chicagotribune--2020-11-12--2 firefighters suffer heat exhaustion after battling Jewelers Row blaze in the Loop, scene of 2 prev

2 firefighters suffer heat exhaustion after battling Jewelers Row blaze in the Loop, scene of 2 previous fires

Langford said one of the two firefighters was first seen at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and later transferred to Loyola University @ @ @ @ @ where he or she was in serious but stable condition , Langford said .
He @ @ @ @ @ the condition of the other firefighter .

Two firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion after battling an extra-alarm fire that started early Thursday on the 10th floor of a 21-story commercial building in the Loop’s diamond district, officials said.
Shortly before 4 a.m., firefighters were called to the historic Mallers Building, 5 S. Wabash Ave., which also is known as the Jewelers Center, said Fire Department spokesman Chief Frank Velez.
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The first crews arrived within five or six minutes and saw smoke coming out of an elevator shaft, indicating there was a fire on one of the upper floors, Velez said.
“There was heavy smoke inside, pushing down into the elevator shaft,” he said.
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Firefighters checked stairwells and started climbing, eventually finding the fire on the 10th floor, Velez said. The fire soon was extinguished, and Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said it’s possible the 11th floor also was damaged, though it was not immediately clear whether that was the result of fire, smoke or the large quantity of water needed to suppress the flames.
“There were reports of fire on two floors, but I’ve got to verify there was actually flames and not just heavy smoke,” Langford said. “I’m waiting for (investigators) for additional information, but there was a lot of smoke and a lot of water being poured on more than one floor.”
Officials said it was too soon to know how the fire began.
Firefighters previously battled an extra-alarm electrical fire in the same building just two years prior, in April 2018. In 2002, a propane tank also exploded in the building, which is more than 100 years old.
Still a huge scene at the intersection of Wabash & Jeweler's Row after a fire in one of the buildings. Waiting on more information from the fire chief. He is expected to speak shortly. @WGNNews pic.twitter.com/Nfh1vvI3YX — Brónagh Tumulty (@BronaghTumulty) November 12, 2020
Two firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion, Velez said. Two firefighters also were injured during the 2018 fire, according to a Tribune article at the time.
“Checking for civilians, we do have to climb all the stairs to make sure, so you’re doing 20 floors up and down,” Velez said. “That’s with 100 pounds of equipment when you’re climbing. That gets exhausting, quick.”
Langford said one of the two firefighters was first seen at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and later transferred to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he or she was in serious but stable condition, Langford said. He did not have information about the condition of the other firefighter.
Langford said that after a fatal fire in a high-rise about 10 years ago — in which people were found dead in a stairwell above the floor with the fire — the department reevaluated its procedure for responding to fires in high-rise buildings. The following year in a similar nearby high-rise fire, there were no fatalities.
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“It showed the new response plan worked very, very well,” he said.
The third alarm was called during Thursday’s fire because current standards call for multiple crews, with one focusing on firefighting and others dedicated to concurrent search-and-rescue efforts.
Langford said people work in the building at all hours of the day, but he was told any workers in the building at the time of Thursday’s fire “self-evacuated,” and firefighters did not find anyone during their extensive search of the building.
It wasn’t immediately clear in which business the fire began, Langford said.
He said high-rise buildings, unlike smaller apartment buildings or single-family homes, are generally structurally sound and built to contain any potential fire to affected floors.
“The building itself isn’t going anywhere, for the most part. You’re worried about people. We call extra alarms faster on a high-rise,” Langford said. "You have to have a lot of companies in there fast because they’re going for suppression and going up there for search and rescue.
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“You do top-to-bottom searches of the stairwells looking for people that may have tried to evacuate and become trapped. We flood the building with manpower, people power,” Langford said.
An EMS Plan 1 also was immediately initiated, which sends at least six ambulances to the building, in case they’re needed.
Langford said he did not know whether hoses or standpipes were used to make sure the water was where it needed to be.
“I don’t know of any water issues, but on a high-rise fire if you’ve got more than one floor involved you’re going to go to extra alarms,” he said.
The fire was struck out just before 5:30 a.m., and no one else was hurt, Velez said.
“We got it extinguished right away and checked the 11th floor since heat rises. We opened the windows up and did some ventilation,” Velez said.
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Langford was looking into whether there was any connection or similarities to the April 2018 fire in the same building.
The early morning blaze blocked off lanes of several nearby streets and led to the temporary rerouting of nearby CTA bus routes. Normal service resumed hours after the fire was extinguished.
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-11-12--Extra-alarm fire engulfs Far South Side warehouse, no injuries reported

The fire started about 8:40 p.m. at Era Valdivia Contractors at 11909 S. Ave. O , officials said .
The @ @ @ @ @ unknown , said Officer Ronald Westbrooks , a police spokesman .

