Jan. 8, 1967

Robert Sylvester Kelly is born in Chicago.

January 1992

R. Kelly releases his debut album, “Born Into the ’90s,” with the group Public Announcement.

Aug. 31, 1994

Kelly marries his 15-year-old protege, Aaliyah Haughton, who is identified as Jane Doe # 1 in Kelly’s federal indictment in New York. It alleges that, around the time of the marriage, Kelly had someone pay a bribe in exchange for a fake ID for Haughton.

February 1998

Kelly wins three Grammys for his hit from the “Space Jam” soundtrack, “I Believe I Can Fly.”

May-October 1999

This is when Kelly is accused of illegal conduct with Jane Doe #2, who met Kelly when she was 16 after a member of his entourage approached her at a fast-food restaurant. Prosecutors say Kelly filmed their sexual intercourse multiple times, creating child pornography.

Dec. 21, 2000

The Chicago Sun-Times publishes the first in a series of articles about Kelly written by Jim DeRogatis and Abdon M. Pallasch. The pair reported in their first article that, “Chicago singer and songwriter R. Kelly used his position of fame and influence as a pop superstar to meet girls as young as 15 and have sex with them, according to court records and interviews.”

Aug. 25, 2001

Aaliyah Haughton dies in a plane crash.

Feb. 1, 2002

The Chicago Sun-Times anonymously receives a copy of a videotape that appears to depict sex acts between Kelly and a girl who is believed to be 14 years old. The newspaper turns the video over to police.

Feb. 8, 2002

The Chicago Sun-Times reports on the videotape it received one week earlier. The report appears the same day Kelly performs at the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

June 5, 2002

A Cook County grand jury indicts Kelly on 21 counts of child pornography based on the video received by the Sun-Times earlier in 2002.

2003-2004

This is when Kelly allegedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted a woman identified in the federal indictment in New York as Jane Doe #3. The conduct would have occurred while Kelly was free on bond while awaiting trial in Cook County.

Prosecutors say Jane Doe #3 met Kelly at a mall outside of Illinois while she was working as a radio station intern in her early 20s. Kelly allegedly invited the woman to travel to Chicago for an interview. Once in town, she was directed to a room in a recording studio.

She was told to sign a nondisclosure agreement, not to talk to anyone and to keep her head down, prosecutors say. She spent three days in the locked room without sustenance, according to the feds. Then, when a member of Kelly’s entourage gave her food and drink, she became tired and dizzy.

Prosecutors say she woke up with Kelly in the room “in circumstances that made clear he had sexually assaulted her while she was unconscious.”

May 20, 2008

Testimony begins in Kelly’s trial on child pornography charges in Cook County, and defense lawyers insist Kelly is not the man who appeared on the tape that depicts sex acts involving an underage girl.

June 4, 2008

Chicago Sun-Times pop music critic Jim DeRogatis takes the stand during Kelly’s trial and invokes the First and Fifth amendments as he declines to testify about the videotape at the center of the case, which he received anonymously in 2002.

June 13, 2008

A Cook County jury acquits Kelly in his child pornography case after the alleged victim on the central video refuses to testify.

May 2009

This is when Kelly allegedly began a months-long sexual relationship with the victim known as Jane Doe #4, who was 16 at the time. Kelly allegedly made photos and videos of Jane Doe #4 engaging in sexual intercourse with Kelly and others.

He also allegedly led her to believe that she or members of her family would suffer serious harm if she did not perform sex acts on him and others. Kelly allegedly engaged in physical and psychological abuse when she disobeyed him by slapping and choking her, and isolating her in rooms for days at a time with no food.

Prosecutors say Jane Doe #4 appeared in the Lifetime documentary series “Surviving R. Kelly,” and her circumstances are similar to those of Jerhonda Pace, who was featured prominently in the show.

2015

Kelly allegedly had sex in April, May, September and October of 2015 with Jane Doe #5, while she was under the age of 18. Jane Doe #5 has been publicly identified as Azriel Clary, Kelly’s former girlfriend.

