Fire crews put out an extra-alarm blaze that broke out Tuesday afternoon in the yard of a Brighton Park paper recycling plant.
The wind-blown fire started in a prairie after 4 p.m. and “spread really fast” to the yard of the paper plant near 48th Place and Christiana Avenue, according to Chicago fire officials.
The blaze reached the plant’s main building by about 5 p.m. as huge piles of paper continued to burn in the back, fire officials said.
The fire was extinguished about two hours later, with the majority of the damage confined to the paper products in the yard, fire officials said.
Crews upgraded the fire to a hazmat situation due to containers of acid and propane being kept at the plant, but the firefighters were able to keep the flames away from any hazardous materials, fire officials said.
As a precaution, the CTA shut down power to the Kedzie station nearby for over three hours Tuesday evening, suspending Orange Line service entirely between the Midway and Western stops.
Trains were running again by 7:20 p.m., and resumed stopping at the Kedzie station about an hour later, the CTA said.
Consider opening day as the theme for this sprawling raw-file Midwest Fishing Report.
Jesus Arellano messaged the photo at the top and this on Sunday from downtown:
First smallmouth bass of the season.
ILLINOIS SPRING TROUT SEASON
Opening day is Saturday, April 3, except at the five Forest Preserves of Cook County sites, which open April 7. Regulation are same: daily bag of five, those 16 and older needed a license and a stamp. Nearby sites opening 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 (McHnery); Milliken (Will). Remember: the FPCC sites–Axehead, Belleau, Green, Horsetail, Sag Quarry East–do not open until April 7.
Click here for general information on Illinois’ spring trout season. Click here for details on the delayed start of FPCC.
ILLINOIS’ EARLY CATCH-AND-RELEASE SPRING TROUT SEASON
Nearby early catch-and-release sites (need trout stamp, fish must be released) are Rock Creek at Kankakee River State Park, Pine Creek at White Pines Forest State Park and Apple River at Apple River Canyon State Park. Early season opened March 20.
Click here for general information on Illinois’ spring trout season.
HEIDECKE OPENER
Reopens Thursday, April 1. See column for prospects. Open daily 6 a.m. (6:30 for bank anglers) to sunset.
LICENSES
New licenses are needed for the Lake Michigan states on Thursday, April 1.
SMELT
Smelt netting opens the night of Thursday, April 1, in Chicago. 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. Click here for the preview of smelt prospects from last week.
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
Bluegill on the fly in the western suburbs.Provided by Pete Lamar
Pete Lamar emailed the photo above and this note on Friday:
Hi Dale,
I’ll submit this now as I will not be doing any other fishing between now and Tuesday. I just stopped at a Kane Co. F. P. on the way home from work to make a few casts. Air was 42; water was 49; I was not optimistic. But fish were feeding. There was a hatch taking place-midges if I had to guess-and there were occasional dimples on the surface where insects were eaten before they were able to fly off. I used a tiny wet fly, intended for brook trout, and got into some big bluegills and a couple of small bass. The bluegill in the image was a legitimate nine inches plus.
Same as last week. . . . Same crappie reports too. Take care happy Easter
Last week, he texted:
Licenses up and running. . . . and crappie interest is better. Wolf lake, tam pier, maybe try saganashkee. . . . Take care
Dicky’s Bait Shop in Montgomery reported that largemouth bass are picking up in warmer pools of ponds in the western suburbs.
Ken “Husker” O’Malley with a catfish.Provided
Ken “Husker” O’Malley emailed the photos above and below and this:
Hey Dale,
Here is a recap of this past weeks fishing.
. . .
Area lakes-bass continue to be good on lipless crankbaits during sunny afternoon hours. Focus on the outside weed lines for the most active fish.
Crappie are still scattered with the up abs down temps. Search baits are best to pick off a few here and there. Consistent temps will get them staging.
TTYL
—
Ken “Husker” O’Malley
Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team
Pair of ducks.Provided by Ken “Husker” O’Malley
BRAIDWOOD LAKE
Hybrid striped bass from Braidwood Lake. Provided by Jim Shell
Jim Shell emailed the photo above and this:
Dale,
Just a quick report on the hybrid stripers (wipers) at Braidwood. The state did not stock wipers in 2017 and 2018 due to what they thought was a low population of shad. After a two year break the shad population rebounded and stocking resumed again in 2019. I fished at Braidwood this past Saturday. I was expecting to catch largemouth and catfish, as I have done on many past trips. It didn’t dawn on me that in just under two years the wipers would be worth wild catching. I decided to hit my wiper spot from past years (a submerged roadbed) and give it a try. On my first trolling pass a nice wiper was caught. I quickly switched to a casting position to see if that wiper caught trolling was from a school. The first cast answered that question as one was hooked and landed. In the next 30 minutes another 7 wipers were hooked and boated. I was pleasantly surprised to see in two short years they have become very nice catchable size!
Open daily 6 a.m. to sunset. Click here for the preview.
