chicagotribune--2020-08-06--A Cook County teen was added to the statewide total number of coronavirus deaths — but the teen didn

A Cook County teen was added to the statewide total number of coronavirus deaths — but the teen didn’t die from COVID-19. The state has removed more than 100 people erroneously added to list of the dead.

Statewide , Arnold said there have been “ just over 100″ instances of a death being attributed to the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ died of something else , resulting in the death being later removed from the state @ @ @ @ @ , the information the state provides can ’ t be independently verified because of the @ @ @ @ @ health privacy rules .

A teenager from Cook County was added Tuesday to the statewide total number of deaths reported by the Department of Public Health, suggesting he was one of more than 4,900 Cook County residents who have died from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.
But the teen didn’t die from COVID-19. He was added to the list erroneously, representatives of both state and local agencies said Wednesday — one of about 100 instances of deaths that at first were wrongfully attributed to the coronavirus, then removed from state data after further review, according to officials.
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Natalia Derevyanny, a spokeswoman for the Cook County medical examiner’s office, said that five months into the global pandemic, this is the first time she’s had to phone Melaney Arnold, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health, about a death being mistakenly added to the running total.
“This is the first time it’s happened,” Derevyanny said.
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As of Wednesday, Cook County has had 4,904, deaths attributable to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including 2,793 in Chicago. As of Wednesday, the state has confirmed 7,573 people have died from the coronavirus statewide.
Statewide, Arnold said there have been “just over 100″ instances of a death being attributed to the coronavirus when the person in fact died of something else, resulting in the death being later removed from the state’s data. However, the information the state provides can’t be independently verified because of the way the state interprets federal health privacy rules.
In an email, Arnold said the agency “does not provide information that could lead to the identification for any individual/death, which would include the date of death.”
Arnold would not say specifically why the teenager was removed from the state’s list, noting only that “additional information has been reported” to the state health department.
She provided the following examples of reasons why an entry may later need to be removed: identification of a duplicated case; additional information from a death certificate; further investigation by a local health department or coroner; and data input error.
Arnold also said the state health department has been reporting numbers as they come in, because of demand for immediate information, and that’s led to corrections being needed as more is found out about each death.
“This is not how public health typically reports data. Data are checked and verified before being reported so that you don’t see this adjustment of numbers,” she said. “This is an unprecedented time.”
The department tries to “ensure data quality in several ways,” Arnold said.
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Methods include reviewing death certificates, communicating with local health departments that are keeping track of the number of COVID-19 deaths in their counties, reviewing data for duplicates, missing information or other data concerns, and speaking with coroners or medical examiners, she said.
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-08-06--Boy, 8, shot twice in his legs in Lawndale drive-by that injured 3 other people

The boy was in fair condition at a hospital after being shot at least once in each leg , according @ @ @ @ @ .
A 26-year-old man was in fair condition with a gunshot wound to his left @ @ @ @ @ was in fair condition with a gunshot wound to the left leg , and a @ @ @ @ @ condition also with a gunshot wound to his left leg , police said .

An 8-year-old boy was one of four people shot as they stood on a sidewalk on the West Side on Wednesday night, authorities said.
The shots were fired from a black SUV shortly after 10 p.m. in the 700 block of South Karlov Avenue in Lawndale, police said.
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The boy was in fair condition at a hospital after being shot at least once in each leg, according to a statement from police. A 26-year-old man was in fair condition with a gunshot wound to his left arm, another 26-year-old man was in fair condition with a gunshot wound to the left leg, and a 36-year-old man was in fair condition also with a gunshot wound to his left leg, police said.
No arrests have been made.
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Check back for updates.
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-08-06--Daywatch: How parents tipped CPS toward remote learning, Pritzker warns of cuts and job losses and l

Daywatch: How parents tipped CPS toward remote learning, Pritzker warns of cuts and job losses and luxury residences outfitted for the pandemic

With most child care centers closed during the pandemic — some perhaps permanently — companies are offering everything from nanny @ @ @ @ @ to keep employees ’ kids engaged and parents productive .
Flexible work schedules have become @ @ @ @ @ parents shift between their caregiver , math helper and rainmaker roles throughout the extended day @

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Good morning, Chicago. Here’s the coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
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Lorna Swan said her son, Kaden Abdur-Rahman, 10, a student at Lenart Elementary Regional Gifted Center, is relieved by the move to remote learning. They read a book together at their home in Chicago on Aug. 5, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
The criticism from the Chicago Teachers Union was to be expected, since its leaders came out against reopening schools even before the district proposed it.
But parents around the city, though more split on whether they wanted in-person classes to begin again, also emerged as a significant bloc of opposition in the last week — ultimately helping push Chicago Public Schools to start the year remotely instead.
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CPS backtracks and moves to all-remote learning for fall, but officials say they won’t be ‘cobbling things together’ like last spring
Chicago police investigate the scene of a shooing at 70 E. Oak Street in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago on Aug. 4, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago police were bracing for retaliation shootings on the South Side after a rapper was killed in a brazen Gold Coast attack, possibly because he had recently made a video featuring “derogatory statements” about rival gang members who have died.
Illinois Gov. J.B Pritzker appears during a news conference at the IEMA State Emergency Operations Center in Springfield on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020. (Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register)
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker warned Wednesday that the state faces “extraordinarily painful” budget cuts if the federal government fails to provide states with relief funding to make up for tax revenue shortfalls caused by efforts to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
The LaMonica family — Amelia, 9, from left, Liliana, 6, Gina and Phil — at their home in Park Ridge on July 27, 2020. Four months into the pandemic, child care is a growing challenge for working parents and the companies that employ them. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
With most child care centers closed during the pandemic — some perhaps permanently — companies are offering everything from nanny stipends to online activity clubs to keep employees’ kids engaged and parents productive. Flexible work schedules have become the new norm, as parents shift between their caregiver, math helper and rainmaker roles throughout the extended day.
A lobby in Porte, which features contactless key fob entry, is seen Aug. 3, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
In a world grappling with COVID-19, co-working space, rooftop gardens teeming with produce and other amenities are increasingly considered essential for people who are spending more time at home for social distancing reasons.


chicagotribune--2020-08-05--The school year is starting with more remote learning. Some companies are throwing working parents a

The school year is starting with more remote learning. Some companies are throwing working parents a lifeline.

“ It ’ s tough , especially when I have meetings , ” said Hampton , who will be working @ @ @ @ @ the end of the year .
“ They like to make little pop-ins and say @ @ @ @ @ meeting .
But fortunately , everyone that I work with has similar circumstances and they @ @ @ @ @ .
”

