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Moon Alert

Avoid shopping and important decisions after 3:15 p.m. Chicago time. The moon is in Taurus.

Aries (March 21-April 19)

This is an upbeat day! You feel confident, and, in particular, you might look for new ways to make money or new uses or applications for something that you already own, because you’re in a resourceful frame of mind. Nevertheless, check the moon alert. Good time to party!

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

Today the moon is in your sign dancing with Jupiter and Pluto. Basically, this is a feel-good day for you. Nevertheless, be aware of the restrictions of the moon alert, which occur early in the day on the West Coast. Fortunately, this evening is a great time to socialize!

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

Today you are best served by working behind the scenes or working alone. Nevertheless, after the moon alert begins, you will likely socialize with someone, especially a partner or close friend, because you will attract this energy.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

This is an excellent day to enjoy the company of others, especially a female companion. You might discuss shared property, fund raising, charitable activities or what the mandate of a particular group is. However, postpone important decisions and shopping after the moon alert begins.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)

You are high visibility. People notice you more than usual and they respect you. You might attract someone who has recommendations about how to improve your health or improve your job. Before you act, make note of when the moon alert occurs.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

It’s Friday and you want to do something different! You want some adventure in your world. You want life to sizzle! You might travel today or talk to people from other cultures. You might also have deep, profound discussions with someone. Check moon alert.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

Until the moon alert occurs today, this is an excellent day to make decisions about shared property, inheritances and anything you own jointly with someone else. After the moon alert begins, it will be a great time to socialize and enjoy fun activities with kids and sports.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Be prepared to go more than halfway when dealing with others because compromise and cooperation will be your best options. Someone might influence your thinking or, vice versa, you might influence theirs? Make no important decisions after the moon alert today.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

Matters related to your work, your health or even your pet will be positive and encouraging today. Work-related travel might occur. You might also discover a way to improve your health through diet or exercise. Be aware of when the moon alert begins. After that — par-tay!

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

This is a lovely day full of all kinds of playful, creative opportunities. Enjoy interactions with all kinds of people. Grab every opportunity to express your artistic talents. Accept all invitations to socialize and enjoy entertaining diversions, including the arts and playful times with kids.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

Home and family will be your primary focus. Stock the fridge because you might entertain at home, or some kind of gathering might take place. People might stop by. It’s easy for you to attract others because they admire you.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)

Attitude is everything. (Likewise, motivation.) Today, because you are in a positive frame of mind, you will attract others who are in a positive frame of mind. This means discussions with relatives, friends and neighbors will be enthusiastic and optimistic. You’re very convincing today!

If Your Birthday Is Today

Actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson (1975) shares your birthday. Your energy is strong and focused. When you choose to be, you are very convincing. You have an intelligent, analytical mind. This year is the first year in a nine-year cycle for you, which means you need to be bold and courageous and ready to open any door! It’s time to take action, to take the initiative and set goals.

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Chicago Police Sgt. William Spyker faces firing over an incident last year in which he allegedly had a CTA worker handcuffed for lodging a complaint against another officer. | Sun-Times file photo

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability initially recommended Sgt. William Spyker be fired in connection to the incident, but Supt. David Brown instead proposed a six-month suspension. On Thursday, a member of the Chicago Police Board sided with COPA, setting in motion disciplinary proceedings.

Over the objection of Chicago Police Supt. David Brown, a patrol sergeant now faces firing for allegedly having a Chicago Transit Authority employee detained after she lodged a misconduct complaint against another officer following a stabbing at a downtown Red Line station last year.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability had recommended that Sgt. William Spyker be fired in connection with the incident, but Brown instead proposed a six-month suspension.

In a decision published Thursday night, Chicago Police Board member Steve Flores sided with COPA, setting in motion disciplinary proceedings that could lead to Spyker’s dismissal from the Police Department. Spyker didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Feb. 4, 2020, CTA employee Martesa Lee responded to a stabbing at the Jackson Red Line station and alleged that a Chicago police officer “maltreated her,” according to Flores’ ruling. Lee then reported the alleged misconduct to Spyker, who in turn “had the officer handcuff and detain her for obstruction.”

