chicagotribune--2020-12-31--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Long-term care facilities in the state have more than half the vacc

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Long-term care facilities in the state have more than half the vaccines needed for staff and residents

City leaders and experts say the increase in violence likely was a byproduct of more than one factor .
The @ @ @ @ @ an economic shutdown and stay-at-home order , exacerbating economic woes in some neighborhoods and limiting @ @ @ @ @ high-profile killings of Black people by police officers sparked a national reckoning on race issues @ @ @ @ @ generated instability across the city and increased distrust of police officers , eroding their ability @ @ @ @ @ for help .

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Laquitta Boyd, holds her 6-year-old daughter Venisha while receiving her first COVID-19 vaccination at a back-to-school health fair hosted by RUSH University Medical Center at the Salvation Army Freedom Center on July 30, 2022, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago’s long-term care facilities have more than half the vaccines needed to inoculate all residents and staff, the Chicago Department of Public Health said Wednesday.
Out of the 59,020 total doses needed to vaccinate everyone at places like nursing centers, 30,600 doses of the Moderna vaccine have already been allocated, a spokeswoman said.
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In total, the city had been allocated 132,525 doses of the vaccine as of Wednesday, of which 24,375 doses will be delivered Jan. 4 as the second shot, the public health department said.
This week, 21,450 Pfizer doses and 16,200 Moderna doses were shipped to Chicago, which has been receiving weekly vaccine shipments since Dec. 14, when “phase 1a” of the rollout began.
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Hospital workers went first, and next in line were nursing home residents and staff as well as outpatient health care workers. Frontline essential workers and residents 75 or older will have their turn around late February, officials have said.
On Thursday, Illinois health officials announced 8,009 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 133 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 963,389 and the statewide death toll to 16,490 since the start of the pandemic.
Here’s what’s happening Thursday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
9:57 p.m.: New Year’s festivities muted by coronavirus as curtain draws on 2020
This New Year’s Eve is being celebrated like no other in most of the world, with many bidding farewell to a year they’d prefer to forget.
From the South Pacific to New York City, pandemic restrictions on open air gatherings saw people turning to made-for-TV fireworks displays or packing it in early since they could not toast the end of 2020 in the presence of friends or carousing strangers.
As midnight rolled from Asia to the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the Americas, the New Year’s experience mirrored national responses to the virus itself. Some countries and cities canceled or scaled back their festivities, while others without active outbreaks carried on like any other year. Read more here. — Associated Press
9:15 p.m.: Florida has nation’s 3rd confirmed case of coronavirus variant
The first case of the new, highly contagious COVID-19 variant has been confirmed in Florida, in the last hours of 2020.
The Florida Department of Health announced the case on Twitter about 8:30 p.m. Thursday. The person infected with the variant is a man in his 20s in Martin County with no history of travel, the health department said.
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The health department did not give further details, such as releasing the man’s medical condition or how the strain was detected. Read more here. — South Florida Sun Sentinel
4:33 p.m. (Updated): Employees at suburban Milwaukee clinic unknowingly gave out 57 shots with deliberately ruined vaccines; pharmacist arrested
Authorities arrested a suburban Milwaukee pharmacist Thursday suspected of deliberately ruining hundreds of doses of coronavirus vaccine by removing it from refrigeration for two nights.
The Grafton Police Department said the former Advocate Aurora Health pharmacist was arrested on suspicion of reckless endangerment, adulterating a prescription drug and criminal damage to property. The department said in a news release that he was in jail. Police did not identify the pharmacist, saying he has not yet been formally charged. Read more here. — Associated Press
3:59 p.m.: Chicago restaurants scrap New Year’s Eve plans as city pledges to keep watch: ‘I made the tough call. It’s a bummer.’
After a rough 2020, Houndstooth Saloon owner Stephanie Cook felt a flicker of optimism about New Year’s Eve as she planned an all-you-can-eat shrimp and crab boil in the bar’s heated outdoor cabins.
Based on what she described as “a rumor that the city would extend seating” for the holiday, Cook envisioned a final seating from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., with tickets selling at a premium for when 2021 arrived — up to $125 from $100 for earlier reservations.
The problem? The rumors weren’t true. The city’s COVID-19 restrictions mandating that restaurants and bars close by 11 p.m. would remain in effect — even on New Year’s Eve. Read more here. — Josh Noel
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12:10 p.m.: 8,009 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 133 additional deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Thursday announced 8,009 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 133 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 963,389 and the statewide death toll to 16,490 since the start of the pandemic.
Officials also reported 99,426 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide rolling positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 7.7% for the period ending Wednesday.
—Chicago Tribune staff
9:33 a.m.: When a suburban pharmacist lost his Walgreens job during the pandemic, the community he’s served for generations came to his rescue
Eddie Levin has worked as a pharmacist in Glencoe and Winnetka for about 50 years. But when he lost his job at Walgreens during the COVID-19 pandemic, he thought he’d lose his house.
He went on Next Door planning to sell some of his stuff, but was persuaded by friends to post about his need for a new jobs.
Read more here. —Susan Berger, Special to the Tribune
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6:15 a.m.: Here’s how not to celebrate New Years’s Eve in Chicago
The following is a reminder issued by the city of Chicago Thursday on pandemic regulations in effect as we end 2020.
Events of any kind are prohibited, and residents should not have any guests in their homes unless they are essential workers. Gatherings in hotel rooms, event spaces, banquet halls or shared housing rentals are banned. Under statewide mitigation measures, indoor dining and drinking is prohibited at bars and restaurants, and such establishments must close by 11 p.m. for outdoor service and alcohol pickup and delivery.
The city says the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection will be enforcing these requirements during New Year’s Eve and the weekend. Violations can result in fines up to $10,000 and closing businesses.
Meanwhile, the Cook County Department of Public Health urged people should to postpone travel and avoid crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation. Pandemic habits like wearing a mask, keeping 6 feet in social distancing and frequent hand-washing should be maintained.
“We’re all in this together and if we do it right, we can return to normal much more quickly,” said Dr. Kiran Joshi, the department’s senior medical officer.
—Alice Yin
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6 a.m.: Pandemic, civil unrest likely contributed to more than 50% increase in Chicago homicides in 2020, experts say
In a year marred by a deadly pandemic and rocked by civil unrest over policing in America, Chicago endured a level of violence in 2020 that reversed recent progress, with homicides increasing by more than 50%, according to official statistics.
Through Sunday, Chicago had recorded 762 homicides this year, a 55% jump over the same period in 2019, when 491 people in the city were slain, according to official Chicago police data. It is among the highest year-over-year increases in recent city history.
The total number of shootings this year also was up sharply. That figure rose by 53%, to 3,237 from 2,120, according to the police information.
City leaders and experts say the increase in violence likely was a byproduct of more than one factor. The spread of the coronavirus forced an economic shutdown and stay-at-home order, exacerbating economic woes in some neighborhoods and limiting some social services. The high-profile killings of Black people by police officers sparked a national reckoning on race issues, and in some cases generated instability across the city and increased distrust of police officers, eroding their ability to rely on community members for help.
Read more here. —Annie Sweeney and Jeremy Gorner
5 a.m.: Wisconsin health system says worker deliberately spoiled vaccine
A Wisconsin health system said Wednesday that 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine that had to be discarded after they were left unrefrigerated now appear to have been deliberately spoiled by an employee.
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Aurora Medical Center first reported on the spoiled doses on Saturday, and said they had been accidentally left out overnight by an employee at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton.
In a statement late Wednesday, Aurora said the employee involved “today acknowledged that they intentionally removed the vaccine from refrigeration.”
Aurora’s statement said they had fired the employee and referred the matter to authorities for further investigation.
Read more here. —Associated Press
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
In case you missed it
Here are some recent stories related to COVID-19:


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--Daywatch: New year brings new laws, homicides increased by 50% in 2020 and Chicago takeout favorites

Meanwhile , can you believe today is the last day of 2020 ?
Somehow , we made it .
Here @ @ @ @ @ captured this difficult , unprecedented year .
And , if you ’ re looking for @ @ @ @ @ to safely ring in the New Year , here are some suggestions for live streams @ @ @ @

