Casey Krueger was at home when she got the call from Vlatko Andonovski letting her know she’d be an alternate on the 2021 U.S. women’s national team Olympic roster.
She had been preparing for this call for months but didn’t prepare herself to hear that she’d be heading to Tokyo.
“My husband knew I had the phone call coming up,” Krueger said. “I think he thought it was going to be a bad phone call, too. So he kind of left the room and said, ‘If you need me, let me know.’ He came back in and heard the tail end of things.”
Krueger isn’t a pessimist. In fact, she’s described by her peers and coaches as one of the most positive players to work with. But when it comes to making the USWNT roster, she has become a realist.
Her goal since she was a young player growing up in Naperville was to compete with the USWNT for a World Cup title and Olympic gold.
Leading up to the 2019 USWNT World Cup roster announcement, Krueger was at every camp. She had high expectations for herself and believed she was a lock to make the team. When the call came from then-coach Jill Ellis saying she wouldn’t be competing in France, Krueger was shocked.
“It was definitely a very difficult time for her when she didn’t get named to the World Cup roster,” said Red Stars teammate Tierna Davidson, the youngest Olympian on the team. “She turned it around and ended up making every single NWSL Best XI in the 2019 season.”
Krueger still hasn’t received any clarity on why she wasn’t part of the 23-player roster that won a record fourth World Cup title. Her call with Ellis was short and emotional, so Krueger never got a clear picture as to why she was omitted.
Looking back, she said she wouldn’t change a thing about that experience because it gave her perspective.
After the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup season, an injury to her hip left Krueger on the outside of multiple USWNT camps last fall. Instead of stressing about what it meant for her future with the team, Krueger enjoyed the time away.
She got married, did some soul-searching and hit the reset button. When Krueger returned to the field in preparation for the 2021 NWSL season, she felt stronger than ever, and Andonovski took notice.
Krueger replaced Alana Cook on the 2021 SheBelieves Cup roster after Paris St. Germain denied Cook’s release because of quarantine requirements.
After the 2021 SheBelieves Cup, Krueger wasn’t called into another USWNT camp. Thinking she was out of the running, she put the Olympic roster out of her mind and shifted her focus to Chicago.
Through the 2021 Challenge Cup and the first half of the NWSL’s regular season, Krueger again proved herself as one of the most consistent outside backs in the game.
“I said all along that [players’] performance in the NWSL will matter when we make final decisions,” Andonovski said after announcing the Olympic roster. “Casey is a good example of that.”
There have been multiple reports that the International Olympic Committee will grant approval for competing teams to expand their rosters to 22, making the four alternates available on the active roster.
Andonovski confirmed that the team will have flexibility with the roster but said he’s waiting to see what the exact rules will look like.
When she paused to consider her journey and where it could end, Krueger struggled to find the words.
“I have chills thinking about [winning gold],” Krueger said. “It’s what I’ve been working for since I started on the soccer field.”
Red Stars 1, Spirit 0
Julia Elisabeth Roddar knocked the ball into her own net in the 33rd minute as the Red Stars won Friday night in Washington.
GOODYEAR, ARIZONA – MARCH 06: Jake Burger #78 of the Chicago White Sox looks on against the Cleveland Indians during a spring training game on March 6, 2021 at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear Arizona. (Photo by Ron Vesely/Getty Images)
The Chicago White Sox is one of baseball’s best teams after half of the 2021 MLB season. It has been an incredible team to watch so far this year. One big story to come out recently is the emergence of Jake Burger. He was the 11th overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft for the White Sox. Unfortunately, he has been hit hard by injuries since being drafted. These injuries have kept Burger from developing the way that he needed to for a long time.
Luckily, Burger never gave up. He kept on keeping on which allowed him to work his way all the way back to Minor League Baseball where he absolutely dominated. He had MVP caliber numbers down there which earned him his first Major League call-up. On Friday night, Burger had a very memorable MLB debut.
He went 2-4 with a double and a run scored in his debut which makes it a night that he will never forget. The fanbase also will likely never forget it either which is great news. He is already a “fan favorite” type player so we can only hope that he is able to stick around.
Jake Burger of the Chicago White Sox is the perfect player for the South Side’s team.
When we call him a “fan favorite”, it is for a reason. He is perfect for the South Side of Chicago. There are some players that come through every now and again that you just know fit right in. Guys like Tim Anderson and Lance Lynn are perfect because of their attitude. Jose Abreu is perfect because of his toughness. Well, Burger is perfect because of his resiliency.
He never quit baseball when nobody would have blamed him for it. Now, he is in the Major Leagues and he looks like someone who could be a major contributor to a winning team. He isn’t going to bat .500 for his entire career but his talent and track record show that he might be able to have a really nice MLB career. If it all works out well, there isn’t a better place for Burger to try it than on the South Side.
