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Chicago man gets three years probation after admitting setting fire to police vehicle during 2020 riotingJon Seidelon July 14, 2021 at 9:30 pm

A School of the Art Institute student who claims he was overcome by emotion when he set fire to a Chicago police SUV during the May 2020 riots downtown sought mercy from a federal judge who then sentenced him to three years of probation Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman told Jacob Fagundo that he could have hurt or killed someone when he set fire to the police SUV at 30 E. Kinzie St. on May 30, 2020. But the judge agreed the crime appeared to be an aberration in Fagundo’s behavior. He said prison time was unnecessary, but he ordered Fagundo to pay $58,125 to replace the vehicle.

“It’s just a shame that you did this,” Gettleman said.

Fagundo’s virtual sentencing hearing Wednesday appeared to be the first in Chicago’s federal court to directly deal with the violence that erupted downtown following the murder of George Floyd by then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Another man accused of setting fire to a Chicago police vehicle during the unrest while wearing a “Joker” mask, Timothy O’Donnell, is set to stand trial Feb. 7.

A third person, James Massey, is also set to stand trial Dec. 6 after federal prosecutors accused him of using Facebook to encourage people to loot and riot downtown and on the Near North Side in August 2020.

Fagundo’s defense attorney, Robert Kerr, filed a court memo earlier this month explaining that Fagundo committed his crime because he was “filled with rage, with passion, and didn’t have time to think twice” after he saw a police officer “split open the head of [a] young girl with whom he was — at that time — peacefully protesting” in Chicago.

Jacob Fagundo
Chicago Police

A similar argument has recently been raised in another case stemming from the rioting. An attorney for Lamar Taylor, one of three people accused in federal court of setting fire to a CTA van on May 30, 2020, recently wrote in a court filing that Taylor had witnessed his brother’s fatal shooting by Chicago police in 2014, and that could have prompted his alleged behavior.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Cooke argued during Wednesday’s hearing that Fagundo committed his crime when “the city of Chicago was in turmoil and the police were trying to maintain order.” In many instances, he said, police officers were “under attack.” He said Fagundo “contributed to the breakdown” of order in the city.

“Mr. Fagundo’s not responsible for that breakdown,” Cooke said. “There were a lot of people doing a lot of bad things that day. But he is responsible for his role in it.”

The prosecutor asked the judge to sentence Fagundo to between eight and 14 months in prison. However, he acknowledged that Fagundo surrendered to Chicago police when he realized he was wanted by authorities. And, during a two-hour discussion with Fagundo and his lawyer, Cooke said he “found Mr. Fagundo to be genuinely remorseful.”

Originally charged in state court, Fagundo pleaded guilty in April to obstructing law enforcement amid a civil disorder after the feds filed charges against him in late March.

Fagundo admitted in his plea agreement that he purchased fireworks, lighter fluid and other products at a department store on May 29, 2020, ahead of the Floyd protests. The next day, he joined with others and spray-painted a Chicago police vehicle, it said.

The evening of May 30, 2020, Fagundo discovered the CPD SUV in a garage at 30 E. Kinzie St., according to the plea deal. People shattered its windows, including its rear windshield. Then, at about 6:45 p.m., Fagundo lit a firework and tossed it through the SUV’s rear window frame, the document states. The vehicle was a total loss.

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Chicago man gets three years probation after admitting setting fire to police vehicle during 2020 riotingJon Seidelon July 14, 2021 at 9:30 pm Read More »

Chicago’s Oscar winner Matthew A. Cherry and DePaul grad Chaz Bottoms to create animated musical comedy seriesEvan F. Mooreon July 14, 2021 at 7:55 pm

A new musical comedy series developed by Cartoon Network about two gifted dancers will have a decidedly Chicago tone.

Cartoon Network will collaborate with Academy Award-winning filmmaker and Northwest Side native Matthew A. Cherry and DePaul alumnus Chaz Bottoms to create “Battu,” an animated series following the lives of two dancers in Chicago — Otis and Jada — whose independent streak runs afoul of mainstream dance gatekeepers.

