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The collection of mini-parks and lime-green benches that line the curbs along West 75th Street drew the attention of national urban design experts last fall and reenergized Chatham’s “Restaurant Row” into a South Side social scene.

Since the 75th Street Boardwalk was installed in September, it has received multiple national awards for design and planning, and businesses along the strip reported boosts in sales during events hosted by the Greater Chatham Initiative. Vice President Kamala Harris even dropped by for a slice of cake from the Brown Sugar Bakery in April and commented on the business’ bright green booths, owner Stephanie Hart said.

“The boardwalk is special. Kamala Harris is someone who has spent time in Black communities all over the country,” Hart said. “She noticed it was something different.”

But then two months later, the boardwalk got unwanted attention.

On the morning of June 12, a pair of masked gunmen stepped out of an alley near the neighborhood’s most famous establishment, Lem’s Bar-B-Q, and opened fire into a crowd of hundreds that had gathered for an impromptu block party. Kimfier Miles, a 29-year-old mother of three, was killed and nine others were wounded.

Soon, rumors circulated that the boardwalk would be torn down. But that won’t be happening.

By the end of the month, organizers will remove the plywood “parklets” so they can be replaced with portable units for the seasonal “Boardwalk 2.0,” Nedra Sims-Fears, executive director of the Greater Chatham Initiative, said.

“We are bringing the boardwalk back,” Fears Sims said. “We cannot let it be the case that we say ‘Too many people are coming to the boardwalk, so the boardwalk needs to go away.'”

Local businesses and the GCI hosted family-friendly weekend events boosted sales amid the pandemic malaise. But after hours, nighttime throngs of hundreds descended on 75th Street, creating a free-form party that included massive portable speakers, outdoor grills, coolers of drinks and a distinct Mardi Gras vibe.

For weeks in the early spring and summer, the gatherings were raucous, but safe. A popular Instagram account featured a picture of a crowd clogging the street on June 6 with the caption: “They had 75th St last night looking like Vegas. No shooting, no fighting. #ChicagoIsOpen #SummerTimeChi“

Carmen Lemons, whose family has operated Lem’s Bar-B-Q, at 311 E 75th St., since the late 1960s, grew concerned by the crowds. Lem’s always has line of customers during business hours — which used to extend to 3 a.m.– and has never had seating for diners. Allowing massive, late-night gatherings was inviting chaos, Lemons said.

“In this day and time, it’s not safe to have a crowd like that. It’s a chance for something bad to happen,” she said. “Please don’t say I am against the boardwalk. But we’re not the North Side. Very seldom do people eat at the curbside on the South Side.”

Marlon Mitchell, whose family has operated Frances’ Cocktail Lounge next door to Lem’s for more than 50 years, said that a more watchful police presence has prevented similar crowds from forming as they did before the shooting. He believes that the gatherings could have been made manageable.

“Police are here now, they’re involved,” Mitchell said. “But they were three or four weeks too late.”

The 75th Boardwalk was a pilot of sorts for the city’s Chicago Al Fresco program, which offered funding for restaurants and businesses in working-class neighborhoods on the South and West sides to install or expand outdoor dining and community space, said Robert Fotjick, senior director of neighborhood strategy for Choose Chicago.

The Al Fresco program will bring similar portable parklets to Little Village, South Shore, Belmont-Cragin and other neighborhoods that have higher levels of violent crime, and that’s by design, Fotjick said. The same neighborhoods could benefit from outdoor spaces that foster community, he said.

“[After the shooting], there was never any thought of pulling back on our side,” Fotjick said about the 75th Street Boardwalk. “Unfortunately, gun violence is a reality in Chicago and other major cities….We need to find ways to create vibrancy in those communities.”

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A 9-year-old boy was hit in the arm by crossfire Friday afternoon on the Far South Side, just around the corner from where his father was killed in a mass shooting four years ago.

Derwin Moore Jr. – called DJ by his family — was leaving a corner store with his mother and two siblings in the 400 block of East 111th Street when gunfire erupted around 12:10 p.m., hitting him and a 22-year-old man, according to police.

“We were caught in a massive crossfire,” said the boy’s mother, Ashley Van, 30, fighting back tears. “I’m just grateful to God because that’s who saved my child. I’m just thankful my baby made it.”

Police said they were looking for two gunmen who stepped out of a gray Dodge Durango and opened fire.

DJ was in good condition at Comer Children’s Hospital, police said. The man was shot in the ankle and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in fair condition, officials said.

Another family member said the boy was “doing okay. He’s scared. He’s a playful boy, likes to go swimming and record YouTube videos. He’s just a regular kid.”

