Municipal workers hold placards and shout slogans during a protest against the COVID-19 vaccine mandate in New York on Monday. | Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

Lawmakers serving on the House’s Executive Committee engaged in a heated back and forth during the hearing on the proposed amendment to the 1998 Health Care Right of Conscience Act.

Nearly 50,000 people have logged their opposition to a proposal to bar employees from citing their moral beliefs as a reason for refusing to comply with a workplace COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The sponsor of the measure said she’s received a “gazillion” responses — some obscene, some threatening, some “kind of terrifying.”

One man even threatened sexual violence, warning that Gov. J.B. Pritzker and “each and every State Legislator” who supports the measure would suffer “Rape by Needle.”

That was just one measure that advanced out of a General Assembly committee Tuesday when legislators returned to Springfield for the second week of their fall veto session.

Lawmakers serving on the House’s Executive Committee — as well as representatives from the governor’s office and the office of Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul — engaged in a heated back and forth during the hearing on the proposed amendment to the 1998 Health Care Right of Conscience Act.

That amendment, sponsored by state Rep. Robyn Gabel, is intended to make clear that public officials and private companies can impose COVID-19 requirements as a condition of employment — and fire those who refuse to comply.

Her amendment would still allow for exemptions based on religion and health concerns. Gabel said she’s spoken to Pritzker’s office and legislative leaders about potentially amending the language to make that clearer, although “we think the language is pretty clear, and we’re doing everything we can to let people know.”

Blue Room Stream
State Rep. Robyn Gabel, left, and state Rep. Robert Rita, right, participate in a House Executive Committee hearing over Zoom on Tuesday.

The Evanston Democrat said she isn’t trying to change the intent of the original law, but to “clarify that the manner in which the Health Care Right of Conscience Act is being used with respect to pandemic reasons was never intended when the act was originally created.”

The act was originally designed to protect doctors, nurses and other health care providers who refused to perform medical procedures — such as abortions — that they’re opposed to. But state officials say the act needs clarification because Illinoisans are using it to refuse to comply with COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Tens of thousands of Illinoisans indicated they want it left alone.

By Tuesday evening, 49,598 people filed witness slips opposing the clarification measure on the General Assembly website, while another 680 filed slips to register their support for changing it. Another 490 filed slips taking no position.

State Rep. Keith Wheeler, R-Oswego, said the response reflects that he is hearing from people.

“I mean, how many times do we get a bill that has 45,000 witness slips attached to it? Virtually never.

Blue Room Stream
State Rep. Keith Wheeler, R-Oswego, asks questions during a House Executive Committee hearing over Zoom on Tuesday.

“This bill has touched a nerve because so many are concerned that they are losing their opportunity to exercise their own conscience about their bodies, about their health, about their families,” Wheeler said, adding the committee is doing “nothing … to alleviate any of those concerns.”

Other Republicans objected that the amendment was too broad and infringed on people’s right to make their own decisions.

“You are forcing people to do something against their will — forcing them to take a vaccine against their will because it makes some people feel more comfortable,” state Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Jacksonville, told the committee. “This is their life.”

Blue Room Stream
State Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Jacksonville, speaks during a House Executive Committee hearing over Zoom on Tuesday.

The House committee also heard from others, including Bob Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois, who said “we’re concerned that if you restrict conscience rights for COVID Well, what’s next? … Power given to the government is seldom returned.”

Gabel told the Sun-Times she’s received a “gazillion” comments ranging from calls from people swearing at her or telling her to “go f—” herself or other rude comments to threat, since filing the amendment Monday.

While she has a history of carrying controversial bills, Gabel said she’s never “received these kinds of threats before.”

Rich Hein/Sun-Times file
State Rep. Robyn Gabel meets with the Sun-Times Editorial Board in 2018.

That includes one she received from a man on social media who said if the measure passes, the citizens of Illinois “will be waiting to give you, the Governor, and each and every State Legislator that voted to pass the amended law a medical procedure against your own consent.”

“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander right?” the man wrote. “You are pushing for Rape by Needle.”

Gabel said the threats and calls are “kind of terrifying.” She blamed an “organized effort to spread this misinformation.”

“Sometimes people forget the context of this whole bill and what we’re talking about, and I really want people to understand that we are still very much in a deadly pandemic, and that a small minority of people should not be allowed to utilize a loophole that was never intended to stifle efforts to combat a global pandemic,” Gabel said.

Despite the division, the measure passed out of committee nine to six and advances to the House floor.

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John McDonough, president of the Chicago Blackhawks, holds the Stanley Cup over his head at a rally in 2010. A report released by the team found that McDonough stalled an investigation of sexual harassment allegations against a Hawks coach until after the playoffs. | Sun-Times file photo

Team officials allowed assistant coach Bradley Aldrich to resign without conducting an investigation of allegations he assaulted a player or alerting authorities.

