chicagotribune--2020-08-04--Daywatch: Illinois launches mask campaign, family remembers slain young activist and the piping plov

Daywatch: Illinois launches mask campaign, family remembers slain young activist and the piping plover family’s farewell

The ad campaign will carry the tagline “ It only works if you wear it ” and will focus on @ @ @ @ @ state that “ have the most work to do , ” Pritzker said .
The @ @ @ @ @ , days after Sangamon County was one of 11 counties in the state flagged by @ @ @ @ @ Health as at a “ warning level ” based on COVID-19 metrics .

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Good morning, Chicago. Here’s the coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker unveils a new mask awareness campaign called "It Only Works If You Wear It" during a news conference Aug. 3 in Springfield. (Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday unveiled a $5 million multimedia campaign to push the use of face masks to slow the spread of COVID-19, and said he is open to considering fines for those who flout mask regulations.
The ad campaign will carry the tagline “It only works if you wear it” and will focus on cities and counties in the state that “have the most work to do,” Pritzker said. The effort was launched in Springfield, days after Sangamon County was one of 11 counties in the state flagged by the Illinois Department of Public Health as at a “warning level” based on COVID-19 metrics.
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Cook County recommends further COVID-19 restrictions for suburban bars, other businesses to voluntarily follow
Mairin Gradek, right, makes treats with her children, Evelyn, 13, from left, Clara, 15, and Oliver, 10, at their Arlington Heights home, Like many parents, she was hoping her children would at least have the option of in-person classes this fall. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
With the start of school just weeks away, many parents say they feel like they’re part of a silent majority, whose desire to have their children back in school has been pushed aside by school officials who are buckling to pressure from teachers unions.
Lightfoot ‘does not have the guts to close schools,’ Chicago Teachers Union claims as it protests plan for in-person classes in CPS this fall
Caleb Reed, a Chicago Public Schools student and leader of Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, speaks to the media outside City Hall on June 16, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Caleb Reed had been outspoken on racial justice issues, his family says, but this summer the 17-year-old became a leader in his community as he called for the removal of Chicago police officers from public schools.
Last Friday afternoon, Reed was found on a sidewalk in the 1900 block of West Granville Avenue in West Rogers Park with a gunshot wound to the head, police said. He was taken to Amita Health St. Francis Hospital Evanston, where he died Sunday morning.
Nichols Farm & Orchard is set up at Evanston farmers market May 2, 2020. The farm has sold at several markets around Chicago and the suburbs for years, including Wicker Park Farmers Market, from which it was ejected recently. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
A longtime Chicago farmers market vendor is alleging that it was targeted unfairly after it was recently removed from the Wicker Park Farmers Market. Nichols Farm & Orchard, based outside Marengo, was absent from Sunday’s Wicker Park Farmers Market after the local Chamber of Commerce removed the vendor, citing instances of “noncompliance with some of the COVID-19 health regulations for our market” on multiple occasions, according to a statement released Monday.
Experts say there’s about 70 breeding pairs of endangered piping plovers in the Great Lakes area. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Monty and Rose were less than 2 months old when they first met on a beach in Waukegan. After fledging from separate Michigan nests, they zoomed around on little stick legs. The birds, federally endangered Great Lakes piping plovers, spent a few days eating invertebrates in the same North Shore sand. Then they flew south. Something must’ve stuck.


chicagotribune--2020-08-04--Column: Chicago’s unending violence, and the children we’ll never have the chance to meet

Had you or I met Caleb Reed , had we heard him speak about violence in this city and seen @ @ @ @ @ his eyes , I guarantee you his death Sunday would have been a gut punch @ @ @ @ @ be hunched over , breathless .
Instead , we ’ re reading about him and @ @ @ @ @ wrong and messed up it all seems .

Janari Ricks was a smart kid. He would’ve been a fourth grader this fall. Good at math. Loved sports. Full of energy.
The kind of kid you’d love to meet.
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Same with Caleb Reed, a 17-year-old gun violence activist, a student at Mather High School. Passionate. Outspoken. Confident beyond his years.
Janari Ricks, 9, was shot and killed on July 31 in the 900 block of North Cambridge Avenue. (Family photo)
But you won’t meet Caleb. Or Janari. Or 7-year-old Natalia Wallace. Or 13-year-old Amaria Jones.
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They’ll forever be numbers to you, nothing more, a handful of the 30 children 17 or younger gunned down so far this year in Chicago. Your connection to them will never be more than short descriptions on a screen or page, maybe a photo or two flashing smiles that are gone.
Chicago violence is always quantified. It often comes in triple digits, dehumanized numbers that make folks gasp or shake their heads. Those numbers make great fodder for people whose agenda has nothing to do with saving lives or giving a flip about the people the numbers represent.
We don’t mourn numbers. We react to them, some use them and we all move on.
Caleb Reed, a CPS student and leader of Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, speaks to the media outside City Hall on June 16, 2020. He died Sunday morning. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
July was the most violent month Chicago has endured in 28 years. At least 107 people were killed.
A Tribune analysis found that 24 children 10 years old and younger have been shot in Chicago this year, three times more than at this time last year. Five of those children are dead.
That’s five kids you’ll never meet. Five humans whose potential we’ll never know. Five kids easily forgotten, because they were never more than marks in the month-by-month tally of Chicago homicides.
Writing about violence in Chicago is always a quest to get people to care. That doesn’t mean Chicagoans are uncaring or callous. It’s more a reflection of the geographic divide between the city’s homicide victims and those in neighborhoods largely untouched by street violence.
A photo is attached to a tree during a vigil for 7-year-old Natalia Wallace, who was shot in the head and killed. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)
When you meet people who live in violent neighborhoods, you form a connection that makes homicide numbers come to life. When you know people who have lost children, or you’ve met a child later felled by a bullet, those numbers walk with you. You can’t forget them, and you wouldn’t want to if you could.
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Years ago, I was in an elementary school classroom on the West Side, surrounded by children about the same age as Janari Ricks and Natalia Wallace. The teacher asked if any of the students knew someone who had been shot. One by one, every single child in that room raised her or his hand.
That memory remains vivid, like it was yesterday. It felt unnatural, profoundly wrong, that any child had faced such a horror. But every child around me?
Numbers haven’t looked the same since.
If you scroll through the Tribune analysis of young Chicagoans shot this year, you’ll see descriptions that repeat with a numbing cadence.
“14-year-old boy wounded in the back and shoulder.”
“10-year-old girl grazed on the hand.”
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“14-year-old boy killed, 11-year-old boy wounded in foot and ankle.”
“3-year-old girl shot in the chest.”
It’s awful. All of it is awful. Unthinkable, really.
But what keeps it from becoming wholly unacceptable, I think, is that no matter how fine the reporting, no matter how moving the photos or eloquent the writing, shooting victims in this city remain strangers to the people who hold the most power to fight for change. The victims, whatever their age, are, at best, abstractions, at worst, mere numbers.
That’s why I’m writing this column, I suppose. To try to get you to think about these victims as people you’ll never meet because the ever-present violence in this city robbed you of the opportunity.
Had you or I met Caleb Reed, had we heard him speak about violence in this city and seen up close the light in his eyes, I guarantee you his death Sunday would have been a gut punch, and we would still be hunched over, breathless. Instead, we’re reading about him and shaking our heads at how wrong and messed up it all seems.
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The difference in those responses is the difference between Chicago solving its seemingly endless cycle of violence and accepting it as status quo.
That’s why I’m writing this. I want to push you to step outside your comfort zone and find ways to form human connections with people in this city who have a higher-than-normal chance of becoming ignorable numbers.
Why? Because I know it works. I know the mothers and fathers I’ve met on doorsteps and in living rooms days or even hours after they lost a child to a senseless act of violence helped me see how each homicide number represents the extinguished light at the center of someone’s life.
It makes what’s happening in our city this year, last year and every year going back decades, hurt. It makes it personal. It makes you realize you’ve lost the chance to meet Caleb or Janari or Natalia or Amaria.
And it makes you angry — tear-welling, blood-boiling angry — that we can’t find the wherewithal to make it stop.
rhuppke@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-04--Parents who want schools to reopen this fall say it’s a matter of choice, not politics. ‘Students’ m

Parents who want schools to reopen this fall say it’s a matter of choice, not politics. ‘Students’ mental health ... has got to be weighed.’

