Heather Mack, seen here in January 2015, returned to Chicago today. | Firdia Lisnawati/AP

Today’s update is a 5-minute read that will brief you on the day’s biggest stories.

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 with a high near 45 degrees. Tonight will be mostly clear with a low around 32. Tomorrow will be partly sunny with a high near 47.

Top story

Heather Mack, Tommy Schaefer charged in U.S. indictment with conspiring to kill Mack’s mother

Heather Mack and Tommy Schaefer are charged with conspiring to kill Mack’s mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, in a federal indictment filed in 2017 and unsealed today in Chicago’s federal court.

Mack and Schaefer are also charged with an obstruction of justice count in the three-count indictment, which became public as Mack was expected to arrive this morning at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.

Mack was arrested this morning at the airport, according to the Justice Department.

The five-page indictment lists a series of overt acts by Mack and Schaefer, including Mack’s boarding of an airplane at O’Hare on Aug. 2, 2014, her arranging for Schaefer to travel from Chicago to Bali, their exchanging of messages discussing how to kill von Wiese-Mack, and the actual killing of von Wiese-Mack.

Mack, 26, and Schaefer, 28, are charged with two conspiracy counts. They also face a charge alleging they “destroyed, mutilated and concealed objects” to impair its availability for an official proceeding “by forcing the body of [von Wiese-Mack] into a suitcase after she had been killed and removing the suitcase from the place of the murder; and by removing linens and items of clothing worn during the killing … from the place of the murder.”

The pair face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on the conspiracy counts.

The highly anticipated charges signal a new chapter in an international legal drama that has lasted more than seven years, beginning when the body of Mack’s mother was discovered inside a suitcase left in a taxi outside the St. Regis Bali Resort on Aug. 12, 2014.

Jon Seidel and Stefano Esposito have the latest on Mack here.

More news you need

Two days after a judge handed the police union a partial victory in its lawsuit against the city’s vaccine mandate, FOP president John Catanzara today urged officers to take their resistance of the policy to another level. Fran Spielman has more on comments made by the police union leader in a video posted online this morning.

A Senate committee today approved former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to be the next U.S. ambassador to Japan, paving the way for his confirmation. Emanuel’s prospects remain solid even without the support of Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Edward Markey of Massachusetts, who each opposed his nomination.

An off-duty Chicago police officer fatally shot her husband, also an officer, while the two struggled over a gun in their home near O’Hare Airport last night. No charges have been announced, but the wife will be placed on routine administrative duties for 30 days, police said.

Friends are appealing to the public for help finding a man last seen crossing DuSable Lake Shore Drive after parking his car at 31st Street Beach last month. Oribi Zachary Kontein, 26, has been missing since Oct. 26, according to Chicago police.

Defrocked priest and convicted child molester Daniel McCormack has been released from custody, officials confirmed yesterday. McCormack, who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing five children while he was a priest at St. Agatha’s parish, has since registered as a sex offender and is listed as living in a Near North neighborhood.

Former state Rep. Luis Arroyo pleaded guilty today in his federal corruption case, admitting to many of the allegations that ended his political career. His sentencing hearing is set for Feb. 18, more than two years after prosecutors first charged him with bribery.

Whether you’re ready for it or not, Christmas music will be back on Chicago’s airwaves starting this afternoon, thanks to WLIT-FM. The non-stop extravaganza of jingles kicks off at 4 p.m. on 93.9 F.M., marking 21 consecutive years of what’s become a holiday tradition.

A bright one

New mural looks to show the good in Englewood

Jerrold Anderson always thought of himself as an artist.

From sketching to rapping, creativity has always been among his strengths. It helped give him his street name — Just Flo. And now, that creativity is on display across the South Side.

Anderson’s newest piece, unveiled yesterday, is splashed across Englewood’s Planned Parenthood, 6059 S. Ashland Ave.

“There’s so much good in Englewood that goes unseen,” said Anderson, 41, to a crowd gathered for the festivities. “I wanted to try to show our community coming together. Englewood has had a lot of ups and downs through the years, it’s no secret. But I don’t want us to forget the light that shines in all of us that this community is reflecting.”

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Englewood Arts Collective artist Jerrold “Just Flo” Anderson stands in front of his mural after its unveiling outside Planned Parenthood’s Englewood Health Center yesterday.

