A Chicago Fire Department ladder truck. A new report says the department still has not made recommended changes that would help it accurately measure its response time. | Sun-Times file

Departing Inspector General Joe Ferguson says the Chicago Fire Department still hasn’t implemented changes he first recommended years ago that would allow it to accurately measure emergency response times.

Eight years after Inspector General Joe Ferguson sounded the first alarm, the Chicago Fire Department still has not implemented the changes necessary to accurately measure response times to fire and medical emergencies.

In 2013, Ferguson concluded the fire department did not meet the National Fire Protection Association’s standards for emergency response times and that its internal reports “lacked the elements necessary to accurately assess” the veracity of CFD’s claims that it was exceeding national standards.

Two years later, Ferguson issued a follow-up report that reached similar conclusions.

On Tuesday, just three days before he ends his 12-year run as city government’s top watchdog, Ferguson released a second comprehensive audit that found the fire department is still falling short.

“It is unfortunate that the issues OIG identified in 2013 and 2015 … still pose the very same concerns in 2021,” Ferguson was quoted as saying in a press release that accompanied his audit. “Had OIG’s previous recommendations been considered and the necessary operational changes put into place years ago, CFD and the City would be in a better place today, meeting state and national standards and following best practices,”

The audit concluded CFD:

Still does not produce annual department-wide reports that would allow it to evaluate emergency response times.
Does not measure “turnout and travel time as separate components of response time,'” does not use “industry-standard percentile measures” and has not set goals for turnout or travel time at the “industry standard 90th percentile.”

(Turnout time begins when first responders press a button at the firehouse acknowledging an emergency call was received. The travel time phase begins when they press another button inside their vehicles to show they are en route and ends when the same button is pressed upon arrival at the scene. )

Documented its overall EMS response time goal as required by state law, but has not done the same for fire response goals.
Still uses data that is “not adequate to allow reliable measurement” of emergency response times.

Only 75.2% of the 937,446 emergency events between Jan. 1, 2018 and Nov. 30, 2020 “included data for all categories necessary to calculate turnout and travel times for the first arriving unit,” the audit states.

The National Fire Protection Association standard for turnout and travel combined for fire emergencies is five minutes and 20 seconds. The NFPA standard for EMS response times is five minutes.

The association recommends that fire departments strive to ensure at least 90% of EMS responses achieve a turnout time of 60 seconds or less and a travel time of 240 seconds or less.

Ferguson recommended that CFD management begin issuing annual reports on emergency response times and “establish and document department-wide turnout, travel and total response time goals at the 90th percentile” for both fire and medical emergencies.

“If CFD management believes the NFPA recommended turnout and travel times are unachievable in Chicago, they should conduct a systematic evaluation of local factors affecting response times and set reasonable goals for turnout, travel and total response times accordingly,” the second audit states.

The report further recommended that CFD “identify, monitor and remedy the cause of gaps in its data” and consider hiring an internal data specialist to improve data quality.

CFD is now led by newly-appointed Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt, the first woman and third African American ever to lead the department, one long known as a bastion of white males.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Chicago Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt addresses new paramedics during their graduation ceremony at Navy Pier in September.

Under her leadership, Ferguson said he is “encouraged” and hopeful that CFD will confront the longstanding issues with “more urgency” and take “corrective actions.”

That faith was underscored by Holt’s commitment to ask Urban Labs at the University of Chicago to help the department analyze response time performance; hire “additional data analytics staff”; vow to analyze data to identify “causative factors and/or trends and perform a complete and reliable measure of response time by each component piece.”

Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said the department “worked closely” with the inspector general on the audit and “thanks them for the research and findings.”

“We will work with OEMC to improve methods of tracking and reporting response times as part of our continued efforts to respond rapidly and safely to all calls,” Langford wrote in an email to the Sun-Times.

Along with the second audit, Ferguson released a set of online dashboards that document the 1.22 million emergency service events since Jan. 1, 2018 by ward, ZIP code, community area and type of emergency.

It shows the greatest overall number of emergency events recorded and the highest rate of events was in the West Side’s 28th Ward, with 62,902 calls in a ward with 56,045 people. The highest number of emergencies were recorded in three downtown ZIP codes: 60602, 60603, 60604.

The greatest number of overdose and gunshot related events by community area were recorded on the West Side. Community areas on the West and South sides racked up the highest rate of gunshot events per 100,000 people.

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Tony La Russa begins a long argument with the umpires after Jose Abreu was hit by a pitch from the Astros’ Kendall Graveman in Game 4. | Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

La Russa called the Astros’ “character and credibility” into question, which is sure to create tension next season between the teams and between their managers — assuming both are back.

