The fatal shooting of a 12-year-old girl in Hazel Crest over the weekend was a “tragic accident” and no charges will be filed, the south suburban police department said Tuesday.
The department said Erica Gibson was shot by another juvenile, but it released few other new details.
Hazel Crest police officers responded to a call of a reported gunshot victim in the 17600 block of Arlington Lane in Hazel Crest around 10 p.m. Saturday, Police Chief Mitchell Davis said in a statement.
Erica, who was from the Gresham neighborhood in Chicago, had been shot in the head and was taken to South Suburban Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 10:53 p.m., police said.
An autopsy ruled her death a homicide, the medical examiner’s office said. But the police department’s investigation and a legal review by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office determined no criminal charges will be filed against the juvenile involved, Davis said.
“At this time, the investigation shows this to be another case of young people having access to an unsecured weapon in a home that had a tragic ending,” Davis said.
This is at least the second accidental shooting by a minor in the last week.
The boy was hit in the chest inside a home in the 3500 block of South Rhodes shortly before 7 p.m., Chicago police said. He was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition, according to police and fire officials.
A veteran-laden Iowa roster has been short-handed throughout the first week because of injuries at the MLB level, guys on the COVID list and others on personal leave. Despite the increase in roster size this season, I believe the I-Cubs were essentially playing with about 20 available players in a game or two. Kudos to the team for weathering the storm and finishing their first series with a 3-2 record.
The biggest positive so far was obviously the combined no-hitter the other day. The pitching staff, in general looks strong. The prospects (Justin Steele, Keegan Thompson, Cory Abbott, Dakota Mekkes, and eventually Tyson Miller) have all added a tick or two of velo since 2019, and reports are they are all capable of holding that velo more consistently across outings. The same is true for a couple of the older guys who’ve been around a while (Trevor Megill, Michael Rucker, Tommy Nance). Robert Stock is the kind of veteran, upper-90s arm the Cubs have failed to stock up on previously.
Brad Wieck and Adam Morgan appear healthy and provide enviable LHRP depth beyond Steele. Ben Holmes is currently needed as a starter, but I’d be curious to see what he could do as another lefty reliever.
Rafael Ortega has been pretty impressive from Winter Ball, to through Spring Training and now at the start of the season for Iowa. If the Cubs suffer more injuries, or choose to move some of their pending UFAs at the deadline, I wouldn’t mind seeing Ortega given 100+ PAs in the second half to see if he can break through from AAAA to MLB performer. At 29, he isn’t a long term answer, but I think he could give the Cubs some quality at bats in a variety of roles if needed. The same can be said of Cameron Maybin and Nick Martini.
A couple of younger pickups in the middle infield look to have some upside as well. Sergio Alcantara and Abiatal Avelino are both in the mid-20s and still have utility role potential at the MLB level. Alcantara is the slicker defender and has so far showed a pretty good strike zone awareness. There isn’t much pop, but as a D and switch-hitting 26th man, plenty of teams have fielded worse. Avelino is bigger and flashes some pop in his bat if he can learn to lift the ball more frequently.
It isn’t a flashy team. There are no big time prospects. But more so than at any time in the recent past, the Cubs have plenty of back end starters, middle relievers and role players they can call upon from Iowa who could post replacement level or better production at the MLB level this year.
AA
The Smokies staff has a really nice blend of power arms, power sinkers, high spin rates, finesse pitchers, and varied release points.
Cam Sanders has taken a leap in the rotation. Holding 94-98 through multiple innings after struggling to stay in the low-90s and only touching the mid-90s on occasion in 2019. The rest of the starters aren’t much to write home about, but Brailyn Marquez will join the mix some time soon once he finishes ramping up in EXST. So could Chris Clarke.
The pen has some guys throwing smoke. Manny Rodriguez has touched triple digits in the past and pairs it with a power curve. He’s also trying to add a sinker. A priority UDFA out of Oklahoma State from last year, Ben Leeper has already been posted to AA because he throws in the upper-90s with a potential out pitch in his slider. Ethan Roberts already possessed elite spin and is another guy whose velo has jumped to the mid-90s. The same goes for Bryan Hudson (now throwing his sinker in the mid-90s) from the left side. Brendon Little, up to 93-94 consistently this spring, figures to join the mix at some point too.
