A large wake from a tugboat pushing a massive barge on the Chicago River caused a motorboat to capsize and the drowning of a 7-year-old passenger, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by the boy’s family.
Victor Lobato Ochoa, of Little Village, was tossed from a 16-foot motorboat into the river by waves created by the tugboat and barge speeding in a no-wake zone in the early-evening hours of July 22, 2020, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit cites a report from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources that concluded the cause of the accident was the “force of the wake” from the tugboat and barge that together spanned 271 feet.
Chicago Fire Department divers found Ochoa’s body trapped under the capsized boat. He was flown by helicopter to Mercy Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Five of the eight other passengers aboard the boat received treatment at a local hospital.
“This wake had a reverberating effect where it would bounce off the wall of the river and then basically clash together, compounding the effect,” attorney Mike Gallagher, who is representing Victor’s family, said at a news conference Thursday at his law firm’s office in the Loop.
Except for one adult who could swim, everyone on the boat was wearing a life preserver, Gallagher said.
“Victor had a life preserver on, but somehow got out from underneath it while he was trapped underneath the boat,” said Gallagher, noting that a life preserver wouldn’t have saved his life because the boy was trapped for about 20 minutes underwater before he was freed.
“There’s no day that I don’t wake up and hope to see him there,” Victor’s mother, Mariana Ochoa, said Thursday. “I go visit him every day at the cemetery.”
The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages from four companies that own and operate the tugboat and barge, including Lehigh Hanson Services. A message left with Lehigh Hanson was not returned Thursday.
Victor was a helper and a rule follower, the type of kid who’d tell someone who looked sad “Everything will be OK,” Mariana Ochoa said. He dreamed of being a firefighter and was headed into the second grade at McCormick Elementary School.
Mariana Ochoa wipes away tears as she speaks about her 7-year-old son, Victor, who drowned in the Chicago River last year.Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
“It’s heartbreaking because as a mom you will no longer see that young kid transform into a teenager, graduate high school, middle school and become what he dreamed to become,” his mother said.
“It is a great pain that one will have inside for the rest of their lives,” said Victor’s father, Jesus Lobato.
The family hopes the lawsuit leads to awareness and prevention of future accidents on a river where recreational and commercial boat traffic often come into close contact — a relationship that depends on the no-wake rule.
“If the boat had been, speedwise, slower, everything would have been fine because we were going home,” Lobato said.
Hip-hop legend Biz Markie is undergoing medical care, despite reports saying the rapper died, his manager says.
In a Thursday statement to USA TODAY, Markie’s manager confirmed the earlier reports were inaccurate.
“The news of Biz Markie’s passing is not true. Biz is still under medical care, surrounded by professionals who are working hard to provide the best healthcare possible,” Markie’s manager Jenni Izumi said. “At this time, we ask for your continued thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.”
Izumi added:”Biz’s wife and family are touched by the outpouring of love and admiration from his friends, peers and fans alike.”
The 57-year-old rapper and DJ, whose real name is Marcel Theo Hall, has been open about having Type 2 diabetes, telling ABC in 2014 about the health risks his doctors said he was facing.
“They said I could lose my feet,” Markie said. “They said I could lose body parts. A lot of things could happen.”
The New York City native started his mainstream music career with the Juice Crew hip-hop group alongside DJ Marley Marlas the group’s beatboxer. Markie’s solo career gained traction with his hit single “Just A Friend”from his second studio album “The Biz Never Sleeps.”
The song, which samples Freddie Scott’s “(You) Got What I Need,” features verses about unrequited affection, with Markie rapping and singing the chorus off tune alongside a piano. The 1989 single stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for 22 weeks.
Markie has made many TV and movie appearances according to IMDB,including his appearance on several episodes of the sketch comedy show “In Living Color,” portraying a beatboxing alien in “Men in Black II” as a beatboxing alien, and had several cameos on the children’s show “Yo Gabba Gabba for his segment “Biz’s Beat of the Day.”
A young woman in California, newly vaccinated, flashes a smile and a peace sign as she poses for a prom photos. She feels strange but elated without her mask.
In Australia, a girl still clings to the fluffy border collie her family got to comfort them in the depths of lockdown last year. Recently, she had to shelter at home again because of a COVID-19 outbreak near her.
A boy in remote northern Canada, now a young teenager, feels relief when he lifts his T-shirt sleeve for the first of two vaccine shots.
