chicagotribune--2020-12-23--‘We want them to feel loved’: Hundreds of families receive groceries for Christmas dinner as Chicago

‘We want them to feel loved’: Hundreds of families receive groceries for Christmas dinner as Chicago area faces largest hunger crisis in four decades

New Life ’ s experience isn ’ t unique , according to a new report by the Greater Chicago Food @ @ @ @ @ Cook County faces the greatest hunger crisis in the organization ’ s 41-year history .
@ @ @ @ @ area are seeing an average of 50 % more people seeking help this year over @ @ @ @ @ number of people they serve or , like New Life , expanding many times over @

Diana Franco, left, and Epi Diaz greet a customer as New Life Centers of Chicagoland holds its holiday food distribution in Little Village in Chicago, Dec. 22, 2020. New Life expanded its food distribution, in partnership with the Greater Chicago Food Depository to meet the rising need in several West Side communities. The Little Village community, in particular, has been hard hit by COVID-19, including job losses and food insecurity. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
As a mariachi played melodies for the crowd, hundreds of families lined up Tuesday to get groceries for their Christmas dinner in Little Village, one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID-19.
There were mothers with their children by their side. Grandmothers pushing shopping carts talked about what they will be making for dinner on Christmas Eve. After getting his groceries, a father took his son over to near the mariachi to take a photograph.
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“There’s a sense of community after so long and despite all the pain this community has been through,” said Pastor Matt DeMateo, executive director of New Life Centers of Chicagoland.
DeMateo has helped to lead the efforts to distribute food to Black and Latino families in the area who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, as a food pantry run by the church now feeds 60 times as many families a week as it did before the pandemic.
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New Life’s experience isn’t unique, according to a new report by the Greater Chicago Food Depository released Tuesday showing that Cook County faces the greatest hunger crisis in the organization’s 41-year history. Food pantries in the Chicago area are seeing an average of 50% more people seeking help this year over last and many tripling the number of people they serve or, like New Life, expanding many times over.
Nearly 270,000 more households than in 2018 report facing food insecurity in Cook County, up 51%, with Black and Latino households at greater risk, the report found, citing research by Feeding America, a network of U.S. food banks.
“We aren’t surprised about the details of the report,” said Greg Trotter, spokesman for the Food Depository, adding that the pandemic has “amplified the disparities that Black and Latino communities faced.”
In an attempt to serve those in greater need, the Food Depository partnered with New Life to “assure people that they are not alone,” DeMateo said.
The Food Depository also reported that during the pandemic, it has launched more than 55 new partnerships with community and faith organizations across the city to provide assistance to predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods.
Together they have been able to feed nearly 6,000 families a week by opening the pantry every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
Thanks to donations from business owners and the volunteer time of many youths in the area, DeMateo will be able to turn New Life’s Pan de Vida pantry, 2701 S. Lawndale Ave., into a permanent food pantry in 2021.
The Tuesday before Christmas was special because aside from food, the New Life also donated Christmas gifts to more than 1,500 children and gave away winter coats.
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Volunteers also decorated the streets with colorful Christmas lights and inflatables.
“We want them to feel special and loved,” said Diana Yanet Franco, an administrator at the pantry.
Franco, whose family lives in the area, said that her family has also benefited from the grocery giveaways.
It has given her mother some peace of mind when the family has been short on money, she said.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed for when one needs help and we want to be here for our people,” Franco said, wearing a face mask featuring a Christmas tree and Christmas lights.
“Gracias,” said a woman pushing a stroller full of goods while holding her child’s hand as they crossed the street.
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“De nada,” responded Franco.
In the nearly block-long line stood Olga Lopez, 43, a mother of four.
She said that she has been able to feed her family thanks to the groceries that she’s picked up from the pantry several times after being forced to leave her job at a meatpacking company because she feared she would get COVID-19.
After several of her co-workers reported they had contracted the virus, she chose to stay home to protect her family.
“Thanks to this food, we’ve been able to feed our family, but if we didn’t have this, I don’t know how we would do it,” she said.
And the mariachi, she said, “cheers me up. It reminds me that it’s the holiday season.”
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DeMateo said that thanks to some fundraising, New Life was able to hire Mariachi Tradicional Juvenil, an ensemble made up of young musicians from the area.
A mariachi, he said, is part of the culture of the Mexican American community and “this is the type of celebration they deserve.”
Pointing out that only a few other communities have been as hard hit as Little Village and South Lawndale by both COVID-19 and the resulting unemployment, DeMateo said that the hunger crisis is going to linger.
To tackle the crisis, “We need to keep working together,” said Trotter.
The report should remind people that “We’re in the middle of this ongoing crisis and our neighbors who are struggling need our support,” Trotter said.
DeMatteo said that the report shows the need to address the hunger crisis from the root and work to create a long-term solution. Before the pandemic, New Life fed 100 families a week out of its basement, DeMateo said. In April that went up to 400 families. And now the church feeds nearly 6,000 families a week. Most days the pantry runs out of groceries, Franco said.
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During the pandemic, thousands have gotten sick, many more have lost their jobs and others are running out of savings.
“They depend on us to be able to feed their family,” DeMateo said.
Aside from the food pantry in Little Village that will be renamed “El Mercado,” the church has also established food distribution sites in Albany Park, Montclare, Brighton Park and near Midway Airport.
larodriguez@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-23--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: CPS to receive $800 million in federal pandemic aid as 6,239 new CO

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: CPS to receive $800 million in federal pandemic aid as 6,239 new COVID-19 cases and 116 additional deaths reported Tuesday

When you ’ re making your assessment , don ’ t fall into the trap of only attending to the @ @ @ @ @ she said .
“ The question people need to be asking is : How does @ @ @ @ @ if I don ’ t get the vaccine ?
How does that compare to my @ @ @ @ @ away from coronavirus ?
That number is so far from zero , that risk is @ @ @ @ @ you ’ re in the Black community .
We know that being a Black person @ @ @ @ @ your risk is higher than a white person of contracting and dying from COVID-19 .
@ @ @ @ @ about that .
”

