Spectators watch as a car drifts in circles during a takeover at a South Side intersection, Friday night, Aug. 12.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
In a Sun-Times story last week, a spectator at a car drifting event was quoted as saying those who participate in these illegal activities are not “bad people.” If that’s true, why did one driver choose not to show his face in a photo and use the alias “Draco”? Draco says drifting gives him an adrenaline rush.
Well, his selfish adrenaline rush is harmful. It causes air and noise pollution and adversely affects residents of neighborhoods where street takeovers are taking place. I can’t sleep with my windows open because of the noise of revving engines as the cars fly down streets. So I keep my air conditioning on, burning more fossil fuels and hurting the environment.
Being reckless behind the wheel is never a good idea. In September, a driver lost control and hit a 24-hour diner at Chicago and Orleans streets, severely damaging the building and injuring four people inside. Thankfully, no one was killed, but it took months to get the building repaired.
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Then, last weekend, a Florida woman was killed by, apparently by a drag racer. It is only a matter of time before one of these drifters loses control and kills another person. And the drifters and spectators have no respect for police, throwing objects at officers and damaging patrol vehicles. The cost of these car repairs will ultimately come out of taxpayers’ pockets.
The drifters and their fans are bad people, as far as I’m concerned.
I know I am not alone when I say arrest these people and impound their vehicles. We’re tired of their “we just wanna have a fun adrenaline rush” attitude that infringes on the rest of us.
Lynn Nealis, River North
Republicans have drunk the Kool-Aid
You don’t have to be a Democrat to rail against those who call themselves Republicans in Congress — as President Joe Biden did on Tuesday — for refusing to condemn the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, then vilifying the FBI for raiding Donald Trump’s Florida residence to recover sensitive documents he never should have taken when he left the White House.
Those of us who used to respect what being a Republican traditionally stood for have wondered how so many could have drunk the Trumpist Kool-Aid to turn so completely against the acceptance of honest elections, keeping the government out of the most personal decisions and supporting institutions that safeguard our democracy, all in order to promote the agenda of a huckster who cares for nothing beyond trying to stay in power.
J.L. Stern, Highland Park
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An aerial view of flowers and other mementos that have been left by mourners in honor of Princess Diana at Kensington Palace in London, Friday, Sept. 5, 1997. Wednesday marks the 25th anniversary of her tragic death.
AP
All stories are unique.
And I’ve covered quite a few in the past 53 years.
Only this coverage required a special calculus; grief so palpable it made you choke.
Wednesday marks the 25th anniversary of the cruel death of England’s Princess Diana; the iconic 36-year old “Lady Di” — ex-wife of the future King of England, PrinceCharles — who was killed in a late-night car crash with her lover, Dodi al Fayed.
Who knew this car speeding 85 mph through a tunnel in Paris would careen into history; the fodder of headlines and hoopla; the stuff of dreams and dross?
A year earlier, I had taken a coterie of Brit’s top royal journalists (James Whitaker, Richard Kay and photographer Edward Edwards) to dinner in Chicago during Diana’s much ballyhooed visit here in 1996 to raise money for Northwestern University Hospital’s cancer center.
Dispatched immediately to London hours after the car crash by the Sun-Times editor, Brit Nigel Wade, I phoned up a little payback from those premier royal watchers to check out the lay of the land.
Princess Diana smiles as she arrives at the Tate Gallery London in 1997, for the Centenary Gala honoring the world famous museum.
AP
I didn’t have to go far.
The following edited excerpts are from numerous Sneed columns written from my unbelievably lucky hotel window perch overlooking Kensington Palace, where Diana lived before her death on Aug. 31, 1997. A world of sorrow had engulfed the area as countless mourners camped out there; and where her funeral cortege began its trip to Westminster Abbey on Sept. 6, 1997.
Postcards from London: Mourners flock to the palace
• It was extraordinary. The Brits’ stiff upper lips were actually moving, men were uncontrollably weeping, and traffic was a mess.
• It was hard not to get caught up in this floodgate of sorrow. It was everywhere. I had never before cried so much in my life before. And I didn’t even know her.
In this file photo taken on Sept. 6, 1997, the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales, is carried inside Westminster Abbey for her funeral service following her tragic death in a Paris car crash.
Getty
• The paparazzi are being pilloried for ironically killing their “golden goose.” It’s ironic that the elegant princess, who loved high fashion, was wearing a black jacket and white pants when she died.
