Daywatch: Rape trial begins for Illinois basketball star Terrence Shannon Jr.

Good morning, Chicago.

One of the basement bar areas at Lawrence, Kansas’ 105-year-old Jayhawk Cafe is called the “Martini Room.” And it was in that room, steps from the University of Kansas campus, where the 18-year-old would later tell police she first saw the attractive guy wave her over as she and her friend were heading for the door.

At her friend’s encouragement, she said, she ventured back in his direction, slowly weaving through the hot and sweaty crowd, its numbers swelled that September night by a KU football victory hours earlier at home against the University of Illinois.

What happened in the seconds that followed is soon to be a question for a jury to answer when the rape trial of Illinois men’s basketball standout and Chicago native Terrence Shannon Jr. begins today in a Douglas County, Kansas, courtroom.

Shannon, 23, faces one count of rape or an alternative count of aggravated sexual battery, also a felony, in a case that stems from a trip he and two others took to watch that September Illini-KU football game.

Read the full story from the Tribune’s Jonathan Bullington.

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Police officers run in formation as the Chicago Police Department offers a first look at officer training at McCormick Place on June 6, 2024, in preparation for the Democratic National Convention in August. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

‘This will not be 1968.’ Chicago police prepare for DNC as whole world watches once again.

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To be sure, the landscape is vastly different than it was in the late 1960s, even amid resurgent political violence driven predominantly by the far right. Nevertheless, the influx of potentially tens of thousands of protesters into Chicago during the Aug. 19-22 convention, some of whom have vowed to take to the streets without city permits, raises questions about how prepared Chicago police are for any ensuing unrest.

A police SUV is parked on the median in the 5000 block of West Madison Street on June 6, 2024, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
A police SUV is parked on the median in the 5000 block of West Madison Street on June 6, 2024, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

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Jessica Juma, from Ecuador, cries while sitting on the street where her husband, Angel Mashiant, went missing on May 25 near a Mariano's in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood on June 3, 2024. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
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Licensed therapists and those working closely with migrants say the frustration and shame felt by men of not being able to provide for their families may be a factor in their choice to just walk away.

Twin Groves Wind Farm in McLean County on May 7, 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
Twin Groves Wind Farm in McLean County on May 7, 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)

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Illinois is the fifth-largest state for wind energy, and produces about 7% of the United States’ wind energy, according to the American Clean Power Association, a renewable energy industry group.

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Several dozen graduates and supporters take a moment of silence for Palestinian victims of the war in Gaza after walking out in protest during Northwestern University's commencement on June 9, 2024, at the United Center. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
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In the mid-1920s, Henry Gerber lived at 1710 N. Crilly Court in Chicago, which is on the National Historic Register, as seen here on June 6, 2024. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

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Red Stars midfielder Shea Groom tries to get the ball away from Bay FC's Scarlett Camberos on June 8, 2024, at Wrigley Field. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
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John Cleese speaks at an event at the iO Theater in Chicago on Nov. 12, 2014. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
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