Anderson’s mural, commissioned by Planned Parenthood through the Englewood Arts Collective, is part of the #GoodInEnglewood campaign, started by Rashanah Baldwin 12 years ago to change public perception of the neighborhood.

It took a month of sketching, revising and listening to community input to complete the mural.

Anderson, who’s lived in Englewood for 10 years, said it was a “humble blessing … to see so many different people — young, old — driving past and showing love” as the mural came together. It showed him people in Englewood just want “an opportunity to communicate.”

Cheyanne M. Daniels has more on the mural here.

From the press box

It’s a long ways until spring training but White Sox manager Tony La Russa is already looking forward to it.

The Northern Illinois football team keeps outlasting opponents and winning games. Steve Greenberg writes about how the program being built by Thomas Hammock differs from the successful ones led by predecessors Rod Carey and Dave Doeren.
Former Hawks assistant GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, now the GM of the Winnipeg Jets, apologized to Kyle Beach yesterday for the Blackhawks organization’s inaction in 2010.

Your daily question ?

It’s National Sandwich Day, so we want to know: What is the quintessential Chicago sandwich and best place to find it?

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: How do you feel about Scottie Pippen taking shots at Michael Jordan and the Bulls in his new memoir?

Here’s what some of you said…

“I think he’s longed to be the star and face of the Bulls and get the respect (money) he never got. But he’s damaging any legacy by putting himself above the team.” — Linda Crabtree

“Good for him. If not for Pippen, Jordan would be considered an average player.” — Shawn Doak

“Unacceptable. Whatever Scottie’s going thru or dealing with, he should handle and by no means involve MJ.” — Kirk James

“He’s not wrong, so good for him, telling the truth as he experienced it.” — Mary Jo Kerber

“I’m not surprised. The truth is Scottie always felt this way. It’s just he’s in the position to speak his true feelings.” — Keith R. King

“Lost all respect for him when he refused to go into that playoff game that [Toni] Kukoc hit the winning shot.” — Keith Holland

Thanks for reading the Chicago Sun-Times Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.

Sign up here to get the Afternoon Edition in your inbox every day.

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Kyle Rittenhouse whispers to his attorney Corey Chirafisi on Wednesday during his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse. | Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP Pool

Rittenhouse is charged with killing two men and wounding a third during the summer of 2020 in a case that has stirred furious debate over self-defense, vigilantism, the Second Amendment right to bear arms, and the racial unrest after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

KENOSHA, Wis. — The jury at Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial over a string of shootings on the streets of Kenosha watched one of the central pieces of video evidence Wednesday — footage of a man chasing Rittenhouse and throwing a plastic bag at him just before the man was gunned down.

Someone is heard yelling “F— you!,” followed by the sounds of the four shots Rittenhouse fired, killing Joseph Rosenbaum, though the shooting itself is not clearly seen on camera. Rosenbaum was the first of three men Rittenhouse shot that night, two of them fatally.

“Oh, he shot him! He shot him, man. He shot him. He shot him, man. He laid him out,” the person making the video can be heard saying.

Footage shown to the jury also showed Rosenbaum lying on the ground as frantic bystanders surrounded him to help. He had a wound to his head, and a bystander placed a shirt on it to apply pressure.

The videos were part of a wealth of footage played for the jury that captured the repeated sound of gunfire in the streets and the chaos that ensued after the 17-year-old aspiring police officer opened fire with an assault-style rifle during a tumultuous demonstration against police brutality during the summer of 2020.

Rittenhouse, now 18, could get life in prison if convicted in the politically polarizing case that has stirred furious debate over self-defense, vigilantism, the right to bear arms, and the racial unrest that erupted around the U.S. after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other cases like it.

The teenager traveled to Kenosha from his home in Illinois after violent protests broke out over the shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white Kenosha police officer. Rittenhouse said he went there to protect property after two nights in which rioters set fires and ransacked businesses.

During opening statements Tuesday, prosecutors portrayed him as the instigator of the bloodshed, while his lawyer argued that he acted in self-defense after Rosenbaum tried to grab his gun and others in the crowd kicked him in the face and hit him in the head with a skateboard.

