What’s New

Please send scores or corrections to [email protected]

Friday, August 27

FOX VALLEY

Crystal Lake Central at Huntley

Crystal Lake South at Jacobs

Dundee-Crown at Cary-Grove

Hampshire at Burlington Central

McHenry at Prairie Ridge

UPSTATE EIGHT

Bartlett at Glenbard South

East Aurora at Elgin

Fenton at South Elgin

Larkin at Glenbard East

Streamwood at West Chicago

NONCONFERENCE

Ag. Science at De La Salle

Argo at Joliet Central

Aurora Central at Plano

Bishop McNamara at Marmion

Bolingbrook at Minooka

Brooks at Eisenhower

Brother Rice at Hillcrest

Buffalo Grove at Lincoln-Way Central

Carmel at Libertyville

Chicago Military at Marine

Christ the King at St. Edward

Clark vs. King at Gately

Comer at Geneseo

Conant at Lake Park

Corliss vs. Julian at Gately

Crete-Monee at Lincoln-Way East

Curie at Marist

Deerfield at Hinsdale South

DePaul Prep vs. Payton at Lane

East Peoria at Streator

Elk Grove at Maine West

Evanston at Kenosha Indian Trail, Wis.

Fenger vs. Chicago Richards at Stagg

Foreman at Speer

Geneva at Metea Valley

Glenbrook South at Rolling Meadows

Hansberry at Chicago Christian

Hersey at Lincoln-Way West

Highland Park at Leyden

Hoffman Estates at Downers Grove North

Hubbard at Grayslake Central

Hyde Park vs. Dyett at Stagg

IC Catholic at Montini

Johnson at Aurora Christian

Kaneland at Andrew

Kenwood at Lane

Lake Forest at St. Francis

Lake View at Niles North

Lake Zurich at Fremd

Lincoln Park vs. Amundsen at Winnemac

Lindblom at East Moline

Lisle at Harvard

Lockport at Joliet West

Maine South at Stevenson

Manteno at Evergreen Park

Marian Central at Johnsburg

Moline at St. Laurence

Morgan Park at Fenwick

Morris at Coal City

Morton at Riverside-Brookfield

Mount Carmel at St. Rita

Mundelein at Grant

Naperville Central at Hinsdale Central

Naperville North at Benet

New Trier at Lyons

Niles West at Maine East

Notre Dame at Glenbard North

Oswego at Neuqua Valley

Oswego East at Waubonsie Valley

Ottawa at Sandwich

Palatine at St. Charles North

Peoria Manual at Peotone

Phillips at Batavia

Plainfield Central at Addison Trail

Plainfield North at Plainfield East

Pritzker at Perspectives

Prospect at Sandburg

Proviso East at Bradley-Bourbonnais

Proviso West at Wauconda

Raby at UP-Englewood

Reed-Custer at Elmwood Park

Rich Township at Oak Lawn

Richards at Nazareth

Rochelle at Woodstock

Round Lake at Wheeling

St. Charles East at Lemont

St. Viator at Kenosha St. Joseph, Wis.

Schurz at Ridgewood

Shepard at Kankakee

Simeon at Joliet Catholic

Stagg at Zion-Benton

Sterling at Lakes

Sycamore vs. DeKalb at NIU

Taft at Glenbrook North

TF North at Homewood-Flossmoor

TF South at Chesterton, Ind.

Thornridge at Bremen

Thornwood at Marian Catholic

Tilden vs. Carver at Gately

Tinley Park at Reavis

UIC Prep vs. Senn at Winnemac

UP-Bronzeville at Richmond-Burton

Vernon Hills at Grayslake North

Von Steuben at St. Ignatius

Warren at Barrington

Warren De La Salle, Mich. at St. Patrick

Waukesha Catholic, Wis. at Antioch

West Aurora at Plainfield South

Westmont at Walther Christian

Westville at Seneca

Wheaton Academy at Brookfield East, Wis.

