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)
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Top story
Benedictine order admits keeping cleric at Marmion Academy for years after child sex abuse accusations
The Catholic religious order that runs Marmion Academy in Aurora is acknowledging for the first time that one of its members had “established allegations” of child sex abuse in the 1970s and remained at the school for years.
During that time, Brother Jerome Skaja was accused of more sexual misconduct involving minors.
The Benedictines long hid the fact that Skaja, who died in 2016, had been accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a Marmion student in the 1980s, as the Chicago Sun-Times reported in October — and also that they reached a secret financial settlement with the accuser when he threatened to sue when he turned 18.
In December, the Rev. John Brahill, a Marmion leader, said the order planned to post its first public list of “established offenders,” as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has done and as many other Catholic religious orders have. Now, the order has done that. Its list includes two people: Skaja and the Rev. Augustine Jones, a twice-convicted sex offender who died in 2007.
Skaja — who oversaw intramurals and was involved in fundraising for the school — had “multiple” incidents in which he was accused of molesting minors in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the new list, which says the accusations have been deemed to be “true.”
“Established allegations are defined as such — based upon the facts and the circumstances, there is objective certainty that the accusation is true and that an incident of sexual abuse of a minor has occurred,” a note posted with the list says. “The names on the list . . . are based on a process of consultation with an independent review board and is not a legal judgement.”
The Benedictines’ leaders won’t say when they learned of Skaja’s sexual misconduct, what, if anything, was done about the accusations in the 1970s and why he was allowed to stay with the order until 1988.
That was the year Skaja was “dismissed,” the order’s posting says.
Brahill won’t say why Skaja was forced out at that point even though order leaders had known for years by then about the accusations from the Marmion student who got the settlement that Skaja had repeatedly sexually abused him.
That accuser, a former prosecutor now living out of state, says he was assigned to collect athletic equipment after intramural sporting events at Marmion, which at the time was a military-style Catholic boarding school, and take it to a secluded “basement area.”
That’s where he says that, during his sophomore year, Skaja would sexually assault him.
Our Robert Herguth has more in his latest Watchdogs Report here.
More news you need
- Gov. J.B. Pritzker has released a comprehensive report about improving behavioral health care for children in the state — penned largely by a Chapin Hall child welfare expert with research from multiple state agencies and more than 700 stakeholders. The report offers 12 recommendations for transforming the state’s system — including improving information sharing and coordination between child and adult care systems across agencies.
- Elections officials are making progress in providing fully accessible polling places throughout the city, but many Chicagoans with disabilities will still face barriers at their polling places when they vote Tuesday. About one-third of the city’s election day polling places are fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act standards, WBEZ’s Amy Qin reports.
- Little Village residents called on Ald. Michael Rodriguez yesterday to hold city officials accountable for the 2020 implosion debacle at the former Crawford coal power plant that left nearby homes covered in dust. The demands from members of the Fuera Hilco Coalition follow a Sun-Times report last week about city officials’ reportedly flawed oversight of the implosion of an almost 400-foot smokestack that came crashing down and created a giant dust cloud that smothered the community. Our Brett Chase has more here.
- Mayor Lori Lightfoot today announced a tentative agreement with AFSCME Council 31 but refused to disclose the cost or terms of the new contract that averted the threat of a pre-election strike by more than 3,000 city workers. A joint statement from Lightfoot and AFSCME Council 31 said the agreement would “improve the economic security and working lives of thousands of dedicated frontline” employees in roughly a dozen city departments.
- Population in the Loop rose throughout the pandemic, maintaining the neighborhood’s status as the fastest-growing area in the city, according to a report released yesterday by the Chicago Loop Alliance. But affordable housing in the Loop is in short supply, and there’s a need for open space and outdoor dining, according to the study.
The mayor’s race
Internal and external polling in the red-hot race for mayor of Chicago has been all over the map, but the polls agree on one thing: Only four of the nine candidates have a real shot at making the April 4 runoff.
Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas is likely to be one of the runoff contenders based on those polls. The second slot is up for grabs between incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot, U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and a surging Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson.
