What’s New

Derek Hough poses with the award for outstanding choreography for variety or reality programming for “Dancing With The Stars” at the Creative Arts Emmys at Microsoft Theater on September 12, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. | Getty Images

Host Tyra Banks announced Hough’s absence at the top of Monday’s show.

COVID-19 is continuing to impact contestants and judges “Dancing With the Stars.”

After Cody Rigsby and his pro-partner Cheryl Burke both missed out on the ballroom due to positive COVID-19 tests last week, judge Derek Hough is the latest to sit out of the show’s live performance due to possible exposure.

Host Tyra Banks announced Hough’s absence at the top of Monday’s show.

“Due to potential COVID exposure and an abundance of caution, Derek has elected to sit out this taping of ‘DWTS,'” representatives for the ABC dancing competition said in a statement to USA TODAY.

The statement said Hough has tested negative for the disease and is vaccinated.

On Sunday night, Hough was due to perform in Las Vegas for his “Derek Hough: No Limit” show in residency at The Venetian. But according to Ticketmaster, the show was canceled.

USA TODAY has reached out the Hough’s representative for further comment.

Banks said that Rigsby and Burke would both perform from a remote location for Monday’s show. Burke announced she tested positive for COVID-19 on Sept. 27. “I have really bad news: I am positive, which means I have COVID,” Burke told followers in an Instagram video.

Days later on Sept. 30, Rigsby took to Instagram to announce he tested positive for the disease for the second time this year, despite being fully vaccinated and following precautions set by the Centers for Disease Control.

“To properly rest and recover as well as avoid exposing others, I will be taking a break in the coming days,” he wrote. “I appreciate all your support, and I’ll be back as soon as I am ready.”

Burke, who has been teaching Rigsby remotely in anticipation of Monday’s performance posted a video on Instagram last week to update viewers on her health and her plans for “Britney Week.”

“Even though my partner and I have COVID, which I feel still so bad about,” she said. “We are going to still dance on Monday, but we’re going to do it remote and we’re going to be doing it from the comfort of our own home.”

The duo used a recorded remote practice dance last week to stay in the reality dance competition.

Read more at usatoday.com

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Police and a SWAT team respond to a shooting in the 1200 block of North Mason Avenue in the Austin neighborhood, where a person was fatally shot and two were injured, Friday morning, Oct. 1, 2021. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

But Foxx accused the mayor of getting her facts wrong regarding prosecutors’ decision not to charge five suspects in a deadly Austin shootout last week, and said there was not enough evidence.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and a group of City Council members urged Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx Monday to reconsider prosecuting five suspects in a deadly gang-related shootout last week in Austin after they were released when prosecutors rejected charges against them.

Chicago police sought to charge all five suspects with murder and aggravated battery after they allegedly engaged in a Friday morning gunfight between two factions of the Four Corner Hustlers street gang, the Chicago Sun-Times first reported.

The state’s attorney’s office, however, declined to charge any of them, calling the evidence insufficient. A police report further noted that prosecutors told investigators charges were rejected because the shootout involved “mutual combatants.”

During an unrelated news conference at Prosser Career Academy in Hanson Park Monday, Lightfoot said that she and a group of West Side aldermen sent a letter to Foxx imploring her to reconsider filing charges in the case.

“It’s complicated, for sure, but we really urge the state’s attorney herself to get personally involved, look at the evidence,” Lightfoot said. “And I believe that there are charges that can be brought at a minimum against the individuals who initiated the gunfire. We can’t live in a world where there’s no accountability.”

Around 10:30 a.m. Friday, members of the Body Snatchers faction of the Four Corner Hustlers drove to the 1200 block of North Mason Avenue in two Dodge Chargers and began shooting into a home using handguns that were modified into automatic weapons, according to an internal police report and a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation. Members of the rival Jack Boys faction then fired back from inside the home.

