AUSTIN, Texas — Texas officials on Thursday raised the death toll from February’s winter storm and blackouts to at least 111 people — nearly doubling the state’s initial tally following one of the worst power outages in U.S. history.

The majority of the deaths are associated with hypothermia, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. And the dramatic number of new victims is still a potential undercount, as officials continue investigating deaths that happened around the time the storm knocked out power to more than 4 million customers in Texas.

Many homes went without power or drinkable water for days after subfreezing temperatures, failing power plants and record demand for heat pushed Texas’ electric grid to the breaking point.

Texas officials earlier this month put the initial tally of deaths at 57 but warned it would increase. The toll now officially exceeds that of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which was blamed for 68 deaths in Texas.

The list of victims from the February snowstorm cut a wide swath across the state of 30 million people: Some fatalities were nearly as far north as Oklahoma, while others were close to the U.S.-Mexico border. State officials said the causes of “multiple deaths” included motor vehicle accidents, carbon monoxide poisoning, medical equipment failures, exacerbation of chronic illness, lack of home oxygen, falls and fire.

The most confirmed deaths occurred around Houston, where Harris County officials have reported at least 31 victims.

Among them was Gilbert Rivera, 60, who told relatives after the power went out in his garage apartment that he was cold but staying bundled up. Rivera, who worked for decades as a custodian, had a learning disability but reveled in his independence and chose to live on his own.

Lawrence Ibarra, his 44-year-old nephew, said that after a day of being unable to reach Rivera, his father went out on Houston’s treacherously icy and snowy roads to check on him. When he arrived at Rivera’s garage apartment, he found his brother bundled up and dead on the floor. The temperature in Rivera’s house was 37 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ibarra said his father told him: “I think he froze to death.”

The autopsy determined the cause of death was hypothermia, which occurs when one’s body loses heat faster than it can produce it. The body first tries to generate heat by shivering and boosting one’s heart rate, but if internal temperatures keep dropping, that slows and the body will restrict blood circulation to extremities to maintain blood in the core and keep internal organs warm.

Left untreated, hypothermia begins to affect the brain.

“As people get colder, their mental status can change, and they can become unresponsive and not think as clearly,” said Dr. Deborah Diercks, chair of emergency medicine at UT Southwestern.

Rivera’s family is among dozens who have filed a lawsuits against electricity providers and the state’s embattled power grid, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. The disaster led to a congressional investigation and the ouster of ERCOT CEO Bill Magness.

Next week, the Texas House is expected to vote on a package in response to the storm, including efforts to winterize power plants. On Thursday, ERCOT announced that projections show a “low risk” for blackouts during Texas’ sweltering summer months, when demand on the system is typically highest.

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Stengle reported from Dallas.

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A Chicago police officer was shot Thursday when he confronted an alleged shoplifter who shot a security guard at a Brighton Park hardware store.

The alleged gunman, who ran after shooting the guard and police officer, was killed later in a shootout with other officers, police said.

The officer was the fourth Chicago police officer to be shot in less than two weeks.

During a news conference outside Mount Sinai Hospital, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said the officer appeared to be in “good spirits” after suffering a gunshot wound to the shoulder that wasn’t thought to be life-threatening.

The suspect was pronounced dead at a hospital, Brown said.

Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

About 4 p.m., a loss prevention officer at a Home Depot store in the 2400 block of West 46th Street saw a suspect shoplifting, Brown said. During an ensuing struggle, the suspect shot the security guard, who was in grave condition. The guard, who was in his early 50s, was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago fire spokesman Larry Merritt said.

When the suspect fled, officers pursued and one officer was shot, Brown said. The officer was being treated at Mount Sinai, though Brown declined to release his name or any information about him.

Following that shooting, Brown said other officers continued to pursue the suspect. The suspect was then shot and killed during a shootout with police, Brown said.

At the scene of the shooting, police officers blocked off a residential stretch of 46th Street between Western Avenue and Rockwell Street as residents congregated behind the police tape to catch a glimpse of the investigation and exchange rumors over the sound of helicopters.

