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A month after she was fatally shot by Dolton police, major questions remain about the death of 19-year-old Alexis Wilson — killed just weeks before she was to enter college.

It’s still unclear what sparked an argument with a worker at a drive-thru window that drew officers to Wilson’s red van around 1 a.m. July 27.

The worker called police and said Wilson was knocking on the window with a gun, but on surveillance video it appears to be a long pipe or other object. There is also no mention of a gun on bodycam video from responding officers.

The video does appear to show one of the officers punching Wilson after telling her to get out of the van – something the police chief has not denied.

Wilson then sped off, allegedly dragging an officer who was getting into the van on the passenger side. The officer starts shooting at her, and another officer also opened fire.

The family’s lawyer says Wilson was shot seven times, twice in the head. An autopsy report has not been made public.

Authorities said the police shot Wilson because she was using the van as a weapon, but selected video released by police doesn’t clearly show that.

The family lawyer said he has seen other video not released publicly that shows Wilson wasn’t aware the officer had jumped into the van. The officer also appears to be in the van, not outside being dragged, he said.

“From the beginning, Dolton started to spin a false narrative,” attorney Rashaan Gordon said.

The shooting is being investigated by the Illinois State Police, which has refused to comment on the ongoing case. Village officials did not respond to questions from the Sun-Times.

Wilson’s parents have repeatedly raised questions at demonstrations at the mayor’s home and at a village board meeting. They say they are frustrated about not getting answers while officials continue to criminalize their daughter.

“She had a lot of plans,” said her mother, Cara Wilson.

The 19-year-old was hours away from completing training to become a certified autism therapist and was working to open her own lash stylist studio, and she was preparing to attend Prairie State College in the fall.

“She was putting them all into action, and I was watching, and I was amazed by that,” Wilson said. “And now that’s gone, everything she planned, everything is just gone.”

Alexis Wilson, 19, was preparing to head to college in the fall. Provided by Wilson family

‘Didn’t make it’

On the morning of July 27, Cara Wilson thought it was her daughter knocking at the door, but instead she found Dolton police officers out front. There had been a crash and a shooting overnight, they said, and her daughter “didn’t make it.”

Wilson said she was not given any details, just a phone number for a detective.

Later that day, her husband, Alonzo Wilson, began seeing news stories about a young woman killed in a police shooting in Dolton. He assumed officials would have told him if this was his daughter, but still he called the detective and again was told there had been a “crash, gunshots and your daughter didn’t make it.”

It was not until officials released a statement to the media the family learned those gunshots had been fired by police, they said.

“They’re making statements on the news without ever having informed us it was our child they were talking about,” Cara Wilson said. “There was no compassion, no consideration, no empathy, no sympathy, nothing.”

Days later, the village allowed the parents to view surveillance and police bodycam video of the shooting. The couple said they could not keep watching after the shots were fired.

They and their lawyer asked the Illinois State Police to alert them before the footage was made public, but they say Dolton officials released the videos without warning.

“Just to know that I could have been watching the news, her mother could have been watching the news,” Alonzo Wilson said.

What video shows and doesn’t show

The video, released by Dolton police the week after the shooting, shows a red van pulling up to the Baba’s Famous Steak & Lemonade restaurant at Oak and Sibley Boulevard around 1 a.m.

After a few minutes, the van leaves then returns. The driver, identified by police as Alexis Wilson, knocks on the window several times with a long object shaped like a pipe.

An employee from the restaurant calls 9-1-1 reporting a “person outside with a gun” who is “banging on the drive-thru window.” The employee tells police to hurry up because they were “trying to go home.”

The van is still at the window when officers arrived minutes later. Alexis Wilson hadn’t driven away because she thought the employee was either getting her order or was going to provide a refund, according to Gordon, the family lawyer.

The officers order Wilson and a male passenger out of a car. The passenger steps out, but Wilson remains behind the wheel, repeatedly telling officers she has no clothes on.

Suddenly, Wilson’s head jerks back against the seat as if she has been punched. She drives off, screaming, as an officer jumps into the passenger seat. Bodycam footage becomes obstructed at this point, but seconds later shots ring out.