In the quiet aftermath of a 10-1 loss to the Astros at Guaranteed Rate Field that ended a mismatch of an American League Division Series at three games to one, White Sox manager Tony La Russa wasn’t downhearted or gloomy or even morose.

No, he was angry.

We didn’t see a lot of anger from La Russa in his comeback season. We didn’t see much indignation or rancor. There were times it would’ve been reasonable to wonder if, deep into his 70s — and back in the dugout for the first time in 10 years — he still had all the fire inside him that burned throughout the heyday that led him to the Hall of Fame.

But it was something else to sit in a room with La Russa when it was all over. Ticked off enough to voice some heavy-duty accusations, he ripped into the Astros for an otherwise inconsequential moment in the eighth inning of Game 4 — when Jose Abreu was hit by a two-out, 3-2 pitch from reliever Kendall Graveman.

“It just leaves a bitter taste in your mouth and in my gut,” La Russa said. “That’s just — there’s a character shortage there that they should answer for. It is stupid, too. … I’ll be interested to see if they admit it [was intentional]. If they don’t admit it, then they’re really dishonest.”

Well, here’s the answer: The Astros are really dishonest. Unless the answer is that La Russa really doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Either way, Astros manager Dusty Baker came nowhere within the ballpark of admitting anything.

“There’s no way,” he said.

Not even a little way?

“I beg to differ with Tony,” he said. “No. I mean, there was no intent and there was no reason to do that. Zero.”

The teams aren’t even rivals, Baker contended. They have no bad blood between them, he went on.

But it isn’t hard to think of one reason why the Astros might have wanted to give the Sox such a parting gift. Everyone remembers the incendiary comments made after Game 3 by Sox reliever Ryan Tepera about the Astros and their maybe-just-maybe-still-cheating ways. Is that why they were still stealing bases to the very end of a blowout? Is that partly why Jose Altuve — who’d been hit earlier in the game and been the recipient of profane chants from the crowd — circled the bases after his three-run, ninth-inning home run with the speed of an overfed sportswriter?

Regardless, La Russa called the Astros’ “character and credibility” into question, which is sure to create tension next season between the teams and between their managers — assuming both are back.

La Russa has a multiyear contract with the Sox, but the specific length of the deal has not been revealed or confirmed by the club. How sure is he that he’ll manage in 2022?

“Well, I mean, I’m not going to talk about myself,” he began, a sure sign that he would immediately begin talking about himself.

He described the process he has relied on since he first began to feel like he had some real job security as a big-league manager. The process begins with asking ownership and the front office if they want him back.

“You don’t want to come back [just] because you got a contract,” he said. “I would just leave if they don’t want you back.”

“If they say yes, then you ask the players. You know? They should choose who they want to manage.”

We’re to believe the Sox players can essentially fire La Russa?

“If the players don’t want you,” he said, “then you walk away.”

And if, from chairman Jerry Reinsdorf on down, there’s no movement to banish La Russa into re-retirement, there will be one more step in the process.

“You check and see whether you’ve got the desire to continue to manage,” he said. “So, I do.”

Meaning he’s sure he wants to come back and do this again?

“I mean, we have more work to do,” he said.

And with that, he goes into the offseason without a new World Series story and with the jury still out on whether or not he’ll go down as having been the right manager for the job. The Sox’ championship window isn’t open quite as wide as it was when October began.

There was no postseason thrill ride, no roller coaster of emotion. It was more of an anticlimactic ending to a season that was somewhat stuck in that mode since the All-Star break, the Sox just kind of coasting with a huge division lead and an understandable desire to keep certain players as healthy and fresh as possible for the playoffs.

“We accomplished the first goal,” La Russa said, “but we are disappointed to get one win and not two more. So, it’s bittersweet.”

Emphasis on the “bitter.” La Russa was angry when it was over. Angry enough that you just know the gears in his mind were grinding with thoughts of meeting the Astros again. And they’re always grinding with thoughts of flying a new World Series banner. If it’s all the same to the Sox, he’d like to come back and take another crack at it.

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Timuel Black, at age 98, chatting about the Chicago Freedom Movement that brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Chicago, where an open housing march in Marquette Park drew attacks by angry whites. Black, currently in hospice care, was not far from King when the civil rights leader was felled to the knee by a huge rock. | Leslie Adkins, Sun-Times Media

With no long-term health insurance to cover home hospice care, the community is coming to the aid of the 102-year-old historian, author and political and civil rights activist. It’s about giving this elder statesman and griot of Chicago’s black community his flowers while he is still with us.

