chicagotribune--2020-10-18--Teens found dead in Calumet Township home

Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. said in a release Friday that one of the young men ’ s girlfriends @ @ @ @ @ him before noon Friday and become concerned when he wasn ’ t responding .
When @ @ @ @ @ in the 3900 block of W. 51st Avenue , she found her him and another @ @ @ @ @ , Martinez said .

Police squads are seen Friday, Oct. 16, 2020, outside of a home in the 3900 block of West 51st Avenue in Griffith Police said two Calumet Township teens were found dead at the location. - Original Credit: Post-Tribune (Lake County Sheriffs Dept. / HANDOUT)
The Lake County Sheriff’s department is seeking information on a double homicide involving two Calumet Township teens.
Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. said in a release Friday that one of the young men’s girlfriends had been trying to contact him before noon Friday and become concerned when he wasn’t responding. When she arrived at his home in the 3900 block of W. 51st Avenue, she found her him and another friend unresponsive before calling 911, Martinez said.
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The Lake County Coroner’s office identified the teens as Elijiah Robinson, 18; and Maxwell Kroll, 17. The office in its releases indicated both lived in the home.
The department is treating the deaths as a double homicide; no further information would be immediately released, Martinez said.
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--Michelle L. Quinn


chicagotribune--2020-10-18--Fire union complains East Chicago not following CDC policy on coronavirus quarantine

`` Our members are being told that we are essential workers and that we are to report to work even @ @ @ @ @ exposed to COVID-19 , Mata said .
“ What is essential is the Fire Department @ @ @ @ @ Chicago follow the CDC quarantine guidelines and to send a firefighter home from work when @ @ @ @ @ people in their household who have COVID-19 .
Now , we have multiple firefighters testing @ @ @ @ @ on different shifts .
”

The East Chicago Fire Department Union is warning the community that its ranks might be infecting residents because city leadership isn’t enforcing COVID-19-infected firefighters to quarantine, even though city policy says it should.
The city, however, says it is following CDC guidelines for first responders. First responders who may have been exposed to COVID-19 are to get tested and return to work, wearing a mask at all times, City Attorney Carla Morgan said in an email,
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Four East Chicago firefighters have so far tested positive for COVID-19, and several more are awaiting results of their tests, Local 365 President David Mata Jr. said in a release Thursday. The infection started Sept. 29 out of Station 4, when a firefighter notified the administration that a family member in their household had tested positive, he said.
City policy enacted April 1 and updated Aug. 1 reads that anyone who has a family member with the virus is instructed to “immediately notify his or her Department Head or Supervisor and consult a health care provider with regard to an order for COVID-19 testing,” and that “the employee will not be allowed to report back to work until the employee has been tested for COVID-19 by a qualified physician or other approved testing site and has obtained a ‘negative’ test result.”
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Mata said, however, that a fire official told the firefighter to “segregate from the crew and wear a mask.”
The firefighter ended up testing positive, as have four others within the past two weeks, Mata said. Others who’re symptomatic and tested on Oct. 2 are also waiting for results, and the fire station and rigs weren’t deep cleaned until Oct. 1, Mata said.
Additionally, Mata said administrators aren’t notifying firefighters about infected collegaues as they should, and results from any testing the department provides is taking at least 10 days. Meanwhile, the firefighters are required to report to work and participate in group training without test results in hand.
"Our members are being told that we are essential workers and that we are to report to work even after we have been directly exposed to COVID-19, Mata said. “What is essential is the Fire Department and The City of East Chicago follow the CDC quarantine guidelines and to send a firefighter home from work when they tell you there are people in their household who have COVID-19. Now, we have multiple firefighters testing positive at that station, on different shifts.”
Morgan said the city administration will investigate whether the department has been following CDC guidelines.
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As to testing, she said the city’s tests have been conducted by the Indiana State Heath Department and that results have been coming back within 72 hours, but confirmed that there’s been an issue since the Oct. 1 round of testing.
Contact tracing is also conducted through the state and city health departments, and for it to work most effectively, it’s crucial that any and all first responders who’ve tested positive to provide “full and complete answers” when contact tracers contact them, Morgan said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.


chicagotribune--2020-10-18--Rockford police officers will pair with mental health experts to respond to crisis calls

Rockford Police Chief Dan O ’ Shea said the “ co-responder model ” is being adopted around the country to @ @ @ @ @ to arresting someone experiencing a psychiatric episode or contemplating suicide .
After a 911 call @ @ @ @ @ an emergency scene before crisis workers assess the person and develop a plan for the @ @ @ @ @ a referral for counseling or transport to a mental health facility .

ROCKFORD, Ill. — Winnebago County sheriff’s deputies and Rockford police officers will pair with mental health experts when responding to emergency psychiatric and suicidal episodes as a new approach over arrests.
Law enforcement will team with Rosecrance crisis-intervention specialists to create a three-month pilot program, beginning next month, in efforts to divert people in psychiatric crises away from the criminal justice system and into treatment instead, Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana said.
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Each specially trained unit will include two officers from the city, two deputies from the county and two Rosecrance crisis response workers, according to the Rockford Register Star. The pilot program will begin Nov. 1.
“We have long acknowledged the need to quickly help individuals who are experiencing a serious mental health episode, and through this pilot program we will identify how we can truly help individuals who need professional services, not jail,” Caruana said in a news release.
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Rockford Police Chief Dan O’Shea said the “co-responder model” is being adopted around the country to give law enforcement an alternative to arresting someone experiencing a psychiatric episode or contemplating suicide. After a 911 call, law enforcement would secure an emergency scene before crisis workers assess the person and develop a plan for the next step, such as a referral for counseling or transport to a mental health facility.
Calls for changing how police respond to people in the middle of a mental health crisis have mounted in recent months. Rockford officials asked for public comment following protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis in May after an officer pressed his knee onto the handcuffed Black man’s neck for several minutes.
Rockford police responded to 842 incidents involving suicidal or despondent people in the 12 months before Aug. 18 — an average of more than two emergency calls a day.
Dave Gomel, president of Rosecrance Health Network, said Rosecrance will help train the co-responder teams, which will include their employees, Rockford police and county deputies.
“It’s really a compassionate way, it’s a medical way and it’s the right way to work with people in behavioral health crisis,” Gomel said.


chicagotribune--2020-10-19--Man dangles from Trump Tower for more than 12 hours

SWAT and Chicago Fire Department responded to a call of man threatening to kill himself at the Trump Tower , @ @ @ @ @ the Near North neighborhood , according to Chicago police .
The man was hanging by @ @ @ @ @ the ledge to the right side of the “ Trump ” sign on the tower @

A man suspended himself from the 16th-floor landing of downtown Chicago’s Trump International Hotel and Tower on Sunday evening. SWAT and Chicago Fire Department were called to the scene. (Paige Fry / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago police said Monday morning they had “resolved peacefully” a standoff at Trump Tower more than 13 hours after a man suspended himself with a rope and harness from the 16th-floor landing of the downtown high-rise.
“Situation resolved peacefully by negotiators,” tweeted police spokesman Tom Ahern. “Suspect in custody. No injuries.”
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A police SWAT unit and the Chicago Fire Department had responded to a call of a man threatening to kill himself at the Trump International Hotel & Tower, 401 N. Wabash Ave. in the Near North neighborhood, about 5:30 p.m. Sunday, according to police. Ahern said the man rappelled down the outside of the building; he was seen hanging by a rope several feet below the ledge to the right of the large “Trump” sign on the building.
Police negotiators talked to the man from a balcony on the building, their voices reaching the man not far from the ledge, Ahern said. The man did not live in the building and it was unclear how he got inside the building and that remains under investigation, he said.
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The Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago on Oct. 19, 2020, after an unidentified man had been dangling off of the 16th floor of the building for more than 13 hours. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Cmdr. Patty Casey, who heads the youth investigations unit, said a Russian interpreter was called to the building and employees at the building also aided in the peaceful outcome. In a media briefing after the conclusion of the call, she hailed crisis negotiators, including Detective Hector Matias, who was on scene nearly 14 hours after spending some 17 hours at a different call over the weekend.
“They were patient and kind and spent hours dealing with this distraught man who was in an apparent crisis, saying he had many social issues that he wanted to discuss with reporters,” Casey said. She and Ahern did not immediately explain what the “social issues” were.
“It was really a team effort. What could’ve been a tragedy ended up as a situation that was resolved without incident. Today, the Chicago Police Department and their partners literally saved this young man’s life,” she said.
Matias said it’s not uncommon for outsiders to question why these kinds of calls can take so long to resolve peacefully.
“It was something that we train for. It’s something that we’re very used to. It’s very challenging and sometimes when someone is looking at it from the outside they think, ‘wow, why does it take so long?’ ” Matias said. “There’s different tactics in our toolbox that we utilize and I think today we probably utilized every single one.”
Matias said while the man was hanging from the building with the harness, he threatened to use the knife to cut the rope if police tried pulling him up. Eventually, he surrendered the knife and was pulled to safety.
A video circulating on social media that appeared to be of the man showed him holding onto a red rope with one hand and a knife in the other. Part of the Chicago skyline could be seen in the background during daylight. In the video, he demanded to talk to President Donald Trump or the media. If not, he said, he would cut the rope.
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Chicago police could not immediately confirm if the video was of the man who Monday morning was rolled out of the building on a gurney to which he was handcuffed.
Casey said the man would be taken to a hospital where he would receive a mental health evaluation. Ahern said he expected charges to be filed against the man following the outcome of that evaluation.
About 11 p.m. Sunday, several motorists pulled over on Michigan Avenue with their hazard lights on to walk onto Wacker Driver, which was blocked off by police, to look up at the man.
Social media users made posts wondering how the man was able to stay suspended for so long given the temperature was in the 40s.
Matias said the man made several demands, some of which police were able to accommodate. Although Matias did not say what they were, he confirmed the man had asked to speak directly with members of the media.
“We agreed on a couple of concessions that we could agree to that were safe,” he said, but that did not include allowing the man to speak with reporters.
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Asked whether police entertained the idea of somehow arranging for the man to speak with the president, Matias shook his head “no.”
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Trump was aware of the situation at the property bearing his name, or whether he received word the man hanging from it wanted to speak to him. As of 9:45 a.m. Trump had not mentioned the situation on Twitter.
The building also made news during the weekend as the United Steelworkers union projected a light display on the tower with a “Biden/ Harris” logo as part of its national campaign to encourage people to vote, a representative of the union said.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-19--Daywatch: Lightfoot’s tough budget choices, Chicago top cop’s unexpected first year and Kim Foxx’s r

