EVENING NEWS CLIPS – 8.12.20 ​NEWS CLIPS EMAIL HIT SENDING CAPACITY MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT CITY LAUNCHES E-SCOOTER PILOT PROGRAM ABC7 News at 6PM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: scooters are back in chicago with some changes to keep people safe. there's a new feature now, there's a quiz that you have to pass before you can ride to prove you know the rules of the road. all the scooters also have locks. this is the second scooter pilot program in the city. NBC5 News at 6PM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: there's a new way to get around town, the city launched a new and improved shared electric scooter pilot program. 10,000 scooters are available from 3 vendors: bird, lime and spin. the e-scooters must be locked to a fixed object like a bike rack to end the ride and will be available in more parts of the city now WGN News at 5:30PM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: electric scooters are back in chicago, 3 companies are part of the city’s second pilot program which will last from now until mid-december a total of 10,000 scooters are being provided by companies lime, bird and spin. The city is requiring the companies put at least half of the scooters CBS2 News at 5PM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: you are looking at some of the new e scooters hitting chicago’s streets today as the second phase of the city's pilot program kicks off. the scooters will look a little different from last summer because they will need to be locked up after each ride. so, how will each company handle this and other new rules? they are hiring! Cbs2 is working for chicago as everyone tries to get back to work. lauren victory shows us the new jobs available. FOX32 News at 5PM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: chicago's electric scooters program is back and bigger than ever. this year, there will be fewer companies involved but more neighborhoods will see them. there will be 10,000 scooters distributed across the city. the scooters will not be allowed on the lake front trail. the 606 and central business district WGN News at 12PM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: electric scooters are now back in chicago. 3 companies are part of the city's second pilot program which will last from now until mid december. a total of 10,000 scooters are being provided by companies lime, bird, and spin. the city is requiring the companies to put at least half of the scooters in areas with systemic disavantages. riders can use them from 05:00am to 10:00pm but they're not allowed on the lakefront, central business district, or the 606 trail. FOX32 News at 12PM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: those electric scooters are returning to chicago today. for the second year in a row, the city is allowing the e-scooters as part of a pilot program. this year bird, lime, and spin scooters are involved, and more neighborhoods will be seeing them. but the scooters will not be allowed on the lakefront trail, the 606, and the central business district. NBC5 News at 11:30AM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: a new electric scooter pilot program launches today in chicago. three vendors will operate 10,000 of these scooters through mid-december. so the scooters will be allowed to operate citywide, except on the lakefront trail, in the central business district and on the 606 trail. the scooters are not allowed on sidewalks. CBS2 News at 11AM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: and thousands of e-scooters back on the streets of chicago this morning as the city starts up the second phase of the pilot program. lime, bird, and spin are the three companies are providing scooters throughout the city for the next four months from 5:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. every day. but you won't see e-scooters everywhere like we did before as new restrictions are in place on where you can ride. ABC7 News at 11AM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: love them or hate them, e-scooters are back in chicago for another test program. three vendors are taking part: bird, spin, and lime. crews from lime were out this morning assembling, loading up, distributing the eletrically-powered scooters. And this pilot program will last for four months in most parts of the city. scooters are not allowed on the sidewalks, NBC5 News at 11AM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: be on the lookout, e-scooters return to chicago in a pilot program that runs through mid-december. chicago required vendors to make sure that the scooters were locked to a fixed object like a bike rack to end their ride. scooters are not allowed on the lakefront trail, the 606 trail, and the central business district or on sidewalks. City kicks off second e-scooter pilot SUN TIMES//Mitch Dudek E-scooters will begin popping up across the city again Wednesday as the city launches its second e-scooter pilot program. Three companies — Bird, Lime and Spin — will be allowed to distribute 9,999 scooters across Chicago; 3,333 scooters per company. The scooters, which travel up to 15 mph, will be available for operation between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. Scooters Are Back Starting Wednesday — And This Time, They’ll Be (Almost) Everywhere BLOCK CLUB//Kelly Bauer CHICAGO — The city’s second e-scooter pilot begins Wednesday. The pilot will be much larger and more expansive than the one held in 2019, with about 10,000 scooters spread throughout Chicago. It’ll last four months. Scooters will be rideable 5 a.m.-10 p.m. daily, though the vendors for this pilot — Bird, Lime and Spin — are allowed to leave them out overnight this time, according to the Mayor’s Office. CITY ANNOUNCES PROJECT TO ASSESS MEMORIALS AND MONUMENTS ABC7 News at 6PM: City announces project to assess memorials and monuments ANCHOR: Chicago is working to catalog all the memorials and monuments in the city to see if any of them need to be changed or removed. the City says this is a move toward healing racial divides and acknowledging historical events that may have been forgotten. works will be reviewed and there will be public discussions on their future FOX32 News at 5PM: City announces project to assess memorials and monuments ANCHOR: nearly three weeks after ordering the removal of christopher columbus statues in chicago, the city is launching a new committee to determine the fate of the rest of its monument. Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls it a “racial healing and historical reckoning project” and it's a multi-agency commission being formed that will catalog the monuments here in Chicago, and all the public art as well WGN News at 5PM: City announces project to assess memorials and monuments ANCHOR: Mayor Lightfoot is forming a committee to review Chicago’s monuments. She says it's part of a racial healing and historical reckoning project. The announcement comes nearly 3 weeks after she ordered the removal of several christopher columbus statues in the city. the Mayor says the move is temporary and based on public safety concerns. it came after a crowd of protesters tried to bring down the statue of columbus in Grant Park NBC5 News at 11AM: City announces project to assess memorials and monuments ANCHOR: the city of chicago is launching a new project to assess monuments, memorials, and other art across the city. it's called a racial healing and historical reckoning project. this comes in the wake of damage to and calls for some statues and monuments to be removed. a committee will determine which pieces warrant attention and recommendations will be made for new monuments. the city says part of the goal is to address the hard truths of chicago's racial history and confront ways that history has and has not been memorialized. Lightfoot announces review of Chicago monuments as part of ‘a racial healing and historical reckoning project’ TRIBUNE//Gregory Pratt and Blair Kamin Nearly three weeks after ordering the removal of Christopher Columbus statues in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday announced the formation of a committee to review the city’s monuments as part of “a racial healing and historical reckoning project.” The Lightfoot administration also said it will commission “a series of temporary public artworks that focus on a broader range of topics around COVID-19, inequality, and racial reconciliation.” Lightfoot Launches Review of Chicago Monuments After Controversy Over Columbus Statues WTTW//Heather Cherone After protests forced Mayor Lori Lightfoot to remove the city’s statues of Christopher Columbus, the city will launch an effort to “provide a vehicle to address the hard truths of Chicago’s racial history,” the mayor’s office announced Wednesday. The effort is designed to “develop a framework for marking public space that elevates new ways to memorialize Chicago’s true and complete history,” according to the mayor’s office Chicago’s ‘Problematic’ Statues, Monuments Could Come Down After New Committee Reviews Them BLOCK CLUB//Kelly Bauer CHICAGO — The city is starting to catalog monuments and public art and is appointing a committee that will flag pieces that are problematic for possible removal. The project, announced in a Wednesday press release from the Mayor’s Office, comes just weeks after the city pulled down three statues of Christopher Columbus amid protests over the monuments and violent clashes between police and activists. BLACK COMMUNITY LEADERS CALL ON MLL, GOV. PRITZKER TO SAVE MERCY AND ST. ANTHONY HOSPITALS NBC5 News at 6PM: Black Community Leaders call on MLL, Gov. Pritzker to save Mercy and St. Anthony hospitals ANCHOR: growing frustration tonight over plans to close two Chicago hospitals, mercy and st. Anthony. this morning a coalition of black leaders challenging Mayor Lightfoot and governor pritzker saying they've been too silent about the closures. BROWN: where is governor Pritzker on this? we have two hospitals closing in the middle of a global pandemic where when this pandemic first hit WGN News at 5:30PM: Black community leaders call on MLL, Gov. Pritzker to save Mercy, St. Anthony Hospital ANCHOR: a group of community leaders are calling on state and City Leaders to save Mercy Hospital, it is one of the oldest hospitals here in chicago, it plans to close by next june. the group is urging officials to fully fund that hospital or at least give the money it needs to consolidate. people are appalled the hospital which serves, chicago's south side would close during a pandemic. FOX32 News at 5PM: Black Community Leaders call on MLL, Gov. Pritzker to save Mercy and St. Anthony hospitals ANCHOR: a coalition of black led community organizations is challenging Mayor Lightfoot and Governor Pritzker on the closings of two hospitals. mercy and st. anthony. one member of that coalition says closing these hospitals will be a big blow to chicago's black community and its access to quality health care and marks an already uneven system, makes it worse. the coalition is demanding a meeting with the Mayor and the governor FOX32 News at 12PM: Black Community Leaders call on MLL, Gov. Pritzker to save Mercy and St. Anthony hospitals ANCHOR: a coalition of black-led community organizations is challenging Mayor Lightfoot and Governor Pritzker on the closing of mercy and saint anthony hospital. one member says the closing of these hospitals will be severe blows to black chicago's access to quality healthcare, and makes an already uneven system even worse. the coalition is demanding a meeting with the Mayor, the Governor, and trinity systems, which owns mercy hospital. NBC5 News at 11AM: Black Community Leaders call on MLL, Gov. Pritzker to save Mercy and St. Anthony hospitals ANCHOR: and growing frustration over plans to close two chicago hospitals: mercy and saint anthony. this morning a coalition of black community leaders challenged the Mayor and Governor saying they've been too silent about the closures. BROWN: we've endured years of black communities being demonized while a system has snatched away our basic quality of life institutions. Group demands Mercy Hospital remain open SUN TIMES//Stefano Esposito A group of African American activists are demanding Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker end their “deafening silence” about the planned closure of Mercy Hospital & Medical Center and fight to keep it open. “We have endured years of black communities being demonized, while a system has snatched away our basic quality-of-life institutions — those institutions that most Chicagoans take for granted,” Jitu Brown, director of Journey 4 Justice, told reporters gathered outside Mercy Wednesday morning. CITY RESTRICTS ACCESS INTO DOWNTOWN NBC5 News at 6PM: City restricts access into downtown ANCHOR: access to chicago remains temporarily restricted because of the looting this week. The restrictions go into effect at 9:00 p.m tonight. Most of the bridges will be up. Lake shore drive will be closed between Fullerton and i-55. expressway ramps from roosevelt to division will be closed in both directions ABC7 News at 5PM: City restricts access into downtown ANCHOR: Chicago City Officials have just announced that access to the downtown area will be restricted every night through the weekend. road closures will start at 9:00 p.m. at night running until 6:00 CBS2 News at 5PM: City restricts access into downtown PARRA: we just learned as the story was airing just now, that in response to and in an effort to curb further looting the city is keeping the current restrictions in place until monday. that includes those raised bridges FOX32 News at 5PM: City restricts access into downtown ANCHOR: chicago says its nightly restrictions will remain in effect through the weekend. that means the bridges will be lifted and parts of lake shore drive are closed. the cta will limit service into the loop and some expressway ramps will be closed. if you live or work downtown, you will be allowed to enter. Access points are Harrison street, Chicago ave. and halstead st., Roosevelt rd. and canal st., kinzie st. and halstead, and lasalle. ABC7 News at 11AM: City restricts access into downtown ANCHOR: restricted access to downtown chicago continues until further notice. in response to Sunday night’s looting and civil unrest, officials have ordered the closure of ramps off the kennedy expressway and most bridges over the river are raised. every night, the hours are now from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. CITY CREWS CLEAN UP AFTER MONDAY NIGHT STORMS ABC7 News at 6PM: City crews clean up after Monday night storms ANCHOR: you are hearing and seeing the cleanup efforts from this past monday's storm. It’s continuing now two days later on Chicago’s north side. parts of the Rogers Park neighborhood hit by one of eight tornadoes that hit our chicago area. some folks getting their power back this morning FOX32 News at 5:30PM: City crews clean up after Monday night storms FIORE: in rogers park, it's neighbors who got debris cleared from the streets so that you can drive around the area once again. walking, however, becomes a challenge when you find things like this in your pathway. still, quite a mess up here as these ash trees get cleared away. CHICAGOAN: this was a very devastating storm. and it will take some time to remove all these enormous trees and chop them up and clear the parkways and the streets ABC7 News at 4:30PM: City crews clean up after Monday night storms ANCHOR: here at home, it's another day of cleaning up and waiting for power to come back on for thousands of chicago residence after monday's powerful storm. In the Wrigleyville neighborhood, Liam Boyd having to work from his neighbor's porch. his power is out, so he's borrowing some from across the street. we also met with Alexis Gross, who has been checking the comed app. FOX32 News at 12PM: City crews clean up after Monday night storms ANCHOR: the national weather service is confirming there were seven tornadoes in rockford, spring grove, morengo, wheaton, lombard, and also rogers park. a few hundred thousand people are still without power today. more now on the cleanup going on in rogers park. FIORE: it is neighbors who got the debris cleared from the streets so you can drive around the area once again. ABC7 News at 11AM: City crews clean up after Monday night storms ANCHOR: another morning of storm cleanup after seven tornadoes hit northern illinois. there was some progress in hard-hit rogers park. crews were out this morning cleaning up some downed trees. power still remains a problem; close to 200,000 homes are still in the dark. D’ONOFRIO: we are still seeing remnants of the storm here in wrigleyville. NBC5 News at 11AM: City crews clean up after Monday night storms ANCHOR: storm cleanup continues for another day here. streets and sanitation crews say they've already cleared hundreds of trees and they are still responding to more than 2,000 reports of damage in chicago. CPD LAUNCHES NEW TASK FORCE TO INVESTIGATE LOOTING CBS2 News at 6PM: CPD launches new task force to investigate looting ANCHOR: new images tonight of looters taking aim at loot stores. police released a series of videos today including this one from a surveillance camera on jefferson. it captured a group of people trying to break into a 7-eleven early monday morning. police are hoping you will recognize the looters NBC5 News at 6PM: CPD launches new task force to investigate looting ANCHOR: right now a plea from police to catch some of the looters that's ransacked the city on monday morning. they released news videos hoping someone will recognize the suspects. WOJCIECHOWSKI: new security guards stationed every few feet around macy’s watertower place store, but would they be able to repel crowds of looters that crashed through the windows NBC5 News at 5PM: CPD launches new task force to investigate looting ANCHOR: now an update on the looting in chicago. Today, chicago police released new information on suspects and asked for tips from the public. They released several photos and videos of people they say were involved in the looting. They say they need your help identifying them. we're going to have much more on the suspects coming up on the news WGN News at 5PM: CPD launches new task force to investigate looting ANCHOR: new here at 5 o'clock Chicago Police releasing new video of suspects involved in the looting earlier this week and they need your help identifying the wgn Rob Sneed is live from police headquarters with the story rob good evening. SNEED: good evening to you guys they just wrapped up a press conference not too long ago stressing the importance of the community coming together speaking out bring forth information NBC5 News at 4:30PM: CPD launches new task force to investigate looting ANCHOR: breaking here on our news at 4:30, the chicago police department has unveiled a new program to identify people who looted the city of chicago sunday night, monday morning. they're asking the community to help by submitting any photo or videos of the looting to their web page so the public and their special task force can identify the looters. these are some of the videos they're already receiving. ABC7 News at 11AM: CPD launches new task force to investigate looting ANCHOR: have a look at the surveillance video here from Chicago’s West Side. the owner says he watched this happen in real time monday morning as looters were breaking in. they ripped out a new steel security door that the owner had installed back in may. Walid Mouhammad says the damage is worse this time around - besides stolen merchandise looters also ripped out the atm. CPD LAUNCHES WEBSITE TO HELP FIND LOOTERS ABC7 News at 6PM: CPD launches website to help find looters ANCHOR: first, Chicago Police going online in an effort to track down those behind the mass looting downtown. detectives posting videos of those wanted for breaking into and stealing from dozens of businesses sunday night into monday morning. in some cases, the suspects recorded themselves in the act. cate cauguiran has more on this new effort. CAUGIRAN: CPD's new website is there new looting task force will offer a place for the public to get new updates and video. ABC7 News at 4:30PM: CPD launches website to help find looters DEENIHAN: Cases are easier to solve and much stronger when the community identifies these suspects and works with the police and detectives to hold them accountable. ANCHOR: Chicago Police releasing new videos of looting suspects on the police website they say several people who have been arrested in the looting early monday have already been charged with felonies. PROPERTY MANAGER SAYS RESIDENTS NO LONGER FEEL SAFE IN CITY ABC7 News at 6PM: Property manager says residents no longer feel safe in city ANCHOR: we also have new information from the ABC7 I-team on CPD response to the looting rampage and sharp criticism being cast on the city from a major property company. chuck goudie has that part of tonight's coverage. GOUDIE: homeowners don't feel safe in chicago that's the message from a prominent property management group following sunday's mayhem CBS2 News at 6PM: Property manager says residents no longer feel safe in city ANCHOR: on the heels of that, a passionate letter from one of chicago's largest real estate companies begging the mayor to do something to make people feel safer. it comes from the head of sudler which manages more than 100 buildings with some 38,000 residents under those roofs. the president mark leavy says, “the homeowners we represent do not feel safe... residents across the city Property management head to mayor: 'The homeowners we represent do not feel safe' CRAIN’S//Wendell Hutson The president of a property management company today told Mayor Lori Lightfoot she needs to do more to make Chicago safer or residents may move out of the city. In a letter to the mayor, Steven Levy, president of Chicago-based Sudler Property Management, wrote, “The homeowners we represent do not feel safe. From Hyde Park to the Gold Coast to Edgewater, residents across the city are adjusting their daily routines out of fear.” OTHER MLL NEWS ABC7 News at 6PM: Englewood Residents call on CPD to be transparent ANCHOR: chopper 7 hd recorded some tense moments during a rally outside a police station in Englewood last night. But tensions weren’t between police and protesters. Community members asking activists to leave saying their relationship with police is improving. leah hope has the story from Englewood. HOPE: organizers at the rally last night at the 7th District in Englewood met some resistance last night from the community. FOX32 News at 5:30PM: Lincoln Park HS protests SRO’s in schools EWING: it is taking place right now that alumni of lincoln park high school and current students are marching through the streets right now of lincoln park. that's because they want chicago police removed from inside the school. let's take a live look at them as they march through the streets at this hour. the group organizing this says the student resource officers program criminalizes students WGN News at 5:30PM: Gold Coast residents push back against marijuana dispensary ANCHOR: Gold Coast residents are still fighting against a proposed marijuana dispensary last night pharmacan updated residents on its plans for the dispensary on Maple Street. NEWBERGER: the community meeting supposed to assuage the communities fears about the possibility of any violence or overcrowding it did not. ABC7 News at 5PM: Ald. Ervin responds to businessman who says CPD’s looting response was slow ANCHOR: Tonight a westside Alderman responding to a businessman who says Chicago Police did not respond to calls to stop the looters from ransacking stores on monday. SCHULTE: To protect businesses from looters a long strip of Madison street remains closed today with a visible police presence, but the owner of this West Garfield Park convenience store says police did not protect him monday afternoon ABC7 News at 4:30PM: Clerk Valencia comments on Kamala Harris VP selection ANCHOR: good afternoon. you just watched it here on abc 7. One day after making a historic pick Joe Biden and, his Vice Presidential pick Kamala Harris kicking off their campaign together. Kamala Harris the first black and asian american woman to be on a major party ticket. we check in with political reporter craig wall, getting reaction from local political leaders. WALL: one of those local leaders is City Clerk Anna Valencia who was a Kamala Harris delegate ‘It Was a Planned Attack.’ Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Says Looting Was Organized TIME//W.J. Hennigan A day after looters smashed-in retailer’s windows, carried away loads of high-end merchandise and overwhelmed police officers in downtown Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot says the violence was an organized raid and not a demonstration of angry protest. “When people showed up on Michigan Avenue in the downtown area with U-Haul trucks and cargo vans, and sophisticated equipment used to cut metal, and the methods that were used, and how quickly it got spun up… that wasn’t any spontaneous reaction,” Lightfoot told TIME in her fifth-floor offices at Chicago’s City Hall on Tuesday. Lightfoot on Kamala: Trump is underestimating ‘unifying factor that she’s going to bring to this election’ SUN TIMES//Lynn Sweet Mayor Lori Lightfoot said her 12-year-old daughter was “beside herself with joy” when she heard the news about Joe Biden putting Kamala Harris on the Democratic presidential ticket. Harris, the junior senator from California, is the daughter of immigrants, a woman of color whose mother is from India and her father is from Jamaica. These firms are ready to build coach houses in Chicago CRAIN’S//Dennis Rodkin Coach houses, or second houses on a residential lot, could be on the verge of comeback in Chicago, and in case they do, some local firms are already hoping to ride this new wave of small, affordable homes. Mayor Lori Lightfoot introduced an ordinance in May that would allow, for the first time since 1957, construction of new accessory dwelling units, including attic and basement apartments and coach houses. The City Council could approve the plan as soon as its Sept. 9 meeting. Police union president says Lightfoot ‘moving the goalposts’ on police contract SUN TIMES//Fran Spielman Mayor Lori Lightfoot was accused Wednesday of “moving the goalposts” she put up less than three months ago in hopes of cutting a short-term deal with rank-and-file Chicago Police officers who have waited more than three years for a new contract. During a May 29 meeting in the mayor’s office, Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara said Lightfoot told him she wanted to negotiate the retroactive pay portion of the police contract “right away and get that off the financial books” this summer. Police union urges drastic action on looters: ‘Bring tow trucks in. Take all the cars. Take away their escape.’ SUN TIMES//Fran Spielman Downtown Chicago will be ravaged again by caravans of looters until Mayor Lori Lightfoot imposes a curfew and strictly enforces it by impounding vehicles used to haul away stolen merchandise after using city trucks to pin them in. That’s the pointed assessment from Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara after a second round of looting in less than three months gutted huge swaths of downtown, River North and Lincoln Park. Downtown aldermen balk at Foxx's re-election bid CRAIN’S//Greg Hinz The aldermen of the two wards that cover the central area of Chicago say that they’re now undecided as to whether to back Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx for a new term this fall. In a sign that renewed downtown looting earlier this week may have significant political fallout, Aldermen Brendan Reilly, 42nd, and Brian Hopkins, 2nd, said that even though they’re long-time Democrats, there’s a real chance they will not endorse or work for the Democratic nominee, who is being challenged by Republican Pat O’Brien, a former judge. City Council members demand more body cameras for police following Englewood shooting DAILY LINE//Mark Guarino The City Council Committee on Public Safety voted Tuesday to approve a framework for assessing progress on the federally mandated reforms of the Chicago Police Department. The ordinance (SO2019-9158) requires the committee to hold a hearing up to two months after the release of each progress report of the consent decree. Evanston cutting ties with ComEd CRAIN’S//Steve Daniels While the city of Chicago continues discussions with Commonwealth Edison about a future franchise agreement, its neighbor directly to the north is washing its hands of the disgraced utility. The Evanston City Council on Aug. 10 voted not to negotiate a new deal with ComEd to operate within the city when its existing agreement with the utility expires Sept. 12. Fulton Market listing could test new residential rules—and COVID-era demand CRAIN’S//Danny Ecker Veteran auctioneer Leslie Hindman is looking to cash out on her namesake auction house's Fulton Market headquarters, an offering that could test developers' appetite for land in the trendy former meatpacking district amid the COVID-19 crisis. Hindman has hired brokerage SVN Chicago Commercial to sell two connected buildings she owns at 1332 and 1338 W. Lake St., the longtime home of Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. Officers Involved In Englewood Shooting Hadn’t Yet Been Assigned Body Cams, Prosecutors Say BLOCK CLUB//Bob Chiarito CHICAGO — A man who allegedly fired shots at Chicago Police officers in Englewood was ordered held without bail Tuesday, as Cook County prosecutors told a judge the officers on scene had not yet been given body cams. In bond court Tuesday, a Cook County judge had set bail at $1 million for Latrell Allen, charged with two counts of attempted murder for allegedly shooting at Chicago Police officers Sunday afternoon. Why Englewood residents told outside protesters to leave days after police shooting. ‘This is propped up. They’re throwing a party.’ TRIBUNE//William Lee Before the chanting began, there was a lot of yelling. A planned protest outside the Englewood police station Tuesday evening over a recent police-involved shooting devolved into shouting matches among demonstrators, with threats and insults hurled back and forth, after a group of older residents derided the event as “a party” and demanded that outsiders leave. Older Englewood Leaders To Young Protesters: Don’t ‘Disrupt Our Neighborhood’ And Leave Us With Angry Police BLOCK CLUB//Bob Chiarito ENGLEWOOD — Lifelong Englewood resident Keith Harris knows about tragedy, having lost his only child, 29-year-old Keith Richmond, to gun violence Saturday. So when protesters, many of whom he said were from outside Englewood, showed up in front of the Englewood (7th) District police station Tuesday night to protest police violence without informing older neighborhood activists, Harris saw it as an affront. The young group was met by older Englewood activists and residents with megaphones, who shouted at them to go home. Police Close Down West Garfield Park Corridor After Confrontation With People Looting In The Area BLOCK CLUB//Pascal Sabino WEST GARFIELD PARK — Stores in a West Garfield Park business corridor stayed closed Tuesday, a day after activists helped mediate issues between police and crowds of people amid reports of looting and property damage. Police officers shut down a stretch of Madison Street in West Garfield Park Monday as they tried to push back people. Feds Subpoena Records Of Bridgeport Home Belonging To Chicago Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson WBEZ//Tony Arnold, Dan Mihalopoulos Federal investigators have sought mortgage records pertaining to the home of 11th Ward Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson — the same bungalow in Bridgeport where the alderman’s grandfather Richard J. Daley and his family lived when he was Chicago’s most famous mayor. In a grand-jury subpoena sent to Cook County officials on Sept. 4, 2019, prosecutors asked for property records dating back to 2011 for the brick house in the 3500 block of South Lowe Avenue. TDL Chicago Morning Briefs: Wednesday, August 12th DAILY LINE//Staff LIGHTFOOT ON SOLUTIONS — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters Tuesday that 70,000 households were without power due to storms that ripped through the area late Monday afternoon. The communities suffering the most damage were located far south: Roseland, Morgan Park, and Beverly. She said the city is “pushing ComEd to bring in extra crews to accelerate the time for getting people back online.” Chicago’s Mather High votes out school police after council honors slain activist and student Caleb Reed TRIBUNE//Hannah Leone Still feeling “a little scattered” from Caleb Reed’s wake earlier Tuesday, Mather High School counselor Paige Stenzel logged in to the Local School Council meeting to support the removal of police officers from campus, a cause that absorbed the final weeks of Reed’s life. Since Reed, 17, was found on a West Rogers Park sidewalk with a gunshot wound to his head on July 31, community leaders including Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, vowed to pursue the change Reed had been fighting for. COLUMNISTS AND EDITORIALS What's at stake—for all of us—if looting flares up again CRAIN’S//Joe Cahill History will record the current moment in one of two ways: either as the time city leaders mustered the courage and competence to stop a descent into uncontrolled lawlessness; or as the time they fumbled their last chance to save Chicago. For the second time in less than three months, looters ran amok through Chicago's downtown and surrounding areas after midnight on Monday, smashing and stealing for hours before a beleaguered police contingent managed to restore order. As a CPS grandparent, I’m so saddened by how remote learning has been bungled in Chicago SUN TIMES//Andy Shaw Here we are, on the eve of another ”school” year in toxic times in our dystopian universe, so let me share a few of my “educated” thoughts: Schooling and teaching are in my genes, and in my blood. My late mother taught English for 30 years at two Chicago high schools. One of my daughters is a law school professor in New York City, another runs a network of charter schools in Chicago, a third was on the faculty of a Big Ten University. ILLINOIS AND SPRINGFIELD Long delayed pot dispensary licenses to be issued starting next month, officials say while announcing new tiebreaker rules SUN TIMES//Tom Schuba State officials announced Wednesday that new rules have been adopted to break ties between applicants seeking licenses to sell recreational weed, resolving an administrative hurdle that has contributed to a lengthy delay in issuing the new permits. Charity Greene, a spokesman for Pritzker’s office, said the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation is expected to begin issuing the 75 new licenses in September, more than three months after they were initially slated to be doled out. FULL TRANSCRIPTS ABC7 News at 6PM: CPD launches website to help find looters ANCHOR: first, Chicago Police going online in an effort to track down those behind the mass looting downtown. detectives posting videos of those wanted for breaking into and stealing from dozens of businesses sunday night into monday morning. in some cases, the suspects recorded themselves in the act. cate cauguiran has more on this new effort. CAUGIRAN: CPD's new website is there new looting task force will offer a place for the public to get new updates and video. overall, they hope the public will use it to provide tips in identifying people who took place in this week's looting. new video released by CPD from the looting just days ago shows at least three people trying to break into an atm near 800 north state street. DEENIHAN: you can see by this one video, the guy sticking his face in his own phone, his own camera, posting live from whatever platform. obviously, we should be able to identify that suspect. CAUGIRAN: this video showing two males, one scene breaking into a sunglass hut on Michigan Ave., both seen taking items from the store. DEENIHAN: CPD continues to comb through hours of video footage and search through other footage that might be able to identify looters CAUGIRAN: CPD says they need the public's help. the department launched a new website on chicagopolice.org in hopes the community might be able to identify people in surveillance video collected monday morning. DEENIHAN: at this point, just do the right thing. if you know who did this, i mean, look at what the hell happened down there lets get these people identified and moved on. CAUGIRAN: CPD says the website will be frequently updated with new videos and photos of suspects taken into custody. DEENIHAN: i know the community is extremely upset. we are looking and asking the community to step up and i believe they will. CAUGIRAN: the website also will be a place for the public and business owners to submit their own video. police hoping to gather as much evidence as possible and community input. Live at CPD headquarters Cate Caugiran ABC7 Eyewitness News ABC7 News at 6PM: Property manager says residents no longer feel safe in city ANCHOR: we also have new information from the ABC7 I-team on CPD response to the looting rampage and sharp criticism being cast on the city from a major property company. chuck goudie has that part of tonight's coverage. GOUDIE: homeowners don't feel safe in chicago that's the message from a prominent property management group following sunday's mayhem, that followed the chaos in May and tonight, the i-team has been told that investigators believe those caravans of looters this week were a mix of organized thieves, many of whom are gang members, with others who saw social media posts and joined the free-for-all. When looters broken to stores early monday morning, it looked as though Chicago Police were outnumbered and outmaneuvered. a source familiar with cpd tactics tells the i-team there was no comprehensive layered response plan in place when retail raids and wholesale looting began in the city. even though authorities have admitted that social media messages, including this one, went out sunday to encourage a downtown plunder at midnight, police in riot gear were not in place to stop caravans of thieves and looters from rolling unchecked onto chicago's magnificent mile and oak street. one potential factor, according to a source knowledgeable with what happened, CPD’s once robust practice of using social media monitoring software is tapped less frequently because of lawsuits filed by civil liberties organizations alleging the department was spying on activity protected by the first amendment. In this letter Suddler Property Management President Steven Levy tonight tells Mayor Lightfoot that there are 38,000 residents and more than 100 condos do not feel safe and neither do their employees, that they are avoiding walks after 6:00 p.m. and standing near windows. According to Leavy this is not a way to live and I cannot fault homeowners when they tell me they are considering leaving chicago. In response tonight a new statement from City Hall promises a heavier police presence along chicago shopping districts, restricting access to the downtown area overnight, and deploying more than 100 transportation, streets and sanitation, and other infrastructure trucks and resources along our commercial corridors. a spokesperson saying Mayor Lightfoot is utilizing every last city resource to not only prevent looting but ensure that those who commit the kinds of criminal acts we saw monday are brought to justice. Also tonight, the i-team has learned well organized posses of looters use rental trucks to haul away items from stores. that also happened during the first round of looting less than three months ago. we are told both rental companies and CPD had not realized there was an unusual number of stolen or unreturned trucks in the area. Alan ABC7 News at 6PM: Englewood Residents call on CPD to be transparent ANCHOR: chopper 7 hd recorded some tense moments during a rally outside a police station in Englewood last night. But tensions weren’t between police and protesters. Community members asking activists to leave saying their relationship with police is improving. leah hope has the story from Englewood. HOPE: organizers at the rally last night at the 7th District in Englewood met some resistance last night from the community. Black Lives Matter Chicago called for a rally at the police station on 63rd street, but some Englewood residents pushed back on what they saw as an intrusion. SMITH: i'm not pro police, but if I have a working relationship with the few good police we have then don't disrupt that. KIDD: If your going to do something do it right and you put other people's lives at risk when you come into neighborhoods and don't know the dynamics. HOPE: Today some residents who were at the 7th district say they demand transparency and accountability from the police regarding a police shooting sunday in Englewood and long before that, they have been working in their community to improve relations with police and conditions for residents. CHICAGOAN: If that's your interest, to come in and antagonize the police that work in our district, that some of us have a working relationship with, take your fight to 35th and Michigan where their bosses are. HOPE: Today seventh district leadership shared appreciation today for the community's support. SNELLING: the good citizens and good community members of Englewood stepped up and said, we are not going to allow more chaos in our neighborhood. DIXON: we all have a common goal of keeping the community safe. we are on different sets of tracks but headed in the same direction. HOPE: the spokesperson for black lives matter chicago tells me within the organization there are members from Englewood, but she acknowledges there is a tension between some community organizers. KIDD: To all the young people trying to speak for change, i say continue to do so, but make sure it's authentic. HOPE: while differences in approach exist, all those at last night's gathering are watching closely to see the outcome of sunday's shooting investigation. In Englewood Leah Hope ABC7 News at 6PM: City crews clean up after Monday night storms ANCHOR: you are hearing and seeing the cleanup efforts from this past monday's storm. It’s continuing now two days later on Chicago’s north side. parts of the Rogers Park neighborhood hit by one of eight tornadoes that hit our chicago area. some folks getting their power back this morning but more than 148,000 comed customers are still without power. more than 644,000 people who lost power monday evening are now back with power tonight. ABC7 News at 6PM: City announces project to assess memorials and monuments ANCHOR: Chicago is working to catalog all the memorials and monuments in the city to see if any of them need to be changed or removed. the City says this is a move toward healing racial divides and acknowledging historical events that may have been forgotten. works will be reviewed and there will be public discussions on their future. a group will also recommend new monuments and works of art. the city, of course, temporarily removed two statues of Christopher Columbus last month after protesters called for them to be taken down. ABC7 News at 6PM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: scooters are back in chicago with some changes to keep people safe. there's a new feature now, there's a quiz that you have to pass before you can ride to prove you know the rules of the road. all the scooters also have locks. this is the second scooter pilot program in the city. there are fewer companies in this pilot program this time around only three of them. CBS2 News at 6PM: CPD launches new task force to investigate looting ANCHOR: new images tonight of looters taking aim at loot stores. police released a series of videos today including this one from a surveillance camera on jefferson. it captured a group of people trying to break into a 7-eleven early monday morning. police are hoping you will recognize the looters and help turn them in. CBS2 News at 6PM: Property manager says residents no longer feel safe in city ANCHOR: on the heels of that, a passionate letter from one of chicago's largest real estate companies begging the mayor to do something to make people feel safer. it comes from the head of sudler which manages more than 100 buildings with some 38,000 residents under those roofs. the president mark leavy says, “the homeowners we represent do not feel safe... residents across the city are adjusting their daily routines out of fear.” and addressing the mayor directly he says, “we need support. We need backing. we need you to fulfill your duty of ensuring the well-being of all chicago residents.” the mayor's office tells us safety is the highest priority and the city is using all of its resources to prevent looting and bring criminals to justice. to read the entire letter and the mayor's response, go to cbschicago.com. NBC5 News at 6PM: CPD launches new task force to investigate looting ANCHOR: right now a plea from police to catch some of the looters that's ransacked the city on monday morning. they released news videos hoping someone will recognize the suspects. WOJCIECHOWSKI: new security guards stationed every few feet around macy’s watertower place store, but would they be able to repel crowds of looters that crashed through the windows early on monday morning. 2nd ward alderman brian Hopkins was there. HOPKINS: i watched them break in and smash the glass with bricks and a large metal pole. today chicago police launched a new website and a new looting task force reaching out to citizens asking for video. Some like this, shot by the alleged looters themselves as they try to break into an atm machine that could help police make cases against people responsible for the looting. DEENIHAN: the only way to restore our sense of security and restore order to chicago is by working with the police to remove these offenders from the street. WOJCIECHOWSKI: this afternoon, macy's with this issued a statement saying “we’re deeply saddened for our customers, colleagues and neighbors that an event of this magnitude has occurred once again.” The statement goes on to say “we fully support and cooperate with the city of Chicago as we recover from this act of destruction.” Macy’s says its state street location is already open and they're hoping to open its water tower location here very soon. But will major retailers like macy's stay in the downtown area without a downtown security plan? Hopkins says he has his doubts. HOPKINS: these stores have not recovered. They’re still showing dismal sales, on top of that, when you have incidents like this where they lose all their inventory to criminals, what's the incentive to stay in chicago. NBC5 News at 6PM: City restricts access into downtown ANCHOR: access to chicago remains temporarily restricted because of the looting this week. The restrictions go into effect at 9:00 p.m tonight. Most of the bridges will be up. Lake shore drive will be closed between Fullerton and i-55. expressway ramps from roosevelt to division will be closed in both directions. cta rail service will not enter downtown these restrictions will remain in effect until 6:00 a.m. NBC5 News at 6PM: Black Community Leaders call on MLL, Gov. Pritzker to save Mercy and St. Anthony hospitals ANCHOR: growing frustration tonight over plans to close two Chicago hospitals, mercy and st. Anthony. this morning a coalition of black leaders challenging Mayor Lightfoot and governor pritzker saying they've been too silent about the closures. BROWN: where is governor Pritzker on this? we have two hospitals closing in the middle of a global pandemic where when this pandemic first hit, although we’re only 30% of the population, we’re 70% of death. ANCHOR: the group wants funding to save both the hospitals. NBC5 News at 6PM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: there's a new way to get around town, the city launched a new and improved shared electric scooter pilot program. 