chicagotribune--2020-10-20--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Pritzker orders tighter restrictions in several suburban counties a

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Pritzker orders tighter restrictions in several suburban counties as 3,714 new confirmed cases and 41 additional deaths reported

When the latest rollbacks take effect later this week , four of the 11 regions in Pritzker ’ s reopening @ @ @ @ @ stricter requirements , which also include lowering a cap on gatherings from 50 people to @ @ @ @ @ take effect Thursday in the 20 southernmost counties in Illinois and have been in effect @ @ @ @ @ nine counties in the state ’ s northwest corner .

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CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois is rolling back reopening restrictions across a wide swath of suburban Chicago this week as the state continues to see a major resurgence of COVID-19.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Tuesday afternoon that starting later this week, indoor service will be prohibited once again at restaurants and bars in DuPage, Kane, Will and Kankakee counties, an area that’s home to more than 1 in 6 Illinois residents.
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Meanwhile, city officials announced five more states were added to Chicago’s travel quarantine order, while none were removed. Starting Friday, travelers heading from Colorado, Ohio, Delaware, West Virginia and Texas will be subject to the city’s two-week quarantine requirement.
Illinois health officials on Tuesday also announced 3,714 new known cases of COVID-19 and 41 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 350,875 and the statewide death toll to 9,277 since the start of the pandemic. Officials also reported 59,077 new tests in the prior 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate as of Tuesday was 5.5%.
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Here’s what’s happening Tuesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
4:55 p.m.: McConnell warns White House not to make COVID-19 relief deal with Democrats
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday told fellow Republicans that he has warned the White House not to divide the GOP by sealing a lopsided pre-election COVID-19 relief deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — even as he publicly said he’d slate any such agreement for a vote.
McConnell made his remarks during a private lunch with fellow Republicans on Tuesday, three people familiar with his remarks said, requesting anonymity because the session was private.
The Kentucky Republican appears worried that an agreement between Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would drive a wedge between Republicans, forcing them to choose whether to support a Pelosi-blessed deal with Trump that would violate conservative positions they’ve stuck with for months. Many Republicans say they can’t vote for another huge Pelosi-brokered agreement.
McConnell’s move dampens even further any potential for an agreement and comes as Pelosi and Mnuchin have arrived at a critical phase of their talks if any relief is going to be enacted by Election Day. The contours of a potential deal are taking shape behind the scenes even as President Donald Trump’s GOP allies are recoiling at the administration’s tolerance for a $2 trillion package.
McConnell said if such a bill passed the Democratic-controlled House with Trump’s blessing “we would put it on the floor of the Senate.” Those public remarks came after the private session with fellow Republicans.
Read more here. —Associated Press
4:35 p.m.: Lake County Health Department calls on schools to immediately end in-person classes and return to virtual learning
The Lake County Health Department recommended Tuesday that all public and private schools in the county currently educating children in the classroom immediately return to virtual learning because of the threats posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
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School officials responded in a variety of ways. Some said they will follow the recommendation, others indicated they will not, while a number suggested they are undecided.
The health department recommended all public and private schools, from kindergarten through high school, in Lake County move to remote learning immediately to reduce the “substantial” community transmission of COVID-19.
Mark Pfister, the executive director of the health department, said in a press release the seven-day rolling average of new cases of the virus was more than 14 per 100,000 residents as of Oct. 11, and has since risen to more than 20.
“We have been seeing ‘substantial’ community transmission of COVID-19 in Lake County for seven consecutive days, with rates of new cases that we haven’t seen since the spring,” Pfister said.
When the number of new cases rises to more than 14 per 100,000, it is considered substantial and remote learning is recommended, according to the release.
Read more here. —Steve Sadin
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4:20 p.m.: Prospects dim for return of Chicago’s convention industry. ‘I would say definitely not 2021.’
Chicago’s convention industry, one of the city’s major sources of tax revenue, might not return in any significant fashion until 2022, dealing a prolonged financial blow to the city as it struggles to make up a $1.2 billion budget shortfall.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is scheduled to present her plan to close the city’s budget deficit Wednesday, which might include increases to property and gas taxes, as well as city worker layoffs.
With COVID-19 cases on the rise again and business and international air travel depressed, trade show organizers continue to examine plans for next year. Already, eight shows scheduled at McCormick Place through April have been canceled, and one has been rescheduled for later in 2021.
Since March, 161 McCormick Place trade shows scheduled for this year and early 2021 have been nixed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Those shows were expected to generate more than $2 billion in spending, with an estimated attendance of 1.6 million people, according to spokeswoman Cynthia McCafferty. About 63% expect to return at a later date, she said.
Chicago could lose an estimated $77 million in tax revenue as a result of the cancellations, according to Zafer Sönmez, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois at Chicago who studies the economic impact of McCormick Square, the sprawling 2.6 million-square-foot campus that includes McCormick Place, Wintrust Arena, Hyatt Regency McCormick Place and Marriott Marquis Chicago.
At least two vaccines that had been in late-stage testing have recently been put on hold. Sönmez said even if a vaccine is developed in the coming months, companies and event organizers will be hesitant to send employees to large gatherings until it is widely available.
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“I would say definitely not 2021. We will still observe very low numbers for 2021. And starting at the end of 2022, we could see some activity,” Sönmez said.
For Chicago, the absence of conventions could spell more trouble for the city’s finances. Sönmez said the city generates about $145 million in tax revenue annually from conventions and other events hosted at McCormick Square.
Now, organizers are rethinking plans well into next year.
Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez
3:40 p.m.: McConnell says Pelosi-Mnuchin deal would get Senate vote despite GOP rank-and-file opposition
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that he’ll schedule a vote if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Trump administration are able to seal an agreement on a huge COVID-19 relief bill.
The Kentucky Republican’s remarks came as Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have arrived at a critical phase of their talks — a deadline day of sorts — if any relief is going to be enacted by Election Day. The contours of a potential deal are taking shape behind the scenes even as President Donald Trump’s GOP allies are recoiling at the administration’s tolerance for a $2 trillion package.
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Despite GOP opposition, McConnell said if such a bill passed the Democratic-controlled House with Trump’s blessing “we would put it on the floor of the Senate.”
Pelosi and Mnuchin were slated to talk again Tuesday amid signs that they are continuing to narrow their differences. Pelosi said Tuesday that they remain at odds over refundable tax credits for the working poor and families with children, the size of a Democratic-sought aid package for state and local governments, and a liability shield for businesses and other organizations against lawsuits over their COVID preparations.
The Pelosi-Mnuchin talks also involve pandemic jobless aid, a second round of $1,200 direct payments, and money for schools, testing and vaccines.
Read more here. —Associated Press
12:40 p.m. (updated at 3:20 p.m., 6 p.m.) : Illinois orders tighter restrictions on bars, restaurants and gatherings in several suburban counties as coronavirus positivity rates rise
Roughly a third of Illinois' 102 counties and a quarter of its residents soon will be living under stricter rules aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus as the state attempts to rein in a resurgent pandemic.
Starting Friday, indoor service at bars and restaurants will be prohibited in DuPage, Kane, Will and Kankakee counties, an area that’s home to more than 1 in 6 Illinois residents, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday.
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latest wave of restrictions would make it even more difficult to stay in business as winter looms and outdoor dining becomes less of an option.
“It’s absolutely devastating that this has happened again,” said Raffi Demerdjian, general manager of Empire Burger & Brew in Naperville. “The restaurant business is difficult as it is. To be put through these restrictions makes it more difficult ... it’s a sickening, sickening feeling.”
The two regions that comprise DuPage, Kane, Will and Kankakee counties are the latest to see their economic reopenings partially rolled back after experiencing spikes in the percentage of coronavirus tests returning positive results. As of Saturday, the seven-day average of positivity rates in the regions remained above a state-established threshold of 8% for the third straight day, triggering the clampdown.
When the latest rollbacks take effect later this week, four of the 11 regions in Pritzker’s reopening plan will be under the stricter requirements, which also include lowering a cap on gatherings from 50 people to 25. The tighter rules take effect Thursday in the 20 southernmost counties in Illinois and have been in effect since Oct. 3 in the nine counties in the state’s northwest corner.
“There is no easy fix for the effects of this virus on our economy and on our public health,” Pritzker said at his daily COVID-19 briefing. “But we can and we will manage through this.”
Read more here. —Dan Petrella
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11 a.m.: Chicago-area hospitals brace for influx of COVID-19 patients amid second wave
Chicago area hospitals are again bracing for large numbers of COVID-19 patients as Illinois enters what some care calling a second wave of the illness.
If the number of hospitalizations rises high enough, it’s possible hospital COVID-19 units that were shut down could be reactivated, hospitals could again add more beds to handle patient overflows, some visitor policies could become more restrictive, and elective surgeries could be postponed, hospital leaders said.
Chicago area hospitals aren’t at that point yet, but some have seen rapidly rising numbers of people needing overnight care in recent days.
As of Sunday night, 2,096 people in the state with COVID-19 were hospitalized, up from 1,631 two weeks earlier. On Monday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker warned that “in Illinois, it looks like a new wave could be upon us” and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot labeled the increases a “second surge.” The illness is already overwhelming hospitals in neighboring Wisconsin.
During the first wave, on May 1, there were 4,719 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Illinois.
“We are definitely seeing an increase in hospitalizations that we noticed for the first time on Thursday,” said Dr. Stuart Marcus, Amita Health’s executive vice president and chief clinical officer. “We noticed it right away and said, ‘Oh boy, all right.’”
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Read more here. —Lisa Schencker
10:35 a.m.: 5 states added to Chicago’s travel quarantine order: 'We all need to double down on COVID precautions’
Five more states, including Ohio, were added to Chicago’s travel quarantine order while none were removed, city officials announced Tuesday.
Starting Friday, travelers heading from Colorado, Ohio, Delaware, West Virginia and Texas will be subject to the city’s two-week quarantine requirement, according to a news release. For the Lone Star state, this week will be the third time Chicago has added it to its travel order.
Last week, the city placed Indiana on its list for the first time, ensuring all four states bordering Illinois are part of the order. A state gets placed on the list if it averages more than 15 new daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period.
The 31 states and territories that will be covered by the order on Friday will be: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Read more here. — Alice Yin
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9:40 a.m.: 11 Big Ten mayors send a letter to the conference seeking clarity and details on COVID-19 protocols
The Big Ten football season begins in three days, and the conference has yet to supply certain information regarding COVID-19 protocols.
On Tuesday morning, mayors from 11 Big Ten cities — including Evanston and Madison, Wis. — sent a letter to conference officials asking for assistance.
The letter, from Mayor Aaron Stephens of East Lansing, Mich., states the group is “respectfully requesting a few practical measures to ensure each college and university community is better prepared for the continued fight against COVID-19. The mayors have requested that the Big Ten Conference work with local and county health officials in Big Ten college communities to define population positivity rates at which it is no longer safe to host a football game given the increased community activity (i.e. social gatherings and alcohol consumption) that games tend to generate.”
The 11 mayors are from the towns and cities home to Michigan State, Wisconsin, Maryland, Penn State, Michigan, Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio State.
Read more here. —Teddy Greenstein
9:15 a.m.: Naperville District 203 puts hold on back-to-school plans as COVID-19 cases increase in DuPage
Naperville School District 203 has pushed back plans to bring students back to the classroom to November, citing advice from the DuPage County Health Department because COVID-19 cases are increasing.
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Superintendent Dan Bridges announced the decision in a message send to parents and staff Monday. While some students in specialized programs will continue to attend in-person programs, hybrid classes won’t start until Nov. 4.
Some and preschool and elementary students in Naperville schools were scheduled to return this week a part-time schedule of in-person class in which they would come to school on half days twice a week and do remote learning the rest of the time.
However, the switch to block scheduling for junior high and high school students will continue as planned this week, Bridges said.
Read more here. — Rafael Guerrero
9 a.m.: Indiana county clerk refuses to wear mask while administering polls
A county clerk in rural Indiana says she will not wear a mask while overseeing early voting despite the county’s surge of coronavirus cases and warnings from a state official.
Fountain County Clerk Paula Copenhaver said she will “not be part of the government overreach” and contends social distancing and hand sanitizer are enough.
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Valerie Warycha, spokeswoman for the secretary of state, confirmed Friday that Connie Lawson contacted Copenhaver to ask her to wear a mask.
Lawson also wrote in an email on Friday to clerks and election officials in all 92 Indiana counties that if poll workers refuse to wear masks or other protection, clerks should thank them for their service “and ask that they voluntarily resign.”
Lawson did not mention any clerks or counties by name in her email, and she did not issue any mandates. State elected officials do not have the authority to do that, Warycha said.
Lawson said the election is “the time to be careful, not cavalier,” and that clerks needed to put public health before personal preference, the Journal & Courier reported.
Read more here. —Associated Press
7:02 a.m.: Pritzker to hold daily coronavirus briefing Tuesday
As a sign of the seriousness of the resurgence in COVID-19 cases, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Monday the state would resume holding daily weekday coronavirus briefings, something he gave up doing in the spring, after case rates declined following a period of tight lockdowns statewide.
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Pritzker moved to briefings on an as-needed or weekly basis in June, with daily numbers released around noon via news release each day after that.
“All of this takes place in a national landscape of increasing positivity rates, and where the majority of our border states have been called out as national hot spots,” Pritzker said Monday.
Tuesday’s briefing was set to be held in the midafternoon at the Thompson Center. Check back for updates. — Chicago Tribune staff
6 a.m.: Just as schools begin to reopen, many are closing again as COVID-19 surges: ‘It’s almost an impossible situation’
It took more than six months and countless hours for New Trier High School officials to develop and execute an elaborate plan to bring students back into the classroom safely and gradually this fall for in-person instruction.
But it took just five days for administrators to halt their new COVID-19-era hybrid plan and send students back to their bedrooms for remote learning, at least for the time being.
The decision to put the brakes on New Trier’s hybrid plan came last week after a spike in COVID-19 cases in suburban Chicago and after the state reported some of the highest numbers of new cases since May.
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Now, with the Illinois Department of Public Health on Monday reporting more than 3,100 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, suburban Chicago school district officials who in recent months have faced intense pressure from parents, demanding that schools reopen, will be forced to make day-to-day decisions with consequences that extend far beyond academics.
“I think everyone recognizes that in-person instruction is better for students than remote learning, but the problem is, reopening schools is not about an inconvenience — it’s a matter of life and death,” said Timothy Dohrer, an assistant professor at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy.
Read more here. —Karen Ann Cullotta
6 a.m.: Why are Chicagoans moving away during the pandemic? As study suggests outbound migration is spiking, we asked them.
Chicago’s population has been on the decline for years, with the metropolitan area suffering some of the greatest losses of any major U.S. city. But new research suggests that the pandemic might be exacerbating the exodus.
For the first time in four years, moving concierge app Updater has helped more people move out of Chicago than to it, the company said. The catch-all moving service estimates that it takes part in one-third of all U.S. moves, providing unique, real-time insight into pandemic-driven trends, said Jenna Weinerman, Updater’s vice president of marketing.
“All these macro conditions — job insecurity, remote work, people wanting to gain more space — are coming together to create these patterns,” Weinerman said.
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The Chicago figures are based on approximately 39,000 moves within city limits from March 1 to Sept. 30. Compared to 2019, this year saw more moving activity in general, with an 8% jump in moves into the city — but a 19% increase in the number of people leaving.
More than half of the moves — 52.3% — were out of the city, while 47.7% were people moving into the city or current residents changing homes within city limits. For those leaving, the most popular destinations were California, Texas and Florida, while nearby states like Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin were also in the top 10.
The Tribune spoke with 10 people who moved to or from Chicago during the pandemic to glean some insight as to why residents are moving out — or what makes Chicago a great place to land in the era of COVID-19.
Here’s what they had to say. —Ariel Cheung
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 stories from Monday related to COVID-19:


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--Feds investigating if Chicago zoning policies are racist by protecting polluters in Black and Latino

Feds investigating if Chicago zoning policies are racist by protecting polluters in Black and Latino neighborhoods

Lightfoot also appears to agree with the spirit , if not the details , of the civil rights complaint filed @ @ @ @ @ A recent city report on air quality throughout Chicago notes that “ structural racism and @ @ @ @ @ making it more likely for certain people to live in polluted communities .
”

Chicago is facing scrutiny from federal housing officials, who are investigating why the city is allowing a chronic polluter to move from the wealthy, largely white North Side to a low-income, predominantly Latino neighborhood near the Indiana border.
In a letter made public on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development agreed to follow up on a complaint from community activists who accuse Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration of perpetuating racial segregation and housing discrimination in the nation’s third largest city.
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At issue are steps taken by city agencies to benefit General Iron Industries, a clout-heavy scrap shredder with a long history of pollution problems. An Ohio-based company that bought General Iron last year wants to move the operation from Lincoln Park to a site on the Calumet River in the East Side neighborhood.
Activists contend the Lightfoot administration’s tentative approval violates provisions of the federal Fair Housing Act by adding another polluter to a neglected corner of the city, where residential yards, baseball fields and playgrounds are contaminated with heavy metals and toxic chemicals from other companies, including steelmakers that abandoned the area decades ago.
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An aerial view of the General Iron Industries plant on the the North Branch of the Chicago River in Chicago on Sept. 28, 2018. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
The complaint urges federal officials to withhold lucrative grants until the city overhauls its land-use policies. Zoning and planning ordinances protect industries in certain parts of Chicago without considering the health and well-being of people who live nearby, many of whom are Black and Latino.
“Racist policies are killing our neighborhood by making it a dumping ground for the dirtiest and most dangerous polluters,” said Peggy Salazar, director of the Southeast Environmental Task Force, one of three nonprofit groups that petitioned for federal intervention.
Under pressure from General Iron’s current neighbors, Lightfoot brokered a deal intended to ensure the company abandons the North Side by the end of this year. The existing scrap yard, on the Chicago River between North Avenue and Cortland Street, is surrounded by former industrial parcels slated to become the upscale Lincoln Yards mixed-use development.
Lightfoot also appears to agree with the spirit, if not the details, of the civil rights complaint filed by Southeast Side activists. A recent city report on air quality throughout Chicago notes that “structural racism and economic hardship” are “making it more likely for certain people to live in polluted communities.”
Pollution hot spots are concentrated in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods on the South and West sides, the city’s report found.
But despite Lightfoot’s repeated pledges to crack down on polluters, the Chicago Department of Public Health still approved one of at least two permits General Iron needs before moving. The department also stopped meeting with community groups to discuss environmental justice concerns.
"This approach towards our communities has to change,” said Cheryl Johnson, director of People for Community Recovery, another nonprofit group behind the federal complaint. “It’s fundamental that our voices are heard if we are going to dismantle environmental racism in Chicago.”
The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
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If other permits are granted, General Iron will be the latest tenant of an East Side manufacturing district that already includes facilities handling brain-damaging metals and toxic chemicals. Nearby are two sites on the federal Superfund list of abandoned, highly contaminated industrial properties.
The proposed move drew the ire of community activists well before Reserve Management Group bought General Iron from the Labkon family, which operated the North Side scrap yard through four generations.
As surrounding neighborhoods gentrified, the Labkons protected their interests by spreading more than $500,000 in campaign contributions among local politicians. They also hired a bevy of City Hall lobbyists, including confidants of former Mayors Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel.
The family is trying to sell its North Side properties but so far has been unable to find a buyer.
On the South Side, scrap already is being sorted amid ruins of the former Republic Steel plant between 116th and 118th streets. Reserve Management Group, also known as RMG, said it provides an important service by keeping scrap out of alleys and landfills.
“RMG has proven itself over decades to conduct environmentally responsible recycling activities and the addition of our shredding operation will be no exception,” the company said in a statement.
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The Chicago Tribune reported in February that other affiliates of RMG had been operating on the East Side without the proper permits for at least four years. The companies also failed to file annual pollution reports that could have flagged violations of environmental regulations.
mhawthorne@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--Civic Federation opposes graduated tax amendment. It previously backed taxing retirement benefits as

