Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks inside Mi Tierra En La Villita restaurant in Little Village on Thursday. | Mark Capapas/Sun-Times

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the possibility of publicly financing a new stadium is “not something that we’re looking at” — but he didn’t rule it out.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday said he’d be disappointed if the Bears leave Soldier Field in favor of a new stadium in Arlington Heights, but the Chicago Democrat was noncommittal about the prospect of publicly financing a billion-dollar project — something a group of state lawmakers are lining up to block.

“I’m a Bears fan, and I know that it would be disappointing for me if the Chicago Bears moved outside of the city of Chicago,” Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference in Little Village. “I think that the Bears and the city of Chicago need to work out their differences in order for us to end up with the Bears staying in the city.”

“There’s something about having them in the city. … There’s a tradition I think that we all feel, many of us, about the city of Chicago. Having said that, this is a private enterprise engaging with city governments to decide what’s best for them,” he said.

The team announced Wednesday it reached a $197 million deal to buy 326 acres previously home to Arlington International Racecourse, which likely ran its final races last weekend. Mayor Lori Lightfoot sounded resigned to the idea of the team skipping town but has urged the team to return to the negotiating table to keep them on the lakefront.

As for whether he’d support using public money to sweeten the pot for the Bears — either for a new stadium or for more upgrades at Soldier Field — the governor said “that’s not something that we’re looking at,” but he didn’t rule it out.

“It’s very important for us to focus on our fiscal situation in the state, making sure that we’re building up the infrastructure of the state and that we’re balancing our budget,” he said.

Mark Capapas/Sun-Times
Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks during a news conference Thursday at a restaurant in Little Village.

But state Sen. Robert Peters, a Hyde Park Democrat whose district includes Soldier Field, took a hardline stance against the potential move. He filed legislation dubbed the “Monsters of the Midway Act” that seeks to prohibit the Bears from moving without an agreement with the city.

Peters noted taxpayers will have shelled out $660 million by the time the total debt from Soldier Field’s oft-ridiculed renovation is paid off a decade from now.

“If the owners want to move the team, that’s fine, but they owe a debt to the city and its taxpayers who have been paying for their stadium,” Peters said in a statement.

Other lawmakers are calling for a timeout before throwing public dollars at the team. A House resolution sponsored by state Reps. Mike Zalewski, D-Riverside, Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, and Margaret Croke, D-Chicago, would urge the General Assembly to “take all necessary steps to ensure that no state or local taxpayer money is used in the construction of new professional sport stadiums.”

That measure would offer legislators a chance to “step back, catch our breath and say we want to be involved in this process,” Zalewski said.

There was a “serious social and public commitment to the Bears and to Soldier Field and the city of Chicago in the early 2000s, and it was done with a lot of public funding,” Zalewski said.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times
State Rep. Michael J. Zalewski, D-Riverside, pictured in March 2020.

“The indications are that if this were to go forward and the Bears were to relocate to Arlington Heights, it would be a private transaction, but that’s a big assumption,” Zalewski said.

“There’s not just the stadium, there’s transportation costs — the only way to get in and out of Arlington Heights is Route 53, that’s 85,000 people moving in and out of the northwest suburb on a weekly basis, not to mention if there’s a Final Four or a Super Bowl. … The sense of the chamber resolution’s to just ask everyone to take the temperature on how they feel as an initial starting point.”

Zalewski said he didn’t think the resolution would get total agreement in the chamber, and other legislators, such as state Rep. Jonathan Carroll, D-Northbrook, could have different ideas.

Carroll, whose district currently includes part of Arlington Heights, said he hasn’t been asked to support the measure and isn’t sure he would.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times file
Arlington International Racecourse, pictured earlier this week, is in line to be purchased by the Chicago Bears.

“The Chicago Bears haven’t asked us for anything yet, and, as a matter of fact, they put out $197 million of their own money to buy the site,” Carroll said. “I understand why some of the reps that are on that resolution are, because nobody wants to be the person that lost the Bears. I think everybody wants to do everything in their power to certainly keep them, but at the same time, until there’s pen to paper, it’s kind of hard to know where we’re going with this.”