CHAIN O’LAKES AREA
Water levels were up very slightly on Tuesday, but levels are so low as to make launching and navigating problematic.
Arden Katz reported with the low water he is not boating but shore fishing for good bluegill in channels with enough water.
Greg Dickson at Triangle Sports and Marine in Antioch said crappie are geared to the deeper channels where there is enough water; otherwise, some are trying for walleye.
NOTE: Check updates on water conditions at foxwaterway.com or (847) 587-8540.
DOWNSTATE
Thomas Jones and a big blue catfish from Clinton Lake.Provided
CLINTON LAKE: Thomas Jones messaged the photo above and this from a week ago;
Monday’s catch 5 Blue catfish 105 lbs
This was the largest 30 lb 35 inches clinton lake on Monday all on cut chicken breast with garlic powder and red kool aid
POWERTON: Shore and boat fishing is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Fox River catfish.Fox River catfish. Provided by Dicky’s Bait.
Dicky’s Bait Shop in Montgomery emailed the photo above and reported that catfish are picking up, a 10-pounder weighed in from Aurora area; walleye are sporadic below the dam (higher water might help); water temperature Monday above the dam was 49.5 on Monday.
FOX RIVER, WISCONSIN
De Pere walleye by Jason Fox.Provided
Jason Fox emailed the photo above and this:
Hi Dale. Glad to see you’re on the mend, and doing your thing. I was able to get up to the legendary Fox river in DePeer. Fishing was awesome as usual this time of year. Was able to get my non Lake Erie pb walleye. The top one was 26 3/4 and close to 10lbs the other two are 22-23 jig and minnow and jig and swim bait got the big girl day before my birthday on a 7′ ultra lite my preferred walleye rod. Let’s hope that this madness of the past years is finally behind us and some smooth years are ahead.
GREEN LAKE AREA, WISCONSIN
Guide Mike Norris emailed:
Fishing Report 3/29/2012
Mike Norris
Big Green Lake – Big Green is ice free now and anglers are getting out in boats and catching lake trout jigging with spoons in 90 feet of water. Minimum size for trout is 17 inches with a two fish limit.
Beaver Dam Lake – Crappies continue to be the main attraction for shore anglers fishing neck down areas with a jig and minnow fished beneath a float.
Castle Rock Flowage – Water clarity is good with a moderate current flow. Boaters are catching walleyes on jig and plastic combos casting to current seams on the edge of sandbars.
I am now taking reservations for the 2021 guide season. 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
Reopens Thursday, April 1. When the column on for Wednesday is posted, I will link to it. The column is a preview of Heidecke prospects.
KANKAKEE/DES PLAINES RIVERS
Rob Abouchar emailed this catchup on life and music:
Hi Dale
I Have not dropped you a line in a while. Announcing basketball and a first Football game to announce this Thursday have kept me home this Spring Break until Friday when I may venture up to the Wisconsin River to check for open water.I was hoping to have a report from Braidwood with the high school squad but had to cancel this past Saturday with Back spasms. I did see that there was a tournament with the Happy Hookers Bass Club out of Big Basin Marina on the Desplaines/Kankakee rivers last weekend. The Tournament had 25 boats brave the elements.9 of the 25 boats had 5 fish limits. It looked like some nice pre-spawn largemouth were going on the rivers. First place was won by Tom Ondras with18.18 lbs. 2nd place was won by Roy Minick and Bryant Bohlin 14.80 lbs. 3rd went to the team of Brad and Fred Krause with 14.75 lbs., and 4th went to Mike Lepper and Nick Defonzo. A nice photo of the winner with some nice river largies but the photo of the angler in the union suit spoke to me. Something inside still finds the tournament fishing exciting perhaps I may give it another go if time and schedule allows. On the music front i am continuing recording of my original reggae demos and have picked a studio for recording. Hopefully that will be scheduled soon. Menwhile i am continuing rehearsals once a month or so with the band for possible performances and the recording. I will try to send the songs for you to listen to at your leisure. Hopefully you can open the link. These are solo demos I recorded at home on the Mac-Book Pro another small miracle if you knew my computer history. At one of the Varsity boys games the head basketball coach came to the announcer table and said he has a request and asks for Chronic and Coffee one of my songs it gives a great sense of satisfaction. From a fishing perspective it’s like planning for an outing, picking a spot, and a bait and making the cast and hooking a nice 3lb smallie. Very very rewarding; almost like you know what you are doing.
Victor Blackful and Lake Michigan bounty at 95th.Provided
Victor Blackful emailed the photo above on Monday and this:
Hey Dale
Cant wait to hit Hediakee this weekend but in the meantime despite all the wind there were some nice cohos around. Large minnows 4ft down with a bobber. About to have dinner
Tight Lines
I am hoping to get a bit of time in on opening day Thursday at Heidecke.
Bob France and a Montrose coho.Provided
Robert France messaged the photo above and this on Wednesday:
I got one on the powerline with a worm. Missed two…
Same as last week. Coho still doing well. . . . Take care happy Easter
Last week, he texted this:
Licenses up and running. Coho continue to hit well . . .