The LaMonica family — Amelia, 9, from left, Liliana, 6, Gina and Phil — at their home in Park Ridge on July 27, 2020. Four months into the pandemic, child care is a growing challenge for working parents and the companies that employ them. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
When the state issued its stay-at-home order in March, Gina LaMonica, 39, a partner with Chicago law firm Perkins Coie, had just returned from a work trip.
Overnight, the COVID-19 pandemic turned her Park Ridge home into an office and a school as she and her husband juggled their careers and the care of their two young daughters. Worlds collided, work shifted to all hours of the day and night, and somehow, they made it to the summer, exhausted and fully employed.
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“It was very difficult,” LaMonica said. “Those were long days.”
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For working parents like LaMonica, the pending start of the school year, which brings the anxiety of new teachers, schedules and courses under even the best of circumstances, is looming as a major source of stress.
A growing list of companies are pushing office reopenings to 2021 and many school districts, including Chicago Public Schools, are nixing even a part-time return to the classroom, portending an ongoing work-life family mashup that threatens to derail both career and childhood development.
“It is not sustainable to monitor their schooling at the same time that you’re working full time,” said Cornelia Grumman, education director at the McCormick Foundation, which focuses on funding support for early childhood development programs.
[ CPS backtracks and moves to all-remote learning for fall, but officials say they won’t be ‘cobbling things together’ like last spring ]
With most child care centers closed during the pandemic — some perhaps permanently — companies are offering everything from nanny stipends to online activity clubs to keep employees’ kids engaged and parents productive. Flexible work schedules have become the new norm, as parents shift between their caregiver, math helper and rainmaker roles throughout the extended day.
Tech giant Google recently announced it is pushing back a return to the office until July 2021, in part to help parents plan for remote schooling in the fall and beyond. Uber is also giving corporate employees the option to work from home through June, along with a $500 stipend for home office equipment.
Chicago-area companies are grappling with the COVID-19 child care crisis, but it is a work in progress.
CDW, the Lincolnshire-based information technology products company, has about 4,200 employees in the Chicago area, the vast majority of whom are working from home.
About 300 employees continue to work at CDW’s distribution warehouse in Vernon Hills, but the adjacent CDW@Play child care center run by Bright Horizons remains closed, leaving some working parents without a place to bring their children.
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“Like other things, we’re still trying to figure out what the best plan is for that,” said Liz Connelly, chief human resources officer at CDW.
[ Parent opposition helps tip CPS toward an all-remote start: ‘A lot of stress and anxiety ... could’ve been avoided if we had just made this decision sooner’ ]
In June, CDW launched a virtual summer camp for employees’ children. The camp, staffed by CDW volunteers, features live events and on-demand videos guiding campers through cooking, sports, yoga, crafts and other activities.
More than 2,000 CDW family members are attending the virtual camp, which runs through August, Connelly said.
Brittney Hampton, 33, a sales manager assistant at CDW, shifted from a downtown office to her South Side home when the pandemic hit in March. She’s been working from home with her husband and two children — a 3½-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter, who attended a magnet school remotely in the spring.
Hampton, whose husband has continued to work at his Chicago office during the pandemic, relied on her retired parents for in-home child care assistance. She said the CDW online camp has helped entertain her kids, but with her daughter expected to begin fifth grade on an e-learning schedule adopted by Chicago Public Schools, the fall promises to be complicated.
“It’s tough, especially when I have meetings,” said Hampton, who will be working from home through at least the end of the year. “They like to make little pop-ins and say hi to everyone on the meeting. But fortunately, everyone that I work with has similar circumstances and they just take it in stride.”
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[ ‘Every choice is a sacrifice’: Alternative school options see surge of interest as COVID-19 prompts districts, including CPS, to go remote ]
Closed child care centers like the one for CDW families may reflect a bigger problem as offices gradually bring back workers in the months ahead.
Illinois licenses about 10,000 child care centers. All of them were shut down by the state’s stay-at-home order in March, but some were allowed to resume operations with an emergency license to serve essential workers.
Last month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced $270 million in funding to help child care centers reopen, but it may not be enough. Fewer than 1 in 5 centers nationwide expect to survive longer than a year, according to a study released July 13 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
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“The majority of early child care programs in Illinois operate as small businesses,” Grumman said. “You’re already seeing a lot of closures across the state of folks that just can’t make it work.”
Massachusetts-based Bright Horizons has 43 child care centers in Illinois. The company declined to say how many of them remain open.
The company offers a backup care service allowing businesses to provide employees with emergency child care at a subsidized rate — either at a center or in-home — when school closes or a nanny cancels. Demand for the in-home service has skyrocketed during the pandemic, said Kristen Raymaakers, a Bright Horizons spokeswoman.
With child care centers closed and parents wary of letting strangers in their homes, many companies have expanded the benefit so that employees can hire a relative or friend for in-home care and receive reimbursement, Raymaakers said.
In June, Fifth Third Bank began offering employees 30 days of subsidized child support this year, either in-home or at a care center, through Bright Horizons’ backup care program.
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The Cincinnati-based bank, which has 186 branches and more than 3,000 employees in the Chicago area, hasn’t announced a return to the office yet. About 1,300 employees work at branches and another 300 in the bank’s suburban Rosemont headquarters, while the other 1,400 work remotely, bank spokesman Larry Magnesen said.
In July, Fifth Third “reloaded” yearly sick time for employees to their full 56 hours for the balance of 2020 and added five vacation days for 2021.
“People ended up using the vacation and sick days to stay home with their kids,” Magnesen said.
Jennifer Svendsen, 41, branch manager of Fifth Third Bank’s Fox Valley Villages branch in Aurora, has used personal days to care for her 10- and 8-year-old daughters.
She and her husband, a corporal with the DuPage County sheriff’s office, have been working at their respective offices throughout the pandemic. Svendsen enlisted her mother to help watch their daughters at their Montgomery home during remote schooling in the spring.
On Monday, Svendsen learned that Lakewood Creek Elementary School in Montgomery, where her kids are entering fifth and third grades, is starting Aug. 19 with a fully remote schedule. That means more studying around the kitchen table for two to three hours each evening, after the workday is done, a “really tough” second job, Svendsen said.
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“I’m scrambling to figure out what I’m going to do,” Svendsen said. “I’m really disappointed. I was shooting for the in-person learning with as much protection as possible — masks and social distancing. But I don’t think school districts want the liability.”
A July survey of 700 parents conducted by Homes.com found 82% report they are unprepared to resume at-home learning if schools do not reopen. Nearly two-thirds of parents said they struggled with job issues because of the added responsibility of supervising their children’s learning.
Tami Simon, a human resources adviser at Segal, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm, said there is no one-size-fits-all answer to solving the child care crisis for employees during COVID-19.
Condensed workweeks, flexible schedules and temporary shifts from full- to part-time — without adversely affecting career trajectory — are among the solutions employers are considering, along with job sharing, Simon said.
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Companies are looking at upping child care subsidies, creating support groups for parents and facilitating parent pods, where families jointly hire a tutor and kids go from house to house for ad hoc classes, Simon said.
But with so much uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, she said flexibility should be the guiding principle for companies.
“The No. 1 thing employees value is flexibility — to be able to know they can deal with whatever comes their way and they’re not going to get in trouble by their employer,” Simon said.
Lana McKenna, 44, managing director for BMO Harris Commercial Bank and a veteran remote worker, believes organization can help parents handle the pandemic.
McKenna has divided her workdays between her Westmont home and the bank’s Chicago office since the birth of her first child in 2013. She and her husband, a suburban insurance executive, worked exclusively from home in the spring, while their two sons attended a private Downers Grove grade school remotely.
BMO provided up to 15 days of paid time off to all employees during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, to support family and child care. McKenna used some of that time at the onset of the pandemic to organize a tight schedule for her family on a color-coded calendar.
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Items marked in red indicated someone needed “alone time” to complete a task. Also written into the calendar was “outside time,” a necessity for both kids and parents.
“There were times that it was raining outside, but no lightning or thunder, and we both had a conference call,” she said. “I said ‘put on your raincoat and rain boots and get outside and go make mud pies.’ Thank goodness we have two little boys and they were more than happy to oblige.”
McKenna is back to splitting time between home and her office and is planning to send their 5- and 6-year-old sons back to nearly full-time classroom learning this fall, an option the family chose over e-learning.
The decision was driven by a “risk-reward” analysis after a challenging spring under one roof, she said.
“I recognize I’m a much better banker than a teacher,” McKenna said. “I fully appreciate everything that our teachers are doing for our kids by taking on those two jobs.”
Seattle-based law firm Perkins Coie has about 250 employees in its Chicago office. Most employees have been working from home since March and have the option to continue to do so through at least the end of the year, said Jennifer Bluestein, chief talent officer at Perkins Coie.
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To accommodate remote working during the pandemic, the firm doubled from 20 to 40 the number of days employees may use the backup care benefit through Bright Horizons, Bluestein said. The plan gives employees $100 a day to hire an in-home child care provider of their choice.
LaMonica, who specializes in white collar defense, and her husband Phil, a truck leasing executive, operated in shifts during the spring, alternating between work and overseeing the e-learning curriculum for their daughters, rising public school fourth and first graders.
This week, with a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Illinois, LaMonica decided to opt for more remote learning in the fall after consulting with a pediatric pulmonologist treating her younger daughter for respiratory issues.
She worries about everything from the loss of social interaction for her kids to keeping up with her work, but vows to “power through it” as they did in the spring.
“I try to keep myself from thinking if this is sustainable in the long term, because you can get overwhelmed,” LaMonica said. “But we’re all in the same boat and it’s going to be tough.”
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rchannick@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-05--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened on Aug. 4 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

