Chicago Sun-Times: All posts by David Struett

Cousins James Soto and David Ayala, who served longest wrongful conviction sentence in state history, exonerated

2023-12-14T21:33:43.262-06:00

James Soto is embraced as he walks out of Stateville Correctional Center on Thursday evening. Soto, 62, was tried and wrongfully convicted of shooting two people in McKinley Park in 1981.

Courtesy ABC7 Chicago

Two cousins imprisoned four decades for a double slaying in McKinley Park were exonerated Thursday in what is the longest-served wrongful conviction in state history.

Family packed the fourth-floor Cook County courtroom as a judge vacated the convictions of James Soto, 62, and David Ayala, 60.

“Forty-two years. At long last, justice,” Soto’s sister, Pilar More, said after the hearing.

On Thursday evening, the cousins walked out of prison to freedom.

James Soto and his cousin spent four decades behind bars for a double slaying that they didn’t commit. On Thursday a judge vacated their convictions and Soto and his cousin walked out of prison.

CBS 2 Chicago

Judge Timothy J. Joyce had denied the men’s petitions for a new trial in 2015, but he was forced to re-examine them eight years later following an appellate court ruling. Prosecutors in Thursday’s hearing said they no longer opposed the men’s request to vacate their convictions.

The pair were serving life sentences for the Aug. 16, 1981, killings of Julie Limas, 16, and Hector Valeriano, 18, a U.S. Marine who was home on leave.

At the time, Soto was 20 and Ayala 18 when authorities said they were responsible for a drive-by into a crowd at a softball game in Piotrowski Park at 31st Street and Keeler Avenue. Soto was tried as the shooter. Ayala, who prosecutors said was the leader of the Two Six gang with a mansion in suburban Westchester, was accused of ordering the attack.

Pilar More, James Soto’s sister, speaks after a judge vacated his conviction. “Forty-two years. At long last, justice,” she said.

Dave Struett/Sun-Times

Both were convicted and given life sentences. But they maintained their innocence as advocates tore apart the state’s case.

The pair were convicted almost solely on witness testimony that was later retracted, their lawyers said.

Lawyers for the pair claimed that three key witnesses gave police descriptions that pointed to other suspects. Police arrested a dozen people and allegedly coerced statements that implicated Soto and Ayala, the lawyers said.

The only trial witness who implicated both men was Wally “Gator” Cruz, who admitted to being the driver of the car carrying the shooters, according to the appellate ruling. Cruz was initially charged with murder, but he made a deal with the state in which he would be sentenced to five years. Other witnesses later said that Cruz’s testimony was false.

James Soto at his graduation from Northwestern University’s Prison Education Program.

Monika Wnuk via Exoneration Project

With no physical evidence tying Soto and Ayala to the crime, they both petitioned to reverse their convictions in 2015.

Their lawyers argued on Thursday that the convictions should be overturned because their assistant public defender had also represented one of the state’s witnesses, which they said was a conflict. The judge agreed.

Despite the technical argument, the lawyers maintained they could have proven the men innocent in a new trial.

David Ayala in an undated photo.

Provided

The men will seek certificates of innocence, said Lauren Myerscough-Mueller, a lawyer with the Exoneration Project.

“These are not bitter men,” she said. “These are men that are grateful to come home and be with their family, and we’re proud of them.”

Soto and Ayala are the longest wrongfully incarcerated people in state history, according to the University of Michigan’s National Registry of Exonerations. Only Jackie Wilson, who served 35 years before he was exonerated in 2020, served as much time in Illinois, according to the registry.

A grinning James Soto stands with friends and relatives outside Stateville Correctional Center in southwest suburban Crest Hill on Thursday evening. Soto plans to attend law school.

CBS 2 Chicago

Soto stayed busy in prison, improving himself. He earned a bachelor’s degree last month from Northwestern University’s Prison Education Program. He’s taken the law school admissions exam and plans to get a law degree, his lawyers said. Friends at the hearing said he’s gotten job offers from law firms.

Ayala spent 15 years of his sentence in isolation at Illinois’ Tamms Correctional Center, which closed in 2013, his lawyers said.

Welcome home, James!