A baby-faced teenager in Rwanda who wanted to be a soldier has changed his mind. The pandemic, he says, has shown him a different way to help the world.
They’ve missed their friends, desperately. They’ve struggled at times to stay motivated and focus on school from home, if access to their studies was even available.
Most are still awaiting their chance to get vaccinated but want to do so.
They are anxious and happy and frustrated and hopeful, seemingly all at once. But they say the pandemic also has given them newfound resilience and an appreciation for even little things.
Around the globe, these young people have one thing in common coming out of the pandemic: They have missed their friends desperately. AP
“I’m realizing that … if there’s an opportunity for memory making, you have to like go for it because there could be a chance that that opportunity will disappear,” said Michaela Seah, the young woman in California.
In March 2020, Michaela was isolating in her bedroom in Palo Alto, south of San Francisco. Sick with a fever, she stayed there for two weeks as a precaution to protect her family. It felt lonely, she said. But no one else got sick.
Little more than a year later, she walked across the stage at Palo Alto High School to receive her diploma. In early 2022, she will begin her freshman year at New York University with a semester in Paris.
“It’s a big jump,” the 18-year-old said.
The joy of rejoining the world — and especially reuniting with friends and extended family — seems to be a universal feeling.
“Being with them, hugging them,” said Elena Maria Moretti, a 12-year-old in Rome.
Last year, she was dancing hip hop alone in her bedroom and spraying disinfectant on packages her family got. Italy was among the first countries to experience huge death counts because of COVID-19.
Now wearing masks, she and her friends have been able to walk to school together and to study and visit at each other’s homes. Being separated from them for so long was “ugly,” she said.
Elena Maria Moretti, 12 (center), walks with friends to school in Rome.Gregorio Borgia / AP
Not everyone is feeling so free. In New Delhi, India, young brothers Advait and Uddhav Sanweria have sheltered at home for months as a second wave of COVID left more than 230,000 Indians dead in four months.
“We thought that the entire human population will be finished,” 10-year-old Advait said. “And Earth will remain nothing but an empty sphere with dead bodies.”
Uddhav, 9, still fears for their family, especially his grandparents, who’ve managed to stay well so far.
Manuela Salomao, 16, looks at her phone in the lobby of her residential building in Sao Paulo, Brazil. “The pandemic was not easy for a lot of people in Brazil. Many lost their jobs and could not socially distance because they needed to survive.”Andre Penner / AP
In Brazil, where the number of coronavirus cases is still surging, 16-year-old Manuela Salomao is frustrated with President Jair Bolsonaro, whose government repeatedly ignored opportunities to buy vaccines.
“The pandemic was not easy for a lot of people in Brazil. Many lost their jobs and could not socially distance because they needed to survive,” said Manuela, who lives in Sao Paolo.
The pandemic has caused her to grow up more quickly, she said — to become more empathetic, to think more critically and to study even harder.
In Melbourne, Australia, Niki Jolene Berghamre-Davis, who’s 12, just finished two weeks in lockdown. She’s relied on her family and their new dog Bailey to keep her company and learned to play the clarinet. She says online school helped her become more independent.
Niki knows other countries have had it much worse and is grateful that Australia has made it through the pandemic relatively unscathed.
“I would be really happy to spend time away,” she said.
Sweden, where her family has relatives, would be her first destination.
Tresor Ndizihiwe (center) plays with his friends after school at the Kimihurura Primary School in Kigali, Rwanda. Tresor says he enjoys playing with others after months at home when he wasn’t allowed to play with his friends or classmates because of the coronavirus pandemic.Muhizi Olivier / AP
In some ways, life as he knew it has returned for Tresor Ndizihiwe, a 13-year-old in Kigali, Rwanda. He can play soccer with his friends again and help his mother carry home food from the markets.
But returning to school wasn’t easy. First, he learned how much worse COVID had been and how his mother had tried to protect him from the realities. He’d also fallen behind because he had no computer or TV to access classes during lockdown.
Tresor, a top student before the pandemic, is determined to catch up and spends time helping his younger siblings practice reading.
At the start of the pandemic, he said he wanted to be a soldier. Now, he plans to be a doctor, “so, if another pandemic arises, I can help.”
In Nunavut, a territory in far north Canada, Owen Watson, 13, had hoped the remoteness of his homeland would help keep people there safe.
For months, partly due to occasional lockdowns and strict travel bans, the small capital city where he lives, Iqaluit, had no documented cases of COVID. In April, that changed.