Daywatch: Lightfoot’s tough budget choices, Chicago top cop’s unexpected first year and Kim Foxx’s reelection battle

In a year rocked by both violent unrest and streets brimming with protesters against racial injustice , Cook County voters @ @ @ @ @ November in what they want in their top prosecutor : the progressive agenda of first-term @ @ @ @ @ the law-and-order program of her Republican opponent Pat O ’ Brien .
Here ’ s @ @ @ @ @ .

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Good morning, Chicago. State officials reported 3,629 new known COVID-19 cases and 27 additional deaths Saturday and 4,245 new infections and 22 more fatalities Sunday. The weekend numbers followed Illinois announcing a record-high for new cases on Friday.
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As a pandemic-weary public braces for winter, the latest Illinois figures have prompted researchers and public health officials to offer a mix of warnings and reassurance. Here’s a closer look at the data.
Meanwhile, President Trump held a large rally Saturday in Wisconsin, where he downplayed the pandemic in a state suffering from a surge in cases. On Sunday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker blamed the president and his local allies for rising case numbers and positivity rates in Illinois.
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Here’s more coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot discusses the $1.2 billion shortfall in the 2021 pandemic budget, during her budget address with the media at the Cultural Center in Chicago on Aug. 31, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is considering a $94 million property tax increase, layoffs for more than 300 city workers and a gas tax hike as part of her plan to close a $1.2 billion budget deficit, sources told the Tribune.
The mayor is scheduled to explain her plans to close the city’s coronavirus-fueled budget deficit on Wednesday. One thing is clear: It won’t be easy.
In Washington, congressional Democrats and the White House remain at an impasse over a fresh package of coronavirus economic relief, as time runs out to get a bill passed before the election, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday.
Chicago police Superintendent David Brown elbow bumps new recruits after addressing the newest class of Chicago Police recruits in Chicago on Oct. 13, 2020. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
When Chicago’s new top cop David Brown took over after leading the Dallas police department, he quickly found himself attempting to help steer the city through the pandemic crisis and its effects, surging summer violence and civil unrest.
Here’s a look at the moves he’s made and the challenges he’s faced as Chicago faces the prospect of ending 2020 with its most homicides in decades.
On Friday, an inspector general report detailed the incompetent response to ex-top cop Eddie Johnson being found asleep in his car, suggesting he got preferential treatment.
Marcos Carbajal, co-owner of Carnitas Uruapan, stands outside the restaurant on 18th Street in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood on Oct. 15, 2020. He is also manager of his father's building, which would be part of the historic landmark district. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago officials have proposed making part of Pilsen — one of the city’s largest Mexican American neighborhoods — a historic landmark district. But property owners and residents fear landmarking would force people from the area, citing unnecessary expenses and hurdles to maintaining their buildings.
“Saving buildings will not save people,” said one Pilsen property owner.
Arrivederci, Little Italy? Adio, Greektown? Two of Chicago’s global dining destinations struggle to save their souls.
Left: Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx speaks with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board in January; Right: Cook County state's attorney candidate Judge Pat O'Brien holds a news conference on Oct. 1, 2020.
In a year rocked by both violent unrest and streets brimming with protesters against racial injustice, Cook County voters will have a say this November in what they want in their top prosecutor: the progressive agenda of first-term incumbent Kim Foxx, or the law-and-order program of her Republican opponent Pat O’Brien. Here’s a look at the race.
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O’Brien topped Foxx haul in the latest round of campaign fundraising, records show.
Shirley Scott, 71, with her great nephew, Preston Frazier, 2, fills out her ballot as she votes at Deneen Elementary School in Chicago, Oct. 15, 2020. The city opened 50 early voting polling places on Oct. 14, one in each ward. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
The Tribune Editorial Board has published its “bedsheet ballot,” a list of endorsed candidates that readers can carry with them into voting booths. Yes, it’s legal. Print your own copy here.


chicagotribune--2020-10-19--In a year of unexpected tragedy and turmoil, Chicago police Superintendent David Brown sought to res

In a year of unexpected tragedy and turmoil, Chicago police Superintendent David Brown sought to reshape his department

“ We ’ ve seen basically every superintendent at one point decide that the important thing was to have officers @ @ @ @ @ street so that the public could see them and be reassured that police were on @ @ @ @ @ .
“ And then what happens is that there ’ s a crisis of some @ @ @ @ @ sometimes it ’ s a real crisis , sometimes it ’ s a media-created crisis @ @ @ @ @ , but they respond by creating or restaffing special units , taking officers back from @ @ @ @ @ ”

