South Siders dare to dance after loss of loved ones
Good morning, Chicago. ✶
???? Below: After the deaths of two of their members, a tight-knit South Side dance company grapples with performing again — and honoring their loved ones' legacies.
????️ Plus: A growing network of gardens, gas prices spike and more news you need to know.
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⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER ☁️
Cloudy with fog and light rain expected and a high near 41.
TODAY’S TOP STORY ????
South Side dance company returns to honor members killed in crash
By Violet Miller
Lost loved ones: On Wednesday night, The Empiire Dance Company rehearsed for what they say is a final curtain call for late members Isaiah "Bo" Flemister and Lazarus "Hollywood" Gonzalez. Flemister, 17, and Gonzalez, 25, died Feb. 19 in a crash on the Bishop Ford, when a vehicle carrying five members of the dance group flipped. The three others were injured, and one is "still fighting for her life in the hospital," said Latisha Waters, co-CEO of Empiire.
The performance: Monday and Wednesday marked the first times the group had rehearsed since the accident. At a memorial for Flemister to be held Saturday at the Harold Washington Cultural Center in Bronzeville, dancers plan to perform in sync with a video of Flemister’s footwork routine, filmed two days before the crash. "It’ll be like he’s dancing with us," Waters said.
'We're tight-knit': Since its inception 26 years ago, The Empiire Dance Company — which has members ages 4 to 37 — has become like a family, even teaching the children of former students. "We do everything from Thanksgiving dinners, Christmases, graduations, proms, birthdays, parent-teacher conferences,” Waters said. "We’re tight-knit, we’re always together … We needed to come back in here and be around each other."
HEALTH ????
Growers provide healthy food to people with little access, aim to narrow 20-year life expectancy gap
By Kristen Schorsch
Growing network: Sammie Taylor and his wife, Angie, have managed their Fulton Street Flower and Vegetable Garden for about 20 years. It’s part of the Garfield Park Garden Network, one of several programs run by the nonprofit Garfield Park Community Council. Fruits and vegetables grown at 12 community gardens, managed by residents or schools, are sold every other week from June through October at the Council’s Neighborhood Market.
The hope: The garden network aims to make healthy food more accessible in a community where people are expected to die earlier than in any other neighborhood in Chicago, and where residents have fewer nutritious food options. The Taylors hope their garden will help narrow the so-called death gap. "I’m a firm believer that if we eat better, we do better and we can live better," Taylor told WBEZ.
Key context: Chronic conditions including heart disease as well as cancer are leading drivers of the stark 20-year life expectancy gap across the city. The death gap is the widest between West Garfield Park, where most residents are Black and can expect to live until 67, and the Loop, where the majority are white and life expectancy is 87 years old.
CHICAGO HISTORY ⏳
Rev. Jesse Jackson will be laid to rest at historic Oak Woods Cemetery
By Lee Bey
Historic place: The 173-year-old Oak Woods Cemetery, with its solemn and picturesque grounds, will become the final resting place of the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Near 67th Street, Cottage Grove Avenue, 71st Street and the Metra Electric tracks, Oak Woods was chartered by the state in 1853 and took its first burials in 1865. The list of notables interred at Oak Woods is as distinguished as the cemetery’s design — perhaps more so.
Key context: Jackson’s name will join the roll of a silent city of 200,000, many of whom have also made local, national and international impacts: Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Jesse Owens, Roebuck "Pops" Staples, former Mayor Harold Washington. Oak Woods also has the largest Confederate burial ground in the North, where 4,000 rebel soldiers who died at Chicago’s Civil War-era prisoners of war camp rest. Oak Woods had turned away Black burials and cremations until protests in 1963 by the NAACP, Rev. Clay Evans and Rev. A.R. Leak of A.R. Leak Funeral Home stopped the racist practice. Leak and Sons have planned Jackson’s complex funeral arrangements.
Jackson's services: A "People’s Celebration" honoring Jackson begins 10 a.m. Friday at Pullman church House of Hope. Former Democratic Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are expected to attend the Friday service. Private homegoing services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Rainbow PUSH.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED ????️
- Did suburban church do enough?: Wade Christofferson was arrested last year over child sex abuse accusations in Utah and Ohio. He was once a member and leader of a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregation in Crystal Lake, a far northwest suburb where he might have molested more children in the 1980s and '90s.
- Gas prices spike: The average local price for a regular gallon of gas is reportedly $3.51, or 17 cents higher than the week prior, and the national average was $3.20, up by 20 cents. The hike is a result of the U.S. war in Iran, which saw Iran close the Strait of Hormuz, the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes.
- Pritzker press Rubio: Gov. JB Pritzker is pressing U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to announce a federal plan to help stranded Americans in the Middle East, including a commitment to use charter flights or military aircraft to help them safely leave the region.