Burger joins a team that is in first place of the American League Central by 6.0 games. They have dealt with a lot of injuries but that means that someone like Burger is able to get opportunities. If they keep getting healthier while guys like Burger contribute at the MLB level, they are going to be tough to beat by the time the playoffs roll around. The hope is that Burger can stay on the active MLB roster while this team makes a long run towards the AL Pennant.
Welcome back to another edition of the Sun-Times’ Chicago Baseball Quiz. I am your quizmaster, Bill Chuck. These quizzes are designed to be fun and can be played on your own, or you can test your family, friends, neighbors, colleagues or cellmates. The questions are easy if you know the answers. Other than stats, there will be no math. This is purely for entertainment purposes, so no wagering, please.
Are you ready for the Chicago Nine?
Play ball!
1. I’m very tired of hearing about the youngest to accomplish some baseball feat, so indulge me by telling me the oldest Cub to hit a triple in a game.
a. Gary Gaetti
b. Walker Cooper
c. Davey Lopes
d. Larry Bowa
2. The designated hitter came to the American League in 1973. Since then, which White Sox pitcher has gotten the most hits. I’ll give you a hint: He had five hits.
a. Mark Buehrle
b. Jon Garland
c. James Shields
d. Carlos Rodon
3. On June 9, 1957, Ernie Banks hit the 100th homer of his career. I’ll even tell you that it was against the Phillies and off HOFer Robin Roberts (not the one on “Good Morning America”). You just need to tell me at what position did Ernie play in that game?
a. First base
b. Shortstop
c. Third base
d. Left field
4. In the 1950s, the Yankees won the American League pennant each season except in 1954 (Cleveland) and 1959 (White Sox). One guy managed both of those outliers. Who was it?
a. Paul Richards
b. Al Lopez
c. Jimmy Dykes
d. Eddie Stanky
5. Frank Thomas leads White Sox Hall of Famers with 1,165 strikeouts while with the team. Which of these HOFers had the second-most whiffs while playing with the Sox?
a. Harold Baines
b. Carlton Fisk
c. Jim Thome
d. Luke Appling
6. Ernie Banks has hit the most Cubs homers against the Cardinals. Which Cardinal has hit the most homers against the Cubs?
a. Stan Musial
b. Albert Pujols
c. Mark McGwire
d. Ted Simmons
7. Who is the White Sox’ leader in
interleague homers?
a. Jose Abreu
b. Paul Konerko
c. Frank Thomas
d. Magglio Ordonez
8. White Sox manager Tony La Russa played for the Athletics, Braves and Cubs in portions of six seasons. In 203 PA/176 AB, how many homers did he hit?
a. 0
b. 4
c. 8
d. 10
9. Against whom did Cubs manager David Ross hit his first MLB homer?
a. Todd Zeile
b. Mark Grace
c. Jesse Orosco
d. Randy Johnson
ANSWERS
1. Davey Lopes was 41 years and 49 days old when he tripled June 21, 1986.
2. Mark Buehrle (OK, the hint was lousy).
3. Mr. Cub played third.
4. Al Lopez.
5. Harold Baines struck out 918 times.
6. Stan “The Man” Musial hit 67. If it makes you feel better, he hit 89 homers against the Giants.
7. Paul Konerko totaled 60 interleague -homers, 57 with the Sox.
8. Tony still is looking for his first MLB homer.
9. Rossy homered off Diamondbacks first baseman Mark Grace, who was making his only appearance on the mound.
LAS VEGAS — That Dustin Poirier might assume underdog status in the run-up to his UFC 264 headliner with Conor “Notorious” McGregor next Saturday astounds Chicago native and MMA expert Jordan Sherwood.
For proper and provocative perspective, Sherwood believes there would be value in Poirier, known as “The Diamond,” even if he were a -175 to -180 favorite.
“I’d still think that’s stealing,” Sherwood says. “I just don’t think Conor McGregor is going to win this fight.”
In price, value and blind patriotism, the main event at T-Mobile Arena might belong among the 2017 McGregor-Floyd Mayweather and August’s Manny Pacquiao-Errol Spence Jr. boxing matches.
The odds on McGregor-Poirier are about dead even. One Vegas sportsbook has McGregor -115, Poirier -105; another Poirier -115, McGregor -105. A third shop has the 32-year-old, 5-9 southpaws at -110 apiece.
If Poirier (PORE-ee-ay) gets tagged with a plus price? Brett Okamoto, ESPN’s Vegas-based MMA analyst-reporter, says, “That would be an A+ play, in my opinion.”
Sherwood expects more greenbacks from McGregor’s fellow Irishmen and ardent base to flood the market. He suggests patience by Poirier fans, to pounce on an optimal price in the few days, even hours, before the fight.
“Dustin Poirier had a chance to take a title fight, but he chose this one,” says Sherwood, 39. “This is a winnable fight, an easier fight, and he’s going to make boatloads of money.”
