A Calumet City man died Thursday after being shot by police weeks earlier in the south suburb.
Alvin Burrage, 26, was shot multiple times March 25 and died Thursday morning from complications of his injuries, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Calumet City police said an officer shot Burrage just before 5 p.m. during a traffic stop in the 500 block of Jeffrey Avenue after Burrage “began to raise a handgun in the officer’s direction.”
Burrage allegedly fired back several times without striking anyone, got back into his vehicle and fled, police said.
Police said the officer only fired one shot at Burrage, but an autopsy by the medical examiner’s office said Burrage died from “complications of multiple gunshot wounds.” The autopsy ruled his death a homicide.
NEW YORK — DMX, the raspy hip hop artist behind the songs “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem” and “Party Up (Up in Here)” who had one of rap’s most distinctive voices — literally and metaphorically — has died, according to a statement Friday from his family. He was 50.
The Grammy-nominated performer died after suffering “catastrophic cardiac arrest,” according to a statement from the hospital in White Plains, New York, where he died. He was rushed there from his home April 2.
His family’s statement said DMX, whose birth name was Earl Simmons, died with relatives by his side after several days on life support.
“Earl was a warrior who fought till the very end. He loved his family with all of his heart, and we cherish the times we spent with him,” the family said, adding that his music “inspired countless fans across the world, and his iconic legacy will live on forever.”
Memorial plans were not yet set.
DMX — who rapped with a trademark delivery that was often paired with growls, barks and “What!” as an ad-lib — built a multiplatinum career as one of rap’s biggest stars of the late 1990s and early 2000s, but he also struggled with drug addiction and legal problems that repeatedly put him behind bars.
“His message of triumph over struggle, his search for the light out of darkness, his pursuit of truth and grace brought us closer to our own humanity,” his record label, Def Jam Recordings, said in a statement describing him as “nothing less than a giant.”
Fellow hip hop artists remembered him likewise, with Eve praising him as “one of the most special people I have ever met” and Nas calling him “God’s poet” in an Instagram post. Chingy recalled touring with DMX and being inspired by his style and struck by how “he always showed me love.”
“He was a true legend to the hip hop community,” Chingy said in a statement.
DMX made a splash in 1998 with his first studio album, “It’s Dark and Hell is Hot,” which debuted No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The multiplatinum-selling album was anchored by several hits including “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem,” “Get At Me Dog,” “Stop Being Greedy” and “How It’s Goin’ Down.”
DMX followed up with four straight chart-topping albums including “… And Then There Was X,” “Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood,” “The Great Depression” and “Grand Champ.” He released seven albums, earned three Grammy nominations and was named favorite rap/hip hop artist at the 2000 American Music Awards.
DMX arrived on the rap scene around the same time as Jay-Z, Ja Rule and others who dominated the charts and emerged as platinum-selling acts. They were all part of rap crews, too: DMX fronted the Ruff Ryders collective, which helped launch the careers of Grammy winners Eve and Swizz Beatz, and relaunch The Lox, formerly signed to Bad Boy Records. Ruff Ryders had success on the charts and on radio with its “Ryde or Die” compilation albums.
Along with his musical career, DMX paved his way as an actor. He starred in the 1998 film “Belly” and appeared in 2000?s “Romeo Must Die” with Jet Li and Aaliyah. DMX and Aaliyah teamed up for “Come Back in One Piece” on the film’s soundtrack.
The rapper would later open Aaliyah’s tribute music video, “Miss You,” alongside her other friends and collaborators, including Missy Elliott, Lil’ Kim and Queen Latifah, after Aaliyah’s 2001 death in a plane crash at age 22.
The rapper also starred in 2001?s “Exit Wounds” with Steven Seagal and 2003?s “Cradle 2 the Grave” with Li.
But while DMX made his mark as one of hip hop’s most recognizable names for his rap artistry and as an actor, the rapper was personally stifled by his legal battles — he was repeatedly arrested and jailed within a decade — and drug addiction. His addiction first took hold at age 14 when smoked a marijuana cigarette that was laced with cocaine.
“You can’t be a fan and not feel empathy for him in his journey,” hip hop and electronic music producer Flying Lotus said in an interview while DMX was hospitalized this week. “You think of ‘Belly’ and all the great stuff that he was part of. But he was dealt such a weird hand, I think, with the drug stuff. And I just have empathy.”
DMX pleaded guilty in 2004 after he posed as an undercover federal agent and crashed his SUV through a security gate at New York’s Kennedy Airport. He was arrested in 2008 on drug and animal cruelty charges following an overnight raid on his house in Phoenix. He tried to barricade himself in his bedroom but emerged when a SWAT team entered his home.
In 2010, he was sentenced to a year in prison for violating terms of his probation. After he was admitted to rehab numerous times over the next year, he said he had finally beat his drug addiction.
First responders helped bring DMX back to life after he was found in a hotel parking lot in New York in 2016. The rapper said he suffered from asthma.
A couple years later, DMX was sentenced to a year in prison for tax fraud. Prosecutors said he concocted a multiyear scheme to hide millions of dollars in income from the IRS and get around nearly $2 million in tax liabilities.
After his release, DMX planned a 32-date tour to mark the 20th anniversary of “It’s Dark and Hell is Hot.” But the rapper canceled a series of shows to check himself into a rehab facility in 2019. In an Instagram post, his team said he apologized for the canceled shows and thanked his fans for the continued support.
