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[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Brian L. Cox"
] | 2016-08-26T13:21:36 | null | 2016-06-20T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fmorton-grove%2Fnews%2Fct-mgc-morton-grove-morettis-development-tl-0623-20160620-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56f02a81/turbine/chi-default-open-graph-ct-logo/1200/1200x650 | en | null | Despite rumors, Morton Grove Moretti's development is still on, mayor says | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | A 10,000 square foot Moretti's Restaurant is still scheduled to open in Morton Grove despite the fact the project has been delayed and rumors swirling in the village that the deal to bring the restaurant to the suburb is dead, Morton Grove Mayor Dan DiMaria told the Village Board during a recent meeting.
"Moretti's is not a 'dead deal' so any rumor that was out there I'd like to set that straight," DiMaria said during the board's June 14 meeting. "Bottom line, the board, the residents, the Hoffmans and Ala Carte Entertainment are one hundred percent excited and believe this is a great fit for Morton Grove."
Late last year, the Village Board voted unanimously to help bring a 10,000 square foot Moretti's Restaurant to 6415 Dempster Street in the hope the move will be an economic and social "shot in the arm" for the community. The restaurant was scheduled to open this fall but that has been delayed until 2017 due to environmental contamination on the site which has impacted the ability of the company to get financing for the project, said DiMaria.
"Environmental testing has revealed there is a contamination on the site which must be cleaned before construction can begin," said DiMaria. "It happens on construction sites. Banks don't really want to lend money until it gets cleaned up. So it's a delay. But we're going to get that taken care of."
The proposed 10,000 square foot Moretti's will be located on the village-owned vacant property on Dempster Street, east of the Metra tracks, and will accommodate approximately 350 patrons in three separate dining areas, bar and outdoor patio area, officials said. They also said the facility will offer delivery and carry out as well as catering and special event services.
Moretti's is a popular Italian and American restaurant with current locations in Edison Park, Bartlett, Fox Lake, Lake in the Hills, Mount Prospect, Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates along with another location soon to open in Rosemont, said officials. Moretti's is owned and operated by Ala Carte Entertainment, which own 27 restaurant and entertainment facilities throughout Chicagoland.
When the restaurant deal was announced in December, Ala Carte Entertainment president Mark Hoffman said the Morton Grove restaurant will be the company's "flagship" operation. Hoffman did not return calls for a comment on the construction delay.
"He's not worried," said DiMaria. "He's really looking forward to coming to Morton Grove."
DiMaria also assured the Village Board that rumors in the community that the restaurant deal is dead are false and said he is confident that despite the delays the restaurant will open next year.
"The important thing here to remember is this is the first time they've ever built a building from the ground up," he said. "They usually take existing structures and move into those structures."
"This is new to them," he added. "I think Mark [Hoffman] thought he was going to general contract this job out himself, and he may still be thinking of doing that, but he realized what an undertaking this is and it's going to take him a little more time than he anticipated."
Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/morton-grove/news/ct-mgc-morton-grove-morettis-development-tl-0623-20160620-story.html | en | 2016-06-20T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/cd6d25147ceea44c879241719ee2b67bbc2bba64124664c1a76636561d425de3.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Manya Brachear Pashman"
] | 2016-08-30T10:48:45 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fct-muslim-voter-registration-met-20160828-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c2e547/turbine/ct-muslim-voter-registration-met-20160828 | en | null | Campaign rhetoric against Muslims spurs mosques to get out the vote | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | When Imam Nazim Mangera arrived at Chicago's Muslim Community Center in December, he immediately encountered a feeling of deja vu.
In his last months as leader of a Vancouver mosque, Mangera had helped mobilize Canadian Muslims to cast their vote in a heated race for prime minister — a contest between a liberal candidate who went out of his way to show respect for Muslims' religious rights and a conservative incumbent who had pushed to ban from Canadian citizenship ceremonies the face veil worn by some Muslim women.
Mangera arrived on Chicago's Northwest Side shortly after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump proposed that the government bar some foreign Muslims from entering the country, monitor mosques and kill the loved ones of radical Islamic terrorists.
In the U.S. on a visa from Canada and unable to vote, Mangera has done the only thing he can do to make sure Muslim voices are heard: preach.
"Every vote counts," said Mangera, who occasionally incorporates "get out the vote" messages into his Friday sermons. "When we take part in the political process, politicians, even if they don't benefit us, at least at a minimum, won't harm us."
For decades, Muslim leaders have urged the faithful to go to the polls on Election Day to perform their American civic duty. But a surge of anti-Islam rhetoric in this year's election cycle has fueled additional efforts by area mosques to boost voter turnout. In addition to community leaders setting up voter registration tables in lobbies and booking buses to take people to the polls, imams in their weekly sermons are urging congregants to cast their ballots. Though they don't tell the faithful how to vote, many say the choice is clear.
"They see the danger is in front of their own houses," Mangera said. "It's unfortunate that we have these negative aspects in life to encourage people (to vote)."
According to the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a think tank that focuses on the American Muslim community, the number of Muslims registered to vote lags behind other faith traditions as well as the general population. Only 60 percent of American Muslims are registered to vote, compared with at least 86 percent of Jews, 95 percent of Catholics and 94 percent of Protestants, a recent study showed. And 14 percent of Muslims who are eligible to vote for the next president say they won't — the largest of any faith group.
Getting Muslims to the polls historically has been a challenge, said Dr. Zaher Sahloul, a longtime Muslim leader who came to Chicago from Syria nearly 30 years ago. While mosques generally try to be engaged in the community, he said, convincing immigrants or first-generation Americans that their votes matter in a national election can take time.
"You overcome it by understanding what it means to be American and by understanding the Constitution and understanding how democracy works," Sahloul said. "Don't forget many Muslim immigrants come from countries that have dictatorships — whether Pakistan, Egypt or Syria — and in these countries participating in civic life is not something everyone does."
Islamic scholars in non-Western countries also have been known to discourage voting as "haram," or forbidden, Sahloul said, which is wrong.
"If you are a good Muslim, you should participate in civic life," he said. "It's haram if you don't vote."
Mangera said Islamic scripture encourages civic responsibility such as voting and seeking elected office. During a recent sermon, he shared a story from the Quran about how the Prophet Joseph sought a position safeguarding the nation's treasury to protect it from abuse.
"I don't know any scholar in any major Western country that discourages voting," Mangera said. Scholars in non-Western countries may "say positive things about the dictator or king because if they push for democracy in those countries they might be harmed in one way or another."
Akhter Sadiq, 65, of Morton Grove, coordinator of interfaith outreach at the Muslim Community Center, said he's pleased that imams are embracing the voting initiative. So far, mosque volunteers have registered nearly 100 members to vote in the fall election at tables set up after Friday prayers and during family festivals.
"The mosque is the center for just about anything," said Sadiq, who oversaw a registration booth during a food and fun fair at the Muslim Education Center in Morton Grove on Sunday. "You talk about your daily lives. You talk about morality. You talk about praying to God. You pray about how to be a good neighbor, how to be a good spouse, how to be a good kid and everything else, including the politics."
In Canada, Mangera said the clergy's involvement paid off. According to the group Canadian Muslim Vote, nearly 79 percent of the eligible Muslim population voted in the 2015 prime minister race, up from less than 45 percent in previous federal elections. Canadian voters unseated incumbent Stephen Harper and elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Liberal Party candidates most Muslims supported.
Imams point out that encouraging Muslims to vote doesn't necessarily mean they will vote against Trump. At the Islamic Foundation of Villa Park, Sheikh Hisham Al Qaisi said some members have said they welcome Trump's straight talk and his plan to ferret out unfit members of their community.
Mangera has found that many members of his mosque support the social views of the Republican Party and, in the past, have voted accordingly. Regardless, Islam teaches everyone to vote with the same general values.
"There's always encouragement in Islam to promote righteousness, goodness and fairness and justice in the countries in which we live," Mangera said.
"Being apathetic and not taking part won't resolve any issues that come up in the future," he added. "Not voting is a type of vote."
mbrachear@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @TribSeeker | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-muslim-voter-registration-met-20160828-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/b8efccada074528b54e007460f14e9911aee4b680251c9cee803539181b1a312.json |
[
"Washington Post",
"Ariana Eunjung Cha"
] | 2016-08-30T08:48:46 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fct-zika-cancer-hepatitis-c-drugs-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c4ecc1/turbine/ct-zika-cancer-hepatitis-c-drugs-20160829 | en | null | Scientists find drugs for cancer, hepatitis C can kill Zika in petri dish | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Scientists have discovered three existing drugs - used for cancer, hepatitis C and for parasitic infections - that they say appear promising against the Zika virus.
The experiments were conducted only in lab-grown human cells in petri dishes, but the results were dramatic. Zika is so devastating that the damage it does has been thought to be irreversible. But the researchers said some of the compounds that the group tested not only allowed cells to live longer in the face of infection - but also in some cases fully recover from them.
The news, reported in Nature Medicine on Monday, is exciting but only a very preliminary step toward a treatment. The researchers will have to test the drugs in animal models to see if they can replicate the results, and if these tests are successful, they will have to start the long process of trying to test the drugs' effectiveness in humans.
Co-author Hongjun Song, director of the stem cell program at Johns Hopkins, said that the drugs "are very effective against Zika in the dish, but we don't know if they can work in humans in the same way."
He said, for instance, that it's unknown whether niclosamide, which is used to treat patients with parasites in the gut, can even penetrate the central nervous system to get to an unborn baby's brain.
The researchers also don't have any idea whether the drugs could treat the whole spectrum of damage done by the virus, from microcephaly (abnormally small heads) in infants to paralysis of the gastrointestinal tract. Scientists have not yet determined if the drug can even penetrate the central nervous system of adults or a fetus inside a carrier's womb to treat the brain cells targeted by Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults.
The identification of the drugs was based on a large-scale screening of 6,000 existing drugs. Given that it can take decades for scientists to come up with and test medications, looking at those that are already approved by regulators or in clinical trials can cut the development time a great deal. This technique has also been used in the hunt for an Ebola treatment.
The three drugs identified are PHA-690509, which is investigational and is being used on cancer patients; emricasan, which is being used in clinical trials to determine whether it might be able to help reduce liver damage from the hepatitis C virus; and niclosamide.
The experiments were conducted in what the researchers described as "two- and three-dimensional cell cultures called 'mini-brains,' " which share some structures with the human brain. They measured indicators of cell death and found that there seemed to be two classes of drugs with potential to help stop or hinder the virus. The first group includes neuroprotective drugs, which might stop cell death, and antiviral drugs, which might slow or stop infection or replication of the virus in the brain. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-zika-cancer-hepatitis-c-drugs-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/c79ff689935d24ce9d52544928b346e2d596cd68a078ff1365c9ffac1c2c7f51.json |
[
"Associated Press",
"Tribune News Services"
] | 2016-08-27T04:48:06 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Fbasketball%2Fct-elena-delle-donne-sky-dream-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c1064c/turbine/ct-elena-delle-donne-sky-dream-20160826 | en | null | Elena Delle Donne scores 34 to lead Sky past Dream 90-82 | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Elena Delle Donne scored 34 points in the first game after helping the United States win an Olympic gold medal, leading the Sky to a 90-82 win over the Atlanta Dream on Friday night.
The Sky (12-13) used a 15-0 run in two minutes in the third quarter to take the lead and then pulled away after the Dream (13-13) cut a 13-point deficit to one with four minutes to play.
After the Atlanta spurt, Delle Donne scored six straight, four from the foul line, where she was perfect on 14 attempts. Courtney Vandersloot, who had 14 points for Chicago (sixth in the AP power poll) made it 90-80 before the Dream scored again.
Atlanta (fifth in the poll) was leading 60-53 after Tiffany Hayes' 3-pointer midway through the third quarter. Delle Donne started the run with a 3-point play and Vandersloot ended it at the 2:23 mark with a pair of free throws, making it 68-60. Chicago had 31 points in the third quarter.
Cappie Pondexter had 17 points and Cheyenne Parker 14 for Chicago.
Angel McCoughtry led Atlanta with 14 points and Elizabeth had 20 with eight rebounds and six blocks.
Associated Press | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/ct-elena-delle-donne-sky-dream-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/9111d7a5f33c8b0b651f2b7e1dae8360cc861eab93357958462d7c097b948713.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Chicago Tribune Staff"
] | 2016-08-29T22:48:53 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fbreaking%2Fct-man-pulled-from-lake-michigan-near-montrose-harbor-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c4a449/turbine/ct-man-pulled-from-lake-michigan-near-montrose-harbor-20160829 | en | null | Police: Man pulled from Lake Michigan near Montrose Harbor dies | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | A man who was pulled from Lake Michigan on the North Side on Monday afternoon has died, officials said.
Police Marine Unit officers and Fire Department crews responded to Montrose Harbor about 2:45 p.m. for a person in the water, said Officer Kevin Quaid, a spokesman for Chicago police.
Fire Department divers found a man about 100 yards away from the lighthouse and pulled him out, according to the Chicago Fire Department.
The 24-year-old man was taken to Weiss Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Quaid said. He was initially reported to be in critical condition.
Another person was in the water with him but was not in any danger, Quaid said. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-man-pulled-from-lake-michigan-near-montrose-harbor-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/d0dcb85009e34f867b2f08f468f9bb05d5260cfaf19f1b86b665c7ed2b2e2f56.json |
[
"Washington Post",
"Kevin Sullivan"
] | 2016-08-27T22:48:02 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fct-american-redoubt-prepper-movement-20160827-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c200cb/turbine/ct-american-redoubt-prepper-movement-20160827 | en | null | In the Pacific Northwest, members of survivalist movements are growing in number | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Don and Jonna Bradway recently cashed out of the stock market and invested in gold and silver. They have stockpiled food and ammunition in the event of a total economic collapse or some other calamity commonly known around here as "The End of the World As We Know It" or "SHTF" - the day something hits the fan.
The Bradways fled California, a state they said is run by "leftists and non-Constitutionalists and anti-freedom people," and settled on several wooded acres of north Idaho five years ago. They live among like-minded conservative neighbors, host Monday night Bible study around their fire pit, hike in the mountains and fish from their boat. They melt lead to make their own bullets for sport shooting and hunting - or to defend themselves against marauders in a world-ending cataclysm.
"I'm not paranoid, I'm really not," said Bradway, 68, a cheerful Army veteran with a bushy handlebar mustache who favors Hawaiian shirts. "But we're prepared. Anybody who knows us knows that Don and Jonna are prepared if and when it hits the fan."
The Bradways are among the vanguard moving to an area of the Pacific Northwest known as the American Redoubt, a term coined in 2011 by survivalist author and blogger James Wesley, Rawles (the comma is deliberate) to describe a settlement of the God-fearing in a lightly populated territory that includes Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and the eastern parts of Washington and Oregon.
Those migrating to the Redoubt are some of the most motivated members of what is known as the prepper movement, which advocates readiness and self-reliance in man-made or natural disasters that could create instability for years. It's scenario-planning that is gaining adherents and becoming mainstream in what Redoubt preppers described as an era of fear and uncertainty.
They are anxious about recent terrorist attacks from Paris to San Bernardino, California, to Orlando, Florida; pandemics such as Ebola in West Africa; potential nuclear attacks from increasingly provocative countries such as North Korea or Iran; and the growing political, economic and racial polarization in the United States that has deepened during the 2016 presidential election.
Nationally, dozens of online prepper suppliers report an increase in sales of items from water purifiers to hand-cranked radios to solar-powered washing machines. Harvest Right, a Utah company that invented a $3,000 portable freeze dryer to preserve food, has seen sales grow from about 80 a month two years ago to more than 900 a month now, said spokesman Stephanie Barlow.
Clyde Scott, owner of Rising S Bunkers, said pre-made, blast-proof underground steel bunkers are in big demand, including his most popular model, which sleeps six to eight people and sells for up to $150,000.
"Anybody with a peanut-sized brain," he said, can see that the U.S. economy is in perilous shape because of the national debt, the decline of American manufacturing and the size of the welfare rolls.
Some people worry about hurricanes, earthquakes or forest fires. Others fear a nuclear attack or solar flare that creates an electromagnetic pulse that knocks out the nation's electric grid and all computers, sending the country into darkness and chaos - perhaps forever.
"The list is long; the concerns are many," said Glenn Martin, who lives in north Idaho and runs Prepper Broadcasting Network, an online radio station. "Imagine a societal collapse and trying to buy a loaf of bread in Los Angeles or New York and stores are closed down."
Martin's programming emphasizes gardening, farming and how-to shows about sustainable living more than "doom and gloom," he said, and his audience has grown from 50,000 listeners a month two years ago to about 250,000 a month now.
Online interest in prepper and American Redoubt websites is increasing. Tools that measure online readership show that monthly search traffic to Rawles's survivalblog.com has doubled since 2011; an estimate from SimilarWeb, a Web analytics firm, shows that the site had about 862,000 total visits last month.
Rawles's guidebook, "How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It," and his post-apocalyptic survival novel, "Patriots," have sold about 350,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan. They are among hundreds of available survivalist books.
In response to all the uncertainty, more and more preppers are not simply stocking up at home. They are moving their homes - to the Redoubt, a seldom-used term for stronghold or fortress.
It is impossible to know exactly how many people have come over the past few years, but newcomers, real estate agents, local officials and others said it was in the hundreds, or perhaps even a few thousand, across all five states.
Here, they live in a pristine place of abundant water and fertile soil, far from urban crime, free from most natural disasters and populated predominantly by conservative, mostly Christian people with a live-and-let-live ethos and local governments with a light regulatory touch and friendly gun laws.
The hearty and adventurous, or those seeking an escape from modernity's leading edge, have long made a new life for themselves in Idaho; Ernest Hemingway came here to live and to die.
The locals regard the newest transplants as benign if odd, several said in interviews.
"The mainstream folks kind of roll their eyes," said state Sen. Shawn Keough, a 20-year veteran Republican legislator who represents north Idaho.
Many drawn to the Redoubt are former police, firefighters and military. Most said they would vote for Donald Trump as the "lesser of two evils," and they said Hillary Clinton would make an already bloated and ineffective government even bigger.
"I don't want to be one of the guys waiting for help," said Patrick Devine, 54, a former paramedic in Los Angeles who moved two years ago at a friend's urging.
Devine said he had firsthand knowledge of chaos and government failure, earned from working numerous shootings and earthquakes, particularly in Haiti in 2010.
"I can't stop it. But I can prepare myself to the best of my ability for anything that does come and be helpful to other people," said Devine, who works at a local gun range and wears a 9mm pistol on his hip.
"I love this place," said Chris Walsh, as he buzzed low over sparkling Lake Coeur d'Alene in his mustard-colored Beechcraft Bonanza airplane.
A Detroit native, Walsh, 53, runs Revolutionary Realty, which specializes in selling real estate to those moving to the American Redoubt. He said he has sold hundreds of properties in the last five years. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-american-redoubt-prepper-movement-20160827-story.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/394ed346a5a947c641fa08d7bb2c04cb0ad12de5da2adcad32b569ff22c38655.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Yadira Sanchez Olson"
] | 2016-08-28T22:51:50 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Flake-county-news-sun%2Fnews%2Fct-lns-waukegan-early-learning-center-st-0829-20160828-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c36922/turbine/ct-lns-waukegan-early-learning-center-st-0829-20160828 | en | null | Waukegan library opens space exhibit | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | The Waukegan Public Library's Early Learning Center opened a new space-themed exhibit Sunday.
More than 200 children under the age of eight attended the opening of the "Blast Off!" exhibit, which included cupcakes and freeze dried ice cream.
Park City sisters Ariana and Layla Teran played on a model lunar rover. Ariana, 7, who dressed in one of the provided astronaut costumes, said she enjoyed pretending to trek the moon with her sister.
"I feel like it's gonna be awesome going to space," Ariana said.
Waukegan mother Darnisha Ivy-Biggs said the Early Learning Center is a great place for her children to play while learning.
"We come to the library almost every single day because they love it here," Ivy-Biggs said.
Yadira Sanchez Olson / Lake County News-Sun The new Blast Off! exhibit at Waukegan Public Library opened on Sunday. The new Blast Off! exhibit at Waukegan Public Library opened on Sunday. (Yadira Sanchez Olson / Lake County News-Sun)
The exhibit features space-themed exhibits — such as a space capsule or black light room with constellations — that were designed to promote learning the alphabet and shape and color recognition, library spokeswoman Amanda Civitello said.
Through sponsorship from the North Shore Gas Company, the Waukegan Public Library presents a new exhibit each year that is built mostly by in-house engineers.
This year, a NASA display on the main floor of the library features artifacts from NASA's Lower Earth Orbit shuttle program.
"We're very fortunate to have that from NASA in Huntsville, Alabama," Civitello said.
The NASA exhibit features a thirteen-foot replica space shuttle, a seat from the shuttle Endeavour and a tire from the shuttle Columbia, Civitello said.
Blast Off! replaces the previous Fairy Tales exhibit and display.
Sunday's celebration included Star Wars characters who were on hand to pose for photos. Rockford's Discovery Center Museum provided older children with hands-on activities.
Yadira Sanchez Olson is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/news/ct-lns-waukegan-early-learning-center-st-0829-20160828-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/53c4acb49c456cd9dfc14f94babd0b87e93ce103d12944f69d49ab3841017a0c.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Karie Angell Luc"
] | 2016-08-26T13:23:31 | null | 2016-08-19T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fnorthbrook%2Fnews%2Fct-nbs-glenbrook-north-band-tl-025-20160819-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57b74a12/turbine/ct-nbs-glenbrook-north-band-tl-025-20160819 | en | null | Glenbrook North alumnus now co-leads marching band | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | The Glenbrook North High School Marching Band, under the co-direction of Richard Chapman of Libertyville and newcomer Andrew Zweibel of Northbrook, honed its 2016 program this month at Camp Henry Horner in Ingleside.
"It's a perfect day for marching, a little cloudy and windy," said Chapman via loudspeaker Aug. 17, with temperatures in the lower 70s but with humidity.
Zweibel, a 2007 Glenbrook North graduate and trumpet plus piano player, took over co-band director duties after Mark Running retired this year.
Zweibel performed in the marching band while a student.
"I mean, it's a dream come true," said Zweibel, in between drills on the Robert E. Franks Field. "This program instilled a love for music."
Part of the marching band experience is participating in contests and festivals. The band has been recognized in recent years with regional award distinction.
Chapman said he worked with Running for 17 years.
"It's nice to have a fresh and different perspective," Chapman said.
Zweibel received his bachelor's degree in music education from the University of Miami's Frost School of Music at Coral Gables, Fla., in 2011.
Zweibel, the son of Barry and Nancy Zweibel of Northbrook, was director of bands at South Dade Senior High School in Homestead, Fla. before taking the Glenbrook North position this year.
"The support of the administration and district is significant and impactful," Zweibel said, also thanking band families who give of their time and resources as volunteers. "The parents are wonderful."
This is the 41st year the marching band has attended summer camp at Henry Horner. This year's band has an estimated 80 members.
"Our balance is great," Zweibel said, of sound and instrument distribution.
Zweibel recalled his days at Camp Henry Horner.
"I remember sweatin' it out on this exact field," he said with a laugh.
This year's seven-minute program is called "Sound, Shape & Color." Expect to see colorful plumes on member hats and rainbows among the color guard. Synthesizer sounds will be used to add drama.
"It explores the building blocks of art," Zweibel said, of the program. "It's more about understanding how different aspects come together."
"We like the music," Chapman said. "We liked the fact that we could tell a story with the music and concept of the show."
The band started practicing this summer before band camp. Emma Brooks, 16, and Alli Torf, 15, are both juniors and drum majors.
"It's really cool but it's really scary being up on the podium," Torf said. "But it's really exciting."
Brooks has found the experience interesting.
"People (including seniors) aren't really used to it but everyone has been really respectful," she said.
Also at band camp were John Seno of Northbrook, drill instructor; Michael Tseitlin of Northbrook, color guard assistant coach; Megan Vaccarello of Buffalo Grove, color guard coach; Gary Cohen of Wheeling, drumline instructor; Marty Grossman of Mount Prospect, drumline instructor; Kari Lindquist of Chicago, drill instructor; and Melissa Bruckman, a Glenbrook North senior and band president.
What does it mean to be a GBN Spartan?
"Oh my goodness," Zweibel said. "Being a Spartan is the greatest honor it can be. It means being committed to excellence in everything you do."
The marching band will perform at the first varsity home football game of the season at 7 p.m. Sept. 2 at Lutz Stadium at the high school, 2300 Shermer Road, Northbrook.
Karie Angell Luc is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/northbrook/news/ct-nbs-glenbrook-north-band-tl-025-20160819-story.html | en | 2016-08-19T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/4c963f46f13d61139787be9e1fd654985b29f6d42e109248f76d6e0c18ff2fa2.json |
[
"Associated Press",
"Tribune News Services"
] | 2016-08-30T14:48:51 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fct-mark-david-chapman-denied-parole-20160830-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c581db/turbine/ct-mark-david-chapman-denied-parole-20160830 | en | null | John Lennon's killer denied parole for 9th time | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | John Lennon's killer will remain behind bars after being denied parole for the ninth time.
The New York state Board of Parole on Monday announced that it has again denied parole to Mark David Chapman, who on Dec. 8, 1980, shot and killed the former Beatle outside his luxury Manhattan apartment.
The 61-year-old Chapman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving a sentence of 20-years to life in Wende Correctional Facility in western New York.
In a description of its decision, the parole board noted that Chapman has since described the murder as "selfish and evil." The board concluded that the factors supporting Chapman's parole were outweighed by the premediated and "celebrity-seeking" nature of the crime.
"Your release would be incompatible with the welfare of society and would so deprecate that seriousness of the crime as to undermine respect for the law," the board wrote.
Chapman was notified of the board's decision last week. He was last denied parole in 2014, and will be eligible to seek parole again in 2018.
In his 2014 parole hearing, Chapman told the board that he still gets letters about the pain he caused in his pursuit of notoriety.
"I am sorry for causing that type of pain," he said. "I am sorry for being such an idiot and choosing the wrong way for glory."
The death of John Lennon still reverberates as a defining moment for a generation and for the music world.
At a 2010 hearing, Chapman recalled that he had considered shooting Johnny Carson or Elizabeth Taylor instead, and said again that he chose Lennon because the ex-Beatle was more accessible, that his century-old apartment building by Central Park "wasn't quite as cloistered."
The transcript of his latest hearing wasn't immediately released.
Associated Press | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-mark-david-chapman-denied-parole-20160830-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/b777efb6559af7ce24cd4a3e5bc84c3f3d50fd684e643005682516d312fd55ea.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Elvia Malagon"
] | 2016-08-30T22:49:00 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fbreaking%2Fct-after-killing-fiance-man-tells-girl-she-has-to-die-20160830-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c5ecb7/turbine/ct-after-killing-fiance-man-tells-girl-she-has-to-die-20160830 | en | null | Prosecutors: After killing fiancee, man tells 10-year-old girl she must die too | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | After shooting to death his fiancee, Terrance Meredith told his 10-year-old daughter he had to kill her too, according to prosecutors.
But the girl managed to convince Meredith that she was on his side, then ran to a relative's home for help, prosecutors said.
Meredith, 43, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in the death of the girl's mother, Otha M. Mooney. The shooting happened at 12:25 a.m. Monday in the 100 block of West 112th Place, where the couple lived.
Meredith and Mooney had been arguing in the home as Meredith demanded the keys to a car, prosecutors said. A witness told police Meredith was armed with a knife during the argument and then later pointed a gun at Mooney, prosecutors said during a bond hearing.
As Mooney searched for the car keys, she stopped to tell her daughter that she loved her and her siblings, prosecutors said. Meredith continued to demand the keys as he waived the gun around. The two began struggling over the gun and Mooney was shot in front of their daughter, prosecutors said.
Mooney, 35, was pronounced dead at 12:55 a.m.
When police arrived, it appeared Mooney's body had been moved, prosecutors said. A small gun was near her hand and a shell casing was near her feet.
Meredith admitted to owning a gun, and ammunition was found in his pocket, prosecutors said.
Judge James Brown ordered Meredith held without bail. Meredith had worked for 20 years as a CTA maintenance man. He is a 1992 graduate of Stagg High School. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-after-killing-fiance-man-tells-girl-she-has-to-die-20160830-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/53f9758cad67aacc9d65d82d5442bab8e36826f4f897c53a6d3d5314c287e510.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Alexandra Kukulka"
] | 2016-08-29T22:52:00 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fglenview%2Fnews%2Fct-gla-d225-state-seal-biliteracy-tl-0901-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c4545c/turbine/ct-gla-d225-state-seal-biliteracy-tl-0901-20160829 | en | null | District 225 considering State Seal of Biliteracy beginning this school year | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Officials are in the beginning stages of approving the Illinois State Seal of Biliteracy for District 225 students who are proficient in English and a foreign language.
To receive the seal, which would be placed on the student's diploma and transcript, a student has to receive a score that meets or exceeds the standard set by the state on the ACT or SAT and a four or five on an Advanced Placement language test, said Kellye Guzik, instructional supervisor of world languages at Glenbrook North High School.
The seal strengthens a student's college application because colleges understand the level of language study required to get it, Guzik said. The seal will also help students who plan on finding a job right after high school, because employers will appreciate that they are proficient in a foreign language, Guzik said.
Officials presented a case to bring the seal to District 225 at the Aug. 22 Board of Education meeting, where Board members asked questions, but overall seemed to be in favor of the seal.
"This is a step forward that we think our students could use as a capstone to efforts including becoming bilingual or fluent in a language other than English," Supt. Michael Riggle said at the meeting.
This topic will be placed on the consent agenda at the Board's Sept. 12 meeting. If it passes, the district has to file an application to the Illinois State Board of Education by Oct. 1 to receive the seal for the 2016-2017 year, Riggle said.
If approved for the district, Glenbrook South High School students could receive the seal in Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Mandarin, said Danita Fitch, the school's instructional supervisor of world languages. Glenbrook North students could receive the seal in Spanish, French, Mandarin, Russian and Hebrew, Guzik said.
The two schools offer Advanced Placement exams in most of those languages, but if the class does not have an Advanced Placement option, students can take a standardized test in that language to receive the seal, Guzik said.
English learner students can also receive the seal by taking the ACCESS test, an English standardized test, and a standardized test in their native language, Guzik said.
By the 2017-2018 school year, the district hopes to find standardized tests for the languages not taught in the two schools, so students who may be fluent in those languages can also receive the seal, Guzik said.
Many students could already receive the seal based on Advanced Placement scores from the last school year, Fitch said.
"I already have students right now that already would qualify. They don't even have to take another assessment. All we have to do is process documents and those standardized scores that they already earned in May and they will be recognized in a very appropriate way," Fitch said.
akukulka@tribpub.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/glenview/news/ct-gla-d225-state-seal-biliteracy-tl-0901-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/c1dc471b4a6267394f5fb673ee848705af36d79a7c958ba04cc42e2fea21af12.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Colleen Kane"
] | 2016-08-26T13:20:40 | null | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Fbaseball%2Fwhitesox%2Fct-fans-on-field-white-sox-spt-0826-20160825-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57bfd1a8/turbine/ct-fans-on-field-white-sox-spt-0826-20160825 | en | null | David Robertson 'little angry' but keeps composure after 3 fans delay game | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | In his ninth major-league season, White Sox closer David Robertson experienced a first while pitching Thursday night against the Mariners at U.S. Cellular Field.
With one out and a runner on first base in the ninth inning of a 6-6 game, Robertson's pitching was delayed as a pair of fans raced across the outfield, from right to left. One made it to the left-field stands before security tackled the other on the field. Then, as the Sox were readying to resume play, a third fan jumped into the outfield. He, too, was dragged off by security.
"The first two guys I was like, 'OK, all right. They have it under control,'" Robertson said. "The next guy, I got a little angry there. … I guess that happens sometimes."
Robertson said he never had a fan-on-the-field disruption while he was pitching before, but he has witnessed them from the dugout or bullpen, including one in Seattle where multiple people ran on to the field, one of whom was not wearing clothes.
"All he had on was a backward hat," Robertson said. "He should have worn his shoes for traction because he didn't get very far."
White Sox's David Robertson on fans running onto field during game White Sox pitcher David Robertson reacts to fans coming onto the field during the game against the Mariners on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. (Colleen Kane/Chicago Tribune) White Sox pitcher David Robertson reacts to fans coming onto the field during the game against the Mariners on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. (Colleen Kane/Chicago Tribune) See more videos
Robertson said he was able to keep his composure Thursday by focusing on where he was in the game and what he needed to do to prevent the Mariners from scoring the go-ahead run.
As a pitcher put in key, late-inning situations, Robertson at least has gotten used to delays because of instant replay.
"The replays, for some reason, I feel like they're never-ending when I'm out there," Robertson said. "It seemed like getting the guys off the field, at least it was something to watch instead of just watching the umpires holding the headphones and just listening."
He laughed but quickly added he didn't condone it.
The Sox, after all, know it's not always a quirky disruption, after two fans attacked Royals first-base coach Tom Gamboa in 2002.
"It just disrupts the game," Sox manager Robin Ventura said of Thursday night's incident. "For Robby to be on the mound and have people running around, it slows down the game."
Robertson, at least, stranded the runner on second and earned the victory for his composure as the Sox walked off for a 7-6 victory in the bottom of the ninth. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/ct-fans-on-field-white-sox-spt-0826-20160825-story.html | en | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/b78c966967306c9881b6887e85d5be46166bc780972e5ec65d4aa8b9347046e3.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Lee V. Gaines"
] | 2016-08-28T22:48:22 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fmorton-grove%2Fnews%2Fct-mgc-fatal-car-accident-tl-0901-20160828-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c35322/turbine/ct-mgc-fatal-car-accident-tl-0901-20160828 | en | null | Police search for driver in fatal Morton Grove hit-and-run | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | A 49-year-old woman was killed in a high speed hit-and-run crash Friday night in Morton Grove after the vehicle she was driving was struck by another car traveling approximately 100 miles per hour, according to Morton Grove police.
Denise Cavada, of Chicago, was killed on impact at 10 p.m. when her car was struck while traveling eastbound on Golf Road between Washington Street and Shermer Road, said Morton Grove Police Cmdr. Paul Yaras.
Yaras said the driver and the passenger of the vehicle that hit Cavada fled from the scene on foot.
"Officers on scene, after setting up a perimeter, were able to find the passenger hiding in a nearby backyard," he said.
Police are still searching for the driver of the vehicle and the passenger was hospitalized after he was located by authorities, Yaras said.
Police are investigating tips and leads and "zeroing in on the driver of the vehicle that ran from the scene," he said.
Anyone with any information about the collision is encouraged to contact the Morton Grove Police Department.
Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/morton-grove/news/ct-mgc-fatal-car-accident-tl-0901-20160828-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/d9122b1668b1234af3565358714268d67d2b5a4fefd3061e9216f5a128493422.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Kim Janssen"
] | 2016-08-26T18:50:43 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fchicagoinc%2Fct-chief-judge-election-0828-chicago-inc-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c089a4/turbine/ct-chief-judge-election-0828-chicago-inc-20160826 | en | null | The locked room where Cook County's chief judge will be chosen | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | There will be no puff of white smoke emanating from the roof of the Daley Center to let the public know it's all over.
But at some point in the afternoon of September 15, up to 241 Cook County Circuit Court judges will shuffle out from a locked 17th floor courtroom to hail their new boss — at least, if everything goes as planned..
The secret ballot of judges to elect the head of one of the nation's largest court systems may not be as ancient a rite as the selection of a pope, but it's a process that's almost as arcane, according to a memo of voting procedures recently issued by the judge running the election, Raymond Jagielski.
Two challengers, Judge Tom Allen and Judge Sandra Ramos, and long-serving incumbent Timothy Evans have been quietly but feverishly campaigning behind closed doors to win the support of their fellow judges.
But if you thought that professional courtesy and old-fashioned notions of honor applied to the meeting of learned jurists, you'd be mistaken. Voter fraud appears to be a concern.
According to the rules circulated by Jagielski, judges won't be admitted to the courtroom without an official ID — an appropriate safeguard, perhaps, given that a lawyer was earlier this month able to don a judge's robe and hear traffic cases at Markham courthouse despite not being a judge.
Each of the contenders will be allowed to speak for three minutes about why they should be elected, as will a fellow judge who nominates them. Judges seconding the nominations will be able to speak for two minutes, and each candidate will be permitted an observer who can dispute ballots. Only one assigned teller will be allowed to retrieve ballots from the ballot box, which will be sealed immediately after the election. And the judges have five hours to agree on a majority winner, or they'll have to reconvene to do the whole thing again.
While the campaign has been conducted with more decorum than, say, the presidential election, and each of the contenders have chosen their words carefully in letters circulated to support their candidacies, the race has been heating up.
Allen has called on Evans to explain the fake judge incident in Markham in greater detail, saying it represents one more example of Evans' failure as the leader of the county's courts.
Ramos hinted at shenanigans in the appointment of associate judges, asking "why can't we have independent observers at the vote counts?"
And both Allen and Ramos have suggested that Evans has failed to communicate with his fellow judges.
That may have prompted Evans, who has been challenged only once since he became the county's first African-American chief judge in 2001, to issue a magisterial memo noting that, "I have learned that some judges have indicated that they are sometimes unable to reach me."
Evans wrote that he appreciated having the issue brought to his attention and that he would set aside time on Thursdays to meet with judges.
Consider it an acknowledgment of papal fallibility, if you will.
kjanssen@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @kimjnews | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chicagoinc/ct-chief-judge-election-0828-chicago-inc-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/e4c5e88fb1160dcd864c482654856032d4ee9aa2ab4f3252e375dbc654f3ac31.json |
[
"Associated Press",
"Tribune News Services"
] | 2016-08-30T16:48:58 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fbusiness%2Fct-obamacare-fixes-20160830-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c5a22c/turbine/ct-obamacare-fixes-20160830 | en | null | Last chance? Obama administration proposes health law fixes | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | In one of its last chances to tinker with the president's signature health care law, the Obama administration Monday proposed a series of fixes and adjustments for 2018, when the White House will have a new occupant.
The changes are detailed in a highly technical draft regulation, nearly 300 pages long. Insurers and consumer advocates were trying to decipher its implications Monday evening.
The proposal would update the health insurance marketplace's premium stabilization system to reflect concerns that insurers have raised. It also proposes changes to a current five-year ban on companies returning to the health law's markets after they have left. Some big name carriers have dramatically scaled back for 2017.
For consumers, the rule includes an effort to make it easier to compare competing insurance plans, as well as a new method for calculating premiums for children, geared to avoiding large increases after a child turns age 21.
There's also language to limit abuse of "special enrollment periods" during which people can get coverage outside of the normal sign-up season.
