Districts from California to Michigan are offering free prom tickets and deploying mobile vaccination teams to schools to inoculate students 12 and up so everyone can return to classrooms in the fall.

SAN DIEGO — A growing number of public schools are using mascots, food trucks and prize giveaways to create a pep-rally atmosphere aimed at encouraging students to get vaccinated against the coronavirus before summer vacation.

Districts from California to Michigan are offering free prom tickets and deploying mobile vaccination teams to schools to inoculate students 12 and up so everyone can return to classrooms in the fall. They are also enlisting students who have gotten shots to press their friends to do the same.

Officials are concerned that once school lets out, it will be even tougher to get enough teens vaccinated in time to guarantee widespread immunity on campuses.

The massive effort has just gotten underway because it was only two weeks ago that federal regulators authorized the Pfizer vaccine for children 12 to 15. Moderna said Tuesday that its COVID-19 vaccine strongly protects kids as young as 12, a step that could put it on track to become the second option for that age group in the U.S. Younger children are not yet eligible.

So far, about 14% of the nation’s 15 million kids ages 12 to 15 have received their first shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among 7.5 million teens ages 16 and 17, that number goes up to 34%, and about 22% have had both shots, according to the latest figures released Monday. The doses are scheduled about three weeks apart.

There are many challenges.

Depending on the state and even county, minors may be required to have a parent present to get the shot. Some parents may not be able to get away from work to do that. Others are unsure about allowing their kids to get a vaccine that only was approved for emergency use.

Protests have popped up outside schools offering the vaccine, discouraging kids who may already be nervous.

Mission Bay High School in San Diego provides an example of the mixed reaction among students.

“I’m not getting it,” said Tatum Merrill, 14, standing with friends outside a mobile vaccine clinic at the school. “It was developed too fast and is kind of sketchy. And I feel like the number of COVID cases is dying down so if everybody else has it, there may not be a need for me to have it.”

Her friend Brandon Cheeks, 15, said he wants the vaccine, but his mother is unsure. In the meantime, another 15-year-old, Laura Pilger, said she feels safer being back in school knowing that she and everyone she knows is vaccinated.

“A woman showed up and was passing out flyers that said ‘your body, your choice’ but the message was not very welcomed,” Pilger said. “Why wouldn’t you want to get the vaccine?”

While hundreds of colleges across the country are requiring students to have proof of vaccination to return to campus, it’s unlikely that K-12 public schools will do the same this fall. It’s unclear whether schools can legally require a vaccine approved under an emergency-use authorization to immediately address the pandemic.

Instead, public schools are trying to entice students to get the shots by making the experience festive while sending flyers home to families to address the vaccine’s safety.

In suburban Detroit, students in the Southfield district who show proof of vaccination will get a free ticket to the senior prom worth $80. The incentive drew protesters who said awarding the vaccinated could lead to harassment of students who haven’t gotten shots.

“We are not separating or segregating students who choose not to receive the vaccine or do receive the vaccine,” Southfield Superintendent Jennifer Green said. “We simply want to provide our students an opportunity to celebrate this milestone in their life.”

The idea won applause from Dr. Howard Taras, a University of California San Diego pediatrician who consults with districts about health safety. He is also the in-house physician for the San Diego Unified School District, the second-largest in California with about 120,000 students. It has been hosting vaccine clinics at schools in communities with low vaccination rates.

The district also took part in a public service announcement with local teens who say, “We’ll be getting the vaccine, now it’s your turn.”

“I think anything that is creating buzz helps,” Taras said, explaining that vaccinating at schools has the added benefit of generating peer pressure.

The virus has spread more rapidly among teens than younger children. “But with a large portion immunized, there is much less chance of it spreading in the classrooms, on buses,” Taras said.

And more students may want to return to classrooms as a result.

While most California public schools reopened in April, fewer than half of students resumed in-person learning, according to an analysis by the nonprofit EdSource.

Many continued with online learning, while some dropped out altogether or went to private schools. Public school enrollment dropped steeply in the nation’s most populous state, falling by more than 160,000 this school year, according to the California Department of Education.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, the largest in California with about 600,000 students, plans to have a mobile vaccination team visit every middle and high school campus at least once before the school year ends June 11. The events will feature food trucks and music.