Besides his legal troubles, DMX took the initiative to help the less fortunate. He gave a group of Philadelphia men advice during a surprise appearance at a homeless support group meeting in 2017, and helped a Maine family with its back-to-school purchases a couple years later.
Last year, DMX faced off against Snoop Dogg in a Verzuz battle, which drew more than 500,000 viewers.
Survivors include his 15 children and his mother.
Landrum reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Ryan Pearson contributed from Los Angeles.
Illinois public health officials on Friday reported a second straight record-setting day for COVID-19 vaccinations — but the state also hit a worrying milestone by logging more than 4,000 new cases of the disease for the first time in 10 weeks as the latest coronavirus surge builds momentum.
With 164,462 doses administered Thursday, Illinois is vaccinating more people than ever, at an average clip of 118,336 shots per day over the last week, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
That still hasn’t been enough to tamp down a sharp rise in infections over the past month, as most key metrics have almost doubled.
With another 4,004 residents testing positive for the virus — the most in a day since Jan. 29 — about 3,122 Illinoisans have contracted COVID-19 each day over the past week. That rate is up 91% compared to the first week of March, when the state was reporting an average of 1,663 daily cases.
1:30 p.m. No region in the world spared as coronavirus cases, deaths surge
WARSAW, Poland — Hospitals in Turkey and Poland are filling up. Pakistan is restricting domestic travel. The U.S. government will send more help to the state with the country’s worst infection increase.
The worldwide surge in coronavirus cases and deaths includes even Thailand, which has weathered the pandemic far better than many nations but now struggles to contain COVID-19.
The only exceptions to the deteriorating situation are countries that have advanced vaccination programs, mostly notably Israel and Britain. The U.S., which is a vaccination leader globally, is also seeing a small uptick in new cases, and the White House announced Friday that it would send federal assistance to Michigan to control the state’s worst-in-the-nation transmission rate.
The World Health Organization said infection rates are climbing in every global region, driven by new virus variants and too many countries coming out of lockdown too soon.
12:20 p.m. Riverwalk vendors begin phased reopening Friday
Vendors on the Chicago Riverwalk began a phased-in reopening Friday that will have all vendors open by the end of May.
Island Party Hut, Beat Kitchen on the River and City Winery opened Friday. A new vendor addition this year is Pier 31, which plans to open in May.
“The Riverwalk is not only an important part of our city’s economic engine, but it also adds to the liveliness of our iconic summers,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a news release.
“This reopening serves as yet another indicator of our city’s resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we look forward to making this Chicago staple available to residents and visitors this spring and summer.”
11:05 a.m. Aldermen move to prevent parade permit infighting
With 500 permits issued every year, it’s safe to say that Chicago loves a parade.
On Thursday, the City Council’s Committee on Cultural Affairs and Special Events proved that love by providing a bit of post-pandemic protection.
At Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s behest, aldermen endorsed an ordinance that preserves permit priority for “traditional parades” scheduled at around the same time along the same route “in connection with a specific holiday or consistent theme for at least the prior five years.”
That priority status would remain even though those “traditional parades” were canceled last year because of the coronavirus — and even though none have been held so far this year, either.
Deputy Transportation Commissioner Mike Simon said the goal of the mayor’s ordinance is to prevent the temporary hiatus from opening the door to post-pandemic feuds between parade organizers vying for permits on the same day.
10:30 a.m. ‘Trauma upon trauma’: Asian Americans say mental health has suffered amid COVID-19, anti-Asian violence
The coronavirus pandemic sparked a mental health crisis. For Asians and Asian Americans also facing a rise in hate incidents across the country, it’s been “trauma upon trauma,” says Anne Saw, a Chicago psychologist.
“A lot of our communities are experiencing so many pandemic stressors that are then compounded by a lot of anti-Asian discrimination that we’re also experiencing,” says Saw, who teaches at DePaul University and directs the Chicago Asian American Psychology Lab.
“It’s tough to, like, get your head above water and get some room to breathe when every day we’re confronted with new traumas,” she says.
We talked to seven Chicagoans about how anti-Asian violence coupled with the pandemic have affected their mental health and their everyday lives. Among them was Kaylee Cong, 32, of Uptown, who manages a nail spa.
On March 20, four days after the Atlanta shootings, Cong says, her 60-year-old Vietnamese father was punched in the head as he walked alone that night near Broadway and West Ainslee Street. He turned to run, saw a white man holding a baseball bat watching him and called 911.
“We’re really scared,” says Cong, who’d been talking with her father about the Georgia shootings the day before he was attacked. “What if the person come back and do revenge? My entire life living here, it was so peaceful. There was no violence like this.”
She says her father hasn’t wanted to leave the house since that happened.
Older Asian Americans “just want to keep quiet and don’t want to make waves,” Cong says. “I have really different mentality. We deserve to, you know, feel safe. And we shouldn’t be afraid to stand up for ourselves.”
9:56 a.m. CPS high school reopening agreement remains elusive
A final high school reopening agreement remains elusive between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union just days before high school teachers are due to return to classrooms — and the union president said Thursday the next few days of negotiations will determine whether workers show up on Monday.
