chicagotribune--2020-10-29--Former suburban school CEO pleads guilty to stealing from nutrition program for needy kids to fund l

Former suburban school CEO pleads guilty to stealing from nutrition program for needy kids to fund lavish lifestyle

During one visit to the school ’ s Harvey location in 2015 , a state inspector encountered offices with badly @ @ @ @ @ a food program that were either missing or incomplete , according to the FBI filing @ @ @ @ @ have no dedicated food prep area , and an empty classroom where food was being @ @ @ @ @ .

Lighthouse Christian Academy in Lansing, Illinois, in 2017, when Pamela Strain, the academy's superintendent, was under federal investigation for allegedly stealing money meant to provide lunches for poor students. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)
A former south suburban private school operator pleaded guilty Thursday to looting hundreds of thousands of dollars from a federal nutrition program intended for needy children and failing to pay taxes on the ill-gotten gains.
Pamela Strain, 63, the founder and president of Beacon Hill Preparatory Academy, entered a guilty plea to one count each of filing a false tax return and failure to withhold payroll taxes for her employees as required by law.
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Strain, of Lynwood, told U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo during Thursday’s telephonic hearing that she’s been taking prescription medications for depression and anxiety and has most recently worked as a field supervisor for the U.S. Census Bureau.
When the judge asked Strain what her plea to the charges was, she said firmly, “Guilty, Your Honor.”
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Bucklo set sentencing for Feb. 26.
Strain’s plea comes nearly three years after the Chicago Tribune detailed a federal investigation into Strain’s small private school, which operated at various locations in the south suburbs before reopening in Lansing in 2016 under a new name, Lighthouse Christian Academy.
An FBI search warrant made public in 2017 showed that Strain allegedly used much of the funds to pay for a lavish lifestyle, including her home and other properties, luxury cars, spas, salons and shopping sprees at stores such as Victoria’s Secret and Macy’s, the Tribune reported.
The 54-page search warrant also contained details about the conditions at Strain’s schools.
During one visit to the school’s Harvey location in 2015, a state inspector encountered offices with badly outdated equipment and records of a food program that were either missing or incomplete, according to the FBI filing. The school appeared to have no dedicated food prep area, and an empty classroom where food was being stored was infested with moths.
When asked about the problem, the school’s principal “unsuccessfully tried to convince (the inspector) that the moths were pencil shavings,” the filing stated.
According to Strain’s plea agreement, from 2009 to 2016 she caused Beacon Hill to receive more than $4 million in federal funds through its participation in various school programs designed to provide breakfast and lunches, fresh fruits and vegetables, and child care in disadvantaged communities.
The money kept coming in even though Beacon Hill’s nonprofit status was revoked by the IRS in 2012, making it ineligible to participate in the programs, according to the plea.
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Strain meanwhile received $2 million in income from Beacon Hill over the seven-year period but failed to report a substantial part of it to the IRS. In her 2013 tax return, Strain reported her total income to be $72,425, allegedly omitting about $466,000 in additional income she’d received from the school.
Strain’s attorney, Michael Monico, had previously told the Tribune that no school funds were used for illegitimate purposes. He said Strain and her family had for years put their own money into the struggling school to help keep it alive.
“This is a very unfortunate situation,” Monico said after Strain was charged in August. “She has devoted her life to helping children.”
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-29--COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital da

COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital data in your area

Among the metrics ( see below ) tracked under guidelines set by Gov .
J.B. Pritzker are the percentage of @ @ @ @ @ , the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19-like illnesses , and the capacity of hospitals @ @ @ @ @ state will decide how much or how little to restrict activities based on these metrics @

Note: With Chicago and Illinois moving into phase 5, the Tribune is no longer updating this data. If the state moves back into bridge phase, the Tribune we reassess. Daily metrics on COVID-19, like cases, deaths and hospitalizations, can be found here. And Daily metrics on the vaccination effort can be found here. More on where the coronavirus stands nationally and around the world can be found here.
To assess how different parts of Illinois are handling the COVID-19 pandemic, officials look at the state through the 11 regions of Emergency Medical Services. The city of Chicago is one region, for example, and the rest of Cook County is another.
Among the metrics (see below) tracked under guidelines set by Gov. J.B. Pritzker are the percentage of coronavirus tests that return positive, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19-like illnesses, and the capacity of hospitals to take in new patients.The state will decide how much or how little to restrict activities based on these metrics. (Cases, deaths and tests data is as of Dec. 31).
• Check out the Tribune’s coronavirus coverage.
• Remembering the lives of those in Illinois who died from coronavirus.
• Other Chicago, suburbs and Illinois COVID-19 metrics.
• See how the governor’s plan to manage the regions works.
Source: Illinois Department of Public Health
Created by the Chicago Tribune dataviz team. On Twitter @chitribgraphics


chicagotribune--2020-10-29--COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood

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

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


chicagotribune--2020-10-29--Mayor Lori Lightfoot to extend hours for liquor sales at Chicago bars and restaurants

Lightfoot was quick to criticize Gov .
J.B. Pritzker ’ s decision to ban indoor service at bars and restaurants @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 cases , but she also had been criticized by bars and restaurants over her @ @ @ @ @ some ways had been tougher than the governor ’ s .
While the state rules @ @ @ @ @ must end at 11 p.m. , the mayor had ordered liquor sales to end at @ @ @ @ @ establishments to close at 10 p.m .

Under pressure from bars and restaurants hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Lori Lightfoot will reverse a curfew she imposed on liquor sales and allow those businesses to sell alcohol until 11 p.m.
Lightfoot was quick to criticize Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s decision to ban indoor service at bars and restaurants due to a spike in COVID-19 cases, but she also had been criticized by bars and restaurants over her own restrictions, which in some ways had been tougher than the governor’s. While the state rules dictate bar and restaurant service must end at 11 p.m., the mayor had ordered liquor sales to end at 9 p.m. and for the establishments to close at 10 p.m.
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Now, as Pritzker’s new rules are scheduled to go into effect on Friday, the mayor is changing the city’s rules to allow liquor sales at bars and restaurants until 11.
Although Lightfoot is loosening the rules for bars and restaurants, alcohol sales at liquor stores, grocery stores and other establishments with a packaged goods license must still end at 9 p.m., her office said.
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gpratt@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-29--Daily Illinois coronavirus graphs: 56 new deaths, 6,363 new confirmed cases and 83,056 new test resu

Daily Illinois coronavirus graphs: 56 new deaths, 6,363 new confirmed cases and 83,056 new test results

Illinois announced 6,363 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 Thursday for a total of 389,095 .
The state also announced 56 @ @ @ @ @ of 9,675 and 83,056 new test results for a total of 7.54 million .

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


chicagotribune--2020-10-29--Park Ridge restaurants file suit against governor’s indoor dining ban; some plan to defy order

“ I don ’ t think putting the burden on us or blaming us is going to help anything , @ @ @ @ @ that his establishments are following the state ’ s health and safety guidelines .
“ @ @ @ @ @ it to come across that we don ’ t believe this is a real pandemic @ @ @ @ @ who have gotten ( COVID-19 ) and have had problems with it , but I @ @ @ @ @ it in the way it ’ s been handled thus far is the right way @ @

