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The day Oprah attended his workshop.Read More

Experimental drone and postmetal outfit Nadja got their start in 2003 as the solo studio project of ambient musician Aidan Baker, but by 2005 he’d enlisted the help of bassist and vocalist Leah Buckareff to bring his music to the stage. They’re a married couple as well as bandmates, and they’ve since relocated from their native Canada to Berlin.…Read More

A 22-year-old man was killed in a drive-by after getting in the backseat of a ride-share car in the 2000 block of East 75th Street.

A person was killed and two others wounded in shootings Thursday across Chicago.

A man was fatally shot Thursday morning as he got into a ride-share car in South Shore.

The man, 22, had gotten into the backseat of the car in the 2000 block of East 75th Street when a gray Volkswagen sedan pulled up and two people fired shots, Chicago police said.

The ride-share driver drove to a gas station in the 2300 block of East 75th Street and flagged down officers who were responding to a Shotspotter alert, police said. The 22-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.

The shooters crashed their car into a parked car in the 7500 block of South Clyde Avenue and fled on foot, police said. No one was in custody.

In nonfatal attacks, a woman was wounded in a drive-by early Thursday in Englewood on the South Side.

About 3:50 a.m., she was getting out of her car in the 7200 block of South Winchester Avenue, when someone inside a passing vehicle fired shots, police said.

She was grazed by a bullet on her head, struck in her arm, and brought to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in serious condition, police said.

Minutes later, a 35-year-old man was found shot in Park Manor on the South Side.

About 4:05 a.m., officers found him unresponsive on the sidewalk in the 6800 block of South Calumet Avenue, with gunshot wounds to his back, police said.

The man’s car was struck by bullets multiple times, and witnesses told officers they saw four to six males in dark-colored hoodies come out of a gangway at the time of the shooting, police said.

He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition, police said.

Twenty-one people were shot, two fatally, Wednesday in Chicago.

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

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Hard to believe now, but, from 1912 until its demise 30 years ago, the Lincoln Park Gun Club occupied a choice lakefront locale just north of the mouth of Diversey Harbor.

Walking the beach, I spotted plastic wadding from a shotgun shell and realized I hadn’t seen one of those in a long time.

Some of you will remember when most of Chicago’s beaches were littered with shotgun wadding, their distinctive splayed shape like toy squid burrowed into the sand everywhere you went.

Then again, some of you probably never have seen one at all. Which made me realize there must be a whole generation of Chicagoans at this point who know nothing about the Lincoln Park Gun Club.

Let’s remedy that.

From 1912 until its demise 30 years ago this month, the gun club — formally known as Lincoln Park Traps — occupied a choice piece of lakefront real estate just north of the mouth of Diversey Harbor.

The club’s name came from the trap and skeet shooting conducted there. Members had their own clubhouse, and every day the pop-pops rang out in Lincoln Park as shooting enthusiasts fired at clay targets flung over Lake Michigan.

In the early years after the club was formed by such luminaries as Oscar Mayer and P.K. Wrigley, they shot at actual live pigeons before that became unfashionable.

The debris landed in the water, where most of it remains today, except for the plastic wadding that would wash up on the beaches.

And here’s the thing to understand: it was just an accepted part of life in the big city, beloved by some, despised by others, ignored or tolerated by most.

By today’s standards, the whole notion sounds bizarre and anachronistic. If a lakefront gun club were proposed today, it wouldn’t even receive serious consideration.

But at the time, which to my mind is not so very long ago, booting the club was a very controversial matter that took years to accomplish. And many people remained bitter about the closing even years later.

In the end, it was closed by the Chicago Park District on the basis of environmental concerns over the lead shot, plastic litter and pollutants from the clay targets — more to the point, the potential legal liability they posed, said Nancy Kaszak, who at the time was the park district’s general counsel and later was elected to the Illinois Legislature.

AP

Some of the club’s supporters always maintained the dispute was really about guns and people who don’t like guns.

