A man and a woman were fatally shot Thursday morning when they were driving in the Cragin neighborhood and got into an argument with a driver in front of them, according to Chicago police.
The driver stopped his car in the 2500 block of North Lamon Avenue and got out and approached the two around 5:50 a.m., police said.
A man in the other car began arguing with the gunman, who fired several shots into the car, police said. The man, 32, and the woman, 31, were both taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center and pronounced dead.
Police reported no arrests.
Four other people have been killed so far this year in the Belmont Cragin community area, according to Sun-Times data. Last year, the area had half as many homicides over the same period.
White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson will be suspended for the first two games of the season.
Duane Burleson/Getty Images
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The White Sox will be without All-Star shortstop Tim Anderson for the first two games of the season as he serves a two-game suspension for making contact with an umpire in a game in Detroit on Sept. 29.
Anderson noted the suspension, as well as a $10,000 fine, on his Twitter account Thursday.
“They gave me 2 game suspension and 10k fine ...’’ Anderson tweeted.
Anderson has been told the suspension will be served over the first two games of the season.
Anderson was initially suspended three games and fined for his involvement during a bench-clearing incident in Detroit, sparked by Jose Abreu’s hard slide into second base and the Tigers taking exception to it. He bumped umpire Tim Timmons in the midst of a heated scrum and said at the time he didn’t know at first that the contact was with an umpire. Anderson said at the time that Timmons initiated the contact.
Anderson appealed the suspension, which applies to regular season games, and was expecting to serve at least one game. Major League Baseball has not announced the suspension.
Anderson is a .342/.381/.513 hitter in 92 career games against the Tigers. His 12 homers are the most against any team.
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Russian troops began leaving the Chernobyl nuclear plant after soldiers got “significant doses” of radiation from digging trenches at the highly contaminated site, Ukraine’s state power company said Thursday as fighting raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other fronts.
Energoatom, the company, gave no immediate details on the condition of the troops or how many were affected. But it said the Russians had dug in in the forest inside the exclusion zone around the now-closed plant, the site in 1986 of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
The troops “panicked at the first sign of illness,” which “showed up very quickly,” and began to prepare to leave, Energoatom said.
There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin.
Its forces seized the Chernobyl site in the opening stages of the Feb. 24 invasion, raising fears that they would cause damage or disruption that could spread radiation. The workforce at the site oversees the safe storage of spent fuel rods and the concrete-entombed ruins of the exploded reactor.
The pullout came amid continued fighting and indications that the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation as cover while regrouping and resupplying its forces and redeploying them for a stepped-up offensive in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is seeing “a buildup of Russian forces for new strikes on the Donbas, and we are preparing for that.”
Meanwhile, a convoy of buses headed to Mariupol in another bid to evacuate people from the besieged port city after the Russian military agreed to a limited cease-fire in the area. And a new round of talks aimed at stopping the fighting was scheduled for Friday.
The Red Cross said its teams were headed for Mariupol with medical supplies and other relief and hoped to take civilians out of the beleaguered city.
Tens of thousands have managed to get out of Mariupol in the past few weeks by way of humanitarian corridors, reducing the city’s population from a prewar 430,000 to an estimated 100,000 as of last week, but other efforts have been thwarted by continued Russian attacks.
At the same time, Russian forces shelled Kyiv suburbs, two days after the Kremlin announced it would significantly scale back operations near both the capital and the northern city of Chernihiv to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations.”
Britain’s Defense Ministry also reported “significant Russian shelling and missile strikes” around Chernihiv. The area’s governor, Viacheslav Chaus, said Russian troops were on the move but may not be withdrawing.
Russia’s military also reported new strikes on Ukrainian fuel stores late Wednesday, and Ukrainian officials said there were artillery barrages in and around the northeastern city of Kharkiv over the past day.
Despite the fighting raging in those areas, the Russian military said it committed to a cease-fire along the route from Mariupol to the Ukraine-held city of Zaporizhzhia.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 45 buses would be sent to collect civilians who have suffered some of the worst privations of the war.
Food, water and medical supplies have all run low during a weekslong blockade and bombardment of the city. Civilians who have managed to leave have typically done so using private cars, but the number of drivable vehicles left in the city has dwindled and fuel is low.
The Breakdown: U.S. Security Aid for Ukraine
The U.S. has commited over $2 billion to Ukraine in security assistance since the start of the Biden Administration – $1 bilion of it in March alone. Security assistance takes the form of equipment from the Department of Defense and is meant to help Ukrainians defend their country against Russia.
Note: Not all pledged government funding has been allocated yet
Source: The White House
Credit: Andrew Williams/NBC
“It’s desperately important that this operation takes place,” the Red Cross said in a statement. “The lives of tens of thousands of people in Mariupol depend on it.”
Talks between Ukraine and Russia were set to resume Friday by video, according to the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia, six weeks into a war that has seen thousands die and a staggering 4 million Ukrainians flee the country.
But there seemed little faith that the two sides would resolve the conflict any time soon, particularly after the Russian military’s attacks in zones where it had offered to dial back.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that conditions weren’t yet “ripe” for a cease-fire in Ukraine and that he wasn’t ready for a meeting with Zelenskyy until negotiators do more work, Italian Premier Mario Draghi said in recounting a telephone conversation he had with the Russian leader on Wednesday.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said alliance intelligence indicates that Russia is not scaling back its military operations in Ukraine but is instead trying to regroup, resupply its forces and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas.
“Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions,” Stoltenberg said. At the same time, he said, pressure is being kept up on Kyiv and other cities, and “we can expect additional offensive actions bringing even more suffering.”
The Donbas is the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial region where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014. In the past few days, the Kremlin, in a seeming shift in its war aims, said that its “main goal” now is gaining control of the Donbas, which consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including Mariupol.
