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Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen (left) and son Miles Nielsen playing in Ravenswood on Friday night. | Bob Chiarito/For the Sun-Times

During last year’s pandemic shutdown, music lovers John Culver and his wife Kathy Tynus found a way to provide some income to bands while getting their music fix — by hosting small groups for backyard concerts.

Having members of a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band show up and play in your back yard is usually the stuff of Hollywood legend, like when Jeff Spicoli hired Van Halen to play his birthday party in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”

But Friday night in Ravenswood, Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen, along with his son Daxx, who plays drums for the beloved band, surprised a small crowd at a backyard concert — even joining the scheduled band for a couple of songs.

The scene was the home of music lovers John Culver and his wife Kathy Tynus, who during the pandemic found a way to provide some income to bands while providing themselves and their friends a safe way to get their music fix — by hosting small groups at Culver’s home on Warner Avenue.

They asked their guests for voluntary $20 donations to the bands, providing a boost to musicians largely cut off from playing anywhere else.

(Andi Aguilar, a staffer for local Ald. Matt Martin (47th), said because the fee isn’t mandatory, the concerts are on private property and the shows end by 10 p.m., no permit is needed.)

Miles Nielsen and the Rusted Hearts, who played at Culver’s last spring during the shutdown, were playing the yard again Friday. But Miles Nielson had no idea his father and brother Daxx also were in town.

Earlier that evening, Culver’s friend Billy Jacobs, who co-owns the Chicago pizza restaurant Piece with Rick Nielsen, received separate texts, first from Daxx, then from Rick, both telling him they were back from a private gig in Seattle and asking if he wanted to get together.

“I said, ‘Yeah, let’s get some pizza and beer and head up to see Miles and surprise him.’ And that’s exactly what we did,” Jacobs said.

Rick Nielsen walked into the yard carrying the pizza, with Daxx close behind, shocking both the crowd and Miles.

“I had no idea that they were going to show up,” Miles Nielsen said. “I heard my dad’s voice and turned to the right and there he was.”

A few minutes later, both joined Miles and his band and played two Cheap Trick songs — “Voices,” and “I Want You To Want Me.”

Last year, the yard had been limited to about 15 guests — though similar-sized groups also would sit in the yards of both his next-door neighbors — and also kick in donations.

This year, though venues have reopened, Culver and Tynus still host shows, since their friends — and the bands — love them. They also can invite more people, as outdoor COVID-19 restrictions have eased.

“We even had people sitting in folding chairs in the alley who would listen and donate to the bands,” Culver said.

Steve Mendel, a friend of the couple who hasn’t missed a show, said for many bands, even a crowd of 45 could add up to real money — “a lot more than a lot of these bands make playing at a club.”

Welsh rocker Jon Langford, best known for fronting The Mekons, and who also is in the Waco Brothers, played Culver’s yard three times.

“It was a real morale booster. We hadn’t played in a long time and it felt like a proper gig,” Langford said.

During the pandemic, he played quite a few virtual shows — “some that worked and some that felt like I was singing into my phone in my basement” but that was nothing compared to the vibe at Culver’s shows.

“It was pretty punk rock,” Langford said.

Judy Barahal, another friend of Culver’s, attended every backyard show.

“It really was a lifeline for those of us who have our social lives revolving around live music,” Barahal said, adding that “streaming a concert or attending a Zoom party paled in comparison.”

But Friday night was something else again.

“I am still pinching myself,” Barahal said afterward.

Mendel, who before the pandemic would see 150 live acts a year, simply added:

“It was a very special night.”

Unfortunately, because it was a surprise to even Culver, he wasn’t able to alert his wife, who was in bed at her South Loop home after leaving work early because she was sick.

“She was so bummed,” Culver said, adding that she wasn’t mad at him since he didn’t know.

That said, Culver may consider making it up to her at a future backyard show by pulling a real Spicoli. After all, original Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth will have a lot of free time soon, announcing this week that by January he will be retired. And after having half of a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band play in his back yard, it might not be wise to think he couldn’t pull it off.

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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. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

The mayor and five aldermen Monday urged prosecutors to reconsider charging five suspects in a deadly Austin shootout between members of rival gang factions.

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, claiming the evidence was 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 explained 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.”

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.

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 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 Jack Boys, meanwhile, refused to leave the home on Mason, causing a standoff that required a SWAT team to respond.

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.”