Chicago Public Schools is expected to announce as soon as Wednesday an all-remote learning plan to start the school year amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic , a move that could avert a potential Chicago Teachers Union strike , sources said .
The switch to an all-remote learning plan could come as CTU leaders are planning to convene the organization ’ s House of Delegates next week and consider a process that eventually could lead to a strike if CPS doesn ’ t agree to start the school year with full remote learning , sources said Tuesday .
Earlier in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the city ’ s stay-at-home list for travelers , meaning people coming into the city from there should remain quarantined indoors for two weeks when they arrive .
Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady also announced that households and social gatherings are overtaking congregate settings such as nursing homes and the Cook County Jail as the most dangerous situations .
Meanwhile , Illinois health officials on Tuesday reported 1,471 new known cases and 19 additional fatalities , including a teenager in Cook County .
The total number of known infections in Illinois now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ toll is 7,545 .
Chicago officials added Puerto Rico to its stay-at-home list for travelers Tuesday , meaning people coming into the city from there should remain quarantined indoors for two weeks when they arrive .
Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady announced Puerto Rico will join 22 states on the travel list this Friday as she also warned of a shift in the way COVID-19 is being transmitted in Chicago .
Households and social gatherings are overtaking congregate settings such as nursing homes and the Cook County Jail as the most dangerous situations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ danger of contracting the disease at a party , Arwady recounted a story she said a contract tracer heard about a woman attending her mother ’ s birthday party , along with her son , daughter , sister and niece .
Arwady said households are now “ 10 times the risk of any other exposures , ” and recounted a series of anecdotes about Chicagoans attending social gatherings where they and others were lax about wearing masks and social distancing , then came down with the virus .
6:58 p.m. : Wisconsin-based Epic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the office , though some workers fear ‘ untold deaths ’ Epic Systems is requiring its 9,000-plus employees to return to work in person at its sprawling campus outside of Madison by Sept. 21 .
The health software company is one of the first large employers in the state to no longer give employees the choice of working from home .
“ We do our best work when together , ” Ashley Gibson , a company spokeswoman , told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel .
“ And we are working to bring everyone back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Epic workers decried the order , saying company CEO Judy Faulkner was ignoring public health advice , according to a statement made in conjunction with the Industrial Workers of the World labor union .
6:24 p.m. : Naperville ’ s two superintendents explain why remote learning was their only option for the fall Administrators from both Naperville-area school districts Monday defended their decisions to start the school year in September and to have all students do remote learning through at least October .
The changes were made weeks after Naperville District 203 Superintendent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Superintendent Adrian Talley presented a different approach to the return to class : a choice between learning online on a full-time basis or going to school on some days and learning from home on others .
Bridges and Talley , speaking to their respective school boards at separate meetings , said information they ’ ve received in the past few weeks caused them to switch the plans .
District 204 said state figures show that from July 15 to July 28 , the positivity rate for the region that includes DuPage County rose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In the region to the south that includes Will County , the rate rose from 4.6 % to 6.3 % .
Both districts have schools in DuPage and Will .
Chicago Public Schools is expected to announce as soon as Wednesday an all-remote learning plan to start the school year amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic , a move that could avert a potential Chicago Teachers Union strike , sources said .
The switch to an all-remote learning plan could come as CTU leaders are planning to convene the organization ’ s House of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that eventually could lead to a strike if CPS doesn ’ t agree to start the school year with full remote learning , sources said Tuesday .
The union ’ s governing body includes members representing schools from across the city .
College freshmen are facing unprecedented adjustments this year due to COVID-19 .
But for 18-year-old Anicia Miller , who ’ s lived in public housing all her life , the overjoyed feeling she gets thinking about school still hasn ’ t subsided , despite plans to stay remote for the upcoming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t believe it sometimes , ” said Miller , a St. Ignatius College Prep School graduate who plans to enroll at Harvard this fall .
“ To be able to say that I was able to just go throughout schooling and be involved in so many extracurriculars and , really , just be able to be accepted into Harvard is just amazing because of the prestige and all of the opportunities I ’ ll have as a student.
” Miller was one of 150 soon-to-be college students celebrated Tuesday morning in a send-off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ event marked the 10th rendition of the Chicago Housing Authority and its nonprofit Springboard to Success ’ annual celebration , which underwent major adjustments this year because of COVID-19 .
Students were given dorm room supplies meant to assist them in school , such as Chromebook laptops , and laundry and toiletry supplies .
Families picked up their packages from a distance in a drive-thru celebration .
The event “ means a lot to me , ” said Miller , who plans to major in biomedical engineering in hopes of creating prosthetic devices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still is great that this organization was able to adapt and ... congratulate the students and give them all the necessary things they need in college despite the circumstances.
” 5:13 p.m. : Setting up possible teachers strike , CTU plans to convene House of Delegates next week , sources say The Chicago Teachers Union is planning to convene its House of Delegates early next week to consider a process that could lead to a strike if Chicago Public Schools doesn ’ t agree to start the school year with full remote learning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s not clear if the process would differ from the steps taken before the 11-day teachers strike last fall , but the union ’ s bylaws require a full membership vote to authorize a strike after the matter comes before the House of Delegates .
Educator unions nationwide , including the Illinois Federation of Teachers and American Federation of Teachers , have said they ’ d support local unions if insufficient COVID-19 precautions on the part of school districts lead to “ health and safety strikes.
” With CPS ’ final fall instruction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be seen if the threat of a strike will affect the outcome .
Illinois House Republican leader Jim Durkin said Tuesday that Democratic Gov .
J.B. Pritzker has dealt with the pandemic as “ well as anybody ” but has “ overextended himself ” as he continues to use emergency powers without review or action by the General Assembly .
Durkin , speaking at a virtual event for the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale , also said GOP legislative candidates this fall will need to acknowledge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of support in the state and focus on the ongoing federal corruption scandal and its ties to House Speaker Michael Madigan .
“ I agreed with him on it because I knew that the virus is for real and we had to see if we could stop the spread of it quickly , ” he said .
But , he said , as restrictions began to be lessened in subsequent executive orders , there were things he disagreed with .
“ I just had a very difficult time understanding the logic of keeping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ small mom-and-pops couldn ’ t open their stores .
They were determined to be nonessential , ” Durkin said .
“ To me , that ’ s where the governor made a mistake , that we allowed these big-boxes to never stop operations at all , ” he said .
“ He could have found a common ground with the hospitality industry .
That ’ s where most of our jobs have been lost , in the restaurants , where people live ... week by week.
” 3:37 p.m. : Big Ten @ @ @ @ @ @ @ canceling the 2020 football season — is getting input from conference athletes via video calls Pac-12 football players penned an essay in The Players ’ Tribune under the headline “ # WeAreUnited ” to get the attention of Commissioner Larry Scott .
They are threatening a boycott if their demands — including revenue sharing — are not met .
Sources say Commissioner Kevin Warren has attempted to meet with two student-athletes from each Big Ten school by video conference — one football player , one from a different sport .
He completed some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clearly wants to get the pulse of players before deciding whether to move forward or pull the plug on the 2020 season .
That also explains why the Big Ten , which initially planned to release its football schedule Tuesday , will wait at least another day before making an announcement .
Sources say that after Warren learned Monday of the COVID-19 outbreak at Rutgers — NJ.com reported that 28 football players plus “ multiple team staffers ” have been infected , forcing the team into isolation until Saturday — he reconsidered the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ p.m. : Is the coronavirus issuing last call for Chicago ’ s old school neighborhood bars ?
The closing two weeks ago of 34-year-old Guthrie ’ s Tavern , announced hours after the city said it would roll back bars ’ abilities to operate , may have just been the first sign that the simple business model of offering a pint , a pool table and late night camaraderie has become particularly tenuous in the era of coronavirus .
Before restaurant groups , before cell phones and before Chicago transitioned from blue collar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pieces of Chicago ’ s fabric , and they remain key to understanding the city .
They ’ re often far older than a neighborhood ’ s current character .
They are vehicles to the past .
But the COVID-19 pandemic — and the city ’ s response to it , whether flawed , justified or somewhere in between — threatens their futures .
“ Before the pandemic not having a food license and not having to deal with a patio was a blessing , ” said Gman Tavern manager Tom Cathcart said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ curse.
” 2:32 p.m. : Private schools in Naperville being deluged by parents wanting in-person classes for their children Since Naperville District 203 and Indian Prairie District 204 announced back-to-school plans that included remote learning , there ’ s been a significant spike in emails and calls from parents wanting what private schools can provide this fall : daily in-person instruction in a classroom , officials said .
Patricia Bajek , director of student services for All Saints Catholic Academy , said admission inquiries at the K-8 school on Aurora Avenue were quiet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ end of May .
By July , when public school districts announced they would be offering a mix of in-person and remote learning , requests for information “ took off like lightning , ” she said .
The two districts have since decided all classes will be done remotely through October .
Michelle Etchason is starting her 29th year as a teacher in High School District 230 , and said she ’ s never been fearful about returning to the classroom , until now .
The president of the union that represents more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which operates high schools in Orland Park , Palos Hills and Tinley Park , said that for the safety of teachers and students the district should drop plans for a reopening that has students alternating between classroom and online learning .
She and about 50 other teachers took part in a car caravan Tuesday , starting at the district ’ s administration center then passing by the high schools with signs reading “ stay online until cases decline ” and “ go virtual no viral.
” 2:24 p.m. : Coalition works to expand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who have been hit hard by COVID-19 Monia Taylor , 64 , must decide whether her monthly Supplemental Security Income will pay for food or rent , but not both .
COVID-19 worsened the problem .
Taylor , a member of the Chicago Disability Activism Collective , works with the organization to expand rights for people in the disability community .
She has lupus , an autoimmune disease .
The group on Tuesday kicked off a campaign to push for an increase in Supplemental Security Income for Cook County residents with disabilities that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to all Illinois residents with disabilities .