• Hundreds of thousands of mourners trekking, marching, kneeling and sobbing bearing wreaths of cellophane-wrapped flowers; clothes-pinning poems to the Hickory and Hawthorne trees: and night lighting a sea of twinkling candles in Kensington Gardens, amid silence, the smell of candle wax, the scent of fragrant tuberoses, and the eerie “click click click” of baby carriages.
Postcards from London: Plans for the funeral unfold
Dear Chicago,
• The “Cad” appeared. Major James Hewitt, who kissed and told and broke Di’s heart, issued a statement as he choked back tears: “I loved her and miss her terribly.” Gag.
Tenor Luciano Pavarotti, invited to the funeral, nixed an invitation to sing for fear of crying. “I cry every day since her death,” he said.
• During Di’s funeral, the national lottery will not be drawn, shops will close and the Orient Express will not head to Venice.
In this file photo taken on Sept. 6, 1997. Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Earl Spencer, brother of the Princess of Wales the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince William, watch as the coffin of the Princess of Wales is carried into Westminster Abbey.
Getty
• The public is straining for Di minutiae: The press noted Di’s car hit the tunnel’s 13th pillar; that 117 steps were taken by pallbearers carrying her coffin from the airplane, and that 11,000 lightbulbs that lit Harrods’ exterior were switched off the night Di and Fayed, whose father owns the iconic London store, were killed.
• Royal watcher Richard Kay, who had a close relationship with the Princess, said she called him six hours before her death.
• “She was as happy as I have ever heard her . . . had decided to radically change her life…going to complete her charities obligations . . . then, around November, completely withdraw from her formal life … to live as she always wanted to live. Not as an icon . . . but a private person.”
• Charles, distraught, drinking gin martinis and calling friends into the wee hours of the morning while his inamorata, Camilla Parker Bowles, has been out of sight.
• Prisoners across Britain wearing black ribbons and signing books of condolences.
• Questions. Questions: Did Dodi buy Di a $1.6 million ring? Did he purchase it next door to the Ritz Hotel in Paris? Were bits and pieces of it found in the car?
Postcards from London: The Royals emerge
Monarchy mutiny?
• Where was the queen? Why wasn’t she in London with her grieving people? Why no public pronouncement about Diana’s death from the royal family? Why no word from Prince Charles? Why was the flag over Buckingham Palace not at half-staff?
• And then came a peep of royal response: Charles had dispatched flowers to Diana’s charities.
• “It wasn’t enough,” said a woman outside Kensington Palace. “I’m fed up with the royal family. They are out of touch. It was Diana who took the boys for a Big Mac.”
• Finally: The royal family emerges: PrincesWilliam and Harry, Diana’s beloved “boys,” exit Balmoral castle, where they have been living since their mother’s death. … Charles looked haggard; William had his hands in his pockets. Queen Elizabeth looked tired (but had finally agreed to address the nation via live TV in Diana’s honor).
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, view some of the numerous tributes to Diana, Princess of Wales, at London’s Buckingham Palace, Friday, Sept. 5, 1997.
AP
But Prince Philip kept pointing at all the condolence notes. Alas, nothing equaled the size of the public’s finger pointing back at them!
Postcards from London: The funeral, Sept. 6, 1997
• Finally! The funeral cortege began directly under my hotel room window at 9:08 Saturday morning. It should come as no surprise that not one member of the royal family will speak at the funeral. No one asked. No one volunteered.
• Criki! The “Cad,” uninvited and not at the funeral, still has the 50 love letters Diana wrote to him lodged in a bank vault because he fears theft … in advance, one presumes, of selling the letters himself.
• The king’s way: Spain’s King Juan Carlos missed the funeral to attend a bullfight.
More Sneedservations from the funeral:
Elton John plays a specially re-written version of his song “Candle in the Wind” during the funeral service for Diana, Princess of Wales, at London’s Westminster Abbey in this Saturday, Sept. 6, 1997 file photo.
AP
• Queen Elizabeth brushing a tear when Elton John sang “Candle in the Wind.” … Nicole Kidman’s funky hat; hubby Tom Cruise’s new haircut ... Steven Spielberg’s Hollywood sunglasses … Prime Minister’s Tony Blair’s wife, Cherie, hatless in a sea of chapeaus. ... Diana’s mother, Catholic convert Frances Shand Kydd, attending an earlier Catholic service for her daughter conducted by Basil Cardinal Hume. … Elton John, singing a new version of his classic “Candle in the Wind,” confessed later he and Di weren’t talking until recently, but settled their differences two months before her death.
