What’s New

Patrick Finley, Jason Lieser and Mark Potash debate why exactly Matt Nagy went to Cabo at the same time as Matthew Stafford and make their predictions for Sunday night’s Bears-Rams game.

New episodes of “Halas Intrigue” will be published regularly with accompanying stories collected on the podcast’s hub page. You can also listen to “Halas Intrigue” wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Luminary, Spotify, and Stitcher.

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The pandemic continues to change plans on a moment’s notice. These events were a go as of presstime, but please check listed websites before heading out.

Music

Get Your Groove Back

STAY SMALL

You’ll have no shortage of opportunities to see Kweku Collins live. The 25-year-old rapper, who first gained attention for the self-recorded tracks he made in his bedroom as a teenager in Evanston, is only going to keep getting bigger as he nears the release of his much-anticipated next full-length album.

But you could be running out of time to catch Collins up close in a hyperintimate 100-capacity venue. That’s what’s on the menu for Collins’s fall residency at Lincoln Park’s cozy Golden Dagger, where he and guests are playing four nights, premiering unreleased music from his forthcoming album.

Golden Dagger isn’t an entirely new joint, even though it’s been refreshed and remodeled enough during the pandemic for owner Donnie Biggins to decide it deserved a rebrand. The bar formerly known as Tonic Room has a brand-new stage, reconfigured to improve sightlines and eliminate the L-shaped platform Biggins says created “the most awkward experience for a performer.”

Biggins says he’s committed to making Golden Dagger the most artist-friendly small venue in Chicago, in part by returning 100 percent of ticket sales to the performers. “They didn’t get a [Shuttered Venues Operators Grant], you know? They’ve been out of work; they’re hurting,” says Biggins, who also serves as the talent booker for FitzGerald’s in Berwyn and has been a working musician himself. “That’s our commitment to their recovery.”

Kweku Collins September 30 and October 9, 21, and 30, Golden Dagger, goldendagger.com

GO BIG

Radius, a sprawling music venue in a 55,000-square-foot warehouse conversion in Pilsen, opened in February 2020 — just in time to close for COVID-19. The new hall returned to live programming in June with a slate of EDM giants (Tiësto, DJ Snake) and legacy rock acts. On the latter roster: turn-of-Y2K Chicago pop-punkers Alkaline Trio, who headline a Riot Fest show with Bad Religion.

Alkaline Trio November 13, Radius, radius-chicago.com

Comics

Superfans: Play Dress-up

A superhero, an Autobot, and an Overwatch Assassin walk into a convention center … Oh, you’ve heard this one before? If you’ve ever attended one of Chicago’s two big comic conventions, you know that cosplayers are no joke. At both Wizard World and the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, many fans get decked out in elaborate, often masterfully homemade costumes based on their favorite characters.

Cosplay-watching is one of the highlights of the conventions, which return this fall after a pandemic pause. The costumes could be even more astonishing than usual — these cosplayers have had a lot of downtime to work on their looks.

Wizard World October 15–17, Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, wizardworld.com
C2E2 December 10–12, McCormick Place, c2e2.com

Film

Hit a Drive-in Film Fest

COVID-19 led the city to rediscover the drive-in. Indeed, over the last year and a half, we’ve attempted to enjoy all sorts of culture from our cars: drive-in concerts, drive-in children’s theater, even a drive-through opera. But nothing can top a drive-in movie. Thankfully, the city’s best pop-up drive-in is sticking around. ChiTown Movies, originally a pandemic pivot by Pilsen’s ChiTown Futbol facility to keep its workers employed when indoor sports were off limits, is now a permanent fixture. Check out a full calendar at chitownmovies.com.

OCTOBER HIGHLIGHTS

Asian Pop-Up Cinema Through October 12
Chicago International Film Festival Select screenings run October 13–24.
Halloween family movie nights Late October.

Parade

Haunt the Streets

While it covers part of the same segment of Halsted Street as the Chicago Pride Parade (canceled again this year, due to COVID-19), this long-running neighborhood Halloween celebration is a much more low-key affair — or as low key as any event that features professional fire spinners can be. But the main attractions here are the costumes. With cash prizes for the best scary, cosplay, drag, youth, group, and other costumes, contenders tend to go all-out.

