chicagotribune--2020-07-29--Former Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan, a Vietnam POW, dies at 74

In the early 2000s , Wieser said he was the chairman for Lake County ’ s Good Government Initiative , @ @ @ @ @ and consolidation of government .
Wieser said he will always remember Kernan calling him to @ @ @ @ @ state started a similar initiative – and the two of them chuckling over the fact @ @ @ @ @ to Lake County for governing advice .

In this Nov. 2, 2004 photo, then-Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan acknowledges the applause of supporters as he concedes to Republican challenger Mitch Daniels in the race for governor in Indianapolis. (MICHAEL CONROY/AP)
Former Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan, a Vietnam prisoner of war who entered politics and was thrust into the state’s top office when his predecessor suffered a deadly stroke, died Wednesday at age 74.
Kernan died at a South Bend health care facility, said Mary Downes, who was his governor’s office chief of staff. Kernan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease several years ago, but his family kept his condition private until disclosing earlier this month that he had lost the ability to speak and was living in a care facility.
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Kernan, a Democrat, won three elections as South Bend’s mayor before being elected lieutenant governor with Gov. Frank O’Bannon in 1996 and 2000. Kernan became governor in September 2003 after O’Bannon’s death and served for 16 months before he lost the 2004 election to Republican Mitch Daniels.
“Distinguished isn’t a strong enough word to describe him,” current Gov. Eric Holcomb said in a statement. “Without regard for personal cost, Joe Kernan devoted every ounce of his life, time and again, to upholding the oath he took, and serving the country and state he loved.”
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Former Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said she worked with Kernan when he was lieutenant governor and she was attorney general. Freeman-Wilson said she will greatly miss his personable leadership style.
In this Nov. 1, 2004 file photo, Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan, right, waves to supporters gathered in the Indiana Statehouse as he, along with his wife Maggie, left, kicked off a series of events around the state with a rally in Indianapolis. (Michael Conroy/AP/AP)
“He always had a joke. He had a wonderful sense of humor. But also, when there was business of the state, he was direct and what he said you could take it to the bank,” Freeman-Wilson said.
A gregarious campaigner who was a catcher on the University of Notre Dame’s baseball team, Kernan was widely praised for the smooth transition after O’Bannon’s death, the first death of an Indiana governor since 1891.
“This was uncharted territory,” Republican state Sen. James Merritt said to Kernan during a ceremony just days before he left office in early 2005. “This was your legacy — calm leadership in a crisis.”
Lake County Democratic Party Chairman Jim Wieser said he worked with Kernan when he was an attorney for the state’s Democratic Party. Wieser said that Kernan “made the transition seamless” when he became governor.
“He was the most wonderful, compassionate man,” Wieser said.
In this Jan. 9, 2005 file photo, Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan, right, and Lt. Gov. Kathy Davis wait for the start of the AFC wild-card game against the Denver Broncos in Indianapolis. (Darron Cummings/AP/AP)
Kernan enlisted in the Navy following his 1968 Notre Dame graduation and he flew as a navigator on combat missions over Laos and North Vietnam. His reconnaissance plane was shot down during a mission over North Vietnam on May 7, 1972. He ejected and was captured, beginning an 11-month ordeal as a prisoner of war that ended when he was flown out of Hanoi on March 27, 1973.
The worst day of captivity came early on, he said, when he talked with another POW.
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“He told me that our escort had lost us and that we were presumed dead,” Kernan said in a 2002 interview. “My family thought I was dead, and if the Navy thought I was dead, the thing that goes through your mind is that there’s no reason for these guys to keep me alive.”
For decades, Kernan marked every May 7 by playing golf, eating a pizza and drinking some beer. He said he remembered the date of his capture each year “without question,” but sometimes he didn’t remember the anniversary of his release until a day or a week later.
“I think it’s because if there hadn’t have been a May 7th, there never would have been a March 27th,” Kernan said. “It was the day my life changed.”
Freeman-Wilson said she will always remember Kernan piloting their plane during a campaigning year. She recalls telling people who were shocked that Kernan piloted their plane that she’d rather fly with someone she knew than a commercial flight.
Former Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson (John Smierciak/Post-Tribune)
Kernan would always remind her that one of the last times he flew a plane it was shot down, Freeman-Wilson said. She would remind him that he had more training since then.
“People loved him because he was someone you’d invite to your house for a beer,” Freeman-Wilson said. “That means a lot when someone is that high up in government.”
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In the early 2000s, Wieser said he was the chairman for Lake County’s Good Government Initiative, which focused on the operation and consolidation of government. Wieser said he will always remember Kernan calling him to ask for guidance when the state started a similar initiative – and the two of them chuckling over the fact that the state was turning to Lake County for governing advice.
James Wieser, Lake County Democratic Party chairman. (John Smierciak / Post-Tribune)
“He was just a gentleman. He was just a thoughtful, caring guy who was easy to work with,” Wieser said. “He was a wonderful ambassador for our state.”
Kernan’s actions as governor included picking former state budget director Kathy Davis to replace him as lieutenant governor — making her the first woman to serve either as Indiana’s governor or lieutenant governor.
He also became the first Indiana governor in 48 years to spare the life of a death row inmate when he stopped an execution just days before it was scheduled to occur in 2004. Kernan said he decided it would be unfair to execute Darnell Williams for the 1986 murders of a Gary couple when a mentally disabled accomplice got a life sentence. Williams’ sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole.
Kernan had decided against a 2004 run for governor the year before O’Bannon’s death. He changed his mind two months after taking over the state’s top office, declaring “I don’t want to watch this from the sidelines.”
Republicans attacked Kernan over the state government’s budget deficit and tens of thousands of job losses, with Democrats blaming the problems on the 2001 national recession following the dot-com bust. Kernan lost what was then Indiana’s most-expensive gubernatorial campaign to Daniels, who had been President George W. Bush’s federal budget director and is now Purdue University’s president.
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Kernan grew up in South Bend as the oldest of nine siblings. After his return from Vietnam, he married his wife, Maggie, and worked for local businesses before becoming city controller and then winning his first of three mayoral elections in 1987. The couple had no children.
He led a group of investors who owned South Bend’s minor league baseball team for about five years before selling it in 2011. Kernan’s group stopped the team from being moved away from the city, but he said the franchise never turned a profit.
“I was not as happy about the baseball thing but to him it was like a gift for South Bend,” Maggie Kernan told Notre Dame Magazine earlier this year.
Lake County Councilman Charlie Brown, D-3rd. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)
Kernan often said he didn’t have many bad days after his time as a POW. Maggie Kernan said she often saw that perspective.
“Because of his personality and optimistic outlook, he has been able to take it and make something out of it that is positive,” she said. “He will talk about doing something tough and difficult and say, ‘What are they going to do, send me to jail? I’ve already been there.’”
Daniels, now the president of Purdue University, held up Kernan’s legacy as one to emulate.
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“Joe Kernan was at different times my ally, opponent and adviser, but always a friend to me, and as far as I could tell to everyone he met. In wartime and in peace, he embodied patriotism and the goodwill toward all we associate with the term ‘Hoosier.’ He was a true leader, and we have lost him far too soon.
“Those among us so ready to bear malice against those with whom they differ and either so ignorant or so ungrateful that they disdain those whose sacrifices gave them the freedom to express their views should pause and consider the life and character of Joe Kernan,” Daniels said in a statement.
Lake County Councilman Charlie Brown, D-Gary, served in the state legislature when Kernan was lieutenant governor and governor. Brown said Kernan was “a baseball fanatic” and was quick to share facts about the sport whenever possible.
“I remember him bouncing through the halls of the building. He was very cordial,” Brown said.
Brown said Kernan was always able to work with Democratic and Republican legislators.
“Joe ensured what we did was best for Indiana not one particular party,” Brown said. “He did his very best to do the best for Indiana.”
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Brown said Kernan went by “Joe” with everyone, which supports Brown’s description of his leadership style as relaxed.
“I will remember him as just Joe,” Brown said.
Post-Tribune staff writer Alexandra Kukulka contributed.


chicagotribune--2020-07-29--Chicago food pantries anticipate more need as supplemental unemployment benefits end: ‘It’s been a r

Chicago food pantries anticipate more need as supplemental unemployment benefits end: ‘It’s been a roller coaster'

In each of the last two weeks of March , she saw an average of 385 people come for food @ @ @ @ @ down to under 300 a week .
But the last week in July , the @ @ @ @ @ to an average of 335 people .