DJ and his siblings have a YouTube channel, Moore Family CMG, where they upload prank videos, dances, gameplays, and reactions, according to the family.

As relatives waited outside the Friday, they talked about a shooting in 2017 in almost the exact same place that took the life of the boy’s father, Derwin Moore Sr.

Moore, 35, was standing with three other men near his home in the 11000 block of South Eberhart Avenue early on July 5 when several gunmen opened fire from a passing black SUV, according to police.

Moore and another man were killed, and the two other men were wounded in the wrist and arm.

His son is the fourth young child to be shot in Chicago this week.

Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), right, speaks with Chicago Police Department officials after a 9-year-old boy and a man were both shot Friday afternoon in the 400 block of East 111th Street in Roseland.Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

On Wednesday night, a 7-year-old boy was shot while sitting in a parked car with his mother in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood, according to Chicago police. He was hit in the abdomen but was stabilized at a hospital.

On Sunday afternoon, a 7-year-old girl was killed and her 6-year-old sister seriously wounded shortly before 3 p.m. in the 6200 block of West Grand Avenue.

“Unfortunately we’re out here again,” said Ald. Anthony Beale, whose 9th Ward covers the block where Friday’s shooting took place. “Another kid being shot with senseless gun violence here in the city of Chicago.”

The alderman blamed Supt. David Brown for diverting officers to the downtown and leaving his community more vulnerable. Beale said the 5th police district, which includes his ward, is down 120 officers.

“There’s no way we can continue to fight crime with those numbers,” he told reporters at the scene. Beale said other areas of the city are experiencing the same problems “except downtown.”

“Treat me like I’m downtown here in the community,” he said. “Treat the rest of the city like we’re downtown.”

Sun-Times photographer Patricia Nabong contributed

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Authorities should be wary of using ShotSpotter, a detection system that alerts police to gunshots, as the heart of criminal cases against individuals.

Police use bloodhounds to help find evidence at crime scenes, but Illinois courts don’t allow handlers to interpret what the dogs were thinking on the scene. Similarly, ShotSpotter is useful when it quickly directs police to gunfire, but using it in court as definitive evidence of where a shot was fired raises red flags.

Accused individuals have a constitutional right to cross-examine their accusers. But, just as with bloodhounds, they can’t cross-examine ShotSpotter or do their own analysis of its data. ShotSpotter’s forensic analysts submit a report based on a deeper dive into data gathered by the surveillance equipment, but the company that owns ShotSpotter keeps its algorithm secret.

A Chicago man, Michael Williams, was in jail for almost a year after prosecutors based a murder case against him on data from ShotSpotter. In July, a judge dismissed the case after prosecutors said they had insufficient evidence. The case against him had rested on video of a car driving through an intersection and data from ShotSpotter that pinpointed that as the spot where a gun was fired in the car. ShotSpotter says it told prosecutors its evidence was not sufficient to support the theory of the crime because its system does not work indoors, including inside a car.

ShotSpotter can turn up useful evidence if police arriving on a scene find witnesses or shell casings, even if the shooting has stopped before they get there and the shooters are gone. Police say ShotSpotter is often on target. But until independent, peer-reviewed double-blind studies confirm the accuracy of ShotSpotter, its ability to pinpoint exactly where a shot took place is not irrefutable evidence that should be the foundation of a criminal court case. Yet ShotSpotter evidence has been admitted in about 200 court cases in 20 states.

ShotSpotter says it provides an important service because 80% to 90% of the time residents don’t bother to report gunfire, which normalizes gunplay on the streets, while SpotSpotter flags almost 100%. But ShotSpotter is unpopular among activists who say it is inaccurate and that money spent on the alarm system could be used in more productive ways. On Thursday, activists in Englewood protested against the city’s decision to extend its $33 million ShotSpotter contract for two years.

The late University of Illinois Chicago School of Law professor Melvin Lewis used to say that too often the only standard courts set for forensic evidence was that it be incriminating to the defendant. We need a higher standard for ShotSpotter.

Send letters to [email protected].

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It didn’t take Lonzo Ball very long to learn the true business-side of basketball.

Some lessons came easy like when Los Angeles selected the hometown kid No. 2 overall back in the 2017 NBA Draft.

Some may have felt more like a punch to the chest, first with being traded from those same Lakers after just two seasons, and then being a part of a sign-and-trade that sent the point guard from New Orleans to the Bulls last month.

In Ball’s world, however, it’s just the plan. It’s a wave that a player has very little control of, so why not jump on it and enjoy the ride?

