For the moment, Chicago is setting aside its reputation for political gamesmanship and celebrating the pre-dawn announcement that the Barack Obama Presidential Library and Museum is coming to the city. It doesn't really matter that an exact site may not be determined for a few months.

"I'm not going to compare this to when the president was elected," said Ghian Foreman, a lifelong South Sider who was very active in bringing the library here. "But it's the same kind of thing, where you could take a deep breath. It's this feeling of elation and a collective sigh of relief, that, after all these weeks, it's really here."

In a video released early Tuesday, the president and first lady Michelle Obama announced that the library will be located on the South Side, though no decision has been made yet whether it will be built in Jackson Park or Washington Park.

Chicago had been a front-runner for months, given its strong connection to the Obamas: the president became a community activist on the South Side after law school, taught at the University of Chicago law school and was first elected to public office as a state senator from the South Side. Michelle Obama was born and raised in the area.

"All the strands of my life came together and I really became a man when I moved to Chicago," the president said in the video, which showed him with his wife. "That's where I was able to apply that early idealism to try to work in communities in public service. That's where I met my wife. That's where my children were born."

Michelle Obama said she was "thrilled to be able to put this resource in the heart of the neighborhood that means the world to me. Every value, every memory, every important relationship to me exists in Chicago. I consider myself a South Sider."

Even West Siders, whose bid through the University of Illinois at Chicago lost to the South Side proposal, were enthusiastic.

"I couldn't be more excited for the city of Chicago," said Marcus Betts, co-chairman of the North Lawndale Community Development Coalition. "I couldn't imagine the library being any place other than Chicago."

Betts said he'd spoken with a Barack Obama Foundation representative a day earlier and had received assurances that the foundation would include "some collaboration" with UIC.

"There will be opportunities for us to evaluate the progress in other parts of the city," he added. "But today, the city of Chicago should celebrate as one."

For more than a year, the U. of C. had been engaged in a fierce competition with Columbia University in New York, the University of Hawaii in Honolulu and UIC.

While the University of Chicago "has pledged to make resources and infrastructure available," the foundation said Tuesday it plans to also work with three other universities that were finalists, including UIC.

"The foundation intends to maintain a presence at Columbia University for the purpose of exploring and developing opportunities for a long term association," the foundation said in a statement.

"In addition, the foundation will work with the state of Hawaii to establish a lasting presence in Honolulu," the foundation said. "Within Chicago, in addition to its association with the University of Chicago, the foundation also plans to collaborate with the University of Illinois — Chicago."

Though the U. of C. had long been considered the front-runner, its bid to build the library on the South Side has been entangled in a battle over the use of parkland.

Plans to announce the library in March were delayed after Mayor Rahm Emanuel ended up in a runoff election. The foundation then decided to delay the announcement until after the April 7 election, which Emanuel won.

In late April several news organizations, including the Tribune, reported that Chicago was selected to host the library.

Tuesday's announcement made it official — though it did not specify that the Obama Presidential Center would be built in partnership with the U. of C.

In a statement to University of Chicago alumni, school President Robert Zimmer sought to clarify the university's role, saying the center and library will be independent from the U. of C. and noting that "neither potential site is on our campus.

"Under federal law, presidential libraries are public institutions operated by the National Archives and Records Administration and supported by an independent foundation," Zimmer stated. "The university will support efforts in community engagement, including planning, economic development, and individual and institutional collaborations."

The selection caps a yearlong competition that began with 13 bids that eventually were narrowed down to four finalists.

The U. of C., where Obama taught constitutional law for a dozen years and Michelle Obama formerly worked as a hospital administrator, had long been considered the leading candidate.

Chicago Tribune's Alex Chachkevitch contributed.

dglanton@tribpub.com

tgregory@tribpub.com

The outdoor rock-climbing walls at Maggie Daley Park opened on Tuesday, giving fitness buffs and adventure seekers another challenge to tackle.

The Malkin-Sacks Climbing Walls at Maggie Daley Park downtown are 40 feet tall at their peak and cover 19,000 square feet of climbing surface for beginners and experts alike, smack in the middle of what was an ice-skating ribbon during the winter.

"The climbing walls, which are one of the largest public outdoor climbing structures in the world, [are] another example of the investments we're making in our parks, playgrounds and recreational spaces in neighborhoods across Chicago to create a richer quality of life for all of our residents," said Mayor Emanuel in a news release issued by the city Tuesday morning. 

Between 25 to 100 climbers can use the wall at one time, the city said.

Before scaling the two walls, first-time climbers need to get certified. Climbing certification for top rope climbing, which is climbing up to 40 feet with a harness, costs $29 and lasts 45 to 60 minutes. Certification for bouldering, which is climbing less than 12 to 15 feet without a rope, costs $15 and lasts about 15 minutes long. The prices include helmet and shoe rentals. Certifications are kept on file for one year.

The typical first-time climber will be able to spend about 90 minutes at the walls, including certification process, according to the new Maggie Daley Park website.

Once certified, climbers can return and pay a $7 daily rate. They can rent equipment for $15 or bring their own.

Prices vary for private lessons, season and monthly passes and packages including photos.

The ice-skating ribbon, renovated fieldhouse and elements of the children's playground opened in December. The official dedication of the park and opening of other amenities such as the lawn areas and remaining play garden portions will be in June, the news release said.

The airline industry is evolving from providing just transportation to being more of a hospitality and services business, and by that measure Chicago-based United Airlines is failing, according to the J.D. Power 2015 North America Airline Satisfaction Study released Wednesday.

United, the largest carrier in Chicago, ranked last among six North American airlines in customer satisfaction, according to the study, though the company can point to a number of recent improvements it has been making to improve the passenger experience.

Alaska Airlines, Delta and American all rated above the industry average.

Among low-cost carriers, JetBlue and Southwest, which dominates Midway airport, ranked best.

The study measured passenger satisfaction based on seven factors: cost and fees, in-flight services, boarding/deplaning/baggage, flight crew, aircraft, check-in and reservation.

"Many airlines realize that they are not in a commodity business and that hospitality and service go a long way in differentiating them from the other airlines," said Rick Garlick, global travel and hospitality practice lead at J.D. Power. And better service breeds loyalty, he said.

Hospitality can mean such amenities as food and beverages, in-flight entertainment or Wi-Fi. It can also mean pleasant interactions, such as a friendly crew or keeping passengers informed with announcements at the gate or on the plane.

Airlines with a solid reputation tend to have passengers who are more forgiving of problems. "When the airline provides good service, passengers are generally less critical when there is a departure delay or a late arrival," Garlick said.

Overall passenger satisfaction with major North American airlines increased to 717 on the index, up from 712 last year. Drivers of the increase were satisfaction with flight crew, in-flight services, and costs and fees.

A different customer satisfaction survey released last month showed customers were more satisfied with airlines than they've been in 20 years, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, a University of Michigan study of 70,000 consumers' expectations and preferences. However, another report found the industry performed the worst since 2009. That's according to the Airline Quality Ratings report, a joint project of researchers at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Wichita State University that is based on publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Transportation - not a survey of customer satisfaction.

While United ranked last among major carriers - only Frontier Airlines ranked worse overall - it can point to a number of improvements it has announced recently that could affect customer satisfaction in the future. Besides taking delivery of new planes and adding in-flight Wi-Fi, as many carriers are doing, United has announced a number of food-related upgrades, including offering free wine and beer for economy passengers on international flights.

At its United Club airport lounges in Chicago and Houston, the airline launched a new food menu, including a Greek yogurt bar and a hot oatmeal station. It also introduced new premium-cabin meals and snacks on flights within North America and replaced snack boxes with freshly prepared entrees in premium cabins on United Express regional jet service of at least 800 miles.

It is also renovating its United Club lounges and gate areas at O'Hare and at a number of other airports. This week, it unveiled a new design for its website, available at a test site, beta.united.com.

"We recognize our customers are looking for continued improvements," United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said. "While we have made strides in the last year with reliability and service, we are working hard to better deliver the experience they value."

The J.D. Power study is based on responses from 11,354 passengers who flew on a major North American airline from March 2014 to March 2015.

In a separate report Wednesday, J.D. Power also measured satisfaction with airline reward programs, based on ease of redeeming points or miles, reward program terms, account maintenance and management, ease of earning points or miles, variety of benefits available and customer service.

Overall satisfaction with airline loyalty and rewards programs improved to 705, up from 692 in 2014.

Ranking best were reward programs by Alaska Airlines, JetBlue and Southwest. All megacarriers ranked below the industry average, with American and United ranked near each other, and Delta far behind.

gkarp@tribpub.com

Twitter @spendingsmart

The Amtrak train that crashed in Philadelphia, killing at least seven people, was hurtling at 106 mph before it ran off the rails along a sharp curve where the speed limit drops to just 50 mph, federal investigators said Wednesday.

The engineer applied the emergency brakes moments before the crash but managed to slow the train to only 102 mph by the time the locomotive's black box stopped recording data, said Robert Sumwalt of the National Transportation Safety Board. The speed limit just before the bend is 80 mph, he said.