Wilson crashes into an unoccupied bicycle shop about a block away on Sibley Boulevard. An officer runs to the scene and yells for Wilson to put her hands up, but there is no response. He discovers the injured officer inside the van and administers aid.

The video ends before anyone attends to Wilson. She was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.

Police Chief Robert M. Collins Jr. told reporters shortly after the shooting he believed the officer inside the van fired the first shots, followed by other officers. The chief said the van was being used as a weapon and the officers feared for their lives.

He would not directly answer whether Wilson was punched by one of the officers before speeding off. “It can be assumed that it was a punch, but I can’t assume that it is and I can’t assume that it isn’t,” he said.

Community members gather at a memorial set up for Alexis Wilson near the site of the crash. Provided by Wilson family

‘You scared that child’

Alexis Wilson’s parents are demanding a fuller explanation.

“That was a decision not to grab the taser, to grab the gun. That was a decision,” Cara Wilson said. “It was a decision when that child said, ‘I don’t have any clothes on.’ Why didn’t you call the lady officer then to address her?

“She had both hands on the wheel, she was not a threat to him,” she added. “She is a 19-year-old girl taking a punch from a grown man. You scared that child … She couldn’t fight them, so she ran.”

The family, along with community activists, are pushing for an internal investigation of the officers involved. Dolton police have not released their names.

“They were acting like we were wrong for even inquiring about the situation, like we were bugging them almost,” Alonzo Wilson said.

Activists say the shooting shows how little police accountability there is in some parts of the Chicago area.

“We definitely need policy changes within the south suburban and Cook County communities,” said Camellia Williams, a community organizer and adult adviser to GoodKids MadCity. “When it comes to police, there is no real oversight.”

Williams has helped organize protests outside Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard’s house and at a village board meeting.

“If she says she’s the people’s mayor, we the people — black women, people who have a heart, people that believe in police accountability — we are going to fight for Alexis Wilson,” Williams said. “We have too many families out here, we have too many families across this country with no justice.”

‘She’s not a story on the news, she’s my child’

Wilson’s death has been particularly hard on her 8-year-old brother, Alonzo Jr., the family says.

Her brother has autism, and when he was growing up Wilson worked as a “little speech therapist,” her mother said. But since the shooting, the boy has struggled to communicate.

“He’s having an extremely hard time recognizing and dealing with what’s going on,” Alonzo Harris said. “Since this happened with Lexi, he’s had these outbursts. He’s not saying anything, he can’t express it.”

The parents said they understand they have a long journey ahead but feel it is their duty to fight for the “whole truth.”

“She was a real girl, she’s not a story on the news, she’s my child,” Cara Wilson said. “She’s somebody that we loved.”

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The White Sox have been in operation since 1901, but they arguably are on the nation’s baseball consciousness now more than ever.

(Let’s overlook that little game-fixing scandal in the 1919 World Series, which surely didn’t sit well with baseball fans.)

The Sox have had teams that were revered locally. The 1959 “Go Go Sox,” the 1983 “Winning Ugly” Sox and, of course, the 2005 World Series champion Sox. But those teams didn’t catch the nation’s attention like the 2021 Sox have. Heck, ESPN has forgotten [ital]twice[ital] that the 2005 Sox won the Series.

The current Sox hold an 11-game lead in the American League Central and are poised to be World Series contenders for a while. As the Cubs enter another rebuilding phase, the question is, how will Sox fans react to the new dynamic. The Sox finally have gained a foothold nationally, but can they attain a stronger one locally?

They have something for everyone. There’s the flair for the dramatic with Tim Anderson, the stoic, steady leadership of Jose Abreu and the childlike flamboyance of Eloy Jimenez. There’s the old-school, tough-as-nails nature of Lance Lynn and the rollicking behavior of Liam Hendriks.

And the national TV networks have noticed. ESPN chose the Sox-Angels game for its first “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcast of the season. When the network found an opening to air an “SNB” game on ABC for the first time, it chose the Sox-Cubs game.

The Sox have had several appearances on Fox and FS1 on Saturdays, and ESPN has picked them up for multiple weeknight broadcasts. They were picked for the YouTube game of the week, and they played in the game to end all games at the Field of Dreams – a rare instance in which the Black Sox scandal went in their favor.

