Marshall’s coach Dorothy Gaters during a game on January 14, 2020. | Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times

Dorothy Gaters, the winningest high school basketball coach in Illinois history, has stepped down after a 45-year career at Marshall that featured more than 1,100 wins, 10 girls state titles and 24 state trophies.

Dorothy Gaters, the winningest high school basketball coach in Illinois history, has stepped down after a 45-year career at Marshall that featured more than 1,100 wins, 10 girls state titles and 24 state trophies.

Gaters, who will remain as Marshall’s athletic director, said she made the decision to give up coaching “some time ago. It wasn’t anything spontaneous.”

The last game she coached was the 2020 Class 2A state final, which Marshall lost 43-37 to Pleasant Plains. Less than a month later, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down high school sports in Illinois.

When basketball finally returned for an abbreviated season earlier this year, Marshall did not field a team. But now Gaters is ready to step aside in favor of Fred Eaton, a longtime assistant who has been in the program for more than 20 years.

Gaters finished 1,153-217. St. Joseph coaching legend Gene Pingatore, who died in 2019, is atop the boys basketball wins list with 1,035.

Gaters said the biggest reason for her decision to leave coaching is the desire to spend more time with her great-grandsons Tristian and Darius, whose father died three years ago.

“I’ve known for some time what I needed to do,” Gaters said. “They spend a few days a week here. They have homework, I never get out of the kitchen.”

Gaters believes girls and women’s basketball are trending upward. “It’s only going to continue to grow,” she said, noting this is the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

There’s also the success of the WNBA champion Sky, which Gaters got to experience in person by taking in Game 3 of the league finals.

Marshall, which won state trophies in Gaters’ final four seasons — a third in 3A in 2017, championships in 2A in 2018 and ’19, and runner-up in 2A in ’20 — is starting over in more ways than one.

“We were going to be rebuilding anyway before the pandemic,” Gaters said. “We only had a varsity team [in 2020] and graduated nine of 12 players.”

In any case, Gaters is at peace with her decision to step away from coaching.

“I haven’t really had time to reflect,” she said. “[But] it’s been a good ride.”

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Public Safety Headquarters, 3510 S. Michigan Ave. | Sun-Times file

Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) told the Sun-Times “hundreds of sworn officers” remain in “civilian positions,” even though the last four mayors have seemingly made it a priority to get cops out from behind desks and back on the street.

The chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus wants the Chicago Police Department to create “clear criteria for why any positions that civilians can work are filled by sworn officers” and provide quarterly reports on the subject.

Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) said “hundreds of sworn officers” remain in “civilian positions,” even though the last four mayors have seemingly made it a priority to get cops out from behind desks and back on the street.

“We go through these exercises, but nothing really changes. … We move people back into the districts and then, some mysterious way, they find their way back at headquarters,” Ervin told the Sun-Times.

“If there’s a reason why a sworn officer needs to be in a specific position, they should be able to defend that. … We just need to get some clarity on the rationale behind why individuals that could very well be in neighborhoods helping [fight crime] are behind the desk doing some function that very well could be done by somebody else” who is not in uniform.

Five months after taking office, Mayor Lori Lightfoot merged administrative functions of the police and fire departments and the Office of Emergency Management into a new Office of Public Safety Administration.

It was to bring together 280 civilian employees in the finance, human resources, information technology and logistics divisions at a new office in the city’s public safety headquarters, 3510 S. Michigan Ave.

The consolidation was expected to generate “savings over time” by replacing sworn officers with civilians and reducing police overtime, which topped $200 million for the three public safety departments.

The new administration office was supposed to launch in May 2020 but was delayed because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It finally opened last fall under the leadership of Anastasia Walker, former chief administrative officer for the Chicago Fire Department.

The resolution, which Ervin introduced at Monday’s Council meeting, comes at a pivotal moment.

Homicides, shootings and carjackings continue to surge from last year’s troubling levels.

Meanwhile, the tidal wave of police retirements continues, with 703 retirements already this year and 987 sworn vacancies.

