Patrick Murphy’s first Chicago visit was well-timed.

He and his wife, Linda, traveled to the city from their Akron, Ohio home and made Navy Pier one of their stops on Friday — the first day the pier was open to the public after being closed for nearly eight months during the pandemic.

“It was perfect, because we planned the trip about a month ago and the fact that we arrived today, and it’s reopening, and he’s never been here,” said Linda Murphy.

“It’s a beautiful sunny day. We’re just wandering around, sightseeing, and then going to get deep-dish pizza for dinner.”

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

The pier is welcoming visitors as part of its phased reopening plan. The pier’s parking garages are now open, along with tour boats and cruises. A new hotel, Sable, opened last month. Some restaurants are open, though capacity remains limited.

Renata and Matthew King came to the pier Friday to take photos and enjoy the popular waterfront destination’s outdoor attractions, including the Ferris wheel and carousel.

“We heard about it on the news and knew we would have to come,” Renata King said. “It’s almost a little extra windy, but we’re still enjoying it.”

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Though some visitors were disappointed that more restaurants weren’t open and had hoped for more music, activities and events to celebrate the day, most were happy to get outdoors, be near the water and enjoy the sun.

“We went on the Ferris wheel, and got some funnel cake. We walked the peer, and after this were planning on going to the Disney store. We’re so excited about the reopening, we wanted to go last week but we got the date wrong,” said Elizabeth Bacharach, 18, from Lombard, Ill., who was there with her friend, Aurelia Dominguez.

“I miss stuff like this,” added Dominguez, also from Lombard. “Even if you don’t spend money at restaurants or on overpriced rides, just walking up and down with people you love, people you want to hang out with. The scenery — I miss that kind of vibe. Just getting outside, not being home.”

Zinya Salfiti/Sun-Times

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See Red Fred and Doug Thonus, interview Mark K from Australia about the future of the team. They also talk about the disappointing loss to Thibs and the Knicks.

The post The Big Red Bus Chicago Bulls Podcast – Episode 64 – Two Legends and Mark K from Australia first appeared on CHI CITY SPORTS l Chicago Sports Blog – News – Forum – Fans – Rumors.Read More

Join Keepin It 100’s Draft Dr. Phil and Shayne “The Smartest Man” Marsaw as the draft unfolds, bringing you coverage of every pick of the first round! Get ready for twists, turns, and surprises as the best Bears coverage on the planet!

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

New Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields has his first bobblehead as part of the 2021 NFL Draft series.

The post Justin Fields’ first Chicago Bears bobblehead first appeared on CHI CITY SPORTS l Chicago Sports Blog – News – Forum – Fans – Rumors.Read More

Demond Goudy, 20, is facing murder and attempted murder charges for the April 18 shooting at the fast food restaurant in the 3200 W. Roosevelt Road.

An alleged gunman who opened fire on a car at a West Side McDonald’s drive-thru, killing 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams, was ordered held without bail Friday.

Demond Goudy, 20, is facing murder and attempted murder charges for the April 18 shooting at the fast food restaurant, at 3200 W. Roosevelt Road.

Marion Lewis, 18, was also ordered held without bail for Jaslyn’s murder after he was taken into custody last week following a police chase on the Eisenhower Expressway. Lewis, who Cook County prosecutors identified as the driver, was shot by a police officer during the pursuit.

On the day of the deadly shooting, Goudy was seen getting out of a silver Audi before he fired his .40-caliber handgun at the tan Infiniti Jaslyn and her father were in, Assistant State’s Attorney Kevin DeBoni said.

A second uncharged gunman also opened fire on the Infiniti with a Draco AK-47-style rifle with a “banana clip,” DeBoni said.

Goudy and the other shooter got back into the Audi afterward, but got out again when Jaslyn’s father began to drive away. They fired on the car a second time before speeding away, DeBoni said.

Jaslyn was shot multiple times and died at Stroger Hospital. Her father was also wounded.

Police later recovered 19 .40-caliber shell casings and 28 7.62-mm shell casings from the crime scene, prosecutors said.

