chicagotribune--2020-10-08--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened Oct. 8 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

The iO ( once ImprovOlympic ) only dates to 1981 , as compared to 1959 for Second City .
Nonetheless @ @ @ @ @ held , for-profit operations that share a parallel history , rivalry and centrality in the @ @ @ @ @ along with associations with now-famous talents like Tina Fey , Mike Myers and Amy Poehler @ @ @ @ @ of the entertainment business .
Each has been closed since March and thus starved of @ @ @ @ @ and state regulations limiting the size of indoor gatherings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic @

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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 daily number of new known coronavirus cases announced by Illinois officials on Thursday was the highest in nearly five months, except for a day in early September when the state caught up on a testing backlog.
The 3,059 new known cases represents the first time the daily count has topped 3,000 since May 14, when the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 3,239 cases. The department reported 5,368 new cases on Sept. 4, but that was due to a backlog in processing test results.
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In addition to the newly confirmed cases, which bring the total number known infections to 310,700 statewide since the pandemic began, officials on Thursday reported 32 more fatalities. That brings the death toll to 8,910. Officials also reported 72,491 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 3.7%.
The new numbers come as Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday that the gains that most regions in Illinois had been making in bringing down COVID-19 positivity rates in recent weeks have “cooled off a bit.” The governor noted specifically that the northeastern region that includes Lake and McHenry counties has seen a reversal after a period of decline.
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Here’s what’s happening Thursday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
6:20 p.m.: IHSA doctor says high school basketball could happen in Illinois if players wear masks
The senior member of the Illinois High School Association’s sports medicine advisory committee said Thursday that high school basketball might be possible this year if all players wear masks.
Dr. Preston Wolin said that idea is being considered by the Illinois Department of Public Health, whose COVID-19 guidelines place restrictions on high school and youth sports. As of now, basketball is considered a medium risk for virus transmission, meaning athletes can scrimmage but not compete against other schools.
The high school basketball season is supposed to start Nov. 16.
Wolin said recent communication between the IHSA and the state has included “a draft considering allowing a basketball season to proceed with everybody being masked. As to whether there is actually an IDPH policy that has been promulgated describing this, that I don’t think I can answer.”
Asked for comment, an IDPH spokeswoman responded: “There are no updates to the guidance planned at this time.”
An IHSA spokesman did not return a request for comment.
Read more here. —John Keilman
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5:05 p.m.: Winnetka businessman charged with price gouging in sale of protective masks during pandemic
A North Shore businessman was charged in federal court in Chicago on Thursday with illegally price gouging customers seeking to purchase protective masks amid the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Krikor Topouzian, 60, of Winnetka, was charged in a criminal information with violating anti-price gouging laws. The charge carries a maximum of one year in prison.
According to the charge, Topouzian, who owns a medical supply company based in Skokie, accumulated in March and April a stockpile of nearly 80,000 respirator masks, including N95 masks, for roughly just over $5 per mask.
Topouzian later sold nearly 40,000 of the masks to customers for prices as high as $19.95 per mask — a markup of up to 367%, the information alleged. Topouzian kept selling the masks at inflated prices despite being repeatedly warned by law enforcement and others that it was illegal.
Nearly all of the sales were made to individual customers, the charge alleged.
An arraignment date for Topouzian had not been set as of Thursday.
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Read more here. —Jason Meisner
4:45 p.m.: Outdoor dining winterization money comes as some push for tougher Chicago requirements on third-party delivery apps
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday touted $500,000 the city’s getting from restaurant delivery company DoorDash to winterize Chicago restaurants, while proposals by aldermen to further crack down on such apps during the coronavirus pandemic languish in City Council committees.
In announcing the grant from the delivery company to help restaurants prepare for winter, Lightfoot thanked DoorDash “for investing in Chicago and its restaurants to assist them in continuing to serve Chicagoans this winter.”
Third-party apps such as DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats that charge additional fees to restaurants to deliver meals have drawn increasing scrutiny from elected officials since the virus outbreak began, as diners skittish about eating inside restaurants have been ordering more to-go meals, fueling a boom for the companies.
Read more here. —John Byrne
4:35 p.m.: Wisconsin surpasses 3,000 new COVID-19 cases for first time as Upper Midwest and Plains emerge as troubling hot spots
A surge of coronavirus cases in Wisconsin and the Dakotas is forcing a scramble for hospital beds and raising political tensions, as the Upper Midwest and Plains emerge as one of the nation’s most troubling hot spots.
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The three states now lead all others in new cases per capita, after months in which many politicians and residents rejected mask requirements while downplaying the risks of the disease that has now killed over 210,000 Americans.
“It’s an emotional roller coaster,” said Melissa Resch, a nurse at Wisconsin’s Aspirus Wausau Hospital, which is working to add beds and reassign staff to keep up with a rising caseload of virus patients, many gravely ill.
“Just yesterday I had a patient say, ‘It’s OK, you guys took good care of me, but it’s OK to let me go,’” Resch said. “I’ve cried with the respiratory unit, I’ve cried with managers. I cry at home. I’ve seen nurses crying openly in the hallway.”
Wisconsin surpassed 3,000 new virus cases for the first time on Thursday, more than 200 above its previous daily record, set earlier this month.
Read more here. —Associated Press
2:18 p.m.: Cook County launches suburban $20 million mortgage assistance program as hope for more federal relief runs thin: ‘More is going to be needed’
Homeowners in suburban Cook County can apply for mortgage assistance starting Friday as part of another coronavirus recovery program funded by CARES Act money, but uncertainty remains on when more federal relief is coming.
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The $20 million program will dole out payments of up to $10,000 directly to mortgage collectors, giving homeowners reprieve for one to three months on overdue or future payments, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced at a Thursday news conference. The fund is estimated to help between 2,500 and 3,000 homeowners, with an average of about $7,800 per individual.
Read more here. —Alice Yin
1:56 p.m.: Second stimulus check updates: Nancy Pelosi says she’s ‘at the table’ even after Trump scrapped COVID-19 relief talks
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she’s “at the table” and ready to negotiate a coronavirus aid package even after President Donald Trump halted talks abruptly. His decision earlier this week sent the jittery economy reeling and left his GOP allies scrambling as millions of Americans go without jobless assistance, hoped-for business support or expanded testing protocols weeks before Election Day.
Pelosi said she told Trump’s chief negotiator, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, she is willing to consider a measure to prop up the airline industry, which is facing widespread layoffs. But that aid, she said, must go alongside broader legislation that includes the kind of COVID testing, tracing and health practices that Democrats say are needed as part of a national strategy to “crush the virus.”
“Lives are at stake,” Pelosi said at the Capitol. “This is deadly serious.”
In a stunning admission, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that he had stopped going to the White House two months ago because he disagreed with its coronavirus protocols. His last visit was Aug. 6.
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Read more here. —Associated Press
12:45 p.m.: Orland Park drops lawsuit against Gov. Pritzker challenging COVID-19 restrictions
Orland Park has dropped a federal lawsuit against Gov. J.B. Pritzker challenging restrictions put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to court filings.
The village and other plaintiffs in the case had initially filed the complaint in mid-June, and last month told the judge overseeing the case it planned to file an amended lawsuit by this Thursday.
The short document filed Tuesday did not give an explanation why the village decided to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit.
Read more here. —Mike Nolan
12:07 p.m.: Illinois reports more than 3,000 newly confirmed coronavirus cases
The daily number of new known coronavirus cases announced by Illinois officials on Thursday was the highest in nearly five months, except for a day in early September when the state caught up on a testing backlog.
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The 3,059 new known cases represents the first time the daily count has topped 3,000 since May 14, when the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 3,239 cases. The department reported 5,368 new cases on Sept. 4, but that was due to a backlog in processing test results.
In addition to the newly confirmed cases, which bring the total number known infections to 310,700 statewide since the pandemic began, officials on Thursday also reported 32 more fatalities. That brings the death toll to 8,910.
The state received results from a near-record number of coronavirus tests in the previous 24 hours, with 72,491 screenings reported for a single-day positivity rate of 4.2%.
The highest number of tests reported in a single day was 74,286 on Sept. 19, but there were only 2,529 new cases reported that day, a positivity rate of 3.4%.
For comparison, the one-day positivity rate on May 14 was 14.2% because the 3,239 positive results came from just 22,678 tests.
Read more here. —Dan Petrella
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10:35 a.m.: Willie Wilson, who’s running as an independent against U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, says he has tested positive for coronavirus
Willie Wilson, the entrepreneur and frequent candidate for political office who is mounting an independent challenge to Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, announced Thursday he has tested positive for COVID-19 and will begin a 10-day quarantine.
“I am experiencing mild symptoms at this time. However, I am confident that we will beat COVID-19,” said Wilson, 72, a food and medical service glove distributor who also has his own gospel orchestra and record distribution company.
Read more here. —Rick Pearson
10:34 a.m.: Logan Square’s City Lit Books to close Dec. 1, a casualty of the pandemic
The pandemic has claimed City Lit, a vibrant independent bookstore and a fixture of the Logan Square neighborhood. Citing a 50% drop in revenue, owner Teresa Kirschbraun said the shop would close for good on Dec. 1. City Lit has maintained its staff of four through the pandemic with the help of a loan from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, Kirschbraun said. But between rent, staffing and book costs, the store, which has remain shuttered during the pandemic, has been operating at a significant loss. City Lit has offered online ordering and curbside pickup, but Kirschbraun said the safety protocols required to reopen the store didn’t lend themselves to a quality shopping experience.
“The point was the joy of it, the joy of being with the people who came in all the time who loved books,” Kirschbraun said.
Also, it wasn’t clear that people would come into browse if City Lit had opened its doors to the public. Neighborhood foot traffic has changed dramatically, she said. City Lit is accepting orders for curbside pick-up through Oct. 15. Nov. 30 is the last day for online orders.
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Read more here. —Jen Day
9:25 a.m.: Regeneron asks FDA for emergency approval for experimental antibody cocktail that Trump, without evidence, claims cured him
The drugmaker Regeneron said on Wednesday evening that it had submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency approval of the experimental antibody cocktail that President Donald Trump had praised just hours earlier without evidence as a “cure” for the coronavirus.
The company said that at first, access to the treatment would be extremely limited, with only enough doses for 50,000 patients, a far cry from the “hundreds of thousands” of doses that Trump said in a video released Wednesday he would soon be making available to Americans free of charge.
There is no evidence that the treatment is the reason he was feeling better, and his doctors have said he has taken other drugs as well.
Read more here. —The New York Times
8:53 a.m.: Trump refuses to do a virtual debate with Biden after contracting COVID-19: ‘They cut you off whenever they want’
President Donald Trump vowed Thursday not to participate in next week’s debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden after organizers announced it will take place virtually because of the president’s diagnosis of COVID-19.
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“I’m not going to do a virtual debate,” Trump told Fox Business News, moments after the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced the changes.
“That’s not acceptable to us. I beat him easily in the first debate,” the president said. “I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. That’s not what debating is all about ... they cut you off whenever they want.”
Trump told Fox anchor Mario Bartiromo he had been cured by Regeneron, one of the drugs he was given by doctors at Walter Reed military hospital, and said he didn’t think he could spread the coronavirus.
“I don’t think I’m contagious at all,” Trump said.
Read more here. —Associated Press
8:49 a.m.: Players' parents not allowed at the Wisconsin Badgers home opener on Oct. 24 because of COVID-19 surge
Players' parents will no longer be allowed at the University of Wisconsin football team’s opener the weekend of Oct. 24.
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In a release Wednesday night, the university announced it could not host the estimated 1,500 people it expect at the Badgers' season debut against Illinois due to the increase of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations around the state.
Only essential personnel — players and coaches from both teams, public safety officers, stadium operations personnel and a limited number of media — will be allowed into the stadium. UW faces Illinois either Oct. 23 or 24, with the game’s date and start time yet to be determined.
Read more here. —Wisconsin State Journal
8:45 a.m.: Winter Design Challenge winners announced in Chicago: A cabin, block modules and heated tables
Submissions were called, ideas were proposed, finalists were selected and now, winners for Chicago’s Winter Design Challenge have been announced.The competition aims to solve the problem of how to continue outdoor dining come colder weather, and netted more than 600 entries both serious and comical. (I’m still not over Leaf-blowers = win.) After two preliminary rounds of judging by the design firm IDEO and the city of Chicago, 26 finalistswere chosen and presented to a panel of judges made up of architects, designers, chefs, restaurateurs and servers, who picked the final three feasible and safe proposals. Each of them will take home a $5,000 cash prize.
The winners are:
Amy Young’s Cozy Cabins: Small, modular and adjoining cabins outfitted with radiant floor heating that fit in a standard street parking space. The idea, proposed by ASD | SKY based out of Atlanta and San Francisco, was inspired by ice fishing huts.
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Neil Reindel’s Block Party: Takes a parking lane and converts it to outdoor seating block modules. Blocks can be arranged according to preference and even combined together — a single block module holds two people, with sizes increasing by two with each additional block. Reindel is an urban designer and planner and also an adjunct professor at Northwestern University.
Ellie Henderson’s Heated Tables: A modification of the Japanese kotatsu, a low table covered by a blanket that also has a small electric heater on its underside. An additional table top is placed on top of the blanket. This proposal was inspired by Henderson’s experiences in Japan.
Read more here. —Grace Wong
6:51 a.m. Wilmette’s last American Legion post, named after soldier who died during pandemic of 1918, is disbanding: ‘COVID was the final straw’
More than a century has passed since a 22-year-old U.S. Army soldier from the North Shore died during the influenza pandemic of 1918 while aboard a ship headed to Europe.
Peter J. Huerter, who had hoped to serve in World War I, was buried at sea that October. Back home in what is now Wilmette, his grief-stricken family and friends paid homage to the young man by naming one of the area’s two new American Legion posts in his honor.
But this month, amid the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the last remaining American Legion post in Wilmette will cease operations, and its abandoned century-old headquarters are slated for demolition and a farewell 21-gun salute later this year.
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“We just don’t have the horsepower to continue, and COVID was the final straw,” said Andy Haszlakiewicz, 74, of Wilmette, a U.S. Army veteran and the former commander of Post 46.
Read more here. —Karen Ann Cullotta
5 a.m.: Illinois confirms COVID-19 outbreaks in 44 schools this school year but won’t say where they occurred
Nearly two months into the school year, Illinois public health officials said they have verified COVID-19 outbreaks in at least 44 school buildings across the state, but they declined to say where those cases occurred and acknowledged they may not know the full scope of the virus’s spread in schools.
Unlike many other states, Illinois doesn’t publish the number of cases linked to schools or which schools have been affected — even as parents and educators try to assess whether in-person learning is safe. State health officials released overall numbers at the request of the Tribune and ProPublica Illinois.
With more than 1,800 public schools operating in person at least part time, along with an unknown number of private schools, the outbreaks represent a tiny fraction of Illinois schools in session, according to an analysis of state education data. Most outbreaks have been small — two or three cases at each school — but at least 105 students and 73 employees at public and private schools have been affected.
State health officials said many COVID-19 cases seen among children are tied to gatherings outside school and other community events, while acknowledging that local contact tracing efforts likely have missed some school-related cases.
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This story is a collaboration between the Tribune and ProPublica Illinois.
Read more here. —Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards
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chicagotribune--2020-10-08--Elmhurst man facing charges of money laundering, deception and home repair fraud

