CapFax: Please don't screw this up

 Rich Miller shared his recent syndicated column on the Capitol Fax blog today. BTW, I hope you all had a very happy and safe Memorial Day weekend.

Well the gist of this column is regards to the issue of crime and of course as you all know eyes are on the city of Chicago and the gun violence that's been making the news. And we have a sitting Democrat Governor running for re-election for whom the crime issue could become a major problem.

I don't know how many readers of this blog may view the crime issue however the headlines are mostly talking about gas prices, inflation, or even the prices for items at your local grocery store. However many of us might be worried about a carjacking and certainly the issue of roving gangs doing smash and grabs.

How many of you view crime as a major issue in this year's elections?

Capitol Fax: It’s time to try something besides simply reacting angrily to crises, Mayor Lightfoot

 Bear in mind she's talking about running for re-election, Lori Lightfoot has all but announced it. When she does officially throw her hat into the ring we'll have a decision to make. Via CapFax

It’s time to try something besides simply reacting angrily to crises, Mayor Lightfoot https://t.co/nnbORyxV6c

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) May 20, 2022

Sun-Times: CTA worker charged with shooting man at Red Line station

 This incident happened at the 95th terminal at 2 AM Saturday morning

A Chicago Transit Authority employee is accused of shooting a man multiple times during an argument at a Red Line station on the South Side, according to Chicago police and CTA officials.

Sylvester Adams, 53, was arrested moments after the shooting at the 95th/Dan Ryan station early Saturday morning and charged with attempted murder and unlawful use of a weapon, police said.

He was scheduled to appear in bond court Sunday.

Cell phone video that was posted to Twitter appears to show Adams arguing with the man just before the shooting, which police said happened just before 2 a.m. Saturday at the 95th/Dan Ryan station.

What led to the argument was not immediately clear.

The man is seen pushing Adams to the ground, who gets up and appears to reach into his pocket and pull out a gun.

The man who shoved Adams then walks away down a set of stairs, and the transit worker follows him, the video shows.

“He got his pipe, boy,” a bystander at the station says before the CTA worker appears to fire one shot from the top of the stairs, pauses and then fires off several more rounds in rapid succession down the stairs, the video shows.

I've seen video of an altercation taking place at 95th which involves a CTA worker being shoved on the ground by a customer. And this Sun-Times article cites that this same video was posted to @CPD1617Scanner. I won't embed that tweet here, however, I will link to it. All I saw was the shove and the worker following the man down the stairs.

CPD1617Scanner shares a lot of videos of things going down around the city and their vids have been shown on such cable outlets as FOX News.

WGN News: A final insult for a fallen officer

 

[VIDEO] Titus Moore died in his home of coronavirus or COVID-19 in November 2020 and one final insult has been that WGN reports that his home has been broken into. His family due to this pandemic hasn't been to enter his home to retrieve any of his belongings. The people who were caught breaking into his home have claimed when confronted by police there were there to secure and winterize his home. 

Thankfully the neighbors of West Chesterfield keeps an eye on suspicious activities at his home and unfortunately police were called but as you see in the story above police only just suggested they possibly "come back tomorrow". The home is said not to be in foreclosure and the implication is that there is no reason for any mortgage company to secure and winterize the home and of course some items have been stolen from the property.

CBS Chicago: Woman Fires Gun At Would-Be Carjacker In Roseland

 

[VIDEO] This incident took place at the Chase Branch at 103rd & Michigan. She fired a shot at an armed carjacker. The victim has a concealed carry permit and it's unclear whether or not that perpetrator was hit.

Self-defense in action. She's OK and hopefully police will catch that perpetrator.

As always be careful out there! 

CBS Chicago: Overnight carjacking in Roseland

 

[VIDEO] 91-year-old cab driver was shot in a carjacking near 107th & Langley. The victim is being treated at a hospital and police are looking for the carjacker. The victim had been shot after getting out of his Hyundai. 

Be careful out there everyone.

WGN: City leaders, council members debate ShotSpotter use

 

[VIDEO] There is further debate over whether or not ShotSpotter technology is effective in the city at curbing violence. In his report Paul Lisnek, especially notes the spat between Mayor Lori Lightfoot and State's Attorney Kim Foxx on a shooting that took place on the west side where no charges were filed citing "mutual combat". Neither Lightfoot nnor Foxx haven't polled very well on the issue of crime and what happened on the West Side over a week ago probably didn't help their poll numbers.

Supt. David Brown is seen in this report defending ShotSpotter in a city council hearing noting how in using the technology they were able to find wounded victims. Regardless the debate is over whether or not this technology has been a great help in gun violence in high crime areas.

FOX 32: Ald. Beale wants Nat'l Guard to patrol city #Ward09

 

[VIDEO] Ald. Anthony Beale proposes that the Nat'l Guard secure the perimeter of the Loop in the wake of unrest downtown. To be honest, this just seems to be a go to though at least we're not hearing anything about martial law which I think could set a dangerous precedent.