The engineer, whose name was not released, refused to give a statement to law enforcement and left a police precinct with a lawyer, police said. Sumwalt said federal accident investigators want to talk to him but will give him a day or two to recover from the shock of the accident.

"There's no way in the world that he should have been going that fast into the curve," Mayor Michael Nutter told CNN. "Clearly he was reckless and irresponsible in his actions. I don't know what was going on with him, I don't know what was going on in the cab, but there's really no excuse that could be offered."

More than 200 people aboard the Washington-to-New York train were injured in the wreck, which happened in a decayed industrial neighborhood not far from the Delaware River just before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. Passengers crawled out the windows of the torn and toppled rail cars in the darkness and emerged dazed and bloody, many of them with broken bones and burns.

It was the nation's deadliest train accident in nearly seven years.

"We are heartbroken by what has happened here," Nutter said.

Amtrak suspended all service until further notice along the Philadelphia-to-New York stretch of the nation's busiest rail corridor as investigators examined the wreckage and the tracks and gathered up other evidence. The shutdown snarled the commute and forced thousands to find some other way to reach their destination.

The dead included an Associated Press employee, a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy and a Wells Fargo executive. At least 10 people remained hospitalized in critical condition.

Nutter said some people remained unaccounted for but cautioned that some passengers listed on the Amtrak manifest might not have boarded the train, while others might not have checked in with authorities.

"We will not cease our efforts until we go through every vehicle," the mayor said in the afternoon. He said rescuers expanded the search area and were using dogs to look for victims in case someone was thrown from the wreckage.

The NTSB finding about the train's speed corroborated an AP analysis done earlier in the day of surveillance video from a spot along the tracks. The AP concluded from the footage that the train was speeding at approximately 107 mph moments before it entered the curve.

Despite pressure from Congress and safety regulators, Amtrak had not installed along that section of track Positive Train Control, a technology that uses GPS, wireless radio and computers to prevent trains from going over the speed limit. Most of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor is equipped with Positive Train Control.

"Based on what we know right now, we feel that had such a system been installed in this section of track, this accident would not have occurred," Sumwalt said.

The notoriously tight curve is not far from the site of one of the deadliest train wrecks in U.S. history: the 1943 derailment of the Congressional Limited, bound from Washington to New York. Seventy-nine people were killed.

Amtrak inspected the stretch of track on Tuesday, just hours before the accident, and found no defects, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. In addition to the data recorder, the train had a video camera in its front end that could yield clues to what happened, Sumwalt said.

As for the engineer, Sumwalt said: "This person has gone through a very traumatic event and we want to give him an opportunity to convalesce for a day or so before we interview him. But that is cetainly a high priority for us, to interview the train crew."

The crash took place about 10 minutes after the train pulled out of Philadelphia's 30th Street Station with 238 passengers and five crew members listed aboard. The locomotive and all seven passenger cars hurtled off the track as the train made a left turn, Sumwalt said.

Jillian Jorgensen, 27, was seated in the second passenger car and said the train was going "fast enough for me to be worried" when it began to lurch to the right. Then the lights went out and Jorgensen was thrown from her seat.

She said she "flew across the train" and landed under some seats that had apparently broken loose from the floor.

Jorgensen, a reporter for The New York Observer who lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, said she wriggled free as fellow passengers screamed. She saw one man lying still, his face covered in blood, and a woman with a broken leg.

She climbed out an emergency exit window, and a firefighter helped her down a ladder to safety.

"It was terrifying and awful, and as it was happening it just did not feel like the kind of thing you could walk away from, so I feel very lucky," Jorgensen said in an email to the AP. "The scene in the car I was in was total disarray, and people were clearly in a great deal of pain."

Among the dead were award-winning AP video software architect Jim Gaines, a 48-year-old father of two; Justin Zemser, a 20-year-old Naval Academy midshipman from New York City; and Abid Gilani, a senior vice president in Wells Fargo's commercial real estate division in New York.

Several victims were rolled away on stretchers. Others wobbled as they walked away or were put on buses.

"It's incredible that so many people walked away from that scene last night," the mayor said. "I saw people on this street behind us walking off of that train. I don't know how that happened, but for the grace of God."

The area where the wreck happened is known as Frankford Junction, situated in a neighborhood of warehouses, industrial buildings and homes.

Amtrak carries 11.6 million passengers a year along its busy Northeast Corridor, which runs between Washington and Boston.

Associated Press

During the Chicago Park District's monthly meeting Wednesday, a measure requiring drone operators to get a special city permit to fly the small unmanned aircraft over park property was introduced, only to be tabled for another month.

The vote was postponed after board members questioned how the permitting process would work, who would approve the permits, how quickly approval would be granted and whether there would be any locations drones would not be allowed.

The lack of details left drone users, too, with questions on how the permits would work and the reason behind why a permit would be required. 

Chicagoan Colin Hinkle uses drones to take aerial photos and give a new perspective on the city and its landmarks like Buckingham Fountain. "It is a flying digital camera. We're not trying to spy on people," he said.

If the permitting process is too obtrusive, Hinkle said, "It's not going to make me want to make beautiful aerial shots of Chicago."

In April, Hinkle was granted an exemption to current aircraft rules by the Federal Aviation Administration which authorizes the use of drones for commercial purposes. 

"It sounds to me a little like the city is trying to go for a money grab on permits," Hinkle said.

There's some concern that drones can "pose potential risks" to those who use park property, according to a park district document on the measure.

In a bold departure from her old path to pop-rap stardom, in her new video for "Pretty Girls" Iggy Azalea plays an alien figure trying to clumsily adapt the cultural mores of others while using her sexual prowess to assimilate into a bleak L.A. pop landscape littered with wanton product placement. 

The video, which costars her single's collaborator, Britney Spears, and which Azalea codirected, is a parody of Julien Temple's '80s cult favorite "Earth Girls are Easy." It's the second video revamp of a millennial-beloved film in her career.

But while her "Fancy" video was a pretty straitlaced homage to "Clueless" and used something like a light touch to address Azalea's outsiderness in U.S. hip-hop and love of the finer things, "Pretty Girls" drives the same metaphor off a Malibu cliff, its shrieks resounding all the way down. 

Winking kitsch is not the same as successful irony. The song -- no one's finest hour in pop but a decent enough electro-cheerleader single -- is an overt play for Song of Summer status.

But this video is so aggressive in its attempted self-awareness that it actually has the opposite effect of affirming the worst of its ditsy-blond stereotypes. Britney, now a full-time Las Vegas professional working mother currently fighting through a workplace accident, deserves a more noble setting than this.

The mid-video conversational interlude alone, where Azalea uses eye lasers to turn a '90s brick phone into a Samsung smartphone while Spears and their convertible-mates howl in aggressively Valley patois, is enough to make John Waters abandon camp for sober Ibsen revivals for the rest of his career.

As summer ramps up, there are few who oppose a sublimely vapid pop single and its accompanying self-deprecating video. But by trying to beat everyone else to the punch at self-parody, Brit and Iggy have gone so far off the deep end that they're back in the shallow.

Follow @PopHiss and @AugustBrown on Twitter for more music news.

If you're looking for a place to drown your sorrows Sunday for the series finale of "Mad Men," the popular 1960s-era drama that is ending its nearly-eight-year run, there are a few Chicago bars that are hosting free watch parties.

>> Blue Line Lounge and Grill

1548 N. Damen Ave.

The Wicker Park bar will be selling four cocktails based on "Mad Men" characters for $8 each. Patrons can watch the show on nine screens; seating is first come, first served. If fans miss the first screening at 9 p.m., they can catch an encore 10 p.m. showing.

>> Estelle's

2013 W. North Ave.

To accompany the screening, Estelle's will be selling Manhattans, Old Fashioneds and its signature cocktail, the Aviation (Death's Door Gin, Luxardo, crème de violette, lemon juice), for $7, said Ryan Gac, Estelle's marketing and events coordinator. Seats are first come, first served.

>> Fat Cat

4840 N. Broadway

Fat Cat co-owner Cy Oldham said she has been getting calls all week from "Mad Men" fans about the screening of the finale. The Uptown bar, which has 12 television screens, will sell a 1969-inspired pupu platter, Baked Alaska torched tableside and Stoli dirty martinis with Maytag blue-cheese-stuffed olives, Oldham said. Spaces are first come, first served.

>> Library bar at Public Chicago hotel

1301 N. State Pkwy.

The celebration, which starts at 7 p.m., includes '60s music and appetizers, spokeswoman Jill Katz said. The bar also will sell themed cocktails and hold a costume and trivia contest with prizes that include a stay at Public Chicago and dinners at the hotel's Pump Room restaurant. RSVP at Librarybar@publichotels.com.

"Mad Men" airs at 9 p.m. on AMC. The network plans to show every "Mad Men" episode in a marathon that begins Wednesday at 5 p.m.

From the pitch pipes and matching outfits to the girls trying to beatbox, I pretty much lived the entire plot of "Pitch Perfect" in college. Except for the projectile vomiting. Oh, and no one ever thought I was sexier for singing the bassline of a cover song.