The morning of May 23, 2010, Blackhawks then-Vice President of Hockey Operations Al MacIsaac was in his office at the United Center, waiting for the start of the Hawks’ Western Conference finals game against the San Jose Sharks when he got the news from a distressed team employee: A Hawks assistant coach, Brad Aldrich, had allegedly texted a picture of a penis to a player in the team’s minor league system and may have had a sexual encounter with another young player.

And so began an internal saga that unfolded alongside the Blackhawks’ trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, a sordid story of Aldrich’s alleged sexual harassment of players that would– more than a decade later — come to tarnish that championship season and end the run of the front office leaders that built the team into a dynasty.

A 107-page report released by the team on Tuesday details how, after getting initial information about Aldrich’s allegedly coerced sexual encounter with a player, Hawks then-President and CEO John McDonough and other top executives ignored the allegations during the playoffs in the interest of “team chemistry,” then let Aldrich quietly resign without conducting an investigation or alerting authorities.

Three weeks after the front office first learned of the allegations, the Blackhawks would win their first Stanley Cup since 1961. The night after the final game, Aldrich allegedly groped a Blackhawks intern. In the weeks that followed, Aldrich would go on to participate in team celebrations, even after he quit his job.

Aldrich received a championship ring and a $15,000 playoff bonus, had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup and even got to bring the trophy to his hometown of Houghton, Michigan, where, three years later, Aldrich would plead guilty to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old player on the Houghton high school hockey team.

McDonough was fired in 2020, and Bowman announced his resignation Tuesday at a team news conference for the release of the report. McDonough did not report the allegations against Aldrich to the team’s human resources department until June 14, five days after the championship-clinching game.

“What is clear is that, after being informed of Aldrich’s alleged sexual harassment and misconduct with a player, no action was taken for three weeks,” states the report, which was drafted after a four-month investigation by former federal prosecutor Reid Schar of the Jenner & Block law firm.

The report is based on interviews with 139 team staff, players and other witnesses– including Aldrich, Bowman, McDonough, the alleged victim — identified as “John Doe” — and others. Investigators also scoured call records from team-issued cellphones, some 49 boxes of documents and computer files that were turned over by the team as part of an investigation that started this summer, after the player allegedly assaulted by Aldrich filed a lawsuit against the team.

Low-ranking coach was popular with players

According to players interviewed by Schar’s team, Aldrich was a “video coach,” a member of the coaching staff who spliced video of games for players and other coaches. Despite his relatively low rank on the coaching staff, Aldrich was popular with players because of his willingness to describe other coaches’ conversations in meetings, which allowed him to tip players about their roles with the team.

As the playoffs were underway in May 2010, rumors were circulating among players and staff about Aldrich and a 20-year-old player who was one of several Hawks prospects that traveled with the team but were unlikely to ever see the ice during a game. The player, identified as “John Doe,” was alleged to have had a sexual encounter with Aldrich in Aldrich’s Chicago apartment the night of May 9 or 10 — investigators were unable to confirm the exact date and noted “wildly divergent recollections” of what happened in the accounts offered by Aldrich and the player.

The player apparently gave varying versions when talking to teammates, team staff and an unnamed confidant in the days after the alleged assault, but described Aldrich as instigating a coerced sexual encounter and threatening to derail his career if he told anyone. Aldrich told investigators the player was a willing participant, though the player apparently was upset in conversations with a confidant back home and others in the days afterward.

Skating coach Paul Vincent, who no longer is with the team, told investigators that he noticed the player was listless and distracted, and Vincent heard rumors about the player and Aldrich.

Meanwhile, Aldrich also was reaching out to another young player, identified as “Black Ace 1,” and just days after Aldrich’s alleged encounter with Doe, arranged for Black Ace 1 to have a sexual encounter with a female masseuse at Aldrich’s apartment. A team employee saw sexually explicit messages — including a picture of a penis — that Aldrich allegedly sent to Black Ace 1 and went to MacIsaac. MacIsaac asked Jim Gary, the team’s mental skills coach, to reach out to John Doe and Black Ace 1.

Gary’s interview with Doe took place the same day, in a closet off a hallway at the United Center where the team stored promotional items, between periods of the Hawks Game 4 win against San Jose. According to Gary’s interview with investigators, during a 10-minute conversation, Doe told Gary the story of his night at Aldrich’s, and that Aldrich had allegedly threatened to hurt Doe’s hockey career if he resisted him or spoke out.

As the game resumed, Gary went back to the executive game suite and told MacIsaac there were allegations of serious misconduct against Aldrich. Bowman recalled that MacIsaac approached him immediately after the game, and called for a meeting with McDonough.

‘… Concerned about upsetting team chemistry’

What executives learned in the meeting and what they decided to do varied, according to the report.

