Artist’s rendering of a casino proposed by Wind Creek Hospitality just off Interstate 80 near 175th Street and Halsted, straddling the border of suburban Homewood and East Hazel Crest. | Provided by Wind Creek Hospitality

State regulators rejected bids from Matteson, as well as a Waukegan proposal from a former state senator who poured thousands of dollars into local elections.

Two of the most important cards in Illinois’ massive gambling expansion have finally been dealt.

State regulators on Wednesday named their chosen developers to break ground on a new casino in Waukegan and another straddling the border of south suburban Homewood and East Hazel Crest, ending a selection process that dragged on for more than two years due to COVID-19 shutdowns and other delays.

While the location of the north suburban gambling emporium was never in doubt, the Illinois Gaming Board picked Las Vegas-based Full House Resorts Inc. to set up its high-stakes shop at the shuttered Fountain Square shopping center in Waukegan — though a legal challenge from a spurned competitor could still be looming.

The field was much wider for the south suburban casino license. The state gambling law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2019 that paved the way for the new casinos pitted a handful of suburbs against each other to bid for what is expected to be a cash cow for south suburban communities that have been economically neglected for generations.

Homewood/East Hazel Crest beat out Matteson with a proposal to build the casino just off Interstate 80 near 175th and Halsted streets. Calumet City and Lynwood were culled from the bidding process in October.

Regulators voted 4-0 to grant findings of “preliminary suitability” for the both the new suburban licenses. That means they can start laying the groundwork for the casinos, which have been coveted by officials for decades.

The selections come two and a half years after Pritzker signed the law that created six new casino licenses, introduced legal sports betting, allowed for slots and table games at racetracks and expanded the number of gambling terminals allowed at gas stations, truck stops, bars and other lounges. The coronavirus put a crimp on the expansion, which has rolled out in fits and starts under the chronically understaffed and overworked Gaming Board.

Of the six casinos, only the Hard Rock in Rockford has started taking bets. Pritzker attended the Wednesday groundbreaking of a new casino in downstate Williamson County.

State of Illinois livestream
Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks after the groundbreaking ceremony for a new casino in Williamson County.

Meanwhile, Danville’s revised casino bid is still being reviewed by regulators after an initial proposal fell through. And the most important piece of the gambling expansion — the Chicago mega-casino — is still early in the local selection process. Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office has scheduled public presentations from the five proposals for that license Dec. 16.

Pritzker’s office said the expansion “is now poised to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in new state revenues, funding critical vertical infrastructure projects in communities across the state” for his $45 billion capital plan.

The Homewood-East Hazel Crest bid is led by Alabama-based Wind Creek Hospitality, part of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, which runs 10 gambling operations in Alabama, Florida, Nevada, Pennsylvania and the Caribbean island of Curacao. Project partners have promised a $440 million, 64,000-square-foot casino along with a 21-story hotel and an entertainment center.

The group is represented by former Gaming Board general counsel Donna More, who also launched a failed bid to unseat Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in the 2020 Democratic primary election.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file
Donna More, during her unsuccessful run for Cook County’s state’s attorney

Wind Creek Hospitality CEO Jay Dorris said in an email that they plan to open the casino in 2023 “and look forward to expanding our network of relationships in the Southland, working closely with leaders, organizations and residents to ensure that the benefits associated with this project are felt by the entire region.”

Matteson Village President Sheila Chalmers-Currin said she was “in disbelief” that regulators rejected their bid in partnership with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, likening the decision to Illinois’ rocky legal cannabis industry rollout that has largely shut out minority entrepreneurs.

Matteson’s bid was backed by dozens of mayors in the Southland Regional Mayoral Black Caucus.

“Obviously, diversity was not top on the list of things to move us forward [in the Gaming Board’s approval process],” Chalmers-Currin said. “I offer my congratulations to Homewood, but there are still quite a few questions that I hope to have answered.”

Homewood Mayor Rich Hofeld said their proposal “benefits not only us and East Hazel Crest, but the entire Southland. We’re talking about jobs, good jobs.”

Full House Resorts, a publicly traded company, is behind the $400 million “American Place” Waukegan proposal, which envisions a high-end gambling temple catering to high-rollers — complete with “ultra-luxurious” villas and a helicopter landing pad.

Provided by Full House Resorts
A rendering of the proposed “American Place” casino in Waukegan.

Full House Resorts chief development officer Alex Stolyar said in an email “we appreciate the confidence they put in us and we will now begin working to build the spectacular American Place and make the State of Illinois and the City of Waukegan proud.” A temporary casino site is expected to open within several months.

The Gaming Board had been poised to issue the Waukegan license last month but delayed its decision “out of respect for the judicial process” in a federal lawsuit filed by a foiled bidder.

The Forest County Potawatomi Community sued Waukegan in 2019 after the city voted to eliminate its proposal even though the Wisconsin tribe scored well on the evaluation system. The Potawatomi claimed the process was “rigged” by previous city officials to favor a bid backed by former state Sen. Michael Bond, who poured thousands of dollars into local elections — and whose “North Point” casino proposal ended up being rejected Wednesday.

North Point partner Bill Warner said in an email said they were “disappointed” to lose out — but noted Bond’s group “stands ready to work” if the Full House bid falls through.

The Potawatomi filed for a temporary restraining order to prevent the Gaming Board from moving ahead with its selection until their lawsuit is resolved. Cook County Judge Cecilia Horan turned down that request Tuesday, saying the tribe didn’t have legal standing to hold up the selection.

“The casino is not going to open tomorrow. There are still many, many steps before anyone opens a casino in Waukegan,” Horan said during a virtual hearing.

A Potawatomi spokesman said the tribe will continue pursuing “all available legal paths — including continuing to participate in the ongoing federal mediation with the city — to find the best solution for the citizens of Waukegan.”

Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor — who voted against all the city’s casino proposals when she was on the City Council in 2019 — said “if I had voted for one, it would’ve been Full House. It was a tough time to sort out everything… Hopefully the casino will bring in lots of tourism and be a catalyst for further development.”

Taylor declined to comment on the Potawatomi lawsuit, which Waukegan city attorneys have dismissed as “factually suspect,” intended to shield their Milwaukee casino from competition.