The four top-polling candidates have different formulas to reach that benchmark and punch their ticket to the runoff. The Sun-Times talked to campaign managers and political strategists for the final four — along with several other veteran political observers — to get their take on what each of the candidates needs to make it to Round 2.
Read Fran Spielman’s full analysis here.
A bright one
This young artist won our student art contest and will have her work turned into a mural you can see at the Salt Shed
Lucy Holloway, 11, creates art to pass the time and because it’s fun.
It also “allows me to get out some things that I have going on,” says the sixth-grader at Twin Groves Middle School in Buffalo Grove. “It gives me a little escape from the world.”
Soon, everyone will get to see a giant version of one of her latest creations, titled “All in Harmony,” a drawing she did in part digitally and in part by hand.
As the winner of a student art contest sponsored by the Chicago Sun-Times and media partners WBEZ and Vocalo, her prize is having her drawing turned into a sprawling mural that will be on display for all to see at the Salt Shed entertainment venue along the Chicago River on the North Side. The space was donated by Wintrust Bank.
The mural, which will be going up soon, will be displayed for about two months.
Her drawing includes hands of different colors, with hearts centered in the palms, floating in the night sky above a globe on which the Chicago skyline is perched. That’s in keeping with the theme of the contest, “Bringing Chicago’s Voices Together,” meant to celebrate diversity.
Lucy’s own words regarding her message: “I’m not sure how to put this, kind of we’re, like, different” but “the same.
“The entire world can be really big and really tiny at the exact same time,” she says.
We’ve got more with Lucy and her work here.
From the press box
- A scorching hot Patrick Kane (seven goals in his last four games) seems to be playing better and better as the trade rumors around him heat up, Ben Pope writes.
- Kenwood’s Darrin Ames and St. Rita’s Morez Johnson were among the players named to the 2023 Chicago Sun-Times All-City Team.
- “If there’s a better example of an athlete misreading a fan base more than Tim Anderson has misread White Sox fans, I’m not aware of it,” Rick Morrissey writes after the star shortstop said a recent podcast he wants to see more positivity from fans and media this year.
- Cubs center fielder Cody Bellinger says he’s feeling good at spring training in Arizona, where he’s aiming to start putting into practice adjustments he made during the offseason.
Your daily question☕
What is one book that you think every Chicagoan should read? Tell us why.
Send us an email at newsletters@suntimes.com and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday we asked you: Say you’ve been tasked with creating a new superhero from Chicago for an upcoming movie. What is their name and superpower?
Here’s what some of you said...
“Ratman. Bitten by a rat in his childhood, he slowly morphed into a 6-foot rat out for revenge on the creatures that caused his fate. He is the answer to our city’s rat problem —as well as our empty pizza boxes. Or — the Street Lighter. The hero who climbs poles by night to repair blown-out street lights 200 days before the city gets around to it. He’s the real 311.” — Jeff Kwit
“Windy! Accompanied everywhere they go by that old Association hit, ‘Everyone knows it’s windy.’ Windy has the ability to whip up a whirlwind of righteous excitement with the hot air that’s always present at City Hall and — unlike many politicians there — not just be a blow-hard.” — Paul Lockwood
“Paczkiman. He has the power to say his own name differently and WRONG every single time. There’s a long line to meet him, but he’s just not as good as that one time you saw him — and then you feel gross and guilty afterward. Sidekick is Pierogiboy.” — Cheryl Wisniewski
“The Miesian, a being who is able to get to the essence of things before everyone else and simplify, simplify, simplify before they know what hit them.” — Debbie Becker
“Belmont — faster than a speeding CTA Bus. More powerful than a Streets and Sanitation garbage truck. Able to leap turnstiles in a single bound. Superpower — hailing a taxi cab telepathically.” — Robert Lisowski
“‘Big Shoulders.’ Our superhero is known to lend a helping hand and support or carry those that need help. He appreciates a good partnership and encourages others to do the same.” — Catherine Greenspon
“His name is Maxwell and he protects us from the enemy by throwing hot onions in them and blinding them with hot mustard.” — Anselmo Villegas Jr.
“The Expediter — he has the power of clout to get building permits approved.” — Dan Korn
“Canaryville Man! With the superpower of always knowing a guy who could do the job fer half da price!” — Brendan Murphy
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