Private equity firm ZMC acquires the comedy institution, while AICE advocates for representation.
This has been a helluva week for Second City news. On Wednesday, Financial Times first published reports of an imminent sale of the comedy behemoth to private equity firm ZMC, owned by Strauss Zelnick.…Read More
Seven firefighters were injured, one of them critically, in an extra-alarm fire Friday morning in Bridgeport on the South Side, according to police.
Crews responded to the blaze about 6:50 a.m. at home in the 2700 block of South Lowe Avenue, Chicago police and fire officials said.
At least one firefighter jumped from the building to escape the flames and a mayday call was issued, but all firefighters were accounted for, officials said.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22315370/Image_from_iOS__1_.jpg)
One firefighter was taken to a hospital in critical condition from burns and smoke inhalation, police said. Six others suffered minor injuries and were hospitalized in good condition.
A 77-year-old man was able to escape the inferno with his two dogs without injuries, police said.
Firefighters couldn’t go inside the building because of a lack of “structural integrity,” a fire official said at the scene.
Aerial footage from WGN-TV showed a firefighter leap from the roof of the house to a second-story porch on the building next door, as flames billowed out of the back of the house. It wasn’t clear if that was the firefighter who was hospitalized in critical condition.
“They’re gonna be OK,” the fire official said of the injured. Crews began clearing the scene shortly before noon.
Four hours after the blaze started, smoke was still pouring out of the front windows of the house, which is set back on the lot on the west side of Lowe Avenue.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22315373/Image_from_iOS__2_.jpg)
A woman who lives a block south of the scene said she heard fire trucks barreling down the block about 7 a.m. The elderly man who escaped the flames lives alone with his dogs, and mostly stayed on the first floor of the building, according to the neighbor, who asked not to be named.
The man didn’t need medical attention. He was taken to a warming center where he met relatives, the neighbor said. His dogs are OK, too.
But the scorched home is a lost cause, one firefighter at the scene said. Crews continued blasting all sides of the house with water in the frigid cold. The north wall of the house was almost completely toppled, along with the front entrance and windows.
Water and natural gas service was shut off for homes on the block, a routine precaution taken by firefighters when battling a serious fire. With wind chills hovering in the single digits, it was expected to be shut off for a few hours, neighbors said.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
(Notre Dame website)
The COVID-19 death rate is dramatically dropping. So is the infection rate.
Governors all across America are easing their suffocating pandemic restrictions, by opening schools, allowing more people to return to work and opening restaurants to indoor dining. Vaccinations are increasing, to 1.66 million doses a day. The World Health Organization has reported that number of new global cases has continued to fall.
It’s always risky to proclaim the beginning of the end (or the end of the beginning). But it’s been a year and if there’s anything that unites Americans, it is a desperate wish to move on. President Joe Biden’s expectation that we’ll get our county back by, oh say, Christmas, is not tolerable. Or dare I say, realistic.
Nonetheless, dark clouds continue to hover over silver linings. The New York Times couldn’t help itself; reporting the good news that vaccine distribution is accelerating, but saying in the same sentence that B.1.1.7 has a worrisome mutation that could make it harder to control with vaccines.
Even though a new study provides “strong evidence that the vaccine is highly effective against a mutation that has forced European governments to prolong their lockdowns.” (In more good news, the study also shows that the, “Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE generates robust immunity after one dose and can be stored in ordinary freezers instead of at ultracold temperatures….”)
Meanwhile, the University of Notre Dame backslid, imposing new lockdown restrictions “because positive case counts were again heightened at 48 and 46 yesterday.” That’s out of a student population of 12,681 students and 1,396 academic staff. It said:
Cases remain concentrated among undergraduate students on campus although, encouragingly, the rate of first year student transmission has decreased since last week.
Notre Dame was among the first universities to attempt to stay open, but the new restrictions disappointingly harken back to some of the overarching limits in the pandemic’s early days. They are effective through at least March 1:
Campus Modifications
Activities
- All student activities will be offered virtually.
- Student club and organization gatherings will be offered virtually.
- No club and intramural sports at this time.
