Someone fired the shots about 2:05 p.m. in the 2100 block of West 47th Street, breaking two windows of the school building, Chicago police said.

By

Sun-Times Wire

Apr 6, 2021, 5:04pm CDT

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YANGON, Myanmar — Authorities in Myanmar arrested the country’s best-known comedian on Tuesday as they continue to crack down on people they accuse of helping incite nationwide protests against February’s military coup.

The comedian Zarganar was taken from his home in Yangon by police and soldiers who arrived in two army vehicles, fellow comedian Ngepyawkyaw said on his own Facebook page. Zarganar, 60, is a sharp-tongued satirist who has been in and out of prison since he was active in a failed 1988 popular uprising against a previous military dictatorship. He is also well known for his social work, especially arranging assistance for victims of Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

In the past week, the junta has issued arrest warrants for about 100 people active in the fields of literature, film, theater arts, music and journalism on charges of spreading information that undermines the stability of the country and the rule of law. It was not immediately clear what Zarganar, whose real name is Maung Thura, has been charged with.

Many ordinary protesters and activists are also being arrested every day, according to numerous reports on social media.

In Mandalay, the country’s second-biggest city, security forces used stun grenades and fired guns Tuesday to break up a march by medical workers who have defiantly continued to protest almost every day against the Feb. 1 coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The army’s takeover set back Myanmar’s gradual return to democracy after five decades of military rule.

A participant who asked to remain anonymous for his own safety told The Associated Press that doctors, nurses and medical students were attacked as they gathered at about 5 a.m. by security forces who also used cars to run into protesters on motorbikes. The online news site The Irrawaddy reported that four doctors were arrested.

At least 570 protesters and bystanders, including 47 children, have been killed in the crackdown since the takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors casualties and arrests. The group says 2,728 people, including Suu Kyi, are in detention.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said U.N. officials in Myanmar are “deeply concerned” about the impact of the continuing violence on the country’s health system, pointing to at least 28 attacks against hospitals and health personnel since Feb. 1. And they are also concerned at violence against the education system, pointing to 7 attacks against schools and school personnel since the coup, he said.

“Health volunteers are attacked, and attacks against ambulances are preventing life-saving help reaching civilians wounded by security forces,” Dujarric said.

Activists have begun organizing a boycott of next week’s official celebration of Thingyan, the country’s traditional New Year, usually a time for family reunions and merry-making.

In leaflets and social media posts, they are imploring people not to hold any Thingyan celebrations, saying it would be disrespectful to “fallen martyrs” to enjoy the festival.

The leaders of Brunei and Malaysia announced Monday that leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will meet to discuss the situation in Myanmar.

No date was given in the announcement, issued during a visit by Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to Brunei. He and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said they “expressed serious concern on the ongoing crisis in Myanmar and the rising number of fatalities.” Indonesian President Joko Widido had proposed a summit on Myanmar last month.

There was no word on whether the ASEAN leaders would participate in person or by video, or if Myanmar, one of the group’s 10 members, would attend.

Myanmar’s junta also has been battling in some border areas where ethnic minority groups maintain their own armed forces. Several major groups, most notably the Karen and the Kachin, have expressed solidarity with the anti-coup movement and vowed to protect protesters in the territory they control.

The Kachin in the country’s north have engaged in combat with government forces, but the Karen in the east have borne the brunt of the junta’s military assaults.

The area where the Karen National Union holds sway has been subject to air attacks by the Myanmar military from March 27 through Monday, said David Eubank of the Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian organization that has for many years provided medical assistance to Karen villagers. Burma is another name for Myanmar.

Eubank said his group has verified that 14 civilians died and more than 40 were wounded in the air strikes. He said Tuesday that Myanmar’s military is mounting a ground offensive into Karen territory, driving villagers from their homes and increasing the number of displaced people in the area to more than 20,000, many of whom have to hide in caves or the jungle and are in desperate need of food and other necessities.

“The situation now seems, from our perspective, to be all-out war to the finish,” Eubank wrote Monday in an emailed message. “Unless there is a miracle, the Burma Army will not hold back in their attempt to crush the Karen and any other ethnic group that stands against them, just as they have not held back killing their own Burman people in the cities and plains of Burma.”

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FREDERICK, Md. — A Navy medic shot and wounded two U.S. sailors at a military facility Tuesday, then fled to a nearby Army base where security forces shot and killed him, police and Navy officials said.

Authorities said they had yet to determine what drove 38-year-old Fantahun Girma Woldesenbet to open fire at the facility, located in an office park in Frederick, Maryland.

“We’re still trying to sort through stacks of paper … to figure out exactly what the motive would be,” said Frederick Police Lt. Andrew Alcorn.

Woldesenbet shot the sailors with a rifle inside the facility at the Riverside Tech Park on Tuesday morning, causing people inside to flee, said Frederick Police Chief Jason Lando.

Woldesenbet, a Navy medic assigned to Fort Detrick but who lived in town, then drove to the base, where gate guards who had been given advance notice told him to pull over for a search, said Brig. Gen. Michael J. Talley. But Woldesenbet immediately sped off, making it about a half-mile into the installation before he was stopped at a parking lot by the base’s police force. When he pulled out a weapon, the police shot and killed him, Talley said.

The two sailors, who Talley said were assigned to Fort Detrick, were airlifted to a hospital. Police said one victim is in critical but stable condition, and the other is in serious condition but expected to be released Wednesday.

Talley said investigators will determine as much as they can, including why the suspect went back to the base.

“(I) don’t know his mental status at the time, and we’re certainly going to find all that out,” he said.

The brigadier general said the facility where the shooting took place was not under his command. He declined to identify the facility more specifically or describe the work that was done there.

Fort Detrick is home to the military’s flagship biological defense laboratory and several federal civilian biodefense labs. About 10,000 military personnel and civilians work on the base, which encompasses about 1,300 acres in the city of Frederick.

The base is a huge economic driver in the region, drawing scientists, military personnel and their families. Frederick Mayor Michael O’Connor noted that various defense contractors are located near Fort Detrick and that it wouldn’t be unusual for a member of the military to be off base and working with a private firm that does business with the U.S. government.