Chicago police Superintendent David Brown briefs reporters outside Mt. Sinai Hospital, where a Chicago police officer was transported after being fatally shot during a domestic dispute call in the Southwest Side, March 1, 2023. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
On a brisk, sunny day in April, David Brown walked around in front of a South Side funeral home sporting a mask as scores of police vehicles lined the street to honor a Chicago police officer who had succumbed to COVID-19.
The pandemic prevented Brown, just days on the job as Chicago’s new top cop, from delivering remarks in the Calahan Funeral Home. Instead the new superintendent talked to reporters across the street from the building for about two minutes and stuck to the talking points of the day, offering condolences to Sgt. Clifford Martin’s family.
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Despite the circumstances, it was nothing remarkable for a police leader taking on one of his ceremonial duties. Brown was still trying to ease into his role, going from leadership of police in Dallas to remaking the Chicago Police Department in his own image, and he had felt up to the job.
“While many people may think of Dallas like the 1980s TV show, J.R. Ewing, and cattle ranchers and 10-gallon hats and oil fields, I grew up in a neighborhood that looked more like Chicago’s West and South Side,” Brown had told the Chicago City Council’s Public Safety Committee the day before Martin’s funeral. “I know the joys of living surrounded by others. I also know the struggles of growing up poor, living and working in a historically segregated city, as Dallas and Chicago share these difficult pasts and present.”
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But perhaps nothing could have prepared Brown for the months to come. He would quickly find himself attempting to help steer Chicago through the pandemic crisis and its effects, surging summer violence and civil unrest.
Brown had sought to ensure Chicagoans that he knew what he was getting himself into, even when he set a pie-in-the-sky goal for the city to finish a full year with under 300 homicides, which, if it ever happened, would be the lowest in the city since it recorded 296 in 1957.
“I believe in the impossible,” Brown told the Tribune during an interview then. “I believe we can improve our murders to historical lows, whatever that number is. If that number has to be 2-something, that’s what it has to be. We just have to first make the first step and believe that we can. And that’s my point. Moonshots.”
Early moves
Brown’s first steps to change department tactics in an attempt to get there were noticed immediately.
Residents from Chicago’s safer neighborhoods began seeing a more bare-bones police presence than usual. Police officers who normally patrolled the North and Northwest sides were suddenly ordered to drive their squad cars to the South and West sides as an added layer of protection in some of the city’s most violent neighborhoods.
Austin and West Garfield Park — two West Side communities that drive a lot of the city’s violence — quickly saw marked and unmarked police vehicles traveling in caravans with their blue lights flashing. The move was seen as Brown’s way of getting around paying millions in police overtime, which had exceeded its annual budgets in recent years, and as a way to announce his department’s presence, and that it was a new day.
But he immediately came under fire from aldermen in wards the police had moved from, concerned that Brown was starving their neighborhoods of police service. The shell game of moving cops would be short-lived, however.
With warmer weather arriving, Brown was about to face his first test with Memorial Day weekend, often an especially violent weekend in Chicago. This year’s holiday weekend already had a different feel.
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With the pandemic taking hold, Mayor Lori Lightfoot had shut down the lakefront, a popular gathering spot for picnics and barbecues when the weather breaks.
But even with restrictions that should have kept many indoors, the weekend turned out to be its deadliest in five years, with 10 people shot to death and about 40 others wounded by gunfire.
Despite acknowledging CPD was facing one of its greatest challenges in decades, with dozens of officers sickened with coronavirus, Lightfoot expressed disappointment publicly about Brown and his department for not coming up with a good enough strategy for the weekend.
“While I know that there was a lot of energy and coordination among a variety of groups, what I said to the superintendent this morning is this was a fail,” Lightfoot told reporters May 26. “And whatever the strategy is, it didn’t work. ... This weekend’s violence was out of control.”
But while Brown and his command staff had been concentrating on the worsening bloodshed in Chicago as the weekend progressed, they were paying less attention to a controversy rapidly gaining traction 400 miles to the northwest.
On Memorial Day, 46-year-old George Floyd was detained by Minneapolis police on suspicion that he tried to make a purchase with a counterfeit $20 bill. Floyd was forced to the ground by officers before one of them knelt on his neck for several minutes, killing him. A 17-year-old girl captured the incident on a cellphone camera and the footage was posted on social media, gradually leading to widespread outrage and demonstrations in Minneapolis, Chicago and other U.S. cities, calling into question law enforcement’s treatment of Black Americans.
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In the days that followed, Chicago’s protests were largely uneventful. On May 28, three days after Floyd’s death, Brown told reporters about a protest that day in the Englewood neighborhood that resulted in one arrest and mainly saw dustups between two protest groups, but “otherwise it ended peacefully."
“Nothing to report here," he said.
That would gradually change over the next 48 hours.
Protesters attempt to breech a police line at Ohio and State streets in Chicago's Near North neighborhood on May 29, 2020, in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
On May 30, the day after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker lifted statewide COVID-19 restrictions that required residents to stay home, thousands of people protested downtown in what began peacefully but turned into violent clashes between protesters and Chicago police officers. Graffiti was scrawled on buildings. Businesses were looted and vandalized. Windows were smashed. At least one police car was set ablaze. Several people were shot.
The following day, looting became more widespread in other parts of the city, including West Garfield Park, Brickyard Mall, Logan Square and other neighborhoods. Brown took criticism for periods during the mayhem when it appeared that the police strategy was to stand by while property was being damaged, concentrating on protecting lives.
All told, it was Chicago’s bloodiest weekend in years: More than 110 people shot, 30 of them killed, and another person stabbed to death. May ended with 85 homicides, tying May 1994′s total for the most killings Chicago has ever recorded during the month.
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As a result, Lightfoot asked Pritzker to send the Illinois National Guard to help quell the violence, the first time Chicago has made such a request since Mayor Richard J. Daley brought troops in to police the Democratic National Convention in 1968. In the days following the extremely volatile and violent weekend, National Guardsmen set up checkpoints around downtown, often working side by side with city workers who used trucks to block busy thoroughfares.
Chicago police arrive on June 1, 2020, at the City Sports store on 71st Street after it was looted. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Even as some commercial strips were boarded up and the streets were cleaned within days, the momentum of that weekend didn’t let up. The month of June saw another weekend with more than 100 people shot, including at least 14 killed, prompting Brown, in another news conference, to stick to similar themes as past police superintendents, deflecting responsibility while blaming “gangs, guns and drugs” as well as short jail stays for defendants — a criticism that has put Cook County justice officials on the defensive.
Many officers had worked multiple 12-hour days and through their days off in the weeks during the fallout over Floyd’s death. And through it all, police overtime once again skyrocketed.
“If I thought it was an easy job I wouldn’t have applied,” said Brown, who then had been on the job for about two months.
June ended with 89 killings, just one shy of the most ever for that month (there were 90 homicides in June 1996). The last weekend of the month ended with 66 people shot, 18 fatally, and two who were children: 1-year-old Sincere Gaston, killed while riding in a car with his mom through Englewood, and 10-year-old Lena Nunez, who was hit by a bullet inside her home in Logan Square when gang members a block away fired at rivals.
In a news conference after that weekend, Brown repeatedly referred to shooters as “evil bastards" and once again lamented what he viewed as a too-lenient county justice system that allowed gun and drug suspects to be released on low bonds or on electronic monitoring.
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And just when things were getting more complicated for Brown, he had to endure an extremely violent Fourth of July holiday weekend that saw at least 90 people shot, 18 fatally, including 7-year-old Natalia Wallace in Austin and 14-year-old Vernado Jones Jr. in Englewood.
More and more and more cops were falling ill to coronavirus or retiring, some were under scrutiny because of misconduct allegations from the protests and civil unrest, and many others were too exhausted after working too many days without a break.
A more aggressive stance
Brown’s force was also taking far less enforcement action than usual. Arrests, pedestrian stops and traffic stops had already gone way down since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, especially since officers were urged to be more selective with whom they encounter to avoid physical contact with someone who might be sickened with the virus.
In June, for example, Chicago police only wrote 4,248 pedestrian stop reports, made 3,561 arrests and wrote 1,042 traffic tickets, according to CPD statistics. In June 2019, there were 15,285 pedestrian reports, 7,985 arrests and 6,240 written traffic tickets, the statistics show.
It was time for Brown to make some readjustments. It was time to be more nimble and aggressive and be ready to flood any zone that started to spiral into chaos.
He started two citywide units to respond to sudden flare-ups in violence anywhere in the city. One was the community safety team, a unit with about 300 officers that would mostly operate on the South and West sides, and the critical incident response team, comprising roughly 270 cops who would concentrate on crime hot spots in the downtown area, as well as protests and other large gatherings throughout Chicago.
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But creating the new units also meant undoing a historic restructuring of the Police Department that was only put into place in January.
Brown’s tenure in Chicago began on the heels of a massive reorganization by his immediate predecessor, interim Superintendent Charlie Beck. The move took hundreds of officers from CPD’s specialized gang and drug units, and detectives, and moved them to the patrol division, including CPD’s 22 districts, so they could more efficiently address neighborhood concerns. The reorganization further divided the city’s geographic policing areas from three to five, creating for cops a narrower focus to bring them closer to the communities for which they were responsible.
What the reorganization didn’t include was the creation of a citywide unit tasked with responding to crime hot spots, something Brown felt Chicago badly needed due to its runaway violence. Such units have come and gone over the years and, in some cases, sparked controversy for going rogue and collaborating with criminals.
But the vision he had for this new unit had a twist — its officers would have to work on community service projects to show skeptical residents there was more to them than just jumping out of cars and frisking suspects.
The need to go back to the old way of policing in Chicago, albeit with a community engagement component, was only reinforced by COVID-19 and Floyd’s death, Brown thought, which many have blamed for the civil unrest and surge in violence in the city and across America.
The homicide toll was continuing to mount. July, a month that saw 105 killings, the most for that month in Chicago on record, ended with the fatal shooting of 9-year-old Janari Ricks on July 31 outside the Cabrini-Green row houses on the Near North Side.
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“Circumstances on the ground were such that we had no choice but to reorganize the department again into two large citywide teams to deal with the things that changed on the ground the day I got here,” Brown told reporters July 27.
No rest
There would be no easing into Brown’s new strategy.
Early on Aug. 10, the city was stunned by another round of downtown looting. High-end stores and boutiques throughout the Gold Coast and Magnificent Mile again were ransacked, and Brown’s department appeared to have been caught flat-footed.
Traffic jammed the streets as looters jumped out to break windows. Some of them were seen calmly hauling stacks of clothes and other goods on foot. Undermanned police repeatedly pulled up in squad cars with their blue emergency lights flashing to shoo away groups of looters, only for them to return to the stores when the cops left.
The crimes gave way to fear and uncertainty for business owners who were losing confidence that they could prosper safely in the most affluent part of the city.
Without offering any proof, Brown tied the early morning looting to an incident hours before in Englewood where a cop from one of his citywide teams shot and wounded 20-year-old Latrell Allen, charged with attempted murder after authorities said he first opened fire on police.
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Brown suggested misinformation about the shooting — that Allen was 15 and was killed by police — may have sparked the outrage behind the looting after it spread on social media.
Whatever the reason, CPD was blindsided with what appeared to be a coordinated social media campaign to break into the stores and steal as much merchandise as possible. Brown, however, has been somewhat successful in bringing the looters to justice.
The department has set up a looting task force consisting of a team of investigators who scour video footage and social media to track down suspects. CPD regularly posts on its website surveillance videos of suspects, and a police spokeswoman said last week there had been more than 70 felony arrests tied to the looting.
A resident chats with a Chicago police summer mobile patrol unit the 6600 block of South Evans Avenue on July 10, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
And Brown has continued to try to adjust. In September, he announced he would for a time add 200 more cops to the community safety team, many of whom were pulled from other units, including district patrols. He also extended the operations of the summer mobile patrol unit, a temporary citywide team with about 200 officers, into November.
But Brown also shifted cops from some of the 22 districts to protect downtown, after he and Lightfoot pledged to take a hard line on looting, assigning squad cars with flashing blue lights to street corners along North Michigan Avenue and other downtown spots. This included the Oak Street shopping corridor, where South Side rapper FBG Duck was gunned down in broad daylight days before the Aug. 10 looting.
Brown expanded that policy in late September, requiring officers from all districts, including those from the highest-crime districts on the South and West sides, to spare officers to guard downtown. The directive came shortly before the month ended with 81 homicides throughout the city, the most killings for any September in Chicago since 1993, when 83 people were slain.
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What worked?
Crime experts blamed the fallout over Floyd’s death for possibly contributing to the sudden rise in violence in Chicago and other U.S. cities, saying it exacerbated deeply rooted distrust between the police and Black neighborhoods.
While Floyd’s death had nothing to do specifically with the Chicago Police Department, it resonated with CPD’s critics who felt the death exemplified a department long troubled by its harsh treatment of Black people, highlighted by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2017 when it issued a scathing report on the Chicago police’s shortcomings.
The Floyd fallout inarguably caused Brown to shift resources out of the neighborhoods and into downtown. Some observers disputed whether that plan, or moving them to a roving citywide team, or keeping them on their regular beats will make a difference for Brown as he faces the prospect of Chicago ending 2020 with its most homicides in decades.
Wesley Skogan, a Northwestern University emeritus professor of political science who has studied policing in Chicago, said CPD and its superintendents have “pingponged” between a crime strategy with a focus on district beat policing and one emphasizing a more sweeping, citywide response to flare-ups.
“This is an old story and it really reflects the two conflicting, two truly conflicting models of what’s the best thing to do,” Skogan said.
“We’ve seen basically every superintendent at one point decide that the important thing was to have officers working in uniform on the street so that the public could see them and be reassured that police were on patrol,” Skogan said. “And then what happens is that there’s a crisis of some sort of the other, sometimes it’s a real crisis, sometimes it’s a media-created crisis or a politically created crisis, but they respond by creating or restaffing special units, taking officers back from those kind of assignments.”
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William Calloway, a community activist from the South Shore area, feels Brown and other city leaders are giving preferential treatment to downtown when other parts of Chicago normally affected by violence are being ignored.
“Now you’ve got all this digital technology where you could find looters, but in the hood, we got (Police Observation Device) cameras and the same technology. You’ve got ShotSpotter. You can’t find a shooter for nothing. But you can find looters!” Calloway said. “That’s what we’re pissed off about. You care about more downtown property than you do care about Black lives on the South and West sides of Chicago.”
New police recruits leave after Superintendent David Brown's address to the newest class of officers at the CPD Education and Training Academy in Chicago on Oct. 13, 2020. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
On Friday, the department insisted that Brown disagrees with that characterization. Neighborhoods away from downtown are still covered, the department said in a statement, some by the citywide teams that filled the void when district officers left.
“Since his very first day at the Chicago Police Department, Superintendent Brown (has) been emphatically clear that the first step to ensuring Chicago becomes the safest big city in the nation starts by protecting its most vulnerable neighborhoods and communities," the statement said.
Brown did not personally respond to questions for this story about his steps this summer. His public appearances during the workweek included speaking to recruits at the police academy, and briefing the media on preparations for potentially handling more unrest, this time on election night.
“We’re trying as best we can to anticipate any hazard that might happen,” Brown said.
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jgorner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-19--5 injured in West Side shooting, police say

