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Salukis confront top seed in national quarterfinal

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By Dan Verdun,
today at 6:45 am

In a year and season that has featured more twists than a summer blockbuster thriller, Nick Hill’s Southern Illinois Salukis now face an old Missouri Valley Football Conference adversary worthy of what many would call Mission Impossible.

After shocking No. 3-ranked Weber State last weekend, Hill’s Salukis take to the road again. SIU (6-3) next confronts top-seed South Dakota State (6-1), a team that throttled the Salukis March 20 in Carbondale.

“We know what we’re up against. They beat us 44-3. There’s not much more to say,” Hill said during his weekly media address. “Until we go out and do something different about it, you are what the score says you are.”

Resilient is what the Salukis are and have been. SIU has rebounded time and again. Following a spring-opening loss at North Dakota — another Missouri Valley team still alive in the playoffs — the Salukis responded with a three-game winning streak that included blowing out defending national champion North Dakota State.

Then came the humbling home loss to South Dakota State.

“(We were) undisciplined (against SDSU),” Hill said. “We turned it over. They capitalized on them. Really when you look at that game, the middle, about eight minutes . . . the game was completely out of hand.”

SIU’s playoff fortunes appeared out of hand as well. After building a solid halftime lead, the Salukis sustained a shocking last-second loss at Missouri State and then had consecutive games cancelled when Illinois State and Western Illinois opted out of the remainder of the spring.

SIU scrambled and hosted a game with Southeastern Louisiana, another playoff hopeful. A shootout 55-48 victory — along with wins over four other ranked teams — convinced the playoff committee that Hill’s team was worthy of the postseason.

Last weekend’s exhilarating triumph has led to Sunday’s showdown.

Scouting the Jackrabbits

South Dakota State earned No. 1 seed status by virtue of not only the Missouri Valley spring title but also by beating rival and nemesis North Dakota State 27-17 in Fargo.

Hill is well aware just what it will take to upset the Jackrabbits on their home turf.

“Ultimately, to stop their run game you have to be gap sound,” he said. “If you’re out of a gap or misaligned, these backs are going to crush you.”

Those Jackrabbit backs include veteran Pierre Strong, who leads SDSU in rushing. In games in which the junior had double-digit carries this spring, Strong averaged 96 yards a game.

Freshman Isaiah Davis nearly matched Strong’s season total in yardage. Moreover, Davis gashed SIU for 150 yards and three touchdowns in their earlier meeting. Davis ran for a career-best 156 yards in last weekend’s playoff win over Holy Cross.

Then there’s quarterback Mark Gronowski. The true freshman from Naperville grabbed the starting job in preseason camp and wound up the conference’s offensive player of the year. Gronowski — a three-sport prep letterman — was the team’s third-leading rusher. In addition, he has thrown 11 touchdowns while only being intercepted three times.

Defensively, South Dakota State has thrived on turnovers. The Jackrabbits have intercepted opponents 10 times and forced four fumbles. SDSU has racked up 12 sacks and yielded just 14 points a game.

Sunday Night Football

Most college football players aspire to play on Sunday — as professionals in the NFL. This spring’s unique 16-team FCS playoff bracket has the Salukis and Jackrabbits battling in a Sunday night nationally televised tilt.

“I like noon games, but I like football and I like playing in the quarterfinals. So if they tell us to play at midnight, we’ll be ready at midnight,” Hill said.