Earlier today, a judge vacated the conviction of NPEP Graduate James Soto, who was released after 42 years. Soto and his cousin, David Ayala, are the longest wrongfully incarcerated people in state history: https://t.co/aMvGdPgNav
— Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) (@NUPrisonEd) December 15, 2023

CTA boss says Yellow Line crash conditions are isolated, not systemwide

2023-12-13T16:48:59.885-06:00

Chicago Transit Authority President Dorval Carter Jr.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file

The head of the Chicago Transit Authority on Wednesday said none of the system’s other train lines are subject to “the same design features” that are being investigated as the potential cause of the Yellow Line crash.

In his first public remarks since the crash Nov. 16, CTA President Dorval Carter brushed aside criticism that he has remained silent and said National Transportation Safety Board rules prohibit him from commenting on the investigation.

But he tried to allay speculation that conditions that led to the crash are a systemwide issue. The NTSB has said that residue on the tracks and miscalculated braking distances may be factors behind the crash.

“We have analyzed our entire system, and there are no other locations equivalent to this section of the Yellow Line,” Carter said at a CTA board meeting Wednesday. “Following the incident, we worked quickly to confirm that no other areas of the CTA rail system have the same design features as are indicated on the Yellow Line itself.”

“For this reason, as we await future visits and reviews by NTSB of certain important factors, we are focused on implementing mitigation efforts targeting on the Yellow Line and moving the investigation forward.”

The NTSB is probing why Yellow Line trains in that section of track were designed to stop in a certain distance but needed much more. The operator was signaled to apply the brakes 1,780 feet before the snowplow but needed 2,745 feet to stop, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy has said.

Workers examine the damage to a Yellow Line train after it collided with a snowplow Nov. 16.

Chicago Fire Department

Yellow Line service remains suspended more than three weeks after a commuter train collided with a piece of snowplow equipment, as NTSB investigators continue to gather information.

Carter said the line would reopen once that information gathering is complete, although he said the NTSB will continue to probe the site “in the coming days.” The CTA is assisting the NTSB in gathering that information, including details about the signal system, tracks and equipment, and performing tests along the line, he said.

The lengthy track suspension is worth the wait for safety’s sake, Carter said.

“As CTA president, the safety of CTA riders and employees is of absolute paramount importance to me. An incident like the one on Nov. 16 warrants intensive reviews of various aspects of Yellow Line operations,” he said.

Authorities investigate a CTA Yellow Line train that crashed into a piece of snow-removal equipment, injuring nearly 40 people.

National Transportation Safety Board

A day after the NTSB released its preliminary report on the crash, Carter said it was notable that the report does not speculate on the cause of the incident. He said it remains under investigation.

In conjunction with the report’s release, the CTA revealed it will implement lower speed limits for Yellow Line trains and will clean tracks to address residue or debris that may have slowed braking. The CTA will also enhance communication about rail equipment on tracks.

“These are all steps the CTA will take out of an abundance of caution,” Carter said.

Carter said the CTA is implementing the changes by itself and had not been issued any safety directives by the NTSB.

It’s not unusual for equipment to use the same tracks as commuter trains, Homendy in an NTSB briefing Tuesday. “What’s important is that the system know it’s there,” she said.

CTA will reduce train speeds on Yellow Line in response to crash, federal investigators say

2023-12-12T17:27:30.933-06:00

Authorities investigate a CTA Yellow Line train that crashed into a piece of snow removal equipment on Nov. 16.

National Transportation Safety Board

The CTA will lower the speed limit on the Yellow Line once it finally reopens after a train crash and derailment last month that sent 19 people to hospitals, according to federal investigators.

National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy said Tuesday that the CTA informed her agency it would reduce maximum train speeds from 55 mph to 35 mph on the North Side route, and down to 25 mph in the area near the Howard station where a train slammed into a snowplow on the track Nov. 16.

The Yellow Line remains closed more than three weeks after the collision that critically injured three people, including the operator, who “did not do anything wrong” according to the NTSB’s preliminary investigation, Homendy said.

The operator knew the plow was on the tracks for a training exercise and even passed it on an earlier run before the crash happened about 10:30 a.m. on a clear, 61-degree day, Homendy said.

But the operator didn’t know the plow’s exact location, and engaging the train’s emergency brake systems only slowed the train from 54 mph to 27 mph at impact, the NTSB noted in its initial six-paragraph report. It happened just after a bend in the track that may have reduced the operator’s visibility down the track.

