Make the most of the spring weather this month: See an interactive exhibit exploring Dr. Jane Goodall’s life or exercise outdoors with PAWS Chicago.Read More

A draft for the ages has the Bears looking at a sky’s the limit outlook after drafting Justin Fields and revamping the offensive line. Chicago’s 5th round pick, OT Larry Borom makes one of his first appearances as a Bear and Bears Radio sideline reporter Mark Grote joins the show to talk about the reversal of fortunes in Chicago.

The post Keepin It 100: A Chicago Bears Podcast; A New Era Begins first appeared on CHI CITY SPORTS l Chicago Sports Blog – News – Forum – Fans – Rumors.Read More

The remarks by Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., a one-time moderate who’s evolved into an ardent Donald Trump champion, came as Cheney seems likely to be tossed from her leadership post next week.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Elise Stefanik stated her case Thursday for replacing Rep. Liz Cheney as the No. 3 House Republican leader, implicitly lambasting Cheney’s battles with former President Donald Trump by saying, “We are one team and that means working with the president.”

The remarks by Stefanik, R-N.Y., a one-time moderate who’s evolved into an ardent Trump champion, came as Cheney seems likely to be tossed from her leadership post next week. Cheney, R-Wyo., has repeatedly rejected Trump’s false insistence that he lost the 2020 election because of widespread fraud, and has blamed him for inflaming followers who assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Speaking on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, Stefanik said she is committed to “sending a clear message that we are one team and that means working with the president and working with all of our excellent Republican members of Congress.” Stefanik repeatedly used “president” in referring to Trump.

Facing opposition from Trump and the House’s two top Republicans — Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Whip Steve Scalise — Cheney has remained defiant.

In an opinion essay in The Washington Post, Cheney implored her GOP colleagues on Wednesday to pry themselves from a Trump “cult of personality” and declared that the party and even American democracy were at stake. “History is watching,” she said.

Trump issued a statement giving his “COMPLETE and TOTAL Endorsement” to Stefanik, 36, who’s played an increasingly visible role within the GOP.

Stefanik responded quickly, highlighting his backing to colleagues who will decide her political future.

“Thank you President Trump for your 100% support for House GOP Conference Chair. We are unified and focused on FIRING PELOSI & WINNING in 2022!” she tweeted.

The careers of Cheney and Stefanik are seemingly racing in opposite directions, as if to contrast the fates awaiting Trump critics and backers in today’s GOP.

The turmoil also raised questions about whether the price for political survival in the party entails standing by a former president who keeps up his false narrative about a fraudulent 2020 election and whose supporters stormed the Capitol just four months ago in an attempt to disrupt the formal certification of Joe Biden’s victory.

In her essay, Cheney denounced the “dangerous and anti-democratic Trump cult of personality,” and warned her fellow Republicans against embracing or ignoring his statements “for fundraising and political purposes.”

She said McCarthy has “changed his story” after initially saying Trump “bears responsibility” for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. McCarthy, who is tacitly backing the drive to oust her, has said Trump issued a video to try halting the violence.

Dozens of state and local officials and judges from both parties have found no evidence to support Trump’s assertions that he was cheated out of an election victory.

Cheney, in the Post, agreed with Democrats that a bipartisan investigation should focus solely on the riot and not on disturbances at some of last summer’s racial justice protests. In an apparent reference to her own situation, she said she would defend “basic principles” of democracy, “no matter what the short-term political consequences might be.”

Biden weighed in at the White House on Wednesday.

“I think Republicans are further away from trying to figure out who they are and what they stand for than I thought they would be at this point,” he told reporters.

Cheney, a daughter of Dick Cheney, who was George W. Bush’s vice president and before that a Wyoming congressman, seemed to have almost unlimited potential until this year. Her career began listing after she was among just 10 House Republicans to back Trump’s impeachment for inciting supporters to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, when five died.

Stefanik, who represents a mammoth upstate New York district, began her House career in 2015 as a moderate Republican.

She opposed Trump’s ban on immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries, and joined Democrats in voting against Trump’s effort to unilaterally redirect money to building a wall along the Southwest border. She also led an effort to recruit female candidates for her party.