The project is based on Bottoms’ animated short film, “Battu: An Animated Musical,” that is currently in production.

“Chaz is one of the most exciting young voices in animation and we are thrilled to be working with Sam Register, Nicole Rivera and the rest of the Cartoon Network Studios team to develop ‘Battu,'” said Cherry, who won an Oscar last year for best animated short film for “Hair Love,” in a press release.

Bottoms, a director, animator, writer and owner of CBA Studios, envisions the series as a tribute to Chicago.

“I grew up on a healthy diet of Cartoon Network shows and to be working with them on ‘Battu’ is a dream come true,” said Bottoms in the press release. “This project is my love letter to the city of Chicago, animation, and musicals.”

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Chicago’s Oscar winner Matthew A. Cherry and DePaul grad Chaz Bottoms to create animated musical comedy seriesEvan F. Mooreon July 14, 2021 at 7:55 pm Read More »

Afternoon Edition: July 14, 2021Matt Mooreon July 14, 2021 at 8:00 pm

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

Afternoon Edition

Chicago’s most important news of the day, delivered every weekday afternoon. Plus, a bonus issue on Saturdays that dives into the city’s storied history.

This afternoon will be partly sunny with a high near 86 degrees. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with a low around 72. Showers and thunderstorms are likely tomorrow with a high near 82.

Top story

Prosecutors so far offer no proof that Iowa mechanic may have been planning mass shooting, as Chicago mayor and top cop claimed

Keegan Casteel has been accused by Chicago’s mayor and top cop of possibly planning a mass attack on Navy Pier crowds from the window of his hotel room over the Fourth of July weekend.

But police and court filings so far detail no such plans. And prosecutors offered nothing new today when Casteel briefly appeared in court over Zoom for his second hearing.

Documents in the case only describe how a housekeeper at Hotel W alerted police July 4 to room 1208, where officers found a loaded semi-automatic rifle with a laser scope, five ammunition clips and a loaded .45-caliber handgun.

The records do not detail how much ammunition was found, saying only there was “lots.” They also don’t contain any mention of any statement by Casteel, even whether he made one.

And there is nothing about why he was in town or whether there was anyone staying in the hotel room with him, though some media reports say he was visiting here with his girlfriend and two children.

Matthew Hendrickson has the latest.

More news you need

  1. At least five people were wounded after gunfire broke out this afternoon in Gresham — the second mass shooting of the day after a previous incident in West Garfield Park. The group was on a sidewalk when a car pulled out of an alley and three gunmen got out, police said.
  2. A Chicago man has been sentenced in federal court to three years of probation after he admitted he set fire to a police vehicle during the May 2020 protests downtown. The sentencing appears to be the first in Chicago’s federal court to directly address the downtown unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd.
  3. A federal grand jury has accused a former CPS principal of collecting overtime pay from school employees that she said would be used to pay school expenses — but allegedly went to her bills. She faces 10 counts of wire fraud and was due in court today following her arrest.
  4. An off-duty Chicago police officer was found dead in an apparent suicide this morning near Hale Elementary School in Clearing. This is the third such death by a member of the department this year.
  5. A sweeping proposal unveiled today aims to lift the nationwide prohibition on cannabis and create new federal regulations. Like Illinois’ legalization law, the measure looks to address the harms of the drug war and to bolster equity in the weed industry.
  6. Gov. Pritzker was among eight mayors and governors who met with President Biden in Washington today. The meeting was part of a White House drive to rally support for a bipartisan infrastructure plan.
  7. A new app aims to help people find leftover food that restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores want to sell off at the end of each day. Starting today, around 100 restaurants are able to sell their excess foods at a discount using the Too Good To Go app.
  8. Part traditional car showcase and part street fair, the Chicago Auto Show returns to McCormick Place tomorrow and runs through Monday. This year’s twists include outdoor action like test drives on city streets, food trucks and live music.

A bright one

Pair of 15 year olds from South Side crowned fastest kids in Chicago at Gately Park competition

Treyshun Green was anxious when he got to the starting line last Saturday for the final race of the Fastest Kids in Chicago competition at Gately Park Indoor Track and Field.