“When these incidents happen in other places, you’re always grateful that it’s not your community,” O’Connor added. “But you always know, perhaps in the back of your mind, that that’s just luck — that there isn’t any reason why it couldn’t happen here. And today it did.”

By early afternoon, the Nallin Farm gate at Fort Detrick through which the shooter entered remained closed and two officers were standing by.

Police cordoned off Woldesenbet’s garden-style apartment building in Frederick City, a few miles from the site of the shooting.

A neighbor, Ava Target, said she knew Woldesenbet only by sight, and that he lived on the top floor of the apartment complex with a wife and two kids. She wasn’t aware of any problems.

Another neighbor, Rachel Tucker, said she saw police escort Woldesenbet’s wife and two young children from the apartment early Tuesday afternoon.

She said she believed the family had lived in the apartment for about a year and she never noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Frederick police Lt. Andrew Alcorn said the crime scene unit had recovered multiple items from Woldesenbet’s apartment, but he declined to categorize them.

He said Woldesenbet’s wife had been at the apartment earlier Tuesday and that police brought her in for questioning.

Mark Nelson, a firefighter who lives in a row of townhomes across the street from the base, said he heard the base blast warning sirens Tuesday morning.

“I heard, I don’t know what they call it, but they were like air raid sirens, and I knew something was going on,” Nelson said.

Lando called the shootings “very tragic.”

“It’s happening too frequently,” he said. “Every time we turn on the TV we’re seeing something like this happening. And now it’s happening in our backyards.”

___

Associated Press writers Michael Kunzelman in College Park, Maryland; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; and Jonathan Drew in Durham, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

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A 1-year-old boy was shot in the head during an apparent road-rage incident late Tuesday morning on Lake Shore Drive near Grant Park, Chicago police said.

The boy suffered a brain injury and was at Lurie Children’s Hospital in critical condition, according to Dr. Marcelo Malakooti, medical director of the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit. He’s requiring full critical care support and is on a ventilator.

“It’s really hard to predict right now what will happen,” Dr. Malakooti said. “It’s a very tenuous situation, it can change hourly.”

Dr. Malakooti said his team will be “doing all we can do for this little boy and thank everyone for their concern.”

A dispute over one car not letting another car into a lane of traffic about 11 a.m. on northbound Lake Shore Drive just south of Soldier Field apparently led to the shooting, Chicago Police Cmdr. Jake Alderden said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

Both cars continued north and shooting began on Lake Shore Drive just west of the Shedd Aquarium. Bullet casings were recovered over a two-block stretch as the cars proceeded north, he said.

The vehicle the child was in crashed at Monroe Street and Lake Shore Drive, near the Chicago Yacht Club and Maggie Daley Park.

A good Samaritan in a passing Tesla saw the crashed car and drove the boy and a male and female occupant to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The boy, who was shot in the temple, was later transferred to Lurie, police said.

Detectives “have witnesses and a suspect … and are actively pursuing the other car that was involved,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said later Tuesday.

There was early confusion over the child’s exact age; a hospital statement described him as “nearly 2” years old.

A handgun was recovered from an occupant of the crashed vehicle, though police couldn’t immediately say if it was used in the shooting or if it was possessed legally.

Alderden expected information about the other car involved in the shooting, which fled the scene, to be released soon.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

A bullet hole could be seen in the rear passenger window of the crashed vehicle. Northbound Lake Shore Drive was closed until about 1:30 p.m. as police investigated.

Lightfoot called the shooting a case of “simple, stupid road rage.” She was incredulous that adults would unleash their anger and use a gun with a child so near.

“It’s mind boggling to me that people carry guns in the way that they do. That they use them in the way that they do. … It’s just a terrible tragedy,” she said at an unrelated news conference.

“These were not two rival gangs … shooting at each other. This was simple, stupid road rage,” the mayor said. “I just hope that we are smarter and more committed to making sure that we set the example for our children that we want them to follow. And getting upset about a traffic incident — in whether you can merge or not — that that would result in gunfire is an absurdity to me.”

Lightfoot said people in both cars in the incident were firing weapons.

“There was shooting going from that car and coming to that car. That doesn’t make any sense to me,” Lightfoot said.

Community activist Ja’Mal Green, father of a 2-year-old, is personally funding a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the gunman.

In a news conference near the hospital, Green called out community leaders, including Lightfoot, Gov. J.B Pritzker and Vice President Kamala Harris, who landed in Chicago two hours after the shooting to speak about COVID-19 vaccine equity.

“I understand how important it is to vaccinate people and talk about this cover pandemic but here in Chicago, folks every single day are walking around trying to dodge bullets in hopes they can survive a nice day like today,” Green said.

“This is the most I’ve ever seen them talk about our communities. This is the most I’ve ever seen them want to give something to our communities… but we’re asking for real health and real change, and the root problems to be solved in our communities. We need to invest in these communities, we need to make sure that we can have a safe summer.”

Green was joined by several other young Chicago residents — many of whom he mentors — including 18-year-old Madison Harvey.

“Every day when I go into the streets in the city, I fear for my own life,” Harvey said. “This situation is extremely sad, but it’s almost making us extremely angry because our anger stems from fear — fear that we could be next.”

With summer around the corner, Green demanded that officials invest more into the communities most impacted by gun violence. He also called for a “ceasefire” on young people.

“We can’t take this any longer,” he said.

CPD said it could not immediately say how many road-rage shootings happen in the city each year.

Illinois State Police said there have 56 expressway shootings in the Chicago area this year, a 167% increase compared to last year at this time. Between Jan. 1, 2020, through April 5, 2020, state police investigated 21 expressway shootings. State police couldn’t say how many of those shootings were road-rage incidents.

Police have responded to at least five other shootings this year in the Loop.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Last weekend two men were wounded in separate shootings on Lower Wacker Drive. On Easter, an 18-year-old man was shot about 7:10 a.m. while driving with his girlfriend in the first block of North Lower Wacker, police said. Struck in the neck, he was hospitalized in critical condition. Before dawn Saturday, a 29-year-old man was shot in his knee as he traveled in a vehicle on Lower Wacker, police said.

