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We knew heading into the 2021 regular season that the Chicago Cubs were set to have three critical expiring contracts at the end of the year in Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, and Anthony Rizzo. I think most expected some kind of trade with Bryant to be hashed out during the winter, but alas, he is […]
“The difficult thing for me was adjusting to the new team,’’ new Hall of Famer Toni Kukoč said of joining the Bulls. “As well as I played here in Europe, it was something totally different. I had to get used to a new system, new teammates, a new coaching staff.” | Getty Images
The three-time NBA champion was “overwhelmed” with the news that he is a member of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2021.
Jerry Reinsdorf was the one that delivered the news to Toni Kukoč on Sunday.
The Bulls board chairman called his former player up while Kukoč was spending some time in Croatia, where his basketball journey all started.
That’s why a few days later, the three-time NBA champion was able to take a deep breath and simply declare, “It’s good to be me these days.’’
Doing his first official press conference since he was given the news, Kukoč was reflective, complimentary, and humbled all at the same time, discussing on Tuesday the path it took to get to Chicago, and more importantly to make sure he was good enough to stay there.
“Well it wasn’t easy,’’ Kukoč said of the jump to the Association. “You all know that at that time not much was known about the European players. And we were coming in there, I don’t want to say total enigmas, but the few games we played against the Dream Team, some folks saw us playing the Olympics or World Championships, and that’s about it.
“I’m really, really happy that [former general manager] Jerry [Krause] stuck with that idea to bring me to the Bulls. Obviously he had a world champion team there, but his idea of how can I fit in that team was something of him talking me into coming over there, and then giving it a shot was the turning point for me. I decided to come over and everything else was pretty much recorded.’’
Kukoč, a native of Croatia, was selected 29th overall by the Bulls in the 1990 NBA Draft, but didn’t join the team until the 1993-94 season.
One interesting point he made in his presser was that was a key season to make the jump to the Bulls, not only because they were a world-wide brand, but also that was the same time that Michael Jordan was chasing his baseball dream and was away from the team.
That meant less pressure for the then-rookie to have to deal with.
“The difficult thing for me was adjusting to the new team,’’ Kukoč said. “As well as I played here in Europe, it was something totally different. I had to get used to a new system, new teammates, a new coaching staff. Maybe in a way Michael not being there my first year helped me a little bit because I got a lot of minutes that first year right away, and could play my natural role more than I would later in my Bulls years.’’
Whatever it was it worked, as the hardware started coming Kukoč’s way very early on, named NBA All-Rookie Second Team that first season.
His time with the Bulls also included being on three championship teams (1996, 1997, and 1998), as well as being named Sixth Man of the Year in 1995-96.
“Obviously I’m happy that I’m here in Croatia, the place that I started playing this game of basketball,’’ Kukoč said. “Actually that night [I found out], I went to the game of my old club, and I was watching them play and all the memories of the place we played and practiced kind of came over me. There were some pictures of me from my younger days playing there, so in a way it’s overwhelming.’’
Easy to see why. Kukoč now joins the likes of Hall of Famers Scottie Pippen and Jordan once again. Former teammates, but forever in the same building.
General Iron’s metal shredding facility is shown here under construction on the Southeast Side in October 2020. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
The city must set a high bar to prevent new pollution sources from moving in and for cleaning up existing sources.
We agree with the Sun-Times’ recent editorial on General Iron that something must be changed so that future decisions regarding pollution and environmental justice are able to be made more quickly and in consideration of impacted residents.
As the editorial noted, the proposed relocation of General Iron’s recycling facility from Lincoln Park, a majority white neighborhood, to the Calumet Industrial Corridor, which is majority Hispanic/Latinx and Black, caused a great public outcry and inspired a month-long hunger strike by several residents in protest.
While we are pleased that Mayor Lori Lightfoot and U.S. EPA Administrator Michael Regan finally listened to community members who fought to stop the General Iron project, the proposed facility is the most recent in a long line of environmental injustices along the Calumet River that need to be addressed.