Superintendent Austin Beutner recently appeared with Wilson High School’s “Mighty Mule” mascot to encourage students to roll up their sleeves. He said the district is offering paid leave for district employees to get their children inoculated. Schools where more than 30% of students are vaccinated will each receive $5,000 for projects, and students can decide how the money is used.

The school-based clinics also help administer shots to hard-to-reach populations who feel more comfortable going to their neighborhood school instead of mass vaccination sites.

Maisha Cosby was motivated by a drive-thru clinic at the Washington School for Girls in Washington, D.C. She held her 12-year-old daughter Maya’s hand as she got her shot. Then Cosby got hers.

“All my friends have gotten it and they’re fine, and I’m ready for her to go back to school,” Cosby said.

___

Associated Press writers Ed White in Detroit and Jacquelyn Martin in Washington contributed to this report.

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“We’ve got to control what we can control as a team, and we’ve just to come out, practice, handle business and play ball,” defensive tackle Kenny Clark said.

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ teammates say the MVP’s uncertain status won’t distract them in their offseason preparations.

Rodgers hasn’t been present for organized team activities this week following an ESPN report last month that he doesn’t want to return to Green Bay. Rodgers was noncommittal about his future in an ESPN interview Monday night.

“I don’t think it’s going to be that much of a distraction,” defensive tackle Kenny Clark said Tuesday. “We’ve got to control what we can control as a team, and we’ve just to come out, practice, handle business and play ball. You know, we’ve got to leave that situation to the organization and Aaron.”

Rodgers wasn’t the only notable Packer missing from Tuesday’s OTA session. Most of his receivers also weren’t there, including All-Pro Davante Adams.

Packers coach Matt LaFleur said he didn’t know whether it might have been a coordinated effort by the receivers to stay away.

“I’ve had individual conversations with each guy, but never once has that come up,” LaFleur said.

The NFL Players’ Association has advised players against attending voluntary workouts while citing the risks inherent amid the pandemic.

Although Rodgers wasn’t around, he still dominated discussions as Packers players spoke to reporters Tuesday. Many of the questions focused on the issues Rodgers addressed in the interview that ESPN aired Monday night.

“Love the coaching staff, love my teammates, love the fan base in Green Bay,” Rodgers said in the interview. “An incredible 16 years. It’s just kind of about a philosophy and maybe forgetting that it is about the people that make the thing go. It’s about character, it’s about culture, it’s about doing things the right way.

“A lot of this was put in motion last year and the wrench was just kind of thrown into it when I won MVP and played the way I played last year. This is just kind of, I think, a spill-out of all that. But it is about the people, and that’s the most important thing.”

Rodgers went on to reference Curly Lambeau, Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Brett Favre, Reggie White and Mike Holmgren while talking about how “Green Bay has always been about the people.”

LaFleur declined to comment on the issues Rodgers addressed while reiterating his hopes to have the three-time MVP back this fall. General manager Brian Gutekunst has said he has no plans to trade Rodgers, who has three years remaining on his contract.

“Aaron definitely knows how we feel about him, how he’s such an important part to our football team, such an important part to our organization,” LaFleur said. “We’re just going to continue to try to work through this and hopefully can get him back in the building at some point.”

Safety Adrian Amos was cautiously optimistic that Rodgers will remain with the Packers.

“I haven’t heard him say anything other than that, so I expect him to be (back),” Amos said. “But like I said, I’m not going to go home and cry if something else happens. I’m just playing it day by day. But of course, you want one of the greatest, if not the greatest, quarterback ever on your team. You want him out here. But everybody has to go about their business. I’m not going to knock anybody for getting what they feel like they deserve.”

Running back Aaron Jones signed a four-year, $48 million contract to remain with the Packers less than two months before the news broke regarding Rodgers’ disenchantment. Jones said he hadn’t spoken with Rodgers beforehand about the quarterback’s issues with the organization, but added that it likely wouldn’t have impacted his decision to sign a long-term deal.

“This is home,” Jones said. “This is where I love to be. I love the coaches, my teammates, the community, the system — everything. I feel like this is where I still would have been.