A Kenosha detective who took the stand on Wednesday detailed injuries Rittenhouse suffered that night, all seemingly minor: a half-inch scratch above his eyebrow, a small cut inside his lower lip, a 2-inch scratch below his collarbone, a 2-inch scratch on his forearm, a scratch on his back and two bumps the size of pennies on his head.

Many of the videos played at the trial were found by police on various social media sites.

One showed Rittenhouse saying before the shootings that he was there to protect property and provide medical care to anyone who was hurt.

In one, the interviewer mentioned non-lethal weapons and Rittenhouse responded: “We don’t have non-lethal.” The man filming the video then asked if Rittenhouse was “full-on” ready to defend the property and he replied, “Yes, we are.”

In the courtroom, a serious-looking Rittenhouse cast a downward look at times, at one point just staring at the desk in front of him, as the videos were played. He appeared to take deep breaths.

Earlier, jurors were shown videos livestreamed that night by Koerri Washington, a social media influencer from Kenosha, Rittenhouse can be seen running through the frame, carrying a fire extinguisher.

Washington said he followed the 17-year-old Rittenhouse after noticing him earlier that evening.

“He just looked kind of young to me,” Washington said. “And he had these gloves on and he was smoking cigarettes and stuff. … He kind of seemed like an interesting figure, so I just took a mental note of that. It wasn’t anything, I wouldn’t say malicious, just a young person in a situation.”

Shortly after Rittenhouse is seen, the video captures the sound of one gunshot, which was fired into the air by someone in the crowd, according to authorities. The defense has said that that shot made Rittenhouse think he was under attack.

Many jurors seemed to jot down extensive notes when testimony turned to the level of violence at the Kenosha protests, which included protesters throwing firebombs and rocks on the night of the shooting.

Many members of the jury seemed especially attentive when a defense attorney during cross-examination played video of dozens of cars in a used-car lot on fire the day before the shooting. Prosecutors have emphasized an absence of deadly violence, other than from Rittenhouse, on the night of the killings.

Moments after shooting the 36-year-old Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse shot and killed Anthony Huber, 26, a protester from Silver Lake, Wisconsin, who was seen on bystander video hitting Rittenhouse with a skateboard.

Defense attorney Mark Richards portrayed Rittenhouse as the victim, saying that Rosenbaum “lit the fuse that night” and that Huber was “trying to separate the head from the body” with the skateboard.

Rittenhouse then wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, a protester from West Allis, Wisconsin, who had a gun in his hand as he stepped toward Rittenhouse.

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U.S. travelers wait to cross into Canada at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, Ontario, on Aug. 9, 2021 as Canada reopens for non-essential travel to fully vaccinated Americans. | Geoff Robins/AFP via Getty Images

The province we visited in Canada, which is huge, had 300 deaths, while United States citizens continue dying. In Canada, I heard not one complaint about showing proof of vaccination.

I just came back from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We had to show proof of vaccination to enter Canada. No problem. I was vaccinated, and had the booster with absolutely no side effects, as do many people.

When we drove to the guard house, the border agent was masked and asked my husband, firmly, to put on his mask before she spoke with us.

After we entered Canada, we stopped at a McDonalds and ordered. We were told that to sit and eat in the dining area, we would have to show proof of vaccination. I called to let my son know we had arrived and I asked him if all dine-in restaurants require proof of vaccination. He said “yes.”

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I was glad to oblige in because I knew everyone in the restaurant was also vaccinated and we were safer. We also went to the movies, which required proof of vaccination. So in the movie I knew everyone was vaccinated, and since we had younger children with us, again I knew we were safer and they were safer. That is all that matters to parents in Canada, as it should.

No one complained or put on a scene, because most intelligent people understand that being vaccinated makes you, others, and small children, safer. Canadians put the common good of their society first. How refreshing!

It made me see how very crazy Americans have become.

As we crossed the border to return to United States, we were required to show a photo ID and passports. No proof of vaccination at all. The guard who admitted us had a mask — under his chin. No wonder Americans have, and are still dying in the thousands!

The province we left, which is huge, had 300 deaths, while United States citizens continue dying. Most in Canadian society want to keep everyone safe, I heard not one complaint about showing proof of vaccination.

I wish many Americans put the good of our citizens first, before their tirades.

