Firm bringing HQ to Chicago

St. Louis-based construction firm Clayco Inc. is moving its headquarters to Chicago, attracted by ease of air travel, proximity to clients, access to young professionals and the potential to land city business as Mayor Rahm Emanuel pushes ahead with public-private partnerships for infrastructure improvements, its top executive said Thursday.

Clayco Chairman and CEO Robert Clark and Emanuel are expected to formally announce the move Friday.

Two-hundred and eighty of the company's 1,000 employees already work in the Chicago area, including 88 who work full time at the Jewelers Building, 35 E. Wacker Drive, which becomes company headquarters.

The company expects to double its Chicago workforce during the next couple of years, in part by increasing its architectural business and expanding its infrastructure business.

Clark said the company is seeking to acquire a municipal engineering company as part of an effort to develop its infrastructure business during the next few years. Now focused on industrial, office and institutional projects, the company would like to add a fourth specialty area that would go after water, sewer, road, bridge and airport work, Clark said.

"In the long run, public-private partnerships are something I'm very intrigued about and interested in pursuing," he said. "I don't think we'll do it overnight. … It may be three years from now, until we have significant traction in the (infrastructure) market."

"We're interested in national projects, not just local," he said. "But hopefully we'll have work in our own backyard."

Clayco donated $50,000 to Emanuel's mayoral campaign in late 2010, and Clark donated an additional $10,000 in September to The Chicago Committee, the mayor's campaign fund, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections. Clark said his contributions to a variety of politicians stem from personal convictions and have no relation to his business endeavors.

Tom Alexander, a spokesman for Emanuel, said: "Clayco is choosing Chicago because Chicago offers them unique access to world-class talent and a location from which they can easily and effectively do business around the world, period. Any type of private-public building project would undergo the city's very strict, competitive procurement process."

Last spring, Emanuel won City Council approval for the formation of the Chicago Infrastructure Trust, which will endeavor to secure private financing for public infrastructure projects.

Clayco's shift into downtown Chicago began in October 2010, when it opened offices in the Jewelers Building. Employees who had been based in Oakbrook Terrace have moved there, as have a handful of executives from St. Louis. Clark relocated to Chicago in September 2010.

The company did not seek or receive any financial incentives for its move, the city said. Clayco will keep its St. Louis office intact, and no layoffs are planned as part of the relocation.

Clark and Emanuel first met when Emanuel worked in the Clinton White House. Clark, who was active with the Young Presidents' Organization, worked with Emanuel on some events at the White House. Their paths have crossed a number of times since then, including during President Barack Obama's campaign in 2008.

A meeting with Emanuel played a role in the decision to relocate company headquarters, Clark said. It occupies the 13th and 27th floors of the Jewelers Building, or 30,000 square feet.

"He asked me to target our national clients and bring them here," Clark recalls. "Quite frankly, I was blown away by that. Most mayors are not that aggressive; they leave that up to their economic development folks."

Clayco has done work for a number of large institutions and corporations, including Dow Chemical, Amazon.com, Caterpillar, and locally, Kraft Foods, Anixter, the University of Illinois, the University of Chicago and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Started 28 years ago by Clark, the privately held company has annual revenue of $820 million. Subsidiaries include architecture and design firm Forum Studios and Concrete Strategies Inc.

kbergen@tribune.com

Twitter @kathy_bergen

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Sandy Hook kids return to class in neighboring town

MONROE, Conn. — The Newtown schools superintendent says preparations have been made for a "normal" day, yet it will likely be anything but that when classes resume for Sandy Hook Elementary School students for the first time since a gunman killed 20 of their classmates.

With their original school still being treated as a crime scene, the students will begin attending classes at a refurbished school in the neighboring town of Monroe on Thursday. Law enforcement officers have been guarding the new school, and by the reckoning of police, it is "the safest school in America."

Still, Newtown Superintendent Janet Robinson said officials will do their best to make the students feel at ease.

"We will go to our regular schedule," she said. "We will be doing a normal day."

On Wednesday, the students and their families were welcomed at an open house at their new school, which was formerly the Chalk Hill Middle School in Monroe but renamed as the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Students received gift boxes with toys inside and shared joyful reunions with teachers.

One father, Vinny Alvarez, took a moment to thank his third-grade daughter's teacher, Courtney Martin, who protected the class from a rampaging gunman by locking her classroom door and keeping the children in a corner.

"Everybody there thanked her in their own way," he said.

Parents wishing to remain with their kids, ages 5 to 10 in kindergarten through grade 4, will be allowed to accompany them to their classrooms and afterwards may stay in the school's "lecture room" for as long as they like, according to a memo to parents on the school's website. Counseling will be available for students and parents at the new school, about 7 miles south of the scene of the shooting.

The gunman, Adam Lanza, also killed his mother at the home they shared in Newtown before driving to the school, where he slaughtered 20 children and six educators, including the school's principal. Lanza fatally shot himself as police arrived. Police haven't released any details about a motive.

Numerous police officers on Wednesday guarded the outside of the Monroe school, which is about 7 miles from the old school, and told reporters to stay away.

"I think right now it has to be the safest school in America," Monroe police Lt. Keith White said.

Teachers attended staff meetings at the new school on Wednesday morning and were visited by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy before the open house, White said.

Robinson said Chalk Hill School has been transformed into a "cheerful" place for the surviving students to resume normal school routines. She said mental health counselors continue to be available for anyone who needs them.

During the open house, Alvarez said his 8-year-old daughter also got to pick out a stuffed animal to take home from the school library.

"I'm not worried about her going back," he said of his daughter Cynthia. "The fear kind of kicks back in a little bit, but we're very excited for her and we got to see many, many kids today. The atmosphere was very cheerful."

Several signs welcoming the Sandy Hook students to their new school were posted along the road leading to the school in a rural, mostly residential neighborhood. One said "Welcome Sandy Hook Elementary Kids," while a similar sign added "You are in our prayers."