More than 70 shell casings were found outside the home, according to the source, who noted that total likely doesn’t include the number of shots that were fired from inside. Three men were struck, including a member of the Body Snatchers who died. The gun battle, which was caught on police POD camera, only came to a halt when a police cruiser pulled up.

One of the Chargers was later found torched, while the other was recovered after the driver crashed during a chase with Oak Park police, the source and the report noted. The driver was taken into custody, along with a wounded man he dropped off at a hospital in the western suburb.

The Jack Boys, meanwhile, refused to leave the home on Mason, causing a standoff that required a SWAT team to respond, according to the source and the report. Three suspects were ultimately arrested, including a man who was wounded, though Lightfoot and the alderpersons acknowledged police did not recover any guns inside the home.

Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, warned that a lack of consequences could send a dangerous message as the city grapples with a continued surge in violent crime.

“If they do not feel like the criminal justice system is going to hold them accountable, we’re going to see a level of brazenness that will send this city into chaos,” she said of those stoking the violence. “And we cannot let that happen.”

City Hall has clashed with Foxx over prosecutions in the past. And the Area 5 detectives investigating the shootout have been at odds with the state’s attorney’s office over other high-profile cases prosecutors refused to take up, including the fatal shootings of National Guard member Chrys Carjaval in July and 7-year-old Serenity Broughton in August.

Foxx: Lightfoot has her facts wrong

While Foxx declined to comment on the specifics of the latest case during an interview Monday evening, she said the detectives who worked with her office after the shootout “acknowledged the chaotic nature of the scene and the challenges that it posed” and agreed there wasn’t enough evidence to file charges.

“The mayor, as a former prosecutor, knows of the ethical obligations of the prosecutor, which is to only bring forth charges where the evidence and the law support it,” Foxx said.

In a statement, she took another dig at Lightfoot, saying the facts presented by the mayor “simply are not in line with what was presented to us by CPD, and not born out by the evidence we received.”

“I don’t play politics,” she told the Sun-Times. “We do prosecutions. And it’s why we do our best to not engage in public conversations about cases because we recognize that as tragic and horrific as these incidents are, that if we want to see criminal justice and accountability, we do that in the courtroom.”

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
People sit on the street near the 1200 block of North Mason Avenue in the Austin neighborhood, where a person was fatally shot and two were injured, Friday morning, Oct. 1, 2021.

During a budget hearing with top police officials earlier Monday, Ald. Chris Taliaferro, who represents the 29th Ward where the shooting erupted, said it was “very horrific” that charges were rejected as he demanded answers about the investigation.

“Those folks are back on the streets,” said Taliaferro, who chairs the Public Safety Committee and signed onto the letter to Foxx. “And I can almost guarantee you they’ll be shooting up again this weekend.”

Supt. David Brown agreed that the shootout was between “mutual combatants,” saying it wasn’t immediately clear who fired first and who may have been acting in self-defense. But in cases involving mutual combat in which both parties willfully engage in violence, Brown said police seek charges against everyone involved and look to “have the jury sort it out.”

Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan later acknowledged there were some issues building cases against the suspects and said the police video footage doesn’t clearly show who was shooting into the home. None of the arrestees cooperated with investigators.

Still, in cases like these, if CPD cannot secure a murder charge, they often seek “some sort of possession of gun charge or some sort of discharge of a firearm” charge, Deenihan said.

In their letter to Foxx, Lightfoot and the City Council members said Brown and Deenihan flatly opposed the decision to reject charges, despite Foxx’s claim that detectives were on board.

The leaders specifically asked Foxx to reconsider felony charges, such as attempted murder, against two individuals who helped spark the shootout, apparently referencing the Body Snatchers who were taken into custody. But they also urged her to continue scrutinizing the other men who were arrested after the SWAT situation at the home.

“Giving these kinds of violent offenders a pass when their crime is fully captured on video and with police on the scene is simply unacceptable,” they wrote. “What can we tell the residents of this community about the legitimacy of the criminal justice system?”