Present were McDonough, Bowman, MacIsaac, coach Joel Quenneville, executives Kevin Cheveldayoff and Jay Blunk, along with Gary. Gary reported the assembled executives were stunned by what he told them, and in another interview, he noted in a later conversation with the team’s director of human resources Quenneville “appeared angry and was concerned about upsetting team chemistry,” and that it was decided nothing would be done until after the season.

Bowman told investigators he remembered only that Gary said that Aldrich tried to climb into bed with a player at his apartment, an allegation he said “did not involve a sexual assault as having occurred.” McDonough, Bowman recalled, talked about his time as president of the Chicago Cubs, and that the Hawks might “never make it this far in the playoffs ever again, and that they needed to think about when to handle the issue.”

“Bowman further recalled that he asked McDonough what McDonough wanted to do, and McDonough responded that Bowman should leave it to McDonough … when the meeting ended, Bowman believed the issue was in McDonough’s hands and everyone else should focus on the upcoming Stanley Cup Finals.”

MacIsaac said Gary told the group Aldrich had tried to “get under the sheets” with a player. An unnamed Hawks employee told investigators that several years after the meeting, MacIsaac described what happened in greater detail and that Aldrich tried to “force himself” onto a player. MacIsaac told the employee that “McDonough did not want any negative publicity during the Stanley Cup Finals” and waited until after the playoffs to fire Aldrich. MacIsaac told investigators he could not recall ever talking about Aldrich with the employee.

In his interview with investigators, McDonough said he could only recall that Gary said he was “aware of an incident” and that “Doe was embarrassed about the incident.” In a second interview, McDonough said Gary “was going to address the issue with (Doe) again following the meeting.”

“McDonough stated that this was the first and last time he recalled discussing this issue,” the report states.

McDonough called the team’s director of human resources into his office on June 14, and had said that the incident “involved drinking and Aldrich ‘hitting on’ or making a sexual advance” on Doe. McDonough also described the May 23 meeting, and that he and the top brass decided not to alert HR or outside counsel “so as not to ‘disturb team chemistry.'”

The HR director also said McDonough had noted that it was hard for him to believe the 130-pound Aldrich could have had a non-consensual sexual encounter with a hockey player who was nearly a foot taller and 100 pounds heavier. McDonough told investigators he did not recall the conversation.

The director of HR would hold a meeting the next day with Aldrich and an outside attorney, and told Aldrich he could either take a leave of absence while the team investigated the allegations, or resign. Aldrich resigned.

The report does clear Hawks executives of providing help when Aldrich sought out work after leaving Chicago. Aldrich said he did not list any Hawks staff as references when he got a job at University of Notre Dame, nor when he got a job as director of hockey operations for Miami University in Ohio, where he was fired after school officials learned he had sexually assaulted a summer intern, and later, an undergraduate.

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Stan Bowman (right) and Al MacIsaac’s departures from the Blackhawks remove the last executives left from the 2010 team. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file photo

A winless team, a broken sellout streak, a dire lack of experience or continuity in the front office and a tainted history leave the Hawks no framework with which to rebuild.

The Blackhawks have nothing good, nothing stable, left to cling to.

The banners, rings and memories of glory from their Stanley Cup dynasty? Forever tainted by their decision to prioritize winning the 2010 Cup — the one that set the stage for all three — over delivering justice to and protecting society from former video coach and now proven sexual abuser Brad Aldrich, as an investigation determined Tuesday.

The popularity and goodwill they built up in the community? Eaten away by years of aimless mediocrity, then destroyed with dramatic effect in the past few weeks, to the point that Sunday’s home date didn’t sell out for the first time in 535 games.

The front-office leadership with the experience to carry the Hawks through this mess? Decimated over the past two years — starting with John McDonough’s April 2020 firing, then Norm Maciver’s flight to the Kraken, then Jay Blunk and Pete Hassen’s departures this summer, and finally Stan Bowman and Al MacIsaac’s resignations.

The final wrecking ball that smashed through the Hawks on Tuesday demolished the last walls standing from the once-golden castle this organization represented and inhabited. It’s all gone. And forget any delusions about their road back to glory — their road back to simple respectability and functionality looks long, bumpy and uncertain right now.

AP Photos
The Blackhawks are winless through six games this season.

The team Bowman supposedly fixed this summer is a disaster on the ice and will be hindered for years to come by his imprudent decisions, even with the general manager himself now gone.

Overmatched defenseman Seth Jones’ eight-year, $76 million contract doesn’t kick in until next season. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane have just one year left on their contracts (after this season) and are arguably no longer centerpieces to build around, anyway.

Five of the team’s six first-round picks between 2012 and 2018 have since been traded, along with their first-round pick for 2022.