Connie Orland, Plainfield

Violence is everyone’s problem

Old Town, Humboldt Park, Edgewater, Bucktown, Wicker Park, Belmont-Cragin, Lincoln Park, Rogers Park, Lakeview, Wrigleyville. All are areas of Chicago’s North Side and all are areas where a murder, carjacking or other violent crime was listed in a Chicago Police Department report during the last four weeks. Isn’t it time for the mayor to stop referring to a serious crime problem on “the South and West sides” and to acknowledge what Chicago’s citizenry already has recognized: violent crime is a concern EVERYWHERE in Chicago.

Chris and Bill Craven, Evergreen Park

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Photographer David Lee, brother of filmmaker Spike Lee, is photographed on the set of the series “Godfather of Harlem.” | AP

From the beginning, no one had a front-row seat to the birth and evolution of the master American filmmaker like David.

NEW YORK — When David Lee was growing up in Brooklyn, his older brother would drag him out of the house whenever he got the urge to make a film.

“Spike would say, ‘You gotta come with me. I’m shooting something,'” says David Lee. “His early impulse was to document. The ’77 blackout, he went out and filmed. He would yank me and say, ‘Come on. Come on.'”

In an artistic family (Spike and David’s father, Bill Lee, is a well-regarded jazz musician who scored several of Spike’s early films), David took up still photography. David, four years Spike’s junior, discovered photography when an upstairs tenant in their family’s brownstone taught him how to process 35mm black-and-white film.

Spike, meanwhile, was already on his way as a movie director. And from the beginning, no one had a front-row seat to the birth and evolution of the master American filmmaker like David. From Spike’s first feature film, “She’s Gotta Have It,” and ever since, David has been his brother’s on-set photographer.

AP
This image taken by David Lee shows filmmaker Spike Lee (from left) with Clarke Peters, Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors and Norm Lewis on the set of “Da 5 Bloods.”

He was there to capture Spike, in a Jackie Robinson jersey as Mookie in “Do The Right Thing,” in the afternoon light of a Brooklyn street. He was there to photograph Denzel Washington lounging in the backseat of a convertible in “Malcolm X.” He was there for some of Chadwick Boseman’s last moments on film during the making of “Da 5 Bloods.”

“Spike,” a new retrospective photography book to be published Nov. 17, is filled with images David shot over the years, with stills from Spike’s 35-plus films. It even comes complete with custom typography based on Radio Raheem’s “LOVE/HATE” brass knuckles from “Do the Right Thing.” It’s a hefty, glossy compendium of the still-unfolding career of one of cinema’s most clarion voices. It’s also an intimate story of family, with siblings on both sides of the camera: Spike as seen through his brother’s lens.

“It’s kind of funny when your brother becomes famous,” David, 60, said in a recent interview. “He’s always been my brother, but then he’s like a world possession somehow. People in Fort Greene would always talk to him as if they knew him.”

And from the start, Spike understood something about self-promotion. Few filmmakers since Alfred Hitchcock have made themselves more recognizable to a moviegoing public. As the unit photographer whose images are used in a movie’s marketing, David’s pictures helped create his brother’s iconography — including those Nike commercials with Michael Jordan. He fondly remembers an early trailer for “She’s Gotta Have It” where Spike sells the movie while hocking tube socks on Fulton Street.

Many images — like that one of Mookie — David can’t always recall whose idea it was.

“I don’t know if I did it or Spike said, ‘Take a picture of this or that.’ Spike always had this other awareness of promoting himself,” said David. “Spike entered the mainstream on his own terms.”

That included, by way of his production company, 40 Acres and a Mule, far more diverse film sets than were seen elsewhere in the industry. David recalls Spike bringing lists of Black crew members, including himself, to the various guilds to get them inducted into unions.

But the 40 Acres crew — many of whom have lasted since the late ’80s and early ’90s — also included Spike’s actual family. Their younger sister, Joie Lee, has appeared in at least nine of Spike’s films. Their younger brother, Cinque Lee, has had various duties, including co-writing 1994’s “Crooklyn.” There are, David jokes, no business school graduates among the Lees.

“From The Beginning I Have Kept It All In The Family, Thanks To God For Talent In The Lee Family,” Spike said in an email.

