Gary's demolition derby: 101 buildings down, 300 to go - Chicago Public Radio

 Gary Mayor Rudy Clay and U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh stand before a building set for demolition. (Photo by Scott Bort/Post-Tribune).
It’s not every day you see a sitting U.S. senator take a sledgehammer to a building, but that’s exactly what Evan Bayh did Monday on his last visit to Gary, Indiana, as a senator.
Like a kid hitting a piñata, Bayh gave four good swings at wooden planks of an old, burnt-out home on the city’s northeast side.
“There we go!” Bayh said as the sledgehammer struck the plank with force.
Bayh said he wants the structure to come down so neighborhood children could have a better environment to live in.
The house Bayh helped demolish represents the city’s 101st to come down, thanks in large part to more than $2 million HUD provided the city in recent months. Back in June 2009, Bayh had visited the same neighborhood with Ron Sims, Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The two toured abandoned houses and storefronts to see what more can the federal government do to turn around decades of disinvestment and decay. The answer they came up with, like so many times before in Gary’s history, was money.
“I was very touched to see those children growing in an environment like this. I was touched to see some of the homeowners trying to do the right thing but struggling because they were living next to abandoned properties,” Bayh said. “Those are the people we need to help.”
Gary officials hope the HUD money can be used to tear down up to 400 structures and, eventually, make way for new development.
Gary Mayor Rudy Clay said the city appreciates the efforts of Indiana’s outgoing senator.
“(Bayh) lit the spark to make all of this happen. He realized that Northwest Indiana can’t be all that it can be without Gary, Indiana, being all it can be,” Clay said.
The mayor said tearing down the abandoned structures reduces crime and makes it easier to attract new development.
“Gary’s going to become a better city because of this,” Clay said.
Bayh’s visit to Gary caps off more action than just tearing down buildings in Gary. This was the Democrat’s last visit to Northwest Indiana before retiring from the U.S. Senate on Jan. 1. The visit comes just days after senators voted to repeal the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law, which barred gays from serving openly in the military. Bayh voted in favor of the repeal.
“My attitude was if somebody wants to give their life to this country and defend America, that’s good enough for me,” Bayh said. “Their personal life is their own. I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
Bayh said his relationship to the people of Northwest Indiana will not change because he’s leaving the Senate.
“I’ve come to Northwest Indiana since I was a little boy and that’s not going to change. I’m just going to be doing it in a different capacity,” Bayh said. “I love the people of Northwest Indiana and I’m going to be looking forward to that continuing for a long time.”
Republican Dan Coats will replace Bayh in the Senate.
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Jennifer Hudson's nephew still missing after slayings

Jennifer Hudson's nephew missing after slayings
By RUPA SHENOY, Associated Press Writer Rupa Shenoy, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 40 mins ago

CHICAGO – Authorities investigating the shooting deaths of Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother were searching for the missing 7-year-old nephew of the Oscar-winning actress.

A suspect in the deaths was in custody Friday night, but young Julian King had not been seen since the bodies of Darnell Donerson, 57, and Jason Hudson, 29, were found Friday afternoon.

A family member entering Donerson's South Side home Friday afternoon found the woman shot on the living room floor. Responding officers later found Hanson shot in the bedroom, police said.

At least one of the victims suffered defensive wounds, said authorities who described the shooting as domestic violence.

William Balfour, a man suspected in the deaths, was arrested Friday but had not been charged, law enforcement sources told the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.

Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said investigators were talking to "a number of people in custody" but she declined to elaborate. An Amber Alert issued Friday said Balfour was a suspect in the double homicide.

Records from the Illinois Department of Corrections show Balfour, 27, is on parole and spent nearly seven years in prison for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possessing a stolen vehicle. Public records show one of Balfour's addresses as the home where Donerson and Jason Hudson were shot.

The Cook County medical examiner's office said autopsies for Donerson and Jason Hudson were pending.

Balfour's mother, Michelle, said her son had been married to Hudson's sister, Julia, for several years, but they were separated. She also said Donerson had ordered him to move out of the family's home last winter.

Jennifer Hudson's personal publicist, Lisa Kasteler, said the family wanted privacy.

The tragedy comes as Hudson, who grew up in Chicago, continues to reach new heights in her career. Her song "Spotlight" is No. 1 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts and her recently released, self-tiled debut album has been a top seller. She was featured in this year's blockbuster "Sex and the City" movie and is also starring in the hit film "The Secret Life of Bees."

She won an Academy Award for best supporting actress in 2007 for her role in "Dreamgirls." In an interview last year with Vogue, Hudson credited her mother with encouraging her to audition for "American Idol," which launched her career.

The singer, whose father died when she was a teenager, described herself as very close to her family. In a recent AP interview she said her family, which includes older siblings Julia and Jason, helped keep her grounded.

"My faith in God and my family, they're very realistic and very normal, they're not into the whole limelight kind of thing, so when I go home to Chicago that's just another place that's home," she said. "I stand in line with everybody else, or, when I go home to my mom I'm just Jennifer, (so she says), 'You get up and you take care of your own stuff.' And I love that; I don't like when people tell you everything you want to hear, I want to hear the truth, you know what I mean."

Hudson recently announced her engagement to David Otunga, best known for his stint on VH1's reality show "I Love New York."

Hudson's representatives would not disclose her whereabouts Friday. She had been scheduled to appear Monday in Los Angeles to collect an ensemble cast honor at the Hollywood Awards for "The Secret Life of Bees" with co-stars including Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah and Dakota Fanning.

_____

AP Music Writer Nekesa Moody in New York and AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang in Los Angeles contributed to this report.



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