Chicago Sun-Times: All posts by Clare Spaulding

Chicago LGBTQ landmarks: Have your own Pride Parade, take our tour of 17 Chicago LGBTQ landmarks to learn more about the city’s gay life, history

2023-06-01T14:59:27.784-05:00

We won’t have scenes like this from last year because the coronavirus pandemic means there’s no Chicago Pride Parade on the last Sunday of June as usual this year.

Rick Majewski | Sun-Times

Chicago has long been a hub of LGBTQ+ life and culture and advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights.

There’s a rich queer history that includes hosting what’s believed to be the nation’s first pride parade (in June 1970), passing a pioneering human rights ordinance in 1988 offering protections from discrimination, and electing Lori Lightfoot in 2018 as the city’s first LGBTQ+ mayor.

There was no Chicago Pride Parade in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. So at the time, we put together this list to highlight some key places and moments in the city’s LGBTQ+ life and history. Even though there’s a parade this year, you can still take the self-guided tour.

Bughouse Square

901 N. Clark St.

People gathered at Bughouse Square in 1975.

Sun-Times file

The grassy area of what’s technically Washington Square Park has long been known as Bughouse Square and as a tourist destination because of its history as a center for public debate.

In the LGBTQ+ community, Bughouse Square also was known as a popular cruising area and hook-up site and, as the community grew, somewhere queer people could go and realize they weren’t alone, according to Owen Keehnen, a Chicago LGBTQ+ historian.

“People were shocked that there were this many gay people in the world,” Keehnen says. “They might have grown up thinking they were the only one, only to realize, ‘I guess I’m not.’”

Bughouse Square also holds another distinction in gay history. It’s where the nation’s first pride parade began — on June 27, 1970.

The march marked the first anniversary of New York City’s 1969 Stonewall riots, the uprising that followed a police raid on the gay club the Stonewall Inn and became a catalyst for the gay rights movement.

New York’s own parade — the Christopher Street Liberation Day march, marking the same anniversary — was held June 28, 1970, a day after Chicago’s march, according to Devlyn Camp, producer of the podcast “A Queer Serial.”

The Picasso

50 W. Washington St.

The Picasso sculpture downtown was where marchers finished the first pride parade in 1970.

Rich Hein / Sun-Times

Located downtown at Daley Plaza, the untitled Picasso sculpture, unveiled in 1967, is the site of a landmark moment in LGBTQ+ history: the end of that first pride march in 1970.

People marched from Bughouse Square to the Picasso at what was then called the Civic Center Plaza.

Albert Williams, a Columbia College Chicago professor and former editor of the Windy City Times LGBTQ+ newspaper, was there and says the march ended with a circle dance at the Picasso.

The Legacy Walk

3245-3704 N. Halsted St.

The Legacy Walk features rainbow pylons and plaques commemorating the life and work of notable LGBTQ figures and events.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

The Legacy Walk outdoor walking museum stretches just over a half a mile on Halsted Street, between Belmont Avenue and Grace Street, in the largely LGBTQ+ Lake View neighborhood known as Northhalsted. (Note: The neighborhood officially dropped the name Boystown and adopted Northhalsted in September 2020.)

The city declared it a historic landmark last year.

It’s marked by rainbow-colored pylons standing 25 feet tall that line both sides of Halsted. Each pylon features a pair of figures and events key to the LGBTQ+ rights movement, among them writers James Baldwin and Walt Whitman and the Stonewall riots.

“Grade-school kids are brought in and go down it,” says Rick Garcia, a longtime activist who lives in Edgewater. “It shows gay people throughout history who made significant contributions. Seeing that draws people from all over the country.”

Center on Halsted

3656 N. Halsted St.

The Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St., is an LGBTQ+ community center offering social services.

Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times

After visiting the Legacy Walk, you can stop by the Center on Halsted, an LGBTQ+ community center at 3656 N. Halsted St. that opened in 2007.

The center provides social services and community programs including HIV testing, group therapy, workshops and meals for people over 55 and vocational development help.

Northalsted

East Lake View

A hub of gay-owned businesses and bustling nightlife, the heavily LGBTQ+ North Side neighborhood known as Northalsted received the city's official designation as a gay village in 1997.

Running generally from the lake to west of Clark Street between Irving Park Road and Diversey Avenue, it’s where you can find some of the oldest and best-known gay bars in Chicago.

Among them are a pair of longstanding nightlife handouts: Roscoe’s Tavern, 3356 N. Halsted St., and Sidetrack Chicago, 3349 N. Halsted St.

Since the early days of Northalsted, the bars and nightlife that can be found along Halsted Street and nearby have been a magnet for LGBTQ+ people, according to Keehnen.