Guns matching the casings were found in Lewis’ possession when he was taken into custody, DeBoni said.

A video Lewis posted on social media earlier that day showed him driving around with Goudy and the uncharged shooter, who was seen holding the Draco rifle, DeBoni said.

Surveillance cameras also recorded Goudy at a BP gas station, at 3159 W. Chicago Ave., when the group pulled up in the Audi, DeBoni said. There, a man noticed damage to the car, and allegedly gave Lewis a business card, saying he could repair it.

That man said he couldn’t identify members of the group, but his business card was later found inside Lewis’ apartment, DeBoni said.

At the time of the shooting, Goudy had been out on bond for weapons, robbery and drug charges in four separate felony cases, DeBoni said. As a juvenile, Goudy had faced similar charges, the prosecutor added.

On Friday, Judge David Navarro revoked Goudy’s bail for his pending cases.

Cathryn Crawford, an attorney with the not-for-profit Lawndale Christian Legal Center, told Navarro earlier this week that she needed time to investigate prosecutors’ evidence and potentially find witnesses before Goudy’s bond hearing.

Crawford sought to delay the hearing again Friday. As Navarro listened to her request, allowing her to be physically in the room with her client during the livestreamed hearing, she compared the proceedings to a Russian courtroom, where defendants “sit in a cage” and are not allowed to converse during hearings with their attorneys.

Crawford also sought to prevent prosecutors from discussing Goudy’s juvenile criminal history and argued that prosecutors had not provided sufficient records in the case that would allow her to property defend Goudy. She even asked that DeBoni be sanctioned.

Navarro rejected Crawford’s motions.

Navarro allowed Crawford to speak with Goudy, but Crawford later returned to the hearing, saying she they hadn’t been able to speak privately because Goudy wasn’t provided a private room and their conversation could be overheard.

“It’s a violation of [Goudy’s] due process to continue this [hearing],” Crawford said.

Crawford didn’t provide any mitigation for Goudy at Friday’s hearing.

Goudy is expected back in court for Jaslyn’s murder on May 19.

Chicago police

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South Elgin youth, now 11, pleased his letter sits at the New York state grave of the Great Bambino

His name is Jake Curzon.

Jake, 11, is a New York Yankees devotee morphed into a big time Cubs fan.

Stay with me.

Last April, 2020, when Jake was 9, he sent a letter to Yankees legend Babe Ruth to save baseball from a virus attack.

In early June 2020, Jake’s letter made its way into a Sunday morning brief on national TV.

The story is now a prayer finally answered … well, the way Jake now sees it anyway.

So let’s head back to home plate.

On April 3, 2020, Jake, who lives in South Elgin, Illinois, wrote a letter to Babe Ruth in hopes the king of swing would help save last year’s baseball season — and lend an assist in a COVID-19 cure.

Jake’s letter was dispatched via hand delivery by his aunt to the Gate of Heaven cemetery in Hawthorne, New York, where baseball’s Goliath is buried under a massive memorial ringed by a necklace of baseballs and a mountain of memorabilia.

The cemetery was COVID closed, so Jake’s aunt handed a custodian his letter, a written request in a chatty note to the sultan of swat.

Jake’s letter wound up placed at the foot of Ruth’s headstone.

“Hi, Mr. Babe Ruth,” began the letter.

“Would you ever imagined this would happen?” wrote Jake. “The sport you loved is canceled for the spring and maybe the summer.

“We all have (been) praying for this to end.

“My family loves the Yankees. My Papa (grandfather) worked at the Polo Grounds when he was young. Maybe you have met him in Heaven? His name is Ed Curzon and he was born in The Bronx – He loved the Yankees!

“And, he loved watching you play. We hope this virus ends soon.”

Provided.

Two months later, in early June 2020, after someone spotted Jake’s letter near the base of Ruth’s memorial, a tip resulted in a small CBS Sunday segment on national TV and was picked up in a local Elgin press commentary that July.

Last week, a close Sneed pal visited Ruth’s gravesite and spotted Jake’s letter, now encased in a protective covering sitting on a wire stand in a place of prominence next to the memorial.