Good morning, Chicago. On Wednesday, Illinois officials announced 7,374 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 178 additional fatalities. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office also reported that by the end of the day Monday, 126,211 COVID-19 vaccinations had been given throughout Illinois.
Meanwhile, can you believe today is the last day of 2020? Somehow, we made it. Here’s how our photographers captured this difficult, unprecedented year. And, if you’re looking for things to do this evening to safely ring in the New Year, here are some suggestions for live streams and virtual events.
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Here’s more coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
For your smart speaker | Join our COVID-19 Facebook group | More newsletters | Puzzles & Games
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New Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, at the State Capitol on May 20, 2020, in Springfield. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
One of the side effects of the coronavirus pandemic was a drastically shortened spring session of the General Assembly, which means far fewer laws taking effect on New Year’s Day than in a typical year.
Only about a half-dozen new state laws and policies take effect Jan. 1. A year earlier, more than 250 new laws took effect, including the landmark legalization of recreational marijuana. Here’s a breakdown of what’s taking effect.
Johana Stead hugs her 10-year-old niece Mya DeJesus during a vigil June 29, 2020, for her classmate, 10-year-old Lena Nunez, who was killed by a stray bullet in her home in Logan Square. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
In a year marred by a deadly pandemic and rocked by civil unrest over policing in America, Chicago endured a level of violence in 2020 that reversed recent progress, with homicides increasing by more than 50%, according to official statistics.
Through Sunday, Chicago had recorded 762 homicides this year, a 55% jump over the same period in 2019, when 491 people in the city were slain, according to official Chicago police data. It is among the highest year-over-year increases in recent city history.
Activists protest near a speed camera in the 5300 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue Nov. 20, 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
With 2021 upon us, Mayor Lori Lightfoot will soon end Chicago motorists’ carefree days of driving up to 9 miles per hour over the posted speed limit.
The city will start issuing tickets in the new year to people automated speed cameras catch driving between 6 and 9 mph too fast. Lightfoot is counting on millions of dollars in new revenue in 2021 from the $35 tickets to help close a $1.2 billion deficit.
From top left: quesabirria tacos from El G-Fe; matzo ball soup from Jeff and Judes; twisted gyros from Avli River North; vegetarian sushi from Mitsuwa Nagomi; Gretel griddle burger at Gretel; and scallion oil noodles from Meet Noodles. (Louisa Chu and Nick Kindelsperger/Chicago Tribune)
We all probably can’t wait to safely dine back inside restaurants, but we are still thankful for the good food we’ve managed to eat this year. Here is a list of Tribune dining’s favorite takeout dishes from 2020, from comforting peach cobbler to spicy quesabirria tacos.
The pandemic changed how and what we eat. Will that stick in 2021?
Top 10 movies of 2020, according to our film critic
The New Year's Eve takeout package from Joe's Seafood is made for two, featuring Caesar salad, Alaskan king crab, filet mignon, lobster tails, macaroni and cheese, asparagus and key lime pie. (Joes Seafood / HANDOUT)
Rarely in modern history have so many been so eager to leave behind an old year and greet the new. Chicago-area restaurants have revelers in mind for New Year’s Eve on Thursday with meal kits, appetizer spreads, signature cocktails, bubbly and party favors to keep things festive while remaining safe. Here are 50 spots offering specials for New Year’s Eve.


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--Pandemic, civil unrest likely contributed to more than 50% increase in Chicago homicides in 2020, ex

Pandemic, civil unrest likely contributed to more than 50% increase in Chicago homicides in 2020, experts say

All of the tests for Lightfoot and Brown come as the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc in neighborhoods and on @ @ @ @ @ for policing changes here and across the country still is high .
They also come @ @ @ @ @ remains under a federal consent decree that mandates reforms , and as Lightfoot has struggled @ @ @ @ @ a botched police raid that has renewed questions about transparency .

Johana Stead hugs her 10-year-old niece, Mya DeJesus, during a June 29, 2020, vigil for 10-year-old Lena Nunez, who was killed by a stray bullet in her home in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. Lena was a classmate of Mya's. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
In a year marred by a deadly pandemic and rocked by civil unrest over policing in America, Chicago endured a level of violence in 2020 that reversed recent progress, with homicides increasing by more than 50%, according to official statistics.
Through Sunday, Chicago had recorded 762 homicides this year, a 55% jump over the same period in 2019, when 491 people in the city were slain, according to official Chicago police data. It is among the highest year-over-year increases in recent city history.
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The total number of shootings this year also was up sharply. That figure rose by 53%, to 3,237 from 2,120, according to the police information.
City leaders and experts say the increase in violence likely was a byproduct of more than one factor. The spread of the coronavirus forced an economic shutdown and stay-at-home order, exacerbating economic woes in some neighborhoods and limiting some social services. The high-profile killings of Black people by police officers sparked a national reckoning on race issues, and in some cases generated instability across the city and increased distrust of police officers, eroding their ability to rely on community members for help.
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The scene at 62nd and Carpenter streets on July 5, 2020, where eight were shot, four fatally, in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Those who have long studied homicide rates say 2020 is also a clarion call to policymakers to reevaluate traditional attempts to reduce crime that rely heavily on police.
“What worries me is just how much has changed in the past year and how bad it (got) this past summer,” said Patrick Sharkey, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University, calling it a key time to find new strategies. “This is the moment. The trust in the old model has fallen substantially.”
Asked this week about the increase in homicides, Mayor Lori Lightfoot acknowledged some communities have endured a particularly heavy loss of life from both crime and the coronavirus, exacerbating existing troubles.
“It’s been a hard time,” Lightfoot said. “Frustration, anger, unfortunately some of that is playing out in violence. A lot of things that are manifestations of trauma and mental health challenges have been in full bloom.”
The mayor’s hand-picked police superintendent, David Brown, said in a statement that violence reduction will take the cooperation of partners including the police, community organizations, faith leaders and others.
“The criminal justice ecosystem, however, was profoundly impacted and disrupted by the global coronavirus pandemic and the death of George Floyd,” Brown wrote of 2020, noting the violence problem was not unique to Chicago. “Our Chicago Police officers faced an unprecedented set of circumstances in contending with a spike in violent crime, made even more difficult by having to contend with a health pandemic while facing extended periods of heightened civil unrest and looting.”
From progress to dismay
Just a year ago, Chicago was in the midst of a third straight year of gun violence reductions.
New strategies and organizations had launched around the city, and there was an air of promise despite the remaining challenges.
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Among the new initiatives was the West Side Sports Police & Youth Conference, which drew hundreds of children and offered competitive play at local parks in a variety of sports, including baseball and basketball.
Amaria Jones, a funny, giggly girl who loved to dance, was just one of the eager players.
But this year, Amaria, 13, became one of 55 young children and juveniles lost in the violence. Coach Brandon Wilkerson was left to help his players cope.
“Let’s give Amaria 12 seconds,” Wilkerson, 30, a lifelong Austin resident, would tell the players at the start of practices and games after Amaria was killed. The number 12 was her jersey number. “She’s in our minds. She’s in our hearts. Who (do) we do it for?”
They’d answer in unison: “Amaria Jones!”
A tough year from the start
The year began with higher than usual violence numbers, even ahead of the emergence of the coronavirus in February and March. And when the pandemic set in, it only added to a storm of conditions that led to the runaway violence.
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The ensuing shutdown caused economic distress and piled on the trauma of loss, experts said, as the city’s most violent neighborhoods also saw loved ones die, at times disproportionately, from the virus.
Institutions like libraries, parks and schools that provide safe havens were shuttered. And some natural safety nets were gone too — blocks no longer filled with people out walking to the store or picking up kids from school.
“You take away the businesses, all the pieces of society that generally have eyes out, and you are left with young people, and a lot of young people, who don’t have resources or that level of support if they are left on their own,” said Chicago Police Department community policing Sgt. Jermaine Harris, who cofounded the sports league that Amaria played in and works with youth on the West Side.
People hug July 4, 2020, at the scene where Quentella Smith, 34, was fatally shot and two others who were wounded by gunfire in the 3100 block of South Lake Shore Drive. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
The shootings and homicides continued to outpace last year’s totals throughout the summer in the wake of the killing in May of Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for nearly 9 minutes as horrified witnesses looked on. The killing triggered nationwide organizing and protesting against racism, especially in policing. In several cities, widespread looting also broke out, including in Chicago.
Instability set in, experts said.
The highly charged environment is likely to have caused some police officers, fearing their actions would be scrutinized, to stop aggressively policing. Many cops found themselves off their normal beats to address protest activity, while community distrust of police escalated.
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Police across the country recognized their footing in their communities had changed. In a national survey this fall, police chiefs were asked what was the No. 1 thing they needed as they lead their departments. The top response was to restore the public trust.
“We were surprised,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, which conducted the research. “The sense from police chiefs is this recognition something is broken in the relationship between police departments and communities, more so than ever today. Doing something about homicides means doing something about restoring public trust.”
Superintendent Brown agreed. He noted the department had shifted during 2020 to sending more resources into areas seeing the worst of the crime surge but said the key for police is a good relationship with the neighborhoods.
“The best way to reduce crime and violence is to prevent it from happening in the first place by building bridges and trust in the community,” he said in his statement.
The issues didn’t just bubble over in Chicago. Other large American cities saw 2020′s issues manifest themselves in surges in violent crime.
Through Dec. 20, New York City, with more than three times Chicago’s population, saw slayings jump by 39% from the same time in 2019, to 437 from 314, official police statistics there show.
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In Los Angeles, a city with more than a million more residents than Chicago’s 2.7 million, its 343 homicides in 2020 represented a 33.5% jump over last year, when 257 were recorded. That was according to LAPD statistics through Dec. 26.
A police investigator picks up a bullet casing June 20, 2020, at the scene where 3-year-old Mekhi James was fatally shot while riding in an SUV with his father in Chicago's Austin neighborhood. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Sociologists have noted Floyd’s death was a stark, painful reminder of decades of indignities and fear that people living in some neighborhoods have often suffered at the hands of police. This, they said, led to an increased potential for some to lash out.
“When you live under that precarity, there is the greater opportunity for any interaction with folks in your grouping to be heightened or more intense and more violent,” said David Stovall, a professor of Black studies and criminology, and law and justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “Your frustrations are expressed into people you are in proximity with.”
A young life lost
Amaria was among the victims caught in the summertime violence surge in Chicago.
A bullet fired from the street struck her inside her South Austin home over the Father’s Day weekend as she was showing her mother a dance move. Two teens, 16 and 15, who were standing on the porch also were injured.
Her teammates signed her #12 Austin basketball jersey for her family, writing sweet remembrances on it.
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“Fly High, Yaya,” one message reads. And, up in one corner, next to the “n” in Austin, is a simple, “I love you.”
The jersey was presented to Amaria’s family at her funeral. Like many Chicago families, the Jones’ had already lost loved ones to gun violence by the time Amaria was killed — and after her death, her older brother, 18, was killed in December.
This is the kind of ongoing trauma her community was already facing, said Mercedes Jones, Amaria’s 27-year-old sister. So the year Amaria spent playing on a team and being with other kids was precious. She loved it all — the uniform, the team pictures, competing and helping everyone out in the league, her sister said.
“Growing up in the area we grew up in, sometimes kids battle with anger issues and resentment for what they see around them,” Jones said. “As soon as she got on that team ... when she first got her uniform, she had the little shirt and shorts, she was so excited to just be a part of something.”
Brandon Wilkerson opens his father's former church as a safe space for neighborhood children on the West Side of Chicago on Dec. 23, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Harris, the Chicago police sergeant who cofounded the league, said he thinks it has succeeded because it was designed to have three anchor institutions — community organizations, police and clergy — running the programs. Each team, for example, aims to have a coach from each of the groups.
“With so many people around them, there were ways to stay in touch,” Harris said. “It was COVID-proof. You have to coordinate things so it happens at the same time to counteract the negative things.”
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Wilkerson, the coach, recalled the call he’d get at exactly 3:05 p.m. each day from Amaria, who was looking for a ride to youth programs that Wilkerson runs when he is not coaching.
“Coach B, can you pick me up,” he said she’d ask each day, even though his answer was always the same.
“I said, ‘Yeah, Amaria you know we’re picking you up.’”
The impact on outreach
Chicago’s community-based violence reduction organizations, which rely heavily on jobs to help divert people from violence, faced challenges too.
Work was scarce during the pandemic. And as happened everywhere, communication went virtual, posing a special challenge for those in the field of outreach.
“You can say anything over the phone, but when I get to see you face-to-face, I can read your body language and tell what’s going on,” said Terrance Henderson, who works as an outreach supervisor for Chicago CRED, which stands for Create Real Economic Destiny, a community organization that assists people in the Roseland and West Pullman communities.
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Chicago CRED outreach supervisor Terrance Henderson, center, and worker Ricky Roberts talk with a youth during an outreach walk in the Roseland neighborhood on July 9, 2020. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Meanwhile, Henderson suspected the unemployment benefits that flowed through some of the city’s neighborhoods might have had some unintended consequences.
“A lot of illegal guns was being bought. A lot of drugs were being sold,” Henderson said. “Then you had a lot of robberies that took place because now it’s more ... people with money. It’s people that never had money with money.”
Outreach teams remained on the street, switching gears to deliver food to those in need and, in the early days of the pandemic, were some of the first workers to hand out sanitizer and educate people on how to protect themselves from the virus.
But the gun violence proved persistent — even though many feared it could have been worse without the new violence reduction infrastructure in the city.
“Without it, it would have been more chaos, more anarchy,” Henderson said. “We’d probably be over 1,000 homicides by now.”
Going forward
The historic jump in violence this year has left both academics like Stovall and those who work in violence reduction emphasizing how key the community voice will be going forward.
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Henderson, the outreach supervisor, stressed his workers’ abilities to make inroads with people who don’t trust law enforcement.
“Right now, everyone fears the police. ... If you have a conversation with someone, they’ll say, ‘The police have never helped me in my life. ... They arrest me,’” he said. “The police don’t go into the areas where outreach goes.”
Over the past two years, Chicago has created its first Office of Violence Reduction, and in the most recent budget, dedicated $36 million to support community-driven strategies like Henderson’s work, which combines outreach and intervention with jobs, therapy and victim support.
The city is also piloting an alternative response program that would pair police with mental health professionals when answering certain 911 calls.
While these are all new efforts, many criticize the investments as not nearly enough to fully address the scope of the violence problem.
All of the tests for Lightfoot and Brown come as the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc in neighborhoods and on the economy, and pressure for policing changes here and across the country still is high. They also come as Brown’s department remains under a federal consent decree that mandates reforms, and as Lightfoot has struggled to control the fallout from a botched police raid that has renewed questions about transparency.
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Those challenges are not expected to fade when the calendar turns to 2021.