“Bars are so important,” he says. “It’s not just to drink and pick people up. They were simply so important because, if there isn’t a place for community to happen, community doesn’t happen.”

AIDS Garden

3003 N. Lakefront Trail

Keith Haring’s “Self Portrait” sits in the middle of the AIDS Garden at 3003 N Lakefront Trail, formerly the site of the Belmont Rocks.

Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times

The Belmont Rocks lining the lakefront between Diversey Harbor and Belmont Harbor were a place for forging and solidifying friendships in the LGBTQ+ community, says Keehnen, 60, who lives in Rogers Park. From sun-tanning to having picnic lunches, the limestone blocks offered a safe place for queer Chicagoans to congregate.

In 2003, the city paved over the Belmont Rocks, and Keehnen posted on Facebook bemoaning this loss. Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), who is gay, paid notice. So did the Chicago Park District. As a result, Keehnen and others helped envision an AIDS Garden to be built where the Belmont Rocks were.

It so far includes “Self-Portrait,” a green sculpture, standing 30 feet tall, created by artist and AIDS activist Keith Haring of a man that’s visible from Lake Shore Drive. Landscaping still needs to be done, and the garden is expected to be fully open sometime in the fall, according to Keehnen, who works as a historian for the project.

The garden also will include a walkway with a chronology of the AIDS epidemic in Chicago.

Keehnen says it’s “not a memorial garden. It’s to celebrate not only the lives that were lost, but also those that survived and the coming together of a community to endure the disease.”

Women & Children First

5233 N. Clark St.

Women & Children First bookstore is on Clark Street in Andersonville, an area nicknamed “Girlstown.”

Tyler LaRiviere / Sun-Times

Women & Children First started as a feminist bookstore founded to address a scarcity of feminist literature in Chicago, according to co-founder Linda Bubon, and “really evolved in an organic kind of way” into a store that caters to the LGBTQ+ community that developed in Andersonville in the 1990s.

Some who live there since the 1990s credit the bookshop with helping Andersonville grow into the city’s best-known lesbian community, known as Girlstown.

The store has held memorial services and lesbian showers and in recent years also worked to deepen its ties with the transgender community.

Leather Archives & Museum

6418 N. Greenview Ave.

Leather Archives & Museum, 6418 N. Greenview Ave., in Rogers Park.

Tyler LaRiviere / Sun-Times

The Leather Archives & Museum, founded by gay business people Chuck Renslow and Tony DeBlase, celebrates the leather and bondage subculture. Rather than present the subculture as taboo, it offers exhibitions that include bondage gear and also literature and art that the owners say shows the subculture as a movement integral to the LGBTQ+ community.

Aragon Ballroom

1106 W. Lawrence Ave.

The Aragon Ballroom, which dates to 1926, was the site of a 1977 protest of singer Anita Bryant and her anti-gay campaign. The Uptown hall is seen here in 1968.

Sun-Times file

The Aragon Ballroom, a music venue that dates to 1926, has long hosted pop music concerts and, in 1977 and 1978, was the venue for Orange Balls and other LGBTQ+ fundraisers.

The Orange Balls, held by gay activists including Renslow, were held to protest singer Anita Bryant’s anti-gay Save Our Children campaign. In response, gay activists held the Orange Balls.

Medinah Temple

600 N. Wabash Ave.

Medinah Temple on Wabash Avenue, seen here in 1998, was a site of 1977 protests against anti-gay activist Anita Bryant.

Rich Hein/ Sun-Times

Medinah Temple, an Islamic Revival-style building, originally was a 4,200-seat auditorium and now is a Macy’s store. In 1977, it was the site of a protest against Bryant and her anti-gay coalition.

When Bryant came to Chicago to perform at the Shriners Hospital for Children, gay and lesbian protesters marched in a circle around Medinah Temple, holding signs that read “God drinks wine, not orange juice”— a reference to Bryant’s orange juice commercials — and “Anita is McCarthy in drag,” according to historian John D’Emilio.

Henry Gerber House

1710 N. Crilly Ct.

The Henry Gerber House, 1704 N. Crilly Ct., commemorates Gerber, who created the nation’s first gay liberation group.

Tyler LaRiviere / Sun-Times

The Henry Gerber House is one in a row of protected landmark Queen Anne-style houses in Old Town. Granted that status by the city in 2001, it’s where Henry Gerber secretly organized the nation’s first gay emancipation group.

It was designated a national historic landmark in 2015 — the second in the nation, after the Stonewall Inn, to get that designation because of its significance in LGBTQ+ history.

