.
And the opposition hasn’t given up.
“We remain committed to working with City Council and Mayor Kenney to provide much-needed relief to families and businesses impacted by this tax,” said Campisi, of the Ax the Bev Tax Coalition.
City Councilmember María Quiñones Sánchez, the only Democrat to vote against the tax, introduced a bill last year that would have amended or potentially eliminated it. The measure died, but she did gain support for a Council-commissioned study of the tax that is currently underway.
Quiñones Sánchez said she hopes the tax can be modified to a lower rate and to include fewer beverages. Products such as juices, sports drinks, and almond milk are also currently taxed.
“It’s expensive to be poor,” she said, “and now, because of the beverage tax, it’s more expensive to be poor in Philadelphia.”
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More debate could come as some council members jockey for position in the 2023 mayoral race to succeed Kenney. Quiñones Sánchez is seen as a likely candidate.
Kenney isn’t giving up either. Asked for his advice to other government leaders considering going up against the powerful beverage industry, he said: “Have courage, because they can be defeated.”
Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Julia Terruso contributed.
©2020 The Philadelphia Inquirer
Visit The Philadelphia Inquirer at www.inquirer.com
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Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.


chicagotribune--2020-01-30--Prosecutors to propose that Chicago Ald. Edward Burke go on trial on corruption charges early next y

Prosecutors to propose that Chicago Ald. Edward Burke go on trial on corruption charges early next year

Among the projects Burke tried to capitalize on was the massive , $ 800 million renovation of the old main @ @ @ @ @ West Loop , according to the charges .
A key part of the evidence against @ @ @ @ @ from secret recordings made by then-Ald .
Daniel Solis , a longtime Burke ally who @ @ @ @ @ in 2016 after he was himself secretly recorded by a developer .

Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, right, gets applause after his farewell speech on his last day as alderman at the City Council meeting, April 19, 2023. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
The sweeping racketeering indictment of Chicago Ald. Edward Burke isn’t expected to go to trial until at least next year as defense lawyers say federal prosecutors have yet to turn over a “vast” amount of undercover recordings, according to a court filing Thursday.
Prosecutors said in the joint status report that they intend to ask U.S. District Judge Robert Dow at a hearing Tuesday to set a trial date for “early 2021” for Burke and his two co-defendants.
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Prosecutors said they’ve turned over to the defense more than 44,000 pages of records so far, as well as additional electronic discovery and numerous boxes of hard evidence. In the coming months, prosecutors said, they will be turning over additional evidence pertaining to cooperating witnesses in the case.
Defense attorneys, meanwhile, said in the filing that they believe that material is “vast” and made up almost entirely of undercover recordings. They want Dow to force prosecutors to turn the evidence over earlier to give the defense more time to review it.
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The filing marked the first update on the case since last fall. Neither Burke nor his co-defendants, longtime political operative Peter J. Andrews and real estate developer Charles Cui, are expected to attend Tuesday’s hearing, as their appearances have been waived by the judge.
Burke was indicted in May 2019 on 14 counts including racketeering, federal program bribery, attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion and using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity. The most serious charges call for up to 20 years in federal prison on conviction.
Andrews was accused of assisting the alderman in attempting to shake down two businessmen seeking to renovate a Burger King restaurant in the 14th Ward.
The indictment also accused Cui of hiring Burke’s law firm in exchange for the alderman’s help with a sign permit and financing deal for a project in the Portage Park neighborhood.
All three have pleaded not guilty.
The 59-page indictment outlined a series of schemes in which Burke — the city’s longest-serving alderman and a vestige of the old Democratic machine — allegedly tried to muscle developers into hiring his law firm, Klafter & Burke, to appeal their property taxes.
Among the projects Burke tried to capitalize on was the massive, $800 million renovation of the old main Chicago post office in the West Loop, according to the charges. A key part of the evidence against Burke on that project comes from secret recordings made by then-Ald. Daniel Solis, a longtime Burke ally who began working with federal investigators in 2016 after he was himself secretly recorded by a developer.
Solis, who abruptly retired in late 2018, has not been charged with wrongdoing.
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Earlier this week, former state Sen. Martin Sandoval became the first to be convicted in a series of mushrooming political corruption investigations that began to come to public light in November 2018 when FBI agents raided Burke’s City Hall offices.
Sandoval, 56, pleaded guilty to bribery and tax charges, admitting in a plea agreement with prosecutors that he took at least a quarter of a million dollars in payments in exchange for his influence or official action in Springfield, including $70,000 in “protection” fees from a clout-heavy red-light camera company.
Sandoval is cooperating with prosecutors in the hopes of reducing his sentence.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-01-30--Happy hour deals in Chicago, Jan. 30-Feb. 5

Join the Andersonville Coffee & Hot Cocoa Crawl from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Elixir ( 1509 W. Balmoral @ @ @ @ @ ’ ll get a mug , a pastry and drinks at seven stops for $ @ @ @ @ @ 9 a.m. Tickets : andersonville.org/events