Server Hayley Mellish talks with patrons after bringing their food orders at Pazzi Di Pizza, Oct. 29, 2020 in Park Ridge. Five Park Ridge restaurant owners, including Pazzi Di Pizza, filed a lawsuit this week against Gov. J.B. Pritzker objecting to the governor's latest order shutting down indoor dining at bars and restaurants. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Several Park Ridge restaurant owners filed a lawsuit this week against Gov. J.B. Pritzker, objecting to the governor’s latest order shutting down indoor dining at bars and restaurants.
The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court late Wednesday, claims Pritzker lacks the authority to issue the executive order because the emergency powers he used to issue it expired in April.
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The lawsuit’s argument is similar to that in other legal challenges filed against Pritzker’s executive orders across the state.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the owners of Shakou, Pazzi Di Pizza, Hay Caramba, Holt’s, and the Harp and Fiddle, all located in Uptown Park Ridge. Also named as a plaintiff is Neoteca Pizza and Wine Bar in Barrington.
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Pennyville Station in Park Ridge was added to the suit after the initial filing.
Attorney David Standa, representing the plaintiffs, said Thursday that other restaurants have expressed interest in joining the suit as well.
Waitress Lauren Quinn, 36, talks with her aunt Donna Quinn-Tworek, 57, while her sister Kirsten Quinn, 35, snacks on bread while dining at Pazzi Di Pizza, Oct. 29, 2020 in Park Ridge. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Pritzker’s order, which took effect at 12:01 a.m., Oct. 28, cites continued spread of COVID-19 infection for suspending indoor dining at bars and restaurants. The state reported 6,363 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, a new daily high. Fifty-six deaths were reported.
The governor’s order also limits gatherings to 25 people or less or 25% of room capacity at social events and meetings, and restricts capacity and operating hours of casinos.
Marco Lappo, manager of Pazzi Di Pizza, 1 S. Prospect Ave., said restaurant owners believe they have the legal right to be open for indoor service and want the governor to understand the impact his order will have not only on Illinois restaurants, but on the other industries that rely on them.
“We’re just looking to have that conversation,” he said.
[ Court allows FoxFire restaurant in Geneva to stay open for indoor dining despite Gov. Pritzker’s COVID-19 closure order ]
Pazzi Di Pizza’s indoor dining room remained open Wednesday and Lappo said customers were coming in.
Other restaurant owners said they, too, are defying the governor’s order.
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“We just decided we were fed up with this all seemingly falling on our backs,” said Tony Antonacci, owner of Pennyville Station and Taco Melly in Park Ridge, who held a meeting with “about a dozen” restaurant owners Tuesday night to discuss their next steps. “Small businesses won’t make it through another lengthy shutdown and there doesn’t seem to be any financial support in sight from the government.”
Antonacci’s restaurants remained open for indoor dining as well, and he said other owners are doing the same.
“I don’t think putting the burden on us or blaming us is going to help anything,” he said, insisting that his establishments are following the state’s health and safety guidelines. “I don’t want it to come across that we don’t believe this is a real pandemic. I know several people who have gotten (COVID-19) and have had problems with it, but I don’t believe doing it in the way it’s been handled thus far is the right way.”
[ Gov. Pritzker tied COVID-19 cases to restaurants and bars in Kane, DuPage counties. Local health department data is unclear. ]
In a statement, Shakou Restaurants, which operates establishments in Park Ridge, Libertyville, Arlington Heights, Barrington and Naperville, said the governor has “overstepped his authority.”
“Our decision to stay open is not a political statement. We do not think COVID-19 is a hoax and we take all safety guidelines, including masks, very seriously,” Shakou’s statement read. “We are remaining open because staff and ownership need to be able to earn a living and our customers need a place to go to have some normalcy in their lives.”
On Monday, prior to the order taking effect, Park Ridge City Manager Joe Gilmore said restaurants that stay open for indoor dining can be fined $500 and face the possible suspension of their liquor licenses.
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Park Ridge Mayor Marty Maloney, attending a ribbon cutting of a new takeout food and juice bar Wednesday, confirmed that the city will enforce the governor’s order.
He declined further comment.
Patrons dine indoors at Pazzi Di Pizza, Oct. 29, 2020 in Park Ridge. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Lappo said he hopes the city will reconsider its stance.
“We’ve seen other suburban towns and mayors, close and far from us, come out and say they aren’t going to be locally enforcing it,” he said. “On behalf of all the business owners, we wish Park Ridge would also get behind that.”
John Moran, alderman of the city’s 1st Ward, said he believed the legal action filed against the governor by restaurant owners is “the proper channel” at this time.
“It’s not really a city or elected officials' responsibility to decide what’s constitutional or not constitutional; that’s what courts are for,” Moran said. “If the court deems the governor’s order is unconstitutional, then I’m totally fine with them staying open.”
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In the event that the court rules on the side of the governor, the city will enforce the laws of the state, Moran said.
“That’s the oath we took,” he said.
Not all restaurants were choosing to defy the governor.
Perry’s Pizza and Ribs in Park Ridge’s South Park neighborhood announced on its website that the indoor bar and dining room will be closed “until our governor allows it.”
Nick Straub, who has owned the restaurant for 40 years, said he is complying with the order because he believes his carryout and delivery offerings can sustain the business for now.
“I thought about staying open,” Straub acknowledged. “If I wouldn’t have had any choices and thought that if I close, I’ll go out of business, I would have stayed open. But I feel I’ll be able to weather this storm.”
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Straub said he understands that other business owners may not have the same options.
“The big places with a lot of sit-down (service), they’re not going to make it just on carryout and delivery,” he said.
The Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce issued a statement Wednesday night, identifying the organization as an ally for the business community.
“We stand with our restaurants at this time and at all times,” the statement said. “We must not choose between keeping people healthy and keeping businesses open. We must do both.”
jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune


chicagotribune--2020-10-29--Families remember loved ones lost to COVID-19 with ofrendas, homemade altars for Day of the Dead: ‘T

Families remember loved ones lost to COVID-19 with ofrendas, homemade altars for Day of the Dead: ‘The love never dies, we celebrate their life’

Now recovered from the virus , Miguel Rodriguez ’ s immediate family plans to gather on Sunday to thank God @ @ @ @ @ with the pain but also to pay homage to those who are gone .
They @ @ @ @ @ are planning to make his favorite dishes and drinks .

Camila De La O, 16, smiles while holding one of her family dogs, Coco, in front of her family's elaborate ofrenda, or home altar, spanning the living and dining rooms, on Oct. 23, 2020, in Chicago. Camila and her mother, Rosa Lilia De La O, decorate their home to remember relatives and friends who have died, as part of the annual Dia De Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, holiday. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
When she was growing up, as the Day of the Dead approached Sophia Irizarry would help her grandmother set up an altar in their living room to remember and honor their loved ones.
Putting up the ofrenda was a celebration in itself, she recalls. Her grandmother would look at old photos and reminisce about those who had died, telling her tales of the old times and decorating the altar with their favorite dishes, cempasuchil flowers and lots of catrinas — skeletal figures associated with the holiday.
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Dia de los Muertos, celebrated Oct. 31 through Nov. 2, and coinciding with All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day on the Roman Catholic calendar, was her grandmother’s favorite holiday, she said.
Sophia Irizarry, of Chicago, created an ofrenda to honor her grandmother, Ramona Fuentes, 82, who died from COVID-19 in June. Sophia said it was her grandmother who taught her to make the ofrenda because Day of the Dead was her favorite holiday. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Her grandmother, Ramona Fuentes, taught her that “It’s a time full of nostalgia, but at the same time, gratefulness for everything that each person left in the world,” she said.
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This year, Irizarry had to set up the ofrenda on her own. Her grandmother unexpectedly died from COVID-19 complications June 10 at age 82. Now her photo adorns the top of the ofrenda, just as photos of many other people who have died from the virus are a part of ofrendas for other Mexican American families this year.
COVID-19 cases in the Latino community continue to grow at a faster rate than any other ethnic group in Illinois, according to the latest data from the Illinois Department of Public Health and the most recent information from the city of Chicago portal.
The De La O family’s ofrenda at their home in West Lawn has three new portraits this year, all of people who died from COVID-19 complications, and the family expects to add pictures of at least 10 more family friends who also died of coronavirus, said Camila Del Carmen De La O.
“It’s a reminder of how fragile life is,” she said. “But it also keeps the hope alive because we will never forget them and maybe we will see them again one day.”
Camila Del Carmen De La O, 16, points to relatives' photographs arranged on an elaborate ofrenda on Oct. 23, 2020, in Chicago. Camila and her mother, Rosa Lilia De La O, decorate their home to remember relatives and friends who have died. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
De La O, 16, asked her mother if she could create an elaborate ofrenda to honor her grandmother a few years back after learning the meaning of ofrendas and the significance of Dia de los Muertos.
Ever since, the altar has been growing from a buffet table in the dining room to the living room and foyer. Dozens of catrinas, candles and papel picado, colorful paper flags, surround the photos of their loved ones for almost a month.
The photo of her grandmother, Maria Del Carmen Landin, who died a month before Camila was born in 2004, stands out. Camila never met her, but thanks to the tradition that her grandmother passed down, Camila feels she remembers her.
“They never leave us, they’re always here with us,” said her mother, Rosa Lilia De La O. “I’m proud that she does this because it’s part of our culture, my family, and she keeps them alive.”
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Camila Del Carmen De La O, 16, straightens a cross placed on an elaborate ofrenda on Oct. 23, 2020. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Camila De La O felt compelled to grow her ofrenda this year “because we’ve lost so many Latinos to this virus,” she said. Working on the ofrenda has empowered her Mexican American identity after she spent her years up to high school going to a public school in Bucktown where the Latino enrollment was declining year by year.
“We learn to accept death and overcome grief with love,” she said.
Creating an ofrenda is an essential part of the Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico and other parts of Latin America. It’s now a growing holiday in the United States after the Disney movie “Coco,” which brought the world of the spirits and the significance of the celebration and its ceremonies to a diverse audience.
For the first time this year, Jennifer Sosa asked her three brothers and her father for help to create an ofrenda for her mother, Sandra Valle, 50, who died May 27 of COVID-19 complications after two weeks in the hospital.
The Dia de los Muertos ofrenda honoring Sandra Valle, who died of COVID-19 complications in May, at her family's home in Pilsen on Monday, Oct. 26, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Valle was active in the Pilsen community as an immigrant rights activist and advocated for bilingual classes for students and information for parents at Cooper Elementary, Orozco Language Academy and Benito Juarez high school, said her son Terry Sosa.
The altar in front of their home is adorned with certificates that Valle received throughout her life. The family has asked those who knew Valle to stop by to see it and to drop off any items that remind them of her.
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“She wanted a better future, not just for us, but everyone else,” said Terry Sosa, as he carefully placed a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe on a stand near the photo of her mother.
“If it wasn’t for coronavirus, my mother would still be here,” said Jennifer Sosa, while holding her daughter in her arms. “It’s taken so many people from us and I’m afraid that many more will die.”
Valle used to take care of Jennifer Sosa’s 2-year-old while she worked every day. Now Jennifer Sosa hopes to keep her mother’s legacy alive through the ofrenda so that the child can also learn from the “strong and independent mother.”
Jennifer Sosa and her family create a Dia de los Muertos ofrenda to honor their mother, Sandra Valle, on Monday, Oct. 26, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Valle was a cheerful woman who suddenly and unexpectedly fell ill, Jennifer Sosa said. She loved cumbia dancing and pipian, a green mole sauce dish that Terry Sosa made for her. She also feared getting sick and tried to take all the precautions necessary to avoid getting infected.
“But it happened,” Terry Sosa said.
“We do this today, not only to pay homage to my mother and honor those who have passed, but it is also a reminder for our community to take this (pandemic) seriously and be careful,” he added.
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The Rodriguez family’s celebration of the holiday is more heartfelt this year. Patriarch Miguel Rodriguez died of COVID-19 in May at a Hammond hospital, only two weeks after turning 50.
His wife, Laura Melia Rodriguez, baked pan de muerto, the traditional bread for Dia de los Muertos, to decorate the ofrenda she and her children created for him.
Miguel Rodriguez appreciated celebrating the life of those who had died because he was raised a religious man, his wife said. The small but elaborate ofrenda stands in the living room of the family’s ranch house in Chicago Heights, next to the black couch where he used to sit.
The altar celebrating Miguel Rodriguez is adorned with sugar skulls and Mexican marigolds. Monday afternoon, Crystal Rodriguez and other family members gathered to decorate the skulls as her mother baked the bread.
As they deal with their pain, celebrating Day of the Dead brings the family peace and unites them, said Crystal Rodriguez, 26.
Miguel Angel and his sister Crystal Rodriguez chat as their mother, Laura Rodriguez, makes Pan de Muertos at their home in Chicago Heights on Monday, Oct. 26, 2020. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Her father was on a ventilator for nearly a month before they had to make the excruciating decision to have him taken off life support when doctors gave them no more hope.
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“We all fought and prayed a lot, but it was his time,” Laura Melia Rodriguez said. “This is what he would have wanted from us: to remember him with joy, as he would have remembered others.”
Overcome with emotion, Crystal Rodriguez recalled the day her father was disconnected from the ventilator. It was about the same time that she and her mother recovered from COVID-19. Both suffered from pneumonia while her father was in the hospital. At least 15 other members of their family members were also infected.
On May 31, at 3 p.m., Miguel Rodriguez’s family gathered in the parking lot of the hospital to pay respects to the father of three and say goodbye from afar. At his burial, a mariachi sang his favorite songs.
“It was a big fiesta because the love never dies, we celebrate their life," Crystal Rodriguez said.
Now recovered from the virus, Miguel Rodriguez’s immediate family plans to gather on Sunday to thank God for the strength to deal with the pain but also to pay homage to those who are gone. They have scheduled a Mass and are planning to make his favorite dishes and drinks.
At Camila De La O’s home, the family also plans to have an intimate feast on Monday, before putting away their altar until next year.
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Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect year for the death of Maria Del Carmen Landin; she died in 2004.
larodriguez@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @laura_n_rod


