Spirit Halloween pop-up costume shops have become ubiquitous and virtually synonymous with the October dress-up holiday in some cities.
While the specialty retailer has no permanent physical store fronts, it opens more than 1,500 temporary brick-and-mortar locations each fall, before disappearing once the holiday concludes. Its business model has proved so successful that the retailer plans to open 10 Spirit Christmas stores for the first time this year.
“Real estate has been severely disrupted, so it is available, plus it is a really unique holiday,” retail analyst Oliver Chen said of Halloween, and the business’s success as a seasonal retail chain only.
But quickly stocking, staffing and opening up stores, only to close them down months later is no easy feat.
“Running these is hard,” Chen said. “Part of their core competency is truly logistics and the difficult nature of setting up a store and then closing it.”
Disappearing storefronts
Real estate availability — and affordability — are essential to any pop-up retailer’s viability and success.
“Site selection is really important and part of the equation depends on the deals you can get,” Chen said.
Halloween is also a unique holiday. Cultural trends play a huge part in determining what kinds of costumes will sell. As a result, businesses must be nimble, and able to quickly execute on a theme.
“It is a holiday that’s built for change. They take bets on balancing what might be popular. It’s about trying for the right formula when you aren’t necessarily sure what will go viral and why,” Chen explained.
Spirit’s ephemerality is so visible that even Saturday Night Live poked fun at its transience in a recent sketch.
“Since 1983, Spirit Halloween has been helping our struggling communities by setting up shop in every vacant building in the country for six weeks and then bouncing,” a Spirit employee played by Heidi Gardner says in the parody.
She also jokes about the company providing workers with six-week-long jobs.
Spirit did not immediately respond to CBS MoneyWatch’s request for comment. In an interview with NBC Philadelphia, the company’s CEO, Steven Silverstein, explained that operating Halloween stores is a year-round endeavor.
“We are just physically there for three months. The other nine months there is a tremendous amount of planning and preparation and background work that’s being done,” Silverstein told NBC Philadelphia.
Spirit’s foray into Christmas
Spirit this year is opening Christmas-themed stores in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
“Spirit Christmas is a new concept for us, and we’re hopeful it will resonate with our customers. Our goal is to create a festive retail experience that captures the spirit of the season, much like we do for Halloween,” Spirit said in a statement to CBS News Philadelphia.
The company stands to capture an even larger share of consumers’ income, given that winter holiday spending reached a record $964 billion in 2023, a 4% increase from 2022, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). Americans spent $12.2 billion on Halloween costumes and decor in 2023, according to NRF data.
“They are extending their purpose to another seasonal moment,” Chen said of the Christmas stores experiment.
Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.
DELPHI, Ind. – Richard Allen’s interview with police took center stage in the Delphi murders trial Tuesday, with jurors and observers watching the video in court for the first time.
Allen faces four counts of murder in connection with the February 2017 deaths of Abby Williams and Libby German near the Monon High Bridge. He was arrested in October 2022. Prosecutors said a cartridge found at the scene was cycled through a Sig Sauer P226 owned by Allen.
Abby Williams (left) and Libby German (right)/Courtesy: Family
Day 9 of the trial included testimony from a DNA expert who said no evidence at the scene tied Allen or any other individual to the murders. A blood spatter expert who analyzed crime scene photos and autopsy results testified that Libby German was mortally wounded and then dragged about 20 feet. He said Abby Williams was likely killed where she was found.
On Day 10, portions of Allen’s Oct. 13, 2022, interview were played in court. The video lasted about an hour and 20 minutes. Some portions not pertaining to the investigation were redacted by agreement of the state and Allen’s defense. The video cut on on a few occasions.
According to media observers, Allen is engaging, cooperative and agreeable at the beginning of the interview. As the interview progresses, however, Allen becomes more cautious and it dawns on him about 30 minutes in that police are giving serious consideration to his involvement in the murders.
