Home Blog Page 20

Los Blackhawks y la NHL inauguran una pista de hockey al aire libre en La Villita

El mejor lugar para cobertura de noticias y cultura latina en Chicago. | The place for coverage of Latino news and culture in Chicago.

Connor Bedard suele ser el jugador más joven en la pista de hockey, pero el lunes, la estrella en ascenso de los Blackhawks fue un veterano con experiencia que celebró la apertura de una pista de hockey al aire libre junto a estudiantes de La Villita en el lado suroeste.

El joven de 19 años se unió a los estudiantes de la Escuela Comunitaria John Spry y miembros del True Value Boys and Girls Club de Chicago, 2950 W. 25th St., para algunos juegos y ejercicios improvisados después de la ceremonia de inauguración de la pista, que se encuentra en un patio entre los dos edificios.

“Mientras celebramos este nuevo y emocionante espacio para los jóvenes, también reconocemos que es más que una cancha de deportes y es más que un área hermosa para que los jóvenes y la familia se reúnan”, dijo Sara Guderyahn, directora ejecutiva de la Fundación Chicago Blackhawks. “Para los Chicago Blackhawks, este es realmente un compromiso a largo plazo con el lado oeste de Chicago. Representa la oportunidad para que los jóvenes crezcan, aprendan y se conecten entre sí”.

El proyecto fue un esfuerzo conjunto entre los Blackhawks y la NHL (Liga Nacional de Hockey, por sus siglas en inglés). La pista está pintada con los colores negro y rojo de los Blackhawks. Detrás de la pista hay un mural con la temática de los Blackhawks realizado por el artista callejero con sede en Chicago, Sentrock, cuyo nombre real es Joseph Pérez. La obra de arte muestra a niñas y niños con camisetas inspiradas en los Blackhawks jugando hockey al aire libre.

A new ball hockey rink in a shared courtyard between John Spry Community School and the True Value Boys and Girls Club of Chicago, 2950 W. 25th St., was opened in Little Village on Dec. 16, 2024.

Se inauguró en La Villita una nueva pista de hockey en un patio compartido entre la Escuela Comunitaria John Spry y el True Value Boys and Girls Club de Chicago. El espacio renovado también cuenta con una zona al aire libre con mesas de picnic.

Emmanuel Camarillo/Sun-Times

El espacio renovado también cuenta con una zona paras sentarse al aire libre con mesas de picnic. Anteriormente, el espacio era el sitio de un campo de fútbol en miniatura inaugurado por el Chicago Fire en 2016.

Jaime Faulkner, presidente de operaciones comerciales de los Chicago Blackhawks, dijo que el equipo siempre ha tenido fuertes conexiones con el lado oeste porque el equipo juega allí y muchos de sus empleados viven en el área.

“Nuestros vínculos aquí en el West Side son reales y de largo plazo”, dijo.

Docenas de estudiantes se sentaron entre el público con camisetas con el logotipo de los Blackhawks, ansiosos por tener en sus manos los palos de hockey y probar suerte en el deporte. Varios estudiantes y maestros llevaban camisas y pantalones de franela, ya que era el día de pijamas en la escuela.

Officials cut the ribbon at the opening of a new ball hockey rink in a shared courtyard between John Spry Community School and the True Value Boys and Girls Club of Chicago, 2950 W. 25th St., in Little Village, Dec. 16, 2024.

La directora de la escuela dijo que el proyecto permitirá que los niños de la comunidad pasen más tiempo al aire libre y aprendan un deporte como el hockey, que según ella todavía es algo desconocido en el vecindario predominantemente latino.

Emmanuel Camarillo/Sun-Times

Claudia Peralta, directora de la escuela, dijo que el proyecto les permitirá a los niños de la comunidad pasar más tiempo afuera y aprender un deporte como el hockey, que dijo que todavía era algo desconocido en el vecindario predominantemente latino.

“Estamos agradecidos por esta oportunidad que brinda a nuestros estudiantes más espacio al aire libre, recursos y una variedad de oportunidades diferentes”, dijo Peralta. “Nuestra comunidad escolar también está muy emocionada de poder participar en una variedad de oportunidades al aire libre junto con nuevos asientos al aire libre también”.

La inauguración de la pista exterior es uno de los varios eventos que se llevarán a cabo en la ciudad durante los próximos días antes del juego Clásico de Invierno de la NHL el 31 de diciembre, cuando los Blackhawks recibirán a los St. Louis Blues en Wrigley Field.

Brian Jennings, vicepresidente ejecutivo principal de marketing y director de marca de la NHL, dijo que la pista ayudará a las nuevas generaciones a aprender y expandir el juego del hockey.

“La posibilidad de brindarles a estos niños este espacio al aire libre es realmente fundamental, y la liga está comprometida con eso porque es importante no solo aprender sobre el deporte del hockey, sino también estar afuera y divertirse unos con otros porque es un gran, gran deporte”, dijo.

