At least one person was killed and 15 others wounded in shootings since Friday evening. | Sun-Times file photo

In the fatal attack, a man was fatally shot Saturday morning while standing on the porch of his friend’s house in Palmer Square on the Northwest Side.

One person was killed and a 16-year-old boy among 15 others wounded in shootings in Chicago since Friday, 5 p.m.

A man was fatally shot Saturday morning while standing on the porch of his friend’s house in Palmer Square on the Northwest Side. The man, 26, was discovered with a gunshot wound to his head by his friend, who heard a loud sound about 3:25 a.m. in the 2100 block of North Albany Avenue, Chicago police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. He was identified as Suraj Mahadeva by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
In nonfatal attacks, a 16-year-old boy was shot Saturday afternoon in Gresham on the South Side. The teen boy was sitting in a vehicle about 6:12 p.m. in the 8600 block of South Loomis Boulevard when someone inside another vehicle opened fire, police said. He was struck in the back and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was stabilized, police said.
A few hours earlier, two people were wounded, one critically, in a drive-by shooting Saturday afternoon in Oakland on the South Side. About 2:30 p.m., the man and woman were standing in the 1000 block of East 43rd Street when someone fired shots, police said. A 45-year-old man was arm, leg and torso and was taken in critical condition to the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said. A woman, 64, was shot in the leg and was taken to the same hospital, where she was stabilized.

At least 12 others were wounded in citywide shootings since Friday, 5 p.m.

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Six people were injured in a crash Dec. 12 on the Far South Side. | Sun-Times file photo

The crash occurred in the 11400 block of South Marshfield Avenue about 1:45 a.m, police said.

Six people were injured in a crash early Sunday morning near the Dan Ryan Expressway in Morgan Park on the Far South Side, according to Chicago police and fire officials.

About 1:45 a.m., three cars lost control after driving over black ice and collided shortly after exiting the southbound lanes from the Dan Ryan near the 11400 block of South Marshfield, police said.

Four of the six injured were taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, CFD spokesperson Larry Merritt said. One person was taken to Roseland Community Hospital, and the other to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, Merritt said.

Half of those injured were listed in good condition, while the other half were in fair condition, Merritt said. Those injured were all adults, police said.

No citations were issued.

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Moon Alert

There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions. The moon is in Aries.

Aries (March 21-April 19)

Today is full of contradictions. In one way, you’re in a practical, logical frame of mind and ready to act on solid decisions. Nevertheless, your idealism is confused about something, perhaps related to the media, foreign countries or higher education? Tread carefully.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

Today you can do logical research into a subject. In fact, someone older or more experienced might help you. However, at the same time, some kind of confusion about financial or practical support is evident. Make sure you know what you’re doing.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

Someone older or more experienced might have good advice for you. Or possibly, you are the sage dispensing advice to someone else? Nevertheless, be aware that some kind of misunderstanding or confusion exists with a partner or close friend. Take nothing at face value.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

Parents and bosses see you as conscientious and reliable. You might impress them, and, vice versa, they impress you. However, you are also dealing with some kind of confusion and misunderstanding related to your health, your job or a pet. Be aware of this.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)

Although you might be focused on issues in the news, the media or something to do with foreign countries and travel, be aware that some kind of confusion related to your kids might take place. Don’t ignore this. This confusion could extend to sports or social activities. Stay steady.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Even though you have a clear idea about how to handle assets, debt or the help from someone else, today there is a genuine misunderstanding or confusion going on at home, perhaps with a parent or an older family member. You have to deal with this.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

Although it appears that conversations are solid, practical and logical today — and indeed, they might be — you might not have all the facts. Or you might be misinformed. Or your ideas might be unrealistic? Wishing does not always make it so.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Be careful with financial decisions because an element of confusion and possibly even deception exists. Make sure you know what you’re doing, especially if you’re spending money. You may have practical expectations related to your health, but don’t let this cloud your good judgment.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

Today it’s hard to get behind what you really believe or think because you’re filled with some self-doubt. Worse yet, you might be idealistic about something and not even realize that it’s an unrealistic position? Don’t kid yourself today. Listen to the advice of someone younger, perhaps one of your kids.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Today it’s easy to second-guess things because you don’t feel sure about something. You have doubts. Meanwhile, serious, practical discussion about future plans at home seems to be solid. It’s hard to know what to do. If this is the case, do nothing.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

It’s ironic because today, you are mentally clear and keen to make plans or study something and learn something new. Nevertheless, a discussion with a friend or a member of a group might throw you off your game. It might even cause you to change your goals? Don’t be quick to make changes.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)

Parents, bosses and the police might create some kind of confusion in your life. You’re not sure what to do next or whom to believe. Fortunately, you have a pretty solid grasp about your finances so you won’t go too far wrong.