On March 19, three people were arrested for allegedly firing gunshots shortly after midnight in the first block of East Lake Street, police said. A hotel security guard gave a vehicle description to police, who found the car on Wacker Drive.

In October 2020, prosecutors said Lake Shore Drive became a “shooting gallery” when someone shot out the eye of a 19-year-old woman in a vehicle at Jackson Boulevard, just south of where the child was shot Tuesday.

Chicago police’s 1st District, which covers the Loop and South Loop, has seen two other shootings this year through March 28, according to police statistics. Overall crime in the district has fallen 35% over the same period last year, according to the numbers. Meanwhile, reports of sex assault and vehicle thefts have increased over the last year.

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The various opening days and a string of gorgeous days perfect for being outside brought out lots of anglers and many reports and photos for this sprawling raw-file Midwest Fishing Report.

On Sunday, Chris Ranney messaged the photo at the top and this:

Hey Dale … happy Easter … the bigger browns are on the move on the lakefront ….

He also sent a more detailed report that is the Lakefront section.

ILLINOIS SPRING TROUT SEASON

Provided by Eddie Pasiewicz

Reports have generally been good for opening weekend. I suspect the gorgeous weather had something to do with it; certainly drew the crowds, as Eddie Pasiewicz showed with the photo above and this:

Good afternoon Dale

Sand Pond was loaded with Men and Women fishing for spring trout fishing at Sand Pond Adeline Geo Karris Illinois Beach State Park. Pond was full all around with more then 70 cars this past Saturday 7:30 AM. Was a beautiful day.

Thanks Eddie

Bob France emailed the photo below from Grove Lake:

JF Semple and his buddy with limits! Wood Dale Grove

Provided by Bob France

Regulations are same: daily bag of five, those 16 and older needed a license and a stamp. Remember: the five Forest Preserves of Cook County sites–Axehead, Belleau, Green, Horsetail, Sag Quarry East–open Wednesday, April 7. Other nearby sites opened on Saturday, April 3: Wolf Lake (Cook County); Silver, Pickerel and Grove (DuPage); Bird Park Quarry and Rock Creek (Kankakee); Big Lake (Kendall); Sand (Lake); Piscasaw Creek and Atwood (McHenry); Milliken (Will). Click here for general information on Illinois’ spring trout season. Click here for details on the delayed start of FPCC.

SMELT

Click here for the story of the sparsest opening night in decades on Thursday.

Stacey Greene at Park Bait at Montrose Harbor texted Tuesday:

. . . For those interested I have had no smelt reports.

Nor have I.

Smelt netting in Chicago runs through April 30. Chicago Park District regulations: nets may go in at 7 p.m., must be out of the parks by 1 a.m., no open fires, no closed tents, no parking on grass or sidewalks, dispose of coals in appropriate trash receptacles.

LAKEFRONT PARKING

Chicago Park District’s parking passes for the fisherman’s parking lots at DuSable and Burnham harbors are on sale at Henry’s Sports and Bait in Bridgeport and Park Bait at Montrose Harbor.

Readers suggest SpotHero app downtown. Otherwise, here are some basics: Foster (free street parking or pay lot); Montrose (free street parking); Belmont (pay lots on north and south sides); Diversey (pay lot or street parking); DuSable Harbor (pay lot or fisherman’s lot); Northerly Island/Burnham Harbor (meters, pay lot or fisherman’s lot); 31st/Burnham (meter parking between McCormick Place and 31st Street Harbor); Oakwood/39th (meters); 63rd Street/Casino Pier (pay lot); Steelworkers Park (free street parking at east end of 87th); Cal Park (free parking).

AREA LAKES

Provided

Rob Abouchar emailed the photo above and this:

Hi dale

With one day left of Spring break I felt good enough to take some casts on Monday. I headed to Twin Lakes in Palatine for some early morning bass. Not sure if it was the black cat in my back yard or the brief rainbow that appeared as the sun rose but I was able to at least get one fish to go. The wind was up and the weather did not seem conducive to fish catching. One of those mornings where you just can sense it might be tough. The one fish to hit fell to a Mepps #5 in line spinner in white and red. A young boy was very impressed as he saw me land and release the fish. I said I will send your picture to the man at the new paper and he smiled as he went along his walk. Other anglers did not report any fish being caught. The water was very cold and stained. One shore angler was saying the bite was very slow and he had not caught anything using minnows. Hopefully the weather will turn for the better and the bite should improve.

Tight lines and good health

Rob

That’s my kind of story.

Tom Platt messaged:

I’m going to hit up horsetail probably 5pm hopefully they still bite lol. . . . Crappie are just starting in the preserves, this warm weather might get them going. Rain might slow things down this weekend

Provided

Dan Bernstein, lover of local fishing and cohost of “Bernstein & Rahimi” from 9 a.m. to noon on WSCR-AM, took advantage of the beautiful weather Monday while his son was doing baseball at McGuane Park to fish Palmisano Park. Bernstein sampled the multiple species of the great catch-and-release site in Bridgeport, including the crappie above.

Dicky’s Bait Shop in Montgomery reported a good opening day for trout at Silver Springs SFWA, a limit was even caught on Monday, best on minnows; places such as Phillips and Big Rock Quarry are starting to get better bass action, especially if you find warmer water; crappie reports continue.

Steve Palmisano at Henry’s Sports and Bait texted:

Similar to the previous 2 weeks . . . crappie still going

Ken “Husker” O’Malley emailed the photo below and this:

Hey Dale,

Here is a recap of this past weeks fishing.

Area lakes- once we got past last weeks cold front, fishing has been improving with the above average temps.

Bass have been decent on jerk baits worked over the top of emerging weed beds. Vary the cadence until the fish tell you want they want. Each day seems to be different.

Crappie are slowly starting to stage and grouping up. Once you can locate them action has been decent on a variety of plastics under a float. A few bluegill can be caught with this presentation as well.

. . .

TTYL

—

Ken “Husker” O’Malley

Husker Outdoors
Waterwerks fishing team

Provided

Pete Lamar emailed:

Hi Dale,

I found a wide range of water temperatures in recent days. Not too many fish, but a wide range of temperatures.

A park district pond near home had warmed into the mid-50s. An office complex retention pond was just below 60 degrees (I only fished the latter, without success). If this trend continues, I think I may be using small poppers on the local ponds by next weekend.