Blackhawks star Connor Bedard plays a game with students at the opening of a new ball hockey rink in a shared courtyard between John Spry Community School and the True Value Boys and Girls Club of Chicago, 2950 W. 25th St., in Little Village, Dec. 16, 2024.

La estrella de los Blackhawks, Connor Bedard, juega un partido con estudiantes en la inauguración de una nueva pista de hockey con pelota.

Emmanuel Camarillo/Sun-Times

Traducido por Jackie Serrato, La Voz Chicago



Source link

CHGO Sports lays off 5 front-facing staffers as part of new content plan, resource allocation

Digital sports-media outlet CHGO let go of five front-facing staffers and some production personnel Wednesday in a round of layoffs across parent company ALLCITY Network’s five markets.

Greg Boysen, Vinnie Duber, Ryan Herrera, Herb Lawrence and Nicholas Moreano were the on-air talents affected, ALLCITY CEO Brandon Spano told the Sun-Times. The layoffs are part of a shift in resources as the company expands its revenue departments amid a push for wider distribution on free ad-supported TV channels.

“We created a new content plan for 2025,” Spano said. “We would like to cover sports in the exact same manner, but the reality is that certain sports command a different scale of audience and advertiser interest at the local level, and we’re moving our resources to better align with that.”

Baseball and hockey beats were affected the most. Boysen was on the Blackhawks beat, Herrera covered the Cubs, and Duber and Lawrence covered the White Sox. ALLCITY’s overall coverage of baseball will undergo the biggest change. In-season shows will come out two to three times per week instead of daily, and offseason content will depend on news.

The Sox’ historic struggles on the field affected the beat’s audience share enough to necessitate two layoffs.

“Unfortunately, the White Sox are a really tough team to [cover],” Spano said. “Herb’s incredible. He’s one of the best talents we’ve ever had and a great person. Vinny Duber’s as good of a writer as you’ll find on a beat. But sometimes you feel like you care more about the White Sox than the White Sox care about the White Sox. So that makes it tough.”

Also affected were talent known as “fourth chairs,” a fourth person who worked on a bigger beat. That included Moreano on the Bears beat. The Bulls beat was unaffected.

Spano said this marks the first time ALLCITY has had a round of layoffs. He said the percentage of cuts companywide was “pretty small.”

“We grew the revenue department both in each local market and nationally,” Spano said. “That essentially comes down to sellers. We have to take resources from areas where you’re not generating interest or you have extra resources and then put those in areas where the business is growing.”

Spano said he doesn’t foresee making further changes in 2025. ALLCITY, which launched in 2019 in Denver, also has outlets in Phoenix, Philadelphia and Dallas. CHGO launched in March 2022.

Statement from ALLCITY CEO Brandon Spano:

“As ALLCITY Network continues to mature, we must make strategic changes in order to scale efficiently. Unfortunately that means that there were important creators who were let go today and each one of them was very important to us. Each of these impacted employees have been offered severance, health care coverage, and other benefits as part of the restructuring.

As much as we would like to cover all sports in the exact same manner, the reality is that certain sports command a different scale of audience and advertiser interest at the local level and we’re moving our resources to better align with that. These decisions were made using the large pool of data that has been accumulated over the last few years. It doesn’t mean that we’re no longer covering all teams in a city, but it does mean that we are reimagining what that looks like while being more conscious of our commitment to it. This means a smarter mix of daily shows, short-form content, and tentpole coverage.

Ultimately, we believe these changes create long-term sustainability for our employees as we continue to scale and add networks across the country.”



Source link

El alcalde nombra los nuevos miembros para completar la junta escolar de CPS

El mejor lugar para cobertura de noticias y cultura latina en Chicago. | The place for coverage of Latino news and culture in Chicago.

En un conjunto de nombramientos que completan la nueva Junta de Educación de Chicago de 21 miembros, el alcalde Brandon Johnson escogió a un grupo en su mayoría de organizadores y activistas comunitarios y mantuvo a todos, menos dos, de sus actuales miembros de la junta escolar.

Los 11 escaños del alcalde representan una mayoría de la junta escolar y consolidan su fuerte influencia sobre las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago (CPS, por sus siglas en inglés) para los próximos dos años. Johnson nombró a 10 miembros el lunes y dijo que un 11º aún está siendo evaluado.

Se unen a los otros 10 que fueron elegidos por los votantes en las elecciones inaugurales de la junta escolar de Chicago en noviembre. Cuatro de esos miembros elegidos fueron respaldados por el Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago (CTU, por sus siglas en inglés), aliados del alcalde que lo ayudaron a llegar al cargo. Eso pone 15 de los 21 escaños en el lado ideológico del alcalde.

“Esto es lo que busco: personas que realmente amen y crean en la educación pública”, dijo Johnson en una conferencia de prensa el lunes después de que el Concejo Municipal aprobara el segundo presupuesto de su mandato.

Johnson dijo que quería miembros de la junta que “entendieran la urgencia” de los planes del presidente electo Donald Trump para el Departamento de Educación de Estados Unidos, que muchos defensores han dicho que podrían dañar a las escuelas públicas.