The Sox first grabbed the nation’s attention before the season, hiring 76-year-old Tony La Russa to manage the team. The decision was not welcomed warmly by fans, who feared La Russa would be out of touch with the game, having last managed in 2011. He has had some hiccups, but winning is winning.

“Tony is very interesting to people,” said Sox senior vice president Brooks Boyer, the team’s chief revenue and marketing officer. “Here’s a Hall of Famer coming out of retirement. We all heard what was going on, whether social media or sports media. We knew there were risks associated with it. But the conviction was we had a club that, with the right manager, could win a division and get into the tournament and see what happens.

“Someone got thrown out [of a game], and Tony went out and he ended up getting thrown out. And as he was walking back to the dugout, there was a chant of ‘To-ny! To-ny! To-ny!’ I was like, ‘Man, in April or May, I never would have thought I’d hear that.’ It was like Rocky fighting in Russia [in the movie ‘Rocky IV’]. Now all of a sudden they’ve turned.”

That could be the situation with Chicago baseball fans if merchandising is any indication. Brad Rosen, an owner/partner of Sports World Chicago, said he has been “killing it” with Sox gear, especially jerseys. That’s saying something for a store located across from Wrigley Field.

“I haven’t sold this much Sox stuff in the past 10 years combined,” he said.

Rosen said the Sox’ City Connect jerseys – the black tops with white pinstripes and “Southside” across the chest – sold out in 48 hours. He has regular Sox jerseys in stock, having planned his inventory well, but that isn’t the case everywhere.

“I was in a Dick’s Sporting Goods in the west suburbs, I was like, ‘Hey, you’ve got Cubs jerseys. I was just curious, where are the White Sox jerseys?’ ” Boyer said. ” ‘We can’t keep ’em in.’ There’s a shortage of jerseys. That’s the impact this team is having.”

Rosen said Fanatics, which manufactures MLB-licensed fan apparel, was understandably lean with its Sox inventory, as opposed to better-selling teams such as the Cubs, Dodgers and Yankees. Hence, the company hasn’t been able to meet the demand. The pandemic has played a significant role, as well, with the cost of shipping dramatically increasing and logistical issues causing significant delays.

But does interest in buying Sox apparel equal interest in buying Sox tickets? We might see some evidence this week. The Pirates, who have the second-worst record in the National League, are in town Tuesday and Wednesday. What will attendance be after the park was sold out for three games against the Cubs?

Consider: When the A’s – who have a similar standing in the Bay Area as the Sox do here – hosted the Giants on Aug. 20-22, they averaged 35,569. But when the Mariners visited the next two days, the games drew 4,140 and 4,508.

Granted, there are other factors hurting the A’s attendance (the stadium, its location and frustration with ownership). And the Sox’ attendance for the Pirates games probably isn’t going to be in four figures. But it also probably won’t touch the 38,375 average for the Cubs series, not with school starting.

When the Sox return home after the Pirates series, they have a homestand Sept. 10-16 against the Red Sox and Angels. They figure to draw well with the Bosox in over the weekend. Those midweek games against the Angels will be interesting. You’d figure that Shohei Ohtani would draw a crowd.

But that’s just it: These Sox shouldn’t need a guest on their own show.

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St. Charles North made the biggest opening week statement of any preseason unranked team.

The North Stars knocked off Palatine and Iowa-bound receiver Jake Bostick 24-0. They check in at No. 19 this week.

The other newcomers to the Super 25 for Week 2 are Richards, New Trier, Oswego East, Bolingbrook and Homewood-Flossmoor. All of those names are familiar. The Raiders impressed with a dominant win against Minooka.

Shepard, Barrington, Morgan Park, Huntley, Palatine and Hinsdale Central all drop out. It was a busy opening week. Dropping out entirely may be a bit harsh on the Broncos and Red Devils. Both teams lost to very good, highly-ranked squads. But they will have a chance to work their way back in over the next few weeks.