The complaint also charges Kavanaugh with money laundering alleging a scheme in which he allegedly made improvements to the property @ @ @ @ @ in Elmhurst with the proceeds from “ home repair fraud , theft by deception and @ @ @ @ @ that Kavanaugh appears to rent the property in the 600 block of Washington Street in @ @ @ @ @ payments to the owner of record of the property .

An Elmhurst man remains in the Will County Adult Detention Center on $1 million bond and charges of money laundering, theft by deception, home repair fraud and other financial crimes.
Edmund Kavanaugh, 51, was the target of an eight-month long financial crimes and home repair fraud investigation involving the Will County Sheriff’s Office, Elmhurst Police, Romeoville Police, Illinois Department of Revenue and the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office. He appeared in bond court in Will County earlier this week and was appointed a public defender, according to court records.
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The investigation is ongoing and additional charges may be filed, authorities said.
“Kavanaugh has been the subject of numerous complaints throughout the Chicagoland area by many agencies,” the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release about Kavanaugh’s arrest.
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Among the charges filed in Will County, Kavanaugh is accused of collecting payment for a 2019 home repair project in Romeoville but not completing the work. In that instance, payments were made to Kavanaugh’s company, Goliath Construction, totaling $21,800. Kavanaugh contracted with the homeowners to install a new roof, siding, windows, driveway and garage.
He faces two counts of home repair fraud, one count of theft by deception and one count of continuing financial crimes enterprise in connection with the Romeoville incident.
According to court documents, a previous court order enjoined Kavanaugh from “engaging in any home repair work” at the time of the alleged offense in Romeoville.
Will County Sheriff Deputy Chief Dan Jungles added that the sheriff’s office has received additional information about other people who fell victim to Kavanaugh’s home repair fraud schemes and are investigating those leads.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Jungles said.
A second 13-count complaint filed in Will County charges Kavanaugh with three counts of money laundering, five counts of continuing financial crimes enterprise, four counts of structuring and one count of theft by deception.
The complaint alleges that Kavanaugh purchased concrete from Wille Brothers, a Monee company, with bad checks. The complaint also claims Kavanaugh made deposits at a JP Morgan Chase in a way that eluded financial reporting by making the deposits in smaller amounts.
The complaint also charges Kavanaugh with money laundering alleging a scheme in which he allegedly made improvements to the property he lists as his address in Elmhurst with the proceeds from “home repair fraud, theft by deception and deceptive practices.” Jungles noted that Kavanaugh appears to rent the property in the 600 block of Washington Street in Elmhurst and that he made payments to the owner of record of the property.
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Kavanaugh is scheduled to appear in court again on October 29.


chicagotribune--2020-10-10--No charges against McHenry deputy who put arm around woman’s throat during arrest

But Nielsen remained in the SUV ’ s front passenger seat and “ was not fully cooperative , ” according @ @ @ @ @ investigator Steven Ijames .
On the video , Bengston can be seen pulling her out @ @ @ @ @ if he curses at the woman on the faint audio .