It’s about giving this 102-year-old statesman and griot of Chicago’s Black community, Timuel Black, his flowers while he is still with us.

The historian, author and political and civil rights activist has been in hospice care since Sept. 28, surrounded by his books and jazz music, at his home in his beloved Bronzeville.

The son of sharecroppers and grandson of slaves was raised there, in what was then Chicago’s segregated “Black Belt.”

A longtime educator, Black is well known as the prolific author and noted expert on the subject of the “Great Migration” that brought his parents to Chicago, after World War I.

He has no long-term health insurance to cover home hospice care. He has his pension, and his social security. Medicare only covers 30 minutes of nursing a day for at-home hospice.

So the community is rallying.

Through the generosity of many — 1,300 donors as of Tuesday evening to a GoFundMe page — he was finally able to get 24-hour nursing care. That care began Tuesday after overnight care had begun last Thursday. Transitioning in comfort and with dignity, he deserves it.

Before that, his wife of 40 years, Zenobia Black, was trying to do it on her own.

For her and for Black’s vast network of friends, collaborators, colleagues and supporters, Black leaving the comfort of his home was never an option.

Then came the day he fell. His wife ran to his aid, but threw her back out trying to lift him. Ultimately, the Chicago Fire Department came to help.

That’s when a hospital bed was secured, and three of his friends begged his wife to let them start the GoFundMe. Black was a humble man, not the kind to ask folks for help with something like this. His wife bucked at the thought.

Friends persisted. He deserves it, they said. She finally agreed.

The page went up Sept. 29, a $50,000 goal immediately met by an outpouring.

They then increased the goal, to $75,000. The page has raised more than $108,000, and it’s been shared 1,700 times.

Black is now getting the best of care, just as planned.

Organizers were Susan Klonsky, who has known Black for some 40 years and co-wrote his 2019 memoir, “Sacred Ground: The Chicago Streets of Timuel Black”; Lisa Yun Lee, director of the National Public Housing Museum, who has known Black for 20 years, and worked with him on the museum’s oral history archive; and Michelle Boone, president of the Poetry Foundation, who has known him for more than 30 years, and was mentored by both him and his wife.

I’ve never come across a veteran Chicago educator, politico, activist or media personality who doesn’t know and respect this man’s legacy as an organizer in just about every labor, civil rights and political justice movement since 1940.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot visited recently — toting a new record player and jazz albums by Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Armstrong, Black’s favorites. He’s been listening to them on rotation.

Transitioning in comfort and with dignity, he deserves it.

Black graduated in 1935 from DuSable High School. Like him, many of his classmates were trailblazers in their fields — Johnson Publishing Co. founder John H. Johnson, jazz musician Nat King Cole, Archibald Carey, Jr., the first Black delegate to the United Nations.

Black taught for many years in the Chicago Public Schools, followed by 30 years at City Colleges of Chicago, before retiring in 1989.

Drafted into a segregated Army in 1943, he fought in two decisive battles of World War II, the Battle of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. He participated in the April 11, 1945 liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp, which always stayed with him.

He worked with activists Paul Robeson and W.E.B. DuBois in the ’40s and ’50s; then alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the ’60s.

Heavily involved in King’s Chicago Freedom Movement, he was president of the Chicago chapter of the Negro American Labor Council founded by activist A. Phillip Randolph, and helped organize Chicagoans’ participation in the 1963 March on Washington.

He was instrumental in the election of Chicago’s first Black mayor, Harold Washington, in 1983 — aided by an independent, progressive Black political movement that Black himself pioneered by coining the popular term “plantation politics.”

Black was similarly involved in the election of the nation’s first Black president, becoming trusted counsel to the young Chicago community organizer Barack Obama in the early 1980s, advising him over the course of two decades as he worked his way up in politics.

Once posted, the GoFundMe page immediately was distributed to some 800 members of the Tim Black 100 Committee — established in 2018 to help celebrate this Chicago treasure’s 100th birthday in style. Comprised of such members as U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Michael Pfleger, U. of C. President Robert Zimmer and civil rights attorney James Montgomery, donations flowed in.

Then the community heard, and rallied. Many are doing their part to transition this icon in comfort and with dignity. The page is still up. Round-the-clock nursing is expensive.

He deserves it.

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First lady Jill Biden views a Day of the Dead Exhibit during a tour of the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen with chief curator Cesareo Moreno on Tuesday. | Tyler LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times

The first lady’s two-day visit to Chicago was intended to feature some of her planned charlas — Spanish for conversations — a series of discussions and listening sessions she is conducting across the nation.