Wheaton North at Downers Grove South

Wheaton-Warrenville South at Oak Park-River Forest

Willowbrook at Providence

Wilmington at Marengo

Woodstock North at Westosha Central, Wis.

York at Schaumburg

Yorkville at Romeoville

Saturday, August 28

NONCONFERENCE

Bulls Prep at Leo

Butler vs. Prosser at Rockne

Chicago Academy vs. Catalyst-Maria at Stagg

Clemente vs. Young at Rockne

Collins vs. Bogan at Stagg

Crane vs. DuSable at Stagg

Dunbar at Herscher

Gage Park at Kelly

Grandville, Mich. at Glenbard West

Harlan vs. Mather at Winnemac

Hope Academy at Thornton

Juarez vs. Sullivan at Winnemac

Little Village vs. Kennedy at Rockne

Marshall at Orr

Milwaukee Marquette, Wis. at Loyola

North Chicago at Waukegan

North Lawndale vs. South Shore at Eckersall

Oak Forest at Westinghouse

Phoenix at Back of the Yards

Rauner at Bloom

Roosevelt vs. Rowe-Clark at Rockne

Solorio at Steinmetz

Vocational at Goode

Woodlawn vs. Bowen at Eckersall

Read More

Vowing to “ensure access to justice for all, the mayor of Highland Park launched her bid for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court on Friday, setting the stage for what could be a hotly contested race to represent a newly redrawn district on the state’s top court.

Making her third run for higher office in five years, Nancy Rotering, a Democrat in her third term as mayor of the North Shore suburb, joins Democratic and Republican judges in Lake County who are also vying for the seat formerly held by Justice Robert Thomas.

“My mission is to uphold the rule of law and make sure that all Illinoisans have an unbiased, fair and balanced adjudication of the major cases facing our state,” Rotering said in a statement announcing her candidacy.

“I look forward to continuing to put my background in law and business, coupled with my public service commitment to ethics and accountability, to work for the people of Illinois.”

Erin Brown/Sun-Times file

The Highland Park mayor has worked as an attorney for over 30 years and previously served on the Highland Park City Council, according to a news release announcing her candidacy.

With her Illinois Supreme Court run, the veteran attorney will have run for offices in all three branches of government — executive, legislative and judicial.

Rotering ran unsuccessfully in 2018 for Illinois attorney general, coming in fourth in the eight-candidate Democratic primary. Kwame Raoul won that primary and the general election.

Two years earlier, Rotering waged a campaign to represent the north suburban 10th Congressional District, losing in the Democratic primary to Brad Schneider, who garnered 54% of the vote and went on to beat Republican incumbent Bob Dold in November of 2016.

Rich Hein/Sun-Times file

Kicking off her run for the state’s top court, Rotering announced a slew of endorsements, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Newman, the mayors of Deerfield, Buffalo Grove and Fox Lake as well as Democratic state Representatives Bob Morgan of Deerfield, Dan Didech of Buffalo Grove, Sam Yingling of Grayslake and Joyce Mason of Gurnee.

Elizabeth Rochford, an associate judge in Lake County, is also running as a Democrat for the Supreme Court seat, which now covers Lake, McHenry, Kane, DeKalb and Kendall counties.

Daniel Shanes, a Lake County judge, plans to run as a Republican for the Second District seat in next year’s June 28 primary.

A conservative Republican and former Chicago Bears kicker, Thomas held the seat for two decades. His retirement last year sparked GOP fears that the party would lose the seat on the state’s highest court.

Capitol News Illinois

State Supreme Court Justice Michael Burke was appointed to the Second District seat last March after Thomas retired.

A spokesman for Burke, a Republican, said he plans to seek a full term in the Third District after Democrats in the General Assembly earlier this year drew Burke, and all of DuPage County, out of the Second District boundaries.

The Third District was once represented by Justice Thomas Kilbride, a Democrat who last year became the first state Supreme Court justice in Illinois history to fail to win retention.

After that loss, Democrats redrew the boundaries for the Illinois Supreme Court districts this year for the first time since 1963 — though Republicans attempted to change the lines in 1997 with their Judicial Redistricting Act before it was ruled unconstitutional.

