President Obama begins 2nd term

Singers, musicians, vendors and a veteran parade planner tune up on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013, for President Obama's Monday inauguration. (Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune)

WASHINGTON -- Four years after making history by becoming the first African-American president, Barack Obama will kick off his second term on Monday with a scaled-back inauguration that reflects the tempered expectations for his next four years in office.

Lingering high unemployment, bitter political battles and a divisive re-election campaign have punctured the mood of optimism and hope that infused Obama's 2009 inauguration after a sweeping election win.

This time, Obama's inauguration will feature smaller crowds and a reduced slate of inaugural balls and parties to match the more subdued tenor of the times.

When Obama raises his right hand to be sworn in by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts outside the U.S. Capitol at 10:55 a.m. Chicago time, it will be his second time taking the oath in 24 hours.

He had a private swearing-in on Sunday at the White House because of a constitutional requirement that the president be sworn in on January 20. Rather than stage the full inauguration on a Sunday, the main public events were put off until Monday.

Obama begins the day worshipping at St. John's Episcopal Church across from the White House. He will then take the oath again and deliver his inaugural address from the Capitol's west front overlooking the National Mall, where a crowd of up to 700,000 is expected to watch.

That is down significantly from the record 1.8 million people who jammed Washington in 2009 for Obama's first inauguration.

As Inauguration Day dawned and people streamed through the wintry cold toward the Capitol grounds, Washington was in security lockdown, with thousands of police and National Guard troops deployed, barricades up and Humvee military vehicles blocking major intersections.

Outside the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, an elaborate presidential viewing stand, encased in bullet-proof glass, awaited Obama and other VIPs to watch the inaugural parade.

Even though the atmosphere lacked the euphoria of Obama's first inauguration, many of his supporters celebrated through the night.

"Yes, I can sense the inauguration is not as big as last time, but there is nonetheless excitement," said Carrie` Solages, a New York state legislator, as she attended a pre-inaugural ball late on Sunday. "We are still here to be a part of history."

At the Hawaii State Society inaugural ball, dancers swung their hips to traditional songs, and some partygoers sported tuxedos with Hawaiian-print cummerbunds as they ate suckling pig.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS IS CENTERPIECE

The focal point of Monday's festivities will be Obama's inauguration address, which he will use to lay out in broad terms his vision for the next four years but will stay away from policy specifics.

David Plouffe, a senior adviser, said Obama would call on both parties to come together to resolve daunting second-term challenges like the budget, the need to raise the nation's borrowing limit and the Democrat's push for tighter gun laws and a legal path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

The president views the inauguration speech and the State of the Union speech to Congress on February 12 as "a package," Plouffe told CNN on Sunday, and would save details of his second-term agenda for the later speech.

At a reception on Sunday night, Obama thanked supporters, telling them: "After we celebrate, let's make sure to work as hard as we can to pass on an America that is worthy not only of our past but also of our future."

After a bitter election fight against Republican Mitt Romney, the daunting challenges facing Obama and his political battles with congressional Republicans have split public opinion about the prospects for the next four years.

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll last week found 43 percent of Americans were optimistic about the next four years and 35 percent pessimistic, with 22 percent having a mixed opinion.

Obama's main political opponent in Congress, Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, plans to attend a White House tea before the ceremony, as well as the inaugural speech and a post-event lunch at the Capitol with the president and lawmakers.

Public safety officials and workers closed Washington streets around the ceremony site on Sunday night in preparation for the inauguration, with security barriers going up and thousands of police and National Guard troops being deployed around the city.

The inauguration ceremony will include music - singers James Taylor and Kelly Clarkson will perform patriotic songs and Beyonce will sing the national anthem - and also feature Vice President Joe Biden taking the oath of office again after doing so already on Sunday.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, will join Biden and his wife, Jill, at the capital luncheon before the two couples take part in the inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House.

Obama could get out of his limousine and walk part of the way to interact with the crowd, as have presidents in the last several inaugurals.

After watching the rest of the parade from a viewing stand in front of the White House, the Obamas will change and head to the two inaugural balls - an official ball and one for military personnel and their spouses.

That is a dramatic reduction in activities from 2009, when there were 10 official inaugural balls.

With the public ceremony falling on the national holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., Obama will be able to draw some historic parallels. While taking the oath, he will place his left hand on two Bibles - one once owned by Abraham Lincoln and the other by King.

Reuters

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Man shot on 22nd floor of downtown hotel

A 25-year-old man was shot in the leg early this morning during a party on the 22nd floor of a hotel in the Loop, police said.

The shooting happened about 2:15 a.m. at the Palmer House, a hotel at 17 East Monroe St., Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro said.

The man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition.

Police said no suspects were in custody and that the man was not cooperating fully with detectives.

Everyone involved knew each other, according to police.

Hotel staff declined to comment and referred all questions to a company spokesman.

In other overnight shootings:

• About 9:20 p.m., a 35-year-old man was shot in the leg near the intersection of West 85^th Street and South Loomis Boulevard in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side, Alfaro said. The man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was listed in good condition.

• About 10 p.m., a 20-year-old man was shot in the shin while walking down the sidewalk in the 5500 block of South Shields Avenue in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side, Alfaro said. He was taken to Saint Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center, where his condition was stabilized.

chicagobreaking@tribune.com

Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking

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2 shot to death in separate attacks on South, West sides

Two men were shot to death in separate attacks within about 15 minutes of each other Friday night, one in Austin and one in Back of the Yards, authorities said.

The dead were among 11 people shot since Friday afternoon across the city, including two teens in the Stony Island Park neighborhood on the South Side.

About 9:15 p.m., a man was shot to death inside a Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen, 5500 W. North Ave. in Austin on the West Side.

