The Goodman Theatre has set the bulk of its 2010–2011 season, during which the theater will celebrate the tenth anniversary of its current facility in the Loop theater district. The five plays announced today include new works by Regina Taylor (MagnoliaMagnolia reviews), Sarah Ruhl (Passion PlayPassion Play reviews) and Thomas Bradshaw; in addition, artistic director Robert Falls revives The Seagull, mercifully alleviating that Chekhov drought that hasn’t been gripping the city of late, and Mary Zimmerman will put her flowy stamp on the 1956 musical satire Candide.

The season opens in September with Zimmerman’s Candide, Leonard Bernstein and Hugh Wheeler’s take on Voltaire’s cockeyed optimist, in the Albert. The libretto features lyric contributions from Stephen Sondheim, Lillian Hellman and Dorothy Parker, and the Goodman promises “new adaptations from Voltaire by Mary Zimmerman.” Guess when you’re a MacArthur “genius” you get to do things like that. The boilerplate on Falls’s Seagull, in the Owen in October, makes no such revisionist promises; there’s also no word yet on whether it’s aiming for Broadway (a leap that Falls’s 2009 Desire Under the Elms made and that his current double bill of Hughie and Krapp’s Last Tape hopes to).

Taylor’s Rain, premiering in the Albert in January 2011, is described as the playwright’s “most personal and intimate work to date”; in it, a New York journalist seeking comfort in the wake of her divorce returns to her mother’s Texas home, where family secrets quickly come to light. (As much as I admire Taylor’s playwriting work, I’m still waiting for the DVD release of I’ll Fly Away.)

Mary is, I believe, the Chicago debut by Bradshaw, a prolific young fixture on New York’s downtown scene; the play, which opens in the Owen next February, is a “comic absurdist drama” involving AIDS and Virginia slave quarters. Sounds promising coming from a guy the Village Voice once named “best provocative playwright” and whom our pals at Time Out New York have described as “like Sarah Kane with a sense of humor.”

Sarah Ruhl, the group’s other MacArthur “genius,” offers Stage Kiss, a “quirky new comedy” about a pair of actors, exes in real life, forced into a stage romance. Ruhl does quirky? Who knew. It’s in the Albert in March.  The Bradshaw and Ruhl offerings are both Goodman commissions, and I’m glad to see a commissioning body actually producing the plays it paid to have written—a final step in the process that too few commissioning theaters achieve. Three more plays are still to be announced, likely next month.

Technorati Tags: absurdist drama, Albert, anniversary, Bradshaw, bulk, Candide, chicago, chicago debut, cockeyed optimist, desire under the elms, district, Dorothy Parker, Events, facility, five plays, genius, Goodman, Goodman Theatre, Hugh Wheeler, Hughie, intimate work, krapp, Leonard Bernstein, lillian hellman, Loop, MacArthur, Magnolia, Mary, mary zimmerman, musical satire, New York, Night Life, Owen, passion play, Play, playwright, Rain, Regina, Regina Taylor, Robert Falls, Sarah Kane, Sarah Ruhl, satire candide, Seagull, Season, slave quarters, Stage, Stephen Sondheim, Taylor, tenth, Tenth Anniversary, Texas, Theater, Theatre, Thomas Bradshaw, Virginia, virginia slave, Voltaire, work, york journalist

A fifth teen has been charged in the beating death of Fenger High School student Derrion Albert, sources said tonight.

Lapoleon Colbert, 19, was charged today with first-degree murder in connection to the Sept. 24 death in front of a Roseland community center, according to Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Colbert, who another law enforcement source said was of the 300 block of West 111th Street, is expected to appear for a bond hearing Wednesday at the Cook County Criminal Courts Building.

Footage of Albert’s death, captured on a camcorder, caused a firestorm after it was circulated over the Internet and to news outlets nationwide.

Daly said that Colbert’s image was captured on a videotape of the attack, but she could not say if he was seen on the widely publicized camcorder tape.

Albert’s death, part of a melee between neighborhood teens and those who lived in the Altgeld Gardens-area, prompted U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to visit ChicagoChicago reviews last October to talk about what the Obama administration is doing to combat youth violence.

Already charged with murder in Albert’s death are Silvonus Shannon, 19, Eugene Riley, 18, Eric Carson, 16, and a 14-year-old boy charged as a juvenile.

– Staff report

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On the soccer field, Sgt. Albert Dono Ware of ChicagoChicago reviews played goalie because he was trustworthy, dependable and willing to endure being hit with the ball to protect his team, his friends and family said Saturday.