WWF TO MMA
Born and raised in Glenview, Sherwood went to Glenbrook South and earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism at Illinois.
A claim to fame might be the 32-man rock-paper-scissors tournament he organized in the chapter room of his Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house in the winter of his junior year.
The entry fee was 20 bucks, best-of-five rounds, winner-take-all. He didn’t last long. However, he displayed an early handicapping knack by profiting on an array of in-game side action.
“I have no idea how we seeded 32 guys,” he says. “It was probably on a Saturday night, just some pregaming before heading out to the bars.”
His childhood affinity for pro wrestling, especially Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior, helped hook Sherwood on MMA. He began betting it in 2006 and soon started handicapping the fights.
He highlighted MMA on his Cleveland radio show, attracting national attention. He amplified that coverage at a West Palm Beach, Florida, station for more than 10 years.
About three weeks ago, Sherwood, his wife and two young children moved back to Chicago, where he creates marketing and advertising campaigns for ESPN 1000 and his beloved White Sox.
Displaying his MMA prowess, he often guests on the Vegas Stats & Information Network, and he provides picks to a handicapping service.
Floods of typical Filipino cash on Pacquiao in Vegas have made the price on Spence — from -450 down to -230 (risk $230 to win $100) — rather enticing for their Aug. 21 boxing clash at T-Mobile.
Which harkens Sherwood back to the exceptional squared-circle deal Mayweather backers relished in 2017 against McGregor, whose countrymen created immense value for “Pretty Boy Floyd” inside T-Mobile.
Mayweather had open-ed at about -2500, but he closed around -450 as battalions of Irish influence sliced McGregor from +950 to +325. Mayweather supporters salivated before and after his 10th-round TKO.
“Floyd was the cheapest [price] he’s ever been, when he boxed McGregor,” Sherwood says. “That’s insane! The greatest boxer of all time such a slim favorite over a guy who’d never boxed? Ridiculous.”
QUICK-DRAW CONOR?
Poirier and McGregor first fought, as featherweights, at UFC 178 in September 2014, here at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Sherwood saw the flamboyant Irishman intimidate Poirier before the first bell.
McGregor won, via a controversial paw to the back of Poirier’s noggin and subsequent stoppage, after just 106 seconds.
“Dustin could not handle the pressure or spotlight,” Sherwood says. “Poirier stayed active … became an interim lightweight champion. McGregor sat out a couple of years, had some issues with the law, had his run-in with Mayweather.”
In January, as lightweights, Poirier was a leg-kicking dervish at Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. He withstood some power punches and exploited the wide McGregor stance that provides him with such dynamic leverage.
Poirier whipped that front leg repeatedly, leading to his TKO victory 2 minutes, 32 seconds into the second round.
“There was a fundamental difference between that fight and the first one, which Poirier knew was a dog-and-pony show,” Sherwood says. “Poirier is leaps and bounds above the guy who stood across from Conor seven years ago.
“Execute your game plan. You know how to beat this guy, and you’re going to win. That’s exactly what he did in the rematch in January.”
McGregor (22-5-0) is guaranteed $3 million, with bonuses that could boost his payday to $10 million; Poirier (27-6-0) $1 million and $3 million, respectively. All 20,800 T–Mobile tickets for the scheduled 12-fight card were nabbed within seconds in April.
(In the last two UFC events, favorites have gone 21-3-1.)
Sherwood envisions McGregor winning only if he begins in a blaze of fists and fury, ensuring that it doesn’t extend past the first of five five-minute rounds.
“He’ll have to blow the doors off of Poirier and get him quickly,” Sherwood says. “Conor can’t go into deep waters with Poirier because Poirier has more ways to win and gets better as the fight goes on.”
CHICAGO — The note sat on the back of Tracey Bradley’s couch when she returned home from work late that morning.
Written by her 10-year-old daughter, Tionda, the note said she and Diamond, her 3-year-old sister, had run by the store and to a park on Chicago’s South Side.
But something was off about the note: Everything — the spelling, the grammar — was too perfect for a girl attending summer school to improve her reading and writing.
It was also unlike Tionda to leave a note. Even if the girls had left the apartment, Tionda would have called her mom’s cell phone.
The Bradley sisters were gone.
Twenty years ago this summer, Chicago launched what investigators say may be the city’s largest missing persons investigation to date.
The police superintendent ordered the city turned upside-down to find them. Over the course of months, nearly every abandoned building in Chicago — some 5,300 of them — was mapped and searched. Sewers, dumpsters, forests, lakes and rivers were dredged and scoured. More than 100 sex offenders were interviewed. And about 42 tons of garbage was picked over by law enforcement, including new police recruits.
Everyone was on duty.