Green said he worried about tripping in front of the crowd of several hundred, which included Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and six-time Olympic medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

But all the nerves vanished as soon as he heard the crack of the starting pistol.

Green, 15, made it look easy: He didn’t even break a sweat as he clocked the fastest 60-meter dash of the meet, finishing in a time of 7.84 seconds.

LaToya Pitner adjusts her son Treyshun Green’s medals after the “Fastest Kids in Chicago” final at the Gately Park Indoor Track and Field.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Meanwhile, Symone Frison, 15, was the fastest girl of the day. She won her heat with a time of 8.02 seconds, the third fastest time of the day.

“I was a little nervous, but I just knew if I ran my best that I could do it,” Frison said.

About 265 children and teenagers, ranging from incoming fifth graders to high school seniors, were invited to participate in the Fastest Kids competition over the weekend.

They came from a pool of more than 3,000 participants who registered to take part in the summer track-and-field program offered by the Chicago Park District in partnership with the mayor, Chicago Public Schools and Operation Rainbow Push.

Madeline Kenney has more on the competition here.

From the press box

Your daily question ?

What do you think of the new pilot program that will have some 911 calls for mental health emergencies handled by mental health clinicians instead of cops?

Reply to this email (please include your first name and where you live) and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you: In honor of National French Fry Day today, we want to know: Here’s some of what you said…

“Gene and Jude’s. Wait — Portillo’s. Nah, hold up — Lucky Dog!” — Nick Ternoir

“Superdawg has always been my favorite Chicago fries. crinkle cut, never cold.” — Mary Stefani

“Raymond’s Tacos on Damen and Blue Island. Old school fries hot in the brown paper and bag. Only old schoolers know what I’m talking about.” — Monica Savage-Lee

“Portillo’s. The flavor is great and never taste like they are fried in old oil.” — Patty Murray

“Mr. D’s Shish Kabobs has the best fresh cut fries in town. Diced, blanched in lemon juice and water, double-fried, salted and dunked in ketchup or mustard. #PotatoParadise.” — Walter Brzeski

“Luke’s on Jackson in downtown Chicago. They give you a full bag of fries that you can share with your coworkers, but unfortunately, they are too good to share so you end up eating the entire bag all by yourself.” — Charlotte Yolanda

“Susie’s Drive-Thru. Best cheese fries served in a crispy flour tortilla bowl. Amazing.” — Robert C. Estes

“Ricobene’s and Mr. Submarine garlic fries.” — Jenna Marie

“Zeus Restaurant in Greektown. Portillo’s and Jimmy’s for the fresh cut.” — Jonathan Turner Segal

“My thighs said it’s too many to name!” — Tina Hammond

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

Sign up here to get the Afternoon Edition in your inbox every day.

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Afternoon Edition: July 14, 2021Matt Mooreon July 14, 2021 at 8:00 pm Read More »

Off-duty Chicago police officer found dead in apparent suicideDavid Struetton July 14, 2021 at 8:37 pm

An off-duty Chicago police officer was found dead in an apparent suicide Wednesday morning in the Clearing neighborhood on the Southwest Side — the third such death by a member of the department this year.

The body of Christian Furczon, 24, was found slumped over in a vehicle at Hale Elementary School in the 6100 block of South Melvina Avenue, according to police and fire sources.

Furczon was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:35 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy scheduled for Thursday will determine his cause and manner of death. Furczon lived several blocks from where he was found.

Police did not release additional details about the officer or the incident, other than to say he died likely by suicide.

“It is always profoundly painful to deliver such news,” CPD Supt. David Brown said in a statement. “This morning, the Department experienced the heartbreaking loss of one of our police officers to an apparent suicide. As his family, loved ones and fellow CPD officers mourn, we are asking the city to help carry their grief by keeping them in your thoughts.”

“Being a police officer is not an easy job and our officers carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. They put their lives on the line for the people of Chicago, all while balancing their daily lives and taking care of their families. At the end of the day, these police officers are only human. It’s so important now, more than ever, to remember that,” Brown said.

A procession brought Furczon’s body to the Cook County medical examiner’s office on the Near West Side.