Video interview with Mullin, Liggett
The footage included Allen and Steve Mullin, the former Delphi police chief who works as an investigator for the Carroll County Prosecutor’s Office. Tony Liggett, an investigator on the case and the current Carroll County sheriff, is also in the video.
In the footage, Mullin read Allen his rights and Allen signed a document. Mullin and Liggett mentioned the interview Allen gave to DNR officer Dan Dulin in February 2017.
They told him they’re going back to the beginning of the case and suggested they’re just trying to rule him out.
Allen told the pair he served in the Army National Guard and lived much of his life in Mexico, Indiana. He worked as a store manager at a Walmart and believes he started at CVS in 2013.
Booking photo of Richard Allen. (Indiana State Police)
When asked to recount the events of Feb. 13, 2017, Allen said he went to his mother’s house in the morning. He remembered it was a warm day. He went home to get a jacket and walked on the trails. He estimated he left his mother’s house around 11:15 a.m. and arrived on the trails around 12 p.m. to watch the fish.
He seemed confused about where he parked his car. When asked about his route, he said, “The way that loops around.” When asked if he would’ve taken another other route, he didn’t answer.
Allen said he told his wife he was on the trails. After the murders, she mentioned that police were looking to talk to people who may have information. Allen went to the sheriff’s office, setting up the tip that led to his interview with the DNR officer.
During his videotaped interview, Allen said he left the trail at “1, 1:30, 1:45.” He told Liggett and Mullin there were three girls he passed while walking on the trail. He told the investigators there were no other vehicles where he parked.
He went out to a platform on the Monon High Bridge to look at fish.
“I’ve been across the high bridge when it was in better shape,” he told them.
Liggett and Mullin asked him which car he drove to the trails. He said he normally drove a gray Ford 500 but took a black car when he went out of town. Investigators believe he drove his black 2016 Ford Focus.
“I don’t really remember seeing anyone else that day,” he said. “If I did, they didn’t jump out at me.”
Allen said he kept an eye on a stock ticker on his phone while walking on the trail. When he left, he said he went home to watch the stock market in order to “try to get rich.”
He told the investigators he was wearing blue jeans and a Carhartt jacket that day. He had a black one and a blue one at the time but believed he wore the black one. He also said he was wearing a “skull cap.”
Allen feels like ‘main lead’
Mullin then asked to see Allen’s phone. He asked how long they would need it and said they used Ting for cellphone service. He didn’t think he still had his phone from 2017 and said he believed his wife recycled it.
“Sounds like I’m going to be somebody’s ‘fall guy,’” Allen said after Mullin read his warrant to him. “The conversation we’re having, it seems like you think I might’ve done it.”
Allen said he wouldn’t let investigators go through his car and house.
“I’m starting to feel like your main lead,” he said.
Liggett assured him they were just “crossing Ts and dotting Is” as they talked to people who were on the trail on Feb. 13, 2017. Allen said he wasn’t impugning the integrity of the investigators.
“I’m not going to have police going through my house and stuff,” he said.
He initially gave police the code to his phone and then had second thoughts, telling them, “You know what. Let me talk to my wife before we do anything.”
Allen said he was no “angel of a person,” adding that he was “like everyone else.”
“Maybe I don’t want you looking at every website I’ve visited,” he said.
Mullin told Allen he wasn’t trying to make life hard. Liggett echoed the point.
“I don’t want you thinking we’re coming after you,” Liggett told him.
“I know I wasn’t out there that late [on the trail],” Allen said.
Mullin told Allen they wanted to search his home so they could rule him out.
“I had nothing to do with it,” Allen responded. “I don’t want to be any more involved in it than I have to be.”
Mullin said they wanted to check his car for any biological fluids.
“Then we can say we looked at Rick, we looked at his car. We didn’t find anything in his car,” Liggett explained.
At that point, Mullin and Liggett left, leaving Allen alone to look at his phone.
‘Bridge Guy’ denial
When they returned, Mullin informed Allen they have video of his car going to the trails. Mullin also revealed he talked to Allen’s wife and daughter and learned he had some issues about “hurting himself.”