COPA recommended that seven allegations against Spyker be sustained, including failing to report Lee’s complaint and ordering her handcuffed. An evidentiary hearing will now be held before the Police Board to determine whether Spyker violated any of the Police Department’s rules and any possible consequences, Flores wrote.

Less than a month after the incident, Lee filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city, Spyker and another officer. It was ultimately settled and dismissed in June, records show.

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Patrick Kane was honored but the Blackhawks lost to the Canucks. | Getty

The Hawks are 0-4-1 and have still yet to have a lead this season after falling 4-1 to the Canucks on Thursday.

Patrick Kane enjoyed one of the most belated 1,000-games-played ceremonies in NHL history Thursday.

Two hundred twenty-six days after he hit the milestone March 9 in Dallas — having upped his total to 1,033 games played in the meantime — Kane was finally honored before the Hawks’ 4-1 loss to the Canucks.

The pregame ceremony was decidedly louder and better-attended than the unofficial ceremony the Hawks held for him March 23, when only his teammates and family could be in attendance. His family — and son — were back in the building Thursday, too.

“I was so excited to see him,” Kane said on the NBC Sports Chicago intermission show. “[It was] nice of my sisters to come down. My parents have been here for a lot of games and been a part of a lot of special moments… It was very special to stand with them.”

Jonathan Toews, the only man other than Kane drawing significant cheers from fans during this lackluster Hawks’ opening homestand, re-presented Kane his commemorative silver stick. After hitting the 1,000 games, 1,000 points and 400 goals milestones all in the past two years, though, Kane is — for once — tiring of the spotlight.

“I feel like I’ve had too many ceremonies,” he added. “It’s nice to get them over with and get on with it.”

Strome finally debuts

Dylan Strome finally made his season debut Thursday, ending his streak of four consecutive healthy scratches.

Mike Hardman’s placement into concussion protocol earlier in the day somewhat forced Colliton to remove Strome from his doghouse, as did a desire to shake things up after the team’s disastrous start. Ryan Carpenter also drew into the lineup while Philipp Kurashev was somewhat surprisingly scratched.

“[Kurashev] was one of our best forwards in camp and preseason, and we need him to get back to that level,” coach Jeremy Colliton said. “It’s obviously an opportunity for other guys to go in who are hungry for the chance and maybe they can give us a spark. But sometimes coming out is what you need to get refocused and back to the level you can play out.”

Colliton added pregame that he expected Strome to “find ways to chip in offensively,” a total reversal in his previous strategy of avoiding talking about Strome at all costs.

Strome nearly scored on a scoring chance in the opening minutes, but later committed a costly penalty that eventually led to a Canucks five-on-three goal.

More notes

The Blackhawks entered Thursday riding the longest streak without having a lead to start a season in franchise history, at 240:57 — surpassing the previous longest streak of 226:06, set last season.
Former Hawks forward and radio play-by-play broadcaster Troy Murray attended morning skate Thursday, one of his first times out of his house since being diagnosed with cancer in August. Toews led a surprise team salute to Murray at the end of the skate.
Kevin Lankinen made his second start of the season to Marc-Andre Fleury’s three. Colliton implied the two goaltenders’ split of the starts moving forward will be “relatively even,” comparing it to Corey Crawford and Robin Lehner’s division of work in 2019-20.
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Alec Baldwin in 2019. | ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images

Actor’s spokesperson says it was an accident involving misfire with blanks.

SANTA FE, N.M. — A prop firearm discharged by veteran actor Alec Baldwin, who is starring in and producing a Western movie, killed his cinematographer and injured the director Thursday at the film’s set outside Santa Fe, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said.

Sheriff’s officials said Halyna Hutchins, director of photography for the movie “Rust,” and director Joel Souza were shot.