News & notes

SIU will likely get multi-threat Javon Williams Jr. back for the game. Williams missed the victory over Weber State while in concussion protocol . . . Williams has produced 798 yards this spring (507 rushing, 168 passing, 97 on punt returns and 26 receiving). He has rushed for seven touchdowns and thrown for three scores . . .  South Dakota State rushed for nearly 400 yards and turned four SIU turnovers into 24 points when the Jackrabbits steamrolled the Salukis in March . . . Avante Cox leads SIU in receptions (61), receiving yards (780) and touchdowns caught (5). Cox became the fourth receiver in SIU history to have four 100-yard games in a single season. The junior also has 228 rushing yards and a 9.9 per carry average . . . Stone Labanowitz’s remarkable comeback season at quarterback continues. After beginning the year as No. 3 on the depth chart, Labanowitz is completing 73 percent of his passes and has thrown for seven touchdowns against just two interceptions. The Florida native kept SIU’s season alive with a fourth-down TD toss to Branson Combs in the waning seconds at Weber State . . . The last time SIU made the playoffs occurred in 2009 and is also the last time the Salukis reached the quarterfinals. In addition, SIU reached the quarterfinals in 2005 and ’06 . . . SIU won the 1983 national championship and reached the semifinals in 2007 when Hill was the team’s quarterback . . . SIU freshman receiver Sean Larkin was South Dakota State quarterback Mark Gronowski’s prime high school target.

Where to find the game

Sunday’s 8 p.m. game will be televised on ESPN2 and can be heard on the Saluki Radio Network.

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FCS playoffs, SIU Salukis, Southern Illinois University

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The shock of Thursday night faded on Friday into something that felt almost like fate.

Ohio State’s Justin Fields, the latest candidate to snap the Bears’ 71-year quarterback drought, sat down at Halas Hall on Friday and explained whom he wants to pattern his game after: Russell Wilson. Yes, the same Seahawks star that the Bears tried — and failed — to trade for in March.

The franchise that angered its fans by once touting Andy Dalton as “QB1” on Twitter announced that Fields will wear — you guessed it — No. 1. And general manager Ryan Pace, who might never live down passing on Patrick Mahomes four years ago, talked openly of putting Fields on the same apprenticeship program that the Chiefs set up for their rookie in 2017.

Soon, the pressure will start: for the 22-year-old Fields to justify his draft selection and the haul the Bears had to trade to move up to No. 11. To win a starting spot –and to save the careers of Pace and head coach Matt Nagy, who need to show progress in 2021.

Wearing a crimson suit that matched his old Ohio State jersey, the soft-spoken Fields was clear on Friday: bring it on.

“I don’t think there’s pressure at all on me because I expect myself to be a franchise quarterback … and one day, hopefully, a top-five quarterback in this league,” Fields said. “That’s what I’m going out to do. I’m going to work every day to reach my goal and reach new heights.”

He’s done it before.

ooo

Matt Dickmann, the former football coach at Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Georgia, first saw Fields play when the quarterback was in seventh grade. It was on a highlight film sent by Pablo Fields, whose son was dominating a junior league.

“An impressive little video,” Dickmann said. “But you just never know. You see a lot of kids and you don’t know what their work ethic is like, what they’re going to be like academically.”

Academics? Fields had a 4.0 grade-point average by the time he graduated Harrison, DIckmann said. Work ethic? As a junior, Fields did a 285-pound clean-and-jerk over his head. Dickmann banned him from trying such a heavy weight again.

Athleticism? Fields played four sports growing up and was a standout shortstop. Harrison put in a read-option offense for Fields to take advantage of his speed; on the first power read play they called, he ran for a 60-yard touchdown.

As a sophomore, Fields approached Ron Veal, his personal quarterbacks coach since sixth grade, with one request.

“He came to me and he said, “I want to be a good quarterback,'” said Veal, a former University of Arizona quarterback. “And then he said, ‘Nah, I want to be a great quarterback.'”

They’d meet on the Harrison football field at 7 a.m. When it was too dark, the school would turn the field lights on. Veal would run Fields through his high school team’s route tree, then ball fakes, rollouts and sprint-outs.

“We’d go over it until he felt like he got it,” Veal said.

At the end of the hour, Fields would walk off the field and go to class.

ooo

By the end of his junior year, Fields was rated by most recruiting services the No. 2 high school prospect in America — but not the best in suburban Atlanta. He wasn’t even the highest-rated quarterback coached by Veal.

Trevor Lawrence, the future Clemson star and the Jaguars’ No. 1 pick Thursday night, lived about 25 minutes away in Cartersville. He was the nation’s top prospect.