Stacey Greene at Park Bait at Montrose Harbor texted:
Hi DaleThe winds have been making fishing tricky but Coho are still being caught up and down the lakefront.I also had one of my regular customers who fishes rod and reel in the harbor come in yesterday with a two to three pound brown trout and about a 10-pound steelhead on medium roaches fishing toward the bottom.
Also starting tomorrow April 1st store hours will be 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. 7 days a week
Browns and steelies off the piers and the rocks , with a few cohos are showing up
LaSALLE LAKE
Ken “Husker” O’Malley emailed:
Hey Dale,
Here is a recap of this past weeks fishing.
LaSalle Lake- water temps are always a key factor along with current at this cooler. At the ramp temps were 55 with pool A being 58. Pool B was 63-68 and the hot water discharge was 70 with just enough current.
Bass were decent early morning on square bill and lipless cranks.
Blue cats are excellent mid-afternoon hours on Berkley gulp. The average size was in the 4-5 pound range.
. . .
TTYL
—
Ken “Husker” O’Malley
Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team
Open daily 6 a.m. to sunset. Click here for the preview of prospects.
Ice fishing is pretty much over. Shorelines are opening up; it won’t be long until open water. A few people are still taking waders and walking through water to get to ice but it is not recommended. Most of the fishing is being done down south on the rivers. A few fishermen are hitting the rivers nearby in search of Perch but with limited success.
Strong winds now, and the past few days, along with temps pushing 60’s by next week, smaller to mid-size lakes should be accessible to get the boat out for some spring Crappies.
Kurt Justice
Kurt’s Island Sport Shop Like us on FaceBook
NORTHWEST INDIANA
Andrew Beison and a fine Indiana crappie.Provided
Andrew Beison emailed the photo above and this:
Hello Dale,
It has been a while since I’ve contributed. As I wait for the Coho on the southern end of the Lake to fatten up (I wait until about Easter by boat) I have been targeting small lakes here in NW Indiana on foot. I caught and released this nice slab the other day near home. Using a White/Pink Head vodo jig (Same jig I use in the creeks for Steelhead) with left over Behemoths from Ice fishing. Take Care!
Andrew Beison
Interesting thought on waiting for coho after Easter. Oh, and a nice crappie, too.
Capt. Rich Sleziak at Slez’s Bait in Lake Station texted:
Willow slough good for gills and crappie jigs tipped with waxworms best
Crappie good at pine lake in the coves jigs and or crappie minnows best
Coho action decent from cal park to burns ditch dodger flys and brads thinfish
Crappie on the river burns ditch and deep river fishing log jams and bridge areas using crappie minnows
Forgot to say they stocked the trout in lake county fairgrounds in crown point last week powerbait and beemoth best but some caught on lil money clip spoons and small rooster tails
Hi, Dale. Here what I have for this week if it’s not too late…
Anglers are still catching good numbers of coho along the shore, trolling with thin fish and dodgers and coho flies. The rivers are very slow with just a few steelhead being caught. Inland lakes are starting to light up with nice catches of bluegill and crappie.
ROOT RIVER, WISCONSIN
This afternoon, the Wisconsin DNR emailed this:
Root River Report
The spring steelhead migration is in full swing, and our spawning facility on the Root River in Racine is up and running.
Fish were processed on Monday, March 29 and 141 steelhead were passed upstream of the facility. Our creel survey clerk reports that anglers have been catching steelhead and brown trout on flies, spawn sacs, beads and tube jigs.
Get all of the details from the Root River Steelhead Facility and the latest Root River fishing report by clicking the link below.
Click here for the Wisconsin DNR’s report, usually on Tuesday or Wednesday.
For the 30th straight time this season, Gonzaga answered that question with a resounding “No.”
The Bulldogs got on a roll and put on a show, cruising into the Final Four with an 85-66 beatdown of a Southern California team that was nowhere near ready for what it ran into Tuesday night.
Drew Timme had 23 points and five rebounds and, after one dunk, pretended to slick down his handlebar mustache for the few thousand fans in the stands.
“This is a really, really big deal,” coach Mark Few said of the program’s return to the Final Four after a four-year hiatus. “And Zags know how to celebrate, OK?”
The top-seeded and top-ranked Bulldogs will be the third team to bring an undefeated record into the Final Four since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The last team to go undefeated was Indiana in 1976. On Saturday in the national semifinals, the Zags will face the winner of a later Elite Eight matchup between UCLA and Michigan.
Timme did whatever he wanted against the nation’s fourth-ranked defense — a team that won its first three tournament games by an average of 21 points — as did pretty much everyone else in a white uniform.
Jared Suggs finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. All-American Corey Kispert had 18 points and eight boards on an “off” night — only 6 for 19 from the floor. Gonzaga shot 44% in the second half and “only” 50% for the game. That was five under its nation-leading average, but it didn’t matter much.