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--Charges pending for assailant who stabbed Hoffman Estates snowplow driver in apparent ‘random’ attac

Charges pending for assailant who stabbed Hoffman Estates snowplow driver in apparent ‘random’ attack, police say

“ I don ’ t know much about it right now .
One of my guys got hurt , just @ @ @ @ @ guy showed up with a knife and cut his hand .
As far as I @ @ @ @ @ under investigation , ” Sanchez said .
“ He got hurt on his hand , @ @ @ @ @ employee ) took the knife away from him … and he chased him across the @ @ @

Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas, Stacey Wescott

Criminal charges were pending for a person in connection with the early Wednesday stabbing of a snowplow operator who had been salting driveways in a quiet Hoffman Estates neighborhood, according to authorities and the man’s boss.
About 6 a.m. an employee of Tiger-Scape Inc., an Elgin-based landscaping services company, was salting driveways in a community of brick townhomes near Poplar Creek, according to Horacio Sanchez, the owner of Tiger-Scape. Sgt. John Bending, a spokesman for Hoffman Estates police, said officers were dispatched to the area of Golf Road and Moon Lake Boulevard for a report of an “unknown problem” and learned a person had been stabbed while in the 1700 block of Pebble Beach Drive.
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Schaumburg police officers investigate along Golf Road following a stabbing near the Poplar Creek Club Homes in Hoffman Estates on Dec. 30, 2020. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
“Right now we’re in the beginning phases of the investigation but I can tell you we responded to that area for a report of a stabbing,” Bending said.
Sanchez, whose business has been plowing and salting the property in the community for 20 years, said one of his employees was salting driveways when he was the victim of an apparently random attack.
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“I don’t know much about it right now. One of my guys got hurt, just driving, and a random guy showed up with a knife and cut his hand. As far as I know, it’s under investigation,” Sanchez said. “He got hurt on his hand, they fought, (the employee) took the knife away from him … and he chased him across the street.”
The employee followed his assailant across busy Golf Road, which serves as a border with neighboring Schaumburg, and ended up near a CVS.
Sanchez wasn’t sure what happened after that because he couldn’t get in touch with his employee, who was stabbed in his hand and arm and taken to Amita Health St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates with injuries that Bending said were not life-threatening.
“I don’t have any communication with my driver because his phone is inside of the truck and nobody is allowed to go near the truck,” Sanchez said. “He seems to be OK. The police told me he’s fine.”
Schaumburg police investigate a stabbing near the Poplar Creek Club Homes in Hoffman Estates on Dec. 30, 2020. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
By late afternoon Wednesday, Bending said criminal charges of aggravated battery were “pending’' for the person detained. In a news release Bending said the employee had been stabbed in the hand and arm and Bending said officers located the assailant soon after the attack.
“Nobody is at large and there’s no danger to the community. He has been detained … pretty quickly afterward,” Bending said.
Sanchez didn’t know who would want to hurt his employee or why and he was surprised something like this happened in an area he considers so safe.
“We’ve been here for 20 years with different companies. We know this place very well, it’s a very nice neighborhood. So I was very surprised when he called me ... it was a shock.”
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Check back for updates.
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--Chicago police release additional videos from botched raid on Anjanette Young’s home

The release of the footage , during which Young is heard sobbing , saying over and over , “ You @ @ @ @ @ ” and much of which has already been aired by media outlets , was done @ @ @ @ @ on the search warrant conducted on Ms. Young ’ s home , as well as @ @ @ @ @ investigation ” ’ according to an emailed statement from Chicago police Superintendent David Brown on @ @ @

In an effort to “ensure complete transparency” Chicago police made public Wednesday night additional dashcam recordings, body-worn camera footage and other documents from the raid on Anjanette Young’s home in February 2019.
The release of the footage, during which Young is heard sobbing, saying over and over, “You got the wrong place,” and much of which has already been aired by media outlets, was done “to ensure complete transparency on the search warrant conducted on Ms. Young’s home, as well as full cooperation with the ongoing investigation”’ according to an emailed statement from Chicago police Superintendent David Brown on Wednesday evening.
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One of the body-worn camera videos was previously released to Young’s attorney, Brown added.
View the videos and documents that were posted to the Police Department website here.
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Chicago police handcuffed social worker Young while she was naked during the search warrant conducted on Feb. 21, 2019.
A top aide’s characterization of the botched raid and detailed description of how Young was treated by Chicago police officers were among 153 pages of emails disclosed earlier Wednesday as City Hall continues to deal with what has become a major crisis for the first-term mayor.
A subsequent controversy erupted earlier this month after Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Law Department attempted to block CBS from airing the body camera footage of Chicago police officers mistakenly raiding Young’s home.
Lightfoot’s office later disclosed that it failed to give Young’s attorney all of the body camera footage of the wrongful police raid on her home, a recurring problem for the city’s Law Department.
The Law Department’s top attorney, Mark Flessner, resigned over the scandal, and two of his high-ranking staffers also left.
In response to the controversy, several aldermen requested an investigation by city Inspector General Joe Ferguson. Lightfoot said she is supportive of such an effort but also asked former federal Judge Ann Claire Williams to review the case and its handling.
“As we work to revise and strengthen our search warrant policies, transparency and community engagement are paramount,” Brown said in the statement. “It is important to emphasize, however, that even the most perfect search warrant policy without human decency is flawed,” he said.
“We must ensure that decency, dignity, accountability, and transparency are central to our culture as well as our policies and training as we seek to turn the page on decades of built-up mistrust.”
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Chicago Tribune’s Gregory Pratt contributed.
rsobol@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-30--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened Dec. 30 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be relied on in many countries because of its low cost , availability and @ @ @ @ @ can be kept in refrigerators rather than the ultra-cold storage some other vaccines require .
@ @ @ @ @ will sell it for $ 2.50 a dose and plans to make up to 3 @ @ @ @ @ of 2021 .