Foxx told the Sun-Times that she plans to meet with Taliaferro and his colleagues to discuss their concerns. As far as the case is concerned, she said her office will review any additional evidence and file charges if they’re appropriate.

“This was an incredibly horrifying situation that has impacted a neighborhood and our entire city. And people are righteously angry, scared, frustrated,” she said. “But we still have an obligation to adhere to the law.”

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Are you looking for a true horror experience to spice up this Halloween? Is regular costume-party, pumpkin-painting, cookie-munching just not your thing? After all, what is Halloween without horrified screaming, bloody murder scenes, adult beverages, and bone-chilling thrills? Well, look no further because the latest pop-up installment at Chicago’s favorite pop-up bar, Replay Lincoln Park, is exactly what you’re looking for.

Image Credit: Replay

Located at 2833 N. Sheffield, Replay has announced their latest pop up installment, Slasher Museum. Running now through Sunday, October 31, this Lincoln Park bar has transformed its gaming areas into a manor of the macabre filled with frightening replicas of iconic slashers including Michael Myers, Freddy, and Leatherface.

Here, you can complete in themed weekly trivia, costume contests, along with horror movie-themed arcade and pinball games and more, curated by Pop-Up Productions. This event and all of the games are free, with no reservations, tickets, or tokens required.

During this limited-time pop-up, there will be spine-chilling themed events that include horror film trivia every Thursday night at 7 pm, along with costume contests, DJ sets on Thursday through Saturday and photo opportunities in replicas of various horror film sets. Fear fanatics will also have the opportunity to trick-or-treat themselves to deadly delicious cocktails including The Night He Came Home, Vorhees a Jolly Good Fellow, Leatherface, Hello Sidney, Redrum, It’s Bloody A-gore-able, Trick-or-Treat shots, and much more that are to die for.

“Everyone loves a good horror film, so we thought this would be the perfect Halloween event not to be missed,” said Mark Kwiatkowski, owner of Replay Lincoln Park. “We encourage all who love spook, gore, and more to stop by and get haunted this Halloween season!”

The Slasher Museum inspired pop-up is 21+ and is reservation-free. Covid-19 restrictions will be practiced, and protocols will be strictly observed to ensure the safety of patrons and employees. Proof of vaccination status is required upon entry along with masks that are required to be worn throughout the bar when not actively eating or drinking. Please note, this is not an official event sanctioned by Slasher films featured throughout.

Replay Lincoln Park features over 60+ free vintage arcade games, including pinball, air hockey, skeeball, and more. With no cover or tokens needed, Replay Lincoln Park invites guests for great fun from 5 p.m. – 2 a.m. Monday – Thursday, Friday 3 p.m. – 2 a.m., 12 p.m. – 3 a.m. Saturday, and 12 p.m. – 2 a.m. Sunday.

For more information or to reserve tickets to select events, please visit www.replaylincolnpark.com, call (773) 665-5660, or follow Replay on Facebook,Instagram, or Twitter. And if you’re looking for other Halloween fun across town, check out our latest event guide covering more all-age events and treats.

Featured Image Credit: Replay Lincoln Park

The post Replay Lincoln Park Invites Fear Fanatics to “Slasher Museum” Pop-up Throughout October appeared first on UrbanMatter.

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More details on Guinness’ planned Chicago’s taproom.Read More

Former Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter is on the run in a game against Nebraska on Nov. 2, 2013, in Lincoln, Nebraska. | Eric Francis/Getty Images

Tech company Opendorse estimates they could earn $1.5 billion this year alone if they tap into advertising and social-media deals.

Some of this started when Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter tried to get a players’ union going in 2014.

Part of it began much earlier, when NCAA autocrat Walter Byers concocted the devious term ”student-athlete” to avoid paying workman’s compensation to injured players.