But why would Lee want a 360-page capstone to a movie career while still in the midst of it? Just during the pandemic, Lee has released two features ( the Vietnam war drama “Da 5 Bloods,” the documentary “David Byrne’s American Utopia” ), been president of the Cannes Film Festival jury and begun prepping a movie musical about the origins of Viagra. He also, like during the ’77 blackout, documented New York under the first wave of the pandemic in a short film.

In the book’s first pages, Spike explains: “This Book Revisits All Da Werk I’ve Put In To Build My Body Of Work. Film Is A Visual Art Form And That Sense Of My Storytelling Has Been Somewhat Overlooked. Why Now, After All These Years? FOLKS BE FORGETTING.”

For David, the book is a moment to reflect on how his brother’s body of work — once received as so incendiary by some — has only grown more prescient with time. When “Do the Right Thing” first debuted, some columnists famously predicted it would incite riots.

“It shouldn’t have seemed revolutionary or such a startling conversation to start. It just really underscored the difference to me how white people and Black people, very broadly, view the different attitudes toward race relations,” says David. “White people seem eternally startled by Black outrage. It shouldn’t be a new story.”

David doesn’t exclusively shoot Spike’s films. He has more than 90 credits. During a recent interview, he was in Pittsburgh for a Netflix film about the civil rights leader Bayard Rustin. And sometimes, their experiences of the past 35 years vary wildly.

“I’m not sitting there courtside at the Knicks games,” David says, laughing. “I’m not palling around with the Obamas.”

But flipping through “Spike” captures a filmmaker’s journey that starts out like a family photo album. There in a photograph of Spike’s film school graduation is David next to him, with a camera slung over his shoulder. That he’s been along on the ride ever since still astounds David.

“There’s so much talent in front of you. It’s like a jazz trio. I’m in the band!” says David. “So much is laid out for me to try to capture.”

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Kyle Rittenhouse whispers to his attorney Corey Chirafisi on Wednesday during his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse. | Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP Pool

Rittenhouse is charged with killing two men and wounding a third during the summer of 2020 in a case that has stirred furious debate over self-defense, vigilantism, the Second Amendment right to bear arms, and the racial unrest after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

KENOSHA, Wis. — Prosecutors at Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial Wednesday played video for the jury that captured the repeated sound of gunfire in the streets as they began recounting the night Rittenhouse shot three people, two fatally, during a tumultuous demonstration against police brutality.

In one of the bystander videos livestreamed that night by Koerri Washington, a social media influencer from Kenosha, Rittenhouse can be seen running through the frame, carrying a fire extinguisher.

Washington said he followed the 17-year-old Rittenhouse after noticing him earlier that evening.

“He just looked kind of young to me,” Washington said. “And he had these gloves on and he was smoking cigarettes and stuff. … He kind of seemed like an interesting figure, so I just took a mental note of that. It wasn’t anything, I wouldn’t say malicious, just a young person in a situation.”

Shortly after Rittenhouse is seen, the video captures the sound of one gunshot, which was fired into the air by someone in the crowd, according to authorities. The defense has said that that shot made Rittenhouse think he was under attack.

That was followed by four quick shots, which prosecutor Thomas Binger said were Rittenhouse firing at Joseph Rosenbaum, the first man killed that night. After a short pause, three more gunshots can be heard; prosecutors said it is unclear who fired them.

Washington, who was on a skateboard, said that when he heard the shots, he “skated away to safety.”

Rittenhouse, now 18, is charged with opening fire with an assault-style rifle during the summer of 2020 in a politically polarizing case that has stirred furious debate over self-defense, vigilantism, the right to bear arms, and the racial unrest that erupted around the U.S. after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other cases like it.

Rittenhouse, a one-time police youth cadet, could get life in prison if convicted.

The teenager traveled to Kenosha from his home in Illinois after violent protests broke out over the shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white Kenosha police officer. Rittenhouse said he went there to protect property after two nights in which rioters set fires and ransacked businesses.

During opening statements Tuesday, prosecutors portrayed him as the instigator of the bloodshed, while his lawyer argued that he acted in self-defense after Rosenbaum tried to grab his gun and others in the crowd kicked him in the face and hit him in the head with a skateboard.

A Kenosha detective took the stand on Wednesday and detailed injuries Rittenhouse suffered that night, all seemingly minor: a half-inch scratch above his eyebrow, a small cut inside his lower lip, a 2-inch scratch below his collarbone, a 2-inch scratch on his forearm, a scratch on his back and two bumps the size of pennies on his head.