Another 27-year-old man was shot in the right arm , body and back , and he was taken to Stroger @ @ @ @ @ police said .
A 32-year-old man was shot in the buttocks and taken to Mount @ @ @ @ @ condition .

Five people were shot, one fatally, on the West Side Sunday evening after someone entered a residential building and started firing a gun, according to Chicago police.
About 5:40 p.m., someone entered an apartment building in the 200 block of North Sacramento Boulevard in the East Garfield Park neighborhood, police said. The person fired multiple shots then left.
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A 27-year-old man was shot in the right arm, body and back, and he was taken to Stroger Hospital, police said. He was later pronounced dead.
A 25-year-old man was shot in the left leg and taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition, police said. Another 27-year-old man was in the left leg and left arm and he was taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center in critical condition.
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A 32-year-old man was shot in the buttocks and taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center in serious condition, police said. A 37-year-old man was shot in the left foot and taken to Mount Sinai in good condition.
No arrests have been made.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 3,113 new known COVID-19 cases and 22 more deaths reported as Light

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 3,113 new known COVID-19 cases and 22 more deaths reported as Lightfoot threatens stricter restrictions in Chicago and Pritzker scales back southern region reopening

The overall number of new cases in long-term care is still about a fourth of the peak weekly increases seen @ @ @ @ @ latest rise in long-term cases comes amid an overall jump in detected infections in Illinois @ @ @ @ @ a factor in those trends , data also shows statewide increases in the percentage of @ @ @ @ @ well as in new hospitalizations and deaths , suggesting to researchers and public health experts @ @ @ @ @ more than it ’ s dying out , particularly downstate .

