What’s New

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday that it may act sooner than previously planned to start dialing back the low-interest-rate policies that have helped fuel a swift rebound from the pandemic recession but have also coincided with rising inflation.

The Fed’s policymakers forecast that they would raise their benchmark short-term rate — which affects many consumer and business rates, from mortgages to auto loans — twice by late 2023. They had previously estimated that no rate hike would occur before 2024.

But at a news conference after its latest policy meeting, Chair Jerome Powell sought to dispel any concerns that the Fed might be in a hurry to withdraw its economic support by making borrowing more expensive. The economy, Powell said, still hasn’t improved enough for the Fed to reduce the pace of its monthly purchases of Treasury and mortgage bonds. Those purchases have been intended to hold down long-term loan rates to encourage borrowing.

The Fed has said it will keep buying $120 billion a month in bonds until “substantial further progress” has been made toward its goals of maximum employment and inflation sustainably above 2%.

“We are a ways away from substantial further progress, we think,” Powell said Wednesday. “But we are making progress.”

For the same reason, the chairman said, it’s too early for Fed officials to discuss when they might raise their benchmark short-term rate from its record low near zero. But he did note that many of the policymakers think the central bank’s goals “will be met somewhat sooner than previously projected.”

In his remarks, Powell drew a mostly positive picture of the economy. The inflation spikes of the past two months, he said, will likely prove temporary, and hiring should accelerate through summer and into the fall as COVID-19 recedes further with increased vaccinations, schools and day care centers reopen, which will allow more parents to work, and supplemental federal aid for the jobless ends.

“There is every reason,” Powell said, “to think that we will be in a labor market with very attractive numbers, with low unemployment, high participation and rising wages across the spectrum.”

In its statement after the policy meeting ended, the Fed said it expects the pandemic to have a diminishing effect on the economy as vaccinations increase, thereby allowing for more growth.

“Progress on vaccinations has reduced the spread of COVID-19 in the United States,” it said. “Amid this progress and strong policy support, indicators of economic activity and employment have strengthened.”

The central bank raised its forecast for inflation to 3.4% by the end of this year, from 2.4% in its previous projection in March. Yet the officials foresee price increases remaining tame in the following two years.

Fed officials expect the economy to grow 7% this year, which would be the fastest calendar-year expansion since 1984. They project that growth will slow after that, to 3.3% in 2022 and 2.4% in 2023.

Soon after the Fed issued its statement Wednesday, U.S. stocks fell further from their record highs, and bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose from 1.48% to 1.55%.

The Fed is grappling with a dilemma: Inflation is rising much faster than it had projected earlier this year. And America’s increasingly vaccinated consumers are now comfortable venturing away from home to travel, go to restaurants and movie theaters and attend sporting events. Solid consumer spending is accelerating economic growth, and manufacturing and housing have significantly strengthened.

Yet hiring hasn’t picked up as much as expected. Monthly job growth has remained below the 1 million-a-month level that Powell had said in April he would like to see, though employers are clearly interested in hiring more, having posted a record number of available jobs.

Economists generally expect the Fed to continue discussing tapering its bond purchases and then — by late August or September — to outline specifically how and when it would begin. That would set the stage for a reduction in bond purchases to actually begin near the end of this year or in early 2022.

Last week, the government reported that inflation jumped to 5% in May compared with a year earlier — the largest 12-month spike since 2008. The increase was driven partly by a huge rise in used car prices, which have soared as shortages of semiconductors have slowed vehicle production. Sharply higher prices for car rentals, airline tickets, and hotel rooms were also major factors, reflecting pent-up demand as consumers shift away from the large goods purchases many of them had made while stuck at home to spending on services.

Prices for such services, which had tumbled at the outset of the COVID-19 outbreak, are now regaining pre-pandemic levels. With more people gradually returning to work in person, the reopening of the economy has also forced up prices for clothing. Yet such price increases may not last.

Another key consideration for the Fed is whether inflation persists long enough to affect the public’s behavior. If Americans begin to expect price increases, those expectations can trigger a self-fulfilling cycle as workers demand higher wages, which, in turn, can lead their employers to keep raising prices to offset their higher labor costs.

So far, bond yields and consumer surveys suggest that while higher inflation is expected in the short term, investors and most of the public expect only modest price gains in the long run. Powell has long maintained that the public’s perceptions of future inflation evolve only slowly.

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The fate of Arlington International Racecourse has been narrowed down to a list of potential buyers for the storied suburban track.

Churchill Downs Inc. closed its bidding period for Arlington on Tuesday, with representatives for the horse racing-turned-gambling corporation saying only that it received “strong proposals from numerous parties” interested in taking over the 93-year-old oval.

