What’s New

The former Sox third baseman and manager is back in touch with his college self. If there’s someplace he’d rather be than Stillwater, Okla., he doesn’t know where it is.

It’s not as if big-league baseball has forgotten all about Robin Ventura. Opportunity still knocks on occasion for the former White Sox third baseman and manager, whose last season with the club was in 2016. It’s just that he isn’t listening.

Ventura, 53, is too busy going nowhere — and loving it.

“Things are really good,” he said.

One of the great college hitters of all time, Ventura — a three-time All-American, two-time RBI champ, national player of the year and owner of an incredible 58-game hitting streak — is back at Oklahoma State, his alma mater, as a student assistant with the baseball team.

You caught the “student” part, didn’t you?

It was January of 2020 when Ventura returned to his Cowboys roots, intending to pursue the undergraduate degree he’d never completed. Going through a divorce at the time, and his children grown, Ventura felt in his gut that it was the right move. What he didn’t anticipate was a pandemic that would cut short the college season, keep him out of the classroom — “e-learning,” seriously? — and eventually pound him for two weeks with the worst flu-like symptoms he’d ever felt.

COVID-19 caught up with Ventura — since fully vaccinated — during winter break of this school year. He got through it, quarantining at his home in Stillwater, and last week took the last final exams of what essentially was his junior year. He still has two semesters and 24 credits to go before he’ll earn his bachelor’s degree in business management.

And then what?

“Not sure,” he said. “I don’t really have a grand plan. Maybe it’ll lead to something else.”

Meantime, Ventura has a new house that he really digs. He has a favorite golf course. The hunting and fly fishing — in a nice spot right by the Arkansas state line — are to his liking.

And he’s back in touch with his college self — in a baseball sense, too — which is special. Head coach Josh Holliday is an old friend whose father, Tom, was on the OSU staff (he later moved up to the head job) when Ventura was a player. Josh’s younger brother, Matt — the former seven-time big-league All-Star — is a volunteer assistant. Pitching coach Rob Walton is one of Ventura’s old Cowboys teammates.

Ventura helps the corner infielders with their defense and everybody with their bats, and what kid wouldn’t be smart enough to listen to a guy who won six Gold Gloves (five with the Sox), belted nearly 300 big-league homers and knocked in nearly 1,200 runs?

That goes even for those Cowboys players — there are a few of them — who have classes with a certain student assistant or, like senior outfielder Cade Cabbiness, are further along in the business school.

“Guys will tease him about having a test or homework, which is pretty funny to watch,” Cabbiness said. “But I think it’s pretty cool what he’s doing. That guy could be doing a lot of things. Instead, he’s here coaching and getting his college degree. And he’s relatable, personable, patient and easygoing. I’m just glad I get to see that guy every day.”

If there’s someplace Ventura would rather be, he can’t think of it.

“It’s just a fun group to be around,” he said. “It’s very comfortable. The kids are great. The age group is very fun. I love it.”

As much as managing in the majors, though? Even if, in Ventura’s case, that meant replacing a World Series winner in Ozzie Guillen.

“I enjoy them both,” he said. “I enjoyed managing the Sox. And this was an opportunity that came up that I thought was exciting and fun and different, and I just felt like doing it. Why not? If the baseball is good, it’s good — no matter where it is.”

The truth is, it isn’t the baseball piece that’s ever a problem. Staying organized and on time with all things school — e-learning, seriously? — presents less-familiar challenges. Countless students, or parents of students, out there can relate to that.

When Ventura arrived on campus, he imagined himself sitting in a classroom and noticing young eyes on him.

“What the heck is this old guy doing in here?” they’d wonder.

What’s he doing? Living his life. And managing better than OK.

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Some of us don’t give the police the credit they deserve. So I apologize for this lapse and say: ‘Thank you, Chicago police officers, for doing your job under extraordinary circumstances,’

When a Chicago police officer screws up, we don’t spare any ink letting you know.

But some of us don’t give the Chicago Police Department enough credit for catching the bad guys. I’m as guilty of this oversight as some of you.

So I apologize for this lapse and say: ”Thank you, Chicago police officers, for doing your job under extraordinary circumstances,”

Given the anti-police climate we are in, I imagine it would be easier to ignore a “shots fired” call than to rush headlong into a situation where there is a likelihood that things could go awry. Frankly, I don’t know who would want to be on the police force right now, with children as young as 15 and 16 running around with powerful firearms that they aren’t afraid to use. No, thank you.