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
Laquitta Boyd, holds her 6-year-old daughter Venisha while receiving her first COVID-19 vaccination at a back-to-school health fair hosted by RUSH University Medical Center at the Salvation Army Freedom Center on July 30, 2022, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
By the end of the day Monday, 126,211 COVID-19 vaccinations had been given throughout Illinois, as the state began the third week of its mass immunization effort, according to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office.
As of Tuesday, 269,625 doses of vaccine had been delivered to Illinois, not including the share that went directly to the city of Chicago.
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The state’s next allotment of vaccine is expected to be delivered “on a rolling basis” this week and Monday, according to the governor’s office.
However, the U.S. goal of getting initial COVID-19 vaccine doses to 20 million Americans by year’s end is looking like a long shot.
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The Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed initially promised to unleash a vast stockpile of 300 million vaccine doses by January but later slashed its target and said it hoped to get about 40 million doses to recipients by the end of the year.
The CDC reported Tuesday that only 11.45 million doses had been distributed since Dec. 13, with only about 2.1 million doses actually administered.
On Wednesday, state health officials announced 7,374 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 178 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 955,380 and the statewide death toll to 16,357 since the start of the pandemic.
Here’s what’s happening Wednesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
4:25 p.m.: Plan to reopen CPS schools ‘doesn’t have anything to do with vaccination,’ Chicago health commissioner says, though teachers slated for shots in coming months
Chicago Public Schools teachers and staff won’t be vaccinated against the coronavirus before buildings are due to reopen for in-person classes, but eventually school nurses will help administer the inoculations.
Teachers, along with other groups considered front-line essential workers, are slated to be in the second phase of vaccination, after the first-priority rollout for health care employees and long-term care facility residents and workers that began this month.
Chicago’s public health commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady, said Wednesday that teacher vaccinations could potentially begin in March or late February at the earliest. That’s after the scheduled resumption of in-person classes in CPS, which is Jan. 11 for pre-kindergarten and some special educations and Feb. 1 for most kindergarten through eighth graders, unless they opt for continued remote learning. The first group of teachers are expected to report to schools on Monday.
But Arwady, when asked during the online Q and A why CPS planned to bring staff and students back before staff members are vaccinated, said the decision “doesn’t have anything to do with vaccination.” Read more here. — Alice Yin and Elyssa Cherney
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1:43 p.m.: Timeline: How COVID-19 upended the Chicago-area restaurant industry — and how it fought back.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, it ushered in a year of uncertainty, fear and struggle that spanned industries, income brackets and communities.
Restaurants across the state were forced to pivot repeatedly, with hundreds laying off employees and eventually closing because of the mounting expenses and a lack of governmental aid that never really came. Some found new ways of operating or introduced new concepts they hoped would align better with the shift to takeout and delivery that became a lifeline for beloved culinary institutions in the Chicago area.
As 2020 draws to a close, we look back at the past nine months and how the pandemic affected restaurants, bars and breweries. While it’s still unclear what 2021 will bring, the lessons of 2020 will remain important for some time to come.
Read more here. —Grace Wong
1:28 p.m.: Aetna drops Walgreens from its Medicaid plan, making it harder for low-income Chicagoans to get their prescriptions during the pandemic
Critics say the decision is hitting poor and majority-Black neighborhoods on the South and West sides hard at a time when residents are already disproportionately suffering from COVID-19 and unemployment.
“It’s really pathetic,” state Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, said of Aetna’s decision. “It’s an attack not just on Black people, but on those that are struggling during the pandemic.”
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In a written statement, Aetna responded that it has nearly 2,000 in-network pharmacies statewide for Medicaid members, including independent pharmacies and those in national and regional chains such as Walmart and Jewel-Osco.
Read more here. —Nara Schoenberg
12:10 p.m.: 7,374 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 178 additional deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Wednesday announced 7,374 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 178 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 955,380 and the statewide death toll to 16,357 since the start of the pandemic.
Officials also reported 74,573 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide rolling positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 7.6% for the period ending Tuesday.
—Chicago Tribune staff
11:45 a.m.: Illinois reports 126,211 COVID-19 vaccinations administered throughout the state
By the end of the day Monday, 126,211 COVID-19 vaccinations had been given throughout Illinois, as the state began the third week of its mass immunization effort, according to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office.
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As of Tuesday, 269,625 doses of vaccine had been delivered to Illinois, not including the share that went directly to the city of Chicago.
This week, 21,450 Pfizer doses and 16,200 Moderna doses were shipped to the city, public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said in a Wednesday virtual Q&A.
Arwady underscored that there is no concern the vaccine will expire before use, given that they have about a six-month shelf life and are being distributed within days. What will really determine efficient roll-out, she said, is more allocation.
Read more here. —Jamie Munks and Alice Yin
6:05 a.m.: UK approves use of 2nd COVID-19 vaccine with easier storage
Britain on Wednesday became the first country to authorize an easy-to-handle COVID-19 vaccine whose developers hope it will become the “vaccine for the world.” The approval and a shift in policy that will speed up rollout of the vaccine in the U.K. comes as a surge in infections threatens to swamp British hospitals.
The Department of Health said it had accepted a recommendation from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to authorize emergency use of the vaccine developed by Oxford University and U.K.-based drugmaker AstraZeneca.
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Britain has bought 100 million doses of the vaccine. Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.K. have already received a different vaccine, made by U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and German firm BioNTech.
Partial results from studies in almost 24,000 people in Britain, Brazil and South Africa suggest the shots are safe and about 70% effective for preventing illness from coronavirus infection.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be relied on in many countries because of its low cost, availability and ease of use. It can be kept in refrigerators rather than the ultra-cold storage some other vaccines require. The company has said it will sell it for $2.50 a dose and plans to make up to 3 billion doses by the end of 2021.
A decision on the vaccine is further off in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration is waiting for data from a separate clinical trial. The study was halted in September and delayed for nearly seven weeks — much longer than in other countries — as regulators investigated whether an illness in a participant in Britain was related to the vaccine. American regulators ultimately allowed the trial to proceed.
Read more here. —Associated Press
6 a.m.: New year brings new laws, but fewer of them, thanks to the pandemic
One of the side effects of the coronavirus pandemic was a drastically shortened spring session of the General Assembly, which means far fewer laws taking effect on New Year’s Day than in a typical year.
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Only about a half-dozen new state laws and policies take effect Jan. 1. A year earlier, more than 250 new laws took effect, including the landmark legalization of recreational marijuana.
Nonetheless, some of the new laws will have a significant effect on people’s lives.
Read more here. —Dan Petrella and Jamie Munks
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
In case you missed it
Here are some recent stories related to COVID-19:


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--Illinois expunges nearly half a million cannabis cases as part of legalization

“ We will never be able to fully remedy the depth of that damage , ” Pritzker said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ the courage to admit the mistakes of our past — and the decency to set @ @ @ @ @ ”

Ending a difficult year on a positive note, Gov. J.B. Pritzker Thursday announced the forgiveness and expungement of about half a million criminal cannabis cases.
The governor announced he issued pardons for 9,210 low-level cannabis convictions, while Illinois State Police have wiped clean more than 492,000 non-felony cannabis-related arrest records.
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The expungement process is part of the state law that legalized licensed sales of marijuana starting in 2020. It’s meant to reduce the impact of the war on drugs, under which minorities were disproportionately arrested and locked up for cannabis crimes, despite similar reported rates of usage.
“We will never be able to fully remedy the depth of that damage,” Pritzker said. “But we can govern with the courage to admit the mistakes of our past — and the decency to set a better path forward.”
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Marijuana plants grow under lights at Cresco Labs medical marijuana cultivation facility Aug. 8, 2018, in Joliet, Ill. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
State law requires 47,000 cannabis-related arrest records created between 2013 and 2019 be expunged by Friday. With the expungement of all 492,129 cannabis arrest records, state police said they are four years ahead of the Jan. 1, 2025, statutory deadline for completing automatic expungements at the state level.
At the local level, many county court clerks were still processing expungements, police said. Arrest records from DuPage, Kane, Knox, Lake, McHenry, McLean, Peoria, Rock Island, Will and Winnebago counties have been expunged. The remaining counties have until Jan. 1, 2025, to expunge their arrest records.
Cannabis expungements and licensing had been delayed in part by shutdowns because of the COVID-19 pandemic, undermining what advocates emphasized as the social equity aspect of the law.
In addition, in the coming weeks, state officials also plan to grant over $25 million in cannabis-generated funding to organizations working in historically underserved communities across Illinois.
rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--Employees at suburban Milwaukee clinic unknowingly gave out 57 shots with deliberately ruined vaccin

Employees at suburban Milwaukee clinic unknowingly gave out 57 shots with deliberately ruined vaccine; pharmacist arrested

Police in Grafton , about 20 miles north of Milwaukee , said the Advocate Aurora Health pharmacist was arrested on @ @ @ @ @ adulterating a prescription drug and criminal damage to property , all felonies .
The pharmacist @ @ @ @ @ said in a news release that he was in jail .
Police did not identify @ @ @ @ @ has not yet been formally charged .

