chicagotribune--2020-12-20--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened Dec. 19-20 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

It came after months of battling and posturing , but the negotiating dynamic changed in Republicans ’ favor after the @ @ @ @ @ of the congressional session neared .
President-elect Joe Biden was eager for a deal to @ @ @ @ @ people and a boost to the economy , even though it was less than half @ @ @ @ @ this fall .

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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)
Illinois health officials on Sunday announced 6,003 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 79 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 900,370 and the statewide death toll to 15,202 since the start of the pandemic.
It was the lowest death total reported since 74 fatalities on Dec. 6 and broke a 12-day-stretch with more than 100 fatalities in the state. On Friday, the state surpassed 15,000 recorded deaths, just one week after the Illinois’s death toll climbed above 14,000.
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Meanwhile, a federal panel voted to put people 75 and older and essential workers like firefighters, teachers and grocery store workers next in line for COVID-19 shots as a second vaccine began rolling out Sunday to hospitals, a desperately needed boost as the nation works to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control.
In Washington, Congress reached a deal Sunday on an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package, finally delivering long-overdue help to businesses and individuals and providing money to deliver vaccines to a nation eager for them.
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Here’s what’s happening this weekend with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
Sunday
Congress reaches deal on almost $1 trillion COVID-19 relief package that includes $600 direct payments
Top Capitol Hill negotiators sealed a deal Sunday on an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package, finally delivering long-overdue help to businesses and individuals and providing money to deliver vaccines to a nation eager for them.
The agreement, announced by congressional leaders, would establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction.
It came after months of battling and posturing, but the negotiating dynamic changed in Republicans’ favor after the election and as the end of the congressional session neared. President-elect Joe Biden was eager for a deal to deliver long-awaited help to suffering people and a boost to the economy, even though it was less than half the size that Democrats wanted this fall.
House leaders informed lawmakers that they would vote on the legislation on Monday, and the Senate was likely to vote on Monday, too. Lawmakers were eager to leave Washington and close out a tumultuous year.
Read more here. —Associated Press
Panel votes to put people over 75, essential workers next in line for COVID-19 vaccince
An expert committee put people 75 and older and essential workers like firefighters, teachers and grocery store workers next in line for COVID-19 shots as a second vaccine began rolling out Sunday to hospitals, a desperately needed boost as the nation works to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control.
Read more here. —Associated Press
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6,003 new and probable cases of COVID-19 and 79 additional deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Sunday announced 6,003 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 79 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 900,370 and the statewide death toll to 15,202 since the start of the pandemic.
There were 78,079 tests reported in the previous 24 hours. The statewide positivity rate for the past seven days is 9.6%.
—Chicago Tribune staff
Moderna begins shipping its COVID-19 vaccine, with first shots to Americans expected Monday
Initial shipments of the second COVID-19 vaccine authorized in the U.S. left a distribution center Sunday, a desperately needed boost as the nation works to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control.
The trucks left the factory in the Memphis area with the vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and the National Institutes of Health. The much-needed shots are expected to be given starting Monday, just three days after the Food and Drug Administration authorized their emergency rollout.
Later Sunday, an expert committee will debate who should be next in line for early doses of the Moderna vaccine and a similar one from Pfizer Inc. and Germany’s BioNTech. Pfizer’s shots were first shipped out a week ago and started being used the next day, kicking off the nation’s biggest vaccination drive.
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Read more here. —Associated Press
Saturday
Deal on Federal Reserve powers removes obstacle to agreement on COVID-19 relief plan, clearing way for votes as early as Sunday
Top congressional lawmakers struck a late-night agreement on the last major obstacle to a COVID-19 economic relief package costing nearly $1 trillion, clearing the way for votes as early as Sunday.
A Democratic aide said in an email that an agreement had been reached late Saturday and that compromise language was being finalized to seal a deal to be unveiled on Sunday.
The breakthrough involved a fight over Federal Reserve emergency powers that was defused by an odd couple: the Senate’s top Democrat and a senior conservative Republican.
Read more here. —Associated Press
More than 7,500 new COVID-19 cases announced Saturday
The state on Saturday announced 7,562 new cases of COVID-19, with Illinois now reaching 894,367 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
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Another 108 people have died, bringing the state’s death toll to 15,123.
Officials also reported 96,851 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide rolling positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 8.2% for the period ending Friday.
—Madeline Buckley
Libertyville hospital to resume vaccinations after temporarily pausing ‘out of an abundance of caution’ when 4 staff members had reactions
A Libertyville hospital will resume vaccinations for the COVID-19 virus on Sunday following a temporary pause of the program after four staff members had reactions after receiving the shot, hospital officials say.
The decision to resume vaccinations was made after an internal review, and a doctor on Saturday assured the public of the vaccine’s safety.
“We expect there to be some occasional safety concerns with the vaccine, but on balance, this is a miracle that we have this vaccine,” said Dr. Robert Citronberg, executive medical director of infectious disease and prevention at Advocate Aurora Health.
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Since Thursday, four people who received vaccines at Advocate Condell Medical Center experienced symptoms, including tingling and elevated heart rate, according to a statement sent by a spokesperson for the Advocate Aurora health system.
Read more here. —Madeline Buckley
Fury as some politicians ignore their own virus rules: ‘The lack of self-awareness in American politics is just something else’
Denver’s mayor flies to Mississippi to spend Thanksgiving with his family — after urging others to stay home. He later says he was thinking with “my heart and not my head.” A Pennsylvania mayor bans indoor dining, then eats at a restaurant in Maryland. The governor of Rhode Island is photographed at an indoor wine event as her state faces the nation’s second-highest virus rate — though it appears she broke no actual rules.
While people weigh whether it’s safe to go to work or the grocery store, the mayor of Austin, Texas, heads to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on a private jet after hosting a wedding for 20. California’s governor dines at a swanky French restaurant with lobbyists, none wearing masks, a day after San Francisco’s mayor was there for a birthday party. Both had recently imposed tough rules on restaurants, shops and activities to slow the spread of the virus.
To the public’s chagrin, some of America’s political leaders have been caught preaching one thing on the coronavirus and practicing another.
Sure, politicians have long been called out for hypocrisy. But during a pandemic that’s forced millions into seclusion and left many without paychecks, such actions can feel like a personal insult — reinforcing the idea “that some people just don’t have to follow the rules while the rest of us do,” says Rita Kirk, a professor of communications at Southern Methodist University.
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And that, in turn, hints at even deeper questions.
Read more here. —Associated Press
General apologizes for bad information on state vaccine shipments: ‘I failed. I’m adjusting.’
The Army general in charge of getting COVID-19 vaccines across the United States apologized on Saturday for “miscommunication” with states over the number of doses to be delivered in the early stages of distribution.
“I failed. I’m adjusting. I am fixing and we will move forward from there,” Gen. Gustave Perna told reporters in a telephone briefing.
Perna’s remarks came a day after a second vaccine was added in the fight against COVID-19, which has killed more than 312,000 people in the U.S. Governors in more than a dozen states have said the federal government has told them that next week’s shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be less than originally projected.
Perna acknowledged the criticism and accepted blame.
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“I want to take personal responsibility for the miscommunication,” he said. “I know that’s not done much these days. “But I am responsible. ... This is a Herculean effort and we are not perfect.”
The general said he made mistakes by citing numbers of doses that he believed would be ready.
Read more here. —Associated Press
First Chicago vaccine recipients report feeling ‘great’ after historic shots
When Mark Hooks volunteered to become the first man in Illinois to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, he already had educated himself about the shot and was fully prepared for the most common side effects: Low-grade fever. Body aches. Chills. Headaches.
Those symptoms, however, never materialized. He completed his shifts at work all week without a problem, even the one he briefly interrupted to take the shot on live television as part of an inaugural vaccination event organized by City Hall.
“I’ve been feeling great. I haven’t had any symptoms whatsoever other than some mild soreness around the injection site,” said Hooks, an emergency department nurse at Loretto Hospital. “But that’s to be expected anytime your boss puts a needle in one of your muscles.”
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Read more here. —Stacy St. Clair
‘Don’t underestimate the fear.’ Clergy, doctors and activists tackle COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, access in Black, Latino communities.
The Rev. John Zayas says his congregants at Grace and Peace Church in the North Austin neighborhood have been peppering him with questions about the new COVID-19 vaccine, some expressing unease or indecision about getting the shot once it’s available.
Is it safe? Would I be a lab rat?
Most importantly, many ask if the church leader intends to get the vaccine, once he’s eligible.
His response is always compassionate but firm: The vaccine is critical to ending the pandemic, which has disproportionately hit predominantly Black and Latino communities like North Austin and other surrounding West Side neighborhoods where the church’s faithful live and work.
“I would personally take it and be an example for the church,” he says. “As a pastor, you have to show by example.”
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Read more here. —Laura Rodríguez Presa, Stacy St. Clair, Alice Yin and Darcel Rockett
With coronavirus cases at an all-time high, some patients are nervous about going to the dentist
Due to the novel coronavirus, which has drastically changed almost every aspect of our lives, annual dental visits have also changed.
In March, when the pandemic led Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to issue a state-at-home order, dental offices were open only for emergency procedures. In May, dental offices reopened for routine dental visits.
With COVID-19 cases at an all-time high, some people may be nervous about going to the dentist right now. Patients are indoors with masks removed and need to open their mouths wide.
Dr. Terri Tiersky, 2020 president of the Chicago Dental Society, says people should feel comfortable visiting the dentist for routine cleaning and check-ups.
Read more here. —Hannah Herrera Greenspan
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States spent over $7 billion competing for early coronavirus supplies: ‘It was chaos, pandemonium’
Ray Bellia had a good business before the coronavirus pandemic. He topped $4 million in annual sales from his New Hampshire store that specialized in protective gear for police.
Then he got a call from a buyer with the state of Massachusetts asking if he had anything that could protect people from COVID-19. As it happened, he did. He went on to sell the state 300,000 disposable masks for 97 cents each.
“From that point on, it’s been just insanity,” Bellia said.
Masks. Gowns. Gloves. Goggles. Sanitizer. Coveralls. Thermometers. Bellia has sold it all, and not just to Massachusetts. From Maine to Hawaii, numerous other states, counties, cities, colleges and schools have lined up to buy from him.
While countless other businesses tanked amid coronavirus shutdowns, Bellia’s store — Body Armor Outlet — rapidly evolved into one of the nation’s 20 largest suppliers of personal protective equipment to states this past spring, according to a nationwide analysis of state purchasing data by The Associated Press.
The AP tallied more than $7 billion in purchases by states this spring for personal protective equipment and high-demand medical devices such as ventilators and infrared thermometers.
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Read more here. —Associated Press


