chicagotribune--2020-11-23--Daywatch: Feds draw near Madigan, an exclusive look at Jeanne Gang’s Vista Tower and the ultimate gu

Daywatch: Feds draw near Madigan, an exclusive look at Jeanne Gang’s Vista Tower and the ultimate guide to winter camping

Millions of Americans appear set to defy government guidance to stay home this Thanksgiving , disregarding the growing peril of @ @ @ @ @ loved ones .
So the messaging should be about minimizing risk , say harm reduction @ @ @ @ @ officials should talk more about how to do it in the safest possible manner .

Good morning, Chicago. On Sunday, Illinois health officials announced 10,012 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 76 additional fatalities. Meanwhile, the state moved back into more strict coronavirus restrictions Friday, entering Tier 3 mitigation levels designed to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Also, Thanksgiving is only days away and many are grappling with how to celebrate the holiday in a pandemic-safe way. Here’s how hundreds of epidemiologists are planning to spend the day.
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Here’s more coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
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Speaker Michael Madigan on the House floor before Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivers his first budget address at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield on Feb. 20, 2019. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Federal prosecutors reached the doorstep of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan last week when they indicted one of the powerful Democrat’s oldest and most trusted friends in an alleged extensive bribery scheme involving Commonwealth Edison.
But like other major political corruption cases before it, a key question remains when it comes to the charges against Michael McClain. Will he flip?
Madigan says he’ll be a candidate for reelection in January, claiming “significant support.”
The new Vista Tower nears completion along the Chicago River across from the former Spire site on Nov. 9, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago’s nearly complete Vista Tower comes wrapped in superlatives — the city’s third-tallest building and the world’s tallest building designed by a woman — as well as seemingly curving, multicolored glass. But the hype would be meaningless if the $1 billion, 101-story tower did not merit a more important distinction: It’s a stirring work of skyline artistry, writes architecture critic Blair Kamin.
Jeanne Gang on Vista Tower, gender equality in architecture and the future of downtown Chicago
Jacob Watson, a former sex educator, has advocated for harm reduction principles to be used against the COVID-19 pandemic. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Millions of Americans appear set to defy government guidance to stay home this Thanksgiving, disregarding the growing peril of COVID-19 to gather with distant loved ones. So the messaging should be about minimizing risk, say harm reduction experts, who say government officials should talk more about how to do it in the safest possible manner.
People rally outside the Cook County Jail on Nov. 6, 2020, as they demand the release of inmates and detainees who are at risk from COVID-19. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
The renewed nationwide surge of COVID-19 has hit Cook County lockups with force this fall, causing officials to reevaluate the safeguards put in place earlier this year to blunt the spread of the deadly infection behind bars.
REI offers classes and day trips for cross-country skiing, winter hiking and snowshoeing across Illinois. (REI)
The great outdoors provided a much-needed respite for many coronavirus-weary folks this summer. But as temperatures drop and snow makes its way into the forecast, some might be contemplating a chillier camping season extending into the winter. If it’s your first time venturing out into the cold — here’s everything you need to know about winter camping.


chicagotribune--2020-11-23--With COVID-19 surging anew, alarms sound again for Cook County’s incarcerated

“ Detention centers are by and large terrible places for children , ” said Joshua Rovner , senior advocacy associate @ @ @ @ @ which promotes criminal justice reform .
“ Educational outcomes are terrible .
Given the experience @ @ @ @ @ facilities I think it is naïve to say the children are more safe inside than @ @ @ @ @ ... To take away their support system , what chance do they have to get @ @ @

People rally outside the Cook County Jail on Nov. 6, 2020, as they demand the release of inmates and detainees who are at risk from COVID-19. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
The renewed nationwide surge of COVID-19 has hit Cook County lockups with force this fall, causing officials to reevaluate the safeguards put in place earlier this year to blunt the spread of the deadly infection behind bars.
More than 20 residents of the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center have tested positive in the past month, a dramatic increase over the numbers reported at the end of spring and early summer. The staff numbers are alarming as well, with more than 70 people who work at the near West Side facility now reported to have tested positive during the entire pandemic.
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“It is just shocking,” Deputy Cook County Public Defender Peter Parry said Wednesday, adding that people working in and around the facility were “very concerned.”
The numbers at Cook County Jail, where thousands of adult detainees are housed, have spiked too. Over the summer, the number of positive cases were in the double digits, but as of Thursday, 153 detainees had tested positive, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office. Three had been hospitalized.
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The first death of a COVID-positive patient since May was reported this week when an 85-year-old detainee died after being transported to Stroger Hospital.
And the jail’s population has risen significantly since efforts in the spring to release detainees to allow for social distancing. There were 5,529 people in custody Thursday — nearly back to pre-pandemic levels.
From the start, congregate settings like jails and prisons have posed a special concern for officials who had to both contain outbreaks within their walls and also monitor the constant churn of newly admitted detainees for signs of the virus.
Officials called meetings last week to decide how to respond, and Cook County state’s attorneys and public defenders are already meeting to see if they can, once again, work to expedite releases of detainees.
Fall surge among juveniles
The reports of juvenile detainees testing positive started trickling in over the past few weeks.
So far in November, 16 have had a positive test — the same amount for all of April and May combined, according to figures provided by the office of Chief Judge Timothy Evans.
As of Friday, Evans’ office reported that 62 residents and 73 staff members had tested positive for the virus over the course of the entire pandemic.
Of those 62 residents, most were newly admitted youths who are kept away from general population for their first two weeks in detention as a precaution. But 25 were in the general population.
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A daily breakdown of where the virus is detected is important, Parry said, to understanding how risky the situation is getting for residents, staff assigned to the building and court officers who handle juvenile cases.
Because youth are tested and quarantined, if needed, at intake, Parry said he is more concerned about kids testing positive in the general population.
Parry said public defender staff planned to meet with Evans’ office to get a breakdown so they can instruct public defenders on whether they need to push harder to release kids, as they had in the spring when the pandemic started.
“I don’t know if we need to return to the idea of these mass (releases),” he said. “We will if we have to.”
As of this month, 157 youth were detained, down from an average 221 in early March.
Early complaints that Juvenile Division Presiding Judge Michael Toomin was inappropriately blocking releases were assuaged after Evans stepped in. Though progressive juvenile advocates launched an extensive campaign to kick Toomin off the bench this fall, he barely cleared the 60% of votes necessary to keep his seat.
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When defense attorneys want to release youths, they can face opposition from prosecutors, and ultimately it is the judge who decides.
A statement from the Cook County state’s attorney’s office called the recent increase in COVID numbers at the detention center concerning, and said they would continue to “consider all juvenile cases individually when asking the court to hold a minor in custody — based on the facts of the case which indicate whether the minor is a danger to the community or likely to flee the jurisdiction of the court.”
A lower population at the juvenile center has meant that achieving social distancing is less of a worry, when it comes to the spread of the virus.
But that distancing is a major concern for advocates, who say this kind of isolation from others is damaging to youths who are already showing signs of distress. In addition, most programming has gone virtual, meaning children do not get face-to-face visits with their parents.
“Detention centers are by and large terrible places for children,” said Joshua Rovner, senior advocacy associate at The Sentencing Project, which promotes criminal justice reform. “Educational outcomes are terrible. Given the experience of what happens inside these facilities I think it is naïve to say the children are more safe inside than they are at home. ... To take away their support system, what chance do they have to get better?”
Alarms at the jail
When the pandemic started making its way through Cook County Jail in the spring, several efforts launched to knock it back from troublesome levels that drew national attention.
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While judges are meant to set bail in part to ensure public safety — keeping potentially dangerous defendants behind bars — the pandemic changed those calculations radically. With the jail emerging as a potential public-health threat, safety precautions suddenly required a much emptier jail.
Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli’s office worked with Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to prioritize the large-scale releases with a flurry of coordinated filings that were expedited. Though court operations had shut down, Evans opened two courtrooms dedicated to handling the requests.
Release efforts got the jail’s numbers to historic lows.
At the same time, Sheriff Tom Dart and Dr. Connie Mennella, who oversees medical care at the jail, created safety and testing protocols that included single cells for detainees, and opening long-shuttered buildings and the county boot camp to create more housing options and space for medical care. Officials shut down most programming and created mandatory quarantines for newly arrived detainees, who were tested upon entry.
Civil rights attorneys also filed a federal lawsuit to ensure proper safety protections were in place.
In July, a paper authored by medical officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and various county and city offices concluded the jail had successfully beat back its outbreak of COVID-19 even as the virus spread dramatically outside its walls.
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But some four months later, the situation has shifted significantly, officials said.
Along with a new spike in cases there, the test positivity rate at the jail jumped from 2.97% to 6.7% over the past week, a level that alarmed many even though it is well below the citywide rate in Chicago.
Campanelli and Foxx are once again working on coordinated releases, according to both offices. Campanelli said she is also looking for cases that can be resolved quickly, perhaps with a plea.
On Monday, Evans’ office said that in light of the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases, his office formalized the review process by ordering defense lawyers and prosecutors to review their cases and see whether releases are appropriate.
Foxx’s office also acknowledged the delicate balance she and others must strike as they weigh whom to release, saying they are seeking to “identify detainees within the current jail population who pose a low risk to public safety and could be released on bail, often with conditions such as electronic monitoring or curfew.”
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“We are working as quickly as we can to be thoughtful in this process,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, the jail has suspended in-person visits, which had been reinstituted at the start of summer when the numbers dropped. The boot camp area has since reopened as isolation housing, with 24-hour medical care.
But jail officials told the Tribune that some safety measures, such as keeping to one detainee per cell, are impossible as the population climbs. In June, more than 60% of detainees were “single-celled,” but this month it was only about 44%.
The state of Illinois has also once again suspended transfers from local jails to safeguard its own corrections system, which also happened in the spring. Currently, there are more than 300 detainees in Cook County Jail who otherwise would have been transferred, officials said.
With numbers on the rise, critics have begun making renewed calls for bond reform to thin the jail’s numbers. Medical experts have repeatedly said when it comes to the jail and the coronavirus, population density is the enemy.
Campanelli agreed it’s time for significant steps to be taken, noting the loss of the detainee last week, who was one of her office’s clients.
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“This is a crisis,” she said.


chicagotribune--2020-11-23--Column: There is more to be grateful for this Thanksgiving than family, friends and good health

Someone told me that she is thankful for humor — the thing that keeps her grounded .
Another is grateful @ @ @ @ @ trails , bike paths and waterfronts that provide a quiet place to clear the mind @ @ @ @ @ for Zoom , for allowing her to see a friend ’ s smiling face , @ @ @ @ @ .

