PORT FOURCHON, La. — Divers searching for oil industry workers on a capsized lift boat prepared to enter the vessel Friday, a rescue effort complicated by daunting technical challenges and continued bad weather.

The hope is that the 12 missing people have found air pockets to survive inside the Seacor Power, most of which is submerged in 50-foot seas about 8 miles off the Louisiana coast.

“Right now, we’re hoping for a miracle,” said Steven Walcott, brother of missing worker Gregory Walcott.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Carlos Galarza said early Friday that as long as weather permits, divers will try to get into the vessel.

Two of the missing had been communicating with rescuers by two-way radio Tuesday after the ungainly platform ship flipped over in hurricane-force winds that day. They were spotted clinging to the overturned hull but returned to seek shelter inside after a third man fell into the water and was lost. There have not been any signs of life since then, officials said.

Time is of the essence because air pockets will eventually become depleted of oxygen, said Mauritius Bell, diving safety officer at the California Academy of Sciences.

“It would be somewhat analogous to breathing in and out of a paper bag,” he added. “At some point, it’s not survivable.”

Surviving could depend on the size of the pocket. “The larger the better, and it’s all about time,” Bell said.

On Thursday, searchers knocked on the ship’s hull without response.

“There is the potential they are still there, but we don’t know,” Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Lally said Thursday. “We’re still searching for 12 people because there are 12 still missing.”

Relatives of the missing gathered at a fire station at Port Fourchon, a sprawling base for much of the offshore oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico. The port, busy with cranes, cargo and heavy equipment, is where workers from across Louisiana and beyond load up on a fleet of helicopters and ships that take them to the rigs for long stretches of work.

Marion Cuyler, who is engaged to crane operator Chaz Morales, wavered between optimism and fear after the relatives got closed-door briefings from Seacor executives and the Coast Guard. She said she believes all 12 are inside the vessel.

“Hopefully, they are all in one room, and they can just rescue them all in one day,” she said.

The families expressed frustration during the briefing, and want answers to their questions about why the boat ventured out to sea despite warnings of an approaching storm, she said.

“I asked, ‘Who gave the orders’ and of course — silence,” she said. Cuyler said she’d told her husband-to-be that he shouldn’t be going out in such weather. “And he knew they shouldn’t have been going out.”

Bell said it’s fortunate that rescuers know the design of the vessel.

“It’s not like they’re diving an old wreck that’s dilapidated and falling apart,” he said. “One of the things that you do have going for them, that is in their favor, is that it was a working boat, so you would know the layout of the vessel.”

Six people were rescued shortly after the vessel capsized Tuesday. The first Coast Guard ship arrived at the scene at 5:10 p.m, about 40 minutes after the initial distress signal, and spotted five men clinging to the hull, Galarza said.

A helicopter crew from the Bristow marine company lowered life vests and two-way VHF radios to them, he said. Two of the men dropped into the water and were picked up by the Coast Guard. About the same time, Good Samaritan vessels rescued four other people, he said.

The Coast Guard was able to talk to the three people still on the ship’s hull using the radios, but the sea was too rough to reach them. Later Tuesday night, the Coast Guard was notified that one person had fallen in the water and wasn’t seen again.

Shortly before 10 p.m., the two remaining people told the Coast Guard they were going back inside, and that was the last time the Coast Guard spoke with them, Galarza said.

On Thursday, a Coast Guard crew came within a few yards of the capsized vessel and threw a hammer at the hull in an attempt to make contact with potential survivors, the agency said. If there was any response, they couldn’t hear it over the wind and engine noise, they said.

One person’s body was recovered from the water Wednesday as searchers scanned an area roughly the size of Hawaii, the Coast Guard said. The Lafourche Parish Coroner’s Office identified him as David Ledet, 63, of Thibodaux — a town in southeastern Louisiana where many people work in the oil industry.

___

Martin contributed from Woodstock, Ga.

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WASHINGTON — A heavy metal guitarist on Friday became the first defendant to plead guilty to federal charges in connection with the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Jon Ryan Schaffer, the frontman of the band Iced Earth, has agreed to cooperate with investigators in hopes of getting a lighter sentence, and the Justice Department will consider putting Schaffer in the federal witness security program, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said.

This signals that federal prosecutors see him as a valuable cooperator as they continue to investigate the militia groups and other extremists involved in the insurrection on Jan. 6 as Congress was meeting to certify President Joe Biden’s electoral win.

Schaffer, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, was accused of storming the Capitol and spraying police officers with bear spray. He pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors in federal court in Washington to two counts: obstruction of an official proceeding, and entering and remaining in a restricted building with a dangerous or deadly weapon.

An email seeking comment was sent to an attorney for Schaffer.

