What’s New

Campton Hills man pleads guilty in mother’s deathMohammad Samraon August 3, 2021 at 8:28 am

A Campton Hills man plead guilty in his mother’s 2019 death Monday.

Thomas W. Summerwill, 23, agreed to four years of probation and 200 hours of community service in exchange for a guilty plea of involuntary manslaughter in the March 2019 beating death of his mother, 53-year-old Mary B. Summerwill, Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie L. Mosser said.

In addition to the probationary period and community service work, Summerwill cannot consume alcohol and must wear an alcohol-monitoring device for the duration of his probation, Mosser said. He also must undergo intensive alcohol and grief counseling, as well as a psychological evaluation.

On the morning of March 24, 2019, Summerwill was asleep when he awoke to what he believed was an intruder in his bedroom, not realizing it was his mother, Kane County Assistant State’s Attorney Greg Sams said in court. He grabbed a baseball bat and struck Mary Summerwill multiple times in the head.

An investigation revealed that Summerwill’s blood-alcohol concentration was .270 — over five times normal levels — and his blood contained tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) metabolites.

Read More

Campton Hills man pleads guilty in mother’s deathMohammad Samraon August 3, 2021 at 8:28 am Read More »

Cubs fans can blame the systemRick Telanderon August 3, 2021 at 6:36 am

I was listening to one of Chicago’s sports-talk radio stations Friday, the day of the Great Cubs Sell-Off, and an 80-plus-year-old woman came on the phone line.

She was so angry, she told the hosts she would never watch another Cubs game. And, she added in a nasty tone, Cubs president Jed Hoyer had better get home security for safety.

That shocked me.

We’re all used to outrage from fans. They are passionate. They go up and down like elevators. Understood.

But even with hyperbole, after what we saw Jan. 6 at the Capitol in Washington with rioters calling for elected officials to be harmed, you don’t say this stuff about fellow citizens — even in a snit.

And in your 90th decade?

Maybe a little decompression is needed here. Starting with grandma. Maybe for all Cubs fans.

It’s a good time to remember how baseball — actually, all elite North American pro leagues — work. We’re talking Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League.

These leagues are closed entities, with 30 to 32 franchises, in all the major cities, with very little if any outside competition, essentially members of legal cartels.

There are rules, drafts, salary caps, players’ unions, trade deadlines, fines, revenue-sharing, etc.

And nobody else can get in. Leagues that try to compete — well, good luck. Check the United States Football League and its sad history for evidence.

It’s a contained and arbitrary business, in a sense, totally rigged. That is, somebody within each cartel is going to win the championship each year, and a bunch of teams are going to be mediocre, and some are going to be terrible, and no team from anywhere else has a chance.

The worst teams then get the highest draft choices and the best young players. And the top teams slowly (or rapidly) fall out and previous losers rise. (Who thought the Royals would win the 2015 World Series?)

It’s nice and certain and predictable. All leagues want the semblance of parity, and their rules guarantee it.

Teams take the names of their chosen cities — Miami, Boston, Detroit and so on — as if they belong to those cities. They don’t.

You invest in the franchises because they’re “your” teams, but their loyalty to you is paper-thin.

The Los Angeles Lakers started in Minneapolis, remember. Jazz in Utah? (Try New Orleans.) And the Raiders have called three cities home in the last three decades.

Cubs fans with Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javy Baez jerseys surely are feeling that abandonment now. It hurts. It’s unfair.

But it’s the system. Rich star players almost always end up being traded. Partly because they’re so good, they bust the payroll.

If Jake Arrieta had been decent as a starting pitcher, if the Cubs hadn’t lost 11 consecutive games from June 25 to July 6, if Jason Heyward weren’t batting under .200, if pitcher Adbert Alzolay weren’t 4-11, if Rizzo were hitting more homers . . . maybe the Cubs would have gone for it all instead of folding.

That 11-game skid did it. The Cubs were tied for first in the National League Central on June 24, in fourth place on July 6.

We waited 108 years for the 2016 World Series crown, and here we go again.

Yeah, it’s sad. Yeah, it’s giving up. But for now, let’s assume this is Hoyer’s strategy, his disaster plan.

One fact: The Cubs’ title team that should have started a mini-dynasty lost its mojo. Most championship teams do. No excuse, but it’s a fact. Consider that in the last seven years, there have been seven different World Series winners.

The White Sox are now the hot Chicago team, general manager Rick Hahn the new genius. (Thanks, Cubs, for Craig Kimbrel!) But the Sox had five winning seasons in the last 15 years. And it’s funny how all those bad teams after the 2005 World Series championship are now forgotten by Sox pilgrims.

Try to win, tank, rebuild. It’s the baseball formula, done over and over. Yep, done even by the beloved Cubs just before that 2016 championship.

I remember talking with Leslie Epstein, Theo Epstein’s dad, back in 2014 in New York, when the Cubs were throwing out a 73-89 fifth-place club.

“Just wait,” Leslie said earnestly. “Give him time. It’ll happen.”

I snorted. But it did happen.

Maybe it will again. It’s baseball.

Read More

Cubs fans can blame the systemRick Telanderon August 3, 2021 at 6:36 am Read More »

Looking at Malt Beverages: Canteen Spirits Vodka Sodason August 3, 2021 at 3:42 am

The Beeronaut

Looking at Malt Beverages: Canteen Spirits Vodka Sodas

Read More

Looking at Malt Beverages: Canteen Spirits Vodka Sodason August 3, 2021 at 3:42 am Read More »

Parents Know Stuff: Trust Your Gut (Part 2)on August 3, 2021 at 2:44 am

Parenting SOS

Parents Know Stuff: Trust Your Gut (Part 2)

Read More

Parents Know Stuff: Trust Your Gut (Part 2)on August 3, 2021 at 2:44 am Read More »

Chicago Bulls: Alex Caruso move still leaves room for bigger signingsRyan Tayloron August 3, 2021 at 1:20 am

(Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
(Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

The Chicago Bulls inked former Los Angeles Laker, Alex Caruso, to a four-year $37 million deal.

The Bulls inked Caruso using an MLE, or mid-level exception, allowing the Bulls to obtain Caruso without going over the cap space provided to them.

This is important for two reasons.

First, the Bulls can still go after big-name free agents this offseason, like DeMar DeRozan, who they have been linked to in multiple sign-and-trade rumors with Lauri Markkanen.

Second, the Bulls can use their BAE, or bi-annual exception, to sign free agents and can use multiple minimum contracts to fill out the rest of their roster.

This deal seems confusing, considering the guard roster is full of freshly acquired talent like Lonzo Ball, newly drafted Ayo Donsunmu, and now Caruso.

However, it seems the Bulls have one goal in mind for which area of their team they want to improve most — defense.

Caruso is one of the most gifted defensive guards in the league. With multiple votes for second-team all-defense last season, Caruso held a 106 defensive rating and a 2.3 defensive box plus/minus.

AKME has its eyes set on improving the defense, which was a huge struggle for the Bulls last season. While they ended up 11th overall in points allowed per game, the defense was always a struggle for them.

Caruso is here for one reason and one reason only — defense. His offensive talents are pretty useless, considering he averages a career 5.9 points and takes just under five shots per game. Either way, Caruso’s new role will be boosting the Bulls’ perimeter defense, a much-needed area for the team.

The biggest takeaway from Caruso’s deal is that the Bulls are not done in free agency. The deal put the team in a bit of a hole for cap room to sign big men, but enough room to sign another big name while using Lauri Markkanen and Thaddeus Young as trade pieces to clear up cap room.

Currently, the Bulls have Nikola Vucevic, Thaddeus Young, and Markkanen as their big men. Markkanen and Young seem as good as gone in the trade market, and Daniel Theis has agreed to a four-year deal with the Houston Rockets.

Next: Chicago Bulls steal Lonzo Ball in a sign-and-trade

The Bulls need to figure out how to wiggle cap room to fill the roster spots for their frontcourt. The backcourt is loaded with talent and money, but the frontcourt needs work. That will be the next task for AKME as free agency continues. Stay tuned, Chicago.

Read More

Chicago Bulls: Alex Caruso move still leaves room for bigger signingsRyan Tayloron August 3, 2021 at 1:20 am Read More »

Watch Berkowitz w/Chicago GOP Chair Boulton discuss the challenges for “Ballot integrity,” especially in recent Presidential elections, due to the radical change in how we vote during the last 5 years.on August 3, 2021 at 1:05 am

Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz

Watch Berkowitz w/Chicago GOP Chair Boulton discuss the challenges for “Ballot integrity,” especially in recent Presidential elections, due to the radical change in how we vote during the last 5 years.

Read More

Watch Berkowitz w/Chicago GOP Chair Boulton discuss the challenges for “Ballot integrity,” especially in recent Presidential elections, due to the radical change in how we vote during the last 5 years.on August 3, 2021 at 1:05 am Read More »

Chicago police seeking tips in 2 July murdersAndy Grimmon August 3, 2021 at 12:18 am

Chicago Police have asked the public to provide information in a pair of killings, Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said at a Monday news conference.

Detectives have few leads in the killing of a 50-year-old man who was struck by a bullet as he sat in his truck, heading to work, around 4:30 a.m. on July 31 in the 2600 block of West 23rd Place in Little Village. The man was in the truck with his son when the bullet “came down the block,” Deenihan said.

Area 4 detectives are investigating the shooting.

Police also are seeking tips in the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old who was gunned down as he sat in a car in the 1600 block of West Waseca Place in Morgan Park on the far South Side on July 29.

The teen was struck in the head by a gunshot fired by someone who was shooting from a car coming down the street, Deenihan said.

Anyone with information may submit tips anonymously using the department’s online tip portal, cpdtip.com.

Read More

Chicago police seeking tips in 2 July murdersAndy Grimmon August 3, 2021 at 12:18 am Read More »

CPD Supt. David Brown: City should not be ‘running in place’ on violent crimeAndy Grimmon August 2, 2021 at 11:45 pm

Complaining about low bail for violent arrestees and an “historic” number of guns on Chicago’s streets, Supt. David Brown on Monday expressed frustration that the city’s violent crime remains at near-record levels for the second year in a row.

Chicago saw 105 murders in the month of July, just two fewer than in July 2020. Year to date, there have been four fewer murders in 2021 than during the first seven months of 2020– though there have been nearly 200 more shootings this year than last.

As he does at most of his weekly press briefings, Brown updated the tally for CPD’s gun-related arrests and offered the record-setting pace of gun seizures as evidence police are doing their part.

Police have made 3,477 firearm-related arrests and so far this year have taken 7,322 guns off the streets — some 1,500 more weapons than during the same period last year and on pace for more than 12,000 seized firearms by year-end.

Brown also noted the department’s efforts at community outreach in July: 143 “youth engagements” including a baseball camp and boat rides with the department’s marine unit; 105 charitable giveaways; and a live concert for seniors.

“You should not be running in place as far as homicides, and you should not be up 10% (in shootings) with all the work that the men and women of the Chicago Police Department have done in recovering guns, which are 90% of what’s happening in relation to violence,” Brown said.

“There are too many guns and too little consequences for repeat, violent offenders.”

Many cities are struggling to reverse dramatic increases in violent crime that began in 2020, a surge experts attribute to the combination of multiple factors: mass unemployment during the pandemic; closure of outreach programs; and lack of trust in law enforcement in the wake of George Floyd’s murder murder by a Minneapolis police officer.

Chicago’s 1% increase in homicides year-to-year is markedly better than the numbers in other large cities. According to data analyst Jeff Asher, who tracks crime data from public sources across the U.S., murders are up by nearly a third in Houston, 25% in Philadelphia, 29% in Los Angeles and 1% in New York.

Brown has frequently touted CPD’s “big swing” into community policing programs and the city’s new, holistic approach to fighting crime with a combination of new policing strategies, violence prevention programs, and outreach and support to those most likely to shoot others or be shot themselves.

Just as frequently, Brown has complained about a Cook County court system he says allows too many offenders back on the street after arrests for weapons or violence charges. Brown cited the example of a defendant in a double-homicide from 2017 who was released on electronic monitoring, one of more than 100 murder defendants who have been released from jail while outfitted with a GPS tracking device.

Chief Judge Timothy Evans has said that 99% of defendants on bond for violent crimes do not pick up a new arrest while free on bond, and 90% make scheduled court dates. State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has pointed to CPD’s dismal solve rate for shootings, noting that her office brings charges in nine out of 10 cases brought to prosecutors by CPD.

Brown compared the “mostly flat” levels of violence to the decline in murders that began after the city’s other recent spike in killings. In 2016, the number of murders reached more than 770, then dropped in each of the following years, with 650 murders in 2017, 561 in 2018, and 490 in 2019. Bond court was reformed in 2017 to allow more defendants to receive affordable bond amounts, and judges have been both more likely to assign lower bail amounts and to order defendants deemed too dangerous to be held with no bond at all.

Read More

CPD Supt. David Brown: City should not be ‘running in place’ on violent crimeAndy Grimmon August 2, 2021 at 11:45 pm Read More »

Stan Bowman envisions reconstructed Blackhawks ‘pushing for playoffs’ next seasonBen Popeon August 2, 2021 at 11:21 pm

Stan Bowman’s quadruple espresso somehow wore off just in time.

After a frenzied offseason of transforming the Blackhawks’ roster, the general manager appeared just as calm and stoic as usual Monday, discussing the many trades and signings as the action begins to subside.

“What we’re hoping for is a competitive team that’s pushing for playoffs,” Bowman said. “That’s why we all do this. Certainly, some years it’s more likely than others…[and] this year, we’re looking to take a step forward. There’s a lot of reason for excitement and optimism.”

Less than a year ago, Bowman spent a busy week waving the white flag on the team’s aimless 2017-to-2019 maneuverings and committing to a more cohesive, targeted rebuild.

He insists that rebuild is still happening, still building, still the plan. But there’s no denying it drastically changed tone this summer, flipping from the cautious, prospect-oriented method coach Jeremy Colliton led last season to an aggressive, acquisition-oriented, all-hands-on-deck approach moving forward.

Bowman admitted this summer’s spending spree — which has brought in Marc-Andre Fleury, Seth Jones, Caleb Jones, Jake McCabe, Tyler Johnson, Jujhar Khaira and counting — wasn’t exactly “mapped out back in October.” But the Hawks’ offloading then was apparently intended to “set up an environment” to make this possible now.

“We’ve been trying to position ourselves to have flexibility to be nimble enough to make strategic additions at the right time,” he said. “But it doesn’t really change the path we’re on. We still want to…continue to see our young players grow. If anything, we’re trying to surround those players with stronger players, to give our team more confidence that we can grow as a group.”

Indeed, most of those young players are still around — with the notable exception of Pius Suter, for whom Bowman said there “wasn’t really a match” in financial negotiations. But they won’t be the focal points, at least externally, of next season’s expected roster.

In one interesting response, Bowman described Jonathan Toews, Kirby Dach and Johnson as providing a “real solid foundation” of centers to build the forward lines around.

That raised a few follow-up questions. Has Toews’ status changed? It hasn’t, Bowman said, because “things are looking good” but he and the Hawks “don’t know where it’s going to be” in September.

And why wasn’t Dylan Strome, who ended last season disgruntled about his playing time and has spent much of the summer in trade rumors, listed among that group? Bowman admitted Strome has “played probably his best hockey at center” but the Hawks have “a lot of centers — some are going to be playing on the wing, and that’s OK.”

Bowman altogether shot down the theory that the Hawks will need to make a trade to clear salary-cap space now that Fleury’s $7 million hit officially sits on the books.

“We won’t have to make any moves,” he said. “We might make a move if we think it makes sense for the future of the team…but we’re in a good situation relative to the salary cap. We have some flexibility there with how we compose our roster for the opening night.”

He implied Andrew Shaw’s contract will indeed be placed on long-term injured reserve, and his comments also lent credence to the idea that Brett Connolly’s contract could be buried in the AHL — a transaction that would free up an additional $1.075 million.

The Hawks do still need to (and will) re-sign and fit in restricted free agents Brandon Hagel and Alex Nylander. Another move or two can’t be ruled out, either, even as the Hawks’ offseason switches to decaf. But Bowman clearly feels confident about the current state of the team.

“We’re going to have strong goaltending each night, and our defense is going to be much improved,” he said. “When you add that up, it bodes well for our team.”

Read More

Stan Bowman envisions reconstructed Blackhawks ‘pushing for playoffs’ next seasonBen Popeon August 2, 2021 at 11:21 pm Read More »

Need a passport? Expect long delays getting oneChristopher Weber | APon August 2, 2021 at 11:00 pm

After more than a year of pandemic-related lockdowns, people are ready to travel again, but the State Department closed many of its offices last year in an effort to keep employees safe, and that’s created an enormous backlog to get or renew passports.

The department says a backlog of 1.5 million to two million passport requests means that most applications submitted now probably won’t be processed until the fall.

That pent-up demand for passports has swelled wait times to between 12 and 18 weeks, according to the State Department, prompting many to seek expedited appointments at understaffed passport offices. But those now take up to 12 weeks.

Rachel Arndt, deputy assistant secretary of state for passport services, has said the State Department is increasing staffing throughout the United States as pandemic restrictions are eased. But she said Americans needing to apply for or renew a passport should do so at least six months ahead of when they plan to travel.

Those without immediate travel plans are encouraged to renew their passports by mail.

Meanwhile, the State Department and Department of Homeland Security have taken steps to ease issues related to Americans abroad with expired passports who are trying to return home.

The departments announced in May that U.S. citizens who are overseas and whose passports expired on or after Jan. 1, 2020, would be able to use their documents to reenter the United States until Dec. 31, 2021. That provision doesn’t apply to travel between other countries unless it’s a transit stop.

Read More

Need a passport? Expect long delays getting oneChristopher Weber | APon August 2, 2021 at 11:00 pm Read More »