Arlington Heights Mayor Thomas Hayes said Wednesday he’d met with “less than 10” possible bidding groups before the deadline, and only one of those, led by former Arlington Park president Roy Arnold, has gone public with an offer that promises to keep the horses running beyond Sept. 25.

A spokesman for Churchill Downs declined to say how many proposals were submitted. The corporation said it would “provide an update on the sale process at the appropriate time in the coming weeks.”

The bids could mark the final turn for horse racing at Arlington, one of Illinois’ three remaining racetracks — an outcome few predicted two years ago when Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a massive gambling expansion into law that allows tracks to install slot machines and casino table games.

Churchill Downs stunned the state’s foundering horse racing industry in the summer of 2019 when the corporation announced it wouldn’t make Arlington a “racino” as it had long fought to do.

That was viewed as the ultimate stab in the back by the horse owners and trainers who run at the track, and who have accused the corporation of trying to stifle competition against the other nearby gambling house owned by Churchill Downs: Rivers Casino in Des Plaines.

After denying reports the track would be put up for sale, Churchill Downs officially put Arlington on the block in February. The Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association has since urged Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office to open an antitrust investigation into the corporation for alleged “efforts to neutralize the threat of major gaming competition.”

The only bidding group to publicize their proposal says they’d turn Arlington into a racino “consistent with the intent” of the state’s gambling expansion — and keep the ponies running well into the future.

Sun-Times file

The group led by Arnold, a hospitality consultant who served as president of Arlington from 2006-11, also includes the Loop development firm Sterling Bay and other “high net worth individuals,” he said.

“We have the capital and the passion to make thoroughbred racing work at Arlington Park,” Arnold said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing the legacy that is Arlington.”

Their bid for the 326-acre plot also calls for a mid-size arena “suitable to host a minor league hockey team,” plus an entertainment district, a 300-unit housing development and 60 acres of industrial space.

Arnold declined to disclose their offer price.

Other bidders remain unknown, but the highest profile dark-horse candidate might still be in the race: the Chicago Bears.

Representatives for the team — who have conspicuously declined to quash suggestions the team could make a move to the northwest suburbs — did not respond to requests for comment on whether the team or anyone in its ownership group made an offer for Arlington.

Hayes, the suburban mayor, said a Bears bid “remains a possibility because neither they nor anyone else has told me it’s not going to happen.”

“Until someone tells me that, I’m going to consider it on the table,” Hayes said. “A professional sports team would be exciting. Even if they were to come, you’d see some other redevelopment prospects as well.”

Village Board members passed an ordinance in May barring certain uses for the property, including warehouses, distribution facilities, gas stations, “adult uses and other things that are not befitting our community and the legacy of the property,” said Hayes, who added that keeping horse racing alive remains a priority for him.

“Arlington Park has been a big part of our community for almost 100 years. We have a horse head on our village flag. It’s a huge part of our community from an image, an attraction and an employment standpoint,” he said. “We want to see it put to its highest and best use.”

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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 sunny with a high near 76 degrees. Tonight will be mostly clear with a low around 56. Tomorrow will be mostly sunny with a high near 91.

Top story

Pritzker makes Juneteenth a state holiday, an ‘essential step in our journey toward justice’

Following Chicago and Cook County, Illinois has made June 19 — known as Juneteenth — a state holiday.

In addition to signing a bill today commemorating the date the last slaves were freed in Texas in 1865, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the state will fly a Juneteenth flag to honor the date every year starting Saturday.

“These advancements are yet another essential step in our journey toward justice,” the governor said. “With this new law, no longer can a child grow up in Illinois without learning about Juneteenth in school. With this change, the people of Illinois will have a day to reflect on how the freedom that we celebrate just two weeks later, on the Fourth of July, was delayed to Black Americans and in many ways is delayed still.”

Pritzker urged Illinoisans to learn more about the history of Juneteenth, a 1908 race riot in Springfield and the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People as the holiday approaches.

The governor said he hopes that will help residents understand “the reasons why our beloved dream of freedom and opportunity for all is not yet truly, fully realized.”

Pritzker was joined by Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and state legislators at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum for the signing of House Bill 3992, which creates the Juneteenth National Freedom Day.

The governor signed the bill near a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln. That 1863 document freed slaves in Confederate states.

Read Rachel Hinton’s full story here.

