The mayor’s proposal creates a temporary commission that she will largely hand-select. Mayoral control over policing is consistent with the status quo, and the status quo has been a disaster.

The Sun-Times last week endorsed Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan for civilian oversight over the Chicago Police Department. This endorsement is based on two faulty premises.

First, contrary to what the Sun-Times asserts in its editorial, the mayor’s proposal is not consistent with what activists have demanded. This is because the mayor’s ordinance takes the community out of community oversight. The mayor’s proposal creates a temporary commission that she will largely hand-select. This temporary commission, controlled by mayoral appointees, will likely retain power for a long time because Mayor Lightfoot’s ordinance will not create a permanent commission that is selected with true community input unless state law is changed. Thus, without a change in state law, the commission responsible for providing oversight over CPD is likely to largely be an extension of the mayor and not representative of communities most impacted by police violence.

SEND LETTERS TO: [email protected]. Please include your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be approximately 350 words or less.

Second, the Sun-Times argues that the mayor must retain control over key policing policy and personnel decisions because ultimately the mayor will be held responsible by voters for policing failures. This position misses the mark. Mayoral control over these areas is consistent with the status quo and the status quo has been a disaster. CPD is currently under a federal consent decree because the Department of Justice found that it had engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing. Under this mayor’s leadership, CPD has consistently missed consent decree deadlines.

Moreover, while the mayor may be held responsible electorally for a spike in crime, those who truly suffer from both crime and police misconduct are the people of this city. For these reasons, the people should have a much greater say in how are they policed.

Therefore, City Council should pass the Empowering Communities for Public Safety Ordinance, not the mayor’s proposal.

Aaron Gottlieb, Jane Addams School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago
Member, Chicago Consent Decree Use of Force Working Group

Why no amendment on pension reform?

It amazes me how the state Legislature passed an amendment to put collective bargaining rights into the Illinois Constitution, and that it will not be diminished by any future law (sound familiar?), apparently to appease the unions. But legislators have not been able to manage an amendment to fix the employee pension problems.

I hope that the voters in 2022 will see through our legislators’ devious scheme.

Mario Caruso, Lincoln Square

Teach the truth about voter suppression

Winston Churchill, while paraphrasing the philosopher Santayana, said ’those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” So many Republican-led states, trying desperately to suppress the vote, are now trying to leave out important eras of American history. By avoiding controversial topics like past racism, slavery and Jim Crow, teachers are being forced to lie to students. How can today’s students become tomorrow’s informed electorate without knowing the history of voter suppression in this country?

I was lucky enough to have taught American history and political science in a high school district (Riverside-Brookfield) for almost four decades. My immediate bosses and school boards even allowed me to create an elective class that dealt with recent Chicago history. That class included much discussion about racism. Teenagers love controversy and they love learning that their past presidents and heroes were flawed human beings. They also love thinking for themselves and coming to their own conclusions. But they cannot do that unless they are armed with all the facts, no matter how unpleasant or divisive the adults around them think they are.

If teaching the truth in these states will get them fired, teachers should consider moving to a state that welcomes debate. The purpose of a well -ounded education is to create good citizens. That cannot be done if teachers are censored.

Jan Goldberg, Riverside

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See Red Fred is joined by legendary Athletic Senior Writer Jon Krawczynski to discuss a multitude of Bulls and Wolves-related topics.

The post The Big Red Bus Chicago Bulls Podcast – Episode 68 – The Jon Krawczynski Interview first appeared on CHI CITY SPORTS l Chicago Sports Blog – News – Forum – Fans – Rumors.Read More

A few lines into ‘Girls Girls Girls,’ the Motley Crue singer apologizes and walks off stage at the Boone River Valley Festival.

Telling the crowd “my f- – -in’ voice is gone,” Motley Crue singer Vince Neil walked off a solo show Saturday a few lines into the band’s hit “Girls Girls Girls.”

Fan video shows the vocalist struggling with the song’s opening words and then stopping and saying, “I’m sorry, you guys. It’s been a long time playin’.” Neil tells the fans, “Hope to see you next time,” and walks off as the band continues to play the song and belt the “Girls! Girls! Girls!” backing vocals.

