What’s New

Two teens were wounded, one critically, in a shooting Thursday night in Calumet Heights on the South Side.

A 17-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man were in an alley about 6:45 p.m. near the 9200 block of South Yates Boulevard when two people approached them and fired shots, Chicago police said.

The man was struck in the back and listed in critical condition. The girl suffered a gunshot wound to the thigh and was listed in good condition, police said.

Both teens self-transported to Trinity Hospital, according to police.

No one is in custody, police said.

Read More

Three men were wounded in a shooting Wednesday evening in the South Shore neighborhood.

Just after 6:30 p.m., the men, 32, 53, and 64, were walking on the sidewalk in the 2100 block of West 71st Street when an unknown vehicle approached and someone inside fired shots, Chicago police said.

All three men suffered gunshot wounds to the leg and the 53-year-old was also struck in the arm, police said.

They were all transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition, according to police.

No one is in custody.

This is a developing story. Check back for details.

Read More

A new mural was unveiled under a viaduct at the 606’s Bloomingdale Trail on Humboldt Boulevard that honors the life of a young Chicago baseball prospect that was fatally shot nearly four years ago.

The ribbon-cutting Wednesday of the “Tunnel of Blessings: Neftali Reyes Jr. Memorial Mural” brought over 50 people to the underpass with many staring at the mural with both grieving eyes and proud smiles. It was a bittersweet moment for the family of the young man whose life was cut short but whose image, frozen in time, will be seen for years to come.

Annette Flores and Neftali Reyes Sr. fought back the tears as they remembered their son’s life. They told of how he was able to catch a baseball before he could walk, his college days and the legacy he left behind.

Flores said the mural “reflects unity and community, relentless perseverance and unconditional love.

“Today, as a mother of a gun violence victim, who was forced to live this devastating journey, I share my love, my pain and my continued roar for change,” Flores said. “Our youth deserve it; our children need us.”

The mural features a vibrant Reyes Jr. in his Roberto Clemente High School baseball jersey with his gloved raised. The names of 13 other young shooting victims from the area were are memorialized in the mural that was painted by artists Andy Bellomo, Sandra Antongiorgi and Rae Wilson.

Bellomo said the artwork includes letters and notes from families who lost loved ones to gun violence which were first written on the wall of the concrete underpass before the mural was painted on top. She hopes their words breathe life into the space and can be a blessing for those walking by or taking a minute to remember Reyes Jr. and the other victims.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Reyes Jr. graduated with honors at Clemente and was enjoying a full ride to play baseball at Claflin University in South Carolina. The aspiring major league pitcher had to return to Chicago to recover from an injury that was keeping him off the field.

Then in the early morning of Dec. 29, 2017, Reyes Jr. was driving in the 2300 block of West Grand Avenue in West Town when his car was rammed several times by another car with two men and a woman inside, forcing him to lose control of his car.

The group pulled up beside him and someone fired shots that would kill the then 19-year-old.

Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th) said the mural was only possible because of Flores’ relentless fight in getting the city to approve the use of the 26th Ward menu funds for the project. He said it took several years of fighting with the city’s legal department to bankroll the project and was nearly brought to tears during the ceremony.

Maldonado said the viaduct is along a route he takes on his daily walks and shared his own grief after his wife died of cancer — an anniversary that falls on the same exact day although it happened two years earlier.

“I know what it is to carry a grief forever for losing a love one, the anger and the disbelief as well,” Maldonado said. ” … It feels like it was yesterday.”

Maldonado also said he empathizes with Reyes Jr. since his son is a baseball player for Lane Tech High School with aspirations of turning pro.

“This could’ve been my son,” Maldonado said. “I relate to Annette’s family like if it were mine.”

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Read More

Autry Phillips runs a community outreach center on a block in Gresham where people like to gather on the street and catch up with each other.

“It’s a good thing to do,” Phillips said. “We want people hanging out on our block.”