The top rebel leader in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, issued an order to set up a rival city government for Mariupol, according to Russian state news agencies, in a sign of Russian intent to hold and administer the city.
In the Kyiv suburbs, regional governor Oleksandr Palviuk said on social media that Russian forces shelled Irpin and Makariv and that there were battles around Hostomel. Pavliuk said there were Ukrainian counterattacks and some Russian withdrawals around the suburb of Brovary to the east.
Also, Ukraine’s emergency services said the death toll had risen to 20 in a Russian missile strike Tuesday on a government administration building in the southern city of Mykolaiv.
In a speech in Australia, Jeremy Fleming, head of the GCHQ electronic spy agency, said Putin had apparently “massively misjudged” the invasion. U.S. intelligence officials have similarly concluded that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the war is going because they are afraid to tell him the truth.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the U.S. is wrong and that “neither the State Department nor the Pentagon possesses the real information about what is happening in the Kremlin.”
In other developments, Putin authorized drafting 134,500 new conscripts starting April 1. The draft is a routine event but comes amid concerns that some draftees could be deployed to Ukraine.
Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu have given assurances that conscripts will not take part in the war in Ukraine. Earlier this month, however, the Russian military admitted that a number of conscripts ended up in Ukraine and were captured there.
This is a live update. Click here for complete coverage of the crisis in Ukraine.
Erica Collier holds a portrait of her son King Collier Jr., who was killed in a driveby shooting outside the Parkway Gardens low-income housing project in June 2021. After nearly a year with no updates from detectives, Collier worries her son’s killing will never be solved.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Chicago’s murder total last year surged to levels not seen in a quarter-century, but embattled police Supt. David Brown has frequently noted a positive data point amid the spike in violence: His department “cleared” more murder cases in 2021 than in any other year in nearly two decades.
The statistic on cases cleared is usually among the list of figures Brown cites in public remarks, alongside record numbers of handguns seized by officers and rising arrest totals for carjackings.
CPD detectives “cleared over 400 homicides in 2021,” Brown said at a January press conference, one of several times he’s mentioned the figure in public remarks. “That’t the most cleared in 19 years.”
Indeed, Chicago police closed exactly 400 murder cases in 2021, well above the average solved during each of the last several years, according to statistics provided in response to a public records request. That’s nearly 50 more cases closed than in 2020 and well above the average of 250 in each of the five years prior to that.
Based on the department’s official total of 797 murders in 2021, that amounted to a “clearance rate” of better than 50% last year.
But an analysis by the Sun-Times found that higher rate doesn’t mean many more people are being brought to justice than in years past.
In fact, a closer look at CPD’s clearance rate reveals that half of those cases — 199 — were closed “exceptionally,” meaning that no suspect was charged. Under CPD policy, detectives are allowed to clear a case when the suspect is dead, prosecutors refuse to make a charge or police believe they know who did it but nevertheless don’t make an arrest.
What’s more, one of every seven cases taken off CPD’s books last year was actually committed more than 10 years ago, including one that happened a half-century ago, which CPD attributed to providing extra resources to the department’s Cold Case team. Since those cases were officially cleared in 2021, they are counted against the 797 murder total, further improving last year’s clearance rate even though they happened years before.
When all is said and done, the department actually made arrests in fewer cases than in 2020, when 209 people were charged, figures show.
Despite Brown’s boasts, CPD’s efforts to boost clearance rates without an arrest or charges could be detrimental to crime fighting efforts in the long run, experts said.
Both residents and police officers in violence-plagued communities want to see killers taken off the streets, and a clearance stats that are padded by closing decades-old cases or stalled by reluctant prosecutors does little to build confidence in the community or boost police morale, said Christopher Herrmann, a researcher at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York who has studied clearance data.
“It’s really kind of a negative, downward spiral,” Herrmann said. “When a community doesn’t see murders getting solved, they’re less likely to help the police, because what good does it do, right? [Police] never solve anything, anyway. And when the police see that the community isn’t stepping up to help, they’re going to question how much energy and brainpower do they want to put into a case.”
‘The person that did this to my son is still out there’
Caught in that spiral is Erica Collier, whose 31-year-old son, King, was one of the 836 people killed inside Chicago city limits in 2021 (the larger figure includes homicides cops deemed justifiable or that took place on expressways, which are investigated by the Illinois State Police so are not included in CPD’s calculations).
King Collier, an aspiring musician and artist who did demolition work to pay his bills, was shot in broad daylight on a June afternoon outside the entrance to the Parkway Gardens housing project in Woodlawn.
“I heard people screaming, so I know people were out there. Someone saw something,” Erica Collier said in an interview this week. But no one seems to have come forward to police, who have been slow to provide Collier updates her son’s case. Collier said she informed investigators that social media chatter indicated her son was mistaken for a gang member in the neighborhood, but they weren’t impressed with the lead.
“The detective told me once that they would just have to wait for the gun to be used in another shooting so they could connect it,” Collier said.
“I’m living every day, knowing the person that did this to my son is still out there, and you’re telling me I got to wait for someone else to get hurt before they can find him? That don’t seem right to me.”
Decades-old case closures add to 2021 clearance rate
CPD uses the same formula that the FBI has used for years to calculate the department’s clearance rate: dividing the number of cases solved — no matter what year the murder took place — by the number of murders in a given year.
A newspaper brief from the Aug. 5, 1968 edition of the Chicago Tribune notes the murder of Dora Perry, whose murder was listed as “cleared” by Chicago Police in 2021 some 53 years after her death. While the case was officially closed last fall, no suspect was charged.
Chicago Tribune archives
But using that standard means CPD’s 50% clearance rate for 2021 includes solving the murder of Dora Perry in Little Italy. Perry’s case was marked closed last September — more than 52 years after Perry was killed in August of 1968.