He was the third Chicago police officer to die by suicide this year, and the 11th CPD officer suicide since 2018.

On March 5, Officer Jeffrey Troglia, 38, shot himself in the basement of his Mount Greenwood home on the Southwest Side. Troglia, who joined the force in 2006, worked in the department’s gang investigations unit.

Earlier that week, Officer James Daly was found dead of a gunshot in the men’s locker room of the Town Hall police station at 850 W. Addison. Daly, 47, told colleagues he was planning to retire even though he was notified two weeks before he died that he needed to be 50 to qualify for a pension, officials said then.

Shortly after the pair of officer suicides, CPD announced the hiring of Alexa James, CEO of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Chicago, as a senior adviser of wellness. The department said she planned to create a comprehensive “officer wellness strategy.”

A 2017 Justice Department report found the department’s suicide rate was 60% higher than the nationwide average for officers.

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Off-duty Chicago police officer found dead in apparent suicideDavid Struetton July 14, 2021 at 8:37 pm Read More »

Alice in Wonderland has nothing on Leftists in Fantasyland.on July 14, 2021 at 8:32 pm

The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor

Alice in Wonderland has nothing on Leftists in Fantasyland.

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Alice in Wonderland has nothing on Leftists in Fantasyland.on July 14, 2021 at 8:32 pm Read More »

City Council committee OKs lease for Boys & Girls Club on campus of new police and fire training academyFran Spielmanon July 14, 2021 at 6:56 pm

Critics of the $95 million police and fire training academy slated to be built in West Garfield Park have called it a symbol of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s misplaced spending priorities.

Now, the sprawling campus on the 4400 block of West Chicago Avenue may become a symbol of something more positive and potentially transformational: the first new Boys & Girls Club to be built in Chicago in a generation.

The City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate made certain of it on Wednesday, agreeing to lease 20,000 square feet of land on the 34-acre-campus to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago at $1 a year for up to 75 years.

That will pave the way for an $8 million, 18,000 square foot youth development center with an open-air plaza between the club and the training academy.

“This new club represents a transformational opportunity for young people in Chicago to promote healing and build bridges where few currently exist. To break down barriers that have stood in the way of dialogue and understanding,” Mimi LeClair, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago, told aldermen.

Ald. James Cappleman (46th) called the project a quadruple-win — for young people, their parents, the Austin and West Humboldt Park communities and Chicago police officers.

“It’s not just the youth seeing police in a different way. It allows police officers to see youth in a different way,” Cappleman said.

Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) added: “If we’re focusing on rebuilding trust, you can’t do it when you’re separated from each other. It has to be together. We have to learn how to co-exist. What better way to do that than when you have an academy full of young police … alongside those trying to do something positive with their lives?”

Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) applauded local Ald. Emma Mitts (37th) for, as he put it, “doing what’s right — not what’s popular.”

Before agreeing to bankroll the new facility, the Boys & Girls Clubs held a dozen focus groups with local youth, including students at Orr Community Academy.

The reaction was overwhelmingly positive.

“They said, ‘We deserve a safe space. We deserve a beautiful space. And we will feel safe knowing that we’re on this particular campus,'” LeClair said Wednesday.

“They would say things like, ‘What we have now isn’t working and, maybe, this is a wonderful opportunity to, at the grass-roots level, have joint programming with the first responders training. We could listen to what they have to say and they could listen to what we have to say.’ ”

Even so, Ald. Daniel LaSpata (1st) voiced concern about the “potential for inter-action” between police and disconnected youth with, as he put it, “a troubled past” or a “troubled present.”

“I also know from some public comments from police leadership and from the experience of some of our youth that, sometimes, our officers — I’m trying to find the delicate way of saying this — they may not view young Black and Brown Chicagoans the way they deserve,” LaSpata said.

“There are times when our young people — particularly our young people of color — are viewed as threats when they’re not really doing anything wrong. They’re just living their lives.”

LeClair assured LaSpata there would be “no forced interactions” between young people and police.