Read More

Jujhar Khaira had two goals this season before his injury Tuesday. | AP Photos

Before his injury, Khaira had been one of few Hawks forwards showing at least a little offensive spark. The rest of the bottom-six crew direly need to increase their production.

Jujhar Khaira is expected to make a full recovery.

That fact alone provides enormous relief to the Blackhawks and the entire hockey world, which had been collectively hoping for the best after Khaira’s ghastly head injury Tuesday against the Rangers.

Khaira was released Wednesday from Northwestern Hospital and placed on injured reserve and in concussion protocol. Hawks team physician Dr. Michael Terry said in a statement that “despite the significant injury, his prognosis is excellent.”

It’s too early to project the length of his recovery timeline, Terry added. However, it seems reasonable to expect the 27-year-old wing will be out at least weeks, if not months or longer. And that will dent the Hawks’ depth.

Partially as a result of his injury, Hawks shuffled a number of players before their road trip to Montreal and Toronto. Forwards Mike Hardman and Philipp Kurashev were recalled from the AHL, defensemen Ian Mitchell and Wyatt Kalynuk were sent down and forward MacKenzie Entwistle was activated from long-term injured reserve and also sent down.

Although Khaira’s signing over the summer prompted barely a tremor among the Hawks’ earthquakes around that time, he established himself as a decent role player through his first 17 games this season, averaging 14:18 of ice time.

His stat line of two goals and zero assists doesn’t look particularly impressive, but he had shown slightly more offensive spark than most of the Hawks’ other bottom-six-type forwards (of which there are many).

That’s partly because Khaira had demonstrated some ability to get to the net, some smart instincts near the puck and some ability to play with more dynamic linemates. Interim coach Derek King had used him alongside the likes of Jonathan Toews and Dominik Kubalik at various points over the past month.

But that’s also partly because the other depth forwards have universally set the bar extremely low when it comes to actual production.

Kurashev, just half a calendar year removed from his 2021 breakout, has zero goals and five assists in 19 games. Hardman has zero goals and two assists in 17 games. Entwistle had two goals and one assist in 12 games before his injury.

Henrik Borgstrom has one goal and one assist in 16 games. Ryan Carpenter has zero goals and two assists in 22 games. Reese Johnson has one (gifted) goal and two assists in 16 games.

Even Dylan Strome, who would likely argue he doesn’t fit the bottom-six classification, has just two goals and three assists in 16 games.

For all of the focus on Toews’ season-long goal drought (while he has nine assists) and Kirby Dach’s now-snapped goal drought, the silence from all of those aforementioned guys explains the Hawks’ offensive woes just as much. The much-discussed depth the Hawks had supposedly assembled entering training camp has really not made a difference on the scoreboard.

In terms of goals per minute by forwards, the Hawks rank 31st in the NHL this season, ahead of only the tanking Coyotes. And their three leading goal-scorers — Alex DeBrincat (14 goals), Brandon Hagel (eight) and Patrick Kane (seven) — alone account for a whopping 61.7% that total.

That’s a striking and alarming quantification of the Hawks’ top-heaviness. Only one team, the Oilers, entered Wednesday with their top three scorers accounting for a larger percentage of their team total.

Conversely, 22 teams are at or below 50% in that regard. The most balanced team is the Panthers, whose top three scorers only account for 33.7% of their team total; not coincidentally, the Panthers also rank first overall in goals per minute by forwards.

So even with the Hawks recently playing remarkably stout defense, receiving stellar goaltending and developing much-needed team unity, they’re still being severely restricted by their lack of scoring.

If any of the less-obvious candidates could start chipping in, it would make a big difference. But Khaira’s absence will only make that tougher to achieve.

Read More

In this image taken from pool video, Katie Bryant, the mother of Daunte Wright, testifies Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minn. ,in the trial of former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter in the April 11, 2021, death of Daunte Wright. | AP

Kim Potter, 49, is charged with first-degree and second-degree manslaughter. The white former officer, who resigned two days after the shooting, has said she meant to use her Taser on Wright, who was Black.

MINNEAPOLIS — A suburban Minneapolis police officer who said she mistakenly drew her gun instead of her Taser when she fatally shot Black motorist Daunte Wright went on trial on manslaughter charges Wednesday, with a prosecutor saying Kim Potter had been trained how to avoid such deadly mix-ups but still got it wrong.

Potter’s lawyer, though, argued that she made an error, saying, “Police officers are human beings.” And he cast blame on Wright, saying all the 20-year-old had to do that day was surrender.

Potter, 49, killed Wright, who wasn’t armed, during a traffic stop April 11 in Brooklyn Center in a shooting that was recorded by her body camera. The white officer resigned two days later.

Jurors saw video from officers’ body cameras and the police car dashboard that showed Potter threatening to shoot Wright with a Taser as another officer tried to pull him out of his car. After she shot him with her gun, Potter can be heard saying “I just shot him. … I grabbed the wrong (expletive) gun!”

A car crash can be heard after Wright drives away and Potter — who defense attorney Paul Engh said had never fired her gun or Taser while on duty in her 26-year career — can be heard wailing uncontrollably afterward, “Oh my God. Oh my God!” before she crumples over.

Wright’s mother, Katie Bryant, testified about the moment she saw her son lying in his car after he’d been shot. She said she tried to contact him through a video call after losing an earlier phone connection, and a woman — presumably Wright’s passenger — answered and screamed, “They shot him!” and pointed the phone toward the driver’s seat.

“And my son was laying there. He was unresponsive and he looked dead,” Bryant said through tears.

Video of the shooting was played repeatedly Wednesday. At one point, Potter wiped away tears, but rejected the offer of a tissue from her attorney.

A mostly white jury was seated last week in the case, which sparked angry demonstrations outside the Brooklyn Center police station last spring just as former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin was on trial just 10 miles away for killing George Floyd.

Engh told jurors that Potter made a mistake when she grabbed the wrong weapon and shot Wright after he attempted to drive away while she and other officers were trying to arrest him.

The charges don’t require proof that Potter intended to kill Wright, and prosecutor Erin Eldridge noted as much for the jury.

