Strome has been a healthy scratch for all four Blackhawks games this season. | AP Photos

Strome’s four consecutive healthy scratches are unfair to him, contributing to the Hawks’ on-ice struggles and illogically even hurting his trade value.

Dylan Strome gamely participated in Blackhawks practice Wednesday.

For a month now, that’s basically all Strome has done — all he has been allowed to do. A healthy scratch for each of the Hawks’ first four regular-season games, Strome appears permanently stuck in that purgatory.

The Hawks made that very clear when they elected to call up AHL forward Mike Hardman to reshuffle the lineup Tuesday rather than dress Strome. Fellow scratch Adam Gaudette also seems ahead of Strome in the pecking order.

Coach Jeremy Colliton and general manager Stan Bowman have both been pressed hard about why Strome hasn’t played and what he can do to change his fate. Every time, Colliton and Bowman have less-than-deftly avoided the question and changed the subject.

Asked Monday, Colliton led by saying he’s “trying to find the right combination” of forwards, then ironically and inexplicably began talking about Hardman instead of Strome. On Tuesday, Colliton said there’s essentially nothing Strome can do to argue his case.

“What we talk to him [about is]…he’s got to practice hard, prepare to play,” Colliton said. “That’s what he can do. And then the lineup, that’s up to us. [We’ve] got to figure out daily what we think is our best chance to win. That’s it.”

Hardman will miss Thursday’s game against the Canucks due to a head laceration, but Colliton was noncommittal if even Hardman’s absence would give Strome a chance.

The ravine between Strome and Colliton has been widening for a while — ever since Colliton scratched the 24-year-old forward four times late last season and Strome publicly expressed his frustration about it.

This offseason seemed to rejuvenate Strome, though. He learned to juggle to improve his faceoff skills, hoping that’d help him stick at his preferred position of center.

He entered training camp optimistic. He loved the energy of fans’ return in the preseason, calling warmups on Oct. 1 “more exciting than our whole last year.” After scratching him opening night, Colliton said Strome told him, “When I come in, I’m not coming out.”

But that enthusiasm has made no difference. Strome remains squarely outside of the Hawks’ plans.

It’s unquestionably an unfair and untenable situation for Strome himself. The former third overall pick has lots of talent and a lengthy track record of offensive success, with 106 points in 156 career Hawks games. Yet he’s stuck on the fringe of the NHL roster, involuntarily wasting away a crucial season of his prime.

It’s inhibiting the rest of the team, too, to not have one of their better players at their disposal.

Strome’s scratches aren’t the reason for the Hawks’ dreadful 0-3-1 start, but he could’ve helped. The Hawks have been outscored 15-3 at even strength; Strome has averaged 2.29 points per 60 even-strength minutes the last three seasons, fifth-best on the team. At minimum, it’s certainly not like 12 other forwards have been playing too well to take out of the lineup.

This situation is even steadily reducing Strome’s trade value, which makes particularly little sense because trade talks — which could be derailed by injury — are likely the true reason for Strome’s exclusion.

Bowman has been casually shopping Strome since the spring, and there’s no shortage of well-matched suitors. The Ducks have long been interested in him as a young playmaker who could aid their rebuild. The Senators were previously connected to him. The Canadiens, Wild and Rangers need center help and would all make sense; going to the Rangers, for example, would unite him with his older brother, Ryan.

Why Bowman didn’t pull the trigger on a Strome trade this summer is perplexing, considering how not doing so created this current mess. Why Bowman and Colliton want to jettison Strome at all is confusing in its own right.

But why the current mess has been allowed to become this universally damaging is most illogical of all.

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Illinois Gaming Board chairman Charles Schmadeke, pictured at an August 2019 board meeting. The board voted to advance two south suburban casino proposals Wednesday. | Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times

Regulators on Wednesday advanced proposals from Matteson and a site straddling Homewood and East Hazel Crest. The final selection is expected to be made by early next year.

The south suburban casino race is down to a pair.

Nearly two years after applications were submitted to open a south suburban gambling temple, state regulators on Wednesday narrowed the field of four casino hopefuls down to two competing proposals: one at a site straddling the border of Homewood and East Hazel Crest, and another in Matteson.