chicagotribune--2020-12-22--‘This community is going to be very sad.’ 71-year-old woman known as ‘Nana’ to neighbors slain in Mo

‘This community is going to be very sad.’ 71-year-old woman known as ‘Nana’ to neighbors slain in Morgan Park home.

Her grandson and his girlfriend were in the home and told police they rushed to her room after hearing the @ @ @ @ @ to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn , where she was pronounced dead .
@ @ @ @ @ one in custody .

Emma Wright was known as “Nana” to most of the people who knew her in the Morgan Park neighborhood where she had lived for more than 50 years.
“Just a mother to anybody,” her daughter Kimberly Lewis said Monday. “Not just to her own children. To anybody.”
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Emma Wright was shot and killed Dec. 20, 2020, after two gunmen walked into her backyard in the 10800 block of South Morgan Street and fired as many as 50 rounds into her home. (Wright family)
Sunday night, police say two gunmen walked into the backyard of Wright’s home in the 10800 block of South Morgan Street and fired as many as 50 rounds. Bullets shattered Wright’s bedroom window and hit the 71-year-old in the head, left arm, right shoulder and right hand.
Her grandson and his girlfriend were in the home and told police they rushed to her room after hearing the gunshots. Wright was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she was pronounced dead. Police said they had no one in custody.
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Her daughter told the Tribune that Wright had deep roots in Morgan Park. She had lived in the same house for at least 52 years and was known for opening her door to people in need.
“This community is going to be very sad because they all know her,” Lewis said. “And this is just tragic.”
Her mother had just visited her in Texas for Thanksgiving. “She was just with me in San Antonio,” Lewis said. “For her to return to something so — I have no words.”
The grandson’s girlfriend told police she saw two people in dark clothes fire shots at the home around 7:40 p.m., police said. About 50 shell casings from possibly three weapons, including a rifle, were found in the backyard.
Paramedics transport a 71-year-old woman who was shot on the 10800 block of South Morgan Street in the Morgan Park neighborhood Dec. 20, 2020, in Chicago. According to police the woman was struck inside the home by gunfire coming from outside the residence. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
According to a police report, investigators suspect the grandson “was likely the intended target” in the shooting. But the grandson, reached by the Tribune, said he told police he didn’t know why he would be a target.
“I don’t know nothing about no intended target, and I don’t have nothing to say,” he said by phone. “I told them (police) everything I know already, which is too much nothing.”
Lewis said police were asking people for any potential video footage or information on the shooting.
Paramedics transport a 71-year-old woman who was shot on the 10800 block of South Morgan Street in the Morgan Park neighborhood Sunday in Chicago. The woman was struck inside the home by gunfire coming from outside the residence, according to police. pic.twitter.com/4D5ajqNVid — armando l sanchez (@mandophotos) December 21, 2020
rsobol@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter @KelliSmithNews


chicagotribune--2020-12-22--Concealed carry permit holder fatally shot during Bridgeport robbery, police say

Guan was a concealed carry permit holder , but it was unclear whether he was carrying a weapon at the @ @ @ @ @ found at the scene , authorities said .

A man was shot and killed near his Bridgeport home after a carjacker demanded the key to his white SUV but, for some reason, was unable to put the car into drive and opened fire on the man as he called 911, according to Chicago police.
When officers arrived in the 3000 block of South Union Avenue on Monday evening, they found Shuai Guan, 33, lying dead on the pavement. Personal belongings were found near his body, along with three 9 mm shell casings. Guan was married and had a 4-year-old son.
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Sources said police have at least one suspect in custody, but no charges had been announced by late Tuesday afternoon.
The attack happened less than 2 miles from the site of a carjacking in February in which two men were killed as they were parking an SUV near Chinatown Square. There have been more than 1,225 carjackings this year in Chicago, more than double the total for all of last year.
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Chicago police process a crime scene after a shooting near 30th Street and Union Avenue on Dec. 21, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Monday’s attack happened around 6:10 p.m. as Guan parked his SUV and got out, leaving his hazard lights on. Surveillance video shows two dark-colored cars — an Audi and a Subaru — driving up and stopping in front of the SUV.
A man in a black hoodie and white mask gets out of the Subaru and walks to the passenger side of the SUV. He opens and closes the passenger side door, then walks toward the back of the SUV, out of the frame.
“Hey, give me the key for that,” someone is heard saying. “Give me the key! Give me the key!”
“What?” another voice says.
“Give me the key!” the first voice says.
The man in the hoodie then gets into the SUV and appears to put it in drive. The man revs the engine several times but the SUV does not move. The man can be seen going through the center console before getting out and running back to the Subaru.
The Audi and Subaru both drive off and turn right into an alley, out of the frame. Ten seconds later, three gunshots are heard. Both cars were later located by police, who held a suspect for allegedly possessing a stolen car, the Subaru.
It was not clear why the carjacker could not drive off with the SUV, but one police source said he may have electronically disabled it while calling 911. Officers were responding to a call of a robbery in progress when a ShotSpotter detector picked up three shots.
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In a GoFundMe post, the family said Guan’s death “leaves behind a family steeped in tragedy. He was a loving husband and father.”


chicagotribune--2020-12-22--Illinois woman finds apparent COVID-19 test in Kohl’s package

Janet Hill , the chief operating officer at the Rock Island County Health Department , told the AP that she @ @ @ @ @ over the weekend and that it appeared to contain a used nasal swab and identifying @ @ @ @ @ Virginia .
She said she was figuring out what to do next , including contacting @ @ @ @ @ trying to determine if the specimen was still viable .

An Illinois woman who ordered flags for her grandmother’s garden got a surprise when the package arrived — someone’s apparent COVID-19 test specimen.
Andrea Ellis was wrapping Christmas gifts at her aunt’s house in East Moline, in northwestern Illinois, when she opened a padded envelope containing the flags she ordered weeks ago from the department store chain Kohl’s, according to The Quad City Times.
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“I pulled out the flags and I told my aunt, ‘Look how cute these are,’” she said. “I pulled out the packing slip and then noticed something deeper inside the envelope and pulled that out. It was a biohazard bag containing someone’s COVID-19 test specimen.”
Ellis, who didn’t immediately reply to a Monday phone message from The Associated Press, called the police, who referred the issue to the county health department, according to East Moline police Chief Jeff Ramsey.
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Janet Hill, the chief operating officer at the Rock Island County Health Department, told the AP that she picked up the biohazard bag over the weekend and that it appeared to contain a used nasal swab and identifying information of a person from Virginia. She said she was figuring out what to do next, including contacting health officials in Virginia and trying to determine if the specimen was still viable.
“I’ve never heard of anything like this,” Hill said. “I want this person to know that the test has not been done yet.”
Wisconsin-based Kohl’s issued a statement Monday apologizing for “this very unusual and inexplicable experience” and saying the package was sent from an “outside direct ship vendor” and not directly from the retail chain.
The company said it launched its own investigation, but it declined to give further details, including the name of the vendor.


chicagotribune--2020-12-22--Daywatch: Chicago cops involved in wrongful raid placed on desk duty, Congress passes long-sought CO

Daywatch: Chicago cops involved in wrongful raid placed on desk duty, Congress passes long-sought COVID-19 relief bill and where to get Christmas takeout in Chicago

Lightfoot also criticized the Civilian Office of Police Accountability for taking too long investigating the case , saying “ justice @ @ @ @ @ The mayor added that Black people across the country “ feel angry and feel violated @ @ @ @ @ s treatment of Young and promised to do better .