Deshon Walls loads boxes of meat into a New Faith Missionary Baptist Church van at an outdoor food pantry near a shuttered supermarket in the 7900 block of South Halsted Street in Chicago on July 28, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
With a federal supplement to unemployment benefits expiring and no guarantee of another coronavirus relief package as unemployment remains high, Chicago residents will keep needing food and local pantries are bracing for it.
“We’re going to see a bad situation get a lot worse here in the next few weeks,” said Greg Trotter, spokesman for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. “The need is still just as high as we’ve ever seen it.”
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Most food banks affiliated with the Greater Chicago Food Depository and Northern Illinois Food Bank have remained open during the COVID-19 pandemic. But some locations were forced to close as food prices increased, older volunteers could no longer work and churches closed buildings.
About 75% of food pantries are open as part of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, a network of more than 700 food programs in Cook County. The Northern Illinois Food Bank, which supplies food through about 900 programs in other Chicago-area counties, has at least 90% of its food pantries open. About 70% of its soup kitchens are open, a lower number because of social distancing guidelines.
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People line up for food from an outdoor food pantry set up outside a shuttered supermarket in the 7900 block of South Halsted Street. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Carlos Nelson, CEO of the Greater Auburn Gresham Community Development Corporation, helps run a food distribution site in the parking lot of a closed grocery store at 7908 S. Halsted St., in the Gresham neighborhood, where food was handed out this week.
“These aren’t homeless individuals,” Nelson said. “These are middle-income people that have been impacted by COVID.”
Vikki Myers, 55, lives in Elk Grove Village and gets food from a food bank’s pop-up sites. After she and her husband were furloughed from their jobs, she needed help feeding her family of five.
“I thought that you had to have a certain qualification, and I didn’t know that I met that qualification,” Myers said of food pantries. “I just drove away with my mouth completely open and my eyes filled with tears.”
When COVID-19 hit, food pantry coordinator Diane Carioscio knew most of her volunteers were over 60. She heard them say they had asthma, diabetes and other conditions.
This made them at higher risk for severe symptoms of COVID-19. She knew she needed a younger group of people to help out after coronavirus hit.
“The first thing we had to do in order to be open was start recruiting a younger group that could be bringing in our food and distributing it,” said Carioscio, who works at the Harmony Community Church pantry in North Lawndale.
She found young people willing to pitch in and her pantry stayed open while others did not.
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Pantries switched from allowing people to enter pantries and pick their own food, to grab-and-go models to reduce coronavirus risk.
Ferra Perkins, left, collects information from people receiving food from an outdoor food pantry near a shuttered supermarket in the 7900 block of South Halsted Street. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
With a constantly changing situation driven by the pandemic, Carioscio struggles to know how much food to order from the food depository.
In each of the last two weeks of March, she saw an average of 385 people come for food. The numbers then went down to under 300 a week. But the last week in July, the numbers went up again, to an average of 335 people.
“It’s been a roller coaster,” she said. “We try to order enough, but then again, you don’t want too much here when you’re talking about fresh produce or bread or anything like that.”
The Northern Illinois Food Bank is relying heavily on mobile food pantries, using trucks that deliver food and nonfood items to neighborhoods. The trucks operate six days a week, about three times a day, said spokeswoman Elizabeth Gartman.
The food bank saw 4,000 more volunteer hours in the fiscal year that ended last month compared with the previous year, Gartman said.
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“That’s pretty incredible when you factor in the pandemic,” Gartman said.
The Greater Chicago Food Depository gained about 50 new partners in the last month, helping serve food to communities hit hardest by COVID-19. The new partners allowed the depository to expand food pop-up sites on the South and West sides, serving Black and Latino communities that are disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
“That’s one of the very few silver linings here,” Trotter said. “The hope is that though the terms of the pop-up distribution may be short term, we’ll be able to build long-lasting relationships with them that will help increase food access in those neighborhoods.”
With high demand for food, some Chicago food pantries turned to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for boxes of additional meat, dairy and produce for residents.
The food is provided as part of a program announced in late April under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. The latter program provides money to farmers whose prices declined or whose supply chains have been disrupted during the pandemic.
The USDA purchases food from the farmers, whose food is packaged in boxes and sent in trucks to eligible food distributors, including pantries. Since July 1, more than 13 million food boxes have been given out, according to the USDA.
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Workers move and distribute food at an outdoor food pantry in the parking lot of a shuttered supermarket in the 7900 block of South Halsted Street. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
“That’s been a big help just from a supply chain perspective,” said Trotter.
The food supply was disrupted when people began hoarding items from grocery stores, causing retailers to increase prices. It made it more expensive for food distributors to purchase items.
The food box program can be extended by the USDA in two-month periods through December and the department announced Friday it will be in place at least through October.
The program’s future is uncertain. The third round of the program is expected to spend the $3 billion balance provided for the program, according to a news release. A USDA spokesperson said Tuesday that purchase programs outside of the food box program will still be available.
“The uncertainty around the funding of this program going forward is just another challenge we’re going to have to navigate,” Trotter said.
Trotter added that it was a “huge logistical challenge” to get the program running. Some of the USDA approved distributors had never delivered to food pantries before, unaware that some pantry locations are small and staffed with older residents unable to unload food by themselves.
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“You can’t just back a big truck up to a loading dock like you would at a grocery store or large restaurant and expect things to go smoothly,” Trotter said.
Gartman hopes the program will continue to provide food to pantries. If it stops, she said pantries will “have to get creative again.”
“We’ve been creative since March,” Gartman said.
sczyzon@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-29--Watch live: Gov. J.B. Pritzker gives an update on COVID-19

Illinois Gov .
J.B. Pritzker gives an update on the state ’ s coronavirus response in a briefing scheduled for @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 updates here .

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chicagotribune--2020-07-29--Column:  Farewell, Spire. Hello, spiral. Twelve years after his twisting tower ground to a halt, arc

Column:  Farewell, Spire. Hello, spiral. Twelve years after his twisting tower ground to a halt, architect Santiago Calatrava readies a flaming red sculpture along the Chicago River

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A sculpture called Constellation by architect Santiago Calatrava is emerging at River Point Park along the Chicago River. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Remember the Chicago Spire, the planned 2,000-foot condo tower that would twist into the sky like a giant corkscrew but wound up an embarrassing hole in the ground?
Well, the architect of that failed project, Spanish-born, Zurich-based Santiago Calatrava, is back, with something considerably shorter — 29 feet short, to be exact.
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It’s a dynamic, bright red, nearly complete sculpture that graces the riverfront plaza of the 52-story River Point office building at 444 W. Lake St., across the river from Merchandise Mart.
The official name of the privately funded piece, which is visible over the construction fence that protects it, is “Constellation.” But odds are it’s going to be called “The Calatrava,” like the sculpture in Daley Plaza is called “The Chicago Picasso” or just “The Picasso.”
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“Constellation” a sculpture by architect Santiago Calatrava at River Point Park on July 28, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
The only star in this constellation is its creator: A renowned architect, engineer, sculptor and painter who is also known for blowing deadlines and budgets, as in his $4 billion World Trade Center transportation hub in Manhattan.
It is Calatrava’s first completed work in Chicago, a significant addition to the city’s outdoor museum of public art that adds to the allure of the city’s once-gritty riverfront. True, it is being finished a year late. But don’t blame Calatrava.
Last year, the sculpture’s fabricator, Cleveland-based AMECO USA, had to put the job on hold to correct flaws in NASA rocket fuel tanks it had manufactured.
Then, in July, after the carefully wrapped “Constellation” was trucked to Chicago, a crack was discovered in one of its 14 welded aluminum pieces and the faulty piece was shipped back to Cleveland.
As a result, the project is on pause, with the first 11 of its 14 pieces in place. Two others — No. 13 and 14 — sit on the ground, pending the return of No. 12.
A sculpture titled “Constellation" by architect Santiago Calatrava is partially installed at River Point Park along the Chicago River. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Crews will return to finish the sculpture in mid-August, according to Greg Van Schaack, a senior managing director at Hines, one of River Point’s developers. (An email requesting comment from AMECO USA was not returned.)
When complete, “Constellation” will consist of a projecting spiral of overlapping, leaflike pieces that reprise, in miniature, the dynamic form of the Chicago Spire, which ground to a halt in 2008.
Some of the pieces weigh as much as 7,000 pounds.
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The largest piece sits atop a steel pedestal anchored in a circular concrete base.
Each successive piece is bolted to the preceding one, with the bolts hidden for aesthetic purposes. The final three pieces — including the remarkably delicate last piece, which resembles leaves or, perhaps, the flames of a fire — will spiral outward toward the river.
Once the sculpture is finished, a grass mound will cover the concrete base, making “Constellation” a focal point of River Point’s 1.5-acre plaza.
“A lot goes into something like this,” Gary Ruthenbeck, vice president of Clune Construction Company, which is supervising the installation, said Tuesday as he took me behind the construction fence to show off the sculpture. You don’t just “pop it in place.”
Another Chicago firm, Methods & Materials, is handling the installation.
Even in its unfinished state, “Constellation” has carved out a distinctive presence along the riverfront, at once complementing and upstaging the high-rises around it.
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Architect Santiago Calatrava's “Constellation” at River Point Park. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Its bright color and kinetic form stand out amid the subtle hues — blue, black, beige, brown and green — of other buildings along the river. The only other red visible nearby can be seen in the traffic lights on Wacker Drive.
Built above working passenger railroad tracks, River Point’s elevated plaza is, in effect, a giant pedestal, making the sculpture more visible to onlookers, including those on the architectural tour boats along the Chicago River.
Reflecting the transformation of the once-industrial riverfront into a venue for recreation and culture, “Constellation” joins other works of public art, from Alexander Calder’s “Flamingo” in Federal Plaza to Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate” in Millennium Park, that are concentrated in the Loop or on the lakefront.
Michael Darling, chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, said the sculpture is a new wrinkle in a trend that already has seen developers and the city put riverwalks and plazas along the river.
While the riverfront has murals built into the infrastructure of triple-deck Wacker Drive and other pieces, like Lohan Associates’ Melas Centennial Fountain, “there’s nothing that I’m aware of that’s a freestanding sculpture by a significant figure” like Calatrava, Darling said.
The architect’s buildings include the boldly sculptural, bird-like addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum, completed in 2001. Many in Milwaukee refer to the addition, whose formal name is the Quadracci Pavilion, as “The Calatrava.”
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Some may be tempted to label Calatrava’s piece “plop art” — a derisive term for works by famous artists that have little to do with their settings and serve as mere adornments for office buildings.
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But that rap doesn’t fit “Constellation,” which responds directly to the distinctive curves of the River Point office building, including a parabolic arch at the high-rise’s base.
Santiago Calatrava's sculpture “Constellation” is seen along the Chicago River on July 28, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
River Point’s architects, Pickard Chilton of New Haven, Connecticut, gave the arch an angled glass wall that reflects the presence of structural columns that tilt to avoid the train tracks below. The angled glass achieved an unexpected effect, brilliantly mirroring the shimmering waters of the river and passing craft like yellow water taxis.
Now it mirrors the top part of Calatrava’s sculpture.
Credit the developers of River Point — Ivanhoe Cambridge, Hines and Levy Family Partners — for commissioning this addition to their tower. The piece, whose cost is not being disclosed, will likely add to the value of their office building, of course, but it also stands to enhance Chicago’s renowned collection of public art and, with it, the public realm.
Blair Kamin is a Tribune critic.
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bkamin@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @BlairKamin


chicagotribune--2020-07-29--Calatrava sculpture emerging along Chicago River

Treja Kelley had been hesitant to come forward after witnessing the murder of her 17-year-old cousin .
But she found @ @ @ @ @ stand last year and helped secure a guilty verdict .
Her testimony , though , @ @ @ @ @ head , prosecutors said .
Just a few months after testifying , Kelley was shot @ @ @ @ @ not far from where her cousin had been slain .
She was 18 and pregnant @


chicagotribune--2020-07-29--Electric bikes arrive in Chicago after months of delays