Members of the Chicago Police Department and the University of Chicago Police Department applaud health care workers outside the University of Chicago Medical Center on May 6, 2020, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Thanksgiving is the time to look back and remember how lucky we are. Often, our blessings are so bountiful that we cannot count them on two hands.
But this year is different — or it might seem that way, at least.
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Amid COVID-19, gratitude takes a broader scope. This Thanksgiving isn’t just about taking a moment to show appreciation for the people we love or expressing our gratitude for good health and prosperity.
This year, we are keenly aware of the people who have touched our lives in ways that never seemed as important before the pandemic. We are thankful for the front-line medical professionals, police officers, firefighters, teachers, transit drivers, delivery people, grocery store employees and other essential workers who risk their health to make our lives easier.
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The pandemic has caused us to rethink what it means to be grateful. For each person, it is different.
Someone told me that she is thankful for humor — the thing that keeps her grounded. Another is grateful for nature — the wooded trails, bike paths and waterfronts that provide a quiet place to clear the mind. Someone else is thankful for Zoom, for allowing her to see a friend’s smiling face, though they are far apart.
Many are thankful for their pets, new hobbies or their religious faith. Some are thankful for the extra time to clean out closets and organize their lives. A teacher told me that she is thankful for parents who are “doing it all” and going above and beyond to support their children during virtual school.
Some are thankful for the extra time spent with their children. Another is thankful that, due to the pandemic, she was able to spend the summer with a friend who has cancer. Someone else is thankful for the government safety net that kept her business financially afloat during the shutdown.
Another person is thankful that he was able to come to someone’s aid when they needed him. Someone else is thankful that she has come to understand the importance of never taking anything for granted.
So this year, Thanksgiving isn’t only about the people and events that touch us personally. We thank those who have impacted our entire nation and set a high standard for how we care for each other when all of us are suffering.
There are many on my list.
I am thankful for Dr. Anthony Fauci. Throughout the pandemic, his wise and steadfast counsel has provided the nation with a blueprint for staying healthy. We found comfort and resolve in his uncompromising voice, which has remained unshakably truthful despite political pressure to tell us lies.
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I am grateful for Darnella Frazier, the 17-year-old from Minneapolis whose video of a police officer with his knee on George Floyd’s neck brought resounding awareness to the problem of social injustice. Darnella showed us up close the anguish of dying underneath the knee a ruthless policeman, and we will never forget the image.
I am thankful for young people like Alycia Kamil and Damayanti Wallace of GoodKids MadCity. During the early stages of the pandemic, the Chicago anti-violence youth group delivered hundreds of care packages, filled with hand sanitizer, disinfectants, toilet paper and nonperishable foods, to senior citizens throughout the city.
I am grateful for Jermaine Jordan, who runs the Healthy Hot Free Meals restaurant in West Garfield Park. Homeless people — or anyone who is hungry — can stop by for a hearty meal free of charge. I am also thankful for the 447 people who had donated $34,821 to his GoFundMe account as of Sunday.
I am thankful for dedicated workers like Victor Fajardo, who delivered the mail in Deerfield for 23 years until he was hospitalized with COVID-19 last month. And I am grateful for the people on his route who raised more than $11,000 for his family.
I am thankful for Stacey Abrams, the Georgia voting rights activist who showed us the importance of reaching out to disenfranchised voters. Her efforts to register Georgia’s growing immigrant population as well as African Americans who had been ignored contributed to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the formerly red state.
I am thankful for Dolly Parton, who has proven that she is so much more than a talented singer and actress. Her $1 million donation to the development of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is the latest of her decadeslong philanthropic work, which warrants her the distinction as a national treasure.
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I am grateful to the three anonymous grand jurors in the Breonna Taylor case who came forward to denounce the way Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron handled the hearings. Because of their bravery, we know that he withheld evidence that could have led to indictments against the police officers involved in the young woman’s death.
Chicago Tribune Opinion Weekdays Read the latest editorials and commentary curated by the Tribune Opinion team. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >
I am thankful for community activists Roberta Logwood and Rosie Dawson, of the “Stop Taking Our Girls” campaign, which is pushing Chicago law enforcement officials to prioritize cases involving missing and murdered Black women.
I am thankful for Minnesota ICU nurse Mary Turner, who gave the president-elect a heart-wrenching description of the emotional toll on health care workers on the front line of the pandemic. She spoke on behalf of all the brave nurses who hold the hands of dying patients and put their own lives at risk because of inadequate personal protection equipment.
I am thankful for Barack Obama, who reminded us what it is like to have a president we could be proud of. I am grateful that he broke presidential protocol and warned us about the danger of reelecting a man who is not just incompetent but dangerous.
And I am thankful for the nearly 80 million people who realized that America could be a much better nation than it has been the past four years and stepped into the voting booth to set us on our way.
This Thanksgiving, I am grateful that most Americans will be able to look back one day soon and be proud of how far we have come.
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dglanton@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @dahleeng


chicagotribune--2020-11-23--Column: Jeanne Gang on Vista Tower, gender equality  in architecture and the future of downtown Chic

Column: Jeanne Gang on Vista Tower, gender equality  in architecture and the future of downtown Chicago

A. Vista represents a fine-tuning of the environmental approach ( to architecture ) so not everything is treated equally .
@ @ @ @ @ tune our buildings more much more finely , more specifically to the context .
The @ @ @ @ @ the glass , the width of the floor plates , the technology of the glass @ @ @ @ @ that further than before .

Chicago’s Jeanne Gang, architect of the nearly complete Vista Tower, the city’s third-tallest building and the world’s tallest building designed by a woman, spoke to the Tribune last week about the new hotel and condominium skyscraper and other topics. Following are edited excerpts:
Q: How do you compare Vista to the Willis Tower and the John Hancock Center, now called 875 North Michigan Avenue? Those towers symbolize Chicago’s industrial-age toughness and urban might. What does Vista represent?
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A: Vista represents a fine-tuning of the environmental approach (to architecture) so not everything is treated equally. We are now able to tune our buildings more much more finely, more specifically to the context. The fine-tuning of the gradients of the glass, the width of the floor plates, the technology of the glass — this building is pushing that further than before.
We’re trying to work in different ways to reduce negative impacts on nature. Vista is going to be more effective than projects like the Apple building that are just invisible to birds.
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(Chicago architect Louis) Sullivan was always thinking of nature and buildings, but more in a representative way, not in a performance way.
Architect Jeanne Gang participates in a discussion during the Expo Chicago international contemporary and modern art exhibition in 2018 at Navy Pier. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Q: Women are taking an increasingly prominent role in Chicago architecture. Carol Ross Barney led the design of the popular downtown Riverwalk. Lynn Osmond heads the Chicago Architecture Center. You’ve just completed the world’s tallest building designed by a woman. Have women finally reached equal status in the male-dominated profession of architecture or is there still more progress to be made?
A: I’ve been really interested in pay equity for women architects. There’s no reason for (inequity) whatsoever. There’s still work to be done there.
[ Exclusive first look inside Vista Tower, the Chicago skyline’s new skyscraper ]
Q: Did your gender in any way affect your design of Vista Tower? Or could a man have come up with the same design?
A: I don’t think it’s exclusive to women to be interested in the things that I’m interested in. It’s culture that assigns those divisions, (like) nature equals woman. My work is my work. It’s physics and structure and materials and nature.
The new Vista Tower nears completion along the Chicago River across from the former Spire site on Nov. 9, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Q: When you were growing up in Belvidere, near Rockford, who, or what, inspired you to become an architect?
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A: I loved to make things, so I was into art, and also math. And someone told me, “You know, architecture is kind of a combination.” It made sense immediately. It wasn’t a person per se. Then I started looking at architecture in Chicago, the skyscrapers, but also Frank Lloyd Wright and Sullivan. They were probably the first architects whose buildings I visited.
Q: What are your views on the future of downtown Chicago and other downtowns? Will they recover once a vaccine is widely distributed and return to what they were before? Or will there be a new normal?
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A: I think cities will recover, just like they did after 9/11, which was also predicted to be the end of cities. But (the present situation) opens new opportunities. I think maybe second-tier cities can become more visible because of the way we’re now more fluid with using remote technologies. That could help their urban enters to be attractive to a new workforce.
I don’t think the coronavirus will be the end of Chicago’s downtown. It will come back.
Blair Kamin is a Tribune critic.
bkamin@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @BlairKamin


chicagotribune--2020-11-23--In rare feat, Evanston teen expected to break birding record: ‘Say a rare bird shows up. You have to

In rare feat, Evanston teen expected to break birding record: ‘Say a rare bird shows up. You have to drop everything and get in the car.’