Dijo que era importante para él que los miembros de la junta se preocuparan por las familias que han sido descuidadas, y por los maestros, que según él enfrentan ataques injustos. Y Johnson indicó que sus designados para la junta deberían ordenar al distrito escolar que se haga cargo de un pago de pensión en disputa para los empleados de CPS que no son maestros.

El alcalde tuvo un pequeño problema al nombrar a los designados. Por ley, tuvo que escoger a personas que vivieran en el lado opuesto de su distrito escolar que los miembros que fueron elegidos por los votantes. El presidente de la junta podría ser de cualquier parte de la ciudad. El lunes fue la fecha límite para anunciar sus nombramientos.

Los 11 designados por Johnson están encabezados por el nuevo presidente de la junta escolar, Sean Harden, un ejecutivo consultor que trabajó como asistente ejecutivo del ex alcalde Richard M. Daley a mediados de la década de 2000, y luego para CPS como director ejecutivo adjunto para asuntos comunitarios de 2009 a 2011 bajo el entonces jefe de escuelas, Ron Huberman. Desde entonces, ha estado involucrado en el desarrollo inmobiliario, la revitalización de la comunidad y las organizaciones de desarrollo de trabajo.

Harden fue anunciado como miembro de la junta y juramentó el cargo la semana pasada durante la última reunión de la junta escolar del año, pero no fue nombrado nuevo presidente de la junta hasta el lunes.

“Cada uno de estos líderes aporta una perspectiva única y un compromiso inquebrantable con el éxito de los estudiantes de Chicago”, dijo Harden en un comunicado publicado por la alcaldía. “Juntos, priorizaremos la equidad, amplificaremos las voces de la comunidad y crearemos oportunidades que liberen el potencial de cada niño en nuestra ciudad”.

Además de Harden, cuatro miembros actuales de la junta mantendrán sus puestos: Debby Pope, maestra de larga trayectoria y ex miembro del personal de CTU del distrito 2 del lado norte; la consultora política Michilla Blaise del distrito 5 del lado oeste; el organizador laboral y de base Frank Niles Thomas del distrito 9 en el extremo lado sur; y la organizadora comunitaria Olga Bautista del distrito 10 del lado sureste.

Mary Gardner y Rafael Yañez dejarán la junta.

El alcalde completó el resto de sus nombramientos con Ed Bannon, un miembro de larga trayectoria del Consejo Escolar Local (LSC, por sus siglas en inglés) de la Escuela Primaria Dever que se postuló para concejal contra el concejal Nick Sposato (38º) en 2023. Norma Ríos-Sierra es una artista, activista y madre de Logan Square. La pastora Emma Lozano es una destacada activista de inmigración que se describió a sí misma en el comunicado de prensa de la alcaldía como una “campeona de la educación bilingüe”.

Karen Zaccor es una de las dos nuevas integrantes que se presentaron sin éxito a una candidatura para un escaño electo, respaldada por la CTU. Zaccor terminó en segundo lugar entre seis candidatos en una concurrida carrera para representar al distrito 4, que abarca comunidades a lo largo de la costa norte del lago. Zaccor se jubiló de la docencia el pasado mes de junio, después de 28 años en las aulas.

Anusha Thotakura, también nombrada, perdió la carrera para representar al distrito 6, que se extiende desde algunos vecindarios del Near North Side hasta el lado sur. Durante la campaña electoral, Thotakura promocionó su experiencia como maestra de matemáticas en California. Desde entonces, ha trabajado para organizaciones progresistas en Chicago y actualmente es directora de Citizen Action Illinois, una coalición de defensa de políticas progresistas.

A los 26 años, Thotakura probablemente será la integrante más joven de la junta y la única estadounidense de origen asiático. Vive en el vecindario de West Town.

Antes del anuncio, unos 140 padres organizados por el grupo de defensa Kids First Chicago enviaron una carta al alcalde pidiéndole que se asegure de que la composición racial de la junta (los designados junto con los miembros electos) refleje a los estudiantes del distrito, que son casi el 90% afroamericanos y latinos.

Al final, siete de los 21 son blancos (anglosajones), seis son negros, siete son latinos y uno es asiático-americano.

Traducido por Jackie Serrato, La Voz Chicago



Source link

El triturador de metales de Pilsen obtiene el visto bueno del Ayuntamiento a pesar de las protestas

El mejor lugar para cobertura de noticias y cultura latina en Chicago. | The place for coverage of Latino news and culture in Chicago.

Casi tres años después de que la Municipalidad rechazara la oferta de una controversial operación de chatarra para abrir en el lado sureste, la administración del alcalde Brandon Johnson dio el visto bueno a una empresa contaminante similar, Sims Metal Management, para que continúe triturando automóviles, electrodomésticos y otros desechos en su sede en Pilsen.

Sims procesa automóviles chatarra y otros artículos grandes a través de un equipo triturador masivo que separa y recupera el metal para su reventa. El proceso crea contaminación del aire, y ese ha sido el foco de preocupación en torno a la solicitud de permiso de la operación desde que se presentó en diciembre de 2021.

