Afternoon Edition: March 10, 2022

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.

This afternoon will be mostly cloudy with a high near 28 degrees and a chance of snow. Tonight will also be cloudy with snow likely and a low around 24. Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy with a chance of more snow and a high near 35.

Top story

Chicagoan unites with uncle, aunt who left Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion, plans to help more people

Mark Shoykhet smiled in relief when he saw his niece standing outside the customs doors in Terminal 5 at O’Hare Airport last night.

He and his wife, Ada, were exhausted after nearly a week of wondering whether they would be able to flee Ukraine as the invasion by Russia escalated.

Mark Shoykhet, 83, tightly squeezed his niece, Jackie Birov, causing the shot glasses in her black tote bag to clank.

The first thing Shoykhet told Birov was that he was tired and unshaven. He also said he had at least one glass of whiskey on the flight from Warsaw, Poland — guess there was no need for the vodka that Birov packed with her after all.

Then came Ada, 81, out the doors. She got emotional when she embraced Birov, who had a bouquet of flowers for her.

Birov was finally united with her uncle and aunt, whom she spent countless hours over the last week helping to get to Chicago.

Birov, whose parents came to the U.S. from Ukraine before she was born, had spent weeks trying to encourage her aunt and uncle, who live in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, to leave.

As Birov scoured Signal for available travel arrangements for her family, Ada and Mark Shoykhet spent a lot of time in a bomb shelter in Vasylkiv, Ukraine, which is about 20 miles south of Kyiv. While down there, Birov said, a bomb fell on a residential building less than a half-mile from where they were.

Birov doesn’t want to stop at just helping family. She’s been able to assist at least six other people in leaving Ukraine over the last week — and she’s not done yet.

Madeline Kenney has more on Birov’s efforts here.

More news you need

1. Jussie Smollett, the actor convicted in December of lying to police about a hoax hate crime, will soon learn his sentence as part of an ongoing hearing this afternoon in Cook County court. Read the latest on the hearing and watch live coverage from the courtroom here.
2. A man accused of killing a WGN-TV security guard during a carjacking told police he “wanted her car and that was it,” saying the fatal shooting “wasn’t supposed to happen,” Cook County prosecutors said today. Bail was denied for the man, who’s facing charges of first-degree murder and attempted vehicular hijacking in the killing of Salena Claybourne.
3. Murder charges have been filed against a 20-year-old man accused of fatally shooting someone over a pair of shoes last year on the West Side. He faces a count of murder in the Aug. 20 shooting of Torrence Sumerlin, 26, Chicago police said.
4. An anonymous tip led to an arrest in the hit-and-run death of a 16-year-old boy in Burr Ridge last weekend, police said today. An 18-year-old Woodridge man has been charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident last Saturday night, according to police.
5. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said today she finds it “unconscionable” that former Zoning Committee chairman-turned-FBI mole Danny Solis was “walking around on a wire for years ... continuing to wheel and deal.” In an interview with the Sun-Times Editorial Board, the mayor also said she is offended that Solis’ deal with the feds will keep him out of prison.
6. The Salvation Army is being sued in three states, including Illinois, for allegedly violating federal law by failing to pay minimum wage to “thousands of people” who lived or worked in its adult rehabilitation centers nationwide. Michael Clancy, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, claims his starting wage at the organization’s adult rehab center on North Desplaines Street was $1 per week.
7. The California-based health care network embroiled in controversy for its decision to close Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park has announced plans to sell its two remaining Chicago-area hospitals. Pipeline Health said it has executed a letter of intent to sell West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park and Weiss Memorial Hospital in Uptown to a Michigan-based company called Resilience Healthcare for $92 million.
8. Pixar’s latest film, “Turning Red,” centers on a 13-year-old girl who finds that whenever her emotions run too deep, she turns into a red panda. In his 2.5-star review, our Richard Roeper says the film is a “brightly colored, occasionally soaring and funny but ultimately underwhelming and sputtering” coming-of-age adventure.

A bright one

Highland Park robotics team competes in state tournament, hopes to bring their program to CPS.

Last season, when the FIRST Tech Challenge was virtual due to COVID, the robots fired small rings at a target. This year’s competition is called “Freight Frenzy.”

“This year’s objective basically boils down to picking up balls and blocks and ducks,” says Jacob Hoyt, captain of outreach for Highland Park’s 18529 Rust in Piece team

Rust in Piece is one of 36 teams in FIRST Tech Challenge’s Illinois Championship Tournament at Elgin Community College on Saturday.

The team assembled to fine-tune their robot yesterday in Aiden Cohen’s basement, where several competitive robotics careers were born.

Neil Steinberg/Sun-Times

There is a non-technical ethical aspect to the competition called “gracious professionalism.” Rust in Piece has lent tools and material to other teams in the middle of competitions and created a course they’ve begun to teach to 5th graders.

They brought the curriculum to Wilmot School in Deerfield.

The program, started at a single 5th grade class, will be in all four Deerfield elementary schools next year. The teens also met with Chicago Public Schools today, and the plan is to bring their program to 5th graders there as well.

The message they offer, Cohen said, is: ‘Hey, this is what we do. We build robots. But we also try to make the community better.”

Neil Steinberg has more with the Highland Park robotics team here.

From the press box

• The MLB lockout is over! In great news for baseball fans, the league and the MLB Players Association reached a tentative agreement that will pave the way for the upcoming big league season. Opening Day is expected to be April 7.
• Joe Cowley on where the Bulls are at with 16 games to go and the toughest remaining schedule in the Eastern Conference.
• Regardless of his trade fate, Dylan Strome’s strong play in recent weeks has proven his doubters wrong, Ben Pope writes.
• The Illini and Badgers were conference co-champs in the regular season, and a couple of awards don’t do anything to tip the scales. That’s what the Big Ten tournament is for, Steve Greenberg writes.
• How can anyone beat Glenbard West? A dozen high school basketball coaches on how to at least try and beat the team no one in the state has been able to this season.

Your daily question ☕

What’s something previously canceled by the pandemic that you’re looking forward to enjoying this year?

Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you: How would you describe St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago to someone new here?

Here’s what some of you said…

“Party in the streets and celebrations as the river turns green.” — Carole Spevacek Smith

“Booze, sweat and puke. In that order.” — Ricardo Morales

“North Side trashed on Saturday, South Side trashed on Sunday. Both sides trashed on the actual day.” — Dave Matzinger

“Drunk people, green River, lots of fun!” — Gwendolyn Kindle Ferguson

“You’re Irish one way or another in Chicago on St. Patricks Day!” — Cara Zellers

“Green river, green beer and a lot of people wearing green! Also corned beef and cabbage everywhere.” — Jean Williams

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