There are more than 150,000 Cook County residents who receive SSI , according to the proposal .
2:10 p.m. : Pritzker says U. of I.
‘ s COVID-19 saliva test could be made more widely available Gov .
J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday his administration is in talks with University of Illinois officials about making a saliva test researchers there have developed for use on campus more widely available in Illinois .
The saliva test developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will be used for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on campus this fall , and differs from the invasive nasal swab that ’ s been much more widely used as the method for testing for COVID-19 .
“ We ’ re going to continue to ramp up testing across the state , make sure that that ’ s available .
You may have heard that the University of Illinois now has a saliva test , ” Pritzker said Tuesday at a news conference at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale .
“ We ’ re talking to the University of Illinois about how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to other locations.
” The University of Illinois announced Monday that students and faculty participating in in-person classes this fall are required to undergo the saliva-based testing twice weekly , beginning later this month .
A day after announcing the launch of a mask awareness campaign that seeks to target areas of the state with rising coronavirus metrics that indicate a resurgence there , Pritzker aimed his message in Carbondale directly at universities and colleges .
“ There ’ s not a single one of these institutions that should be opening without making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mask mandate , ” Pritzker said .
“ We have a statewide mask mandate , we ’ ve had one since May 1 .
There ’ s some people who don ’ t follow it , but on university campuses , it ’ s vitally important that everybody follow it , keep their social distance and then we make sure we don ’ t have overcapacity in this environment so that there ’ s a viral load that builds up in any given space.
” For years , the Open House Chicago architecture @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the promise of peeking behind facades and getting a look at splendid interiors , like the soaring Art Deco lobby of the Chicago Board of Trade Building .
The Chicago Architecture Center , which runs the festival , announced Tuesday that this year ’ s event will offer exterior and online tours due to “ the unpredictable nature of the COVID-19 pandemic.
” Unless plans change , there will be no interior tours .
As if to compensate for the loss of the event ’ s signature feature , the center will expand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Oct. 16-25 , marking the event ’ s 10th anniversary .
In the past , the festival was on a single weekend .
12:58 p.m. : Reputed mob boss Michael ‘ the Large Guy ’ Sarno wants out of prison 12 years early because of the pandemic Reputed mob boss Michael “ the Large Guy ” Sarno says 10 years behind bars has reduced him to “ a senior citizen with severe medical issues , ” and he wants out of federal prison early because of the “ deadly risk ” of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ compassionate release for the 62-year-old Sarno , who was sentenced to 25 years in 2012 for ordering the bombing of a rival business in Berwyn to protect his illegal and lucrative video poker operation .
Big house parties and weddings , summer camps , concerts , crowded bars and restaurants , shopping trips without masks — Americans ' resistance to curbs on everyday life is seen as a key reason the U.S. has racked up more confirmed coronavirus deaths and infections by far than any other country .
The nation has recorded more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than six months and is fast approaching an almost off-the-charts 5 million COVID-19 infections .
Some Americans have resisted wearing masks and social distancing , calling such precautions an over-the-top response or an infringement on their liberty .
Public health experts say such behavior has been compounded by confusing and inconsistent guidance from politicians and a patchwork quilt of approaches to containing the scourge by county , state and federal governments .
“ The thing that ’ s maddening is country after country and state after state have shown us how we can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jonathan Quick , who is leading a pandemic initiative for the Rockefeller Foundation .
“ It ’ s not like we don ’ t know what works .
We do.
” The number of confirmed infections in the U.S. has topped 4.7 million , with new cases running at over 60,000 a day .
While that 's down from a peak of well over 70,000 in the second half of July , cases are on the rise in 26 states , many of them in the South and West , and deaths are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the number of COVID-19 deaths per day in the U.S. over the past two weeks has gone from about 780 to 1,056 , according to an Associated Press analysis .
Illinois health officials on Tuesday announced 1,471 new known cases of COVID-19 and 19 additional fatalities , including a teenager in Cook County .
The total number of known infections in Illinois now stands at 184,712 and the statewide death toll is 7,545 .
Officials also reported 42,598 new tests in the last 24 hours .
The seven-day statewide positivity rate is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the channel , sources said , are host Leila Rahimi and TV part-timer Laurence Holmes as NBCSCH is reducing its original programming , focusing on White Sox , Blackhawks and Bulls games and the studio shows that complement them .
“ Due to the ongoing economic challenges caused by the pandemic and with the need to better position NBCUniversal for the future , we have made a number of difficult decisions to achieve cost savings , including eliminating some roles across the portfolio , ” NBCUniversal said in a statement .
Allstate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawsuits alleging they failed to sufficiently reduce premiums to Illinois policyholders as more drivers stay off the road during the coronavirus pandemic .
10:30 a.m. : One of the biggest hurdles for COVID-19 patients is breathing .
Respiratory therapists help make it happen , but the field is dwindling .
Even as they are needed to help COVID-19 patients , many respiratory therapists say people don ’ t understand their role .
Meanwhile , the workforce is dwindling .
According to the National Board for Respiratory Care , more than 125 million patient @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with an aging population increasing the need .
Respiratory therapist jobs are projected to grow , but the number of people entering the field is shrinking , said board CEO Lori Tinkler .
COVID-19 has even brought people out of retirement , she said .
10:15 a.m. : Chicago health commissioner supports students attending class in schools if virus under control Chicago ’ s health commissioner on Tuesday said she wants children learning in schools this fall “ if the outbreak is broadly in control.
” Dr. Allison Arwady warned that lots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ place right now within households , but said if the city ’ s pandemic numbers look good , she feels Chicago Public Schools can handle in-person learning safely .
” Where the child is at school wearing a mask with the social distancing , with the appropriate procedures in place , I honestly do not think the risk of spread is significant , ” Arwady said at her weekly news conference about the city ’ s travel list .
“ I wouldn ’ t be promoting this if I thought it was.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each other in school are significant , Arwady said .
” I ’ m a pediatrician , and I feel pretty strongly that there are benefits for in-person education , especially for younger children who don ’ t learn well from screens , and all of the social and emotional benefits , and all of the other things we ’ ve talked about , ” Arwady said .
“ But it all comes back to what that local data looks like.
” Chicago Public Schools has told parents to choose by this Friday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in school as part of a hybrid model this fall , or stay at home .
As Chicago ’ s positivity rate for coronavirus cases continues to rise , Arwady said “ I can ’ t say the risk is zero , of course.
” ” And again , the more our numbers are going up in Chicago , the more concern I have about this .
Because as our cases increase , the risk of people having COVID , especially asymptomatic COVID , does go up , ” she said .
Chicago @ @ @ @ @ @ @ list for travelers Tuesday , meaning people coming into the city from there should remain quarantined indoors for two weeks when they arrive .
Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady announced Puerto Rico will join 22 states on the travel list this Friday as she also warned of a shift in the way COVID-19 is being transmitted in Chicago , with households and social gatherings overtaking congregate settings like nursing homes and the Cook County Jail as the most dangerous situations .
Arwady said households are now “ 10 times the risk of any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ series of anecdotes about Chicagoans attending social gatherings where they and others were lax about wearing masks and social distancing , then came down with the virus .
People who live with high-risk relatives should consider social distancing and wearing masks within their homes after they have potentially high-risk exposures outside the home , Arwady said .
While adding Puerto Rico to the stay-at-home list because the island now has more than 15 cases per 100,000 residents , Arwady said Iowa , Kansas and Utah are now below that threshold .
If they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they would get removed from the list , she said .
6 a.m. : Parents who want schools to reopen this fall say it ’ s a matter of choice , not politics .
‘ Students ’ mental health ... has got to be weighed . '
When Mairin Gradek ’ s local schools superintendent posted a cheerful YouTube video in early July describing tentative plans to welcome students back into the classroom , the Arlington Heights mother of three was excited that more remote learning was merely an option for parents , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s optimism that her neighborhood schools would reopen this fall was also buoyed by the results of a recent School District 25 survey , which found that around 75 % of parents supported either an in-person or hybrid plan , with remote learning trailing as the least popular option in third place .
But in recent days , District 25 joined a rapidly growing list of suburban school systems that have abandoned hopes of bringing kids back into the classroom at the start of the new school year .
“ In my naivete @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t have to provide public comment on this issue , because it looked like my wishes for schools to reopen were being served , and that e-learning would only be one of the options , ” Gradek said .
“ Parents like me are seeking at least some bit of in-person learning for our kids , so I ’ m still praying that the district ’ s decision will change.
” Now , with the start of school just weeks away , many parents say they feel like they ’ re part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to have their children back in school has been pushed aside by school officials who are buckling to pressure from teachers unions .
6 a.m. : In search for COVID-19 treatments , consumer group pushes drugmaker Gilead to test alternative to remdesivir The pharmaceutical company that makes remdesivir — the only medication that has emergency authorization to fight COVID-19 — should also be conducting human trials on a related drug with strong potential , according to a citizen advocacy group that believes the alternative could be more effective , less expensive and easier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Citizen sent a letter dated Tuesday to the CEO of Gilead Sciences and top federal regulators , urging the company and the government to work together to move forward with clinical trials of the drug “ or publicly provide evidence why it is not scientifically or medically feasible to develop this drug in parallel with its close analogue , remdesivir.
” Failing either of those options , the company should “ release permission so other researchers can pursue it , ” said Public Citizen health researcher Michael Abrams , who crafted the letter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ralph Nader , has long advocated for greater corporate responsibility .
Officials from Public Citizen , joined by two drug researchers from Texas , suggested in the letter “ there are significant financial incentives ” for Gilead to stick with remdesivir over the lesser-known drug , known only as GS-441524 .
Specifically , the patent on GS-441524 dates to around 2009 , compared with remdesivir about five years later , meaning that Gilead has exclusive rights to produce remdesivir further into the future .
Remdesivir is an expensive drug , priced at $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 2,340 for each patient treated over the course of five days .
Gilead spokesman Chris Ridley said the decision to move forward with remdesivir was based on “ available evidence ” indicating that remdesivir generated more of a key virus-fighting molecule and was more effective against the new coronavirus than the other drug .
Here are five stories from Monday related to COVID-19 :