Legislators shifted the boundaries of the Third District that Kilbride once represented, condensing it to a smaller land area and shifting some counties, including DuPage, within its borders.

Under the new maps, which were signed into law in early June, the number of residents in the Supreme Court’s Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth districts will be “substantially equalized to better reflect the population and demographic shifts that have occurred in the state of Illinois over the course of the last sixty years,” according to a news release at the time on the proposed judicial boundaries.

Read More

Two men were injured after a Metra UP-NW train struck a vehicle in Norwood Park on the Northwest Side.

The incident happened near Northwest Highway and Nagle Avenue, according to Chicago fire officials.

The men were both transported to Luthern General Hospital in serious, fire officials said.

Metra UP-NW trains were halted in both directions near Norwood Park.

Metra has warned riders to expect extensive delays.

This is a developing story. Check back for details.

Read More

Live Nation on Friday issued a “best practices” recommendations policy for COVID safety protocols for all of its U.S. concert tours and venues.

The concert promoter behemoth is recommending to each touring artist’s camp that concertgoers provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to gain entry to concert venues. However, it will be up to each individual tour to implement the recommended safety measures or not.

The best practices policy, signed by Live Nation CEO Michael Rupino, read in part: “Our teams have worked together to put new processes in place so that artists doing shows with Live Nation in the U.S. can require all attendees and staff to be fully vaccinated or show a negative test result for entry, where permitted by law. We believe this is a great model, and we have already implemented this successfully at many major shows including Lollapalooza. … we hope these measures encourage even more people to get vaccinated.”

Lollapalooza, which ended on Sunday, came under fire from health officials and the general public alike for taking place amid the surge of the delta variant, the festival being referred to as a possible super-spreader event despite requiring all attendees to show proof of vaccination or negative COVID tests.

Live Nation’s president and chief financial officer Joe Berchtold, on Tuesday told company shareholders that Lollapalooza was “very successfully done,” with regards to COVID safety protocols.

“I think what we’re seeing is a shift to increasing requirements for entry of either tested or fully vaccinated. We had that at Lollapalooza over the last weekend very successfully done. Over 90% of the people were fully vaccinated, which I think was a great signal in terms of people’s commitment and support of being vaccinated in order to go to these shows,” he said.

In addition, effective Oct. 4, all Live Nation employees in the U.S. must be vaccinated to enter any Live Nation venues or offices.

Read More

Vowing to “ensure access to justice for all, the mayor of Highland Park launched her bid for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court on Friday, setting the stage for what could be a hotly contested race to represent a newly redrawn district on the state’s top court.

Making her third run for higher office in five years, Nancy Rotering, a Democrat in her third term as mayor of the North Shore suburb, joins Democratic and Republican judges in Lake County who are also vying for the seat formerly held by Justice Robert Thomas.

“My mission is to uphold the rule of law and make sure that all Illinoisans have an unbiased, fair and balanced adjudication of the major cases facing our state,” Rotering said in a statement announcing her candidacy.

“I look forward to continuing to put my background in law and business, coupled with my public service commitment to ethics and accountability, to work for the people of Illinois.”

Erin Brown/Sun-Times file

The Highland Park mayor has worked as an attorney for over 30 years and previously served on the Highland Park City Council, according to a news release announcing her candidacy.

With her Illinois Supreme Court run, the veteran attorney will have run for offices in all three branches of government — executive, legislative and judicial.

Rotering ran unsuccessfully in 2018 for Illinois attorney general, coming in fourth in the eight-candidate Democratic primary. Kwame Raoul won that primary and the general election.

Two years earlier, Rotering waged a campaign to represent the north suburban 10th Congressional District, losing in the Democratic primary to Brad Schneider, who garnered 54% of the vote and went on to beat Republican incumbent Bob Dold in November of 2016.

