Category: Chicago, Illinois Local News

Crime & Law

2 People Killed by Gunfire Over Weekend Across Chicago: Police

For most of his life in the United States, Pedro Manzanares, 53, had lived a discreet life in Chicago’s Little Village, one of the city’s vibrant Mexican immigrant neighborhoods.

He had declined to denounce the working conditions at El Milagro — one of the nation’s most popular tortilla factories fined by the state in 2022 for “fragrant violations” of state labor law and still under investigation by the city — fearing retaliation or even deportation despite his nearly 20 years at the company.

The back pain from carrying the heavy boxes full of tortillas was unbearable, he said, but the machines did not slow down and he couldn’t afford to lose his packaging job.

But everything changed for Manzanares after several of his co-workers fell gravely ill and died during the COVID-19 pandemic. He blames their deaths on what he believes were unsafe working conditions, such as working without personal protective equipment or sick days.

[ Employees at El Milagro tortilla factory hold walkout, demand improved pay and working conditions ]

In summer 2021, Manzanares decided to speak up, even though he knew coming forward could jeopardize his future in the United States. He helped organize his co-workers, most living in the country illegally, to denounce and protest the conditions at the company. That won support from local officials and sparked local and federal investigations into the company.

In spring 2022, the Illinois Department of Labor found El Milagro had committed “flagrant” violations of state labor law because workers there regularly worked without required meal breaks. The labor department fined the tortilleria about $11,000 over those violations.

Their bravery, Manzanares said, “has been worth it.”

[ El Milagro settles over labor board allegations ]

Labor leaders and employees say working conditions at El Milagro have improved over the past year as more workers like Manzanares collaborated with labor enforcement agencies investigating the allegations of exploitation and abuse at the company under a program known as DALE — Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement. The Biden administration program, which launched last January, grants a two-year work permit and protection from deportation to workers who are witnesses in labor investigations.

The program, advocates say, not only helps governmental labor agencies complete investigations to enforce labor laws and improve working conditions for all workers regardless of immigration status, but also taps into a community of workers who have been working in the shadows their whole adult lives.

“Workers don’t only lose the fear of speaking against their employers when they are violating their rights,” but they also lose their fear of getting deported, said Laura Garza, the director for Arise Chicago, the workers’ rights center that has been guiding employees at El Milagro.

While the program did not exist when Manzanares began protesting work conditions at El Milagro, he is protected under DALE now, and he advocates for others to speak out. Today, more than 1,000 workers are protected under the program nationwide.

But the future of the program and those protected under it is unclear. While the program’s renewal was announced Jan. 17, labor leaders say its conditions place new obstacles on workers. It requires them to prove again that they suffered labor violations in order to renew the protection and will only be granted while the labor agency is investigating.

“It places a lot of burden on the applicants because it really is up to the agencies to decide if they deserve the protection again even though they had been already collaborating,” said Kevin Herrera, the legal director at Raise the Floor Alliance.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has the discretion to grant deferred action from deportation only after federal, state or city labor agencies confirm that a worker’s complaint is being investigated.

And while advocates say the program improves workplace conditions for workers in the country without legal permission, it does not offer permanent protection from deportation and they can lose the work permits when investigations are completed. Advocates also worry that a new president can eliminate it altogether.

Chicago accounts for 25% of the more than 1,000 workers now protected under DALE. Most are employed by El Milagro, Hearthside Foods, Midtown Athletic Club and Dynamic Manufacturing, all companies facing either federal or local investigations by the National Labor Relations Board, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or the Chicago Office of Labor Standards.

Under the program, hundreds of workers at more than 16 companies in the Chicago area have come forward to denounce labor violations, strengthening the agencies’ ability to enforce labor standards.

At a recent meeting with the city’s Office of Labor Standards, which is investigating El Milagro for possible violations of paid sick leave and fair workweek ordinances, more than 80 workers attended to share their testimony. The crowded meeting was a contrast to the fewer than half-dozen willing to speak up when the El Milagro investigation was launched in 2021, said Garza.

Since the initial walkout, there have been improvements at El Milagro, including a slate of wages, and better health and safety conditions, according to workers and Arise Chicago.