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Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Public Schools is expected to announce as soon as Wednesday an all-remote learning plan to start the school year amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a move that could avert a potential Chicago Teachers Union strike, sources said.
The switch to an all-remote learning plan could come as CTU leaders are planning to convene the organization’s House of Delegates next week and consider a process that eventually could lead to a strike if CPS doesn’t agree to start the school year with full remote learning, sources said Tuesday.
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Earlier in the day, Chicago officials added Puerto Rico to the city’s stay-at-home list for travelers, meaning people coming into the city from there should remain quarantined indoors for two weeks when they arrive. Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady also announced that households and social gatherings are overtaking congregate settings such as nursing homes and the Cook County Jail as the most dangerous situations.
Meanwhile, Illinois health officials on Tuesday reported 1,471 new known cases and 19 additional fatalities, including a teenager in Cook County. The total number of known infections in Illinois now stands at 184,712 and the statewide death toll is 7,545.
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[ Illinois coronavirus graphs: Here's the latest data on deaths, confirmed cases, tests and more ]
Here’s what’s happening Tuesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
8:09 p.m. (update): Puerto Rico added to Chicago’s travel list as city health commissioner warns of coronavirus spread at households, social gatherings
Chicago officials added Puerto Rico to its stay-at-home list for travelers Tuesday, meaning people coming into the city from there should remain quarantined indoors for two weeks when they arrive.
Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady announced Puerto Rico will join 22 states on the travel list this Friday as she also warned of a shift in the way COVID-19 is being transmitted in Chicago.
Households and social gatherings are overtaking congregate settings such as nursing homes and the Cook County Jail as the most dangerous situations, Arwady said.
To underscore the danger of contracting the disease at a party, Arwady recounted a story she said a contract tracer heard about a woman attending her mother’s birthday party, along with her son, daughter, sister and niece.
“Everyone tested positive after getting together at the event,” Arwady said.
Arwady said households are now “10 times the risk of any other exposures,” and recounted a series of anecdotes about Chicagoans attending social gatherings where they and others were lax about wearing masks and social distancing, then came down with the virus.
Read more here. —John Byrne
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6:58 p.m.: Wisconsin-based Epic Systems ordering its 9,000-plus workers back to the office, though some workers fear ‘untold deaths’
Epic Systems is requiring its 9,000-plus employees to return to work in person at its sprawling campus outside of Madison by Sept. 21.
The health software company is one of the first large employers in the state to no longer give employees the choice of working from home.
“We do our best work when together,” Ashley Gibson, a company spokeswoman, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “And we are working to bring everyone back safely so we can do that.”
Epic workers decried the order, saying company CEO Judy Faulkner was ignoring public health advice, according to a statement made in conjunction with the Industrial Workers of the World labor union.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
6:24 p.m.: Naperville’s two superintendents explain why remote learning was their only option for the fall
Administrators from both Naperville-area school districts Monday defended their decisions to start the school year in September and to have all students do remote learning through at least October.
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The changes were made weeks after Naperville District 203 Superintendent Dan Bridges and Indian Prairie District 204 Superintendent Adrian Talley presented a different approach to the return to class: a choice between learning online on a full-time basis or going to school on some days and learning from home on others.
Bridges and Talley, speaking to their respective school boards at separate meetings, said information they’ve received in the past few weeks caused them to switch the plans.
Among the factors raising alarms was the growing number of confirmed COVID-19 cases.
District 204 said state figures show that from July 15 to July 28, the positivity rate for the region that includes DuPage County rose from 3.8% to 4.7%. In the region to the south that includes Will County, the rate rose from 4.6% to 6.3%. Both districts have schools in DuPage and Will.
“These numbers and this trend in a short amount of time gave us cause to rethink our plan,” Talley said.
Read more here. —Suzanne Baker
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5:55 p.m.: CPS expected to announce all-remote learning plan, sources say
Chicago Public Schools is expected to announce as soon as Wednesday an all-remote learning plan to start the school year amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a move that could avert a potential Chicago Teachers Union strike, sources said.
The switch to an all-remote learning plan could come as CTU leaders are planning to convene the organization’s House of Delegates next week and consider a process that eventually could lead to a strike if CPS doesn’t agree to start the school year with full remote learning, sources said Tuesday. The union’s governing body includes members representing schools from across the city.
A city source emphasized the decision had nothing to do with a potential teachers strike.
Read more here. —Hannah Leone, John Byrne and Gregory Pratt
5:42 p.m.: Public housing residents celebrate students heading off to college despite COVID-19
College freshmen are facing unprecedented adjustments this year due to COVID-19. But for 18-year-old Anicia Miller, who’s lived in public housing all her life, the overjoyed feeling she gets thinking about school still hasn’t subsided, despite plans to stay remote for the upcoming semester.
“I still can’t believe it sometimes,” said Miller, a St. Ignatius College Prep School graduate who plans to enroll at Harvard this fall. “To be able to say that I was able to just go throughout schooling and be involved in so many extracurriculars and, really, just be able to be accepted into Harvard is just amazing because of the prestige and all of the opportunities I’ll have as a student.”
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Miller was one of 150 soon-to-be college students celebrated Tuesday morning in a send-off for Chicago public housing residents. The event marked the 10th rendition of the Chicago Housing Authority and its nonprofit Springboard to Success’ annual celebration, which underwent major adjustments this year because of COVID-19.
Students were given dorm room supplies meant to assist them in school, such as Chromebook laptops, and laundry and toiletry supplies. Families picked up their packages from a distance in a drive-thru celebration.
The event “means a lot to me,” said Miller, who plans to major in biomedical engineering in hopes of creating prosthetic devices for children one day. “That still is great that this organization was able to adapt and ... congratulate the students and give them all the necessary things they need in college despite the circumstances.”
Read more here. —Kelli Smith
5:13 p.m.: Setting up possible teachers strike, CTU plans to convene House of Delegates next week, sources say
The Chicago Teachers Union is planning to convene its House of Delegates early next week to consider a process that could lead to a strike if Chicago Public Schools doesn’t agree to start the school year with full remote learning, sources said Tuesday.
It’s not clear if the process would differ from the steps taken before the 11-day teachers strike last fall, but the union’s bylaws require a full membership vote to authorize a strike after the matter comes before the House of Delegates.
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Educator unions nationwide, including the Illinois Federation of Teachers and American Federation of Teachers, have said they’d support local unions if insufficient COVID-19 precautions on the part of school districts lead to “health and safety strikes.”
With CPS’ final fall instruction plan due this week, it remains to be seen if the threat of a strike will affect the outcome.
Read more here. —Hannah Leone and John Byrne
4:30 p.m.: State House GOP leader says Pritzker overextending his executive authority in dealing with pandemic
Illinois House Republican leader Jim Durkin said Tuesday that Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has dealt with the pandemic as “well as anybody” but has “overextended himself” as he continues to use emergency powers without review or action by the General Assembly.
Durkin, speaking at a virtual event for the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, also said GOP legislative candidates this fall will need to acknowledge President Donald Trump’s varying degrees of support in the state and focus on the ongoing federal corruption scandal and its ties to House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Durkin, a 22-year House veteran from Western Springs, said he backed Pritzker’s early emergency orders, including the March stay-at-home order for workers deemed nonessential.
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“I agreed with him on it because I knew that the virus is for real and we had to see if we could stop the spread of it quickly,” he said.
But, he said, as restrictions began to be lessened in subsequent executive orders, there were things he disagreed with.
“I just had a very difficult time understanding the logic of keeping a Target or Walmart open” while “small mom-and-pops couldn’t open their stores. They were determined to be nonessential,” Durkin said.
“To me, that’s where the governor made a mistake, that we allowed these big-boxes to never stop operations at all,” he said. “He could have found a common ground with the hospitality industry. That’s where most of our jobs have been lost, in the restaurants, where people live ... week by week.”
Read more here. —Rick Pearson
3:37 p.m.: Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren — as he ponders canceling the 2020 football season — is getting input from conference athletes via video calls
Pac-12 football players penned an essay in The Players’ Tribune under the headline “#WeAreUnited” to get the attention of Commissioner Larry Scott. They are threatening a boycott if their demands — including revenue sharing — are not met.
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Big Ten athletes, meanwhile, recently have been getting a more direct line to the top of the conference.
Sources say Commissioner Kevin Warren has attempted to meet with two student-athletes from each Big Ten school by video conference — one football player, one from a different sport. He completed some calls Monday and others Tuesday.
Warren clearly wants to get the pulse of players before deciding whether to move forward or pull the plug on the 2020 season.
That also explains why the Big Ten, which initially planned to release its football schedule Tuesday, will wait at least another day before making an announcement.
And that’s not all.
Sources say that after Warren learned Monday of the COVID-19 outbreak at Rutgers — NJ.com reported that 28 football players plus “multiple team staffers” have been infected, forcing the team into isolation until Saturday — he reconsidered the conference’s next step.
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Read more here. —Teddy Greenstein
2:40 p.m.: Is the coronavirus issuing last call for Chicago’s old school neighborhood bars?
The closing two weeks ago of 34-year-old Guthrie’s Tavern, announced hours after the city said it would roll back bars’ abilities to operate, may have just been the first sign that the simple business model of offering a pint, a pool table and late night camaraderie has become particularly tenuous in the era of coronavirus.
Before restaurant groups, before cell phones and before Chicago transitioned from blue collar to white, neighborhood bars were core pieces of Chicago’s fabric, and they remain key to understanding the city. They’re often far older than a neighborhood’s current character. They are vehicles to the past.
But the COVID-19 pandemic — and the city’s response to it, whether flawed, justified or somewhere in between — threatens their futures.
“Before the pandemic not having a food license and not having to deal with a patio was a blessing,” said Gman Tavern manager Tom Cathcart said. “Now it’s a curse.”
Read more here. —Josh Noel
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2:32 p.m.: Private schools in Naperville being deluged by parents wanting in-person classes for their children
Parochial schools in Naperville are being inundated by parents searching for alternatives to public schools for the upcoming school year.
Since Naperville District 203 and Indian Prairie District 204 announced back-to-school plans that included remote learning, there’s been a significant spike in emails and calls from parents wanting what private schools can provide this fall: daily in-person instruction in a classroom, officials said.
Patricia Bajek, director of student services for All Saints Catholic Academy, said admission inquiries at the K-8 school on Aurora Avenue were quiet from the middle of March to the end of May.
In June, when All Saints began resuming in-person tours, 17 new students enrolled, Bajek said.
By July, when public school districts announced they would be offering a mix of in-person and remote learning, requests for information “took off like lightning,” she said. The two districts have since decided all classes will be done remotely through October.
Read more here. —Suzanne Baker
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2:30 p.m.: District 230 teachers demonstrate in favor of online learning when school year begins
Michelle Etchason is starting her 29th year as a teacher in High School District 230, and said she’s never been fearful about returning to the classroom, until now.
The president of the union that represents more than 540 teachers in the district, which operates high schools in Orland Park, Palos Hills and Tinley Park, said that for the safety of teachers and students the district should drop plans for a reopening that has students alternating between classroom and online learning.
“Right now, a lot of us fear coming back to school,” Etchason said.
She and about 50 other teachers took part in a car caravan Tuesday, starting at the district’s administration center then passing by the high schools with signs reading “stay online until cases decline” and “go virtual no viral.”
Read more here. —Mike Nolan
2:24 p.m.: Coalition works to expand payments for Illinois residents with disabilities, who have been hit hard by COVID-19
Monia Taylor, 64, must decide whether her monthly Supplemental Security Income will pay for food or rent, but not both. COVID-19 worsened the problem.
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“The poverty Black people and disabled people face on a daily basis didn’t start with COVID,” Taylor said during an online news conference Tuesday. “The virus just exacerbated the problem.”
Taylor, a member of the Chicago Disability Activism Collective, works with the organization to expand rights for people in the disability community. She has lupus, an autoimmune disease.
The group on Tuesday kicked off a campaign to push for an increase in Supplemental Security Income for Cook County residents with disabilities that group members hope will eventually be extended to all Illinois residents with disabilities. There are more than 150,000 Cook County residents who receive SSI, according to the proposal.
Read more here. —Sydney Czyzon
2:10 p.m.: Pritzker says U. of I.‘s COVID-19 saliva test could be made more widely available
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday his administration is in talks with University of Illinois officials about making a saliva test researchers there have developed for use on campus more widely available in Illinois.