10,000 scooters are available from 3 vendors: bird, lime and spin. the e-scooters must be locked to a fixed object like a bike rack to end the ride and will be available in more parts of the city now, which is key difference from the e-scooter program of last year. scooters cannot be ridden on sidewalks and they will not go more than 15 miles an hour. FOX32 News at 5:30PM: City crews clean up after Monday night storms FIORE: in rogers park, it's neighbors who got debris cleared from the streets so that you can drive around the area once again. walking, however, becomes a challenge when you find things like this in your pathway. still, quite a mess up here as these ash trees get cleared away. CHICAGOAN: this was a very devastating storm. and it will take some time to remove all these enormous trees and chop them up and clear the parkways and the streets, but at least the streets are passable now and i commend the neighbors for coming out to help that happen. as well as the city crews that i know are working day and night to remove the debris. FIORE: the ef-1 tornado monday toppled trees over cars, pulling many right out of their roots. windows were shattered and doors dented. fortunately, no injuries reported. neighbors said nonetheless, to see all these trees go, they are sad. while many in rogers park lost shade, others across the state lost power. at the height of it, more than 800,000 customers stretching from chicago all the way west to the iowa state line. com ed said that it could still be saturday before everyone is restored. COMED: the big message to people out there is if you have downed trees, you have downed wires, please stay away. it is incredibly dangerous, assume every wire is live. don't approach our crews. they're working with dangerous things, obviously, and they're social distancing right now during covid. FIORE: Alderman Moore said crews know this to be the epicenter of the storms, so it’s on their list of things to do. however, if you see something that seems particularly dangerous to the public, you're advised to call 311 or if it's an emergency, of course, call 911. in rogers park, i'm michele fiore, fox 32 news. FOX32 News at 5:30PM: Lincoln Park HS protests SRO’s in schools EWING: it is taking place right now that alumni of lincoln park high school and current students are marching through the streets right now of lincoln park. that's because they want chicago police removed from inside the school. let's take a live look at them as they march through the streets at this hour. the group organizing this says the student resource officers program criminalizes students and “perpetuates the school to prison pipeline” for “black and brown students and fosters community resentment.” lincoln park high school has 54% of the student body identifying as black or hispanic. Minorities comprise a large part of the school’s community. now, keep in perspective all of this, that this is not the only school that has pushed for this. in fact, chicago's mather high school yesterday voted to remove school resource officers from their high school and it has everything to do with murdered activist that also attended the school, caleb reed. he wanted police out of the school. reed worked to stop racism and violence in chicago but was shot and killed over...it actually happened earlier this month. his killer still has not been found. now, keep in mind, a handful of schools have voted to keep cpd in them, for example, whitney young magnet high school, they voted to keep chicago police inside of their school building. WGN News at 5:30PM: Gold Coast residents push back against marijuana dispensary ANCHOR: Gold Coast residents are still fighting against a proposed marijuana dispensary last night pharmacan updated residents on its plans for the dispensary on Maple Street. NEWBERGER: the community meeting supposed to assuage the communities fears about the possibility of any violence or overcrowding it did not. ANCHOR: pharmacan predict the dispensary would serve at least 1000 people each day, the City zoning board will hold a meeting on august 21st to hear its proposal WGN News at 5:30PM: Black community leaders call on MLL, Gov. Pritzker to save Mercy, St. Anthony Hospital ANCHOR: a group of community leaders are calling on state and City Leaders to save Mercy Hospital, it is one of the oldest hospitals here in chicago, it plans to close by next june. the group is urging officials to fully fund that hospital or at least give the money it needs to consolidate. people are appalled the hospital which serves, chicago's south side would close during a pandemic. BROWN: you killed the institutions, the people leave. we're very concerned. that we have a deafening silence from those who claim to be our leadership. where is Governor Pritzker on this we have two hospitals. That are closing in the middle of a global pandemic. Where when this pandemic first hit. although we only 30% of the population, were 70% of the deaths ANCHOR: earlier this year mercy hospital proposed a plan to merge with other local hospitals but it didn't receive the necessary funding from the state wgn reached out to Governor Pritzker's team for comment but haven't heard back. WGN News at 5:30PM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: electric scooters are back in chicago, 3 companies are part of the city’s second pilot program which will last from now until mid-december a total of 10,000 scooters are being provided by companies lime, bird and spin. The city is requiring the companies put at least half of the scooters in areas with systemic disadvantages. riders can use them from 05:00am to 10:00pm but not allowed on the lakefront central business district or the 606 trail ABC7 News at 5PM: City restricts access into downtown ANCHOR: Chicago City Officials have just announced that access to the downtown area will be restricted every night through the weekend. road closures will start at 9:00 p.m. at night running until 6:00 in the morning through monday morning ABC7 News at 5PM: Ald. Ervin responds to businessman who says CPD’s looting response was slow ANCHOR: Tonight a westside Alderman responding to a businessman who says Chicago Police did not respond to calls to stop the looters from ransacking stores on monday. SCHULTE: To protect businesses from looters a long strip of Madison street remains closed today with a visible police presence, but the owner of this West Garfield Park convenience store says police did not protect him monday afternoon when a flood of looters destroyed his store. 28th ward Alderman Jason Ervin agrees. ERVIN: We do believe that a response should have been there however, it was not as quick as it needed to be SCHULTE: the store's owner, landlord, and several community residents made multiple phone calls to police as looters broke down a steel security gate to get inside. they say it was at the same time when several police officers were stationed down the street at the corner of madison and pulaski. AKINS: i kept calling. i said they are a block away, can't you just send one car? On this end when we knew they were beating on the door SCHULTE: Alderman Ervin says he called for a police presence when he heard looters were moving into the area as they targeted a shoe store. he says police stayed at Pulaski And Madison. because the location was at the epicenter of looting in may and june. ERVIN: They were unfortunately unable to cover the strip in it’s entirety SCHULTE: for this convenience store owner, that is not an excuse. he spent over 300,000 dollars rebuilding his store after it was looted in may. he does not think he can reopen again. MOUHAMMAD: I can’t afford SCHULTE: Because a long stretch of Madison here on the west side is condiered a TIF district Alderman Ervin says any business that has been looted can get funds to help rebuild through the City's Small Business Improvement Program. meantime, the Chicago Police Department has yet to give us a response as to why police were unable to stop looters from destroying mohammed's store, especially since so many officers were just down the street. In west Garfield Park Sarah Schulte CBS2 News at 5PM: City restricts access into downtown PARRA: we just learned as the story was airing just now, that in response to and in an effort to curb further looting the city is keeping the current restrictions in place until monday. that includes those raised bridges around the loop. CBS2 News at 5PM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: you are looking at some of the new e scooters hitting chicago’s streets today as the second phase of the city's pilot program kicks off. the scooters will look a little different from last summer because they will need to be locked up after each ride. so, how will each company handle this and other new rules? they are hiring! Cbs2 is working for chicago as everyone tries to get back to work. lauren victory shows us the new jobs available. VICTORY: public transit got you feeling a little green? three micro-mobility companies are wondering if this sanitized ride will do the trick. chicago's second scooter test run, accidentally coincided with the pandemic, that is no problem for vendors. they are budgeted for about 60 chicago-based positions that include cleaning, recharging, and more. over at lime, the hunt is on for mechanics. they will inspect each of the more than 3000 lime scooters at least once a week. breaks are especially important, but so are batteries. which brings us to another opportunity for cash, limes juicer program. FOLEY: we have individuals who live in the city or who live around the city who are looking to earn a little extra money, they are able to charge scooters, and we are expecting to make one million-dollar payout during the course of this program. HENDERSON: 150 jobs potentially at the high end of this thing. VICTORY: Maurice henderson, says working for his scooter company is a great way to break into tech, without prior experience. consider the position of birdwatcher. HENDERSON: some cases, they are engaging directly with the public on safety, basically how to start your ride, how to end your ride, how to park properly. VICTORY: good at logistics? all three companies are hiring crews to reposition scooters, day in and day out, half of each fleet must start on the south and west sides every morning. a strict new requirement, creating jobs, and a shot at equity. ANCHOR: chicago’s second scooter pilot is slated to last four months and the city will determine if any of the vendors will permanently bring scooters and scooter jobs to the city. scooter companies aren’t the only ones hiring right now. FOX32 News at 5PM: Black Community Leaders call on MLL, Gov. Pritzker to save Mercy and St. Anthony hospitals ANCHOR: a coalition of black led community organizations is challenging Mayor Lightfoot and Governor Pritzker on the closings of two hospitals. mercy and st. anthony. one member of that coalition says closing these hospitals will be a big blow to chicago's black community and its access to quality health care and marks an already uneven system, makes it worse. the coalition is demanding a meeting with the Mayor and the governor and trinity systems which owns mercy hospital. CHICAGOAN: we're very clear that the closing of our schools and today, the closing of one of chicago's oldest hospitals, mercy hospital, is really a part of a very determined purge of black people from the city of chicago. you kill the institutions, the people leave. ANCHOR: the coalition says the Mayor Lightfoot and governor pritzker have been silent on this issue for too long. FOX32 News at 5PM: City restricts access into downtown ANCHOR: chicago says its nightly restrictions will remain in effect through the weekend. that means the bridges will be lifted and parts of lake shore drive are closed. the cta will limit service into the loop and some expressway ramps will be closed. if you live or work downtown, you will be allowed to enter. Access points are Harrison street, Chicago ave. and halstead st., Roosevelt rd. and canal st., kinzie st. and halstead, and lasalle. the restrictions go into effect at 8:00 p.m. and lift every morning at 6:00. FOX32 News at 5PM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: chicago's electric scooters program is back and bigger than ever. this year, there will be fewer companies involved but more neighborhoods will see them. there will be 10,000 scooters distributed across the city. the scooters will not be allowed on the lake front trail. the 606 and central business district. the scooters can ride up to 15 miles per hour and riders are encouraged to wear a helmet. FOX32 News at 5PM: City announces project to assess memorials and monuments ANCHOR: nearly three weeks after ordering the removal of christopher columbus statues in chicago, the city is launching a new committee to determine the fate of the rest of its monument. Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls it a “racial healing and historical reckoning project” and it's a multi-agency commission being formed that will catalog the monuments here in Chicago, and all the public art as well, and appoint advisors to determine whether these works are problematic. the committee's report is expected to be submitted by the end of the year, and it will include recommendations for new monuments that should be commissioned in the future. NBC5 News at 5PM: CPD launches new task force to investigate looting ANCHOR: now an update on the looting in chicago. Today, chicago police released new information on suspects and asked for tips from the public. They released several photos and videos of people they say were involved in the looting. They say they need your help identifying them. we're going to have much more on the suspects coming up on the news at 6:00. you can get a closer look at the videos and photos on the nbc chicago app and our website nbcchicago.com. WGN News at 5PM: CPD launches new task force to investigate looting ANCHOR: new here at 5 o'clock Chicago Police releasing new video of suspects involved in the looting earlier this week and they need your help identifying the wgn Rob Sneed is live from police headquarters with the story rob good evening. SNEED: good evening to you guys they just wrapped up a press conference not too long ago stressing the importance of the community coming together speaking out bring forth information if you do have about the people who participated in the looting and the destroying a property on sunday night. now this is what you can watch right now just by going to their website you'll be able to see a video of 3 men breaking into an atm. so far they just have to just this one of 3 videos that you're seeing right now. but of course are expecting more enough you know anyone who participated in the looting. you can submit tips anonymously via email to the website or by calling. now what happened sunday night hurts the community more than you ever now. DEENIHAN: this was just an attack in our city we really need everyone's help to identify these offenders so we can arrest and charge him. camera footage is only valuable when our officers and detectives can identify the individuals caught on camera committing the crime. we need everyone's help to do this. so as i mentioned in this video is probably the best example, but looking at these videos someone surely knows the offenders that are causing this destruction. so please help us bring these criminals to justice. SNEED: and CPD also created a task force in hopes of getting again this information to them in getting these people under arrest of course is still top of this and bring you the latest information as the story develops, reporting live at bp headquarters. Rob Sneed WGN News at 5PM: City announces project to assess memorials and monuments ANCHOR: Mayor Lightfoot is forming a committee to review Chicago’s monuments. She says it's part of a racial healing and historical reckoning project. The announcemt comes nearly 3 weeks after she ordered the removal of several christopher columbus statues in the city. the Mayor says the move is temporary and based on public safety concerns. it came after a crowd of protesters tried to bring down the statue of columbus in Grant Park. the committee will also be in charge of commissioning new public art works that are relevant to our times. NBC5 News at 4:30PM: CPD launches new task force to investigate looting ANCHOR: breaking here on our news at 4:30, the chicago police department has unveiled a new program to identify people who looted the city of chicago sunday night, monday morning. they're asking the community to help by submitting any photo or videos of the looting to their web page so the public and their special task force can identify the looters. these are some of the videos they're already receiving. DEENIHAN: we've created a task force of detectives who was created to pursue suspects involved in the looting that occurred earlier this week downtown and to a lesser extent some of the neighborhoods. the detectives are working very closely with the cook county states attorney's office to secure charges against offenders. several defendants were arrested sunday night have already been charged with felonies. we're now seeking the community's help to identify additional offenders either seen on video and in photographs, looting and committing criminal behavior. ANCHOR: you can submit video or review submitted clips to see if you can identify any one of the looters at chicagopolice.org. ABC7 News at 4:30PM: Clerk Valencia comments on Kamala Harris VP selection ANCHOR: good afternoon. you just watched it here on abc 7. One day after making a historic pick Joe Biden and, his Vice Presidential pick Kamala Harris kicking off their campaign together. Kamala Harris the first black and asian american woman to be on a major party ticket. we check in with political reporter craig wall, getting reaction from local political leaders. WALL: one of those local leaders is City Clerk Anna Valencia who was a Kamala Harris delegate before Harris ended her presidential campaign. She and others praising Biden for his pick Joe Biden and Kamala Harris talking about their candidacy and what is at stake. BIDEN: the choice we make this november is going to decide the future of america for a very, very long time, and i had a great choice. HARRIS: this is a moment of real consequence for america. everything we care about our economy, our health, our children, the kind of country we live in, it's all on the line. WALL: once rivals, now teammates in the democrats great hope for retaking the white house, generating a lot of excitement in the illinois democratic party. OFFICIAL: i'm delighted. it's historic, it's right, it check all the boxes. She will be a faboulous Vice President we still have to be mindful we have to win the election first. WALL: harris is seen as the vp pick who can best help biden do just that. OFFICAL The political science research is clear on this that, vice president's don't have a significant pull on electoral outcomes, but i think this is different, mainly because its potential to mobilize voters to go out. VALENCIA: I think this helps motivate our base, it motivates our young people as well WALL: City Clerk Anna Valencia was a harris delegate she is particularly excited for Biden’s decision. VALENCIA: it's very personal for me. i have a young daughter she is four months old will she is now know going to know that a woman's place is in the white house, not just a woman but a woman of color, and it gives so much hope to those young girls that look at us now. WALL: Harris is seen as someone who may be able to bring in suburban women. she is also considered a candidate who would be ready and able to be president if needed, but also importantly, she is a recognition of the group of voters who helped turn around Biden’s campaign in south carolina and made this day possible. OFFICIAL: Black women are very loyal the african-american female population stuck with him from the very beginning, i think out of recognition of the fact that he has been on the right side of our issues forever. that being said, i think this is a marriage made in heaven. WALL: Harris as a former prosecutor and attorney general is also expected to do well in her debate with vice president mike pence. the election is now just 83 days away ABC7 News at 4:30PM: CPD launches website to help find looters DEENIHAN: Cases are easier to solve and much stronger when the community identifies these suspects and works with the police and detectives to hold them accountable. ANCHOR: Chicago Police releasing new videos of looting suspects on the police website they say several people who have been arrested in the looting early monday have already been charged with felonies. BACA: Chicago Police releasing not only new video of the suspects on the website but also saying nearly 20 people have been arrested and charged and tonight, they are asking for the public's help. chicago police releasing new video showing suspects wanted during the looting monday morning. police announcing a website where the public can view all the videos and provide tips to detectives. DEENIHAN: At this point do the right thing if you know who did this. look at what the hell happened down there lets get these people identified and move on. BACA: As police investigate dozens of retail stores boarded up, and there's a growing call for elected leaders to do more. EDWARDS: this is a dire, severe emergency and we need action. BACA: Michael Edwards leads the Chicago Loop Alliance he says looters targeted at least 25 businesses in the loop. EDWRADS: the psychological effect has everyone on edge. is this going to happen again? are folks simply waiting for us to restock stores or are they going to come down in three months and do it again? that is giving everybody pause. BACA: that includes the owner of Sid Jerome. SHAPIRO: we just don't feel safe anymore. BACA: Don Shapiro’s father started this business 62 years ago during the last seven months, criminals have busted in four times, including these looters on monday. he, too, is upset with city leaders. SHAPIRO: i'm losing faith in the people that we have elected to run this city and to keep us safe and to protect us. BACA: that's how people who live in the city feel. this letter is to Mayor Lightfoot from Sudler Property Management. "we need support," he writes “we need backing. We need you to fulfill your duty of protecting all Chicago residents.” All this after looting Monday CHICAGOAN: the city is crying out for solutions, I believe the Mayor hears it. Whether she responds correctly or not we will have to see. BACA: yesterday, the Mayor's Office was in touch with our newsroom, saying that neighborhood protection plan has been put in place. Today I reached out to the Mayors Office asking them for more details about this protection plan and also if anyone could speak to us and provide information about it. i did not hear back from the Mayor's Office. At Chicago Police Headquarters Stacy Baca ABC7 News at 4:30PM: City crews clean up after Monday night storms ANCHOR: here at home, it's another day of cleaning up and waiting for power to come back on for thousands of chicago residence after monday's powerful storm. In the Wrigleyville neighborhood, Liam Boyd having to work from his neighbor's porch. his power is out, so he's borrowing some from across the street. we also met with Alexis Gross, who has been checking the comed app. GROSS: We’ve gotten some revised estimates saying that it’s gonna come on tomorrow so that’s good but it has been obviously a major inconvenience, especially trying to work from home during covid. ANCHOR: so many people dealing with this right now. in Rogers Park, City Crews were back on Jarvis Ave. clearing away trees knocked down by what officials say was an ef1 tornado. WGN News at 12PM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: electric scooters are now back in chicago. 3 companies are part of the city's second pilot program which will last from now until mid december. a total of 10,000 scooters are being provided by companies lime, bird, and spin. the city is requiring the companies to put at least half of the scooters in areas with systemic disavantages. riders can use them from 05:00am to 10:00pm but they're not allowed on the lakefront, central business district, or the 606 trail. FOX32 News at 12PM: City crews clean up after Monday night storms ANCHOR: the national weather service is confirming there were seven tornadoes in rockford, spring grove, morengo, wheaton, lombard, and also rogers park. a few hundred thousand people are still without power today. more now on the cleanup going on in rogers park. FIORE: it is neighbors who got the debris cleared from the streets so you can drive around the area once again. walking will be a problem with things like this in your pathway. so much work left to be done with the nearly 100-year-old ash trees that toppled all over. CHICAGOAN: this was a very devastating storm and it will take some time to remove all of these enormous trees and chop them up and clear the parkways and the streets. at least the streets are passable now and i commend the neighbors for coming out to help make that happen as well as city crews that i know are working day and night to remove the debris. FIORE: the EF1 tornado toppled trees over cars pulling many trees out of their roots, windows were shattered and doors dented. fortunately no injuries reported. neighbors said nonetheless to see all these trees go, they are sad. while many in rogers park lost shade, others across the state lost power. at the height of it more than 800,000 customers stretching from chicago all the way west to the iowa state line. ComEd said it could be until saturday before everyone has power restored. MOORE: a big message to people out there is if you have down trees and down wires, please stay away, it is incredibly dangerous - assume every wire is live. do not approach the crews, they are working with dangerous things obviously and they’re social distancing FIORE: Alderman Moore said city crews know this to be the epicenter of the storm so it's on their list of things to do but if you see something that seems dangerous to the public you are advised to call 311 or if it is emergency, of coursel, call 911. FOX32 News at 12PM: Black Community Leaders call on MLL, Gov. Pritzker to save Mercy and St. Anthony hospitals ANCHOR: a coalition of black-led community organizations is challenging Mayor Lightfoot and Governor Pritzker on the closing of mercy and saint anthony hospital. one member says the closing of these hospitals will be severe blows to black chicago's access to quality healthcare, and makes an already uneven system even worse. the coalition is demanding a meeting with the Mayor, the Governor, and trinity systems, which owns mercy hospital. BROWN: we are very clear that the closing of our schools and today, the closing of one of chicago's oldest hospitals, mercy hospital, is really a part of a very determined purge of black people from the city of chicago. you kill the institutions, the people leave. ANCHOR: the coalition says Mayor Lightfoot and Governor Pritzker have been silent on the issue for too long. FOX32 News at 12PM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: those electric scooters are returning to chicago today. for the second year in a row, the city is allowing the e-scooters as part of a pilot program. this year bird, lime, and spin scooters are involved, and more neighborhoods will be seeing them. but the scooters will not be allowed on the lakefront trail, the 606, and the central business district. CBS2 News at 11AM: City crews clean up after Monday night storms ANCHOR: it’s been two days since nasty storms ripped through the chicago area and beyond and hundreds of thousands of ComEd customers are still in the dark with no electricity. if you look at the map you can see the widespread power outages; right now there are more than 6400 active outages with over 200,000 ComEd customers affected. it’s all happening as homeowners struggle to clean up storm damage; on the northwest side a brick garage basically fell apart and another homeowner said she was left with a tree