MORNING NEWS CLIPS – 8.8.20
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAULIK VAISHNAV!
MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT
MLL TESTS NEGATIVE AFTER COMING IN CONTACT WITH ALDERMAN SCOTT
NBC5 News at 6:30AM:
MLL tests negative after coming in contact with Alderman Scott
ANCHOR: now to an update on Mayor Lightfoot's possible exposure to coronavirus. the Mayor attended a news conference on wednesday with the 24th Ward Alderman Michael Scott Jr., Scott said he tested positive on Thursday and is asymptomatic so far he is following
the health guidelines and is asymptomatic so far. Mayor Lightfoot tested negative following the news conference, but is not quarantine.
ABC7 News at 6,8:30AM:
MLL tests negative after coming in contact with Alderman Scott
ANCHOR: Mayor Lightfoot is facing questions over her decision not to self quarantine after being near an Alderman who later tested positive for covid-19, the Mayor was with Alderman Michael Scott the day before his test
on wednesday before his covid test for the CPS announcement on remote learning. Her office says she was not in close proximity for any extended period of time and she already tested negative but there is still concern that she is not necessarily in the clear.
CPS SORTING OUT REMOTE LEARNING PLAN
ABC7 News at 6,6:30,8,8:30AM: CPS sorting out remote learning plan
ANCHOR: now to the update sent to Chicago Public School parents and students overnight. the district says it's still figuring out what its remote learning plan will look like with the start of the school year a month away. jesse kirsch is live at c.p.s. headquarters
with more.
KIRSCH: CPS saying it has details to work out about the all remote plan to be announced in the coming days but there is news on fall sports.
TRIBUNE//Hannah Leone
Chicago Public Schools on Friday delayed the release of its plan for remote learning in the fall, days after the district announced it would start the new school year virtually rather than with the hybrid reopening model it first proposed. The district now plans to issue its final reopening framework “in the days ahead,” according to an email to families Friday.
HANCOCK COLLEGE PREP VOTES TO REMOVE POLICE FROM SCHOOL
NBC5 News at 6,8:30AM: Hancock College Prep votes to remove police from school
ANCHOR: another Chicago Public High School has voted to Remove Chicago Police. Hancock College Prep will remove police from its campus on west elston. it's the fourth cps school to do so. the local school council voted 6-4 against keeping cops at the school
on the southwest side. Moreside, Juarez, and Roberto Clemente Academy all voted to remove officers last month
FOX Chicago News at 8:30AM: Hancock College Prep votes to remove police from school
ANCHOR: another CPS school has voted to remove police officers from its campus. The Hancock College Prep School Council voted 6 to 4 against keeping officers in school. they are the fourth Chicago school that's opted to oust officers from their facilities.
all CPS schools need to vote on the issue by august 15th. the Board Of Education will vote on whether to renew the district's $33 million contract with Chicago Police later this month.
GENERAL IRON CLEARED TO FULLY REOPEN
WGN News at 7:30AM: General Iron cleared to fully reopen
ANCHOR: A metal shredding facility in Lincoln Park given permission to reopen today after those explosions forced it to shut down 3 months ago in May General Iron was allowed to partially reopen in june, but it was not allowed to use its metal shredding
equipment until the city was certain that the issues that caused the blast were fixed. after an inspection this week this city said it was safe for them to reopen.
General Iron to fully reopen in Lincoln Park
SUN TIMES//Brett Chase
General Iron, closed since May after explosions at its Lincoln Park metal shredding facility, can resume full operations as soon as Saturday after city officials gave the business clearance to fully reopen. The business was allowed to partially reopen in June, but was still under a city order to keep its metal-shredding equipment idled until it satisfied the city it had resolved the issues that caused the blasts. Last week, a consultant to the city approved the fixes.
General Iron challenges pollution controls in state permit
SUN TIMES//Brett Chase
General Iron’s owner is challenging pollution control requirements from a recently issued state permit that is allowing the metal shredder to build a new operation on the Southeast Side.
The move follows protests by residents who don’t want the company to relocate to their neighborhood from the facility’s longtime home in Lincoln Park. The company is challenging the state’s lawful ability to require certain robust air pollution testing and monitoring and other requirements.
CPD OFFICERS INVOLVED IN CAR CRASH OVERNIGHT
FOX Chicago News at 7,8AM: CPD officers involved in car crash overnight
ANCHOR: breaking now, four people are hurt including two Chicago Police Officers after a crash on the west side. police say the officers were driving on south pulaski with their lights and sirens on when a van turned out in front of them. both officers were
taken to the hospital in fair condition with head injuries. the two people in the van are in the hospital with serious injuries, also head injuries. police say charges are pending against the driver of that van.
WGN News at 7,8AM: CPD officers involved in car crash overnight
ANCHOR: two Chicago Police Officers and 2 civilians are in the hospital right now the officers were on their way to a call at 19th and Pulaski just after 1:30 this morning when the dodge van there pulled out and on to 19th and hit the squad car the officers
taken to the hospital in fair condition with head injuries. both the driver of the van and his female passenger in serious condition with head injuries. charges against he driver of the van are pending.
ABC7 News at 6,8:30AM: CPD Officers involved in car crash overnight
ANCHOR: Two Chicago Police Officers are expected to be ok after this crash overnight it happened at 19th and Pulaski. police say the officers were responding to a call when a van cut in front of them. both of the officers and the two people in the van are being
treated for head injuries and charges are pending against the driver
NBC5 News at 6,8AM: CPD Officers involved in car crash overnight
ANCHOR: new this morning two police officers and two others are hurt after a Chicago Police cruiser collided with an suv. this happened around 1:30 near 19th and Pulaski in lawndale. Police say they had their lights and sirens on when the SUV cut
in front of their car. Two officers with head injuries went to the hospital in fair condition a man and woman in the suv are in serious condition. charges are pending against the man who was driving the suv.
2 Chicago cops among 4 hurt in Lawndale crash
SUN TIMES//Staff
Four people, including two Chicago police officers, were injured in a crash Saturday in Lawndale on the West Side. The crash happened at 1:38 a.m. in the 1900 block of South Pulaski Road, according to Chicago police. The officers were northbound on Pulaski in a marked squad car with its lights and siren activated when a southbound 2003 Dodge van made a left turn in front of them at 19th Street, police said.
RIVER NORTH OUTDOOR DINING EXPANSION TAKES EFFECT
FOX Chicago News at 8:30AM: River North outdoor dining expansion takes effect
ANCHOR: get ready to dine in the streets, part of River North closing down to give diners more space to eat outside. today and tomorrow from 4:00 until 11:00 Wells street will be shut down between huron and superior. it isn't the only place you will see changes.
Clark Street between Grand and Kinzie will be closed for restaurants to spread out.
WGN News at 7:30AM: River North outdoor dining expansion takes effect
ANCHOR: and Mayor Lightfoot has given the green light for several key streets to close to traffic in order to add more outdoor dining. the city blocked off wells and clark streets in River North. in each area, social distancing rules are still in effect.
WASHINGTON: we were able to go ahead and set up our extended patio i'm over the last couple weeks friedman properties has been working with all of the restaurants
NBC5 News at 6:30AM: River North outdoor dining expansion takes effect
The River North neighborhood is getting some extra space for outdoor street dining. The city is allowing seating on parts of Clark and Wells streets street closures will be in effect every friday through sunday from 4:00 to 11:00 p.m.
ABC7 News at 6,8AM: River North outdoor dining expansion takes effect
ANCHOR: the positivity rate is now at 4.1%, the highest it has been since mid june, so the governor is taking action to try to keep that number from going up. here's liz nagy.