The saliva test developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will be used for faculty and students before in- person classes on campus this fall, and differs from the invasive nasal swab that’s been much more widely used as the method for testing for COVID-19.
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“We’re going to continue to ramp up testing across the state, make sure that that’s available. You may have heard that the University of Illinois now has a saliva test,” Pritzker said Tuesday at a news conference at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. “We’re talking to the University of Illinois about how we might provide that across the state to other locations.”
The University of Illinois announced Monday that students and faculty participating in in-person classes this fall are required to undergo the saliva-based testing twice weekly, beginning later this month.
A day after announcing the launch of a mask awareness campaign that seeks to target areas of the state with rising coronavirus metrics that indicate a resurgence there, Pritzker aimed his message in Carbondale directly at universities and colleges.
“There’s not a single one of these institutions that should be opening without making sure that you’re enforcing a mask mandate,” Pritzker said. “We have a statewide mask mandate, we’ve had one since May 1. There’s some people who don’t follow it, but on university campuses, it’s vitally important that everybody follow it, keep their social distance and then we make sure we don’t have overcapacity in this environment so that there’s a viral load that builds up in any given space.”
Read more here. —Jamie Munks
1:41 p.m.: Pandemic forces Open House Chicago to shift to exterior and online tours
For years, the Open House Chicago architecture festival has lured thousands of visitors with the promise of peeking behind facades and getting a look at splendid interiors, like the soaring Art Deco lobby of the Chicago Board of Trade Building.
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This year will be different, a concession to the public health risks posed by COVID-19.
The Chicago Architecture Center, which runs the festival, announced Tuesday that this year’s event will offer exterior and online tours due to “the unpredictable nature of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Unless plans change, there will be no interior tours.
‘”We are not planing to coordinate or offer entry to any building,” Lynn Osmond, the center’s CEO, confirmed in an email.
As if to compensate for the loss of the event’s signature feature, the center will expand Open House Chicago to 10 days, Oct. 16-25, marking the event’s 10th anniversary. In the past, the festival was on a single weekend.
With access to interiors restricted, the event also will emphasize entire neighborhoods rather than individual buildings.
Read more here. —Blair Kamin
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12:58 p.m.: Reputed mob boss Michael ‘the Large Guy’ Sarno wants out of prison 12 years early because of the pandemic
Reputed mob boss Michael “the Large Guy” Sarno says 10 years behind bars has reduced him to “a senior citizen with severe medical issues,” and he wants out of federal prison early because of the “deadly risk” of the pandemic.
A petition filed Monday seeks compassionate release for the 62-year-old Sarno, who was sentenced to 25 years in 2012 for ordering the bombing of a rival business in Berwyn to protect his illegal and lucrative video poker operation.
Read more here. —Sophie Sherry
12:32 p.m.: As Americans resist COVID-19 restrictions, US nears 5 million infections
Big house parties and weddings, summer camps, concerts, crowded bars and restaurants, shopping trips without masks — Americans' resistance to curbs on everyday life is seen as a key reason the U.S. has racked up more confirmed coronavirus deaths and infections by far than any other country.
The nation has recorded more than 155,000 dead in a little more than six months and is fast approaching an almost off-the-charts 5 million COVID-19 infections.
Some Americans have resisted wearing masks and social distancing, calling such precautions an over-the-top response or an infringement on their liberty. Public health experts say such behavior has been compounded by confusing and inconsistent guidance from politicians and a patchwork quilt of approaches to containing the scourge by county, state and federal governments.
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“The thing that’s maddening is country after country and state after state have shown us how we can contain the virus,” said Dr. Jonathan Quick, who is leading a pandemic initiative for the Rockefeller Foundation. “It’s not like we don’t know what works. We do.”
The number of confirmed infections in the U.S. has topped 4.7 million, with new cases running at over 60,000 a day. While that's down from a peak of well over 70,000 in the second half of July, cases are on the rise in 26 states, many of them in the South and West, and deaths are climbing in 35 states.
On average, the number of COVID-19 deaths per day in the U.S. over the past two weeks has gone from about 780 to 1,056, according to an Associated Press analysis.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
12:20 p.m. (updated): 1,471 new known COVID-19 cases and 19 more deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Tuesday announced 1,471 new known cases of COVID-19 and 19 additional fatalities, including a teenager in Cook County. The total number of known infections in Illinois now stands at 184,712 and the statewide death toll is 7,545. Officials also reported 42,598 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 3.9%.
12:09 p.m.: NBC Sports Chicago scales back programming amid staff layoffs due to pandemic
NBC Sports Chicago is scaling back its programming and laying off employees as part of cuts across parent company NBCUniversal, encompassing all of NBC Sports Group’s regional sports networks.
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Among those let go by the channel, sources said, are host Leila Rahimi and TV part-timer Laurence Holmes as NBCSCH is reducing its original programming, focusing on White Sox, Blackhawks and Bulls games and the studio shows that complement them.
Dropped programming includes “Sports Talk Live,” the channel’s roundtable show, which remained in production through the COVID-19 pandemic with panelists appearing from their respective homes.
“Due to the ongoing economic challenges caused by the pandemic and with the need to better position NBCUniversal for the future, we have made a number of difficult decisions to achieve cost savings, including eliminating some roles across the portfolio,” NBCUniversal said in a statement.
Read more here. —Phil Rosenthal
10:55 a.m.: Allstate, Geico, Progressive among auto insurers hit with lawsuits over coronavirus relief
Allstate and other large auto insurers are facing lawsuits alleging they failed to sufficiently reduce premiums to Illinois policyholders as more drivers stay off the road during the coronavirus pandemic.
In six separate lawsuits filed in Cook County Circuit Court last week, Illinois policyholders allege insurers failed to provide “fair and appropriate” rebates and unfairly profited from high rates.
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After Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a stay-at-home order, many drivers stayed inside, and the rush hour traffic on highways diminished.
In Illinois, miles driven by motorists dropped by nearly two-thirds in the spring, according to the suits.
Each insurer offered some form of premium relief, but the suits allege it wasn’t enough to account for the drop in claims.
Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez
10:30 a.m.: One of the biggest hurdles for COVID-19 patients is breathing. Respiratory therapists help make it happen, but the field is dwindling.
They are the people who help patients awaken from sedation and take their first breath.
Often unsung in the COVID-19 crisis, respiratory therapists focus on helping people breathe — job duties include managing ventilation and artificial airways and assessing breathing challenges — and that means they play a large role in the treatment of coronavirus patients.
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During normal times, their work ranges from setting up ventilators in a neonatal intensive care unit to helping someone who recently had lung surgery. These days, many are paged to help patients struggling with COVID-19, which impacts the lungs and causes issues ranging from shortness of breath to a need for a ventilator.
“This is a very respiratory virus, and causing the (respiratory therapists) right now to be the tip of the spear here,” said Rush University Medical Center respiratory therapist and associate professor Brady Scott. “We are constantly in these patients’ rooms.”
Even as they are needed to help COVID-19 patients, many respiratory therapists say people don’t understand their role. Meanwhile, the workforce is dwindling. According to the National Board for Respiratory Care, more than 125 million patient visits each year are for respiratory-related illnesses, with an aging population increasing the need. Respiratory therapist jobs are projected to grow, but the number of people entering the field is shrinking, said board CEO Lori Tinkler. COVID-19 has even brought people out of retirement, she said.
Read more here. —Alison Bowen
10:15 a.m.: Chicago health commissioner supports students attending class in schools if virus under control
Chicago’s health commissioner on Tuesday said she wants children learning in schools this fall “if the outbreak is broadly in control.”
Dr. Allison Arwady warned that lots of COVID-19 spread in Chicago is taking place right now within households, but said if the city’s pandemic numbers look good, she feels Chicago Public Schools can handle in-person learning safely.
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”Where the child is at school wearing a mask with the social distancing, with the appropriate procedures in place, I honestly do not think the risk of spread is significant,” Arwady said at her weekly news conference about the city’s travel list. “I wouldn’t be promoting this if I thought it was.”
The advantages to children who are around each other in school are significant, Arwady said.
”I’m a pediatrician, and I feel pretty strongly that there are benefits for in-person education, especially for younger children who don’t learn well from screens, and all of the social and emotional benefits, and all of the other things we’ve talked about,” Arwady said. “But it all comes back to what that local data looks like.”
Chicago Public Schools has told parents to choose by this Friday whether they want their children to learn in school as part of a hybrid model this fall, or stay at home.
As Chicago’s positivity rate for coronavirus cases continues to rise, Arwady said “I can’t say the risk is zero, of course.”
”And again, the more our numbers are going up in Chicago, the more concern I have about this. Because as our cases increase, the risk of people having COVID, especially asymptomatic COVID, does go up,” she said.
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—John Byrne
9:30 a.m.: Puerto Rico added to city’s emergency travel order
Chicago officials added Puerto Rico to its stay-at-home list for travelers Tuesday, meaning people coming into the city from there should remain quarantined indoors for two weeks when they arrive.
Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady announced Puerto Rico will join 22 states on the travel list this Friday as she also warned of a shift in the way COVID-19 is being transmitted in Chicago, with households and social gatherings overtaking congregate settings like nursing homes and the Cook County Jail as the most dangerous situations.
[ Traveling outside Illinois? Chicago residents must quarantine after visiting some places. Here’s what you need to know to avoid a large fine. ]
Arwady said households are now “10 times the risk of any other exposures,” and recounted a series of anecdotes about Chicagoans attending social gatherings where they and others were lax about wearing masks and social distancing, then came down with the virus.
People who live with high-risk relatives should consider social distancing and wearing masks within their homes after they have potentially high-risk exposures outside the home, Arwady said.
While adding Puerto Rico to the stay-at-home list because the island now has more than 15 cases per 100,000 residents, Arwady said Iowa, Kansas and Utah are now below that threshold. If they stay under 15-per-100,00 for another week, they would get removed from the list, she said.
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—John Byrne
6 a.m.: Parents who want schools to reopen this fall say it’s a matter of choice, not politics. ‘Students’ mental health ... has got to be weighed.'
When Mairin Gradek’s local schools superintendent posted a cheerful YouTube video in early July describing tentative plans to welcome students back into the classroom, the Arlington Heights mother of three was excited that more remote learning was merely an option for parents, not the whole plan.
Gradek’s optimism that her neighborhood schools would reopen this fall was also buoyed by the results of a recent School District 25 survey, which found that around 75% of parents supported either an in-person or hybrid plan, with remote learning trailing as the least popular option in third place.
But in recent days, District 25 joined a rapidly growing list of suburban school systems that have abandoned hopes of bringing kids back into the classroom at the start of the new school year.
“In my naivete, I had assumed that I didn’t have to provide public comment on this issue, because it looked like my wishes for schools to reopen were being served, and that e-learning would only be one of the options,” Gradek said. “Parents like me are seeking at least some bit of in-person learning for our kids, so I’m still praying that the district’s decision will change.”
Now, with the start of school just weeks away, many parents say they feel like they’re part of a silent majority, whose desire to have their children back in school has been pushed aside by school officials who are buckling to pressure from teachers unions.
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Read more here. —Karen Ann Cullotta
6 a.m.: In search for COVID-19 treatments, consumer group pushes drugmaker Gilead to test alternative to remdesivir
The pharmaceutical company that makes remdesivir — the only medication that has emergency authorization to fight COVID-19 — should also be conducting human trials on a related drug with strong potential, according to a citizen advocacy group that believes the alternative could be more effective, less expensive and easier to produce.
Washington, D.C.-based Public Citizen sent a letter dated Tuesday to the CEO of Gilead Sciences and top federal regulators, urging the company and the government to work together to move forward with clinical trials of the drug “or publicly provide evidence why it is not scientifically or medically feasible to develop this drug in parallel with its close analogue, remdesivir.”
Failing either of those options, the company should “release permission so other researchers can pursue it,” said Public Citizen health researcher Michael Abrams, who crafted the letter. The nonprofit group, founded by Ralph Nader, has long advocated for greater corporate responsibility.
Officials from Public Citizen, joined by two drug researchers from Texas, suggested in the letter “there are significant financial incentives” for Gilead to stick with remdesivir over the lesser-known drug, known only as GS-441524.
Specifically, the patent on GS-441524 dates to around 2009, compared with remdesivir about five years later, meaning that Gilead has exclusive rights to produce remdesivir further into the future. Remdesivir is an expensive drug, priced at $390 per dose, which comes to $2,340 for each patient treated over the course of five days.
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Gilead spokesman Chris Ridley said the decision to move forward with remdesivir was based on “available evidence” indicating that remdesivir generated more of a key virus-fighting molecule and was more effective against the new coronavirus than the other drug.
Read more here. —Hal Dardick
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
Here are five stories from Monday related to COVID-19:


chicagotribune--2020-08-07--Daywatch: Illinois extends unemployment, how parents can navigate back-to-school anxiety and Lakefro

Daywatch: Illinois extends unemployment, how parents can navigate back-to-school anxiety and Lakefront restaurants to reopen this week

The decision of how children will learn this fall is stressful for parents , who have been under enormous stress @ @ @ @ @ to work and simultaneously help teach children at home in the spring , and reckoning @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 restrictions .
Now , they must anticipate what school will look like in the @ @

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Good morning, Chicago. Here’s the coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
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A woman scans information at the Illinois Department of Employment Security's WorkNet Center in Arlington Heights in April. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)
Illinois extended jobless benefits another 20 weeks as laid off workers continued to struggle with the claims process, including some who say they have to return funds because they were overpaid.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security, the state agency tasked with handling jobless claims, said the extension was available starting Thursday to people who have gone through 26 weeks of state benefits. Illinois is among 19 states providing 20 weeks of extended benefits, the agency said in a news release.
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Juice Wrld performs during his "Death Race for Love Tour" at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia on May 15, 2019. (Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP)
Eight months after the death of rapper Jarad Higgins, known as Juice Wrld, little is known about who or what triggered the drug bust that turned up 41 “vacuum-sealed” bags of marijuana or six bottles of prescription codeine cough syrup taken from the aircraft.
Jessi Allender with her children Coral, 8, and Martin, 4, in the courtyard of their Hyde Park home on Aug. 5, 2020. Allender is sending her children back to Akiba-Schechter Jewish Day School five days a week with mixed feelings. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
The decision of how children will learn this fall is stressful for parents, who have been under enormous stress already — with many trying to work and simultaneously help teach children at home in the spring, and reckoning with an extended period of COVID-19 restrictions. Now, they must anticipate what school will look like in the fall.
Lucy Smith, an alumni coordinator and recovering addict at a meeting room before conducting a virtual Zoom 12-step meeting at the Gateway Foundation in Aurora on Aug. 5, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
The pandemic has proven to be a difficult time for addicts. With persisting unemployment rates and surging reports of anxiety and depression nationwide, alcohol consumption and opioid use have skyrocketed among users who have found themselves stuck inside day after day.
Claire Sullivan and Mike Flaherty enjoy the Lakefront Restaurant patio at Theater on the Lake on Aug. 6, 2020, in Chicago. It was hosting a soft launch and is expected to open Friday. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
While beaches remain closed, you’ll still get a chance to enjoy the sand and surf this summer: The Chicago Park District has announced that restaurants and concessions east of Lake Shore Drive are now allowed to reopen.