See, in 2002, when I started my university's first all-female a cappella group with a couple friends, there weren't major motion pictures and reality TV shows saturating the market, telling our soon-to-be fans that what we were doing was remotely attractive.

We were just girls who grew up singing in traditional choirs, wishing we could be more like the laid-back, male a cappella groups like (now hugely famous) Straight No Chaser from Indiana University. So we tried. And I'm happy to say that our group, Minor Detail, is still going strong at Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo.

But it took a lot of work. Female voices, by their very nature, can't hit the low notes that really round out a song like men's voices can. (Notice how the Bellas' background vocals sounded so much like the real song at the end of "Pitch Perfect"? You can thank Chloe's (Brittany Snow) vocal nodes/deep voice for that.) And then there's the issue of beatboxing, or "vocal percussion," as the true a cappella nerds call it. Even though some of us learned how to make drum sounds with our mouths, I always felt so masculine doing it.

No matter how good we sounded, visually we were still just a bunch of girls lined up in a formation, singing songs we hoped sounded like the originals. The dance moves we tried fell short, and we laughed harder at our own jokes than anyone in the audience did. We'd watch our all-male counterpart, True Men, fill auditoriums and easily wow people with their harmonies, jokes and, most of all, charm. Minor Detail was lucky to see a fraction of their audiences at our shows. Even though we thought we sounded better, spent more time and money on our concert promotion, and found snazzier ways to entertain our audiences than the guys, we just couldn't garner as much attention as them.

Fast-forward a decade when "Pitch Perfect" so aptly redefined female a cappella. The movie starts off with the men clearly in the lead. They have the swagger; the fun moves; the sex appeal. The girls are boring and stiff. Enter Beca (Anna Kendrick), who is willing to buck the system and try something new. BAM--the Bellas were aca-hot.

Never mind that in a real-life live performance, the ladies' well-choreographed dance moves never would allow them to sound as good as they sound. And while the "riff-offs" are badass, c'mon, there's just no way any group could pull off those arrangements on the fly.

None of that matters because the average "Pitch Perfect" viewer doesn't realize these things. All they see are attractive females being made to look even cuter based solely on their singing and dancing talent. That just raises the profile of this style of singing that I hold so near and dear. And judging by the box office numbers and buzz around the sequel, it looks like I'm not alone.

After seeing the first "Pitch Perfect," I went in search of a current-day video of Minor Detail and was happy to see the ladies have found a way to sound good while also incorporating fancy choreography. Do they sound as polished as the Bellas? Certainly not. But that's what you get without Hollywood's post-production sound editing and Auto-Tune.

ksamuelson@redeyechicago.com | @KSamChi

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If we're going to criticize Adam Sandler for his movies that push minorities to the side (and we are), "Pitch Perfect 2" deserves the same evaluation. A cappella commentators (John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks, the latter botching her feature directorial debut) say bigoted things about minorities, and the joke never feels like it's on the ignorant hosts. Meanwhile, the non-white members of the Barden Bellas are nothing but comic relief, treated as conduits for repetitive endorsements of stereotypes. Cynthia-Rose (Ester Dean), who is black and a lesbian, also has her femininity questioned. Just to make sure the characters are as foolishly judgmental of each other as possible.

And it's not in a friendly, ball-busting way. Like its predecessor, which disturbingly has been embraced by the mainstream despite its persistent mean streak, "PP2" mistakes rudeness for entertaining sass. Characters constantly exhibit needless, unexamined cruelty toward others, whether it's a close friend, a co-worker or a collegiate mascot. I thought this was supposed to be fun?

To be fair, in no other movie will you see Clay Matthews and fellow members of the Green Bay Packers singing "Bootylicious," or a German a cappella sensation known as Das Sound Machine doing "Thong Song." The latter group is the main rival of the inferior Bellas as they try to win world championships, partially because the three-time national champs are banned from collegiate competition (due to a painful opening sequence involving Fat Amy [Rebel Wilson] unintentionally flashing President Obama, and not with her boobs) and partially because writer Kay Cannon figured, "If it worked for 'D2: The Mighty Ducks,' it works for me." She also makes super-timely jokes at the expense of hipsters and David Hasselhoff.

At least "PP2" has fewer gags involving starting a word with aca-. Sometimes it's a little sweet, as new Bella Emily (Hailee Steinfeld) and Benji (Ben Platt) get all blushy and mumbly around each other. But most of the girls are given no dimension whatsoever, and Beca's (Anna Kendrick, clearly uninspired) secret internship/attempt to find her own musical voice digs a hole and stays there.

The first "Pitch Perfect," adapted from a book by Mickey Rapkin, was only appropriate as sing-along. The slightly less unkind "PP2" also offers minimal detail about the building of the songs/performances, something that worked great in "The School of Rock" but is an afterthought in a franchise that should be albums, not movies. "If you like music, it's a good movie," said some guy on his way out of the theater. Because we want to believe all the world's a cappella groups cover Journey? Or that Fat Amy should be allowed within 500 yards of A Tribe Called Quest's "Scenario"? Disagree times 20, man.

1.5 stars (out of four)

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The woman who fought off a would-be rapist in a CTA Red Line car has something to tell you about the Bad Samaritan.

That's the man who could have helped her, but instead just ran.

And today, in an interview with this column, she explains her side of it, the side of the victim, who was alone and fighting for her life.

The woman was pinned to the ground by her attacker, who straddled her. She was screaming when the door of the train car opened at the North and Clybourn stop.

Another man boarded the car. She screamed for help, hoping the man would do something. But, she told police, the man took off.

Police said no calls about the attack came in from North and Clybourn around the time of the attack. The man I call the Bad Samaritan apparently did nothing to try to help.

And now she holds him in greater contempt than the attacker.

"Honestly I feel like I was mad at the guy who tried to rape me, but to be perfectly honest, I was more mad at the guy who didn't help me," said the young woman. "Because he didn't stop the crime, he could have helped me, but he just didn't want to, so I feel like ..."

She paused.

"That was worse."

What shocked everyone who read this story was that someone could have helped her but didn't.

"I had no idea why - I think he was scared," the woman said. "I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure that he saw me. I yelled really loud and I was yelling even before that. I'm positive that he saw us. (The) reasons (he didn't intervene), I have no idea."

Of course she has an idea. She said it herself. It involves fear.

Perhaps it was fear of being hurt or fear of confrontation. And yet, we hear so many stories about those who do get involved when there's trouble.

They're the folks who pull the driver from the burning car. They confront the bully. They shield potential prey from criminals. They are their brothers' keepers, cops and paramedics mostly, but sometimes just everyday people too.

They're compelled to help. And sometimes they get hurt. That's part of it too. Ignoring the risk is wrong. But civilized beings help each other.

And what of those who might not get in a tussle, but who show compassion, by calling for help or offering a kind word or saying, "Don't worry ma'am, your kids are here. They're fine. I'll wait here with them for the ambulance."

There are people like this in the world, too, and we shouldn't forget them.

Yet this man ran, and as far as we know did nothing. His face presumably is on CTA surveillance video, which prosecutors say captured the attack. I'd love to talk to him, to find out why he ran. At first, I wanted to condemn him. But now, I feel sad for him.

Don't you feel it? Sad for the selfish, sad for the fearful. Sad for him.

But what would the rest of us do? It's easy to say what you'd like to see yourself as doing. But saying and doing are two different things.

The 27-year-old woman got on the Red Line at the Fullerton stop around 5 a.m. Sunday. The defendant, Ronald Sparks, was in the car, authorities say. They did not know each other.

According to the Cook County state's attorney's office, when the train doors closed he approached her from behind. He began touching her leg. She pushed his hand away. And then, prosecutors say, he told her he'd rape her.

He pushed her down across the seats and grabbed her shorts and she fought back, according to prosecutors. She screamed. He covered her mouth. He pushed her to the floor. They fought.

And as she fought, she grabbed his testicles and he stood up and she screamed some more.

The assailant gave up at Clybourn and fled into the next train car, prosecutors said. The woman got off at the next stop, Division and Clark, and got help from a CTA employee.

The next day, a security guard spotted a man smoking a cigar inside a CTA train at State and Lake streets who matched a photo on a CTA bulletin. Police arrested Sparks, 34, who now faces charges including aggravated criminal sexual assault.

According to prosecutors, Sparks has a 2013 public indecency conviction in which he was arrested after masturbating in front of a woman at the Harold Washington Library.

Men like this surf the Internet for pornography, and their rights to view porn at public libraries are protected - in the same libraries that your children visit - and then something like this happens.

According to prosecutors:

"When the train stopped at Clybourn, a male passenger entered the same car that (the defendant) and (the victim) were in. (The victim) screamed for help, but the unknown male passenger turned and exited the train car. (The defendant) then fled into the next train car, leaving his cellphone behind. ... The incident was captured on clear, multi-angle CTA surveillance video."

But video didn't prevent the attack. She stopped her own rape, a woman alone, by fighting back as the Bad Samaritan was nowhere to be found.

And still, she wanted you to know this.