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
MADISON, Wis. — Authorities arrested a suburban Milwaukee pharmacist Thursday suspected of deliberately ruining hundreds of doses of coronavirus vaccine by removing them from refrigeration for two nights.
The arrest marks another setback in what has been a slower, messier start to vaccinate Americans than public health officials had expected. Leaders in Wisconsin and other states have been begging the Trump administration for more doses as health care workers and senior citizens line up for the lifesaving vaccine.
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Police in Grafton, about 20 miles north of Milwaukee, said the Advocate Aurora Health pharmacist was arrested on suspicion of reckless endangerment, adulterating a prescription drug and criminal damage to property, all felonies. The pharmacist has been fired and police said in a news release that he was in jail. Police did not identify the pharmacist, saying he has not yet been formally charged.
His motive remains unclear. Police said that detectives believe he knew the spoiled doses would be useless and people who received them would mistakenly think they’d been vaccinated when they hadn’t.
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The Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wis., on Dec. 31, 2020. A pharmacist at the suburban Milwaukee facility deliberately removed COVID-19 vaccine doses from refrigeration and left them out overnight twice, the health system says. (Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
Advocate Aurora Health Care Chief Medical Group Officer Jeff Bahr told reporters during a teleconference Thursday afternoon that the pharmacist deliberately removed 57 vials that held hundreds of doses of the Moderna vaccine from refrigeration at a Grafton medical center overnight on Dec. 24 into Dec. 25, returned them, then left them out again on the night of Dec. 25 into Saturday. The vials contained enough doses to inoculate 570 people.
A pharmacy technician discovered the vials outside the refrigerator on Saturday morning. Bahr said the pharmacist initially said that he had removed the vials to access other items in the refrigerator and had inadvertently failed to put them back.
The Moderna vaccine is viable for 12 hours outside refrigeration, so workers used the vaccine to inoculate 57 people before discarding the rest. Police said the discarded doses were worth between $8,000 and $11,000.
Bahr said health system officials grew more suspicious of the pharmacist as they reviewed the incident. After multiple interviews, the pharmacist acknowledged Wednesday that he removed the vaccine intentionally over the two nights, Bahr said.
That means that the doses people received Saturday are all but useless, he said. Moderna has told Aurora that there’s no safety concerns, but the hospital system is closely monitoring the people who received the spoiled doses, he said.
A vial of the new Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is seen at Esperanza Health Center in Chicago on Dec. 28, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Bahr declined to comment on the pharmacist’s motive. He said the hospital system’s security protocols are sound.
“This was a situation involving a bad actor,” he said, “as opposed to a bad process.”
The number of COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin has been rising in recent days after dipping in early December. The state Department of Health Services reported 3,810 newly confirmed cases on Thursday, marking the third straight day of rising daily infections. The state has now seen 481,102 cases.
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COVID-19 was a factor in 41 more deaths, pushing the state’s overall death toll to 4,859. The survival rate remained unchanged at 99%.
A little more than 47,150 people had been vaccinated in Wisconsin as of Monday morning, according to the latest data from the health agency. The state has been allocated 265,575 doses of both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. As of Monday morning, only about 157,000 doses had arrived.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers wrote a letter to President Donald Trump earlier in December asking him to prioritize more doses for Wisconsin due to high case numbers, swamped hospitals and a lack of statewide mitigation mandates.


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--After giving up GOP leadership post, three-time candidate for governor Bill Brady resigns from the I

After giving up GOP leadership post, three-time candidate for governor Bill Brady resigns from the Illinois Senate

Brady , of Bloomington , made three unsuccessful bids for governor and came close to victory in 2014 .
After @ @ @ @ @ , he said he would be stepping down from his GOP leadership post in the @ @ @ @ @ oust him .

Illinois state Sen. Bill Brady at the Governor's Day rally at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Outgoing Illinois Senate Republican leader Bill Brady, one of Downstate Illinois’ most high-profile politicians, has retired from the General Assembly.
Brady, of Bloomington, made three unsuccessful bids for governor and came close to victory in 2014. After this fall’s election, he said he would be stepping down from his GOP leadership post in the Senate amid an effort to oust him.
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Brady served in the state legislature for 27 years, first in the House from 1993 to 2001 before moving to the Senate. He had held the top leadership position of the Republican minority in the Senate since August 2017.
A real estate developer and marketer, Brady, 59, also had a financial interest in the video gambling industry. His Senate term was to have ended in January 2023, but he resigned effective Thursday night.
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Brady had no further comment on his departure. When he left his leadership post, he touted efforts to increase public school funding, opposing income tax increases and improving the state’s infrastructure.
Though he is leaving the legislature, Brady still plans to be politically active and is eyeing a possible spot on the 2022 ballot, said one confidant who was not authorized to speak publicly about Brady’s future.
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Brady sought but failed to secure the GOP nomination for governor in 2006 and in 2014. In 2010, he was the Republican candidate for the state’s top office after winning a seven-way primary by 193 votes over former state Sen. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale.
But Brady was defeated in the general election by Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who had been elevated to the post after Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment and removal from office. Quinn scored a narrow victory, winning by 31,834 votes.
Republicans in Brady’s central Illinois district will appoint a successor. Senate Republicans, a 41-18 minority when the new legislature is inaugurated Jan. 13, had already chosen state Sen. Dan McConchie of Hawthorn Woods to be their new leader.
Democratic Senate President Don Harmon of Oak Park said he wished Brady the best.
“I will miss working with Leader Brady. He has proven time and again to be a results-driven lawmaker and leader,” Harmon said. “While we have our political differences, he always came to the negotiating table looking for common ground and success, not conflict.”
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Republican state Rep. Tim Butler of Springfield has expressed interest in filling Brady’s Senate seat and would be the presumed front-runner for the appointment, said one highly placed Republican source.
rap30@aol.com


The Lipinski era

For the last 45 years William Lipinski and later his son Dan Lipinski held office representing part of the middle-class @ @ @ @ @ the Southwest Side .

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 30 Rep. Dan Lipinski stands in the Clearing West neighborhood. For the last 45 years William Lipinski and later his son Dan Lipinski held office representing part of the middle-class bungalow belt around Midway on the Southwest Side. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
For the last 45 years William Lipinski and later his son Dan Lipinski held office representing part of the middle-class bungalow belt around Midway on the Southwest Side.


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--A wintry mix of rain and snow is forecast for New Year’s Day: Here are the warmest, coldest, snowies

A wintry mix of rain and snow is forecast for New Year’s Day: Here are the warmest, coldest, snowiest and wettest since 1872

Chicago experienced its warmest Jan. 1 in 1876 — “ balmy as in May ” the next day ’ s @ @ @ @ @ when the high temperature reached 65 degrees .
“ Chicago can not remember when New @ @ @ @ @ under such favorable auspices for calling , ” the Jan. 2 , 1876 , story @ @ @ @ @ rainstorm with fierce winds , however , sent some residents to the lakefront to retrieve @ @ @ @ @ : “ Some enthusiastic patriots who neglected to haul down their Star-Spangled banners before the @ @ @ @ @ look for them in Lake Michigan to-day .
”

Fireworks explode over Lake Michigan at Navy Pier after midnight on Jan. 1, 2023, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
The first day of 2023 was an ideal start if your resolution was to get in more steps or to walk the dog more often. The high temperature reached 45 degrees and was a major contrast to the previous year.
Chicago got off to a snowy start in 2022, with slightly more than 3 inches observed at O’Hare International Airport, the city’s official reporting site.
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Ironically, the season’s first snowfall arrived just a few days earlier — on Dec. 28, 2021 — making it the latest date of a first snowfall in Chicago history going back to 1885, and just the 26th time in the past 136 years that the city had to wait until the final month of the year to experience snow on the ground.
[ Here’s when Chicago received its first snow of the fall season, going back more than 135 years ]
Here’s a look at the warmest, coldest, wettest and snowiest New Year’s Day holidays in Chicago, going back to 1872.
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Data is from the National Weather Service’s Chicago office and measured at O’Hare, which has been the city’s official recording site since Jan. 17, 1980. For almost a century prior to that, sites around downtown Chicago, the University of Chicago and Midway International Airport were used to gather definitive weather data.
Warmest
New Year's Eve fireworks illuminate the sky near Navy Pier on Jan. 1, 2018, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago experienced its warmest Jan. 1 in 1876 — “balmy as in May” the next day’s Chicago Tribune called it — when the high temperature reached 65 degrees. “Chicago cannot remember when New Year’s Day dawned under such favorable auspices for calling,” the Jan. 2, 1876, story proclaimed. A late afternoon rainstorm with fierce winds, however, sent some residents to the lakefront to retrieve flags that adorned their homes: “Some enthusiastic patriots who neglected to haul down their Star-Spangled banners before the storm came will have to look for them in Lake Michigan to-day.”
The normal high for New Year’s Day in Chicago is 32 degrees, according to the National Weather Service, which also happens to be in the most frequent high temperature range for the day — the 30s.
The coldest high temperature on New Year’s Day was in 2018, when the high reached just 1 degree.
In 2023, the high was 45 degrees.
“The morning was so warm that overcoats, mufflers and furs were almost entirely discarded, and in some of the up-town dwellings ladies received callers with open parlor-windows, something that has hitherto been unknown in Chicago.” — Chicago Tribune, Jan. 2, 1876
Coldest
Cars parked at 839 N. State St. in Chicago on Jan. 1, 1969, are covered with ice following a fire at the Sgt. Pepper nightclub on New Year's Eve. Twenty people escaped injury. (David Nystrom/Chicago Tribune)
Chicago experienced its lowest New Year’s Day temperature in 1969, when at 5:15 a.m. -10 degrees was recorded at Midway, which was then the city’s official weather recording site. A story in the Jan. 2, 1969, edition of the Tribune reported 130 calls per hour flowed into the mayor’s office of inquiry and information complaining of insufficient heat.
The normal low temperature on New Year’s Day in Chicago is 17 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
In 2023, the low was 37 degrees.
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Wettest
As published in the Jan. 2, 1948, edition of the Chicago Tribune. (Chicago Tribune Archives)
New Year’s Day has been mostly dry or resulted in just a trace of rain recorded for 100 of the previous 149 years.
Rain accumulating in more than 1 inch of precipitation has occurred just twice since 1872, according to the National Weather Service. In 1948, rain that later turned into a blizzard and ice storm dropped 1.33 inches of precipitation on Chicago — the most rain recorded on Jan. 1.
“A low pressure atmospheric area, the same that accompanied the tornado that swept thru Louisiana and Arkansas Wednesday, had brought 0.62 of an inch of rain by noon.” — Chicago Tribune, Jan. 2, 1948
In 2023, no rain fell.
Snowiest
Illustration published in the Jan. 2, 1918, edition of the Chicago Tribune. (Chicago Tribune Archives)
Since 1872, snowfall of an inch or more has been recorded just 12 times on Jan. 1.
No snow was observed in 2023, but slightly more than 3 inches of snow was reported on New Year’s Day in 2022.
[ Chicago’s 10 largest snowfalls since 1886 — and how the Tribune covered them ]
It was just the sixth time since 1872, that Chicago received more than 3 inches of snow on the first day of the year.
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A record snowfall of 5 inches fell in 1918, delaying much-needed coal trains from arriving in the city during a coal shortage.
“Every track sweeper available was employed by the surface and elevated lines throughout the day, and it was only through the exertion of the greatest efforts that the tracks were kept clear and the traffic moving.” — Chicago Tribune, Jan. 2, 1918
Sources: National Weather Service Chicago; Tribune archives and reporting