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CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Citing a dramatic increase in the number of coronavirus cases since the start of October, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday threatened to reimpose stricter guidelines on businesses.
The mayor didn’t specify what measures she would turn to if COVID-19 cases continue to rise and said she hopes to avoid more painful steps. But, she said, she will if the cases continue rising. She asked residents to stop having dinner parties and card games, noting that people are letting their guards down and getting sick as a result.
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Meanwhile, Illinois health officials announced 3,113 new known cases of COVID-19 and 22 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 347,161 and the statewide death toll to 9,236 since the start of the pandemic. Officials also reported 48,684 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 5.4%.
In the afternoon, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced southern Illinois will be the latest region to have its reopening scaled back after reaching a state-set COVID-19 positivity rate threshold, while warning that “in Illinois, it looks like a new wave could be upon us.”
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“Every region of the state has started to move in the wrong direction,” Pritzker said at a news conference in southern Illinois. “Cases, positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths are rising statewide.”
Two other regions appear on the brink of seeing some businesses limited and gathering caps halved. The region that includes DuPage and Kane counties had surpassed an 8% positivity rate for two consecutive days, with public health officials reporting an 8.5% positivity rate for the region on Monday.
Here’s what’s happening Monday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7:40 p.m.: Chicago police union offices closed after official tests positive for COVID-19
The offices of the Chicago police’s largest union were closed Monday after one of its officials tested positive for COVID-19, the union said.
The offices of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 at 1412 W. Washington Blvd. will be closed until further notice due to the test result.
The FOP represents thousands of rank-and-file Chicago police officers. Police Superintendent David Brown has said he expects more than 1,000 Chicago cops to have tested positive for coronavirus by the end of the year.
“Due to Covid-19 related issues, the FOP offices will be closed until further notice,” the union said on its web site. “The phone lines will still be operational for EMERGENCY purposes only(ie, OIS (officer-involved shootings), or accidents with serious injuries).”
—Jeremy Gorner
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5:40 p.m.: Illinois community colleges see big drop in enrollment amid the coronavirus pandemic, reflecting national declines in higher education
Enrollment at Illinois community colleges plunged nearly 14% this fall, an indication that low-income and older students who typically favor the institutions might be struggling to pursue higher education because of the coronavirus pandemic.
All but three of the state’s 48 community colleges saw substantial headcount declines, according to initial data from the Illinois Community College Board. Compared to last year, about 37,200 fewer students enrolled in for-credit classes this fall. Some of the biggest drops were among students over age 30 and in career-track courses such as nursing, construction and welding.
The preliminary data, collected in an online survey at the end of class registration, mirrors national trends. The latest analysis by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows community colleges are suffering the greatest losses, with first-year students down nearly 23%. Countrywide, undergraduate enrollment declined about 4% across all colleges and universities.
In Illinois, community colleges serve a significant population of minority and first-generation students, said Brian Durham, executive director of the ICCB.
Many of these students already face financial or technological hurdles, which have only worsened during the pandemic, Durham said. Enrollment for African American and Latino students were down about 19% compared to a 12% decrease for white students, Durham said.
“Even those that might enroll virtually, they may have a challenge getting access to a computer,” Durham said. “They may have a challenge having enough computers to also allow their children to do virtual instruction. Or of course, it could be that people have lost jobs, or they are having housing challenges.”
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Read more here. —Elyssa Cherney
3:34 p.m.: With a ‘new wave’ of coronavirus, Pritzker places southern Illinois under tighter restrictions; four Chicago area counties, including DuPage and Kane, could be next
Southern Illinois is the latest region to have its reopening scaled back after reaching a state-set COVID-19 positivity rate threshold, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Monday, while warning that “in Illinois, it looks like a new wave could be upon us.”
“Every region of the state has started to move in the wrong direction,” Pritzker said at a news conference in southern Illinois. “Cases, positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths are rising statewide.”
On Thursday, southern Illinois will join the northwestern region of the state in being ordered to scale back its reopening, effective Thursday. When regions reach a positivity rate of 8% or higher for three consecutive days, Pritzker’s administration has ordered indoor dining and bar service shuttered, gathering limits set at 25, down from 50 in the state’s reopening plan.
Two other regions appear on the brink of seeing some businesses limited and gathering caps halved. The region that includes DuPage and Kane counties had surpassed an 8% positivity rate for two consecutive days, with public health officials reporting an 8.5% positivity rate for the region on Monday.
The region that includes Will and Kankakee counties had also surpassed that threshold, with the state reporting an 8.3% positivity rate there on Monday, the second consecutive day that region saw a rate above 8%. That region saw its reopening scaled back in September, but the region was returned to the rules under Pritzker’s phase four reopening plan, after its rate dropped to under 6.5% for three days in a row.
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The seven-day statewide positivity rate continues to rise, and stood at 5.4% for the weeklong period ending Sunday. To date, the state is reporting 347,161 known cases of coronavirus and 9,236 deaths since the pandemic began.
The statewide positivity rate was 4.3% a week earlier, and it stood at 3.5% on Oct. 1.
Read more here. —Jamie Munks
1 p.m.: Surge of COVID-19 cases across the state prompts New Trier High School to again postpone return to campus
Officials at New Trier High School are postponing an anticipated return to campus citing the recent surge of COVID-19 cases across Illinois.
After reopening for just one week, the high school’s campuses in Winnetka and Northfield closed last Monday, as officials put their 25% Hybrid Plan on hold.
While officials had indicated they could potentially resume in-person student instruction this week, in an Oct. 16 parent letter, New Trier Superintendent Paul Sally said given the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in the township and across the state, the halt of hybrid instruction will remain in place for the week of Oct. 19.
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“As in the previous week, our pause this week is due to the continued seriousness of the COVID-19 numbers across Illinois and in our community, not the number of New Trier student and staff cases,” Sally said.
In addition, Sally announced that parents are invited to an Oct. 22 webinar related to the high school’s launch of a voluntary, weekly COVID-19 saliva screening program for students and staff, which was recently approved by the school board.
Read more here. —Karen Ann Cullotta
12:04 p.m.: 3,113 new known COVID-19 cases and 22 additional deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Monday announced 3,113 new known cases of COVID-19 and 22 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 347,161 and the statewide death toll to 9,236 since the start of the pandemic. Officials also reported 48,684 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 5.4%.
—Chicago Tribune staff
11:52 a.m.: Applications open for restaurant worker relief fund
Online applications opened Monday for the Illinois Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, which aims to support restaurant industry workers with a one-time grant of $500 per person for rent, food, utilities and other living expenses to those who qualify.
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Priority is given to workers with COVID-19 or who are caring for an immediate family member with COVID-19, or have been unemployed for three weeks or more without unemployment benefits, the IRA announced. The relief fund was announced in August. Applicants should have proof of Illinois residency, a pay stub from the last place of employment where they worked for at least 90 days, and a doctor’s note, as all are required as part of the application process.
The fund is supported by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, Telemundo, Associated Beer Distributors of Illinois, EMPLOYERS, Chicago Gourmet’s Hamburger Hop and Go Gourmet dinner and virtual events, plus private donations and corporate sponsorships. So far, more than $150,000 has been raised for the fund.
To apply or to donate, visit illinoisrestaurants.org.
—Grace Wong
11:51 a.m.: Trump criticizes Anthony Fauci, says ‘people are tired of hearing’ him and ‘all these idiots’ on coronavirus
President Donald Trump on Monday sought to buck up his campaign staffers two weeks from Election Day, dismissing the cautionary coronavirus advice of scientific experts as well as polling showing him trailing Democratic rival Joe Biden across key battleground states.
Speaking to campaign aides on a conference call, Trump insisted he believes he’s going to win, volunteering he didn’t have that sense of confidence two weeks ago when he was hospitalized with COVID-19. One week since returning to the campaign trail, where his handling of the pandemic is a central issue to voters, Trump blasted his government’s own scientists for their criticism of his performance.
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Read more here. —Associated Press
11:30 a.m.: Chicago elected officials raise doubts about CPS reopening plans
Dozens of Chicago aldermen and state lawmakers have signed a letter saying they’re “deeply concerned” about the city’s plans to bring students back into Chicago Public Schools' classrooms before the end of the year “and the foreseeable future.”
At the same time, the elected officials also said they are have concerns about remote learning, including the fact that some students still lack access to online lessons.
“We recognize that the current remote learning system is difficult for students, working families, and the educational staff committed to them,” the letter states. “At the same time, we also don’t want to put students in harms' way, especially as other cities have encountered real difficulties in returning to in-person learning.”
Read more here. —Hannah Leone
11 a.m.: Wisconsin judge reimposes Gov. Tony Evers' coronavirus order limiting bar, restaurant capacity
A Wisconsin judge on Monday reimposed an order from Gov. Tony Evers' administration limiting the number of people who can gather in bars, restaurants and other indoor places to 25% of capacity.
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The capacity limits order was issued Oct. 6 by Andrea Palm, secretary of the state Department of Health Services, in the face of surging coronavirus cases in Wisconsin. A judge on Oct. 14 blocked the order after it was challenged by the Tavern League of Wisconsin, which argued it amounted to a “defacto closure” order for the bars and restaurants it represents.
But Barron County Judge James Babler on Monday put the capacity limits back into effect. The judge declined a request from the Tavern League to keep the capacity limit order on hold while the lawsuit is pending. The judge also declined to stay his ruling while the Tavern League and others fighting it appeal his decision.
Read more here. —Associated Press
9:58 a.m.: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot threatens stricter coronavirus restrictions if city’s cases continue to rise, ‘Make no mistake: We are in the second surge.’
Citing a dramatic increase in the number of coronavirus cases since the start of October, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday threatened to reimpose stricter guidelines on businesses.
The mayor didn’t specify what measures she would turn to if COVID-19 cases continue to rise and said she hopes to avoid more painful steps. But, she said, she will if the cases continue rising. She asked residents to stop having dinner parties and card games, noting that people are letting their guards down and getting sick as a result.
“This is a time for each of us to dig down even deeper and be more diligent and if we don’t see a dramatic turnaround in our numbers and soon, then we will not hesitate to take the steps that are necessary to save our city, save our residents, even if that means going back to some of our Phase 3 restrictions.”
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Read more here. —Gregory Pratt and John Byrne
9:29 a.m.: Cases on the rise in long-term care facilities
The state’s increase in COVID-19 cases is also showing up in places where residents are particularly vulnerable: long-term care facilities.
Over the weekend, the Illinois Department of Public Health updated its weekly tallies from the state’s roughly 1,200 nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. The data shows the biggest jump in the number of new cases since late May — 1,101 new infections detected in residents, up from 651 the week prior, or 450 more new cases.
The last weekly increase that big was between May 23 and May 29, when cases jumped from 1,700 to 2,216, or 516 more new cases in a week.
[ Coronavirus at Illinois long-term care facilities: 31,995 confirmed cases and 4,888 deaths / ]
The overall number of new cases in long-term care is still about a fourth of the peak weekly increases seen in early May. The latest rise in long-term cases comes amid an overall jump in detected infections in Illinois. While increased testing is a factor in those trends, data also shows statewide increases in the percentage of tests coming back positive as well as in new hospitalizations and deaths, suggesting to researchers and public health experts that the infection is spreading more than it’s dying out, particularly downstate.
The state does not publicize the number of long-term care residents hospitalized with COVID-19, but it does tabulate deaths. In the past two weeks, the number of new deaths has approached 100 a week, after several weeks where the figures hovered around 60. Still, the number of new deaths remains far less than the 400-plus a week seen in late April and much of May.
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—Joe Mahr
9:23 a.m.: As COVID-19 surges, so do teacher retirements
A dramatic increase in Illinois teachers retiring in recent months is likely linked to educators stepping away from the classroom because of COVID-19 health and safety concerns, state officials said on Friday.
From July through September, 566 teachers from across the state retired, a 45% increase from the same period in 2019, according to Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois data. The new retirements also come during a time when the numbers usually fall off.
Read more here. —Karen Ann Cullotta
7:05 a.m.: Lightfoot, health officials to give update on COVID-19 response
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and city Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady were scheduled to give an update Monday morning on the city’s coronavirus response, according to the mayor’s office.
The briefing, which you can watch live here at 9:15 a.m., comes as Chicago, the state’s Region 11 in its COVID-19 reopening plan, has seen more the percentage of positive tests increase to more than 6 percent along with the number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations.
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Sunday blamed the state’s surging COVID-19 numbers in part on President Donald Trump and his allies for not wearing masks and holding rallies that don’t require masks.
—Chicago Tribune staff
6 a.m.: In a year of unexpected tragedy and turmoil, Chicago police Superintendent David Brown sought to reshape his department
On a brisk, sunny day in April, David Brown walked around in front of a South Side funeral home sporting a mask as scores of police vehicles lined the street to honor a Chicago police officer who had succumbed to COVID-19.
The pandemic prevented Brown, just days on the job as Chicago’s new top cop, from delivering remarks in the Calahan Funeral Home. Instead the new superintendent talked to reporters across the street from the building for about two minutes and stuck to the talking points of the day, offering condolences to Sgt. Clifford Martin’s family.
Despite the circumstances, it was nothing remarkable for a police leader taking on one of his ceremonial duties. Brown was still trying to ease into his role, going from leadership of police in Dallas to remaking the Chicago Police Department in his own image, and he had felt up to the job.
“While many people may think of Dallas like the 1980s TV show, J.R. Ewing, and cattle ranchers and 10-gallon hats and oil fields, I grew up in a neighborhood that looked more like Chicago’s West and South Side,” Brown had told the Chicago City Council’s Public Safety Committee the day before Martin’s funeral. “I know the joys of living surrounded by others. I also know the struggles of growing up poor, living and working in a historically segregated city, as Dallas and Chicago share these difficult pasts and present.”
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But perhaps nothing could have prepared Brown for the months to come. He would quickly find himself attempting to help steer Chicago through the pandemic crisis and its effects, surging summer violence and civil unrest.
Read more here. —Jeremy Gorner
6 a.m.: Arrivederci, Little Italy? Adio, Greektown? Two of Chicago’s global dining destinations struggle to save their souls.
Red sauce and wine still flow on Little Italy’s Taylor Street, and the saganaki still flames on Greektown’s strip of Halsted.
But there is less Italian and Greek heritage on the menu these days on two of Chicago’s best-known dining corridors.
“We have tourists come in and ask, ‘Where is Little Italy?’” said Ralph Davino, third-generation owner of Pompei, one of a handful of Italian restaurants that remain on Taylor Street. “I have to tell them it’s gone.”
The Italian and Greek flair that distinguished those neighborhoods has been ebbing for years, a result of changes in demographics and consumers' palates. The booming Fulton Market district nearby and encroaching real estate development added new pressures. Some worry the pandemic will be the final straw.
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Read more here. —Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz and Ryan Ori
6 a.m.: Secluded cottages and woodland cabins are popular retreats for wanderlust-plagued Chicagoans looking for a socially distanced escape
Cottages and cabins are in high demand for the late fall and approaching winter, as we attempt to ease our way through our collective cold-weather confinement forced by COVID-19, without the respite of the summertime outdoors.
In the Midwest, vacation rental owners say they’re seeing a spike in winter bookings, as their quaint getaways offer a particularly appealing hygge aesthetic — a Danish term for cozy contentment — that is proving irresistible to those suffering from wanderlust.
With social distancing in mind, secluded cottages and cabins are proving to be increasingly popular escapes, but hosts caution that people should monitor state travel restrictions and plan their trips thoughtfully to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
Read more here. —Ariel Cheung
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
In case you missed it
Here are five stories that happened last week related to COVID-19.