“If there are one or two young people who are interested in this, we will work with them to pursue that. If there are more than that, we will work with them. But they set the tone. We are first and foremost about what … will make them feel emotionally, physically and psychologically safe,” she said.

For years, the training academy has drawn opposition from Chance the Rapper, college students in Chicago and across the nation and local youth organized online under the #NoCopAcademy banner.

During countless protests, they argued the money would be better spent on mental health initiative, as well as on recreational and education programs for young people.

When Lightfoot announced the decision to build the new Boys & Girls Club on the academy campus, the #NoCopAcademy movement called it a “slap in the face” to Black youth.

Destiny Harris, a youth organizer for the #NoCopAcademy campaign, said a Boys & Girls Club of Chicago is a “beautiful thing.” But, not on the site of the police academy that young people fought so hard to stop.

“This is strictly a P.R. move. It’s the mayor trying to make this project more palatable so that, when youth of NoCopAcademy are like, `No, we don’t want this cop academy. This isn’t the best use of $95 million,’ that we actually look like the bad people,” Harris said then.

“Then it becomes, we don’t want a cop academy and a Boys & Girls Club, which is actually a really beautiful resource. … We still would like it. Just in another place. … Police officers don’t make Black children feel safe. … How can you expect Black and Brown children to come into this space and feel comfortable?”

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City Council committee OKs lease for Boys & Girls Club on campus of new police and fire training academyFran Spielmanon July 14, 2021 at 6:56 pm Read More »

‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’: Please, make the rapping Porky and clapping Pennywise stopRichard Roeperon July 14, 2021 at 7:00 pm

I’ll say this for the Big Game sequence in “Space Jam: A New Legacy” that goes on and on and on and ON:

I’ve never seen anything like it. I also hope to never see anything like it again, and I wish I could unsee what I HAVE seen.

Warner Bros. presents a film directed by Malcolm D. Lee and written by Juel Taylor, Tony Rettenmaier, Keenan Coogler, Terence Nance, Jesse Gordon and Celeste Ballard. Rated PG (for some cartoon violence and some language). Running time: 115 minutes. Opens Friday at local theaters and on HBO Max.

Here’s the deal. We’re inside a virtual world known as the Warner Bros. Server-Verse, with LeBron James and the Looney Tunes gang a.k.a. the Tune Squad taking on the evil Goon Squad, and the stakes couldn’t be any higher. Every single one of LeBron’s millions of followers on social media has been sucked into this vortex — and if the Toon Squad loses, they’ll all be trapped in the Server-Verse forever.

Ah, but the best courtside spots for the game are occupied by a myriad of characters from the Warner Bros. vault, including Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West; various iterations of Batman, Robin, Catwoman, the Joker and the Penguin; Agent Smith from “The Matrix,” Stanley Ipkiss/the Mask; White Walkers from “Game of Thrones,” etc., etc. These hologram-looking creations aren’t the actual actors from the aforementioned projects; they’re approximations that jump up and down and cheer, and often seem as if they’re not looking directly at the action. Throughout the game, during the action sequences and especially during the timeouts and strategy sessions, the “celebrity” fans are a huge distraction — and making things even more bizarre, their numbers include Pennywise the Clown from “It” and the murderous, rapist gang known as the Droogs from “A Clockwork Orange.”

Who in the name of Bugs Bunny thought this was a good idea? Has no one on the Warner Bros. lot actually SEEN “A Clockwork Orange”?

Insane.

As was the case with the fondly remembered (by some) but quite mediocre “Space Jam” from 1996, the spiritual sequel isn’t so much a movie as it is a product placement mashup utilizing the technology of the day to combine live action with animation, with a slow buildup to a climactic hoops contest that lasts longer than the final minutes of an NBA playoff game. After a prologue set in Akron in 1998, with young LeBron James learning a valuable lesson about staying focused, we go to “The James Residence, Los Angeles, Present Day,” with LeBron (played by LeBron James, and I’m pretty sure he didn’t have to audition for the role) at odds with his son Dom (Cedric Joe), because Dad wants his son to concentrate on his basketball potential while Dom is all about video games and virtual reality, and has in fact created a badass basketball video game that favors fun over fundamentals. If only there was some way for the well-meaning but rigid LeBron to open his eyes and let his son follow his own path!