Members of the Chicago Fire Department work to extinguish a fire in the 11900 block of South Avenue O on Nov. 11, 2020, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
An extra-alarm fire engulfed a Far South Side warehouse Wednesday night, but no injuries were reported, according to Chicago fire and police officials.
The fire started about 8:40 p.m. at Era Valdivia Contractors at 11909 S. Ave. O, officials said. The cause of the fire is unknown, said Officer Ronald Westbrooks, a police spokesman.
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Members of the Chicago Fire Department work to extinguish a fire in the 11900 block of South Avenue O on Nov. 11, 2020, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
The fire was extinguished by 10:55 p.m.
No injuries or displacements occurred, officials said.
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pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-11-12--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened Nov. 11 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

“ Unfortunately , the COVID-19 cases continue to rise significantly in our city , in our state and across the @ @ @ @ @ and the continuous interactions with the community at large , we can not completely mitigate @ @ @ @ @ by the most recent results of our surveillance testing , ” Chancellor Michael Amiridis said @ @ @ @ @ students , faculty and staff Wednesday afternoon .
“ And while our contact tracing efforts @ @ @ @ @ no transmission in our classrooms or our labs , out of an abundance of caution @ @ @ @ @ stricter measures to protect the health and safety of our community members and curb the @ @ @ @ @ ”