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--Another storm sets its sights on Chicago, bringing a glaze of snow and ice on New Year’s Day

“ We ’ ve got another system coming in , and this time around it ’ s looking like it @ @ @ @ @ freezing rain type of event , ” Ogorek said .
“ It ’ ll initially @ @ @ @ @ change over to freezing rain with some sleet in there as well .
We ’ @ @ @ @ @ enough for some of that freezing rain to stop freezing , closer to the lakeshore @ @ @ @

The year 2021 may be sunshine and rainbows compared with 2020 — but New Year’s Day in Chicago won’t be.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for most of northern Illinois and northwest Indiana beginning at 10 a.m. Friday, and meteorologists said the week’s second storm system could add as much as 3 inches of snow and another layer of ice to the remnants of Tuesday’s totals.
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Meteorologist Rafal Ogorek said if the system does produce 3 inches, it will mainly be for the northern suburbs and possibly the city’s most outer reaches. Most of Chicago and areas to the south should expect in the range of a half-inch to 3 inches, plus maybe a glazing or 1/10 an inch of ice.
The precipitation is expected to begin around 9 or 10 a.m. as snow but will turn into a sloppy, slushy mess of rain, freezing rain and sleet before it likely turns back to snow about 12 hours later.
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“We’ve got another system coming in, and this time around it’s looking like it will be more of a freezing rain type of event,” Ogorek said. “It’ll initially onset as snow but quickly change over to freezing rain with some sleet in there as well. We’re expecting temperatures will warm enough for some of that freezing rain to stop freezing, closer to the lakeshore and downtown.”
Ogorek said it’s hard to say whether temperatures will climb above 32 degrees and, if so, for how long. Once evening rolls around, however, forecasters are expecting the temperature to drop and for snow to resume falling.
“In the far northern suburbs it might stay snow for pretty much the entire duration, but for most of Chicago metro the changeover to snow will start happening from maybe 6 to 9 (p.m.) and there could also be some rain-snow mix in there as well,” Ogorek said.
In the southern suburbs and areas south of Interstate 80, Ogorek said the concern is more about ice than snow or freezing rain. Heavy layers of ice could pull down tree limbs or power lines.
“We do have a winter storm watch out for LaSalle, Kendall, Grundy and Livingston (counties), and that was mainly for the ice accumulation. That’s where you could see greater than 2/10ths of an inch of icing,” he said.
The widespread advisory for counties including Cook, DuPage, DeKalb, Kane, Lee and Will goes from 10 a.m. to midnight Friday, he said.
For more weather news visit the Tribune’s weather page.
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
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chicagotribune--2020-12-31--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 8,009 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 133 additional

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 8,009 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 133 additional deaths reported Thursday


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--Man found shot dead in McKinley Park neighborhood

A private snowplow truck was parked in the middle of the street , diverting traffic away from the man , @ @ @ @ @ to the top of his head and two small cuts over his left eyebrow and @ @ @ @ @ .

The death of a 21-year-old man whose body was found on a Southwest Side street after a traffic crash was ruled a homicide, officials said.
Officers were called to the 3400 block of South Archer Avenue in the McKinley Park neighborhood shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday for a call of a wreck and after a citizen who was driving by saw a man’s body lying in the street, police said.
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A private snowplow truck was parked in the middle of the street, diverting traffic away from the man, who appeared to suffer trauma to the top of his head and two small cuts over his left eyebrow and right hand, police said.
Chicago Fire Department paramedics pronounced him dead and he was taken to Stroger Hospital.
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An autopsy Thursday determined Jean Carlo Cobian died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Cobian’s death was ruled a homicide.
No reports of shots fired had been received and Area One detectives are investigating.
rsobol@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--4 Chicago restaurants, 2 businesses cited for violating coronavirus guidelines over Christmas weeken

4 Chicago restaurants, 2 businesses cited for violating coronavirus guidelines over Christmas weekend

The latter appeared to be a private party , and the city cited the renter of the space for violating @ @ @ @ @ social distancing or face covering requirements related to COVID-19 , the BACP said in an @ @ @ @ @ additional citations for unlicensed business activity and indoor smoking , and the Department of Buildings @ @ @ @ @ of dangerous and hazardous conditions , city officials said .

Over Christmas weekend, several Chicago businesses were cited by the Department of Business and Consumer Protection for violating COVID-19 safety guidelines, including allowing indoor dining and hosting private events that exceeded allowed capacities.
The restaurants that were cited for allowing indoor dining were Arcoiris, Canton Regio, Mama Delia & Bordel and New Celebrity Lounge. The two parties were both in the Austin neighborhood. A 57-person party was at Classy, while another 153-person party took place at an unnamed establishment.
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The latter appeared to be a private party, and the city cited the renter of the space for violating capacity guidelines and not enforcing social distancing or face covering requirements related to COVID-19, the BACP said in an email. The city issued additional citations for unlicensed business activity and indoor smoking, and the Department of Buildings ordered the building close because of dangerous and hazardous conditions, city officials said.
The violations occurred from Dec. 24-27. The complete list with addresses:
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Arcoiris (4007 W. Armitage Ave.) was cited for allowing indoor dining.
Classy (5336 W. North Ave.) was cited for hosting a 57-person party indoors.
Canton Regio (1510 W. 18th St.) was cited for allowing indoor dining.
Mama Delia & Bordel (1721 W. Division St.) was cited for allowing indoor dining.
New Celebrity Lounge (2020-2022 E. 83rd St.) was cited for allowing indoor dining.
Unnamed establishment (5427-29 W. North Ave.) was cited for holding an indoor event with 153 attendees.
adlukach@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--Washington Park celebrated its first tree-lighting ceremony this year. Then someone torched the tree

This isn ’ t the first time Christmas displays were damaged in Washington Park .
Last year , someone mowed @ @ @ @ @ tree planted in the same area .
And a few weeks ago , someone tore @ @ @ @ @ the tree .
Nobody was caught in either incident , said Hampton-Smith , who is @ @ @ @ @ Chamber of Commerce .

The phone call from the gas station came about 12:30 a.m. Monday, rousing Donna Hampton-Smith from a deep sleep.
She saw the caller ID and felt a sinking feeling in her chest. She knew it had to be about the tree.
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Weeks earlier, children had gathered after the neighborhood erected the 30-foot tree in Washington Park and decorated it with icicle lights and red and white ornaments. It was the neighborhood’s first tree-lighting ceremony in the park and it was meant to be a symbol of togetherness at the end of a hard year.
Donna Hampton-Smith, the Washington Park Chamber of Commerce CEO, at the site in Washington Park, Dec. 31, 2020, where the Washington Park Christmas tree was burned. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
Now someone had torched it.
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“The Christmas Grinch came again this year,” Hampton-Smith later told the Tribune with a sigh, recounting damage done to past holiday displays.
Employees at the gas station across the street had been keeping an eye on the tree. Shortly after midnight, an employee spotted the fire and called Hampton-Smith.
The Washington Park neighborhood Christmas tree in the 5500 block of South King Drive was damaged in a fire on Dec. 28, 2020. (Donna Hampton-Smith/Handout)
Chicago firefighters had put out the flames by the time she arrived. There was “a huge hole” in the center of the tree, and a few broken ornaments littered the ground around it. She snapped a few photos and filed a police report. She estimated about 75% of the tree was damaged.
Workers found traces of gasoline and a rolled-up T-shirt they believed was used to light the fire, Hampton-Smith said.
“I’ve had so many calls, so many emails of people upset,” she said. “They were just hurt that someone would do this.”
This isn’t the first time Christmas displays were damaged in Washington Park. Last year, someone mowed down a smaller communal Christmas tree planted in the same area. And a few weeks ago, someone tore down a banner strung around the tree. Nobody was caught in either incident, said Hampton-Smith, who is CEO of the Washington Park Chamber of Commerce.
“I honestly don’t believe that it’s someone in the community that’s doing it,” she said. “I believe it’s someone outside of the community. I believe that there’s been a lot of freak accidents that have occurred. That’s not making sense, and it’s an attack on our community.”
She complained about the lack of cameras in the area, which is located at a busy intersection.
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“I just felt like that should’ve been alarming to warrant a strong investigation, considering it could’ve been very damaging,” she said. “So the tree being run over and then now this — something is going on.”
Ald. Jeanette Taylor, 20th, said she hasn’t received any requests for cameras at that intersection and added there aren’t many crimes that typically occur there. She said she was shocked learning about the recurring damage to Christmas displays.
“I don’t have a clue as to why somebody would do this,” Taylor said. “We just got to do what community does, watch and be mindful.”
Community members had been hoping to keep the tree up until Kwanzaa ended, but after the fire they decided to take it down Tuesday. Hampton-Smith was reluctant to share news of the damage, saying she knew the tree had brought much-needed joy to the community.
The tree was erected Nov. 29. Around 100 people, many of them children, gathered to watch the lighting ceremony. “We’re working so hard to brand our community in a positive light,” Hampton-Smith said. “And having a tree was just that — it was a positive light, literally, to our community.”
Hampton-Smith said she hopes people will remember Christmas in Washington Park not for the blaze but for the scores of people who gathered together.
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“I want them to remember the smiles on the children’s faces,” she said. “I want them to remember the beautiful day of all the people gathering and the countdown when we lit the tree. That’s what I want people to remember.”
kelsmith@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @KelliSmithNews