Hutchins, 42, was airlifted to University of New Mexico Hospital, where she was pronounced dead by medical personnel, authorities said.

Souza, 48, was taken by ambulance to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, where he’s undergoing treatment for his injuries.

Production has been halted on the film.

A spokesperson for Baldwin said there was an accident on the set involving the misfire of a prop gun with blanks.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reported the 68-year-old Baldwin was seen Thursday outside the sheriff’s office in tears, but attempts to get comment from him were unsuccessful.

The International Cinematographers Guild confirmed that the woman fatally shot was Hutchins, a cinematographer.

“The details are unclear at this moment, but we are working to learn more, and we support a full investigation into this tragic event,” guild president John Lindley and executive director Rebecca Rhine said in a statement.

Hutchins, 42, was director of photography on the 2020 action film “Archenemy,” starring Joe Manganiello. A 2015 graduate of the American Film Institute, she was named a “rising star” by American Cinematographer in 2019.

“I’m so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set,” said “Archenemy” director Adam Egypt Mortimer on Twitter. “She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film.”

Deputies responded about 2 p.m. to the movie set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch after 911 calls came in of a person being shot on set, sheriff’s spokesman Juan Rios said.

He said detectives were investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged.

“This investigation remains open and active,” Rios said in a statement. “No charges have been filed in regard to this incident. Witnesses continue to be interviewed by detectives.”

Filming for “Rust” was set to continue into early November, according to a news release from the New Mexico Film Office.

The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website. The teen goes on the run with his long-estranged grandfather (played by Baldwin) after the boy is sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher.

In 1993, Brandon Lee, 28, son of the late martial-arts star Bruce Lee, died after being hit by a .44-caliber slug while filming a death scene for the movie “The Crow.? The gun was supposed to have fired a blank, but an autopsy turned up a bullet lodged near his spine.

In 1984, actor Jon-Erik Hexum died after shooting himself in the head with a prop gun blank while pretending to play Russian roulette with a .44 Magnum on the set of the television series ?Cover Up.?

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Bernard Haitink conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2013. | Todd Rosenberg

The Dutch artist held the CSO post from 2006-10, between the terms of music directors Daniel Barenboim and and Riccardo Muti.

Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink, a former principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, died at his home in London on Thursday, his management agency announced. He was 92.

A musician of refinement and grace, Haitink held the CSO post from 2006-10, between the terms of music directors Daniel Barenboim and current CSO music director Riccardo Muti. He shared the artistic leadership of the orchestra during that time with Pierre Boulez, who was labeled conductor emeritus.

He most recently conducted the CSO in Chicago in 2018, in a program of Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with Paul Lewis as soloist.

In a statement, Muti praised Haitink as “one of the greatest conductors, artists and musicians who has given so much to the history of musical interpretation. His loss leaves an immense void in the world of music, and his extraordinary collaboration with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will long remain in the history of this great institution.”

Haitink recorded eight albums with the CSO over the course of his tenure in Chicago, including the 2008 release of “Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4,” which won a Grammy for best orchestral performance.

Haitink was born in Amsterdam on March 4, 1929, studied violin and conducting at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and made his conducting debut with the Netherlands Radio Union Orchestra on July 9, 1954.

He conducted his first performance with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Netherlands’ premier orchestra, on Nov, 7, 1956, became co-principal conductor with Eugen Jochum in 1961 and sole principal conductor in 1963, a position he held he held until 1988. Under his tenure, the Concertgebouw was considered among the world’s premier orchestras alongside the Berlin and Philharmonics.

He was known for interpretations without flash.

“Haitink’s approach was more passionate than portentous, happily lacking in heaviness,” Associated Press critic Daniel J. Wakin wrote after a Brahms Symphony No. 2 with the Berlin Philharmonic at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1991.