Sims es la única operación de trituración de automóviles en Chicago, y los miembros de la comunidad intentaron descarrilar los esfuerzos de la empresa para obtener un nuevo permiso municipal. Algunos pidieron un estudio de impacto en la salud para determinar si Sims y otros contaminadores cercanos en el área industrial de Pilsen están perjudicando a los residentes.

El departamento de salud dijo en un comunicado que “hará cumplir las condiciones del permiso” y que “cualquier violación o riesgo identificado resultará en una acción correctiva inmediata para proteger a la comunidad”.

En un comunicado, Sims dijo que “esta aprobación es la decisión correcta para que el trabajo crítico de reciclaje pueda continuar en Chicago”, refiriéndose al rescate de chatarra. “Seguimos totalmente comprometidos a seguir cumpliendo con las expectativas operativas de la Municipalidad”.

En el pasado, Sims ha infringido las leyes federales y estatales sobre contaminación.

La empresa ubicada en 2500 S. Paulina St. está en proceso de construir equipos de control de la contaminación exigidos por el estado luego de una demanda. En 2021, el fiscal general de Illinois, Kwame Raoul, demandó a Sims diciendo que la empresa no había demostrado que estuviera reduciendo la contaminación del aire.

La empresa anteriormente llegó a un acuerdo con la Agencia de Protección Ambiental de Estados Unidos (EPA, por sus siglas en inglés) para mejorar sus controles de contaminación.

La EPA exigió a Sims que instalara monitores de aire en sus instalaciones de Pilsen en 2022. Luego monitoreó los resultados de esos monitores de aire y los funcionarios de la ciudad dijeron que se tomaron en cuenta los hallazgos al decidir los méritos de la solicitud de permiso de Sims.

“Las emisiones de Sims no causarían efectos en la salud a corto o largo plazo para la comunidad cercana a las instalaciones”, dijo la Municipalidad, citando los hallazgos de la EPA.

La Municipalidad dijo que el monitoreo del aire continuará.

El resultado de Sims es muy diferente al de otra empresa de trituración de metales similar.

En febrero de 2022, el departamento de salud pública de la entonces alcaldesa Lori Lightfoot rechazó una solicitud de permiso del propietario de la empresa de trituración de metales reubicada y rebautizada de General Iron. General Iron se estaba mudando de su antigua sede en Lincoln Park, donde los vecinos se quejaron de la contaminación, los olores y el ruido de la operación.

En una carta al propietario de General Iron, los funcionarios de salud dijeron en ese entonces que encontraron que “la instalación propone realizar una actividad inherentemente peligrosa en una comunidad vulnerable”.

Esa operación, que ya estaba completamente construida, se encuentra inactiva en East 116th Street, a lo largo del Río Calumet. La empresa presentó múltiples demandas contra la Municipalidad por este asunto. Dos casos judiciales aún están pendientes.

“Está muy claro que [el departamento de salud] no aplicó los mismos estándares a Sims”, dijo el propietario de la operación en el lado sureste, Reserve Management (anteriormente conocida como General Iron), en un comunicado.

Al igual que el lado sureste, Pilsen también se considera una comunidad de “justicia ambiental”, lo que se refiere a un área de bajos ingresos que ya está inundada de contaminación y otros factores de estrés social que pueden afectar la salud de los residentes en su mayoría latinos.

Traducido por Jackie Serrato, La Voz Chicago



Source link

The Bears and success are Poles apart

The TV broadcast of any NFL game includes a camera shot of each team’s general manager in his private stadium booth. Depending on how his season is going, a GM can look like the king of the universe or a teenager who’s just been called on in class.

These days, Bears general manager Ryan Poles looks like a trapped sophomore.

Another standard camera shot is of Bears quarterback Caleb Williams in various stages of distress, physical or mental or both.

The two shots are very much connected because Poles has put Williams in a terrible spot this season, with coaches who don’t know how to coach him and offensive linemen who don’t know how to block for him.

With the blessing of ownership, Poles fired head coach Matt Eberflus late last month. No one really expected things to change, though, and a six-losing streak under Eberflus has grown to eight under interim coach Thomas Brown. The brain freezes that hurt the Bears under the former coach are continuing under the present one.

The common denominator in all of this is Poles, who helped hire Eberflus and built the roster that is letting down Williams, the top overall pick in this year’s draft.

Has anyone had as sudden a fall from grace as Poles? Three and a half months ago, he was the darling of fans and media for getting Williams and surrounding the rookie with talented receivers. Now he and the Bears can’t do anything right. They face the Lions on Sunday, and the forecast calls for a 95% chance of pain.

Poles’ descent has nothing to do with the fickleness of public opinion and everything to do with bad decision-making.

Never forget: He was the guy who said before the season that the offensive line had a chance to be special. He meant it, too, which should make Bears fans’ blood curdle. Williams has been sacked 58 times so far, the most in the league, though some have had to do with his habit of holding onto the ball too long. Getting sacked 58 times in 14 games is like walking across the Dan Ryan Expressway 58 times. One of these times he’s not going to get up.