“We just tried to stay moving,” Suggs said about attacking the USC zone, which had been shutting down teams all month in Indy. “We didn’t let the ball get too sticky. We kept moving, flashing into the high post. It was a lot for them to deal with — good cuts off the baseline, vertical cuts off the wings.”
Blowouts are supposed to be boring, but this had the feel of a Globetrotters game at times, filled with fancy bounce passes through traffic, reverse layups, a swooping power dunk from Joel Ayayi (nine points) and the occasional post-basket flex from the 6-foot-10 Timme.
Gonzaga led sixth-seeded USC 7-0 after two minutes, 25-8 after 8:30 and 36-15 after Kispert took a nifty dish from Timme for an easy layup with 6:03 left in the half.
“It was a little surprising,” USC coach Andy Enfield said, “because we’d been playing great basketball.”
The Zags have a way about doing that to people.
They walked into the locker room at halftime ahead by 19 and with a big fat zero in the turnover column — a gold-standard stat for a team that thrives on offensive efficiency.
The last 20 minutes were extended garbage time — plenty of time for Timme to wax his handlebar mustache and for the Bulldogs to pad the stats.
They are a statistician’s dream — a team that came in No. 1 scoring (91.8), that has won 29 of its 30 games by double digits, and that wasn’t going to be slowed by the Brothers Mobley — Isaiah and Evan — who roam the middle for one of the country’s tallest teams (Average height, 6-7).
They both got theirs — Isaiah with 19 points and seven rebounds, and Evan with 17 and five — but the evening belonged to the Bulldogs.
“It’s such a special accomplishment, and to do it this year with as crazy as it’s been, as challenging as it’s been,” said Few, whose team had four games canceled in December because of COVID-19, but never lost its stride. “They’ve been unbelievable from Day 1.”
The game was interrupted by a frightening moment early, when official Bert Smith collapsed on the floor and had to be taken off in a wheelchair. In the second half, CBS passed along word that Smith was feeling OK and resting in the arena.
He was replaced by Tony Henderson, but there was no heavy lifting for the backup.
USC didn’t get closer than 16 in the second half, and though their intensity wandered at times, there was never any doubt the Zags would be returning to Lucas Oil Stadium later this week, two wins away from perfection.
ALL-WEST TEAM
The All-region team included both Mobley brothers, Suggs, Kispert and Timme, who was named the West’s most outstanding player. Timme had 45 points and 11 rebounds over the two games this week.
SPRINGFIELD — At first glance, suburban businessman Gary Rabine might seem like the classic “country club Republican.”
He’s a millionaire entrepreneur. He argues soaring property taxes are the state’s No. 1 problem.
He even owns his own country club.
But Rabine’s political views hook sharply from the more moderate members of the GOP.
He’s a social conservative opposed to abortion. And he’s a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump, calling his four years in office “the strongest job creation administration in the history of my lifetime.”
“If I can be sixty to seventy percent that effective as a leader in Illinois, Illinois will be a way better place four or five years from now,” Rabine told the Sun-Times.
Rabine, 57, is the third Republican to officially enter the race for governor — and the first from the Chicago area.
He kicked off his campaign Tuesday with events in his business offices in Schaumburg and at his Bull Valley Golf Club in northwest suburban Woodstock.
Republican Gary Rabine speaks to supporters at Rabine Group offices in Schaumburg on Tuesday.Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Owning a paving business and several other companies based out of the northwest exurbs, Rabine is hoping to bring his business expertise to the governor’s office.
“Fifteen years ago in Illinois, we really were the best place in the middle of the country to create jobs and start a business, to grow a business. But over the last 15 years, that’s deteriorated to being the worst,” he told the Sun-Times in an interview between events Tuesday.
He dismisses Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker as a “trust fund billionaire” who doesn’t have the right business experience to lead the state.
“I don’t have any knowledge of him ever building a business from the ground up. I mean, he calls himself an entrepreneur, but I’ve not witnessed real entrepreneurship there,” he said of Pritzker. “Buying and selling companies for profit is a little different from … building a paving business here in Illinois and creating a national platform for paving parking lots.”
Businessman Gary Rabine poses for a portrait at Rabine Group offices on Tuesday.Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Rabine criticized Pritzker’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, saying that “a total shutdown may not have been necessary” last March.
The Bull Valley businessman also derided the governor for recently signing the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus’ criminal justice reform bill, saying it will “put our families, our communities and our neighborhoods in harm’s way like never before.”
But to Rabine, the biggest issue in Illinois is rising property taxes. Those are set by local governments, but Rabine promised to cut them 50% by 2024.
“People in Illinois that work so hard to pay for their homes end up with very little equity left because of our high [property] taxes and that’s pushing people out,” he said.
Rabine has never run for office before, but he has been a Republican donor in Illinois and nationally for decades. So far, he has pumped $250,000 into his own campaign.
Rabine backed former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in his 2014 bid, but broke with Rauner when the GOP governor signed a 2017 law that expanded taxpayer support for abortions in Illinois.