If Your Birthday Is Today

Actor Bill Nighy (1949) shares your birthday. You are intuitive, intelligent and confident. You are a perfectionist; and know exactly how to dress and create an impression. You are a natural and sympathetic counselor to others, which makes you a valued friend. This year has been a quieter year for you with a strong focus on your closest relationships. Next year will be happy, creative and dazzling!

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The Monkees featured Peter Tork (from left), Mickey Dolenz, Davy Jones and Michael Nesmith. | (C) Everett Collection / Rex Feat

Nesmith died peacefully in his sleep Friday morning, according to a family statement.

Michael Nesmith, the singer-songwriter and guitarist of the 1960’s pop group the Monkees, has died. He was 78.

According to a family statement published by Rolling Stone on Friday, Nesmith “passed away this morning in his home, surrounded by family, peacefully and of natural causes. … We thank you for the love and light that all of you have shown him and us.”

Nesmith was one of four young musician-singers brought together in 1965 specifically to create the Monkees, a pop-rock group, for a TV sitcom of the same name. The group featured drummer-singer Micky Dolenz, keyboardist-bassist Peter Tork, and lead singer Davy Jones. Tork passed away in 2019, Jones in 2012.

The avant garde series, created by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, followed the day-to-day doings of a struggling band who lived together in an oceanfront California apartment while trying to make it big in the music business. The half-hour episodes featured the foursome embroiled in preposterous situations that resolved amid music videoesque escapades featuring their original songs performed and played by the four stars. The show ran from 1966 to 1968 but yielded a cult following of fans and sold-out concerts (a la Beatles) across the globe.

Three of the Monkees’ hits made it to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart — “I’m a Believer” and “Last Train to Clarksville” (both in 1966) and “Daydream Believer” in 1967.

For the Monkees, Nesmith famously penned “Mary, Mary,” “Listen to the Band” and “The Girl I Knew Somewhere.” One of Nesmith’s biggest songwriting credits outside the Monkees was “Different Drum” recorded most famously by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys in 1967.

After the Monkees’ official breakup in 1970 (following the departure of Tork and Nesmith a few years earlier), the four musicians pursued solo careers with Jones perhaps enjoying the biggest success. Reunion tours featuring various groupings of Jones, Tork and Dolenz, followed in subsequent years, with Nesmith opting out to pursue a career producing music videos and recording his own music. He joined Tork and Dolenz for a tour in 2012 in the wake of Jones’ passing.

Most recently, Nesmith and Dolenz reunited for a Monkees Farewell Tour, which brought them to the Rosemont Theatre in November. (See video below, with Dolenz, front left, and Nesmith, front right.) The tour played its final date on Nov. 14 in Los Angeles.

In an interview late Friday with Variety, Monkees manager/producer Andrew Sandoval revealed that Nesmith, who appeared frail throughout the tour, had been hospitalized for a week prior to his death. The tour, Sandoval said, was Nesmith’s way of thanking the band’s devoted fans.

“He wanted to wrap up things with the Monkees,” Sandoval said. “He completed every date and did very well, and in fact got quite a bit stronger. He started out the tour where he could only perform sitting down, and then gradually got a cane and was standing up — and then for most of the shows, from about two or three weeks in, he was up for the entire duration of the show. He died knowing that they were beloved, and he finally embraced what they meant to so many other people. I think he finally got it.”

Born Robert Michael Nesmith in 1942 in Houston, Texas, Nesmith enlisted in the Air Force when he was 18, where he trained as an aircraft mechanic, according to his Wikipedia biography. Following his discharge, he moved to Los Angeles where he would craft his career in music.

According to his memoir, in 1979, Nesmith began production on a weekly comedy/music video TV program titled PopClips, which aired for two years on Nickelodeon. “Audio records are played on radio, so a video record should be played on video — on television,” he wrote. The show (sans Nesmith, who moved on to other projects) helped launch MTV in 1981.

Interestingly, Nesmith wasn’t the only one in his family to achieve widespread success. His mom, Bette Nesmith Graham, a typist and commercial artist in the 1950s and ’60s, was the inventor of Mistake Out, a white correction fluid that would be renamed Liquid Paper. It ultimately became a multi-million-dollar company for her family and the “best friend” to typewriter enthusiasts around the world for decades.

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The Maple Leafs beat the Blackhawks 5-4 on Saturday. | AP Photos

After an impossibly perfect ending Thursday in Montreal, the Hawks suffered an impossibly excruciating ending Saturday in Toronto, losing 5-4.

TORONTO — Just two days before, the Blackhawks had enjoyed a game ending in Montreal so perfect it didn’t seem real.

On Saturday, the Hawks suffered a game ending in Toronto so excruciating it didn’t seem real, either.

“That’s the way the hockey gods will come back at you sometimes,” interim coach Derek King quipped.