“ Take your time with learning the birds , ” he said .
“ There are a lot of people @ @ @ @ @ re first starting out , will overestimate their abilities and they ’ ll say , @ @ @ @ @ and this and this and that , ’ and the best way to get into @ @ @ @ @ birds .
Learn them .
Look at them as much as you possibly can .
@

For some teens, getting a license means offering rides to friends, taking trips to the mall, freedom. For one Evanston senior, it was mostly about the birds.
Isoo O’Brien, 17, is expected to break the Cook County record for individual bird species spotted in a year, clocking 282 species by the end of October. With a little more than a month left before 2021, O’Brien is still working to check off a few final species in the hopes that his record holds for years to come. Topping the record was a big deal for O’Brien, and for other birders, who banded together to offer tips so O’Brien could drive — or sometimes sprint — to a yet unseen bird.
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O’Brien hoped to hit 270, maybe 275 species this year.
Isoo O'Brien takes a walk in Jackson Park for bird watching in Chicago on Nov. 16, 2020. The Evanston high school senior is expected to break the Cook County record for individual bird species spotted in a year, clocking 282 species by the end of October. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
“But in the back of my mind all I really wanted to do was to break the record,” which was 281, he said. “The record was so high that I just was like, I don’t want to set that expectation for myself and be disappointed it doesn’t happen. But it ended up happening.”
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O’Brien got into birding through his grandparents. Swapping stories of birds was a way to stay in touch. Then came field guides, databases, apps and a club for fellow fledgling ornithologists.
“This might be kind of shocking,” O’Brien said. “But there’s actually enough young birders in Illinois that there’s a club called the Illinois Young Birders.”
In the last year, O’Brien finally had his driver’s license. And he had only one year left before college. So he decided to embark on what is known as a “big year” — a challenge for birders that entails finding as many species as possible in a specific geographic area.
“Let’s say a rare bird shows up,” O’Brien said. “You have to drop everything and get in the car and go get the bird.”
Undertaking a big year requires a serious commitment, said Carl Giometti, a board member of the Chicago Ornithological Society.
“You need the birds to show up,” Giometti said. “And you need to be lucky enough to get there in time.
“The key is just to always be birding.”
Giometti said one birder’s quest for rare birds can inspire the larger community, and “Isoo covered every corner of Cook County imaginable.”
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“Yes, it’s one person’s achievement, but it’s really only achievable, especially in a place like Cook County, if everyone chips in and reports rare birds quickly and gives good locations and helps out,” Giometti said.
Isoo O'Brien takes a walk in Jackson Park for bird watching in Chicago on Nov. 16, 2020. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Isoo O'Brien look for birds with his binoculars in Jackson Park. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
When Giometti saw a prairie warbler one day in Grant Park, he was happy to pass along the tip. “I texted him right away, like, ‘Hey Isoo, we’ve got a prairie warbler right here.’ ”
Dozens of people from the birding community have helped in some way, O’Brien said. “And also my family as well. They let me take the car a lot and they’ve really understood that this is a passion.”
The key to breaking the record was putting in the work for rare birds, O’Brien said. There’s a limit on the birds likely to fly by, and O’Brien expected to hit the majority of the species he might see in the first half of the year. By the end of May, O’Brien had counted just over 250 species. There’s a gradual slowdown after June and it’s tougher to make substantial progress.
While balancing Zoom classes, family time and a social life during the pandemic, O’Brien also contended with the lakefront shutdown, a challenge some birders thought would pose a threat to breaking any record.
But O’Brien has a unique focus, said Matthew Cvetas, former president of Illinois Young Birders. Cvetas came to accept that the young birders were likely to be chattier than some of his adult counterparts, who were generally more mindful not to spook the birds. O’Brien, however, was quiet and watchful.
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Cvetas remembers a trip to northern Illinois to spot snowy owls. The group found one, sitting on railroad tracks. O’Brien hunkered down on the ground to get the perfect shot.
“I don’t think there’s any question that Isoo is having a phenomenal year,” Cvetas said. “I think it just shows his intensity, his focus, his skill, his perseverance.”
O’Brien’s level of dedication is emblematic of a strong group of young birders coming up, Cvetas said.
“Not only are they interested in the hobby, but they’re really good at it,” he said. “To the point where they’re already leaders in their community. You’ll find many of them leading volunteer bird walks, or discussions on social media about complex identification issues.”
The Cook County record was last broken in 2013, also by a teenage birder. Before that the countywide record had been in place since 1990. The statewide record was also broken this year, with 335 species spotted all over Illinois.
A black tern — a smoky-colored seabird — was O’Brien’s favorite find of the year. It was September, late in their migration. “So I was expecting, ah, I think I might have missed this one,” O’Brien said. But a friend working along the lakefront saw some birds flying by and alerted O’Brien, who booked it a few blocks over and glimpsed the species before they were gone.
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O’Brien reports his sightings on eBird. At the end of the year, a committee with the Illinois Ornithological Society will review records from those who have reported high numbers and flag any particularly unusual birds.
“No one’s going to question if you saw a really common bird, like a mallard or a house sparrow,” O’Brien said. But for more uncommon ones he’s careful to snap a photo or make sure he has a second witness.
O’Brien’s looking forward to meeting more birders in college — and hopefully seeing new birds. He’ll be ready for the return of warblers in spring migration, his overall favorites. As for advice for young birders, O’Brien recommends not rushing into anything and getting to know one habitat really well.
“Take your time with learning the birds,” he said. “There are a lot of people that, when they’re first starting out, will overestimate their abilities and they’ll say, ‘oh I saw this and this and this and that,’ and the best way to get into it is just study the birds. Learn them. Look at them as much as you possibly can.”
There’s no reward for breaking the county record, other than the personal reward of finding the rarities and having an excuse to get out and see as many birds as possible. But, O’Brien said, “birders all get it.”
mgreene@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-11-23--Column: An exclusive look at Jeanne Gang’s Vista Tower, now Chicago’s third-tallest building

For now , as COVID-19 rages and office cubicles remain empty , the tower sends the upbeat message that downtown @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s not just for the 1 % .
Vista ’ s ground-level amenities @ @ @ @ @ as well as those who can afford the tower ’ s condos , which start @ @ @ @ @ .