Happy hour at Boqueria offers, as an option The Devil Wears Manzana. (Rey Lopez)
Thursday, Jan. 30
VU Rooftop Bar (133 E. Cermak Road 312-528-0191) offers $5 Miller High Life and $8 sangria and dealer’s choice cocktails from 4-6 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 31
Oda Mediteranean Cuisine (5657 N. Clark St. 773-878-8930) offers half-price cocktails from 5-7 p.m.
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Saturday, Feb. 1
Join the Andersonville Coffee & Hot Cocoa Crawl from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Elixir (1509 W. Balmoral Ave. 773-654-1751) and you’ll get a mug, a pastry and drinks at seven stops for $20. Check-in begins at 9 a.m. Tickets: andersonville.org/events
Sunday, Feb. 2
The Old Plank (2700 N. Milwaukee Ave. 773-661-2190) offers $15 buckets of Lone Star or White Claw, 30 wings for $30, and $2 shots of Evan Williams whiskey and Lunazul tequila from 5-11 p.m.
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Monday, Feb. 3
Wood (3335 N. Halsted St. 773-935-9663) offers $9 glasses of wine and well cocktails, $5 Krombacher Pils, $7 glazed duck wings, and $15 sardines from 5-7 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 4
Boqueria (807 W. Fulton Market 312-257-3177) offers $6 glasses of sherry, $8 glasses of wine, $33 pitchers of sangria, $4 marinated olives and $5 churros from 3-6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 5
Sample six Napa Valley wines paired with appetizers for $25 from 5-7 p.m. at III Forks (180 N. Field Blvd. 312-938-4303).


chicagotribune--2020-01-30--The NBA is changing the All-Star Game format and adding a Kobe Bryant tribute

The target score concept is something that the NBA has been considering since last summer , when National Basketball Players @ @ @ @ @ a big fan of The Basketball Tournament , a winner-take-all $ 2 million event composed @ @ @ @ @ — reached out to say the league should explore the concept .
The Basketball Tournament @ @ @ @ @ Elam Ending ; the game clock is turned off at the first stoppage with 4:00 @ @ @ @ @ quarter , and the target score there is eight points more than the leading score @ @ @ @

Kobe Bryant’s final jersey number will be something this year’s NBA All-Stars play to reach.
The NBA announced major changes to the All-Star format on Thursday, turning every quarter into a mini-game for charity before an untimed final quarter with a target score that will decide which team wins. Scores will be reset — back to 0-0 — at the start of the second and third quarters, then restored to begin the fourth quarter.
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That’s where the tribute to Bryant and the No. 24 jersey he wore for the last decade of his NBA career comes into play. The team that wins the All-Star Game will be the first to reach a target score, determined by the total points the team in the lead scored in the first three quarters combined — plus 24, the obvious nod to Bryant.
The NBA said there will be multiple tributes to Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and the seven others who lost their lives in Sunday’s helicopter crash throughout All-Star weekend, including the showcase game on Feb. 16. The target score is just one of them.
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“We spent a lot of time considering the right target number to use for the fourth quarter,” said Byron Spruell, the NBA’s president for league operations. “Through the events of this week it became clear to us that the only appropriate number for this season’s All-Star game is 24.”
The target score is the latest addition to the NBA’s quest to make the game more competitive, something that players have wanted for some time.
This is the third year where the NBA has had a format where captains — it’ll be the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo in those roles this year, just like last year — get to draft their teams, something that will take place next week.
“We’ve been very focused on making it more competitive, making it more exciting and making it fun,” Spruell said. “And we’ve had a great collaboration with the union. For this year’s game, we really focused on what new things we could do to make it a really competitive game where each quarter mattered in this case.”
It’ll matter to Chicago-area charities, which will benefit from however many quarters Team LeBron and Team Giannis win that night.
The team that has the most points after the first quarter will win $100,000 for its charity. The same will apply to the second and third quarters. The scores get added for the fourth to set the target score — for example, if the score is 100-95 at that point, then the team that wins the All-Star Game will be the first to reach 124.
The target score concept is something that the NBA has been considering since last summer, when National Basketball Players Association president Chris Paul — a big fan of The Basketball Tournament, a winner-take-all $2 million event composed mostly of college alumni teams — reached out to say the league should explore the concept. The Basketball Tournament uses what is called the Elam Ending; the game clock is turned off at the first stoppage with 4:00 or less in the fourth quarter, and the target score there is eight points more than the leading score at the time.
“It almost takes us back to when we would play on the playground,” Spruell said. “We’d go up to 15 or 21 or what have you. This time it’ll be 24 with someone hitting a gamewinning shot.”
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There’s at least $500,000 for charity at stake from the game alone. Each of the first three quarters is worth $100,000 — if there’s a tie, the money rolls over to the next quarter — and the final score is worth another $200,000. If one team sweeps all four quarters, the other team will receive $100,000 for its charity regardless.
For now, this is a one-year change, though the NBA is hopeful that the quarter-score for charity element and the target-score ending become part of the All-Star Game on a long-term basis.
“If successful, I would imagine we keep it moving,” Spruell said.


chicagotribune--2020-01-30--Review: ‘Sophisticated Ladies’ puts the band, stunning singers and a full range of music by Duke Ell

Review: ‘Sophisticated Ladies’ puts the band, stunning singers and a full range of music by Duke Ellington on stage. Not to be missed.