Perry’s was one of 56 murders that was on CPD’s books for more than 10 years before being cleared last year. Fourteen were 30 or more years old.
Clearance rates from 2015 to 2021
Clearance Rate
Murders
Same Year
All
No one was charged in any of those old murders, CPD records show: in 30 of the cases, prosecutors declined to file charges against suspects identified by police, and in the rest, the alleged killer had already died.
Tamar Mannasah, founder of Mothers Against Senseless Killings, doesn’t give police much credit for solving cases after dozens of years. Solving cases within weeks or months gives comfort to victims’ families and can prevent revenge shootings
“It’s almost an insult, she said, adding “like you’re doing it to look good. People don’t retaliate when somebody goes to jail. And if you have to see the person who murdered your loved one out walking around, that will put you in a murderous rage yourself.”
Prosecutors deny charges in record number of cases
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office’s decision to reject charges in those older cases contributed to what is likely a record number of murder cases turned down by prosecutors.
Foxx’s office refused to bring charges in 131 cases detectives marked cleared — the most cases denied by the office in the six years that Foxx has been the county’s top prosecutor.
In public statements and off-the-record complaints, police and Mayor Lori Lightfoot have claimed prosecutors are turning down solid cases brought to them by detectives.
Foxx has defended charging decisions by her office, pointing to state laws that have raised the bar for evidence in murder cases. And a report by her office notes that under the data it maintains, it has brought charges in three-quarters of cases police brought to them — even though its figures show CPD made arrests in just 26% of the homicides that occurred in 2021.
“If the totality of evidence is enough to approve charges, then we do,” spokeswoman Cristina Villarreal said in an email. “If there is not enough evidence to meet our burden of proof in court, we work closely with law enforcement to guide them in what evidence would help us meet the burden in court.”
Though no one will face justice in those crimes, police say they are done actively investigating unless new evidence appears, and they are now considered “clear-closed” by the department.
Percentage of cleared murder cases ending in approved charges
Asked about why there were so many cases closed without an arrest during a year when Chicago saw near-record numbers of homicides, spokesman Don Terry said that department tabulates case clearances according to FBI guidelines.
Although the FBI allows it, many other police departments don’t include cases where prosecutors have refused charges when calculating their clearance rates, said Charles Wellford, a criminologist and emeritus professor at University of Maryland-College Park.
“That level of exceptional clearances in Chicago is unusual,” Wellford said.
Few detectives chasing many murders
CPD has made efforts to revamp its detective bureau under Chief Brendan Deenihan, who took the job in 2020, a year after a national policing agency issued a lengthy report outlining shortcomings in CPD’s investigations.
Among other points, a 2019 review from the Police Executive Research Forum noted that among nearly 12,000 officers, CPD had only 138 detectives handling homicides, as part of a unit that also investigated gang and sex crimes. Some detectives said they were saddled with more than 10 cases.
The department now has 180 detectives working murder investigations, meaning each was given an average of 4.4 new cases to solve last year. Terry said the department plans to add more to bring the recommended case load down to three to four new cases per detective, Terry said.
The sheer number of murders Chicago makes the job of solving murders more difficult than in other cities, said Herrmann, the John Jay researcher. The city sees more killings than New York and Los Angeles combined, and both cities have more detectives chasing far fewer cases.
As of 2019, 11% of New York’s sworn officers and nearly 15% of L.A.’s cops are detectives, compared to 8.4% here.
“Chicago detectives are definitely respected, but everyone acknowledges that they have so much more work to do,” Herrmann said.
Carla Sumerlin stands near the spot where her son, Torrence, was murdered in 2020, holding up a letter she wrote and handed out to residents in the surrounding homes, asking them to come forward with tips. Police arrested two men in connection with the murder in March.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Police also get positive reviews from Carla Sumerlin, whose son, Torrance, was shot dead in the Tri-Taylor neighborhood in August. Earlier this month, two men were charged in the slaying, clearing his case off CPD’s books a little over six months after it happened.
Carla Sumerlin stayed in constant contact with police, and did some detective work herself, handing out letters to homes near the crime scene, pleading for witnesses to come forward. In the end, a witness and evidence from her son’s cell phone led police to the alleged killers — and gave Sumerlin and her family a moment of peace of mind.
“I have friends who have lost children and [it] didn’t turn out that way,” Sumerlin said earlier this week, hours after returning home for a bond hearing for one of the suspects. “I could never understand what it would be like, to not know why or who did something like that to my son.”
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A Chicago Public Schools security guard has been charged with sexually assaulting a student on multiple occasions last year at a South Side high school.
Tywain Carter, 29, was held in lieu of posting $20,000 bond at a hearing Wednesday. Judge Mary Marubio noted that Carter was in a “position of trust or authority” over the alleged victim, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
“You were a school security guard, this child was new to that school, and you used your position, as a security guard, as a way to have access to this child,” Marubio said.
Prosecutors said Carter had approached the student and the student’s mother, told them he was a security guard and promised to look after the teenager, who was newly enrolled.
Carter would sometimes be required to remove students from classrooms during the school day, and he told a teacher that he needed to remove the student to help “acclimate” the student to the new school, prosecutors said.
On “multiple occasions” last November and December, Carter took the student to a computer lab where the student was assaulted, prosecutors said.
In December, the student told their parents that Carter had been suspended from the school after another student made abuse allegations against Carter, prosecutors said. The teen then allegedly said they had also been the victim of abuse.
The student’s parents reported the allegations to police and school officials on Dec. 23, and Carter was suspended Jan. 6 after a disciplinary meeting with school personnel, according to prosecutors.
Carter was suspended in December while the district investigated, according to a CPS spokesman, who declined to say if the district had been notified of any other allegations against Carter.