Though the range of issues is smaller and disagreement over those items is not as severe as the hostile K-8 negotiations in February, there are still a few unresolved concerns the union is expressing as COVID-19 infections once again rise in the city.
CPS officials have directed 5,350 high school teachers to return to buildings Monday with or without a CTU agreement, and about 26,000 students in grades 9-12 are expected back the following week.
Whether or not that timeline sticks is dependent on “how outrageous the board’s positions are as we go ahead,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey told a few hundred members at a virtual meeting Thursday that was closed to the public.
“I’ve heard people say, ‘Sharkey, I want a really definitive answer, am I going in on Monday?’” he said. “And my really definitive answer is, it depends on where we’re at.”
8:08 a.m. Spike in COVID-19 cases causes University of Chicago to announce stay-at-home period for students
University of Chicago announced a stay-at-home period for students Wednesday evening following the largest COVID-19 outbreak at the university since the start of the academic year.
After more than 50 cases of the coronavirus were detected among undergraduates in recent days, the university announced that students living on-campus must observe a week-long stay-at-home period immediately.
“We expect this number to increase,” university officials said in an email sent to members of the university community Thursday.
All undergraduate classes will be fully remote for at least a week starting Thursday and students can only leave their residence halls for food, medical appointments and short walks for exercise.
Illinois’ infection rate is still less than a third of what it was during the worst days of the pandemic last fall — but it’s doubled in the last four weeks.
A report reveals more details of Tiger Woods’ SUV crash. | Ryan Kang/AP
The conclusion to the data report raises the question of whether Woods tried to negotiate the curve at all as he was traveling at more than 82 mph in a 45-mph zone.
Tiger Woods mistakenly thought he was in the state of Florida when he was interviewed by a sheriff’s deputy at a Los Angeles area hospital after he crashed his vehicle in February, according to a 22-page collision report that reveals several new details about the collision sequence and aftermath.
Among the revelations in the report:
The legendary golfer’s blood pressure also was “too low to administer any type of pain medication” shortly after the crash.
An empty pharmaceutical bottle was found in a backpack at the scene of the crash with no label or indication of what was inside it.
According to data from the vehicle’s black-box recorder, Woods also was going in a straight line with no steering input detected until some slight steering movement registered late in the recorded crash sequence.
“Had (Woods) applied his brakes to reduce his speed or steered to correct the direction of travel, he would not have collided with the center median and the collision would not have occurred,” said the report on the data prepared by Sergeant Michael Downing.
The conclusion to the data report raises the question of whether Woods tried to negotiate the curve at all as he was traveling at more than 82 mph in a 45-mph zone.
Instead of staying with his lane as it curved right, Woods went straight into the median shortly after 7 a.m. local time on Feb. 23. He struck a curb, mowed down a wooden sign and drove into opposing lanes before hitting a tree and rolling over in Rolling Hills Estates south of downtown Los Angeles. He suffered broken bones in his right leg that could jeopardize his golf career.
After hitting the median, he traveled a distance of several hundred feet with no evidence of braking. Woods instead suddenly applied the gas pedal at 99% in the final seconds before hitting the raised median that separates the north and south lanes of the road, according the report. Woods also told investigators he does not remember driving.
Jonathan Cherney, a former police detective in Southern California, reviewed the crash scene Feb. 24 and said it was “like a classic case of falling asleep behind the wheel, because the road curves and his vehicle goes straight.”
The collision report boosts that notion, said Cherney, who was not involved in the sheriff’s investigation but now works as a forensic crash reconstruction expert.
“The data here supports that he was not conscious,” Cherney said Wednesday. “I’m seeing the brakes off the entire time. I don’t see any steering at all (until late in the recorded crash sequence). That’s not indicative of emergency steering at all. This is not consistent with somebody who’s awake behind the wheel.”
A report by another officer, Justin Smith, said “there was no reason to believe (Woods) had been operating a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol/drugs.” Smith based this on interviews with other officers and video footage, but did not evaluate Woods himself on the day of the crash. Smith interviewed a paramedic who described Woods’ pupils as “slightly sluggish,” but the paramedic attributed the sluggish pupils to the trauma Woods had sustained from the collision.
A sheriff’s captain said Woods’ low blood pressure “was consistent with shock as a result of collision and the injuries (Woods) sustained.” The same captain said Woods was “somewhat combative” when they were trying to treat him on the scene of the crash. This also was determined to be consistent with the trauma Woods sustained.
Deputy Kyle Sullivan reported he interviewed Woods at the hospital after the crash that day while an injury to Woods’ face was being stitched.
“I then asked (Woods) if he is able to tell me about what happened regarding the traffic collision,” Sullivan wrote. Woods “told me he did not remember being involved in a traffic collision. (Woods) thought he was currently in the state of Florida.”
Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Woods would not be issued a citation because there were no independent witnesses and no peace officers who observed the collision sequence.
This is Woods’ third driving incident since 2009, when he was cited for careless driving after crashing into a fire hydrant and tree outside his home in Florida. A witness then said Woods was unconscious at the scene, according to a police report.
In 2017, police found Woods asleep at the wheel in Florida and arrested him for drunk driving. A toxicology report later revealed he had several medications in his system then, including the sleep medication Ambien, the painkiller Vicodin and THC. He checked into a clinic that year to get help with medications dealing with pain and sleep. He pleaded guilty to reckless driving.