Loudwire reports that Neil made it through 14 songs in the set, also appearing to forget the words during a cover of the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter.” It was Neil’s first solo show since COVID-19 brought on a long hiatus for live music.

Motley Crue is scheduled to hit the road next year on a stadium tour that also includes Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. First announced for summer 2020 but postponed twice, the tour now is set to come to Chicago’s Wrigley Field on July 8, 2022, with ticket prices ranging from $109 to $4,631 for the “Motley Crue Wild Side Ultimate Package.”

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“People want to smoke marijuana in places that they couldn’t before because it was taboo and illegal,” a cannabis consultant told the Sun-Times. “Just like a bar, just like coffee, this a huge experiential thing.”

As the city hurtles toward a full reopening, drinks are now flowing freely at bars and restaurants as Chicagoans emerge from their couches and try to get back to normal.

Weed smokers, however, still have nowhere to legally get stoned in public, meaning pot use largely remains relegated to the shadows over a year after the drug was fully legalized statewide.

In other states, public consumption lounges and smoke-filled party buses are driving tourism by highlighting what recreational weed is supposed to be all about: Having a good time.

“People want to smoke marijuana in places that they couldn’t before because it was taboo and illegal,” said Andy Seeger, a cannabis consultant who previously worked as an industry analyst in Chicago. “Just like a bar, just like coffee, this a huge experiential thing.”

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But as it stands, Seeger said Illinois’ highly regulated pot market is “incredibly unfun,” likening the dispensary experience to “standing in line at the pharmacy” and criticizing existing pot firms for failing to create safe havens for getting high.

“They have no interest in helping the stoners or making this fun. They’re trying to commoditize it. They’re trying to make it [a consumer packaged good] and [that] looks very, very regulated. And the more regulated it is, the more their monopoly holds,” Seeger said, remarking on the handful of major cannabis firms that have an outsized stake in the industry.

And while some businesses want to offer an outlet for customers to indulge, they’re hamstrung by state and local rules.

The prospect of allowing on-site cannabis consumption at businesses prompted spirited debates among both state lawmakers and aldermen. In the end, the state law that legalized recreational weed let localities decide whether to allow dispensaries and tobacco shops to set up consumption spaces, offering an exemption to the stringent Smoke Free Illinois Act that banned indoor smoking at public places.

At least two such lounges have earned local approval downstate but neither has opened. And in Chicago, the City Council still hasn’t set local rules.

Legislation introduced earlier this year in Springfield could also pave the way for a robust cannabis tourism industry, but it’s languished in committees without getting a vote. The bill would allow municipalities or counties to dole out licenses for pop-up events, cannabis clubs and tours “that will allow for the sale and consumption of cannabis or cannabis-infused products.”

Brian Ernst/Sun-Times

Brian Ernst/Sun-Times

Comedy clubs, weed tours and more in limbo

In the meantime, some plans hang in limbo.

Bryan Zises, co-owner of Dispensary 33, said he wants to work with a “social equity” partner to open a weed lounge at his new shop in the West Loop. Zises envisions using the store’s basement for a stony venue that could host comedy and musical acts, although he also has a large space on the ground floor with a long counter and tables that currently serves as a waiting room and could be repurposed.

“It’s available and it’s perfectly set up for all that,” Zises said. “I would love to be able to turn over the consumption lounge to a group that can elevate Chicago music and Chicago’s art scene in a way to bring fun back to cannabis.”

Dispensary 33, which Zises touted as the last independent weed store in the city, has long sought to bring cannabis and culture together. Most notably, Zises and his team have hosted a street festival outside Dispensary 33’s flagship location in Uptown to celebrate 4/20, marijuana’s high holiday.

Zises claimed aldermen “don’t even know how much money they’re leaving on the table” by failing to set local rules for on-site consumption. But after a meeting with Zises the following day, Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) said he’s now planning to draft an ordinance to do just that.

Burnett, whose ward includes the new Dispensary 33 location at 1152 W. Randolph St., said he intends to require all consumption lounges to have a “social equity” partner as a way to bolster minority involvement in the lily-white weed industry, adopting the same language the statewide legalization law uses for applicants getting a leg-up in the licensing process.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times file

Zises isn’t the only dispensary owner thinking about turning a pot shop into a cultural hub.