A photo was taken.

“Hmmm. Might be a good follow-up story seeing the letter is local; still there; in pretty good shape and in a prominent spot,” said my friend.

So I called Jake, who is looking forward to playing baseball this year.

“Oh, boy. Oh, boy. My letter is still there,” said Jake. “It must be dirty now. Is it really on a stand?”

Jake was watching the NFL draft on TV when I called.

“Well, last year was pretty messed up,” chirped Jake, now a fifth grader at Corron Elementary School.

“But I always figured Babe Ruth had to be an angel in heaven and talking to my grandpa, who loved the Yankees and was from New York and was his biggest fan,” said Jake.

“I figure they’d have a lot to discuss about their days on the old Polo Grounds.”

So Sneed asked: “Did the letter work?

“Yes,” said Jack. “I feel my prayer has finally been answered.

“Baseball is back on track now! And someday I may get to finally see a Yankees game —although dad says probably when they play the Chicago White Sox. I’d rather see it at Yankee Stadium.

“But right now I’m hoping to go to a game of my other most favorite team — the Chicago Cubs!”

“My dad’s family are big Yankees fans, but my mom’s family are big Cubs fans so I have both teams in my blood!”

But, hark! Jake, who sounds like the beloved “The Beaver” character on the hit 1950s “Leave it to be Beaver” TV show, began to opine like Howard Cosell:

“And I really think he [Ruth] helped the Cubs by opening up the season for the Yankees, which had an effect on the rest of the MLB.”

Jake, who would soon put on a Cubs cap following the interview, launched into a studied reflection on how Ruth is a life lesson for all of us.

“I read a book about Babe Ruth,” said Jake.

“I learned when he was my age, he was a big trouble maker. But when he got introduced to baseball, it enabled him to let all that bad stuff go and start all over. A second chance.

“And if you don’t win the first time, there’s always another game in baseball.”

Then … Hey! Hey! Jake, who also looks like a kid in a Norman Rockwell painting, threw one out of left field.

“Remember Babe Ruth struck out twice before he hit his famous home run — the one where he pointed his bat in the right direction before he hit that ball into history,” said Jake.

“The Babe didn’t give up.”

Jake’s dad, Dan, reflected: “Sometimes Jake sounds like an old soul.”

Jake’s mom, Jolene, decided to add a little levity.

“He may love baseball and thrilled the game is basically back on track, but Jake still puts ketchup on his hot dog — preferring not to eat it Chicago style.”

Pass the mustard!

Sneedlings . . .

Attention: Cindy McCain will be the guest speaker at the 26th Annual Rush University Woman’s Board Spring Luncheon taking place virtually on at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, May, 11. McCain has become a superstratum speaker. . . . Saturday birthdays: Tim McGraw, 54; Jamie Dornan, 39; and Tina Campbell, 47. . . . Sunday birthdays: David Beckham, 46; Dwayne Johnson, 49; and Donatella Versace, 66.

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There’s always the chance Fields won’t work out, but we can cross that bridge when it collapses. For now? Go ahead and be excited. After all, you should be.

A day after the Bears traded up to select Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields with the 11th pick in the NFL draft, investigators were still searching for someone — anyone — with a negative word to say about this momentous development.

In Chicago and throughout Beardom, meanwhile, the sun shone with unwonted splendor. Birds sang songs of hope. Darkened football hearts soared, strangers embraced (wait, are we allowed to do that yet?) and the Promised Land gleamed on the horizon.

Where are the next 10 or 15 Super Bowls being played, anyway?

Everyone — and by that we mean literally everyone — loves what the Bears did Thursday night, moving up from No. 20 by dealing their 2022 first-round pick, a fourth-rounder and a fifth-rounder to the Giants for the chance to draft Fields and rewrite the franchise’s sick, twisted history at the most important position in sports.

Beaten-down fans are suddenly coming to terms with a new feeling that resembles happiness. Embattled general manager Ryan Pace and coach Matt Nagy have new leases on life. Undistinguished veteran quarterback Andy Dalton can forget about being the starter for long. OK, so maybe he’s not as excited as the rest of us.