McHenry County prosecutors declined to charge a sheriff’s deputy with a crime for a holding a woman by her throat during an arrest that was recorded on police body camera video.
State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally announced Friday he would not seek charges against Deputy Tim Bengtson for his use of force against Andrea Nielsen, after reviewing a case report by the McHenry County Major Investigation Assistance Team.
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“We do not believe we have sufficient evidence to sustain any criminal charge against Deputy Bengtson beyond a reasonable doubt,” Kenneally’s office announced in a written statement.
The incident arose after two riding lawn mowers and a trailer were stolen from a Blain’s Farm and Fleet on June 17, police said.
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A body camera video from a Woodstock police officer on the scene, which was obtained by the Tribune, shows three men leave the vehicle to be handcuffed without incident.
But Nielsen remained in the SUV’s front passenger seat and “was not fully cooperative,” according to the report by use-of-force investigator Steven Ijames. On the video, Bengtson can be seen pulling her out, and it sounds as if he curses at the woman on the faint audio.
Nielsen indignantly asks, “Excuse me?” just before the deputy wraps an arm around her neck and forces one of her arms behind her back.
A moment later she shouts, “Stop!” as the deputy commands her to walk toward the other suspects and puts her face down on the ground.
“He just (expletive) choked the (expletive) out of me!” the woman says in a raspy voice. “It’s (expletive) illegal!”
Under Illinois law, police are given great discretion in using force. An officer “is justified in the use of any force which he reasonably believes to be necessary to effect the arrest.”
Ostensibly, police are not allowed to use a chokehold, but a chokehold is narrowly defined so that it does not include any contact with the neck that is not “intended” to reduce the intake of air.
As lawmakers wrote the statute, police generally are also immune from liability for using force against an “aggressor” except in cases of willful or wanton misconduct.
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Because Nielsen did not cooperate, Ijames wrote, Bengtson was justified to use “any force he reasonably believed was necessary.”
Bengtson’s “contact” with Nielsen’s neck was not a chokehold as defined by the Illinois Criminal Code, but a brief neck restraint, “which was appropriate and consistent with contemporary and professional police training, policy, and practice.”
Ijames described Bengtson’s hold as the proper way to perform a neck restraint on the sides of the neck without putting pressure on the front, as opposed to the arrest of Eric Garner in New York in 2014, who told police, “I can’t breathe.”
That arrest resulted in Garner’s death. No mention was made in the report of any injury to Nielsen.
The neck restraint Bengtson used has historically proven “safe and effective,” ending resistance without having to use stronger force, Ijames wrote.
Nielsen believed she was “choked,” but Ijames wrote this often occurs when a person feels “neck pressure and discomfort.”
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The public defender’s office, which represented Nielsen, could not be reached to comment on the case. According to court records, she pleaded guilty to felony theft and was sentenced to 30 months' probation, 105 days served in jail, 100 hours' community service and $2,049 in fines and fees.
rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-10--Officials to remove dams

Officials to remove dams

During the next three years , the Illinois Department of Natural Resources plans to remove dams in Batavia , Carpentersville @ @ @ @ @ on the Fox River ; near Park Ridge and Rosemont on the Des Plaines River @ @ @ @ @ Evans and Tam O ’ Shanter golf courses on the North Branch of the Chicago @ @ @ @ @ , forest preserve commissioners approved contracts to remove a dam on the DuPage River where @ @ @ @ @ year .
The dam , is located in Hammel Woods Forest Preserve in Shorewood .

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 9 People visit the DuPage River dam at the Hammel Woods Forest Preserve in Shorewood on Oct. 8, 2020. Forest preserve commissioners approved contracts to remove the dam where a young couple drowned last year. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
During the next three years, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources plans to remove dams in Batavia, Carpentersville, North Aurora and Montgomery on the Fox River; near Park Ridge and Rosemont on the Des Plaines River; and at the Chick Evans and Tam O’Shanter golf courses on the North Branch of the Chicago River. In Will County, forest preserve commissioners approved contracts to remove a dam on the DuPage River where a young couple drowned last year. The dam, is located in Hammel Woods Forest Preserve in Shorewood.


chicagotribune--2020-10-10--Boy, 3, finds unattended gun, shoots himself in foot on Far South Side, police say

Yellow caution tape was wrapped around the doorway of the building , which had a cellphone store and beauty shop @ @ @ @ @ Apartments appeared to be on the second and third floors .

A 3-year-old boy shot himself in the foot after finding a gun at a Far South Side apartment, officials said Friday afternoon.
Shortly after 2:45 p.m., police were called to Roseland Community Hospital, 45 W. 111th St., where they met a 23-year-old woman who told them the 3-year-old was wounded in the foot, according to Officer Anthony Spicuzza, a Chicago police spokesman.
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Authorities learned the boy had found the gun, which was left unattended at an apartment in the 300 block of East 103rd Street, and shot himself, police said.
The boy was transferred to Comer Children’s Hospital, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
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Chicago police and pedestrians appear around police tape outside an apartment building at 103rd Street and Calumet Avenue Oct. 9, 2020, where there was an unconfirmed report a child was shot. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
By 4:30 p.m., several police officers stood at the northeast corner of 103rd Street and Calumet, guarding the entrance to a three-story brick building.
Yellow caution tape was wrapped around the doorway of the building, which had a cellphone store and beauty shop on its first floor. Apartments appeared to be on the second and third floors.
Police said the shooting remains under investigation.
Check back for details.
rsobol@chicagotribune.com
jaanderson@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-10--St. Malachy and Holy Cross partnership

St. Malachy and Holy Cross partnership

The listing agent for a glass house in Northfield , Illinois , which is on the market for $ 2.5 @ @ @ @ @ is likely to surprise you .
Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com® .

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chicagotribune--2020-10-11--4 injured in East Garfield Park shooting

Three men and a woman were shot , Velez said .
Two victims were taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center @ @ @ @ @ Stroger Hospital .

Four people were shot, one fatally, about 6:50 p.m. Oct. 10, 2020, in the 100 block of South Keeler Avenue in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, according to Chicago police.
One person is dead and three others are injured, including a 17-year-old girl, in a shooting on the West Side Saturday evening, according to officials.
About 6:50 p.m., four people were inside a vehicle in the 100 block of South Keeler Avenue in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, according to Chicago police. The victims then drove to the 500 block of South Pulaski Road in the East Garfield Park neighborhood where they hit a Chicago Fire Department vehicle.
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The Chicago Fire Department ordered an EMS Plan 1, which sends at least five ambulances to the scene, just before 7 p.m. to 530 S. Pulaski Rd., said Chief Frank Velez, a spokesman for CFD. They transported the four victims.
A 21-year-old man was shot in the back and forearm, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
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A 17-year-old girl was shot in the back and taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition, police said. A 19-year-old man was shot in the back and also taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition.
A 34-year-old man was shot multiple times in the body and taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center in critical condition, police said.
No arrests have been made.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-10-10--Mayor Lori Lightfoot among Black mayors throughout the country featured in new campaign ad for Biden

Mayor Lori Lightfoot among Black mayors throughout the country featured in new campaign ad for Biden-Harris ticket

Lightfoot has been on the virtual campaign trail for Biden as recently as last week .
On Monday , she @ @ @ @ @ session where she offered a pep talk and dialed up voters on behalf of the @ @ @ @ @ like Harris , is a history maker in American politics .
While Harris is the @ @ @ @ @ woman to be nominated to the presidential ticket of a major political party , Lightfoot @ @ @ @ @ to be elected mayor in Chicago .

In this file image from video, Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden leads a conversation on racial justice with Art Acevedo, Jamira Burley, Gwen Carr, Derrick Johnson and Lori Lightfoot during the first night of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 17, 2020. (AP)
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is among a dozen African American mayors from throughout the country featured in a series of new campaign spots for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris reminding Black voters about the power of their voting bloc.
Biden and Democratic officials are looking to boost Black voter turnout this year in key battleground states, such as Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, following a decline four years ago that helped sway the race from Hillary Clinton to President Donald Trump.
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In a 30-second spot, Lightfoot along with a handful of African American women running some of the largest cities in America link activism to participating in the political process. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms opens the ad, saying, "Black women have always been on the front lines of social justice” from making phone calls and organizing to running for office.
For her part, Lightfoot punctuates those contributions with a chuckle-worthy, even timely, one-liner: “All while being fly.”
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The ad was filmed on Sept. 20, Lightfoot’s political director Dave Mellet said — well before Wednesday’s televised vice presidential debate, where a fly landed on Republican Vice President Mike Pence’s hair and sat there long enough to light up social media for hours. Lightfoot also is seen wearing sunglasses at one point, a nod to those aviators Biden loves to wear — and gets some grief about from at least one late-night TV show host.
The Biden campaign provided the mayor with a script for the spot.
In a news release, the Biden campaign says the TV and digital ads, released Saturday, feature 14 Black mayors' “message to Black men and women about utilizing their collective power as voters during this election.” There also is a second 30-second spot featuring African American men who are mayors; the two spots are linked in a 1-minute ad that can be viewed here.
Other mayors in the ad with Lightfoot are Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser; San Francisco Mayor London Breed; New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell; Flagstaff, Arizona, Mayor Coral Evans; and Charlotte, North Carolina, Mayor Vi Lyles. The ad with the male mayors includes: Columbia, South Carolina, Mayor Steven Benjamin; St. Paul, Minnesota, Mayor Melvin Carter; Denver Mayor Michael Hancock; Richmond, Virginia Mayor Levar Stoney; Stockton, California, Mayor Michael Tubbs; Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner; and Birmingham, Alabama, Mayor Randall Woodfin.
The ads are airing nationally and in key battleground states including Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. With its solid base of Democratic support, Illinois is not considered a presidential election swing state.
Lightfoot has been on the virtual campaign trail for Biden as recently as last week. On Monday, she hosted a remote phone banking session where she offered a pep talk and dialed up voters on behalf of the Biden-Harris ticket. Lightfoot, like Harris, is a history maker in American politics. While Harris is the first Black and Asian American woman to be nominated to the presidential ticket of a major political party, Lightfoot is the first Black woman to be elected mayor in Chicago.
Lisa Donovan is the host of The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
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ldonovan@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @byldonovan