Allen was then asked if he is “Bridge Guy.”
“I’ve never met them [the girls],” Allen said.
He then revealed that he was “going to shoot” himself that night.
“It’s not like I killed two girls and now I’ve got psychological problems,” he said.
Liggett showed him a photo of a black car. “That’s your car,” he said.
After showing him a photo of “Bridge Guy,” Mullin asked, “Is that you?”
“That is not me,” Allen said of the photo. “If it’s taken with the girls’ phone, that is not me.”
“He’s wearing the same clothing you told us,” Liggett said. “Just tell us what happened. This is your car, there is zero doubt.”
“We’re all done here,” Allen responded. “Your attitude towards me has changed. I feel like I’m being interrogated,” he said.
“You were out there to do this to the girls or to introduce the girls to someone,” Mullin said, adding that “Bridge Guy” followed the girls to the end of the bridge and forced them down the hill.
“You’re not going to find anything to connect me to the murders, so I’m not worried about it,” Allen said. “So, arrest me or take me home.”
The video cut out and then returned.
“Are you arresting me? Are you arresting me?” Allen asked. He added, “You lost my trust. This is stupid. Now you’re pissing me off. You’re an a**hole,” directing the comment at Mullin.
After the interview ended, Allen was taken home. A few hours later, police arrived with a warrant and conducted a search of his property.
Brandon Johnson announced his commitment to dismantle environmental racism a little over a year ago, vowing “no neighborhood should have to suffer the burdens of pollution more so than any other neighborhood.”
He also assured Chicagoans he would follow through on a binding agreement his predecessor, Lori Lightfoot, signed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to reform planning, zoning and land-use practices after a federal Department of Housing and Urban Development investigation found that polluting businesses were steered to low-income communities of color by City Hall.
The city seems to be doing just that by keeping an eye on federally-ordered air monitoring around Sims Metal Management in Pilsen. So far, no dangerous levels of pollution have been detected and testing will continue until infrastructure is built to properly contain emissions from the facility, according to a city spokeswoman.
As the city waits for the new controls, it should also heed the concerns of residents who could be affected if toxins are emitted from the site.
That worry was front-and-center outside City Hall Monday morning as several Southwest Side community groups demanded the mayor hold off on an operating permit review for Sims.
Theresa McNamara, chairwoman of the Southwest Environmental Alliance, described Sims as a “serial polluter.” She wasn’t exaggerating: Sims has a track record of breaking state and federal environmental laws, though the monitoring data collected over the past year by the city seems to show the company is mending its past ways.
After agreeing to improve its pollution controls through a settlement with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency six years ago, Sims was sued by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul in 2021 for failing to do exactly that at its operating site at 2500 S. Paulina St.
Sims is the only car-shredding facility remaining in the city after General Iron was prohibited from opening on the Southeast Side after shutting down in Lincoln Park.
The city is taking the right step in keeping tabs on Sims and holding it accountable, to ensure the health of Pilsen residents now and for future generations.
Monday highs across the area: How much warmer than same period Sunday?
This would also mark the warmest temperature for so late in the season since 1950!!
Tuesday afternoon—How much above normal?
Wednesday afternoon—How much above normal?
Not only will it be unseasonably warm by day, but the overnight lows will be unusually mild as well thanks to gusty winds and incoming tropical moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.
Tuesday forecast AM lows:
Wednesday AM lows:
Thursday AM lows:
Cooler air arrives later this week, but temperatures are predicted to remain above normal.
Forecast highs: How much above normal?
Forecast temperature anomaly one mile above the ground—red and orange colors depict above-normal temperatures
NEW YORK — Billionaire Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos on Monday defended the newspaper’s decision not to endorse a presidential candidate as “right” and “principled” and pushed back against any notion that he ordered it up to protect his business interests.