Good morning, Chicago. On Monday, Illinois logged its lowest number of daily COVID-19 infections in nearly two months, with 4,699 new confirmed and probable cases. Officials also announced 98 additional fatalities.
Meanwhile, a week after the first shipment of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine arrived in Illinois, about 63,000 health care workers across the state have received their first of two doses of the immunization, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office said Monday.
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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 | Holiday gift guide | Join our COVID-19 Facebook group | More newsletters | Puzzles & Games
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Mayor Lori Lightfoot departs after talkng about the Anjanette Young raid, Dec. 21, 2020, at City Hall. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
The Chicago police officers involved in the botched raid of Anjanette Young’s home have been placed on desk duty, the latest measure by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration in response to the ongoing scandal.
Lightfoot also criticized the Civilian Office of Police Accountability for taking too long investigating the case, saying “justice delayed is justice denied.” The mayor added that Black people across the country “feel angry and feel violated” by the city’s treatment of Young and promised to do better.
Column: Most Black women know we could have been Anjanette Young, Dahleen Glanton writes.
Dusk falls over the Capitol, Monday, Dec. 21, 2020, in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
Congress passed a $900 billion pandemic relief package Monday night that would finally deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
The bill combines coronavirus-fighting funds with financial relief for individuals and businesses, including a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans. The direct payments could begin arriving in bank accounts next week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
Janyla Strong, 7, left, and her cousin, Jaia Patterson, 9, paint pumpkins after attending a dedication ceremony for the Nari Garden, named after 9-year-old Janari Ricks, next to the Cabrini-Green rowhouses on Oct. 31, 2020, in Chicago. Janari was fatally shot on July 31 while he was playing at the Cabrini-Green rowhouses. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
When 9-year-old Janari Ricks was shot and killed at Cabrini-Green’s rowhouses during a violent Chicago summer, the slaying evoked the tragic parts of the housing complex’s history.
At Cabrini-Green, the new Chicago bumps up against the old, and divisions have grown stark. A child’s killing has put a spotlight on the changing neighborhood.
From “war workers” to “Good Times,” Jane Byrne and demolition: Timeline of Cabrini-Green
Danny Strauss outside School District 25 in Arlington Heights. As the parent of two elementary students in the district, "there’s a lot of uncertainty for us, but it’s got to be really terrible for the teachers," he said. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
For many teachers, students and parents, the arrival of the two-week winter break amid worrisome COVID-19 rates across the region is adding up to a holiday season fraught with anxiety and uncertainty about what school will look like when classes resume in January.
Illinois schools have tallied more than 160 outbreaks of COVID-19. But what happens when they occur, and who decides if a school should close?
The Goddess and Grocer offers a wide-ranging a la carte menu for Christmas, including roast turkey. (The Goddess and Grocer / HANDOUT)
From Christmas goose to cookie-decorating kits to bottled cocktails, Chicago-area restaurants are ready to meet your Christmas needs. The 68 restaurants here offer full meals or a la carte menus covering Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners, with some throwing in breakfast or brunch as well.


chicagotribune--2020-12-22--COVID-19 cases and deaths are surging again in Illinois prisons, as inmates and advocates call for m

COVID-19 cases and deaths are surging again in Illinois prisons, as inmates and advocates call for more action

Since March , the governor has pardoned or commuted the sentences of about 100 men and women convicted of crimes @ @ @ @ @ to 1978 , that range from murder to cannabis possession .
In nearly two dozen @ @ @ @ @ granted freedom to men serving natural life sentences for armed robbery under the state ’ @ @ @ @ @ which after a third offense triggers the mandatory sentence even if no one was physically @ @

