Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a five-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
— Matt Moore (@MattKenMoore)
This afternoon will be mostly sunny with a high near 37 degrees. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with a low near 32. Expect heavy rain tomorrow and possibly some sleet with a high near 37.
Top story
Chicago wants to make left turns safer using ‘traffic calming’ speed bumps, bollards
Between 2017 and 2021, 40% of Chicago traffic accidents in which pedestrians were seriously injured or killed involved motorists making a left turn.
That’s why the city says it has been taking steps to make those turns safer.
It’s called “traffic calming,” and it involves adding larger speed bumps and bollards (plastic posts on a flexible base) along the center line near a crosswalk. The idea is to force slower, 90-degree-angle turns and prevent drivers from faster turns at a smaller angle that cut across oncoming traffic lanes. The ultimate goal is to better protect pedestrians in the crosswalk, who often end up in drivers’ blind spots on those left turns.
In Belmont Cragin, Englewood, Humboldt Park, Ravenswood and other neighborhoods, drivers are greeted by rubber speed bumps with the bright yellow bollards on top, like those used to separate bike lanes.
Those are among 13 intersections the city modified last year. A total of 18 intersections now have been altered, including five during a pilot program begun in 2019.
Plans call for changing even more intersections this year, focusing on sites with high rates of accidents involving drivers turning left. Crashes at those five pilot sites in River North, along State Street between Hubbard and Ontario streets, have dropped 24% since 2019.
The traffic calming is just another component in the city’s Vision Zero safety campaign, begun in 2017 with the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities in the city by 2026.
Ilana Arougheti has more on the city’s recent traffic safety initiative here.
More news you need
- Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza is accusing Mayor Lori Lightfoot of failing Mendoza’s brother and other Chicago cops by instructing her appointees to a police pension board to vote against approving a “duty disability” that would provide pay and health insurance to officers facing career-ending COVID-19 complications. Our Frank Main has more on Mendoza’s comments here.
- Mayor Lightfoot is also being accused of damaging the democratic process and encouraging voter suppression after suggesting that South Side voters who don’t vote for her reelection shouldn’t vote in the race at all. On the campaign stop in Grand Crossing over the weekend, Lightfoot said any South Side vote for “somebody not named Lightfoot is a vote for Chuy Garcia or Paul Vallas.”
- Loved ones and colleagues are mourning the loss of Chicago interior designer Nick Luzietti, who transformed corporate offices across the city and nation. The 76-year-old is said to have inspired a generation of young designers to think differently.
- A state grant will help create a facility to house and support veterans in the Austin neighborhood, but organizers for the project say they need more funds to complete it. The Arthur Lockhart Resource Institute and Healing Temple Church announced Friday the creation of the Veteran Wellness Center, which will have six apartments for veterans and their families. The facility will also provide physical therapy and mental health services — all free for veterans in need.
- Ahead of Paczki Day today, WBEZ’s Courtney Kueppers stopped by Bridgeport Bakery on South Archer Avenue to catch up with owner Can Lao. Including ownership changes, the pandemic and financial struggles, the beloved neighborhood bakery has been through a lot in the last three years. Kueppers has more on Bridgeport Bakery — and their paczki — here.
A bright one
Longtime activist Mary L. Johnson celebrates 90th birthday
Mary L. Johnson walked into her 90th birthday party Saturday with family and friends greeting and hugging her as Stevie Wonder’s rendition of the Happy Birthday song provided a soundtrack for the magical moment.
They came to celebrate the woman who spent much of her life trying to free people falsely accused of crimes they did not commit brought about by false confessions through torture by the Chicago Police Department. Johnson was one of the first people to file a complaint against the disgraced and convicted former Cmdr. Jon Burge, who led a torture ring for more than 20 years.
Her organizing has led to men being released from prison — and two of them showed up over the weekend for the party on the West Side.
Mark Clements and Gregory Banks said they owed their freedom to Johnson.
“It took the efforts of Mary L. Johnson and other mothers likewise who would come together. First of all, we were not believed as being tortured by Burge and his underlings. It took their voices. Without their voices, we would all still be incarcerated,” said Clements, who served 28 years in prison after being convicted of arson and murder when he was 16 in 1981.
Banks served seven years in prison after being falsely accused of armed robbery and murder when he was 20 in 1983.
“Mary is a pioneer. She’s given a lot to this movement. We give her all the respect that she’s supposed to get,” Banks said. “We love her, and we appreciate all that she has done.”
WBEZ’s Michael Puente has more on Mary Johnson and Saturday’s celebration here.
From the press box
- The Bulls today made official that Lonzo Ball will not play this season as he struggles with knee problems.
- Pete Crow-Armstrong, Brennen Davis and Kevin Alcántara — the Cubs’ top three prospects — enter spring training with different goals. Our Maddie Lee looks at how the team’s potential future stars are setting expectations for themselves in 2023.
- Former Nazareth Academy football player Ryan Keeler, a defensive lineman who recently transferred to UNLV, died yesterday, the school announced. He was 20.
Your daily question☕
What Midwest city — hands down — has the best paczki? Tell us why.
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Yesterday we asked you: What’s your favorite way to take advantage of unseasonably warm weather in the city?
Here’s what some of you said...
“Go on extra long walks with my puppy.” — Nicole Johnson
“A stroll on the much larger beach off Rogers Park, strewn with mussel shells.” — Thom Clark
“We grill dinner on these nice days.” — Donna Nye
“Airing out the house a bit. Airing out blankets. Enjoying the sun.” — Jackie Waldhier
“Taking an extra long walk.” — Claudia Moon Zikuda
“Stroll along the scenic lakefront and feel gratitude that Chicago keeps it viable for people to enjoy.” — Amy Jackson
“A walk around Uptown and a nice lunch on Argyle.” — John Green
“Go for a drive with the music blaring.” — Frank Mandros
“A walk on the Lakefront.” — Bernard Maddox
“Play hooky from work!” — Louis Taglia
“Personally, I like to read the Sun-Times.” — Paul L. Bucklaw
Thanks for reading the Chicago Sun-Times Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