“It got pretty scary,” Owen said.
But he breathed easier when his parents got vaccinated. Then, in June, he got the first of two Pfizer shots, newly approved for his age group in some countries.
“I’m feeling a bit more calm now,” he said.
For Freddie Golden, a 17-year-old in Chicago, the state of the world is overwhelming in many ways. As young Black man, he watched last year’s news about the police killings of George Floyd and others with a heavy heart.
Freddie Golden (right) with his family after his eldest sister’s college graduation June 5 in Providence, R.I. Freddie was grateful to get to travel to that, though, once there, the family still had to watch the ceremony on a screen away from the venue. Wilonda Cannon via AP
“I want to live life in a good way, not where bad things are continuously thrown at me,” said Freddie, who soon will begin his senior year at North Lawndale College Preparatory High School on the West Side.
His mother Wilonda Cannon watched as he struggled emotionally last year but also as he grew into a man, with broad, muscular shoulders and deepened voice. It was a reminder, she said, that time marched on.
“My family, especially my mom, helped pull me through,” said Freddie, who feels more ready to take on the world.
His big goal is to become an engineer – “to change the world with technology” — and play basketball in college. He has his sights set on Howard University in Washington.
“For kids my age … all across the world, it’s been a tough, stressful situation,” Freddie said. “But I feel like we all can push through. We all can do it.
For decades, Chicago’s TV play-by-play voices had gone largely unchanged. Entering 2020, Pat Foley was in his 37th season calling Blackhawks games, Neil Funk was in his 28th calling the Bulls and Len Kasper would begin his 16th with the Cubs. Ken “Hawk” Harrelson had bowed out from the White Sox in 2018 after 33 years.
Now look around. Adam Amin completed his first season as the Bulls’ lead voice in May. Jon “Boog” Sciambi is in the middle of his first with the Cubs. Jason Benetti is in his third full season with the Sox after sharing the booth with Harrelson for three years. It won’t be long before Benetti is the longest-tenured TV play-by-play voice in town.
That’s because next season will be Foley’s last, as the Hawks announced last week.
(Since we’re lauding longevity, let’s not forget the city’s longtime radio play-by-play voices. Pat Hughes is in his 26th season with the Cubs, Jeff Joniak has 20 with the Bears, John Wiedeman 14 with the Hawks and Chuck Swirsky 13 with the Bulls. Kasper, in his first year with the Sox, has some catching up to do.)
Though the Hawks haven’t made much positive news on and off the ice this year, their play-by-play voice is a plum job. They’ll have no shortage of candidates as a team in the country’s third-largest market. But how will the process work, and what type of candidate might they be looking for?
First, fans should know that neither Foley nor the Hawks harbor animosity. This isn’t a repeat of 2006, when a previous management group fired Foley after a rift had developed. He called Wolves games for two seasons before returning to the Hawks under the leadership of Rocky Wirtz and John McDonough.
This time, the Hawks are planning a yearlong celebration for Foley. His departure is more a matter of timing than anything. His contract has a year remaining, and under first-year president of business operations Jaime Faulkner, the team is undergoing a reboot.
Plus, Foley is part of the conversations about his successor. After all, he’ll be sharing the mic with the person next season as the Hawks work the new voice into the broadcast, much like the Sox did when Harrelson passed the torch to Benetti. The Hawks noticed how effective that plan was.
As far as candidates, expect the Hawks to go young, like the Bulls did with Amin, 34, and the Sox with Benetti, 37. Foley, 66, was even younger when he became the Hawks’ voice in 1980. Generations of fans grew up listening to him and watching him. The team figures to try to replicate that.
The Hawks could hire a contemporary of analyst Eddie Olczyk, who’s 54. The expansion Seattle Kraken hired John Forslund, 59, who had called the Whalers/Hurricanes since 1995 and has a national profile. But it seems unlikely the Hawks would go in a similar direction.
With the new person calling an undetermined portion of games next season, a well-established announcer might not want to leave a full-time job for a year of part-time work, unless the person has no issue waiting out the year or would overlook it because of a connection to the city.
And with Olczyk also under contract with TNT, the Hawks might not hire another person who would miss games for a national network. They already have pre- and postgame analyst Steve Konroyd to fill in for Olczyk. They probably don’t want to hire another announcer to fill in for the one they’re hiring.