Although I have covered the weddings of Prince Andrew to Fergie, the Duchess of York; been invited to the queen’s garden party; awaited the birth of the first child of William and his wife, Kate, outside the hospital; as well as hauling my pen several weeks to London each year covering the royal family at play for decades; it wasn’t until covering the wedding of Charles to the third person in Diana’s marriage, Parker-Bowles, that everything came full circle for me.
Now that Harry has fled the royal coop with his gorgeous, brainy, Brit tabloid vilified African American wife, Meghan Markle — and choosing to raise their children on the non-royal compound of Montecito, Calif., new post “DI” press fodder is now mega press tinder.
Princess Diana laughs while talking with Northwestern University President Henry Bienen at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago on Wednesday night, June 5, 1996.
AP
But at the time, Diana’s cruel death made us feel what we suspected all the time: that this shy, but sly, and troubled English girl with the backward glance, had somehow managed to calm the world in the midst of all the turmoil.
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The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized new COVID booster shots designed to target the omicron variant and its dominant BA.5 subvariant, but before shots can begin, there’s still another step to complete.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must recommend who should get the additional shot.
An influential CDC advisory panel will debate the evidence Thursday — including whether people at high risk from COVID-19 should go first. The CDC is expected to make its recommendation after the panel gives its thoughts.
The U.S. has already purchased more than 170 million doses from the two companies – Pfizer and Moderna. Pfizer said it could ship up to 15 million of those doses by the end of next week.
Until now, COVID-19 vaccines have targeted the original coronavirus strain, even as wildly different mutants emerged. The new U.S. boosters are combination, or “bivalent,” shots. They contain half that original vaccine recipe and half protection against the newest omicron versions, called BA.4 and BA.5, that are considered the most contagious yet.
The combination aims to increase cross-protection against multiple variants.
“It’s a mix of two versions of the vaccine,” Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said. “It’s both a booster protection against the original coronavirus strain – so it’s like getting the kind of booster that you’ve had all along – but new and for the first time, there also will be protection against the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants.”
The move by the FDA tweaks the recipe of shots made by Pfizer and rival Moderna that already have saved millions of lives just ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend. The hope is that the modified boosters will blunt yet another winter surge.
“It really provides the broadest opportunity for protection,” Pfizer vaccine chief Annaliesa Anderson told the AP.
The updated boosters are only for people who have already had their primary vaccinations, using the original vaccines. Doses made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech are for anyone 12 and older while Moderna’s updated shots are for adults — if it has been at least two months since their last primary vaccination or their latest booster. They’re not to be used for initial vaccinations.
So how effective are they?
Since July 2, the BA.5 omicron subvariant has been the dominant strain of COVID in the United States, and according to Chicago’s top doctor, that is a good thing for the updated vaccines.
Arwady said that the continued dominance of BA.5 has prevented another COVID variant from taking a foothold, and could mean that boosters will be even more effective in preventing breakthrough infections and serious illness.
“My concern was that we may see a new variant emerge before we got the new vaccine, and you’d be right back where you started,” she said. “If this pattern can hold, and we can quickly roll out this updated vaccine in September, and we see a lot of good uptake, it would, I think, have the potential to really help cut the risk of breakthrough infections, and have a significant impact on transmission.”
Marks said last week that once authorized, the tweaked boosters could help right away — while BA.5 infections still are too high — as well as hopefully blunt yet another winter surge.
Marks told the Associated Press that the new boosters could rev up the immune system to prevent not just serious illness but maybe milder infections, too, like the original vaccines did earlier in the pandemic, before super-contagious mutants emerged.
“The hope here is that by better matching things, not only will we get that benefit or even more, but we’ll also have that last for a longer period of time,” he said.
But Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an FDA vaccine adviser, said the antibody jump from that earlier BA.1-tweaked candidate was “underwhelming.”
“What the administration is asking us to do is to accept this bivalent vaccine as significantly better” than another dose of today’s vaccine, he said. “It would be nice if there were data to support that.”
The original vaccines still offer strong protection against severe disease and death from COVID-19 for most generally healthy people, especially if they got that important first booster dose. It’s not clear just how much more benefit an updated booster will bring — beyond a temporary jump in antibodies capable of fending off an omicron infection.
One reason: The FDA cleared the modifications ahead of studies in people, a step toward eventually handling COVID-19 vaccine updates more like yearly flu shots.
