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A gunman in another car, possibly a silver SUV, opened fire in the 7900 block of South Ashland Avenue.

A man was shot and killed Wednesday afternoon while driving in Gresham, the fourth person to be shot in the South Side neighborhood over 10 hours.

A gunman in another car, possibly a silver SUV, opened fire around 12:20 p.m. in the 7900 block of South Ashland Avenue, Chicago police said.

The man, 31, was shot in the chest and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said. His name hasn’t been released.

No arrest was made, police said.

Earlier Wednesday, police opened fire on a man who shot two people in a garage in the 8300 block of South Kerfoot Avenue. The man barricaded himself in a home but was gone when police entered it hours later.

And at 2 a.m., a 60-year-old man was shot and killed after answering his doorbell in the 2000 block of West 83rd Street. He died at the scene.

Gresham is located in the 6th police district, which has experienced a rise in shootings and murders this year. With 30 murders through June 6, the district is 7% above its murder count during the same period last year, according to police statistics.

Shootings are up 58% percent over the same time in 2020. The district has counted 122 shootings through June 6, compared with 77 shootings over the same time last year.

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

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The company’s 2021-2022 season includes the highly anticipated musical adaptation of “The Outsiders.”

Goodman Theatre on Wednesday announced it will return to live, in-person performances beginning July 30 with the Chicago premiere of Jocelyn Bioh’s “School Girls: Or, The African Mean Girls Play,” a production that was suspended in 2020 due to the pandemic shutdown of theaters. The production runs July 30-Aug. 29 in the Albert Theatre.

“This, truly, is the moment we’ve been waiting for — at once a ‘homecoming’ and a new beginning — after one of the most challenging periods of our collective experience. We are enormously grateful to our audiences, with special thanks to all who’ve joined us virtually as a sponsor or spectator … and thrilled to welcome you back now,” said artistic director Robert Falls in a statement.

COVID-19 safety protocols beginning July 30 include a recently overhauled air ventilation system to facilitate fresh air exchange; enhanced cleaning and hand sanitizer stations; at least one empty seat on either side of each seated party as well as mandatory face masks for the 80-minute duration of “School Girls; Or The African Mean Girls Play.”

The theater’s 2021-2022 “Homecoming” season includes the world premieres of:

— “Fannie, The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer” (Oct.1 5 – Nov. 14, 2021 ), the full-on production by Cheryl L. West, directed by Henry Godinez and starring E. Faye Butler, who reprises the title role from the abridged version presented in 2020 as part of theater-in-the-parks programming.

—”the ripple, the wave that carried me home” (Feb. 11 – March 13, 2022), by Christina Anderson, and directed by Miranda Haymon, a world-premiere co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

— “Good Night, Oscar,” (March 12 – April 17, 2022) starring Sean Hayes (“Will & Grace”), directed by Lisa Peterson. The show details the life of the legendary concert pianist/humorist/actor/composer Oscar Levant.

— “The Outsiders,” (May 27 – July 10, 2022), a musical based on the S.E. Hinton novel and Francis Ford Coppola film, with a book by Adam Rapp and directed by Liesl Tommy.

The season also includes a revival of “The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci” in a new production adapted and directed by Mary Zimmerman.

“A Christmas Carol,” a Goodman holiday season tradition for more than 40 years, returns (Nov. 20-Dec. 31). The production, adapted by Tom Creamer and directed by Jessica Thebus, stars Larry Yando reprising his critically acclaimed role as Ebenezer Scrooge.

Also this season is the previously announced “Zulema,” (Aug. 5-Sept. 2), a Goodman Theatre in-the-parks partnership with the Chicago Park District, DCASE Chicago Latino Theater Alliance and the National Museum of Mexican Art; “American Mariachi” (Sept. 18-Oct. 24); the continuation of the “Goodman Live” online series (June 17-July 18); and August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean” (Jan. 22 – Feb. 27, 2022);

For the complete season schedule and information, visit goodmantheatre.org

Tickets to “School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play” ($15-$45) are now on sale at GoodmanTheatre.org/SchoolGirls. Tickets for “A Christmas Carol” go on sale Aug. 20.