Nearby, officers taped off sections of the Home Depot parking lot across Western Avenue and laid down evidence markers near the entrance.

Tom Schuba/Sun-Times

In the last two weeks, three other Chicago cops have been wounded in shootings.

Last Saturday, an officer was shot in her hand during a SWAT standoff in the Austin neighborhood by a man who allegedly wanted to “lure” cops to the area. On March 15, an off-duty officer was ambushed by two gunman while stopped in traffic in the Calumet Heights neighborhood.

And a day before that, an on-duty CPD sergeant was shot while standing in the parking lot of the Gresham District police station, at 7808 S. Halsted St. The bullet grazed his chin, and he was released from a hospital later that day.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday she “wears the jacket” for Chicago violence and she’s not about to “outsource” control of the Chicago Police Department to a civilian police oversight commission.

Lightfoot said she’s not abandoning the police reform she championed. She remains fully committed to making sure Chicago has “a form of civilian oversight over the police and that there’s more accountability to the people of this city for the monies that are spent” on the the department.

But she made clear she’s dead set against the compromise ordinance crafted by two groups that have long pushed dramatically different versions of civilian police oversight.

Under that plan, Chicago voters would be asked to approve a binding referendum on the 2022 primary ballot empowering a civilian police oversight commission to hire and fire the police superintendent, negotiate police contracts and set the CPD budget.

“I wear the jacket, as every [Chicago] mayor does, for violence in this city, for crime in this city. And the notion that we’re gonna outsource that to someone else and have no responsibility — no ability to impact this — I don’t know anybody who thinks that’s a good idea,” Lightfoot said during a conference call with City Hall reporters.

“When I hear particularly from people in communities that are most impacted by violence, it’s, ‘Please, mayor don’t walk away from us. We need you to help us manage what’s going on in our neighborhoods.’ Those may not be the loudest voices. They may not be the people that are marching in the streets. But, they are very much concerned about what’s happening in their neighborhoods. So we have to come up with the plan that is also responsive to them.”

If that binding referendum fails, the 11-member commission still would have the final say in disputes over police policy unless two-thirds of the City Council decides otherwise. The commission also would be empowered to take a vote of no-confidence in the superintendent and hire and fire the chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

Also during Thursday’s free-wheeling conference call, Lightfoot said she’s not about to “play to the crowd” when it comes to spending the $1.8 billion avalanche of federal relief on its way to Chicago even though she fully expects to be bombarded with demands from aldermen, community groups and special interests.

The mayor said Chicago quickly and frivolously spent a smaller influx of federal stimulus funds after the 2008 recession without confronting any of the city’s “long-term, structural fiscal problems.” Next came a “tremendous fiscal crisis” that former Mayor Richard M. Daley solved with the widely-despised parking meter deal.

“The worst municipal deal probably in the history of the universe that still continues to plague us. Then, after that money got spent quickly and not held for long-term fiscal reforms, what happened next? The largest property tax increase in the history of the city,” Lightfoot said.

Lightfoot is determined not to “repeat that history” and vowed to “lead with equity” and help ease the burden for those hardest hit by the pandemic. But she promised to do it in a way that is fiscally responsible.

“I recognize it’s gonna be challenging. There’s gonna be a lot of people with a lot of opinions about how the money should be spent. But we’ve got to look for the long term and really make sure that we’re being careful, prudent fiduciaries of taxpayers hard-earned dollars,” she said.

“What I don’t want to do is pander to the crowd, throw money around in a way that creates a larger problem financially for the city on the back end.”

Earlier this week, a seemingly harmless resolution calling for the city to use $30 million of the new stimulus money to launch a universal basic income pilot turned into an emotional debate about reparations.

Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus, called it a “slap in the face” to discuss giving 5,000 needy families $500 a month — no strings attached — when aldermen have just begun talking about reparations for Chicago descendants of slavery.