First, FDA checked human studies of earlier Pfizer and Moderna attempts to update their vaccines — shots matching the omicron strain that struck last winter. That recipe change was safe, and substantially boosted antibodies targeting the earlier variant — better than another dose of the original vaccine — while adding a little protection against today’s genetically distinct BA.4 and BA.5 omicron versions.
But FDA ordered the companies to brew even more up-to-date doses that target those newest omicron mutants instead, sparking a race to roll out shots in less than three months. Rather than waiting a few more months for additional human studies of that recipe tweak, Marks said animal tests showed the latest update spurs “a very good immune response.”
The hope, he said, is that a vaccine matched to currently spreading variants might do a better job fighting infection, not just serious illness, at least for a while.
“This is actually how we do updated flu vaccines every year,” Arwady said. “So it’s nothing different from that. So, what I would say is that this exact updated vaccine did not have the full scope of, like, the extended human trial, like an earlier one would have, but that’s not a concern from a safety or efficacy standpoint because it was done with the earlier versions and using the same technology.”
Workers hired by residents have been removing sargassum seaweed from the Bay of Soliman, north of Tulum in Mexico’s Quintana Roo state.
Eduardo Verdugo / AP
TULUM, Mexico — Scraping the smelly sargassum seaweed off some beaches on Mexico’s resort-studded Caribbean coast has become not only a nightmare but also possibly a health threat for the workers doing it — with mountains of the stuff washing ashore this year.
Sargassum is a kind of algae. When it decomposes, it generates hydrogen sulfide gas. In small amounts in open areas, it’s not much more than an annoying odor: sulfurous, like rotting eggs.
But in the quantities seen in once-paradisical beach towns like Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Xcalak, scientists say it can be dangerous to workers with respiratory problems as, maskless, they rake up the seaweed in the scorching heat.
This year appears on track to be worse than even the peak sargassum year of 2018.
Ezequiel Martínez Lara is one of thousands of laborers who work six to eight hours a day using pitchforks to heave mounds of sargassum into wheelbarrows, then wheeling them off the beach to a nearby street.
Martínez Lara used to make as much as $50 a day guiding sports fishermen. Now, he makes less than half that for collecting about 40 wheelbarrows of sargassum every day.
“If we clean it all off today, tomorrow more will have washed in,” said another worker, Austin Valle.
Workers like Martínez and Valle are exposing themselves to more than just the burning sun, according to Rosa Rodríguez Martínez, a biologist in the beachside town of Puerto Morelos who studies reefs and coastal ecosystems for Mexico’s National Autonomous University.
“At the university, we have started to measure the quantity of gases that sargassum produces when it is scraped up,” Rodríguez Martínez said. “At one spot, it reached 56 parts per million. That’s very high. Above two, that can be dangerous for people with respiratory problems.”
Saying she felt at risk just being there, “I took off running,” she said.
But Martínez Lara doesn’t have the luxury of avoiding the hydrogen sulfide gas. Like almost every other sargassum worker on the coast, he has no mask, gas sensor or medical care. He works at a day rate for the person who owns the house in front of the beach.
“When sargassum rots, it gives off a very strong odor, like acid, and it is very bothersome when you breath it; it hurts a lot,” Martínez Lara said.
A 2019 article in the Journal of Travel Medicine warned: “More chronic exposure to these gasses can lead to conjunctival and neurocognitive symptoms such as memory loss and impaired balance, as well as non-specific symptoms such as headache, nausea and fatigue.”
Contrary to that view, the Florida Health Department says, “Hydrogen sulfide levels in an area like the beach, where large amounts of air flow can dilute levels, is not expected to harm health.”
The sargassum problem isn’t as bad for tourists as it is for workers. Ligia Collado-Vides, a marine botanist at Florida International University who specializes in studying macroalgae like sargassum, said, “If you’re swimming for a little bit, it shouldn’t be a danger at all,” but added that tiny jellyfish cousins known as hydrozoa often inhabit sargassum mats.
“If you’re going to be there for a long time playing in the sargassum, you can get like many, many, many stings from hydrozoans, and those are toxic,” she said.
On a recent day, Sarah Callaway, a tourist from Denver, was pretty much confined to playing with her kids in the pool in front of their rented beach house.
“The property is beautiful, but we were automatically struck ... by the smell,” Callaway said.
Hundreds of thousands of people migrated to the coast in recent years for jobs catering to tourists like Callaway, but some are considering leaving.
