The most danger Douglas Lindt said he faced as an Air Force musician in the late 1960s “was breaking drumsticks and getting a splinter.”

“Someone needed to do it,” the Elk Grove Village man said of his stint in the Air Force Academy Band Squadron’s Drum and Bugle Corps Unit.

On Monday, Lindt used his musical skills to play the 24-note “Taps” on his trumpet along with thousands of others across the country participating in this year’s Taps Across America event.

“I have the greatest respect for Vietnam vets and all vets,” said 73-year-old Lindt, who is primarily a drummer. “I believe everyone in my generation knows someone who died in Vietnam.”

Taps Across America participants played the bugle call simultaneously in observance of The National Moment of Remembrance — the one minute pause many Americans take at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day to remember those who died while serving in the military.

The first Taps Across America was created last year during the coronavirus pandemic. Over 4,000 musicians registered to play “Taps” this year with trumpets, flutes, bugles and trombones, officials said.

Lindt, who also participated in the event last year, said he often thinks of those who died during the Vietnam War who could’ve “sat next to us in math class or history class in high school.”

“We lost touch, they went to ‘Nam and came home in a box,” he said.

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Firefighters responded early Monday and found a family member who escaped the fire and said a man was trapped inside.

A man died after a fire broke out early Monday in southwest suburban Lemont.

Firefighters responded about 1 a.m. to the 700 block of Czacki Street and found a family member who escaped the fire and said a man was trapped inside, the Lemont Fire Department said in a statement.

The man, 64, was found dead in the rear of the home, the department said. His name hasn’t been released.

The fire was extinguished within 30 minutes and no other injuries were reported.

A resident in the home used oxygen, which may have accelerated the fire, according to Lemont police Commander Thad Mezyk. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

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In preparation for the historically violent weekend, the Chicago Police Department canceled days off and put officers on 12-hour shifts while community groups fanned out across the city to draw people out of the line of fire.

Two people have been killed and at least 28 others wounded in shootings across Chicago over Memorial Day weekend.

In preparation for the historically violent weekend, the Chicago Police Department canceled days off and put officers on 12-hour shifts. Meanwhile, community groups fanned out across the city to draw people out of the line of fire.

“This is our city that we love, and there is loss of life, and it should make us weep and roll up our sleeves,” said John Fuder of Chicagoland United in Prayer, whose group is sponsoring prayer marches across the city this weekend.

Shootings are up 36% this year compared to the same period in 2020, according to Sun-Times data. Homicides are spiking in areas long afflicted with gun violence.

Last year, Memorial Day weekend saw 10 people shot dead and 39 others wounded — the deadliest Memorial Day weekend since 2015.

Logan Square homicide

In the most recent fatal attack, a 29-year-old man was killed Saturday night in a shooting in Logan Square on the Northwest Side.

Mike Alicea was on the sidewalk about 9 p.m. when someone got out of a vehicle in the 3700 block of West McLean Avenue and began shooting, according to Chicago Police.

He was struck in the arm and leg and taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Residents in the block watched investigators work from their porches and windows.

“I can’t say I’m shocked,” a woman who was returning home with her husband said. “As soon as it gets warm the shooters come outside.”

“We usually hear about shootings about a block away from here, or in the alleys a block away; it has never made it to our front yard like this,” her husband added.

Lawndale murder

Hours earlier, a 26-year-old man was fatally shot while driving in Lawndale on the West Side.

Luis Poole was driving east on Ogden Avenue when he was shot in the face and chest, police said. The vehicle he was driving came to a rest after striking a light pole in the 3100 block West Ogden Avenue.

Poole was brought to Mt. Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

4 shot in restaurant parking lot in Grand Crossing

Four teens were shot Sunday night as they stood in the parking lot of a restaurant in Grand Crossing on the South Side.

The group was standing in the parking lot of a Subway, 6718 S. Stony Island Ave., when a dark-colored sedan drove by and someone inside fired shots, police said.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Two 19-year-old, struck in the legs and feet, were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition.