Haunted Halsted Halloween Parade October 31. Halsted from Belmont to Brompton. 6:30 p.m.: contest registration; 7:30 p.m.: parade. Free. northalsted.com/halloween

Big Ideas

Book It to Bronzeville: Black Arts Movement, Considered

An invaluable presenter of eclectic public programming, the Chicago Humanities Festival won’t be producing a full fall festival this year. But the organization is inching back into in-person events around the city, including an enticing “neighborhood hub day” in Bronzeville on October 2. An agenda of book discussions and documentary screenings centering on the Black Arts Movement culminates in a conversation with — and performance by — musician and “beat scientist” Makaya McCraven at the Harold Washington Cultural Center.

Makaya McCraven October 2, Harold Washington Cultural Center, chicagohumanities.org

Theater

The Curtain Rises, Again

Her Honor Jane Byrne opened on March 7, 2020, at Lookingglass Theatre and closed due to COVID-19 restrictions less than a week later. And even while her play was dark, playwright J. Nicole Brooks was still picking up accolades for it: In July, the American Theatre Critics Association announced Her Honor Jane Byrne as the 2020 recipient of its Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award, dubbing it the best new script to have premiered outside of New York City in 2020.

“For me, this play is history joining myth. Because everyone I run into, they’ve all got a Mayor Byrne story,” Brooks told Chicago in December 2019.

Her Honor Jane Byrne is about the city’s first female mayor, and though Byrne appears as a character in the play (portrayed by Brooks’s fellow Lookingglass ensemble member Christine Mary Dunford), it isn’t exactly centered on her. Brooks wanted to take on the 1981 episode in which Mayor Byrne took up residence in the Cabrini-Green housing project.

Brooks, who was a young child in Washington Park at the time, aimed to capture the complicated swirl of reactions to the mayor’s temporary move — from Byrne’s enemies on City Council, to cops on the Cabrini beat, to the project’s full-time residents, to the adults in Brooks’s life who crowded around the TV, asking questions like “Is she crazy?” and “What does she think that’s going to do?”

I saw what turned out to be the play’s final performance before a “pause” that looked like it might never end, and I was frustrated on behalf of everyone involved that more audiences didn’t get to see this richly reimagined slice of Chicago history. Happily, Lookingglass plans a full run.

Her Honor Jane Byrne November 11–December 19, Lookingglass Theatre, lookingglasstheatre.org

ALSO CONSIDER

At Steppenwolf Theatre, Namir Smallwood and Carrie Coon resume their roles in Bug, a revival of a 1996 play by Coon’s husband, Tracy Letts. The play’s conspiracy theorist themes stand to be even more resonant now.

Bug November 11–December 12, Steppenwolf Theatre, steppenwolf.org

Heidi Schreck’s play What the Constitution Means to Me will be back at the Broadway Playhouse. Schreck’s cheekily autobiographical work examines the country’s blind spots around race and gender.

What the Constitution Means to Me October 26–November 21, Broadway Playhouse, broadwayinchicago.com

Comedy

After Last Year, Who Doesn’t Need a Laugh?

GO BIG

Feeling vaxxed and relaxed? Catch a big name at the grand old Chicago Theatre. State Street’s crown jewel has returned to its full capacity of 3,600, and several standups worth seeing will be taking the stage. Our top pick: Hasan Minhaj. The Indian American comic and former Daily Show correspondent brings his new tour, The King’s Jester, to the city for four shows across two nights. The last time Minhaj was here, in 2018, he was trying out material for his Peabody Award–winning TV series Patriot Act.

Hasan Minhaj October 1–2, Chicago Theatre, msg.com/chicagotheatre
Also Consider Jo Koy, October 15–17; Mike Birbiglia, November 4; Chelsea Handler, November 12

STAY SMALL

The delightfully peculiar Maria Bamford returns to Wicker Park’s 200-seat Den Theatre for six shows, October 14–17 (thedentheatre.com); Matt Braunger stops on his Out of the House Tour at Schubas Tavern on November 19 (lh-st.com); and Ronny Chieng (The Daily Show, Crazy Rich Asians) comes to Thalia Hall on December 5 (thaliahallchicago.com).

