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It’s Wednesday, Chicago. Make it to the second half of the week with these stories from WTTW News.
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The Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago is pictured in a file photo. (Andrew Adams / Capitol News Illinois)
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A federal jury began deliberating Tuesday about whether a “code of silence” among Chicago Police Department officers led to a botched August 2018 raid of a Back of the Yards apartment that violated the civil rights of a family with four children.
After a three-and-a-half week trial, the eight-member jury is now deciding whether CPD officers traumatized Ebony Tate, her mother, Cynthia Eason, and four children on Aug. 9, 2018, when a CPD SWAT team set off flashbang grenades outside the family’s apartment before breaking down the door and repeatedly pointing assault rifles directly at the children.
Lawyers for the city and the officers argued that the officers did not point their weapons at any member of the family while serving a valid search warrant and did not violate CPD’s policies in effect at the time.
However, lawyers for Tate, Eason and the four children — who were 13, 11, 8 and 4 years old at the time of the incident — told the jury that city officials knew officers were routinely violating Chicagoans’ rights while serving search warrants and improperly using force against children and pointing guns at them and did nothing to hold officers accountable for misconduct.
Those problems were allowed to fester because of a “code of silence” that kept officers from reporting and testifying about wrongdoing by other officers, preventing officials from holding CPD officers accountable for misconduct, the attorneys argued.
More context:
Al Hofeld, the family’s lead attorney, asked the jury to award between $2 million and $3 million each to Tate and Eason and a combined $10 million to $12 million to the four children, as well as punitive damages against the nine officers who raided their home more than eight years ago.
“This family still has scars,” Hofeld said. “They still hurt.”
While no one was physically harmed during the raid, the family was deeply traumatized and continues to suffer emotionally and mentally today, Hofeld told the jury.
“This was the most terrifying event of their lives,” Hofeld said. “Masked men broke into their home, pointed guns at them and, using profanity, ordered them out of their home.”
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Sponsor Message
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The Poetry Foundation, the publisher of Poetry magazine, welcomes you to experience it for yourself with FREE public programs and resources! On March 12, Chicago Poet Laureate Mayda del Valle will perform alongside Illinois Poet Laureate Mark Turcotte. Later in the month, straight out of the pages of Poetry, Frank X Walker will read with Affrilachian poets Kelly Norman Ellis, Nikky Finney, and Parneshia Jones.
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Married couple Anthony and Andrea Vizzari own the Strip Club Photobooth Studio, located at 1702 N. Damen Ave. in Bucktown. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)
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Married couple Anthony and Andrea Vizzari, who started a business of repairing and manufacturing photo booths nearly two decades ago, opened a photo booth studio in Bucktown earlier this month amid a resurgence in popularity for photo booths and vintage-style photos.
The Strip Club, 1702 N. Damen Ave., features 10 vintage analog and “digital-retro” photo booths — with the oldest working photo booth from 1946. The studio is operated by Anthony and Andrea Vizzari’s Lyons-based company A&A Studios, which is behind many of the photo booths found at bar establishments in Chicago, such as Empty Bottle, Penny Whistle, Sleeping Village and the Game Room at Chicago Athletic Association.
The renewed interest in photo booths comes during a time when many people’s photos end up in “the cloud or the ether,” Anthony Vizzari said. He added there’s an appeal to having physical photos to put on a fridge or a mirror, for instance.
“A physical, tangible object, something to walk away with documenting that experience in the booth, especially if it’s with friends or your partner, or sometimes just yourself,” Anthony Vizzari said, “I think that goes a long way.”
Some backstory:
The idea to open a photo booth studio came after several years of strong sales and more inquiries to place photo booths at new locations, according to Anthony Vizzari. The duo was also inspired by Photomatica’s Photo Booth Museum in California, offering a similar “pay-as-you-go” model with each machine.
Some of the photo booths found at the Strip Club were formerly housed at local establishments that have since closed, such as Berlin Nightclub and Time Out Market, Andrea Vizzari said.
Photo booth sessions at the Strip Club start at $7.