The new Vista Tower nears completion along the Chicago River across from the former Spire site on Nov. 9, 2020. The building designed by Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang has been renamed the St. Regis Chicago since these photos were taken. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago’s nearly complete Vista Tower comes wrapped in superlatives — the city’s third-tallest building and the world’s tallest building designed by a woman — as well as seemingly curving, multicolored glass.
But the hype would be meaningless if the $1 billion, 101-story tower did not merit a more important distinction: It’s a stirring work of skyline artistry.
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Vista’s architect, Jeanne Gang, already has graced Chicago with the 87-story Aqua Tower, whose wavy concrete balconies were inspired by the layered topography of limestone outcroppings along the Great Lakes.
Vista, in contrast, appears as liquid as it is solid, as if the waters of Lake Michigan had burst upward and transformed themselves into fluid, undulating tiers of glass.
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The north facade of the new Vista Tower. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Vista Tower seen from the Museum Campus on Nov. 9, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
The tower represents a decisive break from the muscular, industrial-age modernism of Willis Tower and 875 North Michigan Avenue (the former John Hancock Center). It doesn’t simply show that women can play the male-dominated skyscraper game. They can play it very well, thank you.
Located on a multilevel riverfront site at 363 E. Wacker Drive that belongs to the same Lakeshore East development as Aqua, Vista will house a 191-room hotel and 393 condominiums once it’s complete in the third quarter of next year.
For now, as COVID-19 rages and office cubicles remain empty, the tower sends the upbeat message that downtown has a future, and it’s not just for the 1%. Vista’s ground-level amenities will benefit ordinary citizens as well as those who can afford the tower’s condos, which start at around $1 million.
The lone fault comes on the 83rd floor, which has been left empty to let Chicago’s famous winds whip through. This so-called blow-through floor will reduce sway that makes chandeliers rattle, but it disrupts the upward sweep of the tower’s exterior.
The developers were China’s Dalian Wanda Group and Chicago’s Magellan Development Group. In July, Dalian Wanda’s hotel unit, which had been expected to operate Vista’s hotel, agreed to sell its 90% equity stake in the tower to Magellan. An announcement about a new hotel operator is expected soon.
Chicago’s bKL Architecture served as architect of record.
Sharp-eyed observers have noted a similarity between Vista’s suggestion of endless verticality and sculptor Constantin Brancusi’s Endless Column, a Romanian war memorial whose stack of truncated pyramids symbolizes infinity and infinite sacrifice.
Yet the Chicago tower, which Gang designed with Julianne Wolf, a principal at her Chicago-based firm of Studio Gang, is no copycat.
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Unlike the single-columned Brancusi sculpture, Vista consists of three connected high-rises, or stems, the highest of which reaches 1,191 feet — a level topped in Chicago only by the 1,451-foot Willis Tower and the 1,389-foot Trump International Hotel & Tower.
The stems reflect Gang’s desire to make the tower a good neighbor as well as a landmark. Their underlying structure — concrete cores in the outer stems, linked by a spinelike wall in the middle stem — frees the central stem to bridge over the ground.
That opens the way for Vista’s chief ground-level amenity: a well-lit passageway that leads from the handsome park at the center of Lakeshore East to the downtown Riverwalk, just to the north. A boldly curving, scooplike wall forms an inviting gateway to the passageway from the park.
The ground-level passage under Vista Tower between Lakeshore East and the Chicago Riverwalk nears completion on Nov. 9, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
City officials would be smart to extend the passageway to the Riverwalk by installing brightly colored crosswalks and better lighting on the lowest level of Wacker Drive.
In another urban design plus, Vista is turning what used to be the dull dead end of East Wacker into a small park, open to the public, that will overlook the river and Navy Pier. OLIN landscape architects of Philadelphia are handling that part of the project.
The tower also enlivens the continuous row of buildings, or “streetwall,” of East Wacker, with a glass-walled projection, which the architects call the “cube.” Among other uses, it will contain the hotel’s restaurant and glow like a beacon, beckoning pedestrians from Michigan Avenue.
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At Aqua, Gang’s design method was to begin with small units — the curving balconies, which captured views — and organize them into mesmerizing stacks.
She follows a similar path at Vista, where her building block is truncated pyramids, called “frustums,” that have the functional advantage of creating different floor sizes.
The stacked frustums form the stems, which grow in height from east to west, making an effective transition between the wide-open horizontality of the lakefront and the soaring verticality of downtown’s skyscrapers.
Following the angled path of East Wacker, the stems are offset, giving the tower eight corners instead of four — a plus for the developers, who rely on panoramic views to sell condos.
It all adds up to a tower that does exactly what a skyscraper is supposed to do: appeal to the viewer at many different scales.
[ Jeanne Gang talks to the Tribune about Vista Tower, gender equality in architecture and the future of downtown Chicago ]
Seen from a distance, Vista’s stepping silhouette recalls the pronounced setbacks of the Willis and Trump towers. Because it shifts from a broad base to a narrow top, it is very much a Chicago building — a powerful presence, unlike the freakishly thin, cigarette-shaped towers that rise from the confined sites of Manhattan’s Billionaires’ Row.
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Viewed at closer range, Vista goes from the familiar to the spectacular, owing in part to an optical trick. The stems seem to curve in and out even though the structural columns on the tower’s perimeter are, in fact, straight.
The south facade of the new Vista Tower as the building nears completion. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Gang creates that illusion with a steplike progression. Each column is placed 5 inches inward or outward from the one below it. It’s a small move, but multiplied hundreds of times, it equals the difference between a bland vertical stalk like the neighboring Aon Center and a dramatic sculptural form.
Two close-up views are worthy of being singled out. From the Lake Shore Drive Bridge over the Chicago River, Vista is a stunning sculptural presence, with deep shadows accentuating the curves of its three stems.
Seen from South Lake Shore Drive around the Field Museum, the tower looks flatter but is still striking, rising directly ahead of the driver as Gang takes full advantage of its location on the same line, or axis, as the drive.
In a significant refinement, the glass exterior is sheathed in six types of blue-green coating — darker for the smaller floors of the truncated pyramids, which need more protection from the sun, and lighter for the larger floors.
According to the architects, the glass, made in Germany, cuts down on heat gain and saves energy. It also has an aesthetic advantage, accentuating the thinness of each stem.
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Following the lead of Aqua’s undulating balconies, the multicolored glass will join with the curving exterior and low reflectivity to lessen the likelihood that migrating birds will crash into the tower.
The overall result combines noble simplicity with a dynamism appropriate to the digital age. Vista is not fussy and backward looking, like architect Robert A.M. Stern’s One Bennett Park. It is more emphatically vertical than Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s Trump Tower, whose setbacks resemble the stacks of a wedding cake.
But the blow-through floor, a double-height space on the 83rd floor that is left open to the wind, is not ideal.
The blow-through floor on Vista Tower's 83rd story. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
The first of its kind in Chicago, it had to be added after wind tunnel tests revealed that high winds could cause the tower to sway, making people inside uncomfortable or even sick.
From ground level, the blow-through floor looks strangely unfinished, a scar that interrupts the upward sweep of Vista’s curves. Gang calls it a “focal point.” I liken it a hole in a forehead. It’s a flaw, but not a fatal one. The tower’s form is strong enough to absorb it.
The interior is very much a work in progress, with construction workers still scurrying around. (The first condominium owners will move in early next month. Half the condominiums are sold, according to Magellan.)
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My tour included an 84th-floor penthouse, whose drop-dead views of the lakefront and skyline made it seem like a private observatory, and a 47th-floor outdoor deck for residents, complete with a pool and sauna, that will keep Vista competitive in the amenity arms race fought by luxury towers.
There was not a discernible difference in views from apartments with darker glass and those with lighter glass.
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There is one extraordinary interior space: the hotel’s restaurant, which flaunts 38-foot ceilings and massive, dramatically canted concrete columns that are pulled back from the facade to maintain riverfront views. This is a bravura display of old-fashioned Chicago muscle. Metal window frames subdivide the cube’s exterior into truncated pyramids, further breaking down the tower’s scale.
The Vista Tower seen along the Chicago River across from the former Spire site on Nov. 9, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Through such features and its ground-level amenities, Vista stands poised to become an active part of Chicago’s daily life as well as a skyline symbol.
It is one of Chicago’s finest skyline giants — not as strong architecturally as the X-braced former Hancock Center, but a great success nonetheless.
With its sleek, swelling curves and sophisticated environmental approach, it refreshes Chicago’s historic role in tall building design and charts bold new directions in skyscraper style.
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Blair Kamin is a Tribune critic.
bkamin@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @BlairKamin


chicagotribune--2020-11-24--Durbin seeks top Democratic spot on Senate Judiciary Committee

“ We have to roll up our sleeves and get to work on undoing the damage of the last four @ @ @ @ @ and human rights , ” Durbin said .
“ The to-do list for the Senate @ @ @ @ @ and of critical importance to the future progress of our country .
”

Illinois senior Sen. Dick Durbin said Monday he’ll seek the position of top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee — a spot that could become the chairmanship following two Georgia contests early next year that will decide party control of the chamber.
Durbin, who won a fifth term in the Senate on Nov. 3 and turned 76 on Saturday, made the announcement after the ranking Democrat on the committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, announced she would not seek a return to her role in the next Congress.
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The 87-year-old Feinstein had come under internal party criticism for not playing a stronger role in attempting to fight President Donald Trump’s nomination of now-Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“I intend to seek the top Democratic position on the Judiciary Committee in the 117th Congress. I have served on the committee for 22 years, and I am its most senior member who does not currently serve atop another Senate committee,” Durbin said in a statement.
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Durbin contended that under Trump and with a push by Republicans to fill federal judgeships, “the Judiciary Committee abdicated its oversight responsibilities and became little more than a conveyor belt to rubber-stamp ideological and largely underqualified judicial nominees.”
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Durbin is the No. 2 Democrat in Senate leadership serving as minority whip, a position that he would be able to keep.
The committee is chaired by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and postelection the GOP held a 50-48 majority in the chamber. But Democrats could win control of the chamber if they are successful in two Senate runoff elections in Georgia on Jan. 5 that could give President-elect Joe Biden, through Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, a tie-breaking vote after Jan. 20. The vice president serves as the presiding officer of the Senate.
In past ties in the chamber, the party of the sitting vice president assumed the role of majority party.
In seeking reelection this year, Durbin cited his desire to serve in Washington with Democrats gaining control of the White House, the House and the Senate after four years of Trump.
“We have to roll up our sleeves and get to work on undoing the damage of the last four years and protecting fundamental civil and human rights,” Durbin said. “The to-do list for the Senate Judiciary Committee is long, and of critical importance to the future progress of our country.”
rap30@aol.com
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chicagotribune--2020-11-24--Man in his 20s killed, 2 others injured in West Side shootings

The man who died was walking down the street about 2:20 p.m. around the 500 block of South Kostner Avenue @ @ @ @ @ he was shot multiple times in the head and body , according to a police @ @

The identity of a 19-year-old man who died Monday afternoon following a shooting on the West Side was released Tuesday morning.
Two other people were injured in shootings on the West Side, according to police.
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The man who died was identified as Willie Baker, of the 3900 block of West Crenshaw Street, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Baker was walking down the street about 2:20 p.m. around the 500 block of South Kostner Avenue in West Garfield Park when he was shot multiple times in the head and body, according to a police statement.
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He was later found unresponsive on the sidewalk and was transported to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
No arrests have been made.
Two other men were shot about 4:50 p.m. Monday in the 300 block of North Sacramento Boulevard in East Garfield Park, according to a police statement.
An 18-year-old man was shot in the left hand and another bullet grazed his head, police said. The other man, a 21-year-old, was shot in both legs.
Both men were transported in serious condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.
Police were investigating both shootings.
kelsmith@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @KelliSmithNews


chicagotribune--2020-11-24--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 8,322 new COVID-19 cases and 47 additional deaths reported Monday a

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 8,322 new COVID-19 cases and 47 additional deaths reported Monday as Pritzker sees ‘glimmer of hope’

It wasn ’ t clear whether he flew or drove to Florida or whether his travels Monday were to return @ @ @ @ @ additionally said : “ Upon my return to Naperville , I will be quarantining and @ @ @ @ @ it wasn ’ t known when he last tested , when he will test again @ @ @ @ @ to entail .