“Once I signed, we communicated. He told me congratulations. He was happy for me.”

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Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.

This afternoon will be mostly cloudy with a slight chance of showers and a high near 85 degrees. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with a low around 67. Tomorrow there’s a chance of thunderstorms before it becomes sunny with a high near 83.

Top story

A year later, families mourn relatives killed during violent weekend post-George Floyd protests

Last May, Tommie Gatewood was looking forward to grabbing breakfast with his 27-year-old son, who was trying to get back on his feet after losing his job.

But later that month — before the breakfast happened — Gatewood got a call saying his son had been fatally shot in Chicago. He thought it was a cruel joke until a nephew who works in law enforcement confirmed the details.

His son, Tommie Gatewood Jr., was among at least 26 people who were killed during a violent weekend last May that overlapped with protests and unrest in Chicago over the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

Without a clear plan, Chicago police officers found themselves outnumbered and unprepared as vandalism and unrest spread from downtown to neighborhood businesses and as concerns grew about violence amid the chaos, according to a report from the city’s office of the inspector general.

One year later, we spoke with three families who lost loved ones to gunfire that weekend.

“Tomorrow is not promised to you,” said Jerri Richards, whose son JaQuawn Newman was killed. “You try to live your life the right way, the best that you can, and you just pray. Take one day at a time.”

Read the full story from Elvia Malagon.

More news you need

1. City Council is poised tomorrow to rename Outer Lake Shore Drive in honor of Jean Baptiste Point DuSable. The combined cost to the city, state and CTA would total $2.5 million, Ald. David Moore said.
2. A year after protests in Chicago sounded calls for unity, shifting demographics, longstanding segregation and differing views on the role of police influence efforts to unite Black and Brown communities. Some activists say the calls to unite have not ended all differences, but the moment still mattered.
3. Officials today announced the smallest tally of new COVID-19 cases reported in Illinois since March 15 as 808 more residents tested positive for COVID-19. Fewer people are being tested each day, but the average positivity rate is back down to a record low.
4. Adam Toledo’s family announced today the founding of Adam’s Place, a nonprofit organization to help at-risk youth from Chicago and other Midwestern cities steer clear of trouble. It will be a rural sanctuary on farmland for historically underserved youth, the family’s attorneys said.
5. Four years after a car crash left her paralyzed, Judy Mahoney is fighting for her job at Byrne Elementary, where she has worked for the last three years. Funding for the position was temporary, and Mahoney and her supporters called on CPS today to allow her to stay.
6. Tribune Publishing’s CEO Terry Jimenez left the company today, the first day under new ownership for the Chicago-based company. Jimenez, who opposed the sale to Alden Global Capital, leaves with a $2.55 million package.
7. A federal grand jury has accused 22 people of spending more than $2 million in bitcoin to access thousands of payment card accounts stolen from Kmart. The hack has victimized at least 80 of the retailer’s Chicago-area customers.

A bright one

Mister Kelly’s documentary to preview on WTTW-Channel 11

Chicago will get its first look at a new documentary about the famed Rush Street nightclub Mister Kelly’s this week on WTTW-Channel 11.

The film will air as a one-hour special at 8 p.m. Thursday, followed by a rerun at 10 p.m. Sunday. The full version, clocking in at 80 minutes, premieres nationally this fall.

The film includes live footage of performances from the club, where such greats as Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Herbie Hancock and Lenny Bruce got their acts together during their up-and-coming years. Big names including Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan chose the venue as the site of their live albums.

Chicago History Museum

The executive producer of the film is David Marienthal, whose father George and uncle Oscar operated Mister Kelly’s as well as two other prominent Chicago nightclubs of the era: the London House and the Happy Medium Theater.

“Our city was the entertainment epicenter of the country during that time,” Marienthal said in a statement, “and my father and uncle built an unrivaled talent incubator.”

Read Darel Jevens’ full story here.

From the press box

The Cubs have a vexing problem, and it’s not about hitting or pitching. Some players are creating their own competitive disadvantage by refusing to take the coronavirus vaccine, Rick Telander writes.