Stefanik’s rural district, which Barack Obama carried in his successful 2008 and 2012 presidential runs, was subsequently won twice by Trump. She morphed into a stalwart Trump defender and was given a high-profile role during the 2019 House Intelligence Committee impeachment hearings.

That was widely seen as a strategic move by the GOP to soften its image by giving a woman a prominent role. Stefanik’s status and visibility within the GOP have soared since then.

Cheney is the highest-ranking GOP woman in Congress. There are just 31 Republican women in the House, about one-third of Democrats’ total but up from the 13 who served in the last Congress.

There were no other visible contenders for Cheney’s post, with a secret ballot by House Republicans on her fate possible next week. A vote on a replacement, seemingly Stefanik, could come that day as well.

Cheney was making little noticeable effort to cement support by calling colleagues or enlisting others to lobby on her behalf, said two House GOP aides who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the situation. A third person familiar with Cheney’s effort also said she was not lining up votes.

Cheney’s opposition to Trump put her out of step with most House Republicans, 138 of whom voted against certifying the Electoral College vote for Biden’s victory.

Republicans say a McCarthy speech backing Cheney at a closed-door House GOP meeting in February was largely credited with her surviving an earlier push by conservatives oust her, in a 145-61 secret ballot.

A top House GOP aide has said McCarthy won’t do that this time.

___

Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in New York, Bruce Schreiner in Frankfort, Kentucky, and Lisa Mascaro, Jill Colvin, Alexandra Jaffe and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report.

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A new survey by The Actors Fund found that 76% of respondents lost income and 40% reported reduced food security.

NEW YORK — Like so many, the pandemic upended life for actor and dancer Rena Riffel. The Los Angeles-based performer needed help with rent, utilities and counseling when jobs suddenly dried up.

“Being an artist, we are already very fragile with our finances,” she said. ”It’s like an ebb and flow. So when the pandemic happened and everything shut down, for myself and for everyone else, there’s really no hope. There’s no opportunity.”

Riffel’s experience is echoed in a new survey by The Actors Fund that illustrates the depths of need created by the COVID-19 pandemic in the arts community. Released Thursday, it reveals financial hardship, food insecurity and lost housing.

The survey of 7,163 people helped by the organization — including Riffel — found that 76% of respondents lost income and 40% reported reduced food security.

Some 28% fell behind in rent or mortgage and 20% were forced to change housing. Ten percent of respondents had to sell a large asset, such as a house or a car.

“We see the pandemic as having a long tail on its impact on performing artists and entertainment professionals, and especially people involved in live entertainment,” Joe Benincasa, CEO of The Actors Fund, said to The Associated Press.

A massive 79% of respondents reported that COVID-19 had a negative impact on their mental health, with increased feelings of anxiety or depression.

“For people working in the gig economy, not always knowing when they’re going to work again — that stress — the impact is tremendous,” said Benincasa.

The Fund provides a national safety net for performing arts and entertainment professionals in the fields of film theater, television, music, opera, radio and dance.

Last year, it served more than 40,000 individuals, a 71% increase from 2019. It distributed more than $19 million in direct cash to about 15,000 individuals.

The Fund helped Riffel get a grant to cover living expenses, gave her financial advice, pointed her to more schooling and how to pay for it, and offered workshops to broaden her skill set and supplied wellness counselling.

“It just really helped me stay focused and continue to work on myself as an artist and being creative,” she said. “And just really remain hopeful. I think that was the key to it all: Just know that things are going to get better.”

The survey, which has a margin of error of plus/minus 1.2%, was conducted by Morey Consulting. The median household income among all respondents was $34,186.

Benincasa credited the work done by the Fund in the years before the pandemic for keeping the loss of health insurance coverages relatively lower than anticipated. Only 10% of respondents reported that they lost health insurance and have not had it replaced.

He said the marketplace provided by the Affordable Care Act was one reason the rate was low, as well as the Fund’s trained counselors who were able to find clients affordable health care.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that Broadway theaters can reopen Sept. 14. “Phantom of the Opera,” Broadway’s longest-running show, announced Wednesday that it would resume performances Oct. 22, with tickets going on sale Friday. More shows are expected to circle return dates in the coming weeks. Actors’ Equity Association, the national labor union representing more than 51,000 actors and stage managers in live theater, said the news meant the theater community is “one step closer to the safe reopening” of Broadway.

