A 19-year-old man was shot and an 11-year-old girl was struck by a stray bullet in a shooting March 1, 2021, in the 100 block of West 127th Street. | Adobe Stock Photo
The 11-year-old girl does not appear to be the intended target, police said.
A 19-year-old man was shot and an 11-year-old girl was struck by a stray bullet Monday night in a shooting at a gas station in West Pullman on the Far South Side.
About 10:50 p.m., the 19-year-old was leaving the store of a gas station in the 100 block of West 127th Street, when someone fired shots at him striking him in the groin area, Chicago police said. The man returned fire, but no one was struck.
An 11-year-old girl who was sitting in the backseat of a vehicle parked at a gas pump was also struck in the face, police said.
The man was brought to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in serious-to-critical condition, according to Chicago fire officials. The girl was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition.
A weapon was found in the 12600 block of South Wentworth Avenue, police said.
The 11-year-old girl does not appear to have been the intended target.
Four people were shot March 1, 2021, in Chicago. | Sun-Times file photo
A 19-year-old man was shot and an 11-year-old girl was struck by a stray bullet in a shooting in the 100 block of West 127th Street.
Four people were shot Monday in Chicago including a 19-year-old man was shot and an 11-year-old girl was struck by a stray bullet at a gas station in West Pullman on the Far South Side.
About 10:50 p.m., the 19-year-old was leaving the store of a gas station in the 100 block of West 127th Street, when someone fired shots at him striking him in the groin area, Chicago police said. The man returned fire, but no one was struck. An 11-year-old girl who was sitting in the backseat of a vehicle parked at a gas pump was also struck in the face. The man was brought to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in serious-to-critical condition, according to Chicago fire officials. The girl was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition. A weapon was found in the 12600 block of South Wentworth Avenue. The 11-year-old girl does not appear to have been the intended target.
A 19-year-old man was shot in Chatham on the South Side. About 4:10 p.m., he was in his vehicle in the 300 block of East 86th Street when a light-colored vehicle pulled up and someone inside began firing shots, police said. He suffered a gunshot wound to the mouth and was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center for treatment.
A man was shot in Clearing on the Southwest Side. The 22-year-old was standing outside next to a vehicle about 2:45 p.m. in the 5700 block of West 64th Place when a dark-colored pickup truck pulled up and someone inside fired shots, police said. The man was struck in the left thigh and transported to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. He was listed in serious to critical condition, fire officials said.
Here’s Monday’s news on how COVID-19 impacted Chicago and Illinois.
Chicago actress and stand-up comedian Erica Watson died in Jamaica on Saturday from COVID-19 complications, according to a family member. A Kenwood Academy High School and Columbia College alumna, Watson wore many hats as an actress, stand-up comedian, public relations representative and activist.
Here’s what else happened in coronavirus-related news.
News
8:55 p.m. Erica Watson, Chicago actress and stand-up comedian, dies from COVID-19 complications
GettyActress Erica Watson attends the “CHI-RAQ” New York premiere at Ziegfeld Theater on December 1, 2015 in New York City.
Chicago actress and stand-up comedian Erica Watson died in Jamaica on Saturday from COVID-19 complications, according to a family member. She was 48.
On Sunday, Watson’s brother, Eric Watson, confirmed his sister’s death via a Facebook post, writing, in part: “We are not taking this easy. Please respect our privacy right now … as we make arrangements to bring my sister home. Keep us in your prayers.”
Watson, a Kenwood Academy High School and Columbia College alumna, wore many hats as an actress, stand-up comedian, public relations representative and activist. Her acting credits and media work include Showtime’s “The Chi,” NBC’s “Chicago Fire,” Spike Lee’s feature film“Chi-Raq,” ABC 7’s “Windy City Live” and WCIU’s “The Jam.”
In 2018, Watson created “Fierce,” a cosmetic collection in a brand partnership with Nena Cosmetics, where she was one of the cover girls for their advertisements.
“When I was a little girl ‘What Are Little Girls Made Of’ was my favorite nursery rhyme, but I wasn’t the normal little girl where it was just sugar and spice and everything nice. There was a little naughty in the mix,” she told the Sun-Times in 2018.