A full investigation is expected to take months as federal officials examine the wrecked train’s components and try to recreate crash scenarios, Homendy said. Investigators are focusing on CTA rail signals, railcar brakes and track conditions that caused the wheels to slip at other points in the route before the crash.

CTA officials said the line will remain closed while they’re “engaged in an extremely thorough review of all aspects of the Yellow Line mentioned in the NTSB preliminary report, from signals to tracks to equipment, as well as testing trains to ensure safe operation.”

Homendy said the CTA sent her agency a Nov. 30 memo outlining the new Yellow Line speed limits, also noting that they are “cleaning the running rails to remove the debris and organic material that [the NTSB] identified.”

The CTA also said it would modify its track maintenance program and said they “have instituted some additional supervision,” according to Homendy.

But CTA officials “have not indicated any changes to the design or configuration of the system right now,” Homendy said, as the NTSB probes why a signal system that was configured for the train to stop within 1,780 feet actually needed 2,745 feet.

Thirty-one people, including the operator, were aboard the train as it approached the plow, which had six workers on board, the NTSB report says.

The plow was “stopped about 370 feet north of a red signal indication,” while the Yellow Line train was going 54 mph — below the 55 mph limit — when the operator got a signal command to stop due to the plow being about 2,150 feet ahead.

The operator “immediately initiated a full-service braking application.” After seeing the plow, the operator hit the emergency brakes and got the train down to 27 mph. Multiple braking systems working at once were unable to prevent the collision.

Video from inside the train showed the operator followed protocol by remaining standing as the collision approached, and he appeared “very engaged and looked to be in full control,” Homendy said.

According to a police report, the impact ejected another CTA employee from the snowplow. First responders found the man trapped under the plow.

The operator, who has not responded to Sun-Times requests for comment, told investigators “he was having some difficulty stopping the train” earlier in the route. A train system designed to stop wheel slippage was engaged the entire time, train logs showed.

The NTSB is investigating whether “debris or organic material” might have extended the stopping distance.

Two days after the crash, the NTSB suggested such residue could have been a factor in the crash.

The NTSB also said the CTA had been telling drivers that Yellow Line trains could stop faster than they actually can in the section of track where the crash occurred. The CTA had been using stopping estimates for older, lighter trains, the NTSB said.

Investigators are also probing whether a positive train control system — designed to automatically stop a train if an operator runs a signal or slow it down if it’s moving too fast — would have made a difference.

The NTSB recommended that system nationally in 2009 and to the CTA specifically in 2014 after a Blue Line train crashed into the terminal at O’Hare International Airport. The CTA was not required to install the technology because it’s exempted from the type of federal oversight given to Metra and Amtrak.

Damage to the Yellow Line train and other CTA equipment was estimated at $8.7 million, according to the NTSB. At least seven lawsuits have been filed against the CTA regarding the November crash.

Attorney Joseph Murphy, who represents six of the passengers, said in a statement that the CTA should have taken special precautions to ensure the safety of passengers.

“Whatever safety measures are now being recommended are too late for the people hurt due to avoidable incident,” Murphy said.

Editor note: This story was updated to clarify that CTA’s incorrect braking distances apply only to a specific portion of the Yellow Line.

Chicago Public Schools, former teacher sued over alleged sexual abuse

2023-12-12T17:00:12.778-06:00

Federico Garcia Lorca Elementary School on the Northwest Side, where three students are alleging sexual abuse by former gym teacher Andrew Castro

Google Maps

A Chicago Public Schools teacher continued to sexually abuse children for months after he was removed from a Northwest Side elementary school during an investigation, a lawsuit says.

CPS alerted parents in May 2021 that they had removed Andrew Castro from Federico Garcia Lorca Elementary after an allegation of sex abuse. But the school’s letter didn’t name him, so parents of three abused children were unaware that Castro, who had befriended the families, was a threat, lawyers say.

He targeted the boys because their parents were immigrants who spoke little English, lawyers say.

CPS “didn’t do enough to warn the parents that this individual was a threat,” and the abuse continued into 2022, Cass Casper, one of the lawyers representing the three children, said at a news conference Tuesday.

“That is a failure in the notification system to parents about threats posed by employees,” Casper said.

Castro, 37, taught gym at the Avondale school for years. In June, he was criminally charged with sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a child.

