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Gunshots at the end of a long day at Six Flags Great America sparked chaos, confusion and fear among hundreds of park visitors. The bullets struck a 17-year-old Aurora boy in the upper thigh and hit a 19-year-old woman from Appleton, Wisconsin, in her lower leg, police said.

One mother hid with her kids in a bathroom, telling them the commotion was over fireworks. Another couple grabbed their three kids, starting running and hid behind a roller coaster.

A 16-year-old boy who was on a float in the Highland Park parade when the Fourth of July shooting happened was at Six Flags earlier in the afternoon. Worries about what might happen if a gunman tried to attack the park crossed his mind earlier Sunday, the 16-year-old told the Tribune.

Meanwhile, the Highland Park City Council has unanimously called for state and national bans on semi-automatic weapons, high-capacity ammunition magazines and body armor after the deadly mass shooting at the suburb’s Independence Day parade.

“Mass shootings are a uniquely American problem and Highland Park is not an island,” said Mayor Nancy Rotering. “No community is safe until broader action is taken.”

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Jury selection in R. Kelly’s federal trial in Chicago got underway Monday with the judge questioning more than 60 potential jurors about what they know about the indicted R&B star and the charges against him.

Shortly before court began, Kelly, dressed in a gray suit and tan shirt, was brought into the large ceremonial courtroom at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse and took his seat at a crowded defense table, leaning over at times to whisper through a face covering to his attorneys.

Chicago rapper and activist Vic Mensa applied for — but so far has been denied — licenses to grow and sell marijuana in Illinois. So he found another path to his goal. He started growing his own brand through an already-licensed cultivator.

As a result, he believes 93 Boyz is the first Black-owned cannabis company on the legal market here. It sells what it calls the “heaviest, headiest gas” flower and joints in local dispensaries.

New development is finally underway throughout the Six Corners area in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood, bringing sighs of relief from residents tired of seeing vacant properties and storefronts. The worst eyesore, according to local development leaders, was a giant hole in the ground at the area’s main crossroads, the result of a failed development project.

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The hole blighted the intersection of Cicero and Milwaukee avenues and Irving Park Road for years, but Clarendale Six Corners, a $130 million, 10-story senior housing building by Ryan Cos., now occupies the site, ready to start welcoming renters in the fall. In its wake, other developers began unveiling projects, including new residences and medical facilities, attracting in turn new shops and restaurants.

The Chicago Bears returned to the practice field Monday morning for the first time since Saturday’s preseason opener, and Teven Jenkins was at a new position.

Here are four things we learned at Halas Hall, including more on Jenkins sliding inside.

The Chicago Air and Water Show is back from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday after being canceled in 2020 and running a scaled-back event in 2021.

Lakefront restaurants and bars are offering special packages with food and drinks during the show, and you can also get an up-close look from a skyscraper or a boat on Lake Michigan.

A new program at the Joffrey Ballet Academy of Dance aims to diversify job training for professional dancers on the rise. This fall, approximately 10 dancers will be the first cohort of contemporary ballet trainees with the Joffrey Ballet.

The initiative is purported to be the first of its kind for a major U.S. ballet company and is part of a five-year strategic plan launched in 2020 to expand Joffrey’s education and community engagement programs.



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