Rich Hein/Sun-Times file

Kicking off her run for the state’s top court, Rotering announced a slew of endorsements, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Newman, the mayors of Deerfield, Buffalo Grove and Fox Lake as well as Democratic state Representatives Bob Morgan of Deerfield, Dan Didech of Buffalo Grove, Sam Yingling of Grayslake and Joyce Mason of Gurnee.

Elizabeth Rochford, an associate judge in Lake County, is also running as a Democrat for the Supreme Court seat which now covers Lake, McHenry, Kane, DeKalb and Kendall counties.

Daniel Shanes, a Lake County judge, plans to run as a Republican for the Second District seat in next year’s June 28 primary.

A conservative Republican and former Chicago Bears kicker, Thomas held the seat for two decades. His retirement last year sparked GOP fears that the party would lose the seat on the state’s highest court.

Capitol News Illinois

State Supreme Court Justice Michael Burke was appointed to the Second District seat last March after Thomas retired.

A spokesman for Burke, a Republican, said he plans to seek a full term in the Third District after Democrats in the General Assembly earlier this year drew Burke, and all of DuPage County, out of the Second District boundaries.

The Third District was once represented by Justice Thomas Kilbride, a Democrat who last year became the first state Supreme Court justice in Illinois history to fail to win retention.

After that loss, Democrats redrew the boundaries for the Illinois Supreme Court districts this year for the first time since 1963 — though Republicans attempted to change the lines in 1997 with their Judicial Redistricting Act before it was ruled unconstitutional.

Legislators shifted the boundaries of the Third District that Kilbride once represented, condensing it to a smaller land area and shifting some counties, including DuPage, within its borders.

Under the new maps, which were signed into law in early June, the number of residents in the Supreme Court’s Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth districts will be “substantially equalized to better reflect the population and demographic shifts that have occurred in the state of Illinois over the course of the last sixty years,” according to a news release at the time on the proposed judicial boundaries.

Read More

Imagine that she is your daughter. Imagine one decision that leads her down the path of addiction and into the vice-filled shadows of unforgiving Chicago streets. Imagine your worry and prayers over sleepless nights that dissolve into tear-laden mornings.

Imagine that helpless sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach as the innocent, beautiful baby girl you brought home years earlier from the hospital and doted over, whispering sweet nothings, is now in danger of being consumed by the evils of life and the city’s mean streets. Imagine hoping, wishing, praying she would only return to herself, pull through, be all right. Imagine waiting to hear a word — something, anything…

Then comes the news: a phone call, a police knock. Bad news.

Now imagine her dead. Murdered. Gone.

She lies half naked and brutalized in an alley, abandoned building or vacant lot. She has been violated, strangled and bludgeoned, or her body set ablaze or dismembered, her killer having discarded her like garbage.

Imagine her final moments, gasping for breath, for life. The terror in her teary eyes. Her unanswered cries.

Imagine her, trying to scream. Except, with her breathing repressed by her killer, she can manage only strained whimpers until finally her light, despite her desperate struggle, has been extinguished.

Imagine she is your daughter. Your sister. Your aunt. Your mother. Your niece, cousin, friend.

Imagine that her one bad decision was simply choosing to go out that night, or to be in the company of a man who would turn out to be a killer. Imagine that she never used illicit drugs, would never knowingly place herself in harm’s way, and had tried to escape once the killer’s cruel intentions became clear. But by then it was too late.

Now imagine one murdered woman in Chicago multiplied by at least 51 since 2001. Imagine that their cases remain largely unsolved, their families clinging to the faintest hope for justice, which seems an elusive mist. Imagine these mostly African-American women — believed by the Murder Accountability Project in Alexandria, Virginia, to be the work of at least one serial killer — forgotten.

Imagine a city, a nation, that when it comes to Black women, accepts their murder and brutalization with numbing normalcy. A city where excuse making by politicians, and spin and deflection, are the typical response to questions about why police have yet to find answers.

A city where one local news station reneges on its invitation to discuss the Unforgotten 51 project — that I undertook last year with my students at Roosevelt University — because, on second thought, the story is “too grim for morning TV.”

Imagine a city where some news media might be inclined to pat themselves on the back for having done one or two or even three stories about the case with the sensational lead of the existence of a possible serial killer.