The Caribbean coast suffered a drop in visits during the coronavirus pandemic, but, because Mexico never declared travel restrictions, testing requirements or mandatory mask rules, Americans have continued to come.
International tourism to the country surpassed pre-pandemic levels in the first half of 2022, with 10.26 million visitors from January to June — up 1.5% over the first half of 2019.
Mexico’s strongest showing was with U.S. tourists, with the number arriving by air in the first six months of 2022 at 6.66 million — up 19.1% over 2019.
Some of the most-developed resort areas, like Cancun, haven’t suffered as much from sargassum as lower-key resorts farther south, like Playa del Carmen and Tulum.
Sargassum is a threat to seagrass, fish and other marine life suffocated by the seaweed that drops to the bottom, decomposes and creates oxygen-depleted dead zones.
Recounting a recent monitoring expedition, Collado-Vides said: “It’s really terrible ... the amount of vertebrates, the amount of crabs, the amount of fish dead in just a one-square-meter quadrant.”
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The Bears might be packing their bags quicker than fans imagined.
Chicago Tribune reporter Brad Biggs said the Bears could announce the new stadium plans “before the end of the calendar year.”
The Bears made their plans for building a new stadium very clear last September when the organization purchased the rights to Arlington Park for just south of $200 million.
“There’s nothing else like it in Chicagoland,” President Ted Phillips said back in January. “So the opportunities — you know, we haven’t even begun to envision what it could be. But we’re hopeful, if we close, that we’ll be moving forward with turning it into a wonderful destination site.
“Again, the timing of it we don’t know because we haven’t even closed on the land. [If] we don’t close on the land, then all that vision won’t come to fruition. But we’re excited it could be an entertainment destination with multiple facets to it that I think could really help put Arlington Heights on the map as a destination spot.”
The organization intends to close on the land near the start of 2023, which is likely part of what Biggs referred to as the announcement to come before the end of the calendar year.
Since the Bears’ move on building a new stadium, the city of Chicago has been keen on keeping the team in Chicago. Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced three plans back in July to renovate the stadium. The biggest part of the plan is building a dome for the stadium to rebel against the cold weather during football season and make the venue a year-round experience for concerts, events, etc.
Despite the city’s efforts, the Bears have consistently denied their intentions to remain at Soldier Field. The likelihood is the Bears will break their lease with the city and Soldier Field and move out to Arlington Heights once the stadium is finished.
“It’s a matter of when and not if,” Biggs said. “They want to get out of Soldier Field, which wasn’t a great stadium when they opened it in 2003. They’d like to confer their own situation. That’s not going to happen overnight.”
A cup of black tea with a spoon and tea leaves. A large study of tea drinkers in Britain, where black tea is popular, has found that people who reported drinking two or more cups a day appeared to gain a modest benefit: a 9% to 13% lower risk of death from any cause.
Alastair Grant / AP
People who drink black tea might be a little more likely to live longer than those who don’t, according to a large, new study.
Tea contains substances known to reduce inflammation. Past studies in China and Japan, where green tea is popular, suggested health benefits. The new study, though not definitive, suggests the same for black tea — the United Kingdom’s favorite drink.
Scientists from the National Cancer Institute used a large database project that asked about the tea habits of nearly a half million adults in the U.K., then followed them for up to 14 years, adjusting for risk factors such as health, socioeconomics, smoking, alcohol intake, diet, age, race and gender.
Having a higher tea intake — two or more cups a day — was linked to a modest benefit: a 9% to 13% lower risk of death from any cause vs. non-tea drinkers.
The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found the association held up for heart disease deaths, but there was no clear trend for cancer deaths. The researchers weren’t sure why, but it’s possible there weren’t enough cancer deaths for any effect to show up, said Maki Inoue-Choi, who led the study.
A study like this, based on observing people’s habits and health, can’t prove cause and effect.
“Observational studies like this always raise the question: Is there something else about tea drinkers that makes them healthier?” said Marion Nestle, a professor of food studies at New York University. “I like tea. It’s great to drink. But a cautious interpretation seems like a good idea.”
There’s not enough evidence to advise changing tea habits, according to Inoue-Choi.
“If you drink one cup a day already, I think that is good,” she said. “And please enjoy your cup of tea.”
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Chicago police have released photos of a red Jeep that struck a 5-year-old boy in a fatal hit-and-run accident in Edgebrook on the Northwest Side earlier this month.