That decision, announced Friday, has reportedly led to tens of thousands of people canceling their subscriptions and protests from journalists with a deep history at the newspaper. The Post’s editorial staff was prepared to endorse Democrat Kamala Harris before publisher Will Lewis wrote instead that it would be better for readers to make up their own minds.
Bezos, in “a note from our owner” published Monday evening, said that editorial endorsements create a perception of bias at a time many Americans don’t believe the media, and do nothing to tip the scales of an election.
“Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one,” Bezos said.
Bezos wrote that he wished the decision to end presidential endorsements had been done earlier, “in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it. That was inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy.”
The decision has caused ripples for days
Bezos’ decision caused an unprecedented spasm of anger both within journalism and outside it.
NPR reported on Monday that more than 200,000 people have canceled their subscriptions to the newspaper, citing “two people at the paper with knowledge of internal matters.” A Post spokeswoman, Olivia Petersen, would not comment on the NPR report.
A loss of subscriptions of that magnitude would be a blow to a storied news outlet that is already facing financial headwinds. The Post had more than 2.5 million subscribers last year, the bulk of them digital, making it third behind The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal in circulation.
In the decision’s wake, two of the newspaper’s columnists quit, and three of the nine members of the editorial board resigned their posts. The Post’s retired former editor, Martin Baron, who was editor when Bezos bought the paper, had denounced the decision on social media as “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty.”
The Post’s decision came only days after the Los Angeles Times also said it would not endorse a presidential candidate, which the newspaper has acknowledged has cost them thousands of subscribers.
Bezos insists fear of business retaliation wasn’t a factor
Some critics suggested Bezos, also owner of Amazon, ordered the non-endorsement to protect his business interests, acting out of fear of retaliation if Donald Trump were elected. The Post endorsed Trump’s Democratic rivals in 2016 and 2020, and Trump has often denounced critical coverage by the paper.
In his column, Bezos said people can see his wealth and business interests as one of two things — a bulwark against intimidation or a web of conflicting interests. He insisted that his views are principled and that his track record as Post owner since 2013 backs that up.
“I challenge you to find one instance in those 11 years where I have prevailed upon anyone at the Post in favor of my own interests,” he wrote. “It hasn’t happened.”
He acknowledged that the chief executive of one of his companies, the space-exploration outfit Blue Origin, met with Trump last week on the same day the non-endorsement was announced.
“I sighed when I found out, because I knew it would provide ammunition to those who would like to frame this as anything other than a principled decision,” Bezos wrote. “But the fact is, I didn’t know about the meeting beforehand.”
He said that while he doesn’t and won’t push his own personal interests, he wouldn’t allow the Post to “stay on autopilot and fade into irrelevance.”
“Many of the finest journalists you’ll find anywhere work at The Washington Post, and they work painstakingly every day to get to the truth,” he said. “They deserve to be believed.”
Vice President Kamala Harris will visit every battleground state in the final week before Election Day, with a focus on female voters who she hopes will propel her to the White House.
The campaign has directed several messages to female voters in recent days, reminding them that what happens in the voting booth is a secret.
A Democratic ad released Monday delivers the message: “You can vote any way you want and no one will ever know.”
“If you are a woman who lives in a household of men that don’t listen to you or value your opinion, just remember that your vote is a private matter,” Obama said in the battleground state.
A voter CBS News met at the rally said she’s heard from a number of female Republicans who will vote Democrat.
“There’s been kind of a little under campaign going about,” she said. “You can vote and no one knows your vote. And it’s been aiming at women.”
Harris told CBS News in an interview Saturday that she would restore Roe v. Wade if she wins the election.
“I support Roe v. Wade being put back into law by Congress, and to restore the fundamental right of women to make decisions about their own body. It is that basic,” Harris said.
Harris skirted the question about whether she supports abortion restrictions after fetal viability, generally considered to be between 22 and 24 weeks of pregnancy.
“We would not be debating this if Donald Trump had not hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade,” she said, noting that women have died because of restrictions that have been enacted since the rollback.