And that’s what people were doing Wednesday, standing and talking near a food mart at 79th and Justine streets when a silver car pulled out from an alley and three gunman opened fire shortly after noon.

Five people were hit, four men and a woman. Three of the victims were listed in critical condition as they were taken to hospitals. They ranged in age from 27 to 50.

It was the second mass shooting in Chicago in a day.

Hours earlier, four women and a man were shot in West Garfield Park on the West Side. As in Gresham, they were gathered on a sidewalk in the 4600 block of West Monroe Street when someone approached with a gun and shot them shortly after midnight, police said.

Authorities released no other details, other than the victims were between 18 and 34 and were all in good condition.

There have been at least 31 shootings across Chicago this year involving four or more victims, according to a Sun-Times analysis of city data. The city is on pace to surpass the total from all of last year, 48.

Wednesday was the fifth time this year where there have been two mass shootings in a single day. On June 27, a pair of mass shootings on the South Side within two hours of each other left two people dead and 15 more wounded.

Wednesday’s shootings happened in the Gresham and Harrison police districts, by far the deadliest this year. The Harrison district, which includes West Garfield Park, has recorded three other mass shootings this year, while the Gresham district has been hit with two others.

Over the last five years, Chicago has recorded the most mass shootings in the nation by far, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive.

“Mass shootings are becoming the norm,” said the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a longtime crusader against gun violence whose church, St. Sabina, is just a half-mile from the Gresham attack.

Pfleger said he doesn’t believe the victims of the shooting were the intended targets, noting they’re fixtures of that area who often hang out there playing cards. An infant was sitting in a stroller nearby but wasn’t struck, he said.

“It’s an area that’s known by a particular gang and I think whoever it was, they’re sending a message to that area,” he said. “And these people just happened to be sitting there and there was nobody else out there.”

The shooting happened across the street from Phillips’ Target DevCorp Auburn Gresham Community Outreach Center, an anti-violence organization that immediately began working to stop any retaliation.

“What we try to do first is to try to make sure the families are okay,” Phillips said as he watched police work behind crime tape near the food mart.

Phillips said it was troubling that the shooting happened so close to his organization, but added that these attacks can happen anywhere in the city.

“At any time at any place, anyone in Chicago can get hit” he said. “We have shootings that’s next to the Chicago Police Department, we have shootings that’s next to schools.”

The people wounded Wednesday are not gang members and were not hurting anyone, he added. “Unfortunately, someone made the decision to pull the trigger.”

Pfleger said Chicago doesn’t appear to have a comprehensive plan to address the violence plaguing the South and West sides. Meanwhile, the toll continues to grow.

“We’re burying dreams every week,” he said. “And we’re less of a city because of who we’ve lost in this city. And I don’t see anything changing.”

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

Read More

There’s been a lot of changeover in top leadership at Chicago theaters over the past 18 months, with more to come; we’re still waiting to hear who will be replacing Anna Shapiro as Steppenwolf’s artistic director when she leaves at the end of her six-year contract in August. (Will the company honor past tradition and draw from within the ensemble, or will they look outside the walls of the growing Steppenwolf campus on Halsted?)

But two longtime Equity companies have just announced new artistic directors, and they’ve chosen women with deep roots in town to lead them in the (hopefully) post-pandemic era.

Marti Lyons, a freelance director whose resume includes shows at Victory Gardens, Chicago Shakespeare, Court, Writers Theatre, Gift, and Sideshow, as well as work around the country at theaters such as Wooly Mammoth and Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., and the Geffen Playhouse in LA, has been named as the new artistic director for Remy Bumppo.

And Teatro Vista has named two women–Lorena Diaz and Wendy Mateo–as co-artistic directors. Diaz and Mateo also have long resumes as performers and directors onstage and onscreen (they’ve both been seen on Dick Wolf’s Chicago PD and Chicago Med), and have been creative partners for many years. Sketch fans know them as “Lolo and Wendy” of the comedy duo Dominizuelan. (The name is a portmanteau of their Latina heritage–Diaz is Venezuelan and Mateo is Dominican.) They also run their own digital content creation company, Chicago4Real. (They produced a web series, The Dominizuelan Consulate, with Fred Armisen.)