Schaffer is among more than 370 people facing federal charges in the deadly insurrection, which sent lawmakers into hiding and delayed the certification of Biden’s win. The Justice Department has indicated it is in separate plea negotiations with other defendants.

Authorities say Schaffer was caught on camera holding bear spray and engaging in verbal altercations with officers in the Capitol. Schaffer was wearing a baseball hat that read “Oath Keepers Lifetime Member” on Jan. 6, but was not charged in the large case involving members and associates of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, who are accused of conspiring with one another to block the certification of the vote.

Schaffer has voiced various conspiracy theories, once telling a German news station that a shadowy criminal enterprise is trying to run the world under a communist agenda and that he and others are prepared to fight, with violence.

In court documents, the FBI said Schaffer “has long held far-right extremist views” and that he had previously “referred to the federal government as a ‘criminal enterprise.'”

He turned himself in to the FBI a few weeks after the riot, after his photograph was featured on an FBI poster seeking the public’s help in identifying rioters.

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A young boy is handed a gun by someone older, chased down a Southwest Side alley by a police officer and shot to death.

It’s a series of events now commanding the attention of Chicago, which had been anxiously awaiting the release of police body-camera video of the fatal shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo.

But a similar scenario played out nearly 30 years ago when an officer shot and killed a 12-year-old boy in Brighton Park — the youngest Chicago police shooting victim in recent memory.

Debra Fahrforth still doesn’t believe her son had a gun, as police said, when an officer shot 12-year-old Joey Chlopek the afternoon of June 6, 1992.

“I’ll never believe what the cops said about that day. My boy was jumping over the fence” when he was shot, said Fahrforth, 60.

It was nearly three decades ago, but she lives with it every day, surprised it didn’t prompt her to take her own life.

“When he died, I died,” she said.

The police said Joey was shot after pointing a .22-caliber pistol at a plainclothes officer, David Jarmusz, during a foot chase. Shot three times in an alley, Joey collapsed in a backyard in the 3000 block of West 38th Street.

Other than Jarmusz, there were no witnesses.

Sun-Times file

That 1992 police shooting has parallels with the fatal shooting in March of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, who was also running from an officer — according to the police, with a gun in his hand.

Prosecutors have said Adam was handed the gun by a 21-year-old man who had fired at a passing car minutes earlier. Officers found Adam and the man in an alley and chased them. One of the officers shot Adam in the chest as the boy turned around by a fence behind Farragut Career Academy High School. According to the video, he wasn’t holding a gun when he was shot.

In Joey’s shooting, the police said they were searching for an 18-year-old gang member and saw Joey trying to hide a gun as he stood with a group playing basketball outside Davis Elementary School, 3014 W. 39th Pl.

Provided

As the officer approached Joey, the child began to run, leading to the chase. The police said the pursuit wound through several alleys into a partially paved gangway and that Jarmusz entered the gangway from the front, identified himself and ordered Joey to stop, but the boy pointed the gun at the cop, who started shooting, hitting Joey three times.

Joey fell dead in a backyard between the front gate and a peach tree. He’d had to hop a fence to get into the yard. The police said Joey’s gun was found in a vegetable garden in the yard.

A 14-year-old boy was later charged with handing the gun to Joey at the school before the chase began.

Fahrforth says she still isn’t sure what to believe about what happened that day, pointing out that the officer had shot and wounded two other people at that point in his then-19-year career with Chicago Police Department.

The lack of video in Joey’s shooting is the most striking difference with Adam’s shooting and a source of Fahrforth’s doubt.

“I wish they had a camcorder … I’m still very doubtful” about what happened, she said.

She watched the video of Adam being shot and wonders whether that was how her own boy was killed.

“I thought: That’s my son running, not knowing what to do, scared to stop, scared to run,” she said. “And the results are: He’s gone. I feel so bad for that family. It does remind me of Joey running out of the park. It really does.”

Sun-Times file

Fahrforth filed a federal lawsuit against the officer and the city, saying Joey couldn’t have had a gun when he was shot. A judge ruled in favor of the city and the officer in 1995.

According to the lawsuit, Joey couldn’t have been holding a gun because the police said he had it in his right hand, but he was lefthanded. The suit also said Joey couldn’t have been pointing the gun at the officer because an autopsy showed the three bullets entered Joey’s side. There were no fingerprints on the gun that matched Joey’s, though the police said that about half of recovered guns didn’t have usable prints.

Fahrforth said she believes the police planted the gun on Joey, who she said was running home and had a key in his hand when he was shot. She thinks that, had there been video, it would have vindicated her son.

“If there was a video, we would’ve won,” she said.

The officer didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.