But Engh also told jurors that Potter would have been justified in shooting Wright even if she had consciously chosen to draw her handgun, arguing that deadly force was warranted to protect her fellow officers. He said police had reason to believe that Wright might have a gun and that one of the officers had reached inside Wright’s car and was at risk of being dragged if Wright drove away.

In her opening statement, Eldridge told jurors that Potter violated her extensive training — including on the risks of firing the wrong weapon — and “betrayed a 20-year-old kid.”

“This is exactly what she had been trained for years to prevent,” Eldridge said. “But on April 11, she betrayed her badge and she failed Daunte Wright.”

Potter, who has told the court she will testify, was training a new officer when they pulled Wright over for having expired license plate tags and an air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror.

The officer Potter was training that day, Anthony Luckey, testified that during the stop, he smelled marijuana and saw marijuana residue on the car’s console. He also said Wright didn’t have a license and produced an expired proof of insurance that was under another person’s name.

After discovering there was a warrant for Wright’s arrest on a weapons charge and a restraining order against Wright, Luckey said he was going to put Wright in handcuffs and check on the welfare of the woman in the car, and he asked Wright to get out.

But as Luckey tried to handcuff him, Wright struggled out of the officer’s grip and got back into the car. Luckey said he was reaching into the car when he heard the gunshot, and that he then jumped back and saw Wright put the car in drive before it took off.

Luckey testified that he thought Wright might have had a gun in the car because of the outstanding warrant and his intuition.

Engh said the warrant for a weapons charge meant officers had to arrest Wright, and Luckey agreed.

Prosecutor Matthew Frank noted that officers do have discretion in the amount of force they can use. Luckey testified that the force he used was to try to pull Wright from the vehicle and turn off the car.

Prosecutors say Potter had extensive training, and it included an explicit warning about confusing a handgun with a Taser that also directed them “to learn the differences between their Taser and firearm to avoid such confusion.”

Eldridge told jurors that officers are required to carry their Taser on their non-dominant side and their firearm on their dominant side. Potter carried her gun on her right and her Taser on her left, where it was in a “straight draw” position to be drawn with that left hand.

“The only weapon she draws with her right hand is her gun, not her Taser,” Eldridge said.

She said Potter violated several department policies, including one that says flight from an officer is not a good cause to use a Taser.

A jury of 14 people, including two white alternates, is hearing hear the case. Nine of the 12 jurors likely to deliberate are white, one is Black and two are Asian.

The most serious charge against Potter requires prosecutors to prove recklessness, while the lesser requires them to prove culpable negligence. Minnesota’s sentencing guidelines call for a prison term of just over seven years on the first-degree manslaughter count and four years on the second-degree one. Prosecutors have said they will seek a longer sentence.

A few dozen protesters gathered outside the courthouse Wednesday evening for a short march, with several family members of Black men killed by police — including Jacob Blake’s father and George Floyd’s girlfriend, among others — calling for justice for Wright in the form of a conviction.

“If she was a woman of honor, she would have admitted her guilt and faced the consequences,” Courteney Ross, Floyd’s girlfriend, said of Potter.

___

Associated Press writers Tammy Webber in Fenton, Michigan, and Mohamed Ibrahim in Minneapolis contributed.

Read More

Pentatonix performs last week at the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting ceremony in New York. | Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

There’s plenty to see and do online and in-person in the week ahead.

Theater

Amir Hamza
Alaudin Ullah stars in the one-man show “Dishwasher Dreams.”
Writers Theatre opens its season with comedian Alaudin Ullah’s “Dishwasher Dreams.” In the one-man show, directed by Chay Yew, Ullah confronts his family history while taking a journey from colonial India in the 1930s to Spanish Harlem in the 1970s to present-day Hollywood in a complex story about searching for the American Dream. From Dec. 9-Jan. 16 at Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor, Glencoe. Tickets: $35-$90. Visit writerstheatre.org.
The Broadway comedy “The Play That Goes Wrong” comes to town for a seven-week run. Meet the Cornley University Drama Society, which is attempting to stage a classic murder mystery but on opening night everything that can go wrong does. Written by members of the British ensemble Mischief Theatre Ltd. and directed by Matt DiCarlo. From Dec. 14-Jan. 30 at Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut. Tickets: $30+. Visit broadwayinchicago.com.
Chicago Opera Theater, a company that stages contemporary and re-imagined operas, presents Mark Adamo’s “Becoming Santa Claus.” In the family-friendly holiday opera, a naughty elf learns the meaning of family, love and the true spirit of gift giving. Conducted by COT music director Lidiya Yankovskaya and directed/choreographed by Kyle Lang. At 7:30 p.m. Dec. 11, 17 and 3 p.m. Dec. 19 at Studebaker Theater, 410 S. Michigan. Tickets: $45+. Visit chicagooperatheater.org.

Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade
Olivia Valli (center) stars as Vivian in “Pretty Woman — The Musical.”

“Pretty Woman — The Musical” is based on the popular movie and features a score by Grammy winner Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance with a book by the movie’s director, Garry Marshall, and screenwriter, J.F. Lawton. Broadway veteran Adam Pascal stars as businessman Edward Lewis and rising star Olivia Valli is the charming Vivian Ward. From Dec. 14-19 at CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe. Tickets: $33+. Visit broadwayinchicago.com.
Otherworld Theatre presents “Winter in the Wildwood,” an immersive holiday experience where a magical Faun goes on a quest to uncover the truth behind the fading Wildwood lights. The family-friendly walking show takes place in all the nooks and crannies of Otherworld’s unique space and features fairytale stories, magicians and puppetry. From Dec. 9-Jan. 9 at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark. Tickets: $40, $20 for children. Visit otherworldtheatre.org.