Except the real story here isn’t about a serial killer.

It is about the incalculable loss of humanity. A story of love, joy and pain, and of a sister’s fading hope for justice.

That is a story worthy of being told until the cows come home by news media that purport to stand as gatekeepers, as truth-tellers, who comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Who shine the light of journalism on injustice, inequality and inhumanity.

Imagine news media that will hold police officials’ feet to the fire to be transparent with victim’s families and the public about their investigative efforts. An unrelenting news media that will not allow this city to forget the 51, ever.

For the truth is: Each of them was one of ours — a slain Chicago daughter.

No need to imagine.

[email protected]

Send letters to [email protected].

…

Read More

As his 46-yard field goal drifted wide left and the Bears’ opening drive against the Falcons fell flat thanks to his miss, a familiar fear rose in Cairo Santos’ chest. It might sound like an overreaction for him to worry that this would cost him his job, but he’d been cut six times in three years — once by the Bears.

The end is always right around the corner for kickers, and Santos felt himself sliding toward it. He thought about everything from his soon-to-be-born son to the prospect of finding a new career after football. That’s quite a swirl of emotions while standing on the sideline of an NFL game.

It was in that moment, though, that he untangled himself from his anxiety. Enough. Santos couldn’t keep living that way. He let it all go. Maybe that miss would get him cut, and if not that one, maybe another one down the line. So be it.

“I put that pressure on myself that this has to be the opportunity that I bounce back — How many more opportunities am I going to keep getting?” he said Friday after practice. “I thought about [getting cut by] the Bucs, the Titans, so there we go again, I missed a kick in Atlanta.

“I just kind of accepted it. I started playing a little looser and put everything in God’s hands and went one kick at a time and here we are. It’s just humbling to go through that in the middle of a game and to just accept it and just kind of, it’s outside of my hands. Let me just go with it, one kick at a time.”

He made every field goal the rest of the season.

Santos made 93.8% to finish seventh in the NFL and will look to continue his streak of 27 in a row this season. Both of those numbers are franchise records, and he ended years of kicker turmoil for the Bears. They signed him to a three-year, $9 million contract extension in March.

A year ago, he got this chance only because Eddy Pineiro suffered a preseason groin injury. Santos missed four field goals for the Titans in a loss in October 2019, got cut the next day and sat unsigned for more than 10 months before the Bears called.

Now, everything is coming together nicely for Santos. His son was born in November, and by then he was firmly cemented as the Bears’ kicker. Now he has career stability, or as much of it as a kicker can realistically hope to have, after years of bouncing around.

“It’s a blessing — something that I was praying for for a long time,” he said. “I was already in that mode of maybe I’m transitioning to being a dad and a second career. Then I got a shot here.”

There’s genuine gratitude in his voice when he talks about the Bears, but that feeling is absolutely mutual. It’s hard to say who rescued whom.

Santos, 29, is their fifth kicker since releasing Robbie Gould shortly before the 2016 season. They went through a circuslike search after cutting Parkey and still weren’t sure if they had their answer going into Pineiro’s second season. It seemed ludicrous that they turned to Santos after his career spiraled.

But they got that one right. The Bears and Santos were exactly what each other needed.

Read More

A man was killed in a shooting Thursday on the South Side.

He was near the sidewalk about 2 p.m. in the 7100 block of South Bennett Avenue when someone fired shots at him from a vehicle, Chicago police said.

The 25-year-old was struck in the chest and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

An autopsy released Friday found he died of multiple gunshot wounds and ruled his death a homicide, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. He hasn’t been identified.

Area Two detectives are investigating.

Read More

Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.

This afternoon will be mostly cloudy with scattered thunderstorms and a high near 84 degrees. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with a low around 68. Tomorrow will be partly sunny with a high near 86, Sunday will be partly sunny with a high near 91 and there’s a chance for thunderstorms each day.