In the hunt for the girls, leads took investigators and journalists across the country, even to Morocco, chasing possible sightings, psychics’ visions and fraud, with enough tips to fill 25 filing cabinets. But as the time stretched to weeks, months and years, no sign of the girls has ever turned up.
It was an odd case to catch the city’s attention. Two young Black girls had gone missing from a high crime and impoverished area of Chicago.
Tracey Bradley, the mother of Diamond and Tionda Bradley, holds balloons during a gathering on July 6, 2020, to commemorate the 19th year that the Bradley family has been looking for Diamond and Tionda.Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Often when young Black children are missing, authorities write them off as runaways, and their cases are unlikely to grab high-profile investigator and media attention, according to investigators and missing persons experts and organizations. So when the Chicago Police initially labeled the Bradley girls’ case as “missing” — not abducted — the family was irate. The case was immediately reclassified as “missing/endangered,” as it remains now.
“I didn’t want the community to overlook it like, ‘Oh, it’s two kids who ran away,'” Shelia Bradley-Smith, the girls’ great-aunt, told USA TODAY. “No, these kids were taken.”
Black children, then as now, are reported missing more often than children of other races. More than 300,000 juveniles are reported missing in the U.S. every year, and while Census Bureau data suggests Black kids make up just 16% of the population under 18, more than 36% of missing juveniles in 2020 were Black, the latest FBI data shows.
For the Bradley sisters, pressure from family members, along with the girls’ ages, changed the narrative. What could have been a short mention on the evening news was soon leading the front pages of city papers and making national news and crime shows.
With each airing of the story, more tips would come in. Some leads seemed promising. Some still do. But no arrests have ever been made and no charges have ever been brought in the case.
The investigation into the girls’ vanishing seemed to move quickly at the start, zeroing in on a man close to the family who gave detectives reasons to suspect him. But the case against him is too circumstantial and the probe remains with the cold case and homicide unit in the same headquarters where it began.
Still, two decades later, a family and a city ask: Where are they?
USA TODAY interviewed a dozen people familiar with details of the case, including detectives, officers and other law enforcement officials who previously worked — or are now working — the investigation. Many sources, fearing for their safety or their careers, asked not to be named in the story.
When the girls went missing on July 6, 2001, Tionda and Diamond were living with their mother and two sisters — Victoria, then 9, and Rita, 12 — in the multi-building Lake Grove Village Apartments complex in the Oakland neighborhood on the South Side. The girls’ school, a handful of parks and Lake Michigan were all within a few blocks.
Tracey Bradley, their mother, is the eldest of nine siblings, and dozens of family members lived in the area, near what was once the largest stretch of public housing in the United States: the Robert Taylor Homes. The project was later demolished, and new residential and commercial structures took its place.
Because of their proximity to one another, the family took turns caring for one another’s kids. Tionda and Diamond primarily split their time between their mom’s place and their grandmother’s apartment in the Robert Taylor Homes.
One of their aunts, April Jackson, would bring them to work with her at Robert Taylor Park, where they took dance and gymnastics classes along with their cousins and other kids from the community.
Tionda wanted nothing more than to become a dancer. Helpful, smart, responsible and a little sassy, she was “like little mama caretaker” to Diamond, Bradley-Smith said.
Diamond, meanwhile, was “a quiet, humble little girl who always had a sweet little smile,” said Faith Bradley-Cathery, the girls’ aunt. Victoria, their sister, recalled how Diamond used to curl up under their mother at home or jump from couch to couch.
The day the girls disappeared, they had planned to go on a camping trip to Lake Shafer in Indiana with their mother and her boyfriend, according to family and investigators. Victoria and Rita weren’t going on the trip and had been dropped off at their grandmother’s place the evening before.
Tracey says she left early that morning for work and returned around 11:30 a.m. to find Tionda and Diamond gone. Before calling police around 6 p.m., Tracey borrowed $20 from a neighbor so she could buy food at the nearby Jewel store. A receipt from the store is stamped 12:21 p.m. Then, she searched the neighborhood, and called family, friends, the school and other places where the kids could have been.
Security cameras at the entrance of the apartment complex didn’t catch anything: The cameras had been pushed upward, according to the family’s private investigator, who goes by the name P Foster and has been working the case pro bono for 20 years. He said some residents may have wanted to hide criminal activity.
Foster does not provide his full name for fear of his family’s safety.
The night before the girls went missing, they were seen by many people. The sisters were at the apartment when Tracey had two friends over to drink and watch the Cubs baseball game. The friends were questioned twice, and they both said the girls were at the home when they left around 10 p.m.
There are also reports that a neighbor in their building came by after the friends left, but that he never went past the front of the apartment and never saw the girls, according to police.
Tracey’s boyfriend came to the apartment around 3 a.m., stayed for a bit, then took Tracey to work around 6:30 a.m., according to investigators.Tionda and Diamond were left alone, with strict orders from their mother not to let anyone — no matter who they were — into the apartment.