Bulls forward Patrick Williams showed flashes of immense two-way potential during his rookie season. Now he needs to embrace that mentality and run with it, according to veteran teammate Thad Young.

While the White Sox were having a good time on the field in a 5-1 win over the Cardinals, some of their fans got into a brawl in the bleachers that was caught on video by onlookers.

Your daily question ?

As more fans return to stadiums, what is your most memorable experience attending a Chicago sports game? Reply to this email (please include your first name and where you live) and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you: How much has your daily routine returned to “normal” since being vaccinated? Here’s what some of you said…

“I’m fully vaccinated. Still taking the same pandemic precautions although I go to more places (rehab center for therapy, salon for pedicure), but not much else. Still too many unknowns to completely relax.” — Ayani Good

“I’m not carrying around constant anxiety.” — Angela Ballard

“My family had a baby shower last weekend in a park. We’re mostly health care workers and seniors.” — Felice Eleazar

“My routine has changed very much for the better. I actually made it to Wrigley Field for the first time since 2019! Also, I can visit relatives without the fear of a severe case of covid. It is wonderful!” — Jo Ann Fields

Thanks for reading the Chicago Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.

Sign up here to get the Afternoon Edition in your inbox every day.

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NEW YORK — Disney’s iconic “Winnie the Pooh” will travel from the forest to find a home off-Broadway this fall.

“Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation” will bring together Pooh, Christopher Robin, Eeyore, Tigger, and the gang in a new production developed by Jonathon Rockefeller.

The show will feature songs by the Grammy-winning Sherman Brothers with additional music from A.A. Milne, and will be told using life-size puppetry. Richard and Robert Sherman have written music for Disney classics “Mary Poppins,” The Jungle Book” and “The Aristocrats.”

“Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation” opens Oct. 21 at Time Square’s Theater Row. Tickets go on sale June 1.

Away from the Great White Way, shows have already opened with socially distanced audiences, but that’s not possible for the 41 Broadway theaters. The financial demands simply don’t favor keeping many seats purposefully empty.

“Hamilton,” “The Lion King” and “Wicked” return Sept. 14, as does “Chicago.” “Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations” restarts Oct. 16, “The Phantom of the Opera” on Oct. 22, “Jagged Little Pill” on Oct. 21 and “Come From Away on Sept. 21. “Six,” which had planned to open officially on the day of the 2020 shutdown, will restart Sept. 17, as will David Byrne’s “American Utopia.” “Mrs. Doubtfire” will return Oct. 21. More are expected to announce new dates soon — for the fall.

Broadway shows can’t just restart like flipping a light switch, especially big musicals. Cast members may have left, requiring new hiring. Orchestras and ensembles must re-learn their parts, choreographers need the cast in the room to synchronize and costumers need to check fittings. Producers say the task is like opening a show from scratch all over again.

Contributing: Mark Kennedy, Associated Press

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Authorities in Berwyn responded to an accidental explosion and gas leak in the western suburb Tuesday afternoon.

It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone was injured, and police said the explosion was determined to be accidental.

Crews were called at 2:05 p.m. to the explosion in the 3300 block of Oak Park Avenue, police said in a statement posted to Facebook.

Video from a news helicopter showed fire crews spraying water in a building adjacent to the Familia Fresh Market. Debris appeared to be strewn along the sidewalk outside the building.

Firefighters were working to “extinguish fires and contain an active gas leak,” police said. Surrounding buildings were evacuated.

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The No. 4 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft showed some real signs of becoming an elite two-way player someday. Now, he just has to embrace that mentality and run with it, according to one veteran teammate.

It was a heart-to-heart that veteran Thad Young had to have with the 19-year-old rookie the last night of the regular season.

Not the first time the Bulls forward had that discussion with Patrick Williams, but the one he was hoping had the most staying power to take into an important summer.

The Bulls beat a resting Bucks team in that finale, and did so while sitting Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic.

Williams, the No. 4 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, finished with 11 points.

Not good enough, according to Young.