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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)
Preliminary numbers show this is the deadliest year in U.S. history, mainly because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Associated Press reported Tuesday morning. The United States is on track to see more than 3.2 million deaths this year, or at least 400,000 more than in 2019.
On Tuesday, Illinois public health officials announced 116 additional fatalities, bringing the statewide death toll to 15,414 since the start of the pandemic. The state also announced 6,239 new and probable cases of COVID-19, a day after logging its lowest number of cases — 4,699 — in nearly two months. The total number of known infections in Illinois was 911,308 since March.
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Meanwhile, Chicago Public Schools estimates it will see $800 million of the $900 billion stimulus package Congress approved Monday. District leaders said that means they’ll be able to fully fund the $8.4 billion budget for the current school year, which assumed at least $343 million in additional federal funds. CPS previously got $206 million in federal coronavirus aid.
Also on Tuesday, Chicago’s top health official said the city plans to open its first mass vaccination sites next week to help inoculate more health care workers against the coronavirus. Vaccinations will be available by appointment only starting next week exclusively for health care workers in Chicago, city Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said. Further details will be coming later.
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Here’s what’s happening Tuesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7:40 p.m.: Trump assails $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill, suggests he may not sign it
President Donald Trump is assailing the bipartisan $900 billion pandemic relief package that Congress just passed and is suggesting that he may not sign it.
Trump complained in a video that he tweeted out Tuesday night that the bill delivered too much money to foreign countries, but not enough to Americans.
The bill provides for a $600 payment to most Americans, but Trump said he is asking Congress to amend the bill and “increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000, or $4,000 for a couple. I am also asking Congress to get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation and to send me a suitable bill.”
The relief package was part of a hard-fought compromise bill that includes $1.4 trillion to fund government agencies through September and contains other end-of-session priorities such as money for cash-starved transit systems, an increase in food stamp benefits and about $4 billion to help other nations provide a COVID-19 vaccine for their people.
Read more here. —Associated Press
5:55 p.m.: US negotiating for millions more vaccine doses from Pfizer
The U.S. government is negotiating with Pfizer to acquire tens of millions of additional vaccine doses in exchange for helping the pharmaceutical giant gain better access to manufacturing supplies.
A person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the deal is under discussion but has not been finalized. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to describe ongoing deliberations.
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Pfizer’s vaccine was the first to gain approval from the Food and Drug Administration and initial shipments went to states last week. It has now been joined by a vaccine from Moderna, which was developed in closer cooperation with scientists from the National Institutes of Health.
Read more here. —Associated Press
5:48 p.m.: Concordia University Chicago cuts 51 faculty and staff, closes 15 academic programs after ‘prioritization’ review
Concordia University Chicago is letting go of 51 faculty and staff members and closing 15 academic programs due to budget concerns that have been accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic and a reassessment of its priorities.
The university, affiliated with The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, is offering retirement or severance packages to employees who were laid off, departed voluntarily or had their positions eliminated, said school spokesman Eric Matanyi. That’s about 7% of total employees prior to the reduction in force, he said.
The 15 programs slated for closure include graphic arts, theater, chemistry, women’s and gender studies and business communication, according to an email sent to students. Current students enrolled in the programs will be able to complete their degrees at Concordia, which might involve the use of adjunct faculty or partnerships with nearby universities, but new students won’t be able to enroll.
Concordia-Chicago, which describes itself as “a Christ-centered Lutheran university,” serves more than 6,000 students at its campus in suburban River Forest. It’s one of eight institutions in the national Concordia University System.
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Read more here. —Elyssa Cherney
5:37 p.m.: Hundreds of families receive groceries for Christmas dinner as Chicago area faces largest hunger crisis in four decades
As a mariachi played melodies for the crowd, hundreds of families lined up Tuesday to get groceries for their Christmas dinner in Little Village, one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID-19.
There were mothers with their children by their side. Grandmothers pushing shopping carts talked about what they will be making for dinner on Christmas Eve. After getting his groceries, a father took his son over to near the mariachi to take a photograph.
“There’s a sense of community after so long and despite all the pain this community has been through,” said Pastor Matt DeMateo, executive director of New Life Centers of Chicagoland.
DeMateo has helped to lead the efforts to distribute food to Black and Latino families in the area who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, as a food pantry run by the church now feeds 60 times as many families a week as it did before the pandemic.
New Life’s experience isn’t unique, according to a new report by the Greater Chicago Food Depository released Tuesday showing that Cook County faces the greatest hunger crisis in the organization’s 41-year history. Food pantries in the Chicago area are seeing on average of 50% more people seeking help this year over last and many tripling the number of people they serve or, like New Life, expanding many times over.
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Read more here. —Laura Rodríguez Presa
4:45 p.m.: Chicago makes plans for first mass vaccination sites as health care workers outside hospitals are slated for shots
Chicago plans to open its first mass vaccination sites next week to help inoculate more health care workers against the coronavirus, the city’s top health official said Tuesday.
Vaccinations will be available by appointment only starting next week exclusively for health care workers in Chicago, city Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said. Further details will be coming later.
Like in the rest of Illinois and the country, Chicago’s first wave of immunizations with Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine focused on hospital staff members. But as shipments of a second vaccine from Moderna begin to arrive, the city will be expanding to include workers in outpatient facilities, Arwady said.
“That would be doctors’ offices and COVID testing sites that are at higher risk for COVID,” she said. “We’re looking at which sites are doing a lot of COVID testing, where are we seeing a lot of positive tests, where do we see a lot of deaths?”
