chicagotribune--2020-05-27--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Statewide COVID-19 death toll passes 5,000 as US tops 100,000 fatal

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Statewide COVID-19 death toll passes 5,000 as US tops 100,000 fatalities

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus surpassed 100,000 on Wednesday , according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University .
This news came as Illinois officials on Wednesday announced 1,111 new known cases of COVID-19 and 160 additional deaths , pushing the statewide known case count to 114,306 total cases since the pandemic began .
The statewide death toll now stands at 5,083 .
With desperate Chicago restaurants set to be allowed to host outdoor diners within weeks under the next phase of Mayor Lori Lightfoot ’ s coronavirus reopening plan , city officials are still trying to come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them can legally do so .
Lightfoot has also said the city likely will move to the next phase in early June , meaning many offices , day care centers , retailers and gyms also will open with new rules about cleanliness , face coverings and capacity .
The administration has dubbed the third phase “ Cautiously Reopen.
” The guidelines for Chicago come as many businesses across Illinois are preparing to reopen at the end of the week as all four regions of the state move into the next phase of Gov @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plan .
5:50 p.m. : Worker at Springfield convention center where Illinois House convened for special session last week tests positive for COVID-19 Jessica Basham , chief of staff for House Speaker Michael Madigan , shared the news in an email to lawmakers and staff Wednesday , noting that “ at this time it appears this individual had no interaction with any member or other staff person.
” The person who tested positive worked an eight-hour shift on Thursday , and was not in the space that was used for the makeshift House @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Basham wrote , adding that she is unaware of anyone else who was in Springfield for the session testing positive .
Read more here .
— Jamie Munks 4:59 p.m. : As non-COVID-19 patients return to Chicago-area emergency rooms , doctors see skyrocketing blood pressure and other side effects of delays in care .
‘ It ’ s terrible , and it ’ s frightening.
’ One patient ran out of medication during the COVID-19 pandemic and ended up in the Loyola University Medical Center emergency room with dangerously high blood pressure .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ consistent treatment for chronic conditions during the pandemic , have come in with out-of-control asthma , mental health crises or inadequately treated chronic kidney failure .
And then there are the patients who have been putting off treatment for chest pain .
“ The ones that worry me the most are the patients that say I ’ ve been meaning to go to the doctor , but I couldn ’ t get in .
And now they show up , and instead of anginal chest pain , they ’ re having an acute @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” said Dr. Mark Cichon , director of emergency medical services at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood .
Read more here .
— Nara Schoenberg 4:54 p.m. : U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has surpassed 100,000 , according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University 100,000 deaths , a once-unthinkable toll that now appears to be just the beginning of untold misery in the months ahead as Las Vegas casinos and Walt Disney World make plans to reopen , crowds of unmasked Americans swarm beaches and public health officials predict a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
— The Associated Press 4:41 p.m. ( Updated ) : Chicago ’ s courthouses not yet ready to join list of reopenings , will remain in coronavirus shutdown mode And Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans will order a continuation of county courts ’ shutdown until July 6 , though that system could start to reopen earlier if circumstances allow , his office announced Wednesday .
Both court systems have been operating on a bare-bones basis since March due to the coronavirus threat .
While the Dirksen U.S .
Courthouse remains open @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hearings are largely being held remotely via video or teleconference .
Read more here .
— Megan Crepeau 4:23 p.m. : Chicago to allow ‘ shared streets ’ program for residents to walk and bike in neighborhoods Mayor Lori Lightfoot ’ s administration is planning to create several blocks of shared streets on the North and Northwest sides to give people more room to walk and bike while social distancing , according to published reports .
“ You may have seen that most other major cities in the United States have implemented shared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to socially distance while walking or running , ” Martin ’ s newsletter said .
“ It ’ s important to know that a shared street does not close the street to local traffic , but does discourage through traffic.
” The stretches of roadway identified are Cortland Avenue from Ridgeway Avenue to Rockwell Avenue in the Logan Square neighborhood ; Glenwood Avenue from Carmen Avenue to Devon Avenue , which runs through Edgewater and Uptown ; Leland Avenue from Lincoln Avenue to Sheridan Road in Lincoln Square and Uptown ; Palmer Street @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Hanson Park and Logan Square ; Roscoe Street between Narragansett Avenue and Long Avenue , at the border of Portage Park and Belmont Cragin ; and Wood Street from Cortland Street to North Avenue , in Bucktown .
There also are plans in the works to create similar set-ups on the South Side , according to a city official .
All the streets listed are residential .
As such , none of them has metered parking for cars , which would require the city to pay the company to which it leased @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deal for taking the spaces offline .
Other cities have set up streets with only limited access to vehicles , for people who live on them and those who need to make deliveries .
CDOT spokesman Michael Claffey said the city has been “ engaging both the general public and key stakeholders to better understand transportation issues created by the COVID-19 pandemic and discuss potential solutions .
As the City anticipates transitioning into a new phase of its re-opening plan sometime in June , CDOT is preparing plans to equitably re-allocate street space @ @ @ @ @ @ @ various uses beyond driving a car.
” Read more here .
— Chicago Tribune staff 3:47 p.m. : In ‘ grim milestone , ’ Cook County medical examiner ’ s office tops 2019 caseload with more than 6,600 cases this year — over half from the coronavirus The toll of Cook County ’ s death investigations during the first five months of 2020 already has surpassed last year ’ s total medical examiner ’ s caseload as the region continues to fight the deadly coronavirus , officials announced on Wednesday .
From the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Cook County medical examiner ’ s office has ruled on more than 6,600 deaths , over half of whom were COVID-19 patients , board president Toni Preckwinkle said in a Wednesday press conference .
That ’ s hundreds of more cases than the county saw in all of 2019 , which logged 6,274 cases .
Preckwinkle , noting 2020 has yet to reach its halfway mark , said this was a “ grim milestone.
” Read more here .
— Alice Yin 2:48 p.m. : Entering the marijuana industry is hard .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the coronavirus adds a new challenge .
The industry is highly regulated .
Weed is still illegal under federal law , which makes it harder for companies to land financing .
And finding a site can be difficult and expensive because the rules on where a cannabis business can locate vary wildly from town to town .
To foster opportunities for entrepreneurs of color to break into an industry that has seen sales of about $ 147.5 million of recreational weed just in the first four months , the state ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ equity rules .
But now the COVID-19 pandemic could threaten some startups ’ efforts to diversify the largely white-owned industry as they run out of time and money .
Read more here .
—Ally Marotti State officials on Wednesday announced 1,111 new known cases of COVID-19 and 160 additional deaths , pushing the statewide known case count to 114,306 total cases since the pandemic began .
The statewide death toll now stands at 5,083 .
With desperate Chicago restaurants set to be allowed to host outdoor diners within weeks under the next phase @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reopening plan , city officials are still trying to come up with a process so many of them can legally do so .
Speaking to reporters Wednesday about the Lightfoot administration ’ s phase three industry guidelines , Commissioner Rosa Escareno of the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection urged restaurateurs to apply for the city ’ s existing sidewalk cafe permits .
The annual permits must be renewed each year and start at $ 600 .
“ Our office actually has continued to operate , and we have continually processed sidewalk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who are interested in that permit to certainly come to our website or call us , and we are definitely continuing that process , ” Escareno said during a conference call with reporters .
Lightfoot has said the city likely will move to the next phase in early June , meaning many offices , day care centers , retailers and gyms also will open with new rules about cleanliness , face coverings and capacity .
The administration has dubbed the third phase “ Cautiously Reopen.
” Read more here .
—John Byrne 2:27 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for 50 % capacity rather than 50-person limit when they reopen during Phase 4 of the state COVID-19 plan A trade group of Illinois movie theater owners is pushing the state to revise its guidelines to allow cinemas — when they re-open — to seat more than 50 people .
That number is currently the maximum outlined under Governor J.B. Pritzker ’ s Restore Illinois plan , which has five phases .
Later this week , the state will be moving into Phase 3 , which allows for gatherings of up to 10 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ salons and offices .
Movie theaters are part of the Phase 4 re-openings , which limits gatherings to no more than 50 people .
The Illinois chapter of the National Association of Theater Owners ( NATO ) is hoping to see that number revised and is advocating for a proposal that would instead limit auditorium attendance to 50 % of an auditorium ’ s seating capacity .
New details – including the date of the virtual event and how it can be viewed – were released Wednesday by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ milestones canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting shutdown of schools , city officials sought a unique alternative for celebrating the achievements of Chicago ’ s graduating seniors .
Read more here .
—Ariel Cheung 1:32 p.m. : More businesses are opening up in Illinois Friday : Tell us about your plans With much of Illinois — the big exception is the city of Chicago — moving to phase three of Gov .
J.B. Pritzker ’ s plan to reopen the state , more businesses will be open for consumers .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , nonessential retail .
What do you plan to do Friday and this weekend ?
We would love to hear your plans and what you ’ re thinking about as you make them .
Cook County courts will remain in shutdown mode until July 6 , though the system could start to reopen earlier instead if circumstances allow , Chief Judge Timothy Evans ’ office announced Wednesday .
Only essential and emergency court operations have been conducted in Cook County courts since mid-March .
Evans ’ order extending the shutdown was set to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reopening more court proceedings on June 15 .
But more time and discussion are needed to plan a phase-in that would “ ensure that more proceedings will be conducted in a way that protects everybody , ” according to the statement .
Instead , he plans to enter an order on Thursday extending the slowdown until July 6 or until further notice .
The court system is also trying to get more Zoom licenses to conduct more court proceedings over the videoconferencing app , which has been used extensively to broadcast hearings since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of making up lost revenue for Chicago-area restaurants will not abate in June — even if reopening plans move forward in the coming month — but some makeshift solutions are drawing ire from already shrunken customer bases .
Lettuce Entertain You , the city ’ s largest restaurant group with 85 restaurants across Chicagoland , recently added a 4 % surcharge to delivery and carryout orders .
Its dozens of eateries range from the high-end RPM Steak and French bistro Mon Ami Gabi to casual joints like Bub City .
“ These fees @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when unanticipated costs have jeopardized the survival of our business , ” company president R.J. Melman said in an emailed statement .
Melman said the surcharge helps cover the expenses like personal protective equipment for employees and “ absorbing the greatest increase in food pricing since 1974.
” Meanwhile , backlash on social media forced the Lakeview-based Harold ’ s Chicken on Broadway to pull back on a surcharge the same day it was announced mid-May .
Customers posted photos of their receipts , highlighting the 26 % COVID-19 surcharge , and left @ @ @ @ @ @ @ practice .
Read more here .
—Ariel Cheung 10:41 a.m. : Large majority of CPS students participate in remote learning , but more than 2,200 have had no contact with teachers More than two months since schools statewide closed their doors because of COVID-19 , Chicago Public Schools has been unable to contact more than 2,250 students , according to newly released data .
And though the district is requiring schools to make contact with each student at least once a week , no school contact was recorded with 15 % of students @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the only week broken down in data provided by CPS .
More than 93 % of students in district-managed schools have digital access and have connected in some way , according to the district .
9:29 a.m. : Jury trials again put off at federal court in Chicago The federal court system has been operating on a bare-bones basis since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic .
While the Dirksen U.S .
Courthouse downtown remains open , most hearings are being held remotely via video or teleconference .
Big groups of people need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least 12 jurors need to be in the same room to hear evidence and deliberate .
Read more here .
—Megan Crepeau 9:25 a.m. : AP poll : Only about half of Americans would get a COVID-19 vaccine Only about half of Americans say they would get a COVID-19 vaccine if the scientists working furiously to create one succeed , according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research .
That ’ s surprisingly low considering the effort going into the global race for a vaccine against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ since first emerging from China late last year .
But more people might eventually roll up their sleeves : The poll , released Wednesday , found 31 % simply weren ’ t sure if they ’ d get vaccinated .
Another 1 in 5 said they ’ d refuse .
Temperatures checks and medical screenings will occur at entrances .
Face coverings will be required at all times .
Testing for COVID-19 may occur .
Six feet of social distancing must be observed .
Drinking water on the trading floor will be permitted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And public transportation should be avoided .
The exchange ’ s trading floor has been enlarged and reconfigured and new capacity limits have been put in place .
As a result of the guidelines detailed by CBOE , the exchange expects half of traders to return .
The exchange ’ s offices in Chicago , as well as its global locations , will remain closed , with employees working remotely .
CBOE said anyone violating the pandemic safety rules could be subject to informal or formal disciplinary action or barred from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ellen Podmolik Deadlocked over the next big coronavirus relief bill , Congress is shifting its attention to a more modest overhaul of small-business aid in hopes of helping employers reopen shops and survive the pandemic .
Bipartisan legislation that would give small employers more time to take advantage of federal subsidies for payroll and other costs is expected to pass the House this week , as lawmakers return to Washington for an abbreviated two-day session .
Yet absent from the agenda is formal talks between congressional leaders on the next phase of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pushed a $ 3 trillion-plus measure through the House , but negotiations with the GOP-controlled Senate and White House have yet to begin .
“ We can ’ t keep propping up the economy forever , ” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday in Lexington .
It was one of his first public appearances in his home state of Kentucky since mid-March because of the pandemic .
“ The ultimate solution is to begin to get back to normal , ” he said .
“ There are three things that are essential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ treatment and vaccine.
” Read more here .
—Associated Press 6:35 a.m. : Deaths of more than two dozen residents of Far North Side nursing home tied to COVID-19 : ‘ It seemed like there was nothing we could do ’ For days , Mirella Bogdan tried reaching her father by phone after she found out he had been exposed to the novel coronavirus at his Far North Side nursing home .
She was never able to reach him .
Then , she was told he was taken to an area hospital .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ d been able to see him on a video chat but not talk to him , her father , Mitchel Bogdan , died from COVID-19 , acute hypoxic respiratory failure and pneumonia along with other illnesses contributing .
Read more here .
—Elvia Malagon 6:30 a.m. : Preckwinkle vetoes ‘ extraordinarily bad ’ plan to share coronavirus-positive addresses with first responders In the first veto of her administration , Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on Tuesday moved to block a resolution to share addresses of COVID-19 individuals with 911 dispatchers , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the center of a debate on protecting first responders at the cost of individuals ’ civil liberties .
Cook County Board members narrowly approved the resolution , which only applies to suburban Cook County , last week following a heated discussion about the effects of the measure on black and Latino communities .
Read more here .
—Alice Yin 6:25 a.m. : The General Assembly adjourned its special pandemic session in the wee hours of a holiday weekend .
Here ’ s what you might have missed .
In a special legislative session @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , state lawmakers debated bills through masks and the Illinois House met on the floor of a downtown Springfield convention center to provide proper social distancing .
The three-day session stretched into four and then into the early morning hours of a fifth day , Sunday , before lawmakers adjourned until the fall .
Here ’ s a look at what got done — and what didn ’ t .
—Dan Petrella Here are five things that happened Tuesday that you need to know :