Pritzker said he hasn’t been approached by the Bears nor by officials from Chicago or Arlington Heights, who he said “are going to have to make their own decisions” about potentially subsidizing upgrades for the team.

Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes declined to comment on whether the Bears have made any specific asks or if he’d be open to them.

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Chicago police work the scene where multiple people were shot near the Grand Avenue, Halsted Street, and Milwaukee Avenue intersection, in the West Town neighborhood, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

It was the evening rush hour, and Milwaukee Avenue was crowded with people running errands, leaving work, walking their dogs.

In the shadow of half a dozen gleaming downtown high rises lies a stretch of Milwaukee Avenue that needs but shuns attention.

A square of plywood covers a window in the door at Richard’s Bar. Inside, a middle-aged man with a lighted cigarette in his hand asks to be left alone.

To get service at the messenger business two doors down requires a stroll down a reeking alley to a scuffed metal door with no sign on it.

The two blocks of Milwaukee between Grand and Hubbard may appear neglected, but for many it’s their way into and out of downtown. A short stroll away, at Grand and Halsted, new condo buildings and hipster bars crowd the intersection.

Wednesday evening, the street was jammed with people running errands, leaving work or walking their dogs when gunmen hanging out of car windows wildly fired at another car.

“There were people diving and there was gunpowder in the air,” said Steven Caruso, the man behind the door at Advanced Messenger Service.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Crime scene tape wrapped on some fence near N Milwaukee and W Hubbard in the Fulton River District Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021.

Five people were hit. One was riding a bicycle, another was in the backseat of a ride-share. One man was shot in the back and taken to the hospital in critical condition.

One West Town resident said he was driving with his wife down Milwaukee Avenue — just minutes from their home — when the gunfire started.

“There’s a park right there. It was such a beautiful day. I can’t tell you how many people were in the street,” he said. “The Starbucks patio was packed, there were literally 20 people crossing the street there at Jewel.”

He was near the Metra tracks when he heard a popping noise and turned to see a person with a gun hanging out the window of a car speeding toward him.

“I said to my wife, “Get down, get down,'” said the resident, who didn’t want to be named. “I needed my wife to survive to raise our daughter. That was the only thing that popped in my head.”

He heard the car pass and then saw someone open fire on a car stopped in the intersection. “He was just firing into the car endlessly — 20, 30 bullets — I could see the metal flying off. The only place I’d ever seen that — in a movie.”

The two cars sped off. The resident saw a biker who had been shot and called 9-1-1. Another pedestrian ran over and took off his shirt to apply as a tourniquet.

“I realized we were in a war zone for that two and a half blocks and very lucky to be alive,” he said.

Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Chicago police work the scene where multiple people were shot near the Grand Avenue, Halsted Street, and Milwaukee Avenue intersection, in the West Town neighborhood, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021.

The resident and other people who frequent this stretch of Milwaukee said they rarely hear gunfire, and that the shooting was a shock.

People get a little rambunctious outside Emmit’s Bar on St. Patrick’s Day. And a few years ago, a man danced naked outside a nearby Italian restaurant.

But police data shows shootings have been spiking around there this year.

There have been at least nine people shot this year in the police beat that covers where the shooting happened. There was just one shooting victim there all of last year, a fatality, one shooting victim in 2019, none in 2018, one in 2017 and two in 2016.

There were two shootings reported in the beat last week: A woman shot while sitting in a car, and a man who showed up at his girlfriend’s home with gunshot wounds to the chest and back.

On Thursday, scraps of knotted police tape still fluttered on rusting lampposts along Milwaukee. On the sidewalk under Metra tracks, a discarded latex glove lay a few feet from what appeared to be a pool of dried blood.

At Richards, the handful of patrons in the bar either didn’t see the shootout or preferred not to discuss it.

Then one customer, playing a video game, turned and barked: “Call the mayor! Ask her what happened. She’s got all the answers.”

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Bears rookie nose tackle Khyiris Tonga had five tackles against the Browns last week. Tonga is playing in place of injured starter Eddie Goldman. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

With nose tackle Eddie Goldman practicing Thursday and possibly playing Sunday against the Lions, Tonga still could figure in the rotation. “He’s getting better every week,” Bears defensive coordinator Sean Desai said.

