Hey there! It’s Thursday, and here’s what you need to know today.

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1. A former Chicago Park District supervisor has been charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old employee

A Chicago Park District supervisor became the first person to face criminal charges in the expanding scandal involving widespread complaints of sexual harassment, abuse and assault of female lifeguards at the city’s public beaches and pools, reports WBEZ’s Dan Mihalopoulos.

Chicago police said today they arrested Mauricio A. Ramirez, 32, and he was charged with criminal sexual assault and abuse of a “16-year-old female victim, who was employed as a subordinate.”

After allegations of misconduct were brought to parks officials, Ramirez quit his job with the park district on Oct. 4. He was the fourth park district employee known to have resigned because of such allegations. [WBEZ]

Ramirez’s charges come as the president of the park district’s board, Avis LaVelle, faces mounting questions over what she knew about the allegations and when she became aware of them.

Last year, the district’s watchdog prepared a “highly confidential” presentation for LaVelle and then-parks CEO Michael Kelly, who resigned this month. The presentation indicated the widespread allegations were potentially sex crimes that “may necessitate the involvement of law enforcement.”

But LaVelle and Kelly kept the existence of the allegations hidden from the public until WBEZ began reporting on them. LaVelle said she did not remember the watchdog’s presentation. [WBEZ]

2. Lightfoot won’t commit to releasing reports from investigations into the wrongful police raid of a social worker’s home

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has repeatedly promised “full transparency” into the police raid of Anjanette Young’s home.

But the mayor will not commit to publicly releasing reports from investigations that could shed more light on the 2019 raid’s aftermath — including city efforts to withhold the body camera footage showing Young having to stand naked in handcuffs for nearly 10 minutes in a room full of male cops as she insisted they had the wrong home.

Two investigations examined the massive screw-up. One came from City Hall’s top watchdog, the inspector general’s office. Joe Ferguson, the recently departed head of that office, submitted a 163-page report on Oct. 15, his last day in the office.

“There was a system, both in particular and culturally, that failed a victim, and essentially revictimized Anjanette Young,” Ferguson said in an interview with WBEZ’s Chip Mitchell. “There are things that absolutely implicate violations of good governance and fiduciary responsibility.”

A separate investigation was conducted by Ann Claire Williams, a retired federal judge with the law firm Jones Day, at Lightfoot’s request. [WBEZ]

3. Illinois is close to repealing its parental notification law for minors seeking abortions

Gov. JB Pritzker is poised to sign a repeal of the state’s parental notification law, which requires health care providers to notify parents, grandparents or guardians of people 17 and under before performing abortions.

The effort cleared its final hurdle in the state legislature late last night when the House followed the Senate in voting to repeal the 26-year-old law.

The push to eliminate the last anti-abortion law in state statutes has taken on added prominence among Illinois Democrats in response to anti-abortion laws being passed in GOP-led states across the country — most notably Texas, which has all but outlawed abortions past six weeks.

The House also passed changes to a decades-old law so it can’t be used to evade state and local COVID-19 vaccination mandates. That measure now heads to the Senate. [WBEZ]

4. Ex-Blackhawks player Kyle Beach comes forward as “John Doe” in the team’s sexual assault scandal

Former Chicago Blackhawks player Kyle Beach revealed he is “John Doe” in the bombshell lawsuit against the team that accuses managers of doing nothing with his complaints of being sexually assaulted by an assistant coach in 2010.

Beach came forward after the Blackhawks made public the results of an internal investigation and announced that several executives — including General Manager Stan Bowman — were out for mishandling the 2010 incident. The NHL fined the team $2 million, which is one of the highest fines in league history.

“I felt just a great feeling of relief, vindication and it was no longer my word against everyone else’s,” Beach said in an interview yesterday with the Canadian sports broadcasting network, TSN. “It was very special and important to me to have that truth come out yesterday.” [WBEZ]

5. Biden reveals a new, smaller spending framework for safety net and climate plan

President Joe Biden today unveiled a $1.75 trillion framework in a new bid to attract support from all Democrats before he leaves for Europe for a Group of 20 summit.

This latest plan leaves out several major proposals, such as paid family leave, free community college and lowering drug costs. As NPR reports, many Democrats blame Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., for the failure to reach a deal on paid family leave and free community college.

The framework does include universal pre-K for all 3- and 4-year-olds for six years, child care support for about 20 million children, an extension of the child tax credit and more than $500 billion in spending on tackling climate change. [NPR]

Here’s what else is happening

• The families of nine people who died in a racist mass shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., have reached an $88 million settlement with the Department of Justice. [NPR]
• Google will scrub images of minors from its search results when requested. [NPR]
• The Dread Head Cowboy wants Mayor Lightfoot to testify at his trial next month. [Chicago Sun-Times]
• “Dad bod” is among the 455 new words added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. [NPR]

Oh, and one more thing …

Here’s a creepy one from Curious City.

The podcast goes Ghostbusters on the haunting of Munger Road, which runs north-south through the villages of Wayne and Bartlett, Ill.

Legend has it that a school bus full of kids was crossing over the train tracks and it stalled. Before the driver could get the bus off the tracks, a train came along and hit the bus. No one survived the crash.

Now, locals say the spot is haunted and ghosts will push vehicles off the tracks. Is there any truth to the origin of this scary story? [WBEZ]

Tell me something good …

What are your plans for Halloween this year?

@stefaniekohl150 tweets:

“I will be traveling to NC for the weekend to visit my friend from college that just relocated. I rarely go anywhere far so it’s kind of a big deal for me. Weather is going to be in the 60s!”

Feel free to email me at therundown@wbez.org or tweet me at @whuntah, and your responses might be shared here this week.

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