Gerber, a Bavarian immigrant lauded as the grandfather of the American gay movement, created the group in 1924 and named it the Society for Human Rights in an effort to organize gays nationwide. But the group was short-lived. In 1925, the police raided Gerber’s house, arrested him and shut down the society.

Even though the legal case against Gerber ultimately was dismissed, it cost Gerber his $600 life savings and his job at the post office for “conduct unbecoming a postal worker.”

Remembering Gerber, in Camp’s eyes, is a way to commemorate LGBTQ+ ancestors.

Gerber/Hart Library and Archives

6500 N. Clark St.

The Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, 6500 N. Clark St., in Rogers Park, focuses on LGBTQ+ Midwestern history.

Tyler LaRiviere / Sun-Times

Just north of Devon Avenue, the Gerber/Hart Library and Archives is named for Gerber and Pearl Hart, who fought against police violence toward gays. The library focuses on LGBTQ+ history from Chicago and the Midwest and hosts lectures, workshops and classes.

Chicago Coliseum

1513 S. Wabash Ave.

In the early 1900s, the third Chicago Coliseum hosted some of the city’s first public gay dances and drag balls.

Sun-Times file

Chicago’s three coliseums, no longer in existence, were indoor arenas used for sports and exhibitions— and, from the 1930s, drag balls and gay dances.

The city’s third coliseum, on South Wabash Avenue, hosted drag balls in the 1930s that drew diverse crowds and eventually were sponsored by African American business owners, according to historian Tristan Cabello.

Later, the same coliseum was where Chicago’s first public gay dance, in the 1960s, was held by Chicago’s Gay Liberation Front. The organization had hosted dances twice before at the University of Chicago but got kicked off the university’s campus for violating dance attendance limits and moved to the coliseum, making the dance public. A Black insurance broker insured the dance at the Chicago Coliseum after other agents refused to do so for fear of police raids.

You still can see a trace of the third coliseum in the form of Coliseum Park, facing its former site, now a lay Buddhist building. The park’s stone and metal pavilion is reminiscent of the third coliseum’s castle-style turrets and crenellations.

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum

800 S. Halsted St.

The historic Jane Addams Hull-House.

Tyler LaRiviere / Sun-Times

Jane Addams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931, founded Hull-House, Chicago’s first settlement, on the Near West Side in 1889. These places, which originated in London in the 1880s, provided social services and aimed to help address social problems that arose amid urbanization, immigration and industrialization.

What Chicagoans might not know about Addams is that she had a relationship with a woman, Mary Rozet Smith, for 40 years. She was inducted posthumously into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 2008.

From the late 1800s to early 1900s, a group of residents at the Hull-House — Addams included — provided education and day care to children of working mothers and English and citizenship classes to immigrants. The house now is a museum commemorating Addams’ work.

Jeffery Pub

7041 S. Jeffery Blvd.

Jeffery Pub is an African American-owned gay bar at 7041 S. Jeffery Blvd. in South Shore.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times file

Jeffery Pub is one of the oldest gay bars in the city and the country and, according to owner Jamal Junior, the only African American-owned LGBTQ+ bar in Chicago.

With much of Chicago’s LGBTQ+ hub concentrated on the North Side, Jeffery Pub often was seen as a refuge for people from South Shore or the south suburbs.

“We’re 100% open for everyone to come in,” Junior says. “But when there were issues on the North Side, African American communities were always able to have a safe home on the South Side at Jeffery Pub.”

La Cueva

4153 W. 26th St.

La Cueva nightclub, 4153 W. 26th St., in Little Village.

Tyler LaRiviere / Sun-Times

It’s a myth that the Latino community is reluctant to accept LGBTQ+ people, according Garcia, the longtime activist. And La Cueva nightclub in Little Village offers testament to that. It hosts drag shows and other entertainment, Garcia says, and is a hub of LGBTQ+ nightlife.

Finnie’s Balls

38th Street and Michigan Avenue

The approximate location of a tavern in the 3800 block of South Michigan Avenue in Bronzeville that hosted Finnie’s Balls from 1935 until the 1940s.

Tyler LaRiviere / Sun-Times

In 1935, the basement of a tavern at 38th Street and Michigan Avenue hosted the first of what were called Finnie’s Balls — a series of drag balls created by Black gay gambler and street hustler Alfred Finnie.

Guests paid a quarter to enter the first gathering, which was a small affair compared to the lavish event it later became.

In the early days, the balls provided gay and lesbian people with the opportunity to socialize publicly in an intimate setting. They were held about five times a year at various locations until 1943, when Finnie was killed in a gambling brawl.

(Editor’s note: A version of this story was originally published in June 2020.)