chicagotribune--2020-08-07--Man convicted in infamous Aurora murder freed too early because of sentencing error, prosecutors say

Joyner ’ s release has brought up memories of Armando Mendez for his father of their last week together .
@ @ @ @ @ buy supplies to do work in their basement and the son wouldn ’ t let @ @ @ @ @ Armando Mendez ’ s hug , which his father still remembers .
And the tremendous @ @ @ @ @ the family ’ s door to deliver the news about his son ’ s death @ @ @ @

The last man remaining in prison for a 1994 murder that rocked Aurora has been released on parole, but the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office contends he was released four years too early.
Bonzell Joyner was paroled July 22, fewer than 30 years into a 60-year prison sentence for murder. He had been convicted of firing the bullet that killed Armando Mendez, whose high-profile 1994 Aurora murder is among those credited with sparking sweeping change in a city that some say by the mid-1990s had become numb to bloody gang violence.
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But the Kane County state’s attorney’s office says Joyner, 45, should never have been released.
Bonzell Joyner (Illinois Department of Corrections)
Prosecutors discovered an error in Joyner’s sentencing more than four years ago — and more than 15 years after Joyner was sentenced — and had been working through the court process to correct it when Joyner was released “without adequate notification to our office,” State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said in a statement.
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Prosecutors said in a court motion Thursday that Joyner’s correct release date should not be until 2024 and “at this very moment, (Joyner) should be in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections.” They are seeking a hearing to correct the sentencing error.
For the time being, Joyner is a free man.
Joyner was the last of the nine men convicted in Mendez’s murder remaining in prison.
Mendez’s mother, Rita Mendez, was heartbroken to learn of Joyner’s release, she said in Spanish as her children translated. She said it’s an injustice that Joyner could go home while she remained without her son and her other children remained without their sibling.
“The only consolation that we have is the prison sentence that was assigned,” Armando Mendez’s brother Edward Mendez said. “And to cut that short really aggravates the pain.”
Armando Mendez was 19 on Oct. 27, 1994, when his old Cadillac ran out of gas as he drove home after working a night shift at a Naperville Cracker Barrel. As he walked back to his car from a service station on East New York Street, blocks from his house, he was approached by a group of teens and young men and mistaken for a rival gang member. They beat him and, eventually, one pulled out a gun and shot him.
Armando Mendez of Aurora was shot and killed by gang members who mistook Mendez for a rival gang member in 1994. His death was one of three killings in Aurora in the 1990s cited as a turning point for the community in combating violence in the city. (HANDOUT / Handout)
Mendez, a recent Aurora Central Catholic graduate, was studying at the College of DuPage. He hoped to one day be an architect.
Mendez’s killing came at a time crime and violence were skyrocketing in Aurora. Over the next two years, two other youths who also had no connection to the city’s gangs were killed in high-profile murders that rocked Aurora.
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In the 25 years since, as the city has dramatically reduced its homicide rate, community leaders have cited the deaths of Mendez and the two other youths, along with police work and partnerships with federal law enforcement agencies, for energizing community efforts to combat killings and for limiting homicides in Aurora.
A total of 10 men, all between the ages of 17 and 24, were arrested and charged in the days and months after Mendez’s killing.
Three were convicted of murder and sentenced to long prison terms, two pleaded guilty to attempted murder and were sentenced to 10 and 15 years in prison, and two pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and served short jail sentences. Two others took plea deals and served short sentences for lesser charges.
One man was acquitted after a jury trial.
Of the nine men convicted of varying crimes, only Joyner remained in prison in recent years, until his July parole.
He had been ruled eligible for the death penalty but was ultimately sentenced in 1998 to life in prison. Two years later, the 2nd District Appellate Court modified his sentence to 60 years.
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A court order dated December 1998 shows Joyner received credit for 3,002 days in prison at the time of his sentencing, or more than eight years of time served — nearly twice as long as the years between Joyner’s 1994 arrest and his sentencing. In their Thursday motion, prosecutors said Joyner was, in reality, only eligible for 1,502 days of credit, or about four years, for time served in jail before his conviction on the murder charge.
McMahon said prosecutors began working to correct the sentencing error when they discovered it more than four years ago. The correction was working its way through a lengthy court process, which included an appeal and a state Supreme Court order changing the rules for the process, and it was nearing a resolution when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, he said. A court hearing on the process was canceled because of the pandemic, according to the motion.
“We have asked the circuit court to set a hearing date as soon as possible so that we can rectify and resolve this issue and ensure that justice is fully served,” McMahon said.
In their motion, prosecutors with the state’s attorney’s office said they were notified of Joyner’s release after 7:30 p.m. July 21 — the day before his release — and that he should not have been released while a court motion was pending.
A spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Corrections said Joyner was released based on an Oct. 2019 court order regarding Joyner’s sentencing from the 2nd District Appellate Court that came to the attention of East Moline Correctional Center, where Joyner was imprisoned, July 21. The state’s attorney’s office said they have filed a new case since that appellate ruling, based on a state Supreme Court rule change.
The department of corrections said it is not allowed to hold someone past their release date, and the sentencing order for Joyner currently in effect required him to be freed. The agency could not provide earlier notification of Joyner’s release because the ruling did not come to its attention until July 21, spokeswoman Lindsey Hess said.
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The Kane County Public Defender’s Office, which is listed as representing Joyner in court, did not respond to messages seeking comment.
For Mendez’s family, Joyner’s release from prison has been painful. The way Joyner’s sentence has played out feels like a mockery, Mendez’s father, Edwardo Mendez, said in an email.
Joyner’s release has brought up memories of Armando Mendez for his father of their last week together. Like when they went to buy supplies to do work in their basement and the son wouldn’t let his father pay. And Armando Mendez’s hug, which his father still remembers. And the tremendous blow when police came to the family’s door to deliver the news about his son’s death, he said.
Edwardo Mendez still thinks of how that night in 1994 could have played out differently, and the ways his son could still be here.
Armando Mendez’s sister, Elsa Mendez-Ruiz, recalled her brother’s big heart for underdogs, and the way he spoke of the injustice Rodney King experienced as the siblings watched news of the subsequent riots in 1991.
“We’ll never know what he could have been, what he was working toward,” Mendez-Ruiz said. “And we’re left with this guy, (the defendant).”
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Her brother’s death is not just a loss for the family, but also for the next generation, Mendez-Ruiz said.
The three surviving siblings have all named their first-born sons after their brother. Their children are aware of their namesake but will only ever know a fraction of what they should know of him, another brother, Roberto Mendez, said.
Though Roberto Mendez knows Joyner has a right to move through the justice system, only the initial life sentence handed down to Joyner felt like justice, he said.
“In my heart, I don’t feel that (his release is) justice,” he said. “We, I think, were left with sort of just a gap in that there was no resolution for us. My brother’s voice wasn’t heard. Our lives were more materially impacted.”
The family wishes they were kept better informed of developments relating to Joyner’s case, they said. Rita and Edwardo Mendez were notified of Joyner’s parole in a letter dated July 22, which they said didn’t arrive in the mail until nearly a week after he had been released.
And they want Joyner to serve, at a minimum, the number of years required.
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“That’s all we’ve got, as far as justice for my brother,” Mendez-Ruiz said.
sfreishtat@tribpub.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-07--Man and woman identified after both died following South Austin fire

Only one working smoke detector was found , in the basement , according to Langford , who added that careless @ @ @ @ @ have been the cause of the fire .

A woman in her 80s and a man in his 70s died during a house fire on the West Side early Thursday, according to police and fire officials.
Only one smoke detector was found, in the basement of the home in the 1000 block of North Parkside Avenue.
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Mary Lynch, 86, was pronounced dead at 1:55 a.m. Thursday. Preston Lynch, 79, who lived at the home that burned, was pronounced dead at 2:35 a.m. at Loretto Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Public records show the couple owned the building where the fire took place. An autopsy for Mary Lynch performed Thursday died not result in a determination of her cause of death and was marked pending further studies.
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Firefighters entered the home in the 1000 block of North Parkside Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood around 1:10 a.m. after a blaze started in a first-floor bedroom in the center of the home, according to police and Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
The two people, who shared a family relationship, were brought out, Langford said.
The woman was taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, where she was pronounced dead soon after arriving, police said.
Only one working smoke detector was found, in the basement, according to Langford, who added that careless use of smoking materials may have been the cause of the fire.
sczyzon@chicagotribune.com