The debate showcased “very strong feelings about the historic inequities” African Americans have endured since “the beginning of the original sin 400 years ago,” Lightfoot said.

“There hasn’t been a proper reckoning of, really, our history or our present and how those decisions that were made years ago to enslave Africans and deny Black folks in this country our rightful and full citizenship rights,” the mayor added.

“It is past time for us to have a very fulsome discussion about that. … There’s lot that needs to be done to right historic wrongs. None of that can be done overnight. None of that can be done cheaply. But we’ve got to start chipping away at it.”

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LOS ANGELES — The University of Southern California has agreed to an $852 million settlement with more than 700 women who have accused the college’s longtime campus gynecologist of sexual abuse, the victims’ lawyers and USC announced Thursday.

It’s believed to be a record amount for such a lawsuit. When combined with an earlier settlement of a separate class-action suit, USC has agreed to pay out more than $1 billion for claims against Dr. George Tyndall, who worked at the school for nearly three decades.

Tyndall, 74, faces 35 criminal counts of alleged sexual misconduct between 2009 and 2016 at the university’s student health center. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on bond.

Hundreds of women came forward to report their allegations to police but some of the cases fell outside the 10-year statute of limitations, while others did not rise to the level of criminal charges or lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute. Still, he faces up to 64 years in prison if convicted.

“I am deeply sorry for the pain experienced by these valued members of the USC community,” USC President Carol L. Folt said in a statement. “We appreciate the courage of all who came forward and hope this much needed resolution provides some relief to the women abused by George Tyndall.”

Folt took office in 2019 as part of an overhaul of USC leadership amid the unfolding gynecologist and college entrance bribery scandals.

(Editor’s note: This story includes discussion of sexual assault. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.)

The $852 million civil settlement is believed to be the largest sexual abuse settlement against any university, according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys, as well as the largest personal injury settlement against any college or university. The lawyers say no confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements were attached.

Tyndall’s attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

In 2018, Michigan State University agreed to pay $500 million to settle claims from more than 300 women and girls who said they were assaulted by sports doctor Larry Nassar. That settlement was considered the largest at the time, far surpassing the $100 million-plus paid by Penn State University to settle claims by at least 35 people who accused assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky of sexual abuse.

Separately, USC earlier agreed to pay $215 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that applies to about 18,000 women who were patients of Tyndall’s. The individual payouts to those victims range from $2,500 to $250,000, and were given regardless of whether the women formally accused Tyndall of harassment or assault. The final payouts are expected to be issued this month.

Allegations against Tyndall first surfaced in 2018 in an investigation by the Los Angeles Times, which revealed that the doctor had been the subject of complaints of sexual misconduct at USC dating back to the 1990s.

He wasn’t suspended until 2016, when a nurse reported him to a rape crisis center. He was able to quietly resign with a large payout the next year.

Tyndall surrendered his medical license in September 2019, records show.