First lady Jill Biden spent the first day of her two-day visit to Chicago on Tuesday honoring those who’ve died from COVID-19 and recognizing the harrowing impact the virus has had on the Latino community.

But mostly, she listened.

Biden’s first visit to the city as first lady was designed to commemorate National Hispanic Heritage Month, a 30-day period of recognition that wraps up Oct. 15.

The first lady’s stop was intended to feature some of her planned charlas — Spanish for conversations — a series of discussions and listening sessions she is conducting across the nation.

The first lady mostly listened on Tuesday, making no public remarks as she toured the National Museum of Mexican Art, which houses one of the largest collections of Mexican art in the nation. She mostly asked questions or commented on the exhibits at the museum in the Pilsen neighborhood.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Mayor Lori Lightfoot were among the elected officials who toured the museum with the first lady Tuesday afternoon, shortly after her arrival at Midway Airport.

Garcia, whose district includes the museum, said the first lady’s visit is “a tribute to all of the contributions that the Latino community in Chicagoland, especially in Mexican and immigrant communities” has made to the city.

Biden was serenaded by three 17-year-old members of the Chicago Mariachi Project in a blue room at the museum called the courtyard. That room featured the art and photography of students in Yollocalli Arts Reach, the museum’s youth initiative.

Tyler LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times
First lady Jill Biden, right, talks with musicians, from left, Luis Marquez, 17, Suesan Jarquin, 17, and Edwin Perez, 17, all with Chicago Mariachi Project during a visit and tour of the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen on Tuesday.

After the band finished its first song, the first lady asked them to do another. Then she asked them questions about themselves.

Biden also visited three rooms in the museum, seeing two ofrendas that are part of its celebration of the Day of the Dead.

The ofrendas are alters built to honor deceased loved ones. The largest at the museum focused on “the tragedy we’re all living in,” the museum’s chief curator, Cesareo Moreno, said.

Photos of people who died from the virus lined the “COVID Memorial Ofrenda,” which took up an entire wall in one of the museum’s rooms. The alter was also covered in candles, bowls, hearts and small flags from around the world, including the United States, Mexico and Chicago.

Moreno said the museum received over 200 photos after asking people to send them in for the exhibit.

“The memorial, I think, is a testament to the fact that not all memorials have to be to individuals or celebrities … in history, but rather everyday people,” Moreno told Biden and the elected officials accompanying her.

“It’s more than just artwork. The Day of the Dead every year is about telling stories, and I think that by telling stories is how we keep them alive.”

Carlos Tortolero, the founder and president of the museum, said the first lady’s visit is a “great honor” for the community.

Tyler LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times
Chief Curator Cesareo Moreno shows first lady Jill Biden and local elected officials a Day of the Dead Exhibit during a visit and tour of the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen on Tuesday.

A former educator, Tortolero said Biden, who is an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College, is “one of our gang — she gets it, she understands it, so it’s like a double honor for us.”

On Wednesday, the first lady is scheduled to join Garcia and U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona for a charla at the Arturo Velasquez Institute. That school is a satellite campus of Richard J. Daley College, which is part of the City Colleges of Chicago.

Her visit comes less than a week after President Joe Biden stopped in Elk Grove Village on Thursday to encourage businesses to implement their own COVID-19 vaccine mandates or weekly testing.

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Dean Angelo, then Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #7 president, talks to members of the media after a bond hearing for Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke in 2015, in Chicago. Angelo died Tuesday after battling COVID-19 for weeks. | Charles Rex Arbogast, AP Photos

Mr. Angelo, the police union president from 2014-2017, spent more than 37 years on the police force.

Former Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President Dean Angelo Sr., 67, who led the union during the tumultuous years immediately after the shooting of Laquan McDonald, died Tuesday after a weeks-long battle with COVID-19.

Mr. Angelo, who served as president of the police union from 2014 to 2017, died Monday, according to his son, Chicago Police Sgt. Dean Angelo Jr. He said his father had tested positive for the coronavirus in mid-September and had been in intensive care since Sept. 26. His son had earlier declined to say whether his dad had been vaccinated.

Dean Angelo Sr. was the son of a Chicago police officer himself, and he has a daughter on the force in addition to Dean Angelo Jr. Another daughter is a CPS teacher, while another son is a Chicago firefighter.

“He was a gentleman,” said Dan Herbert, a former union attorney who represented former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke in his trial for McDonald’s murder. “He would fight hard for his members, but he did it with class and you can’t always say that about everyone.”

Mr. Angelo rose to the rank of detective and specialized in arson investigations, his son said. In all, Mr. Angelo spent more than 37 years on the police force, mostly as a gang officer.