Teams of workers, many of them volunteers, prepared the Chalk Hill school with fresh paint and new furniture and even raised bathroom floors so the smaller elementary school students can reach the toilets. The students' desks, backpacks and other belongings that were left behind following the shooting were taken to the new school to make them feel at home.

No new details released

In the meantime, no new details have emerged to explain why the 20-year-old Lanza, armed with a semi-automatic assault rifle, two other firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, targeted the school.

Described by family friends as having Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, Lanza shot and killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their home about 5 miles from the school before driving to Sandy Hook and embarking on the massacre, police said. He then took his own life as police were arriving at the school, which had an enrollment of 456.

Police have offered no firm motive for the attack, and state police investigators have said it could be months before they finish their report.

The massacre in Newtown, a rural New England town of 27,000 residents about 70 miles northeast of New York City, stunned the nation, prompting President Barack Obama to call it the worst day of his presidency and reigniting an extensive debate on gun control. Obama has tasked Vice President Joe Biden with assembling a package of gun-control proposals to submit to Congress in the next several weeks.

The National Rifle Association, the most powerful gun-rights lobby in the United States, has rebuffed calls for more stringent firearms restrictions and instead called for armed guards to patrol every public school in the country.

Associated Press and Reuters contributed

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With final vote, Congress resolves 'fiscal cliff' drama

The House of Representatives approved a deal to avert the fiscal cliff on Tuesday night, by a final vote of 257 to 167. The bill, which already has Senate approval, now goes to President Obama for his signature.

The House gave final approval last night to a bill to rescind tax increases for the vast majority of Americans, but only after a day of closed-door debate among Republicans who were forced to allow a vote on a compromise many in their party disdained.

The final tally, 257-167, included most of the chamber’s Democrats and fewer than half of the Republican majority.

The agreement hands a clear victory to President Barack Obama, who won re-election on a promise to address budget woes in part by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans. His Republican antagonists were forced to vote against a core tenet of their anti-tax conservative faith.

The deal also resolves, for now, the question of whether Washington can overcome deep ideological differences to avoid harming an economy that is only now beginning to pick up steam after the deepest recession in 80 years.

Consumers, businesses and financial markets have been rattled by the months of budget brinkmanship. The crisis ended when dozens of Republicans in the House of Representatives buckled and backed tax hikes approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Asian stocks hit a five-month high and the dollar fell as markets welcomed the news. China's state news agency Xinhua took a more severe view, warning the United States must get to grips with a budget deficit that threatened not a "fiscal cliff" but a "fiscal abyss". Most of China's $3.3 trillion foreign exchange reserves are held in dollars.

The vote averted immediate pain like tax hikes for almost all U.S. households, but did nothing to resolve other political showdowns on the budget that loom in coming months. Spending cuts of $109 billion in military and domestic programs were only delayed for two months.

Obama urged "a little less drama" when the Congress and White House next address thorny fiscal issues like the government's rapidly mounting $16 trillion debt load.

There was plenty of drama on the first day of 2013 as lawmakers scrambled to avert the "fiscal cliff" of across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts that would have punched a $600 billion hole in the economy this year.

As the rest of the country celebrated New Year's Day with parties and college football games, the Senate stayed up past 2 a.m. on Tuesday and passed the bill by an overwhelming margin of 89 to 8.

When they arrived at the Capitol at noon, House Republicans were forced to decide whether to accept a $620 billion tax hike over 10 years on the wealthiest or shoulder the blame for letting the country slip into budget chaos.

The Republicans mounted an effort to add hundreds of billions of dollars in spending cuts to the package and spark a confrontation with the Senate.

GOP reluctant

For a few hours, it looked like Washington would send the country over the fiscal cliff after all, until Republican leaders determined that they did not have the votes for spending cuts.

In the end, they reluctantly approved the Senate bill by a bipartisan vote of 257 to 167 and sent it on to Obama to sign into law.

"We are ensuring that taxes aren't increased on 99 percent of our fellow Americans," said Republican Representative David Dreier of California.

The vote underlined the precarious position of House Speaker John Boehner, who will ask his Republicans to re-elect him speaker on Thursday when a new Congress is sworn in. Boehner backed the bill but most House Republicans, including his top lieutenants, voted against it.

The speaker had sought to negotiate a "grand bargain" with Obama to overhaul the U.S. tax code and rein in health and retirement programs that are due to balloon in coming decades as the population ages. But Boehner could not unite his members behind an alternative to Obama's tax measures.

Income tax rates will now rise on families earning more than $450,000 per year and the amount of deductions they can take to lower their tax bill will be limited.

Low temporary rates that have been in place for the past decade will be made permanent for less-affluent taxpayers, along with a range of targeted tax breaks put in place to fight the 2009 economic downturn.

However, workers will see up to $2,000 more taken out of their paychecks annually with the expiration of a temporary payroll tax cut.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said the bill will increase budget deficits by nearly $4 trillion over the coming 10 years, compared to the budget savings that would occur if the extreme measures of the cliff were to kick in.

But the measure will actually save $650 billion during that time period when measured against the tax and spending policies that were in effect on Monday, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, an independent group that has pushed for more aggressive deficit savings.

Reuters and the Tribune Washington bureau contributed

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Senate passes 'fiscal cliff' deal; House to vote Tuesday

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted overwhelmingly early Tuesday to approve legislation to halt a tax increase for all but the wealthiest Americans while postponing for two months deep spending cuts. The vote came just hours after the accord was reached between the White House and congressional leaders.

After a rare holiday session that lasted through the New Year’s Eve celebration and two hours into New Year’s Day, senators voted 89-8 to approve the proposal. Three Democrats and five Republicans dissented, most prominently Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

“It took an imperfect solution to prevent our constituents from very real financial pain,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky)  said before the vote. “This shouldn’t be the model for how to do things around here. But I think we can say we’ve done some good for the country.”