As a 16-year-old boy is charged with killing her young daughter, girl’s mom says she forgives him and calls him a victim, too

2022-01-26T17:44:50.587-06:00

People set up a memorial for 8-year-old Melissa Ortega at the corner of W. 26th St. and S. Pulaski Road in Little Village Monday, near where she was fatally shot Saturday as she walked to Walgreens with her mother. The suspected shooter and driver were in custody Tuesday, police said. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

As a 16-year-old boy was charged with fatally shooting an 8-year-old girl in Little Village, the child’s mother said she has already forgiven the suspect and called him a victim, too.

“To the aggressor, I forgive you,” Araceli Leanos said in a statement read at a news conference announcing the charges in the murder of Melissa Ortega. “You were a victim, too. As a 16-year-old, the community failed you, just like it failed my precious baby.

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“Although I do hope that in the many years you spend in prison you get time to reflect on your actions because you took away the most valuable thing I had in my life, my princess Melissa.”

Her words came after Chicago Police Supt. David Brown detailed the charges against the boy and a man accused of driving the getaway car on Saturday afternoon along busy 26th Street.

Xavier Guzman

Chicago police

Brown said the shooting occurred after Xavier Guzman, 27, and the teen spotted three rival gang members standing at the corner of 26th Street and Komensky Avenue shortly before 3 p.m.

Guzman pulled into an alley and the boy, dressed all in black, got out and opened fire. Melissa was crossing the street with her mother and was struck in the head. She collapsed as she ran with her mother, holding hands.

Two years ago, another little girl was shot in Little Village. She survived but still struggles with the trauma. ‘The ones who pay are innocent victims.’

One of the gang members was hit in the back as he also ran away, Brown said. The boy ran back into the car which sped off.

Brown, disclosing new details, said the gunfire also hit a car but a man and his 9-year-old child were not injured.

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Police Supt. David Brown walk to a press conference at the CPD headquarters in the Bronzeville neighborhood, Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 26, 2022, where officials announced charges against suspects in the fatal shooting of 8-year-old Melissa Ortega.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

The superintendent said investigators were able to piece together the events through police and private cameras. Guzman was arrested Monday after investigators pulled over a Toyota Camry believed to have been used in the shooting.

Guzman was behind the wheel and a loaded gun was found in the driver’s side door, according to a police report. Brown said the gun matched the one used in the shooting.

The boy, who hasn’t been identified, was arrested a day later. Both face murder, attempted murder and unlawful use of a weapon charges, with the teen charged as an adult.

Court records indicate Guzman was arrested twice, about three weeks apart, on low-level drug possession charges in May 2017, but charges were dismissed in both cases. During the news conference, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx also confirmed the teenager has a criminal record but said details won’t be disclosed until his bail hearing Thursday, when Guzman is also expected in court.

“Our city has been shaken and no one can make sense of this tragedy,” said Brown, who called Melissa “a precious little girl” who represented “the innocence and potential of every child in Chicago.”

GoFundMe

Melissa was a student at Zapata Academy in the neighborhood, and her family had recently moved here from Mexico. Earlier in the week, the family said she had come to this country to live “the American Dream” and became a victim of “American Violence.”

The mother’s statement was read by Matt DeMateo, pastor of New Life Community Church in Little Village. “We should be filled with sadness but anger, as well,” her statement read. “How is it possible that a little girl dies in broad daylight?”

Earlier in the week, the family released a statement calling for justice and noted that “too often we hear news of shootings across Chicago, this continuous activity makes us habituated to these types of scenes. That is NOT something we should have to be accustomed to. Please don’t let her die in vain. No more innocent kids should be killed. Mayor Lightfoot needs to make Chicago safe.”

Lightfoot, also speaking at the news conference, acknowledged the pervasive fear in Little Village and the concern that “gangs have taken over.” Saying the neighborhood has seen “too much heartbreak,” she noted that city officials and community leaders must work “to bring peace there once and for all.”

As a mother, Lightfoot said it was hard to imagine Leanos’ pain, at one point wiping tears from her face. “Nothing can bring back her life, taken far too soon,” The mayor said, adding that she hoped the charges brings “some measure of solace.”

A funeral is planned for Melissa this week, and the family plans a burial in Mexico.

A GoFundMe for Ortega’s funeral expenses raised more than $70,000, more than triple its original goal of $20,000. She will be buried in her hometown in Mexico, according to the page.

Chicago Catholic Archdiocese consolidates parishes in Evergreen Park

2022-01-25T21:44:52.787-06:00

The Archdiocese of Chicago, located at 835 N. Rush St. The archdiocese announced Tuesday it will combine Queen of Martyrs and St. Bernadette churches in Evergreen Park, part of its ongoing restructuring initiative. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

The Archdiocese of Chicago announced Tuesday it will combine two parishes in southwest suburban Evergreen Park into a unified church, part of an ongoing Renew My Church initiative launched in 2016 to address church membership.