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot meets with Anjanette Young as city inspector general opens investigatio

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot meets with Anjanette Young as city inspector general opens investigation into the case

“ It was literally somebody saying , mayor , here ’ s another one , ( some ) words to @ @ @ @ @ m paraphrasing , and I said let ’ s talk about it , let ’ @ @ @ @ @ risk officer Tamika Puckett ) involved , and there was a subsequent email from her @ @ @ @ @ on what are we doing , where are we on revising the search warrant protocols @ @ @ @ @ detailed update , ” Lightfoot previously said , summarizing the exchange .

Mayor Lori Lightfoot met with Anjanette Young on Thursday and the two had “a lengthy, very candid and productive conversation about the unacceptable raid” on the social worker’s home in which Chicago police handcuffed her naked, according to a joint statement.
Lightfoot and Young also discussed “a number of systemic changes necessary to address the wrongs done not only to Ms. Young, but also to other victims,” said the statement.
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The meeting, which was first reported by WBBM-Ch. 2, came on the same day the city’s inspector general announced an investigation into the matter and after previous talks for a private sit-down between Lightfoot and Young, followed by a public forum, fell through.
JOINT STATEMENT FROM MS. ANJANETTE YOUNG AND MAYOR LORI E. LIGHTFOOT:
"Today we met and had a lengthy, very candid and productive conversation about the unacceptable raid on Ms. Young's house and her pain." — Mayor Lori Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) December 31, 2020
A day earlier, the city released 153 pages of emails about the February 2019 raid as Lightfoot continues to deal with what has become a major crisis for the first-term mayor.
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“We are both committed to continuing to identify areas of common ground relating to these issues and to working towards necessary policy changes together,” the statement said.
Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson, meanwhile, has opened an investigation into the case, he said in an email to aldermen.
Ferguson made the announcement in an email to Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, 33rd, and other members of the City Council. In the email, Ferguson said his office “has initiated and is proceeding with a formal inquiry into aspects of the search warrant execution at Ms. Young’s home and the handling of its aftermath by City departments and officials.”
Lightfoot previously said she is supportive of such an effort but also asked former federal Judge Ann Claire Williams to review the case and how it was handled.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is also looking into the Police Department’s handling of the February 2019 raid, but Lightfoot has been critical of the agency for being too slow in completing its investigation. A city spokesman previously said 12 Chicago police officers involved in the botched raid of Young’s home have been placed on desk duty.
In his letter to aldermen, Ferguson also said he’s seeking information about the Williams probe and COPA’s investigation.
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Emails released earlier this week show Lightfoot was told in November 2019 about “a pretty bad wrongful raid” in which police handcuffed Young while she was naked.
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Lightfoot initially said she had only learned of the raid, which occurred before she was mayor, earlier this month after WBBM-Ch. 2 aired police body camera footage that showed Young repeatedly telling officers who barged into her home that they had the wrong place.
Soon after, the mayor acknowledged that members of her staff told her about the raid via emails in November 2019, as Ch. 2 was reporting on search warrants being served at the wrong addresses. She also said she had no recollection of the emails.
“It was literally somebody saying, mayor, here’s another one, (some) words to that effect, I’m paraphrasing, and I said let’s talk about it, let’s get (former chief risk officer Tamika Puckett) involved, and there was a subsequent email from her because I was pushing her on what are we doing, where are we on revising the search warrant protocols, and she gave a detailed update,” Lightfoot previously said, summarizing the exchange.
In an email sent on Nov. 11, 2019, former Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Susan Lee forwarded a summary of CBS’ reporting on the case to Lightfoot and said, “please see below for a pretty bad wrongful raid coming out tomorrow.”
The summary said Young was handcuffed by police, and officers “allegedly left her standing for 40 minutes handcuffed and naked while all-male police officers search her apartment.” The email noted that Young had been asking for the body camera footage but hadn’t heard back from police.
Half an hour later, Lightfoot responded to the thread by adding Puckett. Chief of staff Maurice Classen and communications director Michael Crowley also received the email.
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“I have a lot of questions about this one,” Lightfoot said. “Can we do a quick call about it? Is 10:00, ie 10 minutes from now possible?”
The controversy erupted earlier this month after Lightfoot’s Law Department attempted to block CBS from airing the body camera footage of Chicago police officers mistakenly raiding Young’s home.
Lightfoot’s office later disclosed that it failed to give Young’s attorney all of the body camera footage of the wrongful police raid on her home, a recurring problem for the city’s Law Department.
The Law Department’s top attorney, Mark Flessner, resigned over the scandal, and two of his high-ranking staffers also left.
Video of Young’s ordeal angered residents and activists. But the Lightfoot administration also has faced criticism for how it handled the recording and its release.
City lawyers initially filed a request to have Young sanctioned for allegedly violating a confidentiality order on the video, though the city later said it only wanted her lawyer sanctioned, before filing paperwork seeking to drop the matter altogether. A federal judge is still weighing whether to cite Young’s attorney, Keenan Saulter.
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gpratt@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @royalpratt


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--Police and state child welfare officials investigating after 4-month-old boy from West Side dies

Emergency personnel were called to the 1000 block of West 14th Place before 5:30 a.m. and the infant was taken @ @ @ @ @ at Chicago Hospital , where he was pronounced dead , according to the Cook County @ @ @ @ @ .

A 4-month-old boy died on Chicago’s West Side early Wednesday, prompting investigations by police and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which said it has had prior contact with the family.
Emergency personnel were called to the 1000 block of West 14th Place before 5:30 a.m. and the infant was taken to the University of Illinois at Chicago Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
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The boy died at the hospital at 5:38 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office. An autopsy was performed Thursday, but the cause of death was not determined and is pending further investigation.
Police spokeswoman Sally Bown said the infant’s death currently is classified as a death investigation.
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Bill McCaffrey, a DCFS spokesman, said the agency is looking into the infant’s death but, as with all investigations, the department is limited as to what information it can release.
“We are investigating this incident and we have had previous contact with the family. This is all we are allowed to confirm,” he wrote in an email.
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--Chicago restaurants scrap New Year’s Eve plans as city pledges to keep watch: ‘I made the tough call

Chicago restaurants scrap New Year’s Eve plans as city pledges to keep watch: ‘I made the tough call. It’s a bummer.’

Based on what she described as “ a rumor that the city would extend seating ” for the holiday , @ @ @ @ @ from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. , with tickets selling at a premium for when @ @ @ @ @ $ 125 from $ 100 for earlier reservations .

After a rough 2020, Houndstooth Saloon owner Stephanie Cook felt a flicker of optimism about New Year’s Eve as she planned an all-you-can-eat shrimp and crab boil in the bar’s heated outdoor cabins.
Based on what she described as “a rumor that the city would extend seating” for the holiday, Cook envisioned a final seating from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., with tickets selling at a premium for when 2021 arrived — up to $125 from $100 for earlier reservations.
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The problem? The rumors weren’t true. The city’s COVID-19 restrictions mandating that restaurants and bars close by 11 p.m. would remain in effect — even on New Year’s Eve.
When her Lakeview-area chamber of commerce confirmed as much Wednesday, Cook said, she canceled the late seating, leaving her earlier events intact.
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Cook said she was “extremely” disappointed to lose potential business as the clock strikes midnight, especially in a year that has been devastating for many bars and restaurants.
“It’s a bummer, because it’s normally one of our biggest nights of the year,” Cook said.
Guests eat inside an enclosed, outdoor dining room outside Boqueria to remain compliant on COVID-19 guidelines on Dec. 31, 2020, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
She said she considered flouting the rules and going ahead with the late seating.
“I gave a lot of thought to it,” she said. “But the outdoor cabins are very visible from the street, and it wasn’t worth the potential trouble. I made the tough call.”
At least a handful of Chicago bars and restaurants had plans for New Year’s Eve celebrations that flout the city’s COVID-19 regulations. Some have been canceled, as the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection pledged to enforce restrictions throughout the holiday weekend.
The agency “will not hesitate to take enforcement action by issuing citations with fines of up to $10,000 and closing businesses if necessary,” according to a news release.
Girl and the Goat and Avli Taverna in Lincoln Park were among restaurants that canceled events in the days — and sometimes hours — leading up to New Year’s Eve night.
Girl and the Goat, the Fulton Market mainstay fronted by chef Stephanie Izard, was selling tickets at $165 per person for a pop-up dinner at River West event space Galleria Marchetti that featured “a multicourse, family-style meal for up to six people” and a midnight toast.
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But once the restaurant became aware of the 11 p.m. cutoff being enforced, the event was called off, a restaurant spokeswoman said.
Greek restaurant Avli had planned a modest New Year’s Eve celebration that nodded to the realities of ringing in a new year during a pandemic.
Kicking off at 11 p.m. Thursday, and for $15, the Lincoln Park restaurant was offering “a welcome cocktail, socially distanced seating and access to Chef Fernando’s late-night bites” on its heated patio.
“Black mask attire only,” the restaurant said on Tock, where tickets were sold.
Reached by phone Thursday, Avli manager John Spartiatis said he was unaware of the regulations and would not go ahead with the event.
“We’d be happy to cancel it,” Spartiatis said. “We won’t defy the city restrictions.”
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Within an hour, the event was removed from Tock, and the handful of people who had bought tickets received an email announcing its cancellation and subsequent refunds. (The restaurant blamed “leaking water freezing over on our patio” for the change of plans.)
In the suburbs, where bars and restaurants are largely free to operate beyond 11 p.m., New Year’s Eve events will go on as planned.
Among them is Buffalo Creek Brewing in Long Grove, which is offering charcuterie and all-you-can-drink beer for parties of up to six people around outdoor fire pits for $480. Brewery owner Mike Marr said he sold six of 12 packages.
“We do feel very fortunate to be open (for New Year’s Eve),” Marr said. “Every minute we’ve been open this year we’ve been fortunate. The three months we were shut down hard — it was kind of lonely around here.”
jbnoel@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--The pandemic’s cruel toll