“Chicago Public Schools (CPS) strives to foster safe and secure learning environments for our students, families, and colleagues. Our schools and the District investigate and address all complaints and allegations of wrongdoing in accordance with District policies and procedures,” the spokesman said.
The student was interviewed at the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center the next day and identified Carter, who was placed into custody on March 28 on the felony charge.
Carter had previously faced a misdemeanor battery charge related to the allegations, according to prosecutors, who announced Wednesday they would be dropping the lower charge.
Court records show Carter was released on his own recognizance in that case on March 3.
A defense attorney for Carter noted that prosecutors had not mentioned any evidence to support the charge against his client beyond the alleged victim’s outcry and said Carter could afford a $2,000 bond.
Marubio additionally ordered Carter to go on electronic monitoring if he posts bond and to not have contact with the alleged victim or their family, as well as anyone under 18.
The Wanted pose on the red carpet before the Lunas del Auditorio award ceremony in Mexico City, on Oct. 30, 2013. Nathan Sykes (from right), Jay McGuiness, Max George, Tom Parker and Siva Kaneswaran. Parker has died after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.
AP
LONDON — Tom Parker, a member of British-Irish boy band The Wanted, has died after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He was 33.
The band announced that Parker died Wednesday, “surrounded by his family and his band mates.”
Parker announced his diagnosis in October 2020, and underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Earlier this year, he performed onstage with the group during its much-delayed reunion tour.
The Wanted members Max George, Jay McGuiness, Siva Kaneswaran and Nathan Sykes said they were “devastated by the tragic and premature loss” of their bandmate. “He was our brother, words can’t express the loss and sadness we feel. Always and forever in our hearts.”
Formed in 2009, The Wanted had a string of hit singles including U.K. No. 1s “All Time Low” and “Glad You Came.” The members went their separate ways in 2014 after releasing three albums, but reunited for a September 2021 concert organized by Parker at London’s Royal Albert Hall to support cancer charities.
Before the concert, Parker had said: “It’s not that I’m ignoring cancer but I just don’t want to pay it any attention.”
“The more attention you pay it, the more it consumes your life and I don’t want to consume my life.”
The Wanted released a greatest hits album in 2021, followed by a tour this year.
Parker is survived by his wife Kelsey Parker, a son and a daughter.
Kelsey Parker wrote on Instagram: “Our hearts are broken, Tom was the centre of our world and we can’t imagine life without his infectious smile and energetic presence.”
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A mother of four with family in the Chicago area was killed and her sister critically wounded in a mass shooting that left 19 other people dead at a clandestine cock fight in Mexico’s western state of Michoacan Sunday.
Melissa Silva and her sister Arleth Silva, 16, were on vacation in Michoacan and were at the gathering near the town of Zinapecuaro when attackers opened fire, according to family.
Melissa Silva, a mother of four with relatives in Warrenville, was fatally shot and Arleth Silva was struck multiple times. The teen is in critical condition at a hospital in Mexico, and three others were also wounded in the shooting.
Melissa and Arleth’s sister set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for funeral expenses and help pay for medical costs.
Prosecutors said the shooters apparently planned the attack and entered in a stolen truck owned by a snack food company.
“The snack food company truck arrived, and several armed people in camoflauge clothing got out,” a prosecutors’ statement said. “At the same moment, a bus that was outside the building was used as a blockade,” apparently to prevent victims from escaping or calling for help, it said.
Investigators found 15 vehicles that apparently belonged to the victims, one of which bore stickers with the logo of a criminal gang. Prosecutors said drug cartels and other criminal gangs had been fighting in the area.
“There are indications that the attack involved a confrontation between criminal groups,” the federal Public Safety Department said in a statement. It added that a team of federal investigators had been sent to the scene.
Michoacan has been the scene of a longstanding turf battle between local cartels and the Jalisco cartel from the neighboring state of Jalisco. The fighting has included the use of bomb-dropping drones, landmines and home-made armored cars.
Cock fighting, while illegal in many areas, remains a popular pastime in parts of Mexico, though the fights are usually held clandestinely.
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith during the Oscars.
ZUMAPRESS.com
Hollywood can put together a great summer blockbuster, legal thriller and holiday rom-com, but they sure can’t seem to get the Oscars right. This year’s broadcast was an unmitigated disaster, and not just because of you-know-what (but we’ll get there).
It’s been nearly a quarter-century since the highest rated Academy Awards of all time, 1998, when more than 57 million viewers tuned in. Hosted by the inimitable Billy Crystal, and jam-packed with massive movies like “Titanic,” ‘As Good as it Gets,” “Good Will Hunting” and “LA Confidential,” it was truly must-see TV.
Ratings have plummeted since then, with just 15.3 million viewers tuning in this year. And that followed an abysmal low of just under 10 million last year.
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There’s plenty of speculation and scholarship as to why, from bad hosting choices to bad movie years, overt politicization to self-indulgent nominee selections. Even the way we watch movies has changed, as has our limited attention span for live TV. But one thing’s clear — the Oscars have become irrelevant.
That is, until something wild and controversial happens to put the sleepy awards show back on the map for all the wrong reasons.
As the world now knows, a couple hours into what was already a mess of a show, Will Smith leaped on stage to slap Chris Rock across the face for a joke he told about Smith’s wife.
Save for Smith’s best actor acceptance speech a little later, everything before then and after then suddenly didn’t matter, which wasn’t great news for the night’s other winners.
It’s hard to underscore just how badly the Academy handled that moment and its aftermath, but the mistakes didn’t start there. Let’s recap:
Among three very talented comedian hosts, original jokes were few and far between. Schumer’s spin on the well-worn Leonardo DiCaprio joke about dating younger women — one Ricky Gervais made just two years ago at the Golden Globes — was tired, and DiCaprio wasn’t even there to react to it.