In retrospect, it probably was about a lot of things.

“It didn’t fit with what a majority of Chicagoans wanted with their lakefront,” said Cam Davis, a Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago commissioner who, as a young environmentalist, opposed the gun club.

Erma Tranter, former president of Friends of the Parks, which led the fight to close the club, said “it’s so obvious now” that the gun club was an inappropriate use of lakefront parkland.

“It was just wrong for a Chicago public park,” Tranter said, citing the pollution, private use of parkland and “cacophony” of the gunfire.

Christopher Cohen, a former 46th ward alderman who was the club’s lawyer during its early days of fending off the park district in 1988, concedes the club could not be in the same location today.

“Lifestyles have certainly changed, and the public’s point of view has changed,” he said.

Cohen said he fought the perception that the gun club was exclusive by pointing to its diverse group of users, including its African American president, and having a woman on its board.

Chicago Daily News

The aggressive pushback, which included a Chicago City Council resolution unanimously supporting the club, succeeded in delaying the closing for a few more years.

But, in 1991, then-Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris sued the club for polluting the lake, prompting the park district to finally halt its operations.

Burris, who would go on to be appointed to the U.S. Senate by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, said it was a tough decision.

“The club had a lot of clout,” Burris said. “They had a big following. It was not an easy situation to go after.”

The clubhouse was torn down in 1997.

It’s true that lifestyles change. And the public’s point of view changes. Often, as in this case, it changes for the better.

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A man is facing murder charges in connection to a January shooting in Chatham on the South Side.

Andrew McCullum was arrested after he was identified as the person who shot and killed 25-year-old Printiss Jones, Chicago police said.

On Jan. 4, officers responded to a call of shots fired in the 7800 block of South Indiana Avenue and found Jones in an apartment with a gunshot wound to the head, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

McCullum, 26, is facing one felony count of first-degree murder, police said.

He was expected in court Friday.

Chicago police

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Cubs: Anthony Rizzo makes interesting comments about Joe West by Vincent Parise

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Chicago Bulls (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

When the Chicago Bulls brought in head coach Billy Donovan, fans were shocked, thrilled and full of hope. Finally, Chicago hired a coach with previous head coaching experience — and a great one, at that.

The hope coming with Donovan had mostly to do with the fact that he notoriously gets the absolute most out of every single one of his players. He’s done far more with less talent than many coaches around the league, and it’s because of the buy-in factor.

Players listen to and respect Donovan. He’s been there and done that, and this young team bought in right away last year. Unfortunately, there were injuries and health issues that kept some key players out which ultimately led to the Bulls missing the playoffs.

But, that doesn’t mean last season was a failure. Fans saw some excitement out of this team they hadn’t seen in a while. Donovan had his guys playing hard, competitive basketball — and it was a sight which was rarely seen prior to last season.

This summer, the Chicago Bulls have decisions to make within their roster moving forward.

Donovan, along with Bulls brass (Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley), will work together now over the summer to further shape this roster. The Bulls will actually have some cap space to work with this year, making things a little interesting for once.

Chicago might not be the top-tier free agent destination, but with Donovan in place and guys like Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, you never know who the Bulls could lure in.

Before looking at the crop of free agent talent elsewhere, though, the Bulls will have to make decisions on their own guys. Chicago has quite a few players that could come off the books this summer, and not all of them will be brought back.

Some of these players are well-worth paying to return, but a few others aren’t quite as valuable to the Bulls. Which of their own players should be brought back, and which should be allowed to leave? The following five players all require that exact decision over the summer.

Next: 1. Ryan Arcidiacono

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Through his “#BlackChicagoBeLike” YouTube series, Korporate highlights Black-owned businesses and changes attitudes as a social media influencer.

Chicago rapper Korporate’s DIY strategy to boost his exposure created a lane that has led to a variety of opportunities.

But there’s more to his popular “#BlackChicagoBeLike” videos than surface-level information — he’s speaking on a part of Chicago that isn’t glamorous by any means.