"Physically, everything is good," she said. "They checked. Everyone was real nice to me. I'm pretty happy about (the arrest) because this guy was already on record and he did something before wrong too. I guess it's good that the police can catch him.

"If there's anything I want to say the most, is that if you see someone asking for help, don't go away, just stop or at least help," she said. "Because he could have stopped the train, or called police or do so many friggin' things in the world instead of just running away like a chicken. I think that was horrible."

Yes it was. It was horrible. And so very sad.

jskass@tribpub.com

Twitter @John_Kass

Organizers of the embattled Riot Fest are pledging $30,000 to help keep the city's only inland beach open in Humboldt Park - the same neighborhood that hosts the 3-day concert.

The move comes as Humboldt Park residents appealed this week to keep the lagoon and beach open.

At a community meeting Tuesday, Rob Rejman, the Chicago Park District's director of planning and development, told the roughly 100 people gathered that the beach "is not scheduled to open now."

On Wednesday Humboldt Park Advisory Council president Amy Vega asked the Chicago Park District board during its regular monthly meeting to reconsider closing the beach. 

"Basically I'm coming in begging on behalf of the park," Vega said.

Notifying the community that the beach was not scheduled to open less than 2 weeks before the park district opens its beaches for the summer was a "complete lack of disrespect," she said.

The park district has said it wants to come up with sustainable alternatives because it costs $1 million a year to fill the lagoon for the beach - located at 1400 N. Sacramento Ave., behind the Humboldt Park Field house.

Riot Fest organizers offered up $30,000 to help keep the beach open.

"The beach is a hidden gem and oasis for West side residents, as many families in the area do not have the resources to travel to other well-funded city beaches. It also helps to keep our youth off the streets by giving them a place to hang out and keep cool during the summer," Riot Fest founder Michael Petryshyn said in a statement on Wednesday announcing the financial committment.

The festival has found itself at odds with the local alderman, Roberto Maldonado, over continuing repairs after last year's 3-day music festival in the park - which bears the same name as the neighborhood. Maldonado has said he'd like to see the Riot Fest, which RedEye sponsors, move out of Humboldt Park.

The concert venue is near the lagoon and beach.

Although city beaches are set to open on May 22, residents have said the Humboldt Park beach typically has opened a few weeks later in June the past three years.

When informed of Riot Fest's pledge outside the park board meeting, Vega said the community can't commit to fundraising efforts yet until the park district lets them know what options are on the table. "They've kind of already written off the beach," she said.

She said residents will continue to lobby park officials to reconsider opening the beach for the summer.

"It's not right to put the pressure on any event organizer like Riot Fest or anybody else because we don't know what next year brings. But we had enough money to operate that beach pre-Riot Fest," Vega said.

Maldonado informed park district officials that "any decision regarding the future of Humboldt Park beach should not be decided without community input," according to Kathleen Oskandy, Maldonado's chief of staff.  She said in an email that the alderman would advocate for the position held by the majority of the residents.

Rejman has said it wasn't a done deal. The next step is to come back and consider potential solutions, he said.

"We need to think about water conservation. We need to think about sustainability. We need to think about the cost of just having an open tap all the time and we want to work with this community through the advisory council to look at what options we can do," Rejman said after Tuesday's community meeting. "Saving that much money a year is a lot of money we could reinvest in the park, in programs or other features here."

Such alternatives to the beach could include beach reconfiguration, water play areas with spray elements, wetland or landscape restoration, water conservation projects or storm water management projects.

Morgan Halstead started an online petition to save the Humboldt Park Beach, where she and her kids visit regularly. The petition has garnered more than 1,300 signatures over two months.

Check out 20 events not to miss at the city-wide 11-day beer celebration, May 14-25.

It's the time when brewers near and far flock to Chicago. It's when beer, coffee and hot sauce can come together in perfect harmony. It's an excuse to wear outer-space garb and chug a bunch of brewskis. It's time to get beered at Chicago Craft Beer Week.

The 11-day week spans May 14-24, and there's no shortage of hop talk, tastings and brewer meet-and-greets. In its sixth year, it's bigger than ever with 400 events and counting. CCBW kicks off May 14 with Beer Under Glass at the Garfield Park Conservatory (300 N. Central Park Ave. 312-746-5100), with pours from nearly 100 breweries and food from more than 10 restaurants. This year, the brand-new Welles Park Craft Beer Fest on May 23-featuring more than 85 breweries-replaces the West Loop Craft Beer Fest as the week's official closing festival (however, there are still plenty of events to attend on the final day, May 24). Whether you're new to the craft beer scene or a CCBW vet, we've put together a how-to guide that covers everything from how to eat your beer to how to keep it weird.

>>For a full schedule of events, visit chibeerweek.com and download the Chicago Craft Beer Week 2015 app.

HOW TO ... EAT YOUR BEER

The India Pale Doughnut
May 14-24, Glazed and Infused (813 W. Fulton Market 312-226-5556)

Who says you can't have beer for breakfast, especially if it's in doughnut form? The India Pale Doughnut is a hand-cut, yeast-raised ring dripping with a malted Maris Otter barley glaze and topped with Cascade hop powder. Throughout CCBW, they're available for $3 each or $16 for a half-dozen at the West Loop location (address above) as well as River North (30 E. Hubbard St.), Wicker Park (1576 N. Milwaukee Ave.), Streeterville (201 E. Delaware Place), Lincoln Park (939 W. Armitage Ave.) and the Loop (222 N. LaSalle St.). Hours vary per day and location (goglazed.com).

New Belgium Tap Takeover and Bike Giveaway
May 14, Division Ale House (1942 W. Division St. 773-384-6886)

Not only is this a New Belgium Brewing Company tap takeover, the Colorado-based beer takes over the food menu, too. This Irish pub in Wicker Park serves a bread bowl of Fat Tire amber ale cheese fondue with soda bread and vegetables ($10), an Irish breakfast brat with Slow Ride IPA baked beans ($6), Skinny Dip American blonde ale-brined smoked chicken sliders ($12) and La Folie sour brown ale sourdough pizza ($10). The four featured beers, along with Lips of Faith pear ginger beer, are on tap for $4-$8 and there also will be a New Belgium cruiser bike giveaway. 7 p.m.-2 a.m. No cover.

Revolution Spent Grain Pasta Salad
May 14-24, Revolution Brewing brewpub (2323 N. Milwaukee Ave. 773-227-2739)

Revolution puts its spent grains (the grains leftover from the brewing process) from its Ideology extra special bitter to use in this cold salad served with pasta made from the spent grains, carrots, yellow squash, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, red peppers and sugar snap peas. $11. 11 a.m.-2 a.m.

HOW TO ... PAIR YOUR BEER

Unicornucopia Tres
May 15, Star Lounge Coffee Bar (2521 W. Chicago Ave. 773-384-7827)

Chefs Mike Bancroft and Anne Kostroski (Co-op Sauce, Sauce and Bread Kitchen) prepare a five-course meal paired with five Pipeworks Brewing Company beers and Dark Matter Coffee. Rather than a sit-down beer dinner, the courses will be served at stations throughout the coffee shop. To commemorate three years of collaboration, one course is a trio of sausages including the Verde, made with Co-op Sauce Unicorn Tears hot sauce and ramps; the Red Eye Boudin, prepared with Dark Matter coffee; and the Mapa Dofu, a szechuan tofu and pork blood sausage prepared with (and paired with) Pipeworks' Cherry Truffle Abduction imperial stout, all served with poblano mustard and koji kimchi by Co-op. The $55 ticket option includes the tasting dinner and a souvenir chalice. For $95, get the beer dinner, a Pipeworks bomber, three souvenir chalices, a bottle of Co-op Sauce Unicorn Tears and a bag of Dark Matter Unicorn Blood coffee. 7-10 p.m.

Craft Beerzaar
May 16, Dimo's Pizza (1615 N. Damen Ave. 773-525-4580)

Four "courses" in one slice, Dimo's pizza prepares a specially crafted pizza with four topping combinations and a flight of four beers (4 ounces each) at this craft bazaar celebrating craftsmen of all sorts with local vendors such as Milk Handmade clothing boutique, Made in Jewelry and others. The toppings on the first bite of the single slice are pork knuckle terrine with bread and butter pickles and orange-fennel mustard with Revolution Brewing's Fist City pale ale. The second course is pesto with grilled vegetables and feta paired with Penrose Brewing Company's Oaked IPA. The third is carne asada  with blackberry molé, cotija cheese and fried potatoes paired with Solemn Oath Brewery's Eigengrau black kolsch, finishing near the crust with citrus cheesecake, salted caramel, candied citrus peel and mint with Half Acre Beer Company's Double Daisy Cutter pale ale. Get the slice and flight for $12. 11 a.m. No cover.

