The Chicago Sky celebrates its WNBA Championship title at Pritzker Pavilion. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Today’s update is a 5-minute read that will brief you on the day’s biggest stories.

Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.

This afternoon will be mostly sunny with a high near 71 degrees. Tonight is expected to be mostly clear with a low around 53. Tomorrow will be mostly sunny with a high near 71 and a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms.

Top story

Fans, team celebrate Sky’s WNBA title: ‘I think it’s going to make the city a little happier’

The Chicago Sky’s come-from-way-behind win on Sunday gave the city its first major league championship in five years, and was celebrated today with a parade, then a rally at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park.

The Sky beat the Phoenix Mercury 80-74 Sunday at Wintrust Arena. The win made the Sky the first Chicago sports team to win a title since the Cubs won it all in 2016, ending a centurylong drought. The Sky were also the first team to win a championship at home since the Blackhawks in 2015.

The parade left Wintrust Arena about 11:25 a.m. — a little later than the scheduled 11 a.m. start time. The motorcade headed to Michigan Avenue, then north toward Millennium Park for the noon rally.

Fans lined Michigan Avenue to cheer on the champions.

Sky point guard Courtney Vandersloot looked out at fans waving, took a deep breath and said, “I truly can’t believe this.”

As the parade came to an end, hundreds more fans flocked to the Pritzker Pavilion, where thousands had already gathered in anticipation for the rally. Some fans arrived as early as 9 a.m. for the noon ceremony.

Some people started to line up on the edge overlooking the outdoor theatre as red seats filled up. People danced and clapped along to the beat of the music. Some waved baby-blue Sky flags and pumped their fists in the air.

Madeline Kenney, Manny Ramos, Jason Beeferman, and Annie Costabile were on-site covering the festivities from multiple angles — read their dispatches here.

More news you need

Three city officials should be disciplined, including a possible firing, for the mishandled implosion of a former coal power plant that left Little Village covered in a massive blanket of dust last year, former Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson said in a new report today. The report, Ferguson’s final one before ending his 12-year-run as Chicago’s top watchdog, stated the IG’s office forwarded the discipline recommendations to City Hall.

Ferguson also delivered a 163-page report on the botched police raid on the home of Anjanette Young. He said Lightfoot’s decision to hire a private law firm to look into the raid — and use attorney-client privilege to conceal details of that investigation — stymied efforts by the watchdog’s office to find out what happened.

A clout-heavy Chicago janitorial company is suing City Hall in an effort to hold onto a deal at O’Hare — under which it’s been paid almost $200 million over nearly a decade. United Maintenance Company Inc. says Lightfoot’s administration is violating city and state procurement and contract bidding procedures.

Hope Chicago, a new nonprofit, aims to help more than 30,000 Chicagoans graduate from college and trade school over the next 10 years, and it looks to raise over a billion dollars to do it. The organization is led by former Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson, who said she looks forward to her new role, a job that comes with “a lot less drama.”

A 23-year-old man has been charged with shooting a Chicago police officer in the face yesterday afternoon in a Lincoln Park strip mall. Immediately before he shot the officer, he kidnapped and restrained a 21-year-old woman, police said.

Gov. Pritzker today encouraged residents eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot to get one, allowing Illinoisans to be “even more protected than you are today.” He also expressed hope for removing precautions like the mask mandate “as we approach the holidays.”

A bright one

Local artist’s lifelong love of birds showcased in Evanston mural

Tyrue “Slang” Jones became “obsessed” with drawing birds as a kid because he’d always see them in the art books his mother got him.

The West Humboldt Park artist has been creating bird art ever since.

His latest: the graffiti-style “Birds of Concern” mural at 1901 Central St. in Evanston that features three vulnerable birds found in Illinois: a redheaded woodpecker, an American kestrel and a Blackburnian warbler.

Provided
Tyrue “Slang” Jone working on his mural, “Birds of Concern” at 1901 Central St. in Evanston.

Jones, 51, says he’s been influenced by different artistic styles. For the Evanston mural, he returned to one he knows well: graffiti art. That influence can be seen in the exaggerated, curling vines and branches.

The 15-foot mural, which brightens the exterior of businesses, is the result of a collaboration between Art Encounter and the Evanston North Shore Bird Club.

“We wanted it to be a melding of art and science,” says Libby Hill, who leads the bird group.

Zack Miller has more on the story behind Jones’ work here.

From the press box

The Sky brought a dose of pettiness to their championship celebration by displaying on stage the locker room door that Diana Taurasi smashed after Game 4.

Check out more photos from the Sky’s parade and rally.
Mark Potash gets an early start on breaking down the Bears-Buccaneers game, which will pose the defense against Tom Brady a week after facing Aaron Rodgers.
Ahead of the Blackhawks’ home opener against the Islanders tonight at 7 p.m. CT, Ben Pope writes about how they’re hoping to play a more “boring game” and limit opponents’ counterattacks.
Joe Cowley makes his Bulls predictions for the upcoming season.