Starting July 1, Queen of Martyrs and St. Bernadette churches will unite as one parish with a single pastor, Rev. Benedykt Pazdan, according to the announcement. Within the next two years, masses at St. Bernadette will conclude as the regular schedule of masses fully transitions to Queen of Martyrs, which will also act as the parish school.

The local community will discuss possibilities for a new name for the unified parish.

Most Holy Redeemer Parish and School, also in the Evergreen grouping, will continue operating as is.

The archdiocese announced Monday a slew of other consolidations of West Side, South Side and south suburban parishes.

Little Village: 8-year-old girl fatally shot, man critically wounded in shooting

2022-01-22T16:36:03.948-06:00

Melissa Ortega, 8, was killed when she was struck by a stray bullet Saturday in Little Village.

GoFundMe

An 8-year-old girl died Saturday after she was struck by a stray bullet in Little Village as someone opened fire at a man coming out of a nearby store, according to Chicago police.

Melissa Ortega was walking with her guardian about 2:45 p.m. when someone fired shots at the 26-year-old man in the 3900 block of West 26th Street, striking him in the back, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

Her guardian heard the gunfire and saw the girl was shot in the head, police said. She was taken to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

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The man who police said was the intended target was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition, according to police.

As Area Four detectives investigated Saturday evening, evidence markers indicated more than a dozen shell casings were recovered at the scene. The back window of a minivan was shattered by gunfire.

Melissa was a student at Zapata Academy in the neighborhood, the Chicago Teachers Union said.

“This suffering is becoming too familiar for our babies and their families, who our educators love, nurture and support,” the union wrote in a post on Twitter. “Wishing Melissa’s family and Zapata community peace and healing tonight.”

The girl’s family recently moved to the city from Mexico, said community activist Andrew Holmes, who said Melissa was walking to Walgreens with her mother when the gunfire erupted.

Holmes, who spoke with reporters outside Stroger Hospital, urged anyone with information about the shooting to contact police.

A GoFundMe page had raised more than $15,000 by Sunday morning with a $20,000 goal to help Melissa’s family pay for funeral expenses and bury her in her hometown in Mexico.

“They were both excited to start a new life in Chicago and build their American Dream. I was honored to have met Melissa and will always remember her beautiful smile,” the page’s organizer wrote.

Police investigate after a Little Village shooting Saturday.

Clare Spaulding/Sun-Times

Diane Thompson, 39, said she was driving to a nearby thrift store minutes after the shooting happened when a man tapped on her window and said, “Someone just killed a little girl,” and mimicked a gun with his fingers.

Thompson, who lives on the Northwest Side, watched as emergency responders loaded the girl on a stretcher into an ambulance.

“You hear about things every day on the news,” Thompson said. “It hits different, seeing the aftermath.”

She said a coworker from Wisconsin recently asked her if she felt safe in Chicago.

“No, not so much,” she recounted.

1 killed, 13-year-old among 6 wounded in citywide shootings Friday

Substitute teacher at Disney Magnet School faces sexual exploitation charges

2022-01-22T16:21:56.001-06:00

A 29-year-old substitute teacher has been charged with three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor for rubbing his genital area in the presence of students, according to Cook County prosecutors.

Sun-Times file

A substitute teacher has been charged with three counts of sexual exploitation of a child following an incident that allegedly happened in front of students at a North Side magnet school in the fall.

James Ruml, 29, was subbing for a writing class Nov. 16 when three 11-year-old students watched as the teacher “leaned back in his chair, stretched his legs wide open and began touching his genital area,” Cook County prosecutors said during a livestreamed bail hearing Saturday. Authorities said it happened in the 4100 block of North Marine Drive, which is where Walt Disney Magnet School is located.

Ruml then allegedly got up to walk around the classroom before stopping in a corner of the room where he continued touching himself, according to prosecutors, who noted that he was fully clothed the entire time.

Students told a teacher about the alleged incident two days later, and the school notified police, prosecutors said.

Ruml, a Chicago resident, has been a CPS substitute for three years, according to his defense attorney, Joseph Cavanaugh. There were no accusations that Ruml exposed himself or made any attempt to touch the students, Cavanaugh said.

The substitute teacher turned himself in Jan. 20, and his bail was set at $75,000 Saturday. Ruml was prohibited from contact with anyone under the age of 18 while his case is pending. He is due in court again Feb. 3.