(If you’re wondering why that’s a devious term, ask yourself what else on earth a college athlete could be but a student? An alien?)

Much came with each complaint and lawsuit against the NCAA through the years for treating young workers — which, by any reasonable definition, big-time college football players are — as ”amateurs.”

But the funeral pyre first was lit the day colleges started using money made off football to pay coaches, athletic directors, assistants, ticket-takers and almost anyone else they could think of — except the players themselves.

That was, oh, more than a century ago.

And now? Well, a fib — especially a whopper that gets bigger with each new wad of ticket, TV, playoff and apparel cash — can’t last forever. And this one is pretty much toast.

The National Labor Relations Board just reviewed the Colter/Northwestern case and came up with a revised decision that stated, in part: ”Players at academic institutions [are] much more similar to professional athletes” than amateur, book-toting students.

This is the first year football players — and all college athletes, by extension — can use their name, image and/or likeness to make money. That is, to make money they — not the school or NCAA — keep.

The change was ramrodded past the white-haired old boys who run the NCAA when California passed the Fair Pay to Play Act in September 2019. The law allowed college athletes to be compensated for their identity, and it was going into effect this year whether the NCAA liked it or not.

Of course, NCAA chief Mark Emmert and his gang fought the NIL tsunami before they quickly caved, knowing this time they might be screwed.

Remember, NCAA leaders will fight anything that disturbs their comfortable, lucrative, unpaid-laborer kingdom.

Emmert makes a tidy $2.9 million a year. Which is peanuts compared to, say, Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher’s 10-year, $75 million deal. Alabama’s Nick Saban, LSU’s Ed Orgeron, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh all make more per year than Fisher.

The point is obvious: Nobody in power is going to share wealth with ”kids” willingly. Even if those kids are old enough to vote, pay taxes, go to war and, in some cases, hold elected office.

But it’s happening now, NCAA be damned, with players just beginning to cash in. Indeed, tech company Opendorse, which connects athletes with business opportunities, estimates the jocks could earn $1.5 billion this year alone if they tap into advertising and social-media deals.

What the athletes are are members of that new industry called ”influencers.”

Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei, for example, has deals with Dr Pepper and fast-food restaurant Bojangles, among others. He digs it, too.

”I’ve loved Dr Pepper my whole life, so it’s a no-brainer,” he said of that revenue stream.

Some players make a lot, some maybe none. It’s pretty much the Wild West.

A martial-arts chain, for example, has offered every scholarship player at Miami a $500-a-month contract to promote its gyms. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, 19, is already a millionaire from endorsement deals. And Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral is charging $10,000-an-hour speaker fees.

The concept of players actually getting salaries from their schools or conferences as employees — and then unionizing to bargain collectively — is still down the road a bit. But it seems likely to happen.

The NCAA will be there fighting against the change, much like the French army at Waterloo. Its possible nuclear bomb is the antitrust freedom it always begs for from the courts and hopefully never will get.

Because here’s the thing: You, the college sports fan, never will notice any of this. You’ll be at the stadium in your face paint or on your Barca-Lounger with your bets all in, and the game will go on.

Right now, I’d guess Notre Dame fans are more upset about the Irish’s loss Saturday to Cincinnati and Oregon fans are more upset about losing to egghead school Stanford than any fans are about player income.

College football will never end.

Ohio State not finishing its regular season in a giant stadium against Michigan, bringing entertainment to everybody in scarlet-and-gray and blue-and-maize? Unthinkable.

So relax. Let the fire of capitalism burn.

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Kahleah Copper finished with a playoff career-high 26 points on 64.3% shooting Sunday afternoon. | AP

The Sky’s poise and persistence have them one win away from playing in the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2014 and the second time in franchise history.

As time ticked off the clock in the Sky’s 86-83 victory Sunday against the Sun in Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals, the 7,421 fans at Wintrust Arena grew progressively louder.