“ About 30 % of the parents said this is the right thing to do , 20 % said they @ @ @ @ @ the decision , but know I ’ m trying to do what ’ s right @ @ @ @ @ % said they can ’ t believe this is happening , and we need our @ @ @ @ @ school , ” Bein said .
“ It ’ s an agonizing situation any way @ @ @ @ @ because every solution creates other problems .
”

Mairin Gradek, right, makes treats with her children, Evelyn, 13, from left, Clara, 15, and Oliver, 10, at their Arlington Heights home, Like many parents, she was hoping her children would at least have the option of in-person classes this fall. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
When Mairin Gradek’s local schools superintendent posted a cheerful YouTube video in early July describing tentative plans to welcome students back into the classroom, the Arlington Heights mother of three was excited that more remote learning was merely an option for parents, not the whole plan.
Gradek’s optimism that her neighborhood schools would reopen this fall was also buoyed by the results of a recent School District 25 survey, which found that around 75% of parents supported either an in-person or hybrid plan, with remote learning trailing as the least popular option in third place.
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But in recent days, District 25 joined a rapidly growing list of suburban school systems that have abandoned hopes of bringing kids back into the classroom at the start of the new school year.
[ Take our back-to-school survey: Share your situation, thoughts and ideas ]
Officials in District 25, Barrington District 220, Wheeling-based District 21, Plainfield District 202 and Stevenson and Evanston Township high schools, among others, have all reverted from in-person or hybrid plans to an all-remote start to the new year, deciding the risks of bringing students and teachers together are too high with COVID-19 still far from contained.
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“In my naivete, I had assumed that I didn’t have to provide public comment on this issue, because it looked like my wishes for schools to reopen were being served, and that e-learning would only be one of the options,” Gradek said. “Parents like me are seeking at least some bit of in-person learning for our kids, so I’m still praying that the district’s decision will change.”
Now, with the start of school just weeks away, many parents say they feel like they’re part of a silent majority, whose desire to have their children back in school has been pushed aside by school officials who are buckling to pressure from teachers unions.
Parents have cited a variety of reasons for wanting their kids’ schools to reopen, from pragmatic concerns — public schools are by far the nation’s largest child care provider — to fears about languishing academic progress and rising rates of depression and anxiety.
President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have been vocal proponents of students returning to the classroom in the fall, warning teachers unions that public schools could lose federal funding if in-person instruction is not restored.
But many local parents who also want schools reopened say the issue is one of personal choice, not politics, despite the debate erupting just months before the 2020 presidential election.
[ Lightfoot ‘does not have the guts to close schools,’ Chicago Teachers Union claims as it protests plan for in-person classes in CPS this fall ]
“It’s kind of funny, because when people hear that I want my kids back in the classroom this fall, some will be like, ‘Are you a Trump supporter?‘ which I’m not, but what does that have to do with it?” said Evanston resident Jessica Hockett, whose children are 9 and 13.
After learning that Evanston-Skokie School District 65 is expected to begin the new school year with remote learning, Hockett said she has decided to withdraw her two children and home-school them instead.
“I had hoped they’d get the kids back in school at the start of the school year, even if it was some kind of hybrid choice,” said Hockett, adding that she does support a remote learning option “for teachers and parents who are fearful about going back in person.”
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In Chicago Public Schools, administrators have yet to finalize fall plans, but the teachers union strongly objects to the district’s proposal for a hybrid approach and held another protest of CPS plans outside City Hall on Monday.
Nancy Curran, with her 12-year-old son Oliver Curran and mother Margaret Curran, 85, said she wants Chicago Public Schools to offer an in-person option this fall because remote learning "just did not work for him at all." (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
CPS parent Nancy Curran said she’s afraid her son Oliver, 12, who is in a special education program, will be ill-served by more remote learning if the city’s schools don’t reopen.
Curran, a single parent, said her son’s teachers at Coonley Elementary School “are excellent” and gave it their best shot after CPS shifted to remote learning in the spring. Nonetheless, she said online instruction is unrealistic and frustrating for many students with special education plans.
“It was impossible and just did not work at all for him,” said Curran. “Oliver loves school, and he loves seeing his friends. But after his school went over to remote learning last spring, he would sit in front of the computer and fall asleep with his head on the table.”
Living in a multigenerational household, which includes her 85-year-old mother, Curran says she appreciates why teachers and parents are concerned about students returning to the classroom and the risks of that spreading COVID-19.
“I understand why CPS teachers want to work from home, but essential workers like bus drivers would probably like to work from home too,” Curran said. ”I think by everyone wearing masks, they could consider reopening schools by putting kids in clusters, maybe half the size of a regular class.”
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Curran said CPS officials must also consider the other risks for economically disadvantaged families — many with parents employed as essential workers — who can’t afford day care or tutors to keep their young children safe at home and engaged in remote learning while they are on the job.
“Safety must be the most important thing, but our students’ mental health and physical health has got to be weighed and balanced,” Curran said.
Kathryn Rose, the mother of 4-year-old Nora and 3-year-old twins Jack and Anna, said she had hoped they’d be part of the prekindergarten program this fall at Dett Elementary School on the city’s West Side.
A former Lincoln Park High School teacher, Rose said while she understands why teachers are wary of returning to the classroom as coronavirus cases escalate, she said the negative impact of school building closures on Dett students — 97% of whom are from economically disadvantaged families — will likely be significant.
“I understand a lot of the legitimate fears and risks of getting COVID and the bad outcomes, but I think we need to acknowledge and accept there are other bad outcomes without in-person instruction, like loss of learning and increased abuse and neglect,” Rose said. “These are nefarious effects for families that the CTU is not properly addressing. And there’s plenty of evidence that remote learning last spring was a failure for thousands of students.”
In addition to describing dismal experiences with their children’s online learning in the spring, parents who want schools to reopen in the fall also say their position is supported by recent statements from officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics, especially the importance of in-person learning to a child’s social-emotional health.
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Officials at the AAP also have reiterated the benefits of children being back in the classroom, saying on its website: “Schools provide more than just academics to children ... children learn social and emotional skills, get exercise and access to mental health support and other things that cannot be provided with online learning.”
Representatives from the state’s teachers unions say educators also want to be back in the classroom, but only when it can be done safely, hinting that “safety strikes” are a possibility in the coming weeks if school districts reopen prematurely and without proper safeguards.
“We believe that some types of in-person instruction can be achieved with health and safety mitigation in any individual community, but absent a practical safety plan that includes a clear line of responsibility and enforcement, we call for the 2020-21 school year to begin with remote learning,” officials from the Illinois Education Association and Illinois Federation of Teachers said in a joint statement on July 29.
Back in Arlington Heights, some frustrated parents are lobbying the school board to reconsider its decision to move to remote learning for fall.
“We got a letter from the superintendent saying that more than 70% of parents surveyed said they wanted either full in-person instruction or a hybrid model, and then the next paragraph says we’re going full remote, which just struck me and a lot of people as odd,” said Arlington Height resident Doug Reed, a father of two.
On Friday, District 25 Superintendent Lori Bein said when she recorded her back-to-school video in early July, “the state had just hit phase four, and I said, ‘Great! Let’s do what we can to open schools.’ But as we stepped into our plan, there were all of these problems and holes, and we realized we could not safely protect our students and staff as well as it looked on paper.”
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Since Bein announced that students would begin the new school year with remote learning, she has received about 500 emails from concerned parents.
“About 30% of the parents said this is the right thing to do, 20% said they didn’t agree with the decision, but know I’m trying to do what’s right, and the other 50% said they can’t believe this is happening, and we need our kids to be back in school,” Bein said. “It’s an agonizing situation any way you look at it, because every solution creates other problems.”
kcullotta@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @kcullotta