An 18-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy were struck in their legs, police said. They were also in good condition.

Belmont Cragin shooting

In nonfatal attacks, two men were wounded in a shooting early Monday in Belmont Cragin on the Northwest Side.

The pair were standing outside about 3:45 a.m. in the 5700 block of West Grand Avenue when the male suspect approached them and asked what gang they were affiliated with, police said.

The men responded that they were not a part of a gang, police said. The male suspect then pulled out a handgun and fired shots before leaving the scene.

One man, 33, was struck in the arm and torso and critically wounded, police said. The other, 31, was shot in the leg and in good condition.

Man shot in face on Lake Shore Drive

A man was wounded in a shooting on Lake Shore Drive early Sunday in the Near South Side. The 20-year-old was traveling south about 12:30 a.m. in the 1200 block of South Lake Shore Drive when he heard shots and felt pain, police and Chicago Fire officials said.

He was shot in the face and was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition was stable, police said.

12-year-old grazed

A 12-year-old boy was grazed by a bullet early Saturday in Great Crossing on the South Side. The boy was with a group of people about 1 a.m. when someone inside a black Dodge Charger fired shots in the 7100 block of South Dobson Avenue, police said.

A bullet grazed his leg and he was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in good condition, police said. He may not have been the intended target, according to police.

At least 20 others were wounded in citywide gun violence over Memorial Day weekend, which lasts from 5 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

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A pop-up clinic 60 miles east of Reno is one of 28 locations in the state where the Federal Emergency Management Agency has dispatched mobile vaccination units to ensure people in far-flung rural areas and one stop-light towns can get inoculated.

FALLON, Nev. — Pick-up truck drivers motor up to a white trailer in a parking lot on Fallon Paiute-Shoshone land in Nevada’s high desert and within a few moments they’re handed forms to sign, jabbed with coronavirus vaccine and sent on their way.

The pop-up clinic 60 miles east of Reno is one of 28 locations in the state where the Federal Emergency Management Agency has dispatched mobile vaccination units to ensure people in far-flung rural areas and one stop-light towns can get inoculated.

It’s one of the tactics health officials are using across the country to counter waning interest in vaccinations. In tiny towns, churches, ballparks, strip clubs and even marijuana dispensaries, officials are setting up shop and offering incentives to entice people as the nation struggles to reach herd immunity.

In Nevada, health officials acknowledge they’re unlikely to hit their initial goal of vaccinating 75% of the population believed necessary to reach herd immunity. Ironically, their push in northern Nevada is headquartered at the Reno Livestock Events Center, where 65-year-old Dan Lavely and others are showing up for shots.

Lavely said he teared up while thanking the nurses who vaccinated him.

“I told them I was just so thankful that they were volunteering their time to help get us back to normal so I can go shop at the mall or go to the beach at Lake Tahoe,” said Lavely, who works at a big box store in neighboring Sparks. Waiting to get vaccinated had nothing to do with safety concerns or distrust of the government, he said.

“It was a scheduling deal. Plus, my middle name is procrastinator,” Lavely said.

Two FEMA mobile trailers have meandered through Nevada to towns without pharmacies, clinics or other vaccination sites, giving doctors, nurses and National Guardsmen a first-hand look at rural and tribal communities where finding vaccinations has been difficult for residents.

“That’s our philosophy: it doesn’t make any difference if there are two (people) nor 200,” said Peggy Franklin, a volunteer nurse who has traveled alongside a FEMA trailer to Fallon, Alamo, Panaca and other towns

To preserve the vaccine, the trailers are equipped with ultra-cold refrigerators powered by generators-on-wheels. On Monday, the two mobile clinics completed six-week loops through Nevada that included returning to finish two-shot regimens in the state that covers an area that would stretch from Boston to Baltimore and Buffalo, N.Y.

Initially, the goal was to vaccinate 250 people a day at each stop. But the numbers have varied, as vaccine supply has increased and demand has fallen.