The Chicago Department of Transportation said Wednesday ’ s launch builds on its plan to expand Divvy stations to more @ @ @ @ @ program announced earlier this month that it plans to add 66 Divvy docking stations on @ @ @ @ @ September .
It also plans to add stations to the West Side later in the @ @ @ @ @ to the Northwest Side by mid-2021 .
This will bring 10,500 more electric bikes to @ @ @ @ @

Lyft and Chicago's transportation department announced that electric bikes will be available in the city starting Wednesday, July 29, 2020. (Divvy)
A new type of bike arrived Wednesday in Chicago, though later than expected.
Pedal-assist electric bikes are now available for residents. The effort was led by Lyft, the company that runs the Divvy bike-share program, and the Chicago Department of Transportation. Riders can find the bikes at stations for the new bikes, or at public bike racks for the traditional models. The bikes are being delivered primarily in the Loop until noon Wednesday, a city spokesperson said.
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Lyft originally planned to roll out 1,900 electric-assist bikes last fall. When that didn’t happen due to bureaucratic hurdles, the city announced 3,500 electric bikes would be released in March across the city. Now in late July, the wait is over, according to news releases from the city.
A city spokesperson said Wednesday the delay was due to the state’s stay-at-home order during COVID-19, as well as “mechanical delays.”
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“This will be a game-changer for bike-share in Chicago, enabling residents to go further, faster with more flexibility,” CDOT Commissioner Gia Biagi said.
The city’s transportation department is giving out a $5 credit for up to 30 minutes of electric bike riding and usage fees, according to a news release. In most of Divvy’s service areas, where there is greater distance between bike stations, electric bike rentals will cost the same as traditional rentals. In the areas with many bike stations, electric bikes will have an additional fee per minute, according to officials. Divvy annual membership fees will remain the same.
Residents riding around the city can use built-in cable locks to secure their bikes. The electric bikes are mostly black in color, contrasting with the original blue bikes.
The Chicago Department of Transportation said Wednesday’s launch builds on its plan to expand Divvy stations to more city neighborhoods. The bike-share program announced earlier this month that it plans to add 66 Divvy docking stations on the Far South Side by September. It also plans to add stations to the West Side later in the year, and more stations to the Northwest Side by mid-2021. This will bring 10,500 more electric bikes to the city by 2021.
The expansion will eventually include 16,500 total bikes and 800 stations, adding more than 200 jobs to Divvy’s operations in Chicago, according to a news release.
sczyzon@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-29--Northwestern donates $1 million to Evanston social justice efforts, $500,000 in grants to Evanston,

Northwestern donates $1 million to Evanston social justice efforts, $500,000 in grants to Evanston, Chicago

“ As Northwestern ’ s Evanston and Chicago homes continue to grapple with two historic challenges , COVID-19 and systemic @ @ @ @ @ in a position to help lead the way in finding a solution , and it @ @ @ @ @ so , ” said Northwestern President Morton Schapiro in the release .
“ As part @ @ @ @ @ our communities , Northwestern is increasing our commitments in Evanston and Chicago .
”

Northwestern University will donate $1 million to the city of Evanston this year for programs to help advance racial equity and social justice, officials announced Wednesday.
The donation is part of the university’s annual gift to Evanston through the Good Neighbor Fund, now known as the Good Neighbor Racial Equity Fund, according to a Northwestern news release.
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Northwestern also will donate an additional $500,000 total in grants to Evanston and Chicago to promote partnerships between community groups and Northwestern faculty, students and staff, according to the release.
“As Northwestern’s Evanston and Chicago homes continue to grapple with two historic challenges, COVID-19 and systemic racism, the university is in a position to help lead the way in finding a solution, and it has a duty to do so,” said Northwestern President Morton Schapiro in the release. “As part of our efforts to strengthen our communities, Northwestern is increasing our commitments in Evanston and Chicago.”
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The commitments shift the focus of the university’s Good Neighbor Fund program, which for the past five years has paid for programs, staff and infrastructure projects around Evanston.
The $1 million contribution specifically will focus on the areas of economic opportunity, justice and government, neighborhoods and infrastructure and public health, according to the release.
“At this historic moment in our nation, as Americans across the country fight to ensure that Black Lives Matter, these priority areas are focused around measurable community indicators and a racial equity-driven policy process that centers the experiences and voices of those who are most affected,” said Dave Davis, executive director of Northwestern’s office of neighborhood and community relations, in the release.
The $500,000 grants will be dispersed in amounts ranging from $25,000 to $75,000 and will focus on partnerships that “foster research and scholarship relevant to the local community and addresses critical community issues rooted in racial equity and social justice,” according to the release.
Applications will be available online in November.
Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty welcomed the news.
“Advancing racial equity and eliminating the social and economic disparities that have been present in our city for decades requires a community-wide commitment,” Hagerty said. “The Good Neighbor Racial Equity Fund will allow the city of Evanston to build on our efforts to eradicate systemic racism, remove barriers for marginalized communities, and further invest in programs that uplift our entire city.”
gbookwalter@chicagotribune.com
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This story was updated to clarify the amounts of the Chicago and Evanston grants.


chicagotribune--2020-07-29--Teen puzzle creator Riya Joshi goes from family game night to working with the world’s top word game

Teen puzzle creator Riya Joshi goes from family game night to working with the world’s top word game author. She hopes her puzzle book helps those feeling isolated these days.

“ My family and I have been playing games like this since before I could remember , ” she said @ @ @ @ @ super competitive with games .
When I was younger , my sister and I would @ @ @ @ @ beat our parents , so I was trying to learn more vocabulary ( that ’ @ @ @ @ @ in spelling bees ) .
I also started taking Latin in school — because of @ @ @ @ @ who I am .
My parents haven ’ t won a game of Boggle or @ @ @ @ @ years .
”

Riya Joshi, 15, created and published a puzzle book during COVID-19 and has been donating copies to children's hospitals and seniors in assisted and independent living facilities to help with isolation. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Riya Joshi loves words.
She also loves solving puzzles and playing games with her family — games like Boggle and Scrabble. And she wants to share her love of both with Chicagoans facing more time indoors amid a recent uptick in coronavirus numbers.
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So, the Walter Payton College Preparatory High School sophomore created her own puzzle booklet, “Detective Wordy: Chicago Edition,” featuring 50 crossword puzzles, word searches and word scrambles. Once her parents and twin sister played Riya’s games during a routine Sunday game night, she took her work, self-published it with personal funds, and is giving away free copies to children’s hospitals, support homes, and seniors in assisted and independent living facilities.
Walter Payton College Preparatory High School sophomore Riya Joshi, 15, created and published "Detective Wordy: Chicago Edition," a booklet of 50 crossword puzzles, word searches and word scrambles. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
“I’ve grown up with the love of words and puzzles and games, and it’s really great to be able to share that love with other children and seniors, especially when they’re isolated,” said the 15-year-old Streeterville resident. “In the assisted or independent living facilities with seniors, a lot of them have been confined to their room for the past three or four months.”
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For every 72-page paperback she sells through her website, she’s able to donate three books, she said. She has donated over 500 booklets since it was published in June. According to Riya, she has distributed puzzles to the Harold Washington Library, local children’s hospitals and the Neighbor to Neighbor Literacy Project, a citywide network of Little Free Library book boxes, among other service organizations. Riya started a GoFundMe account to raise more money to keep her act of giving going.
“I had more fun making the puzzles than solving them,” Riya said. “The puzzles in my book range from something fun like potato chip flavors or ‘Frozen’ characters to more educational things. It’s fun to make each of them because they’re all different in their own way.”
At least one-fifth of the puzzles have a Chicago theme, featuring famous local activists, landmarks and Chicago sports teams. Along the way, Riya incorporated some fun facts about Chicago. She said she hopes to do more puzzle editions for other U.S. cities so she can donate puzzles to children’s hospitals and senior homes in those areas.
“My family and I have been playing games like this since before I could remember,” she said. “Our family is super competitive with games. When I was younger, my sister and I would be focused on trying to beat our parents, so I was trying to learn more vocabulary (that’s how I got interested in spelling bees). I also started taking Latin in school — because of that, that’s who I am. My parents haven’t won a game of Boggle or Scrabble in the last four years.”
Riya credits her supportive family with helping her on her puzzle-making journey, which she hopes to continue after the COVID-19 crisis. Her twin sister, Maya Joshi, has been keeping senior citizens entertained during the pandemic with mini-concerts, trivia games, bingo and art activities via Zoom or FaceTime.
Riya’s next step in her puzzle path is collaborating with David Hoyt. He’s the current author of Jumble, the most syndicated daily word game in the world, which is seen in more than 600 newspapers each day (including the Chicago Tribune).
Hoyt said Riya will be showing her puzzle skills on Hoyt’s Word Search World Traveler app this fall. When she sought his advice on her puzzle booklet, Hoyt was so impressed with her mix of puzzles that he offered her the opportunity to co-author educational puzzles with him for a junior section of the app (for kids aged 8 to 14).
“When she reached out to me a couple of months ago and said, ‘Here is my puzzle book’ ... When I looked at those puzzles, my mouth hit the floor,” Hoyt said. “That was the best production of those types of puzzles that I’ve ever seen. And the fact that it was coming from a 15-year-old? I just could not believe it.
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“It’s such a good thing to be able to give people during this time,” he said. “I’m the world’s most syndicated daily word game author, and I’m the one who feels honored to be working with her.”
drockett@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-29--14-year-old boy shot in West Pullman backyard, taken to Indiana hospital