Classmates said they saw Tionda and Diamond at the nearby Doolittle Elementary School playground that morning, according to family, who believe the girls slipped out that morning but returned home once the other children headed in for the start of summer school.
According to family, Tionda left a voicemail on her mother’s cellphone around 8:17 a.m., asking if she had permission to let a man in. Tionda used a first name in the message that both Tracey’s boyfriend and the neighbor shared. The girls, however, regularly called the neighbor by a nickname instead.
The boyfriend confirmed to USA TODAY he took Tracey to work that morning but denied showing up at the apartment later when the girls allegedly called their mom to say someone was at the door.
Family allege Chicago police accidentally deleted the voicemail off the cellphone when they brought it down to the station. Law enforcement sources say they’ve never heard it and could not confirm that an officer deleted the message.
Relatives say family, friends and law enforcement came in and out of the apartment before investigators cleared the space to take fingerprints and gather other evidence several days after the girls were gone.
“It wasn’t taped off at all,” the girl’s great aunt, Bradley-Smith said. “That, to me, was a valuable mistake.”
Police investigators familiar with the case could not confirm that the scene was not cleared and searched earlier.
Initially, investigators honed in on Tracey Bradley’s boyfriend at the time, who was close to the girls.
That day, July 6, police took Tracey and her boyfriend in for about 22 hours of separate questioning. They both took lie-detector tests and passed, police sources say.Foster, the family’s detective, said the boyfriend’s test was inconclusive.
Tracey and her boyfriend quickly got lawyers, closing opportunities for investigators to talk openly with them. But police and the FBI still remain in periodic touch with both.
USA TODAY is not naming the man because he has not been charged in the case. Tracey Bradley has not returned calls from USA TODAY.
Several pieces of evidence have pointed investigators in the boyfriend’s direction. For one, investigators found hair matching Tionda and Tracey’s DNA in his vehicle’s trunk. He told police he would sneak the girls into drive-ins in the city, although investigators said the closest drive-ins at the time were in the suburbs.
The boyfriend has offered law enforcement conflicting stories about his actions on the day the girls went missing. Four teenagers and three neighbors said they saw him setting fire to something in a 55-gallon drum in his backyard garage, about 10 miles south of the girls’ home, then putting the barrel into his trunk and driving away, according to sources.
The man, who worked as a machinist and welder, claimed he never burned anything in the drum — or even had a drum, according to police. But he did say he was doing refurbishments on his home and that he dumped debris in garbage containers in Chicago’s Washington Park. Police searched the South Side park but found nothing.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Family pressed prosecutors under then-Cook County State’s Attorneys Richard Devine and Anita Alvarez to charge the boyfriend, but the circumstantial evidence was simply not enough at the time to go further, according to two sources involved in the investigation.
In an interview with USA TODAY in June, the boyfriend denied any involvement with the girls being missing or that he ever took a DNA test to see if he fathered one of Tracey’s children. He claimed he tried to help investigators find them at the beginning.
“I don’t know who did anything; I just know that I had nothing to do with it,” he said of the girls’ disappearance.
The man, who is now 50, said he gave investigators his pictures and videotapes of the girls and surrendered the keys to his car and house. In the garage, he and sources said, investigators found recently purchased rubber gloves, contractor trash bags and bleach from Home Depot that investigators think could have been a way of cleaning up after the girls went missing. Police have the receipt for the purchase.
“That was 20 years ago, and everyone tried to blame me,” he said, adding that “all three of them” — the family, investigators and the media — ganged up on him because they couldn’t solve it.
The family and investigators have also had other suspects.
A man who is a registered sex offender and spent time around the girls later dedicated a book to them, Bradley-Smith says. Some family members say Tracey gave $5 to a relative that day to go watch the girls at the apartment. Others allege the neighbor who the girls had a nickname for once suggested something bad would happen to them if Tracey kept leaving them alone.
And then there’s the theory a Moroccan man, rumored to be Tionda’s father, had something to do with it. According to family, the children who reported seeing the girls on the playground that morning also said they saw a fair-skinned man in a trench coat approach the girls and speak briefly with Tionda. The tip led a local reporter to travel to Morocco to search for the girls, to no avail.
The family also has suspicions about the note Tionda wrote.
According to forensic tests by the FBI in 2001, Tionda did indeed write the note found on the couch, and not under duress. That’s why the family believes Tionda was coached by someone she trusted in writing the note.
“Her writing a full letter with correct grammar? It’s not appropriate for her,” said Jackson, the girls’ aunt. “I’m quite sure whoever took them, she was very comfortable with them.”
Bradley-Smith said she’s hoping the new state’s attorney, Kim Foxx, will revisit the case and bring charges.
A spokesperson for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office sent an email to USA TODAY in late June saying it has not been asked to review criminal charges related to the girls’ disappearance but was “open to reviewing any information that is brought to us by law enforcement.”