In talking to all three women (the first female artistic directors in the history of their respective companies), it’s clear that they see their mission is to work collaboratively within the existing ensembles of Remy Bumppo and Teatro Vista, while expanding the idea of what the work created by those ensembles can be, onstage and off.

Remy Bumppo was founded 25 years ago by James Bohnen (the name came from his pets), and the company’s emphasis has been on language-driven works and classics–they adopted “Think Theatre” as the shorthand version of their mission some time ago. After Bohnen departed in 2011, Remy Bumppo brought in Timothy Douglas as his replacement. But that arrangement only lasted six months, as an apparent lack of artistic rapport with the ensemble led to Douglas resigning in early 2012. (He told the Reader‘s Tony Adler at the time, “The approach to the work that I have differs so markedly from what has gone before that it just felt the compromise was too great.”) Douglas was replaced by ensemble member Nick Sandys.

Sandys announced his intention to leave the artistic director’s post back in mid-December of 2020 (he remains a member of the ensemble), and the company hired ALJP Consulting to help find his replacement. Lyons, who hasn’t directed at Remy Bumppo in the past, found that the “brilliantly structured process” leading to her hiring meant that everyone’s voices were heard.

“I interviewed with every part of the organization. It was very thorough. I got the sense that the board, the staff, and the ensemble all had a say, and that they all had to turn their keys in order to make this hire,” says Lyons, adding, “I had a working session with the ensemble where we collaborated together, and that also then became an interview with the ensemble.”

Lyons notes that she’s joining Remy Bumppo during a time when the company has already been developing a new strategic plan “for shifting some practices and making actionable change on all levels of the organization. And that was something that is very interesting to me in my work as an individual. And I’m speaking here specifically of anti-racist and anti-exploitative practices.”

In practical terms for Lyons, that means “Representation is on the forefront of my mind. Both in terms of who’s on our stages and who’s behind the scenes for our season. Additionally, who is on our ensemble, on our board, and on our staff.” She adds, “I think the anti-racist work that is being done in the theater community really betters the working conditions for everyone. And so here’s where we’re also talking about pay equity, looking at how to pay staffers but also freelancers as fairly as possible, given the size of our organization. Pay equity is also something that is on the forefront of our minds.”

Lyons also notes, “We See You White American Theater, the conversation around that brilliant document is something that has been happening at Remy Bumppo for over a year now. And it’s something that is taken very seriously and considered very thoroughly on all levels of the organization.”

Though the company hasn’t announced its next season yet, Lyons acknowledges that Remy Bumppo has been best known for “Eurocentric classics” (albeit with a modern bent–they’ve produced seven Tom Stoppard plays over their history, for example). Lyons says, “We as an organization are very excited to continue to expand beyond those works and those writers, although they are great works and brilliant writers, to invite new lenses and new frameworks and new writers into our midst. Again, to expand what language-centric work can mean.

“Remy Bumppo and I have this really neat aesthetic alignment in that we both have a history of doing extant works, and also new works, and adaptations.” Lyons adds, “I think there is a lot of freedom in being a language-based company because we can do works that are historical. We can also do new works or second and third productions. We have a lot of flexibility and we have an opportunity to do work that is language-driven. But that can mean so many things. Certainly it has in my career. And it also has with Remy Bumppo.”

New vistas–on stage and screen

Founded in 1990 by Edward Torres and Henry Godinez, Teatro Vista’s motto is “theatre with a view”–and more specifically, a view that encompasses the broad range of work by contemporary Latinx artists. Torres took over as sole artistic director in 1995 when Godinez (who has been a longtime resident artistic associate for the Goodman) left. In 2013, Ricardo Gutierrez moved into the role.