chicagotribune--2020-10-10--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--2020-10-10--Daily Illinois coronavirus graphs: 31 new deaths, 2,905 new confirmed cases and 66,256 new test resu

Daily Illinois coronavirus graphs: 31 new deaths, 2,905 new confirmed cases and 66,256 new test results

Illinois announced 2,905 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 Saturday for a total of 316,423 .
The state also announced 31 @ @ @ @ @ of 8,975 and 66,256 new test results for a total of 6.24 million .

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--2020-10-10--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 2,905 new known COVID-19 cases and 31 additional deaths reported Sa

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 2,905 new known COVID-19 cases and 31 additional deaths reported Saturday as seven-day statewide positivity rate ticks up to 4%

The order would have been the toughest federal mandate to date aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus , @ @ @ @ @ than 40,000 Americans a day .
The officials said that it was drafted under the @ @ @ @ @ powers ” and that it had the support of the secretary of health and human @ @ @ @ @ but the White House Coronavirus Task Force , led by Vice President Mike Pence , @ @ @ @ @ .

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 Illinois Department of Public Health on Sunday reported 2,727 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus, as well as 9 more confirmed fatalities.
The total number of known infections now stands at 319,150 and the death toll at 8,984 statewide since the pandemic began. Officials also reported 64,047 new tests in the last 24 hours.
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Meanwhile, after more than a month under tighter restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19, the Metro East region has been allowed to return to phase four rules that allow indoor dining and bar service and gatherings of up to 50 people, state officials said Friday.
The region outside St. Louis was the first in Illinois to see a scaled back reopening in August after it passed a state-set threshold of an 8% positivity rate for three consecutive days.
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Additionally, Lake County has been added to the list of counties under warning for a potential resurgence of the coronavirus, state health officials said Friday. The weekly list from the IDPH includes 26 counties, down from 28 a week earlier.
Here’s what’s happening this weekend with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
Sunday
‘I feel like I have dementia’: Brain fog plagues COVID-19 survivors
After contracting the coronavirus in March, Michael Reagan lost all memory of his 12-day vacation in Paris, even though the trip was just a few weeks earlier.
Several weeks after Erica Taylor recovered from her COVID-19 symptoms of nausea and cough, she became confused and forgetful, failing to even recognize her own car, the only Toyota Prius in her apartment complex’s parking lot.
Lisa Mizelle, a veteran nurse practitioner at an urgent care clinic who fell ill with the virus in July, finds herself forgetting routine treatments and lab tests and has to ask colleagues about terminology she used to know automatically.
“I leave the room, and I can’t remember what the patient just said,” she said, adding that if she hadn’t exhausted her medical leave she’d take more time off.
“It scares me to think I’m working,” Mizelle, 53, said. “I feel like I have dementia.”
It’s becoming known as COVID brain fog: troubling cognitive symptoms that can include memory loss, confusion, difficulty focusing, dizziness and grasping for everyday words. Increasingly, COVID survivors say brain fog is impairing their ability to work and function normally.
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Read more here. —The New York Times
‘Running is not canceled.’ But the Chicago Marathon is smaller, quieter and virtual because of the pandemic
After concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic canceled a series of marathons around the world, Chicago runners reimagined the traditional 26.2 mile route this weekend with groups across the city embarking on “virtual” and socially distanced runs.
Greg Hipp, executive director of the Chicago Area Runners Association, said that virtual marathons emerged after it became clear that mass gatherings would be canceled because of the pandemic.
“Virtual marathons let people run from anywhere,” he said. “It allows you to run and still reach your goals even though the marathons have been canceled.”
Virtual marathons track runners through phone apps and allow them to complete the race within 24 hours, he added. Runners may choose their paths individually or in small groups. In Chicago, many chose to run the lakefront path, and some began the race on Saturday.
Read more here. —Jessica Villagomez
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Trump says he’s now ‘immune’ from the coronavirus – a claim that’s impossible to prove – and ready to return to the campaign trail
President Donald Trump on Sunday declared he was healthy enough to return to the campaign trail, a day after the White House doctor said he was no longer at risk of transmitting the coronavirus but did not say explicitly whether Trump had tested negative for it.
Trump, who was poised Monday to host his first rally after his COVID-19 diagnosis, declared he was now “immune” from the virus, a claim that was impossible to prove and comes amid a series of outstanding questions about the president’s health.
“I’m immune,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News. “The president is in very good shape to fight the battles.”
In a memo released Saturday night by the White House, Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley said Trump met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for safely discontinuing isolation and that by “currently recognized standards” he was no longer considered a transmission risk. The memo did not declare Trump had tested negative for the virus.
But sensitive lab tests — like the PCR test cited in the doctor’s statements — detect virus in swab samples taken from the nose and throat. Some medical experts had been skeptical that Trump could be declared free of the risk of transmitting the virus so early in the course of his illness. Just 10 days since an initial diagnosis of infection, there was no way to know for certain that someone was no longer contagious, they said.
Read more here. —Associated Press
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Saturday
2,905 new known COVID-19 cases and 31 additional deaths reported
The Illinois Department of Public Health on Saturday reported 2,905 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus, as well as 31 more confirmed fatalities.
The total number of known infections now stands at 316,423 and the death toll to 8,975 statewide since the pandemic began. Officials also reported 66,256 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 4%.
—Chicago Tribune staff
Nancy Pelosi dismisses latest White House COVID-19 relief offer
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday dismissed the latest White House offer in COVID-19 aid talks as “one step forward, two steps back,” but said she is still hopeful that progress can be made toward a deal.
The White House had boosted its offer before Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Pelosi spoke on Friday afternoon. President Donald Trump is eager for an agreement before Election Day, even as his most powerful GOP ally in the Senate said Congress is unlikely to deliver relief by then.
“Covid Relief Negotiations are moving along. Go Big!” Trump said Friday on Twitter, just a few days after unceremoniously breaking off talks in a tweet thread, citing the high cost.
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Read more here. —Associated Press
White House blocked CDC from requiring masks on public transportation, sources say
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention drafted a sweeping order last month requiring all passengers and employees to wear masks on all forms of public and commercial transportation in the United States, but it was blocked by the White House, according to two federal health officials.
The order would have been the toughest federal mandate to date aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus, which continues to infect more than 40,000 Americans a day. The officials said that it was drafted under the agency’s “quarantine powers” and that it had the support of the secretary of health and human services, Alex Azar, but the White House Coronavirus Task Force, led by Vice President Mike Pence, declined to even discuss it.
The two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment, said the order would have required face coverings on airplanes, trains, buses and subways, and in transit hubs such as airports, train stations and bus depots.
Read more here. —The New York Times


chicagotribune--2020-10-10--Chicago woman kept off Southwest flight from LaGuardia to Midway until covering ‘lewd’ halter top

Eubanks , who recorded and later posted videos of her interactions with Southwest employees on social media , repeatedly asked @ @ @ @ @ policy she was allegedly violating .
She said it took about 30 minutes and several @ @ @ @ @ her the “ lewd , obscene and offensive policy .
”