. . .

We’re headed in the right direction. A few more days or a week and things should really get moving.

Pete

“Right direction” is the right thought in my world view.

BRAIDWOOD LAKE

Open daily 6 a.m. to sunset. Click here for the preview.

CHAIN O’LAKES AREA

Proprietor Greg Dickson at Triangle Sports and Marine in Antioch said fishing is actually good, but water needs to come up big time. Crappie are decent; walleye should be setting in main lake areas because of the low water. Catfish are biting pretty good, large fatheads or crawlers.

NOTE: Check updates on water conditions at foxwaterway.com or (847) 587-8540.

CHICAGO RIVER

Provided

Jeffrey Williams messaged the photo above of his brother Jesse and this:

so i got my butt kicked at the river yesterday, thought i give a lil report, got sum good bites under the bridge with sum grubs, other than tht Carp are hitting pretty good

When I asked for a couple details, he replied:

it felt like crappie bites, my brother Jesse is holding the Carp.

20lbs 33 in

DELAVAN LAKE, WISCONSIN

Arden Katz said there are lots of panfish in the channels, but must downsize to something like ice jigs and spikes to catch bluegills up to 8 inches.

DOWNSTATE

POWERTON: Shore and boat fishing is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

SPRING: Open for fishing.

EMIQUON: Basically, go to the launch. General information at http://experienceemiquon.com/sites/default/files/LakeAccessRules.pdf.

HENNEPIN-HOPPER: Closed for the season.

SHELBYVILLE: Check with Ken Wilson of Lithia Guide Service. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS: Check with Jason Johns of Boneyard Fishing.

FOX RIVER

Provided by Dicky’s Bait Shop

Dicky’s Bait Shop in Montgomery reported the water temperature is 53.5, “so it is definitely climbing;” a good 4 ¹/₂ pound smallmouth caught in the Geneva area; catfish still going good, as photo above shows.

Pete Lamar emailed:

Hi Dale,

. . .

Saturday afternoon, we went to Silver Springs to sight in a turkey gun for the upcoming season. On the way home, we stopped just to look at a Fox tributary near its mouth with the Fox. There was a school of large suckers in a deep pool, easily spotted in the low clear water. But even after a day with temperatures approaching 70 degrees, water was only 42; I doubt much would be actively feeding under those conditions.

We’re headed in the right direction. A few more days or a week and things should really get moving.

Pete

GREEN LAKE AREA, WISCONSIN

Guide Mike Norris emailed:

Fishing Report 4/5/2021

Mike Norris

. . .

, , ,

Big Green Lake – Big Green is Wisconsin’s deepest inland lake and is slow to warm. Water temp is only 38 degrees on the main lake but boaters are finding active lake trout in 90 feet of water. Try catching them on Northland Rattling Spoons or a white jig tube.

For information on guide trips reach out to me via my Facebook page at mike.norris.7773 or email me through my website at www.comecatchsmallmouth.com

GREEN/STURGEON BAYS, WISCONSIN

Click here for the Wisconsin DNR weekly report.

Lance LaVine at Howie’s Tackle in Sturgeon Bay emailed this:

Good morning fellas….here is a quick fishing update

Brown Trout fishing has been going fair to good in recent weeks and with the rains predicted in the near future the Brown Trout fishing should just get better. Trolling the shallow water both on the lake side and the bay side of the peninsula will be the area to target. Floating Rapalas, Thundersticks and Mauler spoons are just a few of the top baits

Pike fishing is going quite well and that fishing will also get better as we move through spring. Both trolling and casting spawn/staging areas with jerk baits, spoons and plastics has been effective along with drifting large sucker minnows.

Walleye fishing is starting to pick up as the water continues to warm. Casting and trolling crank baits at night along with rip jigging with Rippin Raps, Hair jigs, Blades, Paddle tails and shorty Howie Tubes. Concentrate your efforts along the secondary shoreline drops, especially during the day and the primary shoreline drops in the evening and after dark

The stream fishing for Rainbow Trout was off to a strong start then started to dwindle due to the lack of run-off. Again, that fishing with definitely ramp back up as we finally get some much needed rain to get those Lake Michigan tributaries rolling again.

The catch and release Smallmouth bass fishing is also just starting to get rolling as some of those fishing are starting to push into the shallow bays as the water starts to warm. Jerk baits, Howie tubes, small paddle tails and hair jigs just a few of the top baits to use early in the season.

Thanks;

Lance LaVine

Howie’s Tackle

1309 Green Bay Rd
Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235
Ph: 920-746-9916

HEIDECKE LAKE

Open 6 a.m. (6:30 bank fishing) to sunset. Click here for the promising preview. Weather made fishing in the first days tough.

ILLINOIS RIVER

Provided

Capt. Mike Hanson of Starved Rock Guide Service texted the photo above and this from an outing with retired veteran Carter Cavitt:

They tell me the Illinois River don’t have big crappie- I disagree

We smashed good ones today let go a bunch too- keeping only ten with his personal best going on his wall-

KANKAKEE RIVER

Provided

Chris Strand messaged the photo above and this:

This was the “Easter egg” I was looking for lol

Spawned out female. 25in caught in kankakee river on a live shiner

Released

Walleye on the Kankakee River have a protected slot from 18 to 26 inches.

Provided by Chris Strand

He also sent this and the photo above:

I would guess [the walleye weighed around 4lbs because of the length? No more than that. Let me tell you it was a very light hit, then a great fight. Pulled drag that was pretty tight. Thought I had a big catfish. Caught a smallmouth before that that jumped and pulled but didn’t fight as much

Bob Johnson emailed the photo below and this on Monday:

Hi Dale –

Fished the Kankakee today and was able to land several smallmouth and a couple largemouth mostly undersized with a few decent ones mixed in. River is in pretty good shape with a slight stain on main channel. Had success working a slight mudline on Crainkbaits actually landing 2 on same cast. Pic attached are the Smallies that were caught together. A first for me.

Provided

LAKE ERIE

Click here for the Ohio DNR Report.