The Illinois Gaming Board voted 4-0 to advance those bids and reject pitches from Calumet and Lynwood, with board chairman Charles Schmadeke saying during a virtual meeting that the culling was based on “the quality of the development presentation, and the support to and from the local community.”

The Gaming Board is expected to make a final selection for the long-coveted casino license by early 2022.

The Homewood-East Hazel Crest bid is led by Alabama-based Wind Creek Hospitality, part of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, which runs 10 gambling operations in Alabama, Florida, Nevada, Pennsylvania and the Caribbean island of Curacao. During a public presentation last week, project partners said they’d build a $300 million, 64,000-square-foot casino near 175th Street and Halsted Street off Interstate 80, along with a 21-story hotel and an entertainment center.

Provided by Wind Creek Hospitality
Artist’s rendering of a casino proposed by Wind Creek Hospitality just off Interstate 80 near 175h Street and Halsted, straddling the border of suburban Homewood and East Hazel Crest.

“This development promises to be the best in and for the entire Southland region — with job creation, economic and community investment, sustained operational excellence, and a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion in all phases of construction and operation,” Wind Creek CEO Jay Dorris said in an email.

The group is represented by former gaming board general counsel Donna More, who also launched a failed bid to unseat Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in the 2020 Democratic primary election.

The Matteson bid is led by Hinsdale businessman Rob Miller and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a Native American tribe that runs 22 casinos. They’re calling for a $300 million complex at the shuttered Lincoln Mall at Lincoln Highway and Cicero Avenue. It would include a 123,000-square foot casino, 200-room hotel and a convention center, partners said.

Provided
A rendering of a casino proposed for the corner of Cicero Avenue and Lincoln Highway in Matteson.

Matteson Village President Sheila Chalmers-Currin noted that colleagues in the Southland Regional Mayoral Black Caucus voted to back her town’s bid.

“We are pleased and extremely excited,” Chalmers-Currin said. “I think the Gaming Board saw the commitment to diversity and the community in this project.”

The failed Calumet City bid was backed by two-sport legend Bo Jackson as well as suburban entrepreneur Dan Fischer – who has already landed himself a new casino in Rockford despite a Gaming Board investigation of his video gambling empire.

Project manager Timothy Hughes said in an email: “We are disappointed that our proposal — which would open a temporary casino in 90 days to immediately begin revitalizing the economic engine of Calumet City and had extensive community support plus a strong operator with a proven track record — was deemed insufficient to proceed to the next round.”

The Ho-Chunk Nation was behind the Lynwood proposal, which was opposed by Mayor Jada Curry, who took office a year and a half into the slow-moving selection process. Representatives for the group didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Gaming Board is also weighing two finalists for a new casino license earmarked for north suburban Waukegan. Las Vegas developer Full House Resorts is up against Lakeside Casino LLC, a company led by former Grayslake state Sen. Michael Bond, who already has his own video gaming company. A selection is also expected by early next year.

It’s all part of the massive gambling expansion signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2019 that promises to add six casinos to Illinois’ current field of 10. The Rockford casino and another in downstate Williamson County have already received preliminary approvals. Another is in the pipeline for Danville, and applications to run a Chicago megacasino are due to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office by next week.

The two remaining south suburban bidders are expected to address the Gaming Board at a special meeting next week.

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It’s not good when photos of the last great quarterback in team history are in black and white. Sid Luckman retired as a Bear in 1950.

The Bears, who haven’t had a star QB since Sid Luckman, face Tom Brady on Sunday.

Last week it was the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers, this week it’s the Buccaneers’ Tom Brady and maybe now is a good time to talk about Chicago’s horrible case of quarterback envy.

It is not breaking news, just heartbreaking, to Bears fans that their team hasn’t had a star quarterback since the 1940s and ’50s. If it were a history book, it would be titled, “From Sid Luckman to Rex Grossman to Bad Luck, Man.”

