In this April 26, 2021 file photo, a few visitors arrive for their tour of the ancient Colosseum, in Rome. | AP
A $22 million contract to build and install a retractable structure that will restore the traditional “arena,” or stage for combat for gladiatorial shows in ancient Rome, was announced Sunday.
ROME— A project to build a high-tech, lightweight stage inside the Roman Colosseum will allow visitors a central viewpoint from within the ancient structure “to see the majesty of the monument,” Italy’s culture minister said Sunday.
Dario Franceschini announced a $22 million contract to build and install the retractable structure that will restore the traditional “arena,” or stage for combat for gladiatorial shows in ancient Rome.
The stage was original to the first-century amphitheater and existed until the 1800s when it was removed for archaeological digs on the subterranean levels of the ancient structure, Franceschini said.
The project should be completed by 2023. The mobile system will be able to quickly cover or uncover the underground structures below, to both protect them from rain or allow them to be aired out. The project is reversible, meaning it can be removed if plans for the Colosseum change in the future.
The new stage will allow visitors to stand in the center and view the Colosseum’s vaulted walls as they would have been seen by gladiators in ancient Rome. It also will permit the staging of cultural events that are respectful of the Colosseum as a symbol of Italy, Franceschini said.
The Colosseum reopened to the public last week after a 41-day closure because of rolling pandemic restrictions. Officials have set up a one-way itinerary as part of safety measures, and visitors are limited to 1,260 a day, compared with as many as 25,000 a day in 2019, pre-pandemic.
Two people were shot, one fatally, May 2, 2021, in Humboldt Park. | Sun-Times file
The men were outside about 2 p.m. in the 800 block of North Ridgeway Avenue when someone walked up and fired shots at them, Chicago police said.
Two men were shot, one of them fatally, Sunday in Humboldt Park on the West Side, according to police.
The men were outside about 2 p.m. in the 800 block of North Ridgeway Avenue when someone walked up and fired shots at them, Chicago police said.
One man, 34, was struck in the shoulder and leg and taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he died, police said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office has not identified him.
The other man, 40, was in good condition with gunshot wounds to the arm and abdomen, police said.
No one is in custody as Area Four detectives investigate.
The men were outside about 2 p.m. in the 800 block of North Ridgeway Avenue when someone walked up and fired shots at them, Chicago police said.
One man, 34, was struck in the shoulder and leg and taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he died, police said. The other man, 40, was in good condition with gunshot wounds to the arm and abdomen.
Late Saturday night, 12 people were shot within the span of two hours citywide.
One man was killed and another critically wounded in a shooting Saturday in Englewood on the South Side.
Just before midnight, the men, 27 and 30, were outside in the 5600 block of South Morgan Street when they heard shots and felt pain, Chicago police said.
The 27-year-old suffered gunshot wounds to the hip, shoulder and buttocks, police said. He was taken to St. Bernard Hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to police. The Cook County medical examiner’s office identified him as Benjamin Dawkins.
The 30-year-old was struck multiple times in the shoulder and taken to the same hospital in critical condition, police said.
About 45 minutes earlier, a 21-year-old man was fatally shot while riding in a vehicle in Burnside on the South Side.
The man was sitting in the front passenger seat of a vehicle about 11:15 p.m. traveling in the 800 block of East 87th Place when someone fired shots in his direction, police said.
The man was struck three times in the head and twice in the arm, police said. He was taken to Jackson Park Hospital where he was later pronounced dead, according to police. The medical examiner’s office has not yet identified him.
A 37-year-old man was fatally shot during a fight Saturday night in West Pullman on the Far South Side.
Travis Willis was standing outside with a group of people in the 11800 block of South Lafayette Avenue about 10:50 p.m. when he began arguing with another male, according to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The two started physically fighting and the other male shot Willis once in the head and fled, police said.
Willis was transported to Roseland Hospital where he was later pronounced dead, according to police.
In nonfatal attacks, a 35-year-old woman was critically hurt in a shooting Sunday morning in Brainerd on the South Side.
About 4:05 a.m., she was sitting in the front seat of a vehicle driving in the 9400 block of South Halsted Street when someone in a white pick-up truck began shooting at her, police said. She was struck in the back of the head and transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, police said.
A 29-year-old man was shot Sunday while filling up his vehicle at a gas station in East Ukrainian Village.
The man was at a gas station about 2:35 a.m. in the 1900 block of West Augusta Boulevard when a male approached him and fired shots, police said. He suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and went to St. Mary’s Medical Center in good condition, police said.
A 14-year-old boy was shot Saturday night in Grand Crossing on the South Side.
About 7:05 p.m., he was on the sidewalk in the 7200 block of South Blackstone Avenue, when he heard shots and felt pain, police said. He was struck in the hand, calf and grazed on the head, and was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in good condition, police said.
Another teenage boy was critically hurt in a shooting Friday night in Lawndale.
