A fire broke out in a home Feb. 28, 2021 in the 8600 block of South Hermitage Avenue in Gresham. | Chicago Fire Department
They were found in a burning house by firefighters about 4 a.m. Sunday in the 8600 block of South Hermitage Avenue, Chicago fire officials said.
The deaths of a mother and her daughter who were killed in a fire Sunday in Gresham have been ruled homicides.
Ieashia Ford, 34, and her daughter Porche Stinson Ford, 15, both died of injuries from inhaling combustible products “due to house fire due to arson,” according to autopsy results released Tuesday by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Their deaths were each classified as homicides, the medical examiner’s office said.
There was enough evidence at the scene of the fire for bomb and arson detectives, as well as homicide detectives, to investigate the cause of the fire, officials said. Police didn’t provide an update on the investigation into the cause of the fire Tuesday.
The pair were taken in critical condition to Little Company of Mary Hospital, where they were pronounced dead, officials said.
Four other people were taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn for treatment due to injuries from the blaze, officials said.
In this Feb. 10, 2021, file photo, a man receives a COVID-19 vaccine in North Las Vegas. Catholic leaders in New Orleans and St. Louis are advising Catholics that the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson is “morally compromised” because it’s produced using cell lines developed from aborted fetuses. Archdiocese statements in each city say Catholics should choose coronavirus vaccines made by Moderna or Pfizer — if they are available. Johnson & Johnson stresses in a statement Tuesday, March 2, that no fetal tissue is used in the vaccine. | AP
Roman Catholic leaders in St. Louis and New Orleans are advising Catholics that the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, newly approved for use in the U.S., is “morally compromised” because it is produced using a cell line derived from an aborted fetus.
NEW ORLEANS — Roman Catholic leaders in St. Louis and New Orleans are advising Catholics that the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, newly approved for use in the U.S., is “morally compromised” because it is produced using a cell line derived from an aborted fetus.
The New Orleans archdiocese says the decision to receive a vaccine is one of individual conscience. In its statement late last week, it stopped short of advising Catholics not to take the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but adds that Catholics should choose coronavirus vaccines made by Moderna or Pfizer — if they are available.
The Archdiocese of St. Louis on Tuesday encouraged Catholics to seek out the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines and avoid the Johnson & Johnson version if possible. Like the New Orleans archdiocese statement, the St. Louis statement called the Johnson & Johnson vaccine “morally compromised.” However, the St. Louis statement stressed that Catholics can get that vaccine “in good conscience if no other alternative is available.”
Later Tuesday, a statement issued by chairmen of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committees on doctrine and abortion issues issued a statement reiterating the moral concerns. It said the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines are preferable “if one has the ability to choose a vaccine.”
While not disputing the church officials’ contention that an abortion-derived cell line is used in the production, Johnson & Johnson issued a statement Tuesday stressing that there is no fetal tissue in its vaccine.
Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine is made using a harmless cold virus, called an adenovirus, the same technology it used to produce a successful Ebola vaccine. The adenovirus is grown using what’s called an immortalized cell line, and the virus then is pulled out and purified.
Several types of cell lines created decades ago using fetal tissue exist and are widely used in medical manufacturing but the cells in them today are clones of the early cells, not the original tissue.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a January statement that “abortion-derived” cell lines were used to test the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines but not in their development or production.
The Archdiocese statements renewed religious discussions about the vaccine and the use of abortion-derived cells. In December, the Vatican said that “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses” in the research and production process when “ethically irreproachable” vaccines aren’t available to the public.
Pope Francis has frequently spoken about the need to ensure that vaccines are widely available, especially to the poor and marginalized. And, last month, a decree signed by the governor of the Vatican city-state said that Vatican employees who opt out of vaccination without a proven medical reason could be subject to sanctions, including being fired.
The Archdiocese of New Orleans posted its statement Friday, the day before the Food and Drug Administration cleared the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for use in the U.S.
Asked Tuesday about the New Orleans Archdiocese statement, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards — a rare anti-abortion Democrat — stressed the need for people to use any of the approved vaccines available in order to stop the spread of the virus.
Edwards said he spoke Sunday with Archbishop Gregory Aymond about the statement. “I don’t read his statement as completely telling people who are Catholic or otherwise not to avail themselves of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine,” said Edwards.