Conveniently enough, LeBron takes Dom to a meeting at Warner Bros. studios, where a rogue artificial intelligence entity known as Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle, a great actor who is miscast as the comedic/evil villain) has created a program that will insert LeBron into any and all company properties, e.g., there’s LeBron playing Quidditch at Hogwarts! LeBron says it’s an awful idea, one of the worst ideas he’s ever heard, and he rejects the pitch — and then the movie pursues the exact same path after acknowledging it’s a terrible concept.

LeBron’s son Dom (Cedric Joe) is duped by an evil A.I. entity called Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle).
Warner Bros.

LeBron and Dom are sucked into a virtual universe filled with Warner Bros. properties, and that’s exactly what “Casablanca,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Mad Max,” “Game of Thrones,” et al., feel like — properties to be exploited, not works to be treasured. As Al-G Rhythm (ugh, that name) co-opts Dom by pretending to be his friend and encouraging his dreams, LeBron and Bugs Bunny round up the Looney Tunes gang, all of whom have been inserted into — you guessed it — Warner Bros. properties, e.g., Daffy Duck is in a Superman adventure in Metropolis, Yosemite Sam is at Rick’s Cafe from “Casablanca,” Lola Bunny is about to take the speed and endurance test to become an Amazon a la “Wonder Woman.” With the exception of a few clever one-liners and visual gags, it’s more exhausting than amusing.

Because we need some excuse to get LeBron and the Looney Tunes gang on the virtual court against Dom and an All-Star collection of pro basketball stars such as Damian Lillard, Anthony Davis, Nneka Ogwumike, Diana Taurasi and Klay Thompson — all of whom have been turned into hybrid animated figures with superpowers — the evil Al-G Rhythm proposes the aforementioned challenge. If the good guys win, the players and the fans will be allowed to leave this virtual world behind and return to their lives. If they lose, the humans will be trapped in the Server-Verse — and the Tunes will be deleted. The game itself features all sorts of CGI pyrotechnics and even a brief rap interlude featuring Porky Pig as “The Notorious P.I.G.” (sigh), and the visuals can be eye-popping — but then we catch another glimpse of Pennywise clapping or Mr. Smith cheering, and we’re just praying this thing doesn’t go into overtime.

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‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’: Please, make the rapping Porky and clapping Pennywise stopRichard Roeperon July 14, 2021 at 7:00 pm Read More »

At least five wounded in Gresham shooting — second mass shooting of the day in ChicagoSun-Times Wireon July 14, 2021 at 7:28 pm

At least five people were wounded in a shooting Wednesday afternoon in Gresham on the South Side, hours after five people were shot on the West Side.

The group was on a sidewalk near a food mart at 79th and Justine streets when a silver car pulled out of an alley and three gunmen got out shortly after noon, Chicago police spokeswoman Michelle Tannehill said.

The trio opened fire, striking four men and a woman, she said.

  • Two of the victims were taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn: A 27-year-old woman grazed in the hip and in good condition, and a 40-year-old man shot in the face and in critical condition.
  • Two others were taken to University of Chicago Medical Center: A 32-year-old man shot in the lower back and listed in critical condition, and a 50-year-old man shot in the side and also in critical condition.
  • A fifth person, a 36-year-old man, was shot in the ankle and initially refused treatment on the scene, but he later went to Christ Medical Center and was listed in good condition,

The shooting occurred across the street from the Target DevCorp Auburn Gresham Community Outreach Center, an anti-violence organization.

Autry Phillips, executive director of Target DevCorp, said his team was just starting their shift when the shooting happened.

He said the spot where the people were shot is a “hangout for individuals that don’t work or that’s off work and just needed to blow off some steam so they’re coming outside. It’s a nice day, why not come outside and hang out on the block?”

He said the victims are not gang members and were not hurting anyone. “Unfortunately someone made the decision to pull the trigger,” he said.

Phillips said his team was now working in the community to prevent any retaliation. “What we try to do first to to try to make sure the families are okay.”