President Obama, in a statement released by the White House early Tuesday morning, said, “While neither Democrats nor Republicans got everything they wanted, this agreement is the right thing to do for our country and the House should pass it without delay.”

The lopsided vote puts pressure on the House to swiftly follow suit to ensure the nation avoids the so-called fiscal cliff. As long as Congress is seen to be working toward a solution, no dire economic fallout is expected from the delay. The House is expected to bring the bill up Tuesday afternoon.

The deal, if approved by Congress, would represent a milestone for Republicans, whose anti-tax stance has defined the party since former President George H.W. Bush broke his promise not to raise taxes in 1990. Republicans have not supported an effort to increase income taxes since then.

It also would be a concession for Democrats who backed away from President Obama’s popular campaign pledge that he would ask households earning more than $250,000 to pay more in taxes. Under the deal with Republicans, taxes will increase only on households earning more than $450,000.

Still, the deal spares the average middle class family a tax hike of about $2,200, a reality that drove the sense of urgency that motivated lawmakers in the frantic final hours of 2012.

“I’m not happy the way it happened, but it is what it is,” Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said before the vote. “It was very important that we prevent an increase on middle income taxes. And I’ll be working next year to get a bigger agreement.”

The deep automatic spending cuts scheduled to begin Wednesday — the other part of the "fiscal cliff" — would be pushed back just long enough to ensure that the partisan budget battles marking Obama's first term will also punctuate the beginning of his second. Negotiations over the cuts were expected to be rolled into talks about extending the nation's debt ceiling, a prospect Democrats promised to resist.

The normally festive time of year turned serious Monday as details of the deal emerged. Vice President Joe Biden, who brokered the deal in marathon sessions with McConnell, was dispatched to the Capitol for an intense 90-minute session with Democrats.

In an afternoon speech with middle-class Americans arrayed on risers behind him, Obama had urged congressional negotiators to press on and resolve the remaining issues.

"It's not done," Obama said from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House. He called on Americans to urge their lawmakers to "see if we can get this done."

The talks had largely settled the income tax provisions, which would stop the increase on most Americans and raise rates for households making more than $450,000 a year. But the two sides remained at odds over how to deal with the automatic spending cuts.

"We are very, very close," an upbeat McConnell said on the Senate floor. "We can do this."

Lawmakers were told to stay near the Capitol, and many hunkered down there for New Year's Eve.

Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) hosted an evening gathering at her nearby home as lawmakers awaited word of final details. "We're serving beer, not champagne," she said.

Yet Democratic leaders remained largely silent on the proposal before Biden, a former senator who has cut deals with McConnell before, headed to Capitol Hill to brief his Democratic colleagues.

"Having been in the Senate as long as I have, there are two things you shouldn't do: You shouldn't predict how the Senate's going to vote before they vote," Biden said, emerging from the session, which lawmakers described as robust. "And number two, you surely shouldn't predict how the House is going to vote."

The office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Nevada deal-maker who stepped aside for Biden to negotiate with McConnell, offered visible evidence of the level of concern. Lawmakers came in and out of his door throughout the day.

"No deal is better than a bad deal," said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), an influential liberal. "And this looks like a very bad deal."

The powerful AFL-CIO president, Richard Trumka, tweeted his displeasure.

Conservatives similarly sounded off. "Republicans should kill the compromise, if there are no spending cuts," Erick Erickson, the conservative founder of the influential Red State blog, said in a tweet.

Putting the vote off until Tuesday would accomplish a political back flip that would be particularly advantageous for anti-tax Republicans, and it represented an option that has been discussed for months.

With the existing tax rates set to expire at midnight, Tuesday ushered in the new higher rates. By acting Tuesday rather than Monday, the congressional votes would technically be to lower tax rates on most Americans, rather than raise them.

Biden and McConnell were in close contact all day after working past midnight Sunday and resuming very early Monday morning to craft the deal.

The minority leader convened Republican senators behind closed doors at dinnertime, and many emerged optimistic that a deal was at hand.

"Hope springs eternal around here, even though it gets a little sticky at times," said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.). House Speaker John A. Boehner convened his troops in a basement office beneath the Rotunda.

Optimism aside, one thing was increasingly clear: With some major issues still unresolved, Washington was poised to continue the partisan budget battles that have defined Obama's first term.

Under the proposed deal, more than $620 billion in revenue would be raised — far less than the $1.6 trillion Obama first sought in new revenue when he still hoped for a large deficit reduction package.

The agreement would set the top tax rates at 39.6% for income above $450,000 for households and $400,000 for individuals, according to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the negotiations.

Tax rates on investment income would also rise for those higher-income households, from the historic low 15% rate on capital gains and dividends to 20%. Obama had wanted to tax dividends at the same rate as ordinary income.

The rate for the estate tax was a key sticking point throughout the weekend. The agreement would set a new rate at 40% on estates valued at more than $5 million. That is a compromise between the 35% rate in effect in 2012 and the 45% rate Democrats demanded on estates of $3.5 million or more.

About 2 million out-of-work Americans would benefit, if the deal is approved, from a one-year extension of long-term unemployment benefits. Those benefits expired over the weekend.

One area that hewed closer to Democratic priorities was Obama's proposal to reinstate limits on how much upper-income households could benefit from personal exemption tax credits and itemized deductions. Those limits, in place before the George W. Bush-era tax cuts began in 2001, were done away with over the past decade.

The agreement would reduce those deductions for households earning more than $250,000, leading to higher effective taxes on those households without an increase in tax rates, which the GOP had resisted.

Other tax credits established under Obama's economic recovery program would also be extended for five more years. That provision is a nod to Democratic calls for more stimulus spending to help the economy and for adjustments to the tax code to help those with more modest incomes.