He met his wife of nearly 40 years, Claudia, on his lunch break while working as a patrolman.

Mr. Angelo completed some college before he joined CPD, and went back to school when the department adopted a tuition reimbursement program in 1980. He went on to get a doctorate degree, and later taught law enforcement classes at National Louis University and the College of St. Joseph, his son said.

As union president, Mr. Angelo was an early lightning rod in the debate over police reform. He became the most public defender of the police force when the release of video showing Van Dyke firing 16 shots at 17-year-old McDonald put the department under unprecedented scrutiny. When Van Dyke was suspended from the force, Mr. Angelo hired him to work as a custodian at FOP headquarters.

Mr. Angelo attended nearly all of the pre-trial hearings in the nearly three years it took for Van Dyke to go to trial. He attended every day of Van Dyke’s 2018 trial, often sitting beside Van Dyke’s wife and family, who he became close with.

Mr. Angelo attended the trial even though he had lost a heated election for FOP president the year before. His opponents had vowed to be even more confrontational with the mayor’s office.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

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Carlos Rodon’s two first-inning strikeouts in the White Sox’ 10-1 Game 4 were the memorable moments in what could have been his final start in Chicago.

So much was unknown for Carlos Rodon and the White Sox going into his start in Game 4 of the division series. Was he healthy? Could he get outs? Should the Sox have started Lance Lynn?

But with the Sox in need of his best, he gave it to them and put on a final performance that won’t be forgotten on the South Side anytime soon.

Things started right away for Rodon as Jose Altuve ripped the first pitch of the game for a double. But after getting Michael Brantley to ground out on a pair of sliders, something happened.

Despite not coming into the game 100%, it was like someone flipped the switch and the pitcher who helped guide the Sox to the postseason had emerged.

“I knew about a couple of days ago I felt pretty close to normal,” he said.

Rodon went into ace mode, mowing down the next two hitters and getting himself out of a jam.

After starting the at-bat, 1-0, the Sox’ left-hander blew a 97-mph fastball past Alex Bregman for strike one. He then spun a breaking ball over the plate for strike two. Finally, he reached back and blew a 99-mph fastball past Bregman for the strikeout.

But he wasn’t done there.

He got the next batter, Yordan Alvarez, down in the count 1-2 before blowing another 99-mph fastball by him and letting out a primal scream as he pounded his chest electrifying a sellout crowd.

“Adding in the crowd, an amazing crowd,” Rodon said. “First time for me to see some playoff games at home, and it was something special.”

Rodon went two scoreless innings before getting into trouble in the third. He surrendered a two out, two-run double to Carlos Correa that gave them a 2-1 lead and the Astros never looked back.

No one could have expected Rodon to have the electric stuff that he did in the 10-1 loss to the Astros. In his last start of the regular season on Sept. 29, his fastball averaged just 90.9 mph. He clearly emptied the tank, averaging 95.8 mph on Tuesday.

“I thought he did exactly what he did all year,” manager Tony La Russa said after the game. “He gave us everything he had. … He was competing. It’s exactly what he gave us all year to the extent that he had the stamina, so we all felt very good about his effort.”

Rodon has grown with the White Sox as they’ve built what they feel is their championship core. They picked him as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2013 draft and after making it to the big leagues in ’15, it wasn’t an easy road for the southpaw.

He’d struggle with injuries over the next five seasons, ultimately leading to him being non-tendered after the 2020 season. After returning this season, he became one of the best starters in baseball, going 13-5 with 2.37 ERA and even tossed his first no-hitter.

Rodon has an uncertain future as he enters free agency and his start Tuesday could have been his last in a White Sox’ uniform. But he didn’t waste the opportunity to take in the moment. Seeing him walk off the mound to a roar from the crowd felt like a culmination of a significant comeback story for the White Sox in ’21.

“It’s been an interesting road for me,” an emotional Rodon said. “And to have the opportunity to pitch in an important game, it meant a lot. So thank you, White Sox fans, and thank you to the organization.”

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White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon, center, watches from the dugout with Andrew Vaughn, left, and Lucas Giolito during the 10-1 Game 4 of the ALDS at Guaranteed Rate Field. | Nam Y. Huh/AP

White Sox’ season ends with 10-1 loss to Astros.

Carlos Correa knocked Carlos Rodon out of the game with a two-run, two-out double on an 0-2 pitch in the third inning, Alex Bregman drove in two runs with a double on a 3-0 pitch from Garrett Crochet in the fourth, and the Houston Astros ended the White Sox’ season with a 10-1 blowout victory Tuesday in Game 4 of the American League Division Series at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Needing a win to knot the series at two games apiece and send it to Houston for a deciding game, the Sox found themselves in a 5-1 hole in the fourth inning and lost the series in four games for their second straight quick exit from postseason, this time under manager Tony La Russa. The Sox fell to the Athletics in the best of three Wild Card series last season under manager Rick Renteria, who was fired after the season.

Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, on the receiving end of hostile, sometimes profane chants from the Sox’ crowd during Games 3 and 4, put an exclamation point on the series by launching a three-run homer against Sox closer Liam Hendriks in the ninth inning. By that time, a large portion of the 40,174 in attendance was on its way out of the ballpark.

Hours earlier, the Sox, their backs to the wall, had the crowd in full voice with a promising start. After two inspiring scoreless innings from left-hander Carlos Rodon, they scored first on designated hitter Gavin Sheets’ solo home run to center field against Astros ace Lance McCullers Jr. in the second. Astros center fielder Jake Meyers injured his right shoulder reaching over the wall and left the game.

Rodon, touching 99 mph in his first start in 13 days, struck out Bregman and Jordan Alvarez with Altuve on third base after Altuve hit Rodon’s first pitch of the game, a 93-mph fastball, into the left field corner for a double.

Touching 99 mph for the first time since July, Rodon’s sequence of strikeouts had the crowd in a frenzy. Bothered by a sore shoulder much of the second half of the season, the All-Star left-hander let out a triumphant scream as he came off the mound. In the second inning, Rodon allowed a leadoff single to Correa, then recorded three straight outs.

But after striking out Martin Maldonado leading off the third, Rodon hit Altuve on the left elbow pad with a pitch and walked Alex Bregman and Jordan Alvarez, loading the bases with two outs and setting up Correa’s big blow that gave the Astros the lead for good at 2-1.

Maldonado’s RBI single, a liner up the middle that made Kopech duck out of the way, scored Kyle Tucker to make it 3-1, and Bregman’s double made it 5-1. Brantley’s two-out single against Aaron Bummer in the sixth scored Chas McCormick, who had replaced Meyers in center field.

The Astros stole four bases on Rodon, Kopech, Craig Kimbrel and catcher Yasmani Grandal.

Rodon was charged with two runs and Kopech, who replaced Rodon, was charged with three runs. Manager Tony La Russa said Monday that Kopech, who had thrown 47 pitches in the Sox’ 12-6 win in Game 3, would not be available until a possible Game 5.

The Sox’ starting rotation had the best ERA in the AL this season, but Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease and Rodon allowed 14 runs lasting only 12 1/3 innings for a 10.22 ERA in four starts.

McCullers, the winner in Game 1 in Houston, was pulled after four innings and 73 pitches, and Astros bullpen strung together zeroes the rest of the way.

Sox center fielder Luis Robert left the game in the sixth with right leg tightness.

The Astros advance to the ALCS to face the Red Sox, a series that starts Friday in Houston.

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From left to right, Michael Craig’s son John Miller, attorney Michael Oppenheimer, Craig’s son Patrick Jenkins and Craig’s nephew Victor Varner call on CPD to release body camera footage of Craig’s death. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

The family of Michael Craig said they’ve had no contact with police about why their father was shot by an officer responding to a domestic disturbance Oct. 4.

The family of a 61-year-old man killed by a Chicago police officer during a domestic call last week is being represented by a civil rights lawyer who demanded Tuesday that authorities turn over police video of the shooting.

Attorney Michael Oppenheimer said serious questions remain about the deadly shooting, including whether Michael A. Craig was even holding a weapon or threatening police.

“Nobody from the Chicago Police Department has reached out to this family to give any explanation of why their father, friend and loved one was killed by the Chicago Police Department,” attorney Michael Oppenheimer said at a news conference.

Craig was fatally shot by one of the officers who responded to a call about a “domestic disturbance” around 7:35 a.m. Oct. 4 in a second-floor apartment in the 7700 block of South Carpenter Street.

Police said the officers “observed a domestic altercation” and one of them fired and hit Craig. Police have said a knife was recovered but would not say if Craig or the woman with him was holding it at the time.

Provided
Michael A. Craig was shot and killed by police in the second floor apartment on Oct. 5. His son, John Miller, called him a “great dad.”

But Oppenheimer said the woman in the apartment, whom he identified as Craig’s wife, was threatening Craig with a knife and Craig screamed at his 7-year-old son to call the police.

“He yelled to his . . . son, ‘Call the police, call the police. She’s got a knife to my throat,” said Oppenheimer.