The boy was taken to Franciscan Health Hospital in Hammond by family members and was in fair condition .
No @ @ @ @ @ Area Two detectives were investigating , police said .

A 14-year-old boy was shot in the left leg Tuesday night when someone in a black sedan opened fire on a group of people gathered in a backyard in West Pullman, police said.
The attack happened about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 200 block of East Kensington Avenue on the Far South Side, according to Chicago police.
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The boy was taken to Franciscan Health Hospital in Hammond by family members and was in fair condition. No one was in custody and Area Two detectives were investigating, police said.
The attack came hours after another 14-year-old boy was shot and critically wounded in the Englewood neighborhood.
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chao@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-29--Man, 20, shot in head in Fuller Park neighborhood

He was struck once in the head , and someone drove him toward St. Bernard ’ s Hospital and Health @ @ @ @ @ sedan that he was in crashed at 63rd Street and Yale Avenue , police said @ @ @ @ @ car suffered injuries from the crash .

A 20-year-old man was shot in the head Tuesday night on the South Side while he was sitting in the back seat of a car, according to Chicago police.
The man was shot about 11:30 p.m. in the 4200 block of South Wells Street in the Fuller Park neighborhood, police said. Someone in a red sedan fired shots at the car.
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He was struck once in the head, and someone drove him toward St. Bernard’s Hospital and Health Center, but the black sedan that he was in crashed at 63rd Street and Yale Avenue, police said. No one in the car suffered injuries from the crash.
42/Wells: Call of person shot. At least three temporary evidence markers put down before evidence tech arrives. #ChicagoScanner https://t.co/eyAMdlSf0y pic.twitter.com/jvbzVlWzAU — Paige Fry (@paigexfry) July 29, 2020
The man was taken into St. Bernard Hospital but was transferred to Stroger Hospital, police said.
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No one was in custody.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-07-29--Column: When it came to honoring John Lewis, Donald Trump was no hypocrite

As soon as he stepped away from the podium , we would have blasted him the way we did McConnell @ @ @ @ @ supported Lewis ’ political positions .
It was sickening to hear McConnell repeat King ’ @ @ @ @ @ arc of the moral universe is long , but it bends toward justice , ” @ @ @ @ @ a bipartisan bill to restore voter protections the U.S. Supreme Court removed from the 1965 @ @ @ @ @ landmark bill came about as a result of the life ’ s work of King @ @ @ @ @ rights champions .

President Donald Trump walks into the White House in Washington on July 27, 2020, after traveling to Morrisville, N.C. (Andrew Harnik/AP)
We should thank Donald Trump for skipping Congressman John Lewis’ farewell ceremony.
While his absence from the memorial in the Capitol rotunda on Monday was glaring, Trump did us all a favor by leaving town. To pay respects to a man for whom he showed so little regard in life would be disingenuous.
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Trump might be a liar, but at least he is no hypocrite.
Unlike Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Trump did not stand over Lewis’ casket as he lay in state and quote the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He did not try, as Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Dan Sullivan did, to pretend like he had a good relationship with Lewis by tweeting photos posing with Rep. Elijah Cummings, the Black congressman who died in October.
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When it came to honoring the civil rights icon, Trump was perhaps more honest that he ever has been. He did not attempt to represent himself as anything other than what he is — the antithesis of Lewis.
We should be truthful as well. No one wanted Trump there — and he knew it.
So let’s stop ranting about how he disrespected Lewis’ legacy by tweeting two generic sentences offering condolences to the family. No one is shocked that Trump had more to say about the passing of TV host Regis Philbin than the man who helped change the course of America.
The president would have been expected to say a few words at the event, attended by a small bipartisan group of Washington politicians and dignitaries. But anything he said would have been a lie.
As soon as he stepped away from the podium, we would have blasted him the way we did McConnell for acting as though he supported Lewis’ political positions. It was sickening to hear McConnell repeat King’s words, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” though he is actively blocking a bipartisan bill to restore voter protections the U.S. Supreme Court removed from the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The landmark bill came about as a result of the life’s work of King, Lewis and other civil rights champions.
There is no reason to believe that Trump would even sign the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act into law. He is convinced that millions of fraudulent voters are on the rolls. He supports strict voter ID requirements and less access to mail-in ballots, making it harder for minorities to vote.
Trump had nothing to gain politically by acting as though the loss of a congressional Democrat mattered to him. By no means does it suggest that he felt no sympathy for the 80-year-old congressman, who died from pancreatic cancer, and his family. It just shows that for Trump, politics transcends death.
This is the latest example of Trump’s dangerous race-based reelection strategy putting him in a precarious position. Even if he had wanted to visit the Capitol over the two days Lewis’ body lay in state, he could not.
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It is no secret that white nationalists have infiltrated Trump’s base. Such a display of honor toward a man who devoted his life to fighting racism would not bode well with that part of Trump’s constituency. If he has any chance of being reelected in November, he needs racists to turn out in force.
Shortly after Trump’s election, Lewis said he believed that Trump could learn something by participating in his annual march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. But he would not invite him.
Anything Trump said about Lewis beyond those two short sentences he tweeted would have been fabricated. It would have been worse than saying nothing.
Consider what happened Tuesday when Attorney General William Barr paid tribute to Lewis in his opening statement to the House Judiciary Committee.
He called Lewis an “indomitable champion of civil rights and the rule of law” and then went on to defend Trump’s deployment of federal officers into cities to bring law and order.
Chicago Tribune Opinion Weekdays Read the latest editorials and commentary curated by the Tribune Opinion team. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >
Lewis likened the use of troops on protesters to the fire hoses used on civil rights protesters in the 1960s.
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Rep. Cedric Richmond, former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, called Barr out by pointing to the fact that neither Barr nor his two predecessors brought any African Americans in top staff positions with them.
“That, sir, is systematic racism. That is exactly what John Lewis spent his life fighting,” he said.
“And so I would just suggest that actions speak louder than words, and you really should keep the name of the honorable John Lewis out of the Department of Justice’s mouth.”
The same goes for Trump.
dglanton@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @dahleeng


chicagotribune--2020-07-29--Tracking Chicago homicide victims

Tracking Chicago homicide victims

Though there are homicides recorded throughout the city they are most concentrated in the South and West sides .


chicagotribune--2020-07-29--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened July 28 with COVID-19

Lightfoot ’ s administration Tuesday added Wisconsin , as well as three other states , to the list of 22 @ @ @ @ @ warrant self-quarantine because they had an average of more than 15 new COVID-19 cases per @ @ @ @ @ rolling seven-day period .
Any state that in the previous week had an infection rate @ @ @ @ @ added to the evolving list each Tuesday and the emergency travel order goes into effect @ @ @ @ @ Friday .