Many jurors seemed to jot down extensive notes when testimony turned to the level of violence at the Kenosha protests, which included protesters throwing firebombs and rocks on the night of the shooting.

Many members of the jury seemed especially attentive when a defense attorney during cross-examination played video of dozens of cars in a used-car lot on fire the day before the shooting. Prosecutors have emphasized an absence of deadly violence, other than from Rittenhouse, on the night of the killings.

The first witness in the trial was a friend who testified that Rittenhouse was pale, “freaking out” and “really scared” moments after shooting the three men. Rittenhouse said he had to do it because “people were trying to hurt him,” said the witness, Dominick Black.

Black, who was dating Rittenhouse’s sister at the time, faces his own trial for buying the 17-year-old Rittenhouse an AR-15-style rifle he wasn’t old enough to legally possess.

Black testified that he and Rittenhouse had armed themselves and gone to downtown Kenosha to help protect a car dealership after vehicles were burned the night before. He also said Rittenhouse helped give medical aid and put out fires.

Moments after shooting the 36-year-old Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse shot and killed Anthony Huber, 26, a protester from Silver Lake, Wisconsin, who was seen on bystander video hitting Rittenhouse with a skateboard.

Defense attorney Mark Richards portrayed Rittenhouse as the victim, saying that Rosenbaum “lit the fuse that night” and that Huber was “trying to separate the head from the body” with the skateboard.

Rittenhouse then wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, a protester from West Allis, Wisconsin, who had a gun in his hand as he stepped toward Rittenhouse.

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“We don’t want to forget what we did well,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “As we played, you could see some warts. The good thing is they’ll all be fixable.” | Nam Y. Huh/AP

“As we played, you could see some warts. The good thing is they’ll all be fixable,” La Russa said.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The White Sox’ Tony La Russa is 77 years old and he is looking forward to spring training with the eager anticipation of a first-year manager.

“We don’t want to forget what we did well,” he said Tuesday while watching an Arizona Fall League game at Sloan Park. “As we played, you could see some warts. The good thing is they’ll all be fixable. The players are excited. The staff is excited. The front office is excited. They’re anxious to help where they can.”

La Russa is excited, too.

“I only know one way and that is give 100% every day,” he said. “Starting with spring training.”

Last spring training, La Russa expected to have a “why am I doing this?” moment when the first sticky issue came up but it never occurred. Not in the spring, not during the season.

“I never had that one time. That’s amazing,” he said. “Showed I knew I was lucky to be there, I was fired up and I felt as much pressure as ever. The team had a chance, I was given a chance and I know what those [demanding] fans are like.”

La Russa said he knows the AL Central, which the Sox won by 13 games, will be improved. Then he smiled and held it with a look of confidence.

“But so will we,” he said.

When he went to camp last February, La Russa was the newly hired manager, lured out of retirement to take the Sox to the next level after they had lost the Wild Card series to the Athletics under Rick Renteria. It was a getting-to-know-you period for the manager, some of his coaching staff and players.

Having a second spring training, this time knowing in detail every strength and weakness of his team — which lost to the AL champion Astros in four games in the ALDS — will be a “night and day” difference, he said.

“Last year was zero relationship-wise, I had to earn their respect and trust,” La Russa said. “Most of the time, watched guys throw and hit, didn’t get into the drills because we didn’t know. Now we can be specific.

“Spring training is critically important at the major league level. If you don’t get fundamentals down … It’s critical that you establish A, B, C and D with however elements there are. You establish them and repeat them to where they become automatic.”

La Russa said his coaching staff will return.

“And that’s good,” he said. “That kind of stability. We had a good thing going. It wasn’t accidental that those guys played their [butts] off and part of it was the staff.”

Which will have a list of things to cover come spring.

“There’s all kinds of stuff,” La Russa said. “We can make better pitches. Have better at-bats. I’m not going to give you a scouting report but there are big things, little things and things in the middle. We’ll have a list, and we’ll prioritize. It was obvious to everybody we can do better defending the steal.”

