Man shot in Englewood

A 28-year-old man was shot Sunday night in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side.

He was shot in the right ankle about 10:30 p.m. in the 7300 block of South Sangamon, according to Chicago Police.
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He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, police said.

A police source said the man was a documented gang member and wasn’t cooperating with investigators.

2 dead, 3 wounded in West Englewood shooting

Two men were killed and three other people wounded in a shooting Sunday night in the West Englewood neighborhood on the South Side.

The group was sitting on a front porch in the 2000 block of West 68th Place about 11:10 p.m. when someone got out of a vehicle in a nearby vacant lot and opened fire, according to Chicago Police.
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A 38-year-old man was shot in the neck and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

A 27-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was also pronounced dead, police said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office confirmed the fatalities, but did not release additional information early Monday.

A 27-year-old man shot in the back was taken Christ Medical Center and 17-year-old boy shot in the left leg was taken to St. Bernard Hospital. Their conditions were both stabilized, police said.

A 23-year-old woman was shot in the left leg and taken to Stroger Hospital, where her condition was also stabilized, police said.

Two men grazed in Avalon Park shooting

wo men were grazed by bullets in the Avalon Park neighborhood early Monday on the South Side.

The shooting happened about 1:45 a.m. in the 8200 block of South Kimbark, according to Chicago Police.
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A 28-year-old man suffered a graze wound to the back and was taken to Stroger Hospital, and a 31-year-old man with a similar injury later showed up at South Shore Hospital, police said.

Their conditions were stabilized and they were not cooperating with investigators, police said.

Vehicle struck by bullet on Dan Ryan

A person’s vehicle was struck by a bullet early Monday while driving on the Dan Ryan Expressway.

Shots were fired about 1:45 a.m. and the vehicle was struck while traveling in the outbound lanes near Garfield Boulevard, according to Illinois State Police.
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No one was injured in the shooting, but all outbound lanes were closed to traffic from 47th Street to Garfield while police searched for shell casings.

All lanes were reopened shortly after 3 a.m.

16-year-old boy shot in Rogers Park

A 16-year-old boy was shot in the leg early Monday in the Rogers Park neighborhood on the North Side.

He was on a sidewalk in the 2300 block of West Granville about 1:15 a.m. when someone shot at him from the other side of the street, according to Chicago Police.
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The boy suffered a gunshot wound to the right leg and was taken to Presence Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, where his condition was stabilized, police said.

Obama guidance, press schedule April 29, 2016. Germany

Below, from the White House….

THE WHITE HOUSE
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Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 24, 2016



DAILY GUIDANCE AND PRESS SCHEDULE FOR

MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2016



In the morning, the President will open and tour the Hannover Messe Trade Fair with Chancellor Angela Merkel.  The opening remarks and tour at the Hannover Messe Fairgrounds are pooled press.

In the afternoon, the President will deliver remarks. The remarks will be open press.

Later in the afternoon, the President will meet with President Francois Hollande of France, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy, and Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom in a meeting hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  There will be a travel pool spray at the top of this meeting.

Afterwards, the President will depart Hannover, Germany and return to Washington, DC.  The departure from Hannover Airport will be open to pre-credentialed media, and the in-town travel pool will accompany the President to the White House.



Out-of-Town Travel Pool

Wires: AP, Reuters, Bloomberg

Wire Photos: AP, Reuters, AFP

TV Corr & Crew: ABC

Print: New York Times



CET



9:00AM          THE PRESIDENT and Chancellor Merkel open and tour the Hannover Messe Trade Fair

Hannover Messe Fairgrounds, Hannover, Germany

Pooled Press



11:25AM        THE PRESIDENT delivers remarks

Hannover Messe Fairgrounds, Hannover, Germany

Open Press



2:30PM           THE PRESIDENT meets with President Hollande of France, Prime Minister Renzi of Italy, Prime Minister Cameron of the United Kingdom, and Chancellor Merkel of Germany

Schloss Herrenhausen, Hannover, Germany

Travel Pool Spray at the Top

4:40PM           THE PRESIDENT departs Hannover, Germany

Hannover Airport, Hannover, Germany

Open to Pre-Credentialed Media



EDT



5:00PM           In-Town Pool Call Time



7:10PM           THE PRESIDENT arrives Joint Base Andrews

In-Town Travel Pool Coverage (Final Gather 5:10PM – Stakeout Location)



Briefing Schedule



CET



9:30AM          Press Briefing by Press Secretary Josh Earnest, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Tom Donohue, and Chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company Andrew N. Liveris

CHA tenants shivered until city sued landlords over heat

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News
Business 04/25/2016, 07:04am
Gannett launches bid to acquire Tribune Publishing
Michael Ferro, largest shareholder of Tribune Publishing | Getty Images   

Michael Ferro, largest shareholder of Tribune Publishing | Getty Images
Sun-Times Staff
email

Gannett Co Inc. said Monday it was launching a bid to acquire Tribune Publishing Company for $12.25 a share in a deal valued at about $815 million.

The all-cash bid represents a premium of 63 percent to the closing share price of Tribune Publishing on April 22.
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A Gannett release indicates that Tribune Publishing has so far rejected the offer and refused to “begin constructive discussions.”

The deal includes Gannett, which publishes USA Today, assuming about $390 million in Tribune Publishing debt.

Robert J. Dickey, president and chief executive officer of Gannett, said in a statement: “We believe Tribune shares the new Gannett’s unwavering commitment to journalistic excellence and delivering superior content on all platforms. In this respect, the proposed combination of Gannett and Tribune would bring together two highly complementary organizations with a shared goal of providing trusted, premium content for the readers and communities we serve.”

More details to come.


Chicago News 04/25/2016, 06:53am
Fire officials: Body pulled from Lake Michigan near Grant Park
Sun-Times file photo   

Sun-Times file photo
Sun-Times Wire
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A body was pulled from Lake Michigan Monday morning near Grant Park, fire officials said.

The Chicago Police Marine Unit removed the body from the water about 6:30 a.m. in the 500 block of South Lake Shore Drive, according to Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford.
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Fire officials said the person was dead at the scene, but did not immediately provide additional details. The Cook County medical examiner’s office could not immediately confirm the fatality.
Grant Park
Chicago News 04/25/2016, 06:50am
Man shot in Fernwood
Sun-Times stock photo   

Sun-Times stock photo
Sun-Times Wire
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A man was shot Sunday evening in the Fernwood neighborhood on the Far South Side.

The 37-year-old suffered a graze wound to the head about 6:30 p.m. in the 10000 block of South Princeton, according to Chicago Police.
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He later walked into MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island, where he was treated and released, police said.
# Crime fernwood
Chicago 04/25/2016, 06:00am
CHA tenants shivered until city sued landlords over heat
Shortly after Christmas, the heat went out in the Englewood six-flat where Mileissa Weddle, above, lives. “The landlord put a sign on the door that the heat was going to be off for a couple of days, but it was longer than that,” Weddle says. | Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times   

Shortly after Christmas, the heat went out in the Englewood six-flat where Mileissa Weddle, above, lives. “The landlord put a sign on the door that the heat was going to be off for a couple of days, but it was longer than that,” Weddle says. | Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times
Tim Novak and Chris Fusco

Eighty-seven-year-old Ernestine Davis says she spent most of January wrapped in a quilted robe and huddled near her gas oven because the heat was out at the South Side apartment she leases with the help of a Chicago Housing Authority voucher.

It was 29 degrees outside on Jan. 13 when city building inspectors showed up and found the temperature inside her South Shore apartment was just 54 degrees.
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Davis, who lives alone, had been relying on her stove, an electric space heater and extra clothing to try to stay warm.

“I had a long quilted robe, jogging pants, socks and pajamas,” she says. “I was running my little heater and my stove. I never came up in the front part of the house.”

chaprojectCity Hall sued her landlord for violating Chicago’s heat ordinance, which requires landlords to keep apartments at a minimum of 68 degrees during the day and 66 degrees at night between Sept. 15 and June 1.

The lawsuit was one of 209 that city lawyers have filed against landlords this year over a lack of heat.

Thirty-four of those heat cases involved buildings where the CHA subsidizes rents through “housing choice vouchers,” commonly known as Section 8, a Chicago Sun-Times and Better Government Association investigation found. Those suits involved 94 voucher households with a total of 207 tenants, CHA records show.

“We take these complaints seriously, and our inspection process is designed to ensure properties are in compliance with program guidelines,” says Molly Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the CHA.

Sullivan says the agency “inspects every occupied . . . unit on an annual basis and conducts special complaint inspections when a complaint is received. If a unit repeatedly fails a series of inspections, CHA will suspend payment to the owner and give the tenant the opportunity to move to a new unit.”

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Chicago News 04/25/2016, 05:11am
Obama guidance, press schedule April 29, 2016. Germany
President Barack Obama is among the Illinois Democratic Party's "superdelegates." AP file photo   

President Barack Obama is among the Illinois Democratic Party's "superdelegates." AP file photo
Lynn Sweet
@lynnsweet | email

Below, from the White House….

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 24, 2016



DAILY GUIDANCE AND PRESS SCHEDULE FOR

MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2016



In the morning, the President will open and tour the Hannover Messe Trade Fair with Chancellor Angela Merkel.  The opening remarks and tour at the Hannover Messe Fairgrounds are pooled press.

In the afternoon, the President will deliver remarks. The remarks will be open press.

Later in the afternoon, the President will meet with President Francois Hollande of France, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy, and Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom in a meeting hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  There will be a travel pool spray at the top of this meeting.