chicagotribune--2020-08-04--Piping plover family summered on Montrose Beach ‘like they owned the place’

In 2018 the birds flew back to Waukegan and , as sometimes happens with species-saving efforts , things didn ’ @ @ @ @ @ summer the birds gave Montrose Beach a shot , and despite flying up against a @ @ @ @ @ , a tanked clutch of eggs and the loss of a chick , they became @ @ @ @ @ a very long time to nest successfully in Chicago .

Imani, a piping plover, stands in the water in the Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area on July 27, 2023. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
Monty and Rose were less than 2 months old when they first met on a beach in Waukegan.
After fledging from separate Michigan nests, they zoomed around on little stick legs. The birds, federally endangered Great Lakes piping plovers, spent a few days eating invertebrates in the same North Shore sand. Then they flew south.
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Something must’ve stuck.
In 2018 the birds flew back to Waukegan and, as sometimes happens with species-saving efforts, things didn’t work out. Last summer the birds gave Montrose Beach a shot, and despite flying up against a music festival, lobbed volleyballs, a tanked clutch of eggs and the loss of a chick, they became the first piping plovers in a very long time to nest successfully in Chicago.
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This year, the birds arrived at Montrose on the same day, hours apart, and settled on an empty beach. They got to work fledging three chicks — a big deal for small birds once down to about a dozen nesting pairs.
A young piping plover at Montrose Beach in Chicago on July 29, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Throughout the summer, sometimes the plover family of five appeared to be relaxing in the sand, said Tamima Itani, of the Illinois Ornithological Society. “It felt like they owned the place.”
‘Rough out there for a plover'
Monty and Rose nested earlier this season in a more secluded spot that withstood the season’s rockiest storms. By the end of July, their three chicks were hanging out at Montrose without supervision. They had lost their fluff, and like their parents when they first met, were still missing their feathered collars.
There’s Hazel, named for environmental activist Hazel M. Johnson, Esperanza, named for “hope,” and Nish, which honors the region’s Potawatomi heritage.
Throughout the summer, birders said Nish and Hazel stuck together. Esperanza — who early on had a few lethargic days — stuck with Rose. On Monday, only Esperanza was seen at Montrose.
“I’m putting my bets on Esperanza showing up in Florida somewhere near where Rose is,” Itani said.
Females generally fly south first, but Rose stayed longer than expected.
Brad Semel, an endangered species recovery specialist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, attributed the atypical behavior to the birds’ affinity for the flooded areas of the beach — known as the fluddle, a “primordial soup” — that became ideal foraging grounds.
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A piping plover flies at a Montrose Beach in Chicago on June 24, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Monty recently made a surprise appearance at a beach in northern Illinois where some Wisconsin plovers were transported after an outbreak of botulism. Some birders wondered if he wanted to visit Waukegan one more time.
“I think right now Monty is just kind of like, oh, I have time to kill,” Itani said.
Monty and Rose deserve their breaks, birders say, after the fierceness and care they displayed for their chicks. They wrestled with killdeer and chased away gulls. Rose suffered an eye injury during one of the bouts.
“It’s rough out there for a plover,” said Bob Dolgan, the creator of the Monty and Rose documentary. “This is a tough existence. Something like that, you worry that you could have lost Rose, and thankfully she healed.”
In perhaps the most dramatic moment of the summer, Monty and Rose uprooted their family and led four chicks on a trek through the dunes to a home closer to the fluddle. They ended with three.
But the journey, combined with a sleepy beach season, may have paid off. The surviving chicks were above average weight of 25 grams in early days — still less than a golf ball.
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‘We’re very hopeful’
The chicks dipped down into one of the murky fluddles on a recent afternoon and bobbed back up with their white bellies. Guards in orange warded off any encroaching humans. One of the workers said watching the plovers helped him pass the time on the otherwise uninhabited beach.
The young birds aren’t yet in the clear; monitors recently removed a dead cormorant from one of the Montrose pools and are on watch for any other carcasses that could spark a botulism outbreak.
And the journey south will be their riskiest venture yet. Increasing frequency and intensity of storms during migration has had a serious impact on the population, Semel said. And they’ll be on their own if any famished merlins decide they’d like a plover snack.
On average, one of Monty and Rose’s three chicks is likely to survive.
“If they can leave with a very healthy body fat and energy reserves for that migration, we’re very hopeful that that’s going to give them a big head start,” Semel said.
The plovers’ story is just a snapshot of what goes into protecting endangered species, Semel said. “So maybe people can come away with a little appreciation of just how difficult it is in this world for some of these species to survive.”
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This season, 64 pairs of piping plovers nested along all five Great Lakes. By the end of July, 84 wild young were considered fledged.
Unlike last year’s chicks, Hazel, Esperanza and Nish were banded, meaning they’ll be able to be tracked throughout their lives as online reports and photos come in, said Francie Cuthbert, a leader of the plover recovery effort and a professor in the department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota.
The three chicks have unique combinations of colors and numbers that identify them as Great Lakes plovers — and as Monty and Rose’s offspring. They even have specific markings that identify them as individuals.
Usually, the birds would get a dot to correspond to their name. Monty and Rose’s chicks each have a different colored star for the Chicago flag.
‘Take a look around’
Last summer Monty and Rose appeared on shirts: “Chicago is for Plovers.” A proclamation from Gov. J.B. Pritzker declared Nov. 18 “Piping Plover Day” in the state of Illinois. They had their movie.
Now, the birds have their own beer.
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Piping Plover Pale Ale is on draft at Imperial Oak Brewing in Willow Springs. The cans, with a label featuring a cool plover in a sweater, holding a frothy mug, sold out this weekend. Part of the proceeds will go to the Chicago Ornithological Society.
Owner Grant Hamilton saw the Monty and Rose documentary and Dolgan, the creator of the film and a craft beer fan, followed up on a limited-edition tribute.
The result is a “summer sipping” beer made with cactus pear juice, a nod to the prickly pear cactus found in the Great Lakes dunes, Hamilton said. There’s a pink hue to it, and hops with some tropical notes — pineapple, orange.
“I wouldn’t quite call myself a birder yet but I’m definitely following along,” Hamilton said. “Do a little birding, then come by and cool down with a pint.”
Daniela Herrera, a volunteer monitor, said she might share some Plover Pale Ale with her grandma, a supporter of her birding adventures, as a birthday treat.
Herrera said she hopes the plovers encourage Chicagoans to make the trip to Montrose. “And just take a look around,” Herrera said. “Take in everything that’s there.”
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mgreene@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-04--7 hospitalized after Northwest Side billiard hall fight