Sun-Times file

Fahrforth thinks Joey was portrayed unfairly in news reports, which she said exaggerated parts of the story and painted him as a bad kid. They said Joey had a gang tattoo on the inside of one of his fingers, which the police cited as proof he was in a gang. Family and friends disputed the meaning of the tattoo.

Fahrforth said she didn’t know about any gang connections her son had, that relatives hid that from her. She said she did her best to supervise Joey but was working two jobs.

Of Adam Toledo’s mom, Fahrforth said: “I feel for this mother. You don’t think your baby can be doing anything wrong or would be doing anything wrong. You think the streets grabbed him. I don’t know. The streets are powerful, I will say that.”

Sun-Times file

Nearly 30 years later, Fahrforth said she thinks police culture hasn’t improved. And she remains bitter about the way she thinks the police treated her even after an officer shot and killed her child.

“It’s something taken from you that you think you would never have to go through,” she said. “Do I think anything’s changed? No, I think it’s even worse today. I think there’s more trigger-happy officers out there.”

Fahrforth said she learned of her son’s death at work.

“I said to my boss, ‘My son’s dead.’ … But I never thought it was a cop. In my wildest dream, I thought it was a gang shooting. … Never thought it was an officer until I got there. And when I got there, I tried to go to my son and they wouldn’t let me. They said, ‘Cross the line, and we’ll shoot you next.’ “

Fahrforth said she asked for police protection at her house during Joey’s wake, but didn’t get it.

“We were treated like garbage,” she said. “You know, I’m still bitter with the police department.

“I know all the money in the world couldn’t bring my son back. No mother can get over this. You never get over it. You learn to live with it. I know God says to forgive, but the only thing it makes me do is accept death now.”

Fahrforth said the death of her son has been “the hardest thing” in her life.

“I’m surprised I didn’t commit suicide, to tell you the truth,” she said. “When he died, I died. Part of me went with him. I have to live with this every day. Does this officer have to live with it? He’s taking his pension right now.

“There’s three answers and only one right one,” Fahrforth said. “There’s [the officer’s] story and my thoughts, and then there’s God that knows what happened.”

Pat Nabong / Sun-Times

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The latest

Pause on Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine won’t affect United Center appointments, city’s top doc says

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Appointments at the United Center’s COVID-19 mass vaccination site will go on as scheduled next week with Pfizer doses being administered instead of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that’s been shelved nationwide, officials said Thursday.

The city’s most prominent mass vax site has been doling out Pfizer since it launched a month ago in a parking lot across the street from the Near West Side arena.

That’ll still be the case Monday, which is when the federally run site had been scheduled to switch to J&J doses — until a handful of extremely rare blood clots tied to that vaccine prompted a temporary suspension this week while experts investigate.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide additional Pfizer doses in its place, meaning plans won’t change for anyone with a United Center appointment, according to Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady.

“Everybody who has an appointment from Monday on at the United Center can keep that appointment. You do not need to do a thing. You will just receive Pfizer instead of Johnson & Johnson,” Arwady said during an online Q&A.

Read Mitchell Armentrout’s full story here.

News

12:15 p.m. US setting up $1.7B national network to track virus variants

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is setting up a $1.7 billion national network to identify and track worrisome coronavirus mutations whose spread could trigger another pandemic wave, the Biden administration announced Friday.

White House officials unveiled a strategy that features three components: a major funding boost for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments to ramp up coronavirus gene-mapping; the creation of six “centers of excellence” partnerships with universities to conduct research and develop technologies for gene-based surveillance of pathogens; and building a data system to better share and analyze information on emerging disease threats, so knowledge can be turned into action.

“Even as we accelerate our efforts to get shots into arms, more dangerous variants are growing, causing increases in cases in people without immunity,” White House coronavirus adviser Andy Slavitt told reporters. That “requires us to intensify our efforts to quickly test for and find the genetic sequence of the virus as it spreads.”

Read the full story here.

11:20 a.m. 10,000 COVID-19 vaccines appointments will be available noon Friday

Cook County Health will release 10,000 first-dose COVID-19 vaccines Friday.

The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines will be available through appointment at noon Friday, according to Cook County Health.

Appointments will be available for anyone 16 years old and older, the agency said.

Read the full story and find out how to sign up here.

10:45 a.m. After contracting COVID-19, ex-Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club boss Orvie Cochran gets early prison release

After Outlaws Motorcycle Club boss Orville “Orvie” Cochran survived a shooting outside the biker gang’s South Side clubhouse in 2000 — he slipped on some ice and fell, thus avoiding a hail of bullets — a former friend described him as “- – – damn lucky.”

Cochran’s luck still hasn’t run out.

Arrested in 2017 after being on the run for 16 years to avoid racketeering charges, he caught a break on his sentence. And now — after contracting the coronavirus in prison — Cochran has gotten a federal judge to free him from prison six months early.

