The Chicago Blackhawks might be a team in the market for a big trade this offseason. They believe they have a chance to do something in 2021-22 for some reason so they might be willing to chase one of these big trade market guys. One of those players that may be available is William Nylander […]

Chicago Blackhawks: 3 big trade packages for William Nylander – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & More

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Fifty-two children under 15 have been shot and 10 killed so far this year.

Children in Chicago are dying from gun violence at a rate three times higher than last year, according to a Sun-Times analysis.

Ten children aged 15 or younger have been shot dead so far this year, up from the three children fatally shot during the same time period in 2020, according to Sun-Times records. And that’s more than the number killed in all of 2019, the data shows.

Out of nearly 1,500 shooting victims so far this year, at least 52 victims were 15 and younger, compared to 43 last year, an increase of 21%. The increase in child shooting victims tracks closely with the overall spike in Chicago shootings — adults included — of 20.3%.

When looking at the total number of shootings, the rate of children shot, however, is similar to that of last year. So far this year, 3.4% of all shooting victims were 15 years old and younger — the same percentage of child victims in 2020.

“I don’t understand how we are not as a city absolutely outraged,” said the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a longtime crusader against gun violence who leads St. Sabina Church in Auburn Gresham. “Our children are becoming extinct.”

The trend continued over the violent weekend, when two teens who were recently shot in the head succumbed to their wounds.

Savanah Quintero, 14, was gunned down last Wednesday in Back of the Yards after her attackers asked if she was in a gang, officials said. Robert Barr, 15, was struck during a May 26 shooting in Englewood that also wounded two other teens and a 22-year-old man. Both of them died on Saturday.

Since they were pronounced, a 15-year-old boy was shot Sunday in Riverdale and an 11-year-old girl was wounded less than three hours later in West Pullman. They were among the nearly 60 people shot in Chicago over the weekend.

Brendan Deenihan, the Chicago Police Department’s chief of detectives, said Monday the girl was visiting from out of town. “She was sitting in a car when another car drove by, gunshots were fired and she was struck,” he said at a news conference.

The girl was hit in the back and seriously wounded, though Deenihan said her condition had stabilized. He noted that detectives were seeking witnesses and videos of the shooting.

Deenihan also told reporters that investigators have “some good videos” related to Savanah’s slaying and may release images soon. But he acknowledged that no arrests have been made in the the recent homicides or the 11-year-old’s shooting.

Provided

‘She’s scared somebody’s gonna run up and shoot her’

Earlier this year, the fatal shooting of young Jaslyn Adams garnered national media attention and led to a pair of arrests, as well as a nationwide manhunt.

Jaslyn, a smiley and energetic 7-year-old nicknamed “Pinky,” was sitting in her father’s car on April 18 at a McDonald’s drive-thru in Homan Square when two gunmen got out of an Audi and opened fire.

Jaslyn was shot six times and was later pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital. Her father, Jontae Adams, was wounded in the attack but lived.

Jaslyn’s paternal grandmother LaWanda McMullen said Monday her family is still grieving her granddaughter’s untimely death. McMullen said another 8-year-old granddaughter will no longer play outside because “she’s scared somebody’s gonna run up and shoot her.”

“All they can do is sit in their house and play on their phones because they can’t go outside and play,” McMullen said. “It’s just sad, they’re shooting our babies at parties, friends’ birthday parties, amusement parks.”

Just last week, a co-worker told McMullen that her nephew was shot with his 7-year-old son in the car in Calumet Heights.

“Something needs to be done. What can be done? I don’t know,” McMullen said. “I’m speechless right now because it’s just horrible. It’s horrible.”

Even the young victims that survive are traumatized, said Taal Hasak-Lowy, executive director of Friends of the Children Chicago. Her group, which provides mentors to students in kindergarten through high school in Austin and North Lawndale, said a second grader in her program recently narrowly escaped shots fired at her home.

“These kids have witnessed more violence in their short years than most of us have seen in even the violent movies,” she said. “These are terrifying times and there’s no words that will make somebody feel better. What’s going to make someone feel better is investing in programs and services that can truly make a difference.”

Anthony Vázquez/Sun-Times file photo

‘This isn’t a shock’

Tamar Manasseh, head of Mothers and Men Against Senseless Killings, was saddened but not surprised by the jump in child fatalities so far this year.

“This isn’t a shock,” she said, noting the cluster of calls her longtime anti-violence group receives from reporters every year following annual violence over Memorial Day weekend. “At this point, it almost seems like something that’s supposed to happen.”