NAGY: friday night and river north restaurants are doing their best to claim normal in a global pandemic allowing table service in the street is a means for survival.
CHICAGO FBI GIVES UPDATE ON OPERATION LEGEND IN CHICAGO
ABC7 News at 8:30AM: Chicago FBI gives update on Operation Legend in Chicago
ANCHOR: the abc 7 i-team has learned FBI. agents are now focused on investigating some of chicago's unsolved violent crimes. it is part of the justice department's Operation Legend their first target, find the shooter who killed the 14-year-old along with three
others during a Fourth Of July party on the south side.
WGN News at 7,8AM: Chicago FBI gives update on Operation Legend in Chicago
ANCHOR: Chicago’s top fbi agent giving his first update on the federal effort to fight violent crime in the City Of Chicago more than 200 federal agents are helping police target gun offenders on the south and west sides they've named this Operation
Legend. it's resulted so far the surge of new gun cases filed in federal court in chicago about 200 people have been charged in the past 2 weeks 20 people rather there was also a bump in federal gun prosecutions in june.
TRIBUNE//Jeremy Gorner
The surge of federal agents who have arrived in the city to help Chicago police fight violence as part of Operation Legend will go as far as handing out business cards to residents and community leaders as a way of encouraging neighborhoods to work with law enforcement, Chicago’s top FBI official said Friday. Emmerson Buie Jr., the FBI special-agent-in-charge of its Chicago office, made the announcement Friday during a rare news briefing at the bureau’s Near West Side headquarters, attended by reporters abiding by social-distancing rules in a conference room.
FBG DUCK’S MOTHER CALL FOR PEACE
FOX Chicago News at 7,8AM: FBG Duck’s Mother calls for peace
WEEKLY: carlton was very close with his son, who birthday is next week.
ANCHOR: rapper fbg duck's mom breaks her silence on losing her son. lasheena Weekly says her son wasn't a gang member and she wants justice. on social media there's talks of retaliation for the rapper's murder. his mother is calling for peace. tia ewing reports.
ABC7 News at 6,8AM: FBG Duck’s Mother calls for peace
ANCHOR: Chicago Police hold a unity prayer with faith leaders as we head into another summer weekend there is concern about retaliation after a deadly shooting this week on the gold coast. the mother of the rapper who was killed in that shooting is also calling
for peace. here's eric horng.
HORNG: police are increasing patrols this weekend but also warning residents to be mindful of their safety, even suggesting this could be a good weekend for some to just stay home.
OTHER MLL NEWS
FOX Chicago News at 8:30AM: City launches "Your Home Is Someone's Workplace" Campaign
MLL: Care workers are essential workers and we need to shed a light on their important work
ANCHOR: Mayor Lori Lightfoot is launching a new campaign to raise the pay and benefits of Chicago home care workers. the Mayor's mother worked as a care aide when Lightfoot was a child. she had to work multiple health care jobs in the industry to keep the family
financially stable. the new campaign is called your home is someone's workplace.
FOX Chicago News at 7:30AM: Lane Tech to decide on new school symbol
in September
ANCHOR: Lane Tech will not have a new symbol ahead of the new school year. According to Block Club Chicago the school says it will wait to decide on one until September. the Indian has served as the school's sports team symbol for more than a century, but the
school voted to change it earlier this week after people said the symbol was offensive to native americans.
NBC5 News at 6,8:30AM: Families affected by gun violence call for meeting with MLL
ANCHOR: chicago families torn apart by gun violence are calling for change. Families of loved ones with unsolved cases rallied last night at Chicago Police Headquarters and they said it's time to take money from the police budget to help underserved communities
they want police to add more surveillance cameras.
NBC5 News at 6:30AM: City allows beachfront dining
ANCHOR: this weekend you have more dining options along the lakefront. some restaurants and cafes got the green light to open back up. one of the restaurant's is reggie's at 63rd Street beach. They said they hired extra staff to make sure
people follow the new guideline
GLICK: They just stand here and greet everybody and sit people and let them know about the masks and social distancing.
NBC5 News at 6:30AM: City still under 15 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 threshold
*MLL: Were paying very close attention everywhere around us
ANCHOR: Chicago has a travel order for anyone that comes here from nearly two dozen states, but we have found that some Illinois communities and some Chicago neighborhoods can’t live up to the standards that the city applies to travelers from outside of Illinois
ABC7 News at 6AM: President Trump says his administration is watching COVID-19 trends in Chicago
ANCHOR: President Trump says his administration is monitoring the spread of Covid in chicago.
TRUMP: we're carefully watching regions from increasing cases, including boston and chicago as well as the midwest. we're watching them all very carefully.
ANCHOR: the President spoke last night from his new jersey golf club. he says that he could take executive action this weekend, after covid stimulus talks between democrats and the white house collapsed.
TRIBUNE//John Byrne and Gregory Pratt
In the days and hours before she gave up on in-school learning at Chicago Public Schools this fall, Mayor Lori Lightfoot was getting squeezed from the outside and the inside. Coronavirus cases continued their seemingly implacable rise despite her constant entreaties to residents to wear masks and follow social distancing rules. Her political nemeses in the Chicago Teachers Union repeatedly accused Lightfoot of putting students and teachers at risk, even as the rumblings about an impending strike vote grew louder.
2 dead, 13 wounded in overnight city violence, police say
TRIBUNE//Deanese Williams-Harris
Two people were fatally wounded, and at least 13 others were injured since 5:30 p.m. Friday through early Saturday morning in shootings, Chicago police said. The latest fatal shooting happened shortly before 4 a.m. in the 1300 block of West 64th Street in the Englewood neighborhood. Police said three people were shot after a verbal altercation, including a 29-year-old man who died from his wounds at St. Bernard Hospital.
COVID-19
TRIBUNE//Alice Yin
Cook County government will give out $20 million in federal CARES Act funds to suburban residents struggling to pay rent during the coronavirus pandemic, officials announced Friday while emphasizing the need for a slow-moving Congress to advance a second stimulus package.
Households earning under 80% of the area median income — under about $72,000 for a family of four — can apply for grants that will cover overdue or future rent, Rich Monocchio, executive director of the Housing Authority of Cook County, said at a news conference in Oak Park.
Another McCormick Place trade show cancels, bringing total number of scrapped events to 145
TRIBUNE//Abdel Jimenez
A packaging technology trade show that draws tens of thousands of attendees to Chicago every other year has canceled its in-person gathering due to the coronavirus pandemic. The show, which was scheduled for Nov. 8 - 11, was expected to draw 71,000 people and account for more than 91,000 hotel room nights, McCormick Place spokeswoman Cynthia McCafferty said via email.
COLUMNISTS AND EDITORIALS
Can Lightfoot and Brown stem the homicide tide?
SUN TIMES//Editorial Board
Chicago is on pace to experience more homicides this year than the city has weathered in decades. As with any problem this wide-ranging and deep-seated, the causes of the carnage are complex. Crain's reporter A.D. Quig notes in this week's issue that a particularly toxic blend of factors is driving 2020's surge of gun violence: gang fragmentation that's setting small subsets of the city's dominant gangs against one another; a sudden drop-off in already-scarce jobs as COVID devastates the local economy; and the further souring of police-community relations in the wake of George Floyd's killing.
CHICAGO
Jussie Smollett’s attorneys want recorded video of witness as evidence
SUN TIMES//Matthew Hendrickson
Jussie Smollett’s lawyers want a videotaped conversation between a key witness and his attorney allowed as evidence in the former “Empire” actor’s ongoing criminal case. The video was provided to Smollett’s lawyers during a pretrial exchange of evidence and shows a discussion between Olabinjo Osundairo and his attorney Gloria Schmidt Rodriguez while Osundairo was in Chicago police custody last year, Smollett’s lawyers said in court Friday.