Your daily question ?

Whether you’re a transplant or born and raised here, what do you love most about living in Chicago?

Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday we asked you: How did you celebrate the Sky becoming Chicago’s latest championship team? Here’s what some of you said…

“Victoria Park and I were at the game and the Sky were behind for a huge portion of the game. But the ladies never gave up and fought their way back. The last 30 seconds of the game were so emotional and when they won, the crowd absolutely erupted! Such an amazing experience! After the team spoke and they were presented with the trophy, along with Kahleah Copper being presented with the MVP trophy, we went to Offshore Rooftop at Navy Pier to celebrate!” — Celina Barajas

“I was having lunch in a sports grill with the only TV not set to football. I watched the entire game, and when the final timer went off, I was yelling and whooping louder than any guys or gals watching football! Go Sky!” — Patricia Simmons

Thanks for reading the Chicago Sun-Times Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.

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Meghan McCain attends the Netflix “Medal of Honor” screening and panel discussion at the US Navy Memorial Burke Theater in 2018 in Washington, DC. | Getty Images

The outspoken McCain had been the show’s lightning rod since joining, and also helped “The View” reach a new level of popularity and influence. It is currently trying out potential successors.

NEW YORK — Meghan McCain says she decided to leave “The View” following her second day back from maternity leave in January when frequent foil Joy Behar said “I did not miss you” during a political argument.

McCain, who left this summer after four years as the daytime talk show’s conservative voice, told that and other backstage stories in a new book, “Bad Republican,” and subsequent interview with Variety.

McCain had announced on July 1 that she was leaving “The View” because she did not want to be uprooted from her Washington life with her husband, commentator Ben Domenech, and daughter Liberty when the show returned to its New York studio.

She was more forthcoming in her book.

“I had been unhappy at ‘The View’ for a long time,” she wrote. “My unhappiness was like this giant wave that had been building and building and finally crested after I returned from leave.”

The outspoken McCain had been the show’s lightning rod since joining, and also helped “The View” reach a new level of popularity and influence. It is currently trying out potential successors.

During the Jan. 5 show, McCain interrupted Behar to say “are you kidding me?” when her colleague said the Republican Party is in more trouble than the Democrats. Behar was clearly angered, saying, “excuse me, am I done? I’m not done.”

McCain pressed on with her response, and Behar referenced the interruption again when she was finished.

“You missed me so much, Joy,” McCain replied. “You missed me so much when I was on maternity leave … You missed fighting with me.”

Behar replied: “I did not. I did not miss you. Zero.”

Host Whoopi Goldberg quickly moved in to shut things down, but McCain was heard saying, “that’s so nasty. I was teasing because you said something rude. That was so rude.”

In her book, McCain said she burst into tears during a commercial break. At the end of the show, she began crying again and vomited, she wrote.

“It is one of the most singular feelings of loneliness and anguish I have felt in my entire life,” McCain wrote. “It was a perfect storm of hormones, postpartum anxiety and a lot of demons on ‘The View’ coming out to bite me.”

McCain said she had asked the show’s producers for an apology from Behar but was told none would be forthcoming.

A spokeswoman for “The View” said Tuesday that Behar had no plans to comment.

There was no immediate comment from “The View” about McCain’s book.

McCain said that despite their political battles, she felt she and Behar had a mutual understanding and respect. But she wrote that they didn’t speak again offstage after that incident.

When McCain announced on the air July 1 that she would soon be leaving, Behar said, “I have really, really appreciated the fact that you were a formidable opponent in many ways and that you spoke your mind. You’re no snowflake, missy.”

“The View” has been filled with backstage drama ever since its invention by Barbara Walters in the mid-1990s. In her book, McCain talks about how wearing it was when stories about what happened off-air were leaked to the press.

She wrote that the show had a “toxic” atmosphere and that “working at ‘The View’ brings out the worst in people.”

McCain is the daughter of the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican.

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The Chicago Sky celebrates its WNBA Championship title at Pritzker Pavilion. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Fans gathered in Millennium Park and along the Michigan Avenue parade route to celebrate the team’s first title.

Hey, Chicago Sky — don’t stop now.

That was the message from some fans gathered for Tuesday’s championship celebration.

A city hungry for something to be happy about won’t be happy with just one WNBA title. They think the Sky are poised for another.

Or three.

Larry Jones, 68, was along the Michigan Avenue parade route and said he’s confident the Sky can pull off “the ultimate three-peat” and made his own sign to make that clear.

“I think it’s going to make the city a little happier,” he said.

Coach James Wade fed into that belief when he addressed the boisterous crowd of thousands Tuesday afternoon at the Sky’s championship rally at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park.

“Remember the seat that you’re sitting in right now because you’re going to be sitting in it next year,” Wade said, resulting in ear-splitting cheers from fans.