The man, who witnesses said was about 21 years old, was inside a business when he was shot from outside by someone who fled on foot, said Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Amina Greer. He was unresponsive on the scene when police found him but was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, police said.

Someone fired at least four times from outside the restaurant, piercing a window and striking the man, police said.

Three workers were cleaning up inside the business as police examined shell casings outside about 10 p.m. An employee who was inside making up an order at the time of the shooting said the gunfire did not sound like shots but instead like someone hitting a table with a hammer.

Just 15 minutes later, about 9:30 p.m., a man in his 20s was found shot to death on a sidewalk in the 5400 block of South Laflin Street on the South Side, Greer said. He suffered a gunshot wound to the face and was dead on the scene, she said.

Police found him in a gangway between an apartment building and a vacant house.

A 35-year-old man told police he "heard shots and felt pain" when someone shot him just before 4 a.m. Saturday morning in the 1600 block of North Sawyer Avenue, police said. The man, who police said was a gang member, was taken from the Logan Square crime scene to Stroger hospital in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the arm, police said.

About 11:35 p.m. Friday, a 26-year-old man was shot in the leg in the 4400 block of South Washtenaw Avenue in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side, Greer said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition.

Someone was shot about 10:20 p.m. inside an apartment in the 1300 block of East 75th Street in the Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side, police said. The victim was sitting on a couch of an acquaintance's apartment when three or four people knocked on the door. The apartment resident opened the door and jumped out of the way as someone fired. The bullets ended up going through the glass door and hit the man on the couch in the legs and arms, police said. He's in stable condition at Stroger hospital.

Someone shot two teens about 9:45 p.m. in the 8400 block of South Constance Avenue in the Stony Island Park neighborhood, Greer said. A 15-year-old was shot in the chest and taken to Comer Children's Hospital in critical condition and a 16-year-old was grazed in the back and taken to Jackson Park Hospital in good condition. Someone inside a passing light car opened fire on the teens, both of whom police said did not affiliate with local gangs.

Earlier, two men were shot in the Englewood neighborhood. The shooting took place about 7:30 p.m. on the 7300 block of South Racine Avenue and left one man wounded in the back and the other in the foot, police said.

A 20-year-old man with a wound to the back was taken from 74th and Racine in serious condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, and an 18-year-old man with a wound to the foot was taken from 74th and Aberdeen Street to St. Bernard Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, according to Chicago Fire Department Media reports.

About 6:50 p.m., a 33-year-old man was shot in the 8400 block of South Paulina Street in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side. He was a passenger in a southbound vehicle when someone opened fire, hitting him in the arm and shoulder area. He's in stable condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center.

Another person was shot about 1 p.m. Friday afternoon at 2300 N. Mango Avenue in the Belmont Central neighborhood on the Northwest Side, police said. Someone yelled "gangsta killer" and shot him in the upper left arm. He's in good condition at West Suburban Medical Center, police said.

pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas

lford@tribune.com
Twitter: @ltaford

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Quinn to name former prosecutor Fitzgerald to UI board

Gov. Pat Quinn will name former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

Fitzgerald will replace first term trustee Lawrence Oliver II, according to a news release from the governor's office.

The appointment would mark a quick return to the public eye for Fitzgerald, a career prosecutor who left the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago for private law practice in 2012 after a long run that included putting former Govs. George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich behind bars.

Oliver told the Tribune he received a call from Quinn's office Wednesday afternoon with the news that he would not be reappointed. Oliver, who was appointed as a political independent and maintains that affiliation, said he suspects he was not reappointed because he voted in a 2010 Democratic primary.

U. of I.'s nine-member board has to be politically balanced, according to state statute. The current board has five Democrats, three Republicans and one Independent.

Both of the other two board members whose terms expire Monday say they were told they were reappointed to another six-year term. James Montgomery, a Democrat and a Chicago attorney, refused the governor's call to resign during the university scandal over politically connected admissions to the school. Dr. Timothy Koritz, an anesthesiologist at Rockford Memorial Hospital, was appointed by Quinn when he revamped the board in 2009. Koritz, a Republican, was told Wednesday that he would serve a second term.

Oliver, chief counsel for investigations at the Boeing Co. who served on Quinn's Illinois Reform Commission, said he was disappointed by the governor's decision. He said he voted in the 2010 Democratic primary to support David Hoffman for U.S. Senate.

The U. of I. board is scheduled to meet next Thursday, at which time it will take its annual vote on a chairman and other officers of the board.

In the press release, Quinn also named three re-appointments to the Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees. They are businessman Robert Boey, on the board since 1996; Dr. John Butler, a Chicago-area business consultant who is a NIU alumnus and has served on the board since 2007; and Wheeler Coleman, a 2011 Quinn appointee who is vice president and chief technology officer at Heath Care Service Corporation and former vice-president of the NIU Alumni Association.

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Teen killed following Simeon-Morgan Park game; 2 in custody

The Simeon and Morgan Park High School basketball teams ended their game at Chicago State University with a melee between players on the court. (Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune)

Staff report

7:28 a.m. CST, January 17, 2013

A 17-year-old boy was shot and killed after a fight broke out at the end of a high school basketball game at Chicago State University.

Tyrone Lawson was shot around 9:20 p.m. outside the gymnasium near 95th Street and King Drive, according to Police News Affairs Officer Daniel O’Brien.

Shortly before the shooting, an argument had broken out in a handshake line after the game between Simeon Career Academy and Morgan Park High School, police said. The argument spilled into the parking lot and someone pulled out a gun and shot Lawson, officials said.

Each team was held in the locker rooms longer than normal after the game as tensions ran high in the gym, witnesses said.