“I mean the way I live my life I think everything happens for a reason and everything plans out the way it’s supposed to plan out, so I think at this point in my life it was time to be a Chicago Bull,” Ball said last week, when discussing his departure from the Pelicans. “I’m happy to be in Chicago. Obviously I got good vibes from the guys over there in New Orleans and stuff, it could have worked out, but like I said everything works out for a reason.”

And it very well may for Ball. But the NBA loves a good storyline, so in releasing the 2021-22 regular season schedule on Friday, that was definitely not be lost on the Association.

After a busy offseason in which the Bulls added not only Ball, but veteran scorer DeMar DeRozan, and defensive pest Alex Caruso, the Bulls will try and match the hype surrounding the new look, tipping off the year in Detroit on Oct. 20. But it’s the home opener at the United Center two nights later that goes down as an early game to keep eyes on, as the Bulls host Ball’s former team when the Pelicans come to town.

Yes, Zion Williamson is a must-see attraction, but it will also be a chance for Ball to show New Orleans’ brass that it made a mistake in not considering him a core piece, as well as the Bulls getting reacquainted with Tomas Satoransky and Garrett Temple, who were sent in a package for Ball.

An early-season test for both teams without question, but not the only circle-the-calendar games to keep an eye on for the Bulls.

Oct. 28 – Knicks at Bulls – Anytime former coach Tom Thibodeau comes backs to Chicago it’s an event, and he always seems to be bringing a few familiar faces with him. It will be yet another return home for Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson, who still hold a place in the city’s heart.

More importantly, Thibodeau and the Knicks are potentially one of the teams in the Eastern Conference that the Bulls could be jockeying for playoff position with if everything goes as planned. They are a hard-playing group, and will give the Bulls an early indicator of just how tough they’ve become since last season.

Nov. 15 – Bulls at Lakers – Yes, the Caruso homecoming game will be interesting, but not as much as the Bulls getting a taste of what NBA elite is supposed to look like.

Los Angeles is again a favorite to represent the Western Conference in the Finals, and if healthy will show the Bulls just where the bar is set.

Dec. 11 – Bulls at Heat – The Heat will be the ultimate hard-hat team this upcoming season, testing opposing offenses on a nightly basis. Jimmy Butler & Co. are in Chicago a few weeks earlier, so it will be a second meeting, but this time in Miami on a Saturday.

Anyone that knows the league also knows that South Beach and everything that goes on there on a Friday night is almost undefeated.

Mar. 18 – Bulls at Suns – The Suns were a young team on the come-up that became infused with championship potential with a coaching change and then a capable point guard. The Bulls are trying to mimic that model.

Sure, Ball is no Chris Paul, but the hope is the Bulls can still make that jump and start making noise in the East.

April 6 – Celtics at Bulls – The regular season ends with the Bulls playing five home games at the United Center before the finale at Minnesota. All five will be a challenge, but Boston could be a team the Bulls are neck-and-neck with at the time, so this meeting could have serious seeding consequences.

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Chicagoans seemed to be on board Friday with the city reinstating an indoor mask mandate – and Cook County residents will be under a similar requirement starting Monday.

County health officials announced that all individuals will be required to wear a mask indoor in multi-unit residential buildings and public places, such as restaurants, movie theaters, retail establishments, fitness clubs and on public transportation. Businesses have been ordered to post signs.

“We have no choice but to mandate that people wear masks indoors to help contain this spread of the virus,” Dr. Rachel Rubin, co-lead and senior medical officer of Cook County Department of Public Health, said in a statement.

The city and county mandates, which apply to anyone age 2 or older and regardless of vaccination status, comes amid a surge in the Delta variant and after two months of relative face freedom following the lifting of most COVID-19 restrictions locally.

“It’s a little thing to prevent a big thing,” said Don Brogdon, 61, as he left a Mariano’s grocery store Friday in Roscoe Village.

Speaking through a mask adorned with playful Australian Shepherds, Mary Rhodes, 78, said bringing the mandate back was a “no brainer.”

“The mayor is doing the right thing, and I hope businesses enforce it,” said Rhodes, a retired fundraiser from North Center whose son, a therapist in Chicago, recently had a breakthrough case of COVID-19.

“And it’s the right thing for kids,” said Rhodes, noting she was old enough to remember the scourge of polio and how it some kids had to be put on “iron lungs.”

She said she gets “ticked off” over people who refuse to wear masks because they feel it steps on their personal liberty.

“You can’t shout fire in a crowded theater, and those people that think their rights are being infringed upon need to read a little more,” she said.