“We have seen women who are experiencing a miscarriage around a pregnancy they prayed for and being denied healthcare because doctors are afraid they’re going to go to prison, and those women developing sepsis,” she said. “We have seen extraordinary harm and pain and suffering happen because of what Donald Trump did in intending and effectuating and overturning of Roe v. Wade. Yes, my first priority is to put back in place those protections and to stop this pain and to stop this injustice that is happening around our country.”
“He says everything,” Harris said. “Come on, are we really taking his word for it? He said that women should be punished. He has been all over the place on this.”
With polling showing some of Harris’ early gains have slowed and that the race for the presidency is essentially a dead heat, Harris said she doesn’t put too much stock in the polls.
“I think, certainly, polling is a measure, but to be frank, if I’d listened to polls I would have never run for my first or second office,” she said. “Wouldn’t be here talking with you.”
She pointed to record turnout for early voting in North Carolina and Georgia as a sign of enthusiasm.
Asked if, considering how late in the process she became the Democratic nominee, she felt she had sufficient time to make her case to the American people, Harris responded, “I’m gonna make the most of the time I have.”
Norah O’Donnell is the anchor and managing editor of the “CBS Evening News,” anchor of CBS News Election Specials and a 60 Minutes contributing correspondent. O’Donnell is a multiple Emmy Award-winning journalist with nearly three decades of experience covering the biggest stories in the world and conducting impactful, news-making interviews.
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – As millions of voters cast their ballots and candidates make their final pitches ahead of election day, U.S. officials are on high alert for foreign election interference from Russia, Iran and China.
It comes as intelligence agencies report Russia was behind the circulation of a fake video showing someone ripping up ballots in Pennsylvania.
The FBI says that’s “part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans.”
The FBI is also investigating a Chinese cellphone hack targeting former president Donald Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio.), as well as people associated with Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign.
“Any attempt to interfere in our election is something that the United States would take with the utmost seriousness,” State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said.
It’s unclear what data the hackers may have accessed, and officials believe the campaigns were among many other targets.
The FBI says it’s working to “strengthen cyber defenses.”
Senate Intelligence Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) says he expects efforts to interfere will ramp up after the election to raise doubts about the integrity of the vote.
“There is absolutely high expectation that Russia, China, Iran will try to interfere and spread dissension in those hours and days after the election day,” Sen. Warner said.
Earlier this year, the Trump campaign was targeted by Iranian hackers. The DOJ charged three people with the hack.
Usually comprising a crusty roll, pickled veggies, fresh herbs, hot chiles, pate, and a protein, the banh mi is a traditional dish that invites creativity. Regardless of what’s inside, a great banh mi is always a spicy, tangy, rich masterclass in flavor and texture. With a vast population of Vietnamese restaurants that offer everything from barbecued jackfruit and ginger chicken to savory ham and crispy pork, Chicago is home to many stellar iterations of the dish.
NEW YORK — A broken McDonald’s McFlurry machine, arguably one of life’s greatest nuisances, has finally been solved thanks to a court ruling.
McDonald’s franchises haven’t been able to fix the soft serve ice cream machines on their own because manufacturing company Taylor owns the copyright and exclusive rights to fix the machines – until now.
The United States Copyright Office granted a copyright exemption last week that gives restaurants the “right to repair” the machines by bypassing the digital locks that prevented them from being fixed. The inability to make timely fixes has been a bane of the customers’ existence, so much so, that there’s a third-party website called McBroken.com that tracks their availability.
The exemption, which goes into effect Monday, was requested by advocacy group Public Knowledge and repairs website iFixIt to allow third parties to circumvent digital locks on the machines for repairs. Although the full request wasn’t granted, commercial restaurant equipment received a narrow exemption.
Public Knowledge and iFixIt teamed together on the issue after the latter group broke apart an ice cream machine and found “lots of easily replaceable parts.”
The decision will lead to an “overdue shake-up of the commercial food prep industry,” according to Meredith Rose, senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge.