Yet another defendant in the multimillion-dollar sports gambling case that led earlier this year to a pardon of Mettawa Mayor Casey Urlacher by then-President Donald Trump has pleaded guilty in federal court.
Matthew Namoff, 25, pleaded guilty to conspiring to conduct an illegal gambling business. In doing so, he became the sixth of 10 original defendants in the case to plead guilty and the fifth since Trump pardoned Urlacher, the brother of ChicagoBears great Brian Urlacher.
Namoff faces a likely sentence of six months to a year in prison at his sentencing, scheduled for Aug. 23.
Chicago Police Officer Nicholas Stella pleaded guilty in the case earlier this week. A CPD spokesperson said at the time that Stella’s status with the department was “inactive.”
Meanwhile, Casey Urlacher ran for reelection as a write-in candidate in Tuesday’s suburban elections. Officials in the Lake County Clerk’s office said write-in results would not be available until next week.
The February 2020 indictment filed in the case alleged that Vincent “Uncle Mick” DelGiudice recruited Namoff, Urlacher, Stella and others to work as agentsin his multimillion-dollar gambling ring. DelGiudice pleaded guilty in February, admitting he ran the ring around Chicago from 2016 until 2019.
The indictment alleged that Namoff called DelGiudice on Dec. 17, 2018, to discuss problems with DelGiudice’s gambling website. It also alleged that, on Jan. 19, 2019, Namoff and DelGiudice discussed collecting money from a gambler. DelGiudice told Namoff to say that he was “with Mr. DelGiudice,” it said.
Namoff also called DelGiudice on Jan. 28, 2019, to discuss a new gambler who wanted to place large bets with Namoff, according to the indictment.
Breaking down the Bears’ roster cuts and additions:
April 9
The Bears re-signed cornerback Michael Joseph to a one-year deal. Joseph hardly played at Oswego High School before talking his way onto the team at Div. III Dubuque, where he became a star and was signed by the Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2018. He spent last year on injured reserve and also appeared on the NFL’s reseve/COVID-19 list.
March 30
Sources confirmed that offensive lineman Rashaad Coward, who started 15 games over the past two seasons with the Bears, agreed to sign a one-year deal with the Steelers. The Bears signed Coward as an undrafted free agent out of Old Dominion in 2017 and later converted him to offensive line from defensive line.
March 25
The Bears have re-signed special teams ace DeAndre Houston-Carson, a safety, to a one-year contract.
March 24
Super Bowl hero Damien Williamswill join the Bears on a one-year deal. The running back was the first player in the history of the title game to run for more than 100 yards, catch a touchdown and rush for a score.
March 23
The Bears signed two veterans to one-year contracts: linebacker Christian Jones and tackle/guard Elijah Wilkinson. Jones spent the first four years of his career with the Bears, while Wilkinson figures to fight for the team’s starting right tackle spot.
March 21
Veteran outside linebacker Jeremiah Attaochusigned a two-year deal to join the Bears. He figures to take Barkevious Mingo’s spot as a backup edge rusher and reliable special teamer.
March 19
Long snapper Patrick Scales is returning on a one-year deal, the Bears said. He reunites the Bears’ special teams trio — which included punter Pat O’Donnell and kicker Cairo Santos — from last season. Scales first snapped with the Bears in 2015.
The salary cap-strapped Bears are cutting star cornerback Kyle Fuller rather than pay him $20 million in 2021, sources confirmed. Fuller will become the best available cornerback in the league.
Receiver Allen Robinsonsigned his franchise tag tender, which entitles him to $18 million this season unless he and the Bears can agree on a long-term deal.
Defensive lineman Brent Urban is signing a one-year contract with the Cowboys, his wife Tweeted.
Quarterback Mitch Trubisky found his soft landing spot. He’ll back up Josh Allen with the Buffalo Bills, who signed him to a one-year contract on Thursday.
March 17
The Bears agreed to sign defensive tackleAngelo Blackson to a two-year deal, a source confirmed to the Sun-Times late Wednesday night. Blackson started nine games for the Cardinals last season, one year after starting 15 for the Texans.
Former Bears Pro Bowl offensive lineman Kyle Long, who just last week returned from a one-year retirement, agreed to sign with the Chiefs on a one-year deal.
Backup safety Deon Bush, who has been a special teams stalwart since the team drafted him five years ago, is returning on a one-year deal, the Bears said.
The Bears won’t tender a contract to Eddy Pineiro, a source said, making the kicker a free agent. The move comes as no surprise after the Bears gave Cairo Santos a three-year deal last week.
March 16
Right tackle Germain Ifedi is returning to the Bears on a one-year, $5 million contract, per NFL Network. Ifedi played all 16 games in his first year with the Bears, starting at right guard before replacing injured right tackle Bobby Massie.
The Bears agreed to sign quarterback Andy Daltonto a one-year, $10 million contract that can be worth $13 million after incentives, sources confirmed. Dalton, who played for the Cowboys last year after spending his entire career with the Bengals, is expected to start over Nick Foles.
March 15
Defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris is leaving on a major free-agent deal. NFL Network reported he agreed to a three-year, $24.4 million contract with the Jaguars, blowing away the $5.6 million he totaled over his first five seasons with the Bears.