Jason Beeferman/Sun-Times
Larry Jones, 68, predicted more Sky titles with his sign. The North Sider was along the Michigan Avenue parade route Tuesday morning.

People from all over the Chicago area came in droves to celebrate the Sky’s 80-74 come-from-way-behind win against the Phoenix Mercury, which gave the franchise its first title and the city its first major-league championship in five years.

The day began with a parade, which left Wintrust Arena about 11:25 a.m. — a little later than the scheduled 11 a.m. start time. The motorcade headed to Michigan Avenue, then north toward Millennium Park for the noon rally.

Sky fans wearing jerseys and other team gear lined the curb of Michigan Avenue cheering as the reigning WNBA champions drove past Roosevelt Road in double-deck buses.

Mark Capapas/Sun-Times
Players and fans start the celebration at the Pritzker Pavilion.

Point guard Courtney Vandersloot looked out at fans waving, took a deep breath and said, “I truly can’t believe this.”

With a glass raised in the air and a fat cigar in her mouth, center Stefanie Dolson cheered on fans from the double-decker bus.

She drew tokes from the cigar, and then triumphantly blew the smoke toward the crowd.

Raising both arms, she cheered along with the crowd. “Yeah!” she hooted as she went by.

Among those out on the parade route were Ashley Flattery and Paul Bulow, who attended every home playoff game they could and were inside Wintrust Arena for the series clincher on Sunday.

The mood was electrifying — so much so they wore earplugs to soften the sound of cheers.

“We took off work to show support and we wanted to be close to the start of the parade,” Flattery said, as she and Bulow stood along Michigan Avenue Tuesday. “This is exciting and it’s great to be here today.”

The pair said they have been Chicago Sky fans since 2014 and have fallen in love with the WNBA. Bulow hopes this is the beginning of many championship parades.

“I know we have some free agents coming up next season but I hope we can keep everyone together,” Bulow said. “This team was so fun to watch all year long.”

Mark Capapas/Sun-Times
The celebration begins at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, where fans gathered in honor of the Chicago Sky’s first WNBA title.

Vickie Williams, a South Side native, eagerly stood on Michigan Ave waiting for the team to roll by.

“We need this in Chicago,” said Williams, 39, a Chicago police officer. “Crime is a little high, the COVID thing and everything, we need some positivity.”

Williams said she has a feeling she’ll be back next year.

“We’re gonna win again, back to back,” she said. “We have a great team, great fans, going into the next season it’s going to be good.”

As the parade came to an end, hundreds more fans flocked to the Pritzker Pavilion, where thousands had already gathered in anticipation for the rally. Some fans arrived as early as 8:30 a.m. for the noon ceremony to reserve a coveted spot near the stage.

Jason Beeferman/Sun-Times
Ken Justus was among the Chicago Sky fans showing up earlyTuesday for the rally at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park celebrating the team’s WNBA title.

Ken Justus, with his handmade “Sky-Town” sign, was among those who showed up early.

“This is all about happiness,” said Justus, 65, who lives near Mayfair Park. “I had a good feeling about it the whole year, even when they were at the bottom. I thought they were gonna turn it around and they did. They did!”

People started to line up on the ledge overlooking the outdoor theatre as red seats filled up. Rallygoers danced and clapped along to the beat of the music. Some waved Sky flags and pumped their fists in the air.

The Whitney Young girls’ varsity basketball team was sitting just left of the stage.

“I’m just happy to see women representing our city and representing basketball and bringing a championship to the city,” junior guard Olivia Vick said. “It’s just great to see that one day all of us can be in their shoes and they’re big role models.”

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Diamond DeShields leans over the railing of her bus to greet fans as she and other Chicago Sky players enjoy the ride up Michigan Avenue to the Millennium Park rally.

Several local and state officials took turns congratulating the Sky and praising them for their perseverance this season, despite an early 7-0 losing skid as the team battled injuries.

“You fought hard and rose to the top of the league and you brought your city to new heights. That’s what leadership looks like,” said Gov. J.B. Pritzker before giving Sky owner Michael Alter a proclamation renaming Chicago “Sky Town” for the day.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a longtime season-ticket holder, gave a shout out to fans who have been there since the Sky was founded in 2006. She also welcomed new supporters to the team’s growing fanbase.

“All of you who most recently jumped on the bandwagon, that’s alright. But just make sure you sign up for season tickets next season.”

Chance the Rapper, with a drink in tow, got the crowd even rowdier, yelling: “Chicago makes some f—–g noise! … These are the world champion Chicago Sky here.”

Fans were quick to notice a broken door on stage. Wade confirmed that was the locker room door that Mercury star Diana Taurasi reportedly smashed because she was so upset by the loss.