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Thursday, March 25

CHICAGO LAKE STREET

Butler vs. Bowen at Eckersall

Fenger vs. South Shore at Gately

CHICAGO MADISON STREET

Taft B vs. Foreman at Lane

ILLINI SECOND CITY

Julian vs. Carver at Gately

ILLINOIS CENTRAL EIGHT

Reed-Custer vs. Lisle at Benedictine

NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY

North Chicago at Antioch

Friday, March 26

ILLINI BIG SHOULDERS

Hyde Park vs. King at Eckersall

ILLINI PRAIRIE STATE

Orr vs. Payton at Lane

ILLINI RED BIRD

Simeon vs. Hubbard at Gately

ILLINI SECOND CITY

Harlan at Brooks

ILLINI WINDY CITY

Sullivan vs. Von Steuben at Winnemac

Mather vs. Schurz at Lane

CCL/ESCC BLUE

Montini at St. Rita

Providence at Notre Dame

Brother Rice at Marist

CCL/ESCC ORANGE

De La Salle vs. Benet at Bendictine

CCL/ESCC PURPLE

Marian Central at St. Viator

CCL/ESCC WHITE

Marmion at St. Ignatius

Joliet Catholic vs. Fenwick at Triton

CSL NORTH

Deerfield at Maine East

Niles North at Maine West

CSL SOUTH

Glenbrook North at Glenbrook South

Maine South at Evanston

New Trier at Niles West

DUKANE

Geneva at St. Charles East

St. Charles North at Batavia

Wheaton North at Lake Park

Wheaton Warrenville South at Glenbard North

FOX VALLEY

Burlington Central at Huntley

Dundee-Crown at Crystal Lake Central

Crystal Lake South at Prairie Ridge

ILLINOIS CENTRAL EIGHT

Coal City at Manteno

Peotone at Streator

Wilmington at Herscher

INTERSTATE EIGHT

Plano at Morris

KISHWAUKEE RIVER

Marengo at Richmond Burton

Woodstock at Johnsburg

Woodstock North vs. Harvard at Harlem

METRO SUBURBAN BLUE

Riverside-Brookfield at McNamara

St. Francis at Wheaton Academy

METRO SUBURBAN RED

St. Edward at Aurora Central

Elmwood Park at IC Prep

Chicago Christian at Ridgewood

Westmont at Aurora Christian

MID-SUBURBAN EAST

Rolling Meadows at Buffalo Grove

Wheeling at Hersey

MID-SUBURBAN WEST

Hoffman Estates at Conant

Palatine at Barrington

Schaumburg at Fremd

NORTH SUBURBAN

Lake Forest at Mundelein

Libertyville at Lake Zurich

Stevenson at Warren

Zion-Benton at Waukegan

NORTHEASTERN ATHLETIC

Walther Christian at Watseka

NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY

Grayslake North at Grant

Wauconda at Grayslake Central

SOUTH SUBURBAN BLUE

TF South at Tinley Park

Lemont at Hillcrest

Bremen at Evergreen Park

SOUTH SUBURBAN RED

Eisenhower at Argo

Oak Lawn at Reavis

Shepard vs. Richards at Eisenhower

SOUTHLAND

Bloom at Rich

Thornton at Thornridge

Thornwood at Kankakee

SOUTHWEST PRAIRIE EAST

Joliet Central at Plainfield South

Plainfield Central at Plainfield East

Romeoville at Joliet West

SOUTHWEST PRAIRIE WEST

Oswego East at Minooka

Oswego at Plainfield North

Romeoville at Joliet West

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN BLUE

Lincoln-Way East at Homewood-Flossmoor

Sandburg at Lockport

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN RED

Lincoln-Way West at Lincoln-Way Central

Andrew at Stagg

UPSTATE EIGHT

Barlett at Streamwood

Fenton at Larkin

Elgin at Glenbard East

Glenbard South at West Chicago

WEST SUBURBAN GOLD

Oak Park at Morton

Downers Grove South at Hinsdale South

Proviso East at Leyden

Willowbrook at Addison Trail

WEST SUBURBAN SILVER

Glenbard West at York

Hinsdale Central at Downers Grove North

NONCONFERENCE

St. Joseph at Hope Academy

Saturday, March 27

CHICAGO LAKE STREET

Corliss vs. Dunbar at Gately

CHICAGO MADISON STREET

Pritzker vs. Senn at Lane

Chicago Academy at Marine

CHICAGO MICHIGAN AVENUE

Gage Park at Kelly

ILLINI BIG SHOULDERS

Lindblom vs. UP-Bronzeville at Eckersall

Corliss vs. Dunbar at Gately

ILLINI GREAT LAKES

Comer at Goode

Ag. Science vs. Johnson at Stagg

Bogan vs. Catalyst Maria at Stagg

ILLINI HEARTLAND

Prosser at ITW Speer

Rauner vs. Kennedy at Rockne

Juarez at Steinmetz

ILLINI LAND OF LINCOLN

Phillips vs. Raby at Lane

Lane at Taft

Lincoln Park at Westinghouse

ILLINI PRAIRIE STATE

Bulls Prep vs. Clark at Rockne

