New details in fatal shooting of police officer: The Rundown
Good afternoon! It’s Monday, and my plant next to a drafty window almost lost a leaf thanks to today’s wind. Watch out for another round of storms this evening. Here’s what else you need to know today.
In court today, prosecutors said 26-year-old Alphanso Talley from South Shore was taken to the hospital after being arrested Saturday morning. He allegedly pistol-whipped a female employee at a Family Dollar store, then took her keys and wallet and made off with some cash around 8 a.m., authorities said.
Police tracked him down using a GPS device attached to the stolen cash, according to prosecutors. Once in custody, Talley said he had swallowed drugs and was taken to the hospital. Talley undressed while preparing to undergo an X-ray scan, at which point he was given a blanket, prosecutors said. When Police Officer John Bartholomew took off Talley’s handcuffs, Talley “reached down from underneath the blanket and pulled out a handgun,” prosecutors said.
Talley then opened fire, hitting Bartholomew in the head and another officer in the face, prosecutors said. Bartholomew, 38, was pronounced dead later Saturday. The other officer remained in critical condition at Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
Federal prosecutors today charged a woman who allegedly lied in 2024 while purchasing the 10 mm Glock pistol that would eventually be used in the shooting, saying Olivia Burgos purchased the gun from Range USA in Merrillville, Indiana. She claimed on a form to be the actual purchaser and denied being addicted to illegal drugs at the time, according to the complaint.
But when interviewed by law enforcement on Saturday, Burgos allegedly said she has been addicted to fentanyl since April 23, 2024, and has used the drug daily since then. She also acknowledged using fentanyl the day she bought the gun, the feds say. [Chicago Sun-Times]
2. Illinois state agencies remain at odds over endangered species protections
In the creeks and rivers of southern Illinois, a school of bigeye shiners darting along the edge of a stream is a sign of healthy water.
The freshwater fish, on the state’s endangered species list, has managed to survive despite habitat loss driven by decades of construction and industrial farm runoff. But an ongoing dispute between two state agencies over state species protections is testing how the tiny fish will endure, my colleague Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco reports.
Last summer, the state’s top wildlife regulators faced resistance from the Illinois Department of Transportation when trying to protect the shiner. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources recommended IDOT crews mapping out construction at a site in Union County first survey the area and find out if the shiner was present. If so, IDNR would ask them to apply for a permit to minimize impacts to the paper clip-sized fish before proceeding.
IDOT declined. The department’s reason, among others, was simple: “Fish swim away.”
The standoff between IDOT and IDNR, outlined in internal state documents obtained by WBEZ and Grist, is at the center of an ongoing clash that broke out last year after IDOT repeatedly ignored recommendations from state experts to pursue permits designed to protect imperiled species during road, bridge and other transportation work. State-funded transportation projects may have overridden Illinois’ Endangered Species Protection Act in 11 cases in the past year. [WBEZ/Grist]
3. 1 in 6 Chicago bridges is ‘structurally deficient’
Exactly 100 of Chicago’s 601 bridges are listed in the same “poor” condition as the State Street Bridge, which reopened last month after nearly a year of emergency repairs, David Struett reports for the Chicago Sun-Times. That comes out to about 17% being “structurally deficient,” more than twice the national average.
Farhad Ansari, a University of Illinois Chicago professor of engineering, reviewed inspection records of some of Chicago’s most heavily used bridges and identified several contenders for potential emergency closures in the future. Grand Avenue stands out as one of the worst.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Department of Transportation is in the early stages of planning repairs for the Western Avenue Bridge over the Sanitary and Ship Canal and 92nd Street Bridge over the Calumet River.
The city will also close the two Division Street bridges over the North Branch at Goose Island but not until next year at the earliest. Both are in such poor condition, they must be replaced entirely. [Chicago Sun-Times]
4. The ‘Dead Man Walking’ nun brought a message of hope and activism to DePaul University
Sister Helen Prejean, a nun and death penalty abolitionist, turned 87 last week. Every April, she returns to DePaul University, where she donated her personal archives in 2011 — nearly 45 years of journals, letters, speeches and notes from her work to end capital punishment.
As Charlotte West writes for Open Campus, that work brought Prejean back to campus last week for an event marking the 15th anniversary of Illinois abolishing the death penalty. In previous years, Prejean has also gone inside correctional facilities with students, including for a book club at Cook County Jail.
“When you bring students inside to actually meet real prisoners, they meet human beings,” she said. “Where human beings encounter real human beings, we both change.” [WBEZ/Open Campus]
In a short video sent to students for the event, Pope Leo XIV affirmed his support for banning the death penalty. [Chicago Sun-Times]
“Michael,” the new biopic on the King of Pop, highlights moments in the group’s early career, arts contributor Reginald Ponder reports.
“We started in Gary, played here in Gary, we’re from Gary and we belong to Gary, but we also played the High Chaparral, The Regal Theater, the Peppermint Lounge and Guys and Gals. All that is in Chicago,” said Marlon Jackson, one of the group’s members and an executive producer of the film.
The film highlights The Regal Theater at 4719 S. South Parkway, now known as Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Gladys Knight & the Pips perform “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and introduce the Jackson 5, who perform “Stand.”
One of the first songs featured in the film is “Big Boy,” with the Jackson 5 shown performing in Chicago and other Illinois locations. “Big Boy” was released on Steeltown Records, a small label in Gary owned by Gordon Keith, who worked at U.S. Steel in Gary with Joe Jackson. The record was a regional hit, selling over 10,000 copies in the Chicago/Gary area, according to Rolling Stone. [WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times]
The movie received an enthusiastic reception in Chicago, despite evading the King of Pop’s controversies. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Here’s what else is happening
- Here’s what we know about Cole Allen, the suspected White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooter. [NPR]
- King Charles III is headed to Washington, D.C., on a mission to restore the strained relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States. [AP]
- Tech CEOs and former business partners Elon Musk and Sam Altman are facing off in court over the fate of OpenAI. [NPR]
- A man admitted to opening fire near border agents during Operation Midway Blitz, giving the feds their second guilty plea tied to the immigration enforcement campaign in Chicago. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Oh, and one more thing …
A Bronzeville neighborhood tour over the weekend included stops at Louis Armstrong’s former home and the historic Forum Hall, where jazz icons once performed. It also included former music venues like the Checkerboard Lounge and Pepper’s Lounge on East 43rd Street and the former Parkway Ballroom on South King Drive.
The free event was part of Chicago’s monthlong celebration of UNESCO International Jazz Day, which culminates in an all-star global concert Thursday at the Lyric Opera House.
“I hear the music, the dancing and the snapping of fingers,” attendee Myron Stokes said of Forum Hall, imagining what life may have been like for Black crowds back then. “They come here for celebration, because they have to go home and go to work and deal with oppression, and perhaps even violence and other types of racial atrocities. So this is a place of safety and fun and exhilaration and passion.” [Chicago Sun-Times]
Tell me something good …
Along with this month’s jazz celebration, Chicago has no shortage of music events throughout the year. So I’m wondering, what is your favorite annual concert or festival?
Feel free to email me, and your response may be included in the newsletter this week.
Discussion in the ATmosphere