“The crowd was popping,” Kahleah Copper said after the Sky took a 2-1 series lead. “Every possession, every deflection, every and-one, I thought the energy was unmatched. They played a major part.”

On the opening play of the game, Copper stole the ball for a fast-break layup. Fans were on their feet and stayed that way for much of the game.

The Sky have drawn decent crowds all year, but none like the one Sunday afternoon. It was their second-largest crowd of the season but the loudest by far.

Sky president Adam Fox told the Sun-Times that every member of the Bulls bought tickets to the game. Most of them were spotted sitting courtside. DeMar DeRozan had a line of kids and adults near him at halftime wanting to grab a photo.

This wasn’t DeRozan’s first or even second Sky game. He has been supporting the team since the Bulls acquired him in August. Teammates Patrick Williams and Coby White have been supporting the Sky all season.

“We didn’t have to talk about [coming to the game as a team],” DeRozan said. “It’s just automatically understood. We had a day off, and it was an opportunity for us to come out and support.”

This is the Sun’s third straight year in the semifinals and the Sky’s first since 2016.

Though the Sky haven’t made deep playoff runs consistently, they aren’t far behind the Sun in terms of experience. Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley have been part of every Sky postseason run, and Candace Parker is a WNBA champion and Finals MVP.

That experience, combined with the challenges presented during the regular season, prepared the Sky for the physicality of this series.

In moments when they’ve allowed the Sun to go on runs, committed turnovers or fallen into shooting slumps, the Sky haven’t come undone. That’s a significant difference from the Sky team fans saw during the regular season.

Sun coach Curt Miller said people need to throw out the Sky’s 16-16 regular-season record. That team and the one leading the semifinal series are not the same.

The Sky’s poise and persistence have them one win from reaching the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2014 and the second time in franchise history. In 2014, they were swept by the Mercury in the best-of-five series.

But the Sky are only letting themselves think about Game 4 on Wednesday at Wintrust Arena.

“We still have a lot of basketball to play in this series,” Vandersloot said. “I’m not looking past the next game because we still have more work to do.”

By the time Sky coach/general manager James Wade and his team made their way out of the locker room after Game 3, fans were eagerly waiting to snap some selfies with them.

Copper, who finished with a playoff career-high 26 points on 64.3% shooting, stopped to give the fans what they wanted. It was fitting because Copper was the one getting the fans going all game.

The Sky want the fans to keep it up.

“It really gives us energy,” Parker said. “Bring a friend, bring a cousin, bring whoever to come out Wednesday and keep that energy up.”

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Members of a SWAT team walk along West Division Street near the 1200 block of North Mason Avenue in the Austin neighborhood, where a person was fatally shot and two were injured Friday morning. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Aldermen are furious. And well they should be. One person was killed. Two were wounded. More than 70 shell casings were found.

Many aldermen are furious with the police and prosecutors over the handling of a brazen gunfight in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood on Friday in which the suspects walked away without a single criminal charge being filed.

We entirely understand. In a city where authorities should be doing everything to quell a surge in violence, there’s a shoot-out like at the OK Corral, an entire block is endangered and several obvious suspects are detained.

And then nothing.

This was a shocking incident, even in a city that seems increasingly inured to the daily violence, caught on video and described by one source as “just like the Wild West.” More than 70 shell casings were found, and many more shots in all likelihood were fired. Police apparently arrived in time to witness at least part of the shootout.

Who can blame anybody for asking: “If charges can’t be filed in a case like this, when can they?”

Who can blame anybody for thinking that the handling of this case will embolden thugs to shoot and kill with even greater abandon?

Reporter Tom Schuba wrote in Monday’s Sun-Times that the firefight, which left one shooter dead and two suspects wounded, grew out of an internal dispute between two factions of the Four Corner Hustlers street gang, according to an internal police report and a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation.

At least three individuals reportedly jumped out of two cars and began to shoot into a brick house. Those inside the house fired back. When the shooting stopped, those in the house refused to come out until a SWAT team arrived.