Civic Federation opposes graduated tax amendment. It previously backed taxing retirement benefits as an alternative.

“ It ’ s clear that despite their rhetoric today , the wealthy only care about protecting their own bottom @ @ @ @ @ means denying 97 % of Illinoisans a tax cut .
They continue to advocate for @ @ @ @ @ keep building their wealth on the backs of hardworking families , while opposing any effort @ @ @ @ @ of struggling Illinoisans , ” he said .

The Civic Federation of Chicago, a nonpartisan government watchdog group, said Tuesday it opposes a proposed constitutional amendment to create a graduated-rate state income tax structure, saying it is “far from a panacea for Illinois’ many financial challenges.”
Supporters of the proposed amendment on the Nov. 3 ballot were quick to note the group has previously supported implementing a tax on retirement income as an alternative way to raise revenues. The language of the proposed amendment does not affect retirement income and Gov. J.B. Pritzker, its leading proponent, opposes placing the state’s income tax on retirement benefits.
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The proposed amendment would replace Illinois’ mandated flat-rate income tax with a graduated tax with rates that increase along with income. Lawmakers have approved a graduated-rate tax schedule that would take effect Jan. 1 if voters ratify the amendment.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker takes questions from reporters in the Blue Room of the Thompson Center on Oct., 20, 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
In a statement, the Civic Federation said the rate structure “is far from best economic practice, the significant shift in the state’s tax code is not part of a comprehensive plan and the proceeds will provide very little assistance, if any, to struggling local governments and pension funds.”
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It also said “significant measures to cut costs or create efficiencies have not been enacted to accompany a significant change in the way Illinoisans will pay taxes. While the Federation has long recognized that cuts alone will not solve Illinois’ financial crisis, the lack of comprehensive plan to begin tackling it once-and-for-all is a disappointment.”
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The graduated-rate income tax is projected to raise $3.4 billion over a full year. The federation said it was concerned that if the amendment is adopted, “lawmakers may consider their work finished and abdicate their responsibility to make the hard decisions that would actually complete the work of the state shoring up its finances.”
“While attractive in the abstract, the graduated income tax amendment and its accompanying rate structure are far from a panacea for Illinois’ many financial challenges,” it said. “For these reasons, the Civic Federation is unable to support the proposed graduated income tax amendment.”
Last month, the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, made up of the region’s top business executives, expressed its opposition to the proposed amendment. That group previously backed a tax on retirement income and a 20% increase in the state’s 4.95% flat personal income tax rate to 5.95%.
Quentin Fulks, who chairs the Pritzker-backed Vote Yes for Fairness pro-amendment effort, said the Civic Federation’s action represents “yet another organization made of the wealthiest people in the state” and that its opposition “isn’t surprising considering they’re the select few our current tax system benefits.”
“Members of the Civic Federation would rather keep the burden on our middle and lower-income families and implement a retirement tax on our seniors instead of finally paying their fair share,” said Fulks, whose group has dubbed the amendment the “fair tax.”
“It’s clear that despite their rhetoric today, the wealthy only care about protecting their own bottom line, even when that means denying 97% of Illinoisans a tax cut. They continue to advocate for policies that allow them to keep building their wealth on the backs of hardworking families, while opposing any effort to bring relief to millions of struggling Illinoisans,” he said.
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Supporters of the amendment say that 97% of Illinoisans, those with incomes of $250,000 or less, would pay at least the same or less income tax under the graduated-rate plan.
In February 2019, the Civic Federation advocated placing the state income tax on retirement income, such as pensions and 401(k) plans, as an alternative to then seeking to put a graduated-rate tax amendment before voters. It estimated that taxing retirement benefits would raise about $2.5 billion.
“Eliminating the tax exemption on retirement income would immediately put Illinois’ income tax system more in line with surrounding states and would not require waiting for a constitutional amendment,” the Civic Federation said then. “Further, if the state eventually implements a graduated income tax structure, matching other states’ more limited exemptions on retirement income could allow for significantly lower rates for all tax brackets.”
Illinois is one of three states with an income tax that does not tax retirement income.
rap30@aol.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--The Spin: Mail-in, early voting in Illinois soars past 1 million mark | ‘Trumpocrat’ Blagojevich to

The Spin: Mail-in, early voting in Illinois soars past 1 million mark | ‘Trumpocrat’ Blagojevich to endorse Willie Wilson over Sen. Dick Durbin | Gov. J.B. Pritzker tightens COVID-19 restrictions in suburbs

In a statement issued by the Wilson campaign , Blagojevich slammed Durbin saying , “ We need a senator with @ @ @ @ @ ideas .
A senator that will listen to the people and not party bosses .
@ @ @ @ @ in office has forgotten about the people that sent him to Washington.
” Blagojevich , @ @ @ @ @ Wilson as someone who , outside of any government role , is a true public @ @ @ @ @ “ to help seniors , children , people losing their homes because of high property @ @ @ @ @ could not afford to post bail for misdemeanor offenses .
”

