Two men shot and killed a bank security guard in Gary and robbed nearly $10,000 to pay off bills of an amateur football team, according to federal prosecutors who say they are considering the death penalty.
When one of the suspects — an owner and coach of the Illini Panthers — was tracked down in Georgia days after the June 11 attack, he offered to “work off” the charges against him by becoming an FBI informant, a 17-page affidavit states.
Hailey Gist-Holden, 26, is facing charges of armed bank robbery, using a firearm during the robber, and causing death. A second suspect, James Anthony King Jr., 24, of Miami, Florida has been indicted on the same charges.
The two are accused of ambushing guard Richard Castellana as he was walking on the sidewalk outside First Midwest Bank and shooting him in the face.
Castellana, 55 — a retired Cook County sheriff’s deputy — “did not even see them before he was shot,” according to the federal complaint.
Gist-Holden and King walked into the bank, one demanding money from the teller while the other stood as a lookout, the complaint said. They made off with a total of $9,771.09.
King was tracked down in a nearby wooded area within hours. Police said they found a backpack with cash and a .40-caliber Glock handgun near where they caught King.
He told authorities that he was a player on the football team and that his coach was the one who shot Castellana, the complaint said.
Gist-Holden was arrested following a high-speed chase June 18 in Georgia after he crashed his car, the complaint said.
Gist-Holden was facing financial troubles: He couldn’t pay rent on his house in Gary or the hotel bill where team members were staying in Downers Grove, the complaint stated.
Acting U.S. Attorney Tina Nommay said her office will ask the U.S. Department of Justice for permission to seek the death penalty against one or both of the suspects.
She said such action would have to be approved by a committee of senior Justice Department officials in Washington, D.C. as well as the U.S. attorney general and his deputy.
Castellana had been a Cook County sheriff’s deputy for 35 years before retiring. He had lived in Tinley Park.
Family members of inmates incarcerated in the Utah Department of Corrections’ prison system hold candles and say a prayer following a rally outside the Department of Corrections office in Draper, Utah. | Steve Griffin / The Deseret News via AP
As new cases are declining and prisons loosen restrictions, there’s little to suggest enough substantive changes have been made to handle future waves of infection.
Derrick Johnson had a makeshift mask.
He had the spray bottle of bleach and extra soap that corrections officers provided.
But he still spent every day crammed in a unit with 63 other men in a Florida prison, crowding into hallways on their way to meals and sleeping only feet away from one another at night.
As the coronavirus ravaged the Everglades Correctional Institution, Johnson was surrounded by coughing and requests for Tylenol.
“Prison is not built to compete with a pandemic,” said Johnson, who was released in December.
The pandemic forced prisons to adapt. Bu now, as new cases are declining and restrictions are being loosened, there’s little evidence to suggest that enough substantive changes have been made to handle future waves of infection, an investigation by The Marshall Project and The Associated Press has found.
The two news organizations — which tracked the spread of COVID-19 through prisons nationwide, counting more than a half million people living and working in prisons who got sick from the coronavirus — found that, with crowded conditions, substandard medical care and constantly shifting populations, prisons were ill-equipped to handle the highly contagious virus. Nationwide, it killed nearly 3,000 prisoners and staff.
Corrections systems responded with inconsistent policies, struggling to contain the virus. At the peak of the pandemic peak in mid-December, more than 25,000 prisoners tested positive in a single week.
In recent months, infections behind bars nationwide have slowed to a few hundred new cases each week, and many prisons have eased restrictions for mask-wearing, visitors and other movement in and out, going back to business as usual.
But it’s still a critical moment, with new coronavirus cases low but the threat of infection looming as new variants spread, said Dr. David Sears, an infectious-disease specialist and correctional health consultant.
“The medical community, prison leadership and society at large have learned so much about COVID in a short period of time,” Sears said. “We need to take these lessons and make sure that the things we’ve learned after a lot of real human suffering are not in vain.”
According to the data collected by The Marshall Project and Associated Press, about three in 10 people in state and federal prisons were infected with the virus. But correctional health experts widely agree that’s an undercount.
Aaron Lavinsky / Star Tribune via AP
Kelly Markham, a registered nurse supervisor at Minnesota’s Faribault Prison, administers the state’s first COVID-19 vaccination to a medically vulnerable inmate, Edward Anderson, in January.
“A great many of the people who ever had COVID, they were never tested,” said Dr. Homer Venters, a former chief medical officer of the New York City jail system who inspected health conditions in prisons around the country over the past year. “In most prisons, it ran through these places like wildfire.”
One man housed at a low-security federal prison compared the Bureau of Prisons’ public data to what he was seeing inside. At least half of his unit fell ill, he said, but the bureau’s data didn’t reflect that.
“For the first year of the COVID, they never tested anybody in my institution unless they had a fever,” the man said in a call from prison. “The easiest way to not have a positive at your institution is to not test anybody.”
In the pandemic’s early days, testing within the Bureau of Prisons was limited, and staff members at some prisons were told there was no need to test inmates; they should just assume everyone had the coronavirus. The Justice Department’s inspector general found that, at some facilities, inmates who tested positive were left in their housing units for days without being isolated.
The Bureau of Prisons said it follows guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and that inmates who are symptomatic or test positive are placed in medical isolation until they recover.
Even when state and federal prisons conducted tests, they still allowed prisoners who tested positive to come in contact with others.
Texas prison officials transferred more than 100 infected prisoners in East Texas to prisons outside Houston in the first months of the pandemic. Officials said the move would bring the men closer to medical resources. A few days after a group of the sick arrived to his unit, Jason Duncan fell ill.
“The unit nurse came around to take temperatures, mine was checked at 102,” he wrote in a letter at the time. A few hours after having his temperature taken, he fainted. “When I came to, my body was so hot I could not stand at all. I could not breathe, it felt like the life was being [sucked] out of me.”
Eventually, he ended up in a hospital “hooked up to a breathing machine.” Finally, he got a COVID-19 test. “I was given no medication at all,” he wrote, saying he was sent back to the prison, housed in the wing with the sick prisoners who’d been transferred in.
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Ford is idling its assembly plant in Chicago for four weeks in July. | Getty
The automaker also shuts down or trims schedules at seven other manufacturing sites.
Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, which was closed much of the spring, will be idle for almost all of July as the company deals with a semiconductor shortage that has limited auto production.
Ford said Wednesday the plant at 12600 S. Torrence Ave. will be down for four weeks beginning Monday. It said the plant will run two shifts the week of Aug. 2. It reopened in early June, said spokeswoman Kelli Felker.
“While we continue to manufacture new vehicles, we’re prioritizing completing our customers’ vehicles that were assembled without certain parts due to the industrywide semiconductor shortage,” a Ford statement said. “This is in line with our commitment to get our customers their vehicles as soon as possible and consistent with our forecasted supply.”
About 5,800 people work in Chicago to build the Ford Explorer, Lincoln Aviator and Police Interceptor SUV. During a shutdown, employees who belong to the United Auto Workers get 75% to 80% of full pay, counting state unemployment benefits, according to the union.
Ford also is shutting down or reducing shifts at seven other plants in the United States, Mexico and Canada. They are in Dearborn and Flat Rock, Michigan; two in Louisville, Kentucky; Claycomo, Missouri, outside Kansas City; Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico; and Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
Separately, Ford said it will close a plant in Wayne, Michigan, the weeks of July 5 and 26 due to an unrelated parts shortage. The plant produces the Ford Ranger pickup.
The lack of computer chips needed to work electronic systems has had wide-ranging effects, driving up prices for new and used vehicles.