“For more than 73 years as a family-owned business, El Milagro has always complied with the law. We continue our tradition of placing quality, employees and community first,” Anne-Marie St. Germaine, a company spokesperson, said in an email.

The plight of immigrant workers emerged sharply during the pandemic when there were reports of essential workers — mostly Latino — dying after getting infected at their workplaces. That’s when labor organizations stepped in and encouraged workers to speak up despite their fear, which ultimately helped to champion the DALE program.

“We couldn’t take it anymore; many of our co-workers died during the pandemic as a result of the company’s malpractice,” Manzanares said.

The historical and routine exploitation of the undocumented workforce inevitably drives down the working standards for all workers in the country, documented or not, driving down wages and aggravating health risks, Garza said.

Though the Department of Homeland Security approved the program in October 2021, which created a process for immigrant workers in labor disputes to be able to petition for deferred action, which is a form of prosecutorial discretion that protects workers from deportation and allows a job permit. It wasn’t until January 2023 that they released the DALE guidelines after pressure from workers’ rights organizations across the country.

Herrera said that while DALE encourages workers to denounce abuse in the workplace despite their immigration status, he encouraged workers to first seek guidance from a workers’ rights organization.

Still, labor leaders say the move represents a significant effort by the U.S. Departments of Labor and Homeland Security to resolve a contradiction. The government relies on workers to report labor abuse, but those most likely to suffer labor exploitation are workers in the country illegally and afraid to speak up.

When Manzanares got his permit and Social Security number for the first time in November 2022, “it felt unreal,” he said.

He had been living and working without job authorization since he was 33 years old, and the possibility of ever working legally was remote. Perhaps nonexistent, he said.

Though the protection is strictly geared toward workers cooperating with labor enforcement agencies, it has become an avenue of hope for longtime workers who have no means of fixing their immigration status.

“We’re willing to share our story and take the risk to apply because this is a great program,” said Patricia Vidal, a worker at Dynamic Manufacturing who decided to apply despite the program’s uncertain future. She was one of several workers at an eligibility screening with labor lawyers hosted by Warehouse Workers Justice at the end of December.

Vidal has been working in the country without authorization for nearly 32 years, and decided to apply for the program after her co-workers encouraged her to report her unfair wages. She said she’s following in the steps of fellow workers who already have a permit under DALE.

“It is our only hope,” Vidal said, sitting with two co-workers at a corner of a large hall drinking coffee.

Manzanares said his life has changed since getting the work permit. No longer afraid to speak up, he has emerged as a leader of the workers at El Milagro and a Chicago labor activist.

The native from Morelos, Mexico, said that Little Village feels more like home now because he walks the streets without fear. His goal of becoming an electrician is finally within sight.

It was his dream when he emigrated to Chicago, but one that seemed impossible under the demands of supporting his wife and two children.

“I tried not to think about it. Most of us (undocumented) just focus on working every day, on earning the little money that we can, and we try not to think of the future because we know that it will be a harsh one,” Manzanares said.

El Milagro became their livelihood, like it was, and still is, for thousands of other Latino — mostly Mexican — workers, he said.

He continues to work there.

“We’ve woken up, and now we’re alert so that things don’t happen the way they used to again.”

larodriguez@chicagotribune.com

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — President Joe Biden said Sunday that the U.S. “shall respond” after three American troops were killed and dozens more were injured in an overnight drone strike in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border. Biden blamed Iran-backed militias for the first U.S. fatalities after months of strikes by such groups against American forces across the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Biden, who was traveling in South Carolina, asked for a moment of silence during an appearance at a Baptist church’s banquet hall.

“We had a tough day last night in the Middle East. We lost three brave souls in an attack on one of our bases,” he said. After the moment of silence, Biden added, “and we shall respond.”

With an increasing risk of military escalation in the region, U.S. officials were working to conclusively identify the precise group responsible for the attack, but they have assessed that one of several Iranian-backed groups was behind it.

Biden said in a written statement that the United States “will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner (of) our choosing.” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said “we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our troops, and our interests.”

Iran-backed fighters in east Syria began evacuating their posts, fearing U.S. airstrikes, according to Omar Abu Layla, a Europe-based activist who heads the Deir Ezzor 24 media outlet. He told The Associated Press that the areas are the strongholds of Mayadeen and Boukamal.