Week 2’s Super 25

With record and last week’s ranking

1. Warren (1-0) 1

Friday vs. No. 11 Maine South

2. Brother Rice (1-0) 3

Friday at Perspectives

3. Loyola (1-0) 4

No game scheduled

4. Lincoln-Way East (1-0) 5

Friday at No. 9 Naperville Central

5. Marist (1-0) 6

Friday vs. No. 21 Richards

6. Joliet Catholic (1-0) 7

Saturday at St. Louis (Mo.) Cardinal Ritter

7. Mount Carmel (1-0) 11

Friday vs. Phillips

8. St. Rita (0-1) 1

Friday at Louisville (Ky.) Trinity

9. Naperville Central (1-0) 13

Friday vs. No. 4 Lincoln-Way East

10. Wheaton North (1-0) 9

Friday vs. Providence

11. Maine South (1-0) 10

Friday at No. 1 Warren

12. Cary-Grove (1-0) 12

Friday at Crystal Lake South

13. Glenbard West (1-0) 14

Saturday vs. Downers Grove South

14. Neuqua Valley (1-0) 15

Friday at No. 18 Wheaton Warrenville South

15. Batavia (1-0) 16

Friday at Oswego

16. Hersey (1-0) 23

Friday vs. Palatine

17. Fenwick (1-0) 17

Friday vs. Notre Dame

18. Wheaton Warrenville South (1-0) 18

Friday vs. No. 14 Neuqua Valley

19. St. Charles North (1-0) NR

Friday at Lake Zurich

20. Bolingbrook (1-0) NR

Friday vs. Simeon

21. Richards (1-0) NR

Friday at No. 5 Marist

22. Evanston (1-0) 22

Friday vs. Libertyville

23. Oswego East (1-0) NR

Friday vs. Lincoln-Way West

24. New Trier (1-0) NR

Friday vs. Stevenson

25. Homewood-Flossmoor (1-0) NR

Saturday at Cahokia

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The special season St. Rita had planned hit a major roadblock just five minutes into Friday’s game against rival Mount Carmel.

Star senior Kaleb Brown was injured in the first quarter of the 16-9 loss to the Caravan. Brown went up for a pass near the sideline, was hit in the leg and never returned to the game.

There is no word yet on how long the Ohio State recruit might be out.

“Good thing it is Week 1,” Mustangs coach Todd Kuska said. “It’s not the end of the world, not a broken leg or anything. Anytime you lose a guy like that it sends little shockwaves through the team.”

Warren’s dominant defense

Warren, the new top-ranked team, went on the road and beat Barrington 19-0. The Blue Devils limited the Broncos to -3 total yards. Barrington just completed 1 of 11 passes, a four-yard grab.

Vanderbilt recruit Maurice Edwards ran for 192 yards on 19 carries. Pretty much everything went according to plan for Warren in Week 1. Now comes what will likely be the biggest test of the regular season.

The Blue Devils host No. 11 Maine South, one of the area’s consistently excellent programs, on Friday. The Hawks beat Stevenson 41-20 in Week 1.

Streak breakers

Wheeling, which had lost 19 consecutive games, beat Round Lake 27-15 on Friday.

First-year coach Peter Panagakis took over the team three weeks ago. The program had just 17 players at that point. The roster bloomed to 40 once school began.

“With all the people in the stands the atmosphere was like a playoff football game,” Panagakis said. “Everybody missed football. The students rushed the field. You would have thought we won the state championship.”

Emerging quarterbacks

St. Charles North didn’t crack the preseason rankings, but the North Stars are already back in the mix after dominating Palatine 24-0 on Friday.

St. Charles North pulled off the win with freshman quarterback Ethan Plumb at the helm. The 6-3, 195-pounder threw for 135 yards and rushed for 20 in his debut.

Plumb wasn’t the only new quarterback that opened eyes in Week 1. Bolingbrook, another team that didn’t crack the preseason Super 25, scored 52 points in a road win at Minooka.

Senior quarterback Bobby Ervin was 10-for-11 passing, threw for a touchdown and had 220 rushing yards and four touchdowns.

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During the first half that quarterback Justin Fields played Saturday, the Titans had twice as many first downs (10-5), more than double the Bears’ yards (184-79); and almost twice as many plays (39-20). They held the ball for 21:30, the Bears for 8:30.

“It was good that we got that last two-minute drive in,” Fields said.