Already, the Chicago Police Department is 1,000 officers short of authorized strength — even after Lightfoot balanced her 2021 budget, in part, by eliminating 614 police vacancies.

Exacerbating the problem is waning interest in the police profession and the fact that CPD has slowly begun the process of placing on no-pay status officers who refuse to report their vaccine status on the city’s data portal.

The resolution would require CPD to “create clear criteria for why any positions that civilians can work are filled by sworn officers.”

It further states, “Be it further resolved that, if a sworn officer is in a Police Department or Public Safety Administration position that a civilian can work, there are quarter check-ins to ensure there is still a valid reason they are doing that work.”

CPD and the Office of Public Safety Administration would also be required to provide “quarterly reports” to the Council’s Committee on Public Safety “so there is transparency around progress being made on this issue.”

Ervin said rising crime and the 1,000 police vacancies “definitely helps the argument” for riding herd over a civilianization process that has been so painfully slow, it’s been the subject of several reports by the inspector general’s office.

But, he added: “This should have been done years ago.”

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Mayor Lori Lightfoot attended a fundraiser for Plumbers Union Local 130 at Plumbers Hall, 1340 W. Washington Blvd. on Sunday. | Google Maps

One person said Lightfoot was “booed off the stage” when she was introduced at the annual event at Plumbers Hall, 1340 W. Washington Blvd., but a union official disputed that account, saying only “a couple of people” booed.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot was booed at a fundraiser Sunday for Plumbers Union Local 130, the first union to endorse her in the 2019 runoff election against Toni Preckwinkle.

One attendee, who asked to remain anonymous, described Lightfoot as having been “booed off the stage” at the annual event at Plumbers Hall, 1340 W. Washington St., to raise money for Local 130’s political action committee — though a union official disputed that account.

The person requesting anonymity said Lightfoot “spoke for less than a minute. And there was a resounding booing throughout the room. Almost deafening, … I was sitting at the table with a bunch of plumbers. They’re like, `We’ve never heard that before here.’ … Clearly, their membership is not with her. … They were calling her names. It was bad.”

Pat McCarthy, the union’s recording secretary, acknowledged Lightfoot was booed during halftime of the Bears’ loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But McCarthy also insisted the mayor was “able to finish her remarks, got a cheer at the end,” then returned to her seat and watched the rest of the game.

“I was there when she was speaking. There were a couple of people in the corner that booed. But it was nothing significant. And it didn’t disrupt the event at all,” McCarthy said.

“I would have to suspect whoever was booing at that event was not a member of this local. … We respect her and we have no problems with the mayor.”

Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd), however, said a close friend who attended the event showed her a video of the mayor being booed.

Union President Jim Majerowicz said he was downstairs counting money for the football pool when Lightfoot took the stage.

“I didn’t hear nothin’ … I was in a different room, so I can’t say,” Majerowicz said. “You’re telling me some shocking stuff. I find it hard to believe.”

As for the recent changes to the plumbing code that paved the way for increased use of plastic pipe, Majerowicz said, “We’ve been working with the mayor’s office on that. We’ve been supporting the mayor since Day One. We were the first union to support the mayor. She’s been here numerous times at meetings and stuff. She’s a great partner of ours. I just find it hard to believe.”

Business manager Jim Coyne introduced the mayor to Sunday’s crowd of over 1,000 people.

“I did not hear any booing,” he said. “That’s kind of impossible at Plumbers Hall. She’s loved by the plumbers. People wanted to get in line and take pictures with her.”

Whatever happened, Lightfoot’s political director Dave Mellet called it “much ado about nothing.”

The union was the first to endorse Lightfoot in the April 2019 runoff and contributed $58,700 to her runoff campaign. This time, “the mayor will seek their endorsement. They have a great relationship. And I would expect them to be on her team in 2023,” Mellet said.