“Just a month ago, people were still having a hard time finding vaccination sites. That’s really changed in the last three or four weeks and now we’re trying to find people that are more vaccine-hesitant,” said Marc Reynolds, a doctor from Fallon who has volunteered at the mobile clinic in his hometown and the state prison in Lovelock.

The clinics have delivered 7,600 shots during two tours of Nevada and have also been used in Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky and other states. Nevada Division of Emergency Management Chief Dave Fogerson said people in the remote communities of the state “probably would not have got it any other way.”

Gerlach, for example, is 100 miles from the closest pharmacy in Reno-Sparks. With just 34 people, it was once home to a booming gypsum mine on the edge of the desert that hosts 80,000 visitors each year for the Burning Man Festival. The desolate landscape was featured in this year’s Academy Award-winning movie, “Nomadland.”

Nearly half of Nevada’s eligible population has had at least an initial vaccination against COVID-19. But rates have varied geographically.

In Clark and Washoe counties, home to Las Vegas and Reno, respectively, about half of those eligible have gotten at least one dose, the state reported. The rate has been about half of that in Eureka and Elko counties, while Storey County has seen just a 15% rate.

As infection rates drop and the state moves further away from the height of the pandemic, officials acknowledge persuading the vaccine-hesitant to get shots won’t get easier. As a result, on the heels of the FEMA effort, officials have been preparing similar pop-up events in urban centers, suburban neighborhoods and unconventional venues ranging from a Las Vegas strip club to a Sparks truck stop along an interstate that runs to Utah.

“It’s important that the people running the vaccination events look like the community,” said Jeanne Freeman of Carson City Health and Human Services. “Comfort levels are important. Sometimes just being in a familiar location.”

Nevada has long struggled with some of the nation’s worst vaccination rates. It improved to fifth-worst last year with 42% of adults vaccinated against the flu, according to the CDC. Part of the current outreach effort targets the 340,000 people who got those flu shots but have not yet gotten a COVID-19 vaccination.

Nevada is refining its messaging based on a growing understanding of why some people remain reluctant to get shots. Much of the focus so far has been on cultural and historical barriers that make certain groups less open to vaccinations, but for many, it may come down to simple convenience.

“A lot of individuals are not opposed to getting vaccinated, it’s just not fitting well in their daily life,” said Karissa Loper, chief of Nevada’s Bureau of Child, Family and Community Wellness. “That’s truly what we’re moving to work on now with all of our partners, to do those mobile and pop-up clinics.”

Jackie Shelton, a vice president with the public relations firm that Nevada hired to help promote vaccine equity and outreach, said the latest ad campaign intends to “show people who look like you — peers who are getting the vaccine and why.”

“People don’t want to be told what to do but they love to see their friends and others talking about why they are doing it,” she said. “It’s all about empathy. And reminding people what they have missed during the pandemic and what they can get back.”

Future promotional ideas include raffles open to residents who are fully vaccinated by July 4. Colorado, Maryland, Ohio, New York and Oregon are among several states already enticing people with lottery prizes approaching $5 million.

Immunize Nevada is planning vaccination pop-ups at breweries, churches and parks — complete with swag like water bottles — and scheduling them to coincide with holidays such as Juneteenth to target specific populations.

In Reno, shots are offered at minor league baseball games, and the Medical Social Justice League at the University of Nevada’s School of Medicine was set to co-host a clinic Saturday at a Catholic church with a large Latino congregation.

“We need to meet them where they are and where they feel safe,” Diana Sande, spokeswoman for the university’s School of Community Health Sciences, said about outreach efforts to the Latino community.

Kyra Morgan, Nevada’s chief biostatistician, has suggested it may not be possible for the state to reach its initial goal of vaccinating 75% of the population.

Still, communities may be able to return to normalcy even if they don’t reach the threshold needed for herd immunity, added Dr. Nancy Diao, division director for epidemiology and public health preparedness in Washoe County.

“If we can reach a high enough population level, say maybe 60% or 70%, that might also just be good enough for our community to bring the numbers drastically down,” she said, “and we can have this virus live with us in an equilibrium like we do with so many other diseases.”