With Brennen Davis currently sidelined, there is a little less star power among the position player group, but Miguel Amaya has made a positive impact, as he’s accessing his power within games and continues to improve his approach at the plate. His development looks on track for a 2022 debut. Right behind him is Christopher Morel. The energy is still there, and he is getting chance to show off his athleticism and arm all over the infield and outfield already. I’ve long projected him as a seven position utility man, and the Cubs seem to be prepping him as such. He’s been more selective at the plate as well. Andy Weber has been uncharacteristically booting the ball at SS so far, but his bat looks to have a bit more pop, and is another potential 2022 helper.
Advanced A
Chase Strumpf’s. Bat. Looks. Great.
Cole Roederer looks stronger and hasn’t lost any athleticism. High velo and good breaking pitches beat him in 2019. His hands look a little quicker at the plate and his eye a bit more selective. I’m encouraged by the adjustment, even if we haven’t seen much in terms of results early on.
Luis Vazquez may no longer be the top defensive SS in the system now that Ed Howard is around, but he’s still good, and his strength and approach at the plate continue to make strides. He’s still only a sleeper prospect, but he becomes more interesting every year. Unfortunately he just injured his hand on a slide and will miss the next month or more.
Bryce Windham remind me of P.J. Higgins at a similar age. He is a good athlete for a catcher, who can still move around the diamond if needed. But Windham must gain strength. It took Higgins a little too long to build up his strength to maintain prospect momentum and is now stalled in AAA. If Windham can build himself up a little quicker, he’ll have a chance. Being a left-handed hitter will improve his odds.
He was inconsistent in his first outing, but Ryan Jensen’s stuff looked fine. I don’t see any potential starters among the rest of the current staff, but man, does South Bend have some potential relief arms.
Max Bain is a giant man, with a great story. He’s currently a starter, and one apparently capable of holding upper-90s velo into the middle innings, but my first impression of his athleticism and delivery screamed future reliever. But he could be a good one. Eury Ramos is another high-90s arm. The velo from Cayne Ueckert and Chris Kachmar is a little below that but both have good life on their fastballs.
Burl Carraway looks as advertised as a potentially dominant late inning lefty. Brandon Hughes looks a little stronger and more polished a couple of years into his pitching conversion.
A
It’s a young squad of hitters, and they were overpowered by a couple of Rays pitching prospects who are too advanced for A ball the first week.
There have been flashes from all of the prospects in other games though. Luis Verdugo has gotten off to the most impressive start. He’s put together the most consistent at bats. His swing is shorter than what we saw in AZL highlights from 2019, and his glove/arm combo on the left side of the diamond is still exciting. He’s making an early case to solidify himself as a top 20 prospect. Yohendrick Pinango has also impressed me with his swing, approach and bat control. He’s a hitter, no doubt. Although he already is pretty filled out, I doubt power will ever be a huge aspect of his game, even when he learns to wait for a great pitch to turn on. But I’ve no doubt there is pull power available to him for future use.
Ed Howard has been great on defense and has ripped a few solid hits to drive in runs, but he’s struggled to make contact so far. I don’t have any concerns about his bat speed or swing, so just give him some time to adjust. Second baseman Yeison Santana flashes bat speed and bat control but has been overly aggressive swinging at pitches outside the zone. I haven’t spent much time watching Ethan Hearn or Jordan Nwogu yet.
On the pitching side, there isn’t a consistent high-90s arm right now, but there are plenty capable of mid-90s. Lefties Adam Laskey and D.J. Herz have flashed. They are starters right now, but look more like future pen guys to me. Herz is a great athlete, so maybe he learns to repeat his delivery and harness enough command to start, but he still looks pretty raw right now. Richard Gallardo is bigger, stronger and throwing harder. Jose Albertos has lost significant weight and so far his massive control issues haven’t resurfaced. There are a handful of sleeper relief arms as well, led by Joe Nahas.
