Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Friday, June 9, 2017.
- Major League Baseball is investigating domestic abuse allegations against Cubs shortstop Addison Russell
Major League Baseball is investigating domestic abuse allegations against Chicago Cubs shortstop Addison Russell, the Sun-Times and ESPN report. Russell’s wife, Melisa, accused the 23-year-old shortstop of cheating on her in an Instagram post with a picture of herself in a bathing suit Wednesday night, writing “Being free to be able to make your own choices for your own happiness beats being cheated on, lied to, & disrespected any day. #herestonewbeginnings #onlygetsbetterfromhere.” After the post went viral, an acknowledged friend of Melisa’s stepped in, claiming that Russell had hit his wife in front of their two children. Both posts have since been deleted (though the Sun-Times, which broke the story, has screen shots). Russell, who’s being held out of the lineup while the investigation proceeds, denied the allegations and called them “false and hurtful.” [ESPN] [Sun-Times]
- The Neighborhood Opportunity Fund will give $100K grants to 32 businesses
The city’s Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, created by Mayor Rahm Emanuel last year to “leverage the downtown development boom,” will give 32 local business on the south, southwest, and west sides grants of $100,000 each, DNAinfo Chicago reports. “These investments are going to directly support neighborhood entrepreneurs on Chicago’s south, southwest and west sides,” Emanuel said. “But they will also expand quality food options, create neighborhood meeting places, support tech business growth, and generate new retail options.” [DNAinfo Chicago]
- Actor Stacy Keach speaks out after onstage heart attack
Actor Stacy Keach was discharged from Northwestern Memorial Hospital Wednesday after receiving treatment for the heart attack he suffered during the Goodman’s May 19 opening-night performance of Pamplona, a one-man play by Jim McGrath about Ernest Hemingway’s troubles in his later years. Keach, who’s staying at the Langham Hotel with his wife and daughter while recuperating, told Sun-Times theater critic Hedy Weiss in a phone interview that he wishes he were performing and is still spending time with the script of Pamplona. “Nothing like that had ever happened before in my long career, and it was the actor’s nightmare.” Nevertheless, “I hope we can bring it back to Chicago next year.” [Sun-Times]
- A look at James Comey’s years at the University of Chicago Law School; former classmates say he’s driven by morals, not politics
Prior to former FBI director James Comey’s bombshell testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, the Tribune looked into his three years at the University of Chicago Law School beginning in 1982. Former classmates remember him as not particularly political. “He’s about one thing and one thing only, which is doing the right thing,” Chris Gair, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago who now works in private practice, told the paper. “That’s always been who he was and is.” Another former classmate, Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, said “I don’t remember him talking about politics. . . . I don’t think anyone could have told you what his politics were. He just did not wear that on his sleeve. Maybe he knew he was going to be the FBI director when he was 25.” [Tribune]
- Chance the Rapper will offer audio mastering classes to 75 local kids
Chance the Rapper and his nonprofit, Social Works, are partnering with audio engineering start-up Landr to offer audio mastering classes for 75 local children this summer. The classes will help the students learn to make and produce their own music. [A.V. Club]
- The glass-and-steel house from Ferris Bueller gets a face-lift
The Highland Park glass-and-steel house featured in the 1986 movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is an icon for many fans, but it was in danger of demolition until an architectural firm signed on to save it. Built in 1953 by A. James Speyer, a student of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the home had serious structural problems, yet is considered a “very valuable, important piece of midcentury architecture,” according to Jim Baranski, head of Baranski, Hammer, Moretta & Sheehy Architects & Planners, the firm overseeing extensive renovations. “This house was very close to being torn down, and that’s sort of an issue on the North Shore and in the Northwest suburbs in general: Where people are looking at historic houses and saying, ‘OK it’s not worth it, we’ll tear it down and build some new thing,'” he told DNAinfo Chicago. “We’re trying to make a point that says, ‘Look, these houses can be saved.'” The firm declined to reveal how much renovations would cost, but the new owners purchased the property in 2014 for just over $1 million. [DNAinfo Chicago]