“I don’t believe that she was, quote-unquote, ‘booed’ at this event,” Mellet added. “I believe she was well received. There may have been a couple of people in the room who came in there to shout and be loud.”

At the March 2019 news conference where the union announced its endorsement of Lightfoot, Coyne said he was “proud and honored” to support a candidate who “has presented herself as someone who is very progressive” and will “fight for our plumbers and their families as well as working families” throughout Chicago.

Lightfoot then took the podium and praised Local 130’s dedication “to making sure that they are opening up doors of opportunity to a diverse class” of union apprentices.

“I really, really appreciate the energy and the devotion that this local has put into making sure that opportunity isn’t something that’s determined by zip code. That’s a critically important thing for our city. It sets exactly the right tone and pace. And I’m honored to be endorsed by this union,” Lightfoot said that day.

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Melissa Gilbert will star in “When Harry Met Rehab” at Greenhouse Theater Center. | Provided

The ‘Little House on the Prairie’ alum will play a rehab therapist in the world premiere comedy.

Melissa Gilbert, the veteran actress still best known for her work on “Little House on the Prairie,” has joined the cast of the Chicago play “When Harry Met Rehab” alongside another familiar TV face.

She’ll star with Dan Butler, who played sports-talk host Bulldog on “Frasier,” in the world premiere that begins previews Nov. 24 at the Greenhouse Theatre Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.

Butler plays the title character in the play based loosely on the real-life experiences of Chicago sports radio personality Harry Teinowitz, who wrote the piece with Spike Manton. Gilbert takes the role of Barb, a rehab therapist and former addict.

Since playing young Laura Ingalls on the 1974-83 NBC period piece “Little House,” Gilbert has appeared in dozens of TV movies and in stage works including “The Glass Menagerie,” “Bus Stop,” “Love Letters” and “Little House on the Prairie: The Musical.”

Tickets for the play are on sale now at whenharrymetrehab.com.

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Calvin de Haan and the Blackhawks’ penalty kill hasn’t been the problem so far. | Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

With their 10th-ranked power play and fourth-ranked penalty kill surprisingly clicking, the still-winless Hawks want to apply what’s working there to all situations.

During the Blackhawks’ lone timeout in Sunday’s 6-3 loss to the Red Wings — called with 7:22 left to play, entering seven seconds of a five-on-three power play — coach Jeremy Colliton picked up the whiteboard and handed it, still white, to his players.

They wanted to sketch out their own play.

“I don’t have all the best ideas — I’m open to coming up with something different,” Colliton said later. “They had a pretty good play they drew up. If not mistaken, it just got deflected, [Alex DeBrincat’s] one-timer there. Nothing strange about that.”

Pictures of the moment nonetheless went viral as a perceived indication of either Colliton abandoning his coaching duties or the players usurping him and coaching themselves — both of which were almost certainly overreactions. After all, due to COVID, the Hawks are currently missing three assistant coaches, who normally handle such minutiae during timeouts.

Also conveniently forgotten was the fact the Hawks have done well on power plays so far this season. Actually, they’ve done well with special teams across the board.

They finished 1-for-4 on the ‘PP’ on Sunday and now sit at 6-for-22 this season, a 27.3% conversion rate that ranks 10th in the NHL. They were credited with 11 power-play scoring chances Sunday and now rank fourth in the NHL this season in scoring-chance rate on the power play — as well as fourth in shot-attempt rate, fifth in shot-on-goal rate and second in expected-goal rate.

It’s a similarly encouraging story on the penalty kill — formerly a preseason area of concern — through the Hawks’ first six regular-season games.

They’re 20-for-22, a 90.9% kill rate that ranks fourth in the NHL. They’ve allowed the seventh-fewest scoring chances, fourth-fewest shot attempts, ninth-fewest shots on goal and eight-fewest expected goals against per minute.

On both fronts, those are remarkably good results considering how outrageously awful the Hawks have been otherwise.

They’re winless through six games for the first time since 1997 and have allowed four or more goals in six consecutive losses for the first time since 1988. At even strength, they’ve been outscored 25-6 and rank 28th in scoring-chance ratio at 45.4%.