The civil suit was filed in federal court in October against the Chicago Board of Education on behalf of the boys, who were 10, 11 and 12 when the alleged abuse began in 2018.

The board has asked a judge to pause the civil suit until the conclusion of the criminal case. But the boys’ lawyers want the lawsuit to continue so they can determine how seriously CPS took complaints made against the teacher that they claim initially went nowhere.

Attorney Bob Fioretti speaks Tuesday at a news conference on a lawsuit filed by the parents of three boys against Andrew Castro and Chicago Public Schools.

Dave Struett/Sun-Times

Lawyers said the school received at least four complaints against Castro by May of 2021, when the school sent a letter to parents.

Asked for comment, CPS said it does not comment on pending lawsuits and provided a copy of the May 2021 letter.

Castro, who remains held at Cook County Jail on the criminal charges, targeted the children because they came from vulnerable immigrant families, lawyers said. Two of the boys are brothers; the other is a cousin.

“He became aware that this was an underprivileged family — a family who cannot necessarily speak English well, a family that is in need — and he took advantage of that,” Casper said.

Castro allegedly began texting the boys and buying them gifts, according to the lawsuit. This allegedly continued from 2018 to 2022.

“He would take them out to a bowling alley; he would take them out to movies,” Casper said. He then allegedly met the children’s families and offered to do work on their house. “He built himself as like a friend of the family,” he said.

The teacher eventually invited the children over to his home, where the abuse happened, lawyers said. He played games with the kids in which the children would have to remove their clothes if they lost, Casper said. He allegedly raped one of the boys.

The parents did not learn of the abuse until May 2023, when they found out one of the boys was harming himself and he confided in them, the lawsuit states.

Casper and other lawyers representing the children, including Bob Fioretti and Patrycja Karlin, said CPS should have taken the complaints against the teacher more seriously and suspended him earlier.

Since CPS changed the way it handles sex abuse allegations in 2018, more than 2,000 complaints have been filed with the school district’s Office of the Inspector General, the lawyers said. Of those, 135 cases were found to have substantiated sexual misconduct, they said.

Read the lawsuit:

Highland Park massacre suspect Robert Crimo III to represent himself in February trial

2023-12-11T17:32:59.96-06:00

Robert E. Crimo III is escorted into a courtroom at the Lake County Courthouse Monday. Crimo requested to represent himself in his trial, set for February 2024.

Nam Y. Huh, AP Photos

The Highland Park massacre suspect will represent himself in his criminal trial, which a judge on Monday set for February, a year sooner than lawyers were preparing for.

Robert Crimo III asked a Lake County judge to allow him to proceed without the aid of his assistant public defenders and invoked his right to a speedy trial. He is accused of killing seven people and wounding dozens more at a Fourth of July parade in 2022.

Judge Victoria Rossetti questioned Crimo’s request for several minutes, asking if he understood the consequences of the charges and that he had no courtroom experience.

“Knowing these potential penalties, do you still want to proceed without an attorney?” the judge asked.

Crimo replied with a curt “Yes.”

Prosecutors now have a little over two months to prepare for a complicated trial that Rossetti said could last four to six weeks, with jury selection that could take “seven to 10 days, if not more.”

It’s unclear why Crimo chose to waive his right to legal representation.

But after doing so, his first request was to ask for a speedy trial, which by state law must be set within 120 days of the request. That’s a year sooner than Rossetti said the defense and prosecution had discussed in a meeting earlier this month.

Rossetti set the trial for Feb. 26, 2024.

His former lawyers, Gregory Ticsay and Anton Trizna, declined to comment.

Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart declined to comment on Crimo’s choice to represent himself. But he said his office is prepared for the trial, despite the shortened time for preparation.

“The prosecutors on this case have been working tirelessly since July 4, 2022, and will be ready for trial on the set date.” Rinehart said in a statement.

Crimo, 23, has pleaded not guilty to 117 felony counts of allegedly firing an assault rifle at paradegoers from a rooftop at Central Avenue and Second Street in north suburban Highland Park. He will receive a life sentence if convicted of just two of the 21 murder counts.

In Crimo’s last hearing in September, the judge delayed setting a trial date while lawyers continued to gather evidence. Prosecutors have said they’ve collected more than 10,000 pages of evidence for the trial.