Schuba’s source said police sought to charge all five suspects with murder and aggravated battery. But instead, after discussion with prosecutors, the suspects were released without charges. On Monday, police said an investigation is continuing.

This page has long argued that criminal charges should be brought by police and prosecutors only when there is sufficient evidence to support a case. Too often in the past, cases have been built using torture, false confessions and the strangest stretching of the evidence. But the pendulum can’t be allowed to swing so far in the opposite direction that obvious suspects walk away from crime scenes with impunity.

On Monday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and five West Side aldermen sent a letter to Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx asking her to reconsider the decision not to bring felony charges. “Giving these kinds of violent offenders a pass when their crime is fully captured on video and with police on the scene is simply unacceptable,” they wrote.

Amen to that.

The police and state’s attorney office must work together on this one to achieve justice. Friday’s shooting is sure to spread terror into the heart of every Austin resident, and throughout a city traumatized by gun violence. For the suspects to be at large — not even on electronic monitoring — can make no one feel safe.

At Monday’s City Council budget hearing, Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th), chairman of the Public Safety Committee, promptly asked Chicago Police Supt. David Brown, who recently on CNN decried “violent people in possession of weapons,” about the case. Brown said the police department is committed to holding any guilty parties accountable.

Taliaferro, who signed the letter with Lightfoot and the four other aldermen, told us, “When I first heard people were taken into custody and that no one was charged, I was floored, frustrated and furious all at the same time. I could understand why our community is very concerned about the violence that is prevalent in Chicago and why there is such an appearance that nothing significant is being done about it.”

A police attorney’s report reportedly stated Foxx’s office cited “mutual combatants” as a reason not to press charges. “Mutual combatants” is a phrase cops use to describe, for example, two people who agree to go outside a bar and fight. Police infamously used the concept as an excuse not to investigate the case of David Koschman, the young man who died in 2004 after being punched by a nephew of a former mayor.

But on Monday, lawyers with both defense and prosecutorial backgrounds told us the idea of “mutual combatants” simply does not apply here. Not when there’s a lethal firefight in broad daylight.

Kim Foxx had better review every aspect of this case: How the arrests were made, how the evidence was assessed and the curious legal rationale and policies that led to not one charge being filed against anybody.

In this case and every case like it.

Send letters to [email protected].

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Five people, including four police officers, were injured following a fire Oct. 4, 2021, in Lincoln Park. | Sun-Times file photo

One adult was found on the ground near the building and may have jumped from the unit, fire officials said.

Five people, including four police officers, were hospitalized following a kitchen fire in a Lincoln Park building Monday evening.

A fire, caused by a “pot of meat” broke out in an apartment unit in the 400 block of West Wrightwood Avenue, according to Chicago fire officials.

One adult was found on the ground near the building and may have jumped from the unit, fire officials said. They were transported to Illinois Masonic Hospital in serious-to-critical condition.

Four responding officers suffered minor injuries due to smoke inhalation and were transported to the same hospital for evaluation, fire officials said.

No other residents were displaced in the fire which was contained to one unit.

This is a developing story. Check back for details.

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Glenbard West’s Caden Pierce (3) pushes the tempo as Hinsdale Central’s Jake Quast (32) defends. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

Caden Pierce, a versatile 6-5 wing for one of the state’s top teams, committed to Princeton on Monday.

Another Glenbard West star is off the board.

Last week Braden Huff committed to Gonzaga. Shooter Bobby Durkin and big man Ryan Renfro both recently committed to Army. This week Caden Pierce, a versatile 6-5 wing for one of the state’s top teams, committed to Princeton.

With double digit Division I offers after a solid and ultra-productive spring and summer with his high school team and the Illinois Wolves on the club circuit, Pierce ultimately chose the Ivy League school over Loyola-Maryland and St. Thomas in Minnesota.