In a 2006 interview with the Sun-Times, Haitink, who made his debut with the CSO in 1976, reflected on his career on the podium. “You can’t succeed with an orchestra if you start talking about wonderful ideas and theoretical lectures. After three or four words, they will be totally uninterested. You need to learn, as a conductor, to use your personality, your physical personality, to transfer your ideas to an orchestra. That is very difficult to develop.”

The maestro was no stranger to Ravinia audiences, having made his debut with the CSO at the Highland Park venue in 2008.

Haitink developed a lengthy and influential career in England, where he was chief conductor of the London Philharmonic from 1969-79 and music director of the Glynebourne Festival from 1978-88.

He succeeded Colin Davis as music director of The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, in 1987 and held the position until 2002. Among the highlights of his tenure were a color-splashed Graham Vick production of Verdi’s “Falstaff” that reopened the refurbished Royal Opera House in December 1999.

“If we have seen a lot of Haitink here in the concert hall and the opera house over the past three decades and more, that has been our gain, for he is one of the leading conductors of our age, a superbly natural musician who brings a rare combination of rigour and expressiveness to everything he tackles,” Andrew Clements wrote in the Guardian before Haitink stepped down from Covent Garden. “Haitink’s performances have always been a reflection of the man himself: direct, unshowy and profoundly truthful.”

Haitink became principal guest conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1995-2004. He was also principal conductor of the European Union Youth Orchestra from 1994-2000.

Haitink conducted 111 performances with the Vienna Philharmonic, making his debut in February 1972 and leading the ensemble on tour to Costa Mesa, California, and Carnegie Hall in 2002. He conducted his final four concerts with that orchestra at age 90 from Aug. 30 to Sept. 6, 2019, programs of Beethoven and Bruckner in Salzburg, Austria; London; and Lucerne, Switzerland.

Haitink was nominated for nine Grammy Awards and won two, for 2003 opera recording with the Royal Opera for Janacek’s “Jenufa” and for 2008 orchestral performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 4.

His recordings include Beethoven and Brahms symphony cycles for the London Symphony Orchestra’s LSO Live label, and an extensive library for Phillips and EMI.

Contributing: Sun-Times reporters Darel Jevens and Miriam Di Nunzio

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The Chicago Blackhawks have had a very bad start to the season. They are 0-3-1 with one point in the standings. There are probably big changes coming soon but that is a story for another day. On this night, ahead of their game against the Vancouver Canucks, the Hawks honored Patrick Kane for reaching 1000 […] Chicago Blackhawks: Awesome celebration for Patrick Kane – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & MoreRead More

Crane’s Jaylen Scott (2) runs the ball during the game against Pritzker. | Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times

Jaylen Scott is a hard-hitter on defense and a speedster out of the backfield. He had 11 carries for 86 yards and one touchdown and grabbed an interception in the fourth quarter.

Crane senior Jaylen Scott turned to the crowd, raised his head high and screamed “We did it!” twice as the clock ticked down the final seconds of the Cougars’ 36-6 win against Pritzker at Rockne Stadium on Thursday.

Scott wasn’t just celebrating an undefeated season. The smile on his face was well-earned. The running back/defensive back has individually accomplished something as impressive as an undefeated season. He’s garnering interest from FCS schools and will play college football.

“Morgan State and North Carolina Central have been in contact with me,” Scott said. “And I have some more.”

It’s difficult to imagine just how unlikely that would have seemed a year ago for Scott. Crane didn’t play football in the spring, so he had no junior year. Then the Cougars brought in a new coach.

All of that on top of Crane playing in the Public League’s Chicago State Street conference. The Chicago conferences aren’t eligible for the state playoffs, so are basically ignored by the state’s football media.

“There was no season junior year so I had to work so much harder,” Scott said. “I had nothing. No offers, no interest. I knew I had to play with everything I had this season. I thought we had to win every game.”

Scott is a hard-hitter on defense and a speedster out of the backfield. He had 11 carries for 86 yards and one touchdown and grabbed an interception in the fourth quarter.