This year has the added stress of a city reopening and people moving freely after months in lockdown. On top of that, she warned there are too many guns on the street that end up in the wrong hands.

“People are still poor, and until you find a way to bring more educational and job opportunities to these neighborhoods, this is what you’re going to get every year,” she said. “Idle hands are the devil’s workshops.”

Pfleger said government officials should tackle the issue the same way they handled the COVID-19 pandemic — with massive spending and an all-hands-on-deck approach.

After being cleared to return to St. Sabina following an investigation into sex abuse allegations, Pfleger has spoken out strongly against the rash of shootings that have wounded children, which he called “unacceptable.” Starting this Friday, he plans to again start leading walks to problem areas in an effort to quell tensions and offer support.

“It’s hard to heal when you’re in the middle of a war,” he said. “Every day is a war zone.”

Contributing: Andy Boyle, Jesse Howe, Alison Martin

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Big dance numbers set to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s songs put the magnificent cast in motion.

It would be sooooooo cool in more ways than one if the sensational musical “In the Heights” had an intermission, at which point the audience could file into the lobby and visit a piragua stand featuring shaved ice cones in a variety of flavors. For this is a perfect summer movie arriving in a reopening summer, and a heat wave and subsequent power blackout become major plot points in the story — and yes, from time to time we see a piraguero pushing his cart down the block, hawking those refreshing icy treats.

That vendor is played by the one and only Lin-Manuel Miranda, who forever will have “Hamilton” attached to his name but scored his first major Broadway triumph writing the music and lyrics and playing the lead in the Tony Award-winning “In the Heights” in the late 2000s. The film adaptation (with superb direction from John M. Chu of “Crazy Rich Asians”) was originally scheduled for a June 2020 release but was postponed due to the pandemic — and while it will be available simultaneously on HBO Max, one hopes the true streaming phenomenon will involve millions of movie fans streaming into theaters to catch this infectiously entertaining, fantastically choreographed, consistently involving and absolutely gorgeous musical spectacle on the biggest screen and with the best sound possible.

At 41, Miranda is still a young man, but he has aged out of playing the role of the twentysomething corner bodega owner Usnavi — a role now played to winning effect by Anthony Ramos (who played John Laurens/Philip Hamilton in original Broadway production of “Hamilton”). Usnavi is proud of his multicultural neighborhood of Washington Heights in upper Manhattan, and he loves the people he’s known forever — but he dreams of buying and restoring the beachfront bar once owned by his father in the Dominican Republic.

Warner Bros.

Nor is Usnavi the only one looking to escape the Heights. Melissa Barrera’s Vanessa, who works at the local hair and nail salon that is the gossip hub of the neighborhood, yearns to move downtown and break into the fashion industry. Salon owner Daniela (Daphne Rubin-Vega) is getting ready to move her business to the Bronx due to gentrification-induced rent increases. Leslie Grace’s Nina has already left the neighborhood and spent a year at Stanford, though she’s home for the summer and questioning whether she’ll ever fit in at the elite university.

For now, though, they’re all still in the Heights, along with Jimmy Smits’ Kevin, who is Nina’s widowed father and has sold half his car service business in an uphill battle to pay for her education; Corey Hawkins’ Benny, who works for Kevin and is in love with Nina; Gregory Diaz IV’s Sonny, an undocumented teen who is Usnavi’s cousin and protégé, and Olga Merediz’ Abuela Claydia, a Cuban immigrant who has helped raise pretty much the entire neighborhood.

Warner Bros.

These are the core cast members of “In the Heights,” and their interactions and romances and friendships and betrayals and triumphs and tragedies make for a sometimes melodramatic and soapy but always involving multi-story thread. From a dazzling opening ensemble street-corner set piece to the celebratory “Carnaval del Barrio” (taking place during a blackout and 106-degree temps) to a Busby Berkeley-esque water dance with nearly the entire cast at the Highbridge Pool to a sultry and intense dance number set in a nightclub, “In the Heights” features multiple group numbers incorporating pop, merengue, hip-hop, salsa and classic Broadway influences, and you’ll find it impossible to keep still in your seat. (At the very least your toes will be tapping.)

Perhaps even more effective are the more contemplative, story-advancing ballads, as when Benny and Nina duet on “When the Sun Goes Down” as they magically dance on the sides of an apartment building, or when Abuela Claudia is equal parts mournful and joyful when she remembers her childhood in Havana and sings “Paciencia y Fe (Patience and Faith”).

(Updates to the Broadway production include a DACA subplot with an immigrants’ rights protest, and there are other moments of political and social commentary — but it’s never heavy-handed and is authentically an integral part of the fabric of life in the Heights.)