Palestinian mourners carry the body of 11-year-old Hussain Hamad, who was killed by an explosion during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, during his funeral in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. | AP
The Gaza Health Ministry said a total of 28 people, including 10 children and the woman, were killed and 152 people were wounded. Ashraf al-Kidra, a spokesman for the ministry, said Israel’s “relentless assault” was overwhelming the health care system, which has been struggling with a COVID-19 outbreak.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A confrontation between Israel and Hamas sparked by weeks of tensions in contested Jerusalem escalated Tuesday. Israel unleashed new airstrikes on Gaza, killing a number of militants and civilians, while militants barraged southern Israel with hundreds of rockets, killing two Israelis.
The barrage of rockets leaving Gaza and airstrikes coming into the territory continued almost non-stop throughout the day, in what appeared to be some of the most intense fighting between Israel and Hamas since their 2014 war. The fire was so relentless that Israel’s Iron Dome rocket-defense system seemed to be overwhelmed. Meanwhile, columns of smoke rose from many places in Gaza.
Since sundown Monday, 28 Palestinians — including 10 children and a woman— were killed in Gaza, most by airstrikes, health officials there said. The Israeli military said at least 16 of the dead were militants.
Two women were killed by rockets fired from Gaza that hit their homes in the southern city of Ashkelon — the first Israeli deaths in the current violence. At least 10 other Israelis have been wounded since Monday evening.
After those deaths, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said officials decided to “increase both the strength and rate of the strikes” against militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.
Egypt was trying to broker a cease-fire, but the cycle of violence was gaining momentum. Even before the two Israeli deaths, the Israeli military said it was sending troop reinforcements to the Gaza border and the defense minister ordered the mobilization of 5,000 reserve soldiers.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, told reporters that Israel was beefing up defensive forces on the border to prevent possible infiltrations and increasing its offensive forces as well, primarily in the air.
He said the objective was to send a “clear message” to Hamas.
The barrage of rockets and airstrikes was preceded by hours of clashes Monday between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, including dramatic confrontations at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a sacred site to both Jews and Muslims. The current violence, like previous rounds, including the last intifada, or uprising, has been fueled by conflicting claims over Jerusalem, which is at the emotional core of the long conflict.
In a sign of widening unrest, hundreds of residents of Arab communities across Israel staged overnight demonstrations denouncing the recent actions of Israeli security forces against Palestinians. It was one of the largest protests by Palestinian citizens in Israel in recent years.
Israel and Hamas have fought three wars and numerous skirmishes since the militant group seized control of Gaza in 2007. Recent rounds of fighting have usually ended after a few days, often helped by behind-the-scenes mediation by Qatar, Egypt and others.
An Egyptian official confirmed that the country was trying to broker a truce. But the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing sensitive diplomacy, said Israeli actions in Jerusalem had complicated those efforts. A Palestinian security official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the cease-fire efforts.
Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes, including two that targeted high-rise apartment buildings where militants were believed to be hiding.
At midday, an airstrike hit a building in central Gaza City, sending terrified residents running into the street, including women and barefoot children. The Islamic Jihad militant group confirmed that the strike killed three of its commanders.
An earlier airstrike struck another high-rise in the city as people were conducting dawn prayers, killing a woman, her 19-year-old disabled son and another man, residents said. Health officials confirmed the deaths.
The Gaza Health Ministry said a total of 28 people, including 10 children and the woman, were killed and 152 people were wounded. Ashraf al-Kidra, a spokesman for the ministry, said Israel’s “relentless assault” was overwhelming the health care system, which has been struggling with a COVID-19 outbreak.
The escalation comes at a time of political limbo in Israel.
Netanyahu has been caretaker prime minister since an inconclusive parliamentary election in March. He tried and failed to form a coalition government with his hard-line and ultra-Orthodox allies, and the task was handed to his political rivals last week.
One of those rivals is Israel’s defense minister, who is overseeing the Gaza campaign. It was not clear whether the toxic political atmosphere is spilling over into military decision-making, though the rival camps have unanimously expressed support for striking Hamas hard.
The support of an Arab-backed party with Islamist roots is key for the anti-Netanyahu bloc’s efforts. But the current tensions might deter the party’s leader, Mansour Abbas, from joining a coalition for now. The sides have three more weeks to reach a deal.