Since it was penned for Broadway , “ Sophisticated Ladies ” is not a small-cast revue .
No , siree @ @ @ @ @ ’ t-stop production features a cast of 15 singers and dancers , plus seven musicians @ @ @ @ @ numbering 22 , as led by the impeccably suave Donterrio Johnson with an assist from @ @ @ @ @ The dance is energetically eclectic , but one of the central metaphors in play here @ @ @ @ @ being a big company hidden inside a jewel-box theater , spilling out from the wings @ @ @ @ @ your seat , even as Hill massages the keys in his white suit .
The @ @ @ @ @ gear to droll metaphoric jokes to suave evening wear .
The designer , Theresa Ham @ @ @ @ @ color and the company makes sure it never remains still .

Chicago sometimes unlocks shows, like the Porchlight Music Theatre production of “Sophisticated Ladies,” that have so much young talent in the cast, you’re never sure whether to bask in the quality of the experience or lament the lack of recognition and remuneration.
To be a Chicago theater critic can mean staring out at performers like, say, the vocalists Donica Lynn and Molly Kral and marvel at how few people know their names. It can also mean hearing people lament the lack of live entertainment aimed at tourists in the Loop and see a show that could be moved — lock, stock and trombone — to take up a long-term, job-creating residence, instead of closing on March 6, by which point you may not have gotten around to going.
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Although I’d make it a priority.
“Sophisticated Ladies,” first seen on Broadway in 1981, is a dynamic, two-act celebration of the music of Duke Ellington, a canon typified by constant stylistic reinvention, and it doesn’t just need singers who can sing Ellington, but singers who can sing every shade of Ellington, as his music drastically changed across six decades. You have to be able to evoke the Cotton Club and the Newport Jazz Festival, the scared and titillating, the sentimental, the sophisticated and the indigo of mood. All are legitimately Dukish, and all are handled superbly here by Lynn and Kral.
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Lynn, who is at the core of this staging created by the choreographic team of Brenda Didier and Florence Walker Harris, is a long way, really, from your typical scat, jazz or blues singer, in that she has all of those skills but also a vulnerable fragility that greatly deepens “In a Sentimental Mood," adding, as she does, an existential slide.
But this is not a concert, despite the front-and-center presence of the musical director (and jazz pianist) Jermaine Hill, whose musicians have been freed from the acoustically problematic side galleries at the Ruth Page Arts Center and instead allowed to sit, big-band style, on the stage. This also is a dance show, especially when you are looking at the conjoined work of two different choreographers. Actually, it is more of a dance show than it needs to be, maybe, but the movement here is a joyous and thrillingly executed expansion of what you might be expecting.
Donterrio Johnson, Lydia Burke and Eustace J. Williams in "Sophisticated Ladies" by Porchlight Music Theatre. (Michael Courier photo)
Since it was penned for Broadway, “Sophisticated Ladies” is not a small-cast revue. No, siree. This fast-paced, just-can’t-stop production features a cast of 15 singers and dancers, plus seven musicians, for a total company numbering 22, as led by the impeccably suave Donterrio Johnson with an assist from Lorenzo Rush, Jr. The dance is energetically eclectic, but one of the central metaphors in play here is the idea of this being a big company hidden inside a jewel-box theater, spilling out from the wings and uncoiling not far from your seat, even as Hill massages the keys in his white suit. The costumes range from full-on flapper gear to droll metaphoric jokes to suave evening wear. The designer, Theresa Ham, unspools a riot of color and the company makes sure it never remains still.
There is some visual weakness toward the rear of the stage, I guess, with curtaining that feels indistinct. But I doubt you will care much about that.
One other note here: There is a palpable sense of racial unity in this show, of partnership, of sharing, of tolerance, of mutual caring and belonging. The Duke would have loved everything about that feeling.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
Review: “Sophisticated Ladies” (4 stars)
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When: Through March 6
Where: Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St.
Running time: 2 hours
Tickets: $39-$66 at 773-777-9884 or www.porchlightmusictheatre.org


chicagotribune--2020-01-30--Review: Stellar beer and food pairings could make Moody Tongue only the second Michelin-starred Amer

Review: Stellar beer and food pairings could make Moody Tongue only the second Michelin-starred American brewpub