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus surpassed 100,000 on Wednesday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. This news came as Illinois officials on Wednesday announced 1,111 new known cases of COVID-19 and 160 additional deaths, pushing the statewide known case count to 114,306 total cases since the pandemic began. The statewide death toll now stands at 5,083.
With desperate Chicago restaurants set to be allowed to host outdoor diners within weeks under the next phase of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s coronavirus reopening plan, city officials are still trying to come up with a process so many of them can legally do so. Lightfoot has also said the city likely will move to the next phase in early June, meaning many offices, day care centers, retailers and gyms also will open with new rules about cleanliness, face coverings and capacity. The administration has dubbed the third phase “Cautiously Reopen.”
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The mayor on Tuesday released new rules for phase three of Chicago’s reopening plan.
The guidelines for Chicago come as many businesses across Illinois are preparing to reopen at the end of the week as all four regions of the state move into the next phase of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s five-phase reopening plan.
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[ When can Illinois reopen? Check our daily charts on where each region stands. ]
[ How will Illinois reopen? Three charts breaking down Pritzker’s plan ]
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
[ As the coronavirus spreads, the Tribune is tracking Illinois cases here ]
Here’s what’s happening Wednesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7:54 p.m.: What’s the recovery rate for COVID-19 in Illinois? That number is now available. But it’s complicated.
As the state moves toward easing restrictions aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic, health officials have offered a new way to study how often people are recovering from the infection.
It’s called the recovery rate, and the Illinois Department of Public Health began publishing the figure on its website over Memorial Day weekend. The site states that, as of the last count, 92% of those who tested positive for the virus have recovered.
The figure may seem self-explanatory, but experts caution that the latest number must be interpreted carefully, with a heavy dose of context. For example, the 92% rate is based on a group of people whose cases were confirmed more than six weeks ago, at a time when testing was offered mainly to very sick patients. Read more here. — Joe Mahr
5:50 p.m.: Worker at Springfield convention center where Illinois House convened for special session last week tests positive for COVID-19
A worker at the Springfield convention center where the Illinois House convened for special session last week has tested positive for COVID-19.
Jessica Basham, chief of staff for House Speaker Michael Madigan, shared the news in an email to lawmakers and staff Wednesday, noting that “at this time it appears this individual had no interaction with any member or other staff person.”
The person who tested positive worked an eight-hour shift on Thursday, and was not in the space that was used for the makeshift House floor or a public viewing area, Basham wrote, adding that she is unaware of anyone else who was in Springfield for the session testing positive. Read more here. — Jamie Munks
4:59 p.m.: As non-COVID-19 patients return to Chicago-area emergency rooms, doctors see skyrocketing blood pressure and other side effects of delays in care. ‘It’s terrible, and it’s frightening.’
One patient ran out of medication during the COVID-19 pandemic and ended up in the Loyola University Medical Center emergency room with dangerously high blood pressure.
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Others, unwilling or unable to get consistent treatment for chronic conditions during the pandemic, have come in with out-of-control asthma, mental health crises or inadequately treated chronic kidney failure.
And then there are the patients who have been putting off treatment for chest pain.
“The ones that worry me the most are the patients that say I’ve been meaning to go to the doctor, but I couldn’t get in. And now they show up, and instead of anginal chest pain, they’re having an acute heart attack and injuring the heart,” said Dr. Mark Cichon, director of emergency medical services at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. Read more here. — Nara Schoenberg
4:54 p.m.: U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has surpassed 100,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University
U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has surpassed 100,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
100,000 deaths, a once-unthinkable toll that now appears to be just the beginning of untold misery in the months ahead as Las Vegas casinos and Walt Disney World make plans to reopen, crowds of unmasked Americans swarm beaches and public health officials predict a resurgence by fall. Read more here. — The Associated Press
4:41 p.m. (Updated): Chicago’s courthouses not yet ready to join list of reopenings, will remain in coronavirus shutdown mode
Operations in Chicago’s federal and county courthouses have again delayed resuming normal operations, as crowded courtroom galleries and jury boxes continue to be risky propositions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Jury trials at Chicago’s federal courthouse will not resume until at least Aug. 3, Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer has ordered.
And Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans will order a continuation of county courts’ shutdown until July 6, though that system could start to reopen earlier if circumstances allow, his office announced Wednesday.
Both court systems have been operating on a bare-bones basis since March due to the coronavirus threat. While the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse remains open, as do most county courthouses, hearings are largely being held remotely via video or teleconference. Read more here. — Megan Crepeau
4:23 p.m.: Chicago to allow ‘shared streets’ program for residents to walk and bike in neighborhoods
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration is planning to create several blocks of shared streets on the North and Northwest sides to give people more room to walk and bike while social distancing, according to published reports.
Chicago Ald. Matt Martin, 47th, told residents in his newsletter Wednesday that the city’s shared streets pilot program will start Friday.
“You may have seen that most other major cities in the United States have implemented shared streets programs which allows pedestrians more space to socially distance while walking or running,” Martin’s newsletter said. “It’s important to know that a shared street does not close the street to local traffic, but does discourage through traffic.”
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The stretches of roadway identified are Cortland Avenue from Ridgeway Avenue to Rockwell Avenue in the Logan Square neighborhood; Glenwood Avenue from Carmen Avenue to Devon Avenue, which runs through Edgewater and Uptown; Leland Avenue from Lincoln Avenue to Sheridan Road in Lincoln Square and Uptown; Palmer Street from Long Avenue to Kedzie Boulevard, in Hanson Park and Logan Square; Roscoe Street between Narragansett Avenue and Long Avenue, at the border of Portage Park and Belmont Cragin; and Wood Street from Cortland Street to North Avenue, in Bucktown.
The city’s plan was first reported by the transit Website Streetsblog Chicago. It was reported second by Block Club.
There also are plans in the works to create similar set-ups on the South Side, according to a city official.
All the streets listed are residential. As such, none of them has metered parking for cars, which would require the city to pay the company to which it leased its meters in a roundly derided 2008 deal for taking the spaces offline.
Other cities have set up streets with only limited access to vehicles, for people who live on them and those who need to make deliveries.
CDOT spokesman Michael Claffey said the city has been “engaging both the general public and key stakeholders to better understand transportation issues created by the COVID-19 pandemic and discuss potential solutions. As the City anticipates transitioning into a new phase of its re-opening plan sometime in June, CDOT is preparing plans to equitably re-allocate street space to residents, where feasible, for various uses beyond driving a car.” Read more here. — Chicago Tribune staff
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3:47 p.m.: In ‘grim milestone,’ Cook County medical examiner’s office tops 2019 caseload with more than 6,600 cases this year — over half from the coronavirus
The toll of Cook County’s death investigations during the first five months of 2020 already has surpassed last year’s total medical examiner’s caseload as the region continues to fight the deadly coronavirus, officials announced on Wednesday.
From the start of the year until now, the Cook County medical examiner’s office has ruled on more than 6,600 deaths, over half of whom were COVID-19 patients, board president Toni Preckwinkle said in a Wednesday press conference.
That’s hundreds of more cases than the county saw in all of 2019, which logged 6,274 cases. Preckwinkle, noting 2020 has yet to reach its halfway mark, said this was a “grim milestone.” Read more here. — Alice Yin
2:48 p.m.: Entering the marijuana industry is hard. For those applying under social equity rules, the coronavirus adds a new challenge.
Opening a marijuana business has never been easy.
The industry is highly regulated. Weed is still illegal under federal law, which makes it harder for companies to land financing. And finding a site can be difficult and expensive because the rules on where a cannabis business can locate vary wildly from town to town.
To foster opportunities for entrepreneurs of color to break into an industry that has seen sales of about $147.5 million of recreational weed just in the first four months, the state’s recreational marijuana law laid out specific social equity rules. But now the COVID-19 pandemic could threaten some startups’ efforts to diversify the largely white-owned industry as they run out of time and money. Read more here. —Ally Marotti
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2:40 p.m.: Officials report 1,111 new known COVID-19 cases and 160 more deaths
State officials on Wednesday announced 1,111 new known cases of COVID-19 and 160 additional deaths, pushing the statewide known case count to 114,306 total cases since the pandemic began. The statewide death toll now stands at 5,083.
2:30 p.m.: Lightfoot’s administration outlines Chicago’s rules for outdoor dining, office capacity under next phase of city’s coronavirus reopening
With desperate Chicago restaurants set to be allowed to host outdoor diners within weeks under the next phase of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s coronavirus reopening plan, city officials are still trying to come up with a process so many of them can legally do so.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday about the Lightfoot administration’s phase three industry guidelines, Commissioner Rosa Escareno of the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection urged restaurateurs to apply for the city’s existing sidewalk cafe permits. The annual permits must be renewed each year and start at $600.
“Our office actually has continued to operate, and we have continually processed sidewalk cafe permits, and we encourage restaurants who are interested in that permit to certainly come to our website or call us, and we are definitely continuing that process,” Escareno said during a conference call with reporters.
Lightfoot has said the city likely will move to the next phase in early June, meaning many offices, day care centers, retailers and gyms also will open with new rules about cleanliness, face coverings and capacity. The administration has dubbed the third phase “Cautiously Reopen.” Read more here. —John Byrne