More news you need

1. The terrible toll of the mass shooting in Englewood yesterday could be felt through reactions from the victims’ friends and family. Many expressed pain and anguish over the loss of loved ones in the shooting that left four dead and another four wounded.
2. Celia Meza, the first Hispanic woman ever to serve as Chicago’s corporation counsel, vowed today to improve the Law Department’s dismal record of minority hiring and speed compliance. Meza also sparred with Ald. Jason Ervin over whether she could effectively represent both the mayor and City Council at the same time despite their occasionally divergent interests.
3. A security guard has been released from custody after police said he shot a man during an argument near Grant Park last weekend. The state’s attorney’s office and the Chicago Park District, which employs guards in the area of the shooting, did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
4. James “Jim” Buckner, a longtime dentist and soccer coach in Chicago who also ran a number of businesses, died earlier this month at age 86. Buckner also served as president of the Chicago Urban League, for which he lobbied to get more Black workers into the building trades.
5. Someone tagged one of the Art Institute of Chicago lions with spray paint last night. A museum spokeswoman said the Art Institute’s conservation team was working to remove the damage.
6. The Bronzeville-based South Side Community Art Center will celebrate its 80th anniversary as a home for Black creatives tomorrow. Our Evan F. Moore spoke with officials from the center about its legacy and future.

A bright one

CPS grad Roshaan Khalid barely spoke English 5 years ago. He is headed to Princeton on a full ride this fall.

To say Roshaan Khalid’s had a difficult transition when he moved 7,000 miles to Chicago five years ago from Pakistan is putting it mildly: When Khalid enrolled in eighth grade in Chicago Public Schools, he knew little English and wasn’t sure how he’d be able to learn much.

“The whole [school] system was different. I wasn’t fluent in English, so that was a challenge,” Khalid, 18, says now. “I couldn’t understand my teachers, so I spent more time on my studies.”

Khalid ended up studying so hard that he not only aced his classes at West Ridge Elementary and later Mather High School, he was accepted to the Ivy Leagues. This fall he will head to Princeton University, where he won a full scholarship and plans to major in computer science.

Brian Rich/Sun-Times

“What’s amazing is that he’s had a very difficult life, and he’s worked so hard to get to this point,” said Paige Stenzel, Khalid’s high school counselor for three years. “The universe is just going to open up for him.”

Khalid graduated Saturday. He is the salutatorian of his class.

Read Nina Molina’s full story for more on how Roshaan discovered his love for computers and earned an Ivy League scholarship.

From the press box

Your daily question ?

How do you feel about the city and state making Juneteenth an official holiday?

Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

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: How did you enjoy the first weekend in Chicago without pandemic restrictions in over a year? Here’s what some of you said…

“Mass Effect trilogy. Nothing has come close for the story, an excellent RPG with FPS elements.” — Daniel Schleier

“Fallout: New Vegas. It’s been out for over a decade, yet I keep returning to it. I swear that it is the one thing that got me through grad school as a coping mechanism. F:NV has some of my favorite, albeit ultra-specific, themes: nostalgia for a time you never existed in, unique and varied interpretations of history’s heroes and villains, and the anxieties of nuclear destruction.” — Colee Wong

“Goldeneye 007 for N64. We used to do bets and play for hours, good ol’ days.” — Kenneth Lopez

“Super Mario World for sure. It is a timeless classic.” — CJ Morgan

“Defender from the early 80s. The whole concept was awesome for the time, flying around and shooting the landers before they picked up the people, or they would turn into mutants!” — Seth Dominick

Thanks for reading the Chicago Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.

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Jacqueline Creekmore fired a gun at her husband after finding him in a car with another woman a few weeks ago, Cook County prosecutors said Wednesday.

No one was injured in that incident.

But when Creekmore fired at Kevin Neely again on Monday morning, she didn’t miss, Assistant State’s Attorney Kevin DeBoni said.

Before he took his last breath, Neely, 43, made a “dying declaration,” telling responding Chicago police officers his wife shot him in Englewood, DeBoni said.

Neely, who was shot in his chest and thigh, died after he was transported to University of Chicago Medical Center.

Creekmore, 44, was charged with Neely’s murder after she was taken into custody at her home later that day, DeBoni said.

The couple had a history of domestic disputes over Neely’s alleged infidelity.

But it was not immediately clear what led to the deadly shooting, DeBoni said.

Earlier on Sunday night, Neely was hanging out in a front porch drinking and smoking marijuana with Creekmore and others. At some point, he gave the gun Creekmore eventually used to shoot him to another person at the gathering, asking her “to hang on to it,” DeBoni said.

That person “wasn’t comfortable” holding the gun and gave it to Creekmore, DeBoni said.

By 2:30 a.m. Monday, Neely and Creekmore were left alone on the porch, DeBoni said.