Nose tackle Eddie Goldman, who has missed the Bears’ first three games because of a nagging knee injury, was a full participant at practice Thursday — the first step toward playing against the Lions on Sunday at Soldier Field. It would be Goldman’s first regular-season game since Week 17 of the 2019 season.

After missing that much time — and a being out the last three weeks because of the knee injury, Goldman likely would play limited snaps. Regardless of how much Goldman plays, the Bears are comfortable with the progress of rookie nose tackle Khyiris Tonga, who has made an impact in Goldman’s place.

“A big, thick presence down the middle of the defense and he’s getting better each week,” Bears defensive coordinator Sean Desai said. “That’s the good thing, because as a rookie, you just never know how quickly guys will develop. He’s taken it on and embraced all the coaching that we’re giving him. Coach [Chris] Rumph is doing a good job with him and I think he’s going to continue to get better.”

The 25-year-old Tonga, a seventh-round draft pick from Brigham Young, had five tackles against the Browns. He lost a quarterback hit when he was called for roughing the passer when he took Baker Mayfield down. It did not not appear there was much Tonga could do on the play.

“We try to teach guys that they’ve got to fall on the side — that’s the way the league is,” Desai said. “Fallling straight on the quarterback while you’re sacking him, you’re gonna get called.”

Mack still out

Linebacker Khalil Mack (sprained foot) missed his second straight practice. Safety Tashaun Gipson (hamstring), backup linebacker Joel Iyiegbuniwe (hamstring) backup tight end Jesse James (personal) and backup cornerback Xavier Crawford (back) also were out.

Trevathan vs. Ogletree

Desai seemed to indicate that Danny Trevathan might not automatically return to the starting line up whenever he comes off the injured reserve list. Trevathan, who went on IR with a knee injury at the beginning of the season, is in a three-week window in which he can return to the active roster.

Asked if Ogletree has a role when Trevahtan returns, Desai said, “I’m not sure if that question has the assumption that one guy’s starting over the other. We’re going to evaluate all our positions like we do every week and we try to put the best combination of guys and keep the freshest guys on the field for as long as we can. So that will be a decision … when we’re ready to make it, we’ll make it as a staff.”

Backyard football

Tight end Cole Kmet, who played at St. Viator in Arlington Heights, was predictably enthused about the possibility of the Bears building a stadium on the site of Arlington Park.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Kmet said. “I don’t know how you guys [reporters] felt after going to SoFi [Stadium for the Rams game] but that place is pretty sweet. If you have that much land out in Arlington Heights, I can only imagine what they can do with that space. Could be pretty special.”

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Matt Nagy coaches in the Bears’ opener. | Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

The Collaborative Coach — trademark pending — is at it again.

Matt Nagy doesn’t want to explain what he’s doing differently in the wake of Sunday’s offensive embarrassment. But we do know one thing he did Tuesday when crafting this week’s game plan: ask his players what they thought the Bears should do with their offense.

Yep, The Collaborative Coach — trademark pending — is at it again.

Mr. “Be You” has liked to empower his players over the last three years and three games. But now’s not the time.

Nagy’s offense is lost in the woods. Even if he hands offensive coordinator Bill Lazor the laminated road map to navigate the way out of the forest, Nagy needs to be the one to machete his way out from the front of the line. He needs to lead — not to turn around and ask his players for directions. Would Bill Belichick do that? Sean McVay?

“I think coming back in on Tuesday, just his willingness to listen to the players on certain things and wanting to get our input, we had a good talk with him,” tight end Cole Kmet said Thursday. “Just taking a step back and egos aside, looking at this thing and, ‘What do we gotta do to get back on track?'”

Hopefully at least one player said the obvious: Help out the offensive line by blocking with tights ends and running backs, roll Justin Fields out of the pocket and knock off the dumb presnap penalties.

