Bell Bowl Prairie. | Photo by cassi saari

There seems little question that at least a portion of the prairie would qualify for nature preserve dedication, as it is of outstanding ecological quality

Illinois has one of the strongest laws to protect natural areas of any state — the Illinois Natural Areas Preservation Act. The Act provides for dedication of land as nature preserves, and land so dedicated is protected in perpetuity from both private and governmental action. However, dedication requires the affirmative act of the landowner. As of May 2021, there were 412 dedicated nature preserves totaling 61,662 acres in Illinois. This land has been dedicated by the owners, including the State of Illinois, forest preserve districts, and a large number of private owners. Administration of the Act is overseen by the Nature Preserves Commission, consisting of nine unpaid volunteers, and a small professional staff.

Bell Bowl Prairie is owned by the Greater Rockford Airport Authority. There seems little question that at least a portion of the prairie would qualify for nature preserve dedication, as it is of outstanding ecological quality. The prairie is threatened by expansion of the Rockford Airport. However, the airport authority has not requested nature preserve dedication and until it does, there is little the Nature Preserves Commission can do.

SEND LETTERS TO: [email protected]. Please include your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be approximately 350 words or less.

Fortunately, in response to a suit filed in U.S. District Court by the Natural Land Institute, the Airport Authority agreed on Thursday evening to suspend construction until March 1. During that period, the authority will continue to consult with the FAA, Illinois DNR and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to explore alternative designs that will protect the prairie.

The Sun-Times editorial correctly pointed out that the commission has been without a director for six years. During that period, other staff members have performed the duties of that role, in addition to the responsibilities of their customary positions. However, they have been handicapped by the fact that they did not have the authority to represent the commission as its director.

Fortunately, under the leadership of Colleen Callahan and John Rogner, director and assistant director of the Illinois DNR, authority to hire a director has been obtained and the search for one is well underway.

On behalf of the Nature Preserves Commission, I applaud the Sun-Times for its continuing coverage of the commission and its need for the leadership of a director.

George Covington, chair, Illinois Nature Preserves Commission

Redistricting hearings put politics above public interest

As a high school civics teacher, it’s my job to teach our youth about government accountability, separation of powers, fair elections and other principles of American democracy. I testified before the Illinois Redistricting Committee. and I witnessed first-hand how public hearings on redistricting and the input process for under-represented groups was an exercise in name only.

In reality, for me and for other individuals and groups, the redistricting hearings were disingenuous and secretive. Key information was held back, and that only fuels distrust in government and the politicians we elect. The politicians in charge of the remap had their own agenda, and nothing the public said was going to change that.

SEND LETTERS TO: [email protected]. Please include your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be a maximum of approximately 350 words.

We can only hope that the judicial branch can offer a necessary check-and-balance mechanism, and rectify the egregious abuse of power displayed by state legislators who put politicians’ interests over the public good. There is still time for political power to be distributed fairly according to our Constitution and the population guidelines.

The courts could end up deciding this chapter in our history. If and when they do, I sincerely hope it proves we have a political system that is fair and provides justice for all.

Froylan Jimenez, Chicago Public Schools civics teacher, Bridgeport

Carbon pricing the right step to fight climate change

A climate emergency is a fair description of the world after a summer filled with fire, heat, and flooding. The recent article “EPA employees begging President Biden for a climate emergency declaration” is a signal of just how limited the agency’s powers have become in the wake of the previous administration. Although emergency declarations are crucial to empowering the EPA under the current leadership, the way to lasting change is through legislation.

Democrats in Congress are working on a budget reconciliation bill set to be the biggest action on climate change ever undertaken in this country. Congress is considering a powerful emissions-limiting strategy: carbon pricing.

A carbon price has bipartisan support, and would tax oil and natural gas at the source. In doing so, polluters pay for the damage they are doing to our climate. Set correctly, a carbon price could help us reach the key goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 50% nationally by 2030, and set us on the path of being carbon neutral by 2050. It’s important that a carbon dividend — a repayment to American households of carbon price proceeds — be passed as well, so lower- and middle-class households can make the changes necessary to reduce emissions while maintaining the same standard of living.

Emergency declarations can limit damage, but last only as long as the president stays in office. We can take multiple approaches at once. Sen. Dick Durbin and Sen. Tammy Duckworth should continue to advocate strongly for a carbon fee and dividend policy.

We’re running out of time.

Michael Holler, Montclare

Facebook and Meta

Facebook, don’t waste your resources trying to rebrand. Use those resources to reform your practices.

Warren Rodgers Jr., Matteson

Read More

Ed Galvin was the head basketball coach at Fenwick High School from 1969-79. | Courtesy of Fenwick High School

The former Fenwick coach thought of us as his sons.