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Regina Hall’s cringy sketch, in which she joked about using last-minute COVID swabs to inappropriately grope the night’s hottest male stars, was a strange choice for a room still dealing with #MeToo and casting couch culture.
An oddly toned “In Memoriam” segment stunningly left out beloved actors including Bob Saget, Ed Asner, Norm Macdonald, Robert Downey Sr., Meat Loaf and Willie Garson for reasons only the Academy can answer.
They even botched a moment that could have brought even more families around the television set, teasing the first-ever live performance of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” from the popular animated feature “Encanto,” but airing it well after East Coast bedtime and adding a jarring guest rap verse by Megan Thee Stallion.
Then, there was the slap.
We all know what happened by now, but here’s what didn’t happen: a single good decision by the Academy.
In the immediate aftermath, Smith returned casually to his front-row seat, where he repeatedly yelled profanities at the stage.
Where was security? Where were Academy officials to deal with the physical assault that just happened?
It turns out, according to CNN, Oscars officials “strongly considered” removing Smith following the slap, but “the Academy decision-makers were seated in various spots in the Dolby Theatre and couldn’t mobilize to make a decision before he won best actor.”
To be clear, they had nearly an hour and multiple commercial breaks to “mobilize” had they wanted to. Instead, they did nothing.
Smith accepted his award to a standing ovation, left the premises unfettered and danced the night away at the Vanity Fair party, as if he hadn’t just assaulted a comedian on live television. Rock, for his part, declined to press charges.
Then, a meaningless tweet at 1:10 a.m. ET: “The Academy does not condone violence of any form,” despite appearing to have done just that.
S.E. Cupp is the host of “S.E. Cupp Unfiltered” on CNN.
“I was kind of shocked how quick I started to feel better. I thought I’d be on crutches for a week to two weeks,” White Sox outfielder Andrew Vaughn said of his hip injury.
Daryl Van Schouwen/Sun-Times
GLENDALE, Ariz. — White Sox outfielder Andrew Vaughn’s hip feels much better than it did when he left a game on a cart Sunday.
“It’s tenfold better,” Vaughn said Wednesday morning after taking some swings in the batting cage at Camelback Ranch. “I was kind of shocked how quick I started to feel better. I thought I’d be on crutches for a week to two weeks. Second day I came in i threw the crutches in the training room and said ‘I’m good.’ ‘‘
Playing right field Sunday, Vaughn dived and caught a ball in the right-center field alley and was taken off on a cart. He and the team feared the worst, but he suffered only a right hip pointer. Not that it was nothing.
“It’s kind of like the worst charley horse you’ve ever had,” Vaughn said. “It kind of sticks around, it’s kind of lingering but it’s going away.
“It was pretty scary. Dove and landed on my hip, thought it was fine, wiggled it around a little bit and took that first step and kind of gave out. My mind went to the worst thoughts but best case of the worst, a hip pointer and I’m up walking around. Feel pretty good now.”
The Sox said Vaughn might return to game action in one to two weeks. Opening Day is next Friday in Detroit. It might be a reach, but Vaughn wouldn’t speculate.
“I’m just looking forward to tomorrow, seeing how I feel the next day,” he said. “[Opening Day] is the hope but you can’t rush things.”
Vaughn stretched with the team on the field Wednesday morning and will continue receiving treatment.
“It’s just a nasty bruise and you have to get rid of the pressure,” he said. “It’s all on feel and I’m feeling really good right now.”
Adam Engel was in the starting lineup for Wednesday’s Cactus League game against the Rangers.
Vaughn converted from first base to left field last season and is expected to see a sizable amount of reps in right field this season.
Here is the Sox lineup Wednesday:
Tim Anderson SS
Luis Robert CF
Jose Abreu 1B
Yasmani Grandal C
Eloy Jimenez LF
Yoan Moncada 3B
Leury Garcia DH
Josh Harrison 2B
Adam Engel RF
Dylan Cease P
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The White Sox need a big — and healthy — season out of Luis Robert.
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Well before last season began, plenty of people insisted that 2021 would be a failure for the White Sox if they didn’t win the World Series. Great talent carried great expectations, right? So when the Sox lost early in the playoffs, there was some discussion that they were a complete disappointment and that they might want to think about sheltering in place until it was safe to go outside. Which would be never.
But strangely — strange for hard-bitten Chicago — the discussion shifted fairly quickly. There had been injuries to key players, there had been COVID-19 challenges and there was always 2022. Forgiveness seemed like the thing to do.
But now? Now we really mean it! It’s World Series or bust for these White Sox. Don’t even bother coming back to town if you don’t win it this year, fellas.
OK, I’ve got that out of my system.
But it’s true. At some point, the Sox have to live up to the hype and have to stick their heads through the championship window before it starts closing. Now would be wonderful. There are too many gifted players on the roster, and there’s never enough time in professional sports. So, yes, this would be a perfect occasion for the Sox to make good on the tacit promises that came with the rebuild they foisted upon their fan base several years ago.
Back-to-back postseason appearances are nice, but nice was never the goal. October was. November, if necessary.
About that load of talent: It’s still there. Anderson and Abreu and Robert, oh my! The concern is that the Sox didn’t add much in the offseason. The Astros scored 31 runs in their four-game American League Division Series beatdown of the South Siders last year. If you had your hands over your eyes during that debacle, you might have been under the impression that general manager Rick Hahn needed to add pitching for 2022. But the series showed that if the Sox wanted to keep up with the big boys, they needed to hit like them.
It was a very quiet offseason, with the only signings of note being reliever Joe Kelly and infielder Josh Harrison, who hit .279 with eight home runs last season with the Nationals and Athletics.
It would be a mistake to think that the Sox don’t have enough offensively, though. They finished in the top 10 in the majors in all meaningful categories last season, including first in BABIP (sorry, I gave up explaining what that is for Lent). But they finished tied for 19th in home runs, and if we know anything about today’s baseball, it’s that you’re a weak, puny, possibly un-American team if you’re not hitting homers.