May 18, 2017

Kelly allegedly has unprotected sex with the woman known as Jane Doe #6, failing to tell her he had herpes. The feds say Jane Doe #6 appeared in the Lifetime documentary series “Surviving R. Kelly,” and her circumstances are similar to those of Faith Rodgers, who appeared in the show and filed a lawsuit against Kelly.

Feb. 2, 2018

Kelly allegedly again has unprotected sex with Jane Doe #6 without telling her he had herpes.

Jan. 3, 2019

“Surviving R. Kelly,” a documentary series, premieres on Lifetime.

Feb. 22, 2019

Cook County prosecutors again file charges against Kelly, this time accusing him of 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse that took place between 1998 and 2010.

July 11, 2019

Federal prosecutors reveal indictments against Kelly in Chicago and Brooklyn; authorities arrest the singer while he is walking his dog outside Trump Tower in Chicago.

July 16, 2019

Federal prosecutors tell a judge in Chicago the alleged victim in Kelly’s 2008 child pornography trial is cooperating with the government. “She has now gone on record,” a prosecutor says.

2020

Attempts to put Kelly on trial are repeatedly thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Judges in Chicago and Brooklyn also reject multiple requests by Kelly to be released from jail, where he is attacked by a fellow inmate.

June 9, 2021

Kelly tells the judge presiding over his case in New York he wants to move forward without his Chicago-based attorneys, Steve Greenberg and Mike Leonard. He opts to be represented instead by Thomas Farinella of New York and Nicole Blank Becker of Michigan.

June 22, 2021

After a nearly two-year stay in Chicago’s downtown Metropolitan Correctional Center, Kelly is moved to a detention center in Brooklyn to await trial.

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The White Sox rode a 14-game, nine-loss wave of snooze-alarm baseball into the series opener against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Even worse, starting pitcher Lance Lynn was 0 for his last 11 cracks at the Cubs. Hard to believe, isn’t it? As good as he has been over the years, Lynn was 0-4 with a 6.93 ERA against them — his worst numbers against any opponent — since beating them in September of 2013 in St. Louis.

That means he never beat the trio of Anthony Rizzo, Javy Baez and Kris Bryant. Nope, not even once.

And on top of all that, the eighth inning came around Friday and the fourth star player the Cubs traded before the deadline — reliever Craig Kimbrel, now with the South Siders — turned a 4-1 Sox lead into a sudden, shocking 4-4 tie.

What did it all signify? As lifelessly as the Sox are playing, and even though Lynn has been little more than a glorified batting-practice pitcher against the Cubs, and despite Kimbrel having his worst outing of the season, it signified this: The Sox had the Cubs right where they wanted them.

Final: Sox 8, Cubs 6.

And the Sox will have the Cubs right where they want them the rest of this weekend and again when the teams meet later this month at Guaranteed Rate Field. And probably every time after that for at least the next few years.

But that’s what happens when one team — even a struggling one — is in win-the-World Series mode and the other needs nametags just to hold conversations in the clubhouse.

No matter what is ailing the Sox, the North Siders have it much worse.

Are the Cubs, as currently constructed, the worst team in the big leagues? I’m not using “worst” loosely. OK, maybe a bit. The Orioles, Rangers, Pirates and Diamondbacks are all on track to lose 100-plus games. They’re embarrassments to themselves, their sport, their cities — nay, a nation — but how can any of them be any worse than the lineup the Cubs put out there Friday?

Sorry, they can’t be.

With catcher Willson Contreras getting some rest and right fielder Jason Heyward on the injured list, pitcher Kyle Hendricks was surrounded by a starting lineup that included such household no-names as Rafael Ortega, Matt Duffy, Frank Schwindel, Greg Deichmann, Andrew Romine, Robinson Chirinos and Sergio Alcantara.

I know what you’re thinking: You can’t spell “Schwindel” without the “win.” The man did blast a two-run homer into the seats to briefly keep the Cubs alive in the bottom of the 10th. Give him his props.

But still: Who?

When the Cubs were down to their last out, manager David Ross looked up and down his dugout bench and said the only sensible thing he could think of:

“Yo, 160-pound pitcher Zach Davies, grab a bat. You’re pinch-hitting!”