Pierce admitted he was torn a little going into his official visit to Princeton, possibly even “leaning another way” at the time he took the visit in late September. But the official visit turned the tide in his recruitment as everything became more clear. He became more comfortable, familiar and was impressed with all that Princeton had to offer.

“Once I got on campus at Princeton, I fell in love with it,” said Pierce. “I spent a lot of time with the guys on the team and felt like I fit in really well with them. I watched them practice a little bit and felt like my game would fit well in that system. They are a talented, skilled group.”

What also stood out to Pierce was coach Mitch Henderson’s ability to develop players and how he believed the veteran coach was the right coach for him and his growth as a player.

“When I watched how coach Henderson coaches and how he prides himself on player development, I thought it would really benefit me,” said Pierce. “I think I’m just starting to scratch the surface of the player that I will hopefully be, and I think he would be the one to best develop me as a player.”

Then there is always the academic piece of Princeton and an Ivy League education. Pierce says that also played a big part in his decision as he searched for the right blend of basketball and academics.

“Going to Princeton isn’t a four-year decision but a lifetime decision,” said Pierce. “The connections and networks I establish at Princeton can set you up for the rest of your life.”

Pierce is the quintessential basketball Swiss Army knife. He fills a stat sheet, can direct an offense in a pinch and is a difference-making defender who is always given the task of stopping the opposing team’s best player.

But his greatest attributes go beyond the numbers and being able to play multiple positions. Pierce’s toughness and winning pedigree can also be measured by how he plays and how much he wins.

Pierce helped lead the Hilltoppers, who went 16-1 this past season, to an unblemished summer that included going unbeaten at both the Riverside-Brookfield Shootout and Ridgewood Shootout. He was instrumental in helping lead the Illinois Wolves to an Under Armour Association title.

Now he will join a Princeton program that went to the NCAA Tournament in 2017 and is coming off a 14-13 season a year ago.

But his immediate goal is to win two state championships as a senior at Glenbard West — in basketball and golf.

Pierce, a two-time all-conference golfer in the West Suburban Silver, was part of a IHSA fifth-place state finish as a sophomore. This year the Hilltoppers have advanced to the IHSA State Finals this weekend after Monday’s qualifying sectional round.

The two-sport star believes golf has impacted his play on the basketball court in a positive way.

“I definitely think my mental game has improved a ton in basketball because of golf,” Pierce points out. “I just feel like when you are out on the course, you are in your own bubble, not talking to many people, competing in a different way. I think it’s teaching me patience and how to stay focused, especially when you aren’t playing the greatest. You stay focused and make the most of that moment.”

Pierce is ready for a big moment, whether it’s on the green this weekend or with a game on the line next March in state tournament play.

“I’m hoping to be put in that situation,” Pierce said with a laugh about the possibility of a pressure-packed putt or shot. “It would be pretty cool to have a putt on the line to win a state championship. I think it’s similar to shooting that free-throw with the game on the line.”

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Adobe Stock Photo

Donald Williams, 38, is charged with felony aggravated unlawful restraint, domestic battery and arson, Chicago police said.

A man is facing charges after allegedly stabbing two people, including an 11-year-old girl, and setting a fire before jumping out of a third-floor window in Avalon Park during an hours-long standoff with police last week.

Donald Williams, 38, is charged with felony aggravated unlawful restraint, domestic battery and arson, Chicago police said.

The incident unfolded about 2:26 p.m. Thursday in the 1400 block of East 79th Street, police said. Officers responded to reports of two people stabbed and found the girl and the woman with injuries.

The two had been stabbed in the leg, and were taken to Trinity Hospital in good condition, police said.

Williams then allegedly barricaded himself inside an apartment, and a SWAT team was called to the scene, police said. He held off police until early Friday when he started a fire in the apartment and jumped from a window. Seven people were displaced by the fire, but there were no reported injuries.

Williams was taken into custody and was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said.

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