What's the point in this situation get some attention. What's wrong with suggesting that more resources are necessary with what happened the Fourth of July weekend?

Either way as you see in the above FOX 32 story we hear from Ald. Beale and we hear from Mayor Lightfoot. She's quoted as stating the Ald. Beale is a critic who likes to grandstand and lamented that reporters are covering him anyway.

Who's ready for the election for mayor and city council in 2023?

CBS Chicago: Man shoots at bus after being denied a ride

 

[VIDEO] Reported this morning presumably. A CTA bus was shot at near 119th & Princeton. Thankfully no one was hurt and the shooter was in custody. The shooter got mad because he wasn't allowed a ride on the bus without a face mask.

Although the state & city will open up further on Friday wearing a face mask on public transit is a federal mandate.

I just hate to hear about expressway shootings

 

[VIDEO] This incident occurred near 120th Street on the Bishop Ford (and I still call it the Calumet) Expressway last night at about 10:30 PM. The victim had the wherewithal to drive himself to Roseland Hospital on 111th Street to get treated. As you see in this footage the Illinois State Police scoured the scene looking for evidence.

I've seen too many stories like this especially on fb of shootings on our expressways whether I-57, the Dan Ryan or even the Eisenhower on the way to the West Side.... What can we do about this?

The mayor's office plan for a safe summer 2021

 The Mayor of Chicago seemed to have had a very rough time in office since taking over for Rahm Emanuel in 2019. And now she's unveiled the city's strategy to combat crime and violence during the summer of '21. Do you think she will be successful utilizing for example other city services such as our public libraries and Chicago's parks to give youth something to do this summer.

The graphic below posted to the Mayor's office ig shows which areas will be getting attention in the city. If you swipe for other graphics on that post, there's other information shared about the plan.

Is ShotSpotter effective?

 For you Star Wars fans out there "May the 4th be with you"

Now in all seriousness here's something for those of you to discuss. Occasionally on @thesixthward twitter I may run across tweets that note "ShotSpotter" data. I don't really listen to police scanners, however, it seems as if ShotSpotter is noted in police communications.

So this morning over at The Capitol Fax there's a discussion over whether or not ShotSpotter is effective. Can it distinguish between a gunshot, fireworks, construction or even a car backfiring? The Mayor of Chicago is definitely behind using this technology and certainly the response time to check out a possible case of gunfire.

ShotSpotter reliability questioned, but Lightfoot stands firm https://t.co/zin3MJyGrm

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) May 4, 2021

The next question that hopefully you might be able to answer at CapFax is whether or not you think ShotSpotter is effective?

Sun-Times: Man charged with stabbing 61-year-old woman to death in Roseland

The crime actually occurred last Friday arrest made on Monday:

A man has been charged with fatally stabbing a 61-year-old woman last week in a home in the Roseland neighborhood.

Richard Rollins, 54, stabbed Vicky D. Braboy several times after entering a home in the 100 block of West 111th Place about 1:30 p.m. Friday, according to Chicago police.

Braboy, who lived in the same block where she was stabbed, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Rollins was arrested Monday by the Great Lakes Regional Task Force in the 3000 block of West Roosevelt Road, police said. He lives about a block away from the stabbing.

CBS Chicago: 22-Year-Old Woman Shot While Sitting In Car In Rosemoor

 

[VIDEO] Sorry to have missed this it was from overnight Thursday into Friday a 22-year-old woman was found shot in her head near 102nd & King Drive reported on WBBM-TV. She survived but due to her injuries was't able to give a good description of the shooters.

Fran Spielman: SC Johnson steps forward to fund Beale’s $250,000 Roseland ‘cop house’ #Ward09

Sun-Times:

SC Johnson & Son, Inc., a multi-billion dollar manufacturer of household cleaning supplies, identified itself Thursday as the $250,000 corporate donor behind Ald. Anthony Beale’s Roseland “cop house.”

“You can’t get any bigger and more credible than that,” Beale (9th) told the Sun-Times.

“This is a great tool that they fund elsewhere. They wanted to bring it to my community. ... To have a Fortune 100 company step up to the plate in my ward is really a tribute to what we’ve been able to do out here.”

...

The company’s $250,000 commitment in Roseland, where they own Method Manufacturing and a second distribution facility, will test the concept in the Chicago Police Department’s Calumet district.

“As a member of the Chicago community with manufacturing operations in the Pullman neighborhood, SC Johnson is invested in supporting the people and communities where we live and work,” the company said in a statement.

“We view these funds, given to Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, a non-profit organization dedicated to economic development and neighborhood revitalization, as a pathway to help improve outcomes for communities.”

SC Johnson has a vested interest in improving neighborhood safety, Beale said. The company approached him about bankrolling CNI’S purchase and renovation of a Roseland home on a crime-plagued block to create a place where police officers, adult residents and young people can come together to build trust.