Jim McMahon was more than promising, until he was Charles Martin-ed into Soldier Field’s then-artificial turf in 1986. Most everyone else who has stepped under center for the Bears came with the ominous scouting notation “can’t possibly be worse than the last guy.” The Bears haven’t drafted a great quarterback, haven’t traded for one, haven’t signed one and haven’t tripped over one on the way to the grocery story. We’ll get to their latest QB in a moment, so holster your typing fingers, Justin Fields fanatics.

You’d think that the Bears would have stumbled upon at least one very good quarterback over the years. Many franchises have, either through astuteness or good fortune. They either have a great quarterback now or have had one. The Seahawks have Russell Wilson. The Dolphins still are struggling to find a QB, but they and their fans were once blessed with Dan Marino. The Cardinals have Kyler Murray, and the Broncos used to have John Elway and the last fumes of Peyton Manning. The Bills have Josh Allen and had Jim Kelly.

The Bears had Sid Luckman.

They’re not alone in their quarterback aridity, but it’s no surprise most of the franchises that haven’t had a great quarterback have been strangers to championship football.

Is it harder to find one of the best quarterbacks of all time in the sixth round of the NFL draft, as the Patriots did with Brady in 2000, or go 70-plus years without a star quarterback, as the Bears have? Probably the Brady “discovery,” but whiffing on a quarterback for seven decades has an incredibly high degree of difficulty. You have to be consistently and spectacularly bad at evaluating talent to do that.

Fields could turn out to be great, which would break the Bears’ run of 10,552 unremarkable QBs during the Rodgers-Brett Favre era in Green Bay. But right now, despite what his earnest backers keep insisting, we just don’t know yet about the kid. Bears coach Matt Nagy noted that several of Fields’ throws in the loss to the Packers last week were “special.” Given that Nagy tried to sell us hard on the idea of Mitch Trubisky being special, you might want to take that with a shaker full of salt.

My first instinct is to tell Bears fans to ease up on their enthusiasm over Fields. That way, they’ll suffer less emotional damage if he turns out to be not so special. Then I think about the vacuum at quarterback since Luckman retired in 1950 and I’m a bit more understanding of why grown men and women would line up just for a chance to touch the fringe of Fields’ garment.

But until he indeed turns out to be the Great Healer, the Bears are going to be subjected to afternoons like last Sunday, when Rodgers ran for a touchdown, then screamed to Soldier Field fans: “All my [bleeping] life, I own you! I own you! I still own you!” A very public declaration like that one is not easily forgotten. It certainly was on Brady’s mind Monday, when he brought up the ownership issue on his SiriusXM show.

“Before we get started, I wanted to say congrats to Aaron Rodgers, obviously,” he said. “I know he’s a great quarterback, but I guess he’s now a shareholder of the Bears. I saw a clip of him really enthusiastically telling the crowd how happy he is to own Soldier Field. That’s really great stuff. He owns (1% of) the Bucks now. Part-owner of Soldier Field. He’s got a great career beyond football.”

So hurtful!

And so true!

The sad truth is that the Bears’ inability to beat Rodgers has now become a national punch line. So has their chronic quarterback problems, brought on by poor scouting, rotten luck and, I don’t know, a Vitamin Q deficiency.

The 49ers had Joe Montana and Steve Young. The Chiefs have Patrick Mahomes. The Saints had Drew Brees. The Ravens have Lamar Jackson. You know whom the Packers have and have had.

The Bears had Sid Luckman. Maybe someday the Bears will have the great Justin Fields.

Until then, one question as it relates to quarterbacks in Chicago:

Why can’t we have nice things?

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A person was shot dead Oct. 20, 2021, in Logan Square. | Adobe Stock Photo

About 1:45 p.m., a male was on the sidewalk in the 2100 block of North Central Park Avenue when a dark-colored vehicle pulled up and someone got out, pulled out a gun and fired shots, Chicago police said.

A person was fatally shot Wednesday in Logan Square on the Northwest Side.

About 1:45 p.m., a male was on the sidewalk in the 2100 block of North Central Park Avenue when a dark-colored vehicle pulled up and someone got out, pulled out a gun and fired shots, Chicago police said.