FULL TRANSCRIPTS
ABC7 News at 8:30AM: Chicago FBI gives update on Operation Legend
in Chicago
ANCHOR: the abc 7 i-team has learned FBI. agents are now focused on investigating some of chicago's unsolved violent crimes. it is part of the justice department's Operation Legend their first target, find the shooter who killed the 14-year-old along with three
others during a Fourth Of July party on the south side.
BUIE: Where this incident occurred is down the street from where i lived at one point in chicago. i'm asking the public to join forces with law enforcement to find these individuals.
ANCHOR: there is a $25,000 reward offered. all of the f.b.i.'s contact information is on abc7chicago.com
FOX Chicago News at 8:30AM: River North outdoor dining expansion takes effect
ANCHOR: get ready to dine in the streets, part of River North closing down to give diners more space to eat outside. today and tomorrow from 4:00 until 11:00 Wells street will be shut down between huron and superior. it isn't the only place you will see changes.
Clark Street between Grand and Kinzie will be closed for restaurants to spread out.
FOX Chicago News at 8:30AM: City launches "Your Home Is Someone's Workplace" Campaign
MLL: Care workers are essential workers and we need to shed a light on their important work
ANCHOR: Mayor Lori Lightfoot is launching a new campaign to raise the pay and benefits of Chicago home care workers. the Mayor's mother worked as a care aide when Lightfoot was a child. she had to work multiple health care jobs in the industry to keep the family
financially stable. the new campaign is called your home is someone's workplace. The campaign aims to provide nannies, housekeepers and child care providers with a fair wage, paid time off and safe work environment. the mayor's office estimates there are 56,000
care workers in Chicago.
FOX Chicago News at 8:30AM: Hancock College Prep votes to remove police from school
ANCHOR: another CPS school has voted to remove police officers from its campus. The Hancock College Prep School Council voted 6 to 4 against keeping officers in school. they are the fourth Chicago school that's opted to oust officers from their facilities.
all CPS schools need to vote on the issue by august 15th. the Board Of Education will vote on whether to renew the district's $33 million contract with Chicago Police later this month.
FOX Chicago News at 7:30AM: Lane Tech to decide on new school symbol in September
ANCHOR: Lane Tech will not have a new symbol ahead of the new school year. According to Block Club Chicago the school says it will wait to decide on one until September. the Indian has served as the school's sports team symbol for more than a century, but the
school voted to change it earlier this week after people said the symbol was offensive to native americans.
WGN News at 7:30AM: River North outdoor dining expansion takes effect
ANCHOR: and Mayor Lightfoot has given the green light for several key streets to close to traffic in order to add more outdoor dining. the city blocked off wells and clark streets in River North. in each area, social distancing rules are still in effect.
WASHINGTON: we were able to go ahead and set up our extended patio i'm over the last couple weeks friedman properties has been working with all of the restaurants on the stretch of the street to get this going for and i'm at 10:00am the barriers went out and
then we jumped into action.
ANCHOR: even though the streets are closed the fire hydrants in lanes are not the city kept them open just in case of an emergency
WGN News at 7:30AM: General Iron cleared to fully reopen
ANCHOR: A metal shredding facility in Lincoln Park given permission to reopen today after those explosions forced it to shut down 3 months ago in May General Iron was allowed to partially reopen in june, but it was not allowed to use its metal shredding
equipment until the city was certain that the issues that caused the blast were fixed. after an inspection this week this city said it was safe for them to reopen.
FOX Chicago News at 7,8AM: CPD officers involved in car crash overnight
ANCHOR: breaking now, four people are hurt including two Chicago Police Officers after a crash on the west side. police say the officers were driving on south pulaski with their lights and sirens on when a van turned out in front of them. both officers were
taken to the hospital in fair condition with head injuries. the two people in the van are in the hospital with serious injuries, also head injuries. police say charges are pending against the driver of that van.
FOX Chicago News at 7,8AM: FBG Duck’s Mother calls for peace
WEEKLY: carlton was very close with his son, who birthday is next week.
ANCHOR: rapper fbg duck's mom breaks her silence on losing her son. lasheena Weekly says her son wasn't a gang member and she wants justice. on social media there's talks of retaliation for the rapper's murder. his mother is calling for peace. tia ewing reports.
EWING: the mother of 26- year-old Carlton Weekly is breaking her silence after the chicago rapper, known as fbg duck, was ambushed tuesday on oak street while shopping for his son's birthday.
WEEKLY: he has three beautiful sons and one daughter.
EWING: his children range in age from 5 to 3 years old. Lasheena Weekly says she has been down this road before, burying her children.
WEEKLY: in 2017 i lost my cousin and my oldest son at the same time. so me and my aunt have to bury our children at the same time. and then this incident that happened august 4th with my son, Carlton Weekly.
EWING: weekly says her son was not inciting violence.
WEEKLY: Carlton Weekly did not have a criminal record.
EWING: we didn't find a criminal record, but Chicago Police insist the shooting was gang related, tied to this music video. [ music ] a dis track where fbg duck poked fun at deceased rivals.
WEEKLY: please put the guns down so that the generation of tomorrow can grow and live a long and healthy life.
ANCHOR: that was tia ewing reporting. police are still looking for the shooter and have made no arrests. the family says fbg duck was finalizing a lucrative record deal.
WGN News at 7,8AM: CPD officers involved in car crash overnight
ANCHOR: two Chicago Police Officers and 2 civilians are in the hospital right now the officers were on their way to a call at 19th and Pulaski just after 1:30 this morning when the dodge van there pulled out and on to 19th and hit the squad car the officers
taken to the hospital in fair condition with head injuries. both the driver of the van and his female passenger in serious condition with head injuries. charges against he driver of the van are pending.
WGN News at 7,8AM: Chicago FBI gives update on Operation Legend in Chicago
ANCHOR: Chicago’s top fbi agent giving his first update on the federal effort to fight violent crime in the City Of Chicago more than 200 federal agents are helping police target gun offenders on the south and west sides they've named this Operation
Legend. it's resulted so far the surge of new gun cases filed in federal court in chicago about 200 people have been charged in the past 2 weeks 20 people rather there was also a bump in federal gun prosecutions in june.
BUIE: we're not coming in to do their job were coming in to work with them and where we have overlapping and we had intersection of working on investigations, that's what we partnered up and we move forward.
ANCHOR: the first major case being targeted by Operation Legend is the murder of 14 year-old boy in Englewood on the 4th of july fernando jones gunned down while he was playing basketball at a park, 8 people were shot in that one shooting 4 people were killed
jones was the youngest victim there is now a $25,000 reward for information leading to the gunman.
NBC5 News at 6:30AM:
MLL tests negative after coming in contact with Alderman Scott
ANCHOR: now to an update on Mayor Lightfoot's possible exposure to coronavirus. the Mayor attended a news conference on wednesday with the 24th Ward Alderman Michael Scott Jr., Scott said he tested positive on Thursday and is asymptomatic so far he is following
the health guidelines and is asymptomatic so far. Mayor Lightfoot tested negative following the news conference, but is not quarantine. The Mayor did share the same podium as Alderman Scott but a spokesperson for the Mayor said she was not in close proximity
to him and everybody wore a mask and kept their distance
NBC5 News at 6:30AM: City allows beachfront dining
ANCHOR: this weekend you have more dining options along the lakefront. some restaurants and cafes got the green light to open back up. one of the restaurant's is reggie's at 63rd Street beach. They said they hired extra staff to make sure
people follow the new guideline
GLICK: They just stand here and greet everybody and sit people and let them know about the masks and social distancing. they let them know, when you do us a favor, when you leave stay off the beach.