Coach Jeremy Colliton’s seat should be scorching hot, considering how inept the Hawks have been — especially defensively — throughout his now four seasons behind the bench (although he has been saddled with poor rosters and many challenges during that tenure).

He and Bowman were tied at the hip — Bowman’s devotion to him as his hand-picked Joel Quenneville replacement has long been seen as his strongest safety net — and that security is now kaput, too.

But at this point, the Hawks may need to retain Colliton just to keep any semblance of continuity. It’s unclear, after all, who would even be qualified to fire him.

CEO Danny Wirtz and business president Jaime Faulkner have each been with the Hawks less than two years, and their backgrounds are in business and marketing, not hockey.

Interim GM Kyle Davidson was still in college when Bowman became Hawks GM in 2009, and was just promoted to assistant GM last year. So were the other technically highest-ranking people left in the Hawks’ hockey operations department, assistant GMs Ryan Stewart (pro evaluation) and Mark Eaton (player development).

Chicago Blackhawks
Blackhawks interim GM Kyle Davidson was just promoted to assistant GM last year.

Davidson’s rise from Rockford IceHogs intern in 2010 to this interim role is, on its own, a fascinating story. Originally in video and statistical analytics, Davidson ascended quickly once the Hawks discovered his adeptness with contract negotiations, salary cap management and collective bargaining agreement intricacies.

“It’s been about 10 years now of taking responsibility as they became available and trying to constantly learn from those around me,” he told the Sun-Times last December.

But his promotion to interim GM comes as a shock, likely even to him, and exemplifies just how much turnover has quietly (or, in Tuesday’s case, explosively) occurred within the front office.

Indeed, after several seasons of merely gradual decline, the speed and abruptness with which the Hawks have fallen into shambles recently is difficult to grasp. Since 2018-19, a season that ended only two and a half years ago, only six players and basically zero high-ranking executives remain.

The Hawks that will take the ice Wednesday against the Maple Leafs — likely to scattered boos from a less-than-capacity crowd — will have virtually zero connections to the Hawks of old (not even that old). The somewhat hilarious timing of Kane and Toews’ placements on the COVID-19 list make that statement particularly true.

In one sense, that’s a good thing. Tuesday’s investigation results certainly emphasized how much of the Hawks’ acclaimed former greatness was a mirage.

But when it comes to rebuilding this broken franchise, there’s no framework left standing. They must rebuild from scratch.

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In his lone NFL start, 49ers rookie quarterback Trey Lance completed 15-of-29 passes for 192 yards, no touchdowns and an interception for a 58.4 passer rating in a 17-10 loss to the Cardinals in Week 5. | Jeff Lewis/AP

When the 49ers moved up from No. 12 to No. 3 in the 2021 draft, they took Trey Lance over Fields. Lance might not play Sunday against the Bears, but Fields will get a chance for his own Patrick Mahomes finger-counting moment at Soldier Field.

What did Kyle Shanahan see in Trey Lance that he didn’t see in Justin Fields?

That was a fair question when Bears general manager Ryan Pace made the bold move to trade up from 20th to 11th in the first round of the draft to get Fields. Not only was Fields the fourth quarterback taken, but Shanahan — the 49ers’ head coach and a quarterback whisperer of some repute — chose the relatively unproven Lance of North Dakota State over Fields, who was considered in a class with Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Brigham Young’s Zach Wilson as an NFL prospect. The 49ers, in fact, traded three first-round picks to the Dolphins to move up from No. 12 to No. 3 to get Lance.

It was nearly the opposite of the 2017 scenario, where the Bears bypassed battle-proven Deshaun Watson with the No. 2 overall pick to take Mitch Trubisky, who had started just 13 college games. This time, the 49ers moved up to take the unproven quarterback — Lance had thrown even fewer college passes than Trubisky, and against lesser competition — over the battle-tested Fields, who was 20-2 at Ohio State with a signature win against Lawrence and Clemson in the college football playoff.

Seven weeks into the season, it’s a no-decision as the Bears prepare to face the 49ers on Sunday at Soldier Field.

Both teams had planned for their rookie quarterback to serve an apprenticeship — Lance behind Jimmy Garoppolo; Fields behind Andy Dalton. But all four quarterbacks have struggled this season — Garoppolo (90.2), Lance (88.4), Fields (61.8) and Dalton (90.0) have a combined 79.2 passer rating (12 touchdowns, 12 interceptions), well below the league average of 94.9. And their team has followed suit: The 49ers are 2-4, ranked 18th in the NFL in total offense. The Bears are 3-4, ranked 32nd and last in total offense.

The 49ers are fully in quarterback limbo with Garoppolo coming off a poor game — three turnovers in a 30-18 loss to the Colts at home — and Lance returning to practice after recovering from a knee injury. Shanahan said he will evaluate both quarterbacks this week before naming a starter against the Bears.