It’s that kind of reality now in Chicago baseball. There are ships passing in the night, and then there are the Sox and Cubs. One team an ocean liner steaming for the deep waters of playoff baseball. The other an unrecognizable bucket of bolts already run aground by an ownership family that wouldn’t find money for Yu Darvish and cashed in its 2016 World Series core but — oh, yeah — reportedly is full speed ahead with plans to build a two-story addition to Wrigley that would house a giant sports book.

Anyone who doesn’t think the Sox can encroach on the Cubs’ popularity in this town is missing something. By crying poor and pulling the plug on trying to win, the Cubs are playing their fans. Just because some might cynically (and correctly) point out that strategy worked for Cubs regimes past, it’s a whole new ballgame once fans have gotten a taste of a curse-busting title. A hotel? A two-story sportsbook? All the other Ricketts-led changes that are sucking the charm out of the ballpark grounds and neighborhood?

It’s a dangerous game.

The Sox can up the stakes by raising their next banner. Maybe even more than one of them. If and when they finally get to full strength this season, they just might go on the sort of tear that can’t be ignored by any sports fan in this town.

Meanwhile, the Cubs announced that Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White will be signed to an “honorary major league contract” before Sunday’s game. Isn’t that adorable? White, 87, played in the Cubs organization from 1959 to 1966, in case you didn’t know it.

My question: Why not put him in the lineup for real? It couldn’t hurt.

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They don’t all look the same, but every win counts the same in the standings. The White Sox beat the Cubs 8-6 on Friday in a game manager Tony La Russa described as a valuable lesson for how hard the last stretch of the season will be.

“We understand it’s going to be difficult to get to the finish line. It’s never easy,” La Russa said. “And if they ever needed reminding, just replay today’s game.”

The Sox had a comfortable 4-1 lead going into the eighth inning, and with Craig Kimbrel set to hold that lead for closer Liam Hendriks, the blueprint for a routine win was laid out.

Instead, Cubs shortstop Andrew Romine hit his first home run in four years, a three-run shot that tied the game. Kimbrel gave up his first earned runs since May 15 and allowed four hits in an appearance for the first time since May 2011.

The Sox went on to win, thanks to a four-run 10th inning sparked by Brian Goodwin’s two-run homer, but they still had to survive a scare when Frank Schwindel led off the bottom of the inning with a two-run shot that brought the Cubs within two runs.

“First six innings were just grinding, we missed a couple of chances to add, but the last three or four were just ridiculous,” La Russa said.

The lesson for La Russa’s team over the last two weeks has been that even the best teams go through slogs, and often in the midst of those even the wins don’t come easy.

And looking forward, heroics by players from every part of the roster are necessary. After Kimbrel’s rough eighth inning, Hendriks got four outs to get the Sox to extra innings. Then, for the second time in the last week, Goodwin connected for a decisive late-inning homer.

“When you look at the push toward the playoffs, you need a deep roster,” Lance Lynn said. “You need guys to be able to come through in the clutch who might not be in there every day.”

The Sox bats didn’t come to life until they got to the Cubs bullpen. Starter Kyle Hendricks held them to two runs in the fourth inning. The rest of their scoring came against relievers Trevor Megill, Kyle Ryan, and Manny Rodriguez.

“It’s no secret, if you see our offensive stats we’re not having a good year,” Jose Abreu said. “This has been a really tough season for us as a team, especially in the offensive part.”

Things should improve on that front now that Eloy Jimenez is back in the lineup and Luis Robert is on schedule to come back after this weekend.

Without them, the Sox rank near the bottom of the league in home runs, and they’re eleventh in baseball in slugging percentage, at .411. It’s not all bad, however. Despite feeling like they’ve struggled as a group, the Sox offense has a seventh-ranked .248 batting average, and they have scored the eighth-highest number of runs, and Friday’s offensive outburst should push them even higher in both.

“Having everybody healthy and playing at the same time should be a very good thing for us,” Abreu said. “Something that should carry us to the finish line.”

These experiences might be helpful in getting through the season’s final eight weeks, but Hendriks is cautious about drawing parallels from Friday’s game to what October is going to be like.