Early voters at 191 N. Clark St. in Chicago, on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020. The lines stretched out to the corner and nearly around the block. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
We’re two weeks from Election Day and in Illinois — along with a broad swath of the country — mail-in ballots are pouring in. Just over 800,000 Illinois voters have returned their mail-in ballots so far, more than double the 370,740 vote-by-mail ballots cast overall in the November 2016 general election.
Combined with in-person early voting, which also seeing big numbers, more than 1.2 million Illinoisans already have voted, newly released Illinois State Board of Elections data shows. Expect that number to exceed the 1.9 million early ballots cast in the run-up to November 2016.
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Nationwide, early voting numbers are expected to break records — and favor Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden over Republican President Donald Trump. The president’s criticism of mail-in voting likely means his backers will show up in person to vote — in big numbers, according to Michael McDonald, a one-time University of Illinois at Springfield professor now at the University of Florida who is tracking state and national voting trends.
In other words, neither campaign should get too cocky.
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Trump was in let’s-make-a-deal mode with Illinois, California and New York voters this morning, writing on Twitter: “Your states are way too highly taxed, big crime, people fleeing, and just about every other problem you can have. VOTE TRUMP, I will turn them around for you, FAST!” Not sure if it’s likely to turn these blue states red. Stay tuned.
And reopenings at bars and restaurants will roll back across a wide swath of suburban Chicago later this week as the state continues to see a major resurgence of the virus, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced today.
Welcome to The Spin.
Postage-free ballot boxes like these will be available to deposit vote by mail ballots in Lake County. (Steve Sadin / Lake County News-Sun)
Suburbs: The first day of expanded early voting yesterday in DuPage County saw 12,380 ballots cast — a record breaker, elections officials say. For the same day in the 2016 general election, 7,809 ballots were cast. More details here.
State: More than 1.2 million people in Illinois have either voted in person or returned their mail-in ballots just two weeks before the election. Already, the state is blowing 2016 early voting numbers out of the water. For instance, throughout the state, more than 806,000 mail-in ballots have been returned so far compared with the 370,740 mail-in ballots cast in 2016. Meantime, early in-person voting numbers stand at right around 410,000, about a third of 2016′s 1.5 million count, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections.
Also noteworthy: The state has 2.7% more registered voters in 2020 to date than in the 2016 general election – 8,248,710 as of yesterday compared to 8,029,847 registered voters for the 2016 election, election board spokesman Matt Dietrich tells The Spin.
National: More than 34 million Americans have voted in the 2020 presidential election — that represents 24.5% of the more than 136 million total ballots cast in the 2016 presidential election. CNBC dives into the numbers here.
Early voting is breaking records with a big push by Democrats to vote by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic. The University of Florida political scientist McDonald, who is tracking state-by-state voting statistics, writes in a recent analysis that while it stands to reason that ballots coming in may lean left, "it is very likely Republicans will show up in force to vote in-person,” especially as more early voting sites open, but particularly on Nov. 3.
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Civic Federation gives “no” vote on Gov. Pritzker’s ballot initiative to dump flat income tax for a graduated tax that increases by income: The nonpartisan budget watchdog group writes in a statement today that the organization “is not opposed to the concept of a graduated income tax and understands the state’s need for more revenue, (but) the rate structure enacted by the General Assembly is anything but ideal. Low income Illinoisans will continue to bear roughly the same tax rate as their middle and upper-middle class counterparts.” The Civic Federation says it’s not part of a comprehensive plan to pull the state back from its fiscal crisis. Read the statement here.
Quentin Fulks, who chairs the Pritzker-backed ballot initiative, blasted the Civic Federation in a statement, writing: “Yet another organization made of the wealthiest people in the state has announced its opposition to the Fair Tax, which isn’t surprising considering they’re the select few our current tax system benefits. Members of the Civic Federation would rather keep the burden on our middle and lower-income families and implement a retirement tax on our seniors instead of finally paying their fair share.”
RELATED — GOP Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin says voters confused about Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed graduated-rate income tax amendment on the ballot should just vote against it. The Tribune’s Rick Pearson has the details here.
Lightfoot: LGBTQ+ folks know how to win rights – and this election — Chicago’s first openly gay mayor makes a pitch in Advocate magazine, calling on readers to vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Read the piece here.
Mark your calendars for Axelrod-Murphy pre-election show: One-time Democratic strategist and Chicagoan David Axelrod along with Mike Murphy, who was known as a longtime GOP strategist for the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, will talk about the upcoming election as part of a Chicago Humanities Festival event on Oct. 27 – marking the final week of the campaign season. More details here.
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Willie Wilson at a news conference at the Thompson Center in Chicago demanding Gov. J.B. Pritzker amend his executive order mandate regarding face masks on May 12, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)
As Willie Wilson’s third-party challenge of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a four-term Democrat, hits the home stretch his campaign announced that disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is endorsing him. They’re planning to hold a formal announcement Wednesday morning.
Blagojevich was tossed out of office and later went to prison over a federal public corruption case. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump cut Blagojevich’s sentence short; the onetime Democrat emerged from prison and declared himself a Trumpocrat.
In a statement issued by the Wilson campaign, Blagojevich slammed Durbin saying, “We need a senator with new, bold and fresh ideas. A senator that will listen to the people and not party bosses. Sen. Durbin over 37 years in office has forgotten about the people that sent him to Washington.” Blagojevich, in a statement, described Wilson as someone who, outside of any government role, is a true public servant, using his wealth “to help seniors, children, people losing their homes because of high property taxes, and those who could not afford to post bail for misdemeanor offenses.”
Wilson also said he was “pleased” to get the endorsement — and said of Blagojevich, “He did more to help African Americans, Latinos and senior citizens than any previous governor. … His Seniors Ride Free program was very creative and helpful to senior citizens taking public transportation.” Wilson was referring to a program the state legislature scaled back years ago after concerns arose over whether the program was aiding the neediest residents.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot puts her mask after providing an update on Chicago's response to COVID-19 at City Hall in Chicago on Monday, Oct. 19, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is scheduled to deliver her 2021 budget plan tomorrow morning to a City Council she needs buy-in from — technically 26 of 50 aldermen — to get it through. But unpopular property and gas tax hikes along with city worker layoffs are on the line to erase a $1.2 billion shortfall, the Tribune’s Gregory Pratt and John Byrne reported over the weekend.
And as the Sun-Times' Fran Spielman points out, that’s on top of her sometimes strained relationship with City Council. This will, no doubt, be a test.
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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker listens to Dr. Ngozi Ezike, of the Illinois Department of Public Health, during a news conference at the Thompson Center in Chicago on Oct. 14, 2020. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
From the Tribune’s Dan Petrella: With the state continuing to see an uptick in COVID-19 cases, Gov. Pritzker announced today that, beginning later this week, indoor service will be prohibited once again at restaurants and bars in DuPage, Kane, Will and Kankakee counties, an area that’s home to more than 1 in 6 Illinois residents. Read his full story here.
Latest numbers: State public health officials reported 3,714 new cases of COVID-19 in the state with 41 more deaths. The positivity rate is 5.5% — a number arrived at by finding the average, over the previous seven days of COVID-19 positive tests. That’s up from 4.5% a week earlier and 3.5% at the beginning of the month.
8% threshold: When one of the state’s 11 regions reaches a positivity rate of 8% or higher for three consecutive days, Pritzker’s administration has ordered indoor dining and bar service shuttered, gathering limits set at 25.
Pritzker talks vaccine, pokes Trump: The president has talked up a looming COVID-19 vaccine, stepping up that message after he was hospitalized for COVID-19 and even suggesting it could arrive preelection. But Pritzker told the Washington Post: “Nobody has told me that it’ll be ready by Nov. 2 or anytime before the election. But (Trump) will no doubt claim such a thing because of the cocktail of drugs that he seems to be on now. He’s liable to say anything that isn’t true.” Read the full Post story, which examines conflicts in the White House Coronavirus Task Force, here.
5 states added to Chicago’s travel quarantine order: The Tribune’s Alice Yin has the details here.
Mitch McConnell warns White House not to make COVID-19 relief deal with Democrats: Read the Associated Press story here.
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Twitter @byldonovan


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--Chicago-area hospitals watch surge in COVID-19 patients, brace for things to get worse

As of Monday , the system had about 15 to 20 COVID-19 patients at each of its two hospitals , @ @ @ @ @ pandemic ’ s peak , earlier this year , the two hospitals had about 80 @ @ @ @ @ day and filled up all of their usual intensive care beds , requiring them to @ @ @

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)
Chicago-area hospitals are again bracing for large numbers of COVID-19 patients as Illinois enters what some are calling a second wave of the illness.
If the number of hospitalizations rises high enough, it’s possible hospital COVID-19 units that were shut down could be reactivated, hospitals could again add more beds to handle patient overflows, some visitor policies could become more restrictive and elective surgeries could be postponed, hospital leaders said.
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Chicago-area hospitals aren’t at that point yet, but some have seen rapidly rising numbers of people needing overnight care in recent days. The illness is already overwhelming hospitals in neighboring Wisconsin.
As of Monday night, 2,261 people in the state with COVID-19 were hospitalized, up from 1,679 two weeks earlier. On Monday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker warned that “in Illinois, it looks like a new wave could be upon us," and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot labeled the increases a “second surge.” On Tuesday, Pritzker announced tighter restrictions on bars, restaurants and gatherings in several suburban counties.
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Medical personnel conduct drive-thru COVID-19 testing at Swedish Covenant Hospital in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago on Oct. 13, 2020. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
During the first wave, there were 4,719 patients hospitalized May 1 with COVID-19 in Illinois.
As of Monday night, 12,954 beds were still available out of 35,090 in the state, and 1,460 intensive care beds were available out of 3,770.
“We are definitely seeing an increase in hospitalizations that we noticed for the first time on Thursday,” said Dr. Stuart Marcus, Amita Health’s executive vice president and chief clinical officer. “We noticed it right away and said, ‘Oh boy, all right.’”
Amita, which has 19 hospitals in Illinois, had 169 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Monday morning. For most of the summer, its hospitals had about 85 to 100 COVID-19 patients per day, Marcus said.
At the peak of the pandemic in late April and early May, Amita had about 650 hospitalized COVID-19 patients at once.
NorthShore University HealthSystem, which has hospitals in Glenview, Highland Park, Skokie, Evanston and Chicago, has seen its COVID-19 hospitalizations double in recent weeks, said Dr. Ernest Wang, chief of emergency medicine.
The system’s Glenbrook Hospital in Glenview could revert to a COVID-19-only hospital again if the number of patients, and their severity, grows significantly, Wang said. NorthShore had about 40 COVID-19 patients Tuesday, compared with more than 170 patients at a time at the height of pandemic earlier this year.
“I think we’re all concerned,” Wang said about the rising hospitalizations. “We’re all just waiting to see what’s going to happen with all these increased infections.”
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Sinai Health System, which runs Mount Sinai and Holy Cross hospitals on the city’s West and Southwest sides, hasn’t seen a dramatic increase in hospitalizations yet, but “it’s slowly creeping up,” said Dr. Russell Fiorella, the system’s chief medical officer and vice president of medical affairs.
As of Monday, the system had about 15 to 20 COVID-19 patients at each of its two hospitals, he said. At the pandemic’s peak, earlier this year, the two hospitals had about 80 to 90 COVID-19 patients a day and filled up all of their usual intensive care beds, requiring them to add more.
Rush University Medical Center also has not seen a significant uptick in COVID-19 patients needing hospital care, said Angelique Richard, Rush’s chief nurse executive. Rush was an early leader in the Chicago area in treating COVID-19 patients, so it received many patients transferred from other hospitals early in the pandemic.
Rush isn’t getting as many of those transfers anymore, Richard said, noting that patients may be more often getting treated at their community hospitals now that more is known about the illness.
Registered Nurse Anna Reinhart holds open a biohazard bag for a patient to drop in their self-administered COVID-19 test at a drive-thru testing site at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago on Oct. 20, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Rush and Amita leaders say many of the patients they’re seeing this time around don’t seem as sick as in the early months of the pandemic.
In part, that may be because many of their COVID-19 patients are younger than those who needed care earlier this year.
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Steroid treatment for COVID-19 patients is now widespread in hospitals, and doctors also use the drug remdesivir to treat patients. Faster test results have meant quicker treatments for patients and better use of hospital resources, doctors say.
“We’ve learned a lot about COVID, and a lot of the patients are coming in earlier,” Fiorella said.
As of Monday night, about 22% of the 2,261 COVID-19 patients in Illinois hospitals were receiving intensive care. On May 1, about 26% of 4,719 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Illinois were in intensive care.
Sinai Chief Nursing Officer Michele Mazurek cautioned that it’s too early to say whether cases will be less severe during a second wave. It’s possible that some hospitals aren’t seeing more dire cases because patients haven’t had the illness long. It can sometimes take weeks for a person with COVID-19 to become ill enough to require intensive care.
It’s also unknown how patients who catch the flu and COVID-19 at the same time will fare, she said.
Sinai closed its COVID-19 units in August, Mazurek said. The system could reopen them if needed, she said.
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Sinai also started talking last month about relaxing visitor restrictions put in place because of COVID-19. When cases started rising again in recent weeks, those talks stopped, she said.
Most hospitals put strict policies in place earlier this year, banning most visitors. Some hospitals loosened those restrictions a bit over the summer, such as by allowing one visitor at a time or allowing certain types of patients to receive visitors.
Those visitor rules could, however, tighten again in coming weeks, depending on how bad the second wave gets, hospital leaders say.
“Will it exceed the first peak or not?” Marcus said. “I think that’s the big question we have to ask right now.”
lschencker@chicagotribune.com