Lawrence began private training sessions with Veal in seventh grade. Lawrence and Fields didn’t meet until high school, though, and didn’t train together until just before they headed off to college. In 2017, they both attended Elite 11, a camp and competition for the best high school players in America. Thirteen of the last 14 quarterbacks to win the Heisman Trophy are alumni of the event.

Fields — not Lawrence — was named camp MVP.

“If he’s No. 2 at something, he’s gonna strive to be No. 1,” Dickmann said.

Veal prefers to think of the two as competitive people, as opposed to rivals.

“I think [Lawrence] and me are used to this, really,” Fields said. “We’ve been at it for so long now … I think me and him, of course, are both great quarterbacks and I think we love this game. I think we both want to be great. So I’m not really saying that I’m necessarily trying to be better than him in this particular area.”

Fields isn’t the type to explain his motivation.

“He kinda burns hot on the inside, but you can’t always see it …” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “His competitive fire gets lit quickly.”

Half of Fields’ college losses came to Lawrence. Clemson beat the Buckeyes in the 2019 semifinal before Ohio State got its revenge in this year’s semis. On New Year’s Day, Fields outplayed Lawrence. Despite taking a shot to the rib cage in the second quarter that led to a Clemson ejection, Fields went 22-for-28 for 385 yards and a whopping six touchdowns.

Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said Fields has the physicality of a linebacker or safety, but with the intellect and calmness of a quarterback.

“His greatest strength is his mind,” he said.

On a toughness scale of 1-10, Bears general manager Ryan Pace gave Fields an 11.

“You just love that about him,” Pace said. “Oh, and then by the way, he runs a 4.44 [40-yard dash].”

If the Fields-Lawrence rivalry extends into the NFL, it will have to be from afar. The two teams won’t play often.

“I’m going to be looking at everybody to see how they did — and not just Trevor,” Fields said. “It’s just not a one-on-one thing.”

ooo

The defining characteristics of Fields’ high school and college career — hard work and toughness — made what happened this offseason all that much more bizarre. In late March, ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky said he heard from teams questioning Fields’ work ethic. Some were left to wonder if those criticisms were rooted in racial stereotypes.

Orlovsky later apologized, both publicly and privately to Fields. He said that he later talked to teams that vouched for Fields’ work ethic.

The quarterback was and is, frustrated by the criticism.

“I really can’t do anything about it,” Fields said. “There were some things that, of course, weren’t true.”

Fields has been through controversy before. He spent his freshman year at Georgia before transferring to Ohio State. He was ruled immediately eligible after another Bulldogs athlete was caught using a racial slur while cheering for Fields at a football game. The transfer stirred emotions from two of college football’s most passionate fan bases.

In another odd turn — as if some team was trying to get Fields to fall in the draft — word leaked earlier this week that he told teams he suffered from epilepsy. Fields was diagnosed in ninth grade after he had a seizure and woke up in an ambulance. He said he’s been taking four pills per night to manage it ever since.

“I’m not going to try to hide it,” Fields said. “It’s who I am.”

ooo

It’s ironic: Fields might have been the No. 2 overall pick — and not so nitpicked — had he not pushed so hard to play a college football season. In August, he started an online petition to get the Big Ten to reinstate football after the conference decided to postpone the sport because of the coronavirus.

Fields took initiative because of his giant social media presence — he has more than a quarter-million Twitter followers. His beloved French bulldog, Uno, has more than 40,000 Instagram followers.

“Seeing the amount of work my teammates put in in the offseason, me knowing how much they wanted to get back in that position, to be able to play Clemson again …” he said. “I was going to do everything that I could to help get our season back.”

The push was successful. He got his rematch — but after a hiccup. He played one of the worst games of his career, going 18-for-30 for 300 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions against Indiana. The Buckeyes eked out a seven-point win.

“I think there were a few plays in that game where I was just trying to be Superman,” he said.

Fields doesn’t have to be Superman. Or Lawrence. Or Wilson. Or Sid Luckman.