Ald. Chris Taliaferro, who represents the 29th Ward where the shooting erupted, demanded answers about the investigation during a budget hearing with top police officials earlier Monday.

“The state’s attorney’s office failed to charge any of them and they were all released without charges,” said Taliaferro, who chairs the Public Safety Committee and signed onto the letter to Foxx. “I find that very horrific when we are in the midst of trying to reduce violence in the city to make these neighborhoods safer for our residents.”

He added: “Those folks are back on the streets. 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, 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.

Cristina Villareal, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, didn’t immediately respond to questions Monday. In a statement Sunday, Villareal said prosecutors had “determined that the evidence was insufficient to meet our burden of proof to approve felony charges” — a decision she claimed police officials agreed with.

In the letter to Foxx, Lightfoot and the City Council members said that simply wasn’t true as they voiced their opposition to the state’s attorney’s office’s decision.

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?”

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AP Photos

Carlos Rodon is a question mark, but a team depleted by injuries all season heads to postseason quite healthy.

A team battered and depleted by injuries all season long heads to the postseason quite healthy. And, thanks to having a double-digit lead in the AL Central Division for most of the second half and clinching Sept. 24, the White Sox might be fresher than most of the postseason field.

“The rest is key,” Sox general manager Rick Hahn said Monday. “For everyone in baseball, going from 60 [games in the abbreviated 2020 season] to 162 was a big jump …. The big lead allowed us to sort of monitor how certain guys will be used and put us in a position a few days before the start of the Division Series feeling very good about where we are from a health and a performance standpoint.”

The Sox open the best-of-five AL Division Series Thursday in Houston. The only real question, and it’s a significant one, is left-hander Carlos Rodon, although Hahn is “optimistic that he’s going to be able to contribute over the course of the next month.” The first time All-Star is fighting through a sore shoulder, and while he was effective with five innings of scoreless one-hit ball Wednesday, his 90-91 velocity was somewhat worrisome. Rodon could get a start in Game 3 or 4 (if necessary), but he’ll be monitored before a determination is made.

Rodon has been limited to 24 starts and only six in the last two months. The Sox’ biggest injury hits came on the position-player side, with Eloy Jimenez limited to 55 games, Luis Robert to 68, Yasmani Grandal to 93 and Tim Anderson to 123.

“Given the injury issues that we had over the course of the season, we’re all awfully pleased that we sit here as healthy as we are at this point,” Hahn said. “All things considered, [Rodon’s issue is] a relatively small amount considering where we’ve been.”

Starting pitchers received extra rest in the second half. Manager Tony La Russa rested his regulars with regularity. Moreover, the Sox get three days off leading to the series.

“Having these three days off is going to be a benefit. Pito [Jose Abreu] is not going to get hit for these three days so that’s a positive,” Hahn said, a tongue-in-cheek reference to Abreu getting hit 22 times this season.

The Sox enjoyed a day off Monday. They’ll have a closed workout at Guaranteed Rate Field Tuesday and an open workout Wednesday at Minute Maid Park in Houston, where they were swept by the AL West champion Astros in a four-game series in June. The Sox responded by winning two of three against them at home after the All-Star break.

“Houston is a fantastic team,” Hahn said. “They’re not only former world champions, they’re used to being in this environment on an annual basis. Very strong offensive club, a dynamic run-scoring team and fantastic pitching and defense. So it’s going to be a challenge.

“[But] our roster is in a stronger place than it was in our first two meetings we had with them.”

The 26-man ALDS roster doesn’t have to be set until 10 a.m. Thursday, and the Sox will wait till the last hour to publicize it. Hahn said pitching depth is of utmost importance.

However it shakes out, Hahn the Sox will feature a stronger roster than the one that lost to the Athletics in the best of three Wild Card series last season.

“Luis Robert’s got more time under his belt, [Yoan] Moncada continues to grow and the growth of Dylan Cease, much less the additions of Lance Lynn and Craig [Kimbrel] and Cesar [Hernandez] and Liam [Hendriks], we are in a stronger position today than we were a year ago entering the first round of the playoffs,” Hahn said.

The Game 1 starter will be Lynn or Lucas Giolito, whom Hahn called “interchangeable.” That decision will be finalized Tuesday or Wednesday.

NOTE: Liam Hendriks was named American League Reliever of the Month for September/October. Hendriks also won the honor in June. Hendriks was 8-for-8 in save opportunities and he allowed six hits and no walks while striking out 21 batters in 13 2/3 innings covering 13 appearances.

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A crew removes a body from an apartment in the 7700 block of South Carpenter Street after a Chicago police officer shot and killed a man while answering a call of a domestic disturbance in the Gresham building on the South Side, Monday morning, Oct. 4, 2021. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Police said officers were called to a home in the 7700 block of South Carpenter Street and observed a “domestic altercation.” They gave no details.

Neighbors gathered early Monday outside a red brick apartment building in Gresham as word spread that an officer had shot and killed a man they knew from doing odd jobs on the block.

They traded rumors and shared stories, but mostly they asked questions about what exactly happened in the second-floor apartment in the 7700 block of South Carpenter Street.

They got few answers from police, who cordoned off the entrance with red crime tape and refused to answer most questions at a news conference held down the street about three hours later.

Deputy Chief Rahman Muhammad told reporters that officers were called to the apartment around 7:35 a.m. after getting a call about a “domestic disturbance” between a man and a woman there.

“The officers observed a domestic altercation coming from within,” he said. “The responding officer discharged his service weapon, striking an individual.”

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Chicago Police investigate inside an apartment in the 7700 block of South Carpenter Street after an officer shot and killed a man while answering a call of a domestic disturbance in the Gresham building on the South Side, Monday morning, Oct. 4, 2021.

Muhammad said officers were called to the home by a “male subject from inside the house,” but would not say if that person was the man who was shot.

He said a knife was recovered but again would not say if the man was holding it at the time. In fact, Muhammad would not even say that the man had died from the gunshot.

That came later from a police spokesman and fire officials. The man has not been identified yet.

The woman was transported in good condition to a hospital, but it was unclear how or if she was injured. Muhammad would not say.

Charles Odum lives across the street from the apartment building and said he had known the man who was killed for two or three years.

“He was a good neighbor,” said Odum, 57. “Every time I see him in the morning picking up his paper we’d say hello.”

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Neighbors watch as Chicago Police investigate inside an apartment in the 7700 block of South Carpenter Street after an officer shot and killed a man while answering a call of a domestic disturbance in the Gresham building on the South Side, Monday morning, Oct. 4, 2021.

But Odum said police often responded to the man’s home for disturbances.

“Police always come over here to that unit, always have some type of argument going on whether it’s him, a cousin, or whoever stays up there,” Odum said.

“I just hate that it happened like this. He’s a good person, from what I know, very polite, very talkative,” Odum said. “We just chatted about random stuff, life, in the mornings when we saw each other.”

Neighbors said the dead man had lived in the apartment building for about four years and did maintenance work there.

Arnita Geder, 57, lives in the building and described the man as a “gentle soul.” She said he was in a relationship with a woman who’d recently given birth.

Geder and other neighbors said they would often hear the couple arguing.

“Him and her used to get into it all the time,” Geder said. “She was acting real strange yesterday. Every time you’d say something, she’d snap at you.”

Another neighbor, Brandy Johnson, also said police had been called numerous times to the house for disputes between the man and his girlfriend.

“Cops have been here dozens of times,” Johnson said.

She said the girlfriend appeared to have mental issues. “She was walking around talking to herself,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the man was originally from the West Side and that he’d moved to Gresham with his girlfriend.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability was investigating the shooting.

It was the second fatal police shooting in Chicago in a month. On Sept. 19, police fatally shot a knife-wielding man after answering a domestic disturbance call in Englewood, authorities said.

Officers responded to the 6500 block of South Harvard Avenue that morning and encountered Turell Brown armed with a knife, police said. An officer shot Brown, 28, and he was later pronounced dead.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Chicago Police investigate inside an apartment in the 7700 block of South Carpenter Street after an officer shot and killed a man while answering a call of a domestic disturbance in the Gresham building on the South Side, Monday morning, Oct. 4, 2021.Read More

Two young boys use a computer at an Internet cafe in the low-income Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya. | Brian Inganga / AP

Millions of Internet addresses have been waylaid, some fraudulently, in part by insider machinations linked to a former top employee of the nonprofit that assigns Africa’s Internet addresses.

KAMPALA, Uganda — Outsiders have long profited from Africa’s riches of gold, diamonds and even people. Digital resources have proven no different.

Millions of Internet addresses assigned to Africa have been waylaid, some fraudulently, in part through insider machinations linked to a former top employee of AFRINIC, the nonprofit that assigns the continent’s online addresses, an Associated Press investigation has found.

Many have benefited spammers and scammers. Others are being used to serve Chinese appetites for pornography and gambling.

The nonprofit’s new leadership is working to reclaim the lost addresses. But a legal challenge by a deep-pocketed Chinese businessman is threatening the nonprofit’s very existence.

The businessman is Lu Heng, a Hong Kong arbitrage specialist. He obtained 6.2 million African Internet addresses from 2013 to 2016. That’s about 5% of the continent’s total — more than Kenya has.

The Internet service providers and others to whom AFRINIC assigns IP address blocks aren’t buying them. Instead, they pay membership fees to cover administrative costs, which are intentionally kept low.

That left lots of room, though, for graft.

When AFRINIC revoked Lu’s addresses, now worth about $150 million, he fought back. In late July, his lawyers persuaded a judge in Mauritius, where AFRICNIC is based, to freeze its bank accounts. His company also filed a $80 million defamation claim against AFRINIC and its new CEO.

The turmoil comes as a shock to the global networking community, which has long considered the Internet as technological scaffolding to help advance society. Some worry it could undermine the entire numerical address system that makes the Internet work.

“There was never really any thought, particularly in the AFRINIC region, that someone would just directly attack a foundational element of Internet governance and just try and shut it down, try and make it go away.” said Bill Woodcock, executive director of Packet Clearing House, a global nonprofit that has helped build out Africa’s Internet.

Lu said he’s an honest businessman who broke no rules in obtaining the African address blocks. And, rejecting the consensus of the Internet’s stewards, he said its five regional registries have no business deciding where Internet Protocol addresses are used.

“AFRINIC is supposed to serve the Internet,” Lu said. “It’s not supposed to serve Africa. They’re just bookkeepers.”

In revoking Lu’s address blocks, AFRINIC is trying to reclaim Internet real estate critical for a continent that lags the rest in leveraging online resources to raise living standards and boost health and education. Africa has been allocated just 3% of the world’s first-generation IP addresses.

Making things worse: the alleged theft of millions of AFRINIC IP addresses, involving the organization’s former No. 2 official, Ernest Byaruhanga, who was fired in December 2019.

L’express Maurice / AP
The building housing the headquarters of AFRINIC, the nonprofit organization responsible for allocating Africa’s IP address space,near Port Louis, Mauritius.

The registry’s new CEO, Eddy Kayihura, said at the time that he’d filed a criminal complaint with the Mauritius police. He shook up management and began trying to reclaim wayward IP address blocks.

Lu’s legal gains in the case have stunned and dismayed the global Internet governance community. Network activists worry, for starters, that they could help facilitate further Internet resource grabs by China. Some of Lu’s major clients include the Chinese state-owned telecommunication firms China Telecom and China Mobile.

“I expect that he has got quite a significant backing that’s actually pulling the strings,” said Mark Tinka, a Ugandan who heads engineering at SEACOM, a South Africa Internet backbone and services provider.

Lu said accusations that he’s working for the Chinese government are “wild” conspiracy theories.

While billions use the Internet daily, its inner workings are little understood and rarely subject to scrutiny. Globally, five fully autonomous regional bodies, operating as nonprofit public trusts, decide who owns and runs the Internet’s limited store of first-generation IP address blocks. Founded in 2003, AFRINIC was the last of the five registries created.

Just shy of a decade ago, the pool of 3.7 billion first-generation IP addresses, known as IPv4, was fully exhausted in the developed world. Such IP addresses now sell at auction $20 to $30 each.

The current crisis was precipitated by the uncovering of the alleged fraud at AFRINIC. The misappropriation of four million IP addresses worth more than $50 million by Byahuranga and perhaps others was discovered by Ron Guilmette, a freelance Internet sleuth in California, and exposed by him and journalist Jan Vermeulen of the South African tech website MyBroadband.

Ownership of at least 675,000 wayward addresses is still in dispute. Some are controlled by an Israeli businessman who has sued AFRINIC for trying to reclaim them.

Someone had tampered with AFRINIC’s WHOIS database records — which are like deeds for IP addresses — to steal so-called legacy address blocks, Guilmette said.

Many of the misappropriated address blocks were unused IP space stolen from businesses and are being used to host websites that have nonsense URL address names and contain gambling and pornography aimed at an audience in China, whose government bans such online businesses.

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Dirksen Federal Courthouse, 219 S. Dearborn St. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times | Sun-Times Media

Justin Hines has been described by the feds as one of the largest agents for the massive, international gambling ring once run by Vincent “Uncle Mick” DelGiudice.

A man described by the feds as one of the largest agents for a massive, international gambling ring pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to his role in the conspiracy.

Justin Hines, 42, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall and faces sentencing Jan. 7. He is the latest person to plead guilty to allegations revolving around the ring run by Vincent “Uncle Mick” DelGiudice.

Several of the eight people charged along with Hines and DelGiudice in a February 2020 gambling indictment have already been sentenced. Charges are still pending against two defendants, Keith Benson and Vasilios Prassas.

The defendants charged in that and a handful of related cases have mostly avoided prison time. Just two of the seven sentenced so far, Chicago Police Officer Nicholas Stella and bookie Gregory Paloian, have been given time behind bars. U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow gave Paloian until August 2022 to report to prison for health reasons.

Another defendant, Mettawa Mayor Casey Urlacher, was pardoned in January by then-President Donald Trump.

DelGiudice pleaded guilty in February but has not been sentenced.

The indictment that charged Hines, DelGiudice and the others alleged that DelGiudice recruited Hines and most of their fellow defendants to work as agents for the gambling ring. DelGiudice ran it through the website unclemicksports.com, paying a company in Costa Rica $10,000 a month for use of the site.

Hines shared winnings and losses with DelGiudice on a 50/50 basis and regularly met with DelGiudice or his runner, Todd Blanken, to discuss the gambling operation and share the winnings, according to Hines’ plea agreement.

Kendall gave Blanken six months of community confinement last June.

Hines admitted in his plea agreement that he told a gambler to pay $26,000 in gambling debts in 2017 and 2018 using cashier’s checks in the name of Corvus Consulting S.A. The gambler then mailed the checks to Hines’ home. In January 2019, Hines also promised to deliver $3,000 meant for DelGiudice to Blanken, and he said he’d give another $600 to $800 to DelGiudice when they met for dinner.

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Thousands flock to Soldier Field before the Chicago Bears take on the Detroit Lions on Sunday. | 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 71 degrees. Tonight will be cloudy with a chance of sprinkles and a low around 62. Tomorrow will be cloudy with a high near 68.

Top story

‘This one is going to happen’: Why move to suburbs makes sense for Bears now, after years of threats

Three months ago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot cavalierly dismissed the Bears decision to put in a bid to buy the Arlington Heights International Racecourse property as the same old negotiating ploy.

But the agreement the Bears signed last week to purchase the 326-acre racecourse site for $197.2 million makes it abundantly clear that this time, on this site, the McCaskey family is playing for keeps.

“It’s gonna take a while, but this one is going to happen,” said veteran sportswriter Lester Munson. “This is not ‘boy who cried wolf.’ This is not posturing. This is not negotiation. This is going to be a transaction that will transform the family asset.”

Chicago-based sports marketing expert Marc Ganis has advised numerous NFL teams on their stadium financing. He has closely followed the Bears stadium saga for decades, including former President Michael McCaskey’s past flirtations with sites in Gary, Indiana, Hoffman Estates, Aurora, the Near West Side and the ill-fated McDome project near McCormick Place.

Ganis ticked off a laundry list of factors that make this time different.

Read Fran Spielman’s full story for the breakdown on all of those factors.

More news you need

Chicago police shot and killed a man while answering a call of a domestic disturbance in Gresham this morning, authorities said. Police did not give any details of what led to the shooting, which is under investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

A Springfield family is pleading for vaccine skeptics to get the jab after their beloved matriarch, who was vaccinated but immunocompromised, died of COVID-19 last month. Candace Ayers, 66, died after a month-long fight with the virus, which her family believes she caught while visiting a friend in Mississippi.

President Joe Biden’s trip to the Chicago area, initially planned for last month, is back on with the president now set to visit later this week. The president will be in town Thursday to tout his vaccine mandate for large employers, Lynn Sweet reports.

A man described by the feds as one of the largest agents for a massive, international gambling ring pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to his role in the conspiracy. Justin Hines became the latest person to plead guilty in the ring that also involved Casey Urlacher, another defendant who was pardoned in January by then-President Donald Trump.

Chicago Police Board President Ghian Foreman today bemoaned the us-versus-them mentality that has pitted the city’s residents against its police force. Read more on Foreman’s comments about the city’s relationship with CPD.

The final 007 film of the Daniel Craig era hits theaters in only a couple of days, and our Richard Roeper says the series sends off the best James Bond since Sean Connery with a film that’s exciting, engrossing — and way too long. Check out Roeper’s three-star review.

A bright one

$5M PepsiCo program to create job pathways for 3K young people on South, West Sides

Born and raised in Englewood, 21-year-old Joshua Barker has seen the streets snare young people who graduate high school without skills, resources or job options.

After graduating from Urban Prep Academy in 2018, Barker was fortunate to be hired by the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) — one of six organizations PepsiCo has joined with in an effort to create career pathways for 3,000 young people on the South and West Sides over the next five years.

“I was blessed to get this job. It keeps me busy. This new program is really important because a job keeps you motivated. Helping them work and put money in their pockets will keep a kid out of the street,” said Barker, a public health ambassador with SWOP.

In the Fortune 100 company’s shift to an equity-centered model of community engagement, the $5 million “PREP by PepsiCo | Stronger Together” initiative launching Monday is result of months of roundtables with Chicago community organizations on how best to uplift Black and Brown youth in disinvested areas.

Shondell Rashad Photography
Michelle Rashad is executive director of Imagine Englewood if, one of six Chicago organizations benefiting from the $5 million “PREP by PepsiCo | Stronger Together” initiative being launched Monday. “Young people can’t be what they can’t see, aspire to careers they don’t know,” she says of the effort to create career pathways for 3,000 young people on the South and West Sides.

Some 12% of African American youth ages 16-19 were neither in school nor working, compared to 8% of Latinos and 5 percent of whites in that age group, according to a December 2019 report by the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Great Cities Institute, based on U.S. Census figures.

Within the age 20-24 population, 38% of African Americans were neither employed nor in school, compared with 20% of Latinos and 7% of white peers.

PREP aims to boost workforce readiness within those age groups, helping organizations now doing that work to provide skills training, career exposure, paid work experiences and career-track jobs to the young people they serve.

Besides SWOP, other program partners include Imagine Englewood if, North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council (NLCCC), UCAN, Chicago Jesuit Academy, and the Cubs Scholars program of Chicago Cubs Charities.

Read Maudlyne Ihejirika’s full story here.

From the press box

Bears coach Matt Nagy said this morning the team will evaluate Andy Dalton’s condition before deciding who will be the starting quarterback against the Raiders on Sunday.
Jason Lieser breaks down the film from Justin Fields’ second professional start.
After years of irrelevance, the new-look Bulls still have their doubters, but don’t count DeMar DeRozan among them: “This is an opportunity for a talented group that has a chip on their shoulders. You kind of run faster when the dog is chasing behind you.”
The White Sox won’t rush to decide Carlos Rodon’s status for the upcoming ALDS series against Houston. The lefty starter has been dealing with shoulder soreness.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan said today that he let Lauri Markkanen know after the season that he would have an important role if he stayed, but the damage was done and the 7-footer wanted a fresh start.

Your daily question ?

In honor of “No Time To Die” coming out this week, what’s your favorite James Bond movie?

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

On Friday, we asked you: You’ve just been made an alderperson for the day — what’s the first thing you’ll do for your ward? Here’s what some of you said…

“Education, after school programs, cut property taxes, hire more police, take our streets back from criminals. Only wishful thinking.” — Carlos J. Beltran

“Go door-to-door, like our aldermen did when I was young, asking for input. And not just around election time, either.” — Christine Bock

“Pay a few crews to clean up the filthy alleys, a few of which smell like urinals. That’s about the only thing I can do without receiving any pushback from bleeding hearts.” – Elliott Avant

“Work on affordable housing, potentially including some form of tax relief for neighborhood homeowners. In my own neighborhood of 10 years, Pilsen, a lot of homeowners would have preferred to stay rather than sell to developers but felt the taxes made that untenable for them. That’s a problem for them and it’s a problem for neighborhood tenants.” — Julia Harris

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Running back David Montgomery (32) rushed for 106 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries in the Bears’ 24-14 victory over the Lions on Sunday at Soldier Field. | Kamil Krzaczynski/AP Photos

David Montgomery’s knee injury put a damper on one of the Bears’ most productive running games of the Matt Nagy era. “We’ll keep our fingers crossed,” Nagy said. Damien Williams is likely to start if Montgomery can’t go.

Even Matt Nagy seemed to notice the difference in the Bears’ offense with Bill Lazor calling the plays.

“From the very first play of the game,” the Bears’ head coach said, “you could feel the offensive line, the tight ends, the running back — the energy; the confidence in saying, ‘You know what? We’re going to start this game off the right way.'”

Indeed, the Bears established from the outset that they planned to establish the run against the Lions. The Bears used three tight ends — Cole Kmet, Jimmy Graham and Jesse James — on their first play from scrimmage, a nine-yard run by David Montgomery.

On the next play, yet another tight end, J.P. Holtz, lined up at fullback and Montgomery ran right behind him for a four-yard gain and a first down less than one minute into the game.

That set the tone for a run-heavy game — 39 rushes for 188 yards and three rushing touchdowns. It was the fourth time in Nagy’s four seasons the Bears have rushed for three touchdowns in a game — and three of the four have come with Lazor calling the plays.

The highlight was Montgomery’s nine-yard touchdown run that gave the Bears a 14-0 lead in the second quarter. With receivers Damiere Byrd and Darnell Mooney and tight ends Kmet and James chipping in, Montgomery ran off left tackle and bulled his way in for the final four yards — with literally every offensive player except Fields helping out.

“A couple of those touchdown runs, when you watch the tape, you can really see the finish,” Nagy said. “That’s what I love, when you put that finish on tape and you see how excited the guys are after they score — the juice, the energy, the vibe — that’s what I felt watching the tape last night. I love that part of it. I felt that, and that was important.

We’ll see how much he felt it and how important it is to Nagy when the Bears play the Raiders on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The Bears have struggled to consistently establish the run — for various reasons. Sometimes they’ve come up against a better run defense. Sometimes they fall behind early. Sometimes Nagy just gets distracted.

And sometimes fate gets in the way. Montgomery suffered a knee injury in the fourth quarter against the Lions. NFL Network reported that it was not a torn ACL, but it’s likely Montgomery could miss a few games. Montgomery rushed for 106 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries — including a 24-yard run as the Wildcat quarterback.

Nagy did not have an update and could not rule out the possibility it could be a season-ending injury. Regardless of the severity, Montgomery’s injury comes at a time when he is establishing himself as a heart-and-soul leader on and off the field — in the locker room and as a public face and voice of the franchise.

“With a lot of this offense going through him, I think a lot of you feel it, you see it — his energy; his passion, the way he runs the football,” Nagy said. “The other stuff you guys [reporters] can’t always see is how he is in practice and how focused he is and how he runs that huddle at times. You love that about him.

“So we’ll keep our fingers crossed and see where he’s at. He played a really good game [Sunday]. And he knew going into it that we were going to be leaning on him. But at the same time, it’s the next-man-up mentality. If that’s the case, we’ll get our guys ready. That’s our job as coaches to be able to game plan around that.”

Nagy said Damien Williams would replace Montgomery. Williams also was injured against the Lions, but NFL Network reported that it is a thigh bruise that should not prevent Williams from playing against the Raiders Sunday. Rookie Khalil Herbert likely would be the starter if Williams cannot play.

“Khalil has shown to us from the very first day he got here — he’s very mature, very focused,” Nagy said. “He’s a bright young man. And I think he’s got a bright future.”

Nagy recalled that when he was with the Chiefs in 2017, starting running back Spencer Ware suffered a torn PCL in his right knee in the final preseason game. Third-round rookie Kareem Hunt replaced him — and ended up leading the NFL in rushing with 1,327 yards.

“You just never know where guys are and how they go,” Nagy said. “If that’s the case, we have confidence in [Herbert].”

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Dirksen Federal Courthouse, 219 S. Dearborn St. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times | Sun-Times Media

Justin Hines has been described by the feds as one of the largest agents for the massive, international gambling ring once run by Vincent “Uncle Mick” DelGiudice.

A man described by the feds as one of the largest agents for a massive, international gambling ring pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to his role in the conspiracy.

Justin Hines, 42, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall and faces sentencing Jan. 7. He is the latest person to plead guilty to allegations revolving around the ring run by Vincent “Uncle Mick” DelGiudice.

Several of the eight people charged along with Hines and DelGiudice in a February 2020 gambling indictment have already been sentenced. Charges are still pending against two defendants, Keith Benson and Vasilios Prassas.

The defendants charged in that and a handful of related cases have mostly avoided prison time. Just two of the seven sentenced so far, Chicago Police Officer Nicholas Stella and bookie Gregory Paloian, have been given time behind bars. U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow gave Paloian until August 2022 to report to prison for health reasons.

Another defendant, Mettawa Mayor Casey Urlacher, was pardoned in January by then-President Donald Trump.

DelGiudice pleaded guilty in February but has not been sentenced.

The indictment that charged Hines, DelGiudice and the others alleged that DelGiudice recruited Hines and most of their fellow defendants to work as agents for the gambling ring. DelGiudice ran it through the website unclemicksports.com, paying a company in Costa Rica $10,000 a month for use of the site.

Hines shared winnings and losses with DelGiudice on a 50/50 basis and regularly met with DelGiudice or another agent, Todd Blanken, to discuss the gambling operation and share the winnings, according to Hines’ plea agreement.

Kendall gave Blanken six months of community confinement last June.

Hines admitted in his plea agreement that he told a gambler to pay $26,000 in gambling debts in 2017 and 2018 using cashier’s checks in the name of Corvus Consulting S.A. The gambler then mailed the checks to Hines’ home. In January 2019, Hines also promised to deliver $3,000 meant for DelGiudice to Blanken, and he said he’d give another $600 to $800 to DelGiudice when they met for dinner.

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Bulls rookie Ayo Dosunmu might be buried on the team’s depth chart, but he has time to change minds. | Joe Scarnici/Getty Images

The former Illinois standout is being used as a combo guard through the first week of training camp, but will his toughness and aggression help earn him real minutes when the regular-season games start?

The regular-season depth chart is the bad news for Ayo Dosunmu.

He’s not completely buried on it, but the dirt is at least waist deep.

At the point guard spot, the combo guard is behind the likes of Lonzo Ball, Coby White and Alex Caruso. At the two guard there’s All-Star Zach LaVine, again White and Caruso, and even Troy Brown Jr.

What the rookie should be focused on, however, is he has two more weeks to change minds.

The Bulls start the exhibition season Tuesday night at the United Center, hosting Cleveland and looking to get playing time for a good chunk of the roster.

Second-round rookie selections obviously included.

And while a strong showing in the exhibition season likely won’t be changing positioning in the current rotation, it could go a long way in building trust once the games count. Trust that Dosunmu can see playing time off the bench, and trust that he can be a player that with development has a promising future with his home-team’s organization.

“He’s pretty damned good,” veteran DeMar DeRozan said of Dosunmu, when asked about his camp impressions of the former Morgan Park High School standout. “I remember him in college [at Illinois] as well, watching him play all through the summer league. Very tough, very tough. Creative with the ball, aggressive. Great touch around the rim. His ability to score the ball is amazing. Every single day he goes out there to take on the challenge to go out there and compete. Nothing but high praise for him.”

Praise that could carry weight.

With White still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and possibly another month away from a full return, Dosunmu is one of the candidates to get minutes vacated by White.

Even when White does return and is healthy, injuries happen, so depth at both guard spots will be a necessity.

“I’ve been really impressed with him,” coach Billy Donovan said of Dosunmu. “Not about the way necessarily he’s played, and he’s played well, [but] just his disposition. Just his competitiveness. Just his mindset. The way he throws himself in there, and the way he competes. He’s really, really crafty of being able to get by people and around people and to the rim. I think his three-point shooting will improve as all guys do up here over time.

“But I do think, for me personally, I love guys with that kind of mentality. You know, talking about Alex [Caruso], talking about him, there’s a toughness and a competitiveness to those guys that they’re just not afraid, and I think Ayo’s got that.”

Which could be Dosunmu’s best track into the mix.

It’s safe to say that last year’s Bulls roster didn’t really intimidate opposing teams when it came to the toughness department.

A skillset that was obviously addressed in the offseason make-over.

Caruso, DeRozan and even Ball have reputations as either tough-minded players or tough defenders, and that trait hasn’t been lost on Dosunmu.

Even if it means eventually getting playing time with the G-League Windy City Bulls just to get minutes and stay in game shape, he’s all in for whatever is asked of him.

“Being a rookie this is the best time to absorb as much knowledge as I can because coming right in there’s not going to be much asked of me,” Dosunmu said. “Anything that I want I have to go out and prove each and every day in practice. That’s what I’m trying to do.

“I talk with a lot of guys. I ask a ton of questions, just trying to get better each and every day. That’s all it is. Each and every practice getting in the best shape I can be, being the best teammate I can be because in an 82-game season be ready whenever my number is called.”

No matter how the depth chart reads.

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