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CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said that he sees a “glimmer of hope” in recent downturns in the number of new coronavirus cases and the positivity rate in Illinois after a raging fall surge of infections but warned the public not to let its guard down.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Pritzker said at his daily coronavirus briefing. “This is going to take weeks, not days.”
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Meanwhile, the state’s top public health official again sounded the alarm about the possibility that recent gains could quickly reverse if people don’t heed the advice of health experts to avoid holiday travel and limit Thanksgiving gatherings to their own households.
Earlier on Monday, Illinois announced 8,322 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 47 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 664,620 and the statewide confirmed death toll to 11,552 since the start of the pandemic.
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Here’s what’s happening Monday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7:30 p.m.: More than 212,000 fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits filed in Illinois, sparking concerns about identity theft
Fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits are on the rise as record numbers of Illinois residents file for benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic, causing victims to worry their personal information has been exposed.
More than 212,000 fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits have been filed with the state since March 1, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Of those, 169,506 were filed under a federal program created through the federal coronavirus relief package that extended benefits to self-employed and gig workers. The other 42,496 fraudulent claims were filed under the system for regular state benefits.
In cases that involve identity theft, some victims discover the fraud when they receive a letter from the state unemployment agency saying a claim has been filed in their name, or their employer receives a letter. People who have received these letters but have not filed for unemployment should immediately call the agency at 800-814-0513 to flag the case as fraudulent.
Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez
6:05 p.m.: Northbrook experiences surge of COVID-19 deaths this month, most taking place at long-term care facilities
A recent surge of COVID-19 deaths has hit Northbrook, and most have occurred within long-term care facilities.
Prior to Nov. 9, the last COVID-19 death in Northbrook was in July, according to medical examiner’s office data. Since then, 19 Northbrook residents have died of COVID-19 or complications related to the virus, according to reports from the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Reports show that out of the 23 deaths of Northbrook residents investigated by the agency from Nov. 9 to Nov. 22, 19 of them had COVID-19 listed as a primary or secondary cause of death.
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Read more here. —Kaitlin Edquist
5:45 p.m.: Pritzker sees ‘glimmer of hope’ in declining coronavirus cases and positivity rate, but officials warn not to let guard down ahead of Thanksgiving
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday that he sees a “glimmer of hope” in recent downturns in the number of new coronavirus cases and the positivity rate in Illinois after a raging fall surge of infections but warned the public not to let its guard down.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Pritzker said at his daily coronavirus briefing. “This is going to take weeks, not days.”
The state’s top public health official again sounded the alarm about the possibility that recent gains could quickly reverse if people don’t heed the advice of health experts to avoid holiday travel and limit Thanksgiving gatherings to their own households.
“Thanksgiving hasn’t happened yet,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said. “People can still change their plans and change the outcome.
“We don’t have to have superspreader events at homes throughout our state and throughout the country and then bring it back. Please reconsider your plan and see if we can be part of the solution.”
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Read more here. —Dan Petrella
4:40 p.m.: Ground delivery tax would tack $1.25 onto Amazon orders in Chicago
An alderman introduced a plan on Monday to tax deliveries by companies such as Amazon, as the City Council also capped fees third party delivery services charge pandemic-stricken restaurants and teed up Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s 2020 budget for a Tuesday vote.
Bridgeport Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson wants to charge an additional $1.25 for packages delivered by ground to addresses in the city that weigh 50 pounds or less, and $2.50 for heavier deliveries. Prescription medicine and food deliveries from restaurants would be exempted from the extra tax under Thompson’s plan.
Amazon and other delivery companies have seen profits soar during the COVID-19 pandemic as people try to avoid shopping inside stores. But the new taxes would be charged to residents who order the packages, which could be a hard sell for aldermen on the heels of Lightfoot’s proposed $94 million property tax increase.
Read more here. —John Byrne
2:30 p.m.: Naperville mayor who touted plan for local mask mandate defends attending large wedding in Florida
As the nation faces unprecedented coronavirus spread, a relative of the mayor of Naperville took to Twitter to publicly admonish him for attending a wedding party with more than 50 people this weekend in Florida.
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In a written statement, Mayor Steven Chirico defended his decision to attend his daughter’s wedding in Naples, Florida, from which pictures surfaced and circulated online. His niece, a former BuzzFeed personality with nearly 100,000 Twitter followers blasted Chirico online, igniting a spark of hypocrisy since just last week he warned Naperville residents a mask mandate may soon materialize while purportedly not practicing what he’s preaching — claims he contests.
“My family and I all took COVID tests and tested negative prior to traveling to Florida this weekend for my daughter Jenna’s wedding. It was an outdoor wedding and reception with a total of 53 guests,” read his statement, issued through city spokeswoman Linda LaCloche. He declined repeated requests for comment and LaCloche said Chirico wouldn’t be able to answer a list of questions Monday because he was traveling.
It wasn’t clear whether he flew or drove to Florida or whether his travels Monday were to return to Naperville. His statement additionally said: “Upon my return to Naperville, I will be quarantining and testing again,” but it wasn’t known when he last tested, when he will test again or what he considers quarantining to entail.
Read more here. —Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas and Suzanne Baker
12:30 p.m.: Workers go on strike at 11 nursing homes in Illinois, demanding higher wages and COVID-19 pandemic hazard pay
Nearly 700 nursing home workers went on strike Monday at 11 facilities in Illinois, seeking higher pay and greater protections from the COVID pandemic.
Certified nursing assistants (CNAs), aides, housekeepers and other workers went on strike at 6 a.m. after failing to reach a contract agreement with the owner of Infinity Healthcare Management of Illinois.
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The members of SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana said they were seeking pay of $15.50 an hour for CNAs, and about $15 an hour for housekeepers and other workers, and hazard pay as essential workers during the pandemic. They say it’s similar to terms other workers in the state got after a nursing home strike earlier this year by about 10,000 workers at 100 nursing homes.
Infinity received nearly $13 million in federal aid through the CARES Act this year, and is seeking more, according to the union, part of the Service Employees International Union.
Read more here. —Robert McCoppin
12:05 p.m.: 8,322 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, 47 additional deaths reported Monday
Meanwhile, Illinois health officials Monday announced 8,322 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 47 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 664,620 and the statewide confirmed death toll to 11,552 since the start of the pandemic.
It was the lowest number of cases reported since 8,902 cases were reported on Nov. 18 and only the second time under 10,000 cases were reported since Nov. 5.
There were 91,562 tests reported in the previous 24 hours. The statewide positivity rate for the previous seven days is 12.7% and the rate for cases as a percent of total tests in that period is 10.9%.
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8:55 a.m.: Millions flying for Thanksgiving despite CDC coronavirus warning, lenient ticket-change policies
Millions of Americans bought tickets to fly somewhere for Thanksgiving before the nation’s top public health agency pleaded with them not to travel for the holiday.
So what are they doing now? In many cases, they’re still crowding airports and boarding planes. That’s despite relatively lenient cancellation policies that major airlines have implemented since the coronavirus pandemic emerged earlier this year.
“Consumers should feel comfortable changing their plans and canceling their flights if they need to for health reasons,” said John Breyault of the National Consumers League.
Most airlines won’t pay cash to refund a flight if you decide to heed national health warnings but they are waiving fees and offering vouchers. Breyault said to “familiarize yourself with the policies” because the voucher specifics vary by airline and can depend on when the ticket was booked.
It’s not clear how many people are taking those vouchers. Images that emerged this weekend of crowded airport terminals showed that plenty of people are flying anyway.
More than 2 million people were screened at U.S. airports on Friday and Saturday, according to the Transportation Security Administration. While that’s far lower than during the same time last year, Friday was only the second time since mid-March that daily airport screenings topped 1 million.
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A day earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Americans should skip Thanksgiving travel and not spend the holiday with people from outside their household.
Read more here. —Associated Press
7:30 a.m.: Archdiocese of Chicago and Catholic Charities raise $35 million for COVID-19 relief
The Archdiocese of Chicago and Catholic Charities have raised $35 million in a COVID-19 relief effort to address a growing need for social services in Cook and Lake counties.
Catholic Charities has raised $15 million since March, and the two organizations together raised an additional $20 million. Funds will be deployed to assist people regardless of their faith, race, ethnicity or gender, according to the archdiocese.
The money is expected to be allocated among both organizations. Catholic Charities will receive 60% of the $20 million in joint relief funds to significantly increase assistance to individuals and families in need, according to the archdiocese. Assistance includes food and housing support, burial aid for victims of COVID-19 and domestic violence support.
The archdiocese will put the remaining 40% into emergency scholarships for Catholic school students and its inmate reentry ministry, among other efforts, according to the archdiocese.
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Read more here. — Jessica Villagomez
6 a.m.: With COVID-19 surging anew, alarms sound again for Cook County’s incarcerated
The renewed nationwide surge of COVID-19 has hit Cook County lockups with force this fall, causing officials to reevaluate the safeguards put in place earlier this year to blunt the spread of the deadly infection behind bars.
More than 20 residents of the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center have tested positive in the past month, a dramatic increase over the numbers reported at the end of spring and early summer. The staff numbers are alarming as well, with more than 70 people who work at the near West Side facility now reported to have tested positive during the entire pandemic.
“It is just shocking,” Deputy Cook County Public Defender Peter Parry said Wednesday, adding that people working in and around the facility were “very concerned.”
The numbers at Cook County Jail, where thousands of adult detainees are housed, have spiked too. Over the summer, the number of positive cases were in the double digits, but as of Thursday, 153 detainees had tested positive, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office. Three had been hospitalized.
The first death of a COVID-positive patient since May was reported this week when an 85-year-old detainee died after being transported to Stroger Hospital.
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And the jail’s population has risen significantly since efforts in the spring to release detainees to allow for social distancing. There were 5,529 people in custody Thursday — nearly back to pre-pandemic levels.
Read more here. —Annie Sweeney, Megan Crepeau
5:45 a.m.: AstraZeneca says COVID-19 vaccine ‘highly effective’ in late-stage trials with 90% success in one dosing regimen
AstraZeneca said Monday that late-stage trials showed that its COVID-19 vaccine with Oxford University was up to 90% effective in preventing disease.
The results are based on interim analysis of trials in the U.K. and Brazil of a vaccine developed by Oxford University and manufactured by AstraZeneca. No hospitalizations or severe cases of COVID-19 were reported in those receiving the vaccine, AstraZeneca said.
The trial looked at two different dosing regimens. A half dose of the vaccine followed by a full dose at least one month apart was 90% effective. A second regimen using two full doses one month apart was 62% effective. The combined results showed an average efficacy rate of 70%.
“These findings show that we have an effective vaccine that will save many lives,” Professor Andrew Pollard, chief investigator for the trial, said in a statement. “Excitingly, we’ve found that one of our dosing regimens may be around 90% effective.’'
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AstraZeneca is the third major drug company to report late-stage results for its potential COVID-19 vaccine as public health officials around the world anxiously wait for vaccines that will end the pandemic that has killed almost 1.4 million people. Pfizer and Moderna last week reported preliminary results from late-stage trials showing their vaccines were almost 95% effective.
Yet unlike many of its rivals, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine does not have to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures, making it far easier to distribute in developing countries.
Read more here. —Associated Press
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It took almost a year , but a new owner paid $ 1.585 million in 2012 for the right to @ @ @ @ @ of the red-brick Winnetka Georgian immortalized in `` Home Alone . ''
Almost 30 years @ @ @ @ @ the movie changed the neighborhood — but they ’ re OK with it .
Read @ @ @