The boy, 17, was standing in front of a home about 7:35 p.m. in the 1900 block of South Drake Avenue when someone approached him and fired shots, police said. He suffered gunshot wounds to both legs and was transported to Mount Sinai in critical condition, police said.
At least 27 other people have been hurt in shootings since 5 p.m. Friday.
Anna D. Shapiro has served as Steppenwolf Theatre artistic director since 2015. | Frank Ishman
The longtime artistic director, whose stage credits include the landmark “August: Osage County,” is set to direct a movie about a real-life White House correspondent.
Anna D. Shapiro, a rising star in the theater and now the movie world, will step down in August as Steppenwolf Theatre’s artistic director, the company said Sunday.
She has held the title since 2015 and has been working on a succession plan for several months, as the end of her contract neared. Last week, news emerged that Shapiro is about to direct a film, “Bury the Lede,” about the 50-year tenure of White House correspondent Connie Lawn.
The script is by Joy Gregory, the Lookingglass Theatre co-founder who went on to work on TV’s “Jericho” and “Madam Secretary.”
While Shapiro earlier directed the filming of her National Theatre revival of “Of Mice and Men,” starring James Franco and Chris O’Dowd, “Bury the Lede” will be her first work originating on the big screen.
An Evanston native, Shapiro has been a key national player in the stage world for more than a decade, since winning a Tony Award in 2008 for directing the Broadway production of “August: Osage County.” Earlier she directed the world premiere of the Tracy Letts drama at Steppenwolf.
In addition to her Steppenwolf work in recent years, she’s been working on “The Devil Wears Prada,” a new musical based on the hit movie with music by Sir Elton John, lyrics by Shaina Taub and book by Paul Rudnick. After several delays, it now is scheduled to premiere in July 2022 at Chicago’s James M. Nederlander Theatre on its way to Broadway.
Shapiro will remain part of the Steppenwolf ensemble and is slated to direct two plays in the 2021-22 season announced last week: Letts’ “The Stretch,” part of a trio of short streaming plays set to debut in September, and Rajiv Joseph’s “King James,” a world premiere planned for a world premiere on stage in February.
Guns on display at Kee Firearms and Training in New Lenox in January. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file
The Illinois attorney general’s appeal of a downstate judge’s ruling sets up a battle over whether the state can require residents to hold an ID card in order to own a firearm. First enacted in 1968, the state’s Firearm Owner Identification Act does just that. But a southern Illinois judge said that makes residents’ Second Amendment rights a “façade.”
SPRINGFIELD — For more than half a century, anyone in Illinois who wanted to own a gun needed to first apply for a special state identification card.
But now the state’s top court is being asked to decide whether the Firearm Owner’s Identification cards — popularly called FOID cards — are a necessary safeguard or a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Last week, a downstate judge ruled the FOID card system was unconstitutional, reducing residents’ Second Amendment rights to bear arms to a “façade.”
Gun control advocates denounced the ruling as “frightening and radical,” and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul quickly appealed the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court.
The appeal filed last Thursday sets up a battle over whether the state can require its citizens to hold such an ID card in order to own a firearm.
First enacted in 1968, the state’s Firearm Owner Identification Act requires Illinoisans to apply for the card with the Illinois State Police in order to legally own a firearm. But in his ruling Tuesday, White County Judge T. Scott Webb wrote that the FOID card “makes criminals out of law abiding citizens who are attempting to protect their lives within their homes.”
“A citizen in the State of Illinois is not born with a Second Amendment right. Nor does that right insure when a citizen turns 18 or 21 years of age. It is a facade,” wrote White. “They only gain that right if they pay a $10 fee, complete the proper application, and submit a photograph. If the right to bear arms and self-defense are truly core rights, there should be no burden on the citizenry to enjoy those rights.”
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times fileStaff work at Kee Firearms and Training in New Lenox in January.
But Webb’s ruling is a “frightening and radical decision contrary to a whole body of research about the effectiveness of FOID-type laws” said Jonathan Baum, a lawyer for the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, who has submitted briefs in the case supporting the FOID system’s constitutionality.
“The whole emphasis of this decision is ‘Well, this is taking guns away from law-abiding citizens.’ And yet it wants to strip the state of the mechanism for determining who is abiding the law,” Baum said. “So, all this does is deprive states of a critical tool for keeping guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them.”
Webb’s order also dismisses charges against Vivian Brown, whose 2017 arrest had initiated the lawsuit. Brown was charged with owning a rifle without a FOID card even though she was a “law-abiding citizen” and “otherwise eligible to receive a FOID card,” according to her lawyer David Sigale.
Sigale is also the lawyer for several cases initiated by the Illinois State Rifle Association that challenge Illinois State Police delays in FOID and Concealed Carry card applications and renewals. Sigale denied the state gun lobbying group was involved with Brown’s lawsuit, saying she “merely knew someone prominent in the Second Amendment rights community” who put her in touch with him.
Brian Rich/Sun-Times fileCustomers browse for firearms at Marengo Guns in Marengo in January.