As the ex-wife of a Chicago police officer reminded me, police officers are human beings. They want to come home at the end of their shifts in one piece. I’m grateful that, despite the distrust and disrespect police officers encounter daily, many police officers are still putting on their uniforms and actively patrolling our streets.

It gives me hope that the police were able to quickly track down and arrest two of the men suspected of being involved in the fatal shooting of 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams while she sat with her father in the drive-thru lane of a McDonald’s on the West Side. Marion Lewis, 18, and Demond Goudy, 21, are now behind bars, accused of murder. A third man, identified as Devontay Anderson, is still on the run.

The fact that police identified Jaslyn’s father as a “known gang member” didn’t stop the department from aggressively pursuing the case. Make no mistake, these are some dangerous guys. Goudy was out on bail, charged with four felonies, at the time of his arrest. Police had to engage in a car chase onto the Eisenhower Expressway and shoot Lewis after they say he tried to carjack a driver before they could bring him in to face the charges.

Meanwhile, police Supt. David Brown has been quietly taking care of business.

The city’s year-to-date homicide clearance rate right now is 58.45% compared to 51.88% year-to-date in 2019. Four years ago, the city’s murder clearance rate was just 29%.

The police department sends out daily alerts notifying the news media of people who were arrested and charged with serious crimes, including homicides.

Here’s a sampling:

• May 13 — Male juvenile, 18, two felony counts of murder and one felony count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon;
• May 12 — Deandre Watson, 27, one felony count murder, first-degree.
• May 11 — Anthony Moody, 55, one felony count murder, first-degree;
• May 11 — Deangelo Watson, 20, one felony count murder, first-degree.

Despite all of the challenges, the Chicago Police Department seems to be upping its game when it comes to getting murderers off our streets.

They have accomplished this goal while facing the perils of foot pursuits and car chases involving some who aren’t about to go peacefully. On Thursday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that 66 percent of Chicago police car chases in 2019 ended in crashes. Eight of those crashes were fatal.

The troubling stats, leaked in a trove of hacked City Hall emails, is sure to spark calls for greater oversight and policy changes. But just as we insist that the city hold rogue police officers accountable for their actions, we need to salute those who do the right thing.

While police officers are honored for acts of bravery at interdepartmental ceremonies, the public has a role to play. There’s nothing wrong with giving your beat cop a wave, a smile or a nod of appreciation when a patrol car cruises down your block.

These men and women have demanding jobs.

We shouldn’t be stingy with our compliments when it’s a job well done.

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White Sox first baseman collided with Dozier near first base line on pop-up

First baseman Jose Abreu is day-to-day after leaving the White Sox game against the Royals Friday after a hard collision with the Royals’ Hunter Dozier near the first base line in the second inning.

Abreu bruised his left knee and sustained a bruise and cut on his face. An initial assessment for a concussion was negative, the Sox said.

Abreu walked off but needed assistance after Dozier, who popped out to catcher Yasmani Grandal, ran to Grandal’s right but with his head down didn’t see Abreu running with his head up toward the play. Dozier and Abreu crashed into each other around the shoulder area and both were down for several moments, Abreu holding his head with both hands.

Grandal moved to first base and Zack Collins took over at catcher. Dozier left the game and was replaced by Hanser Alberto at third base.

Abreu hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning to give the Sox a 1-0 lead. On the first pitch from Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito after the injury delay, Michael Taylor homered to right field to give the Royals a 2-1 lead in the first game of a doubleheader. Both games are seven innings.

The Royals, who entered with an 11-game losing streak, led 5-1 on a Salvador Perez homer in the third inning. The Sox entered with a six-game winning streak.

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Today’s update is a 5-minute read that will brief you on the day’s biggest stories.

Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.

This afternoon will be partly sunny with a high near 70 degrees. Tonight’s low will be around 51 degrees. Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy with a high near 65.

Top story

Exporting abusive priests: Catholic religious order based near Northbrook reveals abusers

In his four decades as a Catholic missionary in Ghana, the Rev. Ronald Lange has been credibly accused of sexually abusing children over “multiple years.”

That’s according to his order’s Chicago hub. Facing scrutiny over its predator priests, including one who’s now on trial in East Timor, Society of the Divine Word has for the first time revealed the names and past postings of clergy who’ve been part of the Chicago province and been deemed by its leaders to have been credibly accused of child sex abuse anywhere in the world.