Solorio at Young

ILLINI RED BIRD

Morgan Park vs. Curie at Gately

Perspectives vs. Kenwood at Gately

ILLINI SECOND CITY

Washington vs. Vocational at Eckersall

ILLINI WINDY CITY

Amundsen vs. Lake View at Lane

CCL/ESCC BLUE

Mount Carmel at Loyola

CCL/ESCC ORANGE

St. Laurence at Nazareth

CCL/ESCC PURPLE

Carmel vs. St. Patrick at Triton

CCL/ESCC RED

DePaul vs. Leo at St. Rita

CSL NORTH

Vernon Hills at Highland Park

DUPAGE VALLEY

Waubonsie Valley at Metea Valley

DeKalb at Naperville North

Neuqua Valley at Naperville Central

FOX VALLEY

McHenry vs. Cary-Grove at Huntley

INTERSTATE EIGHT

Rochelle at LaSalle-Peru

Sandwich at Kaneland

Sycamore at Ottawa

NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY

Round Lake vs. Lakes at Antioch

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN RED

Bradley-Bourbonnais at Bolingbrook

UPSTATE EIGHT

East Aurora vs. South Elgin at Streamwood

WEST SUBURBAN SILVER

Lyons at Proviso West

NONCONFERENCE

Phillips vs. Raby at Lane

Crete-Monee at Marian Catholic

Stark County at Ottawa Marquette

Sunday, March 28

CCL/ESCC WHITE

Joliet Catholic vs. Fenwick at Triton

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A Chicago police officer was shot Thursday in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the South Side — the fourth officer to be shot in less than two weeks.

The suspected shooter, who was also wounded, was in custody, according to Chicago police spokesman Tom Ahern.

The shooting happened near the intersection of 46^th Street and Western Avenue, Ahern said.

The officer was being transported to Mount Sinai Hospital, Ahern said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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OKLAHOMA CITY — Current Oklahoma and former Illinois coach Lon Kruger announced his retirement on Thursday, culminating a 35-year career that included taking five different schools to the NCAA Tournament — with two of them reaching the Final Four — and more than 650 career wins.

Kruger, 68, led Florida to the national semifinals in 1994 and Oklahoma to the same spot in 2016. He is the only coach to lead five different programs to NCAA Tournament wins — Oklahoma, Kansas State, Florida, Illinois and UNLV.

Kruger coached the Illini for four seasons, from 1996-2000. The Illini won the Big Ten regular season championship in 1997-98 and reached the NCAA Tournament in 1997, 1998 and 2000. Overall, Kruger was 81-48 in Champaign.

His 674-432 career record ranks 10th among active coaches in wins and 27th all time.

He led the Sooners to a 195-128 record in 10 years and reached seven of the past eight NCAA tournaments. In his final season at Oklahoma, the Sooners went 16-11 and ended with a loss to top-seeded Gonzaga in the second round on Monday.

Along the way, he built a reputation for fixing struggling programs.

“His track record of successfully rebuilding programs everywhere he coached is made even more impressive when considering how he did it,” Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione said. “He won with integrity, humility, class and grace. He did it with superior leadership skills and a genuine kindness that included his constant encouragement of everyone around him.”

Among his many accomplishments, he was voted the AP Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2014. He led his alma mater, Kansas State, to the Elite Eight in 1988. He also coached at Texas Pan American. He was the 2019 recipient of the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award and honored in 2017 with the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Metropolitan Award for long and outstanding service to men’s college basketball.

Kruger coached first-round draft picks Buddy Hield and Trae Young. Hield was named Big 12 Player of the Year in both 2015 and 2016 and left Oklahoma as the Big 12’s all-time leading scorer. Young was the first player in college basketball history to lead the country in both points and assists.