Chicago police

A surveillance camera later recorded Neely’s car from a distance as it stopped at 73rd Street and Wentworth Avenue about two hours later. The footage showed the passenger door open slightly before the car “sped in a complete circle in the intersection” and crashed into a light pole, DeBoni said.

Neely and Creekmore were seen getting out of the car and arguing before Neely got into the driver’s seat, DeBoni said.

A witness heard Neely ask Creekmore if “she was going to grab the gun” and saw her with the gun before the shooting, DeBoni said. Another witness allegedly heard the shots and then heard Neely say he had been shot.

When Creekmore fired the gun three times before firing a fourth shot about a minute later, the shots were picked up by a ShotSpotter gunshot-detection system, DeBoni said.

Creekmore walked away and Neely tried to drive off before he crashed into a fence at Periwinkle Park in the 6500 block of South Perry Avenue, DeBoni said. Neely then collapsed after walking to a nearby porch.

An officer’s body-worn camera recorded Neely giving the officer Creekmore’s first name and saying she had shot him.

Creekmore was the victim of abuse by Neely — “a violent individual” who had served time in prison, an assistant public defender told Judge Mary Marubio Wednesday.

Creekmore, a home healthcare aide, has no previous criminal background, the defense attorney added.

Marubio ordered Creekmore held without bail.

Creekmore is expected back in court July 7.

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The first Hispanic woman ever to serve as Chicago’s corporation counsel vowed Wednesday to improve the Law Department’s dismal record of minority hiring and speed compliance with a consent decree guiding federal court oversight of the Chicago Police Department.

Celia Meza was Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s counsel and senior ethics advisor when the mayor promoted her to replace Corporation Counsel Mark Flessner, who was forced out in the political fallout from the police raid on the home of social worker Anjanette Young.

At the time, Lightfoot claimed not to know about Flessner’s attempts to block WBBM-TV (Channel 2) from airing bodycam video of the raid, which showed a crying, naked Young repeatedly asking officers what was going on as they continued to search her home. Police, it turns out, had raided the wrong address.

During Wednesday’s confirmation hearing before the City Council’s Committee on Budget and Government Operations, Black Caucus Chairman Jason Ervin (28th) asked Meza how she could possibly provide legal representation to the mayor and the City Council when the two groups, at times, have divergent interests.

“You serve at the pleasure of the mayor. … How do we, as City Council, get assurance that our issues, our concerns can be adequately addressed by someone who serves at the pleasure of someone else?” Ervin said.

Meza vowed to “maintain the interest of the corporate entity at all times.” If the mayor’s legal needs ever run counter to those of aldermen, Meza said she would be the “first to authorize” counsel for “whoever needs representation.”

City of Chicago

That wasn’t enough to satisfy Ervin. He wants aldermen to have their own legal counsel.

“Why not create a situation where that representation already exists — especially in an environment where members of our body may not feel that the corporation counsel truly can effectively represent them with the guillotine hanging over your head,” Ervin said.

Meza stood her ground.

“I guarantee you I can effectively represent you. Theoretically in my career, there’s always been a guillotine over my head. At any given point, the client can decide they don’t want you,” she said.

“Should you guys, the Council, have your own own representation or somebody similar to the mayor’s counsel role that I had? By all means. I’d recommend that we hire a Latina and/or an African-American to do so. But, like everything else in this city, we run on what’s available in the budget.”

As the first Latina ever to serve as corporation counsel, Meza is more sensitive than her predecessors to the need to diversify the Law Department’s 295 staffers, most of them attorneys.

She got her start as law clerk for Alan Page, the former Bears and Vikings defensive end who went on to serve as chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

“I have tasked individuals with providing me with up to date statistics on the number of diverse attorneys and hires we have in the department — the diversity percentage of our outside counsel and the diversity of any retained experts,” she said.

“The Law Department must do better. Not can. Must.”

Meza noted she and an African American were the only minority law clerks who worked for the Minnesota Supreme Court. Both were hired by Page, who is now retired.

“It is up to those individuals in charge of hiring to make the change that is needed. There are qualified minority candidates to be hired. And the individuals responsible for doing so must make it their priority to make that hiring happen,” she said.

“Justice Page did that for me. And I have made it my personal mission to do that for others.”

The promise to improve minority hiring was music to the ears of Ald. Howard Brookins (21st), an attorney specializing in criminal defense.

“After I talked to her, I’m sure she meant that they `shall’ do better,” Brookins said.