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Sonner reported from Reno. Metz is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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In preparation for the historically violent weekend, the Chicago Police Department canceled days off and put officers on 12-hour shifts while community groups fanned out across the city to draw people out of the line of fire.

Two people have been killed and at least 27 others wounded in shootings across Chicago over Memorial Day weekend.

In preparation for the historically violent weekend, the Chicago Police Department canceled days off and put officers on 12-hour shifts. Meanwhile, community groups fanned out across the city to draw people out of the line of fire.

“This is our city that we love, and there is loss of life, and it should make us weep and roll up our sleeves,” said John Fuder of Chicagoland United in Prayer, whose group is sponsoring prayer marches across the city this weekend.

Shootings are up 36% this year compared to the same period in 2020, according to Sun-Times data. Homicides are spiking in areas long afflicted with gun violence.

Last year, Memorial Day weekend saw 10 people shot dead and 39 others wounded — the deadliest Memorial Day weekend since 2015.

Logan Square homicide

In the most recent fatal attack, a 29-year-old man was killed Saturday night in a shooting in Logan Square on the Northwest Side.

Mike Alicea was on the sidewalk about 9 p.m. when someone got out of a vehicle in the 3700 block of West McLean Avenue and began shooting, according to Chicago Police.

He was struck in the arm and leg and taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Residents in the block watched investigators work from their porches and windows.

“I can’t say I’m shocked,” a woman who was returning home with her husband said. “As soon as it gets warm the shooters come outside.”

“We usually hear about shootings about a block away from here, or in the alleys a block away; it has never made it to our front yard like this,” her husband added.

Lawndale murder

Hours earlier, a 26-year-old man was fatally shot while driving in Lawndale on the West Side.

Luis Poole was driving east on Ogden Avenue when he was shot in the face and chest, police said. The vehicle he was driving came to a rest after striking a light pole in the 3100 block West Ogden Avenue.

Poole was brought to Mt. Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

4 shot in restaurant parking lot in Grand Crossing

Four teens were shot Sunday night as they stood in the parking lot of a restaurant in Grand Crossing on the South Side.

The group was standing in the parking lot of a Subway, 6718 S. Stony Island Ave., when a dark-colored sedan drove by and someone inside fired shots, police said.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Two 19-year-old, struck in the legs and feet, were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition.

An 18-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy were struck in their legs, police said. They were also in good condition.

Belmont Cragin shooting

In nonfatal attacks, two men were wounded in a shooting early Monday in Belmont Cragin on the Northwest Side.

The pair were standing outside about 3:45 a.m. in the 5700 block of West Grand Avenue when the male suspect approached them and asked what gang they were affiliated with, police said.

The men responded that they were not a part of a gang, police said. The male suspect then pulled out a handgun and fired shots before leaving the scene.

One man, 33, was struck in the arm and torso and critically wounded, police said. The other, 31, was shot in the leg and in good condition.

Man shot in face on Lake Shore Drive

A man was wounded in a shooting on Lake Shore Drive early Sunday in the Near South Side. The 20-year-old was traveling south about 12:30 a.m. in the 1200 block of South Lake Shore Drive when he heard shots and felt pain, police and Chicago Fire officials said.

He was shot in the face and was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition was stable, police said.

12-year-old grazed

A 12-year-old boy was grazed by a bullet early Saturday in Great Crossing on the South Side. The boy was with a group of people about 1 a.m. when someone inside a black Dodge Charger fired shots in the 7100 block of South Dobson Avenue, police said.

A bullet grazed his leg and he was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in good condition, police said. He may not have been the intended target, according to police.

At least 19 others were wounded in citywide gun violence over Memorial Day weekend, which lasts from 5 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

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Two teens trespassed in the former Just For Fun Roller Rink before it was burned down, police say.

A 14-year-old boy is charged with arson after burning down an abandoned roller rink last week in northwest suburban McHenry, police said.