“The tremendous success he enjoyed on the court over the last four decades, the meaningful mentorship role he served with players and staff, his dedication to trying to improve the lives of others — it’s a career he should certainly be proud of and that people should really take the time to study and appreciate,” Castiglione said.

Kruger also spent four years coaching in the NBA — three as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks and one as a New York Knicks assistant.

Just last week, longtime Oklahoma women’s basketball Sherri Coale also announced her retirement.

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Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson shared a rosy view earlier this month of the district’s relationship with the Chicago Teachers Union.

“It is a collaborative process,” she said of negotiations over a plan to reopen high schools, which have remained closed during the pandemic. “There is a different tone and tenor than it was during the first step of negotiations around this. And I hope that that’s comforting to parents.”

Families know that initial phase of bargaining all too well.

Earlier this year, the district and union went blow for blow for two months. A second teachers strike in as many years felt inevitable at times but was ultimately avoided. As negotiations on high schools began, students, parents, teachers, the union and the district hoped the two sides could move forward and mend a relationship that had become perhaps the most toxic in the nation between a school system and its union.

The weeks since haven’t been as bitter, but the tension is still apparent.

Frustrations boil over

Take, for example, the frustration that boiled over last week.

CPS leadership sent an email to families and staff early in the week with a few small updates, including a “target” high school reopening date of April 19. The district made clear negotiations with the union were “productive” and ongoing, but parents have been asking for more information for weeks.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times, Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

A few hours later, the CTU released a statement that said, in part: “We have no agreement.” The union criticized the district’s announcement as “more unilateralism” and accused CPS of distorting the status of negotiations.

The only problem? CTU President Jesse Sharkey had reviewed the email and suggested edits earlier that afternoon.

The district’s labor relations chief, Kaitlyn Girard, told Sharkey in an email hours earlier that “we have drafted what we think is a non-controversial overview of our discussions to share with families later today. … Please let us know your thoughts on this language, we can also discuss during our meeting this afternoon.”

Sharkey provided two suggested changes, both of which the district made.

And how did reporters find out about that email exchange? At 11 p.m. the day the email was sent, in a highly unusual move, a CPS spokeswoman sent education reporters a screenshot of the conversation — this from a district that regularly delays and denies public information requests. CPS wanted to draw negative attention to Sharkey’s inconsistent private actions and public message.

Trench warfare

Instead of backing down and deescalating, both CPS and CTU are continuing to play the game that has caused so much turmoil over the past two years. It seems they’ve had a hard time forgetting the 2019 strike, or the late Friday night mayoral press conference that trashed the union last month, or the CTU’s vote of no-confidence in Mayor Lori Lightfoot after the reopening agreement was reached.

“There have been examples of this, where the parties, their disagreements just kind of convert into trench warfare, where they’re dug in and the way in which they’re relating to one another suggests these real deep divides,” said Bob Bruno, a labor professor at the University of Illinois who has studied CPS-CTU negotiations and wrote a book on the 2012 teachers strike.

“What it begins to do is raise lots of questions about the larger institutional settings in which everyone connected to it suffers.”

Earlier this month, three weeks after nearly 70% of CTU members voted to approve the K-8 deal, Sharkey expressed strong confidence the union would reach a similar agreement for high schools.

And what about the one-third of teachers with work-from-home accommodations for third quarter? Should they go back to classrooms in the fourth quarter if they’re vaccinated?

“Provided it’s medically OK, if somebody gets vaccinated, yeah they should teach in-person if there’s a need for that,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times in an interview. “I don’t think that’s a problem.”

Sharkey said “it’s a little bit more complicated” if a teacher received an accommodation for a medically vulnerable household member because there is a risk in bringing the virus home since it’s not known yet whether vaccinations prevent transmission. He also said he was frustrated that CPS didn’t know how many workers had received a shot.

Fast forward seven days and it was a different tune.

In an email to members, Sharkey said teachers shouldn’t respond to a CPS survey asking workers to disclose whether they’ve been vaccinated; he instead insisted it be negotiated with CPS. Vaccinations were among the union’s biggest demands in K-8 bargaining. Last week, Jackson said only 41% of CPS staff have responded, and she was “disappointed” to learn of Sharkey’s message to members.