March 14
Defensive end Mario Edwards Jr. agreed to re-sign with the Bears after a career year. He’ll sit out the first two games of 2021 for violating the NFL ban on performance-enhancing drugs.
March 12
The Bears are bringing back punter Pat O’Donnell on a one-year deal, continuing his career with the franchise that drafted him in 2014.
March 11
Cairo Santos‘ stellar season earned the placekicker a three-year contract that can be worth up to $11 million, a source confirmed. His deal is technically a five-year, $17.5 million contract extension, with the last two years able to be voided for salary-cap reasons. Santos set a Bears record with a field-goal percentage of 93.8 last year despite first joining the team in training camp. He was set to become a free agent on March 17.
March 9
As expected, the Bears gave wide receiver Allen Robinsonthe franchise tag. He’ll make $18 million in 2021 unless he and the team can negotiate a long-term contract by mid-July. Robinson and the Bears, of course, could have done just that anytime in the last year — and didn’t. He’s vented his frustration about negotiations and the franchise tag in recent months.
March 3
The Bears re-signed five of their exclusive rights free agents: running back Ryan Nall, inside linebacker Josh Woods, outside linebacker James Vaughters, guard Alex Bars and tight end J.P. Holtz. The moves were expected, as exclusive rights free agents — players with less than three years’ experience — have until the start of the league season to sign a contract with their team; if they don’t, they can hit the free agent market.
March 2
General manager Ryan Pace confirmed the Bears were cutting slot cornerbackBuster Skrine. Skrine, 31, missed the last month of last season with a concussion — the sixth reported one during his career. The Bears will save about $2.7 million in 2021 cap space by cutting Skrine, who played in 28 games after signing a three-year deal.
WARSAW, Poland — Hospitals in Turkey and Poland are filling up. Pakistan is restricting domestic travel. The U.S. government will send more help to the state with the country’s worst infection increase.
The worldwide surge in coronavirus cases and deaths includes even Thailand, which has weathered the pandemic far better than many nations but now struggles to contain COVID-19.
The only exceptions to the deteriorating situation are countries that have advanced vaccination programs, mostly notably Israel and Britain. The U.S., which is a vaccination leader globally, is also seeing a small uptick in new cases, and the White House announced Friday that it would send federal assistance to Michigan to control the state’s worst-in-the-nation transmission rate.
The World Health Organization said infection rates are climbing in every global region, driven by new virus variants and too many countries coming out of lockdown too soon.
“We’ve seen rises (in cases) worldwide for six weeks. And now, sadly, we are seeing rises in deaths for the last three weeks,” Dr. Margaret Harris, a WHO spokeswoman, said at a briefing in Geneva.
In its weekly epidemiological update, the WHO said over 4 million COVID-19 cases were reported in the last week. New deaths increased by 11% compared to last week, with over 71,000 reported.
The increasing infections, hospitalizations and deaths extend to countries where vaccinations are finally gaining momentum. That leaves even bleaker prospects for much of the world, where large-scale vaccination programs remain a more distant prospect.
In Turkey, which is among the badly hit countries, most new cases of the virus can be traced to a variant first found in Britain.
Ismail Cinel, head of the Turkish Intensive Care Association, said the surge was beginning to strain the nation’s relatively advanced health care system and “the alarm bells are ringing” for intensive care units, which are not yet at full capacity.
“The mutant form of the virus is causing more harm to the organs,” Cinel said. “While 2 out of 10 patients were dying previously, the number is now 4 out of 10. And if we continue this way, we will lose six.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan eased COVID-19 restrictions in early March to minimize pain to his nation’s ailing economy. The new spike forced him to announce renewed restrictions, such as weekend lockdowns and the closure of cafes and restaurants during Ramadan, which starts April 13.
Turkish medical groups say the reopening in March was premature and that the new measures do not go far enough. They have been calling for full lockdowns during the holy Muslim month.
In the U.S. capital, President Joe Biden’s administration outlined how the federal government planned to help Michigan better administer the doses already allocated to the state, as well as expand testing capacity and the availability of drugs. The effort will not include any extra vaccine doses, a move Gov. Gretchen Whitmer sought.
Doses are currently allocated to states proportionally by population. Whitmer has called for extra doses to be shifted to states like hers experiencing a sharp rise in cases. She also urged a voluntary two-week halt to in-person high school classes, youth sports and indoor restaurant dining, but stopped short of issuing new restrictions.
The death toll in Iran is also rising, prompting new restrictions that will take effect for 10 days in 257 cities beginning Saturday. They involve the closure of all parks, restaurants, confectionaries, beauty salons, malls and bookstores.
Authorities in Pakistan, which is in the middle of a third surge of infections, are restricting inter-city transportation on weekends starting at midnight Friday.
Elsewhere in Asia, authorities in Thailand ordered new restrictions Friday in an effort to contain a growing coronavirus outbreak just days before the country’s traditional Songkran New Year’s holiday, when millions of people travel.
Japan, meanwhile, announced tougher measures ahead of the Summer Olympics.
In Germany, Poland and other countries in the 27-member European Union, vaccination programs are finally ramping up after a slow start in the first three months of the year due to delivery shortages.