A fluky bounce off a stanchion between two Scotiabank Arena glass panels — also described as a “garbage bounce” by King and “crazy bounce” by Connor Murphy — fooled Hawks goalie Kevin Lankinen, who was circling behind the net to stop the dump-in, and gave the Maple Leafs an empty net to shoot on with 1:20 left. It awarded them a decidedly unearned 5-4 win.

Worst of all for the Hawks, the Leafs forward who found the puck right in front of him and the net unoccupied was David Kampf, the man whose inability to score with the Hawks last season pushed him to Toronto this season.

“It sucks,” Murphy said. “Anytime you lose late in a game when you’re going well and feeling like we’re going to win it and have momentum, it’s going to sting right away. But you take it for what it’s worth.”

“[Kampf is] Czech; he’s my friend,” Dominik Kubalik added. “I’m happy for him. I would be happier if he would be scoring against somebody else than us.”

King said he didn’t think Lankinen could’ve anticipated the bounce coming and didn’t fault him for not sticking in his net.

The remarkable stroke of misfortune ruined what had otherwise been a valiant road effort by the Hawks against a red-hot Leafs team, owners of a 17-4-1 record since Oct. 26.

The game looked lost when the Leafs took a 4-1 lead early in the second period. Their biggest guns in their thoroughly loaded arsenal — Auston Matthews, John Tavares and William Nylander — were clicking. The Hawks’ initial sluggishness in contrast, combined with King’s handful of questionable lineup decisions the past few days, seemed to foreshadow the arrival of a crucial period in his gradually lengthening coaching tenure.

But King’s infallible positivity — the one aspect of his coaching style that has been both the most constant and the most effective — yet again pulled a previously unknown dimension out of this scrappy if often outmatched-on-paper Hawks team.

“We were a little sleepy at the start, and that cost us a little bit,” King said. “But I told them, ‘Keep your heads up. You came back, you battled, you didn’t give up.'”

Goals by Murphy, Kubalik and Jake McCabe — made possible by hustle plays by the likes of Brandon Hagel and Philipp Kurashev and lots of traffic in front of returning Leafs goalie Petr Mrazek — rallied the Hawks to a 4-4 tie in the third period.

Dylan Strome, who King commended for showing emotion and anger in response to his healthy scratch Thursday, put forth one of his best games of the season and could’ve easily added another goal or two. Jonathan Toews looked more like himself, too, after scoring his second goal in as many games in the opening minutes. And the reunited McCabe-Murphy pairing picked up right where they left off.

The Hawks looked firmly on track to earn at least one unexpected point, and potentially two. But then the stanchion incident happened.

“Kinger right away had the message of taking the positives and realizing you can’t put yourself down like we did at the start of the game,” Murphy said. “There’s a lot to say for how we played the second half of the game.”

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Glenbard West’s Braden Huff (34) drives to the basket in the fourth quarter and dunks despite the defense of Hillcrest’s AaReyon Munir-Jones (5). | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

Braden Huff, the 6-11 Gonzaga recruit, blocked a Hillcrest shot at the rim in the final seconds to help secure a 51-48 win over the Hawks.

Glenbard West’s celebrated length almost met its match. Hillcrest’s aggressive bigs, led by senior Marcus Glover, out-rebounded the Hilltoppers and took them to the limit in the Team Rose Classic at Mount Carmel on Saturday.

But size impacts the game all over the court. Braden Huff, the 6-11 Gonzaga recruit, blocked a Hillcrest shot attempt at the rim in the final seconds to help secure a 51-48 win over the Hawks.

“You don’t want to foul in that situation but we always work on going up strong and using your length to your advantage,” Huff said. “I felt like if I just went up straight and made him shoot over me if he made it so be it. But with my length I felt like I had a pretty good chance of either getting a tip or making it harder to make the shot.”

Bobby Durkin made a pair of free throws with 5.7 seconds left to seal the win. Durkin finished with 13 points.

Huff produced a Player of the Year caliber performance. He had 25 points, eight rebounds and five blocks. Huff shot 7 of 12 from the field and 3-for-4 from three-point range.

“[Huff] is an unbelievable basketball player and we want to put him in positions to be successful where he can facilitate and take over with space,” Glenbard West coach Jason Opoka said. “It was his game to showcase his skill set. If we lost we lost but we wanted to go out with the ball in his hands.”

Cade Pierce scored six points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Hilltoppers (9-0). Ryan Renfrom added five rebounds. Andrew Dauksas and Jack Cardwll both helped Glenbard West survive without starter Paxton Warden, who missed the game with an illness.

“Hillcrest is a good team,” Opoka said. “They’re well coached and they are physical. We had to fight through adversity going in. We grinded one out. The biggest thing I’m proud of is the way the guys finished those last two minutes.”

