Afternoon Edition: April 22, 2021

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 sunny with a high near 57 degrees. Tonight’s low will be around 43 degrees. Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy with a chance of rain in the afternoon and a high near 58 degrees.

Top story

Foxx says she should have known what prosecutor would say in court about police shooting of Adam Toledo

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx acknowledged today she should have known what one of her top deputies was going to say in court about the fatal police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo because it was a “heater case.”

“My name is on the door. Anything that happens that comes from the state’s attorney’s office, I am responsible for. I don’t believe in pushing blame or the buck,” Foxx told the Sun-Times.

“In this instance, the public was relying on information that our office presented to the court and the media relied upon that wasn’t fully accurate. I own that.”

Foxx has placed veteran prosecutor Jim Murphy on administrative leave because, according to a statement from her office, Murphy “failed to fully present the facts” during a bond hearing when he didn’t specifically state Toledo was unarmed at the moment a Chicago police officer shot him.

During an April 10 bond hearing describing allegations against 21-year-old Ruben Roman — who was arrested at the scene of Adam’s shooting in Little Village — Murphy told a judge Toledo had a gun in his right hand a moment before he was shot.

“The officer tells [Adam] to drop it as [Adam] turns towards the officer. [Adam] has a gun in his right hand,” Murphy said in court. “The officer fires one shot at [Adam], striking him in the chest. The gun that [Adam] was holding landed against the fence a few feet away.”

Read Fran Spielman’s full story here.

More news you need

1. A man has been charged in a brazen, midday road-rage shooting on Lake Shore Drive that critically wounded a toddler in early April. Deandre Binion, 25, faces three counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery with a firearm, Chicago police said.
2. A lawsuit filed today against two Evanston police officers alleges they used excessive force in a June 2018 incident in which they used a Taser on a man, causing him to hit his head on a curb. Ronald Louden says police had no reason to approach him, but the city claims the suspect was resisting arrest after a loaded gun was found in his car.
3. Police fired gunshots while arresting an armed man this morning on the western end of the 606 Trail in Logan Square. No one was injured in the incident, which police allege occurred as officers confronted a 28-year-old man wanted in “several crimes involving a weapon just prior to his arrest.”
4. The vaccine “Hunger Games” are over: Chicago finally has enough COVID-19 vaccines to give a shot to anyone who wants one. Thanks to a “softening” of vaccine demand in other parts of Illinois and growth in supply provided by the federal government, “you can get one today, no excuses,” said Dr. Allison Arwady.
5. DePaul University and Columbia College will require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to campus in the fall. The private schools say they’ll offer vaccines on campus this month and grant religious or medical-based exemptions to the rule.
6. It could be another four years before Chicago’s long-sought casino opens, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot warned state gambling regulators today to not let the process drag on any longer than that. Lightfoot, who invited developers to submit bids, said the Gaming Board needs “to speed up” its work to investigate and authorize the city’s eventual choice.
7. How much do you know about this year’s Academy Award nominees? Test your knowledge with our Oscars quiz before Hollywood’s big night this weekend.

A bright one

‘Secrets of the Whales’: Amazing footage shows not just how the sea mammals look, but how they live

Incredible. Amazing. Awesome.

The four-part Disney+ series “Secrets of the Whales,” directed with award-level skill by Brian Armstrong and Andy Mitchell, is among the finest nature documentaries film critic Richard Roeper has ever experienced.

This Earth Day offering is an astonishingly well-photographed deep dive into the worlds of orcas, belugas, sperm whales, narwhals and humpbacks — essentially disparate species with their own communities and friend groups, their own unique languages and culture, their own unique family dynamics and their own special histories.

The Disney+/National Geographic crews take us to the far ends of the waters of the Earth to capture these beautiful and intelligent creatures, with visuals so stunning and locales so exotic, it’s almost as if we’re on another planet — or we’ve traveled back in time.

“Whales have culture,” says narrator Sigourney Weaver (a perfect choice) at the outset of the series. “Each family speaks a unique language. They love deeply, play with joy and mourn their dead. Whales are just like us.”

That sounds like a dash of the ol’ Disney anthropomorphic hyperbole — but by the time the journey reaches its conclusion, we’re all-in on that statement.

Read Richard Roeper’s full review of the new nature series that debuted today on Disney Plus.

From the press box

Our beat reporters’ position-by-position Bears draft preview hits outside linebacker, where the team may need help soon given it can move on from Robert Quinn after this year.

Essential Quality figures to be the favorite when the odds post next week for the 2021 Kentucky Derby, but the Blackhawks analyst and NBC handicapper Eddie Olczyk is leaning toward a different horse for the 147th Run for the Roses.

More change for Loyola: Cameron Krutwig announced today he’s entering the NBA Draft after the Ramblers’ recent Sweet 16 run.

Your daily question ☕

Happy Earth Day! What’s the best way to enjoy the outdoors living in Chicago?

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: Has not commuting to the office during the pandemic made you rethink how you view work and/or career goals? Here’s what some of you said...

“100 percent! I love working from home! I don’t think I can ever go back to five days in office or the long commute!” — Lucia DiNicola Bertrand

“I’m hoping it makes businesses rethink requiring bodies to sit in an office when it’s not necessary.” — Lin Liston

“What do people do with themselves all day? I’m a homebody but working from home is not for me.” — Agnes Magdalena

“It’s made me 100% sure I don’t want to have to go to the office five days a week ever again.” — Shannon Heath Jeropke

“I struggled at first, but now I love working from home. Work life balance is a little more balanced now. No sitting in traffic for hours, spending money on lunch, gas. I love it!” — Joy Murphy

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