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
As a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic spread rapidly through Illinois prisons this fall, 73-year-old Watson Gray made another plea to be released from Dixon Correctional Center, where new infections were rising.
Gray had lived behind bars for more than 40 years, serving a life sentence for hiring a relative to kill his business partner in 1978.
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In the decades that followed, he tried to improve himself in prison, his lawyer said, working as a barber, a teacher and paralegal. He mentored younger men and ran an inmates’ chapter of the Jaycees charity, as well as other prison programs.
Citing his age and poor health, Gray’s lawyer made a final plea for mercy dated Nov. 5. A day later, Gray died of complications related to COVID-19.
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Watson Gray, 73, died of complications related to COVID-19 on Nov. 6, 2020, at Dixon Correctional Center. (The Exoneration Project photo)
Gray is one of at least 60 incarcerated people who have died since March after becoming infected with the new coronavirus in Illinois’ custody — a death toll that has doubled since November, state data through Dec. 22 shows. One staff member — a 64-year-old nurse near retirement — also died.
Advocates for prisoners’ rights say the state’s delays in broadening staff testing, releasing thousands of medically vulnerable or other nonviolent prisoners and better enforcing a staff mask mandate have led to widespread infections and more deaths.
The latest surge has far exceeded any previous peaks inside the Illinois Department of Corrections since the start of the pandemic.
To put the numbers in perspective, there were fewer than 700 known infections of inmates and staff across IDOC from March to early August, when the latest surge began. Since then, the total number of infections has risen by more than 9,000 cases, state data shows. In total, more than 10,000 inmates and staff have tested positive from the start of the pandemic.
“This is absolutely a failure by the state,” said Jennifer Soble, executive director of the Illinois Prison Project. “There is no question that COVID was going to make it into the prisons. The tragedy is the number of people who have become sick and died. That tragedy was preventable.”
At a recent state Senate committee hearing, acting IDOC Director Rob Jeffreys acknowledged the high numbers, which he blamed in part on increased testing and said mirrors state and national trends. He said the department has responded aggressively to a challenging public health crisis that has yet to yield.
Jeffreys said the IDOC follows federal and state public health pandemic guidelines. In addition to providing personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies, the department long ago halted in-person visits, imposed a staff mask mandate and restricted prisoners to their cells with few exceptions, such as showering.
Earlier this month, the state began regularly testing all prison employees whether or not they have symptoms. The testing is expected to be in place systemwide by late January. Officials also said they are doing more to hold staff accountable if they go unmasked at work.
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Illinois has granted the early release of about 3,000 incarcerated people since March, according to IDOC data. But a coalition of advocacy groups that sued the state over the issue said the IDOC should free thousands more who are either old, infirm, nonviolent or near the end of their sentences.
Members of End Illinois Prison Lockdown Coalition rally as they call out Gov. J.B. Pritker for failure to protect the health and safety of those in prison from COVID-19, outside the Thompson Center in Chicago on Dec. 15, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
The issue of early releases is a Catch-22 for Gov. J.B. Pritzker. The advocates accuse the governor of dragging his feet in the face of a pandemic, putting prisoners and staff at greater risk. But some Illinois House Republicans have criticized his administration for releasing prisoners who committed violent crimes and for not being more transparent.
A new point of contention is where prisoners will be on the vaccine distribution list. Some say they should be vaccinated with the same urgency as others in congregate settings, such as nursing homes. Staffers are expected to be prioritized with those in the health care field and other first responders.
Jeffreys said Friday that with the anticipated vaccinations and mitigation strategies, he hopes “to put a stop to this virus inside our facilities” by late January.
Many inmates, relatives and recently freed men interviewed by the Tribune agreed that access to masks and cleaning supplies has improved since earlier this year, when there was a national shortage. But they described widespread illness, unsanitary conditions and struggles to get tested and receive adequate medical care.
Anthony Ehlers, who is serving life at Stateville Correctional Center for a 1992 murder, said he was sick in March and likely infected his longtime cellmate, James Scott. A 58-year-old cancer survivor who had been in custody since he was a teenager, Scott died in April.
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“Our lives matter,” Ehlers said in an email. “Even if they matter to no one but us.”
Stateville Correctional Center personnel pull carts of hand sanitizer and bars of soap on April 24, 2020. It was dropped near the main entrance of the prison near Joliet by Jennifer Lackey of Northwestern University’s Prison Education Program. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
The first wave: Stateville
The IDOC publishes daily updates about positive cases and testing on its website. It does not, however, include details about hospitalizations, contact tracing or fatalities.
Through public records and interviews, the Tribune identified the first 50 inmates who died in the pandemic. The majority were nonwhite, with 24 listed as Black. All 50 were men. They ranged in age from 35 to 80, with a median age of 62.
The epicenter of IDOC outbreaks in the first wave was at Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet, where 12 prisoners died in 4½ weeks. A 13th Stateville inmate died in August.
Many of these men were convicted of horrific acts of violence, often in their youth. At Stateville, all but three who died were serving life sentences for murder. The first, Russell Sedelmaier, was convicted of a 2005 double homicide in Buffalo Grove. Sedelmaier died March 29 at age 59.
Five days later, a 65-year-old sex offender from Rockford, Larry Bourbon, succumbed to the virus in his prison bunk. His cellmate filed a written grievance seeking an investigation into the staff’s handling of the matter.
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In the grievance, Tommy Ryburn, 61, said Bourbon had constant vomiting and diarrhea and was often too weak to get out of bed to take his medication or insulin shots. The grievance alleges that he languished without meaningful medical intervention and that, after he died, his body was left in the cell for hours.
The IDOC denied a Tribune open-records request for information about Bourbon’s death, citing confidentiality exemptions. Officials also did not respond to a request for comment on the case.
In emailed responses to Tribune questions, Ryburn said he was not tested after Bourbon died but he did not get sick. He said he continues to bathe using the sink in his cell rather than risk infection by sharing a shower room with others.
Cynthia McDonald’s son, Joseph Wilson, 44, died of a COVID-19-related illness while hospitalized on April 13. In a November interview, she told the Tribune that he used to phone her once a week from Stateville and that, during one call, she noticed he could barely speak. She said prison officials did not notify her or Wilson’s wife that he was hospitalized until the family made repeated phone calls.
She described a frantic several days “just calling everybody” at the prison, “back and forth, in circles, basically.” Relatives also called a nearby hospital, she said, but inmates at the hospital are listed as John Does, which added to the initial confusion. McDonald questions whether her son received prompt medical attention.
“I’m tending to believe they did nothing but left him on the floor,” she said, “because he went straight from his cell to a hospital.”
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Their complaints echo a survey conducted in April and early May by the John Howard Association, a prison watchdog group. Of the 16,000 inmates who responded, 13% alleged they sought health care related to COVID-19 in the prior week but had not received a response.
State officials say symptomatic inmates are tested and isolated and those with the most serious cases are transferred to hospitals.
To try to hinder the pandemic’s spread, IDOC brought in about 30 members of the Illinois National Guard to assist with routine health screenings and other duties at Stateville. The department also reopened an old housing unit that was closed in 2016 because of mold, bad plumbing and other issues.
Built in the early 1920s and dubbed “the roundhouse,” the unit was used to quarantine infected inmates. The move was criticized by some advocates of prisoners rights because of its deteriorated state, but state officials said repairs were made and public health officials inspected it. The roundhouse remains in use today.
Months later, Stateville continues to see a steady flow of new cases but has not reported a COVID-19 fatality since mid-August, according to state data through Dec. 21. Speaking to the Senate panel on Friday, Jeffreys said strategies developed for the Stateville outbreak, such as deep cleaning, temperature checks, contact tracing and masking staff and inmates, have been duplicated systemwide.
“There was so much information that was coming and we had to figure it out for ourselves because there was just no guidance for correctional settings as it relates to this outbreak,” he said. “It brought our whole agency together and made us laser-focused to carry out our objectives as we combat this virus.”
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A brutal resurgence
Similar to what happened in the outside world, the pandemic seemed under control in Illinois prisons most of the summer. Over four months, only one inmate died of COVID-19 systemwide.
But, between mid-August and mid-October, the cumulative number of inmate infections more than tripled and total staff cases more than doubled. The surge has continued, leading to sickness and death that advocates say was avoidable.
Dr. John Raba, the court-appointed monitor in a federal consent decree case regarding inmate health care, began pushing in August for the testing of all staff. He cited the rising numbers and urged the department to act quickly because of an anticipated nationwide fall/winter surge, making a priority of prisons with large elderly populations, such as the one in Dixon.
In response, the state’s lawyers said pilot programs were underway, but broadening testing at dozens of facilities was “no easy charge” and more time was needed to evaluate effectiveness.
Denice Bronis gets emotional while discussing her fears about her son's health at her home in East Dundee, Dec. 4, 2020. Bronis' son, Matthew Echevarria, is incarcerated at Menard Correctional Center. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Denice Bronis said her son, Matthew Echevarria, tested positive around Labor Day at Menard Correctional Center. Echevarria was a Chicago high school student when police arrested him in a 1999 fatal shooting he insists he did not commit.
“Every day I thought my son was going to die,” said Bronis, of East Dundee. “He was scared to death. He kept reaching out, ‘Mom, help me. Help me.’ ... That plea, as a mother, is rough to hear.”
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Bronis said he recovered but continues to have headaches and breathing difficulties.
Matthew Echevarria's photos are displayed at his mother's home in East Dundee on Dec. 4, 2020. Echevarria is incarcerated at Menard Correctional Center. He tested positive for COVID-19 around Labor Day. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
As for what caused the resurgence, that’s in dispute. IDOC officials said that when the virus is spreading in communities, staff may contract it at home and bring it into prisons. The screening process for staff includes temperature checks and, as of October, systemwide contact tracing.
The department says another source of infection is detainees being moved from county jails to prisons. Early in the pandemic, Pritzker signed an executive order that temporarily stopped the transfers, but they resumed in early August after the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association filed a lawsuit challenging the order. More than 4,000 jail detainees have entered state prisons since then.
Alan Mills, executive director of the Uptown People’s Law Center, said that if IDOC strictly followed its protocols requiring quarantine periods and negative test results, the jail transfers should not be an issue. He argues the primary cause of the surge is staff infections and said IDOC should have responded with more urgency to Raba’s testing recommendations.
IDOC officials in early December began rolling out the testing program in which each worker is tested at least once a month, with the frequency based on the positivity rate of the prison’s county. The increased testing in recent weeks helped drive the most recent jump in positive case numbers, Jeffreys said.
Also this month, for those prisons where infections are soaring, both workers and inmates are being tested every three days until no new cases are identified for two weeks. Jeffreys said the outbreak mitigation program is in place at nine prisons, with several more planned.
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Eddie Caumiant, regional director of the union that includes state corrections employees, said the pandemic has exacerbated staffing shortages and some staff work “multiple 16-hour double shifts a week.”
Linda Savage, 64, a nurse at Vienna Correctional Center in downstate Vienna, died Nov. 6, 2020, of complications related to COVID-19. (Family photo)
IDOC has about 1,000 unfilled, budgeted positions, according to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. As of mid-December, about 400 employees were out sick and up to 100 more are usually out waiting for test results.
“They work tremendously hard under really difficult circumstances,” Caumiant said. The IDOC administration, he said, “has tried to be responsive. We do believe things are moving in the right direction.”
The one prison worker known to have died of the disease was Linda Savage, a 64-year-old nurse at Vienna Correctional Center.
Savage, a contract employee, had planned to retire in March but died on Nov. 6. Her husband, Terry, said she said was a gifted nurse with a “tender heart.” She loved camping, travel, flea markets and yard sales.
“She cared about people a whole lot,” said her husband.
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Thousands of prison workers have been sickened, including a correctional officer who spent a month on a ventilator fighting COVID-19 in March.
At last count, more than 3,200 staff and 6,900 inmates have been infected since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Dec. 22 state data. About 400 staff and 1,700 inmates are considered current cases. To date, 20% of inmates across the $1.6 billion corrections system have tested positive since March.
‘There’s no urgency’
Groups that track national virus data for state and federal prisons, such as the COVID Prison Project and The Marshall Project, place Illinois about average on lists comparing infections based on inmate populations, but Illinois has one of the higher death tolls.
Fatalities have been reported in nearly 20 IDOC facilities, with Dixon one of the latest hot spots. About one-third of Dixon’s staff was out recently due to sickness, union officials said, and at least 10 inmates, including Watson Gray, have died there since November.
“He wasn’t really asking for another chance,” said Lindsay Hagy, Gray’s attorney. “He just wanted to die with dignity outside of prison, at home with his family.”
Many experts agree the best way to control the virus in prison is to reduce head count. The IDOC inmate population has dropped 19% since March to about 30,000, in part because of the nearly 3,000 early releases. But more than 30% of those still locked up have a projected mandatory supervised release date before Jan. 1, 2022, meaning they are due to be set free in a year or less anyway, state data shows.
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Since March, the governor has pardoned or commuted the sentences of about 100 men and women convicted of crimes, the oldest dating back to 1978, that range from murder to cannabis possession. In nearly two dozen of the cases, Pritzker granted freedom to men serving natural life sentences for armed robbery under the state’s habitual criminal law, which after a third offense triggers the mandatory sentence even if no one was physically harmed.
Arkee Chaney shows a painting he made about a childhood memory of his father, at his home in Westchester on Dec. 4, 2020. Chaney, who was granted a sentence commutation by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in late June after serving 31 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, is an artist whose work focuses on his experience as an African American. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Arkee Chaney, 76, is an artist whose life sentence was commuted to time served in June after 31 years’ imprisonment for armed robbery. He has been living with Bill Ryan, a longtime criminal justice advocate and death penalty abolitionist, since his release. Ryan is among those trying to help free more prisoners during the pandemic, “especially the older people or those with terminal diseases.”
“People are dying and there’s no urgency assigned to anything,” Ryan said.
Lester Mason, 76, at the home of his nephew in East Peoria on Dec. 14, 2020. Mason was freed from Pontiac Correctional Center on Nov. 25 by Gov. J.B. Pritzker through executive clemency. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Lester Mason was released from Pontiac Correctional Center on Nov. 25 after spending 39 years in prison for armed robbery, his third such offense. He called his crimes “stupid mistakes.”
Mason said he spent the decades reading novels, writing to his family and mentoring young inmates. He had three disciplinary tickets in four decades for minor infractions, said his lawyer, Soble.
Mason, 76, said a feeling of lightness overtook him when a correctional officer stopped by his cell to tell him he was going home. He has “come back to normal now” since coming home with family, but remains thankful. “I’m open to all things that are positive,” he said.
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Others are still hoping to be released. At about 100 pounds and in poor health, 78-year-old Susan Hertzberg hardly poses a threat to public safety, her lawyer said. Hertzberg has 13 months left on her sentence for marijuana trafficking. The Las Vegas woman and her husband, Roger, were nabbed in Illinois with nearly 50 pounds of pot on their way to Pittsburgh in 2012.
Roger and Susan Hertzberg before being convicted of marijuana trafficking for hauling nearly 50 pounds of pot through Illinois in 2012. Roger Hertzberg, 76, died Sept. 24, 2020, at Robinson Correctional Center of COVID-19 complications while undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. His wife, Susan Hertzberg, 78, still in prison, is trying to get a compassionate early release due to her age, health problems and the virus. (Family photo)
Roger Hertzberg, 76, died of COVID-19 complications Sept. 24 at Robinson Correctional Center. The couple’s daughter, Julie Rittenbaugh, thinks her father caught the virus while receiving chemotherapy for cancer in the prison’s medical unit. She said her retired parents were struggling financially when they committed the crime.
The couple, who had not seen each other since being imprisoned, were allowed a final phone call before he died.
“I could hear it in his voice, that he was close,” said Susan Hertzberg, as quoted in a petition her lawyer filed with the state seeking early release. “He said, ‘I’ll be with you.’ ”
Chicago Tribune’s Annie Sweeney contributed.
cmgutowski@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-22--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 4,699 new cases of COVID-19 — the lowest daily count in nearly two