Spaces & Dining
- Seating capacity in several lounge and dining locations is reduced by approximately 25%.
- Rohr’s will offer only take out dining.
Residence Halls
- Undergraduate residence hall visitation is limited to residents of that hall.
- Guests are limited to no more than two students beyond the number of residents assigned to the room.
- When resident guests are present in student rooms, everyone in the room must wear masks, distance appropriately, and leave doors open to increase ventilation.
- Students may still attend Mass in any residence hall, but they must depart from the hall after the liturgy ends.
I’m glad that I’m not an administrator who has to make those kinds of decisions. I”m more glad that I’m not a student who has been ordered to live a hermit-like life. By now, we know that social isolation of this kind is destructive, even dangerous. That younger people are less in danger than the elderly and people with serious illnesses.
And so it goes. It seems that every time the media report some good news, there’s always a caveat issued in the same breathe that “experts say it’s still too early to lift major restrictions on social and commercial activity.” [My emphasis.]
When, pray tell, does that happen? Does Biden have a “plan” for re-opening?
Despite the science, Chicago still has its public high schools shut with no indication when the Chicago Teachers Union will give it’s permission to return to the classroom.
Once again, the number of daily infections is not the best measure of the pandemic’s seriousness. Yet, those squishy numbers continue to dominate the discussion and form the basis for most judgments about reopening.
It’s time.
My historical novel: Madness: The War of 1812
To subscribe to the Barbershop, type your email Address the address in the box and click the “create subscription” button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.
Filed under:
Health
Tags:
COVID-19, University of Notre Dame
Recent Comments
Posts from related blogs
Most recent post: Tucker Carlson should stick to racism, it’s what he knows best
Most recent post: My reaction to the passing of Rush Limbaugh
Most recent post: Bleak Lives Matter
More from News: Opinion
Read these ChicagoNow blogs
Read these ChicagoNow Bloggers
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA will allow a limited number of fans to attend all rounds of next month’s men’s basketball tournament in Indiana.
The governing body said Friday it is permitting 25% capacity at the venues to allow for social distancing. That figure will include all participants and essential staff along with the family members of team players and coaches.
Attendees must wear face coverings, and cleaning and disinfecting efforts will be emphasized at venues in keeping with COVID-19 safety protocols.
The NCAA said in its statement it acted in conjunction with state and local health officials. NCAA chief medical officer Brian Hainline said the decision also followed conversations with the organization’s medical advisory group and will rely on testing and monitoring services from the Indiana University Health system.
“The No. 1 priority for decisions around the tournament continues to be the safety and well-being of everyone participating in the event,” Hainline said.
The NCAA had previously announced the 68-team tournament will be played entirely in Indiana because of the pandemic, with most games in Indianapolis. The tournament will begin with First Four games on March 18 at home arenas for Big Ten Conference schools Purdue and Indiana, with those venues located about a one-hour drive — in opposite directions — from downtown Indianapolis.
At Indiana, the school said it will allow up to 500 fans for tournament games at Assembly Hall with some seats reserved for local medical workers and first responders who have been vaccinated.
The Final Four takes place in Indianapolis on April 3. The national championship game follows two days later.
Two things come to mind when I think about Tucker Carlson; racism and that blank look on his face. Carlson’s crowning achievement is a repertoire completely devoid of integrity or information.
Trevor Noah put together a little mashup that highlights Carlson’s racism, Jeopardy style. Click HERE to view that. And thank you, Alex.
I caught a couple minutes of Carlson the other night and within 30 seconds he said two things that were demonstrable and blatant LIES.
Referring to the power outage in Texas, Carlson said that windmills make up 25% of the Texas power grid and that they freeze in the winter.
A two-second search would have informed Carlson that wind turbines only make up about 7-13% of Texas’ expected winter usage and wind turbines don’t freeze up in the winter.
At least they don’t have to freeze up in the winter.
To prove his point, Carlson showed a dramatic video of a helicopter deicing a frozen wind turbine. True to form though, the video was from Sweden in 2014.