So before practice Monday morning, Colliton and his (temporarily decimated) coaching staff reflected on that strange disparity and talked to the team about trying to carry over the special teams’ effectiveness to non-special scenarios.

“We’re really focused when we’re out there,” Colliton said about the ‘PP’ and ‘PK’ units. “We understand exactly what we’re trying to do, and the players are taking a lot of pride in the little details that make a difference.

“During five-on-five [play], it’s no different. There are details that matter, and you’ve got to do it every time. When you don’t do them, you pay the price. When you do them, you have a chance to be rewarded. [The special teams results are] a perfect example that I believe we have good enough players here to have success as a team. We have to really bear down and be sharp with those little things.”

The Hawks shouldn’t try to transfer identical tactics — a ‘PK’ strategy at even strength would cripple the offense; a ‘PP’ strategy would cripple the defense — but they can certainly learn lessons from their focus, confidence and adherence to the game plan during ‘PK’ and ‘PP’ situations.

“What we’ve been doing on the penalty kill [is] being annoying, get sticks in lanes and whenever you have the opportunity to get the puck out, get it down the ice,” defenseman Calvin de Haan said.

“We have to bring that ‘live to fight another day’ mentality to five-on-five play, to be honest. Sometimes it’s good to win by taking a pound of flesh or [inflicting] death by 1,000 papercuts versus going for that knockout blow all the time.”

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How well do you know your sports? Is the knowledge enough to help you place bets on the outcome and win some real money? Do you know who invented this form of gambling?

Most countries took their time to allow online casino gambling – and it’s still illegal in some – but they did not hesitate to legalize sports betting. This $150 billion yearly industry keeps growing, and today we have dozens of sites offering these betting services. Because most of the activity is based on actual outcomes from day-to-day sports, those who participate feel like they have more control than they do on casino games whose results are determined by an algorithm. To reap the rewards in this form of betting, you want to know your sports, the teams, and the odds of them winning. There is never a dull moment when you bet on sports.

A Short History of Sports Gambling

Greece is known as the pioneer of many things, and sports betting is only one of them. While the earliest records show it to have started here, it was ancient Rome that first legalized it over 2000 years ago. That was way before the race for online casinos with fast payouts started, or online gambling was even a thought. The Romans gambled on gladiator games before they were banned and continued even after they were no longer played. The spirit of playing for real money had started and was not about to be stopped.

The systems put in place where sports help make money online were quite simple. Players just needed to bet on the outcome of a game where bookies would calculate the odds. Religious groups fought the actions so much that eventually, gambling had to go underground. This didn’t stop its spread into other parts, and as soon as it got to England, it was transported to the rest of the world through trade. Most of today’s betting skills borrow heavily from what was started many years ago.

Current Situation

Vegas took up betting at casinos, giving the illusion that this activity was legal in the country. While reasonable amounts of money were being collected at casinos, even larger chunks were made by illegal bookers who still operate to date. Because several countries have failed to acknowledge this form of gambling, the bookies make a kill while law enforcement officers turn a blind eye.

And then came online betting that discombobulated the industry as we knew it. Now, all you need is an internet connection and a mobile device to place a bet at an online site to make real money. You can bet on almost every conceivable sport and even eSports. Think Football, Basketball, Tennis, Horse racing, Athletics, Rugby, Cricket, and many more.

Countries that have Legalized Sports Betting

Several countries have legalized betting on sports to capitalize on its gains. The restrictions on this form are not as strict as those you find when gambling on slots or card games at online casinos, probably because the activities in the field purely determine the outcome. It is a game of chance because you are betting on an outcome you are unsure of unless the game is staged

What is the future of sports betting? Well, like the spin samurai Australia, the future is promising. More countries find it more appealing than regular gambling, so they are less strict on it, and over time, they could move towards regulation. Those who have legalized it are reaping the benefits from all the earnings collected towards their GDPs, so the data already available could convince more countries to legalize this form of betting.