Alaina Davis, 40, a data administrator for a large hospital system, said hates masks but appreciates the need to wear one.

“I’m tired of it. For me to get a shot and be fully vaccinated and go through the side effects and still have to wear a mask, it’s hell, it’s really hell and it’s disappointing,” said Davis, who lives in Maywood and was leaving a salon in Humboldt Park after getting her hair done.

“But I think about the children and the elderly when it comes to wearing a mask,” she said. “You don’t want to see anyone fighting for their life on a ventilator.”

Eduardo Arocho, 50, who gives walking tours of Humboldt Park, thinks the mask mandate should never have been removed.

He pointed to himself as proof they work. “I haven’t died … so, so far so good,” Arocho said.

Edwin Torres, 34, and his wife, Emily Guerrero, 30, disagree on masks, but both will wear them.

“I think it’s a good thing because you don’t know who’s actually vaccinated and who’s not, so it would be the best thing for us to go back to a mask mandate until we get it under control,” Torres, a general contractor from Humboldt Park, said while walking his dogs.

For Guerrero, though, the toothpaste is already out of the bottle.

“It’s too late, the city opened up, and we did way too much to go back to the mask mandate. I feel like it’s pointless; whatever is going to happen already happened,” she said, referring to infectious spread.

Madelyn Amos, 23, applauded the mask mandate.

“I’ve had COVID, and it was horrible. So if I can protect someone from not having that experience I’d do what it takes, plus I have three friends who’ve had breakthrough cases,” she said.

Peter Hong, 51, a pastor from Logan Square who was headed inside a Planet Fitness in Logan Square to lift weights, said he’s “100 % in favor” of the mandate.

“I think it’s important for us to look out for the common good, or our collective need as a society,” he said.

Cornell Shepard, who works as a convention center security guard and lives in Bronzeville, doesn’t think COVID-19 is as dangerous as it’s being portrayed and doesn’t believe in masks — but he’ll wear one anyways.

“I think it’s just a simple cold,” Shepard, who is unvaccinated, said while filling up his car at a gas station at 47th Street and Michigan Avenue.

“The youth, we don’t need them. But I don’t have a problem with wearing a mask, I will abide by it. But it sucks, man, it sucks.”

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A woman died five days after she was seriously wounded in a triple shooting inside a West Woodlawn apartment building last weekend.

Delphine Shields, 49, died Thursday at the University of Chicago Medical Center, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. She died of complications from gunshot wounds.

Gunfire broke out last Saturday night at an apartment in the 6200 block of South Rhodes Avenue, police said.

A 17-year-old boy in the hallway was seriously wounded, police said. A 55-year-old man inside the apartment on the stairs was shot in his leg.

Shields, who was outside on the steps, was shot in her torso and hospitalized.

No arrest has been reported.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

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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 partly sunny with a high near 89 and a chance of thunderstorms. Tonight is expected to be partly cloudy with a low around 72. Tomorrow will be partly sunny with a high near 88 and a chance of showers.

Top story

Car insurers’ pandemic windfall could have paid Illinois drivers $99 more per car in ‘coronavirus relief’ refunds

With people driving less during the COVID-19 pandemic, automobile insurers came out ahead an estimated $29 billion last year compared to previous years, according to a new analysis by two consumer groups.

Some insurers made a show of sharing those savings by sending refund checks to drivers more than a year ago. But they kept much of the coronavirus windfall for themselves.

That’s according to an analysis by the Consumer Federation of America and Center for Economic Justice.

At our request, they also looked at the amount of money automobile insurers took in last year from Illinois drivers, the amount that was refunded and the additional revenue resulting from fewer accident claims because more people were working from home.

In Illinois, they found that the insurers’ coronavirus windfall amounted, on average, to what could have been an additional refund of about $99 per car for 2020, says Douglas Heller, an insurance expert for the consumer federation.

With the onset of the pandemic, “They were using premiums that had no relationship to the world as it existed,” Heller says of car insurance companies.

The analysis found that auto insurers nationally ended 2020 with “windfall profits of at least $29 billion” based on the premiums they took in and claims they paid compared with the average of four previous years.

Stephanie Zimmermann has more here.

More news you need

A 9-year-old boy and a 22-year-old man were wounded in a drive-by shooting this afternoon in Roseland, police said. The boy is at least the fourth child to be shot in the city this week.

The Illinois General Assembly is expected to return to Springfield on Aug. 31 for a special session to amend recently written legislative maps after the release of new census figures. In the spring, Democrats passed the maps into law based on population estimates instead of waiting for the official census data.