Lange, 79, is one of two priests on that list who formally remain part of the Chicago province of the Society of the Divine Word, an international religious order that “focuses on missionary work” and since 1875 has “entered lands where people are in need” and shared “God’s love.”

He’s also one of 26 current, former or deceased members the province now says have had substantiated accusations against them of having sexually abused children.

Read the full story from Robert Herguth here.

More news you need

1. Mayor Lori Lightfoot nominated Annette Nance-Holt today to be the Chicago Fire Department’s commissioner. She would be the first woman to lead CFD in its 162-year history.
2. Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich is apparently seeking an early end to his two-year supervised release, left intact when his prison sentence was commuted last year by then-President Trump. Prosecutors don’t oppose the move, which remains as a formality to bring an end to the corruption case from more than a decade ago.
3. A day after the CDC announced new mask recommendations, state and local officials have yet to issue an updated set of business guidelines regarding face coverings. “It’s just adding confusion to things for us,” one restaurant manager said today.
4. Having lost many loved ones to Huntington’s disease, Dave and Susie Hodgson are preparing for the Naperville Riverwalk Sunday. The couple started the walk in 2005 and have since raised $1.2 million for the cause.
5. Twin Chicago doctors Brittani James and Brandi Jackson are working to eliminate entrenched racism in the medical profession. “We’re teaching how to see it and how to undo it,” Jackson said.
6. There are fears over what could happen to a towering stained glass artwork at the financially troubled Chicago Loop Synagogue and a mosaic at River Grove’s old Guerin Catholic high school. The synagogue’s president and school’s former principal each say public support could help.
7. Riot Fest will return this year, with Nine Inch Nails, the Smashing Pumpkins and Vic Mensa among the headliners announced today. Three-day passes are available now, while single-day passes will go on sale next week.

A bright one

A music teacher at Bronzeville Classical Elementary School got the surprise of a lifetime yesterday morning when he thought he was walking into a union meeting but instead received a Golden Apple Award for excellence in teaching.

Reggie Spears has been teaching music for over a decade, including the last three years at the Bronzeville school, but said he didn’t ever expect to win this award.

“I was just doing what I thought was best. It never even crossed my mind that this would be a possibility for me,” Spears said.

Grace Asiegbu/Sun-Times

Annually, the Chicago-based Golden Apple Foundation honors educators from across the state for the positive and lasting effects they have on their students’ lives, and the impact they have on building stronger communities.

Spears is one of 10 teachers who received the award this year, which saw a record-breaking number — 700 — of nominations of pre-K through third grade teachers.

Golden Apple recipients each receive $5,000 and a spring sabbatical provided by Northwestern University.

Read Grace Asiegbu’s full story here.

From the press box

When the Sky open their season tomorrow afternoon against the Mystics, they’ll try to put into action their plan to put a greater emphasis on defense. Candace Parker, the 2020 Defensive Player of the Year, said there’s still a lot more to work on but establishing that identity is a step in the right direction.

Two weeks of Chicago celebrating him as the quarterback to save the Bears from their decades of offensive tedium is nothing to rookie Justin Fields, who’s been in the spotlight for years. “I’m made for this,” he said. “I’m built for this. It’s nothing new to me.”

And the Blackhawks wasted little time after the season ended this week, signing forward Henrik Borgstrom and goalie Arvid Soderblom to two-year deals. The two will add even more options to what should be a crowded competition for roster spots next season, Ben Pope writes.

Your daily question ☕

Which of Chicago’s summer festivals are you most excited to attend again?

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: Where is your favorite place to see springtime flowers in the city? Here’s some of what you said…

“Magnificent Mile, with a stop at Billy Goat Tavern.” — Deborah Fuller Tobias

“Downtown, or the Conservatory.” — Jackie Waldhier

“Michigan Avenue.” — Erika Hoffmann

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

Sign up here to get the Afternoon Edition in your inbox every day.

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Leaked emails show offer a window into a critical period of the mayor’s first term in office.

As a downtown protest over the police killing of George Floyd devolved into chaos late last May and gave way to months of unrest, an adviser to Mayor Lori Lightfoot directed a staffer to swiftly prepare a formal response that could be introduced to the City Council.

“Could you help draft a resolution condemning the killing of George Floyd and calling for justice for his family/acknowledging the history of violence that has disproportionately harmed Black communities/recommitting to the need for reform?” consultant Joanna Klonsky asked in a May 30, 2020, email addressed to Macgregor Lebuhn, a mayoral policy advisor at the time.