Phillips said it was troubling that the shooting happened so close to his organization, but added that these attacks can happen anywhere in the city. “At any time at any place, anyone in Chicago can get hit” he said. “We have shootings that’s next to the Chicago Police Department, we have shootings that’s next to schools.”

Earlier Wednesday, four women and a man were shot as they stood in the 4600 block of West Monroe Street in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, police said. The victims, all between ages 18 and 34, were listed in good condition.

There have been at least 31 shootings this year involving four or more victims, according to a Sun-Times analysis.

The largest mass shooting this year, and among the largest in recent memory, wounded 15 people, two fatally, during a party in the Park Manor neighborhood. A fight broke out between several people attending the party March 14 in the 6700 block of South South Chicago Avenue when gunfire erupted, police said then. Fifteen people were struck, ranging in age from 20 to 44 years old.

In July 2020, 15 people were shot outside a Gresham funeral home, but none of the victims died.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

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At least five wounded in Gresham shooting — second mass shooting of the day in ChicagoSun-Times Wireon July 14, 2021 at 7:28 pm Read More »

Mitsu Salmon considers the orchidIrene Hsiaoon July 14, 2021 at 4:45 pm

Mitsu Salmon at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology - MITSU SALMON

In Japan, nobility and samurai cultivated orchids as symbols of bravery, and businesses gifted with them would be graced with prosperity and success. In China, orchids have been used for thousands of years as medicine, prized for their fragrance, and revered as a virtuous plant by gentleman scholars. The Aztecs extracted orchid essence and drank it to enhance their physical strength. “Testicle,” thought the Greek botanist who gave the flower the name we call it by for its tuberous roots. (Orkhis = testes; mythologically, Orchis, the son of a nymph and a satyr, was torn to pieces by beasts for attempting to rape a maenad, then redeemed by being transformed into this flower.)

Orchid: Dormancy and Becoming, an interdisciplinary performance by Mitsu Salmon with a soundscape by La Spacer performed outdoors at the Ragdale Foundation on July 17 and in a private backyard in Humboldt Park at the end of the month, examines the history, ecology, myths, and metaphors of the flower one popular delivery service markets as “exotic” and erotic (“associated with fertility, virility, and sexuality,” “aphrodisiac,” etc.).

Salmon’s interest in orchids began with her family history: her maternal great-grandfather, Ryozo Kanehira, was a botanist who studied orchids and other plants on Orchid Island off the southeast coast of Taiwan. “He collected orchids and has several orchids named after him,” she says. “His history combines working in conservation and being part of a colonialist agenda as part of the Japanese occupation of Taiwan [from 1895-1945]. I contrast that to my grandmother, who had orchids in her house but experienced American occupation in Japan after World War II. It became this symbol in my ancestry of being colonized and being a colonizer.”

Mitsu Salmon at Tsung Yeah Artist Village in Taiwan - RICH MATHESON

Initially Salmon focused her research on her family, botany, and imperialism, but protracted incubation during pandemic shutdowns and cancellations prompted the project to develop in more directions. After a cancelled work-in-progress showing in March 2020, Salmon left Chicago for Utah, where she and her partner thought they would remain for just a month or two in lockdown. But as time passed, and opportunities vanished, she found herself considering broader approaches to her theme.

“I got some orchids and most of the time they’re not blooming,” she says. “Creating this work and having these orchids that were not blooming–it really felt connected. All my performances, all my teaching, everything for me had been cancelled. I didn’t have access to rehearsal space. So I was thinking about rest, dormancy, and growth.” A surgery also complicated matters, preventing Salmon from developing movement for the piece for several months. “I was reading and writing like crazy, so I have all this text”–some of which she has collected into a booklet that will be distributed at performances. “I was thinking about this piece while I was just twiddling my thumbs not knowing if it would ever be shown. It’s gone all over the place now in terms of looking at the history of orchids, the importing of orchids, growth patterns of orchids, the environment.”