Here are some of the countries that have legalized it;

Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Canada
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Ghana
India
Kenya
Mexico
New Zealand
Nigeria
Peru
Philippines
Russia
South Africa
United Kingdo

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The 2021 NFL season is well underway, with teams fighting for wins across the US. Following a summer following the trades and transfers, football fans can now get back to what they love – watching matches in person at the stadium or live on television. Many took advantage of the relaxation of rules regarding online gambling in several states, making their predictions at NFL betting sites on which teams will make the playoffs, win their conferences and go on to make history by lifting the Super Bowl. 

The leading sportsbooks took a record number of wagers on this NFL season and continue to offer odds on the winners and losers. Bettors can gamble on the outright champions or any match from the season. Each fixture has dozens of markets attached, including moneyline, spreads, handicaps, totals and more. There’s a bet designed to suit every type of football fanatic and help spice up the play in any match.

Making a prediction on the NFL is easier than ever but making a correct prediction is as difficult as it has ever been. A competitive campaign awaits, and a strong case could be made for up to five teams going all the way to lift the trophy. Which team will join the illustrious club of Super Bowl winners in February?

That remains to be seen, but traders at the most popular bookies believe they know and aren’t about to keep it a secret. They’ve made their feelings clear, inviting followers to agree or disagree, putting their stake money on the table and backing their call.

Bucs and Bills to battle it out

If traders prove to be correct with their predictions, we could have a two-horse race for the Super Bowl this season between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Buffalo Bills. Both dominate the outright market and have sat in pole position since bookmakers across the world first opened their book on the season betting. Any other result than a win for the Bucks or the Bills would rate as a huge upset. That’s not to say it couldn’t happen, of course.

Traders aren’t always right on the money with their picks, and one of the main reasons why football and the NFL is such a global phenomenon is because it’s exciting, dramatic and difficult to predict. The history books are littered with upsets and surprise results, favourites beaten in the final match and underdogs baring their teeth. Will we see another shock?

It’s possible, but it is easy to see why bookies have stuck with the Bucks and Bills. On paper, they are the two most talented squads in the competition, boasting the best players, top coaches and loyal support. There are many hours of competitive football ahead of us, but it’s difficult to build a strong case against the oddsmakers here, and they appear to have covered themselves by selecting two quality sides.

Tampa Bay and Buffalo share the same betting odds at present, which means that although the sportsbooks are confident one of these teams will be Super Bowl 2022 champions, they aren’t yet sure which one. That indecision will catch the attention of value hunters, sports bettors that love to seize on any gaps in the market and grab the value.

Solid starts for both teams

At present, the Buffalo Bills are looking every inch a contender for the crown. They top the AFC East after five games played with four wins and a defeat, scoring 172 points and conceding 64. That effort is matched by fellow favourites Tampa, who also have four wins and one loss, racing into pole position in the NFC South, scoring 167 points but conceding 122 points. The latter is an alarming poor defensive record and is something Bucks fans, and the coaching staff will be determined to see improve. 

If the winner of next year’s Super Bowl doesn’t come from Tampa or Buffalo, which region will provide us with a champion in the height of winter? The betting can’t see past their two picks but have been forced to admit the Kansas City Chiefs can’t be written off. Chiefs have suffered a mixed bag of results, winning two and losing three of their first five but pundits predict better times are coming.

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The bid to establish the Amazon Labor Union in New York City is the second attempt in the past year to form a union at Amazon, the nation’s largest online retailer. | David Becker/Getty file

Organizers delivered more than 2,000 signed union-support cards to the NLRB’s Brooklyn office after launching the effort in April.

NEW YORK — The National Labor Relations Board said there was enough interest to form a union at an Amazon distribution center in New York, after union organizers on Monday delivered hundreds of signatures to the agency — a key step in authorizing a vote that could establish the first union at the nation’s largest online retailer.