A Chicago woman was not allowed to board a Southwest Airlines flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Midway Airport this week after airline personnel determined her black halter top was too revealing.
Kayla Eubanks, 22, said she was detained at the gate Tuesday afternoon by employees who called her outfit “lewd, obscene and offensive.” She eventually was able to board after borrowing a T-shirt from the pilot.
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“It was upsetting and annoying,” Eubanks told the Tribune Friday. “It didn’t make sense to me.”
Southwest Airlines confirmed the incident, and its dress code policy, in an emailed statement Saturday.
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“Southwest has a customer policy in our contract of carriage that prohibits clothing attire that is ‘lewd, obscene, or patently offensive,’” the airline said. “Our employees discreetly notified the passenger of this clothing policy and attempted to resolve the conversation before boarding.”
Y’all I was KICKED OFF my @SouthwestAir flight because my boobs are “lewd, obscene and offensive.” I was told that passengers may look at me in my attire and be offended. The attire in question: https://t.co/tOAxZsFDU5 pic.twitter.com/S9W9gFXpg6 — Kayla Eubanks (@UziSuzy) October 6, 2020
Eubanks, who recorded and later posted videos of her interactions with Southwest employees on social media, repeatedly asked for clarification of the airline policy she was allegedly violating. She said it took about 30 minutes and several phone calls before someone quoted her the “lewd, obscene and offensive policy.”
After a lengthy discussion, the pilot on her flight intervened and loaned her a T-shirt so she could board. A few minutes into the flight she took the T-shirt off.
“They never said I had to keep the shirt on,” said Eubanks, who lives on the South Side. “It was just to get on the plane."
Eubanks said she was soon confronted by a male flight attendant who told her she would need to talk to Southwest supervisors when the plane landed in Chicago. That conversation was also recorded by Eubanks.
In the video, posted to social media, Eubanks asked two male Southwest employees why she was being detained.
“You don’t have very many clothes on top,” said one employee. “It reveals quite a bit.”
Eubanks tagged Southwest Airlines on the social media posts and said the airline responded via direct message with an apology and offer to refund her fare.
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In its statement to the Tribune Saturday, Southwest said it “directly reached out to her to refund her fare as a gesture of goodwill.”
There have been several incidents in recent years of airlines enforcing somewhat amorphous dress codes on flights. In January, a woman was pulled out of line while boarding a United Airlines flight from Denver to Newark because a gate agent thought her shirt was too low cut.
She was eventually allowed to board without a change of attire, according to multiple news reports.
Eubanks said her outfit choice was a “personal preference,” and that she wouldn’t be prevented from boarding an airplane if someone didn’t like her shoes. A greater concern to her was the seemingly arbitrary basis for determining what would make an outfit offensive.
“There needs to be a clear policy that’s not based on personal biases,” she said. “The proper thing to do is not let it be at the discretion of whoever is working that day.”
rchannick@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-10--$4,000 reward offered for information about shooting that seriously wounded 10-year-old girl in Far

$4,000 reward offered for information about shooting that seriously wounded 10-year-old girl in Far South Side park

The bullet damaged several of her internal organs , according to her family .
Her gallbladder was removed and a @ @ @ @ @ closed with four staples .
The fifth-grader ’ s kidneys and liver were also damaged @ @ @ @ @ the family they should heal .
But they are worried about her intestines , and @ @ @ @ @ need a feeding tube for a few months .

La’Mya Sparks, 10, pictured here on her 10th birthday, was shot in the back and seriously wounded Oct. 7, 2020 about 8:15 p.m. in Russell Square Park in the 3000 block of East 83rd Street on Chicago’s South Side. She is recovering at Comer Children’s Hospital. Family photo provided to the Tribune by her mother. (Family photo)
A $4,000 reward has been offered for information about a shooting that seriously wounded a 10-year-old girl who was in a Far South Side Park with her older sister and friends.
The reward was announced Friday by community activist Andrew Holmes as La’Mya Sparks recovered at Comer Children’s Hospital from severe internal injuries caused by a bullet that hit her in the back.
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Police say four teenagers approached the group around 8:15 p.m. Wednesday in Russell Square Park near 83rd and South Shore Drive, a block from her home. One of them, a boy known as “Ghost,” pulled a gun and fired at least six times.
La’Mya was hit as she ran away, police said. A friend took off his shirt and held it to the wound until paramedics arrived, the family said.
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The bullet damaged several of her internal organs, according to her family. Her gallbladder was removed and a tear to her stomach was closed with four staples. The fifth-grader’s kidneys and liver were also damaged but the doctors have told the family they should heal. But they are worried about her intestines, and the family says she will need a feeding tube for a few months.
Anyone with information can call the Andrew Holmes Foundation at 1-800-U-TellUs, or submit a tip anonymously through CPDtip.com.


chicagotribune--2020-10-10--The ‘Shoebox Scandal,’ 50 years later: That time when the Illinois secretary of state died with $750

The ‘Shoebox Scandal,’ 50 years later: That time when the Illinois secretary of state died with $750,000 in cash in a hotel suite ...

“ He would go to any function anywhere , and people would just give money to him .
Here ’ @ @ @ @ @ secretary would talk about going through his jacket at the end of the day and @ @ @ @ @ the pockets , ” John Rendleman III , a lawyer and Jackson County board member @ @ @ @ @ office .
In front of him were the lid to the Marshall Field shoebox and @ @ @ @ @ father , a Powell friend and executor of the estate , discovered .

John Rendleman III, a Carbondale lawyer and Jackson County Board member, discusses how his father, John Rendleman II, found $750,000 in cash left in a Springfield hotel suite belonging to then-Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell when he died. In the foreground is the lid to the infamous "shoebox" that held some of the money. Powell died 50 years ago, Oct. 10, 1970. (John O'Connor/AP)
VIENNA, Ill. — A bedraggled John Rendleman II exited the St. Nicholas Hotel in downtown Springfield with the last bundle of a stunning find when he noticed his car had been towed.
Initially frantic, the university chancellor took a breath and then a cab to the city’s tow lot. Rendleman’s son, John Rendleman III, recalls his father’s bemusement at the teenage attendant who gleefully demanded $20 — to retrieve a car stuffed with nearly $800,000 in cash.
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Rendleman had gone to the St. Nicholas to clean out the suite of Paul Powell just days after the secretary of state’s unexpected death 50 years ago, on Oct. 10, 1970, leaving behind the most notorious, unsolved political corruption mystery in Illinois history.
The “Shoebox Scandal,” so-named because of some of the receptacles holding the money, including a Marshall Field & Co. Christmas box, shocked the state. There was $750,000 in the hotel and at least $50,000 in Powell’s Capitol office. Subsequent investigations led to the eventual imprisonment of a former governor and some of the state’s first campaign-finance disclosure laws.
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When Powell died, Adlai Stevenson III, who was the Democratic state treasurer and three weeks from being elected to the U.S. Senate, told a reporter: “His shoeboxes will be hard to fill.”
Only Powell could say how.
Shortly after Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell died in 1970, a shoe box, above, was found filled with cash in his hotel suite, bottom right photo. In photo at bottom left, Powell is honored at a 1968 dinner attended by Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. (Chicago Tribune)
His government salary never topped $30,000 a year, yet Powell, a Democrat in solidly Republican Johnson County, accumulated today’s equivalent of $5.4 million. A federal investigation pinned it on graft as secretary of state.
“It was impossible as an honest public servant to get along with Paul,” Stevenson said this week. “He was not honest.”
But Powell saw opportunities much earlier. In 1949 he won approval for parimutuel betting on harness racing on county fairs, with the blessing of new reform Gov. Adlai Stevenson II, the senator’s father, according to Robert Hartley’s book “A Lifelong Democrat.” He supported horse-racing in Illinois over the next two decades and cashed in on stock in racetracks for which he determined the most favorable racing dates.
But the greatest source of revenue was likely the “Flower Fund,” the money politicians regularly received ostensibly to buy flowers for funerals. Powell’s gifts to churches and nursing homes were plentiful, said Gary Hacker, 81, who as a kid in the early 1950s did yard work for Powell. And needy children always had shoes and Christmas presents. But his receipts undoubtedly swamped his expenditures.
[ From 2013: From hero to bum in a flash ]
The government took notice when the cache was finally revealed on Dec. 31, 1970. From his $4.6 million estate, of which $1 million was in racetrack stock, the IRS got $1.7 million and the state, $223,000. News reports uncovered the interests that many politicians had in racetracks. Just a year later, former Gov. Otto Kerner, by then a federal appeals judge, was indicted and eventually imprisoned on a racing-related mail fraud charge.
Powell, who was 68 when he died as an outpatient at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was a legislative master who served as speaker of the House three times — including once when Republicans held a one-seat majority.
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“He would go to any function anywhere, and people would just give money to him. Here’s $100. His secretary would talk about going through his jacket at the end of the day and just pulling cash out of the pockets,” John Rendleman III, a lawyer and Jackson County board member, said in his Carbondale office. In front of him were the lid to the Marshall Field shoebox and two attache cases that his father, a Powell friend and executor of the estate, discovered.
Powell was Herculean in delivering jobs and state projects. Tired of state money going to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he funneled enough to make Southern Illinois University at Carbondale what it is today.
Taylor Pensoneau, Capitol correspondent for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from 1965 to 1978, called him a “one-person public works department” for southern Illinois who went toe-to-toe with Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley.
Former Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell in 1961. (AP)
“He was a very shrewd operator who helped deliver the votes needed for grandiose projects up north such as Chicago’s huge McCormick Place Convention Center,” Pensoneau said. “But not without a quid pro quo for downstate.”
Such deals inspired one of Powell’s favorite sayings: “I can smell the meat a-cookin.” Another: “The only thing worse than a defeated politician is a broke one.”
His ambition was evident early, according to Hacker, whose parents were Powell schoolmates. He laundered his high school football teammates' uniforms — for a price — and later ran his own restaurant.
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He was elected to the House in 1934, served as speaker in 1949, 1959 and 1961, and was elected secretary of state in 1964.
After Powell came financial disclosure, lobbyist registration, and a ban on personal use of campaign funds. Economic interests require reporting but are one weakness that allow Illinois politics to remain potentially lucrative, said Kent Redfield, a campaign finance expert and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
“If you want to get rich in politics (today), it’s not through generating a lot of campaign contributions,” Redfield said. “It’s through the kinds of relationships that you have with lobbyists and economic arrangements with corporations that really are the avenue for the jobs that can come after.”


chicagotribune--2020-10-10--College grads struggle to launch careers in a pandemic economy. ‘I chose the worst year to get my li

College grads struggle to launch careers in a pandemic economy. ‘I chose the worst year to get my life together.’