“I believe that Bruce Rauner had his heart in the game to turn around Illinois, and I backed him because of that. But I did not believe that Bruce would ever do a bill like that,” he said.
Republican Gary Rabine bows his head down during a prayer at his campaign kick-off at Rabine Group offices Tuesday.Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Rabine switched his support to state Rep. Jeanne Ives, a Wheaton conservative who narrowly lost to Rauner in the 2018 Republican primary. Rabin contributed $10,000 to Ives’ campaign.
Even though Rabine is an abortion opponent, he said that he would not make that issue a priority as governor.
“I’m a man of the laws of the land, and the laws that are in place are in place,” he said of Roe v. Wade and other abortion laws.
Last October, Rabine hosted a fundraiser at his Bull Valley Golf Club for Trump, which was attended by Donald Trump Jr.
Repeatedly asked about the former Republican president’s false claims that the election was stolen, Rabine could not say whether he believes President Joe Biden fairly won last year’s presidential election.
Gary Rabine listens to a guest speaker talk about his history during his campaign announcement Tuesday.Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
“We need to keep a close eye on it because every vote needs to count. But I would never say one way or another [about Trump’s claims of election fraud] because I have no clue.”
Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association President Kristina Zahorik slammed Rabine’s election denialism as “disqualifying.”
“Gary Rabine is either clueless or part of the conspiracy theory crew who don’t believe Joe Biden was legally elected President. Either one is disqualifying to serve as an elected officeholder,” Zahorik said in a statement.
Rabine is an advisory board member and longtime donor to Turning Point USA, a controversial conservative group that has college campus chapters across the country. At that fundraiser for Trump, Rabine called Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA and an Illinois native, a “hero of mine.”
Rabine said he supported the group because they “educate kids on college campuses on the blessings of the free enterprise system” and on the “dangers of socialism and Marxism.”
Kirk’s organization was a major proponent of Trump’s election fraud claims and one of the first to use “China Virus” as a moniker for COVID-19.
Turning Point USA was listed as a “coalition partner” on the “March to Save America” website for the rally that preceded the Jan. 6 insurrection. In a now deleted tweet, Kirk said that his organization was “sending 80+ buses full of patriots to fight for this President.”
On one of those buses was a man later charged for his participation in the riot and allegedly assaulting three Capitol police officers with a fire extinguisher.
Rabine said he was unaware of Turning Point USA’s involvement.
“I don’t know anything about what they did or anybody did personally for that event. I’ve not been in touch with that and don’t really don’t care to be,” he said.
Rabine declined to say how much money he has donated to the group.
State Sen. Darren Bailey, left; former state Sen. Paul Schimpf, right. From Facebook
While saying he “didn’t know the whole situation,” Rabine defended state Rep. Chris Miller, who was recently censured by the Illinois House for allegedly helping incite the insurrection — allegations Miller denies.
Rabine said Miller was “a very good man.”
“I think we need to stop just jumping to conclusions before any investigation and before anybody knows what’s going on,” he said.
Rabine also “didn’t agree” with local GOP organizations’ censures of U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger for his vote to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection, saying “any Republican can have their own opinion.”
Rabine joins state Sen. Darren Bailey of Xenia and former state Sen. Paul Schimpf of Waterloo in the Republican gubernatorial primary.
Fire crews were working to contain an extra-alarm blaze that broke out Tuesday afternoon in the yard of a Brighton Park paper plant.
The wind-blown fire started in a prairie after 4 p.m. and “spread really fast” to the yard of the paper plant near 48th Place and Christiana Avenue, according to Chicago fire officials.
As of 5 p.m., the fire had reached the plant’s main building, as huge piles of paper continued to burn in the back, fire officials said.
Crews upgraded the fire to a hazmat situation as flames spread to containers of acid at the plant, and propane tanks were being stored outside, fire officials said.
As a precaution, the CTA shut down power to the Kedzie station nearby for over three hours Tuesday evening, suspending Orange Line service entirely between the Midway and Western stops. Trains were running again by 7:20 p.m., and resumed stopping at the Kedzie station about an hour later, the CTA said.
No injuries have been reported yet, fire officials said.
This is a developing story. Check back for details.
As a nation, America spends far too much time and money pursuing petty criminals, and we can’t see much benefit in that.
More than 80% of all criminal cases processed through the nation’s justice system are misdemeanors — a homeless person panhandling outside a coffee shop, an addict who stole $50 to feed a drug habit — that steal hundreds of hours in law enforcement time that could be better spent investigating murders, gun crimes and other serious, violent offenses.
And all too often, as an important new analysis of almost 15 years of crime data has found, taking an overly tough approach to prosecuting petty offenders just makes matters worse. Nonviolent, misdemeanor offenders who are not prosecuted are actually less likely to be arrested for another crime anytime soon.
The typical alleged misdemeanor offender, it seems, too often gets caught up in a criminal justice system that is poorly equipped to deal with poverty, poor schooling, mental illness and all the other social ills at the roots of so much crime.