I was a skinny freshman at Fenwick High School in 1974 when a 6-foot-6 presence with a buzz cut so tight you could have putted on it stopped in front of me in the locker room.

This was Ed Galvin, the school’s varsity basketball coach. Gym class had just ended, and not surprisingly, seeing that he doubled as a gym teacher, we had spent the session playing basketball.

The goal of every unsure, self-conscious 14-year-old is to avoid detection of any kind. So, uh-oh. What had I done wrong?

“Morrissey,” he said.

“Yes, sir?” I said.

“You keep shooting,” he said.

I had two immediate thoughts: 1) How would Galvin, the coach of one of the best teams in the Chicago Catholic League, know who I was? And 2) Keep shooting? Could a shark stop swimming? Could an artist deny his creative side?

The first thought never left me. That an adult would notice me in a positive way meant everything. I felt 7-feet tall, not the 5-8 I was at the time. The second thought was probably my hoops downfall. Perhaps if I had paid attention to defense, ball handling, rebounding or any of the other things that make a basketball player I would have contributed more to the varsity when I was a junior and senior. Or, perhaps, and this is more likely the case, you can’t make a two-toed sloth play shutdown D.

“Yes, sir,” I said.

Then he walked away.

Ed Galvin died last month. He was 88. I had not seen him or talked with him since my senior year, but I always knew that was immaterial. You don’t lose your coaches. They stay with you, no matter where you are and no matter how many years have passed.

He’s in the Catholic League Hall of Fame and the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame for his stops at St. Rita and Fenwick. He became the first men’s basketball coach at Rosary College (now Dominican University), moved on to North Central College and then spent the last 10 years of his career coaching at Illinois Math and Science Academy. When he retired in 1997, he had more than 600 victories. Those are the mileposts of his professional career, the brighter lights of a life devoted to the game. But for many of us who played for him, it’s the smaller, everyday sparks that still give us warmth.

“He expected you to do what he taught you to do, and you know the looks that he gave if you didn’t,” said Pete Stroth, a big, strong teammate of mine at Fenwick. “That head would cock one way or he’d give it a quick shake or he’d put his head down so he could look up at you when he was mad.

“My sisters used to do this imitation of him pulling up his pants, then pushing them down, then going side to side. His nonverbal stuff was legendary.”

Oh, those withering looks. You didn’t want to be on the business end of one of those. Mostly, you didn’t want to carry around the boulder that came with knowing you had let him down. But if he praised you, well, there was no better feeling for a high school kid in need of direction, which is to say every high school kid.

“When I got a big rebound, I’d never look for my parents, anyone in the crowd, some girl I might have been sweet on,” Stroth said. “I was looking at Ed Galvin. He’d give quick nod that said, ‘That a boy.’ And it felt great.”

The big moments for us were wonderful. Led by Brian Liston, who went on to play at Loyola University, we finished second to St. Joseph and Isiah Thomas in the Proviso West Holiday Tournament my senior year. We beat a Westinghouse team that had Mark Aguirre, Skip Dillard and Bernard Randolph.

We lost in triple overtime to undefeated East Leyden in the state tournament, ending our season. You don’t know silence until you’re in a locker room after a game like that.

Tough memories? Yes. Austin’s Eddie Hughes, who would go on to play three seasons in the NBA, stripped me of the ball during a game that year. He got a three-point play out of it because I fouled him on the layup. It was a trifecta of bad. Coach Galvin let me have it in the locker room afterward, and it signaled the end of meaningful minutes the rest of the season. It turned out to be a very good, though very painful lesson: You don’t get everything you want in life. Also: Maybe work on your weaknesses as you journey forward, kid.

These were different times. You weren’t buddies with your coach, not like it is today. No one was dousing Coach Galvin with bottled water in the locker room after a big victory, partly because there wasn’t bottled water back then but mostly because it just wasn’t like that. You’d get a rousing postgame speech from the coach, and you knew you did well.

What I didn’t know then was how much he cared about us.

“My dad loved his players,” said Eileen Galvin Healy, one of Coach’s six children, all girls. “When my mom went in to deliver my youngest sister, the doctor came out and said, ‘Ed, I’m sorry, it’s another girl.’ My dad was offended. He found it ironic to have six daughters because his whole life was surrounded by all the young men he coached, who were like his sons.”

Fifteen years ago, I took a month off from work while I began chemotherapy and radiation treatments for cancer. I was a columnist for the Chicago Tribune at the time. An assistant sports editor told me he picked up a ringing phone in the newsroom one day and heard a gravelly voice on the other end.

“This is Ed Galvin. Where has Rick Morrissey been?”

A few days later, I received a card from the coach and his wife. They had asked the Poor Clares to offer a Mass for me. I also had my wife’s sister’s order, the Carmelites, on my side. It was a full-court spiritual press, and, really, the cancer didn’t have a prayer.

