A 9-year-old girl was critically wounded in a shooting that also left a man hurt near the border of the Grand Crossing and Chatham neighborhoods on the South Side Thursday.
They were in the 800 block of East 79th Street when a car approached and someone inside opened fire about 2:45 p.m., Chicago police said.
The girl was struck in the head and taken to Comer Children’s hospital in critical condition, police said.
The man was shot in the foot and was in good condition at the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said.
No arrests have been reported.
Supt. David Brown told reporters he believed she was “in the crossfire of two gangs going at it.”
“There’s a significant rise in young people, children, being shot here and everywhere in the country, but here specifically,” he said during a news conference he had called about this year’s violence. “[They’re] likely not the target, though. Likely an innocent bystander.”
Earlier Thursday, an 8-year-old girl was wounded in a triple shooting that left a woman dead in Roseland on the Far South Side. The girl was struck in the arm and was in good condition at Roseland Community Hospital.
The defending AL Central champions were already gasping with an 11 1/2 game deficit going into the series, but left town 14 1/2 back after the first-place Sox completed a three-game sweep with an 8-5 victory Thursday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Brian Goodwin and Zack Collins homered a day after the Sox hit six in a 13-3 win, and the Sox bounced back after left-hander Carlos Rodon surrendered a 3-0 lead in a four-run Twins fifth by scoring in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
“This club is resilient, man, relentless,” manager Tony La Russa said.
“It was one of the weirdest innings I’ve seen, a guy pitching so good and all of a sudden gives up four. But we came back and scored and the bullpen held them. Shows how tough these guys are between the ears.”
Michael Kopech (3-0) pitched a scoreless sixth in his first appearance since May 26.
“It was a huge series for us,” Collins said. “I wouldn’t say anything is permanent in baseball until the season but it was good to get three wins against those guys. We have to keep taking care of business and get as many Ws as we can.”
The Sox (48-32) are 8-1 against the Twins (33-46) and have outscored them 76-37. The Sox have won four straight following a stretch of seven losses in eight games.
Moncada injures hand, likely out for Tigers series
Third baseman Yoan Moncada left the game with a bruised right hand and will likely miss the upcoming weekend series in Detroit, La Russa said.
Moncada made an awkward head-first slide into third base on Jose Abreu’s single in the third inning, and rolled over his hand, which swelled up on him. He stayed in the game and scored on Yasmani Grandal’s single but did not take his position in the top of the fourth inning.
Moncada, who missed Tuesday’s game against the Twins with a sore right shoulder, singled twice in two plate appearances.
Another first for Vaughn
Andrew Vaughn moved from left field to play third base for the first time. A first baseman converted to the outfield this season, Vaughn took the corner as Billy Hamilton entered the game in center field, moving Brian Goodwin to left field.
Vaughn was 2-for-3 with a sacrifice fly and went 6-for-9 in the series with a homer and four RBI. He was replaced by Leury Garcia as a defensive replacement in the eighth.
Sheets has a series
Gavin Sheets, like Vaughn a converted first baseman, played all three games in right field after his callup from Triple-A Charlotte and went 5-for-11 with a home run, two doubles, five RBI and two runs scored. Sheets’ strong showing could force the Sox into a tough roster decision when veteran Adam Eaton (hamstring) is ready to return from the IL. Eaton, signed to a $7 million deal in the offseason, is batting .195/.296/.345.
Sheets is the second player in Sox history to record at least one hit and RBI in each of his first three career games.
This and that
Ryan Burr (0.00 ERA) pitched the eighth and allowed a hit for only the second time this season and has retired 18 of the last 19 batters faced.
*Yasmani Grandal (RBI single) has hit safely in 11 of his last 13 games, batting .302/.392/.605 with four home runs in that stretch.