ANCHOR: and they must stay off the beaches because in chicago the beaches are still closed.
NBC5 News at 6:30AM: River North outdoor dining expansion takes effect
The River North neighborhood is getting some extra space for outdoor street dining. The city is allowing seating on parts of Clark and Wells streets street closures will be in effect every friday through sunday from 4:00 to 11:00 p.m.
NBC5 News at 6:30AM: City still under 15 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 threshold
*MLL: Were paying very close attention everywhere around us
ANCHOR: Chicago has a travel order for anyone that comes here from nearly two dozen states, but we have found that some Illinois communities and some Chicago neighborhoods can’t live up to the standards that the city applies to travelers from outside of Illinois
ROGERS: starting july 6th, Mayor Lightfoot asked travelers to quarantine for 14 days if they come from any state with virus cases more than 15 cases per 100,000 people, now up to 22 states plus puerto rico.
MLL: Were paying very close attention everywhere around us
ROGERS: we wondered how many chicago towns could past muster. take lincolnwood that borders chicago. this week over 20 cases per 100,000. that means if lincolnwood was a state its residents could not cross the street into chicago without quarantine. 8 boarding
suburbs exceed the mayor’s limit 8 total suburbs in cook county, 38 more towns in surrounding counties, and 172 additional communities statewide. but you don't have to leave the city limits to find communities that exceed the mayor's threshold of 15 cases
per 100,000. we found 13 chicago neighborhoods that have currently levels over the city's restrictions, including the south loop of over 36 cases per 100,000, Marquette Park with 23 and the clearing neighborhood near midway airport at 17. It’s a good thing
Governor Pritzker is considered an essential worker because he flies back and forth to springfield, and the area we found with the highest current right in the entire state, over 562 new cases per 100,000 is the zip code next to the governor's mansion, and
springfield itself averages 22.2 cases way over the chicago limit. the travel order is not being applied to illinois communities or illinois officials, but for the areas that are on the list, chicago officials insist it's necessary and can make a difference.
ARWADY: i think it's actually been extremely effective. we have gotten calls about the travel order, questions at a level that has suggested that people are paying serious attention.
ROGERS: all of this is designed to show you just how complicated these issues can be. we show the City Of Chicago overall ending the week with a rate of 12.2. still below the threshold of 15 where under the travel order theoretically the city would have to
quarantine itself from it's it's self. Those travel guidelines apply to other states not Illinois Phil Rogers NBC5 News
ABC7 News at 6,8:30AM: CPD Officers involved in car crash overnight
ANCHOR: Two Chicago Police Officers are expected to be ok after this crash overnight it happened at 19th and Pulaski. police say the officers were responding to a call when a van cut in front of them. both of the officers and the two people in the van are being
treated for head injuries and charges are pending against the driver
ABC7 News at 6,6:30,8,8:30AM: CPS sorting out remote learning plan
ANCHOR: now to the update sent to Chicago Public School parents and students overnight. the district says it's still figuring out what its remote learning plan will look like with the start of the school year a month away. jesse kirsch is live at c.p.s. headquarters
with more.
KIRSCH: CPS saying it has details to work out about the all remote plan to be announced in the coming days but there is news on fall sports. girls and boys cross-country, girls and boys golf, girls swimming and diving and girls tennis will all have abbreviated
fall seasons with in-person events, so you can imagine some student athletes will be happy about that. on the remote learning plan, c.p.s. telling families it is now taking extra time to huddle with school administrators and labor leaders c.p.s. emphasizing
it is focusing as well on how after school clubs and activities will be impacted by the new all remote model. this was part of the Chicago Teachers Union's exact argument, believing the need for all remote learning would be inevitable. c.t.u. has been pushing
for this decision to be made earlier so that c.p.s. and teachers had more time to prepare than they do right now. Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Stacey Davis Gates tweeting about the new all remote planning as well, quote, i don't know how they can
release anything without a negotiated deal. i mean, educators get a voice in how this works. whatever the plan looks like, it will certainly require all students to have on-line access. c.p.s. encouraging families to reach out to their children's schools if
they still need a computing device or if they believe they are eligible for free on-line internet. we have information about phone numbers you can reach out to for more information on that as well, if you have questions if you're a c.p.s. family, that is on
our website at abc7chicago.com. right now, all remote c.p.s. classes are slated to begin a month from now on september 8. the hope is that they will be able to return to the classroom for in-person learning by november. live from c.p.s. headquarters this morning,
jesse kirsch, abc 7 eyewitness news.
ABC7 News at 6,8AM: River North outdoor dining expansion takes effect
ANCHOR: the positivity rate is now at 4.1%, the highest it has been since mid june, so the governor is taking action to try to keep that number from going up. here's liz nagy.
NAGY: friday night and river north restaurants are doing their best to claim normal in a global pandemic allowing table service in the street is a means for survival.
BAYLESS: it brings us almost up to the same size of the dining room we have with frontera.
NAGY: every customer that sits around an extra table is a few more dollars and it all counts as covid positive cases continue to rise, restaurant owners are leaving nothing to chance.
BAYLESS: if we know what precautions to take, were going to take it
NAGY: not every business is being so careful, Governor Pritzker announced new guidelines threatening business owners with warnings followed by misdemeanor charges and fines if health guidelines like masking are not being followed
MELAMN: We are obviously enforcing that every guest wears a mask and all of our employess are wearing masks temperature checking employees as well as guests going into the restaurant.
PRITZKER: this is one way to make sure that businesses that have been scofflawed on this subject know that there is a real penalty at the end of the line.
BAYLESS: as resturanters we need to take that burden on and make sure everybody stays safe t people aren't stave, we will go backwards. i don't want to go there
NAGY: some republicans say the governor is overstepping his authority, demanding an emergency session to weigh in on punishment.
DURKIN: i'm supportive but I won't let the governor ignore the legislative branch and i would hope he would do that and the democrat leaders should stand up and do something about this. i mean, they let the governor make all these decisions.
NAGY: liz nagy, abc 7 eyewitness news.
ABC7 News at 6AM: President Trump says his administration is watching COVID-19 trends in Chicago
ANCHOR: President Trump says his administration is monitoring the spread of Covid in chicago.
TRUMP: we're carefully watching regions from increasing cases, including boston and chicago as well as the midwest. we're watching them all very carefully.
ANCHOR: the President spoke last night from his new jersey golf club. he says that he could take executive action this weekend, after covid stimulus talks between democrats and the white house collapsed.
ABC7 News at 6,8AM: FBG Duck’s Mother calls for peace
ANCHOR: Chicago Police hold a unity prayer with faith leaders as we head into another summer weekend there is concern about retaliation after a deadly shooting this week on the gold coast. the mother of the rapper who was killed in that shooting is also calling
for peace. here's eric horng.
HORNG: police are increasing patrols this weekend but also warning residents to be mindful of their safety, even suggesting this could be a good weekend for some to just stay home. the usual friday calls for peace seem to have a harder edge.
ACTIVIST: i thank god i made it home. that is not normal thing. when i talk to my girlfriend who lives in naperville, she doesn't thank god she made it home.
HORNG: this group that included parents of unsolved murder victims gathering at c.p.d. headquarters at the start of a weekend of unease, police concerned about retaliation following tuesday's gold coast murder of Carleton Weekly, phone known as fbg duck.
LOVELACE: I am asking that his fans friends of my son to please not seek retaliation
HORNG: Weekly’s family disputing police claims that the father of four was targeted because of gang ties.
WEEKLY: we came from nothing and he made something. he was legit. he was a workingman.
HORNG: with tensions running high, police urging the public to be mindful of their safety.
