Afternoon Edition: June 30, 2020

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.

Afternoon Edition

Chicago’s most important news of the day, delivered every weekday afternoon. Plus, a bonus issue on Saturdays that dives into the city’s storied history.

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This afternoon will be mostly sunny with a high near 89 degrees and a 30% chance of thunderstorms. Tonight’s low will be 70 degrees. Tomorrow will be mostly sunny with a high near 90 degrees and a 20% chance of showers, mostly after 1 p.m.

Top story

Cubs star Jason Heyward donates $100,000 to COVID-19 efforts at University of Chicago

Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward is donating $100,000 to the University of Chicago to support a COVID-19 contact tracing program on the South Side and to help financially strapped health care workers who treat victims of the coronavirus.

Half the money Heyward is donating will go toward helping the University of Chicago build a team that will begin contact tracing on the South Side, a program aimed at containing the virus. The practice involves tracking, notifying and monitoring those who have come in contact with people infected with COVID-19 to encourage self-quarantines and potentially limit the spread of the virus.

There have been a higher number of confirmed coronavirus cases on the South Side, particularly in African American communities that have been disproportionately affected.

The other half of Heyward’s donation will go toward the University of Chicago’s Healthcare Heroes Fund, which raises money for child care, transportation and related costs incurred by nurses, doctors and other health care providers who have been working overtime during the pandemic.

“I want to help ease the personal burdens on our health care heroes and support efforts aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19, especially in vulnerable communities hit hard by the virus,” Heyward said in a statement.

Read the full story here.

More news you need

1. Venting or violence? Illinois State Police have been investigating violent threats made against Gov. J.B. Pritzker since the COVID-19 pandemic began. One person who posted on social media that he’d “gladly kill” Pritzker told police it was an attempt to “vent.”
2. Additional licenses to cultivate and transport cannabis products have been delayed by Gov. Pritzker because of the coronavirus pandemic. The licenses were expected to awarded Wednesday.
3. Carl Reiner, the comedy icon behind gems like “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “The 2000 Year Old Man,” “Oh God,” and “The Jerk,“ died last night in his California home. He was 98 years old.
4. Reiner was “America’s hilarious, pioneering, brilliant, lovely, kind and wonderful grandpa,” writes Sun-Times film critic Richard Roeper. Read Roeper’s full tribute to Reiner’s towering legacy here.
5. A group of former big league MVPs including Barry Larkin and Terry Pendleton are calling to remove former commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis’ name from trophies. Landis had a documented history of racism, they say.
6. Actress Birgundi Baker, a star in the Showtime series “The Chi,” is using her platform to amplify the voices of those often ignored: Black women. Evan F. Moore spoke with Baker about her breakout role and social activism efforts.

A bright one

Richard Roeper gives the film version of “Hamilton” a glowing review ahead of its Friday debut on Disney Plus:

The brilliance translates beautifully.

It would be impossible for “Hamilton” the movie to replicate the experience of seeing one of the greatest of all musicals in a live theatrical setting, but the filmed version of the Broadway sensation makes for immersive, exhilarating, magnificent cinema, almost sure to thrill first-time viewers as well as diehard fanatics who have seen the stage production once or twice or a dozen times.

Provided by Disney+

A little backstage info before we dive into the material itself. Per the New York Times, “Hamilton” the film was shot over a three-day period in June 2016, just before creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda and other key performers were to depart the cast. Thomas Kail, who directed the stage production as well as this movie, placed some 100 microphones and installed nine cameras in the Richard Rodgers Theater, seven of which were hidden by drapes.

The movie we see comes across as a seamless, real-time capture of a single show, but it actually encapsulates two separate performances, as well as some sequences that were shot sans audience, with cameras onstage to capture close-ups and overhead shots. The technical wizardry is sensational, as is the lush and vibrant sound, the lighting and production design. A great-looking Broadway play has become a great-looking movie.

Read Roeper’s full four-star review here.

From the press box

New Cubs manager Davis Ross doesn’t care whether there’s an asterisk over the World Series title awarded for an abbreviated 2020 season.

“If they’re passing out a trophy, I want it,” Ross said yesterday in a Zoom call with reporters. “If they’re handing out rings and we’re all starting from the same point, I don’t care if it’s a five-game season.“

The White Sox, meanwhile, have an interesting plan to make their own championship pursuit: A potential seven-man rotation to handle the unusual 60-game schedule.

Your daily question ☕

We’ve been looking back at Carl Reiner’s long career in entertainment today, so we want to know: What’s your favorite movie or TV show that he wrote, directed, produced or starred in, and why?

Reply to this email (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you if you thought Chicago’s minimum wage increase this week, from $13 up to $14, was a sufficient hike. Here’s what some of you said…

“We know it’s not enough, our landlords know it’s not enough, the daycares and schools know it’s not enough, the bank knows it’s not enough. No it’s not enough. Look at the average cost of a studio in Chicago, any zip code. It’s not enough.” — Kate Dwyer

“Minimum wage is beginning wage. The amount you earn while you are learning the job. And then with experience [comes] a raise or can move to a job/company that pay more for your experience. A minimum wage job is not meant to afford you the same benefits as a person whose minimum is $100 based on their education/experience.” — Sarai Jackson

“No. If the minimum wage had increased at the same rate as executive pay, it would be at least $20/hour by now.” — Brad Cook

“In Chicago you need to show 3x the rent in gross monthly income to qualify for an apartment. There are no one beds under $746 a month.” — Sam (@saminchitown)

Thanks for reading the Chicago Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.