U.S. Central Command said at least 34 troops were injured by the one-way attack drone, with eight flown out of Jordan for follow-up care. It described the eight as being in stable condition.

The large drone struck a logistics support base in Jordan known as Tower 22. It is along the Syrian border and is used largely by troops involved in the advise-and-assist mission for Jordanian forces.

Central Command said approximately 350 U.S. Army and Air Force personnel were deployed to the base. The three who were killed and most of the wounded were Army soldiers, according to several U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to give details not yet made public.

The small installation, which Jordan does not publicly disclose, includes U.S. engineering, aviation, logistics and security troops. Austin said the troops were deployed there “to work for the lasting defeat of ISIS.” Three officials said the drone struck near the troops’ sleeping quarters, which they said explained the high casualty count.

The U.S. military base at al-Tanf in Syria is just 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Tower 22. The Jordanian installation provides a critical logistical hub for U.S. forces in Syria, including those at al-Tanf, which is near where the borders of Iraq, Syria and Jordan intersect.

In a statement on Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency, the country “condemned the terrorist attack” that targeted the U.S. troops. That report described the drone strike as targeting “an outpost on the border with Syria” and said it did not wound any Jordanian troops.

“Jordan will continue to counter terrorism and the smuggling of drugs and weapons across the Syrian border into Jordan, and will confront with firmness and determination anyone who attempts to attack the security of the kingdom,” the statement attributed to Muhannad Mubaidin, a government spokesman, said.

U.S. troops long have used Jordan, a kingdom bordering Iraq, Israel, the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, Saudi Arabia and Syria, as a basing point. Some 3,000 American troops typically are stationed across Jordan.

Since the war in Gaza began Oct. 7, Iranian-backed militias have struck American military installations in Iraq more than 60 times and in Syria more than 90 times, with a mix of drones, rockets, mortars and ballistic missiles. The attack Sunday was the first targeting American troops in Jordan during the Israel-Hamas war and the first to result in the loss of American lives. Scores of U.S. personnel have been wounded, including some with traumatic brain injuries, during the attacks.

The militias have said that their strikes are in retaliation for Washington’s support for Israel in the war in Gaza and that they aim to push U.S. forces out of the region.

On Monday, Iran’s foreign ministry dismissed the U.S. accusation that Tehran was behind the drone strike,” according to the official IRNA news agency. It quoted ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani as saying that the “Islamic Republic of Iran has no role in decisions by resistance groups on how they support the Palestinian nation or defend their people.”

Iran, Kanaani said, is closely watching developments in the region and stressed that the “responsibility for the consequences of provocative accusations against Iran will be on those who raise the baseless allegations.”

The U.S. in recent months has struck targets in Iraq, Syria and Yemen to respond to attacks on American forces in the region and to deter Iran-backed Houthi rebels from continuing to threaten commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

“I am confident the Biden Administration will respond in a deliberate and proportional manner,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Republicans in Congress said the administration’s approach had failed to deter America’s adversaries in the region.

“We need a major reset of our Middle East policy to protect our national security interests,” said Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., went further, urging the administration “to strike targets of significance inside Iran, not only as reprisal for the killing of our forces, but as deterrence against future aggression. The only thing the Iranian regime understands is force.”

Biden, who was in Columbia, South Carolina, on Sunday, was briefed in the morning by Austin, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and principal deputy national security adviser Jon Finer, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. In the afternoon, he met virtually with Vice President Kamala Harris and his national security team for an update.

The president, in the written statement, called it a “despicable and wholly unjust attack” and said the service members were “risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans, and our allies and partners with whom we stand in the fight against terrorism. It is a fight we will not cease.”

Syria is still in the midst of a civil war and long has been a launch pad for Iranian-backed forces there, including the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. Iraq has multiple Iranian-backed Shiite militias operating there as well.

Jordan, a staunch Western ally and a crucial power in Jerusalem for its oversight of holy sites there, is suspected of launching airstrikes in Syria to disrupt drug smugglers, including one that killed nine people earlier this month.

An umbrella group for Iran-backed factions known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq earlier claimed launching explosive drone attacks targeting three areas in Syria, as well as one inside of “occupied Palestine.” The group has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks against bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria since the Israel-Hamas war began.