Cougars coach Ivan Simmons, who moved to Chicago from South Carolina to take the job, has another star on his hands in junior Darrian Towns.

Towns had four carries for 78 yards and two touchdowns and returned an interception 99 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.

“[Towns and Scott] have been the backbone of the team this season,” Simmons said. “We went as far as they took us this season. That’s why [Scott] picked up all the interest from the FCS schools.”

The Cougars (9-0) won the Chicago State Street conference. Pritzker (6-3) won the Chicago Madison Street. Chicago conference teams don’t play in the Public League playoffs, but CPS schedules their Week 9 games based on the season results.

Simmons isn’t sure if Crane will play next week.

“The goal this season was to come out and be competitive and build a program here at Crane,” Simmons said. “So we’ve accomplished a lot. I guess I’ll wait for a call and see if we play next week.”

The Jaguars had a disastrous first minute of the game. Crane kicked off to start, but no Pritzker player managed to corral the ball and Crane recovered it at the 26 and scored in two plays.

Then senior Enrique Rivera, the Jaguars’ starting quarterback, was injured on their first series and never returned.

Sophomore Anthony Goulet stepped in and played quarterback for the first time. He was 6-for-17 passing for 39 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.

Crane held Pritzker to just 38 yards of offense.

“I’m proud of the kids,” Jaguars coach Gary Butler said. “They fought back. I’m lucky to be their coach.”

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In this July 13, 1997 file photo, Lorli von Trapp Campbell attends a mass honoring her father, in Stowe, Vermont. A funeral home confirmed Lorli von Trapp Campbell died Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021, in Northfield, Vermont. | AP

Campbell was born in Salzburg, Austria, the second daughter of Georg and Maria von Trapp and a younger stepsibling to the older von Trapp children who went on to be depicted in stage and film.

STOWE, Vt. — The second daughter of Maria von Trapp, whose Austrian family was famous for being depicted in the musical and beloved movie “The Sound of Music,” has died. She was 90.

Eleonore “Lorli” von Trapp Campbell died Sunday in Northfield, Vermont. The death was confirmed by The Day Funeral Home in Randolph, Vermont.

Campbell was born in Salzburg, Austria, the second daughter of Georg and Maria von Trapp and a younger stepsibling to the older von Trapp children who went on to be depicted in stage and film.

The family escaped from Nazi-occupied Austria in 1938 and performed concert tours throughout Europe and America. The family settled in Vermont in the early 1940s and opened a ski lodge in Stowe.

The Austrian traditions her mother brought to Vermont from Europe played a big part in the family life, daughter Hope McAndrew, of East Hardwick, Vermont, said Thursday.

While McAndrew said they all knew every word from the songs from “The Sound of Music,” they also knew the songs the family sang while touring North America, long before the musicals.

“They did amazing Christmas concerts that she would describe to us. And they were really touching,” McAndrew said. “She had very fond memories of those Christmas concerts.”

“The Sound of Music,” was a musical play and movie based loosely on a 1949 book by Maria von Trapp, who died in 1987. It tells the story of an Austrian woman who married a widower with seven children and teaches them music.

Campbell’s father, Austrian naval Capt. Georg von Trapp and his first wife, Agathe Whitehead von Trapp, had seven children who were the basis for the singing family in the musical and film. Maria married the captain after Whitehead von Trapp died and taught her new stepchildren music. They are all now deceased.

Georg von Trapp and Maria von Trapp went on to have three more children, who were not depicted in the movie; Campbell was the second. Campbell’s siblings, Rosmarie von Trapp and Johannes von Trapp, live in Stowe.

Campbell’s first career was singing soprano as a member of the Trapp Family Singers, which traveled internationally and to all of the United States, except South Dakota and Hawaii, until she married Hugh David Campbell in 1954, the obituary said.