As reported incidents of violence against Asian Americans increased over the year, Salmon also began to consider her work in the context of racism. When the Atlanta shootings happened, Salmon was beginning a residency at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in Otis, Oregon. “For the first time I was completely healthy and could get into the movement, but the first days in the studio, I was not able to do anything because I was processing. I was feeling very vulnerable. It started to seep into the work,” she recalls. “The orchid we’re most familiar with and see everywhere is called Phalaenopsis, from the Philippines. It’s mass-produced. All the other kinds are harder to get. Because of that orchid, orchids are often connected with Asia. Orchids are a sexual symbol–people think of them like female genitalia. I connect my own experience of race with being sexualized–they’re often conflated–so I’m thinking of the difference between being sexualized, when you’re made into an object or people project onto you, a negative experience, versus internal sexuality.”

“Orchidelirium,” the mad pursuit of orchids by wealthy English collectors in Victorian England, partially funded by the Opium Wars, also reflected imperialistic conquest of lands and people. “People went into these newly ‘discovered’ places in Asia and the South Pacific to find beautiful and rare orchids,” says Salmon. “At times after collecting the orchids, they would burn down these lands so other people couldn’t collect them. It was like tulip mania, but there they took from their own country, whereas this was going to other countries and extracting and destroying.”

Tropical areas of Latin and South America were also targets of orchidelirium and territories with particularly sought-after orchids. Conversations with musician and DJ La Spacer (Natalie Murillo), who is creating electronic music for Orchid: Dormancy and Becoming, has opened another global perspective on orchids for Salmon: “Mayans use a certain kind of orchid in their food. La Spacer was studying Mayan beats. So I’m looking at relationships between Asians and Latin Americans through the orchid.”

Yet as far-reaching as Salmon’s project ranges, she also notes that orchids are native to North America–and grow (with some difficulty) right here. “Half the orchids in North America are endangered. The prairie fringed orchid is native to Illinois and is an endangered one. The really fancy-looking ones are imported from the tropics–South America, Asia, the Philippines, Mexico, Brazil. But there’s a lot of little orchids that are not flamboyant in North America. They pretty much grow on every continent except Antarctica.” v



Orchid: Dormancy and Becoming, Sat July 17, 6 PM, Ragdale Foundation, 1260 N. Green Bay Rd., Lake Forest, and Sat-Sun 7/31-8/1, 7 PM, private backyard in Humboldt Park (limited audience), mitsusalmon.com, free.






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Mitsu Salmon considers the orchidIrene Hsiaoon July 14, 2021 at 4:45 pm Read More »

Want a ‘Hoop Dreams’ souvenir? Shuttered suburban Catholic school at center of documentary is auctioning everythingMitch Dudekon July 14, 2021 at 5:55 pm

The documentary film “Hoop Dreams” made a big splash when it was released in 1994.

And now fans can buy a keepsake — but the window to do so is closing.

Sporting equipment — and pretty much everything else from the suburban Catholic school that served as the film’s backdrop — is being sold in an online auction.

St. Joseph High School in Westchester closed permanently at the end of the school year and items ranging from basketball hoops to science lab equipment are on the block.

The online auction went live June 30 and the sale of most school-related assets is closing Wednesday. The sale of most sports-related assets closes Thursday.

All bidding prices start at $1.

The documentary followed the basketball dreams of Willliam Gates and Arthur Agee as they sought to overcome life challenges and make a name for themselves on the court.

Basketballs, nets, scoreboards, and banners — including one that went up to retire the number of former NBA great Isiah Thomas, who graduated from St. Joseph in 1979 — are on the block.

“There’s a lot of nostalgic and memorabilia items and quite a few alumni are actively participating, looking to pick up memories,” said Charles Winternitz, president of the fourth-generation, Chicago-based auction house that bears his family name.

“We have over 500 people bidding at the auction,” he said.

Side note: Winternitz is also auctioning items from the now-closed Southport Lanes bowling alley that for decades hosted drinking and rollers at its location not far from Wrigley Field.

The iconic sign that hung over the front door is up to about $3,000, he said.

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Want a ‘Hoop Dreams’ souvenir? Shuttered suburban Catholic school at center of documentary is auctioning everythingMitch Dudekon July 14, 2021 at 5:55 pm Read More »