Those credits include a $2,500 tax credit for college students and another that allows cash refunds even if no tax is owed for those with children and family incomes below $45,000.

The deal also includes a permanent fix for the alternative minimum tax, a part of the tax code that was established decades ago to ensure high-income earners paid at least a minimum amount of tax even if they were able to reduce their liability through extensive deductions. But it increasingly snares middle-class families because it was never indexed to inflation. Congress must fix it every year, a problem that would be finally resolved with Monday's deal.

The agreement also includes a nine-month extension of a stalled farm bill, ensuring that milk prices would not double, as some had predicted, without price supports. Doctors who serve Medicare patients would also be spared a pay cut, a usually routine adjustment that got caught up in the year-end fight.

Even with the thorny tax issues all but settled, the mandatory budget cuts that would start to reduce federal spending on Wednesday remained a sticking point until late Monday.

Those cuts, which would slice across defense and domestic programs, had been set as a last-ditch trigger designed to spur negotiations for a broader budget deal after an earlier deficit-reduction effort failed.

Talks focused on postponing the cuts for two months but offsetting the $24 billion that would not be saved. The White House and Republicans eventually settled on a mix of revenue increases and spending cuts.

Postponing the automatic cuts for two months, as the Republicans wanted, all but guarantees the budget battles will continue. Democrats had hoped to extend that reckoning for a year to keep Obama's second term from beginning with a repeat of past tumultuous budget battles.

In addition to Rubio, the dissenters to the deal in the Senate were Democrats Tom Harkin (Iowa), Thomas R. Carper (Del.) and Michael Bennet (Colo.), and Republicans Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Mike Lee (Utah), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Richard Shelby (Ala.).

Three senators did not vote: Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who is battling the flu; Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who announced his resignation earlier this month; and Mark Steven Kirk (R-Ill.), who is set to return to the Senate for the first time later this week after suffering a stroke.

lisa.mascaro@latimes.com

kathleen.hennessey@latimes.com

michael.memoli@latimes.com 

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Change could be coming after Bears miss playoffs

DETROIT — The Bears could spend between now and wild-card weekend counting the reasons they will be sitting at home with 10 wins.

A defensive meltdown in Week 13 against the Seahawks and a brutal loss at Minnesota the following week are good places to start. Their time will be better spent, however, compiling ways they can improve in 2013 after a second-half collapse could not be saved by road wins over the lowly Cardinals and Lions at the end of a season that began with great promise.

The Bears held on for a 26-24 victory over the Lions on Sunday at Ford Field, but their playoff dreams were dashed a little more than three hours later as the Vikings upset the Packers 37-34 on Blair Walsh's 29-yard field goal as time expired.

The Bears join the 1996 Redskins as the only teams since the playoffs were expanded to 12 teams to miss the playoffs after a 7-1 start. An easy first-half schedule turned challenging, an opportunistic defense stopped scoring touchdowns and the offense again failed to blossom in the fourth season for quarterback Jay Cutler, who will enter the final year of his contract with scarce reasons for the franchise to guarantee him tens of millions of dollars.

Under first-year offensive coordinator Mike Tice, wide receiver Brandon Marshall rewrote the team record books, but far too often there was no semblance of balance, and an offensive line general manager Phil Emery did little to augment played a lot like the one he inherited. Whether the failures were due more to personnel, scheme or play calling, ultimately it's the offense of head coach Lovie Smith, who failed to guide his team to the postseason for the fifth time in six years.

Questions will persist about the future of Smith, who has an 81-63 regular-season record in nine seasons, until Emery announces his plan. It will be interesting to see what role Chairman George McCaskey takes; most believe it was his call to fire GM Jerry Angelo a year ago.

Smith is signed through next season, and Emery has been conspicuously silent this season, although he said on the WBBM radio pregame show Sunday that Smith "has done an outstanding job coaching the Bears."

"It is the full season and the whole body of work," Emery said of how he will judge Smith.

Bringing back Smith as a lame duck could be a disastrous distraction but would not be unprecedented. President Ted Phillips required Emery to keep Smith for this season, and Phillips lauded Smith for his "consistency" in explaining the decision.

Smith generally has avoided long losing streaks, but the Bears lost five of six before the final two wins. They also consistently have missed the playoffs since the 2006 Super Bowl season, and if Emery makes the unusual move of firing a coach coming off a 10-win season, it will condemn the organization's failure to clean house a year ago.

Middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, the face of the franchise for 13 seasons, has an expiring contract, and his future could be tied to Smith's. Pro Bowl defensive tackle Henry Melton might be headed to free agency. The aging defense was solid for most of the season but needs more young firepower at a time when the offense must be upgraded.

The offense showed some life Sunday, even if it couldn't put the Lions away as four trips to the red zone resulted in only one touchdown — a 1-yard run by Matt Forte, who had a season-high 24 carries for 103 yards.

Cutler, who said during the week he didn't know how the offense would get more receivers involved besides Marshall, completed five passes for 109 yards to Earl Bennett, including a 60-yard touchdown that featured nice blocking by Marshall. Alshon Jeffery had four receptions for 76 yards, while Marshall was targeted 14 times but made just five catches for 42 yards.

The Lions clawed back with three 80-yard scoring drives, but the defense got a stop when it needed one as cornerback Tim Jennings deflected a pass for Kris Durham with less than four minutes to play before Forte helped run out the clock.

Asked how he would view a 10-win season with no playoffs, Forte said, "We'll have to look forward to next year."

First, we'll see what change a new year brings.

bmbiggs@tribune.com

Twitter @BradBiggs

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Southwest Side fire displaces 20

A fire in the 2400 block of South Drake Avenue displaced 20 people late Saturday night. (Peter Nickeas / Chicago Tribune / December 29, 2012)

By Peter Nickeas




Tribune reporter

2:48 a.m. CST, December 30, 2012

Ten adults and ten children were displaced by a fire in a three-story brick home in the Little Village neighborhood Saturday night. 