Jonah Rapino, a spokesman for the Wheaton-based pot firm NuEra, said there have been active discussions about allowing pot use at the firm’s new stores in the West Loop and downstate Champaign and Pekin. But they’ve been stymied by concerns that the current law wouldn’t allow the firm to carry out its grand vision.

Rapino said the company would like to offer cannabis education opportunities, as well events with DJs and bands.

“We would want to be a destination,” said Rapino, who believes that opening up the floodgates for public pot use would be a boon for both the cannabis and tourism industries.

“Having Illinois be the number one social consumption state in the United States would be a huge move and a huge benefit,” he said. “I just think way more people would be here that usually would be going to, say, California, Colorado, Las Vegas and other places if there were lots more options for social consumption.”

For now, NuEra has teamed up with The Hideout, a beloved North Side music venue, where the company recently hosted a sidewalk market to celebrate 4/20.

“A wine tour without sipping wine’

The firm has also partnered with Chi High Tours, a company that launched in April and offers pot-centric tours centered on education and culture. The company currently offers a range of themed tours, including one that brings guests to a brewery and another that ends at a comedy show.

Provided photo/James Gordon

But due to the current restrictions, riders can’t get stoned during the tours — though they are offered CBD-infused edibles. In addition, they’re taken to The Herbal Care Center on the Near West Side to purchase weed and then coached on consuming it.

James Gordon, Chi High Tours’ executive director and founder, conceded that his tours currently lack “the party bus feeling,” though he hopes the law will change to allow for that. Gordon complained that the state is still taking a “hard line” approach to cannabis and isn’t looking to Colorado and California, where he claimed businesses offering public consumption are “everywhere and have an opportunity to grow.”

“At the end of the day, a wine tour without sipping wine just becomes only so much of an experience,” Gordon said, drawing a comparison to hammer home his point.

As Gordon tries to gain a foothold in Illinois’ cannabis world, he said he understands the struggles of the social equity applicants vying for long-delayed permits. Originally from Brooklyn, Gordon was sentenced to four years in a federal penitentiary in Florida after being convicted on a gun charge. While in prison, his dying father visited to express a last wish: “Please change.”

Gordon has since grown into a serial entrepreneur and he now hopes to expand his cannabis tour model into five other cities. Though he lives in Florida and didn’t apply for the new licenses here, Gordon said he wants to be an example for minority business owners hoping to crack into the weed industry.

“Please keep striving, keep pushing. Because greatness is around the corner.”

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The Chicago Bears may not be done re-tooling their offensive line for the 2021 season as ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting they are hosting former Washington Football Team offensive tackle…

The post REPORT: Chicago Bears Bringing in Offensive Tackle for Workout first appeared on CHI CITY SPORTS l Chicago Sports Blog – News – Forum – Fans – Rumors.Read More

Watertown police Sgt. Jeffrey Pugliese retired on Monday after more than 41 years on the force.

WATERTOWN, Mass. — A suburban Boston police officer who became a national hero in 2013 when he tackled one of the Boston Marathon bombers retired from the only job he says he ever wanted.

Watertown police Sgt. Jeffrey Pugliese retired on Monday after more than 41 years on the force.

He wanted to keep working, but had reached the state’s mandatory police retirement age of 65. Pugliese, an Army veteran and the son of a police detective, said he had wanted to join the profession since he was a teenager.

“The best part of being a police officer is getting out there and helping people, saving lives,” Pugliese told WCVB-TV. “It’s because of all these police officers — not just in Watertown, but everywhere in the world — people sleep soundly in their beds at night because there are police officers willing to sacrifice their lives for them.”

During the April 2013 gunfight with the marathon bombers, Pugliese came face to face with Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

“We were just six feet, maybe seven feet apart,” he told WBZ-TV. “The only thing separating us was a four-foot chain link fence. We were exchanging gun fire and his gun, now we know it ran out of ammunition but, at the time we didn’t know if it jammed. He stopped. He literally took the gun, looked at me, we made eye contact, and then he threw the gun at me and hit me in the shoulder with it. I holstered up and chased after him and tackled him.”

As Pugliese and two other officers held Tsarnaev down, his younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, sped toward them in an SUV.

Pugliese grabbed Tamerlan by the belt to pull him out of harm’s way.