Membership packages for the 2021/2022 Season, starting at $75, are available at GoodmanTheatre.org/Homecoming.

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The longtime editor and journalism teacher also worked for magazines including DownBeat, Travel + Leisure, Chicago, the Saturday Evening Post and Ladies’ Home Journal.

Don Gold loved words and music.

He worked as an editor for some of the nation’s most prestigious magazines, wrote books, organized a jazz festival that drew nearly 20,000 to the old Chicago Stadium and taught journalism at Columbia College Chicago.

“Don always said, ‘Don’t panic if the job that you want is not being offered at the place you want to write because, if they want you bad enough, they will make a place for you’ — and he was right,” said Muriel L. Sims, a former student who went on to work for the Chicago Reporter, Ebony, Essence and the Dallas Observer.

A longtime Evanston resident, Mr. Gold died last month of kidney failure, according to his daughter Tracy Pytlar. He was 90.

He grew up on the Near North Side, where he attended Nettelhorst grade school and Lake View High School.

“When I was a kid, Lincoln Park Zoo was one of the great places to go,” he once told the Chicago Sun-Times. “And I’ve been going back ever since.”

In 1988, he wrote a book about it, “Zoo,” featuring the caretakers and the animals — everything from spitting cobras to baby gorillas. A cat lover, he dedicated it to Alexander and Lola, two of his many feline companions over the years. He kept the ashes of Oliver, his favorite cat, on his bookcase.

After getting bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism at Northwestern University, Mr. Gold served in the Army in Germany during the Korean war.

The jazz magazine DownBeat “was practically my first job,” he told the Sun-Times. “I applied while still in Germany.”

He became managing editor there.

In 1959, he was named an associate editor at Playboy magazine.

The same year, he helped organize the two-day Playboy Jazz Festival, which drew 19,000 people to the old Chicago Stadium to hear Joe Williams, the Count Basie Big Band, the Miles Davis Sextet, the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet and the Dave Brubeck Quartet.

Mr. Gold spent much of the 1960s and 1970s in New York City in top editing posts with the Saturday Evening Post, Ladies’ Home Journal and Holiday magazines before moving on to the William Morris agency.

“My father was the head of the literary department,” his daughter said. “He had a roster of well-known authors, acquired others and was responsible for getting their books published.”

In the mid-1970s, he was named managing editor of Travel + Leisure.

In 1975, his book “Bellevue: A Documentary of a Large Metropolitan Hospital,” based on seven months of access to the New York City institution, was published.

“He made rounds,” his daughter said. “He witnessed the daily and nightly life.”

“There is no fiction here, no adornment,” Mr. Gold wrote. “My method, I suppose is that of the old journalism.”

His daughter said he was asked to return to Playboy to become managing editor after editor Sheldon Wax was killed with 272 others in the nation’s deadliest aviation accident — the 1979 crash of American Airlines Flight 191, which lost an engine just after takeoff from O’Hare Airport.

After four years at Playboy, Mr. Gold worked as editor in chief of Chicago magazine.

From 1989 to 1996, he worked at Columbia College Chicago, where he taught magazine journalism and was a faculty adviser to The Columbia Chronicle, Inside Journalism and Chicago Arts and Communication.

“He led us to self-guided discovery, connecting one-on-one with a wide range of students from different backgrounds and at different points in their lives,” said former student Arlene Furlong, now a Chicago writer.

Mr. Gold also wrote the 1990 book “Hard Learnin’ ” with New York Mets star Darryl Strawberry.

He wrote many book reviews for the Sun-Times. In 1990, reviewing “Coat of Many Colors: Pages from Jewish Life,” he described a brush he’d had with antisemitism:

“Years later, sitting in my New York office, I was confronted by a man who lamented his lack of success as an author. ‘It’s because of all those damned Jews in publishing,’ he said. I did not help him find a publisher for his book; the thought occurred to me that I ought to keep a yarmulke in my desk drawer for such occasions.”