Three officials with Iran-backed militias in Iraq, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with journalists, said the drone attack against the base in Jordan was launched by one of the Iraqi groups. No faction has yet officially claimed responsibility.

Officials said the U.S. military is not tracking any other attacks on its forces Sunday in the region.

___

Baldor reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran; Bassem Mroue and Abby Sewell in Beirut; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan, and Jon Gambrell in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

BALTIMORE — Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were at their magnificent best in the first half, and Kansas City’s defense delivered another masterpiece against Lamar Jackson and Baltimore, helping the Chiefs reach the Super Bowl for the fourth time in five years with a 17-10 victory in the AFC championship game Sunday.

Kelce caught 11 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown, and now the big question at next month’s Super Bowl in Las Vegas is whether his girlfriend Taylor Swift will be able to make it there in the middle of her tour. The pop star was on hand again Sunday, and the 34-year-old Kelce was at his best.

Kansas City (14-6) will face either San Francisco or Detroit on Feb. 11, and a win would make the Chiefs the first team to win it all in back-to-back seasons since the New England Patriots 19 years ago.

Swift’s presence has turned the Chiefs into even more of a glamour team than they already were, but it’s been more of a blue-collar performance on the field this season. Aside from Kelce, Mahomes hasn’t had the receiving playmakers he’s enjoyed in years past. 

Instead, the defense has been a big part of why Kansas City won the AFC West and eventually prevailed in two straight road playoff games against Buffalo and Baltimore to win the conference.

The Chiefs led 17-7 at halftime, and Justin Tucker’s 43-yard field goal with 2:34 to play was the only scoring of the second half.

A woman was killed after a fire tore through a home in Garfield Ridge Sunday morning, officials said.

Firefighters responded to the blaze at 5425 South Mulligan Ave. at around 9:49 a.m., according to District Fire Chief Michael Divita.

The woman, who lived alone, was found inside the home and pronounced dead at the scene. Crews extinguished the fire after about 15 minutes, Divita said.

“The fire had been burning for a while; we don’t know how long,” Divita said. “It had pretty much burned itself out.”

The house had extensive damage from the fire. The cause and origin of the blaze are under investigation, officials said.

karmanini@chicagotribune.com

The following is a transcript of an interview with Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia that aired on “Face the Nation” on Jan. 28, 2024.

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MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who joins us from Richmond, Virginia. Senator, uh, from what you’ve heard about this White House deal with the Senate, are you on board to support it?

SENATOR TIM KAINE: Um, Margaret I’m-I’m really appreciative of the work that Jim Lankford, Chris Murphy and Kyrsten Sinema have done. This is very tough. We haven’t done immigration reform since 1986. So like James said, I need to read it, but we do have a challenge and the only way we’re gonna solve it is to try to come up with something bipartisan. That’s the only way we ever do immigration reform. Senator Lankford has expressed his disappointment with President Biden. I was disappointed when President Trump turned down a border protection deal in 2018 that would have invested 25 billion dollars at the border.

So, but we can’t just look in the rear view mirror. We gotta do what’s right, right now, one of the aspects of this bill that I’m positive about is it’ll help us interdict fentanyl in-in 2012, 50 Virginians died of fentanyl overdose in 2022, it was 2000 and we know that fentanyl is coming over the border from Mexico, largely through ports of entry. This bill will help us deal with that and that’s why when a President Trump says vote no, wait for a year, wait for two years-people can’t wait, they’re suffering now, and this bill will help deal with that situation.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well it doesn’t include any status for so called dreamers, which has been a longstanding Democratic request. And I know that during the Trump years, you said that asylum was a key value of the United States, given that the Biden administration will think to restrict asylum. Are you comfortable with that?

SEN. KAINE: Look, this is a painful compromise. Th-this is a tough bill. I wish it were an immigration reform bill and not just a border security bill-but the fentanyl issue isa crisis. And there’s some aspects of what James described which I’m really interested in getting into the details-you-your correspondent talked about the notion that even though we may change standards in between ports of entry, we will continue normal processing at points of entry. I think that’s a-that’s a positive that will help create order instead of disorder. So lot of details to dig into. 