Bill Jackson, creator of Dirty Dragon and other Chicago TV kids show characters, dead at 86

2022-01-18T18:53:39.257-06:00

Bill Jackson sits with his beloved character, the Blob, on one of his shows. Well-known in Chicago children’s television, Jackson died Monday at age 86.

Sun-Times file

In the late 1960s and 1970s, Bill Jackson brought to life out-of-the-ordinary characters such as Dirty Dragon and the Blob on his Chicago children’s television shows.

His beautifully crafted puppets and artistry — he would draw cartoons during his shows to send to lucky viewers — inspired many of his fans to pursue a career in the creative arts.

After leaving Chicago television, Jackson taught at the California Institute of the Arts before retiring in 1990. But it wasn’t until years later that Jackson realized the legacy he left behind in Chicago, said Jim Engel, a cartoonist and longtime friend of Jackson’s.

“Once he met all the people who grew up watching him, it was a great joy to him,” Engel said. “I’m really glad that in his last few decades, he really understood the place he had in Chicago kids’ TV.”

Jackson died Monday at the age of 86, Engel said. Jackson lived in Paso Robles, California, a small town halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, with his wife, Jo, who survives him.

In the 1960s, Jackson first became a household name in Chicago through his show “Clown Alley.” He went on to create “Cartoon Town,” later renamed “The B.J. & Dirty Dragon Show,” in the 1970s. In the show, Jackson acted as mayor of the town, with his puppet characters as residents.

That show brought Chicago children The Blob, a lump of clay Jackson molded into different objects in his show. The Blob remains a favorite character for many of Jackson’s fans, who took to Twitter after hearing about his death.

Chicago children’s TV legend and friend of the MBC, Bill Jackson has died at age 86. His shows & characters entertained generations of fans in Chicago including Cartoon Town, BJ & the Dirty Dragon, Gigglesnort Hotel & the ’Blob’. He was a proud supporter of MBC from the start. pic.twitter.com/iqH483fF3O
— Museum of Broadcast Communications (@MuseumTV) January 18, 2022

Jackson brought along the Blob and several other beloved characters to create “Gigglesnort Hotel,” an educational show rich with life lessons about an unusual hotel’s staff and residents.

After retiring from teaching in California and reconnecting with Chicago largely through the Museum of Broadcast Communications, Jackson rekindled his connection to the city and the fans he inspired, never shortchanging anyone who wanted to talk with him, Engel said.

As a kid, Engel saw his aspiration of becoming a cartoonist brought to life through Jackson’s shows, Engel said. Since Jackson wrote his script, created all the characters and acted on the show himself, his “hip,” “cool” and “likable” personality shone through each episode, Engel said.

“I really do think he had the best of the best [in Chicago children’s TV],” Engel said. “I don’t think anybody achieved more than he did in a show.”

Various events with the Museum of Broadcast Communications, the Chicago Cultural Center and others continued bringing Jackson back to the city. He performed live “one last time” on Dec. 5, 2009, at the Lake Theatre in Oak Park, said Bruce DuMont, founder and former president of the museum.

Bill Jackson’s vivid puppets were central to his hit shows, including “The B.J. & Dirty Dragon Show” and “Gigglesnort Hotel.” Jackson died Monday at age 86.

Provided

At that event, DuMont asked the crowd of “several hundred people” if they had gone into a creative arts career because they were inspired by Jackson. Half the people in attendance raised their hands, DuMont said.

“Of all the local personalities that the museum recognized over the years, Bill Jackson stood out,” DuMont said. “He was a creator who inspired a lot of young people.”

Jackson donated his puppets and characters to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, which created an exhibit about Jackson’s career and legacy, DuMont said.

The exhibit is on display at the museum, 360 N. State St., which is open Thursday through Sunday. Admission is free.

Bill Jackson and a life-size version of one of his creations, Dirty Dragon, sometimes did public appearances. Jackson also launched a mock “Dirty Dragon for president” campaign in 1968.

Sun-Times file

Lightfoot deems 2022 ‘make-or-break year’ for lowering violent crime

2022-01-04T17:54:17.877-06:00

Mayor Lori Lightfoot echoed her end-of-year news conference to kick off 2022, doubling down on her commitment to reducing crime though falling short of offering any new policing strategies. Lightfoot spoke with CPD Supt. David Brown at police headquarters Tuesday.

Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Mayor Lori Lightfoot started the new year the same way she ended the old one — trying to convince fearful Chicagoans that reducing the city’s extraordinary level of crime is her “single mission.”

“No one can be comfortable with the way that we ended the year, with the number of homicides we had, more than New York or LA, two cities that have multiples in size of our populations,” Lightfoot said. “They all had an increase, but our number is staggering compared to that.”