University police issued a message to officers, asking them to watch for a Jeep. It was pulled over east of the school and two people were taken into custody, officials said. Police said they found a gun inside the Jeep.

It was unclear what the fight was about. Nothing outside ordinary bumps and physical contact appeared to have happened during the game between the two school, which are located on Vincennes Avenue about 30 blocks apart.

The university released a statement Thursday morning saying it was "deeply saddened by the tragic shooting death."

“(Chicago Public Schools) periodically uses the university’s athletic facility to provide a neutral setting for student sporting events. This is the first such incident to occur on the campus of Chicago State University where CPS students have played many times over the last three years," the statement said.

"Additional security is provided by the university and all external partners during high school sporting events. Arrests have been made and university officials are awaiting the outcome of a full investigation to learn details about the shooting incident.”

Lawson, of the 11600 block of South Peoria Street, was pronounced dead at 9:59 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Contributor Mike Helfgot and Tribune reporters Peter Nickeas, Rosemary Regina Sobol and Jeremy Gorner contributed to this story.

chicagobreaking@tribune.com
Twitter: @chicagobreaking

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Obama to propose assault weapons ban, better background checks

President Obama is expected to present a three-part plan to target gun violence in America.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will propose an assault weapons ban and better background checks for gun buyers on Wednesday as part of a package of proposals to curb gun violence one month after the Newtown school massacre.

The proposals will include executive and legislative measures, with the latter sure to face an uphill battle in Congress, where appetite for renewing an assault weapons ban is low.

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who led a task force that made recommendations on the issue, will present the measures at a White House event attended by children from around the country who wrote letters to the president about gun violence and school safety.

Obama will urge lawmakers to act quickly, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

"The president has made clear that he intends to take a comprehensive approach," Carney said at a briefing.

"There are specific legislative actions that he will continue to call on Congress to take, including the assault weapons ban, including a measure to ban high-capacity magazine clips, including an effort to close the very big loopholes in the background check system in our country," he said.

The proposals will be Obama's first major foray into gun control, despite several mass shootings that have occurred during his four years in office. Gun restrictions are a divisive issue in the United States, which constitutionally protects a citizen's right to bear arms.

Biden delivered his recommendations to Obama after a series of meetings with representatives from the weapons and entertainment industries requested by the president after the December 14 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children and six adults were killed.

The proposals are likely to touch on mental health and could address violence portrayed in video games.

Obama, who has said the day of the shooting was the worst of his presidency, said on Monday he would study the panel's ideas and then move forward "vigorously" on those that he endorsed, including some actions he could take without congressional approval.

A White House official said Obama had not endorsed all of the ideas put forward by Biden's team but declined to lay out specifics on what would be announced.

Obama has signaled his plan would include elements that did not require congressional approval. The president could take action to ban certain gun imports and bolster oversight of dealers.

A spokeswoman for Representative Jackie Speier, a lawmaker from California who was one of a group of Democrats who met with Biden about the issue on Monday, said his task force had identified 19 different options Obama could choose to implement through executive action.

"(Biden) did not indicate which or how many of those options the president will take up or present to the nation tomorrow," said the spokeswoman, Jenny Werwa.

NRA CLASH

The president's move is not the only action being taken on gun control nationwide. New York State lawmakers on Tuesday approved one of the toughest gun control bills in the United States and Governor Andrew Cuomo signed it into law.

The proposals are likely to draw ire from the National Rifle Association, a powerful lobbying group that is traditionally associated with Republicans. The NRA proposed having armed officials in schools throughout the country and has said the media and violent video games shared blame for the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

There is little on which the Obama administration and NRA officials agree.

The White House is also pushing for the Senate to confirm a director for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, an agency that has been without a Senate-confirmed director since 2006.

Obama nominated Andrew Traver, a Navy veteran who ran the agency's Chicago division, for the job in November 2010, and again early in 2011. The NRA opposed Traver's nomination.

The Senate is in recess, and Obama could choose to make a recess appointment to fill the job. Such an appointment would likely rankle lawmakers, whose support Obama will need to get his proposals passed.

Though the chances of getting a ban on assault weapons appear low, the White House seems set on getting Obama's support of such a ban solidified in a legislative draft.

Gun control advocates are pressing the administration to keep up the pressure on the issue in the face of other policy priorities, including deficit reduction and immigration reform.

"In three months are we going to be talking about these issues? Because that's the only way you make any progress," said Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, a progressive-leaning advocacy group.

The organization, whose officials have close ties to the White House, released a report suggesting 14 legislative proposals and executive actions to reduce gun violence, including requiring a background check for all gun sales.

Reuters

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City seeks to settle cop misconduct cases for nearly $33 million

Chicago Tribune reporter David Heinzmann on news that Mayor Rahm Emanuel seeks to settle two notorious cases of alleged police misconduct. (Posted Jan. 14th, 2013)

Nearly seven years after Christina Eilman wandered out of a South Side police station and into a catastrophe, her tragic entanglement with the Chicago Police Department began to come to an end Monday — with a proposed $22.5 million legal settlement that may be the largest the city ever offered to a single victim of police misconduct.

Though the settlement is a staggering sum on its own, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration has placed a second eight-figure police settlement on today's City Council Finance Committee agenda. A $10.2 million settlement is proposed for one of the victims of notorious former police Cmdr. Jon Burge, bringing to nearly $33 million the amount aldermen could vote to pay victims of police misconduct in a single day.

The latest Burge settlement would be for Alton Logan, who spent 26 years in prison for a murder he did not commit and who alleged in a federal lawsuit that Burge's team of detectives covered up evidence that would have exonerated him — a departure from previous cases that documented torture used by Burge's team to extract false confessions. The Logan case would bring the tab on Burge cases to nearly $60 million when legal fees are counted. Burge is serving 41/2 years in federal prison for lying about the torture and abuse of suspects.