SURFSIDE, Fla. — Rescue efforts at the site of a partially collapsed Florida condominium building resumed Thursday afternoon, about 15 hours after the work was halted out of concern about the stability of the remaining structure, the mayor said.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said he did not know why officials decided to restart the search. Rescuers were pulled off the pile of rubble shortly after 2 a.m. after crews noticed widening cracks and up to a foot of movement in a large column.
The stoppage threatened to keep search teams off the rubble pile and dim hopes for finding anyone alive in the debris a week after the tower came down.
The collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South beachfront condominium killed at least 18 people and left 145 missing. Hundreds of search-and-rescue personnel have painstakingly searched the pancaked rubble for potential signs of life, but no one has been rescued since the first hours after the collapse.
“This is life and death,” Biden said during a briefing. “We can do it, just the simple act of everyone doing what needs to be done, makes a difference.”
“There’s gonna be a lot of pain and anxiety and suffering and even the need for psychological help in the days and months that follow,” he said. “And so, we’re not going anywhere.”
Rescue workers continue to search for survivors in the collapsed building of the Champlain Towers South, Wednesday June 30, 2021, in Surfside, Fla. Emily Michot/Miami Herald via AP
Rescue work was halted after crews noticed several expansions in cracks they had been monitoring. They also observed 6 to 12 inches of movement in a large column hanging from the structure “that could fall and cause damage to support columns” in the underground parking garage, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky said.
In addition, they noticed movement in the debris pile and slight movement in some concrete floor slabs “that could cause additional failure of the building,” he said.
Officials will work with structural engineers and other experts to “develop options” to continue rescue operations, Cominsky said.
Critical points around the site have been monitored with sensors since the rescue operation began, said Scott Nacheman, a structures specialist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He said there were alarming indications of movement Wednesday night at three locations.
“What was of specific concern was that over the last six days we had not seen that type of significant movement, or in some locations any movement in those elements of the structure,” Nacheman said Thursday during a briefing for family members.
Rescuers also use laser devices that can detect shifts of a few millimeters, Cominsky said.
“We are constantly monitoring the building,” he said.
Search and rescue personnel search for survivors through the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Fla., Wednesday, June 30, 2021. The apartment building partially collapsed on Thursday, June 24.David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP
Heavy equipment in the rubble pile caused vibrations, according to Nacheman. Rain has also been entering exposed parts of the building, saturating items and adding weight to the floors.
Covering parts of the structure to prevent further water damage or tearing down the building risks additional loss of life because those steps would require sending people back inside, Nacheman said. Demolition would also add debris on top of areas that have already been cleared of rubble.
Peter Milian is a cousin of Marcus Guara, who died along with his wife, Anaely Rodriguez, and their two children, 10-year-old Lucia Guara and 4-year-old Emma Guara. Milian said he understands why the rescue work had to be temporarily halted and is confident search efforts will continue.
“I mean, they’ve done everything they can. But we trust the people that are on the ground. And obviously, they’ve got to do what’s best for their people, right? Because it is a dangerous situation,” he said.
During a private meeting with family members, Biden drew on his own experiences with grief to try to comfort them. Biden lost his first wife and baby daughter in a car crash and decades later lost an adult son to brain cancer.
“I just wish there was something I could do to ease the pain,” he said in a video posted on Instagram by Jacqueline Patoka, a woman who was close to a couple and their daughter who are still missing.
Biden spoke of wanting to switch places with a lost or missing loved one. “The waiting, the waiting is unbearable,” he said.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the search-and-rescue operation will continue as soon as it is safe to do so.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said state engineers, the fire department and county officials are exploring options on how to deal with the structural concerns.
“Obviously, we believe that continuing searching is very, very important,” DeSantis said, adding that the state will “provide whatever resources they need” to allow the search to continue.
Cominsky confirmed Thursday that workers tried to rescue a woman shortly after the building collapsed when they heard a voice in the rubble.
“We were searching for a female voice … we heard for several hours, and eventually we didn’t hear her voice anymore,” he said.
Cominsky said they continued searching. “Unfortunately, we didn’t have success on that,” he said.
