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Fifty-six people were shot, seven of them fatally, in citywide gun violence this weekend. Six of the wounded were 15 years old or younger.

The youngest homicide victim, a 7-year-old girl, was killed in a shooting Sunday afternoon that also wounded her younger sister.

Serenity Broughton, 7, and her 6-year-old sister were being placed in the backseat of a car by their mother when gunfire rang out about 2:50 p.m. in the 6200 block of West Grand Avenue, Chicago police said.

The 7-year-old was shot in her chest and torso and pronounced dead at a hospital, police said. Police said her younger sister was “fighting for her life” at Loyola University Medical Center.

Other weekend homicides:

A 70-year-old woman was fatally shot early Monday in Hegewisch on the Far South Side. The woman was parked in her car just after 4:25 a.m. in the 13300 block of South Baltimore Avenue when two males approached and fired shots, police said. She was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where she was pronounced dead. Her name was not released.

A man was killed and a woman injured in Chatham early Sunday when someone opened fire at a group of people. The shooting happened just before 2 a.m. in the 7500 block of South Saint Lawrence Avenue, police said. The man, 33, was shot in the chest killed. The woman, 34, was shot in the leg and her condition was stabilized.

Saturday evening, a man was fatally shot in a drive-by in Hyde Park on the South Side. Around 8:15 p.m., the victim, 25, was standing on the sidewalk in the 800 block of East 54th Street when a white-colored vehicle drove up and someone inside opened fire, police said. He was shot in the torso and taken to University of Chicago Medical Center where he later died.

A 59-year-old man was fatally shot Saturday afternoon while driving in West Humboldt Park. About 12:40 p.m., the man was driving in the 1200 block of North Pulaski Road when someone in another vehicle fired shots, striking him in the upper back and right arm, police said. The man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

A person was killed in a triple shooting Friday night on the Eisenhower Expressway near Damen Avenue. The shooting happened around 8:30 p.m. and closed down a stretch of Interstate 290 for about four hours while troopers investigated, according to Illinois State Police. Three people wounded in the shooting had been located at a nearby hospital, officials said. One person was later pronounced dead and the other two were expected to survive.

Friday evening, an 18-year-old man was killed in Belmont Cragin. About 5:15 p.m., the teen was in the middle of the street in the 5100 block of West Fullerton Avenue when someone in a vehicle fired shots, striking him in the leg, chest and back, police said. The victim, Nikko Mercado, was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.

Forty-five other people were wounded in other shootings this weekend, between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday.

Last weekend, 75 people were shot, including a Chicago police officer who was killed, in Chicago gun violence.

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

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Justin Fields’ performance in his preseason debut Saturday that excited the masses also intrigued coach Matt Nagy — but not enough to change the Bears’ grand plan at quarterback. There is no competition for the starting job.

Andy Dalton still will be the Week 1 starter regardless of what happens in the preseason, Nagy reiterated Monday. But Fields will get more snaps with first-team offense and against the first-team defense.

Asked if Dalton is still the unchallenged starter, Nagy said, “Yes, it is the case. Andy had six plays [against the Dolphins on Saturday], so we’re going to get him some more snaps this coming preseason game. With Justin, we want to be able to see live plays, live situations and he got that [against the Dolphins] and he did a great job.

“So the only thing he can do is continue doing that and then we’ve got to make sure that that plan allows us to evaluate how well he does, knowing the circumstances. Ultimately, whatever is best for the Chicago Bears is what we’re going to do.”

Dalton played two series against the Dolphins with the first-team offense — which was missing several starters — with two three-and-outs and a net of 14 yards on seven snaps. Fields started slowly but led three scoring drives for 17 unanswered points. He completed 14-of-20 passes for 142 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions for a 106.7 passer rating. He also rushed for 33 yards on five carries, including a nifty eight-yard touchdown on a scramble.

That performance has earned him a better look, which means more first-team reps this week.

“I think that’s real,” Nagy said. “You need to look into that. Not so much to see that with his own players — because he gets some of that [experience] in practice right now. But it would be good to see what he does versus the first-team defense.”

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Twenty years from now, we’ll still remember the concerts we went to BC and AD — right before COVID and after distancing. And among the population, there will be those lucky enough to say they made their re-entrance at the Hella Mega Tour, the triple headline extravaganza featuring Weezer, Fall Out Boy and Green Day that offered a strong lineage of singalong-ready pop punk and an invitation to let loose — no vax proof or test required — after 17 months of collectively holding our breath.