The pandemic’s cruel toll

More than 16,000 Illinoisans died from COVID-19 in the 9 months the virus ravaged the state .
Here is a @ @ @ @ @ of coronavirus in 2020 .

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 16 The grave site of Jose Vazquez, in Norridge, is seen freshly adorned with flowers placed by his widow and their daughters on Christmas Day. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
More than 16,000 Illinoisans died from COVID-19 in the 9 months the virus ravaged the state. Here is a look at the deadly impact of coronavirus in 2020.


chicagotribune--2020-12-31--First year of legal marijuana in Illinois generated big bucks but no new minority license holders

The other major aspect of social equity was the funding of $ 31 million in grants for community renewal in @ @ @ @ @ war on drugs .
Advocates say such measures are needed to undo the effects of @ @ @ @ @ Black people in Illinois seven times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana @ @ @ @ @ of use , according to a report this year from the American Civil Liberties Union @

Donna Goon is helped by advisor Sydney Huggins as she shops at the Sunnyside cannabis store in Naperville on Dec. 24, 2020. Naperville previously banned recreational marijuana shops, but a voter referendum changed that. This is Cresco's 10th store, the most allowed in the state. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)
Cannifem represents much of what state lawmakers hoped for when they legalized marijuana in Illinois.
The startup business was formed by three Black women from areas hardest hit by the war on drugs. Yet the group failed to get any of the three cannabis licenses for which it applied. And the women spent tens of thousands of dollars trying.
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Now Cannifem represents much of what went wrong with the first year of legalization. Applicants who lawmakers had hoped would get a slice of the lucrative pie feel betrayed. One year after the pot law took effect, no new entrepreneurs have been licensed to open because of problems with scoring the applications.
“It’s a shame. The people they intended to benefit are being left behind,” Cannifem co-founder Nakisha Hobbs said. “The legislators should take every possible step to correct the inequities that still exist to ensure a level playing ground.”
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Meanwhile, the industry remains dominated by a few wealthy, white male-owned businesses. And customers have paid the price, initially with product shortages, and then with prices that remain twice as high as in Western states with legal weed.
Despite that, Illinois was expected to surpass $1 billion in total sales, bringing in more than $100 million in taxes and fees for a cash-strapped state government. Businesses already running medical marijuana shops opened new stores in Chicago and statewide. And voters in six of seven suburbs approved ballot questions allowing legal weed sales, and Arlington Heights, Downers Grove and Naperville dropped their bans on pot shops.
Nationally, voters in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota approved legalizing cannabis, and Mississippi voters supported allowing it for medical use.
For many in Illinois, 2020 began with high hopes and excitement. On New Year’s Day, thousands of people lined up for hours before dawn to make history with the end of cannabis prohibition. Soon after, one company began offering marijuana bus tours in Chicago.
But the long lines continued for weeks, as severe product shortages led to purchasing limits, and medical patients complained that they were cut off from their medicine. Eventually, supply began to catch up with demand.
Customers line up Jan. 1, 2020, outside MOCA Modern Cannabis on Milwaukee Avenue on the first day of recreational marijuana sales in Illinois. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Even with cannabis deemed an “essential” industry and demand during the COVID-19 pandemic at an all-time high, priceofweed.com reported that Illinois still had the most expensive high-quality cannabis of any state as of October, at $352 per ounce.
The Illinois market is limited to just 21 growers’ licenses, which severely restricts supply compared with the hundreds of growers in states like Colorado and California. Lawmakers initially gave the market exclusively to the medical growers, who said they could supply the market with no new competition, even though a state-commissioned study said otherwise.
By law, the state was required to award 75 new marijuana retail store licenses by May 1, and 40 new craft grower licenses by July 1. Citing delays in the application review process due to COVID-19, Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued executive orders delaying the issuance of those new licenses indefinitely.
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When the state announced in September that only 21 finalists qualified for a lottery for the 75 pot shops, the hundreds of other applicants cried foul. Many said they never received required notices to correct problems with their applications, and that identical submissions were scored differently.
In response, Pritzker said the state would send out new deficiency notices, and applicants could correct the problems and get rescored. That process is ongoing. In the meantime, lawsuits have been filed by those who qualified for a lottery to award the licenses and those who didn’t, with both sides demanding they be given a shot at opening for business.
Despite the problems, Pritzker’s senior cannabis adviser, former state Sen. Toi Hutchinson, said she was proud of how the law that legalized pot in Illinois included unprecedented provisions for social equity, saying it would take time to take effect. She noted that a group of stakeholders are holding meetings to consider ways to improve the rollout of the program.
As one example of unanticipated issue that could be addressed, Hutchinson cited the fact that only applicants with perfect scores, which required majority-veteran ownership and meeting social equity bench marks, qualified for licenses.
“We want to make sure that we can restore some trust and faith in the process,” she said. “We want it to be as fair as possible.”
More progress was made on another aspect of legalization: clearing low-level marijuana convictions. On New Year’s Eve 2019, Pritzker pardoned 11,000 people, and prosecutors in Cook and McHenry counties later cleared a combined 4,100 more cases.
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker grants pardons for people with low-level cannabis convictions during an event Dec. 31, 2019, at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Standing behind the governor are the Rev. Otis Moss III, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, senior adviser on cannabis control Toi Hutchinson and Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
After months of delays caused in part by court closures due to the pandemic, Pritzker announced Thursday that he pardoned an additional 9,000 convictions, and state police wiped out nearly 500,000 nonfelony cannabis arrest records statewide.
The other major aspect of social equity was the funding of $31 million in grants for community renewal in areas hard hit by the war on drugs. Advocates say such measures are needed to undo the effects of law enforcement disparities that left Black people in Illinois seven times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession, despite similar levels of use, according to a report this year from the American Civil Liberties Union.
The state also generated more than $100 million from legalizing marijuana, which goes into the general fund, as well as to police, drug education and treatment, local governments and social programs.
Opponents such as Parents Opposed to Pot say the social costs of more potent legal marijuana — addiction and driving while high — far outweigh the benefits. They note studies that show marijuana harms cognitive development, impairs memory and learning, and leads to thousands of hospital treatments annually.
One result of legalization is that some people now use cannabis more frequently, at all times of the day and in stronger doses, said Dr. Raymond Garcia, medical director at Rosecrance Harrison Campus treatment center in Rockford.
Cannabis use disorder still leaves some users with a lack of motivation, a lack of engagement in relationships, anxiety, paranoia and even psychosis, Garcia said.
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“A lot of people think of it as a soothing drug, and it can be, but it has diminishing returns because you can get to a point where too much and too frequent use can trigger or worsen anxiety,” he said.
Despite increased use, Garcia said, insurers increasingly are unlikely to cover cannabis use disorder because the drug is now legal. He hoped that cannabis would be recognized as similar to alcohol, in that it’s legal but can still cause major problems in people’s lives.
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Regarding public safety, one study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found fatal crashes increased after cannabis stores opened in states where it’s legal, and predicted 6,800 more roadway deaths annually if cannabis is legalized nationwide.
By and large, police and regulators reported no major diversion of legal marijuana to the black market, as has happened with oversupply in Oregon and California.
State police did report an increase in citations issued for having too high a concentration of THC while driving — 35 in 2020, compared with six in 2019 and five in 2018.
State troopers also reported that they attempted more than 90 undercover purchases by minors at legal pot shops, resulting in five illegal sales.
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There have been break-ins and attempted break-ins at dispensaries, including the MOCA store in Logan Square early in the year, and Mission South Shore during late May looting. State police also are investigating an overnight break-in and theft of plants at the Ataraxia cultivation center in Albion, and said Aurora police are investigating a theft at Curative Health Cultivation.
Cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, though President-elect Joe Biden has talked about decriminalizing it. In general, advocates say, the sky hasn’t fallen, and marijuana has become a common and unobtrusive part of daily life. Cannabis companies say the only way to get the program running right away was to let existing growers start immediately.
“I think it’s been hugely successful on many fronts,” cannabis company Cresco Labs spokesman Jason Erkes said. “From the operators’ perspective, the program has run pretty seamlessly. Like with anything new, there have been hiccups and lessons learned.”