Wind turbines in Iowa, Canada and as far north as the Arctic Circle operate down to actual temperatures of 22 degrees below zero Fahrenheit because they are equipped to operate in those conditions.
Carbon fiber, internal heating elements, waterproof coatings and deicing kits all work to make wind turbines impervious to cold weather.
Because of the lack of regulation in the Wild West culture of Texas and the failure of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, winterizing wind turbines was only a suggestion, not a requirement.
Texas’ power grid broke down at the infrastructure level of coal and natural gas power plants. Take two seconds and make your own determination.
Did Carlson know none of this or did know all of it and deliberately lie about it? As always, it comes down to one basic question: Is he stupid or a lying piece of shit?
Rest easy, the two are not mutually exclusive.
Twenty years ago Texas’ Republican legislators decided to separate their power grid from the rest of the country to avoid federal regulation. Their power grid is managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas with oversight from the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
It’s all a dog-and-pony show of deregulation and privatization. If only Texans would have seceded their whole damn state instead of just the power grid.
Texas Republicans have repeatedly shown that they will do ANYTHING to restrict voter access, but their only agenda is to deregulate at the risk of their constituents and to thumb their collective noses at the federal government.
Until they need help, like when Hurricane Harvey hit in 2017 and right now.
They are power hungry White men who have repeatedly shown that they are incapable and/or unwilling to govern.
Two areas in Texas with independently governed power grids, Beaumont in the east and El Paso in the west made investments to winterize their power generators and were spared the devastation of this week’s cold snap.
As for the millions of Texans who were clearly NOT enjoying their misery, one of Rick Perry’s more bizarre claims, they fell victim to what has become the hallmark trinity of the GOP; ignorance, incompetence and greed.
Does Tucker Carlson want us to close our eyes to the ever more obvious and destructive effects of climate change and global warming? Does he want us to join Republicans in their war on renewable energy?
I read that Donnie Trump told some 30,000 lies during his presidency, many of them reinforced in the echo chambers of FOX, Newsmax, OAN and the now dead, Rush Limbaugh.
All of that led up to the Big Lie that our election was somehow stolen by Democrats, which led to a violent insurrection at our nation’s Capitol.
Enough already. Stop the lies.
Tucker, please stick to your racism. It’s what you know best and at least, it’s honest.
Reminder: Extreme winter weather (cold, snow, wind, etc) is EXACTLY what we can expect from a planet on the current trajectory of global warming.
Subscribe to the Chicago Board of Tirade
* You will never get SPAM
* Your email address will never be sold or given away
* You will only receive emails on days I post
* You can unsubscribe at any time
* Just type your email address in the box below and click the “Create Subscription” button
* Email me anytime: [email protected] OR [email protected]
Filed under:
Commentary, Current Events, Donald J. Trump, Editorial, Global Warming
Tags:
Big Lie, ERCOT, Wind Power
Completely spam free, opt out any time.
Subscribe NOW !!!
Meet The Blogger
Bob “RJ” Abrams is a political junkie, all-around malcontent and supporter of America’s warriors. After a career path that took him from merchandising at rock concerts to managing rock bands to a 27-year stint in the pits of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, he’s seen our nation from up and down.
As Regional Coordinator of the Warriors’ Watch Riders (a motorcycle support group for the military and their families) Bob plays an active role in our nation’s support of America’s warriors and their families.
Send comments and/or suggestions to [email protected]
Categories
Monthly Archives
Latest on ChicagoNow
Posts from related blogs
Most recent post: My reaction to the passing of Rush Limbaugh
Most recent post: Huge drop in the rate of COVID-19 deaths
Most recent post: Bleak Lives Matter
More from News: Opinion
Read these ChicagoNow blogs
Read these ChicagoNow Bloggers
The weekend forecast includes five of the best games to keep an eye on this weekend.
St. Ignatius (3-2) at No. 6 DePaul Prep (1-0). 7:00 p.m.
Favored DePaul squares off with upstart St. Ignatius in a Catholic League crossover matchup.