Arwady previewed the plan for the city’s first mass vaccination sites at a news conference at the James R. Thompson Center in the Loop with Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike and U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams.
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Read more here. —Dan Petrella
4:25 p.m.: Restaurants grateful for new round of aid but still fighting for additional relief
On Monday night, after Congress passed a $900 billion pandemic relief bill, just for a second, restaurants could breathe again.
It’s been a tough year for restaurants and bars, which have had to pivot repeatedly over the course of the pandemic, altering their businesses models to accommodate ever-changing safety guidelines while shouldering their growing debt. The first wave of Paycheck Protection Program loans in July offered assistance to some but was widely criticized for its lack of oversight and inconsistent application.
Restaurant and bar advocacy groups continually pushed for more federal assistance as the pandemic raged on, saying that the loans were not a long-term solution. All the while, businesses continued to shutter permanently, unable to hold on as profits dried up.
Although the $900 billion relief bill includes elements that will benefit restaurants, such as a second round of PPP, it still is not as much as the $120 billion Restaurants Act, which the Illinois Restaurants Association and others like it have been pushing for since the beginning of the pandemic. Restaurants need much, much more to survive, an IRA spokesperson said Monday.
“It is a step in the right direction with provisions that will provide much-needed support to our industry,” according to an IRA news release. “The IRA continues to fight for additional targeted relief for the entire restaurant and hospitality industry at the federal, state, and local levels.”
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Read more here. —Grace Wong
4:05 p.m.: Durbin says Illinois shouldn’t count on Washington for future pandemic aid to deal with state’s budget deficit
Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin on Tuesday 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.
In a call with reporters, the state’s senior senator noted the bill included funding for specific programs to help Illinois and Chicago, such as increased mass transit aid, support for airlines, restaurants and entertainment venues, as well as Great Lakes restoration and a first-time grant for federal health officials to study gun violence.
But even with a new administration under former Vice President Joe Biden and the potential of a Democratic-led Senate, pending runoff elections in Georgia, Durbin said the fight for state and local pandemic relief would still run up against Republicans who claim it amounts to a bailout for mismanaged states.
“I wouldn’t make any assumption that money is coming from Washington for the help of the state. They have to prepare their budget on the possibility there’ll be no assistance,” Durbin said.
Read more here. —Rick Pearson
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4 p.m.: CPS to receive $800 million in federal pandemic aid
Chicago Public Schools estimates it will see $800 million of the $900 billion stimulus package Congress approved Monday.
District leaders said that means they’ll be able to fully fund the $8.4 billion budget for the current school year, which assumed at least $343 million in additional federal funds. CPS previously got $206 million in federal coronavirus aid.
“We extend our sincere gratitude to leaders in Washington — and especially our Chicago delegation — who have prioritized the needs of public school students throughout the country,” CPS chief Janice Jackson said in a prepared statement. “Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, schools in Chicago and beyond have grappled with immense, unprecedented challenges that have made every aspect of supporting our students more complicated and costly. ...Black and Brown families in Chicago need the option to send their children to school this academic year, and this funding relief is essential to the safe and supportive learning environments needed to mitigate learning loss and prevent long-term harm.”
CPS expects to funnel about $80 million of the new money to private and parochial schools, as required by federal law. District officials said they would have harder numbers after the state releases grant applications.
CPS budget documents note that a reassessment of Chicago properties based on the economic fallout of the pandemic, along with the potential slowdown of new construction, could threaten the district’s property tax base. CPS officials on Tuesday said they expect the pandemic to affect its revenue stream for several years.
“While financial expectations are fluid, the district conservatively expects to see an approximately $300 million financial impact in FY22 compared to expectations prior to the pandemic,” according to a statement provided by CPS.
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That includes lower-than-expected property tax revenues, state funding and teacher pension contributions. The federal aid will help offset those losses, Jackson said.
“While we know so many in our city, state and country still need so much more at this time, these resources will allow us to make all necessary investments for our students this year and ensure essential investments can continue into next year despite anticipated revenue challenges ahead,” Jackson said.
—Hannah Leone
3:35 p.m.: ‘This saves an entire industry’: Concert venues, theaters, museums find sweet relief in prospect of $15 billion in new federal aid
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, a year-end Hail Mary that many in the industries had despaired of receiving.
“It’s very, very promising,” said Robert Gomez, owner of the music clubs Subterranean and Beat Kitchen and co-chair of the Chicago Independent Venue League, which led the local fight for aid. “It looks like what we need, instead of being shuttered and really worried about reopening. If it happens, it just changes our entire mentality towards the future.”
“We’re optimistic,” said John Russick, senior vice president of the Chicago History Museum, via e-mail. “We have high hopes that there will be support for the museum and Chicago arts and culture organizations in general through this new federal program.”
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Music Box Theatre general manager Ryan Oestreich said the federal arts relief package can be “huge for movie theaters like ours. It can help us recover from just how bad 2020 was and to maintain some level of agency as we face 2021.”
But “I don’t want to get too optimistic,” he cautioned. “There’s a ton of people going after this money, from indie concert venues to live theaters to the hundreds of independent movie theaters across the country.”
The “Grants for Shuttered Venue Operators” program, wrapped into the year-end budget bill and already passed by the U.S. House and Senate and awaiting the president’s expected signature, designates $15 billion toward an entertainment industry that has been almost wholly closed since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. in mid-March.
Read more here. —Steve Johnson and Michael Phillips
3:10 p.m. Biden addresses $900B COVID relief bill, holiday pandemic precautions
President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday expressed empathy with struggling families and applauded Congress for passing the coronavirus relief bill as the nation deals with a COVID-19 surge that’s casting a shadow over the Christmas holiday.
He called out to frontline workers, scientists, researchers, clinical trial participants and those with deployed family members during the holiday season.