“I asked him [after the game], ‘Do you want to be great?’ ‘’ Young said. “He said, ‘Yes, I do want to be great.’ He asked, ‘What do I need to do to be great?’ I said in games like this you have Zach and ‘Vuch’ out. So this is your shot. You have to believe that. So when they put a guy like [Bucks point guard] Jeff Teague or any guard on you, I shouldn’t have to say ‘Oh, we’ve got a mismatch.’ You should be calling your own mismatch out and you should be taking advantage of that and being aggressive.

“If you want to be great that’s what the great players do. They impose their will on the game at all points in the game and he has to do that a little bit more than he’s done this season. I understand it’s his first year. but he’s shown us and the Bulls fans so much in this first year of what he can be to the point where his standards should be set even higher next year, and he should want to be a top two or three guy on this team next year.’’

If the Bulls want to reach the postseason next season, Williams needs to be a top three player on this roster. Not the guy that passes up shots far too often and explains it as “playing the right way.’’

The “right way’’ for a man-child that is built like a 6-foot-7 middle linebacker? Continue being that willing defender with the hopes of developing into an elite wing defender, but also become that third scoring threat.

It’s when Williams takes that mentality to the floor that the new Bulls regime can honestly say they hit something special in their first draft.

“I think we have the pieces,’’ Young said, when asked to assess the ceiling of the Bulls next season. “I think we just need Pat to take his game to the next level.’’

Williams will definitely have that chance.

With the league already looking to lighten protocols this offseason, and Williams committed to participate in the August Summer League in Las Vegas, the forward has a coaching staff and teammates willing to play village and raise him.

It will be a two-way street, however.

Taking advice to continue moving toward becoming a two-way player is one thing. Showing it on the court in an aggressive manner is another. One that that soft-spoken Williams has to embrace — out of his comfort zone or not.

“I really think I can be as good as I want to be,’’ Williams said recently. “The size, the strength, the athleticism, I pretty much have it all. For me it’s more mental than anything. I have to learn how to control my mentality and to really dial in 100 percent mentally, and I think that will make me the player that I want to be and that I need to be.’’

And if not? Young and another heart-to-heart will definitely be waiting.

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He is set to appear in director Franco Nero’s upcoming Italian film, ”L’uomo Che Disegnò Dio,” opposite Nero’s wife, Vanessa Redgrave, ABC and CNN report. 

Disgraced Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey has reportedly landed his first role since being accused of sexual misconduct in 2017.

He is set to appear in director Franco Nero’s upcoming Italian film, ”L’uomo Che Disegnò Dio,” opposite Nero’s wife, Vanessa Redgrave, ABC and CNN report.

“I’m very happy Kevin agreed to participate in my film,” Nero told ABC. “I consider him a great actor and I can’t wait to start the movie.”

USA TODAY has reached out to Nero and Spacey’s representatives for further comment.

More than a dozen men and teen boys accused Spacey of sexual harassment and assault in 2017, after which the once-revered actor’s career came to a halt. Spacey was fired from his starring role in the final season of Netflix political drama series “House of Cards” and his last role was in 2018’s biodrama ”Billionaire Boys Club.”

“Rent” and “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp was among the accusers. He told BuzzFeed in 2017 that he was 14 when he attended a party at Spacey’s apartment, where he said an inebriated Spacey made sexual advances.

In October 2017, Spacey issued a statement on Twitter saying he didn’t remember the encounter but apologized. In the process, he came out as a gay man, sparking criticism he was trying to distract attention from Rapp’s accusations.

“I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years,” Spacey wrote.

Since 2017, he has mostly kept a low profile, occasionally releasing videos and interviews. In one video in 2018, he appeared to criticize the Me Too movement while in character as Frank Underwood, his “House of Cards” character. In an interview last year on the Bits & Pretzels podcast, he equated his downfall from sexual misconduct allegations to the struggles of those losing their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A criminal case brought against him ended in 2019, when prosecutors in Nantucket, Massachusetts, announced they would drop the charge that Spacey sexually assaulted a teen bus boy at an island bar in the summer of 2016, “due to the unavailability of the complaining witness.”

Rapp filed a lawsuit last September, detailing what he has said publicly about Spacey: That the older actor made a sexual advance to him when a teenage Rapp attended a party.