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois officials on Wednesday reported 145 deaths related to COVID-19, the most in a single day since late May and the first time the daily death toll has reached triple digits since early June.
The state also reported 12,657 new confirmed and probable cases, topping the record of 12,623 set a day earlier. There have now been 523,840 cases and 10,434 coronavirus-related deaths in Illinois since the pandemic began. The seven-day statewide rolling positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 12.4% for the period ending Tuesday, up from 8% on Nov. 1.
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Also on Wednesday, Region 7, covering Will and Kankakee counties, and Region 8, covering DuPage and Kane counties, as well as Region 2, which covers southern Illinois, moved back to Tier 2 of the state’s coronavirus reopening plan.
And yesterday, city officials said Chicago is adding Michigan to its travel order this week, but gave travelers coming from that state a way to avoid the mandatory two-week quarantine.
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Here’s what’s happening Wednesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7:35 p.m.: Illinois hospitals delay elective surgeries, add beds as COVID-19 cases climb
Faced with a record number of COVID-19 patients, some Illinois hospitals are returning to strategies similar to those they adopted in the early days of the health crisis, including limiting elective surgeries and adding more beds.
One health care provider, NorthShore University HealthSystem, has converted its Glenbrook Hospital in Glenview back into a COVID-19 hospital, meaning it is no longer taking patients in need of overnight care if they don’t have COVID-19. Non-COVID-19 patients who need to be hospitalized are being sent to other facilities in the system.
The five-hospital system also has started evaluating elective surgeries on a case-by-case basis, delaying some depending on their urgency, said Dr. Lakshmi Halasyamani, chief medical officer.
“I’m very concerned,” Halasyamani said of the rising statewide numbers. “The numbers we saw in the spring, they look like a little hill compared to the mountain we’re seeing now.”
Read more here. —Lisa Schencker
6:50 p.m.: Tier 2 restrictions hit suburban counties. ‘The damage had already kind of been done.’
New COVID-19 restrictions took effect in DuPage, Kane, Will and Kankakee counties Wednesday, limiting table size at restaurants and restricting gatherings to no more than 10 people.
It wasn’t exactly welcome news to already-struggling businesses, but some said given the restrictions they already face, the impact has been muted.
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“The damage had already kind of been done,” said Lee Hoener, general manager of the Drake Oak Brook. “We took the big hits earlier.”
He said his hotel had to cancel small meetings it was set to host on Wednesday and Thursday that would have had too many people under the new measures. But much of the Drake’s business, including weddings, has already been moved into next year, he said.
As for the new dining restrictions, which limits parties to six people per table, Hoener said that hasn’t proven to be a big deal, though it might cause families dining together at Thanksgiving to be broken up into separate tables.
John Scudder, commander of American Legion Post 187 Elmhurst, which has a banquet hall attached, said the prohibition on indoor dining announced last week had been a larger blow.
“We’ve had to refund money and we can’t book anything because we don’t know what the future will hold,” he said.
Kaylin Risvold, president and CEO of the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, said the big fear is that Tier 2 will soon lead to Tier 3, a near-total shutdown of business operations deemed non-essential.
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“It just puts us one step closer to the edge,” she said. “I feel like everyone’s waiting for what’s coming next, and we’re not expecting good things.”
She added that customers who enthusiastically supported restaurants during the spring shutdown are going through “takeout fatigue,” and aren’t placing as many orders as before.
Tier 2 restrictions also affect recreational sports, but some park districts said they’ve already kept their groups small, so no adjustment was required.
Dawn Hartman of the Downers Grove Park District said it limits groups to 10 people at its fitness center and recreational programs. And while nearly 190 children have signed up for winter basketball — which, in keeping with state guidelines, will feature skill-building but no games — team sizes are small enough that they’ll stay within the restrictions.
But park district officials are mindful that more drastic changes could be coming for them, too.
“We are getting ready to start registration for winter programs, trying to anticipate if we have to move to a virtual format,” Hartman said.
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—John Keilman
5:15 p.m.: Tier 2 restrictions in suburbs prompt Downers Grove church to go back to streaming services
Like other places of worship, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Downers Grove is not legally bound to follow COVID-19 guidelines put forth by Illinois public health officials, but its diocese has chosen to do so.
So when Tier 2 restrictions took effect in DuPage County Wednesday, limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people, the church had to make a severe adjustment to its Sunday service.
“For our size of congregation, 200 households, it takes about eight or nine people to run a service, so we’re at almost 10 pretty quickly,” Pastor Gregg Morris said. “We really can’t accommodate (enough church members), so we just made the decision to go strictly online.”
It’s a throwback to the troubling early days of the pandemic when nearly everything was shut down. St. Andrew’s went virtual in March and just reopened in September, allowing 75 worshippers, or 25 percent of its capacity. As the COVID-19 numbers grew in October, it capped its services at 25.
Now it’s going back to streaming services only, though it will continue a drive-through communion following the livestream.
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“I frame the conundrum we’re in this way: How do you lead a community whose core purpose is to gather when you can’t gather?” Morris said. “The answer is you adapt, you gather differently … We’re able to connect virtually, and we’re finding the virtual presence is indeed keeping people engaged and connected, spiritually fed and enriched.”
—John Keilman
5:10 p.m.: UIC suspends in-person classes for remainder of fall semester
The University of Illinois at Chicago is suspending in-person classes on its campus for the remainder of fall semester, citing rising cases of COVID-19 in the city and state and increased risk of community transmission.
The majority of UIC students are already taking online-only classes, a spokeswoman said, but the changes will go into effect by the end of this week and remain in place until final exams conclude Dec. 10.