I experienced then some of the same feelings I had when I was a freshman: Coach Galvin remembers me? And he took the time to check in on me? It only would have been better if he had left a message telling me to keep shooting.

I wrote back to him and thanked him and his wife for thinking of me. I told him that I was OK and that I hoped the cancer treatments would somehow be so effective I’d be able to dunk. My name and the term “above the rim” had never been used in the same sentence before.

It wasn’t until 20 years after I graduated from Fenwick that I learned that Coach Galvin was in the Hall of Fame at Loyola University New Orleans for his illustrious playing career and that he was the 55th overall pick in the 1955 NBA Draft for the Syracuse Nationals. He was drafted into the U.S. Army right after that and never played professionally. In his senior year, he averaged 19.9 points and 16.7 rebounds. Astounding numbers.

But what would your typical self-absorbed teenager know of anything outside his knot of immediate concerns? Nothing. I was too concerned with getting through the coach’s demanding practices. At the end of those sessions, he’d have groups of us alternate running around the outside of the court, doing pushups, jumping rope and hopping over rows of folding chairs pushed together like little bridges. It was a sort of basketball Stations of the Cross. Maybe you ran a little harder when you ran past the coaches sitting at one corner of the court. Just maybe.

Before each Fenwick home game, “Sweet Georgia Brown,” the Harlem Globetrotters theme song, would blast over the loudspeakers as we ran on to the court. Another tradition.

“The pride of my dad walking into that gym with his team,” Galvin Healy said. “That’s something I’ll never forget my whole life.”

Neither will I.

Read More

Kenneth Walker III #9 of the Michigan State Spartans is tripped up by Noah Pierre #21 of the Indiana Hoosiers during the second half at Memorial Stadium on October 16, 2021 in Bloomington, Indiana. | Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Bet on it: Top-10 clash has piqued the interest of gamblers, too

LAS VEGAS — For the fifth time, both No. 6 Michigan and No. 8 Michigan State will sport single-digit rankings when they play football Saturday in East Lansing.

The Wolverines won in such a previous meeting, at Michigan State, in 1964, and the Spartans triumphed in Ann Arbor in 1956, 1957 and 1961. Those four victors, though, weren’t national-title factors–an issue we’ll address.

Michigan (7-0) is favored by 4 1/2 points, the total 50 1/2 . BetMGM data analyst John Ewing reported Wednesday that this has been the most heavily bet of the week’s 53 games, with much attention on Michigan State (7-0).

Before the Spartans’ upset victory as 22-point underdogs last season, according to WagerTalk handicapper Ralph Michaels, 45 of the previous 50 games in the series were won by the team with the most rushing yards.

Michigan has averaged 203 yards on the ground in its last three games, Michigan State 184.

“With the added pressure of both teams being undefeated, expect conservative play-calling,” says the Cleveland-based Michaels. “Nine of the past 12 in the series have gone Under. Expect another one here. Under.”

Long Island handicapper Tom Barton takes Michigan, averaging an 11th-best 37.7 points. Michigan State is in the bottom third of the country allowing opponents an average of 423 yards.

“While the Spartans are a good story, I’m more impressed with the fact that the Wolverines have trailed only once all season,” says Barton, a regular on the nationally syndicated SportsGarten radio network.

“And Michigan has won tough road games. I don’t love that Sparty secondary. We know Michigan will run the ball, but if the Wolverines find success in the air they might win this going away.”

Of much more significance, can Saturday’s victor defeat Ohio State, which hosts Michigan State on Nov. 20 and visits Ann Arbor on Nov. 27, win a Big Ten title game and eke into the national-playoff picture?

Yes, says Barton, who believes Ohio State is vulnerable against run-heavy teams that control the clock. “But I wouldn’t bet against the Buckeyes.”

At Vegas sportsbooks, the Wolverines are 40-1 to win the national championship, the Spartans 100-1. Ohio State is about +700.

Until Michigan or Michigan State breaks through that scarlet-and-gray barrier, their rivalry will continue being a sometimes-cute parochial affair.

SUMMER WINDFALLS

The call arrived late last Saturday night. San Diego State, the alma mater, had beaten Air Force to remain undefeated. The pal asked, What was your windfall on those Aztecs?

Nope, I said. I’d never jinx the lads like that.

However, that outcome did pay off, courtesy of Kenny White’s College Football Power Ratings magazine.

The second-generation Vegas bookmaker’s third edition arrived in late June and was packed with player and team ratings, the projected scores of every game and a squad’s probable victory range.

Two weeks later, Station Casinos released its regular-season win totals. I compared those numbers with Kenny’s projections to earmark, and bet on, the largest discrepancies.