Warner Bros.

Director John M. Chu moves his camera with brilliance and grace, though I do wish a few of the numbers featured less frantic cutting and more long shots displaying the enormous talents of the singers and dancers. The cast is universally magnificent, with veterans such as Jimmy Smits and Daphne Rubin-Vega turning in their typically strong work, and Olga Merediz reminding us of why she was nominated for a Tony for playing Abuela Claudia on Broadway. Mostly, though, this is the story of the young people, and the next-generation actors are an amazingly talented, charismatic and screen-popping group of performers. Anthony Ramos has charm to burn, while Melissa Barrera and Leslie Grace have the onscreen presence and talents to become major movie stars.

It would be a cliché to call “In the Heights” the Feel-Good Movie of the Year, but it would also be accurate. Perhaps for these times we might call it the Feeling-Better Movie of the year.

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Eight people were shot Monday in Chicago, including a 32-year-old man who was hurt in a shooting Austin on the West Side.

The man was outside about 9:25 p.m. in the 5200 block of West Adams Street when he heard several shots and felt pain, Chicago police said. He was struck two times in the upper thigh and was taken to Stroger Hospital where his condition was stabilized.

Less than an hour prior, a man was shot while walking in Englewood on the South Side. The 29-year-old was in the 6400 block of South Lowe Avenue about 8:35 p.m. when he heard several shots and felt pain, police said. He told officers he saw the shots come from a dark-colored Chevy Impala. The man was struck in the thigh and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center where his condition was stabilized.

A 26-year-old was shot and carjacked in East Garfield Park. About 6:20 p.m., the man was inside a Pontiac in the 200 block of South Central Park Boulevard when two males and a female pulled up alongside in a Cadillac and told him to exit his car, police said. The man complied, then one of the males punched him in the face and the female fired shots. He was struck in the buttocks and eventually brought to Stroger Hospital in good condition. The males and the female fled in his vehicle, according to police.

A 32-year-old man was shot in Heart of Chicago on the Lower West Side. About 11:30 a.m., he was standing in the 2300 block of South Leavitt Street, when he heard shots and felt a pain, police said. He was struck multiple times and brought to Mt Sinai Hospital in serious condition.

A woman was grazed in the crossfire of a shootout in River North. The 32-year-old was crossing the street at 2 a.m. in the 600 block of North Wells Street when people inside two SUVs started shooting at each other, police said. A stray bullet grazed her foot and a friend drove her to Stroger Hospital for treatment. She didn’t appear to be the intended target, according to police.

In the day’s first reported shooting, a 26-year-old man was wounded in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. He was standing in the gangway of a home just after midnight when a male suspect fired shots from the alley in the 1400 block of North Rockwell Street, police said. The man was shot in the arm and was taken in good condition to an area hospital.

Three others were wounded in shootings citywide. Nearly sixty people were shot in Chicago last weekend.

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Patrick Wisdom is carrying the Cubs with 7 dingers on the season as the Dingers crew breaks down his career and future outlook. Will the Cubs get back on track in San Diego before the Cardinals head in to town? That and a lot more on this week’s episode of the Dingers Podcast.

The post Dingers: A Chicago Cubs Podcast – Episode 44 – Weekly Wisdom first appeared on CHI CITY SPORTS l Chicago Sports Blog – News – Forum – Fans – Rumors.Read More

A 32-year-old man has been charged with a fatal shooting Friday in Austin on the West Side.

Marshawn Pierce has been charged with a felony count of first-degree murder, according to Chicago police.

Michael Cooper was in a backyard about 7:25 p.m. June 4, in the 5200 block of West Le Moyne Street, when someone approached and opened fire, striking him in the head, police said. The 23-year-old was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Pierce was arrested about 10:50 p.m. Saturday, after he was identified as the person who allegedly fired the fatal shots, police said.

He is due in bond court Tuesday.

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SAN DIEGO — Shortstop Javy Baez was out of the lineup Monday against the Padres because of a bruised right thumb.

He injured the thumb in his last at-bat -Sunday against the Giants before leaving the game.

“Javy’s getting treatment,” manager David Ross said before the game. “It seems to be just a little bit of a kind of thumb contusion. We’ll have to see how he hits and feels, but I think he’s day-to-day. Obviously, he’s not in the starting lineup, but I anticipate him being available, but we probably won’t know more until he’s out there.”

Outfielder Joc Pederson also was out for a second consecutive day but went through a full pregame routine without any issues and should be back in the starting lineup Tuesday.