“ If you are able to find a good job early on , that leads them to more growth in @ @ @ @ @ Whereas if you are starting your careers at a time when there aren ’ t @ @ @ @ @ that seems to be associated with not just worse outcomes right away but worse outcomes @ @ @ @ @ recovered , ” Rothstein said .

Kevin Zheng had big plans lined up as he prepared to graduate in the spring with a degree in criminal justice from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The 23-year-old thought he’d enter the job market well-prepared, with an internship at the Chicago Police Department on his resume.
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But the COVID-19 health crisis upended that plan. His internship was canceled, his graduation was delayed until August, and he sat in his bedroom for the virtual commencement ceremony. Now he’s looking for a job in a pandemic-induced recession.
“I chose the worst year to get my life together,” said Zheng, a first-generation college graduate who lives in Chicago’s McKinley Park neighborhood.
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Kevin Zheng, 23, a first generation college graduate from the University of Illinois at Chicago, poses for a photo in the backyard of his parents' home, Oct. 9, 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
As the coronavirus pandemic wears on, Zheng and other recent college graduates are grappling with a tight job market, high unemployment rates and pressure to find work to pay off student loans.
At the start of the year, Generation Z, typically defined as those born after 1997, was headed into the workforce during the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. But now the unemployment rate in Illinois for those ages 20 to 24 is 15.5%, one of the highest among all age groups in the state, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor.
With more employers cutting jobs and some boosting qualifications for open positions, recent college graduates are worried they’ll fall behind in their careers. Some are saving money for student loan payments by cutting expenses, while others are applying for part-time and low-wage jobs. Many still live with their parents.
Zheng, who lives with his parents and owes about $30,000 in student loans, said he is considering picking up part-time work, but he’s seen how difficult it can be. Both his parents work in the restaurant industry, often cobbling together shifts at different dining establishments to make a stable income. Zheng said he’s scared of taking a job that may expose him to the coronavirus and then potentially infecting his parents.
“My parents are on the older side. I’m afraid if I get the virus, I won’t be the one getting hurt. They’re going to be the ones seriously harmed by the virus. That’s also really deterred me from going out there too much,” he said.
Another UIC graduate, Serge Golota, 22, who earned a biochemistry degree in May, is moving from his Chicago apartment back to his parents' Glenview home because he hasn’t found a job.
According to a study by the Pew Research Center, 52% of young adults ages 18 to 29 reported in July they were living with one or both parents, an increase from a decade ago when 44% of young adults lived at home.
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Golota, who has about $17,000 in student loan debt, said he applied to lab positions and broadened his search to include pharmaceutical sales, but potential employers aren’t calling back, or they’re asking for several years of experience. If he doesn’t find a job in the coming months, he might apply at retailers like Target or clothing stores to make money.
“I’ve felt really discouraged with the hiring process,” Golota said.
Experts say 2020 graduates could face similar challenges to millennials, those born between 1981 and 1996, who graduated at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.
Research on past graduates suggests Gen Z workers could face lower earnings in the future, persistently low employment rates and fierce competition for jobs once the economy recovers.
Millennials who graduated during the 2008 recession saw their earnings for the next three to four years remain low compared with earlier graduates and those who graduated after the recession, said Jesse Rothstein, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley.
“If you are able to find a good job early on, that leads them to more growth in the next few years. Whereas if you are starting your careers at a time when there aren’t that many good jobs, that seems to be associated with not just worse outcomes right away but worse outcomes even after the economy has recovered,” Rothstein said.
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Rothstein said employment rates for each group that graduated during and after the 2008 recession were about 2% lower relative to older workers despite the labor market steadily growing throughout the 2010s.
It remains to be seen how dramatically the pandemic-related downturn will hurt 2020 graduates, but experts say if the economy doesn’t bounce back quickly, the effects could linger.
Eliza Forsythe, assistant professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said companies tend to hire current-year graduates for entry level positions over those who graduated a year or two earlier. Employers view current graduates as having sharper skills right out of college compared with past graduates, especially those who didn’t picked up relevant experience after getting their degrees, she said. Such decisions could further hinder the ability of people who graduated during a recession to find work within their field.
The job market could become even more strained in the coming months without federal relief as President Donald Trump and Congress grapple over a new coronavirus relief bill.
Airlines, hotels and other businesses are cutting more jobs, asking employees to take buyouts and pay cuts after federal aid for many companies expired last month.
For some area graduates, finding work outside their field is better than no work at all.
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Jesus Mendoza, 23, graduated in the spring with a business administration management degree from Chicago State University. He took a full-time job as a production line worker at car parts manufacturer Flex-N-Gate on the city’s Southeast Side that pays $15 an hour.
Jesus Mendoza, 23, graduated from Chicago State University in May with a business administration degree. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Mendoza, who lives with his parents in Chicago’s East Side neighborhood, said he cut back on spending and going out to eat with friends in order to save money.
"I’ve been saving money to pay for bills,” he said.
Since graduating, Mendoza said he spent countless hours applying for jobs within his field, but hasn’t had any luck. He owes about $30,000 in student loans, which he has to start paying next year.
The average student loan debt nationwide for 2019 graduates at public and private colleges was $28,950, according to an October report from The Institute for College Access & Success, an Oakland, California-based nonprofit that works to improve college affordability.
A federal moratorium on education debt payments was set to expire Sept. 30. In August, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to suspend federal student loan payments through Dec. 31 without penalty or accrual of interest.
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The order excludes students whose loans are held by private companies and universities.
Many recent graduates are turning to their colleges' career counseling centers for help. But even after their resumes get spruced up and they hone their interview skills, it’s still hard to get a job offer.
Part of the issue is that employers are adding more criteria to job postings because they don’t have the time or resources to train early-career candidates, said Julia Pollak, a labor economist at job site ZipRecruiter.
“The amount of energy there is available to focus on training up young, new green employees isn’t there at the moment,” Pollak said.
The pandemic-related downturn also has caused some companies to cut jobs crucial to early career entrants, Pollak said.
Job postings for entry-level positions that require a college degree were down by 57% since mid-February nationwide, according to ZipRecruiter.
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Postings for entry-level software engineers, which were in high demand before the pandemic, had one of the biggest declines in the past few months as technology companies scaled back their research and development departments, she said.
“When companies face a huge shock and need to become as efficient as possible, they are really just concerned with survival and generating revenue today, not with coming up with widgets for future demand,” she said.
Jobs in marketing, advertisement and design also have been severely affected by the pandemic, she said.
Even those who went back to school to earn master’s degrees are having trouble tapping into higher-paying jobs.
Adriana Valdez, 29, finished her MBA program at DePaul University in August, hoping her new skills and degree would open more doors.
“I’ve been looking since the springtime, and it’s really tough as far as what’s out there,” Valdez said. “Sometimes it’s very common for you to hear nothing at all.”
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Valdez, who graduated with a marketing degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2014, said she has been told by companies that she doesn’t have enough experience.
“How am I supposed to gain experience if I’m not given a chance to pursue an opportunity?” Valdez said.
Valdez, of Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, works as a full-time risk management officer for an insurance company, and her employer paid half of her tuition costs. But her company implemented a hiring freeze that made it challenging to seek a better-paying job and move up there, she said.
With her MBA, Valdez said she is looking at management and legal consulting roles that would pay about $10,000 to $20,000 more than her current role, which she needs to start paying off her student loans and move out of her parents' home.
As the first person in her family to earn an undergraduate and a master’s degree, there is some expectation from them for her to find a better-paying job, she said.
“It’s also the pressure of just wanting to make their sacrifices mean something,” she said.
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For now, Zheng is attending virtual career fairs through UIC and applying for positions in fields like social work and child welfare services as he reconsiders his future in police work.
“I do have hope that I’ll find a job within this year, but it’s wishful thinking," he said.
abjimenez@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @abdel1019


chicagotribune--2020-10-10--The Columbus statues are gone, and there’s no parade or CPS holiday this year. But Chicago Italian A

The Columbus statues are gone, and there’s no parade or CPS holiday this year. But Chicago Italian Americans say Columbus Day will live on.