Stations had the Aztecs at 6 1/2 victories. White had them going 12-0, with a total

near 9 by factoring in win probabilities. Add those, divide by two.

Taking Over at -120 (risk $120 to gain $100, for example) represented an immense four-win value cushion.

That is the wager I won Saturday, when the Aztecs improved to 7-0.

Washington State (Under 6 1/2 , -155), Northwestern (Under 6 1/2 , -120), BYU (Over 6 1/2 , -140), Army (Under 7 1/2 , -110) and Michigan State (Over 4 1/2 , -125) were the other midsummer value plays.

At 7-0, the Spartans have already cashed, too. BYU is 6-2, and it’s favored Saturday at home against Virginia and will likely thrash Idaho State, also in Provo, next Saturday.

Northwestern, at 3-4, can go an unlikely 3-2 the rest of the way and I still win. Army (4-3) will pay dividends if it flops against Liberty, and Air Force or Navy.

Should Washington State (4-4) have difficulty, as expected, at Arizona State and Oregon, that ducat pays, too. Plus, White pegged 0-7 UNLV to go winless. I nabbed Under 1 1/2 at Even.

A possible 7-0 bounty from some midsummer homework.

Grazie, Mr. White.

PHI BETA BETTA

The tickets were from 2019, so it’s understandable why the writer hesitated cashing them a couple of months ago.

Jay Kornegay, executive vice president of the Westgate SuperBook, had made some wagers at a South Point affiliate, likely Rampart Casino, and forgotten them.

As 2019 became the mayhem of 2020, that’s understandable, too. Kornegay found them. When he hit the snag, he gave them to oddsman Vinny Magliulo, who works with South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrews.

That trio has more than a century in the bookmaking business.

Magliulo gave the tickets to Andrews, who would text Kornegay — Jay, I have an envelope here for you. Kornegay responded, ‘Give it to your ticket writers.’

A “not insignificant” amount, says Andrews. Tips are split among all writers.

Kornegay opted for discretion, only telling me that writers at every sportsbook have difficult gigs and deserve occasional unexpected gifts.

“I’m sure it’ll be one of the better tips they’ll get all year,” says Andrews. “We pay any tickets. If you have them and we can verify them, you’ll get paid.”

He could not recall a similar scenario.

“A class move. Jay did a helluva thing. We’re competitors, out there fighting tooth and nail for every customer we can get. But we’re also a pretty good fraternity.”

Read More

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Sky star’s season with Russian team is just beginning, plus she needs to determine if she wants to retire

Seven days after celebrating her first WNBA title, Allie Quigley was at her apartment in Russia gearing up for her season with UMMC Ekaterinburg.

Quigley will be there for just seven days before she’ll return to the U.S. for a two-week break in her EuroLeague schedule.

Approaching what will be her 15th professional season, Quigley is still driven by the joy she gets playing this game.

“Watching the NBA the other day a little part of me was missing it already after just a week off,” Quigley said. “I still really do feel a joy playing. Especially when you can get to a point like we did with the Sky, where it’s fun. We were all playing our roles.”

Of course, what isn’t fun about bringing the first WNBA title to a city that is near your hometown. Quigley grew up 50 miles southwest of Chicago in Joliet and played four years for Doug Bruno at DePaul.

The easy answer is nothing, but the Sky know the 2021 season wasn’t easy and it definitely wasn’t always fun. For Quigley, the year started with a minor hamstring injury that sidelined her for six games, five of which were losses.

Back healthy, Quigley was coming off the bench early. It was a role she didn’t complain about. By the second half of the season, Quigley was back with the starting five, and it was clear that’s exactly where she belonged.

Through the Sky’s championship run, Quigley averaged 15.2 points on 41.7% shooting.

So, what gets discussed between a veteran and her coach in an exit meeting after a championship season? When you’re nearly 15 years into your WNBA career, areas of improvement aren’t the main focal point.

Instead, Quigley and Sky coach/general manager James Wade recapped the season and how far the organization has come.

The future was on the table along with the 2021 WNBA Championship trophy.

WNBA free agency begins in January and Wade has four players on guaranteed contracts for 2022: Candace Parker ($195,000) Azura Stevens ($140,000), Ruthy Hebard and Dana Evans.

In her exit interview, Quigley told Wade she’s only interested in playing for the Sky. The question for her is whether or not she is ready to retire.

“I’ve been going year by year,” Quigley said. “I’m going to let the championship settle in and think about that in a month or so, how I want to end [my career].”

Quigley said she’s still unsure on what the end to her professional basketball career will look like. She has gone back-and-forth on the idea and wants to let her emotions settle before making any decision.

Right now, she’s enjoying being a champion and all that comes with it.

She and her wife/teammate, Courtney Vandersloot, received their first championship partnership offer from Coors Light shortly after winning the title. It’s the only partnership deal they’ve received since beating Phoenix in four games.