Two names that fall into that category are the Kings’ Alex Faust, 32, and the Islanders’ Brendan Burke, 36. They’re rising talents but with national commitments. Still, they appear to be the type of broadcaster the Hawks would want – young yet experienced.
Another riser is Stephen Nelson, 32, who hosts on NHL and MLB Network. He did a fine job calling play-by-play for the hockey world juniors last winter. He also is the lead voice for NHL Network’s in-studio game broadcasts.
Fans craving a local connection might like to see Judd Sirott return. He called the Wolves for 12 seasons and was the Hawks’ pre- and postgame radio host before becoming the Bruins’ radio play-by-play voice in 2017. But he said he’s focused on his current job.
Those are just a few names that figure to pop up in conversations as the Hawks prepare to add another new face to the local broadcasting landscape.
Remote patrol
Longtime Chicago broadcaster Chris Boden announced Wednesday on Twitter that he’s no longer the Blackhawks’ pre- and postgame host on WGN-AM (720). “After 4 years, my time with the Blackhawks ends today, informed at season’s end the Pre/Postgame host position is being eliminated due to Covid-related financial losses,” Boden posted.
Another former Blackhawk has joined the broadcasting ranks. ESPN announced that Hockey Hall of Famer Chris Chelios will serve as an analyst when the network begins airing NHL games next season.
Notre Dame football has a new radio home in Chicago. Starting this fall, the Irish will be heard on WBBM-AM (780), also the home of the Bears. Notre Dame had been on WMVP-AM (1000) since 2016.
July. Peak summer, at last. A long holiday weekend ahead. Escapist book season is here. What are you reading, and why?
Being a journalist, books are constantly pitched at me. Most are easily allowed to fly past without swinging. “This book is a must-read for all who want to understand the current crisis of identity and the importance of reaffirming European and in particular Swiss democratic traditions…”
But “On Skein of Death” by Allie Pleiter caught my attention, for two reasons.
First, it’s a mystery set in a yarn shop. You might recall that five years ago, staring into the abyss of the Donald Trump presidency, I took up knitting, hoping it might be a distraction from the gathering disaster.
Knitting proved harder than expected and I soon gave up. But not before several visits to Three Bags Full, the local yarn store, which seemed a perfect setting for a mystery. That might require some explanation. Whenever I visit a cactus show at the Botanic Garden, I amuse myself imagining that the quiet, pale succulent society members, when not in public hovering over their beloved prickly pears and saguaros, are privately at each other’s throats, riven with conflict, betrayal and death. Something like that.
Second, the author lives in a western suburb.
Pleiter grew up in New England, came here to go to Northwestern, as a theater major, then ended up in fundraising. She started writing professionally on a dare.
“The bulk of my career is in category romance,” said Pleiter, who has written 50 books and can have four in the works at any given time. “I’m such a passionate knitter. I’ve been putting knitting characters in my books for years. It’s part of my brand.”
A yarn company was looking to start a knitting-based mystery series.
“A colleague said, ‘You really ought to do this. I discovered I really enjoyed it. I loved the intellectual challenge of creating the mystery to be solved,” Pleiter said. “It’s fun to flex new muscles. Romance is a really specific kind of book. It’s fun to go out and do something completely different.”
“On Skein of Death” is what its author calls a “cozy” mystery: no graphic violence but lots of knitted apparel, baked goods and supportive friends.
I enjoyed “Skein” on a few levels. There was of course the yarn store. Sleuth-to-be Libby Beckett is the owner of Y.A.R.N, a knitters’ paradise in Collinsville, Maryland.
“Every knitter dreams of opening up her ideal yarn shop, and this was a chance for me to live that daydream,” she said.
The book struck me as a portal into the fondest dreams of suburban American women — the inadequate husband banished offstage before the action even begins. The band of caring, dynamic friends. The merely irksome (as opposed to toxic and insane) mother. The loyal dog. The appealing but not handsy potential boyfriend. The steady stream of baked goods. As someone who binge-read dozens of Robert Parker novels, I know the background, what Spencer and Susann are cooking for dinner, is as important as the crime itself. If not more. Solving the crime can seem almost secondary.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say ‘secondary,'” Pleiter said. “It holds equal weight to mystery. For cozy mysteries, it is as much about the character and her community and the relationships. Readers want to fall in love with the sleuth and revisit her again and again and again.”
“Cozy mystery” is the name of the subgenre.