Earlier this month, a U.S. district judge in Manhattan ruled that another man accusing Spacey of sexually abusing him in the 1980s when he was 14 in the same lawsuit as Rapp would not be allowed to proceed anonymously in court. The man, identified as C.D., had met Spacey in the actor’s suburban New York acting class before the alleged abuse, according to the lawsuit that seeks over $40 million in damages.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said the man’s privacy interest does not outweigh the presumption of open judicial proceedings and the prejudice to Spacey’s defense that would occur if he could proceed anonymously. Individuals with information that might support Spacey also would not know to come forward, the judge added.

Read more at usatoday.com

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Andrea Holthouse Cheng, a 16-year veteran of the Department of Water Management, takes over after holding down the fort since the ouster of Commissioner Randy Conner.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot moved Tuesday to plug the holes in her cabinet — by handing the permanent jobs to two acting department heads.

Andrea Holthouse Cheng, a 16-year veteran of the Department of Water Management who has held down the fort since the January ouster of Commissioner Randy Conner, will be Conner’s permanent, $174,600-a-year replacement.

The same script was followed in the Department of Family and Support Services. First Deputy Commissioner Brandie Knazze, who’s been riding herd since the Feb. 26 resignation of Lisa Morrison Butler, gets the $180,276-a-year permanent job.

Both new commissioners assume their roles at a time of unprecedented turnover in the mayor’s cabinet.

And both have their work cut out for them.

Cheng inherits a department at the center of the Hired Truck and city hiring scandals and the more recent scandal involving racist, sexist and homophobic emails.

She must sell and implement Lightfoot’s go-slow plan to replace lead service lines carrying water from street mains to nearly 380,000 Chicago homes.

Rather than ask all Chicago homeowners to share the cost, Lightfoot has opted to start small, with the city replacing lead service pipes at 600 homes in impoverished Chicago neighborhoods.

For homeowners willing to hire contractors and assume replacement costs, the city has offered to waive up to $3,300 in permit fees, connect the new service line to the water main and install a free water meter when the project is completed.

The city will also choose an entire block — roughly 50 homes — where all service lines will be replaced as the water main is replaced. The city has applied for an Illinois EPA revolving loan of up to $4 million to cover that program.

Chicago also won a heated competition with Hammond for the right to sell Lake Michigan water to Joliet. The deal could bring $30 million in annual revenues. But Cheng must preside over the Joliet-bankrolled construction of a 31-mile pipeline and other pumping station infrastructure improvements costing $592 million to $810 million.

Morrison Butler was a favorite among aldermen because of her tireless work to combat Chicago’s entrenched problem of homelessness and prevent the coronavirus from spreading like wildfire through the city’s homeless shelters.

Family and Support Services delivers social service programs and resources to more than 400,000 of Chicago’s most vulnerable residents.

“She was compassionate and fair. Whoever comes behind her has big shoes to fill,” said Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), chairman of the City Council’s Budget Committee said on the day she announced her resignation.

Housing Committee Chairman Harry Osterman (48th) has called Morrison Butler “one of the shining stars” at City Hall, leaving Lightfoot with a “huge hole” to fill.

“She has worked to help homeless people, children, senior citizens in a very tireless way. She really touched a lot of lives in Chicago with people who need it the most and did so always with the City Council in a spirit of partnership,” Osterman said.

“I can’t say enough about how hard-working and what a great person she’s been for the city of Chicago.”

In a press release announcing the appointments, Lightfoot described Knazze as an “exceptional leader” who has already helped Chicagoans through “several difficult moments” including the polar vortex of 2019.

“As our city begins to reopen and double down on its socioeconomic supports for our most vulnerable residents, Brandie’s appointment … couldn’t have come at a better time,” the mayor was quoted as saying.

“I am … beyond confident that she will make Chicago a better, more equitable place for those who have been struggling long before the pandemic hit our city.”

The mayor called Cheng a “skilled engineer and a national expert in the water industry” who has a “deep understanding of, not only the necessity of providing water services…in an equitable and practical way, but the science behind it.”

Cheng said her priority is to “promote professionalism and create diversity in our workforce” so the department is “prepared for new challenges like expanding regional growth and launching lead service line replacement.”