The proposed regulation comes in advance of what's expected to be a difficult 2017 open enrollment season, with many consumers facing big premium increases and less choice.
If Republican Donald Trump becomes president, the administration's latest proposal could be rescinded before it can take effect. Trump has promised to repeal and replace Obama's health care law.
But the changes may appeal to a president Hillary Clinton, who has committed to building on the Affordable Care Act and addressing its problems.
Associated Press | http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-obamacare-fixes-20160830-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/db1f4ba939f3b86dc53295150d248d1577ad2298ebad8083b70966c8b9c28d9f.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"John Kass"
] | 2016-08-30T18:48:56 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fcolumnists%2Fkass%2Fct-chicago-violence-kass-0831-20160830-column.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c5c600/turbine/ct-chicago-violence-kass-0831-20160830 | en | null | Chicago gangs no longer know or fear the police, and bodies pile up | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | The dead multiply in Chicago, the fruit of the gang wars ripening in August.
With at least 78 killed so far, August is the deadliest month in nearly 20 years, according to a Tribune analysis. It's all but certain that the city's homicide total will push beyond the 491 dead of last year.
And people in those Chicago neighborhoods that have become killing fields look with dread toward the Labor Day weekend. So do City Hall and the police.
Twenty-five years ago, August 1991 was also an exceptionally bloody month in Chicago, with 122 homicides, the most in the city's modern history, according to police figures.
Mayor Richard M. Daley was in panic because he knew it would get worse. And it did. In 1992, the city hit 943 homicides, after 928 the year before.
So this deadly August 2016, like the August of 1991, may be a harbinger of more carnage to come.
"The mayor's hair was on fire back then," retired Chicago police Detective Ted O'Connor told me the other day. "He was worried about the city reaching 1,000 murders. That headline would have bounced all over the world."
O'Connor, a detective for 30 years who also worked with federal agencies, was assigned to write a white paper analyzing the murders for the mayor.
"One of my bosses said, 'Why does the mayor want it on white paper?'" O'Connor recalled with the dry sarcasm of the real police. "So we charted the murders.
"Daley thought the people in the city had gone mad. He did not know it was the gangs. The Black Gangster Disciples, the Vice Lords, it was all over drugs then.
"And he was thrilled," O'Connor said. "He was waving it at press conferences, at press conferences you probably attended. The analysis showed that some neighborhoods had the same crime rate they'd had in the 1950s, Sauganash, Edgebrook, Mount Greenwood, so Daley could say crime wasn't all over the city."
As a political man, Daley was happy to have real data to calm nervous white neighborhoods. He'd been the law and order candidate, offering stability to business leaders.
But parts of the black South and West sides were a different story.
"The shooter was typically a male black between the ages of 17 and 23," O'Connor said. "And the victim was typically a male black between the ages of 17 and 23. So what's changed since the '90s? Not much, the same social pathology, and the police are expected to clean it up."
Some call it "gun violence," a definition greatly appreciated by Democratic politicians like those at City Hall. They can point to guns and take that voter anger over homicide numbers and channel it into a safe space.
But there are plenty of guns in the suburbs, and suburbanites aren't slaughtering each other.
It's the gang wars.
Politicians know that the gangs are reason for the deaths. Calling it "gun violence" is much safer, especially in wards where gangs often provide political muscle.
"Have you ever heard a Chicago alderman call out a street gang by name?" O'Connor asked. "No? Me neither."
The "real police" are cops who make arrests and don't live out their careers as house cats. And those I interviewed for this column see stark differences between this August and the one of 1991.
Now, the police force is smaller in real terms, meaning the number of officers available to patrol. One North Side district had only three cars working during a shift the other day, police sources said.
Manpower shortages combined with too much overtime lead to exhaustion. And loss of morale from the mayor's botched handling of the Laquan McDonald fiasco have wreaked havoc with command, with street stops down markedly. Yet taxpayers don't have a true picture of how thin that thin blue line has become.
All these problems have deep roots. Daley was at war with his Police Department and demanded a thorough house cleaning. There was a purge of district commanders and other leaders under former police Superintendent Jody Weis, and that created havoc throughout the command structure.
Earlier, the large gang crimes units — south, west and north — which provided valuable human intelligence and interaction with the gangs, were disbanded and remade.
A common theme recently is that people in the most violent neighborhoods don't cooperate with police, but the fact is they won't talk to cops they don't know. And they won't talk with others listening.
The gang members, and their families, knew officers in the old gang crimes units.
"They'd catch a two-time loser with a gun, put the cuffs on, and he'd know what to do," said Bob Angone, who spent 30 years as a street cop, as a tactical lieutenant and commander of the hostage barricade team.
"That loser will say, I know who shot victim so-and-so. They'll give you information, but they'll only tell the police they trust, the specialists, because they know they'll get their break in court, that the specialists would keep your word. That's how it's done. And the city lost a lot when we lost the gang crimes units."
There is another thing to consider about the differences between August 1991 and now. It isn't quantifiable; it won't fit on a mayoral white paper, there are no numbers to it.
But it was reported, with a video, by Tribune journalists Megan Crepeau and Erin Hooley a few days ago under the headline: "Heckling and gunfire as police investigate shooting: 'We're just playing.'"
Police were investigating reports of a shooting in bloody Englewood when about 10 young men confronted them, harassed them, mocked them on the street, hurling epithets, angry, defiant.
Group of young men approach officers investigating shooting A group of young men approach police officers investigating a shooting in the 7100 block of South Paulina Street early on Aug. 26, 2016. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) A group of young men approach police officers investigating a shooting in the 7100 block of South Paulina Street early on Aug. 26, 2016. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) See more videos
"Every cop saw that video," O'Connor said. "One big difference is that now, on the street, there is no fear. Even in the '90s, with all the killing, the gangs feared the police. When we'd show up, they'd run. But now? Now they don't run. Now, there is no fear."
Listen to "The Chicago Way" podcast with John Kass and Jeff Carlin, joined by Tribune Editorial Board member Kristen McQueary and former Illinois GOP Chair Pat Brady, at www.chicagotribune.com/kasspodcast.
jskass@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @John_Kass | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kass/ct-chicago-violence-kass-0831-20160830-column.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/d5be3b68fa2a3516941a65237c1a81d076f344002f143b63f34102482109f7e0.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Mike Isaacs"
] | 2016-08-26T13:24:40 | null | 2016-08-22T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fskokie%2Fnews%2Fct-skr-village-pact-with-school-district--tl-0825-20160822-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56f02a81/turbine/chi-default-open-graph-ct-logo/1200/1200x650 | en | null | Meyer School addition: Village signs off on pact with District 73.5 | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Plans for a new addition for Elizabeth Meyer School call for doubling its current size, but nearby residents will not lose any stormwater detention because of it, officials say.
The Skokie Village Board this month unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement with the school district over construction and maintenance of a stormwater detention system related to the new addition including an underground tank system.
"The plan provides the current level of stormwater storage for the village and the new, increased volume needed for the improvements," village Director of Engineering Erik Cook said.
Cook said the village currently uses land at the school at 8100 Tripp Ave., where a stormwater detention pond is located. The pond protects Tripp and Kildare Avenue residents, he said, and was located there even before the school was built.
"The village and the district have been working together to accommodate the stormwater needs for both school and adjacent residents," Cook said about plans for the building expansion.
According to Cook, the stormwater detention plan has been approved by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. He said the new system will be funded based on the amount of storage required by each entity — the village and the school district.
The village will be the main user of the underground tank system, Cook said. Officials say the village budgeted $300,000 on the project during the last fiscal year and $600,000 for the current fiscal year. The remainder will be budgeted next year.
"What you're saying to us is, going forward, we're going to have just as much or even more capacity to store stormwater on this site than we have right now," Village Trustee Randy Roberts said.
Cook confirmed that the volume of the underground tanks has a greater detention capacity than the current stormwater detention pond on the property.
The addition at Meyer, which serves pre-schoolers and kindergartners, is estimated to cost $9 million, according to District 73.5. District officials say there is a desperate space crunch problem at the school.
Plans show the one-story addition will head north and then sharply turn west with a new library at the elbow of an "L"-shape. Seven new classrooms, including a room for art and music, a gross motor room for special education students and three small instructional offices, will be added to the building. The addition is expected to total 23,000 square feet, according to planners.
At the same meeting, the Village Board approved the project site plan and nearby alley vacations related to the Meyer addition. These cleared the final hurdles for the district to move forward with the project, officials said.
District 73.5 officials say they expect the addition to be ready by the start of the 2017 school year.
Roberts, who lives in District 73.5 and was part of a committee that studied space needs at the school, called the village pact with the district "a significant agreement."
"We're investing in our schools as well," he said about the village. "The quality of schools is going to attract young families to move into Skokie, so I think you guys are on the right track."
misaacs@pioneerlocal.com
@SKReview_Mike | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/skokie/news/ct-skr-village-pact-with-school-district--tl-0825-20160822-story.html | en | 2016-08-22T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/ae5405b81e6d974bb0633283a52171d119a5477a76826a78d0e649e737a593a0.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Phil Rockrohr"
] | 2016-08-26T13:19:03 | null | 2016-07-25T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Flake-zurich%2Fnews%2Fct-lzc-business-friendly-debate-tl-0728-20160725-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-5796bfc2/turbine/ct-lzc-business-friendly-debate-tl-0728-20160725 | en | null | Is Lake Zurich business friendly? Trustees debate change to project approval process | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | In an attempt to streamline the approval process for interested businesses, Lake Zurich trustees disagreed on whether they are friendly enough to people looking to invest and develop in the village.
Before the village board meeting on July 18, Lake Zurich staff proposed eliminating the courtesy-review requirement, which forces prospective developers to appear before trustees and discuss their development plans before they begin a formal application.
By making the reviews optional, Lake Zurich could become more "business friendly" since some developers could save about a month or two going through the full approval process, said Villager Manager Ray Keller.
During the meeting, Trustee Jeff Halen defended the value of courtesy reviews and actually received support from trustee Jim Beaudoin, who introduced the proposal. Halen questioned the suggestion that courtesy reviews, currently required for proposals that include amendments to the zoning code, would only be required of larger projects.
"By changing it to a 'may,' how do you police what is a courtesy review and what isn't?" he said. "What is the definition of a larger-scale project? Square footage? Dollars? Time?"
After a spirited debate, Lake Zurich board members ultimately sent the idea to the Planning and Zoning Commission for review. Commissioners now will send trustees their feedback on whether courtesy reviews should become optional, Village President Tom Poynton said.
Beaudoin said the proposal initially seemed like a good idea because village trustees still would have the final say on a project, even if a courtesy review is waived.
But after hearing Halen's objections, Beaudoin said courtesy reviews allow developers an opportunity to get "a flavor for the project" before deciding to invest in Lake Zurich — an initial step not many area villages offer businesses. The reviews also allow time for trustees to ask questions directly to the developer, he said.
"What does the village think?" Beaudoin said. "What does the community think? Does it fit within the community? The courtesy review is a good thing, but I struggle with what the size is and how that really works."
The change is intended to allow smaller projects to move forward more quickly, Keller said. Courtesy reviews add a third step to the process, which also requires approval from the zoning commission and eventually the village board, he said.
"[A courtesy review] sometimes adds a month or two to the process," Keller said. "It may add additional costs or time delays or constraints, particularly if a purchase contract is part of the approval process. We're not doing away with courtesy reviews. We're just trying to streamline the process."
Keller said choosing what projects would still undergo courtesy reviews would be "somewhat subjective."
A small project that does not require complicated changes might not need a courtesy review, he said. But a developer of a larger project, which could have a grander effect on the community, might want to hear from board members before spending the time and money to put together a formal application with the village, Keller said.
A courtesy review may delay a project slightly but not significantly, Halen said.
"If you're building a construction project, you know it takes a year to build," he said. "This step is not going to make or break a project. It also provides an opportunity to let the public know. Sometimes, it lets the board know because we don't know until we hear we have a proposal coming."
Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-zurich/news/ct-lzc-business-friendly-debate-tl-0728-20160725-story.html | en | 2016-07-25T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/7dfea59709e4e564d3dd0c861fede1bf40c0cb9fa70f4ac4c53230bda3b7a9e8.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune"
] | 2016-08-29T02:48:26 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Fbaseball%2Fcubs%2Fct-cubs-wear-onesies-as-they-leave-dodger-stadium-20160828-premiumvideo.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c37f8d/turbine/ct-cubs-wear-onesies-as-they-leave-dodger-stadium-20160828 | en | null | Cubs wear onesies as they leave Dodger Stadium | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Cubs wear onesies as they leave Dodger Stadium
The Cubs wear onesies on their themed trip back to Chicago on Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016, following their series against the Dodgers. (Mark Gonzales/Chicago Tribune) | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-cubs-wear-onesies-as-they-leave-dodger-stadium-20160828-premiumvideo.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/74f9fe9bdc36aab24de85ef76e7716dcc6b36e2e3b856313c5ba8d94de1ef6c5.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"William Lee"
] | 2016-08-27T18:47:59 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fct-dwyane-wade-cousin-follow-met-0828-20160828-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c1d965/turbine/ct-dwyane-wade-cousin-follow-met-0828-20160828 | en | null | Chicago police questioning two in shooting death of Dwyane Wade's cousin | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Chicago police were questioning two people on Saturday in connection with the shooting death of a cousin of Chicago Bull Dwyane Wade as they looked into the possibility that the stray bullet that killed her was fired during a robbery attempt, authorities said.
Nykea Aldridge, 32, and a man were walking in the 6300 block of South Calumet Avenue about 3:30 p.m. Friday when two men approached and someone began firing at the man, authorities and the family spokesman said.
Aldridge, who was pushing her baby in a stroller, was hit in the head and the arm and taken to Stroger Hospital, where she died, police said. The baby was not hurt, and a relative came to the scene and took the child, police said.
Police said Aldridge, a mother of four young children, including the baby who is just weeks old, was an unintended target.
Investigators are looking into the possibility that the young mother was struck as she walked near an unfolding robbery, or a case of mistaken identity involving an Uber driver, according to a Chicago police spokesman.
Detectives were working quickly to establish the motive and were questioning two people of interest in the shooting Saturday.
"They're solely people of interest," said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-dwyane-wade-cousin-follow-met-0828-20160828-story.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/55ef8bf58993efb2734515be23c7b4d637891b7ad42916f778a8160a47257f47.json |
[
"Washington Post",
"Peter Holley"
] | 2016-08-29T12:48:36 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fct-island-rescue-sos-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c41f46/turbine/ct-island-rescue-sos-20160829 | en | null | 'SOS' written on beach of remote island leads to rescue of 2 missing men | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | The two mariners left Weno Island en route for Tamatam Island in an 18-foot vessel over a week ago with "limited supplies and no emergency equipment."
When the two men failed to arrive at their destination a day later, a search effort was launched in the western Pacific on Aug. 19, according to a statement released by the U.S. Coast Guard in Guam.
In recent days, crews from Coast Guard District 14 -- which covers the Hawaiian islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Saipan area -- searched nearly 17,000 square miles using 15 boats and two aircraft, the statement said.
They had their work cut out for them.
"The Coast Guard 14th District covers an area of responsibility more than 12.2 million square miles of land and sea, an area almost twice the size of Russia," Jennifer Conklin, search and rescue mission coordinator at the Coast Guard Command Center Honolulu, said in a statement earlier this year. "Oftentimes, we are thousands of miles away from those who need help and because of that our partnerships with the Navy, other search and rescue organizations, partner Pacific nations and AMVER are essential."
AMVER is a voluntary Coast Guard-sponsored global ship reporting system.
On Wednesday, rescuers caught a break after a search vessel spotted flashing lights on an uninhabited island in Micronesia, the statement said. When a helicopter was sent to investigate, the pilots noticed "SOS" etched into the sand.
The castaways were spotted "on the beach near the makeshift sign."
The men -- identified by the U.S. Embassy in Kolonia, Micronesia, as Linus and Sabina Jack, both in their 50s -- were picked up Friday and transferred to Nomwin atoll, the statement said.
"The Search and Rescue Operation for Linus and Sabina Jack has been successfully completed," the embassy posted on Facebook on Aug. 25. "They are found and are waiting for a ship to take them home."
It is the second similar rescue in the region in recent months.
In April, three men were rescued from the uninhabited Micronesian island of Fanadik after a large wave capsized their 19-foot skiff 2 miles offshore.
Stranded several hundred miles north of Papua New Guinea, the men arranged palm fronds in the sand to spell out HELP.
It would take three days for a crew aboard a Navy plane to spot them waving life jackets next to their sign.
Once found, their families were notified and, in the end, they were put on a small local boat back to Pulap, from where they initially set out to sea. No injuries were reported. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-island-rescue-sos-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/ca2215587bbc122191f82eed65d4b113057e6d01fe35aef45f3dcd422585d5bc.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Carrie Napoleon"
] | 2016-08-30T22:52:12 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fpost-tribune%2Fcrime%2Fct-ptb-sumava-resorts-follow-st-0831-20160830-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c60428/turbine/ct-ptb-sumava-resorts-follow-st-0831-20160830 | en | null | Investigation continues in Sumava Resorts killings | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Formal charges are pending against a 24-year-old Cedar Lake man police are holding on a probable cause warrant for murder in the deaths of three people found Sunday in Sumava Resorts.
Little new information about the deaths of those individuals and the apprehension of the suspect is emerging as the Newton County sheriff and prosecutor remain tight-lipped about the investigation.
Justin Lee Babbs, 20, Robert Thomas, 23, and Kimberly A. Spears, 39, were found dead Sunday in a housing unit rented by Thomas in the small community along the Kankakee River in northern Newton County. Police were called to the scene after receiving a call about a person bleeding, according to Newton County Coroner Scott McCord.
An 80-year-old woman who lived at the residence discovered Babbs bleeding on the couch in the living room and went for help. McCord said the two other victims were discovered in the bedroom. All three had been stabbed multiple times, McCord said.
Sheriff Tom VanVleet said his department was working with Indiana State Police detectives overnight Sunday as they were working the flow of leads coming in to track a suspect.
"We were pretty much shooting out all over the place," VanVleet said. Once it was determined who the suspect was, the ISP went to his grandparents' Cedar Lake residence to serve the arrest warrant, he said.
Police were able to apprehend the man a little more than 12 hours after they became aware of the crime.
Newton County Prosecutor Jeffrey Drinski said Tuesday the arrest warrant for the suspect was obtained in Superior Court at 4:30 a.m. Monday after the judge determined probable cause existed for charges of murder.
Both Drinski and VanVleet said the investigation is ongoing and no details as to a motive or the relationship between the suspect and the three victims will be released until formal charges are filed.
"We are still in the process of completing the investigation," he said. "This could be quite a process. When you are working with a triple homicide you want to make sure you dot all your i's and cross all your t's."
Drinski said he expects the suspect to be arraigned Sept. 7 in Newton County Superior Court.
Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/crime/ct-ptb-sumava-resorts-follow-st-0831-20160830-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/a80bb9b8ef4520b83206ebc05a6ec22275ccf4bddfc46896866a0edcde2320c1.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Dawn Rhodes",
"Peter Nickeas"
] | 2016-08-28T18:48:18 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fbreaking%2Fct-chicago-shooting-violence-20160828-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c30a94/turbine/ct-chicago-shooting-violence-20160828 | en | null | Man shot to death in South Loop alley | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | A 45-year-old man was shot to death in the South Loop neighborhood Sunday morning.
Police said witnesses heard an argument before gunfire, and police found the man in an alley in the 1800 block of South Michigan Avenue with a gunshot wound to his head.
The fatal shooting took place in an alley between two, low-rise apartment buildings on 18th Street, between Michigan Avenue and Indiana Avenue. Police cruisers and yellow police tape roped off the scene, and red tape was strung around a smaller area about halfway down the alley.
Residents who said they lived in the surrounding buildings congregated across the street on the hot, humid morning sharing what little information they could glean from the police.
One man, who declined to give his name but said he lives in a building adjacent to the alley, said they installed new security cameras facing the alley around six months ago. He said there had been some break-ins of garages facing the alley, which were caught on tape, but the old cameras did not have high enough resolution to help police conclusively identify the offenders.
The man also said the building security company was preparing to help police review the surveillance footage in hopes that the shooting also was caught on tape.
Another neighbor, who was out walking her dog, stopped by to find out what was going on. When her friends described who they thought the victim was, she gasped, put her hands over her mouth, and choked up in sobs.
"I think I know who it is," she said. "This is too close to home, you guys." | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-shooting-violence-20160828-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/812c05fbe95adca9fa4369e426e77b703dff8830992103448d5465658d6b0b31.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Pioneer Press"
] | 2016-08-26T13:19:54 | null | 2016-08-08T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Flibertyville%2Fnews%2Fct-lbr-downtown-arts-festival-tl-0811-20160808-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57a8b19c/turbine/ct-lbr-downtown-arts-festival-tl-0811-20160808 | en | null | Libertyville celebrates the arts | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Artists and art enthusiasts from throughout the Chicago area converged on downtown Libertyville Aug. 6 and 7.
The David Adler Music and Art Center had 60 booths and over 8,000 visitors during last year's Festival of the Arts, according to marketing materials.
This year marked the events 36th anniversary and officials anticipate similar numbers.
"Our (festival) is quaint, easy to get around, and lots of the artists are local," Adler Center Arts Coordinator Tanya Leintz said. "It's fun, the art is more affordable. It's an easygoing, happy festival."
Artists included painters, sculptors, glass molders and singers, among others. The event did not charge attendees for admission. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/libertyville/news/ct-lbr-downtown-arts-festival-tl-0811-20160808-story.html | en | 2016-08-08T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/c6e926b6d51924c97fe49120ca06576edba30d113e908508442226f4430fe08f.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Brian Cox"
] | 2016-08-26T13:24:54 | null | 2016-08-15T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fskokie%2Fnews%2Fct-skr-district-219-sub-pay-tl-0818-2-20160815-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57b1f050/turbine/ct-skr-district-219-sub-pay-tl-0818-2-20160815 | en | null | District 219 boosts pay for substitute teachers | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | The Niles Township School District 219 Board will provide a pay increase for substitute teachers.
During its Aug. 9 meeting, the board voted unanimously to increase the pay for substitutes from $110 a day to $120 a day, effective immediately.
"They do a hard job," said Edmund Murphy, District 219 assistant superintendent for human resources. He said the district had not increased its substitute teacher pay rate in eight years.
He said the pay hike is essential because District 219 competes against other school districts for substitutes in a limited pool of teachers, including District 202 in Evanston, which he said pays $135. He said District 219 substitutes regularly cover six periods, and some cover seven.
"The substitutes have been saying 'I can make more in another district,' " Murphy said. "We have to be competitive."
He said teachers hoping to substitute in District 219 must register online. He also said that is followed by a screening process and training and that the demand for substitute teachers is greatest on Fridays. Information on the number of substitutes used in the district per year was not available.
"We have to get subs to cover for teacher meetings as well," Murphy said. "There's lot of different instances when we have to get subs."
Brian Cox is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/skokie/news/ct-skr-district-219-sub-pay-tl-0818-2-20160815-story.html | en | 2016-08-15T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/dfdb8277a8e7cc84e35e6ea2ca04ab69f17a4769e67cdc02808658cb22723b04.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune"
] | 2016-08-26T22:48:00 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fopinion%2Feditorials%2Fct-illinois-debt-pension-crisis-madigan-rauner-edit-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0a415/turbine/ct-illinois-debt-pension-crisis-madigan-rauner-edit-20160826 | en | null | How Illinois politicians consciously created these debt and pension crises | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | "Over the years, lawmakers used a variety of techniques to put off paying the bills. ... Such techniques can work for only so long, and Illinois is now coming to terms with over 20 years of poor fiscal performance."
— Business economist Thomas Walstrum, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
.
Some scandal sagas unfold in litanies of detail. Factual dots of who, what, when and where create a linear narrative. Other times we have to absorb decades of dereliction to understand a debacle — such as how this state's political class devastated Illinois' public finances. The enormous debt and pension crises now menacing taxpayers didn't erupt spontaneously, like unexpected tornadoes roaring out of blue sky. Instead:
Illinois politicians consciously invited these crises. Examine the latest evidence of how the perps set up Illinois to fail:
August means dial-out time for vacationers and back-to-school chaos for families. But while many Illinoisans were occupied elsewhere, this August has revealed two insights that the pols — especially incumbents nervous about re-election — don't want to see conjoined.
•The first revelation explains, in a way we've not seen before, how methodically Illinois officials dumped so much debt and unfunded pension obligation on taxpayers. Business economist Thomas Walstrum at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago examined a quarter-century's combined overspending by Illinois state and local governments, the big ones in and around Chicago included. Each of those governments wants taxpayers to think of its rising debt in unthreatening isolation; Walstrum's method instead frames all this overspending as one combined wallop with long-term consequences for Illinois taxpayers.
Walstrum reports that while the typical U.S. state was spending an average of 5.7 percent more, year after year, than it had in revenue — a foolish habit, we think — Illinois governments together were spending 15.9 percent more than they had available. Imagine the compounded effect of overspending your income by 15.9 percent, year after year. Three-fourths of that overspending went to, yes, fat pension promises and other retirement costs. Another big expense: rising interest payments on all this rising debt.
Walstrum doesn't go here, but in countless cases that lavish spending, especially in sweetheart pension deals for public employees' unions, bought incumbents the votes, campaign contributions and Election Day muscle that got them re-elected time and again. Not only did the public officials spend other people's money, they spent money that didn't exist. To cover their tracks, they borrowed vast sums and knowingly underfunded the very pensions they had sweetened.
•That sleight of hand wasn't so visible when plush investment returns propped up Illinois' public pension funds. The funds were earning annual averages of 8 percent, give or take. So the funds baked those returns into their future projections: As long as returns were 8 percent or so, the funds could stay solvent. Legislative leaders and governors loved rosy projections; they could repeatedly underfund the pensions. $o they had more $$ to $pend on $exier $tuff!
Which foreshadowed this August's second revelation: Softer stock market returns and the Federal Reserve's long clampdown on interest rates are pushing U.S. public pension fund returns to their lowest levels ever. Lousy returns deprive fund managers of money to reinvest and pressure them to lower their too-optimistic forecasts. Pols and union officials hate that; it frightens retirees and makes taxpayers pay even more into the funds.
This conflict was on display Friday as the Teachers Retirement System, Illinois' biggest fund, cut its expected annual returns for the third time in four years, from 7.5 to 7 percent. And TRS' return for the fiscal year just ended? Not quite 1 percent. Ouch. Gov. Bruce Rauner and some legislators are fuming about the extra $400 million or more that taxpayers must pay into TRS to offset weakening returns.
But the blame doesn't belong with TRS. It belongs with every Illinois politician, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton included, who for many years promised but then didn't properly fund these pension plans — plans that would be affordable to taxpayers only when times were good.
Imagine the agony when Chicago taxpayers realize that all the higher taxes they have to pay probably won't fix the city's pension funds: When those funds, too, face reality and lower their expected returns, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his successors will explain that the pension system needs, um, many more millions.
All of us can mull what the consequences should be for Illinois officials who (1) year after year spent $1.15 for every dollar they had, (2) didn't pay their pension and other expenses, and (3) now see higher taxes as their solution. They knew they were risking the future of Illinois. Yet they kept inflating dangers.
Smarter public officials would shift new hires into 401(k)-style plans. Instead, many incumbents see today's reckonings with debt and pensions not as crises they created, but as crises that simply happened. Why change how Illinois does business?
If only the pols who designed Illinois' downfall would say, Our fault. We knew better. We'll resign in disgrace.
Say, do you plan to vote Nov. 8? | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-illinois-debt-pension-crisis-madigan-rauner-edit-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/bd04af5948fd2cde11c26f472c37fed399831f505e1126be81651e919ede9f2a.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Kirsten Onsgard"
] | 2016-08-26T13:15:57 | null | 2016-07-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fmorton-grove%2Fct-mgc-morton-grove-meeting-tl-0728-20160726-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56f02a81/turbine/chi-default-open-graph-ct-logo/1200/1200x650 | en | null | Morton Grove, Niles considering plan to get water from Evanston | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Morton Grove village officials released a plan Monday to purchase Lake Michigan water in partnership with Niles from a city other than Chicago by fall 2018.
In what Village Board President Dan DiMaria called a "bold move and legacy decision," the village will move forward with additional talks with the city of Evanston, a likely supplier for Morton Grove and Niles.
The move comes after months of studies and two years of talks about buying water from a city other than Chicago, which currently supplies the village. The price of purchasing water from Chicago has increased 134 percent since 2000, according to Morton Grove Village Administrator Ralph Czerwinski.
"We have enough information now to move forward and make some appropriate decisions," Czerwinski said. "It's a progressive plan, and I think we're making the right move."
Over the next few months, the move would include agreeing to a contract with Evanston, creating a financial plan and soliciting proposals for a design and route study to determine what new infrastructure needs to be built.
"Some of the (existing) infrastructure can carry the volume we need, some is unable to carry the volume we need," Czerwinski said.
An engineering study will determine route design and the infrastructure necessary, he said. While Evanston has the pumping capacity at its current facility, the issue "is getting it from there to us and into our systems," he said.
The cities will also continue to assess whether they can tap into Skokie's water lines to access Evanston's supply, but previous modeling completed did not suggest that using Skokie would be beneficial, he said. One reason is because Skokie operates at a different water pressure than Morton Grove.
Other options included purchasing from Glenview and Wilmette, but Czerwinski said Evanston was the most cost-effective. Those cities are still on the table, but Morton Grove and Niles could enter into a contract with Evanston as soon as this fall, with construction beginning late next spring.
This "aggressive timeline" is a result of Morton Grove's contract with the city of Chicago expiring at the end of 2018, and Niles' contract expiring in 2019.
While it is too soon to estimate the total cost, Czerwinski said the project is based on a 40-year projection and maintains it will lead to savings for the village.
"Everything we are looking to do lends itself towards the fact that we will have savings," he said.
Kirsten Onsgard is a freelancer. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/morton-grove/ct-mgc-morton-grove-meeting-tl-0728-20160726-story.html | en | 2016-07-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/0f3b15c337da621ef91d9e4ca252fd67f4b4995e1e45f81331153e0b0f50aed4.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Phil Rockrohr"
] | 2016-08-26T13:19:37 | null | 2016-08-08T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Flake-zurich%2Fnews%2Fct-lzc-paulus-park-barn-tl-0811-20160808-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57a9df27/turbine/ct-lzc-paulus-park-barn-tl-0811-20160808 | en | null | Paulus Park Barn renovation could help draw visitors, Lake Zurich officials say | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Lake Zurich officials believe demand for the Paulus Park Barn will continue to grow after the roof and exterior undergo a $69,138 facelift.
In an unanimous vote earlier this month, the Lake Zurich Village Board awarded a contract to Elgin-based Select Construction Group to replace the roof and siding at the barn, 200 S. Rand Road, which many people rent for private events. It is also used for park programs.
More people have rented and used the barn in recent years, so the improvements should be well received, said Recreation Manager Bonnie Caputo.
"There is always the hope that it will continue to trend up," Caputo said. "Right now, we're very happy with the use and progress in rentals and programs. This will help in presentation. I feel comfortable that folks will be renting a place that looks like it was re-invested in."
The Lake Zurich Parks and Recreation Department use the Paulus Park Barn for a wide range of programs, including its youth summer camp and weekly specialty camps, such as the magic camp, she said.
"Our programming and rentals have gone up there," Caputo said. "We have seen an increase in all programming over the last couple of years."
The repairs are needed, particularly on the roof, she said.
In a report to the board, Michael Cernock, general services superintendent in the public works department, said staff recommended the repairs because of "the increasing maintenance cost of the exterior."
"At this point, we were told we have another year to two years on the roof," Caputo said. "Some of the exterior needs a little TLC. We're investing in a facility that gets used a lot."
Lake Zurich officials have no plans to increase rental rates after the renovation, she said.
The renovation work will be divided into three parts, beginning with the removal and replacement of all roofing and gutters, Cernock said. The second phase will include removal and replacement of siding and facade trim, he said.
The final phase covers removal and replacement of all windows, except five eastside windows that were previously replaced, Cernock said.
The facility also will remain open during the renovation, Caputo said.
"We're still going to have business hours," she said. "There will just be an alternate route to get in, depending on where they are at with the construction."
Select Construction was the lowest among three bidders and received a positive review for work it did for the South Barrington Park District, Cernock said.
The barn, which is about 40-by-80 feet, can be rented for $60 an hour, with a two-hour minimum, according to the village website. Discounts are available to community and nonprofit groups, the site said.
Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-zurich/news/ct-lzc-paulus-park-barn-tl-0811-20160808-story.html | en | 2016-08-08T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/82fc0fe8f696980a5c6ab2622cd41a0c7d85d05cb30742e17c3e5bcf2ebf120d.json |
[
"Washington Post"
] | 2016-08-29T18:48:56 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fct-lucy-hominid-died-tree-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c468c9/turbine/ct-lucy-hominid-died-tree-20160829 | en | null | Lucy, our hominid cousin, may have died in a tragic fall from a tree | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Her last living act is a familiar one: She reaches out with her hands to break her fall before hitting the unforgiving earth. Bones shattered, she dies alone.
Some researchers say they now know how Lucy died: by falling out of a tree. But other scientists say the story is nothing but a tall tale.
Lucy's skeleton has been studied at length since she was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974. As one of the oldest and most complete hominid fossils ever found, Lucy's skeleton provides quite a bit of information on how she lived. She walked upright, showing an intriguing mix of modern and ancestral skeletal traits that would have made her bipedal while other primates swung from the trees. We know that she was a fully mature adult when she died, although she was no bigger than a 4- or 5-year-old of our own species. She was very likely a vegetarian.
But in a study published Monday in Nature Communications, researchers did something new - they tried to puzzle out how she died.
The research comes out of a marathon of X-ray scanning. Lucy's skeleton is usually kept in Ethiopia, but during a 2008 United States museum tour, researchers at the University of Texas were able to borrow her for 10 days. They used the opportunity to scan her with the Jackson School of Geosciences' High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility (UTCT) - a machine designed to scan through materials as solid as a rock (as old as it is, Lucy's skeleton is totally mineralized) and at a higher resolution than medical scans.
"We scanned nonstop, 24/7, for 10 days," lead author John Kappelman, a University of Texas at Austin anthropology and geological sciences professor, told The Washington Post. "We were exhausted. I was happy to see her come, but I was happy to see her go."
When bones sit around for upward of 3 million years, they tend to break. A lot. But in studying Lucy's remains in new detail, Kappelman and his colleagues thought they saw evidence of breaks that had occurred before death. They believed they could see compression fractures -- caused when force presses bones against one another so hard they break - and greenstick fractures, where the bone partially bends and partially breaks (much as a fresh, living twig will splinter and twist instead of snapping in two). The former is usually a sign of a traumatic impact, not the wear and tear of life as a fossil, and the latter only occurs on fresh, living bone.
To Kappelman, this was a clear sign that the traumatic fractures occurred during Lucy's life. And when he went looking for possible causes of these fractures in the medical literature, he found what many orthopedic surgeons have told him is a perfect match: The injury to her shoulder looked just like a four-part proximal humerus fracture.
When people fall and put their arms out to break the impact, force is transmitted along the long axis of the arm, compressing the components of the shoulder against one another. If that force is high enough, the head of the shoulder blade acts as an anvil, shattering and compressing the components of the proximal humerus, or top of the upper arm bone.
"Orthopedic surgeons see these breaks day in and day out all over the planet," Kappelman said. He's had something like 10 specialists take a look at Lucy's big break.
"To the person, it's not like, 'Oh, you know, there's a chance.' They say, 'This is what it is; we see it in our practice all the time.' We have been able to demonstrate that these are matches to what is widely seen in the literature in patients recovering from a fall," he said.
Once his team went looking for fractures in Lucy's skeleton that could have resulted from a devastating fall, they found loads: An ankle fracture known as a pilon, usually caused by falls or motor vehicle accidents; high-energy traumatic fractures to both knees; signs that bones in her legs dislocated and rammed up into the joints above them; a fracture to the first rib, which is well protected by the collar bone and usually not broken except in cases of traumatic impact.
But other paleontologists aren't so sure.
"I've worked in Eastern Africa at these sites for many years, and there's hardly a fossil out there that doesn't have damage like Lucy has," said William Kimbel, director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University. Kimbel, who wasn't involved in the new study, doesn't agree that the fractures on Lucy's bones are greenstick - and without this distinction, he doesn't think the paper does a sufficient job of proving they came from an injury before death.
"If you roam the area, you'll see this type of damage on all types of bones from all kinds of sources, from hares to hippos," he scoffed.
Kimbel's ASU colleague Donald Johanson -- a member of the team that discovered Lucy - agreed. "The only green fracture I see on the skeleton is a small indented pit on Lucy's pelvis in the pubic region," he said - a fracture already identified as a possible sign that a carnivore took a swipe at Lucy, perhaps just after she died (as there is no other evidence that she was attacked).
As the University of Texas study hinges on the idea that these fractures are clearly signs of trauma - something Kimbel and Johanson vehemently disagree with, and that can't really be proven - they point out that the "research" that follows is just a story.
"I just don't buy it," Kimbel concluded.
The research team's conclusion that Lucy likely fell from a tree, specifically - a conclusion they came to by estimating the force of a fall from the heights at which chimpanzees and other primates typically nest in trees - only makes the study harder to swallow for some paleontologists. It is, once again, impossible to prove or disprove. And Lucy's relationship with trees is somewhat controversial.
"From the waist down, Lucy's bones are clearly adapted to a terrestrial, bipedal walking. But from the waist up, Lucy has an upper body that looks like that of any tree-climbing ape," said Dartmouth anthropologist Nathaniel J. Dominy, who wasn't involved in the new study. "Everyone agrees that Lucy walked upright, but did she climb trees occasionally or never at all?"
This debate was once so acrimonious, Dominy explained, that researchers used to have to pick sides and stick to them. Dominy (and many other paleontologists) now take the moderate view: Of course Lucy could climb trees, just as humans can climb them today. And if she had that skill, as a tiny herbivore living in a world of big predators, she no doubt would have hoisted herself up into the trees once or twice for protection or to find food. But we have no way of knowing whether she and her ilk regularly climbed to great heights.
"The a priori assumption that Lucy spent much time in the trees is not supported," Johanson said. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-lucy-hominid-died-tree-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/25d62f35baf7ce34b3191c240e6b4673766c8a89e0a35bb14614969a73e3ae28.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Logan Malloy"
] | 2016-08-29T04:48:29 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Fhighschool%2Fct-spt-0829-prep-fb-soldier-field-rup-20160828-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c3afca/turbine/ct-spt-0829-prep-fb-soldier-field-rup-20160828 | en | null | No. 12 Brother Rice routs No. 13 Marist in tripleheader at Soldier Field | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | As one of the state's premier receivers, Brother Rice senior Ricky Smalling doesn't expect to see much single coverage.