The final drive of the first half ended in an amazing throw from Fields to tight end Jesper Horsted for a 20-yard pass. The rest of the half, though, featured unspectacular Bears offense. Sorting through them to find Fields’ ups and downs:

Sidearm sling

On third and 6 halfway through the first quarter, the Titans blitzed linebacker Jayon Brown, who was blocked by left guard Cody Whitehair.

Receiver Rodney Adams, one of three receivers split left, motioned right before the snap. With a blitz coming, Adams ran an out route to the first-down marker.

Fields had just enough time to throw. He winged the ball sidearm to Adams, who stepped out of bounds a half-step after getting the first down.

Fields’ different arm angles have been as impressive as his velocity.

“When you see a quarterback throw the ball, you know, [there’s] a lot of different … throws that he can make and a lot of different throwing angles he can throw from and things like that,” receiver Allen Robinson said earlier this month. “As a receiver, you definitely notice those things. He’s a very natural thrower. He can get the ball out of his hands.”

Sacked

Fields took his only sack on the game’s first play. On third-and-6, the Titans’ Ola Adeniyi quickly beat right tackle Germain Ifedi around the edge. Fields stepped up in the pocket a split-second too late. Adeniyi grabbed him around the waist and fellow outside linebacker Derick Roberson, who had rushed past left tackle Jason Peters, brought him down.

It was a depressing start for the Bears’ two starting tackles, who were playing for the first time this preseason.

Per Pro Football Focus, Fields had, on average, 2.8 seconds to throw Saturday. In Week 1, he had 3.8 seconds; in Week 2, 3.6. The average depth of his targets decreased significantly, too — from 10.5 yards in Week 1 and 10.6 yards in Week 2 to only 6.5 Saturday. Context is important: the Bears wanted to make sure Fields left the game unharmed.

He did, though the line play was hardly reassuring. Nagy reiterated after the game that Peters remains the team’s top choice to start Week 1. The challenge, he said, is for the 39-year-old to round into football shape in the next two weeks. The Bears have only two padded practices before their season opener.

Multiplier

Fields’ 20-yard touchdown pass to Horsted led the highlight shows, but he made a similar play earlier in the two-minute drill. Facing man defense, Fields threw toward Horsted, who ran a corner route. Safety Matthias Farley was face-guarding him, and was flagged 20 yards for pass interference.

“You’re gonna see a lot of man in preseason,” Fields said. “In that situation, you want to be the ball where Jesper could get it — or nobody.”

The Bears refer to standout players as “multipliers” — those who make their teammates better. Fields appears to be that. Despite the Bears’ offensive struggles, Adams and Horsted — two players who might get cut Tuesday — ranked fifth and 14th, respectively, in the NFL in preseason receiving yards entering Sunday’s game.

At the least, the two throws to Horsted shows Fields knows how to attack man defense. He’ll see more complex defenses the next time he plays — whenever that may be.

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Great news! There are like a GAZILLION artists coming to Chicago in September. And this list doesn’t even include North Coast Music Fest (Sept. 3), Pitchfork Music Festival (Sept. 10-12) or Riot Fest (Sept. 17-18) but those should definitely be on your radar. From country superstars and classic rock bands to indie solo acts and epic boy bands, check out our list of artists popping by Chicago in September!

Lady A. // Sept. 3

The Grammy-award winning threesome, formerly known as Lady Antebellum, will be rocking the house at Ravinia! Tickets here.

Greta Van Fleet // Sept. 3

This popular Michigan band is bringing their new ‘Strange Horizons Tour’ to Chicago with special guests Ronnie Baker Brooks and Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue. Tickets here.

KISS: End of the Road World Tour // Sept. 4th

Break out the face paint! Your favorite legends are throwing down at Tinley Park for one night only. Get your tickets here. 

Sam Fischer // Sept. 8th

This indie-soul pop artist is coming to Lincoln Hall just in time for fall. Get your tickets here. 

Megadeath and Lamb of God // Sept. 9th

Alright metal heads, prepare to rock your face off. These two icons are coming to Tinley Park for one night only. Tickets here.

Brad Paisley // Sept. 10th

Sing us a Whiskey Lullaby, Brad. He’ll be popping by Tinley Park to bring some country to Chicago. Yeehaw! Tickets here. 