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois health officials Tuesday announced 1,076 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 30 additional confirmed deaths. The total breaks a string of six consecutive days with reported cases over 1,200. That brings the state to 173,731 confirmed cases and 7,446 deaths in 102 counties.
Also on Tuesday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot added Wisconsin, Missouri, North Dakota and Nebraska to the city’s self-quarantine list. People entering the city from those states are asked to self-isolate for 14 days. There are now 22 states on the self-quarantine list.
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[ Illinois’ new COVID-19 plan: How the state will manage any outbreaks in 3 charts ]
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
[ Schools reopening tracker: What suburban Chicago districts are planning for the fall ]
[ 20 questions about assessing your COVID-19 risk at restaurants, gyms and more ]
Here’s what’s happening Tuesday regarding COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
8:03 p.m.: City threatens fines for Chicagoans who don’t self-quarantine upon return from Wisconsin
Got summer plans to head to Wisconsin, maybe hit Lake Geneva this August to load up on sun and curds and New Glarus beer?
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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot wants you to think about making other arrangements, and if you can’t, to lock yourself inside for a couple of weeks when you get back to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Lightfoot’s administration on Tuesday officially added Chicago’s northern neighbor — and vacation home to large numbers of Illinoisans, including Gov. J.B. Pritzker — to the list of states considered risky enough because of the growth rate of COVID-19 cases to require self-quarantine once back in the city.
That means starting this Friday, anyone who has spent more than 24 hours in Wisconsin should stay inside for two weeks upon getting to Chicago, or risk a fine of $100 to $500 per day for violating city statute.
“That’s ridiculous,” said Lynn Cole, owner of Geneva Lakes Jewelry in Lake Geneva, where many Chicagoans have second homes or vacation. “I don’t think people are going to listen to it. People are going to come to their summer homes.”
Read more here. —John Byrne, Gregory Pratt and Robert McCoppin
6:04 p.m.: US officials say Russian intelligence services are spreading disinformation about the coronavirus
Russian intelligence services are using a trio of English-language websites to spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, seeking to exploit a crisis that America is struggling to contain ahead of the presidential election in November, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
Two Russians who have held senior roles in Moscow’s military intelligence service known as the GRU have been identified as responsible for a disinformation effort reaching American and Western audiences, U.S. government officials said. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The information had previously been classified, but officials said it had been downgraded so they could more freely discuss it. Officials said they were doing so now to sound the alarm about the particular websites and to expose what they say is a clear link between the sites and Russian intelligence.
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Read more here. —The Associated Press
5:47 p.m.: With ‘no perfect solution’ in sight, schools in Arlington Heights and Plainfield are latest to reject in-person classes this fall in favor of remote learning only
As the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of ceasing, school district officials in Arlington Heights and Plainfield said this week that their schools will be offering strictly remote learning in the fall.
While officials at Arlington Heights School District 25 had unveiled a preliminary plan earlier this summer that would have given families the choice between in-person or online learning, in a Monday letter to parents Superintendent Lori Bein said officials had reversed course.
“There is no perfect solution for how to provide in-person instruction while also providing a 100% guarantee of safety for all students and staff,” Bein said. “The only thing that I know for certain is that plans will need to be flexible as there could be many changes throughout the school year.”
Read more here. —Karen Ann Cullotta
5:07 p.m.: How to stay calm, optimistic, even happy during the COVID-19 pandemic — Tribune readers share what works for them
Last week, we asked you to share the one thing that has provided joy in your life amidst the confusion and uncertainty of the coronavirus. You responded with simple yet meaningful items and activities that spark creativity, love and the desire to help other people.
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We are sharing them here and hope they provide inspiration for others. —Kori Rumore
4:25 p.m.: Gary will close Marquette Park Beach starting Wednesday, Mayor Jerome Prince said.
Concerned about COVID-19′s spread, Prince said the beach will be closed for at least two weeks. The park’s shelters and parking lots will also be closed, he said.
Gary cops will be patrolling the beach and kicking off anyone there, Prince said. Marquette Park will still be open for recreation as long as people are keeping apart, he said.
“We continue to see almost daily double-digit increases in our new COVID-19 positive cases in Gary,” Prince said. “We also must ease the logistical strains on our public safety teams and our beach neighborhoods.”
Gary has seen 63 virus deaths and 1,047 positive cases, spokesman Mike Gonzalez said.
Read more here. —Meredith Colias-Pete
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4:14 p.m.: Berghoff closes temporarily, a month after reopening, blaming pandemic economic challenges
The Berghoff Restaurant, a historic German restaurant downtown, and Adams Street Brewery, its adjoining brewery, have temporarily closed, starting Tuesday, July 28. The Berghoff Cafe at O’Hare will remain open.
This decision was strictly a business one, according to a recording on the Berghoff’s main telephone line. No employee has tested positive for COVID-19 nor have the restaurants been cited for violating any COVID-19 policies or procedures.
Colleen Silk, brand manager, blamed the lack of customers downtown. In an email, she said that tourism in the Loop is down 68%, if not more, from last year and office buildings are still mostly closed. Since the restaurants re-opened June 30, they have seen an average of 15 to 20 customers a day, which is more than a 90% decrease since last year.
“So we may hopefully reopen in the near future, and to save what capital is left, the family decided it is best to close our doors for the time being,” she wrote. “It was not a decision they made lightly and (they) contemplated over this extensively beforehand.”
Read more here. —Grace Wong
3:57 p.m.: Plan to slash $600 unemployment boost could mean big delays in jobless benefits, states warn
A Republican proposal to slash the $600 weekly benefit boost for those left jobless because of the coronavirus shutdown could result in weeks or even months of delayed payments in some states.
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Older computer systems that took weeks to set up for the initial federal unemployment enhancement would need to be reprogrammed again twice under the GOP plan.
In Florida, state Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat from Orlando, said the state has not even gotten the original supplemental benefit to everyone entitled to it.
“So the idea of changing the current process that has taken us months to put into place, that is still not even perfect, is a scary thought,” she said. “These changes, whatever they end up being, are going to create more bureaucratic layers for people to get the relief they need. Meanwhile, we have bills to pay, we have to put food on the table, we have medical expenses and a lot of people are suffering.”
How to handle unemployment is a fiercely contested part of the debate as Congress negotiates the latest relief legislation.
Democrats want to bring back the federally funded $600-a-week unemployment bonus that is expiring, saying it’s a way to keep families and the economy afloat in a time when there are far more people out of work than jobs available.
Republicans argue the current amount is so high that it encourages people to remain on unemployment. They want to reduce it in two steps: First, by cutting the benefit by two-thirds — to $200 a week through September. Then they want to switch that flat rate to a percentage in which the unemployed would receive benefits equal to no more than 70% of their previous incomes in November and December.
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The debate isn’t only about the economy and ideology. It’s also about what’s doable technologically, especially on software many states use that dates to the 1970s.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
2:58 p.m.: Aldermen, advocacy groups call on City Council to pass ordinance to move medically vulnerable people out of shelters and jails
A coalition of groups voiced their support Tuesday for an ordinance sitting in the Chicago City Council’s housing committee that would prioritize finding housing for medically vulnerable populations living in group living facilities such as shelters and jails during a pandemic like COVID-19.
The ordinance would amend existing housing regulations and is sponsored by Ald. Chris Taliaferro, 29th, and Ald. Walter Burnett Jr., 27th. It follows earlier reports about widespread COVID-19 cases in group settings such as homeless shelters, which health officials have called some of the most challenging outbreaks to stop.
“It’s unfathomable that we sit on unoccupied, ready-to-move-in homes while some are living on the street, and while some are even living in congregate shelters during a pandemic,” Taliaferro said during a Tuesday news briefing.
Read more here. —Kelli Smith
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1:50 p.m.: Democrats, Republicans are far apart as coronavirus aid talks intensify
Negotiations launched, the differences over the next coronavirus aid package are vast, a gulf between Democrats’ $3 trillion proposal and Republicans $1 trillion counteroffer, with millions of Americans’ jobless benefits, school reopenings and eviction protections at stake.
As top White House negotiators return to Capitol Hill on Tuesday the leverage is apparent: They are meeting at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. Republicans are so deeply divided over the prospect of big government spending it’s leaving Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell with a weakened hand.
It's unclear whether any agreement can be reached between Congress and President Donald Trump before Friday's deadline for expiring aid.
“We cannot afford to fail,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said as the chamber opened.
The outcome will be a defining one for the president and the parties heading into the November election as an uneasy nation is watching and waiting for Washington to bring some end to the health crisis and devastating economic fallout.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
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12:45 p.m.: Cubs’ Jon Lester voices his concerns about the Marlins’ COVID-19 outbreak: ‘It’s a little scary. You have to trust in this process and trust in the protocols.’
While COVID-19 hovered around baseball in the wake of the Miami Marlins’ multiple positive tests, Chicago Cubs left hander Jon Lester maintained his focus Monday night in pitching five no-hit innings in his 2020 debut.
After the Cubs held on for an 8-7 win over the Reds, Lester acknowledged the efforts of his teammates to follow the new health and safety protocols could go for naught if more teams are hit as hard as the Marlins.
“It raises questions,” Lester said late Monday night. “We’re all concerned about safety and the protocols. We have to continue to trust in what we’re doing, and hopefully we’re doing the right thing.”
Lester, 36, reluctantly used the world “bubble” in stressing how the Cubs’ traveling party must continue to contain themselves.
“As long as we can continue to get negative tests, obviously it’s good for us,” Lester said. “On the other hand, you don’t want to see anybody get sick or have to deal with this thing.
“It’s a little scary. You have to trust in this process and trust in the protocols that we have in place.”
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Read more here. —Mark Gonzales
12:20 p.m.: Study finds 6 COVID-19 ‘symptom clusters’ that may inform clinicians about the severity of cases
The specific set of symptoms COVID-19 patients experience at the onset of the disease may predict how severe their case will become, according to a study by researchers at King’s College London that analyzed self-reported symptoms.
The study identifies six “symptom clusters,” or subtypes, of COVID-19:
Subtype 1, “flu-like with no fever”: headache, loss of smell, muscle pain, cough, sore throat and chest pain.
Subtype 2, “flu-like with fever”: fever and loss of appetite in addition to headache, loss of smell, cough, sore throat and hoarseness.
Subtype 3, “gastrointestinal”: diarrhea and loss of appetite, no cough, headache, loss of smell, sore throat and chest pain.
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Subtype 4, “severe level one, fatigue”: fatigue in addition to headache, loss of smell, cough, fever, hoarseness and chest pain.
Subtype 5, “severe level two, confusion”: confusion in addition to headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue and muscle pain.