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A person was being questioned by police after a 15-year-old girl was shot in the leg inside a Fernwood home on the South Side Thursday afternoon.

The girl was shot around 2:45 p.m. in the 10000 block of South Lafayette Avenue by someone who approached her, pulled out a gun and fired, Chicago police said.

She was transported to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in good condition, police said.

Detectives were questioning a person of interest.

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The second half of the Cubs season has been a whirlwind and after the trade deadline brought a significant amount of roster turnover, it looked like the Cubs would be in for a long final two months. Things started out rough and headed toward rock bottom, including the team’s second 11-game losing streak of the season.

But after the long losing streak ended, something happened. The Cubs’ group of unknowns and first-time major leaguers began to show life and started playing good baseball in the process.

Guys like Frank Schwindel, Rafael Ortega and Patrick Wisdom had never had success in the big leagues before this season. The success they are having is not only having a positive impact on the team, but as individuals who want to continue to make a name for themselves and potentially be part of the team’s plans in 2022.

“The best way to press forward is to continue to push guys who are playing really well and that’s not their ceiling,” interim manager Andy Green said. “As long as the guys are climbing, they’re not trying to just hold their ground and there’s a huge psychological advantage in that. So anybody that has accomplished what a few of our guys have accomplished in the last month or last week, there’s always more and as long as you’re hungry for more and pushing for more, you’re more concerned about your trajectory than you are your legacy.

“These guys, like there is no legacy here. So they’ve got a long way to go. You know, there was a legacy for the group that came before for Willson [Contreras] and Kyle [Hendricks]. But other than those few guys, these guys need to establish something and so they’re just pushing forward. And that’s the healthiest way to go.”

The success of guys like Wisdom, Ortega and the latest offensive outburst from Schwindel hasn’t just affected the Cubs’ win total. But it’s been getting the attention of the team’s veteran players and despite being out of contention for the first time in a long time, the vibe in the clubhouse hasn’t been one of a beaten team.

”I know I said in an earlier interview that we have really good talent because I see that,” catcher Willson Contreras said. “And the way they’re playing right now is nothing but amazing. . . . I haven’t felt this energy in a really long time.”

It would have been easy for the players who remained after the deadline to do their own thing. But once the dust cleared from the team’s trades, the Cubs have played some of their best baseball since they were back in first place in June.

They’ve also been one of the league’s best offensive teams recently, scoring 4.9 runs per game and ranking fifth in MLB with 44 homers over the last month.

“From day one with this group at the trade deadline, I feel like all of us kind of came into the same situation together,” right fielder Jason Heyward said. “We were all kind of a bit of a whirlwind. The guys that have been here from the beginning to now and the guys that have come aboard, this has been awesome to watch their work, watch their preparation, watch us help each other grow.

“This is the first time in my career being in that position to play spoiler. And, it’s a lot of fun playing good baseball, of course, but we have some incentive to do it and go out there together. So it’s really nice to see results.”

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Bidders for two new suburban casinos will get one last chance to put their best hands together next month in hopes of landing the lucrative, long-sought gambling licenses.

More than two years after casinos were authorized for Waukegan and the south suburbs as part of a sprawling gaming expansion, state regulators on Thursday laid out the clearest timeline yet for issuing those coveted licenses.

Four applicants for the south suburban license and three for Waukegan will make public presentations of their proposals at a special Oct. 13 meeting of the Illinois Gaming Board, which could give initial approvals to the winning projects by mid-January.

Gaming Board Administrator Marcus Fruchter said the presentations will help in “narrowing the field down to three finalists” for the south suburban gambling house, as required under the Illinois gambling law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in June of 2019.

The Waukegan field is already down to three bidders, but those developers will also have a chance to “explain why each would be suitable for licensure,” Fruchter said during a board meeting Thursday.

The eventual six total finalists will then make their “best and final offers” for the licenses in a competitive bidding process, according to Fruchter. Winners could get the early green light to start breaking ground by the second week of January.