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chicagotribune--2020-11-24--The Spin: Firings, ‘unethical conduct’ claim in Chicago treasurer’s office | Lightfoot, Duckworth he

The Spin: Firings, ‘unethical conduct’ claim in Chicago treasurer’s office | Lightfoot, Duckworth headline fundraiser for Democrats in Georgia senate races | Biden appointments have Illinois ties

New : Bridgeport Ald .
Patrick Daley Thompson introduced a plan to tax city deliveries by companies such as Amazon @ @ @ @ @ additional $ 1.25 for packages delivered that weigh 50 pounds or less , and $ @ @ @ @ @ Prescription medicine and food deliveries from restaurants would be exempted from the extra tax under @ @ @ @ @ the Tribune ’ s John Byrne reports .
The new taxes would be charged to @ @ @ @ @ , which could be a hard sell for aldermen on the heels of Lightfoot ’ @ @ @ @ @ property tax increase , Byrne notes .
Read the story here .

Federal prosecutors indicted Michael McClain, one of Michael Madigan’s oldest and most trusted friends, last week, but a key question lingers: Will he flip?
My colleagues Jason Meisner and Ray Long go deep to show how Chicago and Illinois’ embarrassing history of public corruption offers some insight.
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President-elect Joe Biden announced today that Avril Haines is his pick for director of National Intelligence making her the first woman, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate, to hold the cabinet post. She’s also got Chicago ties. Meantime, one of Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s top aides has been appointed to become a senior member of the Biden White House staff.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois’ U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth are co-hosting a virtual fundraiser early next month for the two Democratic U.S. Senate candidates in Georgia facing January runoff races with Republican incumbents. The races will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.
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And there’s drama in the typically low-profile Chicago treasurer’s office after a pre-Thanksgiving purge of staff. On Friday, Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin fired four staffers. A top aide who was fired says in an email obtained by the Tribune that she was fired for refusing to participate in “unethical conduct.” Conyears-Ervin, who is married to Chicago Ald. Jason Ervin, says that’s not true.
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Lobbyist Mike McClain at the State Capitol in Springfield in 2012. At right is Rep. Luis Arroyo. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
The Tribune’s Jason Meisner and Ray Long write: If there’s no direct evidence of Madigan’s participation in the ComEd bribery scheme, any case against him could hinge on the testimony of an insider, someone who could give a jury a believable guide to how the operation was conceived and directed, where the money came from and went, and, most importantly, who ultimately benefited.
Meisner and Long note: McClain, 73, likely marks the clearest path for investigators if they were to get to Madigan, especially considering the speaker’s well honed reputation for caution, from avoiding phone and email conversations to leaving much of the day-to-day business of politics to a trusted circle of advisers.
Similar scenarios have played out in Illinois before, with varying results in cases involving Democrat Richard M. Daley’s City Hall and in Republican George Ryan’s Secretary of State’s office — a post he held before being elected governor. Read more here.
Feds want up to 3½ years in prison for former Chicago Ald. Edward Vrdolyak in tobacco settlement scheme, the Tribune’s Jason Meisner reports.
Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin at her office in City Hall on Nov. 21, 2019. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune / Chicago Tribune)
From the Tribune’s Gregory Pratt: “A former top aide to Chicago city Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin alleged in an email to a city ethics official that she was fired after refusing to participate in unspecified ‘illegal and unethical conduct’. Conyears-Ervin meanwhile told the Tribune that’s false.”
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Neither Conyears-Ervin nor her fired former chief of staff, Tiffany Harper, would share details of those allegations. But Harper sent an email to the city’s Ethics Board’s executive director stating in part: “I have no doubt that our terminations are related to our refusal to participate in the illegal and unethical conduct that we discussed with you earlier this fall.”
Conyears-Ervin said it’s her prerogative to make staff decisions based on what’s in the best interest of taxpayers. She said the layoffs were about moving the office in a “new direction.” Read the story here. The treasurer’s office is the custodian and manager of all cash and investments for city government, the four city employee pension funds, and the Chicago Teacher’s Pension Fund.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot arrives for a news conference to detail the pilot program, "Grounds for Peace," that will help to put vacant lots to use in Chicago on July 2, 2019. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Lightfoot’s proposed 2021 budget package, which includes the mayor’s proposed $94 million property tax increase, is poised for an up-or-down vote tomorrow before the full City Council.
As the Tribune’s John Byrne noted last week, Lightfoot has been fighting for months to get the 26 votes she needs on the full council to achieve a majority for her budget. But in what seemed to be a good omen last week, the city council’s Budget Committee voted 26-8 to green light Lightfoot’s spending package, part of her $12.8 billion budget brought on by the pandemic.
The votes: But as the Tribune’s Byrne points out, aldermen are known to sometimes switch their votes between committee and the council, or to support spending but not a tax hike.
The math: Lightfoot needs to close a projected $1.2 billion budget hole and as first reported in the Tribune, she’s relying on a 3-cent gas tax hike and the property tax increase in part to do that. An initial plan to layoff 350 unionized employees was pulled off the table after higher-than-expected cannabis sales tax revenues would cover the $13 million in savings that might have been achieved through job cuts. Still some furloughs remain on the table.
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In addition, Lightfoot is asking to refinance $501 million in city debt for the 2021 budget, which would provide a jolt of new revenue next year, but likely cost taxpayers more down the road.
New: Bridgeport Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson introduced a plan to tax city deliveries by companies such as Amazon to the tune of an additional $1.25 for packages delivered that weigh 50 pounds or less, and $2.50 for heavier deliveries. Prescription medicine and food deliveries from restaurants would be exempted from the extra tax under Thompson’s plan, the Tribune’s John Byrne reports. The new taxes would be charged to residents who order the packages, which could be a hard sell for aldermen on the heels of Lightfoot’s proposed $94 million property tax increase, Byrne notes. Read the story here.
Cook County’s 2021 pandemic budget also up for a vote tomorrow: The Tribune’s Alice Yin wrote previously that the county will dip into reserves but won’t hike taxes here. Meantime, activists have decried a 4% budget cut in the sheriff’s office, Yin reports. They believe the cuts should be deeper.
With lessons from 2008 recession, mortgage crisis in mind, Cook County Board President, Chief Judge Tim Evans launch program that provides free legal services - regardless of income - to those facing eviction, foreclosure or massive debt tied to COVID-19. Read my full story here.
Obama surprises Chicago high school students with virtual visit and free copies of his memoir ‘A Promised Land,’ the Tribune’s Kelli Smith reports.
Mayor Steve Chirico during the Memorial Day Parade in Naperville, in 2019. (Mike Mantucca / Naperville Sun)
Naperville Mayor Steven Chirico is defending his decision to attend his daughter’s wedding in Naples, Florida, as pictures surfaced and circulated online, my colleagues at the Tribune and Naperville Sun report. His niece, a former BuzzFeed personality with nearly 100,000 Twitter followers blasted Chirico online, igniting a spark of hypocrisy since just last week he warned Naperville residents a mask mandate may soon materialize. Read the story here.
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Data points: In Illinois — 8,322 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, 47 additional deaths reported today. More updates here.
Pritzker sees ‘glimmer of hope’ in declining coronavirus cases and positivity rate, but officials warn not to let guard down ahead of Thanksgiving, the Tribune’s Dan Petrella reports.
Can harm reduction, the philosophy that stems HIV transmission and heroin overdoses, help curb a Thanksgiving COVID-19 meltdown? Because a swath of the population will gather over the holidays, in defiance of recommendations, everyone from public health officials to elected leaders should focus their messaging on how to do it in the safest possible manner, some experts say. The Tribune’s John Keilman has the story here.
Nearly 700 nursing home workers went on strike Monday at 11 facilities in Illinois — most in the Chicago area — seeking higher pay and greater protections from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tribune’s Robert McCoppin reports.
As virus surges anew, alarms sound again for Cook County’s incarcerated, the Tribune’s Annie Sweeney and Megan Crepeau report.
President-elect Joe Biden walks from his motorcade to speak to reporters Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, in Wilmington, Delaward. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
Joe Biden announced a series of cabinet nominees, who will need Senate approval, and White House staff who do not. You can get updates on the appointments here. And here’s a look at a few who have Chicago and Illinois connections:
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Avril Haines for the post of director of National Intelligence. She received her bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Chicago and, if approved, would become the first woman to oversee the DNI, according to the Biden campaign. She held multiple posts in the Obama-Biden administration including serving as deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Reema Dodin has been appointed deputy director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. She serves as deputy chief of staff to Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin. She’s heading to a White House office tasked with advancing the president’s legislative agenda on Capitol Hill by working with members of Congress and their staffs. Originally from California, Dodin is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
More news: Michigan election officials certify Biden victory over Trump — That’s despite Trump’s delay tactics. Read The Associated Press story here.
Sen. Duckworth and Mayor Lightfoot are headlining a Dec. 3 virtual fundraiser for Georgia Democrats Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock who are facing Republican incumbents U.S. Sen. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by The Spin. Tickets for the Zoom event range from $15,600 to $100.
The Georgia races have taken on national significance as the outcomes will determine whether the Republicans retain a majority in the U.S. Senate, the Democrats take the chamber or whether the races result in a 50-50 partisan split — a tally that would give the Democrats an edge if and when Vice President Kamala Harris is summoned to cast a tiebreaking vote.
It also offers another example of the strong national profile, particularly in the Democratic Party, enjoyed by Duckworth, who was among the contenders to be Biden’s running mate before he chose California Sen. Kamala Harris. Duckworth’s name has been floating around as a possible Biden cabinet pick.
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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--2020-11-23--Pritzker sees ‘glimmer of hope’ in declining coronavirus cases and positivity rate, but officials wa