While police said they never asked the office to bring charges, the office was kept regularly apprised of developments.
The Chicago Police Department, which remains the lead agency in the Bradley sisters’ missing persons case, declined official interviews through the head of the department’s News Affairs, saying the investigation remains open and there are no new leads.
But as recently as Wednesday, a source told USA TODAY the FBI office in Chicago is coordinating with out-of-state authorities about a new tip.
July 6 marks 20 years since Tionda and Diamond disappeared. In those two decades, the number of detectives working the case has dropped from more than 100 to one person working it part time as he handles other cases. Three of the five lead detectives on the case have died.
But many in this city never forgot. The family — who held vigils for the first 40 nights after the girls went missing — now holds an annual one.
A former police detective started writing a book about the case as a sort of therapy to deal with the lack of answers. “There’s very few cases in my career when I didn’t know who did it,” he said. “It was the most frustrating thing I worked on in my life.”
Foster, the private detective, said he’s spoken to a family member every day since soon after the girls went missing. He becomes emotional when talking about the case. “I am so dedicated to the cause, if it takes my grandchildren’s children to find out what happened to Diamond and Tionda, I’m willing to put that at stake,” Foster said.
The two decades of searching has worn on members of the large family and, at times, caused rifts.
Faith Bradley-Cathery, the girls’ aunt and now the mother of four adult children, became so paranoid that she had her landlord put up a 7-foot fence around her property when her children were young.
April Jackson, another of the girls’ aunts, partners with schools to host safety assemblies and help kids craft personalized ID cards. She worked with Walmart to put up a missing children board in each of its stores nationwide. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, she printed face masks with the sisters’ faces on them.
Victoria Bradley, the sister whose birthday is the day after the girls disappeared, said she hasn’t celebrated in 20 years. Her mother, Tracey, suffers from panic attacks and often calls her daughter crying, Victoria Bradley said.
Tracey Bradley has been described by multiple sources involved in the investigation as reserved and somewhat suspicious of police. She did talk with some detectives working the case, but sources say her prolonged questioning immediately following the girls’ disappearance forever made her less willing to cooperate with law enforcement.
Bradley-Smith, the girls’ great-aunt and now a missing persons advocate, has spearheaded most of the family’s efforts to raise awareness about the girls. She has lost several jobs and was temporarily homeless in part because of her quest to find the girls.
In 2015, she went looking for a missing Minnesota boy who disappeared three blocks from her home, 10-year-old Barway Collins, and helped find his body on the banks of the Mississippi River. “I did feel like, ‘God, why? Why you gonna let me find somebody else’s? What about ours?'” Bradley-Smith said.
Tens of thousands of dollars in reward money was offered at the time the girls went missing, and the FBI is still offering $10,000. Family set up several online and social media pages dedicated to the girls. Tips — and false hopes — poured in.
Psychics based in New York led the family to the site of animal bones. A MySpace photo that a world-renowned facial recognition expert determined was Tionda turned out not to be. A Dallas woman who claimed to be, at times, both of the girls, was a fraud.
As recently as eight months ago, Bradley-Smith got a tip about alleged bones buried in a backyard, and police and members of the nonprofit Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons went to the South Side to investigate.
“I’ve stressed and worried and searched and hoped and prayed and been disappointed,” Bradley-Smith said. “But all I can do is keep going.”
That Tionda and Diamond have remained an investigative — and media — focus over the last 20 years is due largely to the outspoken family members, who have kept pressure on law enforcement to find the girls, on prosecutors to consider or bring charges against suspects, and on the media to draw the spotlight to the case.
They’re fighting a decades-long uphill battle against a system that tends not to give missing Black children much attention, according to investigators and missing persons organizations.
Social scientists have long noted missing white children — particularly white girls — receive a disproportionate amount of news coverage compared to missing children of color.
Multiple studies in the past two decades have documented the so-called Missing White Woman Syndrome in online, print and television news outlets reaching national and regional audiences. Less news coverage can lead to a greater chance that young Black children are never found or recovered much later.
When a child of color is reported missing by their family members, they’re more likely to be classified as a runaway by law enforcement and receive little media coverage, said Natalie Wilson, co-founder of Maryland-based Black & Missing.
Children classified as a runaway also don’t receive Amber Alerts — messages with information about the missing child broadcasted on radio, displayed on television, sent as text alerts and more.
“Our children are adultified and they are not seen as children,” Wilson said. “We’re trying to change these narratives to say that these are valued individuals missing from our communities, our neighborhoods, and we need to find them.”
Frequently, Wilson said, Black families “feel as though law enforcement just believes that their child ran away, and we’re telling them, ‘You know what — you know your child better than anyone else. If this isn’t what they do, this isn’t characteristic of them, you need to speak up.'”
And the Bradley family spoke up. They knew the girls wouldn’t leave their large family — let alone venture out of the apartment to the store.