That’ll mark two and a half years since Pritzker’s signature created the suburban licenses in a package that promises to nearly double the number of places to bet across the state.

“I understand COVID made delays, but that’s an awfully slow process. That’s a snail’s pace,” said state Rep. Anthony DeLuca, a Chicago Heights Democrat who wrote a letter to Pritzker last month calling on him to “spur IGB into action.” The letter was also signed by Blue Island state Rep. Bob Rita, who shepherds all gaming legislation in Springfield.

State Rep. Bob Rita (right) chats with Marcus Fruchter, administrator of the Illinois Gaming Board, during the public opening of BetRivers Sportsbook in Des Plaines in March 2020.Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

“It’s disappointing that the fact we have a date in October — still more than a month away — is exciting progress. At least now we have substantive information showing that the process is moving along,” DeLuca said.

Fruchter, who has blamed the pandemic for the licensing delays, said the Gaming Board is doing its best to pick winners “in an ethical, expeditious, transparent, independent and thorough manner.”

At the same time, his perennially understaffed agency has also been tasked with vetting other new casino applicants while also policing an expansion in video gaming and building the framework of Illinois’ entirely new legal sports betting industry from the ground up.

Pritzker, who is counting on the new gambling tax revenue to help fund an ambitious $45 billion capital infrastructure plan, has stayed out of the fray.

The suburban applications were delayed further earlier this year as the Gaming Board struggled to find a consultant to handle the bidding process.

Guests play roulette at Excalibur Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas last year. Casino developers will make their final pitches next month for licenses in Waukegan and Chicago’s south suburbs.Getty

The agency has already given preliminary approvals to new casinos in Rockford and downstate Williamson County, as well as at Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney and at the Fairmount Park racetrack near East St. Louis. None of those selections had to go through competitive bidding.

But the Waukegan and south suburban processes are still well ahead of the crown jewel of the 2019 gaming expansion: the newly authorized Chicago mega-casino. After a tepid response from major casino corporations, Mayor Lori Lightfoot pushed back the city’s application deadline to Oct. 29. It’ll be months before the city picks a developer, let alone advances a proposal to the Gaming Board.

Yet another new casino is in the pipeline in Danville, but they’re behind schedule too, with a new application following an initial bid that fell apart last year.

The Waukegan applicants include a group led by billionaire Neil Bluhm’s Rush Street Gaming, which already runs the state’s biggest existing gambling cash cow, Rivers Casino in Des Plaines. Bluhm is also weighing a bid for the Chicago casino.

His Waukegan proposal is up against bids from Las Vegas-based developer Full House Resorts and Lakeside Casino LLC, a company led by former Grayslake state Sen. Michael Bond, who already has his own video gaming company.

The four south suburban proposals, each backed by their respective suburban host, come from Calumet City, Lynwood, Matteson and a site that straddles the border of Homewood and East Hazel Crest.

“This will create jobs and economic opportunity for families,” said DeLuca, who added that he doesn’t have a horse in the race. “That’s what this is about. Not creating new gamblers, but getting people who are spending $100 right across the border in Indiana to stimulate the economy here, where it’s needed so badly.”

The special Gaming Board meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 13 and will be open to the public. It’s not yet known if the meeting will be held in person or streamed online, as has been the case for most of the pandemic.

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NEW YORK — She was an unsuspecting radio station intern in 2003 when she pursued what she thought would be a career-making interview with a R&B superstar — R. Kelly.

Instead, she had a horrific experience while locked in a darkened room for days, she’s now testified years later in lurid detail. She said she still lives with a strong belief she was drugged and violated by Kelly while she was unconscious.

“I was sexually assaulted,” the woman told jurors on Thursday at Kelly’s sex-trafficking trial. “It wasn’t something I invited.”

The witness, who testified without using her real name, became the latest in a string of accusers to take the witness stand against Kelly since the trial began in New York City on Aug. 18.

Kelly, 54, has repeatedly denied accusations that he led a criminal enterprise that sexually exploited women, girls and even boys during a 30-year career highlighted by his anthem “I Believe I Can Fly.” His lawyers have portrayed his accusers as groupies who are lying about their relationships with him.