“We’ve been fighting with the corporation counsels in the past … [about] how there’s been a paltry amount of African-American and Latino representation in the Law Department for both summer internships and attorney positions. … I look forward to helping her recruit and retain qualified African-American applicants.”

Meza accepted the “correction” from Brookins.

“I shall do better,” she said.

As for CPD’s slow walk toward consent decree compliance, Meza said speeding up the process is of “utmost importance.” That’s why the Law Department has two attorneys — and soon will hire a third — to “handle all matters related to the consent decree.”

Indicted Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th) was “glad to hear that.”

He pointed to “the millions of dollars that we spend each year in settlements and lawsuits, a lot of that being the police department.”

“The consent decree is absolutely critical. I’m glad to hear that commitment that you have to staying on that, making sure that we’re meeting the document production. Making sure that we’re doing the reforms that we need,” he said.

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It gives one pause when one finds oneself on the same page as Matt Nagy. The Bears head coach has made a number of odd/bad decisions the past few years, many of them having to do with the offense, so the instinct is to go in the opposite direction of whichever way he’s headed.

The page that Nagy and I have landed on says, in bold letters, that there is zero reason to have rookie Justin Fields as the Bears’ starting quarterback when the season opens Sept. 12. I took it a step further last month, declaring that Fields and the franchise would be better off if he spent the entire season learning as a backup to Andy Dalton. This has earned me a good amount of condemnation, and I have alternated between wearing a scarlet letter A (for Andy) and mourning clothes when in public, such is my shame and sadness.

I’m glad Nagy is being smart about this and not giving in to the raging public sentiment that Fields is the savior who will deliver the Bears from their long, painful quarterback poverty. When the team traded up to take the Ohio State star with the 11^th pick overall in this year’s draft, fans and media reacted in a way that suggested an armored truck had spilled its contents in front of them.

Believe me, I get it. Or at least I get some of it. The logic goes like this: Fields was a fine college quarterback. The Bears need a quarterback. Therefore Fields should be the starting quarterback in Week 1.

The argument against it, also using logic, is WHAT’S THE BLEEPING RUSH?

Nobody gets hurt by being prudent — OK, not exactly a slogan for a marketing campaign. And, yes, we all understand how rookie contracts work and the importance of getting as much out of a would-be star before he’s in line for a massive pay raise. But if the goal is what’s best for the kid and the franchise, making sure he’s absolutely ready for the job is the right way to go. I’ve seen many more unprepared young quarterbacks than I have built-for-the-moment young quarterbacks.

Nothing in OTAs or minicamps is going to tell the Bears that Fields is ready. No amount of receivers’ rhapsodic quotes about the welcoming properties of a beautifully thrown ball from Fields is going to change that. There’s a chance Nagy will see more from the kid in training camp. Two thoughts: A) That would be great and B) He should resist the temptation to go back on his plan to start Dalton.

There is little downside to having Fields watch for a while or even for a season, unless you consider having to watch a mediocre Dalton a massive downer of a downside. I get that, too. You’re in it for the entertainment value, and how much more exciting could an athletic 22-year-old quarterback be than a 33-year-old quarterback with a career passer rating of 87.5?

But entertainment value shouldn’t be the criteria here. Readiness and what’s best for the Bears long term should be.

The Start Justin Fields Now crowd doesn’t like when Patrick Mahomes’ path to stardom is brought up, possibly because it’s too neat and tidy, and possibly because, as an argument, it resembles a slam-dunk. But Nagy was on Kansas City’s coaching staff when Mahomes was a rookie in 2017 and saw it firsthand. Alex Smith started 15 games at quarterback that season, and Mahomes started one (when the Chiefs chose to rest Smith before the playoffs). The next season, Mahomes was the NFL’s Most Valuable Player.

That’s not an example of cause and effect. No one can know how Mahomes would have played if he had been a full-time starter as a rookie. What we do know is how the Chiefs’ approach to their young quarterback worked out: pretty good, if you consider a Super Bowl title in Mahomes’ third season pretty good. Learning in the background can do wonders.

The risk of starting a young quarterback too soon is greater than the risk of not starting him and missing out on a year of excellence. I’d call that common sense, but I know there are too many other factors involved than a common-sense approach. With his job in jeopardy after two 8-8 seasons, will Nagy feel pressure to get Fields on the field? Will general manager Ryan Pace feel that same pressure? Will the franchise feel pressure to inject energy and panache into what has been a dull product?

It would be silly to suggest that those things won’t play a role this season. But Nagy’s first instinct is the right one: Let Fields watch and learn for a while, perhaps for a longer while than the fan base and media would like. Then we can watch a fully prepared Fields. Then we might learn what it’s like when a good quarterback takes the field for the Bears. Finally.