2:27 p.m.: Illinois movie theater owners push for 50% capacity rather than 50-person limit when they reopen during Phase 4 of the state COVID-19 plan
A trade group of Illinois movie theater owners is pushing the state to revise its guidelines to allow cinemas — when they re-open — to seat more than 50 people. That number is currently the maximum outlined under Governor J.B. Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan, which has five phases.
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Later this week, the state will be moving into Phase 3, which allows for gatherings of up to 10 people in businesses including retail stores, salons and offices. Movie theaters are part of the Phase 4 re-openings, which limits gatherings to no more than 50 people.
The Illinois chapter of the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) is hoping to see that number revised and is advocating for a proposal that would instead limit auditorium attendance to 50% of an auditorium’s seating capacity.
The trade group is also pushing to open earlier. Read more here. —Nina Metz
1:40 p.m.: New details announced for Oprah-led graduation ceremony for Chicago’s high school seniors
Chicago’s first-ever citywide virtual graduation ceremony will features city-connected names including Oprah Winfrey, Miguel Cervantes of “Hamilton” and Katie Kadan of “The Voice” and more “surprised celebrities.”
New details – including the date of the virtual event and how it can be viewed – were released Wednesday by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
With traditional graduation ceremonies and other year-end milestones canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting shutdown of schools, city officials sought a unique alternative for celebrating the achievements of Chicago’s graduating seniors. Read more here. —Ariel Cheung
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1:32 p.m.: More businesses are opening up in Illinois Friday: Tell us about your plans
With much of Illinois — the big exception is the city of Chicago — moving to phase three of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s plan to reopen the state, more businesses will be open for consumers. Restaurants and bars, gyms, salons, nonessential retail.
What do you plan to do Friday and this weekend? We would love to hear your plans and what you’re thinking about as you make them.
Click here to fill out a survey to let us know. —Chicago Tribune staff
1:10 p.m.: Cook County courts will remain in shutdown mode until July 6
Cook County courts will remain in shutdown mode until July 6, though the system could start to reopen earlier instead if circumstances allow, Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ office announced Wednesday.
Only essential and emergency court operations have been conducted in Cook County courts since mid-March. Evans’ order extending the shutdown was set to expire May 31.
Evans considered slowly reopening more court proceedings on June 15. But more time and discussion are needed to plan a phase-in that would “ensure that more proceedings will be conducted in a way that protects everybody,” according to the statement. Instead, he plans to enter an order on Thursday extending the slowdown until July 6 or until further notice.
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Reopening plans have not been finalized but would involve face coverings, physical distancing and room capacity limits among other measures, the statement read.
The court system is also trying to get more Zoom licenses to conduct more court proceedings over the videoconferencing app, which has been used extensively to broadcast hearings since mid-April. —Megan Crepeau
12:30 p.m.: Chicago restaurants test COVID-19 surcharges as costs mount, but customer backlash forces one to retreat
The painful arithmetic of making up lost revenue for Chicago-area restaurants will not abate in June — even if reopening plans move forward in the coming month — but some makeshift solutions are drawing ire from already shrunken customer bases.
Lettuce Entertain You, the city’s largest restaurant group with 85 restaurants across Chicagoland, recently added a 4% surcharge to delivery and carryout orders. Its dozens of eateries range from the high-end RPM Steak and French bistro Mon Ami Gabi to casual joints like Bub City.
“These fees are a necessary step during a time when unanticipated costs have jeopardized the survival of our business,” company president R.J. Melman said in an emailed statement. Melman said the surcharge helps cover the expenses like personal protective equipment for employees and “absorbing the greatest increase in food pricing since 1974.”
Meanwhile, backlash on social media forced the Lakeview-based Harold’s Chicken on Broadway to pull back on a surcharge the same day it was announced mid-May. Customers posted photos of their receipts, highlighting the 26% COVID-19 surcharge, and left one-star reviews on Yelp complaining of the practice. Read more here. —Ariel Cheung
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10:41 a.m.: Large majority of CPS students participate in remote learning, but more than 2,200 have had no contact with teachers
More than two months since schools statewide closed their doors because of COVID-19, Chicago Public Schools has been unable to contact more than 2,250 students, according to newly released data.
And though the district is requiring schools to make contact with each student at least once a week, no school contact was recorded with 15% of students for the week of May 11, the only week broken down in data provided by CPS.
More than 93% of students in district-managed schools have digital access and have connected in some way, according to the district.
But engagement rates were lower among black and Latino students. Read more here. —Hannah Leone
9:29 a.m.: Jury trials again put off at federal court in Chicago
Jury trials at Chicago’s federal courthouse will not resume until at least Aug. 3, Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer has ordered.
The federal court system has been operating on a bare-bones basis since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse downtown remains open, most hearings are being held remotely via video or teleconference.
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While bench trials, pleas and sentencing hearings can proceed remotely in some circumstances, criminal jury trials present a particular problem in a pandemic, and Pallmeyer’s order Tuesday urged caution.
"Social-distancing guidelines might render juror participation difficult or unsafe, including during juror check-in and jury selection," she wrote.
Big groups of people need to gather for jury selection, and at least 12 jurors need to be in the same room to hear evidence and deliberate. Read more here. —Megan Crepeau
9:25 a.m.: AP poll: Only about half of Americans would get a COVID-19 vaccine
Only about half of Americans say they would get a COVID-19 vaccine if the scientists working furiously to create one succeed, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
That’s surprisingly low considering the effort going into the global race for a vaccine against the coronavirus that has sparked a pandemic since first emerging from China late last year. But more people might eventually roll up their sleeves: The poll, released Wednesday, found 31% simply weren’t sure if they’d get vaccinated. Another 1 in 5 said they’d refuse.
Health experts already worry about the whiplash if vaccine promises like President Donald Trump’s goal of a 300 million-dose stockpile by January fail. Only time and science will tell — and the new poll shows the public is indeed skeptical. Read more here. —Associated Press
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9:24 a.m.: CBOE to reopen trading floor, but with far fewer traders and a lot more rules
The CBOE Options Exchange’s trading floor, closed since mid-March because of the coronavirus, will reopen June 8 in Chicago with a host of new rules and likely far fewer traders.
Temperatures checks and medical screenings will occur at entrances. Face coverings will be required at all times. Testing for COVID-19 may occur. Six feet of social distancing must be observed. Drinking water on the trading floor will be permitted, but food delivery won’t. And public transportation should be avoided.
The exchange’s trading floor has been enlarged and reconfigured and new capacity limits have been put in place.
As a result of the guidelines detailed by CBOE, the exchange expects half of traders to return. The exchange’s offices in Chicago, as well as its global locations, will remain closed, with employees working remotely.
CBOE said anyone violating the pandemic safety rules could be subject to informal or formal disciplinary action or barred from the facilities. Read more here. —Mary Ellen Podmolik
7:29 a.m.: Congress shifts focus to overhauling Paycheck Protection Program
Deadlocked over the next big coronavirus relief bill, Congress is shifting its attention to a more modest overhaul of small-business aid in hopes of helping employers reopen shops and survive the pandemic.
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Bipartisan legislation that would give small employers more time to take advantage of federal subsidies for payroll and other costs is expected to pass the House this week, as lawmakers return to Washington for an abbreviated two-day session.
Yet absent from the agenda is formal talks between congressional leaders on the next phase of the federal coronavirus response. Democrats have already pushed a $3 trillion-plus measure through the House, but negotiations with the GOP-controlled Senate and White House have yet to begin.
“We can’t keep propping up the economy forever,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday in Lexington. It was one of his first public appearances in his home state of Kentucky since mid-March because of the pandemic.
“The ultimate solution is to begin to get back to normal,” he said. “There are three things that are essential to have full normalcy — testing, treatment and vaccine.” Read more here. —Associated Press
6:35 a.m.: Deaths of more than two dozen residents of Far North Side nursing home tied to COVID-19: ‘It seemed like there was nothing we could do’
For days, Mirella Bogdan tried reaching her father by phone after she found out he had been exposed to the novel coronavirus at his Far North Side nursing home.
She was never able to reach him. Then, she was told he was taken to an area hospital. A week later, after she’d been able to see him on a video chat but not talk to him, her father, Mitchel Bogdan, died from COVID-19, acute hypoxic respiratory failure and pneumonia along with other illnesses contributing. Read more here. —Elvia Malagon
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6:30 a.m.: Preckwinkle vetoes ‘extraordinarily bad’ plan to share coronavirus-positive addresses with first responders
In the first veto of her administration, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on Tuesday moved to block a resolution to share addresses of COVID-19 individuals with 911 dispatchers, the latest blow to a controversial practice at the center of a debate on protecting first responders at the cost of individuals’ civil liberties.
Cook County Board members narrowly approved the resolution, which only applies to suburban Cook County, last week following a heated discussion about the effects of the measure on black and Latino communities. Read more here. —Alice Yin
6:25 a.m.: The General Assembly adjourned its special pandemic session in the wee hours of a holiday weekend. Here’s what you might have missed.
In a special legislative session called in response to the coronavirus pandemic, state lawmakers debated bills through masks and the Illinois House met on the floor of a downtown Springfield convention center to provide proper social distancing.
The three-day session stretched into four and then into the early morning hours of a fifth day, Sunday, before lawmakers adjourned until the fall. Here’s a look at what got done — and what didn’t. —Dan Petrella
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
May 26
Here are five things that happened Tuesday that you need to know:


chicagotribune--2020-05-27--Comptroller Susana Mendoza makes clear how much legislators will be getting in pay raises this year:

Comptroller Susana Mendoza makes clear how much legislators will be getting in pay raises this year: ‘Zero’

While it ’ s true that no such language was included , the budget lawmakers approved would not provide any @ @ @ @ @ of legislator raises , which means they won ’ t be seeing a pay bump @ @ @ @ @ a Chicago Democrat whose job includes writing lawmakers ’ paychecks .

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza appears before a forum at the Renee Crown Public Media Center in 2019 in Chicago. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)
Seeking to knock down a Republican talking point on the $40 billion state spending plan passed over the weekend, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza released a video Wednesday declaring that legislators won’t be getting raises in the budget year that begins July 1.
“Some state legislators seem to think they’ll be getting a pay raise this year,” Mendoza says in the minute-long video. “The answer is: No, they won’t."
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As debate over the budget stretched into the early-morning hours Sunday, some Republicans in the Illinois House and Senate objected to the lack of language specifically blocking the automatic cost-of-living raises legislators are granted under state law.
The conservative Illinois Policy Institute also made note of the omission as lawmakers spent their special session cobbling together a plan for a budget decimated by the coronavirus pandemic.
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While it’s true that no such language was included, the budget lawmakers approved would not provide any money to cover the cost of legislator raises, which means they won’t be seeing a pay bump, according to Mendoza, a Chicago Democrat whose job includes writing lawmakers’ paychecks.
“Here’s how much money the General Assembly appropriated for legislator raises … in this year’s budget: Zero," Mendoza says in the video.
“Which means, here’s how much more money I will be putting in their paychecks this year: Zero.”
Mendoza’s office is the defendant in an ongoing lawsuit from two former Democratic state senators over past budgets that did block the cost-of-living raises. Democrats cited that case as the reason similar language was left out this time.
jmunks@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-27--Chicago to allow ‘shared streets’ program for residents to walk and bike in neighborhoods

The stretches of roadway identified are Cortland Avenue from Ridgeway Avenue to Rockwell Avenue in the Logan Square neighborhood ; @ @ @ @ @ to Devon Avenue , which runs through Edgewater and Uptown ; Leland Avenue from Lincoln @ @ @ @ @ Lincoln Square and Uptown ; Palmer Street from Long Avenue to Kedzie Boulevard , in @ @ @ @ @ ; Roscoe Street between Narragansett Avenue and Long Avenue , at the border of Portage @ @ @ @ @ and Wood Street from Cortland Street to North Avenue , in Bucktown .

Pedestrians walk near the intersection of West Devon Avenue and North Glenwood Avenue on May 27, 2020, in Chicago. Mayor Lori Lightfoot's administration is planning to create several blocks of shared streets on the North and Northwest sides to give people more room to walk and bike while social distancing including North Glenwood Avenue from West Carmen Avenue to West Devon Avenue. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration is planning to create several blocks of shared streets on the North and Northwest sides to give people more room to walk and bike while social distancing, according to published reports.
Chicago Ald. Matt Martin, 47th, told residents in his newsletter Wednesday that the city’s shared streets pilot program will start Friday.
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“You may have seen that most other major cities in the United States have implemented shared streets programs which allows pedestrians more space to socially distance while walking or running,” Martin’s newsletter said. “It’s important to know that a shared street does not close the street to local traffic, but does discourage through traffic.”
The stretches of roadway identified are Cortland Avenue from Ridgeway Avenue to Rockwell Avenue in the Logan Square neighborhood; Glenwood Avenue from Carmen Avenue to Devon Avenue, which runs through Edgewater and Uptown; Leland Avenue from Lincoln Avenue to Sheridan Road in Lincoln Square and Uptown; Palmer Street from Long Avenue to Kedzie Boulevard, in Hanson Park and Logan Square; Roscoe Street between Narragansett Avenue and Long Avenue, at the border of Portage Park and Belmont Cragin; and Wood Street from Cortland Street to North Avenue, in Bucktown.
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The city’s plan was first reported by the transit website Streetsblog Chicago. It was reported second by Block Club.
There are plans in the works to create similar setups on the South Side, according to a city official.
All the streets listed are residential. As such, none of them has metered parking for cars, which would require the city to pay the company to which it leased its meters in a roundly derided 2008 deal for taking the spaces offline.
Other cities have set up streets with only limited access to vehicles, for people who live on them and those who need to make deliveries.
CDOT spokesman Michael Claffey said the city has been “engaging both the general public and key stakeholders to better understand transportation issues created by the COVID-19 pandemic and discuss potential solutions. As the city anticipates transitioning into a new phase of its reopening plan sometime in June, CDOT is preparing plans to equitably reallocate street space to residents, where feasible, for various uses beyond driving a car.”