Two people arrested after allegedly speeding from the scene of a deadly shooting of a retired school teacher Tuesday have been released without charges. There is no one else in custody for the murder of Denise Huguelet, police said this morning.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a package of legislation today aimed at combatting domestic violence. The legislation was sparked in part by the death of 18-month-old Colton Miller, whose father shot him before turning the gun on himself two years ago.

Edgewater’s Epworth United Methodist Church — a landmark for more than 130 years — is up for sale, an old and increasingly common story in Chicago. The church also serves as a men’s homeless shelter, creating uncertainty for those served by the facility.

Three people were killed in a wrong-way crash on the Stevenson Expressway early this morning, including a father from Oak Lawn remembered as the “backbone” of his family. A driver going the wrong way entered I-55 at Cicero Avenue and collided head-on with another car around 12:35 a.m., police said.

A local non-violence program is helping Chicagoans who dropped out of high school receive their diplomas while offering resources like therapy and job training. Creating Real Economic Destiny, or CRED, held a graduation ceremony for several participants yesterday.

A bright one

Former cake decorator brightens Southwest Side viaduct with a mural

Anne Heisler didn’t learn the intricate painting skills she uses as a muralist the traditional way.

She picked them up working for about 15 years as a cake decorator after dropping out of college.

She put that to use on a recent mural commission that brightens a viaduct at 47th Street and Archer Avenue in Archer Heights on the Southwest Side. Hired by a neighborhood group, she designed the 113-feet-wide by 14-feet-tall mural and painted it with others from Provoke Culture, a group of artists headed by Sam Kirk.

Anne Heisler’s mural as seen painted on a viaduct at 47th Street and Archer Avenue in Archer Heights on the Southwest Side.Anne Heisler

The Archer Heights mural is Heisler’s first big mural. It took about a month to design and a week to paint, thanks in part to disruptions from pigeons that kept flying around her concrete canvas.

The mural features four portraits. Heisler, who grew up in Evanston, says she has always loved drawing people.

Heisler says she was trying to reflect the neighborhood with the viaduct mural.

Lu Calzada has more on the story behind the mural here.

From the press box

Don’t boo Mitch Trubisky when he returns to Soldier Field tomorrow. “That’d be petty, misguided and embarrassing,” writes Jason Lieser.
Here are some under-the-radar Bears to watch for during the preseason matchup against the Bills.
White Sox outfielder Brian Goodwin’s on his fifth team in six seasons. He says none of them have been like this team.

Former Bears running back Thomas Q. Jones wants to defy Black male stereotypes on TV with his new show, “Johnson,” which he stars in and produces. Our Evan F. Moore spoke to Jones about the show, which is about four Black men with the same last name dealing with fatherhood, careers and everything else.

Your daily question ?

What is your favorite mural in the city? Tell us why.

Reply to this email (please include your first name and where you live) and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you: What’s one touristy activity that you, as a Chicagoan, have never done? Here’s what some of you said…

“Been to the Bean, stood on the ledge of the Sears Tower, or ridden the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier.” — Steph Villagomez

“Never took a Riverfront boat ride or visited the Willis Tower. Embarrassed to say that I visited the Chicago Art Institute for the first time recently, and I’ve lived here for over 30 years!” — Lori Hill

“I often get dragged for this, but I’ve lived here 8 years and never had Portillo’s.” — Meg Thomas

“I have never been to Wrigley Field, the Art Institute, and have never been on a river boat tour.” — Ashley O’Connor

“I’ve never eaten dinner at the Signature Room on the 95th Floor of the Hancock Building.” — Tricia Fitzgerald

“Gone to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Home and Studio and Hemingway’s childhood home, both in Oak Park. Even though I grew up in Chicago about a mile and half away, never had any desire to go to either.” — Tim Moran

“I don’t think I’ve ever been at a beach on Lake Michigan. Navy Pier a bunch, but never at the beach. Also, I’m a jazz/blues musician who’s never been at any of the festivals: no Lollapalooza, Blues Fest, Jazz Fest, Grant Park Festival — not even Taste of Chicago.” — John Connolly

“I have never visited the Adler Planetarium, gone to the dyeing of the Chicago River or to either St. Patrick’s Day parade.” — Melissa M. Lipton

“Never been in a water taxi or on the Spirit of Chicago.” — Barbara Buckner

“I’ve never eaten a hot dog without ketchup.” — Diana Garcia

Thanks for reading the Chicago Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.

Sign up here to get the Afternoon Edition in your inbox every day.

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The full schedule for the NBA’s 75th anniversary season was released Friday, highlighted in part by what will be a yearlong tribute to some of the key moments in league history.