At a marathon news conference at the Chicago Police Department headquarters Tuesday, Lightfoot sounded all of her familiar themes but offered no new policing strategies. She renewed her call for an immediate moratorium on electronic monitoring for Chicago’s most violent offenders and called on federal agencies to crack down on illegal gun trafficking. Lightfoot also renewed pressure on City Council to pass her controversial gang forfeiture ordinance, despite a Cook County public defender calling it “clearly unconstitutional.”

Police Supt. David Brown also reprised his end-of-year news conference Tuesday by promising to add a total of 200 more detectives to reduce caseloads from five to three to improve clearance rates. And turning the tides of crime in Chicago, the department will “likely need to break untold records” dealing with illegal guns, arrested felons and conspiracy cases.

Brown also spoke directly to increasingly brazen violent criminal offenders terrorizing Chicago with shootings, carjackings and homicides.

“You think we were just going to let you get away with killing people? You think you’re just gonna carjack people in this city and get away with it? Smash and grab our retail and our businesses who work hard to put products on their shelves?” Brown said. “We’re coming after you. We’re going to hold you accountable, and we’re going to keep you in jail.”

In 2022, Brown set the goal of 1.5 million positive interactions between police and citizens to rebuild shattered public trust, up from 500,000 in 2021.

Before the news conference, Lightfoot met with the entire CPD command staff. She said she challenged the brass to aim higher and wake up every morning thinking of what they can do individually to make Chicago a safer city, otherwise they should find another line of work.

Community trust in police, Lightfoot said, is the “secret sauce” to solving crimes.

“We can’t get there unless we’re positively interacting with the police,” Lightfoot said. “The police have to show up, not just when there’s an emergency with lights blaring.”

Lightfoot dubbed 2022 a “make-or-break year,” but in saying that made no mention that this year will go a long way in determining her political future. Whether crime levels fall this year is shaping up to be pivotal in whether Lightfoot will be reelected or serve as a one-term mayor.

CTU tells members to report to work Monday, but plans vote later in the week on whether to work remotely without CPS approval

2022-01-02T21:34:58.151-06:00

Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey speaks at a news conference in November. Sunday night, CTU leaders told union members to report to work but anticipate a vote on working remotely possibly later this week.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file photo

Chicago Teachers Union leaders told members during a closed-door town hall call Sunday evening to report to school Monday, but they plan to gauge support for a district-wide remote learning action later this week.

On Tuesday, the CTU plans to call a meeting of its House of Delegates, elected members who represent their schools, to discuss a citywide action. The union will also hold an electronic vote of its members on whether they approve of working remotely without CPS permission. If both are in favor, the union plans to take action and do so starting Wednesday, demanding better COVID-19 safety protocols, including increased testing and access to better masks.

Certain charter schools decided to conduct virtual learning this week because of a spike in COVID-19 cases. At Plato Learning Academy, an American Quality Schools charter and Chicago Public Schools contract school in South Austin, first grade students will learn remotely until Jan. 10 after a staff member normally in the classroom tested positive for the virus, said Principal Charles Williams.

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“As of the last day of school... of our nine classrooms, only three were in building, and we only had 14 kids show up,” Williams said. “I’m assuming that as we move into the new year, cases will start popping up.”

Williams said he thinks all students should learn remotely this week, though it would only be effective if CPS families took the time seriously to ensure coming back to school healthy.

Some schools are taking matters into their own hands. Teachers and parents at Park Manor Elementary School plan to teach and learn remotely Monday without administrative permission. Just before winter break, at least two dozen students and staff at the Greater Grand Crossing community school tested positive for COVID-19, sending the majority of the school into quarantine, according to a CTU news release.

In response to questions about mounting pressure to switch schools to online learning, CPS sent the Chicago Sun-Times the letter sent out to district families Sunday evening, saying “there are no plans to transition the entire district to remote learning.” Students don’t need to be tested before returning to the classroom, but parents should keep their children home if they show any symptoms of the virus.

Illinois hits all-time record high of daily COVID cases

2021-12-22T19:21:59.154-06:00

A medical professional gives instructions to people waiting in line to get tested for COVID-19 at a test site, Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2021 at 2641 W Division St in Humboldt Park. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

With the Omicron variant surging, Illinois has set a single-day record in cases of COVID-19.

The 16,581 cases of the coronavirus reported Wednesday beat the previous high of 15,415 cases, set on Nov. 13, 2020, according to state data.

The number of people in Illinois hospitalized for the virus, 4,178, is the highest it’s been all year, that’s the number reported as of the end of the day Tuesday. And more people are in the Illinois intensive-care units being treated for COVID-19 than on any other day this year, filling 867 beds statewide. Hospitalization and ICU numbers haven’t been this high since Dec. 29, 2020.

