Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
This afternoon will be mostly sunny and breezy with a high near 78 degrees and wind gusts as high as 30 mph. Tonight we’re expected to see showers and thunderstorms with a low around 51. Tomorrow will be sunny with a high near 70 degrees.
Top story
Bodycam video of Chicago police officer grappling with lakefront dog walker released
New video footage was released this week by lawyers of a Black woman who said she was racially profiled and manhandled by a Chicago police officer while she walked her dog on the lakefront.
The 4-minute, 40-second video from the officer’s bodycam shows a different vantage point and has superior audio quality compared to the viral cellphone recordings that Nikkita Brown and a truck driver captured.
Attorneys with Saulter Law P.C., who posted the latest footage on the firm’s website, did not immediately return a call from the Sun-Times today.
The bodycam video shows the officer — identified by Brown’s lawyers as Bruce Dyker — jump out of his vehicle to confront Brown at North Avenue Beach shortly after midnight on Aug. 30.
Audio from the bodycam does not start until Dyker is seen stepping out of his vehicle. At that point, Brown is captured on video with her cellphone raised as Dyker approaches. The conversation quickly escalates to shouting after Brown asks the officer to “respect her space.”
“Respect your space? I’m about to put handcuffs on you,” Dyker can be heard saying.
“You don’t have a mask on,” Brown is heard replying as she backpedals away from the officer while her small white dog strains at its leash.
“I don’t need a mask on. I’m outside… know the ordinances,” Dyker said, walking toward Brown as she repeatedly says “back up” and keeps moving away from Dyker.
Andy Grimm has more on the bodycam footage and Brown’s allegations against Dyker.
More news you need
Camp Tivoli, run by Norbertine priests in Wisconsin for more than 50 years, attracted numerous children from the Chicago region. It also attracted clergy as counselors and administrators who were alleged child molesters, our Robert Herguth reports in a new Watchdogs story.
A south suburban teen has been charged with making online threats of gun violence to several Chicago public schools, including Simeon High School, which lost two students to shootings this week. At the time of arrest, he was on electronic monitoring for making similar threats to schools in a nearby city, police said.
Former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will officially break ground on the Obama Presidential Center on Tuesday. Groundbreaking celebrations for the complex will start Monday with a gathering of Obama campaign and administration alumni.
Chicago Public Schools won’t allow fans at tomorrow’s Phillips vs. Simeon football game due to concerns over gun violence. Phillips coach Joe Winslow told our Michael O’Brien officials are “worried about security of the families and fans.”
Chicago’s property tax levy will rise by $76.5 million in 2022, but Mayor Lori Lightfoot has focused on the fact that the City Council will not be required to take a “new vote” to raise property taxes. But several aldermen aren’t buying Lightfoot’s argument.
The families of three men killed in an explosion near Starved Rock State Park have sued the construction companies and demolition team they believe left behind an undetonated explosive device. Little Village residents Immer Rivera Tejada, Rafael Rivera Tejada and Guillermo Rivera Tejada were killed in the May 6 explosion.
Fifty-five years after her baby was kidnapped, Dora Fronczak finally got to talk to her biological son on the phone in 2019. That was thanks to the detective work of Paul Fronczak, Dora’s adopted son — who, after learning via DNA he was not theirs, set out on a quest to find his identity and the kidnapped baby.
Northwestern University scientists say they have developed the “microflier” — the smallest-ever, man-made flying structure. The microfliers could be dropped from an airplane or a drone and used to collect data on things like air pollution, they said.
A bright one
Local artist fulfills dream of creating mural visible from the L
The construction work that’s temporarily shut down the CTA’s Lawrence Avenue L stop has meant more people are getting on and off at the nearby Wilson Avenue station instead — much to Joe Miller’s delight.
That gives them more time to notice Miller’s new mural, titled “Uptown Dot King,” which spans 140 feet of a building at 1124 W. Wilson St. in view of the busy L stop.
“Being from Chicago, I’ve always wanted a piece that was visible from the train,” says Miller, who lives in Lincoln Square. “And not just a little thing you can spot. Something that was almost intended for the train. That first train ride looking at it was pretty awesome.”
A southbound Red Line L train passes Joe Miller’s “Uptown Dot King” mural at 1124 W. Wilson St. in Uptown. The Lincoln Square artist always wanted to do a large-scale mural that could be seen from a train platform.Andrew Hickey/@drewinchicago
Working with his girlfriend Sunni DiLuzio, Miller, 38, painted the mural in August as the jewel of the second annual Uptown Art Week, a nine-day event featuring mural painting and art exhibits and the creation of close to 150 new artworks, according to the economic development group Uptown United.
The group has been working with the Uptown Chamber of Commerce to beautify the area around the century-old Wilson station, which underwent major reconstruction that ended in 2018.
With the current CTA work closing the Lawrence Avenue station, “People who used to use Lawrence every day now have a two-block detour,” says Justin Weidl, Uptown United’s neighborhood services director. He says the aim with Miller’s mural and other art “was to kind of make that two-block pedestrian detour as fun and exciting as possible.”
Zack Miller has more on the mural’s backstory here.
From the press box
Your daily question ?
What is one iconic, but long-gone Chicago business you would bring back if you could? Tell us why.
Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday, we asked you: If you could be on one reality competition or game show, which would you choose? Tell us why. Here’s what some of you said…
“‘Double Dare.’ I want to run through slime and pick flags out of noses.” — Dan Seaway
“‘The Amazing Race’ — great adventure all around the world! My sister and I would crush it.” — Nancy Campbell
“‘Wipeout’ or ‘American Ninja Warrior.’ They both are a lot of fun and would love to know my limitations.” — Sasja Alskare
“‘Wheel of Fortune,’ because I have tried to get on the show when they had auditions years ago at the United Center. Every day at 6:30 p.m. I am watching my favorite game show and solving the puzzles before the contestants do!” — Sharon Bartley
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