The cause of the collapse is under investigation. A 2018 engineering report found that the building’s ground-floor pool deck was resting on a concrete slab that had “major structural damage” and needed extensive repairs. The report also found “abundant cracking” of concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage.
Just two months before the building came down, the president of its board wrote a letter to residents saying that structural problems identified in the 2018 inspection had “gotten significantly worse” and that major repairs would cost at least $15.5 million. With bids for the work still pending, the building suddenly collapsed last Thursday.
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Associated Press writers Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale and Mark Kennedy in New York contributed to this report.
The 25-year-old was standing on the porch about 4:15 p.m. in the 4000 block of West Van Buren Street when a car drove by and someone from inside fired shots.
WASHINGTON — Phylicia Rashad has found herself embroiled in controversy after expressing public support for Bill Cosby’s release from prison, with some prominent Black voices calling for her dismissal as dean of Howard University’s College of Fine Arts.
It remains to be seen whether Rashad’s position at Howard is in jeopardy, but the university quickly distanced itself from her comments.
Rashad, who played Cosby’s wife for years on the family sitcom “The Cosby Show,” was named dean of the college with great fanfare this year. Cosby was released from prison Wednesday after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his sexual assault conviction, ruling that Cosby’s agreement with the previous district attorney in 2005 should have prevented him from being charged in the 2018 case.
After the ruling, Rashad tweeted a picture of Cosby, with the message: “FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted — a miscarriage of justice is corrected!”
The tweet drew an immediate online response with a few expressing support but many others attacking Rashad for defending a man accused of drugging and raping multiple women over a period of decades.
Some of the harshest critics called for Rashad to be removed from her post, saying her apparent indifference to serial sexual assault allegations made her unfit for a position of authority over students.
Jelani Cobb, a Columbia University journalism professor and frequent New Yorker magazine contributor, tweeted directly to Howard University, bluntly stating: “This person should not be a Dean.”
Rashad’s support for Cosby is not new. She had publicly defended him during his years-long legal battles. But the rise of the #Metoo movement and her new position at a prominent educational institution have contributed to the intense backlash as Cosby goes free.
Hours after her tweet Wednesday, Rashad sent out a clarification, stating her sympathy for all survivors of sexual assault but not mentioning Cosby or his case.
“I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward. My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth,” she wrote. “Personally, I know from friends and family that such abuse has lifelong residual effects. My heartfelt wish is for healing.”
In a statement, Howard acknowledged Rashad’s clarification and said her initial tweet “lacked sensitivity towards survivors of sexual assault. Personal positions of University leadership do not reflect Howard University’s policies. We will continue to advocate for survivors fully and advocate their right to be heard.”
Rashad is a prominent Howard alumnus, and her appointment as fine arts dean was hailed as a homecoming, with Howard Provost Anthony K. Wutoh stating that her “passion for the arts and student success makes her a perfect fit for this role.”
Cosby, 83, had served nearly three years of a three-to-10-year sentence for drugging and violating Temple University sports administrator Andrea Constand in 2004. After his release, he tweeted that he has always maintained his innocence and thanked his fans, supporters and friends who stood by him.
A 9-year-old girl was critically wounded in a shooting that also left a man hurt near the border of the Grand Crossing and Chatham neighborhoods on the South Side Thursday.
They were in the 800 block of East 79th Street when a car approached and someone inside opened fire about 2:45 p.m., Chicago police said.
The girl was struck in the head and taken to Comer Children’s hospital in critical condition, police said.
The man was shot in the foot and was in good condition at the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said.
No arrests have been reported.
Earlier Thursday, an 8-year-old girl was wounded in a triple shooting that left a woman dead in Roseland on the Far South Side. The girl was struck in the arm and was in good condition at Roseland Community Hospital.
Candace Parker is not new to the hoopla that surrounds the WNBA All-Star game.
A now six-time All-Star, Parker knows very well how it all goes.