Corrections and clarifications

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Everyone in @ @ @ @ @ live up to this code of conduct .
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· A story on Page 1 Saturday incorrectly stated that all building repairs done by owners in a proposed Pilsen landmark district would have to be reviewed by the city for conformity with the area’s original Bohemian Baroque style. Only repairs requiring building permits would require that review.
· A quote was incorrectly attributed to retired Maj. Ronald Murdock in a story Sunday entitled “National Guard celebrates 50th anniversary of armory dedication to Black military leader.” It was retired Col. Eugene Scott who spoke about his hope that more young Black men and women embrace the Illinois National Guard.
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· A story Tuesday about Chicago 7 prosecutor Dick Schultz misspelled Schultz’s last name in one reference.
The Tribune regrets the errors.
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Publishing information quickly and accurately is a central part of the Chicago Tribune’s news responsibility and a value shared in all our publications. Our editorial code of principles governs professional behavior and journalism standards. Everyone in our newsroom must agree to live up to this code of conduct. Download the file.
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chicagotribune--2020-10-20--State Sen. Jim Oberweis through the years

Jim Oberweis has been a Republican Illinois state senator since 2013 .
He ran unsuccessfully for governor , 2006 ; @ @ @ @ @ , 2002 , 2004 , 2014 ; ran unsuccessfully in the old 14th Congressional District @ @ @

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chicagotribune--2020-10-20--Here’s when Chicago received its first snow of the fall season, going back 135 years

Looking back at 135 years of local weather data , Chicago has experienced its first measurable snow as early as @ @ @ @ @ ) and as late as December 20 ( in 2012 ) .
That ’ s @ @ @ @ @ date of the average first significant snowfall in Chicago .
Remember , measurable snowfall is @ @ @ @ @ more on the ground , while anything less is considered a trace amount .
The @ @ @ @ @ of the first measurable snowfall for each year since 1885 .
Amounts are available , @ @ @ @ @ 1905 .


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--City releases information on arrests, attorney visits after legal aid group sues

Attorney visits to arrestees rose between 2013 and 2019 , according to First Defense Legal Aid .
In 2013 , @ @ @ @ @ arrestees got a lawyer while in police custody .
That grew to 1 in 50 @ @ @ @ @ Every arrestee has the right to an attorney .
Data released Tuesday showed that about @ @ @ @ @ themselves of that right , Solowiej said .

The Chicago Police Department released arrest data to a nonprofit legal aid group after it filed a lawsuit seeking the data last week.
The data was released Tuesday afternoon after local media reported on the lawsuit, filed Oct. 16. A spokesperson for the city’s law department declined to comment on the timing of the release.
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The group seeking the data, First Defense Legal Aid, said previous mayoral administrations provided data that Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration refused to provide.
“Never had this kind of trouble. CPD was a partner in this data reporting. Look, it’s always been bad news, but the information helped us make it better together year over year," the group’s director, Eliza Solowiej, said. “Why can’t anyone see the stats now? Are things really getting worse under the consent decree?”
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The group filed a lawsuit Friday in Cook County Circuit Court seeking data showing the number of arrests made and the number of attorney visits to people in ChicagoPolice Department custody. It alleges the department’s Freedom of Information Act section dragged its feet in fulfilling a request for the data, and stated the lawsuit was filed as a last resort.
Attorney visits to arrestees rose between 2013 and 2019, according to First Defense Legal Aid. In 2013, about 1 of every 500 arrestees got a lawyer while in police custody. That grew to 1 in 50 in 2018 and 2019. Every arrestee has the right to an attorney. Data released Tuesday showed that about 1.8% of arrestees availed themselves of that right, Solowiej said.
First Defense Legal Aid first obtained data from the city in 2013 after negotiating with the city for access to arrestees taken to the Police Department’s Homan Square facility. When attorneys were improperly denied access there in 2010, the legal aid group objected and the result of negotiations with the city was a citywide order for the police to track all attorney visits, she said.
The group never had any problem obtaining the data through Freedom of Information Act requests, and Solowiej noted that anyone could ask for the same data and the city would have an obligation to provide it.


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--Lake County Health Department calls on schools to immediately end in-person classes and return to vi

Lake County Health Department calls on schools to immediately end in-person classes and return to virtual learning

Mark Pfister , the executive director of the health department , said in a press release the seven-day rolling average @ @ @ @ @ virus was more than 14 per 100,000 residents as of Oct. 11 , and has @ @ @ @ @ 20 .

The Lake County Health Department recommended Tuesday that all public and private schools in the county currently educating children in the classroom immediately return to virtual learning because of the threats posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
School officials responded in a variety of ways. Some said they will follow the recommendation, others indicated they will not, while a number suggested they are undecided.
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The health department recommended all public and private schools, from kindergarten through high school, in Lake County move to remote learning immediately to reduce the “substantial” community transmission of COVID-19.
Mark Pfister, the executive director of the health department, said in a press release the seven-day rolling average of new cases of the virus was more than 14 per 100,000 residents as of Oct. 11, and has since risen to more than 20.
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“We have been seeing ‘substantial’ community transmission of COVID-19 in Lake County for seven consecutive days, with rates of new cases that we haven’t seen since the spring,” Pfister said.
When the number of new cases rises to more than 14 per 100,000, it is considered substantial and remote learning is recommended, according to the release.
Some schools use a hybrid model, with a group of students in class and others on computer screens from home, which is acceptable when the rate of new cases is between 7 and 14. That is considered a moderate community transmission, the release said.
“Now the decision is up to school districts, to use their expertise and authority to make this difficult decision for the health and safety of their school communities and the greater Lake County community as a whole,” Pfister said.
The health department continues to monitor the rolling average, according to the release. Once the community transmission returns to moderate for seven consecutive days, a return to the hybrid model can be recommended.
North Shore School District 112 Superintendent Mike Lubelfeld needed little time to turn education in the district’s Highland Park and Highwood schools all remote. He has been communicating daily with families, letting them know this could happen quickly. Remote learning starts there Wednesday.
“This adaptive pause is for a short period of time until the significant community transmission (of the virus) is in line.” Lubelfeld said. “Our nearly eight-week experience in hybrid learning has worked very well. We cannot wait to reopen as soon as possible.”
Barrington Community Unit School District 220 started the year remotely and began its hybrid model Monday. Superintendent Brian Harris said Tuesday he was considering an adaptive pause because of the county health department’s recommendation. The Board of Education was scheduled to meet Tuesday night to discuss the situation.
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Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein and St. Anastasia Catholic School in Waukegan both plan to continue face-to-face learning. Jason Huther, Carmel’s principal, said there have been no reported COVID cases on the campus. He wants to study the county’s recommendation further.
“Our experience is masks work,” Huther said. “We want more information why this is being done with schools, while bars and restaurants remain open without people wearing masks.”
Pfister said in the release schools are being asked to return to virtual education not because they are the “main driver” of community transmission of the disease, but the levels are necessary to keep the school community safe.
“This is not a recommendation we take lightly,” Pfister said. “Schools alone cannot bear this burden — we must all take personal responsibility to keep this virus from spreading in any way that we can.”
Roycealee Wood, the Lake County regional superintendent of schools, said in the release part of the reasoning behind the recommendation is the safety of students, teachers, staff and their families. She said keeping schools open remains a priority.
“It’s relatively easy if you wear a mask, keep your distance and wash your hands frequently,” Wood said in the release. “These are challenging and unprecedented times, but with collective behaviors we can slow spread and achieve our goals.”
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Public schools in Waukegan, North Chicago and Zion, as well as Warren Township High School have used remote education since schools opened in August.


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--US Rep. Lauren Underwood through the years

Upon being sworn in , U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood will represent Illinois ' 14th District and will become the youngest @ @ @ @ @ to serve in the House when she takes the oath .