The judge ordered a “compassionate” release for Cochran, who had asked for that even before getting infected because, he said, he was afraid he would and had health problems that could make COVID especially dangerous for him.

Read the complete story by Robert Herguth here.

9 a.m. What is a COVID-19 vaccine passport, and will you need one?

What is a COVID-19 vaccine passport, and will I need one?

“Vaccine passports,” or vaccine certificates, are documents that show you were vaccinated against COVID-19 or recently tested negative for the virus. They could help you get into places such as stadiums or even countries that are looking to reopen safely.

The certificates are still being developed, and how and whether they’ll be used could vary widely around the world. Experts say they should be free and available on paper, not just on apps, since not everyone has a smartphone.

In the U.S., federal officials say there are no plans to make them broadly mandatory. In some states, Republican governors have issued orders barring businesses or state agencies from asking people to show proof of vaccination.

Read the full story here.

New cases & vaccination numbers

• The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 3,581 new cases of the disease were diagnosed Wednesday among 105,661 tests to keep the state’s average testing positivity rate at 4.2%.
• About one quarter of Illinois residents have been fully vaccinated so far, with 138,538 doses administered Tuesday. The state also reported 3,536 new cases and 31 more deaths.
• Pritzker office staffer tests positive for COVID-19. The staff member was not in close contact with Gov. Pritzker Monday, or in previous days.
• Staff member of state House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch tests positive for COVID-19. The staff member was tested Monday as part of the Legislature’s required protocols to return to in-person work in the Capitol.

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INDIANAPOLIS — Police scoured a Fedex facility in Indianapolis and interviewed scores of witnesses Friday in search of a motive for the latest mass shooting to rock the U.S., as family members of the eight victims spent agonizing hours waiting for word on their loved ones.

Authorities identified the shooter as a young man in his 20s. They said they could not yet say why he opened fire with a rifle late Thursday night at a FedEx processing center near the Indianapolis airport.

Police Chief Randal Taylor also noted that a “significant” number of employees at the facility are members of the Sikh community. Taylor spoke from a hotel where family members are awaiting word on their loved ones. He says he will stay with the families until they get more information.

Deputy Chief Craig McCartt of the Indianapolis police said the gunman started randomly shooting at people in the parking lot and then went into the building and continued firing. He said the gunman apparently died by suicide shortly before police entered the building.

“There was no confrontation with anyone that was there,” he said. “There was no disturbance, there was no argument. He just appeared to randomly start shooting.”

McCartt said four people were killed outside the building and another four inside. Several people were also wounded, including five taken to the hospital.

The carnage took just a couple of minutes. “It did not last very long,” he said.

Officials with the coroner’s office said they had not been able to get to the scene to identify the victims because evidence is still being collected.

The families’ agonizing waiting was exacerbated by the fact that most employees aren’t allowed to carry cellphones inside the FedEx building, making contact with them difficult.

“When you see notifications on your phone, but you’re not getting a text back from your kid and you’re not getting information and you still don’t know where they are … what are you supposed to do?” Mindy Carson said early Friday, fighting back tears.

At 11:30 a.m., Carson said she had just heard from her daughter, Jessica, who works in the facility. She said her daughter was OK and she was going to meet her, but didn’t say where.

It was the latest in a recent string of mass shootings across the U.S. Last month, eight people were fatally shot at massage businesses across the Atlanta area, and 10 died in gunfire at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.

It was at least the third mass shooting this year in Indianapolis alone. Five people, including a pregnant woman, were shot and killed in January, and a man was accused of killing three adults and a child before abducting his daughter during at argument at a home in March.

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said the community must guard against resignation and “the assumption that this is simply how it must be and we might as well get used to it.”

President Joe Biden said he had been briefed on the shooting and called gun violence “an epidemic” in the U.S.

“Too many Americans are dying every single day from gun violence. It stains our character and pierces the very soul of our nation,” he said in a statement.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was “horrified and heartbroken” by the shooting and called for congressional action on gun control.

“As we pray for the families of all affected, we must work urgently to enact commonsense gun violence prevention laws to save lives & prevent this suffering,” the Democratic leader said in a tweet.

A witness said that he was working inside the building when he heard several gunshots in rapid succession.

“I see a man come out with a rifle in his hand and he starts firing and he starts yelling stuff that I could not understand,” Levi Miller told WTHR-TV. “What I ended up doing was ducking down to make sure he did not see me because I thought he would see me and he would shoot me.”

Gov. Eric Holcomb ordered flags to be flown at half-staff until April 20, and he and others decried the shooting, with some noting how frequent such attacks are.