“I’m encouraging everyone out there to take the first vaccine that is available to them.”
He noted a statement issue Monday by Bishop Michael Duca of Baton Rouge.
Duca acknowledged “moral concerns” about the newly approved vaccine. But, he added “if for any reasonable circumstance you are only able to receive the vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, you should feel free to do so for your safety and for the common good.”
That is similar to guidance the U.S. bishops’ conference issued in January. “Given that the COVID-19 virus can involve serious health risks, it can be morally acceptable to receive a vaccine that uses abortion-derived cell lines if no other available vaccines comparable in safety and efficacy with no connection to abortion,” the January guidance said.
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Associated Press reporters Luis Henao in New York, Jim Salter in St. Louis, Lauran Neergaard in Alexandria, Virginia, and Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contributed to this story.
Parts of the Wrigley Field campus could be used to administer the coronavirus vaccine. | Getty
But will fans be able to watch baseball in person at Wrigley — or Guaranteed Rate Field — this season? Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday said it’s going to happen, but she didn’t say how soon.
The Chicago Cubs are “in discussions with the city” about opening a mass-vaccination site “somewhere on the Wrigley Field campus,” team spokesman Julian Green said Tuesday.
Those shots won’t be administered on the field itself, Green said, but vaccinations could take place along the stadium’s inside concourses, in the outdoor plaza along the third-base line, in a players’ parking lot or in the Wrigley conference center.
“We want to be helpful,” Green said. “If we can assist by allowing the assets we have to be used as a site for a life-saving vaccine, we’d be honored to serve.”
Advocate Aurora Health is in line to operate the site, providing “clinical staffing and technical infrastructure,” if the city authorizes it and there are adequate vaccine supplies.
The health care provider would be “proud to partner on a possible Wrigley Field mass vaccination site,” said Advocate spokeswoman Brigid Sweeney.
Sweeney said Wrigley is being considered because it’s easy CTA access makes it “a convenient option for people who do not own cars.”
Meanwhile, in other news involving Wrigley — and Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the White Sox — Lightfoot said fans of both teams will be able to attend games this season. She just didn’t say how many, or when.
“There will be a point some time this season where you’ll see fans in the stands” at both ballparks, said the mayor, a Sox season ticket holder.
And while Lightfoot didn’t reveal details, she did say both the Sox and Cubs have “come up with very good plans” to make that possible.
Nam Y. Huh/AP PhotosWrigley Field’s marquee displays Lakeview Pantry volunteer information in Chicago, Thursday, April 16, 2020.
Another Chicago sports mecca could soon join the United Center as a site for coronavirus vaccinations.
The Chicago Cubs are “in discussions with the city” about opening a mass-vaccination site “somewhere on the Wrigley Field campus,” team spokesman Julian Green said Tuesday.
Those shots won’t be administered on the field itself, Green said, but vaccinations could take place along the stadium’s inside concourses, in the outdoor plaza along the third-base line, in a players’ parking lot or in the Wrigley conference center.
“We want to be helpful,” Green said. “If we can assist by allowing the assets we have to be used as a site for a life-saving vaccine, we’d be honored to serve.”
Advocate Aurora Health is in line to operate the site, providing “clinical staffing and technical infrastructure,” if the city authorizes it and there are adequate vaccine supplies.
The health care provider would be “proud to partner on a possible Wrigley Field mass vaccination site,” said Advocate spokeswoman Brigid Sweeney.
5 p.m. How soon can senior citizens sign up for vaccine appointments at United Center?
Provided PhotoThe United Center will open as a mass COVID-19 vaccination site on March 4.
Senior citizens can start signing up Thursday for COVID-19 vaccine appointments at a new mass vaccination site poised to launch next week outside the United Center.
People 65 or older will be able to try to snag appointments online or by phone at 8:30 a.m. March 4, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Tuesday.
Appointments will open at 4 p.m. March 7 to other people eligible for shots under the state’s expanded Phase 1B pool of recipients, which includes residents 16 and older with chronic health conditions such as heart disease or diabetes.
More than 100,000 slots will be available to those seniors who are first in line when registration opens, according to Pritzker’s office.
Residents will be able to sign up at zocdoc.com/vaccine, or call (312) 746-4835.