Crimo has remained mostly silent in his previous court hearings in the year and a half since he was charged, leaving the talking to his lawyers.

Crimo’s only other public statement includes a leaked jail video call from September, in which he baselessly alleges that the attack was staged by the FBI.

Crimo on Monday wore a red jail shirt, different from the standard blue jumpsuit, because he’s been serving time in a maximum-security part of the jail after verbally abusing an officer.

Crimo “was disrespectful and verbally threatened” a correctional officer on Nov. 6 during a routine inspection of his cell, Lake County Sheriff Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said.

Crimo was immediately transferred to the jail’s “administrative segregation unit,” where he’ll stay until Jan. 4 with good behavior, Covelli said.

He remains jailed in Lake County Jail, where his father is also being held.

Robert E. Crimo Jr. arrives at the Lake County Courthouse Nov. 15 wearing the T-shirt that drew a reprimand from the judge hearing his case.

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

Crimo’s father pleaded guilty last month to charges of reckless conduct and began serving a two-month jail sentence. In his plea deal, Robert Crimo Jr. admitted that he was reckless when he signed his son’s gun ownership card application even though he knew his then underage son had made homicidal and suicidal statements. The gun ownership card allowed the son to buy assault weapons later allegedly used in the parade attack.

The father told reporters he accepted the plea in part to avoid “jeopardizing his son’s fair right to a trial.”

The father reported to prison on Nov. 15 wearing a T-shirt reading, “I’m a political pawn.” A judge reprimanded him for breaking court rules and threatened him with contempt of court if he broke the rules again.

The younger Crimo is expected back in court Jan. 10.

Hot tub boats on the Chicago River keep cruisers warm even in winter

2023-12-08T18:12:58.955-06:00

John and Chantel Hailer ride a hot tub, rented from Chicago River Hot Tub Boat Cruises, down the river Friday.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Common sense tells us to dress in warm layers for winter.

But that didn’t stop folks from stripping down for a hot tub boat ride on the Chicago River.

“Is it summer? What the hell?” one woman on the Chicago Riverwalk asked as the boats floated by Friday.

Setting off from near Marina Towers, two of the first boaters enjoyed a 90-minute self-piloted cruise.

“I’ve driven a boat, but I’ve never driven a hot tub,” said John Hailer, of Geneva, on the first day of hot tub boat rentals by Chicago Electric Boat Co.

He and his wife enjoyed the tub, some drinks — and a respite from their children.

Chicago River scene: a group of friends sit in the water of a hot tub boat as a person wearing a winter jacket passes by on a ferry Friday. Chicago Electric Boat Co. is offering 90-minute rentals of the boats that are themselves hot tubs.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

“We have three kids, so we don’t always get a chance to just talk. So we talked and had a drink,” Chantel Hailer said.

The new boats drew gawkers from the Riverwalk and atop bridges, curious about the low-profile crafts that show its passengers’ heads and arms sticking out only a few inches.

“It’s hard to miss,” said Eric Rosenberg. “We’re walking and see what looks like a couple of heads and no one’s driving.”

Rosenberg wouldn’t hesitate to try the hot tub boat himself. But Terry Ann Cunningham, who was walking with Rosenberg, considered the affair “a little exhibitionist.”

“People are staring,” she said.

The first two boating groups said they reserved tickets after seeing promotions on Instagram. They were the first paying customers after Instagram influencers took rides earlier, one employee said.

For those wanting to take a hot tub ride themselves, trips are booked through the middle of January, but will be available through March.

Rentals range from $278 on weekdays to $350 on weekends and up to $418 on holiday weekends. The electric hot tub boats each hold up to six passengers, and the tub water can reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Gabrielle Nolan, who took the first Chicago tub cruise with three friends, was grateful the weather Friday was comfortable, with temps in the 50s. Some passengers in her boat actually perched on the edges of the tub, above water.

John and Chantel Hailer, of Geneva, say their hot tup boat cruise Friday on the Chicago River gave them a respite from their kids.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

“It’s a great easy way to spend time with friends,” said Nolan, 22. “I think if it was snowing, we would have been fine.”

Nolan’s friend Delaney Langston, visiting from Birmingham, Alabama, appreciated the views of architecture.

“I haven’t been to the city in the while, so to cruise around is awesome,” she said.