The current round of violence in Jerusalem coincided with the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in mid-April.
Critics say heavy-handed police measures helped stoke nightly unrest, including a decision to temporarily seal off a popular gathering spot where Palestinian residents would meet after evening prayers. Another flashpoint was the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where dozens of Palestinians are under threat of eviction by Jewish settlers.
Over the weekend, confrontations erupted at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which is the third holiest site of Islam and the holiest site in Judaism.
Over several days, Israel police fired tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets at Palestinians in the compound who hurled stones and chairs. At times, police fired stun grenades into the carpeted mosque.
On Monday evening, Hamas began firing rockets from Gaza, setting off air raid sirens as far as Jerusalem. From there on, the escalation was rapid.
Conricus, the Israeli military spokesman, said Gaza militants fired more than 500 rockets at Israel, with about one-third falling short and landing in Gaza.
At midday, a barrage of some 10 rockets whizzed above the southern city of Ashdod, filling the skies with streaks of white smoke.
A rocket that hit an apartment building in the coastal Israeli city of Ashkelon injured six people, according to Israeli paramedic service Magen David Adom. A building in Ashdod was also hit, lightly wounding four, Israeli police said.
Conricus said the military hit 130 targets in Gaza, including two tunnels militants were digging under the border with Israel.
He did not address Gaza Health Ministry reports about the dead children.
In Gaza, most of the deaths were attributed to airstrikes. However, seven of the deaths were members of a single family, including three children, who died in an explosion in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. It was not clear if the blast was caused by an Israeli airstrike or errant rocket.
Dozens of mourners took part in the funeral of Hussein Hamad, an 11-year-old boy who was among the dead.
Israel struck scores of Gaza homes in its 2014 war with Hamas, arguing it was aiming at militants, but also killing many civilians. The practice drew broad international condemnation at the time. Israel’s latest tactics in Jerusalem have drawn angry reactions from leaders from the Arab and Muslim world.
___
Federman reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Karin Laub in the West Bank, Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed.
Visitors peek into the museum at the 9/11 Museum & Memorial, Thursday, April 29, 2021, in New York. In recent weeks, tourism indicators for New York City like hotel occupancy and museum attendance that had fallen off a pandemic cliff have ticked up slightly. It’s a welcome sight for a city where the industry has been decimated by the impact of the coronavirus. | AP
Tourists who vanished from New York City’s museums, hotels and cultural attractions when the coronavirus pandemic hit a year ago are trickling back in as restrictions loosen.
NEW YORK — The once-deserted steps outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art are filling up with visitors again. Hotel lobbies are losing their desolate feel. Downtown, people are back to taking selfies with the Charging Bull statue near Wall Street.
Tourists who vanished from New York City’s museums, hotels and cultural attractions when the coronavirus pandemic hit a year ago are trickling back in as restrictions loosen.
There’s still a long way to go before the still-closed theater district is mobbed with international travelers again.
But lately, indicators like hotel occupancy and museum attendance have ticked up, thanks to domestic travelers and day trippers who don’t mind seeing the city operating at less than its usual hectic pace.
“I’ve always wanted to come to New York, just because I’ve watched the movies,” said Chazmin Fuhrer, 26, a first-time visitor from Concord, California, who came into the city for a handful of days recently to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
Lounging at a table in Times Square as three street performers started their dance moves nearby, Fuhrer said she knew it wasn’t anywhere near as busy as usual. But she was OK with that.
“It’s kind of nice without a lot of people out,” she said, noting that the pre-pandemic crush of people would probably now make her nervous, with the virus still circulating.
City officials are optimistic, even in the wake of an incident in Times Square on Saturday, when three people — including a child — were injured by stray bullets when a dispute led to gunfire.
“In the end, people want to come to this city,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. “It is an overwhelmingly safe city, when you look at New York City compared to cities around the country, around the world.”
In 2019, an estimated 67 million people visited the city. In 2020, that plummeted to slightly more than 22 million, mostly those who came before the pandemic began rampaging in New York in March.