And Fields, 22, walks into a situation where he really doesn’t face any pressure at all. All he has to be is the best quarterback the Bears have had since, well, how does ever sound?

“The Bears pulled off one of the biggest steals in the modern draft era,” read one national headline.

“Justin Fields is everything that has eluded the Bears for a century,” read another.

Pretty much every outlet that graded the first round — Yahoo, CBS Sports, Pro Football Focus and many others — gave the Bears its very highest mark. Teams always blow smoke about their own picks, but it’s beyond unusual for the fourth quarterback taken in a draft to generate essentially unanimous raves from the outside looking in.

There’s always the chance, of course, that Fields won’t work out and that the same kind of toxic negativity that oozed despite Mitch Trubisky’s earnest efforts will ooze despite Fields’. We can cross that bridge when it collapses.

For now? Go ahead and be excited. And consider this column one more vote of confidence in what the Bears have done and in the transformational player Fields can be.

Pro-Fields sentiment might run deepest among those who focus more on the college game. Folks in SEC country will tell you Georgia’s coaches made a terrible misjudgment when they named incumbent Jake Fromm — who’d led the Bulldogs to the national title game in 2017 — the starter over freshman Fields in 2018. Fromm was a future NFL player Kirby Smart and his staff knew they could trust. But missed in that decision was the growing reality that — at the apex of the college game — not having it in you to score damn near every time you touch the ball is a fatal flaw.

Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence-led offense was unstoppable by the time the Tigers crushed Alabama in the 2018 title game. Joe Burrow-led LSU took offense to a shocking level in 2019. In 2020, Alabama was perhaps the best offensive team ever, having surrounded Mac Jones with such outrageous talent that really nothing could’ve gone wrong.

Fields’ enormous ability enabled Ohio State to become a near approximation of that. And none of those other QBs ever had a better performance than Fields’ in a 49-28 blowout of Lawrence and Clemson in a 2020 playoff semifinal. The Buckeyes piled up an unthinkable 639 yards on the Tigers. Fields — playing in severe pain — received multiple shots in an injury tent during the game and still threw six touchdown passes.

We’re only guessing that Zach Wilson or Trey Lance — the Nos. 2 and 3 picks, respectively, behind Lawrence — are capable of rising to that level. We’ve seen Fields do it.

“This guy’s toughness on a scale of 1 to 10 is an 11,” Pace said, “and you just love that about him.”

We’re allowed to love it, too, you know, even if it does mean agreeing with Pace again.

There’s no way to quantify this, but there has to be more of an exhilarated buzz around the selection of Fields than there has been around any Chicago draftee since the Bulls took Derrick Rose No. 1 overall in 2008. Take a moment to let that sink in.

There was a can’t-miss excitement about Kris Bryant after the Cubs picked him at No. 2 overall in 2013. Blackhawks fans certainly could point to the No. 1 overall pick of Patrick Kane in 2007. But they weren’t going to play the most important position in sports for the one team that — deservedly or not — owns the town.

There was Trubisky in 2017 — momentous, indeed — but he came prepackaged with doubts and boos. There are no complaints about Fields, not yet.

“I think I fit perfectly,” Fields said.

Of course he does. As for the rest of us?

Go on, let yourself have some fun with this one.

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A report by the inspector general of the Illinois Department of Human Services detailed the miscommunications and mismanagement at the state’s department of veterans’ affairs during the COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans Home located about 95 miles south of Chicago.

Just hours after the release of a scathing report on the state’s handling of a COVID-19 outbreak at an Illinois veterans’ home, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday he wouldn’t have hired the former director of veterans’ affairs had he known she would “abdicate” her responsibilities.

That was essentially the description of former veterans’ affairs chief Linda Chapa LaVia’s handling of the coronavirus crisis in the report from the inspector general of the Illinois Department of Human Services at the LaSalle Veterans Home, where 36 veterans have died of COVID-19.

Several witnesses told the inspector general that LaVia was “not a hands-on or engaged day-to-day Director,” leaving the management of the agency and the veterans homes themselves to her chief of staff.