Some of those same qualities carried over into his relationships and military career, helping establish him as a leader, said Artemus Kgaye, Ware’s soccer teammate.

“We knew you had another duty,” Kgaye said at Ware’s funeral on Saturday. “We eagerly awaited your return for another season.”

An Honor Guard from the 82nd Airborne salutes the arriving hearse before funeral service for Sgt. Albert Ware. (Tribune /  Zbigniew Bzdak) MORE PHOTOS

His team saved the last soccer ball Ware played with, Kgaye said, and offered it to the fallen soldier’s family. Then he looked at Ware’s casket and chanted, “Play, Albert, play,” drawing tears and moans from the audience.

Other teammates and Ware’s  wife, children and parents were among the hundreds of people  gathered at Freedom Temple Church of God in Christ on the South SideSouth Side reviews to remember Ware. There also were a host of elected officials, local ministers and military leaders.

Ware, 27, an  Army infantryman from Chicago’s Pullman community, was killed Dec. 18 by an improvised explosive device while in Afghanistan.

The Corliss High School graduate studied at Chicago State University. He was a married father of three children who was serving his second tour of duty.

Ware spent part of his life growing up in Liberia and managed to escape from the country during a violent civil war. He became a war hero when he died protecting the staples of American life: freedom and democracy, Gov. Pat Quinn said.

“We’re burying today an all-American hero,” Quinn said. “We’ve been held in the arms of Sgt. Ware.”

At the emotional service, Ware’s parents and wife sat in front surrounded by relatives. His sister, Ciatta, performed a wrenching liturgical dance, at times stretching her arms skyward. When she pounded her feet up and down on the ground while caving her chest in and out, many in the audience stood,  screaming in pain and letting tears stream down their faces.

 Army Chaplain Col. Larry McCarty said he knew Ware and admired him.

“He was, he is a warrior,” McCarty said, adding that Ware always put the war effort first, never quit and would never leave a fallen comrade.

Ware’s parents did not speak at the service, but his wife, Pleshette Farmer-Ware, published a poem in the funeral program.

“My fallen soldier, as I lay you to rest, I don’t know how to say goodbye,” she wrote. “I love you dearly with every tear that I drop. I’ll keep a happy memory of you in thought.

“And when I see you again, I’ll stain you with a kiss because you were missed.”

–Lolly Bowean

Technorati Tags: Afghanistan, Albert, american hero, Army, audience, Ball, chicago, Chicago State University, children and parents, Christ, church of god, church of god in christ, Col. Larry McCarty, corliss high school, duty, explosive device, Family, Field, Freedom, freedom and democracy, goalie, hearse, hero, honor guard, Infantryman, Kgaye, Liberia, life, liturgical dance, military career, Nbsp, News, Pat Quinn, photo, pullman community, Quinn, Saturday, service, Sgt. Albert Dono, Sgt. Albert Ware, Sgt. Ware, soccer, soccer ball, soccer field, soldier, South Side, STAPLES, team, temple church of god in christ, Updated, war, war hero, wife, Zbigniew Bzdak

On the soccer field, Sgt. Albert Dono Ware of ChicagoChicago reviews played goalie because he was trustworthy, dependable and willing to endure being hit with the ball to protect his team, his friends and family said Saturday.

Some of those same qualities carried over into his relationships and military career, helping establish him as a leader, said Artemus Kgaye, Ware’s soccer teammate.

“We knew you had another duty,” Kgaye said at Ware’s funeral on Saturday. “We eagerly awaited your return for another season.”

An Honor Guard from the 82nd Airborne salutes the arriving hearse before funeral service for Sgt. Albert Ware. (Tribune /  Zbigniew Bzdak) MORE PHOTOS

His team saved the last soccer ball Ware played with, Kgaye said, and offered it to the fallen soldier’s family. Then he looked at Ware’s casket and chanted, “Play, Albert, play,” drawing tears and moans from the audience.

Other teammates and Ware’s  wife, children and parents were among the hundreds of people  gathered at Freedom Temple Church of God in Christ on the South SideSouth Side reviews to remember Ware. There also were a host of elected officials, local ministers and military leaders.

Ware, 27, an  Army infantryman from Chicago’s Pullman community, was killed Dec. 18 by an improvised explosive device while in Afghanistan.

The Corliss High School graduate studied at Chicago State University. He was a married father of three children who was serving his second tour of duty.

Ware spent part of his life growing up in Liberia and managed to escape from the country during a violent civil war. He became a war hero when he died protecting the staples of American life: freedom and democracy, Gov. Pat Quinn said.