“Unfortunately, the COVID-19 cases continue to rise significantly in our city, in our state and across the nation. Given our location and the continuous interactions with the community at large, we cannot completely mitigate these effects, as indicated by the most recent results of our surveillance testing,” Chancellor Michael Amiridis said in a written message to students, faculty and staff Wednesday afternoon. “And while our contact tracing efforts clearly demonstrate that there is no transmission in our classrooms or our labs, out of an abundance of caution, we must now implement stricter measures to protect the health and safety of our community members and curb the spread of this disease.”
Though the positivity rate for saliva tests conducted on UIC’s campus remains lower than averages in the surrounding cities and counties, it has jumped from 0.63% in early October to 2.34% last week, according to the school’s public dashboard. Since Nov. 1, UIC reports 142 positive tests.
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—Elyssa Cherney
5:05 p.m.: With data on restaurant COVID-19 infections in hand, Fulton Market Association decries clamp down on industry, pushes for relief
The Fulton Market Association joined calls across Chicago and the state of Illinois for more financial aid for the hurting restaurant and bar industry, and said more transparency was needed in decisions it says threatens their survival.
On Wednesday, the association criticized the city for what it alleges is unfair targeting of restaurants, and sharing a list of demands the association believes will help restaurants survive the winter.
“We can’t put the blame on restaurants who really don’t deserve it, based on the data,” said Executive Director Roger Romanelli, referring to figures the association said it received from a Freedom of Information Act request seeking statistics on restaurant-related COVID-19 infections.
In his call to action, Romanelli said new financial aid Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Friday will only help a fraction of the city’s 7,200 restaurants. His association and supporting restaurateurs gathered Wednesday to call for more grant money from the city and other measures like exempting restaurants from paying rent or property taxes for the rest of 2020 — a power the city likely does not have over private transactions between non-governmental parties. Instead, government agencies have opted to provide grant money or loans to help keep restaurants afloat.
Fulton Market Association is a nonprofit economic development agency for the Fulton Market and West Loop neighborhoods and is not restaurant specific. In a FOIA request Sept. 29, the association asked for data on new cases of COVID-19 in restaurant workers and restaurant customers from June through September, plus the number of restaurants fined or temporarily closed for not complying with city safety regulations.
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Romanelli asserts the numbers show that restaurants are not a main source of spread, emphasizing that restaurants have spent thousands of dollars on sanitation and ventilation while facing shutdown directives from the city.
Separately, a recent study from Northwestern predicted that almost 600,000 new infections could be generated if restaurants reopened at full capacity, but that full lockdowns aren’t necessary if masking, social distancing and 20% occupancy is enforced.
Read more here. —Grace Wong
4:45 p.m.: Indiana’s governor reinstates some coronavirus restrictions after weeks of sharp increases in hospitalizations, deaths
Indiana’s governor announced Wednesday that some coronavirus restrictions are being reinstated after several weeks of sharp increases in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths.
The new steps being imposed by Gov. Eric Holcomb will limit crowd sizes in those counties at the higher-risk levels of coronavirus spread and would cover 87 of the state’s 92 counties as of Wednesday’s update from the state health department.
Gary Health Commissioner Roland Walker said the city was planning to announce similar restrictions Friday.
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“I’m not surprised at all,” he said. “This is the time of year that we are in. People are in more closed quarters. I’m glad we are taking those steps.”
Read more here. —Tom Davies
4:15 p.m.: CDC declares masks also protect wearers from COVID-19, joining scientific consensus
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says masks, even cloth ones, protect wearers from catching, as well as spreading, the coronavirus.
Yes, this is the same national health agency that initially said masks do not safeguard the general public and are needed only by health-care workers. It is the same agency that, a few months later, said a mask won’t protect the wearer from inhaling the virus — but you should wear one anyway to protect other people in case you’re infected but don’t know it.
On Tuesday, the CDC caught up with the mounting science that shows masks do indeed protect wearers by filtering out any incoming airborne droplets.
Equally significant, the agency endorsed a policy that has been highly politicized in the United States: “universal masking.”
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“Adopting universal masking policies can help avert future lockdowns, especially if combined with other non-pharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing, hand hygiene, and adequate ventilation,” the CDC said.
An analysis cited by the CDC found a 15% increase in universal masking could prevent economic losses of up to $1 trillion.
Read more here. —The Philadelphia Inquirer
2:45 p.m.: More than a third of Illinois teachers surveyed said they’ve considered leaving the profession amid COVID-19 stress
More than a third of Illinois teachers surveyed said they’ve considered leaving the profession amid the safety concerns and debilitating stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, officials at the state’s largest teachers union said Wednesday.
The departures would arrive at a critical time coinciding with teacher shortages at many school districts across the state and a spike in teacher retirements.
“This should sound the alarm for every person in Illinois who values our children and their education,” Illinois Education Association President Kathi Griffin said at a virtual news conference Wednesday.
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Read more here. —Karen Ann Cullotta
12:50 p.m.: Mayo Clinic Health System says its hospital beds are full to capacity in northwest region of Wisconsin
Mayo Clinic Health System says its hospitals in the northwest region of Wisconsin are full to capacity.
System officials say 100% of their beds are full at hospitals in the region, which encompasses Barron, Bloomer, Eau Claire, Osseo and Menomonie. Eighty-three patients have COVID-19, WQOW-TV reported.
They say 50% of the patients in intensive care have COVID-19 and 40% of their medical or surgical beds are filled with cornavirus patients.
Read more here. —Associated Press
12:39 p.m.: Illinois reports 145 COVID-19 deaths, first triple-digit toll since early June; another daily record set with 12,657 new and probable cases