Klonsky’s email — sent five days after Floyd’s killing and apparently sparked by an urgent request from the mayor — came as the demonstration downtown turned into a full-blown riot, leading to Lightfoot’s controversial decisions to announce a curfew, restrict access to the area and lift the bridges over the Chicago River. By the next morning, after wide-scale looting gripped the city, Lebuhn questioned the initial plan: “I don’t know if a resolution is going to meet the moment anymore — we need to put forward something substantive if we’re going to do anything on this.”

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

“I don’t know but she asked for this so I think we should still do it either way,” Klonsky shot back in an apparent reference to Lightfoot, prompting Lebuhn and other staffers to hash out a draft complete with policy commitments over a series of emails that stretched until at least June 2.

That night, Lightfoot delivered a televised speech aimed at quelling the unrest in which she promised to institute a series of overdue police reforms. Ultimately though, a resolution was never introduced and the protests and looting continued in cycles throughout the summer.

Caught between police, protesters

The email thread exemplifies the Lightfoot administration’s at times stumbling response during a critical period of her first term in office. The messages were among a trove of hacked city emails leaked online last month by Distributed Denial of Secrets, a nonprofit whistleblower group likened to WikiLeaks.

City officials have declined to comment on the contents of the hacked emails. So did Klonsky and Patrick Mullane, a former mayoral staffer whose emails were exposed. Daniel Lurie, the mayor’s policy chief, and Michael Frisch, a former senior adviser to Lightfoot, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Caught between a police department under fire and a protest movement calling for its abolition, emails show that city officials labored over finding the right tone, expressing a commitment to reform and ultimately appeasing the groups leading the charge.

“We have to have something that says protest is a healthy expression of a functioning democracy,” Lurie wrote to fellow city employees drafting a statement shortly after police officers pepper-sprayed demonstrators who descended on Grant Park on July 17 and nearly toppled a statue of Christopher Columbus.

“We are so behind on this [it] is ridiculous,” Lurie added.

Alexander Gouletas/For the Sun-Times

A series of other flash points led to confusion and showed that officials were ill-prepared to weather the rising tide of allegations and criticisms lodged against the police department and its officers.

Kettling concerns

Police officials and mayoral staffers notably struggled to field questions about officers allegedly using a controversial tactic known as “kettling” during a downtown protest on Aug. 15 that led to violent clashes between demonstrators and police, resulting in 24 arrests and injuries to at least 17 cops.

Officers use the technique to herd demonstrators into a confined space to either make arrests or disperse a crowd. Asked about the incident on Aug. 17, Supt. David Brown said, “I haven’t heard those allegations that there was kettling going on.”

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times 

The following day, police spokesman Luis Agostini initially prepared a statement saying the police department “does not deploy or train in the crowd control tactic known as kettling.” Then, in a separate email a short time later, Don Terry, another police spokesman, made it clear that officers were trained on a technique that’s strikingly similar to “kettling.”

“In the Education & Training Bulletin of Sept. 2011, under Crowd Control Operations … you’ll find Column Movement to Encirclement. ‘The encirclement technique is used to contain a group of individuals and effect an orderly arrest,’” Terry wrote in the Aug. 18, 2020, email to Patrick Mullane, a mayoral spokesman at the time.

Minutes later, Agostini sent a group of city employees a revised statement stripped of the key claims that officers aren’t trained on kettling and didn’t use the tactic during the protest. Later in the day, Mullane emailed Susan Lee, the former deputy mayor for public safety, including a revised version of the new statement along with Terry’s note.

“We just found the below in the training bulletin for CPD so I don’t want to say that officers aren’t trained on kettling,” Mullane said.

Doxxing debate

A day after the demonstration turned violent, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35^th) also raised concerns about the police department making public the home addresses of two protesters who were arrested in an email addressed to Lightfoot’s Intergovernmental Affairs staff.

“I have heard from many Chicagoans who are concerned that this is doxxing on the part of the CPD. The tweets contain the residential addresses of two young women alleged to have harmed a CPD officer or CPD property in yesterday’s protest. Given the current climate, I and many others fear that these tweets invite rightwing extremists to target and harass these young women,” Ramirez-Rosa wrote in the Aug. 16 email, copying Lightfoot and Alds. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) and Rossana Rodriquez Sanchez (33rd).