“I didn’t have anything to say,” right tackle Germain Ifedi said. “I just sat back and observed everything that was going on. I’m of the nature, I’m going to do what’s called. Some guys look at scheme. That’s not me. I’m going to sit back and I’m going to be like, ‘OK, what can I do to execute whatever play call Justin [Fields] or Andy [Dalton] or whoever the quarterback is at the time gives?’ If I’m able to do that, I think we’ll be pretty successful.”

He wasn’t capable of that Sunday. The road to 47-yards-on-42-plays is paved with mistakes, and Ifedi and left tackle Justin Peters, who struggled against the Browns’ star edge rushers, made a lot of them. Nagy deserves blame for the nine sacks the Bears gave up, too. Lost in Lazor saying Thursday that he wanted to go back in time and change the Bears’ protection scheme was the acknowledgement that plays providing blocking help from tight ends were “in the offense.” There were adjustments to make during the game, then — and Nagy didn’t make them.

“[Players] had some good ideas and some good thoughts, not to get into it too much in detail,” Ifedi said. “But [there are] so many guys in that room to respect, guys who have played good football, guys who have won Super Bowls, who have played meaningful playoffs in January and February. It’s going to get righted. It’s going to be good.”

Every NFL team asks players for input. When whittling the call sheet down during the week, the Bears ask that week’s starting quarterback which plays he prefers in certain situations. That informs the decisions they make on Sundays.

It’s fair to wonder, though, exactly why it was necessary for Nagy to ask his offensive players for their play preferences only three weeks into the season. It was, at the least, an admission that what the Bears have been doing isn’t working. That they’re lost in the woods.

Nagy was not obligated to speak to the media Thursday. On Wednesday, he described his communication with players and coaches a day earlier as a crucial step the Bears had to take before turning their attention to the Lions.

“It was real,” he said. “It was authentic. It was needed. … And if you don’t do that, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing for Detroit, in my opinion. You need to get that part right.”

Though he’ll design the week’s game plan, Nagy might not be the one calling plays Sunday, He has thus far refused to say whether Lazor would take over those duties, but it figures that the Bears will make some change in their operation. To do the same as they did last week is the definition of insanity.

Running back David Montgomery smiled and said no when asked, jokingly, whether he requested Nagy run the ball on every play. But he did give Nagy his opinion. He said it made him and his teammates feel part of the process.

“It does a lot,” he said. “It creates accountability and allows us to have a voice.”

The question remains, though: what about Nagy’s accountability?

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Neil Bluhm, chairman of Rivers Casino, pictured in 2019. Bluhm and partners at Churchill Downs withdrew their proposal for a Waukegan casino shortly after the company announced the sale of Arlington Park to the Bears. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

The move could suggest billionaire Neil Bluhm is focusing efforts on landing the long-sought Chicago casino.

One of the state’s most influential gambling companies withdrew its bid to win the right to open a new casino in Waukegan just hours after it announced it would sell Arlington International Racecourse to the Chicago Bears, officials said Thursday.

Churchill Downs Inc. confirmed the flashy $197.2 million agreement with the Bears Wednesday morning, a deal that — if finalized — ensures no rival casino developer breaks ground on the northwest suburban oval that’s only a short drive away from the company’s premier Illinois cash cow: Rivers Casino in Des Plaines.

By Wednesday afternoon, Churchill Downs notified Illinois gambling regulators it was withdrawing its Waukegan casino license application that was submitted nearly two years ago as a joint venture with billionaire Rivers chairman Neil Bluhm’s Rush Street Gaming.

The turning of the cards could suggest Bluhm and company are going all in with a proposal for the newly authorized Chicago mega-casino, though he’s kept a poker face on that possibility so far.

Illinois Gaming Board Administrator Marcus Fruchter revealed the Churchill Downs-Rush Street group had pulled out of the running for the Waukegan casino just before a random drawing Thursday to select the order of public presentations for two remaining groups still competing for the license.

“We thank the City of Waukegan, Illinois Gaming Board, and others who had reviewed our application and appreciated the opportunity to be considered. We wish the city and remaining bidders well,” a spokesman for Bluhm’s group said in an email.