“From the beginning, we have prioritized ensuring our seniors and vulnerable populations can receive the COVID-19 vaccine as quickly and equitably as possible, and I’m thrilled the United Center vaccine site will help deliver on those core goals,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a statement. “This site adds 6,000 doses per day to our growing statewide capacity and joins 15 state-supported mass vaccine sites now operating across Illinois.”
4:39 p.m. Biden vows enough vaccine for all US adults by end of May
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the U.S. expects to take delivery of enough coronavirus vaccines for all adult Americans by the end of May, two months earlier than anticipated, as his administration announced that drugmaker Merck & Co. will help produce rival Johnson & Johnson’s newly approved shot.
With the bolstered supply, Biden also announced he would be using the powers of the federal government to direct all states to prioritize vaccinating teachers, and said the federal government would provide the doses directly through its pharmacy program. He challenged states to administer at least one dose of the vaccine to all teachers by the end of March as part of his administration’s efforts to reopen more schools across the nation.
“We’re now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May,” said Biden, who likened the partnership between the two drug companies to the spirit of national cooperation during World War II.
The announcement comes as the White House looks to speed the production of the single-dose J&J vaccine and accelerate the nation’s plans to reach “herd immunity” in the U.S. and begin restoring normalcy after the pandemic. Biden noted that vaccine supply was only one bottleneck toward that goal, and that the new challenge will be injecting doses into arms as swiftly as possible.
To that end, the Biden administration told governors Tuesday to prepare for their supplies of vaccine to continue to climb over the coming weeks. Additional doses are also heading toward a federally backed program to administer doses in more accessible retail pharmacies.
Those pharmacies will be key in getting the vaccines into the arms of teachers, which will help reopen schools to better educate students who have been at risk at falling behind during the pandemic.
“Let’s treat in-person learning as the essential service that it is,” Biden said.
4:05 p.m. New program helps Chicagoans manage debt, find aid — and it’s free
Bread lines across the city grew as the pandemic triggered an economic downturn, but a new financial program hopes to ease the burden Chicagoans face.
Led locally by Heartland Alliance in partnership with the city, the program connects residents with financial advisors to help manage expenses and find available federal or local aid.
The Financial Navigator program, launched in mid-February, is designed around a free 30-minute phone call that advises people on which bills to target and shows them how to maximize their income.
“We are helping people try and avoid eviction, avoid bankruptcy and get this city back on its feet,” said Barbara Martinez, manager of Heartland Alliance’s asset building program. “We are speaking with people who are behind on bills, utilities and rent, so our goal is to help them prioritize their expenses and which bills they should target.”
The nationwide initiative was launched by the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund — a philanthropic group based in New York. The fund has partnered with 31 cities and counties to create a database of local and national resources.
Martinez said there is no magic wand to make bills evaporate but steps can be taken to “knock out things little by little.”
2:19 p.m. Texas becomes biggest US state to lift COVID-19 mask mandate
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas is lifting its mask mandate, Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday, making it the largest state to end an order intended to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that has killed more than 42,000 Texans.
The Republican governor has faced sharp criticism from his party over the mandate, which was imposed eight months ago, and other COVID-19 restrictions. It was only ever lightly enforced, even during the worst outbreaks of the pandemic.
Texas will also do away with limits on the number of diners that businesses can serve indoors, said Abbott, who made the announcement at a restaurant in Lubbock.
The decision comes as governors across the U.S. have been easing coronavirus restrictions, despite warnings from health experts that the pandemic is far from over. Like the rest of the country, Texas has seen the number of cases and deaths plunge. Hospitalizations are at the lowest levels since October, and the seven-day rolling average of positive tests has dropped to about 7,600 cases, down from more than 10,000 in mid-February.
Only California and New York have reported more COVID-19 deaths than Texas.
“The fact that things are headed in the right direction doesn’t mean we have succeeded in eradicating the risk,” said Dr. Lauren Ancel Meyers, a professor of integrative biology and director of the University of Texas COVID-19 Modeling Consortium.
1:54 p.m. Every CPS student to get $450 for food through federal program that will benefit 1 million Illinois children
Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times
The family of every Chicago Public Schools student, regardless of income or citizenship status, is set to receive more than $450 in the mail this month — plus hundreds more next month — to support food expenses.