The Bears have had injuries on the offensive line, but injuries are not an excuse. Everybody gets injured in the NFL. The league is a NASCAR race with a crash every lap. Good rosters are built with the knowledge that injuries are sure to occur. Poles’ roster was built with the idea that rookie Kiran Amegadjie, a third-round pick from Yale, would be ready for his first NFL start if called upon, even if it came in a Monday night game in a loud domed stadium against a savage Vikings pass rush. He wasn’t.

A month ago, the Bears waived guard Nate Davis. Poles had given him a three-year, $30 million contract in March 2023. How bad must Davis have been if couldn’t help this offensive line? And how bad does Poles’ decision to sign him look now? I’ll answer that: Very and very.

The McCaskeys, owners of the Bears, aren’t going to fire Poles now. They don’t want to look for a new general manager because it’s an uncomfortable exercise for them. The exercise would involve search firms and other cries for help that prove they don’t know much about football. They don’t like being uncomfortable.

But Poles’ leash got a little shorter with the firing of Eberflus. When things go bad in the NFL, coaches get sacrificed first. If the situation doesn’t improve, a GM eventually feels the glare of judgment – even in Chicago, though not as quickly as in other NFL cities.

The McCaskey family is the root cause of everything that’s wrong with the franchise, but that doesn’t absolve its employees of football wrongdoing. The Bears were supposed to be much better than 4-10 at this point in the season, and Williams was supposed to be a more polished quarterback at this point in the season. His 87.7 passer rating has allowed his critics to crow that he’s no better than Justin Fields. They’re wrong, but it’s hard to make that point over the din of an eight-game losing streak.

Poles is the tie that binds all this unpleasantness together. He was the Grand Architect when things were good. Now he’s the guy with the thought bubble above his head that reads, “Tell me again what a hammer is supposed to do?”

One of the announcers in the Bears’ Monday night embarrassment in Minnesota brought up the team’s ample cap room next season. How long have Bears fans been teased with the ample cap-room promise? Ample 2024 cap room has got them an eight-game losing streak, and counting.

Here’s a suggestion: Use some of that ample cap room next year on some ample offensive linemen.

In the meantime, bring on the Lions and pray for Williams’ safety.



Source link

Sky add WNBA veteran Courtney Paris to coaching staff

Courtney Paris, an 11-year WNBA veteran, is the first assistant coach hired by the Sky to join new coach Tyler Marsh’s staff, the team announced Wednesday morning.

Paris joins the Sky after serving two seasons on former Wings coach Latricia Trammell’s bench from 2023-2024.

“We are extremely excited to have Courtney join our staff here in Chicago,” Marsh said in a statement. “She brings a decade of WNBA experience as a player and as a coach that will surely benefit our players.”

Following her prolific career at Oklahoma — where Paris set the NCAA record for consecutive double-doubles at 112 and became the first player ever, regardless of gender, to accumulate 2,500 career points and 2,000 career rebounds — she was drafted by the Monarchs with the seventh overall pick in the 2009 WNBA draft. She played 10 seasons in the WNBA for five different franchises. Paris won a WNBA title with the Storm in 2018. Her professional career also included nine seasons overseas in Turkey, Spain and Israel.

“I am deeply honored and grateful to Jeff and Tyler for the opportunity to join the Chicago Sky organization,” Paris said. “Through this process, I’ve had the chance to get to know Tyler, and I am truly inspired by his vision and leadership. I’m eager to support him and the entire coaching staff as we work together to elevate this team.”

Paris’ involvement in the development of Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso stands to be where she will have the most significant impact.

In her rookie campaign, Reese led the league in rebounds per game, averaging 13.1, and set a new WNBA record with 15 consecutive double-doubles. She finished the season with 24 double-doubles, a new rookie record. After battling through a shoulder injury to start her rookie season Cardoso stepped up in the absence of WNBA veteran Elizabeth Williams. Despite an offense that was not built for her to succeed, Cardoso averaged 9.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game in 2024.

Cardoso’s game will benefit greatly from Paris’ guidance, specifically when it comes to the scoring in the low post and the footwork required to move around some of the league’s most dominant bigs.

“She’s great,” Williams said. “Not only a really skilled and smart player but a really great person. We’re going to continue to bring in people that elevate us on and off the floor. I’m excited to have her. It’s always great to have a post coach.”

Before she was hired by Trammell in Dallas, Paris was part of her alma mater’s coaching staff from 2020-2021. The Sky are in the process of solidifying two more hires who will round out Marsh’s bench.

“Through this process, I’ve had the chance to get to know Tyler, and I am truly inspired by his vision and leadership,” Paris said in a statement. “I’m eager to support him and the entire coaching staff as we work together to elevate this team.”



Source link

All charges dropped against Oak Lawn police officer accused of using excessive force in teen’s arrest

All charges have been dropped against an Oak Lawn police officer who was accused of using excessive force during the 2022 arrest of a teenager in the south suburb that was caught on video.