The fight occurred about 1:45 a.m. Tuesday in the 4600 block of North Milwaukee Avenue in the Jefferson Park neighborhood @ @ @ @

Seven people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries after family members started fighting inside a Northwest Side billiard hall early Tuesday, according to Chicago police.
The fight broke out around 1:45 a.m. in the 4600 block of North Milwaukee Avenue in the Jefferson Park neighborhood, police said.
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It involved intoxicated family members and resulted in seven people going to hospitals for non-life threatening injuries, police said.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-08-04--In search for COVID-19 treatments, consumer group pushes drugmaker Gilead to test alternative to rem

In search for COVID-19 treatments, consumer group pushes drugmaker Gilead to test alternative to remdesivir

Specifically , the patent on GS-441524 dates to around 2009 , compared with remdesivir about five years later , meaning @ @ @ @ @ to produce remdesivir further into the future .
Remdesivir is an expensive drug , priced @ @ @ @ @ , which comes to $ 2,340 for each patient treated over the course of five @ @

The pharmaceutical company that makes remdesivir — the only medication that has emergency authorization to fight COVID-19 — should also be conducting human trials on a related drug with strong potential, according to a citizen advocacy group that believes the alternative could be more effective, less expensive and easier to produce.
Washington, D.C.-based Public Citizen sent a letter dated Tuesday to the CEO of Gilead Sciences and top federal regulators, urging the company and the government to work together to move forward with clinical trials of the drug “or publicly provide evidence why it is not scientifically or medically feasible to develop this drug in parallel with its close analogue, remdesivir.”
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Failing either of those options, the company should “release permission so other researchers can pursue it,” said Public Citizen health researcher Michael Abrams, who crafted the letter. The nonprofit group, founded by Ralph Nader, has long advocated for greater corporate responsibility.
Officials from Public Citizen, joined by two drug researchers from Texas, suggested in the letter “there are significant financial incentives” for Gilead to stick with remdesivir over the lesser-known drug, known only as GS-441524.
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Specifically, the patent on GS-441524 dates to around 2009, compared with remdesivir about five years later, meaning that Gilead has exclusive rights to produce remdesivir further into the future. Remdesivir is an expensive drug, priced at $390 per dose, which comes to $2,340 for each patient treated over the course of five days.
Gilead spokesman Chris Ridley said the decision to move forward with remdesivir was based on “available evidence” indicating that remdesivir generated more of a key virus-fighting molecule and was more effective against the new coronavirus than the other drug.
“Reinforcing this decision was the ability to rapidly progress clinical trials with remdesivir, given the urgency of the global pandemic,” Ridley added in an email response. Remdesivir had already been tested in humans, so the company already had the safety data that is essential to assessing drug treatments, he added.
“In contrast, there are no formal toxicology studies on GS-441524 at dosing levels required to demonstrate efficacy in humans,” he added. “Existing stockpiles of remdesivir also supported the rapid initiation of clinical trials and compassionate use.”
Nevertheless, the company has “initiated additional pre-clinical studies to further compare remdesivir and GS-441524,” Ridley said, without providing details. “We will publish the data as soon as they become available.”
Previous trials have concluded that COVID-19 patients given remdesivir recovered faster than those who did not receive the drug, a complex compound in limited supply that is being rationed by the federal government. The studies led the Food and Drug Administration to grant emergency use authorization to use the drug to treat COVID-19.
The faster recovery times seen with remdesivir are helpful to both patients who are suffering and hospitals at risk of becoming overwhelmed with caseloads, doctors said.
The federal agencies that regulate and approve new drugs noted that it’s typically drugmakers and academic institutions that undertake trials. Officials at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — the agency led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert — referred questions to Gilead.
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Victoria Yan, a graduate research assistant in medicinal chemistry at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, was a co-signer of the letter to Gilead, as was Florian Muller, a professor of cancer medicine at MD Anderson who does drug research. Both have been advocating for further experimentation on GS-441524 for months.
Yan noted that the National Institutes of Health or any other government agency that wanted to conduct trials on the drug would need Gilead’s approval, because the company holds the patent. But the letter also urged Gilead to allow academics or the federal government to carry out research on humans if the company is unwilling.
Yan pointed to a study from April that found GS-441524 was effective in fighting SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, in human cells in the laboratory.
The drug’s advocates also say GS-441524 takes fewer steps to produce than remdesivir and, because of its properties, might be able to be delivered orally or through an aerosol directly into the lungs. Remdesivir is given intravenously, although Gilead is studying ways to deliver it through an aerosol.
Dr. Robert Murphy, executive director of the Institute for Global Health at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said the effectiveness of GS-441524 needs to be studied further to draw a conclusion. “Try it in humans,” he suggested in an email to the Tribune when asked about its potential.
hdardick@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-04--Teen activist Caleb Reed slain in West Rogers Park

Caleb Reed was a leader with Voices of Youth in Chicago Education , a coalition of community organizations advocating for @ @ @ @ @ system .
Reed was found on a sidewalk in the 1900 block of West Granville @ @ @ @ @ with a gunshot wound to the head , police said .
He was taken to @ @ @ @ @ Evanston , where he died Aug. 2 , 2020 .

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chicagotribune--2020-08-04--A Chicago farmers market kicks out a vendor, alleging COVID-19 safety violations

“ If they told us we could come back next week , we would be there , and I would @ @ @ @ @ like I was the last three weeks , ” Nichols said .
“ If my @ @ @ @ @ under a microscope that if they take a drink of water and remove their mask @ @ @ @ @ ’ re gon na be penalized and be in the same boat , that ’ @ @ @ @ @ .
”