In mid-June, Bradley-Smith walked into the third-floor, three-bedroom apartment where the sisters lived, for the first time since July 2001. She traced her fingers along the walls as she walked from room to room, conjuring images of the old layout and pointing to where Tionda and Diamond used to sleep.
“It still feels like yesterday,” Bradley-Smith said after she got back into her car and looked up at the apartment through her window.
Twenty years later, she hopes time will be on her side.
“People talk. People get old. People go to jail. I’m just praying someone will come forward with the information,” Bradley-Smith said. “The world will know Tionda and Diamond Bradley by the time I’m done.”
The FBI asks anyone with information about the disappearance of Tionda and Diamond Bradley to contact Chicago Police Department detectives at 312-747-8380, your local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate. You can submit an anonymous tip online here. The family’s private detective can be reached at 847-579-9771.
Kahleah Copper has been making an impact on the Sky’s starting five since she was traded to the team in 2017.
In her first season with the Sky, Copper averaged 6.7 points in 14.2 minutes off the bench. It wasn’t the same impact she’s having now as a starter, but she came in and made her presence known immediately.
”I started doing the handshakes for the starting five,” Copper said.
Amber Stocks was the coach at the time, and players such as Cappie Pondexter and Tamera Young were still part of the organization. The energy of that team was completely different, and Copper committed herself to playing her role.
Part of that role was being the Sky’s energizer. So she turned what formerly was a ”blah” introduction for the starting five into what fans see today. She even persuaded veteran guard Courtney Vandersloot to showcase her latest and greatest dance moves.
It was a way for Copper to lighten the mood right before tipoff and to emphasize that having fun is just as important as playing well.
The Sky are doing both right now, and Copper’s offensive and defensive production is a large factor in their success.
However, they lost to the Wings 100-91 on Friday night. Copper finished with 11 points, four assists and two rebounds.
On Wednesday, Copper was named a first-time WNBA All-Star. The grind it took to play at an All-Star level isn’t something she will forget. Two of the teammates who have had the biggest effect on her growth are Vandersloot and guard Allie Quigley.
”[Vandersloot] would call me ‘Zero,’ ” Copper said. “She would say, ‘Every time you come in the game, we’re running this iso.’ ”
Vandersloot gave Copper an added level of confidence in her first two seasons with the Sky, running plays for her every time she came off the bench. Quigley added to that by telling Copper early on that she could start on any team in the league, but the Sky needed her here.
Fast-forward to the 2020 season. In Copper’s fifth year in the league, she went from being a role player to a starter and was more than ready for the opportunity. Her production more than doubled in almost every stat during the Sky’s bubble season.
This season, she was ready to take on even more. After working as an assistant coach for the Purdue Northwest women’s team, she had a whole new skill set to add to her repertoire.
She was seeing the game from a coach’s perspective and told coach James Wade before the season that she never would mess up another scouting report.
In 19 games, Copper leads the Sky in scoring at 13.9 points per game. She’s one of the most athletic guards in the WNBA, and her speed and court vision have allowed her to dominate in transition.
Defensively, she’s in opponents’ faces and typically picks up the toughest defensive assignment of the night.
These are all factors that have contributed to her first All-Star selection and to a team chemistry demonstrated by the fact that six players are averaging in double figures in scoring. From top to bottom, Copper thinks the Sky are the best team in the league.
Less than 24 hours before the All-Star team was announced, Copper wasn’t sure she would see her name on the Team WNBA roster. The outward confidence she had been exuding, telling fans to vote for ”Kahleah Freaking Copper” in more than one news conference, had given way to a more reflective attitude. She said she thought she deserved to make the roster.
Fans, fellow WNBA players, league coaches and a panel of sports journalists agreed.
Wade said it was a great moment when he told Copper the news that she had made her first All-Star team because it was a dream they shared.
Police are looking for three suspects in connection with a fatal shooting in May in Chatham on the South Side.
The incident happened about 5:20 p.m. May 11 in the 8600 block of South State Street, Chicago police said.
The three fired shots from a silver-colored Nissan Altima with Illinois license plate FP127379, police said.
The suspects were described as three males. One had short hair and was wearing glasses, a tan baseball hat, dark pants and blue shoes. Another was wearing a black mask, black baseball hat, black and red jacket, black shoes and dark pants.
The third was wearing a blue mask, tan pants, white shirt and a blue, red and white jacket.
Anyone with information was asked to call Area Two detectives at 312-747-8271.
When assessing the 2021 Chicago Cubs season, one can definitely come to the conclusion that this was bound to happen.
What exactly was inevitable? This implosion — that’s what. The Cubs began the season significantly overachieving, at one point holding a few game lead in the NL Central. However, the tires quickly fell off and the Cubs reverted back to the type of team we thought we were going to see at the beginning of the year.