Korporate acts in, narrates and produces the videos where many of the actors are friends of his. They portray the South Sider going about his business when a plot twist sets him up for an adventure, and some have reached over a million views.

“Originally, the concept of producing content came about as a result of trying to execute a marketing strategy from my music; I pretty much started doing music first. And that came about for me starting with spoken word in high school,” said Donovan Price, who performs as Korporate. “I didn’t expect [the success]; it was just a concept that I was experimenting with as a result of having friends out of town. They always had difficulty with understanding me when we were in casual conversation. So that is when I realized that Chicago really does have its own dictionary.

“When I say Black Chicago, it’s actually not in regard to ethnicity, but more so in regard to the other side of Chicago like the black market. The Chicago that’s opposite of the Bean [Cloud Gate], the Magnificent Mile and the North Side.”

Korporate is as proficient at monetizing social media as the best of them — including the Kardashians and other Instagram models. Between YouTube (1.7 million subscribers), Twitter (22,000 followers), and Instagram (1.1 million followers), Korporate appears to move the needle at will.

“The influence is definitely a blessing,” said Korporate, a Corliss High School alumnus. “I understand that I have to influence; so you know every available opportunity that I have, I use it to put something on people’s minds. Even with narrated stories that I do, though they may be very entertaining and humorous, the most important part of those videos for me is the moral of the story.

“At the end of the day after all the fun and games, I want you to be able to take something away from the videos. … It’s more of a blessing when I take that influence and actually use it effectively.”

Korporate’s influence goes far beyond social media. In fact, he believes the message — on mental health, relationships, family — in his videos changes attitudes.

“Black men who are deep in the streets come up to me and say: ‘Man, you really influenced me to reevaluate how I operate on a day-to-day basis,’ ” said Korporate. “… I originally produced these videos for the sake of trying to push my music to another level, but I never would have thought it would come to the point where [the videos] actually saved lives.”

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Due to Jerk 48, Cloudz Smoke Shop and Chicago’s Home of Chicken & Waffles often being the backdrop in the videos, those Black-owned businesses say they’ve seen a bump in business due to their association with Korporate.

Korporate’s partnership with Jerk 48 and Cloudz Smoke Shop co-owners Jairus and Jamaya Brunner could land him in the ownership group when the husband-wife team opens another location.

“Me and Korporate have a relationship that has stretched over a five-, six-year term,” said Jairus Brunner. “Generally, we do four to five commercials with Korporate a year. Every quarter, we use social media as an outlet because a lot of kids don’t listen to the radio or watch TV anymore; everyone’s more YouTube- and social media-based.

“If you want to get your product out there, it’s a good way for good exposure, being synonymous with him. And now he has advertised for other businesses, [but] I think that [Jerk 48] is probably the one that’s most recognizable with Korporate himself.”

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

And what’s next for Korporate? He recently released a new album and he plans to add an interactive component to his videos.

“For example, at the end of the video, there may be a scenario where I’m being interrogated by the police about a situation,” said Korporate. “And at the end of the video what’s going to make it interactive is that, let’s say I have the detectives at the table, and then I’m going to stop and look into the camera and be like: ‘What y’all want me to do? Y’all want me to keep it ‘100’ [honest] or keep my mouth closed? …. Drop in the comments what you want me to do.’ And whatever the majority of the comments say, that’s how the next video is going to be, and that’s the direction and it’s gonna go.”

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Police consent decree monitor Maggie Hickey and chef Kevin Hickey are dealing with their late father’s losses from Washington Federal Bank for Savings’s shutdown.

When federal regulators shut down Washington Federal Bank for Savings more than three years ago, it created financial headaches for two prominent Chicagoans whose late father lost about $800,000 when the Bridgeport bank collapsed.

Maggie Hickey is one of them. She’s a former federal prosecutor who’s now overseeing a consent decree for reforming the Chicago Police Department.

The other is her brother Kevin Hickey, a Bridgeport restaurant operator and award-winning chef.