“The life of singing on tour is one that involves an extraordinary amount of discipline and hard work, and my mother lived as a teenager singing lead soprano, night after night after night, and toured much of the year, and it really shaped who she was,” Campbell’s daughter Elizabeth Peters, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, said Thursday.

“She was a very disciplined, woman, and yet she missed out on many of the things that the rest of us enjoyed in high school and college years and yet she was very grateful for all the travel and the experience she had,” Peters said.

After Campbell married in 1954, she supported her husband, a coach and teacher, in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, while raising seven daughters. In 1975, the family moved to Waitsfield, Vermont. She taught her girls to cook, bake, garden, sew, knit, darn, and make butter and ice cream from scratch.

In addition to her two remaining siblings, survivors include seven daughters, 18 grandchildren and six great-grandsons. A service is scheduled for Nov. 6 in Waitsfield.

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Firearms on display at at Marengo Guns in Marengo in January. | Brian Rich/Sun-Times file.

State Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis wrote that the taxes violate the constitution’s uniformity clause and “impose a burden on the exercise of a fundamental right protected by the second amendment.”

Two Cook County taxes targeting firearms and ammunition are in jeopardy after the Illinois Supreme Court found they violate the state constitution.

In a 6-0 decision, Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis wrote in an opinion filed Thursday the county’s firearm and ammunition tax ordinances violate the constitution’s uniformity clause, and the taxes “impose a burden on the exercise of a fundamental right protected by the second amendment.”

“While the taxes do not directly burden a law-abiding citizen’s right to use a firearm for self-defense, they do directly burden a law-abiding citizen’s right to acquire a firearm and the necessary ammunition for self-defense,” Theis wrote.

“Under the plain language of the ordinances, the revenue generated from the firearm tax is not directed to any fund or program specifically related to curbing the cost of gun violence,” she wrote.

“Additionally, nothing in the ordinance indicates that the proceeds generated from the ammunition tax must be specifically directed to initiatives aimed at reducing gun violence. Thus, we hold the tax ordinances are unconstitutional under the uniformity clause.”

That opinion, in the case of non-profit Guns Save Life Inc. versus Cook County, the county’s director of the department of revenue, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, partially reverses decisions from the Cook County Circuit and state appellate courts that upheld the taxes and sends the case back to the circuit court for summary judgment in favor of the non-profit.

Chief Justice Anne Burke took no part in the decision of the case, according to the opinion. In a separate opinion, Justice Michael Burke largely agreed with his colleagues but expressed concern that the majority opinion “leaves space for a municipality to enact a future tax — singling out guns and ammunition sales — that is more narrowly tailored to the purpose of ameliorating gun violence.”

Members of Guns Save Life did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It was not immediately clear what the decision will mean for the county’s taxes.

In a statement, a spokesman for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said the county is “disappointed” in the Illinois Supreme Court’s recent decision.

“We intend to meet with our legal counsel and determine any next steps that may be warranted,” the spokesman said. “It is no secret that gun violence continues to be an epidemic in our region. … Addressing societal costs of gun violence in Cook County is substantial and an important governmental objective.

“We continue to maintain that the cost of a bullet should reflect, even if just a little bit, the cost of the violence that ultimately is not possible without the bullet. We are committed to protecting County residents from the plague of gun violence with or without this tax.”

The spokesman pointed to recent data from the Chicago Police Department that shows the number of shootings in Chicago are up nearly 10% over the last year with almost 2,900 shooting incidents this year.

“The use of guns have had a significant impact on the County’s public safety, health and general expenditures,” the spokesman’s statement reads in part.

The county’s Firearm Tax Ordinance, which was enacted in 2013, imposes a $25 tax on the purchase of a firearm from a retailer in Cook County.

The county later enacted a separate tax on ammunition — $0.05 per cartridge for centerfire ammunition, typically used for rifles, shotguns and handguns, and $0.01 per cartridge for rimfire ammunition, which are popular for small-game hunting or sport shooting, according to the self defense and competition shooting site Target Barn.

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