chicagotribune--2020-10-29--He was shot to death at a CTA station in Rogers Park, a neighborhood he loved and always came back t

He was shot to death at a CTA station in Rogers Park, a neighborhood he loved and always came back to, even when it became dangerous for him

The group of gang members who had allowed him to sell in their area went to jail , she said @ @ @ @ @ street didn ’ t want him around , so she warned him to stop going @ @ @ @ @ especially after seeing several killings in the neighborhood on the news .
She would even @ @ @ @ @ at Morse Avenue if she heard he was there .

Cynthia Howard and her granddaughter, Ahniyah Jenkins, 8, arrange a memorial for her son, and Ahniyah's father, Joel Jenkins, at Loyola Park in the Rogers Park neighborhood on Oct. 17, 2020. Jenkins, 26, was fatally shot on Sept. 15 at the nearby Morse Red Line "L" station. Howard arranged the memorial near a basketball court at the park where her son often spent time with friends. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Ahniyah Jenkins carefully held the small urn in a dark blue velvet box.
“I don’t want to drop my dad on the floor,” the 8-year-old said, only half-serious as she shivered at a makeshift memorial for her slain father. “He would hold my hands when I was cold.”
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Ahniyah was bundled in an army green coat and rocked back and forth. The pink beads and white plastic bows in her hair bounced as a breeze whipped across Leone Beach Oct. 17.
Her grandmother Cynthia Howard stood nearby, tying a string of purple and silver balloons around two skinny trees. “He would be saying, ‘No, Mom, do it like this,’” she said to herself as she struggled to tie them.
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Ahniyah Jenkins, 8, displays an urn containing the ashes of her father, Joel Jenkins, at Loyola Park in the Rogers Park neighborhood on Oct. 17, 2020. Jenkins, 26, was fatally shot on Sept. 15 at the nearby Morse Red Line "L" station. His mother, Cynthia Howard, arranged a memorial near a basketball court at the park where her son often spent time with friends. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
The balloons were originally for Howard’s five-year substance recovery anniversary party, but now they were serving a another purpose: honoring the memory of her 26-year-old son, Joel Jenkins, shot to death half a mile away at the Red Line “L” Morse station in Rogers Park, a neighborhood he loved and always came back to, even when it became dangerous for him.
There was a sense of a community among the people who gathered around the station after the shooting on Sept. 15, watching police work outside a glass door shattered by gunfire. Some were shocked at the brazenness of the attack so close to home, and others were shocked that it was Jenkins on the stretcher being carried out.
They remembered regularly seeing him and his girlfriend walking down Morse Avenue. They were familiar faces. They were not known to bother anyone.
His family said Jenkins loved the openness of the lakefront. He attended Sullivan High School, a half-mile from the shooting. He ordered chicken wings at J.B. Alberto’s, a local pizza staple on the same block as the station. He liked to charge his phone at the Dunkin’ that faces the station.
Ahniyah and her grandmother decided to make the memorial near a basketball court where his friends knew they could find him. Grinning, Ahniyah remembered how fast her dad ran, but not as fast as her.
Howard placed a bouquet of red and white roses at the base and a photo of her son. His tilted head was framed by dreads and his mouth was slightly parted, but not enough to show his teeth.
“My dad never smiled in photos,” Ahniyah laughed.
“Because of his crooked teeth,” her grandmother added. “She has her dad’s teeth.”
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Howard stepped back and took a look. “What do you think, Ahniyah?”
“I like it,” she said, skipping forward. “I wish I could hug him one more time.”
‘I lost my son to the street’
Cynthia Howard believes her son was shot because he used to sell drugs in Rogers Park but was no longer allowed there by gang members. She says he was putting that life behind him, but it still caught up with him.
Jenkins was born in Evanston on Christmas Day, the third of four children. He learned to hold his own in elementary school by defending his nephew and brother from bullies on the West Side. He stayed up north during his teen years, then went back west. He and his friends liked to take trips downtown. They rode the water taxi without a destination, just to see the sights.
Jenkins’ father wasn’t around, but his half-brother’s father and his oldest sister, Carolyn, helped raise him. Still, his childhood was unsteady, with his mother slipping in and out of addiction. She got a divorce before Jenkins entered high school and relapsed yet again.
“We moved to Rogers Park after the divorce. I went into recovery. I got myself together. I got an apartment. I put Joel in school at Sullivan. I did some security work at the high school,” she said. "And then I relapsed, again.
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“I feel, during that time, I lost my son to the street.”
Cynthia Howard arranges a memorial for her son, Joel Jenkins, at Loyola Park in the Rogers Park neighborhood on Oct. 17, 2020. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
In his junior year, Jenkins asked one of the local gangs if he could join. He needed support, his mother said.
“They wouldn’t let him. They told him that he wasn’t made for the gang,” Howard said. “He was fine the way he was, and they gave him permission to sell drugs in that area, which is really not heard of. It’s against street rules.”
So, at 16, he started dealing marijuana and crack cocaine.
Chicago police labeled Jenkins as a member of a Gangster Disciples faction known to be in Rogers Park, but his mother said he never became a member. He sold drugs and made rap videos, but he wasn’t violent, she said.
Howard and Jenkins moved out of Rogers Park in 2013. Two years later, Howard said she got clean “for real.” She set rules for her son: no drugs or girls in her house. But Jenkins was now an adult, and he had his own belief system and became addicted to the lifestyle. He wanted to be independent.
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The group of gang members who had allowed him to sell in their area went to jail, she said. Those still on the street didn’t want him around, so she warned him to stop going up to Rogers Park, especially after seeing several killings in the neighborhood on the news. She would even drive to pick him up at Morse Avenue if she heard he was there.
“I tried my best to save my son,” she said.
Eventually, he started to phase out of dealing and moved to the north suburbs with his girlfriend. They thought about moving to Arizona. But the answer to where he was from was always the same: Rogers Park.
For the last year and a half, Jenkins had been holding down his first real job, which was difficult to get after his arrests, mostly for possession and theft. His boss even spoke at his funeral.
‘You got hit? No, no, no’
Jenkins’ girlfriend, Dominique Douglas, scrolls through videos of him dropping off flowers, being playful with his youngest son, giving her a kiss on the cheek. She said Jenkins wasn’t originally planning to be in the neighborhood on the day he was killed. He didn’t visit as much because of the long commute to his job at a Family Dollar store on the West Side.
An undated photo of Joel Jenkins with his girlfriend, Dominique Douglas. (Dominique Douglas)
The day before, he started to get a head cold. Douglas asked him to call in sick and stay home since she was off work. He decided against it. He needed the money. He left for work in the morning.
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Jenkins texted Douglas throughout the day about buying her a puppy. He found a woman who was selling a young black-and-white pit bull, and he would have enough to buy it if he got money back from a friend who owed him. They decided to meet in Rogers Park.
Douglas took the Metra to meet him and his friend at Morse Fresh Market to get the money for the dog. They made stops at two storefronts on Morse before they walked toward the train station. She handed him his jacket, then remembers Jenkins running. “I’ve never seen him run or look that scared in his entire life,” she said.
They dove into the train station. He crawled toward a pillar and she tried to go behind the turnstile. A car screeched off and police sirens blared. Douglas said she saw the shot-out door and Jenkins lying on his stomach. He rolled over and tried to stand up. “Bae, you got hit? No, no, no,” she said.
She grabbed her purse and called 911. She lifted his shirt but couldn’t find a wound. “I’m telling him to stay with me.” She yelled for help.
A man visiting from Philadelphia helped her with CPR until an officer tagged him off. Another man held Jenkins’ head.
“Oh, my God. This isn’t real,” Douglas thought to herself.
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Paramedics arrived and took over and transported him to Amita Health St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he died.
“I was standing there so helpless, praying to God that he was OK,” Douglas said.
Joel Jenkins is transported by stretcher to an ambulance after he was shot outside the Morse Red Line CTA station on Sept. 15, 2020. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
According to a Chicago police report, a man in a white hoodie approached Jenkins and Douglas as they stood on the sidewalk outside the station and started shooting. The man then ran east on Morse and got into a black Nissan Infiniti waiting on Glenwood Avenue. A squad car chased the Infiniti until a supervisor terminated the chase when it started south down Sheridan Road.
Jenkins was shot in the abdomen, lower back and left side, and had a graze wound to his right thigh, according to the report. Six .40-caliber shell casings and one unfired cartridge were found at the scene.
Jenkins is among eight people killed in the Rogers Park police district this year. Others include a 20-year-old DePaul University student who was walking home from work; a 17-year-old activist who was accidentally shot by a friend aiming at a passing car; and a 36-year-old man whose fatal shooting was captured on security photo and spread on social media.
The fatal shootings have been scattered across the district, which spans from the Evanston border south to Ridge Avenue and from Lake Michigan west to Kedzie Avenue. The district has some of the fewest homicides and shootings among the city’s 22 police districts. But it ranks higher than other North Side districts, Town Hall and Lincoln, and the downtown districts of Central and Near North. (View map of the homicides)
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Mothers of other slain sons reach out
Cynthia Howard visited Rogers Park last Saturday for the first time since her son was killed. She was scared to make the drive up from her South Side home, but she wanted to honor him at the place he loved the most. She went inside the Red Line Morse “L” station, where between the front door and the turnstiles, his girlfriend, strangers and a police officer tried to save him.
Family members of Joel Jenkins, including his daughter, Ahniyah Jenkins, 8, sister Carolyn Howard, and mother Cynthia Howard, view a memorial at Loyola Park on Oct. 17, 2020. The memorial was placed near a basketball court at the park where he often spent time with friends. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Howard heard a rumor that if she put a memorial inside the station, it may be thrown away. A CTA employee told her she’d have to call and ask for permission.
Maybe next year, she thought. It was a step.
If she wasn’t in recovery, she’d “be drunk right now,” she said, but she would never dishonor him by using drugs again.
Howard wanted to show her children that people could change. She told Jenkins that he could be better and he was almost there. He was goofy and personable. People were drawn to him. He adored his three young kids. He had a lot of people in his corner who could help him and loved him.
Many men in Chicago don’t have anyone, she said. The boy who shot him may have been one of those people. There are rumors about who the shooter is, and detectives have theories, Howard said. But that is not same as proving it.
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After Jenkins died, Howard received many phone calls from other mothers who confided in her that their sons also died from gun violence. Every week there is someone else added to the list.
Her path forward, she says, is to “stay clean, help another mother.”