“I felt the breeze of that car go by my face. It missed my face by inches,” Pugliese said.

Dzhokhar ran over and killed his older brother.

Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons, who played Pugliese in the 2016 movie “Patriots Day,” sent a video message to the retiree.

“I’m the only guy in Hollywood good looking enough to portray you on screen,” Simmons said in the video. “Thank you for teaching me how to shoot a gun and teaching me all kinds of things about the ropes of police work.”

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Hundreds of friends and family gathered at Stroger Hospital after Curtis Wilson was shot in the 700 block of North Spaulding Avenue.

Curtis Wilson was known for hosting parties on his West Side block, and had been planning to spend Memorial Day evening barbecuing with neighbors.

“Everybody loved him,” Debra Wilson said of her stepson. “He was sweet as gold.”

She spoke in the parking lot of Stroger Hospital, surrounded by hundreds of people who gathered there Monday night after hearing Wilson had been shot dead.

Wilson, 40, was shot several times around 7:10 p.m. in the 700 block of North Spaulding Avenue when someone on the sidewalk fired at the car he was in, according to family members and Chicago police.

He was pronounced dead minutes later at Stroger.

At the corner of Spaulding and Chicago avenues, a silver Nissan Altima sat smashed against a building while police investigated. There were at least 13 bullet holes in the passenger side windows. Dozens of evidence markers littered the block.

“He was the type of person that threw good parties on the block. He had barbecues, treated the kids right, he was just a good person,” Debra Wilson said, noting that her stepson was sometimes called “Curty Man.”

She said she had seen her stepson only a few hours before the shooting and he was about to start grilling meat for the party. But she and Wilson’s father left the barbecue early, and that would be the last time she saw him.

“He just had a good heart, he was good to everybody,” she said.

Community activist Andrew Holmes implored the community to come together and share any information that could lead to the gunman’s arrest.

“This young man lost his life on Memorial Day. Memorial Day will never be the same for this family, so we pray for this family,” Holmes told the Sun-Times outside the hospital.

Holmes decried the violence that he says seems to go hand-in-hand with holidays in the city, depriving revelers a chance to enjoy time with their loved ones.

“The holiday weekends are not the same. The Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day. When you look at it, how can it be a holiday weekend when we have an increase in shootings?,” he said. “You can’t enjoy them.”

Wilson and two other people were killed and 34 others were wounded in shootings in Chicago over the weekend. He was the lone fatal shooting on the West Side.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

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For the first time in nearly a decade, the White Sox are in first place on Memorial Day! The bats are alive and the pitching has been excellent! The guys talk the first-place White Sox, the City Connect jerseys and much more!

The post GGTB A Chicago White Sox Podcast – Episode 103 -Taking Care Of Business first appeared on CHI CITY SPORTS l Chicago Sports Blog – News – Forum – Fans – Rumors.Read More

Chicago Blackhawks: 3 Minnesota Wild free agents would help by Vincent Parise

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(Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

The Chicago Blackhawks had a tough season in 2020-21 but their fans are not nearly as disappointed as those of the Toronto Maple Leafs. They were one of the best teams in the NHL this season and had a 3-1 series lead over the Montreal Canadiens in the first round. Well, they allowed the Habs to come all the way back and win game seven by a final score of 3-1. There are going to be some massive changes to that organization over the summer.

There are some ways to take advantage of the Toronto Maple Leaf’s offseason.

This was as devastating of a loss as an NHL team has had in many years. Year after year, the Leafs continue to get better during the regular season and they just let it all go in the playoffs. They haven’t won a playoff series since 2004 and are 0-7 in the rounds. It is tough to watch from a hockey standpoint because the NHL would benefit so much from that team doing literally anything in the playoffs.

Instead, the Montreal Canadiens are moving on to play the Winnipeg Jets in what should be a very interesting matchup. The Leafs are going to go home yet again which leaves their incredible fanbase in shambles.

With players like Auston Matthews, John Tavares, and Mitch Marner all making more than 10 million dollars against the cap, it is so hard to build a team around them. It is even worse when you add in Jake Muzzin, Morgan Rielly, and William Nylander’s contracts which aren’t cheap either. They are going to be allowing some nice free agents to leave this summer and the Blackhawks could take advantage. These are the three that are worth looking at:

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