Cheesin' up CCBW
May 17, Map Room (1949 N.Hoyne Ave. 773-252-7636)

Five cheeses, five beers and two breweries combine forces at this cheese-pairing event with David Phillips, director of Cheese and Cheers, who pairs American artisan cheeses with beers from the California-based Firestone Walker Brewing Company and local brewery Ten Ninety. Pairings include a 6-year-old Wisconsin cheddar with Ten Ninety imperial IPA, burrata with Firestone's Pivo hoppy pilsner and three others. Similar to Map Room's Beer School, Phillips talks about style of cheese that pair well with styles of beer. 1:30-3 p.m. $30. Tickets are limited: brownpapertickets.com/event/1565346

HOW TO ... MEET THE BREWER

Ex-Goose Island Brewers Event
May 19, The Beer Bistro West Loop (1061 W. Madison St. 312-433-0013)

Meet Chicago brewers and brewery owners who came from Goose Island Beer Company, including John Laffler of Off Color Brewing, Jared Rouben of Moody Tongue Brewing Company and Frank Lassandrello of Motor Row Brewing. There also will be beers and ciders from other non-local breweries with past Goose employees, such as Michigan-based Virtue Cider and California-based Firestone Walker Brewing Company. 6 p.m. no cover.

3rd Annual Women of Craft Beer Celebration
May 21, Riverview Tavern (1958 W. Roscoe St. 773-248-9523)

Hang out with women in the brewing industry at this Roscoe Village bar, where bartenders will tap 26 beers from the breweries of some of the women in attendance. The guest list includes Temperance Beer Company brewer Claudia Jendron, Begyle Brewing Co. brewer Liz French, Metropolitan Brewing co-founder Tracy Hurst and others. Donations from pint sales will benefit Dress for Success. $6-$8 drafts. 7 p.m. No cover.

Bowling w/ Brewers
May 21, Timber Lanes Bowling Alley (1851 W. Irving Park Road 773-549-9770)

Bowl and booze with brewers from Begyle Brewing Co., Haymarket Pub & Brewery, Ale Syndicate Brewers, SlapShot Brewing Co., Flesk Brewing, Sketchbook Brewing Company, Revolution Brewing, among others. Timber Lanes serves a selection of craft beers on tap. 10 p.m.-2 a.m. Free.

Disc Golf Outing w/ Brewers
May 24, Haymarket Pub & Brewery (737 W. Randolph St. 312-638-0700)

Disc golf and beer gurus unite as representatives from breweries like Revolution Brewing, Metropolitan Brewing, Half Acre Beer Company and others come together for a game of disc golf (which involves throwing a flying disc at a target in the fewest throws as possible). Meet the players at Haymarket before the 10 a.m. departure to an Evergreen Park disc golf course. Those who haven't played the game before will be paired with an experienced player. Post-game, head to Horse Thief Hollow Brewing Co. in Beverly for food and beer before meeting back at Haymarket at 4 p.m. The event is free, and the first 15 to reserve a spot can ride on the Chicago Brew Bus from Haymarket to the course. Others can meet at the course (91st Street and California Avenue) at 11 a.m. 9:45 a.m.-4 p.m. Reservations: wil@revbrew.com

HOW TO ... CELEBRATE THE STYLE

Ciders & Sours
May 20, Farmhouse (228 W. Chicago Ave. 312-280-4960)
Try rare ciders and sour beers from Upland Brewing Co. in Indiana, Vander Mill in Michigan, Destihl Brewery in Bloomington, Ill., and others. Upland will be serving up a special dragonfruit sour ale, and the River North tavern also will pour housemade ciders including Don't Tell William and Free Priscilla. $7-$9. 6-8 p.m. No cover.

Sours, Saisons and Zymatic
May 21, Beermiscuous (2812 N. Lincoln Ave. 855-450-2337)

The tap takeover highlights sours and saisons in kegs and casks of nine Chicago-area breweries ranging from Lake Effect Brewing Company and Noon Whistle Brewing to Une Annee Brewing and Marz Community Brewing Co. ABV Chicago beer podcasters Craig Gonciarczk and Ryan Ingwersen raffle off out-of-market sours, and Windy City Patty Wagon slings burgers. Also, sample a special saison brewed on the PicoBrew Zymatic, a microwave-sized all-grain brewing appliance for homebrewers, and watch a demonstration. Draft prices vary, most between $6-$10. 6:30-10 p.m. No cover.

The Beasts of the Barrel 3
May 21, Fireside Restaurant (5739 N. Ravenswood 773-561-7433)

Beverage director Abraham Litberg taps his yearlong collection of wood- and barrel-aged beers from local breweries and beyond, including Temperance Beer Co.'s Manhattan Barrel Aged Might Meets Right stout, Goose Island's 2014 Bourbon County stout and California-based The Bruery's 2013 Oude Tart Flemish-style red ale aged in red wine barrels for 18 months. Early attendees can snag one of just a few bottles of Michigan-based Founders Brewing Co.'s 2014 Kentucky Breakfast stout. $4-$9 a pour, prices may vary. 6 p.m. No cover.

HOW TO ... LEARN SOME SHIT

Pints of Science
May 18-20, The Beer Bistro North (1415 W. Fullerton Ave. 773-525-2727)

Sip on craft beer while nerding out over scientific discoveries, such as mind-controlling bacteria and living to 100, at this three-day event that brings in researchers from nearby universities. Themes over the three days include microbes on Monday, sleep on Tuesday and physics on Wednesday. Bartenders serve beers from around the world throughout the event, and more specifically, cans of local craft breweries on Wednesday. 5:30-7:30 p.m. No cover.

All About Hops panel discussion
May 19, Jerry's Wicker Park (1938 W. Division St. 773-235-1006)

Industry folks-including Two Brothers Brewing Company owner and brewmaster Jason Ebel, Lagunitas Brewing Company head brewmaster Jeremy Marshall, Hop Head Farms co-founder Bonnie Steinman, Gorst Valley Hops director James Altwies, and Penrose Brewing Company founder Eric Hobbs-chat about new hop strains, importing hops, growing techniques and other topics at this panel moderated by Chicago Tribune travel and beer writer Josh Noel. 7-9 p.m. No cover.

Learn to homebrew
May 19, C.H.A.O.S. Brew Club (2417 W. Hubbard St. 773-273-9430)

Meet other homebrewers and sample their beer as Matt Omura, education chair of the Chicago Homebrew Alchemists of Suds (C.H.A.O.S.) Brew Club, teaches guests how to brew in the nonprofit's shared brewing space. 5:30-11:30 p.m. Free.

HOW TO ... GET WEIRD

AstroProm
May 15, Atlas Brewing Company (2747 N. Lincoln Ave. 773-295-1270)

Lincoln Park brewpub Atlas and Evanston-based Temperance Beer Co. take craft beer lovers out of this world at this dance party with beer from both breweries ($4-$9) and space-themed Astroshots including the Marvin the Martian with cocoa liqueur and cherry whiskey ($3). Space jams brought by DJ Catieo include disco, space rock and vintage garage beats. Come in costume for a chance at winning the title of prom emperor, rewarded with swag from both breweries. 7 p.m. No cover.

The Beerfly Alleyfight
May 16, Haymarket Pub & Brewery (737 W. Randolph St. 312-638-0700)

In the event by The Drinking & Writing Theater that predates CCBW, according to host Steve Mosqueda, 10 homebrewers bring their own beer and a dish that pairs with it, and 10 artists perform short plays based on each pairing. Attendees taste the food and beer, watch the performances and vote on the best. $40. Noon-5 p.m. Tickets: chibeerweek.com

NW Side Craft Beer Ride
May 21,  Various locations

Four shuttle buses cart people around to 10 northwest side breweries and/or bars paired with Chicago-area craft breweries. The bars and breweries include: Fischman Liquors & Tavern with Pipeworks Brewing Company, Hops & Barley's with Brickstone Brewery, Rabbits Bar & Grill with Alarmist Brewing, Lake Effect Brewing Company (with a tour of the nearby brewery), Sidekicks with Pollyanna Brewing Company, Templestowe Pub with Rude Hippo Brewing Company and Middle Brow Beer Beer Co., Christina's Place with Finch's Beer Co., BreakRoom Brewery, Montrose Saloon with Bucket List Brewing and Blue Nose Brewery and lastly, Community Tavern with Ale Syndicate Brewers. Buses will be loop along the route, so participants can start anywhere and hop on and off where they like. Bus tickets are $20 and beer is sold separately. 6 p.m.-11 p.m. Tickets: chibeerweek.com

Crap Beer Day
May 24, Thalia Hall (1807 S. Allport St. 312-526-3851)

After 11 days of fine imbibing with microbreweries near and far, give your palate a rest at this celebration of easy-drinking brews from the big guys. Choose from $1 beers from Lone Star, Schlitz, Miller High Life, Budweiser, Hamm's and Mickey's, and $5 bottle service with Miller High Life forties. Other festivities include square dance lessons with The Golden Horse Ranch Band and blind taste-tests. $10. 5 p.m. Tickets: chibeerweek.com

Australian quarantine authorities have ordered Johnny Depp to fly his dogs Pistol and Boo out of the country by Saturday or they will be put down.

Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce on Thursday accused Depp of smuggling the Yorkshire terriers aboard his private jet when he returned to Australia on April 21 to resume filming of the 5th installment in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie series at Gold Coast studios.