Publicly recounting her experience with Kelly for the first time, the former radio intern said she was a 21-year-old single mother from Salt Lake City when she got up the nerve to approach Kelly’s entourage about an interview.

“It would have been my very first huge celebrity interview,” said the witness, now 39. “I thought it would kickstart my career.”

She was invited to fly to Chicago and meet Kelly at his “Chocolate Factory” music studio, all paid for by the Grammy-winning recording artist. There, she was greeted by someone who made her sign a non-disclosure agreement, demanded personal information about her family and surprised her by asking if she “needed protection” — specifically, a condom, she testified.

“No, I’m not here for that,” she responded.

She was told to wait alone for Kelly in a windowless room. When she tried to step out, she discovered that the door was locked from the outside and that, after banging on the door with no response, she needed permission from Kelly to go to the bathroom or anywhere else, she said.

“I was scared. I was ashamed. I was embarrassed,” she said.

The witness claimed two days passed before she was finally given something to eat — Chinese takeout and a soda. After only a few bites and sips from her meal, she passed out on a couch, she said.

She awoke to find that someone had taken off all her clothes and felt “wet stuff” between her legs and on her thighs, she said. She also spotted Kelly in the corner pulling up his pants, she said, making clear to her he had assaulted her.

Kelly left the room, saying he would be back soon, she said, the last time she saw him. What felt like another few days had passed before she was given a flight home, she said.

She said on the way out of the studio, an employee warned her to keep her mouth shut about what had happened. The way it was put: “Don’t f— with Mr. Kelly.” She took it as a potential threat against her child and family.

As he has with other accusers, defense attorney Deveraux Cannick pressed the witness on why it took several years for her to come forward with her accusations. He noted too her admission that she had a cell phone when she alleges she was locked in the room.

“Did you call 911? After you were raped, according to you, you didn’t call 911?” Deveraux asked on cross-examination.

“That’s correct,” she responded.

Another woman who testified on Thursday was someone who appeared on a sequel to a widely watched documentary series — “Surviving R. Kelly” — that portrayed him as a sexual predator. She has described having a tumultuous relationship with him but hasn’t accused him of any crimes.

The government instead was seeking to use her to corroborate testimony from other accusers that Kelly used spankings and other discipline to make women he was allegedly exploiting stay in line over months or years.

“It was fun in the beginning,” she said of her time with him. However, she said, it later became “controlling.”

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Bronco Mendenhall hopes the idea that his team practices early in the morning will help on Saturday when they face Illinois with a rare 10 a.m. start to the game, which will be carried on ACC Network.

“We’re an early morning practice team, and so really this fits our normal routine in terms of when we practice,” Mendenhall said. “So I wouldn’t anticipate — man, I’m hopeful it won’t affect us much in terms of our normal routine.”

First-year Fighting Illini coach Bret Bielema is hoping his team’s routine also aligns well with the early start, but also laments that that’s not the only similarity he finds when comparing the Cavaliers’ program with his own.

In Mendenhall’s first game at Virginia in 2016, the Cavaliers lost 37-20 to Richmond of the Football Championship Subdivision. Bielema’s team won its opener, 30-22 over Nebraska, but lost 37-30 last week to UTSA, also an FCS program. This will be their first road game of the season.

“I thought about as a coach in transition here, I had to endure that on Saturday,” Bielema said. “And as much as I didn’t like it. You don’t appreciate it. Don’t understand it. Don’t want to accept it. It’s real. It happened. And if I ignore it like it never happened, it’s never going to be something you can learn from.”

Mendenhall moved many of the Cavaliers’ operations into Scott Stadium after the Richmond loss, feeling that his team didn’t seem as comfortable as he would have expected on their home field, and Virginia no longer has that problem. They’ve won 18 of their last 20 home games, including last week’s 43-0 victory against William & Mary in their season opener.

Bielema isn’t sure how his team will respond, but said “the greatest crime we can ever commit was to have that loss not to amount to learning forward,” and film study has been key to that learning process. “I think it’s just a constant as a head coach is pointing out good football and correcting bad football.”