Candace Parker, who fulfilled her promise of bringing a championship to Chicago after joining the Sky after last season, got a lot of love from the crowd when she took the podium. She reminisced on watching the Chicago Bulls parades and rallies on television in the 90s and dreaming of bringing a title to her hometown.

“I know I was drafted out West but I think I’ve stayed consistent with those midwestern values, and those midwestern values are that grit, that drive, that blue collar and I think that [our] team demonstrated that this year,” Parker said.

Perhaps the loudest cheers of the day came for All-Star guard Kahleah Copper.

When she was announced, the hordes chanted “M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!”

Copper, with the help of center Stefanie Dolson, started a cheer of their own: “Sky Town, all the way!” they repeatedly exclaimed.

The rally ended with blue-and-yellow confetti raining down on the stage as the crowd sang, “We are the champions.”

Some players signed autographs, took selfies with fans and tossed autograph basketballs into the crowd.

Young forward Tanila Marshall was one of the lucky ones to walk away with an autographed souvenir.

“We’re gonna need this for luck this season,” said Marshall, who said she walked away from the rally feeling “motivated” for her upcoming season.

Even after players left the stage, some fans stayed to relish in the moment.

“This is a once in a lifetime thing,” Karron Clarke, who went to DePaul with Allie Quigley, said. “You don’t know when it’s gonna happen again.”

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Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (12) completed 25-of-41 passes for 253 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions for an 86.7 passer rating in a 20-19 loss to the Bears last year at Soldier Field. | Kamil Krzaczynski/AP

After getting taunted by Aaron Rodgers, the Bears now face a red-hot Brady, who surely has vengeance on his mind after his costly brain cramp in the Bucs’ 20-19 loss to the Bears last year.

If Aaron Rodgers owns the Bears, Tom Brady has a minority stake in them.

Like the Bears’ arch-nemesis, the ageless Brady has his own history of torment against the Bears — two touchdown passes in the final 2:46 to win 33-30 with the Patriots in Champaign in 2002; juking Brian Urlacher in a 17-13 victory at Gillette Stadium in 2006; throwing for 369 yards in the snow in a 36-7 rout at Soldier Field in 2010; five touchdown passes in a 51-23 demolition at Gillette Stadium in 2014; three touchdown passes in a 38-31 victory at Soldier Field in 2018.

The Bears did get the best of Brady last season with the Buccaneers, when Brady appeared to lose track of the downs in the final minute of a 20-19 loss at Soldier Field. It was a rare mental hiccup in a moment of extreme decision for Brady. But he still ended up winning his seventh Super Bowl ring.

And it’s a good bet Brady hasn’t forgotten that embarrassment. So the Bears can expect Brady to be laser-focused — even more than usual — when they play the Buccaneers on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Bears secondary coach Deshea Townsend knows that as well as anybody at Halas Hall. He’s been there.

As a starting cornerback for the Steelers in 2004, Townsend had a 39-yard interception return for a touchdown against Brady that sparked a 34-20 victory over the Patriots in the regular season.

The Steelers finished 15-1 and were the No. 1 seed in the AFC. But in the rematch in the AFC Championship Game, Brady burned Townsend for a 60-yard touchdown pass to Deion Branch in the first quarter that sparked the Patriots’ 41-27 rout at Heinz Field.

“One of those calls where some of the guys in the secondary … it was a post and I got to call my boy Troy [Polamalu] and apologize to him every week,” Townsend said. “We fuss about that one all the time. But it was just a play you gotta make.”

To this day, Townsend laments the 60-yard bomb more than he revels in the 39-yard pick-6. He thinks it was 80 yards, when it was actually 60.

“Those are the ones that you don’t sleep well,” Townsend said. “Those are the ones you always wish you can have back. The plays you made come and go, but the ones you gave up are the ones you remember most.”

2a. Brady is 5-1 with a 105.3 passer rating against the Bears (15 touchdowns, four interceptions) — the exact career rating Rodgers had against the Bears going into last week’s game.

2b. At 44, Brady leads the NFL in passing yards (2,064 — 344 per game), is second in touchdown passes (17, with three interceptions) and sixth in passer rating (108.0).

2c. Since turning 40, Brady has thrown for 19,686 yards (281.2 per game), 142 touchdowns and 42 interception for a 98.6 passer rating. In the same span (2017-21), Bears quarterbacks have thrown for 15,164 yards (184.9 per game), 87 touchdowns and 58 interceptions for an 85.0 passer rating.

2d. When Brady started against the Bears in 2002, the Bears’ starting quarterback was Chris Chandler, who played in the 1980s and is 56 now. Justin Fields was 3. Even Jason Peters, at 39 the third-oldest player in the NFL, was just a sophomore tight end at Arkansas in 2002.

3. Did You Know? The Bears have beaten the top five teams in this week’s ESPN power rankings during the Matt Nagy era: No. 1 Arizona (16-14 in 2018), No. 2 Buffalo (41-9 in 2018), No. 3 L.A. Rams (15-6 in 2018), No. 4 Tampa Bay (20-19 in 2020) and No. 5 Dallas (31-24 in 2019). Yet the Bears are 19th in this week’s rankings.