“ We took this step in response to demonstrations that became unsafe for both protesters and police , and to @ @ @ @ @ pull the Grant Park statue down in an extremely dangerous manner , ” Lightfoot said @ @ @ @ @ This step is an effort to protect public safety and to preserve a safe space @ @ @ @ @ public dialogue about our city ’ s symbols .
It also will allow us to @ @ @ @ @ they are most needed — particularly in our South and West Side communities .
”

The Christopher Columbus statue is transported after being removed in Grant Park in the early hours of July 24, 2020. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
There will be a lot less fanfare on Columbus Day in Chicago this year.
As criticism of Christopher Columbus' place in history has grown, clashes erupted over the removal of statues in his honor this summer and Chicago schools officially dropped his name from the holiday.
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Traditionally, Monday would be marked with a parade that celebrates Columbus' voyage to America and Italian American culture. But this year, for the first time in decades, the parade has been canceled because the city isn’t issuing permits for such large-scale gatherings amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, the parade organizers, instead plan a rally and car procession at Arrigo Park, the site of one of the now-removed statues. A small contingent of the group also held the traditional Italian flag-raising at Daley Plaza on Friday.
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“It will certainly be a different kind of year, and we’ll be having a toned down celebration,” said Pasquale Gianni, a member of the group’s executive board. He added that “we fully intend to have the parade next year” and blamed this year’s cancellation “solely” on the pandemic.
Mary May, a spokesperson with the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, issued a statement: “While there are no events organized by the City this weekend, the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) will be monitoring weather conditions and any event or activity that should arise in relation to the holiday weekend. As always, OEMC and the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) encourage everyone to wear masks and for all activity organized by residents to follow the City’s COVID-19 precautions and rules.”
The site in Chicago's Arrigo Park where a Christopher Columbus statue once stood is now fenced off. The Italian American group that typically hosts the Columbus Day parade will now have a small rally and car procession at Arrigo Park on Monday instead. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
A number of large cities have made the switch from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day in an effort to reframe the day in honor of Native American history and culture.
Some Italian Americans say celebrating Columbus is a celebration of their heritage. But activists around the country have condemned the explorer, pointing to his mistreatment of Indigenous people after he landed in the Americas in 1492.
For the first time, the second Monday in October will be marked solely as “Indigenous People’s Day” on Chicago Public Schools' calendar.
The Chicago Board of Education’s vote in February to stop observing Columbus Day drew praise from some educators and activists. But Sergio Giangrande, president of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, in February called it “a slap in the face of the more than 500,000 Italian Americans in Chicago, and the 135 million Italian Americans worldwide.”
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In dropping Columbus' name, the board held that the district would continue celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day. CPS previously used both names on its calendar, and board member Elizabeth Todd-Breland said it was their responsibility to lead on the issue.
Gianni, whose grandfather Dominic DiFrisco emceed the parade for years, said organizers have made a point to make it inclusive to all ethnicities and long ago stopped referring to Columbus as the discoverer of America. Gianni called Columbus “foundational to the American origin story,” and said the depiction of him as a villain and murderer is historical “revisionism.”
Long before CPS, South Dakota changed Columbus Day to Native American Day in 1990. The city of Berkeley, California, moved to Indigenous Peoples Day in 1992, and in the ensuing years many communities have made similar substitutions, including Evanston.
Earlier this summer, Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered the statues of Christopher Columbus removed from Chicago’s Grant and Arrigo parks overnight, sparking continued debates among Italian American leaders and politicians about Columbus' legacy and how the city should proceed.
Lightfoot said in a series of tweets this summer that the statues were removed “until further notice.”
“We took this step in response to demonstrations that became unsafe for both protesters and police, and to efforts by individuals to independently pull the Grant Park statue down in an extremely dangerous manner,” Lightfoot said in the tweets. “This step is an effort to protect public safety and to preserve a safe space for an inclusive and democratic public dialogue about our city’s symbols. It also will allow us to focus public safety resources where they are most needed — particularly in our South and West Side communities.”
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Lightfoot has said she has no plans to eliminate Columbus Day at the city level, and that she thought it made sense when CPS “essentially celebrated both, Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day.”
Ald. Daniel La Spata, 1st, said he hopes the city will recognize only Indigenous Peoples Day in 2021 and celebrate Italian American heritage — separate from Christopher Columbus.
“As we’re becoming more honest about who he was and more honest about where Italian Americans are now, I don’t feel like his legacy has a usefulness for Italian Americans,” La Spata said. “It would make me so proud to be able to march in a parade dedicated to Italian heritage, but I can’t march in a parade that has Columbus' name on the banner.”


chicagotribune--2020-10-10--Boy, 3, finds gun and shoots himself in foot in Far South Side home, police say


chicagotribune--2020-10-09--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened Oct. 9 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