Initial reports indicated that people were trapped in the building, on the 2400 block of South Drake Avenue, but everyone was able to get out, fire officials said. No firefighters or residents were injured.

The fire was confined to the third floor and attic. Responding firefighters cut holes in the roof as part of their effort to extinguish the flames. 

Fire equipment and police cars blocked traffic a block in each direction from the intersection of 24th Street and Drake Avenue. 

It's not clear what caused the fire. 

pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas

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5-year-old among 4 people badly burned after Lawndale fire

A 5-year-old girl suffered burns to her entire body during a Lawndale-neighborhood fire that lasted only a few minutes early Saturday, according to the Chicago Fire Department. 

She and a 9-year-old boy, with burns to 35 percent of his body, were taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital from their home in the 4200 block of West 21st Place. 

A total of six people were taken to area hospitals, four in serious-to-critical condition. Police said the six were all from the same family. The fire broke out after 4:30 a.m.

The first responding engine didn't see any fire but found one victim on the front lawn, said Chicago Fire Department District Chief Peter Van Dorpe.  But the fire "vented," meaning a window blew out and fed the fire oxygen, and immediately spread through the first floor. 

Van Dorpe said the first battalion chief at the scene called an EMS Plan 1, for an extra five ambulances, and escalated the alarm to bring more firefighters to the scene. 

Among the others injured: a 30-year-old man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital with burns to 90 percent of his body, a 20-year-old woman went to the same hospital with burns to 80 percent of her body, and two women, 60 and 84, were taken in fair-to-serious condition to Saint Anthony's Hospital.

The two adults taken to Mount Sinai were transferred to Stroger Hospital. The condition on the two women, 60 and 84, improved to good-to-fair. 

The fire was out in just a few minutes, Van Dorpe said, though some of the fire extended to a neighboring home. The fire was confined to the first floor but the home isn't habitable and up to eight people were displaced, Van Dorpe said. 

The cause of the fire is under investigation. 

pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas 

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Fatal shooting appears to have pushed city's homicide toll to 500

By Jeremy Gorner and Peter Nickeas




Tribune reporters

6:21 a.m. CST, December 28, 2012

The fatal shooting of a 40-year-old man Thursday night on the West Side appears to have pushed Chicago's 2012 homicide toll to 500, the first time the city has had that many killings in four years.

The slaying came hours after the Chicago Police Department said the city was one homicide away from the 500 mark for the year.

The victim was standing outside a convenience store around 9 p.m. at Augusta Boulevard and Lavergne Avenue in the city's Austin community when he was shot in the head, police said. Nathaniel T. Jackson was pronounced dead at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County at 12:18 a.m., a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office said.

At the shooting scene, a pool of blood stained the sidewalk outside Noah Foods. Police tapped apartment windows and knocked on doors looking for witnesses. A stray dog trotted through the crime scene before taking off in a sprint up Lavergne.

A few bullet casings, which police initially believed to be from a .45 caliber handgun, were found next to where the man was shot. Before officers left the scene, three people walked out of the store and pounded the metal gate shut.

The last time Chicago had 500 or more homicides was in 2008. As of Thursday night, homicides were up 17 percent over last year, and shootings had increased by 11 percent, according to police statistics.

Largely contributing to the spike was the unusual number of homicides that occurred during the early part of the year, in which the city experienced unseasonable warmth. In the first three months of the year, homicides ran about 60 percent ahead of the 2011 rate.

jgorner@tribune.com
pnickeas@tribune.com

Twitter: @peternickeas

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Man killed on Southwest Side

Detectives investigate the scene of a shooting that left a 32-year-old man dead late Wednesday night. (Peter Nickeas / Chicago Tribune / December 26, 2012)

By Peter Nickeas




Tribune reporter

5:17 a.m. CST, December 27, 2012

A 32-year-old man died after someone shot him in the face, chest and arms in the Gage Park neighborhood late Wednesday.

Federico Martinez was shot in an alley east of California Avenue just south of 54th Street about 10 p.m., according to authorities. He lived a couple houses south of where he was killed in the same block. 

Someone in a light-colored Ford F150 with tinted windows shot him while he stood with a woman, police said.

Martinez was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition but was pronounced dead there about 10:45 p.m. The man's family gathered there after he was shot.

Eight detectives arrived at the scene and began their investigation early Thursday morning, their unmarked police cars crowding the narrow block of 54th Street between California and Fairfield avenues. 

A young woman wept next to red tape on the south side of the crime scene.

A spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office wasn't able to say whether they had been notified of the death.

Check back for more information.

pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas

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Shootings leave 1 dead, 5 wounded Christmas and overnight

An 18-year-old man was shot and killed and five other people were wounded, two of them seriously, across the city Tuesday afternoon and early Wednesday morning.

The man died after someone shot him in the 2000 block of West 69th Street, just west of Damen Avenue, in the West Englewood neighborhood. He was shot after 11:30 p.m.

Joshua Davis was shot in the torso and head shot multiple times after getting into an argument with several others on 69th Street, authorities said. He argued with a group on a bus and was shot after getting off the bus, authorities said.

He lived in the 7200 block of South Bell Avenue in the same neighborhood, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Two 21-year-old men were shot in the 0-100 block of North Lockwood Avenue about 1:15 a.m., near Madison Street. One was shot in the neck and taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County and the other was shot in the knee and taken to West Suburban Medical Center, police said. 

The man shot in the neck is expected to survive, police said. At the crime scene, police used a bottle of fruit punch to mark the location of a shell casing because paper used until an evidence marker could be placed by an evidence technician kept blowing down the alley. 

Police blocked off a second West Side crime scene on Laramie where the van the pair were traveling in stopped, also near the intersection of Madison Street. One of the van's windows appeared to be shot out and it was stopped with two flat back tires. 