“It’s a pretty standard mechanism,” she said. “The murder doesn’t take place on the page. The body is discovered. You don’t want it too grisly. There certainly are mysteries that tap into that. But people read cozies because they want something lighter. They don’t want to get into the mechanics of killing someone.”
I sure don’t. The action is set in motion with the arrival of Norwegian knitting pattern celebrity Perle Lonager. At the risk of applying thought to something that is meant to be accepted as a given (“These spells Hermione keeps casting, what is the physics behind them….?”) I had ask: are there really rock star pattern designers?
“Well, I suppose ‘rock star’ is probably overstating it. There are designers who have a really passionate following.”
I couldn’t help trying to fact-check that, and was surprised what I found.
“We’ve done a few of those events at Three Bags Full,” said employee Adrienne Levin. “We had a woman who owns a yarn company in Denmark. We did a luncheon, where she did a fashion show and a meet-and-great and she signed some books.”
But nobody murdered?
“None were murdered, at least at our store,” said Levin. “None that I know of.”
I suppose I should squint hard and be critical, so readers know what they’re getting into. Allie Pleiter isn’t Scott Turrow. “On Skein of Death” isn’t “Presumed Innocent.” But I didn’t have to force myself to finish it and, being an author myself who breathlessly pores over reviews searching for the money shot, I have no trouble providing one. Ready?
“On Skein of Death” is a contemporary, well-written, fast-paced mystery set among the knitting needles, one that held my interest better than knitting itself did. Knitters will want to keep Allie Pleiter’s new book in their project bags for emotional succor when their fingers tire and the supply of butterscotch blondies runs low. The second Riverbank Knitting Mystery, “Knit or Dye Trying” is out in February, and I suppose I’ll have to read it. It’s easier than trying to finish that green scarf in the bottom of my closet.
The current emphasis on enforcement and punishment in animal control policy has disproportionately negative impacts on low-income communities in the United States (US), particularly people of color. In this way, animal protection efforts are perpetuating many of the same inequities under examination in the human social justice movement. Reallocating the resources that have historically gone towards enforcement in communities to efforts that provide support in addressing the root causes of animal welfare concerns is needed to improve outcomes for pets in historically underserved communities.
Don’t ask me to explain. But it makes me wonder if cats and gold fish also are a part of systemic racism. We’ll need to wait for the federally funded study.
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Bret Bielema’s persistence paid off with his biggest in-state recruiting catch yet.
Fenwick wide receiver Eian Pugh, a three-star prospect who had previously committed to Cincinnati, gave a verbal commitment to Bielema and Illinois last week.
At No. 13 in 247Sports.com’s composite rankings for the Class of 2022, Pugh is the highest-rated of the Illini’s six commits in the incoming senior class.
Illinois offered Pugh about four months ago. “Every day since, they’ve been hitting me up,” he said.
After a Zoom meeting with Bielema and his family went well, Pugh took a visit when the NCAA recruiting dead period ended. “When I showed up on campus, I loved the family feel,” he said.
But having committed to Cincinnati, Pugh felt he owed the Bearcats a visit as well.
“It was good, it went well,” he said. “(But) something just clicked on the way home: ‘I’m not too sure if that’s the place.’ Five minutes later, I called Illinois and told them I’m coming home.”
Pugh is Illinois’ 10th commit in the class. Five others are in the state’s top 30, according to the 247Sports composite rankings: Joliet Catholic running back Jordan Anderson (20th), Brother Rice tight end Henry Boyer (21st), Rochester receiver Hank Beatty (26th), Joliet Catholic linebacker Malachi Hood (27th) and Iroquois West offensive lineman Clayton Leonard (28th).
Fenwick coach Matt Battaglia expects Pugh, a 6-foot-4, 170-pounder, to thrive at the next level.
“Wherever he goes, he’s bringing elite ball skills,” Battaglia said. “He’s got great length, speed. He’s a vertical threat.”
Pugh is part of what figures to be one of the more potent passing games in the state this fall. Fellow receiver Max Reese is No. 24 among Illinois seniors and has Power Five offers from Arizona State and Kansas. Quarterback Kaden Cobb, ranked 15th in the state in the Class of 2022, committed to defending Mid-American Conference champ Ball State on Wednesday.
Zee-Bees coach mourned
The Lake County football community is in mourning after Zion-Benton coach Cristo Garza died on June 19. He was 42.