Fields, meanwhile, will make his sixth start for the Bears — facing another challenge against the 49ers sixth-ranked defense. Bears fans are still feeling the burn from Patrick Mahomes counting to 10 with both hands following a 26-3 Chiefs victory at Soldier Field in 2019 — taunting the Bears for bypassing him in the 2017 draft. A breakout performance by Fields against the team that snubbed him — with or without the taunting — could ease some of that pain.

2. Should Pace and Bears coach Matt Nagy be nervous after back-to-back losses to the Packers (24-14) and Buccaneers (38-3)?

When the Bears faced Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers in back-to-back games in 2014, the Hall of Fame-bound duo combined for 11 touchdowns and no interceptions as the Bears lost to the Patriots 55-14 and the Packers 51-23 in 2014 — an embarrassing episode that led to a house-cleaning at Halas Hall, with both general manager Phil Emery and coach Marc Trestman fired.

This time, Brady and Rodgers combined for just six touchdowns with no interceptions. But a dreadful loss to the Buccaneers off any loss to the Packers reverberates at Halas Hall. And merely righting the ship doesn’t figure to be enough to prevent a similar upheaval to 2014. George McCaskey still reads his mail.

3a. Red Flag Dept.: The Bears are the only team in the NFL with more rushing yards (917) than net passing yards (871) — a dubious distinction in this era. The Bears’ rushing accounts for 51.3% of their total offense (1,788 yards). The NFL average this season is 31.3%.

A productive running game, especially in the Andy Reid offense, is supposed to facilitate the passing game, but that’s not happening with the Bears. They’re sixth in the NFL in rushing, but 32nd in passing. In fact, of the top seven rushing teams in the NFL, six of them are in the top 11 in total offense. The Bears are the outlier — 32nd and last in total offense.

3b. The Ravens had more rushing yards than net passing yards the past two seasons. But that’s because Lamar Jackson is the best rushing quarterback in NFL history. (Prior to Jackson and the Ravens in 2019, the last team with more rushing yards than net passing yards was John Fox’s 2011 Broncos with Tim Tebow.)

The Bears have that Jackson-like potential with Fields, one of the fastest quarterbacks in the NFL. But Fields continues to struggle to find a groove as a runner. He has rushed for 140 yards (4.1 yards per carry) with one touchdown this season. But he rarely has clean runs — either running out of bounds or sliding — and continues to take a higher risk of injury as a runner than he should.

4a. Wide receiver Allen Robinson saying Tuesday that his lack of reps with Fields in training camp has stunted his chemistry with the rookie quarterback has re-ignited the criticism of Nagy’s handling of the quarterback situation in the offseason. If only Nagy had named Fields the starter on draft night …

But this is still one instance where Nagy and the Bears were a victim of bad timing more than guilty of bad judgment. One more time: The Bears were not going to renege on their promise — tacit or otherwise — to Andy Dalton that he would be their starter. It’s almost certainly the only reason Dalton signed with the Bears. They didn’t think they’d get a prospect like Fields in the draft.

It’s easy from the outside to say the Bears should have pulled the rug out from under Dalton. But it’s a little tougher if you’ve been in the room and made the deal. Just like with quarterback-wide receiver chemistry, timing is everything.

4b. In retrospect, it would have been better if the Bears’ quarterback plan for 2021 was to let holdover Nick Foles compete with the best quarterback the Bears could get in the draft for the starting job. In that scenario, Foles would have competed with Fields in training camp and the preseason — and Fields likely would have won the job and started in Week 1. A much easier call for Nagy.

But just think how that plan would have gone over with Bears fans in March, before anyone knew the Bears had a shot at Fields. Narrator: Not very well.

5. Veteran Jason Peters provided updates on rookie tackles Teven Jenkins and Larry Borom that Nagy has refrained from doing — and it sounded promising. Borom, out since Week 1 with a high ankle sprain, is returning this week, Peters said. And Jenkins, also on injured reserve after having back surgery in August, is expected to return this season.

Borom figures to eventually land at right tackle, where the Bears have used four other players this season. But Jenkins could be a tougher call. The Bears surely would like to get him experience at left tackle in advance of next season. But Peters has been their best offensive lineman this season — ranked eighth in the NFL among tackles. Still, unless the Bears are in a playoff chase, the rookie has to play.

6. Sign of life: Rookie running back Khalil Herbert’s 100 rushing yards (on 18 carries, a 5.6 average) were the most against the Buccaneers’ top-ranked rushing defense this season. Rams running back Sony Michel had the previous best with 67 yards on 20 carries, a 3.4-yard average.

It wasn’t all garbage-time yardage, either. Herbert’s 29-yard run on the Bears’ fourth play from scrimmage, when they trailed 7-0, was the longest run allowed by the Bucs’ defense all season. Herbert, in fact, had three rushes of 10 or more yards in the first half. The Bucs had allowed just one rush of 10-plus yards in the first half in their first six games — Cordarrelle Patterson’s 10-yard touchdown run for the Falcons.