The benefits, which can be twice that amount or more for families with two or more kids in school, are funded through a federal pandemic relief program. In total, one million students throughout the state will qualify for similar benefits.
The program — Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer, an offshoot of the EBT system — is intended to help students who usually receive free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch but who haven’t had access to in-school meals during the pandemic. Since CPS participates in a federal program that provides free lunch for all students in the district, every CPS student is eligible and will automatically receive the benefits in the mail.
P-EBT is specifically meant to replace the loss of in-school meals, so the fact that CPS and other districts have distributed meals to go at hundreds of schools during the pandemic has no impact on any district’s eligibility.
The first funds will be distributed in the first half of March with $6.82 loaded onto the cards for each school day through December that students were in remote learning — adding up to a little over $450 for CPS students. Another set of cards will be mailed in April with benefits for January through March, and families will receive a monthly benefit starting in May for the rest of the school year.
11:42 a.m. Victims of anti-Asian attacks reflect a year into pandemic
Nearly a year after they were almost stabbed to death inside a Midland, Texas, Sam’s Club, Bawi Cung and his two sons all have visible scars.
It’s the unseen ones though that are harder to get over. Cung can’t walk through any store without constantly looking in all directions. His 6-year-old son, who now can’t move one eyebrow, is afraid to sleep alone.
On a Saturday evening in March, when COVID-19 panic shopping gripped the nation, Cung was in search of rice at a cheaper price. The family was in the Sam’s Club meat section when Cung suddenly felt a punch to the back of his head. A man he didn’t know then slashed his face with a knife. The assailant left but soon returned to stab the boys. He wounded the 3-year-old in the back and slashed the 6-year-old from his right eye to a couple of inches past his right ear.
The grisly encounter brought home the dangerous climate Asian Americans have faced since the coronavirus entered the U.S., with racially motivated harassment and assaults occurring from coast to coast.
10:27 a.m. Lightfoot to loosen grip on restaurants and bars — again — to allow 50% capacity, trade group says
With vaccinations ramping up, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is once again loosening her grip on restaurants and bars, but not enough to satisfy the hard-hit industry.
According to Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia, the revised regulations will allow Chicago restaurants and bars to increase indoor capacity to 50% or 50 people, whichever is less. The current limit is 40%.
Bars and restaurants now forced to stop serving patrons at 11 p.m. can stay open until 1 a.m. It’s a vital lifeline to businesses that have been fighting for survival after twice being forced to close their dining rooms during the pandemic.
Toia said he understands the mayor’s decision to approach Chicago’s cautious reopening as if she’s “turning the dimmer switch” instead of flipping on the light switch.
He simply wants the mayor to turn that switch even faster — by increasing the capacity for each restaurant room or designated area separated by a plexiglass divider from 50 people to 100 or 150.
“You cannot do catering parties with more than 50 people. We’re moving into the spring time here. You’ve got a lot of communions, graduations, Bar Mitzvah’s, weddings,” Toia said.
“We would really like to see it get bumped up to 150 per room. But we understand we move in steps here. So, getting up to 100 would be better than 50.”
9:40 a.m. U of I rapid COVID test gains emergency use authorization
A rapid COVID-19 saliva test developed by researchers at the University of Illinois has gained emergency-use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, university officials announced Monday.
The test was developed not for individual use and will not be for sale on drugstore shelves, but was designed for large-scale use by universities, municipalities and companies to allow for constant testing, low positivity rates and the avoidance of shutdowns.
The University of Illinois rolled out the testing platform — known as covidSHIELD — on its Urbana-Champaign campus last year and kept positivity rates under 0.5%, allowing school officials to maintain in-person learning.
The University of Illinois set up testing stations around the campus and conducted more than a million tests. After a test subject “dribbled” saliva into a tube (no spitting to avoid aerosolizing the saliva), samples were shuttled to a lab via golf carts, according to Martin Burke, a chemistry professor who heads up the university’s SHIELD team.
Results were accessed via smartphone app within 24 hours and were necessary to gain access to campus buildings.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has allocated $20 million in federal COVID relief funding to make sure the testing platform is available to all 12 of the state’s universities and 48 community colleges.
University officials created two units to share the testing protocol: SHIELD Illinois, which focuses on expansion within the state, and Shield T3, a university-related organization deploying the saliva test outside of Illinois.