"Not a lot, but we'll take advantage of it," said Smalling, an Illinois recruit.
That's exactly what Brother Rice and quarterback Dino Borrelli did against Marist in the biggest play of their season opener Sunday at Soldier Field.
With a seven-point third-quarter lead and one-on-one coverage on Smalling, Borrelli stood tall in the pocket, took a hit and delivered a beautiful 39-yard strike for a touchdown. That play turned the tide for Brother Rice, and the No. 12 Crusaders went on to defeat No. 13 Marist 31-7.
"It's awesome when you get smacked and still throw a touchdown," said Borrelli, making his first varsity start.
Smalling finished with 110 yards and two touchdowns on five catches. He took the second play from scrimmage 56 yards for a score to give Brother Rice an early lead.
Borrelli finished 11-for-21 for 185 yards and two TDs. He also ran for a score after an interception from Aarion Lacy, giving the Crusaders a 28-7 lead about three minutes after Smalling's second TD grab.
"Dino's different," Smalling said. "He's one of my closest friends, so we jut have that connection. He's very open to things. So if I say I see this, he'll trust me and we'll go right to it."
Marist kept it close in the first half thanks to TJ Ivy's 57-yard TD reception from quarterback Morgan Taylor. The RedHawks trailed 14-7 at halftime but couldn't find much rhythm on offense.
"When you look at this game, there were a lot of opportunities out there," Marist coach Pat Dunne said. "This hurts all of us, but it's Week 1 of the season we've been in this position before."
Dunne is hoping for a similar trajectory to last season when Marist started slow but peaked at the right time to finish as the Class 8A state runner-up.
But for now, Brother Rice has bragging rights against its neighborhood rival, and the Crusaders' defensive line, led by Shelby Benn, had a lot to say about that.
"This was beautiful," said Benn, who recorded a sack. "This is a moment you're going to remember for the rest of your life. Not playing (Marist) last year, it had a bigger feeling to it. It was like Michigan playing Michigan State, one of those rivalries you just want to win."
St. Patrick 47, St. Rita 44: Anthony Mazzenga passed for 375 yards and six touchdowns, and the Shamrocks held off St. Rita's comeback attempt in the opening game of the tripleheader at Soldier Field.
Mazzenga completed 28 of 41 passes, with four of his six TDs going to Andrew Edgar, who had eight receptions for 146 yards. Nikolas Childress rushed for 102 yards and a score for St. Patrick.
Jake Zylman passed for 206 yards and four touchdowns for the Mustangs, with three scoring strikes to Tim Zaleski. Shaun Rule rushed for 89 yards, and Zylman added 83 for St. Rita, which trailed 33-14 at halftime.
Mount Carmel 49, Taft 7: Dan Trudeau made the most of his four pass attempts, completing three for 112 yards and two touchdowns to lead the No. 5 Caravan to a rout of Taft in the day's second game at Soldier Field.
Jake Moriarty rushed for 83 yards on nine carries for Mount Carmel.
Mike Clark contributed to this report.
Logan Malloy is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/highschool/ct-spt-0829-prep-fb-soldier-field-rup-20160828-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/2ac37bd5cf245c673e0a6fdda41a3e85940fa162bc729d6b10197f508cb40a3f.json |
[
"Washington Post",
"Kristine Guerra"
] | 2016-08-31T04:48:57 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fmidwest%2Fct-indiana-police-abuse-case-jury-awards-18-dollars-18-20160830-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c64aa2/turbine/ct-indiana-police-abuse-case-jury-awards-18-dollars-18-20160830 | en | null | Innocent black man punched, Tasered and arrested by police. Jury awarded him $18. | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | DeShawn Franklin was asleep in his bedroom when police officers, with their weapons drawn, barged in.
He was punched several times, including three times in the face.
He was also Tasered, dragged out of his bedroom, handcuffed and placed in a police car.
"I didn't even know what was going on. I was just asleep," Franklin told The Washington Post. "It was just all a big shock and disturbance."
One thing became clear immediately: Franklin, then an 18-year-old high school senior, had done nothing wrong. But he did fit the description of a suspect being sought by officers: a slender, African-American man with dreads.
The incident, which occurred in the summer of 2012 in a northern Indiana suburb, prompted a civil rights lawsuit against the police officers and city officials. Earlier this month, a jury found that the officers violated Franklin's constitutional rights by arresting him and entering his family's home without a warrant.
Still, Franklin and his family feel that justice has been denied.
The jury ordered each of the defendants to pay Franklin and his parents $1 for the violations of their rights. The total award was $18 in damages.
The Rev. Mario Sims, a senior pastor in South Bend, Indiana, where Franklin lives, said the small award sends a strong message to Franklin and his family: "Your rights are worth a dollar."
Russell Thomas Jr., Franklin's nephew, said the whole experience was a "slap in the face."
"To me, it's just solidifying that blacks in America, we have no rights," he said. "How can we fight for something when the system was not made for us in the first place?"
Franklin isn't a thug, Sims said, and he lacks a criminal history. Still the incident four years ago left the now-22-year-old distrustful of law enforcement and in fear that something similar will happen again. He does not want to be recognized, so he has declined requests from local media for a picture of his face.
"It's traumatizing," Franklin said. "It's somewhat of a burden that you have to carry every day."
The incident happened about 2:30 a.m. on July 7, 2012, when Franklin and his parents were sleeping. Officers Eric Mentz, Aaron Knepper and Michael Stuk, of the South Bend Police Department, were looking for Dan Jones, Franklin's older brother, after receiving a domestic violence call. The officers received information that Jones may have gone to his parents' house, according to an internal affairs investigation report by the police department.
Franklin's mother, Vivian Franklin, answered the door after hearing loud knocks. The officers went inside without a warrant and without asking for permission to go in, according to the report. The officers told her to stay outside on the front porch.
When they got to DeShawn Franklin's bedroom, they saw him lying on his stomach and woke him up. Startled and afraid, he resisted, so the police officers punched and used a stun gun on him.
His father, Dan Franklin, who is disabled, told the internal affairs investigator that he heard a "pop" and thought the officers had shot his son as he screamed for his mother.
The officers soon realized that they got the wrong person. Still, DeShawn Franklin was handcuffed and placed in a squad car for resisting. He was released shortly after, according to the report, and the officers apologized to the family.
The following year, DeShawn Franklin and his parents filed a civil rights lawsuit alleging excessive use of force, unlawful law enforcement entry, false arrest, infliction of emotional distress and other violations.
The internal affairs investigation found that the officers used excessive force and unlawfully entered the Franklins' home. They were disciplined for their actions, including written reprimands, Kevin Lawler, spokesman for the city, told the Indianapolis Star. The police department also trained the officers on Fourth Amendment rights and developed new classes on ethics and diversity, the Star reported.
The same three officers involved in the Franklin lawsuit were named in a 2013 case filed by Jonathan Ferguson, a 7-Eleven store clerk with a learning disability. According to a federal complaint, the officers slashed Ferguson's tire, and two of them challenged him to eat a teaspoon of cinnamon in exchange for $30 and a dinner coupon at a local Applebee's. Ferguson did, and he vomited for several hours.
The officers took a video of the "cinnamon challenge," as it had become locally known, and posted it on YouTube, according to the complaint. The parties have reached a settlement in that lawsuit.
In a suburb where more than a quarter of the population is African-American, some cite the lack of diversity in South Bend's police force as a source of tension. Of the 250 officers in 2014, only 25 were black, fewer than 10 were Hispanic and 20 were female, according to a local Fox affiliate. The city also faces several sex and race discrimination lawsuits filed by current police officers, and have settled three lawsuits involving allegations of racially motivated hate speech by police officers, according to the South Bend Tribune.
This year, however, officials implemented a plan to hire more minorities on the police force. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, D, said there will be "no quick fixes, no silver bullets," but he promised a "sustainable change," the Tribune reported.
Peter Agostino, the attorney for the police officers and the city in the lawsuit filed by the Franklins, told The Post that the case isn't about racial injustice, but about a lack of evidence.
Although the jury found constitutional violations, there was no evidence presented in court that supported the amount of damages that the Franklins were seeking. He said the Franklins asked for more than $1 million in damages.
In civil rights lawsuits, damages are usually measured by medical bills, lost wages, property damage, post-traumatic stress, psychological treatment, impairment and others, Agostino said. But in this case, no such evidence was presented, so the jury awarded the plaintiffs the default amount of $1, he said.
"You can say that they experienced a deprivation of their constitutional rights," Agostino said.
"But other than the deprivation of constitutional rights, the jury did not find other damages that go along with that," he said. "They did exactly what they were instructed to do. They applied the law and determined the facts."
According to Agostino, the city did offer $15,000 to settle the case.
Johnny Ulmer, the Franklins' attorney, was not available for comment on Monday. But he told the Star that damages for other similar cases are between $100,000 and $300,000. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/midwest/ct-indiana-police-abuse-case-jury-awards-18-dollars-18-20160830-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/9036a2f09ca46331eb6e4090c12d4df2b780e5022dca6ed0087825210403f2bf.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T12:48:14 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fclassified%2Frealestate%2Fdreamhomes%2Fct-modern-home-in-lincoln-park-145m-20160826-photogallery.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c09e7b/turbine/ct-modern-home-in-lincoln-park-145m-20160826 | en | null | Modern home in Lincoln Park: $1.45M | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | 928 Concord Pl. in Chicago: $1,450,000
Listed on Aug. 4, 2016
This contemporary 4-bedroom home has been renovated from top-to-bottom. Highlights include a dramatic 2-story living/dining room, a top-quality Poggenpohl kitchen, polished concrete floors, electric blinds, 4 upstairs bedrooms including a penthouse master suite, generous outdoor space and an attached heated garage.
Agent: Jennifer Ames of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, 312-440-7525 | http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/dreamhomes/ct-modern-home-in-lincoln-park-145m-20160826-photogallery.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/1f096a38b2d802eb93b022df4dc4f946fcc1d75521d7f0bca8dde335ee679ff6.json |
[
"Associated Press",
"Tribune News Services"
] | 2016-08-29T18:49:07 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fct-italy-earthquake-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c471c2/turbine/ct-italy-earthquake-20160829 | en | null | Italy quake survivors angry at funeral plans as government relents | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Italian quake survivors rebelled in anger Monday over the government's plan to hold a state funeral for their loved ones in an airport hangar in a distant town and let them watch it on screens in their emergency tent camp.
One relative of 7-year-old twins who perished in central Italy's Aug. 24 quake was so upset by the announcement he could barely speak, holding up seven fingers when explaining how old the children were. The mayor of Amatrice, the hardest-hit of the three medieval towns flattened by the quake, was also upset.
Sensing a public relations disaster, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi's government quickly reversed course, and he said the latest state funeral will take place Tuesday in the devastated Apennines hill town.
So far, 231 of the quake's 292 victims have been found in Amatrice, with the death toll rising by two Monday afternoon when two bodies were extracted from rubble.
Caption Italy earthquake: Evening drone footage shows devastation in Amatrice Italy earthquake: Evening drone footage shows Amatrice devastated from an earthquake that hit the town. Aug. 25, 2016. (Italian Fire Brigade) Italy earthquake: Evening drone footage shows Amatrice devastated from an earthquake that hit the town. Aug. 25, 2016. (Italian Fire Brigade) Caption Italy earthquake: Evening drone footage shows devastation in Amatrice Italy earthquake: Evening drone footage shows Amatrice devastated from an earthquake that hit the town. Aug. 25, 2016. (Italian Fire Brigade) Italy earthquake: Evening drone footage shows Amatrice devastated from an earthquake that hit the town. Aug. 25, 2016. (Italian Fire Brigade) Caption Italy earthquake: Fire crews working in the city of Pescara Del Tronto Italy earthquake: Fire crews working in the city of Pescara Del Tronto. Aug. 25, 2016. (Italian Fire Brigade) Italy earthquake: Fire crews working in the city of Pescara Del Tronto. Aug. 25, 2016. (Italian Fire Brigade) Caption Italy earthquake: Drone footage depicts devastation in Amatrice Aerial drone footage shows the town of Amatrice devastated after a powerful earthquake struck Italy at 3:36 a.m. Aug. 24, 2016. (Italian Fire Brigade) Aerial drone footage shows the town of Amatrice devastated after a powerful earthquake struck Italy at 3:36 a.m. Aug. 24, 2016. (Italian Fire Brigade)
The bodies of some 10 people, including that of the town's baker, are believed to be still buried under the rubble of hundreds of buildings that collapsed, many reduced to piles of stones. Hundreds of people were injured.
Last week, a stream of ambulances brought more than 100 victims in body bags from Amatrice and another hard-hit town, Accumoli, to the airport at Rieti, 65 kilometers (40 miles) away. There they were being kept in refrigerated big-rig trucks parked in the hangar. Some relatives who live elsewhere in Italy had sent hearses with coffins to claim their loved one's body for funerals elsewhere.
But nearly 80 bodies that families hoped would be buried near Amatrice or Accumoli remained at the hangar, and now, after the government relented, the corpses were going to be transferred back to the town.
Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi told a crowd that Renzi had just spoken with him by phone. "He granted the people's appeal," the mayor said.
Almost simultaneously, Renzi tweeted: "The funeral of the victims of the earthquake will be held at Amatrice as the mayor and local community have asked. And right that it is so!"
Italy Quake Andrew Medichini / AP A woman indicates to firefighters retrieving personal belongings inside her house, in Pretare, near Arquata del Tronto, central Italy, Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. With thousands left homeless after Wednesday's earthquake, authorities are debating how to provide warmer, sturdier housing for them besides the rows of emergency blue tents set up in the Apennine Mountains, where even summer nights can get chilly. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) A woman indicates to firefighters retrieving personal belongings inside her house, in Pretare, near Arquata del Tronto, central Italy, Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. With thousands left homeless after Wednesday's earthquake, authorities are debating how to provide warmer, sturdier housing for them besides the rows of emergency blue tents set up in the Apennine Mountains, where even summer nights can get chilly. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) (Andrew Medichini / AP)
Just where space would be found in Amatrice for dozens of coffins and hundreds of mourners wasn't clear. At the edge of the virtually obliterated historic town center, a Catholic home for the elderly has sprawling grounds, but the building has been serving has a makeshift morgue, with about 10 corpses still inside awaiting official identification.
A separate state funeral, for 35 victims from other towns, was held Saturday in Ascoli Piceno, a town unscathed by the quake. Renzi, as well as Italy's president and other officials, attended that funeral.
Survivors are also stressed over where they will stay when chilly autumn arrives soon in Amatrice, a town that lies 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) above sea level. Summer evenings require jackets there, and snow can come as early as October.
With thousands left homeless after the earthquake, authorities are debating how to provide warmer, sturdier housing for them besides the rows of emergency blue tents.
Nearly 2,700 quake survivors needing shelter have been staying in 58 tent camps or at other shelters arranged by Italy's Civil Protection agency. Others are sleeping on a basketball court in Amatrice's gym or sleeping in cars near their damaged homes. Those who could have fled to relatives' homes far from the quake-stricken region.
APphoto_Italy Quake Cristiano Chiodi / AP A view of the tent camp that was set in Arquata Del Tronto, central Italy, Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. With thousands left homeless after Italy’s earthquake, authorities are debating how to provide warmer, sturdier housing for them besides the rows of emergency blue tents set up in the Apennine Mountains, where even summer nights can get chilly. (Cristiano Chiodi/ANSA via AP) A view of the tent camp that was set in Arquata Del Tronto, central Italy, Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. With thousands left homeless after Italy’s earthquake, authorities are debating how to provide warmer, sturdier housing for them besides the rows of emergency blue tents set up in the Apennine Mountains, where even summer nights can get chilly. (Cristiano Chiodi/ANSA via AP) (Cristiano Chiodi / AP)
Italy's lobbying group for farmers, Coldiretti, said Monday that farm animals, most of them sheep and cows, also need warm shelters at night, since 90 percent of the stalls and barns in the Amatrice area have been damaged.
Italian architect Renzo Piano, who met with Renzi on Sunday, has proposed building temporary wooden homes near the three devastated towns in central Italy so that traumatized people could stay near their roots.
No long-term housing decisions have been announced yet.
Associated Press | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-italy-earthquake-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/f7e11a28e02cf14a69b984c595406f45ca61a1ce0363644a795761d637c70394.json |
[] | 2016-08-31T12:49:00 | null | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fclassified%2Frealestate%2Fdreamhomes%2Fct-sixbedroom-brick-home-with-coach-house-63m-20160830-photogallery.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c6000f/turbine/ct-sixbedroom-brick-home-with-coach-house-63m-20160830 | en | null | Six-bedroom brick home with coach house: $6.3M | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | 2015 Cleveland Ave. in Chicago: $6,295,000
Listed on May 9, 2016
Chicago home with high-end finishes throughout, located on a quiet one-way street in East Lincoln Park. LEED certified with amenities such as an elevator, Lutron windows, 17-zone radiant floor heat, geothermal HVAC and solar powered heated indoor pool. The residence also boasts a private wine cellar, library, side yard and five wood decks including a roof deck with skyline views.
Agent: Joanne Nemerovski of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff, 312-264-1100 | http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/dreamhomes/ct-sixbedroom-brick-home-with-coach-house-63m-20160830-photogallery.html | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/715f0d4946dc50184fe71a5855027604226166284d315c43a81c61aefca8c1d6.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"George Houde"
] | 2016-08-26T22:47:55 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fct-schaumburg-arrests-0827-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0afeb/turbine/ct-schaumburg-arrests-0827-20160826 | en | null | Woman filed false sex assault report to Schaumburg police, officials allege | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | A 20-year-old woman whose claim that she had been sexually assaulted by her ex-boyfriend set off a search by eight police departments, police dogs and a Chicago police helicopter has been accused of filing a false police report, authorities said.
Lauren M. Ryan, of York, Pa., was charged with felony disorderly conduct-false report, authorities said. She was released on a $10,000 signature bond from Cook County Circuit Court in Rolling Meadows following a hearing Thursday.
Assistant State's Attorney Alyssa Grissom said Ryan called Schaumburg police Tuesday from the 1300 block of East Algonquin Road after her boyfriend broke up with her. Ryan allegedly told police that he had battered and sexually assaulted her, Grissom said.
Ryan was taken to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights where she submitted to a sexual assault examination, Grissom said. She was released and placed in a hotel overnight, Grissom said.
Police located the ex-boyfriend in a nearby restaurant on Algonquin Road but he fled, sparking the manhunt, Grissom said. He was taken into custody a short time later Thursday, she said.
Ryan gave differing versions of her story and eventually admitted she made the report to get back at her ex-boyfriend for breaking up with her, Grissom said.
Ryan has a previous conviction in Pennsylvania for making a false report, Grissom said.
The ex-boyfriend was cited for trespassing on private property in the 2500 block of Brush Road in Schaumburg, officials said.
George Houde is a freelance reporter. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/ct-schaumburg-arrests-0827-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/27745fdfc89a892a4f612e1bca3751b1a94fc4b640ce4f55337b216364fc1667.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Bernie Lincicome"
] | 2016-08-26T18:50:44 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Fcolumnists%2Fct-lincicome-spt-0828-20160827-column.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c060c7/turbine/ct-lincicome-spt-0828-20160827 | en | null | Too bad Cubs can't go right to late October | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Darndest thing. Just when you think you have seen everything. A blue moon. Machu Picchu. A drive-thru church. A millennial reading a newspaper.
And now the Cubs with overconfidence.
Unthinkable. What next, a camel on roller blades, formal cargo pants, a new car without a smell, a woman President?
Wait. Scratch that last one.
Yes. It seems that all that can stop the Cubs from winning their first World Series since the Ottoman Empire is too much confidence.
With August not yet over, the Cubs are thinking of October, as if September is an inconvenience, which it is, as have been all the other months since the Cubs roared into the season at full speed.
Impatience is understandable, completely reasonable. Enough of these calisthenics. Let's get to what matters.
This preface has gone on long enough. Let's get to the real story, the one with the happy ending. Let's get to the cure that relieves the longest lasting itch since fingernails first grew.
Let's get on with it, on with why we are all here, to confirm a foregone conclusion. Not even the Cubs can blow this one.
In theory, which is where the Cubs generally dwell, the playoffs could be clinched with enough time left to do the Olympics all over again, not a wish as much as a computation. No one wants to go through that again.
The talk is of October and how to get ready for it, usually not a problem at this time of the season. You make sure your laundry is back and make plane reservations home.
This September comes as an annoyance, something to get through, like road repair or a kale salad.
The time can be filled with earnest discussions on whether Kris Bryant or Anthony Rizzo is the National League MVP, which pitcher has the hot hand and how to keep it warm instead of worn out. Who needs rest and who needs work. If there is a lineup that Joe Madden has not yet tried. If the bullpen is now adequate and, of most importance, who do you know who knows somebody who can get tickets.
Here are the dates for the World Series at Wrigley Field. Oct. 28-29, and 30 if needed. And thank you to Cardinals shortstop Aledmys Diaz for striking out with the bases loaded in the All-Star Game; otherwise, the Cubs could be opening the Series at home.
And yet …
As unwelcome as prudence might be, caution cannot be entirely disregarded. These are, after all, the Cubs, a captive of legend and lore, always ripe for misfortune, the original unraveled sleeves of care.
These Cubs are playing not just for themselves but for the sins and sorrows of those before. This is a burden as unique as it is inescapable.
Of course plans must be made but expecting late October to arrive before early September is not only counter to the calendar but naive and impulsively premature.
The Cubs have not gone into September with more than 80 victories since the doomed adventure of '08. Not to pick on anyone who has been overpicked already. Not his fault. The Cubs earned their fate.
Considering what has happened to other teams that entered, as the Cubs did then, September with baseball's best record, a case can be made for a September Curse. Baseball wide, not just the Cubs, who have enough curses already, thank you.
Only twice in this century has the team with the best record going into September gone on to win the World Series, the Red Sox in '07 and the Yankees in '09.
Moreover, only two other September leaders have gone on to play in the World Series, the Tigers in '06 and the Cardinals in '04. What this all means is winners may have a better chance coming out of the shadows than from the sunlight.
Take a breath. Take it easy. As Earth, Wind or maybe it was Fire reminded, in September there never was a cloudy day. Later on, well, that's always another story.
Bernie Lincicome is a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-lincicome-spt-0828-20160827-column.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/3f1ca1c79a4f91035ee45b52ddb0ab2db014dd9e908fdc2d89584ee9d904a409.json |
[
"Associated Press",
"Tribune News Services"
] | 2016-08-26T14:50:04 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fct-france-burkini-ban-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0471e/turbine/ct-france-burkini-ban-20160826 | en | null | 'Burkini' ban overturned by France's top court amid divided opinion | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | France's top administrative court overturned a ban on burkinis in a Mediterranean town, in a decision Friday that should set legal precedent regarding a swimsuit crackdown that has divided the country and provoked shock around the world.
The ruling by the Council of State Friday specifically concerns a ban on the Muslim garment in the Riviera town of Villeneuve-Loubet, but the binding decision is expected to impact all the 30 or so French resort municipalities that have issued similar decrees.
The bans grew increasingly controversial as images circulated online of some Muslim women being ordered to remove body-concealing garments on French Riviera beaches.
Lawyers for a human rights group and a Muslim collective challenged the legality of the ban to the top court, saying the orders infringe basic freedoms and that mayors have overstepped their powers by telling women what to wear on beaches.
Mayors had cited multiple reasons for the bans, including security after a string of Islamic extremist attacks, risk to public order, and France's strict rules on secularism in public life.
The Council of State ruled that, "The emotion and concerns arising from the terrorist attacks, notably the one perpetrated in Nice on July 14, cannot suffice to justify in law the contested prohibition measure."
It ruled that the mayor of Villeuneuve-Loubet overstepped his powers by enacting measures that are not justified by "proven risks of disruptions to public order nor, moreover, on reasons of hygiene or decency."
"The contested decree has thus brought a serious and manifestly illegal infringement on basic freedoms such as freedom to come and go, freedom of conscience and personal freedom," the ruling reads.
Lawyer Patrice Spinosi, representing the Human Rights League, told reporters in Paris that women who have already received fines can protest them based on Friday's decision.
"It is a decision that is meant to set legal precedent," he said. "Today all the ordinances taken should conform to the decision of the Council of State. Logically the mayors should withdraw these ordinances. If not legal actions could be taken" against those towns.
But the mayor of the Corsican town of Sisco said he wouldn't lift the ban he imposed after an Aug. 13 clash on a beach.
"Here the tension is very, very, very high and I won't withdraw it," Ange-Pierre Vivoni said on BFM-TV.
He said he doesn't know whether a woman was actually wearing a burkini the day a clash occurred that set a group of Corsican sunbathers of North African origin against villagers from Sisco. It took days to untangle the events leading to the violence that many immediately assumed was over a burkini sighting.
The bans have become a symbol of tensions around the place of Islam in secular France.
Many officials —including Prime Minister Manuel Valls — have argued that burkinis oppress women. But critics say the bans were feeding a racist political agenda as campaigning for next year's French presidential elections were kicking off.
The burkini controversy Here's why human rights groups are challenging the legality of French municipal bans on full-body burkini swimsuits. Here's why human rights groups are challenging the legality of French municipal bans on full-body burkini swimsuits. See more videos
Associated Press | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-france-burkini-ban-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/1f799010141505d8d72fa57bc7cb660495321358518a066f2ec52d0571e0b440.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Christopher Borrelli"
] | 2016-08-26T13:23:48 | null | 2016-08-21T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fentertainment%2Fbeingthere%2Fct-kanye-pop-up-store-northbrook-20160821-column.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57b9c4e2/turbine/ct-kanye-pop-up-store-northbrook-20160821 | en | null | Kanye pop-up store in Northbrook draws plenty of fans | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | This story is part of Being There, an occasional series that focuses on place and everyday life in the Chicago area.
Summer, as Kanye would put it, was fadin’. Northbrook, on the northern edge of the Chicago suburbs, was dead and heavy, the August air wet. Chicagoland sweat. And yet inside Northbrook Court, established in 1976, the kind of shopping mall you have in your head when someone mentions a shopping mall, the air was crisp and the lighting was placid. A young man walked past wearing a long-sleeve shirt that read “Perfect” across the back. It cost him $95 at the Kanye West pop-up shop. Then four students from Loyola University walked by, carrying Kanye bags of Kanye merchandise, totaling $490.
They had been in the mall for three hours Friday, waiting in line for most of that time, to get inside the Kanye store called Pablo. One of them mentioned that he would be returning the next day.
MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR
The Kanye West pop-up shop was built to vanish from Northbrook after 72 hours, Friday to Sunday. It occupied the former Abercrombie Kids spot, next to Janie and Jack, the children’s clothing store chain, with its fashion lines named Jetsetter Prep and Pumpkin Festival. Behind the counter in the otherwise empty Janie and Jack shop was Lory Duberstein, of Northbrook. “A Kanye’s store?” she asked a visitor, regarding the crush of customers next door. “You’re kidding? That’s what that is? I can’t believe it!” She read a Kanye store clothing menu. “No! What? Expensive! After what he did to Taylor Swift! I have no use for Kanye. But he is talented, and he’s cute. I’m just more of a Bob Hope person.”
Francisco Garcia and Tony Esposito, both of Logan Square, couldn’t believe it, either.
Esposito said: “I’m surprised I’m standing in a suburban mall right now. I hate the mall.”
Sneh Pandya and Justin Zotos, students at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights — Pandya does not have a summer job right now, Zotos hands out craft sausage samples at supermarkets — couldn’t believe they had spent $55 (Zotos) and $110 (Pandya) on Kanye clothes. Zotos held up the label tag of his new Kanye T-shirt: Gildan, a commonplace label, found in your finer Targets. “Highway robbery,” Pandya said. Zotos nodded: “Yeah, but after three hours, you feel obligated to get something.”
Indeed, no one in line seemed to believe the size of the line they were standing in to get into the Kanye store to buy merchandise they couldn’t believe they would buy. This line wrapped around the railing of the mall’s second floor. Security watched from the wings.
The store itself had a featureless white slate of a facade. A doorman stood outside the threshold, holding a stack of clothing menus, to be handed to each new customer, who would then note the quantity and size of each item they wanted to purchase. Hip-hop pounded from inside, the sound reaching as far as the Sunglass Hut across the way. A pair of friends deliberated whether to stand in line. “It’s surprising this is in Northbrook,” said Jake Philip, of Glenview, which is what many in line were saying. “The funny thing is, the people who would really want this stuff, they don’t live in Northbrook.”
Let’s go inside.
Inside the Kanye West store, you were greeted with little. A wall that read “Chicago,” in Nemek Gothic font, the kind you used to see in old restaurants that thought they were fancy. Nail holes still visible from the Abercrombie Kids days. Two speakers, playing Kanye’s latest album, “The Life of Pablo,” on a loop. The style was Heaven Chic. White walls, two mirrors, five racks of clothing. Only five racks. Not six. Not four. A sign read: “Do not remove the items from the racks.” Also: “No Refunds.” Also: “All Sales Final.”
What was for sale?
Twelve items of clothing. Hoodies ($105), hats ($45), military jackets ($325), black satin jackets ($250). On the left side, clothes were white; on the right side, black. Coats had “Pablo” cascading down the backs in gold script. Shirts read (in Nemek Gothic): “I Feel Like Pablo.” Hoodies read: “Any rumor you ever hear about me is true n’ legendary.” Kids stood in clusters with their order forms, deliberating over how many and what, circling items. A woman in yoga pants walked through and exhaled and left in tears. A surgical technologist grabbed the satin jacket, said “Kanye for president” to this reporter and headed for a register. A teenager in a shirt that read “Staff” deliberated on a satin jacket but, recognizing he just couldn’t pull off something so hip, settled for a hoodie.
“Sir, you can’t take that off the rack,” an employee told a startled man in his 30s.
Kanye stores opened across the world last weekend. The Northbrook store had about 32 employees, all wearing black. The store was run by the Mosaic marketing firm. (Curiously, not to be outdone, Frank Ocean opened a pop-up store in Evanston on Saturday. The line to buy his new album "Blonde" stretched for blocks.) There were five registers in Northbrook, aka iPads. A guy in a stocking cap leaned into an employee standing next to the coats and asked: “You get free (expletive)?”
“Nope,” she said.
Frank Ocean pop-up Molly Davis/Chicago Tribune Frank Ocean used a pop-up store in Evanston to sell his new album "Blonde." The album sold out at the 860 Chicago Ave. location within hours of the store opening. Frank Ocean used a pop-up store in Evanston to sell his new album "Blonde." The album sold out at the 860 Chicago Ave. location within hours of the store opening. (Molly Davis/Chicago Tribune) (Molly Davis/Chicago Tribune)
Tami White, 58, of Chicago, left with a satin jacket. Her adult children watched her try it on and shook their heads and smiled. “She does stuff like this,” her daughter said. “I’m not reselling this,” White said, ignoring them. “I’m wearing this.” She was referring to many of the Kanye customers, who said they were buying Kanye clothes to resell Kanye clothes online. For instance, Sam Katz-Berger, of Buffalo Grove, a self-described artist, musician and fashion stylist. A clerk handed him a military coat. He tried it on, took it off, tried it on, scrunched up his face with indecision. This went on for the length of maybe four Kanye songs. Eventually, he decided to get it. He spent more than $600 that day. But he also planned to resell some of his purchases: “I have to. I need the money.”
cborrelli@chicagotribune.com
The Pablo pop-up shop at Northbrook Court, 2171 Northbrook Court, is among 21 U.S. and international locations this weekend and is open until 6 p.m. Sunday.
RELATED STORIES: | http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/beingthere/ct-kanye-pop-up-store-northbrook-20160821-column.html | en | 2016-08-21T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/8b89d8d648434ac1096d177078e4bbab9fd924a0986c26e357f46b2a75eeacc0.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Steve Lord"
] | 2016-08-30T06:48:47 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Faurora-beacon-news%2Fnews%2Fct-abn-aurora-bonner-st-0830-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c4cd8a/turbine/ct-abn-aurora-bonner-st-0830-20160829 | en | null | Longtime Aurora pastor William H. Bonner dies | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Pastor William H. Bonner, a longtime pastor and community leader in Aurora, died this week just two weeks short of his 95th birthday. He was born Sept. 13, 1921.
"For more than 72 years, Bishop Bonner was an integral figure in our community — 68 of those years in the same church that he and his congregation broke ground for in 1948," Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner said in a statement released Monday.
That church was The Greater Mount Olive Church of God in Christ, at the corner of Trask Street and Bonner Street, which was named in Pastor Bonner's honor. He also has a park named after him several blocks from the church.
Born in Blytheville, Ark., Bonner was the sixth child in a family of 18. He attended elementary schools in Kentucky and Missouri and then continued his education in Chicago at DuSable High School and the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.
Mount Olive Church Steve Lord / The Beacon-News Pastor William H. Bonner served for more than 70 years. at The Greater Mount Olive Church of God in Christ in Aurora. Pastor William H. Bonner served for more than 70 years. at The Greater Mount Olive Church of God in Christ in Aurora. (Steve Lord / The Beacon-News)
Bonner was first asked to preach at age 13 and went on to become a youth pastor for the Hill Street Church of Christ in Waukegan. In 1944 Bonner received a commission to pastor in Aurora, which led to his work at Mount Olive Church. He served the church for almost 72 years. Church officials could not be reached for comment Monday.
"I had the honor of working with Bishop Bonner in the community for more than 30 years, including all of my years as mayor," Weisner said. "From neighborhood meetings to citywide forums, we could always depend on Bishop Bonner's presence and insight. On a personal level, he offered me counsel and advice over the years for which I am truly grateful."
In a 2015 interview in The Beacon-News on the occasion of his 94th birthday, Pastor Bonner credited his parents primarily for his religious orientation and faith.
"My dad and mom were very religious and taught me about sanctification and Christianity, and it became a part of me" he said. "The three principles I feel are the most important for people today are to obey God according to his word, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and follow peace with all men in order to see the Lord.
"The secret to living long is what goes on inside and the mind I have. If I think good thoughts about you — that good will follow me. I'll keep reaping that, and I've been served right by living that way. I've had success doing what I'm doing, and I know it will bring me greater things."
Arrangements have not yet been released.
slord@tribpub.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-aurora-bonner-st-0830-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/3499a31411186fd89ebb49a5f5181ea46cf445fbe4337776c5202843fc3076c4.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Hannah Leone"
] | 2016-08-26T18:50:55 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Faurora-beacon-news%2Fnews%2Fct-abn-false-goose-attack-st-0826-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c07ebf/turbine/ct-abn-false-goose-attack-st-0826-20160826 | en | null | Batavia police: Kids didn't attack goose | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | The severe injuries to a Canada Goose received by the Fox Valley Wildlife Center on Saturday were not caused by a group of kids as initially reported, Batavia police said Friday.
A former intern with the center found the goose and brought it in Saturday morning, claiming the goose had been beaten by a group of children at a booster club event at Batavia High School Friday evening, Fox Valley Wildlife Center officials previously reported.
But that didn't happen, according to a news release from the wildlife center.
"Upon speaking with the witness, police found that the information she provided to the Fox Valley Wildlife Center was inaccurate and the abuse to the goose by the children never occurred," according to the news release.
Batavia police began investigating the incident Monday after noticing posts about it on social media, Det. Sgt. Shawn Mazza said. They contacted the wildlife center, where they were told personnel didn't know anything about the incident and referred them to the former intern. The intern told police she saw a group of kids ages 6 to 12 around the goose, but never said she saw anyone in the act of attacking it, Mazza said. Police do not believe anyone lied to them during the investigation, he said.
The department closed the case Thursday.
"It appears this whole thing ran wild as a result of social media," Mazza said.
In its news release, the wildlife center stated that it had published a post on its Facebook page about the goose and tagged the Batavia School District as a means of creating awareness about the situation. They removed the post shortly after "due to inappropriate comments not in line with the center's mission," according to the news release
"The Fox Valley Wildlife Center is saddened to know that it unintentionally reported inaccurate information and offers its sincere apology to the community and school district of Batavia," the statement said.
Laura Kirk, the center's director of animal care, told the Beacon-News about the goose incident in an interview Monday.
"When she brought it to us, it was laying in a box, its neck was kind of bent over, it wasn't able to stand or get up," Kirk said.
The wildlife center doesn't have a veterinarian on staff, so they called Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn and transferred the goose for further treatment, she said.
The goose has a localized neck injury, but nothing is obviously broken, and it doesn't have any open wounds or external bleeding, said Sandy Fejt, Willowbrook's education site manager.
It has not been made clear whether the former intern was a current intern when she brought the goose in on Saturday. Wildlife Center staff referred to her as an intern.
Fox Valley Wildlife Center officials could not be immediately reached for comment Friday.
hleone@tribpub.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-false-goose-attack-st-0826-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/bfbb116ed0116f79077adecc270434601bf0ef5cf67918ac8ba64cd822adf8a1.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Louisa Chu"
] | 2016-08-26T14:50:27 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fdining%2Frestaurants%2Fct-chicago-restaurants-donate-to-italy-earthquake-relief-through-pasta-20160825-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c03a85/turbine/ct-chicago-restaurants-donate-to-italy-earthquake-relief-through-pasta-20160825 | en | null | Chicago restaurants donate to Italy earthquake relief through pasta | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Chicago restaurants are joining a worldwide campaign to bring aid to victims of Wednesday's earthquake in central Italy, creating specials and donating the proceeds to the effort.
Because Amatrice, one of the villages most damaged in the quake, is the birthplace of the dish spaghetti all'amatriciana, many of the specials involve that pasta preparation.
Indeed, this weekend the village was to celebrate its culinary patrimony with the 50th annual Sagra degli Spaghetti all’Amatriciana (Amatriciana Festival), and an unknown number of visitors who arrived early this week for the event may be among the vicitms. (The death toll has reached 267.)
In Amatrice, purists have said Amatriciana sauce should be made with six ingredients only: guanciale, San Marzano tomatoes, white wine, black pepper, peperoncino and pecorino cheese, then tossed with spaghetti.
Some chefs and restaurants are using #eatforitaly to promote the cause, as is British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver who is donating through his restaurants. Another effort to raise awareness and funds has risen up online and in social media, asking people to make the dish at home or order it in a restaurant, open a bottle of wine from central Italy, post about it using #virtualsagra and then donate to a number of agencies aiding relief efforts. (See www.undiscovereditaly.us.) If you are joining in at home, here is a recipe from Tribune archives.