Stellantis, owner of the Jeep brand, said its plant near Rockford in Belvidere, Illinois, has been closed since March 29 except for one week when it ran a partial shift. A spokeswoman said the plant will be down through July 26. It produces the Jeep Cherokee and employs 3,600 people.
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Maria Valdes, a Field Museum research scientist, holds samples of a meteorite that broke away from the asteroid Vesta. | Brian Rich/Sun-Times
Field Museum scientists say the rock, about the size of a softball, comes from the asteroid Vesta.
About the size and shape of a lopsided softball, the lump of rock was not much to look at.
It didn’t glitter or shimmer, like objects in the Field Museum’s nearby Hall of Gems, which perhaps explains why few visitors took a detour to see what all the fuss was about Wednesday.
You perhaps have to be a scientist to get really excited about this kind of thing — the way Maria Valdes is, spending months this year examining — inside and out — this tiny chunk of rock, which plummeted through Earth’s atmosphere and plopped down in Morocco.
“A meteorite is a window into — not only the history of the asteroid it came from but into our solar system as a whole,” said a giddy Valdes, a Field research scientist.
When the rock was donated to the Field last year, Valdes and other scientists at the museum knew it was a meteorite, in part, because it had a glassy black crust — a telltale sign that it had at one time entered the atmosphere.
But it was Valdes’ research that revealed it was especially rare space debris because it had come from Vesta, the second-largest asteroid in the solar system and often visible in the night sky. Of all meteorites found on Earth, only about 4% come from Vesta, Valdes said.
The asteroid is about 300 miles in diameter and was formed billions of years ago, scientists say, but hasn’t undergone the kind of punishment and change earth rocks endure — from volcanic activity to erosion to being melted down and recycled through the constant movement of the earth’s tectonic plates.
“The asteroid is old. It has experienced most of its activity very early on — and then it was frozen in time,” said Philipp Heck, the museum’s curator of meteoritics and polar studies.
By studying meteorites, scientists hope to understand the very beginnings of how our planet was formed.
But if you’re hoping to stare in wonder at the space rock and ponder Earth’s infancy, you’ll have to wait. Valdes and other scientists say they have more to learn from the rock — at least for now. There’s no timeline for when it might be put on display for the public.
“You could spend a lifetime studying this,” she said.
Brian Rich/Sun-Times
Samples of a meteorite identified as a piece of Vesta, the brightest asteroid visible from Earth.
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Fired New York Mets general manager Jared Porter was suspended by Major League Baseball baseball through at least the end of the 2022 regular season following an investigation that began after a report that he sent sexually explicit text messages and images to a female reporter in 2016 while he was working for the Cubs. | AP
He reportedly sent sexually explicit text messages and images to a female reporter in 2016 while he was working for the Cubs.
NEW YORK — Fired New York Mets general manager Jared Porter was suspended by Major League Baseball through at least the end of the 2022 regular season following an investigation that began after a report that he sent sexually explicit text messages and images to a female reporter in 2016 while he was working for the Cubs.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the discipline Wednesday without saying specifically what the investigation had found.
“My office has completed its investigation into alleged inappropriate conduct by Jared Porter,” Manfred said in a statement. “Having reviewed all of the available evidence, I have concluded that Mr. Porter violated MLB’s policies, and that placement on the ineligible list is warranted.”
Porter is eligible to apply for reinstatement after the final game of the 2022 regular season, a timetable that could allow him to apply for front-office openings that October.
Porter was fired by the Mets on Jan. 19, about nine hours after ESPN reported that he sent dozens of unanswered texts to the woman, including a picture of “an erect, naked penis.” ESPN said it obtained a copy of the text history, and some of the messages and photos Porter sent were displayed in the report online.
Porter was fired by the team for cause, and MLB started its investigation.
“We are committed to providing an appropriate work environment consistent with our values for all those involved in our game,” Manfred said.
Porter did not immediately reply to a text message from The Associated Press seeking comment.
The 41-year-old was hired by the Mets on Dec. 13 and given a four-year contract. He spent the previous four seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks as senior vice president and assistant general manager under GM Mike Hazen.
Porter was hired by the Boston Red Sox as an intern in 2004 and was promoted to player development assistant from 2006-07, coordinator of professional scouting from 2008-09, assistant director of professional scouting from 2010-11 and director of professional scouting from 2012-15.
He followed Theo Epstein to Chicago and spent 2016 as the Cubs’ director of professional scouting, helping the team to its first World Series title since 1908.
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Aldermen in the Chicago City Council chambers for last Friday’s meeting. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times
Today’s update is a 5-minute read that will brief you on the day’s biggest stories.
Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
This afternoon will be mostly cloudy with a high near 83 degrees and a 40% chance of thunderstorms. You can expect similar conditions to continue tonight with a low around 67. Tomorrow will be mostly sunny with a high near 76.
Nineteen aldermen are calling a special virtual Chicago City Council meeting for 11 a.m. Friday — and threatening to take a vote of no-confidence in Chicago Police Supt. David Brown if he doesn’t show up to testify — about police response to gun violence in the city.
A quorum of 26 aldermen is needed to convene and meet as a committee of the whole to take testimony from Brown or take the vote of no-confidence if he fails to appear. That means that seven aldermen who did not sign the call for a special meeting would have to show up anyway.
Whether or not that will happen is anybody’s guess. Six aldermen have already peeled off in the last 24 hours under pressure from the mayor’s office.
“All we can do is hope for the best. … We’ve got 19 that signed on. There may be a few that show up. And of course, there may be a few that don’t,” said Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), one of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s most outspoken City Council critics.
Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) said aldermen had to call the special meeting after their efforts to try to “work with the administration to have a Public Safety Committee meeting failed.”
Lopez flatly predicted a quorum, though six aldermen have peeled off. He noted “a number” of aldermen who didn’t sign the letter “did express support for the meeting and intend to be there.”
Lopez said he hopes Brown shows up to answer questions and that it doesn’t come to a no-confidence vote that would mirror what the Fraternal Order of Police already has done.
Chicago Police Department spokesman Tom Ahern wouldn’t say if Brown would attend the special meeting. Brown has planned a news conference for tomorrow, presumably to unveil his plan to prevent a third straight weekend of mass shootings over the coming holiday weekend.
In the past five years, Pastor Donovan Price has been evicted from six homes and lost four cars as a consequence of dedicating his life to being what’s called a “street pastor.”
Being a street pastor isn’t lucrative. But that path has led Price to over 1,000 homicide scenes and countless other shootings since he founded his organization, Solutions and Resources, in 2016.
Last Thursday, the philanthropic group Chicago Beyond announced Price’s organization will receive $1 million over several years to continue his work. He is among a number of groups receiving a large investment to help foster “holistic healing” in Black and Brown communities.
Brian Rich/Sun-Times
Pastor Donovan Price outside of New Progressive Missionary Baptist Church.
Chicago Beyond’s “Holistic Healing Fund” will ultimately provide $10 million to community leaders and organizations that prioritize healing in their work. The fund will support groups working to reverse the harm of systemic racism, disinvestment, gun violence and trauma.
Liz Dozier, founder and CEO of Chicago Beyond, said the Healing Fund is for people like Price who haven’t received much financial support in the past.
Another recipient, the Resident Association of Greater Englewood (R.A.G.E.), focuses on making the community more self-sufficient. It will receive $500,000 from Chicago Beyond for a fund that’s led by residents and will invest in their ideas. Half of that money will also go to further building out the organization.