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.
To that end, our organizations, in partnership with Calumet Connect, recently released six policy recommendations for Chicago as it overhauls zoning in order to improve public health and address environmental injustice for residents living near the Calumet Industrial Corridor. They include:
Using a process that encourages and uses community feedback, including feedback about health equity;
Making decisions based on the cumulative impact of development;
Closing the loophole that allows industries in the Calumet Industrial Corridor to handle and store hazardous materials without special review;
Creating and enforcing policies that reduce negative public health impacts of warehouse truck traffic;
Requiring industrial facilities to plant and maintain landscaping that separates facilities from residential neighborhoods; and
Improving the public’s access to information about public health and environmental impacts of industrial activities.
We urge Mayor Lightfoot to take these recommendations into account as the city reassesses the true impact that General Iron’s relocation would have on residents in the Calumet Industrial Corridor. This is an opportunity to set a high bar for future generations. After decades of fighting to prevent new pollution sources and clean up existing sources, the Southeast Side deserves no less.
Olga Bautista, Southeast Side resident, community planning manager, Alliance for the Great Lakes Christina Harris, director of land use and planning, Metropolitan Planning Council
Police and violence
I agree with much of Bob Angone’s letter on Tuesday. Many policemen and policewomen are heroes. They throw themselves into danger to protect others. But if it’s true that “no one hates bad cops more than good cops. And the overwhelming majority of cops (are good cops)” then why did so many falsify accounts of what happened in the Laquan McDonald case and so many others like it?
Justice was served in that case only because there were video recordings. Same was true regarding George Floyd.
We need to mourn both police officers when they are the victims of violence AND the victims of police violence. And we all need to work to reduce violence from each side.
Why can’t we do both?
Kevin Coughlin, Evanston
What’s in a good newspaper
If ever the relevance of healthy local newspapers could be so clearly demonstrated, it was in the contents of Monday’s Sun-Times and in the imminent takeover of the other major Chicago newspaper by a group known for caring mainly about its bottom line.
In few publications like the Sun-Times’ Monday edition would you see such a well-reasoned call as David Roeder’s plea for deep-pocketed Chicagoans to rescue its rival from buyers with goals that threatened its integrity; Neil Steinberg’s tribute to cartoonist Bill Mauldin, urging readers to visit a local museum to see his realistic depictions of World War II soldiers in combat zones on display; and an editorial urging swift action by government and businesses to upgrade their cybersecurity defense systems.
Other in-depth coverage included Laura Washington’s reminder of an era she was too young to have witnessed, in which a North Side nightclub owner provided a stage where highly talented Black entertainers could be seen by influential audiences; a lengthy article by Zac Clingenpeel about a courageous Lincoln Park-area boy who must rely on organ transplants to stay alive; Tom Schuba’s coverage of downtown protests in support of Palestinians; and a report by Schuba and Sophie Sherry on police being shot on the West Side, apparently by a gunman whose earlier shots drew them to the scene.
Also in the Monday paper you found Fran Spielman reporting on the prospects Chicago’s mayor has for re-election, among an extraordinary range of issues she covers regularly at City Hall.
A hand-held device can never convey the depth of information citizens clearly need to stay honestly and fully informed.
Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, shows off her “I got my COVID-19 vaccine” sticker after receiving her second dose in January. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times file
City officials “strongly advise businesses to verify that individuals are fully vaccinated,” but it’s up to them how to do that. Dr. Allison Arwady acknowledged many of them “may not have the capacity to do that,” so they’re advised — but not required — to keep masking policies in place until Chicago lifts all pandemic restrictions.
Chicago’s top doctor would love for fully vaccinated residents to keep wearing their masks, but she’s not telling them they must.
Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady on Tuesday announced the city will follow the state by falling in line with controversial new guidelines set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that allow immunized people to roam restaurants, stores and most other settings without a mask — even though there’s no surefire way to verify a person’s vaccination status.