Garza played at Round Lake and started his coaching career as an assistant at Lakes when the school opened in 2004. He was the head coach at Round Lake from 2015-18 before moving to Zion-Benton in 2019.
“The guy was so much fun, so much energy,” former Lakes coach Luke Mertens said. “Always a smile on his face. He just made you feel good about any situation.
“He was genuine. He was as real a person as you ever would meet.”
The Zee-Bees were 3-6 in 2019 and 2-4 in the abbreviated pandemic season, but with a number of returning players the future appeared bright.
“He was really excited about the next couple years with his team,” Mertens said.
Versatile Jack Lausch heading to Notre Dame
Incoming senior Jack Lausch of Brother Rice is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Cole Kmet and Jeff Samardzija, who juggled football and baseball careers at Notre Dame.
Lausch, an outfielder and quarterback, will be a preferred walk-on in both sports with the possibility of earning a scholarship down the road.
Samardzija followed his two-sport stint at Notre Dame with a 12-year MLB career that included stops with the Cubs and White Sox. Kmet is heading into his second season as a Bears tight end after his double duty with the Irish.
They’re role models for Lausch.
“The goal has always been to do both (sports) as long as I can,” he said. “Right now I love both.”
SURFSIDE, Fla. — President Joe Biden on Thursday offered comfort to the grieving and federal support for the ongoing efforts to search for the missing and rebuild after last week’s collapse of a high-rise condo building along the Florida coastline.
Biden, responding to what appeared to be the deadliest calamity of his young presidency, also met with first responders hunting for survivors among the rubble in Surfside. But underscoring the dangers still present in the search, work was halted before Biden arrived due to concerns about the stability of the section still standing.
Biden and his wife Jill arrived in Florida a week after the collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South beachfront condominium killed at least 18 people and left 145 missing. Hundreds of first responders and search-and-rescue personnel have been painstakingly searching the pancaked rubble for potential signs of life. No one has been rescued since the first hours after the collapse.
“This is life and death,” Biden said at a briefing from officials about the collapse. “We can do it, just the simple act of everyone doing what needs to be done, makes a difference.”
The president said he believed the federal government has “the power to pick up 100% of the cost” of the search and cleanup and urged the local officials to turn to Washington for assistance.
“You all know it, because a lot of you have been through it as well,” Biden said. “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. And so, we’re not going anywhere.”
Biden was briefed on the situation with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, as well as the state’s two Republican senators, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott. The mayor, a Democrat, saluted the efforts to cross party lines in a time of “an unprecedented devastating disaster” and added that the unified government and community response “is what gives us hope.”
DeSantis, a rumored Republican 2024 presidential candidate, said to Biden that the “cooperation has been great,” declaring that the administration has “not only been supportive at the federal level, but we’ve had no bureaucracy.”
As Biden pledged federal help and touted the bipartisan nature of the response, he touched DeSantis’ hand to underscore the point.
“You know what’s good about this?” Biden said. “It lets the nation know we can cooperate. That’s really important.”
Biden then met with first responders who have worked around the clock on a rescue effort that has stretched into its second week amid oppressive heat and humidity and frequent summer storms.
“What you’re doing here is incredible, having to deal with the uncertainty,” said Biden, as he offered profuse thanks to those who have been working at the site.
The president was also expected to meet privately for several hours with family members of those affected by the collapse before delivering remarks Thursday afternoon. A visit to the collapse site was uncertain, however, amid concerns about the stability of the debris.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden aimed to “offer up comfort and show unity” with his visit to the site.
Few public figures connect as powerfully on grief as Biden, who lost his first wife and baby daughter in a car collision and later an adult son to brain cancer. In the first months of his term, he has drawn on that empathy to console those who have lost loved ones, including the more than 600,000 who have died in the COVID-19 pandemic.
In thanking first responders, he referenced that car crash and a house fire as moments when he and his family needed to rely on them.
“Until we need you, no one fully appreciates what you do. But I promise you — we know. We know,” he said.
Biden has received regular updates on the building collapse. He also sent FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell to the area for a tour of the site earlier this week with DeSantis.
And early Thursday, the White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency deployed 60 staff and an additional 400 personnel across five search and rescue teams at the request of local officials. FEMA also awarded $20 million to the state’s Division of Emergency Management to help deal with unexpected emergency measures surrounding the collapse.
Biden’s day was spent entirely in a hotel about a mile north of the building site. The White House emphasized that it was being careful to coordinate with officials on the ground to ensure that Biden’s visit didn’t do anything to distract from the search and rescue effort.