Ramiro Perez, from left, his wife, Leticia Morales-Perez, and their niece, Josy Sowers, hold posters and take a selfie while waiting for the start of a campaign rally for Lauren Underwood, the Democratic candidate for the 14th Congressional District, at the Kane County Fairgrounds on Oct. 31, 2018, in St. Charles. Perez said that as a senior citizen, he has concerns about affordable and accessible health care. This was the first political rally the three have ever attended. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--New O’Hare runway, set to open Nov. 5, will send arriving flights over southern Park Ridge, city say

New O’Hare runway, set to open Nov. 5, will send arriving flights over southern Park Ridge, city says

Ernst Kosower , chairman of Park Ridge ’ s OAC , said the group has been working to inform residents @ @ @ @ @ the runway though door-to-door visits and notices in the city ’ s Spokesman newsletter .
@ @ @ @ @ will not know the actual impact of the runway until after it opens , but @ @ @ @ @ “ they ’ re going to experience something that they haven ’ t had to @ @ @ @ @ ''

A new O’Hare Airport runway that is expected to send flights over southern Park Ridge neighborhoods is scheduled to open next month.
The east-west runway, known as 9C/27C, will open Thursday, Nov. 5, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation and the O’Hare Noise Compatibility Commission.
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Scheduled to be used largely as an arrival runway, it is the first new runway to open at the airport since 2015 and the last new runway to be constructed as part of the airport’s modernization project, the department of aviation said. An existing nearby runway is being extended and work is anticipated to continue into 2021, the department said.
According to the city of Park Ridge, planes landing on runway 9C/27C will cross over Park Ridge roughly between Granville and Devon Avenues on the south end of the city.
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Sixth Ward Ald. Marc Mazzuca, a liaison to the city’s O’Hare Airport Commission, a citizens group that discusses airport-related issues and advocates for residents, shared concerns about impacts he said the runway will have on the city.
“The opening of the additional east-west runway will clearly add to the noise and air pollution burdens O’Hare Airport continues to place on the neighborhoods that surround it,” Mazzuca said. “That should come as no surprise to those who have followed the progress of the airport build-out over the years.”
Planes fly low over the Southwest corner of Park Ridge, Ill. as they prepare to land at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on May 7, 2009. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Ernst Kosower, chairman of Park Ridge’s OAC, said the group has been working to inform residents of the impending opening of the runway though door-to-door visits and notices in the city’s Spokesman newsletter. He acknowledged that the city will not know the actual impact of the runway until after it opens, but residents are being warned that “they’re going to experience something that they haven’t had to experience in the past."
Jim Argionis, a past member of the OAC, also cautioned that the impacts of the new runway may not be fully known right away.
“A lot of people in town may have forgotten about these issues because of the COVID slowdown of transportation, and we haven’t been getting the same amount of noise,” he said. “But it’s definitely going to increase our noise when operations get back to normal — whenever that is.”
Kosower said the OAC wants to be sure that the new runway is used for its intended purpose, which is flight arrivals.
The opening of another east-west runway — known as 9L/27R — in November 2008 sparked anger within Park Ridge as residents living in the central portion of the city complained of frequent airline noise and low-flying planes using the arrival runway.
In the years that followed, groups like the Park Ridge O’Hare Commission and FAiR, which advocates for increased distribution of flights so that the same neighborhoods are not constantly impacted by noise, formed in response to heavier air traffic over Park Ridge and Chicago’s Northwest Side neighborhoods. The city of Park Ridge has also brought its concerns and complaints to the O’Hare Noise Compatibility Commission, an inter-governmental group of municipalities and school districts engaged in dialogue with airport officials over noise.
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Mazzuca said the work of groups like the OAC and FAiR have created “opportunities to distribute more of the outbound flight traffic at O’Hare Airport over less-residential areas, and that there are ways to impose less regular burdens on Park Ridge and many of its neighbors when air traffic volume returns to normal.”
The O’Hare Modernization Program, also referred to as O’Hare expansion, is expected to be completed next year, according to the Department of Aviation.
jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--‘Disgusted’ NU president condemns students who burned a school banner and vandalized campus during p

‘Disgusted’ NU president condemns students who burned a school banner and vandalized campus during police protests, sparking calls for his resignation

“ People who show up to our actions — if they ’ re feeling frustrated and they ’ re feeling @ @ @ @ @ the way they want to take it out is by doing vandalism or graffiti or @ @ @ @ @ s up to them , ” Harris said .
“ We ’ re not here @ @ @ @ @ ’ re here to honestly cause a disruption and get on the Northwestern University ’ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s frustrating that the only way to do that , as we ’ ve @ @ @ @ @ ‘ violent ’ things to happen .
”

A group of Northwestern University students urging the school to cut ties with local and campus police departments is now calling on President Morton Schapiro to resign after a protest outside his home this weekend prompted him to rebuke the movement and characterize its recent actions as violent.
In a letter sent to the Northwestern community Monday, Schapiro said he condemned the protesters who have menaced residents by blocking streets, vandalizing campus property and lighting fires. The student newspaper reported that protesters spray-painted local businesses, smashed a grocery store window and placed a burned school banner in front of Schapiro’s house.
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Two tarps cover the bases of the iconic Weber Arch at Northwestern University in Evanston after it was vandalized by anti-police protesters. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
The iconic Weber Arch gateway on campus has also been vandalized, with “more dead pigs” and “abolish (police)” scrawled in red spray paint on its stone base, which has since been wrapped in tarps.
Schapiro, who’s led the private university in Evanston since 2009, wrote that protesters chanted profanities, calling him “piggy Morty,” when they gathered outside his home late Saturday. He suggested the reference to pigs bordered on anti-Semitism since he’s an observant Jew — calling the language “completely unacceptable” — and questioned whether outside agitators had joined the student group.
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“To those protesters and their supporters who justify such actions, I ask you to take a long hard look in the mirror and realize that this isn’t actually ‘speaking truth to power’ or furthering your cause,” Schapiro wrote. “It is an abomination and you should be ashamed of yourselves. ... I am disgusted by those who chose to disgrace this University in such a fashion.”
Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty released a statement Tuesday saying he supports the right of people to protest but also strongly condemned demonstrators who deface or destroy property.
But students and some professors disapprove of Schapiro’s harsh language. The group behind the protests, NU Community Not Cops, and faculty of the African American Studies department criticized Schapiro for only responding to student demands when the upheaval landed on his doorstep.
“To read your damning letter to students in this context forces us to hear the shallowness of your concerns and priorities with excruciating clarity,” the faculty letter said. “It is beyond tone deaf for you to ask this group of protesters to imagine what it would be like for their families to be disturbed in the middle of the night ‘by such vile and personal attacks.’”
The student group also rejected Schapiro’s message and instead demanded he step down in its own statement, saying he’s failed to engage with students about the problem of racial injustice behind the protests.
LaTesha Harris, a recent NU alumna involved in the group, said Schapiro’s response seeks to delegitimize the concerns of Black students and shows a lack of empathy.
“It’s really disheartening to see that Northwestern only is responding to our campaign now because we’re acting ‘destructive,’” said Harris, 22. “Morty has been silent on this matter for so long. We were shocked to receive that email yesterday,” which she described as vitriolic.
Harris said the group has held marches, protests, sit-ins and other events since its founding in June that did not involve property damage. After months of feeling ignored, members of the group spontaneously expressed themselves with graffiti and vandalism, though that was not planned. Before every action, the group instructs members not to interact with police or harm others, she said.
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“People who show up to our actions — if they’re feeling frustrated and they’re feeling angry and they decide that the way they want to take it out is by doing vandalism or graffiti or burning something, that’s up to them,” Harris said. “We’re not here to police anyone. We’re here to honestly cause a disruption and get on the Northwestern University’s radar, and it’s frustrating that the only way to do that, as we’ve seen, is for these ‘violent’ things to happen.”
The group created a petition in June that asked NU to end contracts with the Evanston and Chicago police departments and to disband the Northwestern University Police Department. Though the group contends such decisions would improve emotional and physical security for Black students, it was dissatisfied with the response from Schapiro’s administration.
In an online statement, the group also took issue with Schapiro’s description of the protests, comparing the scenario with the "terror Black families face amid the real threat of being killed in their homes.”
“Black people are not safe anywhere in a world with police, including in their homes, a reality that Black students at Northwestern also contend with,” the statement said. “As a wealthy white man, Morton Schapiro knows that he holds an immense amount of privilege that those facing impending threats of ‘personal attacks’ do not, as he mobilized the police to do what they are meant to do — protect white property and white lives.”
While the statement apologized to Jewish community members who might have been harmed by the campaign’s language, the students said the word “pig” was used to refer to the “structural violence that police officers present,” and not as a nod to pejoratives used in “some European countries in the 14th century” to describe Jews. The group said it condemns anti-Semitism and violence against any persecuted group.
But it did not express regret for the property damage mentioned by Schapiro. The group said the burning of the banner amounted to symbolic free speech and that its tactics did not hurt anyone. The banner was removed from the Weber Arch and shaped like a face mask and said “We’re N This Together," the school newspaper reported.
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“How can we ‘peacefully’ advocate when you don’t even attend our meetings?" the group’s statement said. "Who is bodily harmed by vandalism? Why do you assign higher value to property than to the needs of the Black community at Northwestern and in Evanston?”
The heated campus discourse emerges after a summer that saw protests and marches in scores of cities, sparked by the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Some city leaders, including Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, were criticized for painting the actions with a broad stroke and calling the demonstrations violent even though many were peacefully organized. At night, after a Chicago curfew kicked in, looting and property damage occurred downtown and in some neighborhoods.
At Northwestern — although the number of students on campus is relatively small compared with pre-pandemic norms — students have led regular protests of police since Oct. 12, and organizers say they intend to continue.
One afternoon last week, about 200 students blocked the intersection of Green Bay Road, Ridge Avenue and Emerson Street — one of Evanston’s busiest, police Cmdr. Brian Henry said.
On Saturday night, students protested with a march that stretched into the early morning, Henry said, with demonstrations including trash can fires and spray paint graffiti on buildings off campus. Harris disputed that fires were started in trash cans.
Harris, the NU grad affiliated with NU Community Not Cops, said the group’s actions are primarily planned by graduate and undergraduate students, but the events are open to anyone. The group is aiming to host one action every day for a month, the details of which are posted on social media.
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Harris said her group wants to talk with Schapiro directly and has been asking to review the campus police budget. That money, she said, should be spent in other ways to support Black students and campus life. Students, for example, said it could be put toward hiring more Black counselors at the school’s health center.
Schapiro, for his part, maintains that he’s participated in campus discourse about policing and racial justice. He said that university provosts, deans and administrators have held “numerous” discussions with concerned students, faculty and staff. Schapiro said he will appear virtually in a “community dialogue” Tuesday evening, but registration for the Zoom event is capped.
“We, as a University, recognize the many injustices faced by Black and other marginalized groups,” his message said. “We also acknowledge that the policing and criminal justice system in our country is too often stacked against those same communities.”
Still, Schapiro shut down the conversation about disbanding the campus Police Department, writing he has “absolutely no intention to abolish it,” though improvements can be made.
Protesters were back in front of his home Monday evening without incident, according to Evanston city officials and police. About 300 to 400 people were present, but they remained on public property, Henry said.
“We were prepared. We have been gathering intelligence each day as to what their plans are. We made sure we had adequate staffing to ensure that private property and things of that nature were secure and safe,” Henry said.
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Hagerty said in his statement that he strongly supports “the right of all individuals to protest peacefully and safely in Evanston.”
“I have no tolerance, however, for the destruction or defacement of public or private property,” the mayor’s statement continued. “Any protester who partakes in vandalism or worse is not helping Black Lives in Evanston, and is only serving to set back the cause. I expect all protesters to respect the rights of their fellow citizens and follow the law. Those who do not will be held accountable.”
An earlier version of the story misstated details about the burned banner. The school newspaper reported it was burned on campus and brought to Schapiro’s house.
echerney@chicagotribune.com
gbookwalter@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--Watch live: Pritzker announces tighter restrictions on bars, restaurants, gatherings in several subu