Taha Khan had walked out the front door of his home in the 6300 block of North Cicero Avenue around 9 p.m. on Aug. 10 as his father was talking to a neighbor in the backyard, according to police.
The boy went into the street and was hit by the Jeep that then fled the scene, police said. Taha was knocked into traffic and was hit by a Volvo.
The driver of the Volvo stopped and performed CPR until an ambulance arrived and took him to St. Francis Health Center, where he died six and a half hours later, according to the Cook County medical examiner.
Khan’s parents had pleaded for help from anyone with information or video of the accident. Taha was weeks from turning 6 and was looking forward to a party with a Pokémon theme, they said.
Anyone with information was asked to call the police department’s Major Accidents Unit at (312) 745-4521.
Shawman Meireis was visiting Chicago with her boyfriend, on her way to a late dinner, when two Corvettes came racing toward her on Cicero Avenue near Midway Airport.
They were cutting off each other and weaving through traffic until one of them hit a car and careened into Meireis as she crossed the street early Sunday, according to police and witnesses.
Meireis was thrown to the pavement as the crumpled Corvette came to rest near the corner of 65th Street. Witnesses said Meieis went in and out of consciousness until paramedics took her to Christ Medical Center, where she died.
The boyfriend was seen grabbing the driver of the Corvette and throwing him against a street light. “You killed my girlfriend,” he said. “You killed my girlfriend.”
Meireis’ family said she and her boyfriend were visiting from Naples, Fla. She was killed a day before her 41st birthday.
She “was a much-loved daughter, sister, aunt, and partner,” her family said in a statement. “Shawman loved music, the outdoors and her many nieces and nephews. She was the ultimate aunt, and will be deeply missed by all who knew her.”
The driver who hit Shawman told officers at the scene that he had been fleeing a carjacking. But the police report cites witnesses who said the drivers of both Corvettes were racing each other just before the accident at 1:40 a.m.
Two witnesses told the Sun-Times the driver who hit Meireis appeared to be “showing off” to the other Corvette driver. One witness said the two Corvettes, one red and the other blue, were both stopped at 63rd Street and sped off when the light turned green, cutting off drivers as they kept up with each other.
The driver of the red Corvette changed lanes to overtake the blue Corvette and struck a Hyundai headed in the other direction and turning left at 65th Street, according to one witness. The red Corvette continued into a crosswalk and hit Meireis, police said. A paramedic told people at the scene that her pulse was faint as they placed her into an ambulance.
One witness said he overheard that the woman and her boyfriend were headed to dinner after attending a music festival in Bridgeview.
Another witness said the blue Corvette continued without stopping. “Coward didn’t stay a second to make sure the other driver … was OK. Drove off instantly,” said the witness, who asked not to be named.
He scoffed at the driver’s story about a carjacking. “If I personally was running from a carjacking, I wouldn’t wait at a light revving my engine. I’d run to hide from whatever is chasing me.
“Very tragic,” the witness added. “Very irresponsible of the racers taking an innocent person’s life.”
The driver of the red Corvette, a 27-year-old man, was cited for obstructed front windshield and failure to exercise due care with a pedestrian in the roadway. No other charges have been announced.
Meireis grew up in Maine, then attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Boston University before receiving her MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, family spokeswoman Lauren McCauley said.
She worked as an independent consultant, most recently focused on pharmaceutical safety, research and management.
Police Supt. David Brown said Monday morning there was no evidence yet that the accident on Cicero Avenue was related to drag-racing, despite witness statements. “That would be pure speculation at this point, Brown said, saying the investigation was still ongoing.”
Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said the Major Accident Investigation Unit was handling the case and will “use technology” to track the car “that ultimately caused the crash.”
“If there’s any connection, we’ll be able to figure out,” he told reporters. “But we don’t have that connection at this time right now. The investigation is pretty new and ongoing.”
Asked about a traffic crash report that indicates cars were speeding down Cicero ahead of the crash, Brown acknowledged the department has “statements alluding to the speculation that it might have been drag racing.”
Rooftop bars offering spectacular views aren’t hard to come by in Chicago. But according to new rankings released by a travel website, one specific bar tops them all.
In fact, the iconic establishment has been deemed the nation’s top rooftop bar.
The website Big 7 Travel released its official list of the Top 50 Best Rooftop Bars in the USA on Monday, ranking Cindy’s Rooftop as number one. Situated on top of the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel in the Loop, Cindy’s features a picturesque terrace that offers panoramic views of Millennium Park, Lake Michigan and much more, according to its website.