4. Aaron Rodgers, the master of the free play, had some good advice for Justin Fields when asked about Fields’ mis-read on the free play against the Packers that ended up being intercepted in the end zone.

“Most times — including 12 [men] on the field — I’ll peek to the line judge to the side of the foul and just make sure there’s a flag coming out,” Rodgers said. “I think there’s been a couple of times over the years where we think we’ve got ’em and we didn’t and maybe [I] didn’t check. But because of those [instances], I usually like to check and make sure that flag’s in the air.”

5. The Bears scored a touchdown on their opening drive against the Packers, then hit a lull — with an interception and four punts on their next five drives. If that looked familiar against the Packers, it’s because it was.

In fact, the Bears have scored a touchdown on their opening offensive drive 16 times in Matt Nagy’s four seasons and are 13-3 in those games. All three losses have come against the Packers — in 2018, 2020 and last Sunday. They’re 10-0 against everyone else.

6. You’re not going to beat the Packers with 14 points — the Packers are 45-1 when allowing 14 or fewer points when Rodgers starts and finishes — or many good teams, for that matter.

The Bears have scored three or more offensive touchdowns against a winning team just three times in Nagy’s 56 games as head coach. That’s tied with the Jets for the fewest in the NFL in that span (2018-21) and well below the NFL average of 9.8.

7a. Credit where it’s due: The Bears looked lost at left tackle when they cut Charles Leno and had six players line up with the first team in the search for his replacement — including rookies Teven Jenkins and Larry Borom. Picking up 39-year-old Jason Peters looked like a desperate move — and perhaps it was. But it’s working out so far. Peters is ranked fourth among tackles by Pro Football Focus in overall effectiveness.

Peters’ performance against the Packers was “probably his best technical game,” offensive line coach Juan Castillo said. “In pass protection … we had talked about being able to play square and be consistent and this probably was his best game [with] those techniques. He’s getting a little bit [more] in shape every game, so he’s getting to that point we’d like to have him at.”

7b. The Bears still are holding out hope Jenkins will play this season. The Bears have not provided an update on Jenkins since he had back surgery in August, but the rookie has been engaged in meetings recently. Castillo has Jenkins and Borom do written/video scouting reports on defensive opponents.

“I’ve got him doing things to keep him active,” Castillo said of Jenkins. “He’s in meetings all the time — staying very active, stays around the guys. Great kid, hard worker, excited. He’s a very smart young man and very dedicated.”

8. Bits & Pieces: The Bears are 10-for-24 (41.7%) on third-down conversions in Fields’ last two starts. They were 2-for-19 (10.5%) in Fields’ first two starts. … The Bears had one three-and-out in eight drives (12.5%) against the Packers. They had 11 three-and-outs in 28 drives (39.3%) in Fields’ first three starts. … Packers punter Corey Bojorquez’ 82-yard punt was the second-longest against the Bears in franchise history. Cardinals’ quarterback Doug Russell had an 84-yarder in 1938. … The Bears’ longest punt is 94 yards in 1931 by Joe Lintzenich, the grandfather of announcer Joe Buck. … Ex-Bear Kyle Fuller has fallen out of favor in Denver — playing two snaps against the Raiders on Sunday. … After going 2-for-2 on PATs against the Packers, Cairo Santos has made 45 consecutive regular-season kicks — with active streaks of 34 field goals and 27 PATs.

9. Josh McCown Ex-Bears Player of the Week — Rams outside linebacker Leonard Floyd had 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in a 38-11 victory over the Giants. Floyd has 4.5 sacks this season and 15 sack in 22 games with the Rams.

10. Bear-ometer: 8-9 — at Buccaneers (L); vs. 49ers (W); at Steelers (W); vs. Ravens (L); at Lions (W); vs. Cardinals (L); at Packers (L); vs. Vikings (W); at Seahawks (L); vs. Giants (W); at Vikings (L).

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An event space at Uber’s new office in the Old Post Office. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

More than 2,000 Uber employees are expected to begin occupying the massive space in the coming weeks.

Uber had people over Tuesday to show off its new digs.

It was the official ribbon cutting at the company’s gleaming new space at the Old Post Office where more than 2,000 employees will begin working over the next few days.

Uber’s 461,000-square-foot space (more than four football fields) encompasses all of the ninth floor and portions of the eighth and 10th floors. It will serve as the global headquarters for Uber Freight and the regional headquarters for Uber Eats and Uber Rides.

The company plans to use about 310,000 square feet of the space, at first at least, leaving room to grow and sublease.

The ninth floor contains a cafeteria with healthy food options (no soda, try the sparkling water instead), a “hall of mirrors” featuring a wall covered with more than 1,300 sideview mirrors (the kind you’d find on a big rig) and conference rooms designed to look like shipping containers.