Sigale disagreed with Baum, arguing that “numerous other mechanisms” are in place to keep guns away from those who shouldn’t have them and that the FOID law “really serves no purpose.”
“Let’s say a hypothetical person was committing a crime with a rifle or had a felony criminal conviction that would disqualify them from owning a firearm. Without a FOID card that would still be a crime, so the FOID does nothing except to hurt lawful people like Ms. Brown,” Sigale said.
Baum said he is “confident” the state Supreme Court will take up the case in the summer and reverse Webb’s ruling.
Sigale said he “hopes that the [Illinois Supreme] Court knows this law turns people into second-class citizens and treats this right more like a privilege and that’s not how it’s supposed to be.”
Caitlyn Jenner speaks at the 4th Women’s March in Los Angeles in March 2020. | AP
Many transgender-rights advocates have criticized Jenner, saying she has failed to convince them that she is a major asset to their cause.
LOS ANGELES — Caitlyn Jenner, the former Olympic champion and reality TV personality now running for California governor, said she opposes transgender girls competing in girls’ sports at school.
Jenner, a 1976 decathlon Olympic gold medalist who came out as a transgender woman in 2015, told a TMZ reporter on Saturday that it’s “a question of fairness.”
“That’s why I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls’ sports in school. It just isn’t fair. And we have to protect girls’ sports in our schools,” Jenner said Saturday during a brief interview in a Malibu parking lot.
It was Jenner’s first comment on the controversial issue since announcing her candidacy to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom in a recall election. Five states have passed laws or implemented executive orders this year limiting the ability of transgender youths to play sports or receive certain medical treatment. There’s been a vehement outcry from supporters of transgender rights.
Jenner, a Republican, supported Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election but later criticized his administration for some discriminatory actions against transgender people.
Many transgender-rights advocates have criticized Jenner, saying she has failed to convince them that she is a major asset to their cause.
In this file photo, circa 1960, child actor Johnny Crawford looks forward to eating a pile of pancakes in an International House of Pancakes, a chain of eateries in the US started in 1958 by Californian brothers Al and Jerome Lapin. | Getty Images
According to the actor’s website, he died last Thursday with his wife by his side, after battling Alzheimer’s disease and contracting COVID-19.
Actor Johnny Crawford, known for his role as Mark McCain as a child actor on “The Rifleman,” has died. He was 75.
According to the actor’s website, he died Thursday with his wife by his side after battling Alzheimer’s disease and contracting COVID-19.
“It is with great sadness that we share the news of Johnny Crawford’s passing,” the website posted. ”We are grateful for the outpouring of love and support from friends and fans around the world.”
Getty ImagesActor Johnny Crawford attends the Museum of Television and Radio Cocktail Party on September 9, 2004, at The Museum of Television and Radio, in Beverly Hills, California.
Crawford rose to stardom after being cast in the ABC series “The Rifleman” which ran for five seasons. Crawford played the son of a western rancher Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) who was also a union Civil War veteran. His role in “The Rifleman” led him to be Emmy-nominated for best supporting actor in a dramatic series.
Before playing young McCain, Crawford was one of the first Mouseketeers on the Mickey Mouse Club. He also made appearances in many TV series aired in the 1950s including “The Lone Ranger,” “The Count of Monte Cristo” and “The Loretta Young Show.”
The actor also worked in music. In 1962, Crawford’s song “Cindy’s Birthday” peaked on the Billboard charts at No. 8. He is also credited with performing the song “Easy Come Easy Go” featured on 2004 film “Hellboy.”
My dear friend #JohnnyCrawford just passed away. I pray for his wife Charlotte as she was by his side. Johnny was a real cowboy and will be greatly missed. He was an original Mickey Mouse Club member and played the son on The Rifleman. pic.twitter.com/oNKeC5Ouac
Friends in entertainment remembered Crawford on Twitter as an “inspiration” and a “dear friend.”
“My dear friend #JohnnyCrawford just passed away. I pray for his wife Charlotte as she was by his side. Johnny was a real cowboy and will be greatly missed,” wrote “Happy Days” actor Scott Baio.
“How the West Was Won” actor Bruce Boxleitner wrote: ”@johnnycrawford was one of the kindest guys I ever met. I never heard a cross word pass his lips. An inspiration to me as a boy and a friend of mine since the 80s.”
.@johnnycrawford was one of the kindest guys I ever met. I never heard a cross word pass his lips.
An inspiration to me as a boy and a friend of mine since the 80s, I had the pleasure of experiencing the man behind the actor, singer, musician, trick roper, and cowboy.
A teenage boy was shot Sunday in the West Chesterfield neighborhood on the South Side.
Someone got out of a black SUV and fired shots at the boy about 10:55 a.m. as he stood outside in the 300 block of East 95th Street, Chicago police said.
The boy, 17, fired back, but was struck in the back and lower buttocks, police said. The SUV fled in an unknown direction.
The boy was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in serious condition, Chicago fire officials said.
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