Rush Street spokesman Dennis Culloton said it was only a coincidence they withdrew the same day Churchill Downs announced the sale of Arlington. Rush Street does not have a stake in the 326-acre parcel that could be the destination for the Bears — but it does have a sponsorship deal with the team.

“Quite simply, a lot has changed since 2019,” Culloton said.

The bid was pulled after regulators spent nearly two years vetting it along with a wave of other hopefuls looking for a piece of the pie in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s 2019 gambling expansion that added six new casinos. A Gaming Board spokesman declined to comment on the drain of resources at the perennially overworked and understaffed agency.

Churchill Downs previously drew the wrath of the Illinois horse racing industry for passing up on the opportunity to open a “racino” at Arlington, which likely ran its final races last weekend. Critics have argued the company’s true intention was to shield Rivers Casino from competition, though Churchill Downs CEO Bill Carstanjen has insisted they want to open a thoroughbred racetrack somewhere else in the state.

Photo courtesy Arlington International Racecourse
The Arlington Million in 2015).

Carstanjen has been noncommittal so far about the prospect of applying for the Chicago casino, which has drawn a tepid response from other major national gaming developers concerned with high taxes. So has Bluhm, who has close ties to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

It’s not clear if either — or both in tandem — have applied to run the 4,000-position Chicago casino, but they’d be instant front-runners. With interest flagging at the city’s August application deadline, Lightfoot pushed it back to Oct. 29.

Bluhm’s Rush Street Gaming was among the companies that responded to the city’s initial request for information seeking ideas last summer for the long-sought mega-casino. Culloton said making a formal pitch for it is still “under consideration.”

The two remaining Waukegan casino applicants — Las Vegas developer Full House Resorts and Lakeside Casino LLC, a company led by former Grayslake state Sen. Michael Bond — will make their final public cases for the north suburban license Oct. 13.

Four development groups competing for one license in the south suburbs will also make their final pitches: Calumet City, Lynwood, Matteson and a site that straddles Homewood and East Hazel Crest.

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Alex Nylander hasn’t played in a Blackhawks game since August 2020. | AP Photo/Bill Kostroun

Nylander, after missing all of last season recovering from knee surgery, is just now “getting his conditioning back to the level it needs to be.”

Alex Nylander, despite his inconsistency, took an undeniable step forward in 2019-20. He became a full-time NHL player for the first time in his tumultuous young career, tallying a respectable 26 points in 65 games.

He expected to take another such step in 2021. But injury luck had other plans: he tore a meniscus in his knee, forcing him to undergo surgery in December and miss the entire season.

“I was really ready for my second year [with the Hawks],” Nylander said. “I got injured there like a week before training camp. It was tough to hear…[and] really frustrating. You learn a lot of things from the rehab process.”

The initial recovery time estimate was four-to-six months, but “because of the way it was torn,” the actual recovery exceeded that. Even this summer he was inhibited from working much on other aspects of his game.

His knee finally feels 100% healthy now, but the past year has left his fitness lagging behind the curve.

He has sometimes trailed behind during end-of-practice laps during training camp the past week. And in the preseason opener Wednesday, he struggled during his 14:33 of ice time, during which the Red Wings outshot the Hawks 6-1. His most notable moment was strangely breaking up a breakout attempt by his own teammate, Nicolas Beaudin.

“He’s just getting back up to speed again, getting his conditioning back to the level it needs to be,” coach Jeremy Colliton said. “It’s just [about] getting back to that NHL speed [because] he hasn’t skated much.”

Much has been deservedly made of Jonathan Toews’ effort to get back to playing at an NHL level, but Toews isn’t the only Hawk working during camp to scrape off not just a summer’s worth but basically a year’s worth of rust.

Nylander, obviously, is another. So are Kirby Dach and Jake McCabe.

Dach missed 38 of the Hawks’ 56 games last season recovering from wrist surgery and never truly found his groove. McCabe missed the Sabres’ final 42 games recovering from his own knee surgery. Both of them returned to 100% health this summer, but must make up a lot of ground fitness-wise this fall.

“[This is] the benefit of a longer camp — it sure helps them,” Colliton said. “If all those guys were in a situation where we had seven days and then it’s time to play (like last season), it’d be a lot more difficult.”

Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Kirby Dach played more than 21 minutes in Wednesday’s preseason game.

Dach’s early results are encouraging. On Wednesday he played 21:25, during which the Hawks outshot the Wings 12-3. His defensive instincts have been excellent since his rookie year, and his offensive aggressiveness should increase this year.

“Last year, stepping in during the playoff race, it’s a higher tempo, and you don’t really have that leeway where — if you do make a mistake — guys aren’t as sharp,” Dach said. “It’s good to have this buffer area to get out all the kinks and get ready to go.

“[I want to] prove to myself, teammates, management and the league, honestly, that I’m a good player. I can be a dominant player each and every night. I know I’ve got a lot of work to do in that aspect, but I’m excited for the challenge.”

McCabe has also felt “really good” throughout camp and should make his preseason debut Friday. He seems the farthest along of the four guys coming off major absences.

Nylander, meanwhile, seems the most unprepared of the four to play opening night. His sluggishness, combined with the Hawks’ surplus of quality forwards, may foreshadow an October in Rockford for the former eighth overall pick.

But the organization certainly hasn’t yet given up on him, and neither has he in himself.

“I’m really happy and excited getting back [out] there,” Nylander said. “Being in the dressing room with the guys, getting to do normal things, is also good. It’s been a long time.”

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Several TV shows are produced at Cinespace Chicago Film Studios, 2621 W. 15th Pl. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Retiring Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Mark Kelly said filmmaking is “significantly up” in Chicago, with a record 15 TV productions in the city right now, at an estimated economic value this year of about $750 million.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s roadmap to recovery from the pandemic called for Chicago capture a far greater share of the nation’s film and television production.

Mission accomplished, aldermen were told Thursday. Chicago has strengthened its reputation as the Hollywood of the Midwest.

Retiring Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Mark Kelly said filmmaking is “significantly up” in Chicago, with 15 television productions in the city right now — a record.

“We estimate the economic value of that for this year will be about $750 million. It’s now over 20,000 jobs. … And, because Illinois’ tax credit is the only tax credit that has a minority hiring clause with additional benefits, over 50% of crews” in Illinois are either minority or female, Kelly said.

“Is it enough? No. But compared to any other city, we’re off the charts.”

Kelly noted Chicago-based Cinespace — where NBC’s “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago P.D.” and “Chicago Med” are filmed — is now the “largest studio in North America.”

Sun-Times file
A crew is shown in 2013 shooting a scene for “Chicago Fire,” along the Chicago River off Lower Wacker Drive. It’s one of several NBC TV shows that are filmed in the city.

That local inventory of production space is expected to expand when Chicago-born rapper Common and producer Derek Dudley break ground — “any time now,” Kelly said — on their $60 million film studio in South Shore.

That project, on seven acres at 7731 S. Chicago Ave., calls for six studios for both film and television production, Kelly said.

Dudley has said the project could anchor a South Side entertainment district that would include the nearby Avalon Regal Theater.

Thursday, on the hot seat at City Council budget hearings for the final time, Kelly said the importance of “this emerging film scene” cannot be overstated.

“Not just economically. Think of it as sort of like the Michael Jordan impact. Think of how this one individual sort of remade Chicago’s image in the world. Well, filming does that, too,” Kelly said.

“We see L.A. and New York through the films that come from there. We, in Chicago, should emerge as one of the top film-producing locations in this country.”

The embarrassment of Hollywood riches has not been without growing pains.

At the budget hearing, aldermen complained to Kelly about the inconveniences their constituents have endured — too often without warning or compensation — to make way for TV and film production.

“Sometimes they knock on doors. Sometimes they don’t. … If you’re a resident and you’re coming home, you’re not given enough time to know that your block is going to be commandeered … for that week or for the number of days they’re gonna be out there. You’ve got to park around the corner,” said Ald. Michael Scott (24th), whose West Side ward includes Cinespace.

“I want to make sure that every show on every block does exactly what they need to do to make sure this happens.”

Associated Press
The movie “Transformers 3” filming on Michigan Avenue in July 2010.