CHICAGOAN: this may be the weekend where we get to spend time with our families that we decide we will have something in the backyard and spend quality time with our families and let things cool off.
HORNG: back at c.p.d. headquarters, calls for police to devote the same resources to the south and west sides, as they did in gold coast.
PFLEGER: we want to feel safe on 79th street just like they want to feel safe on rush street. we want the same kind of treatment, the same kind of respect.
HORNG: that group calling for more cameras in the neighborhood and for a witness protection program to encourage people to come forward. at police headquarters, Eric Horng abc 7 eyewitness news.
ABC7 News at 6,8:30AM:
MLL tests negative after coming in contact with Alderman Scott
ANCHOR: Mayor Lightfoot is facing questions over her decision not to self quarantine after being near an Alderman who later tested positive for covid-19, the Mayor was with Alderman Michael Scott the day before his test
on wednesday before his covid test for the CPS announcement on remote learning. Her office says she was not in close proximity for any extended period of time and she already tested negative but there is still concern that she is not necessarily in the clear.
LANDON: if the Mayor gets tested one day after an exposure, that test doesn't really reflect whether or not she picked up covid. the best time to test is between days five and nine, you're the most likely to pick up infections at that
point.
ANCHOR: so far, the Mayor does not have any public events on her schedule today, and her office would not say if she will be getting tested again.
NBC5 News at 6,8AM: CPD Officers involved in car crash overnight
ANCHOR: new this morning two police officers and two others are hurt after a Chicago Police cruiser collided with an suv. this happened around 1:30 near 19th and Pulaski in lawndale. Police say they had their lights and sirens on when the SUV cut
in front of their car. Two officers with head injuries went to the hospital in fair condition a man and woman in the suv are in serious condition. charges are pending against the man who was driving the suv.
NBC5 News at 6,8:30AM: Hancock College Prep votes to remove police
from school
ANCHOR: another Chicago Public High School has voted to Remove Chicago Police. Hancock College Prep will remove police from its campus on west elston. it's the fourth cps school to do so. the local school council voted 6-4 against keeping cops at the school
on the southwest side. Moreside, Juarez, and Roberto Clemente Academy all voted to remove officers last month
NBC5 News at 6,8:30AM: Families affected by gun violence call for meeting with MLL
ANCHOR: chicago families torn apart by gun violence are calling for change. Families of loved ones with unsolved cases rallied last night at Chicago Police Headquarters and they said it's time to take money from the police budget to help underserved communities
they want police to add more surveillance cameras.
BOSLEY: We are asking that you put cameras in our communities and on our block we want so we can find out who is murdering our children. we want justice, too.
ANCHOR: the families say they are tired of being ignored they want to meet with the Police Superintendent David Brown and Mayor Lightfoot next week.
FULL ARTICLES
2 Chicago cops among 4 hurt in Lawndale crash
SUN TIMES//Staff
Four people, including two Chicago police officers, were injured in a crash Saturday in Lawndale on the West Side.
The crash happened at 1:38 a.m. in the 1900 block of South Pulaski Road, according to Chicago police.
The officers were northbound on Pulaski in a marked squad car with its lights and siren activated when a southbound 2003 Dodge van made a left turn in front of them at 19th Street, police said.
Police said the Dodge cut in front of and hit the squad car.
The 26-year-old man driving the Dodge and his passenger, a 26-year-old woman, were both taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition with head injuries, according to police. Both officers were taken to a hospital in fair condition, also with head injuries.
Police said charges are pending against the driver of the Dodge. Area Four detectives are investigating.
General Iron to fully reopen in Lincoln Park
SUN TIMES//Brett Chase
General Iron, closed since May after explosions at its Lincoln Park metal shredding facility, can resume full operations as soon as Saturday after city officials gave the business clearance to fully reopen.
The business was allowed to partially reopen in June, but was still under a city order to keep its metal-shredding equipment idled until it satisfied the city it had resolved the issues that caused the blasts. Last week, a consultant to the city approved the fixes.
Chicago’s fire and buildings departments inspected the equipment this week, according to a city order allowing reopening, effective August 8.
In a letter to General Iron’s parent company, Reserve Management Group, the city’s Corporation Counsel Mark Flessner said the company met its legal obligations to show safeguards were in place to prevent another accident.
“It is with reluctance that I send this letter, considering the disruption and concern that the facility’s recent explosion caused to the city and the surrounding community,” he wrote. “I wish to make very clear that the city will be closely monitoring the facility.”
Reserve Management Group is in the process of moving General Iron’s operation to the Southeast Side, a plan strongly opposed by community groups there.
Jussie Smollett’s attorneys want recorded video of witness as evidence
SUN TIMES//Matthew Hendrickson
Jussie Smollett’s lawyers want a videotaped conversation between a key witness and his attorney allowed as evidence in the former “Empire” actor’s ongoing criminal case.
The video was provided to Smollett’s lawyers during a pretrial exchange of evidence and shows a discussion between Olabinjo Osundairo and his attorney Gloria Schmidt Rodriguez while Osundairo was in Chicago police custody last year, Smollett’s lawyers said in court Friday.
Smollett’s lawyers say they believe the video would present evidence of a conspiracy against their client.
Cook County Judge James Linn did not make a ruling about whether the recording would be entered into evidence, saying he wanted to see the video before doing so.
The actor’s attorneys say they will file a brief in support of getting the video admitted into evidence next week.
Osundairo and his brother were initially suspects in a police investigation after Smollett claimed he was attacked near his Streeterville home by two masked white men who made racist and homophobic comments, punched him and put a thin, rope noose around his neck.
Soon after, police officials announced that their investigation determined Smollett had paid the Osundairo brothers to stage the attack and charges were brought against Smollett by the state’s attorney office.
In a controversial decision, those charges were later dropped by prosecutors.
Smollett was indicted again on multiple counts of filing a false police report in February after a special prosecutor was appointed to review the case.
General Iron challenges pollution controls in state permit
SUN TIMES//Brett Chase
General Iron’s owner is challenging pollution control requirements from a recently issued state permit that is allowing the metal shredder to build a new operation on the Southeast Side.
The move follows protests by residents who don’t want the company to relocate to their neighborhood from the facility’s longtime home in Lincoln Park. The company is challenging the state’s lawful ability to require certain robust air pollution testing and monitoring and other requirements.
The company argued several conditions placed on it are “contrary to law, infeasible and arbitrary and capricious.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s environmental regulators issued a construction permit with pollution controls in June that community groups said was too weak to adequately protect residents in an area of the city that already suffers from poor air quality.
“It’s deeply disturbing,” said Nancy Loeb, director of the Environmental Advocacy Center at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law who is representing Southeast Side community groups. “RMG has been pronouncing that it intends to be a great neighbor and instead it’s looking to weaken the already not-stringent permit plan.”
On July 30, General Iron filed an appeal with a state panel, the Illinois Pollution Control Board, that rules on disputes over environmental law. Specifically, Reserve Management Group, General Iron’s parent company, wants to strike the state’s oversight of a dust containment plan that is now part of the state permit. It also wants to strike requirements for air testing, arguing that it is being subject to standards for “major” sources of pollution as defined by federal law.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency “is overstepping its authority,” the company said in its petition.
It calls wording on one safety requirement ambiguous and wants clarification. The control at issue was added to car-shredding equipment following two explosions in Lincoln Park in May. That feature is allowing the company to resume operations at its Lincoln Park location, where it will continue to shred cars and scrap metal until it moves to the Southeast Side.
Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza, whose 10th Ward will house the new General Iron operation, “is concerned that this means [the company] does not believe they can operate safely and are trying to avoid any oversight of particulate emissions,” said Garza policy adviser John Heroff. “We are still digesting what this appeal means and waiting to see how we can respond as a city.”