“There’s nothing vanilla about this victory; an exemption for retail-level commercial food preparation equipment will spark a flurry of third-party repair activity and enable businesses to better serve their customers,” Rose said in a statement.
McDonald’s and Taylor didn’t immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Broken ice cream machines have been such a blemish on McDonald’s reputation that even competitors mock them for it. And perhaps a fix can’t come quick enough: Nearly 15% of ice cream machines are broken as of Monday, according to McBroken.
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Mayor Brandon Johnson should halt an operating permit review for a scrap-metal shredding operation in Pilsen, a coalition of Southwest Side community groups said Monday.
Sims, which has operated for years at 2500 S. Paulina St., has been cited by state and federal officials in the past for violating environmental laws. Through a settlement six years ago with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the company entered into an agreement with the government to improve its pollution controls.
Then in 2021, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul sued the company saying Sims wasn’t showing that it was reducing air pollution from its Paulina site.
“Sims has been in violation, not once or twice but many, many, many times,” Theresa McNamara, chairwoman of the Southwest Environmental Alliance, told the Sun-Times. “This is what the mayor needs to look at. He needs to see that this is a serial polluter.”
Under an agreement with the state, Sims is building new equipment to contain emissions from the site.
“They should not get a permit [from the city] until they put in the equipment,” McNamara added. “We need the mayor to stop giving Sims special treatment by overlooking their history in our community.”
The alliance, a coalition of community organizations, plan to make their demands Monday morning at City Hall.
The Sims permit process began under Lightfoot, who stopped a similar car-shredding operation from opening on the Southeast Side in early 2022. A relocated and rebranded General Iron was hoping to open at East 116th Street along the Calumet River after it shut down in Lincoln Park following a push from the city.
In that permit denial decision, Lightfoot’s health department cited concerns about the cumulative effects of air pollution from multiple industrial sources.
With the rejection of the Southeast Side permit, that left Sims as the only car-shredding facility in the city.
Lightfoot also initially pushed back against a federal civil rights investigation that deemed the city’s planning, zoning and land-use policies were discriminatory.
On her last day in office, Lightfoot signed a binding agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development promising to change the city’s practices.
Johnson vowed to abide by the agreement and, more than a year ago, promised to move forward on reforms, though little progress has been made.
McNamara and her allies point to the HUD agreement as a reason Johnson should not proceed with the Sims permit decision.
The winds are really going to pick up this week, so garbage cans will be in for a battle. On the windiest days, Tuesday and Wednesday, your garbage can could end up not just tipped over but blown next door.
Shingles can be debilitating and even cause permanent vision loss. But a new treatment plan may be able to provide relief for those who have suffered vision loss as a result of the virus. Dr. Jon LaPook has more.
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In the late 1960s, the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party distributed free breakfast to schoolchildren at a youth services center in North Lawndale.
On Sunday, several former chapter members gathered at the center over collard greens, chicken thighs and macaroni to celebrate the organization being permanently written into the history books.
In the coming months, commemorative plaques will be placed outside the center, along with 11 other sites in Chicago and one in Peoria associated with the Black Panthers.
Thanks to three years of rigorous documentation by local activists, locations significant to the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party have been added to the National Register of Historic Places. It’s the first listing on the register for the Black political organization, according to a statement by the Historical Preservation Society of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Society.
Together, the 13 sites will make up a heritage trail.
“Each place that we’re going to have one of these little markers is a reminder for young people. They don’t know the power that they have,” said Billy “Che” Brooks. Now 76 years old, he began the North Lawndale breakfast program and was named the deputy education minister of Illinois’ chapter in his early 20s.
The Black Panther Party was composed of Black Americans across the nation who were dissatisfied with the pace of the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement. Rather than integration, it advocated for independence and self-sufficiency, asserting that Blacks needed their own institutions to serve their own interests.