When officers arrived, Oppenheimer said “witnesses heard the police officer yell “Drop it, drop it” and immediately two gunshots were fired.”

Craig’s wife was taken to the hospital after the shooting for mental health issues and remains under observation, the family said. Craig’s 7-year-old son is in the care of relatives.

“(Craig) was a victim of domestic violence,” Oppenheimer said. “I fear that the police are being unusually silent in this case because they made him a victim, again, of domestic violence and now a victim of the Chicago Police Department.”

Craig and his wife had been married for nearly 10 years, according to Craig’s older son Patrick Jenkins, and it was not the first altercation between the two. In 2016, Craig’s wife stabbed him and she was arrested but then released.

Despite their past, Jenkins said his father loved his wife “very much.”

“He wanted to help her, and this is what happened,” said Jenkins, 40. “He didn’t deserve it.”

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability has 60 days before it is required to release body camera footage from the officers. Oppenheimer said the family has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the agency in the hopes of speeding the process along.

Cheyanne M. Daniels is a staff reporter for the Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South Side and West Side.

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White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon, center, watches from the dugout with Andrew Vaughn, left, and Lucas Giolito during Game 4 of the ALDS at Guaranteed Rate Field. | Nam Y. Huh/AP

White Sox’ season ends with 10-1 loss to Astros

Carlos Correa knocked Carlos Rodon out of the game with a two-run, two-out double on an 0-2 pitch in the third inning, Alex Bregman drove in two runs with a double on a 3-0 pitch from Garrett Crochet in the fourth, and the Houston Astros ended the White Sox’ season with a 10-1 blowout victory Tuesday in Game 4 of the American League Division Series at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Needing a win to knot the series at two games apiece and send it to Houston for a deciding game, the Sox found themselves in a 5-1 hole in the fourth inning and lost the series in four games for their second straight quick exit from postseason, this time under manager Tony La Russa. The Sox fell to the Athletics in the best of three Wild Card series last season under manager Rick Renteria, who was fired after the season.

Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, on the receiving end of hostile, sometimes profane chants from the Sox’ crowd during Games 3 and 4, put an exclamation point on the series by launching a three-run homer against Sox closer Liam Hendriks in the ninth inning. By that time, a large portion of the 40,174 in attendance was on its way out of the ballpark.

Hours earlier, the Sox, their backs to the wall, had the crowd in full voice with a promising start. After two inspiring scoreless innings from left-hander Carlos Rodon, they scored first on designated hitter Gavin Sheets’ solo home run to center field against Astros ace Lance McCullers Jr. in the second. Astros center fielder Jake Meyers injured his right shoulder reaching over the wall and left the game.

Rodon, touching 99 mph in his first start in 13 days, struck out Bregman and Jordan Alvarez with Altuve on third base after Altuve hit Rodon’s first pitch of the game, a 93-mph fastball, into the left field corner for a double.

Touching 99 mph for the first time since July, Rodon’s sequence of strikeouts had the crowd in a frenzy. Bothered by a sore shoulder much of the second half of the season, the All-Star left-hander let out a triumphant scream as he came off the mound. In the second inning, Rodon allowed a leadoff single to Correa, then recorded three straight outs.

But after striking out Martin Maldonado leading off the third, Rodon hit Altuve on the left elbow pad with a pitch and walked Alex Bregman and Jordan Alvarez, loading the bases with two outs and setting up Correa’s big blow that gave the Astros the lead for good at 2-1.

Maldonado’s RBI single, a liner up the middle that made Kopech duck out of the way, scored Kyle Tucker to make it 3-1, and Bregman’s double made it 5-1. Brantley’s two-out single against Aaron Bummer in the sixth scored Chas McCormick, who had replaced Meyers in center field.

The Astros stole four bases on Rodon, Kopech, Craig Kimbrel and catcher Yasmani Grandal.

Rodon was charged with two runs and Kopech, who replaced Rodon, was charged with three runs. Manager Tony La Russa said Monday that Kopech, who had thrown 47 pitches in the Sox’ 12-6 win in Game 3, would not be available until a possible Game 5.

The Sox’ starting rotation had the best ERA in the AL this season, but Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease and Rodon allowed 14 runs lasting only 12 1/3 innings for a 10.22 ERA in four starts.

McCullers, the winner in Game 1 in Houston, was pulled after four innings and 73 pitches, and Astros bullpen strung together zeroes the rest of the way.

Sox center fielder Luis Robert left the game in the sixth with right leg tightness.

The Astros advance to the ALCS to face the Red Sox, a series that starts Friday in Houston.