The star power for DePaul includes Loyola recruit TY Johnson, one of the top seniors in the state. The combination of Johnson, a 6-2 guard who can score in bunches, and defensive menace Rasheed Bello are weapons on the perimeter, while 6-9 senior Brian Mathews and fast-rising 6-8 junior Dylan Arnett will be problematic for Ignatius.
St. Ignatius will lean on Parker Higginbottom, a steady and experienced senior point guard, and the young, versatile trio of 6-3 junior AJ Redd, 6-5 junior Kolby Gilles and 6-5 sophomore Richard Barron.
The pick: DePaul 58, St. Ignatius 50
No. 14 Rolling Meadows (5-0) at Hersey (4-1), 7:30 p.m.
The Max Christie Show is the talk of the Mid-Suburban League. The Michigan State recruit is a top 20 player in the country and just became the program’s all-time leading scorer.
But how about the start Hersey’s Ethan Roberts is off to this season? The 6-4 guard already has games of 34 and 42 points while averaging 30.9 points a game. He’s shooting an absurd 59 percent from the three-point line (25 of 42).
This could come down to the supporting cast, however, and senior guard Dan Sobkowicz, sophomores Cam Christie and Foster Ogbonna, and junior Orlando Thomas have done the job for unbeaten Rolling Meadows.
The pick: Rolling Meadows 67, Hersey 62
Oak Park (1-0) at Downers Grove North (3-0), 7:30 p.m.
Off to a fast start, Downers Grove North has a nice blend of size and ton of experience. It’s a senior group that won a ton at the lower levels.
Physical 6-2 point guard Elijah Carter and 6-6 Jack Mielke, a Division II recruit headed to Southern Indiana, are the key cogs. But 6-6 Kevin Bozeman, 6-3 Kyle Engstler and shooter Nate Demos are three other seniors who help make the Trojans a conference contender.
It’s a new era at Oak Park. Veteran coach Matt Maloney has stepped down and Phil Gary has taken over as head coach at his alma mater. Star Isaiah Barnes also departed, transferring to Simeon.
But it’s still Oak Park, a program that’s always in the thick of things in the West Suburban Gold and blessed with talent. Exciting sophomore Sam Lewis and the junior trio of 6-9 John Vincent, 6-6 Jacob Delaney and 6-5 Justin Mullins are the future. Senior guards Rashaad Trice and Anthony Coleman are holdovers from a year ago.
The pick: Downers Grove North 55, Oak Park 50
No. 11 Glenbard West (4-0) at No. 23 Lyons (4-0), noon
A pair of unbeaten teams meet in the West Suburban Silver opener. Glenbard West is the league favorite. Lyons graduated all five starters from a year ago.
There likely isn’t a team in the state as big or with as much length as Glenbard West. That starts with the tandem of 6-9 Braden Huff and 6-5 Cade Pierce, two Division I prospects who are among the state’s top talents in the junior class. The size continues with Paxton Warden, a seasoned 6-3 junior guard, 6-6 Aidan Murphy, 6-7 senior Troy Glover and 6-7 junior Ryan Renfro.
Glenbard West’s length could impact the three-point shooting prowess of Lyons, which is led by talented junior guard Tavari Johnson. He’s opened eyes in this young season with his versatile scoring as the Lions have climbed into the top 25.
The pick: Glenbard West 64, Lyons 52
No. 5 Notre Dame (6-1) at No. 9 Fenwick (5-0), 6:00 p.m.
A pair of teams ranked among the top 10 with plenty of star power square off.
Notre Dame boasts the Division I trio of point guard Anthony Sayles, the state’s top uncommitted senior prospect, 6-5 Louis Lesmond (Harvard) and 6-7 Troy D’Amico (Southern Illinois)
But Fenwick has the best player and prospect in the game. Bryce Hopkins, the state’s No. 2 ranked prospect in the senior class, is a one-man wrecking crew headed to Kentucky.
The pick: Notre Dame 63, Fenwick 57
A look at this weekend’s top high school basketball gameson February 19, 2021 at 3:30 pm Read More »
Meet The Blogger
I’m Jerry Partacz, happily married to my wife Julie for over 40 years. I have four children and eleven grandchildren. I’m enjoying retirement after 38 years of teaching. I now have an opportunity to share my thoughts on many things. I’m an incurable optimist. I also love to solve crossword puzzles and to write light verse. I love to read, to garden, to play the piano, to collect stamps and coins, and to watch “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.