Sun-Times file

The following day, Lightfoot emailed staffers a directive: “You know my feelings about Carlos, but, there is no reason why the home address should be posted of any arrestee.

“We need the CPD to take down these posts, redact the street address and repost asap,” she added. “And going forward, they need to delete the street addresses.”

Ramirez-Rosa on Friday credited Lightfoot’s office for taking swift action and removing the posts, though he said it’s “unfortunate that CPD did it to begin with.” Overall, he claimed the administration’s answer to the unrest was “too heavy-handed,” namely the decisions to raise bridges downtown and temporarily cut off Chicago Public Schools’ food distribution program.

“There were a lot of things that harmed a lot of working Chicagoans, particularly those that were struggling to survive during the pandemic,” Ramirez-Rosa said.

Amid the intensifying protests, Klonsky also voiced her apparent frustration over the city’s response in an email to mayoral staffers.

“Now is the time to reset and be unifying,” Klonsky, who isn’t a city employee, wrote in the Aug. 16 email. “Enough of what divides us. Enough of the bridges being up and pepper spray and finger pointing. They need something to believe in and feel hopeful about.”

Two days later, city officials apparently sought to devise a plan to stop the bleeding.

Michael Frisch, then a senior advisor to the mayor, emailed Mullane an invitation to a meeting to “coordinate efforts on public engagement with the protesting groups and discuss a strategy for listening, de-escalation, demands, etc. and related communications.”

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Dick Gregory cracked the place up. Richard Pryor brought the house down. Ella Fitzgerald’s scats hit the ceiling. Sarah Vaughan’s succulent notes made you swoon.  

I never stepped foot in Mister Kelly’s. But many a day, my parents, aunts and uncle took me there as they related dewy-eyed tales.

Dick Gregory cracked the place up, they said. Richard Pryor brought the house down. Ella Fitzgerald’s scats hit the ceiling. Sassy Sarah Vaughan’s succulent notes made you swoon.

Most if all, it was a place “we” could go. It was always happening at Mr. Kelly’s on North Rush Street, and at the London House, at North Michigan and East Wacker Drive.

The brothers Oscar and George Marienthal presided over these nationally acclaimed entertainment venues from the 1950s to the 1970s. Mr. Kelly’s discovered a new brand of cutting-edge jazz and comedy, showcasing new voices for new times.

Their story comes in a new documentary, narrated by Chicago’s own Bill Kurtis. Mr. Kelly’s “nurtured talent, promoted diversity and forever changed the future of show business around the world,” Kurtis declares in the film.

In mid-century, segregated Chicago, Black entertainers and their kindred fans were shunned by most white-owned venues.

At Mr. Kelly’s, Black talent mattered. The Marienthal brothers went looking for it. Their stages cultivated and showcased a brilliant constellation of Black stars: Sarah Vaughn, Maya Angelou, Richard Pryor, Dick Gregory, Herbie Hancock, Ramsey Lewis, Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Cosby, Flip Wilson, Godfrey Cambridge, Oscar Peterson, Dinah Washington, Della Reese, Dionne Warwick, Eartha Kitt, Lena Horne and even more boldface names than this space will allow.

At a time when racist policies and practices were de rigueur, Mr. Kelly’s “was one of the safe places we could go,” the comedian Dick Gregory recalled in the documentary. Gregory passed away in 2017.

The 1960 Ebony Magazine Annual Vacation Guide for Black travelers recommended only two entertainment venues between California and New York State: Mr. Kelly’s and London House.

“I guess, just from a personal point of view, you know, my father just you know, he had very simple ethics, you know, the golden rule,” David Marienthal told me. “And, you know, you should be fair and open to all people.”

David Marienthal, whose father George co-owned Mr. Kelly’s, spent six years researching “Live at Mr. Kelly’s,” which premieres May 27 on WTTW-TV.

“Obviously,” he said, “it made business sense as well.”

His film is packed with interviews from the club’s stars, employees and customers, and includes live footage, photos and music. Marienthal is working on plans for national distribution.

Mr. Kelly’s opened in 1953, just as the civil rights movement was burgeoning. There was much more activism, civil unrest and an anti-war movement to come.

The club’s comedians were kicking off a “new wave” of irreverent and political comedy.

Old chestnuts like “Take my wife — please!” were passe, replaced by the piercing satire of Gregory and Pryor.

In 1968, Pryor was booked to headline at Mr. Kelly’s, just hours after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. He later roamed the turbulent streets of Chicago, smoked weed and cried. The next day he was booked to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show. He refused to show.