Many credit the free breakfast programs across the nation with creating a blueprint for today’s free school meal programs run by the federal government. However, the Black Panthers’ extensive social service networks were often overshadowed by the party’s militant behavior.
But many don’t know about the party’s influential presence in Chicago’s South, West and Near North sides.
“The Black Panthers have been totally erased from Chicago’s landscape. You wouldn’t know they existed at all,” Leila Wills told the Tribune. The daughter of two party members went to a day care run by the Black Panthers in the early 1970s but didn’t realize its importance until she began working on the historical designation project in 2020. The chapter was disbanded by 1974 and many significant sites were demolished. The site of the Illinois headquarters, for example, is now a Walgreens. The plaques are intended to help keep their memory alive.
Leila Wills, executive director of the Historical Preservation Society of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party, speaks with people during a celebration kicking off the Black Panther Party Heritage Trail in Illinois, hosted by the Historical Preservation Society of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party at the Better Boys Center for the Arts on Oct. 27, 2024. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
Fred Hampton, a young man from Chicago’s Maywood suburb, emerged as the public face of Illinois’ short-lived but influential chapter. Understanding poverty as the catalyst of social ills like crime and lack of education, he led the party in creating numerous programs to alleviate hunger and health care disparities faced by Black residents. He also formed Chicago’s first Rainbow Coalition, a multicultural alliance of street gangs, to end infighting and spur social change.
He was barely in party leadership for a year before being killed in a raid by Chicago police. The site of the shooting, which is widely believed to have been an assassination plot coordinated with the FBI, is also one of the sites receiving a historical marker.
Wills, the executive director of the preservation society, originally had ambitions to secure just three historical markers. However, an outpouring of grassroots fundraising support to the tune of over $40,000 enabled the preservation society to place markers at 13 significant sites.
Now, her team is developing online resources for those who would like to do a self-guided tour of the inaugural sites. Once that’s complete, Wills said the society will turn its eyes to recognizing more locations that hold a piece of the Illinois Black Panthers’ history. It already has its sights on over 100 locations across the state.
Photos and historical markers are on display during a celebration kicking off the Black Panther Party Heritage Trail in Illinois hosted by the Historical Preservation Society of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party at the Better Boys Center for the Arts on Oct. 27, 2024. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
Here are the inaugural trail sites:
Illinois Chapter Headquarters (demolished), 2350 W. Madison St., Chicago
Spurgeon Jake Winters Free Medical Center (demolished), 3850 W. 16th St.
Better Boys Foundation, site of a free breakfast program (new structure), 1512 S. Pulaski Road
South Side Office (demolished), 4233 S. Indiana Ave.
St. Dominic’s Church (demolished), 357 W. Locust St.
Fred Hampton’s assassination site(demolished), 2337 W. Monroe St.
People’s Church, served as a meeting and organizing hub (now Epiphany Center for the Arts), 201 S. Ashland Ave.
Madden Park Homes, site of a free breakfast program (demolished), 500 E. 37th St.
Church of the Holy Covenant, which gave refuge to the Illinois Chapter and Rainbow Coalition during the Days of Rage, 925 W. Diversey Parkway
Our Lady of the Gardens Church, site of a free breakfast program (demolished), 13300 S. Langley Ave.
People’s Law Office, 1969-1975, 2156 N. Halsted St.
First Southside Office (demolished), 233 E. 35th St.
Ward Chapel AME Church, site of a free breakfast program: 511 N. Richard Allen Drive, Peoria
HARVEY, Ill. – One person was taken to the hospital after a large fire in Harvey Sunday afternoon.
Officials said the three-alarm fire happened near 155th Street and Center Avenue. The fire is believed to have started in an abandoned building before spreading to other apartments.
One person was taken to the hospital due to smoke inhalation, according to investigators.
Officials added the fire is currently under control and no injuries to firefighters were reported.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Chicago police investigate break-in at Dunning pizzeriaVideo shows smashed windows and broken glass outside Forno Rosso Pizzeria Napoletana in Dunning.