Though you can eat and drink perfectly well in the bar , the real journey lies on the fine dining @ @ @ @ @ with a beer unavailable on the bar side : Pressed Asian Pear Saison , presented @ @ @ @ @ be Champagne for most pairing menus .
It ’ s earthy and fruity and without @ @ @ @ @ taste buds to the evening ahead .
It also happens to be a faultless food @ @ @ @ @ of “ snacks ” arrives .
( They ’ re quite likely the most decadent @ @ @ @ @ had , especially the lamb samosa . )

Moody Tongue Brewing Co. moved to the South Loop in late 2019, expanding the brewpub to add two dining rooms. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Editor’s note: This tandem review by Phil Vettel and Josh Noel begins with an intro by Vettel.
The only brewpub in America with Michelin-star recognition is Band of Bohemia. I strongly suspect that, in the next Michelin Chicago Guide, the Ravenswood restaurant will have company.
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Moody Tongue, in its spacious new South Loop digs, combines a serious, large-scale brewing program with the cuisine of chef Jared Wentworth, who, through his stellar work at Longman & Eagle and Dusek’s Board & Beer, has had considerable success in capturing the Michelin Man’s attention.
Careful readers of my reviews know that I don’t often discuss beer programs because I’m slightly allergic to beer, in a stuffy head sort of way. And so I rarely drink beer, except when duty calls.
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And when the critical stakes are as high as Moody Tongue’s ambition makes them, I call for backup — specifically, my colleague, beer writer Josh Noel, who evaluates co-founder and brewmaster Jared Rouben’s work in more reliable and relatable detail below.
The Bar at Moody Tongue, 2515 S. Wabash Ave. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
I’ll say this much: There’s a remarkable synergy between the food and the beer at Moody Tongue; every bite and sip speaks to collaboration and mutual understanding. And a couple of the pairings — the watermelon saison with a Chinese-influenced crab dish, and the lemon saison with the mussels (steamed in that same beer) — were inspiring even to this beer-phobic palate. I’ll leave the rest of the pairings to Josh.
— Phil Vettel
The food
Wentworth offers two menus at Moody Tongue. There’s a 12-course tasting, priced at $155 (which includes beer pairings), and an a la carte menu. My guess is that most people will pick a la carte, especially the first time out, so I’ll start there.
The menu reads simply — few terms will induce head-scratching — but the dishes are executed with precision and uncommonly pretty presentation. Grilled octopus arrives as five medallions dabbed with saffron-lemon aioli, arranged in a slight curve on a bed of slow-simmered eggplant and chickpeas, and chunks of morcilla sausage. Beet tartare is magazine-cover pretty, a tall disk of smoked beet topped with spruce-infused ricotta, gelled egg yolk and mustard seed.
Bread plays a large role in both menus; Wentworth is playing off the beer-is-liquid-bread saying. Crusty, toasted sourdough plays nicely with that smoky beet tartare; chicken liver mousse is paired with a yummy pecan toast. And the mussels, mentioned previously, are matched to wide slices of toasted baguette smeared with black-garlic aioli.
Celery root rotollini features pasta rolled tall and filled with celery root and ricotta. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
I’m particularly fond of the rotollini, contributed by sous chef Emily Phillips. The pasta pieces are like oversized tortellini, rolled tall and filled with celery root and ricotta. Brown-butter solids are scattered at the base, while Parmesan foam and slivers of black truffle sit on top.
Main courses include an exceptional dry-aged pork chop with pears, cabrales cheese and fennel conserva, and an imaginative bouillabaisse with prawns, mussels, striped bass, and a scallop-mousse and king crab cannelloni. What’s rapidly becoming a signature entree is the skillet-fried chicken with black-truffle cavatelli; it’s a good chicken, but it didn’t curl my toes the way the pork and bouillabaisse did.
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The tasting menu gets off to a rousing start with a trio of single bites: A puffy gougere topped with smoked-bass mousseline and arctic-char roe, an oyster with kalamansi vinaigrette and a tall samosa of butter-crisped phyllo filled with ground lamb, topped with a dab of yogurt and finger lime.
