Dr. Randall McNally dies at 92, Cook County’s issue with revoked FOID cards and more in your Chicago news roundup

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 partly sunny with a chance of showers and a high near 79. Tonight will be mostly clear with a low around 63. Tomorrow will be sunny with a high near 84, and Sunday will be sunny with a high near 85.

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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Top story

Dr. Randall E. McNally, Chicago plastic surgeon who treated ‘napalm girl’ in Vietnam, dead at 92

In 1972, Dr. Randall E. McNally, a Chicago plastic surgeon, traveled to Vietnam to recover the remains of his brother-in-law Thomas Kenny and his wife and four children, who were among more than 80 people killed when a bomb caused the crash of a Cathay Pacific airliner.

While awaiting news of his family members, Dr. McNally volunteered to do reconstructive surgery at the Barsky center in Saigon. He ended up with a patient the world knows as the napalm girl from one of the most widely known photographs of the 20th century.

Associated Press photographer Nick Ut won the Pulitzer Prize for the indelible image he captured of Kim Phuc Phan Thi, a 9-year-old South Vietnamese girl, running down a road, screaming in pain from napalm burns. The photograph made people question U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war.

“I became a victim of war,” Phan Thi, now 59, said after Dr. McNally’s death Monday at 92 at Lake Forest Hospital of what his son Edward said was “old age.” “But there are so many good people like Dr. McNally. They try to work so hard to help many people, and, among them, I was one.”

Now living near Toronto, she created the Kim Foundation International to aid children injured in war.

“I love him so much,” she said. “I owe him and all the doctors and nurses. They inspired me and made me have a dream to help people, like they helped me.”

Read the rest of Maureen O’Donnell’s obituary for Dr. McNally here.

More news you need

1. A man claims he was assembling a “ghost gun” in a bedroom of his family’s home when it accidentally went off, striking and killing his 15-year-old sister three days ago, Cook County prosecutors said today in court. Police found the man outside the Chicago Lawn apartment building shortly after the shooting, expressing “remorse” and repeating that it was an “accident,” his attorney said.
2. Nearly 20,000 Cook County residents are walking around with revoked firearm owner’s identification cards, with illegal guns presumably in their homes, Cook County sheriff’s police told Illinois legislators yesterday Lawmakers were told that “manpower” issues are the main reason the revoked cards are still in the hands of potentially dangerous people.
3. At the request of the state of Illinois, the Small Business Administration will allow businesses affected by the July 4 parade massacre in Highland Park to be eligible to apply for low-interest loans. The loans, which Pritzker said can let Highland Park residents “focus on healing,” would come from the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans program.
4. When the Cook County Land Bank Authority, led by County Commissioner Bridger Gainer, decided it needed a lawyer after being subpoenaed by the feds about its land dealings, it hired one who lives with Gainer’s then-top aide Kara Highfill. Read the Watchdogs investigation on the latest insider deal at the beleaguered agency.
5. City Council members want to put the breaks on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plans to host a NASCAR race in downtown Chicago after learning it will tie up a portion of Grant Park for two weeks. Fran Spielman has more on alderpersons’ response to the NASCAR plans.
6. Raymond Murray Jr., one of the nation’s first Black marines and a recipient of the congressional gold medal for his World War II service, died last month in his Chicago home. He was 99. Read our full obituary for Murray here.
7. Wicker Park bar The Point will remain closed under a six-month shutdown order even though an administrative judge agreed that the bar’s owner could not have “reasonably anticipated” the actions of a patron who opened fire outside the building. The shutdown will be lifted Aug. 8.
8. City Colleges of Chicago announced today it has hired seven liaisons — one for each of its schools — to help connect undocumented students with resources such as financial aid and academic support. The liaisons are required at every community college under an Illinois law passed last spring.

A bright one

Wrigley Field plays host to swearing-in ceremony of 656 new citizens

When Sergiu Doloscan thought about the United States as a kid in Moldova, growing up behind the Iron Curtain, he pictured images from his favorite movie: “Terminator.”

Eventually, the idea of a time-traveling cyborg assassin was replaced with two other concepts: freedom and democracy.

“Those were things we didn’t have,” Doloscan, 37, said Thursday at Wrigley Field, where he became a United States citizen along with 655 other people from more than 90 other countries.

It was the largest naturalization ceremony ever held by the Federal District Court in Northern Illinois.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

“I feel very, very good today,” said Doloscan, a truck driver who came to the United States six years ago. He now lives in Huntley with his wife and two sons.

Jesus Escontrias, 51, originally of Durango, Mexico, came to the United States 35 years ago.

“I came here for a better life. A better everything,” said Escontrias, who lives in Woodstock and works in a foundry. “This is the conclusion of that.”

Mitch Dudek has more here.

From the press box

• Rolling Meadows basketball star Cam Christie, one of the state’s top prospects for the class of 2023, has committed to Minnesota. His older brother, Max, recently was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers after just one season at Michigan State.
• Our Jeff Agrest spoke with Olin Kreutz, who’s also not returning to NBC Sports Chicago, about his firing from CHGO after physically attacking a colleague during a staff meeting.
• Updates from Bears training camp: Teven Jenkins missed practice for the second straight day, Lucas Patrick broke his thumb but should be back for Week 1, and Eddie Jackson is embracing a leadership role with a young secondary.

Your daily question ☕

What’s your favorite memory from attending a Chicago music festival?

Send us an email at newsletters@suntimes.com and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you: What’s the best (or worst) part of Lollapalooza taking over Grant Park for the next four days? Explain. Here’s what some of you said...

“Best part: the sight of concertgoers and a reminder of what it was like to be young.” — Craig Barner

“The worst part? We have to pay to restore the grass.” — Robyn Michaels

“The best part: the neighborhood comes alive and there’s four days of live music on our doorstep that challenges me to keep up with my children’s generation. The worst part: Monday morning when it’s all over.” — Katie Colgan

“Best part is Billy Strings ... Worst part is everything else.” — Jordan Bradley

“Worst, small Chicago clubs not being allowed to book these acts.” — Greg Schoenfeldt

“Heading to Ogilvie Station as all the Paloozers are heading to the lake front. Like a salmon going up river.” — Chris Domann

“Nothing but noise and non stop sirens for the next 4 days!” — Anthony Montano

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