Herbert rushed for 91 yards on 13 carries in the first half — nearly as many yards as the Buccaneers had allowed in the first half in their previous six games combined (44 rushes, 94 yards, 2.1 average).

7. For What It’s Worth Dept.: In his fifth career start, Bengals rookie Joe Burrow had similar numbers to Justin Fields — 19-of-30 for 183 yards, no touchdowns and one interception for a 66.4 rating in a 27-3 loss to the Ravens on the road last season.

In the rematch against the Ravens on Sunday, Burrow was a different quarterback — 23-of-38 for 416 yards, three touchdowns, one interception for a 113.5 rating in a 41-17 rout of the Ravens.

8. The Bears’ blowout loss to the Buccaneers was yet another illustration of how far the Bears have fallen behind the best teams in the NFL. Three years ago, they beat the Bucs 48-10 in 2018 at Soldier Field. That’s a 73-point swing in three seasons.

And while Tom Brady obviously makes a difference, what accounts for the 45-point drop on offense? Mitch Trubisky threw for 354 yards and six touchdown passes against the Buccaneers in 2018. Justin Fields threw for 184 yards and no touchdown with three interceptions on Sunday.

For the record, the Bears had two players Sunday who played in the 2018 game — Robinson and guard Cody Whitehair. The Buccaneers had three defensive players who particpated in the 2018 game — linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul, nose tackle Vita Vea and defensive end William Gholston.

9. Josh McCown Ex-Bears Player of the Week: Kudos to Saints wide receiver Kevin White for persevering and making it back to an NFL game.

The star-crossed wide receiver — a first-round draft pick by Pace in 2015 — was promoted from the Saints’ practice squad for Sunday night’s game against the Seahawks and downed a punt at the 1-yard line. White, 29, had played in just three games since the Bears let him go in free agency after the 2018 season.

Honorable mention: Saints kicker Brian Johnson, who kicked for the Bears in the preseason and was claimed by the Saints off the Bears’ practice squad, was 2-for-2 on field goals, including a 33-yarder with 1:56 left that gave the Saints a 13-10 victory.

10. Bear-ometer: 8-9 — vs. 49ers (W); at Steelers (W); vs. Ravens (L); at Lions (W); vs. Cardinals (L); at Packers (L); vs. Vikings (W); at Seahawks (L); vs. Giants (W); at Vikings (L).

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Jonathan Toews missed practice Tuesday due to COVID-19 protocol. | Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

The Hawks now have five players, including Toews and Patrick Kane, and three assistant coaches on the COVID list.

The Blackhawks’ apparent COVID-19 outbreak keeps getting worse.

Jonathan Toews and Henrik Borgstrom were added to the NHL’s COVID protocols Tuesday and missed practice.

Although the news has been drastically overshadowed by general manager Stan Bowman’s departure in the wake of sexual assault cover-up findings, the fully vaccinated Hawks are somehow now missing five players and three assistant coaches due to COVID.

Toews, Borgstrom, Patrick Kane, Jujhar Khaira and Riley Stillman are the absent players; Tomas Mitell, Marc Crawford and Jimmy Waite are the absent coaches.

Sheldon Brookbank was the only typical assistant at practice Monday and Tuesday, with player development advisor Chris Kunitz and AHL goalie coach Peter Aubry filling in underneath coach Jeremy Colliton.

Placement on the COVID list doesn’t necessarily mean one tested positive, but if all five players remain unavailable Wednesday, the Hawks will face the Maple Leafs with only 20 players on the roster and neither of their two star veteran forwards among them.

And if Mike Hardman — who missed the last two games with a concussion but returned to practice Monday — can’t play, the Hawks will be shorthanded, able to dress only 11 forwards.

Toews’ placement on the COVID list comes just six regular-season games into his return. On Sunday, he finally registered his first NHL points since August 2020, tallying two assists.

His medical absence last season was partially due to long-haul COVID symptoms, he has said previously.

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Former Swissotel employee Maria Ruiz speaks during a press conference outside the Swissotel, 323 E. Wacker Dr. on Tuesday. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Swissotel didn’t respond to a request for comment, but sent a letter to the women’s attorney in August, arguing the ordinance doesn’t apply to the three women because they were “terminated,” not “laid off.”

Maria Ruiz was a banquet server at Swissotel Chicago nearly 24 years, putting her job before her family, sometimes sleeping in a hotel room for just a few hours between shifts when there wasn’t enough time to go home.

“I was at the hotel for 36 hours straight,” Ruiz said Tuesday afternoon at a news conference outside the hotel. “I wasn’t able to kiss my babies good night or hug them in the morning. My brother was killed two years ago and it was so hard — but even then I didn’t miss a day or work.”