Lighting in the massive space is set to mimic natural daylight and adjusts automatically.

“I do think it is officially Uber’s most awesome office. That’s a technical term at Uber. ‘Most awesome’ is high praise,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi joked Tuesday.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi speaks during the grand opening Tuesday of Uber’s office at the Old Post Office.

A large, spiral staircase connects the eighth and ninth floors.

Gensler, a San Francisco-based architectural firm with an office in Chicago, designed the space.

To encourage collaboration, none of the approximately 1,200 workstations at the office will be dedicated to any individual employees.

Khosrowshahi expects to hire hundreds of more employees in Chicago as the company focuses on diversity within its ranks.

“Chicago will be the tip of the spear for that diversity within the Uber ecosystem,” he said.

The company also has a rooftop space that it plans to build out next year. It’s adjacent to existing walkways, gardens, gathering areas, two pickleball courts and a basketball court.

Uber’s new digs will replace the office they’ve been operating out of at 225 W. Randolph St.

Lior Ron, head of Uber Freight, said the Old Post Office “was the natural choice for us” because the building was the largest logistics hub of its time when it was erected a century year ago.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot thanked Uber execs for choosing Chicago.

“We’ve marketed the heck out of that fact in talking to other companies about why Chicago should be the hub of their business activities, particularly other tech companies. You made us cool in that world,” she said.

Uber, which has a vaccine mandate for its office workers but not its drivers, will expect its employees to spend at least half their time at the office. The other half can be spent working remotely.

Other tenants at the Old Post Office — a behemoth of a building on the south branch of the Chicago River — include Walgreens, Cisco Systems, Ferrara Candy and PepsiCo.

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Police investigate the scene where a police officer was shot, Monday, Oct. 18, 2021, in the parking lot of a shopping center at 1000 W. North Ave. in Lincoln Park. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Before Jovan McPherson shot the officer, he held a 21-year-old woman at gunpoint as they drove from Elgin to Chicago, police said.

A felon on probation who was confronted by Chicago police after threatening and holding a woman at gunpoint told an officer “you will die” after he shot him in the face at a busy Lincoln Park strip mall, Cook County prosecutors said Tuesday.

The officer was shot when he and and another officer tried talking to Jovan McPherson after the woman he was with asked for help Sunday, prosecutors said.

The officer has since been treated and released from Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

Earlier Sunday, the 21-year-old woman McPherson ended up kidnapping picked him up in Elgin so they could run an errand in the city, prosecutors said.

When the woman got a call from the father of her child, 23-year-old McPherson got upset, pulled out a gun and took her cellphone, prosecutors said. He allegedly went on to hold the gun to her side and threatened to kill her as they drove

When they drove on Interstate 90/94 toward downtown, McPherson grabbed the wheel and forced the woman to get off the expressway, prosecutors said. The woman went on to drive into a strip mall before she parked and went inside an Ulta Beauty store at 1000 W. North Avenue.

The woman asked a store employee for help when McPherson followed her inside and began to cause a disturbance, prosecutors said.

Meanwhile, another employee was able to get the attention of two officers who were in the mall’s parking lot.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Police investigate the scene where a police officer was shot, Monday, Oct. 18, 2021, in the parking lot of a shopping center at 1000 W. North Ave. in Lincoln Park.

McPherson left the store, but when one of the officers followed him, McPherson pulled the officer’s face mask off, shoved him, put him in a “bear hug” and returned to the store, prosecutors said.

Both officers followed McPherson into the Ulta, trying to calm him down, but he went back outside again and returned to the woman’s car, prosecutors said.

“I got a gun, too,” McPherson allegedly told one of the officers as he sat in the car.

When that officer asked where the gun was, McPherson asked if the officer wanted to fight and said “it was a good gun, too,” prosecutors said.

McPherson then allegedly pulled out a gun from under his legs. A struggle ensued as the officer tried to take the weapon away, prosecutors said. That’s when McPherson fired a shot that struck the officer in the cheek, prosecutors said.

The officer’s body-worn camera recorded McPherson shouting “you will die” after he fired another shot, prosecutors said. The injured officer was not struck by the second bullet. He was eventually able to take the gun away from McPherson as other officers arrived, prosecutors said.

Chicago police
Jovan McPherson

Once in custody, McPherson claimed the officers had fired at him first, but only two shell casings were recovered at the scene and neither officer had fired their weapons, prosecutors said.

An assistant public defender suggested that McPherson may have fired the shot accidentally during the struggle over the weapon.

But Judge Mary Marubio said McPherson’s recorded statements clearly showed his intent to shoot the officer.

Marubio ordered McPherson held without bail for attempted murder and aggravated kidnapping and additional felonies.

McPherson was on probation in two separate cases — drug possession and fleeing and eluding arrest — in Kane County at the time of Sunday’s shooting, prosecutors said.