Hot tub boats have been on the market since as early as 2012, but it’s only been in the last few years that they’ve shown up as rentals in urban areas, including New York City, Washington, D.C., Portland and Seattle.

Contributing: Pat Nabong

John and Chantel Hailer cruise on the Chicago River while sitting in the water of a rented hot tub boat Friday. “I’ve driven a boat, but I’ve never driven a hot tub,” John Hailer said.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Officials brainstorm ways to save Chicago transit agencies from fiscal cliff

2023-12-07T16:30:25.452-06:00

A PACE bus picks up passengers in Naperville. State lawmakers received a set of recommendations on Thursday to save public transit agencies from a fiscal cliff when federal COVID-19 funding dries up.

Rich Hein/Sun-Times (file)

Chicago-area public transit faces a crisis when federal COVID-19 dollars run out in two years, forcing transit agencies struggling with reduced ridership to make major service cuts.

With this fiscal cliff looming, regional leaders tasked with saving public transit sent a set of policy recommendations to state lawmakers Thursday.

Lawmakers now face politically tough choices to raise $1.5 billion in new funding and implement sweeping organizational reforms recommended by the report, called the Plan of Action for Regional Transit.

They must consider new taxes, consolidating the four regional transit agencies under one board and changing fee structures, according to the 130-page report prepared by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning at the behest of the General Assembly.

Fare changes, consolidated transit agencies among the ideas to reshape Chicago-area public transportation

Lawmakers know how difficult it will be to turn the recommendations into reality.

“I think anytime you do something this transformational... you’re gonna have some difficulties in convincing people to make significant change,” state Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado said at a news conference announcing the plan was sent to Springfield. The plan was approved in October by CMAP and the Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Committee.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle praised parts of a plan to raise transit funds, especially the recommendation to expand discounted rides for low-income riders.

David Struett/ Sun-Times

Delgado and state Sen. Ram Villivalam, both Chicago Democrats, say they will begin drafting a bill while holding a series of public hearings across the state next year.

They hope to have a transit bill passed by 2026, when federal COVID-19 dollars run out and Chicago-area transit agencies will face a combined $730 million deficit.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle praised parts of the plan, including the recommendation to expand discounted rides for low-income users.

The state must also increase transit funding before losing pandemic funds, which account for about 20% of transit agencies’ budgets, she said.

“This could be a real harm to our region, with our many people, often Black and Brown people, for whom transit is a lifeline. But it would harm our entire region by increasing congestion on our roads and pollution in our air,” Preckwinkle said.

Chicago’s Union Station to get $93 million for upgrades

The boards of the region’s transit agencies — Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, PACE and the Regional Transit Authority — must be consolidated, Preckwinkle said. Together, they have 47 board members appointed by 21 elected officials.

“That means that everyone and no one is responsible,” she said.

The state also needs to reconsider the motor fuel tax, which dwindles by the day as more people make the switch to electric cars.

The report also calls for making it easier for transit agencies to raise money with automatic or periodic inflation adjustments.

That price tag may fall short of what’s needed to bolster public transit, said Richard Harnish, head of High Speed Rail Alliance, a Chicago-based transportation advocacy group.

He criticized the report for focusing on just Chicago and the collar counties when “there’s real needs for better transit across the state.”

Villivalam compared the funding crisis to an iceberg at sea. But unlike the Titanic, lawmakers see the iceberg coming from far away.

“We have a lot of time to prepare ourselves for this moment,” Villivalam said.

Chicago’s Union Station to get $93 million for upgrades

2023-12-06T17:04:55.984-06:00

Union Station will receive a $93 million federal grant to to expand platforms and make them complaint with the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as upgrade ventilation systems.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times file

Chicago Union Station will get $93 million in federal funding for upgrades, but the grant total is far less than what officials had sought and doesn’t address Amtrak’s wish list of track improvements outside the station.

U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, who had pushed for the Chicago Hub Improvement Project funding, announced the grant Wednesday.

The funding will expand platforms and make them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as upgrade ventilation systems, Durbin and Duckworth said in a news release.

The station’s post office platforms, unused since 2005, will be repurposed for intercity travel for the station’s 120,000 weekly passengers.

Amtrak, which owns the station, said it won’t comment until the grant is officially announced Friday by the Federal Railroad Administration.