There’s no reason to think that Yoan Moncada can’t reprise his 2019 season (25 home runs, 79 runs batted it, .315 average) and forget last season (14, 61, .263). Any big ideas the Sox have of a postseason run are based on their prayers that Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez will stay healthy. Injuries reduced Robert to 68 games last season and Jimenez to 55. It’s why Robert had only 13 homers and Jimenez 10.
Put them with Tim Anderson, Jose Abreu and Yasmani Grandal, pray like hell (again) for good health and you have the backbone of a monster lineup. The pitching should be good enough.
Should the Sox have done more in the offseason? Yes. Maybe they weren’t aware, but you can have complete faith in your team and add talent. Still, they rank seventh in payroll ($184.7 million). It’s hard to criticize them when they’re acting much more like a major-market team than the purportedly major-market club across town. The Cubs rank 15th at $130.1 million.
PECOTA, Baseball Prospectus’ computer model, has the Sox winning 91 games in 2022, two fewer than they won last season, but winning the AL Central by five games over the Twins. Last season, PECOTA had the Sox winning 83 games and finishing third in the division. PECOTA probably should be drug tested now and then.
At some point, Sox fans have to rely on faith. This is the time to believe that some or all of the young players on the roster will figure it out and realize all that potential the franchise saw in them. Why not this season? It’s time to expect them to be what they’re supposed to be.
If they don’t, then all of it, especially the painful rebuild, will be a flop. The whole idea is another World Series title, the first since way back in 2005.
So this is the year, right? This is the year the Sox have to win it all, the year they turn all the talent into a beautiful thing? It is. It’s time.
Or else.
from Chicago Sun-Times - All https://ift.tt/8ReJzud
A class of 80 police officers graduated Tuesday during ceremony in the Aon Grand Ballroom at Navy Pier.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
A shattered ankle. A hand punctured with shrapnel.
That’s how Chicago Police Supt. David Brown began his remarks Tuesday to a graduating class of 80 brand new police officers, giving an update on the injuries to two veteran officers — and a reminder of the perils the new officers will face.
“There has never, ever been a more difficult time to be the police, and yet you are still here answering the call,” Brown said, speaking to the graduates — as well as newly promoted officers — at a ceremony at Navy Pier. “There are few higher callings than that of being a public servant.”
The event was heavy on tradition, with prayers for the new officers and the drone of bagpipes floating high into the cavernous ballroom. But Brown and Mayor Lori Lightfoot also emphasized a changing police department — one that, they say, better reflects the makeup of the city and one in which officers shouldn’t be afraid to seek help on the bad days.
Brown said the newest class is about one-quarter women and almost three-quarters people of color.
New police officers Ricardo Hernandez and Xavier Edwards fist bump after graduating Tuesday during a ceremony in the Aon Grand Ballroom on Navy Pier.
Brown urged the new officers to live balanced lives.
“If you are a cop 24/7, who is the father to your kids and the husband or wife to your spouse?” he said. “Who goes to recitals and practices?”
He told the officers the department will become like a family, but that doesn’t mean they should abandon their old friends.
Police officers “give the worst relationship advice and they drink up all your liquor,” repeating one of his favorite jokes about law enforcement.
Police Officer Michelle Rosado smiles during a graduation ceremony Tuesday at Navy Pier.the graduation of Recruit Class 21-3 and 21-4 and promotion ceremony at the Aon Grand Ballroom in Navy Pier, Tuesday morning, March 29, 2022.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Lightfoot, too, spoke of the difficult time the graduates had chosen in which to patrol the city’s streets as cops. She urged them to get out of their patrol cars and get to know their communities.
She referred to the “m” word — mental health, and urged graduates to take advantage of department services as they “bear witness to immense trauma.”
“That is a tremendous burden to bear,” she said. “You simply cannot take care of us, if you’re not diligently taking care of yourselves. We need you at your best.”
She also told the graduates to ignore the “noise and lots of wind” that they might encounter about their chosen profession.
“Have no doubt whatsoever that our residents want you and need you and support you,” Lightfoot said to applause.
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File photo of dawn at Heidecke Lake on opening day.
Dale Bowman
Openers lead this sprawling raw-file Midwest Fishing Report with smelt netting in Chicago and Heidecke Lake opening on Friday, April 1, then inland trout opening on Saturday, April 2.
A bonus report comes from Venice, Louisiana.
LICENSES
New fishing licenses are needed for the four Lake Michigan states—Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin—as of Friday, April 1.
ILLINOIS’ SPRING TROUT
Spring trout season for catchable rainbow trout opens Saturday, April 2. As usual, anglers 16 and older need an inland trout stamp and a fishing license. Daily bag is five trout.
The nearby sites included (Cook County): Axehead, Belleau, Green, Horsetail, Sag Quarry East, Wolf Lake at William Powers SRA; (DuPage): Silver, Pickerel, Grove; (Kankakee): Bird Park Quarry, Rock Creek; (Kendall): Big Lake at Silver Springs SFWA; (Lake): Sand Lake at Illinois Beach SP; (McHenry): Lake Atwood, Piscasaw Creek; (Will): Lake Milliken at Des Plaines SFWA.
The former cooling lake near Morris reopens to fishing on Friday, April 1. District biologist Seth Love said overall he expects crappie, walleye, bluegill and muskie to be the prime species this spring. Largemouth and smallmouth bass are not stars, but they improved. Hybrids, especially the size, looked pretty good. Channel catfish continue to decline.