The Sox have to decide whether to bring back second baseman Cesar Hernandez, pick up reliever Craig Kimbrel’s option for next season and how to address right field. Per the latter, converted first basemen Gavin Sheets and Andrew Vaughn showed they “can’t be ignored,” La Russa said.

Starter Carlos Rodon and reliever Ryan Tepera are free agents, and Michael Kopech “is going to camp determined to make it as a starter” after pitching in relief, La Russa said.

So there is prioritizing to be made and needs to be met that will be addressed by general manager Rick Hahn, who can be expected to add to the roster via free agency and/or trades.

“We’ve got to,” La Russa said. “We’ve already been talking a little bit. We’ve got some decisions to make.”

One thing already clear to La Russa is knowing he made the right decision to manage again after being out of the dugout since 2011.

“I didn’t retire because I was out of gas, there were other issues,” he said. “But I had plenty left. I don’t play. I just sit there and make some decisions. Our clubhouse really impressed me, getting ready to play for six winning months. Now the next thing is, we go forward and understand that we get better. The only way we get better is to work at it.”

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Former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III makes an initial appearance in Las Vegas Justice Court. | Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP

Prosecutor Eric Bauman said air bag computer records showed Ruggs’ Corvette decelerated from 156 mph to 127 mph before it struck another vehicle.

LAS VEGAS — Former Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III was driving at more than 150 mph with a blood-alcohol content twice Nevada’s legal limit before his sports car slammed into the rear of a vehicle that burned, killing a 23-year-old woman, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

The Raiders released Ruggs late Tuesday, just hours after the crash, his hospitalization and his booking into a Las Vegas jail. He had his initial court appearance Wednesday on felony charges of driving under the influence of alcohol resulting in death and reckless driving that could get him up to 26 years in state prison if he is convicted.

Ruggs, 22, appearing with his attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, was not asked to enter a plea to the charges, pending the formal filing of charges by Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson.

The name of the Las Vegas woman who died in the wrecked and burned Toyota Rav4 with her dog was not immediately made public.

Las Vegas police have identified Ruggs’ passenger as Kiara Je’nai Kilgo-Washington, 22, of Las Vegas.

Ruggs and Kilgo-Washington were hospitalized with unspecified injuries that police said did not appear life-threatening after the Chevrolet Corvette he was driving slammed into the Toyota at about 3:40 a.m. Tuesday.

Ruggs owns a $1.1 million home not far from where the crash occurred, according to property records.

Prosecutor Eric Bauman said air bag computer records showed the Corvette decelerated from 156 mph to 127 mph before it struck the Toyota.

Judge Joe M. Bonaventure said moments later he could not recall a speed that high involved in a crash case since he became a judge. Nevertheless, the judge rejected Bauman’s request for $1 million bail and set bail, at Chesnoff’s request, at $150,000 with strict conditions, including home confinement, electronic monitoring, no alcohol, no driving and surrender of Ruggs’ passport.

Bauman said Ruggs’ blood-alcohol level was 0.16%. Police said previously in a statement that Ruggs “showed signs of impairment.”

Bauman also said a loaded firearm was found on the floor of the car.

Wolfson said outside court he may file a weapon charge and expects to file a second DUI charge against Ruggs based on the serious arm injuries that he said Kilgo-Washington suffered.

The judge set Ruggs’ next court appearance for Nov. 10.

Probation is not an option in Nevada for a conviction on a charge of DUI causing death, which carries a possible sentence of two to 20 years in state prison. The possible sentence for reckless driving is one to six years in prison, with probation available.

The Raiders didn’t wait for courts to act, sending out a brief statement Tuesday night announcing Ruggs’ release.

The team and the league had issued statements earlier in the day saying officials were aware of the crash, offering condolences to the family of the woman who died and promising to gather facts about what the NFL called “this devastating incident.”

Ruggs was supposed to be a cornerstone for the Raiders. He was picked 12th overall in the 2020 draft after three years at Alabama, including helping the Crimson Tide win the NCAA championship as a freshman in 2017.

Ruggs was emerging as a star this season with 24 catches for a team-high 469 yards and two touchdowns. As a rookie in 2020, he had 26 catches for 452 yards and two touchdowns.

Ruggs’ crash occurred three weeks after Jon Gruden abruptly resigned as Raiders coach over emails he sent before being hired by the team in 2018. Gruden stepped down after The New York Times reported that the emails had racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments.