The league commissioner might contact you before your coach does, your teammates clap when you walk into the gym for practice or onto the bus for a game and social media buzzes about the biggest snubs.
For Parker, the most valuable part of the entire experience has been the memories, specifically with her daughter, Lailaa.
“I’m excited to share this with my family — my daughter,” Parker said following the Sky’s 91-81 win over Dallas Wednesday night. “The first All-Star game she went to she was sitting on the bench with me. She may have been three years old at the time.”
Parker’s first All-Star game was in 2013. She dropped 23 points, breaking Swin Cash’s previous scoring record in an All-Star game of 22 and was named Most Valuable Player.
Another special aspect of this All-Star appearance is sharing it with her teammates who were also selected, three-time All-Star Courtney Vandersloot and first-time All-Star Kahleah Copper. The Sky had the most players in the league on the top 36 vote-getters list with seven. Allie Quigley, Diamond DeShields, Ruthy Hebard and Stefanie Dolson all received top voting numbers along with the Sky’s three All-Stars.
Copper leads the Sky in scoring with 14.1 points per game. Parker said it’s special that people are finally seeing her value. During free agency ahead of the 2020 season, Copper and coach and general manager James Wade sat down for breakfast to have a detailed conversation.
The two discussed her future with the Sky but more specifically, what she wanted to accomplish and how Wade and the Sky could help her. Evolving from a role player to a starter and a leader along with becoming an All-Star were goals she and Wade shared.
“A lot of people probably thought we were being far-fetched, but here we are,” Wade said.
Stefanie Dolson, who was named to Team USA’s 3×3 basketball roster, will be in Las Vegas preparing for the Tokyo Olympics. She said that the entire team is planning to attend the All-Star game similar to 2019 when Vandersloot, Diamond DeShields and Allie Quigley were selected.
Dolson also shared deep pride in Copper’s accomplishment. The pair arrived in Chicago together in 2017 in a trade that sent Elena Delle Donne to Washington. Now in their fifth season with the Sky, Dolson said she earned this nod because she committed to improving all weak areas of her game.
“Both teams we’ve been on she’s been that spark,” Dolson said.
The Sky and the Connecticut Sun are tied for most All-Stars will three each. Vandersloot’s league-leading assist average of 8.7 plus her 11.6 points and 2.1 steals a game made her an obvious selection.
More impressive than any stat is her ability to dictate opponents’ defense. She’s always two steps ahead of her team, setting the standard for them to follow. Vandersloot is the fourth all-time assist leader in the WNBA with 2,062. Wednesday night she tied Ticha Penicheiro for most games recording 10 or more assists in a career (64).
The Sky have one of the most complete teams in the league this year with seven players scoring in double figures against the Wings Wednesday. On nights like that, all opponents can do is pick their poison.
“When we’re playing at our best it’s hard to beat us,” Dolson said.
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.
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Mayor Lori Lightfoot “empowered people to have freedoms” by saying she didn’t want a rubber-stamp City Council and aldermen are taking her up on it, the mayor’s floor leader said today.
“I don’t see it as a rebellion. … I see aldermen being much more aggressive about what they want, how they want it and when they can get it,” said Ald. Michelle Harris (8th).
“Plain and simple, the mayor is on the record as saying that she doesn’t want a rubber-stamp City Council. When you give people the freedom to take their rights and use their rights to get what they need for their community, they are going to do that. The mayor has empowered people to have freedoms.”
Tension between the mayor and Council has been building ever since Lightfoot used her inaugural address to denounce the Council as corrupt, shamed aldermen into joining her and the Wintrust Arena crowd in a standing ovation for reform, and then that same day signed an executive order stripping aldermen of their “prerogative” over licensing and permitting in their wards.
She has promised to do the same for their unbridled control over zoning. But that would require a Council vote — one she is destined to lose.
That outcome was never more clear than it was last week, when Lightfoot suffered her first Council defeat.