In the early days, the club had no dressing room, so the great Sarah Vaughn sat on a potato sack as she prepared for her show.

The laughter and song of Mr. Kelly’s diverse talent and audience opened hearts and minds.

“And really, you know, when you’re making jokes about the civil rights movement at that point, it is, you know, it’s bringing new ideas in,” Marienthal said. “Even though people can laugh. When they laugh, they open up. And of course, when they see a great performer like Sarah Vaughan, their hearts open up.”

For more information, go to: www.misterkellyschicago.com

Send letters to [email protected].

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It still doesn’t feel real. Justin Fields is a member of the Chicago Bears. Before they traded up to get him in the 2021 NFL Draft, it didn’t feel possible that there would be anything exciting about the Bears going into the season. Well, they got him and he is the new hope of the […]

Chicago Bears: Justin Fields is outspoken at rookie camp – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & More

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The Gaza Health Ministry says the toll from the fighting has risen to 119 killed, including 31 children and 19 women, with 830 wounded.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Thousands of Palestinians grabbed children and belongings and fled their homes Friday as Israel barraged the northern Gaza Strip with tank fire and airstrikes, killing a family of six in their house and heavily damaging other neighborhoods in what it said was an operation to clear militant tunnels.

As international efforts at a cease-fire stepped up, Israel appeared to be looking to inflict intensified damage on the Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.

The Gaza violence increasingly spilled over into turmoil elsewhere.

Across the West Bank, Palestinians held their most widespread protests since 2017, with hundreds in at least nine towns burning tires and throwing stones at Israeli troops. Soldiers opening fire killed six, according to Palestinian health officials, while a seventh Palestinian was killed as he tried to stab an Israeli soldier.

Within Israel, communal violence erupted for a fourth night. Jewish and Arab mobs clashed in the flashpoint town of Lod, even after additional security forces were deployed.

In Gaza, the toll from the fighting rose to 122 killed, including 31 children and 20 women, with 900 wounded, according to the Health Ministry. The Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups have confirmed 20 deaths in their ranks, though Israel says that number is much higher. Seven people have been killed in Israel, including a 6-year-old boy and a soldier.

Israel called up 9,000 reservists Thursday to join its troops massed at the Gaza border, and an army spokesman spoke of a possible ground assault into the densely populated territory, though he gave no timetable. A day later, there was no sign of an incursion.

But before dawn Friday, tanks deployed on the border and warplanes carried out an intense barrage on the northern end of the Gaza Strip.

Houda Ouda said she and her extended family ran frantically into their home in the town of Beit Hanoun, seeking safety as the earth shook for two and half hours in the darkness.

“We even did not dare to look from the window to know what is being hit,” she said. When daylight came, she saw the swath of destruction: streets cratered, buildings crushed or with facades blown off, an olive tree burned bare, dust covering everything.

Rafat Tanani, his pregnant wife and four children, aged 7 and under, were killed after an Israeli warplane reduced their four-story apartment building to rubble in the neighboring town of Beit Lahia, residents said. Four strikes hit the building at 11 p.m., just before the family went to sleep, Rafat’s brother Fadi said. The building’s owner and his wife also were killed.

“It was a massacre,” said Sadallah Tanani, another relative. “My feelings are indescribable.”

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said the operation involved tank fire and airstrikes, aimed at destroying a tunnel network beneath Gaza City that the military refers to as “the Metro,” used by militants to evade surveillance and airstrikes.

“As always, the aim is to strike military targets and to minimize collateral damage and civilian casualties,” he said. “Unlike our very elaborate efforts to clear civilian areas before we strike high-rise or large buildings inside Gaza, that wasn’t feasible this time.”

When the sun rose, residents streamed out of the area in pickup trucks, on donkeys and on foot, taking pillows, blankets, pots and pans and bread. “We were terrified for our children, who were screaming and shaking,” said Hedaia Maarouf, who fled with her extended family of 19 people, including 13 children.

Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for UNRWA, said thousands broke into 16 schools run by the relief agency, which he said was scrambling to find a way to shelter them, given movement restrictions on its staff amid the fighting and COVID-19 worries.

Mohammed Ghabayen, who took refuge in a school with his family, said his children had eaten nothing since the day before, and they had no mattresses to sleep on. “And this is in the shadow of the coronavirus crisis,” he said. “We don’t know whether to take precautions for the coronavirus or the rockets or what to do exactly.