chicagotribune--2020-10-29--1 killed, 4 injured when driver runs red light in Chatham, Chicago police say

Also in the SUV was a 51-year-old man who suffered minor cuts and was taken to Stroger Hospital in good @ @ @ @ @ woman , 52 , who was unconscious and was taken to the University of Chicago @ @ @ @ @ woman in her 50s in the SUV suffered minor injuries and was under observation at @ @ @ @ @ Center , police said .

A man was killed and four people were injured early Thursday when a driver ran a red light and slammed into an SUV in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side, according to Chicago police.
The accident happened around 1:20 a.m. as a man was driving a Jeep Wrangler south in the 7900 block of South King Drive and “proceeded through a red light and struck a (sport utility) vehicle” in the side as the SUV headed west on a cross street, police said. Four people, all in their 50s, were in that SUV.
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The driver of the SUV that was hit, a 54-year-old man, was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. He was identified by the Cook County medical examiner’s office as Derrick Reed.
Also in the SUV was a 51-year-old man who suffered minor cuts and was taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition. As was a woman, 52, who was unconscious and was taken to the University of Chicago in good condition. Another woman in her 50s in the SUV suffered minor injuries and was under observation at the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said.
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The driver of the Jeep that ran the light, a 35-year-old man, also was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center with minor injuries and was listed in good condition, according to police.
Authorities initially said the 35-year-old was to be issued citations. Sally Bown, a police spokeswoman, later said charges were pending against the driver. Asked to clarify whether the driver was suspected to have committed a traffic violation or if he faced criminal charges, Bown said that “We don’t know what the charges will be until they are finalized.”
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-10-29--East Chicago girl, 8, dies a week after being shot in family’s living room

East Chicago Deputy Chief Jose Rivera said previously that officers were sent to the 4500 block of Magoun Avenue around @ @ @ @ @ the city ’ s Shotspotter system detected several shots fired in the area .
As @ @ @ @ @ Rivera said , they were alerted that a girl a few houses from where the @ @ @ @ @ shot .

An 8-year-old East Chicago girl who was shot in the head while she did homework in her family’s living room a week ago has died.
Timya Andrews, of the 4500 block of Magoun Avenue, was pronounced dead at 2:04 p.m Oct. 28, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. She died at Comer Children’s Hospital in Chicago.
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Police are working with the ATF, which is offering a $5,000 reward, the East Chicago Police said Thursday morning on social media. Mayor Anthony Copeland matched the reward, for a total of $10,000 “for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual(s) involved in this heinous and senseless crime.”
East Chicago Deputy Chief Jose Rivera said previously that officers were sent to the 4500 block of Magoun Avenue around 10 p.m. Oct. 22 after the city’s Shotspotter system detected several shots fired in the area. As they were en route, Rivera said, they were alerted that a girl a few houses from where the shots were detected had been shot.
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The girl was taken by ambulance to St. Catherine Hospital, where she was stabilized and then taken to Comer, Rivera said.
Rivera said police have determined that someone shot 16 rounds from an automatic weapon at the house a few down from where the girl lived, and a stray bullet hit the north side of her house.
“Any time a child is the victim of senseless gun violence it affects and saddens us all,” Rivera said. "Thoughts, prayers and caring emojis on social media will not bring the shooter to justice. We need witnesses to come forward and cooperate with our detectives. We can’t allow these cowardly thugs to randomly open fire in our community with impunity.
“Our department will use all the resources we have available to help us catch the shooter and any person involved in today’s shooting. We are encouraging anyone with any information to call our anonymous tip line at 219-391-8500.”
Anyone with any information can also contact contact Detective Miguel Pena at 219-391-8318.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.


chicagotribune--2020-10-29--Woman falsely claimed her 7-month-old son was in stolen SUV so police would find it sooner, prosecut

Woman falsely claimed her 7-month-old son was in stolen SUV so police would find it sooner, prosecutors say

The babysitter said Owens had dropped all three children off that morning and was supposed to pick them up at @ @ @ @ @ .
When Owens didn ’ t return , the babysitter said she was unable to @ @ @ @ @ ’ s 7-year-old brother identified the baby by name .

For hours, Chicago police searched the city for a 7-month-old boy after his mother claimed he had been in an SUV that was stolen while she dashed into a convenience store on the Southwest Side.
They finally found him safe — with a babysitter where Sade Owens had dropped him and her two other children off earlier Monday. She told officers she filed the false report because “some lady” had told her police would find her stolen car faster if she said her baby was inside.
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Owens, a 30-year-old home caregiver, could be heard sobbing Wednesday during her bail hearing, broadcast on YouTube, after a judge ordered her held on $5,000 bail on a felony charge of false reporting.
Judge Mary C. Marubio noted how police “jumped into action” to find the missing child, deploying canine units and a helicopter.
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“This is an incredibly expensive search for this child, for this baby,” the judge said. “So while we consider that no one was harmed, there is a harm to a community when police resources are misdirected — and misdirected on such a grand scale.”
Sade Owens (Chicago Police Department)
Owens told police she left the boy in a gray SUV when she went into a convenience store in the 2700 block of West 71st Street early Monday afternoon, police said. When she returned, the SUV was gone.
Investigators found that someone drove the SUV north on California Avenue. They found it two hours later in the 1400 block of South Keeler Avenue but did not find the child. Police released photos of the boy in an endangered missing person alert.
Prosecutors said Owens became “evasive with officers,” later giving them incomplete information about the location of her other two children and their babysitter. Owens gave detectives the wrong address to her babysitter, but they were eventually able to find the correct apartment building and apartment, prosecutors said.
When the babysitter opened the front door, investigators immediately saw the boy sitting on the couch, authorities said.
The babysitter said Owens had dropped all three children off that morning and was supposed to pick them up at 5 p.m., prosecutors said. When Owens didn’t return, the babysitter said she was unable to contact her. The boy’s 7-year-old brother identified the baby by name.
Owens' court-appointed attorney said the mother of three was homeless and living in a shelter while working full-time as a caregiver. She is scheduled to return to court next week.
wlee@chicagotribune.com
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pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @MidNoirCowboy
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-10-29--Dad charged after son, 13, confesses to the fatal accidental shooting of his brother, 9

Three days later , the 13-year-old boy told authorities that his 5-year-old sister brought out one of their father ’ @ @ @ @ @ brother , prosecutors said .
But the girl told authorities the eldest boy had retrieved @ @ @ @ @ brothers were playing with them when Ashton was accidentally killed , Schieve said .