Jonas Brothers: The Remember This Tour // Sept. 12th

If you’re a female under the age of 30, there’s a good chance you fell in love with Kevin, Nick, and Joe at some point. Relive your schoolgirl fandom and get your tickets here. 

Dead & Company // Sept. 17-18

John Mayer. Bob Weir. Mickey Hart. Just one question: Are you ready for an epic show at Wrigley Field? Answer: hell yes. Get your tickets here.

Rufus Wainwright and José González // Sept. 24th

These two popular indie stars are bringing Unfollow The Rules In The Local Valley Tour to The Chicago Theatre! We’re geeked. Tickets here. 

John Legend // Sept. 24th

A man on a piano with the vocals of a saint? Legendary. Hear Mr. Teigen sing his heart out, live at Ravinia. Tickets here.

Harry Styles // Sept. 24th

Our beautiful, wild, English lovebird is gracing us with His presence at the United Center and we’re not sure how to cope. Already screaming. Tickets here. 

Thomas Rhett: The Center Point Road Tour // Sept. 25th

Another country favorite is stopping by our beloved city! Thomas Rhett will be swinging in Tinley Park to sing his top hits. Tickets here. 

Enrique Iglesias & Ricky Martin // Sept. 30th

And we’re wrapping up September with some Latin flavor. These early 2000 heartthrobs will be turning up the heat in the Allstate Arena. Tickets here.

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LOS ANGELES — Ed Asner, the burly and prolific character actor who became a star in middle age as the gruff but lovable newsman Lou Grant, first in the hit comedy “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and later in the drama “Lou Grant,” has died. He was 91.

Asner’s representative confirmed the actor’s death in an email to The Associated Press. Asner’s official Twitter account included a note from his children: “We are sorry to say that our beloved patriarch passed away this morning peacefully. Words cannot express the sadness we feel. With a kiss on your head- Goodnight dad. We love you.”

Built like the football lineman he once was, the balding Asner was a journeyman actor in films and TV when he was hired in 1970 to play Lou Grant on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” For seven seasons he was the rumpled boss to Moore’s ebullient Mary Richards (He called her “Mary,” she called him “Mr. Grant”) at the fictional Minneapolis TV newsroom where both worked. Later, he would play the role for five years on “Lou Grant.”

The part brought Asner three best supporting actor Emmys on “Mary Tyler Moore” and two best actor awards on “Lou Grant.” He also won Emmys for his roles in the miniseries “Rich Man, Poor Man” (1975-1976) and “Roots” (1976-1977).

He had more than 300 acting credits and remained active throughout his 70s and 80s in a variety of film and TV roles. In 2003, he played Santa Claus in Will Ferrell’s hit film “Elf.” He was John Goodman’s father in the short-lived 2004 CBS comedy “Center of the Universe” and the voice of the elderly hero in the hit 2009 Pixar release, “Up.” More recently, he was in such TV series as “Forgive Me” and “Dead to Me.”

And in 2015, Asner took “The Roosevelts” to life on the stage with actress Loretta Swit in Chicago.

Nonetheless, Asner told The Associated Press in 2009 that interesting roles were hard to come by.

“I never get enough work,” he said. “It’s the history of my career. There just isn’t anything to turn down, let me put it that way.”

“I’d say most people are probably in that same boat, old people, and it’s a shame,” he said.

As Screen Actors Guild president, the liberal Asner was caught up in a political controversy in 1982 when he spoke out against U.S. involvement with repressive governments in Latin America. “Lou Grant” was canceled during the furor that followed and he did not run for a third SAG term in 1985.

Asner discussed his politicization in a 2002 interview, noting he had begun his career during the McCarthy era and for years had been afraid to speak out for fear of being blacklisted.

Then he saw a nun’s film depicting the cruelties inflicted by El Salvador’s government on that country’s citizens.

“I stepped out to complain about our country’s constant arming and fortifying of the military in El Salvador, who were oppressing their people,” he said.

Former SAG President Charlton Heston and others accused him of making un-American statements and of misusing his position as head of their actors union.

“We even had bomb threats at the time. I had armed guards,” Asner recalled.

The actor blamed the controversy for ending the five-year run of “Lou Grant,” although CBS insisted declining ratings were the reason the show was canceled.