Ruiz, 51, was one of hundreds of hotel workers who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The uncertainty of their future was scary, but the Chicago City Council sought to alleviate that anxiety by passing the “right-to-return-to-work” ordinance to make sure hotel workers could get their jobs back instead of being replaced.

But a lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses Swissotel of violating that ordinance by not rehiring Ruiz and two other banquet servers, each of whom had worked at the hospital at least 20 years.

“I dedicated my life to this job, to this hotel. I was so proud to work there,” Ruiz said. “Since being fired last year, my life is like a nightmare that I haven’t been able to wake up from.”

Unable to find new work or pay her mortgage, Ruiz said she’s on the verge of losing her house, The situation is just as dire for the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Marie Lourdie Pierre-Jacques and Maria Teresa Hernandez.

The ordinance had been pushed by union leaders and laid-off hotel workers. It called for Chicago hotels to prioritize seniority when deciding which former employees to rehire. The women involved in the lawsuit advocated for the ordinance, speaking out publicly in favor of it.

That original version, however, was opposed by the hotel industry as a logistical nightmare that would slow the pace of rehiring. It made no sense, they argued, to rehire someone based only on seniority if it meant having to hire a dishwasher to do an accounting job.

Eventually, a compromise version passed the Council. It narrowed the scope, requiring seniority be considered, but only within the same job categories.

But in their lawsuit, the women claim Swissotel offered positions to banquet servers with less seniority than the three women.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Terminated Swissotel employees Maria Teresa Hernandez, Maria Ruiz and Maria Lourdie Pierre-Jacques walk out of Swissotel, 323 E. Wacker Dr., with their attorney, Stephen Yokich, on Tuesday after delivering a copy of the lawsuit they filed against the hotel.

Swissotel didn’t respond to a request for comment, but in a letter sent to the women’s attorney in August, it argued the ordinance doesn’t apply to the three women because they were “terminated,” not “laid off” — an important distinction, the hotel’s lawyers argued in the letter.

Stephen Yokich, an attorney for the women, said they anticipated this problem when they lobbied for the bill, but even so, “most responsible hotels in the city are following the law,” he said.

“Swissotel passed over the women who helped pass the law in the first place,” Yokich said. “Our message to the court will be the same as our message today: Swissotel should follow the law.”

Pierre-Jacques stood behind her colleagues during Tuesday’s news conference, often breaking down in tears as she remembered working while pregnant. Her co-workers often joked she would go into labor at the hotel because of the long hours she worked.

When she did gave birth to her son, she returned to work in just six weeks. She would drop the baby off at her sister’s house on her way back to the downtown hotel.

“I left him with my sister and for a long time he thought my sister was his mother. It broke my heart every time he called her ‘Mommy.'” Pierre-Jacques said through tears. “No one can understand that feeling unless you have been through it. I sacrificed that time with my son because I thought I was being a good worker. I thought if I worked had and give my all, my job would respect me back.”

Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter joined the women and their supporters outside the hotel to show his support in the lawsuit which calls for the women to be reinstated and for them to receive back pay from the date of when they “should have been reinstated.”

“We believe that as guests return to Chicago and hotels increase staffing, hotels should recall the workers who have dedicated their lives to Chicago’s tourism industry,” Reiter said. “These women were fired by Swissotel Chicago during the pandemic, they’ve also been on the front line of advocating for Chicago’s hotel worker’s rights. … We are here to support these workers who are seeking to enforce their rights.”

The Federation of Labor has an ownership stake in Sun-Times Media.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Terminated Swissotel employee Maria Lourdie Pierre-Jacques gets emotional as she speaks during a press conference outside Swissotel, 323 E. Wacker Dr.Read More

Harvey Mason jr., CEO of The Recording Academy, poses for a portrait at Harvey Mason Media music production studios earlier this month in Burbank, California. | Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Despite the acts attached to Kelly, the singer’s three Grammys will remain with him for the time being.

BURBANK, Calif. — Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. says rumors about R. Kelly’s Grammys being rescinded now that the singer has a criminal conviction are just rumors at the moment.

R. Kelly might have his freedom taken away after his recent criminal conviction on sex trafficking charges, but the R&B superstar’s Grammys won’t be stripped from him — at least, for now.

Mason called Kelly’s actions “disturbing.”

The “I Believe I Can Fly” singer was convicted last month in New York. He was found guilty on nine counts, including racketeering. The 54-year-old singer had managed to avoid legal and professional consequences after years of reports that he sexually abused young women and children. He was also accused of making a recording of himself sexually abusing and urinating on a 14-year-old girl.

Despite the acts attached to Kelly, Mason said the singer’s three Grammys will remain with him for now. He, along with the academy, will continue to evaluate their decision with caution.