“We’re burying today an all-American hero,” Quinn said. “We’ve been held in the arms of Sgt. Ware.”

At the emotional service, Ware’s parents and wife sat in front surrounded by relatives. His sister, Ciatta, performed a wrenching liturgical dance, at times stretching her arms skyward. When she pounded her feet up and down on the ground while caving her chest in and out, many in the audience stood,  screaming in pain and letting tears stream down their faces.

 Army Chaplain Col. Larry McCarty said he knew Ware and admired him.

“He was, he is a warrior,” McCarty said, adding that Ware always put the war effort first, never quit and would never leave a fallen comrade.

Ware’s parents did not speak at the service, but his wife, Pleshette Farmer-Ware, published a poem in the funeral program.

“My fallen soldier, as I lay you to rest, I don’t know how to say goodbye,” she wrote. “I love you dearly with every tear that I drop. I’ll keep a happy memory of you in thought.

“And when I see you again, I’ll stain you with a kiss because you were missed.”

–Lolly Bowean

Technorati Tags: Afghanistan, Albert, american hero, Army, audience, Ball, chicago, Chicago State University, children and parents, Christ, church of god, church of god in christ, Col. Larry McCarty, corliss high school, duty, explosive device, Family, Field, Freedom, freedom and democracy, goalie, hearse, hero, honor guard, Infantryman, Kgaye, Liberia, life, liturgical dance, military career, Nbsp, News, Pat Quinn, photo, pullman community, Quinn, Saturday, service, Sgt. Albert Dono, Sgt. Albert Ware, Sgt. Ware, soccer, soccer ball, soccer field, soldier, South Side, STAPLES, team, temple church of god in christ, Updated, war, war hero, wife, Zbigniew Bzdak

A 27-year-old U.S. Army infantryman from ChicagoChicago reviews has been killed in an explosion in Afghanistan.

Albert Ware’s father called his late son “a hero.” Ware was killed by an improvised explosive device on Friday and had been on his second tour of duty. Ware had three children and also is survived by his wife, mother and sister.

Ware was born in Liberia and came to Chicago at age 12. He served in the National Guard before joining the Army and had hoped to become a U.S. Army Ranger.

Ware was from Chicago’s Pullman neighborhood.

– Associated Press

Technorati Tags: Afghanistan, age, Albert, Army, army ranger, chicago, Chicago Sun, com, device, duty, Explosion, explosive device, father, Friday, guard, hero, Improvised Explosive Device, Infantryman, joining the army, Liberia, mother, mother and sister, National, national guard, neighborhood, Pullman, Ranger, resident, Sister, soldier, Son, story, Sun, sun times, Times, tour, tour of duty, U.S., U.S. Army, Ware, wife

Two 15-year-old males were charged as juveniles after they were involved in separate fights early Wednesday at the embattled Fenger High School, officials said.

ChicagoChicago reviews Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro said the names of the teens were not available because of their age.They are expected to appear in Cook County Juvenile Court, Alfaro said.

The fights occurred at the beginning of the school day at the school.

Later in the day an 18-year-old female student was charged as an adult with misdemeanor aggravated assault after she threatened a female school worker at about 3:30 p.m., Alfaro said.

Catrice Parker of the 8100 block of South Paulina Avenue was charged with the misdemeanor for verbally assaulting the worker, Alfaro said.

One of the fights occurred at about 8:15 a.m., shortly after school started for the day. Police said the teen hit a 16-year-old female victim.

In addition, the other 15-year-old was charged as a juvenile with aggravated battery to a school employee, Alfaro said.

The student allegedly struck two security officers at the school who were attempting to break up a separate fight also occurring at about 8:15 a.m. in which that student was involved in, Alfaro said.

Security has been beefed up at the school, located at 11220 S. Wallace St., following the beating death in September of Derrion Albert, a Fenger student whose death was captured on video and spread virally over the Web.

But the extra security has struggled to prevent periodic outbreaks of violence in the hallways like the ones that occurred this morning.

“I think that even with the security, you’re still not going to be able to stop a kid from fighting another kid,” said Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Monique Bond. “Tensions are high in schools all the time.”

Bond was unclear about the number of students involved in the altercation.

Chicago Fire Department officials said there were no transports to hospitals following the fight.

A federal judge on Tuesday approved a plan to allow 10 Fenger students who contended they do not feel safe there to transfer to one of four city schools.

The school has been the site of a long-standing conflict between students who live in the Roseland neighborhood surrounding the school and others bused in from the Altgeld Gardens public housing complex. That feud led to Albert’s death.

– Azam Ahmed and Carlos Sadovi

Click HERE for a WGN-TV report on this story.