Top story

For Jennifer Hudson, playing Aretha Franklin meant showing ‘her faith was always present’

The first time we see Jennifer Hudson as a teenage Aretha Franklin in the sweeping and rousing biopic “Respect,” she’s singing in church.

Much deeper into the story, after Franklin has been crowned the Queen of Soul and has been through every high and low imaginable through the decades, she’s singing … in church.

Faith and spirituality are a theme in “Respect,” which has sneak-preview screenings Sunday before opening in theaters next Thursday and is sure to have Hudson — who won best supporting actress for her feature debut in 2006’s “Dreamgirls” — in the conversation for a second Academy Award.

“Faith is very important,” Hudson said in an interview on a hotel terrace on a sunny summer afternoon in her hometown of Chicago. “It’s the base of her and myself. It’s the thing that helped me get through the film. And it’s the thing that felt most at home.

“When we were shooting that scene [with Aretha as a teenager], I felt like, ‘This is church.’ You can’t really script that. … That was the most important thing to me to maintain throughout the film: her faith. And the gospel in her music, no matter what genre she sang, no matter where she was in life, gospel was always the blueprint. And her faith was always present.”

Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper has more with Hudson and her upcoming film here.

More news you need

1. The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police is opposed to Gov. Pritzker’s vaccine requirement for some of its members, calling the mandate “vaccine shaming” for public employees. In a statement last night, the group said it isn’t opposed to the vaccine, but “we are opposed to being forced to take it.”
2. Nancy Rotering, a Democrat in her third term as mayor of Highland Park, vowed today to “ensure access to justice for all” while launching her bid for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court. The move sets the stage for what could be a hotly contested race to represent the newly redrawn North Shore district on the state’s top court.
3. The Rev. Jesse Jackson joined other local leaders today to call on Congress to pass legislation that would hamper state laws restricting access to the ballot. The group said the passage of two bills would make it easier to register to vote and eliminate voter suppression tactics.
4. The South Side home where blues icon Muddy Waters lived and raised a family moved another step closer to official landmark status yesterday. Waters’ great-granddaughter’s quest for the designation now moves to the City Council for approval.
5. A group that represents Chicago’s Magnificent Mile wants a Baltimore businessman to stop using the phrase while marketing his business located on that city’s “Charm’tastic Mile.” The Magnificent Mile Association sent a cease and desist notice telling Derrick E. Vaughan to stop “piggybacking” off Mag Mile’s “brand, prestige and good will.”
6. Many are mourning the loss of house music DJ Paul Johnson — a legend in the genre who inspired the likes of Daft Punk. Johnson, a South Side native, died Wednesday from COVID-19 complications at the age of 50.
7. Yue Bao will make her debut Sunday as guest conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia Festival. The stint will be one of Bao’s biggest career milestones and is part of a larger shift that has more women on the podiums of symphony orchestras.

A bright one

Ducky Derby races 70,000 rubber ducks in the Chicago River, raises money for Special Olympics Illinois

A fleet of yellow rubber duckies sporting sunglasses bobbed down the Chicago River on yesterday afternoon for the Ducky Derby race.

Crowds of smiling spectators, children blowing duck beak whistles, boat riders, kayakers and drivers cheered on the 70,000 toy ducks raising money for Special Olympics Illinois.

A truckload of them was dropped into the Chicago River from the Columbus Bridge at the 1 p.m. “Splashdown.” With the help of the Chicago Park District and Coast Guard, the ducks floated to the finish line halfway to the Michigan Avenue Bridge.

Chicago residents could “adopt” a duck for $5 to enter the race. As of Thursday afternoon, the Derby has raised about $310,340 for Special Olympics Illinois.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Before the race, families milled around the festival of games, music and food at 401 N. Michigan Ave. Visitors lined the Riverwalk, Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive. The Derby also hosted a virtual festival for those who could not attend in person.

Many Special Olympics Illinois athletes brought their families to support the cause.

“We love what Special Olympics Illinois does for our children,” said Holly Simon, whose son Nate has won over 100 Special Olympics medals. “He’s met amazing people and friends, and he’s had a blast along the way.”