Kelly noted the film office requires 48 hours notice to impacted communities and 72 hours notice in neighborhoods “where there’s too much filmmaking.”

“They have to meet that. If they don’t, we hold them accountable,” he said.

“And where filming becomes excessive, we will introduce a moratorium for 30 or 60 days because they need to go somewhere else. We did it three times this year.”

As for the uneven reimbursement for production inconvenience, Kelly said $60,000 was recently spent to compensate residents and business owners on 61st Street alone.

“That should be standardized. Everyone she expect the same as that goes forward. Where you hear that’s not the case talk to the film office,” he said.

Near West Side Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) was among a parade of aldermen more concerned about the plethora of neighborhood festivals that either blindside aldermen, drain police resources or both.

“There’s getting ready to be a gang fight right down the block. I’m like, ‘Commander, they’re getting ready to shoot guys. They just called and told me what’s going on.’ And she’s like, ‘Alderman, I don’t have no people.’ They’re at all these festivals,'” Burnett said.

Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said the festivals that flock to his downtown ward are a “great thing” and a “wonderful way to show off the city.”

But, he added: “It’s difficult to field those angry phone calls when we’re not brought into the process on the front end.”

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Acquired this offseason, Jones talked about the idea of two former Slam Dunk Contest winners going at it in the ultimate dunk-off, and unfortunately completely downplayed it actually happening with himself and LaVine.

There’s always a hope for a “Rocky III” ending.

Much like Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed did at the end of that movie, maybe, just maybe, Derrick Jones Jr. and Zach LaVine will meet in some dimly lit gym with no judges, no teammates, and no fans. Just a ball and a rim. The 2020 Slam Dunk Champion in Jones against the two-time champion in LaVine. Air-defying dunk vs. air-defying dunk.

In the end, no one but Jones and LaVine would know who’s actually better.

Unfortunately, it’s going to have to stay a Hollywood script.

“That ain’t happen, I ain’t gonna lie,” Jones said on Thursday, when asked if he and LaVine had engaged in any sort of dunk-off talk. “Zach got it. He won two championships. I mean if it happens, it happens. But that’s my guy.”

According to Jones, not even his new Bulls teammates have been trying to stir that showdown up.

“Nah. Nah, we not really paying attention to dunks,” he said. “Throughout the course of practice or a workout, if we get an open lane, we dunk it. I seen him dunk one time since I been here. So I don’t think we’re going to have a dunk-off anytime soon.”

The way Jones sees it he has bigger goals to focus on. Acquired from Portland in the three-way deal that sent Lauri Markkanen to Cleveland, Jones is in the mix for a key role off the bench in the frontcourt, and until Patrick Williams is back from a left ankle injury, a shot in the starting lineup in Williams’ vacancy.

And while he has no idea how either will play out, he does know that he’s in the right place for the first time in a few years.

Jones confirmed a Sun-Times story from back in April of 2020, when it was reported that the old Bull regime was looking at the then-Miami Heat forward as a free-agent addition.

“Yeah, a few years ago, I did know,” Jones said. “Right before I signed with Portland, I knew that Chicago was heavy on me. This has always been my favorite NBA team. I haven’t told anybody in the NBA that. I’ve always been a big DRose [Derrick Rose] fan and a big [Michael] Jordan fan. Me being in this position now, I’m just so grateful. Every moment I’m out there on the floor I’m going to play it like it’s my last.”

Labrum blues

Coby White admittedly had a classic reaction when he was first told about his shoulder injury this offseason, telling reporters that the first thing he asked the doctor was, “Uh, what is a labrum?”

After laughing through his account of the story with the media, the guard said the team doctor, “did a good job of explaining to me what it was and what the process was gonna be like … at that point there’s not too much you can do about it. I just kinda took it in stride and continued to just attack rehab.”

Not the only thing White attacked this offseason.

Limited in what he could do for the past few months, White said the key for him has been taking mental reps. Which means diving into film and talking the game through with coaches.

“Me growing mentally and watching a lot of film, that’s all I really could do,” White said. “Now I just started getting back on the court. I’ve never been out this long for basketball so for me right now it’s focusing on getting my shoulder strong and just finding a rhythm on the basketball court.”