The male was struck in the head and chest and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. His identity has not been released.

Area Three detectives are investigating.

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Mayor Lori Lightfoot along with city commissioners give reporters an update on the COVID-19 vaccination reporting for city workers including Chicago police officers, Monday, Oct. 18, 2021. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Vaccine resistant cops and their union chiefs, including Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara, continue to violate both scientific common sense and fundamental ethical norms.

As the number of preventable COVID-19 cases continues to rise, one group of unvaccinated hold-outs has dug in, apparently even if it means losing their lives. Close to 500 police officers in the country have died from coronavirus since the pandemic began. That number is five times the number of officers killed by gunfire.

So far this year, 231 cops have died from complications related to COVID-19. Let’s be clear — it is statistically nearly-certain that none of these officers were vaccinated. They did not have to die. Despite this, police chiefs and union leaders, including Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara, continue to double down on anti-science, anti-public health, and antisocial anti-vaccination stances.

Catanzara took to Facebook to encourage his rank and file to defy the vaccine mandate, which went into effect last week. In the video, he parroted the vacuous claims of anti-vaccine misinformation campaigns, reiterating his view that vaccination requirements are some kind of “overreach.”

Catanazara is misinforming his members. He fails to understand both how well COVID-19 vaccines work and that he and his members have an ethical duty to be vaccinated.

It is unclear if he understands that the vaccines are 99.9% effective at preventing death by COVID-19, that billions of people have been safely vaccinated, and that the shots have been subject of the most robust safety research in public health history. Certainly, Catanazara must not recognize the fact that vaccination also significantly reduces the severity of illness and greatly eliminates the chance of viral spread.

Some of his officers may think they don’t need a shot since they had coronavirus or were likely exposed to it. But doctors know that vaccines provide much better immunity than an infection for police officers, their families and the people they work with.

It is also unclear if Catanazara recognizes he is encouraging his members to violate the most basic ethical obligations they have as police officers. Police officers are duty-bound to safeguard lives; we entrust cops with the right to use force to protect members of our community.

In 1829, Sir Walter Peel of London’s Metropolitan Police Department formulated a set of nine ethical principles. These Peelian principles have served as the basis for policing codes of ethics and created the foundation of modern policing. Themes of community trust and engagement have been reflected in police mission statements for two centuries in democratic countries as a result.

Most notably, Peel recognized that the existence of the police is dependent upon public approval and the ability to secure and maintain public respect . Officers are obligated to preserve public respect, not by “catering to the public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law” . Community policing strategy and policy have cited the historic tradition that the “police are the public and the public are the police”.

We are now witnessing the continued erosion of ethical policing by FOP leaders who reject time honored Peelian principles by denying science and recklessly placing their members’ and the public’s health at risk.

Vaccine resistant cops and their union chiefs continue to violate both scientific common sense and fundamental ethical norms. It is now up to mayors and police chiefs to enforce vaccination requirements.

Last week, a judge ordered Catanazara to temporarily stop using social media to encourage his members to defy the city’s mandate to enter their vaccine status on the city’s online data portal.

And earlier this week, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said 21 sworn officers have been placed on no-pay status for refusing to report their vaccination status.

That’s a start.

Chicago police have “we serve and protect” painted on their patrol cars. If they mean it, they ought to get vaccinated.

Dominic Sisti, PhD is a medical ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania. Cyndi Rickards, EdD is a criminologist at Drexel University. Arthur Caplan, PhD is a bioethics professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

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Brian Ernst/Sun-Times

The hospital system warned employees in August that they would lose their jobs if they did not get vaccinated.

Advocate Aurora Health, the largest hospital system in Illinois and Wisconsin, has fired more than 400 employees who refused to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

Almost half of the 440 recently terminated employees worked part time, the company said in a statement. The number is less than 1% of about 75,000 employees.

The system, which operates as Advocate Health Care in Illinois, announced in early August it would require its workers to get vaccinated. Other large hospitals made similar announcements just before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced full government approval of the Pfizer vaccine. Two other vaccines made by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are being administered under an emergency authorization from FDA.