Read Nina Molina’s full dispatch from yesterday’s downtown race.

From the press box

Your daily question ?

It’s International Beer Day, so we want to know, what’s your favorite Chicago brewery to visit? Tell us why.

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 your favorite “L” line? Tell us why. Here’s some of what you said…

“The Red Line — I’ve taken it from downtown all the way back to 95th since the 1970s, most of my life. I hated when they ran the train underground instead of going around the “S” curve at Harrison and through the Loop.” — Tracey Hail

“The Original Howard 63rd Street line. I loved how the A train went west to Ashland and the B train went east to Cottage Grove.” — Pic Anderson

“The Red Line — it takes me home!” — Mary Ann Wong

“Brown and I like Pink because it’s all elevated. Red only because it runs through Lincoln Park and near Wrigley.” — Jackie Waldhier

“The Brown line as you enter the city offers the best views of all.” — James Scalfani

“Red Line. I remember riding when it was the A and B lines. My grandparents lived in Rogers Park, Howard and Jarvis stations. Now I’m between Morse and Loyola. It’s my history.” — Sharon Michalove

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.

Read More

Vowing to “ensure access to justice for all, the mayor of Highland Park launched her bid for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court on Friday, setting the stage for what could be a hotly contested race to represent a newly redrawn district on the state’s top court.

Making her third run for higher office in five years, Nancy Rotering, a Democrat in her third term as mayor of the North Shore suburb, joins Democratic and Republican judges in Lake County who are also vying for the seat formerly held by Justice Robert Thomas.

“My mission is to uphold the rule of law and make sure that all Illinoisans have an unbiased, fair and balanced adjudication of the major cases facing our state,” Rotering said in a statement announcing her candidacy.

“I look forward to continuing to put my background in law and business, coupled with my public service commitment to ethics and accountability, to work for the people of Illinois.”

Erin Brown/Sun-Times file

The Highland Park mayor has worked as an attorney for over 30 years and previously served on the Highland Park City Council, according to a news release announcing her candidacy.

With her Illinois Supreme Court run, the veteran attorney will have run for offices in all three branches of government, executive, legislative and judicial.

Rotering ran unsuccessfully in 2018 for Illinois attorney general, coming in fourth in the eight-candidate Democratic primary. Kwame Raoul won that primary and the general election.

Two years earlier, Rotering waged a campaign to represent the north suburban 10th Congressional District, losing in the Democratic primary to Brad Schneider, who garnered 54% of the vote and went on to beat Republican incumbent Bob Dold in November of 2016.

Rich Hein/Sun-Times file

Kicking off her run for the state’s top court, Rotering announced a slew of endorsements, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Newman, the mayors of Deerfield, Buffalo Grove and Fox Lake as well as Democratic state Representatives Bob Morgan of Deerfield, Dan Didech of Buffalo Grove, Sam Yingling of Grayslake and Joyce Mason of Gurnee.

Elizabeth Rochford, an associate judge in Lake County, is also running as a Democrat for the Supreme Court seat, which includes Rockford, Galena, Dixon and Plano.

State Supreme Court Justice Michael Burke was appointed to the Second District seat on the state’s highest court last March after Thomas retired.

A conservative Republican and former Chicago Bears kicker, Thomas held the seat for two decades. His retirement sparked GOP fears that the party would lose the seat.

A Republican, Burke would likely face Daniel Shanes, a Lake County judge, should Burke decide to run for a full term. Burke and the treasurer of his campaign fund did not immediately respond to a request for comment about any election plans.

Democrats in the General Assembly redrew the boundaries for the Illinois Supreme Court districts earlier this year for the first time since 1963 — though Republicans attempted to change the lines in 1997 with their Judicial Redistricting Act before it was ruled unconstitutional.

Under the new maps, which were signed into law in early June, the number of residents in the Supreme Court’s Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth districts will be “substantially equalized to better reflect the population and demographic shifts that have occurred in the state of Illinois over the course of the last sixty years,” according to a news release at the time on the proposed judicial boundaries.

Read More