But Benincasa warned that for those in the arts community, more bad numbers are likely to be generated in the coming months. The Fund is preparing for a surge in requests for direct financial assistance around housing.

“People will be slow to get back on their feet. They’ve accumulated debt. They’ve maxed out credit cards. They have rent and mortgages to catch up on,” he said.

“My sense is that the fall, when the moratorium is lifted on rent and mortgage, I think that could have a serious impact on people’s lives and that we’ll see an uptick.”

Benincasa credited his group’s social workers and front-line staff for helping so many, especially at their residences, which includes a nursing home in Englewood, New Jersey. He also thanked the people who have staged concerts and events to raise money for the Fund.

“We’re proud of the community, how they stepped up to help us help people,” he said. As for the Fund’s work, he said: “We’re going to stay with it.”

In Los Angeles, Riffel said things are beginning to look up for her. “I’ve started auditioning again,” she said. “Being an artist is really what feeds my soul.”

She credits The Actors Fund for helping her though the dark time. “If I wouldn’t have found my way to them, I don’t know what my life would be because I feel like my life has improved in every way.”

___

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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As Chicago announces its return to recreational normal, COVID-19 joins the usual threats to health and safety.

A woman was eaten by a bear in Colorado Friday, shortly after my wife and I arrived for a long weekend. Not just mauled; consumed. A bad end. This tragic and gruesome event didn’t give us pause before hitting the trails, however. Such attacks are rare. Plus, it happened near Durango, the southwest corner of the state. Far from Boulder.

Just another risk to consider, along with whether I need those ski-pole-like sticks that older hikers use to keep their balance — not yet — or if we should cut our hike short because of the weather — we did, a good choice, since it began hailing, hard, two hours after we left the mountainside. And of course the most dangerous peril of all: driving to the trailhead.

Not to forget the newest, and therefore scariest, risk: COVID-19. Most hikers wore masks, even though we were outside and more than six feet apart, generally. Those who didn’t have masks would pull out the necks of their T-shirts and tuck their noses inside as we passed, almost as a form of greeting. I am fully vaccinated, so I wore my mask below my chin when nobody was around, slipping it into place as people approached. It seemed the polite thing to do, and I didn’t consider my personal freedom trod upon.

Back home, Lori Lightfoot announced Chicago will lead the charge returning to festivals, concerts and summertime fun. Will people show up? Of course we will. Dinners and music and trips give life the illusion of significance.

That’s why I raced to get my shots. We flew to Colorado, a few days before my wife’s “full immunity” kicked in, to help my mother through some minor surgery. Because of the timing, my wife initially decreed we would wear face shields on the plane. That was scary. Face shields strike me as something nurses wear in intensive care units. To wear one in an airport is a bridge too far, like putting on a welding mask to shake hands. But I was willing to humor her. Heck, I once took Metra downtown wearing a kilt, backwards. What is shame to me?

But the day before the flight, when she practiced putting on the face shield, the ones she bought online were murky, and she abandoned the idea. I uttered a silent prayer of thanks.

So I actually understand those who don’t wear masks. They find it embarrassing, unmanly, unnecessary. Or can’t be bothered, the way one in eight Americans don’t wear seat belts. To me, knowing that some 30,000 Americans will die on the road this year, and that wearing a seat belt cuts in half the chances of being seriously hurt in a crash, it’s worth the three seconds to reach and click. But that’s me. Not everyone values their lives and maybe they have a point. Some have less to lose.

Although vaccination is not a purely personal choice akin to wearing seat belts, since failing to get vaccinated not only puts yourself at risk, but undercuts the “herd immunity” which would keep the coronavirus from spreading and mutating. It’s both reckless and selfish. Then again, there’s a lot of that going around.

Not to mock those who make different safety choices. That stings. Years back, when my wife and I were hiking in bear country, we hung a “bear bell” off our pack — the idea is, the bears hear it and are scared away. But other hikers grinned at us as we passed on the trail. You could see the thought bubble over their heads: “Novices.” So we took the bell off. We didn’t want to be laughed at by strangers more than we didn’t want to be attacked by a bear. That’s people for you.