After dealing with several days of controversy, Blackhawks fans finally got some good news: Jonathan Toews intends to play next season. The Hawks captain revealed today that he missed the 2020-21 season while dealing with Chronic Immune Response Syndrome.
Columnist Rick Morrisey writes: “It was great to see Toews on that video Wednesday, sounding like Toews, skating like Toews, being serious like Toews. For 13 seasons, the Hawks — and us — were blessed with his presence, and when that presence went away, it was a massive physical and emotional void. How are you supposed to skate with one leg? That’s how it felt.”
With the Cubs at the halfway point of the season, columnist Steve Greenberg says panicking is the logical next step, but recent history says fans should relax and look for a rebound.
Candace Parker, Courtney Vandersloot and first-time All-Star Kahleah Copper will represent the Sky on the Team WNBA roster at this year’s All-Star game. The 12-player team will take on the USA Basketball Women’s National Team in Las Vegas on July 14.
Your daily question ☕
What would you like the city to do for your neighborhood? Tell us why. Reply to this email (please include your first name and where you live) and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday, we asked you: With the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 reportedly spreading in Illinois, do you plan to take more precautions again? Here’s what some of you said…
“I have completed both vaccines. The reason why I will remain cautious is because I have to think about the little people that aren’t able to get the vaccine, and the others that didn’t take it for whatever reason. I’m asking God to watch over us all during this troubling time.” — Dolores MzDee Wilson
“No. I’m a COVID survivor and still have the antibodies. The scientific data from CDC, WHO, and reputable organizations support that my risk of reinfection is very low, even for the variants, and I don’t need to mask.” — Rebecca Templeton
“I’m torn. I’m so enjoying not wearing my mask, but I think when I’m in larger venues with larger crowds, I’ll be wearing it again (airport, concert, outdoor markets). The variant feels scary even though I’m fully vaccinated.” — Nina Kavin
“No. I got vaccinated quite a while ago. If you’re eligible to get a vaccine and you haven’t and you get sick — well that’s too bad. But, we’re closer to reaching herd immunity.” — Stephen Mueller
“I’m a respiratory therapist, so I can’t even pretend that the pandemic is over since I see these sick patients daily! I never stopped wearing a mask, staying away from large crowds, or doing hand hygiene, so I will continue what I’ve been doing.” — LeNnierre Watkins
“I’m still masking up, taking precautions and staying in to reduce transmission. I’m immunocompromised and would end up in the hospital from regular colds and cases of the flu. I had already been wearing masks way before the pandemic. I also have an immunocompromised child that has additional risk factors so I NEED to keep him safe. So many lives could be saved if we kept our germs to ourselves but most people would rather see others DIE than slightly inconvenience themselves. It is truly saddening to me.” — Melissa Cintron
Thanks for reading the Chicago Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
Novak Djokovic slips on the grass during his second-round match against Kevin Anderson at Wimbledon. | Alastair Grant/AP
Persistent rain the first two days of play created slick conditions. The weather also caused a scheduling backlog, with 27 first-round matches pushed into Wednesday.
WIMBLEDON, England — Novak Djokovic slid, slipped, skidded and stumbled into the third round on Wimbledon’s slick grass Wednesday by beating Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Djokovic didn’t face a break point and committed just six unforced errors, including one with his forehand.
But footing continued to be an issue on the third day of the tournament, and Djokovic went sprawling several times, as did players in other matches and at least one ball kid.
“I didn’t slip just once; I slipped like six times,” Bianca Andreescu said after losing her first-round match. “The courts are super slippery. I have only played here once before, but they weren’t like this at all. I spoke to a couple other players, and they said it’s not that normal. But this is something we can’t really control.”
Persistent rain the first two days of play created slick conditions. The weather also caused a scheduling backlog, with 27 first-round matches pushed into Wednesday.
The retractable roof was open when the top-ranked Djokovic was first on Centre Court for his rematch against Anderson, who also lost when they played in the 2018 final.
While Djokovic endured an up-and-down performance on the slippery surface and rose from one spill muttering in frustration, he had little trouble with Anderson. The preternaturally limber Djokovic extended one rally by hitting a forehand while down on his knee — and won the point.
Djokovic seeks his sixth Wimbledon title and third in a row. By winning the championship, he would also match the record total of 20 majors shared by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and would need only a title at the U.S. Open to sweep all four Grand Slams in 2021.
Andreescu made another early Grand Slam exit when she lost to Alice Cornet 6-2, 6-1. The Canadian won the 2019 Open but is 2-5 in majors since, including three opening-round defeats.
Andreescu, who has battled injuries but was seeded fifth, committed 34 unforced errors to seven for Cornet.
“I tried to stay positive the whole match,” Andreescu said. “I tried to figure it out, how I can play her better. But honestly, she played really well.”
Venus Williams had a tough time from the start in her second-round match.
She faced five break points in the 22-point opening game before she held, and things went downhill from there as she lost to No. 21 Ons Jabeur 7-5, 6-0.
Playing for the second day in a row, the 41-year-old Williams seemed to tire. She had only 15 winners and 36 unforced errors.
Williams was playing in the tournament for the 23rd time. She has won the title five times, most recently in 2008.
Her Wimbledon isn’t over yet — she’s also playing mixed doubles with Nick Kyrgios.
Yoshihito Nishioka overcame a 15-inch height disparity to beat 6-foot-10 John Isner 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3, 6-7 (7), 6-4. The match took place on Court 18, where Isner won a record fifth set 70-68 in 2010.
Also advancing was Queen’s Club tournament champion Matteo Berrettini, who hit 20 aces and pulled away from Guido Pella 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0. American Sam Querrey upset No. 11 Pablo Carreño Busta 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-5.
Former U.S. Open runner-up Kei Nishikori ousted Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 for his 100th Grand Slam match win. No. 10 Denis Shapovalov moved into the third round when Pablo Andújar withdrew because of a rib injury.
In other women’s play, French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Ana Bogdan 6-2, 6-2.
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More than 5,300 guns have been seized by Chicago police so far this year, an increase of more than 23% over the past year, according to records obtained by NBC 5.
The records, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, show that police seized a total of 5,352 firearms between Jan. 1 and June 16, an increase of 23.43% over the same time period in 2020.
Police have stepped up enforcement efforts in recent months in an attempt to combat gun violence in the city. In Area Three, located on the city’s North Side, gun seizures are up by more than 104% over the previous year, with massive increases reported in two specific districts.
District 18, located on the Near North Side, has seen 169 guns seized so far in 2021, an increase of 177% over last year. District 20, comprised of several neighborhoods on the Far North Side, including Budlong Woods and Edgewater, has seen a staggering 1,113% increase in gun seizures, with 279 guns taken in by police so far this year.
Not every district has seen massive increases in seizures, however. In Area Five, located on Chicago’s Northwest Side, gun seizures are down 31% in District 14 and by nearly 44% in District 17, which is headquartered in Albany Park.
The full document can be viewed here:
Despite the crackdown on illegal weapons, shootings in Chicago have continued to rise over previous years. According to the latest data compiled by the Chicago Sun-Times, there were at least 1,842 shootings in the city so far this year (through Monday morning), compared to 1,625 at the same time last year and 1,171 in the same time period in 2019.
Homicides are also up slightly year-over-year, with 331 reported as of Monday, compared to 319 in the same time period last year. There were 247 homicides in the same timeframe in 2019, marking a 34% increase in 2021.
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown says that the city’s focus on seizing illegal weapons is the right approach, and that the department is doing everything it can to address the increase in violence.