Marisnick off injured list

The Cubs are slowly getting healthy. After getting Jason Heyward back Sunday, they activated outfielder Jake Marisnick from the injured list. Marisnick, who had been out since May 11 with a strained right hamstring, started in center field and hit sixth.

He was enjoying a solid start before landing on the IL, slashing .264/.350/.623 with four home runs and a 168 OPS+.

To make room for Marisnick on the active roster, right-hander Kohl Stewart was optioned to Triple-A Iowa. Stewart was 1-1 with a 3.12 ERA in two starts for the Cubs.

He wasn’t with the team long, but his two outings made a strong impression on the coaching staff, and he could be a legitimate depth piece moving forward.

“I thought [Stewart] was really good,” Ross said. “He gave us some solid innings, especially in that first start. . . . Very impressed from what we saw in spring training and then him going through a couple of mechanical things he wanted to fix at the back end of spring training and then in the minor leagues to get himself ready to help us out.

“He’s got a really nice way about him, the way he competes and the way he stays focused. It was a really nice pick-me-up for him when Trevor [Williams] went down.”

Wisdom named NL Player of the Week

Rookie sensation Patrick Wisdom has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball and was named National League Player of the Week. Wisdom’s second multihomer game of the season helped lead the Cubs to a 4-3 victory Sunday against the Giants.

Wisdom, 29, hit .435 last week with six home runs, nine RBI and an eye-popping 1.719 OPS.

“He’s come in and filled in really nicely and carried us here for a little while,” Ross said. “He’s kept that lineup turning over there toward the middle of the order on the back side after the big boys in the front.

”Super happy he’s having success for us, and he’s been a really, really big part of our success.”

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But two remaining members of Kelly’s defense team say attorneys Steve Greenberg and Michael Leonard were fired by the singer before they asked to withdraw Monday.

Two months before R&B superstar R. Kelly is set to face trial in federal court in Brooklyn, his two leading Chicago-based defense attorneys asked Monday to withdraw from the case.

However, two remaining members of Kelly’s defense team say attorneys Steve Greenberg and Michael Leonard were fired by the singer before they made their request.

Greenberg and Leonard have served as the most prominent members of Kelly’s legal team since sex abuse allegations resurfaced against the singer in 2019. Greenberg told the Chicago Sun-Times that prosecutors were told about the withdrawal request Monday morning.

“Our reasons for withdrawal are significant and it is impossible, in our belief, for us to be able to continue to properly represent Mr. Kelly under the current circumstances,” Greenberg wrote in a letter to the judge filed with the court later in the day.

The two men offered to serve as stand-by counsel during Kelly’s Brooklyn trial, set for Aug. 9. They also asked for a hearing to discuss the matter further. A status hearing in the case is already set for Wednesday.

Though their request threatens to again postpone Kelly’s long-awaited trial, the singer has been imprisoned for nearly two years and the judge may be hesitant to delay it much longer.

Greenberg’s letter didn’t go into further detail about the reason for the request, but he and Leonard shared statements with the Sun-Times suggesting a dispute over trial responsibilities prompted the move.

Kelly, 54, is also represented in the case by attorneys Douglas Anton of New Jersey, Thomas Farinella of New York, and Nicole Becker of Michigan. Greenberg told the Sun-Times that Farinella and Becker had been seeking greater roles in Kelly’s trial.

“Ultimately, as trial lawyers and in the interests of the client, we weren’t comfortable professionally with allowing lawyers who have never tried federal criminal cases to have significant trial responsibilities,” Greenberg said in a statement. “That approach was not to everyone’s liking.”

Greenberg later added, “we wish (Kelly) the best and we’re rooting for him.”

Leonard wrote that, “ultimately, as trial lawyers and in the interests of the client, we were only comfortable professionally with giving significant trial responsibilities to those who have substantial federal criminal jury trial experience. We wish Mr. Kelly nothing but the greatest success.”

Farinella and Becker later released statements saying Kelly fired Greenberg and Leonard before their letter to the judge was filed. Farinella and Becker declined to comment further, as did Anton.

Kelly is charged in Brooklyn with racketeering. His indictment there alleges he led an “enterprise” made up of his managers, bodyguards, drivers and other employees who helped him recruit women and girls for sex.

A separate indictment in Chicago charges Kelly with child pornography and obstruction of justice. It alleges he thwarted his 2008 prosecution in Cook County with threats, gifts and six-figure payoffs.

Kelly has been held in Chicago’s downtown Metropolitan Correctional Center since his arrest in July 2019, though authorities have recently said they would be preparing to move him to New York for trial.