SMELT
Smelt season begins Friday and runs through April 30. Chicago Park District regulations remain the same—nets may go in at 7 p.m., must be out of the parks by 1 a.m., no open fires, no closed tents, no parking on grass or sidewalks. The park district’s informational card is available from Henry’s Sports and Bait, Park Bait and The Northerly Island Visitor Center. See the column Wednesday for a tiny wisp of hope on smelt in Lake Michigan.
NAVY PIER FISHING
The north side of Navy Pier is open for anglers. The discounted parking for anglers is $9 daily, if out by 10 a.m.
LAKEFRONT PARKING
Chicago Park District’s parking passes for the fisherman’s parking lots at DuSable and Burnham harbors are on sale at Henry’s Sports and Bait in Bridgeport, Park Bait at Montrose Harbor, and the Northerly Island Visitor Center.
Readers suggest SpotHero app downtown. Otherwise, here are some basics: Foster (free street parking or pay lot); Montrose (now a mix of metered and free street parking); Belmont (pay lots on north and south sides); Diversey (pay lot or street parking); DuSable Harbor (pay lot or fisherman’s lot); Northerly Island/Burnham Harbor (meters, pay lot or fisherman’s lot); 31st/Burnham (meter parking between McCormick Place and 31st Street Harbor); Oakwood/39th (meters); 63rd Street/Casino Pier (pay lot); Steelworkers Park (free street parking at east end of 87th); Cal Park (free parking).
PIER PASSES
Pier passes are good through Thursday, March 31, then the gates are chained until boating season in May.
AREA LAKES
Weather has limited efforts, then this week the focus will be on the opening of spring trout (see above).
Ron Urick with a really big largemouth bass caught and released in northern Illinois Friday.
Provided
Ron Urick texted the photo above and this:
The big girl in the photos was caught Friday March 25th, 2022 on the lake we fished together—I never reveal the lake location on my posts. She weighed 6.50 on my certified Major League Fishing scale. Bitsy Bug black blue 1/16 ounce w mini pork fooled her. Released immediately after photo.
Rob Abouchar with a cold-weather largemouth bass from Island Lake.
Provided
Weather didn’t deter Rob Abouchar who sent the photo above and this Tuesday morning:
Hi Dale I’m out on island lake early and having a great morning. Water temps in low 40s have pre spawn largemouth hitting slowly retrieved hard baits in 5 feet of water around sparse grass. A shadow rap, shadow rap shad, and Arucu lipless crank are being engulfed by healthy largies. The ice freezing in the rod guides is tolerable when its dream day fishing . On the music front the April 16th gig is now a recording session for my original reggae music. The fact that I need to register with ASCAP is really hitting home things are getting real. Still the dream is out there! Tight line and good health! Rob
I love that the fishing report includes a musician who needs to be in the register with ASCAP.
Ken “Husker” O’Malley with a spring crappie.
Provided
Ken “Husker” O’Malley of Husker Outdoors emailed the photos above and below, and this:
Hey Dale, Here is a recap of this past weeks fishing. Area lakes-prior to the unseasonably cold temps hitting, crappie were starting to heat up. Active biters were moving up to the inside weedlines on sunny days. Best bait has been plastics worked under a slip float. Since the cold front hit, they have moved back into the main basin. A few active biters can be caught slowly working a minnow bait. Bass have generally been slow. A few smaller bass can be caught on lipless crankbaits. Here is the nature pic of the week [below]. Sunset travels courtesy of TJ O’Malley. TTYL — Ken Husker O’Malley Husker Outdoors Waterwerks fishing team
Sunset while traveling, nature photo of the week.
T. J. O’Malley
BRAIDWOOD LAKE
Open daily 6 a.m.-sunset.
District fisheries biologist Seth Love would like to hear from anglers on hybrid catches at Braidwood. You can email him at seth.love@illinois.gov.
CHAIN O’LAKES AREA
Proprietor Greg Dickson at Triangle Sports and Marine in Antioch said the good news is the water came up; he said you probably could catch some walleye; for crappie, with the up-and-down weather, best to start deep and work shallow; some catfish on minnows.
NOTE: Check updates on water conditions at foxwaterway.com or (847) 587-8540.
CHICAGO RIVER
Jesse Gonzalez with a good carp from the Chicago River.
Provided by Jeffrey Williams
Jeffrey Williams messaged the photo above and this on Thursday:
and of course me and my brother catch fish out of the river after ur report came out he caught 2 carp, i caught 2 carp and he caught 2 white bass
COOLING LAKES
Braidwood and LaSalle are open daily 6 a.m.-sunset.
Heidecke reopens Friday, April 1.
DOWNSTATE
EMIQUON PRESERVE: The site reopened Friday after being closed temporarily for possible avian influenza. Hours are sunrise to sunset. Access permits and liability waivers are required. They are available Tuesday to Saturday at Dickson Mounts Museum, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
POWERTON: Boat and bank fishing is open. Winter hours are 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Morning fellas. Here is a super quick update as we transition from ice to open water. The late season Walleye bite has been good as it usually is as the ice melts away. With that said, anglers that do venture out should use extreme caution and definitely be prepared for it. Little Sturgeon, Rileys Bay, Sandbay along with Sawyer Harbor are all favorite spots to target last ice Walleyes. Oddball jigs and Rapala jigs tipped with minnows definitely the go-to bait at this time There are still some near shore Whitefish opportunities throughout the county. Be 100% aware of wind direction at all times as that ice can separate and push away from shore which we say all the time. Goby style jig heads tipped with plastics are a must have for the Whitey’s The Pike fishing has been outstanding all year and will continue right through ice-out. The 3 shallow bays mentioned above are target areas as those Pike move shallow to spawn. There have been some decent Brown Trout reports both on the ice and open water. Fishermen are targeting Browns via ice on the Bayside of the peninsula and by boat on the Lakeside. Shiners under tip ups and auto fishermen via ice and trolling and casting the shallows on the lake. Look for warmer water pocket, stained water and creek mouths And there has been a decent early run of Steelhead in the Lake Michigan tributaries in recent days. And with more rain in the forecast, more fish should be following. Drifting spawn generally the main method there Thanks; Lance LaVine Howie’s Tackle 1309 Green Bay Rd Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 Ph: 920-746-9916
Click here for the Wisconsin DNR weekly report, though I haven’t seen one recently.