By a 25-24 vote, Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) succeeded in blocking part of the mayor’s pandemic relief package that invaded aldermanic turf; it would have required a separate ordinance be approved for every sign over the public way.
Lightfoot has not given up that fight. But she may have no choice, Harris said.
At 17, Eric Sanders already has a pretty interesting job: He travels across the South and West sides to formerly abandoned lots, where he harvests, cleans and stores flowers.
Eric landed that job through a program run by Chicago Eco House, which turns empty lots in Englewood, Woodlawn, Washington Park and West Garfield Park into flower farms.
Eco House is a non-profit organization that helps at-risk youth ages 16 to 24.
Last year, it opened a store, Southside Blooms, that operated out of the Eco House headquarters, 6439 S. Peoria St. The store sold flowers grown at those farms across the city, and it provided training and jobs to some of the young people the group serves.
But today, Southside Blooms opened its own brick-and-mortar shop at 6250 S. Morgan St.
Youth employees with Southside Blooms can become floral assistants after training, harvesting flowers from the shop’s farms across the South and West sides to make bouquets.Chicago Eco House/Southside Blooms
“The impetus behind (Southside Blooms) was really just this dogged belief that we can come up with some solution to really stem a lot of out-of-control violence and poverty that the South and West sides have come to be known by,” said Quilen Blackwell, founder of Chicago Eco House.
Last year, Chicago Eco House reached out to youth through schools or block clubs on the South and West sides, like Crushers Club, to let them know about Southside Blooms.
This year, the shop partnered with Cook County Juvenile Probation to connect with more at-risk youth. Blackwell said the partnership will create “a pipeline for youth who are incarcerated … [to] get back on their feet.”
Before their 13-3 victory last night, which included six home runs, the White Sox lost relievers Aaron Bummer and Evan Marshall to injuries. Somehow, someway, the Sox have managed to stay in first place for 56 days this season and every day since May 7, despite a mounting list of injuries, Daryl Van Schouwen explains.
The Blackhawks are considering a trade involving veteran defenseman Duncan Keith, according to a report today. Keith, who will turn 38 on July 16, has spent his entire NHL career with the Hawks.
The Cubs blew a seven-run lead yesterday, suffering their worst loss of the season and closing out a brutal June for the team. If the goal is giving yourself the best chance to win on a nightly basis, right-hander Jake Arrieta isn’t doing that for the Cubs right now, writes Russell Dorsey.
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Yesterday, we asked you: What would you like the city to do for your neighborhood? Here’s what some of you said…
“Stop renaming streets and use that money in poor and middle-class communities to enhance and give skills to young adults.” — Patricia Jones
“Instead of liquor stores and churches on every corner, add some trauma centers because the urban communities are in dire need of healing. Englewood, Roseland, North Lawndale, etc. are so dark — why is it so dark? Put some lights in these areas, please. The majority of the vacant houses, buildings, etc. in most of these areas are not on the market for the local residents to buy. Why?” — Kashmir Bonner
“Build a sports center, a pool, skating park or a woodshop. Have a service kitchen that can be rented out to help non-store front food vendors prepare their foods.” — Maria Guerrero-Suarez
“Fund our school correctly, make the lights brighter on the street and cut the vacant lots. I live in Chatham.” — Carol Smith
“Build us a library because we haven’t had one in the Avondale neighborhood ever! Make it a multi-use center with a library, a senior community center and affordable housing. It’s been done so there is precedent.” — Zoby Soto
“Add grocery stores or a business district in the Clearing, Garfield Ridge/Midway area.” — Valentin Galvan
“Living wage jobs for workers. Skilled worker training programs for youth not going to college. Incentivize home ownership and finance business ownership within impoverished communities. Train and develop youth from at-risk communities to become law enforcement in their own communities. Sensitivity training for police with police settlements coming out of their personal pensions and insurance instead of taxpayers pockets.” — Dion Williams
“Reduce the width of car lanes to promote slower/safer driving and with this new space, develop protected bike lanes on every major street or increase the outdoor space a business can operate in front of. Give the streets back to the people!” — Ethan Robert.