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The man was in his car in the 200 block of South Central Park Boulevard when three people pulled up alongside and told him to exit the vehicle, Chicago police said.

A 26-year-old was shot and carjacked Monday night in East Garfield Park.

About 6:20 p.m., the man was inside a Pontiac in the 200 block of South Central Park Boulevard when two males and a female pulled up alongside in a Cadillac and told him to exit his car, Chicago police said.

The man complied, then one of the males punched him in the face and the female fired shots, according to police.

He was struck in the buttocks and eventually brought to Stroger Hospital in good condition, police said,

The males and the female fled in his vehicle, according to police.

No one is in custody.

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Bryant is foiling the Cubs’ plan to rebuild with a resurgent season, forcing them to decide whether to stay the course or go all in.

It’s funny how good things can have ragged edges.

I’m thinking here of Kris Bryant, the Cubs’ multitalented, good-guy, seven-year veteran who is tearing up the league these days.

The problem for the Cubs is they had a rebuilding plan wherein Bryant would be a dud this season. You know, a reverse spin on former manager Joe Madden’s mantra, “Try Not to Suck.” If there were a current management T-shirt, it would say, “Kris, Buddy, Could You Please Try to Suck?”

The reason is the Cubs were ready to start dumping their high-priced players, cultivate kids, lose games, do the farm system-and-draft thing and re-emerge in a few years as contenders.

It’s the way they got good back in 2016. It’s cheesy and devious as a plan — Moneyball for uncreative folks — but it often works. Ask the 2015 Royals, or the 2017 Astros. Or the 2018 Marlins. (Oops, didn’t work for them.) Or . . . OK, let’s be honest, lots of recent teams.

Sports Illustrated writer Jack Dickey accurately called the 2017 World Series champion Astros “a major-market team that opted for a shameless tanking strategy.” He wonderfully described the technique as “terribleness weaponized.”

Call it aggressive non-winning.

If fans will tolerate it, which they stupidly do, then clear the decks and savage the payroll. It’s a plan!

The trouble for the Cubs is they’re contenders now, and that plan won’t sail.

And Bryant is one of the biggest reasons. You can’t dump an MVP candidate — which he is — especially a beloved one. So what a mess.

Last season, Bryant was not very good. He batted .206 with just four home runs and 11 RBI.

The Cubs expected more of the same this year. It even seemed a dubious move when they signed him for this season at $19.5 million.

And the question was: Who was going to take this guy at a big price — a 29-year-old who was on his way down, nagged by injuries, fading from the stardom he displayed when the Cubs won their first and only World Series in the last 113 years?

So he was dangled, and the biggest fish could get him. And the fish were out there. According to USA Today baseball writer Bob Nightengale, even a fading Bryant was coveted by the Giants, Rangers, Mariners, Mets, Phillies, Red Sox and Nationals.

But last season was a joke. Remember the depths of COVID-19? The disorientation? The empty stands? The fear everywhere?

Bryant only played in 34 games in 2020, and it was simply a year to forget, one symbolized not by a baseball but a round ball called a coronavirus.

Entering Monday, Bryant was batting .309 this season with 13 homers and 38 RBI in 55 games. At that rate, he’d finish with 38 homers and 111 RBI, the latter being the most he has had in a season.

Moreover, he’s displaying amazing versatility by playing all over the field on defense. He has started more than six games each at third and first base and in right, left and center field.

On Sunday in San Francisco, his leaping catch above the wall in left field in the ninth inning against the Giants helped preserve an eventual 4-3 win and stop a three-game skid. Remember, the guy is 6-5, with long arms, and who knows how many other fielders could have made that catch.

Former team president Theo Epstein left the Cubs last year, with the seeming finality meaning the Cubs were ready to go to the bottom and dig out again, as they did en route to that 2016 championship.

Dumping ace big-salaried pitcher Yu Darvish set the tone. They would have just enough talent to be apparently competitive, and then every veteran — Anthony Rizzo, Willson Contreras, even Javy Baez — would be up for sale.

Winning can screw you up when it arrives when you least expect it.

Back in 2013, Epstein said, “Our record is a function of our long-term building plan.” And their record was terrible — an amazing 377 losses from 2011 to 2014.

But the destruction led, undeniably, to that World Series crown, setting a path for other teams to follow.

Now general manager Jed Hoyer — who likes to win, by the way — has to decide whether to go all-in and possibly buy players this season or stick with a plan to, quite honestly, suck.

He can thank Bryant for the dilemma.

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