In rapid succession come chawanmushi topped with lobster and shaved truffle, and a fanciful nigiri of madai (sea bream) draped with lardo and topped with sea urchin, wrapped in braised kombu (in lieu of nori).
Madai is draped with lardo and topped with sea urchin, wrapped in braised kombu. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Seared foie gras with pain d’epices and fruit is a fairly common composition, but Wentworth switches things up with his fruit choices — umeboshi, gooseberries, satsuma and cranberry gel.
About two-thirds into the menu, there’s a palate cleanser — in my case, pieces of caraway pretzel with a puddle of beer cheese, since changed to black-truffle focaccia with house-made citrus butter — more fun with bread.
Meaty contributions are very impressive; there was pork belly on a bed of Carolina Gold rice with pumpkin puree; squab with wonderful caramelized endive and cassis sauce; and American Wagyu with carrot puree, maitake puree, salsify and a teeny Yorkshire pudding.
Pastry chef Tucker Critchfield manages some nifty desserts. For the tasting menu, he contributes a lime-pineapple sherbet (with a toasted-rice lager pour-over), brown butter spongecake with sweet-potato ice cream and gooseberry conserva, and bittersweet chocolate cake with toasted-rye ice cream, topped with a shower of micro-shaved, smoked foie gras.
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On the a la carte side, Critchfield offers the spongecake with slightly different accompaniments (burnt-honey ice cream and date puree), a rich and satisfying dark-chocolate cremeux with cocoa nibs and devils-food crumble and, my favorite, a colorful take on ambrosia made with charred pineapple, lime sherbet, milk jam and coconut foam.
In addition to the beers that accompany the tasting menu, there’s a list of the brewery’s current releases (with very little duplication) on the back of the a la carte menu. There’s also a legit wine list, with bottles and by-the-glass pours. Beer and wine lovers can coexist at Moody Tongue quite nicely.
Service on our visits was exemplary, particularly on the night I visited with Josh. We briefly wondered which one of us had been recognized first, but it really didn’t matter.
— P.V.
The beer
The beer selection includes Aperitif Pilsner, from left, Roasted Cocoa Oatmeal Nitro Stout, Sour Raspberry Framboise, Hazy Mango Pineapple IPA, Salted Gose, Sliced Nectarine IPA and Bourbon Barrel-Aged 12-Layer-Cake Imperial Stout. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
In an evening of memorable moments during Moody Tongue’s 12-course, beer-pairing journey, one moment is particularly acute.
It’s the fourth stop of the $155 evening: Kaluga caviar, served with rich oyster panna cotta and paired with a beer called Salted Gose.
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Gose is a German-style wheat beer that features salt as a prominent, if unlikely, ingredient. The result is an ale that’s lightly tart, lightly briny and deeply refreshing when done right.
For that fourth course, Rouben — who often, though not always, handles beer service for the pairing menu — explains the beer’s German heritage and its unique ingredient. It makes for a seamless pairing with the salty caviar and sweet panna cotta, he explains.
Rouben then finishes the short introduction by spooning a tiny amount of house-made salt foam into the glass and stirring it in. Beer lovers familiar with gose will appreciate the nod to brewing history. Those less familiar with the style will be dazzled by the dramatic flair: Salt? In beer?
It’s a small, dynamic touch in an evening filled with sensory revelations. It also underscores Moody Tongue’s goal of creating rarefied fine dining inside a brewery.
Moody Tongue generally succeeds with The Dining Room at Moody Tongue, and on multiple levels: the quality of the beer, its thoughtful presentation and its place beside Wentworth’s bold and uncompromising menu.
Some of the beer pairings — 12 beers across the 12 courses, plus a bottomless side pour of pilsner — work better than others. But complaints are few.
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A key to dining at Moody Tongue, though, is that the same can be said of the a la carte side of the equation, The Bar at Moody Tongue.
Wentworth applies a similar approach to The Bar at Moody Tongue as he did at Longman & Eagle and at Dusek’s: rich, hearty dishes transcending mere pub fare that happen to pair brilliantly with beer. It’s the kind of food that hums just as well beside a crisp pilsner as next to a Belgian-style sour ale.