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“Our hearts are always with you — keep the faith,” he said in a year-end address from Wilmington, Delaware.
Noting the ways that the pandemic has altered his own holiday celebrations, which typically include up to two dozen relatives, Biden said, “not this year.”
“This season of reflection carries a much deeper meaning than it usually does,” Biden said, encouraging Americans to continue to take precautions to try to stem the spread of the virus, which has now killed more than 320,000 people in the United States. “Jill and I send our prayers, as I’m sure all of you do, to all that are facing this dark winter.”
The day before, Biden got vaccinated on live television as part of an effort to reassure people that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe.
“I look forward to the second shot, and I have absolute confidence in the vaccine,” Biden said. “But we’re in short supply.”
On the $900 billion coronavirus aid bill passed by Congress on Monday, Biden called the bill a “down payment” on a broader relief bill he plans to introduce when he takes office in January.
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“Like all compromises, this is far from perfect,” Biden said. “Congress did their job this week, and I can and I must ask them to do it again next year.”
Read more here. —Associated Press
2:28 p.m.: Should Americans be concerned about the highly contagious new variant of the coronavirus circulating in England?
British officials recently have expressed alarm about a highly contagious coronavirus mutation circulating in England. According to University of Chicago Medicine’s Dr. Allison Bartlett, who specializes in the medical management of acute and chronic infectious diseases, it is important that Americans be aware that this variant has been detected. But because scientists actively have been looking for potential variants throughout the pandemic, news of mutations lets us know that the process is working.”
This variant has multiple mutations, several of which are in the spike protein, which is important for attaching to host (human) cells and which is the target for the currently available vaccines,” she said. “There are many parameters that influence transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). The structure of the virus is one important parameter, but the behavior and environment of the population is critical as well. Mask use, physical distancing, ventilation, hand-washing all impact the risk of transmission, and will remain effective and essential components of controlling the pandemic.”
Bartlett says the mutation news does not have an impact on vaccination plans in the United States because there is no evidence to suggest that the spike protein in the variant is distinct enough that the current vaccines will not be effective.”
The virus (as with all viruses) is constantly mutating. Many mutations lead to dead ends; some lead to virus that can be spread from person to person,” Bartlett added. “Our hope is that when millions of people are vaccinated, there will be less virus circulating in the community and, therefore, fewer opportunities for mutations to develop. However, if a mutant virus develops that is not susceptible to the vaccine-derived immune response, that strain could spread from person to person if people have let down their guard and are not masking, physically distancing, etc.”
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Read more here. —Darcel Rockett
2:20 p.m.: How can the medical field ease COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in communities of color?
While the pandemic has affected all of our lives, it has disproportionately affected Black and brown communities. Over one-third of Black adults in a June survey said they knew someone firsthand who’d died after contracting COVID-19. And yet, in a recent poll, fewer than half of Black Americans said they would take the coronavirus vaccine. Drs. Brandi Jackson and Brittani James discussed COVID-19 and the Black community in a Chicago Tribune Facebook Live. James, a family practitioner with the University of Illinois health system and assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, offered some suggestions on how to alleviate vaccine concerns for those in the Black community:”
Think of the people who will be trusted by the Black community, who are already trusted by the Black community,” she said. “I’m talking about Black church leaders. We turn to local community centers, we turn to local activists, nonprofits. Those are the people and the institutions, really, that the Black community trusts. So, any intervention that is serious about getting their buy-in, you have to go through these authorities in the local community, Black and brown communities, to spread that message (to take the vaccine). From everything that I can evaluate, this is safe, not just for white people, for all people.”
Jackson, director of Integrative Behavioral Health at Howard Brown Health Center and an adjunct professor of psychiatry at Rush University Medical College, agreed and suggested that Black and brown communities read the vaccine research and data, and then make an informed decision.”
When you’re making your assessment, don’t fall into the trap of only attending to the potential side effects,” she said. “The question people need to be asking is: How does that compare to what happens if I don’t get the vaccine? How does that compare to my risk of contracting and passing away from coronavirus? That number is so far from zero, that risk is not negligible, particularly if you’re in the Black community. We know that being a Black person in America right now, your risk is higher than a white person of contracting and dying from COVID-19. So, you should think about that.”
Read more here. —Darcel Rockett
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1:35 p.m.: Dr. Deborah Birx, White House COVID coordinator, says she will retire
Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus response, said Tuesday she plans to retire, but is willing to first help President-elect Joe Biden’s team with its coronavirus response as needed.
Birx, in an interview with the news site Newsy, did not give a specific timetable on her plans.
“I will be helpful in any role that people think I can be helpful in, and then I will retire,” Birx told the news outlet.
Birx and White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Her comments came just days after The Associated Press reported that she traveled out of state for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend even as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was urging Americans to forgo holiday travel.
Read more here. —Associated Press
12:08 p.m.: 6,239 new and probable cases of COVID-19 and 116 additional deaths reported Tuesday
Illinois public health officials Tuesday announced 6,239 new and probable cases of COVID-19, a day after logging its lowest number of cases — 4,699 — in nearly two months. The total number of known infections in Illinois was 911,308 since March.
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The state also announced 116 additional fatalities, bringing the statewide death toll to 15,414 since the start of the pandemic.
There were 84,764 tests reported and the statewide positivity rate for the past seven days was 9%.
—Chicago Tribune staff
11:27 a.m.: COVID-19 Q&A: Should people be concerned about the highly contagious new variant of the coronavirus circulating in England?
British officials recently have expressed alarm about a highly contagious coronavirus mutation circulating in England. According to University of Chicago Medicine’s Dr. Allison Bartlett, who specializes in the medical management of acute and chronic infectious diseases, it is important that Americans be aware that this variant has been detected. But because scientists actively have been looking for potential variants throughout the pandemic, news of mutations lets us know that the process is working.