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 4,699 new cases of COVID-19 — the lowest daily count in nearly two months — and 98 additional deaths reported Monday

There are some positive signs , with case counts and hospitalizations starting to drop in Illinois , though the latter @ @ @ @ @ hospitals ’ decision making .
Hospitals have been more choosy about who gets admitted — @ @ @ @ @ in emergency departments are being sent home with monitoring instructions — and doctors and nurses @ @ @ @ @ patients with conditions that are usually monitored in intensive care have been moved to other @ @

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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)
Illinois on Monday logged its lowest number of newly reported daily coronavirus infections in nearly two months, with 4,699 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19. The last time the daily number of new coronavirus cases was below 5,000 was Oct. 27, as the state was starting to see an aggressive fall resurgence of the illness.
Officials also announced 98 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 905,069 and the statewide death toll to 15,299 since the start of the pandemic.
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Meanwhile, after months of Washington gridlock, Congress passed a $900 billion pandemic relief package Monday night that would finally deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
The package would establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction. Here are other highlights from the bill.
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Here’s what’s happening Monday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
11 p.m.: Congress passes $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill, authorizing long-sought aid
Congress passed a $900 billion pandemic relief package Monday night that would finally deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
The bill combines coronavirus-fighting funds with financial relief for individuals and businesses. It would establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses, restaurants, and theaters and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction.
On Monday morning, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a key negotiator, said that the direct payments would begin arriving in bank accounts next week.
Read more here. —Associated Press
5:45 p.m.: More than 63,000 COVID-19 vaccinations administered in Illinois since shots arrived last week
A week after the first shipment of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine arrived in Illinois, more than 63,000 health care workers across the state have received their first of two doses of the immunization, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office said Monday.
That total does not include vaccinations in the city of Chicago, which received its own shipment of the vaccine.
The state has been allocated an additional 60,450 doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week, the bulk of which will be set aside for a federal partnership with CVS and Deerfield-based Walgreens to immunize nursing home residents, according to the governor’s office. The program is expected to begin vaccinations next week.
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The remaining 20,000 doses are expected to arrive Tuesday and Wednesday at hospitals statewide that have the ultracold freezer equipment required to store the Pfizer vaccine.
Illinois also expects to receive about 174,000 doses of a second vaccine, from Moderna, on Wednesday and Thursday. The doses, which can be stored at regular freezer temperatures, also will go directly to hospitals to continue ramping up the immunization of health care workers.
Read more here. —Jamie Munks and Dan Petrella
4:13 p.m.: Priority vaccinations are urged for the incarcerated and workers at jails and prisons
More than five dozen community and social justice groups joined forces Monday to urge Illinois public health officials to include incarcerated people and staff working in prisons, county jails and other detention facilities with others receiving priority COVID-19 vaccinations.
The activists also are asking that low-wage warehouse workers aren’t forgotten among essential workers in the state’s rollout plan.
In a letter sent Monday to the state’s top public health official, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the coalition of groups noted positive cases have surged in recent months in the Illinois Department of Corrections and other institutions where many incarcerated people are old and have underlying medical conditions.
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The letter was addressed to Ezike, the Illinois Department of Public Health director, and sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker as well. The advocates also held a Facebook Live event on Monday, organized by the nonprofit Westside Justice Center in Chicago.
Mirroring state and national trends, a second wave of the pandemic has hit state prisons, with cases rising widely across the system. More than 6,000 inmates and 3,000 staff have tested positive since the pandemic began in March, with at least 59 inmate fatalities, according to state data released Dec. 21.
One IDOC staff member also has died of a virus-related illness.
To date, 20% of Illinois’ prison population of 30,000 inmates has tested positive for the new coronavirus.
Alan Mills, executive director of the Uptown People’s Law Center, said incarcerated people – especially those who are elderly and infirm – should be prioritized with other populations in congregate care settings, such as nursing homes. And inmates who work in health care units should be on the list with other health care professionals, according to Mills.
”Back in August, we told the (Illinois) Department of Corrections that they should be testing everyone, two or three times a week ... They didn’t do that,” said Mills, noting thousands of new infections in recent months.
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“Unlike the rest of the world, prisons have total control over who comes in and out. They could have stopped the introduction (of the virus) entirely. They chose not to do that.”
The state has not announced yet when incarcerated people will receive the vaccine shot but prison staff, especially those who work in health care units, are expected to be prioritized, state officials have said.
Sharyln Grace, executive director of Chicago Community Bond Fund, said the rising statistics call for an urgent response. She also mentioned the Cook County Jail, where thousands of adult detainees are housed.
”The state of Illinois and the individuals responsible for running each facility have a duty to protect people in their custody from COVID-19 because people inside don’t have the ability to practice social distancing the way we do on the outside,” said Grace, speaking at Monday’s Facebook Live event.
—Christy Gutowski
3:05 p.m.: Dozens test positive for coronavirus in Lake County Jail COVID-19 outbreak
With 35 inmates at the Lake County Jail in Waukegan testing positive for COVID-19, Lake County Sheriff’s Department officials said they are taking steps to curb the spread of the virus among prisoners and staff.
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After four inmates housed in pod 5-North at the jail for several weeks tested positive for the virus Dec. 14, the area was quarantined and all 53 prisoners there were tested. Authorities learned Sunday that 35 were positive. All are asymptomatic, according to a news release.
Sgt. Chris Covelli, the spokesman for the sheriff’ department, said in an email the 35 are in good condition. Those who tested positive cannot go to other areas of the jail. Only specific employees can enter the area wearing personal protection equipment including masks and possibly gloves.
Covelli said steps were also taken to protect the inmates with negative test results though they remain in the area. Any time they leave their individual cell, they must wear a mask and distancing rules have been implemented, he said.
Read more here. —Steve Sadin, Lake County News-Sun
1:04 p.m.: Daily COVID-19 case count dips below 5,000 for first time in nearly two months
Illinois on Monday logged its lowest number of newly reported daily coronavirus infections in nearly two months, with 4,699 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19.
The last time the daily number of new coronavirus cases was below 5,000 was Oct. 27, as the state was starting to see an aggressive fall resurgence of the illness.
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At that time, the state was reporting only newly confirmed cases, and has since begun combining new daily confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19.
The daily case numbers the state reports tend to be lower on Mondays due to weekend lags.
The seven-day statewide positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 7.5% for the period ending Sunday.
The new cases reported on Monday came out of a batch of 86,454 tests conducted during a 24-hour period, for a daily case positivity rate of roughly 5.4%.
The state surpassed the 900,000 case mark over the weekend, and with Monday’s numbers the known case count statewide grew to 905,069.
The state also reported another 98 deaths on Monday, raising the death toll to 15,299 throughout the pandemic. Monday was the second consecutive day the number of deaths reported in a 24-hour period was in the double digits, after 12 days in a row with daily death tolls over 100.
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As of Sunday night, 4,460 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized across the state, with 981 in intensive care units and 546 patients on ventilators. Those figures have dropped gradually over the past several weeks — there were more than 6,000 people with COVID-19 hospitalized in the state in late November.
—Jamie Munks
9 a.m.: Second stimulus bill would give airlines $15 billion more, bring back 32,000 furloughed airline workers
Airlines will bring back more than 32,000 furloughed workers as part of the sweeping $900 billion economic stimulus bill that congressional leaders agreed to Sunday.
After wrangling over a stimulus package for months that includes direct payments to Americans and increased relief for small businesses, the air travel industry was able to secure another $15 billion in aid to airlines that would bring back workers, guarantee pay and delay talk of payroll cutbacks until at least the end of March.
The bill is still waiting on a final vote and signature from President Donald Trump, but Senate key Democrat and Republican leaders in both chambers endorsed the compromise.
Chicago-based United Airlines furloughed about 13,000 workers and laid off 1‚400 management and administrative employees.
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Read more here. —Kyle Arnold, The Dallas Morning News
8:18 a.m.: Vatican tells Catholics it’s ‘morally acceptable’ to get COVID-19 vaccines based on research using fetal tissue from abortions
The Vatican on Monday declared that it is “morally acceptable” for Roman Catholics to receive COVID-19 vaccines based on research that used fetal tissue from abortions.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s watchdog office for doctrinal orthodoxy, said it addressed the question after receiving several requests for “guidance” during recent months. The doctrine office noted that bishops, Catholic groups and experts have offered “diverse and sometimes conflicting pronouncements” on the matter.
Drawing on Vatican pronouncements in past years about developing vaccines prepared from cells derived from aborted fetuses, the watchdog office issued a statement it said Pope Francis had examined last week and ordered to be made public.
The Catholic Church’s teaching says that abortion is a grave sin.
The Vatican concluded that “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses” in the research and production process when “ethically irreproachable” vaccines aren’t available to the public. But it stressed that the “licit” uses of such vaccines “does not and should not in any way imply that there is a moral endorsement of the use of cell lines proceeding from aborted fetuses.”
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Read more here. —Associated Press
8:12 a.m.: COVID-19 fills winter break with angst and uncertainty for families about 2021 reopening plans
For many teachers, students and parents, a COVID-19 winter break offers little break from anxiety over 2021 reopening plans, which remain uncertain in Chicago Public Schools and many suburban districts.
With community spread of the coronavirus still high, along with continued resistance to reopening plans from teachers union and a small number of school outbreaks statewide, many school officials are still trying to calibrate plans for when and how schools can reopen, with parents feeling frustrated.
”There’s a lot of uncertainty for us, but it’s got to be really terrible for the teachers,” Arlington Heights parent Danny Strauss said after School District 25 last week postponed a decision on virus metrics that he believes would definitively determine whether school buildings remain open or closed.
Some suburban districts, including Winnetka School District 36 and Township High School District 214, as well as the Archdiocese of Chicago, have announced they will be offering strictly remote learning following winter break to allow time to gauge virus rates before students return to school buildings in mid-January.
But officials at other suburban school districts, including District 25 and New Trier High School, are optimistic that 2021 will ring in a return to more classroom learning, and are planning to resume classes immediately following winter break, as well as expanding the amount of in-person instruction offered to students.
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Whatever the plans, in many districts they’ve been met by some parents who aren’t pleased.
Read more here. —Karen Ann Cullotta
6 a.m.: With hospitals short on workers, those remaining feel pushed to the edge by COVID-19
Even as the first vaccine shots begin to roll out to health care workers, doctors and nurses say they are struggling to make it through the pandemic’s darkest surge yet, in an atmosphere some describe as bordering on exhaustion.
Federal data shows that roughly 1 in 5 of the state’s hospitals is reporting a “critical” staff shortage each day, a problem reflected in the desperate competition among hospitals for trained staff at a time when the pandemic is straining resources across the country.
The advertised pay for some workers is approaching $3,000 a week, amid stories of workers quitting or calling in sick, and hospitals adding more beds than they have the staff to cover.
“Compensation now is through the roof ... which tells you it’s hard to find people to fill all the jobs we need to fill now,” Joshua Gottlieb, an associate professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, said earlier this month.
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Federal officials aren’t providing the names of hospitals reporting staff shortages, but they have released weekly numbers showing that some facilities are at or near capacity in terms of available beds, particularly in working-class areas hit especially hard by the pandemic.
There are some positive signs, with case counts and hospitalizations starting to drop in Illinois, though the latter numbers can be affected by hospitals’ decision making. Hospitals have been more choosy about who gets admitted — some COVID-19 patients who arrive in emergency departments are being sent home with monitoring instructions — and doctors and nurses told the Tribune that some patients with conditions that are usually monitored in intensive care have been moved to other areas.
Workers also said staffing has been strained as hospitals continue to perform elective surgeries. These are often time-sensitive and necessary operations, but they also can be moneymakers for hospitals. Indiana recently tightened the rules on what surgeries hospitals can do amid the surge, but Illinois has not.
“People are tired,” said Pat Meade, a recovery nurse at Amita Health Saint Joseph Medical Center Joliet who is also vice president of the Illinois Nurses Association. “You can’t consistently ask of the same group of people to give more than they can. They’ve got to rest, but the need still exists, so what do you do?”
Read more here. —Joe Mahr and Lisa Schencker
5 a.m.: City distributing grab-and-go activity kits for kids, teens at parks, libraries
Starting Monday, Chicago is handing out grab-and-go activity kits for children and teens for use during the winter break, according to the mayor’s office.
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The kits will be handed out at Chicago Park District and Chicago Public Library locations and “will be filled with hands-on projects,” according to a release from the mayor’s office.
The city is providing what it’s calling “enriching, virtual content and resources” for young people from Dec. 19 to Jan. 3, including prerecorded online content and live classes, according to the release. Anyone interested can go to MyCHIMyFuture.org to learn more.
—Chicago Tribune staff
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
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chicagotribune--2020-12-23--Four suspects arrested, three guns recovered after BMW carjacked south of Grant Park

