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.
Hope you’re having a nice start to your week! This afternoon will be sunny with a high near 85 degrees. Tonight’s low will be around 69 degrees. Tomorrow will be rainy, with a high near 84 degrees.
Top story
Mother’s 3rd child a victim of Chicago violence: ‘He was my last baby. I want justice’
Patricia Pearson has lived Chicago’s violence. Not like those of us shaking our heads from a distance, but up close and personal.
It has stalked her — nearly claiming the life of her 12-year-old daughter, Aisha Pearson, in a 1995 shooting. Her daughter survived, living with a bullet lodged in her shoulder until her death in a car accident in 2005. In 1999, Chicago violence then claimed the life of Pearson’s 26-year-old son, Eric Fluckers.
And this month, it came for the last of her three children: Venyon Fluckers, 43, a father of three. Police said he was killed in a shooting in the 300 block of North Ashland Avenue on July 11, during a weekend that saw 64 shootings, 13 of them deadly. The violence continued unabated this past weekend, with 10 killed and 60 others injured in shootings as of this morning.
“My heart is heavy. He was my last baby,” said Pearson, 67, of the West Loop. “He was on his way to my house,” she said, hours after leaving the morgue, where she identified her son’s body two days after the murder.
“I didn’t get justice in Eric’s killing or Aisha’s shooting. I was too emotional to push,” said the inconsolable mother, dissolving into tears. “This time I want to know what happened. And I’m trusting and believing and hoping police will do their job and find out.”
Last week, the news that Chicago’s violence had claimed the last of her three children was brought to her at a funeral. Police found her son’s I.D. on him and contacted one of her son’s own three children. Several family members then went to the funeral to get Pearson. “When my granddaughter came in, I took one look at her face and knew something was wrong. I said, ‘What is it? Tell me.’ She just shook her head and said, ‘I can’t, Grandma,’” recounted Pearson.
“When we got outside and I saw more family members, I just knew,” she said through tears. “I said, ‘Don’t tell me something’s happened to my last baby.’ She said, ‘Grandma, he’s dead.’ I just fell to my knees, screaming, ‘Jesus! No! No! What did I do? Why? Why?’”
Police said her son, an over-the-road truck driver who lived in Austin, was found on the street with multiple gunshot wounds in his chest. An autopsy ruled his death a homicide. Chicago Police Area 3 detectives are investigating.
“When is Chicago going to get a handle on the violence claiming our children’s lives? My heart has been heavy for the babies killed this summer, a 20-month-old, 3-year-old, 10-year-old, 13-year-old, on and on. It must stop. It has to stop,” Pearson said.
“Why are there so many guns out here? I can’t even look at the news anymore. I’m tired. But this time I want justice.”
Read the full Chicago Chronicle from Maudlyne Ihejirika.
More news you need
- Mayor Lori Lightfoot is tightening regulations on Chicago bars, restaurants, gyms and personal services to prevent the recent spike in coronavirus cases among young people from turning into a dangerous surge. Among the changes: Bars won’t be allowed to serve customers indoors starting Friday.
- Chicagoans have been swamping the city with flood complaints after the record rain we saw this spring, with nearly 4,800 complaints in May alone. And trends point to even wetter weather in the future.
- Mayor Lori Lightfoot accused a small group of “vigilantes — people who came for a fight” of “hijacking” an otherwise peaceful protest at the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park Friday. While insisting she supports peaceful protests, she said the group formed a “phalanx,” and then began “pummeling police” with frozen water bottles and cans.
- Miracle Boyd, who was punched in the face by a Chicago police officer in a confrontation during the protest that was caught on video, says she wants to see the officer “relieved of his duties.” Boyd, 18, lost several teeth during the incident in Grant Park Friday.
- Following another violent weekend in Chicago, CPD Supt. David Brown said when chaotic protests erupt, they force the department to divert resources from the South and West sides, where shootings are most prevalent. “Let us redirect our anger to the loss of life on the South and West sides of Chicago,” Brown said.
- The family of a man who was hit and killed by an unmarked Chicago police SUV earlier this month filed a wrongful death lawsuit today alleging the officers were chasing a suspect through West Pullman when the driver lost control and caused the crash. “We deserve answers,” said Victoria Powell, who filed the suit.
A bright one
Man relaunching a South Side blues venue aims to keep the music — and the charm — the same
Lee’s Unleaded Blues, a popular blues bar in Grand Crossing, might be in line to receive $136,000 for a renovation, but fans of the bar’s vibe don’t have to worry about things changing all too much.
Owner Warren Berger, whose business is one of the first chosen by the city’s Neighborhood Opportunity Fund grant shelling out $5.4 million to 32 local businesses to help neglected South and West Side neighborhoods, isn’t a fan of rehabs that scrub an institution like his of its character. He wants Lee’s to stay the same — or least retain some semblance of the charm that led so many blues aficionados through its doors over the years.
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“I can think of an example of where someone on the North Side took a really vintage, neat bar, and they bought it — a neighborhood institution — and they changed it,” said Berger. “They upgraded it; it destroyed the charm of it — and people didn’t come there. They lost their crowd even though it was this fancy place now. You didn’t have the character. And that’s why this bar will continue to have the interior character that it has.”
While Berger aims to retain Lee’s ambiance, he’s aware that the pandemic means would-be blues consumers might not be rushing back to the bar yet. But he hopes when they do, they’ll feel right at home: “I want people to be able to come here and remember that it’s not that much different than what it was.”
Read Evan F. Moore’s full story here.
From the press box
The White Sox offense, which showed what it’s capable of last night in a 7-3 exhibition win over the Cubs, looks like it’s going to pack some serious punch this season. New addition Nomar Mazara says he marveled at how talented his new teammates were upon joining them: “Looking around I was like, ‘Oh my god I haven’t seen this many talented players, young guys and veteran guys.’”
Your daily question ☕
What do you think of Lightfoot’s decision to tighten restrictions on bars, restaurants and gyms after the COVID-19 spike among young people?
Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Friday, we asked you: What do you think of Chicago Public Schools’ plan to have students back in the classroom two days per week this fall? Here’s what some of you said…
“I’m on the fence. I want teachers and students to be safe, but I look at my daughter and she’s struggling; she can’t grasp e-learning. She misses her special education, and she’s depressed without her friends.” — Jennifer Rose
“My kids won’t be going. If there is a reason for them not to be going full time, then that’s the reason they shouldn’t be doing part time.” — Gabriela Santiago
“I think it’s a good start. Hopefully we can safely get back to full time but it makes sense to start slowly.” — Marilyn Scharko
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