“Christmas Karol: An Uptown Holiday Celebration of Diversity” is Jay Espano and Christa Retka’s devised play about a jaded cafe owner and former social worker who faces the night she dreads the most: the annual Christmas carol concert at her cafe. Her friends and family change her mind with a few holiday tunes. Features two different casts of musical theater performers each weekend. From Dec. 9-12 and Dec. 16-19 at The Broadway, Pride Arts Center, 4139 N. Broadway. Tickets: $30. Visit pridearts.org.
Playmakers Laboratory’s “That’s Weird Grandma: Comes Home for the Holidays” features a lineup of holiday-themed sketches and songs written by Chicago schoolchildren. From Dec. 10-19 at Neo-Futurist Theater, 5153 N. Ashland. Tickets: $12.50-$25. Visit playmakerslab.org … “Miracle on 34th Street” is Lance Arthur Smith’s musical adaptation of the classic holiday film. From Dec. 10-19 at BrightSide Theater at Meiley-Swallow Hall, North Central College, 31 S. Ellsworth, Naperville. Tickets: $33. Visit brightsidetheater.com … “A Black Ensemble Holiday Spectacular” features holiday tunes by company performers. From Dec. 11-12, 18-19 at Black Ensemble Theater, 4450 N. Clark. Tickets: $45, streaming option also available. Visit blackensembletheater.org … The Second City skewers the holidays with “It’s a Wild, Wacky, Wonderful Life.” At 4 p.m. Dec. 12 at McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell, Glen Ellyn. Tickets: $30-$38. Visit atthemac.org … “Merry Christmas, Darling” features musical theater star Heide Kettenring and plenty of holiday tunes. At 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13 and 1 p.m. Dec. 14 at Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Dr., Lincolnshire. Tickets: $55. Visit artistsloungelive.com … Young People’s Theater presents the children’s play “Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical.” To Dec. 19 at Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln. Tickets: $19, $25. Visit greenhousetheater.org.

Dance

Mark Monaghan
“The Nutcracker” by the Hyde Park School of Dance.
Hyde Park School of Dance presents its annual production of “The Nutcracker” performed by students and members of the school’s pre-professional Studio Company. The 75-minute narrated production includes a breakdance battle between the mice and soldiers. From Dec. 10-12 at Mandell Hall, University of Chicago, 1131 E. 57th. Tickets: $10-$30, children under 5 free. Visit hydeparkdance.org/tickets.
The Music Institute of Chicago’s 60-minute “Duke It Out Nutcracker” features the classical (Tchaikovsky) and jazz (Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn) versions of the holiday classic. Musicians from Axiom Brass and Quintet Attacca back a troupe of dancers from area ensembles curated by Dance Chicago. At 2 p.m. Dec. 11 at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago, Evanston. Tickets: $10. Visit musicinst.org/nch.
Salt Creek Ballet’s full-scale production of “The Nutcracker” includes the New Philharmonic performing Tchaikovsky’s score. Dec. 11-12 at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd.; Dec. 18-19 at McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell, Glen Ellyn (streaming option available for McAninch). Visit saltcreekballet.org.
Ballet Chicago’s staging of “The Nutcracker,” a colorful celebration of the holiday season, features George Balanchine’s Sugar Plum Fairy Pas De Deux. From Dec. 10-19 at Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport. Tickets: $18-$53. Visit athenaeumtheatre.org

Music

Dana Van Leeuwen
Violinist Hilary Hahn
Grammy-winning violinist Hilary Hahn, the inaugural Chicago Symphony Orchestra artist-in-residence, performs Dvorak’s Violin Concerto, a work which received its U.S. premiere by the orchestra in 1891. Also on the program: conductor Andres Orozco-Estrada leads the CSO in a world premiere of “Hailli-Serenata” by Gabriela Lena Frank, named by the Washington Post as one of the 35 most significant female composers in history, and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony. At 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9 and 8 p.m. Dec. 10-11 at Orchestra Hall, 220 S. Michigan. Tickets: $41+. Visit cso.org.

Nefesh Mountain: The Hannukah Holiday Concert features the boundary-pushing bluegrass/Americana band performing original songs by the band’s founders (husband and wife Eric Lindberg and Doni Zasloff), classics written by James Taylor and Bob Dylan and lesser-known Hanukkah songs written by Woody Guthrie. “For us, Hanukkah is about the miracles in our lives that surround us every day,” shared Lindberg and Zasloff. “These songs remind us of that magic and the joy that we feel during the holidays — dancing, singing, eating and being close to our friends and loved ones.” At 8 p.m. Dec. 9 at Old Town School of Folk Music, 4545 N. Lincoln. Tickets: $25. Visit oldtownschool.org.
A great holiday tradition returns as Handel’s thrilling “Messiah” is performed by the Apollo Chorus, now celebrating its 150th season. Featured singers include soprano Nicole Cabell, mezzo-soprano Julie Miller, tenor Steven Soph and bass-baritone David Govertsen. At 7 p.m. Dec. 11 and 2 p.m. Dec. 12 at Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph. Tickets: $24-$70. Visit harristheaterchicago.org.

Zach Levi-Rodgers
Sarah Brightman
“Sarah Brightman: A Christmas Symphony” features the best-selling soprano performing renditions of holiday classics along with personal holiday favorites and songs from her personal songbook. She accompanied by an orchestra and choir. At 8 p.m. Dec. 10 at Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Dr. Tickets: $55+. Visit auditoriumtheatre.org.
Oopey Mason
Lily Emerson and Charles Malave will perform at “Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas.”
?The ninth annual celebration of Jim Henson’s 1977 TV special “Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas,” based on the beloved children’s book by Lillian and Russell Hoban, returns for live performances. Led by Eiren Caffall and Lawrence Peters, an ensemble of local talent will perform Paul Williams’ timeless songs with narration of the story in which a struggling mother and her devoted son unwittingly find themselves in the classic scenario described in O. Henry’s “Gift of the Magi.” The Emmet Otter band includes Charlie Malave, Matt Gandurski, Kip and Seth Vanek. Narrators include author Mairead Case, Diana Slickman and Amanda Zwald. Starting off the matinee shows will be the duo of Lily Emerson and Charles Malave, known for their popular web series for kids, “Adventure Sandwich”; late shows will be treated to their improvised variety show “Mr. and Mrs. Wednesday Night.” At 3 and 7 p.m. Dec. 11-12 at The Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia. Tickets: $20, children 14 and under $10. Visit hideoutchicago.com.
A cappella icons Pentatonix have released their sixth holiday themed album, “Evergreen.” The Grammy-winning quintet performs holiday tunes and songs at a concert that’s a partnership with Toy for Tots, a chance for fans to donate new, unwrapped gifts the night of the performance. At 7:30 p.m. Dec. 15 at Allstate Arena, 6920 N. Mannheim, Rosemont. Tickets: $40+. Visit ticketmaster.com.
The Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra presents “Back Together for the Holidays” featuring Howard Blake’s “The Snowman,” about a boy who goes on an adventure with a magical snowman. Grammy-winning baritone Bill McMurray narrates. The family-friendly concert also features classic holiday songs. Stilian Kirov conducts. At 3 p.m. Dec. 11 at Ozinga Chapel, Trinity Christian College, 6601 W. College, Palos Heights. Tickets: $37+. Visit ipomusic.org.