Nichols Farm & Orchard is set up at Evanston farmers market May 2, 2020. The farm has sold at several markets around Chicago and the suburbs for years, including Wicker Park Farmers Market, from which it was ejected recently. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
A longtime Chicago farmers market vendor is alleging that it was targeted unfairly after it was recently removed from the Wicker Park Farmers Market.
Nichols Farm & Orchard, based outside Marengo, was absent from Sunday’s Wicker Park Farmers Market after the local Chamber of Commerce removed the vendor, citing instances of “noncompliance with some of the COVID-19 health regulations for our market” on multiple occasions, according to a statement released Monday by the Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce.
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However, Todd Nichols, head grower and part of the Nichols family farm, said the chamber’s version of events has “some holes.”
“I feel wronged by the situation,” he said.
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According to the chamber, during the first three weekends of the farmers market this season, Nichols Farm was cited multiple times for the same violations: no adequate handwashing stations, a lack of barriers to keep customers at a safe distance and having to be “constantly reminded” to wear masks throughout both setup and working market hours.
Following another incident July 26, the chamber decided to remove Nichols Farm from the market.
“I’m writing to let you know that Nichols Farm can no longer attend our market moving forward,” read a July 28 email from market manager Alice Howe provided by Nichols. “I apologize for this decision but after several years of dealing with incredibly difficult and disrespectful staff who have jeopardized our market, this is the decision I have to make.”
The email did not mention violations of the COVID-19 regulations.
Howe has been the market manager since 2018. Nichols claimed that there have been “personality conflicts” between his staff and Howe since she began managing the market.
A July 28 post on Nichols’ Facebook page claimed that Howe was “trying to kick us out of the market mid season without just cause. She has had a personal problem with our farm and staff for several seasons and feels this is just cause to disinvite us from the market. This is harassment.”
The farm has sold at multiple markets in the Chicago area for years and also supplies several area restaurants with produce.
In multiple follow-up posts on Facebook, an open letter from Todd Nichols acknowledged that workers at its Wicker Park stand had received two warnings for failing to abide by COVID-19 regulations: one in which “a new staff member was wearing her mask below her nose during setup,” as well as another for failing to “have a rope around our stand to practice social distancing.” Both issues were remedied immediately, Nichols claimed in the post.
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Nichols reaffirmed these thoughts in an interview Monday and disputed the chamber’s accusations of violations. He said that the booth adopted barriers by the July 19 market, and that they have had hand-washing stations onsite for all markets this summer.
He conceded issues with wearing masks and said the employee in question had been spoken to.
Pamela Maass, the executive director of the Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce, said that continued violations were the catalyst in the decision to remove Nichols Farm from the market.
“The main thing is a lot of vendors were able to immediately come into compliance,” she said. “Instantaneously the problem was solved.” However, when organizers tried to address issues with Nichols Farm staff, they were met with hostility, Maass said.
The chamber claims that the farm was notified of violations on each occasion — verbally or in writing — and that farmers market staff attempted to work with Nichols Farm to resolve the alleged problems.
The primary violation in dispute came on July 12, when a Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events inspector, which monitors farmers markets in the city, identified several COVID violations among multiple vendors including Nichols Farm, and notified both the vendors and Chamber of Commerce.
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A July 29 email from Maass to Todd Nichols mentions an “official citation” from DCASE due to violations by Nichols Farm on July 12 and informs Nichols that, if the market were to receive another citation, it could be shut down entirely.
However, in an email Monday, DCASE told the Tribune that, “No official citation — written or verbal — was given.” The inspector only made “recommendations.”
It’s unclear from where the discrepancy regarding the nature of the citation arose, since the chamber cited the potential for a second, season-ending violation as a primary reason for removing the Nichols booth in Maass’ July 29 email.
According to the chamber, Nichols Farm has not made any contact with them in the meantime, instead only posting its grievances on its Facebook page.
The chamber’s statement claimed that it would “welcome Nichols Farm to reach out to us directly to professionally address their COVID-19 health and safety noncompliance issues. We will consider their re-admittance to the market only at that time.”
Nichols said he considered the invitation a bit disingenuous, since returning in 2021 would require him to submit a new application anyway.
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“If they told us we could come back next week, we would be there, and I would be following all the guidelines like I was the last three weeks,” Nichols said. “If my staffers are going to be under a microscope that if they take a drink of water and remove their mask for a second, we’re gonna be penalized and be in the same boat, that’s not something I want.”
While Nichols defended his decision to take to social media, Maass criticized his description of how Howe handled the situation.
“Everything Nichols has claimed about our farmers market manager is untrue and is in fact hurtful slander,” she said. “Only Nichols has been unwilling to work with us to comply with the protocols. The safety of our market and vendors, our patrons — it’s not negotiable.”
Nichols Farm still has a booth at other farmers markets throughout the city, including Green City Market. A representative for Green City said all vendors including Nichols Farm have been following strict COVID-19 protocol so far this season.
The main reason Todd Nichols decided to take to social media, he said, was a need to uphold the farm’s reputation, especially given its deep roots in the city.
“I feel like we’re being unjustly pinned as someone who’s not taking COVID seriously. I feel like we have a reputation to stand up for, if nothing else,” he said. “The market is a big financial loss for us as a family farm, but more than that, it feels like we’re being removed on pretty thin ground.”
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Nichols Farm, about an hour northwest of Chicago, has been a longtime vendor — 20-plus years in Wicker Park specifically — at markets throughout Chicago and the suburbs, including SOAR Farmers Market, plus markets in Daley Plaza, Federal Plaza, Gold Coast, Evanston and Oak Park.
This article has been updated throughout.


chicagotribune--2020-08-05--The Spin: Teachers Union, Mayor Lightfoot and a new game of brinksmanship? | Durkin says GOP candida

The Spin: Teachers Union, Mayor Lightfoot and a new game of brinksmanship? | Durkin says GOP candidates will use ComEd, Madigan as talking points in November election | Social gatherings spark uptick in Chicago COVID-19 cases

The Democratic National Convention : It was to be a big to-do in Milwaukee — close enough to Chicago that @ @ @ @ @ fringes of the limelight .
But it ’ s been scaled back because of the @ @ @ @ @ the weekend : “ Democrats are planning just two hours per night for each of @ @ @ @ @ event starting on August 17 , with Joe Biden accepting the nomination in Milwaukee but @ @ @ @ @ far fewer people in person .

Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey, left, stands in the reception area of the office of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot with CTU attorney Robert Bloch at City Hall on Oct. 31, 2019. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Reopening schools for the looming new academic year already was gearing up to be a political brawl. But things amped up today as the Chicago Teachers Union — concerned that in-class learning would be dangerous amid the coronavirus pandemic — was planning a House of Delegates meeting next week, a required move on the road to a potential strike.
Anyone who recalls the battles and brinksmanship that played out between union leaders and the mayor during last fall’s strike knows to brace themselves for a battle.
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Parents and guardians had been looking to a Friday deadline to inform Chicago Public Schools whether their students would attend in-person classes or stay home. But, as my colleagues reported, sources say CPS — whose CEO and Board of Education is appointed by the mayor — is expected to announce an all-remote learning plan as soon as Wednesday. A source told the Tribune the shift is not related to the potential strike, but the move nevertheless could avert a potential CTU labor stoppage for the nation’s third largest school district.
Still, many parents who want their children back in school say they’re part of a silent majority, pushed aside by school officials who are buckling to pressure from teachers unions, reporter Karen Ann Cullotta reports in a new piece.
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And Illinois House Republican leader Jim Durkin said today during a wide-ranging virtual discussion that Gov. J.B. Pritzker is overextending his executive authority in dealing with the pandemic, the Tribune’s Rick Pearson writes.
Looking toward the November election, Durkin says the GOP legislative candidates will have to adopt “laser focused” messaging weighing President Donald Trump’s support, though embattled House Speaker Michael Madigan will be an overall focus of campaigns.
Welcome to The Spin.
A Chicago Teachers Union member protests outside Chicago Public Schools headquarters, July 22, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
From the Tribune’s Hannah Leone, John Byrne and Gregory Pratt: “Chicago Public Schools is expected to announce as soon as Wednesday an all-remote learning plan to start the school year amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a move that could avert a potential Chicago Teachers Union strike, sources said.
“The switch to an all-remote learning plan could come as CTU leaders are planning to convene the organization’s House of Delegates next week and consider a process that eventually could lead to a strike if CPS doesn’t agree to start the school year with full remote learning, sources said Tuesday.
“A city source emphasized the decision had nothing to do with a potential teachers strike.” Read the full story here.
It sure sounds like a game of brinskmanship.
The background: Up to now, CPS administrators have yet to finalize fall plans, but a deadline was set for this week for parents to decide whether to opt out of a hybrid classroom-online learning program.
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The battle: The teachers union staged another protest of CPS’ plans outside City Hall just yesterday, the Tribune’s Karen Ann Cullotta reminds. Yesterday’s rally had echoes of last year’s strike. As noted yesterday in The Spin, CTU President Jesse Sharkey blasted Mayor Lightfoot over the hybrid plan, saying any in-person learning isn’t appropriate “in an environment with raging contagion” and that “(t)he mayor does not have the guts to close the schools. They’re putting it on us to close the schools. That’s what we feel like is happening.”
Mayor’s response yesterday: “Since COVID-19 first reached Chicago, we have made a firm commitment to base our policies and initiatives on the science and data of this disease, and to communicate decisions to our stakeholders in an open and transparent way,” the mayor’s office said.
City view and the doctor’s opinion: Hours before the mayor’s office sent word of the remote learning plan, Dr. Allison Arwady, the city’s public health commissioner, said during a morning news conference that if the city’s pandemic numbers look good, she felt CPS could handle in-person learning safely, the Tribune’s John Byrne writes in this piece.
Another perspective: Many parents have indicated they share the concerns expressed by CTU, but others have said that remote learning is a poor substitute for classroom instruction and that they trust school officials to mitigate the risks of coronavirus transmission, the Tribune’s Byrne reports in a separate piece. Indeed, some suburban parents feel like they’re part of a silent majority who want their kids back in the classroom.
Suburban snapshot: Officials in District 25, Barrington District 220, Wheeling-based District 21, Plainfield District 202, and Stevenson and Evanston Township high schools, among others, have all reverted from in-person or hybrid plans to an all-remote start to the new year, deciding the risks of bringing students and teachers together are too high with COVID-19 still far from contained, Cullotta writes in a new piece today about those parents who say kids should return to the classrooms.
Pritzker warns college students of COVID-19 risks as they prepare to return to campus: WMAQ-NBC5 has the story here.
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University of Illinois will require two COVID-19 tests weekly for students and faculty with in-person classes at Urbana-Champaign campus: The Tribune’s Elyssa Cherney has the details here.
Class of 2020 college grads face a tough pandemic-era job market: Local colleges are trying to amp up job search support. Read the suburban Lake Forester piece here.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
Dr. Allison Arwady, director of the Chicago Department of Public Health, during a news conference to discuss stopping the further spread of COVID-19, at City Hall on March 26, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Arwady warned today of a shift in the way COVID-19 is being transmitted in Chicago, with households and social gatherings overtaking congregate settings such as nursing homes and the Cook County Jail as the most dangerous situations, the Tribune’s John Byrne reports.
She said households are now “10 times the risk of any other exposures,” and recounted a series of anecdotes about Chicagoans attending social gatherings where they and others were lax about wearing masks and social distancing, then came down with the virus.
People who live with high-risk relatives should consider social distancing and wearing masks within their homes after they have potentially high-risk exposures outside the home, Arwady said.
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Data point: Chicago’s averaging just under 273 cases daily, Arwady says, and she’d like to see it fall below 200, but reminds that if it gets above 400, we could see restrictions reinstituted.
Illinois data: Health officials announced 1,471 new known cases of COVID-19 today and 19 additional deaths, including a teenager in Cook County. That brings the total number of known infections in Illinois to 184,712 and the statewide death toll to 7,545. Officials also reported 42,598 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 3.9%.
As Americans resist COVID-19 restrictions, U.S. nears 5 million infections: Read the Associated Press story here.
Puerto Rico added to Chicago’s travel list: That means people coming into the city from the U.S. territory, which a large chunk of Chicagoans and suburbanites call their ancestral home, must adhere to the city’s order to quarantine for two weeks after they arrive. John Byrne has the details here.
Related — In search for COVID-19 treatments, consumer group pushes drugmaker Gilead to test alternative to remdesivir: The Tribune’s Hal Dardick has the details here.
One of the biggest hurdles for COVID-19 patients is breathing. Respiratory therapists help make it happen, but the field is dwindling: Read the Tribune story here.
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Law and order — Reputed mob boss Michael ‘the Large Guy’ Sarno wants out of prison 12 years early because of the pandemic: The Tribune’s Sophie Sherry has the story here.
Pandemic forces Open House Chicago to shift to exterior and online tours: The Tribune’s Blair Kamin has the details here.
Jim Durkin, a Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives, asks questions during an Illinois House of Representatives committee hearing in 2018. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Speaking at a virtual event for the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Illinois House Republican leader Jim Durkin commended Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s initial response to the pandemic. But, as Rick Pearson reports, Durkin contended the governor didn’t work with restaurant and retail officials earlier “to find a common ground to be able to ensure that businesses would be able to maintain a high level of health and safety but allowing them to keep their cash registers open.”
He also faulted Pritzker for the problems surrounding the Department of Employment Security’s handling of a record number of benefit applications due to the stay-at-home and business closure orders.
On the November election, “Durkin acknowledged the varying popularity of Trump throughout the state, more so in central and Southern Illinois and less so in northeastern Illinois and more urbanized areas and how that could affect campaigns,” Pearson writes.
“As a result, he said Madigan will be a top focus of Republican candidates after the longtime speaker was implicated in an agreement by ComEd with federal authorities to pay a $200 million fine for a near decade-long bribery scheme aimed at winning influence with the speaker. Madigan has not been charged with any wrongdoing and has denied any involvement.‘” Read the full story here.
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(Anthony Souffle, Chicago Tribune)
The Democratic and Republican parties are holding their presidential nominating conventions later this month, and details are trickling out about what to expect. It’s all seemingly anti-climactic, given the GOP will pick its incumbent, Trump, and the Dems will line up with the last man standing in the once huge field of contenders: former Vice President Joe Biden.
But for political junkies, they will be historic given the scaled-back nature of the gatherings, which are typically big made-for-TV spectacles.
The Democratic National Convention: It was to be a big to-do in Milwaukee — close enough to Chicago that we could be on the fringes of the limelight. But it’s been scaled back because of the pandemic. Deadline reported over the weekend: “Democrats are planning just two hours per night for each of the four nights of their event starting on August 17, with Joe Biden accepting the nomination in Milwaukee but in a smaller venue before far fewer people in person.
“Speeches by former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama are expected, and there have been reports that John Kasich, the former Republican governor of Ohio, was tapped for a slot” to showcase GOPers who have peeled away from Trump, the party’s candidate. “Also being planned are some entertainment performances, along with remotes across the country in what the party has dubbed the “convention across America.” Read the full story here.
The Republican National Convention: Axios got the scoop on the Aug. 24-27 event in North Carolina, also scaled back amid the pandemic, reporting that it will be a “four-night spectacle including still-under-wraps venues, a 10 p.m. ‘nightly surprise’ and guests and themes playing to ‘the forgotten men and women of America.’” The news outlet got that from two Trump campaign officials involved.
That’s 9 p.m. Chicago time — a good time if you’re hoping to make headlines on the 10 p.m. newscasts. Then again, the event is closed to the media in Charlotte.
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Axios also reports that “(t)he messaging will focus heavily on ‘very granular details’ of what a second term for President Trump would look like — answering a question Trump left hanging in a Fox News event earlier this summer — and attack cancel culture, ‘radical elements’ of society and threats to public safety.” Read the full story here.
Tomorrow: Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Neal Wolin, who grew up in Evanston and is the former deputy secretary of the Treasury in the Obama administration, will hold a virtual talk about the issues shaping not just the race for the White House but also control of Congress amid COVID-19, the economic fallout from the pandemic, in an era of deeply partisan politics. The event will be moderated by Patti Solis Doyle, a Chicago native who for a time led Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2008 campaign and joined Obama’s after Clinton’s concession. The event is moderated by Wolin and Solis Doyle’s public relations firm, Brunswick Group. Register here for the hourlong event, which gets underway at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow.
Customer Jennifer Gutilla orders food during lunch on the patio at Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse as the restaurant prepares for indoor dining in Chicago on June 24, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Hundreds of businesses have filed lawsuits against insurers over the last several months as the health crisis, and shutdowns mandated by the government, slashed revenues.
But the one filed last week in Cook County Circuit court, my colleague Alexia Elejalde Ruiz writes, is notable for its breadth: There are 42 plaintiffs, mostly Chicago restaurants, and 18 insurers listed as defendants.
The plaintiffs, represented by the powerful law firm Jenner & Block, include a diverse roster of restaurants, from the chain Roti Mediterranean Grill to neighborhood businesses such as Wicker Park’s Bangers & Lace and the South Loop mainstay Manny’s Deli. The DuSable Museum of African American History and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum also are listed as plaintiffs in the suit. Read the rest of the story here.
Customers of Allstate, Geico and other insurers suing for larger premium cuts: Large auto insurers are facing lawsuits alleging they failed to sufficiently reduce premiums to Illinois policyholders who, like so many, stayed off the roads amid coronavirus-related shutdown orders. Read the full story here.
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Thanks for reading The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Have a tip? Email host Lisa Donovan at ldonovan@chicagotribune.com.
Twitter @byldonovan