Thousands of German medical practices joined the vaccination campaign this week. That helped Germany reach its second consecutive daily record on Thursday of almost 720,000 doses administered — meaning that 14.7% of the population has now received at least one dose and 5.8% have received both shots.
Yet German health officials are warning of a steep rise in intensive care patients and are calling for stronger action to contain infections.
Neighboring Poland is also seeing a dramatic spike in deaths, and hospitals have been forced to turn away cancer and other patients as ICU and other hospital beds are taken by COVID-19 patients. Hospitalizations of virus patients there have jumped 20% in the past two weeks.
Harris, from the WHO, said the world knows how to fight these surges. She cited good news from the U.K., where new coronavirus cases dropped 60% in March amid a strong vaccination program, “but we have to do it all.”
“We have to keep on social distancing. We have to avoid indoor crowded settings. We have to keep wearing the masks, even if vaccinated,” she said. “People are misunderstanding, seeming to think that vaccination will stop transmission. That is not the case. We need to bring down the transmission while giving the vaccination the chance to stop the severe disease.”
Kaylee Cong, 32, whose Vietnamese father was attacked, poses for a portrait outside a nail spa she manages in the Logan Square neighborhood, Saturday afternoon, March 27, 2021. Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Illinois public health officials on Friday reported a second straight record-setting day for COVID-19 vaccinations — but the state also hit a worrying milestone by logging more than 4,000 new cases of the disease for the first time in 10 weeks as the latest coronavirus surge builds momentum.
With 164,462 doses administered Thursday, Illinois is vaccinating more people than ever, at an average clip of 118,336 shots per day over the last week, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
That still hasn’t been enough to tamp down a sharp rise in infections over the past month, as most key metrics have almost doubled.
With another 4,004 residents testing positive for the virus — the most in a day since Jan. 29 — about 3,122 Illinoisans have contracted COVID-19 each day over the past week. That rate is up 91% compared to the first week of March, when the state was reporting an average of 1,663 daily cases.
1:30 p.m. No region in the world spared as coronavirus cases, deaths surge
WARSAW, Poland — Hospitals in Turkey and Poland are filling up. Pakistan is restricting domestic travel. The U.S. government will send more help to the state with the country’s worst infection increase.
The worldwide surge in coronavirus cases and deaths includes even Thailand, which has weathered the pandemic far better than many nations but now struggles to contain COVID-19.
The only exceptions to the deteriorating situation are countries that have advanced vaccination programs, mostly notably Israel and Britain. The U.S., which is a vaccination leader globally, is also seeing a small uptick in new cases, and the White House announced Friday that it would send federal assistance to Michigan to control the state’s worst-in-the-nation transmission rate.
The World Health Organization said infection rates are climbing in every global region, driven by new virus variants and too many countries coming out of lockdown too soon.
12:20 p.m. Riverwalk vendors begin phased reopening Friday
Vendors on the Chicago Riverwalk began a phased-in reopening Friday that will have all vendors open by the end of May.
Island Party Hut, Beat Kitchen on the River and City Winery opened Friday. A new vendor addition this year is Pier 31, which plans to open in May.
“The Riverwalk is not only an important part of our city’s economic engine, but it also adds to the liveliness of our iconic summers,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a news release.
“This reopening serves as yet another indicator of our city’s resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we look forward to making this Chicago staple available to residents and visitors this spring and summer.”
11:05 a.m. Aldermen move to prevent parade permit infighting
With 500 permits issued every year, it’s safe to say that Chicago loves a parade.
On Thursday, the City Council’s Committee on Cultural Affairs and Special Events proved that love by providing a bit of post-pandemic protection.
At Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s behest, aldermen endorsed an ordinance that preserves permit priority for “traditional parades” scheduled at around the same time along the same route “in connection with a specific holiday or consistent theme for at least the prior five years.”
That priority status would remain even though those “traditional parades” were canceled last year because of the coronavirus — and even though none have been held so far this year, either.
Deputy Transportation Commissioner Mike Simon said the goal of the mayor’s ordinance is to prevent the temporary hiatus from opening the door to post-pandemic feuds between parade organizers vying for permits on the same day.
10:30 a.m. ‘Trauma upon trauma’: Asian Americans say mental health has suffered amid COVID-19, anti-Asian violence
The coronavirus pandemic sparked a mental health crisis. For Asians and Asian Americans also facing a rise in hate incidents across the country, it’s been “trauma upon trauma,” says Anne Saw, a Chicago psychologist.
“A lot of our communities are experiencing so many pandemic stressors that are then compounded by a lot of anti-Asian discrimination that we’re also experiencing,” says Saw, who teaches at DePaul University and directs the Chicago Asian American Psychology Lab.
“It’s tough to, like, get your head above water and get some room to breathe when every day we’re confronted with new traumas,” she says.
We talked to seven Chicagoans about how anti-Asian violence coupled with the pandemic have affected their mental health and their everyday lives. Among them was Kaylee Cong, 32, of Uptown, who manages a nail spa.
On March 20, four days after the Atlanta shootings, Cong says, her 60-year-old Vietnamese father was punched in the head as he walked alone that night near Broadway and West Ainslee Street. He turned to run, saw a white man holding a baseball bat watching him and called 911.
“We’re really scared,” says Cong, who’d been talking with her father about the Georgia shootings the day before he was attacked. “What if the person come back and do revenge? My entire life living here, it was so peaceful. There was no violence like this.”