Watch live: Pritzker announces tighter restrictions on bars, restaurants, gatherings in several suburban counties

Gov .
J.B. Pritzker is expected to announce that indoor service will be prohibited once again at restaurants and bars @ @ @ @ @ suburban Chicago .
Get the latest updates on COVID-19 in Illinois here .


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--7 charged in flying squirrel trafficking ring that extended from Florida to Chicago to South Korea,

7 charged in flying squirrel trafficking ring that extended from Florida to Chicago to South Korea, officials say

The squirrels were estimated to be worth more than $ 1 million , and Knox received $ 213,800 from the @ @ @ @ @ .
Six of the seven people have been arrested , while one is a fugitive @ @ @ @ @ that four of those arrested were from Florida and two from Georgia .

Seven people have been charged in a Florida-based international flying squirrel trafficking scheme in which thousands of the creatures were exported to Asia, state conservation officials said Monday.
As many as 3,600 flying squirrels, a protected species in the state, were trapped in less than three years, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in a statement. Poachers deployed 10,000 squirrel traps throughout the area around Marion County, Florida, about 80 miles north of Orlando, it said.
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Poachers sold the animals to a wildlife dealer, Rodney Knox, in nearby Bushnell, Florida, who then “laundered” them through his licensed business, claiming that they were bred in captivity, the commission said.
Buyers from South Korea traveled to Florida, purchased the squirrels and drove them in rental cars to Chicago, the commission said. An “unwitting wildlife exporter” then sent them to Asia, it said, and as the scheme grew, couriers from Georgia used Atlanta as a pit stop for the exporting.
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The squirrels were estimated to be worth more than $1 million, and Knox received $213,800 from the trafficking, the commission said. Six of the seven people have been arrested, while one is a fugitive, it said, adding that four of those arrested were from Florida and two from Georgia.
Knox was charged with money laundering, grand theft and dealing in stolen property, among other charges. The others face similar charges.
Lawyers for Knox and the others charged were not immediately able to be reached Monday.
The commission was tipped off by a concerned citizen in January 2019 about the trapping. During a 19-month inquiry, the commission said, investigators found that the suspects from Florida had also been trapping and trafficking protected freshwater turtles and alligators through similar means.
The investigation included conservation officials from Illinois, California and Georgia, as well as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Flying squirrels are the smallest of the three tree squirrel species native to Florida, said Steve Johnson, an associate professor of wildlife ecology and conservation at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
They feed on normal squirrel snacks like acorns, he said, and roost in hijacked bird nests.
The removal of the trafficked squirrels from their ecosystems could have an impact on their predators, like owls and “rat snakes that are really good climbers,” Johnson said, though because the squirrels have a high reproductive rate, the population will most likely be able to bounce back fairly quickly from the poaching.
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Buyers on the receiving end of the trafficking ring probably purchased the flying squirrels as pets. In South Korea and other parts of East Asia, cute, exotic animals like flying squirrels are popular and are featured in cafes where patrons can sip coffee and play with the creatures.
Johnson, however, said that the buyers might have gotten more than they bargained for. The flying squirrels are nocturnal and are probably a nuisance to have around at night.
“I don’t see the point at having a gnawing, nocturnal rodent as a pet,” he said.
c.2020 The New York Times Company


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--Feds say man accused in Bridgeport bank collapse tried to contact widow of dead CEO

Kowalski ’ s girlfriend later filed for an order of protection against him alleging he hit her in the face @ @ @ @ @ the order was never served and she later declined to prosecute , according to the @ @ @ @ @ .

Robert Kowalski leaves the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago following his arraignment on bankruptcy fraud charges on Feb. 13, 2020, stemming from the collapse of a politically connected Bridgeport bank. (José M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)
A man at the center of a fraud investigation into a failed Bridgeport bank improperly tried to contact the widow of the bank’s CEO, who was found hanged in the home of a customer three years ago, prosecutors said in a court filing Tuesday.
Prosecutors were asking for bond to be revoked for Robert Kowalski because of the infractions, which allegedly occurred on two separate occasions this month.
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In addition to potential witness tampering, U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall heard evidence last week that Kowalski was recently involved in a domestic altercation at his girlfriend’s Oak Lawn home that landed Kowalski’s sister and co-defendant in the hospital.
Kowalski’s girlfriend later filed for an order of protection against him alleging he hit her in the face during the melee, although the order was never served and she later declined to prosecute, according to the testimony before Kendall on Friday.
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A bond revocation hearing for Kowalski is set for Wednesday. His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment on the new allegations.
Kowalski is among six defendants charged in an alleged multiyear embezzlement scheme that preceded the sudden failure of Washington Federal Bank for Savings in 2017.
The collapse of Washington Federal, a family-run institution in the city’s Bridgeport neighborhood throughout its 104-year history, spawned a series of lawsuits and investigations and came shortly after the apparent suicide of its CEO, John F. Gembara.
A superseding indictment filed in August alleged the bank’s former chief financial officer and three other employees conspired with Robert Kowalski to transfer and conceal at least $29 million distributed to Kowalski and others who were not named.
Kowalski was a large debtor of the bank when it was closed by regulators in December 2017 with about $66 million in bad loans, the indictment alleges. He and his sister, Jan Kowalski, were originally charged in 2019 with bankruptcy fraud stemming from the bank’s collapse.
Police records show Gembara, 56, was found dead on Dec. 3, 2017, in the Park Ridge home of a bank customer where he had been staying. An autopsy report showed Gembara was found seated in a chair in his bedroom with a rope tied to the banister and around his neck. The Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled the death a suicide.
According to the motion filed by prosecutors Tuesday, Kowalski twice this month tried to reach out to Gembara’s widow, who is a witness in the case and “has knowledge of Kowalski’s financial relationship both with Washington Federal and with her late husband.”
Kowalski’s bond conditions prohibit him from contacting any potential witnesses in the case.
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One of the communications was sent directly to the widow by Kowalski, while the other was a written communication he “caused to be delivered to the witness,” prosecutors said. The documents were filed under seal.
“These exhibits are clear and convincing evidence (Kowalski) violated a condition of his pretrial release,” the motion stated.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--5 states added to Chicago’s travel quarantine list this week. Here’s what you need to know to avoid

5 states added to Chicago’s travel quarantine list this week. Here’s what you need to know to avoid a large fine.

States are added to the list when they have an infection rate higher than 15 cases per 100,000 residents and @ @ @ @ @ average remains below that rate for two consecutive weeks .
According to an order from @ @ @ @ @ city ’ s Department of Public Health , those who travel to any of the @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 risk must quarantine for two weeks upon their return or face hefty fines — @ @ @ @ @ issued any since the policy was put in place early in the summer .