Then in a CBS2 Chicago story published one week after the Sun-Times interview, Sharkey said teachers weren’t fully on board with disclosing their vaccination status because some feared losing their accommodations.

week, when the district announced a provider had misallocated 6,000 doses meant for CPS staff, Sharkey ripped the district for the “failure, on multiple levels, from the people who run our school district” — despite the fact CPS relented to union demands to make sure all teachers were offered vaccines in the first place and said no teacher will miss out on a dose due to the situation.

Anthony Vazquez, Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

CPS and the mayor, of course, have had their own hand in stoking the fire. In an interview with the New York Times after the K-8 agreement, Lightfoot again compared the CTU to the police union and claimed schools never would have opened without mayoral control of the district. In other interviews she blamed the CTU for parents becoming fed up and leaving the district and city altogether.

Many CPS families — especially Black, Latino and special education parents — appreciate the CTU’s advocacy and recognize many needed improvements in the district would not have come without the CTU’s support.

And yet there’s a difference between fighting for a cause and unnecessarily needling.

“Black and Brown working class communities in Chicago … they have deep grievances against CPS,” Bruno said. “The idea of supporting what the union does is because they believe that the union brings generally good returns for those families.

” … [But] I don’t think there’s endless tolerance or patience for dysfunction. If there’s dysfunction and chaos, then obviously those families will be impacted.”

Burning down the village

The school system has always been political. And the union — after a building a grassroots political movement over the past decade and now regaining more of its previously stripped bargaining rights — is as mighty as ever.

But at a certain point, the politics become exhausting for families and educators, and it certainly no longer benefits the children. Jackson and Sharkey have said so themselves. Yet neither side seems ready to accept that the situation has become untenable.

“You’re kind of burning down the village to win the war,” Bruno said.

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A Chicago cop facing termination for allegedly lying about a fatal police shooting on the West Side will retire next month, his attorneys announced Thursday.

Officer Saharat Sampim, a 22-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, was accused of making false statements about the 2014 police killing of 19-year-old Roshad McIntosh. Sampim testified that he saw McIntosh point a gun at Officer Robert Slecter, who shot and killed the teen.

In February 2020, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability called for Sampim’s firing after concluding the embattled officer lied about seeing McIntosh with a gun. COPA reported that Sampim could not see what he claimed to given where he was standing when the shooting happened.

An attorney representing Sampim announced Thursday that Sampim was retiring from the police force during a meeting related to his disciplinary case, said Max Caproni, executive director of the Chicago Police Board. His resignation will take effect April 30.

Caproni said attorneys for Supt. David Brown have moved to withdraw the disciplinary charge against Sampim. The Police Board could rule on whether to terminate those charges as early as next month’s meeting, Caproni said.

Sampim’s attorney, Tim Grace, said retirement was “the best thing for him and his family.”

“He’s served his city honorably for many years,” Grace said in an interview. “It’s very difficult to be a police officer nowadays. I think a lot of police officers are starting to realize that. And I think the people that are really going to get hurt are the citizens.”

Asked why his client didn’t choose to fight the charges against him, Grace noted that “not many people survive the Police Board.”

“What’s that old saying? Fight the fights that are worth fighting,” he said. “Sometimes it’s just not worthwhile to engage in a fight that you really don’t have the heart for.”

Andrew M. Stroth, an attorney representing McIntosh’s mother in a federal lawsuit against the city, said he believes Sampim is dodging accountability by tendering his resignation.

“How can we have a system and rules that when an officer is proven to do something wrong, the Police Board, if the officer resigns, has no jurisdiction to prosecute the case,” said Stroth.

“Officer Sampim was part of the blue code of silence and he made false statements,” he added. “And it’s devastating to the family and disappointing that the officer responsible in part is not facing any consequences.”

