Afternoon Edition: March 30, 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 rainy with a high near 65 degrees, a possible thunderstorm and gusts as high as 25 mph. Tonight will also see showers with a low around 38 and winds that could gust as high as 30 mph. There’s a chance of rain and snow showers tomorrow, with a high near 40.

Top story

Year after Adam Toledo’s killing, family renews call for criminal charges against Chicago police officer who shot 13-year-old

Last year, when Kristian Armendariz heard about the death of Adam Toledoin his community, he began knocking on doors, trying to rally his Little Village neighbors to create change.

Yesterday, one year after Toledo was fatally shot by a Chicago police officer, Armendariz stood with the Toledo family and fellow members of the Little Village Community Council at the same alley where Toledo was shot in a renewed call for justice.

“This is not the place where Adam deserved to die, in an alley alone at night at 13 years old,” his sister, Esmerelda Toledo, said tearfully during the vigil yesterday.

Toledo was fatally shot by Officer Eric Stillman on March 29, 2021. Though Toledo’s hands were raised when he was killed, body camera footage released in April appeared to show the teenager had a gun in his hands moments before.

“He held his hand up and he did what Eric Stillman told him to do, and he still died,” Toledo’s sister said Tuesday. “That is not justice. Adam deserved better than that, and we will not stop until we get justice for him.”

Despite outrage following the shooting, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced on March 15 there would be no charges brought against Stillman.

Cheyanne M. Daniels has more from yesterday’s vigil here.

More news you need

1. A man fatally shot in a Wrigleyville alley over the weekend worked two jobs to support his wife and two daughters, and was about to start a night shift at one of the jobs when he was killed, his family said. Police have not given a possible motive for the fatal shooting of Hermilo Beltran, 47, but relatives said his wallet was missing.
2. A 28-year-old man is facing attempted murder charges after he allegedly used his vehicle to pin a Chicago police officer against a squad car then opened fire at that officer and others during a traffic stop earlier this week in Lawndale. The alleged shooter, who was seriously wounded in an ensuing gun battle with the officers, did not appear at a bail hearing today.
3. A mother of four with family in the Chicago area was killed and her sister critically wounded in a mass shooting that left 19 other people dead in Mexico on Sunday. Melissa Silva and her sister Arleth Silva, 16, were on vacation in Michoacan and were at a gathering near the town of Zinapecuaro when attackers opened fire, according to family.
4. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has chosen former deputy inspector general for public safety Deborah Witzburg to be Chicago’s new watchdog in an apparent attempt to burnish her reformer credentials, City Hall sources said today. If confirmed by the City Council, she will be locked into a four-year term.
5. Members of St. Bernadette Parish in Evergreen Park and volunteers gathered today to load supplies into a truck for Ukrainian refugees in Poland. In four days the parish collected enough supplies of personal products to fill 600 boxes — and also raised about $55,000 in cash donations for the Ukraine effort, the Rev. Benedykt Pazdan said.
6. Award-winning blues singer, songwriter and bass player Bob Stroger has been performing the blues for decades. Now 91 years old, Stroger spoke with the Sun-Times about his career, weathering the pandemic and his new album.
7. “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” is an ambitious, multiverse martial arts movie centered on one woman’s struggle to make sense of her disorganized life, writes AP Film Writer Jake Coyle in his 3.5-star review. Starring Michelle Yeoh and out today, the movie leaves you filled with a sense of limitless possibility, Coyle says.
8. Composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold will be spotlighted starting Friday through April 10 during a festival organized at University of Chicago’s Logan Center. The Austrian-born composer wrote the scores for 16 films, including “Anthony Adverse” (1936) and “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (1938) — which won him Academy Awards.

A bright one

West Side mural features flamingos — and one tough bear

Standing out in a crowd — that’s one theme conveyed by JC Rivera’s mural on the Near West Side. But the crowd? Well, it’s a little pink. As in flamingos.

And the figure standing out in that crowd — it’s a bear. Not just any bear, but a character known as “Bear Champ” who’s a signature creature in Rivera’s murals, with a worn expression, a bandage on his head and, sometimes boxing gloves on his hands and a crown hovering over his scalp.

The Bear Champ represents rolling “with the punches” — something Rivera, 42, says he identifies with.

@drewinchicago

The mural was completed last fall on the side of a four-story brick building at 1366 W. Ohio St. that includes apartments on the upper floors and a grocery on the ground level.

Titled “Lovers Like Flamingos,” Rivera says the idea for the wall came from an affinity for flamingos he and his daughter share.

The Wicker Park resident also likes painting Bear Champ so he sticks out from a pattern. He similarly painted a mural in Humboldt Park last year where the character was surrounded by bulls — angry-looking red ones like the Chicago Bulls logo. The Bear Champ in that instance gripped a basketball and had his tongue sticking out — an homage to Michael Jordan and the 1996 champion Bulls squad.

Richie Requena has more on Rivera and Bear Champ here.

From the press box

• Even when Vucevic has had big games like he did against the Wizards on Tuesday, far too often this season he’s been overlooked. But come playoff time, he might be the most important player on the roster, Joe Cowley writes.
• White Sox outfielder Andrew Vaughn said today his injured hip feels much better than it did when he left a game on a cart Sunday.
• With the Cubs season around the corner, Steve Greenberg says now is the perfect time to warn Chelsea supporters about what ownership involving the Ricketts family could mean for their club.

Your daily question ☕

What’s something in Chicago that you won’t find anywhere else?

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: What’s your favorite theater in the city?

Here’s what some of you said…

“The Davis Theater. It feels like authentic Chicago and was beautifully restored a couple of years ago.” — Craig Barner

“Live stage theater: Windy City Playhouse because it is the most comfortable venue in the city. Movie Theater: the Music Box because it is ‘Chicago’s Year Round Film Festival’ and screens films that no other theater in the city will screen.” — Jim Rafferty

“The Chicago Theater. The name says it all — ornate yet intimate, with nearby parking or public transportation.” — Christine Bock

“The Chicago Shakespeare Theater — great plays and beautiful sets.” — Deborah Matyasec

“The Auditorium Theater at Roosevelt University. It’s the best sound in the city, in my opinion. Though I’ve never been to the opera house.” — Adam Woodburn

“The Victory Gardens Biograph. Beautiful live theatre venue, and a lot of history there.” — Matt Conlon

“Cadillac Palace. saw ‘In the Heights’ there and loved it.” — Patrea Curry

“The 400 theater up north on Sheridan. Cheap seats and bar.” — Shaun Savwafair

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