chicagotribune--2020-08-05--Afternoon shooting on Gold Coast commercial street leaves 1 dead, 2 injured

A 26-year-old man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital , where he was pronounced dead , O ’ Shea said @ @ @ @ @ also taken to Northwestern in serious condition and a 28-year-old woman was taken to Amita @ @ @ @ @ her condition was stabilized , police said .

Jeremy Gorner, Madeline Buckley, Peter Nickeas

Chicago police investigate the scene of a shooting at 70 E. Oak St. on August 4, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Three people were shot, one fatally, Tuesday afternoon on a Gold Coast street known for its high-end retailers, officials said.
Two shooters each exited from two separate vehicles and opened fire on a group standing outside the stores in the first block of East Oak Street, Chicago police deputy Chief Daniel O’Shea said at the scene. A black and silver car then headed westbound, O’Shea said.
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A 26-year-old man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, O’Shea said. A 36-year-old man was also taken to Northwestern in serious condition, and a 28-year-old woman was taken to Amita Health St. Joseph Hospital, where her condition was stabilized, police said.
Chicago police investigate the scene of a shooing at first block of East Oak Street in the Gold Coast neighborhood on Aug. 4, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune) (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
A woman at the scene who identified herself as the girlfriend of the deceased victim said he was Carlton Weekly, a Chicago rapper who performed under the name FBG Duck, authorities said.
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The Cook County medical examiner’s office confirmed that Weekly, of Markham, Illinois, was the deceased victim. He was pronounced dead at 5:06 p.m. at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
It remains under investigation if the victims or anyone with the victims returned fire.
Fire Department ambulances responded to Oak Street around 4:30 p.m. for a report of three people shot, said fire spokesman Larry Merritt.
The block where the shooting happened, between Michigan Avenue and Rush Street, is well-known for its clothing boutiques and other high-end retail, including several jewelry stores.
Dozens of pedestrians gathered Tuesday evening near the stores at crime scene tape that blocked off Oak Street.
People look on as Chicago police investigate the scene of a shooting at 70 E. Oak St. on Aug. 4, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
“Oh my God,” uttered one woman, who said she wanted to go shopping on the block. “I was going to stop (here) after work.”
A resident who lives on the street was on a work call with the windows open when he heard a series of gunshots, he said. The man asked not to be identified out of concern for his safety.
He said he jumped off the call and looked out the window. He saw a crowd of 20 to 30 people running, and two vehicles speeding away, he said.
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Megan Rattigan, who lives nearby, didn’t hear the shooting but came down to the street as police arrived on scene. She saw items strewn on the ground as police moved them farther away.
“We could just see the shoes in the street,” she said.
Moderately heavy vehicle traffic clogged the area as cars redirected from the scene turned away from Oak Street.
“It’s the middle of the day,” Rattigan said. “It’s sad.”
Peggye Weaver was walking her Yorkshire terrier when she stopped at the tape to survey the police activity.
She said she’s lived near Oak and Michigan for about two decades, and her concerns about crime have grown in recent years. Weaver referred to smash-and-grab robberies of expensive stores.
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Earlier this year, the Tribune in a front-page article highlighted how robberies more than doubled in the last five years in a swath of Near North Side neighborhoods including the Gold Coast, Streeterville, Magnificent Mile, River North and others.
Chicago police investigate the scene of a shooting at 70 E. Oak St. on Aug. 4, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
When she learned a shooting had just happened on the block, Weaver said, “too many things happening. All these carjackings and killings. ... You never know where you’re going to be caught in the crossfire.
“I don’t have the freedom that I used to have,” she said. “I have to always be watching over my back.”
Another man, who said he lives a few blocks away along Lake Shore Drive, was shocked to learn about the shooting. He’s lived in the area for about four years.
“It feels like the world has turned completely upside down,” he said. “Unfortunately, this ... is becoming (normal).”
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Chicago Tribune’s Morgan Greene and Sophie Sherry contributed.


chicagotribune--2020-08-05--Chicago Public Schools expected to announce all-remote learning as Chicago Teachers Union plans to c

Chicago Public Schools expected to announce all-remote learning as Chicago Teachers Union plans to convene its governing body next week: sources

“ And again , the more our numbers are going up in Chicago , the more concern I have about @ @ @ @ @ cases increase , the risk of people having COVID , especially asymptomatic COVID , does @ @ @ @ @ said .