“I mean it’s very hard to comprehend and put a connection between postseason baseball and anything else,” Hendriks said. “Purely based on the fact it’s where the possibility of going home is a factor. That’s one of the biggest drivers that I’ve found in a lot of guys, you almost put too much pressure on yourself. Once you’re relaxed and get into the mold, that’s where you’re able to do those things in the postseason.”

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When Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently announced that state employees who work in congregate facilities would have to be vaccinated by Oct. 4, the largest state employee union, AFSCME, released a statement chiding the governor.

“We strongly oppose any effort to define them as part of the problem,” the powerful union claimed on behalf of those workers.

But Pritzker also said that about 80% of new COVID-19 cases in those congregate facilities “have been due to infection among employees.”

“Our most vulnerable residents, such as veterans who can’t live on their own, and adults living with developmental disabilities have no choice but to live amongst these workers,” Pritzker said. “It’s a breach of safety, it’s fundamentally wrong and, in Illinois, it’s going to stop.”

Aside from the danger posed to residents or inmates, outbreaks can also result in potentially exposed unvaccinated workers getting very sick or worse; or being sent home for several days to make sure they haven’t contracted the virus. Most every state facility is under-staffed, so outbreaks have the potential to crush the system, particularly with the highly virulent delta variant spreading like wildfire.

By far, the least vaccinated state agency is the Illinois Department of Corrections, which is infamous for being chronically under-staffed for decades.

Of IDOC’s 34 facilities, only seven had a staff vaccination rate above 50% by late July, which is still too low.

Two IDOC facilities had staff vaccination rates in the single digits: an abysmal 7% at Lawrence Correctional Center and 9% at Vienna Correctional Center. Vandalia CC was not much better at a mere 10%. Pontiac CC was at 14%, Robinson CC was at 18% and Graham CC and its reception and classification center were at 21%, as was Shawnee CC. Six prisons had staff vax percentage rates in the 20s, ten were in the 30s, five were in the 40s, three were in the 50s and just four were in the 60s.

Taken as a whole, 44% of IDOC staff were fully vaccinated at that point in time. Just 45% of the state’s Development Center staff at the Department of Human Services are vaccinated. At the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, 64% of veterans’ home employees are vaccinated, but just 50% at the Anna Home are vaxed and 58% are vaxed at the Manteno facility.

By comparison, as of Aug. 5, 61% of all Illinois adults were fully vaccinated.

“The government has resorted to ‘vaccine shaming’ its public safety employees rather than convincing them that getting an immunization is the best course of action,” said Terry Trueblood, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Illinois Secretary of State Lodge 95, after Secretary of State Jesse White announced that employees must either be vaccinated or tested every two weeks.

But, according to the state, about 70% of prison inmates who are in or who have moved through the system have been fully vaccinated. Eight-two percent of all patients and residents in Department of Human Services facilities are vaccinated. Between 96 and 100 percent of Department of Veterans’ Affairs home residents are vaccinated, depending on the facility. And 62% of young people currently in the Department of Juvenile Justice system have been vaccinated.

It’s time the state stopped waiting on front-line workers to come to their senses while drawing a government paycheck. Too many of AFSCME’s members are not part of the solution, they’re “part of the problem.”

And the FOP can complain about “vaccine shaming” all it wants, but logic and reasoning haven’t worked nearly enough. Not even money has worked. The state rolled out a special cash-and-prizes lottery program just for workers in those four agencies to try to increase vaccination rates. On-site clinics were set up to make it more convenient for employees to get their shots. The union also admirably tried to help convince its members to vax up. The carrots didn’t work. The stick is what’s left.

Pritzker gave the workers two months to comply, likely because he wants to talk details with union leaders at the bargaining table. But AFSCME would do well to remember what the late AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said just last month when explaining why the AFL-CIO supports vaccine mandates: “You have to know what’s around you.”

AFSCME and other unions face a choice between preserving the life and health of their members or standing up for the imagined “rights” of those who would knowingly spread a fatal or debilitating disease to those around them. Something has got to change.

Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.

Send letters to [email protected].