Yes, I wish this was a comprehensive immigration reform bill, not just a border security bill, but I think there’s gonna be some positive things in here about work visas. And I also think there’s gonna be some positive things for kids who come to the border, who right now come, they don’t know the language, they don’t know the law and it is so hard for them. And this at least I think will give them a greater understanding of what their rights are. So we gotta dig into the details, but we’ve gotta find a compromise. And as was pointed out, this compromise is also key to opening up the security funding that we need for Ukraine, humanitarian assistance in Gaza, defense support for Israel, all that is hinging upon getting this deal, So we need to move forward.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right and so, and to that point, has-Democrats control the Senate has leader Schumer given you any timeline here for when he might be able to move on all of this. And-and is there a plan B for Ukraine if this fails?

SEN. KAINE: Margaret, I think the timeline is Senator Schumer is let this border deal come together and then we’ll move as quickly as we can. I think you’re gonna see the Senate move very quickly, this weekend, next to have a vote on the overall package. And as you know, the overall package isn’t just border in Ukraine, it’s Gaza and Israel, it’s Indo-Pacific aid, it’s state disaster relief. It’s a sizeable package an-and many components are very popular, but the two challenging ones have been th-the border Ukraine negotiation and the Israel Gaza negotiation. If for some reason we can’t find the border agreement. I don’t think that dooms Ukraine aid, because I do believe votes are there for Ukraine in both houses, but-the border issue is an important one to do because a-as Senator Lankford mentioned. The cartels are organizing, make tons of money by rushing people to the border. It’s important that we do this but also we’ve got to-got to, go to come up with assistance, especially for Ukraine very, very soon. They’ve gained so much, but it’s all at risk. If the U.S. isn’t there.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, it, I wanna ask you about aid to Israel. And as you said, Gaza-the United States has temporarily suspended some of the aid to the UN agency that operates in Gaza after Israel shared information that 12 of its employees allegedly were involved in the attack on October 7th. I know that at least two of those people are dead now, according to the UN. Do you think that suspending aid for this agency that services 2 million for the actions of a dozen people is fair when the agency says that it is collapsing, how are-how is this going to be addressed?

SEN. KAINE: Mar- Margaret, th-the humanitarian needs of Gazans are massive. Israel should defend itself against Hamas, but most Gazans are not Hamas. In fact, they’ve suffered under Hamas. And so you’re right, there’s 2.2 million people that need humanitarian aid. If the UN agency cannot be a trusted deliverer, the good news is there are other NGOs who are, and USAID and others work with NGOs in Gaza to deliver aid. And frankly, most of us have been really disappointed about the extent of humanitarian aid that’s been able to come into Gaza. And that’s why in the package we’re negotiating, it’s defense support for Israel, but also robust humanitarian support for Gaza. And if we’re gonna do that, it has to get to Gazans. It can’t be blocked by Israel. It has to get to Gazans. So we- if- if we can’t completely rely on the UN agency, there are other trusted NGOs who’ve got to, who have a good track record. This aid is monitored very carefully. We need to increase the pace, increase the volume, and get more aid to Gazans.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And we have one of those, a- agencies with us later in the program, though far smaller than the 13,000 employees of the UN. President Biden has talked about these U- U.S. strikes on the Houthis continuing. I know you have some issue with that.

SEN. KAINE: I- I do Margaret. Not with the notion that we have to protect our own ships, Naval or commercial, from the Houthis, and even strategically, protect the Red Sea from the Houthis, but there’s no congressional authorization for a war in Yemen or the Red Sea against the Houthis. None. The president has asserted that these strikes are about self defense and they’re designed to deter the Houthis, but the administration has also said that they believe that the attacks are going to continue and even escalate. As you know, I’m from Virginia. We have a lot of people in harm’s way in the Red Sea, in the Middle East right now on this mission. And what they want to know is, what’s the strategy? What’s the plan for deescalation? If the U.S. is going against the Houthis to protect shipping, shipping of other nations, what are other nations doing as part of this mission? That’s why a bipartisan group of senators, we wrote the president this week and said, what is the strategy? How will we deescalate? And what is the legal rationale that you are using when Congress hasn’t authorized this military action? And this week we’re gonna be digging heavily into those questions.