Pritzker sees ‘glimmer of hope’ in declining coronavirus cases and positivity rate, but officials warn not to let guard down ahead of Thanksgiving

Officials have said it takes one or two incubation periods — roughly two to four weeks — to gauge whether @ @ @ @ @ slow the spread of the virus are effective .
So it ’ s not yet @ @ @ @ @ restrictions that took effect Friday , which include lower capacity limits for most retail stores @ @ @ @ @ , hotels and other industries , are working as intended .

CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday that he sees a “glimmer of hope” in recent downturns in the number of new coronavirus cases and the positivity rate in Illinois after a raging fall surge of infections but warned the public not to let its guard down.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Pritzker said at his daily coronavirus briefing. “This is going to take weeks, not days.”
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The state’s top public health official again sounded the alarm about the possibility that recent gains could quickly reverse if people don’t heed the advice of health experts to avoid holiday travel and limit Thanksgiving gatherings to their own households.
“Thanksgiving hasn’t happened yet,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said. “People can still change their plans and change the outcome.
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“We don’t have to have superspreader events at homes throughout our state and throughout the country and then bring it back. Please reconsider your plan and see if we can be part of the solution.”
State public health officials reported 8,322 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 on Monday, the lowest daily total since Nov. 4. Over the past week, the state has averaged 11,339 new cases per day. A week earlier, the average was 12,384 cases per day, the highest seven-day average since the start of the pandemic.
The average of new cases as a share of total tests — the case positivity rate — also has come down after skyrocketing throughout October and early November. The case positivity rate hit a seven-day average of 10.9% for the week ending Sunday, down from a peak of 13.2% for the week ending Nov. 12. The rate was 8.1% at the start of November and 3.4% a month earlier.
The small positive signs come a little more than two weeks after the last of the 11 regions in Pritzker’s reopening plan was put under tighter restrictions, including a prohibition on indoor dining and bar service and a lower limit on gathering sizes, due to rising regional positivity rates.
“Is there a glimmer of hope? There is,” Pritzker said. “And I’m always looking for that glimmer of hope.”
But the governor noted that the positivity rate is still in double-digits and the state is still averaging more than 10,000 new cases per day.
And deaths and hospitalizations — both lagging indicators of how the virus is spreading — remain high.
State officials reported 47 more fatalities Monday, and a seven-day average of 112 deaths per day. The statewide death toll now stands at 11,552 since March.
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The state’s hospitals also continue to fill up. As of Sunday night, there were 6,171 COVID-19 patients in hospitals statewide. For the first time, the state is averaging more than 6,000 people in the hospital with the coronavirus per day over the past week.
The numbers of patients in intensive care and on ventilators also continue to rise to levels approaching the crest of the first wave in the spring. In some regions of the state, only a few dozen — or fewer — intensive care beds are available.
Officials have said it takes one or two incubation periods — roughly two to four weeks — to gauge whether measures put in place to slow the spread of the virus are effective. So it’s not yet known whether the new statewide restrictions that took effect Friday, which include lower capacity limits for most retail stores and tighter rules for gyms, hotels and other industries, are working as intended.
In keeping with those rules, which also encourage everyone who can to work from home, Pritzker is holding his daily COVID-19 briefings remotely this week and most of his staff is working from home.
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-11-23--Mural for Brandon McGhee

Mural for Brandon McGhee

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 9 A mural for Brandon McGhee, who was fatally shot earlier this year, is seen Nov. 20, 2020, next to a memorial near the CTA Western Blue Line station in Chicago. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago artist Tyrue “Slang” Jones creates a mural for Brandon McGhee, 23, who was shot and killed in one of the most violent weekends Chicago has seen in recent years.


chicagotribune--2020-11-23--2 injured in Old Town fire, one of them seriously, officials say

The fire started about 12:15 p.m. in a bedroom of a single-family home in the 500 block of West North @ @ @ @ @ Michelle Tannehill , a police spokeswoman .
Three people were inside the home : a @ @ @ @ @ and a 60-year-old woman .

A 31-year-old man was seriously injured and a 60-year-old woman suffered smoke inhalation in a fire in the 500 block of West North Avenue the afternoon of Nov. 23, 2020, in Chicago. (Paige Fry / Chicago Tribune)
Two people were hospitalized after a fire Monday afternoon in the Old Town neighborhood, according to the Chicago police and fire officials.
The fire started about 12:15 p.m. in a bedroom of a single-family home in the 500 block of West North Avenue, according to Officer Michelle Tannehill, a police spokeswoman. Three people were inside the home: a 31-year-old man, 34-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman.
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The younger man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for cuts, Tannehill said. He was transported in serious-to-critical condition, said Larry Merritt, a Fire Department spokesman.
The woman was taken to Northwestern for possible smoke inhalation and a mental health evaluation, Tannehill said. She was transported in good condition, Merritt said.
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The older man was not injured, Tannehill said.
It’s unclear if anyone was displaced by the fire, officials said. The cause was not yet known.
The fire was extinguished by about 12:35 p.m., Merritt said. Officials did not release information on how the fire started.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-11-23--Workers go on strike at 11 nursing homes in Illinois, demanding higher wages and COVID-19 pandemic h

Workers go on strike at 11 nursing homes in Illinois, demanding higher wages and COVID-19 pandemic hazard pay

The members of SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana said they were seeking pay of $ 15.50 an hour for CNAs @ @ @ @ @ an hour for housekeepers and other workers , and hazard pay as essential workers during @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s similar to terms other workers in the state got after a nursing @ @ @ @ @ by about 10,000 workers at 100 nursing homes .