His three marriages all ended in divorce. Mary Brown, his companion for close to 20 years, described Mr. Gold as a generous friend, recounting how a neighbor once confided to him that she was pining to marry a man in Scotland.

“He helped pay for her flight,” Brown said.

When he was dying, his daughter said, Brown played him a favorite song, holding her phone to his ear so he could hear The Manhattan Transfer version of ”A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.”

Brown said a memorial service will be held at a later date.

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The new book details how Pippen cringed at being labeled Jordan’s sidekick and claims he was the “real” leader in the Bulls locker room.

Bulls legend Scottie Pippen is apparently ready to dance again.

Pippen announced on Twitter that his new autobiography“Unguarded” will be released on Nov. 16.

“Ready to hear my side of the story?” Pippen wrote in the tweet announcing the book. “You’ll read my takes on playing with MJ and Rodman and being coached by Phil Jackson. From a small town in Arkansas to the big time in the NBA.”

Simon & Shuster

Publisher Simon & Shuster had more details:

“In Unguarded, the soft-spoken, six-time champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist finally opens up to offer pointed and transparent takes on Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson, and Isiah Thomas, among others. Pippen details how he cringed at being labeled Jordan’s sidekick, and discusses how he could have (and should have) received more respect from the Bulls’ management and the media.”

According to the description on the publisher’s website, Pippen claims to have been the “real” leader in the Bulls locker room and discusses the 1994 playoff game vs. the New York Knicks when he took himself out with 1.8 seconds left.

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The panel, whose existence was confirmed to The AP by four people familiar with it, was set up in response to Ronald Greene’s death as well as three other violent stops of Black men.

BATON ROUGE, La. — The same Louisiana State Police unit whose troopers stunned, punched and dragged Ronald Greene on video during a deadly 2019 arrest is now under internal investigation by a secret panel over whether its officers are systematically targeting Black motorists for abuse.

The panel, whose existence was confirmed to The Associated Press by four people familiar with it, was set up in response to Greene’s death as well as three other violent stops of Black men: one who was punched, stunned and hoisted to his feet by his hair braids in a body-camera video obtained by the AP, another who was beaten after he was handcuffed, and yet another who was slammed 18 times with a flashlight.

“Every time I told him to stop he’d hit me again,” said Aaron Bowman, whose flashlight pummeling left him with three broken ribs, a broken jaw, a broken wrist and a gash to his head that required six staples to close. “I don’t want to see this happen to nobody — not to my worst enemy.”

The panel began working a few weeks ago to review thousands of body-camera videos over the past two years involving as many as a dozen white troopers, at least four of whom were involved in Greene’s arrest.

The review is focused on Louisiana State Police Troop F, a 66-officer unit that patrols a sprawling territory in the northeastern part of the state and has become notorious in recent years for alleged acts of brutality that have resulted in felony charges against some of its troopers.

“You’d be naïve to think it’s limited to two or three instances. That’s why you’re seeing this audit, which is a substantial undertaking by any agency,” said Rafael Goyeneche, a former prosecutor who is president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, a New Orleans-based watchdog group. “They’ve got to identify these people and remove them from the organization.”

Other than the federal civil rights investigation into Greene’s death, the state police panel is the only known inquiry into possible systemic abuse and racism by its troopers.

Its seven members, drawn from officials from across the State Police, are not only scouring the videos for signs of excessive force, the people told the AP, but also examining whether troopers showed racist tendencies in their traffic stops and pursuits, and whether they mislabeled body-camera videos, turned off their cameras or used other means to hide evidence from internal investigators.

It’s not clear if the panel has a deadline or if it plans to expand the inquiry to the eight other troops in the 1,200-officer state police.

The State Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Secrecy has permeated the Greene case from the beginning.