Afterwards, the President will depart Hannover, Germany and return to Washington, DC.  The departure from Hannover Airport will be open to pre-credentialed media, and the in-town travel pool will accompany the President to the White House.



Out-of-Town Travel Pool

Wires: AP, Reuters, Bloomberg

Wire Photos: AP, Reuters, AFP

TV Corr & Crew: ABC

Print: New York Times



CET



9:00AM          THE PRESIDENT and Chancellor Merkel open and tour the Hannover Messe Trade Fair

Hannover Messe Fairgrounds, Hannover, Germany

Pooled Press



11:25AM        THE PRESIDENT delivers remarks

Hannover Messe Fairgrounds, Hannover, Germany

Open Press



2:30PM           THE PRESIDENT meets with President Hollande of France, Prime Minister Renzi of Italy, Prime Minister Cameron of the United Kingdom, and Chancellor Merkel of Germany

Schloss Herrenhausen, Hannover, Germany

Travel Pool Spray at the Top

4:40PM           THE PRESIDENT departs Hannover, Germany

Hannover Airport, Hannover, Germany

Open to Pre-Credentialed Media



EDT



5:00PM           In-Town Pool Call Time



7:10PM           THE PRESIDENT arrives Joint Base Andrews

In-Town Travel Pool Coverage (Final Gather 5:10PM – Stakeout Location)



Briefing Schedule



CET



9:30AM          Press Briefing by Press Secretary Josh Earnest, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Tom Donohue, and Chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company Andrew N. Liveris

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Man shot in Fernwood

A man was shot Sunday evening in the Fernwood neighborhood on the Far South Side.

The 37-year-old suffered a graze wound to the head about 6:30 p.m. in the 10000 block of South Princeton, according to Chicago Police.
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He later walked into MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island, where he was treated and released, police said.

Fire officials: Body pulled from Lake Michigan near Grant Park

A body was pulled from Lake Michigan Monday morning near Grant Park, fire officials said.

The Chicago Police Marine Unit removed the body from the water about 6:30 a.m. in the 500 block of South Lake Shore Drive, according to Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford.
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Fire officials said the person was dead at the scene, but did not immediately provide additional details. The Cook County medical examiner’s office could not immediately confirm the fatality.

Gannett launches bid to acquire Tribune Publishing

Gannett Co Inc. said Monday it was launching a bid to acquire Tribune Publishing Company for $12.25 a share in a deal valued at about $815 million.

The all-cash bid represents a premium of 63 percent to the closing share price of Tribune Publishing on April 22.
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A Gannett release indicates that Tribune Publishing has so far rejected the offer and refused to “begin constructive discussions.”

The deal includes Gannett, which publishes USA Today, assuming about $390 million in Tribune Publishing debt.

Robert J. Dickey, president and chief executive officer of Gannett, said in a statement: “We believe Tribune shares the new Gannett’s unwavering commitment to journalistic excellence and delivering superior content on all platforms. In this respect, the proposed combination of Gannett and Tribune would bring together two highly complementary organizations with a shared goal of providing trusted, premium content for the readers and communities we serve.”

More details to come.

Senate committee OKs $125 million to tackle DNA evidence backlog

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved $125 million to help reduce a backlog of DNA evidence awaiting testing across the country, including Illinois, according to U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk.

Kirk (R-Ill.) said the money will “help victims of violence throughout Illinois.”
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The president’s budget had cut $20 million for such testing, but the committee restored and added to the funding, according to Kirk’s office. It was part of a larger funding bill that passed 30-0 and awaits full approval by Congress.

Kirk’s announcement follows a national forum held in Chicago over backlogs in the testing of sexual assault evidence kits in crime labs across the nation.

The Illinois State Police crime lab’s backlog of forensic biology and DNA testing involves nearly 2,200 criminal sexual assault cases, the director of the lab said. Despite recent hires and scientists in training, the lab also is undermanned.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk R-Ill. said the additional federal funds will help states tackle the backlog in evidence testing. | AP file photo

U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk R-Ill. said the additional federal funds will help states tackle the backlog in evidence testing. | AP file photo

Police and prosecutors in Chicago say they typically wait a year for DNA test results.

According to Kirk’s office, the U.S. Senate funding would include $117 million for DNA backlog reduction, $4 million for post-conviction DNA testing and $4 million for sexual assault nurse examiners.

The Department of Justice would have to use 5 percent of the funding for grants to local law enforcement agencies to conduct audits on their backlogs and prioritize testing rape kits in cases facing an expiring statute of limitations.
# DNA evidence Mark Kirk Chicago

Plan Commission approves restaurant at Maggie Daley Park

The wildly successful park named after former First Lady Maggie Daley will have its own restaurant with terms dramatically different than the sweetheart deal that benefited clout-heavy investors of Park Grill in Millennium Park.

The Chicago Plan Commission sealed the deal Thursday by approving the 8,000-square-foot restaurant at 352 East Monroe after 11th-hour design concessions tailor-made to appease Friends of the Parks.
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“After many months of negotiations, Friends of the Parks has provided a letter of support for the project,” Executive Director Juanita Irizarry wrote in a text message to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Chicago Park District Supt. Mike Kelly said “painstaking” negotiations with Friends of the Parks and downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) cut the restaurant floor space in half.

The height has also been reduced. It’ll rise to 27 feet — counting a protective guard rail and green roof that will essentially become a continuation of the park.

“We knew there would be pushback. . . . If there was a problem with the height, both of them would have been against us on this,” he said.

The restaurant will be built and operated by the Four Corners Tavern Group, owner of 10 other bars and restaurants.
Chicago Parks Supt. Mike Kelly said the new restaurant in Maggie Daley Park will be a better deal for taxpayers than Park Grill. | Fran Spielman/Sun-Times

Chicago Parks Supt. Mike Kelly said the new restaurant in Maggie Daley Park will be a better deal for taxpayers than the Park Grill. | Fran Spielman/Sun-Times

The deal calls for the Park District to get $75,000 in annual rent, along with a sliding scale of gross sales ranging from 5 to 10 percent. Four Corners will also pay utility costs.

“It’s not the Park Grill. In fact, we were painstaking in our efforts to make sure that this wasn’t the Park Grill. It’s a good deal for the taxpayers. It’s a fair deal. . . . It’s going to be very popular and generate a lot of revenue for the taxpayer,” Kelly said.

“We desperately need the concession. We desperately need the revenue,” he said. “It’s been my goal since we built Maggie Daley Park to operate the park budget neutral, if not in the black. . . . You can’t keep building 20-acre parks with no source of revenue.”

Labor board votes to stop CTU from future ‘illegal’ strikes

The state’s Education Labor Relations Board on Thursday ruled in favor of the Chicago Board of Education in its complaint about the Chicago Teachers Union’s April 1 walkout, which the school district deemed “illegal.”

The ruling, however, won’t make a dent in the union’s threat to strike as soon as May 16 should the two sides not come to a contract agreement. The labor board’s decision references actions or strikes completed before a fact-finding report. That has now happened in the contract dispute between CTU and CPS. After it was released Saturday, CTU shot it down almost immediately.
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The 4-1 ruling on Thursday by the labor board means the union is barred from future strikes before ompleting the fact-finding process. CPS CEO Forrest Claypool filed the complaint after teachers staged a massive walk-out on April 1, which also involved a downtown rally.

Claypool had always called the April 1 action “illegal.”

The labor board will now request that the Illinois Attorney General take the matter to court.

Claypool called the ruling “important” and said it should stop the union from “striking illegally whenever they want.”

“The labor board’s important ruling gives Chicago families more certainty that the CTU leadership cannot strike illegally whenever they want, and we are gratified that the board has taken a major step toward injunctive relief against future strikes,” Claypool said in a statement.

Claypool also urged the union to return to the bargaining table “to prevent a strike and the disruption that it would create for Chicago’s students.”

Claypool pushed for the union to reconsider the fact-finder’s recommendations.

The union shot back on Thursday, calling the board “the governor’s labor board” — although three of the five members were appointed by Democratic governors.

“The governor’s labor board is prosecuting its war on workers,” the CTU said in a statement.

The union noted board member Lynne Sered dissented and reminded the board that in seeking an injunction against the CTU, the board was “ignoring decades of its own legal precedents.”

On Saturday, CTU President Karen Lewis said “the clock has started” counting down to a possible teachers strike after the union rejected the recommendations by the fact-finder whose job was to help resolve the ongoing contract dispute.

Bears putting finishing touches on Soldier Field ad plan

The Bears are putting the finishing touches on a plan to “tastefully” increase advertising at Soldier Field to generate millions of dollars for stadium improvements, a top mayoral aide said Thursday.

Chicago Park District Supt. Mike Kelly said he expects to know within two weeks precisely how many signs the Bears intend to add at Soldier Field, along with the locations of that advertising.
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“The Bears have agreed to go out and market the stadium and put all of that money back into the stadium. That was the critical term. It’s an old stadium. It needs money,” Kelly said during a break at Thursday’s Plan Commission meeting.

“The first step is just getting us to buy into the marketing concepts and putting ’em out to bid,” he said.

Pressed on where the new signs would be located, Kelly said, “Ask me that question in about two weeks. I’ll show you. Hopefully, we’ll have an agreement with them on what we’re going to do.”

Park District general counsel Tim King said purist fans need not worry about advertising creep at Soldier Field.

“There’s a concept. It’s very subtle, very tasteful designs. The Bears are going to put it out to market. The market is going to respond to . . . certain signs mixed with Wi-Fi access, website [advertising] and player appearances. There’s different packages,” King said.