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One of the saddest things that happens when you raise cows is the death of newborn calves. Most often, mama cows are better at birthing and caring for their babies than you are, but things can go wrong.

One time around midnight, a frustrated veterinarian told me that if people wanted to keep pet cows, they shouldn’t breed them. She’d been trying for hours to help with a breech birth, but the inexperienced heifer — who had been in labor for about 12 hours — kept sitting down. We were all exhausted, especially the poor cow.

New to cattle husbandry, I lacked a head gate and squeeze chute to keep her standing. By the time we trucked her to the veterinary clinic in the morning, it was too late. The calf was stillborn, and the mother cow had to be euthanized — a tough way to learn an obvious lesson.

Get proper equipment, educate yourself and seek competent help at the first sign of trouble. It doesn’t have to be a licensed veterinarian, just somebody with the know-how.

One such person would be our dear friend Jennifer, an Arkansas country girl, expert breeder of cattle — she does her own artificial insemination — and passionate advocate of agricultural education. If Jennifer had her way, and the woman can be extremely persuasive, everybody would have to take at least one ag course in high school, if nothing else so that city people would have some idea where their food comes from.

And to learn to show some respect. Ordinary common sense would also be nice, although it’s actually rather extraordinary.

Anyway, Jennifer being Jennifer, she partly blames herself for what recently happened in her pasture. See, she’d left the bull in with the cows too long last year, resulting in one of her mama cows delivering a calf during the first real summer heat, with temperatures in the 90s and extreme humidity.

The mother cow nursed her newborn until it fell asleep — “milk drunk,” as they say — hid him in the shade of some tall grass, and then took refuge in a farm pond with the rest of the girls.

Enter, stage left, a family of opinionated animal-lovers fresh from town. Spotting the calf snoozing in the grass, they leapt to the conclusion that the poor baby — roughly the size of a golden retriever — had been abandoned to die by cruel and uncaring owners.

Which just goes to show you. See, if nothing else, that’s hundreds, potentially thousands of dollars sleeping on the ground — a purebred Hereford bull calf with a famous grandfather called “About Time.”

Jennifer specializes in Herefords — reddish-brown, white-faced animals, for urbanites taking weekend drives in the country. She, husband Bryan and their sons haul them to cattle shows and county fairs all over the region, where they win lots of prize ribbons.

These are some pampered livestock.

Jennifer has become locally famous for her habit of stalking cows with binoculars when she thinks they’re fixing to give birth; Bryan’s famous, too, for loving the determined nut he married.

But you’d better leave her cows alone.

Instead, the animal-loving pilgrims sprang into action. First, they called the police to report an instance of animal cruelty. A Faulkner County deputy came out, sized things up, advised them he saw no problem and to go back home. I’m guessing he talked “country,” because most rural Arkansas deputies do, which may have persuaded them that he couldn’t possibly know what he was talking about.

Failing to raise Bryan and Jennifer on the phone — they were incommunicado watching Razorback baseball on TV — the pilgrims fetched a bucket of water, and, get this, a turkey baster, and climbed into the pasture to save the day. Unnoticed by a mama cow habituated to humans — she’d surely have trampled the idiots if she’d seen what they were up to — the rescue team proceeded to force-feed the calf water until it could hold no more.

Alerted by a neighbor, Bryan and Jennifer’s son arrived to find the pilgrims attempting to lead the calf with a dog leash around its neck. A polite, if formidable, young man, he informed them that they were trespassing and that filling a newborn calf’s belly (if not its lungs) with water could only cause harm.

Indeed, the little bull died 24 hours later, leaving my friends furious and preparing to file charges. She believes the pilgrims meant well, Jennifer says, but remains unable to forgive their presumption. “People need to stop pretending they’re experts about agriculture when THEY KNOW NOTHING,” she writes, “except what they read on some ‘Save the Whale’ website.”

Nothing against whales, understand. Just that ignorance and sentimentality are often a deadly combination.

Or as one of her Facebook friends put it, “I know what I’d like to do with that turkey baster. However, it’s Sunday, so I’ll just leave it at that.”

Gene Lyons is a columnist for the Arkansas Times.

Send letters to [email protected].

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It’s not expensive or difficult to produce large numbers of untraceable firearms in the United States. Whether for private use, sale on the criminal market or arming violent extremists, it’s actually startlingly cheap and easy to mass-produce firearms that police can’t track — what are often called “ghost guns.”

For just over $2,000 I can buy a machine — not much bigger than a desktop laser printer — that will do the trick. If I’m feeling handy, I can get it done with just simple power tools.