Opening night is Oct. 19. It’s back to a normal schedule for the NBA, with all teams playing 82 games after a 72-game slate last season because the calendar was compressed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Toronto Raptors will play at home after relocating to Tampa, Florida, last season because of Canadian border restrictions.

The NBA has prioritized player rest over the past several seasons, a trend that continues this year. Teams on average will travel about 43,000 miles (69,000 kilometers), which would be a record low for a 30-team, 82-game season. Single-game road trips are down to about seven per team, a considerable drop from about 10 per team two seasons ago.

Also back from last season: There will be instances of teams playing two games on one trip to a city against the same opponent, something many teams enjoyed. There also are multiple instances of Eastern Conference teams flying to Los Angeles and playing both the Lakers and the Clippers on that leg of a trip.

And for the fourth consecutive normal season, excluding last year’s slate, no team is being asked to play four games in the span of five days.

A breakdown of some of the season highlights:

THE ANNIVERSARY

New York will play host to Toronto on Nov. 1, exactly 75 years to the day after the Knicks visited the then-Toronto Huskies in the first game of the Basketball Association of America’s inaugural season. The BAA was rebranded as the NBA three years later.

CELEBRATING LONGEVITY

New York, Boston and Golden State (which began as the Philadelphia Warriors) are the only three franchises that have been part of all 75 NBA seasons, and they’ll all face off in mid-December in nationally televised games. Golden State is at New York on Dec. 14, then the Warriors play at Boston on Dec. 17, and the Knicks visit the Celtics on Dec. 18.

WELCOME HOME

The Raptors haven’t played in Toronto since Feb. 28, 2020. They’ll be back on Oct. 20 against Washington. The NBA gave the Raptors five home contests in their first six games of this season, so there will be plenty of time for Toronto fans to see their team again finally.

CHRISTMAS

The NBA revealed the Dec. 25 games earlier this week: Atlanta at New York, Boston at Milwaukee, Golden State at Phoenix, Brooklyn at the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas at Utah.

MLK DAY

The NBA will celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with an all-day, 12-game slate on Jan. 17 that includes the traditional home games for Memphis and Atlanta: New Orleans at Boston, Charlotte at New York, Philadelphia at Washington, Brooklyn at Cleveland, Chicago at Memphis, Indiana at the Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee at Atlanta, Portland at Orlando, Toronto at Miami, Oklahoma City at Dallas, Phoenix at San Antonio and Utah at the Los Angeles Lakers.

SUPER SUNDAY

If the Falcons, Patriots, Vikings or Colts make the Super Bowl, fans in those cities may find themselves watching an NBA game instead of an NFL pregame show. The only two NBA games on Feb. 13 this season are Atlanta at Boston and Minnesota at Indiana.

FINALS REMATCHES

As expected, the 2021 NBA Finals rematches between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns will be nationally televised. Milwaukee goes to Phoenix on Feb. 10; the Suns visit the Bucks on March 6.

WILT NIGHT

The Knicks will be part of another milestone game on March 2: They’ll visit the Philadelphia 76ers exactly 60 years after Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points to lead the Philadelphia Warriors past the Knicks in a game played at Hershey, Pennsylvania.

NO GAMES

The NBA has no games scheduled for Nov. 25 (Thanksgiving), Dec. 24 (Christmas Eve) and April 4 (the date of the NCAA men’s basketball Division I national championship game). The last games before the All-Star break are Feb. 17, All-Star weekend is Feb. 18-20 and then no games are played again until Feb. 24.

LOWRY RETURNS

Kyle Lowry returns to Toronto for the first time as a member of the Miami Heat on Feb. 3. Lowry spent nine seasons with the Raptors, helping them win the 2019 NBA title. He joined the Heat in a sign-and-trade earlier this month. The first time Lowry will oppose the Raptors is Jan. 17 in Miami.

RODEO TRIP

The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo returns Feb. 10-27 — and that means the Spurs are packing their bags for a long time. They’ll go 27 days between home games, from Feb. 4 through March 3, playing eight road games in a span that also covers the All-Star break. (The All-Star Game is Feb. 20 in Cleveland.) San Antonio also has an unusual stretch earlier in the season: a seven-game road trip from Dec. 31 through Jan. 10, followed by a seven-game homestand from Jan. 12 through Jan. 23.

GRAMMY TRIP

The Lakers and Clipper must vacate Staples Center for the last couple of weeks of January in preparation for the Grammy Awards on Jan. 31. The Lakers play six consecutive road games in that span, the Clippers eight in a row — and when the Clippers finally do get back home, they’ll play host to the Lakers.