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Please send scores or corrections to [email protected]

Friday, August 27

FOX VALLEY

Crystal Lake Central at Huntley

Crystal Lake South at Jacobs

Dundee-Crown at Cary-Grove

Hampshire at Burlington Central

McHenry at Prairie Ridge

UPSTATE EIGHT

Bartlett at Glenbard South

East Aurora at Elgin

Fenton at South Elgin

Larkin at Glenbard East

Streamwood at West Chicago

NONCONFERENCE

Ag. Science at De La Salle

Argo at Joliet Central

Aurora Central at Plano

Bishop McNamara at Marmion

Bolingbrook at Minooka

Brooks at Eisenhower

Brother Rice at Hillcrest

Buffalo Grove at Lincoln-Way Central

Carmel at Libertyville

Chicago Military at Marine

Christ the King at St. Edward

Clark vs. King at Gately

Comer at Geneseo

Conant at Lake Park

Corliss vs. Julian at Gately

Crete-Monee at Lincoln-Way East

Curie at Marist

Deerfield at Hinsdale South

DePaul Prep vs. Payton at Lane

East Peoria at Streator

Elk Grove at Maine West

Evanston at Kenosha Indian Trail, Wis.

Fenger vs. Chicago Richards at Stagg

Foreman at Speer

Geneva at Metea Valley

Glenbrook South at Rolling Meadows

Hansberry at Chicago Christian

Hersey at Lincoln-Way West

Highland Park at Leyden

Hoffman Estates at Downers Grove North

Hubbard at Grayslake Central

Hyde Park vs. Dyett at Stagg

IC Catholic at Montini

Johnson at Aurora Christian

Kaneland at Andrew

Kenwood at Lane

Lake Forest at St. Francis

Lake View at Niles North

Lake Zurich at Fremd

Lincoln Park vs. Amundsen at Winnemac

Lindblom at East Moline

Lisle at Harvard

Lockport at Joliet West

Maine South at Stevenson

Manteno at Evergreen Park

Marian Central at Johnsburg

Moline at St. Laurence

Morgan Park at Fenwick

Morris at Coal City

Morton at Riverside-Brookfield

Mount Carmel at St. Rita

Mundelein at Grant

Naperville Central at Hinsdale Central

Naperville North at Benet

New Trier at Lyons

Niles West at Maine East

Notre Dame at Glenbard North

Oswego at Neuqua Valley

Oswego East at Waubonsie Valley

Ottawa at Sandwich

Palatine at St. Charles North

Peoria Manual at Peotone

Phillips at Batavia

Plainfield Central at Addison Trail

Plainfield North at Plainfield East

Pritzker at Perspectives

Prospect at Sandburg

Proviso East at Bradley-Bourbonnais

Proviso West at Wauconda

Raby at UP-Englewood

Reed-Custer at Elmwood Park

Rich Township at Oak Lawn

Richards at Nazareth

Rochelle at Woodstock

Round Lake at Wheeling

St. Charles East at Lemont

St. Viator at Kenosha St. Joseph, Wis.

Schurz at Ridgewood

Shepard at Kankakee

Simeon at Joliet Catholic

Stagg at Zion-Benton

Sterling at Lakes

Sycamore vs. DeKalb at NIU

Taft at Glenbrook North

TF North at Homewood-Flossmoor

TF South at Chesterton, Ind.

Thornridge at Bremen

Thornwood at Marian Catholic

Tilden vs. Carver at Gately

Tinley Park at Reavis

UIC Prep vs. Senn at Winnemac

UP-Bronzeville at Richmond-Burton

Vernon Hills at Grayslake North

Von Steuben at St. Ignatius

Warren at Barrington

Warren De La Salle, Mich. at St. Patrick

Waukesha Catholic, Wis. at Antioch

West Aurora at Plainfield South

Westmont at Walther Christian

Westville at Seneca

Wheaton Academy at Brookfield East, Wis.

Wheaton North at Downers Grove South

Wheaton-Warrenville South at Oak Park-River Forest

Willowbrook at Providence

Wilmington at Marengo

Woodstock North at Westosha Central, Wis.