Despite the name, the Strip Club is meant for all ages, offering a place for those who might not be old enough to go to bars or simply don’t want to go to bars, according to Andrea Vizzari.
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Eastern massasauga rattlesnakes are a Great Lakes native. Hunted out of fear, these snakes are actually quite shy and likely to avoid humans, experts say. (Courtesy of Lincoln Park Zoo)
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Lincoln Park Zoo is celebrating a baby boom of nine eastern massasauga rattlesnakes, the first new arrivals of this federally threatened native species in nearly a decade.
The tiny rattlers are the great grandkids of eastern massasaugas brought to the zoo in 2009, rescued from the wild and likely the last remaining in Cook County, according to zoo officials.
“People tend to fear eastern massasauga rattlesnakes because they’re venomous, but they’re actually a rather shy species and an important part of the Great Lakes region’s ecosystem,” said Dan Boehm, a curator at Lincoln Park Zoo.
That fear led to hunting and persecution of the snake, which, combined with habitat loss and the encroachment of invasive species, caused significant population declines.
Lincoln Park Zoo is part of a coalition studying the rattler's stronghold in Michigan, where observations are helping to inform conservation plans.
Some backstory:
Historically, eastern massasaugas inhabited shallow wetlands and their upland areas across the Great Lakes region. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers the snake a keystone species, playing an outsized role in the food chain as both a predator and prey.
Juveniles like Lincoln Park Zoo's new arrivals are about the size of a quarter when coiled. Adults are on the smaller side for rattlesnakes, measuring two feet long on average.
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More From WTTW News:
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Back in the Day: February 25, 1940 - Cubs Legend Ron Santo Born
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Ron Santo embodied the best of the Chicago Cubs. On this day in 1940, 86 years ago today, he was born in Seattle. From 1960 through 1973, he played 14 of his 15 seasons in Major League Baseball for the organization, was a nine-time All-Star, a five-time Gold Glove Award winner and one of the most talented third basemen in franchise history. After his playing career, he became a longtime beloved broadcaster for the team in 1990 until his death in 2010 from complications with bladder cancer and diabetes. His No. 10 jersey was retired by the Cubs and he’d be posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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Chicago-Area Live Music Recommendations for Feb. 25-March 3
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Each Wednesday, WTTW News producer Josh Terry presents must-see live music shows from indie rock to jazz, country, hip-hop and more.
Thursday, Feb. 26:
Florist, h. pruz at Old Town School of Folk Music. Tickets.
A night of delicate, intricate and intimate folk music in Lincoln Square.
Cash Langdon, Glass-Beagle, Joe Glass at GMan Tavern. Tickets.
The Alabama shredder caps the best rock’n’roll bill of the week.
Friday, Feb. 27:
The Hoyle Brothers at Empty Bottle. Free.
Think shows happen too late in the night? Head to the Bottle every Friday at 5 p.m. for this long-running honky tonk residency.
Emily Scott Robinson, Olivia Ellen Lloyd at Old Town School of Folk Music. Tickets.
Folk music at the Old Town School of Folk Music? Now I’ve heard everything.
Cat Power at Riviera Theatre. Tickets.
An evening with the acclaimed and storied songwriter.
Jonathan Richman, Tommy Larkins at Thalia Hall. Tickets.
The Modern Lovers bard makes another stop in Pilsen.
Saturday, Feb. 28:
Damien Jurado, St. Yuma at Empty Bottle. Tickets.
A singer-songwriter from the Pacific Northwest looks back on his excellent catalog.
Margo Price, Logan Ledger at Metro. Tickets.
The Illinois native mixes country, rock and a righteous swagger in Lakeview.
Monday, March 2:
The Part Timers, Winefred RT, Toadvine at Empty Bottle. Free.
A free Monday show at the best small venue in the city? Sign us up.
Tuesday, March 3:
Josephine, Adam Schubert at Empty Bottle. Tickets.
Nothing/Assumed is the Empty Bottle’s concert series catered to sober people with a full menu of non-alcoholic beverages.
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What's your favorite touristy thing to do in Chicago?
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published.
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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry
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