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PVC piping could be used in more applications under revisions to Chicago’s plumbing code that were approved Tuesday by a City Council committee. | Sun-Times file

Aldermen also granted historical landmark designation to the Muddy Waters house, 4339 S. Lake Park Ave. The two-flat was built in 1891 and served as the home of the blues legend from 1954 to 1973.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to relax Chicago’s plumbing code to ease the financial burden on homeowners and businesses sailed through a City Council committee Tuesday, paving the way for expanded use of plastic pipe and construction of more “gender-neutral restrooms.”

At the behest of newly-appointed Buildings Commissioner Matthew Beaudet, the Zoning Committee signed off on several changes.

One would allow expanded use of PVC plastic drain, waste and vent piping, which is now confined to above-ground uses in residential buildings no higher than three stories.

The changes would allow PVC drain pipe to be used for the residential portion of buildings up to 60 feet or five stories high, even if a portion of the building houses commercial space.

PVC pipe also would be permitted for residential use underground “if it’s separated completely from the commercial use. But if they’re both using the same, then it would be cast iron,” Beaudet told aldermen.

“These expanded options for residential use will be a tremendous asset to homeowners seeking to stay in their homes and for multi-family residences, especially affordable housing,” the new commissioner said.

Even with the changes, Chicago would retain its longstanding requirement of copper pipes for drinking water. Some cities allow “other materials” to be used, but after consulting “industry groups” and the Department of Water Management, City Hall decided not to relax that part of the code.

Another change allows “small storefront businesses,” including restaurants serving 30 people or less, to provide just one, single-user restroom.

“By reducing the amount of floor space required to be set aside for restrooms, it increases the amount of floor space that can be used for business activities. … In a small restaurant, there might be room for an additional two-seat table,” Beaudet told aldermen.

“This will help tremendously as businesses emerge from the pandemic and new businesses seek to open in your commercial corridors and neighborhoods.”

Associated Press
Gender-neutral bathrooms in place of separate ones for men and women would free up floor space in restaurants and other businesses.

Also, the committee OK’d adding provisions for gender-neutral restrooms — with gender-neutral signs — that take up less space and, therefore, free up more revenue-generating floor space for larger restaurants and businesses.

If, as expected, the full Council approves the change, so-called “single-user toilet rooms” could be used to provide required toilet facilities, “either in combination with or in place of male and female, multi-stall restrooms,” the commissioner said.

The ordinance also allows “all-gender restrooms with multiple private toilet stalls and shared sinks,” Beaudet said. That option includes requirements to “ensure safety and privacy for all users,” he said.

“These changes help create restrooms that are more usable and welcoming to not just transgender people, but everyone,” Beaudet said.

“For example, a parent who doesn’t want to send their child into an opposite-gender restroom alone or an elderly person who needs assistance from an opposite-gender caregiver.”

The changes also would clarify requirements for water safety, water-conserving plumbing fixtures and swimming pool design as part of a series of updates to “better align” the plumbing code with the Chicago building code revamped two years ago.

Also on Tuesday, the Zoning Committee broadened the umbrella of property owners who can take advantage of Lightfoot’s slow-trickle of a plan to replace lead service lines.

Last year, the City Council authorized a permit fee waiver worth up to $3,100 for homeowners who voluntary agree to replace their lead service lines. The problem is, only 20 homeowners took the city up on the mayor’s officer.

The expanded ordinance would offer the same break to churches and other not-for-profits.

Muddy Waters house OK’d for landmark status

Aldermen also granted historical landmark designation to the Muddy Waters house, 4339 S. Lake Park Ave.

The two-flat was built in 1891 and served as the home of the blues legend from 1954 to 1973. Chandra Cooper, Waters’ great grand-daughter and the current owner, requested the designation.

Kandalyn Hahn of the Chicago Department of Planning and Development said the “hospitality extended to Chicago musicians and musicians who came to record in the city made the home an unofficial center” for the Chicago blues community.

“It was close to the city’s concentration of record distributors and independent record companies like Chess Records as well as the blues clubs of the South Side, making it a natural gathering place for other blues musicians,” Hahn told aldermen.

“Musicians were welcomed at all hours. Not only food and drink, but lodging was also offered to traveling musicians like Howlin’ Wolf and Chuck Berry. Band members — including Otis Spann and James Cotton — lived in second-floor apartments. Rehearsals were held in the basement and would spill outside to the yard on warm days.”

Ald. Sophia King (4th), whose ward includes the Muddy Waters Museum, said Waters was a “huge contributor” to the blues and rock-and-roll.

“Having his particular home landmarked here in Chicago would be not only something that recognizes his contributions but also recognizes the contribution of the blues to Chicago,” King said.

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