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot threatens  stricter coronavirus restrictions if city’s cases continue t

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot threatens  stricter coronavirus restrictions if city’s cases continue to rise: ‘Make no mistake: We are in the second surge’

“ We want to hear what the doctors and the scientists have to say because COVID numbers are going back @ @ @ @ @ re all ears .
However , we ’ re not in summer anymore , so @ @ @ @ @ phase three , that would be good for nobody , ” Toia said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ back to phase three , ” he paused before loudly exhaling .
“ That could @ @ @ @ @ of the hospitality and restaurant industry here .
That ’ s why we need the @ @ @ @ @ with a stimulus bill .
”

Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Citing a dramatic increase in the number of coronavirus cases since the start of October, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday threatened to reimpose stricter guidelines on businesses.
The mayor didn’t specify what measures she would turn to if COVID-19 cases continue to rise and said she hopes to avoid more painful steps. But, she said, she will if the cases continue rising. She asked residents to stop having dinner parties and card games, noting that people are letting their guard down and getting sick as a result.
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“This is a time for each of us to dig down even deeper and be more diligent, and if we don’t see a dramatic turnaround in our numbers and soon, then we will not hesitate to take the steps that are necessary to save our city, save our residents, even if that means going back to some of our phase three restrictions.”
Chicago public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady echoed Lightfoot and warned the city’s average case count could increase over 600 by the end of the week. As of Saturday, Chicago had a seven-day rolling average of 508 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases per day, with a positivity rate of 5.4%, according to city data.
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[ With a ‘new wave’ of coronavirus, Pritzker places southern Illinois under tighter restrictions; four counties near Chicago, including DuPage and Kane, could be next ]
Lightfoot noted the city’s daily cases have expanded to more than 500 every day, which is more than a 50% increase since the beginning of the month. This is the highest rate since the end of May, Lightfoot said, and it has coincided with a “worrying increase” in hospitalizations.
“Make no mistake: We are in the second surge,” she said.
Echoing Lightfoot, Arwady said the increase in cases spans the entire city and said the city’s positivity rate is another troubling sign even though it’s better than in other parts of the state.
“It is not good, it is not in control, and we cannot rest comfortably in that number,” Arwady said.
She said the spread is coming from people letting their guard down around friends and family. People are more conscious about wearing masks when they’re around strangers in public, such as on public transportation, Arwady said.
“Do not invite anyone over to your house or apartment,” Arwady said. “This is not the time for nonessential gatherings. Period.”
[ COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital data in your area ]
The mayor pointed to the cold weather as one cause of the sharp increase in cases, saying it is leading to more indoor gatherings. She said residents need to limit the number of people they come into contact with. She said she understands what she called residents’ “fatigue factor” but said it is important for people to keep their guard up.
“We have tried to be prudent in reopening our city and using the dimmer switch, not a light switch,” she said.
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Late last month, Lightfoot cited a decrease in COVID-19 cases as she allowed bars that don’t serve food to reopen for indoor drinking. She also eased rules on restaurants, gyms and other retailers, allowing them to increase capacity.
The changes were Lightfoot’s latest attempt to ease the financial burden on Chicago businesses by lifting frequently criticized restrictions.
But they also came as the number of new COVID-19 cases per day was hovering around 300, well above the 200-case threshold the mayor set months ago as a goal before moderating restrictions.
Cases have only increased since then.
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
Lightfoot said she doesn’t believe the decision to ease business restrictions last month has led to the current spike. She said the health department has been analyzing the increase to help understand its causes so that the city can use a “surgical” approach to its response, but so far, the problem seems broad.
“If we were seeing it in one location or other, we could address and mitigate against that, but we’re seeing it across the board,” Lightfoot said.
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Because the restaurant industry is highly regulated, Sam Toia, president and CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association said, it understands the importance of social distancing, using face coverings and sanitization.
“We want to hear what the doctors and the scientists have to say because COVID numbers are going back up, so we’re all ears. However, we’re not in summer anymore, so if we go back to phase three, that would be good for nobody,” Toia said. “Moving capacity backward or going back to phase three,” he paused before loudly exhaling. “That could really be the last knockouts of the hospitality and restaurant industry here. That’s why we need the federal government to step up with a stimulus bill.”
While the ideas from the Winter Design Challenge, a contest by the city of Chicago to find outdoor dining solutions, and pods and igloos help, they are not a cure-all, Toia said. Forcing restaurants to go back to curbside and delivery could result in the closures of many more businesses and a huge loss of jobs.
“We are hemorrhaging out here,” Toia said.
Michelle Fire, whose Uptown restaurant Tweet and bar Big Chicks opened on the first day of phase four reopening, said she wouldn’t be surprised if restrictions are reinstated. While she’s taken steps at her business to ensure safety for her employees and guests — from removing tables and bar stools to knocking out a back window for more air flow — she’s concerned about stories she’s heard regarding other businesses that have not taken similar precautions.
“There are so many variables with this that are out of our control and certainly out of the mayor’s control, so the only thing is to be punitive because there’s very little else that one can do," Fire said.
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Rolling back to phase three restrictions, which would limit restaurants to outdoor dining, would be a nail in the coffin, especially with winter fast approaching, she said.
“We’re taking risks as it is, we’re not going to go out in the freezing cold to serve food,” Fire said.
Asked what it would take to reimpose limits, Arwady said the city won’t wait for Chicago’s positivity rate to hit 8%, which is a state standard, but did not say what would trigger a new round of restrictions.
Lightfoot also punted when asked whether schools should reopen to some in-person learning next month, saying religious and private schools that are open haven’t been a “source of spread” but not ruling out all-remote learning. Still, she said she’s concerned about the challenges many students face learning from home.
Chicago moved into phase four, the current set of coronavirus reopening rules, in late June. Before that, phase three had tighter restrictions.
Under phase three, restaurants were only allowed to serve diners in outdoor areas, or at indoor tables close to open windows.
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Bars remained closed at the beginning of phase three.
Many stores were allowed to open in phase three, at 50% capacity, but those deemed nonessential were forced to stay at 25% or below.
Tennis courts were reopened at Chicago parks in phase three, as the city allowed noncontact sports for the first time during the pandemic.
Under phase four, the Lincoln Park Zoo and youth summer camps, along with indoor dining, gyms, movie theaters and other amenities, were allowed to open “with limited capacities and appropriate safeguards.”
gpratt@chicagotribune.com
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
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gwong@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-19--Amid ‘second surge’ of pandemic, state and city officials warn of further restrictions in public pla

Amid ‘second surge’ of pandemic, state and city officials warn of further restrictions in public places, urge residents to take precautions in private settings

“ We can ’ t let down , and people have let down , ” Lightfoot said at a morning @ @ @ @ @ ’ ve relaxed .
They ’ re tired of being home .
They ’ re @ @ @ @ @ possibly can on Netflix or Prime video .
They ’ re tired of not being @ @ @ @ @ will , with their friends and family .
And we get that .
But we @ @ @ @ @ back to what served us well before , which is social distancing , mask-wearing , @ @ @ @ @ as much as we possibly can .
”