“With about 99% of our team members compliant or in the process of becoming compliant with our vaccine policy, we are protecting the health and safety of our patients, communities and each other,” Advocate said in a statement.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul got his COVID-19 vaccination in March at Advocate Health Care’s vaccine clinic at Imani Village in the Cottage Grove Heights.

Advocate is not providing a breakdown for the positions among those fired — nurses, doctors or other employees — and a spokesman declined to provide additional comment.

When it announced its mandate in August, Advocate said it would make limited exceptions for religious or medical reasons. The announcement also coincided with a rise in cases over the summer attributed to a highly contagious form of the virus known as the Delta variant.

Advocate Aurora operates 26 hospitals in the two states.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker in August issued a vaccination mandate for state health care workers.

Brett Chase’s reporting on the environment and public health is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust.

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In this Aug. 10 photo, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 President John Catanzara speaks to reporters at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse. | Ashlee Rezin, AP Photos

If they believe one set of outrageous expectations, maybe they’ll believe an equally outrageous set of expectations that can work to their own good, and the nation’s. Call it fighting fire with fire.

Until 85% or more of the population is vaccinated, America can never attain herd immunity. The vaccine refuseniks put that goal in doubt, and perpetuate the pandemic threat. Third World nations are begging for the vaccine, while here, never-vaxxers cite every unscientific fear imaginable to justify their rejection of it: Fear of sterility; fear it contains demonic additives; fear it changes one’s personality and/or behaviors, etc.

To win them over, and perhaps save their lives, maybe never-vaxxers should be convinced of equally outrageous “reasons” for getting their shots: It’ll bring them good luck; answer their prayers; enhance their libidos; give them cosmic wisdom; or diminish blemishes. If they believe one set of outrageous expectations, maybe they’ll believe an equally outrageous set of expectations that can work to their own good, and the nation’s. Call it fighting fire with fire.

Ted Z. Manuel, Hyde Park

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.

Catanzara’s comparison of vaccine mandate to Nazi Germany ‘naive’

I fail to comprehend the rationale behind vaccination refusal. Chicago police officers have a significantly higher risk of contracting COVID-19 just doing their daily jobs. It’s better to get the shot than being shot. John Catanzara’s comparison of the vaccine mandate to Nazi Germany shows how naive he is regarding the latter. Nazi mentality would mean if people refused to get vaccinated they would be sent to concentration camps, starved, tortured, gassed and cremated. CPS provides a choice to its members, get vaccinated for free or go for testing one-to-two times a week at their own expense.

Rita Schwimmer, Skokie

Some officers ‘defunding’ police by refusing vaccine

Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara sure has a lot of sway over his membership. His minions lead all other city departments in risking time off without pay for refusing to comply with the city’s vaccination mandates. Over a third of Chicago’s “Blue Crew” failed to update their vaccination status and are now subject to disciplinary action.

Gee, I didn’t know Catanzara was such a rabid supporter of “Defund The Police.”

Walt Zlotow, Glen Ellyn

Serve and Infect

I’ve heard that the Chicago police union is going to change the CPD motto from “Serve and Protect” to “Serve and Infect.”

Bill Walsh Mokena

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Clark quarterback Dontrell Starks (22) is chased by Rabi’s Kierre Turner. | Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

The latest rankings of Illinois high school football teams in each class, according to an AP panel of sportswriters.

The latest rankings of Illinois high school football teams in each class, according to an Associated Press panel of sportswriters.

Class 8A

1. Loyola (10) (8-0) 100 1
2. Neuqua Valley (8-0) 89 2
3. Maine South (7-1) 75 3
4. Warren (7-1) 71 4
5. Marist (6-2) 50 6
6. Lincoln-Way East (6-2) 34 NR
(tie) South Elgin (8-0) 34 7
8. Hinsdale Central (7-1) 32 8
9. Naperville Central (5-3) 19 NR
10. Glenbard West (7-1) 18 9

Others receiving votes: York 15, Lockport 10, O’Fallon 2, Glenbrook South 1,

Class 7A

1. Batavia (7) (8-0) 97 1
2. Brother Rice (3) (6-2) 90 2
3. Wheaton North (7-1) 8 3
4. Mount Carmel (6-2) 65 4
5. St. Rita (6-2) 57 5
6. Prospect (7-1) 41 9
7. Normal (8-0) 37 7
8. Hononegah (8-0) 30 8
9. Moline (7-1) 23 10
10. Hersey (7-1) 17 6

Others receiving votes: Hoffman Estates 11, Buffalo Grove 1.