The report detailed the miscommunications and mismanagement at the state’s department of veterans’ affairs during the outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans Home located about 95 miles south of Chicago.

At an unrelated news conference, Pritzker said he asked for the investigation “so that we would all know what happened and we would all know how to fix it.”

The report confirms “that changes needed to be made” and Pritzker said in hindsight he would not have hired LaVia, a former Democratic state representative he tapped for the job in 2019.

“When I made the decision to hire her, you have to remember that she led the investigation with the incident that happened at the Quincy veterans home a few years ago, and so she seemed like an ideal person to be able to root out the problems in our veterans homes,” Pritzker said.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times file

“But, I have to admit that if I knew then what I know now I would not have hired her.”

At least 13 residents died at the Quincy home during an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease between 2015 and 2018, and dozens more were sickened by it.

In his successful campaign to unseat Gov. Bruce Rauner, Pritzker hammered the Republican for the Legionnaires deaths, accusing him of “fatally mismanaging” the situation.

Now faced with veterans deaths under his own watch, Pritzker said neither he nor the new acting head of the Veterans Affairs Department, will “rest until we’re satisfied that all of our veterans are safe.”

For Republicans, that promise comes too little, too late.

“The governor’s lack of oversight and his agency’s incompetence created this crisis,” House Republican Leader Jim Durkin said at a news conference, calling the report “damning and heartbreaking.”

“As the report details today, there were many failures along the road that led to this tragedy,” Durkin said. “There were many leaders who didn’t step up to provide for the safety of the veterans in our state’s care. We’ve lost 36 honored veterans at LaSalle and many more suffered through a terrifying illness that may cause long term damage. All of this was avoidable.”

Rich Hein/Sun-Times file

Durkin and fellow GOP Representatives Tom Demmer of Dixon, Deanne Mazzochi of Elmhurst and Dan Swanson of Alpha called for a criminal investigation into the mismanagement of the outbreak.

LaVia did not immediately return a request for comment.

The inspector general’s report, which was released Friday, details what was going on behind the scenes at the veterans’ affairs department during the deadly outbreak that began at the home last fall.

It follows two reports that were released in November that detailed conditions at the LaSalle home, including ineffective hand sanitizer, employees showing up for work after testing positive for the coronavirus and inadequate “hand hygiene.”

Those findings prompted Pritzker and veterans officials to launch an investigation.

And they were followed by the firing of Angela Mehlbrech, then the head of the LaSalle home, in December. She was rarely seen there or outside of her office, according to the inspector general’s report.

Rich Hein/Sun-Times file

Along with having no comprehensive COVID-19 plan, task force or committee at the home, the report concluded that department officials consolidated too many responsibilities under LaVia’s chief of staff Tony Kolbeck, and failed to delegate and assign clear responsibilities or learn from outbreaks at other long term care facilities.

The interim head of the LaSalle home, Anthony Vaughn, told the inspector general that Kolbeck took on LaVia’s duties after she basically “abdicated” her authority to the chief of staff.

Kolbeck — who had no experience in long- term care, infection control procedures, or medicine in general — also took on the duties of the senior administrator at the department’s homes, a position that was vacant during the time of the outbreak and requires approval from the governor’s office, according to the report.

After several rounds of interviews to fill that position in late 2019, Pritzker’s office did not approve a candidate. The governor did not address that decision during his Friday news conference.

When LaVia stepped down in January after the coronavirus outbreak claimed 36 lives as the LaSalle home and another 36 at two other state-run veterans homes, Pritzker declined to say whether he had requested the Aurora Democrat’s resignation.

But he characterized it as “a mutual decision that she would step down.”

“What we want to do is restore confidence that people have in our veterans’ affairs department, and we want to do our best to take care of our veterans,” Pritzker said at the time.

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Instead of a passport, the governor said residents across the state will be provided with something more akin to a doctor’s note — and only if they ask for it.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is taking a pass on the “Vax Pass.”