After first implicating his own grandmother and later his 5-year-old sister in the fatal accidental shooting of his 9-year-old brother, authorities said a 13-year-old boy confessed that he actually did it while they played with their father’s legally owned firearms.
A Cook County judge ordered the father, Adrien Lipscomb, 38, released on a personal recognizance bond on a felony child endangerment charge Wednesday, three weeks to the day from when his son Ashton was found lying motionless and bleeding in the family’s duplex-style home in the 1500 block of North Lorel Avenue.
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Ashton suffered a gunshot wound to the head on Oct. 7 while he and his siblings were being watched by his grandmother, who lived in the apartment below, prosecutors said during a bail hearing broadcast on YouTube. The boy was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police recovered a revolver and a .40-caliber Glock near the children and an unloaded rifle under the bed, according to prosecutors. Adrien Lipscomb had left the home to take the children’s mother to the hospital, authorities said.
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As police worked the scene, Lipscomb returned home, Assistant State’s Attorney Jocelyn Schieve told the court. The 13-year-old — with his father watching — initially said his grandmother accidentally shot his brother.
Three days later, the 13-year-old boy told authorities that his 5-year-old sister brought out one of their father’s guns and shot their brother, prosecutors said. But the girl told authorities the eldest boy had retrieved both guns and that her brothers were playing with them when Ashton was accidentally killed, Schieve said.
The 13-year-old then confessed to accidentally shooting his brother while they played with the handguns.
Prosecutors charged the father with two counts of child endangerment, but dropped one charge during the hearing. Authorities said he legally owned the weapons.
Lipscomb’s attorney, Andrew Gable, pushed for his release from jail, noting that his client turned himself in to authorities, was cooperative and had no criminal background.
In releasing Lipscomb, Judge Mary C. Marubio said she didn’t believe the father was a flight risk. “This is a profoundly tragic and heartbreaking case,” the judge said. “There is profound carelessness to this offense but certainly no acute criminality that Mr. Lipscomb suffers from.”
Lipscomb is scheduled to return to court next week.
wlee@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter @MidNoirCowboy


chicagotribune--2020-10-29--A vaccine may be ready by January, but a return to normal a year away. Here’s what we learned from D

A vaccine may be ready by January, but a return to normal a year away. Here’s what we learned from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s virtual Chicago talk.

“ I have now , for the last 36 years , been the director of this institute and have dealt @ @ @ @ @ presidents , and when I get involved as I do frequently in the country ’ @ @ @ @ @ , I focus like a laser beam on what I have to do , what @ @ @ @ @ to safeguard the health , the safety and the welfare of the American public , @ @ @ @ @ because we are a leader in global health .
So those other things that you @ @ @ @ @ that , to me that ’ s just noise .
It really is .
I @ @ @ @ @ that .
It doesn ’ t bother me .
It doesn ’ t influence me @ @

With COVID-19 cases rising rapidly in Illinois, Dr. Anthony Fauci discussed the latest surge, the president’s name-calling and a vaccine timeline during a virtual Chicago talk Wednesday evening.
Fauci’s remarks, during an online event hosted by Chicago Ideas, came the same day that Illinois reported 6,110 new cases of COVID-19, with a rolling positivity rate of 6.7%, up from 4.6% two weeks earlier.
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Here are five take-aways from the remarks by Fauci, who is the government’s top infectious disease expert, heading the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases:
1. A vaccine could be close
“By the time we get to the end of November, the beginning or middle of December, we should know whether we have a safe and effective vaccine, and at that point, you can think about the distribution of doses toward the end of December, the beginning of January,” Fauci said.
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He said he’s “cautiously optimistic ... that we will get a positive answer in at least one and maybe two or more of the vaccines." He noted there are five potential vaccines in advanced clinical trials in the U.S.
2. You can trust a vaccine
Questions have been raised about whether the administration has been trying to rush a vaccine to help President Donald Trump win reelection. Fauci, however, said raw data will guide any decisions about the safety and effectiveness of a vaccine.
“When you see mixed messages and what are apparent ... conflicts at the highest level, then it does erode confidence in the process, but the process is solid," Fauci said.
“What you sometimes hear coming from Washington makes it look like there is influence that’s not purely scientific, but when you’re talking about vaccines and therapeutics, it will be based purely on scientific and public health interests,” he said.
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3. Why cases are spiking
Nearly 40 states are seeing an increased number of cases, including Illinois, Fauci said.
“There are a number of complicated reasons why that’s the case. One, we never got down to a manageable baseline. So we had so much community spread that even the classic maneuvers, like contact tracing, don’t work very well,” he said.
Also, he said, practices including universal mask-wearing, social distancing, avoiding crowds, holding activities outdoors rather than indoors and frequent hand-washing have not “been uniformly done” across the country.
“So now as we’re entering the cooler months in the middle of the fall and soon the cold months of the winter, we’re in a very bad position,” Fauci said. “When you think about where we’re going, because the trajectory is going up, and then compound that with the holiday season coming, we have to do something different because we are clearly going in the wrong direction.”
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4. Life won’t be normal for a while
“I think it’s going to take at least a year to get back close enough to what you and I knew was normal before December of 2019,” Fauci said.
He said a gradual return to normal life will follow a vaccine. He expects mask-wearing will continue for a “considerable period of time,” but gradually, indoor restaurant eating will return, theaters will reopen, though they may not be at full capacity, and more sporting events will take place with spectators as people begin to feel protected by both a vaccine and public health measures.
5. He has thick skin
In recent weeks, Trump has referred to Fauci as a “disaster” and one of a number of “idiots.”
When WTTW’s Brandis Friedman, who interviewed Fauci, repeated those insults to Fauci, he laughed. He said it doesn’t weigh on him or the work he does.
“I have now, for the last 36 years, been the director of this institute and have dealt very closely with six separate presidents, and when I get involved as I do frequently in the country’s response to emerging infections, I focus like a laser beam on what I have to do, what my responsibility is, is to safeguard the health, the safety and the welfare of the American public, and indirectly for the world because we are a leader in global health. So those other things that you mentioned, the name-calling and that, to me that’s just noise. It really is. I don’t bother with that. It doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t influence me."


chicagotribune--2020-10-28--Waukegan police release video footage, but none of it shows fatal shooting of Marcellis Stinnette

The city also released footage from the body camera of the officer who fired on the couple , which was @ @ @ @ @ .
On it , there are about 35 seconds with no audio , and as @ @ @ @ @ Tamara Williams can be heard shouting from inside her crashed car , “ We didn @ @ @ @ @ ” The police officer responds , “ I was right behind you .
You almost @ @ @ @ @ .
”

Zharvellis Holmes, left, mother of Marcellis Stinnette, and his grandmother, Sherrellis Stinnette, center, listen as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, right, and others speak Oct. 28, 2020, outside the Illinois State Police headquarters in Des Plaines. They had viewed video of the shooting death Stinnette and the wounding of Tafara Williams by Waukegan police last week. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
The city of Waukegan released footage Wednesday from a fatal police shooting last week, but the officer who shot and killed Marcellis Stinnette and wounded his girlfriend activated his body camera only after firing at the couple, city officials acknowledged.
In releasing the videos, the city said the officer’s failure to activate the camera was one of the reasons Waukegan fired him Friday, just days after the Oct. 20 incident in which Stinnette, 19, was killed and his girlfriend, Tafara Williams, 20, was wounded. Both victims are Black and the parents of a 7-month-old son.
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The videos from shortly before midnight cast light on the shooting, but none show the officer, who is Hispanic, opening fire.
The city of Waukegan released footage from the fatal shooting of Marcellis Stinnette by a Waukegan police officer. (City of Waukegan) (Chicago Tribune Handout)
The officer’s dashboard camera shows him driving south on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue when the couple’s car, being driven by Williams, pulls onto the street ahead of the police cruiser, apparently from an apartment complex, and heads south. After running through a stop sign, Williams’ car attempts to head west on Helmholz Avenue, but slides off the road.
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On the dash cam, the car can be seen reversing momentarily, and a moment later the police officer is heard saying, “Get out of the…” before shots ring out. A few moments later, the sound of the car crashing into a small brick building can be heard.
The dash cam video picks up the officer a moment later saying what sounds like, “You ran me over.” During the shooting, though, the dash cam was pointed away from the couple’s car, other than the front of the vehicle before it backs out of camera range.
The city also released video of the couple’s initial encounter with a different officer, who is white, just before the shooting. That video shows Williams, with Stinnette in the passenger seat, driving away suddenly from the police officer, who had pulled up alongside them as they sat in her parked car.
In the video, the officer asks Stinnette his name, and he initially says it is King. The officer, though, identifies him and says that Stinnette is under arrest.
“What for?” Stinnette asks. “Because I said so,” the officer replies. He then tells Stinnette there is a warrant for his arrest, and the officer walks around to the passenger side of the couple’s vehicle, where Stinnette is seated.
After a few more moments of conversation, the car suddenly drives off, causing the police officer to exclaim, “Hey, hey hey, they just ran me over.” He then is heard radioing other officers for assistance.
The city also released footage from the body camera of the officer who fired on the couple, which was only activated after the shooting. On it, there are about 35 seconds with no audio, and as the audio picks up, Tamara Williams can be heard shouting from inside her crashed car, “We didn’t do anything wrong.” The police officer responds, “I was right behind you. You almost tried to run me over.”
Handout photo of Marcellis Stinnette who was shot and killed by Waukegan police on October 20th. (Family photo)
The videos are at odds with some aspects of the account Williams gave Tuesday from her hospital bed via Zoom.
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She said she drove away slowly from the first officer with his permission, but the video shows a more sudden acceleration as the officer is in the middle of attempting to arrest Stinnette, something Williams also did not mention.
The videos also do not seem to support the initial account of the officer who fired at the couple -- as reported in initial statements from Waukegan police -- that he fired at the couple’s car as it went in reverse toward him, putting him in fear for his life.
In the video, his police car pulls alongside Williams' car, which can be seen reversing only a second or two after the officer’s vehicle stops.
Authorities have not released any information about why the couple’s car was approached by the initial officer, or anything about an alleged warrant pending for Stinnette’s arrest.
Earlier Wednesday, attorneys for Williams' family reviewed the video, and they decried the lack of body camera video, with Antonio Romanucci saying the officer’s account had zero credibility because his body cam was not activated until after the shooting.
The attorney said bullet holes appeared to be in the driver’s side door, which he said would suggest the officer fired from a 90-degree angle to the car, not as it backed up toward him. There did not appear to any defects in the front windshield, or gunshot damage to the rear window of the couple’s vehicle, Romanucci said.
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“This officer had an ‘Oh crap’ moment after the shooting, and pushed the (body camera) button,” the attorney said. “He knew to push the button and say, ‘You tried to run me over.’ Those were his first words. That’s the justification.
“It’s very sad we will not be able to see the truth by video,” he said. “Had he had his body camera on, maybe we wouldn’t be standing here."
[ Waukegan police shooting victim says, ‘We had our hands raised’; Rev. Al Sharpton joins family at site of shooting ]
The videos were released with an accompanying letter from Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham, which said the body camera of the officer who fired at the couple was, “not activated properly to archive the time of the shooting.”
“We are all hurting as a result of this incident, and while I intend to allow justice to run its course and not compromise the integrity of the process, I must balance that with my commitment to the families and the community to always maintain transparency,” he said.
The Illinois State Police, along with the FBI, are continuing the investigation into the incident.


chicagotribune--2020-10-28--Gov. Pritzker tied COVID-19 cases to restaurants and bars in Kane, DuPage counties. Local health dep

Gov. Pritzker tied COVID-19 cases to restaurants and bars in Kane, DuPage counties. Local health department data is unclear.