Movies

Sing along with Bing Crosby or commiserate with Jimmy Stewart when the holiday films “White Christmas” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” return to the Music Box Theatre for their 38th annual holiday screenings. Santa welcomes audiences and house organist Dennis Scott leads a festive sing-along of classic carols with lyrics projected on the screen. From Dec. 10-23 at Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport. Tickets: $14, $21 (double feature); $10, $15 for children under 13. Visit musicboxtheatre.com.
MGM
“Dr. Zhivago,” with Julie Christie and Omar Sharif, is part of the “Let It Snow” series.The Gene Siskel Film Center presents “Let it Snow,” a series of 10 films, many in 35mm prints, that explore how inclement weather can set a mood. Included are Sergio Corbucci’s “The Great Silence,” Charlie Chaplin’s “The Gold Rush,” Frantisek Vlacil’s “Marketa Lazarova,” Luchino Visconti’s “White Nights,” Sidney Lumet’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” David Lean’s “Doctor Zhivago,” Douglas Sirk’s “All That Heaven Allows,” Blige Ceyhan’s “Winter Sleep,” Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” and Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life.” (Donna Reed’s daughter, Mary Owen, will be present for the screening on Dec. 19.) From Dec. 10-30 at Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State. Tickets: $12. Visit siskelfilmcenter.org.
Magnolia Pictures
Lena Dunham (from left), Anna Kendrick and Jude Swanberg in “Happy Christmas.”Facets screens Joe Swanberg’s “Happy Christmas” (3 p.m. Dec. 11, $7) with the director on hand for a post-screening Q&A. There’s also a Pop-Up Market (10 a.m.-6 p.m. Dec. 11) offering DVD and VHS titles from Facets’ warehouse plus gift ideas from local artists and zinemakers. Facets, 1517 W. Fullerton. Visit facets.org.

Museums and galleries

Collection of Shane Akeroyd
A pencil holder from “The Life and Death of Charles Williams.”

“The Life and Death of Charles Williams,” the first major solo exhibition dedicated to the late artist, features a range of work from sculptures to comics. Williams was born in Kentucky, lived most of his childhood in Chicago and returned to Kentucky where in a Jobs Corp program he honed his writing skills, made photographs and created comics. Working as a janitor, he further developed his artistic practice, including a comic about aliens visiting Earth titled “Cosmic Giggles.” He also built sculptures and pencil holders from materials he found discarded at his job. He continued to make assemblages, drawings and furniture until his untimely death in 1998. From Dec. 10-April 24 at Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, 756 N. Milwaukee. Admission is $5, free for 18 and under. Visit art.org.
Royal Photographers Anwar Hussein and his sons Zak and Samir share their images and the stories behind them in “Princess Diana Exhibition: Accredited Access.” The Husseins spent four decades working side-by-side with the princess and her family. The exhibit features eight different themed sections filled with photography, art, artifacts and the Husseins’ recollections that celebrate Diana in a personal way. To Dec. 2 at Oakbrook Center, 2000 Oakbrook Center, Oak Brook. Tickets: $25+. Visit feverup.com/m/104604.

Family holiday fun

Morton Arboretum
Symphony Woods at the Morton Arboretum’s “Illumination: Tree Lights.”
After last year’s drive-through event, the Morton Arboretum’s holiday light show, “Illumination: Tree Lights,” returns for in-person viewing. New features include a light display integrated into “Hallow,” a piece by artist Daniel Popper in the “Human+Nature” exhibit; a walk festooned with 150 colorful lanterns; a blanket of white lights across a hilltop meadow and a trail lined with colored light reeds. Returning favorites include Symphony Woods, Enchanted Hill, Ornament Hill, Woodland Wonder and more. To Jan. 2 at Morton Arboretum, 4100 Ill. Rt. 53, Lisle. Timed entry tickets: $8-$24, children under 2 free. Visit mortonarb.org.
Three downtown Milwaukee parks — Cathedral Square Park, Pere Marquette Park and Zeidler Union Square — have been transformed into winter wonderland scenes for the annual Milwaukee Holiday Lights Festival. A variety of events are scheduled through Jan. 1 including food tours, photo ops, a tree lot, self-guided audio tours, Santa’s Mailbox and more. For details on all the events, visit milwaukeeholidaylights.com.

Read More

Bears running back David Montgomery (32) had 21 carries for 90 yards and a touchdown and also had eight receptions for 51 yards against the Cardinals on Sunday at Soldier Field. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times, Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Hicks (ankle) and Robinson (hamstring) both have missed the last three games. But running back David Montgomery did not practice with a a series of injuries — his shoulder, groin and glute.

Defensive end Akiem Hicks and wide receiver Allen Robinson returned to Bears practice Wednesday, but running back David Montgomery was a surprise addition to the injury list and did not practice.

Hicks (ankle) and Robinson (hamstring) have missed the last three games with injuries suffered against the Steelers on Nov. 8 at Heinz Field. Both were limited in practice Wednesday. Wide receiver Marquise Goodwin (foot), who did not play against the Cardinals, also was limited.

Montgomery appeared fine after a yeoman’s performance against the Cardinals — 21 carries for 90 yards and a touchdown and eight receptions for 51 yards in the Bears’ 33-22 loss. But he missed practice Wednesday with a series of injuries — his shoulder, groin and glute — that were not mentioned by coach Matt Nagy earlier Wednesday.

Defensive end Trevis Gipson (illness), kicker Cairo Santos (illness) and tight end Jimmy Graham (maintenance) did not practice. Defensive end Mario Edwards, Jr. (ribs), linebacker Christian Jones (back) and running back Damien Williams (calf) were limited.