“Every gun recovered by a Chicago police officer is a deadly force encounter,” he said in a press conference earlier this month. “Also, every gun recovered has a potential to reduce violence from firearms. With our whole of government approach, we’re actually starting to bend the curve of violence in the city, but for those sensational incidents.”
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Split along party lines, the House launched a new investigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection on Wednesday, approving a special committee to probe the violent attack as police officers who were injured fighting former President Donald Trump’s supporters watched from the gallery above.
The vote to form the panel was 222-190, with Republicans objecting that majority Democrats would be in charge. The action came after Senate Republicans blocked creation of an independent commission that would have been evenly split between the two parties.
Emphasizing the importance that Democrats attached to the vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told lawmakers in the chamber: “We will be judged by future generations as to how we value our democracy.”
Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who lost her position in GOP leadership because of her criticism of Trump, was one of only two Republicans to vote for the panel. She declared, “Our nation, and the families of the brave law enforcement officers who were injured defending us or died following the attack, deserve answers.”
But Ohio Republican Brad Wenstrup rejected the new probe as “incomplete and insufficient” because it would not look into other incidents including the 2017 shooting at a baseball field that badly injured GOP Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana.
Pelosi said she preferred that an independent panel lead the inquiry but Congress could wait no longer to begin a deeper look at the insurrection that was the worst attack on the Capitol in more than 200 years.
Tensions have worsened in Congress since Trump’s supporters laid siege, aiming to stop Congress’ certification of Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden. A brief sense of shared outrage has given way to partisan politics and attempts among some Republicans to downplay the events of the day. Most Republicans have made clear they want to move on from the insurrection — and Trump’s role — though many of them had fled the violent mob themselves.
Democrats expressed frustration with those Republicans who have complained that the investigation would be partisan after their party blocked the bipartisan panel.
“I think for some on the other side, nothing that gets to the truth will ever be good enough, because they do not want the truth,” said Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, who led the debate ahead of the vote.
The panel would be led by Democrats, with Pelosi appointing a chairperson and at least eight of the committee’s 13 members. The resolution gives her a possible say in the appointment of the other five members as well, directing that they will be named “after consultation” with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy.
GOP leaders have declined to say whether Republicans will even participate. In a memo to all House Republicans late Tuesday, No. 2 House Republican Scalise urged his members to vote against the resolution, saying the committee “is likely to pursue a partisan agenda.”
The GOP role in the probe, and the appointments to the panel, could help determine whether the committee becomes a bipartisan effort or a tool of further division. Two Senate committees issued a bipartisan report with security recommendations earlier this month, but it did not examine the origins of the siege, leaving many unanswered questions about the events of the day.
McCarthy is facing pressure to take the investigation seriously from police officers who responded to the attack, several of whom sat in the gallery and watched the debate. Dozens of officers suffered injuries that day as Trump’s supporters pushed past them and broke into the building to interrupt the certification President Biden’s victory.
The spectators included Metropolitan Police Officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges and Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn. Fanone has described being dragged down the Capitol steps by rioters who shocked him with a stun gun and beat him. Hodges was crushed between two doors. And Dunn has said that rioters yelled racial slurs and fought him in what resembled hand to hand combat as he held them back.
Also in the gallery were Gladys Sicknick and Sandra Garza, the mother and partner of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who collapsed and later died after engaging with the protesters. He was sprayed with chemical irritants, but a medical examiner determined he died of natural causes.
Fanone and Dunn met with McCarthy on Friday. Fanone said he asked McCarthy for a commitment not to put “the wrong people” on the panel, a reference to those in the GOP who have played down the violence and defended the insurrectionists. He said McCarthy told him he would take his request seriously.
Trump was twice impeached by the House and twice acquitted by the Senate, the second time for telling his supporters just before the insurrection to “fight like hell” to overturn his defeat to Biden.
Pelosi has not yet said who will lead the panel, but one possibility is House Homeland Security Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. Thompson said Tuesday that it would be an honor to serve as chair and that it’s Pelosi’s call if she wants to have a say on the Republican members.
“They had an opportunity to really engage,” Thompson said of Republicans who voted against the bipartisan commission. “And they didn’t. So they can’t now come back and say, ‘Oh, that’s not fair.'”
Many Republicans have expressed concerns about a partisan probe, since majority Democrats are likely to investigate Trump’s role in the siege and the groups that participated in it. Almost three dozen House Republicans voted last month for the legislation to create an independent commission, and seven Republicans in the Senate have also supported moving forward on that bill. But that was short of the 10 Senate Republicans who would be necessary to pass it.
Many Republicans have made clear that they want to move on from the Jan. 6 attack. And some have gone further, including Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, who suggested that video of the rioters looked like a “tourist visit.” Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona insisted that a Trump supporter named Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed that day while trying to break into the House chamber, was “executed.” Others have defended rioters charged with federal crimes.
Seven people died during and after the rioting, including Babbitt and three other Trump supporters who suffered medical emergencies. Two police officers died by suicide in the days that followed, and a third officer, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, collapsed and later died after engaging with the protesters. A medical examiner determined he died of natural causes.
___
Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Kevin Freking and Padmananda Rama contributed to this report.
Cubs infielder Patrick Wisdom exited Wednesday’s game against the Brewers after a scary collision while playing first base.
In the second inning, Brewers outfielder Tyrone Taylor hit a comebacker to Jake Arrieta. Arrieta retrieved it and threw to Wisdom, but the throw was up the line and carried Wisdom off the bag, reaching into foul territory.
Taylor ran into Wisdom, who stayed down for a few moments before exiting with a Cubs trainer.
Wisdom started at first base Wednesday with Anthony Rizzo (back) and Kris Bryant (side) out of the lineup. Catcher Taylor Gushue entered in place of Wisdom.
Gushue was called up Wednesday after Jose Lobaton landed on the 60-day injured list with a shoulder injury.
The family of Donald Rumsfeld says he has died. He was 88. | AP file
Rumsfeld had a storied career under four presidents and nearly a quarter century in corporate America.
WASHINGTON — Donald Rumsfeld, the two-time defense secretary and one-time presidential candidate whose reputation as a skilled bureaucrat and visionary of a modern U.S. military was soiled by the long and costly Iraq war, has died, his family said in a statement released Tuesday. He was 88.
Regarded by former colleagues as equally smart and combative, patriotic and politically cunning, Mr. Rumsfeld had a storied career under four presidents and nearly a quarter century in corporate America.
In 2001 he began his second tour as Pentagon chief under President George W. Bush, but his plan to “transform” the armed forces was overshadowed by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He oversaw the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, where he was blamed for setbacks including the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal and for being slow to recognize a violent insurgency.
Mr. Rumsfeld grew up in Winnetka and graduated from New Trier High School.
He was elected to the U.S. House in 1962 and resigned from Congress in 1969 to become the director of the office of economic opportunity and an assistant to the president.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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Youth employees with Southside Blooms can become floral assistants after training, harvesting flowers from the shop’s farms across the South and West sides to make bouquets. | Chicago Eco House/Southside Blooms
Southside Blooms will open their first stand-alone flower shop in Englewood on Thursday, offering jobs for at-risk youth who help grow the flowers on city-owned lots in several West Side and South Side neighborhoods.
At 17, Eric Sanders already has a pretty interesting job: He travels across the South and West sides to formerly abandoned lots, where he harvests, cleans and stores flowers.
Eric landed that job through a program run by Chicago Eco House, which turns empty lots in Englewood, Woodlawn, Washington Park and West Garfield Park into flower farms.
Eco House is a non-profit organization that helps at-risk youth ages 16 to 24.