Big 7 Travel describes Cindy’s as a sky-high bar “you’ll keep coming back to,” and an establishment “perennially packed with both locals and out-of-towners thanks to its sweeping views…”
The stunning views, however, aren’t the only reason it stands out.
The cocktails are “some of the most creative in the city,” made with ingredients such as kombucha, according to the website, which said the food is locally-sourced, organic and delicious. Due to its popularity, the window to book a reservation is one month.
While Cindy’s took the crown, another Chicago bar also made the top 50 list.
Located on the seventh floor of the Emily Hotel in Fulton Market, Selva was ranked at 34. According to the review website, Selva is inspired by the energy of Mexico by night, “which means you can guarantee a good time.”
The drinks “pack a punch too,” and there are many options to choose from.
Along with tequilas and mezcal, artisanal Mexican spirits like charanga are available.
Here’s the list of the top 10 establishments:
Cindy’s Rooftop – Chicago
Red Barber – Denver
The Cloudveil – Jackson Hole, Wyoming
White Limozeen – Nashville
Westlight – New York City
POV Rooftop Bar & Restaurant – Washington D.C.
9 Mile Station – Atlanta
Z on 23 Rooftop – Houston
From the Rooftop – Phoenix
El Techo – San Francisco
The complete list of all 50 bars can be found here.
The University of Illinois is “strongly recommending” masks in classrooms beginning Monday after the university saw a rise in COVID cases as students returned to campus for the start of the new school year.
Chancellor Robert Jones said “high-quality” face coverings will be strongly urged during in-person classes for “the next several weeks” amid the recent case spike.
“While repopulating campus for the Fall 2022 semester, we have seen an increase in COVID-19 cases and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has given Champaign County a COVID-19 Community Level of “High,” indicating increased COVID-19 spread in our area,” Jones wrote in a letter to both students and staff Sunday, adding that “this time period is critical as we expect our on-campus cases to peak.”
While noting that face coverings aren’t required, they are “strongly recommended based on increased cases and CDC guidance.”
“We are asking supervisors and instructors to show compassion to students and employees who are not feeling well,” Jones wrote in his letter. “Some individuals are not medically able to wear a face covering. Please be understanding and empathetic.”
The university reported 9% of its “community” has been full vaccinated and the majority of cases seen so far this semester have been “very mild or asymptomatic.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Champaign County remains under a “high community level” for COVID, meaning indoor masking in public spaces is recommended.
Potentially severe storms with intense winds and heavy rain downed trees and powerlines across the Chicago area Monday, impacting travel for many ahead of the afternoon rush hour.
Severe thunderstorm warnings were issued across the area as the storms traveled across the metro area and into northwest Indiana.
By 2 p.m., reports of downed trees and wind damage could be seen from far northwest suburbs to southern suburbs. In South Elgin, fire officials urged caution as crews responded to “numerous wires down” near South Elgin Boulevard and Walnut Street. Damage stretched down to Kankakee where officials also reported downed power lines and poles.
Metra reported delays for some trains on the Milwaukee District North line “due to a tree on the tracks.”
Evanston police said the storms sparked power outages and downed trees that could cause traffic disruptions, particularly near Central Street, where damage was said to be “most significant.”
As of 2:15 p.m. O’Hare International Airport was seeing inbound flights delayed an average of nearly two hours, while all inbound flights were being “held at their origin” until 3:30 p.m. CT. Flights that were already airborne when the storms hit were seeing delays averaging 40 minutes while departing flights were delayed up to two hours.
Meanwhile, Midway Airport saw all inbound flights held at their origin until 2:30 p.m. CT and department delays were averaging about an hour and climbing.
The Chicago area had been under an “enhanced” risk of severe weather, with the biggest threats being frequent lightning, damaging winds in excess of 75 miles per hour, quarter-size hail and heavy rain, which could possibly lead localized flooding.
And while the risk for a tornado remained low, it couldn’t be ruled out, NBC 5 Storm Team said.
The greatest risk for severe conditions, particularly the higher wind gusts, sat north of Interstate 80.
While Monday’s temperatures accompanying the storm will remain hot and muggy with highs in the upper-80s, a much quieter pattern of weather is expected to take hold as the week goes on.
Dry, sunny skies and highs in the upper-70s to low-80s are expected not just through the remainder of the work week, but into the Labor Day holiday weekend as well.