Subtype 6, “severe level three, abdominal and respiratory”: shortness of breath, diarrhea and abdominal pain in addition to headache, loss of smell, loss of appetite, cough, fever, hoarseness, sore throat, chest pain, fatigue, confusion and muscle pain.
Read more here. —Lauren Leazenby
11:45 a.m.: After heavy COVID-19 toll on Illinois nursing homes, top regulators depart state agency
With thousands of COVID-19 deaths linked to Illinois nursing homes, two top regulators are now gone from a state agency criticized at times for its oversight of the facilities during the pandemic.
The Pritzker administration confirmed Tuesday that two top staffers at the Illinois Department of Public Health — Debra Bryars and Aimee Isham — departed last week.
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Agency spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said Bryars “left” July 20 while Isham began a leave that same day. She did not elaborate on reasons for the departures, saying she was “not able to discuss personnel information.” The departures were first reported by WBEZ.
A Tribune investigation early in the pandemic found a high percentage of Illinois nursing homes had been cited for poor infection control practices, prompting advocates to warn that the state needed to aggressively monitor and fight the virus.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker and top leaders have repeatedly said their swift actions limited the virus’ spread and saved lives. Yet the agency’s efforts have at times been broadly criticized as too timid and uncoordinated. Facilities complained they needed help getting more staff and protective gear as infections swept through hundreds of facilities.
Read more here. —Joe Mahr
11:30 a.m.: Bottled Blonde, controversial River North bar, closed permanently by coronavirus, but not violations
Bottled Blonde, the bar in the River North neighborhood of Chicago better known for its legal drama than pizza, closed permanently on Monday due to the coronavirus, but not COVID-19 violations.
“Yesterday, Bottled Blonde surrendered their business licenses, permanently closing the River North bar after a series of serious nuisance conditions dating back to 2017,” read a statement from the city’s department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. “The establishment has a history of egregious license violations, including over-occupancy, noise violations, public urination, vomiting and other problematic conditions that have had a serious impact on neighbors and the surrounding community. The City is pleased that yesterday’s action will end three years of legal proceedings with the permanent closure of this problem business.”
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The bar had not received any COVID-19 related citations, wrote the department spokesperson. The city had conducted an investigation earlier this month, but did not find any COVID-19 violations at that time.
Bottled Blonde, opened in November 2015, was accused of a racist dress code and allegations of operating in violation of its liquor license, as well as rowdy patrons. In 2017, its business license was revoked, but the revocation was stayed. That revocation was removed last October, leading to the closing of the business, which reopened the next day when that closing was undone.
Read more here. —Louisa Chu
10:30 a.m.: Bears nose tackle Eddie Goldman reportedly opts out of the 2020 season over COVID-19 concerns
Veteran Chicago Bears players are reporting to Halas Hall Tuesday for the first time to begin their COVID-19 intake testing to be cleared for training camp, but one fixture in the team’s high-level defense won’t be there.
Nose tackle Eddie Goldman, the linchpin of the run defense, will opt out for the 2020 season, according to NFL Network.
Goldman, a second-round pick in 2015 who signed a $42 million, four-year contract extension two summers ago, has been an elite player in the middle of the defense. His absence would create a void in the middle of the line, creating more significant roles for Bilal Nichols and others.
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The list of NFL players choosing to sit out the season over COVID-19 concerns is growing. ESPN reported that Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower is the fifth New England player to exercise that option.
Players have until Aug. 3 to opt out and one general manager said “there are going to be more than we originally expected” Tuesday morning. Players opting out in a high-risk category will receive a $350,000 stipend and an accrued season. Players not in the high-risk category will receive a $150,000 stipend but will not accrue a season. The contract of players in both categories will toll.
Read more here. —Brad Biggs
9:40 a.m.: Chicago-area house flippers ‘surprisingly unaffected’ by COVID-19, but brace for mixed bag in months to come
Born from the burgeoning real estate market that preceded the Great Recession, flipping homes has become a national fascination over the past two decades. Thrifty bargain hunters scooped up foreclosed or decrepit properties, renovated them and quickly resold for a tidy profit.
The good news for those who have made a career out of the practice: It seems, at least for the time being, that house flipping has proven relatively pandemic-proof.
“My business has been surprisingly unaffected,” said Andy Goldman, whose family has been in the house-flipping business since the 1980s.
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In the first three months of 2020, 7.5% of homes sold in the United States were flipped, according to a June report from real estate research firm ATTOM Data Solutions. That’s the highest rate since 2006 and a jump from 6.3% at the end of 2019.
Home flipping rates had dropped drastically in 2007 and began to gradually recover in 2010. The number of flipped homes sold in a quarter peaked around 100,000 in 2005, and while it was on the rise in recent years, a decline began in the second quarter of 2019. In the first quarter of 2020, 53,705 single-family homes and condos were flipped, according to the report.
Still, it’s too soon to fully grasp how the coronavirus pandemic will impact the house flipping market through 2020 and beyond, ATTOM chief product officer Todd Teta said in a statement.
“Profits are down and are lower than they’ve been since the dark days following the Great Recession,” Teta said. “Enter now the coronavirus pandemic, and the prospects for house flipping are notably uncertain, at least in the short term.”
Read more here. —Milan Polk
9:15 a.m.: Chicago adds Wisconsin, 3 other states to 14-day self-quarantine order, which now covers 22 states
Chicago added Wisconsin and three other states to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s 14-day self-quarantine order on Tuesday.
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There are now 22 states from which travelers are being told to self-quarantine upon arrival in Chicago due to coronavirus concerns. The requirement covering Wisconsin, Missouri, North Dakota and Nebraska goes into effect on Friday.
Lightfoot’s self-quarantine requirement was first implemented during the Fourth of July weekend but is not being actively enforced aside from signs and billboards telling people that they must self-quarantine.
The order figures to be particularly problematic with Wisconsin, given its proximity and the high number of people from Illinois who spend weekends and vacations there. Many Illinois and Chicago residents, including Gov. J.B. Pritzker, have homes there.
Read more here. —Gregory Pratt
8:45 a.m.: MLB shortened season could be threatened, but games don’t need to stop right now, says Dr. Anthony Fauci
The Miami Marlins’ coronavirus outbreak could endanger the Major League Baseball season, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday, although he doesn’t believe games needs to stop now.
More than a dozen Marlins players and staff members tested positive for COVID-19, stranding the team in Philadelphia and raising anew questions about MLB's attempts to conduct a season.
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"This could put it in danger," said Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert. "I don't believe they need to stop, but we just need to follow this and see what happens with other teams on a day-by-day basis."
Fauci made his comments on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Read more here. —The Associated Press
8:10 a.m.: Trump retweets video, banned by Facebook after going viral, that alleges unproven drug cures COVID-19
A week after appearing to project a more serious tone about the coronavirus, President Donald Trump is back to pushing unproven claims that an anti-malaria drug is an effective treatment and challenging the credibility of the nation’s leading infectious disease expert.
Overnight, after returning from a trip to North Carolina where he promoted efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, Trump retweeted a series of tweets advocating for hydroxychloroquine.
YouTube, Facebook and Twitter have begun scrubbing the video from their platforms, saying it makes demonstrably false claims about the pandemic. The tweet the president amplified is, as of Tuesday morning, not visible on the platform but still atop his feed.
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The video, published by Breitbart News, features a group of people wearing white lab coats calling themselves “America’s Frontline Doctors,” according to CNN. In front of the Supreme Court, they maintain the drug can cure the disease caused by coronavirus — a claim which is contradicted by medical science. The speaker says masks are unnecessary and alleges a conspiracy by pharmaceutical companies.
The video went hugely viral on Facebook, with over 14 million views before it was removed Monday night for promoting misinformation, CNN reported.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
7:45 a.m.: Chicago-based McDonald’s facing bumpy recovery, 2nd quarter sales down 30%
Business did improve for McDonald’s throughout the second quarter as restrictions lifted across the globe, but the fast food giant faces a bumpy — and expensive — recovery.
Of the chain’s 39,000 restaurants worldwide, 96% are now open, compared with 75% at the start of the second quarter. Comparable-store sales that were down 39% in April were down only 12% by June.
Last week, McDonald’s said it will delay dining room reopenings for at least another month and will require face masks for anyone entering its restaurants.
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McDonald’s is also spending heavily to convince people to come back, particularly for breakfast. The Chicago company spent more than $200 million to support franchisee marketing during the second quarter. It also paid $31 million to distribution centers — payments normally made by franchisees — and $45 million to cover franchisees’ debts.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
7:20 a.m.: CTA giving away Ventra cards, healthy travel kits during food distribution event at South Side grocery store
A food distribution event at a Gresham neighborhood grocery store midday Tuesday will include the giveaway of 5,000 Ventra cards and healthy travel kits, according to the mayor’s office.
The food distribution at the parking lot of the Save-A-Lot grocery store, 7908 S. Halsted St., is sponsored by the city’s Racial Equity Rapid Response Team, which Chicago officials set up to work to address racial inequities made more apparent by the high rates of COVID-19 in communities of color.
The food distribution event was scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, according to a release from the mayor’s office.
The CTA Ventra card giveaway is sponsored by Butcher Boy Cooking Oils, a Chicago-area business, according to the release.
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—Chicago Tribune staff
6 a.m.: ‘Pandemic pods’ and ‘micro-schools’: How parents are finding ways to help their kids — and themselves — manage schooling at home
After spending months keeping her 6-year-old daughter occupied with nature hikes, scavenger hunts and virtual play dates, Julia Devetski was hoping she could finally return to work full time again once the energetic rising first grader was back in the classroom this fall at her school in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood.
But as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage — and after learning that her daughter and her Chicago Public Schools classmates will be doing remote learning at home at least part of the time when the new school year starts in September — Devetski joined the soaring ranks of parents who are counting on “pandemic pods” or “micro-schools” as a solution to their dilemma.
Equal parts traditional home schooling and Mary Poppins-style nurturing — with a COVID-19 sheltering-in-place twist — these new arrangements are beckoning parents who desperately need support as they juggle working from home with keeping tabs on their kids’ education.
Generally, the idea of pandemic pods, sometimes called micro-schools, Safe Centers for Online Learning or SCOLs, is to supplement or oversee remote learning, rather that replace it, for parents who have the resources.
The cry for help, which includes legions of parents daunted by the prospect of their kids returning to school and potentially catching the virus, has also spawned a burgeoning network of providers ranging from posh private tutoring centers to retired public school teachers and recent college grads, all of whom are offering to organize and supervise in-home instruction for groups of roughly three to five children.
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Read more here. —Karen Ann Cullotta
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
Here are five things that happened Monday regarding COVID-19.