Last year, it opened a store, Southside Blooms, that operated out of the Eco House headquarters, 6439 S. Peoria St. The store sold flowers grown at those farms across the city, and it provided training and jobs to some of the young people the group serves.
But on Thursday at 11 a.m., Southside Blooms will open its own brick-and-mortar shop at 6250 S. Morgan St.
“The impetus behind (Southside Blooms) was really just this dogged belief that we can come up with some solution to really stem a lot of out-of-control violence and poverty that the South and West sides have come to be known by,” said Quilen Blackwell, founder of Chicago Eco House.
Chicago Eco House/Southside Blooms
In April, Southside Blooms invited residents to help harvest flowers for the shop’s bouquets.
Last year, Chicago Eco House reached out to youth through schools or block clubs on the South and West sides, like Crushers Club, to let them know about Southside Blooms.
This year, the shop partnered with Cook County Juvenile Probation to connect with more at-risk youth. Blackwell said the partnership will create “a pipeline for youth who are incarcerated … [to] get back on their feet.”
“A lot of the youth that we work with are kids who are coming off the streets,” said Blackwell. “Essentially, they’re either gang-affiliated or they’re in that world or they’re friends with gang members.”
Employment through the partnership is merit- and performance-based. Once a juvenile completes their sentence, they can train with Southside Blooms and learn skills such as timeliness, conflict resolution in the workplace and how to be a good team member.
Blackwell said the ones who “truly excel” in the 10-week training are hired at $15 an hour. Youth employees can work as floral assistants, greeting card assistants or farm assistants. There is no time limit for how long the youth employees can stay.
Cade Kamaleson, Southside Blooms’ farm manager, said the most tangible impact the program has had on the community has been the physical transformation the farms bring.
“It goes from an empty lot (that) people just kind of walk past to something that’s really beautiful,” said Kamaleson. “When you’re working in there, people in the community say hi, and you get to know the neighbors around the farms and people are just interested and excited about what’s going on.”
Chicago Eco House/Southside Blooms
Founded in 2014, Chicago Eco House began turning empty lots on the South and West sides into flower farms in 2017.
Eric said working with Southside Blooms has taught him a lot about what flowers need and the steps required to allow them to grow properly.
“It’s good just having time on my hands,” Eric said. “Growing up in the city of Chicago, a lot of stuff going on. This is good, working on something natural, something that gives. You learn a lot.”
He added that the more time he spends at Southside Blooms, the more he learns.
Eric said he told one of his friends about Southside Blooms and was able to help him get a job with the shop. He frequently takes flowers home to his grandmother, too. He plans to stay and become the next farm manager.
Blackwell said he hopes to open more shops across the country to help at-risk youth in other cities. Already, the group has a pilot program in Detroit, and it recently opened a farm in Gary.
“Chicago, obviously, is not the only city that is facing these issues,” Blackwell said. “It’s a national problem that we’re talking about, and we feel like we have … at least an economic solution that can help take a big chunk out of that problem.”
Cheyanne M. Daniels is a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times viaReport for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South and West sides.
Chicago Eco House/Southside Blooms
Flowers grown on empty lots in several South Side and West Side neighborhoods will be sold at Southside Blooms from its new location, 6250 S. Morgan St.
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First-time WNBA All-Star Kahleah Copper leads the Sky in scoring with 13.9 points per game. | NBAE via Getty Images
Candace Parker, Courtney Vandersloot and first-time All-Star Kahleah Copper will represent the Sky on the Team WNBA All-Star roster.
Diamond DeShields had one prediction before the 2021 WNBA All-Stars were announced.
“Three is the magic number over here,” DeShields said. “That’s a pretty good prediction.”
DeShields was right on the money. Candace Parker, Courtney Vandersloot and first-time All-Star Kahleah Copper will represent the Sky on the Team WNBA All-Star roster.
The 12-player team, coached by WNBA legends Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson, will take on USA Basketball Women’s National Team headlined by Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, A’ja Wilson and Sylvia Fowles in Las Vegas on July 14.
In the frontcourt for Team WNBA along with Parker will be DeWanna Bonner (Sun), Liz Cambage (Aces), Dearica Hamby (Aces), Brionna Jones (Sun), Jonquel Jones (Sun) and Satou Sabally (Wings). The guards are Betnijah Laney (Liberty), Arike Ogunbowale (Wings), Courtney Williams (Dream) in addition to Copper and Vandersloot.
Sky coach and general manager James Wade said he believed five of his players are playing at an All-Star level. In his opinion, DeShields and Allie Quigley deserved All-Star nods in addition to Parker, Vandersloot and Copper.
This is Parker’s sixth All-Star nod, Vandersloot’s third and Copper’s first selection. Parker’s broadcast responsibilities for the Tokyo Olympics could potentially interfere with her involvement.
All three players are thrilled to represent the WNBA in the 2021 All-Star game, but none more than Copper. The saying “Kahleah Freaking Copper” became a staple within the Sky organization and by fans on social media in her All-Star push.
Copper is leading the Sky in scoring averaging 13.9 points per game. Since being traded to the Sky ahead of the 2017 season Copper has grown every year. The biggest jump came from 2019-2020 when she transitioned into a starting role and increased her points per game by over 50%. Aside from her offensive capabilities, Copper has proven to be one of the league’s most disruptive players on defense.
The two biggest differences in Copper's game this season has been her commitment to defense and her offensive productivity playing alongside Parker.
In the last eight games, the Sky are first in the league in percentage of points scored off the fast break in large part due to both Copper’s defense and Parker’s ability to find her in transition. The team is also first in offensive rating, which is a credit to all three of the Sky’s All-Stars.
Parker is the Sky’s second-leading scorer averaging 12.2 points per game which is tied with DeShields and Quigley’s output. Parker was critically important in the Sky’s franchise record-setting seven straight wins. The streak started when Parker made her return to the court June 9 after suffering an ankle injury ahead of the second game of the season.
There is arguably no player more influential on the Sky than their floor general, Vandersloot who is leading the Sky and the league in steals per game with two and assists per game with 8.5. The Sky have six players averaging double figures in scoring, including Vandersloot who has 11.7 points per game, which is a testament to the facilitators on this team.
The Sky are 9-8 and in fourth place in the overall league standings.
“I’m super grateful to be playing with these women,” Copper said. “Everybody brings it every single day. Our coaching staff is amazing. From top to bottom, I think we’re the team.”
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The Cubs placed catcher Jose Lobaton on the 60-day injured list. | Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
The Cubs selected Taylor Gushue from Triple-A Iowa. He becomes the Cubs’ fifth backup catcher this season.
MILWAUKEE — Another day, another injury to a Cubs backup catcher.
This time, it’s catcher Jose Lobaton who has landed on the 60-day injured list with a right shoulder sprain. Lobaton injured the shoulder on the last play of Tuesday’s 2-1 loss as he tried to avoid colliding with Brewers closer Josh Hader and fell on the shoulder as he stumbled.
The Cubs selected catcher Taylor Gushue from Triple-A Iowa to take Lobaton’s place on the roster. The 27-year-old catcher will be appearing in the big leagues for the first time and was slashing .272/.328/.440 with five homers this season.
Gushue becomes the fifth backup catcher the Cubs have used this season with Austin Romine (left wrist sprain), Tony Wolters, P.J. Higgins (right flexor strain/partially torn UCL) and Lobaton.
“You see a guy go down like that and then get out there and see the facial expressions and emotions, it’s just tough,” manager David Ross said. “It is like a pretty, pretty severe sprain. He was in some real pain. Hopefully, it’s a speedy recovery for him and gets back to help us out later.