LAKEFRONT

On Sunday, Chris Ranney, who sent the photo at the very top of Michael Fogarty and a good lakefront brown, also sent this extended report:

Within an hour of each other [we got two browns] …… we get this rain , it should really go off as the alewife move in ….. the coho are crazy big for this time ….. late April early may sized fish …. hope your holiday was excellent… be well Dale

I am feeling well, of course this weather helps.

He added this:

Browns were on set lines (bottom) . . . coho were a mix of float lines and the power line. . . . bite started way out . . . then moved in as the chop progressed shallow. . . . that disturbed water is so important with this clear water. . . . we need some turbidity. . . . 3/5′ down for the coho.

Greg Laveau messaged the photo below and this last week:

2 hours today at Montrose 2nd limit this week

He added:

Yes. Night crawlers were the ticket today. On Monday we alternated minnow, worm etc

Provided by Greg Laveau

Tom Platt messaged:

. . . Guys that are putting in the hours are being rewarded. Bass are doing well and some reports of drum. . .

Steve Palmisano at Henry’s Sports and Bait texted:

Similar to the previous 2 weeks coho . . . still going

Stacey Greene at Park Bait at Montrose Harbor texted:

Good morning Dale Coho fishing still good. Powerliners are doing better then rod and reel. Still some nice brown trout and steelhead around. Large minnows and nightcrawlers still seem to be the baits of choice. I would anticipate that the water is starting to warm up this week so guys casting some spoons and crankbaits should start getting a little more action. For those interested I have had no smelt reports.

Lori Ralph at the Salmon Stop in Waukegan texted:

guys are getting browns, steelies, and a few cohos are showing up off the pier.

Capt. Scott Wolfe emailed:

Waukegan 4/5

Hi Dale

In Waukegan coho are starting. Only a couple of serious boats are in now so reliable information is sparse. Some coho are being taken in 25 to 65 trolling dodger and peanut flies or body baits. For boats targeting coho the shallower waters 25- 35 have more then the deeper water Big lake trout are plentiful in 60 feet. The trout are suspended all over the water column. Suspended spoons as well as typical laker taker Mo Rigs are working. The bright rubber skirted Jimmy Fly Green Guy and Green Goby were best.

It’s will still be 2 weeks before my running gear is on and I’m in so my reports may be sporadic until then. It’s already an above average start of April.

Capt Scott Wolfe

630-341-0550
www.schooloffishcharters.com
Manipulator – Waukegan

It feels like the season is truly changing with the first report from Wolfe.

On Saturday, Jason “Special” Le texted the photo below, which I love, and a note and photo on his brother Ricky catching a good whitefish.

Nice to hear of another quality whitefish.

Jason “Special” Le

LaSALLE LAKE

Open daily 6 a.m. to sunset. Click here for the preview of prospects.

MADISON LAKES, WISCONSIN

Click here for the update from D&S Bait.

MAZONIA

Both units are open for open-water fishing or ice fishing.

NORTHERN WISCONSIN

Kurt Justice at Kurt’s Island Sport Shop in Minocqua emailed:

A very unusual warm early April has most of our lakes completely ice free. The few exceptions being the largest lakes, Fence and Trout. But with air temps hitting 80 degrees on Monday (4/5) that won’t last long.

It’s rare to see such an early ice out with open water and such nice weather. Anglers are out checking on Crappie spots, Perch spots and getting the kinks out of their equipment.

Crappie: Good-Very Good – Anglers finding Crappies filtering through standing weeds in 6-8′ of water. Spooking easily, so long cast required with small floats and minnows or tiny hair jigs. While still a long way off from spawning, some anglers reporting Crappies moving close into shallow brush. Most likely to soak up warmth that helps with their egg production later.

Yellow Perch: Good – Below dams that are open to fishing (The Rainbow Dam closes April 10^th as a sanctuary until May 1^st). Jig and medium fats or pieces of crawlers, lindy rigs or floats in the eddies work.

Bluegill: Poor – Just no reports as of now. Most interest in Crappies and Perch.

With ice off so early and so much warm weather, expect almost all Walleye spawning to be finished by May 1^st. A good post spawn bite should occur, but lots can happen here in the Northwoods between now and then.

Catch & Release Bass IS open.

Panfish (Crappie, Bluegill, Yellow Perch) IS open.

NO Walleye fishing is open up here with the exception of the research Lake Escanaba with its one over 28″ regulation.

The closed season is to give some species a break from harvest and pursuit. Please be aware and respect these rules. Rules like these and bag limits are meant to ensure opportunities for the future, so everyone can enjoy for years to come.

Kurt Justice

Kurt’s Island Sport Shop
Like us on FaceBook

NORTHWEST INDIANA

Capt. Rich Sleziak at Slez’s Bait in Lake Station texted:

Willow slough good for boat fisherman gills,crappie on jigs tipped with beemoth

Coho action on the portage river walk is hit or miss everyday has been different

Trolling for coho has been all over the place from good to slow you find a pocket of fish work that area. East Chicago up and down the wall to Gary light to the mouth of the ditch and the mouth of the port of Indiana are the areas that have been getting worked. Brads thinfish and dodgers and peanut Flys best baits

Crappie at lake George in Hobart around the bridges and log jams using crappie minnows

Christina Petrites at Stan’s Bait & Tackle Center in Hammond emailed:

Hi, Dale. I hope you’re loving this gorgeous weather. Here’s what we have for this week:

Area Anglers are having good luck trolling for Coho in 15-30 FOW with a few kings showing up. Guys are trolling flatlines with thin fish and 3 colors of leadcore with small spoons. The rivers have slowed down a lot with just a few steelhead being caught. There are some catfish being caught. The inland lakes are starting to do much better a lot of nice crappie and some bluegill.

ROOT RIVER, WISCONSIN

Click here for the Wisconsin DNR’s report, usually on Tuesday or Wednesday.

SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN

Staff at Tackle Haven in Benton Harbor said boaters are getting coho south of St. Joe, but they don’t have to go all the way to the Cook plant; pier is slow, but it was real good back when the winds were rocking; walleye are closed on the river.

Paddle and Pole hosts the Berrien Springs Fish Ladder Camera.