The Agriculture Department on Wednesday gave Depp, 51, and his 29-year-old wife Amber Heard a 72-hour notice to send their pets back to the United States.

"If you start letting movie stars - even though they've been the sexiest man alive twice - to come into our nation (with pets), then why don't we just break laws for everybody?" Joyce said.

"It's time that Pistol and Boo buggered off back to the United States," he added.

Depp's canine saga became popular on social media too, under hashtag #WarOnTerrier.

Australia has strict quarantine regulations to prevent diseases such as rabies spreading to its shores. Bringing pets to Australia involves applying for a permit and a quarantine period on arrival of at least 10 days.

The department discovered that Depp had "snuck them in" after reports that a handler had taken the terriers in a handbag to a Gold Coast dog groomer on Saturday, Joyce said. A biosecurity officer found the dogs at a Gold Coast house on Wednesday, the department said.

"Now Mr. Depp has to either take his dogs back to California or we're going to have to euthanize them," Joyce said.

Depp's spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Joyce's spokesman Brett Chant said the dogs were in "home quarantine," but would not say where.

The filming of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" was disrupted in March when Depp, who plays the pirate captain Jack Sparrow, cut his hand on a glass door. He brought the dogs on his return flight from the U.S., where he underwent surgery to his hand.

Chant said no decision has been made on whether further action will be taken against Depp for breaching quarantine regulations.

The department was investigating how the pets were brought through Brisbane Airport without an import permit.

The opposition Labor Party questioned in Parliament whether the government was to blame for the biosecurity breakdown because it had cut the department's quarantine funding. Opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon accused Joyce of "bashing up on poor old Boo Boo and Pistol and, indeed, Johnny Depp."

Joyce said the Agriculture Department would be responsible for putting the dogs down if they do not leave Australia.

"After that, I don't expect to be invited to the opening of Pirates of the Caribbean," he said.

Associated Press

Details about Spike Lee's "Chiraq" remain elusive, but a news conference Thursday revealed a bit more about Lee and his collaborators' intentions. This much we know: Lee considers the project a culmination of a nearly 30 year career.

A reluctance to disclose more information is not necessarily unusual for a filmmaker, many of whom keep the specifics of their artistic goals under wraps until a film is completed. There's actually a word for that: spoilers. But "Chiraq" has been an unusual case, both because of its exposed-nerve of a subject matter and the very title itself.

The movie will tackle the issue of violence in Englewood. And for the first time since news of "Chiraq" came to light last month, Lee spoke publicly about his ambitions for the film (expected to start shooting in Chicago in June) at a news conference at St. Sabina Catholic Church in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood.

"A lot of things have been said about this film by people who know nothing about the film," Lee told assembled media.

"A lot of people have opinions about the so-called title of the film," he said. (Use of the phrase "so-called title" suggests it may be a working title, but Lee did not clarify, nor did he answer questions from reporters.)

"So we thought it was appropriate that we say what the narrative is - the filmmakers, the people doing this - not people who are judging from afar and, again, don't know what the hell they're talking about."

If only he had shared a little more about his ideas for the film itself. Who is in the cast or what it will be like - genre-wise or tonally. For now, we are still in the dark.

This is the first official confirmation of the movie (which will employ local crew members) and the first we're hearing directly from the people involved. Lee himself has denied numerous interview requests over the past few weeks. You have to wonder if the intensity of the response to the movie's title caught he and his collaborators off guard.

Whatever the reason, they waited a full month before addressing the pushback. In that intervening silence, many jumped to the conclusion that the film will be a grim story of violence in the Englewood neighborhood, and judging by Thursday's remarks alone, you can see why that perception exists.

However, earlier this week ScreenDaily reported that the script is a modern-day re-imagining of the ancient Greek comedy "Lysistrata." In the bawdy original by Aristophanes, the women of Greece band together and withhold sex until their men put an end to war. The play is no escapist jape, but rather a savvy use of comedy to address serious themes about the extreme toll violence has on the men who fight and their families at home.

Lee's version (which is being co-written by Kevin Willmott, a filmmaker out of the University of Kansas) would purportedly update the action and set it in Chicago. If you're familiar with the original play, this concept doesn't seem outlandish. Or irresponsible in its treatment of violence. But how many people are indeed familiar with this Aristophanes work? It's far from obscure but it's not necessarily widely known and hasn't been produced in Chicago for at least 10 years, if not longer.

Willmott, whose films have been featured over the years in the Siskel Film Center's annual Black Harvest Film Festival, is a smart filmmaker and has a track record with comedy and satire that pokes holes in racial stereotypes, including a sharp reimagining of the Civil War's outcome in "C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America."

His affiliation with "Chiraq" only bolsters the notion that the movie might be close in spirit to Lee's 1989 film "Do the Right Thing," which itself sparked controversy upon its release. That connection might prove to quell some concerns.

"Chiraq" is being made for Amazon Studios, but reports this week suggest there is interest in pushing for a theatrical release, as well. The film's representatives will be at the Cannes Film Festival (which began Wednesday) also looking to pre-sell the film to foreign markets.

Standing with Lee at Thursday's event was St. Sabina pastor Rev. Michael Pfleger, co-writer Willmott, actor and Evanston native John Cusack and members of Purpose Over Pain, who held up photos of their children who have been killed by gun violence. They also held posters that read "Put the guns down" and "Chiraq is here."

Their intention was to dial back some of the heat aimed at project, which has been polarizing since news of it hit the web. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has said he told Lee in person of his distaste for the "Chiraq" movie title, which equates the violence in certain areas of the city to the danger level in Iraq's war zone.

"I love Chicago," Lee said Thursday, urging people to give the project the benefit of the doubt.  "Wait 'til the movie comes out - (if) you don't like it, you don't like it. But see it first!"

A sincerity of purpose came through on Thursday, and it is worth considering Lee and Cusack's words on the matter. Dressed more formally than his usual in a gray suit, pinstripe shirt and orange tie, Lee cited news reports of 14 shootings that occurred in the city Wednesday.

"I've made many trips to Chicago in preparation for this film," he said. "And Tuesday morning I took the 6:30 flight from La Guardia (Airport in New York), landed at 7:30 and by 10 a.m. I was at a funeral. One of the members of our production team, his brother was shot down in cold blood."

As for some of the negative attention the film has already drawn, Lee didn't seem concerned: "Way way back when I made 'Do the Right Thing,' there were people who said this film would cause riots all across America, that black people were going to run amok.

"They wrote a whole bunch of things. But those people ended up being on the wrong side of history. And the same is going to happen in Chicago. They are going look stupid and end up on the wrong side of history.  We're here for peace. We have to stop this."

Cusack also took a turn at the microphone and opened with the droll observation that "I am 100 percent sure that the great city of Chicago can survive a film of conscience - just like it did 'Transformers'."

"I love my city of Chicago - all of Chicago," he said. "And I would never do anything to hurt it. I'm very proud to be in this film and stand with Father Pfleger and Spike and with the people of St. Sabina."

Acknowledging that some are unhappy with the film's title (or Lee's involvement, or worries that it will glorify gang activity, or the fact that it may turn out to be a comedy about a topic that is no laughing matter - take your pick, the concerns seem to be numerous) Cusack has this to say:

"Speaking personally, there really is no controversy around this film except for a bit of a manufactured political controversy. A few people say it's controversial and the press repeats it, but controversial to whom? Nobody that I'm talking to here."

Cusack also underscored the project's sincere intent: "Spike called me up and told me what he was up to. We met and he looked me in the eye and said, 'Johnny, the only reason to do this film is to help save lives.'

This was Lee's point: "To me, an artist - not every artist, but artists I love, whether it be painters, sculptors, novelists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, actors - they hold a mirror up to what is happening in the world.  And they do that with no fear. Because if you have fear, how are you going to tell the truth?"

Said Pfleger: "We're not painting a city, we're painting a reality that's difficult and hard." (The exact nature of Pfleger's involvement with the movie was not clarified at Thursday's event).

Pfleger also cited statistics on shootings in Chicago this year, which he said averaged out to nearly six people a day being shot in the city.

"We have to stop the madness," Lee said. "This is insane. Don't go for 'Okey-doke.' Don't go for it. This is nothing about Chicago losing tourism. Come on, please. Come on. Stop with the rudy-poop.  This film is not about Chicago losing business.

"But let me go back to 'Do the Right Thing,' if I can. One of the main criticisms was that Spike did not deal with the destruction of property. Same thing happened in Baltimore. They're screaming and crying about the CVS. What about the brother (Freddie Gray, whose death in police custody sparked the protests and riots)? Let's not put property and profit over human rights."

In Pfleger's estimation, "Nobody should better be able to face this reality than someone who's proven his consciousness, proven his professionalism and proven his willingness to be courageous in dealing with issues. A man who is an African American director, and one of the best directors in America, who did casting in an African American community, who's hiring from the African American community, dealing with African American issues.

"Sounds real right to me."

Also on hand were Pam Bosley of Purpose Over Pain, and Pastor Brenda Mitchell, both of whom spoke movingly about their personal experiences of what it means to lose a child to gun violence.