The Hickeys — who haven’t been implicated in any wrongdoing — are handling the estate of John “Jack” Hickey, their late father. He was a longtime customer of and shareholder in the bank that held mortgages on his home and on The Duck Inn, his son’s critically acclaimed Bridgeport restaurant.

The father died in August 2019.

That was about 20 months after federal regulators closed Washington Federal and embarked on an investigation to unravel a “massive fraud scheme” at the clout-heavy bank.

Among those implicated: the late John F. Gembara, who was president and chief executive officer of the bank, which prosecutors say handed out loans to some people without any collateral or, in some cases, any expectation of being repaid. In December 2017, Gembara was found dead in a seated position, with his glasses on and a rope wrapped around his neck and the railing of a spiral staircase in the master bedroom of longtime bank customer Marek Matczuk’s $1 million home in Park Ridge. Days later, the bank was shut down. Gembara’s death was ruled a suicide.

Matczuk recently was charged with embezzling more than $6 million from Washington Federal.

The continuing investigation into the bank’s collapse has resulted so far in federal charges against 11 people, including Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th), who represents Bridgeport and is charged with income-tax fraud and lying to federal regulators regarding loans he received from the bank.

And prosecutors say more people will be charged.

Among those who’ve been charged is a contractor who was a longtime bank customer and bought three properties from Hickey 25 years ago with loans from the bank.

After retiring from working at a paper company, Hickey dabbled in real estate. Between 1986 and 2013, he got 37 loans from the bank totaling about $1.85 million on 19 properties, including his home. That’s according to documents on file with the Cook County clerk’s office.

There’s been no indication that Hickey or his children had any role in the fraud scheme that toppled Washington Federal, whose string of bad loans prompted its shutdown and forced the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to cover about $90 million in losses for the bank’s depositors.

Nader Issa / Sun-Times file

Asked about the bank and her father, Maggie Hickey responded by email: “You are correct that my dad lost money in the bank. I know that my dad was heartbroken when he learned of what went on at the bank.”

She declined to comment further.

Her brother pegged their father’s losses at $800,000, including money he said the elder Hickey invested as a shareholder. Kevin Hickey said they don’t expect to recover that money.

Aside from that loss to their father’s estate, Kevin Hickey said he has had to refinance two mortgages from Washington Federal that he got for his restaurant, which he operates in a building that was home to the Gembara family’s former tavern.

The Gembara and Hickey families share a long history. For generations, both families have operated prominent businesses in the tiny section of Bridgeport that’s tucked between the south branch of the Chicago River and busy Archer Avenue.

Joseph Gembara was 23 when he immigrated to Chicago from Poland in 1911. By around 1920, he had opened a corner bar at 2701 S. Eleanor St. — the building that’s now Kevin Hickey’s restaurant.

Cook County assessor’s office

The bar — called the Gem Bar Lounge — served food and drink to people who worked along the river. And the bar kept operating during Prohibition.

Gembara and his wife raised their seven children in an apartment behind the lounge.

At some point, Gembara became an investor in a building and loan association that had been founded in 1913 to serve Polish immigrants. The institution grew, ultimately evolving into Washington Federal Bank for Savings, which was run by Gembara’s son Emil Gembara and finally his grandson John Gembara.

Gembara’s bank set up shop at 2869 S. Archer Ave., a block north of the JJ Hickey Funeral Home, which already had been in the Hickey family for three generations by the time Jack Hickey ran it.

In 1963, Jack Hickey bought a small home on Eleanor Street where he and his wife raised their two children a block south of the Gem Bar.

In interviews about his restaurant, Kevin Hickey has warmly recalled playing video games inside the tavern when it was owned by one of the founder’s sons, Eugene “Herman” Gembara, who also served on the Washington Federal board of directors.

Pat Nabong / Sun-Times file

After John Hickey and his wife got divorced in the early 1980s, he began buying and selling property near his home. These deals all were financed with Washington Federal loans signed by Emil Gembara and his children — John Gembara and Janice Gembara Weston.