LONGESTS

The Clippers’ eight-game trip to close January is the longest uninterrupted road swing this season. Washington and Golden State have the longest homestands, an eight-game stretch for each (Jan. 11-25 for Washington, Oct. 28-Nov. 12 for Golden State).

GLOBAL GAME

The NBA said 46 weekend games will air in prime time in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

LAST DAY

All 30 teams are scheduled to play April 10, the final day of the regular season. The play-in tournament begins two days later and continues through April 15. The playoffs begin April 16, and the 2022 NBA Finals are scheduled to start June 2.

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A 9-year-old boy and a man were shot Friday afternoon in Roseland on the Far South Side — the fourth young child to be hit by gun violence this week in Chicago.

The pair were wounded in a drive-by shooting around 12:10 p.m. in the 400 block of East 111th Street, according to preliminary information from Chicago police.

The boy, shot in his arm, was in good condition, police said. Fire officials initially said he was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in serious condition.

A 22-year-old man was shot in the ankle and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in fair condition, officials said.

Ashley Van, 30, the boy’s mother said she was walking out of a corner store with her three children when she was “caught in a massive crossfire.”

“I’m alright, I’m just grateful to God because that’s who saved my child,” she said at the hospital, holding back tears. “I’m just thankful my baby made it.”

Another family member said the boy was “doing okay. He’s scared. He’s a playful boy, likes to go swimming and record YouTube videos. He’s just a regular kid.”

This is the fourth young child to be shot in Chicago this week.

On Wednesday night, a 7-year-old boy was shot while sitting in a parked car with his mother in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood, according to Chicago police. He was hit in the abdomen but was stabilized at a hospital.

On Sunday afternoon, a 7-year-old girl was killed and her 6-year-old sister seriously wounded shortly before 3 p.m. in the 6200 block of West Grand Avenue.

“Unfortunately we’re out here again,” said Ald. Anthony Beale, whose 9th Ward covers the block where Friday’s shooting took place. “Another kid being shot with senseless gun violence here in the city of Chicago.”

The alderman blamed Supt. David Brown for diverting officers to the downtown and leaving his community more vulnerable. Beale said the 5th police district, which includes his ward, is down 120 officers.

“There’s no way we can continue to fight crime with those numbers,” he told reporters at the scene. Beale said other areas of the city are experiencing the same problems “except downtown.”

“Treat me like I’m downtown here in the community,” he said. “Treat the rest of the city like we’re downtown.”

Sun-Times photographer Patricia Nabong contributed

Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), right, speaks with Chicago Police Department officials after a 9-year-old boy and a man were both shot Friday afternoon in the 400 block of East 111th Street in Roseland.Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is pledging to Americans still trapped in Afghanistan: “We will get you home.”

Biden also said Friday the United States is committed to evacuating all Afghans who assisted the war effort — a potentially vast expansion of the administration’s commitments on the airlift so far, given the tens of thousands of Afghan translators and others, and their close family members, seeking evacuation.

Biden’s comments at a White House news conference Friday come as the U.S. government struggles to ramp up a massive airlift clearing Americans and other foreigners and vulnerable Afghans through the Kabul airport, rescuing them from a Taliban takeover of the country.

Biden is facing criticism for a chaotic and often violent scene outside the airport and crowds struggle to reach safety inside.

Evacuation flights at the Kabul airport had stopped for several hours on Friday because of a backup at a transit point for the refugees, a U.S. airbase in Qatar, U.S. officials said. However, flights resumed in the afternoon.

As many as three flights out of Kabul were expected in the next few hours, going to Bahrain and carrying perhaps 1,500 evacuees in all, said an official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military.

In Washington, some veterans in Congress were calling on the Biden administration to extend a security perimeter beyond the Kabul airport so more Afghans can make it to the airport for evacuation. They also wanted Biden to make clear an Aug. 31 deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops was not a firm one.

The deadline “is contributing to the chaos and the panic at the airport because you have Afghans who think that they have 10 days to get out of this country or that door is closing forever,” said Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Mich., who served in Iraq and also worked in Afghanistan to help aid workers provide humanitarian relief.

Tens of thousands of people remain to be evacuated ahead of the United States’ Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw its troops from the country, although the pace had picked up overnight. A defense official said about 5,700 people, including about 250 Americans, were flown out of Kabul aboard 16 C-17 transport planes. On each of the previous two days, about 2,000 people were airlifted.