“Interest in Shield T3 and requests for our help have been pouring in from around the globe,” said Bill Jackson, interim executive director of the Discovery Partners Institute, who works closely with the separate Shield T3 unit. “This important step simplifies the process of setting up labs and gives our partners added assurance.”
By the time he took office, President Joe Biden had abandoned his campaign promise to require that all Americans cover their faces in public, admitting that such an order was beyond his authority. But that concession did not stop the Biden administration from imposing a nationwide eviction moratorium with an equally dubious legal basis.
Last week a federal judge in Texas ruled that the Constitution does not give the federal government the power to decree that landlords across the country must house tenants who do not pay their rent. That case, along with a challenge to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s pandemic powers that the state Supreme Court will hear next Tuesday, is part of an overdue re-examination of the assumption that politicians can do whatever they deem necessary to fight COVID-19.
The eviction moratorium, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention originally issued in September, was renewed by Congress in December, and then extended again by the Biden administration. It is based on a breathtakingly broad reading of the CDC director’s authority to “take such measures” he “deems reasonably necessary” to stop the interstate spread of communicable diseases.
The CDC reasoned that evicted tenants might “become homeless” or “move into close quarters in shared housing,” thereby increasing the risk of virus transmission. That rationale suggests the CDC’s authority is vast, encompassing any policy that is plausibly related to disease control, including business closures and a national stay-at-home order as well as the face mask requirement that Biden ultimately decided could not be imposed by executive fiat.
9:46 a.m. How to end the confusion of COVID-19 vaccine appointment scheduling
If you’ve tried to get a COVID-19 vaccine appointment, you know how frustrating the process can be. People are spending hours obsessively refreshing websites, hoping an appointment will open up somewhere. They scan Facebook groups for tips and insider information. One writer compared it to Soviet-style queues for cabbage.
The competition for slots will only worsen when the COVID-19 vaccination priority list opens to the broader public.
As an expert in health care operations and vaccine supply chains, I have closely followed the difficulties in connecting COVID-19 vaccine doses with people. I believe the best solution to vaccine appointment scheduling lies in building a trustworthy one-stop preregistration system.
Just how broke is Chicago, you ask? Well, here is your answer. Chicago traffic cameras will now be ticketing drivers $35 for driving 6-10 miles per hour over the posted limit. If you’re caught going 11+ miles per hour over the limit, you can expect a $100 fine to arrive in your mailbox. This is just another example of the Mayor’s office ‘nickel and diming’ its citizens.
As if 2020 hasn’t hurt Chicagoans enough financially, now we can’t even drive over the horrifically paved roads the city refuses to repair six miles per hour faster than before. Maybe Mayor Lightfoot is saving us from ourselves because starting at the beginning of this week, go ahead and add $35 onto the $2000 of undercarriage damage driving down Ashland already gets you.
The Mayor’s office claims this is in response to the increased number of car accidents in Chicago the past year. Per the Chicago Department of Transportation, traffic fatalities were up 35 percent through the end of 2020 with 120 such fatalities. There were 89 reported during the same time period in 2019. However, this also comes less than a year after the state announced “…that they [the state of Illinois] will stop collecting fines against drivers who are caught on camera violating red lights…adding that the system is both unfair to low-income Illinoisans…”
So, why is this any different? And why do we feel the need to mask it in statistics about fatalities when this is clearly a move to grab revenue the city has been struggling to get otherwise. The city is broke as a joke, we get that. Hell, we’re using COVID relief money to pay off the city police force in a time where half the city doesn’t trust the police to begin with. It’s the way of Chicago, time and time again, where if money comes knocking we’ll answer the door with open arms—even if that means shutting the door on a few of its citizens in the process.
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For more information on where you can find Chicago traffic cameras near you, use this trusty map put together by our friends at Block Club Chicago.
The crown jewel of Chicago nightclubs lives on at the Newberry Library and in an upcoming documentary.