Technorati Tags: 11220 South Wallace Street, Chicago, Illinois, age, Ahmed, Albert, altercation, beginning, bond, Carlos, chicago, Chicago Fire, Chicago Fire Department, chicago public schools, Cook, cook county juvenile court, County, county juvenile court, court, Day, death, Derrion, derrion albert, extra security, female victim, Fenger, Fenger High School, fight, fire department officials, hallways, High, high school students, Juvenile, juveniles, Kid, misdemeanor, Monique Bond, News, Officer Hector Alfaro, Parker, periodic outbreaks, Police, Police News, S. Wallace St, school, school officials, security, security officers, South Paulina, student, Updated, video, wallace st, Wednesday, worker

When famed sportscaster Marv Albert showed up to the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” show on Wednesday (November 18), he never expected to get into a fight backstage.

According to the LA Times, Albert was a guest on the evening’s show alongside rapper 50 Cent. When the longtime sports commentator arrived for the taping – with his entourage of one – no one in Fif’s entourage knew who he was, and some sort of scuffle ensued.

The rapper’s bodyguards began shouting obscenities, a few fists were thrown, but Albert was able to finally make his way to the waiting room.

“It’s Marv Albert,” a Kimmel show guard yelled, but the security detail for Fif’ didn’t care.

Albert was ok, but said he was confused as to what happened.

“Did you see that?” he asked. “I thought they were kidding, but then I realized they weren’t.”

Marv Albert is a veteran NBA announcer for TNT, and was in town for the Lakers-Chicago Bulls game on Thursday (November 19).

source

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Christopher C. Cooper, middle, listens to parents regarding their Fenger High School students in the lobby of the Dirksen Federal Building this morning. (José M. Osorio / ChicagoChicago reviews Tribune)

A federal judge today instructed Chicago Public Schools to discuss transfer options with Fenger High School students who want to change schools because they feel unsafe following the beating death of a student.

Ten Fenger students filed a lawsuit against CPS last week alleging that their constitutional right to a public education is being denied because the district will not allow them to transfer.

“My clients want to go to school. They simply asked CPS to do everything reasonable to protect their safety,” said Christopher Cooper, the students’ attorney. “CPS made a promise to allow my clients to transfer and CPS has not followed through with that promise.”

At least 100 students have transferred from Fenger to other high schools since classes started, CPS lawyer Susan O’Keefe said. The school district has been “swift and targeted” in its response to Derrion Albert’s Sept. 24 beating death, she said.

Last month CPS offered Fenger students three ways to withdraw: a mid-year transfer to Carver Military or other area schools; transportation vouchers to attend other schools; or entry next fall into a charter high school near the Altgeld Gardens public housing complex.

“They don’t have a property right to attend any school they want to,” said O’Keefe, whose statement was greeted with jeers from more than 30 Fenger students who missed school to attend the hearing.

CPS officials offered to meet with students Monday to work out transfer arrangements.

“That’s a reasonable offer you shouldn’t pass up,” said U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman. “They have expressed a willingness to accommodate transfer requests. … CPS doesn’t want to wait for another Derrion Albert incident.”

Students who live in Altgeld have been assigned to Fenger since 2006 when Carver, their neighborhood high school, was turned into a selective enrollment military academy. There have been long-running tensions between Fenger students who live in Roseland, which surrounds the school and those who are bused from Altgeld.

Several Altgeld parents said they still weren’t satisfied with CPS’ offer. They want Carver to reopen as a neighborhood school

“Why would you transfer them from one hostile environment to another? They are going to go through the same thing at Julian and Corliss,” Cassandra White-Robinson said of neighboring high schools.

Gettleman urged the students’ lawyer to consider whether to seek a class action suit on behalf of all Fenger students. Gettleman ordered CPS to respond to the lawsuit in writing by Thursday and both parties to reconvene in court Nov. 23.

–Kristen Mack

Click HERE for a WGN-TV report on this story.

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A group of students at Fenger High School and their parents are suing the ChicagoChicago reviews Public Schools, saying security at the Roseland school is inadequate and students are being denied a public education.

The group claims the school system, since the beating death of Fenger student Derrion Albert, is not following through on promises to transfer students to other schools.

Watch the WGN-TV video HERE.