Illinois public health officials on Wednesday reported 145 deaths related to the coronavirus, the most in a single day since late May and the first time the daily death toll has reached triple digits since early June.
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The state also reported 12,657 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, topping the record of 12,623 set a day earlier. There have now been 523,840 cases and 10,434 coronavirus-related in Illinois since the pandemic began.
The figures announced Wednesday include the death of a seventh resident at the Illinois Veterans' Home in LaSalle since the pandemic began. Officials reported three deaths at the state-run long-term care facility on Tuesday. There are currently 72 residents and 72 employees with COVID-19 at the home.
“Our veterans homes really have done an outstanding job of keep our veterans safe,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said early Wednesday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a long-delayed state veterans home in the Dunning neighborhood on Chicago’s Northwest Side. “But you can’t a hundred percent keep everybody safe in this environment, especially when our communities, our mayors, our city councils, our county chairs aren’t living up to the mitigations, are not enforcing the mitigations in many parts of the state.”
As COVID-19 has surged this fall, Pritzker has repeatedly criticized local officials for not enforcing prohibitions on indoor dining and bar service and other measures aimed at slowing the spread of the virus that causes the disease.
As of Wednesday, the state is averaging 72 deaths per day from COVID-19 over the past week. A week earlier, the seven-day average was 45 daily deaths. At the beginning of October, the average was 23 deaths per day.
Hospitalizations for COVID-19 also have reached an all-time high, with 5,042 patients reportedly in the hospital as of Tuesday night. The previous high was 5,037 patients on April 28.
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The percentage of coronavirus tests returning positive results statewide — known as the test positivity rate — hit a seven-day average of 13.6% as of Tuesday, up from 8.2% when the state began reporting the figure Oct. 29.
—Dan Petrella
11:56 a.m.: Feds: Suburban Chicago businessman formed company as pandemic hit, then swindled more than $2.6 million from hospitals in Chicago and Iowa City
The head of a suburban biotechnology company formed as the pandemic hit has been charged with swindling more than $2.6 million from two hospitals that ordered personal protective equipment.
Dennis Haggerty, 44, of Burr Ridge, was arrested Tuesday morning and charged with wire fraud. Federal officials also searched the offices of his company, At Diagnostics in Willowbrook, which was formed in March.
Haggerty is accused of stealing money from a large university hospital in Chicago and another in Iowa City, Iowa, and using some of it for personal benefit, including two Maserati cars.
Read more here. —Kelli Smith
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8:53 a.m.: CVS, nonprofits open free COVID-19 testing site on South Side
CVS Health is working with several local nonprofits to open a free COVID-19 testing site on the city’s South Side.
The site, which opens today, will provide results within 30 minutes and be located at the Chicago Baptist Institute at 5120 S. King Drive.
To get tested, patients must pre-register by calling 844-826-2838 to schedule an appointment. People will also have to meet criteria established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new site comes from a partnership between CVS, New Spiritual Light Missionary Baptist Church and Peer Plus Education and Training Advocates.
CVS already has nearly 170 drive-thru sites in Illinois.
—Lisa Schencker
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7:01 a.m.: 3 Illinois regions move to Tier 2 coronavirus mitigation levels
Three regions of Illinois, including a wide swath of the Chicago suburbs, move Wednesday to Tier 2 coronavirus mitigation efforts.
Region 7, covering Will and Kankakee counties, and Region 8, covering DuPage and Kane counties, as well as Region 2, which covers southern Illinois, moved back to Tier 2 of the state’s coronavirus reopening plan.
The regions’ test positivity rate remains above 8% and “continues to rise” after more than 14-days under Tier 1 mitigations, according to state officials.
Among the new measures are a limit on party size in bars and restaurants to six people; a maximum indoor/outdoor gathering size of 10 people for meetings, social events and gatherings; and a limit to the lesser of 25 guests or 25% of overall room capacity both indoors and outdoors for organized group recreational activities.
—Associated Press
6:11 a.m.: Amid pandemic, Grossman Ensemble makes recording debut
Arts organizations have devised various ways of dealing with the pandemic, and one of the most tangibly satisfying comes from the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition (at the University of Chicago).
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The Grossman Ensemble – its resident band – has released “Fountain of Time,” an immensely appealing album that illuminates much of what CCCC is all about: nurturing new ideas in concert music. Each of the CD’s five compositions was given its world premiere by the Grossman Ensemble and is captured here in lustrous detail.
From the mystical opening pages of Shulamit Ran’s “Grand Rounds” to the instrumental sensuality of Anthony Cheung’s “Double Allegories,” from the exquisitely detailed tone painting of David Dzubay’s “PHO” to the subtle textural shifts of Tonia Ko’s “Simple Fuel,” the recording attests to the stylistic breadth the CCCC seeks to foster. It also documents the Grossman Ensemble’s high performance caliber, established during its first performance, in December 2018.
Read more here. —Howard Reich
1:50 a.m.: In reversal, Sangamon County to enter full mitigations Friday
During a striking rise in COVID-19 cases, Sangamon County will enter full mitigations Friday, forcing indoor bar and restaurant service to cease.
The move comes a week after Sangamon County and city of Springfield officials announced that they would defy Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s mitigation orders, opting for a “phased-in” approach that would allow hard-hit businesses in the service industry to remain open.
Under the plan, indoor service was allowed to continue at 25% capacity. Customers were required to complete a health questionnaire, which was to be retained by the establishment and provided to county public health officials upon request.
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The altered mitigations, which went into effect last Friday, were to be revisited in two weeks.
But just four days later, it was clear that spread of the virus was continuing unchecked around the county.
County health officials made the call after the county reached a third consecutive day with a seven-day-rolling positivity rate higher than 12%.
Read more here. —The State Journal Register
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 Tuesday regarding COVID-19:


chicagotribune--2020-11-13--Daywatch: Stay-at-home orders could be near, Lightfoot’s budget warning to aldermen and garages remo

Daywatch: Stay-at-home orders could be near, Lightfoot’s budget warning to aldermen and garages remodeled as pandemic-safe space

“ If things don ’ t take a turn in the coming days , we will quickly reach the point @ @ @ @ @ mandatory stay-at-home order is all that will be left , ” Pritzker said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ being , I do not want us to get there .
But right now , @ @ @ @ @ are heading .
”

Good morning, Chicago. On Thursday, Illinois officials announced 12,702 newly confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and an additional 43 deaths. The new cases set yet another record for a daily high, and the average number of new infections over the past week now stands at 11,625.
With a vaccine drawing closer, officials across the country are gearing up for the biggest vaccination effort in U.S. history — a monumental undertaking that must distribute hundreds of millions of doses, prioritize who’s first in line and ensure that people who get the initial shot return for the necessary second one.
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Here’s more coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
Listen to the Tribune | 2020 Election results | Experts answer your COVID questions | More newsletters | Puzzles & Games
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Phlebotomist Jocelyn Rios administers a drive-thru COVID-19 test in Aurora on Nov. 12, 2020, at a Illinois Department of Public Health test site. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
As coronavirus cases continue spiking across Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot warned that stay-at-home orders could be coming soon but stopped short of imposing such sweeping restrictions on residents, instead urging people to stay home voluntarily and cancel holiday gatherings.
“If things don’t take a turn in the coming days, we will quickly reach the point when some form of a mandatory stay-at-home order is all that will be left,” Pritzker said. “With every fiber of my being, I do not want us to get there. But right now, that seems like where we are heading.”
Earlier Thursday, Lightfoot announced she was issuing a non-mandatory stay-at-home advisory to take effect Monday.
Is the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as good as it sounds? What is Chicago’s color-coded travel quarantine list? Experts answer your questions here.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot releases the city's 2021 Budget Forecast at the Chicago Cultural Center on Aug. 31, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
As Mayor Lori Lightfoot works behind the scenes to muster the votes she needs to pass her 2021 city budget, she has delivered a message to City Council members: those who vote against her spending plan should not expect their wards to be prioritized, according to aldermen.
“Don’t come to me for s--- for the next three years” if you don’t support the budget, two aldermen recalled her saying.
From property taxes to layoffs, here are 5 things you need to know about Lightfoot’s 2021 budget plan.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood at her election night headquarters in St. Charles, Nov. 3, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Democratic U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood won her bid for a second term Thursday, narrowly defeating Republican challenger Jim Oberweis in the west and north suburban and exurban 14th Congressional District, The Associated Press declared.
Oberweis claimed victory the day after the election, then said he would seek a recount after mail-in vote results found him trailing. He said Thursday that he was not conceding.
See full 2020 election results here.
Meanwhile in Washington, Republicans are standing firmly behind Trump and his unsupported claims of voter fraud — but a few cracks have emerged.
The Student Center East building on the campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) in Chicago on Oct. 6, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
In Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s first remarks after voters rejected his proposal for a graduated-rate income tax, the first-term Democrat singled out higher education as one of the many state-supported areas that could lose funding as lawmakers try to balance the next budget.
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While Illinois universities are not expecting any budget changes for this fiscal year, some advocates and policy experts said the long-term implications for Illinois higher education could be severe if new sources of funding aren’t found.
Amy Nedoss and her 9-year-old daughter Jin work on their laptops in their newly remodeled backyard space, Nov. 5, 2020, in Evanston. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Residential remodeling companies in the Chicago area are seeing a boom in business from people wanting to spruce up garages and other overlooked spaces during the health crisis.
“I was inspired by the garage parties of my youth,” said Katie Wrobel of Evanston, who wants to use the updated space as a room where her family can safely socialize and work as colder weather limits options for spending time outdoors.


chicagotribune--2020-11-13--Column: Thanksgiving during COVID-19 crisis: Zoom your way to a fabulous Quarantinesgiving!

2 ) An off-screen isolation chamber for relatives you dislike .
This function would allow the user to remove people @ @ @ @ @ them knowing it .
Those removed would be placed in a video game-like space on @ @ @ @ @ number of the following : murder hornets , a hungry lion with dull teeth , @ @ @ @ @ the clown .
You would be able to occasionally toggle to this screen to see @ @ @ @ @ for the people who have wronged you on past Thanksgivings .