Police said both were taken by friends to West Suburban Medical Center before the one with the neck wound was transferred.

The shooting stemmed from a fight at a party, police said.

A woman is in critical condition after getting shot in the neck. The 22-year-old was shot inside an apartment on the 1900 block of South Harding Street in the Lawndale neighborhood about 9:40 p.m., police said. She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital.

The woman was shot by her boyfriend during a fight inside the apartment, police said.

About 7 p.m., an 11-year-old boy was grazed in the arm in the 6200 block of South Michigan Avenue and taken to Comer Children's Hospital, according to police. He was walking in a group when he heard shots and felt pain.

Another man was left in serious condition after someone shot him in the back in the Hermosa neighborhood about 2 p.m. That happened in the 4300 block of West Armitage Avenue on the Northwest Side.

No one is in custody for the shootings and detectives from across the city are investigating. 

pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas

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Christmas Eve shootings leave 7 hurt

Seven people were hurt, at least five seriously, in shootings on the South and West sides late Monday.

Four of the injured were hurt in a single shooting on the Far South Side, and all four were taken to local hospitals in serious-to-critical condition, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

The shooting happened shortly before 7:30 p.m. in the 9400 block of South Justine Street, officials said.

A male shooter opened fire, striking four males as they walked down the sidewalk, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said, citing preliminary information.

A 15-year-old boy and a 22-year-old man were taken to Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, a 17-year old man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and a 19-year-old man was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, police said.

The 15-year-old was shot in the abdomen, and the 17-year-old was shot in the chest, police said.

The other two men were shot multiple times.

Police said the condition of each was stabilized at the hospital.

The shooting happened in the Brainerd neighborhood.

About 11:50 p.m., a 21-year-old was shot in an attempted robbery in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side, police said.

The 21-year-old was sitting in a parked vehicle when two males approached on foot and announced a robbery, Greer said, citing preliminary information.

Shortly after, one or both of the assailants shot into the vehicle, striking the man in the lower abdomen, police said.

The man was taken to Little Company of Mary Hospital and later transferred to Advocate Christ, where his condition was stabilized, police said.

About 9:05 p.m., a 19-year-old man was shot in the head in the West Side's University Village neighborhood, police said. 

The man was taken to Stroger in serious condition from the 1200 block of West Washburne Avenue , News Affairs Officer Veejay Zala said.

Earlier Monday evening, a 37-year-old man was shot in the leg and back in the South Side's Gresham neighborhood, police said.

The shooting happened in the 700 block of West 81st Street about 5:50 p.m., Zala said. The man was taken to an area hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

Check back for more information.

asege@tribune.com

Twitter: @AdamSege

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Mom, aunt charged after death of 2 kids in Englewood blaze

Britany Meakens, 22, and Tatiana Meakens, 23, of the 6400 block of S. Paulina, have each been charged with two felony counts of endangering a child causing death and two misdemeanor counts of endangering the life/health of a child, according to Chicago

Two women are facing child endangerment charges following the death of two children during a fire early Saturday in their West Englewood neigborhood home.

Tatiana Meakens, 23, and Britany Meakens, 22, both of the 6400 block of South Paulina Avenue, were both charged with two felony counts each of endangering a child causing their death and two misdemeanor counts each of endangering the life and health of a child, according to a statement from police News Affairs. They are expected to appear in court Monday on the charges.

Police said Tatiana Meakens is the mother of the two children who perished in the blaze. Her boy was identified by the Cook County medical examiner's office as 2-year-old Javaris Meakens, and her 3-year-old daughter as Jariyah Meakens.

Britany Meakens is their aunt, according to police.

Autopsies Sunday found both children died of carbon monoxide intoxication and inhalation of smoke and soot from a house fire and their deaths were ruled accidental, according to the medical examiner's office.

Hours before a fire swept through their bedroom, killing their younger sister and cousin, two boys who survived had been watching Batman cartoons, they said in an interview.

When the blaze broke out at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday in their West Englewood home, Darnell, 7, and Marquis, 4, managed to run out a back door with the help of their aunt, they said.

But their sister and cousin — identified by the medical examiner’s office as Javaris, 2, and Jariyah, 3 — perished in the blaze.

“When the fire started, everything shut off,” said Darnell. “Auntie came to get us. When (she) saw the fire, she called all our names. When I opened the door, she told me, ‘Come on, the fire’s getting closer.’”

Authorities said no adults were present to supervise the young children when the fire broke out.

The cause was also still under investigation, though officials said it appeared a hot plate, possibly being used to heat the room, fell onto some clothes, igniting the fire.

The children spoke to the Tribune after they were questioned by authorities in the home of a neighbor who took the boys in when the fire broke out. Four adult women were present at the time.

Firefighters arrived at the scene in the 6400 block of South Paulina Street to find flames shooting out of a bedroom and smoke throughout the first-floor apartment, said James Mungovan, the Deputy District Chief for District 5 with the Chicago Fire Department.

At first, firemen concentrated on getting water to the blaze, Mungovan said. Once the fire was extinguished, they learned the two children did not survive, he said.

“We got here in a timely matter. We got water on the fire and we made our searches which revealed two deceased people,” he said. “The fire had advanced to the stage where it was open free-burning.”

Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said firefighters found no working smoke detectors in the building. On Saturday morning, a crew went door to door on the block offering free smoke detectors to neighbors and talking to them about fire safety.

Earlier that morning, as firefighters battled the blaze, neighbors Michelle Washington and Tiffany Williams saw the two boys standing outside without coats and shoes, they said.

They invited the boys into their home to keep warm.

Washington said the boys told her that they had gone to sleep and, when woke up, they saw fire and smoke.

“They looked shaken and scared,” Washington said. “The kids was here all night.”

It was at Washington’s home that investigators from the Bomb and Arson unit and the Office of Fire Investigations interviewed the boys, the women said.