Technorati Tags: Albert, Beating, chicago, chicago public schools, Chicago Schools, death, Derrion, education, Fenger, Group, High, Nbsp, Parents, promises, public, public education, Roseland, roseland school, school, Schools, security, student, system, video, Watch, wgn tv

ChicagoChicago reviews Police Lt. Anthony Carothers (left), Deputy Chief, Detective Division, Al Wysinger (middle) and Supt. Jody Weis hold a news conference to discuss the charges against a youth being held in connection with the death of Fenger High School student Derrion Albert. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis today praised witnesses who identified a 14-year-old boy as taking part in the infamous fatal beating of a Fenger High School student but at the same time chastised them for taking too long to come forward.

The teen was charged with murder after four eyewitnesses to the Sept. 24 melee said he hit Derrion Albert, 16, with a “roundhouse punch,” Cook County prosecutors said.

Eugene Bailey, 18, originally was charged with throwing that punch, but murder charges against him were dropped three weeks later.

“We started getting reports that (Bailey) was not involved in it,” Weis said Friday at a news conference announcing the charges against the 14-year-old. ” …We had numerous witnesses come forward that not only exonerated (Bailey) but also led us to be able to charge (the juvenile).”

Clearly frustrated at what he called a “code of silence,” Weis thanked the community for coming forward but quickly added: “I do wish they would have come forward sooner, but at the end of the day, justice will be served.”

Albert was attempting to stand up after he was struck with a wooden plank by another youth when the 14-year-old punched Albert “in the face, knocking him to the ground and knocking him unconscious for a brief period of time,” Assistant State’s  Attorney Thomas Bilyk said in Juvenile Court.

Albert was not exhibiting “any acts of aggression when the minor took a long-wielding punch,” Bilyk said. “He gave no care or concern to the life (he was) snuffing out.”

The boy was ordered held in custody on three counts of first-degree murder and one count of mob action by Juvenile Court Judge Colleen Sheehan.

The boy, who is not being identified by the Tribune because he is a minor, has no previous criminal history, prosecutors said. His mother took notes as the prosecutor laid out the charges, and his family and attorney declined to talk after the hearing.

Though police continue to look for three suspects, Weis said that the 14-year-old’s arrest means “the main offenders who struck the critical blows to Derrion Albert are now awaiting trial.”

Silvonus Shannon, 19; Eugene Riley, 18; and Eric Carson, 16;  were charged as adults and have been held without bail in Cook County Jail since September.

Prosecutors have not determined whether they will charge the juvenile as an adult, Bilyk said. They can use their discretion when deciding whether to charge 13- or 14-year-olds as adults.

The boy, who was a student at Fenger at the time of the beating, has been attending Thornridge High School in Dolton since the brawl, his attorney Richard Kloak said. Kloak asked that the juvenile be released on electronic monitoring so he can stay in school.

 ”The defendant is not running anywhere or going anywhere,” Kloak said.

The melee, which involved more than 50 teenagers, stemmed from a long-standing rivalry between Fenger students who live in an area known as “the Ville” near the school in Roseland and those who are bused in from the Altgeld Gardens public housing complex.

Fighting broke out as the Altgeld students walked to a bus stop near a Far South SideSouth Side reviews community center about half a mile away from Fenger.

Video footage of Albert’s beating circulated over the Web and transfixed viewers nationwide. The images also horrified Chicagoans, many of whom had become numb to the high rate of teen carnage.

Albert’s death prompted the White House to dispatch U.S. Attorney Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to Chicago to talk about youth violence.

Tribune reporter Jeremy Gorner contributed to this report.

–Kristen Mack and Serena Maria Daniels

Click HERE for a WGN-TV video. 

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A 14-year-old boy was charged Thursday night with murder in connection to the fatal beating of Fenger High School student Derrion Albert.

ChicagoChicago reviews police said the teen, whose name was withheld, was cited in a juvenile delinquency petition with two counts of murder in the Sept. 24 beating outside the Agape Community Center, 342 W. 111th St.

The boy’s family declined to comment late Thursday.

The boy is expected to appear before a Juvenile Court judge Friday morning at about the same time Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis is schedule to hold a press conference at City Hall to discuss the case.

Video footage of Albert’s beating circulated over the Internet and to news outlets nationwide. His death prompted U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to visit Chicago in October to talk about what the Obama administration is doing to combat youth violence.

Authorities believe the 14-year-old boy was one of Albert’s attackers shown in the video beating the 16-year-old with his fist, a source told the Tribune. Another source said four witnesses identified the boy as one of Albert’s attackers.

The boy was a student at Fenger at the time of Albert’s death, sources said, which happened during a melee involving as many as 50 youths outside on Sept. 24.

One of the sources said the boy has since been expelled from the Far South SideSouth Side reviews high school, however, Chicago Public Schools officials could not immediately confirm that.