As coronavirus cases surge and talks of shutdowns in Chicago and across the country resume, Americans are realizing traditional Thanksgiving get-togethers are largely off the table.
It’s a bummer for many, I know. But when you think about it, Thanksgiving gatherings always have the potential to be disasters.
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Rather than feel sad about our pandemic-induced holiday limitations, perhaps we should view them as a Thanksgiving Day disaster-tunity — a chance to have an entirely different kind of turkey-centric experience.
Consider this normal scenario:
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It’s 2 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and the turkey went in the oven later than planned, so the feast will be hours late and people are already complaining that they’re hungry. The relatives are already here, including Uncle Tim and Aunt Mirna, who everyone agrees are dreadful to have around. Tim drinks too much and starts making sexist comments and Mirna never stops complaining about her sciatica.
There are children running about, yelling and intermittently breaking things, and you honestly aren’t sure who all the children are — they just blur into one loud, destructive, knee-high force that isn’t helping the headache you have from making small talk with people you, for good reason, only see once a year.
There are adults in the living room yelling about something, a teen in the corner moping and composing awful poetry in his head and other teens in the backyard, either vaping or reflexively rolling their eyes.
The cousin who promised to bring the pies doesn’t show up, a grandparent starts to feel “a bit wobbly” for no particular reason, the stuffing is missing something (and you just know Aunt Mirna’s going to point that out at the dinner table) and another blur-kid just shot you in the eye with a Nerf gun, causing the mopey teen in the corner to briefly smirk.
Finally, dinner is served. Everyone eats too fast and talks too loud, then there are a ton of dishes and the house is a mess and everyone either leaves or sleeps over and snores loudly.
Sounds fun, right?
Now consider a quarantined Thanksgiving:
You and the family members who live with you (you know, the ones you actually like) wake up whenever you want. You cook whatever you want and don’t worry about Aunt Mirna’s opinion. You eat dinner with a laptop on the table and your extended family members spaced out in tidy little “Brady-Bunch”-style boxes on Zoom, your finger never far from the mute button.
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Then you close the laptop, do a few dishes, watch some television and go to bed.
Sure, you miss seeing some of your relatives. We’ll call them “the good ones.” But a virtual Thanksgiving dinner will allow you to separate the wheat from the chaff, family-wise.
All you need is the right mindset and, hopefully, a few improvements from Zoom and other videoconferencing platforms.
To get your mind right, repeat my Thanksgiving Day mantra: “All that matters is the food, all that matters is the food, all that matters is the food …” Say that approximately a thousand times, unless you’re already a believer, and then have someone you don’t like spill red wine on your carpet while a child you don’t know yells in your ear. Then, and only then, will you be emotionally prepared to embrace Quarantinesgiving.
The next step requires the help of the aforementioned videoconferencing platforms.
We have the technology to mute people, which is a blessing. But we need more tools to properly handle a virtual family get-together of this magnitude.
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I encourage Zoom and the other less-awesomely named companies to immediately consider adding the following options:
1) An emoji that indicates someone should stop saying things that are racist. I imagine this as a red slash over a cartoon caricature of an uncle holding a bottle of whiskey.
2) An off-screen isolation chamber for relatives you dislike. This function would allow the user to remove people from the Zoom meeting without them knowing it. Those removed would be placed in a video game-like space on another screen that contains any number of the following: murder hornets, a hungry lion with dull teeth, an evil-looking Pac-Man or Pennywise the clown. You would be able to occasionally toggle to this screen to see how things are working out for the people who have wronged you on past Thanksgivings.
3) An algorithm that filters out any person’s mention of the names “Donald Trump” or “Joe Biden” and replaces it with something more mundane. For example, if Grandpa Herbert says, “I like that Joe Biden,” others in the Zoom meeting would hear, “I like milk.” If your sister-in-law says, “I stand with Donald Trump and think the election was rigged,” others would hear, “I enjoy calm walks along a creek in autumn.”
With those simple changes, and with your own Zen-like focus on delicious food and not spending most of the day angry, there’s no reason Thanksgiving 2020 can’t be a delight.
In fact, even if the pandemic is over this time next year, we might want to stick with Quarantinesgiving.
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Enjoy the snakes, Aunt Mirna!
rhuppke@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-11-13--Arbitrator rules against Chicago Public Schools in labor dispute over clerks, but district will stil

Arbitrator rules against Chicago Public Schools in labor dispute over clerks, but district will still require them to work mostly in person, saying COVID-19 measures in place

Unless CPS provides the union with information needed to confirm a school ’ s compliance , the remedy requires CPS @ @ @ @ @ can ’ t be performed remotely and how much time they take , and to @ @ @ @ @ three days “ keeping in mind the duty to maximize remote work as a protective @ @ @ @ @ '' The schedules would become effective within seven business days .
If an employee takes @ @ @ @ @ the matter would go before the arbitrator .