People hold signs during a Occupy City Hall Protest outside the Thompson Center in Chicago on Aug. 3, 2020. The Chicago Teachers Union hosted the caravan rally to City Hall for more than 20 community groups and parent organizations as part of a nationwide action day demanding no in-person school. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Public Schools is expected to announce as soon as Wednesday an all-remote learning plan to start the school year amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a move that could avert a potential Chicago Teachers Union strike, sources said.
The switch to an all-remote learning plan could come as the CTU plans to convene its House of Delegates next week to consider a process that eventually could lead to a strike if CPS doesn’t agree to start the school year with full remote learning, sources said Tuesday. The union’s governing body includes members representing schools from across the city.
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A city source emphasized the decision had nothing to do with a potential teachers strike.
Parents and guardians of the district’s 355,000 students have been eyeballing this Friday as the deadline to inform CPS whether their pupils would attend in-person classes or stay home. CPS educators contacted by the Tribune said they were still waiting for word on the plan Tuesday afternoon.
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Educator unions nationwide, including the Illinois Federation of Teachers and American Federation of Teachers, have said they’d support local unions if insufficient COVID-19 precautions on the part of school districts lead to “health and safety strikes.” The CTU’s bylaws require a full membership vote to authorize a strike after the matter comes before the House of Delegates, the union’s governing body, whose members represent schools throughout the city.
People hold signs during an Occupy City Hall protest, hosted by the Chicago Teachers Union and more than 20 community groups, outside of the Thompson Center in Chicago on Aug. 3, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Earlier Tuesday, however, Chicago’s health commissioner said she wants children learning in classrooms this fall “if the outbreak is broadly in control.”
Dr. Allison Arwady warned that lots of COVID-19 spread in Chicago is taking place right now within households, going so far as to suggest people living with at-risk family members consider social distancing and wearing masks within their homes.
But speaking days before the deadline that CPS set for parents to decide whether to let their children attend classes in person two days per week starting in September, she also said if the city’s pandemic numbers look good, she feels the schools can handle in-person learning safely.
Dozens of Chicago Teachers Union members and supporters take part in street theater outside Chicago Public Schools headquarters in Chicago on July 22, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
“Where the child is at school wearing a mask with the social distancing, with the appropriate procedures in place, I honestly do not think the risk of spread is significant,” Arwady said at her weekly news conference about the city’s travel list. “I wouldn’t be promoting this if I thought it was.”
Arwady didn’t talk specifics, but she and Mayor Lori Lightfoot have pointed to an 8% positivity rate or a seven-day average of 400 new cases per day in Chicago as benchmarks that could indicate the virus is too out of control to risk in-person learning.
Chicago’s positivity rate is currently 4.8%, and the daily case count is at 273 and rising, Arwady said Tuesday.
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Lightfoot’s point person on the pandemic made her comments a day after members of the CTU, parents and students descended on City Hall to protest the mayor’s plan to potentially reopen schools in the fall with a “hybrid model” where children attend classes two days a week and learn from home the other three.
A Chicago Teachers Union member rides a bike as he and several cars drive past City Hall in Chicago during a protest and caravan on Aug. 3, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
CTU President Jesse Sharkey on Monday said it’s not appropriate to have in-person learning “in an environment with raging contagion,” and that the union won’t stand for it.
“The mayor does not have the guts to close the schools,” Sharkey said outside CTU headquarters. “They’re putting it on us to close the schools. That’s what we feel like is happening.”
On Tuesday, Sharkey tweeted: “A win for teachers, students and parents. It’s sad that we have to strike or threaten to strike to be heard, but when we fight we win!”
A win for teachers, students and parents. It’s sad that we have to strike or threaten to strike to be heard, but when we fight we win! https://t.co/vFkeOQpBvr — Jesse Sharkey (@SharkeyCTU1) August 4, 2020
The advantages to children who are around one another in school are significant, Arwady said Tuesday.
“I’m a pediatrician, and I feel pretty strongly that there are benefits for in-person education, especially for younger children who don’t learn well from screens, and all of the social and emotional benefits, and all of the other things we’ve talked about,” Arwady said. “But it all comes back to what that local data looks like.”
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Critics say doing that would put teachers, students and their families at unnecessary risk.
CPS had told parents to choose by this Friday whether they want their children to learn in school using the hybrid model this fall, or stay at home.
Though some celebrated the decision to move to remote learning, others criticized CPS for not announcing it sooner.
“Had CPS made this decision sooner, we would have had more time to plan for robust remote learning and the resources needed for our city’s kids to be able to learn,” Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, tweeted.
Sure I’ll say it. Had CPS made this decision sooner, we would have had more time to plan for robust remote learning and the resources needed for our city’s kids to be able to learn. It’s what I was saying months ago. I’m relieved that they finally announced this today. — Andre Vasquez, Political Account 🌹 (@Andrefor40th) August 5, 2020
School districts across the Chicago area and the U.S. are scrambling to put guidelines in place to prepare for the school year to start in a few weeks even though virus cases are far from contained in many areas.
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Several suburban school districts recently shelved in-person or hybrid plans for the fall, opting instead for all-remote starts to the new year on the grounds it’s too risky to bring students and teachers together.
CPS officials have stressed that they will only reopen schools if it’s safe but also that schools likely will need to reopen at some point before any COVID-19 vaccine is fully rolled out. News of a potential teachers strike, which would follow last fall’s walkout, broke Tuesday afternoon — on Lightfoot’s birthday.
As Chicago’s positivity rate for coronavirus cases continues to rise, Arwady said, “I can’t say the risk is zero, of course.”
“And again, the more our numbers are going up in Chicago, the more concern I have about this. Because as our cases increase, the risk of people having COVID, especially asymptomatic COVID, does go up,” she said.
hleone@chicagotribune.com
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
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gpratt@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-05--Appellate court affirms conviction of Naperville woman who stabbed and killed her 7-year old son and

Appellate court affirms conviction of Naperville woman who stabbed and killed her 7-year old son and 5-year old girl she babysat

After discarding her cellphone , she showed up later at a family friend ’ s home where her elder son @ @ @ @ @ police , who recovered one of the kitchen knives used in the attack in Plackowska @ @ @ @ @ other knife was found in the garbage disposal in the Dworakowski kitchen .

An appellate court affirmed the murder conviction of a 48-year-old former Naperville woman who was found guilty of stabbing her 7-year-old son and a 5-year-old girl she was babysitting.
Elzbieta Plackowska was found guilty of first-degree murder in September 2017 at the conclusion of a two-week bench trial for the stabbing of her son, Justin, and a child she babysat, Olivia Dworakowski, also of Naperville, in October 2012.
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Even though Plackowska may have been mentally ill when she stabbed the children to death, her actions were the result of conscious decisions, DuPage County Judge Robert Miller ruled in 2017 and affirmed Monday by the Second District Appellate Court of Illinois.
DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin in a press release said the appellate decision confirms that there “never was, nor should there ever be, any doubt whatsoever that Plackowska knew exactly what she was doing when she brutally murdered Justin and Olivia.
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“The murder of these two innocent children shook the entire community to its core, the reverberations of which can still be felt today.”
Miller sentenced Plackowska to natural life in prison. She also was found guilty of aggravated animal cruelty for killing two family dogs.
The killings took place in October 2012 at the Quin Court condo where Olivia lived with her mother, a nurse who worked nights at a dialysis lab. Earlier that night, Plackowska brought Justin and Olivia to St. Elizabeth Seton church for a reconciliation service, and a parishioner said she appeared agitated.
Plackowska then brought the children back to her apartment, picking up her dog, before going to the Dworakowski home.
Plackowska told the children to get ready for bed, but instead the children began jumping on the bed in the master bedroom.
Plackowska grabbed kitchen knives before entering the master bedroom where she stabbed her son repeatedly. She then stabbed Olivia repeatedly and killed the two family dogs.
After discarding her cellphone, she showed up later at a family friend’s home where her elder son was staying. He called police, who recovered one of the kitchen knives used in the attack in Plackowska’s vehicle. The other knife was found in the garbage disposal in the Dworakowski kitchen.
At trial, Plackowska did not dispute that she killed the children, rather she asserted the affirmative defense of insanity.
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In her appeal, Plackowska’s defense said the trial court’s determination she possessed the capacity to appreciate the criminality of her conduct at the time of the murders was incorrect.
The appellate court rejected her claims, noting that after the murders Plackowska made substantial efforts to avoid detection including putting the knife down the garbage disposal, discarding her cell phone, making up a story about an intruder as well as changing her story several times.
subaker@tribpub.com