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Bernard Stratton sits on a neighbor’s front porch and cradles his puppy with burn injuries after the dog was rescued from his burning home early Thursday in the 4900 block of South Princeton Avenue in Fuller Park on the South Side. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Firefighters responded early Thursday to the 4900 block of South Princeton Avenue.

Coy Freeman was sleeping soundly in his Fuller Park home early Thursday when his service dog Rello began making a lot of noise.

“He was barking outrageously and scratching on the door,” said Freeman. Then he noticed that fire and smoke was filling the coach house where he and his uncle lived.

“We grabbed as many dogs as we could before the smoke got so bad the firefighters wouldn’t let us in there,” said Freeman, 43.

They saved three dogs and five puppies, all of which were American Bullys. Three animals didn’t make it, a mother, daughter — both of which were also service dogs — and granddaughter.

“I’m heartbroken,” Freeman said. “I spent every moment of my life taking care of these dogs. I’m visually impaired and I love the dogs.”

He credited 6-year-old Rello for alerting him to the blaze.

“The dog woke us up… He’s the hero.”

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Chicago Fire Department firefighters work to extinguish hot spots Thursday morning after an overnight fire broke out in a vacant building and spread to six other buildings, including two coach houses, in the 4900 block of South Princeton Avenue in Fuller Park on the South Side.

The fire broke out in a vacant building around 3:30 a.m. and spread to six other buildings, including two coach houses, in the 4900 block of South Princeton Avenue, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

Eight people were displaced and none were injured, fire officials said. During a search, firefighters rescued the four puppies and paramedics provided oxygen to them.

Freeman said he lived on the block for five years and suspects the fire may have been set on purpose.

“This is the work of a professional arsonist,” he said. “Just like what’s been through the rest of this neighborhood. Houses don’t catch on fire like that over here. We’ve been in this neighborhood forever. This type of s— don’t happen. But in this last year or so, in the wee hours of the night, abandoned houses are catching on fire, burning up surrounding houses.”

The fire department said the cause of the blaze was under investigation.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Three dogs and five puppies were rescued from a burning home after a fire broke out in a vacant building early Thursday and spread to six other buildings in the 4900 block of South Princeton Avenue in Fuller Park on the South Side.

Freeman’s uncle sat on a neighbor’s porch cradling a 3-month-old yet-to-be named puppy with burns on his back.

“I was telling [the firefighters] I got more dogs in there to get out,” Bernard Stratton said softly. One puppy that wasn’t breathing well was given oxygen and taken to an emergency vet, he said.

Stratton, 57, said this was the second tragedy to strike him in two months. His 29-year-old son, who went by the same name, was shot and killed on the Dan Ryan Expressway near 33rd Street on Aug. 6, he said.

Stratton said his son’s ashes were still in the home but he hasn’t been allowed back in to retrieve them. “I hope they’re OK and that I can get them,” he said.

Freeman said the loss of his dogs was painful because he had invested a lot of time and effort raising them.

“I love these dogs. I’m hurt so much right now,” Freeman said. “I’m trying to figure it out right now. I can’t tell you what my next move is. I’m trying to wrap my head around it.”

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Coy Freeman, left, and his uncle Bernard Stratton look at their dogs, some of whom have burn injuries, after their home was destroyed in a fire early Thursday in the 4900 block of South Princeton Avenue in Fuller Park on the South Side.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Chicago Fire Department firefighters work to extinguish hot spots after a fire broke out early Thursday in a vacant building and spread to six other buildings, including two coach houses, in the 4900 block of South Princeton Avenue in Fuller Park on the South Side.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Chicago Fire Department firefighters work to extinguish hot spots Thursday morning after an overnight fire broke out in a vacant building and spread to six other buildings, including two coach houses, in the 4900 block of South Princeton Avenue in Fuller Park on the South Side.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Chicago Fire Department firefighters work to extinguish hot spots Thursday morning after an overnight fire broke out in a vacant building and spread to six other buildings, including two coach houses, in the 4900 block of South Princeton Avenue in Fuller Park on the South Side.

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