Diaz has performed with Teatro Vista mainstage productions, while Mateo has not. But they have both been in the company’s larger circle of friends for many years. Mateo says, “We’d perform at their fundraisers and would perform as Dominizuelan in various forms. There was a program they did called Late Night TV a couple of years ago that we participated in pretty regularly.”

With the duo’s strong background in digital content, it’s not surprising that that’s one of the areas where Diaz and Mateo believe they can expand the artistic and audience reach of the company. Mateo says, “We’ve always been creating content, whether it be onstage or it be on digital platforms. And we felt that that skill set, paired with what the ensemble is already doing, would be a recipe for finally bringing theater to folks, as well as into the theater. We always look at it as an opportunity for ‘How do we step theater out of these four walls and give it accessibility to the communities who want to see our stories, who need to see themselves represented, and need to see our stories?’ So it was a convergence of all of those things and the ensemble is so energizing to lead that way.”

Diaz adds, “The audience during the pandemic, they learned, ‘Oh, I don’t have to be in the theater to have a theatrical experience.’ And so just like we learned that we can skip over commercials with TIVO, we’re like, ‘Oh, this is new and awesome.'”

Mateo and Diaz also went through a lengthy interview process, facilitated by BLVE Consults. Diaz says that the Teatro Vista board “were hesitant about a co-artistic director partnership at first. But once you talk to Wendy and I together, you get it. The ensemble was really on board; we knew that they would be because we’re so used to collaboration and what it looks like to bring that to leadership.” The two also credit Teatro Vista’s managing director Sylvia Lopez (“who is a boss,” says Diaz) and board president Adela Cepeda for their advocacy of the arrangement.

Building bridges between communities is also something that Mateo and Diaz feel they can do well, based on their own career experiences.

“Wendy and I have always been looking for ways to create bridges from one to the other,” notes Diaz. “So earlier on in our career, we were like, ‘How do we bridge comedy and theater?’ Because it was so separate. When we arrived in Chicago 15 years ago it was like, ‘The comedy community over here, the theater community over here.’ And so we set out to create a theatrical sketch show that was more of a theatrical experience, as opposed to a straight-up, lights-up, lights-down [show]. And now that bridge that we’re looking to craft is between theater and film and that digital experience.”

But of course the company will maintain its focus on live performance. Though the next season is still a work in progress, the new artistic directors did mention one show that will be happening: Somewhere Over the Border, written by Brian Quijada, whose 2016 autobiographical solo show, Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, was a hit for Teatro Vista. Diaz describes it as, “Think The Wizard of Oz meets Willy Wonka. He’s amazing. An incredible talent, an incredible musician, performer, writer, and this story is epic.” “EPIC,” echoes Mateo. Teatro Vista will produce a workshop of Quijada’s show this fall, with a full production slated for spring of 2022.

Like Lyons, Diaz and Mateo also think that the year of shutdown and demonstrations against racial injustice has potentially seeded the ground for something greater in the theater community. They also credit other women in theater with whom they’ve worked–specifically Heidi Stillman, artistic director for Lookingglass Theatre, and Miranda Gonzalez, artistic director of UrbanTheater Company, for the support they’ve given.

Says Mateo, “When the summer rebellion happened and We See You White American Theater came out with their demands, I thought to myself even at that time, ‘What would be the possibility of a BIPOC-led and -founded theater to create equitable practices for their artists? What would it look like for us to not have to demand that of the white theaters, but lead that?’ And so we have this opportunity to be that.” v

Read More

The Iowa auto mechanic arrested in a downtown Chicago hotel room with a rifle, scope and pistol was in town to propose to his girlfriend over the Fourth of July weekend, not to launch a mass attack as the mayor and top cop have suggested, his lawyer insisted Wednesday.

“This baseless accusation against Mr. (Keegan) Casteel spurred sensational media coverage, despite the dearth of evidence that our client had any ill intent,” said Loop attorney Jonathan M. Brayman.

“Mr. Casteel did have a plan for the Fourth of July – to travel to the city of Chicago to propose to his girlfriend on the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier that evening,” he added.