York at Schaumburg

Yorkville at Romeoville

Saturday, August 28

NONCONFERENCE

Bulls Prep at Leo

Butler vs. Prosser at Rockne

Chicago Academy vs. Catalyst-Maria at Stagg

Clemente vs. Young at Rockne

Collins vs. Bogan at Stagg

Crane vs. DuSable at Stagg

Dunbar at Herscher

Gage Park at Kelly

Grandville, Mich. at Glenbard West

Harlan vs. Mather at Winnemac

Hope Academy at Thornton

Juarez vs. Sullivan at Winnemac

Little Village vs. Kennedy at Rockne

Marshall at Orr

Milwaukee Marquette, Wis. at Loyola

North Chicago at Waukegan

North Lawndale vs. South Shore at Eckersall

Oak Forest at Westinghouse

Phoenix at Back of the Yards

Rauner at Bloom

Roosevelt vs. Rowe-Clark at Rockne

Solorio at Steinmetz

Vocational at Goode

Woodlawn vs. Bowen at Eckersall

Read More

Two men were injured after a Metra UP-NW train struck a vehicle in Norwood Park on the Northwest Side.

The incident happened near Northwest Highway and Nagle Avenue, according to Chicago fire officials.

The men were both transported to Luthern General Hospital in serious, fire officials said.

Metra UP-NW trains were halted in both directions near Norwood Park.

Metra has warned riders to expect extensive delays.

This is a developing story. Check back for details.

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Vowing to “ensure access to justice for all, the mayor of Highland Park launched her bid for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court on Friday, setting the stage for what could be a hotly contested race to represent a newly redrawn district on the state’s top court.

Making her third run for higher office in five years, Nancy Rotering, a Democrat in her third term as mayor of the North Shore suburb, joins Democratic and Republican judges in Lake County who are also vying for the seat formerly held by Justice Robert Thomas.

“My mission is to uphold the rule of law and make sure that all Illinoisans have an unbiased, fair and balanced adjudication of the major cases facing our state,” Rotering said in a statement announcing her candidacy.

“I look forward to continuing to put my background in law and business, coupled with my public service commitment to ethics and accountability, to work for the people of Illinois.”

Erin Brown/Sun-Times file

The Highland Park mayor has worked as an attorney for over 30 years and previously served on the Highland Park City Council, according to a news release announcing her candidacy.

With her Illinois Supreme Court run, the veteran attorney will have run for offices in all three branches of government — executive, legislative and judicial.

Rotering ran unsuccessfully in 2018 for Illinois attorney general, coming in fourth in the eight-candidate Democratic primary. Kwame Raoul won that primary and the general election.

Two years earlier, Rotering waged a campaign to represent the north suburban 10th Congressional District, losing in the Democratic primary to Brad Schneider, who garnered 54% of the vote and went on to beat Republican incumbent Bob Dold in November of 2016.

Rich Hein/Sun-Times file

Kicking off her run for the state’s top court, Rotering announced a slew of endorsements, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Newman, the mayors of Deerfield, Buffalo Grove and Fox Lake as well as Democratic state Representatives Bob Morgan of Deerfield, Dan Didech of Buffalo Grove, Sam Yingling of Grayslake and Joyce Mason of Gurnee.

Elizabeth Rochford, an associate judge in Lake County, is also running as a Democrat for the Supreme Court seat, which now covers Lake, McHenry, Kane, DeKalb and Kendall counties.

Daniel Shanes, a Lake County judge, plans to run as a Republican for the Second District seat in next year’s June 28 primary.

A conservative Republican and former Chicago Bears kicker, Thomas held the seat for two decades. His retirement last year sparked GOP fears that the party would lose the seat on the state’s highest court.

Capitol News Illinois

State Supreme Court Justice Michael Burke was appointed to the Second District seat last March after Thomas retired.

A spokesman for Burke, a Republican, said he plans to seek a full term in the Third District after Democrats in the General Assembly earlier this year drew Burke, and all of DuPage County, out of the Second District boundaries.

The Third District was once represented by Justice Thomas Kilbride, a Democrat who last year became the first state Supreme Court justice in Illinois history to fail to win retention.

After that loss, Democrats redrew the boundaries for the Illinois Supreme Court districts this year for the first time since 1963 — though Republicans attempted to change the lines in 1997 with their Judicial Redistricting Act before it was ruled unconstitutional.