Nearly 700 nursing home workers went on strike Monday at 11 facilities in Illinois, seeking higher pay and greater protections from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Certified nursing assistants (CNAs), aides, housekeepers and other workers went on strike at 6 a.m. after failing to reach a contract agreement with the owner of Infinity Healthcare Management of Illinois.
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The members of SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana said they were seeking pay of $15.50 an hour for CNAs, and about $15 an hour for housekeepers and other workers, and hazard pay as essential workers during the pandemic. They say it’s similar to terms other workers in the state got after a nursing home strike earlier this year by about 10,000 workers at 100 nursing homes.
Infinity received nearly $13 million in federal coronavirus relief aid this year and is seeking more, according to the union, part of the Service Employees International Union.
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Infinity did not answer repeated phone calls or respond to repeated requests for comment. Nursing home industry officials have said repeatedly that they are hampered by low Medicaid payments, and need public financial aid, protective equipment and testing to get through the coronavirus pandemic.
Illinois lawmakers last year increased Medicaid funding for nursing homes by up to $240 million, and $70 million of that was meant to address staffing needs.
Most of the 11 homes that would be affected by a strike are in the Chicago area. They include City View Multicare Center in Cicero, which had 249 coronavirus cases, and Niles Nursing & Rehabilitation in Niles, which had 54 COVID-19-related deaths, both among the most at any long-term care facility in the state.
The other homes are Ambassador Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, Continental Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, Lakeview Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, Southpoint Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, all in Chicago, and Oak Lawn Respiratory & Rehabilitation Center, Forest View Rehabilitation in Itasca, Parker Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Streator, West Suburban Nursing & Rehabilitation in Bloomingdale and Momence Meadows Nursing & Rehabilitation Center.
Dwayne Knox left, pickets with SEIU Healthcare Illinois workers at Oak Lawn Respiratory and Rehabilitation Center in Oak Lawn on Nov. 23, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Most of the workers are Black or Hispanic women. Typically, managers and contract workers attempt to replace the striking nursing home workers. Even with all their employees, nursing homes have chronically been accused of not having enough staff members, and administrators have said it’s especially hard to find enough workers during the pandemic, when some are sick or afraid to work.
About two-thirds of Infinity workers said they had to work a second job to make ends meet, which increases the risk of exposure to COVID-19, while some workers left for higher pay elsewhere, leaving the homes short-staffed, union officials said. They said testing for COVID-19 at Infinity is inconsistent with slow results.
“We are striking for our lives, to protect ourselves and our families and to stand up for our residents,” CNA Shantonia Jackson said at news conference on the picket line in Cicero.
A strike was averted in May when the Illinois Association of Health Care Facilities granted pay raises and $2 an hour hazard pay to about 10,000 SEIU workers at more than 100 homes.
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AARP was not involved in these disputes, but AARP Illinois State Director Bob Gallo said his organization was saddened that vulnerable nursing home residents are caught up in a dispute that threatens their safety during the pandemic.
“As an organization dedicated to advocating on behalf of older adults and their families,” Gallo said, “AARP hopes a quick resolution can be found that prioritizes the quality of life, health and safety of nursing home residents and the nursing home staff at a time when they need us the most.”
rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-11-23--Chicago man charged in 2019 strangulation death of Waukegan woman

Owusu had been a person of interest in the homicide , police said .
Chicago police recently arrested him on @ @ @ @ @ turned him over to Waukegan police on a warrant for enhanced domestic battery .
During @ @ @ @ @ said , they amassed enough evidence to charge Owusu with the killing of Amos-Williams .

A Chicago man has been charged in the March 2019 killing of a Waukegan woman whom he had previously dated, Waukegan police said Monday.
Kwame Owusu, 29, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Danette Amos-Williams, 46, who was found strangled to death at a motel in the 3000 block of Belvidere Road.
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Owusu had been a person of interest in the homicide, police said. Chicago police recently arrested him on an unrelated charge and then turned him over to Waukegan police on a warrant for enhanced domestic battery. During their investigative process, police said, they amassed enough evidence to charge Owusu with the killing of Amos-Williams.
The pair previously had a dating relationship, authorities said. Amos-Williams was the victim in the domestic battery warrant, which stemmed from a February 2019 incident, police said.
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Motel staff discovered Amos-Williams’s body at around 11:25 a.m. on March 23, 2019, and alerted police. An autopsy later determined that she had been strangled to death.
Owusu was being held in lieu of $3 million bail. He is due back in court Dec. 15.


chicagotribune--2020-11-23--Three men accused of abducting a Naperville store owner arrested on federal kidnapping charges

The victim was forced back inside the residence and he and another person in the house directed to go into @ @ @ @ @ said .
Two more people arrived , were met at gunpoint and also were placed @ @ @ @

Three men who dressed as police officers to allegedly kidnap a Naperville man outside his electronics store have been indicted on federal kidnapping charges, according the U.S. District Court in Chicago.
Suspects Williams, 43, of Chicago; Ivan Ayers, 33, of Chicago; and Tai Han La, of Beach Park also were charged with a kidnapping in Westchester and an attempted kidnapping in South Hollard, a news release said.
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The Naperville incident occurred on Oct. 17, 2019. “The defendants allegedly physically assaulted the victim, extorted his family and burglarized his business,” the release said. “The victim received medical treatment in a hospital.”
In the Westchester case on Nov. 16, 2019, the suspects also dressed as law enforcement officers and abducted a man outside of his home.
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The victim was forced back inside the residence and he and another person in the house directed to go into the basement, the release said. Two more people arrived, were met at gunpoint and also were placed in the basement.
“The defendants allegedly stole cash and jewelry before leaving the residence,” the release said.
An attempt to carry out a third kidnapping on Dec. 11, 2019, was foiled because the men could not get inside the victim’s South Holland home, the release said.
Each of the suspects has been charged with participating in a kidnapping conspiracy, kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, and illegal firearm and ammunition possession. If convicted, the maximum sentence is life in federal prison, the release said.


chicagotribune--2020-11-23--Ground delivery tax would tack $1.25 onto Amazon orders in Chicago

Third-party delivery companies have taken a dim view of it .
Grubhub spokesman Grant Klinzman said the council “ chose @ @ @ @ @ across Chicago can effectively market themselves to drive demand , which severely impacts how many @ @ @ @ @ bring to these restaurants .
The lower order volume also impacts drivers ’ pay because @ @ @ @ @ .
”

An alderman introduced a plan Monday to tax deliveries by companies, such as Amazon, as the City Council also capped fees third-party delivery services charge pandemic-stricken restaurants and teed up Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s 2020 budget for a Tuesday vote.
Bridgeport Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson wants to charge an additional $1.25 for packages delivered by ground to addresses in the city that weigh 50 pounds or less, and $2.50 for heavier deliveries. Prescription medicine and food deliveries from restaurants would be exempted from the extra tax under Thompson’s plan.
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Amazon and other delivery companies have seen profits soar during the COVID-19 pandemic as people try to avoid shopping inside stores. But the new taxes would be charged to residents who order the packages, which could be a hard sell for aldermen on the heels of Lightfoot’s proposed $94 million property tax increase.
Also Monday, the council voted to immediately put restrictions in place on the amount delivery companies such as Grubhub and Uber Eats can charge restaurants to deliver food.
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The cap of 10% of the food’s cost for delivery and 15% of cost of the orders placed through a service for other fees such as marketing will only remain as long as indoor dining capacity is set at below 40% during the coronavirus pandemic.
Aldermen applauded the move Monday. “Hopefully this will really be an effort that helps out our restaurants immediately and keeps a lot of them in business, and a lot of workers still hopefully getting a paycheck,” Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, said.
Third-party delivery companies have taken a dim view of it. Grubhub spokesman Grant Klinzman said the council “chose to limit how local restaurants across Chicago can effectively market themselves to drive demand, which severely impacts how many customers and orders we can bring to these restaurants. The lower order volume also impacts drivers’ pay because there is less work available.”
Aldermen also took a series of procedural votes to prepare for a Tuesday up-or-down vote on the mayor’s 2021 budget. In addition to the controversial property tax hike, the package calls for ticketing people caught by automated speed cameras driving 6 miles per hour over the speed limit and increases gas taxes and some computer software taxes.
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @_johnbyrne


chicagotribune--2020-11-23--Michigan, Maine certify results, Pennsylvania still expected: Track progress in key battleground sta

Michigan, Maine certify results, Pennsylvania still expected: Track progress in key battleground states

Here is where the race stands in the battleground states — and the deadline for certification .
Also listed are @ @ @ @ @ has passed a law to prevent electors casting electoral votes for the party that nominated @ @

The battle over the results of the 2020 election has brought new attention to an important but often-overlooked part of the U.S. election process: certification of the results.
Each state has laws that set the deadline and process for the results to be certified. This process takes place locally and eventually at the state level. Those deadlines in key battleground states are underway.
Here is where the race stands in the battleground states — and the deadlines for certification. This also lists whether a state has a law to prevent electors casting electoral votes for a party other than the one that nominated them.
How the Electoral College process unfolds
Nov. 3: Election Day
Dec. 8: Deadline for states to resolve any issues over appointing electors
Dec. 14: Electors vote in their states
Dec. 23: Electoral votes and other documentation is received by president of the Senate
Jan. 6: Congress counts the votes in a joint session
Jan. 20: New president is inaugurated
More on the politics and the process
• Love it or hate it, here’s how the Electoral College came to be
• Here’s what will happen between Election Day and Inauguration Day
• ‘We are going to reclaim the United States’: President Trump, his lawyers and allies take frantic steps to overturn Joe Biden’s victory
• What if a state can’t agree which presidential candidate won? It’s happened before, and voters don’t necessarily get the final word.