“As long as it’s tastefully done and it’s respectful of the history of the stadium, it’s the only way we can continue to keep the stadium competitive with other NFL markets,” he said. “There’s no other way to pay for it.”

The door to what’s expected to be a dramatic influx in stadium advertising was opened by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s now-scrapped plan to give movie mogul George Lucas 17 acres of land near Soldier Field to build his interactive museum.

In exchange for the inconvenience of losing the South Parking Lot to Lucas, the Bears bargained hard for a host of marketing and advertising opportunities that could go a long way toward financing stadium upgrades.

Sanders: Rahm’s revenge ‘obsession’ behind principal reassignment

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is feeling the Bern — and not in a good way.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders blasted the mayor Thursday for “politically motivated retaliation” against controversial Blaine Elementary School Principal Troy LaRaviere, blaming the principal’s reassignment on “Emanuel’s unhealthy obsession with taking revenge.”
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“It is absolutely unacceptable that a school principal is facing politically motivated retaliation because he dared to stand up to the mayor of Chicago,” the Vermont senator said in written statement.

“If we are going to build an economy that works for all, we cannot sit back and watch as workers face retaliation from bosses. I condemn Principal LaRaviere’s reassignment and call on Democrats around the country to stand up against Mayor Emanuel’s pettiness.”

Chicago Public Schools issued a statement late Thursday afternoon disputing the idea that the mayor’s office ordered the move.

“CPS made this decision based on the advice of our attorneys because of alleged acts of misconduct, including violations of a previously board-issued warning resolution. We did not consult the mayor in making this decision,” Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson said.

CPS officials weren’t saying specifically why LaRaviere got the boot, but they say it has nothing to do with a meeting he’d scheduled with other CPS principals.

An outspoken critic of Emanuel, LaRaviere appeared in TV ads promoting Sanders — and trashing the mayor — before the March primary.

LaRaviere was uncharacteristically quiet Thursday, a day after CPS reassigned him.

LaRaviere said that CPS told him in a letter Wednesday he’d been removed from his job at Blaine, after district officials tried to shut down a meeting he was supposed to attend, along with other principals, at a South Side elementary school.

But CPS spokeswoman Emily Bittner said Thursday that LaRaviere’s removal is “unrelated to the meeting at the elementary school.”

“Principal LaRaviere was asked to come to a meeting at CPS on Wednesday to discuss his removal and employment status,” Bittner said. “He did not show up to the meeting.”

During his time at Blaine, LaRaviere drew praise from those who say he speaks boldly on issues that need to be aired. Others criticized him for being too political for a school principal. That divided opinion was evident Thursday.

Trump team tells GOP he has been ‘projecting an image’

Steve Peoples and Thomas Beaumont | Associated Press

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Donald Trump’s chief lieutenants told skeptical Republican leaders Thursday that the GOP front-runner has been “projecting an image” so far in the 2016 primary season and “the part that he’s been playing is now evolving” in a way that will improve his standing among general election voters.

The message, delivered behind closed doors in a private briefing, is part of the campaign’s intensifying effort to convince party leaders Trump will moderate his tone in the coming months to help deliver big electoral gains this fall, despite his contentious ways.
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Even as his team pressed Trump’s case, he raised fresh concern among some conservatives by speaking against North Carolina’s “bathroom law,” which directs transgender people to use the bathroom that matches the sex on their birth certificates. Trump also came out against the federal government’s plan to replace President Andrew Jackson with the civil-rights figure Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.

The developments came as the GOP’s messy fight for the White House spilled into a seaside resort in south Florida. While candidates in both parties fanned out across the country before important primary contests in the Northeast, Hollywood’s Diplomat Resort & Spa was transformed into a palm-treed political battleground.

Trump’s newly hired senior aide, Paul Manafort, made the case to Republican National Committee members that Trump has two personalities: one in private and one onstage.

“When he’s out on the stage, when he’s talking about the kinds of things he’s talking about on the stump, he’s projecting an image that’s for that purpose,” Manafort said in a private briefing.

“You’ll start to see more depth of the person, the real person. You’ll see a real different guy,” he said.

The Associated Press obtained a recording of the closed-door exchange.

“He gets it,” Manafort said of Trump’s need to moderate his personality. “The part that he’s been playing is evolving into the part that now you’ve been expecting, but he wasn’t ready for, because he had first to complete the first phase. The negatives will come down. The image is going to change.”

Bipartisan vote on $600M higher ed bill called spark of hope

In this Feb. 17, 2016 photo, Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, left, speaks to Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, center, while Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, right, delivers the State of the Budget Address to a joint session of the General Assembly in the House chambers at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. (AP File Photo/Seth Perlman)
Tina Sfondeles
@TinaSfon | email

Illinois lawmakers on Friday approved a big short-time fix to fund the state’s public universities and community colleges in what the governor’s administration is calling a bipartisan glimmer of hope needed to solve the state’s budget impasse.

Illinois State Comptroller Leslie Munger on Friday said payments to universities, community colleges and to students with Monetary Award Program grants will start immediately.
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While state universities are grateful, the funding will only keep the doors open for the rest of the semester, and layoffs are still on the way without a full state budget in a stalemate that’s reached 10 months.

Statehouse sources say a deal for higher education funding was nearly made on Wednesday. Then on Thursday, the bill was pulled from the House with no explanation.

It sailed through on Friday, after some closed-door meetings between lawmakers.

A longtime statehouse source said there was some uncharacteristic “chaos” in the House Democratic caucus. There was some dissension about the vote with Senate Republicans as well, as some questioned why Chicago State would get more funding than other universities.

But assurances by the Rauner administration that there would be a way to fund the bill helped to seal the deal, according to sources. And the Legislative Black Caucus knew CSU needed money or it could be closing its doors for good. The group of legislators was instrumental in getting the bill passed and also stressed the need for a bill to fund social services, just before the House bill was approved.

The House on Friday voted 106-2, while the Senate unanimously passed the bill, which will send $600 million to help stem the financial crises at the state’s public universities and community colleges. It also includes $160 million in tuition grants for low-income students.

The Senate also unanimously advanced a bill that will bridge funding for higher education and critical human services.

The House should take up that bill when legislators return after a one-week break.

Democrats and Republicans had previously split the vote on several higher education bills, with some Republicans stressing there was no source of revenue to pay for the emergency funding.

Did police give Fire Department’s No. 3 man favorable treatment?

The Chicago Police Department struggled Friday to explain why the third-highest ranking member of the Chicago Fire Department was neither tested for alcohol in his system nor charged with drunken driving after crashing his city-owned SUV this week near Lake Shore Drive in Lincoln Park.

The Chicago Fire Department has concluded that John McNicholas, who ran the Fire Department’s Bureau of Operations, was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident.
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But the Breathalyzer test was administered hours after the crash happened, at Fire Department headquarters at 35th and State, by the Fire Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau.

Chicago Police officers were on the scene of the accident on LaSalle Drive just off Lake Shore Drive for up to two hours but never administered a field sobriety test or Breathalyzer test, sources said. Four squad cars were dispatched to the scene and were there from 30 minutes to two hours.

The failure to administer those tests raises questions about whether McNicholas was given preferential treatment by police and comes at a time when the Chicago Police Department is working to restore its battered image and trust with the public.

Unlike Illinois State Police, Chicago Police officers do not carry breathalyzers in their squad cars. If a Breathalyzer is administered, it has to be done at the district station. That was not done in McNicholas’ case.

Both tests were important, but there are two different standards.

The Fire Department has as close to a zero-tolerance policy as it can get. Any department member whose blood-alcohol level exceeds .02 — which is possible after just one or two cocktails — is considered “under the influence” of alcohol.

That’s why McNicholas, who resigned as deputy commissioner Wednesday, agreed to a “full separation” from the Chicago Fire Department after taking the Breathalyzer test that is mandatory after all accidents involving Fire Department vehicles.

The state standard for charging a motorist with DUI is .08. Since police officers on the scene never tested McNicholas for that standard, he is not expected to be charged with DUI.

Move to abolish lt. governor position stays alive in House

Abolishing the office of lieutenant governor moved a step forward Friday, a day after it took a step backward.

The Illinois House on Friday passed a constitutional amendment to eliminate the No. 2 position by a 95-10 vote.
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But the state Senate on Thursday rejected a similar bill, 21-36, in part over fears that it paved the way for a governor to be replaced by a member of the opposite party.

State Rep. David McSweeney’s constitutional amendment would eliminate the lieutenant governor’s position by 2019. The Barrington Hills Republican says getting rid of the office would save the state $1.6 million a year.

The House passage of McSweeney’s amendment means the Illinois Senate will get another chance to vote on the amendment on May 7 where it must pass with 3/5 of the vote.

If the House and Senate pass the amendment, voters would decide whether to get rid of the position on November’s ballot.

The measure would eliminate the office, beginning with the term that would begin in 2019. It would provide for a new gubernatorial succession with the attorney general and secretary of state next in line.

During the Senate debate on Thursday, Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said he didn’t agree with the amendment because it would give succession to a member of a different party, which would go against a voter’s wishes if they had voted for a Republican governor.

“Once you remove the lieutenant governor, the succession now can go to someone of a different party of a wildly different governing philosophy,” Righter said. “That’s a betrayal of what the voters said they wanted when they voted for the governor. I don’t think that’s a line that we should cross.”

Gov. Bruce Rauner and Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti are Republicans, but Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Secretary of State Jesse White are Democrats.

Sen. Kwame Raoul, D- Chicago, said he favored a proposal suggested by Illinois Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, who said she favors folding in the lieutenant governor’s office into the governor’s office, and giving the lieutenant governor more of a role of a deputy governor.