“I think it’s something that we’re going to need to take a good hard look at, have a lot of conversations about, work through and make a decision,” Mason said. In 1997, Kelly won Grammys in three different categories for “I Believe I Can Fly” from the “Space Jam” soundtrack.

“But right now, I think it’s something that is going to take a little bit more consideration before we can really dictate or decide,” he continued. “My initial feeling is we’re probably not a business that we want to be in of taking people’s awards back after they’ve been given. But we’ll take a good look at it and see.”

Only one trophy has been revoked in the 62-year history of the Grammys, according to the Recording Academy. The award to pop duo Milli Vanilli was stripped in 1990 after the group admitted to lip-synching the “Girl You Know It’s True” album.

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Lissette Ortiz was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Oct. 19 for soliciting a kidnapping with a firearm. | Illinois Department of Corrections

Lissette Ortiz, 56, pleaded guilty on Oct. 19 to soliciting a kidnapping while armed with a firearm in a deal with Cook County prosecutors that saw four other counts against Ortiz dropped, court records show.

A woman who prosecutors once accused of plotting to hire a hitman to kill a romantic rival she believed was dating a Chicago police officer assigned to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s security detail has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after she pleaded guilty last week to a lesser charge.

Lissette Ortiz, 56, pleaded guilty on Oct. 19 to soliciting a kidnapping in a deal with Cook County prosecutors that saw four other counts against Ortiz dropped, including a charge of solicitation of a murder for hire, court records show.

Judge James Linn sentenced Ortiz the same day to 10 years in prison and gave her credit for 697 days in custody while Ortiz was jailed, according to the clerk’s office.

State prison records show Ortiz will be eligible for parole in November 2024.

Ortiz’s defense attorney Patrick O’Byrne declined to comment on the case Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the state’s attorney’s office also declined to comment.

Ortiz, of Jefferson Park, was arrested in November 2019 after she unknowingly hired an undercover Chicago police officer to kill a woman she thought was romantically involved with her ex-girlfriend — an officer assigned to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s security detail, prosecutors said at Ortiz’s initial hearing in the case.

Ortiz believed the woman she targeted for kidnapping and execution had begun dating her ex-girlfriend, veteran Chicago Police Department Officer Marni Washington, prosecutors and a police source told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ortiz’s relationship with Washington ended when Ortiz accused Washington of abusing her, the Sun-Times previously reported. Washington was acquitted of a misdemeanor domestic battery charge stemming from those allegations.

Ortiz had first sought help from her apartment building’s handyman to kill the woman for $5,000, or to recommend someone who could do the job instead, according to prosecutors and an assistant public defender.

The handyman went to police and put Ortiz in touch with the undercover officer, prosecutors said.

During Ortiz’s bond hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Jack Costello said Ortiz wanted the woman kidnapped and burned alive inside a car.

Ortiz said she wanted the woman to know she “was responsible for these events prior to the murder,” and said she preferred the woman to “still be alive at the time of the car fire,” Costello said at the hearing

Ortiz also asked for the deed to be done before Thanksgiving that year because she didn’t want the woman to celebrate the holiday at the home she previously shared with Washington, Costello said.

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Ozzie Guillen managed the White Sox from 2004 to 2011, guiding them to a World Series sweep over the Houston Astros in 2005. | Getty Images

Guillen started his professional playing career as a Padres minor-leaguer in 1981.

Former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen recently interviewed for the San Diego Padres’ vacant managerial job, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Tuesday.

Guillen, 57, hasn’t managed since 2012, when he was fired by the Marlins. He managed the White Sox from 2004 to 2011, guiding them to a World Series sweep over the Houston Astros in 2005. He then managed the Marlins for the 2012 season and currently serves as an analyst for Sox broadcasts.

The Padres entered the 2021 season as strong contenders in the National League West but went 79-83 before firing Jayce Tingler on Oct. 6. The Padres reportedly also have interest in former Cardinals manager Mike Schildt, who was also fired this month, and former Mets manager Luis Rojas.

The Union-Tribune reports the Padres are seeking a manager with a strong Latin American influence who can connect with star Fernando Tatis Jr. Rojas is a fellow Dominican and Guillen is from Venezuela.

Guillen is 747-710 as a manager, taking the Sox to the postseason in 2005 and 2008. He has made no secret of his desire to return to managing and admitted he was hurt the Sox didn’t give him a serious look before hiring Tony La Russa last offseason.

Earlier this month, Guillen told the Sun-Times: “To me, there wasn’t a better manager to hire, including myself. The second man? Ozzie [expletive] Guillen. I don’t give a [expletive] what people think.”

Guillen, a former All-Star shortstop, signed his first professional contract with the Padres in December 1980 and was traded to the Sox in the December 1984 LaMarr Hoyt deal.

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