Chris Bavender, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Indianapolis office, said that they are helping the police with the investigation.

A man told WTTV that his niece was sitting in the driver’s seat of her car when the gunfire erupted, and she was wounded.

“She got shot on her left arm,” said Parminder Singh. “She’s fine, she’s in the hospital now.”

___

Casey Smith is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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NEW YORK — The average major league salary dropped 4.8% to just under $4.17 million on opening day from the start of the previous full season in 2019.

The average has fallen 6.4% since the start of the 2017 season, when it peaked at $4.45 million, according to a study of major league contracts by The Associated Press. The salary downturn is yet another sign baseball could be headed toward labor strife and a possible work stoppage in 2022.

Baseball’s middle class has borne the brunt of the drop. The median salary — the point at which an equal number of players are above and below — is $1.15 million, down 18% from $1.4 million two years ago and a drop of 30% from the $1.65 million record high at the start of 2015.

Of 902 players on opening-day rosters, 417 (62%) had salaries under $1 million, including 316 (35%) under $600,000.

The 50 highest-paid players are getting 33.4% of all salaries, up from 28.6% in 2017, and the 100 highest-paid are receiving 52.4%, an increase from 42.5% in 2017.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer is the highest-paid player in 2021 at $38 million after agreeing to a $102 million, three-year contract he can terminate after one season. Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout is second at $37.1 million, followed by Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole ($36 million) and St. Louis third baseman Nolan Arenado ($35 million), who was acquired in an offseason trade with Colorado.

The World Series champion Dodgers topped the major leagues at $241 million, the highest big league total since the Dodgers set the record at $270 million at the start of the 2015 season.

Players are unhappy with the slide in salaries under the current collective bargaining agreement, even before last year’s pandemic-shortened season, and intend to press for changes during labor talks this year to replace the contract that expires Dec. 1.

The average was just over $500,000 when AP started its salary studies in 1989 and went down just twice before 2017: after the 1994-95 strike and between the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

The average has dropped 4.9% under the current labor agreement, which started after the 2016 season. The average rose 15.3% under the 2007-11 contract and 32.6% under the 2012-16 deal.

This year’s average was depressed by the opening-day absence of Houston pitcher Jake Odorizzi, who was left off the initial roster, and infielder Rougned Odor, who had been designated for assignment by Texas and later was traded to the New York Yankees. Their presence on opening day would have increased by average by roughly $24,000, cutting the drop over two years to 4.2%.

Add the money Boston owes second baseman Dustin Pedroia, on the voluntary retired list after missing most of the prior three seasons while hurt, and the average would have been down 3.9% to $4.2 million. Termination pay, option buyouts and portions of signing bonuses paid to released players are not included in the average.

In addition, the average likely was lowered slightly by the expansion of active rosters to 26, which probably caused teams to add 30 players making near the $570,500 minimum.

The New York Yankees are second at $201 million and the New York Mets, under new owner Steven Cohen, third at $186 million. The Angels are next at $181 million, followed by Washington ($179.6 million), Boston ($179.5 million), Houston ($176.5 million), San Diego ($175.7 million) and Philadelphia ($174.8 million).

The Cubs are at No. 11 with $156.5 million payroll. The White Sox are 15th with a $127.1 million payroll.

Twelve teams are under $100 million, with Pittsburgh at $46 million the lowest on opening day in a full season since Houston’s $44.6 million in 2014. Slightly above the Pirates are Cleveland ($51 million), Baltimore ($56 million) and Miami ($57 million).

Last year’s salaries were cut to 60/162nd because of the shortened season and cannot be compared with other years.

Average and median salaries decline over the course of the season as veterans are released and replaced by younger players making closer to the minimum.

The AP’s figures include salaries and prorated shares of signing bonuses and other guaranteed income for players on active rosters and injured lists and one player who started the season on the paternity list. For some players, parts of deferred money are discounted to reflect current values.

Luxury tax payrolls computed by Major League Baseball are different, using average annual values of contracts on 40-man rosters plus about $15 million per team for benefits and extended benefits.

2021 Baseball Payrolls

Payrolls for the opening day rosters of the 30 major league teams. Figures were obtained by The Associated Press from management and player sources and include salaries and pro-rated shares of signing bonuses for players on the 26-man active roster, injured lists and paternity list. In some cases, parts of salaries deferred without interest are discounted to reflect present-day values. Adjustments includes cash transactions in trades, signing bonuses that are responsibility of club that agreed to contract, option buyouts and termination pay for released players.