This is the first public comment from Casteel since he was arrested July 4, when a housekeeper at Hotel W led police to room 1208, where officers found a loaded semi-automatic rifle with a laser scope, five ammunition clips and a loaded .45-caliber handgun.

Both Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Police Supt. David Brown have said Casteel may have intended to fire on Navy Pier crowds from his hotel window, though prosecutors have yet to offer any proof of such plans.

Brayman said his client is licensed to have the guns and was merely possessing his Second Amendment rights. They suggested the weapons made Casteel feel safer in a crime-ridden city.

“The fact that good people feel the need to arm themselves when traveling to Chicago is the real problem that our public officials need to address,” he said. “In Mr. Casteel’s case, there was nothing nefarious afoot.”

Brayman suggested that both the mayor and the superintendent purposely sensationalized the arrest to draw attention from the city’s rising violence.

Brown announced the arrest two days after it was made, during a news conference where he was questioned about one of the most violent Fourth of July weekends in years, with over 100 people shot, including 13 children.

“While the superintendent and other public officials have made Mr. Casteel a scapegoat in the face of widespread violence and actual shootings in the city of Chicago, he is nothing more than a law-abiding person exercising his Second Amendment Rights,” Brayman said.

Casteel, 32, has so far been charged with two felony counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, though prosecutors said Wednesday a grand jury will review the case.

In the meantime, he has been released on a relatively low $10,000 bond after a judge reminded him that gun laws in Chicago are different than in Iowa.

After leaving Cook County Jail on July 7 , Casteel walked up to an SUV and knelt in front of his girlfriend who had just gotten out of the driver’s seat. He held a ring and proposed, and they drove off.

The judge allowed Casteel to return to his home near Des Moines, where he has run an auto garage since the fall of 2019.

Since his arrest, Casteel’s mugshot has been carried by media around the world along with the accusations from the mayor and the police superintendent.

Brown, during his news conference, noted that Casteel’s hotel room overlooked a portion of the Ohio Street Beach along Lake Michigan and Navy Pier.

Brown said the housekeeper who tipped off police “likely prevented a tragedy from happening,” adding, “Thank God for that hotel worker who saw something, and said something, and I believe averted disaster.”

Brown, and later the mayor, noted that Casteel was interviewed by the “joint terrorism task force” in Chicago.

Though no terrorism-related charges were filed, Lightfoot described the guns found in the room as “weapons of war.”

“Because he was charged with mere possession and legally, here in our city, the charges weren’t of the type that he could have been held,” she complained hours after Brown’s news conference. “But luckily, he was questioned by the joint terrorism task force. He is now under radar screening of the FBI.”

As described in the police report, officers found a PTR 91 semi-automatic rifle with a .308-caliber round in the chamber. It was fitted with a “laser and high-powered” scope.

There were also five ammunition clips with an “unknown amount” of ammunition, and an HK USP Tactical pistol with an “unknown amount of .45-caliber rounds.”

The housekeeper spotted the guns near a window “in a very suspicious position,” Brown told reporters, without elaborating.

But as the police report also notes, there is nothing suspicious in Casteel’s background: No outstanding arrest warrants, no investigative alerts, no threats on social media. He was neither on parole nor on probation.

Contributing: Stefano Esposito

Read More

A School of the Art Institute student who claims he was overcome by emotion when he set fire to a Chicago police SUV during the May 2020 riots downtown sought mercy from a federal judge who then sentenced him to three years of probation Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman told Jacob Fagundo that he could have hurt or killed someone when he set fire to the police SUV at 30 E. Kinzie St. on May 30, 2020. But the judge agreed the crime appeared to be an aberration in Fagundo’s behavior. He said prison time was unnecessary, but he ordered Fagundo to pay $58,125 to replace the vehicle.

“It’s just a shame that you did this,” Gettleman said.