“Me and Willson were walking off the field with [Lobaton] hurt shaking our heads and kind of like, another backup catcher [injury]. Just a position that we’re short in. Injuries, adversity, these are things that come up during the season that you have to try to overcome. It stinks for the guys to get hurt.”
Hoerner could return this weekend
While the Cubs have not had the best luck with injuries recently, they may be close to getting second baseman Nico Hoerner back. Hoerner has been on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa and gone 2-for-5 during his stint.
Ross didn’t shoot down the notion that Hoerner could be back with the Cubs this weekend in Cincinnati.
“I think it’s a possibility,” Ross said. “We’ll see. All good signs, but the more and more guys go down, the more it’s a possibility.”
Davis, Rodriguez selected for Futures Game
Cubs top prospect Brennen Davis was selected to play in this year’s Futures Game at the MLB All-Star game. Davis, who was recently promoted to Double-A, is the Cubs highest-ranked position player prospect and the No. 45 prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. He’s slashing .255/.368/.396 with three home runs this season.
Right-hander Manny Rodriguez was also selected to play in the game. The fireballing right-hander was promoted to Triple-A Iowa on Sunday and has a 2.03 ERA in 13 games this season.
“It’s just super positive,” Ross said. “Manny’s been through a lot in particular, some ups and downs. The injuries. Just got promoted. He’s starting to throw the ball well and just got promoted. Really good for him.
“Brennen is having a great season. First time I got to really see him play in person in spring training. The athleticism, the ability to go get the ball and run the bases. The physique continues to develop at such a young age. I think it’s just super positive to be around that environment of the Futures game.”
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A vigil takes place where ground-penetrating radar recorded hits of what are believed to be 751 unmarked graves near the grounds of the former Marieval Indian Residential School on the Cowessess First Nation, Saskatchewan, Saturday, June 26, 2021. | AP
The report follows two other reports of similar massive findings at two other such church-run schools, one of more than 600 unmarked graves and another of 215 bodies.
CRANBROOK, British Columbia — An Indigenous group in the Canadian province of British Columbia said Wednesday a search using ground-penetrating radar has found 182 human remains in unmarked graves at a site close to a former residential school that housed Indigenous children taken from their families.
It follows two other reports of similar massive findings at two other such church-run schools, one of more than 600 unmarked graves and another of 215 bodies.
The Lower Kootenay Band said in a news release it began using the technology last year to search a site near the city of Cranbrook that is close to the former St. Eugene’s Mission School, which was operated by the Roman Catholic Church from 1912 until the early 1970s. It said the search found the remains in unmarked graves, some about 3 feet (a meter) deep.
The release said it’s believed the remains are those of people from the bands of the Ktunaxa nation, which includes the Lower Kootenay Band, aqam and other neighboring First Nation communities.
The Lower Kootenay band says it is in the early stages of receiving information from the reports on what has been found, and it is asking for the public to respect its privacy.
Last week, Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess First Nation said ground-penetrating radar had registered 751 ’’hits,″ indicating at least 600 bodies were buried at the Marieval Indian Residential School, which operated from 1899 to 1997 where the Cowessess First Nation is now located. The gravesite is believed to hold the bodies of children and adults, and even people from outside the community who attended church there.
A few weeks before that, what are believed to be the remains of 215 children were found at another former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said Pope Francis has agreed to meet in December with Indigenous survivors of Canada’s notorious residential schools to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in the abuse and deaths.
Francis had invited the delegations to the Vatican and would meet separately with three groups — First Nations, Metis and Inuit — during their Dec. 17-20 visit. The pope will then preside over a final audience with all three groups Dec. 20, the conference said in a statement Tuesday.
The Vatican didn’t confirm the visit Wednesday, but the Holy See’s in-house news portal reported on the bishops’ statement. The Canadian bishops said the trip was contingent on the pandemic and that the delegations would include survivors of the residential schools, Indigenous elders and youths, as well as Indigenous leaders and Canadian bishops.
From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend state-funded Christian boarding schools in an effort to assimilate them into Canadian society. Thousands of children died there of disease and other causes, with many never returned to their families.
Nearly three-quarters of the 130 residential schools were run by Roman Catholic missionary congregations, with others operated by the Presbyterian, Anglican and the United Church of Canada, which today is the largest Protestant denomination in the country.
The government formally apologized for the policy and abuses in 2008. In addition, the Presbyterian, Anglican and United churches have apologized for their roles in the abuse.
A papal apology was one of 94 recommendations from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but the Canadian bishops conference said in 2018 that the pope could not personally apologize for the residential schools.
Former Pope Benedict XVI met with some former students and victims in 2009 and told them of his “personal anguish” over their suffering.
After last month’s discovery, Pope Francis expressed his pain and pressed religious and political authorities to shed light on “this sad affair,” but didn’t offer an apology.
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“The Forever Purge” eschews horror in favor of a modern-day Western action movie laced with unsubtle albeit timely social commentary and filled with the kind of gruesome, head-splitting violence you’d get in a zombie movie.
The premise of the “Purge” movies has always been quite ridiculous but entertaining in a schlocky kind of way: A near-future America has become virtually crime-free, but once a year there’s a national “holiday” in which all offenses, including murder, are legal for a 12-hour period. You can wipe out a dozen neighbors between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. on the night of the Purge with no repercussions, but if you commit a crime at 7:01 a.m., you’re screwed. Somehow this cathartic bloodbath satiates the entire nation for the next 364 days, and then we purge all over again.
This setup yielded the claustrophobic and gripping domestic horror gem “The Purge” in 2013, followed by two sequels that remained at least partially in the horror genre but expanded into racial and political themes. (There was also an origins story, “The First Purge,” in 2018.) Now comes the final chapter in the saga, “The Forever Purge,” which eschews horror in favor of a modern-day Western action movie laced with unsubtle albeit timely social commentary and filled with the kind of gruesome, head-splitting violence you’d get in a zombie movie.
When we last left the chronological “Purge” timeline, a liberal United States senator had won a landslide election and her first order of business was to overturn the rule of the New Founding Fathers and abolish the Purge. In “The Purge Forever,” we’re told the New Founding Fathers have been reinstated (shouldn’t they be the New NEW Founding Fathers?) and the “annual blood holiday” is back, as we hear snippets of news reports about “illegal immigration on the rise” and “white supremacy rising as disinformation spreads.” So, while we’re in a fictional, near-future America, the parallels to real-world events are obvious.
Ana de la Reguera delivers a badass performance as Adela, who has made her way from Mexico to Los Feliz Valley, Texas with her husband Juan (Tenoch Huerta). Adela works in a restaurant and Juan is the horse-whispering ranch hand on the ranch of the wealthy Tucker family, which is headed by the good-hearted patriarch Caleb Tucker (the great character Will Patton) and includes Caleb’s headstrong and racially insensitive son Dylan (Josh Lucas), Dylan’s pregnant wife Cassie (Cassidy Freeman) and Dylan’s younger sister Harper (Leven Rambin).
On the night of the Purge, the Tuckers hunker down in their heavily reinforced compound while Adela and Juan use the money Caleb gave Juan as a “Purge bonus” to gain admission into a secure warehouse along with dozens of other immigrants. Both factions survive the night without any major incident — but come sunrise, chaos continues to reign across America, as a substantial group of well-armed, racist domestic terrorists have declared a “Forever Purge” and are systematically gunning down anyone who’s not on board with their plan to “purify” the country. As the recording emanating from “Purification Trucks” puts it, “We will no longer tolerate foreigners…we will find you and disinfect you. America will be America once again…the purification of America has begun.”