Hamas showed no signs of backing down. So far, it has fired some 1,800 rockets toward Israel, some targeting the seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv, although more than a quarter of them have fallen short inside Gaza and most of the rest have been intercepted by missile defense systems.

Still, the rockets have brought life in parts of southern Israel to a standstill and caused disruptions at airports.

A spokesman for Hamas’ military wing said the group was not afraid of a ground invasion, which would be a chance “to increase our catch” of Israeli soldiers.

The strikes came after Egyptian mediators rushed to Israel for cease-fire talks that showed no signs of progress. Egypt, Qatar and the U.N. were leading truce efforts.

An Egyptian intelligence official with knowledge of the talks said Israel rejected an Egyptian proposal for a yearlong truce with Hamas and other Gaza militants, which would have started at midnight Thursday had Israel agreed. He said Hamas had accepted the proposal.

The official said Israel wants to delay a cease-fire to give time to destroy more of Hamas’ and Islamic Jihad’s military capabilities. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Hamas would “pay a very heavy price” for its rocket attacks.

U.S. President Joe Biden said he spoke with Netanyahu about calming the fighting but also backed the Israeli leader by saying “there has not been a significant overreaction.”

He said the goal now is to “get to a point where there is a significant reduction in attacks, particularly rocket attacks.” He called the effort “a work in progress.”

The fighting has, for the moment, disrupted efforts by Netanyahu’s political opponents to form a new government coalition, prolonging his effort to stay in office after inconclusive elections. His rivals have three weeks to agree on a coalition but need the support of an Arab party, whose leader has said he cannot negotiate while Israel is fighting in Gaza.

Israel has come under heavy international criticism for civilian casualties during three previous wars in Gaza, home to more than 2 million Palestinians. It says Hamas is responsible for endangering civilians by placing military infrastructure in civilian areas and launching rockets from them.

The fighting broke out late Monday when Hamas fired a long-range rocket at Jerusalem in support of Palestinian protests there against the policing of a flashpoint holy site and efforts by Jewish settlers to evict dozens of Palestinian families from their homes.

The violent clashes between Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem and other mixed cities across Israel has added a layer of volatility to the conflict not seen in more than two decades.

The violence continued overnight. A Jewish man was shot and seriously wounded in Lod, the epicenter of the troubles, and Israeli media said a second Jewish man was shot. In the Tel Aviv neighborhood of Jaffa, an Israeli soldier was attacked by a group of Arabs and hospitalized in serious condition.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said some 750 suspects have been arrested since the communal violence began this week.

___

Krauss reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed.

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Only good would come from that. You can say that there’s no better teacher than being thrown into the fire. You can also say that fire sometimes burns beyond recognition.

For selfish reasons, many of us would like to see Justin Fields as the Bears’ starting quarterback sooner rather than later. Sooner, meaning tomorrow.

We want to know if the kid can play. We want to be entertained by a player who can run and throw and chew gum at the same time without the player experiencing multiple organ failure. We want a quarterback, simply because most of us have never seen one in a Bears uniform. Either they weren’t any good (don’t make me name names) or they couldn’t stay healthy (Jim McMahon).

But for the good of everyone involved, it might be better for Fields, the 11^th overall selection in this year’s draft, to stand on the sidelines for the 2021 season. Believe me, I know: not a popular opinion. Watching Fields be idle would be like getting a bicycle for Christmas in Siberia. You can stare at it. You can’t ride it.

For my scenario to work, and for everyone to benefit from it, Andy Dalton has to play well as the starting quarterback. That’s a given the way an unexpected inheritance is. He’s had one great season in his 10-year career, when he went 10-3 as a starter for the 2015 Bengals, completing 66.1% of his passes, throwing 25 touchdowns passes to seven interceptions and putting up a career-high 106.2 passer rating. Other than that, he has been anywhere from average to good, with a lot of pretty decent thrown in.

But if Dalton plays well this season, it takes the pressure off everyone, especially Fields. He’d be able to learn the position from a veteran. Only good would come from that. You can say that there’s no better teacher than being thrown into the fire. You can also say that fire sometimes burns beyond recognition. If the NFL is as mental a game as coaches tell us it is, then sitting in a room with Dalton, head coach Matt Nagy, offensive coordinator Bill Lazor and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo can only be a positive.