The sold-out fete was the first concert back at Wrigley Field since the summer of 2019, and the wait was well invested, with the evening providing nearly 60 songs in 41/2 hours (in true punk rock efficiency) and what had to be the ballpark’s full pyro and firework budget for the season.

Weezer leader Rivers Cuomo sports a new look during the band’s Sunday set at Wrigley Field.Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

After a brief performance by the tour’s special guest, West Coast ska outfit The Interrupters, Weezer took the stage. But this time around Rivers Cuomo didn’t so much look like Buddy Holly, as the band’s song goes, as he did “Wayne’s World” sidekick Garth Algar with a long, askew mullet, hornrims and Flying V guitar. While it would be nice to think it was a nod to the fictional Aurora-based cable access show, it’s really just a visual ruse to keep the band’s ironic streak going (see also a rousing performance of Weezer’s guiltless cover of Toto’s “Africa”). That’s the thing with Weezer, though, you just never know what to take with a grain of salt or if it’s all overseasoned on purpose.

Like their tour mates, the Weezer guys stuck to the same set list they’ve been delivering in most markets and focused heavily on star-wattage material including “Beverly Hills,” “Hash Pipe,” “Say It Ain’t So” and “Undone — The Sweater Song.” This time around the songs had some heavier riffs courtesy of Cuomo and Brian Bell. Maybe Weezer is hinting at going heavier on its upcoming material? Cuomo’s studded leather jacket, the massive amplifier wall of sound and some Van Halen intro music would suggest as much. But in true fashion, they’re intent to keep us guessing.

Fans outside Wrigley Field on Waveland Avenue watch as fireworks shoot into the sky during the Fall Out Boy performance.Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Thankfully, Fall Out Boy rebounded from a COVID-19 scare that had the quartet pull out of the first couple stops of the tour, and the band (originally from Wilmette) was able to deliver a homecoming show worthy of the grandeur of the setting. Fall Out Boy brought along lavish stage sets, a bizarre “space opera” video montage that featured actor Ron Livingston and a barrage of fireworks and fireballs.

Fall Out Boy remains one of the few locally grown acts that have had the privilege to plug in on the grounds (in 2018 as well), and the musicians did so with aplomb. Wearing a Cubs jersey, octave-spanning singer Patrick Stump couldn’t erase the grin off his face as he led the band into a back-to-back crescendo of “The Phoenix” and “Sugar, We’re Going Down,” the latter of which elicited one of the bigger audience singalongs of the entire night.

Fall Out Boy’s fanbase is, in a word, solid, graduating the bandmates from VFW Halls to stadium tours nearly overnight, after speaking as much to a generation as their forefathers on this tour bill once did. “It’s mind-blowing to play Wrigley, especially with Weezer and Green Day. We grew up with those bands,” bassist Pete Wentz said before lauching into “Thanks fr th Mmrs,” reminding the young denizens in the audience to dream big.

Billie Joe Armstrong fronts Green Day at Wrigley Field on Sunday.Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Green Day took a minute to encourage the new gen too, inviting a blue-haired young adult from the front row to come up on stage and play guitar on a cover of Operation Ivy’s “Knowledge.” It was one of many displays of camaraderie frontman Billie Joe Armstrong proffered during the set, also encouraging the audience to put their phones away early on. “We’ve been looking at our phones for a year, we need to take advantage of our time together,” he cautioned, though many in the crowd grabbed at them again to illuminate the field for pensive numbers like “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends.”

Green Day wasted no time launching into the set with instruments blazing on “American Idiot.” And like the famed Broadway musical of the same name, the set carried a theatrical undertone at times, full of character, a range of emotion and an incredibly tight production from the cast, also including longtime bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool as well as a touring ensemble. Though Green Day’s material can border on self-help garishness at times (“Pollyanna” and the expected set-ender “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”), the band mixed the set list up well with several mainstays including “She,” “Longview” and “Basketcase” that were in line with the biggest takeaways from the night — that we all needed a heavy dose of nostalgia and good old-fashioned punk-rock release.

Selena Fragassi is a local freelance writer.