When she returns to Chicago for her two-week break from UMMC Ekaterinburg, she’ll be honored at DePaul’s women’s basketball home opener against Texas Southern on Nov. 9.

Quigley and Vandersloot had a goal long before Wade joined the organization. Before Diamond DeShields was drafted third overall and Kahleah Copper and Stefanie Dolson arrived in a blockbuster trade. They wanted to make the Sky an attractive location for free agents.

They succeeded in making it attractive for Parker. And after securing the franchise’s first-ever title to become the 10th WNBA championship franchise, they may have solidified Chicago as a top WNBA market to play in.

The 2022 WNBA free-agency period will be telling.

“It’s unbelievable,” Quigley said. “I’m happy that Chicago got this championship and got to experience it.”

Read More

The lobby space within House of Prayer Church of God in Christ, a building that is the former Central Park Theater, 3535 W. Roosevelt Road. | Central Park Theater Restoration Committee photo

A historic West Side venue that led to the lavish movie palaces of the 1920s should be preserved.

The Chicago Theatre turned 100 years old last week, which is a milestone worth celebrating, given the venue narrowly dodged demolition to become a cornerstone of the downtown live theater district.

With the Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St., motion picture theater owners Balaban & Katz and their architects, C.W. & George Rapp, created a striking French Revival movie palace that put on a show before the the film even began.

But many of the elements perfected in the Chicago Theatre were brought to bear by the same team four years earlier with the construction of their first movie palace, the Central Park Theater, in the North Lawndale community.

There’s a movement underway to seek landmark status for the building, 3535 W. Roosevelt Road, which has been House of Prayer Church of God in Christ since 1971.

We’d like to see this happen. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but a local designation would help draw more attention to this important but lesser-known structure.

And it certainly couldn’t hurt current efforts to raise money to reopen and restore the 104-year-old building.

Nation’s first mechanically air conditioned theater

Built in 1917, the exterior of the three-story brick and terra cotta building on Roosevelt Road isn’t visually lavish compared with the movie palaces Balaban & Katz and their architects Rapp & Rapp would create a few short years later — although the interior comes pretty close.

But in their first theater, B&K and the Rapps deliver many of the goods that would make their venues famous.

For instance, the 1,800-seat Central Park was the nation’s first mechanically air-conditioned theater. And the Rapps took advantage of new high-strength steel to design balconies that didn’t need main floor support columns.

The unobstructed views became a feature of the dozens of B&K theaters that would follow, including the Uptown, the Tivoli — located on 63rd Street near Cottage Grove Avenue — and the Chicago Theatre.

In 1926, B&K merged with Famous Players-Lasky, creating a new company, Paramount-Publix, that was then the world’s largest theater operator.

“As a result, the innovations pioneered at the Central Park — the design of lavish theater buildings in outlying commercial centers, live stage shows, outstanding service and the novel use of air conditioning — were applied on a national scale to hundreds of theaters from coast to coast,” according to the National Register nomination documents from 2005.

Built when North Lawndale was primarily Jewish, the theater remained a community focal point when Black people became the majority of the neighborhood’s residents beginning in the 1960s.

Under a new banner as House of Prayer Church of God in Christ, the venue became a popular spot for major gospel music acts of the day such as Shirley Caesar and the Mighty Clouds of Joy, the church’s current senior pastor, Robert Marshall, told Block Club Chicago in 2020.

“It was known as the gospel headquarters of Chicago,” Marshall said. “All of those top groups, that’s where they came, to House of Prayer. Everybody in Chicago knew.”

A comeback for the old Central Park?

The former theater isn’t under threat of demolition, but it is in disrepair — so much so, the building is shuttered due to code violations.

Though worn, the interior retains much of its original magnificence, however.

A coalition of North Lawndale residents, House of Prayer, preservationists and others have formed the Central Park Theater Restoration Committee to raise money and awareness about the building’s history and figure out possible future uses.

City landmark status would significantly protect the building from demolition while this important work gets done.

Given Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration’s plans to redevelop the Ogden Avenue corridor in North Lawndale through the Invest South/West program, it’s clear the city has its eyes on the neighborhood.

We hope a landmark designation protecting the former Central Park Theater can happen as well.

And back to the Chicago Theatre, reaching the century mark last week.

The theater was slated for demolition in 1985. Then, Chicago Theatre Restoration Associates stepped in and spent millions restoring it.

Frank Sinatra sang at the theater’s 1986 reopening.

That’s the kind of ending we’d like to see for the old Central Park.

Send letters to [email protected]

Read More

The young bull bison quickly acclimated to the holding pen and began eating within minutes of arriving at Kankakee Sands. | Dale Bowman

Ten young bull bison arrived and acclimated well at Kankakee Sands, one of three sites near Chicago with reintroduced wild bison.