McPherson is unemployed and has lived in Kane County his entire life, his attorney said.

He is expected back in court Nov. 9.

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Sky player dance on stage at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

The Sky players and their fans have been having a good time celebrating the franchise’s first championship Tuesday in Chicago.

Just like Chicago’s other championship teams did after winning their titles, the Sky celebrated their franchise’s greatest triumph with a downtown parade and rally Tuesday morning in the city.

The celebration for the 2021 WNBA champs began at 11 a.m. CT with a parade from Wintrust Arena, where the Sky clinched their title with a 80-74 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday. From there, the party buses made their way down Michigan Avenue from Roosevelt Road to Randolph Street before the real party at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park.

The rally at the park was loaded with fans Tuesday afternoon. Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker were also on hand to celebrate the city’s latest sports championship. Once the Sky players finally got from the parade to the rally stage, there was a steady stream of loud roads from the crowd.

Check out our favorite photos from a fun day in the city below. This story will be updated.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Sky fans react during the team’s rally at Millennium Park on Tuesday. Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Sky player dance on stage at the Pritzker Pavillion in Millennium Park.Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Sky players celebrate with fans from their parade bus on the way to Millennium Park.Mark Capapas/Sun-Times
The Chicago Sky buses along Michigan Avenue at Millennium Park for the Chicago Sky Parade Tuesday morning, Oct. 19, 2021.Mark Capapas/Sun-Times
The Chicago Sky buses along Michigan Avenue at Millennium Park for the Chicago Sky Parade Tuesday morning, Oct. 19, 2021.Mark Capapas/Sun-Times
Ken Justus walks with his drum in Millennium Park for the Chicago Sky Parade Tuesday morning, Oct. 19, 2021.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Sky players point to fans from their parade bus during the team’s championship celebration.Mark Capapas/Sun-Times
The Chicago Sky buses along Michigan Avenue at Millennium Park for the Chicago Sky Parade Tuesday morning, Oct. 19, 2021. Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Sky fans react during the team’s rally at Millennium Park on Tuesday.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Sky players Candace Parker and Stefanie Dolson during the team’s championship celebration.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Sky players having a good time during their championship celebration.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
A young Sky fan holds up a sign during the team’s championship celebration.Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Chicago Sky fans celebrate during the team’s championship rally at Pritzker Pavilion on Tuesday.Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Chicago Sky fans celebrate during the team’s championship rally at Pritzker Pavilion on Tuesday.Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Chicago Sky fans celebrate during the team’s championship rally at Pritzker Pavilion on Tuesday.

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A screenshot from body-camera video of a police raid in 2019 at the home of social worker Anjanette Young. The police were in the wrong home. | CBS 2 Chicago

Ferguson said his investigators interviewed “almost three dozen people” and reviewed “tens of thousands of pages of emails and other government records.” But with so much information kept from him, he said, he couldn’t recommend any disciplinary action.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s decision to hire a private law firm to investigate the police raid on the home of Anjanette Young — and use attorney-client privilege to conceal details of that probe — stymied efforts by the inspector general’s office to find out what happened, Joe Ferguson, the city’s now-retired inspector general, said Tuesday.

Before ending his 12-year run as Chicago’s top watchdog on Friday, Ferguson delivered a 163-page report on the botched raid on the wrong home that humiliated Young. The social worker was left handcuffed and naked for 40 minutes in a room full of male police officers.

Ferguson said he did the best he could under the circumstances. His investigators interviewed “almost three dozen people” and reviewed “tens of thousands of pages of emails and other government records.”

But he was unable to recommend disciplinary action against any city employees. That’s because Lightfoot asked former federal judge Ann Claire Williams and her Jones Day law firm to launch a “simultaneous” investigation that included interviews with 20 of those same city employees. Lightfoot’s administration then claimed “attorney-client privilege” to shield that information from him, Ferguson said.

“What that means is there are other statements that constitute possible evidence that, maybe is exculpatory, maybe is aggravating. But you can’t make a responsible determination about disciplinary findings when you know, in fact, that there is evidence other than what you’re able to collect yourself,” Ferguson said.

CBS 2 Chicago
Police body camera video shows the raid on the home of Anjanette Young.

“And so we characterize what we believe to be indicated by the evidence we gather. But, we say affirmatively the mayor’s inter-position of an outside law firm makes it impossible for us to responsibly draw a final bottom-line conclusion about whether or not there were full-blown violations because the administration claimed attorney-client privilege and would not share that separately-gained evidence.”

Lightfoot has been under fire for her changing story about what she knew and when she knew it about the botched raid.

A sobbing Young was captured on bodycam video telling officers more than 40 times that they had the wrong house; eventually, one officer finally gave her a blanket to cover up.

Lightfoot has met with Young and personally apologized to her for having been “denied her basic dignity as a human being.”