Or perhaps the alleged offender loses his job because of time spent in jails and courtrooms, only to end up with a conviction or arrest record that makes it harder to find the next job.
In 185 days — the average time, according to the study, that it took to dispose of a non-violent, misdemeanor case — a lot can happen to derail a life already teetering off the tracks.
A 14-year study in Boston
The analysis from the National Bureau of Economic Research is based on data from 2004 to 2018 on non-violent, non-firearms related misdemeanor cases in Boston and its suburbs.
The researchers looked at the differences in outcomes between cases that were prosecuted and those that were not, and concluded that “non-prosecution of a nonviolent misdemeanor offense leads to large reductions in the likelihood of a new criminal complaint over the next two years.” The difference was especially stark for first-time offenders.
Defendants whose cases were dropped, the researchers found, were 33% less likely to be arrested again within two years compared to those whose cases were prosecuted.
Think of that: People are more likely to be arrested a second time just because they were arrested once.
“If we have scarce law enforcement resources, should we be focusing those on non-violent crimes?” Kimberley Smith of the University of Chicago Crime Lab said. “Or should we be focused on crimes that are actually hurting people and causing harm to society?”
Finding alternatives
The analysis, as Frank Main of the Sun-Times reported on Sunday, seems a powerful argument in support of the approach to criminal justice favored by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who has declined to prosecute thousands of low-level offenses since taking office in 2016. Foxx told Main that the police — who in Chicago have the authority to file misdemeanor charges without the initial approval of prosecutors — should heed the findings of the study and develop more policing alternatives.
Fair-minded people, we feel sure, understand the moral and practical arguments for helping and rehabilitating, rather than prosecuting, nonviolent offenders. Foxx’s office has targeted more resources in recent years to misdemeanor diversion programs that keep small-time crimes from clogging up the court system.
But police officers, as well, need more and better options. As Foxx said, “If a cop responds to a storeowner who wants a drunk person off the sidewalk, what’s the alternative?”
One such initiative has been at work, as a kind of experiment, since 2018 in Chicago’s Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side, which is served by the Harrison Police District. And if an upcoming U. of C. Crime Lab evaluation of the initiative — the Narcotics Alternative Diversion Program — finds it has been effective, we urge the city to invest in its expansion.
Gun violence and drug dealing are common in Garfield Park, leaving the police with no shortage of serious crime to deal with. Yet, as Smith told us, “officers were arresting a lot of people, spending a lot of time processing people for a gram of heroin, all while shootings were taking place outside.”
The diversion program allows officers to send people caught with small amounts of drugs to treatment programs, rather than charge them with a crime. So far, 500 men and women have been diverted to treatment. Dozens more have walked into the Harrison Police Station on their own and requested treatment, something the program allows.
What reform looks like
The Crime Lab evaluation will look at whether the program has reduced the likelihood that someone is re-arrested and whether other more positive life outcomes, such as finding a job, have increased.
“What we’re seeing so far is encouraging,” Smith said.
This, we want to believe, is what criminal justice reform in Chicago will really look like.
Fire crews were working to contain an extra-alarm blaze that broke out Tuesday afternoon in the yard of a Brighton Park paper plant.
The wind-blown fire started in a prairie after 4 p.m. and “spread really fast” to the yard of the paper plant near 48th Place and Christiana Avenue, according to Chicago fire officials.
As of 5 p.m., the fire had reached the plant’s main building, as huge piles of paper continued to burn in the back, fire officials said.
Crews upgraded the fire to a hazmat situation as flames spread to containers of acid at the plant, and propane tanks were being stored outside, fire officials said.
As a precaution, the CTA has shut down power to the Kedzie station nearby. Orange Line train service is suspended between the Midway and Western stops, the CTA said.
No injuries have been reported yet, fire officials said.
This is a developing story. Check back for details.
Reopening plans pushed back in Illinois as COVID-19 infections rise and hospital beds fill
Dr. Roy Werner, the medical director in the Department of Emergency Medicine, listens to a patient’s heart beat in the Emergency Department at Roseland Community Hospital in December, when Illinois was in the midst of its second viral surge. The state could be on the verge of yet another resurgence, officials warn. Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times
Reopening plans are being pushed back in Illinois as COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations rise yet again statewide, public health officials announced Tuesday.
With 70% of seniors vaccinated with at least one dose, the state had been on pace to see some business restrictions lifted this week under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s “bridge phase” before a full reopening by May.
Not so anymore, as coronavirus cases mount and more people head to hospitals with the deadly respiratory disease. The governor’s intermediate reopening plan also required hospitalizations to “hold steady or decline over a 28-day monitoring period.”
That count has risen almost daily since hitting a one-year-low of 1,082 beds occupied by COVID-19 patients March 12. A total of 1,396 beds were taken up Monday night — the most since late February.