The charges were dismissed during a brief hearing Wednesday morning at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, a day before a bench trial for Officer Patrick O’Donnell was set to begin before Judge Domenica Stephenson.

A spokesperson for State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke, who took office earlier this month, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the decision to abandon the case against O’Donnell, who was accused of repeatedly punching Hadi Abu-Atelah after a traffic stop.

The Arab American Action Network released a statement slamming O’Neill Burke, saying “a grave injustice has been committed against our community.”

“Instead of carrying out her duty to hold everyone accountable to the law, State’s Attorney Eileen Burke is returning the office to the old-style Chicago politics of back room dealings and cover ups of misconduct, where one corrupt and guilty hand washes the other.”

The case has drawn condemnation from some Arab Americans in the south suburbs who claimed it was representative of bias by police officers in the region and over-policing against the community.

The teen’s family and the Council on American-Islamic Relations Chicago have since filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Oak Lawn officers and the village.

O’Donnell was indicted by a grand jury last year on counts of aggravated battery and official misconduct when the office was led by State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who made addressing allegations of police misconduct a priority of her administration.

O’Donnell and the other two officers were filmed by a bystander as they held Abu-Atelah, then 17, on the ground as O’Donnell repeatedly punched the teen in the head after Abu-Atelah ran from a traffic stop.

Family and attorneys for the teen said he spent six days in a hospital for fractures to his face, skull and pelvis, and was treated for swelling of his brain.

At a news conference where police showed dash cam video of the arrest, Oak Lawn Police Chief Daniel Vittorio defended his officer’s actions and said Abu-Atelah was reaching for a shoulder bag as he struggled with officers.

A loaded semi-automatic pistol was found in the bag, and the state’s attorney’s office charged Abu-Atelah with gun possession. The status of that case was not immediately clear because he was charged as a juvenile.

But in December 2023, Abu-Atelah, then 19, was charged with a felony count of robbery, along with two other teenagers, in connection with an incident that month at a Lifetime Fitness, 16333 S. La Grange Road in Orland Park, according to court records.

The teens allegedly followed an acquaintance into a locker room at the gym and then began kicking and punching him. While the victim was on the ground, one of the teens allegedly removed his cellphone, and then all three fled, Orland Park police reported.

O’Donnell’s lawyer James McKay had previously sought to get evidence of that case and school disciplinary records for Abu-Atelah heard at the trial.

McKay did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.



Source link

Breaking down the Class 3A and 4A sectional assignments

The IHSA released the sectional assignments for boys basketball over the weekend. As always, it’s a great peek into the future and what it might look like two months from now.

Here are some quick takes and observations from the release of those assignments.

Class 4A

■ The toughest 4A sectional? The “TBA Sectional” where the majority of the Public League schools will be playing — and is still looking for a host — is the deepest.

Kenwood, currently the No. 1 ranked team, is at the top, followed by several teams that are or have been ranked this season: Simeon, Lincoln Park, St. Ignatius, Hinsdale Central and Curie.

The bad news is even after getting through this gauntlet, the sectional winner will have to face one of the state’s best (Homewood-Flossmoor? Rich?) in the super-sectional.

■ The Benet Sectional is exceptionally strong — at the top. Bolingbrook, Waubonsie Valley and Benet are the top three seeds now and undoubtedly will be in two months. But there is a quick drop following those three, although Downers Grove North appears to be making things more interesting than anyone thought.

■ The same can be said about the sectional in the south suburbs that is still looking for a sectional host. Homewood-Flossmoor and Rich are the headliners. But there is a little more depth with the likes of Marist, Bloom and Joliet West.

■ The weakest 4A sectional right now is pretty clear: St. Charles East. That’s good news for the only team currently ranked in the Super 25 — Glenbard West. Right now the top two seeds are without question Glenbard West and Geneva.

■ The always strong north suburban sectional doesn’t look to be nearly as strong or deep as past years. New Trier has won this past two years and again will be one of the biggest threats to do so again. But it’s not the New Trier of the past two seasons. Evanston and Niles North appear ready to be major players.

■ The best team with the best path is Warren. The Blue Devils will have some familiar obstacles in league foes Waukegan and Libertyville in their sub-sectional, but it’s hardly a meat-grinder in comparison to other sectionals. The other sub-sectional features dangerous DeKalb, Rockford Guilford and Rockford Auburn.

■ Quincy and Moline appear to be on a collision course to meet in the Collinsville Sectional final.

■ Based on current rankings and what teams would likely be the top seeds in their respective sectionals, here is a look at potential Class 4A super-sectional matchups:

Hoffman Estates Super: Niles North vs. Glenbard West

UIC Super: Homewood-Flossmoor vs. Kenwood

ISU Super: Quincy vs. Bolingbrook

DeKalb Super: Rolling Meadows vs. Warren

Class 3A

■ The toughest sectional in Class 3A, at least in the Chicago area, is the Brother Rice Sectional, where the host school is the team to beat. Marian Catholic, Perspectives-Leadership and Hillcrest stand in the way of Brother Rice winning its first sectional since 2005.