The $93 million grant is far less than the $873 million that Amtrak applied for. Combined with local funding sources, Amtrak’s plan costs $1.1 billion, and includes other projects like rerouting tracks south of the station.

The new grant doesn’t fund other Amtrak dream projects outside the station.

Amtrak wants to improve the St. Charles Air Line, an east-west rail link at 16th Street, to let trains turn directly north into Union Station. Currently, trains using the line must head south then back into Union Station, a time-consuming maneuver.

Another proposed track improvement would let Amtrak trains from St. Louis and Texas travel into Chicago on the Metra Rock Island Line, speeding Metra commutes on the route.

Reactivating the post office platforms is important to improving station capacity, said Joseph Schwieterman, a DePaul University professor who studies public policy and transportation.

The grant “sets into motion what likely will evolve into a complete station overhaul,” he said. “But it’s only the beginning. This won’t be a quick fix, but this gets the ball rolling in an exciting way.”

Nearly 30 lawmakers led by Durbin and Duckworth wrote a letter in September pressing President Joe Biden to sign off on the funding.

Tenants say they were illegally evicted days before Swift Mansion fire

2023-12-04T18:25:38.133-06:00

Officials launched an arson investigation Monday after fire damaged the historic Swift Mansion at 4500 S. Michigan Ave. in Bronzeville Sunday morning morning and flared up again Monday.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Days before a fire ravaged Bronzeville’s historic Swift Mansion, tenants filed lawsuits alleging the owner illegally evicted them to convert the 131-year-old building into a shelter for migrants.

The owner planned to renovate the top two floors, but the fire broke out before the work could begin, tenants say.

Police are investigating it as arson but have not arrested or charged anyone.

The blaze started in a back stairwell, Chicago Fire Department officials said. But it’s unclear exactly how or why it started.

Firefighters battle a blaze Sunday at the Swift Mansion at 4500 S. Michigan Ave.

Chicago Fire Department

The blaze spread throughout the castlelike structure at 4500 S. Michigan Ave. late Sunday morning, destroying the roof and the belongings of its 10 tenants.

The fire flared up two more times, once that afternoon and again Monday morning, a fire department spokesman said.

“It’s sad to see it get burned,” said James Otis, president of the Inner City Youth and Adult Foundation, the nonprofit that helped house formerly incarcerated people at the mansion.

Gutted by fire, the fate of Bronzeville’s historic Swift Mansion remains in limbo

Otis said he was in the building as fire spread from the second-floor stairwell. He rushed to save memorabilia about his late mother, Christine Perkins, the building’s former owner. The fire destroyed photo albums with pictures of her with Harold Washington and Barack Obama, he said.

“I was trying to drag so much of her stuff, but I got overwhelmed,” Otis said. Firefighters “had to drag me out of there.”

Otis has been in charge of the nonprofit since his mother, the organization’s last president, died in 2019.

The building is owned by an entity managed by Otis’ half brother, Marcus Perkins, and Perkins’ wife, Tracy Hughes, according to county records.

Tenants displaced by the fire said they lost more than just a place to live.

Officials have launched an arson investigation after a fire damaged the historic Swift Mansion at 4500 S. Michigan Ave. in Bronzeville on Sunday and Monday.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

“I didn’t just lose my house, I lost my job too,” said Jesus Suarez Rodriguez, who said his landscaping tools were destroyed in the fire.

Rodriguez is one of at least three former tenants who filed lawsuits in late November alleging the building’s owner illegally evicted them by turning off the water and locking doors.

Their lawsuits, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, allege they heard Marcus Perkins had talked about converting the building into a shelter for migrants, which would be more profitable than housing ex-convicts.

Marcus Perkins told the tenants about the plan to vacate the top two floors on Nov. 6, according to the lawsuits. The owners planned to knock down the building’s inner walls to create more space for housing migrants, according to the lawsuits.

With nowhere else to go, many of the tenants moved to the home’s basement. But they couldn’t stay for long.

Firefighters battle a blaze Sunday at the Swift Mansion at 4500 S. Michigan Ave.

Chicago Fire Department

A day after filing their lawsuits on Wednesday, Perkins allegedly locked tenants out of the building and shut off the water, the suits state. Tenants called 311, then 911. The owner said he’d resolve the problem, but he never did, the tenants allege.