CHICAGO (WLS) — A Northwest Side pizzeria appeared to be broken into overnight.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three keys for the Bears to win Sunday afternoon’s game against the Commanders:
1. Keep rolling
The Bears entered the bye with the most offensive momentum they’ve had all year. Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, who had four touchdown passes two weeks ago against the Jaguars, improved in every single game from Weeks 2-6. Taking another step would bode well for the Bears’ chances in the second half of the season, when their schedule gets much tougher.
2. Ride Swift
D’Andre Swift might have been the worst starting running back in the NFL in Weeks 1-3 but was one of the best in the Bears’ next three games. From Weeks 3-6, only five players had more rushing yards — the Ravens’ Derrick Henry, the Panthers’ Chuba Hubbard, the 49ers’ Jordan Mason, the Rams’ Kyren Williams and the Eagles’ Saquon Barkley.
3. Defend the offense, not the QB
The Bears spent all week saying they weren’t particularly concerned about whether rookie Jayden Daniels or veteran Marcus Mariota would play quarterback. That was probably a lie — Daniels is dynamic — but the point was made: Mariota is competent enough to carry an offense that entered Sunday tied for the NFL lead in points per game. The Bears’ defense can’t let up.
DALLAS (AP) — Matt Duchene scored on a third-period power play and added an empty-netter in the final seconds as the Dallas Stars hung on to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 Saturday.
Duchene’s goal at 8:50 followed goals by Evgenii Dadonov in the first period and Jamie Benn in the second for a 3-0 lead. Ryan Donato ended Jake Oettinger’s shutout bid 44 seconds after Duchene’s goal, and Connor Bedard made it a one-goal game at 14:15.
Duchene skated alone for the tap-in with 17.7 seconds left, giving him a team-high six goals this season.
Oettinger made 22 saves for the Stars, who have opened the season with five consecutive home wins for the first time since their 1998-99 Stanley Cup season.
Chicago’s Petr Mrazek stopped 26 shots in the second leg of the team’s back-to-back. The Blackhawks lost 3-2 at home against Nashville on Friday night.
Miro Heiskanen and Chicago’s Patrick Maroon each had two assists.
Takeaways
Blackhawks: Mrazek played on consecutive days because backup goalie Arvid Soderblom is sick.
Stars: To account for next week’s two-game Global Series trip to Europe, they played their ninth game in 17 days.
Key moment
Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell and Heiskanen committed penalties on Bedard and Philipp Kurashev.
Key stat
Dallas went in leading the league with a 92.3% penalty kill and killed all three Chicago power plays. The Stars are 13 for 13 at home.
Up next
The Stars will play two games in Finland against the Panthers on Nov. 1-2, and the Blackhawks will play the Avalanche on Monday night in the second game of a five-game road trip.
A 23-year-old man was critically injured Saturday morning following a shootout with Chicago police in the West Rogers Park neighborhood on the city’s Far North Side, according to authorities.
Police responded to reports of a shooting in the 2600 block of West Farwell Avenue around 9:35 a.m., Chicago police Deputy Chief Kevin Bruno said during a Saturday afternoon news conference.
A gunman—the same man police believe later shot at officers—approached a 39-year-old man from behind as he was walking down the street and shot him in the shoulder, Bruno said. Just before 10 a.m., the gunman re-emerged from an alley and fired shots at officers and paramedics, ultimately hitting an ambulance. For the next two and a half minutes, Bruno said the man popped out of various locations, exchanging shots with officers.
During the final encounter in the 6800 block of North Washtenaw Avenue, according to Bruno, officers shot the man multiple times. He was taken to Ascension Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston in critical condition. No police officers or paramedics were injured in the shootout.
The 39-year-old victim was treated and released at the hospital, Bruno said, adding that neighbors also attempted to help the victim after he was shot.
“It’s just great to see the community step in and officer assistance,” he said.
Bruno said the motive behind the initial shooting remains under investigation. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability also announced that started an investigation.