Justin Fields practiced in full after missing last week’s game with broken ribs. Back-up Andy Dalton did not practice because of an injury to his left (non-throwing) hand. Nick Foles did second-string work in practice, but Dalton still could be the back-up to Fields against the Packers. He played through the injury against the Cardinals. “He was really tough for doing that,” coach Matt Nagy said.

Quinn’s 12th sack

Outside linebacker Robert Quinn was belatedly given a sack by NFL statistics — his 12th of the season — for his tackle of Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray for a six-yard loss on the Cardinals first play from scrimmage.

It initially was not recorded as a sack because Murray lost the ball as he tried to throw. But because Murray tried to advance the ball after recovering, Quinn got the sack. The 12 sacks are the second most in Quinn’s career. He had 19 with the Rams in 2013.

Raiola to Nebraska

Bears assistant offensive line coach Donovan Raiola has been hired as the offensive line coach at Nebraska under Scott Frost.

Raiola, who has been with the Bears since 2018, is still with the Bears and details of his departure are still being worked out, coach Matt Nagy said. Raiola’s brother, Dominic Raiola, was a Rimington Trophy-winning center at Nebraska before a 14-year career with the Lions.

“When you have a guy that works as hard as these coaches do,” Nagy said, “and put in a lot of time doing some of the dirty work and then you get rewarded with a great opportunity like this, it was pretty neat being able to go through that process with Donny. He’s worked hard for that. We’re really happy for him.”

Coat Drive

The Bears’ 33rd annual coat drive — the pet project of Bears equipment manager par excellence Tony Medlin — opened Tuesday through Jan. 9. Fans can drop off new and lightly used coats at 24 Salvation Army select Family Store locations in the Chicago area. To find the nearest location, visit ChicagoBears.com/CoatDrive.

Read More

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky plays a video of the Jan. 6 riots at a House hearing in October. Massie posted a picture of his family holding guns in front of a Christmas tree days after a deadly school shooting. | Greg Nash/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

You’d like to think Rep. Thomas Massie’s grotesque parody of a Christmas card, with his family brandishing semi-automatic rifles, would finish him politically.

Some days, it’s the little things, the small absurdities in the news that make a person wonder if there’s any real hope for American democracy.

Consider, for example, the Christmas greeting sent out by Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, featuring the congressman and his entire family brandishing semi-automatic rifles and grinning into the camera like some latter-day Bonnie and Clyde. Or “Y’all Qaeda,” as somebody derisively dubbed the happy family on Twitter.

There’s a Christmas tree in the background, and a cheery holiday message: “Merry Christmas! ps. Santa, please bring ammo.”

Ho, ho, ho!

This, only a few days after a disturbed 15-year-old in Michigan murdered four high school classmates with a semi-automatic handgun that his parents gave him as an early Christmas gift.

Oh yeah, this too: Massie himself appears to be fondling an actual machine gun, presumably to let everybody know who’s the head honcho of this hardy brood of crackpots. None of whom, you can bet your own personal Colt .45, has ever heard a shot fired in anger, nor — prayerfully — ever will.

Somebody who has experienced actual combat, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., an Iraq War veteran, put it this way: “I’m pro Second Amendment, but this isn’t supporting the right to keep and bear arms, this is a gun fetish.”

My sentiments exactly. The current right-wing idolatry of firearms as totemic objects, it seems to me, signifies arrested development in those like Massie who make a spectacle of brandishing them. You can’t hunt or go target-shooting with a heavy-caliber automatic weapon. They’re useless for self-defense or for anything other than military purposes.

Anti-masker, anti-vaxxer, anti-climate science

Speaking of arrested development, you may not be astonished to learn that Massie’s Facebook page identifies him as a “Libertarian” — that is, as somebody whose intellectual development stalled at the “You’re not the boss of me” stage of early adolescence. The congressman, whose district stretches along the Ohio River in rural northern Kentucky, has made rather a specialty of solitary grandstanding.

Back in 2013, Massie was the only congressman to vote against the Undetectable Firearms Act, a bill to prevent non-metallic weapons from being smuggled aboard airplanes. (Or into the U.S. Capitol, for that matter.) His was the only vote against the Stolen Valor Act punishing people falsely posing as war heroes. In 2017, he cast the lone vote against sanctioning North Korea. He’s also provided solitary votes against helping to build Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system and against supporting Hong Kong’s democracy.

Trained as a mechanical engineer at MIT — just to show you — he derides climatology as “pseudoscience” and rejects all efforts to do anything about it. Regarding the COVID-19 plague, he has argued fiercely against mask mandates. He and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, to give readers an idea of the company he keeps, have sued Speaker Nancy Pelosi after being fined for refusing to wear masks on the House floor.

Like Greene, he has compared vaccination mandates to the Holocaust, trivializing the gravest crime in living memory. “There is no authority in the Constitution that authorizes the government to stick a needle in you against your will, [or] force you to wear a face mask,” he once tweeted. “Can you imagine the signers of the Declaration of Independence submitting to any of these things?!”

Better-informed critics quickly cited Constitutional Law 101: “Congress shall have power to … provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States.” Others noted that in 1776, Gen. George Washington inoculated his army against smallpox at Valley Forge. Putting down the epidemic proved decisive in the Revolutionary War.

Me, I wondered if Rep. Massie thinks laws requiring him to wear pants constitute government tyranny? Indeed, no less an authority than Donald J. Trump — irritated by a move in March 2020 in which Massie demanded an in-person floor vote, delaying a COVID-19 relief bill that had passed 96-0 in the Senate — called him “a third-rate grandstander” who should be drummed out of the Republican Party. Former Sen. John Kerry commented that Massie had “tested positive for being an ***hole.”

And yet, the five-term congressman endures, an experienced vaudeville performer and firm fixture in the GOP Clown Caucus, along with such worthies as Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and noted cartoon assassin Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Colo. Me, I’m just glad he’s not from Arkansas, where I live, although we have a couple of districts where his slack-jawed comedy stylings — filing bills to abolish the U.S. Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency, for example — would definitely play.

He’d have to make up with Trump, however, although abject flattery is all that’s really necessary to win the great man’s favor.