The settlement in the Eilman case would avert a trial detailing the events of May 2006, when the then-21-year-old California woman was arrested at Midway Airport in the midst of a bipolar breakdown. She was held overnight and then released at sundown the next day without assistance several miles away in one of the city's highest-crime neighborhoods.

Alone and bewildered by her surroundings, the former UCLA student was abducted and sexually assaulted before plummeting from a seventh-floor window. She survived but suffered a severe and permanent brain injury, a shattered pelvis, and numerous other broken bones and injuries.

Her lawyer and family declined to comment Monday. The case, which has dragged in the courts for six years, was set to begin trial next week. Pretrial litigation had produced scathing rebukes from federal judges of the city's behavior toward Eilman — both on the street and in court.

The city's argument that it was not responsible for her injuries because she was assaulted by a gang member was blasted in a ruling from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this year. a ruling from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this year. Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook described the Police Department's release of Eilman, who is white, into a high-crime, predominantly African-American neighborhood by saying officers "might as well have released her into the lion's den at the Brookfield Zoo."

While Emanuel's Law Department endured some criticism for delays in the Eilman case since the mayor took office in 2011, he has noted repeatedly that the police misconduct highlighted in these and many other cases are legacies from the Richard M. Daley administration that he — and taxpayers — are stuck with.

The mayor's office referred calls to the city Law Department, but a spokesman there declined to comment.

If approved, the Eilman settlement would surpass the $18 million settlement paid to the family of LaTanya Haggerty, who was mistakenly shot and killed by police in 1999. It is frequently referred to as the city's biggest single-victim settlement.

Ald. Howard Brookins Jr., 21st, said city officials have not taken a hard enough line against police misconduct for years, and now taxpayers are footing the bill.

"We've known this was going to bust our budget, and here we are," Brookins said. "The administration (under Daley) should have made police conduct and behavior a higher priority. They didn't, and now we're seeing these costly settlements over and over, to pay for officers mistreating people."

The Logan case was set to go to trial last month, but on the first day of jury selection, city lawyers decided to settle the case. Logan's attorney Jon Loevy said the settlement includes about $1.5 million in legal fees.

Logan sat in prison for 26 years until a stunning 2008 revelation after another man, convicted murderer Andrew Wilson, died. Wilson had told his attorneys in 1982 that he committed the murder in which Logan was accused, but the lawyers said the attorney-client privilege kept them from going public with the admission until after Wilson's death.

Although relieved the city settled the case instead of battling on, Loevy said his client would gladly give up the $8.7 million to have nearly three decades of his life back.

"I don't know who would take that much money to lose their 20s, 30s and 40s," Loevy said. "From his perspective, no amount of money can make him whole and he'd rather have his life back."

While Logan lost the middle chunk of his life, Eilman dwells in a childlike mental state and feels as though she has lost the rest of her life, her family has told the Tribune.

Hobbled by a brain injury that has permanently impaired her cognitive function, she lives with her parents in suburban Sacramento. She requires constant medical treatment and therapy. Doctors have said she will not get better.

Eilman came to Chicago on May 5, 2006, at a time when her bipolar condition was worsening. When she tried to catch a return flight from Midway to California a couple of days later, she was ranting and screaming and appeared to be out of her mind.

Police officers eventually arrested her and took her to the Chicago Lawn district near Midway. Court records and depositions in the case show that officers were alarmed by Eilman's behavior.

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Deadly West Side shooting spills over onto Eisenhower

A man was shot and killed at a gas station, but was found inside a mini-van along the Eisenhower Expressway.

By Carlos Sadovi




Tribune reporter

7:41 a.m. CST, January 14, 2013

A Forest Park man was shot and killed at a gas station near the Eisenhower Expressway on the West Side this morning, officials said.

The shooting occurred around 4:30 a.m. after the victim, a 28-year-old man, got into an argument with another person at the gas station in the 5200 block of West Jackson Boulevard, according to Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro.

The victim then drove or was driven to the 600 block of South Kostner Avenue, near the entrance to the Eisenhower Expressway.

He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:03 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. The man's name is not being released pending notification of his family, according to the office.

At least one lane of the inbound Eisenhower was closed for about a half hour after the shooting, according to Illinois State Police officials.

chicagobreaking@tribune.com

Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking

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The story behind Tribune's broken deal

7:04 a.m. CST, January 13, 2013

At the end of 2007, real estate tycoon Sam Zell took control of Tribune Co. in a deal that promised to re-energize the media conglomerate. But the company struggled under the huge debt burden the deal created, and less than a year later, it filed for bankruptcy.

One of Chicago's most iconic companies — parent to the Chicago Tribune — was propelled into a protracted and in many ways unprecedented odyssey through Chapter 11 reorganization.

On Dec. 31, after four years, Tribune Co. finally emerged from court protection under new ownership, but at a heavy cost. The company's value was diminished, its reputation was tarnished and its ability to respond to market opportunities during its long bankruptcy was constrained.

Tribune Co.'s bankruptcy saga began as an era of superheated Wall Street deal-making fueled by cheap money was coming to an end. The company's tale is emblematic of the American financial crisis itself, in which a seemingly insatiable appetite for speculative risk using exotic investment instruments helped trigger an economic collapse of historic proportions.

Tribune reporters Michael Oneal and Steve Mills, in a four-part series that begins today, tell the story of Tribune Co.'s journey into and through bankruptcy, throwing a spotlight on the key decisions and missed opportunities that marked a perilous time in the history of the company, the media industry and the economy.