"Look at us," said Lee. "This is not a joke. This is not a game. This is real life and death and that's the way we're going to approach this.

"That's the way I've approached all my films - I mean, people acting like you've never seen none if my films! Like, I just got pulled off the street. I've been doing this since 1986.

"In fact," he said in closing, "everything I've done has led up to this film."

nmetz@tribpub.com

Twitter @NinaMetzNews

Dear Anna,

How do I tell a woman I have a micropenis?

I've run into a certain dilemma in dating because I'm unusually configured below the equator.  Simply put, I have an exceptionally small penis. Of course confidence, being a decent person and pleasing in other ways are essential. How do I disclose this physical to a new woman in my life while avoiding the previous pitfalls? Those include 1) an unpleasant surprise in a moment of passion, 2) her being offended-perceiving a suggestion by me that she's superficial and shallow as a person or 3) her being offended in thinking I told her at an inappropriate time, when sex was nowhere near being on the table or the evening's agenda from her point of view. In my experience, 1 is worst, 2 next worst and 3 least worst, but all undesirable outcomes. The point is to avoid the surprise and give her a graceful exit, if she wants one.  What's a little guy to do?

-Sharing a Little Secret

Dear SALS,

Have you seen Unhung Hero on Netflix? It's about one small-junked man trying to make his junk bigger using unproven and often dangerous techniques (pills, pumps, surgeries, etc.). He stops just short of getting some kind of strange penis injection in a third-world country. Also, (spoiler!) in the end, he finally accepts his junk and lands a smoking-hot girlfriend. It's a pretty ridiculous premise for a movie, but as a non-wang-bearing person, it made me realize the extent that we fixate as a culture on this one perceived "inadequacy" and how many men feel like they've been, well, shafted.

Basically, I hate that this is considered an issue at all. If it makes you feel better, men with huge dicks have written to me with similar problems. Same with women with "unusual" labia and "weird nipples" and "too much pubic hair" (seriously). I want to tell you (and everyone) that our bodies are wondrous and magical and a little strange. That we tend to exaggerate our oddities because we are insecure, but the issue that is huge in your mind is not a huge deal at all to any person that you should give a damn about.

That said, don't make your teeny weeny problem into a bigger one than it needs to be. How you decide to tell a new partner surely will vary by circumstance, but if I were to give you a general guideline, I'd say: For a casual hook up, don't say anything. Just as I would advise a small-boobed lady not to shame-blurt, "I'M WEARING A PADDED BRA! I HAVE DECEIVED YOU," so too I am advising you to not make a big thing about your thing. Your body is not a liability. And your wang is perfectly functional (I'm presuming you would have mentioned otherwise). If a gal gets "upset" by your size in the heat of the moment, then she doesn't deserve to have sex with you. Same with a guy who would tell a woman with "large" labia that he doesn't want to bang her. These people don't deserve orgasms, and the number of such people who would run screaming out of the room at the sight of a small penis is, pardon the pun, SMALL.

For a woman with whom you see a potential future: Have a talk with her about your insecurity post-make out session, but pre-naked times. Use the rubric I've mentioned before from sex educator Reid Mihalko about how to have hard discussions. In brief: "I want to tell you something. I'm afraid THIS CRAPPY THING will happen. What I want is for THIS THING to happen instead." Then tell the thing about your thing.  

The debut of the Ventra smartphone app for tickets, scheduled for this month or June, is being pushed back until the fall, transit officials said Thursday.

The CTA, Metra and Pace said they are working with a consultant with expertise on testing apps, Smart Chicago Collaborative's Civic User Testing Group, to iron out undisclosed issues with the Ventra mobile-ticketing app, which is designed to let commuters purchase fares and manage their Ventra accounts from their smartphones.

"We get to make a first impression once, and we want the Ventra app to make a great first impression on CTA, Metra and Pace customers," said Michael Gwinn, CTA director of fare systems.

CTA spokeswoman Tammy Chase said the app's basic functions work, but "the user experience, we don't think, is there yet."

The CTA previously said it would recruit 100 Ventra customers to test the app by now, prior to the original general release date.

Chase said customer testing will start in June and will be carried out by the Civic User Testing Group free of charge. It will include "functions to purchase fares, manage transit accounts and get real-time arrival and departure information for all three transit providers," a CTA statement said.

jhilkevitch@tribpub.com

Twitter @jhilkevitch

Chicago is the sixth-most bikeable city in the country, according to a new survey.

The city's bike score increased this year by almost nine full points, thanks to new protected bike lanes and bike paths, according to Walk Score, a division of real estate website Redfin, which published the rankings Thursday.

Chicago, which earned a "bike score" of 70.2 out of 100, is behind No. 1 Minneapolis (with a score of 81.3), No. 2 San Francisco, No. 3 Portland, No. 4 Denver and No. 5 Boston.

The Walk Score list counters Chicago's ranking last year as the second-most "bike-friendly" city in Bicycling Magazine's biennial ranking, behind New York City.

Redfin's Bike Score weighs components including bike lanes, terrain, destinations and road connectivity, and the share of local workers' commutes traveled by bicycle.

Chicago has more than 200 miles of on-street bike paths. Three years ago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel pledged to make the city the most bike-friendly in the country with a goal of delivering 645 miles of regular and protected bikeways by 2020.

crshropshire@tribpub.com

Twitter @corilyns

Former Cavs guard Ron Harper remembers walking out of the Richfield Coliseum in 1989, not long after Michael Jordan hit arguably the most historic shot in the history of basketball and not fully absorbing the magnitude of that moment.

Jordan was autographing a pair of his "sorry shoes" for a future charity function for Harper. Connecting eye contact with Jordan's dad, Harper heard the elder Jordan say, "It's not the shoes, Ron." Harper said he jokingly jabbed back, "Be quiet, pops."

It was a moment of levity then and now for Harper.

But through the years, Clevelanders have been tortured by the image of Jordan rising, levitating, releasing the ball and pumping his fist as a deflated Cavs' guard Craig Ehlo crumbled to the court.

For Cavs players who competed against the Bulls in those heated NBA playoff series of the late 1980s, that second minimizes just how talented the Cavs were. It remains a hypothetical for Cavs fans. What would this team have been if not for Jordan and the Bulls?

"It does bother me a little bit," guard Mark Price said. "I don't think how good our team was is appreciated. We were a blue-collar really hard working team. I felt like we were definitely in the mix and ready to win a championship if we were to get by the Bulls."

When the Cavs and Bulls met first in the first round of the 1988 Eastern Conference playoffs, both teams trying to find their footing.

The Cavs had drafted in 1986 a strong class that included Brad Daugherty with the No. 1 pick and Harper with the No. 8 pick. John "Hot Rod" Williams had been selected in the 1985 draft. Larry Nance and Price filled out a team considered full of potential.

The Bulls won the first two games at Chicago Stadium, the Cavs won the next two at the Richfield Coliseum and the Bulls clinched the series in Game 5.

It was a preview for the 1989 Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Cavs had won the previous six games against the Bulls before meeting in the first round. They were considered a team of destiny with Bulls beat writers predicting the Cavs win.

The Bulls won 95-88 in Game 1 as Price sitting out with a groin strain. The Cavs answered with a 96-88 win in Game 2. The teams alternated victories, including a Game 4 where Jordan scored 50 points but missed three key free throws down the stretch, allowing the Cavs to win in overtime.

Rumor has it Daugherty whispered to Jordan to miss the shots before he stepped to the line.

"I was the guy who smiled and would say something about your mom," Daugherty said, laughing. "I talked so much crap to him but he didn't pay attention to me. I'm sure I told him to miss. I wished he would have missed a lot of other times."

Especially in a decisive Game 5 on May 7, 1989, in Richfield, Ohio.

Nearly second by second, players took turns auditioning for game hero. Jordan hit a shot with six seconds left to give the Bulls a 99-98 lead, but Nance fed Ehlo on a backdoor pass layup for a Cavs lead. But the Cavs knew it wasn't over.

During a timeout, players said, there was some debate about how to cover Jordan.

"When we went to the time out and I said I've got M.J.," Harper said. "(Coach Lenny Wilkens said,) 'No I'm going to put you on Horace Grant. I said Horace Grant is going to be in the parking lot."

But Wilkens, who was often criticized for not doubling Jordan enough, put Ehlo on Jordan with Nance helping. Ehlo misjudged Jordan ever so slightly and in a flash became a lasting image of a sports goat when Jordan nailed the buzzer beater.

"I saw the ball go through the net and it registered: Dang, man, he just hit the game winner," Daugherty said. "We had this game, we shouldn't have lost."

The locker room was sullen, but not totally shaken, players said.

"The news guys came in and were like, 'How gut-wrenching is this?' Daugherty said. "I was thinking, 'This isn't gut-wrenching.' We didn't play well enough to win and a guy who is a hell of a player made a hell of a play to beat us."

They weren't aware of the significance of what has become known as "The Shot" either.

"Being in the first round, the magnitude didn't seem as great at the time," Price said. "It's grown over time."

Besides the drama and athleticism of that shot by Jordan, it seemed to be a turning point in his career and launched the Bulls' dynasty. The Cavs, however, were never quite the same.