CPD video shows robbery suspect was shot, Tasered and cuffed

On Friday, Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson released a video of an arrest recorded by a dashboard-mounted camera. | Screenshot from CPD video
Frank Main
@FrankMainNews | email

When Chicago police officers stopped a Lincoln Town Car suspected of being used in a McDonald’s robbery in 2011, the female driver allegedly tried to run over one of them at a gas station on the West Side, police said at the time.

The officer fired twice, hitting the woman in the chest and side, but she kept driving and came to a stop on an adjacent street. When she got out of the car, she was thrown to the ground, Tasered and handcuffed.
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On Friday, police Supt. Eddie Johnson released a video of the incident recorded by a dashboard-mounted camera. Although the shooting was deemed justified, Johnson is launching a reinvestigation to determine whether officers used excessive force during their arrest, said a department spokesman.

In a statement, Johnson called the video “concerning.”

Two officers, who he did not name, have been placed on desk duty pending an investigation.

The video doesn’t show the encounter between the officer and the Lincoln Town Car in the gas station.
Tiffani Jacobs pleaded guilty to armed robbery and was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but video showing how she was arrested has the new Chicago police superintendent concerned. | Provided

Tiffani Jacobs pleaded guilty to armed robbery and was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but video showing how she was arrested has the new Chicago police superintendent concerned. | Provided

But police reports say the officer stepped out of his car after a wild chase and the driver, Tiffani Jacobs, accelerated toward him. The officer shot her in the chest and side.

The video shows Jacobs then pulling out of the station, driving onto the street adjacent to the gas station and stopping. She gets out of the car while an officer approaches with a gun pointed at her. He grabs her by the back of her jacket and throws her to the pavement.

Several other officers move in to help arrest Jacobs, blocking video of what happened next.

“After taking Jacobs to the ground, and believing Jacobs may have been armed, officers ordered her to show her hands,” a police report says. “Jacobs refused to comply with verbal direction from the arresting officers to show her hands. At that time officers stepped back and deployed Tasers to obtain control of Jacobs. Jacobs’ hands were subsequently secured and she was taken into custody. Officers determined she had been shot, placed [her] in an unmarked vehicle, and immediately called for an ambulance.”

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# Chicago Police Department Eddie Johnson Chicago
Chicago 04/22/2016, 02:57pm
Move to abolish lt. governor position stays alive in House
David McSweeney in 2006. (File Photo by Richard A. Chapman/Sun-Times)   

David McSweeney in 2006. (File Photo by Richard A. Chapman/Sun-Times)
Tina Sfondeles
@TinaSfon | email

Abolishing the office of lieutenant governor moved a step forward Friday, a day after it took a step backward.

The Illinois House on Friday passed a constitutional amendment to eliminate the No. 2 position by a 95-10 vote.

But the state Senate on Thursday rejected a similar bill, 21-36, in part over fears that it paved the way for a governor to be replaced by a member of the opposite party.

State Rep. David McSweeney’s constitutional amendment would eliminate the lieutenant governor’s position by 2019. The Barrington Hills Republican says getting rid of the office would save the state $1.6 million a year.

The House passage of McSweeney’s amendment means the Illinois Senate will get another chance to vote on the amendment on May 7 where it must pass with 3/5 of the vote.

If the House and Senate pass the amendment, voters would decide whether to get rid of the position on November’s ballot.

The measure would eliminate the office, beginning with the term that would begin in 2019. It would provide for a new gubernatorial succession with the attorney general and secretary of state next in line.

During the Senate debate on Thursday, Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said he didn’t agree with the amendment because it would give succession to a member of a different party, which would go against a voter’s wishes if they had voted for a Republican governor.

“Once you remove the lieutenant governor, the succession now can go to someone of a different party of a wildly different governing philosophy,” Righter said. “That’s a betrayal of what the voters said they wanted when they voted for the governor. I don’t think that’s a line that we should cross.”

Gov. Bruce Rauner and Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti are Republicans, but Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Secretary of State Jesse White are Democrats.

Sen. Kwame Raoul, D- Chicago, said he favored a proposal suggested by Illinois Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, who said she favors folding in the lieutenant governor’s office into the governor’s office, and giving the lieutenant governor more of a role of a deputy governor.

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# constitutional amendment Bruce Rauner

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Tom DeLay, ex-CIA chief, pols write judge praising Dennis Hastert

House Speaker U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert, (R-Ill) (L) speaks while House Majority Leader U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) listens at the U.S. Capitol May 25, 2005 in Washington, (File Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Tina Sfondeles
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Jon Seidel
@SeidelContent | email

Federal prosecutors portray former House Speaker Dennis Hastert as a serial child molester who agreed to pay millions to cover up his shameful secrets — but former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay describes him as a man of “strong faith” and “great integrity.”

“We all have our flaws, but Dennis Hastert has very few,” DeLay wrote to Hastert’s sentencing judge. “He is a good man that loves the Lord. He gets his integrity and values from Him. He doesn’t deserve what he is going through.”
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DeLay penned one of 41 letters released publicly on Friday in support of Hastert, just days before the Yorkville Republican’s sentencing. Included are letters written by Hastert’s wife, two of his sons, two of his brothers, former Congressman and head of the Central Intelligence Agency Porter Goss, former Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner, several ex-congressmen and a few retired law enforcement officers, including retired Kendall County Sheriff Richard Randall and members of the U.S. Capitol Police force.

The letter writers call Hastert, now 74, a great friend, great public servant and great American.

Hastert’s wife of 43 years, Jean, wrote that she’s never known a “more honorable and devoted man.” She said he spent his life “in the service of others.”

“If one of his students or wrestlers ever needed anything of him, he would be there for them, and he was never happier than when he could watch someone he helped succeed,” Jean Hastert wrote.

Hastert’s son Joshua also wrote a letter, asking the judge to keep in mind that his father spent 35 years “serving the public good.”

“He now has [a] myriad [of] medical issues and he should be with his family and not in the medical division of a correctional institution,” Joshua Hastert wrote.

DeLay asked the judge for leniency while describing Hastert as a man of faith who created a lunchtime Bible study that DeLay and Hastert attended after Hastert was elected speaker.

“I have observed him in many different and difficult situations. He has never disappointed me in any way. He is a man of strong faith that guides him. He is a man of great integrity. He loves and respects his fellow man,” DeLay wrote. “I have never witnessed a time when he was unkind to anyone. He is always giving to others and helping anyone including me so many times.”

Comfortable apartment, but ‘neighborhood is trouble’

Taura Willhite says drug-dealing and other crimes make her want to move from the apartment on South Homan she leases with a CHA voucher. | Brian Jackson / Sun-Times
Mick Dumke
@mickeyd1971 | email
Tim Novak
@tnovaksuntimes | email
Chris Fusco
@FuscoChris | email
Brett Chase
email

After moving around the city for years, Taura Willhite is glad to now be in a comfortable apartment, with a landlord who’s prompt to respond when she calls with a maintenance request.

What she doesn’t like, though, is the area around the three-story greystone in the 1600 block of South Homan in North Lawndale where she lives. It’s bad enough that she wants to move out.
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“The neighborhood is trouble,” says Willhite, 40, a disabled mother who lives there with the help of a Section 8 voucher from the Chicago Housing Authority. “There’s a lot of drug sales and gun violence.”

Under its “Plan for Transformation,” the CHA demolished badly managed, high-rise housing projects in “the largest, most ambitious redevelopment effort of public housing in the United States.” The aim was to help people find better housing options and, with that, to improve their prospects for work, education and quality of life.

“We want to rebuild their souls,” former Mayor Richard M. Daley said of the city’s public housing residents.

More than a decade and a half later, Willhite lives on a trashed-out block that includes 76 CHA-subsidized residents — among them former tenants of the long-gone high-rises. Amid vacant lots and boarded-up homes, they live in 14 buildings, some of them with a history of code violations.

In 1966, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. lived just a short walk away from here while waging his Chicago campaign “to help eradicate a vicious system which seeks to further colonize thousands of Negroes within a slum environment.’’

Fifty years later, vacant lots dot the block where Willhite lives. The buildings there include a century-old single-family home and four three-flats built during the housing boom of the early 2000s.

In the past year, the police have logged 67 crimes on this block — including drug dealing, armed robbery and aggravated battery. Shootings, sexual assaults and other violent crimes have been reported on neighboring blocks.

Cashing in on the CHA — a Sun-Times/BGA special Watchdogs report

Diane L. Gottlieb's building (second from left) in the 1600 block of South Homan Avenue in North Lawndale has been the subject of a city lawsuit over code violations since July 2014. Gottlieb gets $1,925 a month in rent for two apartments there leased by CHA voucher-holders. The CHA covers 87 percent of that. | Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times
Chris Fusco, Tim Novak, Mick Dumke and Brett Chase

From her 49th-floor condo at Lake Point Tower, Diane L. Gottlieb oversees a public housing empire that brings her nearly $1 million a year in government-subsidized rent.

Gottlieb, 55, has a growing portfolio of apartments — from swanky digs in a Gold Coast high-rise to rundown buildings on the South Side and the West Side — that she leases to dozens of tenants whose rent is covered in full or in part by the Chicago Housing Authority.
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The buildings include a brick three-flat in the 1600 block of South Homan in North Lawndale, one of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods, that Gottlieb bought three years ago for $30,000 after the property went into foreclosure.