Three guns were recovered from the car , police said , adding that two of the suspects were taken to @ @ @ @ @ Park “ for what appeared to be shortness of breath .
”

Four people were arrested early Wednesday after officers spotted them in a BMW that had been stolen hours earlier just south of Grant Park, according to Chicago police.
The four ran from the car when it was stopped near Augusta Boulevard and Lamon Avenue about 2:30 a.m. but were quickly taken into custody, police said.
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Three guns were recovered from the car, police said, adding that two of the suspects were taken to West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park “for what appeared to be shortness of breath.”
The BMW had been stolen from the 1200 block of Indiana Avenue about 11:30 p.m. Police released no other details of the carjacking.
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Police said charges were pending.


chicagotribune--2020-12-23--Daywatch: Botched CPD raid’s ripples spread, 2 Chicago nurses treating COVID-19 patients share journ

Daywatch: Botched CPD raid’s ripples spread, 2 Chicago nurses treating COVID-19 patients share journals and Logan Square Christmas House is back

Travel-starved consumers want to get back to their jet-setting ways in 2021 , and the COVID-19 vaccine has some feeling @ @ @ @ @ tour operators are trying to reassure customers with more flexibility and outdoor , crowd-free destinations @ @ @ @ @ still hesitant to make plans .

Good morning, Chicago. On Tuesday, Illinois health officials reported 6,239 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, a significant jump from the 4,699 cases reported a day earlier. The state also recorded 116 more fatalities.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases and deaths are surging again in Illinois prisons. At least 60 incarcerated people have died since March after becoming infected in Illinois’ custody — a death toll that has doubled since November.
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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 | Holiday gift guide | Join our COVID-19 Facebook group | More newsletters | Puzzles & Games
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Then-Judge Ann Claire Williams participates in a conversation with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, not shown, at Roosevelt University in Chicago on Sept. 11, 2017. (Charles Rex Arbogast / AP)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot enlisted a former federal judge Tuesday to do an outside review of the botched Police Department raid that has consumed her administration for more than a week, as Chicago aldermen called for changes in the way such search warrants are served.
During a joint hearing of the council’s public safety and human relations committees, council members said the Anjanette Young raid and the nationwide attention it has received recently are symptoms of a bigger problem that needs to be fixed.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Nov. 10, 2020, on a probe of the FBI's Russia investigation. (Susan Walsh/AP)
Sen. Dick Durbin touted the benefits a combined pandemic and omnibus spending bill will have for Illinois while also warning Gov. J.B. Pritzker and state lawmakers not to count on federal funds to help balance a budget filled with deficits fueled in part by a loss of tax revenues caused by COVID-19 restrictions.
Chicago entertainment venues from music clubs to theaters to museums may be in for significant and, some say, life-saving economic aid in the new federal pandemic relief bill.
In Washington, President Trump assailed the bipartisan $900 billion pandemic relief package that Congress just passed and suggested he may not sign it.
Blair Bobier wrote about the time a patient asked if God could save him. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
A dying man grabbing a nurse’s wrist, asking if God could save him. A patient celebrating a birthday, delighted to find out her nurse also had a birthday that week. A man with his mask on his chin at a Walgreens.
These moments are etched into the memories of two Chicago nurses who treated COVID-19 patients this year. Both nurses allowed the Tribune a lens into their journals.
A traveler makes his way through a security hub in Terminal 3 at the O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Nov. 29, 2020. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Travel-starved consumers want to get back to their jet-setting ways in 2021, and the COVID-19 vaccine has some feeling more optimistic. Airlines and tour operators are trying to reassure customers with more flexibility and outdoor, crowd-free destinations, but many travelers are still hesitant to make plans.
People check out the holiday lights at the Lopez family home on Logan Boulevard in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood Dec. 10, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
For 35 years, Chicago businessman Frank Lopez made Christmas brighter, first for his neighbors, then the whole city. His stately Logan Square Victorian, known to locals as the Christmas House, gleamed with thousands of lights.
With Lopez’s death last November, at age 85, fans feared the show was over. But the Christmas House is back in all its glory for 2020.


chicagotribune--2020-12-23--Video captures fatal carjacking in Bridgeport. ‘Give me the key!’ ‘What?’ ‘Give me the key!’ Seconds

Video captures fatal carjacking in Bridgeport. ‘Give me the key!’ ‘What?’ ‘Give me the key!’ Seconds later, 3 gunshots.