7:34 p.m. Restaurant owners demand city expand indoor dining to 50% capacity
Almost a year after their businesses were shut down at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, restaurants are hoping to expand indoor dining even more to help keep their establishments afloat.
The Chicago Restaurants Coalition, which represents hundreds of Chicago restaurant and bar owners, is asking the city to increase indoor dining capacity to the lesser of 50% capacity or 100 people by Thursday.
Roger Romanelli, the coalition’s coordinator, cited the city’s declining COVID-19 positivity rate, which is currently at 2.9%, the lowest since June. He added that major cities across the Midwest have all reopened indoor dining at 50% capacity or above.
“If St. Louis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Indianapolis are at or above 50%, I think Chicago needs to get with the rest of our Midwest cities and get our restaurants up to 50%,” Romanelli said.
5:30 p.m. Excitement, tears and masks as CPS students head back to school for 1st time during pandemic
Nicole Ramirez thought she’d be able to handle it, but then she saw staff at Walt Disney Magnet School swipe her 7-year-old daughter’s forehead with a thermometer.
And Ramirez started to cry.
“It’s something about everything we’ve gone through this year. Dropping her off has been really emotional for me,” said Ramirez, 40, still teary eyed as she talked Monday morning in Uptown.
Ramirez’s daughter was one of more than 37,000 K-5 Chicago Public Schools students expected to return Monday, with another 18,500 in sixth to eighth grade set to return next week. That’s the largest group to return since the pandemic started, although 145,000 have chosen to continue learning remotely.
2:52 p.m. State reports lowest daily COVID-19 caseload and positivity rate since last summer
Illinois reported an additional 1,143 new COVID-19 cases Monday — the lowest daily count in seven months — as the state continues to see a sustained decline in the positivity rate.
The Illinois Department of Public Health also reported an additional 20 coronavirus-related deaths Monday, including 10 from Cook County.
The state’s seven-day positivity rate stands at 2.4%, the lowest since June. The new cases were found among the 42,234 tests processed by IDPH in the last day.
The daily caseload of new infections is the lowest since July 28, when 1,076 new cases were reported.
As of Monday, IDPH was reporting a total of 1,187,839 coronavirus cases statewide, including 20,536 deaths.
A total of 2,756,831 vaccines had been administered in Illinois, including 319,393 in long-term care facilities. The seven-day rolling daily average for vaccinations stood at 77,876, according to IDPH. On Sunday, 50,897 people received vaccinations.
The state also reported 1,288 people in Illinois were hospitalized with COVID-19; of those, 308 patients were in intensive care and 148 patients were on ventilators.
12:54 p.m. Johnson & Johnson’s one-and-done vaccine arriving in Chicago this week, mayor says
Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday she expects Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine to arrive in Chicago in day or two and the city is ready to put the third option to immediate use.
Two days after the Food and Drug Administration cleared the J&J vaccine for emergency use, Lightfoot told reporters she’s chomping at the bit to take advantage of the one-and-done option it provides.
“We anticipate that it will be here, if not today, then tomorrow. I don’t have a firm lock on what the amount of doses is, so I don’t want to get ahead of myself. But we do expect it here this week,” the mayor said at a news conference on the gradual re-opening of Chicago Public Schools.
“We will put it to work as soon as we get it. CDPH has been preparing now for some time, as we saw the Johnson & Johnson vaccine kind of moving through the regulatory approval process. And it gives us obviously another tool to use to get people vaccinated. So we’re excited for that opportunity.”
Johnson & Johnson initially is providing a few million doses of its one-shot vaccine, with shipments to states expected to begin Monday. By the end of March, the pharmaceutical giant has said it expects to deliver 20 million doses, ramping up to 100 million doses by summer.
11:40 a.m. It’s another back-to-school Monday for CPS
Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times Children walk to George B. Armstrong International Studies Elementary School as students return to in-person learning at the Rogers Park neighborhood school on the North Side, Monday morning, March 1, 2021.