■ This may sound like a whole lot of disrespect to a whole lot of teams — 37 teams to be exact — but try and find a viable challenger to two-time defending champ DePaul Prep in the Antioch and Rochelle sectionals. Go ahead. Try it …

We’ve found one: Lake Forest. Good luck to the other 37 teams.

■ Mount Carmel is in great position to win a second straight sectional championship. In order to do so the Caravan will need to take care of Catholic League foes St. Laurence and De La Salle in the Glenbard South Sectional. It’s always interesting to watch private schools from the South Side head to Glen Ellyn for a sectional.

■ Coach Mike Bailey has won four sectional championships at St. Patrick since taking over the program in 1994. The Shamrocks will be favored to repeat in a very winnable sectional and claim Bailey’s fifth overall.

Underrated Fenwick appears to be the best team standing in the way of St. Patrick in the Little Village Sectional. And just like last year, Mount Carmel could be the blockade in Bailey reaching the State Finals for the first time. St. Patrick lost to Mount Carmel a year ago in the super.

■ Talented Kankakee is in a good position within its own sub-sectional. But it gets dicey when paired up with the other sub-sectional, which includes Peoria and Metamora.

■ The Rochelle Sectional will be interesting. Crystal Lake South is the defending champ and still has AJ Demirov back. Kaneland is 7-1. But unbeaten Wheaton Academy is playing like the top team in that sectional right now. Wheaton Academy has never won a sectional championship in program history.

■ Based on current rankings and what teams would likely be the top seeds in their respective sectionals, here is a look at potential Class 3A super-sectional matchups:

UIC Super: Mount Carmel vs. St. Patrick

Springfield Super: Mt. Vernon vs. Mt. Zion

Hoffman Estates Super: DePaul Prep vs. Wheaton Academy

Pontiac Super: Brother Rice vs. Peoria



Source link

Some Jan. 6 defendants deserve pardons from Trump

On his first day in office, President-elect Donald Trump promises, he will pardon at least some of the 1,500 or so people who have been charged with crimes in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

He notes that most of those defendants were not violent and that they faced a lot of pressure to plead guilty, as about 1,000 have done so far.

Trump’s most vociferous critics are apt to view any pardons in these cases as an outrageous and self-interested attempt to excuse the behavior of “insurrectionists” who sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. But even though Trump himself is largely to blame for the riot, which was inspired by his unfounded insistence that then-President-elect Joe Biden had stolen the election, he raises some valid points about prosecutorial power, which can lead to unjust results that might be remedied by the prudent use of presidential clemency.

As of Nov. 6, the Justice Department reports, about 590 people had been charged with “assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement agents or officers or obstructing those officers” during the riot. They included 169 defendants “charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.”

More than 300 defendants had pleaded guilty to felonies, while 661 had pleaded guilty “only to misdemeanors.” Defendants who pleaded not guilty, by contrast, typically have been convicted of felonies.

Prosecutors had a bunch of potential charges to choose from, including misdemeanors such as demonstrating inside the Capitol, “disorderly or disruptive conduct,” and entering or remaining in a restricted building without authorization. The sentences in such cases ranged from probation to short jail terms.

Even defendants who received relatively light sentences may have grounds to complain that the charges they faced were not deployed consistently. According to a recent report from the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General, four FBI informants “entered the Capitol during the riot,” while 13 “entered the restricted area around the Capitol.”

None of those informants has faced prosecution. Although the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office claims that is consistent with its policy of “generally” not charging protesters who did not enter the Capitol itself, that does not explain why the four informants who admittedly entered the building got off scot-free.

The potential felony charges in the Capitol riot cases, which carry much more severe penalties, included violent crimes such as assaulting police officers. But they also included offenses that were not necessarily violent, such as obstructing “an official proceeding,” which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison under 18 USC 1512(c)(2).

Given the possibility of such charges, Trump said on “Meet the Press” this month, defendants who pleaded guilty “had no choice.” Because prosecutors can severely penalize defendants who insist on a trial, he added, the criminal justice system is “very corrupt” and “very nasty.”

The Section 1512 charge, which figures in a quarter of the Jan. 6 cases, illustrates that point. Although the Supreme Court ruled last June that the offense must involve attempts to conceal evidence, meaning it does not cover the conduct of the Capitol rioters, that seemingly important decision is expected to have little impact on the outcomes of these cases.

The Justice Department says “there are zero cases where a defendant was charged only for violating” Section 1512. And even in the 26 cases where defendants pleaded guilty to that charge alone, the agreements explicitly allow prosecutors to pursue other charges now that they can no longer rely on this statute.

When you combine that sort of discretion with the puzzling practice of imposing sentences after trial based on allegations that the prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, it is not hard to see why some Jan. 6 defendants may have received excessively severe penalties. If Trump draws appropriate distinctions and uses his clemency powers carefully — a big “if” — he can mitigate those injustices.

Jacob Sullum is a senior editor at Reason magazine.