Class 6A

1. East St. Louis (10) (7-1) 109 1
2. Cary-Grove (1) (8-0) 100 2
3. Kankakee (8-0) 81 3
4. St. Ignatius (8-0) 80 4
5. Lemont (8-0) 64 5
6. Crete-Monee (6-2) 56 6
7. Wauconda (8-0) 42 7
8. Lake Forest (7-1) 29 T9
9. Harlem (7-1) 13 NR
10. Washington (6-2) 12 NR

Others receiving votes: Deerfield 11, Simeon 3, Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge 2, Kenwood 2, Grayslake Central. 1.

Class 5A

1. Rochester (11) (7-1) 110 1
2. Fenwick (6-2) 96 2
3. Morris (8-0) 83 4
4. Mahomet-Seymour (8-0) 73 6
5. Peoria (6-2) 51 7
6. Mascoutah (7-1) 39 3
7. Sterling (6-2) 38 5
8. Glenbard South (7-1) 37 8
9. Marion (7-1) 31 9
10. Sycamore (6-2) 23 10

Others receiving votes: Morton 8, Morgan Park 6, Nazareth 5, Marmion 4, Triad 1.

Class 4A

1. Joliet Catholic (12) (8-0) 120 1
2. Sacred Heart-Griffin (7-1) 105 2
3. Richmond-Burton (8-0) 97 3
4. Kewanee (8-0) 77 4
5. Genoa-Kingston (7-1) 61 5
6. Phillips (6-2) 59 6
7. St. Francis (6-2) 44 7
8. Peoria Notre Dame (6-2) 29 10
9. Stillman Valley (7-1) 23 9
10. Breese Central (7-1) 20 NR

Others receiving votes: Wheaton Academy 10, Coal City 7, Carterville 4, Mt. Zion 3, Dixon 1.

Class 3A

1. IC Catholic (8) (8-0) 116 2
2. Wilmington (4) (8-0) 111 1
3. Byron (8-0) 89 4
4. Williamsville (7-1) 80 3
5. Tolono Unity (8-0) 74 5
6. Princeton (7-1) 53 6
7. Farmington (8-0) 41 7
8. Mt. Carmel (8-0) 25 T9
9. Monticello (7-1) 21 8
10. Reed-Custer (7-1) 16 NR
(tie) Durand (7-1) 16 T9

Others receiving votes: Benton 15, Clark 2, Nashville 1.

Class 2A

1. Decatur St. Teresa (7) (8-0) 88 1
2. Breese Mater Dei (2) (8-0) 81 2
3. Downs Tri-Valley (8-0) 73 3
4. Bismarck-Henning (8-0) 60 5
5. Pana (8-0) 52 6
6. Athens (7-1) 50 8
7. Maroa-Forsyth (6-2) 30 4
8. Knoxville (7-1) 23 7
9. Johnston City (7-0) 12 NR
(tie) Vandalia (7-1) 12 NR

Others receiving votes: Erie-Prophetstown 9, Bishop McNamara 4, North-Mac 1.

Class 1A

1. Carrollton (6) (7-1) 85 1
2. Abingdon (3) (8-0) 78 3
3. Lena-Winslow (7-1) 73 2
4. Camp Point Central (7-1) 66 4
5. Fulton (6-2) 48 5
6. Forreston (6-2) 43 6
7. Ottawa Marquette (7-1) 39 7
8. St. Bede (6-2) 21 9
9. Aurora Christian (6-2) 17 10
10. Cumberland (7-1) 11 NR

Others receiving votes: Moweaqua Central A&M 6, Arcola 5, Greenfield-Northwestern 1, Sesser (S.-Valier) 1, Nokomis 1.

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