“This variant has multiple mutations, several of which are in the spike protein, which is important for attaching to host (human) cells and which is the target for the currently available vaccines,” she said. “There are many parameters that influence transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). The structure of the virus is one important parameter, but the behavior and environment of the population is critical as well. Mask use, physical distancing, ventilation, hand-washing all impact the risk of transmission, and will remain effective and essential components of controlling the pandemic.”
Bartlett says the mutation news does not have an impact on vaccination plans in the United States because there is no evidence to suggest that the spike protein in the variant is distinct enough that the current vaccines will not be effective.
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Read more coronavirus questions and answers here. —Alison Bowen, Christen A. Johnson, Darcel Rockett
11:15 a.m.: R. Kelly tentatively set to go on trial in Chicago in September after months of COVID-19 delays
After months of delays due to COVID-19 concerns, a federal judge in Chicago on Tuesday set a September trial date for indicted singer R. Kelly but said it’s “not set in stone” given the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the pandemic.
U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber said during a brief status hearing that jury selection will tentatively begin Sept. 13 for Kelly and his co-defendants, who are charged with trying to rig Kelly’s 2008 child pornography trial in Cook County by paying off witnesses and victims to change their stories.
Read more here. —Jason Meisner
10:50 a.m.: After canceling 2020 vacations, travelers are eager to hit the road, but will it be to Europe — or Michigan?
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.
Online searches for flights, which had been about 25% below last year’s levels, began growing quickly in November amid positive news about the COVID-19 vaccine, according to travel data firm and booking app Hopper.
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But there’s a difference between browsing and booking.
Read more here. —Lauren Zumbach
9:24 a.m.: As a pandemic diversion, Shedd penguin Wellington lit up the web this year
On the first weekend after Shedd Aquarium was forced to close by the new coronavirus that was endangering the country, the penguin handlers had an idea.
Taking advantage of the building’s quiet halls, the empty spaces where normally tourists would congregate in front of fish displays, they brought the rockhopper penguin Wellington to the Amazon Rising exhibit, full of South American aquatic life.
Wellington, the rockhopper penguin, who turned 33 years old on Dec. 20, poses in his habitat at the Shedd Aquarium. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Wellington looked up. He looked left, then right, and then back at handler Michelle Natasowski, who was recording the scene on her phone. Then he walked over to one of the big tanks in front of him and seemed especially taken by the red-bellied piranhas and black-barred silver dollars passing by.
In those 27 seconds, a star was born.
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That short, simple Wellington video has been the greatest viral sensation Shedd has had, more so even than the 2014-15 buzz over the rescued baby sea otter Luna. As of this writing Twitter users have watched the video more than 3.7 million times.
In that and the subsequent series known as “Penguin Field Trips,” he and his fellow Shedd rockhopper and Magellanic penguins kept homebound humans entertained throughout this pandemic year merely by displaying their natural curiosity in settings ranging from Shedd exhibits to other museums to Chicago’s Soldier Field.
Read more here. —Steve Johnson
9:20 a.m.: After 28 days and 10 games called off, has DePaul’s long-awaited basketball tipoff arrived?
The Blue Demons have been living the basketball version of “Groundhog Day.”
Five more games have been axed or postponed after a pointless trip to Iowa State. Now, after missing the first 10 scheduled games since Nov. 25, DePaul is eager to finally compete this season when it plays Western Illinois on Wednesday at Wintrust Arena.
Fingers crossed. Knock on wood. Hope and pray. No jinxes.
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Big East brethren Villanova and Xavier have each played eight games and Creighton has played nine so far. DePaul remains painfully undefeated: 0-0.
Read more here. —Shannon Ryan
7:15 a.m.: Cook County workers holding one-day strike Tuesday
Cook County health technicians and maintenance workers, as well as Cook County clerk’s and sheriff’s office employees, were holding a one-day strike to ask for extra pay for those working with COVID-19 patients and the right for workers who can to work remotely, among other demands.
SEIU Local 73 also is objecting to the county’s use of workers from outside Illinois to supplement county employees, calling them strikebreakers.
Jaunita Ervin, who works at Stroger Hospital, in a news conference streamed on Facebook Live from outside Stroger Hospital, said that she has six family members at home, several of them already with illnesses that could make them vulnerable to the coronavirus.
“We come to work every day, put our lives on the line,” Ervin said.
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“We would like (county officials) to remove the strikebreakers out of our hospital and allow us to make this money ourselves,” she said.
The county and the union have been negotiating since September, according to the union. —Chicago Tribune staff
6 a.m.: COVID-19 cases and deaths are surging again in Illinois prisons, as inmates and advocates call for more action
At at least 59 incarcerated people have died since March after becoming infected with the new coronavirus in Illinois’ custody — a death toll that has nearly doubled since November, state data through Dec. 21 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, nearly 10,000 inmates and staff have tested positive.
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“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.”
Read more here. —Christy Gutowski
5:55 a.m.: Normal waives 2021 liquor license fee renewals
Town Council members in Normal in central Illinois on Monday waived 2021 liquor license fee renewals for certain businesses struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Normal Town Council approved by a vote of 6-1 an ordinance waiving certain liquor license renewals for bars and restaurants.
“The intent of this is to relieve the struggles of the businesses in the community have had,” said Mayor Chris Koos. “This is a way we thought we could help small businesses.’
Under the plan, operators of brewpubs, hotels, taprooms, stadiums, movie theaters will not have to pay renewal fees.
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License renewals were also waived for other beer only-on premises consumption; all liquor on premises consumption; outdoor premises for existing on-premises licensees; limited hours on premises consumption; and college/universities, were waived.
If a business is found in violation of state or local COVID-19 regulations, businesses would have to pay the amount of the license renewal within 30 days. —The Pantagraph, via Tribune Content Agency
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chicagotribune--2020-12-23--Connecticut education Commissioner Miguel Cardona selected for U.S. education secretary by President