Soon after Greene’s May 10, 2019, death, troopers told his relatives he died in a crash following a chase on a rural road near Monroe. Later, State Police issued a one-page statement saying that troopers struggled with Greene during his arrest and that he died on the way to the hospital.

For more than two years, Louisiana officials from Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards down rebuffed repeated requests to release the body-camera video of Greene’s arrest.

But that changed last month after the AP released footage it obtained showing troopers converging on Greene’s car, repeatedly jolting the 49-year-old unarmed man with stun guns, putting him in a chokehold, striking him in the head and dragging him by his ankle shackles. Greene can be heard apologizing to the officers, telling them he is scared and moaning and gasping for air.

One 30-minute clip, which a supervisor denied having for two years, shows troopers ordering the heavyset Greene to remain facedown with his hands and feet restrained for more than nine minutes — a tactic use-of-force experts criticized as dangerous and likely to have restricted his breathing.

An autopsy report obtained by AP lists Greene’s cause of death as “cocaine induced agitated delirium complicated by motor vehicle collision, physical struggle, inflicted head injury and restraint.”

No troopers have been charged in Greene’s arrest. Trooper Kory York, who was seen dragging Greene, was suspended without pay for 50 hours. Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth, who was recorded on his body camera bragging that he “beat the ever-living f—” out of Greene, was told he would be fired last year just hours before he died in single-vehicle car crash.

While none of the other beatings that prompted the broader review of Troop F resulted in deaths, all led to felony charges against some of the troopers involved. And like Greene, all the suspects were driving alone, were unarmed and didn’t appear to resist after troopers closed in.

State police have not released body-camera video of any those cases, but AP obtained footage from the May 2020 arrest of Antonio Harris, who sped away from a traffic stop and led troopers through rural Richland Parish at speeds topping 150 mph before his car was finally stopped with a spike strip.

He can clearly be seen on the video surrendering next to a cornfield by lying on the ground with his arms and legs outstretched before at least seven officers converged.

Dakota DeMoss, a trooper involved in the Greene arrest, can be seen striking Harris in the face and later, after he was handcuffed, yanking him onto his feet by his dreadlocks. Another trooper, George Harper, uses a fist reinforced by his flashlight to punch Harris in the head and threatens to “punish” him while Trooper Jacob Brown pulls the man’s hair.

An unidentified officer also can be seen in the footage shocking Harris with a stun gun.

“I hope you act up when we get to the f——— jail,” Harper can be heard saying. “What the f—— is wrong with you, stupid motherf——-.”

Internal investigators found that troopers produced “wholly untrue” reports saying Harris resisted and that they sought to conceal the existence of body-camera video. Troopers also exchanged 14 text messages peppered with “lol” and “haha” in which they boasted about the beating.

“He gonna be sore tomorrow for sure,” Brown texted. “Warms my heart knowing we could educate that young man.”

State Police arrested Brown, Harper and DeMoss on charges of simple battery and malfeasance in Harris’ case.

Another beating happened in late May 2019 — 20 days after Greene’s death — when a Ouachita Parish deputy sheriff tried to pull over Bowman for a traffic violation a block from his Monroe home. The deputy reported that Bowman failed to pull over and continued into his driveway, where he was ordered out of his vehicle.

Brown, the trooper charged in the Harris incident, quickly responded to the arrest and, according to court documents, can be seen on his own body-camera video pummeling Bowman with a flashlight designed for shattering car glass, striking him 18 times as he was being handcuffed and not resisting.

“I thought I was going to die that night — I bled so much,” Bowman told the AP. “It’s hard to deal with. I can’t function half of the time. It’s just hard for me to think now.”

For months, State police were not aware footage of Bowman’s arrest existed because Brown misclassified it and failed to document any use of force, according to court records. Brown was charged with aggravated battery and malfeasance.

Brown also faces charges in yet another beating of a Black motorist — the July 2019 arrest of Morgan Blake, who was pulled over for a traffic violation on Interstate 20 in Ouachita Parish.

