Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
Afternoon Edition
Chicago’s most important news of the day, delivered every weekday afternoon. Plus, a bonus issue on Saturdays that dives into the city’s storied history.
This afternoon will see showers and possibly a thunderstorm with a high near 54 degrees. Similar weather will continue into tonight with temperatures rising to around 62 overnight. Tomorrow will be mostly sunny and windy with a high near 84. Sunday will be partly cloudy with a chance of rain and a high near 73.
Top story
Arrests, shootings plunged among those who took part in anti-violence program, even as crime spiked in city, new study finds
A new study of a Chicago-based anti-violence program has provided some of the best evidence to date that there are ways to tamp down violence among members of the most endangered populations in the city without arresting them or throwing them in jail.
The last two years-plus have seen unprecedented spikes in violence in Chicago and cities across the U.S. Amid that surge, protesters took to the streets to decry the kind of aggressive policing that’s long been the standard response to rising murder totals.
City leaders have poured record amounts of funding into dozens of community programs — and spent hundreds of millions on police overtime — even as shootings and killings reached near-record levels.
But the study by University of Chicago researchers found that an outreach program operating on the South and West sides is having success in reducing crime and violence among the high-risk men who participated in the program.
The recently completed trial tracked some 2,500 men in Chicago’s most violent neighborhoods and found that men who participated in an intensive, 18-month program called READI Chicago were nearly two-thirds less likely to be arrested for a violent crime and nearly 20% less likely to be shot themselves than a similar group of men that weren’t in the program. Those are all significant declines considering a third of participants had been shot at least once before enrolling, and had an average of 17 arrests on their rap sheet.
Andy Grimm has more on the study’s findings here.
More news you need
- Sema’j Crosby’s estate reached a $6.5 million settlement in a wrongful-death lawsuit targeting a contractor for the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services, it was announced yesterday. The settlement comes almost five years after 17-month-old Crosby was found dead under a couch in her family’s squalid suburban home.
- Cook County prosecutors announced today they would no longer oppose vacating dozens of remaining convictions tied to corrupt former Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts. The state’s attorney’s office did an about-face at the hearing after previously stating it was prepared to contest vacating the remaining convictions.
- Larice Nelson, now a victim advocate for Institute for Non-Violence Chicago, walked away from a violent life in Chicago and still got shot while working in the field. But he doesn’t even want to know who pulled the trigger. He just wants to help other potential victims turn their lives around.
- The chairman of the City Council’s Ethics Committee today unveiled a sweeping package of ethics reforms aimed at ending what she called the “I gotta guy at City Hall mentality.” The changes include bigger potential fines and ending the privilege that has allowed former Council members-turned-lobbyists to work the floor during City Council meetings.
- In the Mexican city of San Miguel de Allende, our Mark Brown learned of Stirling Dickinson, a larger-than-life Chicago native who left behind his social position and worked to transform the colonial-era city — for better or worse. Brown reckons with Dickinson’s legacy in his latest column.
- A federal prosecutor in a court hearing yesterday called former Ald. Danny Solis one of Chicago’s “most significant cooperators in the last several decades” — a rare speech in defense of the deal Solis cut with the feds. By the end of the hearing, U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood had agreed to delay Solis’ prosecution on a bribery charge until April 2025.
- Chicago Public Schools officials can take action against employees who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing, an appellate court ruled this week. The decision vacates a temporary restraining order that had prevented the district from enforcing its policy.
- The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is recommending halting the use of bird feeders and baths through May 31, as a precaution against the spread of avian influenza. The disease is currently impacting some wild and domestic bird species, IDNR said in a recent statement.
- A new billboard on I-294 southbound (near O’Hare International Airport) is part of a campaign launched by several organizations that have teamed up this month to raise awareness about Ramadan and fasting. “There are many misconceptions people may have about Islam, about fasting, about Ramadan, about Muslims,” said Sabeel Ahmed, executive director of GainPeace.
A bright one
CPS students’ self-portraits find impressive canvas: the Merchandise Mart
Anyone out for a stroll or drive through downtown Chicago over the next two weeks can catch a glimpse of animated projections selected from a citywide student art competition in the second year of the Chicago Public Schools’ partnership with Art on theMART.
Among the pieces on display will be a self-portrait from 17-year-old Von Steuben Metropolitan High School senior Tiffany Delgado.
Tiffany’s artwork, titled “Beaded Ears,” will be one of eight CPS seniors’ painted portraits set to be displayed starting tonight on the façade of the Merchandise Mart building.
The projections will be accompanied by an original musical score — also composed, produced, engineered and performed by a CPS student — that can be best heard on the Riverwalk between Wells and Franklin streets. The CPS projects will run twice nightly at 8:30 and 9 p.m. through May 4.
Tiffany and the other seven students submitted their pieces to the All-City High School Visual Arts Exhibition, which since last year has worked in conjunction with Art on theMART to also select top artwork for projection onto the mart.
The other pieces were painted by students at Lake View, Amundsen, Senn, Ombudsman, Lindblom, ChiARTS and Westinghouse, while the musical score was done by a Senn student
“I really never would have expected one of my art pieces to be selected and to have this much recognition,” Tiffany said. It’s just something I’m super proud of because I made my parents proud and also my teachers and friends.”
Nader Issa has more on the project here.
From the press box
- Injuries continue to loom over the Bulls-Bucks series, so here’s an update on Zach LaVine and his ailing left knee from our Joe Cowley.
- Originally scheduled for this afternoon, the Cubs will play the Pirates at 7:05 p.m. tonight in order to hopefully avoid the weather passing through.
- Wide receiver will be a key position the Bears target in the 2022 NFL Draft, but they’re not alone there, Patrick Finley reports.
Your daily question ☕
What’s the best hidden-gem brunch spot in the city?
Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday, we asked you: What’s the best way to enjoy a sunny, warm day in Chicago?
Here’s what some of you said…
“A cold beer in your hand while sitting in the left-field bleachers at Wrigley Field.” — Juan Ceballos
“Playing Spades, having a fish fry with all my friends.” — Jeffery Jones
“Take a walk in your neighborhood. Say hi to your neighbors. Notice the newly leafing-out trees, enjoy the tulips and daffodils, pick up some litter along your way and turn your head up to enjoy the sunshine.” — Kate Roche
“Stroll by Humboldt Park with the puppies!” — Karolined Romero
“Hanging out at Fullerton Beach.” — Pamela Knox
“Delightful outdoor concert and delicious picnic.” — Kathy Erlandson
“Wandering. Just allowing Chicago to take you wherever the adventure may be.” — Brooks Vanderbush
“A White Sox game with my family. A beer, some hot dogs, keeping the scorecard, maybe catch a ball. And we stay the entire game, none of this leaving early stuff. You’re not going to remember saving 20 minutes of traffic years from now, but you may remember a great game.” — Nathan Dusek
Thanks for reading the Chicago Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
Sign up here to get the Afternoon Edition in your inbox every day