The children were later taken into protective custody by the Department of Children and Family Services.

News of the younger children’s deaths shook up the West Englewood block and riled up neighbors who said they often saw Darnell walking home alone from school.

Some neighbors said there was no gas service at the house, which is why the family was using the hot plate to keep warm.

The family had lived on the block for about a year and a half, said neighbor Ken Allison. Neighbors often saw the women with their children, he said, but they were not well known.

“There’s no way they should have left those kids alone,” he said.

pnickeas@tribune.com

Twitter: @PeterNickeas

lbowean@tribune.com

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3 injured in overnight shootings

Police tape blocks off the 100 block of East 49th Street, where a 21-year-old man was shot late Saturday night. (Adam Sege, Chicago Tribune / December 23, 2012)

By Adam Sege




Tribune reporter

1:51 a.m. CST, December 23, 2012

A pair of shootings late Saturday and early Sunday have left three people injured, authorities said.

About 12:20 a.m., a female was shot and critically injured on the 1200 block of West 18th Street, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said.

The female's age and hospital information were not immediately available.

In the same shooting, a male was shot in the arm and taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, where he was listed in good condition.

Earlier, a 21-year-old was shot by someone exiting a vehicle in the 100 block of East 49th Street, police said.

The man was taken to Stroger, where his condition was stabilized.

Check back for more information.

asege@tribune.com

Twitter: @AdamSege

 

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2 children dead in Englewood fire, 2 others rescued

A young boy and girl died this morning after they and two other children were left home alone in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side, officials say.

The girl, 2, and the boy, 3, were found in a back bedroom after firefighters cut through burglar bars on the brick and stone two-flat in the 6400 block of South Paulina Street. Fire officials said they were investigating whether a space heater sparked the fire.

Ald. Toni Foulkes, 15th, arrived on the scene about an hour later and said she had been told by investigators that the four children were alone when the fire started.

The surviving children, a 7-year-old boy and his 4-year-old brother, were rescued by their aunt and interviewed by investigators at a neighbor's home.

Darnell, 7, said he and Marquis, 4, had fallen asleep watching Batman cartoons. The two other children -- his 2-year-old sister and 3-year-old cousin -- were asleep in another bedroom. When he woke up, the fire was already burning.

"When the fire started, everything shut off," Darnell said.

The boy said he and Marquis were in a bedroom by the kitchen and "the fire was in the front room where the couch is at. When we saw the fire, it was like in the front room, then it was by the bathroom door."

Darnell said his aunt came rushing through the front door. "When (she) saw the fire, she called all our names. When I opened the door, she told me, 'Come on, the fire's getting closer.' I coughed, my auntie was choking. My sister was banging on the door.

"When we got outside, police passed us, then drove backward and came up because there was a fire," he said.

Darnell's sister died in the fire, along with his cousin.

Darnell and Marquis were brought to a neighbor's house, where investigators from the Bomb and Arson unit and the Office of Fire Investigations (OFI) talked to them.

The investigator from OFI squatted down while talking to the boys. Only Darnell spoke. Marquis was quiet the entire time. Darnell spoke to a Tribune reporter afterward as he sat with four neighbors in their home.

The children were later taken into protective custody by the Department of Children and Family Services. Police said two women, a mother and an aunt, were being questioned.

When firefighters arrived around 3:30 a.m., they weren't able to get into the home because of intense heat and fire, a Fire Department official said. Fire was heavy throughout the basement and first floor, he said.

They finally got into the building by cutting through burglar bars, he said.

A neighbor told an investigator that the second-floor tenants recently moved out of the brick and stone two-flat.

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Bank robber caught 2 days after bed sheet jailbreak

Police entered ahomein Southwest suburban Tinley Park about 11:30 Tuesday morning, searching for two escaped prisoners.

Police cars swarmed a block on the North Side overnight and arrested one of the two bank robbers who escaped out the window of the federal jail in the South Loop earlier this week, officials said.

Joseph "Jose" Banks was taken into custody by FBI agents and Chicago police around 11:30 p.m. Thursday in the 2300 block of North Bosworth Avenue, according to the FBI.

A young man and a woman who left the building about an hour after the arrest declined to talk.
“We’re not in the mood to answer any questions,” the man said.

Colm Marron said he stepped out of a bar on Fullerton Avenue and saw about a half-dozen unmarked police cars gathering in the Walgreens parking lot around the corner from the building. “They flew out, just down there,” he said, motioning from inside the bar toward Bosworth Avenue.

Seconds later he heard a “huge bang.”

“I was surprised how loud the bang was. It wasn’t like any thunder I’ve ever heard,” he said. “There wasn’t any echo to it, just that loud, off the bat.”

A few minutes later, a handful of marked Chicago police cars arrived, he said.

At a BP gas station at Fullerton, Clybourn and Ashland avenues, an attendant working the overnight shift said he saw two Chicago police cars – an SUV and a squadrol – with an unmarked car in the front and back.

“It’s not like there was a big old mob out there looking,” said Ralph De LaRosa, 45. 

He noticed the flashing lights while he stood inside the gas station.

The police cars, their lights flashing, took off west on Fullerton, then south on Ashland.

Banks and his cellmate, Kenneth Conley, both convicted bank robbers awaiting sentencing, were last accounted for at 10 p.m. Monday during a routine bed check at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, authorities said.

About 7 a.m. Tuesday, jail employees arriving for work saw ropes made from bedsheets dangling from a hole in the wall near the 15th floor. The two had put clothing and sheets under blankets in their beds to throw off guards making nighttime checks, authorities said.

Cameras mounted to the side of the 28-story federal jail captured Banks and Conley sliding down the building shortly after 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to an employee who wished to remain anonymous.

The men left view briefly, but it was believed they landed on the roof of a garage below. Moments later, footage from a different camera showed them hopping a black fence marking the perimeter of the property, the employee said.