MARGARET BRENNAN: All right. And we’ll put some of those to one of our upcoming guests as well. Thank you, senator, for your time today.

CALGARY, Alberta — The Blackhawks offensive woes were already dire entering Saturday, but nothing could’ve prepared them for the frustration that awaited against the Flames.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen six breakaways in a game and zero on the score clock,” coach Luke Richardson said.

The Hawks’ 1-0 loss extended their road losing streak to 20 consecutive games, officially breaking the previous franchise record set in 2004.

And in their last five road games, they’ve been rather unbelievably shut out four times. Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom joined Buffalo’s Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko and Edmonton’s Calvin Pickard in the group of goalies who have blanked the Hawks this month.

Markstrom had to work harder for his shutout than the other three, though. He robbed Boris Katchouk on a breakaway in the opening minutes (and again later on), denied Jason Dickinson’s juicy rebound attempt with four seconds left and made a number of other excellent stops in between to finish with 32 saves.

“I feel like it’s maybe in the back of our head,” forward Taylor Raddysh said. “We’ve been playing such a strong game as a group overall. We’ve had our shots; we’ve had our chances; we’ve had a lot of ‘Grade-A’ chances that just haven’t found the back of their net.”

Flames forward Elias Lindholm scored the game’s only goal in the second period when he tapped in a power-play rebound that deflected right to him.

Lukas Reichel enjoyed his best game in a while, skating with confidence and fluidity while deking out quite a few opponents, but he, too, couldn’t find a way to hit the net.

“Right from Petr [Mrazek] all the way out, there wasn’t anybody that we were unhappy with their performance tonight,” Richardson said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it over the line.”

Finally, the bye

The Hawks’ bye week couldn’t have come at a better time. Between the multitude of players working back from injuries and the team’s demoralizing on-ice struggles lately, everyone has been craving this week off.

“We’re playing really hard against teams…[and] when you’re kind of running out of gas, it’s hard to do,” Richardson said.

“It’s going to be a good boost physically to have that break for those guys to rejuvenate. There are guys that are playing banged-up — which everybody does — but with our injury list and guys playing banged up, that’s a lot of stress on this team. It’s going to be good for them to get a break.”

The Hawks won’t play again until Feb. 7 against the Wild and will play nine of their 10 games in February at home, with several more multi-day breaks sprinkled in.

That will provide lots of practice time and minimize travel, helping Connor Bedard (jaw), Anthony Beauvillier (wrist), Tyler Johnson (foot), Connor Murphy (lower body) and Nikita Zaitsev (knee) try to rejoin the lineup as soon as possible.

Gilbert finds niche

Former Hawks prospect defenseman Dennis Gilbert has finally found his niche in the NHL with the Flames.

Gilbert, now 27, made his 31st appearance of the season Saturday, having already set a career high. After being traded away from Chicago in October 2020 in the Nikita Zadorov trade, he spent two years on the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, then landed in Calgary in 2022.

“I thought I’d come out here and give it the best I could, and…I’ve been able to build through last year to this year,” Gilbert said.

During his Colorado stint, he learned how to defend using his feet, skating and positioning rather than purely through physicality, which always came more naturally for him. His hits-per-game rate has decreased from 3.6 with the Hawks to 1.6 this season, but the Flames have fared decently well during his ice time.

“Knowing what is expected of you and doing it consistently is the name of the game,” he said. “This year, for the most part, I’ve done a good job of that.”

CHICAGO — Health professionals are teaming up with faith leaders to help people in Chicago suffering from opioid addiction.

In communities of color, many churches are joining the fight, including Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church on the South Side.

RUSH University Medical Center hosted pastors, bishops and church elders to educate them about the epidemic and inform them about ways they can support people struggling with substance abuse.

Cook County’s Medical Examiner reported more than 2,000 opioid overdose deaths in 2022. About 70% impacted were Black and about 20% were Latino.

The Medical examiner said opioid overdose deaths for 2023 are expected to fall just short of the previous year’s number.

The hope is that church leaders can help break the stigma of addiction and save lives.

The outreach event was one of six that will be hosted by RUSH, which will take the program to churches around the city next, starting with Fellowship Missionary Baptist