chicagotribune--2020-05-27--Chicago’s virtual graduation ceremony, with Oprah Winfrey headlining, gets a date and some co-stars

“ Our graduating seniors have displayed incredible persistence over the past few months and deserve this one-of-a-kind celebration to honor @ @ @ @ @ CEO Janice Jackson said in a statement .
“ Though many of them have postsecondary @ @ @ @ @ all over the country and the world , this virtual graduation truly exemplifies how special @ @ @ @ @ in Chicago and graduate from Chicago Public Schools .
”

Chicago’s graduating high school seniors will gather virtually on June 14 for a citywide commencement, featuring Oprah Winfrey, “Hamilton” star Miguel Cervantes and “The Voice” contestant Katie Kadan.
Among the other new details of the ceremony announced Wednesday by Mayor Lori Lightfoot are that actors from The Second City will perform a skit, while Chicago-born Kadan will sing the national anthem.
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Cervantes will serve as the emcee for the event, touted as the first of its kind, while additional “surprise” celebrities and sports figures from Chicago will also give shoutouts, the mayor’s office said. Lightfoot announced Winfrey’s involvement at the end of April.
“While Chicago’s 2020 graduating class cannot walk across their school’s stage to get their diplomas, we are asking them to don their caps and gowns on June 14 as the entire city celebrates this unforgettable milestone together,” Lightfoot said in a statement released Wednesday.
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With traditional graduation ceremonies and other year-end milestones canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting shutdown of schools, city officials sought a unique alternative for celebrating the achievements of Chicago’s graduating seniors.
The ceremony, which will be broadcast at 1 p.m. June 14 on major local television and radio stations and the city’s livestream feeds, will also include student performances by the Dunbar Vocational Career Academy High School drum line; The Chicago High School for the Arts, also known as ChiArts; and Kenwood Academy High School.
Students from schools throughout the city will write and perform a single valedictorian speech, and all graduating seniors can submit a video of their graduation walk to chicagograd2020.com for possible use in the virtual celebration.
“The times we are living in are truly unprecedented and now, more than ever, our future rests on the talent, ideas and ambition of our next generation of leaders,” Lightfoot said.
The ceremony, co-created and hosted by the city of Chicago and the investment firm Citadel, is open to all Chicago high school seniors, whether they attend Chicago Public Schools, or charter or private schools.
“Our graduating seniors have displayed incredible persistence over the past few months and deserve this one-of-a-kind celebration to honor their accomplishments,” CPS CEO Janice Jackson said in a statement. “Though many of them have postsecondary plans that will take them all over the country and the world, this virtual graduation truly exemplifies how special it is to grow up in Chicago and graduate from Chicago Public Schools.”
The event will be aired live on ABC 7, WGN-TV, WTTW, Fox 32 and Univision, and will stream live on the ABC Localish network and on WBEZ.org. CBS 2 plans to air the ceremony later that evening. Live closed captioning will be provided.
The event will celebrate the experiences of all of Chicago’s high school seniors, whether they attend district, charter or private schools, according to the mayor’s office.
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The city has also launched the My CHI. My Future. initiative as a way of providing out-of-school summer experiences, including jobs, live events and training sessions, for Chicago youth.
archeung@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-27--Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration outlines Chicago’s rules for outdoor dining, office capacity u

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration outlines Chicago’s rules for outdoor dining, office capacity under next phase of city’s coronavirus reopening

“ When they do have to go to the bathroom , obviously they can , ” Toia said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ have to — if they ’ re eating , they take their mask off .
@ @ @ @ @ mask on to go to the bathroom , and then when they get back to @ @ @ @ @ , obviously they can take their mask off .
”

With desperate Chicago restaurants set to be allowed to host outdoor diners within weeks under the next phase of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s coronavirus reopening plan, city officials are still trying to come up with a process so many of them can legally do so.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday about the Lightfoot administration’s phase three industry guidelines, Commissioner Rosa Escareno of the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection urged restaurateurs to apply for the city’s existing sidewalk cafe permits. The annual permits must be renewed each year and start at $600.
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“Our office actually has continued to operate, and we have continually processed sidewalk cafe permits, and we encourage restaurants who are interested in that permit to certainly come to our website or call us, and we are definitely continuing that process,” Escareno said during a conference call with reporters.
Enrique Barrios paints a planter box at Bar Takito in Chicago's West Loop on May 27, 2020. Plants will be planted May 29 as the bar gets ready for outdoor dining in early June. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
As Illinois and Chicago wait to reopen in the coming days and weeks, coronavirus deaths in the state surpassed 5,000 on Wednesday.
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State officials announced 160 additional deaths, for a statewide death toll that now stands at 5,083. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who held his daily news briefing in East St. Louis, also announced 1,111 new known cases of the coronavirus in the state, which pushes the statewide total to 114,306 known cases since the pandemic began earlier this year.
Laboratories in the state reported conducting 17,179 COVID-19 tests in a 24-hour period, for a total of 803,973 tests to date.
Lightfoot has said the city likely will move to the next phase of reopening in early June, meaning many offices, day care centers, retailers and gyms also will open with new rules about cleanliness, face coverings and capacity. The administration has dubbed the third phase “Cautiously Reopen.”
Though Lightfoot has said she expects Chicago to enter that step in early June, she has not yet announced a date. Her guidelines follow Pritzker’s release of statewide guidelines as the rest of the state outside Chicago is on pace to advance to phase three on Friday. Lightfoot has the authority to set stricter rules for Chicago than Pritzker’s statewide framework, but she can’t enact looser ones.
Not included in the plan Lightfoot’s administration released late Tuesday are guidelines for reopening sporting events, bars, religious services, outdoor performances, summer programs and youth activities, the lakefront and museums. Those standards “will be available later in phase three when those entities are predicted to begin reopening,” according to the release.
Restaurants will face some of the toughest new restrictions, with dining in relegated only to areas deemed outdoors, including spots where large doors or windows can be pulled open with tables set inside near the openings.
But for many of the city’s thousands of restaurants, qualifying for a permit to host patio seating will be the only way to legally serve dine-in customers under the new rules.
Isaac Reichman, spokesman for the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, said the department is working to accommodate them.
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“The city is working on a temporary, more streamlined process to ensure restaurants have the proper permits they need to operate outdoors under phase three of the reopening,” Reichman said in a statement. “We will be providing more details in the coming days.”
As for bathroom access at restaurants, Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia said diners will need to mask themselves to do so.
“When they do have to go to the bathroom, obviously they can,” Toia said. “They’re gonna have to — if they’re eating, they take their mask off. They have to put their mask on to go to the bathroom, and then when they get back to the table to eat again, obviously they can take their mask off.”
The next phase also will see the reopening of downtown offices and nonessential retailers, which Deputy Mayor Samir Mayekar said will bring about 130,000 employees back into the city’s workforce out of the roughly 300,000 he said have been “unable to work” since the pandemic hit.
Though those settings will only be allowed to operate at 25% capacity in Chicago, the potential surge in commuters on city trains and buses has the city preparing to add capacity to help people spread out in the cramped interiors.
“We have all kinds of ways that people are used to coming into the Loop and other economic centers,” said Gia Biagi, commissioner of the city Department of Transportation. “And so we’re looking at how we can add capacity to the system, whether that’s additional buses, whether that’s looking at additional bus rapid transit lanes, looking at additional train cars.”
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Biagi also said companies are being encouraged to stagger employees’ shifts at offices around the city.
Michael Cornicelli, executive vice president at the Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago, said companies in offices will work out ways to adapt to the new capacity restrictions.
“You’re seeing suggestions of they consider staggered hours, whether that is some people start at 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock and leave accordingly,” Cornicelli said. “In other cases, people might be working Mondays and Tuesdays, then they have half the workforce Monday and Tuesday, the other half come in on the two other days that week, and everybody works from home on Fridays.”
Chicago Tribune’s Jamie Munks contributed.
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @_johnbyrne


chicagotribune--2020-05-27--As non-COVID-19 patients return to Chicago-area emergency rooms, doctors see skyrocketing blood pres

As non-COVID-19 patients return to Chicago-area emergency rooms, doctors see skyrocketing blood pressure and other side effects of delays in care. ‘It’s terrible, and it’s frightening.’

Rosenberg cited the example of a 40-year-old man who went to his family doctor in New Jersey with chest pain @ @ @ @ @ to go to the emergency room .
The man was afraid of contracting COVID-19 and @ @ @ @ @ The pain continued , on and off the next day , and during a trip @ @ @ @ @ the man had a massive heart attack and died .