The man in the hoodie then gets into the SUV and appears to put it in drive .
The man @ @ @ @ @ but the SUV does not move .
The man can be seen going through the @ @ @ @ @ and running back to the Subaru .


chicagotribune--2020-12-23--Column: An election-denying Trump reads ‘The Night Before Christmas’

President Donald Trump waves as he departs on the South Lawn of the White House on Dec. 12, 2020. (Al Drago / Getty Images)
My sources deep within the Deep State were kind enough to pass along a transcript of President Donald Trump, the man who single-handedly saved Christmas, reading “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” to what I assume was either a group of angry children or the crowd at one of his political rallies. (There’s technically no difference.)
This VERY REAL and in no way made up transcript will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the greatest ever readings of this holiday … excuse me … CHRISTMAS poem.
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At the very least, it’s better than any of the times Barack Obama read the poem. Many are saying so.
________
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The Chicago Tribune publishes a variety of columnists. Columns are opinion content that reflect the views of the writers and not necessarily the Chicago Tribune.
________
And now, our soon-to-be-former president:
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and I won the election.
That’s the truth, kids, I won the presidential election SO big. It was a landslide like nobody has ever seen. I won, not Sleepy Joe. He totally lost, everyone knows it.
Where was I? Oh, yeah.
Not a creature was stirring, not even fake news.
Aren’t they terrible? Such awful people. They’re saying I lost. Me? Lose? Can you believe it. Horrible people.
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The stockings were hung by the chimney over there, in hopes that St. Nicholas … that’s Santa Claus, you know. Great guy. Not as popular as me, but nice.
You know I won 74 million votes. Nobody has ever done that. They say Biden got 81 million, but that includes all the fraud and the phony votes, the stolen ones. We have evidence, we’ll be showing it in about two weeks.
Let’s see, uh … soon would be there. The children were nestled, all snug in their beds. Especially Ivanka. Isn’t she sweet? So smart, so beautiful. She’s way better than the others, you know. Don’t tell them I said that, but it’s true. When Eric and Don Jr. aren’t around, I call them “Fake Kids.” Don’t get me started.
Anyway … something about sugarplums and dancing and whatever. Then the kerchief and all that. I always found this part boring. I mean, the guy and his wife sleep in the same room? Who does that? Melania told me nobody classy does that.
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Probably those protesters who kept coming around this summer. Loud and rude. But I got ‘em with that tear gas, didn’t I? Kids, you don’t protest or be rude to your president, especially not a president who has accomplished more than any in history.
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Did I mention we’re still fighting the election results? I have Rudy Giuliani — you could call him my elf, except his hair dye kind of runs sometimes and he sweats too much. Rudy is like my elf, and he’s going to put coal — We love our coal, don’t we? I totally saved the coal industry, everyone knows it.
Like I was saying, Rudy’s going to put coal in the stockings of all the dopes and losers who say I lost the election. That means all the radical leftist Democrats, of course, but also the Republicans — total RINOs! — like Mitch McConnell and that Georgia governor and my justices on the Supreme Court. They’re all cowards, and they’ll get coal.
You kids having fun? This is fun, isn’t it? Everybody loves it when I read this thing.
OK, I’m skipping some dull stuff. You know what this poem needs is a little more me. They should rewrite it to include Trump. I’m way more interesting than this “eight tiny reindeer” and “lustre of midday” crap. What’s lustre, anyway?
WHERE’S JARED? SOMEBODY GET JARED AND TELL HIM TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THIS “LUSTRE” STUFF IS! AND HE NEEDS TO FIX THIS POEM, IT’S DULL.
All right, let’s see. … He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot.
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Fur. Now that’s classy. You know someone’s classy if they wear fur. I got Melania tons of that, because, you know, I’m very wealthy. People try to say I’m not, but I am, they’re liars. I have so much wealth, you can’t even imagine.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head, soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
You know what I dread, kids? I dread what this country’s going to look like if they actually let Joe Biden be president. Because he’s gone. You know what that means? Out to lunch. And you know who you’ll have? KOM-A-LA.
That’s right, Kamala Harris, as radical as they come, will be running things, and you kids will not even recognize this country.
KAYLEIGH, WHY IS THAT ONE KID CRYING? GET HIM OUT OF HERE, THAT LOOKS BAD.
Let’s see. … Santa’s not saying a word, just doing his work — how about the economy I built, right? — bum-bum-bum … turns with a jerk. That jerk is probably Nancy Pelosi! The worst. Such a horrible person.
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And here we go, last part, then I have to get out of here. Going to play golf.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, ‘Happy Christmas …’
Hey, it’s MERRY Christmas, how many times do I have to tell people that!
Uhhhhhh … where is it? Oh, yeah. “… Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
There you have it, kids. Now if you want a picture with me — what a great gift for your parents, right? — you can get one on the way out. It’s just $100.
You kids brought cash, right?
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JARED, I TOLD YOU TO HAVE THEM BRING CASH!!!
(If you hated this dreadful column, why not join the third annual Insult-A-Columnist Holiday Food Drive and make a donation to the Greater Chicago Food Depository under the RexStinks team name? Or, if for some reason you liked the column, hop on Team RexRocks. Either way, you help feed people! Just go to: https://www.myfooddrive.org/#InsultRex.)
rhuppke@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-23--‘He meant everything’: The profound legacy of a small-town swim coach felled by COVID-19

“ He was probably the first coach to show me that the sport could be very challenging , but at @ @ @ @ @ always have fun and be goofy , ” said Danielle Tansel , who grew up @ @ @ @ @ swim coach herself .
“ The sport didn ’ t have to be just one @ @ @ @ @ think that ’ s probably the biggest lesson that I took away from him .
@

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
The signature lemon-yellow Crocs of Tom Burek, the swim coach at Monmouth College who died recently after a long battle with COVID-19, on a starting block as a memorial at the college's Pepper Natatorium on Dec. 18, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
MONMOUTH, Ill. — The Monmouth College natatorium was as empty and gray as the sky beyond its towering windows one recent afternoon, the gloom pierced by one striking burst of color — a pair of lemon-yellow Crocs placed on the Lane 4 starting block as a memorial to a man never seen on a pool deck without them.
Tom Burek, a retired Illinois State Police lieutenant who coached just about every swim team that exists in this part of western Illinois, died Dec. 12 after a 42-day struggle with COVID-19. He was 62.
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His death was met by a flood of reminiscences from his swimmers, who recalled his bullhorn voice, abundant catchphrases and enthusiasm that didn’t ride on an athlete’s talent.
“You knew he watched your race,” said Shayne Stone, a former Monmouth swimmer. “It didn’t matter if you came in first or last, he paid attention to you.”
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COVID-19 is rampaging through rural Illinois, with case rates in some areas spiking much higher than anything seen around Chicago. In Knox County, where Burek lived, the trend line of positive tests rose gradually until October, when it shot skyward like the Himalayas. Almost all of its 87 fatalities have come since then.
Monmouth College's Tom Burek with his signature lemon-yellow Crocs. (Monmouth College photo)
Burek’s death is a reminder of COVID’s capricious nature. His family said he wore a mask diligently, had no underlying health conditions and was fit enough to run for miles in the blistering heat of summer.
But it also summons thoughts of how profound a life in coaching can be, and how it can extend far beyond the arena. Burek’s swimmers say he built their confidence, shaped their characters and taught lessons to sustain them long after their competitive days ended.
“He meant everything,” said Delaney Duncan, who started swimming with Burek as a 6-year-old and became one of the nation’s top breaststrokers. “Not only was he a coach to me, he was like a second dad. He really just instilled that if you work hard, you play hard, you will get somewhere.”
Drills and donuts
Burek was born in Chicago but didn’t take up swimming until his family moved to Peoria when he was in high school. Something about the sport grabbed him, and upon his graduation from Illinois State University, he began coaching at a YMCA.
A few years later, at the suggestion of a swim parent, he joined the Illinois State Police, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant. He became the face of the agency during the Drew Peterson investigation, traveling to Chicago to brief reporters about developments in the sensational missing person case.
All the while, he kept coaching, doing stints everywhere from country clubs to Bradley University. He approached the job with a mix of seriousness and whimsy, a stickler for stroke-refining drills who also had his swimmers race each other with donuts clenched in their mouths.
“He was probably the first coach to show me that the sport could be very challenging, but at the same time I could always have fun and be goofy,” said Danielle Tansel, who grew up in Galesburg and became a swim coach herself. “The sport didn’t have to be just one or the other. I think that’s probably the biggest lesson that I took away from him.”
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In 2011, just before his retirement from the state police, Burek became an assistant for the men’s and women’s teams at Monmouth College, a small liberal arts school 15 miles east of the Mississippi River. Two years later he was the head coach.
His leadership brought immediate results in the pool: His swimmers won 12 individual Midwest Conference titles and a few qualified for the national championships. Thirty-seven of 40 school records were set during his tenure.
But Burek also encouraged his athletes to hit the books — they brought home 57 academic all-conference awards — and tend to their emotional well-being.
“He wanted to know your parents, your siblings,” said Erin Lafary, who swam for Burek at Monmouth before becoming his assistant. “He wanted to be in tune with you, not just as the athlete in Lane 3 but what you were doing outside of the pool as well. He made it a family-oriented program.”
COVID-19 strikes
While Monmouth students were allowed to come to campus in August, the pandemic forced the cancellation of fall sports. Burek continued to hold practice in the hope his swimmers could compete in the winter; they kept their distance in the pool and wore masks for dryland conditioning.
Sometime in October, though, as COVID-19 cases began to soar, Burek and his wife Gaye were infected. The family has no idea where the transmission might have occurred.
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At first, Burek endured his fever and shortness of breath at home, but even as his wife recovered, his condition grew worse. He went to a local emergency department and ended up in intensive care.
“(The virus) really just affected his lungs,” said his daughter, Laine Galardini. “His heart was very strong and there was nothing else wrong with him.”
After three weeks, his doctors sent him home with supplemental oxygen. Though he was weak, he sent a note to his swimmers encouraging them to keep training when they returned home for winter break.
“Strength / conditioning are vital,” he wrote. “It is your dedication to yourself and our team that will motivate you to do as much as you can over break. … No one is looking forward to this season more than me. Goggle up!”
Within days, his breathing deteriorated. An ambulance took him to a hospital in Bloomington, where he was placed on a ventilator. Though he showed occasional flickers of improvement, his lungs were too damaged to recover.
On Dec. 12, a day the pandemic claimed 127 Illinoisans, Burek died.
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“He’s going to be missed by so many people,” Gaye Burek said a few days later. “That’s the hard thing of it. He just had so much more to give.”
Final farewell
A dozen state troopers stood at attention at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Galesburg, saluting as Burek’s casket passed between them. Inside, mask-wearing mourners sat far apart as the Rev. Lee Brokaw memorialized the coach’s commitment to his family and athletes.
When the funeral mass ended, four Monmouth swimmers huddled in the cold and shared memories of Burek: how he rekindled their love of a demanding sport; how proud he was when they attacked their goals, even if they came up short; how he helped them cope with anxiety and other challenges.
“He helped me through some of the hardest days,” said Brittany Lira, who wore yellow Crocs with her dark dress as a tribute. “No matter what you were going through, you could walk onto the pool deck and see a smile on his face. You knew he was there to support you no matter what.”
The Midwest Conference recently announced it was canceling winter sports, meaning Monmouth’s swim season is over. But college President Clarence Wyatt said the program will carry on, and some of Burek’s athletes said they will too.
“Every time I get in that pool, it’s going to be for Coach Burek now,” distance swimmer Kaitlyn Fox said. “I think that’s the best way to remember him.”
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jkeilman@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @JohnKeilman