Fagundo’s virtual sentencing hearing Wednesday appeared to be the first in Chicago’s federal court to directly deal with the violence that erupted downtown following the murder of George Floyd by then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Another man accused of setting fire to a Chicago police vehicle during the unrest while wearing a “Joker” mask, Timothy O’Donnell, is set to stand trial Feb. 7.

A third person, James Massey, is also set to stand trial Dec. 6 after federal prosecutors accused him of using Facebook to encourage people to loot and riot downtown and on the Near North Side in August 2020.

Fagundo’s defense attorney, Robert Kerr, filed a court memo earlier this month explaining that Fagundo committed his crime because he was “filled with rage, with passion, and didn’t have time to think twice” after he saw a police officer “split open the head of [a] young girl with whom he was — at that time — peacefully protesting” in Chicago.

Chicago Police

A similar argument has recently been raised in another case stemming from the rioting. An attorney for Lamar Taylor, one of three people accused in federal court of setting fire to a CTA van on May 30, 2020, recently wrote in a court filing that Taylor had witnessed his brother’s fatal shooting by Chicago police in 2014, and that could have prompted his alleged behavior.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Cooke argued during Wednesday’s hearing that Fagundo committed his crime when “the city of Chicago was in turmoil and the police were trying to maintain order.” In many instances, he said, police officers were “under attack.” He said Fagundo “contributed to the breakdown” of order in the city.

“Mr. Fagundo’s not responsible for that breakdown,” Cooke said. “There were a lot of people doing a lot of bad things that day. But he is responsible for his role in it.”

The prosecutor asked the judge to sentence Fagundo to between eight and 14 months in prison. However, he acknowledged that Fagundo surrendered to Chicago police when he realized he was wanted by authorities. And, during a two-hour discussion with Fagundo and his lawyer, Cooke said he “found Mr. Fagundo to be genuinely remorseful.”

Originally charged in state court, Fagundo pleaded guilty in April to obstructing law enforcement amid a civil disorder after the feds filed charges against him in late March.

Fagundo admitted in his plea agreement that he purchased fireworks, lighter fluid and other products at a department store on May 29, 2020, ahead of the Floyd protests. The next day, he joined with others and spray-painted a Chicago police vehicle, it said.

The evening of May 30, 2020, Fagundo discovered the CPD SUV in a garage at 30 E. Kinzie St., according to the plea deal. People shattered its windows, including its rear windshield. Then, at about 6:45 p.m., Fagundo lit a firework and tossed it through the SUV’s rear window frame, the document states. The vehicle was a total loss.

Read More

A new musical comedy series developed by Cartoon Network about two gifted dancers will have a decidedly Chicago tone.

Cartoon Network will collaborate with Academy Award-winning filmmaker and Northwest Side native Matthew A. Cherry and DePaul alumnus Chaz Bottoms to create “Battu,” an animated series following the lives of two dancers in Chicago — Otis and Jada — whose independent streak runs afoul of mainstream dance gatekeepers.

The project is based on Bottoms’ animated short film, “Battu: An Animated Musical,” that is currently in production.

“Chaz is one of the most exciting young voices in animation and we are thrilled to be working with Sam Register, Nicole Rivera and the rest of the Cartoon Network Studios team to develop ‘Battu,'” said Cherry, who won an Oscar last year for best animated short film for “Hair Love,” in a press release.

Bottoms, a director, animator, writer and owner of CBA Studios, envisions the series as a tribute to Chicago.

“I grew up on a healthy diet of Cartoon Network shows and to be working with them on ‘Battu’ is a dream come true,” said Bottoms in the press release. “This project is my love letter to the city of Chicago, animation, and musicals.”

Read More

An off-duty Chicago police officer was found dead in an apparent suicide Wednesday morning in the Clearing neighborhood on the Southwest Side — the third such death by a member of the department this year.

The body of Christian Furczon, 24, was found slumped over in a vehicle at Hale Elementary School in the 6100 block of South Melvina Avenue, according to police and fire sources.

Furczon was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:35 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy scheduled for Thursday will determine his cause and manner of death. Furczon lived several blocks from where he was found.