“Just be Justin,” said Veal, the quarterbacks coach. “Allow the game to come to him. Learn to be a pro. Keep himself centered and grounded in his thoughts and his beliefs. And continue to work.”

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The Sox hold a 14-11 record entering May and despite the defeat Friday, have been looking something like the team that had so much hype entering the year. 

April was the month of Yermin Mercedes.

It was also a pretty decent 30 days for the White Sox.

Friday night’s 5-3 loss to Cleveland marked the end of the first month of the season. The Sox hold a 14-11 record entering May and despite the defeat, have been looking something like the team that had so much hype entering the year.

“It’s a good first step for a six-month season,” manager Tony La Russa said before the game.

Though a hiccup or two has occurred, there have been positive steps on both offense and the mound . Despite losing Eloy Jimenez for maybe the entire season and a slow start for reigning AL MVP Jose Abreu, the Sox offense has lived up to its preseason billing.

Before facing Bieber, the Sox led the AL in runs per game (5.17), on-base plus slugging (.759) and batting average (.267), while compiling a league-best plus-31 run differential. After the game, the Sox chose to focus on the three runs they got against Bieber.

“Scoring three against one of the league’s best pitchers certainly doesn’t count in my mind as an offense that wasn’t taking good at-bats and making things happen,” La Russa said.

In general, the Sox made things happen in April. Rookie outfielder Andrew Vaughn said it’s a “special group” and has never been around a team like these Sox.

“Guys top to bottom, everybody here has the same mindset,” Vaughn said. “We want to win and winning is the most important thing. Going out there and picking up your teammates. If you have a bad at-bat, you know the next guy behind you has got you. It’s a really good feeling.”

Nobody has given the Sox, or their fans, more good feelings than Mercedes, who started the night hitting .423 and was attempting to become the fifth rookie in history to lead baseball in average entering the month of May. One of the most pleasant surprises in baseball, Mercedes has quickly become a fan favorite, as evidenced by the ovation he received after his second-inning single off Bieber.

Beyond becoming a cult hero, Mercedes has added a dynamic bat to a deep lineup and had one of the most memorable debut months of any player in Sox history.

“It’s incredibly impressive to watch,” Vaughn said. “He goes up there and he’s going to do damage every single pitch he sees. So, it’s pretty cool and it’s helping the team win. Everybody is trying to follow suit and get in there and take good [at-bats] and do some damage.”

The offense has been supplemented by a rotation that’s more than held up its end of the bargain.

Prior to Dallas Keuchel’s six-inning, four-run outing Friday, Sox starting pitchers led the AL with a 2.97 ERA. Carlos Rodon’s renaissance has been a highlight for a productive group of starters.

“It’s shaping out that we have a pretty good one through five,” pitcher Dylan Cease said.

On Friday, Keuchel was pretty good in five of his six innings. It was the four-run Cleveland third he’d like to have back, when he walked two and gave up three hits before regaining his feel for the rest of the night.

“I was very fortunate to go through six,” Keuchel said, “but very frustrated at the same time.”

As a team, there have been some frustrations to go with the generally good start.

The bullpen was expected to be one of the best in baseball but got off to a slower than anticipated start. Back in the dugout for the first time in a decade, La Russa, a controversial choice when he was hired, has had his decision-making and handling of pitchers questioned.

Obviously, drawing any conclusions after one month is foolish. There will be regressions and other peaks, but the Sox at least had a decent April that won’t make it harder for them to reach their October goals.

Shortstop Tim Anderson said the Sox are in a “great spot” despite missing Jimenez and Adam Engel. They can also improve.

“The first month was a good one,” Anderson said. “Hopefully we continue to build off this and learn from our mistakes this first month. Hopefully next month will be a lot cleaner and hopefully be better.”

Read More

The Bears’ draft has came together well, first with Justin Fields on Day 1 then the move to land Teven Jenkins on Day 2. Our beat writers discuss it.

The Sun-Times’ Bears beat writers break down Ryan Pace’s second trade in as many days — and what’s shaping up to be a killer draft.

New episodes of “Halas Intrigue” will be published regularly with accompanying stories collected on the podcast’s hub page. You can also listen to “Halas Intrigue” wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Luminary, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Read More

The 17-year-old was shot Friday in the 1900 block of South Drake Avenue.

A 17-year-old boy was critically hurt in a shooting Friday in Lawndale on the West Side.

The teen 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, Chicago police said.

He suffered gunshot wounds to both legs and was transported to Mount Sinai in critical condition, police said.

No one is in custody as are detectives investigate.

Read More

The Chicago Bears trade up and draft offensive tackle Teven Jenkins out of Oklahoma State in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft.

The post 2021 NFL Draft: Chicago Bears Select Teven Jenkins with the 39th Pick first appeared on CHI CITY SPORTS l Chicago Sports Blog – News – Forum – Fans – Rumors.Read More

We are tracking every pick for the Chicago Bears in the 2021 NFL Draft.

The post Chicago Bears 2021 NFL Draft Tracker first appeared on CHI CITY SPORTS l Chicago Sports Blog – News – Forum – Fans – Rumors.Read More

The latest news on how COVID-19 is impacting Chicago and Illinois.

News

TOP STORY: Daily COVID-19 vaccinations nosedive across Illinois: ‘We’re doing everything that we can to reach out’

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times file

Almost a third of all Illinois residents are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — but the number of people signing up for shots each day has dipped by almost a third over the past three weeks.

Residents were racing to snatch up the coveted shot appointments a month ago, and just as they’ve become readily available statewide, “there are just fewer people that are seeking it out,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday.

The latest challenge in the pandemic of falling vaccine demand is one the governor’s health team anticipated, and now must zero in on to bring the state closer to herd immunity.

“It’s a national trend, as we’ve reached somewhere in the 50-60% range of vaccinations among our 16-plus population,” Pritzker said during a news conference in downstate Centreville, near East St. Louis.

Read the complete story by Mitchell Armentrout here.

6 p.m. Anxiety drove short-term vaccine reactions in 5 states: US officials

NEW YORK — It was anxiety — and not a problem with the shots — that caused reactions in dozens of people at coronavirus vaccine clinics in five states, U.S. health officials have concluded.

Experts say the clusters detailed Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are an example of a phenomenon that’s been chronicled for decades from a variety of different vaccines. Basically, some people get so freaked out by injections that their anxiety spurs a physical reaction.

“We knew we were going to see this” as mass COVID-19 vaccine clinics were set up around the world, said Dr. Noni MacDonald, a Canadian researcher who has studied similar incidents.

Read the complete story here.

4:30 p.m. Marriage ceremonies in Cook County can be conducted on Zoom starting Monday

Couples looking to tie the knot before a Cook County judge can do so starting Monday via a live-streamed Zoom ceremony, Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ office announced Friday.

Ceremonies conducted via telephone are also an option for couples without access to Zoom.

Couples can also get married in person, but they might have to wait since ceremonies are currently booked through May.

Read the complete story here

3:40 p.m. Brazil backs away from the virus brink as deaths top 400,000

RIO DE JANEIRO — For most of this month, intensive care units across Brazil were at or near capacity amid a crush of COVID-19 patients, and sedatives needed to intubate patients dwindled. The nation’s biggest cemetery had so many corpses to bury that gravediggers worked hours past sundown.

But Brazil has stepped back from the edge — at least for now — as burial and hospital services no longer face collapse. It has ceased to be the virus’ global epicenter, as its death toll ebbed and was overtaken by India’s surge. Experts warn, however, that the situation remains precarious, and caution is warranted.

The number of states with ICU capacity above 90% has slipped to 10, from 17 a month ago, according to data from the state-run Fiocruz medical research institute. And nighttime burials at Vila Formosa and three other cemeteries in Sao Paulo were suspended Thursday, after two weeks of declining deaths.

Read the complete story here.

2:50 p.m. March US incomes surge as relief rolls out, spending jumps

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer spending rose at the fastest pace in nine months while incomes soared by a record amount in March, reflecting billions of dollars in government support payments aimed at putting the country firmly on the road to recovery.

Consumer spending rose 4.2% last month, the Commerce Department said Friday, the best showing since a 6.5% spending increase in June. Spending had fallen 1% in February as frigid winter weather disrupted sales.

Incomes surged by a record-breaking 21.1% in March after having fallen 7% in February. The big gain reflected delivery of billions of dollars in relief payments with individuals getting up to $1,400 payments from the $1.9 trillion support package President Joe Biden pushed through Congress last month.

Read the complete story here.

2 p.m. US to restrict travel from India over COVID starting Tuesday

WASHINGTON — The U.S. will restrict travel from India starting on May 4, the White House said Friday, citing a devastating rise in COVID-19 cases in the country and the emergence of potentially dangerous variants of the coronavirus.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden’s administration made the determination on the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Read the complete story here.

1:05 p.m. US closes in on 100 million Americans fully vaccinated

Disneyland reopened on Friday and New York’s mayor predicted the big city will be up and running again at full strength by July 1, as the number of Americans fully vaccinated against COVID-19 closed in on 100 million.

Visitors cheered and screamed with delight as the Southern California theme park swung open its gates for the first time in 13 months in a powerful symbol of the U.S. rebound, even though the self-proclaimed Happiest Place on Earth is allowing only in-state guests for now and operating at just 25% capacity.

The reopening and similar steps elsewhere around the country reflect increasing optimism as COVID-19 deaths tumble and the ranks of the vaccinated grow — a stark contrast to the worsening disaster in India and Brazil and the scant availability of vaccines in many poor parts of the world.

While the overall number of lives lost to COVID-19 in the U.S. has eclipsed 575,000, deaths have plummeted to an average of about 670 per day from a peak of around 3,400 in mid-January.

Read the complete story here.

12:10 p.m. Scarred by pandemic, labor and allies mourn, then mobilize

As May Day 2021 approached, registered nurse Kathy Haff thought about the trials she and co-workers have faced over the past year and was moved to speak out.

Haff, who works at Community First Medical Center in Portage Park, wrote down her thoughts about three co-workers who succumbed to COVID-19. She touched on their humor, professionalism and generosity.

In a local observation of the International Workers’ Memorial Day, Haff talked Wednesday about her late colleagues during an online prayer service memorializing those who have died. Her point wasn’t to elevate them above others being remembered but to address the grief and sense of injustice that inhabits many workplaces because of the pandemic.

Haff told the Chicago Sun-Times the deaths shook the small hospital’s staff, where workers have organized with the National Nurses United union and pressed administrators to provide more personal protective equipment. “We finally have a voice with the union and the hospital isn’t happy because we’re airing their dirty laundry. They’re oblivious,” she said.

Read the full story by David Roeder here.

11:30 a.m. Response to coronavirus outbreak ‘inefficient and chaotic’ at LaSalle Veterans’ Home where 36 died, report finds

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Consistent statewide procedures and ongoing drills that target infection response and other emergencies will be routine at Illinois veterans’ homes after COVID-19 caught the LaSalle Veterans’ Home unprepared and claimed 36 lives last fall, the state’s newly appointed director said.

Terry Prince, a 31-year Navy veteran and former senior adviser to the U.S. Surgeon General, has issued a six-point plan for improving readiness at the state’s veterans’ homes in Anna, Manteno, Quincy and LaSalle. The plan follows a blistering investigative report that laid out a string of miscommunications, lax policy and missed opportunities when the pandemic hit the home in LaSalle, 94 miles west of Chicago.

The report by the inspector general of the Illinois Department of Human Services, released Friday, noted that despite escaping all traces of the deadly respiratory illness for eight months after it entered Illinois, there was little done to devise protocols for preventing or managing infections. After the first four cases were reported Nov. 1, the virus spread to 60 residents and 43 employees as confused staff operated in an environment that was “inefficient, reactive and chaotic,” the report said.

Read the complete story here.

10:45 a.m. Blackhawks excited for fans’ return to United Center, albeit for only 2 games

Four players in the Blackhawks’ lineup Thursday have never played in front of fans at the United Center.

Four others have never done so as a member of the Hawks. Another three have done so only once. That adds up to 11 players — more than half the team.

But come May 9 and 10 against the Stars, the last two games of the regular season, that will change. The City of Chicago announced Thursday the UC can be filled to 25% capacity starting with the Bulls’ May 7 game, although Hawks spokesperson said the Hawks would actually have around 20% capacity — approximately 4,000 fans.

Read the full story by Ben Pope here.

9:15 a.m. State Senate sends Pritzker COVID-19 relief bill designed to ‘keep people in the state of Illinois in their homes’

SPRINGFIELD — A bill distributing $1.4 billion of federal relief to those in need of COVID-19 emergency housing assistance was sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk on Thursday over Republican objections that the measure does not target those who are in real need of help.

“This bill essentially is trying to keep people in the state of Illinois in their homes,” said state Sen. Omar Aquino, the bill’s sponsor. “It tries to prioritize and surgically utilize the one-time money that we’re getting from the federal government to assist those people that truly need it the most.”

The bill “prioritizes disproportionately affected areas” based on “positive COVID-19 cases” or by “a history of homelessness,” according to the Near Northwest Side Democrat.

But state Sen. Jason Barickman said the money does not go to those who need it the most because it prioritizes “not based on their individual circumstances but based on the ZIP code in which they live.”

Read the complete story here.

8 a.m. Fans allowed at Bulls, Blackhawks games as Chicago continues to ease restrictions

With two million vaccine doses administered and health metrics improving, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is reopening Chicago a little bit more — this time to let restaurants and theaters serve more patrons and allow fans inside the United Center for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

The new Phase Four rules, effective immediately, allow the Bulls and Blackhawks to close their seasons before roughly 5,250 fans per game — 25% of the United Center’s capacity.

The Blackhawks play at home Thursday and Saturday against the Florida Panthers, then finish their regular-season home schedule with two games in May. The Bulls have a home game Friday, the first of six regular-season games left.

That 25% rule also applies to Wrigley Field, Guaranteed Rate Field and Soldier Field, an increase from the current 20%. The 25% also includes churches, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship.

Restaurants and bars can increase indoor capacity to 50% or 100 people, whichever is less. The cap had been 50% or 50 people.

Meetings, conferences and conventions held at large indoor venues like McCormick Place now can operate at 25% capacity or 250 people, whichever is less.

Festivals and, what the city calls “general admission outdoor spectator events” get the green light to welcome 15 people for every 1,000 square feet.

The same rules apply to flea markets, which can operate at 25% capacity.

Fran Spielman has the full story here.

7:15 a.m. Shot, please! Preckwinkle pushes vaccinations for restaurant workers as indoor capacity expands

Public health officials in Cook County are serving up COVID-19 vaccines to bar and restaurant workers as the suburbs follow in lockstep with Chicago’s latest round of eased coronavirus restrictions.

Mondays in May will be designated “restaurant days” at the county’s six suburban mass vaccination sites, Cook County Board Presidents Toni Preckwinkle announced Thursday.

Anyone can sign up for an appointment or walk up to the six sites in Tinley Park, Matteson, River Grove, South Holland, Des Plaines or Forest Park. But officials want to vaccinate as many of the “essential heroes” in the hospitality industry as possible with indoor capacity expanding to the lesser of 50% or 100 people per room.

“Restaurant staff people worked tirelessly, even as they were asked to pivot to new roles to meet new demands, even as hours were cut, doors were closed, and their own life livelihoods were in jeopardy,” Preckwinkle said. “Now we’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and people are returning toward cafes and restaurants for a sense of normal normalcy and camaraderie that we all have craved.”

An estimated 20% of restaurants statewide won’t survive the pandemic, according to Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia, shuttering about 5,000 businesses and leaving more than 100,000 out of work.

Mitchell Armentrout has the full story here.

New cases and vaccination rates

• A total of 3,394 new cases of COVID-19 and 38 additional deaths were reported by Illinois health officials Thursday.
• The latest cases were among 89,057 specimens tested over the last 24 hours, bringing the state’s positivity rate to 4%, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
• A total of 107,689 vaccine doses were administered in the state Thursday, health officials said. An average of 97,434 vaccine doses have been administered per day over the last week.
• Since the pandemic began, over 1.3 million people in Illinois have tested positive for COVID-19 and 21,927 have died, officials said.

Analysis & Commentary

2 p.m. The birds have been helping us through this pandemic. Let’s help them

During the COVID-19 pandemic, birds enriched the lives of many Illinoisans who saw them out their windows or when going for a walk

Now Illinois should do something to help the birds.

Last month, Virginia became the first state to restore protections for migratory birds from unintended but predictable killings resulting from human activities. Such so-called “incidental take” will be banned under a regulation approved by the state’s Department of Wildlife Resources.

Illinois should adopt a similar rule.

Read the full Editorial by the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board here.

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Veteran guard Tomas Satoransky doesn’t want to dwell on his future with the Bulls or more changes that could be made to the roster this offseason, but it could all come into play if the regular season ends without a meaningful play-in opportunity.

It’s not a scenario that Tomas Satoransky is choosing to reside in.

Not with nine games still left in a regular season filled with so much uncertainty from night to night.

But it could soon be a reality for the Bulls guard and his teammates.

When the Mar. 25 trade deadline brought in five new players, it was expected to yield wins. A 7-12 record through the first 19 games was never the goal.

If executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas had no problem ridding the organization of the likes of Otto Porter Jr., Daniel Gafford and Wendell Garter Jr. back then, what’s to say he won’t further clean house if this reload fails to at least play a meaningful game in the month of May?

There’s no doubt that Satoransky and a Thad Young could be attractive assets, especially with contracts that expire after next season.

So is there even more pressure riding on this final push the next two-plus weeks?

“I don’t know how others felt, but I felt like we got better after the trade deadline, and I feel like from my standpoint I have a lot of expectations from this group,’’ Satoransky said of that possibility. “That’s why it’s even more frustrating that we haven’t been able to get a better record with this group. It’s never easy, everybody talks about it, there’s no excuses, but let’s be honest, we changed the group when we had nine out of 10 games on the road, and we were constantly playing, and had no time to practice.

“I don’t think it’s a good approach to think [about more trades this offseason]. We just have to focus on getting better and trying to get better with the opportunity we have, whether it’s a film session, a shootaround, because with lack of practices you really don’t have the time or space to do something else.’’

And unfortunately for Satoransky and his teammates, that’s not changing much down the stretch, with a two-day break after the Philadelphia game on Monday, but then a game every other day to close the season out.

Then it could get real interesting for this front office.

The expected historic 2021 free agent class dried up at the top pretty quickly when so many big-name players re-signed with their current franchises, meaning the trade route might be the best path for Karnisovas to explore.

The Bulls likely at least got a feel of how the rest of their roster is viewed by the market back in March, and there were multiple reports that teams were coveting Young.

Could falling short of at least a play-in game change minds of how this roster is currently constructed? Very likely. Just don’t try and discuss that with Satoransky. At least not yet.

Baby steps

Admittedly, Coby White slow starts earlier this season would usually end up as disappointing second halves for the point guard.

That hasn’t been the case lately, however, as White has had several games where he did very little in the scoring department, only to become a factor in the final two quarters.

“I would say it comes with maturity,’’ White said of the development in that aspect of his game. “Early this year, if I started like that, I feel like it would be difficult to move on. But I think it being later in the year, I think I’ve matured a lot more. Move on to the next play. I’m not getting any of the turnovers back, so you just got to keep playing.’’

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