Los Angeles Dodgers $241,372,403

N.Y. Yankees 201,074,956

New York Mets 186,001,814

Los Angeles Angels 180,609,676

Washington 179,557,685

Boston 179,540,260

Houston 176,495,417

San Diego 175,713,986

Philadelphia 174,808,832

St. Louis 164,972,833

Cubs 156,481,585

San Francisco 149,937,613

Toronto 139,646,569

Atlanta 132,458,375

White Sox 127,148,334

Minnesota 125,153,166

Cincinnati 123,575,488

Colorado 110,309,500

Texas 97,796,971

Arizona 94,394,792

Milwaukee 93,818,038

Kansas City 89,496,700

Seattle 83,603,100

Oakland 82,983,674

Detroit 80,866,200

Tampa Bay 66,820,709

Miami 57,481,750

Baltimore 56,158,500

Cleveland 51,269,100

Pittsburgh 45,599,000

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Chicago Bears: 3 wide receivers more deserving of HOF than Julian Edelman by Ryan Heckman

We just saw the Chicago White Sox throw the second no-hitter an MLB team has thrown this season. Carlos Rodon defied all odds and came in and no-hit the Cleveland Indians. It was a great way to get his season rolling. The Chicago Cubs, on the other hand, have one of the worst offenses to start a season in the history of the league. When you think about what Rodon did to Cleveland last week, you have to wonder if someone will no-hit this bad Cubs offense this season?

The Chicago Cubs have the type of offense that is a no-hit candidate this year.

The Cubs offense has been completely shutout twice already this season. They have also had many games where they have had less than five hits. They even have a game where they only had a single hit in the baseball game. It has been tough to see because it is clear that it isn’t getting better any time soon. If they didn’t find a way to get that one hit in that game, they would already have been no-hit.

If the Cubs are in a bad way in terms of their record by June, don’t be surprised if they start to sell off some of thier stars on expiring contracts. Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, and Kris Bryant are all on expiring contracts. Willson Contreras also only has one year left after this year so he is a candidate to be traded as well. Those are the four guys who are supposed to be thier best hitters so taking them out makes it even more possible to be no-hit.

It is a shame (and a bit of a mystery) how this level of expectation became a thing for the Cubs. They were World Series Champions in 2016. Now, we are worried about their offense is so bad that they are no-hit in a season. The team on the other side of town is recording no-hittters while the Cubs can’t hit at all.

Related Story: The Chicago Cubs owe Joe Maddon an apology

Now, as much of a worry as this is, it doesn’t mean that it will happen. It is really hard to get 27 outs without making a pitching change let alone one guy not allowing a hit. If it happens, it happens but the Cubs need to figure something out with this team. You can’t fire any more coaches or managers. At some point, the players have to be held accountable.

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INDIANAPOLIS — Police were working Friday to identify a gunman and determine his motive for opening fire at a FedEx facility near the Indianapolis airport, killing eight people and taking his own life in the latest mass shooting to rock the U.S.

Deputy Chief Craig McCartt of the Indianapolis police said the gunman started randomly shooting at people in the parking lot late Thursday night and then went into the building and continued firing. He said the gunman apparently died by suicide shortly before police entered the building.

“There was no confrontation with anyone that was there,” he said. “There was no disturbance, there was no argument. He just appeared to randomly start shooting.”

McCartt said four people were killed outside the FedEx processing facility and another four inside. Several people were also wounded, including five taken to the hospital.

The carnage took just a couple of minutes. “It did not last very long,” he said.

Officials with the coroner’s office said they have not been able to get to the scene to identify the victims because evidence is still being collected.

In the wake of the shootings, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said the community must guard against resignation and “the assumption that this is how it must be and we might as well get used to it.”

It was the latest in a recent string of mass shootings across the U.S. Last month, eight people were fatally shot at massage businesses across the Atlanta area, and 10 died in gunfire at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.

It was at least the third mass shooting this year in Indianapolis alone. Five people, including a pregnant woman, were shot and killed in January, and a man was accused of killing three adults and a child before abducting his daughter during at argument at a home in March.

A witness said that he was working inside the building when he heard several gunshots in rapid succession.

“I see a man come out with a rifle in his hand and he starts firing and he starts yelling stuff that I could not understand,” Levi Miller told WTHR-TV. “What I ended up doing was ducking down to make sure he did not see me because I thought he would see me and he would shoot me.”

Family members gathered at a nearby hotel to await word on loved ones — and some employees were bused there for tearful reunions. But hours later, some people said they still had no information about their relatives. Most employees aren’t allowed to carry cellphones inside the FedEx building, making contact with them difficult.

“When you see notifications on your phone, but you’re not getting a text back from your kid and you’re not getting information and you still don’t know where they are … what are you supposed to do?” said Mindy Carson, holding back tears in the early hours of Friday. Her daughter, Jessica, works in the facility and she had not heard from her.

Gov. Eric Holcomb ordered flags to be flown at half-staff until April 20, and he and others decried the shooting, with some noting how frequent such attacks are.