The government declares martial law and troops are deployed to major American cities, but Miami, El Paso and other metropolitan areas have already fallen. “The Forever Purge” takes on the tone of a lower-budget “Mad Max” movie as Adela and Juan and Dylan and Cassie and Harper engage in gun battles and gory hand-to-hand combat with a series of marauding and murderous traitors, many of whom wear elaborate masks and costumes because that’s always been a part of “The Purge” motif.
And check this out: with America under siege, the governments of Mexico and Canada announce they will open their borders to anyone who can make the crossing within the next six hours. After that, both borders will be closing indefinitely. (And yes, the Americans who make it are classified as “Dreamers” by the media.) Just a day earlier, Dylan was talking about how the races should “stick to our own [and] leave each other alone.” Now, he’s hoping against hope to make it safely across the border with his wife so their child can be born in Mexico — and he’s not going to be able to do it without the help of Adela and Juan. (Both parties are also given considerable help by Native Americans named Chiago, played by Zahn McClarnon, and Xavier, played by Gregory Zaragoza.)
Thanks to the stylish directing by Everardo Valerio Gout, a tight screenplay from series creator James DeMonaco and a terrific ensemble cast that elevates the material, “The Forever Purge” is a fast-paced jam that would play well on a drive-in movie screen. Take the whole thing with a big tub of popcorn and many grains of salt.
Juan (Tenoch Huerta) battles marauding Purgers in “The Forever Purge.”
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Donald Rumsfeld, the two-time defense secretary and one-time presidential candidate whose reputation as a skilled bureaucrat and visionary of a modern U.S. military was soiled by the long and costly Iraq war, died Tuesday, his family said in a statement. He was 88.
Regarded by former colleagues as equally smart and combative, patriotic and politically cunning, Rumsfeld had a storied career under four presidents and nearly a quarter century in corporate America.
In 2001 he began his second tour as Pentagon chief under President George W. Bush, but his plan to “transform” the armed forces was overshadowed by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He oversaw the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, where he was blamed for setbacks including the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal and for being slow to recognize a violent insurgency.
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A Gold Coast man has been charged with murder after police in downstate Dwight noticed the body of his 81-year-old mother in the passenger seat of his car.
Marc Holliman, 53, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his mother Juanita Holliman. The cause of death was strangulation, according to the Grundy County coroner.
On Monday morning, police officers in Dwight, a small town about 80 miles southwest of Chicago, responded to a call of a theft from a car and met Marc Holliman, who had a “brief discussion” with police and then left, requesting no more assistance, the Dwight police department said in a statement.
About an hour later, Holliman approached Dwight officers on the same street, bleeding from self-inflicted wounds, according to the statement.
He was taken to a hospital, but before he was released officers discovered the body of the elderly woman in the car Holliman had been driving, the statement said.
Chicago police determined she died in Chicago, in the 100 block of West Delaware Place in the Gold Coast. Juanita Holliman’s home is listed in the same Gold Coast block.
Marc Holliman had been driving a Lexus RX 300 SUV, according to Grundy County State’s Attorney Jason Helland, who said additional charges in Grundy County might be filed after their investigation is concluded.
The area where Dwight police came into contact with Marc Holliman is just off an exit of Interstate 55, near several gas stations and fast food restaurants. Juanita Holliman’s body was found in a passenger seat, Helland said.
Chicago police have not released any additional information on the case.
Holliman was expected to appear in bond court Wednesday.
A member of Waldoboro United Methodist Church in Waldoboro, Maine, sings a hymn during a service. The church shut down for good after last Sunday’s service due to a drop in attendance in part due to COVID-19. | Robert F. Bukaty / AP
‘We can’t entirely blame everything on COVID,’ says the pastor of a church that’s now permanently closed. ‘But that was just the final blow.’
With millions of people having stayed home from places of worship during the coronavirus pandemic, struggling congregations are wondering: How many of them will return?
As the pandemic recedes in the United States and in-person services resume, worries of a deepening slide in attendance are universal.
Some houses of worship won’t make it.
Smaller ones with older congregations that struggled to adapt during the pandemic are in the greatest danger, said the Rev. Gloria E. White-Hammond, a lecturer at the Harvard Divinity School who is co-pastor of a church in Boston.
On the Maine coast, the pandemic proved to be the last straw for the 164-year-old Waldoboro United Methodist Church.
Even before COVID-19 swept the world, weekly attendance had dipped to 25 or 30 at the white-clapboard New England church that could hold several hundred worshipers. The number further dwindled to five or six before the final service was held Sunday, said the Rev. Gregory Foster.
The remaining congregants realized they couldn’t continue to maintain the structur, and decided to fold the tent, Foster said.
“We can’t entirely blame everything on COVID,” he said. “But that was just the final blow. Some people have not been back at all.”
Robert F. Bukaty / AP
The Rev. Greg Foster leads the singing of a hymn at Waldoboro United Methodist Church. The pandemic was “the final blow” for the Maine church.
In Virginia, the Mount Clifton United Methodist Church had a similar fate. The church could seat more than 100. But the number of weekly worshipers dwindled to 10 to 15 even before the pandemic.
Now, the small church built on a hill in the Shenandoah Valley in the 1880s might be rented to another congregation or sold.
“The pandemic was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said the Rev. Darlene Wilkins, who oversaw Mount Clifton. “It just became next to impossible to sustain.”
In the United States, where for decades a dwindlingr share of the population has identified as being religious, about three-quarters of Americans who attended religious services in person at least monthly before the pandemic now say they are likely to do so again in the next few weeks, according to a recent AP-NORC poll. That’s up slightly from the about two-thirds who said in May 2020 that they would if allowed to do so. But 7% said they definitely won’t be attending.
Those findings are in line with a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. residents last summer that found that 92% of people who regularly attend religious services expected to continue at the same or higher rate, with 7% saying they will attend in-person services less often.
Congregations that are successful in reemerging from the pandemic will likely be those that did a better job adapting, White-Hammond said.
According to the Pew poll, eight in 10 congregants surveyed said their services were being streamed online.
Congregations that kept a connection with their members and relied less for donations on physical presence — for instance, the passing of the donation plate — stand a better chance of emerging unscathed, White-Hammond said.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Temple Beth El was closed during the pandemic but kept congregants in touch through events like a bread-making “challah day.” Volunteers baked more than 900 loaves and delivered them to people for their Shabbat meals.
There will be no returning to “normal” after the pandemic, said Temple Beth-El Rabbi Dusty Klass. “There were people who went home and may never come back to the sanctuary. They may just pray from their couch. It’s up to us to make sure they have the opportunity.”
The All Dulles Area Muslim Society, whose main campus is in Sterling, Virginia, has reopened some of its 11 locations to worshipers with safety measures.
“If COVID is gone 100%, I firmly believe our community would be fully back because people crave ... to be together,” said Rizwan Jaka, the society’s chair of interfaith and media relations.
In San Francisco, historic Old St. Mary’s Cathedral survived when members rebuilt after a fire following the 1906 earthquake but has struggled during the pandemic. The 160-year-old Roman Catholic church, heavily dependent on older worshipers and tourists, lost most of its revenue after parishes closed during the pandemic. The Rev. John Ardis dismissed most of the lay staff, cut the salary of a priest and closed the parish preschool.
The plaster is crumbling, the paint is peeling, and dozens of stained-glass windows need to be replaced.