MOROCCO, Ind.–The lead bison stuck its shaggy brown head out the back of Eric Schier’s cattle-hauling tractor trailer, took a tentative step toward the loading chute, then backed up.

After 10 minutes of this, Schier climbed his trailer, then lugged a bag of sawdust from a compartment to spread on the new chute.

Bingo, two bull bison lumbered out single file, shortly eight others followed.

“I’ve been waiting for this day,” said Garet Litwiler, conservation technician/bison manager, who built the chute.

The 10 bulls (two 2-year-olds, eight 3-year-olds) from Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota spread out in the holding pen at Efroymson Restoration at Kankakee Sands. Like teenage boys opening a refrigerator, the bison began grazing.

“I’m looking for signs of stress and don’t see it: no tongues hanging out and no tails are up,” site manager Trevor

Dale Bowman
A just arrived young bison bull eyes grazes in the holding pen after arrival at Kankakee Sands.

The 10 bulls will provide fresh DNA to the 100-plus bison established and roaming 1,100 acres at Kankakee Sands, 8,400 acres of prairies, wetlands, and savanna, owned and managed by the Indiana chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

“We’re getting to the point where it is hard to grow in size,” Edmonson said. “We need genetic diversity. This is an opportunity to get new animals for our herd. We don’t want animals born here to breed with animals born here.”

TNC, with six satellite herds, has a unique relationship with Wind Cave to help it reach its genetic conservation goals. Kankakee Sands is the farthest east satellite.

“As a web of networked herds, we can trade animals back and forth as we grow to keep the genetic pool as intact as possible,” Edmonson emailed later.

The Chicago area has three nearby sites (two TNC) with reestablished bison.

It started with 30 in October, 2014 at another TNC site, Nachusa Grasslands, about 100 miles and two hours driving west of downtown Chicago. Edmonson noted TNC is second only to Ted Turner as a producer of wild bison.

“When they started [bison at Nachusa], I told my dad that I wanted to do that,” said Schier, of Mount Morris, who was on his third trip to and from Wind Cave.

I understand that appeal. Bison are awesome brutes and our national mammal.

In October, 2015, 27 bison were introduced as a 20-year experiment in restoring the native tallgrass prairie at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, about 50 miles and an hour drive southwest of downtown.

In October, 2016, 23 bison were introduced to help manage prairies at Kankakee Sands, about 70 miles and an hour and a half drive south of downtown. The site provides critical habitat for more than 600 species of native plants, 70 butterfly species and 250 bird species.

Kankakee Sands staff wrote that bison prefer grazing grasses and sedges, giving an advantage to flowering plants and the insects and animals that those plants support. Grazing also lowers the height of vegetation, providing habitat for such rare birds as the upland sandpiper.

When bison wallow, they create shallow depressions, which fill with rainwater and can provide habitat for amphibians, reptiles, insects and early successional plants.

Edmonson compared that diversity to the diversity they want for their bison.

Litwiler said hair samples were sent to Texas A&M for genetic analysis.

“We have a pretty good idea of the family tree here,” Edmonson said.

From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. next Saturday (National Bison Day), Nov 6, Kankakee Sands staff and volunteer bison rangers will talk to visitors at the bison viewing area about bison, the corral and the Wind Cave partnership.

For more about visiting or volunteering, contact Edmonson at [email protected].

Read More

Former Blackhawks president John McDonough hasn’t spoken publicly in 18 months. | Nam Y. Huh/AP file photo

McDonough hasn’t spoken publicly even once since his firing as Blackhawks president, much less since an investigation revealed he led the Hawks’ efforts to cover up alleged sexual assault.

Where is John McDonough?

It has been 18 months since the harsh, arguably dictatorial man was fired from his post as Blackhawks president.

It has been five months since Kyle Beach’s lawsuit first told the world an alleged sexual assault had occurred in May 2010, on McDonough’s watch.

It has been three days since an independent investigation concluded that McDonough not only knew about former video coach Brad Aldrich’s alleged sexual assault of Beach but also hosted and took charge of a meeting where Hawks executives discussed the allegations and chose not to report Aldrich for weeks.

And still, McDonough — for decades one of the most powerful figures in Chicago sports — has not come up for air, has not made any public comments, has not pointed fingers elsewhere to try to justify his actions (a la general manager Stan Bowman) and certainly has not accepted accountability for his grievous error that ruined Beach’s career.

He has not responded to countless interview requests, by the Sun-Times and surely other media outlets. He hasn’t even released a vague, pre-written statement like the one the Hawks posted the day after his firing, the last time he was heard from.

It was already clear, based on his 13-year reign in which success was measured by only wins and profits, that McDonough is a merciless man.