“As long as new hospital admissions continue to increase, the state will not advance to the Bridge Phase and on to Phase 5 of the Restore Illinois Plan,” officials from the Illinois Department of Public Health said in a statement. “The number of cases of COVID-19 has seen an increasing trend as well. Health officials continue to urge all residents to continue to mask up, socially distance, and avoid crowds to reduce transmission and bring the metrics back in line to transition to the Bridge Phase.”
5:30 p.m. City opening mass vaccination sites at Wrigley conference center, Chicago State
Chicago will open two new mass vaccination sites on Monday — one at Chicago State University, the other at a conference center adjacent to Wrigley Field.
The decision to open two more mass vaccination sites in addition to the United Center parking lot comes just one day after the city expanded vaccine eligibility to include all essential workers and adults with underlying medical conditions excluding smokers.
The Wrigley Field site will be at the American Airlines Conference Center at Gallagher Way, the open air plaza adjacent to the stadium. The Cubs play their home opener at Wrigley on Thursday.
It will be operated by Advocate Aurora Health and have the capacity to administer roughly 2,000 daily doses of the coronavirus vaccine by appointment only. Appointments will be posted on zocdoc.com/vaccine later this week with additional appointments added each day.
3:03 p.m. Germany to restrict AstraZeneca use in under-60s over clots
German health officials agreed Tuesday to restrict the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine in people under 60, amid fresh concern over unusual blood clots reported in a tiny number of those who received the shots.
Health Minister Jens Spahn and state officials agreed unanimously to only give the vaccine to people aged 60 or older, unless they belong to a high-risk category for serious illness from COVID-19 and have agreed with their doctor to take the vaccine despite the small risk of a serious side-effect.
The move follows the recommendations of Germany’s independent vaccine expert panel and comes after the country’s medical regulator released new data showing a rise in reported cases of an unusual form of blood clot in the head — known as sinus vein thrombosis — in recent recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The news is a further blow to the vaccine, which is critical to Europe’s immunization campaign and a linchpin in the global strategy to get shots to poorer countries. It comes less than two weeks after the EU drug regulator said the vaccine does not increase the overall incidence of blood clots following a similar scare.
1:16 p.m. New vaccination site will be dedicated to essential union workers
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday announced a new vaccination site in partnership with the Chicago Federation of Labor that will help get doses of COVID-19 vaccine into the arms of essential union workers.
Lightfoot said the site will be able to handle about 1,200 vaccinations weekly at first and can grow to 6,000 weekly as vaccine supply increases.
The announcement comes as the city expands eligibility requirements to what’s called Phase 1C. That expansion includes residents ages 16 to 64 with underlying medical conditions, such as chronic kidney disease or cancer.
It also will allow vaccination for those working in construction, retail, restaurants and all other essential workers who had not previously been eligible.
“You all know this, but it bears repeating. Chicago is 100% a union town,” the mayor said in making the announcement at the vaccination site, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399, 2260 S. Grove St.
“It’s our union workers who make up the backbone of this city.”
Those wishing to be vaccinated at Local 399 must live or work in Chicago, hold a current union card or be a union retiree, and qualify under the city’s current eligibility criteria.
12:44 p.m. States struggle to get rent relief to tenants amid pandemic
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last July that New York would spend $100 million in federal coronavirus relief to help cash-strapped tenants pay months of back rent and avert evictions.
By the end of October, the state had doled out only about $40 million, reaching 15,000 of the nearly 100,000 people looking for help. More than 57,000 applicants were denied because of criteria set by lawmakers that many said was difficult to meet.
New York’s experience played out nationwide, with states failing to spend tens of millions of federal dollars aimed at helping renters avoid eviction. Burdensome requirements, poorly administered programs and landlords refusing to cooperate meant tens of thousands of tenants never got assistance. Some states also shifted funding away from rental relief, fearing they’d miss a year-end mandate to spend the money — a deadline that got extended.
The problem, housing advocates said, was that the federal government didn’t specifically earmark any of the coronavirus aid for rental relief, leaving states scrambling to set up programs with no guidance on how the money should be allocated. As much as $3.43 billion in federal aid was spent on rental assistance, according to National Low Income Housing Coalition. But advocates said more should have been done, given tenants faced as much as $34 billion in unpaid rent through January, according to a report released by the National Council of State Housing Agencies.
States’ rental relief programs “were a very mixed success. It was sort of a patchwork of programs,” Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said in February. “There was a lot of experimentation — some successful, some not.”
9:32 a.m. Mayor’s plan for $1.8 billion in federal relief won’t go to City Council until May or June
Last month, a divided City Council authorized another round of federal coronavirus relief despite the political furor triggered by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s decision to use $281.5 million from earlier funds to cover police payroll costs.
It looks like aldermen must wait a while for Round 2 of what is certain to be a battle royal over the $1.8 billion avalanche of federal money on its way to Chicago.
“I would expect that we probably won’t be taking a package to City Council [until] at the earliest, May, and it may not be ’til June,” the mayor said Monday.
Lightfoot’s timetable did not sit well with downtown Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd).