SHABBONA LAKE

Site hours through Oct. 31 are 6 a.m.-10 p.m. daily

As of now, the reopening of the concessions is on hold after the initial sale fell through.

SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN LAKEFRONT

Click here for the southern Lake Michigan reports from the Wisconsin DNR.

WISCONSIN RIVER, PETENWELL FLOWAGE

Guide Mike Norris emailed:

Fishing Report 4/5/2021

Mike Norris

. . .

Petenwell Flowage – For walleye work current breaks from below the Pettenwell Dam down to the mouth of the lake. Both vertical Jigging and casting jigs with minnows work well. Water level is down so careful navigating in rocky areas.

. . .

For information on guide trips reach out to me via my Facebook page at mike.norris.7773 or email me through my website at www.comecatchsmallmouth.com

WOLF LAKE

Trout season is open on the Illinois side.

WOLF RIVER, WISCONSIN

Gary Bloom messaged on Winneconne:

FYI. Water low in Winneconne, but Walleye starting to bite. Friends (3) had limit by 9am yesterday. 13-16 inches. Limit is 3.

Guide Mike Norris emailed:

Wolf River – Walleyes are active and can be caught vertical jigging with a jig and minnow. Water temp is in the low 40’s. The walleyes should spawn this week with the incoming warm weather.

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MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police are taught to restrain combative suspects with a knee on their back or shoulders if necessary but are told to “stay away from the neck when possible,” a department use-of-force instructor testified Tuesday at former Officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial.

Lt. Johnny Mercil became the latest member of the Minneapolis force to take the stand as part of an effort by prosecutors to dismantle the argument that Chauvin was doing what he was trained to do when he put his knee on George Floyd’s neck last May.

Several experienced officers, including the police chief himself, have testified that Floyd should not have been kept pinned to the pavement for close to 9 1/2 minutes by prosecutors’ reckoning as the Black man lay face-down, his hands cuffed behind his back.

According to testimony and records submitted Tuesday, Chauvin took a 40-hour course in 2016 on how to recognize people in crisis — including those suffering mental problems or the effects of drug use — and how to use de-escalation techniques to calm them down.

Sgt. Ker Yang, the Minneapolis police official in charge of crisis-intervention training, said officers are taught to “slow things down and re-evaluate and reassess.”

Records show Chauvin also underwent training in the use of force in 2018. Mercil said those who attended were taught that the sanctity of life is a cornerstone of departmental policy and that officers must use the least amount of force required to get a suspect to comply.

Under cross-examination by Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson, Mercil testified that officers are trained in some situations to use their knee across a suspect’s back or shoulder and employ their body weight to maintain control.

But Mercil added: “We tell officers to stay away from the neck when possible.”

Nelson has argued that the now-fired white officer “did exactly what he had been trained to do over his 19-year career,” and he has suggested that the illegal drugs in Floyd’s system and his underlying health conditions are what killed him, not Chauvin’s knee.

In fact, Nelson sought to point out moments in the video footage when he said Chauvin’s knee did not appear to be on Floyd’s neck.

Nelson showed Mercil several images taken from officers’ body-camera videos, asking after each one whether it showed Chauvin’s knee appearing to rest more on Floyd’s back, shoulder or shoulder blades than directly on Floyd’s neck. Mercil often agreed.

Nelson acknowledged the images were difficult to make out. They were taken at different moments during Floyd’s arrest, starting about four minutes after he was first pinned to the ground, according to time stamps on the images.

In other testimony, Jody Stiger, a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant serving as a prosecution use-of-force expert, said officers were justified in using force while Floyd was resisting their efforts to put him in a squad car. But once he was on the ground and stopped resisting, “at that point the officers … should have slowed down or stopped their force as well.”

Stiger said that after reviewing video of the arrest, “my opinion was that the force was excessive.”

Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death May 25. Floyd, 46, was arrested outside a neighborhood market after being accused of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. A panicky-sounding Floyd writhed and claimed to be claustrophobic as police tried to put him in the squad car.

Bystander video of Floyd crying that he couldn’t breathe as onlookers yelled at Chauvin to get off him sparked protests around the U.S. that descended into violence in some cases.

Instead of closing ranks to protect a fellow officer behind what has been dubbed the “blue wall of silence,” some of the most experienced members of the Minneapolis force have taken the stand to openly condemn Chauvin’s actions as excessive.

Chauvin had been certified to perform CPR, and Minneapolis Officer Nicole Mackenzie, who trains members of the force in medical care, testified Tuesday that department policy required him to start aid before paramedics arrived, if possible.

Officers kept restraining Floyd — with Chauvin kneeling on his neck, another kneeling on Floyd’s back and a third holding his feet — until the ambulance got there, even after he became unresponsive, according to testimony and video footage.

The officers also rebuffed offers of help from an off-duty Minneapolis firefighter who wanted to administer aid or tell officers how to do it.

“Have you have ever had a circumstance where an individual has lost their pulse and suddenly come back to life and become more violent?” prosecutor Steve Schleicher asked Mercil, suggesting that Floyd was held down long past the point where he might be a threat.

“Not that I’m aware of, sir,” Mercil replied.

Webber reported from Fenton, Mich.

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MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police are taught to restrain combative suspects with a knee on their back or shoulders if necessary but are told to “stay away from the neck when possible,” a department use-of-force instructor testified Tuesday at former Officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial.

Lt. Johnny Mercil became the latest member of the Minneapolis force to take the stand as part of an effort by prosecutors to dismantle the argument that Chauvin was doing what he was trained to do when he put his knee on George Floyd’s neck last May.

Several experienced officers, including the police chief himself, have testified that Floyd should not have been kept pinned to the pavement for close to 9 1/2 minutes by prosecutors’ reckoning as the Black man lay face-down, his hands cuffed behind his back.

According to testimony and records submitted Tuesday, Chauvin took a 40-hour course in 2016 on how to recognize people in crisis — including those suffering mental problems or the effects of drug use — and how to use de-escalation techniques to calm them down.

Sgt. Ker Yang, the Minneapolis police official in charge of crisis-intervention training, said officers are taught to “slow things down and re-evaluate and reassess.”

Records show Chauvin also underwent training in the use of force in 2018. Mercil said those who attended were taught that the sanctity of life is a cornerstone of departmental policy and that officers must use the least amount of force required to get a suspect to comply.