Jordan Troy, a spokeswoman for Mayor Lori Lightfoot, said the city is waiting for Reserve Management Group to file for separate city permits that will allow the company to operate at its new location and declined to comment on the state permit.
In a statement, Reserve Management Group said it “is simply exercising its rights to ensure that the permit language is clear and unambiguous, as well as to be treated equally with any other minor source of emissions.”
Illinois EPA spokeswoman Kim Biggs said Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office was asked to represent the agency in the matter and deferred comment. A Raoul spokeswoman declined to comment.
The Pollution Control Board is scheduled to meet Thursday when it could vote on whether to accept the petition. If the board accepts the appeal, the matter will be assigned to a hearing officer and could take about four months to decide.
The city’s approval of General Iron’s reopening in Lincoln Park came Friday, and operations could resume as soon as Saturday. In a letter to Reserve Management Group, the city’s Corporation Counsel Mark Flessner said the company met its legal obligations to show safeguards were in place to prevent another accident — but, he wrote, “I wish to make very clear that the city will be closely monitoring the facility.”
TRIBUNE//Alice Yin
Cook County government will give out $20 million in federal CARES Act funds to suburban residents struggling to pay rent during the coronavirus pandemic, officials announced Friday while emphasizing the need for a slow-moving Congress to advance a second stimulus package.
Households earning under 80% of the area median income — under about $72,000 for a family of four — can apply for grants that will cover overdue or future rent, Rich Monocchio, executive director of the Housing Authority of Cook County, said at a news conference in Oak Park. Up to $4,500 is available per household to pay between one to three months of rent.
“When this pandemic ravaged Cook County and so many working families experienced hardship, we knew that we had to do more,” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said. “The need remains critical and urgent.”
Suburban residents can apply at www.cookcountyil.gov/recovery from Aug. 10 to 18.
Because officials anticipate the demand will exceed their available funds, applicants will be randomly chosen before awards go out to landlords, Monocchio said.
One-quarter of the $20 million will go to places bearing the brunt of the economic devastation from the coronavirus pandemic. Monocchio estimates the maximum number of households benefiting from the program will be about 7,000.
“It only stands to reason that during a period like this, the county would have a program that helps the most vulnerable renters stay in their homes and weather out this pandemic,” Monocchio said.
The program is only available to suburban Cook County residents. Last week, Chicago launched its own series of housing grants totaling $33 million. Chicago residents can apply for mortgage and rental assistance funded by the federal coronavirus relief bill at chi.gov/housinghelp, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced. Statewide, another $300 million from the aid package will be doled out through two Illinois Housing Development Authority programs for rent and mortgage help.
During the news conference, Preckwinkle expressed impatience over Congress’ drawn-out talks over the second federal stimulus package, which she has long stressed is crucial for Cook County.
“Congress seems nowhere near ready to approve continued unemployment benefits,” Preckwinkle said. “This is critical for so many folks who’ve lost their jobs.”
Experts fear that for tenants suffering the most during the pandemic’s economic downturn, the looming expiration on Illinois’ eviction moratorium as well last month’s end of extra unemployment benefits under the CARES Act could spur a groundswell of evictions across the state. In July, Gov. J.B. Pritzker postponed the moratorium deadline through Aug. 22, and this week the state announced a 20-week extension of additional jobless benefits.
“The Cook County program and the other programs are going to help a significant number of people,” Bob Palmer, policy director at Housing Action Illinois, said. “But they won’t come anywhere close to meeting the overall needs for people who are having a hard time affording housing, which is a long-term problem but it’s particularly bad now because of COVID-19.”
In July, 27.9% of Illinoisans missed last month’s rent or mortgage payment or did not think they could make next month’s housing payment on time, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey. A report released by the Aspen Institute on Friday estimates 30 million to 40 million Americans could risk eviction in the next several months.
“The freezes are going to lift, and when that happens, we are going to see a serious wave of evictions if there isn’t any policy response,” said Michelle Layser, a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law. “It’s a big problem. There’s been a real failure at the federal level.”
Xochitl Flores, Cook County bureau chief of economic development, said the rental assistance program, run by the Bureau of Economic Development and HACC, also would mobilize outreach to communities of color, families with children, veterans and disabled residents. In addition, programs for mortgage assistance and eviction prevention will be rolled out in the coming weeks.
“As the spring and the summer rode on, it became clear that the greatest challenge facing our communities, would be for residents to stay safely within their homes,” Flores said. “Our goal is to help those who are the most vulnerable and most impacted by COVID.”
Can Lightfoot and Brown stem the homicide tide?
SUN TIMES//Editorial Board
Chicago is on pace to experience more homicides this year than the city has weathered in decades. As with any problem this wide-ranging and deep-seated, the causes of the carnage are complex. Crain's reporter A.D. Quig notes in this week's issue that a particularly toxic blend of factors is driving 2020's surge of gun violence: gang fragmentation that's setting small subsets of the city's dominant gangs against one another; a sudden drop-off in already-scarce jobs as COVID devastates the local economy; and the further souring of police-community relations in the wake of George Floyd's killing.
The result is a rise in shootings from Auburn Gresham to the Gold Coast, West Pullman to Rogers Park, Humboldt Park to the Loop. And, as Crain's reporting points out, the rules of engagement on the streets have changed. Bystanders and children, normally considered more or less off-limits when gang members square off, are now more routinely being caught in the crossfire as Chicagoans settle disputes—whether gang-related or personal—at the point of a gun.
The pandemic and the broken relationship between police and the communities they are sworn to serve and protect have combined to make a bad situation worse on the ground in violence-plagued and job-starved neighborhoods like North Lawndale, South Shore and Chicago Lawn. "People felt despair and lack of hope prior, and they almost feel nothing now," Chris Patterson, who helped launch the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago in Austin, tells Crain's.
And there's no relief in sight. "We were looking for a slight slowdown from June's pacing with 80 homicides and 400 shot and wounded, but clearly we were way off," as the pundits at Chicago's favorite crime-tracking website, HeyJackass.com, put it at the end of July. "Looking ahead, with now three disastrous and record-setting months in the books, August will most likely continue the trend, but we have to get a slowdown, even if temporary, at some point. We're forecasting another 90 homicides and an additional 400 shot and wounded with #500 hitting somewhere mid-month."
That's a sobering prediction, especially for the people who live in the worst homicide hot spots of the city: Austin, Garfield Park and Englewood.
It's a thorny problem that calls for strategic solutions. Unfortunately, Chicagoans are already losing faith that Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her new police superintendent, David Brown, really have one. Brown, who has pushed through wide-ranging leadership changes in the department since his April arrival, is reported to be crafting a community safety team that will consist of specially trained officers who understand the workings of gangs and are capable of doing "saturation patrols."
Will those interventions and others be enough to stem the bleeding that's afflicted too many neighborhoods across the length and breadth of the city? It's too early to tell—and, unfortunately, too late for the 450-plus people who have been lost to Chicago's relentless homicide outbreak this year.
It's too early to tell—and, unfortunately, too late for the 450-plus people who have been killed this year.
TRIBUNE//Jeremy Gorner
The surge of federal agents who have arrived in the city to help Chicago police fight violence as part of Operation Legend will go as far as handing out business cards to residents and community leaders as a way of encouraging neighborhoods to work with law enforcement, Chicago’s top FBI official said Friday.
Emmerson Buie Jr., the FBI special-agent-in-charge of its Chicago office, made the announcement Friday during a rare news briefing at the bureau’s Near West Side headquarters, attended by reporters abiding by social-distancing rules in a conference room.
Buie sought to reassure the public that agents want to work with residents to fight violence plaguing their neighborhoods as part of the new push, announced last month by President Donald Trump. Word of the plan sparked concern Chicago could see the kind of controversial force used to tamp down protests in cities including Portland, Oregon, in recent weeks.
The plan is for agents to fight crime as they always have, Buie told reporters.
“Operation Legend is new, but the fight is the same,” he said.
In the next few weeks, Buie said agents would be handing out business cards to Chicago residents and community leaders, urging them to use 1-800-CALL-FBI, a tip line for the public to provide confidential information about crimes in their neighborhoods.
He would not disclose how long the influx of federal agents would last but said there would eventually be an “evaluation of resources” to determine its sunset.
Operation Legend was named in honor of slain 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro in Kansas City, Missouri, where it began. In Chicago, it involves a few hundred federal agents from myriad agencies, among them the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Marshals Service.
In addition to Chicago and Kansas City, Operation Legend covers St. Louis, Albuquerque, Cleveland, Detroit, Memphis and Milwaukee. Officials have said each city has endured violence spikes in the wake of unrest after the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minnesota on May 25, an incident that has drawn national outrage.
As part of the effort in Chicago, the federal government has pledged to earmark $3.5 million to reimburse the Chicago Police Department and the city for the work done on the operation by local cops.
Aside from Operation Legend, Chicago police and other big-city police departments routinely work with federal law enforcement on criminal investigations into gang violence and gun- and drug-trafficking. Such partnerships over the years have included Project Exile, aimed at shifting more gun prosecutions to federal court for tougher penalties, and Project Safe Neighborhoods, designed to better coordinate federal resources and local intelligence on crime.
Chicago police sources have told the Tribune the latest surge in federal agents is expected to mean more of an emphasis on going after felons repeatedly caught with illegal guns.
Buie also reiterated an announcement made last month that the FBI would be offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the July 4 slaying of 14-year-old Vernado Jones Jr. in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. He was one of four people slain in a shooting at 62nd and Carpenter streets that also left four wounded.
Buie described Vernado’s death as having a personal effect on him, since he grew up in the Englewood area.
“I was a young man playing in (that) same neighborhood,” he said.
Another McCormick Place trade show cancels, bringing total number of scrapped events to 145
TRIBUNE//Abdel Jimenez
A packaging technology trade show that draws tens of thousands of attendees to Chicago every other year has canceled its in-person gathering due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The show, which was scheduled for Nov. 8 - 11, was expected to draw 71,000 people and account for more than 91,000 hotel room nights, McCormick Place spokeswoman Cynthia McCafferty said via email.
The cancellation brings the total number of McCormick Place trade shows that have now been scrapped to 145. Those shows were expected to generate more than $1.9 billion, including spending at hotels, restaurants, transportation options and entertainment, McCafferty said.
She said 60% of the events canceled due to the pandemic have rescheduled for future dates at McCormick Place.
The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, a Virginia-based trade group, announced this week that it will hold the show virtually because “it was not possible to have a safe and productive event for attendees and exhibitors.”
It will be the first time in 60 years the group won’t hold Pack Expo in person, CEO and President Jim Pittas said in a news release. The event showcases developments in packaging machinery, containers and components.
The International Manufacturing Technology Show, which would have drawn more than 129,000 attendees and been the city’s largest trade show at McCormick Place, canceled its event, which was scheduled for September, in June.
With coronavirus cases rising in Illinois, it’s uncertain when organizers will be able to host trade shows in the city. Under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s five-phase reopening plan, large gatherings can’t be held until a vaccine or a highly effective treatment against the virus is in place.
TRIBUNE//John Byrne and Gregory Pratt
In the days and hours before she gave up on in-school learning at Chicago Public Schools this fall, Mayor Lori Lightfoot was getting squeezed from the outside and the inside.
Coronavirus cases continued their seemingly implacable rise despite her constant entreaties to residents to wear masks and follow social distancing rules.
Her political nemeses in the Chicago Teachers Union repeatedly accused Lightfoot of putting students and teachers at risk, even as the rumblings about an impending strike vote grew louder.
Within her administration, CPS CEO Dr. Janice Jackson desperately was trying to maintain some kind of face-to-face instruction. Thousands of disadvantaged Chicago children count on schools for education, but also for safety, encouragement, structure, meals and “a lot of other things some people take for granted,” Jackson said as the district opted out of having students in classrooms to start the new academic year.
Meanwhile, the city’s coronavirus point person planted her flag publicly on the idea that the hybrid model with kids going in to school two days per week could work despite rising case counts. Public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady told reporters that “with the appropriate procedures in place, I honestly do not think the risk of spread is significant” inside schools if the virus is under control.
And Lightfoot herself was eager to show Chicago could reopen the right way even as other big cities across the U.S. struggled not to get overwhelmed by the disease.
In the end, with many school districts locally and nationally opting to keep their students at home, Lightfoot said she was “guided by the science” and shelved until at least November the hybrid model that would have sent kids to school two days per week.
The possibility of the second politically crippling teachers walkout in her 15 months on the job wasn’t the reason, Lightfoot firmly insisted. Instead, she cited the increasing coronavirus rates Arwady had discussed just a day earlier, when the doctor said in-school learning could still work.
Lightfoot also pointed to an online CPS survey she said indicated just 1 in 5 Black and Latino parents planned to send their kids into school in September if given the chance.
According to CPS, nearly one-third of the 37,467 respondents who identified themselves as Black or Latino said they weren’t sure whether they would send their kids into school in the fall after reading the district’s preliminary framework. In a school system with 355,000 students, where about 83% are either Black or Latino, more than 45% of the respondents who identified themselves as Black or Latino said they wouldn’t send their kids. Only about 20% of Black and Hispanic respondents said they were planning to send their students into school.
CPS said it was “responding to feedback from families” in deciding to scotch the hybrid plan for the first quarter of the school year.
In his predominantly Black West Side ward, Ald. Michael Scott Jr., 24th, said parents were torn about what they would do when classes started Sept. 8 before Lightfoot took the decision out of their hands.
“People I talked to were very concerned with the (in-school) pod, the hybrid plan,” Scott said. “Is it going to be safe? And then, in terms of child care, does having your kids in school two days each week even help? If you’re a working parent, you’ve still got to figure out the other three days anyway.
“It was a Catch-22 for everybody,” said Scott, who chairs the City Council Education Committee. “This was the right move at the right time, so parents and administrators can at least prepare for the fall.”
As for the political pressure facing Lightfoot from the teachers union, Scott said he thinks the mayor relied on scientific evidence, while adding “Look, obviously nobody wants a strike.”
Scott himself announced Thursday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.
On the Southwest Side, Ald. George Cardenas said many kids in his predominantly Hispanic 12th Ward would have benefited from at least trying to get them into classrooms at the start of the year.
“People are divided, but they want kids taught by teachers, to learn normally, and you just don’t get that same growth and achievement when they aren’t in school,” Cardenas said. “Especially when you have three, four, five people in a home, kids who are very young all the way up to high school. The high school kid can’t get their work done when the 3-year-old wants attention. It just doesn’t work.
“At least if you get a kid in a classroom, a teacher can look at him and say, ‘Hey, Johnny, I didn’t see you on that Zoom. What the hell’s going on?’” Cardenas added. “They could have tried, then stopped it if people were getting sick.”
Lightfoot wasn’t making her decision in a vacuum.
The reliance on the increasing numbers to justify going all-remote came as Chicago’s rate of daily COVID-19 cases had been going up for several weeks since it fell to under 200 in late June. The increase is likely thanks in part to a loosening of rules around eating in restaurants and other public activities that took effect at the end of that month.