“I am passionate about water,” she was quoted as saying.

Knazze said she has spent the last six years offering “tangible solutions to real-life problems facing Chicagoans every day.” The work of Family and Support Services “has become even more necessary in the city’s successful response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” she was quoted as saying.

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A moment of silence was also held in New York and a rally was held in Los Angeles to honor Floyd. Globally, a rally took place in Germany and Floyd’s death was marked by U.S. embassies in Greece and Spain.

MINNEAPOLIS — George Floyd was honored Tuesday with a moment of silence in the city where he died at the hands of police, a death captured on wrenching bystander video that galvanized the racial justice movement and continues to ripple a year later.

Floyd’s sister Bridgett and other family members joined Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, citizens and activists at a downtown park to observe the moment at an event that included music and food trucks.

“It’s been a troubling year, a long year,” Bridgett Floyd told the crowd. “But we made it. They say with God all things are possible and I’m a true believer in that … The love is very outpouring today. The love is here. George is here.”

A moment of silence was also held in New York and a rally was held in Los Angeles to honor Floyd. Globally, a rally took place in Germany and Floyd’s death was marked by U.S. embassies in Greece and Spain.

A family-friendly street festival was also planned at the Minneapolis intersection where Floyd died. That intersection was disrupted by gunfire just hours before the event.

Associated Press video from 38th Street and Chicago Avenue — informally known as George Floyd Square — showed people running for cover as shots rang out. Police said a man, who they believe was injured in the shooting, later went to a nearby hospital with a gunshot wound. Police spokesman John Elder said he was in critical condition but was expected to survive.

Philip Crowther, a reporter working for AP Global Media Services, which provides live video coverage, reported hearing as many as 30 gunshots about a block from the intersection. Crowther said a storefront window appeared to have been broken by gunshots.

“Very quickly things got back to normal,” Crowther said. “People here who spend a significant amount of time, the organizers, were running around asking, ‘Does anyone need a medic?’”

Police said witnesses reported seeing a vehicle speeding away. Elder said no one was in custody by midday Tuesday.

Like other major cities, Minneapolis has been struggling with rising gun violence, a problem made worse, in part, by many officers leaving the embattled force since Floyd’s death. A 6-year-old girl was fatally shot and two other children wounded in recent weeks. Frey last week unveiled sweeping public safety proposals aimed at fixing the problem. Other groups are pursuing a more radical remaking of the police department.

The intersection of 38th and Chicago has been barricaded since soon after Floyd’s death. It quickly turned into a memorial — and also a challenging spot for the city, with police officers not always welcome.

The square was transformed Tuesday into an outdoor festival, with food, children’s activities and a long list of musical performers. The “Rise and Remember George Floyd” celebration, including a candlelight vigil, caps several days of marches, rallies and panel discussions about his death and confronting racial discrimination.

Floyd, 46, who was Black, died May 25, 2020, after then-Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck, pinning him to the ground for about 9 1/2 minutes. Chauvin, who is white, was convicted last month of murder and faces sentencing June 25. Three other fired officers still face trial.

In New York City, elected officials including Mayor Bill de Blasio and U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries joined the Rev. Al Sharpton in kneeling for 9 minutes, 29 seconds. “As we took a knee, imagine how long that was on a human being’s neck,” Sharpton said. “Never switched knees, just dug in. It’s time we correct policing in this country.”

Many Floyd family members were planned to meet with President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C. Biden called family members after the Chauvin verdict and pledged to continue fighting for racial justice.

Floyd family attorney Ben Crump said he hoped Biden would renew his support for policing reform named for George Floyd that would ban chokeholds and no-knock police raids and create a national registry for officers disciplined for serious misconduct.

“Now is time to act,” Crump said Tuesday on CNN. “Not just talk but act.”

Floyd’s brother Philonise, appearing alongside Crump, said he thinks about George “all the time.”

“My sister called me at 12 o’clock last night and said ’This is the day our brother left us,’” he said, adding: “I think things have changed. I think it is moving slowly but we are making progress.”

Bridgett Floyd told the crowd in Minneapolis that Biden broke his promise. “We need that bill passed. We don’t want a watered down bill … My message to the president: Get your people in order … We’re going to continue to fight this good old fight.”