chicagotribune--2020-07-28--Man dies after car-motorcycle crash at Ogden Avenue and Naperville-Wheaton Road in Naperville

The collision occurred about 5:50 p.m. when a 68-year-old Lisle man driving a 2018 Nissan Sentra west on Ogden made @ @ @ @ @ Naperville-Wheaton Road and he struck the victim ’ s 2015 Suzuki GSXR 600 motorcycle , @ @ @ @ @ Ogden , an initial police investigation showed .
The Suzuki had the right-of-way on a @ @ @ @ @ .

A 23-year-old Addison man died Monday night after his motorcycle was struck by a car at Ogden Avenue and Naperville-Wheaton Road in Naperville, police said.
The collision occurred about 5:50 p.m. when a 68-year-old Lisle man driving a 2018 Nissan Sentra west on Ogden made a left-hand turn onto southbound Naperville-Wheaton Road and he struck the victim’s 2015 Suzuki GSXR 600 motorcycle, which was headed east on Ogden, an initial police investigation showed. The Suzuki had the right-of-way on a green light, police said.
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The victim, whose identity has not been released, was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival, a police news release said.
The driver of the Nissan was ticketed for failure to yield while turning left, police said.
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Intersection traffic was rerouted until 11:45 p.m. so traffic unit police officers could reconstruct the crash scene, the release said.
Anyone with information on the crash is asked to contact the traffic unit at 630-305-5477.
subaker@tribpub.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-28--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened July 27 with COVID-19

“ Even with what we know about COVID and the risk being minimal for children , the thought of one @ @ @ @ @ out , so we want to make sure people understand we take that seriously , @ @ @ @ @ But I think the point to underscore here is we have to learn how to @ @ @ @ @ , whether we ’ re talking about schools , going to the grocery store , @ @ @ @ @ or recreational things .
”