At her daily briefings, Arwady repeatedly has pointed to 400 new cases per day in Chicago as the benchmark at which in-person schooling might not be safe, and the city would also have to consider rolling back other parts of the reopening plan in order to try to tamp down the disease’s spread.
Chicago is still well below that 400 line.
On Wednesday, when Lightfoot canceled in-person learning in CPS, the seven-day average of daily new cases in Chicago stood at 277.
But after talking the day before about the likelihood classroom learning could take place safely with proper safeguards in place, Arwady said it seemed probable enough that the number would rise to 400 by early September that it was appropriate to tell students to stay home a month ahead of the start of the school year.
Faced with the prospect of potentially hitting 400, Arwady said, “the last thing we wanted to do was say, ‘Let’s move ahead with hybrid model,’ and then a month from now be at a point where we needed to pull back on that.”
Along with those rising numbers, Lightfoot had to think about what would happen if the CTU again went on strike.
UIC labor professor Robert Bruno said a second CTU walkout on Lightfoot’s watch within a year of the 11-day strike in October 2019 “would have not only prevented or delayed CPS from providing instruction to over 300,000 students but in the long run been disastrous for the parties’ relationship.”
“Being able to deliver instruction and educational services in the third largest school district in the country during a pandemic is an enormous logistical puzzle; trying to do so without the full support of her school staff is highly improbable,” said Bruno, who wrote a book about the 2012 teachers strike during Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s first term.
In deciding whether to start remotely or not, Bruno said CPS “had a number of very challenging concerns to consider and balance.”
“From parent and staff fears to a commitment to quality student instruction and safety, it seems that in the end CPS realized the only safe and logistical way to educate kids in the fall was to do so remotely,” Bruno said. “And that decision is worthy of respect.”
It remains to be seen whether Lightfoot acted quickly enough to silence her critics and set kids up for success in the fall. Some other big U.S. cities, among them Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, announced weeks ago that they would go completely remote in their public schools to start the school year. And several suburban districts outside Chicago also already took that step.
DePaul professor Marie Donovan said deciding to start remotely was wise, but should have come sooner.
“I wish they made that decision and communicated it a good three weeks ago because that would’ve served families better,” Donovan said. “It also would’ve served teachers, administrators and all the support staff better.”
Donovan also said the city and CPS need to do more to educate parents about what it means to do remote learning and guide them through it, including tips on how to deal with children who have Zoom fatigue. “It’s not just accessing the internet,” she said.
North Side Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, said the at-home framework would be stronger now if it had been decided earlier.
“If we had been able to focus our attention on the remote plan instead of planning for both remote and hybrid, we could have dedicated more resources to making sure the remote plan is as robust as possible for students,” he said.
Politically, Lightfoot has positioned herself as a sort of centrist on the coronavirus. She frequently touts the need to listen to scientific data and public health professionals about the crisis, but her administration also has claimed Chicago is the “most open” big city in America.
In addition, the mayor has clashed with Gov. J.B. Pritzker over certain measures, including restaurants.
When Pritzker reopened restaurants for outdoor dining, Lightfoot publicly and privately pushed him to allow customers to eat inside, citing the economic need. New York, by comparison, doesn’t yet allow indoor dining at restaurants.
When the coronavirus became a full-on crisis in March, Lightfoot was reluctant to cancel school, citing the problems it would cause working parents and the number of students who rely on CPS for meals.
As pressure grew to close CPS, Lightfoot in mid-March said she had no plans to shutter the schools. Hours later, Pritzker shut down all of the state’s schools, including Chicago’s.
2 dead, 13 wounded in overnight city violence, police say
TRIBUNE//Deanese Williams-Harris
Two people were fatally wounded, and at least 13 others were injured since 5:30 p.m. Friday through early Saturday morning in shootings, Chicago police said.
The latest fatal shooting happened shortly before 4 a.m. in the 1300 block of West 64th Street in the Englewood neighborhood. Police said three people were shot after a verbal altercation, including a 29-year-old man who died from his wounds at St. Bernard Hospital.
Two other men, ages 20 and 21, suffered wounds to the shoulder, and to the groin area and leg. Both of those victims were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center where one was listed in good condition and the other was in critical condition, police said.
Shortly after 2:15 a.m., a 20-year-old man was discovered lying unresponsive on the sidewalk in the Belmont Central neighborhood in the 2100 block of North Parkside Avenue, police said.
The man was shot in the head and lower backside, and was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood where he was pronounced dead.
In other shootings overnight:
No one was in custody for any of the shootings.
TRIBUNE//Hannah Leone
Chicago Public Schools on Friday delayed the release of its plan for remote learning in the fall, days after the district announced it would start the new school year virtually rather than with the hybrid reopening model it first proposed.
The district now plans to issue its final reopening framework “in the days ahead,” according to an email to families Friday.
“We believe an improved remote learning model that engages students for the full school day is the right way to begin the new school year based on both the evolving public health situation and feedback from our families,” CPS CEO Janice Jackson and Chief Education Officer LaTanya McDade said in the email. “... We are taking additional time to work with school leaders and labor partners to ensure the plan we finalize for the new school year is thorough and thoughtful, and we will be sharing those guidelines as soon as they are ready.”
Chicago Teachers Union leaders are demanding the district include members as equal partners in improving on how remote learning went in the spring. After the news that CPS would not be releasing its plan Friday, CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates tweeted about the tentative agreement on distance learning negotiated between the Los Angeles Unified School District and the United Teachers Los Angeles.
”I don’t know how (CPS) can release anything without a *negotiated* deal? I mean educators get VOICE in how this works,” Davis Gates tweeted.
During a meeting of Hancock College Prep’s Local School Council Thursday evening, Principal Vanessa Puentes said thinking about a hybrid model “really derailed us” from remote planning.
Most of the focus had been on creating pods, she explained, referring to the earlier plan to rotate students into schools in assigned groups. Now that CPS is switching to remote, she said, “we are back to the drawing board.”
“We had to plan for an entirely different opening and now we are going in a different direction,” Puentes said.
Among other changes, Jackson has promised more live instruction and accountability, seeking to address concerns about the quality and reliability of remote instruction since Illinois schools closed in March as it became clear the coronavirus pandemic was growing.
More live teaching rather than online programs is a top priority for parents, who also want a focus on academic recovery in the fall, according to a report by Kids First Chicago released Thursday. More than 160 parents participated in 16 focus groups during July, reflecting on the spring and coming up with recommendations for what’s next.
They desired more opportunities for students to interact and connect with one another and with educators to help with social and emotional well-being. Parents of students in special education programs were especially concerned about the disruption to critical services and suggested revisiting each student’s plan in light of new school models.
For themselves, participating parents wanted more technological training and consistent communication from their children’s teachers.
“It’s important that we head into the new school year with clear and consistent expectations for staff, an understanding of how remote learning will impact out-of-school-time clubs and activities, and further guidance on other supports for students and staff,” McDade and Jackson said in their letter.
Their goal is still to get a computer or tablet and high-speed internet access to every child who needs it, including a pledge to provide free internet to 100,000 students through a public-private partnership called Chicago Connected.
Northwest Side Ald. Gilbert Villegas of the 36th Ward, Lightfoot’s City Council floor leader, said he’s worried the city isn’t doing enough to get internet to as many children as possible, as quickly as possible.
Villegas said he talked to school district and Lightfoot administration officials about widely distributing solar-powered routers that could quickly and inexpensively provide service, but hasn’t gotten any feedback on the idea.
“We were all caught off guard in March, understandably. Nobody could have foreseen it,” Villegas said. “But what are we doing now? There are ways to help families get internet so remote learning works better, but we have to get moving.”