- Tariff refunds ordered: A federal judge in New York ruled Wednesday that companies that paid tariffs struck down last month by the U.S. Supreme Court are due refunds.
- Alleged police ambush: Sedrick Griffin, 31, is accused of sneaking up behind several police officers and shooting at them during a prostitution investigation Monday in Auburn Gresham, police said.
- Man charged with stealing van full of puppies: The 46-year-old allegedly stole a purple van with at least eight puppies inside that belonged to a Lincoln Park pet salon, authorities said.
- Pokémon at Field Museum: Out-of-state fans flooded the museum's website to snatch up tickets for the Pokémon Fossil Museum exhibit, opening May 22. A Sun-Times check Wednesday revealed a shorter wait for Chicagoans and Illinoisans seeking to buy tickets.
ELECTIONS ☑️
Progressives pack Democratic primary race to replace U.S. Rep. Danny Davis
By Mitchell Armentrout
Leadership change: A progressive torch is up for grabs in Illinois’ deep-blue 7th Congressional District, which has been represented by Danny Davis since 1997.
Who's running: Among the baker’s dozen Democrats who have lined up to succeed the retiring congressman, two previously tried and failed to unseat him, and another wasn’t yet born when the 84-year-old U.S. representative first took office.
What they say: While all 13 Democratic primary candidates praised Davis’ legacy, they each told the Sun-Times their diverse district — winding from Englewood up the Loop and west to Austin and several suburbs — is due for a fresh voice in Washington to counter Trump administration policies and address the rising cost of living.
Davis' pick: Davis himself suggested that voice should come from another familiar West Side face, state Rep. La Shawn Ford, whom the congressman endorsed while announcing his retirement last summer.
Key election links:
LET’S HEAR FROM YOU ????️
What political race on the Illinois primary ballot do you care the most about and why?
Reply to this newsletter (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in a future newsletter or story.
FROM THE PRESS BOX ????????????⚾
- Remembering Lou Holtz: Mr. Holtz, football coach of the 1988 Fighting Irish team that won the school’s last national championship, died Wednesday in Orlando at age 89.
- Unrivaled’s next test: The player-centric WNBA league's next challenge is adapting to the ecosystem it helped create.
- New Hawk: The Blackhawks acquired a 2027 first-round pick from the Oilers after trading away Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach.
- Jefferson Rojas turns heads: The Cubs' No. 5 prospect has a swing that's grabbing the attention of players and coaching staff during major league camp.
- Venable reflects: Will Venable says he knew what he was taking on when he joined the White Sox as their new manager prior to the 2024 season.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD ????
Today's clue: 3D: City of ___ Shoulders
BRIGHT ONE ????
David Byrne readies his immersive new Chicago theater show
Reporting by Mike Davis
David Byrne stood in a room with an absurd amount of doors, most of which didn't actually lead anywhere.
"We’re taking the route the audience would take," Byrne explained. “I'm not spoiling too much, but every door looks the same, and they can hear sounds coming from some of these doors. Laughter, conversation."
Thus began WBEZ reporter Mike Davis' February tour of "Theater of the Mind," Byrne's immersive theater installation in an office building on the edge of the Loop that will premiere March 11.
The show will allow 16 people at a time to walk through a series of rooms led by a tour guide named David, who will be clad in a seersucker shirt, shorts, and sandals with socks. The outfit is identical to one worn by a 2-year-old Byrne in a photo displayed on a wall.
"Theater of the Mind” is produced in partnership with the Goodman Theatre as part of the historic company’s 100th season. The exhibition is set to fill 15,000 square feet of ground floor space in the Reid Murdoch Building Downtown.
Read about our tour of the new production with the Grammy-, Oscar-, Tony- and Golden Globe-winning rock veteran here.
READ MORE
WATCH: DAVID BYRNE BEHIND THE SCENES ▶️
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Yesterday, we asked you: What’s the best Chicago-themed gift you’ve ever received — or given?
Here’s some of what you said…
"The best Chicago-themed gift came from my Mom, years ago. It was a set of 4 glasses, each with a famous Chicago site or skyline etched into the glass, including Marshall Field's iconic store. I love them." — Christine Bock
"A photo book of Pope John Paul II’s visit to Chicago, showing him driving past our house on his way to Five Holy Martyrs church in 1979." — Terry Sullivan
"I took a couple of Gino's pizzas enclosed in dry ice in my suitcase to Arizona to meet a friend I'd made online who had never been to Chicago. I also took some Fanny May chocolates. Everything was a big hit, except for the pizza aroma on my clothes that had been in the suitcase." — Janet Ma'ly
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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