The AFC West-leading Raiders (5-2) have won two in a row under interim coach Rich Bisaccia and now return to the field this week without their leading receiver in yardage. They’ll visit the New York Giants (2-6) on Sunday.

The crash also came less than a year after Raiders running back Josh Jacobs crashed a sports car into a tunnel wall on a roadway at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.

Jacobs received several stitches for a cut forehead and was initially charged with driving under the influence, but that charge was dropped a week later because Jacobs’ blood-alcohol level did not reach the 0.08% level needed to pursue the case. Chesnoff and Schonfeld represented Jacobs in that case, which was closed in March after Jacobs mentored at a Boys & Girls Club and paid a $500 fine to resolve a failure to exercise due care traffic violation.

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White Sox manager Tony La Russa watches his team before Game 3 of the ALDS against the Houston Astros last month. | Nam Y. Huh/AP

“As we played, you could see some warts. The good thing is they’ll all be fixable,” La Russa said.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Tony La Russa is 77 years old and he is looking forward to spring training with the eager anticipation of a first-year manager.

“We don’t want to forget what we did well,” he said Tuesday while watching an Arizona Fall League game at Sloan Park. “As we played, you could see some warts. The good thing is they’ll all be fixable. The players are excited. The staff is excited. The front office is excited. They’re anxious to help where they can.”

La Russa is excited, too.

“I only know one way and that is give 100 percent every day,” he said. “Starting with spring training.”

Last spring training, La Russa expected to have a “why am I doing this?” moment when the first sticky issue came up but it never occurred. Not in the spring, not during the season.

“I never had that one time. That’s amazing,” he said. “Showed I knew I was lucky to be there, I was fired up and I felt as much pressure as ever. The team had a chance, I was given a chance and I know what those [demanding] fans are like.”

La Russa said he knows the AL Central, which the Sox won by 13 games, will be improved. Then he smiled and held it with a look of confidence.

“But so will we,” he said.

When he went to camp last February, La Russa was the newly hired manager, lured out of retirement to take the Sox to the next level after they had lost the Wild Card series to the Athletics under Rick Renteria. It was a getting-to-know-you period for the manager, some of his coaching staff and players.

Having a second spring training, this time knowing in detail every strength and weakness of his team — which lost to the AL champion Astros in four games in the ALDS — will be a “night and day” difference, he said.

“Last year was zero relationship-wise, I had to earn their respect and trust,” La Russa said. “Most of the time, watched guys throw and hit, didn’t get into the drills because we didn’t know. Now we can be specific.

“Spring training is critically important at the major league level. If you don’t get fundamentals down … It’s critical that you establish A, B, C and D with however elements there are. You establish them and repeat them to where they become automatic.”

La Russa said his coaching staff will return.

“And that’s good,” he said. “That kind of stability. We had a good thing going. It wasn’t accidental that those guys played their [butts] off and part of it was the staff.”

Which will have a list of things to cover come spring.

“There’s all kinds of stuff,” La Russa said. “We can make better pitches. Have better at-bats. I’m not going to give you a scouting report but there are big things, little things and things in the middle. We’ll have a list, and we’ll prioritize. It was obvious to everybody we can do better defending the steal.”

The Sox have to decide whether to bring back second baseman Cesar Hernandez, pick up reliever Craig Kimbrel’s option for next season and how to address right field. Per the latter, converted first basemen Gavin Sheets and Andrew Vaughn showed they “can’t be ignored,” La Russa said.

Starter Carlos Rodon and reliever Ryan Tepera are free agents, and Michael Kopech “is going to camp determined to make it as a starter” after pitching in relief, La Russa said.

So there is prioritizing to be made and needs to be met that will be addressed by general manager Rick Hahn, who can be expected to add to the roster via free agency and/or trades.

“We’ve got to,” La Russa said. “We’ve already been talking a little bit. We’ve got some decisions to make.”

One thing already clear to La Russa is knowing he made the right decision to manage again after being out of the dugout since 2011.

“I didn’t retire because I was out of gas, there were other issues,” he said. “But I had plenty left. I don’t play. I just sit there and make some decisions. Our clubhouse really impressed me, getting ready to play for six winning months. Now the next thing is, we go forward and understand that we get better. The only way we get better is to work at it.”

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