HEIDECKE LAKE
Reopens Friday, April 1. See brief preview at top.
An artful shot of the Chicago skyline with a powerline set-up.
Jason “Special One” Le
Jason “Special One” Le texted the photos above and below on Sunday, and this:
Everyone is catching now
Jason “Special One” Le with a coho on the Chicago lakefront Sunday.
Provided
Arden Katz went to 89th over the weekend and “perch are still in there.” On Sunday, there were more small ones than on Saturday. He uses double Mini-Mites with spikes and a weight on the bottom.
Sounds like coho picked up on the southside, not many perch reports as of late. Take care
Stacey Greene at Park Bait at Montrose Harbor texted:
Morning DaleThe last 3 days with those northerly winds have the coho doing really good. Lots of limits. Nightcrawlers and large minnows. A few Browns and Steelhead in the mix. Looks as though the weather is going to be a little up-and-down guys are just gonna have to keep an eye on those north/easterly windsNobody I know in my area is fishing for perch but I do know the South side is still active for perch.Our hours this week are still 5am to 5pm. Starting Friday April 1st we will stay open till 7pm. Not anticipating smelt but here’s to hoping.
Lori Ralph at the Salmon Stop in Waukegan said the coho, despite the cold, are good, especially for powerliners. Shop will soon expand hours to six or seven days a week.
LaSALLE LAKE
Pete Riedesel with an early-season blue catfish from LaSalle Lake.
Site is open daily 6 a.m.-sunset. As a perched lake, boating is closed when winds top or will top 14 mph. Check daily updates on boating at a new number, (815) 640-8099.
With windy, cold temps this past weekend, few reports coming in. The ones we got reported quality fish. A warm up coming in the next few days should get some more anglers out. Yellow Perch: Good-Very Good – Lack of deep Perch being reported but fish being found in 8-12’ near weed edges. Medium fatheads and rosies best bet. Don’t be afraid to try wigglers as well. Bluegill: Good-Very Good – Weeds seeming to be key to finding Gills. Waxies, spikes best on jigs (Swedish, Pimples or Halis). Reports of shallow (4-8’) big Gills starting to come in. Crappie: Good – With fish hanging around shallow spots with weeds Crappies found in 6-10’ are being caught mixed in with Gills. Basin fishing still producing as well. A couple reports of 14+ fish. Shallow using jig tipped with waxie, spikes or plastics working best while action on rosies doing the trick for deep fish. Plenty of ice yet as much as 30. With cold nights and few warm up windows expect ice to stick around for a while longer With our fearless leader’s vacation coming to a quick end, the Boss is gone sale will be too. Only a couple days left for some great deals. Kurt Justice Kurt’s Island Sport Shop - Like us on Facebook
NORTHWEST INDIANA
Lake Michigan fisheries biologist Ben Dickinson posted on Facebook Friday:
BIG numbers of steelhead moving into Indiana waters of the St Joe. 3000 last week alone, and 6000 in March so far. At this pace, might set the all time March record of 8,367 set in 2000!
Capt. Rich Sleziak at Slez’s Bait in Lake Station texted:
Perch action still pretty good most days fishing the slips and parts of the river. Boat action for coho when weather allows up and down the wall in east Chicago and around Gary light. Must put the time in and cover some water. Crappie on lake George and hidden lake in Hobart. Crappie minnows and Rufus jr jigs tipped with beemoth best.
Hi, Dale! The fluctuating weather has proved challenging for anglers, but the warm-up seems steady & is happily anticipated. Here’s what’s been happening in the fishing world: Trolling on Lake Michigan for Coho has been very good, when anglers can get out. Coho shore line fishing in 6-20 FOW is the best bet. Nice catches have been had. Anglers are using ThinFish & jointed Rapalas. The Steelhead river fishing has slowed down & is about done. East to the St. Joseph River, anglers are having the best success by the Berrien Springs Dam. Some inland lakes are producing nice catches of Crappie on minnows & red worms. Catfish are starting up again. Dowling Park & Hammond Marina have been producing good catches as of late. Stinkbait & nightcrawlers are working well after the long winter.
ROOT RIVER, WISCONSIN
Click here for the Wisconsin DNR’s report, usually on Tuesday or Wednesday; it should start soon.
SHABBONA LAKE
In March, site hours are 8 a.m.-8 p.m. On Friday, April 1, summer hours return: 6 a.m.-10 p.m.
Concessions reopen Friday, April 1.
SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN LAKEFRONT
Click here for the southern Lake Michigan reports from the Wisconsin DNR; they should start soon.
SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN
Staff at Tackle Haven in Benton Harbor said said boaters are doing best south of St. Joe for coho; pier is hit ad miss.
Art Costas and some good redfish in Venice, Louisiana.
Provided
VENICE, LOUISIANA
Art Costas sent the photo above and this:
Catching some big Red Fish in Venice, Louisiana
I enjoy a report like that every now and then; and that happens to be a trip I want to take one of these years.
Plus Art Costas is a faithful reader.
WOLF RIVER, WISCONSIN
Guide Bill Stoeger in Fremont texted:
The walleye bite is getting better day to day. Water temp is still in the low 30’s with nighttime lows in the teens and low twenty’s. Next week should really get the fish going, with a promise of warm weather.
Later in the morning, he texted the photo below and this:
This morning 9 to 11
Guide Bill Stoeger (right) shows what he means about the walleye on the Wolf River.
Provided
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