Gigi’s Playhouse Celebrates 100th Day Of “321 Days Of Acceptance” Campaign

CHICAGO (CBS) – What began as one suburban mother’s dream to raise awareness of Down Syndrome has hit all new heights.

“Gigi’s Playhouse” is now a worldwide operation and on Wednesday, it celebrated the 100th day of a social media campaign aimed at acceptance and understanding.

It is call “321 Days of Acceptance.”

The goal is to introduce to the world someone with Down Syndrome every day for more than 10 months.

Already the campaign has reached more than one million fans and followers on social media.

South Barrington mom Nancy Gianni founded Gigi’s Playhouse more than a decade ago, after the birth of her daughter who she calls a happy, hip-hop dancer, avid texter and overall rock star with Down Syndrome.

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Trump Tweets He’s Sending Federal Help To Slow Gun Violence

CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago and federal law enforcement will collaborate to reduce the number illegal guns in the city.

President Trump tweeted Friday: “Crime and killings in Chicago have reached such epidemic proportions that I am sending in Federal help.”

Crime and killings in Chicago have reached such epidemic proportions that I am sending in Federal help. 1714 shootings in Chicago this year!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2017

Chicago police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are forming a Chicago Crime Gun Strike Force. The Chicago Sun-Times reports 20 additional ATF agents have been sent to Chicago.

Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said in a statement “we are foundationally changing the way we fight crime in Chicago.”

State police, intelligence analysts and state and federal prosecutors will target illegal guns and repeat gun offenders.

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The Bernstein Brief: Cubs Cash In On Slim Chance

By Dan Bernstein–
CBSChicago.com senior columnist

(CBS) The win expectancy charts at Fangraphs.com only calculate a team’s chances at the conclusion of  given play, so not exactly everything that happens — or doesn’t, in this case — factors in.

When Blake Treinen struck out Addison Russell with the Nationals leading the Cubs, 4-2, in the ninth inning Thursday, Washington’s win expectancy stood at 96.4 percent. Jeimer Candelario reaching base after being hit by a pitch reduced that probability to a mere 91.4 percent, but it went back to exactly 96.4 after a play that was described as “Victor Caratini reached on fielder’s choice to shortstop (Grounder). Jeimer Candelario out at second.”

That’s true, but it fails to provide what the likelihood of a Cubs loss was in the middle of that innocuously described action as it occurred. All second baseman Daniel Murphy had to do to end the game was make the turn at second after receiving the flip from Trea Turner, but he couldn’t get enough of a grip on the ball to throw out the less-than-speedy Caratini and end the game. It was over right there, until it wasn’t.

Two singles and a double later, and the Cubs had what general manager Jed Hoyer thought they had been missing. Visiting earlier in the day on the Spiegel and Parkins Show, Hoyer noted that the Cubs “just haven’t had that event … that’s brought us together, that’s allowed us to play consistently good baseball week in and week out.

“It’s going to happen, I don’t know why it wouldn’t,” Hoyer said.

Hoyer pointed to the game on July 31 of last season, a victory over Seattle at home after trailing 6-0.

“We won that game improbably,” Hoyer said, “and then we won 11 or 12 in a row (10, really). We haven’t had that kind of win, that kind of galvanizing moment.”

If Hoyer feels his team needed to overcome improbability to spark better play, they just did.

Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score’s “Bernstein and Goff Show” in afternoon drive. You can follow him on Twitter  @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.

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Man Looking For Owner Of Teddy Bear Found At O’Hare Airport

CHICAGO (CBS) — We are asking for your help on this one – if not for the child, but for his/her parents.

Meet Theodore.

Nathan Paul Childers posted a picture on Facebook, stating that he had found a teddy bear on the floor at O’Hare Airport around noon on Saturday.

His post read, “So yesterday day was sad I found this little guy being kicked around on the floor at the Chicago O’Hare airport. Around noon on sunday, June 25 2017 everyone share so we can get him home. Until then his name is going to be Theodore and we are going to take care of him. He will be my travel buddy. I will make sure he has a good time. #lostteddybear #findmyhuman”

Since he could not find Theodore’s owner right away, he posted the photo on Facebook asking for help.

The photo has since been shared more than 45,000 times.

Until the owner comes forward, Childers said Theodore will travel with him.

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Man Fatally Shot By Robber In University Park During Online Sale Meet-Up

CHICAGO (CBS) – An online sale ended in the death of a man in the south suburbs on Thursday night.

Police say he was shot and killed during a robbery.

CBS 2’s Susanna Song has more from south suburban University Park.

It appears to have been a set up.