`` It is particularly difficult given the fact that the data which has been released by our local health departments @ @ @ @ @ restaurants as significant sources contributing to the spread , yet they are being singled out @ @ @ @ @ , their establishment resides in a county that is enforcing the measures , ” he @ @ @ @ @ “ Moreover , other businesses and settings that the data reflects are contributing to the @ @ @ @ @ the enhanced mitigation measures .
This has led to misinformation and opposition to the mitigation @ @ @ @

The day after he announced increased restrictions on bars and restaurants to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Kane and DuPage counties, Gov. J.B. Pritzker doubled down on his heightened mitigation measures.
“In region 8 (Kane and DuPage counties), for example, the number one place — the number one identifiable place that people said when they were contact-traced, that they had been to either just before they got tested or after they got tested but before they got their result, was a bar or a restaurant,” he said last week at a daily COVID-19 news conference. “And that’s true across the state.”
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But information made public by health departments in Kane and DuPage counties presents a more vague picture about the exposure locations identified in COVID-19 contact tracing. Local health departments have not made public information about the locations visited by those who tested positive for COVID-19, and business owners and some officials continue to question whether restrictions on restaurants and bars are targeting the right places.
Officials with both health departments say eating and drinking indoors can pose a virus risk, and they encourage residents to follow state rules and take precautions. But a Kane County Health Department spokeswoman said the agency had limited data from county contact tracing about locations, and it would be difficult to make any assumptions. The DuPage County health department did not definitively identify the top locations turning up in contact tracing.
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At a news conference Wednesday, Pritzker said private gatherings are a significant source of spread across the country as are restaurants and bars, and he has previously highlighted studies that he said showed restaurants and bars are a “major spreading location for the virus.”
“We’re just trying to educate people as we always have, and then to the extent that we can limit interactions in places where we know there’s spread, that’s what we’re trying to do," he said. "Especially in the midst of a COVID storm.”
Though data specific to Region 8 was unavailable, statewide data from 69 of 97 Illinois counties shows in August and September, the locations people reported visiting most often within 14 days of testing positive for the virus fell into the “other” category, which includes places such as vacations, family gatherings, weddings, college parties and anything that isn’t covered by another listed location. Outside of the catchall category, the location most often reported was restaurants and bars.
The state-mandated mitigation measures include other restrictions, such as tighter caps on gathering sizes, but the provisions banning indoor service drew consternation from some businesses and public officials. The increased restrictions will remain in place until the region’s rate of tests that come back positive is at or below 6.5% for three consecutive days, and the region could be subject to further restrictions if the positivity rate does not fall below 8%. Sunday, the most recent day for which state data was available, the positivity rate for the region covering Kane and DuPage counties was 9.6%.
Some restaurant owners in Aurora questioned whether the provisions banning indoor service were targeting the right types of places. Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico has said he wanted information about how the virus was spreading in DuPage County, and if the data showed virus transmissions were occurring at places other than restaurants then the state’s heightened restrictions were “almost like window dressing.”
In a letter dated Wednesday, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin also questioned the mitigation measures, particularly what he deemed their uneven enforcement.
"It is particularly difficult given the fact that the data which has been released by our local health departments does not support bars and restaurants as significant sources contributing to the spread, yet they are being singled out if, and only if, their establishment resides in a county that is enforcing the measures,” he wrote in the letter. “Moreover, other businesses and settings that the data reflects are contributing to the spread are not subject to the enhanced mitigation measures. This has led to misinformation and opposition to the mitigation measures taken.”
In DuPage County, case investigators and contact tracers collect information about locations visited by people who have tested positive for the virus, but the health department doesn’t yet have the ability to run a report detailing the information, said Chris Hoff, the department’s director of community health resources.
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Hoff did not name the top place residents reported visiting before testing positive but said the department has found people reporting they were at restaurants, workplaces and other locations.
The county does identify places to which virus outbreaks have been linked, meaning at least two cases were definitively tied to that location within 14 days. But Hoff cautioned locations linked to outbreaks are not the same as places visited by residents who ultimately test positive.
The county’s public outbreak data includes only a small number of the county’s total cases, and only includes cases where multiple people could be linked to the same location. The outbreak data links 3,135 cases of COVID-19 to locations, while the county has had about 22,600 people contract the virus since the start of the pandemic.
Among those cases that can be linked to outbreaks, 22 cases, comprising five outbreaks, were linked to sit-down dining at a restaurant between the start of the pandemic and Oct. 20, preliminary county data shows. The data does not specify whether the cases were tied to indoor or outdoor dining, and an additional 27 cases comprising eight outbreaks are tied to fast-food restaurants and other or unknown types of restaurants.
The data shows since the start of the pandemic, outbreak-related cases tied to restaurants are fewer than cases tied to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, food production facilities and factories or manufacturers.
Between Oct. 6 and Oct. 20, no outbreaks were tied to any restaurants, preliminary county data shows.
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The county cannot always identify definitively where a person contracted the virus, but that doesn’t mean a resident did not contract the virus at that location, Hoff said.
He cautioned the nature of indoor restaurants and bars is risky. They are visited by many people, often not wearing masks as they eat and drink, and residents are likely to linger or visit with others outside their immediate household, he said.
[ Court allows FoxFire restaurant in Geneva to stay open for indoor dining despite Gov. Pritzker’s COVID-19 closure order ]
He urged residents to take precautions and follow restrictions, and avoid going out if they don’t have to. It is easier to act now than wait until the virus is out of control, he said.
“People are tired of COVID, tired of restrictions, tired of not seeing people," he said. “And every indicator we’re watching is going up. So now is not a good time to be ignoring those restrictions.”
In Kane County, where more than 16,500 residents have contracted COVID-19 so far, spokeswoman Susan Stack said it would be difficult to make assumptions about locations identified during contact tracing. An average of about 12% of respondents answered a question about locations during the contact tracing process, meaning the majority of people did not have an answer, she said.
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In a statement Friday, Kane County Health Department Executive Director Barbara Jeffers acknowledged the challenges the increased restrictions put on the food and beverage industry and encouraged Kane County residents to support restaurants and bars through takeout, drive-through, delivery and outdoor dining.
She said the department was seeing the virus spread at large and small personal gatherings and cautioned the upcoming holiday season could pose a particular problem if COVID-19 rates do not decrease.
“For the majority of our population, their risk increases based on the number of different people that they come in contact with,” she said. “These restrictions are in place to help reduce the spread of the virus. Social gatherings, including weddings, funerals, potlucks and even birthday parties, are limited to no more than 25 guests.”
sfreishtat@tribpub.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-28--COVID-19 numbers prompt stoppage of indoor restaurant and bar service in Lake, McHenry counties; ‘We

COVID-19 numbers prompt stoppage of indoor restaurant and bar service in Lake, McHenry counties; ‘We simply need to stay in’

When he learned of mitigation imposed by the state , Cunningham said he was saddened because the numbers which caused @ @ @ @ @ did not come from his city , North Chicago or Zion .
He wants all @ @ @ @ @ to curb the virus .