You’d like to think Massie’s grotesque parody of a Christmas card would finish him politically. But then, you’d like to think a lot of things.

Send letters to [email protected]

Arkansas Times columnist Gene Lyons is a National Magazine Award winner and co-author of “The Hunting of the President.”

Read More

Read More

William M. Mahon, who is the $138,800-a-year deputy city streets and sanitation commissioner for quality control and accountability. | Facebook

William M. Mahon, who was once suspended for helping rig city job applicants’ test scores, now faces charges over his role as a Washington Federal Bank for Savings board member.

A top official in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Department of Streets and Sanitation who during the Daley administration was suspended for helping to rig city job applicants’ test scores now faces charges in connection with his role as a board member of a failed Bridgeport bank.

William M. Mahon is accused in an 82-page indictment made public Wednesday of being part of a years-long embezzlement scheme as a longtime member of the Washington Federal Bank for Savings board of directors.

Others previously charged in the ongoing investigation of the bank’s failure include Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th), who is awaiting trial in a related case on income-tax fraud charges that accuse him of cheating on his federal income taxes regarding money he got from the bank.

Altogether, 15 people have now been charged.

Mahon, 55, is newly charged along with three others, including two who also were board members of the bank, which authorities shut down in December 2017 over what they said was an embezzlement scheme involving the bank’s president that siphoned off $90 million.

The indictment accuses Mahon of:

Failing to tell regulators about a $130,000 personal loan he obtained from then-bank president and chief executive officer John F. Gembara and Gembara’s wife. The loan has never been repaid, a source said.
Helping doctor paperwork so it falsely appeared that the bank’s loan committee on which he sat had given approval to some borrowers on certain dates.
Helping forge minutes of bank board meetings that were sent to federal regulators and falsely stated “that pending loans were reviewed and approved” by the bank’s loan committee.

Authorities think bank officials gave loans to favored people with no expectation the money would ever be repaid and reported loan repayments even though they weren’t made, the Chicago Sun-Times previously has reported.

Mahon — who, as the $138,800-a-year deputy commissioner for quality control and accountability, is one of the highest-ranking officials in the Department of Streets and Sanitation — couldn’t be reached for comment.

He lives in Bridgeport down the street from where the late Mayor Richard J. Daley raised his family and is a longtime member of the 11th Ward Regular Democratic Organization that swept two Daleys into office as mayor. The ward organization is now run by Thompson and his uncle, Cook County Commissioner John Daley.

Tim Novak / Sun-Times
William M. Mahon (in green shirt) running in this year’s Chicago Marathon.

Also charged in the new indictment are two other former Washington Federal board members: Gembara’s sister Janice Weston, whose family ran the bank for generations, and George Kozdemba, a retired electrician for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. Thomas Breen, an attorney for Mahon, Weston and Kozdemba, couldn’t be reached.

On Dec. 3, 2017, days before federal regulators shut down the bank, Gembara was found dead in the bedroom of a bank customer’s million-dollar Park Ridge home, seated in a chair with a rope wrapped around his neck and the rail of a staircase.

The Cook County medical examiner and Park Ridge police ruled his death a suicide. But Gembara’s widow and others involved in the case have said they suspect that someone killed Gembara.

The new indictment puts Gembara squarely in the middle of the embezzlement scheme. Referring to him not by name but as “Individual A,” prosecutors say he was involved in the bank-related scams that they say Mahon took part in.

According to the indictment, Mahon and a previously charged former bank employee named James R. Crotty, “along with Individual A, caused to be provided” to the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency “a loan file for Customer C which contained a loan committee approval form purportedly signed on or about October 13, 2015 by defendants Mahon and Crotty, along with Individual A, when in fact the form was not created until on or about May 20, 2016.”

Mahon got 24 loans totaling more than $4.3 million from Gembara’s bank since 1993 — including three unpaid mortgages totaling more than $1 million on a three-flat he built in the 3800 block of South Lowe Avenue in Bridgeport, according to records filed with the Cook County recorder of deeds.

Mahon also is accused of hiding from the Internal Revenue Service how much rent he was collecting from tenants of the three-flat.

Mahon not only has remained on the job at City Hall amid reports he was under investigation, his city salary has gone up more than $22,000 a year since the bank’s collapse.

Over the past several months, records show, Mahon has been exchanging emails with city pension officials, who informed him that his city pension would be $98,304 annually if he retired last month.

Mahon had been working for the Chicago White Sox when, a few months after Mayor Richard M. Daley was first elected, he was hired as a press spokesman for the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. He moved to Streets and San in 1995.

He was in his early 30s when City Hall gave him permission to serve on the Washington Federal board, which he joined in 1999 or 2001, according to city documents, and remained on the board until the bank was closed.

His brother-in-law Michael Huels, a first cousin of former 11th Ward Ald. Patrick Huels, is an accountant who worked for Bansley & Kiener, a clout-heavy accounting firm that gave Washington Federal a clean bill of health months before it was shut down.

During Richard M. Daley’s administration, Mahon was suspended from his city job for 45 days as a result of an investigation into rigged city hiring that was exposed following a Sun-Times investigation of the city’s Hired Truck Program.

Then, in 2006, City Hall’s inspector general’s office found that Mahon “repeatedly engaged in personal activities” while on the clock — including attending a White Sox game. The inspector general recommended Mahon be fired. Instead, the Daley administration gave him a 29-day suspension.

The first story in the Sun-Times investigation of the failed Bridgeport bank Washington Federal Bank for Savings, published March 4, 2018.

Read More

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers screams at Bears fans after scoring a touchdown Oct. 17. | Kamil Krzaczynski/AP

Wednesday, in fact, the Packers quarterback doubled down on it.

You didn’t think Aaron Rodgers would regret saying he owned the Bears, did you?

Wednesday, the Packers quarterback doubled down on it.

“I don’t know that you could question a whole lot of what I said,” Rodgers, who is 22-5 all-time against the Bears, told reporters Wednesday. “I’ve had a good record over the years against them. Won a lot of games at Soldier Field and at Lambeau Field. It’s been a great rivalry. I’m proud to be a part of it. We have gotten the better of them the last, I don’t know, 27-28 times we’ve played them.”