Nonnina Galdones Photography Nonnina, and sister restaurant Picolo Sogno, will donate all proceeds of its special Amatriciana pasta dish to Italy earthquake relief. Nonnina, and sister restaurant Picolo Sogno, will donate all proceeds of its special Amatriciana pasta dish to Italy earthquake relief. (Galdones Photography) (Galdones Photography)
Here are Chicago restaurants participating in the relief efforts so far:
Monteverde: A special all'amatriciana with bavette pasta (like thin linguine), guanciale, onion, peperoncino and pecorino Romano ($16) available now through Wednesday. Chef and co-owner Sarah Grueneberg with Meg Sahs will donate half the proceeds to the Italian Red Cross for earthquake relief. 1020 W. Madison St., 312-888-3041, www.monteverdechicago.com/
Forno Rosso: A special Amatriciana pizza with San Marzano tomatoes, pecorino Romano, pancetta, olive oil, and fior di latte mozzarella ($17) available now at the West Loop location only for lunch and dinner until Sept. 7. Chef and owner Nick Nitti will donate 70 percent of proceeds to help fund earthquake relief efforts. 1048 W. Randolph St., 312-243-6000, www.fornorossopizzeria.com
Piccolo Sogno and Nonnina: Special pastas all'Amatriciana, at Piccolo with bucatini and Nonnina with small house-made rigatoni, both in a sauce of house-cured pancetta, red onions, San Marzano tomatoes, fresh marjoram, olive oil and pecorino Romano ($18) available now, lunch and dinner, through Sunday at both restaurants. Chef and co-owner Tony Priolo will donate 100 percent of proceeds, and match the money raised, to the Italian Red Cross to assist the people of Amatrice and raise awareness. 464 N. Halsted St., 312-421-0077, www.piccolosognorestaurant.com; 340 N. Clark St., 312-822-0077, www.nonninachicago.com
Acanto: All wines from Umbria and Lazio are 50 percent off, now through the end of August. Fifty percent of each sale will be donated to earthquake relief, according to sommelier Jon McDaniel. The region of Umbria, which borders Lazio, the region in which Amatrice is found, was also hit by the earthquake. 18 S. Michigan Ave., 312-578-0763, www.acantochicago.com
Filini Bar and Restaurant: Meatballs (made with veal, pork, and bone marrow) in pomodoro sauce ($12) will be offered as part of the relief effort starting in September. The restaurant in Aqua Tower will donate 25 percent from the dish by new executive chef Rick Starr. 221 N. Columbus Dr., 312-477-0234, www.filinichicago.com
lchu@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @louisachu
Caption Rick Bayless shows us how he makes the striped bass at Lena Brava Rick Bayless shows how the striped bass at new restaurant Lena Brava is made. (Roger Morales / Chicago Tribune) Rick Bayless shows how the striped bass at new restaurant Lena Brava is made. (Roger Morales / Chicago Tribune) Caption Anthony Bourdain: 'I love the food in Chicago, high and low' Chef, author and TV personality Anthony Bourdain visited Chicago Dec. 1 to speak at an event for single malt Scotch whiskey The Balvenie, as part of a new partnership with the brand. Here, he talks to the Tribune about his favorite Chicago bars and restaurants, if he'd ever open something here, and how "any opportunity to come to Chicago is a good one." (Roger Morales/Chicago Tribune) Chef, author and TV personality Anthony Bourdain visited Chicago Dec. 1 to speak at an event for single malt Scotch whiskey The Balvenie, as part of a new partnership with the brand. Here, he talks to the Tribune about his favorite Chicago bars and restaurants, if he'd ever open something here, and how "any opportunity to come to Chicago is a good one." (Roger Morales/Chicago Tribune)
Chicago's best beers for summer sipping. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/restaurants/ct-chicago-restaurants-donate-to-italy-earthquake-relief-through-pasta-20160825-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/1bd027f9eecc0bdba497dee8450c8d846701bcd4fa5ba3f29dd74282c9f62f21.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Stacy St. Clair"
] | 2016-08-26T13:23:53 | null | 2016-08-21T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Finternational%2Fct-rhythmic-gymnastics-olympics-spt-0821-20160820-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57b8f242/turbine/ct-rhythmic-gymnastics-olympics-spt-0821-20160820 | en | null | Suburban Chicago rhythmic gymnastics team makes historic Olympic mark | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | The U.S. rhythmic gymnastics team finished last in the Olympic qualifying round Saturday, leaving its five gymnasts crying as they walked off the floor.
But they were happy tears.
Really.
By their very presence here, the women — who train in suburban Chicago — made history as the first U.S. rhythmic gymnastics team to ever qualify for the Olympics. And despite three dropped ribbons in their first routine, they performed cleanly in their second.
For nearly three minutes during the second round, they tossed clubs and hoops in time with a bouncy samba beat that the Brazilian crowd appreciated. It went so smoothly, in fact, the judges placed them ahead of error-riddled teams from Greece and China in that phase of the competition.
It wasn't enough to pull the Americans out of last place overall, but the Games always offer more moral victories than medals.
"Once we finished with the clubs and knew we had done it cleanly, we let the emotions flow," said Natalie McGiffert, who lives in Northbrook. "We knew it was our last time together, so we just let it all out."
The group formed four years ago after the U.S. gymnastics federation sent out an email seeking elite gymnasts to tryout for a new national team. After a long selection process, the five athletes — McGiffert, Kiana Eide, Alisa Kano, Monica Rokhman and Kristen Shaldybin — agreed to give up their individual rhythmic aspirations to become a team.
ct-spt-Olympics-Rio Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune The USA rhythmic gymnastics team performs the ribbon rotation Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016, at Rio Olympic Arena in Rio de Janeiro. The USA rhythmic gymnastics team performs the ribbon rotation Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016, at Rio Olympic Arena in Rio de Janeiro. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Still in their teens, they relocated to the Chicago area and trained with former Belarusian national team coach Natalia Klimouk at North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics in Deerfield. Rio was not in anyone's plans when they arrived.
A U.S. team had not competed at the Olympics since the Atlanta Games in 1996, when it received the courtesy berth given to all host nations. The United States had never qualified on its own merit.
"We didn't have the Olympics in mind when we first started," said Glencoe's Kano, 21, the only team member born when the U.S. team last competed in a Summer Games. "We were just taking it day-by-day to see how it would work out."
The women toiled in obscurity for seven hours a day, six days a week, dedicating themselves to a sport few appreciate or understand. Making fun of rhythmic gymnastics has become an unofficial Olympic event in North America, with its detractors insisting that no real sport could possibly include a hula hoop or a stick with a 6-meter ribbon on the end.
Looking like a pastime enjoyed by the fairies in a "Midsummer's Night Dream" — the Italian team, which is fourth heading into Sunday's final, is known internationally as "the Butterflies" — rhythmic gymnastics combines ballet and acrobatics with a bit of synchronized swimming on land. The gymnasts spin, jump and dance to music as part of a group routine that can incorporate ribbons, hoops, clubs and balls.
The Tribune's Brian Cassella takes you around Rio and the 2016 Olympics. For more RioGrams, visit his Instagram page.
Rhythmic gymnastics requires as much hand-eye coordination as any sport in the Summer Games, though that can be easy to overlook when the athletes are dressed with the bedazzled subtlety of Eastern European ice dancers. Instead, the rhythmic athletes in the United States stand quietly in the long shadow cast by artistic gymnasts, their federation cousins who vault and flip and appear on cereal boxes.
"We hope being here helps rhythmic gymnastics grow in the United States," said Eide, 17, of Northbrook. "We want people to see us here and think it's fun to watch."
The U.S. team qualified for Rio after finishing 13th at the world championships last year, the highest placement of any group from the Americas. The team also medaled at the Pan American Games in 2015.
They have been working on their Olympic routines since September, when they learned the apparatuses involved in these Games would be five ribbons in the first round and six clubs and two hoops in the second. They listened to the same two pieces of music over and over again for 11 months, to the point where they sometimes heard it in their dreams.
They scored 30.224 points in Saturday's competition, more than 5.5 points behind the top-finishing Spanish team. It wasn't their highest score ever, but it was enough to make for a happy ending.
The team will disband after these Games. Most are headed to college and are ready to put their competitive careers behind them. They'll stay in touch, they say, through the group text messages they constantly exchange now.
"We weren't really thinking of scores or placements today. We just wanted to end on a good note," McGiffert said. "After four years, we're a project that's finally complete."
sstclair@tribpub.com
twitter @stacystclair | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/international/ct-rhythmic-gymnastics-olympics-spt-0821-20160820-story.html | en | 2016-08-21T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/cf4410eb1d5d8d15327c58a0c0871559aa845d1db57008fa6a53200efb23fa2f.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Clifford Ward"
] | 2016-08-26T13:24:28 | null | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fnaperville-sun%2Fcrime%2Fct-nvs-naperville-murder-trial-day-2-st-0826-20160824-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57be3b5c/turbine/ct-nvs-naperville-murder-trial-day-2-st-0826-20160824 | en | null | Naperville slaying victim, suspect drank before attack, detective testifies | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Grant Muren told police his new Naperville roommate "seemed like a nice guy" when they first met but things changed when the two men began drinking, a police detective testified on the second day of Muren's murder trial.
On the night he killed Charles Clark in Clark's Vail Court townhouse, the 24-year-old Muren told investigators he had been drinking brandy with Clark, 55, and was "wasted" to the point of being unable to walk, Naperville Detective Michael Caruso testified Wednesday in DuPage County court.
Clark was strangled Jan. 20, 2014, and Muren was charged with first-degree murder. Prosecutors say Muren attacked Clark after a sexual encounter; defense attorneys say Muren acted in self-defense after being attacked by Clark. Muren's bench trial before Judge Brian Telander started Tuesday.
Clark's girlfriend found his body two days after the slaying, Caruso said. The stove had been turned on, and Muren allegedly tried to set off an explosion by jamming paper into a toaster, the detective said.
Police were able to link Muren to the case through notes scribbled on a pad and lease paperwork found in the townhouse, Caruso said.
In his initial police interview, Muren said he met Clark after replying to an online ad about renting a room in Clark's home. Clark, a self-employed computer technician, had financial trouble and was seeking a roommate to help cover expenses, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Muren came to the townhouse about 5 p.m. Jan. 20, 2014, completed the lease paperwork and gave Clark $600 for rent and $350 for a security deposit. Clark helped Muren move his things inside and then suggested they go to a Sam's Club, where Muren bought a potpie and Clark purchased brandy, chicken and orange juice, Muren told the detective.
Caruso's testimony will continue Thursday, when he's expected to detail what Muren said happened after the two men returned home.
It's known that police found Clark facedown and shirtless, his head in a pool of his blood, in the master bedroom, which was adjacent to a loft area that showed signs of a struggle, according to court reports. Prosecutors contend Muren attacked Clark, striking him from behind with a wooden TV tray table.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/naperville-sun/crime/ct-nvs-naperville-murder-trial-day-2-st-0826-20160824-story.html | en | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/9e25545a3d6cc30f2c18653a1a7c09c1d9c6c913ac90c792791d40a741998537.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Joe Knowles"
] | 2016-08-30T20:49:20 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Fbasketball%2Fbulls%2Fct-bulls-butler-mcdermott-beach-workout-20160830-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c5dc92/turbine/ct-bulls-butler-mcdermott-beach-workout-20160830 | en | null | Jimmy Butler, Doug McDermott work out together at the beach | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Jimmy Butler and Doug McDermott spent a day at the beach, but it was anything but relaxing. Trainer Travelle Gaines tweeted a video Tuesday of the Bulls teammates doing drills on a largely empty and picturesque beach in Los Cabos, Mexico.
The video appears to show McDermott working on his defensive footwork – and his tan, although we hope he had the sense to use plenty of sunscreen.
Gaines is the founder of Athletic Gaines, a sports performance company that works with numerous NBA and NFL players, including the Bulls' Taj Gibson, Tony Snell, Rajon Rondo and the Bears’ Kyle Long. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/ct-bulls-butler-mcdermott-beach-workout-20160830-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/2232f34a1ee0ad404795126240fde32f2d7eb7b74fc2e03180105f9d9b287ddc.json |
[
"Associated Press",
"Tribune News Services"
] | 2016-08-28T14:48:23 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fct-eu-united-states-free-trade-20160828-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c2ef9f/turbine/ct-eu-united-states-free-trade-20160828 | en | null | German economy minister says EU-U..S trade talks have failed | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Free trade talks between the European Union and the United States have failed, Germany's economy minister said Sunday, citing a lack of progress on any of the major sections of the long-running negotiations.
Both Washington and Brussels have pushed for a deal by the end of the year, despite strong misgivings among some EU member states over the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP.
Sigmar Gabriel, who is also Germany's Vice Chancellor, compared the TTIP negotiations unfavorably with a free trade deal forged between the 28-nation EU and Canada, which he said was fairer for both sides.
"In my opinion, the negotiations with the United States have de facto failed, even though nobody is really admitting it," Gabriel said during a question-and-answer session with citizens in Berlin.
He noted that in 14 rounds of talks, the two sides haven't agreed on a single common item out of 27 chapters being discussed.
Gabriel accused Washington of being "angry" about the deal that the EU struck with Canada, known as CETA, because it contains elements the U.S. doesn't want to see in the TTIP.
"We mustn't submit to the American proposals," said Gabriel, who is also the head of Germany's center-left Social Democratic Party.
Gabriel's ministry isn't directly involved in the negotiations with Washington because trade agreements are negotiated at the EU level. But such a damning verdict from a leading official in Europe's biggest economy is likely to make further talks between the EU executive and the Obama administration harder.
Gabriel's comments contrast with those of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said last month that TTIP was "absolutely in Europe's interest."
Popular opposition to a free trade agreement with the United States is strong in Germany. Campaigners have called for nationwide protests against the talks on Sept. 17 — about year before Germany's next general election.
Associated Press | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-eu-united-states-free-trade-20160828-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/d35ef5475b54dcd518fa30cf8a2f6792ef2c978806557c8ec429e907e47fc73e.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Amanda Marrazzo"
] | 2016-08-27T00:48:08 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fbreaking%2Fct-crystal-lake-big-bleachers-new-law-met-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0c0dc/turbine/ct-crystal-lake-big-bleachers-new-law-met-20160826 | en | null | Legal battle over Crystal Lake's giant bleachers prompts new state law | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | It turns out those giant football bleachers at Crystal Lake South High School cast a shadow far beyond the neighboring homes they dwarfed.
The $1.2 million mega-bleachers, dubbed the "Berlin Wall of Steel" by angry neighbors, prompted not just a lawsuit that went to the state Supreme Court but now also a new law that will apply to every school district in Illinois.
The legislation, signed into law by Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday, clarifies that school districts must comply with local zoning laws when they erect school buildings or other facilities.
Sponsored by two area Republican lawmakers, Sen. Pamela Althoff and Rep. Mike Tryon, the law was prompted by school officials in Community High School District 155 after they installed the jumbo-size, 50-foot-tall bleachers outside the high school in 2013 without seeking approval from the city.
The bleachers were taller and closer to neighboring property lines than local zoning codes would allow, and the ensuing lawsuit — pitting some of the neighboring homeowners and the city against the school district — went to the Illinois Supreme Court.
The school district lost at every stage of the legal battle but kept appealing, arguing that it was immune to local zoning laws. The courts disagreed, and last year the bleachers were ordered to be razed and were replaced with a much smaller set of stands. The district racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees in the process.
Kim Maselbas-Gurba, one of the neighbors whose family sued the school district over the bleachers, which were right behind her house, said Friday that she's thankful the saga has come to an end.
"It's been a very long battle, and we are glad that it's over," she said.
The new law also requires municipalities to "streamline" the zoning process for public school districts and guarantee that associated fees and costs are reasonable.
Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-crystal-lake-big-bleachers-new-law-met-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/e0c3d66ed5478980fc7ef595b156c4f7f83aa18afcb2f64b3675f4130aba4f79.json |
[
"Washington Post",
"John Wagner"
] | 2016-08-29T16:48:45 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fpolitics%2Fct-hillary-clinton-campaign-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c447ff/turbine/ct-hillary-clinton-campaign-20160829 | en | null | In latest policy rollout, Hillary Clinton outlines agenda to combat mental illness | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Hillary Clinton on Monday put forward a package of initiatives aimed at improving the plight of tens of millions of Americans coping with mental illness and pledged, if elected president, to hold a White House conference on the issue within her first year in office.
The plan, the Democratic nominee said, seeks to fully integrate mental health services into the nation's health-care system during her tenure as president. Measures include a national suicide prevention initiative, higher payments for providers in the Medicaid program, an emphasis on treatment over jail for low-level criminal offenders with mental health issues and the creation of new housing and job opportunities.
Clinton also pledges increased investment in brain and behavioral science research and to fully enforce prior laws that require mental health coverage to be an essential benefit in health insurance plans.
The policy rollout was the latest from a candidate who has sought to make a virtue out of her wide-ranging and detailed policy agenda in her race against Republican Donald Trump. Last week Clinton and her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, touted a series of steps to help small businesses, holding a roundtable discussion and national conference call to draw attention to their new initiatives.
Clinton plans to hold a similar call Monday amid an extended fundraising swing in the Hamptons.
Clinton's mental health agenda overlaps some with a plan to address drug and alcohol addiction, which was a focus during her Democratic nominating contest with Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
According to a government study, about 1 in 5 adults -- or 43.6 million people -- had a mental illness in 2014, with nearly 10 million of those experiencing a serious condition, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
The same study said that 2.8 million adolescents had a major depressive episode during the past year.
Clinton's plan also cites the burdens of military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan experiencing post-traumatic stress and depression, and the "complicating life circumstances" of Americans grappling with drugs and addiction, as well as homelessness. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-hillary-clinton-campaign-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/a53dd18f85c541583f164407f73a61c00069764499a4ad421165ee71461d6e10.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Myrna Petlicki"
] | 2016-08-26T13:19:41 | null | 2016-07-25T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Flake-zurich%2Flifestyles%2Fct-ppn-go-harry-potter-cursed-child-tl-0721-20160725-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57962f8e/turbine/ct-ppn-go-harry-potter-cursed-child-tl-0721-20160725 | en | null | Magic returns: Bookstores celebrating 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' with release parties | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | The CIA could take lessons from the people behind "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child — Parts One & Two," the hotly anticipated latest chapter in the story of the young wizard.
Here are the basic facts — it's based on an original story written by "Harry Potter" series author J. K. Rowling as well as Jack Thorne and John Tiffany. Thorne turned that Rowling tale into a play which will receive its world premiere in London's West End on July 30. On that date, at the stroke of midnight local time, bookstores will be allowed to sell copies of the script book.
Because the book is being printed while the show is still in previews, it's basically a working script. There may be some changes in future additions but the basic storyline will remain.
The play takes place 19 years after the last installment. Harry, now married and the father of three school-age children, is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic. Harry's youngest son Albus is on his way to Hogwarts but resistant to carrying on the family legacy.
The play, which is currently in previews in London, will be presented in two parts and people are encouraged to see both in one day or on two consecutive evenings. Viewers of this first play based on the series will be strongly encouraged to keep the show's secrets.
Bookstores across the Chicago area (and we're confident the rest of the country — and possibly the world) are hosting events to mark the release of the book on July 30 and 31. The format of the piece or further details are a mystery to them, too.
Kathy Glarner, event manager for the Old Orchard Barnes & Noble in Skokie, said there's great excitement at their shop because, "Our readers have been waiting for nine years for another Harry Potter and this Harry Potter takes place when he's all grown up. Lovers of Harry Potter can't wait to find out what happens to him."
"Cursed Child" is a play script, and being marketed as a script book, but local bookstore officials aren't exactly sure what to expect. "We haven't been able to even get a sneak peek," Glarner said. "It's under incredible restraints and lock and key."
Every single Barnes & Noble store will host a Countdown to Midnight Party, starting at 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 30. "We're going to have event materials and giveaways," Glarner said. "At midnight we will start selling the books to our customers, who we encourage to pre-order."
The mystery continues at the Barnes & Noble stores. "Even our itinerary and our events schedule is being kept under wraps," Glarner said. "We want to surprise his fans, as well as the book being a surprise."
Over at the Magic Tree Bookstore in Oak Park, owner Beth Albrecht's daughter Rosie Albrecht indicated they are equally in the dark about what to expect in this latest volume. Rosie, who graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School this year and is heading to the University of Chicago in the fall to major in English, is a huge Harry Potter fan.
She said she has read all the books "many times." She has also seen all of the movies but asserted that "the books are better. There's a lot of details they couldn't fit in because the books are really long."
Rosie fondly remembers the event she attended when the last volume, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," was released.
"It was thrown by the Magic Tree long before we owned it," she said. "They did a town-wide Harry Potter festival. They had vendors selling wands and Harry Potter robes."
Rosie and her sister Gracie shared their love of all things Harry Potter with customers ages 7-10 at a Hogwarts Camp, July 18-21. The children were divided into houses, made wands, created potions, played quidditch, did magic duels and competed to win the house cup.
What they didn't do at the camp was reveal secrets about the upcoming release. "They've been very tight-lipped," Rosie said of the publisher. "We do not have early access to this one. We have to wait like everybody else."
Kari Patch, a buyer of children's books at The Book Stall in Winnetka is also in the dark about details of the upcoming release. There was a Harry Potter Party at the store on June 28, but Patch noted, "The party was more a general appreciation of the whole Harry Potter phenomenon," she said. "We did trivia with the kids and made house crests and talked about which houses the kids are best sorted into."
Patch added that they did explain about the new book being set in the future and being a play rather than a novel "to prep the kids and talk about what that means and the differences in story presentation."
Because the latest Harry Potter is in such a different format, Patch said, "We're wondering who's going to be the most excited — if it's going to be the new grownups who grew up reading these when they were being published or the young fans."
Rosie Albrecht concludes that the Harry Potter books are so popular because, "The characters are so real and intricate, and people get so attached to these characters. It's such an amazing, diverse collection of really cool people that you get to spend seven books with."
Fans anxious to read this latest incarnation should plan to pre-order a copy of the book from their local bookstore and join the crowds there awaiting the stroke of midnight when the secrets will be revealed.
'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' release parties
Here are a sampling of some of the book release parties. And check your local libraries for events.
Anderson's Bookshops in Naperville, Downers Grove and La Grange, midnight July 30. Purchase of a book includes a ticket to The Return of the Party that Shall Not be Named where there will be games, trivia contests, prizes and costume contests. Order tickets for any of the stores at www.andersonsbookshop.com.
Barnes & Noble, all stores, 8 p.m. July 30, Countdown to Midnight Party will include a Muggle Wall where customers can share favorite Harry Potter memories, giveaways and activities. The celebration continues at 9 a.m. July 31 with events and activities. For details on individual stores, visit www.barnesandnoble.com.
The Book Bin, 1151 Church St., Northbrook, 11 p.m. July 31 to 1 a.m. Aug. 1. Harry Potter Midnight Party will include refreshments, games and reading the book aloud until 1 a.m. For reservations, call (847) 498-4999. www.bookbinnorthbrook.com. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-zurich/lifestyles/ct-ppn-go-harry-potter-cursed-child-tl-0721-20160725-story.html | en | 2016-07-25T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/1372a89ea7e3f151fe1bf554846945e8baeefb9ff549334ade7fe7492c5369a3.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Paul Skrbina"
] | 2016-08-29T02:48:27 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Fbaseball%2Fwhitesox%2Fct-report-white-sox-mariners-spt-0829-20160828-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c36ff3/turbine/ct-report-white-sox-mariners-spt-0829-20160828 | en | null | Robin Ventura hopes Chris Sale and Jose Quintana remain with White Sox | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Contenders for the postseason, the White Sox don't appear to be.
That doesn't mean the team doesn't have some contenders for some postseason spoils — and trade scuttlebutt.
A pair of their left-handed pitchers — Chris Sale and Jose Quintana — have been better than all right among their contemporaries on the mound this season, making them attractive to voters in the Cy Young race and potential suitors on the trade market.
While nobody knows whether the Sox will keep their aces or dangle them if the team decides to rebuild during the offseason, manager Robin Ventura made clear his feelings about the two, both of whom he said should receive strong consideration for the top award given to pitchers each season.
"It's just not a good picture when you look at it," Ventura said of the potential of not having one or both next season. "Whether they decide that's the route they're going to go, that's up to (the front office). I know we feel better when they go out there."
Sale's team-friendly, five-year, $32.5 million contract runs through 2019, making him all the more attractive to potential suitors. It should be noted that the final three years of that deal carry a price tag of about $39.5 million. Ditto Quintana, whose five-year, $26.5 million deal will expire after the 2020 season.
Both have expressed their appetite to stick with the Sox. When trade rumors began to fly in July, Quintana doubled down about his desire.
"I want to stay here. I want to stay here," he said. "I like it here and I want to win here. And I'm here. I'm here for now."
Whether he's here later will depend on the direction the franchise decides to go. Ventura, coincidentally, is in the final year of his contract.
"I don't think you like the look of not having those guys," Ventura said. "You know how important starting pitching is. Everybody's looking for starting pitching. Those are two of the best guys you could have."
Starting pitching the Sox, relatively speaking, have locked up at a bargain for at least the next three years.
Photos of the White Sox ace.
Sale's star has been bright for years, but Quintana finally has emerged a bit from his shadow and seasons of having his real value buried a lot by a lack of run support that have resulted in an eye-opening pile of 58 no-decisions in his career. The Sox have scored 3.7 runs per game in his starts this year, tied for fifth-lowest in baseball.
Consider Quintana, who earned his first All-Star selection this season, was third in the American League with a 2.77 ERA going into Sunday. He has allowed four earned runs or fewer in 47 of his last 49 starts.
He and Sale were tied for second in the American League in Fangraphs' wins above replacement, at 4.4, just behind the Indians' Corey Kluber (4.5).
Sale, the All-Star starter, was eighth in the AL in ERA at 3.14. His 1.00 WHIP was tops on the league, while Quintana (1.10) checked in tied for eighth.
Quintana, Ventura said, has lacked the wins Cy Young voters sometimes take into consideration.
"Now that Q's starting to get some wins and some run support he can get into that picture as well," Ventura said.
And he hopes both are in the White Sox's team picture come next year.
pskrbina@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @ChiTribSkrbina | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/ct-report-white-sox-mariners-spt-0829-20160828-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/2ce56337ffcdd1c4c92c419f41aad0f5b6e9c6bc8a7416f1dd843cd7ac7e3db6.json |
[
"Washington Post",
"Katie Mettler"
] | 2016-08-29T14:48:32 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fmidwest%2Fct-heroin-overdose-outbreak-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c42cf3/turbine/ct-heroin-overdose-outbreak-20160829 | en | null | 'This is unprecedented': 174 heroin overdoses in 6 days in Cincinnati | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | The original numbers were startling enough -- 30 heroin overdoses across Cincinnati in a single weekend.
Then they just kept climbing.
Another 78 overdoses and at least three deaths were reported during a 48-hour period Aug. 23 and 24.
And at the end of last week, after a six-day stretch of emergency room visits that exhausted first responders and their medical supplies, the overdose tally soared to a number health officials are calling "unprecedented": 174.
On average, Cincinnati sees four overdose reports per day, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, and usually no more than 20 or 25 in a given week.
But pure heroin is what's responsible for that average. And that's not what's on the streets now, they say. The culprit responsible for the staggering number of 174 was likely heroin cut with the latest opioid boost meant to deliver consumers a stronger, extended high -- carfentanil. That's a tranquilizer for, among other large animals, elephants. And it's 100,000 stronger than morphine.
For now, law enforcement officials have been unable to track down the source of the toxic cocktail, but believe the spate of record-high overdoses could be caused by a single heroin batch laced with carfentanil.
State, local and federal authorities have mobilized across Hamilton County -- home to Cincinnati -- to investigate the source or sources, Newtown Police Chief Tom Synan told the Enquirer.
Synan also heads the law enforcement task force for the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition, which was created so public health and law enforcement officials from Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky could collaboratively combat the heroin epidemic plaguing the tri-state area.
Naloxone is increasingly being carried by first-responders to counter the effects of a heroin overdose. Amy Davis Naloxone is increasingly being carried by first-responders to counter the effects of a heroin overdose. Naloxone is increasingly being carried by first-responders to counter the effects of a heroin overdose. (Amy Davis)
Additional heroin overdoses reported in that area, plus New Jersey, tipped the total to 225-plus, according to reporting on Fox 13 News Now.
In the same time period of the Cincinnati overdoses, 13 were reported in Jennings County, Ind., on Aug. 23, 12 were reported on Aug. 24 in Montgomery County, Kentucky, and 29 overdoses linked to free samples of heroin, marked with a Batman symbol, were reported between Aug. 23 and Aug. 25 in Camden, New Jersey.
That comes after 27 people overdosed during a five hour period on Aug. 15 in one town in West Virginia.
But the epidemic surrounding Cincinnati has captured the most national attention -- and area leaders are not sugar coating the situation.
"It's unlike anything we've seen before," Hamilton County Commissioner Dennis Deters told the Enquirer.
He called the startling uptick a public health emergency.
"This is unprecedented to see as many alerts as we've seen in the last six days," the county's health commissioner, Tim Ingram, told the Enquirer on Aug. 26.
Officials have even begged people to turn away from the drug while the source of this potent batch is still a mystery.
We're urging you, please don't do heroin right now. If for no other reason, because we don't know what's in the stuff on the street. — Tom Synan, Newtown police chief
"We're urging you, please don't do heroin right now," Synan said, according to WCPO Cincinnati. "If for no other reason, because we don't know what's in the stuff on the street."
Carfentanil, a cousin of the less potent but still dangerous opioid fentanyl, is the strongest commercially used opioid. As they continue to do with fentanyl, drug dealers have begun cutting their heroin supplies with carfentanil to make it stretch for longer periods of time and deliver stronger -- and more addictive -- highs.
"These people are intentionally putting in drugs they know can kill someone," Synan told WCPO. "The benefit for them is if the user survives it is such a powerful high for them, they tend to come back. ... If one or two people die, they could care less. They know the supply is so big right now that if you lose some customers in their eyes there's always more in line."
Further complicating matters is that Narcan, the nasal-spray version of the drug Naxalone, which reverses the side effects of an overdose, isn't working anymore, at least not as reliably. Usually one, maybe two doses of Narcan will stabilize a patient. But the recent overdoses required two or three times that dosage.
Tests to determine if the heroin contained fentanyl or carfentanil aren't yet available at most hospitals in the city, the Enquirer reported.
"We can't confirm in the short term if someone's had fentanyl, carfentanil or heroin -- the tests flag only as positive or negative for opiates," Nanette Bentley, spokeswoman for Mercy Health, told the newspaper.
Ultimately, this past week's outbreak has been most taxing on the first responders.
"It's been exhausting," Cincinnati Police Lt. Col. Mike John told the Enquirer. "They're running from one run to another. It's been very taxing on the officers and the fire department." | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/midwest/ct-heroin-overdose-outbreak-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/552df156fa3bccd79b565e82aab1ce200f5ca65b58d2beeb6e6da3563d1ed49b.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Mark Gonzales"
] | 2016-08-29T02:48:23 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Fbaseball%2Fcubs%2Fct-bits-cubs-rotation-spt-0829-20160828-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c38f45/turbine/ct-bits-cubs-rotation-spt-0829-20160828 | en | null | Cubs exploring possibility of six-man rotation | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Manager Joe Maddon isn't opposed to employing a six-man rotation, a possibility the Cubs could employ with the return of John Lackey perhaps as soon as this weekend and the ongoing evaluation of left-hander Mike Montgomery.
"The biggest trick is to get the sixth guy you like when most teams are clamoring to get four and five," Maddon said Sunday. "So we got five we like now. We're working on six. Hopefully it works that way, and then you can do something like that."
Lackey is expected to return from a right shoulder strain following two bullpen sessions. Montgomery will make his third start Wednesday night against the Pirates.
The Cubs have two days off left, and Maddon would like to preserve his starters' strength for the likely event they reach the playoffs.
Adam Warren and Brian Matusz gave the rotation a breather in early and late July, and the rotation has responded with a 15-2 record and 2.02 ERA in August.
"As you move forward, not only us but other teams, you're going to be looking for that guy to interject pre- and post-All Star break in the future," Maddon said.
Pass the baton: After defending Maddon's decision to bunt in the first inning of Saturday's loss, Ben Zobrist said he's not a typical No. 4 hitter.
"The cleanup spot is not cleanup with this team, if that makes sense," Zobrist said. "Every spot in the lineup has the ability to drive runs in. I think on other teams, where the lineup gets thinner toward the end, and then the cleanup spot is more of a cleanup spot like you want to clean up the bases with that hitter.
"If you don't, it might be tough to do that. But with our lineup, with Addison (Russell) behind me and (Jorge) Soler behind him, in that situation, there are several cleanup hitters. It's not one guy's job the clear the bases. It's my job to pass the baton and move the lineup.
Extra inning: Kris Bryant is batting .488 with seven home runs and 16 RBIs during his 10-game hitting streak.
mgonzales@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @MDGonzales | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-bits-cubs-rotation-spt-0829-20160828-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/f28ad0dbefb46c93b7ca4f6cdd9d8e9a6798e3d9e89606206f906af8a8d6b492.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Steve Johnson"
] | 2016-08-29T20:48:49 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fentertainment%2Fmuseums%2Fct-brookfield-zoo-cookie-cockatoo-dead-20160829-column.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c48c43/turbine/ct-brookfield-zoo-cookie-cockatoo-dead-20160829 | en | null | Cookie the Cockatoo at Brookfield Zoo dies | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Cookie, an at least 83-year-old cockatoo and one of Chicago’s best known zoo animals, died over the weekend at Brookfield Zoo, the zoo announced Monday.
“On Saturday morning, Cookie suffered a very abrupt decline in his health, prompting the veterinary and animal care staff to make the extremely difficult decision that it was time to peacefully euthanize him,” Michael Adkesson, vice president of clinical medicine for Chicago Zoological Society, which runs Brookfield, said in a statement.
In addition to generations of fans, the Major Mitchell’s cockatoo could claim many superlatives. He was the last animal that dates back to the zoo’s original collection, in 1934; the oldest living animal at Brookfield; “one of the longest-lived birds on record,” according to the online Animal Ageing and Longevity Database; and “Oldest Parrot - Living” as certified by Guinness World Records in 2014.
The press took note, too, often covering the zoo’s annual birthday celebrations for the parrot.
“Like some cockeyed vaudevillian comic in a loud suit and a funny hat, Cookie, an old cockatoo, always has relied on exaggerated showiness and a raucous line of patter to attract attention,” began a 1994 Tribune story marking what was then called the animal’s 60th birthday.
Even in his final years, Cookie still had the beautiful plumage characteristic of his species, with pink feathers on the head and neck, white on the body and a red-and-white crest atop his head. But he had been off display and living in the keepers’ offices backstage in the Bird and Reptile House since 2009, after he began showing signs of stress while in a public area, said Tim Snyder, curator of birds. A sign went up informing the public that Cookie was still there, but essentially in retirement.
“He did a complete turnaround and became very active,” Snyder said. “He sat in on our meetings. He let everyone know what his feelings were. If he didn’t like you, he had a really loud, screechy voice and, if you were talking, he would interrupt you.”
When Cookie was happy or wanted to draw attention to himself, he would say his own name repeatedly, the only human word he mimicked, said Snyder.
He had battled various degenerative ailments through the years, including osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. “We all know that because he was 83 years old and well past the normal lifespan, it was going to happen eventually,” said Snyder. “But it was like he was going to outlive everybody… He was a family member for the department.”
When Cookie came to Brookfield from Australia he was a young adult which means at least one year old, possibly a little older, hence the uncertainty about his age, according to the curator.
Brookfield was planning to host a memorial to the animal, which has received fan mail from around the world, on its Facebook page, officials said.
sajohnson@chicagotribune.com
Twitter: @StevenKJohnson
MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR
Check out the latest movie reviews from Michael Phillips and the Chicago Tribune. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-brookfield-zoo-cookie-cockatoo-dead-20160829-column.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/ad623fd8c7281e6e359343d3271b85dedec32d43252e3b762f0fcf191072634b.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Natalie Hayes"
] | 2016-08-26T13:20:55 | null | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Flincolnwood%2Fnews%2Fct-lwr-bike-lanes-tl-0825-20160825-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57bf7983/turbine/ct-lwr-bike-lanes-tl-0825-20160825 | en | null | Lincolnwood moving forward with projects to accommodate bicyclists, walkers | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | As part of a larger goal to make the village more accessible for walkers and bikers, Lincolnwood officials are moving forward with longtime plans to stripe bicycle lanes on two major roadways.
The Lincolnwood Public Works Department said it plans to start construction next year on designated bike-only lanes near Pratt Avenue east to McCormick Boulevard and another shared lane along Lincoln Avenue for both motorists and cyclists, according to the village.
The Illinois Department of Transportation has approved the plans, which show the Lincoln Avenue bike lanes being marked by bicycle symbols to guide cyclists toward the safest place to ride on the roadway and reminders for drivers to share the road, according to public works officials.
"The project includes restriping Lincoln Avenue to provide a wider outside lane to accommodate a shared vehicle/bike lane," said Andrew Letson, assistant to the public works director. "The restriping will not result in the loss of any parking."
The scope of the work, which is expected to begin next year, also calls for pedestrian-activated push button signals at Devon and Pratt, as well as Lincoln and Pratt, that will activate flashing warning signs to notify walkers and bikers when it's safe to cross the intersections.
The bike lanes and traffic signal upgrades are part of a larger plan to promote alternative transportation options in the village. Two bike paths already are under construction.
Known as the Valley Line Trail, the first of the two paths will connect bicyclists traveling between Chicago and Skokie. The second path — the Union Pacific Bicycle Path — will connect the east side of Lincolnwood from Devon to Touhy avenues.
Letson said the Valley Line Trail is expected to be open by September, while the Union Pacific path could be ready for use by November.
An Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program grant awarded to the village six years ago covers $171,000 (80 percent) of the total project costs for the bike lane striping and pedestrian walk signals.
The village is responsible for the remaining 20 percent, or roughly $34,270.
Ongoing discussions between IDOT and the village regarding what streets should be striped with the bike lanes resulted in a delay stretching several years, according to public works.
"Due to these delays, the project agreement date needs to be amended in order to extend funding for the project," according to a memo from public works.
The Lincolnwood Village Board this month agreed to extend the local agency agreement between IDOT and the village that governs the grant funding.
IDOT rejected other ideas for bike lanes the village wanted to build along East Prairie Avenue and west of where the Union Pacific path will meet Pratt. The state agency determined those streets weren't wide enough, according to the village.
Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lincolnwood/news/ct-lwr-bike-lanes-tl-0825-20160825-story.html | en | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/3267d4e85f51a95dd6a754a9c052fd1e7c3d4b3386883df62d6c0c1ac166c197.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune"
] | 2016-08-26T22:48:04 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fdaily-southtown%2Fnews%2Fct-sta-vickroy-mri-terror-st-0829-20160826-column.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0b4b1/turbine/ct-sta-vickroy-mri-terror-st-0829-20160826 | en | null | Don't panic; there's light at the end of MRI tunnel | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Look, we all have phobias. We all have limitations. And we all have moments when we can't help but share our shortcomings with the world, or at least the MRI technician.
I am not a fearful person. In fact, I like to think of myself as being braver than the average bear. Not crazy brave as in signing up for sky diving lessons or going willingly into the line for the Dare Devil Dive at Six Flags Great America.
But I have traveled a bit, including to Third World countries. I have eaten outside the tourist areas in Mexico. I have snorkeled in the Pacific, ridden a horse in Durango, Colo. and opted to stay awake through hand surgery. And once, in an unusually courageous moment, I asked a very stern, somewhat demanding new boss if I could be the first person on staff to go part-time.
Still here to tell about it all.
And yet, several times, when very caring doctors suggested I needed an MRI — a procedure that offers a peek into a human's muscles and tissues — to get to the source of ongoing neck and subsequent shoulder issues, I declined, vehemently and usually in a sweat.
"I can't, I just can't," I'd said repeatedly, never having even seen an MRI set up. The horror stories alone were enough to convince me ongoing neck and shoulder pain would always be preferable to lying motionless in a noisy coffin for 40 minutes.
And so for years after a bad accident, I lived with the pain.
Until finally, this past spring, I couldn't live with it anymore. The neck was so bad that I was getting regular headaches that originated in the injured area and quickly moved up over my skull. The shoulder was so bad that I could barely lift my right arm.
I missed riding my bike. I wanted to be able to walk the dog with either hand again. And a grandchild was on the way.
It was time to face my fear.
The origin of panic
I'm not sure why some people suffer from claustrophobia but I do know it is real, something that can make you tremble, cause you to reroute your life like a flow chart master and prevent you from ever becoming a successful scuba diver or astronaut.
I suspect mine came on at an early age. I was 4 or 5 when my sister and I used to play with the neighbor girls down Mozart Street on Chicago's South Side. The sisters lived with their grandmother, a woman who didn't take kindly to neighborhood kids running like banshees through their home.
One particular day she shooed the four of us out of the house. I recall she had a broom, but maybe my memory embellishes. The other girls were older and faster and thus made it out of the house first.
The mean grandma caught up to me and gave me a shove into the screen door, which still had its storm window in place. She promptly shut the main door behind me.
I was trapped — like a slice of toast — between two doors.
I'm sure I wasn't in that position for long, just long enough for panic to set in. I remember my hands pressed against the glass. I remember my breath fogged up the window. I remember, very clearly, being terrified.
My sister — the same sister who later would also save me from drowning, from being trapped in an attic and from liberally using the popular phrase "sock it to me" when I was in middle school — came to my rescue. The screen door was jammed and so she ran around to the back, confronted the scary grandma and somehow, some way negotiated my freedom.
Right then and there I realized, one, I would owe my sister forever; and, two, being stuck in a small space, unable to move, was terrifying.
I've never forgotten either, although the first revelation doesn't keep me up at night.
A test of nerves and other things
Flash forward a million years and there I was allowing myself to be placed head first into a giant tube.
It was every terrible thing I'd imagined. Isolating, confining, suffocating, terrifying. I tried counting forward and then backward, both times losing track, which only added to my anxiety. Then I tried singing songs in my head. Eventually I visualized a bloody mary and repeatedly constructing and deconstructing it.
I tried self-talk, which gradually became self-scolding. Open your eyes. Don't you dare open your eyes. Go to sleep. Don't you dare go to sleep. Suck it up. Tell them enough's enough.
Somehow, I made it through. Not even caring that the results would be available soon, I wobbled out of the facility, amazed that I survived and promising to never ever do that to myself again. It was almost as if I had to hug myself and tell myself everything would be OK.
Then I posted about it on Facebook. And the floodgates opened.
Admittedly, there were several people who found their MRI experience to be restful.
"I actually took a nap," one responder posted.
But others, like me, were freaked out by the procedure and surprised they made it through. For still others, fear has prevented them from even considering the test.
And it is for those folks in particular that I bring good news: Yes, fellow claustrophobes, there is light at the end of the dark, clinical, terrifying MRI tunnel.
Sure, some have found relief through more "open" MRI facilities, but a new cutting edge option for scaredy cats is something called the Caring Suite.
Tom Jacobs is director of Imaging Services at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, which offers the system.
He said he believes the traditional MRI is among the most anxiety inducing medical procedures.
"Due to the fact that you're going into a tube, due to the fact that you're in there for approximately 30 minutes to an hour and a half, sometimes three and four hours, yeah, it's anxiety inducing," Jacobs said. "You go in there, hear the door close, the next thing they're talking to you through the speaker and you're alone."
That's why the medical center jumped at the opportunity to install the newly designed system.
'Spa-like experience'
Christ was the first hospital in the country to purchase the system in late 2012 and the third to go live with it in 2013, Jacobs said.
The suites, which are more spacious and allow patients to choose their own lighting and music and even watch a movie, were so successful as an inpatient option that when the hospital was recently redesigning its outpatient area, it added them there as well, Jacobs said. Soon, five of the six imaging stations will be a Caring Suite, he said.
Kathleen Kleinhoffer, MRI coordinator, was among the first technicians to be trained on the new system. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/news/ct-sta-vickroy-mri-terror-st-0829-20160826-column.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/adf323cebf8279f3b64a41459ec732dd6d6a25871ee8358a03a18caf906d7ee9.json |
[
"Eric Newcomer"
] | 2016-08-26T16:49:19 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fbusiness%2Fct-uber-lost-1-2-billion-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c048f2/turbine/ct-uber-lost-1-2-billion-20160826 | en | null | Uber said to lose at least $1.2 billion in 1st half of 2016 | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | The ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies is not a public company, but every three months, dozens of shareholders get on a conference call to hear the latest details on its business performance from its head of finance, Gautam Gupta.
On Friday, Gupta told investors that Uber's losses mounted in the second quarter. Even in the U.S., where Uber had turned a profit during its first quarter, the company was once again losing money.
In the first quarter of this year, Uber lost about $520 million before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to people familiar with the matter. In the second quarter the losses significantly exceeded $750 million, including a roughly $100 million shortfall in the U.S., those people said. That means Uber's losses in the first half of 2016 totaled at least $1.27 billion.
Subsidies for Uber's drivers are responsible for the majority of the company's losses globally, Gupta told investors, according to people familiar with the matter. An Uber spokesman declined to comment.
"You won't find too many technology companies that could lose this much money, this quickly," said Aswath Damodaran, a business professor at New York University who has written skeptically of Uber's astronomical valuation on his blog. "For a private business to raise as much capital as Uber has been able to is unprecedented."
Bookings grew tremendously from the first quarter of this year to the second, from above $3.8 billion to more than $5 billion. Net revenue, under generally accepted accounting principles, grew about 18 percent, from about $960 million in the first quarter to about $1.1 billion in the second.
Uber also told investors during the call that it was changing how it calculates UberPool's contribution to revenue in the second quarter, which had the effect of increasing revenue.
Uber's losses and revenue have generally grown in lockstep as the company's global ambitions have expanded. Uber has lost money quarter after quarter. In 2015, Uber lost at least $2 billion before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Uber, which is seven years old, has lost at least $4 billion in the history of the company.
It's hard to find much of a precedent for Uber's losses. Webvan and Kozmo.com-two now-defunct phantoms of the original dot-com boom-lost just over $1 billion combined in their short lifetimes. Amazon.com Inc. is famous for losing money while increasing its market value, but its biggest loss ever totaled $1.4 billion in 2000. Uber exceeded that number in 2015 and is on pace to do it again this year.
"It's hardly rare for companies to lose large sums of money as they try to build significant markets and battle for market share," said Joe Grundfest, professor of law and business at Stanford. "The interesting challenge is for them to turn the corner to become profitable, cash-flow-positive entities."
The second quarter of 2016, which ended in June, could represent a nadir for Uber. The company's losses will likely fall. In July, it cut a deal with its largest global competitor, Chinese ride-hailing behemoth Didi Chuxing, washing its hands of its massive losses in that country. Didi gave Uber a 17.5 percent stake in its business and a $1 billion investment in exchange for Uber's retreat. Uber lost at least $2 billion in two years in China, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg in July. Uber won't see any losses from China on its balance sheet after August, the company said on Friday's investor call.
Uber's backers range from venture capital firms like Benchmark Capital to the investment bank Goldman Sachs. Altogether, Uber has raised more than $16 billion in cash and debt. Its latest valuation is a whopping $69 billion. The company has effectively redistributed at least $1 billion to the Chinese working class in the form of heavy subsidies to drivers there. "Uber and Didi Chuxing are investing billions of dollars in China and both companies have yet to turn a profit there," Uber Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick wrote in a letter announcing the company's departure from China.
Uber has been engaged in a fierce price war with Lyft Inc. this year, and that has also contributed to the enormous losses. Uber told investors on Friday's call that it's willing to spend to maintain its market share in the U.S. The company told investors that it believes Uber has between 84 percent and 87 percent of the market in the U.S., according to a person familiar with the matter.
Lyft said its market share in major U.S. cities is more than 20 percent and has grown substantially since last year. "Uber's alleged market share is a misleading and skewed statistic given that they offer service in more markets than Lyft," a spokeswoman for Lyft wrote in an email.
One Uber investor said that he was expecting the company to continue losing money in the U.S. for the next quarter or two. But Lyft, a much smaller company by trip volume, looks to be losing more money than Uber in the U.S. Lyft has told investors that it will keep its losses under $50 million a month, Bloomberg reported in April. That would be about $150 million in a quarter. Uber's U.S. losses totaled about $100 million in the second quarter of this year. In July, Uber delivered 62 million rides to Lyft's 13.9 million. Uber's subsidies were spread over more rides.
Uber has about $8 billion in the bank and will soon receive $1 billion in cash from Didi, according to a person familiar with the matter. Uber also has access to a $2 billion credit line and a $1.2 billion loan.
"I think what Uber is trying to do is, 'Hey, look, we're going to take the losses up front in order to get to disproportionate scale,'" said Robert Siegel, lecturer in management at Stanford's business school. "The question is when they can get to profitability." | http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-uber-lost-1-2-billion-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/063de7f9f2a6f7806eb95d94acbfaeecbf2da265f604e83a9d72125b178942c4.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Dan Wiederer"
] | 2016-08-27T00:48:02 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Ffootball%2Fbears%2Fct-what-to-watch-4-bears-spt-0827-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0c575/turbine/ct-what-to-watch-4-bears-spt-0827-20160826 | en | null | What to watch 4: Bears reshuffling offensive line yet again | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | The Bears still are searching for their first exhibition victory and will get their next chance Saturday against the Chiefs at Soldier Field. For the most part, the starters — or at least the healthiest ones — will play into the second half in the team's last true tuneup before the regular season.
Here are four storylines worth tracking.
A thin Bears line
Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains is playing musical chairs again with his line and searching for answers as the injury problems add up. Pro Bowl guard Kyle Long won't play Saturday as he continues coping with a labrum problem in his shoulder. That leaves the Bears to search for contingency plans in the event that Long's absence pushes into the regular season. Veteran Ted Larsen, who moved in to play center after Hroniss Grasu suffered a season-ending knee injury earlier this month, will likely start at right guard against the Chiefs. And that means Cornelius Edison, a second-year lineman who has yet to play in a regular-season game, will take over at center for the time being. Starting right tackle Bobby Massie, meanwhile, should play but was slowed this week by an illness.
Jay Cutler
For the most part, the Bears quarterback has been steady since training camp began, even as he adapts daily to all the moving parts around him. After a disappointing effort in the first exhibition, Cutler was sharper against the Patriots last week, completing 8 of 12 passes for 83 yards and leading consecutive scoring drives to open the game. But the quest to establish an offensive rhythm appears to grow more complicated by the week. On Saturday, Cutler and the offense likely will be without Long (shoulder), tight end Zach Miller (concussion) and receiver Eddie Royal (concussion). So that leaves the quarterback to adjust again with a unit that's nowhere near full strength.
Photos of Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.
Rush to judgment
Vic Fangio's first-team defense hasn't yet established a ferocious pass rush. Over five series in the first two exhibitions, that group has contributed zero sacks with just one quarterback hurry by outside linebacker Willie Young. Admittedly, it's a small sample size. And it's worth noting that in the preseason, the Bears are keeping things basic, not yet deploying their full arsenal of pressures and blitzes. Still, the front seven would benefit from generating some sort of positive momentum. And that means getting after quarterback Alex Smith on Saturday.
Target practice?
Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters was tested often during his rookie season in 2015. The results? Peters tied for the NFL lead with eight interceptions, showcasing his instincts and competitiveness and winning Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. Peters should offer up a nice preseason test for Alshon Jeffery as he pushes forward toward the regular season. Peters will challenge Jeffery with an impressive combination of length and physicality. The Bears receiver has his own strengths, most notably his strong hands and an elite ability to catch balls in traffic. So Saturday's matchup could be fun to watch, particularly with Peters' proclivity to gamble.
dwiederer@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @danwiederer | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-what-to-watch-4-bears-spt-0827-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/af8be84aacb3ebfde605f9d3f2c67f4834619cefc8be0a00ec68a8c65782a883.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Tony Baranek"
] | 2016-08-27T12:48:12 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fdaily-southtown%2Fsports%2Fct-sta-football-downers-grove-south-homewood-flossmoor-st-0828-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c111eb/turbine/ct-sta-football-downers-grove-south-homewood-flossmoor-st-0828-20160826 | en | null | Bryant Wright flashes right stuff as Homewood-Flossmoor romps in opener | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Quick with his feet. Check.
Electric with his arm. Check.
Homewood-Flossmoor's Bryant Wright didn't leave any questions unanswered as to his ability to take over the reins at quarterback for the Vikings.
In H-F's 56-6 win Friday over Downers Grove South he did, if not it all, certainly a ton.
The 5-foot-11, 165-pound senior was 8-for-13 for 206 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran four times for 57 yards and a TD.
Graduated Vikings QB Bryce Gray is missed, but Wright still took a piece of him into the game.
"I'm just trying to keep my head down," Wright said. "I'm just trying to fill the shoes and the print that Bryce left on the organization.
"I love Bryce to death. He sent me a text message in the morning saying, 'Just play your game and don't let the game be too big for you.' He doesn't know how much that meant to me."
Conjecture had it Wright's speed might be his biggest attribute. But it was his passing flair he flashed first, firing a perfect strike to a streaking Justin Hall for an 82-yard pass play and H-F's first TD. Wright later came up clutch on fourth down, spotting Tyrice Richie with a pass that Richie turned into a 27-yard score.
Late in the second quarter Wright did it himself, with back-to-back runs of 7 and 10 yards. The latter was good for six points and helped the Vikings close out the first half with a 36-6 lead.
He left H-F coach Craig Buzea with the biggest smile of all.
"He's waited his turn and he's watched an all-state kid in front of him and learned a lot," Buzea said of Wright. "He did a great job and has come a long way in a short period of time."
There were other standouts in H-F's opening-night romp.
Running back Tyler Nutall (8 carries, 105 yards) punctuated the Vikings' second drive with a 23-yard TD.
Herbert Hughes, a transfer from Stagg, scored back-to-back TDs in the third quarter on runs of 55 and 8 yards.
Backup quarterback Kellyn Gerenstein also scored on a 94-yard run.
On the defensive side, linebacker Robert Venegas scored on a 37-yard interception return. Christian Mallinger also made a huge play early, stopping what had been a long first drive by Downers Grove South to the H-F 26.
abaranek@tribpub.com
Twitter @tbaranek | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/sports/ct-sta-football-downers-grove-south-homewood-flossmoor-st-0828-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/1eb0d82b38729256e0391ae3af5501a37ce9531540bd6a2723bf5c5b7871c37f.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Phil Rockrohr"
] | 2016-08-26T13:19:09 | null | 2016-07-25T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Flake-zurich%2Fnews%2Fct-lzc-worker-compensation-tl-0728-20160725-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-5796bf2b/turbine/ct-lzc-worker-compensation-tl-0728-20160725 | en | null | Study could address 'inequities' in Lake Zurich village positions, salaries | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Lake Zurich officials do not expect to cut any employees but rather hope to address any "inequities" in positions and salaries, following a wage study the village recently authorized, Human Resources Manager Doug Gibson said.
The study specifically will address the effects from a freeze in automatic step salary increases for non-union employees, a move made in 2011 that now has brought salaries for union employees near those of management, Gibson said.
The study also will target Lake Zurich's ability to retain quality personnel after three high-ranking officials left over the last 12 months, he said.
"There is no gross inequity that exists, but it's enough that we want to take a look at it and make sure we're paying everybody (appropriately)," Gibson said. "We also want to keep good people and make sure we can attract new ones, as well."
For up to $30,000, Springsted municipal advisers, of Minnesota, were hired to review current salaries, evaluate benefits to resolve compensation inequities, and recommend classification and pay changes, according to Gibson's July 5 report to the village board.
Village President Tom Poynton said the study is needed to ensure that Lake Zurich is current with its municipal practices.
"We want to keep (these studies) current," he said. "The last one was eight to 10 years ago. We want to stay current and keep good talent in Lake Zurich. We have had some top-notch people, and it has made a big difference in running the village."
The potential inequities may have been created when Lake Zurich froze automatic step increases, or annual pay raises based on experience, for non-union employees in 2011, Gibson said.
Those employees, including managers and department heads, are instead awarded salary raises based on the cost of living, he said.
"That's where you get the little inequities because union personnel continued to take their step increases and non-union people did not take their step increases," Gibson said.
The problem occurred in both the police and fire departments, where the salaries of some union members are within 4 percent of their bosses, he said.
Colin Gaffney, Lake Zurich's police union representative, did not return calls for comment. Jason Henriksen, the village's fire union representative, also did not reply to an email requesting comment.
The village's ability to retain top-level administrators also influenced officials to commission the wage study, Gibson said.
Former Village Manager Jason Slowinski, Community Services Director Mike Earl, and Village Planner Sam Hubbard each resigned between August 2015 and April 2016 for other jobs.
"That's a big part of it," Gibson said. "Are we competing in the marketplace? Are we keeping the best of the best? We want to have the best people in place for the people of Lake Zurich. We don't want to lose them to other towns."
Poynton said he viewed each of the three departures as more of a professional opportunity than a salary issue, although all three accepted higher-paying jobs
He pointed out Earl actually retired from public service to become senior vice president at GovHR USA, a national government headhunter and temp agency based in Northbrook. Before leaving, Earl said he was simply looking for a new opportunity.
"I don't really think of it as retiring," Earl had said. "It's an opportunity to do something different but still remain in local government."
No cuts are planned as part of the Lake Zurich study, Gibson said.
"It would be looking at job paths and seeing if they make more sense in one area vs. another," Gibson said. "There are no cuts intended to come from the study in the least bit."
For example, the study might review a position in the parks and recreation department, where the employee performs a great deal of design work, such as fliers, posters and brochures, he said.
"They get called upon by administration or other departments for a design spin on something," Gibson said. "We might pull that person over to align those resources to see if it would be more efficient to have them somewhere else."
Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-zurich/news/ct-lzc-worker-compensation-tl-0728-20160725-story.html | en | 2016-07-25T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/99442e612fc75834059e4a792f67162766fdd5e518242587e31b0ad214794fc1.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Rex Huppke"
] | 2016-08-26T13:20:52 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fopinion%2Fhuppke%2Fct-clinton-trump-alt-right-racism-huppke-20160825-column.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57bfd11a/turbine/ct-clinton-trump-alt-right-racism-huppke-20160825 | en | null | Clinton might be the GOP's savior - how strange is that? | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Hillary Clinton — Hillary Clinton, of all people! — has done the Republican Party a huge favor.
She has thrown the GOP a lifeline, given conservatives their last, best chance to save themselves from the ruinous blathering of Donald Trump.
It’s like the Grinch sitting down to carve the roast beast for the Whos down in Whoville. Who would’ve thunk it?
Clinton reached a hand out Thursday by calmly delivering a speech in Nevada that called out Trump’s litany of bigoted comments, his casual wink-and-a-nod relationships with racists and hate-mongers, his embrace of the bile-spewing Internet trolls of the alt-right.
She left nothing to chance, citing specific examples, naming names, recounting stories from the alt-right website Breitbart, whose head man, Stephen Bannon, is now Trump’s campaign CEO.
Clinton said of Bannon:
“To give you a flavor of his work, here are a few headlines they’ve published:
‘Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy.’
‘Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism or Cancer?’
‘Gabby Giffords: The Gun Control Movement’s Human Shield’
‘Hoist It High And Proud: The Confederate Flag Proclaims A Glorious Heritage.’”
Clinton was not being hyperbolic in her speech. Her words were grounded in facts, like those headlines. It wasn’t so much an attack as it was a demolition.
And it was exactly the kind of speech a Republican should have given during the primary, one that might have kept Trump from ever getting this far. Alas, the other candidates were too cowardly, all of them. Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz never stood up to Trump until it was too late, always fearful of the zealous fringe that supported him, the very same wackos Clinton took to task.
“This is what happens when you treat the National Enquirer like Gospel,” she said. “It’s what happens when you listen to the radio host Alex Jones, who claims that 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombings were inside jobs. He said the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre were child actors and no one was actually killed there. Trump didn’t challenge those lies. He went on Jones’ show and said: ‘Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down.’”
That’s all true. And it’s all just as despicable as it sounds.
The so-called “alt-right” that Clinton talked about in her speech is a perverse collection of racist, misogynist, xenophobic white guys who resent America’s diversity and think viciously harassing people online transforms them from pathetically aggrieved man-children into gods. (It doesn’t.)
There are two schools of thought when it comes to handling Internet trolls or radical fringe groups: ignore them; or shine a light on them for all to see.
Clinton took that latter path, and said: “This is a moment of reckoning for every Republican dismayed that the Party of Lincoln has become the Party of Trump. It’s a moment of reckoning for all of us who love our country and believe that America is better than this.”
She never said, “Vote for me.” She simply called Trump out for what he is: a reckless bigot surrounded by equally reckless and equally bigoted wretches.
The Republican Party couldn’t police itself well enough to stave off the rise of this reality television clown. Now Clinton — the hated Hillary Clinton, of all people — has given Republicans of good conscience a way out.
She did their dirty work for them. She gave them a reason — many reasons, in fact — to accept that Trump is unacceptable, and a chance to wash the stink of his campaign off before it clings to them forever. Not by voting for her, but by recognizing all that comes with voting for him.
Clinton’s an unlikely savior for Republicans who care about the future of their party. But if a lifeline comes along when you’re drowning, you shouldn’t care too much about who's on the other end.
rhuppke@chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/huppke/ct-clinton-trump-alt-right-racism-huppke-20160825-column.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/29b33ef123a752b83d6cbe88b436d8db4d981a9a7c8a98e7253d70ca0f19d203.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Letter To The Editor"
] | 2016-08-26T13:21:33 | null | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fmorton-grove%2Fopinion%2Fct-mgc-letter-senior-discounts-tl-0901-20160824-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57bdd16a/turbine/ct-mgc-letter-senior-discounts-tl-0901-20160824 | en | null | Letter: Morton Grove should restore senior utility discounts | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | We hear now that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is proposing a discount in the water and sewer bills for senior residents in single dwelling homes there. The village of Morton Grove previously gave such discounts to senior residents until officials considered the small income they were missing, so they revoked it. While the village spends plenty of money elsewhere, such as on remediation for contaminated land at the former site of Maxwell's Restaurant, surely it can find alternate ways to prop up the general fund that supports the village expenses.
Sherwin Dubren
Morton Grove | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/morton-grove/opinion/ct-mgc-letter-senior-discounts-tl-0901-20160824-story.html | en | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/847891f647c124e632d22bc15c4676e701dcfcb44d63b1f300e6c916ddec9349.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Rex Huppke"
] | 2016-08-31T14:49:02 | null | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fopinion%2Fhuppke%2Fct-women-wearing-headphones-huppke-20160831-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c6e790/turbine/ct-women-wearing-headphones-huppke-20160831 | en | null | Sexist advice for approaching women wearing headphones | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | After decades of experimentation and abject failure, men finally have an answer to one of the most vexing questions of the modern age: How do you talk to a woman who is wearing headphones?
The solution surfaced in a blog post that has gone viral and caused considerable buzz in both the Twitterverse and the Man-O-Sphere. I'll get to that post in a moment, but first let me give a primer to the handful of people who never knew how flummoxed men are by women wearing headphones.
Headphones generally indicate that a person wants to be left alone. However, real men — the kind who rely on strategic advice from the internet to interact with members of the opposite sex — know better.
They — the manly men who blame their inability to find love on women being too complicated — know for a fact that all women who use headphones are secretly waiting for a strange man to come along and start an awkward conversation.
The problem has always been: How do you lure the unsuspecting woman out of her headphone cocoon so she can realize how badly she needs you in her life?
Enter the aforementioned blog post, appropriately titled, "How to Talk to a Woman Who is Wearing Headphones."
How to talk to a woman wearing headphones themodernman.com A screenshot of a dating advice piece from "The Modern Man" about how to approach a woman who is wearing headphones. A screenshot of a dating advice piece from "The Modern Man" about how to approach a woman who is wearing headphones. (themodernman.com) (themodernman.com)
The post's author is Dan Bacon, a self-described dating and relationship expert who runs the in-no-way-loathsome website The Modern Man, which features information like, "What to say to turn a woman on and make her want to have sex with you ASAP. (This is very easy to do. You've got to try it!)."
The Modern Man is a place where men who care only about having sex with women can go to understand women as they are understood by men who want to only have sex with women. It's like someone who's bad at gambling seeking help from a person who is also bad at gambling.
I considered reaching out to Bacon with some questions, but I assumed he was too busy having sex with all the women he had de-headphoned. So I just relied on his now-famous guide to seducing ear-budded ladies.
Bacon's post begins: "These days many women walk around playing with a smartphone or tablet device and are often wearing headphones and listening to music at the same time."
Those darn women. Always playing hard to get.
He continues: "Yet, that doesn't mean you can't talk to them."
What it really means is you probably shouldn't talk to them unless you have something important to say like, "The coffee shop we're in is on fire" or "Someone is standing right behind with you an ax."
But let's proceed to Bacon's tips: stand in front of her, smile and "wave your hand in her direct line of vision so she can see it."
He then gets specific: "When she looks at you, smile, point to her headphones and confidently ask, 'Can you take off your headphones for a minute?' as you pretend to be taking headphones off your head, so she fully understands what you mean."
You don't want any confusion when you're interrupting a woman to flirt with her using techniques you read about online.
Bacon goes into more detail than I have space for, but his road map is guaranteed to make any woman wearing headphones fall head over heels in love with you, or run away as quickly as possible, leaving behind a pair of headphones you can keep. (Score!)
Some people capable of normal human emotions might argue that another option for finding companionship is to explore what it is about you that's keeping you from a meaningful relationship. But that approach is for loser wimp-men, not bold alpha-men who read the internet.
Which leaves me with one question: What about women? What about women who aren't quite sure how to talk to guys who aren't quite sure how to talk to women who are wearing headphones?
I bet there are literally maybe some women out there who see guys reading The Modern Man on their laptops and want to meet and date those desperate and socially awkward men but have no idea what to say.
Well, I'm here to help.
What follows is my expert advice, titled, "How to Talk to a Man Who Does Not Know How to Talk to a Woman Who is Wearing Headphones":
1) Don't.
2) If you've made it this far, you're very bad at following my advice. But as long as we're here, remain calm. These men are not used to being approached by women, and the slightest false move can spook them.
3) The man you're approaching likely views you as a conquest or a puzzle that can be solved through a series of easy steps. Be sure to accommodate that thinking by responding to his jokes and insights and praising his confidence and manliness.
4) The Modern Man says that women know it's "the man's role to be confident enough to walk over and talk to a woman he finds attractive," so you're going to want to acknowledge that you've broken the rules. Do that by saying, "I know it's the man's role to be confident enough to walk over and talk to a woman he finds attractive. I'm sorry I didn't let you do that. Can I make it up to you by being your girlfriend?"
That should pretty much do it. Oh, and make sure you're not wearing headphones when you approach the guy.
That might really throw him for a loop.
rhuppke@chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/huppke/ct-women-wearing-headphones-huppke-20160831-story.html | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/b8643b0b0fe29cf4cd0b9f8253576bfb16eef9a750fee9073a08bdf871689648.json |
[
"Associated Press",
"Tribune News Services"
] | 2016-08-27T12:48:10 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fct-mississippi-nuns-slain-charges-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c129d3/turbine/ct-mississippi-nuns-slain-charges-20160826 | en | null | Man faces 2 capital murder charges in deaths of Mississippi nuns | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | A man has been arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in connection with the deaths of two nuns who were slain in Mississippi, police said.
Rodney Earl Sanders, 46, of Kosciusko, was charged in the deaths of Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill, both 68, Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain said in a statement released late Friday night.
Their bodies were discovered Thursday after they failed to show up for work at a clinic in Lexington, Mississippi, about 10 miles from where they lived.
"Sanders was developed as a person of interest early on in the investigation," Lt. Colonel Jimmy Jordan said in the statement.
Sanders was being held in an undisclosed detention center awaiting his initial court appearance.
Meanwhile, in the poverty-stricken Mississippi county where the two nuns were slain, forgiveness for their killer is hard to find, even if forgiveness is what the victims would have wanted.
Jamie Sample AP Jamie Sample, a parishioner of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Lexington, Miss., sits in the shade in Durant, Miss., and shows a smartphone photograph taken last December 2015, of Sisters Paula Merrill, left, and Margaret Held. The two nuns who worked as nurses, and lived in Durant, Miss., were found slain in their home Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. There were signs of a break-in and their vehicle was missing. Jamie Sample, a parishioner of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Lexington, Miss., sits in the shade in Durant, Miss., and shows a smartphone photograph taken last December 2015, of Sisters Paula Merrill, left, and Margaret Held. The two nuns who worked as nurses, and lived in Durant, Miss., were found slain in their home Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. There were signs of a break-in and their vehicle was missing. (AP) (AP)
Sisters Margaret Held and Paula Merrill were nurse practitioners who dedicated their lives to providing health care to people in the poorest county in the state. And as authorities sought the killer, many residents wondered how they will fill the hole the women's deaths have left.
"Right now, I don't see no forgiveness on my heart," said Joe Morgan Jr., a 58-year-old former factory worker who has diabetes and was a patient of Merrill's at the clinic where the two nuns worked.
He said Merrill would want him to forgive whoever killed the women, but he hopes the perpetrator is arrested, convicted and executed.
"She doesn't deserve to die like this, doing God's work," Morgan said, shaking his head. "There's something wrong with the world."
Both women worked Man, 46, faces 2 at the clinic, where they gave flu shots, dispensed insulin and provided other medical care for children and adults who couldn't afford it.
Their stolen car was found abandoned a mile from their home, and there were signs of a break-in, but police haven't disclosed a motive.
Authorities have not said how the women were killed, but the Rev. Greg Plata of St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington, where the nuns had led Bible study for years, said police told him they were stabbed.
The state posted a reward of $20,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Plata said both nuns' religious communities have asked that people pray for the killer or killers. Asked about people's struggles to forgive, the priest said: "Forgiveness is at the heart of being a Christian. Look at Jesus on the cross: 'Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.'"
On Friday, a handwritten sign on the front door of Lexington Medical Clinic said it was closed until Monday.
The clinic and the nuns' home in Durant are in Holmes County, population 18,000. With 44 percent of its residents living in poverty, Holmes is the seventh-poorest county in America, according to the Census Bureau.
The slayings did more than shock people and plunge the county into mourning. They leave a gaping hole in what was already a strapped health care system.
Dr. Elias Abboud, who worked with the sisters for years and helped build the clinic, said it provided about 25 percent of all medical care in the county.
The two nuns cultivated relationships with drug company representatives, who often left extra free samples, according to clinic manager Lisa Dew.
"This is a poor area, and they dignified those who are poor with outreach and respect for them," Plata said. "They treated each person as a child of God."
Merrill's sister Rosemarie, speaking by telephone from her Stoneham, Massachusetts, home, said her sister had been in Mississippi helping the poor since 1981 and had previously worked in Holly Springs, where she used to ride around on a moped and was instrumental in locating the source of a tuberculosis outbreak.
Merrill was raised in the suburbs of Boston and came from a working-class family, her father a laborer and her mother a bookkeeper, her nephew David said. He said his aunt had worked with Held for many years.
"We always considered Margaret just part of the family," he said. "The word 'sister' has many meanings, and they fulfilled all of them."
Rosemarie Merrill said she doesn't know what will happen to the clinic now and worries about the effect on health care in Holmes County. She said her sister and Held would often go into the clinic on Sundays after Mass or on their days off.
"It's just going to be a disaster," she said.
Genette Pierce, who works at a home health and hospice business a few doors down from the clinic, said: "Their patients — all of them — they're going to be lost without them right now."
Associated Press | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-mississippi-nuns-slain-charges-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/f0b4dcd01d7c69cc3776d75d45fd41de743d2c6eaee2a7d475d143e099f9ed20.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Dan Wiederer"
] | 2016-08-31T02:49:11 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Ffootball%2Fbears%2Fct-bears-struggling-hoping-for-hope-spt-0831-20160830-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c62df7/turbine/ct-bears-struggling-hoping-for-hope-spt-0831-20160830 | en | null | Winless in August, struggling Bears hoping to find hope | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | If you need a refresher on just how ugly the Bears' 23-7 home loss to the Chiefs really was Saturday afternoon, start by scanning back through the 19 times quarterback Jay Cutler dropped back.
It was, in a nutshell, a blur of ineptitude. Dropped passes, skipped passes, batted passes, sailed passes.
Plus, on four occasions, there were no passes at all with Cutler either sacked or forced to scramble and slide.
On only one of those 19 dropbacks did the Bears pick up a first down.
It was utter sloppiness, all afternoon.
So after the game, as Cutler processed a performance in which he was on the field for six shaky and scoreless possessions, the quarterback was asked why anyone should be optimistic that the offense is headed for brighter days.
"I don't think we have any other choice," Cutler said.
Ah, yes. Optimism by necessity.
"We have a lot of new guys. We have a great attitude. We have a great team," Cutler added in a sales pitch to a discouraged fan base. "It's a long season. It's 16 games. We're going to figure it out."
For now, such vows seem hollow.
Yes, it's the preseason. It has been an experimentation period. The win-loss record doesn't matter.
Photos from the Bears-Chiefs preseason game on Aug. 27, 2016, at Soldier Field.
Fine. Fair enough. And it still remains important to assess these Bears, this young and developing and hungry team, through the proper lens. They're not a finished product, deserve room to mature and could surprise the NFL world with a rapid growth spurt in the coming months.
But it's also fair to use the visual evidence from five weeks of practices and three woeful preseason losses to conclude that "Playoffs" isn't a destination currently recognized in the Bears' GPS.
Those forecasting a significant upswing this fall can search for hope — and right now, it's only hope — in three things. For starters, a proven Bears coaching staff, particularly on defense, has a track record of developing young talent, of identifying the right mix of players and getting them to jell.
Beyond that, John Fox has earned his reputation as a shrewd game planner, a strategist who can take each week as its own entity, devising game plans that find enough favorable matchups to keep even inferior teams competitive.
Furthermore, the Bears have so far succeeded at building their roster around smart, tough and passionate players, grinders who won't come unglued when a wave of inevitable failures takes their feet out from under them.
So even after Saturday's fiasco, with the Bears having lost three exhibition games by a combined 68-29 count, players owned their failures without panicking.
Linebacker Jerrell Freeman is certain he has seen defensive progress and continues harping on "making the small things the big things."
Freeman also believes the team's veteran leaders have shown needed resolve.
"We have vets at every position who have been through this before," he said. "That's incredibly valuable. You need to have that common force everywhere, those players that guys can look to for assurance. Like, 'OK, I know this guy is with me out here. He's got me.'"
Defensive end Mitch Unrein admitted Saturday's loss bugged the Bears, a performance so scrambled by errors that it couldn't be brushed aside as a routine spill. The clean-up project had to be a team effort.
Unrein also knows that, at this point, the Bears shouldn't see their coaching staff as a convenient life raft.
"It's not up to the coaches to get us going," Unrein said. "It's up to us as players. It's up to the older guys in each room to bring the younger guys up to speed. And quickly."
On Monday, the Bears will push through the turnstile of Week 1 with no turning back. In a blink, the stakes will elevate and the spotlight will intensify.
Their flaws will be magnified with the margin for error still razor thin.
Kickoff in Houston is closing in.
"It's coming fast," Unrein said. "And the regular season is very unforgiving if you're not prepared. So we need to find our footing and our identity as soon as we can."
It's a major task for a team in transition. Still.
dwiederer@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @danwiederer | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-bears-struggling-hoping-for-hope-spt-0831-20160830-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/031973e718a5cfd800f8a839eb00440e90a47f15c5f212542963172ea4a64ada.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Chicago Tribune Staff"
] | 2016-08-30T08:48:44 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fbreaking%2Fct-police-man-tried-to-lure-boy-on-northwest-side-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c52a98/turbine/ct-police-man-tried-to-lure-boy-on-northwest-side-20160829 | en | null | Police: Man tried to lure boy on Northwest Side | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | A man tried to lure an 8-year-old boy Monday evening in the Irving Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side, police said.
About 7:10 p.m., the boy was in front of his home on the sidewalk in the 3600 block of North Whipple Street, waiting for his family to go to the park, when an unknown driver in a white minivan had parked along the curb, according to a news release from the Chicago Police Department.
The minivan's window was down, and the man told the boy, “Do you want some candy?”
The boy said no repeatedly and ran across the street to a friend’s home.
The driver fled south on Whipple, and the boy’s mother then called 911, according to the release.
The suspect is a Hispanic man who is between 30 and 40 years old. He has curly blond hair on top of his head and dark hair on the sides. He was wearing a navy blue polo shirt with a collar. His vehicle was a white minivan of an unknown make or model with a blue strip along the doors, according to the release.
Anyone with information should contact Area North detectives at 312-744-8200. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-police-man-tried-to-lure-boy-on-northwest-side-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/70b840075d2b83d7c5ba0e2a89bdbc018a0b5b65bb66a3bc2d33bb7d51cadec1.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Samantha Bomkamp"
] | 2016-08-29T20:48:56 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fbusiness%2Fct-mcdonalds-advertising-0830-biz-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c48ad3/turbine/ct-mcdonalds-advertising-0830-biz-20160829 | en | null | McDonald's picks Omnicom in all-or-nothing ad agency competition | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | McDonald's has chosen the winner of its monthslong advertising competition.