Read the full story, "Part one: Zell's big gamble," as a digitalPLUS member.
To view videos and photos and for a look at the rest of the series visit, chicagotribune.com/brokendeal.

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14-year-old, 15-year-old killed in separate shootings

Two gunmen shot a 14-year-old boy several times Friday night as he stood on his porch, leaving him to die in the front hallway of his Humboldt Park home, authorities said.

The shooting came just hours after a 15-year-old boy was fatally shot in a separate attack in the Little Village neighborhood. Including both homicides, at least six teens under the age of 18 were shot since Friday afternoon, according to police.

In the Humboldt Park shooting, two male shooters opened fire about 11:50 p.m. in the 2400 block of West Augusta Boulevard, striking the boy multiple times in the chest, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said.

Immediately following the shooting, a car sped down the street in reverse and took off, a neighbor said.

It appeared the boy managed to take a couple of steps before collapsing. When paramedics arrived, he was lying just inside the home, bleeding from several bullet wounds, police said. He died at the scene.

Police found blood on the front steps and more than half a dozen shell casings on the sidewalk.

The high school freshman had been talking on a cellphone in front of his home just moments before shots rang out, his stepmother said.

The shooting may have been gang-related, police sources said. Family and friends on the scene, however, said the victim avoided gangs and spent his free time listening to music and riding his bicycle.

The boy would have turned 15 on Tuesday, said his stepmother, whose name -- like that of her stepson -- the Tribune is withholding pending notification of additional family members.

"Now he's not even going to see his 15th birthday," his tearful stepmother said.

Neighbors returning home stared at squad cars and crime scene tape blocking the street of two- and three-story brick homes.

On the sidewalk near the crime scene, the father of one of the boy's friends sobbed as he paced near a group of somber teenagers.

When a neighbor asked him what had happened, his answer was brief.

"A little boy just got murdered," he said.

In the Little Village shooting, a shooter walked up to the 15-year-old about 6:40 p.m. in the 2600 block of South Ridgeway Avenue, News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said.

The shooter shouted a gang slogan and opened fire, striking the 15-year-old in the torso, Mirabelli said, citing preliminary information.

The boy was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:19 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

The medical examiner's office identified him as Victor Vega, of the 2600 block of South Central Park Avenue.

No suspects are in custody in either shooting as detectives investigate.

asege@tribune.com

Twitter: @AdamSege

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Couple fighting South Korea to keep 7-month-old girl

Jinshil and Christopher Duquet were in the process of adopting a baby from South Korea when complications arose with the Korean government. (Abel Uribe, Chicago Tribune)

By Lisa Black and Bonnie Miller Rubin




Tribune reporters

7:27 a.m. CST, January 11, 2013

An Evanston family will appear in federal court today as they try to keep a South Korean baby they adopted in June from being returned to her home country.

Sehwa Kim, now 7 months old, has spent most of her life with Jinshil and Christopher Duquet, who say they were misled by a Korean lawyer who provided them with bad information and documents for what they believed to be a legal private adoption.

Korean officials accuse the family of criminal action, saying they didn’t follow the country’s procedures for adoption, and question funds the family gave on behalf of the child to a shelter and the child’s birth mother.

The family believes their case is being used as a political pawn in what is really Korea’s objection to all U.S. adoptions.
After hearings this week in which the family tried to prove they are the legal guardians, a Cook County Circuit Court judge declared that they didn’t have standing.  A federal judge today may order the child removed from the family’s custody. 

The birth mother’s intention to put her baby up for adoption is not in dispute. She and the baby’s grandparents signed papers agreeing to renounce their parental rights so that the child could be adopted by the Duquets.

The number of international adoptions in South Korea and elsewhere has plummeted after years of growth. According to State Department data, almost 23,000 Americans in 2004 looked to other countries to build their families. By 2011, the figure had dwindled to 9,300 adoptions.

Read more about the family's struggle HERE.

lblack@tribune.com
brubin@tribune.com

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Poisoned lottery winner's in-law had troubles with IRS

The father-in-law of Urooj Khan — the million-dollar lottery winner who died of cyanide poisoning weeks later — allegedly owed more than $120,000 in back taxes, a debt that led the Internal Revenue Service to place liens on Khan's Far North Side house almost two years ago, according to records obtained by the Tribune.

Khan's father-in-law, Fareedun Ansari, was living at Khan's residence with his daughter and son-in-law when Khan was fatally stricken, according to Ansari's criminal defense attorney. The Cook County medical examiner's office initially found that Khan died of natural causes, but after a relative raised concerns, extensive toxicological tests showed he died of lethal levels of cyanide. Police and prosecutors are investigating his death as a homicide.

The IRS filed liens against Khan's West Rogers Park residence in February and March 2011 as part of an effort to collect $124,000 from Ansari in allegedly unpaid taxes related to a small business, records from the Cook County recorder of deeds show.

James Pittacora, who represents Ansari, said his client had operated a business in New Jersey that Khan had financed but that Ansari had since returned to Chicago. He said the two were "very close."

"They had a very good relationship, and he and his daughter are devastated" by Khan's death, Pittacora said.

Pittacora said detectives called Ansari shortly before Christmas asking to speak with him about the death but have yet to interview him.

Ansari's daughter, Shabana, who is Khan's widow, also has hired a criminal defense lawyer, who told the Tribune on Tuesday that she had been questioned for more than four hours by detectives and had fully cooperated.

The mystery surrounding Khan's death sparked international media interest after the Tribune first reported on the investigation in a front-page story earlier this week.

While a motive has not been determined, Chicago police have not ruled out that Khan was killed because of his lottery win, a law enforcement source has told the Tribune. He died before he could collect the winnings in a lump-sum payment — about $425,000 after taxes.