Already charged with murder in Albert’s death and being held without bail in Cook County Jail are Silvonus Shannon, 19, Eugene Riley, 18, and Eric Carson, 16. Murder charges against a fourth teen, 18-year-old Eugene Bailey, have since been dropped.

–Jeremy Gorner and William Lee

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ChicagoChicago reviews Public Schools is seeking to place a new charter school near the Altgeld Gardens housing complex for sixth- to 12th-grade students, a move that could quell tension in a community that has been vocal about wanting a neighborhood option for its high school students.

The school is one of six the district is hoping to have approved by the board of education next month. Three schools are slated for opening in 2010, the others in 2011. Nearly all of the operators approved have extensive experience in Chicago.

But the school in Altgeld Gardens has a particular urgency after the fatal September beating of Derrion Albert, a Fenger High School student. The violence that killed Albert was part of a long-running feud between Fenger students from the Altgeld Gardens and those from the area near the school, known as the Ville.

Parents from Altgeld Gardens claim that the tension escalated a few years ago, when the school district turned their neighborhood high school, Carver, into a selective military academy. That meant high school students from Altgeld Gardens had to travel about five miles to Fenger, the next closest school.

Since Albert’s  killing, calls have grown louder for a neighborhood option in Altgeld Gardens, and those calls seem to have been inadvertently answered with the announcement of the charter school.

Sources said the charter will give preference to kids in the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood and that talks are under way to have the school open for all six grades in its first year, even though its proposal called for opening with grades six to nine, then adding other grades later.

–Azam Ahmed

Technorati Tags: Ahmed, Albert, Altgeld, Altgeld Gardens, board, board of education, Carver, Charter, charter school, chicago, chicago public schools, Chicago, IL, City Eyes, community, Derrion, district, education, Experience, fatal beating, Fenger, Fenger High School, grade students, high school students, housing, military academy, month, move, Nbsp, neighborhood, neighborhood high school, Opening, option, Parents, preference, proposal, public, school, school sources, School Violence, Schools, Sixth, tension, urgency, violence

Brittany Knight (center) mourns her boyfriend, shooting victim Martel Barrett. (Tribune / Terrence Antonio James)

17-year-old high school student died Monday evening, hours after he was shot on his way to class, while parents at another South SideSouth Side reviews high school kept their children home in fear of escalating violence.

Martel Barrett was shot multiple times near 67th Street and Damen Avenue, not far from his home in the West Englewood neighborhood. Family members said he was wounded on his way to catch the bus to Dyett High School.

Two dozen friends and family members gathered at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. They said doctors spent the afternoon running tests to see if Barrett would be able to breathe on his own. He died at 5:07 p.m.

His mother, Jacqueline Barrett, said she had always worried about her son’s safety.

“I was always uneasy every day because there’s so much violence,” she said. “This was my worst fear.”

His mother said he wasn’t in a gang and she knew of no reason for him to be harmed. He was nicknamed “Bird” because of his tall, skinny frame and was the “class-clown” type, family members said.

Cousin Latrice Pierce, 28, said Barrett was smart and even helped her with her college course work.

Sarina Lofton, a Dyett  senior who said she was a friend of Barrett’s for two years, said the shooting has made her more fearful.

“Anything can happen,” Lofton said. “You’ve got to be careful.”

ChicagoChicago reviews school officials said Barrett attended school regularly and didn’t have a history of misconduct.

Officials declined to say whether he was one of 250 students the district is targeting with resources to prevent them from becoming victims of violence. The program originally targeted 200 students but recently grew to 250.

About 10 miles away, some Fenger High School parents kept their children home Monday in response to escalating violence there. Parents said the boycott came after a dozen fights broke out at the school last week.

“Until they get the school under control, (my daughter) won’t be going back there,” said parent Kenya Atkins. “I won’t be burying my only child.”

It’s unclear exactly how many students boycotted school. Parents who live in the Altgeld Gardens public housing complex said students typically fill two school buses; students filled only half of one bus Monday, the parents said.

Fenger has been in the spotlight since Sept. 24 when the beating death of Derrion Albert, 16, was caught on video and aired widely on television and the Web.

Azam Ahmed contributed to this story.

–Angie Leventis Lourgos and Kristen Mack

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Police responded to a call of a disturbance at Fenger High School this morning.

Police were called to the school, 11220 S. Wallace Ave., about 11:25 a.m. to respond to a disturbance in the lunchroom, police said.

There was no word on whether anyone was injured in the incident or whether arrests were made.

Fenger has been in the spotlight in recent weeks since the slaying of Derrion Albert, 16, during an after-school brawl on Sept. 24. A video of the beating was circulated widely on television and the Web, prompting a national outcry and visits by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric Holder to address youth violence.