Omnicom, the parent company of DDB Chicago, has been awarded control of McDonald's nearly $1 billion annual ad business. As part of the deal, Omnicom will create a new agency that will handle business exclusively for the world's largest burger chain.
McDonald's has been splitting its advertising business between Omnicom and Publicis, the parent company of Leo Burnett, for the past two years, but both agencies have been part of McDonald's advertising strategy for decades. The decision represents a big loss for Chicago's Leo Burnett, whose history with McDonald's dates back 35 years. The ad agencies had been dueling since McDonald's first sent out a request for proposals this spring.
In 1971, DDB predecessor Needham, Harper & Steers created the iconic "You Deserve a Break Today" campaign, helping to propel the fast-food chain to countless billions of hamburgers sold. Leo Burnett won the McDonald's account in 1981, but DDB began nibbling away at the business and in 1997 reclaimed its status as lead agency.
Leo Burnett regained a larger role last year, beginning with its "Pay with Lovin'" spot created for McDonald's return to the Super Bowl in 2015.
The ad decision is the latest in a long string of changes McDonald's is making as part of its effort to streamline and simplify its business. While having two ad agencies compete for work has its benefits, having one consistent advertising message is critical for McDonald's, which is in the second year of a massive transformation.
Since the hiring of its CEO Steve Easterbrook in March 2015, the company has launched all-day breakfast, introduced a new value menu called McPick2, announced a plan to move its corporate headquarters to Chicago and made a number of changes to improve its food, from switching to real butter on the Egg McMuffins to removing artificial preservatives from its chicken nuggets. Those changes have paid off in consistent sales growth.
In a statement, McDonald's U.S. Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl said, "Part of building a better McDonald's means not only making changes to our food and our restaurants but also how we conduct business.
"In selecting this agency we will have access to top talent, technology and thinking with digital and data at the core," Wahl said. "They are fast, fluid and flexible and poised to deliver the caliber and volume of storytelling needed to support our business today and into the future. This new model will, over the next few years, create great work at the speed of the marketplace at an efficient cost. Their creative approach and bold use of channels will elevate our connections with customers in new and innovative ways."
In particular, Wahl said that McDonald's is moving toward customization and personalization to create more targeted ads that customers are more likely to respond to. For instance, if you visit your local McDonald's at 7 a.m. three days a week, you would receive targeted ads or promotions for breakfast items, rather than say, an ad for a Big Mac. It also will allow McDonald's to better target promotions — through mobile, email, or other means — limited to certain areas of the country. McDonald's menu can vary widely across U.S. regions, with many items designed specifically for certain places.
While technology has allowed retailers and restaurant chains to gather data on customers for years, Wahl said those efforts will become "more pronounced" in the future.
Wendy Clark, CEO of DDB North America, will oversee the still-unnamed new agency. She said in a statement that "the best and the brightest talent across multiple Omnicom agencies came together over the last 4 months to create, operationalize and deliver" for McDonald's.
"The result is a customized agency built with intelligence at the core, to fuel brilliant creative work," Clark said. "... We are thrilled and honored to be selected and excited about immediately creating impact for McDonald's business."
In a statement, Publicis said that "while this news is certainly very disappointing," it is "extremely proud" of what it offered McDonald's.
"The work we've done over the years for McDonald's has been nothing short of spectacular, and we are particularly proud of having been partners throughout their business turnaround," the company said.
The model for the new full-service advertising agency that will be created for McDonald's was pioneered by holding company WPP. The full-service dedicated agency model has gained some traction in the past decade, starting with Team Detroit, an agency focused exclusively on Ford. In 2012, WPP launched the Cavalry agency in Chicago to handle creative for Coors brand beers.
The new Omnicom agency is expected to have more than 200 people working on the McDonald's account.
The familiar tag line "I'm Lovin' It," which was created by a DDB agency in Germany in 2003, is likely to remain part of the McDonald's advertising campaign going forward.
McDonald's spent about $196 million on print, broadcast and digital advertising in the first three months of this year, the latest statistics available, according to Kantar Media. It spent $824 million last year, down from $940 million in 2014, despite an investment to promote the launch of all-day breakfast in October.
Leo Burnett has a number of other major clients, including Allstate, Kellogg's, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Samsung. DDB Chicago's clients include Jeep, State Farm and Capital One.
Omnicom and Publicis scuttled a planned merger in 2014 that would have created the world's largest advertising agency over a conflict on how to run the combined company.
Chicago Tribune's Robert Channick contributed.
sbomkamp@tribpub.com
Twitter @SamWillTravel | http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-mcdonalds-advertising-0830-biz-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/68fca239037b7714dd18d59eba5316d15287cd3c66671476a222d5509cd7c849.json |
[
"Sahil Kapur",
"C"
] | 2016-08-29T12:48:34 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fsns-wp-blm-trump-immig-6d7f13c2-6dce-11e6-993f-73c693a89820-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c428e8/turbine/sns-wp-blm-trump-immig-6d7f13c2-6dce-11e6-993f-73c693a89820-20160829 | en | null | Despite mixed signals, Trump continues to embrace hardline on immigration | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Donald Trump has sparked a flurry of confusion about his stance on immigration, a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, with mixed signals from the candidate and his top advisers over the last week.
Despite floating a "softening" when it comes to undocumented immigrants and his top aides promising a "fair" and "humane" policy, the totality of Trump's recent remarks reveals only one meaningful change in his immigration platform: an apparent retreat from mass deportation. Trump remains opposed to legal status for undocumented immigrants, and on Saturday he reaffirmed his support for many of the restrictive proposals laid out in his August 2015 policy paper.
Shifting away from his promise to deport all 11 million people in the U.S. illegally, Trump said in Des Moines, Iowa, that his priority will be to expel undocumented felons, which is also President Barack Obama's deportation priority.
"We are going to get rid of the criminals and it's going to happen-within one hour after I take office, we start," he said, standing beside hardline Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. Trump said he'd "build a great wall" on the Mexican border and implement mandatory E-Verify for employers, develop an entry-exit tracking system to catch visa overstays, and undo Obama's executive actions to give temporary work permits to young people and undocumented parents of U.S. citizens.
Just 70 days before the election, Trump trails Democrat Hillary Clinton in key states likely to decide the election, and his message on immigration is getting muddled. The softer rhetoric may be an attempt to improve his image with Hispanic voters in states like Florida, Colorado and Nevada.
But his agenda remains a virtual wish list for immigration hardliners. The kinder tone that he's using isn't winning over prominent Trump critics in the pro-immigration community, and it's upsetting some of his most ardent supporters.
In an interview, conservative provocateur, author and Trump supporter Ann Coulter said Trump's shifts are "all minor stylistic stuff," but added: "I'm annoyed nonetheless. It's rhetorical, but why is he even talking about how to make the 30 million illegals here more comfortable?" (The Pew Research Center and Center For Migration Studies peg the number of immigrants in the U.S. illegally at around 11 million, but some on the right claim it's much higher.)
Trump campaign officials and surrogates tried to calm the furor on the Sunday talk shows by insisting he has been consistent.
"The softening is more approach than policy," Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on Fox News Sunday. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Trump has been "very consistent" on "no amnesty, no legalization for folks who have come into the country illegally" and a border wall.
During the primary, Trump vowed to deport all of the estimated 11 million people in the U.S. illegally. "They have to go," he told NBC's Meet The Press in August 2015, suggesting creation of a "deportation force" that could remove them all in within two years.
That was never realistic. One estimate by the American Action Forum, a conservative pro-immigration group, placed the cost of rounding up and deporting every undocumented immigrant and preventing future entries at $400 billion to $600 billion.
The question of what to do with the undocumented population has long tripped up Republicans who oppose granting them legal status. Some immigration hardliners prefer to avoid the question of what to do with undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. until the enactment of policies that reduce incentives for unlawful entries and visa overstays.
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said he and other advocates for restricting immigration recognize the government won't deport every undocumented immigrant. Trump is "learning on the fly, it seems," about what's plausible and how to discuss the thorny issue, he said.
"We're going to end up amnestying some portion of the illegal immigrant population," Krikorian conceded, but said that debate should come later. "You don't debate how you're going to bail out the boat until you plug the hole."
Trump said on Fox News on Aug. 23 that when it comes to dealing with unlawful immigrants, "there could certainly can be a softening because we're not looking to hurt people." His remark was interpreted by some to suggest he's open to giving them legal status, but he later clarified he's not. "There is no path to legalization unless they leave the country and come back," Trump told CNN's Anderson Cooper two days later.
In a May 4 interview after he secured the nomination, Trump reiterated his plan to deport everyone who's unlawfully present, but added a twist.
"They're going to be deported," he told NBC Nightly News. "We have many illegals in the country and we have to go through a process and go through a system and ones that have done well and have really achieved we want to bring them back in."
Current law requires people who have been deported to wait 5, 10 or 20 years (depending on the circumstances) before applying for legal entry to the U.S. "We all learned in kindergarten to stand in line, to wait our turn," campaign manager Conway said on "Fox News Sunday." "He is saying that, as well."
Trump's remarks about re-entry have raised questions about whether he supports an expedited process for certain people to return legally, a legislative proposal dating back to 2007 that critics have labeled "touchback amnesty."
A Trump campaign official didn't return a message Saturday seeking clarity on his position when it comes to expedited re-entry.Even with his deportation shift, Trump's immigration vision is more restrictive than that of recent Republican candidates. Unlike Trump, former Florida governor Jeb Bush supported legal status for undocumented people, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio endorsed a path to citizenship as part of a sequence of bills that begin with border security. Mitt Romney, the 2012 nominee, ran on a hardline platform of "self-deportation," but he supported normalizing the status of people who served in the military.
In a microcosm of how the Trump campaign tends to sow confusion about its policy positions, running mate Mike Pence punted Sunday on a question that Trump has long since taken a clear position on. He said on CNN's "State of the Union" that the question of whether citizenship is a birthright is "a subject for the future." But the year-old immigration policy blueprint on Trump's campaign website opposes it. "End birthright citizenship," it reads. "This remains the biggest magnet for illegal immigration." | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-wp-blm-trump-immig-6d7f13c2-6dce-11e6-993f-73c693a89820-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/e97a9c50aaa7a7361b7bf1315ee000cb5c254e5cd7df7c41576644bcc520b8a4.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Mark Gonzales"
] | 2016-08-28T18:48:24 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Fbaseball%2Fcubs%2Fct-gameday-cubs-dodgers-spt-0829-20160828-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c32145/turbine/ct-gameday-cubs-dodgers-spt-0829-20160828 | en | null | Cubs' David Ross to catch final game at Dodger Stadium | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | David Ross will catch his final game at Dodger Stadium as left-hander Jon Lester takes the mound Sunday for the Chicago Cubs against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ross, 39, started his 15-year career with the Dodgers and announced he will retire after this season.
Javier Baez will start at third base, with Kris Bryant in left field.
Here's the Cubs' lineup:
Fowler cf
Bryant lf
Rizzo 1b
Zobrist 2b
Russell ss
Heyward rf
Baez 3b
Ross c
Lester p | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-gameday-cubs-dodgers-spt-0829-20160828-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/284584164d4f6e6ad076a051f0145ea43042ab064ba729c4cedfda0245395a3e.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"David Rutter"
] | 2016-08-26T18:51:06 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fpost-tribune%2Fopinion%2Fct-ptb-rutter-workplace-st-0828-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c078ec/turbine/ct-ptb-rutter-workplace-st-0828-20160826 | en | null | Rutter: Men can't figure out that pay inequity thing | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Here's how unfairness spawns.
Most of the first public school teachers in America were men. The task being a noble, significant, professional pursuit, it made sense for men to hold the position because, you know, they're men, and that's what men do.
That lasted until male-only school boards found they could hire female teachers at 64 percent of the pay for the same skill. By the 20th century, 75 percent of all public school teachers were female.
Thus was born the teacher's union movement.
In education, this gender relationship was rendered obvious because all the elected school boards were men. The great national bastion of freedom and democratic opportunity had not gotten around to deciding women were citizens until 1920.
All of the first commercial telephone Bell telephone operators also were men, for many of the same reasons. A guy business. Owned by guys. Run by guys. It's technology. Stand aside little lady, and let the men take over.
That lasted just long enough for Bell bigwigs to recognize that most telephone operators — all teen boys just as telegraphers had been — were swearing, wrestling, beer-drinking pranksters. That almost destroyed the business. So they replaced all of the male operators with females. Cheaper, too.
You can see how broad societal brush strokes hit the canvasses of life. When men hold the paintbrushes, artwork looks skilled but only when you're standing far away. The closer you get to male handiwork, the more paint-by-the-numbers it looks.
I will speak for all white men everywhere. We're all only minor variations of each other. See one, seen 'em all. The world is like some extended John Wayne movie.
Men run things. It's the Almighty's way.
This is why men see neither white privilege or its cousin, male privilege, as real barriers to the other 50 percent of us who are not male. Men do no see such issues unless they are the victims of some other group's sudden decision to speak up.
So, here we are in 2016 and the world's great foundry of freedom still hasn't figured out why, how or even if women get paid less for doing the same work.
It seems mysterious beyond human understanding, though, in fairness, it wouldn't be nearly as mysterious if men were getting paid less.
Indiana, how do you stand, on Aug. 26, the national Women's Equality Day?
According to the World Economic Forum's annual survey, you are a resident of 26th fairest state in a nation that's the 28th fairest when it comes to equal pay. In fact, the nation has slid eight places in pay fairness since 2014.
Indiana's job equity standard for women suffers particularly in one category that measures fairness: Workplace environment.
Indiana's female workers get paid less, work more hours than men, have fewer seats in executive positions, work more minimum wage jobs, suffer more unemployment and get fewer shots at entrepreneurial advancement. Other than that, things are going great.
Illinois, that evil state just to the west, ranks 17th for women but would be much higher were it not for closed access to political power.
As for the nation's standing, we are tied for pay equity with Cuba, which is still run by male Marxist revolutionaries. We're one spot behind Mozambique. American exceptionalism apparently isn't exceptional in every area.
If you are a woman who demands her nation enforce pay equity, then you'd have to live in Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden or Ireland.
Why is America so Third World when it comes to basic pay fairness?
It's just economic cause and effect. If you have political, educational and financial power, you win. Without power, you are told what to do. In America, that means two third of all minimum wage jobs are held by women, and why raising the minimum wage meets so many objections. Those objections are mostly male objections.
The Center for American Progress says women are only "25 percent of executive and senior level officials and managers, hold only 19 percent of board seats, and are only 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs."
And though they constitute the majority of the financial-services and health-care labor forces, no woman in those fields runs her organization.
Pragmatism is simpler. The power to reshape Indiana's fairness and access resides in the governor's mansion.
Until Indiana's political parties stop reserving the lieutenant governor's spot as the province of the least offensive ceremonial female sidekick, the imbalance won't change.
A woman must lead Indiana, because someone new must speak for women. History suggests it's not going to be a man.
David Rutter was an editor for 40 years at six newspapers. He never got paid much, either.
David.Rutter@live.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/opinion/ct-ptb-rutter-workplace-st-0828-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/e78f7d082160816f74113587fba491e4648d0269893752c421face035394d58e.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Deanese Williams-Harris"
] | 2016-08-26T20:48:00 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fbreaking%2Fct-cops-release-image-of-suspects-wanted-in-englewood-armed-robberies-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c09427/turbine/ct-cops-release-image-of-suspects-wanted-in-englewood-armed-robberies-20160826 | en | null | Cops release image of suspects wanted in Englewood armed robberies | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Police have released the images of three people who are wanted in at least two armed robberies in the Englewood neighborhood.
The first robbery happened Aug. 6, about 12:30 p.m. at a store in the 7200 block of South Wentworth Avenue, police said. The suspects entered the store and pulled out a firearm, and robbed the business.
The group struck again Aug. 12 about 12:55 p.m. in the 7400 block of South Vincennes Avenue.
They were described by police as three black males, between 18 to 35 years of age. They are between 5 feet 9 inches to 6 feet tall, and weigh between 150 to 230 pounds, police said.
Anyone with information on the robberies should contact the Chicago Police Department Area South detectives at 312-747-8273. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-cops-release-image-of-suspects-wanted-in-englewood-armed-robberies-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/8afb0c05c2ce391c137344e272f25e592f494425bc1a8628778fcfb5e3907e58.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune"
] | 2016-08-29T02:48:24 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Fbaseball%2Fcubs%2Fct-cubs-onesies-road-trip-20160828-photogallery.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c3934b/turbine/ct-cubs-onesies-road-trip-20160828 | en | null | Cubs wear onesies on trip from Los Angeles | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Cubs wear onesies
Michael Owen Baker / Chicago Tribune
From right, John Lackey, Jon Lester, Jorge Soler and Javier Baez walk to the team bus dressed in onesies after the Cubs' game against the Dodgers on Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-cubs-onesies-road-trip-20160828-photogallery.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/0ad5d3d9879968868b3ae07aabdd3c2cbd341163333d6892c162af7b7e783af9.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Karen Caffarini"
] | 2016-08-26T18:51:12 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fpost-tribune%2Fnews%2Fct-ptb-merrillville-north-blight-st-0829-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56f02a81/turbine/chi-default-open-graph-ct-logo/1200/1200x650 | en | null | Retail center's vacancies targeted by town committee | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Merrillville's Vacant and Abandoned Property committee agreed to take the next step in addressing the number of vacant spaces in the Broadway Plaza retail center on the town's north side, which Council President Richard Hardaway called the last remaining eyesore in that area.
"This is a major problem as far as I'm concerned," said Hardaway, who chairs the committee and whose ward includes the plaza.
He said it's been two years since Sav-A-Lot grocery store moved in as an anchor to the plaza in the 5400 block of Broadway, and no other business has opened there since.
Hardaway said Thursday he believes one of the problems is the rental prices.
Code enforcement director Vickie Bunnell said there are 12 vacant units in the plaza, including a woman's dress shop that was there for years and just recently left.
Bunnell said she sent letters to the owners informing them that they need to register the vacant spaces with the town and let the town know what they intend to do with them. She said she has yet to receive a response from the owners, who she said are listed as different trust accounts.
Town Attorney John Bushemi said the next step would be to send letters to the owners informing them of their failure to comply.
Hardaway said the owners tried to lease some space in the plaza to a teen club a few years ago, but the council opposed the use.
"That's the north gateway to Merrillville." Hardaway said. "We won't settle for anything just to have something there."
Elsewhere on Broadway, Hardaway said the town was able to acquire for $1 an empty lot on the west side of the street, north of 57th Avenue. He said the owner of an adjacent school may be interested in buying the lot from the town to expand the school's parking lot.
The town will need two appraisals for that lot and six other lots on Broadway and one on 55th Avenue that it acquired in order to sell them. Bushemi said Indiana law calls for two appraisals.
Hardaway has said he hopes the six small lots on Broadway could be made into fewer, larger lots for business use.
Bunnell said 119 vacant lots are registered with the town so far this year, eight of which are businesses. She said this is a big jump from last year, when only eight owners registered.
Karen Caffarini is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-merrillville-north-blight-st-0829-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/eb6fe003a91f0b1b744d2782c588a8780a06c9a756c5cd1207ea634657eb2761.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Rick Kambic"
] | 2016-08-29T18:53:33 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fvernon-hills%2Fnews%2Fct-vhr-mellody-farm-first-hearing-tl-0901-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c48116/turbine/ct-vhr-mellody-farm-first-hearing-tl-0901-20160829 | en | null | Developers unveil plans for suburban Bucktown in Vernon Hills | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Developers say they want their proposed $200 million Mellody Farm subdivision in Vernon Hills to be an enclosed, miniature version of Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood.
Members of the Vernon Hills Plan and Zoning Commission on Aug. 24 gave the project considerable praise, but raised concerns over traffic and the orientation of buildings along Townline Road and Milwaukee Avenue.
The meeting was the first of a three-part legally required zoning hearing. Others are scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 31 and Wednesday, Sept. 7.
Estimated at 53 acres, the parcel at the northeast corner of Townline Road and Milwaukee Avenue is currently unused farmland owned by a Cuneo family land trust and was part of their estate, according Steven Elrod, the attorney and lead presenter for the development team.
"It is an extremely important corner not just for Vernon Hills but for the entire county and, really, the entire north metroplex," said Matt Hendy, a vice president with the retail firm Regency Centers.
Proposed plans show 17 acres along the Des Plaines River are not buildable and would remain as green space, while the rest would contain approximately 280,000 square feet of retail space, 260 apartments and roadway expansions.
A site map shows Whole Foods would be located at the corner of Townline Road and Milwaukee Avenue with other storefronts built in a contiguous U-shape pressing along the roads and river. Parking, small plats of grass and a few stand alone stores would be located inside the square.
Hal Morris Rick Kambic / Pioneer Press Hal Morris, chairman of the Plan and Zoning Commission, during an Aug. 24 hearing asks a traffic specialist about expected roadway improvements. Hal Morris, chairman of the Plan and Zoning Commission, during an Aug. 24 hearing asks a traffic specialist about expected roadway improvements. (Rick Kambic / Pioneer Press)
The front doors to all the shops would face toward that inner parking area or toward neighboring stores where buildings separate, according to Hendy. The sidewalks would be 20-feet wide.
"It will be a dynamic environment where folks will go to have dinner and then stay and mingle," Hendy said. "We have a specific area in the middle as well as an area off to the east where we plan on doing . . . programming, such as a potential farmers market, arts fairs and events involving the connectivity to the Des Plaines River Trail."
Retailers and restaurants already interested in the project are commonly found in Chicago's Bucktown and Southport Corridor neighborhoods, according to Hendy.
The apartment complex would be located on the far north area with its leasing office and main entrance at the opening of the U-shape retail portion, Hendy said. The building would be rectangular and schematics show a parking garage built inside one courtyard while a pool and grassy recreation area would be featured in a second courtyard.
"A lot of times when we think of mixed use, it's retail on the first floor and residential up above," Hendy said. "That can meet with mixed success in suburban markets, so we wanted to take it an innovative step further. Putting their main hub for the entire building (in the retail strip) forces people to intermix."
Resident Stacey Pristas spoke during the public comment segment and said her professional life involves residential leasing and property management. She said Mellody Farm involves considerable density on and off the road.
"I have mixed emotions. I'm very excited that we are going to have this type of shopping center in our area," Pristas said. "However, I am concerned with 260 apartments going in with a potential of 400 or 500 residents. The units have been discussed, but not the people."
Traffic was addressed in the presentation, but several commissioners questioned some of the plans and possible outcomes.
Luay Aboona, a traffic engineer with KLOA, Inc. reviewed plans to add new stoplights and widen the state roads, which include a lane with multiple right turn entrances and right turn exits all divided by painted strips.
The proposed road improvements would upgrade the Townline Road and Milwaukee Avenue traffic rating even with the added attractions at Mellody Farm, according to Aboona.
Hal Morris, chairman of the Plan and Zoning Commission, said he thinks motorists desperate to reach Milwaukee Avenue will likely drive through all the right turn only lanes and disregard the painted stripes, which would cause accidents and require more police patrols.
Commissioner Scott Hezner said having new lanes will likely bottleneck traffic in Mundelein, Lincolnshire and Libertyville when the roads return to two-lanes each way. He asked if that could affect Vernon Hills' reputation in terms of commuters as well as shoppers who may get frustrated trying to leave.
The property immediately north of the Mellody Farm project is a campus owned by medical manufacturer Hollister, Inc. Ken Straup, one of the company's vice presidents, spoke during public comment and expressed concerns about increasing traffic, and the possible results of paving over water absorbent soil.
"The water has to go somewhere, and you can channel it into the river and south of our building, but you know it's going to back up the river," Straup said. "We've been here nearly 40 years and we've already seen flooding within 10 feet of our building."
Straup said he would feel better if the Army Corps of Engineers verified the developers' claim by doing a comprehensive study of the proposed detention basins and river capacity.
rkambic@pioneerlocal.com
Twitter @Rick_Kambic | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/vernon-hills/news/ct-vhr-mellody-farm-first-hearing-tl-0901-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/4848ce5cef4b659a4fab5b147544087b210191f1eaad7b6e4471f693744ecfb6.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune"
] | 2016-08-28T02:48:27 | null | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Fbaseball%2Fcubs%2Fct-cubs-jason-hammel-dodgers-20160827-premiumvideo.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c22cdc/turbine/ct-cubs-jason-hammel-dodgers-20160827 | en | null | Cubs' Jason Hammel on being pulled in third inning at Dodgers | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Cubs' Jason Hammel on being pulled in third inning at Dodgers
Cubs starting pitcher Jason Hammel reacts to being pulled from the game in the third inning against the Dodgers on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016. (Mark Gonzales/Chicago Tribune) | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-cubs-jason-hammel-dodgers-20160827-premiumvideo.html | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/2d760063cb08da258ed9e72102e1f38fcaceda1a4cbb33dfa3967127c629df24.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Brad Biggs"
] | 2016-08-30T22:49:05 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Ffootball%2Fbears%2Fct-bears-kwaun-williams-spt-20160830-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c5f7b7/turbine/ct-bears-kwaun-williams-spt-20160830 | en | null | In perfect storm, Bears land quality young cornerback K’Waun Williams | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | The Bears have been in search of help for a cornerback and wound up landing one Tuesday afternoon that some league observers figured was worthy of a draft pick, which general manager Ryan Pace did not have to sacrifice.
The Bears claimed K’Waun Williams off waivers from the Browns and in the process got an experienced slot cornerback that had fallen out of favor with the new regime in Cleveland.
The Browns suspended Williams before the first preseason game after a disagreement over how injured he was. Williams said his ankle was too sore to play against the Packers and that is when things got sideways between him and the organization. Williams sought a second opinion on his ankle and received a cortisone shot, according to a source. He is suffering from bone spurs, the source said, and could ultimately require surgery. The hope is if he can handle the pain and that surgery will wait until the offseason.
Cleveland removed Williams from the suspended list on Monday and placed him on waivers to the surprise of two veteran personnel men in other cities who believed he was a tradeable commodity. That made claiming Williams a perfect scenario for Pace. The Bears have been considering veteran options but now have a 25-year-old player with upside and they didn’t have to fork over a draft pick.
Williams, an undrafted free agent from Pitt in 2014, was the Browns’ starting nickel cornerback the past two seasons. He appeared in 26 games over the past two years with 60 tackles, two sacks, 10 passes defended and three forced fumbles.
The 5-foot-9, 183-pound Williams is entering the final year of his rookie contract and will earn $600,000 this season. He will be a restricted free agent after this season meaning the Bears could control him for two years at a relatively cheap cost.
The Bears have been with riddled with injuries at cornerback. Tracy Porter is sidelined with a concussion, although he’s been on the field during practice the last two days, and Kyle Fuller remains sidelined following arthroscopic knee surgery two weeks ago. Bryce Callahan also remains out with a hamstring injury and they represent the team’s top three cornerbacks.
Provided Williams passes his physical with the Bears, he’ll give them another young option to go with fourth-round draft pick Deiondre’ Hall and Jacoby Glenn. The Bears reached the 75-man limit on Tuesday and will have to make a corresponding move in order to create room for Williams.
bmbiggs@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @BradBiggs | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-bears-kwaun-williams-spt-20160830-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/8315935e0348ffe6cca8f55423a32fb109ec95c04f30be46e434a2be4f56baa1.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Sarah Freishtat"
] | 2016-08-30T02:48:42 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Faurora-beacon-news%2Fnews%2Fct-abn-aurora-school-police-city-forum-st-0830-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c4e78b/turbine/ct-abn-aurora-school-police-city-forum-st-0830-20160829 | en | null | Aurora students, city, police plan discussion after 'uniquely tense summer' | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | After a summer of racial and political tensions, Aurora schools are seeking to help returning students address recent national events and build relationships with the city and police department.
As part of that effort, some Aurora high school students are set to gather Thursday with Aurora city and police officials to discuss social issues. The goal is for each school to follow up on the discussion throughout the year with its own students, officials said.
The city, police and schools are hoping to help students understand a variety of racial, political or other issues, and handle related situations that might come up locally or affect them personally, city spokesman Clayton Muhammad said.
On Thursday, students will discuss "proactive and positive ways" to address situations that might come up and bring suggestions and ideas back to their schools, Karen Sullivan, superintendent of Indian Prairie School District 204, which is participating in the effort, said at a mid-August school board meeting.
"We need to model for students how differing voices and opinions are handled respectfully and with open and honest dialogue," she said.
The discussions follow the fatal early July shootings of Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana, who were both shot by police officers, and of five police officers in Dallas. They come after years of racial tension and protests across the country, and months before a heated presidential election.
Muhammad said the tensions of the summer combined with the upcoming presidential election have created a unique climate. School leaders expressed concern over the summer that students would bring those tensions back to school with them in the fall, he said.
"This summer was just one of those uniquely tense summers," he said. "Principals were concerned, teachers were concerned, administrators were concerned. We have to have some outlet."
Brandon Kooi, a criminal justice professor at Aurora University who is moderating the Thursday discussion, said the opportunity to bring different groups together is important. It will provide a chance to build relationships and help students better understand police and government actions, he said. It will also allow police to hear students' concerns.
For students, a chance to be in the same room as the city's government will be a learning experience, said Kooi, who said he has worked with the Aurora Police Department and with the nonprofit Center for Problem-Oriented Policing.
While retiring Mayor Tom Weisner will be at the event, it is the police force that represents "the true face and the identity of government," Kooi said. Few citizens will meet the mayor or other elected officials, but most will, at some point, need a police officer, he said.
West Aurora School District 129 Superintendent Jeff Craig, who has spearheaded the effort, said students pick up on the shootings, protes
ts and political rhetoric that make national headlines, and the district wants to be proactive with its students.
"We would be less than genuine if we would believe that this could not happen to our kids in West Aurora as well," he said.
Last year, rumors of a threat circulated at West Aurora High School after a student posted comments on Twitter that an assistant superintendent said at the time were based on a presidential candidate's remarks. The assistant superintendent, Angie Smith, has said the election year, along with overseas attacks and protests at the time, put students and parents on edge.
Craig said that event didn't spark the idea to address social issues with students, but he does believe that, whether it is regarding that situation, current events or other issues, all students "should have at least one adult they can go to in crisis."
This year, he said he hopes to arm students with facts and tools, language and conflict de-escalation techniques. Students will start by discussing the issues they face that they don't know how to handle, he said, then each school or district will follow up, because students in those schools face their own sets of concerns. In West Aurora, part of the follow-up will include a guest speaker who was a struggling student whose story was portrayed in the movie "Freedom Writers."
"This is a great opportunity to have a forum with a lot of high school kids," he said. "So it's not just West Aurora kids going, 'Well it's a West Aurora High School issue,' or an East Aurora High School issue, or an Oswego High School issue."
Muhammad said the event is designed to bring people together, which will strengthen relationships and the community.
While political elections are often contentious, this year's national climate and the pervasiveness of social media, which allows students to hear about national events within minutes of them occurring, have made these discussions particularly relevant, he said. He also pointed to the current city, school and police leaders. He said the police leaders are in a position to build relationships in part because they are graduates of Aurora public schools.
Muhammad said in his personal work with youth during this election season, he has encountered many who seem to feel that "we can do better" as a country.
"We can do better by showing that Aurora students are coming together, and the city as a whole," he said. "To not shy away from topics, but to handle them."
sfreishtat@tribpub.com
Twitter @srfreish | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-aurora-school-police-city-forum-st-0830-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/448649eb352ae9d0293889654ed604e0c1c811639994001bb7f47711deda100f.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Angie Leventis Lourgos"
] | 2016-08-27T02:48:03 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fbreaking%2Fct-university-of-chicago-letter-response-met-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0eebd/turbine/ct-university-of-chicago-letter-response-met-20160826 | en | null | U. of C. safe space critic named on college's website as safe space ally | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | The University of Chicago was widely praised this week when a letter to incoming freshmen decried so-called "trigger warnings" and intellectual "safe spaces" in the interest of preserving freedom of expression and intellectual curiosity.
Except some student leaders were quick to point out the elite South Side college does, in fact, maintain what it calls "safe spaces." The University of Chicago website includes an LGBTQ "Safe Space Ally Network" where students can find haven with trained peers and faculty across campus. And one of those Safe Space allies listed on the website is Jay Ellison — the dean who authored the letter to the Class of 2020 that set off the internet firestorm.
"Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called 'trigger warnings,' we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial and we do not condone the creation of intellectual 'safe spaces' where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own," Ellison said in the letter.
In the wake of the dean's message, some student leaders questioned the letter's seeming contradiction with Ellison's role as a safe space ally; they also expressed concerns as to whether the university will keep various spots already designated "safe spaces" on campus — many for LGBT students or victims of sexual violence.
"It deepens the distrust between students and administrators when they speak one way and act another, and this is an example," said Eric Holmberg, student body president. "It is hypocritical in the sense that the university is more fearful of challenge and discomfort than any student I know."
Trigger warnings and safe spaces A University of Chicago policy of promoting freedom of expression and not supporting "trigger warnings and safe spaces" is discussed. (John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune) A University of Chicago policy of promoting freedom of expression and not supporting "trigger warnings and safe spaces" is discussed. (John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune) See more videos
University of Chicago spokesman Jeremy Manier said there has been no change in university policies and programming following Ellison's letter, which is the cover letter for a book on academic freedom written by another University of Chicago dean. Ellison did not return phone calls and emails for comment.
University of Chicago campus John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune A woman reads on a bench near the library at the University of Chicago on Thursday, August 25, 2016, in Chicago. A woman reads on a bench near the library at the University of Chicago on Thursday, August 25, 2016, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
"Jay Ellison's letter advised incoming students that in their 'intellectual journey' they should expect to engage with 'ideas and perspectives at odds with their own,'" Manier said in an email. "The letter also emphasized the importance of 'building a campus that welcomes people of all backgrounds,' noting that this diversity is 'a fundamental strength of our community.' These values are not only compatible, they reinforce each other. Freedom of inquiry and expression thrives when people of diverse backgrounds and opinions come together in an inclusive community."
Ellison's letter comes as colleges locally and nationwide struggle to balance academic freedom with student safety and emotional health. DePaul University this month, citing security concerns, barred conservative commentator Ben Shapiro from speaking there; before that, protesters had kept Breitbart News Network blogger Milo Yiannopoulos from giving an address on DePaul's campus in May. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2014 decided not to give a commencement address at Rutgers University after student protests of her role in the Iraq War.
But Holmberg argued safe spaces and trigger warnings — often an alert to sensitive material that might be uncomfortable, graphic or traumatic, like discussions of race and sexual assault — can be a healthy part of academia.
For example, he pointed out that the University of Chicago's website on resources addressing "gender-based" misconduct at umatter.uchicago.edu comes with an immediate pop-up box labeled "Content Note: If you need to leave this site quickly, click the 'Leave Website Now' bar. It will always be visible on the page and will redirect you to a Google search page."
"It doesn't say it's a trigger warning, but functionally, it is," said Holmberg, who will be a junior when classes resume in late September.
Cosmo Albrecht, community and government liaison for the student government, called the dean's letter a "publicity stunt" that uses the popular narrative of the "coddled millennial" as a scapegoat to detract from serious issues on campus like worker wages, graduate student unionization, alleged police misconduct and sexual violence.
"I think it's now more than ever important that university administrators step outside of Levi Hall and engage in communication with us about how to improve student life," Albrecht said, referencing the main administration building on campus. "I don't think anyone wants to curb freedom of speech. I think students want respect. I think students want dignity."
eleventis@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @angie_leventis | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-university-of-chicago-letter-response-met-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/304e969c41dd241ea11baa4b6d8324c18c56f7a75f2d8eb748869b5ea04e7b60.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Denise Crosby"
] | 2016-08-28T00:51:44 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Faurora-beacon-news%2Fopinion%2Fct-abn-crosby-aurora-mural-st-0826-20160826-column.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c0c1c4/turbine/ct-abn-crosby-aurora-mural-st-0826-20160826 | en | null | Story of Aurora blues mural as unique as its canvas | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Even rolled out on a dusty concrete floor of a union headquarters, the mural that will soon be installed in downtown Aurora is impressive.
For one thing, the art work – with "Aurora Blues Festival" splayed across the 12x30-foot canvas, is large. And it contains a vibrant patchwork of blue-hued scenes and images -- from Walter Payton and the Paramount Theatre to Wayne's World and Caterpillar – that uniquely depict Aurora, as well as its blues history.
Just as impressive is the story behind how this mural came to be here in the City of Lights, and how it almost became a lost gem … all but forgotten for eight years in a storage area in the headquarters of the Painters and Allied Trades District 30 Council headquarters.
The mural was created in this mammoth building on Sequoia Drive back in May of 2008, when more than 100 master painters and artists from around the world descended upon Aurora for the four-day Salon Forever expo.
This international artist group convenes once a year in a different city for the sole purpose of learning from one another about the art of decorative painting that includes murals, faux finishing, marbling and gold leafing. Past host countries included Denmark, France, Italy and England. But this was the first time the convention had been held outside Europe, so it was darn impressive that Aurora was selected for the prestigious event.
Patrick Kirwin, a former instructor at the Smithsonian Institute, was in charge of the mural. And when the 30 artists who worked specifically on it were finished, the City of Aurora purchased the large art piece for $2,000, just a fraction of what it would cost in paint alone, noted the city's Director of Public Arts Rena Church.
Stephen Lefaver Denise Crosby / The Beacon-News Stephen Lefaver, director of apprenticeship and training for Painters and Allied Trades District Council 30, rolls out the 30-foot long Salon Forever Aurora Blues Mural that has been in storage at the union headquarters in Aurora since 2008. Stephen Lefaver, director of apprenticeship and training for Painters and Allied Trades District Council 30, rolls out the 30-foot long Salon Forever Aurora Blues Mural that has been in storage at the union headquarters in Aurora since 2008. (Denise Crosby / The Beacon-News) (Denise Crosby / The Beacon-News)
Then the recession hit. And during those dark years when city employees were trying to keep their heads above water, the painting was "put onto the back burner" as there was no money to do anything with it, Church recalled. And as the recovery stretched on, the mural was forgotten.
From time to time, Stephen Lefaver, director of apprenticeship and training for the painter's union, would come across the rolled-up mural in the storage room and worry about the fate of this piece created by "so many premiere artists."
Then in May he got a call from Church.
During a meeting of a focus group discussing downtown murals, she had suddenly recalled the city already owned one "created specifically for Aurora" by these master painters.
On Tuesday, City Council approved an agreement with the building owner to place the artwork, titled "Salon Forever Aurora Blues Mural," on the east-facing wall of the Silverplate Building at 6 E. Downer Place. It will cost around $4,300 to place it onto the building, but Church planned to reach out to Golden Paint to see if the company would be interested in co-sponsoring the mounting.
