The latest

Record vaccination rate in Illinois hasn’t been enough to tamp down a sharp rise in infections

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Illinois public health officials on Friday reported a second straight record-setting day for COVID-19 vaccinations — but the state also hit a worrying milestone by logging more than 4,000 new cases of the disease for the first time in 10 weeks as the latest coronavirus surge builds momentum.

With 164,462 doses administered Thursday, Illinois is vaccinating more people than ever, at an average clip of 118,336 shots per day over the last week, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

That still hasn’t been enough to tamp down a sharp rise in infections over the past month, as most key metrics have almost doubled.

With another 4,004 residents testing positive for the virus — the most in a day since Jan. 29 — about 3,122 Illinoisans have contracted COVID-19 each day over the past week. That rate is up 91% compared to the first week of March, when the state was reporting an average of 1,663 daily cases.

Read the full story by Mitchell Armentrout here.

---

News

2:45 p.m. Biden to rush vaccine support to Michigan as governor urges limits

WASHINGTON — Washington will rush federal resources to support vaccinations, testing and therapeutics, but not vaccines, to Michigan in an effort to control the state’s worst-in-the-nation COVID-19 transmission rate, the White House said Friday.

The announcement came as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer strongly recommended, but did not order, a two-week pause on face-to-face high school instruction, indoor restaurant dining and youth sports. She cited more contagious coronavirus variants and pandemic fatigue as factors in the surge, which has led some hospitals to postpone non-emergency procedures.

Statewide hospitalizations have quadrupled in a month and are nearing peak levels from last spring and fall.

“Policy alone won’t change the tide. We need everyone to step up and to take personal responsibility,” she said Friday, while not ruling out future restrictions. Michigan’s seven-day case rate was 492 per 100,000 people, well above second-worst New Jersey, with 328 per 100,000 residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Read the complete story here.

1:30 p.m. No region in the world spared as coronavirus cases, deaths surge

WARSAW, Poland — Hospitals in Turkey and Poland are filling up. Pakistan is restricting domestic travel. The U.S. government will send more help to the state with the country’s worst infection increase.

The worldwide surge in coronavirus cases and deaths includes even Thailand, which has weathered the pandemic far better than many nations but now struggles to contain COVID-19.

The only exceptions to the deteriorating situation are countries that have advanced vaccination programs, mostly notably Israel and Britain. The U.S., which is a vaccination leader globally, is also seeing a small uptick in new cases, and the White House announced Friday that it would send federal assistance to Michigan to control the state’s worst-in-the-nation transmission rate.

The World Health Organization said infection rates are climbing in every global region, driven by new virus variants and too many countries coming out of lockdown too soon.

Read the full story here.

12:20 p.m. Riverwalk vendors begin phased reopening Friday

Vendors on the Chicago Riverwalk began a phased-in reopening Friday that will have all vendors open by the end of May.

Island Party Hut, Beat Kitchen on the River and City Winery opened Friday. A new vendor addition this year is Pier 31, which plans to open in May.

“The Riverwalk is not only an important part of our city’s economic engine, but it also adds to the liveliness of our iconic summers,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a news release.

“This reopening serves as yet another indicator of our city’s resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we look forward to making this Chicago staple available to residents and visitors this spring and summer.”

Read the full story by Zinya Salfiti here.

11:05 a.m. Aldermen move to prevent parade permit infighting

With 500 permits issued every year, it’s safe to say that Chicago loves a parade.

On Thursday, the City Council’s Committee on Cultural Affairs and Special Events proved that love by providing a bit of post-pandemic protection.

At Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s behest, aldermen endorsed an ordinance that preserves permit priority for “traditional parades” scheduled at around the same time along the same route “in connection with a specific holiday or consistent theme for at least the prior five years.”

That priority status would remain even though those “traditional parades” were canceled last year because of the coronavirus — and even though none have been held so far this year, either.

Deputy Transportation Commissioner Mike Simon said the goal of the mayor’s ordinance is to prevent the temporary hiatus from opening the door to post-pandemic feuds between parade organizers vying for permits on the same day.

Here’s the full story from Fran Spielman.

10:30 a.m. ‘Trauma upon trauma’: Asian Americans say mental health has suffered amid COVID-19, anti-Asian violence

The coronavirus pandemic sparked a mental health crisis. For Asians and Asian Americans also facing a rise in hate incidents across the country, it’s been “trauma upon trauma,” says Anne Saw, a Chicago psychologist.

“A lot of our communities are experiencing so many pandemic stressors that are then compounded by a lot of anti-Asian discrimination that we’re also experiencing,” says Saw, who teaches at DePaul University and directs the Chicago Asian American Psychology Lab.

“It’s tough to, like, get your head above water and get some room to breathe when every day we’re confronted with new traumas,” she says.

We talked to seven Chicagoans about how anti-Asian violence coupled with the pandemic have affected their mental health and their everyday lives. Among them was Kaylee Cong, 32, of Uptown, who manages a nail spa.

On March 20, four days after the Atlanta shootings, Cong says, her 60-year-old Vietnamese father was punched in the head as he walked alone that night near Broadway and West Ainslee Street. He turned to run, saw a white man holding a baseball bat watching him and called 911.

“We’re really scared,” says Cong, who’d been talking with her father about the Georgia shootings the day before he was attacked. “What if the person come back and do revenge? My entire life living here, it was so peaceful. There was no violence like this.”

She says her father hasn’t wanted to leave the house since that happened.

Older Asian Americans “just want to keep quiet and don’t want to make waves,” Cong says. “I have really different mentality. We deserve to, you know, feel safe. And we shouldn’t be afraid to stand up for ourselves.”

Read the stories of six more Chicagoans we spoke to here.

9:56 a.m. CPS high school reopening agreement remains elusive

A final high school reopening agreement remains elusive between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union just days before high school teachers are due to return to classrooms — and the union president said Thursday the next few days of negotiations will determine whether workers show up on Monday.

Though the range of issues is smaller and disagreement over those items is not as severe as the hostile K-8 negotiations in February, there are still a few unresolved concerns the union is expressing as COVID-19 infections once again rise in the city.

CPS officials have directed 5,350 high school teachers to return to buildings Monday with or without a CTU agreement, and about 26,000 students in grades 9-12 are expected back the following week.

Whether or not that timeline sticks is dependent on “how outrageous the board’s positions are as we go ahead,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey told a few hundred members at a virtual meeting Thursday that was closed to the public.

“I’ve heard people say, ‘Sharkey, I want a really definitive answer, am I going in on Monday?'” he said. “And my really definitive answer is, it depends on where we’re at.”

Read Nader Issa’s full story here.

8:08 a.m. Spike in COVID-19 cases causes University of Chicago to announce stay-at-home period for students

University of Chicago announced a stay-at-home period for students Wednesday evening following the largest COVID-19 outbreak at the university since the start of the academic year.

After more than 50 cases of the coronavirus were detected among undergraduates in recent days, the university announced that students living on-campus must observe a week-long stay-at-home period immediately.

“We expect this number to increase,” university officials said in an email sent to members of the university community Thursday.

All undergraduate classes will be fully remote for at least a week starting Thursday and students can only leave their residence halls for food, medical appointments and short walks for exercise.

Read the full story from Zinya Salfiti here.

---

New cases and vaccination numbers

• Illinois’ infection rate is still less than a third of what it was during the worst days of the pandemic last fall — but it’s doubled in the last four weeks.
• On Thursday, officials reported 3,739 new cases of the deadly respiratory disease were diagnosed statewide among 97,741 tests. The state’s testing positivity rate is at 4.2%, its highest point since the end of January and up from 2.1% on March 12.
• Nightly COVID-19 hospitalizations are up 66% since then, with hospitals treating nearly 1,800 COVID-19 patients Wednesday night.
• After a record-breaking 154,201 shots were given statewide Wednesday, one in five Illinois residents is now fully vaccinated, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
• The state is vaccinating more people than ever, averaging almost 113,000 shots per day over the past week. About 42% of residents 16 or older have gotten at least one dose, and 73% of seniors have gotten a shot.

Read More

The 21-month-old boy critically injured during a road-rage incident on Lake Shore Drive earlier this week continues to show “some signs of improvement,” doctors treating him at Lurie Children’s Hospital said Friday.

But Kayden Swann remained in “very critical” condition.

“Over the past 24 hours, the patient has remained critically ill but has been starting to demonstrate some improvement in brain function,” Dr. Marcelo Malakooti, medical director of Lurie’s pediatric ICU, said in a statement Friday. “He continues to require a ventilator to support his breathing and ICU therapies to continue to support his brain during this tenuous period.”

Kayden’s mother, Jalisa Hooks, had set up a Gofundme account for “aftercare cost for baby Kayden.” The site had raised about $1,950 of a $3,000 goal as of 2:30 p.m. Friday.

A bullet struck Kayden in the head late Tuesday morning as he rode in a car on Lake Shore Drive. Kayden was in the back seat of the car, which was nearly struck by an SUV trying to merge onto the highway near Soldier Field about 11:30 a.m. The drivers of both car got into an argument, eventually leading to the SUV driver opening fire, investigators have said.

Kayden was shot in his temple and rushed to the hospital by a bystander. He was placed in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator to protect his brain.

Police have not announced the arrest of the shooter.

Jushawn Brown, 43, of Englewood, was driving the car Kayden was riding in. Brown had a 9 mm handgun and was charged Thursday with possessing a weapon without proper state identification and later released on bond.

Prosecutors said there was no evidence Brown fired his weapon or displayed it during the road-rage incident.

Read More

MINNEAPOLIS — The chief county medical examiner who ruled George Floyd’s death a homicide testified Friday that the way police held him down and compressed his neck “was just more than Mr. Floyd could take,” given the condition of his heart.

Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County medical examiner, took the stand at the murder trial of former Officer Derek Chauvin for pressing his knee on or close to Floyd’s neck for what prosecutors said was as much as 9 1/2 minutes as the 46-year-old Black man lay pinned to the pavement last May.

Baker concluded last year that Floyd died from cardiopulmonary arrest — that is, his heart stopped — complicated by the way police held him down.

When Baker was asked how police “subdual, restraint and neck compression” led to Floyd’s death, he said that Floyd had severe underlying heart disease and an enlarged heart that needed more oxygen than normal to function, as well as narrowing of two heart arteries.

Baker said being involved in a scuffle raises adrenaline, which asks the heart to beat even faster and supply more oxygen.

“And in my opinion, the law enforcement subdual, restraint and the neck compression was just more than Mr. Floyd could take by virtue of that, those heart conditions,” the medical examiner said.

Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death May 25. Floyd was arrested outside a neighborhood market after being accused of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill.

Bystander video of Floyd crying that he couldn’t breathe as onlookers yelled at the white officer to get off him sparked protests and scattered violence around the U.S.

Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson has argued that the now-fired white officer did what he was trained to do and was not responsible for Floyd’s death. Floyd had high blood pressure and heart disease, and an autopsy found fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system.

But the autopsy itself ruled out heart attack, aneurysm and other causes.

Baker testified that his examination of Floyd’s heart found no “visible or microscopic previous damage” to the heart muscle. Baker also said he noticed no injury to Floyd’s brain from either trauma or oxygen deprivation. And he said he did not notice any pills or pill fragments in Floyd’s stomach.

Other medical experts called as prosecution witnesses have likewise blamed Floyd’s death on the way he was pinned down on the ground.

Dr. Lindsey Thomas, a forensic pathologist who retired in 2017 from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office and did not work on Floyd’s case, testified earlier Friday that she agreed with Baker’s findings, but was even more explicit, saying the “primary mechanism of death” was asphyxia, or insufficient oxygen.

She said she reached that conclusion mostly from video that showed Floyd struggling to breathe.

“This is a death where both the heart and lungs stopped working. The point is, it’s due to law enforcement subdual, restraint and compression,” Thomas said. She said that there was nothing in Floyd’s autopsy that noted that, but she said that is not uncommon.

Baker said other significant conditions listed in the death certificate are things that played a role, but didn’t directly cause Floyd’s death.

“Mr. Floyd’s use of fentanyl did not cause the subdual or neck restraint. His heart disease did not cause the the subdual or the neck restraint,” he said.

Baker also said he did not watch the harrowing video of the arrest before examining Floyd so that he would not be influenced by what he saw.

“I was aware that at least one video had gone viral on the Internet, but I intentionally chose not to look at that until I had examined Mr. Floyd,” he said. “I did not want to bias my exam by going in with any preconceived notions that might lead me down one pathway or another.”

Under cross-examination by Nelson, Thomas said she believed Floyd’s heart was “slightly” enlarged.

Nelson asked Thomas about what could cause a heart to suddenly stop beating, noting that Floyd’s bigger heart needed more blood and was working hard in a moment of stress and adrenaline, and that one of his arteries had a 90% blockage.

Thomas said any blockage over 70% to 75% could be used to explain death, in the absence of another cause. But she also said some people can live just fine with an artery that is fully blocked.

The defense attorney pressed Thomas by posing a hypothetical question.

“Let’s assume you found Mr. Floyd dead in his residence. No police involvement, no drugs, right?. The only thing you found would be these facts about his heart. What would you conclude to be the cause of death?” Nelson asked.

“In that very narrow set of circumstances, I would probably conclude that the cause of death was his heart disease,” Thomas replied.

She also agreed that fentanyl can slow a person’s breathing and that methamphetamine can cause the heart to work harder and cause cardiac arrhythmia — a potentially lethal heart rhythm disturbance.

In response to another hypothetical posed by Nelson, she agreed that she would certify Floyd’s death as an overdose if there were no other explanations.

But during re-questioning, prosecutor Jerry Blackwell ridiculed the defense attorney’s hypotheticals and quickly got Thomas to repeat that the cause of Floyd’s death was the restraint by police.

“Aren’t those questions a lot like asking, ‘Mrs. Lincoln, if we take John Wilkes Booth out of this …,'” Blackwell began, before Nelson objected.

For the first time, a seat designated for Chauvin’s family was occupied Friday, by a woman. She wasn’t immediately identified. Chauvin’s marriage ended in divorce in the months after Floyd’s death.

Also on Friday, Judge Peter Cahill called in a juror and questioned her about whether she had been subject to any outside influences. She replied that she briefly saw TV coverage with the sound off and said that her mother-in-law had texted her, “Looks like it was a bad day” but that she didn’t reply.

The judge allowed her to remain on the jury.

Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan.

Read More

A speeding car struck the end of a median wall Friday morning, seriously injuring an infant and shutting down a Jane Byrne Interchange ramp for five hours.

The driver of the car was cited for failure to secure the child in a car seat, state police said.

Four adults were also injured in the two-car crash, which happened about 7 a.m. on the ramp from northbound Dan Ryan to the westbound Eisenhower, according to Illinois State Police.

One car occupied by four people in their 20s and a 6-month-old boy tried to change lanes and struck an end-cap barrier of a median wall, state police said. The car spun out and was struck by another vehicle.

A citizen attempted to drive the infant to the hospital themselves, but then pulled over and awaited an ambulance, which took the infant to Stroger Hospital, according to Chicago fire spokesman Larry Merritt.

Merritt said four other adults, three male and one female, were taken in either fair or serious condition to Stroger and Mount Sinai Hospitals. State police said they were expected to survive their injuries.

State police said the person in the other vehicle was uninjured.

The driver of the car that spun out was cited for failure to secure a child under 8 years old, driving too fast for conditions, improper lane usage and damage to a highway structure.

Read More

A Calumet City man died Thursday after being shot by police weeks earlier in the south suburb.

Alvin Burrage, 26, was shot multiple times March 25 and died Thursday morning from complications of his injuries, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Calumet City police said an officer shot Burrage just before 5 p.m. during a traffic stop in the 500 block of Jeffrey Avenue after Burrage “began to raise a handgun in the officer’s direction.”

Burrage allegedly fired back several times without striking anyone, got back into his vehicle and fled, police said.

He was found in critical condition at St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago and charged with attempted murder, police said.

Police said the officer only fired one shot at Burrage, but an autopsy by the medical examiner’s office said Burrage died from “complications of multiple gunshot wounds.” The autopsy ruled his death a homicide.

Read More

NEW YORK — DMX, the raspy hip hop artist behind the songs “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem” and “Party Up (Up in Here)” who had one of rap’s most distinctive voices — literally and metaphorically — has died, according to a statement Friday from his family. He was 50.

The Grammy-nominated performer died after suffering “catastrophic cardiac arrest,” according to a statement from the hospital in White Plains, New York, where he died. He was rushed there from his home April 2.

His family’s statement said DMX, whose birth name was Earl Simmons, died with relatives by his side after several days on life support.

“Earl was a warrior who fought till the very end. He loved his family with all of his heart, and we cherish the times we spent with him,” the family said, adding that his music “inspired countless fans across the world, and his iconic legacy will live on forever.”

Memorial plans were not yet set.

DMX — who rapped with a trademark delivery that was often paired with growls, barks and “What!” as an ad-lib — built a multiplatinum career as one of rap’s biggest stars of the late 1990s and early 2000s, but he also struggled with drug addiction and legal problems that repeatedly put him behind bars.

“His message of triumph over struggle, his search for the light out of darkness, his pursuit of truth and grace brought us closer to our own humanity,” his record label, Def Jam Recordings, said in a statement describing him as “nothing less than a giant.”

Fellow hip hop artists remembered him likewise, with Eve praising him as “one of the most special people I have ever met” and Nas calling him “God’s poet” in an Instagram post. Chingy recalled touring with DMX and being inspired by his style and struck by how “he always showed me love.”

“He was a true legend to the hip hop community,” Chingy said in a statement.

DMX made a splash in 1998 with his first studio album, “It’s Dark and Hell is Hot,” which debuted No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The multiplatinum-selling album was anchored by several hits including “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem,” “Get At Me Dog,” “Stop Being Greedy” and “How It’s Goin’ Down.”

DMX followed up with four straight chart-topping albums including “… And Then There Was X,” “Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood,” “The Great Depression” and “Grand Champ.” He released seven albums, earned three Grammy nominations and was named favorite rap/hip hop artist at the 2000 American Music Awards.

DMX arrived on the rap scene around the same time as Jay-Z, Ja Rule and others who dominated the charts and emerged as platinum-selling acts. They were all part of rap crews, too: DMX fronted the Ruff Ryders collective, which helped launch the careers of Grammy winners Eve and Swizz Beatz, and relaunch The Lox, formerly signed to Bad Boy Records. Ruff Ryders had success on the charts and on radio with its “Ryde or Die” compilation albums.

Along with his musical career, DMX paved his way as an actor. He starred in the 1998 film “Belly” and appeared in 2000?s “Romeo Must Die” with Jet Li and Aaliyah. DMX and Aaliyah teamed up for “Come Back in One Piece” on the film’s soundtrack.

The rapper would later open Aaliyah’s tribute music video, “Miss You,” alongside her other friends and collaborators, including Missy Elliott, Lil’ Kim and Queen Latifah, after Aaliyah’s 2001 death in a plane crash at age 22.

The rapper also starred in 2001?s “Exit Wounds” with Steven Seagal and 2003?s “Cradle 2 the Grave” with Li.

But while DMX made his mark as one of hip hop’s most recognizable names for his rap artistry and as an actor, the rapper was personally stifled by his legal battles — he was repeatedly arrested and jailed within a decade — and drug addiction. His addiction first took hold at age 14 when smoked a marijuana cigarette that was laced with cocaine.

“You can’t be a fan and not feel empathy for him in his journey,” hip hop and electronic music producer Flying Lotus said in an interview while DMX was hospitalized this week. “You think of ‘Belly’ and all the great stuff that he was part of. But he was dealt such a weird hand, I think, with the drug stuff. And I just have empathy.”

DMX pleaded guilty in 2004 after he posed as an undercover federal agent and crashed his SUV through a security gate at New York’s Kennedy Airport. He was arrested in 2008 on drug and animal cruelty charges following an overnight raid on his house in Phoenix. He tried to barricade himself in his bedroom but emerged when a SWAT team entered his home.

In 2010, he was sentenced to a year in prison for violating terms of his probation. After he was admitted to rehab numerous times over the next year, he said he had finally beat his drug addiction.

First responders helped bring DMX back to life after he was found in a hotel parking lot in New York in 2016. The rapper said he suffered from asthma.

A couple years later, DMX was sentenced to a year in prison for tax fraud. Prosecutors said he concocted a multiyear scheme to hide millions of dollars in income from the IRS and get around nearly $2 million in tax liabilities.

After his release, DMX planned a 32-date tour to mark the 20th anniversary of “It’s Dark and Hell is Hot.” But the rapper canceled a series of shows to check himself into a rehab facility in 2019. In an Instagram post, his team said he apologized for the canceled shows and thanked his fans for the continued support.

Besides his legal troubles, DMX took the initiative to help the less fortunate. He gave a group of Philadelphia men advice during a surprise appearance at a homeless support group meeting in 2017, and helped a Maine family with its back-to-school purchases a couple years later.

Last year, DMX faced off against Snoop Dogg in a Verzuz battle, which drew more than 500,000 viewers.

Survivors include his 15 children and his mother.

Landrum reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Ryan Pearson contributed from Los Angeles.

Read More

Get the latest news on how COVID-19 is impacting Chicago and Illinois. Follow here for live updates.

The latest

Record vaccination rate in Illinois hasn’t been enough to tamp down a sharp rise in infections

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Illinois public health officials on Friday reported a second straight record-setting day for COVID-19 vaccinations — but the state also hit a worrying milestone by logging more than 4,000 new cases of the disease for the first time in 10 weeks as the latest coronavirus surge builds momentum.

With 164,462 doses administered Thursday, Illinois is vaccinating more people than ever, at an average clip of 118,336 shots per day over the last week, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

That still hasn’t been enough to tamp down a sharp rise in infections over the past month, as most key metrics have almost doubled.

With another 4,004 residents testing positive for the virus — the most in a day since Jan. 29 — about 3,122 Illinoisans have contracted COVID-19 each day over the past week. That rate is up 91% compared to the first week of March, when the state was reporting an average of 1,663 daily cases.

Read the full story by Mitchell Armentrout here.

---

News

1:30 p.m. No region in the world spared as coronavirus cases, deaths surge

WARSAW, Poland — Hospitals in Turkey and Poland are filling up. Pakistan is restricting domestic travel. The U.S. government will send more help to the state with the country’s worst infection increase.

The worldwide surge in coronavirus cases and deaths includes even Thailand, which has weathered the pandemic far better than many nations but now struggles to contain COVID-19.

The only exceptions to the deteriorating situation are countries that have advanced vaccination programs, mostly notably Israel and Britain. The U.S., which is a vaccination leader globally, is also seeing a small uptick in new cases, and the White House announced Friday that it would send federal assistance to Michigan to control the state’s worst-in-the-nation transmission rate.

The World Health Organization said infection rates are climbing in every global region, driven by new virus variants and too many countries coming out of lockdown too soon.

Read the full story here.

12:20 p.m. Riverwalk vendors begin phased reopening Friday

Vendors on the Chicago Riverwalk began a phased-in reopening Friday that will have all vendors open by the end of May.

Island Party Hut, Beat Kitchen on the River and City Winery opened Friday. A new vendor addition this year is Pier 31, which plans to open in May.

“The Riverwalk is not only an important part of our city’s economic engine, but it also adds to the liveliness of our iconic summers,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a news release.

“This reopening serves as yet another indicator of our city’s resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we look forward to making this Chicago staple available to residents and visitors this spring and summer.”

Read the full story by Zinya Salfiti here.

11:05 a.m. Aldermen move to prevent parade permit infighting

With 500 permits issued every year, it’s safe to say that Chicago loves a parade.

On Thursday, the City Council’s Committee on Cultural Affairs and Special Events proved that love by providing a bit of post-pandemic protection.

At Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s behest, aldermen endorsed an ordinance that preserves permit priority for “traditional parades” scheduled at around the same time along the same route “in connection with a specific holiday or consistent theme for at least the prior five years.”

That priority status would remain even though those “traditional parades” were canceled last year because of the coronavirus — and even though none have been held so far this year, either.

Deputy Transportation Commissioner Mike Simon said the goal of the mayor’s ordinance is to prevent the temporary hiatus from opening the door to post-pandemic feuds between parade organizers vying for permits on the same day.

Here’s the full story from Fran Spielman.

10:30 a.m. ‘Trauma upon trauma’: Asian Americans say mental health has suffered amid COVID-19, anti-Asian violence

The coronavirus pandemic sparked a mental health crisis. For Asians and Asian Americans also facing a rise in hate incidents across the country, it’s been “trauma upon trauma,” says Anne Saw, a Chicago psychologist.

“A lot of our communities are experiencing so many pandemic stressors that are then compounded by a lot of anti-Asian discrimination that we’re also experiencing,” says Saw, who teaches at DePaul University and directs the Chicago Asian American Psychology Lab.

“It’s tough to, like, get your head above water and get some room to breathe when every day we’re confronted with new traumas,” she says.

We talked to seven Chicagoans about how anti-Asian violence coupled with the pandemic have affected their mental health and their everyday lives. Among them was Kaylee Cong, 32, of Uptown, who manages a nail spa.

On March 20, four days after the Atlanta shootings, Cong says, her 60-year-old Vietnamese father was punched in the head as he walked alone that night near Broadway and West Ainslee Street. He turned to run, saw a white man holding a baseball bat watching him and called 911.

“We’re really scared,” says Cong, who’d been talking with her father about the Georgia shootings the day before he was attacked. “What if the person come back and do revenge? My entire life living here, it was so peaceful. There was no violence like this.”

She says her father hasn’t wanted to leave the house since that happened.

Older Asian Americans “just want to keep quiet and don’t want to make waves,” Cong says. “I have really different mentality. We deserve to, you know, feel safe. And we shouldn’t be afraid to stand up for ourselves.”

Read the stories of six more Chicagoans we spoke to here.

9:56 a.m. CPS high school reopening agreement remains elusive

A final high school reopening agreement remains elusive between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union just days before high school teachers are due to return to classrooms — and the union president said Thursday the next few days of negotiations will determine whether workers show up on Monday.

Though the range of issues is smaller and disagreement over those items is not as severe as the hostile K-8 negotiations in February, there are still a few unresolved concerns the union is expressing as COVID-19 infections once again rise in the city.

CPS officials have directed 5,350 high school teachers to return to buildings Monday with or without a CTU agreement, and about 26,000 students in grades 9-12 are expected back the following week.

Whether or not that timeline sticks is dependent on “how outrageous the board’s positions are as we go ahead,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey told a few hundred members at a virtual meeting Thursday that was closed to the public.

“I’ve heard people say, ‘Sharkey, I want a really definitive answer, am I going in on Monday?’” he said. “And my really definitive answer is, it depends on where we’re at.”

Read Nader Issa’s full story here.

8:08 a.m. Spike in COVID-19 cases causes University of Chicago to announce stay-at-home period for students

University of Chicago announced a stay-at-home period for students Wednesday evening following the largest COVID-19 outbreak at the university since the start of the academic year.

After more than 50 cases of the coronavirus were detected among undergraduates in recent days, the university announced that students living on-campus must observe a week-long stay-at-home period immediately.

“We expect this number to increase,” university officials said in an email sent to members of the university community Thursday.

All undergraduate classes will be fully remote for at least a week starting Thursday and students can only leave their residence halls for food, medical appointments and short walks for exercise.

Read the full story from Zinya Salfiti here.

---

New cases and vaccination numbers

• Illinois’ infection rate is still less than a third of what it was during the worst days of the pandemic last fall — but it’s doubled in the last four weeks.
• On Thursday, officials reported 3,739 new cases of the deadly respiratory disease were diagnosed statewide among 97,741 tests. The state’s testing positivity rate is at 4.2%, its highest point since the end of January and up from 2.1% on March 12.
• Nightly COVID-19 hospitalizations are up 66% since then, with hospitals treating nearly 1,800 COVID-19 patients Wednesday night.
• After a record-breaking 154,201 shots were given statewide Wednesday, one in five Illinois residents is now fully vaccinated, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
• The state is vaccinating more people than ever, averaging almost 113,000 shots per day over the past week. About 42% of residents 16 or older have gotten at least one dose, and 73% of seniors have gotten a shot.

Read More

The conclusion to the data report raises the question of whether Woods tried to negotiate the curve at all as he was traveling at more than 82 mph in a 45-mph zone.

Tiger Woods mistakenly thought he was in the state of Florida when he was interviewed by a sheriff’s deputy at a Los Angeles area hospital after he crashed his vehicle in February, according to a 22-page collision report that reveals several new details about the collision sequence and aftermath.

Among the revelations in the report:

The legendary golfer’s blood pressure also was “too low to administer any type of pain medication” shortly after the crash.

An empty pharmaceutical bottle was found in a backpack at the scene of the crash with no label or indication of what was inside it.

According to data from the vehicle’s black-box recorder, Woods also was going in a straight line with no steering input detected until some slight steering movement registered late in the recorded crash sequence.

“Had (Woods) applied his brakes to reduce his speed or steered to correct the direction of travel, he would not have collided with the center median and the collision would not have occurred,” said the report on the data prepared by Sergeant Michael Downing.

The 22-page report was obtained by USA TODAY Sports after the sheriff’s department announced Wednesday that the cause of the Woods crash was “driving at a speed unsafe for the road conditions and the inability to negotiate the curve of the roadway.”

The conclusion to the data report raises the question of whether Woods tried to negotiate the curve at all as he was traveling at more than 82 mph in a 45-mph zone.

Instead of staying with his lane as it curved right, Woods went straight into the median shortly after 7 a.m. local time on Feb. 23. He struck a curb, mowed down a wooden sign and drove into opposing lanes before hitting a tree and rolling over in Rolling Hills Estates south of downtown Los Angeles. He suffered broken bones in his right leg that could jeopardize his golf career.

After hitting the median, he traveled a distance of several hundred feet with no evidence of braking. Woods instead suddenly applied the gas pedal at 99% in the final seconds before hitting the raised median that separates the north and south lanes of the road, according the report. Woods also told investigators he does not remember driving.

Jonathan Cherney, a former police detective in Southern California, reviewed the crash scene Feb. 24 and said it was “like a classic case of falling asleep behind the wheel, because the road curves and his vehicle goes straight.”

The collision report boosts that notion, said Cherney, who was not involved in the sheriff’s investigation but now works as a forensic crash reconstruction expert.

“The data here supports that he was not conscious,” Cherney said Wednesday. “I’m seeing the brakes off the entire time. I don’t see any steering at all (until late in the recorded crash sequence). That’s not indicative of emergency steering at all. This is not consistent with somebody who’s awake behind the wheel.”

A report by another officer, Justin Smith, said “there was no reason to believe (Woods) had been operating a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol/drugs.” Smith based this on interviews with other officers and video footage, but did not evaluate Woods himself on the day of the crash. Smith interviewed a paramedic who described Woods’ pupils as “slightly sluggish,” but the paramedic attributed the sluggish pupils to the trauma Woods had sustained from the collision.

A sheriff’s captain said Woods’ low blood pressure “was consistent with shock as a result of collision and the injuries (Woods) sustained.” The same captain said Woods was “somewhat combative” when they were trying to treat him on the scene of the crash. This also was determined to be consistent with the trauma Woods sustained.

Deputy Kyle Sullivan reported he interviewed Woods at the hospital after the crash that day while an injury to Woods’ face was being stitched.

“I then asked (Woods) if he is able to tell me about what happened regarding the traffic collision,” Sullivan wrote. Woods “told me he did not remember being involved in a traffic collision. (Woods) thought he was currently in the state of Florida.”

Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Woods would not be issued a citation because there were no independent witnesses and no peace officers who observed the collision sequence.

This is Woods’ third driving incident since 2009, when he was cited for careless driving after crashing into a fire hydrant and tree outside his home in Florida. A witness then said Woods was unconscious at the scene, according to a police report.

In 2017, police found Woods asleep at the wheel in Florida and arrested him for drunk driving. A toxicology report later revealed he had several medications in his system then, including the sleep medication Ambien, the painkiller Vicodin and THC. He checked into a clinic that year to get help with medications dealing with pain and sleep. He pleaded guilty to reckless driving.

After this latest crash, the sheriff’s department did not try to examine Woods’ blood for evidence of medication because there wasn’t a strong-enough reason for it, according to Villanueva and one of his deputies.

Read more at usatoday.com

Read More

Yet another defendant in the multimillion-dollar sports gambling case that led earlier this year to a pardon of Mettawa Mayor Casey Urlacher by then-President Donald Trump has pleaded guilty in federal court.

Matthew Namoff, 25, pleaded guilty to conspiring to conduct an illegal gambling business. In doing so, he became the sixth of 10 original defendants in the case to plead guilty and the fifth since Trump pardoned Urlacher, the brother of Chicago Bears great Brian Urlacher.

Namoff faces a likely sentence of six months to a year in prison at his sentencing, scheduled for Aug. 23.

Chicago Police Officer Nicholas Stella pleaded guilty in the case earlier this week. A CPD spokesperson said at the time that Stella’s status with the department was “inactive.”

Meanwhile, Casey Urlacher ran for reelection as a write-in candidate in Tuesday’s suburban elections. Officials in the Lake County Clerk’s office said write-in results would not be available until next week.

The February 2020 indictment filed in the case alleged that Vincent “Uncle Mick” DelGiudice recruited Namoff, Urlacher, Stella and others to work as agents in his multimillion-dollar gambling ring. DelGiudice pleaded guilty in February, admitting he ran the ring around Chicago from 2016 until 2019.

The indictment alleged that Namoff called DelGiudice on Dec. 17, 2018, to discuss problems with DelGiudice’s gambling website. It also alleged that, on Jan. 19, 2019, Namoff and DelGiudice discussed collecting money from a gambler. DelGiudice told Namoff to say that he was “with Mr. DelGiudice,” it said.

Namoff also called DelGiudice on Jan. 28, 2019, to discuss a new gambler who wanted to place large bets with Namoff, according to the indictment.

Read More

Breaking down the Bears’ roster cuts and additions:

April 9

The Bears re-signed cornerback Michael Joseph to a one-year deal. Joseph hardly played at Oswego High School before talking his way onto the team at Div. III Dubuque, where he became a star and was signed by the Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2018. He spent last year on injured reserve and also appeared on the NFL’s reseve/COVID-19 list.

March 30

Sources confirmed that offensive lineman Rashaad Coward, who started 15 games over the past two seasons with the Bears, agreed to sign a one-year deal with the Steelers. The Bears signed Coward as an undrafted free agent out of Old Dominion in 2017 and later converted him to offensive line from defensive line.

March 25

The Bears have re-signed special teams ace DeAndre Houston-Carson, a safety, to a one-year contract.

March 24

Super Bowl hero Damien Williams will join the Bears on a one-year deal. The running back was the first player in the history of the title game to run for more than 100 yards, catch a touchdown and rush for a score.

March 23

The Bears signed two veterans to one-year contracts: linebacker Christian Jones and tackle/guard Elijah Wilkinson. Jones spent the first four years of his career with the Bears, while Wilkinson figures to fight for the team’s starting right tackle spot.

March 21

Veteran outside linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu signed a two-year deal to join the Bears. He figures to take Barkevious Mingo’s spot as a backup edge rusher and reliable special teamer.

March 19

Long snapper Patrick Scales is returning on a one-year deal, the Bears said. He reunites the Bears’ special teams trio — which included punter Pat O’Donnell and kicker Cairo Santos — from last season. Scales first snapped with the Bears in 2015.

The Bears are signing former Pro Bowl cornerback Desmond Trufant to help replace Kyle Fuller, a source confirmed to the Sun-Times.

March 18

The salary cap-strapped Bears are cutting star cornerback Kyle Fuller rather than pay him $20 million in 2021, sources confirmed. Fuller will become the best available cornerback in the league.

Receiver Allen Robinson signed his franchise tag tender, which entitles him to $18 million this season unless he and the Bears can agree on a long-term deal.

Defensive lineman Brent Urban is signing a one-year contract with the Cowboys, his wife Tweeted.

Quarterback Mitch Trubisky found his soft landing spot. He’ll back up Josh Allen with the Buffalo Bills, who signed him to a one-year contract on Thursday.

March 17

The Bears agreed to sign defensive tackle Angelo Blackson to a two-year deal, a source confirmed to the Sun-Times late Wednesday night. Blackson started nine games for the Cardinals last season, one year after starting 15 for the Texans.

Former Bears Pro Bowl offensive lineman Kyle Long, who just last week returned from a one-year retirement, agreed to sign with the Chiefs on a one-year deal.

Backup safety Deon Bush, who has been a special teams stalwart since the team drafted him five years ago, is returning on a one-year deal, the Bears said.

The Bears won’t tender a contract to Eddy Pineiro, a source said, making the kicker a free agent. The move comes as no surprise after the Bears gave Cairo Santos a three-year deal last week.

March 16

Right tackle Germain Ifedi is returning to the Bears on a one-year, $5 million contract, per NFL Network. Ifedi played all 16 games in his first year with the Bears, starting at right guard before replacing injured right tackle Bobby Massie.

The Bears agreed to sign quarterback Andy Dalton to a one-year, $10 million contract that can be worth $13 million after incentives, sources confirmed. Dalton, who played for the Cowboys last year after spending his entire career with the Bengals, is expected to start over Nick Foles.

March 15

Defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris is leaving on a major free-agent deal. NFL Network reported he agreed to a three-year, $24.4 million contract with the Jaguars, blowing away the $5.6 million he totaled over his first five seasons with the Bears.

March 14

Defensive end Mario Edwards Jr. agreed to re-sign with the Bears after a career year. He’ll sit out the first two games of 2021 for violating the NFL ban on performance-enhancing drugs.

March 12

The Bears are bringing back punter Pat O’Donnell on a one-year deal, continuing his career with the franchise that drafted him in 2014.

March 11

Cairo Santos‘ stellar season earned the placekicker a three-year contract that can be worth up to $11 million, a source confirmed. His deal is technically a five-year, $17.5 million contract extension, with the last two years able to be voided for salary-cap reasons. Santos set a Bears record with a field-goal percentage of 93.8 last year despite first joining the team in training camp. He was set to become a free agent on March 17.

March 9

As expected, the Bears gave wide receiver Allen Robinson the franchise tag. He’ll make $18 million in 2021 unless he and the team can negotiate a long-term contract by mid-July. Robinson and the Bears, of course, could have done just that anytime in the last year — and didn’t. He’s vented his frustration about negotiations and the franchise tag in recent months.

March 3

The Bears re-signed five of their exclusive rights free agents: running back Ryan Nall, inside linebacker Josh Woods, outside linebacker James Vaughters, guard Alex Bars and tight end J.P. Holtz. The moves were expected, as exclusive rights free agents — players with less than three years’ experience — have until the start of the league season to sign a contract with their team; if they don’t, they can hit the free agent market.

March 2

General manager Ryan Pace confirmed the Bears were cutting slot cornerback Buster Skrine. Skrine, 31, missed the last month of last season with a concussion — the sixth reported one during his career. The Bears will save about $2.7 million in 2021 cap space by cutting Skrine, who played in 28 games after signing a three-year deal.

Read More