What’s New

A man was fatally shot Tuesday morning in East Garfield Park.

The 21-year-old was in a parking lot about 11:46 a.m. in the 3300 block of West Warren Boulevard when someone fired shots from a gray sedan, Chicago police said.

The man was struck multiple times and taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. He hasn’t been identified.

Area Four detectives are investigating.

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The commissioners of the Pac-12 and Big 12 met Tuesday to discuss how the conferences might benefit from working together or maybe even merging.

Two people with knowledge of the meeting said Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby and George Kliavkoff from the Pac-12 were discussing the potential for strategic planning between the two conferences.

The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the leagues were not immediately sharing details of internal discussions. The Athletic was first to report the meeting.

The Big 12 is trying to regroup after being stunned by Texas and Oklahoma’s decision to move to the Southeastern Conference. For now, the move is scheduled for 2025, but the Big 12 has to start looking at how to move forward without their flagship programs immediately.

The remaining eight Big 12 schools — Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and West Virginia — are facing a huge drop in the value of their next television contract without Texas and Oklahoma in the conference.

The Big 12’s current TV deal runs out in 2025. Bowlsby told Texas lawmakers at a hearing in Austin on Monday that losing Texas and Oklahoma could slash the conference’s television revenue by about 50%. He said the TV deals accounted for about $280 million in revenue distributed to the schools.

The Pac-12’s current television deal is similar in value to the Big 12’s and expires in 2024.

Kilavkoff, a former MGM executive who took over as Pac-12 commissioner on July 1, has said the conference is in no rush to add members to a 12-member league that includes Southern California, Oregon, Stanford and Washington.

A full merger of the Big 12 and Pac-12 would create a 20-team conference.

The conferences could also consider a scheduling agreement or alliance that creates regular nonconference matchups in the high-profile sports of football and basketball as a way of potentially increasing the value of each league’s next TV deals, one of the people familiar with the meeting told AP.

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Music fans heading to upcoming shows at the Metro will be required to show proof of vaccination in order to enter the Wrigleyville concert hall.

The popular indie and alternative music venue announced the new policy Tuesday amid concern over rising COVID-19 numbers in Chicago and other parts of the country due to the Delta variant and slowing vaccination rates.

Unlike Lollapalooza, which allowed unvaccinated attendees to enter by providing a current negative COVID-19 test, Metro says it won’t allow anyone into the venue who cannot show proof of vaccination. Everyone will also be required to show a government-issued photo ID, and it’s recommended that all patrons wear masks.

It’s possible the mask recommendation also becomes a requirement in the near future, as Metro noted “these policies are subject to change based on city and state guidelines.” Health officials are currently recommending that everyone above the age of 2 — vaccinated or not — wear masks indoors to limit spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Chicago has not yet taken the same measures as New York City, which recently announced it’ll soon require proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, gyms, theaters, and other indoor spaces.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday she doesn’t regret allowing Lollapalooza to be held and isn’t concerned it will become a super-spreader event.

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A Sun-Times report headlined “Over 1,000 victims, 126 dead, just 2 convictions: 6 years of mass shootings in Chicago” could be misread as blaming the Chicago Police Department for the lack of criminal convictions. Yet, the police cannot arrest, let alone convict, without evidence or witnesses.

It is understandable, at the same time, why witnesses will not put themselves in danger and cooperate with a criminal investigation.

It is not the fault of police investigators that an atmosphere of fear has been created by predators, resulting in the guilty going unpunished. Such results are further frustrated by the “bail reform” that puts shooters back on the street.

Terry Takash, Western Springs

SEND LETTERS TO: [email protected]. Please include your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be approximately 350 words or less.

Time to address failing weed management systems on Illinois farms

In the late 1990s, most Illinois farmers successfully managed weeds with just one herbicide application. Now farmers need two or three different herbicides, and some must be sprayed more than once. Why the big change in the herbicide fire-power needed to get a crop through the production season?

The reason is clear — the emergence and spread of weeds that have become resistant to herbicides. The simple and effective weed control systems used on most Illinois farms since the late 1990s have been unraveling in recent years. More herbicides mean higher costs, and more chemicals flowing into Illinois streams and rivers, and reaching drinking water resources.

Public health concerns also are rising. Two relatively high-risk herbicides — 2,4-D and dicamba — are among those farmers are turning to more regularly. Both are “possible human carcinogens” and increase the risk of reproductive problems and adverse birth outcomes.

Is rising herbicide use and exposure impacting women’s health during pregnancy and the health and development of newborn babies? I help lead the Heartland Study, a multi-state clinical research project sponsored by the Heartland Health Research Alliance. While we search for answers, steps should be taken to deepen and strengthen the science supporting pesticide regulatory decisions. One set of key reforms is discussed in HHRA’s recent paper in the science journal Environmental Health.

Our recommendations will help assure for years to come that farmers have access to safe and effective weed control systems, without creating new public health challenges. Farmers, public health specialists and Illinois political leaders should urge Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency to reform outdated laws and policies that are holding back scientific advances in pesticide risk assessment and regulation.

Charles Benbrook, executive director, Heartland Health Research Alliance

School requirements

If a parent doesn’t want a child to wear a mask to school, then send the child to a private school. Public schools are for the masses. They require many things, including vaccinations, in order to protect all of the students. The COVID-19 vaccination and masks have been added to those requirements. It’s that simple.

Other children have rights, too.

Edwina Jackson, Longwood Manor

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Mayor Lori Lightfoot says she doesn’t fear a surge of coronavirus cases tied to Lollapalooza, in part because her public health commissioner “went incognito” to the music festival without valid proof of vaccination and was turned away.

During a live interview on WVON-AM (1690) , Lightfoot said she is “well aware” of a video appearing to show young people being “waved through” the Lollapalooza gates by people who were supposed to be checking vaccination cards, but “weren’t even looking at” those credentials.

But the mayor offered a possible explanation. Once attendees were screened and showed credentials proving they’d been vaccinated, they were issued a wristband. So the video could have been people with wristbands being waved through, Lightfoot said.

Lightfoot said her confidence about the safety of Lollapalooza stems from the city’s vigilance in holding event organizers to their promised protocols and testing that system to make certain they did.

Attendees were required to either show their own vaccination card — and a valid ID proving they were the person whose name is on the card — or proof that they had tested negative for the coronavirus no more than 72 hours before the concert.

“We checked with them every single day, multiple times a day. We had our people at the screening checkpoints. And I will tell you Dr. [Allison] Arwady, the public health commissioner, kind of went a little bit incognito, didn’t have all her paperwork right and they wouldn’t let her in,” the mayor told WVON talk show host Perry Small.

“Every single day, they turned hundreds of people away — either who didn’t have the right paperwork or had an expired test that wasn’t [taken] within 72 hours. That tells me there is a rigor around the protocols that they were using to screen people.”

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Gov. J.B. Pritzker talked about going to Lolla with his wife and friends, but canceled at the last minute, citing the highly-contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Lightfoot, on the other hand, appeared onstage the first night, thanking attendees for “vaxxing up and masking up.” The mayor said she “went there myself to eyeball the screening” and make certain the city had public health officials at every checkpoint “to make sure they weren’t just letting people through and going through the motions.”

“Can I tell you that the system worked perfectly? No, I can’t. But every single day, we had people there looking at it, asking questions and making sure that the screening was real and meaningful. They were telling us 90% plus every day” had shown proof of vaccination, Lightfoot said.

University of Chicago epidemiologist Dr. Emily Landon had argued that during a surge in cases tied to the Delta variant it was a “bad idea” for Lightfoot to allow hundreds of thousands of young people to jam together in front of multiple stages in Grant Park.

But Tuesday, Lightfoot said she has “no regrets” about green-lighting the festival, a major money-maker for Chicago that filled hotels and restaurants.

Two days after it ended, the mayor remains confident Chicago’s premier music festival — the largest of its kind in the world this year — will not turn out to be a “super-spreader” event. She argued just the opposite.

“We worked with the Lollapalooza people ahead of time to incentivize people to get vaccinated,” Lightfoot said.

“So I’m confident that thousands of people — mostly young people, which is our toughest demographic — got vaccinated simply because they wanted to go to Lollapalooza.”

Lightfoot said her decision on Lollapalooza was “based upon on data and modeling that showed a modest uptick” in the Delta variant.

“The Delta variant has been with us for quite a long time. This is not news. The media is now latching upon it, mostly because it’s attacking people who are unvaccinated. And what we’re also seeing is, people who have been on the fence or saying, ‘No. Not me,’ actually coming off the fence and saying, ‘This Delta variant scares me. I’m getting vaccinated,'” the mayor said.

Lightfoot said she doesn’t want to “force people to get a vaccine” or use “scare tactics.”

But, she added: “The data is real and the data is scary. … 97% of the people that are dying in Chicago are people that are unvaccinated. If that doesn’t give you an incentive to educate yourself and get off the wall and get vaccinated, I don’t know what else can.”

Not following New York on vaccination requirements yet

New York City is phasing in a requirement that residents show proof of COVID-19 vaccinations before entering a bar, restaurant or gym.

Lightfoot is hesitant to go there. She noted some Chicago restaurants and bars already deny entry to customers without proof of vaccination.

“That’s only going to spread,” she said, in part because customers are saying, “If you’re not vaccinated, I don’t want to be near you.”

But Chicago is nowhere near another shutdown.

“We’re seeing a modest uptick in [intensive care patients] and hospitalizations, but not to the point where we’re worried about our health care system buckling,” she said.

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Chicago Cubs: 3 mistakes that led to 2021 dismantle of roster by Vincent Parise

Yesterday on ESPN 1000 radio, Jed Hoyer went on to talk about everything related to the Chicago Cubs and where they stand. He made some very good points about the trade deadline but he made some very interesting comments about everything that went on. It isn’t all exactly what Chicago Cubs fans want to hear but it is what they need to hear. He went over a lot of different hot topics that are big storylines surrounding the team.

The Kap and J-Hood Show is the program where he appeared. David Kaplan and Jonathan Hood asked him everything that Cubs fans want to know about the last week of Chicago Cubs transactions and what it means for the future.

Of course, the Cubs traded Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, and Kris Bryant to the New York Yankees, New York Mets, and San Fransisco Giants respectfully. The most important things that Jed Hoyer said on the show revolved around the contract negotiations involving those three players. He wanted to shut down the narrative that they wanted to be there.

He claims that there were plenty of offers but not many counteroffers or a serious interest to sign on the part of the players. Without directly saying it, he implied that those three players didn’t actually want to stay in Chicago.

Word for word: Jed Hoyer on the #Cubs, extensions and trade talks with the core. Listen to it here: https://t.co/GZugeqzfZg pic.twitter.com/FeshtrGjUU

— rachel (@CubRachel) August 2, 2021

This. ?. #Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer on @kapjhood on @espn1000 this morning. Podcast of the interview is available here. https://t.co/S5sFhFqpAj https://t.co/egBWpTapf2

— David Kaplan (@thekapman) August 2, 2021

It appears that the Chicago Cubs were not close to getting deals done with their stars.

It was crazy when he brought up Lance Lynn and his situation with the Chicago White Sox. Hoyer made it a point to talk about how the White Sox and Lynn came to an agreement on a contract with ease after realizing both sides wanted a deal done. It sounds like he wishes his guys would have had the same level of want to be with this team. It never happened and now it is time to move on.

How does Jed Hoyer “move on” from this? Well, it doesn’t sound like he subscribes to the term “rebuild”. However, this is clearly a rebuild. Nick Madrigal and Nico Hoerner are good players but they likely aren’t going to be superstars. The only player worth building around is Willson Contreras who only has one year on his deal as well. That is the definition of a rebuild.

If there is anything that Jed can do this offseason that would come off as smart, it would be to make sure that he is transparent with what they are doing. This ship has sunk fast and based on his conversation with Kap and J-Hood, it isn’t getting fixed anytime soon. All Cubs fans should be checking out the interview for the full experience.

Related Story: In-depth analysis on Nick Madrigal and Codi Heuer

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BEIRUT — Senior Lebanese officials knew of the risks posed by the highly explosive material stored for years at Beirut’s port and did nothing to protect the public against it, an international human rights group said Tuesday.

In a report on last year’s massive blast, Human Rights Watch said those same officials are now trying to thwart the investigation. It called for targeted sanctions against implicated officials and an international probe.

The report comes as Lebanon marks one year since the horrific Aug. 4 blast ripped through Beirut, killing at least 214 people, injuring more than 6,000 and destroying or damaging thousands of homes and businesses. The explosion was preceded by a huge fire at a port warehouse after hundreds of tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrates detonated.