The mayor initially insisted she knew nothing about the raid until WBBM-TV (Channel 2) aired the video in December.

But after reviewing internal emails, the mayor was forced to admit she learned about the raid in November 2019, when a top aide warned Lightfoot about a “pretty bad wrongful raid” by Chicago police.

“I have a lot of questions about this one,” she wrote at the time to top aides.

The mayor has emphatically denied knowing anything about her Law Department’s efforts to block CBS2 from airing bodycam video of the raid. To underscore the point, she forced the resignation of corporation counsel Mark Flessner, a longtime friend who served together with Lightfoot in the U.S. attorney’s office.

Although the inspector general’s final report includes no recommendation of disciplinary action, Ferguson said Young was victimized by the initial raid and then “re-victimized” after-the-fact by every level of government.

“She was treated poorly in the context of her FOIA request. She was treated poorly in the context of her litigation. She was just treated poorly and, in some ways, unprofessionally by people who are supposed to be serving the greater public good and approached this in a transactional, litigated way, forgetting the fact that this woman is a victim of government conduct and misconduct and should be treated with respect and as a victim throughout,” he said.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Anjanette Young, who was a victim of a botched raid by the Chicago Police Department in 2019, speaks to reporters outside CPD headquarters last year.

Lightfoot is a former Police Board president who, along with Ferguson, co-chaired the Task Force on Police Accountability in the furor that followed the police shooting of Laquan McDonald.

Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel was ordered to release the video of convicted Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke shooting McDonald sixteen times after the video was concealed until Emanuel had been safely re-elected in 2015.

The task force drafted the policy that requires the city to release, within 60 days, video from body- and dashboard-mounted cameras of police shootings and other incidents involving police shooting.

That’s why the accusation that she somehow played a role in the Law Department’s efforts to conceal the video hit so close to home.

“There’s a lot of trust that’s been breached. And I know that there is a lot of trust in me that’s been breached. We will do better. We will win back the trust that we have lost,” the mayor said in December.

On Tuesday, Ferguson characterized the Lightfoot administration’s handling of the Anjanette Young video as a “remarkable, troubling closing of a circle.”

“It brings us back where we were five or six years ago and where her career got its jump-start. Yet the city is engaged in similar activity — and in this instance, with respect to a living victim,” he said.

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A person walks though the dust cloud in Little Village after the botched implosion of the Crawford Generating Station smoke stack in April 2020. | Tyler Laiviere/Sun-Times file

The discipline recommendations come in a scathing report by the outgoing inspector general about the demolition that left a community covered in dust.

Three city officials should be disciplined, including a possible firing, for the botched implosion of a former coal power plant that left Little Village covered in a massive blanket of dust on Easter weekend last year, Chicago’s watchdog said in a new report.

In his final public report, former Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson said his office forwarded the discipline recommendations to City Hall. A full report is expected to be released in the coming months once Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration has a chance to respond and either accept the recommendations or propose its own course of action.

The implosion April 11, 2020 showed the city did not adequately prepare for the dust storm created when an almost 400-foot chimney came crashing down at the Crawford Generating Station at West 36th Street and South Pulaski Road. Caught on video, the dust cloud coated homes, cars and yards. At the time, Lightfoot echoed residents’ outrage.

The procedure was planned, overseen and executed by multiple city departments, including the Department of Buildings and the Department of Public Health. While the full details of Ferguson’s report are not yet public, the report singles out individuals from both departments and even suggests a possible “discharge” of an unnamed public health official.

The recommendation includes “discipline against two Department of Buildings officials commensurate with the gravity of their violations” and “discipline up to and including discharge against one Department of Public Health official,” the inspector general’s quarterly report stated.

“That’s exactly what should have happened,” said Kim Wasserman, executive director of Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, which has criticized the city’s oversight and response to the incident. The Department of “Buildings and [the health department] signed off on this.”

Two months after the implosion, Buildings Commissioner Judy Frydland announced she was leaving the city, citing a desire to spend time with family.

City officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Wasserman criticized the lack of transparency at City Hall more than a year and a half after the event and said city officials ignored repeated community pleas to hold off on the demolition at the time.

The Crawford plant was demolished throughout 2020 to make way for a new warehouse development for Hilco Redevelopment Partners, which is now leasing the building to retailer Target. The smokestack incident led to a change in the way the city approves implosion demolitions and Hilco was issued multiple citations.

The development continues to be a major source of concern and anger in the Little Village community. After fighting for years to get the Crawford coal plant shut down, which occurred in 2012, community activists said they were promised to be included in city planning discussions about what would replace it. A warehouse that draws hundreds of diesel-fuel trucks to the neighborhood was not what most of the community wanted, Wasserman and others said.

Late last year, Hilco and a pair of contractors agreed to pay $370,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the state over air pollution violations related to the chimney demolition. Community advocates have called the dollar amount and penalty disappointing.

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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