Send letters to [email protected]

Get Opinions content delivered to your inbox. Sign up for our weekly newsletter here.



Source link

Conjuring the spirits – Chicago Reader

Manual Cinema premiered their version of A Christmas Carol as a live-streaming production in December 2020 during the pandemic shutdown and then reworked it as a live stage show for Writers Theatre in 2022 and 2023 (I saw it last year). Now they’ve brought it downtown to the Studebaker. I admit I wondered going in this year if the larger proscenium setting would lessen the intimacy of watching from home and in the more close-up Writers space. 

Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol
Through 12/29: Wed–Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 3 and 7:30 PM, Sun 2 and 7:30 PM; also Tue 12/24 2 PM; no shows Thu 12/19 and Wed 12/25; Studebaker Theater, 410 S. Michigan, 312-753-3210 ext. 102, fineartsbuilding.com/events/christmas-carol/, $54.50-$74.50 (students $26)

I needn’t have been concerned. The show, devised by Manual Cinema company members Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace, Ben Kauffman, Julia Miller, and Kyle Vegter (Nate Marshall is also credited with additional writing), is still an inventive, insightful, and at times painful portrait of self-imposed exile and the isolation of profound loss colliding with seasonal expectations of community gatherings and openheartedness. The larger space (featuring a larger projection screen so every cunning detail can still be seen in the auditorium) is expansive rather than limiting.

LaKecia Harris is back as Trudy, the grieving widow of Joe (though they were never officially married), who died of COVID some months earlier. It’s Christmas 2020 and Trudy, aided with a large glass or three of wine, is trying to keep one of Joe’s family traditions alive: a puppet show version of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol

To say she’s not in the spirit would be putting it mildly: Trudy reminds Joe’s relatives on Zoom that she’s not actually related to them, hates the gaudy holiday vest one of his relations sent to her, and basically despises everything about the story she’s trying to tell except for the “bah humbug” part. She even hates the house that she and Joe bought together and which she’s soon vacating. Everywhere she sees the projects that impractical Joe never finished in their “investment.” Even more painfully, we learn that the family they had hoped to start together, which might have filled the big drafty house (now filled with cardboard boxes of memories ahead of Trudy’s move to a condo) never came to be.

Using Manual Cinema’s usual array of cardboard stick puppets, storyboards on overhead projectors, and live music composed by Kauffman and Vegter and performed by Nora Barton, Lucy Little, and Alicia Walter (the latter also provides soaring vocals), the story shows the clear parallels between grieving Trudy and Scrooge, whose original sin is being miserly with his affections even more than his money. (The storyboard and puppet designs are by Dir, with additional puppet design and fabrication credited to Caitlin McLeod, Jackie Kelsey, Sian Silvio, and Tom Lee of the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival’s Chicago Puppet Studio.)

Harris seems to bring an even harder edge to Trudy than I recall from last year’s Writers production, which puts her even closer to the repellent side of Scrooge. But it also gives her journey even more of an arc. She’s not just grieving: she’s also pissed that Joe has left her, angry that she at least felt that she had to be the practical adult in their relationship (she notes that he took three weeks off every Christmas, while we see flashbacks of her working during his holiday family gatherings), and feeling cheated about going into the last act of her life without the one person who always seemed to get her.

It’s entirely relatable, and that’s where the emotional power of Manual Cinema’s adaptation comes from. But the visual elements and the music, in addition to Harris’s powerhouse performance, build in near-perfect harmony over the show’s 80 minutes or so. (The interlude where Scrooge flies over London with the Ghost of Christmas Past is simply hypnotic.) Puppeteers Felix Mayes, Kevin Michael Wesson, and Jeffrey Paschal (the latter also shows up as a food delivery guy in a charming cameo near the end) work with Harris to imbue the cardboard characters with lively resonance and playfulness, aided by some of the contemporary verbal flourishes nested within the original text. (The Ghost of Christmas Present comes across as a holly-clad version of the Dude in The Big Lebowski.) 

For those of us (cough, cough) who have been having a particularly hard time feeling the holiday spirit this season, Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol offers both reassurance that grief and anger are real and valid, and encouragement for finding ways to channel that into seeking out kindred spirits who are also just holding on by their fingernails and hoping to find some light, joy, and music to hold it together.

Find your people. Listen to their stories. And maybe take a chance on dancing with that goofy person at the party. You never know what might happen.


Reader Recommends: THEATER & DANCE

Reader reviews of Chicago theater, dance, comedy, and performance arts.

Hell in a Handbag dons the gay apparel

Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer returns after several years in hibernation.


Too late for a cautionary tale?

Tony Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day shows us how we got here.


Small-town political turmoil

The Totality of All Things examines the national divide through a high school hate crime.


Sister stories

Lauren Gunderson’s Little Women premieres at Northlight.


Flimflammers, Inc.

Trap Door’s Fraudulent LLC hits almost too close to home.


Deconstructing Dickens

Blake Montgomery’s comedic solo take on A Christmas Carol returns.




Source link