Troopers said Blake had 13 pounds of marijuana concealed in a locked compartment of the vehicle and was taken into custody. At some point, he complained that his handcuffs were too tight, and Brown took him to the ground.

Body-worn camera captured Trooper Randall Dickerson punching Blake five times and kneeing him. State Police determined that Blake “was not resisting, attempting to escape or being aggressive,” and that the troopers failed to document their use of force in any reports.

Dickerson and Brown were charged with simple battery and malfeasance.

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The Bills are gushing about the quarterback’s habits, just as Bears coach Matt Nagy used to do. As for when the games start …

My firm intention was to let Mitch Trubisky get on with his new life in Buffalo. A fresh start for him. A new beginning for me, finally free of the maddening disparity between what Bears coaches and teammates said about him and what I saw from him.

But now the Bills are gushing about Trubisky’s performance in early practices, and I can see that my work isn’t done. Faithful Bears observers will recall that when Mitch was playing quarterback for their team, he was the greatest practice player in the history of practice. We knew this because Bears coach Matt Nagy would gush about the kid’s midweek performances in ways that would make an egomaniac blush. The accuracy! The arm strength! The feel for the game!

Then Sunday would arrive, and Trubisky was a different man, deeply affected by defenders playing at full speed, not Halas Hall speed. At postgame press conferences, Nagy would look genuinely surprised that the man who had looked like Tom Brady in practice had morphed into Tom Thumbs, plural, when it counted. All of it, the entire exhausting saga, finally led to the Bears’ letting Trubisky walk after last season.

Fine. Good. It was best for everyone involved. But there’s this thing called the Internet and there are beings called humans, and when combined, you end up reading that Buffalo offensive coordinator Brian Daboll thinks Trubisky has been excellent in the Bills’ quarterbacks meeting room so far. “Fantastic meeting-room guy’’ is first cousins with “great practice player.’’

“He’s a professional, and he’s been through a lot in his career — 50 games, he’s played a lot of football,” Daboll said. “He’s got a good way about him. You go from one team to the next and the terminology is all different. We’re just trying to ask him right now to make sure that he’s got things that he has to have down – the playbook, the audibles, he’s got a lot of freedom. He’s got to learn how to use it the way he needs to use it when he’s playing.”

And here’s a Buffalo News description of Mitch’s performance from a recent offseason session:

“Trubisky made some on-target rhythm throws and looks like he’s picking up the Bills’ offense early in the offseason process. The new Bills’ No. 2 quarterback, signed as a free agent from Chicago to upgrade the spot behind Josh Allen, enjoyed an accurate day. He looked sharp in the practice open to media last week, as well.

“Trubisky hit tight end Dawson Knox in perfect stride on a crossing route during the 7-on-7 portion of the practice. Then he led receiver Duke Williams perfectly on a deep cross. His next pass was on target in a tight window on the sideline for Knox, but linebacker Tyrell Adams got a hand in the way to force the ball out of Knox’s grasp.

“In 11-on-11 work, Trubisky hit tight end Nate Becker against tight coverage, and then he placed an intermediate pass into the arms of Williams, who did well to shield his body to get free of tight coverage.’’

A seasoned Bears observer will have read that description in some form approximately 500 times during Trubisky’s four years in Chicago. We retained these descriptions because they were so different from the up-and-down quarterback who graced our city on game day.

The lesson in all of this, one our friends in Buffalo might learn if Allen gets knocked out of a game, is that it’s the definition of “unwise’’ to attach meaning to anything Trubisky does in practice. You can say that about a lot of NFL players but not as loudly as you can say it about Mitch.

The kindest approach is to declare that this phenomenon is more about coaches who can’t shut up than it is about a quarterback who can’t quarterback. In other words, there was nothing stopping Nagy from staying mute about Trubisky’s “excellent” practices the past four seasons, and there won’t be anything stopping Bills coach Sean McDermott from stuffing a sock in his mouth when the urge to praise Trubisky hits him. But a modern-day coach can’t help himself. He’s an oscillating fan spreading sweet nothings.