Despite recommending Sampim be fired, COPA has twice concluded the shooting of McIntosh was justified.

McIntosh was shot and killed by Slechter in August 2014 in the 2800 block of West Polk Street after he pointed a handgun at an officer, police and COPA say.

Officers were called to the block after receiving a tip two men there were armed with guns. Once there, officers found the block crowded with dozens of people. But only McIntosh ran away when they arrived.

An officer who chased McIntosh said he saw the teen grab his waistband, which is a common sign that someone is carrying a gun. COPA said the officer who fired said he ordered McIntosh to drop the gun several times — a claim corroborated by several police and civilian witnesses.

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MESA, Ariz. — Javy Baez is a household name and he’s probably your favorite player’s favorite player.

The swipe tags, elusive slides, mammoth home runs and spectacular defense over the last five years have made him a fan favorite of kids, adults and everyone in between. It’s no shock that Baez is such a draw to kids, because he plays the game like one. His childlike enthusiasm and energy is infectious.

“I love it,” Baez said. “I get really excited to see the way other players and other kids look at the way I play the game and the way I enjoy the game. I always say, it’s a game. It’s a game before anything. … I think you gotta enjoy the game and let your game talk.”

His jersey has been in the top 10 of MLB’s top selling jerseys each of the last four seasons and following the Cubs’ World Series run in 2016, his popularity has grown exponentially.

Not only did that popularity put him on the map, it shot him into superstardom, not only in the United States, but internationally as the Puerto Rico native became a global icon.

But what’s the cost of being everyone’s favorite? For Baez, it was tedious as the mental toll of being everything to everybody slowly made him push back from the game he loved.

Following the 2016 World Series, things didn’t slow down for Baez, not in the slightest. After doing ESPN’s Body Issue in 2017, the opportunities kept coming. The young shortstop was everywhere from the cover of magazines, video games, red carpet events and being seen with some of music’s biggest stars like friend and countrymen, Daddy Yankee.

However, the play on the field never suffered, in fact Baez was beginning to come into his own as a force in MLB, finishing as runner-up in the National League MVP Award voting in 2018 and being named an NL All-Star starter in ’18 and ’19.

What did suffer was that childlike enthusiasm. Yes, he was producing, putting up monster numbers and becoming one of the faces of baseball. But in some ways, he was going through the motions. As different opportunities came up, a little bit of the love he had for the game went with it and even took him away from the people he cared about.

“I wouldn’t say there was pressure, but it was the way I got attention for other stuff than baseball,” Baez told the Sun-Times. “It kind of pulled me away from everything, even from my family. My family and my friends.

“I was grateful to be recognized by all these people, but people weren’t looking at me the way I wanted them to. At the end of the day, I’m a baseball player. That’s what I want to be recognized as.”

For a player who was so often the happiest player on the diamond, the Cubs’ shortstop wasn’t happy and finding that joy again required him to take a step back from the bright lights and decide who he wanted to be.

Everyone wants to be a star and every kid who grows up with the hopes of being a Major League Baseball player wants everything that comes with success, but Baez had to learn how to handle that fame, even if it meant pulling away from some of it.

“You gotta understand it,” Baez said. “You understand it. We were all kids once. I saw many rappers, boxers [from Puerto Rico] who went through it. I got excited about it. … But it’s a privilege to be as close to people as we are. A lot of people didn’t have that in the past.”

With a better understanding of how to handle the outside noise, Baez’s next step was falling in love with the game again and prior to the shortened regular season in 2020, he felt he did that despite his struggles.

But going into the final season before impending free agency, Baez feels comfortable with who he is and is ready to get back to being the player millions of people fell in love with when he burst onto the scene.

“I think you need to struggle sometimes,” Baez said. “Obviously, not a lot, but you need to fail to get better. You got to make adjustments. As soon as I get in the shower after the game, I turn the page and come back the next day ready to learn something and be better.

“I do feel more focused this spring. I’m not taking much from last year, because this is a different year, a different situation.”

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