The teen was with another 14-year-old boy last Thursday when they trespassed in the former Just For Fun Roller Rink, 914 N. Front St., McHenry police said in a statement.

The one teen “intentionally lit an object on fire which quickly spread out of control,” destroying the building, police said. No one was injured. A passerby witnessed the teens fleeing the scene, police said.

One teen faces a felony count each of arson, burglary and criminal damage to property. The other is charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass to property.

The juveniles were released to their parents and have been petitioned to the 22nd Judicial Circuit’s Juvenile Court system, police said.

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“These are deaths related to heat that actually can be prevented. It is something we directly cause,” said Ana Vicedo-Cabrera, an epidemiologist at the Institute of Social and Preventative Medicine at the University of Bern in Switzerland.

More than one-third of the world’s heat deaths each year are due directly to global warming, according to the latest study to calculate the human cost of climate change.

But scientists say that’s only a sliver of climate’s overall toll — even more people die from other extreme weather amplified by global warming such as storms, flooding and drought — and the heat death numbers will grow exponentially with rising temperatures.

Dozens of researchers who looked at heat deaths in 732 cities around the globe from 1991 to 2018 calculated that 37% were caused by higher temperatures from human-caused warming, according to a study Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

That amounts to about 9,700 people a year from just those cities, but it is much more worldwide, the study’s lead author said.

“These are deaths related to heat that actually can be prevented. It is something we directly cause,” said Ana Vicedo-Cabrera, an epidemiologist at the Institute of Social and Preventative Medicine at the University of Bern in Switzerland.

The highest percentages of heat deaths caused by climate change were in cities in South America. Vicedo-Cabrera pointed to southern Europe and southern Asia as other hot spots for climate change-related heat deaths.

Sao Paulo, Brazil, has the most climate-related heat deaths, averaging 239 a year, researchers found.

About 35% of heat deaths in the United States can be blamed on climate change, the study found. That’s a total of more than 1,100 deaths a year in about 200 U.S. cities, topped by 141 in New York. Honolulu had the highest portion of heat deaths attributable to climate change, 82%.

Scientists used decades of mortality data in the 732 cities to plot curves detailing how each city’s death rate changes with temperature and how the heat-death curves vary from city to city. Some cities adapt to heat better than others because of air conditioning, cultural factors and environmental conditions, Vicedo-Cabrera said.

Then researchers took observed temperatures and compared them with 10 computer models simulating a world without climate change. The difference is warming humans caused. By applying that scientifically accepted technique to the individualized heat-death curves for the 732 cities, the scientists calculated extra heat deaths from climate change.

“People continue to ask for proof that climate change is already affecting our health. This attribution study directly answers that question using state-of-the-science epidemiological methods, and the amount of data the authors have amassed for analysis is impressive,” said Dr. Jonathan Patz, director of the Global Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

Patz, who wasn’t part of the study, said it was one of the first to detail climate change-related heat deaths now, rather than in the future.

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Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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This You Gotta See: Fields vs. Dalton, Cubs hit the West Coast, White Sox battle inside the division.

It’s organized team activities time at Halas Hall. Those of us in the know like to call them OTAs. But enough stalling: Let’s talk about Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields.

Will he roll out of bed Tuesday a better player than veteran Andy Dalton? How long are we going to have to suffer through this song and dance about Fields not being the starter? Oh, and how does he take his eggs? Can we fetch him some coffee?

Even dyed-in-the-wool Bears cynics will monitor Bears OTAs with expectations of rave reviews of Fields as he pumps iron, soaks up the playbook and heaves the pigskin around. Confidence in the No. 11 pick is so high, it’s easy to forget he was the fourth quarterback selected on draft day. Why did that happen again? Come to think of it, let’s pretend it didn’t.

Fields, 22, comes in bigger and stronger than Dalton, 33, and that’s the case in the arm department as well. The latter player is, at best, a caretaker QB. A placeholder. A seat warmer. Media will watch the goings-on with one question drowning out all others: When? When will coach Matt Nagy end this charade — which, in fairness, hasn’t even started yet — and give Fields the ball?