Posts from related blogs
Most recent post: Huge drop in the rate of COVID-19 deaths
Most recent post: Bleak Lives Matter
Most recent post: Hillary Clinton can rob a bank every Friday night and steal the collection plate on Sunday
More from News: Opinion
Read these ChicagoNow blogs
Read these ChicagoNow Bloggers
My reaction to the passing of Rush Limbaughon February 19, 2021 at 3:44 pm Read More »
At least four people were injured in an extra-alarm fire Friday morning in Bridgeport on the South Side.
Firefighters responded to the blaze about 7:15 a.m. near 27th Street and Lowe Avenue, Chicago fire officials said.
A mayday alert was called but all firefighters were accounted for, fire officials said. At least four people were taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
As of 8 a.m., the fire was not yet under control, officials said.
This is a developing story.
4 hurt in extra-alarm Bridgeport fireon February 19, 2021 at 2:14 pm Read More »
The Chicago Blackhawks are a much better team than we thought. Going into the season, finding out that Kirby Dach was going to be out for 4-6 months felt like that meant that his season was over before it started. From a competitive standpoint, it was tough to hear that news but the worst part of it was that he would lose a whole year of development.
This is a player that was the third overall pick in the 2019 draft so you know the Hawks see him as a very important player. With that, the future is the most important thing. However, the Hawks have been a good team so far this season and now the playoffs look like something that can be realistic for them. If they are a clear playoff team later in the season, Kirby Dach can be back in the mix at some point.
The Chicago Bears will look elsewhere for a quarterback now that Carson Wentz has landed with the Indianapolis Colts.
Quite frankly, that was the plan all along for Chicago.
While social media was ablaze with Wentz rumors regarding the Bears, it was tough to weave through the garbage. There were so many different reports. Even a few folks from the Philadelphia media told us the Bears were going to make an offer which included certain players like Nick Foles or Tarik Cohen.
In the end, Wentz found himself in Indy, and the Bears are still looking for an answer at the quarterback position. The funny aspect of it all? Chicago never even made an offer.
Despite reporters from Philadelphia and so-called NFL “insiders” feeding us juicy rumors and information they were supposedly hearing, the Bears never even made an offer for Wentz. Isn’t that just how the internet works?
If we haven’t learned by now, the golden rule of the NFL offseason is pretty simple: Unless something is reported by a person with the last name Schefter, Rapoport, Pelissero or Mortenson, it’s probably worth waiting before freaking out.
There’s a lot of folks out there wishing and hoping they could be the next Adam Schefter, but until proven otherwise, the experts should be the only ones trusted — period.
So, now that Wentz is in Indianapolis, what’s next for the Bears?
Looking at the crop of free agent quarterbacks, it’s pretty slim pickings. There is hardly a way for the Bears to end up with Dak Prescott, so we can forget about that idea. Aside from Prescott, it’s guys like Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jacoby Brissett and Tyrod Taylor who are available.
Are the Bears really about to hand the keys to the car to one of those quarterbacks? Let’s hope not.
The veteran quarterback trade market seems to be running dry with the Atlanta Falcons likely holding onto Matt Ryan. Maybe the San Francisco 49ers cut Jimmy Garoppolo, with the Bears having one other option to sign as a free agent.
One of the top rumors now sees the Bears trading for Sam Darnold, who has yet to break out as a pro. However, he has been stuck under the tutelage of Adam Gase his entire career thus far. Some wonder if he could become a legitimate starter in this league still.
If it’s not a veteran, then it’s a rookie. The Bears might have a shot at Mac Jones at no. 20 overall, but the other top four quarterbacks will most likely be gone by then. If Ryan Pace wants to assure himself a top rookie quarterback, trading up is the only way to go.
What we do know for sure is that maybe, just maybe, we can trust Pace just a little bit more after learning he had never made an offer for Wentz.
Leave a comment