Dr. Mark Cichon, Professor and Chair Dept. of Emergency Medicine at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, talks with the foster mom of a young patient May 27, 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
One patient ran out of medication during the COVID-19 pandemic and ended up in the Loyola University Medical Center emergency room with dangerously high blood pressure.
Others, unwilling or unable to get consistent treatment for chronic conditions during the pandemic, have come in with out-of-control asthma, mental health crises or inadequately treated chronic kidney failure.
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And then there are the patients who have been putting off treatment for chest pain.
“The ones that worry me the most are the patients that say I’ve been meaning to go to the doctor, but I couldn’t get in. And now they show up, and instead of anginal chest pain, they’re having an acute heart attack and injuring the heart,” said Dr. Mark Cichon, director of emergency medical services at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.
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After a lull in emergency room visits due to the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors at four Chicago emergency rooms told the Tribune they have seen an increase in non-COVID-19 patients in the past few weeks, along with signs that some patients are suffering because of pandemic-related delays in care.
Some of the affected patients avoided hospitals or doctors’ offices due to fears of getting COVID-19; others had trouble getting treatment due to job loss, health insurance loss or disruptions in the health care system, doctors said.
The American College of Emergency Physicians had previously found that patients were delaying care because of fears of contracting COVID-19, but reports from Chicago emergency rooms and an interview with ACEP President-elect Dr. Mark Rosenberg indicate that doctors are now seeing the results of some of those delays: actual harm to patients.
“(Patients) are having bad health outcomes because of untimely care. It’s terrible, and it’s frightening to see that,” said Rosenberg.
Rosenberg cited the example of a 40-year-old man who went to his family doctor in New Jersey with chest pain; the doctor told him to go to the emergency room. The man was afraid of contracting COVID-19 and didn’t go. The pain continued, on and off the next day, and during a trip to his local bank, the man had a massive heart attack and died.
Rosenberg, the chair of emergency medicine at St. Joseph’s Health in Paterson and Wayne, New Jersey, said an emergency room colleague had a similar experience with a patient who experienced weakness in the face and difficulty speaking for over a day before coming to the emergency room.
The patient had a life-altering stroke, Rosenberg said, and is no longer able to speak.
Emergency room doctors at Loyola, Rush University Medical Center, the University of Chicago Medicine and Northwestern Memorial Hospital said they’ve seen increases in non-COVID-19 patients in recent weeks, with at least some patients showing the negative effects of delayed care.
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Dr. Mark Cichon transcribes notes at Loyola University Medical Center's emergency department in Maywood on May 27, 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
The doctors emphasized that timely care is important.
“We have put things in place to keep patients, family members and staff safe,” said Dr. Edward Ward, vice chair of the department of emergency medicine at Rush University Medical Center. “This is a safe place to come.”
At the University of Chicago Medicine, emergency department medical director Tom Spiegel pointed to precautions such as a separate waiting area for patients without COVID-19 symptoms.
Patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and heart failure should contact their doctors if they notice a change in their health, said Cichon.
The University of Chicago Medicine website recommends calling 911 or going to the emergency room for symptoms such as shortness of breath; chest pain; left arm pain; left jaw pain; serious burns and cuts; severe allergic reactions; slurred speech or sudden numbness or weakness; facial droop; loss of vision or balance; a change in mental status such as confusion; loss of consciousness; multiple injuries or a potential broken bone in areas such as the ribs, skull, pelvis or face; seizures; and vaginal bleeding or pelvic/abdominal pain in women who are pregnant.
Timely treatment is important: Emergency room doctors ideally want to open up a blockage in the heart within less than 90 minutes of the start of heart attack symptoms, such as chest pain. A stroke should be treated with clot-busting medication or other intervention less than three hours after the start of symptoms.
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Dr. Mark Cichon stands outside Loyola University Medical Center's emergency department May 27, 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
“The faster you come in, the better we can help you,” said Ward.
The uptick in emergency room patients is, in some ways, a sign of life returning to normal: Patients are more confident about seeking care, and some are being treated for conditions such as traffic injuries that signal the state’s reopening.
At Loyola, Cichon said that he has seen an approximately 10 to 15 percent increase in patients due to non-COVID patients coming in who have delayed treatment. At Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the emergency room, which had been seeing 30 percent non-COVID-19 patients, has been seeing 50 or 60 percent in the last week or two, according to Dr. George Chiampas, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Northwestern Medicine.
Spiegel said his emergency department has seen a double-digit increase in patients in the past week or so, some of whom arrived in crisis because of delayed care, and a lot who apparently were just more comfortable coming into a hospital now that the state is moving toward reopening.
He said the emergency room, which normally sees 240 to 250 patients a day, saw a dramatic decline in volume after the stay-at-home order, but is now back to over 200 patients a day.
nschoenberg@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-27--Since coronavirus shut down Chicago schools, teachers have had no contact with at least 2,200 studen

Since coronavirus shut down Chicago schools, teachers have had no contact with at least 2,200 students; engagement lower among black and Latino pupils

Overall , the percentage of students using Google at least once a week has risen over the past month from @ @ @ @ @ week of remote learning , April 13 , to above 77 % the week of @ @ @ @ @ CPS .
About 69 % participated at least twice that week and 59 % at @ @ @ @ @ about 120,000 students are not logging on at least three days a week .

Parents line up to pick up laptops outside Chicago's Richardson Middle School for use in remote learning. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
More than two months since schools statewide closed their doors because of COVID-19, Chicago Public Schools has been unable to contact more than 2,250 students to determine whether they have digital access, according to newly released data.
And though the district is requiring schools to make contact with each student at least once a week, no school contact was recorded with 15% of students for the week of May 11, the only week broken down in data provided by CPS. That’s about 44,000 students whom schools didn’t hear from that week.
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More than 93% of students in district-managed schools have digital access and have connected in some way, according to the district. That’s a long way from where things stood at the start of remote learning, before 122,000 Chromebooks or similar devices were loaned to students.
But that still leaves out thousands of students, who still need access to computers or reliable internet. About 5%, or 15,600 students, have made contact but are considered nondigital.
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“Remote learning is not perfect, and the data makes that very clear,” said Chief Education Officer LaTanya McDade. "But we are really committed that we are doing everything in our power to support our students and support our families.”
After weeks of prodding by Chicago reporters and the district denying public records requests about student participation rates during the coronavirus school shutdown, CPS officials on Wednesday released a snapshot of data showing student contact, engagement with Google platforms used for remote learning and assignments scored.
African American and Latino students, whose communities have been hardest hit by the coronavirus, were least likely to use Google Meet or Classroom, based on data for the week of May 11. About 70% of African American students and 78% of Latino students accessed the platforms at least once, compared to nearly 87% of both white and Asian students in first through 12th grade.
The gap was similar when looking at graded assignments, with grades recorded for 77% of African American students, 85% of Latino students, 89% of multiracial students, 91% of Asian students and 92% of white students in first grade through high school. (Preschool and kindergarten students use a greater variety of platforms and less Google, and don’t receive graded assignments, so they weren’t included in some calculations.)
“It’s no secret that the pandemic has disproportionately impacted communities of color, which is the majority of our students, and so of course I wasn’t surprised to see that bear out in the data,” McDade told the Tribune.
The district’s staff needs to “dig deeper” to figure out what specific challenges are most affecting each community and how to address them, and no single approach will work for all, she said.
“That data tells us a lot about where we need to target support, where we need to make expectations clear and how to provide academic support not just now but in the fall and in the future,” McDade said.
The least engaged students appear to be those in temporary living situations, of whom only 61% used the Google platforms, and students with special education plans, with fewer than 68% using the platforms. English learners had a 73% Google participation rate.
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“Of course for our diverse learners, where they have individualized plans ... they do need different levels of attention," McDade said, pointing out guidance CPS has given educators to help them support their students.
Some of the services students need are challenging to provide remotely because they’re most effective in person, McDade said.
The Chicago Teachers Union last week filed a lawsuit against U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and CPS over special education services during the pandemic, claiming that directives for the shift to remote learning have created an “impossible burden” for special education teachers.
CTU President Jesse Sharkey said in a statement Wednesday that the new engagement data show that the district needs to better serve its most vulnerable students.
“The data tells us that thousands of vulnerable students are being locked out of the kind of seamless engagement they need to learn and grow socially and emotionally,” Sharkey said. "We must do more than simply attempt to paint an upbeat face on data. Instead, CPS must craft policies that address the inequity we know students and families are confronting — inequity that our members work tirelessly to attempt to erase throughout the school year.
“We need more than emergency remote learning,” he added, “especially since we know it’s possible that in-school learning next fall may continue to be beyond reach.”
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Nearly 294,000 students attend schools operated by CPS.
Overall, the percentage of students using Google at least once a week has risen over the past month from below 70% the first week of remote learning, April 13, to above 77% the week of May 11, according to CPS. About 69% participated at least twice that week and 59% at least three times — meaning about 120,000 students are not logging on at least three days a week.
Both contact and engagement rose from early to middle grades, then fell throughout high school, with only half of seniors logging on to Google platforms three times a week or more and 67% at least twice a week.
The most engaged grade has been eighth, with 69% logging on three times a week and close to 80% twice a week. At 90%, eighth graders were also second most likely to have received a grade on an assignment, following 10th graders at 91%.
Contact rates in all high school grades was about 76%. Contact could include academic work or social outreach.
Contact, Google engagement and graded assignments are all important to consider when assessing a student’s participation, McDade said.
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“What’s important here is looking at all three data sets to get a complete picture of ... what’s happening with a school community, what’s happening with a student,” McDade said.
How to reach students is up to each school. “Our educators know what our students need, they have a read on what’s happening,” she said. “All of our learning communities are different and unique.”
McDade said the district would likely release data broken down by school later in the week. The district said it did not have data on about 3,520 students. Some schools had not submitted contact data by Friday and the district only started requiring them to do so last week.
“Currently, CPS has one week of data available to report,” states a district-provided fact sheet. “Schools have been tracking this data locally and the district did not originally request central data submission."
District officials said they still need more data to understand student learning and engagement and committed to providing more end-of-year data.
“You can’t draw complete conclusions based on what we’re seeing,” McDade said. Though Google is the district-approved platform, some classes have been using other tools such as Zoom, which makes tracking less streamlined. CPS is pushing everyone toward Google, she said.
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hleone@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-27--Chicago’s courthouses not yet ready to join list of reopenings, will remain in coronavirus shutdown

Chicago’s courthouses not yet ready to join list of reopenings, will remain in coronavirus shutdown mode

Evans considered slowly reopening more court proceedings on June 15 , according to an announcement from his office Wednesday .
@ @ @ @ @ are needed to plan a phase-in that would “ ensure that more proceedings will be @ @ @ @ @ protects everybody , ” according to the statement .
Instead , he plans to enter @ @ @ @ @ the slowdown until July 6 or until further notice .