___

Late Associated Press writer Bob Thomas contributed biographical information to this report.

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Say I own a fierce dog — let’s call him “Spike” — who prowls my front yard, snarling and snapping. Occasionally, Spike bounds onto the sidewalk to sink his teeth into passersby.

My neighbor suggests I put up a chain link fence. At which I scoff: “What good would that do? The gaps in a chain link are two inches across, while Spike’s teeth are an inch long, tops. The teeth will pass right through.”

Welcome to Anti-Masker Logic. As Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s statewide mask mandate takes effect Monday, there are two lines of opposition.

One is simple stubbornness. As embodied by John Catanzara, FOP president and babbling id of Red America.

After the city demanded its employees be vaccinated, he sputtered, “We don’t want to be forced to do anything!” Points for candor, and hubris, coming from a man who belongs to an organization whose members are forced to wear special hats.

The you-can’t-make-me-I-don’t-wanna approach is obviously wrong. We are forced to do all sorts of things all the time, like it or not: pay taxes, drive on the right, wear pants.

The truth is, some balk at being forced to do anything new. Even in a crisis. Even to save lives A stance so selfish that some try a second approach. They wander into the realm of science, so unfamiliar to them, and cherry pick a shiny fact to decorate their infantile “I don’t wanna!” Like a bright ornament on a dead Christmas tree.

“Do the research,” demands one reader. “Find out how large the air openings are on any mask. The ‘smallest’ openings are 3 microns. Now, even Stevie Wonder could see this coming — please tell us how a 3000 nM opening can keep out a 50 nM virus?”

Tell you how? Happily, for all the good it will do. The same way a chain link fence keeps a dog’s teeth out of your ankle, even though the teeth are smaller than the fence links. Because the teeth are in the dog. The viruses are in much larger moisture droplets blasted out of your nose and mouth. Masks catch those.

This did not sway the reader one bit, of course. He immediately waved another deceptive fact. That’s why I try not to argue. What’s the use? That anyone could look at this national crisis — the extra contagious Delta variant surging across the country — and start clutching at himself and conjuring up imaginary harms, it’s just insane. “Those firemen! They’re breaking into my house! They’re pouring water on things!”

Nobody likes wearing a mask. I sure don’t. But I wear one anyway because I learned a secret: It isn’t all about me. Sometimes you must do something that makes you uncomfortable. Like the first time I wore a mask in public, when my older son came home in spring 2020 after they closed his school.

“You want to go for a walk?” I asked.

“I’ll walk one of your cigars,” he replied, cannily. He’ll be a fine lawyer.

Except I was down to my last cigar. I’ve cut back. They’re unhealthy. I told my wife the boy and I were driving over to Binny’s to visit their humidor.

She was against the outing, against us exposing ourselves to plague. I promised we’d wear masks; I had some 3M dust masks — N95, the good stuff — from my wood shop. We grabbed a pair.

In the Binny’s parking lot, I put mine on, pressed the metal strip to my nose and checked myself in the rearview mirror.

“I look like I’m going to rob the place,” I said.

It felt strange. But a few other shoppers also wore masks. That helped. A lot. Support. Approval. We are social animals. You’d feel comfortable wearing your underwear on your head if enough people did the same.

After a year of mask wearing, the vaccines arrived. We could put the masks away. Sweet relief. But not enough people took the vaccine — they didn’t wanna be told what to do.

So the Delta variant, more contagious, more lethal to children, was allowed to rip through the unvaccinated. Now we all need to wear the masks again. So children don’t get COVID and die.

What’s the baffling part they just can’t understand? That spurs them to assault flight attendants and hassle convenience store clerks? That, I’ll never understand.

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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A U.S. drone strike blew up a vehicle carrying “multiple suicide bombers” from Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate on Sunday before they could attack the ongoing military evacuation at Kabul’s international airport, American officials said.

The strike came just two days before the U.S. is set to conclude a massive airlift of tens of thousands of Afghan and foreign civilians and withdraw the last of its troops, ending America’s longest war with the Taliban back in power.

The U.S. State Department released a statement signed by around 100 countries, as well as NATO and the European Union, saying they had received “assurances” from the Taliban that people with travel documents would still be able to leave the country freely. The Taliban have said they will allow normal travel after the U.S. withdrawal is completed on Tuesday and they assume control of the airport.