Legislators shifted the boundaries of the Third District that Kilbride once represented, condensing it to a smaller land area and shifting some counties, including DuPage, within its borders.

Under the new maps, which were signed into law in early June, the number of residents in the Supreme Court’s Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth districts will be “substantially equalized to better reflect the population and demographic shifts that have occurred in the state of Illinois over the course of the last sixty years,” according to a news release at the time on the proposed judicial boundaries.

Read More

Vowing to “ensure access to justice for all, the mayor of Highland Park launched her bid for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court on Friday, setting the stage for what could be a hotly contested race to represent a newly redrawn district on the state’s top court.

Making her third run for higher office in five years, Nancy Rotering, a Democrat in her third term as mayor of the North Shore suburb, joins Democratic and Republican judges in Lake County who are also vying for the seat formerly held by Justice Robert Thomas.

“My mission is to uphold the rule of law and make sure that all Illinoisans have an unbiased, fair and balanced adjudication of the major cases facing our state,” Rotering said in a statement announcing her candidacy.

“I look forward to continuing to put my background in law and business, coupled with my public service commitment to ethics and accountability, to work for the people of Illinois.”

Erin Brown/Sun-Times file

The Highland Park mayor has worked as an attorney for over 30 years and previously served on the Highland Park City Council, according to a news release announcing her candidacy.

With her Illinois Supreme Court run, the veteran attorney will have run for offices in all three branches of government — executive, legislative and judicial.

Rotering ran unsuccessfully in 2018 for Illinois attorney general, coming in fourth in the eight-candidate Democratic primary. Kwame Raoul won that primary and the general election.

Two years earlier, Rotering waged a campaign to represent the north suburban 10th Congressional District, losing in the Democratic primary to Brad Schneider, who garnered 54% of the vote and went on to beat Republican incumbent Bob Dold in November of 2016.

Rich Hein/Sun-Times file

Kicking off her run for the state’s top court, Rotering announced a slew of endorsements, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Newman, the mayors of Deerfield, Buffalo Grove and Fox Lake as well as Democratic state Representatives Bob Morgan of Deerfield, Dan Didech of Buffalo Grove, Sam Yingling of Grayslake and Joyce Mason of Gurnee.

Elizabeth Rochford, an associate judge in Lake County, is also running as a Democrat for the Supreme Court seat which now covers Lake, McHenry, Kane, DeKalb and Kendall counties.

Daniel Shanes, a Lake County judge, plans to run as a Republican for the Second District seat in next year’s June 28 primary.

A conservative Republican and former Chicago Bears kicker, Thomas held the seat for two decades. His retirement last year sparked GOP fears that the party would lose the seat on the state’s highest court.

Capitol News Illinois

State Supreme Court Justice Michael Burke was appointed to the Second District seat last March after Thomas retired.

A spokesman for Burke, a Republican, said he plans to seek a full term in the Third District after Democrats in the General Assembly earlier this year drew Burke, and all of DuPage County, out of the Second District boundaries.

The Third District was once represented by Justice Thomas Kilbride, a Democrat who last year became the first state Supreme Court justice in Illinois history to fail to win retention.

After that loss, Democrats redrew the boundaries for the Illinois Supreme Court districts this year for the first time since 1963 — though Republicans attempted to change the lines in 1997 with their Judicial Redistricting Act before it was ruled unconstitutional.

Legislators shifted the boundaries of the Third District that Kilbride once represented, condensing it to a smaller land area and shifting some counties, including DuPage, within its borders.

Under the new maps, which were signed into law in early June, the number of residents in the Supreme Court’s Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth districts will be “substantially equalized to better reflect the population and demographic shifts that have occurred in the state of Illinois over the course of the last sixty years,” according to a news release at the time on the proposed judicial boundaries.

Read More

Live Nation on Friday issued a “best practices” recommendations policy for COVID safety protocols for all of its U.S. concert tours and venues.

The concert promoter behemoth is recommending to each touring artist’s camp that concertgoers provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to gain entry to concert venues. However, it will be up to each individual tour to implement the recommended safety measures or not.