Thanks for reading the Chicago Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday accused her political nemesis — indicted Ald. Edward Burke (14th) — of being the heavy hand behind a call for Friday’s special City Council meeting on violent crime.
Lightfoot said both she and Chicago Police Supt. David Brown will be there — even though she firmly believes Burke “and his minions” orchestrated the meeting to stir the pot and “create chaos.”
“Do I think this is about public safety? No, I do not. Are we gonna be there to answer questions so residents are assured? Absolutely, we will. But let’s face the facts here. This is political shenanigans and you can figure out who’s behind it,” Lightfoot said.
“Burger King Ed is still alive and well. And he is messing around and trying to create chaos. … He can’t do it in a way that makes him public. But he’s doing it through puppets and trying to orchestrate chaos. We’ve seen this picture show in ’83, ’84, ’85, ’86. But guess what? Having seen that nonsense, it’s not happening again.”
Lightfoot’s never once mentioned the Council Wars that saw Burke and his co-hort — then Ald. Edward R. Vrdolyak (10th) lead 29 mostly white aldermen in thwarting then-Mayor Harold Washington’s every move.
And she never once said the name “Burke.”
Nor did she say that her reference to “Burger King Ed” stemmed from the alleged shakedown scheme in which, the federal prosecutors say, Burke threatened to hold up renovation of a Southwest Side Burger King until the owners hired his private law firm to handle their property tax appeals work. It was near that same Southwest Side Burger King that Laquan McDonald was shot by a Chicago police officer, the now-convicted Jason Van Dyke.
“Burger King Ed and his minions — a guy who’s an indicted criminal — we’re not gonna let him stand in the way of getting work done for the people of this city. You can be sure of that,” Lightfoot said.
“We’ll be there. The superintendent will ask questions. We’ll answer questions. He will give a presentation not unlike what he’s doing [later Thursday]. But we’re not going to let people who just think that the City Council is political theater get in the way of doing the work on behalf of our residents. Shame on them if they think that they can `cause that’s not gonna happen.”
Burke could not be reached for comment.
Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) a driving force behind Friday’s meeting, said his seatmate Burke had absolutely nothing to do with orchestrating the meeting “other than being asked to sign on” to the call.
“No matter how much Lori Lightfoot tries to emulate Donald Trump with deflection and diversion, the fact remains that violence is what is driving us together. Her inability to keep Chicagoans safe is why we are meeting,” Lopez said.
“For her to continue to try and throw out the race card, the sex card and, now, the boogey-man Ed Burke card — all in an attempt to ignore reality — shows just how far off she has become.”
Lopez said he is “thoroughly insulted” at Lightfoot’s suggestion he was doing Burke’s bidding.
“She’s implying that someone like myself — a young Latino — is incapable of coming up with these ideas on my own. Constantly questioning my intelligence to do such things without being puppeted by someone else,” Lopez said.
Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), another driving force behind Friday’s meeting, scoffed at the suggestion that Burke was calling the political shots.
“Ed Burke has nothing to do with the homicides. He has nothing to do with the carjackings. He has nothing to do with all the crime that’s plaguing this city. He had nothing to do with the looting. He had nothing to do with her losing control over CPS. He has nothing to do with her about to lose control over CPD,” Beale said.
“This is just a deflection to get people to look off of her inefficiencies and her inability to lead this city. … I have not talked to Ed about anything. Nothing. I’ve never talked to him about” Friday’s meeting.
A 17-year-old boy has been charged with carjacking two women in Mount Greenwood last month.
The teen is accused of carjacking a 32-year-old and a 66-year-old June 6 in the 3100 block of 103rd Street, Chicago police said. In the same incident, this teen is also accused of robbing two men nearby.
In addition to two felony counts of aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm, the teen is also facing two felony counts of armed robbery, police said.
The teen, who isn’t named because he is charged as a juvenile, is expected in court Thursday.
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