Some degree of pairing guidance on the bar menu — there currently is none — would serve most diners well. Asking the servers for recommendations is always a smart bet, though, and ours were well informed. But so, too, is following your instinct; I landed on one I can’t wait to try again: the bright, zesty Steeped Emperor’s Lemon Saison alongside the grilled octopus.
Neither the fine dining nor bar concepts would work if the beer didn’t back up the ambition. The good news is that Moody Tongue — which, like many breweries has had highs and lows over the years — is making some of the best and most consistent beer of its six-year existence.
The velvety Roasted Cocoa Oatmeal Nitro Stout, at an approachable 5.7 percent alcohol, is a perfect hole to crawl into on a winter evening. Sour Cherry Belgian Ale is lush and fruity, pleasantly sweet but tempered by the tart cherries. Toasted Rice Lager is an endlessly drinkable gem: crisp, refreshing and lightly fruity.
Though you can eat and drink perfectly well in the bar, the real journey lies on the fine dining side. The experience begins with a beer unavailable on the bar side: Pressed Asian Pear Saison, presented in place of what would be Champagne for most pairing menus. It’s earthy and fruity and without much sweetness, tuning the taste buds to the evening ahead. It also happens to be a faultless food beer when the first course of “snacks” arrives. (They’re quite likely the most decadent snacks you’ve ever had, especially the lamb samosa.)
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Not every pairing is seamless; I wasn’t a fan of the madai and Freeze Dried Black Lime Wit, but that one has already been tweaked. In place of the wit is now a barrel-aged sour saison spiked with lime.
But they mostly succeed, whether to contrast (the lush Sour Peach Belgian Golden alongside the exquisite seared foie gras) or to complement (Bruleed Banana Dunkel Weizenbock beside pork belly is an elegant melding of sweet, creamy, meaty, savory and salty).
Co-founder and brewmaster Jared Rouben often, though not always, handles beer service for the pairing menu. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
The last dinner course is the burliest: American Wagyu served with Oak Barrel-Aged Flanders Red Ale. Rouben calls it “the burgundy of beer.”
“If you’re not going to have burgundy with beef, you might as well have the burgundy of beers with beef,” he says.
It’s an excellent pairing made all the more enjoyable in the context of beer as a replacement for wine. There are so many layers of flavor at work, and they tie together beautifully: tart fruitiness mingling with savory beef (not unlike wine).
At that point, we’d been served nine beers in nine types of glassware.
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The dark horse hero is the constant side pour of Aperitif Pilsner, refilled as if it were a water glass. I drank plenty of it across the two-hour meal — probably the equivalent of four 8-ounce pours. It was an ideal addition: a crisp and unfussy palate cleanser between courses.
Moody Tongue is so devoted to its beer pairings that the pairings extend through dessert. I’m generally a skeptic of pairing beer with dessert, but Moody Tongue mounts a valiant effort.
There’s genoise made with brown butter alongside Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Chocolate Barleywine (a big pairing that works) and two pours, Scotch-Barrel-Aged Peated Scotch Ale and Bourbon-Barrel-Aged 12-Layer-Cake Imperial Stout, alongside bittersweet chocolate cake (a big pairing that didn’t work as well, especially the massive Scotch ale).
The best was the simple refreshment of lime-pineapple sherbet paired with that wonderful Toasted Rice Lager, but not beside it. Instead, the beer is poured over the sherbet tableside: a tidy, crisp and creative finish befitting an audacious evening of beer and food.
— Josh Noel
Moody Tongue
2515 S. Wabash Ave.
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312-600-5111
Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >
moodytongue.com
Tribune rating: ★ ★ ★
Open: Dinner Tuesday-Saturday, lunch Saturday
Prices: Entrees $16-$42; 12-course tasting menu with beer, $155
Noise: Conversation-challenged
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Ratings key: ★ ★ ★ ★ outstanding; ★ ★ ★ excellent; ★ ★ very good; ★ good; no stars: unsatisfactory. The reviewer makes every effort to remain anonymous. Meals are paid for by the Tribune.