Here are the set lists from Sunday night’s concert at Wrigley Field:

Weezer

“Hash Pipe”

“All The Good Ones”

“Beverly Hills”

“The End of the Game”

“My Name Is Jonas”

“Pork and Beans”

“Feels Like Summer”

“All My Favorite Songs”

“Undone — The Sweater Song”

“Surf Wax America”

“El Scorcho”

“Island in the Sun”

“Africa” (Toto cover)

“California Snow”

“Say It Ain’t So”

“Buddy Holly”

Fans sit in the upper deck of Wrigley Field near right field, waiting for Weezer to perform Sunday, during the Chicago stop for The Hella Mega Tour.Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Fall Out Boy

“The Phoenix”

“Sugar, We’re Going Down”

“Irresistible”

“Uma Thurman”

“Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy”

“Save Rock and Roll”

“The Last of the Real Ones”

“Dance, Dance”

“A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me”

“This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race”

“My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)”

“I Don’t Care”

“Thnks fr th Mmrs”

“Centuries”

“Saturday”

Fans sing Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” right before Green Day performs Sunday at Wrigley Field,Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Green Day

“American Idiot”

“Holiday”

“Know Your Enemy”

“Pollyanna”

“Boulevard of Broken Dreams”

“Longview”

“Welcome to Paradise”

“Hitchin’ a Ride”

“Rock and Roll All Nite” (Kiss cover)

“Brain Stew”

“St. Jimmy”

“When I Come Around”

“21 Guns”

“Minority”

“Knowledge” (Operation Ivy cover)

“Basket Case”

“She”

“Wake Me Up When September Ends”

“Still Breathing”

“Jesus of Suburbia”

“Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”

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A 70-year-old woman was fatally shot Monday in Hegewisch on the Far South Side.

The woman was parked in her car just after 4:25 a.m. in the 13300 block of South Baltimore Avenue when two males approached and fired shots, Chicago Police said.

She was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where she was listed in critical condition, police said.

She was then transported to University of Chicago Medical Center where she died, police said. She has not been identified yet.

No one was in custody.

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The Setting

Welcome to the Chicago suburbs, the latest battleground in the culture wars. We lay our scene at Evanston/Skokie School District 65, which serves about 7,300 students and employs about 1,400 early childhood, elementary, and middle school staff members. It’s a majority-minority district: 42 percent of students are white, 23 percent Black, 21 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent Asian American. In 2017, the district pledged to have every teacher undergo antiracist training within two years. Sounds helpful, especially with such a racially diverse student body, right? Don’t be naive — this is America! Land of baseball, apple pie, and suing your employer!

The Major Players

The plaintiff Nichols Middle School drama teacher Stacy Deemar, who is white and has taught in the district for nearly 20 years. She’s represented by the Southeastern Legal Foundation, a Georgia-based conservative nonprofit, in conjunction with journalist-activist Chris Rufo’s campaign against critical race theory.

The defendants The lawsuit names Evanston/Skokie School District 65 and its superintendent, Devon Horton; deputy superintendent, Latarsha Green; and assistant superintendent of curriculum, Stacy Beardsley.

Critical race theory A framework developed in the 1970s to study inequality in post–civil rights movement America. The term has been co-opted by the right (in a movement led by Rufo) into a catchall for theory, language, and lessons that criticize American institutions and/or seek to dismantle racism.

The Argument

Deemar and the SLF argue the district’s approach to teaching race violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 14th Amendment. The lawsuit takes particular offense to the district separating teachers by race, as the complaint says happened during antiracist training sessions. Doing so, Deemar’s attorneys argue, is in itself racist. Deemar and the SLF also argue that encouraging employees to consider their racial privilege is actually bias against white people. Among the incidents cited in the lawsuit: being instructed to teach a book that quotes Toni Morrison saying, “White people have a very, very serious problem”; the suggestion that Eurocentric education might not work for every child; and colleagues rolling their eyes at Deemar. And here we were thinking thick skin was a prerequisite for teaching middle school.

The Stakes

Deemar is asking for  —  gird your loins  —  $1 in damages. Instead of cash, the lawsuit states, she’s requesting that the district “remedy the effects of the unconstitutional, illegal, discriminatory conduct.” Translation: She wants the court to end antiracist workshops at school. In a written statement to the community, Horton says the allegations take the district’s “lawful, sensitive, and responsible” training out of context. But the stakes stretch far beyond the Chicago area. Similar cases are cropping up nationwide, and the SLF plans to file additional lawsuits. If the court rules in favor of Deemar, the case could provide enough precedent for other districts to ban teaching about racism, too. In the meantime, best of luck enduring the teachers’ lounge at Nichols this fall, folks!

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The teen was driving around 4:10 a.m. in the 1700 block of West 47th Street when someone fired shots, police said.

By

Sun-Times Wire

Aug 16, 2021, 5:52am CDT

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We Chicagoans love to boast. We will rhapsodize about our food, music, lakefront, performing arts, corporate headquarters and skyline. Always our skyline.

Our great buildings are civic treasures, but not everything can be a star. Some are designed to be backbenchers or stand as well-intentioned mistakes. But they are not necessarily bad buildings from the point of view of the users or owners. Some are unique and the work of famous architects. They make their own contributions to public space.