John Byrne, Jamie Munks, Gregory Pratt, Grace Wong

Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
With coronavirus cases rapidly rising across Illinois and Chicago suffering what Mayor Lori Lightfoot called a “second surge” of the pandemic, officials on Monday cracked down on businesses in southern Illinois while warning that tighter restrictions on bars, restaurants and gatherings could be coming in the city and many suburbs.
“Every region of the state has started to move in the wrong direction,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a news conference in Murphysboro, where he announced the tightening of restrictions in far southern Illinois. “Cases, positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths are rising statewide.”
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Lightfoot used her strongest language yet to warn Chicagoans that tougher rules are coming if numbers don’t improve. But even as she threatened to bring back restrictions on restaurants, bars and gyms, the mayor made the argument that those kinds of places aren’t really driving the spike in infections in Chicago.
Rather, lockdown-weary friends and family are spreading it to each other when getting together in homes and letting down their guard — and taking off their masks. Lightfoot and Pritzker both implored residents to follow rules on face masks and social distancing even in small gatherings with family and friends.
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Ross Ewing drives up and is administered a nasal COVID-19 test by phlebotomist Sydnie Booker at a testing site in the parking lot of the Foreman Mills Shopping Center in Chicago on Oct. 19, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
“We can’t let down, and people have let down,” Lightfoot said at a morning news conference. “They’ve relaxed. They’re tired of being home. They’re tired of streaming everything they possibly can on Netflix or Prime video. They’re tired of not being in communion, if you will, with their friends and family. And we get that. But we’ve got to go back to what served us well before, which is social distancing, mask-wearing, limiting our contact with others as much as we possibly can.”
Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago’s health commissioner, was more blunt: “Do not invite anyone over to your house or apartment. This is not the time for nonessential gatherings. Period.”
The worsening situation shows the limits of what Pritzker and Lightfoot can do as the state heads into colder months when public health experts worry the pandemic will worsen. Both can impose more draconian public standards, but were again left pleading with residents to do better in private settings.
[ COVID-19 numbers are rising in Illinois. How worried should the Chicago area be? ]
Pritzker said that starting Thursday, a 20-county region in southern Illinois will be ordered to stop indoor bar service and dining and decrease gathering limits to 25 people or 25% of a room’s overall capacity. The southern Illinois region reached the state-set threshold that triggers a rolled-back reopening, a test positivity rate of 8% or higher for three consecutive days.
He also warned that four suburban counties are on the brink of the same rollback. The regions that include Kane and DuPage counties and Will and Kankakee counties have had rates of at least 8% for two days in a row.
Phlebotomist Tatiana Young administers a nasal COVID-19 test to a person at a testing site in the parking lot of the Foreman Mills Shopping Center in Chicago on Oct. 19, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
The apparent resurgence of COVID-19 in the state “takes place in a national landscape of increasing positivity rates, and where the majority of our border states have been called out as national hot spots,” Pritzker said.
Public health officials on Monday announced 3,113 newly diagnosed cases and 22 additional deaths of people with COVID-19 statewide.
To date, the state is reporting 347,161 known cases of COVID-19 and 9,236 deaths attributed to the virus. The seven-day statewide positivity rate continues to rise, and stood at 5.4% for the period that ended Sunday. The statewide positivity rate was 4.3% a week earlier, and it stood at 3.5% on Oct. 1.
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With the increase, Pritzker said he will resume daily coronavirus briefings on weekdays. The governor’s daily briefings were a staple of the state’s pandemic response in the spring, but his administration has held weekly or as-needed briefings for the past few months.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike warned that as the weather cools and people spend more time indoors, where the virus can spread more easily, “the number of cases will continue to rise, unless we do what we know we can do to turn this around."
[ With a ‘new wave’ of coronavirus, Pritzker places southern Illinois under tighter restrictions; four counties near Chicago, including DuPage and Kane, could be next ]
The mayor didn’t specify what measures she would turn to if COVID-19 cases continue to rise and said she hopes to avoid more painful steps. She asked residents to stop having dinner parties and card games, and said “targeted interventions” might be in order.
“This is a time for each of us to dig down even deeper and be more diligent, and if we don’t see a dramatic turnaround in our numbers and soon, then we will not hesitate to take the steps that are necessary to save our city, save our residents, even if that means going back to some of our phase three restrictions.”
Arwady echoed Lightfoot and warned the city’s average daily case count could increase to over 600 by the end of the week. As of Saturday, Chicago had a seven-day rolling average of 508 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases per day, with a positivity rate of 5.4%, according to city data.
That’s more than a 50% increase since the beginning of the month. This is the highest rate since the end of May, Lightfoot said, and it has coincided with a “worrying increase” in hospitalizations.
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“Make no mistake: We are in the second surge,” she said.
[ Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot threatens stricter coronavirus restrictions if city’s cases continue to rise: ‘Make no mistake: We are in the second surge’ ]
People are more conscious about wearing masks when they’re around strangers in public, such as on public transportation, Arwady said. Not so when they’re with their families, she said. While the rules on bars and restaurants are mostly working, “as the mayor said, where we are seeing spread is not the spaces that we regulate as a city, by and large,” Arwady said.
Asked whether schools should reopen to some in-person learning next month, Lightfoot noted religious and private schools that are open have not been a “source of spread.” Still, she said she’s concerned about the challenges many students face learning from home.
The mayor said she understands what she called residents’ “fatigue factor” but said it is important for people to keep their guards up.
“We have tried to be prudent in reopening our city and using the dimmer switch, not a light switch,” she said.
Late last month, Lightfoot cited a decrease in COVID-19 cases as she allowed bars that don’t serve food to reopen for indoor drinking. She also eased rules on restaurants, gyms and other retailers, allowing them to increase capacity.
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The changes were Lightfoot’s latest attempt to ease the financial burden on Chicago businesses by lifting frequently criticized restrictions.
[ COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital data in your area ]
But they also came as the number of new COVID-19 cases per day was hovering around 300, well above the 200-case threshold the mayor set months ago as a goal before moderating restrictions. Cases have only increased since then.
Lightfoot said she doesn’t believe the decision to ease business restrictions last month has led to the current spike. She said the health department has been analyzing the increase to help understand its causes so that the city can use a “surgical” approach to its response, but so far, the problem seems broad.
“If we were seeing it in one location or other, we could address and mitigate against that, but we’re seeing it across the board,” Lightfoot said.
Arwady said the city won’t wait for Chicago’s positivity rate to hit 8%, which is a state standard, to reimpose restrictions, but did not say what would trigger a rollback.
Chicago moved into phase four, the current set of coronavirus reopening rules, in late June. Before that, phase three had tighter restrictions under which restaurants were only allowed to serve diners in outdoor areas, or at indoor tables close to open windows. Bars remained closed.
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[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
Forcing restaurants to go back to curbside and delivery could result in many more closings and huge loss of jobs, said Sam Toia, president and CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association.
“Moving capacity backward or going back to phase three,” Toia said before pausing and exhaling loudly. “That could really be the last knockouts of the hospitality and restaurant industry here.”
Michelle Fire, whose Uptown restaurant Tweet and bar Big Chicks opened on the first day of phase four reopening, said she’s done everything at her business to ensure safety for her employees and guests. But she’s concerned about the stories she’s heard about other businesses that have not taken similar precautions.
“We’re in enough financial trouble as it is without being punished because others are not doing due diligence,” Fire said. “There are so many variables with this that are out of our control and certainly out of the mayor’s control, so the only thing is to be punitive because there’s very little else that one can do.”
Restricting restaurants to outdoor dining with winter fast approaching would be devastating, she said.
“We’re taking risks as it is, we’re not going to go out in the freezing cold to serve food,” Fire said.
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Right now, only the state’s northwest region is under tighter restrictions. The nine-county region that includes Rockford, DeKalb and Galena had its reopening scaled back by the state earlier this month.
If the region comprised by Will and Kankakee counties reaches a third consecutive day with a positivity rate of at least 8%, it would see its reopening scaled back for a second time. The region was under tighter restrictions in September after reaching the state-set threshold but returned to the rules under Pritzker’s phase four reopening plan after it dropped to under 6.5% for three consecutive days.
The Metro East region previously was under tighter restrictions, the first of the 11 regions as defined in Pritzker’s reopening plan to see the state intervene to reverse its reopening, but it was later returned to phase four.
The more than 3,000 new known cases reported statewide on Monday resulted from a batch of 48,684 tests conducted over the prior 24 hours. As of Sunday night, 2,096 people in the state with COVID-19 were hospitalized, with 485 in intensive care units and 179 on ventilators.
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
jmunks@chicagotribune.com
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gwong@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-19--Embattled video gambling owner was in line for $2.5 million, taxpayer-funded windfall by flipping la

Embattled video gambling owner was in line for $2.5 million, taxpayer-funded windfall by flipping land. Now it’s off the table.

Editor ’ s note : In an Oct. 1 story about the Village of Tinley Park ’ s plan to @ @ @ @ @ operator Rick Heidner , the Tribune reported that Heidner informed municipal officials that he was @ @ @ @ @ on Sept. 23 , one day after a Tribune reporter began making calls to ask @ @ @ @ @ Sept. 22 .
We stand by that reporting .
After publication of the story , @ @ @ @ @ chain of internal emails from his business which indicated that he had informed one of @ @ @ @ @ at 8:59 p.m. on Sept. 21 that he intended to pull out of the deal @ @ @ @