Back when nightclubs were smoke-filled rooms, where people dressed up for a night on the town, and before the 1980s explosion of comedy rooms like Zanies (and various other Ha-Ha Huts, Laugh Lodges, and Chuckle Chambers featuring generic brick walls and a lone mike onstage), there was Mister Kelly’s.The legendary Chicago Rush Street establishment, owned and operated by brothers and Hyde Park natives Oscar and George Marienthal, ran for 22 years (1953-1975), during which time it endured two fires and the cultural upheaval of the 1960s. Richard Pryor was booked there during the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination, which according to some accounts started him on the path to more controversial and “blue” comedy that didn’t sit right with George Marienthal; at any rate, he never worked at Kelly’s again.…Read More
Firefighters battle a blaze in Aurora on March 2 in the 200 block of Downer Place. | Aurora Fire Department/Facebook
Although initial reports indicated a person was trapped inside, the building was actually empty and no one was injured.
A vacant apartment building in Aurora was destroyed Tuesday in a blaze so intense that firefighters retreated several times from the raging flames inside.
“It was a pretty labor-intensive fire,” Aurora Fire Department Battalion Chief Jim Rhodes said, adding that firefighters were forced to exit the home a couple times when the fire became too dangerous.
“We were ultimately able to get back in there and put out the fire,” he said.
Although initial reports indicated a person was trapped inside, the building was actually empty and no one was injured, Rhodes said.
Aurora Fire Department/FacebookFirefighters battle a blaze in Aurora on March 2 in the 200 block of Downer Place.
The fire spread quickly through the three-and-a-half story wooden frame apartment building in the 200 block of West Downer Place, Rhodes said.
Neighbors called 911 about 7 a.m. after noticing the fire, he said. Firefighters saw smoke billowing from the home soon after they left the station and found flames shooting from the side of the home when they arrived.
Crews were still on scene at 9:30 a.m. at the home, which Rhodes said was a total loss.
Neighboring homes were undamaged by the flames, he said.
In this Feb. 6, 2005 file photo, Bunny Wailer performs at the One Love concert to celebrate Bob Marley’s 60th birthday, in Kingston, Jamaica. | AP
Wailer formed The Wailers in 1963 with late superstars Bob Marley and Peter Tosh when they lived in a slum in the capital of Kingston.
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Bunny Wailer, a reggae luminary who was the last surviving member of the legendary group The Wailers, died on Tuesday in his native Jamaica. He was 73.
Wailer, a baritone singer whose birth name is Neville Livingston, formed The Wailers in 1963 with late superstars Bob Marley and Peter Tosh when they lived in a slum in the capital of Kingston. They catapulted to international fame with the album, “Catch a Fire” and also helped popularize Rastafarian culture among better-off Jamaicans starting in the 1970s.
“Jah-B was a vanguard, always pushing the boundaries of expression, whether in song, in style or in spoken word,” said Brian Paul Welsh, a local reggae musician known as Blvk H3ro. “There was and can only ever be one Neville Livingston.”
Wailer died at Andrews Memorial Hospital in the Jamaican parish of St. Andrew of complications from a stroke in July, manager Maxine Stowe told The Associated Press.
His death was mourned worldwide as people shared music, memories and pictures of the renowned artist.
“The passing of Bunny Wailer, the last of the original Wailers, brings to a close the most vibrant period of Jamaica’s musical experience,” wrote Jamaica politician Peter Phillips in a Facebook post. “Bunny was a good, conscious Jamaican brethren.”
Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, also paid tribute to Wailer, calling him “a respected elder statesman of the Jamaican music scene,” in a series of tweets.
“This is a great loss for Jamaica and for Reggae, undoubtedly Bunny Wailer will always be remembered for his sterling contribution to the music industry and Jamaica’s culture,” he wrote.
While Wailer toured the world, he was more at home in Jamaica’s mountains and he enjoyed farming while writing and recording songs on his label, Solomonic.
“I think I love the country actually a little bit more than the city,″ Wailer told The Associated Press in 1989. ″It has more to do with life, health and strength. The city takes that away sometimes. The country is good for meditation. It has fresh food and fresh atmosphere — that keeps you going.″
A year before, in 1988, he had chartered a jet and flew to Jamaica with food to help those affected by Hurricane Gilbert.
“Sometimes people pay less attention to those things (food), but they turn out to be the most important things. I am a farmer,″ he told the AP.
He was the third and last remaining Wailer. Marley died in 1981 of a brain tumor at the age of 36, and Tosh was fatally shot in Jamaica in 1987 at 42 years old.
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