chicagotribune--2020-01-30--Facebook may pay Illinois users a couple of hundred dollars each in $550 million privacy settlement

“ Every company is watching this .
Facebook is always the canary in the coal mine when it comes to @ @ @ @ @ so runs on consumer information , '' he said .
“ ( And ) because @ @ @ @ @ biggest , they will always be one of the first hit .
”

Facebook will pay $550 million to Illinois users to settle allegations that its facial tagging feature violated their privacy rights. (Tony Avelar / AP)
Facebook will pay $550 million to Illinois users to settle allegations that its facial tagging feature violated their privacy rights.
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The settlement — which could amount to a couple of hundred dollars for each user who is part of the class-action settlement — stems from a federal lawsuit filed in Illinois nearly five years ago that alleges the social media giant violated a state law protecting residents’ biometric information. Biometric information can include data from facial, fingerprint and iris scans.
Illinois has one of the strictest biometric privacy laws in the nation. The 2008 law mandates that companies collecting such information obtain prior consent from consumers, detail how they’ll use it and specify how long the information will be kept. The law also allows private citizens, rather than just governmental entities, to file lawsuits over the issue.
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[ Are you eligible for part of the Facebook settlement? Here’s what you need to know. ]
No details have been released regarding who is eligible to claim a portion of the settlement, how much they will receive, or how they will be notified. A federal court judge in San Francisco, where the lawsuit was moved, must approve the settlement.
“We are expecting a record number of claims to be filed,” said attorney Jay Edelson, whose firm represents some of the consumers. “But even with that, we think that the class members are going to get a good amount of money.”
[ Illinois Supreme Court rules against Six Flags in lawsuit over fingerprint scans. Here's why Facebook and Google care. ]
The final payout will depend on how many people file claims. An estimated 5 million to 6 million Illinois Facebook users could be included in the class, said Paul Geller, another of the attorneys representing consumers.
In 2018, a judge defined the class as Facebook users in Illinois from whom the Menlo Park, California-based company created a stored face template after June 7, 2011, the date Facebook said its tag suggestion feature was available in most countries.
The feature uses facial recognition software to match users’ new photos with other photos they’re tagged in. It groups similar photos together and suggests the names of friends in the photos.
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Geller said Facebook has altered its platform for Illinois users. The company did not immediately respond to a request for details about what changes it made.
Facebook had argued that its collection of biometric information did not harm individuals, and that they do not have grounds to sue under Illinois’ biometrics law.
“We decided to pursue a settlement as it was in the best interest of our community and our shareholders to move past this matter,” Facebook spokeswoman Dina El-Kassaby said in a statement.
[ Shutterfly lawsuit tags Illinois as battleground in facial recognition fight ]
Facebook executives disclosed the settlement Wednesday during a call with analysts to discuss the company’s quarterly earnings, which rose 7%, to $7.3 billion.
The settlement is a win for privacy advocates who say that protecting biometric information is critical because, unlike a credit card number, it can’t be changed if it’s stolen.
“This pretty firmly establishes the fact that those harms are real and consumers deserve restitution when their rights have been violated,” said Abe Scarr, director of the Illinois Public Interest Research Group, a consumer advocacy organization.
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With Illinois’ strict biometric privacy law, the state has become a hotbed for lawsuits surrounding the use of increasingly popular technologies, like facial recognition and fingerprint scans. Facebook hasn’t been the only tech giant involved in such suits.
Google, Snapchat and photo-sharing site Shutterfly also have faced allegations involving biometrics, as have companies outside the tech industry, including hotel chains and grocery stores.
Many have chosen to settle biometric privacy lawsuits filed against them, according to information from law firm Holland and Knight. Settlement amounts have ranged from $80 per class member in a roughly 4,000-person class to $1,300 in a 300-person class.
The Facebook settlement is historic, said Matthew Kugler, an associate professor at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law.
Not only is the promised $550 million payout notable, but Facebook is a company everyone pays attention to, he said. That includes smaller companies dealing with biometric information that have less resources for a lengthy court battle.
“Every company is watching this. Facebook is always the canary in the coal mine when it comes to privacy, because their business so runs on consumer information," he said. “(And) because they are one of the biggest, they will always be one of the first hit.”
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Edelson said that biometrics, which are increasingly used, need to be utilized responsibly.
“In our view Silicon Valley is really sprinting to create a world where we are tracked everywhere we go, and that’s a different world," Edelson said. “That’s scary to us.”
amarotti@chicagotribune.com
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chicagotribune--2020-01-30--Chicago’s top cop says DNA tests delayed charges in woman’s slaying 3 years ago. Family replies, ‘Hu

Chicago’s top cop says DNA tests delayed charges in woman’s slaying 3 years ago. Family replies, ‘Hurry up and get a better system’

In the middle of the night , Hilliard was seen mopping up a trail of blood from his bedroom to @ @ @ @ @ apartment he shared with three other people .
Turner , 21 , whom Hilliard had @ @ @ @ @ to be seen .
In the morning , Hilliard was seen sitting on his bed @ @ @ @ @ Later in the day , he tossed the mattress .