With desperate crowds thronging Kabul’s airport, and Taliban fighters ringing its perimeter, the U.S. government renewed its advisory to Americans and others that it could not guarantee safe passage for any of those desperately seeking seats on the planes inside.

The advisory captured some of the pandemonium, and what many Afghans and foreigners see as their life-and-death struggle to get inside. It said: “We are processing people at multiple gates. Due to large crowds and security concerns, gates may open or close without notice. Please use your best judgment and attempt to enter the airport at any gate that is open.”

While Biden has previously blamed Afghans for the U.S. failure to get out more allies ahead of this month’s sudden Taliban takeover, U.S. officials told The Associated Press that American diplomats had formally urged weeks ago that the administration ramp up evacuation efforts.

In July, more than 20 diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul registered their concerns that the evacuation of Afghans who had worked for America was not proceeding quickly enough.

In a cable sent through the State Department’s dissent channel, a time-honored method for foreign service officers to register opposition to administration policies, the diplomats said the situation on the ground was dire, that the Taliban would likely seize control of the capital within months of the Aug. 31 pullout, and urged the Biden administration to immediately begin a concerted evacuation effort. That’s according to officials familiar with the document who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal debate.

Biden has said that the chaos that unfolded as part of the withdrawal was inevitable as the nearly 20-year war came to an end. He said he was following the advice of Afghanistan’s U.S.-backed president, Ashraf Ghani, in not earlier expanding U.S. efforts to fly out translators and other Afghans in danger for the past work with Americans. Ghani fled the country last weekend as the Taliban seized the capital.

Biden also said that many at-risk Afghan allies had not wanted to leave the country. But refugee groups point to yearslong backlogs of applications from thousands of those Afghans for visas that would let them take refuge in the United States.

The administration has also portrayed its contingency planning as successful after the Afghan government fell much faster than publicly anticipated by administration officials. Yet the White House received clear warnings that the situation was deteriorating rapidly before the current evacuation push.

The Kabul airport has been the focus of intense international efforts to get out foreigners, Afghan allies and other Afghans most at risk of reprisal from the Taliban insurgents.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that U.S. citizens are able to reach the airport, but face an obstacle in the large crowds at the airport gates.

On Thursday, Taliban militants fired into the air to try to control the crowds gathered at the airport’s blast walls. Men, women and children fled. U.S. Navy fighter jets flew overhead, a standard military precaution but also a reminder to the Taliban that the U.S. has firepower to respond to a combat crisis.

Sullivan acknowledged that there is the possibility of a hostage situation or terrorist attack, and said the government is working for safe passage for U.S. citizens. The administration has committed to ensuring that all Americans can leave, even if that means staying past the August deadline.

“This is a risky operation,” Sullivan told NBC Nightly News Thursday. “We can’t count on anything.”

There is no firm figure of the number of people — Americans, Afghans or others — who are in need of evacuation as the process is almost entirely self-selecting.

The State Department says that when it ordered its nonessential embassy staff to leave Kabul in April after Biden’s withdrawal announcement, fewer than 4,000 Americans had registered for security updates. The actual number, including dual U.S.-Afghan citizens along with family members, is likely much higher, with estimates ranging from 11,000 to 15,000. Refugee advocates estimate about 100,000 Afghan allies and family members also are appealing for seats on the U.S. airlift.

Compounding the uncertainty, the U.S. government has no way to track how many registered Americans may have left Afghanistan already. Some may have returned to the United States but others may have gone to third countries.

Although Afghanistan had been a hotspot for the coronavirus pandemic, the State Department said Thursday that evacuees are not required to get negative COVID-19 results.

However, Afghans and the Americans trying to help them escape say the Biden administration has clung to visa requirements for would-be evacuees that involve more than a dozen steps, and can take years to complete. Those often have included requirements that the Taliban sweep has made dangerous or impossible — such as requiring Afghans to go to a third-country to apply for a U.S. visa, and produce paperwork showing their work with Americans.

The head of a U.S. refugee organization working to get Afghans out accused Biden of ignoring repeated earlier warnings to speed up the evacuations while winding down the 20-year U.S. combat mission.

“The administration’s failure to heed the call of veterans and advocates months ago has put our nation in this unconscionable position. It cannot let innocent Afghans die by bureaucracy,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said Friday.

Additional American troops continued to arrive at the airport to safeguard and run the U.S. part of the evacuation. As of Thursday there were about 5,200, including Marines who specialize in evacuation coordination and an Air Force unit that specializes in emergency airport operations. Biden has authorized a total deployment of about 6,000.

Associated Press reporters Josh Boak and Lolita C. Baldor contributed from Washington.

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