She says her father hasn’t wanted to leave the house since that happened.
Older Asian Americans “just want to keep quiet and don’t want to make waves,” Cong says. “I have really different mentality. We deserve to, you know, feel safe. And we shouldn’t be afraid to stand up for ourselves.”
9:56 a.m. CPS high school reopening agreement remains elusive
A final high school reopening agreement remains elusive between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union just days before high school teachers are due to return to classrooms — and the union president said Thursday the next few days of negotiations will determine whether workers show up on Monday.
Though the range of issues is smaller and disagreement over those items is not as severe as the hostile K-8 negotiations in February, there are still a few unresolved concerns the union is expressing as COVID-19 infections once again rise in the city.
CPS officials have directed 5,350 high school teachers to return to buildings Monday with or without a CTU agreement, and about 26,000 students in grades 9-12 are expected back the following week.
Whether or not that timeline sticks is dependent on “how outrageous the board’s positions are as we go ahead,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey told a few hundred members at a virtual meeting Thursday that was closed to the public.
“I’ve heard people say, ‘Sharkey, I want a really definitive answer, am I going in on Monday?'” he said. “And my really definitive answer is, it depends on where we’re at.”
8:08 a.m. Spike in COVID-19 cases causes University of Chicago to announce stay-at-home period for students
University of Chicago announced a stay-at-home period for students Wednesday evening following the largest COVID-19 outbreak at the university since the start of the academic year.
After more than 50 cases of the coronavirus were detected among undergraduates in recent days, the university announced that students living on-campus must observe a week-long stay-at-home period immediately.
“We expect this number to increase,” university officials said in an email sent to members of the university community Thursday.
All undergraduate classes will be fully remote for at least a week starting Thursday and students can only leave their residence halls for food, medical appointments and short walks for exercise.
Illinois’ infection rate is still less than a third of what it was during the worst days of the pandemic last fall — but it’s doubled in the last four weeks.
Mike Bryant’s baby boy hit a home run Thursday in Pittsburgh. Doubled, too. That’s a good day for any ballplayer, especially when his team wins. It’s a pretty good day for a ballplayer’s dad as well.
“They’re all good days,” Bryant said. “Kris is a great son.”
A few minutes after the final out of the Cubs’ 4-2 win against the Pirates, the elder Bryant, 62, was on the phone and downplaying the significance of his son’s strong performance at the plate. Even the most talked-about, speculated-about, Tweeted about, loved, doubted, cheered, criticized, walk-year third baseman is going to have good days and bad days, hot streaks and slumps. It’s nothing to get too high or low about.
“This is a contract year for Kris,” Bryant said. “It happens. I don’t sweat it.”
It sounded a bit like what the former NL Rookie of the Year, MVP and three-time All-Star said himself on the next-to-last day of the 2020 regular season: “I don’t give a [expletive]. How about that?”
But we know negative comments about Bryant the player — his production, his durability, his at-bats in the clutch, whatever — have bothered him before, because he has openly acknowledged as much.
And we can be pretty sure they’ve bothered his dad, too, because, well, have you ever been a parent? Or met one?
“Kris and I know he is blessed to be able to play this game with the best players on the planet,” Bryant said. “He and I will never take that for granted. I think the city of Chicago needs to know that, too.”
The Bryants have been a baseball team since the 29-year-old slugger took his first swings as a tiny, smiley tot. No one taught Kris half as much about hitting as his old man, an ex-minor leaguer in the Red Sox organization, and they’re still in this thing together as much as they ever were. For much of the past offseason — after Kris slashed just .206/.293/.351 over a dreadful 34 games in 2020 — they worked in Mike’s batting cage three or four times a week and on the field at the Class AAA ballpark in Las Vegas twice a week.
Mike Bryant in 2017.Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
It was precious time for Mike, who didn’t get to see his son in the flesh while the Cubs were operating in their 2020 pandemic bubble.
“This COVID thing put a squash on that,” he said, “and it has been really painful. Last year was rough. It’s hard because I love to watch him play ball.”
It also was precious time spent with his first grandchild — Kris’ son, Kyler, who celebrated birthday No. 1 Wednesday.
“There’s nothing like it,” Mike said. “Kyler is the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think about when I go to bed at night.”
So: What’s it really like to watch your kid fight for his career and reputation in a contract year?
“I mean, sure, you have some anxiety as a dad and an ex-player,” he allowed.
At least a droplet of sweat, then. As much as he can, though, Mike encourages Kris to let any pressure exist “outside of his own bubble.” Because when the pressure gets in, it can infect things in a hurry. That never seemed to happen in Bryant’s early seasons with the Cubs.
“And what could be worse than having a billboard up before you’ve ever played a game?” Mike said. “Talk about laying all these expectations on him.”
Given the shifts in sentiment and tone toward Bryant, it’s almost funny to remember the giant Adidas billboard of him — “Worth the wait,” it read — that went up across the street from the Wrigley Field marquee after the Cubs sent him down to the minors despite his spectacular spring training in 2015. Bryant wasn’t even in the big leagues, but already he was being viewed as a can’t-miss superstar. His service-time clock hadn’t even started, yet already there were — hey, literally — signs of friction between him and the organization.