Days after Chicago public health officials teased the idea of a COVID-19 vaccine passport that residents would need for admission to select concerts and other crowded summer events, Pritzker on Friday said the state won’t be implementing any mandatory system for Illinoisans to prove they’ve been fully immunized against the coronavirus.

Instead of a passport, the governor said residents across the state will be provided with something more akin to a doctor’s note — and only if they ask for it.

“What we are looking at is making sure that people have available to them some sort of verification if they want it, only at their own behest,” Pritzker said at a downstate news conference.

The governor didn’t provide specifics on the plan, other than to say his office is “looking for some way to have an electronic measure available to [residents] to show when or where they may need it — that’s all.”

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file

“Just something, again, at the user’s desire, you know, if they want to use something like that. We want to make that available, but otherwise it’s not something that we would require,” Pritzker said.

City dwellers won’t be required to get their “Vax Pass” either, even though the idea floated Tuesday by Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady raised the hackles of some privacy-minded residents.

The COVID-19 vaccine passport concept has sparked some protests in the United Kingdom and other nations where it’s being considered as a requirement for entry to airports, arenas and other crowded venues. Federal officials have said there’s no such plan for the U.S.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

The city’s pass is actually geared toward young people, with the promise of free concerts or preferred seating at other large gatherings with “a youth flavor” being dangled as an incentive to those who roll up their sleeves.

“We are never going to require vaccination for all Chicago residents,” Arwady said earlier this week. “That will never be a requirement, but I think increasingly, where people are wanting to do things and lower their risk, vaccination is going to be your ticket to doing some of that.”

Arwady said more details on the “Vax Pass” program would be released in the next few weeks.

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LOS ANGELES — “Game of Thrones” actor Esme Bianco sued Marilyn Manson on Friday, alleging sexual, physical and emotional abuse.

In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles, Bianco says that Manson violated human trafficking law by bringing her to California from England under the false pretenses of roles in music videos and movies that never materialized.

An email seeking comment from an attorney who has previously represented Manson was not immediately returned. Manson said earlier this year that all of his intimate relationships have been entirely consensual.

The lawsuit alleges that in 2009, Manson, whose legal name is Brian Warner, flew Bianco to Los Angeles to shoot a video for the song, “I want to kill you like they do in the movies.”

The suit says that Bianco was expected to stay at Manson’s home instead of the hotel where she had been booked, and there was no crew, only Manson himself shooting with a phone.

Manson deprived Bianco of food and sleep though gave her alcohol and drugs, locked her in a bedroom, whipped her, gave her electric shocks, tried to force her to have sex with another woman and threatened to enter her room and rape her during the night, the suit alleges. No video was ever released.

The two began a long-distance relationship later that year, the suit says.

Manson again brought Bianco to Los Angeles in 2011, ostensibly to appear in his feature film “Phantasmagoria,” though that project also never materialized.

During that visit, Manson would not allow Bianco to leave home without his permission, chased her around their apartment with an ax, cut her with a “Nazi knife” without her consent, and photographed the cuts and posted the pictures online, also without her consent, the lawsuit alleges.

“It took Ms. Bianco years to understand the extent of Mr. Warner’s physical, sexual, psychological, and emotional abuse. Her career suffered due to the deterioration of her mental health,” the suit says. “She deals with complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, depression, and panic attacks to this day as a result.”

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, but Bianco said in a statement that she is coming forward publicly to air her allegations with hopes that others will do the same.

Bianco first aired many of the allegations in February. She was one of several women who spoke out after actor Evan Rachel Wood said on social media that Manson sexually, physically and emotionally abused her during their relationship. Manson’s record label and agents dropped him at the time.

In response to the allegations in February, Manson wrote on Instagram that “these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality. My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners. Regardless of how — and why — others are now choosing to misrepresent the past, that is the truth.”

Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives also said in February that they were investigating domestic violence allegations against Manson dating from 2009 to 2011 in West Hollywood. They did not identify the woman who made the report.

Bianco’s attorney did not immediately reply to an email Friday asking whether she had reported any of the allegations in the lawsuit to police.

Bianco played Ros in the first three seasons of HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”

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