The Chicago Teachers Union and supporters protested against reopening schools back in August, and the teachers union has continued to raise concerns for students as well as for staff already working in buildings. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Public Schools has indicated it will continue to require certain staff members to work in person, despite an arbitrator’s ruling Thursday that they should be allowed to work mostly from home until CPS proves it’s minimized the risk of COVID-19 at each school.
Thursday’s ruling applies to clerks, technology coordinators and other select staff whom the independent labor arbitrator presumed should be permitted to work from home at least four days a week, except where duties can’t be performed remotely.
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It also requires CPS to determine which schools pass certified hazard assessments and provide the union with all the information they need to confirm the district’s determination. If a school is in compliance with health and safety requirements, 100% in-person work “is appropriate,” according to the arbitrator.
The ruling comes the week after CPS officials released an air quality and ventilation assessment that they said cleared most classrooms for students to return.
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A district spokeswoman on Thursday said the arbitrator’s ruling reflects “an earlier time period of assessment” and that CPS has already taken care of the measures required to make buildings safe. District officials said they didn’t submit the ventilation information because the arbitrator wouldn’t accept additional evidence beyond their initial response.
The four-day remote work week is a flipped version of the one-day remote schedule the union says CPS offered after the arbitrator initially ruled that the district should let employees work from home “when feasible.”
But in a statement provided in response to the ruling, CPS said it will “proceed with its current in-person staffing structure" because it has already “implemented measures the arbitrator says are necessary for a safe work environment.”
While arbitrator Jeanne Charles noted her final ruling “makes no finding with respect to the Board’s ability to reopen schools," she found that CPS violated its contract with CTU by requiring employees to work in potentially unsafe conditions.
“I find reporting to work inside CPS school buildings at this time, increases the danger of infection by COVID-19, an airborne, highly communicable, deadly, and still not fully understood disease,” Charles wrote. “The only way to eliminate the risk of COVID-19 infection and death is for school clerks, school clerk assistants, and technology coordinators to work remotely.
“Although the Board (of Education) has made efforts to mitigate the risk,” Charles continued, "subjecting these employees to increased risk of COVID-19 infection for work that can be performed remotely does not provide reasonable protection to these employees, to the extent feasible, and fails to fulfill CPS’s contractual promise that its employees work in safe and healthful conditions.”
State law, public health guidance and expert testimony are cited in the ruling. CPS called several principals as witnesses, including some who work at the same schools as staff members who served as witnesses for the union.
Despite spending money on air purifiers and protective equipment, CPS hasn’t provided evidence to determine that each school building is “safe and healthful,” Charles wrote.
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But she wrote that her decision assumes no hazard assessment has been acted upon; “appropriate engineering controls” such as air filtration aren’t in place; and sufficient personal protective equipment hasn’t been provided.
When schools initially closed, the employees in question weren’t considered essential workers and did their whole job from home. Some tasks were delayed or required more of school administrators, according to the arbitrator.
Because each school is different, and some have more than one clerk, the arbitrator did not recommend a “one-size-fits-all” approach.
“While working remotely one-hundred percent of the time eliminates exposure to the viral hazard in school buildings, there must be a reasonable balance between the remote working arrangement and the CPS operational needs,” the ruling states. “... The presumption then is that the aggrieved employees will be allowed to work remotely at least four days per week unless it can be established that those duties that must be physically completed in-person exceed one regular workday.”
Unless CPS provides the union with information needed to confirm a school’s compliance, the remedy requires CPS to determine which duties absolutely can’t be performed remotely and how much time they take, and to make a work schedule within three days “keeping in mind the duty to maximize remote work as a protective measure during the pandemic." The schedules would become effective within seven business days. If an employee takes issue with their schedule, the matter would go before the arbitrator.
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Union leaders issued a statement demanding that CPS comply with the ruling immediately.
“Mayor Lightfoot today is urging people across the city to work remotely and avoid all but essential outside activities — but still forcing our school clerks and others to work in unsafe buildings,” said CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates. “This dangerous double standard makes no sense, and is putting Black and Brown women needlessly in harm’s way."
Many students live in neighborhoods disproportionately affected by the pandemic, said CTU President Jesse Sharkey. “It’s time for CPS to stop dodging its responsibilities, make needed repairs and document those repairs to our families and educators," he said.
With CPS’ second quarter underway, a surging pandemic and no reopening agreement between CPS and CTU, the union has asked for an independent mediator to get involved. On Wednesday, the district agreed to mediation regarding the impact of its reopening decision, but not over the decision itself.
“The (Chicago Board of Education) has announced its goal to return to in-person instruction for pre-K students and students in cluster programs during the second quarter of this school year," according to a letter from the district’s law office to a union lawyer. "As you are well aware, decisions to determine the places of instruction, whether remote or in person, are permissive subjects of bargaining ... and the CBE has no obligation to bargain its decision. We have engaged in impact bargaining, including bargaining over health and safety protocols, related to a return to in-person learning and will continue to do so.”
hleone@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-11-13--1 person dead after Metra train strikes vehicle in Arlington Heights

Although she couldn ’ t recall if the gates were down when the car was in the intersection , Kolpek @ @ @ @ @ customers who was waiting on the other side of the tracks told her the train @ @ @ @ @ .

One person is dead after a Metra train crashed into a car Thursday afternoon near downtown Arlington Heights, according to Metra officials.
The late model Mercedes was struck at 2:10 p.m. by a Union Pacific Northwest line train traveling inbound from Crystal Lake through a gated crossing at Euclid Avenue and Northwest Highway, according to Katie Dahlstrom, a Metra spokeswoman. Officials could not release further details on the circumstances of the crash, Dahlstrom said.
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The driver has not yet been identified.
The train and car came to rest just east of the intersection of Ridge Avenue, several blocks east of where the collision occurred. The car was crushed by the impact and investigators were still on the scene several hours after the crash.
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More than 20 emergency vehicles responded from both Metra and the Arlington Heights police and fire departments.
Arlington Heights police were not immediately available for comment.
Northwest Highway between Chestnut and Euclid avenues was closed for more than two hours after the crash.
Megan Kolpek has been a manager at Northwest Auto Wash at the intersection where the crash occurred for more than 21 years. She was moving cars around the property when she noticed the Mercedes sitting in the middle of the crossing.
“It’s weird the car was just sitting there,” Kolpek said.”
Although she couldn’t recall if the gates were down when the car was in the intersection, Kolpek said one of her regular customers who was waiting on the other side of the tracks told her the train was wailing on its horn.
In January 2016, a 61-year-old woman died after her SUV was struck by a train at the same crossing.
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Elizabeth Owens-Schiele is a freelance reporter.