Today, she gets back more than a tenth of her purchase price every month — $3,032 — in rent from that building, with two-thirds of that coming out of federal tax dollars managed by the CHA.
Diane Gottlieb leaves housing court at the Daley Center on April 13. | Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times

Diane Gottlieb leaves housing court at the Daley Center on April 13. | Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times

Gottlieb owns seven of the 30 residential buildings on this block, which is littered with trash, vacant lots and boarded-up homes. Her tenants on South Homan include 21 people who live in 10 apartments with rent subsidies provided by the CHA’s Housing Choice Voucher Program, commonly known as Section 8.

Six of her buildings on South Homan have a history of building-code violations.

That’s not unusual for landlords renting to CHA voucher-holders, according to a Chicago Sun-Times and Better Government Association investigation that found that thousands of voucher tenants are living in buildings that have been cited by City Hall inspectors over the past five years for code violations.

The Sun-Times and BGA also found that, despite the CHA’s massive “Plan for Transformation” of public housing, most of the more than 44,000 voucher tenants continue to live in high-crime, poverty-riddled neighborhoods on the South Side and the West Side where the bulk of the housing agency’s tenants lived in the days of the old CHA high-rise projects.

CHA about the series boxThe CHA began demolishing Cabrini-Green, the Robert Taylor Homes and other projects 16 years ago, aiming to help people find better housing options. Since then, providing housing for poor people has become a growth industry for private landlords that lap up government funding by catering to the need for low-income housing.

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# Beyond the Rubble Chicago
Business 04/23/2016, 08:59am
Comfortable apartment, but ‘neighborhood is trouble’
Taura Willhite says drug-dealing and other crimes make her want to move from the apartment on South Homan she leases with a CHA voucher. | Brian Jackson / Sun-Times   

Taura Willhite says drug-dealing and other crimes make her want to move from the apartment on South Homan she leases with a CHA voucher. | Brian Jackson / Sun-Times
Mick Dumke
@mickeyd1971 | email
Tim Novak
@tnovaksuntimes | email
Chris Fusco
@FuscoChris | email
Brett Chase
email

After moving around the city for years, Taura Willhite is glad to now be in a comfortable apartment, with a landlord who’s prompt to respond when she calls with a maintenance request.

What she doesn’t like, though, is the area around the three-story greystone in the 1600 block of South Homan in North Lawndale where she lives. It’s bad enough that she wants to move out.

“The neighborhood is trouble,” says Willhite, 40, a disabled mother who lives there with the help of a Section 8 voucher from the Chicago Housing Authority. “There’s a lot of drug sales and gun violence.”

Under its “Plan for Transformation,” the CHA demolished badly managed, high-rise housing projects in “the largest, most ambitious redevelopment effort of public housing in the United States.” The aim was to help people find better housing options and, with that, to improve their prospects for work, education and quality of life.

“We want to rebuild their souls,” former Mayor Richard M. Daley said of the city’s public housing residents.

More than a decade and a half later, Willhite lives on a trashed-out block that includes 76 CHA-subsidized residents — among them former tenants of the long-gone high-rises. Amid vacant lots and boarded-up homes, they live in 14 buildings, some of them with a history of code violations.

In 1966, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. lived just a short walk away from here while waging his Chicago campaign “to help eradicate a vicious system which seeks to further colonize thousands of Negroes within a slum environment.’’

Fifty years later, vacant lots dot the block where Willhite lives. The buildings there include a century-old single-family home and four three-flats built during the housing boom of the early 2000s.

In the past year, the police have logged 67 crimes on this block — including drug dealing, armed robbery and aggravated battery. Shootings, sexual assaults and other violent crimes have been reported on neighboring blocks.
The CHA provides Taura Willhite with a housing voucher to live in this six-flat, center, on South Homan Avenue. Her landlord plans to rehab the abandoned building next door. Brian Jackson / Sun-Times

The CHA provides Taura Willhite with a housing voucher to live in this six-flat, center, on South Homan Avenue. Her landlord plans to rehab the abandoned building next door. | Brian Jackson / Sun-Times

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# Beyond the Rubble Taura Willhite North Lawndale

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Trump’s second act in Illinois — can he play delegate game right?

WASHINGTON — Repoublican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump won the Illinois primary in March — but as Ted Cruz and John Kasich hunt for delegates to deny him the nomination, there still could be a fight over the 12 at-large delegates in Illinois that remain up for grabs.

Those dozen delegates will be selected at the Illinois Republican Party state convention May 19-21 in Peoria.
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In the March primary, Trump won 37 delegates elected at the congressional district level, Cruz got nine and Kasich six.

These elected delegates are expected to be loyalists if there’s a contested convention in Cleveland come July.

Under party rules, though, the 12 at-large delegates to be picked in Peoria would be bound to Trump only for the first ballot. If the convention is contested and goes beyond that, they’re free to vote as they please.

So it will be important to see how Trump and his allies in Illinois work the complicated Peoria convention at-large delegate-selection process. Will they be able to install loyalists — and not double agents — in those slots?

Bernard B. Wolfe, judge, state rep and SIDS activist, dead at 101

Maureen O'Donnell
@suntimesobits | email

The nation’s first statewide push to reduce Sudden Infant Death Syndrome started in Illinois under the leadership of Bernard Wolfe.

After a friend lost a baby to SIDS, Mr. Wolfe — at the time an Illinois lawmaker — helped organize a bipartisan commission in 1973 to investigate what was once called “crib death.” The group interviewed medical examiners, physicians and grieving families around the state.
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He said he was seeking “to remove the stigma” for families.

“Coroners, fire rescue squads and police must be informed SIDS is a real killer,” he said at the time. “These unexplained deaths needn’t be linked with abuse.”

“One of the most important changes that came out of [his] study were the recommendations that SIDS be an acceptable diagnosis on the death certificate,” said Nancy Maruyama, a registered nurse and executive director of the organization SIDS of Illinois.

Mr. Wolfe’s “deep dedication to all bereaved parents and their beloved babies was clearly evident,” Maruyama said. “He brought SIDS to the forefront in Illinois, insisting that these families be treated with compassion and not suspicion.”

With SIDS, an otherwise healthy baby dies unexpectedly, usually in its sleep. Some scientists theorize it’s linked to an abnormality in the part of the brain that regulates heart rate, breathing and waking, and that environmental factors may also be involved, such as stomach-sleeping, soft bedding, high room temperatures and exposure to smoking.

It remains the top killer of infants between 1 and 12 months old, but after educational efforts like the 1994 national Back to Sleep campaign–which encouraged putting babies to bed on their backs–SIDS deaths dropped 50 percent nationwide. In Illinois, they have decreased by 76 percent, Maruyama said.

Before he died on April 9 at 101, Mr. Wolfe served five terms, from 1964 to 1974, as a state representative from Chicago. His statehouse friends included Abner Mikva, Anthony Scariano and Paul Simon — part of a group dubbed the “Kosher Nostra.”

After leaving the legislature, Mr. Wolfe spent a decade as a Cook County judge. He then worked as a court-appointed mediator in divorce cases. Earlier in his career, he worked in private practice and as a federal prosecutor.

Former O.C. sheriff's higher-ups seek $19 million in wrongful-termination lawsuit

SANTA ANA – A lawsuit pitting five former department leaders against Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens is now in the hands of a judge, who must weigh the dismissed officers’ demand for $19 million in damages.

Superior Court Judge Frederick P. Aguirre said Friday he plans to rule within 10 days whether the five were terminated because of a budget crunch, or if the sheriff used the layoffs as an excuse to jettison those she associated disgraced ex-Sheriff Mike Carona.

Attorney Joel W. Baruch, who represents the ex-high-ranking officials, accused Hutchens of lying at the time of the 2009 layoffs and during her testimony in the long-running civil trial.

“They were unceremoniously dumped,” Baruch told the judge Friday during the trial’s closing arguments. “Sheriff Sandra Hutchens lied to them about why she did what she did, so she could avoid hearings and oversight.”

S. Frank Harrell, an attorney hired by the county, said he was shocked at Baruch’s request on Friday for $19 million in toal damages.

Harrell said Hutchens was forced to dismiss the officers for financial reasons and that they don’t deserve any damages.

“Layoffs don’t happen because someone did something wrong and needs to be punished,” Harrell said. “The sheriff didn’t want to lay anybody off. She was fighting for her men and women. She was fighting for their jobs.”

The lawsuit was filed by five ex-command staff members: former assistant sheriff’s Jack Anderson and John Davis, and former captains Brian Cossairt, Deana Bergquist and Robert Eason.

Baruch contends they deserve $19 million to cover their lost income, as well as penalties and emotional damages.

The non-jury civil trial began in June and testimony and legal filings have been off and on ever since. Both sides returned to Santa Ana courthouse on Friday for final arguments.

The lawsuit stems from the tumultuous months in 2009 after the county hired Hutchens to overhaul the embattled department, which was reeling from the federal indictment of Sheriff Carona on corruption charges and the death of inmate John Chamberlain, who was beaten by fellow jail inmates.

By the time of Hutchens‘ appointment, Carona’s inner circle had already fallen apart, as the man once dubbed “America’s Sheriff” was on his way to serving time as a convicted felon.

Former Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo had been indicted and convicted of corruption charges. Don Haidl, another former assistant sheriff handpicked by Carona, had resigned and ultimately wore a wire to capture Carona making incriminating statements. Carona’s undersheriff, JoAnn Galisky, had been fired during the Chamberlain scandal.

The five suing the department were among those who remained in the department during the transition to the Hutchens’ regimes. They were joined in Hutchens newly-created command staff by John Scott and Michael Hillman, veteran law enforcement officials who Hutchens knew from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The suit alleges that a rift developed between new arrivals and the holdovers who believed that Hutchens and two officers she brought into her command staff looked at Orange County as “backwoods” territory still rife with corruption. The five suing the department say they butted heads with Hutchens and were moved into less-powerful positions.