At around the same time as the drone strike, Afghan police said a rocket hit a neighborhood near the airport, killing a child. Rashid, the Kabul police chief, who goes by one name, confirmed the rocket attack, and video obtained by The Associated Press showed smoke rising from a building around a kilometer (half a mile) from the airport.

The Taliban described the drone strike and the rocket attack as separate incidents, but residents of the Afghan capital heard only one large blast.

Two American military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations, called the airstrike successful and said the vehicle carried multiple bombers.

U.S. Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a military spokesman, said the strike was carried out in “self-defense.” He said the military was investigating whether there were civilian casualties but that “we have no indications at this time.”

“We are confident we successfully hit the target,” Urban said. “Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material.”

The strike came two days after an Islamic State suicide attack outside the airport killed at least 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members. The U.S. carried out a drone strike elsewhere in the country on Saturday that it said killed two IS members.

President Joe Biden had vowed to keep up the airstrikes, saying Saturday that another attack was “highly likely.” The State Department called the threat “specific” and “credible.”

The Sunni extremists of IS, with links to the group’s more well-known affiliate in Syria and Iraq, have carried out a series of attacks, mainly targeting Afghanistan’s Shiite Muslim minority, including a 2020 assault on a maternity hospital in Kabul that killed women and newborns.

The Taliban have fought against the IS affiliate in the past and have pledged to not allow Afghanistan to become a base for terror attacks. The U.S.-led invasion in 2001 came in response to the 9/11 attacks, which al-Qaida planned and executed while being sheltered by the Taliban.

The Taliban increased security around the airport after Thursday’s attack, clearing away the large crowds that had gathered outside the gates hoping to join the airlift.

Britain ended its evacuation flights Saturday, and most U.S. allies concluded theirs earlier in the week. But U.S. military cargo planes continued their runs into the airport Sunday, ahead of a Tuesday deadline set by President Joe Biden to withdraw all American troops.

In interviews with Sunday talk shows, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. was working with other countries to ensure that the airport functions normally after the U.S. withdrawal and that the Taliban allow people to travel freely.

The Taliban have given similar assurances in recent days, even as they have urged Afghans to remain and help rebuild the war-ravaged country.

Tens of thousands of Afghans have sought to flee the country since the Taliban’s rapid takeover earlier this month, fearing a return to the harsh form of Islamic rule the group imposed on Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001. Others fear revenge attacks or general instability.

The Taliban have pledged amnesty for all Afghans, even those who worked with the U.S. and its allies, and say they want to restore peace and security after decades of war. But many Afghans distrust the group, and there have been reports of summary executions and other human rights abuses in areas under Taliban control.

The shooting of a folk singer in a tense region north of Kabul was bound to contribute to such fears. Fawad Andarabi’s family said the Taliban shot him for no reason, just days after they had searched his home and drank tea with him.

“He was innocent, a singer who only was entertaining people,” his son, Jawad, said. “They shot him in the head on the farm.”

The shooting happened in the Andarabi Valley, for which the family is named, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Kabul, where the Taliban battled local fighters even after seizing the capital. The Taliban say they have retaken the region, which is near mountainous Panjshir, the only one of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces not under Taliban control.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said his group would investigate the shooting, without providing any further information. The Taliban banned music as un-Islamic when they last ruled the country.

Andarabi played the ghichak, a bowed lute, and sang traditional songs about his birthplace, his people and the country. A video online showed him at one performance, sitting on a rug with the mountains behind him.

“There is no country in the world like my homeland, a proud nation,” he sang. “Our beautiful valley, our great-grandparents’ homeland.”

Karima Bennoune, the United Nations special rapporteur on cultural rights, said she had “grave concern” over Andarabi’s killing. “We call on governments to demand the Taliban respect the #humanrights of #artists,” she tweeted.

Agnes Callamard, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, also decried the killing.

“There is mounting evidence that the Taliban of 2021 is the same as the intolerant, violent, repressive Taliban of 2001,” she tweeted. “Nothing has changed on that front.”

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Baldor reported from Washington, Akhgar from Istanbul and Krauss from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.

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