Connecticut education Commissioner Miguel Cardona selected for U.S. education secretary by President-elect Joe Biden

“ He will help us address systemic inequities , tackle the mental health crisis in our education system , give @ @ @ @ @ ease the burden of education debt , and secure high-quality , universal pre-K for every @ @ @ @ @ the country , ” Biden said in a statement .
“ As a lifelong champion @ @ @ @ @ understands that our children are the kite strings that keep our national ambitions aloft — @ @ @ @ @ be possible for our country tomorrow will be thanks to the investments we make and @ @ @ @ @ and our schools deliver today .
”

Connecticut education commissioner Miguel Cardona, a Meriden native who rose through the ranks in the city’s public schools from teacher to principal to administrator, has been selected by President-elect Joe Biden to be the next U.S. education secretary.
After days of speculation, the next president made the formal announcement Tuesday night, lauding Cardona as an “experienced and dedicated public school teacher” who can help guide every school to reopen safely and better equip all students for the future.
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“He will help us address systemic inequities, tackle the mental health crisis in our education system, give educators a well-deserved raise, ease the burden of education debt, and secure high-quality, universal pre-K for every three- and four year-old in the country,” Biden said in a statement. “As a lifelong champion of public education, he understands that our children are the kite strings that keep our national ambitions aloft — and that everything that will be possible for our country tomorrow will be thanks to the investments we make and the care that our educators and our schools deliver today.”
Gov. Ned Lamont appointed Cardona, 45, as education commissioner in August 2019. He was the first Latino to hold the position. A fourth-grade teacher in the city where he grew up, Cardona was the youngest principal in the state when he took the job at Hanover Elementary School in 2003. In 2012, he traveled to Washington, D.C. as Connecticut’s National Distinguished Principal. A year later, he became the assistant superintendent for teaching and learning in his hometown.
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An educator will lead our Department of Education.
I am proud to nominate Dr. Miguel Cardona to ensure our teachers are taken care of, and our children have an opportunity to thrive. — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 23, 2020
Lamont on Tuesday called Cardona “another Connecticut superstar.”
“That’s a loss for Connecticut, but it’s a big win for kids and teachers, and education around the country,” he said during a news conference. “We’re fortunate that Miguel was able to take the lead here in the state for close to two years, fortunate that he worked very closely with teachers [and] kept our schools open.”
Lamont added: “I think these are all things that were very important to President-elect Biden. I wish him all the best.”
From the bus to the school yard, to the classroom and the principal’s chair, Miguel has the experience necessary to lead our country’s children through this next vitally important phase. — Governor Ned Lamont (@GovNedLamont) December 23, 2020
Cardona has credited his “journey as a goofy, little Puerto Rican kid” born in a Meriden public housing complex to public office to the sacrifices of his parents and grandparents, as well as access to schooling. Cardona has also shared that he entered kindergarten only speaking Spanish and struggled to learn English.
“The passion I have for public education stems from my belief that it is the best lever for economic success and prosperity in Connecticut,” Cardona told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing in February. “And the belief that public education is still the great equalizer. It was for me.”
[ Who is Miguel Cardona? The Connecticut education commissioner is President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for U.S. education secretary ]
After attending public schools in Meriden, Cardona graduated from the state-run Wilcox Technical High School in the city before attending Central Connecticut State University for his bachelor’s degree and earning his master’s, doctorate and superintendent certification at UConn. Cardona wrote his dissertation on the role of political will in addressing achievement disparities, calling the topic “a passion of mine,” in an article he wrote for Teach Connecticut.
He and his wife, Marissa Pérez Cardona, have two children who attend Meriden public schools.
“Miguel Cardona is an exceptional leader and a great educator, but an even better person,” said Meriden Superintendent of Schools Mark Benigni, who worked with Cardona for nearly a decade.
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Benigni called Cardona’s life story and achievements “tremendous.”
“We should all feel comfortable knowing we have someone who is going to work hard, who is compassionate, is understanding,” he said. “But, who is also a fierce competitor, wants to get great results for kids and will never give up on a student or a staff member.”
Benigni said the nation should expect to see an education secretary who embraces partnerships with unions, grant funders and foundations, and who “believes technology can help level the playing field.” He added that Cardona understands the “delicate balance that public schools need to be for everyone,” from supporting the most vulnerable students in a district to challenging top performers.
“I hope that Miguel takes to the capital that public education ... can change student’s and families lives forever, and that we need to continue to embrace and invest in our public schools systems,” he said.
Cardona served as co-chair of the Connecticut Legislative Achievement Gap Task Force, while chairing its English Learners subgroup. He said the task force “produced a report which to this day contains some of the most bold and progressive recommendations for improving education and addressing opportunity and outcome gaps by race and ZIP code.”
“We need to address inequities in education and we need better pathways to success,” he told lawmakers at his confirmation hearing, calling students’ social and emotional learning “just as important as their academic growth.”
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Cardona also received support from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which has pressed Biden to appoint more Latinos to Cabinet positions. In a letter to Biden this month, the group said Cardona “fully grasps the challenges that English as Second Language (ESL) Learners, Latinos, and other minority students face in America’s classrooms.”
Jamilah Prince-Stewart, executive director of FaithActs for Education, said the organization “applauds” Biden’s selection and hopes Cardona is quickly confirmed by the Senate.
“Connecticut is a microcosm of the country when it comes to education. We have pockets of great affluence and pockets of great need, which are reflected in our schools,” said Prince-Stewart in a statement. “From his personal life and career, Dr. Cardona knows our struggle and cares deeply about ending inequity. He knows that Black, Brown and low-income families are ignored when it comes to getting schools their children need and deserve.”
In December, Connecticut became the first state requiring high schools to provide courses on Black and Latino studies. Cardona praised the measure, saying that “identities matter.”
”The fact is that more inclusive, culturally relevant content in classrooms leads to greater student engagement and better outcomes for all,” he said, in a statement.
Cardona, like Lamont, has been a strong proponent of in-person education throughout the pandemic — a stance Biden supports. Biden has pledged to have a majority of U.S. schools reopened by the end of his first 100 days in office. The president-elect is promising new federal guidelines on school opening decisions, and a “large-scale” U.S. Department of Education effort to identify and share the best ways to teach during a pandemic.
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“Everyone wants schools to fully reopen for in-person instruction,” states Biden’s Roadmap to Reopening Schools Safely. “Creating the conditions to make it happen should be a top national priority.”
Similar to what Lamont and Cardona laid out in Connecticut, Biden’s roadmap also say decisions to reopen should be made at a local level, “based on science and in consultation with communities.”
Dr. Miguel Cardona has been nominated by the president-elect to lead the Department of Education.
As a former public school teacher, he will lead the effort to invest in all students, support educators, and make reopening schools a national priority. https://t.co/mc1eq3WpbK — Biden-Harris Presidential Transition (@Transition46) December 23, 2020
Despite ongoing disagreements over whether schools should be shut down due to rising case numbers across the state, a coalition of unions representing Connecticut educators previously supported his candidacy as Biden’s education secretary. In a Dec. 18 statement, the coalition said Cardona has been tested by the pandemic and “would be a positive force for public education.”
“While this challenge has been a rocky road — and many issues remain unresolved — teachers and school support staff have appreciated his openness and collaboration,” they wrote.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said Tuesday in a statement that Cardona, a former member of the union, “will transform the Education Department to help students thrive, a reversal of the [Betsy] DeVos disaster of the last four years.”
AFT Connecticut President Jan Hochadel said before COVID-19, Cardona “engaged educators on issues ranging from reducing standardized testing to ensuring equity for all students to closing the diversity gap in our schools.”
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“The opportunity for a true educator with classroom experience and a leader who understands that challenge is exciting for anyone who cares about the future of America’s public schools,” she wrote.
Jeff Leake, president of the Connecticut Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said Cardona “believes teachers need to have a seat at the table in order to develop well-informed education policy.”
“He has always sought out diverse educator voices as experts and welcomed their experience and knowledge on many issues that impact educators and their students,” Leake said, in a statement. “The year ahead offers both potential and challenges, and we wish Cardona much success as he begins this new journey to lead the U.S. Department of Education.”
Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.
Amanda Blanco can be reached at ablanco@courant.com.