After a trip to Racine to see how it works, Beale decided to try it in Chicago, only to have Lightfoot stonewall the idea — with deadly consequences, according to the alderman.

“The very first house we had in mind — we had a contract on it. We ended up losing the contract. Five people have been shot and two people have been killed in or around the house where we were trying to first implement this,” he said.

I got some research to do on this "cop house". How will this plan be implemented? Why is the Mayor of Chicago opposed to it?

We should be trying anything to get crime rates down in the city, and especially in unsafe neighborhoods.

Read the whole thing. 

Another young life cut short by violence

 

[VIDEO] This really isn't something you want to hear about. A young man cut short before he makes an impact on the world

From the WGN story above to a Tribune write-up:

Isaiah Wade, 15, was shot in the head just before 2:30 p.m. Monday in the 10000 block of South Perry Avenue where he lived in the Fernwood neighborhood, police said.

Responding officers found him lying in an alley near his home. Five shell casings were found in a backyard nearby and there were bullet holes in several garages, police said.

The boy’s mother told police she believed her son was chatting with someone on social media and might have been lured outside. Police said they recovered the boy’s cellphone.

“Another family left to mourn, forever altered,” Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a statement. “Mt. Carmel High School is a close community and we keep Isaiah, his family, friends and school staff in our prayers during this unimaginably heartbreaking time.”

I hope Wade's family finds out who did this and he receives justice for a life that was taken. It was reported no one was in custody and police are looking for tips via cpdtip.com

Bloody Chicago: Chicago's Graffiti Mayor Lori Lightfoot

[VIDEO] I'm starting to realize Lori Lightfoot elected Mayor of Chicago, Ill just last year really has a rough ride early in her first term. I recognized a tinge of thin skinned temperament from her in some respects as she referred to a police union official as a clown.

Vic Maggio of Maggio News has spent years in Chicago's neighborhoods tracking crime issues and he observes on the Eisenhower Expressway many instances of graffiti. In this time of civil unrest unfortunately graffiti is more prevalent. Some people don't see this as crime, but as expression. It was evidenced by a tweet I received a while back.

Graffiti is vandalism..... https://t.co/MEBuoZLWJ2

— The Sixth Ward (@TheSixthWard) August 2, 2020

I also want to note that there is an instance of graffiti on a highway sign over the Dan Ryan past 63rd southbound. This is not something I recall seeing before ever.

 I'm a long way from blaming Mayor Lightfoot for many of this issues, but she has a hell of a case to present for her re-election in 2023. Depending upon what happens by 2022, I wouldn't be too surprised if she decided she wasn't going to run again! 

Chicago looted by BLM

[VIDEO] So after Mayor Lightfoot crashes a gathering of people on a north side lakefront beach we get another mass incident of looting locally. The basis for this is said to be a shooting that took place in Englewood on Sunday afternoon. From there, an organized caravan of people go into downtown Chicago and start looting not only there but also the Magnificent Mile. We already experienced some major unrest and now we got more.

Instead of showing some footage from our local news outlets, perhaps we watch someone outside of Chicago analyze what happened overnight through Monday. Anthony Brian Logan is a conservative YouTuber that has taken aim at BLM recently.

I did some posting with regards to this latest development at The Sixth Ward.

Drama teacher charged with sexual assault of student

[VIDEO] I'm not going to say too much or editorial a lot about this. What's mentioned in the above report from CBS 2 states what I wanted to say he was a husband and father who is charged with sexually abusing one of his students. Now he has his mugshot in a TV report, online and perhaps even on a newspaper since I really first heard about this from the Sun-Times.

Regardless, another sexual abuse allegation out of a CPS school. CPS already has to face a number of issues and now they have to face sexual abuse allegations.

What are the feds looking for in #Ward34?

While this is old news from last week south side alderman Carrie Austin of Ward 34 has her ward offices raided by federal authorities on a search warrant. Reports seem to suggest that this might be related to the indictment of Ald. Ed Burke (Ward 11) or even a colleague wearing a wire for the feds former Ald. Danny Solis (Ward 25). Of course is it possible that the feds have been looking at Ald. Austin in the first place.

This is a topic of discussion on last weeks Chicago Tonight with Paris Shutz and Carol Marin

This is something that I did a post or two over at The Sixth Ward. However I wanted to add this from last week from Rich Millers CapFax

Could this be part of what the feds are looking at? https://t.co/EGJHZOb9eG

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) June 21, 2019

 

I also found this through CapFax's tweets. Another link as far as what the feds are looking for in Ward 34.

Family members. Her longtime chief of staff. Campaign contributions. Even food stamps.

The federal grand jury probe is looking for all sorts of stuff on Ald. Carrie Austin - and it's been going on since 2017.https://t.co/mVQDUhNZKg

— Dan Mihalopoulos (@dmihalopoulos) June 23, 2019