Gov. J.B. Pritzker takes questions from the press, during his daily update of COVID-19 cases in Illinois, in the Blue Room of the Thompson Center, Tuesday Oct., 20, 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Lake County residents will no longer be able to dine indoors at a restaurant, gather inside at a bar or congregate in groups of more than 25 as of 12:01 a.m. Saturday because of surging cases of COVID-19 in Lake and McHenry counties.
Those restrictions and others are part of mitigation imposed Wednesday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health because of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in those two counties comprising the state’s Region 9.
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Pritzker imposed the restrictions because the positivity rate of Region 9 was 8.4%, giving it a seven-day rolling average of more than 8%, according to a news release from the Lake County Health Department and the McHenry County Department of Public Health.
Until the region averages a 6.5% positivity rate or less for a three-day period, the restrictions will remain in place, according to the release.
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Mark Pfister, the executive director of the Lake County Health Department, said the last time the county was at a 6.5% positivity rate was Oct. 12. It was 4.9% Sept. 23, marking a 71% jump in just over a month.
The mitigation imposed by the state did not surprise him.
“We’ve been expecting this because of the rising number of cases, and we’ve been watching the increase in the positivity rate,” Pfister said. “There’s no one location where this is stemming from. It’s businesses, schools, private and public gatherings and multi-generational households.”
Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham said he encourages children to refrain from trick-or-treating Saturday, and look for safer ways to enjoy Halloween.
“We should have essential movement only,” he said.
Along with wearing masks, socially distancing by staying at least six feet away from others and frequently washing hands, Pfister said cooperating with contact-tracers will help reduce the spread of the virus
When he learned of mitigation imposed by the state, Cunningham said he was saddened because the numbers which caused the surge in the region did not come from his city, North Chicago or Zion. He wants all residents to redouble their effort to curb the virus.
“I am beyond disappointed,” Cunningham said. “We have to keep wearing our face coverings, keeping our social distance and washing our hands, so this mitigation can be removed. We simply need to stay in.”
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Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart said the she was “frustrated and disappointed” about the mitigation procedures imposed by the state. While she advocates hand-washing, social distancing and mask-wearing, she is concerned about the economic impact.
“We all have to do these things to help keep us and our friends safe,” she said. “I’m concerned about our businesses that will suffer in our county and our region.”
Along with practicing the three Ws of washing hands, watching distance kept from others and wearing masks, Pfister said people should start refraining from unnecessary travel, either near or far. They should stay away from large gatherings, especially indoors. He warned against travel sports.
“People should stay at home as much as possible to reduce the community spread,” Pfister said. “We hear about people going to Wisconsin and Indiana (for sports events,) traveling in one car with people who live outside their home. You need to know who is outside your bubble.”
Along with no indoor eating at restaurants, outdoor dining must close by 11 p.m., all tables must be six-feet apart, no one can stand or congregate while waiting for a table, multiple parties cannot occupy the same table and reservations are required, according to the release.
Outdoor bar service must also cease at 11 p.m., according to the release. Patrons must sit at tables, no bar stools are allowed, ordering or congregating at the bar is prohibited, dancing or standing indoors is forbidden, multiple parties cannot sit together and reservations are necessary.
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Meetings, social events and gatherings are limited to the lesser of 25 persons or 25 percent of the overall room capacity, according to the release. Gaming facilities and casinos are under the same capacity restrictions, must close at 11 p.m. and abide by the rules for restaurants and bars when they apply.
These restrictions do not apply to schools or polling places, according to the release.


chicagotribune--2020-10-28--IHSA ignores Gov. Pritzker’s guidelines, will start boys and girls basketball seasons on time: ‘It’s

IHSA ignores Gov. Pritzker’s guidelines, will start boys and girls basketball seasons on time: ‘It’s been a whirlwind the last 24 hours’

“ We ’ ve told school districts what the rules are , and I think they all know , ” @ @ @ @ @ , IHSA may have their own views of it , but school districts know what @ @ @ @ @ I think that , it ’ s unfortunate , but they would be probably taking @ @ @ @ @ went ahead and moved beyond what the state has set as the mitigation standard .
@

Lincoln-Way East’s Hayven Smith, center, talks with coach Jim Nair during a workout at the Frankfort school on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. Using a fall contact day allowed by the Illinois High School Association, the Griffins were practicing in preparation for a season that appears imminent after the IHSA’s board decided Wednesday to start the sport on time. (Gary Middendorf / Daily Southtown)
It was a stunning development.
The Illinois High School Association decided Wednesday the boys and girls basketball seasons are on after all.
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The IHSA took a stand at a special board meeting, deciding to go against the guidelines announced Tuesday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Practice for boys and girls basketball was scheduled to begin Nov. 16, with games being played by Nov. 30.
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The prevailing feeling by suburban coaches is a mix of shock and happiness with some trepidation.
“We’ve been on an emotional roller coaster,” Hillcrest boys basketball coach Don Houston said. “Is the season starting or isn’t it? Now we know, and it feels great.”
Aurora Central Catholic boys basketball coach Nate Drye couldn’t believe his ears when he received word about the IHSA’s decision.
“I’m blown away,” Drye said. “I can’t believe they actually did it. I’m very much in support of the move to allow kids to play. It’s been too long for people to take into consideration what this (shutdown) has done to kids and their overall health and well-being.
“We’ve been playing in open gyms across the state for a couple months. We’ve been erring on the side of caution. If it shows up to be a problem, you make adjustments. We’ve been in school and had in-school learning for 11 weeks with no issues and not living in fear.”
Craig Anderson, the executive director of the IHSA, had a Zoom meeting with athletic directors statewide at 3 p.m. to announce moving forward with winter sports despite the IDPH changing basketball from medium risk to high risk.
Marian Catholic’s Jeremiah Jones, center, launches a 3-point shot against St. Laurence during a game in Burbank on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020. (Gary Middendorf / Daily Southtown)
The board also voted to move wrestling to the summer season, which will be held April 19 to June 26.
Boys swimming, diving, cheerleading, dance, boys and girls bowling, and girls gymnastics — also classified as winter sports by the IHSA — have been deemed low risk.
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Mitigation rules for those sports will be posted later in the week. Basketball players, coaches and officials, however, will have to wear masks during games.
Oak Forest wrestling coach Shawn Forst wasn’t surprised to see the season moved to the summer.
“I think most of us in the wrestling community saw it coming,” Forst said. “We’ve been doing a lot of virtual meetings and working with college coaches. We kind of knew that this would be moved.
“We figured we’d do the preseason workouts in March and April, when it would have a little more impact.”
Even with the wrestling season postponed until the summer, Forst said he was excited about the change.
“Absolutely, I’m always happy for hope,” he said. “You always want what’s best for the kids. In this day and age, I’m not sure there’s a right answer for anything.”
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Mount Carmel’s Noah Mis, left, wraps up Naperville Central’s Elrin Esporlas during the 138-pound match in the Class 3A Sandburg Dual Team Sectional semifinals in Orland Park on Feb. 25, 2020. (Gary Middendorf / Daily Southtown)
One day after Pritzker’s announcement, the IHSA was expected to fall into line.
Instead, the IHSA statement said in part, “The board has not been presented any causal evidence that rising COVID-19 cases make basketball more dangerous to play by the IDPH or any other health organization nationally or internationally. On the contrary, the IHSA has been looking to bordering states who have sponsored both medium-risk and high-risk sports in the fall that have noted a low incident rate of COVID-19 spread.
“Mounting challenges, from increased mental health issues among our students to a shrinking calendar that limits our ability to move sport seasons this school year, were instrumental in this decision to move forward with basketball as scheduled. We see our students regularly leaving the state to play sports or covertly continuing to play locally. Students can be better protected in the high school setting.”
Part of that protection will be wearing a mask.
Oak Forest boys basketball coach Matt Manzke has no issue with that aspect — as long as it means there will be a season.
The Lincoln-Way East girls basketball team works out at the Frankfort school on Wednesday, Oct 28, 2020. Using a fall contact day allowed by the Illinois High School Association, the Griffins were practicing in preparation for a season that appears imminent after the IHSA’s board decided Wednesday to start the sport on time. (Gary Middendorf / Daily Southtown)
“It’s been shown in other states that this can be done safely,” he said. “We can do this. I also like it from the standpoint that we can keep tabs on what the kids are doing. We can’t do that with their travel teams.
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“The kids have put in a lot of work. There are kids who have worked hard for their opportunity. Now they’re going to get it as long as everyone is on board.”
It’s possible some schools and school districts could follow the lead of Pritzker and the IDHP and decide not to play. In fact, Pritzker touched on that subject Wednesday at his coronavirus briefing in Chicago.
“We’ve told school districts what the rules are, and I think they all know,” Pritzker said. “So, IHSA may have their own views of it, but school districts know what the rules are, and I think that, it’s unfortunate, but they would be probably taking on legal liability if they went ahead and moved beyond what the state has set as the mitigation standard.”
Homewood-Flossmoor girls basketball coach Tony Smith understands whether H-F will follow the lead of the IHSA or IDPH will come from the school’s administration.
“I’m ready to play,” Smith said. “We have planned on it, we prepared for it, we’ve got a schedule, we have everything in place to play. The goal always was to play. If they tell us we can play Nov. 16 and we can practice, we’re all set to go. If it changes, we’re ready to pause and work around it.
“But now, I think, Homewood-Flossmoor is going to make the decision for Homewood-Flossmoor, the student population and our town. I haven’t talked to the people who make that choice, but we’re going to trust them to do the right thing. We’re going to fully honor and support that.”
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Mother McAuley girls basketball coach Keisha Newell admitted having a wide range of emotions upon hearing the news.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to our administration about it at all,” she said. “So I don’t want to get too high or too low. I kind of just want to wait and see how it plays out.
“I’m hopeful a little bit and excited that we may be able to play. But I’d like to get all of the details first and not jump to any conclusions. We want to make sure we’re making the right decisions.”
Thornton’s Sean Burress (5) takes the ball to the basket against Bloom’s Christian Shumate (24) during a game in Chicago Heights on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020. (Gary Middendorf / Daily Southtown)
Such as the safety of her players.
“I’m not an expert,” Newell said. “Do I want to play? Of course, I want to play. But I also want to protect our players. I care about them a lot.
“We’ve been doing it. We’ve been playing in masks and competing with masks on. Our girls have been diligent. They have not complained one time. Whether it’s safe to play or not, but I would love to play and have a season.”
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Zion-Benton boys basketball coach Bob Worthington, a former forward for Michigan State, doesn’t like the mixed messages from the IHSA and the governor’s office.
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“It’s hard to believe two entities that govern a large body can’t be on the same page,” he said. “I don’t know what message it sends, so I want to get as much information as I can. But it’s surprising. Very, very surprising.
“I’m not sure how it will play out, but I do think some local control makes sense. Everybody belongs to a conference, so things are so connected, and that will make things difficult. Our kids definitely need some normalcy, but they also need to be safe.”
Oswego East boys basketball coach Ryan Velasquez, meanwhile, supports the IHSA’s decision.
“It’s very encouraging,” he said. “I’m glad it looks like we may get an opportunity to play. It’s been a whirlwind the last 24 hours. It was unfortunate to hear the news Tuesday from the governor.
“I’m very excited. But at the same time, these decisions are not made by me. I want my guys to be able to play, but I think some decisions will have to be made within our administration before it happens.
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“But I feel like we can do this.”
Staff reporters Rick Armstrong and Tony Baranek and freelance reporter Bob Narang contributed.