Walter Payton Denise Crosby / The Beacon-News Chicago Bears legend Walter Payton is depicted in one of the frames of the 30-foot mural that will hang on the Silverplate Building in downtown Aurora. Chicago Bears legend Walter Payton is depicted in one of the frames of the 30-foot mural that will hang on the Silverplate Building in downtown Aurora. (Denise Crosby / The Beacon-News)
Still, the decision to hang this piece as the first under the new mural ordinance has met some criticism from the art community because it was not created by local talent.
But Church offers assurance the choice to go with this blues mural was because it was already completed, paid for and just needed to be hung.
"And this is only the beginning of a long running mural program where local talent will also be used," she added.
Marissa Amoni, editor of Downtown Auroran magazine and a member of the Aurora Mural Project, said she understands the reasoning, but is disappointed there was not more input from the community and its artists before the choice was made.
"I really feel it is important we have active participation from the art community," she said, adding that officials need to make this a "city-wide effort" and find a way to make the mural procedure "more streamlined, easier to navigate and fair in is application to everyone."
"I just really believe murals have a way of making a city more vibrant, bringing people together and becoming a tourist attraction," she said. "I can't wait to see more murals downtown ... it is something we can all be proud of."
Dcrosby@tribpub.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/opinion/ct-abn-crosby-aurora-mural-st-0826-20160826-column.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/4dfb7d568365bd9b5b53672a7f95c225a6a474c46a8656e5ce2e4b08fdaebfbf.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Rick Kambic"
] | 2016-08-26T13:19:59 | null | 2016-07-25T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Flibertyville%2Fnews%2Fct-lbr-restore-riverside-park-golf-course-tl-0728-20160725-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-579667f1/turbine/ct-lbr-restore-riverside-park-golf-course-tl-0728-20160725 | en | null | Libertyville to consider Riverside Park golf course restoration | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Now that Libertyville has retaken possession of the shuttered nine-hole golf course at Riverside Park, village officials are researching the costs associated with restoring the greens and completing other needed updates.
Libertyville signed a 10-year lease with private company BCS Golf Group in 2013, but village meeting minutes indicate the company hadn't paid rent since September 2014. A judge this September ruled against the company.
The village's Parks and Recreation Committee asked for research on the possibility of bringing the course back to life either under village management or under a private contractor, info they expect to start sifting through at their Aug. 2 meeting.
"Is it even economically feasible to put that back in shape to be a golf course?" Mayor Terry Weppler during a July 5 committee meeting. "We were subsidizing it $80,000 per year when it was open. How much would it cost for us to even be able to use it?"
Connie Kowal, director of parks and recreation, said the course hasn't been used since mid-2014 and the public works department is routinely cutting the grass, but not carefully manicuring it the way golf clubs normally do.
"I've contacted three management companies, similar to the drill we went through five years ago when we were deciding what to do with the golf course," Kowal told Weppler. "There's possible interest, but the interest is not them paying us it's for us to pay them."
In a July 21 interview, Kowal said a few outside experts agreed to give general repair estimates, but the information won't arrive until shortly before the Aug. 2 meeting.
"I don't know if I'll have a full array of info," Kowal said. "Right now we're just looking at the possible steps and not working on a deadline."
Even if Libertyville began work right away, Kowal said it would be difficult to have the course open by April 2017. He said the course hasn't been used or maintained since mid-2014, and new seeds will need time to grow.
Village reports say the golf course is in a Des Plaines River flood plane, which has caused much of its struggles over the years. BCS Golf Group was previously planning to install costly artificial turf to prevent diseased grass and improve recovery time after floods.
The repairs or replacements that are likely needed now, according to Kowal, include tees, sand traps and greens. He also said the irrigation system hasn't been used or maintained and the old pumps need to be evaluated.
Tees would should be the easiest to fix or replace while work on the greens would be the most challenging, Kowal said.
Furthermore, BCS Golf Group had already begun installing larger holes on the greens that could fit soccer balls. It was a plan to attract players of a new game called "footgolf."
"We're a long ways away from any golfing," Kowal said. "We're still on a fact finding mission before making any decisions one way or another."
While Weppler said Libertyville handed the course over to BCS Golf Group because of the village's inability to break even, Village Trustee Peter Garrity expressed some optimism about restoring the golf course.
"I think it's an amenity that added to the village," Garrity said on July 5. "At the very least we should continue to pursue the options that could present themselves. I get asked about the course on a regular basis. I think there's interest out there, but we need to figure out the cost, if it's even possible."
After hitting a high of 13,298 played golf rounds in 2003, the course counted 5,272 rounds in 2012, according to a parks report from that time. Prices were $10 for Libertyville residents and $13 for non-residents.
rkambic@pioneerlocal.com
Twitter @Rick_Kambic | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/libertyville/news/ct-lbr-restore-riverside-park-golf-course-tl-0728-20160725-story.html | en | 2016-07-25T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/30fd852ce85c03da257cfbfed6eb67c4b7b30729648f29c42a568f5aa4c55516.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Blair Kamin"
] | 2016-08-31T08:48:54 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fcolumnists%2Fct-gray-hotel-kamin-0831-20160830-column.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c6249d/turbine/ct-gray-hotel-kamin-0831-20160830 | en | null | Hotel gracefully restores building designed by 'father of the skyscraper' | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | So many historic Chicago office buildings have been converted into boutique hotels lately, saving buildings of great character from the scrap heap, that this trend threatens to become routine. But the latest transformation, which was celebrated Tuesday, is special because it breathes fresh life into a once-endangered building designed by the man known as "the father of the skyscraper."
That man, Chicago architect and engineer William Le Baron Jenney, shaped the pioneering Home Insurance Building of 1885, which was the first tall office building supported by an internal skeleton of metal rather than exterior walls of masonry. That technology allowed skyscrapers like Chicago's Willis Tower, once the world's tallest building, to rise to unprecedented heights.
The Home Insurance Building, at the northeast corner of LaSalle and Adams streets, was demolished in 1931. But just a block north, Jenney's New York Life Building, with entrances at 122 W. Monroe and 39 S. LaSalle, has a fresh lease on life. Inside and out, the $106 million project is a big win for the cityscape.
Built in stages between 1893 and 1903, the 14-story New York Life Building, originally the Midwest headquarters of the New York Life Insurance Co., is now The Gray Hotel, a 293-room link in the stylish Kimpton Hotel chain. Kimpton already has four Chicago hotels, including the gold standard of Chicago boutique hotels, the Kimpton Burnham Hotel (the former Reliance Building).
To be sure, the sober Gray Hotel is easy to overlook amid the mighty banking temples and suave Art Deco skyscrapers of the LaSalle Street financial district. But gaze upward from the corner of LaSalle and Monroe streets, and you see the unmistakable imprint of the robust, structurally expressive design that put Chicago on the architecture map. Tall, uninterrupted piers and recessed horizontals signal the presence of the riveted steel columns and beams that hold the building up.
In 2006, the advocacy group Preservation Chicago put New York Life on its annual list of Chicago's most threatened buildings, calling the structure "the closest link with the ground-breaking technology of Jenney's Home Insurance Building." At that time, Itasca-based Hamilton Partners planned to erect a 51-story hotel and office tower next door at 29 S. LaSalle. Under the plan, much of New York Life would have been demolished.
The Gray Hotel John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune A bartender walks through a marble entry near the lobby of The Gray Hotel on Aug. 30, 2016, in Chicago. A bartender walks through a marble entry near the lobby of The Gray Hotel on Aug. 30, 2016, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
For good reason, preservationists were outraged that the city's landmarks commission, which had granted preliminary landmark status to New York Life, signed off on the deal. Some protection! Half of it was going to disappear. "This is a building that should be preserved whole," Ward Miller, now Preservation Chicago's executive director, said then.
Fortunately, he got his wish. Kimpton bought the building from Hamilton in 2014. After the InterContinental Hotels Group acquired Kimpton in 2015, a Kimpton real estate spin-off, KHP Capital Partners, finished the job. KHP is expected to receive more than $16 million in well-deserved federal historic preservation tax credits.
Under the supervision of the architectural firm Gensler, New York Life's exterior has been given a careful cleaning and sensitive retouching.
The lower three stories, clad in a rich gray granite that partly inspired the building's name, fit seamlessly into LaSalle Street's Greco-Roman solidity. Above, new terra cotta panels are carefully interwoven into the light-brown facade. More than 500 windows were removed, repaired and reinserted with energy-saving insulation, said Gensler project architect Jack Paruta. Sadly, the budget did not allow for the restoration of the building's cornice, which was sheared off decades ago.
Interior highlights include the palatial LaSalle Street lobby, a showcase of gray marble (another source of inspiration for the building's name). Twin grand stairs, a coffered ceiling and elegant archways reflect the influence of the "White City," the neo-classical World's Columbian Exposition held in 1893, a year before the New York Life building opened. One of the archways leads to an intimate second-floor lobby bar, "Volume 39," Its name signals the presence of old law volumes from the law firms that once inhabited the building (a nice touch) and the 39 S. LaSalle address.
A Los Angeles interior design firm, Beleco, shaped this space and the hotel's guest rooms, which are sleekly modern but aim for a tailored look that evokes the expensive suits worn by LaSalle Street financiers. In the wide hallways and elevator lobbies leading to the rooms, original marble floors and wainscoting remain. Otherwise, these floors were gut rehabbed.
Boutique hotels these days often come equipped with wow-inducing topside spaces, like Cindy's, the restaurant atop the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel. The Gray's entrant in this "can you top this?" game is Boleo, a bar and lounge with a retractable glass roof. It has views of Willis Tower and other skyscrapers. Happily, the room's designer, the New York firm of Parts and Labor Design, has left the upper portions of Jenney's riveted steel columns exposed — an appropriate tip of the hat to the father of the skyscraper.
bkamin@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @BlairKamin | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-gray-hotel-kamin-0831-20160830-column.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/153f7a96e1de9675348af5b76bb018924e7165f2f2eb3f6388e47b3b4da06380.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Morgan Greene"
] | 2016-08-30T20:49:26 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fentertainment%2Ftheater%2Fnews%2Fct-casting-announced-steep-bobbie-clearly-20160830-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c5cb79/turbine/ct-casting-announced-steep-bobbie-clearly-20160830 | en | null | Casting announced for Steep's 'Bobbie Clearly' | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Steep Theatre announced casting for "Bobbie Clearly," a world premiere from Alex Lubischer, on Tuesday.
The cast includes ensemble members Melissa Riemer, Nick Horst and Joel Reitsma, along with McKenzie Chinn, David Fisch, Roy Gonzalez, Tom Jansson, Erika Napoletano, Paloma Nozicka, Miguel Nunez and Carson Schroeder. Josh Sobel will direct.
"Bobbie Clearly," a dark comedy about a Nebraskan town facing down a cornfield-set tragedy, runs Sept. 29-Nov. 5 at Steep Theatre, 1115 W. Berwyn Ave.
RELATED STORIES:
Route 66 announces 2017 season
'Hamilton's' Lin-Manuel Miranda is coming to Chicago
Check out the latest movie reviews from Michael Phillips and the Chicago Tribune. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/news/ct-casting-announced-steep-bobbie-clearly-20160830-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/394656113877b91ad1c6a54fb52cd8b1ee9a1462c641adc9fe52308a733d5c0d.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune"
] | 2016-08-26T13:20:54 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fct-map-where-chicago-police-shot-at-people-20160826-htmlstory.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c02470/turbine/ct-map-where-chicago-police-shot-at-people-20160826 | en | null | Map: Where Chicago police shot at people | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Police-involved shootings, 2010-15
KEY: At least one person killed Person injured
Note: Locations are based on police report data. Shootings without a police report, for example ones that occur outside of Chicago, are not shown. Shootings with coordinates that were incorrect on police reports are not shown. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-map-where-chicago-police-shot-at-people-20160826-htmlstory.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/71ebd2b5fbc1fef24579a80985febe2a31fb447a1ac58d21d9cc8750ad68327d.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Todd Shields"
] | 2016-08-26T16:46:07 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Flake-zurich%2Flifestyles%2Fct-bcr-shout-out-tl-0901-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c06698/turbine/ct-bcr-shout-out-tl-0901-20160826 | en | null | Shout Out: Rev. Douglas Albert Williams, new Salem United Methodist Church pastor in Barrington | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Shout Out is a weekly feature in which we introduce our readers to their fellow community members and local visitors throughout suburban.
Salem United Methodist Church in Barrington has a new pastor — Rev. Douglas Albert Williams.
He starts at the 123-year-old church Sept. 1. He plans to deliver his first sermon on how God teaches vision, titled "HGTV" for short, on Sept. 4.
He grew up in Oak Park, graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston.
Williams has served at churches throughout Illinois, including the Harmon/Eldena United Methodist Church in Dixon, First United Methodist Church in Normal, Earlville Methodist Church, Pierce Community United Methodist Church in Maple Park, Evangelical United Methodist Church in Ottawa and, most recently, Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Rockford.
Q. How did you become a pastor?
A. My parents took us every Sunday to the Methodist Church of Oak Park. I think I was quite young when a person there told me I'd make a good pastor. When I went to college, I majored in sociology and thought of going into social work. I had a change of heart and believed I needed to go into the ministry.
Q. Have you done missionary work?
A. In February of next year, I'm going to Kenya, Africa. People from the Mombasa Relief Initiative asked me to go with them and give away toys we made at Aldersgate United Methodist Church that involved many people of different age groups doing different parts of the toy-making process. Together, we produced and blessed close to 10,000 brightly colored trucks and cars to give away to children in distress, such as in hospitals and shelters. Ministry that glorifies God is ministry done together on both Sunday mornings and other times. Ministry is also when we take the faith we have and live it in ways that bless other people.
Shout Out is a weekly feature in which we introduce our readers to their fellow community members and local visitors throughout suburban. Check out more online at ChicagoTribune.com/ShoutOut.
tshields@pioneerlocal.com
Twitter @tshields19 | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-zurich/lifestyles/ct-bcr-shout-out-tl-0901-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/7454bf94b4b3d1ff90ac60aff732638f1591021f759314556fd271ff1c428154.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Erin Gallagher"
] | 2016-08-26T13:17:55 | null | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fct-peotone-flag-flap-met-20160824-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57be34fd/turbine/ct-peotone-flag-flap-met-20160824 | en | null | Social media buzz on Peotone school banning flag untrue, principal says | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Peotone High School has not banned American flags, contrary to a message posted on social media that created a frenzy this week, officials said.
But officials, for safety reasons, have prohibited any flags from being flown from vehicles parked on school property.
Parents, veterans and community members expressed outrage online and in calls to the school and police after a woman posted on Facebook Monday night that the school had banned American flags. She also wrote that her friend's nephew was suspended for having a flag on his car.
The post was shared more than 1,500 times before it was deleted Wednesday afternoon. Attempts by the Tribune to contact the woman were unsuccessful.
"It started with a few overzealous Facebook posts, which were untrue," Peotone Principal Tyler Hesh said Wednesday. "It has taken on a new life on Facebook."
During an assembly Monday, the first day of school, Hesh announced that Peotone 207-U District would not allow any flags to be flown on trucks or car windows on school property, calling it a safety issue for inexperienced drivers.
Last year, students were driving trucks to school with large flags, up to 12 feet long in some cases, he said, flying on poles attached to the holes in their truck beds, or extensions on trailer hitches.
"It got to the point where it was obscene that they were so huge," said Hesh, whose school is located about 45 miles south of Chicago.
Some trucks had two flags placed on either side of the truck bed. In one case, Hesh said, the flag was bigger than a student's entire truck.
"Please know that at no time was a student suspended for flying a U.S. flag on their vehicle, nor were students told that the U.S. flag could not be flown as it may offend others," according to a statement issued by the school on its website Wednesday.
"We have put a new procedure in place stating that students are not to fly any flags on their vehicles while on school property. For us, safety is of paramount importance and we have asked students not to fly flags on vehicles due to the visual obstruction they create, especially when backing up," it said.
According to the student handbook: "Students may not hang other flags off vehicles driven or parked on district property due to the visual obstruction they create. Repeated violations or failure to comply with this provision will result in revocation of parking privileges."
Peotone police Chief William Mort urged officials to revoke the parking privileges of violators and expressed concerns about safety when flags are displayed in such a manner.
Mort said he'd be "more than happy to write it up and send very expensive tickets" to students who park off school property with flags flying from their vehicles.
These students "invoke constitutional rights (but) don't even know the correct number of stars and stripes on the flag," Mort said. "The school has my support."
Michael Tobuch, Jr., 16, drives a 1997 GMC 2500 single-cab pickup truck with an 8-foot bed to Peotone High. He flies a 3-by-5 American flag off a 4-foot pole attached to his hitch receiver, he said.
Tobuch, who got his driver's license last November, said he did not want to get his truck towed, so he removed the pole when Hesh told him to do so.
"This is America," Tobuch said. "You should want to fly the flag where you live."
The ban on car flags came after student protests last year for not being allowed to display Confederate flags, Hesh said.
Displaying Confederate flags in any way is prohibited, according to Hesh and the student handbook. Instead, students last year painted their bumpers like the Confederate flag and added more and larger U.S. flags to their vehicles, he said.
"They were rebelling against us," the principal said.
Hess said the school continues to fly Old Glory outside on its flagpole, and flags hang in every classroom.
Erin Gallagher is a freelance reporter. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/ct-peotone-flag-flap-met-20160824-story.html | en | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/00f34483733f6300d87e5082e9191b4ee8eaef919efce0eec7784e516a8a331d.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Mike Isaacs"
] | 2016-08-26T13:24:56 | null | 2016-08-22T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fskokie%2Fnews%2Fct-skr-backlot-bash-schedule-tl-0825-20160822-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57bb5672/turbine/ct-skr-backlot-bash-schedule-tl-0825-20160822 | en | null | What you need to know for the weekend's Backlot Bash in Skokie | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | For three days starting early Friday evening, downtown Skokie will become home to the village's largest annual street festival.
The 2016 Backlot Bash will feature music — lots of music — carnival rides, food of all kinds, classic movies, family entertainment, a car show, a foot race, a pancake breakfast, the Skokie Farmers Market and more.
Here is what you need to know about the three days of fun and games sponsored by the Skokie Park District, the village of Skokie and the Skokie Chamber of Commerce:
• The Backlot Bash runs from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.
• Oakton Street will be closed between Lincoln and Laramie avenues from 10 a.m. Friday through 2 a.m. Monday.
• The Backlot Bash will be held in a closed-off, two-block portion of Oakton Street, between Lincoln and Laramie avenues next to Skokie Village Hall, 5127 Oakton St.
• Most parking lots within two blocks of the Backlot Bash will be closed in order to host event attractions.
• No event in Skokie includes more music than the Backlot Bash. Among the Main Stage headlines are Blue Oyster Cult at 8:30 p.m. Friday; Living Colour, which performs metal, blues and funk at 8:30 p.m. Saturday; the Royal Outsiders rock group at 5 p.m. Sunday; and Tributosaurus, which will transform itself into The Police at 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
• Carnival hours are 6 to 10 p.m. Friday; noon to 10 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.
Special wristbands allowing for unlimited rides are $50 in advance and $60 at the event. Daily unlimited rides from noon to 4 p.m. either Saturday or Sunday are $20 in advance and $25 at the event.
• Skokie's Backlot Dash 5K and Kids Run will be held in and around the grounds of Skokie's Backlot Bash on Saturday and will include a half-mile kids run as well as the featured race.
Race day registration is from 6 to 7:30 a.m.; the one-half-mile race for kids begins at 8 a.m; and the 5K race begins at 8:30 a.m. An awards ceremony will follow the 5K race.
• Free movies and music are scheduled at the Skokie Theatre and the Skokie Public Library.
Funny silent film clips will show from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Skokie Theatre; "The Peanuts Movie" will show at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Skokie Theatre; "The Thin Man" will show from noon to 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Skokie Public Library; "King Kong" will show at 1:45 p.m. Sunday at the Skokie Public Library; Live Americana Music and Sing-A-Long with 3-4 the Road + Friends will be staged at 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the Skokie Theatre.
• Other Bash highlights include Bingo Bash from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, 2 to 10 p.m. Saturday and 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday; a beer and food tent; a community resource fair from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday; and a classic auto show from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday and 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday.
The Backlot Bash will also feature a Rotary Club of Skokie Valley pancake breakfast from 8 to 11 a.m. Sunday for $6; the Farmers Market from 7:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Sunday; family friendly acts at the Skokie Public Library Saturday and Sunday afternoons; and the Skokie Heritage Museum and Skokie's Historic Log Cabin.
For more information about the weekend festival, access backlotbash.com.
misaacs@pioneerlocal.com
Twitter @SKReview_Mike | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/skokie/news/ct-skr-backlot-bash-schedule-tl-0825-20160822-story.html | en | 2016-08-22T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/68331716a131f8ddc59686c3443dcbd4ebf4552ed894ba6aca8f91f0ae037882.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Steve Mills",
"Todd Lighty"
] | 2016-08-30T18:48:52 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fct-judge-clerk-fired-20160830-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c5c46d/turbine/ct-judge-clerk-fired-20160830 | en | null | Law clerk accused of pretending to be judge is fired | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans, who has come under criticism for his handling of allegations that one of his law clerks put on a robe and heard cases, has fired the clerk, his office announced Tuesday.
In a terse, three-paragraph statement, Evans' office said that Rhonda Crawford "is no longer employed as a law clerk/staff attorney" assigned to the south suburban Markham courthouse. The statement said that judicial rules prevented Evans from commenting further on the matter.
Crawford has worked for Evans' office since 2011 and made about $57,000 a year.
In March, Crawford defeated two opponents in the Democratic primary for the 1st Judicial Subcircuit, which includes parts of the South Side and some of the south suburbs. It's unclear what impact, if any, the matter will have on this November's general election. Crawford is running unopposed.
Evans dismissed the clerk Friday, the same day the Tribune reported that the Cook County state's attorney's office had begun a criminal investigation into allegations that Judge Valarie Turner allowed Crawford to put on a robe and hear at least two traffic cases this month in the Markham courthouse.
Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the state's attorney's office, said in an email to the Tribune on Friday: "Investigation is ongoing. We won't speculate on possible charges." Daly declined to answer further questions about whether Turner or Crawford was the target of the investigation.
Neither Turner nor Crawford have responded to requests for comment.
The incident occurred Aug. 11, when officials say Crawford put on a robe and, with Turner standing nearby, presided over at least two traffic cases. Both involved South Side residents driving in Dolton; one was ticketed for driving with no proof of insurance, the other for driving on the median.
Documents show that one case was continued, while the other was dismissed when the officer failed to appear in court. Both cases will be reheard by a real judge.
Evans suspended Crawford without pay on Aug. 17.
Turner, a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and a former federal prosecutor, was first elected to the bench in 2002. She makes about $190,000 a year.
Evans temporarily removed Turner from the bench and assigned her to handle administrative tasks such as conducting weddings and reviewing requests for fee waivers in civil cases.
The incident comes at a sensitive time for Evans, who has been chief judge for 15 years. He faces challenges from two judges seeking to oust him in internal court elections Sept. 15.
Cook County judge reprimanded after allowing clerk to hear cases A Cook County judge is off the bench for allegedly handing over her robe to a lawyer and allowing them to hear cases. Aug. 17, 2016. (CBS Chicago) A Cook County judge is off the bench for allegedly handing over her robe to a lawyer and allowing them to hear cases. Aug. 17, 2016. (CBS Chicago) See more videos
Thomas Allen, a former Chicago alderman, and Sandra Ramos, a former state prosecutor, are running against Evans to lead one of the largest court systems in the nation, with more than 400 judges.
Allen, in a letter to fellow judges, called on Evans to explain the incident in greater detail, saying it represents one more example of Evans' failure as the leader of the county's courts. He also demanded that Evans say whether he has referred the incident to the state's legal disciplinary agencies or to law enforcement.
"We cannot allow the largest unified court system in the country and the judges and lawyers who serve in it to become a laughingstock," Allen wrote. "We cannot afford to have a pall over the ethics or integrity of our judges and our court system in Cook County after the scandals we faced in the past. It's up to the Chief Judge to step up and fix this mess now."
The Judicial Inquiry Board, which oversees judges in the state, and the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, which licenses and disciplines lawyers, have declined to comment.
smmills@chicagotribune.com
tlighty@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @smmills1960
Twitter @tlighty | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-judge-clerk-fired-20160830-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/15341541c7d8299be33e94d382203d9461c0c80d2b71b4f2b6899df4b60e0222.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Rick Kambic"
] | 2016-08-26T13:20:20 | null | 2016-07-22T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Flibertyville%2Fnews%2Fct-lbr-bull-creek-trail-conservation-tl-0728-20160722-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-5792c026/turbine/ct-lbr-bull-creek-trail-conservation-tl-0728-20160722 | en | null | 20 years later, Libertyville bike path extension opens | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | James and Susan Schuler have lived next to the Bull Creek in an unincorporated area of Libertyville Township for 45 years. For half of that time, they say a bike path in the area has been talked about.
The talk is over. Construction of a T-shaped, 3,560-foot path was finished in June and opened to the public on July 1, according to Township Supervisor Kathleen O'Connor.
The path starts at Castleton Road, where Butterfield Road dead-ends just past Route 137, and runs north with a 445-foot wooden boardwalk in the middle that takes bikers and joggers over marshland, before returning to a traditional path that connects with the Casey Trail.
Another path was built from Bull Creek Drive, north of the wetlands, east through a hay farm until intersecting with the boardwalk.
Residents and government officials gathered on July 21 to celebrate the long-awaited path.
"Most importantly, I'd like to thank the residents of Bull Creek and Timber Creek subdivisions," O'Connor said. "They have been incredibly patient. They have waited over 20 years for this trail to happen. I know government moves slow, but I don't think they ever envisioned we would go this slow."
The path was built on land owned by Libertyville Township, the Village of Libertyville and ComEd, O'Connor said. An intergovernmental agreement was needed, as well as a lease with the power distribution company.
James Schuler said the neighborhoods wanted access to the regional trail system, but many thought it was silly to drive one-mile to Independence Grove Forest Preserve.
"I'm not sure where Kathleen O'Connor came from, but she put an end to the eternal back-and-forth," Schuler said. "We've walked this path before it was conceived and when it was just a field. Now we can use bikes and bring our young grandchildren."
Original construction costs were estimated at around $830,000, but O'Connor said the project was completed $50,000 under budget.
The project was primarily funded in two ways. O'Connor said money from the township's annual budget was set aside each of the last three years. She said the project also pulled from a reserve account that contains money from the township's 1985 open land referendum.
Another $111,000 was spent on permits and engineering work, O'Connor said, and that money was paid through the annual budget as needed over the years.
During the July 21 event, O'Connor thanked the Lake County Forest Preserve, Lake County Storm Water Commission and nonprofit organizations Conserve Lake County and Lake County Audubon Society.
"For those of you who don't know, I have a masters degree in social work. I have no idea how to construct a trail and the things to look for," O'Connor said. "Since I started in 2009, all those people have walked along side me to make sure we're meeting all the needs."
Carlo Cavallaro, an external affairs officer with ComEd, was also at the event and confirmed that his real estate staff signed a no-cost long-term lease with Libertyville Township for permission to go under their power lines.
"We work on bike trails throughout Lake County probably more than any other areas we cover, and we supply power to all of northern Illinois," Cavallaro said. "Those good relationships are a testament to this region."
Gary Mitchiner, a member of Conserve Lake County's board of directors, said nearly half of the 6,000 acres in the Liberty Prairie Nature Preserve are permanently protected and he's excited that residents can appreciate those qualities from all angles for many years to come. He said this was the third trail his group has given consultation on.
Mark Drelicharz said he and his wife bought a house in the area about four months ago specifically because of the access to nature and the trails.
"My wife researched the open space and how it can't be developed on and we said 'thank god.' How many mattress stores, dry cleaners and nail salons do we need?" Drelicharz said. "It's so quiet at night. It's infinitely relaxing. Our parents come and visit and they tell us that we're so much happier."
While looking at a map, Drelicharz excitedly realized that he can use the newly built trail to access the regional bike path and get back to his parent's house in Winnetka and the Green Bay Trail he grew up riding on.
"We enjoy experiencing and interacting with nature, and this is becoming an extension of our back yard because we're out here a lot," Drelicharz said.
Drelicharz's neighbors Paul and Chris Geiselhart are part of the Lake County Audubon Society, which raised over $8,000 to buy native plants, shrubs and trees for planting around the new trail. The Geiselharts said they're planning a volunteer planting day in October.
"I can't wait to get out there and help them," Drelicharz said. "Our house is a long way from where we work, but we don't care because this is the community and lifestyle we want."
rkambic@pioneerlocal.com
Twitter @Rick_Kambic | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/libertyville/news/ct-lbr-bull-creek-trail-conservation-tl-0728-20160722-story.html | en | 2016-07-22T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/51d3d55c31400b0dadd0e9c9e1f3e7d4b2bd010605336dcbdb11a02042411ccb.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Irv Leavitt"
] | 2016-08-26T13:23:57 | null | 2016-08-08T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fnorthbrook%2Fnews%2Fct-nbs-dunkin-driving-tl-0811-20160808-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57a8f24b/turbine/ct-nbs-dunkin-driving-tl-0811-20160808 | en | null | Slow start to turn restrictions at Northbrook Dunkin Donuts | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Northbrook's new Dunkin Donuts drive-through store opened late last month with some of the restrictions intended to keep it safe, developed over months of public hearings, not in place.
Northbrook officials, however, began enforcing some of the neglected restrictions at the store at Dundee and Pfingsten roads after Pioneer Press questioned their absence.
Northbrook officials and neighborhood residents had expressed concerns about the safety of the drive-through throughout its 10-month approval process ending in February 2015, because of heavy traffic and a dozen other commercial driveways on the corner. More than 30,000 cars already traveled that stretch of Dundee daily, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. The resulting safety restrictions included restricting turns to right-in and right-out only on the Dundee Road side.
IDOT added another restriction about a year after approval, according to Northbrook officials and the agency, banning left turns from southbound Pfingsten Road into the store property from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. daily.
Signs advising drivers of the restriction, however, were still not present until Aug. 1, eight days after the store's July 25 opening. IDOT spokeswoman Gianna Urgo said erecting the signs was the responsibility of the developer, and ensuring it was done was up to Northbrook.
Drivers were seen by Pioneer Press commonly turning left illegally from westbound Dundee Road into the right-turn-only entrance on that side of the busy store at 2775 Dundee. Manager James Rogers said that starting on the first day the store was open, some drivers made that illegal left turn and drove through his new lot and out the Pfingsten Road side, to avoid the traffic light on the corner. There was no sign warning westbound drivers not to make the turn.
Jim Doerr, who said he handles new development for some Dunkin Donuts stores in the region, said Aug. 1 that he had signs on order for Pfingsten Road, but Northbrook mounted temporary signs on barricades the following day.
Village Engineer Matt Farmer said Aug. 3 that a no-left-turn sign on the Dundee Road side of the store had faced the wrong way for over a week. Though it correctly told drivers leaving the lot not to turn left onto Dundee, a right-turn-only sign was enough to communicate that, he said.
The no-left-turn sign is supposed to be turned 90 degrees, facing westbound Dundee traffic, therefore warning against left turns into the store. David Gutierrez, who identified himself as the head of the Dunkin Donuts store building crew, changed the direction of the sign Aug. 2.
Some drivers continued to make illegal left turns into the Dundee Road side after the change was made, and the store manager said Friday that he thinks he knows why: The entrance drivers use has a curb less than 2 inches high, while the adjacent exit has one about 5 inches high.
"It makes it too easy," Rogers said.
Northbrook Development Director David Schoon said the developers of the doughnut shop knew the sign informing of banned rush-hour left turns on the Pfingsten Road side was supposed to be installed when the store opened.
"I know they were aware of it because they battled IDOT about that restriction, because they'd rather not have it," he said July 29.
Doerr said he knew nothing about such a conflict, and store manager Rogers said he didn't know about the morning left-turn ban on Pfingsten until the signs went up.
But when they did, he didn't like them.
"There's no way anyone coming from the east can get in here during that time unless they make a U-turn," he said, which might be more dangerous. IDOT didn't answer questions about that problem.
Northbrook police said Aug. 3 that there had been no tickets written near the store since its opening, but extra patrols had been added. No accidents had occurred there, according to police.
Northbrook Trustee James Karagianis said he likes the business, but he voted against allowing its construction last year over concerns about its safety. He said he felt worse about that Aug. 2.
"A person exits Greek Feast, goes across all four lanes and enters Dunkin Donuts. I just saw it with my own eyes," he said.
Karagianis said he called a village department head and asked if there was anything that could be done to get a raised median put in on Dundee Road, blocking left turns into the store.
"And if it's a question of money, Northbrook should pay for it. It's egregious," he said.
Farmer said Aug. 3 that adding the non-drivable median would stop illegal entry into the Dundee Road side of the doughnut store, but it also might block left turns from eastbound Dundee into multiple stores on the north side of the street, too.
ileavitt@pioneerlocal.com
Twitter @IrvLeavitt | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/northbrook/news/ct-nbs-dunkin-driving-tl-0811-20160808-story.html | en | 2016-08-08T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/21907ac09fbf691d3ef738fe00c6489d6f228a5c9fb0f0b504502e39a8a2f3d3.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Ron Grossman"
] | 2016-08-30T18:48:59 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fopinion%2Fcommentary%2Fct-university-of-chicago-safe-spaces-grossman-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c47145/turbine/ct-university-of-chicago-safe-spaces-grossman-20160829 | en | null | U. of C. 'safe spaces' letter is a victory for the nerds | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Being an alumnus, I wasn't a bit surprised by the University of Chicago's announcement that its campus has been inoculated against an epidemic of political correctness currently infecting the academic world.
Last Friday, Jay Ellison, the school's dean of students, sent a letter to incoming freshman telling them not to expect the psychological crutches provided on other campuses. At some colleges, students now expect "trigger warnings" — the ivory tower's equivalent of a PG-13 or R movie rating — alerting them to lecture topics or assigned reading that might cause them discomfort.
Dean Ellison explained that that kind of censorship has no home on the U. of C.'s Gothic quadrangles.
"We do not support so-called 'trigger warnings,'" he wrote, "and we do not condone the creation of intellectual 'safe spaces' where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own."
Older readers — who either went to college or sent their children, decades ago — might assume that challenging undergraduates with new ideas is at the heart of a university's mission. Readers with children currently in college may have heard a different story.
Columbia University student leaders cited Ovid's poem "Metamorphoses" as among literary classics needing a trigger warning: "These texts, wrought with histories and narratives of exclusion and oppression, can be difficult to read and discuss as a survivor, a person of color, or a student from a low-income background."
Law students at Harvard asked their professors not to teach rape law, because it brings images of violence into the classroom.
On some campuses, the language police confess their concerns are much ado about nothing. They've invented a category, "micro-aggression," to cover offenses that may not seem like much in the larger world.
ct-university-of-chicago-safe-spaces-letter-met John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune A campus tour for prospective University of Chicago students is held on the main quad Thursday, August 25, 2016, in Chicago. A campus tour for prospective University of Chicago students is held on the main quad Thursday, August 25, 2016, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Deans and department chairs of the University of California system were put through a training program on micro-aggressions. One example was the statement: "America is the land of opportunity."
Why has the University of Chicago rejected intellectual fads others have embraced? Obviously I'm not impartial. But I think it's due to it being a rare species: a university stripped down to the essentials of an institution of higher learning.
Other universities have diversified their offerings.
Many state universities have essentially become sports promoters, with zillion-dollar television contracts, attached to an academic program so its athletes can be called amateurs. Indiana University's president acknowledged as much when he fired the mercurial basketball coach Bobby Knight for throwing one chair too many.
"I've been the president of two major universities," Myles Brand said. "Unquestionably this is the most difficult decision I've faced."
Where that's so, would the loss of academic integrity bring a university president half as many headaches as back-to-back losing seasons in a major sport?
On some campuses, senior professors concentrate on research, leaving the teaching to adjunct faculty. Paid a pittance, they can't afford to oppose student activists demanding safe spaces and trigger warnings.
The University of Chicago gave up big-time football in 1939. So the life of the mind is all that it's known for. If that should tank, what would be left? The climate is lousy. It's bordered by poverty-stricken neighborhoods. The social scene is slim. In my day, campus fashions were set by the local Army surplus store.
But what it has going for it is a heady atmosphere that has long attracted nerdy students more comfortable in a library than on an athletic field or sitting in the bleachers.
Even romance was intellectual activity. An exotic looking young woman previously unknown to a buddy of mine gave him a pop quiz: "How many children did Bach have?" As he guessed wrong, he never saw her again.
That unbroken line of bookworms has kept the university true to its mission in seasons when the administration entertained the idea of bringing the U. of C. more in line with other universities. A 1950s president reportedly said he aimed to rid the campus of oddball undergraduates.
The student newspaper turned his pledge into a cartoon character, Aristotle Schwartz, shown carrying a bindlestiff of Great Books down a long railroad track.
When the university brought back football on a small scale, it hired a coach from an established program. On a bus ride to an opponent's field he turned around and was amazed to see his players reading ponderous tomes instead of studying the playbook.
More recently, another president wanted to make the U. of C. a fun place. Students adopted a not-quite-satirical motto: "The University of Chicago: Where Fun Goes To Die."
Against that background, the dean's letter to the freshman class didn't come out of the blue. It was the logical consequence of generations of students' commitment to the unadulterated bookish life.
So let me offer this toast to the victory of the nerds:
"Other schools may have safe spaces, where inconvenient ideas are off-limits. The University of Chicago will forever be faithful to immortal words attributed to the philosopher Voltaire: 'I wholly disapprove of what you say — and will defend to the death your right to say it.'"
rgrossman@chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-university-of-chicago-safe-spaces-grossman-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/d70d463d9a423e3adb79995929445f64fdac6a7e39793c9bc233b1ab5c60b0d1.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Carrie Napoleon"
] | 2016-08-26T13:22:58 | null | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fpost-tribune%2Fnews%2Fct-ptb-4h-winner-butcher-st-0826-20160825-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57bf8071/turbine/ct-ptb-4h-winner-butcher-st-0826-20160825 | en | null | 4-H livestock sold, funding entries for next season | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Harry Hanford has been processing livestock for more than 50 years at the off-the-beaten path meatpacking plant he started with his dad in 1964.
For decades, Hanford Meat Packing Co. in Thayer has been the final destination for some of the livestock entered in local county fair competitions raised with care and exacting standards by local youth who participate in 4-H programs.
"They learn respect and responsibility," Hanford said of the 4-H participants. "They put a lot into it."