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A day after murder charges were dropped against her son in the beating death of Fenger High student Derrion Albert, Ava Greyer got a second piece of good news:

She and her 17-year-old son won’t be evicted from their home.

A short time after Greyer showed reporters an “intent to terminate” notice from the CHA that said her Section 8 housing vouchers were in the process of being taken away, a CHA official said the agency was reversing course in light of the dropped charges.
Greyer this morning showed reporters the termination notice, which she
said was hand-delivered two days after son Eugene Bailey was charged with
Albert’s slaying.

“It’s wrong,” an exhausted Greyer said,
holding the two-week-old termination notice. (Hear her interview on WGN-720AM this morning.)  Emotionally spent after
an evening of celebrating her son’s return, Greyer stood in the tidy
living room of her Roseland single-family home. Reading from the formal
notification, she said her family’s housing subsidy is being cancelled,
“because Eugene Bailey has been charged with two counts of First-Degree
murder.” 

A CHA official a short time later confirmed the
termination notice and the reason why it was sent, but said the agency
would now rescind its action and cancel the hearing that would have
been held before final termination.

While the family’s housing problem has been resolved, the problem of Bailey’s schooling remains.

 ”What
do I do about his schooling?” she asked about her son’s missed school
days. “He’s supposed to graduate in June.  What do I do now?”  Greyer
says it will take a huge effort to help her son make up three weeks of
missed classes – if he intends to graduate in June.    And with
tensions still simmering at Fenger, after last month’s deadly gang
conflict, the family worries about Bailey’s reception when he returns
to school.  

“How will people look at my baby at Fenger High School?  What’s going to come behind all of this?” his mother asked.

Bailey indicated this morning in an interview on WGN-720 AM that he doesn’t
necessarily want to return to Fenger.

While expressing
relief this morning that his three-week ordeal was over, he said he is looking for “help” from the ChicagoChicago reviews Public Schools board
“about what school they will enroll me in.”

Bailey initially was identified by witnesses,
including adults, as a participant in the brawl captured on video that
showed Albert being punched and hit with wood planks. Baily’s family
had maintained that he was at his brother’s home at the time, nowhere
near the fight.

Two law enforcement sources said other witness accounts conflicted with the identification of Bailey.

For a full report on the dropping of the charges, click here.

–Julian Crews

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A teen charged in the fatal beating of Derrion Albert was released from custody today after Cook County prosecutors dropped murder charges against him in a highly unusual move.

Eugene Bailey, 17, was initially identified by witnesses, including adults, some of whom had watched the now-infamous videotape of the Sept. 24 brawl that showed Albert, 16, being punched and pummeled with large wooden planks, a law enforcement source said.

Bailey, the last of four teens to be charged, was accused by prosecutors at his first court appearance of delivering the “knockout” punch to Albert. He was ordered held without bail at the time.

The charges were leveled against him over consistent objections of his mother and family members who said Bailey was at his brother’s home and nowhere near the fight just blocks from Fenger High School.

“While the charge against Bailey was brought in good faith based on witness accounts and identifications, additional information has developed … that warranted the dismissal,” Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said in a written statement. “The murder of Derrion Albert remains under investigation.”

Bailey, who has been in custody for three weeks, walked out of the Cook County Jail late Monday afternoon to a swarm of reporters and cameras. His mother, who was trying to find a place to park when he emerged, finally tracked him down on a side street around the jail and presented him with a bunch of balloons. The teen, who was a friend of Albert’s, called the charge against him despicable and said he fell to his knees in prayer upon learning he would be released.

“Derrion was a good friend of mine,” Bailey said in a brief statement after emerging from the jail, and added that he was not on the scene when the fight had occurred.

“I just want to see my people,” Bailey said before running off on California Avenue toward 26th Street.

Bailey was greeted by a constant onslaught of visitors when he returned to his South SideSouth Side reviews home Monday night. The house was full of  balloons that read “When God closes one door, he opens a window.”

It wasn’t until Saturday after the fight that Bailey “found out my friend was dead and beat down,” he said of Albert.

Bailey said he is eager to go back to school and finish his senior year at Fenger, which he attended for the first time last year. His mother isn’t so sure she wants him to go back. “If it gets hectic, I will take him out,” Ava Greyer said.

After the court hearing, Greyer said: “I want to hear them apologize. They were quick to label him a murderer. I was steady telling them where my son was and that wasn’t my son on that tape.”