Police did not release additional details about the officer or the incident, other than to say he died likely by suicide.

“It is always profoundly painful to deliver such news,” CPD Supt. David Brown said in a statement. “This morning, the Department experienced the heartbreaking loss of one of our police officers to an apparent suicide. As his family, loved ones and fellow CPD officers mourn, we are asking the city to help carry their grief by keeping them in your thoughts.”

“Being a police officer is not an easy job and our officers carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. They put their lives on the line for the people of Chicago, all while balancing their daily lives and taking care of their families. At the end of the day, these police officers are only human. It’s so important now, more than ever, to remember that,” Brown said.

A procession brought Furczon’s body to the Cook County medical examiner’s office on the Near West Side.

He was the third Chicago police officer to die by suicide this year, and the 11th CPD officer suicide since 2018.

On March 5, Officer Jeffrey Troglia, 38, shot himself in the basement of his Mount Greenwood home on the Southwest Side. Troglia, who joined the force in 2006, worked in the department’s gang investigations unit.

Earlier that week, Officer James Daly was found dead of a gunshot in the men’s locker room of the Town Hall police station at 850 W. Addison. Daly, 47, told colleagues he was planning to retire even though he was notified two weeks before he died that he needed to be 50 to qualify for a pension, officials said then.

Shortly after the pair of officer suicides, CPD announced the hiring of Alexa James, CEO of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Chicago, as a senior adviser of wellness. The department said she planned to create a comprehensive “officer wellness strategy.”

A 2017 Justice Department report found the department’s suicide rate was 60% higher than the nationwide average for officers.

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 partly sunny with a high near 86 degrees. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with a low around 72. Showers and thunderstorms are likely tomorrow with a high near 82.

Top story

Prosecutors so far offer no proof that Iowa mechanic may have been planning mass shooting, as Chicago mayor and top cop claimed

Keegan Casteel has been accused by Chicago’s mayor and top cop of possibly planning a mass attack on Navy Pier crowds from the window of his hotel room over the Fourth of July weekend.

But police and court filings so far detail no such plans. And prosecutors offered nothing new today when Casteel briefly appeared in court over Zoom for his second hearing.

Documents in the case only describe how a housekeeper at Hotel W alerted police July 4 to room 1208, where officers found a loaded semi-automatic rifle with a laser scope, five ammunition clips and a loaded .45-caliber handgun.

The records do not detail how much ammunition was found, saying only there was “lots.” They also don’t contain any mention of any statement by Casteel, even whether he made one.

And there is nothing about why he was in town or whether there was anyone staying in the hotel room with him, though some media reports say he was visiting here with his girlfriend and two children.

Matthew Hendrickson has the latest.

More news you need

1. At least five people were wounded after gunfire broke out this afternoon in Gresham — the second mass shooting of the day after a previous incident in West Garfield Park. The group was on a sidewalk when a car pulled out of an alley and three gunmen got out, police said.
2. A Chicago man has been sentenced in federal court to three years of probation after he admitted he set fire to a police vehicle during the May 2020 protests downtown. The sentencing appears to be the first in Chicago’s federal court to directly address the downtown unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd.
3. A federal grand jury has accused a former CPS principal of collecting overtime pay from school employees that she said would be used to pay school expenses — but allegedly went to her bills. She faces 10 counts of wire fraud and was due in court today following her arrest.
4. An off-duty Chicago police officer was found dead in an apparent suicide this morning near Hale Elementary School in Clearing. This is the third such death by a member of the department this year.
5. A sweeping proposal unveiled today aims to lift the nationwide prohibition on cannabis and create new federal regulations. Like Illinois’ legalization law, the measure looks to address the harms of the drug war and to bolster equity in the weed industry.
6. Gov. Pritzker was among eight mayors and governors who met with President Biden in Washington today. The meeting was part of a White House drive to rally support for a bipartisan infrastructure plan.
7. A new app aims to help people find leftover food that restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores want to sell off at the end of each day. Starting today, around 100 restaurants are able to sell their excess foods at a discount using the Too Good To Go app.
8. Part traditional car showcase and part street fair, the Chicago Auto Show returns to McCormick Place tomorrow and runs through Monday. This year’s twists include outdoor action like test drives on city streets, food trucks and live music.