Authorities on Wednesday moved toward exhuming Khan's body in order to perform an autopsy and learn more about how he died. Cook County prosecutors are drafting court papers and expect a judge to hear the matter Friday at the Daley Center courthouse, said Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the state's attorney's office.

The exhumation could take place as soon as next week, according to sources familiar with the process.

On Wednesday, Khan's sister and her husband spoke out for the first time to the Tribune about the pain they have been quietly enduring since learning weeks ago the shocking revelation that Khan was fatally poisoned.

"There is a way to go, a natural way," said his brother-in-law, Mohammed Zaman, 46. "We are born, we die. Not homicide. I don't want to see him a victim."

Zaman and his wife, Khan's sister, Meraj Khan, won custody of Khan's 17-year-old daughter from his first marriage as part of a court case involving Khan's estate. A probate court judge in that case has ordered that the lottery winnings be held by a bank until it is decided how the money should be divided among Khan's heirs.

Khan's wife has been approved as the administrator of the estate, which in initial estimates was pegged at just over $2 million, including the lottery winnings, according to probate court records.

In the interview in the family's North Side home, Meraj Khan and her husband recalled her brother as a generous, kind man who loved to host parties for his extended Chicago family. Zaman said Khan donated to an orphanage in his native India and even offered one of his Chicago condos to a stranger who needed a place to stay while looking for a job.

Khan would often arrive at birthday parties for youngsters in the family and pretend to have forgotten gifts, only to retrieve bags filled with presents for everyone after the cake was cut.

Zaman said that before his death, Khan had asked to host the Bismillah, a Muslim religious ceremony to mark a child's introduction to Islam, for the couple's 6-year-old son.

Meraj Khan said her brother would often pop over to her home — just blocks from one of his three dry cleaning businesses — unannounced and with coffee for them to share.

Khan had devoted much of his life to running his businesses, including rental properties on the city's North Side. But he also found time to play cricket at Warren Park and was passionate — and fiercely competitive — about playing table tennis, they said.

The couple also said Khan was healthy before he died and was happy even before winning the lottery.

Tribune reporters Jeremy Gorner and Matthew Walberg contributed.

jmeisner@tribune.com

asweeney@tribune.com

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Illinois' pension problem punted to incoming lawmakers

SPRINGFIELD—

State lawmakers on Tuesday bequeathed the government worker pension problem to the next General Assembly, rejecting Gov. Pat Quinn's roundly criticized "Hail Mary" plan to ask a committee to fix the worst-in-the-nation retirement system.

The failure of the Democratic governor and legislators to start reducing a $96.8 billion pension debt threatens to divert more and more money away from education and social services toward retirement benefits. Leaders also braced for a possible downgrade of Illinois' credit rating, which could make it more expensive for the state to borrow money to keep government afloat.

The dynamic of a legislature in action was replaced with legislative inaction. The complex problems of pension funding gave way to a host of political concerns and a governor scrambling for ways to save face after once declaring that he was "put on Earth" to solve Illinois' pension mess by Tuesday.

Now, with the inauguration of a new General Assembly at noon Wednesday, it will fall to a House and Senate with ever-greater Democratic dominance to try to find a plan to cope with pension benefits paid to a core Democratic constituency — members of organized labor. The new House and Senate each will have veto-proof Democratic majorities over Republicans as a result of the Nov. 6 general election.

"I think (resolving the pension issue) would be incumbent upon the Democrats, since the people of Illinois spoke, gave them supermajorities and said, 'We want you to lead, so lead,'" said Rep. Dennis Reboletti of Elmhurst, a member of the House GOP leadership.

Though many incoming Democratic lawmakers campaigned on the need to address Illinois' growing pension problems, several veteran legislators said they saw no quick fixes. They pointed instead to the next deadline facing the General Assembly: The scheduled spring session adjournment May 31.

Still, Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, pledged to try to move quickly in the new Legislature to build support for pension changes that, while testing constitutional boundaries, could give the courts options after an inevitable lawsuit that union workers have vowed. The Illinois Constitution's prohibition against diminishing or impairing public worker pensions has been a major stumbling block.

On Tuesday, a comprehensive House pension plan proposed by Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Northbrook, and backed by House Republican leader Tom Cross of Oswego, failed to gain traction. The plan would have frozen cost-of-living increases for retirees for six years, limit the amount of salary upon which pensions are based and forced workers to pay more for their retirement.

That led Quinn to try to salvage a pension resolution by offering a plan to create an eight-member pension commission that would have submitted a report to the Legislature by April 30 proposing ways to fully fund the system by 2045. A majority of lawmakers would have had to disapprove of the report or it would become law, according to the governor's approach.

One labor leader called it a "desperate, Hail Mary" plan, while other union representatives suggested it was a back-door way to enact major cuts to worker pensions.

House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie said she was surprised that Quinn floated his plan because she thought some progress had been made in pension negotiations.

"I have a concern that your proposal in fact will be taking us three steps back," Currie, D-Chicago, told Quinn at the committee meeting. "I think we were going places, and it doesn't seem to me at all clear that punting to a commission, delaying things, is in fact going to get us to the goal line."

The measure got out of a House committee, mainly as a favor to Quinn. But it was quickly shot down in private meetings of House lawmakers and never was called for a vote. Many lawmakers contended it was an unconstitutional delegation of authority to an unelected panel, though Quinn maintained it was constitutional — citing an Illinois Supreme Court case in which he had lost as a plaintiff.

The prospect of creating a supercommittee to dictate pension reform was unpalatable to several lawmakers. Though Quinn's plan was geared toward putting some non-lawmaker members on the panel, there also were unpleasant thoughts of how a congressional supercommittee failed in its federal deficit reduction task. That led to the federal "fiscal cliff" that narrowly was avoided with a deal trading higher taxes on wealthier incomes to a two-month delay in automatic spending cuts.