Rapper Nur-D, whose real name is Matt Allen, was among those who took to the Minneapolis streets after Floyd’s death and eventually founded an organization, Justice Frontline Aid, to support safe protest. He described the past year as “like we’ve lived 20 years inside of one” and hoped that people would feel “honesty and a real sense of togetherness” during Tuesday’s celebration.

“If you’re angry, you can be angry. If you’re sad, you can be sad,” Nur-D said. “If you’re feeling some sense of joy over the verdict and some sort of like step in the right direction, and you want to celebrate that, do that as well.”

The event was organized by the George Floyd Global Memorial. Angela Harrelson, an aunt of Floyd’s and a member of the board of directors, said the organization will display some artwork left at George Floyd Square in a pop-up gallery.

Separately, the Floyd family announced the launch of a fund that will make grants to businesses and community organizations in the neighborhood, as well as broader grants “encouraging the success and growth of Black citizens and community harmony.” The money comes from $500,000 earmarked as part of the city’s $27 million civil settlement for the Floyd family earlier this year.

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Associated Press writer Amy Forliti contributed to this report.

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Greene excoriated safety protocols adopted by House Democrats, including a requirement that masks be worn on the House floor. She also called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “mentally ill” while suggesting that the rules were comparable to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust.

WASHINGTON — Republican leaders forcefully condemned GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday, calling her comments comparing COVID-19 safety measures like mask-wearing to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany “appalling.”

“Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling,” House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said in a statement, which stopped short of calling for Greene to face disciplinary measures. “The fact that this needs to be stated today is deeply troubling.”

Greene, a conservative firebrand from Georgia and ally of former President Donald Trump, has thrived on stirring controversy, pushing conspiracy theories and forcefully confronting her colleagues since taking her seat in the House in January. But, until now, Republican leaders have proven hesitant to criticize her and refused to join with Democrats earlier this year when they voted to strip her of committee assignments.

Their rebuke Tuesday came after Greene made an appearance on a conservative podcast, “The Water Cooler with David Brody,” released last Thursday. In her interview, Greene excoriated safety protocols adopted by House Democrats, including a requirement that masks be worn on the House floor. She also called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “mentally ill” and suggested that the rules were comparable to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust.

“You know, we can look back in a time and history where people were told to wear a gold star. And they were definitely treated like second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany,” Greene said on the podcast. “This is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.”

After her remarks sparked a firestorm of online criticism, Greene leaned in to the comparison further.

On Tuesday, she tweeted out a news story about a grocery store chain that plans to allow vaccinated employees to go maskless. Those who do would have a logo on their nametags indicating they had been vaccinated.

“Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi’s forced Jewish people to wear a gold star,” Greene tweeted.

Pelosi, who previously suggested that Greene could face an ethics inquiry, called her comments “so beyond reprehensible” that they should have “no place in our country.” Democratic Illinois Rep. Brad Schneider proposed censuring Greene.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Greene’s comments one of her “frequent outbursts that are absolutely outrageous and reprehensible.” Still, he said any disciplinary action against her would have to come from the House.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, the No. 3 House GOP leader, said “equating mask wearing and vaccines to the Holocaust” minimized “the most significant human atrocities ever committed.”

The furor is just the latest provocative chapter in the activist-turned-lawmaker’s brief tenure in the House.

Earlier this month, Greene followed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez off the House floor, shouting that the Democrat supported “terrorists” and doesn’t “care about the American people.” She also appeared in Facebook Live video filmed outside Ocasio-Cortez’s office, taunting the congresswoman through the mail slot of a locked door to “get rid of your diaper and come out and be able to talk to the American citizens.”

Before her election, Greene supported Facebook posts that advocated violence against Democrats and the FBI. In one 2018 post, she speculated that “lasers or blue beams of light” controlled by a left-wing cabal tied to a powerful Jewish family could have been responsible for sparking California wildfires.

And in February 2019, Greene appeared in an online video filmed at the U.S. Capitol, arguing that two Muslim lawmakers weren’t “really official” members of Congress because they didn’t take the oath of office on the Bible.

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