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
Dick DeGray, of Brattleboro, Vt., puts on his mask before going into the Municipal Building, in Brattleboro, as the town started to require visitors and staff to put their masks back on Aug. 11, 2021, due to COVID-19 virus numbers increasing in Windham County. (Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer)
Chicago has revamped its travel quarantine order to reflect rising rates of the coronavirus in Chicago and the rest of Illinois, moving from a blanket list of states to a color-coded list comparing the rate of infection here with that in other states.
On Tuesday, the city added New York, California and Washington, D.C., to its orange list, requiring all travelers from those states to either quarantine or prove they have had a negative COVID-19 test 72 hours before arriving in Chicago. Idaho was moved from the stricter red list to the orange list.
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Under the original version of the emergency travel order, states had been added to the list when they reached an infection rate greater than 15 cases per 100,000 residents and removed once the daily case average remains below that rate for two consecutive weeks.
Now, the city is using a color-coded list, which will be updated every two weeks.
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“First and foremost, I would like people to avoid travel at this time if at all possible. But by creating a tiered system and using Chicago’s case rate as a category threshold, it allows us to be responsive to the changing dynamics of the pandemic,” said city health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady.
States that weren’t on the quarantine list that were added to the orange list the first week were Michigan, Connecticut, Arizona, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, Oregon, Washington and Louisiana.
Yellow-coded states are those with a rolling seven-day average below 15 cases per day per 100,000 residents. Anyone returning from these states doesn’t have to quarantine. Three states qualified as of Tuesday.
Orange-coded states are those with a rolling seven-day average between 15 cases per day per 100,000 residents and Chicago’s rolling seven-day average, which was 60 as of Tuesday. People traveling from these states must either quarantine for 14 days or show they had a negative COVID-19 test no more than 72 hours before arrival in Chicago. There were 35 orange states, plus Washington, D.C., as of Tuesday.
Red-coded states are those with a rolling seven-day average above Chicago’s. Anyone traveling from these states has to quarantine. There were 11 red-coded states as of Tuesday.
People who commute across the Indiana or Wisconsin state lines to or from Chicago to work or go to school will be exempt from the quarantine rule, a nod to the symbiotic relationship between the neighboring states. But workers in Chicago from Indiana will be expected to avoid restaurants, bars and other public spaces in the city.
Here’s what you need to know about the city’s quarantine policies:
City says people will be fined
Anyone who visits red-listed states should stay inside for two weeks upon their return or risk a fine of $100 to $500 per day, according to the city. Those who visit orange-listed states are subject to the same fines if they don’t have a negative COVID-19 test or quarantine.
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Despite the list’s fluctuating size, enforcement of the order so far has been nonexistent, save for some billboards and signs that Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said are intended to “educate” people into compliance.
Lightfoot’s initial self-quarantine requirement was implemented during the Fourth of July weekend.
If city contact tracers get information that people who’ve caught the virus were in proximity to someone from a quarantine state and flouted the rules, they’ll issue a citation, Arwady has said.
They’ll also be on the lookout for people who are on social media “flagrantly posting their social activities, clearly out and about in Chicago after being in settings that are subject to our quarantine order, within the time frame,” she said. Investigators will look into any reports about city workers not following the guidelines, the health commissioner said.
Arwady has since clarified that the city “is not Big Brother,” nor does it have the resources to dedicate anyone to aimlessly scroll feeds from Chicagoans.
But if the agency receives a tip or is already looking into someone to determine whether to fine them, that’s when the city may scour social media.
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“One of the easiest ways to sort of get enough proof … without me having to send out an inspector … is to look at social media,” Arwady said.
Details for travelers
The order has plenty of exceptions for different types of workers and depending on how long travelers spend in the listed states.
If someone drives through a state on the list but does not stay more than 24 hours, that person does not need to quarantine. But a city employee clarified that Chicagoans who choose to drive into Wisconsin and go out in public, regardless of whether they return later in the same day, do need to quarantine after such voluntary activities.
For example, Chicagoans who drive through Indiana (a red-listed state), Ohio and New York (orange-listed states) to spend a week in Vermont (a yellow-listed state) but who did not stay in Indiana and Ohio more than 24 hours do not need to quarantine. There are similar restrictions for air travelers. .
Travelers visiting Chicago from red- or orange-listed states also are subject to the order if they are staying longer than a day. Everyone older than age 2 who lands at a Chicago airport is required to wear a mask, then quarantine if they’ve come from a listed state.
If someone is staying with a Chicago resident after traveling to an affected state, the traveler must quarantine, but other people in the home who did not travel to a listed state are not required to quarantine. The resident should follow guidance for being around someone who has potentially been exposed.
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Travelers or area residents who leave a Chicago airport and immediately travel to a suburb or outside Chicago limits are not required to quarantine — unless their municipality also has a travel restriction in place. The order also states that face coverings should be worn and that public transportation should not be used by those headed outside city limits.
Testing and exceptions to quarantine requirements in the revised rules
Under the guidance revised in November, Chicago residents returning from travel in red states or residents of red states who travel to the city are required to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival here, according to the city travel order website.
People in similar circumstances entering Chicago from orange states must either quarantine for 14 days or, with a “pre-arrival negative test result” from no more than three days before traveling to Chicago, may choose instead to employ “strict masking, social distancing and avoidance of in-person gatherings.”
There also is an option for those who can’t get a test while visiting an orange state, such as a visit not much longer than 24 hours. Someone can quarantine upon arrival in Illinois until a test can be arranged locally, according to the city’s travel order website. The test needs to be issued by a private provider because of concerns about limited capacity at public health testing sites.
“If you cannot be tested for COVID-19 prior to arriving in Chicago and do not take a post-arrival test, you must quarantine for 14 days (or the duration of your stay, whichever is shorter),” according to the website.
Essential workers and other exceptions
For those who live outside Chicago but work in the city, it’s important to determine whether you’re an essential or nonessential worker according to the executive order.
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There are limited exceptions to the quarantine order for essential workers who have to travel for work. Travelers who don’t live in Chicago but who have to be in Chicago to work and who traveled to an orange- or red-listed state for work do not need to quarantine. Travelers who live in Chicago and who travel to a listed state for work do not have to quarantine, according to the order.
But if workers go to a listed state when they didn’t have to, or for medical care, or because of parental shared custody, they would be subject to quarantine.
People who work in Chicago and live elsewhere can do so if they haven’t traveled to a high-incidence state. If they have traveled to a high-incidence state, they are subject to requirements regarding essential workers who are Chicago residents.
For the purposes of the order, an “essential worker” is a person who works in any one of the 16 critical employment sectors. The term also includes any government workers traveling in their official capacities. Essential workers must:
Avoid any nonessential interactions until the quarantine period has ended. They must limit themselves to work-related activities and related functions, and avoid public spaces as much as possible.
Monitor temperature and signs of symptoms, wear a face covering when in public, maintain social distance, and clean and disinfect workspaces.
Avoid as much as possible extended periods in public, contact with strangers and large congregate settings.
What does quarantine mean?
According to the emergency travel order, quarantine means staying at one place for 14 days before doing any activities outside of the home. Included in the restrictions:
Not go out in public or otherwise leave home, unless seeking medical care or COVID-19 testing.
Wear a face covering and do not use public transit if seeking medical care or testing, or when traveling to or from an airport, train station or bus station.
Don’t go to the grocery store; instead have food and other supplies delivered.
Stay in separate quarters with a separate bedroom and, if possible, use a separate bathroom than non-traveling household members.
Travelers still must quarantine even if they had a negative COVID-19 test because people “can develop symptoms and become contagious up to 14 days from their last exposure.”
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Are the rules different for each state or territory?
Generally, the emergency order is applied uniformly to any state or territory on the list. However, with neighboring states, travelers should pay close attention to what constitutes a visit and distinctions between essential and nonessential workers.
What are the state lists?
The following is a rolling list of states on Chicago’s red, orange and yellow lists. The lists will be updated every two weeks:
Red-listed states (11): Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Orange-listed states and Puerto Rico (36): Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia.
Yellow-listed states (3): Hawaii, Maine and Vermont.
Chicago Tribune’s Alice Yin, John Byrne and Gregory Pratt contributed.
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kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-10-20--COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital da

COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital data in your area

Among the metrics ( see below ) tracked under guidelines set by Gov .
J.B. Pritzker are the percentage of @ @ @ @ @ , the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19-like illnesses , and the capacity of hospitals @ @ @ @ @ state will decide how much or how little to restrict activities based on these metrics @

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.
To assess how different parts of Illinois are handling the COVID-19 pandemic, officials look at the state through the 11 regions of Emergency Medical Services. The city of Chicago is one region, for example, and the rest of Cook County is another.
Among the metrics (see below) tracked under guidelines set by Gov. J.B. Pritzker are the percentage of coronavirus tests that return positive, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19-like illnesses, and the capacity of hospitals to take in new patients.The state will decide how much or how little to restrict activities based on these metrics. (Cases, deaths and tests data is as of Dec. 31).
• Check out the Tribune’s coronavirus coverage.
• Remembering the lives of those in Illinois who died from coronavirus.
• Other Chicago, suburbs and Illinois COVID-19 metrics.
• See how the governor’s plan to manage the regions works.
Source: Illinois Department of Public Health
Created by the Chicago Tribune dataviz team. On Twitter @chitribgraphics