A team doesn’t just sell their top pitcher for marbles during the offseason and allow another savvy vet like Jon Lester walk away. Dealing Yu Darvish was the wrong move, but it was a move that signaled the Ricketts do not care about winning.
The Cubs aren’t going to spend money anytime soon, if things continue the way they have gone over the past couple of years. They are closer to a retool, or even a rebuild, than ever sniffing a title run. The New York Yankees, on the other hand, don’t have that type of humility — or should we say, stupidity.
The Chicago Cubs will be selling at the 2021 MLB trade deadline, and the New York Yankees just might buy.
While the Yankees are dancing around .500 at the moment, general manager Brian Cashman may not be ready to give in just yet. Yankees fans probably want the team to sell, but the Yankees aren’t exactly they type of team to put their pride aside.
If New York wanted to add a couple of big time pieces before the deadline and try to make a push, the Cubs would be a perfect team to do business with. For a little while now, the question of whether to break up this core has tormented fans. It hasn’t been a question of whether they’ll do it, but rather when.
Will the Cubs break up the core this year with one of these types of trades involving the Yankees?
Since the day Justin Fields was drafted by the Chicago Bears, he has been locked in.
Whether it be connecting with new teammates and putting in work on his own time or being the first one in and last one out at team activities, Fields has taken on every ounce of responsibility he possibly can.
The first-round rookie out of Ohio State doesn’t appear to be treating his job like he’s a rookie. From every account, he has taken this opportunity as seriously as possible.
Fields has posted a photo or video from time to time since he was selected by the Bears, giving fans a taste of his offseason workouts and whereabouts. Recently, Fields posted a photo to his Instagram story showing off the strong physique he was lauded for coming out of college.
You can see the photo from Fields’ Instagram here.
Physical traits aren’t everything, but by the looks of it, Chicago Bears rookie Justin Fields won’t be easy to bring down.
From the photo Fields posted, one can tell he has put in some serious work over the years. A lot of fans have compared Fields’ physique to that of Cam Newton, but just a bit shorter. The combination of strength and athleticism is rare in a quarterback these days, but Fields certainly has it.
Speaking of putting the work in, Fields also plans to report to Bears training camp two weeks early. For those who missed it, he told the media he will be studying the playbook even further on his own and meeting with head coach Matt Nagy via Zoom before everybody else arrives.
It is certainly safe to say Fields is not only disciplined in the gym, but mentally strong as well. His discipline with learning and absorbing everything he possibly can as a rookie is impressive.
By the time training camp rolls around, Fields should have a decent grasp on the playbook and enough knowledge to give Andy Dalton a run for his money. Although, it won’t matter in the end if Nagy keeps his word. Dalton is the starter for Week 1.
Don’t be surprised if the Bears’ prized rookie sees all of his offseason work pay off sooner rather than later if Dalton struggles. This kid is here to win at all costs, and it shows thus far. Fields is ready to play in the NFL, and it’s only a matter of time.
MAYOR LIGHTFOOT ANNOUNCES JULY 3RD FIREWORKS TO CELEBRATE CHICAGO’S REOPENING AND INDEPENDENCE DAY WEEKEND
Fireworks will be visible from multiple locations along the lakefront
In a last minute announcement yesterday, Mayor Lightfoot said the city will have have an Independence Weekend Fireworks Celebration on July 3rd.
“Putting on a grandiose fireworks display to celebrate both our city’s reopening and Independence Day is an excellent way to kick off the summer we’ve all been waiting for,” said Mayor Lightfoot. “Thanks to the hard work of our residents, who followed public health guidelines and did their part to slow and stop the spread of COVID-19, we are now able to bring back exciting summer traditions like these. As our newly reopened city continues adapting to a new normal, I want to urge our residents to continue getting vaccinated so we can bring back even more of our favorite outdoor events.”
Here’s what you need to know
The Event
The event will also act as a celebration for Chicagoans whose diligence in following public health guidance has allowed City leaders to safely and fully re-open under Mayor Lightfoot’s “Open Chicago” initiative.
Where
In place of Navy Pier Fireworks, the fireworks display will illuminate Chicago’s skyline from Grand Avenue to the north to at least 55th Street to the south.
Viewing
The fireworks will be visible from multiple locations along the lakefront from Grand Avenue to the north to at least 55th Street to the south.
Getting There
For those who choose to view the fireworks in person, the City recommends travel on public transit. For more information, visit transitchicago.com.
WBBM Newsradio 780 AM & 105.9 FM will provide a music simulcast, broadcasting the music soundtrack to accompany the fireworks display.
Safety
The City of Chicago wants to ensure a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend. The City’s public safety departments along with state and federal agencies will monitor events and activities throughout the weekend. Our top priority is public safety, and the City reminds residents to be aware of their surroundings and report suspicious activity by calling 9-1-1.
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Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