It would be the second unionizing attempt in the past year at Amazon. Workers in Alabama resoundingly defeated an effort earlier this year, but organizers there are asking federal officials for a do-over.

Organizers delivered more than 2,000 signed union-support cards to the NLRB’s Brooklyn office after launching the effort in April. The specific number of signatures was not immediately available.

“This is a small victory,” said Christian Smalls, a former employee of the retail giant who now leads the fledgling Amazon Labor Union, adding, “We know the fight has just started.”

An Amazon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Monday’s development puts the company on notice that the NLRB has determined that union organizers have met the minimum threshold for Amazon to formally acknowledge and to respond to the union-organizing petition. That means the company must post notice on its premises that the union is seeking to become the bargaining representative for thousands of Amazon workers on Staten Island.

The company could have several avenues to challenge the effort, including contesting the number of employees that union organizers used to calculate the minimum signatures they needed.

“This was the easy part. Convincing at least 50% of the workers to vote yes is the hard part,” Smalls said afterward.

NLRB staff members started counting the cards soon after they were delivered, and union organizers were confident that they had met the minimum necessary. They had planned a rally outside the Staten Island distribution center Monday evening.

If organizers in New York succeed, it could launch other union drives across the company’s vast empire, which includes more than 100 fulfillment centers and nearly 1 million employees across the United States.

Smalls says he was fired last year after organizing a walkout to protest working conditions, although the company said he repeatedly violated company policies.

The NLRB must now verify the submitted signatures to confirm if organizers collected the requisite number of signatures — at least 30% from the roughly 5,500 employees who the union says work at four adjoining Amazon facilities — to authorize a union vote.

An Amazon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company could challenge the effort by contesting how the number of employees union organizers used to calculate the minimum number of signatures they required.

Amazon employees have complained about long work hours, insufficient breaks and safety, with Smalls and others likening working conditions to modern-day sweatshops. The employee turnover rate has also been a cause of concern.

The union efforts on Staten Island come as Amazon is on a hiring binge. It announced in September it wants to hire 125,000 delivery and warehouse workers and is paying new recruits an average of $18 an hour in a tight job market. That’s in addition to the 150,000 seasonal workers it plans to bring on this season.

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union had led the effort to form a union at the Alabama facility that was defeated in April.

A hearing officer for the NLRB found in August that Amazon potentially interfered with the Alabama election. And the RWDSU is now waiting for a decision from an NLRB regional director to see whether the hearing officer’s guidance will be sanctioned. But even with a second election, labor experts say a union victory is a long shot.

The New York City organizing drive is taking place without the support of a national union.

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Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 President John Catanzara addresses a group of union protesters and their supporters outside City Hall as they rally against a requirement that police, like all other city employees, get the COVID-19 vaccine. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

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 cloudy with scattered showers and a high near 53 degrees. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with a low around 44. Tomorrow will be mostly sunny with a high near 56.

Top story

FOP president warns Council members who fail to repeal vaccine mandate: ‘We are coming for every one of your damn seats’

Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara on Monday likened Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s vaccine mandate to the midnight destruction of Meigs Field and warned City Council members who refuse to take a stand against it that “we are coming for every one of your damned seats” in 2023.

Two vaccine-related ordinances were introduced at Monday’s Council meeting. Both were shunted off to the Rules Committee, the burial ground for legislation opposed by the mayor. Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) tried to suspend the rules to reverse that action but was voted down 30-to-20.

That didn’t stop Chicago police officers from showing up in force outside City Hall. Nor did it stop Catanzara from demanding a show of hands from Council members who support repealing the vaccine mandate and threatening those who oppose that repeal.

“We’re taking a report card and anybody who does not raise their hand — you will be challenged in 2023. We are coming for every one of your damn seats because this is not the way a government is supposed to run. It is not a queen on that throne. … It is not, ‘Take it or leave it,'” Catanzara said during the public comment section that preceded Monday’s meeting.