Residents are urged to download the NBC Chicago app to receive the latest alerts on severe weather, and for the latest live radar images from across the region.
This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.
A man allegedly shot and killed a 50-year-old man Aug. 26, 2022 on the Northwest Side.
Adobe Stock Photo
A man is accused of shooting into a West Town restaurant where his ex-girlfriend worked, fatally striking a patron sitting at the bar.
Charlie Moreno, 41, fired through the window of Curramba Colombian Restaurant Bar, 2701 W. Division St around 9:20 p.m. Friday, police said. He had once dated a woman, 27, who started working at the restaurant about a month ago.
During their eight-month relationship, Moreno was physically abusive to the woman “on a daily basis,” prosecutors said in court Monday. There were at least two police reports filed during the relationship, they said.
The relationship ended in June and Moreno began to stalk the woman at her new job at the restaurant, prosecutors said. He texted the woman that he was going to kill her and “shoot her at work,” they said.
Three days before the shooting, the woman was riding in the backseat of a car, on her way to the restaurant, when Moreno approached and fired a gun into the car, prosecutors said. No one was wounded.
The night of the fatal attack, the woman was working at the bar of the restaurant and stepped out to have a cigarette when she saw Moreno drive up and begin to fire, prosecutors said.
One of the shots entered the restaurant and struck a man, 50, who was taken to Stroger Hospital and pronounced dead, police said.
About 30 minutes later, Moreno’s car was involved in a traffic crash 12 blocks from the scene. Moreno attempted to flee but was eventually taken into custody.
Moreno was charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, police said.
Moreno has a “significant” criminal background, according to prosecutors.
At the time of the Friday shooting, he was on parole for aggravated battery with a firearm, for which he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In that case, Moreno shot a man twice in the chest and once in the face after trying to rob him, prosecutors said.
Moreno was convicted of the same charge in 2003 and sentenced to six years. In that case, he was arguing with a person using a pay phone, then shot the person in the leg and “callously walked away,” prosecutors said.
A judge Monday ordered Moreno to be held without bond.
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A photo shows the crash site where a woman was killed by a driver Aug. 28, 2022, on Cicero Avenue at 65th Street.
Provided photo
A speeding Corvette struck and killed a woman in a crosswalk on the Southwest Side over the weekend as it was “showing off” with another Corvette and cutting through traffic, according to Chicago police and a witness.
“Very tragic,” said the witness, who was driving behind the two cars early Sunday at Cicero Avenue and 65th Street. “Very irresponsible of the racers taking an innocent person’s life.”
Meireis Shawman was killed a day before her 41st birthday, according to a police report on the accident.
The driver who hit Shawman told officers he was fleeing a carjacking. But the police report cites witnesses who said the drivers of both Corvettes were racing each other before one of them struck the woman and then collided with a car on Cicero around 1:40 a.m.
One witness told the Sun-Times the driver appeared to be “showing off” to the other Corvette driver. The witness said he was stopped at 63rd Street when the light turned green and the two Corvettes, one red and the other blue, began speeding south and cutting off drivers.
The driver of the red Corvette changed lanes to overtake the blue Corvette and struck a Hyundai at 65th Street. The red Corvette continued into a crosswalk and hit the woman. The driver, a 27-year-old man, was cited for obstructed front windshield and failure to exercise due care with a pedestrian in the roadway.
After the crash, the witness saw a man grab the driver of the red Corvette. The man, who appeared to have been with the victim, “legit threw him into the street light pole,” the witness said. “And quite honestly, I don’t blame him for doing so.”
The witness said the blue Corvette continued without stopping. “Coward didn’t stay a second to make sure the other driver ... was OK. Drove off instantly,” said the witness, who asked not to be named.
Police Supt. David Brown said Monday morning there was no evidence yet that the accident on Cicero Avenue was related to drag-racing, despite witness statements. “That would be pure speculation at this point, Brown said, saying the investigation was still ongoing.
Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said the Major Accident Investigation Unit was handling the case and will “use technology” to track the car “that ultimately caused the crash.”
“If there’s any connection, we’ll be able to figure out,” he told reporters. “But we don’t have that connection at this time right now. The investigation is pretty new and ongoing.”
Asked about a traffic crash report that indicates cars were speeding down Cicero ahead of the crash, Brown acknowledged the department has “statements alluding to the speculation that it might have been drag racing.”
Contributing: Tom Schuba
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