Hospital pharmacist Jenna Lopez said the hospital is bracing for an overflow of patients. How quickly the Omicron variant is spreading is different than past surges, said Lopez, 32, of West Town.

“It’s rough,” Lopez said. “Part of it feels like the beginning of the pandemic again.”

Lopez waited about an hour outside a testing site on West Division Street on Wednesday after “lots of exposure” to the virus, in both work and social settings. After spending the holidays apart from family in 2020, Lopez said she initially expected a normal holiday season thanks to the vaccine. The latest surge has led her to remain undecided about whether to fly to Las Vegas to visit her brother Friday.

Illinois also reported an additional 66 lives claimed by the virus Wednesday, exceeding the average daily deaths of 49, though 70 deaths were reported on multiple days last week.

Dr. Emily Landon, executive medical director for infection prevention and control for University of Chicago Medicine, said record-high case and hospitalization numbers are “exactly what you’d expect from a virus like Omicron,” a fast-spreading variant of COVID-19. In fact, Landon anticipates cases will double every two or three days, though that may not be reflected in state data, due to many people taking at-home tests that aren’t reported.

“Omicron is a different animal than what we were dealing with before,” Landon said. “If everybody gets sick at one time, there’ll be nobody to do work, to drive the train, run the hotel, deliver the mail and packages or take care of patients in the hospital.

“It’s time to come to terms with the fact that a lot of people are going to test positive for COVID,” Landon said.

But that doesn’t mean vaccines aren’t working, Landon said. Most people who are vaccinated will have milder symptoms if they test positive. With many people traveling for the holidays, Landon said it’s essential to avoid contact with people outside your circle and to test frequently.

Since the onset of the pandemic, more than 2 million people have contracted the virus in Illinois. Nearly 200,000 tests statewide were reported Wednesday, slightly above the state average of 193,450 tests administered per day.

“Getting tested for COVID-19 is critically important to helping reduce the spread of this deadly virus,” Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said in a news release Tuesday. “A year ago, our holidays looked much different. Now, with widely available testing, vaccinations and boosters Illinoisans can gather safely with family and friends.”

The state health department partnered with SHIELD Illinois to offer 20 free COVID-19 rapid-test sites; two are in Chicago.

People lined the sidewalk outside the West Town testing site Wednesday evening, often waiting over an hour in below-freezing temperatures before getting tested.

That site was the second place Alex Rejman went to try to get tested Wednesday, who said the place she’s gotten tested at in the past was “really busy.” Rejman, 26, who lives in the neighborhood, said a bartender at the restaurant where she works tested positive, so to return to work, she needs a negative test.

Though seeing family for the holidays was a partial factor in getting tested, Rejman said she “might not have gone if work hadn’t made me.”

The Omicron variant is especially why Michael Mitchell got tested Wednesday. He has family coming to visit for the holidays, including his stepfather who is older and a cousin who just had a baby, said Mitchell, 34, of Hyde Park.

“I just came to make sure I’m not getting any of the new strains,” Mitchell said. “I got tested a couple weeks ago. I’ll probably get tested at least once a month now.”

Illinois coronavirus: 10,000 people test positive

2021-12-21T17:45:13.374-06:00

COVID-19 testing samples. Illinois saw a 50% increase in daily deaths due to the virus in the past week.

Ted S. Warren, AP Photos

The coronavirus claimed the lives of another 63 people in Illinois Tuesday as the state’s average number of deaths increased 50% in the past week.

The daily number of deaths has exceeded 50 for five of the past seven days, and the average number of deaths per day increased from 34 last Tuesday to 51 this week.

Another 10,264 people in the state tested positive for COVID-19 Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to just shy of 2 million.

The state is averaging more than 10,000 cases daily, a 47% increase from the average daily rate a week ago. The average number of cases has been gradually rising in Illinois the past two months.

Chicago’s test positivity rate is 7.3% — nearly double the 4.1% daily average of last week. And the city is averaging 1,776 cases a day, up 79% from 991 a week ago. Hospitalizations are up 12%, from 56 a day a week ago to 62 a day now.

In the new year, the city will require restaurant, bar and gym goers to provide proof of vaccination. The order will remain in effect until the city is “through this Omicron-driven surge and the risk of overwhelming hospital capacity has passed,” the mayor was quoted as saying.

And with the holidays mere days away, the demand for COVID-19 testing remains high, with 179,269 people being tested Tuesday, just shy of the state’s seven-day average for daily tests.

Contributing: Fran Spielman