Bryant handled seemingly everything with a confident, good-natured ease in 2015, 2016, 2017. But 2018, 2019 and 2020 had their bumps. It all set up the current season as the defining one of Bryant’s career as speeds toward the intersection of potential free agency and his 30s.
“He just tries to get better and just learn,” Mike said. “He gives 100% all the time. He never slacks. I’m just hoping he stays healthy. He’s been snakebitten since May of ’18.
“But for me, really? All I want is to watch my son play baseball for as long as he can.”
Kaylee Cong, 32, whose Vietnamese father was attacked, poses for a portrait outside a nail spa she manages in the Logan Square neighborhood, Saturday afternoon, March 27, 2021. Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
The coronavirus pandemic sparked a mental health crisis. For Asians and Asian Americans also facing a rise in hate incidents across the country, it’s been “trauma upon trauma,” says Anne Saw, a Chicago psychologist.
“A lot of our communities are experiencing so many pandemic stressors that are then compounded by a lot of anti-Asian discrimination that we’re also experiencing,” says Saw, who teaches at DePaul University and directs the Chicago Asian American Psychology Lab.
“It’s tough to, like, get your head above water and get some room to breathe when every day we’re confronted with new traumas,” she says.
We talked to seven Chicagoans about how anti-Asian violence coupled with the pandemic have affected their mental health and their everyday lives. Among them was Kaylee Cong, 32, of Uptown, who manages a nail spa.
On March 20, four days after the Atlanta shootings, Cong says, her 60-year-old Vietnamese father was punched in the head as he walked alone that night near Broadway and West Ainslee Street. He turned to run, saw a white man holding a baseball bat watching him and called 911.
“We’re really scared,” says Cong, who’d been talking with her father about the Georgia shootings the day before he was attacked. “What if the person come back and do revenge? My entire life living here, it was so peaceful. There was no violence like this.”
She says her father hasn’t wanted to leave the house since that happened.
Older Asian Americans “just want to keep quiet and don’t want to make waves,” Cong says. “I have really different mentality. We deserve to, you know, feel safe. And we shouldn’t be afraid to stand up for ourselves.”
12:20 p.m. Riverwalk vendors begin phased reopening Friday
Vendors on the Chicago Riverwalk began a phased-in reopening Friday that will have all vendors open by the end of May.
Island Party Hut, Beat Kitchen on the River and City Winery opened Friday. A new vendor addition this year is Pier 31, which plans to open in May.
“The Riverwalk is not only an important part of our city’s economic engine, but it also adds to the liveliness of our iconic summers,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a news release.
“This reopening serves as yet another indicator of our city’s resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we look forward to making this Chicago staple available to residents and visitors this spring and summer.”
11:05 a.m. Aldermen move to prevent parade permit infighting
With 500 permits issued every year, it’s safe to say that Chicago loves a parade.
On Thursday, the City Council’s Committee on Cultural Affairs and Special Events proved that love by providing a bit of post-pandemic protection.
At Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s behest, aldermen endorsed an ordinance that preserves permit priority for “traditional parades” scheduled at around the same time along the same route “in connection with a specific holiday or consistent theme for at least the prior five years.”
That priority status would remain even though those “traditional parades” were canceled last year because of the coronavirus — and even though none have been held so far this year, either.
Deputy Transportation Commissioner Mike Simon said the goal of the mayor’s ordinance is to prevent the temporary hiatus from opening the door to post-pandemic feuds between parade organizers vying for permits on the same day.
9:56 a.m. CPS high school reopening agreement remains elusive
A final high school reopening agreement remains elusive between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union just days before high school teachers are due to return to classrooms — and the union president said Thursday the next few days of negotiations will determine whether workers show up on Monday.
Though the range of issues is smaller and disagreement over those items is not as severe as the hostile K-8 negotiations in February, there are still a few unresolved concerns the union is expressing as COVID-19 infections once again rise in the city.
CPS officials have directed 5,350 high school teachers to return to buildings Monday with or without a CTU agreement, and about 26,000 students in grades 9-12 are expected back the following week.
Whether or not that timeline sticks is dependent on “how outrageous the board’s positions are as we go ahead,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey told a few hundred members at a virtual meeting Thursday that was closed to the public.
“I’ve heard people say, ‘Sharkey, I want a really definitive answer, am I going in on Monday?'” he said. “And my really definitive answer is, it depends on where we’re at.”
8:08 a.m. Spike in COVID-19 cases causes University of Chicago to announce stay-at-home period for students
University of Chicago announced a stay-at-home period for students Wednesday evening following the largest COVID-19 outbreak at the university since the start of the academic year.
After more than 50 cases of the coronavirus were detected among undergraduates in recent days, the university announced that students living on-campus must observe a week-long stay-at-home period immediately.
“We expect this number to increase,” university officials said in an email sent to members of the university community Thursday.
All undergraduate classes will be fully remote for at least a week starting Thursday and students can only leave their residence halls for food, medical appointments and short walks for exercise.
Illinois’ infection rate is still less than a third of what it was during the worst days of the pandemic last fall — but it’s doubled in the last four weeks.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22432575/CV_UPDATE_040921_02.jpg)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22431992/merlin_96918674.jpg)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22432575/CV_UPDATE_040921_02.jpg)
Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22433016/658120208.jpg)