As I discuss in my recent journal article about ghost guns, it’s perfectly legal to privately manufacture firearms without a license in the U.S. But it’s illegal to sell or give away privately manufactured firearms without a license.

A person producing a single “ghost gun” for their own personal use may not rise to the level of official concern, but the undetected mass production of untraceable weapons makes it much more difficult to map and disrupt the illicit markets that supply guns for use in crime.

Federal law does not require privately made firearms to have serial numbers or other identifiers, which makes it impossible to trace transfers of ownership — to “follow the guns” — when they have been used in crimes. They have no history and come from nowhere.

An almost-gun

Federal firearms laws and regulations have over time developed a loophole through which these ghost guns can fit easily. Every firearm has a component, sometimes called a “frame” but also called a “receiver,” which is the keystone element to which other parts are attached.

Finished frames and receivers are considered to be firearms under federal law. To be sold, they must have identifying marks and serial numbers, and sellers must keep records of who bought which weapons. If the firearm is used in a crime, police can investigate current and previous owners to see if they might be involved.

But nearly finished receivers are considered nothing more than pieces of metal or plastic. These items are often called “80 percenters” because most but not all of the work has been done to make the piece of metal or plastic into a working receiver. They are available for purchase without a license, background check or other protections put in place for firearms purchases — and cost as little as $50 to $75 apiece, with volume discounts available.

The work needed to turn an “80 percenter” into a fully functional frame or receiver takes about half an hour. All the other parts, such as a stock to support the firearm and a barrel through which bullets are fired, are freely available without regulation, and are easily attached to the receiver during manufacturing of a weapon.

An uncountable number

There is no estimate of the number of fully functional ghost guns in circulation — how could there be? — but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives disclosed in May 2021 that nearly 24,000 had been recovered by law enforcement agencies in the past five years (including from the scenes of 325 homicides or attempted homicides). That’s a small but meaningful proportion of total firearms recoveries. The ATF has said in a series of data reports that in 2019 it “traced and recovered” between 250,000 and 350,000 firearms.

CBS’s “60 Minutes” reported in May 2020 that 38 states had identified criminal cases involving ghost guns; they had been used in at least four mass shootings. A Florida man has been convicted of making more than 200 ghost guns, mostly AR-15-type rifles.

Some ghost gun crimes involve domestic terrorism. In mid-2020, an adherent of the violent extremist “boogaloo movement” — an active-duty Air Force sergeant — was charged with the murder of two law enforcement officers and the attempted murder of a third. At least one of the killings, and possibly all three shootings, involved a ghost machine gun.

In October 2020, more than a dozen men were arrested for plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. They were allegedly participants in the boogaloo and militia movements, and police said they had ghost guns.

Fixes are in the making. Several states have taken preliminary steps to restrict ghost guns, and in May the Department of Justice proposed new rules and regulations that would make it much more difficult to manufacture and distribute firearms clandestinely. Public comments on the proposal may be submitted until Aug. 19, 2021.

This op-ed was originally published on The Conversation.

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It’s been over 109 years since the ship named for a doomed race of Greek gods sank, but almost everybody still has a “Titanic” reference, even if it’s only of a fictional character screaming “I’m the king of the world” from the bow of a giant ship.

Court Theatre’s pre-filmed, streamed staging of Owen McCafferty’s “Titanic (Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry, 1912)” shows the human tragedies that unfolded in harrowing, gruesome detail after the real-life Titanic hit the iceberg that sent more than 1,500 souls down to the lightless depths two miles beneath the North Atlantic.

Directed for Court by Vanessa Stalling, McCafferty’s script is as its matter-of-fact as its title infers: For roughly two hours, we hear testimony from survivors and maritime experts about the lethal maritime collision that occurred at 11:40 p.m., Sunday, April 14, 1912. Lookouts, stewards, bakers, noblemen and engineers tell their stories, each ferreted out as the Commissioner (Alys Shante Dickerson, a regal, authoritative presence) tries to find out why the American-owned ship too big to sink sank.

HMS Media has filmed the production on Court’s stage, where Arnel Sancianco’s minimalist set has the actors seated in separate booths, speaking to each other via headphones, often referring to thick binders in front of them. The staging is static enough to be a drawback and the double (sometimes triple) casting of witnesses and commission members isn’t ideal. The actors are literally isolated from each other, which makes the production feel like a series of monologue. Moreover, there’s a disconnect between the staidness of the Commission proceedings and the devastation of the testimonies.