Some may think the goal of showing an animal at the fair is the chance to earn a ribbon, but the price at auction is the real barometer. The reality is the vast majority of livestock shown at fairs everywhere is destined for the dinner table.
Hanford said he does his best to purchase as much fair livestock as the shop can handle in an effort to support the youth who use the money to continue raising and showing animals.
"I bet we made 80 kids happy this year," Hanford said, as he ruffled through a handful of thank you cards.
Noah Hayden of Lowell will be using the money raised by the sale of his award-winning livestock to be ready for next year's fair season.
His dad, Doug Hayden, said winning the titles is a source of pride and the result of a lot of hard work.
"He had a really good year this year," Hayden said. Noah has been participating in 4-H showing swine and beef for three years. This was a banner year for Noah, who was able to secure top dollar for his livestock, Hayden said.
Hanford's Packing in Thayer, Ind. Jim Karczewski / Post-Tribune A worker slices a beef carcass into strips before breaking it down further into individual steaks. A worker slices a beef carcass into strips before breaking it down further into individual steaks. (Jim Karczewski / Post-Tribune)
"Maybe we will put a little away for his college," Hayden said.
Fair season begins the first week in August for Hanford. He works with youth from five different county fairs, the Lake, Porter, Newton and Jasper county fairs, and the Kankakee County in neighboring Illinois. Hanford said he also helps process cattle for the carcass show at the Porter County Fair.
It takes 14 employees to keep the business running, processing meat and taking and filing orders, Hanford said.
"We all have a lot of pride in what we do," Hanford said.
Randy Rahmoeller, Hanford's nephew, one day hopes to continue the family business. Rahmoeller grew up working in the plant and left for 10 years to work in construction. He returned to the business 10 years ago, and plans to spend his future there.
"It's a great business," Rahmoeller said, adding it takes the entire team to process the 15 to 18 cattle and 20 hogs a week that make their way through the plant. Fair season means there's at least 10 or more animals a week needing processing.
"I like to work with the people, the customers. …It definitely takes everybody," Rahmoeller said.
Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-4h-winner-butcher-st-0826-20160825-story.html | en | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/3fb1a897d55964bbdaaab79498b6b87497dc2f32f0d08db8456983d34df0d7ad.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"David Haugh"
] | 2016-08-31T02:49:00 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Fcolumnists%2Fct-tommy-lastella--second-chance-haugh-spt-0831-20160830-column.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c636cf/turbine/ct-tommy-lastella--second-chance-haugh-spt-0831-20160830 | en | null | Tommy La Stella decision baffling but Cubs give infielder another chance | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Kevin Schnall still remembers the look on Tommy La Stella's face the day Coastal Carolina University coaches openly doubted his ability to play second base.
"We said, 'Tommy, with your range and your hands, we don't think you can do it,''' the school's hitting coach said. "And he became outstanding.''
Then there was the day before La Stella's final season at Coastal in 2011 when Schnall asked him to jot down some goals.
"I looked at the numbers he wrote down,'' said Schnall, who La Stella called the most influential coach of his career. "And I said, 'Tommy, that's great but I don't feel like these are attainable … and he came pretty damn close. He loved defying odds and proving people wrong.''
That is the driven overachiever Schnall recalls when he thinks of La Stella, the guy named Big South player of the year in 2011, not the pouty spoilsport who went home to New Jersey for three weeks after refusing the Cubs' minor-league assignment in July.
Why Cubs President Theo Epstein confirmed Monday plans to promote La Stella this week remains baffling. Who gets to come back to a good job after taking an unexcused three-week vacation? The Cubs figure to stay the best team in baseball with or without La Stella's lively left-handed bat off the bench. Their World Series hopes don't hinge on a part-time player hitting .295 before a demotion caused by a numbers game everybody but La Stella understood.
Adding a utility infielder who turned his back on teammates hardly creates the same ethical dilemma as, say, acquiring baseball's most feared relief pitcher with a troubled past. La Stella doesn't affect World Series aspirations to the degree Aroldis Chapman does, so it would be easier for the Cubs to just move on without the infielder and send an organizational-wide message about loyalty. That's what I would do. La Stella acted too selfishly for me to deserve a spot on a team full of selfless players poised to make history.
But the Cubs will let La Stella return, a conclusion team officials reached after private discussions they plan to keep that way. They have shown tremendous patience and the way they speak about the 27-year-old player privately implies his reaction involves something deeper. One team source called the situation "complicated.'' If any manager can deal with whatever distraction La Stella creates, it is Joe Maddon, a man who vows daily to do simple better.
For his part, La Stella has declined all interviews but would ingratiate himself quicker back in Chicago if he is as transparent as possible. Schnall declined to comment on La Stella's commitment to baseball, allowing only that his well-rounded former pupil loved the game but "doesn't have all his eggs in one basket.'' He has exchanged texts with his fellow New Jersey native and believes La Stella can overcome any doubts, which typically drive him.
"His intelligence, competitive and work ethic is infectious,'' Schnall said. "I want him in my foxhole. I'm from New Jersey so I can say this: Tommy is like that Italian guy who feels like everybody is against him. He thrives on that.''
Not always passionate about baseball, La Stella emerged as a prospect his senior year at St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale, N.J. He became a walk-on at St. John’s, where he hoped hitting .320 as a freshman would allow the school to fulfill its pledge of a scholarship. When St. John’s didn’t, La Stella bolted for a better opportunity at Coastal Carolina, where he made a quick impression.
"The thing I appreciate now most about Tommy was you had to be prepared as a coach at practice because, if you weren't, he would call you out,'' Schnall said.
For example, La Stella often questioned coaches' strategy behind baserunning or defensive decisions. His intense conversations on hitting changed the way Schnall handled other players.
"Tommy was one of the first guys who developed a deeper understanding of high-level swing mechanics,'' Schnall said. "He forced me to be prepared to have dialogue on the field.''
La Stella was motivated even more after no team selected him in the 2010 amateur draft despite his hitting .375. After his numbers improved the following year, the Braves took him in the eighth round.
"I apologized on behalf of the industry that we missed him the previous year,'' Braves scout Billy Best said over the phone.
Best, who spotted La Stella at an open tryout in 2009, remembered a minor-leaguer with major-league confidence.
"Tommy always knew he could hit but it took others awhile to figure it out,'' Best said.
A rough start at Class A Rome (Ga.) hardly made it obvious. He initially struggled so badly that he told his parents not to come to games and stayed in his room on trips.
"I've never seen a kid in my life take it as hard as he did,'' Best said. "That's the way Tommy was, very emotional but a great kid with high highs, low lows.''
Based on his actions since July 27, that's the way La Stella still is — yet, for reasons hard for me to grasp, the Cubs will welcome him back anyway.
dhaugh@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @DavidHaugh | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-tommy-lastella--second-chance-haugh-spt-0831-20160830-column.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/44789fd1a627ea8bab1a5cd99ccf5b62128be63d3bf90e6b7ee2833405c15b5c.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Jackie Pilossoph"
] | 2016-08-26T13:23:54 | null | 2016-08-10T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fnorthbrook%2Fnews%2Fct-nbs-all-star-abilities-tl-0818-20160810-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57abcdcd/turbine/ct-nbs-all-star-abilities-tl-0818-20160810 | en | null | Personal experience leads to creation of All-Star Abilities program | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | When Evanston Township High School senior Grace Goodman got involved in Best Buddies, a volunteer program at her school that hosts parties and get-togethers including kids with disabilities, she realized something.
Like everyone else, kids with disabilities could benefit greatly by engaging in physical activity.
"I loved the program and started looking for other programs where I could volunteer, and there was nothing out there that included fitness," said Goodman, who participates in cross country for her school. "I feel alive and happy and I get endorphins from exercise, and not everyone has that opportunity."
Goodman's passion led her, along with Adam Gurin of Vernon Hills and Matan Cutler of Evanston to create All-Star Abilities, a new program that will pair volunteers and kids with special needs for work outs, fitness classes and wellness programs. All-Star Abilities will take place at the Marvin Lustbader Center for Health, Wellness and Fitness, which is set to open in December at Northbrook's Bernard Weinger JCC.
"When you have a special need, so many people look at what you are unable to do," said Goodman. "I think this program will help communities accept and understand that people are not limited by what they are unable to do but rather known for what they are able to do. A lot of that is in our name — All-Star Abilities."
Addie Goodman is the vice president of JCC Chicago and Grace's mom. She pitched the program to the Jewish United Fund for funding.
"This is filling a need that no one else is addressing in the community right now," said Addie Goodman, who explained that her daughter, Gurin and Cutler created the program as part of their social impact project for the Diller Teen Fellowship, a Jewish United Fund led fellowship that focuses on leadership, service and Jewish values.
Grace Goodman Jackie Pilossoph / Pioneer Press “If you are a kid with special needs, you are able to do everything. You just need good support and a means to do it and we hope to deliver those means,” said Grace Goodman, presenting All-Star Abilities. “If you are a kid with special needs, you are able to do everything. You just need good support and a means to do it and we hope to deliver those means,” said Grace Goodman, presenting All-Star Abilities. (Jackie Pilossoph / Pioneer Press)
"The peers are there to help kids get over that hump of being intimidated by walking into a gym and working out," she said. "The objective is that the teens will gain a level of confidence and independence so long term on their own they can feel very comfortable going into a fitness center and engaging in life long health and wellness activities."
Addie Goodman also said that All-Star Abilities is also a leadership opportunity for the volunteers.
"This program is about acceptance, understanding and advocating for all kids," she said.
Participating organizations will include Camp Firefly, Yachad, Libenu, MediFit and Keshet, the Northbrook based nonprofit that provides programming for adults and children with special needs.
"This was a natural fit for us because this is what we believe in: recreational activities and camp and sports really should be partnered together with all kids of all abilities," said Jen Phillips, who is the director of recreation for Keshet. "The focus is on inclusion. Just because you have a special need, it doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to participate. That's what All-Star Abilities is providing."
"If you are a kid with special needs, you are able to do everything," Grace Goodman said. "You just need good support and a means to do it and we hope to deliver those means."
To learn more go to JCCChicago.org/fitness.
Jackie Pilossoph is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/northbrook/news/ct-nbs-all-star-abilities-tl-0818-20160810-story.html | en | 2016-08-10T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/8ce2b57a989aa557245f3d5c156325a4b302787a3da1710e6d8bfff3e524386c.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune"
] | 2016-08-30T22:49:02 | null | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fopinion%2Feditorials%2Fct-cook-county-judge-crawford-turner-evans-edit-20160830-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c5fc8a/turbine/ct-cook-county-judge-crawford-turner-evans-edit-20160830 | en | null | You're fired, Rhonda. You'll be hired. Buy your own robe. | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans did the right thing — arguably the only responsible thing — by firing law clerk Rhonda Crawford last Friday. The rest of us learned about that Tuesday.
You remember Crawford. She was accused of slipping on a judge's robe in August and ruling in two traffic cases from the bench in Markham.
But Crawford wasn't a judge. She was allegedly "job shadowing" Cook County Circuit Judge Valarie Turner, who allowed the pretend judge to preside.
Turner has been reassigned to administrative duties like presiding at weddings and reviewing requests for fee waivers in civil cases. Having displayed awesomely bad judgment, Turner probably shouldn't again find herself on the banging side of a gavel for a good long time, if ever.
And Crawford? Oh, not to worry about her. She's out of this $57,000-a-year job. But she's still a Democratic candidate on the Nov. 8 ballot, running unopposed in the 1st Judicial Subcircuit race. So the freshly fired Crawford can look forward to a major new job and salary bump to $188,000. Which, we imagine, will be ample enough so that Crawford will be able to buy her own robe.
Absurd? Outrageous? Only in famously dysfunctional Cook County?
All of the above.
And barring some unforeseen circumstance, there doesn't look to be much anyone can do about it.
Once elected, Crawford will join hundreds of other judges in Cook County who are all but impossible to unseat. Judges stand for retention every six years. It's been 26 years since a sitting judge fell short of the 60 percent "yes" vote required to stay on the bench. Even the most outlandish behavior gets a pass from voters, who often don't know much about the judges.
Voters who wisely pay attention to Tribune judicial endorsements do know the good judges from the dunces. But less informed voters take their cue from Democratic palm cards and mailers that instruct them to vote for candidates who, like Crawford, may have been rejected as not qualified by local bar associations.
The Cook County state's attorney's office has begun a criminal investigation into the Markham fiasco. We imagine the Judicial Inquiry Board, which oversees judges in Illinois, and the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, which licenses and disciplines lawyers, may also have something to say about this. Stay tuned for something — eventually.
Evans, though, may face more immediate fallout. He has been chief judge for 15 years. He is elected by his judicial peers. Two of them are seeking to oust him from that perch via internal court elections Sept. 15.
One of those challengers, Thomas Allen, a former Chicago alderman, has called on Evans to explain the Crawford/Turner incident in more detail. We'd sure like to hear that. We'd also like to hear from Crawford or Turner on the question everyone has: What were they thinking?
"We cannot allow the largest unified court system in the country and the judges and lawyers who serve in it to become a laughingstock," Allen wrote. "We cannot afford to have a pall over the ethics or integrity of our judges and our court system in Cook County after the scandals we faced in the past. It's up to the Chief Judge to step up and fix this mess now."
Firing Crawford was a start. But some of what's wrong with the system — including how difficult it is for voters to fire judges for egregious behavior — is outside Evans' jurisdiction.
This is the way Cook County's judicial system works. It's a job-protection program for sitting judges.
It's the system that will in all probability welcome Judge Rhonda Crawford to the bench after the November election.
But don't worry. She's all warmed up and ready to go. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-cook-county-judge-crawford-turner-evans-edit-20160830-story.html | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/676572533ad63e4a5f8cd6b0159b40a6d268ab2be6a2286aa34f8e24a0bd381c.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Pioneer Press"
] | 2016-08-26T13:22:35 | null | 2016-08-08T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fmundelein%2Fnews%2Fct-mun-cardboard-regatta-diamond-lake-tl-0811-20160808-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57a8f5ba/turbine/ct-mun-cardboard-regatta-diamond-lake-tl-0811-20160808 | en | null | Mundelein's fleet grows in cardboard regatta's second year | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | The Mundelein Park District's second annual cardboard regatta doubled in participation this year.
Officials say eight boats set sail in 2015, while 17 were registered just prior to this year's Aug. 6 event.
Designed primarily to instill creativity in youth and to promote Diamond Lake Beach, officials say the event is also a fundraiser for the district's foundation. Entry cost $20 per boat registered to a person or family and $50 for businesses.
Aquatics Supervisor Mike Gerton said people struggled last year to find cardboard, so this year the park district found companies to sponsor a supply of cardboard, paint and duct tape for participants to take upon registration.
More than 100 spectators lined the beach to watch boats pridefully float or humorously sink. Gerton said the Aug. 6 event was a fun way to wrap up beach activities, as Diamond Lake Beach then closed for the season on Aug. 7. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/mundelein/news/ct-mun-cardboard-regatta-diamond-lake-tl-0811-20160808-story.html | en | 2016-08-08T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/c00bd8e7fbef0096792873ffe7dc3364d3df1dce6419efebb39333524e343d9c.json |
[
"Associated Press",
"Tribune News Services"
] | 2016-08-28T16:48:18 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fentertainment%2Fct-charles-osgood-retires-20160828-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c2fc00/turbine/ct-charles-osgood-retires-20160828 | en | null | CBS' Charles Osgood to end 22 years as 'Sunday Morning' host | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Charles Osgood, who has said "good morning" to his audience every Sunday for 22 years, will say "goodbye" as host of "CBS News Sunday Morning." He announced his Sept. 25 departure on Sunday's edition.
But he assured his viewers he won't be absent from the program after that, explaining he will make occasional appearances.
No successor was announced.
The 83-year-old Osgood is exiting a job only one other person has held since "Sunday Morning" premiered in 1979. Charles Kuralt retired in 1994 after hosting for 15 years.
Osgood was already a CBS veteran. Since joining in 1971, he has been an anchor and reporter for many CBS News broadcasts on both TV and radio. He has long delivered "The Osgood File" on radio, and will continue to do so.
Associated Press | http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-charles-osgood-retires-20160828-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/16b7b8aa84613c083cf75b8140e97a113769e3ab5cdea802d639f31345d906d1.json |
[
"Jing Cao Selina Wang",
"Brian Womack",
"C"
] | 2016-08-27T16:48:04 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fsns-wp-blm-rackspace-914d20aa-6bbc-11e6-91cb-ecb5418830e9-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-56f02a81/turbine/chi-default-open-graph-ct-logo/1200/1200x650 | en | null | Succumbing to Amazonian cloud rivals, Rackspace goes private | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Low online prices and convenience offered by Amazon.com usually hammers rival retailers. Now it's happening in the world of corporate IT services.
Apollo Global Management is buying Rackspace Hosting Inc. for $4.3 billion after the cloud-services company failed to keep pace with cheaper and broader offerings from Amazon, and other large technology companies like Microsoft and Google.
The New York-based private equity firm agreed to pay $32 a share in cash for Rackspace, according to a statement Friday.
For Rackspace, the deal marks the end of its public struggle against bigger cloud rivals that offered lower-cost computing power, storage and other IT services over the internet, crimping its ability to compete. Rackspace recently started helping companies shift their IT operations to data centers run by Amazon and Microsoft, but it wasn't enough to make up for declines in its traditional businesses. Becoming a private company will give Rackspace time and space to complete the transition to a services business.
Rackspace is "gaining traction, but they're very small," said Joshua Yatskowitz, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. "Bringing it out of the public eye can make that transition a lot easier."
Rackspace went public in 2008 and was a high-flying growth company for several years, benefiting from the early shift by companies to running work software on rented computer servers over the internet, rather than their own on-premise data centers.
But the rise of Amazon Web Services, the online retailer's cloud business, helped end that run in 2013. Early that year, AWS cut prices for its cloud offerings seven times. Rackspace's results and forecasts missed analysts' estimates and its shares plunged as AWS gained market share.
In 2014, the company hired Morgan Stanley to seek strategic options that could have included teaming up with bigger technology companies. That decision came amid fresh price cuts. Google, which was also trying to catch up with AWS, slashed prices on some of its cloud-computing services by up to 85 percent in March 2014. Amazon followed with more price cuts the next day, triggering a price war that continues today.
Rackspace and other smaller players struggled to match those prices because they didn't have as much scale. Amazon, Google and Microsoft run their own huge web businesses that require hundreds of thousands of computer servers, along with networking gear and other equipment packed into energy-sucking data centers around the world. Buying and building such infrastructure in high volume gives these web giants price advantages with vendors, which they pass on to cloud customers.
Google's parent, Alphabet Inc., Amazon and Microsoft have combined cash holdings of more than $200 billion compared to Rackspace's less than $1 billion. Google spends billions of dollars a year upgrading and maintaining data centers and building new ones. Without that ability, Rackspace had to start advising companies on how to move and run their data and software in the data centers of other leading cloud providers. It struck deals with Microsoft and Amazon, but that didn't make up for losses elsewhere.
"Rackspace's public cloud services have been losing market share to the hyperscale providers," Yatskowitz said. "The company has said current customers haven't been churning, but it is seeing a smaller portion of new workloads, which have increasingly gone to the hyperscale players."
Apollo's acquisition represents a 38 percent premium to Rackspace's closing price on Aug. 3, before a Wall Street Journal report about the potential sale boosted the shares. The stock has risen about 30 percent since the news about a potential sale. The company has lost about 60 percent of its market value since its shares peaked above $80 in early 2013.
"This transaction will provide Rackspace with more flexibility to manage the business for long-term growth and enhance our product offerings," Graham Weston, chairman and co-founder of Rackspace, said in the statement.
As part of the deal, funds managed by Searchlight Capital Partners will make an equity investment in the San Antonio-based company.
Last year, Apollo acquired Presidio Inc., an information-technology consulting company. The private-equity firm also has taken a number of companies private this year, including home-security company ADT Corp., which at $12 billion was the biggest private equity-backed acquisition announced this year.
Apollo's advisers for the deal are Citigroup., Deutsche Bank, Barclays and RBC Capital Markets. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison acted as legal adviser. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. acted as Rackspace's financial adviser. The company's legal adviser was Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. The deal is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-wp-blm-rackspace-914d20aa-6bbc-11e6-91cb-ecb5418830e9-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/90035ccd1f3c4d58eec3861089a53e360b5440bf1d3a8e587ad07b460fbeecb0.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Amy Lavalley"
] | 2016-08-29T12:51:52 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fpost-tribune%2Fnews%2Fct-ptb-kouts-pork-st-0830-20160829-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c427c5/turbine/ct-ptb-kouts-pork-st-0830-20160829 | en | null | Parade, pork chop dinner part of annual Kouts festival | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Smoke billowed from outside the Kouts Fire Department Saturday, but there was no need to call 911.
It was just the department grilling 1,000 pork chops for its fundraiser, held every year during Kouts Pork Fest.
"Usually on a good day we sell out by about 2 o'clock," said Chief Jeremy Gettler.
The pork chop dinner has been a fundraising staple for the department for more than 30 years. The money raised this year, he said, will go for personal protection gear, extrication equipment, nozzles, and perhaps new hoses.
"You get a pretty decent meal for your buck and it's one of the things that keeps us going to protect our community," Gettler said.
The pork chops were just one of the pork-themed food offerings for the 40th annual festival, which also offered up ribs, pulled pork and burgers, among other dishes.
Early morning rain didn't hamper the festivities but may have scared some vendors off, said Kelli Duttlinger, one of the festival's coordinators, a group that includes several members of an extended family.
"We're trying to bring some new life in the festival. We have a core group of family that keep it running," she said, adding they are getting other people involved.
This year's theme was "Getting Dirty South of 30," and other festival activities included guessing the weight of a pig, named "Dirty Harry;" a pork burger eating contest; and a cook-off, which Kevin Birky, with Mulberry Tree Ministries, won for the third year in a row with pulled pork in a blueberry barbecue sauce.
Organizers said 2,000 people typically come to the festival.
Shortly before the parade began, Liz Chatwell, an English teacher at Kouts High School, and her family settled in curbside on Main Street.
"My oldest is 15 and he is marching in the band and we've been coming since he was little," Chatwell said. "It's a great parade for kids, and my youngest is marching with the soccer team, so there are a lot of ways to get involved."
Richard Hudgens and his wife, Carolyn, also claimed front row seats for the parade. Richard Hudgens said they lived "next door," in Wheatfield, while Carolyn Hudgens held an umbrella which she said was to ward off the sun, not any lingering threat of rain.
"We don't make it every year but we try to. It's a nice little festival. It's a nice little town," Richard Hudgens said, adding they like to come for the food, particularly the pork. "It's all good."
Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-kouts-pork-st-0830-20160829-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/ae5dad87ca05b9e4747da49842dde93df536b27181f7a62b78117fefd7742027.json |
[
"Associated Press",
"Tribune News Services"
] | 2016-08-29T02:48:30 | null | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsports%2Fgolf%2Fct-patrick-reed-rickie-fowler-barclays-20160828-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c38516/turbine/ct-patrick-reed-rickie-fowler-barclays-20160828 | en | null | Patrick Reed wins Barclays as Rickie Fowler loses Ryder Cup spot | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Patrick Reed picked up two victories in one day. He won The Barclays to assure himself a clear shot at the $10 million bonus in the FedEx Cup, and he easily secured a spot on his second straight U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Rickie Fowler, with a surprising meltdown, walked away empty from Bethpage Black.
Reed overcame an early two-shot deficit and built a big enough lead on the back nine that some nervous shots and sloppy play didn't keep him from winning for the first time since the 2015 opener at Kapalua. A bogey on the final hole gave him a 1-under 70 and a one-shot victory over Sean O'Hair and Emiliano Grillo.
"It's just been great to finally be able to close one off," Reed said.
Fowler still hasn't won in four tries as a 54-hole leader on the PGA Tour, and this one might sting. He was still in contention, two shots behind with four holes to play, and at least figured to have one of the eight automatic spots on the Ryder Cup team locked up. Fowler needed to finish third to move past Zach Johnson into the eighth spot in the U.S. standings, and he was two shots clear of O'Hair and Grillo.
His tee shot into deep rough left of the 15th fairway led to bogey. From more rough on the 16th, he went into a bunker and took two shots to reach the green, making a double bogey. After a 20-foot birdie putt kept alive his hopes, he promptly found more rough on the 18th hole and finished with a bogey for a 74.
Fowler tied for seventh and moved up one spot to No. 11 in the standings.
"I wasn't trying to get a decent finish," Fowler said. "I was trying to win."
Fowler still has a reasonable chance to be at Hazeltine on Sept. 30 for the Ryder Cup because Davis Love III doesn't make his three captain's picks until after the next two FedEx Cup playoff events. The fourth pick will be after the Tour Championship, so that's another month to audition.
Reed, who finished at 9-under 275, wasn't the only player who felt like a big winner.
O'Hair was among five players who moved into the top 100 in the FedEx Cup, advancing to the next playoff event at the TPC Boston that starts Friday. And he made a big move, closing with a 66 to tie for second. That moved him all the way up to No. 15, assuring two more playoff events and giving O'Hair a good shot at staying in the top 30 who qualify for the finale at the Tour Championship.
Grillo birdied the final hole for a 69 and moved to No. 6.
Defending champion Jason Day struggled all week with his accuracy and had to settle for a 69, tying for fourth with Gary Woodland (69) and Adam Scott (71).
Reed had gone 55 tournaments worldwide since starting 2015 with a victory at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. A bogey on the par-3 third hole put him two shots behind Fowler, but not for long. Reed made three birdies on the next four holes to tie for the lead, and he seized control early on the back nine.
Fowler missed the 11th fairway and ended his streak of 55 consecutive holes without a bogey, losing the lead in the process. Reed holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the next hole for a two-shot lead, and Fowler never got any closer.
Sung Kang matched the course record with a 64 to move from No. 122 to No. 88. John Huh, Tyrone Van Aswegan and Derek Fathauer also moved into the top 100, while Shane Lowry, Peter Malnati, Robert Streb, Lucas Glover and Jonas Blixt fell out and ended their season.
The top 70 after next week advance to the third playoff event, with the top 30 going to East Lake for the Tour Championship.
With his victory, which moves Reed to No. 9 in the world ranking, Reed goes to No. 1 in the FedEx Cup. He will be assured of being in the top five who only have to win the Tour Championship to capture the $10 million prize.
Associated Press | http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/golf/ct-patrick-reed-rickie-fowler-barclays-20160828-story.html | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/a39001d48cf99a4531dab12c4ce1884464b38598c1e434afde774027d4cbc127.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Ted Gregory"
] | 2016-08-29T10:48:25 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Fct-monarch-butterfly-population-met-20160828-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c3c435/turbine/ct-monarch-butterfly-population-met-20160828 | en | null | Extremely low monarch numbers latest downturn in 20-year decline | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | During his slogs through Cuba Marsh Forest Preserve in northwest suburban Deer Park, designated butterfly observer Jim Peterson documented what many keen outdoors enthusiasts may have been noticing all summer.
"This year was not a real good one for monarchs," said Peterson, a volunteer with the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network. He took nine expeditions on the same route through dense, chest-high brush at the Lake County forest preserve this summer. Along his path, he identified and counted the butterflies he saw.
This year he spotted four monarchs. Last summer, 15.
As the monarch starts its astonishing, near-3,000-mile winter migration from Canada to Mexico this month, Peterson and other local butterfly observers are seeing a phenomenon that is playing out nationally: Monarch numbers are extremely low this year. It is the latest downturn in a 20-year decline for the striking orange and black flier that is Illinois' state insect.
"The problem is real," Karen Oberhauser, co-chairwoman of Monarch Joint Venture, a national collaboration of 50 conservation, education and research groups, said of this year's severe drop. "We're seeing much, much lower than the long-term averages."
Oberhauser, a University of Minnesota professor of fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology who has been studying monarchs since 1984, said the monarch population appears to be less than half of last year's level. She based her conclusion on a preliminary review of data from the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project, a network of observers throughout the country that she coordinates.
Monarch butterfly numbers are extremely low this year, the latest downturn in a 20-year decline for the butterfly that is Illinois' state insect. Kan MacNeil takes them in and nurtures them until they're ready to fly. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune) (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Preliminary reports from the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network, a volunteer group of about 100 observers such as Peterson who track butterflies from central Illinois to the Wisconsin state line, support Oberhauser's perspective.
The monarch generally is "the second or third most common species" of butterfly that observers record, said Doug Taron, director of the network and chief curator of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. "This year, it's seventh."
Of the 68 sites where data have been collected, monarchs have been recorded at 45, Taron said.
He declined to draw a definitive conclusion from those numbers, but Taron did say this summer has been "pretty dismal" for butterflies in general in Illinois. Observers typically record 85 species a year. Current reports show 68 this summer.
Kay MacNeil has been drawing monarchs and other butterflies to her one acre in south suburban Frankfort for 40 years by planting dozens of milkweed — vital food for monarch caterpillars — and "tons of nectar plants," which attract the adult butterflies. Last year, she raised 64 monarchs from eggs or caterpillars.
This year, she has been able to raise one.
"It's a worry," added MacNeil, chairwoman of Garden Clubs of Illinois' Milkweed for Monarchs, which is promoting the planting of milkweed across the state. "That's why I'm doing what I do."
Beyond their role as ecosystem barometers, monarchs' environmental value is a little unclear. They pollinate many wildflower species. And, some wasps, spiders, ants and birds eat monarch eggs and larvae, although the butterfly carries a toxin that limits its appeal as prey for creatures up the food chain.
But, fans say, the monarch also is much beloved as an attention-grabbing ambassador for nature's beauty.
Butterfly populations fluctuate a great deal from year to year, depending largely on weather, experts say. A prolonged cold, wet period, which the Chicago area experienced this spring, fortifies fungi and bacteria that attack butterflies in the caterpillar stage, Taron said. That weather also tends to extend the time butterflies are in the vulnerable caterpillar stage, he added.
Oberhauser said monarchs' particularly difficult summer began March 9 in forested mountains west of Mexico City, where tens of millions of monarchs from much of North America spend the winters. An intense storm struck the area, lashing it with rain, hail, snow and subfreezing temperatures, killing large numbers of monarchs and inflicting severe damage on trees, the butterflies' habitat.
A Monarch Joint Venture update in July reported that the storm caused "immense destruction." In addition, data from Monarch Larva Monitoring Project indicated that the number of butterfly larva this year rivaled the level seen in 2013. That year yielded "the lowest number of monarchs ever seen in Mexico," the joint venture update stated.
The species could bounce back, as it did after 2013. That year, World Wildlife Fund data showed that the butterflies occupied 1.6 acres in the overwintering region of central Mexico. By last year, the monarchs covered nearly 10 acres, WWF reported.
But solving the longer-term decrease may be more challenging.
Since about 1996, the monarchs' acreage in their Mexico wintering region has been on a general decline — from almost 45 acres to last year's coverage of 9.9 acres, according to WWF figures. Oberhauser said the primary reason is the increasing use of herbicide-tolerant soybean and corn crops in the U.S. during that time.
U.S. Department of Agriculture figures show that about 1 percent of agricultural acreage in 1996 was herbicide-tolerant soybeans and corn. Today, that level is near 90 percent.
Wider use of herbicide-tolerant crops enables farmers to apply more herbicide, killing milkweed that had been prevalent in farm fields for years, Oberhauser said.
She bases her theory on "correlative evidence" — data that show most monarchs had emanated from corn and soybean fields, and that milkweed is nearly absent from those fields in recent years.
Others have argued that the monarchs' decline could be related to some as-yet-undetected change that occurs in their migration, Oberhauser said. But she added that the disappearance of milkweed in farm fields has been the only major, enduring change in monarch butterflies' lives in the last 20 years.
Local and state efforts are underway to try to turn around the decline. In February, Chicago Wilderness announced a priority species project that focuses on improving the health of 12 species that represent rare ecosystems. Monarchs are included. The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, where Taron works, is a partner in that effort.
And, in early August, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law a bill that creates a special monarch license plate that would raise money to develop habitat.
On a national scale, Taron and Oberhauser noted the efforts of Monarch Watch and Journey North, which generate a great deal of information and education about the monarch; and federal agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, which work to increase monarch habitat. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-monarch-butterfly-population-met-20160828-story.html | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/26474f04dd9cbfb0eda8d09963c68815ecab6a9e08142b1b9e98dc11557f242d.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Karie Angell Luc"
] | 2016-08-26T13:22:11 | null | 2016-08-08T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Fmundelein%2Fnews%2Fct-mun-mechanics-grove-painting-tl-0811-20160808-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57a8ccca/turbine/ct-mun-mechanics-grove-painting-tl-0811-20160808 | en | null | Volunteers pick up the paint brushes at Mundelein school | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Now here's a school supply list: 25 paint roller kits, 25 paintbrushes and 100 gallons of paint.
That's what an estimated 30 volunteer painters from Outreach to Teach, an Illinois Education Association program, used to help paint the interior of Mechanics Grove Elementary School in Mundelein on Aug. 3.
"The district is very grateful to have the help of these volunteers," said Nick Ciko, civics teacher at Carl Sandburg Middle School in Mundelein and president of the Mundelein Elementary Education Association.
The program is an initiative that brings together aspiring teachers and local communities, Ciko said.
"These future teachers can build upon this experience as they begin their careers in other schools across the state," Ciko said.
College students and retired teachers painted common and storage spaces using the school colors of sapphire blue and white.
"I'm just so happy to be helping," said Sarah Saenz, 23, who painted alongside Becky Kreidler, 20.
This was the first year that Saenz, a Western Illinois University senior, participated in the volunteer workday, she said.
"I'm just so excited to get my hands dirty with clean, fresh, white paint," said Saenz, who is studying special and elementary education.
Also joining in the effort was Kameron Strong, 10, a Mechanics Grove School fourth grader. Kameron's mother is Mechanics Grove School fourth grade teacher Cari Strong.
"I like volunteering because I love this school," Kameron Strong said.
Janet Kilgus, a volunteer and retired downstate junior high math teacher, is chair of IEA-Retired, which has more than 11,000 members and represents education retirees.
"We love them, they keep us young," Kilgus said of the younger educators that IEA-Retired assists via its mentor program.
Six retired IEA volunteers assisted Aug. 3 with two members traveling from as far as the Kentucky/Illinois state line, Kilgus said.
Ilene Siegel, of Arlington Heights, is a retired speech pathologist and volunteer.
"I take any opportunity I can to give back to the community," Siegel said.
"It's a testament to their commitment," said Ciko. "Teaching goes beyond classroom walls."
Karie Angell Luc is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/mundelein/news/ct-mun-mechanics-grove-painting-tl-0811-20160808-story.html | en | 2016-08-08T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/e7136ae353422367cf48af0f80855d7dc0d0e3a800cb47bb84ca2ccd3b8b3017.json |
[
"Chicago Tribune",
"Bob Narang"
] | 2016-08-27T14:48:01 | null | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fsuburbs%2Flake-county-news-sun%2Fsports%2Fct-lns-football-waukegan-north-chicago-st-0827-20160826-story.html.json | http://www.trbimg.com/img-57c10fd2/turbine/ct-lns-football-waukegan-north-chicago-st-0827-20160826 | en | null | Shawntrell Hayes leads dynamite defense as Waukegan edges North Chicago | null | null | www.chicagotribune.com | Waukegan's Shawntrell Hayes leaned to his defensive side to help the Bulldogs become offensive on Friday.
Hayes, senior defensive back/wide receiver, put his stamp on the season opener against North Chicago, recovering three fumbles and intercepting a pass — all in the first half.
In a game filled with turnovers, penalties, timeouts and numerous injuries, Hayes kept consistently making game-changing plays, even on special teams. Led by Hayes, the Bulldogs' defense collected seven turnovers en route to a 31-27 victory over the Warhawks before a capacity crowd in North Chicago.
With the offense struggling most of the game, Hayes, mostly on defense, and senior wide receiver James Morgan accounted for the majority of the big plays. Morgan hauled in touchdown catches of 81 and 71 yards. His 71-yarder, from quarterback Daniel Hill, midway in the fourth quarter accounted for the winning margin.
The 6-foot, 185-pound Hayes spoiled numerous scoring opportunities for North Chicago (0-1), and in the process, set up scoring chances for the Bulldogs. Hayes opened up the scoring, recovering a fumble and sprinting for 72-yard touchdown on the first possession of the game.
Hayes was a consistent thorn in North Chicago's bid to equal last season's win total. He added another fumble recovery and intercepted a pass on North Chicago's next two possessions, tallying turnovers on the Warhawks' first three drives.
Late in the second quarter, with North Chicago deep in Waukegan territory, Hayes recovered a fumble to end another scoring threat to end his stunning first-half performance. After defensive tackle Diego Mendez (injury) and cornerback Davion Walker (ejection) were lost for the game early in the first quarter, Hayes said he had to step up.
The Bulldogs (1-0) had their own issues on offense and special teams. Waukegan tallied just one yard rushing and 81 yards passing in the first half. James Morgan hauled in an 81-yard TD off a halfback pass from Andre Brown to pad Waukegan's lead to 24-14 right before halftime.
Hampered by seven turnovers, the Warhawks managed to stay within striking distance due to an opportunistic defense and converting third downs on offense. North Chicago quarterback Dyshawn Gales threw for 185 yards and two TDs and ran for 113 yards and one score, including handing the Warhawks a brief lead at 27-24 following a 13-yard TD run.
Waukegan defense stopped North Chicago on fourth down at 1 with 80 seconds left to play.
Bob Narang is a freelance writer for the News-Sun.
HIGH SCHOOLS
FOOTBALL
WEEK 1
FRIDAY'S RESULTS
NONCONFERENCE
Carmel 24, Waukesha (Wis.) West 17
Libertyville 29, Elk Grove 0
Palatine 28, Stevenson 20
Vernon Hills 39, Grayslake Central 16
Deerfield at Lakes, late
Fremd at Lake Zurich, late
Grant at Crystal Lake Central, late
Hersey at Highland Park, late
Lake Forest at Glenbard East, late
Lyons at Warren, late
Mundelein at Larkin, late
Round Lake at Woodstock, late
Tremper (Wis.) at Antioch, late
Wauconda at Richmond-Burton, late
Waukegan at North Chicago, late
Willowbrook at Grayslake North, late
Zion-Benton at Westosha Central (Wis.), late
SATURDAY'S GAME
NONCONFERENCE
Burroughs (Mo.) at Lake Forest Academy, 1 p.m. | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/sports/ct-lns-football-waukegan-north-chicago-st-0827-20160826-story.html | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.chicagotribune.com/f7949cfbdc04c1cc18e474a2a3abe11b08cf1012f652c632aeacecce32c642bb.json |
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