Some other things to watch for when Illinois plays at Virginia:

GAME TIME DECISION

The Fighting Illini may have starting quarterback Brandon Peters back, but Bielema said Artur Sitkowski, a transfer from Rutgers, will start. Peters hurt his non-throwing shoulder against the Cornhuskers. Sitkowski was 22 for 42 for 266 yards with three touchdown passes against UTSA.

STRETCHING THE D

The Illini used some stretch runs with success against Nebraska, and that’s an approach that North Carolina State used effectively against the Cavaliers last year. “It has been an emphasis and a target for us, so hopefully we’ve improved,” Mendenhall said.

FIRST TIME

The Cavaliers and Illinois have played twice previously, both times in bowl games, and the Illini won both. This game marks Illinois’ first road game against a nonconference Power-5 team since they faced North Carolina in 2015.

BIG LEG

James McCourt made field goals of 52 and 53 yards in the loss to UTSA, giving him six from 50 yards or more for his career. He’s the first Illini placekicker in program history to hit two field goals from at least 50 yards in the same game.

BIG NUMBERS

The Cavaliers gained 545 yards against the Tribe and have topped 500 yards in their last three home games. They gained 518 yards against Abilene Christian on Nov. 21 and 549 against Boston College in last year’s home finale.

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Chicagoans should be required to show proof they have been vaccinated against the coronavirus before entering “public indoor settings,” including restaurants, bars, movie theaters, concert halls and gyms, a group of aldermen said Thursday.

The surprise safety recommendation was made by eight members of the City Council’s Committee on Health and Human Relations in a letter to Chicago Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady.

The letter was signed by two of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s staunchest and most powerful City Council supporters: Finance Committee Chairman Scott Waguespack (32nd) and Ethics Committee Chairman Michele Smith (43rd).

Joining them were Aldermen: Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th); Rosanna Rodriguez-Sanchez (33rd); Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th); Andre Vasquez (40th); Matt Martin (47th) and Maria Hadden (49th).

Attendees at Lollapalooza in Grant Park were required to show proof of vaccination or of a negative COVID-19 test before entering the music festival.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Lightfoot and Arwady have encouraged businesses, restaurants, entertainment venues and stadiums to require proof of vaccination.

The Bulls and Blackhawks answered the call by announcing that fans will be required to show proof of vaccine before entering games at the United Center, which is jointly owned by the two teams.

But the mayor has, so far, been unwilling to follow New York City’s lead by imposing a citywide requirement, particularly on restaurants that were twice forced to close their indoor dining rooms during the pandemic and endure capacity limits in between.

In Thursday’s letter to Arwady, the aldermen cited four factors in demanding a vaccine mandate: the “uncontrolled community transmission” of the Delta variant; the threat of new variants; fall and winter weather that will “drive Chicagoans indoors” and “free and readily-available” vaccines that have now have been fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Hotel will continue as sanctuary for infected, respite for first responders

Also on Thursday, the Council’s Committee on Budget and Government Operations agreed to extend for up to three months an alternative housing agreement with the Hotel Julian.

In March 2020, the Julian was one of four Chicago hotels owned by Oxford Capital Group LLC that agreed to rent rooms to isolate patients who tested positive for the coronavirus or had been exposed to someone who had and provide a “sanctuary for first responders.”

The four hotels joined a network of hotel rooms intended to ease the strain on overburdened hospitals.

The new agreement calls for the city to rent 175 rooms at the Hotel Julian for one month with the option for a pair of 30-day extensions. The $540,000-a-month deal — including three meals per day and support services — will be bankrolled by FEMA, aldermen were told.

Maura McCauley, deputy commissioner of homeless services for the city’s Department of Family and Support Services, said the Julian will continue serving as a “de-compression shelter for single men experiencing homelessness” who are at “higher risk” because they are “older and health vulnerable.”

“We worked through the summer to support our shelter system returning to normal and bringing beds safely back to the system as the city reopened. However, some of our large congregate shelters are unable to bring all of their beds back to pre-COVID capacity and still implement the public health guidance, leaving our shelter system [short] of full capacity and with a gap in beds,” McCauley told aldermen.