A year later, the investigation has yet to answer questions such as who ordered the shipment of the chemicals and why officials ignored repeated internal warnings of their danger.

In the 650-page report titled “They Killed Us from the Inside,” the New York-based group published scores of documents and exchanges between Lebanese officials about the ammonium nitrates haphazardly stored for nearly six years at the port.

“The actions and omissions of Lebanese authorities created an unreasonable risk of life,” the report said, adding that under international human rights law, a state’s failure to act to prevent foreseeable risks to life is a violation of the right to life.

In addition, Human Rights Watch said evidence strongly suggests some government officials foresaw the possible devastation from the nitrate’s presence and tacitly accepted the risk. “Under domestic law, this could amount to the crime of homicide with probable intent, and/or unintentional homicide,” it added.

The report names senior leaders, including President Michel Aoun, then-Prime Minister Hassan Diab, a former Lebanese army chief, senior security officials and several ministers among others who were informed of risks posed by the nitrates in the middle of a densely populated commercial and residential area but failed to take the necessary actions to protect the public.

Human Rights Watch said a lack of judicial independence, constitution-imposed immunity for high-level officials, and a range of procedural and systemic flaws in the domestic investigation rendered it “incapable of credibly delivering justice.”

Survivors of the blast and families of the victims have been calling for an international investigation, saying they lack faith in the Lebanese judicial system. Human Rights Watchsays the case for an “international investigation has only strengthened.”

Aya Majzoub, a researcher on Lebanon at Human Rights Watch, said “all the individuals named in the report knew of the dangers posed by the material and had a responsibility to act and failed to act under international law.”

“That’s a grave human rights violation. It’s a violation of one of the most basic rights, the right to life,” she told The Associated Press.

The Rhosus, the ship carrying the 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate to Lebanon in 2013, was supposedly sailing from the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi and bound for the Mozambican port of Beira.

It made a stop in Beirut to try to earn extra money by taking on several pieces of heavy machinery. But that additional cargo proved too heavy for the Rhosus and the crew refused to take it on. The Rhosus was soon impounded by the Lebanese authorities for failing to pay port fees, and never left the port again.

Human Rights Watch said questions remain whether the shipment was intended to reach Mozambique or whether “Beirut was the intended destination” all along. It said available evidence also indicates multiple Lebanese authorities were, at minimum, criminally negligent under Lebanese law in their handling of the Rhosus cargo.

Last month, Lebanon’s lead investigating judge in the case, Tarek Bitar, announced he intends to pursue senior politicians, and former and current security chiefs in the case, and requested permission for their prosecution.

Those named in the probe — including the outgoing prime minister, lawmakers and top generals — have so far not shown up at the prosecutor’s office, citing that they either have immunity as members of parliament or need special permission from the prime minister or the interior minister to appear.

Also Tuesday, the World Food Program said it’s “now supporting one in six people in the country, more than at any time in its history” as Lebanon’s economic meltdown has plunged millions into poverty. WFP said it has scaled up its assistance to reach 1.4 million people in Lebanon with food and cash support.

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TOKYO — U.S. women’s national team goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher hyperextended her right knee in the Olympic semifinals and will not be available for the bronze medal match against Australia on Thursday.

Naeher also sustained a bone contusion in the first half of the 1-0 U.S. loss to Canada on Monday. An MRI did not show ligament damage.

She was injured when she went up for the ball and came down awkwardly. She was treated for more than five minutes on the field and tried to continue. Naeher was replaced by Adrianna Franch in the 30th minute.

Naeher, who is in the midst of the season with her professional team, the Chicago Red Stars, will be sidelined for several weeks, U.S. Soccer said on Tuesday.

“I’m disappointed I won’t be able to be on the field Thursday with my teammates competing for a medal, but I know this group will bounce back from a tough loss,” Naeher said in a statement.

“I can’t wait to watch them fight for a bronze medal and I will be here to support the team in any way I can to help us get it done.”

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TOKYO — This wasn’t for a medal or any specific score. It wasn’t about trying to prove anyone right — or wrong — or deliver on other people’s sky-high expectations. It wasn’t to please sponsors or NBC or the International Olympic Committee or anybody else.

For the first time in a long while, Simone Biles gave herself permission to do gymnastics for the same reason she started the sport those many years ago: Because she wanted to.

A week after withdrawing from the team competition with a case of “the twisties” that put both her mental and physical health in danger, Biles returned for the last event final, balance beam.

Just as she did four years ago, she left with a bronze medal. This one, however, was so much sweeter and, unlike the one from Rio, won’t ever be overlooked.

“To be cleared for beam meant a lot,” Biles said Tuesday night, her voice thickening with emotion.

Biles still hasn’t processed everything that has happened in the last week. She knows she was, and still is, physically unable to do the twisting skills that are normally second nature to her. It’s the reason she was OK with missing the finals for vault, floor exercise and uneven bars.

Or OK as one can be about missing events you were supposed to do at an Olympic Games.

But why this all happened? She still doesn’t know. One day she was fine and the next she wasn’t, unsure of where she was in the air or whether she would land on her feet or her head or somewhere in between.

The physical danger was terrifying. Even more unnerving was that, as an athlete, she is used to bending her body to her will and now she simply could not.

“I think that was honestly the hardest part,” Biles said. “My problem was why my body and my mind weren’t in sync. That’s what I couldn’t wrap my head around. What happened? Was I overtired? Where did the wires not connect?

“That was really hard. I trained my whole life, I was physically ready, I was fine. And then this happens,” Biles said. “It was something that was so out of my control. But the outcome I had, at the end of the day, my mental and physical health is better than any medal.”

Biles came to Tokyo as the biggest star of these Games, projected to win what would be a record five gold medals. She is leaving with a silver medal from the team competition as well as that bronze on beam, giving her seven Olympic medals in all.

In years past, her performance might have been considered a disappointment, an athlete who couldn’t live up to her hype. But what Biles did in shining a spotlight on mental health, and the overwhelming pressure that elite athletes face, is far bigger, and will have a far greater impact, than any athletic accomplishment at these Olympics.

Athletes have long suppressed their emotions, not wanting anything to get in the way of their goals. And society is happy to let them, wanting only to be entertained and not caring that there’s an actual human behind these superhuman feats.

No one knew, for example, that Biles’ aunt had died suddenly over the weekend, adding one more layer to the stress she was already feeling.

“I’m definitely feeling the love and support, and I didn’t feel like that was going to happen,” Biles said. “I kind of felt embarrassed with myself. Especially when we went to the (Olympic) Village and everybody (was) coming up to me and saying how much I meant and how much I’d done for them.

“I was crying in the Olympic store because I just wasn’t expecting that.”

Her message, that it’s OK not to be OK, even when the world is watching, is a powerful one. And one that is long overdue.

While she appreciates anything that furthers that conversation she is, still, an athlete. Even when she knew she couldn’t, even when doctors wouldn’t allow it, she wanted to compete.

Trying to do the vault, floor or bars finals was never in consideration because it would require her to twist and even watching other gymnasts makes her “want to puke.” But the only skill on beam that requires Biles to do any twisting was her dismount.

If she and her coaches tweaked that, and doctors would clear her, she could leave these Olympics on her terms.

Biles looked nervous as she and the other beam finalists were introduced, taking several deep breaths. As she waited on the podium for the score of Tang Xijing, the gymnast who’d gone before her, coach Cecile Landi stood close by, offering last words of encouragement.

After a final hug, Landi walked down the steps, and it was just Biles and a beam that is 4-inches wide and 4 feet off the floor.

“I said, ‘Just go out there, have fun. And whatever happens, happens. One step at a time, go slow, take your time on the beam and make sure you open up on that dismount,'” Landi recalled.

The stands behind the balance beam were filled, making this feel as close to a normal event as there’s been this Olympics. Even International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach was on hand. But if the focus on her was unnerving, Biles didn’t show it.

With the click of camera shutters punctuating her every move, she flipped and turned with confidence, looking as steady as if she was performing on a railroad tie. She took a small hop backward on her dismount, now a double pike, but pumped her fists and beamed as she trotted off the podium.

“I was excited to compete at the Olympic Games because that’s what I planned on coming in, and to have everything just change and be a whirlwind was crazy,” Biles said.

When she saw her score, a 14.0, she nodded. With five gymnasts still to go, she had no idea whether that would hold up for a medal.

Nor did she really care. She had wanted to compete and she did, and that was all she needed.

“There’s a lot of relief. Obviously there’s — I don’t know. I don’t really know how I’m feeling,” Biles said. “Right now, I just feel I have to go home and work on myself and be OK with what’s happened.”