Cullerton stood behind his analysis that a Senate-passed plan for state workers and legislators, which traded access to state health care for altering pension benefits, was the only plan that would pass constitutional muster. That plan never faced a House vote.

The Senate president said he once again would work with Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno of Lemont to try to pass the measure. At the same time, Cullerton said he was willing to try to pass the Nekritz plan — as long as his own proposal was tied to it as a backup. Cullerton maintained the Nekritz proposal is unconstitutional because it "unilaterally" takes away benefits.

Though he will start the new session Wednesday with a new supermajority of 40 Democrats out of 59 senators, Cullerton said he still will seek Republican support because there are opponents to the pension legislation on both sides of the aisle. "We really are one bill away from solving this problem," Cullerton said.

Radogno was skeptical.

"Well, quite frankly, I share the concern that nothing will get accomplished because when you look at the dynamics of the General Assembly, the Democrats have had clear, clear majorities now for 10 years," she said. "The problem is the Democrat majorities do not agree on pension reform and frankly, I'm not sure they want it.

"(House Speaker Michael) Madigan and Cullerton don't agree on a framework, and that's a huge problem. And, of course, we have a governor who is unable to bring people together," she said. "I don't know if it's doable with the current cast of characters."

Rep. David Leitch, a Peoria Republican and former banker, said it was a "gross mistake" to end the session without calling the Nekritz plan for a House vote and added that it might be more difficult to advance the measure in the new General Assembly.

Leitch said the lame-duck session would have been the "ideal time" to move the bill because lawmakers who had one foot out the door could have been persuaded to take difficult votes because they won't have to face voters again.

"Typically, that's when you do tough things," Leitch said. "This is a tough thing. Unfortunately, we didn't do it."

rap30@aol.com

rlong@tribune.com

Twitter @rap30

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1 killed, 8 wounded in overnight shootings

A 24-year-old man was killed and at least eight others were wounded in overnight gun violence on the city's West and South Sides, according to police.

In the latest attack, a 24-year-old man was shot multiple times about 6:10 a.m. in the 4000 block of West Wilcox Street, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

No further details were immediately available about the shooting, which happened in the West Garfield Park neighborhood.

Shots rang out as the man was standing on the sidewalk in the 4600 block of South California Avenue, striking the man in the bicep and lower back, News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro said.

The man managed to drive 15 blocks to the 3100 block of South California, where he was found by first responders. Paramedics transported the man to Mount Sinai Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

About 2:30 a.m. in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, a 24-year-old man was shot in both thighs while walking in an alley, authorities said.

The shooting happened in the 900 block of West 53rd Street, Alfaro said. The man was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, where his condition was stabilized.

About 9:50 p.m., a 17-year-old boy was shot multiple times near the intersection of 30th Street and South Tripp Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood, police said.

Two males exited a black SUV and approached the teenager as he walked down the sidewalk, shooting him multiple times, Alfaro said.

The teen was taken to Stroger, where he was listed in critical condition, Alfaro said.

Police officers found a vehicle matching the description of the suspects' SUV, and after a brief pursuit, the SUV struck a light pole in the 3900 block of West Cermak Road, Alfaro said.

Three occupants were taken into custody and were regarded as possible suspects. No injuries were reported.

Police described the shooting as gang-related, a description shared by a close family friend of the teenager, who asked to remain anonymous when interviewed near the crime scene.

About 8:30 p.m., two men and a woman were shot in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood. Two men emerged from a gangway in the 6200 block of South Rockwell Street and fired shots into a parked vehicle where the three people were sitting, Alfaro said.

A 19-year-old woman who was struck in the chest was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, Alfaro said. A 22-year-old man struck in the thigh and 23-year-old man shot in the chest and buttocks were both taken to Holy Cross Hospital, Alfaro said.

The conditions of all three were stabilized, Alfaro said.

About 7:45 p.m., a 31-year-old man was shot in Marquette Park neighborhood, News Affairs Officer Joshua Purkiss said. The man suffered a gunshot wound to the leg in the 7100 block of South Campbell Avenue and his condition was stabilized on the scene, said Purkiss.

About 6:30 p.m. in the Washington Park neighborhood, another 31-year-old man was shot in the left arm in the 6000 block of South Indiana Avenue, Purkiss said. His condition was stabilized on the scene, said Purkiss.

Purkiss had no hospital information or information on circumstances in the Marquette Park and Washington Park shootings. Fire department officials did not respond to attempts to contact them.

lford@tribune.com, asege@tribune.com

Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking

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House drops assault weapon ban plan, may tackle pension reform

The clock is ticking for Illinois lawmakers to come to an agreement on the pension crisis. CBS 2's Courtney Gousman reports.

SPRINGFIELD — With time running short in the lame-duck session, state lawmakers on Sunday dropped hot-button issues dealing with guns and marijuana but kept alive hopes of reforming pensions and giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

The slimmed-down agenda unfolded rapidly as the House, returning to the Capitol for the first time in a month, pulled an assault weapons ban from consideration and the sponsor of legislation to allow Illinoisans to use marijuana for medical purposes said the chances of quick passage is unlikely.

The spotlight on whether Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and legislators can come together on financial changes to the state's $96.8 billion government worker pension debt intensified Sunday. House Republican leader Tom Cross of Oswego signed onto a plan offered by two House Democrats and urged GOP members to support it.

Still, Cross acknowledged that Senate President John Cullerton believes a different measure is the only one that meets a state constitutional prohibition against impairing or diminishing public pensions. Cullerton's version, previously passed by the Senate, offers state employees a trade of access to state health care in return for a reduction in retirement benefits.