“But those are secondary at the moment,” Ardis said. “Because I’m just basically trying to trying to keep the doors open.”
In Maine, the final service last Sunday at Waldoboro was emotional, as nearly 60 people gathered in the sanctuary, and Foster preached about new beginnings and encouraged people to continue their faith.
Judy Grant, 77, who was a newcomer to Waldoboro. said some hope the building will come alive again with a new congregation: “We have to be positive — and pray.”
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Demonstrators in downtown Chicago on Aug. 22, 2019 call for a $15 minimum hourly wage in the city. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times
This pay raise is a tremendous help that will change my life and the lives of many others across the city. But we still have a long way to go.
Chicago workers like me are getting a raise to $15 an hour as of July 1 and it couldn’t come soon enough.
I’ve been a Chicago home care worker for 15 years, and have always struggled to get by. That’s why I’ve been marching and rallying for an increase to $15 an hour alongside my union, SEIU Healthcare Illinois, and our brothers and sisters in the Fight for $15 and a Union movement. When we fought and won back in 2019, I felt a huge wave of relief.
Now, seeing the measures we fought for come to fruition, I can’t help but be emotional at how this raise will help me and others across our city.
As a home care worker, I am there for disabled and elderly folks who need help with their daily activities, such as cleaning and laundry, and reminders to take their medication. These are tasks that some people don’t have to think twice about, but my work ensures that Chicagoans can lead independent lives and age with dignity on their own terms.
I am also the primary caregiver for my 93-year-old mother. Ironically, while working as a professional caregiver, I have struggled to take care of myself and my family. I can’t afford the basics, like my utility bill or my car payment. Healthy food, like fresh fruits and vegetables, is a luxury I simply can’t afford on my wages.
Throughout my career, I’ve almost always had to work three jobs just to make ends meet, and then the pandemic hit and things got even worse. I was terrified of exposing my mother and risking my own health every day. Then when my mother got sick, I couldn’t work for weeks. This was time off without pay that we just couldn’t afford. These were dark days.
People praised workers like me for being essential, yet I felt invisible.
No one should have to live like that, worrying every day how they’re going to make ends meet, or missing precious time with their family to make sure they can eat. No one should be forced to make the decision between buying groceries or paying the heating bill. With the increased minimum wage, I can have some peace of mind knowing I can provide for basic necessities, while still giving crucial care to my clients.
This raise is a tremendous help that will change my life and the lives of many others across our city. But we still have a long way to go. Every person in the state of Illinois — whether they live in Rockford, Peoria, or on the South Side of Chicago — deserves to have the opportunity to not only succeed in life, but to thrive.
And let’s not forget that this raise didn’t happen automatically. We took to the streets and raised our voices. Fast-food workers and janitors put their bodies on the line. Workers showed up at City Hall and on the doorstep of McDonald’s, a company that made almost $5 billion in profits last year, but still won’t pay cooks and cashiers a living wage.
This only happened because working people came together, demanded $15 and hour, and won.
Now, we’re bringing that same spirit to other fights for justice and equity in our state. We’re coming together to demand investment in our communities after decades of resources being pulled out of our neighborhoods. We’re calling for a transformation in policing; fully-funded child care programs; and federal investment in good, union, living-wage home care jobs.
I’m fighting for a better future because ultimately, we are responsible for ensuring the wellbeing of every person who lives in Illinois — not just a select few. We need to care for one another. We need to recognize each other’s humanity and understand that poverty is not a character flaw, nor is it inevitable. And we need to fight for what’s right.
Today, I’m celebrating this raise that is so very well deserved for me and my family and for working families across Chicago. And I’m recommitting to our collective fight for equity, justice and freedom.
Because if we won $15 an hour, a minimum wage that some once thought was impossible, we can do anything.
Patricia Evans is a home care worker in Chicago. Her union, SEIU Healthcare, has an ownership stake in Sun-Times Media.
Send letters to letters@suntimes.com.
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Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews missed the 2020-21 season with immune-system issues. | Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
After months of mystery, Blackhawks captain reveals that he has Chronic Immune Response Syndrome, also known as biotoxin illness.
Everybody take a deep, cleansing breath. Pull in the air until you can’t pull in any more. Now let it out slowly. Feel that? That’s relief. That’s the wonderful, overwhelming sensation that comes with knowing that Jonathan Toews is OK. That he is not in the grips of a debilitating disease that will cost him his life.
The Blackhawks captain, the team’s beating heart, released a video Wednesday morning and put a name to the illness that kept him off the ice last season and us in the dark: Chronic Immune Response Syndrome (CIRS). It’s a condition associated with exposure to biotoxins, such as mold. Most people’s bodies can process biotoxins. Those with CIRS can’t, causing immune-system dysfunction.
“There’s a lot of things that piled up, where my body just fell apart,” Toews said in the video, which he put on Twitter. “… I just couldn’t quite recover, and my immune system was reacting to everything that I did — any kind of stress, anything that I would do throughout the day, there was always that stress response.
“I took some time, and that was the frustrating part — not really knowing when or how we were going to get over the hump. But thankfully I’ve got a great support team of people that helped me through it, and [I] learned a lot about the stress I put on my body over the years.’’
Toews has started skating at the Hawks’ practice facility and signaled that he plans to play next season. Some of you might accuse me of burying the news — he’s going to play again! — but that’s a very, very distant second in the importance department. No. 1 is that he’s still with us and that it appears he’s healthy.
“I appreciate all the support,’’ he said. “A lot of people were worried, and I definitely felt bad to a certain degree that people were that worried that they thought it was really serious, but in the back of my mind, I knew I’d get through it. It was just a matter of time.’’
I’m not sure I understand why he didn’t let the public know of his diagnosis earlier, but that was his right. It’s his life, his body and his condition. Perhaps it took him all this time to feel comfortable with what he had. Maybe he couldn’t process what was happening to a body that had helped bring the Hawks three Stanley Cup titles.
I wasn’t too vocal about the things I went through this year. I appreciate the understanding and support and wanted to share this message on where I’m at. pic.twitter.com/3qgftKki10
But I can’t tell you how many times over the past six months I heard whispers that Toews had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal illness. That’s how the world works. Somebody always knows somebody who says they know something. Before you know it, Toews is on his deathbed, and we’re wondering if Last Rites is capitalized or not.
We can dismiss all of it as silly now, but at the time, there was nothing silly about it.
The Hawks were never going to tell us what Toews’ condition was, even if they knew it. There are laws against that sort of thing, of course, but secrecy is as part of hockey as much as smelly locker rooms are. (Secrecy might be why they’re facing two lawsuits over an alleged sexual-assault cover-up.) You couldn’t even get an upper- or lower-body designation out of them. Given what Toews’ malady turned out to be, they would have listed “body’’ as the injury.
It doesn’t matter now. It was great to see Toews on that video Wednesday, sounding like Toews, skating like Toews, being serious like Toews. For 13 seasons, the Hawks — and us — were blessed with his presence, and when that presence went away, it was a massive physical and emotional void. How are you supposed to skate with one leg? That’s how it felt.
Toews didn’t talk about the challenges his illness might present as he works back into playing shape. But all of that is background noise, a discussion for another day. He’s better now. That’s all that matters. We saw, with our own eyes, that he’s OK. Toews or someone else was smart enough to understand the importance of his showing himself to fans and media in a video. For too long, there was nothing visual to make us feel better about the superstar. Now we see. Now we believe.
So take another deep breath and let the relief wash over you, Blackhawks fans. Your captain, the player who always seemed to do the right thing at the right time, is back among you. And life is good.
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