chicagotribune--2020-12-23--Vaccines are coming to nursing homes, after dozens of Kane County care facilities have experienced r

Vaccines are coming to nursing homes, after dozens of Kane County care facilities have experienced recent outbreaks

Bria of Geneva was among those hardest hit by the virus early in the pandemic , and was cited in @ @ @ @ @ violations .
Within the past 28 days the facility has had three virus cases , @ @ @ @ @ spokeswoman Natalie Bauer Luce said those stemmed from an employee who reported symptoms in November @ @ @ @ @ longer any positive cases at the facility .

A dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Rush Copley Medical Center in Aurora. The hospital began vaccinating health care workers there last week. COVID-19 vaccines could arrive at Illinois nursing homes next week. (Denise Crosby / The Beacon-News)
COVID-19 vaccines could arrive at Illinois nursing homes as soon as Monday, about two weeks after the first vaccines were administered in the state to health care workers.
They are expected as nursing homes statewide recently reported a record number of deaths of residents with COVID-19, and as state data shows dozens of long-term care facilities in Kane County have reported virus cases within the past month.
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Residents and staff of long-term care facilities, which have been hard-hit during the pandemic, make up one of the priority groups for the vaccine, along with health care workers. Among care facilities, skilled nursing homes are scheduled to receive the vaccines first, Kane County Health Department spokeswoman Susan Stack said.
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Stack did not provide a specific date that vaccinations would begin at nursing homes in Kane County, but state and health care officials have said vaccinations at long-term care facilities statewide are expected to begin Dec. 28.
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While hospitals received vaccines for health care workers through the state, the long-term care facility vaccination program is administered nationally by CVS Health and Walgreens. The pharmacies recently began administering vaccines to long-term care facilities in other states, and they estimate they might be able to administer vaccines to the public by spring.
It will likely take several weeks for the pharmacies to reach all long-term care facilities, Stack said. They are scheduled to make three visits to each site to ensure everyone gets vaccinated.
Still, as the vaccines come, nursing homes should continue to follow public health guidance, screen and test staff and residents and source protective gear, said Pat Comstock, COVID-19 response director for the Health Care Council of Illinois, in a statement.
“We are hopeful that this is a turning point in the fight against the coronavirus, but it does not mean we will let our guard down,” she said. “Even with a vaccine, nursing homes continue to rely on our local communities to practice infection control measures and vaccinate themselves to prevent community spread.”
Even as long-term care facility staff and residents await vaccines, on Dec. 18 Illinois care facilities reported a record number of residents with COVID-19 had died in the previous week.
In Kane County, 43 long-term care facilities have reported cases of the virus among residents or staff in the past 28 days. During those recent outbreaks, 103 people have died, state data shows.
David Hines, co-leader of the COVID-19 task force at Bria Health Services’ network of nursing homes, which includes Bria of Geneva in Kane County, estimated outbreaks could stop at care facilities within two months of all residents and staff receiving both doses of the vaccine.
The first round of vaccines is slated to arrive at Bria of Geneva Jan. 15.
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Bria of Geneva was among those hardest hit by the virus early in the pandemic, and was cited in November by OSHA for coronavirus-related violations. Within the past 28 days the facility has had three virus cases, state data shows, though spokeswoman Natalie Bauer Luce said those stemmed from an employee who reported symptoms in November, and there are no longer any positive cases at the facility.
Residents and staff who never had the virus are likely to be among the first to receive the vaccine, Hines said. Those who have the virus will typically wait until they are free of infection for three months.
Residents will not be forced to receive the vaccine, Hines said. They must give their permission or, if they are not able, someone who has their power of attorney must do so.
Even with the vaccine, the nursing home won’t return to normal immediately, he said. Some more restrictive visiting policies could ease, but that will depend on how many workers are vaccinated and how the virus is spreading in the community.
“With family members, you don’t know who of them had it,” he said. “So we’re still going to be wearing masks and keeping six-foot distances for a period of time until the virus is really mostly gone.”
The Chicago Tribune contributed.
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sfreishtat@tribpub.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-23--Woman dies in fire at Zion senior apartment complex

The woman was found in a smoke-filled , third-floor apartment at the Carmel House Senior Apartment complex in the 2800 @ @ @ @ @ the Zion fire department said .
The victim was in need of immediate medical attention @ @ @ @ @ she was taken to the Vista East Medical Center in serious condition .

One woman died and two people were hospitalized following a fire at Carmel House on Elisha Avenue in Zion early Monday morning. (Joe Shuman / Pioneer Press)
A woman died in a fire early Monday morning a Zion senior apartment center, according to Lake County authorities.
The Lake County coroner’s office was withholding release of the victim’s identity until next of kin was notified, Coroner Jennifer Banek said Monday.
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The woman was found in a smoke-filled, third-floor apartment at the Carmel House Senior Apartment complex in the 2800 block of Elisha Avenue, the Zion fire department said. The victim was in need of immediate medical attention, authorities said, and she was taken to the Vista East Medical Center in serious condition.
Two other residents were taken to the hospital for underlying medical issues that may or may not have been exacerbated by the incident, firefighters said.
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Zion Fire Department and other departments responded to the scene of a fire and evacuation of Carmel House early Monday in Zion. One woman died and others were hospitalized, officials said. (Joe Shuman/News-Sun)
The fire was reported just before 12:20 a.m. by an alarm company and then by multiple residents of the 90-unit complex, according to the fire department.
Because smoke was not contained in the apartment where the fire apparently started, and because the residents ranged in age and mobility, firefighters said they decided to evacuate everyone. Nearby Zion City Hall was opened as a warming shelter and staging location.
After firefighters extinguished the fire and ventilated the smoke, most of the residents were allowed to return to their apartments, though nine units were deemed uninhabitable due to smoke or water damage, the fire department said. But a representative of the building management company on Tuesday said only one resident remained displaced.
“At 5 a.m., all of our residents were allowed to return to their homes with the exception of the resident who lived directly below the apartment where the fire occurred,” SHP Management President Matt Brucker said in a statement emailed to the News-Sun Tuesday.
Zion City Hall was opened as a warming shelter and staging location after a fire at Carmel House. (Joe Shuman/News-Sun)
The State Fire Marshal’s Office and Zion Fire Department are investigating the cause.
The blaze drew 55 first-responders from 18 regional fire and police departments and emergency service agencies. Firefighters were on the scene until just before 4 a.m.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter for the Lake County News-Sun.
This article was updated to include new information provided by the building management company.


chicagotribune--2020-12-23--Mayor Lori Lightfoot enlists former federal judge to investigate Anjanette Young case

And she told reporters she only found out about the botched raid after seeing the TV report , before revealing @ @ @ @ @ of her team told her about the raid in November 2019 , as CBS was @ @ @ @ @ warrants being served at the wrong addresses .
Lightfoot said her administration would release the @ @ @ @ @ not yet done so .