chicagotribune--2020-12-23--Trump EPA overhaul of lead pipe regulations allows toxic plumbing to stay in the ground in Chicago a

Trump EPA overhaul of lead pipe regulations allows toxic plumbing to stay in the ground in Chicago and other cities

Another shortcoming of the Trump rules : The administration retained the previous requirement that only 50 samples need to be @ @ @ @ @ Chicago and other big cities .
The Tribune reported in 2016 that most of the @ @ @ @ @ owned by water department employees or retirees living on the Far Northwest and Far Southwest @ @ @ @ @ lead poisoning are rare .

Chicago has more lead water pipes than any other American city, yet federal regulations unveiled Tuesday by the Trump administration likely won’t require anything new to prevent homeowners and renters from ingesting the brain-damaging metal.
Physicians and scientists say that unless water drawn from household faucets is properly filtered, the only way to keep the lead out in older cities like Chicago is by replacing pipes connecting homes and small apartment buildings to municipal water supplies.
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Trump appointees rejected the expert advice, choosing instead to tinker with regulations adopted three decades ago that are widely seen as inadequate.
Andrew Wheeler, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator, called the changes a dramatic improvement of what is known as the Lead and Copper Rule. But the fine print of the new regulations show the Trump EPA effectively delayed lead pipe replacements for up to three decades and, in some cases, allowed cities to keep toxic pipes in the ground indefinitely.
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“They nibbled around the edges but did not fundamentally fix the problem,” said Erik Olson, an attorney with the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council who unsuccessfully sued for changes in federal regulations during the 1990s. “That’s really disappointing and amounts to a missed opportunity.”
Ingesting tiny concentrations of lead can permanently damage the developing brains of children and contribute to heart disease, kidney failure and other health problems later in life. In 2018, researchers estimated more than 400,000 deaths a year in the U.S. are linked to lead exposure.
A piece of the old lead pipe is seen that a construction crew is replacing with a copper pipe to the new water main in the 113 block of S. Yale on Feb., 23, 2016. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Both the EPA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded years ago there is no safe level of exposure to lead. More recently, EPA scientists and academic researchers have discovered the toxic metal can leach into drinking water if faucets haven’t been used for a few hours or if service lines have been jostled by street work.
The new regulations deprive the EPA of a bigger stick to force Chicago and other cities to begin tackling the lingering threat to public health, which became the subject of national attention after high levels of lead began flowing out of household taps in Flint, Michigan.
Flint highlighted the disastrous consequences of failing to properly maintain a public water system. Chicago is the top example of a broader problem facing scores of U.S. cities that spent more than a century installing lead pipes to deliver drinking water.
Until Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office, Chicago leaders denied they had a problem, even though the city required new homes to be hooked up to lead service lines until the day Congress banned them in 1986.
In September, Lightfoot aides announced the city would begin replacing toxic pipes next year. Initial work will be modest compared with the scope of the dangers; only 750 of the roughly 400,000 lead service lines connecting homes to street mains are expected to be dug up in 2021, according to slides prepared by the Chicago Department of Water Management.
There still is no federal standard for the amount of lead allowable in tap water from individual homes. Even under the Trump EPA regulations, utilities are considered to be in compliance as long as 90% of the homes tested have lead levels below 15 parts per billion, a standard that isn’t based on scientific evidence of dangers posed by the toxic metal.
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The new rules add another threshold that requires utilities to begin drafting plans for service line replacements if lead levels in 90% of homes sampled exceed 10 ppb. Utilities also will be required to provide results more promptly to homes that exceed the EPA’s new “trigger level.”
Wheeler said the revamped rule, which has been in the works since 2010, “uses science and best practices to correct shortcomings of the previous rule.”
“This historic action strengthens every aspect of the Lead and Copper Rule and will help accelerate reductions of lead in drinking water and better protect our children and communities,” Wheeler said during an online news conference.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has documented lasting cognition problems in children exposed to lead concentrations of just 5 ppb.
Another shortcoming of the Trump rules: The administration retained the previous requirement that only 50 samples need to be collected every three years in Chicago and other big cities. The Tribune reported in 2016 that most of the homes sampled in Chicago are owned by water department employees or retirees living on the Far Northwest and Far Southwest sides, where cases of lead poisoning are rare.
Only two of the federally required samples drawn in Chicago during 2018 exceeded the Trump EPA’s new threshold of 10 ppb, according to state records.
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By contrast, results from the city’s separate, free testing program show more than 10% of the 12,316 homes sampled last year had lead levels exceeding 10 ppb after running water for a couple of minutes. Lead-contaminated water has been found in at least one home in all 77 community areas since the water department began offering testing kits in 2016.
mhawthorne@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-23--Chicago’s police watchdog agency releases bodycam, security video of police shooting involving armed

Chicago’s police watchdog agency releases bodycam, security video of police shooting involving armed man

Up until this point , there was no audio in the video .
But a few seconds after Nevarez is @ @ @ @ @ was chasing him can be heard shouting , “ Let me see your ( expletive @ @ @ @ @ ( expletive ) hands behind your ( expletive ) back !
”

Chicago’s civilian investigative police watchdog released video footage on Tuesday of an October incident in which an officer fatally shot a man running with a handgun in the city’s Little Village neighborhood.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability posted 14 body camera videos on its website, as well as five videos from security cameras, that captured the incident and its aftermath along a bustling strip of 26th Street near Ridgeway Avenue.
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The footage was released per the city’s video release policy, which requires COPA to post police-shooting video on its site within 60 days of the incident.
Marc Nevarez, 25, was shot and killed by a Chicago police officer in the Oct. 23 encounter. Bodycam footage from the Ogden District patrol officer showed the following chain of events:
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The officer was chasing Nevarez on foot while Nevarez was running with what appeared to be a gun in his right hand. The officer then fired on Nevarez before he fell to the ground.
Up until that point, there was no audio in the video. But a few seconds after Nevarez was shot, the officer who was chasing him can be heard shouting, “Let me see your (expletive) hands! Put your (expletive) hands behind your (expletive) back!”
The officer can then be seen grabbing Nevarez’s right arm, turning him turn on his back and handcuffing him. As he lay prone, blood can be seen on Nevarez’s lower back.
“1065-Boy! Emergency! 26th and Ridgeway! Get me some more units! Shots fired by the police, offender down!” the officer shouted, apparently into his police radio, as a siren blared in the background.
The officer then shouted to other cops on scene.
“Don’t touch it!” exclaimed the officer, in an apparent reference to Nevarez’s gun. “He pulled it out of the car and was running with it!”
The officer put on what appeared to be blue latex gloves and attended to Nevarez while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. Other officers assisted the one who opened fire.
“Stay with me, dude!” said one officer, apparently to Nevarez as he lay on the ground.
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Nevarez, who was shot in the lower back, was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Cook County prosecutors said Nevarez had been in a car with Saul Zaragoza, of near west suburban Berwyn, before the shooting.
About 12:30 p.m. that day, Zaragoza, also 25, fired about six shots from the rear passenger seat of the car at another man in the area. The unidentified victim had graze wounds from two bullets, including one to his head.
Hearing the shots, police quickly spotted Zaragoza’s fleeing car and chased it through an alley before it crashed into a utility pole, prosecutors said. A man — later identified as Nevarez — ran from the driver’s side of the vehicle holding a fully loaded .357 Magnum revolver, prosecutors said. Neverez was shot by police a short time later.
Zaragoza, meanwhile, was arrested as he tried running from the car, and a 9 mm handgun was recovered inside the vehicle, officials said. He was charged with attempted first-degree murder for shooting the other man who suffered the graze wounds.
Zaragoza, who is on parole for an armed robbery conviction, is also facing felony charges of aggravated battery for discharging a firearm and unlawful use of a firearm by a felon, police said.
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Zaragoza is being held without bail in the Cook County Jail.
jgorner@chicagotribune.com