That’s an understatement. Per ESPN Stats and Info, Rodgers’ .815 winning percentage against the Packers is the third-best by any quarterback with at least 25 starts against one team since 1950.

“In order to trash talk, you have to have a lot of confidence in what you’ve accomplished and what you’re going to accomplish in the future,” Rodgers said. “At some point what I said will be used against me. That’s just part of it. I have no regrets for saying what I said. … The record kinda speaks for itself. … I don’t regret saying it at all.”

Sunday night at Lambeau Field will mark the latest — and maybe last — chance for Rodgers to improve that mark. He hinted during the offseason that this could be his last season with the Packers. Even Wednesday, some of his comments about the rivalry had a hint of finality to it.

“This rivalry was long before I got here, and long after I’m done playing,” he said. “It’s going to keep on going. It will be fun to keep an eye on it. I feel good being able to leave this at some point with us ahead, but you never know. There’s been an ebb and flow to this rivalry. It’s been fun to get back ahead in the all-time series.”

When Rodgers was drafted in 2005, the Packers trailed the all-time series 78-85-6. Entering Sunday’s game, they’re ahead 102-95-6, having passed the Bears in 2017.

On Oct. 17, Rodgers provided the rivalry with one of its most colorful moments. After he beat Bears linebacker to the right pylon for a six-yard run to seal the win in the fourth quarter, Rodgers saw Bears taunting him from the corner of the Soldier Field lower bowl.

“All my [bleeping] life, I own you,” Rodgers said to the fans. “I own you. I still own you.”

Wednesday, Rodgers reiterated that his ire was directed at “the fans who were giving me the bird,” not the players on the field. The Bears, though, heard it loud and clear. When asked whether he planned to use Rodgers’ words as motivation this week, coach Matt Nagy turned serious.

“I mean, we’re aware of it,” he said.

The better question is whether the Bears plan to do anything about it.

“If you have social media, I think that you’ve seen it,” Bears safety Tashaun Gipson said. “I don’t think that it was bulletin board material. It’s nothing that Nagy has, we have, harped about.

“I think that everybody is aware of what was said from then. And obviously playing them now, I think that the statement would come again in the spotlight. But for us in the locker room, we can’t control that. We can’t control what happened when we played them Game 1. We can’t control that it’s how he feels.

“All that we can do is just go out there and control what we do Sunday night — and that’s our focus right now.”

As Rodgers does every rivalry week, he tried to frame the matchup as big-city Chicago against small-town Green Bay. Ironically, though, Rodgers grew up a Chicago sports fan — from his home in Northern California, he loved to watch Harry Caray and Greg Maddux on WGN. He idolized Michael Jordan. He wasn’t a Bears fan, though. Instead, he followed the 49ers — and, after quarterback Joe Montana left for Kansas City, the Chiefs — and the careers of Barry Sanders and Brett Favre.

It took him exactly one start to appreciate the Bears-Packers rivalry, he said.

“I know they’ve had a great rivalry over the years, but I didn’t realize how special it was until I got into the NFL and saw the history and talked to fans and understood how much it meant to them,” he said. “Seeing some of the highlights — or lowlights — over the years that have gone on between the two teams. Obviously you understand the names if you’re a lover of sports history — the names that have played on both sides of this thing for 100 years is pretty special. It’s fun to be a part of it.”

More for Rodgers than the Bears.

“It’s always been kinda ‘Little Green Bay’ against ‘Big Chicago, going back to the 1920s,” he said. “I’m proud to lead ‘Little Green Bay’ on the field almost 30 times now against these guys.”

Read More

An activist holds a sign that reads, “I refuse to be silenced by violent white supremacists!” near the Chicago Theater along North State Street in the Loop to protest the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse on Nov. 20. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Anonymity and narcissism in social media is why we can’t have nice things, like civil discourse, compromise, and disagreeing agreeably.

Anonymity and narcissism are useful in voicing dissent that you wouldn’t share with someone face-to-face. Thanks, social media.

In fairness, social media gets blamed for a lot these days. Ex-president Donald Trump’s critics need to be reminded that he wasn’t the problem, just a symptom of a bigger problem. Likewise, anonymity and narcissism didn’t arrive with social media. They were already here.

This is why we can’t have nice things, like civil discourse, compromise and disagreeing agreeably.

SEND LETTERS TO: [email protected]. We want to hear from our readers. To be considered for publication, letters must include your full name, your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be a maximum of approximately 350 words.

Some Kyle Rittenhouse trial observers contend that those treating Rittenhouse as a hero should consider the consequences of encouraging vigilantism. Those calling Rittenhouse a villain must see that ordinary Kenoshans didn’t deserve to have their businesses destroyed or fear for their safety. Many have stressed that for reason to prevail, someone on either side must be willing to stand against some of their own allies. Even then, social media tends to amplify a stance closer to hate than reason.

The Rittenhouse case, as one well-known columnist said recently, adds to America’s conversation about the role of race, of law and how both are holding us back. Meanwhile, social media is living up — or down — to its expectations.

An increasingly tired refrain after such shootings is, “This isn’t who we are.” Maybe not, but it appears to be who we’re becoming.

Jim Newton, Itasca

Small habits do matter against climate change

One of the most daunting issues regarding climate change is the scale of the problem. How are our individual actions supposed to accomplish anything when there are such big polluters around the world? The recent opinion piece by Tom Ptak about small changes making a big difference is an important reminder that our individual actions matter.

It is hard to change habits, but we don’t need to change all of our habits at once. Often, it’s the habits that require the least effort that make the greatest impact. The easiest habits to break involve inaction. Voting for change, especially with the proliferation of mail-in voting in Illinois, is easier than ever. Likewise, for too long, we have not held out lawmakers accountable after the voting is done. This, too, is easy to change. These actions, that once used to take hours, are just a mailbox, email or phone call away and take minutes. Political will is important.

Vote for lawmakers that support climate action. Email your thanks to local politicians in support of expanded public transportation and clean electrical grids. Call your members of Congress and ask them to support a price on polluters, with a cash-back payment that benefits the lower and middle class. Talk about Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin’s climate leadership with your family.

Each of these actions cost us so little individually, but together they add up to change that needs to happen.

Michael Holler, Montclare

Read More