Gregory Pratt, John Byrne, Jason Meisner

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.
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“The incident that happened with, not only Anjanette Young, but the other incidents around this issue of warrants and wrong addresses and the violation of citizens’ of our communities rights is the reason that we’re all here today,” said Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, chairman of the council’s Black Caucus.
The Young case has turned into a major problem for Lightfoot since WBBM-Ch. 2 aired police body camera footage last week showing officers mistakenly raiding Young’s home in February 2019. Officers found Young naked, then handcuffed her, while she repeatedly told officers that they had the wrong place, the video showed.
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Lightfoot continued trying to deal with the situation Tuesday, tapping former federal Judge Ann Claire Williams to lead an outside investigation of the Young case and how it was handled.
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)
“Her mandate will include every relevant department, including the Mayor’s office,” Lightfoot said in a letter to aldermen. “We want a review of the procedures and processes in place that allowed this incident and subsequent actions to unfold as they did.”
Williams and her law firm, Jones Day, will conduct their investigation without charging attorney’s fees, Lightfoot said.
In the council hearing, police Superintendent David Brown promised changes in the department’s search warrant policies in a bid to recognize “human dignity and human rights.”
Brown said the department will include a human rights statement as part of its search warrant policy, will restrict which teams within the department can serve warrants, and require that supervisors at the rank of deputy chief or above approve them.
In cases where police rely on information from paid informants to justify search warrants, the department also will seek additional corroboration, Brown said.
He agreed with Ald. Leslie Hairston, 5th, that a female police officer should be a member of all search warrant teams going forward.
And the superintendent said Chicago police would mostly stop serving so-called no-knock warrants, though that was not the type of warrant in the raid on Young’s home. A department spokesman later said the no-knock warrant changes Brown outlined are “under review and the Department intends to engage with the community around the policy change recommendations.”
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Some aldermen on Tuesday also called for a 12-month moratorium on no-knock warrants. But a majority of committee members voted against including that proposed order on Tuesday’s agenda.
Instead, the committees simply heard testimony on the issue. No vote was taken on any proposal.
Lightfoot critic Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, criticized the decision not to take more concrete steps.
“People are looking for action. People are looking for results,” Beale said.
Testifying to aldermen, Sydney Roberts, chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which is investigating the Young raid, said her office only heard about the incident from her department’s Office of News Affairs.
Young already had filed a lawsuit by that point, but the Law Department did not inform COPA about the situation, said Roberts, who called it a “nontraditional manner” for her department to find out about such a case.
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In recent days, Lightfoot has had to apologize for the search warrant raid itself and the officers’ treatment of Young, which occurred before Lightfoot was elected mayor and before Brown joined the department.
But she has also had to try to clean up missteps she and her Law Department have made in dealing with the incident’s fallout, the kind of gaffes that increasingly leave the scandal at her doorstep.
The mayor acknowledged last week that “There’s a lot of trust that’s been breached, and I know there’s a lot of trust in me that’s been breached, and I have a responsibility to build back that trust.”
Lightfoot said she sought and accepted Corporation Counsel Mark Flessner’s resignation over the weekend. A Law Department deputy and spokeswoman also have resigned.
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Those moves came after the mayor apologized last week for the Law Department taking the unusual step of attempting in court to block CBS from airing the body camera footage.
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City lawyers also filed a request to have Young sanctioned in federal court for allegedly violating a judge’s confidentiality order on the video, for which the mayor also apologized. On Friday, Lightfoot released a statement saying she also wanted the Law Department to stop trying to sanction Young’s attorney.
In federal court Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John Tharp said he was still considering sanctions against Young’s attorney, Keenan Saulter, for releasing the videos to CBS even though the city withdrew its request amid the uproar.
During a nearly hourlong hearing, Saulter apologized repeatedly for his decision, saying he made a “significant mistake” and could have handled it differently. Saulter also indicated he was confused by whether the videos themselves were part of the judge’s protective order, given the strong case that could be made that Young should have been given the footage by the city after she filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year.
But Tharp said his order had nothing to do with the city’s response to the state FOIA law — and Saulter should have known that.
“I’m still somewhat at a loss as to understanding how an experienced lawyer like Mr. Saulter could, upon review of this order, conclude that it was appropriate or proper to disclose the video recordings to a news agency, or any other third party,” Tharp said. “If the answer is, ‘We were confused and thought we were entitled to it under state law,’ that doesn’t do a whole lot to alleviate my concern.”
Tharp says he wants a fuller explanation in writing from Saulter and his attorneys and gave them until Jan. 8 to file their response.
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With the furor not abating over the incident and the city’s handling of it, Lightfoot announced Monday that 12 police officers who took part in the raid had been placed on desk duty as COPA continues to investigate.
Brown reassigned the officers nearly two years after the raid, only after it erupted into a full-blown scandal. A Police Department spokesman on Monday declined to explain the timing of the reassignments or point to the department policy used to justify it, on the grounds that it’s a personnel matter.
Brown on Tuesday told aldermen he moved them to desk duty because he thought doing so was appropriate while the investigation continues.
Lightfoot also falsely denied last week that her administration withheld footage of the raid from Young, before reversing course and acknowledging Young had filed an open records request, which the city did not grant.
And she told reporters she only found out about the botched raid after seeing the TV report, before revealing the next day that members of her team told her about the raid in November 2019, as CBS was doing continued reporting on search warrants being served at the wrong addresses. Lightfoot said her administration would release the emails, though they have not yet done so.
gpratt@chicagotribune.com
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jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-23--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