The best practices policy, signed by Live Nation CEO Michael Rupino, read in part: “Our teams have worked together to put new processes in place so that artists doing shows with Live Nation in the U.S. can require all attendees and staff to be fully vaccinated or show a negative test result for entry, where permitted by law. We believe this is a great model, and we have already implemented this successfully at many major shows including Lollapalooza. … we hope these measures encourage even more people to get vaccinated.”

Lollapalooza, which ended on Sunday, came under fire from health officials and the general public alike for taking place amid the surge of the delta variant, the festival being referred to as a possible super-spreader event despite requiring all attendees to show proof of vaccination or negative COVID tests.

Live Nation’s president and chief financial officer Joe Berchtold, on Tuesday told company shareholders that Lollapalooza was “very successfully done,” with regards to COVID safety protocols.

“I think what we’re seeing is a shift to increasing requirements for entry of either tested or fully vaccinated. We had that at Lollapalooza over the last weekend very successfully done. Over 90% of the people were fully vaccinated, which I think was a great signal in terms of people’s commitment and support of being vaccinated in order to go to these shows,” he said.

In addition, effective Oct. 4, all Live Nation employees in the U.S. must be vaccinated to enter any Live Nation venues or offices.

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Imagine that she is your daughter. Imagine one decision that leads her down the path of addiction and into the vice-filled shadows of unforgiving Chicago streets. Imagine your worry and prayers over sleepless nights that dissolve into tear-laden mornings.

Imagine that helpless sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach as the innocent, beautiful baby girl you brought home years earlier from the hospital and doted over, whispering sweet nothings, is now in danger of being consumed by the evils of life and the city’s mean streets. Imagine hoping, wishing, praying she would only return to herself, pull through, be all right. Imagine waiting to hear a word — something, anything…

Then comes the news: a phone call, a police knock. Bad news.

Now imagine her dead. Murdered. Gone.

She lies half naked and brutalized in an alley, abandoned building or vacant lot. She has been violated, strangled and bludgeoned, or her body set ablaze or dismembered, her killer having discarded her like garbage.

Imagine her final moments, gasping for breath, for life. The terror in her teary eyes. Her unanswered cries.

Imagine her, trying to scream. Except, with her breathing repressed by her killer, she can manage only strained whimpers until finally her light, despite her desperate struggle, has been extinguished.

Imagine she is your daughter. Your sister. Your aunt. Your mother. Your niece, cousin, friend.

Imagine that her one bad decision was simply choosing to go out that night, or to be in the company of a man who would turn out to be a killer. Imagine that she never used illicit drugs, would never knowingly place herself in harm’s way, and had tried to escape once the killer’s cruel intentions became clear. But by then it was too late.

Now imagine one murdered woman in Chicago multiplied by at least 51 since 2001. Imagine that their cases remain largely unsolved, their families clinging to the faintest hope for justice, which seems an elusive mist. Imagine these mostly African-American women — believed by the Murder Accountability Project in Alexandria, Virginia, to be the work of at least one serial killer — forgotten.

Imagine a city, a nation, that when it comes to Black women, accepts their murder and brutalization with numbing normalcy. A city where excuse making by politicians, and spin and deflection, are the typical response to questions about why police have yet to find answers.

A city where one local news station reneges on its invitation to discuss the Unforgotten 51 project — that I undertook last year with my students at Roosevelt University — because, on second thought, the story is “too grim for morning TV.”

Imagine a city where some news media might be inclined to pat themselves on the back for having done one or two or even three stories about the case with the sensational lead of the existence of a possible serial killer.

Except the real story here isn’t about a serial killer.

It is about the incalculable loss of humanity. A story of love, joy and pain, and of a sister’s fading hope for justice.

That is a story worthy of being told until the cows come home by news media that purport to stand as gatekeepers, as truth-tellers, who comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Who shine the light of journalism on injustice, inequality and inhumanity.

Imagine news media that will hold police officials’ feet to the fire to be transparent with victim’s families and the public about their investigative efforts. An unrelenting news media that will not allow this city to forget the 51, ever.

For the truth is: Each of them was one of ours — a slain Chicago daughter.

No need to imagine.

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