Just months after taking the department’s reins, Hutchens faced the task of closing a multi-million-dollar budget shortfall. Rather than letting go of deputies and investigators, Hutchens said she decided to trim from the top.

During the trial, Hutchens said she overhauled the department by combining numerous divisions. Those left without divisions to command were dismissed, the sheriff said.

“I did it by function, because there were no performance issues,” Hutchens said. “I did not want to lay off anybody.”

During the trial, Baruch challenged the sheriff over her layoff decisions. The lawyer contended she retained the command staffers she brought in despite their higher pay, and contended she ultimately ended up moving lower-ranked members of the department she was perceived to favor up the promotion ladder.

Black lawyers group pulls support for top Alvarez aide as judge

Better Government Association
email

By Robert Herguth

With embattled Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez soon out the door after losing the March Democratic primary to Kim Foxx, Alvarez’s top deputy, Daniel Kirk, is finding rough going in his quest to be appointed a Cook County judge.
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Not only was he bypassed in a recent round of 13 associate judge appointments made by sitting circuit judges, but he also lost a “recommended” rating he’d been given by a bar group.

The Cook County Bar Association — among the lawyers’ groups that gauge the suitability of candidates for the bench — took the unusual step of rescinding its positive rating of Kirk.

Last year, it found Kirk “recommended” for judge. But now it’s changed its assessment of Alvarez’s first assistant state’s attorney to “not recommended.” Its top designation is “highly recommended.”

The bar group is largely comprised of black lawyers in the Chicago area.

Alvarez has come under fire for her agency’s handling of excessive-force cases involving police officers and for not filing charges sooner in the shooting death of Laquan McDonald, a black 17-year-old, by a white Chicago cop who was charged with first-degree murder only after a video of the shooting was ordered released.

Arlene Coleman, president of the Cook County Bar Association, would say only that the group reconsidered its rating after “there were concerns” expressed by her group’s judicial evaluation committee about Kirk, who also has served as Alvarez’s chief of staff and campaign chairman.

“I’m not going to say what all those concerns were,” Coleman says. “I don’t think we have to give a reason why. We have a right to change our minds.”

She says the about-face was unusual and that Kirk has appealed the “not recommended” label.

The bar association board — which includes two Cook County prosecutors, several sitting or retired judges and political and governmental figures including Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Larry Rogers Jr. — will soon consider his appeal, Coleman says.

Kirk says he hasn’t been told what the concerns about him are.

Fullerton College's Police Academy faces new scrutiny, claim filed

A Newport Beach law firm has filed a claim with the state accusing the Fullerton College Police Academy of acting negligently and fraudulently in regard to 73 former students.

The Roberts Law Firm names the North Orange County Community College District and the academy’s former director, Jerry Stokes, who was put on leave and is now a full-time faculty member again.

In October, the state closed the college’s academy for compliance issues; many of its instructors failed to show that they had sufficient teaching qualifications.

The claim says the academy failed to get state approval of its courses before they started, inaccurately advertised that students could get state certification and ultimately caused seven police officers to be put on desk jobs.

Those seven and their classmates will be offered supplemental training to get certified, a state official has said.

Unless the college accepts the claim, attorneys said they will file a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the academy’s 31-member Class of 2015 who graduated in May believing they received state certification to become police officers. The claim also includes the 2016 class, which was disbanded.

“These students made incredible sacrifices to pursue their dreams of becoming police officers only to be told their efforts were for nothing,” attorney Jeffrey Roberts said in a statement. “It’s time for Fullerton College to accept responsibility.”

The claim, which seeks $4.7 million overall, accuses Stokes of being an absent director, delegating his work to others.

The college agreed to reimburse out-of-pocket costs for the most-recent class, but the claim says many students “received no refund at all, others were offered pennies on the dollar.”

District spokeswoman Kai Stearns Moore said the district has settled reimbursements with 30 students. There were 42 in the 2016 class.

The college maintains it met all of the state requirements and disagrees with the disqualification by the state of its academy. The college continues working with the state to regain its certification.

Final Illinois primary tally shows why Bernie Sanders won’t quit

WASHINGTON — Bernie Sanders is staying in the Democratic presidential race even though he has little chance of overtaking Hillary Clinton in the all-important delegate count, and new data from the Illinois primary provides a vivid example of how the arcane system works — and why Sanders has reason not to quit.

“We still have a path to the nomination, and our plan is to win the pledged delegates in this primary,” Sanders said in a fund-raising appeal after Clinton bested him by 10 percentage points in New York last Tuesday. “Next week, five states vote, and there are a lot of delegates up for grabs.”
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Sanders, his campaign manager Jeff Weaver and top strategist Tad Devine all insisted in interviews after New York that that path, while increasingly narrow, was realistic.

We’ll know more come Tuesday, when five Eastern states vote: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware.

This chaotic campaign season, in which outsiders Sanders and Republican front-runner Donald Trump have gained enormous followings, has thrown a spotlight on the presidential nominating system.

Many voters are realizing for the first time that primary and caucus votes are just one step of many and that the state and national parties have enormous influence in the process. Delegates at the GOP and Democratic nominating conventions this summer decide the nominees, not caucus and primary voters, whose voices, at best, are heard indirectly.

The system is complicated. It is not, as Trump likes to say, rigged. But it is tilted toward insiders who study the rules with the zest of a Talmudic scholar.

BREAKING IT DOWN

Let’s break down Illinois, which can be done with precision now that the Illinois State Board of Elections has finalized the results of the March 15 primary.

Illinois Democrats will send 182 delegates to the Democratic national convention in Philadelphia in July.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. AP photo

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won 52 of the 102 elected delegate slots in Illinois’ March primary, to Bernie Sanders’ 50, according to the recently released final vote count. AP photo

Clinton won the March 15 Illinois primary with 50.56 percent to Sanders 48.61 percent in overall votes — the “beauty contest.”

That doesn’t mean, though, that Clinton clinched all 182 delegates.

Of those delegate slots, actually just 102 were up for grabs in the March primary, allocated among the 18 Illinois congressional districts.

With the final tally now in, the Illinois election results mean that, of those 102 elected delegate spots in Illinois, Clinton won 52 and Sanders 50 — almost a tie.

In theory, since no Democratic contest is winner-takes-all — unlike the Republican Party, which allows that in some states — all Sanders has to do is stay neck and neck with Clinton, as he did in Illinois, by doing OK on Tuesday in the Eastern state votes, then clinch in June in California, where more than 300 congressional district-level pledged delegates will be elected.

In reality, though, the delegate math is overwhelmingly in Clinton’s favor.

Here’s the count: 2,383 delegates are needed to win. As of Friday, according to the Bloomberg delegate trackers, Clinton has 1,930 — including 502 superdelegates to Sanders with 1,189, including 38 superdelegates. There are 1,646 delegates still to be decided.

A CONVOLUTED PATH

Those 102 Illinois delegates elected from congressional districts are pledged to either Sanders or Clinton. Those slots were allocated at a rate of four to nine per congressional district, based on the 2008 and 2012 Democratic Illinois presidential votes.

What about the rest? There are various categories, detailed in 91 pages of delegate selection rules the Democratic Party of Illinois finalized in April 2015. The short of that is this:
President Barack Obama is among the Illinois Democratic Party's "superdelegates." AP file photo

President Barack Obama is among the Illinois Democratic Party’s “superdelegates.” AP file photo

SUPERDELEGATES: In Illinois, there are the 25 unpledged party leaders and elected officials, nicknamed “superdelegates,” who get to be delegates by virtue of their party or elected office.

Among Illinois Democratic superdelegates are President Barack Obama, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the 10 Illinois House Democrats and other “distinguished” leaders, who this year will include Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts and Chicago business executive Raj Fernandez — both of them Democratic contributors and fund-raisers.

PLEDGED PARTY LEADERS: There are 20 pledged party-leader and elected-official delegates — a vehicle to make it easy for big-city Illinois mayors, statewide elected officials, legislative leaders and local party honchos to get to the national convention. Applications for those slots were due April 11.

AT-LARGE DELEGATES: There’s another pot of 34 at-large delegates to be selected when the Democratic Party of Illinois meets in Springfield on May 9. Under the party’s rules, those spots will be apportioned based on the primary results, so it’s likely that Clinton and Sanders will each get 17.

SPECIAL CASE: One. John Keller, of Chicago, is an automatic delegate pick by virtue of his position as an officer of the Democratic National Committee’s Young Democrats of America.

There is no worry about any double agents here — under the Democratic Party’s rules, the Clinton and Sanders get to choose who they want to fill their at-large slots.

MORE ILLINOIS PRIMARY HIGHLIGHTS

• Clinton won the seven most Democratic Illinois districts — the ones with the biggest delegate allotments.

• The first congressional district on the South Side, a Democratic stronghold represented in Congress by Rep. Bobby Rush, and the seventh, on the West Side, with Rep. Danny Davis, have the most delegates — nine each. The second district, with Rep. Robin Kelly in Congress has eight.

The Rush, Davis and Kelly districts are all majority African American, and Clinton and her husband Bill spent a lot of time on this turf in the closing days of the Illinois primary.

• Using the first congressional district as an example of the proportional system: All nine contenders on the Clinton slate got more votes than anyone on the Sanders slate. Under the party rules, though, Clinton gained five delegates and Sander earned four.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. | Rich Hein / Sun-Times file photo

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle was the overall top Democratic delegate vote-getter in Illinois. | Rich Hein / Sun-Times file photo

• The overall top Democratic delegate vote-getter in the state? Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who easily won in the first congressional district.