chicagotribune--2020-10-30--A crime revisited: Ex-prosecutor’s role in decades-old wrongful conviction takes spotlight in Foxx-O

A crime revisited: Ex-prosecutor’s role in decades-old wrongful conviction takes spotlight in Foxx-O’Brien race

“ I was part of the system , ” he said .
“ Until the results of the DNA tests @ @ @ @ @ that they were innocent .
With the DNA tests , tests that were not available @ @ @ @ @ am now convinced that they were not involved and am grateful that scientific advancements enabled @ @ @ @ @ ”

Political ads from the campaign of incumbent Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx make a serious charge in the starkest of terms: that her opponent Pat O’Brien secured wrongful convictions against four Black teenagers in the haunting 1986 rape and murder of a promising medical student.
The exonerated men in question are known as the Roscetti 4, and three of them spent about 14 years behind bars before advances in DNA testing cleared them and identified the actual killers. They appeared in one of Foxx’s videos blaming O’Brien for the injustice that befell them, while he has sought to blunt those accusations.
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Omar Muhammad, formerly known as Omar Saunders, from left, Marcellius Bradford, and Larry Ollins and his cousin Calvin Ollins gather at the Daley Plaza on Aug. 27, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Despite the passage of time, questions persist about the case, but just how much responsibility O’Brien should bear is not clear-cut.
By the fall of 1987, he was a trial supervisor at the courthouse at 26th Street and California Avenue and assigned with another assistant state’s attorney to prosecute the teens.
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One defendant was an eighth grader who along with another teen signed written confessions. But they later blamed the coercion that produced their faulty statements on police, and O’Brien has said while he was a part of the state’s attorney’s felony review unit at the time, he was not part of the decision to charge them.
A recent Foxx ad opens with its most shocking claim: One of the men, Marcellius Bradford, said he will never forget O’Brien allegedly telling him at the time that he knew the four were innocent but the victim was “a white woman … somebody’s got to pay for this crime.”
An outraged O’Brien said the statement is a lie, citing the improbability of a prosecutor speaking alone to a murder defendant outside his attorney’s presence. The Tribune found no record in voluminous court filings of Bradford’s accusation, though his lawsuit did allege secret meetings.
John, left, and Lora Roscetti leave court in 1988 after the first of four defendants was convicted of killing their daughter. At right is then-Assistant State's Attorney Patrick O'Brien. (Chuck Berman / Chicago Tribune)
O’Brien noted Bradford pleaded guilty in 2003 to theft by deception for trying to extort money from the attorney whose work had led to his exoneration. He said Foxx’s reliance on Bradford “shows either a complete lack of regard for the truth or incomprehensible naivete — neither quality that is becoming of a state’s attorney.”
Foxx stopped short of accusing O’Brien of misconduct when the Tribune asked about the ad, instead saying he should have done more to vet the credibility of the confessions. She described him as part of an old culture of “win at all costs," citing what she said were 27 wrongful convictions in the office when he held supervisory roles before returning to private practice in 1993.
O’Brien responded by saying Foxx had “cherry-picked” those cases, including a small number which involved prosecutorial misconduct, and that he did not try any involving such problems. O’Brien did prosecute another 1980s-era murder case included on Foxx’s list that an appellate court later reversed, citing insufficient evidence.
In the Roscetti case, the trial judge, juries and the appellate court found their confessions credible. The case came under scrutiny in 2001 after key witnesses recanted, scientific expert testimony was discredited and, most significantly, DNA tests — science that was unavailable during the trials — failed to link the four men to the evidence.
Two other defendants were charged after tests matched to their genetic profiles. Both have since died from cancer.
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O’Brien said he now believes in the innocence of the Roscetti 4, but he defended the police work and the decisions he made. Prosecutors followed the evidence in good faith, he said, which included the court-reported confessions from two defendants, admissions to acquaintances and Bradford’s cooperation as a witness.
Experts consider it a key case that helped lead to the creation of a state’s attorney conviction integrity unit. It still is used as a training tool for prosecutors to better recognize false confessions.
‘This never ends’
Lora Roscetti, 91, has lived the terrible arc of her daughter’s slaying for 34 years.
“It’s like a kick in the stomach,” she said upon learning of its renewed spotlight in the election. “I just thought, boy, this never ends.”
Her daughter, Lori Ann, the youngest child of six, grew up in a quiet neighborhood in Springfield and was valedictorian of her high school class.
“She was my baby,” Roscetti said. “She was really smart and a hard worker. If she was sick when she was young and I didn’t let her go to school, she would have me go to get her homework.”
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In 1986, the 23-year-old was studying to become a doctor at Rush University’s medical college. She was last seen driving to her apartment about 1 a.m. on an October night after a late night of studying. Hours later, a railroad officer found her badly beaten body on a desolate access road near the former ABLA Homes, a gang-afflicted West Side public housing complex.
Three months later, police brought in Bradford, 17, and 16-year-old Larry Ollins for questioning. Both teens lived at ABLA and had been arrested weeks after the murder for breaking into boxcars on the tracks not far from the crime.
Police said Bradford eventually confessed, implicating himself and Ollins, as well as Ollins' cousin, Calvin, a 14-year-old with a low IQ in special education classes with a clean juvenile record. Calvin also signed a written confession, while Larry Ollins maintained his innocence.
Omar Muhammad, then known as Omar Saunders, 18, was arrested two weeks later. Authorities alleged the motive was robbery so that Calvin Ollins could get fare to get back to his home in the Cabrini-Green public housing complex.
A troubled case
Calvin Ollins was the first to face a jury in 1988. Prosecutors told the panel the teen had signed a written statement describing crime-scene evidence that only someone who was there would know.
But defense attorney Ron Menaker told the Tribune detectives manipulated the boy, who could barely read. The teen alleged police led him to falsely believe his cousin had implicated him and if he signed the confession, he could go home — a defense the jury rejected.
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Juries also convicted Muhammad and Larry Ollins in separate trials. Too young to face the death penalty, Muhammad and the Ollinses received life sentences. Bradford, who testified against Larry Ollins, received a 12-year plea deal for aggravated kidnapping. He served six.
O’Brien was repeatedly promoted between summer 1988 and fall 1993 before again returning to private practice. His final position was as then-State’s Attorney Jack O’Malley’s executive assistant.
Meanwhile, the defendants' appeals were rejected. In 2000, Muhammad wrote to noted defense attorney Kathleen Zellner, a specialist in wrongful convictions, for help. He cited recent Tribune articles about a former Chicago crime lab analyst at the center of allegations of wrongful convictions in other cases and who he argued falsely represented scientific evidence in their trials as well.
Zellner was intrigued. She hired a leading forensic expert who authored a 2001 report highly critical of the analyst’s work in nine cases, including the Roscetti murder, and found her testimony comparing the men’s blood to semen evidence from the victim’s body contradicted her own report.
A battery of DNA tests later excluded the four men, and instead matched two unidentified profiles. Muhammad and the Ollinses were freed in December 2001, and the four were later pardoned. Richard Devine, then state’s attorney, called the case a “real failure of the system.”
Within months, prosecutors charged Duane Roach and Eddie “Bo” Harris, men with long criminal records, both linked through DNA. Neither had a recorded crime of violence after Roscetti’s murder. They provided videotaped confessions, admitting they abducted her after smoking crack cocaine after she parked her car. They pleaded guilty, and both died from cancer while serving 75-year sentences.
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Robert Milan, the supervising prosecutor who led the 2001 reinvestigation for Devine, recalled telling O’Brien about the new DNA results. “He said, ‘Bob, if that’s what the DNA says, you got to do what you got to do,’” Milan recalled. “No arguing, no yelling or saying we were wrong, just a total gentleman.”
‘Saddens me deeply’
The Roscetti 4 later sued. O’Brien was dismissed as a defendant before the settlements were reached.
Calvin Ollins settled for $1.5 million and Bradford for $900,000. Muhammad and Larry Ollins later split an $8 million settlement. “He never apologized to our city, to the people, to us,” Muhammad said of O’Brien. “He never apologized to Lori Roscetti’s family.”
Menaker and Tom Allen, who was Muhammad’s attorney, said police and prosecutors back then were bulletproof and, in high-profile cases like Roscetti, losing was not an option.
“The Roscetti prosecutors were handed a piece-of-crap case and they knew it,” said Allen, a retired judge. “But, they also knew how to work the system which was always tilted in their favor. And that’s what they did.”
O’Brien went on to become a judge for eight years, elected in 2006 as a Democrat, but he became a Republican before announcing his bid for state’s attorney. His trial partner in the Roscetti case, George Velcich, is now a member of his campaign team.
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O’Brien acknowledged the reality that confessions can be false, but the former prosecutor defended the police work, saying the confessions were due “to the fact that the defendants themselves had IQs that weren’t very high. They were young and they were subject to believing that their wills were overborne, but it wasn’t by force.”
When asked if he owed the Roscetti 4 an apology, O’Brien did not offer one, but he said it “saddens me deeply” that the criminal justice system failed the victim and the men.
“I was part of the system,” he said. “Until the results of the DNA tests, I did not believe that they were innocent. With the DNA tests, tests that were not available at the time, I am now convinced that they were not involved and am grateful that scientific advancements enabled them to be exonerated.”
As for Lora Roscetti, the victim’s mother, she said she supports his election efforts despite the painful memories the Foxx ads against him resurrected.
“It’s politics,” she said. “What can you do?”
cmgutowski@chicagotribune.com