“We wake up once more to news of a mass shooting, this time in Indiana. No country should accept this now-routine horror. It’s long past time to act,” Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who is from Indiana, tweeted.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was “horrified and heartbroken” by the shooting in Indianapolis and called for congressional action on gun control.

“As we pray for the families of all affected, we must work urgently to enact commonsense gun violence prevention laws to save lives & prevent this suffering,” the Democratic leader said in a tweet.

President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland were both briefed on the shooting, and Biden’s chief of staff and homeland security adviser have been in touch with local leaders and law enforcement officials in Indianapolis.

Chris Bavender, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Indianapolis office, said that they are helping the police with the investigation.

A man told WTTV that his niece was sitting in the driver’s seat of her car when the gunfire erupted, and she was wounded.

“She got shot on her left arm,” said Parminder Singh. “She’s fine, she’s in the hospital now.”

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Casey Smith is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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A motor truck driver who exposed himself and masturbated inside a Department of Water Management truck in broad daylight while parked in a residential neighborhood.

A Chicago Fire Department lieutenant who repeatedly sexually harassed a restaurant employee while on duty in uniform and a battalion chief who tried to cover it up.

An animal care inspector who sent unprovoked communications to a co-worker’s spouse alleging the co-worker was having an affair on the job.

Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s latest quarterly report includes allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment, including one involving the city’s scandal-scarred Department of Water Management.

“A Department of Water Management truck driver, while on duty, exposed themselves and masturbated inside a DWM truck. The motor truck driver performed these acts in the daytime while parked in residential neighborhood,” Ferguson wrote.

“The motor truck driver’s public indecency was observable to nearby members of the public, as indicated by a video an individual recorded, which showed the MTD masturbating.”

During an interview, the accused driver repeatedly lied to investigators by falsely claiming that he had “spilled a drink on themselves” and, later, that he was “urinating into a bottle,” according to the inspector general’s report.

The driver has been fired but is appealing the discharge.

In 2017, a shake up triggered by racist, sexist and homophobic emails swept out then-Water Management Commissioner Barrett Murphy and top deputies William Bresnahan and Paul Hansen, brother of former Ald. Bernard Hansen (44th).

A Chicago Fire Department lieutenant has been discharged after being accused of sexually harassing a restaurant employee for months “numerous times a week” while on duty and in uniform.

“While at the restaurant, the lieutenant singled out the employee and made unwanted and inappropriate comments, saying the victim was pretty, calling the victim ‘baby’ and ‘sweetie’, stating, ‘I’m gonna marry you someday,’ and, ‘Are you gonna make my food with love?'” Ferguson wrote.

“The unwanted attention caused the employee to move to the kitchen area whenever the lieutenant entered the restaurant. The sexual harassment culminated one afternoon when the lieutenant approached the restaurant employee and kissed them on the cheek without consent or invitation.”

The lieutenant was accused of lying to investigators. Ferguson further accused the lieutenant’s supervisor, a battalion chief, of conducting an “unsanctioned investigation” into the alleged misconduct “despite the close personal relationship between them.”

The battalion chief was further accused of threatening co-workers by saying, “No one better talk to the media about this or I’ll kick their teeth in.”

The lieutenant was fired but is appealing the discharge. The battalion chief received a written reprimand and anti-sexual harassment training.

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A young boy is handed a gun by someone older, chased down a Southwest Side alley by a police officer and shot to death.

It’s a series of events now commanding the attention of Chicago, which had been anxiously awaiting the release of police body camera video of the fatal shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo.

But a tragically similar scenario played out nearly 30 years ago when an officer shot and killed a 12-year-old boy in the Brighton Park neighborhood — the youngest Chicago police shooting victim in recent memory.

Debra Fahrforth still doesn’t believe her son had a gun, as police claimed, when an officer shot 12-year-old Joey Chlopek the afternoon of June 6, 1992.

“I’ll never believe what the cops said about that day. My boy was jumping over the fence” when he was shot, said Fahrforth, 60.

It was nearly three decades ago, but she lives with it every day, surprised it didn’t prompt her to take her own life.

“When he died, I died,” she said.

‘I’m still very doubtful’

Police said Joey was shot after he pointed a .22-caliber pistol at a plainclothes officer, David Jarmusz, during a foot chase. Joey was shot three times in an alley and collapsed in a backyard in the 3000 block of West 38th Street.

Other than Jarmusz, there were no witnesses to the shooting.

Sun-Times file

That 1992 tragedy shares many parallels with the fatal shooting in March of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, who was also running from an officer, allegedly with a gun in his hand.

Prosecutors said Adam was handed the gun by a 21-year-old man who had fired at a passing car minutes earlier. Officers found Adam and the man in an alley and chased them, with one officer shooting Adam in the chest as the boy turned around by a fence behind Farragut Career Academy High School.

In Joey’s shooting, police said they were searching for an 18-year-old gang member when they allegedly saw Joey trying to hide a gun as he stood with a group playing basketball outside Davis Elementary School, 3014 W. 39th Pl.

File photos

As the officer approached Joey, the child began to run, leading to the chase. Police said the pursuit wound through several alleys into a partially paved gangway. Jarmusz entered the gangway from the front, identified himself and ordered Joey to stop, but the boy pointed the gun at Jarmusz, who opened fired and struck Joey three times, police said.

Chlopek fell dead in a backyard between the front gate and a peach tree. The youth had to hop a fence to get into the yard. Police said Joey’s gun was found in a vegetable garden in the yard.

A 14-year-old boy was later charged with handing the gun to Joey at the school before the chase began.

Fahrforth remains uncertain about what actually happened that day, pointing out that the officer had already shot and wounded two other people at that point in his then-19-year career with Chicago Police Department.

The lack of video in Joey’s shooting is the most striking difference with Adam’s shooting, and a source of Fahrforth’s doubt. “I wish they had a camcorder … I’m still very doubtful” about what happened, she said.

She watched the video of Adam being shot and wonders if that was how her own boy was killed.

“I thought, That’s my son running, not knowing what to do. Scared to stop, scared to run. And the results are, he’s gone,” she said. “I feel so bad for that family. It does remind me of Joey running out of the park. It really does.”

Sun-Times file

‘If there was a video, we would’ve won’

Fahrforth filed a federal lawsuit against the officer and the city, claiming Joey couldn’t have had a gun when he was shot. A federal judge ruled in favor of the city and the officer in 1995, but the suit details the doubts Joey’s family had about the police version of events.

The suit claimed Joey couldn’t have been holding a gun because police described him as having it in his right hand, despite the boy being left-handed. The suit also claimed Joey couldn’t have been pointing the gun at the officer because an autopsy showed the three bullets entered Joey’s side. There were also no fingerprints on the gun that matched Joey’s, but police said this was fairly common, and that about half of recovered guns didn’t have usable prints.

Fahrforth maintains the officer planted the gun on Joey, who she said was actually running home and had a key in his hand when he was shot. She believes video of the incident would have vindicated her and her son.

“If there was a video, we would’ve won,” she said.

The officer didn’t reply to a phone message seeking comment.

Sun-Times file

‘I feel for this mother’

Looking back, Fahrforth thinks Joey was portrayed unfairly by the media, which she said exaggerated parts of the story and painted him as a bad kid.

Media reports said Joey had a gang tattoo on the inside of one of his fingers, which police pointed to as proof he was in a gang. Family and friends disputed the meaning of the tattoo.

Fahrforth said she didn’t know about her son’s alleged gang connection and said relatives hid it from her. She said she did her best to supervise Joey but was working two jobs.

Fahrforth said she sympathizes with Adam’s mom. “I feel for this mother. You don’t think your baby can be doing anything wrong, or would be doing anything wrong. You think the streets grabbed him. I don’t know. The streets are powerful, I will say that.”

Sun-Times file

‘We were treated like garbage’

Almost 30 years later, Fahrforth said she thinks police culture hasn’t improved. And she’s still bitter about the way she thinks police treated her, even after an officer shot and killed her child.

“It’s something taken from you that you think you would never have to go through. Do I think anything’s changed? No, I think it’s even worse today. I think there’s more trigger-happy officers out there,” she said.

Fahrforth said she learned of her son’s death at work. “I said to my boss, ‘My son’s dead.’ … But I never thought it was a cop. In my wildest dream I thought it was a gang shooting. … Never thought it was an officer until I got there. And when I got there, I tried to go to my son and they wouldn’t let me. They said, ‘Cross the line and we’ll shoot you next.'”

Fahrforth said she asked for police protection at her house during Joey’s wake, but police wouldn’t provide it. “We were treated like garbage,” she said. “You know I’m still bitter with the police department.

“I know all the money in the world couldn’t bring my son back,” she continued. “No mother can get over this. You never get over it; you learn to live with it. I know God says to forgive, but the only thing it makes me do is accept death now.”

Fahrforth said the death of her son was “the hardest thing” in her life.

“I’m surprised I didn’t commit suicide, to tell you the truth. When he died, I died. Part of me went with him,” she said. “I have to live with this every day. Does this officer have to live with it? He’s taking his pension right now.”

“There’s three answers, and only one right one,” Fahrforth said. “There’s [the officer’s] story, and my thoughts, and then there’s God that knows what happened.”

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

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