But Stalling finds the power in McCafferty’s dispassionate, frill-free language. Listen to nightmarish recollections of an ocean teeming with bodies and filled with the combined wails of “hundreds of hundreds” drowning and you won’t soon forget it.

Michael Brosilow

Ditto the stats recited as an epilogue of sorts. Of the Titanic’s 325 first class passengers, 203 survived. Of the 706 people packed into third class, below-the-water-line steerage compartments, 178 survived.

“Titanic” emphasizes the advantages of wealth with harrowing specificity: What lifeboats there were (and famously, there were not enough) were accessible only from the promenade deck, where third-class passengers weren’t allowed. While the upper-deck passengers were getting into the lifeboats, the third-class passengers were being told to stay where they were and keep quiet.

Keith Parham’s lighting design helps focus the production, witnesses and their examiners framed in pools of light that bleed into darkness as they exit, their words seeming to hang in the air.

Michael Brosilow

Mikhail Fiksel’s sound design and score augments the drama greatly, a six-person (off-stage) orchestra providing an underscore of that heightens the tension. Between scenes, the words of the dead take the form of an audio collage crafted from the final telegrams to loved ones, increasingly urgent cables and, ultimately, the screams of the dying.

The production is static, but the images the cast conjures are vivid: The ship’s electric lights were burning right up until they were submerged. Crew literally threw passengers from the upper decks into the lifeboats below. Chief baker Charles Joughin (Andy Nagraj) pitched deck chairs overboard, hoping that he’d find one to cling to after entering the water. Ship’s lookout Reginald Lee (Nate Burger) describes the near-invisibility of a iceberg that had capsized, its white tip submerged, its massive, black-glass underbelly impossible to see in the haze of a moonless night.

Highlights include Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon, a snooty weasel conjured by Bri Sudia, who also plays Sir Cosmo’s dainty but wildly entitled Lady Cosmo Duff Gordon. Ronald L. Conner seethes with frustrated rage as W.D. Harbinson, representative of the third class passengers. And as famed polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, Xavier Edward King speaks with chilling awe as he describes the rarity of an iceberg like the one described by “Titanic” survivors.

By 2030, its’ estimated the last vestiges of the Titanic will have vanished, its heated swimming pool, five grand pianos, Turkish bath and nine hundred tons of baggage devoured by the sea. “Titanic (Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry, 1912)” will ensure you don’t soon forget the stories of the people who went down with the ship.

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EMMITSBURG, Md. — Jim Phelan, the bow-tied basketball coach who won 830 games during nearly a half-century at Mount St. Mary’s, has died. He was 92.

The athletic department at Mount St. Mary’s said Phelan died in his sleep at home Tuesday night.

Phelan spent his entire 49-season career at Mount St. Mary’s. He took the Mount to 14 NCAA Division II tournaments, including five trips to the Final Four and a national championship in 1962.

A Philadelphia native, Phelan starred on La Salle’s basketball team before coming to the Mount in 1954. He planned to stay only a few seasons as a coach before moving on, but he grew to love the cozy town of Emmitsburg and ended up sticking around.

After moving to Division I, his teams made the NCAA Tournament in 1995 and 1999. He was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.

“Coach Phelan is Mount St. Mary’s basketball,” said Dan Engelstad, the current coach of the Mountaineers. “I found out the news after dropping my daughters at school as I was driving to campus. I thought about how fortunate I am to coach at the place that Coach Phelan built and grateful that he built it on family. I get to share his desk and I get to coach in the gym that he changed lives in — what an honor.”

Phelan shunned several offers from bigger colleges and suffered through the indignity of being rejected for consideration at his alma mater.

“I had been here five or six years, and my name came up for the job,” he said. “But then someone of influence there said: ‘No way he should be considered. He wears that stupid bow tie.'”

Phelan decided to stick with the ties and stay in Emmitsburg. And La Salle missed out on landing one of the finest coaches in the history of the game.

“He taught me how to shoot the ball, he taught me discipline, he taught me about life itself,” former Mount St. Mary’s standout Fred Carter said a few days before Phelan won his 700th game in 1993.

Shortly after seeing Carter play in Philadelphia, Phelan talked him into leaving the big city for Emmitsburg. Carter, who later played in the NBA and became coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, was the first Black student to enroll in the college.

Toward the end of his career, when he was a good 45 years older than the players he coached, Phelan deftly handled the generation gap.

“When the players first get here, they seem to regard me as a dinosaur, a fossil,” Phelan said. “They usually spend the first part of their freshman season relating to the assistant coaches. Then, after a while, they realize that I’m not exactly a senile old grandfather.”

When Phelan retired in 2003, coaches around the country honored him by wearing bow ties.

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