The victim, 31-year-old Kevin Jarrett and a woman arranged to meet a potential buyer at an apartment building to sell a game system. Instead, police say the two were robbed.

University Park Police say the couple posted an ad on the website, letgo.com.

On Thursday night around 10:45 p.m., Jarett and the woman pulled up to the apartment, located in the 800 block of White Oak Lane in University Park. Three men met them, but what was supposed to be a purchase, turned into a robbery and the shooting of Kevin Jarrett.

After Jarrett was shot, he got back into the car and the woman he was with sped off. The car stopped about a block away and that is where police found the couple.

Jarrett, who is from Kankakee, died. The woman was not injured.

Police said the apartment where the arrangement was to take place was empty.

CBS 2 spoke with a neighbor on Friday morning.

“The police had the street blocked off. I couldn’t get in. They put the yellow tape up and I had to get out of my niece’s car to get around to the house,” said John Patterson.

Police say they have no one in custody as of Friday morning.

Anyone with information on the shooting should go to the University Park Department, or call (708) 235-4803.

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Last Day For Lawmakers To Reach Budget Agreement

CHICAGO (CBS) – Lawmakers in Springfield are racing against the clock on Friday morning.

If the General Assembly cannot reach a budget agreement by midnight, Illinois will start a third fiscal year without a budget.

CBS 2’s Mike Puccinelli has a look at what is means for road construction projects and so much more.

Illinois has more than 900 construction projects and if no budget is hammered out by midnight, hundreds of projects will be forced to come to a halt putting more than 20,000 people out of work.

And it is not just construction. Higher education will also be affected. Without a budget, universities will not be able to offer financial aid to students and may need to lay off even more workers. Shelters for the homeless and victims of domestic violence are among the many social service agencies that have been forced to close their doors or reduce services. The state lottery may no longer be able to pay out winnings, and multistate games like Powerball may be forced to drop Illinois, costing the state $250,000 a day.

The state may become the first in U.S. history to have its credit rating reduced to “junk.”

Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan said the two-year impasse is a result of Governor Rauner’s unwillingness to compromise.

“This should have been done two years ago,” he said. “This never should have happened. It could have been done two years ago, so if people are reasonable it can be done.”

The state’s Democratic comptroller took to YouTube to highlight Illinois’ unprecedented backlog of bills.

“Over the last two years our bill backlog has more than tripled. As you probably know, the state of Illinois owes its vendors more than $15-billion and owes an obscene amount of over $800-billion of late payment interest penalties on the bills,” said Illinois Comptroller, Susana Mendoza.

Now Governor Rauner wants to freeze local property taxes, change worker compensation laws and in the view of democrats, weaken unions. He said if no budget deal is agreed on Friday, he will order lawmakers to stay in session in order to get it done, but that also comes at a cost – $48,000 a day, for every day lawmakers stay in session.

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5 Teenage Boys Among 7 Wounded In Thursday Shootings Across Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) — At least seven people were wounded, including two 16-year-old boys, in separate shootings across Chicago on Thursday.

In the last week, 98 people have been shot in the city, according to Chicago Sun-Times data, and 1727 have been shot this year.

The latest attack happened about 10:55 p.m. in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, where a 21-year-old man was standing on a corner in the 2400 block of West 63rd Street when two males got out of a vehicle and shot him in the right leg, according to Chicago Police. The man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where his condition stabilized.

About two hours earlier, officers responded to a call of a person shot and found a 26-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the arm in the Austin neighborhood’s 1700 block of North Lockwood, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition.

A 16-year-old boy was shot in the hand about a half-hour earlier in the 1400 block of East 69th Place in the South Side Grand Crossing neighborhood, police said. He was taken to Jackson Park Hospital in good condition.

Fifteen minutes earlier, a 19-year-old man was shot in the right wrist in the West Garfield Park neighborhood’s 3300 block of West Gladys Avenue, police said. He took himself to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition.

Just after 6 p.m., a 17-year-old boy was walking in the 6500 block of South Cottage Grove in the West Woodlawn neighborhood when shooters approached and opened fire, police said. The boy was taken in good condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with gunshot wounds to his left leg and right foot.

A teenage boy and a man were wounded in Thursday’s first shooting, which happened about 3:10 p.m. in the West Side Austin neighborhood. They were walking in the 1100 block of North Lockwood when a dark-colored car pulled up and someone inside started shooting, police said. The 16-year-old boy was shot in the right thigh and the 19-year-old man was shot in the lower, right leg. They were both taken to Stroger Hospital, where their conditions stabilized.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2016. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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