So much of it was out of Biles’ control. For one night, at least, she was able to do what she wanted and do it for herself.

And that might be the greatest victory of all.

Read more at usatoday.com

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JACKSON, Wyo. — A soupy mix of beans, rice and quinoa down the hatch, Erica Robertson prepared to get cozy at one of her favorite places to call home: Curtis Canyon.

The 23-year-old semi-itinerant denizen of Wyoming’s pricey Jackson Hole resort area sleeps in the twin bed built into the back of her Toyota RAV4, which she had parked in a camping area 1,200 feet over the valley floor, with sweeping views of Jackson Hole and the Tetons that have drawn car campers up the rock-strewn, switchbacked road for generations.

As a temporary resident, Robertson sees another perk to holing up for the night at Curtis Canyon.

“I can watch Netflix up here,” she says. “I’ve got unlimited data.”

In her 20s and stringing together odd jobs and living for now off her savings, Robertson has chosen a different sort of homeless life: She’s living out of her car. She’s been doing tht since graduating from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., last year with a degree in molecular and cellular biology. It’s her plan until winter makes car life untenable.

“If I could find housing, I probably would have done that,” Robertson says. “But it’s just so hard I didn’t really even feel the need to try.”

Calling the forest and town of Jackson’s streets home hardly puts her in a unique position in a remote, mountain valley where there’s an acute lack of housing and rent has skyrocketed.

Based on reports Bridger-Teton officials receive of people overstaying five- and 14-day camping limits, an estimated 300 to 500 people are living in the 3.4-million-acre national forest that wraps around three sides of Jackson Hole.

“People staying in one spot all summer is not a problem just in the Jackson area,” Bridger-Teton wilderness and recreation manager Linda Merigliano says. “It’s an issue in many of the other popular corridors, like the Greys River and Green River and drainages on the Big Piney District, too.”

Residency and “nonrecreational camping” are “very clearly” increasing, Bridger-Teton patroller and fire prevention specialist Lesley Williams-Gomez says.

Robertson says she respects the five-day stay limit in Curtis Canyon, which wasn’t enforced with vigor until this summer. The change took her by surprise, but she’s adjusted by staying in friends’ driveways and other in-town haunts instead.

Not everyone is as apt to heed those regulations. Full-time volunteer camping “ambassadors” are now posted for the summer at Curtis Canyon, Shadow Mountain and along the web of forest roads leading into the foothills near Toppings Lake. Their presence has helped limit people living in those areas, which have the most direct Teton range views.

“Unfortunately, the concerns are migrating to a new place,” Williams-Gomez says. “They’re going somewhere else, where there isn’t an ambassador.”

Illegal camping has especially sprung up farther south, in places like Fall Creek and Mosquito Creek roads. Williams-Gomez has heard “heartbreaking” stories that have channeled her frustrations away from the squatters and toward some Jackson Hole businesses that gave their staffs unrealistic expectations about housing when trying to lure them to Jackson Hole, then pushed them toward the national forest when they couldn’t find anything.

“We can’t just use the national forest as the bedroom for employers to house their staff,” Merigliano says.

Staff tied to one luxury Teton Village hotel outfitted a Fall Creek Road-area site with couches in anticipation of settling in for the summer but were hit with a raft of citations for litter, food storage and fire violations after someone tipped off foresters, according to Merigliano.

The environmental consequence of forest residency comes in the form of human feces littering the landscape, vegetation and grasses that are worn away and burnable wood that being depleted when campfires are allowed.

There are consequences for Jackson Hole’s human inhabitants, too, among them few places for locals to camp when all the spots have been claimed by the record-smashing crush of tourists and people who camp to live.

“Our natural resources are suffering, but it’s also locals who want to go up Curtis Canyon with their family and run around without seeing toilet paper,” Williams-Gomez says.

Living out of a car on the national forest and in other public places is predictably tiring at times.

“It’ exhausting worrying about where you’re going to sleep all the time,” Robertson says. “I’ve had some cold nights. Last Sept. 7, it snowed. It was, like, 10 degrees, and I didn’t have a proper sleeping bag.”

Still, she extols the benefits of being homeless in Jackson Hole.

“I think more people should try living in their cars,” Robertson says. “It’s very liberating.”

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