But it’s only OTAs. It’s not like we’re talking about training camp. When camp rolls around, Dalton vs. Fields will be cranked up from 1 to 10 on the obsess-o-meter. And it’ll be beautiful.

Meanwhile? Here’s what’s happening:

TUE 1

Lightning at Hurricanes (6:30 p.m., NBCSN)

Can anybody stop the champs’ lights-out power play? Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Alex Killorn already have combined for eight postseason tallies with the man advantage.

Padres at Cubs (7:05 p.m., Marquee)

Lefty Ryan Weathers, all of 21, takes the bump for the visitors 20 years after dad David pitched for the Cubs. And who could forget the David Weathers era?

Mercury at Sky (7:30 p.m., ESPN)

Is this when Candace Parker — out with an ankle injury since the season opener — debuts at Wintrust Arena? The Sky have lost four straight without the key to the whole operation.

Trail Blazers at Nuggets, Game 5 (8 p.m., NBATV)

Maybe neither of these teams — tied 2-2 — is a true Finals contender, but sometimes a fan just has to revel in the spectacular. Pull up from anywhere, Damian Lillard. And don’t ever stop doing you, Nikola Jokic.

Lakers at Suns, Game 5 (9 p.m., TNT)

Maybe both of these teams — tied 2-2 — are good enough to win the whole stinking thing. LeBron James is in serious danger of losing in the first round for the first time since never.

WED 2

White Sox at Indians (12:10 p.m., NBCSCH)

Is it too soon to call it a two-team race in the AL Central? Because — just saying — it’s a two-team race in the AL Central. And that’s assuming the Indians are actually in the race.

Hawks at Knicks, Game 5 (6:30 p.m., TNT)

After all the love Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau has gotten this season, here he is with his team down 3-1 and his back against the wall. The man needs more help than Derrick Rose alone can give him.

Mavericks at Clippers, Game 5 (9 p.m., TNT)

Some of us are old enough to remember a time when the Mavs took two games at Staples Center and looked likely to bounce the Clips from the playoffs. It’s 2-2 now — a real pain in the neck for Luka Doncic.

THU 3

Cubs at Giants (8:45 p.m., Marquee)

It’s Game 1 of a wicked seven-game swing through San Francisco and San Diego. Time to see how the best division in baseball lives.

FRI 4

Tigers at White Sox (7:10 p.m., NBCSCH)

Just when everyone assumed the Tigers were terrible, they swept the Yankees last weekend. As you know, the Sox were recently swept at Yankee Stadium. Also, in related news: The Tigers are terrible.

SAT 5

North Carolina at Red Stars (1 p.m., Paramount+)

Mallory Pugh is crushing it for the Red Stars, but so far she hasn’t gotten a lot of support from her mates. Time for the home team to step up at SeatGeek.

Sky at Sparks (2 p.m., Ch. 7)

Is this when Allie Quigley — out with a hamstring injury since the season opener — gets back on the floor? There’s a shorthanded overtime loss to the Sparks to make up for.

Belmont Stakes (4 p.m., Ch. 5)

Essential Quality? Hot Rod Charlie? Preakness winner Rombauer? They’re the three horses everyone is talking about heading into the 153rd running of this event. Somewhere, Bob Baffert and Medina Spirit will be choking on their oats.

Cubs at Giants (6:15 p.m., Fox-32)

Kris Bryant? Javy Baez? Anthony Rizzo? They’re the three horses everyone is wondering if the Cubs will hang on to. Look, it’s our job to remind you as often as possible of this sad story line.

SUN 6

Tigers at White Sox (1:10 p.m., NBCSCH)

The Tigers actually have been hovering around the .400 mark, a high point for them in the last five years. Did we say “terrible”? So sorry about that.

MON 7

Cubs at Padres (9:10 p.m., Marquee)

San Diego shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. leads all of baseball in home runs per at-bat and RBI per at-bat and is tops overall in OPS. Other than that, he’s really blowing it out there.

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