Federal jury trials will remain postponed due to to the COVID-19 pandemic at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, shown at left. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
Operations in Chicago’s federal and county courthouses have again delayed resuming normal operations, as crowded courtroom galleries and jury boxes continue to be risky propositions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jury trials at Chicago’s federal courthouse will not resume until at least Aug. 3, Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer has ordered.
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And Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans will order a continuation of county courts’ shutdown until July 6, though that system could start to reopen earlier if circumstances allow, his office announced Wednesday.
Both court systems have been operating on a bare-bones basis since March due to the coronavirus threat. While the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse remains open, as do most county courthouses, hearings are largely being held remotely via video or teleconference.
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While federal bench trials, pleas and sentencing hearings can proceed remotely in some circumstances, criminal jury trials present a particular problem in a pandemic, and Pallmeyer’s order Tuesday urged caution.
"Social-distancing guidelines might render juror participation difficult or unsafe, including during juror check-in and jury selection," she wrote.
Big groups of people need to gather for jury selection, and at least 12 jurors need to be in the same room to hear evidence and deliberate.
In addition, authorities must give five to six weeks’ notice before a trial to summon jurors — and there is no way to know what kind of safety guidelines might be recommended that far in advance. Locally, Chicago has been slower to schedule the lifting of restrictions than other locations.
As with previous orders, Pallmeyer wrote Tuesday that time spent awaiting trial during the pandemic would not count against the speedy trial clock.
The order does hint that federal investigations here are proceeding in some fashion, as they relate to processes at the courthouse. And indeed, some indictments have begun to be issued in recent weeks.
On the county side, Evans’ order extending the shutdown was initially set to expire May 31.
Evans considered slowly reopening more court proceedings on June 15, according to an announcement from his office Wednesday. But more time and discussion are needed to plan a phase-in that would “ensure that more proceedings will be conducted in a way that protects everybody,” according to the statement. Instead, he plans to enter an order on Thursday extending the slowdown until July 6 or until further notice.
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Reopening plans have not been finalized but would involve face coverings, physical distancing and room capacity limits among other measures, the statement read.
Two “duty courtrooms” are hearing emergency matters in adult criminal cases, and bond court is still in session every day. Since mid-April, many court hearings are held via Zoom and broadcast in a livestream on YouTube for the public to view.
The county is trying to get more Zoom licenses to conduct more court proceedings over the videoconferencing app, the chief judge’s office said.
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-27--Body found in DuPage River near West Chicago; autopsy will determine if it is woman who was swept aw

Body found in DuPage River near West Chicago; autopsy will determine if it is woman who was swept away while walking dogs May 15

The preserve is about 5 ½ miles downstream from the Winfield Mounds Forest Preserve , where the woman , from @ @ @ @ @ away following a period of heavy rain .
A bicyclist saw the woman in waist-deep @ @ @ @ @ bridge .
The cyclist tried to help the woman but lost sight of her in @ @ @ @ @ said .

A body was recovered Wednesday morning from the west branch of the DuPage River near West Chicago, and authorities said an autopsy will determine if it is an 18-year-old woman who was swept away while walking two dogs May 15.
The body was found south of Mack Road by two officers who were searching the waterway by kayak at the Blackwell Forest Preserve, according to a news release from the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County.
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The preserve is about 5 ½ miles downstream from the Winfield Mounds Forest Preserve, where the woman, from West Chicago, was swept away following a period of heavy rain. A bicyclist saw the woman in waist-deep water on a flooded pedestrian bridge. The cyclist tried to help the woman but lost sight of her in the fast-moving river, authorities said.
More than 100 search-and-rescue personnel and volunteers tried to locate the woman on May 15 and 16 using boats, drones, thermal-imaging equipment and helicopters. One of the dogs was found alive. The body of the second dog was found May 21 under water in the Winfield Mounds preserve, according to DuPage Forest Preserve District Police Chief David Pederson.
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An autopsy on the body found Wednesday is expected to be conducted by the DuPage County coroner on Thursday, according to the news release from the forest preserve district. The coroner’s office would not reveal the gender of the body found.


chicagotribune--2020-05-27--‘Unusual’ group fight breaks out at Niles cemetery; police identify gang member, suspected illegal d

‘Unusual’ group fight breaks out at Niles cemetery; police identify gang member, suspected illegal drugs

According to the police report , a bag containing 3.7 grams of suspected cocaine was discovered in one of the @ @ @ @ @ the cemetery after it was left behind following the alleged fight .
Drug charges were @ @ @ @ @ owner of the car , according to the report .

A report of a fight inside a Niles cemetery drew a large police response last week, but yielded no arrests as officers were unable to locate victims interested in pursuing criminal charges, a police official said.
Officers from Niles, Chicago’s 16th District and Morton Grove responded to St. Adalbert Catholic Cemetery, 6800 N. Milwaukee Avenue, shortly before 6 p.m. on May 22 after a woman reported that a fight between several people had broken out near a mausoleum, leading to one person being choked by another, a police report said.
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According to the report, the woman told officers that the people involved in the fight appeared to be gang members and that one of them took out a gun, leading everyone in the group to run away or enter nearby cars.
Police were able to identify 10 different male suspects, ranging in age from 19 to 49, but no criminal charges were filed, said Niles Police Cmdr. Anthony Scipione.
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Two of the men, one of whom was found with blood on his hands, were issued tickets for public intoxication, he said.
“No one wanted to sign a complaint of battery,” Scipione said. “Without any victims who wanted to cooperate, we released everyone on scene, with the exception of the two who were cited.”
Scipione said police believe the men had gathered at a gravesite for a memorial service when a physical altercation erupted.
Approximately 30 police officers responded to the incident, he said.
Chicago police identified a 21-year-old man who was discovered hiding behind a headstone as a known gang member who was recently arrested for illegally carrying a gun, the Niles police report said.
No weapons were recovered, Scipione said.
According to the police report, a bag containing 3.7 grams of suspected cocaine was discovered in one of the cars that was towed from the cemetery after it was left behind following the alleged fight. Drug charges were not immediately filed against the owner of the car, according to the report.
Scipione said police have not responded to any other similar disturbances at the cemetery.
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“This was very unusual,” he said.
jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune


chicagotribune--2020-05-27--In ‘grim milestone,’ Cook County medical examiner’s office tops 2019 caseload with more than 6,600 c

In ‘grim milestone,’ Cook County medical examiner’s office tops 2019 caseload with more than 6,600 cases this year — over half from the coronavirus

Even without the coronavirus , the county is seeing about 700 cases more than usual at this point of the @ @ @ @ @ up to 257 as of Wednesday , a slight increase from last year ’ s @ @ @ @ @ , at least 10 people were shot to death and at least 40 others were @ @ @ @ @ Day weekend , marking the deadliest one since 2015 .

The toll of Cook County’s death investigations during the first five months of 2020 already has surpassed last year’s total medical examiner’s caseload as the region continues to fight the deadly coronavirus, officials announced Wednesday.
From the start of the year until now, the Cook County medical examiner’s office has ruled on more than 6,600 deaths, over half of whom were COVID-19 patients, County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said at a Wednesday news conference.
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That’s hundreds of more cases than the county saw in all of 2019, which logged 6,274 cases. Preckwinkle, noting 2020 has yet to reach its halfway mark, said this was a “grim milestone.”
About 40,000 people die in Cook County each year, officials said. The medical examiner’s office investigates certain cases such as unnatural deaths and, in the case of the coronavirus, those that are a threat to public health.
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“Our world has been turned upside down,” Preckwinkle said before noting the county saw its 3,518th death from the coronavirus on Wednesday. “Each (death) left behind people who love them deeply and were feeling a profound loss.”
The county medical examiner’s office also has felt the staggering weight of the fatalities, with some examiners working 16-hour shifts or seven-day weeks to keep up. As the last line of health care workers for coronavirus patients, medical examiners are now juggling over 100 cases per day during the pandemic — at least four times more than usual.
Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Ponni Arunkumar described it as a “crushing workload.”
“This is an extremely difficult year,” Arunkumar said. “At the beginning of March, I could not imagine what the next few months would bring. … We’re used to dealing with death here. It’s our life’s work. But we’ll never be used to the tragedy that each represents.”
Earlier this year, the medical examiner’s office secured a surge center in a refrigerated warehouse to keep up with the rising number of COVID-19 deaths. Arunkumar said about 120 to 150 cases are studied there daily, and there is no plan to taper down operations in the near future.
“Unprecedented times call for unprecedented action,” Preckwinkle said. “The men and women who are tasked with chronicling these deaths have one of the most difficult jobs during this pandemic. This team does not get the benefit of witnessing many success stories.”
Even without the coronavirus, the county is seeing about 700 cases more than usual at this point of the year. Homicide deaths were up to 257 as of Wednesday, a slight increase from last year’s 240. Just this weekend, at least 10 people were shot to death and at least 40 others were wounded in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend, marking the deadliest one since 2015.
Fatal opioid overdoses this year already were at 503, and 70% to 80% of over 500 cases that are still pending may also be opioid-related. Last year in May, 689 opioid deaths were logged.
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In addition, the office is looking at about 35 heart attack and pneumonia cases from November 2019 to mid-April to determine whether they could be related to COVID-19. But Arunkumar is also not ruling out that the first such case could have been even earlier and will continue to investigate should the deaths from November turn up positive for COVID-19.
Arunkumar also gave an update on the case of the 9-month-old baby who was diagnosed with COVID-19 before dying. She said the case is still pending after her office sent additional tissue for testing to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
ayin@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-27--2 exonerated men file federal suits claiming Chicago police and Cook County prosecutors framed them

2 exonerated men file federal suits claiming Chicago police and Cook County prosecutors framed them for murder as teens

And to get around Fulton ’ s alibi , an investigator with the Cook County state ’ s attorney ’ @ @ @ @ @ to make it look like there was an unmonitored back door in his apartment complex @ @ @ @ @ each door was in view of a security camera and a key-fob system tracked each @ @ @ @ @ have left and returned undetected , as authorities claimed , according to the suit .