Under cross-examination by Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson, Mercil testified that officers are trained to use their knee across a person’s back or shoulder and employ their body weight to maintain control.

But Mercil added: “We tell officers to stay away from the neck when possible.”

Nelson has argued that the now-fired white officer “did exactly what he had been trained to do over his 19-year career,” and he has suggested that the illegal drugs in Floyd’s system and his underlying health conditions are what killed him, not Chauvin’s knee.

In fact, Nelson sought to point out moments in the video footage when he said Chauvin’s knee did not appear to be on Floyd’s neck.

Nelson showed Mercil several images taken from officers’ body-camera videos, asking after each one whether it showed Chauvin’s knee appearing to rest more on Floyd’s back, shoulder or shoulder blades than directly on Floyd’s neck. Mercil often agreed.

Nelson acknowledged the images were difficult to make out. They were taken at different moments during Floyd’s arrest, starting about four minutes after he was first pinned to the ground, according to time stamps on the images.

In other testimony, Jody Stiger, a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant serving as a prosecution use-of-force expert, said officers were justified in using force while Floyd was resisting their efforts to put him in a squad car. But once he was on the ground and stopped resisting, “at that point the officers … should have slowed down or stopped their force as well.”

Stiger said that after reviewing video of the arrest, “my opinion was that the force was excessive.”

Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death May 25. Floyd, 46, was arrested outside a neighborhood market after being accused of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. A panicky-sounding Floyd writhed and claimed to be claustrophobic as police tried to put him in the squad car.

Bystander video of Floyd crying that he couldn’t breathe as onlookers yelled at Chauvin to get off him sparked protests around the U.S. that descended into violence in some cases.

Instead of closing ranks to protect a fellow officer behind what has been dubbed the “blue wall of silence,” some of the most experienced members of the Minneapolis force have taken the stand to openly condemn Chauvin’s actions as excessive.

Chauvin had been certified to perform CPR, and Minneapolis Officer Nicole Mackenzie, who trains members of the force in medical care, testified Tuesday that department policy required him to start aid before paramedics arrived, if possible.

Officers kept restraining Floyd — with Chauvin kneeling on his neck, another kneeling on Floyd’s back and a third holding his feet — until the ambulance got there, even after he became unresponsive, according to testimony and video footage.

The officers also rebuffed offers of help from an off-duty Minneapolis firefighter who wanted to administer aid or tell officers how to do it.

Mercil testified that in his experience, it takes less than 10 seconds for someone to be rendered unconscious with a neck restraint. He said someone having a rush of adrenaline or a higher breathing or heart rate can be affected even faster.

“Have you have ever had a circumstance where an individual has lost their pulse and suddenly come back to life and become more violent?” prosecutor Steve Schleicher asked, suggesting that Floyd was held down long past the point where he might be a threat.

“Not that I’m aware of, sir,” Mercil replied.

Webber reported from Fenton, Mich.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California prosecutor filed 33 criminal charges Tuesday against troubled Pacific Gas & Electric for a 2019 wind-driven wildfire officials blamed on the utility, accusing it of injuring six firefighters and endangering public health with smoke and ash.

The company denied that it committed any crimes even as it accepted that its transmission line sparked the blaze.

The Sonoma County district attorney charged the utility with five felony and 28 misdemeanor counts in the October 2019 Kincade Fire north of San Francisco. The blaze burned more than 120 square miles and destroyed 374 buildings.

The 33 charges include recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury to six firefighters, named only as John Does #1-#6. Among the firefighters injured were a member of an inmate fire crew and at least two out-of-state contractors, one of whom suffered second- and third-degree burns to his legs and torso.

Fire officials said a PG&E transmission line sparked the fire, which destroyed hundreds of homes and caused nearly 100,000 people to flee.

The utility said it hadn’t seen the report or evidence gathered by state fire investigators, but it will accept the finding that its transmission line caused the fire “in the spirit of working to do what’s right for the victims.”

“However, we do not believe there was any crime here,” the company said in a statement. “We remain committed to making it right for all those impacted and working to further reduce wildfire risk on our system.”

It thanked firefighters, including those who were injured, and said it was grateful that no one died.

The company serves more than 16 million people across much of Northern California. PG&E Corporation Chief Executive Officer Patti Poppe said in her own statement that she came to the company in January to “make it safe again in California. We will work around the clock until that is true for all people we are privileged to serve.”

The charges and related enhancements accuse the company of destroying inhabited structures and emitting air contaminants “with reckless disregard for the risk of great bodily injury” from toxic wildfire smoke and related particulate matter and ash, thereby endangering public health.

They allege that the utility failed to maintain services and facilities including transmission lines, one of the numerous related misdemeanor charges.

It’s the latest in a series of similar problems for the utility.

PG&E’s alleged criminal negligence in the Sonoma County wildfire occurred while the company was still mired in a bankruptcy triggered by a series of deadly infernos that were ignited by the utility’s crumbling equipment during 2017 and 2018.

The most lethal in Butte County wiped out the entire town of Paradise in the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s recorded history. It culminated in PG&E pleading guilty to 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter last June.

Although PG&E’s then-chief executive Bill Johnson appeared in court to enter the guilty pleas before some of the surviving families of those killed in Butte County, no one from company went to prison. Instead, the company paid the maximum penalty of $4 million.

PG&E emerged from bankruptcy protection shortly after those guilty pleas after negotiating a series of settlements to cover the damages caused by its fraying grid. Those settlements included a $13.5 billion fund for wildfire victims that recently started distributing some of the money to help people rebuild their lives.

The Sonoma County wildfire also raised the hackles of a federal judge overseeing PG&E’s ongoing criminal probation for a 2010 explosion in its natural gas lines that blew up a neighborhood in San Bruno, a suburb south of San Francisco.

U.S. District William Alsup, who has repeatedly lambasted PG&E for its shoddy maintenance of its equipment, is currently considering ordering proposed changes that could result in the utility being forced to turn off its power lines even more frequently than it has in recent years during dry and windy conditions to reduce the chances of causing more deadly fires.