Welcome to the world of “ugly buildings” in Chicago. Your guide is Mike McMains, who worked for years in commercial real estate, monitoring a portfolio’s financial vital signs. Along the way, he developed an interest in design and strong opinions about it.

Downsized out of the real estate business, he’s trying to take the “a” out of his avocation, offering public and private architectural tours, some virtual. His newest offering is an “ugly buildings” walking tour of River North, stopping at places that must be seen to be appreciated, and perhaps cannot be unseen. He’s working on an edition focusing on the Loop. Information is at his Tours With Mike website.

“The thing that is so refreshing is that it isn’t a chore,” said McMains, who developed tours for the Chicago Architecture Center as a volunteer docent.

He said he doesn’t ridicule who made bad buildings, except maybe in one instance. “This isn’t a mean tour,” McMains said.

He’ll make fun of things and encourage his patrons to offer rebuttals, but his intent is to provide a better understanding of how buildings relate to people and their surroundings.

“Architecture — the term is not elitist. I’m trying to humanize the conversation and do it in a fun way.”

How do you define an ugly building? It’s “buildings that seemingly don’t have a plan with their exterior to adequately engage the public,” he said. And he’s full of examples for his River North tour.

One is a city landmark at 33 W. Kinzie St., where Harry Caray’s is. Guidebooks describe it as Dutch Renaissance Revival-style, with stepped gables and contrasting colors. Its architect, Henry Ives Cobb, is justly acclaimed. McMains, however, considers the building as “more-is-more architecture that burns my eyes.”

Mike McMains discusses the Greenway Self Park garage, with its corner wind turbines.Courtesy of Gino Generelli

Downtown Chicago has a complicated relationship with parking garages. McMains highlights two. One is the Greenway Self Park at 60 W. Kinzie St., designed as an eco-friendly way to serve internal combustion engines. A corner has wind turbines that McMains said never seem to turn. Another is the dark and massive State-Kinzie-Wabash Self Park that reminds McMains of the monolith in “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

The 325 N. Wells St. building.Tours With Mike

Some buildings might be clinkers on prominent sites. The former Helene Curtis office building at 325 N. Wells St., along the river, has decorated itself with signs for its tenants, a practice McMains likens to the sponsorships on NASCAR jackets. The 15-story 55 W. Wacker Drive building seems heavy and brutalist on a street that celebrates glass. It’s a 1960s creation that McMains calls the “Danny DeVito of Chicago office buildings.”

The building at 55 W. Wacker Drive.Google Street View

McMains skewers Marina City, but not the two towers. He’s critical of other parts of the complex Bertrand Goldberg imagined as a self-contained city, including the theater now used by the House of Blues. It looks like an armadillo, depending on the angle, and possibly doing an injustice to the armadillo.

The House of Blues at Marina City.Tours With Mike

And then there’s Trump Tower, which gets extra attention on McMains’ tour because of what he calls its “toxic branding.”

This is his foray into criticizing a building’s maker, as he said Donald Trump’s presidential legacy can’t be separated from something that wears his name. But he also has observers consider its barren riverwalk that has never drawn retail tenants and a spire McMains sees as an exercise in vanity.

McMains is gathering grist for “bad” Loop buildings. He considers the James R. Thompson Center in that category but argues for its reuse, not its demolition.

“There is nothing like it in the United States. It provides important discourse on the elevation of architecture in the city of Chicago,” he said.

The Harold Washington Library Center would make his list because its homage to past styles is almost literally skin deep, McMains said, calling it a building of “whimsical falsehood.”

Any of these mentions might get somebody angry. The Trump discussion could be especially pointed on his tour. But McMains isn’t out to condemn anything or to say he could do better.

All architecture is about solving problems that include the financial demands from the client. Some failure is inevitable. People often become fond of buildings for reasons apart from curb appeal.

Consider the old Sun-Times Building, which the Trump Tower replaced. McMains commented that if it was still around, he’d put it on his ugly buildings tour. He’d be right. But there was a history there. And people are fond of other ugly buildings that have histories and ties to their personal and professional lives.

They can all keep in mind a phrase lifted here from Nelson Algren: There are lovelier lovelies, but never a lovely so real.

The Sun-Times Building at 401 N. Wabash Ave. as it was being demolished in 2005 to make way for Trump Tower.Sun-Times file

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The woman was parked in her car just after 4:25 a.m. in the 13300 block of South Baltimore Avenue when two males approached and fired shots, police said.

By

Sun-Times Wire

Aug 16, 2021, 5:41am CDT

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