The teams met again in 1993 conference semifinals, but the Bulls swept 4-0.

The Cavs spiral started before that. Many point to the trade of Harper for Danny Ferry just seven games into the 1989-90 season.

"Me and M.J. talked about this all the time," said Harper, who later played for the Bulls. "He says, 'If they didn't trade you, who knows how good that (Cavs) team would have been? I said, 'If they didn't trade me, I'd have one or two of your six rings.'"

Former Cavs players aren't dwelling on lost championships at the hands of the Bulls.

"It was amazing to be part of that (rivalry)," Daugherty said. "I maybe would've won a ring or two (if not for the Bulls), but life goes on and life is pretty good."

sryan@tribpub.com

Twitter @sryantribune

On the occasion of the final episode of "Mad Men" on Sunday, let the record show that the route to television's sendup of hard-drinking, hard-selling hucksters began in Chicago.

In 1904, a Chicago adman gave a junior colleague a lesson in how the business works - or ought to work. Having previously been a reporter, Albert Lasker thought of advertising as news, a means of imparting facts about products. Vigorously dissenting, John E. Kennedy said he could explain advertising in three words: "Salesmanship in print." Lasker profited from that message. At the age of 32, eight years after starting at Lord & Thomas as an office boy, he bought the firm.

Dubbed the father of modern advertising, Lasker didn't just promote existing industries, he created them. When he acquired Sunkist Growers as a client in 1916, the market for oranges, then considered only something to eat, was in a slump. Lasker's copywriters came up with a slogan, "Drink An Orange," that revolutionized America's breakfast menu. "To speed acceptance, Albert Lasker hired a man to invent a juice extractor," the Tribune afterward recalled. "It sold for 10c and more than 3 million were distributed almost overnight."

AMC's hit series "Mad Men" is set in New York, the epicenter of the advertising world today. But in earlier decades, the celebrated "Chicago school of advertising" dominated the industry and taught East Coast firms a trick or two. Over the decades, Chicago gave birth to not only the Jolly Green Giant, the Marlboro Man and Snap, Crackle and Pop, but also "Hey, Culligan Man" and "You Deserve a Break Today."

"If it doesn't sell, it ain't creative," said Leo Burnett, who had the gumption to open his Chicago firm in the depths of the Great Depression. The bowl of fresh apples that greeted visitors to Burnett's offices was his riposte to gloom-and-doom predictions he'd wind up selling apples on the street.

As early as 1907, a speaker at a meeting of the Chicago Advertising Association defined the Chicago approach, as the Tribune reported: "Adam's interest in the apple industry was aroused by Eve," he said. "When she persuaded him to taste the fruit the fact that it was her personal act that caught his attention demonstrated a fact that the world was a long time in learning - that it is personality that counts, and that a direct appeal to the customer is necessary to successful advertising."

Five years later, the association laid the cornerstone for its own building at 110 W. Madison St. Five hundred admen marched behind a newsboys' band to the new headquarters, and the group's president told the Tribune: "Chicago has been the best advertised city in America ever since the great fire. Right now Chicago advertising managers, advertising agencies and solicitors influence more advertising than those of any other city in America."

When the trade paper Advertising Age was founded in 1930, logic dictated that it be published in Chicago. By 1980, advertising was one of Chicago's largest industries. Its 500 agencies had 8,000 employees and enjoyed $6 billion in annual revenues.

The legacy that Lasker passed on to other Chicago admen was the short, snappy characterization of a client's product. He hated jargon and wordiness. "Have you ever read a consumer bulletin from Washington?" he asked, setting forth his philosophy in a 1936 Tribune article. "Do you believe the average person could even understand it?"

Watching Quaker Puffed Rice explode in containers resembling a cannon, a Lasker copywriter wrote: "Food Shot From Guns." Sales increased dramatically. The successor firm, Foote, Cone & Belding, coined the phrase "When you care enough to send the very best" for Hallmark greeting cards. The Leo Burnett agency dreamed up a pair of slogans - "You Are In Good Hands with Allstate" and "Fly the Friendly Skies of United" - that caught America's attention and still resonate with consumers today.

Some plotlines of "Mad Men" seem to be thinly fictionalized versions of Chicago admen's experiences. A running theme of the show was the mythical New York firm's adventures keeping the account of Lucky Strike, a company run by a boorish good old boy. Fairfax Cone, protege and successor of Lasker's, recalled for the Tribune similar encounters with the real-life owner of the American Tobacco Co., whose Lucky Strike account was highly prized. "George Washington Hill was accused of devouring adverting people, especially savoring the better ones," Cone wrote of Hill, who wore a dented hat decorated with trout flies. "He both looked and sounded like a man playing Nero."

A Lord & Thomas employee sent to observe a tobacco auction observed that, of discarded cigarette packages on the auction house floor, Lucky Strike held a 3-1 advantage over other brands. Thus was born a sales pitch - "With Men Who Know Tobacco Best, It's Luckies 2 to 1" - after Hill's editing. He explained to Cone: "Two to one has a better ring to it. Two-to-one is one of the great, confident expressions in our language."

Cone recalled Lasker's teaching-by-example method. Once a dejected group returned to the firm's office in the Palmolive Building. They had pitched a prospective client hard, parading dozens of advertising campaign ideas to no avail. Lasker said he'd give a try, and he came back triumphantly waving a signed contact. Asked how he had done it, Lasker said: "I told the gentleman that I would make him rich."

Regardless of whether he fulfilled that promise, Lasker turned the trick for himself, in spades. He lived in a 50-room mansion on a 480-acre estate west of Lake Forest. Among its amenities was an elevator for raising logs to a gigantic fireplace and an 18-hole golf course, which was "rated by Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen as one of the three best in the country," the Trib noted when Lasker donated the estate to the University of Chicago in 1939. He also had a pied-a-terre, an 18-room mansion at Burton Place and Dearborn Parkway.

That opulence far outstripped even the most lavish lifestyles of the "Man Men," and in one key respect, Lasker differed from the sardonic characters of television's admen. They are quick to throw down a drink in the office, accompanied by a cynical remark, but Lasker truly believed that advertising's virtues went far beyond just moving goods and making money.

"Advertising has given wings to our culture, our civilization," Lasker wrote in his 1936 Tribune piece. "Remove it, dilute it, vitiate its effort, and presently you will depress the masses of our people to a lower class mediocrity."

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Editor's note: Thanks to Margo Bell, of South Bend, Ind., for suggesting this Flashback.

rgrossman@tribpub.com

Twitter @quondamprof

Nearly two weeks after the so-called Fight of the Century between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao fizzled in Las Vegas, legal haymakers in the form of class-action lawsuits are being thrown by Chicago-area fans who say they were cheated by the failure to disclose Pacquiao's bum shoulder.

A suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago claims promoters and trainers involved in the May 2 bout - which was billed as the most expensive pay-per-view event in history - intentionally hid the fact that Pacquiao had torn his right rotator cuff during training in March and was forced to fight Mayweather virtually "one-handed."

Mayweather won by a lopsided unanimous decision, and the boxers took home a combined $350 million, making it the richest purse in the sport's history.

The lawsuit names as plaintiffs two Chicago-area men who say they plunked down $100 to watch the fight on pay-per-view TV and another man who claims he lost money in Las Vegas wagering on Pacquiao to win.

The suit seeks class-action status for anyone across the country who either paid to watch the bout or legally bet on Pacquiao.

The filing was at least the 11th such lawsuit across the country claiming a conspiracy existed between promoters with Top Rank Inc. and members of Pacquiao's camp to hide the left-hander's injury and avoid derailing a huge payday.

A suit containing nearly identical allegations was filed last week at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, records show. Lawyers for the three plaintiffs in that case have filed a motion seeking to have it removed to California, where there are two other pending class-action suits involving the fight.

The cases filed in Chicago both cite a questionnaire filled out by Pacquiao's trainer before the fight and signed by the 36-year-old fighter that marks "No" to the question, "Have you had any injury to your shoulders, elbows, or hands that needed evaluation or treatment?"

The suit filed Wednesday also cites an alleged Facebook post by Pacquiao's sparring partner, Dashon Johnson, who revealed that Pacquiao had been hurt in camp days before the contract to fight Mayweather had officially been signed.

"(Pacquiao) got hurt during this camp with his right shoulder and it was messed up pretty bad!" Johnson wrote, according to the lawsuit. "So bad his sparring partners including myself were asked to go home a few weeks out before the actual fight."

Despite his injury, Pacquiao and his handlers continued to insist he felt great before the fight, even telling reporters in a conference call he had a "great training camp" and was "ready to go," the lawsuit alleges.

Attorney Thomas Zimmerman, who represents the plaintiffs in the latest case, told the Tribune on Thursday that the allegations go beyond those of disgruntled sports fans who weren't happy with the outcome of a match.

"They made fraudulent misrepresentations to induce people to spend money they otherwise would never have spent," Zimmerman said. "Who would have bet on Pacquiao if they knew he was injured?"

jmeisner@tribpub.com

Twitter @jmetr22b