Preckwinkle got 97,932 votes, followed by: state Sen. Jacqueline Collins D-Chicago, with 93,421; state Rep. Mary Flowers D-Chicago, 87,677; state Sen. Kwame Raoul D-Chicago, 83,785; and Ald. David Moore (17th), 83,587.

The next four Clinton delegates weren’t elected, in order to make way for the four Sanders delegates, even though they got far more votes. Not elected were Rush’s wife, Carolyn Rush, who had 83,373 votes; Illinois House Majority Leader Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, 81,504; Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th), 80,392; and city Treasurer Kurt Summers, 76,765.

To compare: The top Sanders delegate in the first district is Adriana Sanchez, who secured a delegate spot with only 54,330 votes. Sanchez is a telemetry nurse at the University of Chicago Medical Center who stumped for Sanders through one of his main allied organizations, National Nurses United.

• Sanders won 11 of 18 Illinois’ 18 congressional districts.

In the Chicago area, that’s the third, represented in Congress by Rep. Dan Lipinski; the fourth, represented by Rep. Luis Gutierrez; the fifth, represented by Rep. Mike Quigley; and the eighth, represented by Rep. Tammy Duckworth.

All of these House members are superdelegates. Lipinski said a few days ago that if there’s a contested convention, he would be for Sanders. Guiterrez, Quigley and Duckworth are for Clinton.

Sanders did best in Illinois in districts represented by Republicans in Congress, with his top district the Downstate 13th (Rep. Rodney Davis), followed by the far west suburban 14th, (Rep. Randy Hultgren) and the south suburban/Downstate 16th (Rep. Adam Kinzinger)

ANOTHER WRINKLE

Democrats are committed to dividing delegates equally between men and women among the 102 elected delegates. That means that sometimes, to make sure there’s gender parity among the elected delegates, someone with fewer votes still secures a slot.

For example, in the fifth congressional district, Clinton and Sanders each was entitled to three delegates.

The top three vote-getters were all women — Rebecca Abraham and Laura Sabransky for Sanders and state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz for Clinton.
Ald. John Arena (45th) | Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times

Ald. John Arena (45th), a Bernie Sanders supporter, won a delegate spot. | Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times

That means they also needed three men. Ald. John Arena (45th) a Sanders man, was next in line.

Cook County Board Member Bridget Gainer came in second for Clinton, and Jan Kallish, who stumped for Clinton in Iowa, came in third.

But if they took the spots that would have left them short of men. So the Clinton guys who ran four and five — attorney Patrick Croke and Rocco Claps, director of the Illinois Department of Human Rights — were deemed the winners instead.

Pedestrian hit, killed by vehicle in Santa Ana

A pedestrian died Friday night after being struck by a vehicle in Santa Ana, authorities said.

The pedestrian, whose age and identity were not released, was in the 400 block of East First Street at 6:35 p.m., when a vehicle struck and killed him, said Sgt. Michael Claborn of the Santa Ana Police Department.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, Claborn said. The driver of the vehicle stopped and was cooperating with investigators.

Police said they do not believe the driver was impaired at the time of the crash.

Photos: Scenes from the second weekend of Coachella

The second weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio got underway Friday. The lineup was the same as for the previous weekend but most fans were experiencing it for the first time.

Click through the slideshow to see images from the festival's first day on its second weekend.

Rayo Vallecano 2-3 Real Madrid, Bournemouth 1-4 Chelsea and more: clockwatch as it happened!

Gareth Bale scored twice as Real Madrid fought back from 2-0 down, Eden Hazard helped Chelsea ease past Bournemouth while MK Dons, Colchester and York all suffered relegation pain


Thanks for joining me. Be sure to follow Barry Glendenning’s MBM coverage of Everton v Manchester United at Wembley. I’ll leave you with a selection of top-drawer match reports from today’s action. Later.
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Jack Colback seals stirring comeback as Benítez’s Newcastle hold Liverpool
Jack Colback delivered a precious point in the relegation fight as Newcastle came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Liverpool at Anfield
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Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale scores late winner against Rayo Vallecano
Real Madrid defeated Rayo Vallecano 3-2 to maintain pressure on the frontrunners in La Liga
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Bayern Munich made to wait for title despite beating Hertha Berlin
Arturo Vidal and Douglas Costa scored to give Bayern Munich a 2-0 win at Hertha Berlin but they were still unable to celebrate a record fourth straight Bundesliga win as Borussia Dortmund also won
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Southampton add to Aston Villa misery as fans jeer relegated hosts
Awful defending helped Southampton to a 4-2 win at Aston Villa, with Shane Long, Dusan Tadic (two) and Sadio Mané outweighing Ashley Westwood’s double
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MK Dons relegated to League One with thrashing by Brentford
MK Dons have joined Bolton and Charlton in relegation from the Championship, going down 4-1 at home to Brentford
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Updated at 5.21pm BST
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38m ago 17:11
FT: Charlton 1-2 Brighton

After about 15 minutes of injury time, Brighton get a vital victory at the Valley. With two games to go, the Championship top three looks like this:

    Burnley (87 pts; GD +33)
    Middlesbrough (87 pts; GD +32)
    Brighton (87 pts; GD +30)

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40m ago 17:09
York City are relegated to the National League

A 3-0 defeat to Accrington sees York consigned to non-league football after four years back in the Football League.

It was a bad day for Plymouth, who somehow lost 3-2 at home to relegated Dagenham & Redbridge. Accrington, Oxford and Bristol Rovers all took advantage in a tight automatic promotion race, while Portsmouth and Wimbledon both won, and look bound for the play-offs.

Updated at 5.09pm BST
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43m ago 17:06
Colchester are relegated from League One

The U’s pulled off a great escape last season, but ran out of luck, losing 3-0 to Burton to confirm their relegation. Doncaster are still alive after beating Coventry 2-0, despite Shrewsbury’s win at Gillingham, while Fleetwood drew 0-0 with Blackpool.

At the top, only an extraordinary run of results will deny Wigan automatic promotion after they beat Southend 4-1, with Burton also well set after Walsall lost 4-0 at Bradford. Millwall moved up to third with a 3-1 win at Bury.
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47m ago 17:02
Championship results

Blackburn 2-2 Bristol City
Cardiff 2-1 Bolton
Charlton 1-2 Brighton (L)
Fulham 1-3 Nottingham Forest
Huddersfield 1-1 Birmingham
Hull 2-2 Leeds
MK Dons 1-4 Brentford
Middlesbrough 0-0 Ipswich
QPR 1-1 Reading
Wolves 0-0 Rotherham
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49m ago 17:00

“Did Sutton Utd get promoted?” asks Giles Allison. Yes, Giles. Yes they did. They beat Chelmsford 2-0 at Gander Green Lane.

“If we’re doing swaps, Mito Hollyhocks beat Tokyo Verdy 3–0 for all the Japanese J League 2 fans out there”

I think we can all get behind a team with a name as fine as Mito Hollyhocks...
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50m ago 16:58
MK Dons are relegated

Their 4-1 defeat to Brentford renders other results irrelevant; Milton Keynes are going back down to League One, and could end up playing AFC Wimbledon in the league next season. Cardiff, meanwhile, have grabbed a late winner to set up a playoff decider against Sheffield Wednesday next week...
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52m ago 16:57
FT: Rayo Vallecano 2-3 Real Madrid

Gareth Bale rescues Real Madrid with two goals; Lucas Vasquez got the other after Rayo went 2-0 up inside 15 minutes. Real are top of La Liga – for now.
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53m ago 16:55
FT: Middlesbrough 0-0 Ipswich

No late drama for the Boro today; they stumble in the promotion race, with all three teams set to end the day on 87 points...
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54m ago 16:54
FT: Bournemouth 1-4 Chelsea

Plenty o’ goals at the Vitality Stadium too – Eden Hazard got two of them, as Chelsea won a game that was much more competitive than the scoreline suggests.
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1h ago 16:53
FT: Aston Villa 2-4 Southampton

Southampton are just a point behind Liverpool after a win over relegated Villa, who at least got a couple of goals...
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1h ago 16:53
FT: Liverpool 2-2 Newcastle

Newcastle rally from 2-0 down at half-time to snatch a point at Anfield, moving to within a point of Norwich – and probably ending Liverpool’s faint top four hopes in the process.
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1h ago 16:51
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-4 Southampton (Mané)

Just as a bearable afternoon beckoned for Villa fans, Sadio Mané heads in a fourth for Southampton.
Sadio Mané scores.
Sadio Mané rubs salt in Villa’s wounds. Photograph: Darren Staples/Reuters

Updated at 5.00pm BST
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1h ago 16:50

Newport equalise at Luton, making York’s result at Accrington irrelevant – they’re losing, as it happens. In the Championship, Brentford lead 4-1, and MK Dons are going down with a whimper. At the KC Stadium, Stuart Dallas has levelled for Leeds, snipping the thread holding up Hull’s automatic promotion hopes.
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1h ago 16:49
GOAL! Bournemouth 1-4 Chelsea (Hazard)

It took him eight months to get his first, now Eden Hazard has a second in the same game – he tucks away Matic’s cut back to put a flattering gloss on the scoreline.
A pleased looking Eden Hazard notches his second of the afternoon and the season, and Chelsea’s fourth of the game.
A pleased looking Eden Hazard notches his second of the afternoon and the season, and Chelsea’s fourth of the game. Photograph: Ian Walton/Getty Images

Updated at 4.59pm BST
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1h ago 16:47

Three minutes of stoppage time at Middlesbrough, where Jordan Rhodes has just hit the post!
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1h ago 16:47

Plymouth have rallied against Dagenham & Redbridge, and now trail 3-2. Another 3-2 at Gillingham, where relegation-threatened Shrewsbury have retaken the lead. It’s all happening...
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1h ago 16:46

Here’s Simon McMahon, keeping on top of the Scottish League One relegation battle so I don’t have to:

    Wow! Scenes in Scottish League One. Stenhousemuir have turned it around against Cowdenbeath and lead 3-1, and Brechin have scored late against Stranraer. That relegates Forfar and leaves Cowdenbeath in the relegation play off place on goal difference, level on points with Brechin and one behind Stenhousemuir. Should be quite a finish next week.