“Shame on every one of you. When she challenged your aldermanic prerogative, you all lost your mind. How dare [she] challenge your aldermanic prerogative. You are literally handing it to her on a platter. Culpable deniability is not going to be an excuse here.”

Fran Spielman’s got more in her full story here.

More news you need

Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez will be paid a $340,000 annual salary under a five-year contract set for final approval by the Board of Education. The position’s salary has increased 31% since December, when then-CEO Janice Jackson made $260,000 per year.

Another victim of serial killer John Wayne Gacy was identified today by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. Francis Wayne Alexander, identified as victim No. 5, was killed by Gacy sometime between early 1976 and early 1977, authorities said.

Nearly 20,000 people were without power today as storms whipped up strong winds and dumped more than two inches of rain in Chicago, which has seen a relatively dry season so far. Some suburbs reported three or more inches of rain.

A police dog hailed as a hero for taking a bullet from a Chicago murder suspect last week has been released from a hospital. The dog, Riggs, is expected to make a full recovery.

House or hip hop? ‘It’s Different In Chicago,’ scheduled for a Black Harvest Film Festival premiere, details how local music continues to be locked in an ongoing rivalry for respect at home and abroad. Read Evan F. Moore’s preview ahead of the doc’s November release.

A bright one

‘Books shouldn’t be a luxury’ — reading program brings free books to South and West sides

On a sweltering October Saturday in Boxville, 6-year-old Josiah Wilcher sits on his grandmother’s lap, flipping through a book.

Pointing to each word, Josiah reads, “School Picture Day.” It’s one of his favorites.

As some two dozen other children rush about laughing, eating and doing arts and crafts, Josiah hops off his grandma’s lap to slip the book into a basket near two wicker chairs.

Soon, Briana McLean and Grammy-award winning artist Chance the Rapper will be in those chairs, reading to the crowd gathered for Chance & Bri’s Books & Breakfast.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Chance the Rapper and educator Briana McLean read “The Boy with the Big, Big Feelings” at Chance & Bri’s Books & Breakfast event at Boxville one day before world mental health day.

McLean and Chance started Books & Breakfast in late July. McLean, a former kindergarten teacher at Marquette Elementary School, created the program after she “became very aware very quickly (that) what was happening inside of my classroom and the culturally responsive teaching that I was doing was not happening outside of the walls of my classroom.”

She created a non-profit — Boundless Early Education — that would focus on three things: digital resources filled with things like lesson plans; early learning literacy resources; and Books & Breakfast.

“It’s very, very good to get the kids excited about reading,” said Josiah’s grandmother, Vickie Long. “Joe … now reads like a storyteller. It excites me! He doesn’t just read to read, he leads you to the page, and he really picked up reading very well.”

Read Cheyanne M. Daniels’ full story here.

From the press box

Bears coach Matt Nagy said today that he’s tested positive for COVID-19.
Former Bears running back Matt Forte on yesterday’s 38-3 loss to the Buccaneers: “So unprepared and out-coached, it was embarrassing.”
After that dreadful performance against Tampa Bay, Jason Lieser wonders how much longer Nagy and Ryan Pace can last in their current roles.

Ahead of the high school football state playoffs, Michael O’Brien previews the Class 7A and Class 8A brackets.
The Blackhawks hit a new low last night.

Your daily question ?

What do you think is Chicago’s defining music style? Why?

Send us an email at [email protected] and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

On Friday, we asked you: Have you ever reconnected with an old friend or long-lost loved one? How did it happen? Here’s what some of you said…

“My old girlfriend from my Air Force days back in ’92 and she’s now my wife. Found her on Facebook five years ago.” — Enoral Sacul

“Didn’t see him for 30-something years. Ended up together for nine years until he died.” — Sandy Tyszkiewicz

“Old classmates and teachers from high school. Old friends from summer camps I went to growing up. All were found on Facebook.” — Steve Price

“Yes, through FB. Each connection has been wonderful.” — Barbara Silverman

“Yes only to be disappointed again I will let my past stay there now.” — Karen Johnson

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