The Hawks (7-1) have opened the season extremely well after graduating all five starters. Sophomore guard Isaiah Green was huge in the fourth quarter and finished with 11 points. Glover had four points and nine rebounds and junior Darrion Baker added 11 points.

“They played their hearts out and they really wanted it,” Hillcrest coach Don Houston said. “Some of the guys are showing some emotions from it. And that’s good, we need that. We need them to have that drive. I’m proud of what they did tonight but we have a long way to go. I’m excited to see the end result of this team.”

Watch the final minute of Glenbard West vs. Hillcrest:

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Alabama quarterback Bryce Young celebrates after defeating Auburn on Nov. 27 in Auburn, Ala. | Butch Dill/AP

Young received 684 first-place votes and 2,311 points to easily outdistance Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson (78,954).

NEW YORK — Bryce Young didn’t just meet the standard set by the star quarterbacks who preceded him at Alabama, he exceeded it.

Young became the first Crimson Tide quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, making Alabama the fifth school with consecutive winners of college football’s most prestigious player of the year award.

Young received 684 first-place votes and 2,311 points to easily outdistance Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson (78,954).

Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett (28, 631) finished third and Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud (12, 399) was fourth. Alabama linebacker Will Anderson Jr. (31, 325) was fifth, putting two defensive players in the top five for the first time since 1962.

A year after former teammate DeVonta Smith won the Heisman, Young received 83% of total points available, the seventh highest among 87 winners. He was named on 90% of all ballots, also the seventh highest in Heisman history.

Young has passed for 4,322 yards and 43 touchdowns this season, leading No 1 Alabama to a Southeastern Conference title and a spot in the College Football Playoff. The defending champion Crimson Tide will play No. 4 Cincinnati on Dec. 31 in the Cotton Bowl.

Young is Alabama’s fourth Heisman winner, all in the last 13 years under coach Nick Saban. Only four schools have won more: Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Southern California each have won seven.

The other schools to have Heisman winners in consecutive years are Yale (1936-37), Army (1945-46), Southern California (2004-05) — though Reggie Bush’s 2005 victory was later vacated — and Oklahoma (2017-18).

Running backs Mark Ingram (2009) and Derrick Henry (2015) were Alabama’s first two Heisman winners and Smith, a receiver, was No. 3 last year.

It seemed only a matter of time before a Tide quarterback took one home. Saban’s Alabama dynasty has evolved into QB U.

Young, a sophomore, stepped into the starting role held by Mac Jones last year and Tua Tagovailoa the two seasons prior. Both are starting in the NFL after being selected in the first round of the draft.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for the great quarterbacks that have played here before me and that’s something that I don’t take lightly at all,” Young told AP earlier this week.

Tagovailoa was the Heisman runner-up to Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray in 2018 and then finished 10th in the voting in 2019, a season cut short by injury.

Jones put up even better numbers than Tagovailoa in 2020, but settled for third in the Heisman voting behind his favorite receiver, Smith, and Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

Then came Young, the five-star recruit from Southern California, who was Jones’ lightly used back-up last year.

“Alabama’s not a place you go to if you’re shying away from expectations or shying away from standards,” Young told AP.

Young showed immediately he was up to the task. He threw for 344 yards and four touchdowns in his starting debut against Miami to begin the season, but it was the way he finished that won him the Heisman.

The race appeared mostly up for grabs heading into November. Michigan State’s Kenneth Walker, who finished sixth, Stroud and even Young’s teammate, Anderson, all briefly surged to the top of the leader boards.

Young led Alabama on a 97-yard, game-tying touchdown drive in an overtime victory against Auburn on Thanksgiving weekend, shaking off what was overall one of his poorest games of the season to deliver when it mattered most.

Even-keeled confidence might be Young’s strongest trait.

“That’s just always been there,” his father, Craig Young, said earlier this week. “It’s just been the ability to stay calm within chaos and not perceive it as chaos.”

Bryce Young followed up that clutch performance in the Iron Bowl with a masterpiece from start to finish. Young passed for an SEC championship game record 421 yards and the Crimson Tide tore up Georgia’s vaunted defense in a 41-24 victory.

The Heisman race went from wide open to done deal as Young helped Alabama pass yet another milestone with the greatest season ever for Tide quarterback.

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A 16-year-old boy was shot December 11, 2021 in Gresham. | Getty Images

The teen boy was sitting in a vehicle about 6:12 p.m. in the 8600 block of South Loomis Boulevard when someone inside another vehicle opened fire.

A 16-year-old boy was shot Saturday afternoon in Gresham on the South Side.

The teen boy was sitting in a vehicle about 6:12 p.m. in the 8600 block of South Loomis Boulevard when someone inside another vehicle opened fire, Chicago police said.

He was struck in the back and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was stabilized, police said.

Area Two detectives are investigating.

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