"Nobody has any idea what the court's going to do," Cross said. "We all have lawyers. There are a lot of lawyers in Chicago. People have opined on what works and doesn't work. The reality is, nobody knows."

Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said the administration, which wants the package passed before a new Legislature is seated Wednesday, is "encouraged with the momentum."

The pension proposal's fate is uncertain should it pass the House. The Senate went home Thursday but Cullerton left open the possibility of coming back. Cullerton spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon said senators would return to Springfield Tuesday "to review and hear" a significant pension reform bill if one is passed by the House.

"I can't make any predictions beyond that," she said.

When the governor and legislative leaders met Saturday, Cullerton said at various points he would lobby against the House plan, Cross said. But Cross also said Cullerton indicated that he would allow for a Senate vote if the pension measure passed the House.

Still, if Cullerton balks at the House pension plan, Springfield could devolve into an all-too-familiar political game: The House passes one version of legislation, the Senate passes another, lawmakers pat themselves on the back and then blame the other chamber for failing to achieve needed reform.

Among the key features of the House plan is a freeze on cost-of-living increases for all workers and retirees for as long as six years, although the length of time was still under discussion Sunday night. Once the cost-of-living bumps resume, they would apply only to the first $25,000 of pensions. The inflation adjustments also would not be awarded until a person hits 67, a major departure among public employees who have been allowed to retire much earlier in some cases and begin reaping the benefits of the annual increases immediately.

Under the proposal, employee contributions to pensions would increase 1 percentage point the first year and 1 percentage point the second year. A lid would be put on the size of the pensionable salary based on a Social Security wage base or their current salary, whichever is higher.

The goal is to put in place a 30-year plan that would fully fund the Illinois pension systems, which are considered the worst-funded in the nation.

Meanwhile, a proposal to allow undocumented immigrants to qualify for Illinois driver's licenses could get its first House test today. Sponsoring Rep. Eddie Acevedo, D-Chicago, said he would call the Senate-passed bill on the House floor if it advances from committee.

Also Sunday, a House panel defeated a bill to require companies to file public disclosure forms when they pay no state income taxes.

rlong@tribune.com

rap30@aol.com

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Deal reached to end NHL lockout

By Chris Kuc




Tribune reporter

7:07 a.m. CST, January 6, 2013

The NHL and players association reached an agreement on the framework of a new collective bargaining agreement early Sunday morning, ending the lockout that began Sept. 15.

After a marathon session in New York, league commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr announced the deal.

"We have to dot a lof of the I's and cross a lot of T's," Bettman told reporters in New York. "There is still a lot of work to be done, but the basic framework has been agreed upon."

There will be a ratification process and the league Board of Governors and player will have to officially approve the new CBA, which reportedly will run 10 years.

"Any process like this in the system we have is difficult," Fehr told reporters. "We have the framework of a deal. We have to do the legal work ... and we'll get back to what we used to call busuness as usual just as fast as we can."

The final push during talks which lasted 16 hours was led by a federal mediator that helped the sides bridge the final gap on several key issues, including contract terms, salary cap and pensions.

Details on when the season will begin and how many games each team will play haven't been announced, but it is possible a 48-50-game schedule could begin Jan. 19 or even a few days sooner.

ckuc@tribune.com

Twitter @ChrisKuc

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At least 9 wounded by gunfire across Chicago

At least nine people were shot across the city between Friday and Saturday mornings, including three incidents where two people were wounded by gunfire.

Two men in their 20s were shot about 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning in the Northwest Side neighborhood of Mayfair. Police said they were shot in the 4000 block of West Montrose Avenue. The pair drove to Our Lady of the Resurrection Hospital, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said.

One of the two, 21, is in critical condition at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center and the other, 23, was transferred to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. He's in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the ear, Greer said.

Two others were inside a car with the men when someone drove alongside theirs and opened fire, police said. The shooter's vehicle drove away but it's not clear what direction.

Two other men were shot in the 3800 block of South California Avenue about 12:15 a.m. Saturday. Someone dropped them off at Mount Sinai Hospital, a few miles north of the Brighton Park crime scene on California Avenue.

Police said the pair are expected to survive. Each of them, 22 and 24, had leg wounds and were walking when someone in a dark vehicle fired at them, Greer said.

An 18-year-old woman suffered a graze wound about 9:30 p.m. Friday night in the 4600 block of North Malden Avenue in the Sheridan Park neighborhood on the North Side. She was walking in a group when someone got out of a small light-colored car, shot, and got back in. The car fled west on Wilson Avenue, Greer said.

Another man, 21, was shot in the buttocks in the 4700 block of North Sheridan Avenue about 5:35 p.m. That happened in the Uptown neighborhood about four blocks from where the 18-year-old woman was shot hours later. He and the woman were both taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

About 3:45 p.m. Friday, a 58-year-old man was shot in the head in the 1000 block of West 47th Street in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side. No other details were available.

Another man, 32, walked into Sacred Heart Hospital about 9:30 p.m. Friday with a gunshot wound he had suffered about 9:30 a.m. at the intersection of Homan and Chicago Avenues in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side. Police said another man, 21, had walked into the hospital shortly after the shooting happened Friday morning.

pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas

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Firm bringing HQ to Chicago

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

kbergen@tribune.com

Twitter @kathy_bergen

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Sandy Hook kids return to class in neighboring town

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No new details released

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

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

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

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

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

Associated Press and Reuters contributed

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With final vote, Congress resolves 'fiscal cliff' drama

Professor Peter Ubertaccio talks about the long-term impact of the 'fiscal cliff' deal.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GOP reluctant

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reuters and the Tribune Washington bureau contributed

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