“Enforcement is a challenge,” Arwady said at a City Hall news conference. ”Part of the decision here around moving from a mask mandate to a mask advisory is recognizing that much of the country at this point has really moved away from mandates. … At some level here, we are really needing folks to be doing the right thing.”
That means the honor system will be in place for most venues except buildings owned by the city of Chicago, plus health care settings, schools, public transit and other “congregate settings” where masks are still required for all.
City officials “strongly advise businesses to verify that individuals are fully vaccinated,” but it’s up to them how to do that. Arwady acknowledged many of them “may not have the capacity to do that,” so they’re advised — but not required — to keep masking policies in place until Chicago lifts all pandemic restrictions as expected later this summer.
“We ask businesses and other settings to post a sign on the door letting the public know their current masking policy, so the public can choose whether to enter,” Arwady said.
About 48% of all Chicagoans have gotten at least one shot, and only 38% are fully vaccinated, and “many of our communities that have been the hardest-hit by COVID-19 have even lower vaccination rates,” she said.
So if you want to keep wearing that mask — as Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Arwady have said they will — the commissioner urges you to keep covering up.
Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-TimesMayor Lori Lightfoot, pictured at a news conference in March 2020 with Gov. J.B. Pritkzer and Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady.
“A mask is mostly about protecting others: I wear my mask to protect you, you wear your mask to protect me,” Arwady said. “It helps keep my germs to myself, but it is a tangible sign that I’m thinking about somebody besides myself. I’m thinking about the greater good, and masks and distancing and hand washing have gotten us this far.”
And to those who do decide to go bare faced: “Please be kind,” Arwady said. “Regardless of mandates, we expect many Chicagoans to continue to wear masks in public spaces for a variety of reasons,” like protecting fellow residents with underlying health conditions.
The unmasking comes as COVID-19 infection rates fall to their lowest points in two months across the city and the rest of the state.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 1,495 new cases were diagnosed among 58,222 tests, lowering the average statewide positivity rate to 2.3%. That figure suggests the virus is spreading at its slowest rate since St. Patrick’s Day.
COVID-19 vaccine doses administered by day
Graphic by Jesse Howe and Caroline Hurley | Sun-Times
Metrics have improved significantly in most other states, too, meaning Chicagoans now have more flexibility to travel without quarantining or showing proof of a negative test, as advised by the city’s public health department.
The agency updated its emergency travel quarantine order to include just seven states considered hot spots, from which travelers must self-isolate or have a clean test upon arrival in Chicago: Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, Florida, Maine, West Virginia, and Washington.
The quarantine order — which hasn’t resulted in any fines in almost a year since it was implemented — doesn’t apply to people who are two weeks removed from their final vaccine dose.
Chicago Department of Public HealthThe city’s latest travel advisory map.
But fewer people are signing up for shots each day. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported just 25,936 vaccinations were performed Monday, the state’s lowest one-day total in two weeks.
That’s partly because a data reporting issue left out some doses administered at pharmacies, but vaccine demand has shrunk by more than half in Illinois since mid-April.
The state hit an all-time high seven-day average of nearly 133,000 shots given per day April 12. That rate is now just 56,593 — as low as it’s been since the end of February, back when scarce supply was the biggest issue facing the state.
Arwady said she hopes the new mask guidance “spurs confidence in vaccine and encourages you if you’ve been on the fence. Now’s the time.”
The virus is still claiming dozens of lives per day. The state reported 21 additional COVID-19 deaths, raising Illinois’ death toll 22,466 since last March.
To sign up for a vaccine appointment in Chicago, visit zocdoc.com or call (312) 746-4835.
The owner of Evanston’s Bookends & Beginnings is taking on the retail giant in an effort to save independent bookstores.
Independent bookstore owner Nina Barrett has a lot on her plate—or actually, her bookshelves. Seven years ago, Barrett, 60, and her husband, a librarian, opened Bookends & Beginnings by the Northwestern University campus in Evanston, and now, just after a recent expansion of the store, she’s the single named plaintiff of a class action lawsuit against Amazon.…Read More
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