Restaurants and stores were forced to close, as were some hotels, bringing the city’s available rooms from 124,000 to 88,000, according to city tourism officials.
On top of that, unrest over racial injustice in late spring led to two days of property destruction and stealing. While the damage was limited and cleanup quick, the city suffered through months of bad press as then-President Donald Trump, eager to bash his Democrat-run hometown, publicly smeared it as having succumbed to anarchy.
The daytime Times Square shooting brought a fresh round of handwringing.
But after a moribund year, things are looking up. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, for example, has reached 9,000 visitors on some recent days. That’s still far less than the swarms of 25,000 who once packed in on the busiest days pre-pandemic, but far more than the museum was seeing when it reopened in late August.
Ridership is up on the ferries that take visitors from the southern tip of Manhattan to the Statue of Liberty, where the grounds and a museum are open even as the statue’s interior remains off limits.
Rafael Abreu, vice president for marketing at Statue Cruises, said it had been “fairly slow” through February, but ridership had risen in March and April to about 25-30% of pre-pandemic times.
Hotel occupancy, which had been running in the 30% range, has been in the 50% range over the last few weeks, said Fred Dixon, president and CEO of NYC & Company, the city’s tourism agency.
New hotels are opening, and the number of rooms is expected to reach 118,000 by year’s end.
“It’s just really wonderful,” Dixon said of the city’s cautious reawakening. “And so, it’s given us a lot of hope.”
The agency is predicting just over 31 million visitors in 2021.
City and state officials in recent weeks have been making moves to open the city up as much as possible.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the city’s subway system would return to 24-hour service in mid-May. Capacity restrictions on businesses are being lifted, although 6 feet of space between patrons will still be required.
The Yankees and Mets have been allowed to boost crowd capacity at games, with no restrictions at all on people who can show they have been vaccinated.
De Blasio last month announced a $30 million tourism marketing campaign that NYC & Company will launch in June.
The city and state are also setting up vaccination stations offering free shots to tourists.
“We think this is a positive message to tourists. Come here. It’s safe. It’s a great place to be and we’re going to take care of you,” said de Blasio, a Democrat.
In a city where multitudes are dependent on tourism for their livelihoods, things can’t get better quickly enough.
Michael Keane, an owner of O’Hara’s Restaurant and Pub near the World Trade Center site, said things have been looking up.
“It’s been a slow crawl but we’re seeing more and more tourists every week come in the area,” he said, noting that he’s keeping a nervous eye on how the virus has continued to ravage some other countries. “I can’t imagine going through that again.”
Limitations remain. Broadway shows won’t start running again until September. Some attractions require timed reservations to keep crowds down. Others are still closed.
But even with things moving slower, Fuhrer said she was “definitely not disappointed” with her trip.
Back home, “I feel like people are still a little bit cautious out there with COVID,” she said. Meanwhile, in New York, “I feel like everybody out here is trying to get their life going.”
She and girlfriend Gabbi Allen, 23, both vaccinated, felt like they got to experience some of that New York vibe.
“All the sirens, all the honking,” Allen said.
“People yelling at each other in the middle of the street,” Fuhrer added.
The lower-key New York City has actually been wonderful, said Stephanie Piefke, 24, of Atlanta, a frequent visitor out recently for some touristy activities with her friend, first-time visitor Danielle Jenkins.
The women, both vaccinated, said at the Empire State Building there were maybe a few dozen people cruising through a waiting area set up to handle what Piefke said would have been a “miserable” snaking line.
She didn’t think the quieter New York City would last, though, once the city fully reopens.
“Y’all are gonna be like, ‘Oh God, they’re here,’” she said, “and it’ll be like a tsunami of tourists that have been wanting to come.”
In this April 10, 2021, file photo, registered nurse Ashleigh Velasco, left, administers the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to Rosemene Lordeus, right, at a clinic held by Healthcare Network in Immokalee, Fla. Fewer Americans are reluctant to get a COVID-19 vaccine than just a few months ago, but questions about side effects and how the shots were tested still hold some back, according to a new poll that highlights the challenges at a pivotal moment in the U.S. vaccination campaign. | AP
Just 11% of people who remain unvaccinated say they definitely will get the shot, while 34% say they definitely won’t, according to the poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Fewer Americans are reluctant to get a COVID-19 vaccine than just a few months ago, but questions about side effects and how the shots were tested still hold some back, according to a new poll that highlights the challenges at a pivotal moment in the U.S. vaccination campaign.