____

Associated Press writer Michael Liedtke contributed from San Francisco.

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FREDERICK, Md. — A Navy medic shot and critically wounded two U.S. sailors at a military facility Tuesday, then fled to a nearby Army base where he was shot and killed, police and Navy officials said.

Fantahun Girma Woldesenbet, a petty officer third class assigned to Fort Detrick, began shooting with a rifle inside a Navy facility at the Riverside Tech Park, causing people inside to flee, Frederick Police and Fort Detrick officials said at a news conference.

Authorities said they were still trying to determine the shooter’s motive and whether he knew the victims, two Navy sailors assigned to Fort Detrick, both of whom were airlifted to a hospital for treatment.

“We’re still trying to sort through stacks of paper … to figure out exactly what the motive would be,” said Frederick police Lt. Andrew Alcorn.

A hospital spokeswoman did not respond to an email asking for an update on the victims’ conditions.

The suspect drove to the base after the initial shooting at the office park and was told to pull over to be searched by gate guards who had advance warning that he was coming, Brigadier General Michael J. Talley said. But Woldesenbet immediately sped off, making it about a half-mile into the installation before he was stopped at a parking lot by the base’s police force. When he pulled out a weapon, the police shot and kill him, Talley said.

Talley said investigators will determine as much as they can, including why the suspect went back to the base.

“(I) don’t know his mental status at the time, and we’re certainly going to find all that out,” he said.

The brigadier general said the facility where the shooting took place was not under his command. He declined to identify the facility more specifically or describe the work that was done there.

Fort Detrick is home to the military’s flagship biological defense laboratory and several federal civilian biodefense labs. About 10,000 military personnel and civilians work on the base, which encompasses about 1,300 acres in the city of Frederick.

The base is a huge economic driver in the region, drawing scientists, military personnel and their families. Frederick Mayor Michael O’Connor noted that various defense contractors are located near Fort Detrick and that it wouldn’t be unusual for a member of the military to be off base and working with a private firm that does business with the U.S. government.

“When these incidents happen in other places, you’re always grateful that it’s not your community,” O’Connor added. “But you always know, perhaps in the back of your mind, that that’s just luck — that there isn’t any reason why it couldn’t happen here. And today it did.”

By early afternoon, the Nallin Farm gate at Fort Detrick through which the shooter entered remained closed and two officers were standing by.

Police cordoned off Woldesenbet’s garden-style apartment building in Frederick City, a few miles from the site of the shooting.

A neighbor, Ava Target, said she knew Woldesenbet only by sight, and that he lived on the top floor of the apartment complex with a wife and two kids. She wasn’t aware of any problems.

Mark Nelson, a firefighter who lives in a row of townhomes across the street from the base, said he heard the base blast warning sirens Tuesday morning.

“I heard, I don’t know what they call it, but they were like air raid sirens, and I knew something was going on,” Nelson said.

Frederick Police Chief Jason Lando called the shootings “very tragic.”

“It’s happening too frequently,” he said. Every time we turn on the TV we’re seeing something like this happening. And now it’s happening in our backyards.”

___

Associated Press writers Michael Kunzelman in College Park, Maryland; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; and Jonathan Drew in Durham, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

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I’m not sure what is more out of touch: the Sun-Times editorial board’s conflated and outdated perspectives about diesel technology, or the selection of a 19-year-old image to run alongside.

According to our analysis of IHS Markit data (2020), fully 64% of all commercial vehicles of class 3-8 operating on Illinois roads today are the newest generation of near-zero emissions diesel technology. It would take more than 60 of these 2021 model year trucks to have the same level of emissions as the 1992 model in the photo. Conflating individual pickup truck owners’ choices to illegally modify their vehicles is a cheap shot and an illogical comparison against diesel.

Even more surprising is that by advocating for electrification, the Sun-Times is taking a direct stand against a major home-grown industry and employer. Illinois is home to the fourth-largest production of biodiesel in the country, a low-carbon renewable fuel that today is reducing emissions from all diesel engines both new and existing.

SEND LETTERS TO: [email protected]. Please include your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be 350 words or less.

Truck and engine manufacturers are developing a range of powertrain options for their customers including hydrogen fuel cells, advanced diesel and natural gas technology. None are perfect, even electric. Today, fully 40% of Illinois electricity comes from coal and natural gas, so total emissions from electric vehicles would not be zero, yet considerable state investment in infrastructure and incentives for electric vehicle purchase will be needed. As for the future of diesel, analysts agree that diesel technology will continue to be the dominant technology in heavy-duty truck applications for decades to come.

Tackling climate change is a big challenge. There is not a single best solution. We should value greenhouse gas and other emissions reductions in whatever form they come, but with eyes wide open, and not make a case based on old and outdated perspectives. Until an all-electric future could be realized, we need continued steady progress.

Greater benefits to Illinois will accrue faster with more of the newer generation of diesel trucks hitting the road and expanding use of renewable fuels.

Allen Schaeffer, executive director, Diesel Technology Forum

A tribute to Rabbi Marx

I would like to lift up a slice of Rabbi Robert Marx’s persona to complement Maureen O’Donnell’s fine tribute to this Chicago civil rights icon.

From my own experience with him, a close colleague and friend from the movement years, Robert embraced and offered an unusual gentleness in the midst of uncompromising righteous anger. While he named evil sharply in his public statements, he was a calm lamb in mediating arguments at strategy meetings. His was a tender soul, exuding humility and care of each individual in any group.

We shared marches, as with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Aug. 5, 1966, when all three of us were hit with flying missiles in Marquette Park. We shared podiums, prayer services, interfaith weddings and even played chess together. Robert’s gentle spirit pervaded his prophetic voice on all matters of injustice. What a mensch.

Rev. Martin Deppe, Ravenswood Manor

Another taxpayer burden

Now that they have passed a bill gratuitously raising over 2,000 Chicago firefighters’ pensions and thus sticking the City of Chicago and its taxpayers, already drowning in unfunded governmental pension obligations, with millions of dollars in new pension obligations — what’s next for the Illinois legislature and Gov. J.B. Pritzker?

Pushing through a bill forcing Chicago to extend its abominable parking meter deal by 20 years?

Tom Field, Lincoln Park

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