The FBI said a surveillance camera a few blocks from the jail showed the men, wearing light-colored clothing, hailing a taxi at Congress Parkway and Michigan Avenue. They also appeared to be wearing backpacks, according to the FBI.

The manhunt for the inmates included several high-profile raids Tuesday in the southwest suburbs of Tinley Park and New Lenox, where Conley's family and associates lived. Conley is still unaccounted for as of Friday morning.

A $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the two fugitives was announced by the FBI.

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Maine West coach suspended following hazing scandal

One of the two coaches linked to allegations of hazing on athletic teams at Maine West High School have been suspended without pay by the district while officials pursue his dismissal.

Maine Township High School District 207 reached that unanimous decision on the fate of Michael Divincenzo, a physical education teacher, former freshman baseball coach and current head boys and girls varsity soccer coach, after spending almost three hours in closed session Wednesday night at the district headquarters in Park Ridge.

"The board believes Mr. Divincenzo violated District 207 Board of Education policy and professional expectations by failing to adequately prevent, recognize, report and punish student hazing," board President Sean Sullivan said in a statement.

Divincenzo and freshman boys and girls soccer coach Emilio Rodriguez were put on paid leave and reassigned from teaching duties while the district and authorities investigate allegations of hazing on the school's soccer and baseball teams.

Divincenzo, a tenured teacher, has 17 days to request a hearing on his dismissal through the Illinois State Board of Education, Sullivan said. A hearing could take up to one year.

The board will continue consideration of any disciplinary action against other staff members involved in hazing allegations.

Earlier Wednesday night, more than 60 people, many of them former students and athletes, packed a public meeting Wednesday night to speak on behalf of the coaches.

"These two individuals that we're talking about today, they meant a lot to each and every one of us that's in this room today," said Alex Esquivel, a 2009 Maine West graduate and former soccer player, at a meeting in Maine Township High School District 207's headquarters in Park Ridge. "(Divincenzo) always stressed nothing but respect on and off the field. As a whole, I think he strived to make each and every one of us better men."

A 1994 Maine West graduate, Josh Thvedt said he has known Divincenzo since they were 5 years old. He said he's still in contact with Divincenzo.

"He's doing the best he possibly can under the circumstances," Thvedt said. "I think he'll try to find a way to move on. He's not a quitter."

Attorney Tony Romanucci, who is representing four athletes from the Des Plaines school in a lawsuit against the coaches and school officials, said after the public comments that he respected the opinions of those who spoke in defense of the coaches. But he said the accusers "suffer in silence."

jbullington@tribune.com

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NIU frat members charged in hazing surrender to police

While members of a fraternity began surrendering to police throughout the region Tuesday, Northern Illinois University officials said more than 30 men and women at the school also face disciplinary sanctions in the death of a freshman pledge.

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, 13 of 22 Pi Kappa Alpha members charged in the death of David Bogenberger had walked into police stations and were processed, DeKalb police said in a statement. At least seven posted bond and were released, police said.

DeKalb County State's Attorney Richard Schmack declined to say whether his office is considering additional actions against those involved. Authorities on Monday charged five members of the fraternity with felony hazing violations and 17 others with misdemeanor counts stemming from Bogenberger's death.

Those who turned themselves in Tuesday included three of the five fraternity leaders charged with felony hazing: fraternity president Alexander M. Jandick, 21, of Naperville; pledge adviser Omar Salameh, 21, of DeKalb; and event planner Steven Libert, 20, also of Naperville.

For two hours on Nov. 1 at the Pi Kappa Alpha house, the 19-year-old finance major from Palatine participated in an unsanctioned "parents' night," in which pledges walked from room to room and answered questions in exchange for vodka and other liquor, authorities allege.

The next morning, Bogenberger was found dead in a fraternity house bed. His blood-alcohol content was about five times the legal limit for driving, authorities said.

Those responsible for the party violated Illinois' hazing statute by providing a large quantity of alcohol to underage pledges and "creating a situation where the pledges felt compelled to consume alcohol as part of membership initiation and the Greek parenting process," according to a statement from DeKalb city and county officials and Bogenberger's family.

In addition to the criminal charges against the 22 fraternity members, NIU officials said they filed university code-of-conduct charges against 31 fraternity and sorority members alleging violations related to hazing and alcohol.

NIU previously had said 31 fraternity members faced charges but amended that Tuesday to state that the number includes fraternity and sorority members. It's likely that some students face both criminal and university disciplinary charges.

Penalties range from a reprimand to suspension or expulsion from the school.

"I believe there will be more charges coming," said Jeanne Meyer, NIU's director of community standards and student conduct. "We will pursue whatever information we receive."

University officials said Pi Kappa Alpha violated university procedures by failing to register the "parents' night" party, an annual event so named because senior members of the fraternity and associated sororities are assigned as mentors to new members. Bogenberger was among 19 pledges at the party.

His cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia, but alcohol intoxication was listed as "a significant condition contributing to death," the joint statement reported.

The school suspended Pi Kappa Alpha shortly after Bogenberger died, and the fraternity's main headquarters, which sponsors HazingPrevention.org, said Tuesday that the DeKalb chapter remains "administratively suspended."

In a statement, Pi Kappa Alpha Executive Vice President Justin Buck said the parents' night "may represent some type of locally developed, informal activity ... which stray(s) from the fraternity's mission and values, and can create dangerous environments for young people."

A few hours earlier in DeKalb, NIU student Chris Rowe walked across the shuttered fraternity house lawn and said he supported the filing of charges in Bogenberger's death.

"Somebody lost their life — it's not like they broke a finger," said Rowe, of Chicago. "Somebody should be held responsible."

Clifford Ward is a freelance writer. Jodi S. Cohen is a Tribune reporter. Tribune reporter Ted Gregory contributed.

jscohen@tribune.com

chicagobreaking@tribune.com

Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking

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