Hickey sold two of those properties to Miroslaw Krejza, a contractor, on Nov. 4, 1996, and a third one on July 1, 1997, for a total of $95,000. Krejza also obtained loans from Washington Federal. He then flipped the homes, selling them to new buyers.

Like Hickey, Krejza was a longtime customer of the Gembara bank. A federal grand jury indicted Krejza earlier this year, charging him with helping embezzle about $2.8 million from the bank between 2004 and the time of the bank’s collapse in December 2017.

The grand jury also indicted Krejza’s brother-in-law. Boguslaw Kasprowicz was charged with helping embezzle more than $14 million from the bank.

Pat Nabong and Ashlee Rezin Garcia / Sun-Times

Gembara’s bank financed homes Kasprowicz built in Wicker Park. Kasprowicz sold the homes, but federal officials have said the loans from Washington Federal never were repaid.

Kasprowicz once worked as a bricklayer for Gembara’s friend and customer Robert M. Kowalski, a lawyer and developer who has been charged in the embezzlement scheme.

It’s unclear how long Jack Hickey had been a shareholder in the Gembara bank. Kevin Hickey says the family has been unable to find any paperwork regarding his father’s investment.

Jack Hickey isn’t mentioned in annual reports Washington Federal Bank filed with federal regulators. Those reports required the bank to identify only people who owned at least 5% of the stock — John Gembara, his sister Janice Gembara Weston and his mother-in-law Rosemary Komperda, who had been dead for years when those reports were filed — as well as any bank officials who owned stock.

Those bank officials who also were shareholders were: Gembara; his sister; George Kozdemba, a retired employee of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, who replaced Eugene Gembara on the bank board; William Mahon, a deputy commissioner with the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation Commissioner; and Lester Stepien, comptroller of a meatpacking plant.

The bank’s annual reports disclosed the names of people who owned about 65% of Washington Federal’s stock. So about one-third of the stock was owned by people whose names haven’t been made public.

In 1997, the annual report disclosed that John Gembara’s brothers Michael Gembara and Robert Gembara also owned stock, as did an aunt and uncle who since have died.

Eugene Gembara — who was a precinct captain for the 11th Ward Regular Democratic Organization that’s been run by the late Mayor Richard J. Daley’s family for decades — died in 2009.

Kevin Tanaka / Sun-Times file

Four years later, on Nov. 14, 2013, his widow June Gembara sold the family bar for $322,500 to Kevin Hickey, who got a $236,000 loan the next day from the Gembara family bank.

Kevin Hickey, who previous was executive chef for The Four Seasons Hotels, had been working as a chef for Chicago’s Rockit Ranch Productions when he decided to open a restaurant in his old neighborhood, just down the street from his father’s home. Named after a restaurant run by his great grandmother, Hickey opened The Duck Inn in 2014, attracting diners from across Chicago and the suburbs to a neighborhood that wasn’t known then for upscale dining.

When federal regulators closed the bank on Dec. 15, 2017 — 12 days after John Gembara was found dead inside Matczuk’s home — the FDIC took control of nearly all outstanding loans the bank had, including two on The Duck Inn, one on Jack Hickey’s home and another on an apartment building he owned.

Pat Nabong / Sun-Times file

The FDIC sold those four Hickey loans to other mortgage companies in late 2018.

Soon after, Kevin Hickey repaid his original loans from Washington Federal with new mortgages from Beverly Bank.

Jack Hickey was 79 when he died on Aug. 24, 2019. He left Maggie Hickey and Kevin Hickey to settle his estate, which included his home and eight other properties.

The estate has yet to be settled. It’s being handled by an attorney in the Loop law offices of Schiff Hardin, the firm where Maggie Hickey is a partner.

Five months before her father died, Maggie Hickey was appointed by U.S. District Judge Robert M. Dow Jr. as the court monitor for Chicago police reforms spelled out in a federal consent decree that resulted from a Justice Department investigation that followed the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald as he was walking away from a Chicago cop.

