Good Monday morning, Evanston.
Decades of advocacy, research and planning came to fruition May 14, when the first two of eight markers of the city’s Heritage Sites Program were unveiled at the former homes of the Evanston’s first African American alderman, Edwin B. Jourdain Jr., and Evanston’s first African American mayor, Lorraine H. Morton.
“Understanding our heritage in Evanston – where people live – is important for our youth. They get a better connection with history when they know the history of their own communities. Once we get a little information out there, students take a different interest in their history, not only locally, but how it ties into a national narrative,” said Shorefront Legacy Center founder and President Morris “Dino” Robinson.
Just after midnight early Saturday morning, an Evanston 9-year-old staying in a Skokie apartment building suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and a 5-year-old in the same apartment sustained a graze wound as well, according to the Skokie Police Department.
A 911 caller reported hearing shots fired in the 4700 block of Main Street, and police officers found the two children injured inside the apartment building. SPD “immediately began life saving measures on the 9-year-old until Skokie Fire personnel arrived on scene,” a news release said. Officials transported the victims to the hospital in an ambulance, but the 9-year-old was pronounced dead shortly after arriving, police said.
An update on the Skokie police Facebook page said the shooting “does not appear to have been a random attack.”
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COVID-19 by the numbers: 77 new cases were reported Thursday, May 12, the last day the city updated totals. The seven-day average is 56.4 cases per day.
Elsewhere on the RoundTable website
At This Time: Sunday at 8:23 p.m. More than 100 people crowded the Arrington Lagoon in Dawes Park to take part in the Chicago Full Moon Jam. The group – of fire performers and drummers – celebrates the full moon about six months a year. This is the first time the free spectacle has gathered in Evanston. “It’s become a tradition to come together on the full moon,” said organizer Devin Bean. “It’s an ancient tradition.” The moon and the lunar eclipse were not visible because of clouds and light rain. (Photo by Richard Cahan)
Week in Photos: Send your photos of events and activities around Evanston to news@evanstonroundtable.com, and we’ll share then in our weekly photo roundup Tuesday.
Butterfield’s bronze horse grazes in memory of Evanston philanthropist. Duna is the name of the large, grayish bronze horse set out in 1998 to graze in Oldberg Park, the triangular green tract where Elgin Road, Clark Street and Sherman Avenue come together. This sculpture by well-known and much-in-demand contemporary artist Deborah Butterfield was created and cast in bronze from pieces of found wood, as are most of her sculptures.
ETHS reinstates mask mandate as COVID-19 cases rise. Evanston Township High School District 202 is resuming its face mask requirement, citing the city’s heightened COVID-19 risk level. ETHS families were notified of the decision Sunday afternoon in an email sent by Superintendent Eric Witherspoon.
Robert Crown hosts literacy carnival – a fun event with a serious purpose. In addition to the lively and spirited activity outdoors on Robert Crown Community Center’s athletic fields May 8, there was another inviting, free event indoors on the center’s second floor: Children and their parents were invited to The Child in You, a literacy carnival rooted in equity and empowerment.
Gail Hutchison, going to her edge. In the sixth episode from Season 2, Evanston Rules podcast co-hosts Ron Whitmore and Laurice Bell get deep with Gail Hutchison, a native Evanstonian and powerful yoga and meditation instructor.
ETHS boys gymnastics: Gymnasts rise to occasion with 2 state medals. Sophomore Xavier Probst placed second on floor exercise and joined his much decorated teammate, senior Aryeh Lesch, on the awards podium after Lesch also placed second on vault. It marked the first time a pair of Evanston gymnasts have earned State medals in the same season since the 1986-87 school year.
Do I have to offer to pay? Dear Gabby, my brother-in-law invited me to a Cubs game last year, and I accepted his gracious (I thought) invitation and went. When I offered to pay for the tickets, he didn’t hesitate to tell me what they cost and then happily accepted my Venmo. Huh? Didn’t he invite me to the game? I would never accept his offer to pay if I invited him to a game.
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Around the web
Residents complained of oppressive heat at Rogers Park senior complex days before 3 women were found dead. Between 11:10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, three women – aged 67, 72 and 76 – were found unresponsive inside units at the James Sneider Apartments, 7450 N. Rogers Ave., according to Chicago police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Buffalo shooter’s prior threat, hospital stay face scrutiny. The white gunman accused of committing a racist massacre at a Buffalo supermarket made threating comments that brought police to his high school last spring, but he was never charged with a crime, officials said. Authorities said on Saturday he shot 11 Black people and two white people.
Chicagoans rally across the city for abortion rights: ‘Everything else is up for grabs’. Thousands of people in neighborhoods around Chicago took to the streets Saturday in support of abortion rights, part of a nationwide “Day of Action” organized by Planned Parenthood and other groups.
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