Overview

• After the owner posted surveillance footage this week, donors pledged free meals for the first 100 customers at 10:30 a.m. Friday (Early Walker) and the first 100 on Saturday (Kevin Corcoran).
• Owner Jackie Jackson will host a ribbon-cutting and official grand opening Friday, where employee Aaron Burns, who returned to work days after the December assault, will be honored.
• Chicago police confirm the cases remain under investigation by Area Two, and authorities say no one is in custody.
• Jackson has installed panic buttons, protective glass, heavy security doors, iron fencing, and an upgraded surveillance system, and she says police will have a presence at the site.
• She invested in the long-vacant Chatham property and hired local students for job and entrepreneurship training, and she says the restaurant will stay open despite setbacks.