Now it’s clear he’s also a coward.

When he jumped from the Cubs’ presidency to the Hawks’ in 2007 — arriving at the United Center as abruptly and shockingly as he left in 2020 — he ushered in tremendous change. On the surface, much of it was welcomed: Marketing increased dramatically, the on-ice product improved dramatically, and fans flocked to the Hawks bandwagon.

But behind the scenes, McDonough showed little empathy for the human elements of the organization. He created a cold, rigid internal work environment and exercised his power constantly and universally.

Employees interviewed in the Jenner & Block investigation described him as “extremely controlling and wanting to be — and being — the final decision-maker” on virtually everything.

McDonough, if he ever does speak, probably wouldn’t refute that description. That control fueled him. In a 2013 Sun-Times interview reflecting on his 2008 and 2009 firing spree and fans’ impression of him as “ruthless,” he essentially admitted so.

“If that’s a byproduct of winning, of ‘One Goal,’ then when it’s all said and done, that’s the way it has to be,” McDonough said at the time. “This job is not for the faint of heart.”

Or seemingly, considering his actions, for those with any heart at all.

His handling of the Aldrich situation is therefore hardly surprising, albeit deplorable. When told on May 23, 2010, of the alleged assault, McDonough instead referenced the Cubs’ championship drought and said “the Blackhawks might never make it this far in the playoffs again, and that they needed to think about when to handle the issue,” Bowman told investigators.

At the meeting’s end, McDonough told others to “leave it to” him,” the investigation found. He then took no action until finally reporting Aldrich to human resources on June 14, at which time he said he’d “decided not to alert [HR] or outside legal counsel and to not do anything about the incident during the playoffs so as not to ‘disturb team chemistry,’ ” the investigation found.

Yet when interviewed himself by investigators this summer, McDonough — per usual of late — had nothing to say. The investigation report more delicately states he expressed “virtually no recollection of the discussion after the issue had been raised.”

As irresponsible as all involved in the 2010 meeting were, and as bad as many others in the organization have looked during its fallout this year, McDonough shoulders by far the greatest culpability.

His reputation hasn’t been merely tainted. It has been deservedly demolished.

And he’s evidently not even willing to apologize.

Read More

Allen Robinson celebrates a catch against the Raiders. | Photo by Chris Unger/Getty Images

They’re stuck in the middle. Here are moves they could make at the deadline — but won’t — to change that.

The Bears need to be bold at the trade deadline.

Before 3 p.m. Tuesday, they have an opportunity to get younger and cheaper and rebuild their cache of draft capital to more closely match the timeframe of rookie quarterback Justin Fields. They need to admit that they don’t have a playoff-caliber team, much less a championship one, and plan for 2022.

They won’t do it.

Despite the claims for the last 11 months by coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace that they would do what was best for the franchise, their own jobs are at stake. They’re motivated to be slightly better in the short term rather than build for next season.

In January — amazingly, it was the last news conference he has given — chairman George McCaskey laid out what he and president/CEO Ted Phillips would look for in deciding their futures.

“Ted used the word ‘improvement,’ ” McCaskey said then. “I use the word ‘progress.’ I think they’re similar. I think all four of us will know whether there’s been sufficient improvement — or sufficient progress — to continue past 2021.”

Selling off the team’s veterans would not be interpreted as progress, even though the Bears need picks. Because of the Fields trade, the Giants own the Bears’ first- and fourth-round picks next year. The Bears have picks in Rounds 2, 3, 5 and 6 — and an extra fifth-rounder from the Anthony Miller trade.

The trade left the Bears no incentive to bottom out this season; each loss only helps the Giants’ draft order.

They’re stuck in the middle, then. Here are moves they could make at the deadline — but won’t — to change that:

Free A-Rob

Through seven games — 5 1/2 of which have featured Fields at quarterback — Allen Robinson has 23 receptions for 250 yards and one touchdown. By contrast, he had 17 catches for 224 yards and two touchdowns in a two-game span last year.

No one has been more harmed by the Bears’ broken offense — or by playing preseason snaps with Andy Dalton instead of Fields — than Robinson. It’s nothing short of shocking, given that Robinson has shined despite uneven quarterback play by Mitch Trubisky and Blake Bortles over the years.

The Bears should trade him. They need to find out if another team can bring the best out of Robinson over the last 2 1/2 months of the season — and how much they’d be willing to give up for the privilege.

The asking price likely would start at a third-round pick, which the Bears will probably receive as a compensatory draft selection if Robinson leaves via free agency. Compensatory picks fall at the end of the round; a pick sent over from another team would not.

Then there’s Robinson salary — the Bears are paying Robinson about $1 million per game. Whoever trades for him would have to free up salary-cap space to fit in $9 million.