Anthony Mitchell speaks during a news conference May 27, 2020, announcing a federal lawsuit filed against Chicago police for allegedly fabricating and suppressing evidence. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Two men exonerated of a 2003 murder have sued Chicago police and Cook County prosecutors in federal court, alleging they manipulated photo evidence, physically abused the pair, and fabricated their supposed confessions out of whole cloth.
John Fulton and Anthony Mitchell were arrested as teenagers, then spent nearly half their lives behind bars before a Cook County judge tossed their convictions last year. Their lawsuits, filed Wednesday, seek damages for civil rights violations and malicious prosecution.
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“I still don’t feel free. I still feel like I’m trapped inside of an ice cube, stuck in time. Sometimes I feel like the 18-year-old kid that got locked up, that was always told to tell the truth. The truth didn’t set me free,” Fulton said at a news conference Wednesday. “… It’s a nightmare every day of my life.”
Fulton was two months away from his high school graduation when he was arrested; his fiancee had just given birth to their child, according to a news release from law firm Loevy and Loevy. Mitchell’s girlfriend was pregnant when he was locked up. Neither had any convictions on their records, according to the lawsuits.
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“They had everything in the world to look forward to, but instead their lives were shattered,” attorney Sam Heppell said at the news conference.
The two teens were arrested for the grisly 2003 murder of Christopher Collazo, whose body was discovered bound with duct tape and partially burned in an alley in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.
John Fulton stands with attorney Andrea Lyon during a news conference announcing a federal lawsuit May 27, 2020. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Police allegedly leaned on a 17-year-old girl to falsely implicate Fulton and Mitchell in the murder, along with another boy, Antonio Shaw.
Fulton had an alibi. On the night of the death, he was with his fiancee at the University of Chicago hospital, then home at their apartment — where security cameras monitored every doorway. And Fulton’s alibi also clears Mitchell, according to the lawsuit, since prosecutors alleged that Fulton was the instigator of the attack and recruited Mitchell for help.
“In order for Anthony to be guilty, John had to be guilty. Because it was John who was supposed to have driven the car, John who supposedly had the beef with the victim,” attorney Andrea Lyon said Wednesday.
But after “false promises of leniency, threats and physical violence,” Fulton, Mitchell and Shaw each gave multiple false confessions, they allege.
A police officer acting as polygrapher even said that before administering a lie detector test, Fulton spontaneously confessed to the murder — a claim the same polygraph officer allegedly made more than 100 times in a five-year period, according to the lawsuit.
“For this phenomenon to happen repeatedly … defies all statistical probability,” Fulton’s lawsuit alleges.
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And to get around Fulton’s alibi, an investigator with the Cook County state’s attorney’s office took misleading photos to make it look like there was an unmonitored back door in his apartment complex — when in fact, each door was in view of a security camera and a key-fob system tracked each entry. Fulton could not have left and returned undetected, as authorities claimed, according to the suit.
Shaw succeeded in getting a judge to throw out his confession before trial, and the charges against him were dropped. But Fulton and Mitchell were convicted and each sentenced to 31 years behind bars.
A spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. A representative of the city Law Department also declined to comment, saying it had not yet seen the suit.
About a year after his release from custody, Mitchell spoke with emotion in his voice at the news conference Wednesday publicizing his suit.
“I could stand here all day about how I’m bitter or mad, but I’m not mad at anybody involved,” he said. “I just want justice so it won’t happen to anybody else.”
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-27--When can Illinois reopen? Check our daily charts on where each region stands.

The metrics focus on a rolling average of positive coronavirus cases and hospitalizations to keep track of the direction of @ @ @ @ @ availability of hospital beds and ventilators that would be needed to handle a possible surge @ @ @ @ @ for testing and tracing positive tests .

Chad Yoder, Nausheen Husain, Jennifer Smith Richards, Jonathon Berlin

With each of the state’s four regions in Phase 3 of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan, the clock starts on moving on to Phase 4, where more businesses and activities are allowed. The plan to reopen Illinois — from restaurants and salons to open space to non-COVID-19 procedures at the hospital to concerts and festivals — depends on a host of metrics laid out by Pritzker.
The metrics focus on a rolling average of positive coronavirus cases and hospitalizations to keep track of the direction of the outbreak as well as availability of hospital beds and ventilators that would be needed to handle a possible surge. There are also benchmarks for testing and tracing positive tests.
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
A key element of the plan is that a region can move both forward and backward, where more parts of society can open and shut depending on the seriousness of the outbreak.
Here is a breakdown of where each region stands.


chicagotribune--2020-05-27--COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood

Search below by street address , ZIP code or city , then click on the map to see the number @ @ @ @ @ state is not providing data for any ZIP code with five cases or fewer .

Note: With Chicago and Illinois moving into phase 5, the Tribune is no longer updating this data. If the state moves back into bridge phase, the Tribune we reassess. Daily metrics on COVID-19, like cases, deaths and hospitalizations, can be found here. And Daily metrics on the vaccination effort can be found here. More on where the coronavirus stands nationally and around the world can be found here.
Illinois releases the number of positive COVID-19 cases by ZIP code daily. The map below shows the cumulative cases for each area as well as other analysis of the data.
• Check out the Tribune’s coronavirus coverage.
• Tracking daily Illinois coronavirus deaths, cases and tests.
Search below by street address, ZIP code or city, then click on the map to see the number of confirmed and probable cases. The state is not providing data for any ZIP code with five cases or fewer.
Data as of June 10.
The map search tool above works best in Chrome or Firefox and may not perform consistently in Internet Explorer.
Note: Because of a coding error this map was displaying the incorrect rates for new cases in the last 7 days per 100,000 people — the issue should now be resolved.. The Tribune adjusted the data shown on the map below to focus on new cases, those the state tracked in the last 7 seven days. The totals for the entire pandemic are still available, but in the pop-up after tapping or clicking on a ZIP.


chicagotribune--2020-05-27--Tracking Illinois coronavirus: 5,083 deaths, 114,306 confirmed cases, 803,973 tests,  14.3% positivi

Tracking Illinois coronavirus: 5,083 deaths, 114,306 confirmed cases, 803,973 tests,  14.3% positivity rate for Northeast region

As the coronavirus spreads and local , state and national governments work to contain and mitigate the outbreak , the @ @ @ @ @ .

Johns Hopkins University & Medicine tracked coronavirus cases, deaths and test totals from Jan. 22, 2020 through March 10, 2023, but is no longer providing this data. These charts will no longer be updated.
Check the Illinois Department of Public Health for the most up-to-date data for Illinois.
[ Remembering the lives of those in Illinois who died from coronavirus ]
Can’t see these charts? Go here.


chicagotribune--2020-05-27--Crowd throws bottles at Chicago cops as they make arrest near where 5-year-old girl was wounded in d

Crowd throws bottles at Chicago cops as they make arrest near where 5-year-old girl was wounded in drive-by shooting, police say

As the officers placed him under arrest , they were “ surrounded by a hostile crowd that began yelling profanities @ @ @ @ @ if they did not let the individual in custody go , ” police said in @ @ @ @ @ , glass bottles were being thrown in an attempt to harm the officers .
”

Paramedics transport a 5-year-old girl from Mercy Hospital & Medical Center to Comer Children's Hospital after she was shot in the leg on the 200 block of West Pershing Road late on May 26, 2020. Additionally, a 15-year-old boy who was shot in the face and leg and 16-year-old boy who was shot three times in the leg were transported from the scene in the Fuller Park neighborhood. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
A crowd threw bottles and cursed at Chicago police officers as they arrested an 18-year-old man on gun charges Tuesday night near where a 5-year-old girl and two teenage boys were wounded in a drive-by shooting, authorities said.
The officers radioed a “10-1” call for assistance, but no injuries were reported, and the man, Shamar Le Quan Hunter, was taken to a police station and charged with aggravated unlawful use of weapon, police said.
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Hunter was not charged in connection with the shooting, which occurred around 10:40 p.m. in the 200 block of West Pershing Road near the Wentworth Gardens housing complex. Someone in a passing dark-colored car fired shots and hit a 5-year-old girl in the leg, a 15-year-old boy in the leg and face, and a 16-year-old boy in the leg.
All three were taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in fair condition, officials said.
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Officers responding to the shooting saw a man holding his waistband hurriedly walking away from them. The officers ordered him to stop, but he began running and was hit in the face by a tree branch and fell, police said.
As the officers placed him under arrest, they were “surrounded by a hostile crowd that began yelling profanities while threatening to harm them if they did not let the individual in custody go,” police said in a statement. “Also, glass bottles were being thrown in an attempt to harm the officers.”
No other arrests were reported.