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Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois health officials on Monday announced 1,231 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 18 additional deaths. It was the sixth straight day with more than 1,200 new cases. That brings the state total to 172,655 cases and 7,416 deaths.
The announcement came as Gov. J.B. Pritzker appeared with officials in two downstate counties that have seen coronavirus outbreaks. The governor joined local officials in downtown Quincy in Adams County — one of four counties placed on a “warning level” for COVID-19 last week — and hinted the state would take action if infection rates worsen.
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In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday said people who have spent more than 24 hours in Wisconsin will soon be required to self-quarantine for 14 days upon entering city. Wisconsin becomes the 19th state from which travelers are being told to self-quarantine due to concerns over high coronavirus case rates.
Meanwhile, Northwestern Medicine is searching for 5,000 Chicago adults to partake in clinical trials aimed at understanding COVID-19 prevention, including potential vaccines, according to a Monday news release. Researchers are asking for participants who are at high risk for being exposed to COVID-19. The first study is expected to launch in August, and it will explore a potential vaccine for COVID-19.
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[ Illinois’ new COVID-19 plan: How the state will manage any outbreaks in 3 charts ]
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
[ Schools reopening tracker: What suburban Chicago districts are planning for the fall ]
[ 20 questions about assessing your COVID-19 risk at restaurants, gyms and more ]
Here’s what’s happening Monday regarding COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
8:43 p.m. (update): White Sox manager Rick Renteria is sidelined for precautionary reasons after coming down with a cough and nasal congestion
The Chicago White Sox began their first road trip of the pandemic-shortened season with manager Rick Renteria sidelined.
Renteria awoke Monday morning with a slight cough and nasal congestion and was not with the team before Monday night’s game against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field was postponed because of rain.
“After consulting with our team doctors, Ricky underwent precautionary testing (Monday) at a Cleveland hospital,” Sox general manager Rick Hahn said in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, Ricky will remain at the team hotel and not manage until we receive confirmation of (Monday’s) test result.”
Hahn’s statement didn’t specify that Renteria was being tested for COVID-19. A Sox spokesman called it “a precaution due to the current circumstances.”
Read more here. —LaMond Pope
4:17 p.m.: Notre Dame withdraws as host of presidential debate amid outbreak
The University of Notre Dame has become the second university to withdraw as the host of one of this fall’s three scheduled presidential debates amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The university was set to host the inaugural face-off between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden on Sept. 29. The first debate will now be hosted by Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced Monday.
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Read more here. — The Associated Press
2:50 p.m.: Pritzker visits downstate counties hit with COVID-19 outbreaks: ‘What’s happening here ... is alarming’
As Gov. J.B. Pritzker appeared with officials in two downstate counties that have seen coronavirus outbreaks, Illinois on Monday reported 1,231 new known cases of COVID-19, the sixth straight day the tally has topped 1,200.
Eighteen more deaths were confirmed, most of them from Cook County and the rest from DuPage, Peoria and Winnebago counties.
Since the pandemic began, a total of 7,416 deaths and 172,655 cases of coronavirus have been reported in Illinois.
Earlier Monday, Pritzker joined local officials in downtown Quincy in Adams County, in one of four counties placed on a “warning level” for COVID-19 last week, and hinted the state would take action if infection rates worsen.
As of Monday, the seven-day positivity rate for Region 3, which includes Adams County, had increased to 3.8%, Pritzker said. A county health official stated at the news conference that Adams County has 340 reported cases of COVID-19.
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“What’s happening here in Adams County is alarming,” Pritzker said. “And if these trends continue in the negative direction, the state will need to take immediate action to impose additional mitigations to slow the spread and keep more people from getting sick.”
Besides Adams County, LaSalle County, just outside the Chicago area, and Peoria County, as well as rural Randolph County in southwest Illinois, were put on a “warning level” Friday. The four counties all saw outbreaks of coronavirus recently related to various risk factors, according to state officials.
Read more here. —Alice Yin
2:40 p.m.: People coming to Chicago from Wisconsin will have to self-quarantine for 14 days under latest coronavirus order from Lightfoot
People who have spent more than 24 hours in Wisconsin will soon be required to self-quarantine for 14 days upon entering Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday.
Wisconsin becomes the 19th state from which travelers are being told to self-quarantine due to concerns over high coronavirus case rates. Lightfoot, who said Wisconsin will be added to the list later this week, didn’t offer further details during an afternoon press conference.
Lightfoot’s self-quarantine requirement was first implemented during the Fourth of July weekend but is not being actively enforced aside from signs and billboards telling people that they must self-quarantine. The order figures to be particularly problematic with Wisconsin, given its proximity and the high number of people from Illinois who spend weekends and vacations there.
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The order requires people who have spent more than 24 hours in high-risk states to self-quarantine for 14 days after entering Chicago. States already on the list include Florida, Arizona, Louisiana, Alabama, Nevada, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Idaho, California, Arkansas, Utah, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa.
Exceptions include essential workers, those coming here for medical treatment and those for whom “self-quarantine is not possible, practicable or advisable.” The order also does not apply to people who are at the airport for a connecting flight, or are driving through the city on their way elsewhere.
Nobody has been fined yet, and Lightfoot on Monday said she’s trying to “educate” people into compliance.
Read more here. —Gregory Pratt
2:06 p.m.: Responding to conflict, Greenhouse Theater will no longer create shows — though rental stages remain
William Spatz, the co-owner of the Greenhouse Theater Center, said Monday that he no longer intends to produce theater at the multi-space Lincoln Park venue located at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., formerly the home of the Victory Gardens Theater.
Spatz, who shares ownership of the space with his wife, Wendy Spatz, cited online attacks on the couple following their decision to re-open the theater with a production of a musical revue, “Judy & Liza.”
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“The Facebook mob impugned our characters, our reputations, and our contributions to the community,” Spatz wrote in a lengthy letter to the theater community. “There was little nuance, thoughtful suggestions, nor any kindness from our fellow theater producers and creators. We were all swept up in one big pile and treated like total dirt.”
The producers and creative team of “Judy & Liza” said that they had decided to close Sunday night.
“We sincerely thought that our attempt to create a safe production with a two-person cast and a widely-spaced, mask-wearing audience would be met with interest by the theatre community as a possible way forward,” said musical director Robert Ollis, in a shared statement, “but our well-meaning experiment received vocal condemnation, which we heard and are responding to. We love the theatre and had no intention of causing distress or danger to anyone.”
Spatz struck a very different tone, referencing “the self-destructive nature of the theater community and the harm caused by the herd mentality on Facebook.” He said he did not regret his decision to produce the show, which he said followed state and city Phase 4 guidelines, had rigorous safety precautions in place, and attracted only about 20 people to each of three weekend performances in a 200-seat theater.
Read more here. —Chris Jones
1:42 p.m. (update): Cork & Kerry closed by city for violating COVID-19 guidelines
Cork & Kerry, an Irish pub in West Beverly sometimes called “the soul of Beverly,” was closed by the city Sunday after repeated violations of COVID-19 guidelines, according to a news release from Alderman Matthew J. O’Shea of the 19th Ward.
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City investigators were sent to the restaurant after the alderman’s office received a written complaint of an employee testing positive for COVID-19 last week and forwarded it to the Chicago Department of Business Affairs & Consumer Protection. Early Saturday morning, the BACP issued citations to the restaurant when investigators found it operating after midnight and employees and patrons not wearing face coverings. The next day, a follow-up inspection found the same conditions, according to a statement by the BACP. Additional citations were issued.
This wasn’t the first time Cork & Kerry has been issued citations related to COVID-19. The bar, which does not have a retail food license, was open and operating during phase three, which only allowed for outdoor restaurant service. It was cited for this alleged violation June 5.
Read more here. —Grace Wong
1 p.m.: Lightfoot announces $33 million in housing assistance grants, including mortgage and rent relief, from federal coronavirus relief funds
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday announced that $33 million in funding from the federal coronavirus relief bill will go toward housing grants, including mortgage and rental assistance for city residents.
Residents can apply for a series of programs through the city’s website at chi.gov/housinghelp.
For those making up to 50% of the area’s median income, the city will provide between three and six months of rental support through the Department of Family and Support Services, with the amount of the award based on need, officials said.
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Half the funds will go toward those making less than 15% of the area’s median income, the city said. That application opens July 27 and closes Aug. 10.
Through the Department of Housing, the city will provide grants between $2,000 and $3,000 depending on need, available to those earning up to 60% of the area’s median income, which is $67,000 for a two-person household. That application also opens July 27 and closes Aug. 10.
Lightfoot’s housing department will also provide mortgage assistance, up to $3,300, to those whose income is at or below 120% of the area’s median income. The funding would be paid directly to the lenders, the city said. That applications opens Aug. 3, and the city didn’t say when it would close.
In addition, the city will work with Lawyers Committee for Better Housing to provide no-cost legal defense in eviction court for people making 60% of the area median income or below.
Read more here. —Gregory Pratt
12:55 p.m.: Northwestern seeks 5,000 volunteers to participate in COVID-19 vaccine trials
Northwestern Medicine is searching for 5,000 Chicago adults to partake in clinical trials aimed at understanding COVID-19 prevention, including potential vaccines, according to a Monday news release.
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Researchers are asking for participants who are at high risk for being exposed to COVID-19. The first study is expected to launch in August, and it will explore a potential vaccine for COVID-19. Earlier phases of the same study showed the drug safely increased antibody responses, the release said. Antibodies are proteins that fight viruses and bacteria in the body.
People who agree to be on the registry for clinical trials will be contacted when studies match their health profiles. Participants will not receive compensation for being part of clinical trials. The trials will take place at Lake Forest Hospital, Central DuPage Hospital and the downtown Chicago campus.
Participants from high risk backgrounds include retail workers, health care professionals and public transportation employees. Others who live or work in crowded facilities, like nursing homes, are included in this group.
The clinical trials need people from groups that are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, including African American, Latinx and Native American residents. Older people and those with health conditions are also encouraged to participate.
”We are casting a really wide net so we can make sure we have enough people identified and ready to go for upcoming studies,” said Dr. Karen Krueger, principle investigator of the registry and Northwestern Medicine physician and instructor. “This is vital to individuals’ and community health during the coronavirus pandemic.”
People who want to participate can call 312-694-0414, email nuvaccinestudy@northwestern.edu or find the consent form here.
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—Sydney Czyzon
12:30 p.m.: CPS parents skeptical of health protocols as officials emphasize student pods to promote safety
Hundreds of messages from parents and educators flooded in as soon as the Chicago Public Schools’ first fall reopening feedback meeting Monday opened up to the audience for questions — many doubting the district’s safety protocols and wanting more detail for what happens when someone in school tests positive for COVID-19.
In response to many of the concerns, CPS officials repeatedly highlighted the district’s proposal to split students into “pods” of 15 to minimize contact with other classmates.
CPS CEO Janice Jackson said coronavirus will likely be a concern “not just for a few months until a magical vaccination appears” but for the next year-and-a-half to two years.
“Even with what we know about COVID and the risk being minimal for children, the thought of one child getting it freaks everyone out, so we want to make sure people understand we take that seriously,” Jackson said. “But I think the point to underscore here is we have to learn how to live with COVID, period, whether we’re talking about schools, going to the grocery store, doing the most mundane things or recreational things.”
As concerns over ventilation, cleaning and PPE continued to pour in, a visibly frustrated Jackson again said that the district’s hybrid plan will have to be implemented at some point, even if that is not when the school year starts on Sept. 8. She and CPS officials emphasized the district will only reopen if they believe it is safe to do so.
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Read more here. —Claire Hao
11:20 a.m.: Youth baseball ramps up in Chicago’s suburbs, with coronavirus restrictions in place
Youth baseball is back in Chicago’s suburbs, with youngsters from ages 4 through high school hitting, throwing, fielding and catching with regularity.
While the game is the same for the players stepping between the white lines, just outside the playing field’s markers, fans are social distancing by sitting on portable folding chairs. The bleachers are nearly always empty.
Drew Schnurman, a catcher/third baseman for the 9U Red travel team in the Deerfield Youth Baseball and Softball Association, didn’t seem to mind.
”It feels great to be able to play baseball and be with my friends again,” he said.
Schnurman is among hundreds of youngsters who started playing games as early as June 26 when house and travel teams began competing with the arrival of phase four of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan.
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Read more here. —Steve Sadin
10:20 a.m.: There will be a Lollapalooza of sorts after all, a virtual event to be hosted on YouTube, with old and new content
No flower crowns, no underbutt, no stepping on smushed piles of uncertain provenance as you rush to a stage. Is it really Lollapalooza without sunburn, sore feet, the incessant thump of Perry’s and a weekend of human pinball are questions you will have to answer for yourself, but virtual Lolla is happening.
There are lots of twists, but the biggest thing about this year’s event, scheduled to take place over the same four days — Thursday to Aug. 2 — is that it’s free. All of it.
It’s a “four-night broadcast event” exclusively on YouTube that will include more than 150 performances and appearances. There will be fan favorite sets from previous festivals (including international editions), original performances and classic sets. Yeah, you were there for LCD Soundsystem, Chance the Rapper, Metallica, OutKast and Paul McCartney, to name a few. But maybe your vantage point was all backs and butts, or maybe you were dog tired and heading for the exits.
This year’s virtual Lollapalooza will feature new sets from the likes of H.E.R., Kali Uchis, Kaskade, Louis the Child, Vic Mensa and other artists.
Read more here. —Kevin Williams
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9 a.m.: Target to close on Thanksgiving, joining Walmart in ending Black Friday kickoff
Target is joining Walmart in closing its stores on Thanksgiving Day, ending a decade-long tradition of jump starting Black Friday door buster sales.
The move, announced Monday, come as stores are rethinking the Black Friday in-store bargain shopping as they try to curb the spread of the coronavirus, which has seen a resurgence in a slew of states. Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, announced the move on Tuesday, and at the time, analysts expected more would follow.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
6:59 a.m.: Facing shortage, Red Cross seeking donations of plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19
The Red Cross is seeking donations of what’s known as convalescent plasma from those recovered from COVID-19 as the plasma, which studies have shown can help people recover from the coronavirus, has become harder to obtain for patients as the number of virus cases increases across the country.
“Convalescent plasma is plasma that is collected from patients who have recovered from an infection and have antibodies that might help fight that infection—in this case, those who have fully recovered from COVID-19,” according to a Red Cross news release.
“The Red Cross has seen demand for convalescent plasma more than double over the last month as the number of coronavirus cases increases across the U.S.,” according to the release.
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The plasma is “now being distributed faster than donations are coming in,” according to the Red Cross.
Anyone who’s had a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis and has fully recovered is asked to sign up to donate at RedCrossBlood.org/plasma4covid.
Those who donate between Aug. 1 and Sept. 3 will be given $5 Amazon gift cards, according to the release.
The Red Cross also still needs regular blood donations, according to the agency. Anyone can download a free blood donor app, visit RedCrossBlood.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or use what’s known as the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device.
—Chicago Tribune staff
6:45 a.m.: City to announce housing grants for people affected by COVID-19
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and other city officials were expected Monday to announce grants for housing help for people affected by the coronavirus.
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Lightfoot and the city’s housing and family and support services commissioners were scheduled to hold an afternoon news conference at City Hall to announce the grants.
Check back for updates.
—Chicago Tribune staff
6 a.m.: ‘I see a disaster in the making.’ Professors slam reopening plans at Illinois colleges amid COVID-19 crisis, prompting some schools to reverse course.
Illinois State University’s first attempt to articulate its vision for reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic this fall didn’t sit well with everyone.
The plan, dubbed “Redbirds Return” after the central Illinois college’s mascot, drew swift criticism from faculty after it was shared in early June, prompting instructors to draft their own proposals and call for greater precautions when scores of students are expected to descend on campus next month. The faculty’s letter objecting to plan has been signed by more than 500 employees, students, parents and other community members.
“Since releasing the plan, we’ve received a great deal of feedback,” ISU President Larry Dietz said earlier this month. “Many faculty and staff members have also made it clear they would like a greater voice formulating plans.”
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At the same time, Dietz announced modifications the faculty had been seeking: increased flexibility to work from home, through at least December, and to teach remotely if the subject matter allows.
With the fall term rapidly approaching, faculty members at Illinois colleges are escalating their complaints and have emerged as a leading force against the resumption of in-person instruction. Their concerns, aired in petitions and debates in academic senates, are taking on renewed urgency after reports that students returning to some college towns are spreading the coronavirus at parties and other gatherings. Read more here.
—Elyssa Cherney and Claire Hao
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
Here are three things that happened this weekend related to COVID-19: