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March 13, 2020. That was the last time my high school daughter walked into a school building. It’s been over a year now and I know I’m not the only Chicago parent wondering what her future will hold.

It appears as if the goal of the Chicago Teachers Union is to make sure high schoolers don’t return to in-person learning at all this school year.

Like other families, we were relieved and grateful that our middle school daughter finally returned to in-person learning this spring. However, we are baffled that our other daughter, who is only a few years older than her, continues to be secluded and “learning” only from behind a screen.

I’m frustrated and sad to watch kids go more than a year without real contact with friends and classmates or significant relationships with their teachers. Chicago Public School high schoolers, like my daughter, are being left behind in comparison to their private and parochial school counterparts in the city, who have been back in classrooms since August of 2020. All across America, students are returning to classrooms. But not my daughter, not our high schoolers. Why?

Three words: The Chicago Teachers Union.

Union leaders, it seems, aren’t dedicated to reopening schools. Instead, they keep moving the goalposts and adding new items to their endless list of demands.

In the fall, we were told CPS needed ventilation improvements, access to personal protective equipment and access to the vaccine before school could resume in-person learning. Yet CPS’ original plan to reopen schools in January or February was delayed in part because CTU initially demanded that its members be given priority access to the vaccine.

Now, all CPS employees are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine but CTU continues to stall getting our high schoolers back in school before the end of the year. The latest excuse I’m hearing: What’s the point of even returning to school this year anyway, with only a few months remaining in the school calendar? Why even bother trying to get back to in-person learning?

How cruel.

One special education teacher recently tweeted: “This school year is a wash.” Wow. How upsetting and demoralizing that our CPS teachers think we may as well give up on an entire year of our children’s lives and education.

CTU actually retweeted a Chicago-area activist’s comment that there will be so few teaching days — nearly 20 — for students in the 4^th quarter, that she’s “… curious what learning loss leaders think will be ‘cured’ in this time.”

They still don’t get it, do they? After 400 days without school, without friends, without normalcy, those 20 days in school would be the best 20 days ever for many Chicago high schoolers.

Our children are watching us. They see restaurants and bars reopening. They see people going to baseball games and traveling for spring break. We’re going to grocery stores, making Target runs and returning to the gym. But our kids still only see their teachers and classmates from behind a screen.

I stood up to CTU before. During the contentious negotiations with CPS over reopening elementary schools, I was one of 10 CPS parents willing to sue the CTU if they went on strike — a strike we believed would be illegal — to keep schools closed. And I’m willing to do the same again.

Consider this a warning, CTU: Parents are prepared to take on the same fight for Chicago high school students if you don’t reopen schools this month.

Ammie Kessem is the parent of two Chicago Public School students. This essay was written in cooperation with the Liberty Justice Center, a conservative public interest law firm founded by Pat Hughes, John Tillman and Dan Proft.

Send letters to [email protected].

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It worked in 2016, when they won the World Series. Any chance it might work again in 2021, when they’re face-planting offensively like no Cubs team in forever?

What was it former Cubs sloganeer Joe Maddon said again?

Oh, yeah: “Try not to suck.”

That rallying cry worked for the Cubs in 2016, when they — stop me if you’ve heard this before — won the World Series for the first time in 108 years. Any chance it might work again in 2021, when they’re face-planting offensively like no Cubs team has in even longer than that?

As long as we’re appropriating Maddonisms, “Do simple better” is another message that seems pretty on the money for this swing-and-miss-from-the-heels crew.

A lost April at the plate? That’s Cub, folks. Another lost season at the plate? That’s the question, and — heck, no — it isn’t too soon to ask it.

“We’ve got to find ways to put the ball in play, put the pressure on the defense, make things happen and spark something,” manager David Ross said Monday after a 6-3 loss to the Brewers in which the Cubs mustered all of four hits.

“Get the boys going. This is too talented of a group to do what we’re doing so far.”

That’s debatable, isn’t it? From the time the offense “broke” in 2018, according to Theo Epstein, right through the version we’ve seen through the first 10 games of this season, nothing much has changed. And if it has changed, it has only gotten worse.

Ten games in, the Cubs have 49 hits — incredibly, the fewest by any Cubs team in any 10-game span since 1901.

Their .164 batting average is the lowest through 10 games in franchise history. In fact, it’s the lowest in any 10-game Cubs stretch since the 1952 team slumped from June 14-24 to the tune of .163. Remind me to rip on Hank Sauer, Dee Fondy and Phil Cavarretta later.

To put that in context, remember the absolutely miserable 2015 NLCS against the Mets in which the Cubs were swept and did about as much damage at the plate as your 90-year-old Aunt Dotty on 50-Cent Wing Night? The Cubs hit .164 in that four-game nightmare of a series.

Entering Tuesday’s game in Milwaukee, these Cubs have the lowest batting average in all of baseball as well as the lowest on-base (.264) and slugging (.321) percentages. They’ve struck out a whopping 10 times per game, too. But those convinced strikeouts are the issue should know the Cubs are also dead last in batting average on balls hit in play (.194).

They swing and miss more than anybody. They drive home runners in scoring position less frequently than anybody. All these awful numbers? It’s kind of the Cubs’ M.O. Small sample size? Sure, that’s true. For whatever it’s worth.

But 10 games in, no one on the Cubs has reached double figures in hits. Some of the averages, if you can stand to see them: Jason Heyward .152, Ian Happ .143, Joc Pederson .129, Anthony Rizzo .118, David Bote .087. Oh, that’s right, only dinosaurs talk about batting averages anymore.

Anyone else miss complaining about Maddon’s lineup tinkering and quick hooks with his starting pitchers?

JUST SAYIN’

Yo, Nico Hoerner: Better stay ready, bub.

• White Sox reliever Aaron Bummer, one month ago: “I don’t expect to lose a game if we’re leading after the fifth inning.”

Same day, same sentiment from bullpen mate Evan Marshall: “We want to go 90-0 if we have the lead after six innings.”

Four blown saves into the season, the Sox are scrambling to settle what was supposed to be a huge team strength — the ’pen — before it implodes.

Funny game, baseball.

• Nikola Vucevic has raised the talent bar. Daniel Theis has increased their toughness. Troy Brown Jr. has made them a bit more intriguing.

But still, the Bulls have yet to meet a game they can’t — and, if you give them enough time, won’t — lose.

Just when you think they’re getting better, they assure you they’re not.

• NFL MVP odds landed in my inbox this week, because who isn’t thinking about this stuff in mid-April?

Patrick Mahomes: 5/1. Aaron Rodgers: 9/1. Josh Allen: 10/1.

Andy Dalton, meanwhile: 100/1. Wager Junior’s college fund at your own risk.

• Anyone else impressed by the NL Central-leading Reds’ 95 hits — approximately double the Cubs’ total — after 10 games?

I’m setting the over/under on teams that will finish above the Cubs in the division at 2½. Coincidentally, that’s the same as the over/under on wings eaten by Aunt Dotty.

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His death was announced by the Pacers on Tuesday. No details were given. He had been in failing health in recent years.

INDIANAPOLIS — Bobby “Slick” Leonard, the former NBA player and Hall of Fame coach who won three ABA championships with the Indiana Pacers and spent more than a half century with the organization, has died. He was 88.

His death was announced by the Pacers on Tuesday. No details were given. He had been in failing health in recent years.

Leonard had a record of 573-534 in 14 seasons as a coach, the last 12 with the Pacers.

He also made the winning free throws in the 1953 NCAA Tournament to give the Indiana Hoosiers the second of its five national titles and was later named one of the school’s 50 greatest players. The two-time All-American led the Hoosiers to Big Ten titles in 1953 and 1954 before joining the U.S. Army.

He then played seven years with the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers and was named an NBA All-Star in 1963. But his greatest moments as a professional came after he took over the Pacers in 1968-69.

“Pacers fans will remember Bobby ‘Slick’ Leonard as the spirit of our franchise,” team owner Herb Simon said in a statement. “With a charisma, intensity, and wit to match his nickname, Slick made us champions.

“He was our biggest fan and our most loving critic, and he personified Pacers basketball for generations of Hoosier families. Most importantly, though, Slick and (his wife) Nancy are our family, and his passing leaves an unfillable void in the hearts of everyone associated with this organization.”

Leonard did more than just win games.

He and his wife helped organized a telethon in 1977 to save the franchise, which was facing financial hardship after being one of the few ABA teams to join the NBA following the merger.

In 1985, he became the Pacers color commentator on television broadcasts and later moved into the radio booth where he coined his trademark phrase “Boom, Baby!” when Pacers players made 3-pointers.

“He was the best coach that I ever played for in last shot, pressure situations,” Hall of Fame player George McGinnis said recently. “In the seventh game, he would change the entire offense. It was genius. I think that’s why if you look at the Pacers, they won all three championships, I believe, in seventh games on the road.”

Leonard was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee in 2014. He’s also a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and the Indiana Sports Writers and Broadcasters Hall of Fame and was the first person inducted into the Indiana University Sports Hall of Fame.

His victory total with the Pacers, 529, hangs on a banner in the Bankers Life Fieldhouse rafters.

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Get the latest news on how COVID-19 is impacting Chicago and Illinois. Follow here for live updates.

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Cook County, state will stop administering J&J vaccine after US recommends ‘pause’ over clot reports

Archivo de AP

Use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine came to a grinding halt across Illinois Tuesday after federal health authorities recommended a “pause” on its use while it investigates reports of potentially dangerous blood clots.

“IDPH has notified all Illinois COVID-19 providers throughout the state to discontinue use of the J&J vaccine at this time. In order to keep appointments, IDPH is strongly advising providers to use Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines,” the Illinois Department of Public Health said Tuesday.

“Moderna and Pfizer make up the vast majority of doses on hand in the state of Illinois. This week, the state’s allocation of J&J was 17,000 doses. For the week of April 18, 2021, the expected allocation for the state is 483,720 total doses. Of that total allocation, 5,800 doses were expected to be J&J.

More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in the U.S., the vast majority with no or mild side effects.

U.S. federal distribution channels, including mass vaccination sites, will suspend the use of the J&J shot, and states and other providers are expected to follow. The other two authorized vaccines, from Moderna and Pfizer, make up the vast share of COVID-19 shots administered in the U.S. and are not affected by the pause.

The mass vaccination site at the United Center had been scheduled to begin administering J&J shots Monday but that plan is on hold, according to a Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman.

Read the full story from Mitch Dudek here.

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News

3:15 p.m. FEMA accepting applications for funeral expense reimbursement to families who lost someone to COVID-19

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is offering up to $9,000 per burial to help families cover the funeral expenses of loved ones who died of COVID-19.

The application process can be started by calling 844-684-6333.

There’s currently no deadline for the program, which launched Monday and was quickly overwhelmed by callers.

“There was an extraordinarily high call volume Monday,” FEMA spokesman Dan Shulman told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday.

There were close to 20,000 calls that got through Monday. We knew going in we were going to experience an extremely high call volume on the first day because of the number of people who’ve passed in the last year and some people experienced extended busy signals,” he said.

Read Mitch Dudek’s full story here.

1:37 p.m. Poll: 15% of Americans worse off a year into pandemic

While most Americans have weathered the pandemic financially, about 38 million say they are worse off now than before the outbreak began in the U.S.

Overall, 55% of Americans say their financial circumstances are about the same now as a year ago, and 30% say their finances have improved, according to a new poll from Impact Genome and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. But 15% say they are worse off.

The problem is more pronounced at lower-income levels: 29% of Americans living below the federal poverty line say their personal finances worsened in the past year. Roughly that many also find themselves in a deepening financial hole, saying they struggled to pay bills in the past three months.

Read the full story here.

11:27 a.m. Loretto CEO should be fired after COVID vaccine controversy, community petition states

Some community organizers in Austin are calling for the firing of The Loretto Hospital President and Chief Executive George Miller over his handling of COVID-19 vaccines.

As of Monday, an online petition had almost 250 signatures and the lead organizers say they are asking for a video-conference meeting with the hospital board members, a request the directors so far are not granting.

“The documented inappropriate use of our vaccines, the lack of accountability/respect of our vaccines by President Miller and his team during the pandemic have and continue to disgrace Loretto Hospital and the community it serves,” said an April 5 letter from organizer Mary Russell Gardner and a dozen other women.

Miller is being disciplined by his board, receiving a two-week suspension, following vaccine events at the Trump Tower, the CEO’s South Suburban church and elsewhere that led Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Administration to cut off vaccine supplies until the hospital can show that it has a plan to make sure shots are going to the Austin community.

The hospital is conducting an inquiry and audit to present to the city. The hospital’s No. 2 executive, former Chief Operating Officer Anosh Ahmed, resigned last month in the wake of the controversy.

Brett Chase and Mary Mitchell have the full story here.

9:05 a.m. Pritzker office staffer tests positive for COVID-19

An employee in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, a spokeswoman for the governor said.

The staff member was not in close contact with Pritzker Monday, or in previous days, and all staff who were identified as having been so will follow U.S. Centers for Disease Control protocol, Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokeswoman for Pritzker’s office, said in a statement.

“The Governor’s Office continues to follow COVID-19 safety protocols including testing staff multiple times per week, weekly deep cleaning procedures, mask wearing, social distancing, and limiting the number of staff reporting to the office for in person work,” Abudayyeh said in the statement.

Since Pritzker had no direct contact with the staffer, he will not be self-isolating, his office said.

Rachel Hinton has the full story here.

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New cases and vaccination numbers

• Officials on Monday announced that Illinois’ coronavirus test positivity rate has reached its highest point since late January, when a previous surge in cases was tapering off. The seven-day positivity rate jumped to 4.4% and continued an incremental upward trend that could lead officials to again place stronger restrictions on businesses. The statewide positivity rate had dipped to 2.1% on March 13.
• The city’s positivity rate now sits at 5.6% — up from 5.1% just a week earlier, the city said Monday.
• The state also announced 2,433 new cases of COVID-19 diagnosed from 53,115 tests. Eighteen additional deaths were also reported.
• Nearly 2,000 people diagnosed with the virus were hospitalized Sunday, according to Illinois Department of Health data. That’s the highest number of statewide hospitalizations since Feb. 10.
• The number of inoculations administered Sunday dropped to 64,772 after five straight six-figure vaccination days, state health officials reported. So far, more than 7.2 million vaccine doses have gone into arms.

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Ten games is not a lot over the course of a 162-game season but it’s been enough for a lot of fans to already throw in the towel on the 2021 Chicago Cubs team. It’s not hard to see why because the same offensive problems that have stunted the team over the past few years […]

Chicago Cubs: Statcast shows Rizzo and Happ are due – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & More

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I often wondered what made George Liddle Sr. decide to bass fish on the Cal Sag.

“When you’re ate up with bass fishing,, when there is a pond, you’re going to fish it,” said his son George Jr. driving back Sunday to Arkansas. “In the early ’80s, we went out there a couple times and, ‘What the heck? There are fish here.’

“Early on, it was small baits, single spins, small crankbaits, doing anything to get a bite. Those baits still work well.”

Near the Y on the Calumet, they got up to 40 bass a day sometimes.

“After that, we expanded and expanded,” George Jr. said. “We loved to fish, didn’t matter where.”

“He was the first one to hit the Calumet and he didn’t keep it a secret,” Ed Bohn said. “He let some of us of know.”

“He taught us how to fish the Cal Sag,” Mike Skwira messaged. “All the tournaments on there now are because of him. I never fished with him, but fished against him … and usually lost!”

George Liddle Sr., 85, died April 6 “surrounded by loved ones.” The family held a private gathering. A celebration of his life will happen, maybe this summer, when COVID restrictions ease.

“He’s a legend in Chicago,” said Bohn, master of bass on southern Lake Michigan. “He put bass fishing on the map in Chicago. I may have done the big lake, But I definitely went to him and asked for help.”

A lot of anglers and boat owners found help from “Big G,” who ran Liddle’s Auto and Marine Repair in Crestwood for more than 35 years.

“If you had a problem with your boat, that is who you had to see, probably one of the best in the country for fixing fiberglass,” Bohn said.

“He would have loved for me to take that over,” George Jr. said. “I loved to go fishing. Because of him, I was able to make a living out of it.

“He helped me chase that dream that I had, any time I wanted to go fishing, he would take me. He did that with so many people. When you are in a boat, those are things you don’t forget, memories you don’t forget.”

At Mr. Liddle’s 80th birthday party, more than 100 showed up. Mr. Liddle certainly touched his son, who made the 1988 Bassmaster Classic and finished 20th. George Jr. has worked more than 30 years in bass boats, mostly with Ranger Boats until 2017 when he went with Vexus Boats.

Mr. Liddle grew up in the south suburbs, his daughter Sandra Liddle said. He and his wife June moved to Alsip in 1967. They met as teenagers and were married for 64 years.

“Every day we knew he was going to be there, really steady,” Sandra said. “He was always happiest when fishing. He didn’t pass that to me, but to my daughter.”

“How many people he reached through fishing or working on boats, it is mind-boggling how many people he touched in one way or another,” George Jr. said.

WILD THINGS

Things I saw rambling Sunday afternoon: mayapples (not flowering) fruit), and the blooms of spring beauty and large-flowered bellwort. Things I didn’t see: morels or shed antlers. . . . Christian Howe saw hummingbirds and put feeders up more than a week ago. So I put mine up Thursday. . . . Remember, at Illinois Department of Natural Resources sites open during turkey hunting, mushroom hunting may not begin until 1 p.m.

STRAY CAST

Days like Sunday in Chicago sports remind me of a high-sky day at Heidecke Lake.

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Federal prosecutors have charged an ex-Melrose Park police officer for his role in a gambling ring run by a bookie with mob ties who was sentenced last week to more than two years in prison.

John Amabile, 33, is charged with running an illegal sports bookmaking operation. The charge stems from the same investigation that led to last week’s sentencing of Gregory Paloian, of Elmwood Park, a source confirmed.

Reached earlier this year after abruptly resigning from the Melrose Park Police Department amid rumors that he was in trouble with federal investigators, Amabile declined to speak in detail with a reporter.

“I have no comment at all,” he said. Asked whether he had an attorney, he said, “No, not at the moment.”

Amabile also declined to comment after he was charged Tuesday. His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

Prosecutors have previously said a “veteran police officer from a local police department” was among the “most prolific agents” of Paloian, who admitted in January he ran the ring from 2015 until 2019 in Chicago, Elmwood Park and Melrose Park.

But the feds say they “know now that Paloian was running a bookmaking operation as early as 2012 and continuing until shut down by the FBI.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Terry Kinney wrote in a recent court filing that the ring involved 60 gamblers.

U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow last week gave Paloian two-and-a-half years in prison, a sentence Paloian compared to a possible death sentence due to his medical issues.

Amabile’s father Joseph is a former Melrose Park police lieutenant. Amabile’s uncle James is a former Melrose Park fire lieutenant who was convicted in a mob-related extortion case in 2015, sentenced to six months in prison and released from custody in 2016, according to interviews and records.

Amabile’s brother Joe became a minor celebrity after appearing on “The Bachelorette” and, subsequently, other reality shows.

Amabile’s late grandfather, also named Joseph, was a reputed “crime kingpin in the western suburbs,” and acolyte of high-ranking hoodlum Sam Battaglia, before his death in 1976, according to interviews and published accounts. The grandfather was convicted of extortion in 1967 and sent to prison, according to his Chicago Sun-Times obituary.

Over the years, members of the family have donated to political campaigns benefitting Melrose Park Mayor Ronald Serpico — who has presided after a number of scandals and embarrassments within his police department during his years in office.

In 2017, former Melrose Park police Detective Greg Salvi was sent to prison for a drug-dealing scheme that included stealing narcotics from his department’s evidence room.

In 2013, a motorcycle club started by Melrose Park cops disbanded after a reporter discovered members were wearing patches pledging support for the Outlaws, a notorious biker gang that’s been described as a criminal enterprise by federal authorities.

In 2009, former Melrose Park Police Chief Vito Scavo was convicted in a racketeering and extortion scheme and sent to prison.

Paloian also has ties to organized crime, having previously been sentenced in 2002 to 41 months in prison for running a mob-connected bookmaking operation. Last week, federal prosecutors also revealed that his name is on the prison contact list for imprisoned Cicero mob boss Michael “The Large Guy” Sarno, who has been arguing for compassionate release.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu wrote in a court filing that “Paloian has regularly sent money to Sarno’s prison account since he was imprisoned; these are no doubt the proceeds of his illegal gambling business.”

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Steph Curry became the Golden State Warriors’ all-time leading scorer Monday night, as his 53-point performance moved him past Wilt Chamberlain.

To mark the feat, ESPN interviewed Hall of Famers Jerry West and Reggie Miller and future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki, all who spent their careers with the same team and at one point led their franchise in scoring.

The question: Was there ever a point you felt like you might leave? Any superstar pitches to join forces?

“No,” Miller told ESPN. “And if Michael Jordan ever would have called me and tried to sway me to come to Chicago, I would have told him to go (expletive) himself! ‘I’ll be coming to see you on I-65,’ or whatever that highway is there. ‘I’ll be down to see you.'”

Miller went on to admit that the Knicks came calling, but that was already after Miller and New York “had a storied history,” as he put it. Nowtizki told ESPN he fielded a call from the late Kobe Bryant after one of his final deals with the Mavericks expired, but he politely declined.

One of the best shooters in NBA history, Miller said it pains him he never helped deliver the Pacers a championship — something Curry, who Miller called “Mr. Warrior,” has done three times for Golden State.

Finding that type of success with the team that drafted you is rare, Miller said.

“It’s jewelry over loyalty,” he told ESPN.

Read more at usatoday.com

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