on top of her home. thousands of 311 calls for help were made and hundreds of downed trees had to be cleared. CBS2 News at 11AM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: and thousands of e-scooters back on the streets of chicago this morning as the city starts up the second phase of the pilot program. lime, bird, and spin are the three companies are providing scooters throughout the city for the next four months from 5:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. every day. but you won't see e-scooters everywhere like we did before as new restrictions are in place on where you can ride. no going on lakefront trails, the 606, and downtown also off limits and you can't ride on sidewalks. you also have to lock them up when you are done. to help manage the 10,000 scooters, all three companies are hiring new workers. if you're looking for a job with the companies check out the working for chicago section on our app. we have a link to where you can find all their open positions so search cbs chicago wherever you download your apps. NBC5 News at 11AM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: a new electric scooter pilot program launches today in chicago. three vendors will operate 10,000 of these scooters through mid-december. so the scooters will be allowed to operate citywide, except on the lakefront trail, in the central business district and on the 606 trail. the scooters are not allowed on sidewalks. lime is one of the companies operating those scooters and a spokesperson explained how the company encourages riders to lock the scooters instead of them leaving them cluttering the sidewalk. FOLEY: what our riders will see, when they have their app, they will be able to use the normal rider app and we suggest everybody download that app this morning and they will be able to unlock the scooter in one step. so they can pull it out and then when they're done with their ride, we want all riders to all slide the lock back in around a bike rack or city sign post and they will be done with their ride once they take a picture. ANCHOR: the city required all e-scooters be equipped with the locks that riders must use when they end their trip. ABC7 News at 11AM: City crews clean up after Monday night storms ANCHOR: another morning of storm cleanup after seven tornadoes hit northern illinois. there was some progress in hard-hit rogers park. crews were out this morning cleaning up some downed trees. power still remains a problem; close to 200,000 homes are still in the dark. D’ONOFRIO: we are still seeing remnants of the storm here in wrigleyville. it will take a while to completely clear some of these old broken trees away and it’s also taking some extra time to get the lights back on. ANCHOR: for liam boyd, a porchside office will have to do. his kind neighbors are allowing him to borrow some ower since his home across the street has none. BOYD: i have got a power outlet here, so that's good. ANCHOR: many in the wrigleyville neighborhood are still in the dark. alexis gross has been checking the ComEd app daily. GROSS: early in the day, it was showing it would come back on around Saturday at 3PM, but we have gotten some revised estimates saying it’s now going to come on tomorrow so that’s good. but it’s obviously been a major inconvenience especially trying to work from home during COVID. hundreds of people lost power across the afternoon and it is slowly coming back on in spots. In rogers park some had power back by early morning. city crews were back on jarvis avenue by daylight, clearing away trees that marked the path of what officials say was an EF1 tornado. this video showing swirling debris, but it was over as quickly as it started with residents surveying the damage, stunned at what they saw. CABURNAY: probably about 30 minutes after the storm passed everybody was out in the alley checking on each other and making sure they were ok. D’ONOFRIO: back here live, ComEd says more than 200,000 customers remain in the dark. the electric company saysthe vast majority should have electricity back by friday, but some spots may not have service until this weekend. abc 7, eyewitness news. ANCHOR: and the national weather service will be out looking at more damage today. WGN News at 11AM: City crews clean up after Monday night storms ANCHOR: in other news now cleanup continues across our area today following Monday’s severe weather. the storms downed trees and power lines in places like lombard and elmhurst. ComeEd working around the clock now and calling in crews from other states to help restore the power. right now 204,000 customers remain without it, ComEd says it could take several days more to finally get the power back on for everyone because the utility company says it has to rebuild entire parts of its system. ABC7 News at 11AM: City restricts access into downtown ANCHOR: restricted access to downtown chicago continues until further notice. in response to Sunday night’s looting and civil unrest, officials have ordered the closure of ramps off the kennedy expressway and most bridges over the river are raised. every night, the hours are now from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. ABC7 News at 11AM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: love them or hate them, e-scooters are back in chicago for another test program. three vendors are taking part: bird, spin, and lime. crews from lime were out this morning assembling, loading up, distributing the eletrically-powered scooters. And this pilot program will last for four months in most parts of the city. scooters are not allowed on the sidewalks, and you cannot ride them downtown, on the lakefront, or on the 606 trail. all of the scooters have to be equipped with a lock to end the trip. ABC7 News at 11AM: CPD launches new task force to investigate looting ANCHOR:have a look at the surveillance video here from Chicago’s West Side. the owner says he watched this happen in real time monday morning as looters were breaking in. they ripped out a new steel security door that the owner had installed back in may. Walid Mouhammad says the damage is worse this time around - besides stolen merchandise looters also ripped out the atm. MOUHAMMAD: this is the second time in just forty days. FOSTER: all sides of town need to be outfitted with the proper resources from the police department. ANCHOR: if the store closes for good, he says he worries more about his senior customers who rely on that store for fresh produce and meat. the Chicago police department wants your help to catch looters. a new task force has been set up. police are asking for those with videos, photos, or information to reach out to them; you can call in tips anonymously. you can find a link on how to submit a tip online with the app. ABC7 News at 11AM: City crews clean up after Monday night storms ANCHOR: in rogers park it was another day of cleaning up in chicago from monday's powerful storm. city crews were back on jarvis avenue by daylight, clearing trees that marked the path of an EF1 tornado. winds clocked in at more than 100 miles per hour; across the region the winds knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people. we now welcome rich negrin from ComEd, joining us on the phone. where do your outages stand right now? NEGRIN: some good news, we are ahead of schedule. our crew seven working around the clock. we are at almost 80% restoration at this point and we expect the overwhelming majority of our outages to be restored by the next 24-48 hours. there are those outliers that you reported on on this tornado. the national weather service confirmed this morning that there were seven tornadoes that actually touched down in the region during the storm, so some of those places are going take a little longer as we work through significant damage. but overwhelmingly, folks are going to be back up within the next 24-48 hours. ANCHOR: so how many are still out? NEGRIN: we have got about 170,000 across the entire region. in chicago, that number is down to around 20,000 folks at this point. ANCHOR: you have alluded a little bit to kinds of the repairs that have taken place so far. is it fair to characterize those as low hanging fruit and those that remain are more complicated? NEGRIN: we're not starting off with any low hanging fruit, but we are touching the entire system. tower after tower after tower, this isn't just about reconnecting a wire, it's about a rebuild in some of those places where towers have been knocked down block after block – which is a huge challenge for us and that just shows the ferocity of the storm, to have 4000 lightning strikes, golf ball sized hail. and those gusts of over 100 miles per hour is really rare and really extraordinary. ANCHOR: are you still expecting all customers back online by saturday? NEGRIN: the overwhelming majority will have that a few of those outliers, some of those single outages where it is a random single home or two which may take more time and some of the places that have been directly impacted may linger a little bit longer. but we are already at 80% and we’re ahead of schedule, making real progress. NBC5 News at 11AM: Black Community Leaders call on MLL, Gov. Pritzker to save Mercy and St. Anthony hospitals ANCHOR: and growing frustration over plans to close two chicago hospitals: mercy and saint anthony. this morning a coalition of black community leaders challenged the Mayor and Governor saying they've been too silent about the closures. BROWN: we've endured years of black communities being demonized while a system has snatched away our basic quality of life institutions. those institutions that most chicagoans take for granted. where is Governor Pritzker on this? we have two hospitals are that closing in the middle of a global pandemic, where when this pandemic first hit, although we're only 30% of the population, we had 70% of the death. but we're losing two hospitals, saint anthony and mercy, and it's there's been a deafening silence from the state of illinois and even a deafening silence from the Mayor of the City of Chicago to make the Governor do something. ANCHOR: the group wants funding to save both of those hospitals. NBC5 News at 11AM: City crews clean up after Monday night storms ANCHOR: storm cleanup continues for another day here. streets and sanitation crews say they've already cleared hundreds of trees and they are still responding to more than 2,000 reports of damage in chicago. NBC5 News at 11AM: City announces project to assess memorials and monuments ANCHOR: the city of chicago is launching a new project to assess monuments, memorials, and other art across the city. it's called a racial healing and historical reckoning project. this comes in the wake of damage to and calls for some statues and monuments to be removed. a committee will determine which pieces warrant attention and recommendations will be made for new monuments. the city says part of the goal is to address the hard truths of chicago's racial history and confront ways that history has and has not been memorialized. NBC5 News at 11AM: City launches E-Scooter pilot program ANCHOR: be on the lookout, e-scooters return to chicago in a pilot program that runs through mid-december. chicago required vendors to make sure that the scooters were locked to a fixed object like a bike rack to end their ride. scooters are not allowed on the lakefront trail, the 606 trail, and the central business district or on sidewalks. FULL ARTICLES City Council members demand more body cameras for police following Englewood shooting DAILY LINE//Mark Guarino The City Council Committee on Public Safety voted Tuesday to approve a framework for assessing progress on the federally mandated reforms of the Chicago Police Department. The ordinance (SO2019-9158) requires the committee to hold a hearing up to two months after the release of each progress report of the consent decree. The Tuesday meeting, which ran almost four hours, allowed committee members to ask questions to the core members of the city, the police department and the Chicago Police Board. Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29), who chairs the committee, also read a letter from Police Supt. David Brown who said he was “confident” his department can “bring these reforms to life.” “We can’t do this alone,” he said. In June, a report from the independent task force tasked with monitoring the department’s progress showed that the Chicago Police Department missed just over 70 percent of the court-mandated deadlines for reform measures outlined in a federal consent decree since it was established last March. Between September and February, the second half of the 12 months of the decree, the city missed a total of 52 deadlines. Twenty-two were met. Overall, the city met a total of 35 deadlines within the first year and missed a total of 89 deadlines, according to the report. “Much work remains to be done,” the report said. Ald. Matt Martin (47) said he was concerned about the sluggish progress of the reforms of the police department. “It’s been said a lot today we have to be patient … but as first two reports show, we have significant room for improvement,” he said. “These issues are not new. I’m a little disappointed that we are off to somewhat of a slow start.” He asked for a timeline regarding the staffing plan for the department that is mandated by the consent decree. Deputy Superintendent Barbara West said there is none, but the delay is due to the changeover from former Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson to Brown in April. “It is currently sitting in the hands of the current superintendent … I have to get back to you,” she said. Ald. Patrick Thompson (11) also demanded that both the police department and the city stop making excuses about the slow nature of enacting the reforms. “We agreed to this. The city agreed to this. So now we have an obligation to meet that. We can’t keep talking about how burdensome it is. We just have to do it,” he said. He recommended that a “point person” be chosen help coordinate the reforms that are shared by several different departments. Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Susan Lee said implementation is shared between the city law department, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the police department, and others. “Part of the effort in trying to implement an infrastructure is trying to figure out what the coordination mechanism should be and how it will work, as well as relationship with Attorney General’s office and the independent monitor,” she said. Need for more body cameras Body cameras became a topic of repeated concern. Several aldermen, including Martin, asked why there was a shortage of cameras for police officers in the field. The shortage became evident last weekend when reports showed that the team involved in the shooting of a suspect in Englewood were not equipped with cameras. Misinformation about that incident indirectly led to the overnight looting spree in the central business district after midnight Monday. West explained that the community safety team dispatched in the Englewood incident was formed three weeks earlier. Because it consists of former plainclothes officers who typically aren’t required to carry body cameras, none are currently available for them. “They are getting [the cameras] purchased now,” she said. Martin asked for a timeline for the new cameras. Taliaferro said the committee will be discussing the body camera contract over “the next few months.” Thompson called for speeding up the process. “Every officer should have a body camera, period. I know it’s expensive. That’s a separate issue,” he said. “I don’t think we have to overthink it too much. It’s going to protect [officers] and it’s going to protect the public.” Excessive force questioned Ald. Emma Mitts (37) asked about recommended measures to decrease the use of excessive force by officers. West said that officers now are required to have annual training and the use of chokeholds have been eliminated “unless deadly force is authorized.” A new Force Review Committee will randomly look at cases where force was used to recommend policy changes or training recommendations. Mitts said she was concerned that there currently isn’t a strong framework for accountability, and it isn’t clear what kind of discipline will be put in place if officers don’t follow their training. “You have a lot of work to do,” said Mitts. “I’d like to see … what type of [punishment] that will be given when one doesn’t follow instruction. You have to fill a hole there for some kind of reprimanding.” TDL Chicago Morning Briefs: Wednesday, August 12th DAILY LINE//Staff LIGHTFOOT ON SOLUTIONS — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters Tuesday that 70,000 households were without power due to storms that ripped through the area late Monday afternoon. The communities suffering the most damage were located far south: Roseland, Morgan Park, and Beverly. She said the city is “pushing ComEd to bring in extra crews to accelerate the time for getting people back online.” The Department of Forestry is also working to clear downed trees. The city’s response to the storm, she said, “has been very robust.” In the same call, Lightfoot said she didn’t take seriously statements from Ald. Anthony Beale (9), Ald. Raymond Lopez (15), and others who claim the city is losing confidence in her administration following the overnight looting early Monday in downtown Chicago. “If you look back individually and collectively, they said a lot of things and have made dire predictions over a range of different issues and they have been flat out wrong,” Lightfoot said. She also made note that her critics on the City Council are also the same ones who find “a welcome audience among the Republican-led Fox News circuit.” “It’s interesting to me that these so-called Democrats are taking opportunities on shows like Hannity and Laura Ingraham. That, to me, reveals a lot what the real agenda is,” he said. Lightfoot said she and Police Superintendent David Brown have been listening to people across the spectrum for feedback in their effort to provide solutions. She also said her office spoke to all 50 aldermen following the tornado to get their feedback. “People are fearful. They are afraid. It is up to us to offer concrete solutions and a path forward and that is what we will continue to do,” she said. (Mark Guarino) 24 LOOTERS CHARGED WITH FELONIES — The Cook County State’s Attorney office said that of the 100 people arrested Monday from the looting rampage downtown, 24 were charged with felonies. Charges included aggravated battery of a police officer, criminal damage to property, unlawful use of a weapon, and burglary/looting. All cases were in bond court Tuesday. Cases will continue to be reviewed, with felony charges brought if appropriate, the office told The Daily Line late Tuesday. In a statement, the Chicago Police Department said it continues to work closely with Cook County prosecutors to “determine charges based on the level of offense for each individual.” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters Tuesday that the looters will not be treated as peaceful protestors, but mostly as an organized crime unit. She said police are currently scanning “hundreds of hours of video” taken from city cameras and cameras from inside retail locations to strengthen their cases. “We are doing everything we can, sparing no resource, to bring [the looters] to justice,” she said. In addition, the police have extended shifts to 12 hours total with no days off in order to staff up a presence in neighborhoods across the city. A special Looting Task Force was created this week that is “designed specifically to work with businesses and community members impacted from the looting and ensure offenders are brought to justice,” police said. The task force is asking the public to send any videos, photos, or evidence to 630lootingtaskforce@chicagopolice.org. (Guarino) Chicago’s Mather High votes out school police after council honors slain activist and student Caleb Reed TRIBUNE//Hannah Leone Still feeling “a little scattered” from Caleb Reed’s wake earlier Tuesday, Mather High School counselor Paige Stenzel logged in to the Local School Council meeting to support the removal of police officers from campus, a cause that absorbed the final weeks of Reed’s life. Since Reed, 17, was found on a West Rogers Park sidewalk with a gunshot wound to his head on July 31, community leaders including Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, vowed to pursue the change Reed had been fighting for. After paying tribute to Reed, Mather’s Local School Council on Tuesday voted 6-4 against retaining officers at the school attended by more than 1,600 students. Before casting his “no” vote, Principal Peter Auffant said the dilemma had caused him sleepless nights. ”My stomach turns as I continue to think about the weight of this decision,” Auffant said. “The weight of this decision is falling on LSCs across the city.” Ultimately, Auffant said he had concerns about police presence in the school, and he wanted to make sure that any response to students’ behavior helped them grow into better versions of themselves. Auffant started the meeting by asking for a moment of silence over the recent deaths of Reed and another Mather student. “It has been a fairly trying time for the entire community and not being with everybody, it has been hard for students, it has been hard for staff. ... it has been difficult for me, to find some healing,” Auffant said. Reed was highly regarded as an activist and leader with Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, a coalition of community organizations advocating for racial justice in the education system. Some of his friends, current and former Mather students, spoke during the public comment time Tuesday and in a town hall on school police held earlier in the afternoon. “I’m still hurt about Caleb’s life,” said one recent graduate who identified as Latinx and gender fluid, and suffering from depression and anxiety. “Right now I’m traumatized about my friend passing away... Caleb was fighting for more mental health resources, stopping gun violence, stopping whatever that’s negative.” Mather student Derriana Ford, Reed’s girlfriend for the past three years and another VOYCE member, spoke briefly to the council, asking them to vote out police and reinvest in students. “I’m going through something. I just lost my boyfriend. I don’t want to get emotional but we really need to start thinking about our students,” Ford said. “We are telling you one thing, but you guys aren’t listening.” VOYCE applauded the LSC’s decision in a statement late Tuesday, adding that youth leaders have been organizing to end police spending in schools for a long time. “We are more than pleased with the results,” said Electa Bay, a Mather grandparent who also spoke at the meeting. “This is an important and poignant victory, as we will be saying our final goodbyes to Caleb tomorrow at his funeral. Having [police] out of the school was part of Caleb’s legacy and it’s so beautiful to see that we accomplished that.” One speaker said the council members needed to consider Mather’s goals. “If the goal is to reduce harms of students of color ... what is the most direct impact, the most direct thing that we can do?” she asked. “Or is our goal to ensure that white teachers are comfortable?” One of the four votes to keep officers, council member Mary Vesic said she believed the school resource officer program, was valuable and could be improved with enough work, including meetings with the officers. “Without that, we won’t be successful,” Vesic said. “... I’m willing to put in the work.” Diane Munoz, a Mather teacher, spoke in support of keeping officers if they were trained and used properly. “We are a culture of building relationships,” she said, adding that from her experience in CPS, “once you give things up, it’s hard to get them back.” But others questioned whether the school’s current officers really have relationships with students, saying they mostly sit in an office all day. “I don’t think the SROs have done themselves a favor by not building relationships intentionally with our students,” Auffant said. Teacher and LSC member Craig MacFarland, who voted in favor of officers, said while they don’t seem to interact much with students, “they are a nice safety net.” Michael Krantz-Perlman, a special education teacher at nearby Boone Elementary, said when he takes his students on field trips to Mather, they ask him if those are real police and why they’re there. “CPD has a history of working with” federal immigration authorities, he said during the town hall meeting. “They have a lot of fear when they walk in the doors and see an actual police officer with a weapon. My students have had various experiences with ICE, deportations with their families.” Multiple special education educators spoke about their students having disproportionately high rates of police intervention. At Mather, students with individualized education plans were the subjects of 45% of police notifications, though they are only 15% of the school’s population, according to data presented by administrators. Districtwide, students with IEPs accounted for 35% of police notifications during the 2018-19 school year. Mather administrators also presented community survey results, which had 561 responses. The majority of students, parents and staff who responded favored retaining officers, while most community members wanted them removed. An LSC member who voted against keeping officers, Judith Acosta, said she knows families who had difficulty accessing the surveys and did not participate. “I am Hispanic and believe me, I know how fearful it is to see a cop,” Acosta said. She recalled instances of driving with Latino children in the car who start shaking when they see police behind them. Boone parent Cassandra Kaczocha said her family has experienced anti-Black racism in CPS, from teachers who won’t make eye contact with her husband to treatment of her son. “Raising a Black boy with learning differences, he’s the most impacted by having police in schools,” Kaczocha said. “All the data in CPS, in Mather, tells me he is the key stakeholder here. Black boys, Black girls with learning differences are the ones most likely to get arrested.” As Mather’s discussion went on, several other LSCs around the city were meeting to take the same vote, including Senn High School two miles east, which also chose not to keep officers. At least eight other CPS high schools had already voted to remove school-based officers, including the district’s biggest school, Lane Tech, with more than 4,000 students. But of 72 district-run schools that had assigned officers last year, more have decided to keep them. CPS’s new proposed budget would cut the spending for officers by more than half, in part because schools will remain closed at least until November because of COVID-19. That means the district “is planning to continue spending $15 million on a program that criminalizes students, especially Black youth,” VOYCE leaders said in their statement, pushing for the removal of police from all schools and “a full reinvestment of those dollars on mental-health services.” At Mather, the transition to security without stationed officers will require community involvement, Auffant said, asking those present to stay for the rest of the meeting and continue to participate in matters such as budgeting and programming as much as they had regarding school police. “The expectation is not that this is a one-and-done,” Auffant said. “That you’re here to support the school.” Lightfoot on Kamala: Trump is underestimating ‘unifying factor that she’s going to bring to this election’ SUN TIMES//Lynn Sweet Mayor Lori Lightfoot said her 12-year-old daughter was “beside herself with joy” when she heard the news about Joe Biden putting Kamala Harris on the Democratic presidential ticket. Harris, the junior senator from California, is the daughter of immigrants, a woman of color whose mother is from India and her father is from Jamaica. On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Lightfoot, asked about a President Donald Trump comment about quelling violence, said he “doesn’t understand the first thing about local policing, about building authentic relationships with members of the community.” Lightfoot appeared on MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show” on Tuesday night and then hit the cable network again for an early-morning spot. On Trump’s latest on Chicago and Lightfoot’s response On Tuesday, Trump brought up at a news conference “the violence, looting, and rioting taking place in the Democrat-controlled cities of New York, Portland, Chicago, and Seattle.” On Chicago, he said, “the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois have 25,000 police officers, sheriffs, and Guardsmen available to quell any violence. They can do it very quickly, very easily if allowed to do their jobs — again, if allowed to do their jobs. Our police, our law enforcement is incredible, but they have to be allowed to do their jobs. The Democrats or the radical-left Democrats — or both, because they’re becoming one and the same, if you look at election results — the Democrats are being taken over by the radical left.” Lightfoot, asked about this on “Morning Joe” said, “those are the words that somebody who doesn’t understand the first thing about local policing, doesn’t understand the first thing about building authentic relationships with members of the community. “Case in point is look at the disastrous efforts of the federal government under this administration in Portland — it didn’t help. It hurt, exacerbated problems. I’m not letting that happen in my city. “Yes, of course we have our challenges, but the thing that the federal government is uniquely qualified to do is things like pass common sense gun reform. Make sure that everybody has background checks. Stop … the availability [of] assault weapons. People that are on a no-fly list shouldn’t be able to get weapons. The list goes on and on, the things that can really help cities to stop putting guns in the hands of criminals. This president has shown an absolute abject unwillingness to even discuss, let alone move on.” On Biden picking Harris to be his running mate Lightfoot told Rachel Maddow, “Look, we know that Donald Trump is hostile to women. He’s a misogynist. ... He doesn’t regard us as being worthy. He’s attacked women all summer long.” Referring to other female Black mayors, Lightfoot said, “every single time he does, he underestimates how tough we are, how resilient we are and how we are ready and able to lead.” “He’s gonna make the same mistake against Kamala Harris, and he is going to be pushed back on his heels. “This is not a woman to be trifled with. She is tough, she is is fearless, and more importantly, she is going to bring into the conversation of this campaign, lots of people who are going to be looking to her as a leader. “They are going to be seeing themselves in her and going to be proud that she is on the stage on a national level, and he is underestimating the unifying factor that she’s going to bring to this election. They always underestimate us to their peril. And they’re going to do the same thing with Kamala.” City kicks off second e-scooter pilot SUN TIMES//Mitch Dudek E-scooters will begin popping up across the city again Wednesday as the city launches its second e-scooter pilot program. Three companies — Bird, Lime and Spin — will be allowed to distribute 9,999 scooters across Chicago; 3,333 scooters per company. The scooters, which travel up to 15 mph, will be available for operation between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. Helmets are encouraged but not required. This year’s four-month pilot is different from last year’s initial trial in several ways. Unlike last year, when the city fielded numerous complaints about scooters being left on sidewalks, the city has baked in safety measures aimed to keep them out of the way of pedestrians when not in use. The scooters will be equipped with locks that require riders to lock the device to a fixed object — such as bike racks, street signs, retired Chicago parking meters (but not bus stop signs) — to end their trip. If scooters are improperly parked, city officials are urging folks to call the number of that particular scooter company, which will be clearly listed on each scooter. Vendors will be required to remedy the situation within two hours of receiving a complaint. The boundaries in which the scooters will be able to operate have been expanded and will include nearly all parts of Chicago except the lakefront trail, The 606 trail and the city’s central business district, which includes the Loop and other portions of the downtown area. Last year, e-scooters were allowed in an area bound by Halsted Street and the Chicago River on the east, Irving Park Road on the north, Harlem Avenue and the city limits on the west, and the Chicago River on the south. Vendors will also be required to deploy at least 50% of their scooters within an “equity priority area” that cover about 43% of the space the scooters can roam. “The equity priority areas cover neighborhoods where residents face systemic disadvantages following generations of underinvestment and inequitable access to transportation and other resources,” according to the mayor’s office. As a CPS grandparent, I’m so saddened by how remote learning has been bungled in Chicago SUN TIMES//Andy Shaw Here we are, on the eve of another ”school” year in toxic times in our dystopian universe, so let me share a few of my “educated” thoughts: Schooling and teaching are in my genes, and in my blood. My late mother taught English for 30 years at two Chicago high schools. One of my daughters is a law school professor in New York City, another runs a network of charter schools in Chicago, a third was on the faculty of a Big Ten University. And me? I was an education reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times and NBC 5 before I took up political reporting at ABC 7 and good government advocacy at the Better Government Association and CHANGE Illinois. So, yes, education is in my genes, and in my blood. And that’s why it’s so sad for me to watch the mishandling of schooling and teaching in Chicago since the pandemic shut down the Chicago Public Schools in mid-March. My wife and I, veterans of alternate schooling scrambles during several long CPS teacher strikes decades ago, were actively involved in last spring’s on-line remote “learning” for two of our CPS grandchildren — one in kindergarten, the other in second grade — while their parents were working, so we experienced the debacle firsthand. Teachers connected with our grandkids on the internet for less than an hour a day. The rest of the day we helped the kids complete assignments that took an hour to an hour and a half. So where was the curriculum for the rest of the school day, the other 60%? Did Chicago school officials sanction this truncation? Was the system simply unprepared for remote learning? And what role did the teachers play in this woefully insufficient travesty? Remote learning was a bad joke — bad for our kids, who were being robbed of their educations; bad for taxpaying parents, who were underwriting the full salaries and benefits of underperforming teachers and administrators; and bad for the image of a city that could have and should have done so much more, and so much better. I say this after my wife and I spent 10 days supervising the remote learning of two other grandchildren — also a kindergartener and a second grader — who were finishing their New York public school semesters at home. It was no Nirvana, but their New York teachers were available for twice as much live interactional learning, and their assignments were twice as challenging over twice as much time each day. Was the New York City school system better prepared for remote learning? Are New York’s teachers more committed to educating their students? And can the difference be attributed, at least in part, to the attitudes and approaches of their respective teachers’ unions? I’m certainly not anti-union — my mother was a loyal member of the Chicago Teachers Union and I was a member of newspaper and TV reporters’ unions — and there are no easy answers to these questions. But I would note that only one of the teachers’ unions — Chicago’s — threatened to strike over the prospect of limited in-person school this fall. Look, I’m as worried about the health risks of in-person schooling as anyone else, and maybe even more, because my wife and I have two precious grandchildren in the CPS system. But before threatening a strike vote, did the teachers union sit down with city and CPS officials to discuss ways in-person schooling might work? Split-shifts for half as many students at a time in isolated, self-contained classroom bubbles; everyone wearing masks and practicing social distancing; frequent sanitizing measures and regular COVID-19 testing? If those truly substantial meetings took place, I never heard about them. If not, shame on all of the parties. City and CPS officials recently announced that there will be no in-person learning this fall. It will all be remote, which prompted former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas to lament an alleged sell-out to the saber-rattling teachers union. I’m not going there. The health and safety of students, teachers and other school workers is a legitimate concern. And without additional funding, maybe CPS couldn’t afford the protective measures I have suggested. But it’s still hard to accept the inability of public officials and educators — local, state and national — to step up for the children at this critical moment. And it’s no surprise that our daughter whose two kids had been enrolled in a CPS school is now developing a safe and carefully controlled alternative curriculum for families that would rather have their kids home schooled in small groups by parents or educators who combine in-person and on-line instruction. Our New York daughter is looking at similar options for her kids. They simply want what is safest and most educationally sound for kids, teachers and parents — goals their public schools haven’t been able to offer or deliver. Did it have to come to this, and how will it all shake out? Will the CPS pledge of a more vigorous and accountable remote learning program be realized? I certainly hope so. But what I know for sure is that public school officials and teachers should be giving us two things: A much better return on our tax dollars, and the better education they’re well compensated to deliver. Andy Shaw chairs the Action Fund board of CHANGE Illinois, a good government advocacy nonprofit. He previously was president & CEO of the Better Government Association and ABC 7’s political reporter. What's at stake—for all of us—if looting flares up again CRAIN’S//Joe Cahill History will record the current moment in one of two ways: either as the time city leaders mustered the courage and competence to stop a descent into uncontrolled lawlessness; or as the time they fumbled their last chance to save Chicago. For the second time in less than three months, looters ran amok through Chicago's downtown and surrounding areas after midnight on Monday, smashing and stealing for hours before a beleaguered police contingent managed to restore order. For the second time in less than three months, business owners are boarding up windows, adding up losses and wondering why the city isn't doing more to protect them. For the second time in less than three months, residents of Streeterville, River North and other neighborhoods once considered reasonably safe but recently stalked by growing crime fears are wondering if it's time to sell while their homes still have some value. A third time would be one too many. Residents and businesses likely will give the city one more chance to quell disorder and secure the streets. But they'll be gone if anything like Monday's mayhem happens again. Anyone who remembers or has studied the postwar era knows the corrosive effect of fear on cities like Chicago. It's deadlier to urban health than any pandemic, or even the dire fiscal woes facing Chicago. And it can cripple a city's ability to meet those challenges. Here's a bit of good news. Local leaders can prevent this outcome if they're willing to do what's necessary to snuff out fear. That means fast, forceful, effective action to stop looters from ransacking Chicago again. Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Police Superintendent David Brown need a comprehensive plan to detect the earliest stirrings of unrest and deploy overwhelming force—thousands of officers, not the 400 pressed into service Monday—to smother the next conflagration before it starts. State's Attorney Kim Foxx and Cook County judges need to make clear, through their handling of cases from both recent outbreaks, that all lawbreakers will face maximum charges and penalties. I'm not going to wade into the finger-pointing between Lightfoot, Brown and Foxx, except to note that all three bear some responsibility for the disorder on Chicago streets. A key catalyst for the wanton, widespread destruction wrought by Monday's mobs was a flourishing sense of impunity among local criminals, which wouldn't have taken root if those leaders had been doing their jobs effectively. I will describe what's likely to happen if they don't meet this pivotal moment. Pervasive fear of crime is a surefire prescription for economic collapse. Don't believe me? Look at cities like Detroit, or Chicago neighborhoods where once-thriving commercial corridors still bear the craters of 1960s riots. It starts in real estate. A one-two punch of fear scares off buyers just as nervous residents put condos and houses up for sale. Economics 101 takes over, as excess supply and dwindling demand drive down values. And as values decline, builders who have been investing in city neighborhoods take their money elsewhere. Neighborhoods in and around downtown, which rode an urban renaissance over the past three decades, are teetering on a knife's edge. Demand for homes in those areas depends on the attractions of city living: access to cultural amenities, the lakefront, restaurants, retailers and vibrant urban street life. But those attractions become as remote as Nome to residents afraid to leave home at night. When people with disposable income leave, retailers catering to middle- and upper-class consumers follow. With them go jobs. Sadly, the jobs at risk are among the few available and accessible to people without college degrees who live in struggling South and West Side neighborhoods. Conventions and tourism, a major economic engine for Chicago, can't survive a climate of fear. COVID-19 has caused many groups to cancel gatherings this year. Perceptions of safety in Chicago will influence their decisions about whether to come back here when the virus abates. One of the attractions of Chicago as a convention site is the opportunity it offers out-of-towners to sample the delights of a world-class city in safety. But if crime fears keep conventioneers cooped up in conference halls and hotel rooms, they might as well meet in Orlando or Las Vegas. A decline in conventions would deal a heavy blow to local hotels, restaurants and other businesses that cater to conventioneers. Again, these industries offer employment to Chicagoans with limited options. Before long, Chicago's appeal as a headquarters location will fade as crime fears fray the fabric of downtown life. A reversal of the back-to-the-city trend that has brought many large companies to Chicago would put the metropolitan area at a disadvantage in the competition for corporate investment, reducing opportunity for people across our region. City tax revenues would shrink along with economic activity and property values. The neighborhoods hit by Monday's looting represent an outsize share of Chicago's already-stressed tax base. With less money from Michigan Avenue sales taxes and Gold Coast property taxes, Chicago would struggle to fund basic city services, let alone additional programs to address social inequities. Call me alarmist, but there's plenty of historical precedent for this scenario. History also tells us who suffers most when fear of uncontrolled crime hollows out city neighborhoods: those without the resources to flee for safety beyond the city limits. Of course, aggressive law enforcement is only part of the solution to Chicago's crime problem. The city needs programs to address root causes of crime over the long term. But Chicago's long-term prospects look grim without effective short-term measures to restore the rule of law on city streets. These firms are ready to build coach houses in Chicago CRAIN’S//Dennis Rodkin Coach houses, or second houses on a residential lot, could be on the verge of comeback in Chicago, and in case they do, some local firms are already hoping to ride this new wave of small, affordable homes. Mayor Lori Lightfoot introduced an ordinance in May that would allow, for the first time since 1957, construction of new accessory dwelling units, including attic and basement apartments and coach houses. The City Council could approve the plan as soon as its Sept. 9 meeting. “Granny flats” built in attics and basements would largely be rehabs of existing space, but coach houses are likely to be new construction, in part because most city homes’ existing detached garages weren’t built to support the weight of a second-story addition. Replacing an alley garage with a two-story building that contains both parking and a residential unit may be the most common fit for new coach houses in Chicago, a city of alleys. New coach houses have the best chance of proliferating in the city’s neighborhoods “if they can be well designed and beneficial for the homeowner,” said Danielle Tillman, managing director of Chicago architecture firm bKL. The firm collaborated with Focus Development, also in Chicago, to develop a prototype that would meet Chicago zoning requirements. Windows and doors, she said, will be crucial design elements that signal to passersby that the building is a home, not a tall storage unit, and to make residents feel welcome and comfortable in a small space. A typical coach house on a standard Chicago lot would include about 500 square feet of second-story space. Keeping the staircase outside or borrowing some first-floor garage space for an entry hall would enlarge the living space a bit. “They have to look and feel residential, but like a modest residential structure,” said Dick Co, an owner and president of Evanston Development Cooperative, which is working within that suburb’s recently loosened constraints on coach houses. Building a wild new piece of architecture on the rear of a lot would defeat the purpose of adding affordable housing options—although that’s not to say some homeowners won’t want to build a statement piece out back. A rendering of a an alley coach house designed by Evanston Development Cooperative Co’s firm plans to break ground on its first new coach house in the fall and has three other orders pending. The firm has not announced plans to work in Chicago if the ordinance passes. Although built as cost-effective affordable housing and generally on an alley or secondary part of the site without a traditional street-facing front facade, a coach house “should be something people should look at and say, ‘Oh, I can see myself living there,’” Co said. It’s not cheap. Vic Howell, development manager at Focus, said the two-story prototype for Chicago, which contains a 500-square-foot apartment and parking for two cars, would cost about $200,000 to build. Co estimated the same price for a new coach house in Evanston. A third firm, Chicago Granny Flats, has a plan to build a similar garage/coach house combo for $125,000 to $150,000. The firm is headed by David Wallach, a longtime Chicago builder who now owns Wally Walls, a Kenosha maker of prefabricated steel wall panels that reduce cost and construction time. Built of light-gauge steel and dense insulation, his coach houses would be highly energy-efficient, Wallach said. A rendering from Chicago Granny Flats of a a two-story coach house and garage. Wallach said he has two clients lined up who plan to build if the ordinance passes. There is profit potential: Factoring in current mortgage rates and what apartments go for, Howell said a homeowner would have a net income of $2,000 a year on the unit if it’s used as a rental and not a supplemental living space for a family member. In the latter case, Co said, “many people would find that spending $200,000 to build a place for their grandmother to live on their own land is a cost-effective alternative to paying for her to live in an elderly care facility.” Feds Subpoena Records Of Bridgeport Home Belonging To Chicago Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson WBEZ//Tony Arnold, Dan Mihalopoulos Federal investigators have sought mortgage records pertaining to the home of 11th Ward Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson — the same bungalow in Bridgeport where the alderman’s grandfather Richard J. Daley and his family lived when he was Chicago’s most famous mayor. In a grand-jury subpoena sent to Cook County officials on Sept. 4, 2019, prosecutors asked for property records dating back to 2011 for the brick house in the 3500 block of South Lowe Avenue. The feds also asked in September for mortgage and sale documents for another property on the same block that Thompson and his wife, Kathleen, had owned and sold about three years ago, according to the subpoena obtained by WBEZ this month. And in a separate subpoena, investigators are also seeking documents related to the alderman’s Grand Beach, Michigan home. The couple had owned the former mayor’s house since shortly after Thompson’s grandmother Eleanor “Sis” Daley died in 2003, records show. The relatively modest bungalow long underscored the working-man image that Richard J. Daley developed during more than two decades as mayor, from 1955 until his death in 1976. Thompson — a lawyer who has been alderman of the family’s South Side power base since 2015 — said he has no idea why federal agents would be interested in his home records. “I don’t know anything you’re talking about in terms of the subpoena for my house — records — I have no idea,” Daley Thompson said. “I don’t know anything about it.” A spokesman for the top federal prosecutor in Chicago, U.S. Attorney John Lausch, declined to comment on the subpoena for documents related to the Daley ancestral home or other subpoenas related to the investigation that WBEZ recently obtained through a FOIA request to the Recorder of Deeds. The Chicago Sun-Times reported in April 2019 that authorities were looking at Thompson as part of their probe into a failed neighborhood bank that made a loan for a building owned by the 11th Ward Regular Democratic Organization. The ward organization is led by Thompson’s uncle John Daley, who’s also a Cook County commissioner. Thompson’s mother, Patricia Martino, grew up in the bungalow on Lowe, together with her more politically involved siblings. In addition to Richard J. Daley, the city’s most influential clan includes son Richard M. Daley, who was mayor from 1989 until 2011, and another son, William Daley, who was a chief of staff in President Barack Obama’s White House. Thompson and his wife bought his grandparents’ bungalow for $415,000 in 2003, county land records show. But Patrick Daley Thompson and Kathleen Thompson then got a $454,000 loan from Morgan Stanley Private Bank N.A. in November 2018, one of the only transactions on the house that falls within the time frame listed on the subpoena. County records show the loan, a refinance of their Bridgeport home, was to be repaid at an initial interest rate of 4.7%, which could be adjusted in seven years, depending on changes in the interest-rate market. The same bank that gave the Thompsons the $454,000 mortgage in Bridgeport also loaned the couple $250,000 in late 2018 for their country home in Grand Beach, a resort town in southwest Michigan. On the same day prosecutors issued their subpoena for documents related to the Bridgeport homes, they also sent a subpoena to the Berrien County, Mich., Register of Deeds. Investigators are seeking real estate records for Thompson’s Grand Beach home going back to 2011, according to the document obtained by WBEZ. The 2019 subpoena to the Cook County Recorder of Deeds office also sought records for a home in the 3500 block of South Lowe Avenue, which the alderman and his wife owned for nearly 20 years. The Thompsons bought that house in 1998 for $157,500 and sold it in February 2017 for $335,000. The feds’ subpoena time frame would also include records from the 2017 sale and a subsequent sale of the home last year. The current home owner and the person who bought the home from Thompson both said they’ve not been contacted by federal agents. The grand jury that issued the subpoena for documents on the houses on Lowe is the same one investigating Washington Federal Bank for Savings, according to court documents obtained by WBEZ. And the same prosecutor who has been looking into Washington Federal — Assistant U.S. Atty. Brian Netols — asked county officials for the documents pertaining to the two properties on Lowe. In a court hearing in October, Netols told a federal judge in Chicago there could be “many” people charged in the investigation of the bank, which was located in Bridgeport. Other subpoenas sent to county officials sought records on properties associated with the bank, including a condo building in the 3800 block of South Lowe Avenue. Washington Federal made loans to that building’s owner, William Mahon — a $126,000-a-year deputy commissioner in Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation, according to the city’s website. Mahon’s attorney did not return calls for comment. Officers Involved In Englewood Shooting Hadn’t Yet Been Assigned Body Cams, Prosecutors Say BLOCK CLUB//Bob Chiarito CHICAGO — A man who allegedly fired shots at Chicago Police officers in Englewood was ordered held without bail Tuesday, as Cook County prosecutors told a judge the officers on scene had not yet been given body cams. In bond court Tuesday, a Cook County judge had set bail at $1 million for Latrell Allen, charged with two counts of attempted murder for allegedly shooting at Chicago Police officers Sunday afternoon. Assistant State’s Attorney Jim Murphy said the new charges violate Allen’s probation from pleading guilty to felony burglary in 2019. The judge agreed and ordered the 20-year-old held in custody. Allen’s case has drawn protests from activists and community members who said police were not justified in shooting him. They’ve also questioned why none of the officers involved in the case were wearing body cams. Prosecutors said in court the officers were part of a newly-formed community policing unit that hasn’t been equipped with the cameras. Late Monday, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability also said officers weren’t wearing body cams and asked members of the public to come forward with any video of the shooting. Allen is currently being treated at University of Chicago Hospital after being shot in his cheek and abdomen, an Englewood (7th) District officer said Tuesday. Assistant Public Defender Scott Finger, who said he has been unable to talk to his client or his family, said Allen said he was shot five times. “The main point here is that there’s no body cameras on any of these officers,” Finger said. “In 2020 they can’t get cameras on these officers? I think there’s an expectation that every officer have a camera in this case.” The incident began around 2:30 pm. Sunday in Moran Park at 57th Street and Racine Avenue, Murphy said. Four uniformed officers in an unmarked police SUV responded to a call from a someone saying a man with a gun wearing a red shirt and red hat was “trying to fight and would not leave the park,” prosecutors said. Allen was with two other men or boys when police drove up to him with their lights activated, prosecutors said. Allen looked at the SUV before turning and running east on 57th Street and then north on May Street. Three officers got out of their SUV and pursued Allen on foot. The fourth officer drove to 56th Street and parked before joining the chase. Prosecutors said the officer closest to Allen saw him pull out a gun as he ran southbound into an alley. Then a second officer joined in and Allen “turned and fired multiple shots up the alley at both victim officers,” Murphy said. Two officers returned fire, striking Allen, and he fell to the ground briefly before getting up and continuing to run through a vacant lot towards Aberdeen, Murphy said. The officers lost sight of Allen but followed a trail of blood into a residence in the 5600 block of South Aberdeen. A short time later, a relative from that home called 911 to report Allen was shot, Murphy said. Officers entered the home and took Allen into custody. Officers later recovered a gun from the alley near where Allen fired, Murphy said. Police recovered eight shell casings from where they said Allen shot at the officers, and 13 casings from where police opened fire. Finger did not say whether Allen fired shots. “All recovered casings were 9mm but were distinctly different in appearance. Those from the officer’s guns were newer, silver police-issued and those from the defendant’s gun were older and copper colored,” Murphy said. Finger criticized the prosecution’s case, saying in addition to no body cam footage, authorities haven’t presented any forensic evidence from the scene or any witnesses who claim to have seen Allen with a weapon before the police chase. “At this time, there are no firearms results, there’s no DNA results, there’s no latent print results,” Finger said. “One thing I didn’t hear the state mention was the gunshot residue swab. Why didn’t they swab his hands? “This is a case where they are alleging that they justifiably shot him because he shot at them and they didn’t swab his hands. … I believe there are some questions to be answered.” In July, Allen was charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct and child endangerment and is scheduled appear in court on the case Aug. 14, Murphy said. Additionally, Allen served 18 months probation after a felony battery conviction in February 2017, according to Murphy. Allen is next due in court on the attempted murder charges Aug.13. After Allen was shot Sunday, social media posts spread saying police had shot and killed a child. Police Supt. David Brown said social media posts later were shared encouraging to loot Downtown. Soon, hundreds of people went Downtown and caused a night of destruction and looting, forcing the city to shut down a large section of the area. Community leaders and activists said police could have done more to diffuse the situation by providing more information about the shooting from the beginning. It wasn’t until the day after the looting that police and city leaders, in response to the false information, finally confirmed Allen was 20 years old and had survived the shooting. Scooters Are Back Starting Wednesday — And This Time, They’ll Be (Almost) Everywhere BLOCK CLUB//Kelly Bauer CHICAGO — The city’s second e-scooter pilot begins Wednesday. The pilot will be much larger and more expansive than the one held in 2019, with about 10,000 scooters spread throughout Chicago. It’ll last four months. Scooters will be rideable 5 a.m.-10 p.m. daily, though the vendors for this pilot — Bird, Lime and Spin — are allowed to leave them out overnight this time, according to the Mayor’s Office. And while last year’s pilot saw the e-scooters confined to certain neighborhoods, they’ll now be distributed throughout the city and allowed everywhere but on the 606, the Lakefront Trail and Downtown. Vendors will have to send half their scooters to “priority areas” on the South and West sides at 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. to ensure they’re distributed equitably, according to the Department of Transportation. Riders can only go up to 15 mph, are not allowed to ride on sidewalks and are encouraged to wear helmets, according to the Mayor’s Office. Scooters will also need to have lock-technology, meaning riders will have to lock them to a bike rack or other object to end their trip. And vendors will have to require new riders to take an in-app safety quiz and other education, will have to host educational events and will have to host helmet giveaways, the city said. More information about this year’s pilot is available online. The city’s first pilot for scooters in 2019 ended with “mixed results,” which is why officials opted for a second one. Survey results and data from 2019’s scooter pilot showed more than 820,000 rides were taken during the four-month pilot. But Chicagoans were divided over the scooters, with some saying they were a hazard or nuisance while other said they provided a more environmentally-friendly and convenient way of traveling small distances. Older Englewood Leaders To Young Protesters: Don’t ‘Disrupt Our Neighborhood’ And Leave Us With Angry Police BLOCK CLUB//Bob Chiarito ENGLEWOOD — Lifelong Englewood resident Keith Harris knows about tragedy, having lost his only child, 29-year-old Keith Richmond, to gun violence Saturday. So when protesters, many of whom he said were from outside Englewood, showed up in front of the Englewood (7th) District police station Tuesday night to protest police violence without informing older neighborhood activists, Harris saw it as an affront. The young group was met by older Englewood activists and residents with megaphones, who shouted at them to go home. The clash outside the police station highlighted a generational divide between activists. “They’re agitators,” Harris said. “Their heart might be in the right place, but they are being led down the wrong road. They need to be led in a different direction.” The protest — organized by Black Lives Matter Chicago, the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, GoodKids MadCity and Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation, according to flyers — started as a car caravan and ended with a rally in front of the police station. The activists were protesting after 20-year-old Latrell Allen was shot by police Sunday in Englewood. Allen survived the shooting and is expected to recover. Police have said Allen shot at officers during a foot chase — which his family has said is untrue — and he’s been charged with attempted murder. The issue residents like Harris and Darryl Smith, Englewood Political Task Force president, had with the younger protesters and activists is they said they received no communication about the planned protest. “Y’all don’t come out when the kids get shot. Y’all come out when it has something to do with the f—ing police,” Smith said. “We out here every day watching our kids get their brains blown out, with no budget, no resources. Y’all motherf—ers getting all the resources, and you want to come over here and disrupt our neighborhood.” With news cameras rolling, they didn’t want the protesters to be the only ones speaking for the people of Englewood. And when outside protesters get the police upset, they leave neighborhood residents to deal with angry police, Smith said. “Y’all see the riot gear? This the s— we gotta deal when y’all leave,” he said. One of the groups protesting, GoodKids MadCity, is composed of Englewood residents, including 18-year-old West Englewood resident Miracle Boyd, who had her teeth knocked out by a police officer at the Columbus protest in Grant Park in July. The group routinely marches against violence that plagues young people on the South Side and has loudly denounced violence against children. After the protest Tuesday, GoodKids MadCity said on Twitter they left because “aggressive agitators were being disruptive & tried to provoke us into a confrontation. We live in #Englewood…” Harris, who is 52, said their anger against the young protesters is justified. They think Englewood residents are being largely blamed for the Downtown looting that took place overnight Sunday, noting Police Supt. David Brown said the first reported incident of looting happened at 87th and the Dan Ryan, outside of Englewood. “Why would a person from Englewood, from 63rd Street, go to 87th Street and start a caravan to go Downtown? We would just get on the expressway and go downtown?” Smith said. “We have to stop letting outsiders come into our community and antagonize our police. Now our police are bitter with us. We’re not gonna have it.” Looking toward the younger protesters on the street, some from outside the neighborhood, Smith said: “No one there has to deal with these police after today. When they leave, the police are going to be pulling us over, the police are going to be pulling our kids out of cars for no reason because they are bitter now. You come and shut down 63rd Street, all this extra manpower, they’re mad.” One such protester, 17-year-old Saint Gates, who said he lived on the South Side but not in Englewood, confronted the older Englewood men. “I’m 17. You’ve been doing this for 30 years; you haven’t gotten any results. We are the youth, let us try,” Gates shouted through a megaphone. To that, Harris told a reporter, “The wheel has been around since before I was born. We don’t reinvent the wheel. If the wheel is a circle, you don’t make it square because it might not ride the way you want it to ride. You get another tire or you improve on the tire. You don’t just dismantle it.” Later, Gates was more contrite. “We’re approaching it two different ways. I can respect their anger because they live here. They see it every day. The kids who died are their kids,” he said. Another protester from outside Englewood, 29-year-old Julio Miramontes from the Southeast Side and a member of the Chicago Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, said the decision by organizers to not contact anyone in Englewood beforehand was a mistake. “I totally understand the frustrations of someone from a neighborhood not wanting outsiders to tell them how issues should be dealt with,” Miramontes said. “I came here to support, but when I got here I found out that none of the organizers of this event had actually coordinated with anyone from the neighborhood and I think that’s wrong.” Englewood activist Joseph Williams said even someone as respected as Jesse Jackson would have contacted someone in the community before coming to protest something. “I respect Jesse Jackson, I love him. But at the end of the day, even Jesse Jackson would call the alderman or someone to connect with before he would come into that community,” said Williams, founder of Mr. Dad’s Fathers Club. Perhaps nothing emphasized the generational gap more than when Gates, who is 17, asked 42-year-old Duane Kidd for what answer he had to the problems the Black community is facing. “You want a quick, short answer to a problem that old? We’ve been oppressed since we got off ships,” Kidd responded. Harris also took issue with what he called the “social media cancel culture activism,” saying his organization helped young people get jobs, contrasting it with recent activism that led the city to remove Christopher Columbus statues in Chicago. “We’ve been doing this, we’ve been fighting for Black lives and against crime and violence,” Harris said. “Our organization since 2003 have put young men and women into construction jobs. We’ve changed lives…we got young men and women here who never had a job in their lives, jobs. And now they have careers and they are raising their families and setting an example for other young men and women. “They got a statue torn down. How did that benefit anybody? What’s the benefit of that? How many people can open up a business because that statue got torn down?” After about an hour, the younger protesters left the area, with several saying they were respecting the wishes of the Englewood residents. Some marched for a few blocks away from the station before heading to their cars and leaving. Englewood Police. Cmdr. Larry Snelling, who walked between the groups and at times helped to cool tempers on both sides, said the confrontation could be a positive. “I think it’s a good thing. I think it’s an education for both sides,” Snelling said. “I think these people need to see the people that actually live in this neighborhood and what they deal with on a daily basis. These people walk in here spewing things based on misinformation and limited information.” Police Close Down West Garfield Park Corridor After Confrontation With People Looting In The Area BLOCK CLUB//Pascal Sabino WEST GARFIELD PARK — Stores in a West Garfield Park business corridor stayed closed Tuesday, a day after activists helped mediate issues between police and crowds of people amid reports of looting and property damage. Police officers shut down a stretch of Madison Street in West Garfield Park Monday as they tried to push back people. A large crowd had gathered outside the stores in the main commercial backbone of the neighborhood near the intersection of Madison Street and Karlov Avenue. The incident came just hours after widespread looting Downtown that started Sunday afternoon when police officers shot and wounded a Black man in Englewood. The civil unrest was exacerbated by false, widespread rumors the victim was a 15-year-old boy whom police shot 15 times, and that he had been killed. Chicago Police officers, SWAT teams and Cook County Sheriff’s officers confronted the West Garfield Park crowd to stop damage to the businesses in the area, police said. “They were trying to loot along that corridor. So then we pushed things out to the perimeter,” said Chicago Police spokesman Rocco Alito. Members of the crowd threw rocks, bottles and bricks and two Chicago Police officers were injured, Alito said. A spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office said one officer was hit in the head with a brick and taken to the hospital. Officers eventually cleared Madison Street and surrounding areas, leaving the commercial corridor empty. Police initially closed the area bordered by Washington and Jackson boulevards, and from Keeler Avenue to Independence Boulevard. By Tuesday, most roads were reopened, but Madison Street remained blocked off by squad cars and garbage trucks between Independence Boulevard and Karlov Avenue. Alito said no arrests were made Monday related to the incident. People in the area said police responded to the incident much more quickly than they did during riots in June. Those riots devastated many of the West Side’s main commercial corridors. Chris Patterson, of the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago, said the heavy police response may have initially escalated tensions among the crowd, but it was effective at ending the looting Monday. Patterson and others at the violence prevention organization attempted to help resolve the situation peacefully, he said. “We were able to mediate a few of those instances where we got in between community members and law enforcement just to encourage calm on both sides,” Patterson said. It’s unclear why the Madison corridor was targeted. Patterson said he felt the looting erupted from a place of desperation after struggling for years with unemployment and neglect in the neighborhood. “When people who often are not heard, people who obviously are lacking resources, they take those opportunities to get it, unfortunately in the wrong way,” Patterson said. “It’s not acceptable, but we understand why it happens.” Longtime resident Phillip Houston said he’s been in the area for more than seven decades. But in all that time, little has been done to address the poor housing conditions, poverty and addiction issues that plague the area. Residents who have suffered their entire lives from inequality will seize any chance they can get to take their fair share and level the playing field, Houston said. The looting may be opportunistic, Houston said, but it is also a response to the structural racism and lack of equity that has crippled the West Side for generations. “They ain’t got nothing. They got no job, they got no money. … They’re gonna get in trouble because they have nothing else to live for, so what they got to lose?” Houston said. “They need to put more money into helping people get jobs. Then it wouldn’t be like this.” Lightfoot announces review of Chicago monuments as part of ‘a racial healing and historical reckoning project’ TRIBUNE//Gregory Pratt and Blair Kamin Nearly three weeks after ordering the removal of Christopher Columbus statues in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday announced the formation of a committee to review the city’s monuments as part of “a racial healing and historical reckoning project.” The Lightfoot administration also said it will commission “a series of temporary public artworks that focus on a broader range of topics around COVID-19, inequality, and racial reconciliation.” The panel’s co-chairs will be Mark Kelly, who heads the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events; Bonnie McDonald, president and CEO of Landmarks Illinois; and Jennifer Scott, director and chief curator of Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. In making the announcement, Lightfoot referred obliquely to her middle-of-the-night removal of the Columbus Statues in Grant Park and Little Italy, a move she has insisted was temporary and based on public safety concerns. She later ordered the removal of a smaller Columbus statue in South Chicago. “This effort is not just about a single statue or mural, but how we create a platform to channel our city’s dynamic civic energy to purposefully reflect our values as Chicagoans and uplift the stories of our city’s residents, particularly when it comes to the permanent memorialization of our history and shared heritage,” Lightfoot said in a news release. Even before the unrest sparked by the killing of George Floyd, cities around the country were grappling with controversies over monuments that celebrate Columbus, Confederate leaders and other historical figures. Some have been marked with graffiti. Others have been pulled down. Activists have urged that public art do a better job of representing a broad spectrum of American life, something Lightfoot said the Chicago effort will accomplish. It “will provide a vehicle to address the hard truths of Chicago’s racial history, confront the ways in which that history has and has not been memorialized, and develop a framework for marking public space that elevates new ways to memorialize Chicago’s true and complete history,” she said. The city’s effort will have four main goals: Cataloging monuments and public art on city property and the property of related agencies like the Chicago Park District; filling out the advisory committee that will “determine which pieces warrant attention or action”; recommending new monuments or public art; and creating a dialogue about Chicago’s past. The goal is for the panel, which will have about 20 members, to complete its report by the end of this year, following an artist-led community engagement process. In late July, activists forcibly attempted to remove the prominent statue of Columbus in Grant Park, leading to violent clashes between police and protesters. Lightfoot accused a group of individuals who wielded black umbrellas as they pelted police with projectiles of inciting anarchy. Nearly a week later, in the middle of the night, Lightfoot took down statues of Columbus in Grant Park and Little Italy, saying it was a “temporary” decision to prevent further conflict. Later, Lightfoot also removed a lesser known statue in the South Chicago neighborhood. She has not said whether the statues will go up again where they were but has reiterated that the removals will be “temporary.” Some activists and aldermen who called for the statues to be removed are skeptical that the statues will go back up where they once stood. Chicago’s ‘Problematic’ Statues, Monuments Could Come Down After New Committee Reviews Them BLOCK CLUB//Kelly Bauer CHICAGO — The city is starting to catalog monuments and public art and is appointing a committee that will flag pieces that are problematic for possible removal. The project, announced in a Wednesday press release from the Mayor’s Office, comes just weeks after the city pulled down three statues of Christopher Columbus amid protests over the monuments and violent clashes between police and activists. The project will begin with the creation of an advisory committee this month, according to the Mayor’s Office. The city aims to have final recommendations for addressing existing and new monuments by the end of the year. The project will have four objectives, according to the city: * Catalog monuments and public art on city or sister agency property. * Appoint an advisory committee to determine which pieces warrant attention or action. * Make recommendations on any new monuments or public art that could be commissioned. * Create a platform for the public to engage in a civic dialogue about Chicago’s history. The committee will be led by Mark Kelly, commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events; Bonnie McDonald, president and CEO of Landmarks Illinois; and Jennifer Scott, the director and chief curator of the Jane Addams Hull House Museum. Artists, historians and elected officials from throughout the city will serve on the committee, as well, according to the Mayor’s Office. They’ll review the city’s current inventory of public art and “identify and prioritize artworks that may be problematic.” The committee will make a report that will recommend next steps for monuments, statues and other memorials. It will also make recommendations about how the city can commission monuments moving forward. Mayor Lori Lightfoot previously said the city needs to better represent women and people of color in its monuments. Members of the public will have options to weigh in while the advisory committee reviews the artwork, though the city didn’t immediately detail how. The community engagement process will begin this summer and last throughout the fall. The city will use feedback to make a plan to put up new monuments “that equitably acknowledge Chicago’s shared history,” according to the Mayor’s Office. The city will also commission and put up temporary artwork that focuses on topics around the coronavirus pandemic, inequality and racial reconciliation, according to the Mayor’s Office. Development for that will begin this summer. The city’s announcement of its plans came after the removal of three statues of Columbus in late July. The statues are being kept in a storage facility; officials haven’t said what will happen to them, but Lightfoot has said their removal was temporary. At that time, Lightfoot said the city needed to create a formal process to assess Chicago’s monuments “and develop a framework for creating a public dialogue to determine how we elevate our city’s history and diversity.” Activists called for the city to remove the statues for years. They’re still demanding the removal of other artistic memorials to problematic figures, like the Balbo Monument, which honors an Italian fascist leader. Lightfoot Launches Review of Chicago Monuments After Controversy Over Columbus Statues WTTW//Heather Cherone After protests forced Mayor Lori Lightfoot to remove the city’s statues of Christopher Columbus, the city will launch an effort to “provide a vehicle to address the hard truths of Chicago’s racial history,” the mayor’s office announced Wednesday. The effort is designed to “develop a framework for marking public space that elevates new ways to memorialize Chicago’s true and complete history,” according to the mayor’s office, which will work with officials from the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Chicago Park District and the Chicago Public Schools on the effort. The “racial healing and historical reckoning project” will assess memorials, monuments and other art across Chicago, officials said. “The project will grapple with the often unacknowledged – or forgotten – history associated with the City’s various municipal art collections,” the mayor’s office said in a statement. There are no monuments to women in Chicago, a fact that Lightfoot has decried. “There are no monuments that reflect the contributions of people in the city of Chicago who contributed to the greatness of this city,” Lightfoot said July 20. Lightfoot initially resisted calls for the city’s Columbus statues to be removed in the wake of the anti-police brutality protests that swept the nation in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, saying they should be used as teaching tools. “I think that the way we educate our young people, in particular, about their history is to educate them about the full history,” Lightfoot said on June 18. However, Lightfoot ordered the statues in Grant and Arrigo parks removed July 23 after protests turned violent. Lightfoot said demonstrators attacked officers, while those urging that the statues be removed said they were brutalized by police. A third statue on the Southeast Side was also removed. “This effort is not just about a single statue or mural, but how we create a platform to channel our city’s dynamic civic energy to purposefully reflect our values as Chicagoans and uplift the stories of our city’s residents, particularly when it comes to the permanent memorialization of our history and shared heritage,” Lightfoot said in a statement that accompanied the announcement of the review. The city will form an advisory committee, to be chaired by Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Mark Kelly, Landmarks Illinois CEO Bonnie McDonald and Jane Addams Hull-House Museum Chief Curator Jennifer Scott. The advisory committee will include artists, historians and elected officials from all over Chicago. Members will be asked to “review the city’s current public art inventory and identify and prioritize artworks that may be problematic,” officials said. The committee’s report, expected by the end of the year, will include recommendations for new monuments that should be commissioned by the city, officials said. City officials also announced plans to commission a series of temporary public art pieces “that focus on a broader range of topics around COVID-19, inequality, and racial reconciliation.” Group demands Mercy Hospital remain open SUN TIMES//Stefano Esposito A group of African American activists are demanding Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker end their “deafening silence” about the planned closure of Mercy Hospital & Medical Center and fight to keep it open. “We have endured years of black communities being demonized, while a system has snatched away our basic quality-of-life institutions — those institutions that most Chicagoans take for granted,” Jitu Brown, director of Journey 4 Justice, told reporters gathered outside Mercy Wednesday morning. The activists say they want Mercy, on the South Side, and St. Anthony’s Hospital on the West Side, to be fully funded or they want the governor and the mayor to support a consolidation plan that fizzled earlier this year due to a lack of state money. “We want to see more than Black Lives Matter on T-shirts. We want to see more than people putting Black Lives Matter on their websites and renaming statues; none of that changes the conditions of the people in our communities,” Brown said. Last month, Mercy, the city’s first chartered hospital, announced plans to close in 2021 after a plan to merge with three other money-losing hospitals collapsed when the Illinois General Assembly wrapped up a shortened session without committing any money to the proposal. Mercy, 2525 S. Michigan Ave., has struggled with financial problems for decades, due in part to a declining population in the surrounding neighborhoods. When Mercy announced plans to close, the mayor’s office said in a statement it was “saddened to see such a staple institution in our South Side community plan to close its doors.” Brown said his group plans to submit a “quality-of-life plan” to both Lightfoot’s and Pritzker’s offices, detailing what the group says are much-needed investments in health care, education and economic development in predominantly African America communities. Long delayed pot dispensary licenses to be issued starting next month, officials say while announcing new tiebreaker rules SUN TIMES//Tom Schuba State officials announced Wednesday that new rules have been adopted to break ties between applicants seeking licenses to sell recreational weed, resolving an administrative hurdle that has contributed to a lengthy delay in issuing the new permits. Charity Greene, a spokesman for Pritzker’s office, said the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation is expected to begin issuing the 75 new licenses in September, more than three months after they were initially slated to be doled out. Though monthly sales of recreational pot have continued to climb during the COVID-19 pandemic — with the state tallying a record $61 million in July — the public health crisis has stymied the issuance of all new cannabis licenses prioritized to the so-called social equity applicants the law was written to benefit. Now, the other licenses to grow, infuse and transport pot products are also expected to be issued “in the near future,” according to the IDFPR. Toi Hutchinson, Pritzker’s top cannabis adviser, said the new guidelines approved by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules allow the dispensary permits to be handed out “in a fair manner.” “The administration looks forward to completing this first round of applications in the coming weeks and beginning the disparity study that will ensure our goals of creating a diverse, equitable cannabis industry in Illinois are being met,” said Hutchinson, pointing to an upcoming report that will determine how many new licenses will be made available in the future. On April 30, Pritzker signed an executive order delaying the new dispensary licenses that were supposed to be handed out the following day. But the move ultimately gave way to a another issue: Licenses are being awarded based on numerical scores, but the emergency rules for resolving ties among dispensary applicants expired on June 5. The new rules were only just adopted because state law requires a 90-day review period for them to go into effect. Under the new rules, the IDFPR will publicly announce the applicants with tied high scores who can participate in a random drawing for conditional licenses. The winners will then have 180 days to find a location to set up shop within the region they applied to operate, the IDFPR said. The 17 regions mirror those used by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to gather wage and employment data. What’s more, officials said the other cannabis licenses that have been delayed are now being “finalized.” “The Illinois Department of Agriculture will announce award dates in the near future,” the IDFPR said. ‘It Was a Planned Attack.’ Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Says Looting Was Organized TIME//W.J. Hennigan A day after looters smashed-in retailer’s windows, carried away loads of high-end merchandise and overwhelmed police officers in downtown Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot says the violence was an organized raid and not a demonstration of angry protest. “When people showed up on Michigan Avenue in the downtown area with U-Haul trucks and cargo vans, and sophisticated equipment used to cut metal, and the methods that were used, and how quickly it got spun up… that wasn’t any spontaneous reaction,” Lightfoot told TIME in her fifth-floor offices at Chicago’s City Hall on Tuesday. The chaos that unfolded Sunday night, and into the predawn hours Monday, was initially blamed on a police shooting in the city’s southside Englewood neighborhood. News of the incident—along with misinformation that a minor had been shot—pinballed on social media, resulting in “caravans” of cars headed north downtown, Lightfoot says. “To be sure, there are people that did join in that were motivated by lots of different reasons, and certainly were motivated by social media posts encouraging people to come downtown,” Lightfoot says. “But the core of what happened — that’s organized criminal activity… It was a planned attack.” For three hours that night, Chicago was under virtual siege. Hundreds of people flooded the streets. Looters broke into buildings and came out with armfuls of jewelry, clothes, electronics and other goods. The 911 switchboard was swamped with 1,800 calls between midnight and 3 a.m., a figure that’s typically in the teens at those hours. Lightfoot says the looters knew that police staffing would be low that early Monday morning and therefore picked “the moments where they feel like they have the best opportunity to make a move.” The city’s Magnificent Mile and other shopping districts were hit with widespread theft, vandalism and destruction. Many of the businesses were big-name retailers like Gucci, Nordstrom and Apple. Some were looted just six weeks earlier amid the violent unrest that erupted after George Floyd, an unarmed black man, died in Minneapolis police custody in May. And all were struggling to deal with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chicago, like many other U.S. cities, is in the midst of a surge in violent crime. Last month, 573 people were shot in America’s third largest city — at least 58 of them juveniles. There have been 430 recorded homicides through July, which represents a 51% increase over the same period last year. Compare that to New York City, for example, which had just 237 murders, despite having nearly three times the population. In recent days, the Chicago Police Department has instituted 12-hour shifts and canceled days off for all officers until further notice. On Monday, the department sent 400 officers downtown. Expressway exits were closed and nearly every bridge was raised to seal off the area. By dawn, it was clear Chicago was an American city in distress. Shattered glass carpeted sidewalks. Trash billowed down major streets. Police stood guard in riot gear on corners. Lightfoot says authorities have yet to identify ringleaders or individuals who she believes strategized the violence. A task force of police detectives, FBI agents and officials with the U.S. Attorney’s office are now busy collecting and analyzing hundreds of hours of security camera footage to identify those involved. “We’re still going through lots and lots of video tape,” Lightfoot says. “But people were able to fairly quickly take out cash registers, ATM machines, cut through metal grate, and to get beyond and behind security systems that are pretty sophisticated. That’s not your average looter.” The mayor says she’s instructed police to locate every automobile spotted downtown amid the looting for “being part of a criminal operation.” “Every car that we can trace to a resident of the Chicago, I want that car found and I want it towed,” she says. “We’re not messing around.” On State Street, in Chicago’s River North downtown neighborhood, Bill LaMacchia, 54, estimated about $20,000 damage on his bar and restaurant, Bijan’s Chicago. Shards of glass that used to be part of his revolving door and window panels crunched under his gym shoes as he walked. A group of looters had heaved a marble-top table through a massive picture window overlooking the outside patio. They took nearly every bottle of liquor from his shelves. Some of them even sat and drank the bottles in his patio seats. The whole scene was captured on his security camera. “It was like a video game,” LaMacchia said. “They did whatever they wanted.” Ariel Atkins, a Black Lives Matter Chicago organizer, dismissed authorities’ narrative during a rally Monday in support of the more than 100 individuals arrested for various offenses during the looting. Her organization believes Sunday night’s unrest was an organic reaction to the shooting in Englewood, which she pointed out was yet another example of the distrust between police and many Black Americans. “The Mayor cannot expect people to play by her rules as she refuses to treat them with basic dignity,” a Black Lives Matter Chicago statement said. “These protests can only end when the safety and well-being of our communities is finally prioritized.” On Sunday afternoon, police in Englewood say they approached Latrell Allen, 20, under suspicion of carrying a gun. Police allege Allen then ran, pulled a gun and shot at officers who returned fire. Allen is now recovering from multiple gunshot wounds. “Police say a lot of things,” Atkins said, pointing to the fact that the police did not have body camera footage of the incident. To Lightfoot, the police shooting was simply subterfuge for a larger criminal scheme. She warned against conflating the necessary conversations Americans need to have about racial injustice and policing with criminal activity that often harms communities of color. As the city’s first Black female and openly gay mayor, Lightfoot insists it’s important to lift the voices of organizers, activists and citizens seeking to upend legacies of injustice in Chicago. But the looting this week represented something different to her. “To see young people who are Black act in the way that they acted, like they had every right to take somebody else’s property — and not just the big guys who have lots of insurance, but the little shop owners in neighborhoods all across the city — they have so little respect for all the sacrifice that people who look like them put into forming a business, all their hurdles, all their challenges that small businesses have,” Lightfoot says. “Particularly small businesses of color, without any regard for not only hurting those business owners but hurting also employees, who also are generally employees of color. That offends me to the core.” On Jeweler’s Row along Wabash Avenue, in Chicago’s central business district, some small business owners saw their entire livelihood wiped away. Mohammad Ashiq, the 60-year-old owner of Watch Clinic, entered his watch repair shop to discover all of his inventory, some $900,000 worth, had been stolen from his glass showcases. Hundreds of watches for sale and in the process of being fixed for customers were missing. None of it insured. “It is my entire life,” he says as a nearby L-train rumbled above his store. “Forty-two years in this business. I am left with nothing but my health.” With such a risk hanging over business owners’ heads, many are now reassessing what they should do next. Al Wojtek Macniak, 57 and his daughter, Marta, 35, say they plan to move out their business, M&M Jewelers, out of the ground-floor Jeweler’s Row storefront after looters broke into their building a second time in two months. “We moved here 10 years ago because we wanted the foot-traffic,” Marta says. “But it’s no longer worth it to stay.” Lightfoot recognizes Chicago is at an inflection point, as violent crime rises and the gulf of suspicion widens between the Black community and her police force. She hopes she can bridge it. “The question is how do we find opportunity out of even these very dark days?” Lightfoot asks. “And what we do to band together because together — it sounds like a cliche — but it is so true, we won’t survive this moment. We will not thrive. We will not move beyond, get stronger, and better if we don’t unite.” Police union urges drastic action on looters: ‘Bring tow trucks in. Take all the cars. Take away their escape.’ SUN TIMES//Fran Spielman Downtown Chicago will be ravaged again by caravans of looters until Mayor Lori Lightfoot imposes a curfew and strictly enforces it by impounding vehicles used to haul away stolen merchandise after using city trucks to pin them in. That’s the pointed assessment from Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara after a second round of looting in less than three months gutted huge swaths of downtown, River North and Lincoln Park. “Car caravans are the biggest problem. They can relocate all of their criminal behavior two miles away within five minutes. We can’t deploy 400 officers two miles away in that same amount of time. They can go where the police are not in a split second. By the time we show up there, we get the stragglers when the main force has already moved on to the next target,” Catanzara said Wednesday. “If they want to get really serious, enact a curfew coincided with an ordinance that allows the officers to impound these vehicles. Charge ’em hefty, exorbitant fees to get their cars back. $2,500 if your car gets impounded. Until they get the message that they’re not going to be allowed to just roam and destroy, it’s not gonna stop. It’s only gonna get worse and worse.” With access to downtown sealed off the “foreseeable future,” Lightfoot has assured community leaders and neighborhood business owners that city trucks would be used to protect local commercial corridors. That’s what she did after being accused of protecting downtown at the expense of South and West Side neighborhoods during the first round of looting. On Wednesday, Catanzara urged the mayor to use those “city assets” to protect Chicago’s marquee shopping district as well. “You’ve got all of these Streets and San trucks available to you. You could go down Michigan Avenue. Block off the street so these cars can no longer leave,” Catanzara said. “Bring five Streets and San trucks. You block off access north and south. And you pin all these cars in in a certain block. Bring tow trucks in. Take all the cars. Take away their escape. Until you really get serious about putting the hammer down, they’re only gonna be bolder and bolder and bolder. And people who would just scream and yell on the sidelines are now partaking in this criminal behavior. It’s only encouraging more people to take advantage of an opportunity.” The mayor’s office had no immediate comment on Catanzara’s suggestions. The mayor and Catanzara have a frosty relationship made worse by the union’s president request that President Donald Trump send federal help to Chicago to fight violent crime. Earlier this week, the mayor likened the coordinated caravans of looters who overwhelmed police to “organized crime” and said she would “not spare any expense” to bring them to justice. “We can’t allow criminals to tarnish their legacy, their businesses, but more importantly their hope. I’m not gonna let that happen. And we are going hard at the people who are responsible,” she said. “It’s not opportunistic and spontaneous when you already have U-Haul vans and cargo vans and you come equipped with precision tools to break into stores, to break into safes, to haul off cash registers and when you are coming with arms to fight off the police who are out there breaking up the looting. ... And we are going to break these crews and these rings and we are gonna bring them to justice. That is what we owe the residents of this city. Period.” Downtown Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) has argued Lightfoot “owns” the second round of looting because police “had intelligence that this was going to happen, yet it happened.” He has questioned the “strategy and tactical decision-making of the senior command who were unprepared” for the second assault in less than three months. Now, Hopkins is demanding that Lightfoot and Police Supt.David Brown scour the country to find and hire law enforcement experts who specialize “in tactical plans for dealing with widespread social unrest.” “We need a plan crafted by people with that level of expertise. Much like we did during the [2012 NATO] summit. We don’t have that and it shows every time we have hundreds, if not thousands of criminals taking over the streets. We don’t have a specific tactical response to deal with it. That’ why we couldn’t stop it,” Hopkins told the Sun-Times. “That’s my criticism of her and this administration. The expertise that is needed to do what we need to do doesn’t seem to be there right now. Go get it.” Fulton Market listing could test new residential rules—and COVID-era demand CRAIN’S//Danny Ecker Veteran auctioneer Leslie Hindman is looking to cash out on her namesake auction house's Fulton Market headquarters, an offering that could test developers' appetite for land in the trendy former meatpacking district amid the COVID-19 crisis. Hindman has hired brokerage SVN Chicago Commercial to sell two connected buildings she owns at 1332 and 1338 W. Lake St., the longtime home of Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. There is no asking price for the site, where the existing buildings total nearly 36,000 square feet on a little more than half an acre at the northeast corner of Lake and Ada streets. But the property could be worth more than $11 million, based on similar Fulton Market sites that sold before the coronavirus pandemic upended the economy. The listing will help gauge investor sentiment on Fulton Market at the onset of a COVID-induced recession, which has posed the first big stumbling block to a corridor rife with soaring property values, major corporate offices, and upscale hotels and restaurants. It is also one of the first significant Fulton Market properties to go up for sale since 27th Ward Ald. Walter Burnett lifted his ban on new residential development in the neighborhood north of Lake Street. Burnett, who in the past has cited harsh residential opposition to new commercial development as a reason for blocking new apartment buildings north of Lake, said in May he would relax that policy in hopes of keeping new investors coming in. Immediately south of Hindman's property, Naperville-based developer Marquette last year completed a 14-story apartment building at 180 N. Ada St. and proposed three new buildings totaling more than 500 residential units just west of Fulton Market along the 1400 block of Randolph Street. Hindman, 65, had previously listed her Lake Street properties for sale in 2016, which would have added her to a long list of Fulton Market land owners cashing out as developers snapped up land for new projects. But the building didn't trade at the time. She sold her majority interest in the auction house in 2017 and said the business is now looking to relocate, which partly prompted her to test the market again. "I thought it was great timing until COVID and the second (downtown) looting, but the good news is, it's now zoned potentially for residential. Hopefully that will help," Hindman said. She said she would prefer to sell the building, but is open to leasing it to another user, and that "no one's in any sort of desperate hurry to do anything." SVN is playing up a buyer's ability to develop something much larger than what is on the site today. The property could be rezoned to allow for a building as large as 193,000 square feet, according to a marketing flyer. Hindman already sold one of her Fulton Market parcels for a big profit. As new projects were starting to break ground and get proposed along the western edge of the neighborhood near Ogden Avenue, Chicago-based developer Shapack Partners paid $8.5 million in 2018 for a roughly 27,000-square-foot property at 224 N. Ada St. Hindman had purchase the site in 2012 for just $1.2 million when the neighborhood was early in its transition from its meatpacking and food wholesaling roots. More recently, Dallas-based developer Trammell Crow completed a 14-story office building a block away at 1375 W. Fulton Market, and Chicago developer Sterling Bay paid $25 million for the Archer Daniels Midland wheat mill on a 2.2-acre site at 1300 W. Carroll Ave. Hindman paid $2.4 million in 2007 for 1338 W. Lake and $1.5 million in 2013 for 1332 W. Lake. SVN Chicago's Scott Maesel and Drew Dillon are marketing the Lake Street property on behalf of Hindman. Why Englewood residents told outside protesters to leave days after police shooting. ‘This is propped up. They’re throwing a party.’ TRIBUNE//William Lee Before the chanting began, there was a lot of yelling. A planned protest outside the Englewood police station Tuesday evening over a recent police-involved shooting devolved into shouting matches among demonstrators, with threats and insults hurled back and forth, after a group of older residents derided the event as “a party” and demanded that outsiders leave. Eventually tempers cooled somewhat after several small confrontations, and people started talking. In the end, a much smaller group of demonstrators marched through Englewood while a large number of protesters headed home. The event was billed as a car caravan to the South Side police station and a protest march in the neighborhood, organized by groups including Black Lives Matter Chicago, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation and Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. It was in response to the recent shooting of Latrell Allen, who was wounded by police Sunday afternoon after he allegedly pulled a gun and fired at officers near Moran Park. The cadre of organizations support initiatives to defund police departments, remove officers from public schools and increase social services, among many other aims. Prosecutors say officers were answering a call about a man with a gun when they shot Allen near his home. A crowd of angry residents turned on police, injuring a few officers, after rumors spread that cops had fatally shot a child and that a cellphone containing evidence had been confiscated. On Tuesday, about 10 minutes before the 6 p.m. event was to begin at 63rd Street and Loomis Boulevard, a small group of Englewood men, some of them residents of the neighborhood for decades, began to loudly deride the demonstration and demanded the group go home. Things got heated. “Get the (expletive) out of here!” one man yelled at the demonstrators. The men are aligned with various Englewood groups that often work with police to ease tensions. They consider themselves community elders and said they didn’t appreciate a protest in their neighborhood during such a tense time. Some of them say they helped calm things after objects were thrown at officers on Aberdeen Street on Sunday. “They (protest organizers) didn’t let the community know,” said Duane Kidd. “They didn’t put flyers on the door. They got the streets shut down. What about the elders that have to get up and down 63rd Street? Now they got to take the side routes. “Coming into our community for just one day and then run out,” Kidd said. “Everyday. If they got something to say about the police, we got to deal with it tomorrow. The community. Not them. They’ll be somewhere sipping sangria.” Darryl Smith, president of the Englewood Political Task Force, described how such protests upset the balance of the neighborhood. “When they leave, the police are going to be pulling us over. The police are going to be pulling our kids out of cars for no reason. Because the police are bitter now. You come and shut down 63rd Street, all this extra manpower, they’re mad,” he said. “So now these (television news) cameras are going to leave, those people are gonna leave and our kids are on the street playing,” Smith said. “And they’re going to get pulled over and thrown on the ground and harassed for no reason.” But the anger from the older men wasn’t just because of the protest, they said. It was the inconvenience it posed to working-class residents and the threat to the fragile peace in a troubled neighborhood they say has been unfairly linked to downtown looting the day after the police-involved shooting. “This is propped up. They’re throwing a party,” said Kidd, 42. Some of the neighborhood men got in the faces of the young protesters, and more than once it looked like a fight would break out. There were competing bullhorns, point-counterpoint screaming sessions and some shoving that called officers standing by to action. The tense dust-up was a rare public sign of discord amid the demonstrations and marches that have become the norm in Chicago’s neighborhoods since the death of George Floyd as he was being arrested in Minneapolis in late May. But soon people from both sides started talking under the setting sun and peacefully discussing their views. “It’s not about who’s really coming into Englewood. It’s about what happens when they leave Englewood. When you come to Englewood, who are you contacting to make sure everyone is on the same page?” said activist Joseph Williams. “We don’t want to continue to have our communities left to destruction because people are coming into our communities to be supported by us, but they don’t represent us and now they’re bringing us problems,” he continued. “So we ask for the respect of reaching out to the community.” Smith, Williams and several others had helped calm emotions after Sunday’s shooting by dispelling rumors that riled the crowd. Their relationship with police allowed them to negotiate the release of one man at the scene without charges. “So it’s a give and take,” Smith said. “If you give the community what they want, the police get what they want. It was a happy resolve, that’s why I don’t understand why they say the looting stemmed from that.” Englewood police Cmdr. Larry Snelling, who was on hand for Tuesday’s demonstration, praised the men, saying they helped soothe angry citizens convinced police had killed a teenager that day. “From the very beginning, people kept saying (Latrell Allen) was 15 years old. He was shot 15 times. Then there was, ‘He’s dead.’ All of those things were total and complete lies,” Snelling said. “These guys were over there. They helped out with that crowd. They were very good and I appreciate it.” Eventually, activists began peeling off from the larger group Tuesday evening. Longtime activist Andy Thayer left the protest, saying he understood where the residents were coming from and didn’t want to threaten their safety. A much smaller crowd of young people marched south on Loomis, under the watchful eye of police. A tweet from GoodKidsMadCity, among the organizers, included a video of several young activists explaining their group didn’t participate “because aggressive agitators were being disruptive & tried to provoke us into a violent confrontation.” “Unfortunately, we were met by some angry community members who didn’t want us to organize in the community,” youth coordinator Miracle Boyd said in the video. Smith welcomed the end of the protest. “It took a while for some of them to see where we were coming from, but I guess one of the organizers got the message that we wasn’t happy. And there will be nobody speaking for Englewood and there will be nobody protesting in Englewood,” he said. “If you’re from Englewood, if the people on 56th Street want to come over and protest the police, they can do it. But no one from the North Side or Indiana or any place other than Englewood can come here and do that.” Snelling said he was glad cooler heads prevailed, but added that he hoped the standoff taught a lesson to the younger protesters about community connections they have to make. “These guys right here come out when a community member is hurt, when someone is robbed, whenever someone does violence to another person, they are always out here,” he said. “And they’re not getting paid for this, they’re doing this because they’re invested in their community. “I think it just upsets them when they have a group of people who just walked into their community, with misinformation, and decide what the problem is in their community.” Evanston cutting ties with ComEd CRAIN’S//Steve Daniels While the city of Chicago continues discussions with Commonwealth Edison about a future franchise agreement, its neighbor directly to the north is washing its hands of the disgraced utility. The Evanston City Council on Aug. 10 voted not to negotiate a new deal with ComEd to operate within the city when its existing agreement with the utility expires Sept. 12. The unanimous vote won’t lead to an immediate end to ComEd’s service in Evanston, but it raises structural questions about the long-term future of the affluent suburb’s power grid. The vote also is likely to add fuel to the controversy swirling in Chicago’s City Council over future dealings with ComEd, which has been charged by federal prosecutors with a yearslong bribery scheme to win support in Springfield for two lucrative pieces of major energy legislation. ComEd struck a deal in which prosecution of that charge would be delayed for three years and then dismissed, assuming it continues to cooperate in the ongoing probe of House Speaker Michael Madigan and political corruption, as well as cleans up its lobbying act. Kumar Jensen, Evanston’s chief sustainability and resilience officer, said in an interview that ComEd will continue to operate the grid within the city’s borders under state law even if a franchise agreement isn’t in place. The existing agreement, like most of ComEd’s with the various municipalities it serves, provides city facilities with free electricity. The city has passed an ordinance to charge ComEd a fee that essentially would provide the same benefit, Jensen said. The bigger question is, what happens next? “I think everything is on the table,” Jensen said. That includes potentially requesting proposals from other companies that operate power systems on behalf of governments and municipal utilities, he said. Any such deal would require a negotiation with ComEd, which would have to agree to sell or lease the assets within Evanston. ComEd serves more than 36,000 Evanston customers. The utility was asked about its openness to such a negotiation and in a statement didn’t respond directly. “While the city of Evanston’s consent agenda allows the city’s franchise agreement with ComEd to expire on Sept. 12, ComEd will continue to provide safe and reliable electric service to Evanston and its residents,” the utility said. “ComEd shares many of the city’s priorities related to infrastructure, community development, equity and climate resilience, and consistent with the city’s consent agenda, stands ready to continue negotiations toward an agreement that builds on the constructive relationship we’ve established and supports our mutual goals.” The reason for the council’s decision to cut ties was mainly due to ComEd’s admissions in federal documents of paying off allies and political operatives tied to Madigan, in many cases in return for no work, Jensen said. The city also wants a power grid less reliant on fossil fuels that contribute to global warming, he said. For a municipality, taking control of the electricity wires within its borders is highly complex and potentially extraordinarily expensive. In cases where it’s been tried, often the eventual result is to negotiate another agreement with the incumbent utility. Boulder, Colo., has been trying to take over its power grid for nearly a decade, which met with intense resistance from incumbent utility Xcel Energy. After Xcel refused to respond to Boulder’s efforts to buy the assets, the city opted not to move to condemnation. The two recently struck a deal on a new franchise agreement. Chicago’s franchise agreement with ComEd expires at the end of this year, and several aldermen have pushed for a city takeover of its grid in order to provide subsidized service to low-income households and pursue climate goals. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been cool to the idea, but also has called on ComEd to justify why it should be allowed to continue operating in the country’s third-largest city in light of the scandal. That agreement will automatically extend for a year if there’s no action. Evanston’s would have automatically extended, as well, had the suburb's council not acted. But the city moved to explicitly end the deal. What happens from here is likely to take months or even years to determine. Police union president says Lightfoot ‘moving the goalposts’ on police contract SUN TIMES//Fran Spielman Mayor Lori Lightfoot was accused Wednesday of “moving the goalposts” she put up less than three months ago in hopes of cutting a short-term deal with rank-and-file Chicago Police officers who have waited more than three years for a new contract. During a May 29 meeting in the mayor’s office, Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara said Lightfoot told him she wanted to negotiate the retroactive pay portion of the police contract “right away and get that off the financial books” this summer. That’s precisely what she did this week with the Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 — in a deal that will cost taxpayers $95 million in back pay — in exchange for increased health care contributions. But with the anti-police movement triggered by the death of George Floyd gaining steam, Catanzara said Lightfoot has changed course. “They said they’re gonna include four reforms along with money for the same time frame the firemen just got — through June of next year. … They want to attach conditions to it and poison pills which are gonna make it almost impossible,” Catanzara said Wednesday. “They implied that one of them was getting rid of the sworn affidavit [paving the way for anonymous complaints against police officers]. That was not even discussed in the meeting with the mayor. For them to throw that in there is a clear attempt at encouraging members [to say]. `Oh my God. They’re talking about money. Let’s take this deal.’ We’re not even gonna present it to the membership if that’s in there.” Catanzara said he has not yet received the city’s financial offer. Nor does he know for certain what three other reforms the mayor’s negotiating team will demand. “I said, `If the affidavit is gonna be one of `em, two of the other three better be lifting residency and repealing the prohibition to strike. You take away the strike clause and residency, then maybe we’ll talk about the sworn affidavit being gone,” the union president said. Catanzara accused Lightfoot of establishing a double-standard for police officers and firefighters. “They’re treating us entirely different, which is absolutely ridiculous. It still goes back to the original conversation. She talked about money. She wanted the money off the books with all of the other debt in one financial year to be done with it. And now, they’re moving the goalposts. Which makes her a liar. Point blank,” Catanzara said. Jim Franczek, the city’s longtime police labor negotiator, could not be reached for comment. The mayor’s office had no immediate comment. Catanzara said he thinks he knows why Lightfoot’s negotiating team abruptly changed course. He recalled the meeting he had with them just a few weeks ago. “They had just gotten beaten up by the City Council the day before on the sergeants arbitration and aldermen complaining, `Why don’t you fight for this, that and the other thing.’ And [Franczek] goes, `We can’t go back there now and just present a financial package only,’” Catanzara said. “I said, ‘No. You could. You just don’t want to because you’re a coward.’ Her attorney Mike Frisch jumped in and said [the promise of a money deal only] wasn’t an accurate recollection of the conversation. I told him I don’t appreciate being called a liar. I know what we discussed in that meeting. The money part of that conversation was separate from everything else. There were no conditions put on it.” Lightfoot co-chaired the Task Force on Police Accountability, whose scathing indictment of the Chicago Police Department prompted the U.S. Justice Department to do the same after a federal investigation triggered by the police shooting of Laquan McDonald. The task force demanded changes to a police contract that, it claimed, “codifies the code of silence” at CPD. The City Council’s Black Caucus has threatened to block ratification of any police contract that continues to make it “easy for officers to lie” by giving them 24 hours before providing a statement after a shooting and that also prohibits anonymous complaints (by requiring sworn affidavits) and allows officers to change statements after reviewing video. Lightfoot has been embroiled in a cold war with the FOP that turned into a deep freeze when the outspoken Catanzara was elected. In their most recent battle, Lightfoot sent Catanzara a series of text messages calling him a “cartoon character” a “clown” and a “total fraud” after he wrote a letter to President Trump asking for federal help to stop the violence in Chicago. Downtown aldermen balk at Foxx's re-election bid CRAIN’S//Greg Hinz The aldermen of the two wards that cover the central area of Chicago say that they’re now undecided as to whether to back Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx for a new term this fall. In a sign that renewed downtown looting earlier this week may have significant political fallout, Aldermen Brendan Reilly, 42nd, and Brian Hopkins, 2nd, said that even though they’re long-time Democrats, there’s a real chance they will not endorse or work for the Democratic nominee, who is being challenged by Republican Pat O’Brien, a former judge. At least one other alderman, Ray Lopez, 15th, is in a similar situation, and political sources say some others are considering doing the same thing. Foxx’s campaign shrugged off the news, saying in a statement that none of the three actively backed her in the Democratic primary in March and she still won. “I’ve never backed a Republican,” Hopkins told me in a phone interview. But right now, “I’m not hearing from the State’s Attorney Foxx the kind of things I need to be supportive.” “I don’t make emotional decisions—so I’m going to wait and see if (Foxx’s) renewed “pledge of collaboration” amounts to better outcomes,” Reilly emailed me. “For everyone’s sake, I sure hope it does. The city’s future depends on it.” Reilly did not specifically say if he’d back O’Brien. His comments came a couple of days after he sent a scathing email to ward residents that said Foxx and the Cook County judicial system “are failing us like never before.” “I am angry and disgusted at the widespread looting,” which was concentrated in his and Hopkins’ wards, Reilly wrote. “What we saw was a repeat of the looting that occurred in late May: a highly coordinated, professional attack on downtown and neighboring wards—involving caravans of stolen SUVs, cars and U-Haul trucks. This professional attack was laser-focused on high-value targets such as: electronics stores, jewelry stores, high-end retail boutiques, branch banks, ATMS, pharmacies and department stores. The looting was initiated using social media channels on the internet and was well-coordinated.” The email went on to reference a Chicago Tribune story that alleged Foxx has dropped a far greater percentage of felony cases than her predecessor, Anita Alvarez, and slashed the number of felony shoplifting cases by nearly two thirds. Lopez, in a separate interview, confirmed that he supported another candidate in the primary and said he has “no intention of lifting a finger” to help Foxx this fall. “She’s clearly not doing her job,” Lopez charged. “She’s a bad candidate, and she’s giving our whole party a black eye.” Asked if he’d back a Republican, Lopez replied, “I have no intention—on this day—of doing anything except not helping Kim Foxx.” Lopez and Reilly double as the Democratic committeemen of their ward. Foxx's office said none of the three worked for her during the primary campaign. It noted that she beat her closest opponent, Bill Conway, by 19 percent overall, and said the office regularly prosecutes felony cases in all three wards. Board of Election records indicate that Foxx lost to Conway in the 42d Ward and won the 2nd by less than 6 percentage points. Her margin was a more comfortable 49 percent to 34 percent in 15th Ward. It has been decades since a Republican came even close to carrying the city of Chicago in any race, though former Gov. Bruce Rauner did carry the 42nd Ward over Pat Quinn in the 2014 gubernatorial election. But this is not a typical election, not with both the presidency and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed graduated income tax on the ballot. On top of that, no one knows how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect turnout. There is rising concern in the business community that looting associated with some racial equity protests has begun to take a serious toll on the city’s economy, so there may be material for O’Brien to capitalize on, especially if he can pull votes on the North Side and some suburbs and pair them with pockets of GOP strength elsewhere. The GOP nominee has been relatively low-profile so far, but has a professional campaign staff—more than many Republican county candidates have had in recent years—and says he hopes to have a $1 million campaign warchest. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been critical of Foxx’s performance, but has endorsed her for a new term. Mayoral sources say they’d be amazed if that changed, despite policy differences between the two. Property management head to mayor: 'The homeowners we represent do not feel safe' CRAIN’S//Wendell Hutson The president of a property management company today told Mayor Lori Lightfoot she needs to do more to make Chicago safer or residents may move out of the city. In a letter to the mayor, Steven Levy, president of Chicago-based Sudler Property Management, wrote, “The homeowners we represent do not feel safe. From Hyde Park to the Gold Coast to Edgewater, residents across the city are adjusting their daily routines out of fear.” The Chicago-based company represents more than 100 local condo associations, more than 22,000 homeowners and about 38,000 residents, the letter says. He wrote that residents no longer stand close to windows at night or stand on their balconies or terraces for fear of being shot, and their children are forced to play indoors because parks are covered with litter, vandalism and breed crime. “This is not a way to live, not a way to work and this is not the Chicago I know. And I can’t fault homeowners when they tell me they’re considering leaving Chicago,” Levy wrote. “I’m writing you, Mayor Lightfoot, on behalf of tens of thousands, to demand a change.” Patrick Mullane, a spokesman for the mayor, did not immediately provide comment. The recent downtown looting spree followed previous Gold Coast looting in May where many businesses on the Mag Mile were damaged and merchandise stolen. Levy concluded his letter by saying, “We need you to fulfill your duty of ensuring the well-being of all Chicago residents. Without an immediate change, I’m concerned that homeowners will flee, properties will stand vacant, businesses will fail, and the Chicago we both know will be a shell of what it once was and what could be. "I am respectfully asking for your much-needed cooperation and assistance in making Chicago safe." ________________________________ This e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail (or the person responsible for delivering this document to the intended recipient), you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, printing or copying of this e-mail, and any attachment thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please respond to the individual sending the message, and permanently delete the original and any copy of any e-mail and printout thereof.