That leaves a large swath of Americans in the middle who might still roll up their sleeves — including 27% who say they probably will and 27% who say they probably won’t — if someone credible addressed their concerns. That’s where National Institutes of Health immunologist Kizzmekia Corbett comes in.
Corbett helped lead development of the Moderna shot, and she spends hours giving plain-spoken answers to questions from Americans — especially Black Americans like her — to counter misinformation about the three vaccines used in the U.S.
No, COVID-19 vaccines won’t cause infertility: “Whoever started that rumor, shame on you.”
No, the shots’ speedy development doesn’t mean corners were cut: “We worked our butts off for the last six years” hunting vaccines for earlier cousins of COVID-19 — a head start that made the difference, Corbett recently told the AP.
Getting as many people vaccinated as fast as possible is critical to returning the country to normal. More than 150 million people — about 58% of all adults — have received at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As that number grows, reluctance is inching down. Overall, the AP-NORC poll found about 1 in 5 American adults say they probably or definitely won’t get vaccinated, compared to about a third in January, when the shots were just rolling out.
Black Americans likewise are becoming more open to the shots, with 26% now saying they definitely or probably won’t get vaccinated compared with 41% in January. That’s similar to the 22% of Hispanic Americans and white Americans the poll found unlikely to get vaccinated. Among Asian Americans, just 9% say they definitely or probably won’t get the shots.
Holdouts are from all over American society — fueling experts’ advice that there is no one-size-fits-all vaccine message and that people need to hear from trusted sources, whether that’s scientists like Corbett or their own doctors. Adults under 45, rural Americans and Republicans are especially likely to say they will avoid vaccination, the poll found. But again, attitudes are changing: 32% of Republicans now say they probably or definitely won’t get vaccinated, down from 44% in January.
About three-fourths of those who say they are unlikely to get vaccinated have little to no confidence that the vaccines were properly tested, and 55% are very concerned about side effects, the poll found. Even among those who say they will probably get vaccinated but have not done so yet, concerns about proper testing are elevated compared with people who have received their shots already.
In forums hosted by colleges, Black pastors, doctors and even basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Corbett says the best way to overcome distrust is to put the science in understandable terms for strangers just like she does for family. Later this spring, she’s moving from the NIH to Harvard’s School of Public Health to continue both her vaccine research and that outreach to communities, the school plans to announce on Tuesday.
The vaccines’ speedy development “is historic and it is brag-worthy,” said Corbett, whose NIH team was able to customize a shot that matched the new virus after spending six years developing vaccines against other dangerous coronaviruses such as MERS.
But “really, we should have started the conversations very early about what went into it,” she said, so the public understood that no steps were skipped.
A combination of huge studies and real-world data show the main side effects of the U.S. vaccines are temporary fevers or aches as the immune system revs up. The shots are undergoing unprecedented safety monitoring, which last month led to a temporary pause in Johnson & Johnson vaccinations to determine how to handle an incredibly rare risk of blood clots.
Even after that pause, overall confidence in the vaccines is up slightly compared with a few months ago, with 45% of all adults now very or extremely confident that the shots were properly tested for safety and effectiveness, compared with 39% in an AP-NORC poll in February.
But side effect myths persist. Corbett calls the fertility concern “completely absurd,” and in forum after forum explains why it’s biologically impossible for the vaccines to alter anyone’s DNA.
The repetition is OK: “People need to hear things multiple times,” she said.
Plus, many Americans have some of the same questions scientists are still trying to answer, such as whether or when people might need a booster dose.
“Those are things that even I can’t even answer. But what I can say is that we’re doing everything we can to make sure we can answer it as soon as possible,” Corbett said.