A bright one

Pair of 15 year olds from South Side crowned fastest kids in Chicago at Gately Park competition

Treyshun Green was anxious when he got to the starting line last Saturday for the final race of the Fastest Kids in Chicago competition at Gately Park Indoor Track and Field.

Green said he worried about tripping in front of the crowd of several hundred, which included Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and six-time Olympic medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

But all the nerves vanished as soon as he heard the crack of the starting pistol.

Green, 15, made it look easy: He didn’t even break a sweat as he clocked the fastest 60-meter dash of the meet, finishing in a time of 7.84 seconds.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Meanwhile, Symone Frison, 15, was the fastest girl of the day. She won her heat with a time of 8.02 seconds, the third fastest time of the day.

“I was a little nervous, but I just knew if I ran my best that I could do it,” Frison said.

About 265 children and teenagers, ranging from incoming fifth graders to high school seniors, were invited to participate in the Fastest Kids competition over the weekend.

They came from a pool of more than 3,000 participants who registered to take part in the summer track-and-field program offered by the Chicago Park District in partnership with the mayor, Chicago Public Schools and Operation Rainbow Push.

Madeline Kenney has more on the competition here.

From the press box

• The 2021 WNBA All-Star Game, which starts tonight at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN, should be one of the most competitive ever with the league’s All-Stars taking on the U.S. national team, which continues to prepare for the upcoming Olympics.
• Tim Anderson had a quiet night in the AL’s 5-2 win over the NL in the 2021 MLB All-Star Game, but the White Sox shortstop keeps talking a big game — and keeps backing it up on the field.
• One of the coolest basketball courts in Chicago now sits in Burnside Park, where the Bulls teamed up with Zenni and the park district to redesign a South Side court. Check out the sweet new look here.
• With just 24 hours to go before the NFL’s contract extension deadline, the Bears and Allen Robinson are running out of time to find common ground on a new deal. With no deal, Robinson will play the 2021 season on the $17.9 million franchise tag.
• Sky star Candace Parker will become the first woman to appear on the cover of the NBA 2K franchise as part of the game’s WNBA 25th Anniversary Edition.

Your daily question ?

What do you think of the new pilot program that will have some 911 calls for mental health emergencies handled by mental health clinicians instead of cops?

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

Yesterday, we asked you: In honor of National French Fry Day today, we want to know: Here’s some of what you said…

“Gene and Jude’s. Wait — Portillo’s. Nah, hold up — Lucky Dog!” — Nick Ternoir

“Superdawg has always been my favorite Chicago fries. crinkle cut, never cold.” — Mary Stefani

“Raymond’s Tacos on Damen and Blue Island. Old school fries hot in the brown paper and bag. Only old schoolers know what I’m talking about.” — Monica Savage-Lee

“Portillo’s. The flavor is great and never taste like they are fried in old oil.” — Patty Murray

“Mr. D’s Shish Kabobs has the best fresh cut fries in town. Diced, blanched in lemon juice and water, double-fried, salted and dunked in ketchup or mustard. #PotatoParadise.” — Walter Brzeski

“Luke’s on Jackson in downtown Chicago. They give you a full bag of fries that you can share with your coworkers, but unfortunately, they are too good to share so you end up eating the entire bag all by yourself.” — Charlotte Yolanda

“Susie’s Drive-Thru. Best cheese fries served in a crispy flour tortilla bowl. Amazing.” — Robert C. Estes

“Ricobene’s and Mr. Submarine garlic fries.” — Jenna Marie

“Zeus Restaurant in Greektown. Portillo’s and Jimmy’s for the fresh cut.” — Jonathan Turner Segal

“My thighs said it’s too many to name!” — Tina Hammond

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