Tinley Park has not fared well in its dealings with video gambling operator Rick Heidner over the last year.
First, the southwest suburb signed onto Heidner’s plan to build a horse racing track and casino on state-owned land, only to have Gov. J.B. Pritzker derail the project after a Tribune investigation revealed Heidner’s long-standing business ties to people connected to organized crime.
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Now, the Tribune has learned that Tinley Park officials have been secretly negotiating a real estate deal that would provide Heidner a $2.5 million windfall on land he purchased less than a year ago as a possible alternate casino site.
Under the proposal, Tinley Park was prepared to pay $7.5 million for 114 acres ― about $2 million more than its own appraisal said it was worth, said Tinley Park Village Manager David Niemeyer. Heidner paid $5 million for the land, meaning he would take away a $2.5 million profit at taxpayers’ expense.
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The deal came to an abrupt halt last week when Heidner sent a short email to village officials on Sept. 23 saying the land was no longer for sale. That email came a day after the Tribune began asking questions about Heidner’s ownership of the land on Sept. 22. (After the Tribune published this story, a Heidner spokesman released an email chain from Sept. 21 in which Heidner had indicated to associates that he intended to pull out of the deal.)
Rick Heidner waits to speak in front of the Illinois Racing Board in Chicago on Sept. 17, 2019. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Niemeyer said he does not know why Heidner pulled out, but said the justification for the village’s offer was an attempt to wrest control of the undeveloped parcel from the neighboring village of Matteson, which struck a deal with Amazon this year to build a distribution warehouse across the road from Heidner’s property.
He noted that the purchase would have needed public approval by the Village Board. Officials had intended to use cash reserves to buy the land rather than borrowing money or issuing bonds, Niemeyer said.
In a statement, Heidner said he stopped negotiations because “certain Tinley Park officials attempted to make the purchase a divisive political issue.”
Heidner spokesman Randall Samborn did not elaborate on what Heidner meant, other than noting that not all village trustees supported the plan to use taxpayer money to buy the land. The proposed purchase had not been publicly known, given that discussions took place in closed session during recent months.
Tinley Park offered the price above appraisal after Heidner told village officials he had an offer from a developer, Schiller Park-based Northern Builders Inc., to buy a portion of the land, Niemeyer said. Heidner’s spokesman said the current offer is $6.3 million for 27 acres, with an option on another 27 acres, but that Heidner had not accepted it.
The potential profit from flipping the land would have come at a critical time for Heidner. He has been embroiled in a long dispute with a video gambling cafe chain owner over that company’s attempt to remove Gold Rush machines from 44 locations. Video gambling was shut down for months by the pandemic this year, and the economic downturn also has ravaged commercial real estate, which Heidner also is involved in.
The land in question is at the corner of Harlem Avenue and Vollmer Road. It sat on the market for years without generating much interest, until Heidner bought it in a cash deal last November. Using a string of land trusts and shell companies, he closed on the property about six weeks after Pritzker blocked his first option for a casino site.
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Land at the northeast corner of Harlem Avenue and Vollmer Road in unincorporated Rich Township is seen on Sept. 30, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Niemeyer and Heidner confirmed that they had discussed using the undeveloped parcel as a “racino” site if Heidner could rejuvenate his prospects of winning a casino license from the Illinois Gaming Board. Instead, the Gaming Board is now seeking to revoke his video gambling license on unrelated charges.
Heidner’s land is currently unincorporated, though both Tinley Park and Matteson have been eyeing it. Niemeyer said that Heidner’s proposed deal with Northern Builders included annexation to Matteson, meaning that municipality would control zoning and building decisions, as well as reaping whatever taxes the property produced in the future. Tinley Park was trying to stop that from happening, the village manager said.
Heidner and Tinley officials both say that the Amazon warehouse could spur other industrial development in the area.
But village officials were not all sold on the idea of municipal government getting into the real estate business using taxpayer money. Those opposed to the deal included Mayor Jacob Vandenberg.
“I don’t think we should be using public money to buy property. That’s been my position since day one,” he said.
However, the mayor finds himself with limited power because he’s often on the losing end of 4-3 split among Village Board factions.
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The economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has hit Tinley Park’s finances as it has many otherwise prosperous local governments, and the village has had to furlough some management employees, officials acknowledged.
“What does this say to our employees? ‘Sorry, we have to furlough you and cut your pay so we can buy some land,’” the mayor said.
Trustee Michael Glotz, who leads the board’s majority faction, declined to answer questions about the land.
“That hasn’t been discussed publicly,” said Glotz, who declined to say whether he supported the proposal. Other trustees did not respond to requests for comment.
On the Matteson side of the divide, Village President Sheila Chalmers-Currin said her town had planned to annex the land until Heidner recently informed officials that he had a deal to sell the land to Tinley Park. She said she was unaware that the Tinley Park sale also had fallen through until the Tribune informed her during an interview.
“A couple weeks ago, the owner of the land had decided to not allow the village (of Matteson) to annex the land ― that the village of Tinley Park was going to buy it,” she said. “At that point, everything was off the table. … We were informed through our attorney that this was no longer an option. Of course, I was disappointed. But no additional information has come to us.”
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Matteson officials wanted the land to be in their village in case the Amazon property across Vollmer Road led to more interest in development in the immediate area, Chalmers-Currin said.
Both suburbs have spent public money dealing with Heidner over the land.
Among Tinley Park’s costs was an appraisal, which set the land’s value at between $5.25 million and $5.75 million, Niemeyer said. The range depended on whether an environmental study found more serious flood risks on the property, and whether the land ultimately was awarded Cook County tax credits often used to help landlords compete with much lower property taxes in neighboring Will County. Niemeyer later said the value of the land could be higher if other tax incentives were granted to the owners.
A significant portion of the land lies either in a flood way or a flood plain, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s map of the region.
Land in a flood way typically cannot be developed because of a high risk of flooding. A funnel-shaped segment of the property, which consumes most of its northeast corner before narrowing and running through the middle of the land to Vollmer Road, would not be suitable for building, said Arthur Schmidt, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who reviewed the map for the Tribune.
Heidner "has made no other decisions regarding sale or disposition of the property,” a spokesman said in a statement.
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The northwest suburban business owner continues to battle state gambling regulators. In December, the Gaming Board filed charges to revoke Heidner’s gaming license after gathering text-message evidence from a lawsuit that indicated Heidner offered an alleged $5 million bribe to the owner of the Stella’s chain of video gambling cafes to keep his machines in place.
Heidner has denied the allegation and said he was the victim of an illegal scheme to squeeze him out of the business. Heidner is appealing the state’s attempt to revoke his license.
Gaming officials moved to take Heidner’s license about two months after an October 2019 Tribune investigation revealed that for nearly two decades Heidner has owned numerous commercial properties via shell companies in several states with Rocco Suspenzi, the longtime chairman and part owner of Parkway Bank and Trust in Harwood Heights.
In 2003, the Gaming Board and the FBI accused Suspenzi of concealing secret ownership stakes of organized crime figures in a proposed Rosemont casino. Suspenzi and his son invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination in 2005 when the Gaming Board sought to question them about their role concealing the ownership stakes of reputed Outfit-linked investors Vito Salamone and Nick Boscarino.
At the same time, Heidner has a similar real estate partnership with convicted bookmaker Dominic Buttitta. Together, they own a building in Elgin that is leased to a bar that is licensed for video gambling and uses Heidner’s Gold Rush machines. In 2012, Buttitta pleaded guilty to federal charges of running an illegal sportsbook from the South Elgin strip club he controlled. He also was convicted of skimming millions of dollars from the business by not declaring income from the daily fees that dancers pay to perform at the strip club.
Former Gaming Board members who granted Heidner a video gambling license in 2012 said those business ties would have been a red flag to board members, but they were unaware of the relationships at the time.
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More recently, Tinley Park had been in negotiations to buy the former mental health center land from the state, which it planned to then sell to Heidner. In 2018, Heidner beat out other developers who submitted plans to the village to turn the 280-acre campus into housing. Later, Heidner informed Tinley officials that his plans had changed, and he anticipated building a racino as part of a yet-to-be approved state gambling expansion. Village officials embraced the idea and said they believed a new horse track could be viable when paired with a casino.
By the time the Tribune’s investigation was published, Heidner’s proposal for harness racing, a hotel, a music venue, restaurants and a casino already had received preliminary approval from the Illinois Racing Board, which regulates and promotes the horse racing industry in the state.
A few days later, Pritzker sent a letter to the Racing Board announcing that the state no longer would be making the Tinley Park campus available for the project.
dheinzmann@chicagotribune.com
This story was updated Oct. 19 to include information in this clarification: In an Oct. 1 story about the Village of Tinley Park’s plan to buy land from video gambling operator Rick Heidner, the Tribune reported that Heidner informed municipal officials that he was pulling out of the deal on Sept. 23, one day after a Tribune reporter began making calls to ask questions about the plan on Sept. 22. We stand by that reporting. After publication of the story, however, Heidner provided a chain of internal emails from his business which indicated that he had informed one of his attorneys and his son at 8:59 p.m. on Sept. 21 that he intended to pull out of the deal on Sept. 23.


chicagotribune--2020-10-19--As COVID-19 surges, so do Illinois teacher retirements; number has jumped almost 50% over last year

While TRS does not record or ask why a member is retiring , Urbanek said anecdotally , “ members retiring @ @ @ @ @ mentioned the reasons they ’ re retiring this close to the beginning of the school @ @ @ @ @ ... either concerns with the virus itself , incompatibility with decisions made by district school @ @ @ @ @ incompatibility with the technology needed for remote learning .
”

A dramatic increase in Illinois teachers retiring in recent months is likely linked to educators stepping away from the classroom because of COVID-19 health and safety concerns, state officials said Friday.
From July through September, 566 teachers from across the state retired, a 45% increase from the same period in 2019, according to Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois data.
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“The jump in retirements started in July, closer to the start of the new term, and when retirements traditionally fall off,” agency spokesman Dave Urbanek said.
The surge has continued, even after classes resumed this fall, Urbanek said.
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The numbers are typically stable; they ranged between 365 and 397 for the same period in each of the previous five years before shooting up this summer.
While TRS does not record or ask why a member is retiring, Urbanek said anecdotally, “members retiring in July and August have mentioned the reasons they’re retiring this close to the beginning of the school year are related to COVID-19 ... either concerns with the virus itself, incompatibility with decisions made by district school boards that employ them or incompatibility with the technology needed for remote learning.”
The exodus of veteran teachers across Illinois arrives at a time when many school districts across the state are already struggling with teacher shortages, said Kathi Griffin, president of the Illinois Education Association said Friday.
“We should be doing everything we can to attract young people to the profession and to ensure experienced educators stay," Griffin said.
The organization witnessed an increase in teacher retirements among its members in 2020, Griffin said, “especially in the spring, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois.”
“We need to make sure our educators‘ voices are heard when discussing learning plans, whether in person, remote or hybrid,” Griffin said. “We need to make sure every student, teacher and staff member has a safe working and learning environment.”
kcullotta@chicagotribune.com