Two law enforcement sources said the case was reviewed by ChicagoChicago reviews police and the state’s attorney’s office when they found that other witness accounts were conflicting with the identification of Bailey. Among those who had helped identify Bailey were school personnel, a source said.

The investigation into the fatal brawl near Fenger has been ongoing because there are potentially three other suspects who are believed to have participated in the beating.

“The detectives were pretty relentless in trying to identify other people,” a source said. “And they uncovered other information.”

At a regularly scheduled court hearing Monday on the charges, Bailey was called forward as prosecutors quickly asked for charges against him to be dismissed.

Bailey’s mother said the three weeks of custody had changed her son’s life forever. Bailey had no previous criminal record, according to prosecutors.

“Can anyone imagine that kind of pain?” she said referring to his time in custody.

Barbara Bailey, Bailey’s grandmother, said she bears no malice against the state’s attorney’s office, noting her strong belief in God.

“I know prosecutors are not going to be too quick to believe what you say,” she said. “But they’ve got to do their job.”

The brawl that ended in Albert’s death was sparked by ongoing tensions among students who live in the neighborhood around the school and those from Altgeld Gardens, a public-housing development about five miles away.

Also Monday, Chicago Board of Education officials, along with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Mayor Richard Daley, met with parents from  Altgeld.

Kristen Schorsch contributed to this report.

–Kristen Mack and Annie Sweeney

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The Derrion Albert murder shoot the nation to its core, spotlighting a growing problem in the Chicago area.

Especially touched by the tragedy was David Banner who teamed up with producer, 9thWonder for the

release of the song “Something’s Wrong” in tribute to the young boy and others affected by the Windy

City’s violence. Now Banner’s enlisting the help of some of his Hip-Hop affiliates for the video shoot

which will also serve as an anti-violence rally.

Contributing to Banner and 9^th Wonder’s cause are Twista, Rhymefest, Naledge, Skooda Chose,

AK , Crucial Conflict, Malik Yusef and The Cool Kids. Also in attendance will be Tiffany from the

Bad Girls Club, family and friends of victims of violence, Chicago public school students, community

churches, politicians and local residents.

MTV is highlighting the event and sending Sway to cover the video shoot for an in depth documentary

on violence in the area.

The video shoot and rally takes place tomorrow at Chicago’s George’s Music Room

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Prosecutors today dropped murder charges against one of the teens who had been accused in the beating death of Fenger High School student last month.

Authorities had said that Eugene Bailey, 17, was the person in a widely circulated amateur video delivering the “knockout punch” to Albert during a street brawl outside Agape Community Center, 342 W. 111th St., on Sept. 24.

It was not immediately clear why the charges were dropped. A message left with the Cook County state’s attorney’s media office was not immediately returned.

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Many times we don’t want to listen to old heads when we know what they say is right. Bill Cosby has been holding a mirror to Black America over the last few years and rightfully so as teenage pregnancy, high school drop out rates and murders like that of Derrion Albert seem to become normal.

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U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan this morning called for a national conversation on youth violence in the wake of the fatal beating death of a 16-year-old Fenger High School student.

Duncan, who previously served as chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools, also said he would make an emergency Department of Education grant to Fenger and its feeder schools to help restore the learning environment.

“We must engage directly with our children,” he said at an 11 a.m. news conference with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. “This is the time to look into the collective mirror.”

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CHICAGO (AP) — Civil rights leaders, including NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous, are expected to attend the funeral of a 16-year-old Chicago teen whose beating death was captured on camera.

The funeral service for Derrion Albert will be held Saturday on Chicago’s South Side. He was fatally beaten by a group of teens outside a community center late last month.

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Chicago police lined up in a show of force outside Fenger High School this morning in the wake of the beating death of 16-year-old Derrion Albert last week during a melee nearby.

Students trickled into the school at staggered intervals through this morning. Most arrived on foot wearing their standard uniform of khaki pants and black shirts.

Police patrolled the area in squad cars and staged a visible presence at the school’s entrance.

“We want to provide reassurance to the public that there’s a police presence and they can feel safe in the neighborhood and kids can feel safe at school,” said Morgan Park District Commander Michael Kuemmeth.

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Four people were being questioned in connection with the beating death of 16-year-old Derrion Albert during a melee Thursday outside a Far South Side community center, as an amateur video helped police identified several people who were on-scene at the time.

Meanwhile, a planned vigil for Derrion outside his school, Fenger High School, has been postponed to Monday at 1 p.m., Albert’s grandfather Joseph Walker said this morning.
Family members had planned to hold a vigil and march this afternoon but opted to reschedule at the request of the Chicago Public Schools, Walker said.

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