“They wanted us to come today,” Jean-Pierre said.
Biden has supported an investigation into the cause of the collapse, and on Wednesday the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which sent a team of scientists and engineers to the site, launched an investigation.
SURFSIDE, Fla. — Rescue efforts at the site of a partially collapsed Florida condominium building were halted Thursday out of concern about the stability of the remaining structure after crews noticed widening cracks and up to a foot of movement in a large column, officials said.
The stoppage that began shortly after 2 a.m. threatened to keep search teams off the rubble pile for an unknown period 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.”
The president was expected to meet later with first responders and family members of those affected by the collapse before delivering remarks Thursday afternoon.
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.
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
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.
Biden’s visit “will have no impact on what happens at the site,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told a news conference.
“The search-and-rescue operation will continue as soon as it is safe to do so. The only reason for this pause is concerns about the standing structure,” she said.
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.
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
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 Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami and Bobby Caina Calvan in Tallahassee, Florida, contributed to this report.
Halfway through the year, more people have been shot and more people have been killed in Chicago than this time last year, when violence reached levels not seen since the mid-1990s.
Chicago has seen at least 336 homicides for the first six months of the year, just two more than at this point in 2020 but 33 percent more than 2019’s 252 homicides, according to an analysis by the Sun-Times.
In all, 14 neighborhoods have seen more murders this year than the same time last year. led by Austin with 28, North Lawndale with 21 and Englewood with 18.
The city has recorded at least 1,892 shootings through June 28, the most recently available statistics, an increase of almost 12 percent compared to 2020’s 1,692 and a 53 percent increase over 2019’s 1,234 shootings during the same time.
Last year was one of the deadliest in the city in decades, with 775 killed, a sharp spike from the 500 homicides in 2019.
In a press release Thursday summarizing the year so far, the Chicago Police Department emphasized a drop in violence this past May and June, bolstering their argument that the rate of increase from last year is slowing.
Both months saw a drop in shootings and homicides, according to Sun-Times data, though they were still much higher than in 2019.
The department said its data also shows there have been fewer murders this year than last year, but those numbers do not count killings on expressways that are investigated by the Illinois State Police. The department’s numbers also do not include police-involved homicides.
The Sun-Times data includes all deaths labeled homicides by the Cook County medical examiner’s office. By that measure, this has been a deadlier year so far than last year.
The department did acknowledge in its release that hundreds of more people have been shot in the city this year than last year, with numbers roughly the same as the Sun-Times’.
In reporting carjackings, the department chose not to include a comparison from last year while claiming the attacks were down.
The police statement noted a 42 percent decline in carjackings since January of this year. But carjackings are actually up 51 percent when compared to the same period in 2020. In just the first six months of this year, Chicago has already seen nearly 150 more carjackings than the whole of 2019.
Nineteen aldermen have called for a special Chicago City Council meeting Friday morning and have demanded that Chicago Police Supt. David Brown show up to discuss his department’s response to the violence. It’s not known if they will have a quorum to meet, or if Brown will show up.
The superintendent has scheduled a news conference for Thursday afternoon.
One of the last shootings in June was an attack in Little Village that wounded two 15-year-old boys and two other teens. The Sun-Times reported last month that more children 15 or younger have been shot so far this year.
In Wednesday’s shooting, the teens were walking in the 2200 block of South Millard Avenue when a dark-colored SUV approached and someone inside began firing about 8:20 p.m., police said.
One of the 15-year-olds suffered a gunshot wound to the buttocks and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized. The other 15-year-old was struck in the left thigh and taken to the hospital in good condition.
An 18-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and was listed in serious condition at the hospital. Another 18-year-old was struck in the foot and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where his condition was stabilized. The dark-colored SUV fled the scene.
One of the first shootings in July in Chicago was an attack in Roseland on the Far South Side that killed a woman and wounded an 8-year-old girl and another woman.
The girl was inside the house when a bullet fired from a car outside hit her in the arm. Two women sitting on the porch were also shot, one of them fatally.
There have been at least 12 homicides in Roseland this year, up from nine for the same time last year, according to Sun-Times data. It ranks 11th among neighborhoods for homicides this year.
Roseland is in the Calumet Police District, which has seen a 73% increase in homicides this year and a 49% percent increase in shootings, according to statistics kept by the Chicago Police Department.
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