So I expect the Bills to eventually describe Mitch as the greatest No. 2 quarterback in league history. But, trust me, that designation will be impossible as long as Justin Fields is the Bears’ backup quarterback to Andy Dalton.

Some day, Fields will become the starter. When that day arrives, Bears fans should pray that Nagy doesn’t start raving about the rookie’s practice habits.

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June 11th is shaping up to be a day for the ages. The city of Chicago and state of Illinois have announced that they’ll be opening up to 100 percent and to celebrate Replay Lincoln Park is bringing back some good ole’ childhood nostalgia with their latest pop up, Nick Arcade. 

Running through Sunday, July 11, the bar will transform all 9,000 square feet of their space, including their outdoor patio, into iconic spots inspired by 90’s Nickelodeon favorites including Rugrats, Hey Arnold, Are You Afraid of the Dark, CatDog, Doug, Rocko’s Modern Life and much more. The pop up will offer an exclusive selection of Nick-inspired cocktails as well as a themed food menu for guests to enjoy as they travel down memory lane. Tickets are now available, and reservations are highly encouraged.

The Nick Arcade pop-up will feature a throwback to some of the best moments from childhood favorites, allowing patrons the opportunity to finally take a selfie that their 90’s selves could only dream about. Along with bright colored decor specific to each show, bubbles will be plentiful and let’s not forget about the slime. Pop up aficionados will also have the opportunity to treat themselves to 90’s themed cocktails, slime shots, along with their favorite childhood lunchroom treats.

“Our fans love opportunities that give them a chance to relive their childhood,” said Mark Kwiatkowski, owner of Replay Lincoln Park, via a press release. “This one is especially for the millennials looking to get back and enjoy the city officially reopening, and we’re looking forward to some much needed 90’s inspired fun this summer.”

90s babies who can’t wait to see the space, can RSVP for an exclusive first look the evening prior to opening, Thursday, June 10 between 5pm and Midnight. Guests can RSVP by emailing [email protected]. Every patron who attends that evening and shows their vaccination card upon arrival will also receive a complimentary themed cocktail, Shea Coul-Ale or Fiji water. Valid only on Thursday, June 10 for those who RSVP.

The Nick Arcade inspired pop-up is 21+ after 7pm and costs $20 per person with a $20 beverage credit, for a 90-minute reservation. People under 21 will receive a commemorative t-shirt in place of the $20 drink credit. Covid-19 restrictions will be practiced and protocols will be strictly observed to ensure the safety of patrons and employees. Guests who show proof they have been fully vaccinated will be allowed to remove their masks. Please note, this is not an official event sanctioned by Nickelodeon.

Replay Lincoln Park features over 30 free vintage arcade games, including pinball, air hockey, skeeball and more. With no cover or tokens needed, Replay Lincoln Park invites guests for great fun from 5 p.m. – 2 a.m. Monday – Thursday, Friday 3 p.m. – 2 a.m., 12 p.m. – 3 a.m. Saturday, and 12 p.m. – 2 a.m. Sunday.

For more information or to reserve tickets to select events, please visit www.replaylincolnpark.com or follow Replay on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. For additional information on Replay’s variety of pop-up bars, check out UrbanMatter’s review of their ‘Back to the Office’ Dunder Mifflin pop-up.

The post The 90s Are Back at Replay Lincoln Park With ‘Nick Arcade’ Pop Up Starting June 11 appeared first on UrbanMatter.

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The “musician-governed” Chicago Philharmonic looks to innovative programming for the future.

Last week the Chicago Philharmonic Society announced the appointment of a new executive director, Terell M. Johnson. A classically trained musician as well as an administrator, he’ll succeed another musician-turned-administrator, Donna Milanovich, who’s retiring after ten years in that job—and more as a Chi Phil flutist and board member.…Read More