Marcus Perkins did not reply to requests for comment. Otis declined to comment on the lawsuits.

Another tenant who filed suit, Wendell J. Smith, said he was away donating plasma when the fire broke out. When he returned, he said he “couldn’t believe it.”

Smith said he was released from prison in 2019 and had been staying at the home since August 2021.

The Red Cross gave Smith $300 for a hotel and food, he said, but he’s already spent it all. Smith, 28, said he makes money by playing bucket drums, and has no family who can house him.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said.

Neighbor Dwayne Branch lamented the loss of the mansion, which he had volunteered at years ago for Open House Chicago.

The Swift Mansion is “a national landmark, a Chicago landmark, a part of national history,” he said.

Built in 1892 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, the building originally was a gift from meatpacking executive Gustavus Swift to his daughter Helen for her wedding to Edward Morris, the son of another executive in the industry.

It previously served as a headquarters for the Chicago Urban League and as a funeral home.

The estate of the late Christine Perkins transferred ownership of the mansion in late October to a legal entity managed by Marcus Perkins and Hughes, according to records in the Cook County Clerk’s office.

Building records show the Swift Mansion last failed an inspection in 2013 for missing mortar and other minor violations. Owners got a permit on Nov. 1 to patch and replace drywall, the records show.

Otis is collecting donations for the building’s displaced tenants.

Priest should be on all Chicago-area predator lists, advocates say

2023-11-30T20:20:06.536-06:00

The Rev. Richard McGrath is pictured when he was president of Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox.

Sun-Times file

After being secretive for years, the Augustinian Catholic order has promised to publish early in 2024 a list of priests credibly accused of abuse.

On Thursday, an advocacy group called for the Rev. Richard J. McGrath, a priest accused of child sex abuse, to also be placed on predator priest lists kept by all Chicago-area dioceses where he worked.

Catholic order, New Lenox school pay $2 million over accusation ex-principal raped a student

At a news conference outside the Hyde Park friary where McGrath once lived, clergy sex abuse survivor advocates demanded that his name also be added to the lists of the Chicago, Joliet and Rockford dioceses.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests sent a letter to Vatican officials, also calling on them to discipline five top Chicago-area church officials who they say have the power to add McGrath’s name to public lists.

David Clohessy (right) points to a list of Chicago-area clerics accused of sex crimes alongside attorneys Marc Pearlman and Melissa Anderson.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

“It’s the civic duty, and it’s the moral duty, of these five Catholic officials that had a role or have a role in his work ... that they warn the public about” McGrath, said David Clohessy, volunteer Missouri director of SNAP.

The Augustinian order settled a lawsuit in November for $2 million about McGrath’s behavior filed by Robert Krankvich, who said he was sexually abused years ago by McGrath, who was the principal of Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox, in the 1990s.

Advocates called for the Vatican to take action against Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago, in whose territory McGrath once worked at St. Rita High School on the Southwest Side; and Bishop Ronald Hicks of the Joliet Diocese, where McGrath worked for more than 30 years at Providence.

The letter also names Bishop David Malloy of the Rockford Diocese, where McGrath worked for four years at St. Edward Central Catholic High School in Elgin; Cardinal Robert Prevost, now a top Vatican official and former head of the Augustinian’s Midwest province; and the Rev. Anthony Pizzo, who is now in charge of the Chicago-area Augustinians.

Joliet bishop tight-lipped on priest sex abuse scandal’s financial impact as plans to close Catholic parishes move ahead

The Chicago Archdiocese referred questions to the Augustinian order, which said it was in the process of dismissing McGrath. Archdiocesan officials did not say whether they plan to add McGrath’s name to any future list of priests deemed to have been credibly accused of sexual abuse.

The Rockford Diocese did not reply to a request for comment. McGrath’s lawyer declined to comment.

McGrath was forced out at Providence in December 2017, when a student reported seeing him viewing a photo of a naked boy on a phone while he attended a wrestling match. Police investigated, but McGrath said he couldn’t produce the phone. In a deposition this year, McGrath refused to say what happened to the phone. No criminal charges were filed.

“There is no quicker, simpler, cheaper way to protect kids from predatory priests than disclosing identities and putting their names on church websites,” Clohessy said.

Click here to read Sun-Times Feb. 7, 2021, report.

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