Latisha Turner, left, mother of Diamond Turner, and her sister, Latonya Turner, take questions from reporters outside the Leighton Criminal Court Building after the bond hearing for Arthur Hilliard. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Suspicion surrounded Arthur Hilliard from almost the moment Diamond Turner was killed nearly three years ago.
In the middle of the night, Hilliard was seen mopping up a trail of blood from his bedroom to the back door of the apartment he shared with three other people. Turner, 21, whom Hilliard had been dating, was nowhere to be seen. In the morning, Hilliard was seen sitting on his bed, cleaning a hammer. Later in the day, he tossed the mattress.
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Two days later, on March 3, 2017, Turner’s beaten, partially naked body was found in a trash bin behind the building, according to a narrative sketched in court by Cook County prosecutors Thursday after first-degree murder charges were filed against Hilliard, 52.
Diamond Turner (Family photo)
Judge Mary Marubio ordered Hilliard held without bond, prompting praise — and relief — from Turner’s family at the courthouse.
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“He’s in jail, he ain’t out harming nobody else,” said Turner’s aunt, Latonya Turner. “It’s been three long years for me, my sister, my whole family. I’m glad he’s in jail.”
Prosecutors did not disclose why it took so long to charge Hilliard. But interim Chicago police Superintendent Charlie Beck said investigators finally got back DNA results that linked him to the murder.
“He was the primary suspect," Beck said at an unrelated news conference. "The return (of) DNA was what took so long. You know, we don’t have full ability, as with some police departments, to analyze our own DNA. So we have to rely on the state. And as soon as the DNA came back, the warrant was served.”
Prosecutors disclosed that Hilliard is also a suspect in a fatal stabbing in an apartment complex, allegedly after an argument. And a source indicated that authorities are taking a second look at another stabbing death last year near a building on the West Side that Hilliard managed.
Arthur Hilliard (Chicago Police Department)
In that last case, Hilliard was charged with concealment of a homicide in September after video caught him dumping the body of Andre Williams, 52, near the 2400 block of West Flournoy Street, according to police and court records. Williams had been repeatedly stabbed in the abdomen.
Shawndra Williams said she is convinced that Hilliard is guilty of her brother’s murder. She told reporters Thursday that she was grateful Hilliard was in custody, but mindful that if he had been arrested years ago, her brother might still be alive.
“If they would have locked him up when ... Diamond got killed, he wouldn’t have had a chance to hurt my brother,” she said.
Turner had been dating Hilliard when she was killed, prosecutors said Thursday. The two were drinking together with Hilliard’s roommates in his apartment the night of Feb. 28. At one point, Turner and Hilliard were in separate rooms and Turner told one witness she was “annoyed” with Hilliard, prosecutors said.
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The roommates awoke later that night to find a trail of blood winding from Hilliard’s bedroom through the hallway all the way to the back door, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said. Hilliard said it was from a cut on his leg, and told one roommate that Turner had gotten a call and left in a white car. But the roommate noticed Turner’s shoes and jacket were still in the apartment.
The roommates noticed other odd behavior in the following hours: Hilliard retrieved a garbage can from across an alley and told them not to touch it. He sat on his bed a few moments later, cleaning a hammer. He carried his mattress out of the apartment across the street, soaking wet.
All the while, Turner — who was usually at the apartment every day — was nowhere to be found, prosecutors said. When one roommate asked Hilliard where she was, “all he would say is that ‘(she) did it again,’ ” Murphy said in court.
On March 3, Turner’s body was found in a garbage can in the alley behind Hilliard’s apartment. When her family confronted him the next day, he blamed her death on one of his roommates. But testing eventually showed that Turner’s blood was on the floorboard of Hilliard’s room, Murphy said.
“They need to hurry up and get a better system with the DNA,” Turner’s aunt told reporters Thursday. “It shouldn’t take three years to get charged.”
In January 2018, the Tribune reported that Turner was one of at least 51 strangulations in Chicago since 2001 that had not been solved by police. Despite clusters of deaths on the South and West sides, police said at the time they had uncovered no evidence of a serial killer.
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After the story appeared, Chicago police formed a task force to review the cases.
Hilliard’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Kate Moriarty, said in court that Hilliard is a high school graduate with six adult children. He works as a property manager, she said, though prosecutors said that back in 2017 he was only pretending to be the landlord of the building where he lived.
Chicago Tribune’s Deanese Williams-Harris contributed.
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com
ayin@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-01-30--Man charged after missing Cleveland teen with ‘obvious signs of psychological abuse’ found in Rivers

Man charged after missing Cleveland teen with ‘obvious signs of psychological abuse’ found in Riverside, police say

The Riverside Police Department learned she might be staying at Ocampo ’ s address on East Burlington Street and visited @ @ @ @ @ the release said .
Each time , Ocampo came to the front door and said @ @ @ @ @ anything about a missing teenager .
Detectives were able to look around the residence , @ @ @ @ @ girl .

A Riverside man is facing charges after police said he hid a 16-year-old girl who ran away from her home in Cleveland.
Juan Ocampo, 39, of the first block of East Burlington Street in the west suburb, was arrested Monday and is charged with one count of harboring a missing juvenile, obstruction of a police officer and endangering the life of a child, according to a news release from the Riverside Police Department.
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Juan Ocampo, 39, of the first block of East Burlington Street in Riverside is charged with one count of harboring a missing juvenile, obstruction of a police officer and endangering the life of a child. (Riverside Police Department)
The teenager was reported missing by her family about a month ago in Cleveland, police said, and her family learned that she fled to Chicago. Location services on her phone and iPad indicated she was in Riverside, the release said.
The Riverside Police Department learned she might be staying at Ocampo’s address on East Burlington Street and visited the home multiple times, the release said. Each time, Ocampo came to the front door and said he didn’t know anything about a missing teenager. Detectives were able to look around the residence, but did not find the girl.
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On Sunday, police officers saw Ocampo dropping people off at a Riverside address. An officer made a traffic stop and found Ocampo in the car with his daughter and another girl, police said. Ocampo told officers that the other girl was also his daughter, according to police.
Officers determined the girl was the missing teenager and took her to a hospital for an overall health exam. Her parents drove from Cleveland to pick up the girl, police said.
The parents took the girl home, saying she was too traumatized to remain in Riverside to aid in the investigation, which continues with the help of the Cleveland Police Department.
Ocampo told officers he is a minister who “helps children from abusive situations.” He admitted to lying to officers when they came to his home looking for the girl, police said.
“His claim that he has a ministry that helps young children on the streets of Chicago and puts them in his home in Riverside is ludicrous,” Riverside police Chief Thomas Weitzel said in a statement.
Detectives continue to investigate the nature of Ocampo’s relationship with the girl. Police said she bore no signs of physical abuse but showed “obvious signs of psychological abuse.”