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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)
After more than a month under tighter restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19, the Metro East region will return to phase four rules that allow indoor dining and bar service and gatherings of up to 50 people, state officials said Friday.
The region outside St. Louis was the first in Illinois to see a scaled back reopening in August after it passed a state-set threshold of an 8% positivity rate for three consecutive days.
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Meanwhile, the Illinois Department of Public Health on Friday reported 2,818 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus, as well as 35 more confirmed fatalities.
The total number of known infections now stands at 313,518 and the death toll to 8,945 statewide since the pandemic began. Officials also reported 71,599 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 3.8%.
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Additionally, Lake County has been added to the list of counties under warning for a potential resurgence of the coronavirus, state health officials said Friday. The weekly list from the IDPH includes 26 counties, down from 28 a week earlier.
On Thursday, the daily number of new known coronavirus cases announced by Illinois officials was the highest in nearly five months, except for a day in early September when the state caught up on a testing backlog. The 3,059 new known cases on Thursday represented the first time the daily count has topped 3,000 since May 14, when IDPH reported 3,239 cases.
Here’s what’s happening Friday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
5:40 p.m.: Gen Z college grads struggle to launch careers in pandemic economy. ‘I chose the worst year to get my life together.’
Kevin Zheng had big plans lined up as he prepared to graduate in the spring with a degree in criminal justice from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The 23-year-old thought he’d enter the job market well-prepared, with an internship at the Chicago Police Department on his resume.
But the COVID-19 health crisis upended that plan. His internship was canceled, his graduation was delayed until August, and he sat in his bedroom for the virtual commencement ceremony. Now he’s looking for a job in a pandemic-induced recession.
“I chose the worst year to get my life together,” said Zheng, a first-generation college graduate who lives in Chicago’s McKinley Park neighborhood.
As the coronavirus pandemic wears on, Zheng and other recent college graduates are grappling with a tight job market, high unemployment rates and pressure to find work to pay off student loans.
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Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez
5:20 p.m.: FitzGerald’s closes temporarily after employee tests positive for coronavirus
FitzGerald’s Nightclub in Berwyn, one of the few local venues still programming live music during the pandemic, said Friday it will close temporarily for a “wellness break” because an employee tested positive for COVID-19.
The worker was last on site 12 days ago, said the statement posted early Friday afternoon on the club’s website, “so we believe this club member was not contagious during their last shift.”
“We just know it’s the right thing to do,” owner Will Duncan said. “A staff member tests positive, you wait to verify that everyone is negative before you reopen.”
Lost will be a busy weekend, at minimum, including shows by Expo ’76 and the Waco Brothers and a guest stint on the grill by chef Stephanie Izard of Girl and the Goat that was planned for Saturday night.
“It would be easy to be tempted by trying to preserve everyone’s good time,” Duncan said. “But I believe very strongly in our safety protocols and in being open and honest with each other as work colleagues and being super transparent with our public.”
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Read more here. —Steve Johnson
1:41 p.m.: High schools in Northbrook, Glenview report at least two COVID-19 cases during first week of hybrid learning
Just days into its new hybrid learning plan, Glenbrook High School District 225 temporarily moved back into e-learning Friday after reports of at least two positive COVID-19 cases in the schools, according to officials.
The district designated Friday as an e-learning day to deep clean the schools, but officials expect to move forward with hybrid learning again next week, Superintendent Charles Johns wrote in a letter to families on Thursday.
After operating completely virtually for the first month and a half of school, the district recently moved forward into the hybrid phase of its return-to-school plan. The hybrid model, when fully implemented, will bring back all interested students on a staggered schedule in which half attend school each morning and the other half attend each afternoon.
To ease into this hybrid model, the district began a two-week phased approach on Oct. 5, bringing only one grade level into the building each day while the others continued learning remotely. It was expected by district officials to be fully implemented with all students by Oct. 20.
According to Johns in the letter to families, the district learned on Wednesday evening that a Glenbrook South student had tested positive. On Thursday, the district learned that a second-shift staff member at Glenbrook North had also tested positive.
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Johns said the district is also “currently monitoring multiple suspected and probable student and staff cases in the district” but did not specify how many.
Read more here. —Kaitlin Edquist
1 p.m.: Lake County added to warning list
Lake County has been added to the list of counties under warning for a potential resurgence of the coronavirus, state health officials said Friday.
Lake County was added to this week’s list because there have been 90 coronavirus cases per 100,000 and because there has been a recent surge in emergency room visits for COVID-19-like illness, which accounted for 4.3% of all visits for the week ending Oct. 3, more than double the rate two weeks earlier.
The weekly list from the Illinois Department of Public Health includes 26 counties, down from 28 a week earlier. Counties are added to the list when they reach two or more bench marks indicating the virus that causes COVID-19 is spreading locally, such as more than 50 new cases per 100,000 residents or when the death toll increases by more than 20% for two straight weeks.
The other counties on this week’s list are: Case, Christian, Clay, Clinton, Coles, Crawford, Effingham, Fayette, Henderson, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Lee, Mason, Massac, Pulaski, Richland, Saline, Shelby, Union, Vermilion, Whiteside, Winnebago, and Warren.
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Public health officials continue to warn that some businesses are “blatantly disregarding” restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the virus, including mask requirements and social distancing guidelines.
State health officials continue to warn of outbreaks connected to large gatherings, bars and clubs, weddings and funerals, college and sports teams, family gatherings, long-term care facilities, prisons and jails, and schools. There also are continued cases of community spread, especially among people in their 20s, health officials said.
—Dan Petrella
12:03 p.m.: 2,818 new known COVID-19 cases and 35 additional deaths reported
The Illinois Department of Public Health on Friday reported 2,818 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus, as well as 35 more confirmed fatalities.
The total number of known infections now stands at 313,518 and the death toll to 8,945 statewide since the pandemic began. Officials also reported 71,599 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 3.8%.
—Chicago Tribune staff
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Noon: After ending negotiations, Trump now says he wants bigger relief package than Democrats as McConnell says deal ‘unlikely’
The White House is boosting its offer in up-and-down COVID-19 aid talks Friday in hopes of an agreement before Election Day, even as President Donald Trump’s most powerful GOP ally in the Senate said Congress is unlikely to deliver relief by then.
Trump on Friday took to Twitter to declare, “Covid Relief Negotiations are moving along. Go Big!” A top economic adviser said the Trump team is upping its offer in advance of a Friday conversation between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
A GOP aide familiar with the new offer said it is about $1.8 trillion, with a key state and local fiscal relief component moving from $250 billion to at least $300 billion. The White House says its most recent offer was about $1.6 trillion. The aide requested anonymity because the negotiations are private.
Pelosi’s most recent public offer was about $2.2 trillion, though that included a business tax increase that Republicans won’t go for.
But GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told an audience in Kentucky that he doesn’t see a deal coming together soon out of a “murky” situation in which the participants in the negotiations are elbowing for political advantage.
Read more here. —Associated Press
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11:07 a.m.: Illinois U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro says he’s tested positive for the coronavirus
In a statement posted Friday morning on Facebook, U.S. Rep. Mike Bost announced he has contracted COVID-19.
Bost, a Republican from Murphysboro, wrote that he was made aware of his diagnosis Thursday night.
“Despite taking my temperature regularly and having no evidence of a fever, I experienced a mild cough and a rapid loss of both taste and smell and recognized it was important to get tested immediately,” Bost wrote.
Read more here. —The Southern Illinoisan
11:02 a.m.: iO Theater of Chicago is for sale
At the end of what has been a stunning week for Chicago comedy and improvisation, the venerable iO Theater announced Friday that it, too, has put itself up for sale.
The announcement came just days after news that its much bigger rival, Second City, declared itself also to be on the block.
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The iO (once ImprovOlympic) only dates to 1981, as compared to 1959 for Second City. Nonetheless, both theaters are privately held, for-profit operations that share a parallel history, rivalry and centrality in the history of American comedy, along with associations with now-famous talents like Tina Fey, Mike Myers and Amy Poehler and reputations for making stars of the entertainment business. Each has been closed since March and thus starved of box-office revenue due to city and state regulations limiting the size of indoor gatherings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both also have been buffeted by internal accusations of racial inequity and demands for change from some former students in comedy classes and also from past performers.
Read more here. —Chris Jones
10:56 a.m.: State returns Metro East region outside St. Louis to Phase 4 reopening rules after weeks under tighter restrictions
After more than a month under tighter restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19, the Metro East region will return to phase four rules that allow indoor dining and bar service and gatherings of up to 50 people, state officials said Friday.
The region outside St. Louis was the first in Illinois to see a scaled back reopening in August after it passed a state-set threshold of an 8% positivity rate for three consecutive days.
The region can return to phase four of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reopening plan at 5 p.m. Friday, after its percentage of positive tests fell below 6.5% this week for three days in a row.
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The region reached a high 10.5% rolling positivity rate Aug. 27, and now sits at 5.8%, Pritzker’s office said Friday.
Read more here. —Jamie Munks
7:20 a.m.: Chicago businesses cited for violations of masking rules, 3 ordered shut down long-term after alleged violations of COVID-19 rules
The most frequent citation issued to Chicago businesses by city officials under COVID-19 rules since the lifting of tight coronavirus restrictions in June has been for failure to follow rules requiring masks, while only three businesses have been ordered shut long-term, according to the city.
A total of 149 businesses have had tickets issued by the city’s business affairs department for allegations of violating reopening guidelines, 114 of the citations citing violations of mask rules, according to a city news release. Another 72 businesses have had citations issued related to failure to enforce social-distancing rules, according to the city.
City “investigators will continue to hold businesses accountable to all of the reopening guidelines, especially as we approach Halloween, with a particular focus on the most common violations: failure to ensure proper social distancing, and failure to ensure that employers and customers are wearing face coverings,” the city said.
Long-term closure orders have been issued to three businesses “for egregious and repeated violations of the reopening guidelines,” according to the release. All three were drinking establishments: Wise Owl Drinkery & Cookhouse, 324 S. Racine Ave., Cork & Kerry, 10614 S. Western Ave., and The Lotus Black, 1540 W. North Ave. There have been 42 other businesses issued one-day closure orders because of violations, according to the city.
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Of the mask citations, 86 involved failure to ensure customers wore face coverings and 70 involved employees failing to wearing face coverings, according to the city.
—Chicago Tribune staff
6:45 a.m. 3 new COVID-19 cases in Highland Park, Deerfield high schools; officials stop saying if those infected are staff or students, say uptick isn’t an outbreak
Township High School District 113 officials announced Thursday that three individuals in the district have tested positive for COVID-19 – following other such notifications in recent weeks – but officials say it won’t hinder plans to move students to a hybrid learning mode.
“We’ve had cases every now and then since we’ve been back in school,” Superintendent Brue Law told Pioneer Press. “It’s a part of life right now.”
The latest positive COVID-19 cases include two individuals at Highland Park High School and one at Deerfield High School. Each of the notifications sent to parents and guardians, students and staff – one sent Thursday morning from Deerfield Principal Kathryn Anderson and the other distributed later that afternoon from Highland Park Principal Deborah Flynn – state that the individuals involved are now in isolation and that the district is working closely with the Lake County Health Department on contact tracing.
SD113 spokeswoman Karen Warner said she would not give out any information about the individuals who tested positive, including their identities or whether they are students or staff members.
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Though previous district notifications of positive COVID-19 incidents have never explicitly identified the affected person, citing privacy laws, there had been an indication as to whether the individual was a student or staff. District leaders said they are now advised by the county health department to no longer reveal that, and the notices now only state that an “individual” has been infected.
Read more here. —Graydon Megan
5 a.m.: No parade on Columbus Day amid pandemic concerns and controversy over explorer’s legacy
There will be a lot less fanfare than usual on Columbus Day in Chicago this year.
As criticism of Christopher Columbus' place in history has grown, clashes erupted over the removal of statues in his honor this summer and Chicago schools officially dropped his name from the holiday.
Traditionally, Monday would be marked with a parade that celebrates Columbus' voyage to America and Italian American culture. However, the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, facing a reckoning over Columbus' legacy and concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic, dropped plans for the parade.
The organization plans to host a rally and car procession Monday, according to its website. Organizers did not immediately return requests for comment. The city has no scheduled events.
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Read more here. —Jessica Villagomez and Hannah Leone
5 a.m.: Researchers surprised: 20% of Chicagoans in blood-test study came up positive for coronavirus antibodies
Nearly 1 in 5 Chicago residents who sent blood-spot samples to Northwestern University researchers tested positive for antibodies to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to preliminary results of an ongoing study.
That 20% infection rate is higher than the scientists anticipated based on earlier research, said Dr. Elizabeth McNally, director of the Center for Genetic Medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. One study by other Northwestern researchers tested hospital workers from across the Chicago region and found antibodies in less than 5%.
The latest project, called Screening for Coronavirus Antibodies in Neighborhoods, or SCAN, is examining infection rates in five pairs of adjoining Chicago ZIP codes where rates of previously reported COVID-19 cases differed widely. Though the research is continuing, McNally said enough testing has been done to draw some initial conclusions.
Read more here. —Hal Dardick
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
In case you missed it
Here are five things that happened Thursday related to COVID-19:
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An IHSA doctor said high school basketball could happen in Illinois if players wear masks.
A Winnetka businessman was charged with price gouging in the sale of protective masks during the pandemic.
The daily count of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in Illinois topped 3,000 for the first time since mid-May.
Wisconsin surpassed 3,000 new COVID-19 cases for first time as the Upper Midwest and Plains emerge as troubling hot spots.
Orland Park dropped a lawsuit against Gov. J.B. Pritzker challenging COVID-19 restrictions.


chicagotribune--2020-10-11--1 killed, 3 injured in West Side shooting

About 6:50 p.m. , four people were inside a vehicle in the 100 block of South Keeler Avenue in the @ @ @ @ @ according to Chicago police .
The victims then drove to the 500 block of South @ @ @ @ @ Garfield Park neighborhood where they hit a Chicago Fire Department vehicle .