Nicole Ramirez thought she’d be able to handle it, but then she saw staff at Walt Disney Magnet School swipe her 7-year-old daughter’s forehead with a thermometer.
And Ramirez started to cry.
“It’s something about everything we’ve gone through this year. Dropping her off has been really emotional for me,” said Ramirez, 40, still teary-eyed as she talked Monday morning.
More than 37,000 K-5 students are due to return Monday, with another 18,500 in sixth to eighth grade set to return next week. That’s in addition to the 5,000 pre-kindergarten and special education cluster program students who have been in classrooms already.
Disney Principal Paul Riskus stood outside the North Side school, greeting parents — many of whom were, perhaps not surprisingly, a little confused about which entrance to use at the sprawling concrete-and-steel campus.
“We’re ready. We’ve been getting ready since July,” Riskus said. “There have definitely been challenges, but I’m really excited about today. We feel the building is safe and we’re really just excited about seeing the kids.”
9:39 a.m. Near West Side’s profit lure outlasts the pandemic’s lull
Wander the sidewalks of the Near West Side, and it’s easy to get an eerie sensation. It’s almost like a “Twilight Zone” episode about a place with evidence of human habitation right there, maybe just around the corner, and yet you don’t see anybody.
It’s just the mind playing tricks, after all. Whatever name applies — West Loop, Fulton Market, West Town — the region was Chicago’s busiest place for development and an extension of downtown’s commercial might.
It’s hushed now, as people are still staying out of offices. With capacity limits in place, restaurants are groggily stirring to life, but there is still less reason than before to be out and about, even with the weather easing up.
Look closer, though, at the signs of ongoing investment, and the neighborhood gives off a different vibe. Having recoiled in the pandemic, parts look ready to spring back to business.
State health officials reported an additional 22 people have succumbed to COVID-19, bringing the number of virus-related deaths to 20,516. Eight of Sunday’s 22 fatalities were reported in the Chicago area and included three Cook County men in their 60s.
8:28 a.m. Pandemic makes obvious another great health threat to African Americans: obesity
As COVID-19 descended on us last March, the Fat Nag watched with dread and hope.
Dread, knowing this 21st-century plague would hit Black folks hardest. When it comes to health disparities, we always weigh in on the wrong side of the scale.
And as the Fat Nag always reminds, there is another plague that affects us most — our everlasting battle with obesity.
I harbored hope, however, the pandemic would usher in a new awareness that the fat is killing us.
For years, as the self-proclaimed Fat Nag, I have been reminding, railing and begging Black folks to get the fat out.
A man was fatally shot Feb. 28, 2021, in Woodlawn. | Sun-Times file photo
He was in a vehicle about 6:45 p.m. Sunday in the 6200 block of South Park Shore East Court when someone fired shots from an SUV, Chicago police said.
A 21-year-old man was killed in a shooting Sunday in Woodlawn on the South Side.
He was in a vehicle about 6:45 p.m. in the 6200 block of South Park Shore East Court when someone fired shots from an SUV, Chicago police said.
The man was struck in the head and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:54 a.m. Monday, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.
He was identified as David Prince who lived on the Far South Side, the medical examiner’s office said.
No arrests have been reported. Area One detectives are investigating.
Things could always change in the upcoming weeks, but because of the NBA playoff format allowing 10 teams from each conference into postseason play, there are few teams that feel they are out of it and llooking to move talent.
Coach Billy Donovan swears there’s a sense of humor in there.
He went out of his way to point that out when discussing the usually stoic personality of executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas.
“I think a lot of times, you guys see Arturas, he’s very, very stoic, but he’s very, very funny,’’ Donovan said. “He’s got an incredible sense of humor.’’
Donovan will have to be taken at his word because in meeting with the media for the first time since the regular season started, Karnisovas was mostly transparent with his answers but definitely all business.
The knee-slappers would have to wait.
And the topic that was front and center? Plans for the roster as the March 25 trade deadline approaches.
“I think expanding the playoffs to 10 teams, then two or three are still delusional and think that they can make it to 10, I think that makes a very interesting trade deadline,’’ Karnisovas said, agreeing that there are few sellers right now. “But Billy and I spend more time talking about how we can improve this group and focus now on this group that we have, that’s actually playing well and had a first month of winning in February. I think overall this group is doing so much better, and I’m looking forward to seeing the next 40 games.’’
So does that mean the Bulls will likely stay as is, continuing to develop and being evaluated? They very well could, especially if that’s what the market is dictating.
“I never look at players as trade commodities,’’ Karnisovas said. “Right now, we’re focused on winning games because the separation between fourth and 10th place is a game and a half. So this group is doing pretty well, and hopefully we can get Lauri [Markkanen] back and [Otto Porter] and see what we can do with this team.
“I just think teams are going to try to improve, and there’s not going to be a lot of sellers. So I think we’re just going to focus on our guys and how to get them better.’’
They took strides in that department once again, overcoming a 12-point first-quarter deficit against — coincidentally, Karnisovas’ former organization — the Nuggets but are still stuck on that learning-how-to-win lesson, losing 118-112.
The Bulls had no answer for Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic, who finished with 39 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists, and they had more late-game execution problems.
The Jokic situation was an expected problem, considering the way other skilled big men such as Joel Embiid and Nikola Vucevic have punished the Bulls (15-18).
“Jokic is definitely a unique player,’’ center Wendell Carter Jr. said. “He does a little bit of everything. He’s just a phenomenal player.
“He doesn’t force anything, he takes his time, whether he’s in the post or in the pocket, and he has great teammates around him.’’
Jokic is also a legit 6-11. Carter is listed at 6-10, and that’s a stretch. There are bigs in the league that just overwhelm him at times.
“[Carter’s] a tough kid; he tries to physically compete,’’ Donovan said. “Certainly on nights against Embiid or Vucevic or even [Monday] against Jokic, those are hard matchups, not only for Wendell, but for anybody.
“He’s probably an undersized center. … On some nights it can be challenging for him, but he does give good effort, he does fight, he tries to give you everything he has.’’
Could Karnisovas bring in some help for the middle by the deadline? Maybe. But if the trade landscape doesn’t change in the next few weeks, it seems highly unlikely.
Miguel Cardona testifies during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Capitol Hill on February 3, 2021 in Washington, DC. | Getty
Cardona, 45, a former public school teacher who went on to become Connecticut’s education chief, was approved on a 64-33 vote.
The Senate voted Monday to confirm Miguel Cardona as education secretary, clearing his way to lead President Joe Biden’s effort to reopen the nation’s schools amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Cardona, 45, a former public school teacher who went on to become Connecticut’s education chief, was approved on a 64-33 vote.
He takes charge of the Education Department amid mounting tension between Americans who believe students can safely return to the classroom now, and others who say the risks are still too great.
Although his position carries limited authority to force schools to reopen, Cardona will be asked to play a central role in achieving Biden’s goal to have a majority of elementary schools open five days a week within his first 100 days. He will be tasked with guiding schools through the reopening process, and sharing best practices on how to teach during a pandemic.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month released a road map for getting students back into classrooms safely. The agency said masks, social distancing and other strategies should be used, but vaccination of teachers was not a prerequisite for reopening.
Cardona, who gained attention for his efforts to reopen schools in Connecticut, has vowed to make it his top priority to reopen schools. At his Senate confirmation hearing last month, he said there are “great examples throughout our country of schools that have been able to reopen safely.”
The debate has become a political firestorm for Biden, who is caught between competing interests as he aims to get students into the classroom without provoking the powerful teachers unions that helped put him in the White House. He says his goal of returning students to the classroom is possible if Congress approves his relief plan, which includes $130 billion for the nation’s schools.
Republicans have rebuked Biden for failing to reopen schools faster, while teachers unions opposed the administration’s decision to continue with federally required standardized tests during the pandemic.
The tricky terrain is nothing new for Cardona, however, who faced similar tension navigating the pandemic in Connecticut, and who has won early praise even from Biden’s critics.
Republicans in Congress have applauded Cardona’s efforts to reopen schools in Connecticut, and some see him as a potential ally in their support for charter schools. Teachers, meanwhile, see him as a partner who brings years of experience in education and knows the demands of the teaching.
The nomination continues a meteoric rise for Cardona, who was appointed to lead Connecticut’s education department in 2019 after spending 20 years working in Meriden, Connecticut, public schools — the same district he attended as a child.
He began his career as a fourth grade teacher before becoming the state’s youngest principal at age 28. In 2012, he was named Connecticut’s principal of the year, and in 2015 he became an assistant superintendent of the district. When he was appointed state education commissioner, he became the first Latino to hold the post.
Cardona grew up in a public housing project in Meriden, raised by parents who came to Connecticut from Puerto Rico as children. Through his career, he has focused on closing education gaps and supporting bilingual education. It’s a personal issue for Cardona, who says he spoke only Spanish when he entered kindergarten and struggled to learn English.
Cardona was the first in his family to graduate from college, and his three degrees include a doctorate in education from the University of Connecticut. He and his wife, Marissa, have two children in high school.
His deep roots in public schooling fit the criteria Biden was looking for in an education secretary. During his campaign, Biden vowed to pick a secretary with experience in public education. It was meant to draw a contrast with then-secretary Betsy DeVos, a Michigan billionaire who spent decades advocating for school choice policies.
In an increasingly fractionalized world of education, Cardona has vowed to be a unifier. At his confirmation hearing, he promised to engage with “the vast, diverse community of people who have a stake in education.” He added that, “we gain strength from joining together.”
As he works to help schools reopen, he will also be tasked with helping them address the damage the pandemic has done on student learning. He has echoed Biden’s call for further education funding, saying schools will need to expand summer academic programs and hire more counselors to help students with mental health issues.
He’s also likely to face an early test as he weighs how much flexibility to grant states as they administer standardized tests. Last week, the Education Department ordered states to continue with annual testing but said assessments could be offered online or delayed until fall. The agency also held out the possibility that states could be granted “additional assessment flexibility” in certain cases.
Some states are already pushing for that extra flexibility, including Michigan, which is asking to replace state tests with local “benchmark” assessments that were administered this year. It will be up to Cardona to decide how much leniency to provide.
Republicans have also set the stage for a fight over transgender athletes. At last month’s hearing, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., raised objections with policies that allow transgender girls to participate in girls’ athletics. It’s the subject of a legal battle in Connecticut, where some cisgender athletes are challenging a state policy that lets transgender students participate as their identified gender.
Pressed by Paul to take a stance on the issue, Cardona said he would support the right of “all students, including students who are transgender.”
Torture victim Robert Smith, who served 33 years in prison for a double murder he did not commit, was released from prison Oct. 23, 2020. | Chanen & Olstein
Robert Smith, 72, says he was tortured into a confession by protégés of former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge.
A man who spent 33 years in prison for a double murder he did not commit and who says he was tortured by protégés of former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge is suing the city and the detectives for $66 million.
“No amount of money will constitute ‘justice’ for what the defendants did to Robert Smith (which the system then ignored and covered up for 33 years), but the City could at least help bend the arc of the moral universe in that direction by admitting what these defendants did and compensating Robert for the 33 years of his life that were lost,” attorney Stuart Chanen said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
Robert Smith was 39 years old when he was arrested Sept. 19, 1987, for the murder of his wife’s mother, Edith Yeager, and her grandmother, Willie Bell Alexander, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court.
Officers placed Smith “in a small windowless interrogation room and handcuffed him to a ring on a wall,” the lawsuit states. Then, detectives proceeded to “beat him in the chest,” threaten and choke him.
Smith was interrogated like this for 19 hours and only confessed to the murders “because he believed that he could escape the detectives’ further beatings and that once he was transferred to the hospital, he would be able to show he was beaten into the confession,” the lawsuit states.
Smith was convicted of the double murder in 1990.
Burge was fired by the Chicago Police Department in 1993 and later sent to federal prison for lying about the torture of suspects arrested under his watch in the 1970s and 1980. He died in 2018 at the age of 70.
On Oct. 23, 2020, Cook County special prosecutors moved to vacate Smith’s conviction with prejudice based on questions about the integrity of the police investigation, the lawsuit states.
“Although Robert, who is now 72 years old, has finally regained his freedom and has finally received judicial recognition of his innocence, the injuries he suffered as a result of Defendants’ malicious misconduct, including his more than three-decades-long depravation of liberty and isolation from family and society, are profound and immeasurable,” the suit states.
The suit seeks more than $33 million in compensatory damages and $33 million in punitive damages.
GettyActress Erica Watson attends the “CHI-RAQ” New York premiere at Ziegfeld Theater on December 1, 2015 in New York City.
Chicago actress and stand-up comedian Erica Watson died in Jamaica on Saturday from COVID-19 complications, according to a family member. She was 48.
On Sunday, Watson’s brother, Eric Watson, confirmed his sister’s death via a Facebook post, writing, in part: “We are not taking this easy. Please respect our privacy right now … as we make arrangements to bring my sister home. Keep us in your prayers.”
Watson, a Kenwood Academy High School and Columbia College alumna, wore many hats as an actress, stand-up comedian, public relations representative and activist. Her acting credits and media work include Showtime’s “The Chi,” NBC’s “Chicago Fire,” Spike Lee’s feature film“Chi-Raq,” ABC 7’s “Windy City Live” and WCIU’s “The Jam.”
In 2018, Watson created “Fierce,” a cosmetic collection in a brand partnership with Nena Cosmetics, where she was one of the cover girls for their advertisements.
“When I was a little girl ‘What Are Little Girls Made Of’ was my favorite nursery rhyme, but I wasn’t the normal little girl where it was just sugar and spice and everything nice. There was a little naughty in the mix,” she told the Sun-Times in 2018.
7:34 p.m. Restaurant owners demand city expand indoor dining to 50% capacity
Almost a year after their businesses were shut down at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, restaurants are hoping to expand indoor dining even more to help keep their establishments afloat.
The Chicago Restaurants Coalition, which represents hundreds of Chicago restaurant and bar owners, is asking the city to increase indoor dining capacity to the lesser of 50% capacity or 100 people by Thursday.
Roger Romanelli, the coalition’s coordinator, cited the city’s declining COVID-19 positivity rate, which is currently at 2.9%, the lowest since June. He added that major cities across the Midwest have all reopened indoor dining at 50% capacity or above.
“If St. Louis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Indianapolis are at or above 50%, I think Chicago needs to get with the rest of our Midwest cities and get our restaurants up to 50%,” Romanelli said.
5:30 p.m. Excitement, tears and masks as CPS students head back to school for 1st time during pandemic
Nicole Ramirez thought she’d be able to handle it, but then she saw staff at Walt Disney Magnet School swipe her 7-year-old daughter’s forehead with a thermometer.
And Ramirez started to cry.
“It’s something about everything we’ve gone through this year. Dropping her off has been really emotional for me,” said Ramirez, 40, still teary eyed as she talked Monday morning in Uptown.
Ramirez’s daughter was one of more than 37,000 K-5 Chicago Public Schools students expected to return Monday, with another 18,500 in sixth to eighth grade set to return next week. That’s the largest group to return since the pandemic started, although 145,000 have chosen to continue learning remotely.
2:52 p.m. State reports lowest daily COVID-19 caseload and positivity rate since last summer
Illinois reported an additional 1,143 new COVID-19 cases Monday — the lowest daily count in seven months — as the state continues to see a sustained decline in the positivity rate.
The Illinois Department of Public Health also reported an additional 20 coronavirus-related deaths Monday, including 10 from Cook County.
The state’s seven-day positivity rate stands at 2.4%, the lowest since June. The new cases were found among the 42,234 tests processed by IDPH in the last day.
The daily caseload of new infections is the lowest since July 28, when 1,076 new cases were reported.
As of Monday, IDPH was reporting a total of 1,187,839 coronavirus cases statewide, including 20,536 deaths.
A total of 2,756,831 vaccines had been administered in Illinois, including 319,393 in long-term care facilities. The seven-day rolling daily average for vaccinations stood at 77,876, according to IDPH. On Sunday, 50,897 people received vaccinations.
The state also reported 1,288 people in Illinois were hospitalized with COVID-19; of those, 308 patients were in intensive care and 148 patients were on ventilators.
12:54 p.m. Johnson & Johnson’s one-and-done vaccine arriving in Chicago this week, mayor says
Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday she expects Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine to arrive in Chicago in day or two and the city is ready to put the third option to immediate use.
Two days after the Food and Drug Administration cleared the J&J vaccine for emergency use, Lightfoot told reporters she’s chomping at the bit to take advantage of the one-and-done option it provides.
“We anticipate that it will be here, if not today, then tomorrow. I don’t have a firm lock on what the amount of doses is, so I don’t want to get ahead of myself. But we do expect it here this week,” the mayor said at a news conference on the gradual re-opening of Chicago Public Schools.
“We will put it to work as soon as we get it. CDPH has been preparing now for some time, as we saw the Johnson & Johnson vaccine kind of moving through the regulatory approval process. And it gives us obviously another tool to use to get people vaccinated. So we’re excited for that opportunity.”
Johnson & Johnson initially is providing a few million doses of its one-shot vaccine, with shipments to states expected to begin Monday. By the end of March, the pharmaceutical giant has said it expects to deliver 20 million doses, ramping up to 100 million doses by summer.
11:40 a.m. It’s another back-to-school Monday for CPS
Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times Children walk to George B. Armstrong International Studies Elementary School as students return to in-person learning at the Rogers Park neighborhood school on the North Side, Monday morning, March 1, 2021.
Nicole Ramirez thought she’d be able to handle it, but then she saw staff at Walt Disney Magnet School swipe her 7-year-old daughter’s forehead with a thermometer.
And Ramirez started to cry.
“It’s something about everything we’ve gone through this year. Dropping her off has been really emotional for me,” said Ramirez, 40, still teary-eyed as she talked Monday morning.
More than 37,000 K-5 students are due to return Monday, with another 18,500 in sixth to eighth grade set to return next week. That’s in addition to the 5,000 pre-kindergarten and special education cluster program students who have been in classrooms already.
Disney Principal Paul Riskus stood outside the North Side school, greeting parents — many of whom were, perhaps not surprisingly, a little confused about which entrance to use at the sprawling concrete-and-steel campus.
“We’re ready. We’ve been getting ready since July,” Riskus said. “There have definitely been challenges, but I’m really excited about today. We feel the building is safe and we’re really just excited about seeing the kids.”
9:39 a.m. Near West Side’s profit lure outlasts the pandemic’s lull
Wander the sidewalks of the Near West Side, and it’s easy to get an eerie sensation. It’s almost like a “Twilight Zone” episode about a place with evidence of human habitation right there, maybe just around the corner, and yet you don’t see anybody.
It’s just the mind playing tricks, after all. Whatever name applies — West Loop, Fulton Market, West Town — the region was Chicago’s busiest place for development and an extension of downtown’s commercial might.
It’s hushed now, as people are still staying out of offices. With capacity limits in place, restaurants are groggily stirring to life, but there is still less reason than before to be out and about, even with the weather easing up.
Look closer, though, at the signs of ongoing investment, and the neighborhood gives off a different vibe. Having recoiled in the pandemic, parts look ready to spring back to business.
State health officials reported an additional 22 people have succumbed to COVID-19, bringing the number of virus-related deaths to 20,516. Eight of Sunday’s 22 fatalities were reported in the Chicago area and included three Cook County men in their 60s.
8:28 a.m. Pandemic makes obvious another great health threat to African Americans: obesity
As COVID-19 descended on us last March, the Fat Nag watched with dread and hope.
Dread, knowing this 21st-century plague would hit Black folks hardest. When it comes to health disparities, we always weigh in on the wrong side of the scale.
And as the Fat Nag always reminds, there is another plague that affects us most — our everlasting battle with obesity.
I harbored hope, however, the pandemic would usher in a new awareness that the fat is killing us.
For years, as the self-proclaimed Fat Nag, I have been reminding, railing and begging Black folks to get the fat out.
Leon Spinks lands a right hook against Muhammad Ali during their first fight for the world heavyweight title in 1978 in Las Vegas. Spinks won the title in his eighth pro fight. | AP
Leon Spinks’ recent death at 67 recalls the good ol’ days of a sport that is more in the hucksters’ hands than ever nowadays.
Leon Spinks died last month at 67, and it got me thinking.
First off, Spinks, in only his eighth pro fight, pulled off one of the most stunning upsets in boxing history by beating reigning world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali by split decision in 1978.
‘‘It was considered a mere joke,’’ retired boxer George Foreman, of grillin’ infomercial fame, recalled of Spinks being in the ring with Ali.
Spinks wouldn’t hold the title for long, losing a rematch to Ali seven months later. But he got his smiling, front-toothless face on the cover of Sports Illustrated after the upset, and, my goodness, he was famous for a moment.
Then think of boxing now. Does anybody care about it at all?
Mixed-martial arts and the gore/submission thrall of the UFC has relegated boxing to the dust closet, sort of where squash and indoor bike racing have gone.
There was a time when everybody knew the name of the heavyweight champion of the world.
Now? Ever heard of Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury?
Ha!
But if you’re young and thrive on social media (which billions of people now do), then you’re more likely to have heard of, say, Felix Kjellberg. Yep, the Swedish gaming and video ‘‘influencer,’’ also known online as PewDiePie, has — according to IZEA.com, which deals in this stuff — close to 230 million subscribers across all media sites.
I met Spinks one time at the St. Andrew’s gym on West Addison Street. There was a Golden Gloves tourney going on, and one of my buddies, plumber Petey Nelson, and I had gone, as we often did to low-level boxing events, just to see the variety of humanity entered in these slugfests.
Spinks, who had zero Internet presence — his only influencing had been done with combinations to dudes’ heads — was there, standing amid the sparse, rowdy crowd, cheering on his boxing son.
What I remember is that he was wearing a dark-green military coat, had his front teeth in, was quite gracious and was drinking a huge cup of beer. He told Petey and me that he had been petrified before fighting Ali the first time.
Not sure about the rematch, which was held in New Orleans. Spinks had a serious drinking problem, and it already was spiraling out of control.
‘‘He was drunk every night he was here,’’ promoter Bob Arum said after that fight. ‘‘Leon went to places our people didn’t dare go. I’m surprised he didn’t wind up with a knife in him.’’
I felt sorry for Spinks as we talked, for the way he had been buffeted to the top and bottom of a tidal wave he barely understood, let alone could master.
But who can understand what is happening in boxing now?
Its flickering existence is dominated by, yep, social-media influencers, the new power elite in our digital lives. Specifically, there is a guy named Logan Paul — well, yes, and brother Jake — who can get people to watch (more important, pay for) their boxing adventures.
The Paul brothers are what have been described as ‘‘You Tube provocateurs.’’ Their ‘‘profession’’ demands you be shameless, do stuff ranging from cool to beyond idiotic, make lots of noise, attract attention and monetize the results.
Maybe you saw Jake Paul knock out former NBA dunk champion Nate Robinson (the bouncy guy went off for 35 points one night for the Bulls). What was that all about?
Logan Paul, with a pro record of 0-1, is reportedly ready to fight 44-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a pay-per-view that is as stupid as it is potentially lucrative.
If Paul gets a good-sized portion of his 22.8 million subscribers and 19 million Instagram followers to cough up, say, $60 apiece to watch Mayweather dance away from all harm and possibly knock the bejeezus out of the young carnival barker, so be it. We already know Mayweather will do anything for money.
Boxing is not good for the brain. Spinks, I am certain, was demented when I spoke with him. Studies had shown his brain had shrunk, certainly from blows to the head.
Former child star Danny Bonaduce fought former child star Donny Osmond in a three-rounder in 1994, with Ben Bentley and Spinks himself doing commentary.
Manute Bol once boxed William ‘‘Refrigerator’’ Perry. It looked like a fireplace poker taking on a medicine ball. (The poker won.)
Boxing has been in demise for years. If these new charlatans are its salvation, maybe death is preferable.
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