“There are still 29 men staying at Julian and, due to the Delta variant and the latest positivity rates, we do need to continue to operate a version of alternate shelters. … Looking ahead to November as the contract ends, DFSS will continue to work on the next phase of alternate shelter options to continue supporting temporary beds through the winter. … We’re also working to connect residents of the hotel with permanent housing options.”

Indicted Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th) asked whether the city had considered acquiring the Julian instead. He was told Oxford Capital was “not looking to sell” the hotel, but the city was “looking at other locations.”

“We’re definitely interested in what is happening nationally with communities acquiring hotels and motels, using them for a temporary purpose during the pandemic, then eventually developing them into permanent housing down the road,” McCauley said.

“That’s something we’re working with the Department of Housing on in terms of conceptualizing and getting it moving.”

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A 19-year-old South Shore man was ordered held without bail Thursday for allegedly killing a man he was buying a gun from over the Labor Day weekend.

Surveillance cameras recorded Daveon Houston when he left his apartment Sunday afternoon in the 7800 block of South Clyde Avenue to meet with Peter Lee Jackson Jr. in a nearby alley, Cook County prosecutors said.

Surveillance cameras nearby recorded, Jackson, 20, opening a bag he was carrying and Houston reaching inside and taking out a gun that he placed in his waistband, prosecutors said.

Jackson opened the bag again and reached in before taking out a firearm magazine and a white box that contained ammunition for the gun, prosecutors said. Authorities were able to conclude the white box had ammunition inside based on text messages the men exchanged, prosecutors said.

Daveon HoustonChicago police

The two men eventually walked back to Jackson’s red Ford Focus that was parked near Houston’s apartment. Jackson got into the front seat and Houston got into a rear passenger seat, prosecutors said.

Surveillance video, though grainy, showed Houston lifting his hand up behind Jackson’s head inside the car while other surveillance cameras recorded audio of two gunshots, prosecutors said. Jackson’s head then is seen on video going limp and his body slumped over inside the car, prosecutors said.

Afterward, Houston went to the driver’s seat and appeared to search Jackson’s body before running back to his apartment, prosecutors said.

Chicago police officers found Jackson shot twice in the head and pronounced him dead at the scene, officials said. Two 9-mm shell casings were recovered.

After obtaining a search warrant for Houston’s apartment, investigators found a 9-mm handgun inside that matched the bullet casings found near Jackson’s body, as well as a .40-caliber handgun, prosecutors said.

While in custody, Houston identified himself in photos taken from the surveillance recordings and admitted to buying and taking the gun from Jackson, which he said he planned to pay for via Apple Pay, prosecutors said.

Houston told detectives his phone was having problems sending the money and he gave the gun back to Jackson, who started to load it, prosecutors said. Believing Jackson was going to rob him, Houston allegedly said he grabbed the gun, causing it to fire and strike Jackson.

Houston was subsequently charged with first-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon.

Jackson was one of six people killed in gun violence in Chicago over the holiday weekend. At least 61 others were wounded.

Houston has been working for a landscaping company owned by a relative to support his son, an assistant public defender said.

He is expected back in court Sept. 28.

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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 sunny with a high near 76 degrees. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low around 57. Tomorrow will be sunny with a high near 81.

Top story

Historic treasures offer journey back in time at Claude Barnett, Etta Moten Barnett estate sale

With such a treasure trove of history, it was a matter of time before museums swooped in.

And now a fourth of the Bronzeville estate of Associated Negro Press Founder Claude A. Barnett and his legendary actress/socialite wife Etta Moten Barnett is en route to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

That leaves plenty remaining for this estate sale to be conducted Sept. 18-19, at an undisclosed Bronzeville location. Offering a journey back in time — and a peek at lives once considered Black royalty — the sale is being handled by Estate Sale Goddess, a rare Black-owned firm operating in the lucrative estate liquidation industry.

There are the Swarovski, Waterford and Cartier crystal, the diamonds, gold and Tiffany; St. John, Prada, Yves St. Laurent and other designer haute couture of decades past.

But then there’s the never before seen ephemera and historic artifacts of a trailblazing couple, handed down through two subsequent generations.

“This is the most important collection that we have ever seen in our lives, and we don’t know if we will ever top this,” Lynne McDaniel said of the treasures that once filled the Barnett/Ish family’s three-story Victorian mansion on South King Drive.

Maudlyne Ihejirika has more on the Barnetts’ legacy and the upcoming estate sale.

More news you need

The mayor of suburban Crestwood, Louis Presta, intends to plead guilty to charges in his federal red-light camera bribery case, a lawyer for Presta told a judge in court today. The guilty plea would scuttle a trial that’s set to begin in early December.

With nearly $11 million in donations from West Coast supporters, San Francisco venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan officially entered the Republican race for Illinois governor today. Sullivan, 37, is the latest — and so far, best-funded — Republican to announce a challenge to Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

The Rev. David Ryan has been reinstated as pastor at St. Francis de Sales Parish and School in Lake Zurich after an independent archdiocese investigation determined decades-old allegations of child abuse were unfounded. Ryan was asked to step away from pastoral duties last November following accusations he sexually abused minors about 25 years ago.

The Chicago Police Department increased its nightly police presence in River North last weekend after a recent uptick in violent crime prompted an outcry from community leaders, residents and business owners. In a press conference yesterday announcing the new initiative, police said the increased presence will be permanent.

A federal judge today gave six months of community confinement to Matthew Knight, a key player in a large-scale, international gambling ring based around Chicago. He is the sixth person to be sentenced in a series of related gambling cases filed in Chicago’s federal court since early 2020.

A New York museum is collecting meaningful artifacts, aiming to ensure that the nearly 3,000 people who died in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 won’t be forgotten. Among those remembered is Chicago trader Andrea Haberman, who was 25 and on a business trip in New York City that day, the Associated Press reports.

A bright one

Latest book lets novelist Colson Whitehead ‘have a bit more fun’

The 36th Printers Row Lit Fest, which is scheduled to kick off Saturday, will include novelist Colson Whitehead’s first public appearance since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whitehead, who has written 10 novels including the Pulitzer Prize-winning works “The Underground Railroad” and “The Nickel Boys,” is co-headlining this year’s event with award-winning journalist and novelist Dawn Turner. (Other panelists and speakers include Sun-Times editorial board member Lee Bey.)

“I’m excited,” said Whitehead. “I’m excited for the new book, and being in Chicago. I love Chicago for a lot of events, but I haven’t been in the last couple years, so I think it’s a great place to return to doing events.”

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Colson Whitehead says Chicago is “a great place to return to doing events” amid COVID-19.Chris Close

Whitehead’s latest creation, “Harlem Shuffle” (Penguin Random House, $28.95), comes out Sept. 14. It’s set in 1960s New York, where a furniture salesman named Ray Carney, who is descendant of a thief, is involved in a crime saga.

As for the lit fest, all programs are hosted in tents and indoor venues; masks are required and guests over the age of 12 will be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test result from the previous 48 hours, along with a valid photo ID.

The festival encourages guests to adhere to CDC-mandated social distancing or to wear masks whenever that is not possible.

Read more from Evan F. Moore’s conversation with Whitehead here.

From the press box

Your daily question ?

How did Sept. 11, 2001 change your life?

Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you: What’s some of the best advice you’ve ever received? Here’s what some of you said…

“Look out for #1 and don’t step in #2.” — Greg LaVeau

“Two actually: When you know better, do better. Release the idea that things could’ve been any other way.” — Peg Dusza

“The best advice I’ve ever received was from my late Grandfather: ‘Follow your dreams and you will find happiness.'” — Erika Hoffmann

“When I became a mom for the first time, my mother gave me advice I’m still using 24 years later: ‘Talk to your kid, listen to what she says, and don’t be afraid to admit you are not perfect.'” — Oneda Cushman

“‘Keep your friendships in good repair.’ My grandpa used to say it and he was right.” — Michael R Butz

“You can learn something from everyone, so long as you listen.” — George Curran

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