Before the Bears’ offense broke completely, though, Robinson had 3,151 receiving yards over three seasons. Not many players like Robinson are available — particularly with no financial obligation beyond the season’s end. The combination of salary and draft-pick compensation would probably prove too rich for teams, though.

As it is, it’s fair to wonder who exactly is benefitting from the current situation. Not Robinson, who needs the gaudy receiving stats to land a contract this offseason — unless the Bears put the franchise tag on him for a second straight year, which seems unlikely. Fields hasn’t gained much, either — he’s not in sync with Robinson and seems to have a better connection with second-year wide receiver Darnell Mooney.

Listen on David Montgomery

Montgomery — who is nearing the end of an injured-reserve stint because of a knee sprain — ranks sixth in the NFL with 77.3 rushing yards per game, behind only Derrick Henry, Nick Chubb, Dalvin Cook, Ezekiel Elliott and Jonathan Taylor. He finished fifth in rushing yards last year. A physical runner, he’s the heartbeat of the Bears’ offense. And yet …

Running backs have proved to be replaceable. Montgomery’s physical style might not age well. His contract expires at the end of next season; will the Bears want to pay him like a top-12 running back? If the answer is no, the Bears have to listen if teams call to check on Montgomery’s availability. He’d be a clear upgrade for the playoff-bound Ravens, Rams, Bills and Cardinals. Would they trade a late second-rounder for him?

Rookie Khalil Herbert has proved the last three weeks that the Bears have a replacement already on the roster. If Herbert runs for 31 or more yards in his fourth game as a featured back Sunday, he’ll surpass Montgomery’s rushing yards over the four games in which he was healthy.

Trading Montgomery would sting. But doing so would be the best chance for the Bears to land a second-day draft pick. Khalil Mack is hurt — and expensive. Robert Quinn is pricey, too. Akiem Hicks is in the final year of his contract but has been battling a groin injury. Danny Trevathan can’t start on his own team.

Trade a quarterback

Despite having the worst offense in football, the Bears boast the most competent second-string quarterback in the league and the most accomplished third-stringer in the history of the game.

Backup Andy Dalton has started 144 games in 11 years. Third-stringer Nick Foles is a former Super Bowl MVP. Both can be had.

The Bears certainly will be watching this weekend to see if any starting quarterback around the league suffers a significant injury.

They have been open to trading Foles since the spring but won’t send him somewhere he doesn’t deem a good fit. They wouldn’t get much for him. On Monday, the Eagles sent quarterback Joe Flacco to the Jets, who gave up a 2022 sixth-round pick that could convert to a fifth-rounder based on playing time. Flacco is on a one-year deal; Foles has a $4 million roster bonus and a $4 million base salary due next season, although only $1 million of the base salary is guaranteed.

If the Bears move Foles, they’d like to re-sign Dalton to back up Fields next year. Dalton, though, could be intriguing to a team scrambling to replace a starter between Sunday and Tuesday’s deadline. Getting a fourth-round pick for 2 1/2 months of Dalton would be a win.

Read More

Three teens were among 11 wounded in citywide shootings Friday. | Sun-Times file

A 15-year-old boy was in serious condition after being shot in the head while traveling in Chicago Lawn.

Three teens were among 11 wounded by gunfire in Chicago Friday.

A 15-year-old was shot and seriously wounded in Chicago Lawn on the South Side. The teen was a passenger in a car traveling in the 3200 block of West 63rd Street about 12:05 a.m. when he was shot in the back by someone in a white sedan, Chicago police said. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was in serious condition, police said.
A 16-year-old boy was wounded in a shooting Friday in Back of the Yards on the South Side. The teen was near the street about 2 p.m. in the 5200 block of South Hermitage Avenue when someone opened fire, striking him in the thigh, police said. He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition, police said.
Another 16-year-old was shot about five hours later waiting for a friend on the Near West Side. The teen was standing outside waiting for a friend about 7:30 p.m. in the 300 block of South Western Avenue when someone in the back seat of a black Kia fired shots, police said. He was struck in the thigh and was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center in good condition, police said.

Eight others were wounded in shootings in Chicago Friday.

Two people were killed and at least nine others were wounded in shootings in Chicago Thursday.

Read More

A 16-year-old boy was shot October 29, 2021 in the Near West Side. | Adobe File Photo

The teen was standing outside waiting for a friend about 7:30 p.m. in the 300 block of South Western Avenue when someone in the back seat of a black Kia fired shots.

A 16-year-old boy was shot while waiting for a friend Friday night in the Near West Side.

The teen was standing outside waiting for a friend about 7:30 p.m. in the 300 block of South Western Avenue when someone in the back seat of a black Kia fired shots, Chicago police said.

He was struck in the thigh and was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center in good condition, police said.

Area Four detectives are investigating.

Read More