“We need to have more involvement in the preparation of that package. Nobody wants a done deal dropped in our laps at the last minute and then say, ‘Take it or leave it. Vote it up or down,'” Hopkins said.
“All the aldermen I’ve talked to about this have expressed an interest in being involved in the prioritization of it. … There’s gonna be a healthy disagreement among the various caucuses within the City Council about what a top priority should be. But we should be a part of that debate.”
The Chicago Department of Public Health reported 438 new confirmed cases, 3 deaths and a test positivity rate of 4%.
Another 110,211 shots went into arms on Saturday.
Over 6.2 million vaccine doses have been sent to providers in Illinois and more than 2 million residents have now been fully vaccinated, officials said.
MINNEAPOLIS — Onlookers grew increasingly angry as they begged Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin to take his knee off George Floyd’s neck, but Chauvin would not let up, and another officer forced back members of the crowd who tried to intervene, witnesses testified Tuesday at Chauvin’s murder trial.
Witness after witness described how Chauvin was unmoved by their pleas, with the teenager who shot the harrowing video of the arrest that set off nationwide protests testifying that the officer gave the crowd a “cold” and “heartless” stare.
“He didn’t care. It seemed as if he didn’t care what we were saying,” said 18-year-old Darnella Frazier, one of several witnesses who testified through tears.
Frazier said Chauvin continued to kneel on Floyd while fellow Officer Tou Thao held the crowd of about 15 back, even when one of the onlookers identified herself as a firefighter and pleaded repeatedly to check Floyd’s pulse.
“They definitely put their hands on the Mace, and we all pulled back,” Frazier told the jury.
The prosecution asked multiple witnesses to describe their horror at what they saw, buttressing the testimony with multiple videos, some of which had never been seen before. Many testified about feelings of helplessness as Floyd gasped for air, pleaded for his life and finally fell limp and silent, his eyes rolling back in his head.
The testimony was apparently aimed at showing that Chauvin had multiple opportunities to think about what he doing and change course.
But Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson also sought to bring out evidence of anger in the crowd, in an apparent attempt to show that Chauvin and his fellow officers found themselves in an increasingly tense and distracting situation, with the onlookers becoming more and more agitated.
Earlier Tuesday, Donald Williams, one of the onlookers, testified that he called 911 after paramedics took Floyd away, “because I believed I witnessed a murder.” In a recording of the emergency call, Williams could be overheard yelling at the officers: “Y’all is murderers, bro!”
During cross-examination, Chauvin’s lawyer pointed out that Williams seemed to grow increasingly angry at the police, taunting Chauvin with “tough guy,” “bum” and other names, then calling Chauvin expletives, which the defense lawyer repeated in court.
Williams initially admitted he was getting angrier, but then backtracked and said he was controlled and professional and was pleading for Floyd’s life but wasn’t being heard.
Williams said he was stepping on and off the curb, and at one point, Thao, who was controlling the crowd, put his hand on Williams’ chest. Williams admitted under questioning that he told Thao he would beat the officers if Thao touched him again.
But witnesses also testified that no bystanders actually interfered with police.
When Frazier was asked by a prosecutor whether she saw violence anywhere on the scene, she replied: “Yes, from the cops. From Chauvin, and from officer Thao.”
Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter, accused of killing Floyd by pinning the 46-year-old handcuffed Black man to the pavement for what prosecutors said was 9 minutes and 29 seconds. Floyd was arrested after being accused of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill at the convenience store.
The most serious charge against the now-fired white officer carries up to 40 years in prison.
The defense has argued that Chauvin did what his training told him to do and that Floyd’s death was not caused by the officer but by a combination of illegal drug use, heart disease, high blood pressure and the adrenaline flowing through his body.
Floyd’s death last May, along with the bystander video of him pleading that he couldn’t breathe and onlookers angrily yelling at the officer to get off him, triggered sometimes-violent protests around the world and a reckoning over racism and police brutality across the U.S.
On Tuesday, prosecutors played cellphone video recorded by yet another bystander, 18-year-old Alyssa Funari, that showed onlookers shouting and screaming at Chauvin after Floyd stopped moving.
The video, which had not been released before, also showed the woman who said she was a Minneapolis firefighter calmly walk up to Thao and offer to help, before he ordered her to get back on the curb.
“I felt like there wasn’t really anything I could do as a bystander,” a tearful Funari said, adding that she felt she was failing Floyd. “Technically I could’ve did something, but I couldn’t really do anything physically … because the highest power was there at the time,” she said, explaining that an officer held the crowd back.
Frazier testified that she looks at her father and other Black men in her life and thinks of “how that could have been one of them.”
“I stay up at night apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more … not saving his life,” she said, adding of Chauvin: “It’s not what I should have done; it’s what he should have done.”
This week the Dingers Crew makes their predictions on the season. Who will have the first home run? How many times will Rossy get ejected? Which Cub will become Jeff’s punching bag like Descalso was? Plus, the guys break down the Pittsburgh Pirates before opening day!
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Pat Nabong/Sun-Times