It’s fair to say that I’m operating here from a position of all that could go wrong with a rookie QB starting, probably because I’ve seen everything go wrong for the Bears when it comes to quarterbacks. But what’s the downside of Fields spending a season learning? Getting deprived of the kind of season the Bengals’ Joe Burrow or the Chargers’ Justin Herbert put up in their rookie years? Fair enough. They were very good. But it’s also true that Patrick Mahomes turned out pretty well for the Chiefs after spending his first season watching Alex Smith play. There are many more examples of that happening in NFL history than of rookie quarterbacks succeeding right away.

It’s a different world now because of quarterback salaries, of course, but still. What’s the harm of Fields sitting, other than to our need to see The Next Big Thing?

The expectations on him will be huge if he’s named the starter at any point this season. We’ve all seen what Chicago does to its QBs. It loves them to death when they arrive, and then, if they’re not playing well, it offs them.

A good season by Dalton and a spot next to Nagy on the sideline for Fields would likely mean that Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace keep their jobs. I’m not a big proponent of this outcome, but it would mean that Pace didn’t make the same mistake he made with Mike Glennon in 2017. And it would mean that the allure and promise of Fields would still be at concentrated levels in Chicago for 2022.

A good season by Dalton would get him a nice contract from another team.

And Fields not starting in 2021 would be valuable for you, dear Bears fan. It would mean that your team is winning, that Dalton is doing more than his part and that what was considered a declining Bears defense isn’t declining so much. It would mean that Fields is learning different NFL coverages from the comfort of a darkened film room. And no defenders with murder in their hearts would be chasing him.

I’d love to see him use his athleticism to make those defenders look like fools. But I wouldn’t understand the rush to get him on the field if Dalton is playing well. When I look at the Bears’ roster, I don’t see the greatest offensive line or the greatest weapons at wide receiver. One year of getting to know the NFL for Fields and another draft and free-agent period to get him some help … what am I missing here in terms of a downside?

Look, I know that it’s unlikely Dalton will have a standout season and that the temptation to push Fields out there will be fierce. If Fields has a great training camp, it might be too much for Nagy and Pace, even if they want to be patient with him (and I’m not sure they do). But if you watched him play at Ohio State, it’s not a sure thing that he’s ready. Talented, yes. Ready, maybe not.

If we’re looking out for what’s best for the kid, given all that the Bears went through with Mitch Trubisky, having Fields watch and learn for a year would be the way to go. It wouldn’t be the sexy move. It’d be more like long underwear. But you’d stay warm and emotionally safe for a year.

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“He’s a maniac, very playful and very loving,” Letitia Brown said. Her cat Hennessy jumped from the fifth-floor window of Brown’s South Side apartment Thursday to escape a fire, a dive captured in a now-viral video.

Letitia Brown says her cat Hennessy — named after the drink — was always finicky, jumping from couches and chairs in her apartment.

But his latest leap left her amazed.

Hennessy jumped from the fifth-floor window of Brown’s Englewood apartment Thursday to escape a fire, a dive captured in a now-viral video.

“I didn’t think he would clear the whole wall, but they say cats land on all fours. I was just amazed,” Brown said in an interview.

Brown’s furry companion survived the fall but still hasn’t returned home. She and her neighbors have been searching for him since Thursday and hope he returns home soon.

“That’s my baby,” Brown said. “He’s a maniac, very playful and very loving. He loves to play and snuggle. The best cat ever.”

The blaze started in the kitchen of her apartment in the 6500 block of South Lowe Avenue, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. Smoke billowed from windows of the fifth floor of the building, according to video posted to Twitter by Langford.

Chicago Fire Department

Hennessy stretches out his paws as he approaches a ledge, jumps from the window and narrowly misses a wall on the way down, the video shows. He appears to bounce off a patch of grass and saunter away.

“That’s just normal, how he is,” Brown said of Hennessy’s jump.

Brown said Hennessy is mostly a house cat who doesn’t spend much time outside. She has had him for nearly three years and is unsure how old he is because she took him in when someone else couldn’t care for him.

“I ended up with a blessing,” Brown said, adding that Hennessy was her main concern when the fire broke out. “But he made it,” she said.

Brown, who is currently staying at a neighbor’s apartment, thinks Hennessy may be hiding near her building. Witnesses said they saw him trying to reenter the building after the fire.

“We’re hoping that he’ll just hear my voice and just run up to me,” she said. “It’s just very stressful. I’m just trying to keep my head up and look for my baby.”

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