The consent decree focuses on areas including police use of force, training and records.

It’s the latest high-profile appointment for Maggie Hickey, who was chief of staff for former U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, a Republican firebrand who orchestrated the appointment of Patrick Fitzgerald as the top federal prosecutor in Chicago, with a mandate to attack corruption that led to the convictions and imprisonment of former Govs. George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich.

Maggie Hickey later worked as a federal prosecutor in Chicago under Patrick Fitzgerald and also has been tapped to investigate sexual harassment allegations within the office of then-Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan. She also was the state executive inspector general under former Gov. Bruce Rauner.

It’s unclear whether federal prosecutors have talked with their former colleague regarding the collapse of Washington Federal Bank or her father’s transactions with the Gembara family.

READ SUN-TIMES’ WASHINGTON FEDERAL INVESTIGATION

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Moon Alert

There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions. The moon is in Capricorn.

Aries (March 21-April 19)

Oh joy! Today you will enjoy the beauty of your daily surroundings as well as the company of neighbors, siblings and relatives. You feel someone cares about you, which is why you want to tell them that they matter to you, as well.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

As the financial wizard of the zodiac, make the most of your money-making ideas today! You will attract money and favorable financial situations to you, especially something from the past, perhaps something that didn’t pan out before.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

Today the sun in your sign and your ruler Mercury is lined up with fair Venus. Yay you! This stimulates your interest in art, music and poetry, and make you eager to share your appreciation of beauty with someone.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

Solitude in beautiful surroundings will be a soothing escape for you. (Even 15 minutes will be wonderful.) You will feel replenished by physical beauty or beautiful ideas. You might also think about a secret crush you have on someone. Hmmm.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)

Today you’re quick to see the big picture and share your ideas with friends or groups. You might see a better way to relate to others, particularly if this is the goal of your group. You will also enjoy dealing with younger people, especially if they’re involved in the arts.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

A conversation with a boss, parent, VIP or a member of the police will be friendly and warm today. It will be apparent that you are on the same page and have the same concerns. Someone might seek out your advice about how to make something look better. ‘Let’s paint it!”

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

Because your appreciation of beauty is heightened today, you will enjoy galleries, museums or looking at art online. (Wikiart.org is a wonderful way to spend 20 minutes!) Some of you also will explore scientific studies. “Please pass the NaCl.”)

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Discussions about how to share something will favor you today. (You’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.) This is a good time to explore dealing with shared property, taxes, debt and insurance matters. Meanwhile, romance will be passionate and affectionate. Be still my beating heart.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

You might surprise yourself at how articulate you are when you are talking to someone close to you today — a partner, spouse or close friend. It will be easy for you to tell them how much you care for them and how happy you are that they are in your life. (After that, you can borrow a fifty.)

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

You will be productive in your job today. Even your health will feel better because you have a better sense of balance in everything you do, not just physically but intellectually. You will see what needs to be done and what needs to be avoided.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

This is a fabulous day for you, especially if you work in the arts because you are in touch with your creative muse. However, you will also enjoy teaching or sharing playful activities with kids. Sports will appeal. You will be affectionate with friends and lovers. Sweet!

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)

You will do what you can to make where you live more attractive today because this will please you. However, it will also please you to be warm and affectionate with family members and let them know how much you care. (They’ll lap it up. Everyone wants to know they are loved.)

If Your Birthday Is Today

Singer, songwriter, actress Gladys Knight (1944) shares your birthday. You are friendly, assertive and many of you are very stylish. You know how to make an impression. You are knowledgeable, versatile and multitalented, which allows you to pursue many different paths with success. This year, it’s time to build alliances with others because these connections will help you achieve your goals. Let teamwork and cooperation with others be your theme.

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Beer preview of Lagunitas’ StereoHopic series, an IPA with just two hops in each “Volume.”Read More