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1h ago 16:43
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-3 Southampton (Westwood)

Ashley Westwood scores his second of the day. For the fourth time in the league this season, Villa have scored two at home; they are yet to score three.
Aston Villa’s Ashley Westwood scores their second goal.
Aston Villa’s Ashley Westwood scores their second goal. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Reuters

Updated at 4.57pm BST
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1h ago 16:41

Team news from Wembley:

Everton: Robles, Besic, Stones, Jagielka, Baines, McCarthy, Gibson, Lennon, Barkley, Cleverley, Lukaku.

Subs: Hibbert, Oviedo, Mirallas, Deulofeu, Osman, Howard, Pennington.

Man Utd: De Gea, Fosu-Mensah, Smalling, Blind, Rojo, Fellaini, Carrick, Lingard, Rooney, Martial, Rashford.

Subs: Depay, Mata, Romero, Ander Herrera, Valencia, Schneiderlin, Darmian.

Join Barry Glendenning – live!
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1h ago 16:40
GOAL! Rayo Vallecano 2-3 Real Madrid (Bale)

Bale completes the comeback, racing through on goal and firing low into the net. Real Madrid are going top of La Liga!
Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale scores his team’s third goal.
Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale scores his team’s third goal. Photograph: Luca Piergiovanni/EPA

Updated at 4.56pm BST
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1h ago 16:37

Bradford are getting a psychological edge for the play-offs – they’re hammering Walsall 4-0, James Hanson hitting a 15-minute hat-trick. David Cotterill has given Birmingham, whose fans tried to take this along today, the lead at Huddersfield:

Updated at 4.39pm BST
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1h ago 16:34

Bristol City popping a few spare nails in the coffin of MK Dons – they now lead 2-1 at Ewood Park, while Nottingham Forest lead Fulham 3-1. It’s still goalless at the Riverside, but Middlesbrough have made a habit of grabbing late winners recently.
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1h ago 16:30
GOAL! Aston Villa 1-3 Southampton (Tadic)

Four goals in all three 3pm kick-offs now, as Tadic gets his second from Shane Long’s pass.
Southampton’s Dusan Tadic scores their second goal.
Southampton’s Dusan Tadic scores their second goal. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Reuters

Updated at 4.42pm BST
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1h ago 16:29
GOAL! Bournemouth 1-3 Chelsea (Willian)

In a goal that was mighty similar to Pedro’s opener, Willian latches onto Fabregas’ through ball and lifts the ball over Boruc.
Willian of Chelsea scores past Artur Boruc of Bournemouth to make it 3-1.
Willian of Chelsea scores past Artur Boruc of Bournemouth to make it 3-1. Photograph: Ian Walton/Getty Images

Updated at 4.42pm BST
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1h ago 16:26
GOAL! Liverpool 2-2 Newcastle (Colback)

Newcastle are level! Jack Colback with the goal, after Liverpool had a goal chalked off. Go see Bryan Graham.

Updated at 4.34pm BST
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1h ago 16:24

Luka Modric is on for Real Madrid against Rayo, where it remains 2-2. Speaking of 2-2...
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1h ago 16:24
GOAL! Charlton 1-2 Brighton (Skalak)

Brighton are woken up by the Addicks’ equaliser, and Jiri Skalak puts them back ahead just a couple of minutes later.
Jiri Skalak of Brighton & Hove Albion celebrates scoring his sides second goal.
Jiri Skalak of Brighton & Hove Albion celebrates scoring his sides second goal. Photograph: Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images

Updated at 4.46pm BST
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1h ago 16:23

Bundesliga full-times:

Koln 4-1 Darmstadt
Ingolstadt 2-2 Hannover
Hertha 0-2 Bayern Munich
Stuttgart 0-3 Dortmund
Wolfsburg 0-2 Augsburg

Hannover live to fight another day, as does the title race, with Dortmund seeing off Stuttgart to postpone Bayern Munich’s party.
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1h ago 16:21

Colchester are heading down today, as Burton’s Lucas Akins completes his hat-trick. The Brewers are edging towards automatic promotion, with Walsall behind at Bradford.
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1h ago 16:20
GOAL! Charlton 1-1 Brighton (Gudmundsson)

Charlton equalise through Johann Berg Gudmundsson, who turns in a low cross. Charlton fans barely celebrate, but that’s a big blow for Brighton.
Charlton Athletic midfielder Johann Berg Gudmundsson, right, celebrates after making it 1-1.
Charlton Athletic midfielder Johann Berg Gudmundsson, right, celebrates after making it 1-1. Photograph: ProSports/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated at 4.47pm BST
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2h ago 16:18

MK Down: Brentford lead in Milton Keynes through Lasse Vibe. Cardiff have equalised against Bolton to keep their wafer-thin playoff chances alive, while in League One, it’s Wigan 4-0 Southend, and Bradford 1-0 Walsall – the Latics are all but promoted.
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2h ago 16:16

Douglas Costa scores a cracker to make it 2-0 to Bayern, while Hannover aren’t going down without a fight – they’ve rallied to 2-2 at Ingolstadt.

In the Championship, our man at the Valley, Alan Smith, tells me that the game has suffered another stoppage, with balloons and toilet rolls being thrown on the pitch. Chris Wood has seen a penalty saved at Hull.
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2h ago 16:13

All action at Anfield, with Cissé missing a chance and both sides having penalty shouts in quick succession. Bryan Graham can fill you in.
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2h ago 16:11
GOAL! Rayo Vallecano 2-2 Real Madrid (Lucas)

Substitute Lucas Vasquez heads in the equaliser for Real Madrid, who still have plenty of time to find a winner.
Lucas Vazquez of Real Madrid scores
Lucas Vazquez of Real Madrid beats Quini Marin of Rayo Vallecano de Madrid to score his team’s second goal. Photograph: Denis Doyle/Getty Images

Updated at 4.49pm BST
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2h ago 16:08
GOAL! Liverpool 2-1 Newcastle (Cissé)

When you need a way back into the game, you can always rely on Simon Mignolet. The Liverpool keeper comes for a cross, gets nowhere near it, and Cissé nods in his first league goal since November.
Papiss Cisse scores
Papiss Cisse isn’t put off by Simon Mignolet’s flapping at a cross and heads Newcastle back into the game. Photograph: Lee Smith/Reuters

Updated at 4.16pm BST
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2h ago 16:06

A tip of the hat, or shake of the ruff, to Newcastle Benfield, who offered free entry to budding bards on the anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Doesn’t sound like much of a game against Guisborough Town so far.
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2h ago 15:59

Here’s more on Rayo Vallecano, the local, socially concious Madrid team currently sticking it to Real:
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Rayo Vallecano: the last of the barrio teams – video
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2h ago 15:57

Half-time e-mails:

“Dear Adam Lallana, thank you oh so very much for choosing today to connect cleanly with a shot for the first time this season. Yours, Shaun Wilkinson (a Newcastle fan). P.S - I also sent this letter to Shinji Okazaki a month ago.”

“That goal by Tommy Elphick is a real boon for Bournemouth’s chances” honks Chris Hughes.
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2h ago 15:56

In League One, Burton have taken the lead over ten-man Colchester, while Millwall lead Bury 2-1 at half-time, and Wigan are 3-0 up on Southend. It’s goalless between Bradford and Walsall, and in the Fleetwood-Blackpool derby.

In League Two, teams from 2nd to 7th are all 1-0 up, except for Plymouth, who are, er, 3-0 down to Dagenham & Redbridge. And Sutton United are going up to the National League – they lead Chelmsford 2-0.
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2h ago 15:53

Leeds, a goal up going into injury time, go in at half-time 2-1 down – Abel Hernandez and Tom Huddlestone with the quickfire goals. Here are all the Championship half-times:

Blackburn 1-0 Bristol City
Cardiff 0-1 Bolton
Charlton 0-1 Brighton
Fulham 0-2 Nottingham Forest
Huddersfield 0-0 Birmingham
Hull 2-1 Leeds
MK Dons 1-1 Brentford
Middlesbrough 0-0 Ipswich
QPR 1-1 Reading
Wolves 0-0 Rotherham
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2h ago 15:51
Premier League half-times

Bournemouth 1-2 Chelsea
Aston Villa 1-2 Southampton
Liverpool 2-0 Newcastle
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2h ago 15:49
Half time: Rayo Vallecano 2-1 Real Madrid

Embarba and Miku put Rayo 2-0 up early on, before Gareth Bale cut the deficit. Big second half to come for the visitors...
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2h ago 15:48

Brighton are searching for a second goal on a tense afternoon at Charlton. They could do with having Darren Bent in the side today...
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2h ago 15:47
GOAL! Aston Villa 1-2 Southampton (Westwood)

Ashley Westwood smashes home after a penalty box melee, and 12 Villa fans go wild.