Speaking of people. Her name was Laney Malavolta. The woman killed by a bear Friday. She was 39, a wine sales rep who loved the outdoors. She was walking her dogs when she encountered the hungry mama bear and her two cubs. I mention this because it’s too easy to view the deaths of other people as abstractions, grist for argument, when they aren’t being ignored completely, like the 579,000 American COVID-19 deaths that get shrugged off by people shrieking about government control, as if prodding them to wear a mask is fun. Colorado wildlife authorities shot the bear and her cubs.

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Budtender Datrianna Meeks delves into new forms of cannabis intake — and ones that are coming soon.Read More

The Chicago Bears selected a quarterback at the 2021 NFL Draft. Justin Fields will now have the keys to the team from the second he is named the starting quarterback and beyond. They have the chance to develop him into a superstar. It would also help if the rumors surrounding Aaron Rodgers of the Green […]

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The ‘Saturday Night Live’ comedian gets his points across during topical sketch show on HBO Max.

“Every time I see a white person, they’re like, ‘Black lives matter, Black lives matter, Black lives matter!’ They’re so excited to tell me, it’s so strange.” – Michael Che in “That Damn Michael Che,” starring Michael Che.

That damn Michael Che has been doing an increasingly damn good job co-anchoring “Weekend Update” on “Saturday Night Live” since 2014 and he’s pretty damn funny in a new HBO Max original sketch comedy vehicle that’s smart, insightful, topical and intended to make you uncomfortable from time to time — which it succeeds in doing, and that’s just the kind of comedy we could use right about now.

Case in point: a running bit in the pilot episode (which runs for a breezy 20 minutes, as does the second episode), featuring Che and his fellow “SNL” cast member Cecily Strong (terrific as always) as residents of a high-rise building who get stuck in an elevator, much to Che’s dismay — not because he’s claustrophobic or frightened, but because Strong’s character is a kind of anti-Karen, i.e., a well-meaning white woman who finds it impossible to have a conversation with a Black person without immediately talking about race and how “woke” she is.

As the elevator doesn’t move and Che keeps pushing buttons in the hopes something will happen, Strong says to Che, “I just want to say I’m sorry … for everything going on in the country. With the police shootings and ALL of the injustices and for white privilege. I’m an ally, obviously” — and she points to the “BLACK LIVES MATTER” button on her bag. “Actually, my nephew is half-Black.”

The lights go out. Yep, they’re stuck all right.

Che: “F—.”

Again: he’s not cursing about the elevator. He’s wondering what he did to deserve being stuck in a confined space with Anti-Karen.

Cut to a filmed bit in which four NYPD officers film a PSA on a basketball court, offering “some quick and easy things you can do, to not get shot by us.” You can imagine how that goes sideways.

With current and/or former “SNL” cast members Colin Jost, Heidi Gardner and Colin Quinn and guest stars such as Omari Hardwick, Method Man and Billy Porter lending their considerable talents to the proceedings, every sketch on “That Damn Michael Che” hits the mark. And from time to time, we cut to Che in a backstage type setting, where he offers his laid-back but often biting and sharp observations to an unseen and apparently small ‘audience,’ most likely the crew of the show. “There’s nothing worse than a dancing cop,” he says, “only because if that cop does happen to kill me later, I got killed by the dancing cop. F—ing humiliating.”

The series also features animated bits, and the time-honored comedy sketch show staple of the faux commercial, e.g, a well-filmed and hilarious ad for “Fitbit Protest,” a smart watch that keeps track of your heart rate “as well as your contributions to social change.” Says one young white woman, “We just marched further than MLK!” before she high-fives a fellow protester. And there’s a scathingly funny “flashback” to Che’s childhood, when his mother (played by “SNL” alum Ellen Cleghorne) learns his older brother has become a cop and is horrified he’s given up his job at his uncle’s chop shop to become a law enforcement officer. “I should have seen the signs,” says mom. “Look at you! Wearing that Yankees jacket, them wraparound sunglasses, all that blue you’re wearing. I was HOPING that you was a Crip! And what kind of example are you setting for your brother!”

We eventually return to the elevator sketch, and a note-perfect epilogue illustrating how our supposedly enlightened, liberal, non-racist white woman might have the best intentions but still has a long way to go. And don’t we all.

Based on the first two episodes, “That Damn Michael Che” is a good show with the potential to be great.

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