___
The AP-NORC poll of 1,842 adults was conducted April 29-May 3 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
Chicago Sky players Candice Parker (L) and Azuré Stevens stand next to each other while Stevens holds her phone up, showing a photo of the doll she created in Parker’s likeness. | Screenshot from embedded tweet by @chicagosky
It’s fair to say that some of Parker’s Sky teammates look up to her.
In what could be described a full-circle moment, Chicago Sky forward Azurá Stevens is now teammates with one of her childhood basketball heroes, Candace Parker.
In a tweet posted Monday night, the team showed the two women standing next to each other all smiles after Stevens, 25, showed her new teammate a middle school project she did about her more than a decade ago. We also got a close-up of Stevens’ creation: a Parker doll that she made for the project.
Stevens created the doll in middle school, when Parker was a star player for the University of Tennessee. It’s a funny reminder of not only Parker’s incredible longevity at basketball’s highest levels but the age gap between her and some of her teammates.
A decorated player, Parker began making history in basketball as a student at Naperville Central High School. She won the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year awards back-to-back in 2003 and 2004, making her the second junior and the only woman to receive the award twice.
In college, Parker led the Tennessee Lady Volunteers to two consecutive national championships (2007 and 2008) and became the first woman to dunk twice in a college game.
Parker continued to star professionally and internationally after being drafted by the Sparks, winning MVP awards and two Olympic gold medals. She’ll make her debut for the Sky this season after being acquired in an offseason trade.
The driver was sitting in his parked car when five to six people fired shots, striking him in the face and shoulder, police say.
A 15-year-old boy is accused of shooting a ride-hailing driver in February on the West Side.
The teen, who wasn’t named because he’s charged as a minor, faces an attempted murder charge in the Feb. 21 incident, Chicago police said.
The driver was sitting in his parked car in the 3900 block of West Jackson Boulevard at 11:25 p.m. when a group of five to six people fired shots, striking him in the face and shoulder, police said.
Paramedics took the driver, 46, to Mount Sinai Hospital for treatment.
The 15-year-old was arrested Monday in the 10000 block of South Union Ave, police said. He was expected to appear in juvenile court later Tuesday.
I was having a lighthearted debate the other day with a few friends and the general thesis of it was whether or not people genuinely enjoyed working from home or if it was something we have merely become used to in this era of COVID-19. In this group, two people are back in their office full time, one is permanently work from home with no date or plan to return, and the fourth is preparing to return to the office June 1st.
Understandably, many of us are fatigued of chatter surrounding COVID and what the world looks like after it passes, so we kind of took the approach of what professional like should look like afterwards. Being from Chicago, naturally the first thing that comes to mind is the markedly less time spent commuting — between no commute in a work from home situation to the less traffic during rush hour periods for those who do go in — it’s been noticeable and welcome.
For most Chicagoans, being back at work refers to the greater downtown business district, otherwise known as “The Loop“. However, as more and more tech companies and startups have flocked to the downtown area, The Loop has unofficially been expanded to include as north as Chicago Ave, as west as Halsted, and as south as Congress. There’s a repercussion to which says, get back to work because other Loop-based business rely on weekday foot traffic to remain in operation. After all, businesses impact other businesses so on and so forth.
So, unto you our loyal, trusty UrbanMatter readers. We have a few questions to ask you, and feel free to screenshot these and ‘@’ us on social to respond:
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Are you back at work? If no, do you enjoy a permanent WFH set up?
If yes, how many days per week are you back in office?
What is your most consistently used method of transportation to get to and from work? Public transportation, driving, ride-sharing, walking/biking?
What is your favorite local food, beverage, or store located close to your work that you visit most while back in the office? Tag them and we’ll make sure they see your support!
This week the crew breaks down the Pirates series and showers praise on Matt Duffy. They are also joined by Jake Bujnowski, son of Tom, who made the K signs used during Kerry Wood’s historic 20 strike-out game.
Plays by Adam Rapp, Adrienne Kennedy, and Ike Holter make a livestream connection with audiences.
Between a robust national vaccine effort and Broadway recently announcing its September reopening, the return of live Chicago theater seems imminent. But starting May 13, the Goodman Theatre’s Live series hopes to give its patrons the next best thing.…Read More
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