chicagotribune--2020-07-14--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 883 new known COVID-19 cases reported as city closes West Loop bar

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 883 new known COVID-19 cases reported as city closes West Loop bar for violating crowding rules and Chicago Marathon canceled

For the second time in its history , the Chicago Marathon has been canceled before runners cross the starting line .
Organizers Monday announced the 43rd running of the race , scheduled for Oct. 11 , will not proceed because of the coronavirus pandemic .
Also on Monday , Mayor Lori Lightfoot ’ s administration closed a West Loop bar and cited a handful of other venues over the weekend for flouting COVID-19 capacity or social distancing rules , part of her promised crackdown on violators aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus cases throughout the city .
The state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Monday , as well as 6 additional fatalities .
The tally brought the total number of confirmed cases in Illinois to 154,799 and the death toll to 7,193 since the beginning of the pandemic .
Meanwhile , debate over the risks the virus poses , and how best to fight it , were spotlighted in Florida after it shattered the record among U.S. states for the largest single-day increase , with more than 15,000 newly confirmed cases .
A southern Illinois lawyer who has tangled with Gov .
J.B. Pritzker ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Illinois High School Association , claiming the group exceeded its authority by placing new limits on sports participation .
Thomas DeVore , who practices in the St. Louis area , sued on behalf of his two children , athletes who will be seniors in Hillsboro Community School District No .
3 .
He claims they will be irreparably harmed by participation rules the IHSA introduced this month .
The organization announced July 3 that athletes could return to summer practice and competition if schools followed a detailed plan of social distancing and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ later , it announced drastic changes it said the Pritzker administration had required , including an end to scrimmages in basketball , football , lacrosse , soccer , volleyball , water polo and wrestling .
According to a July 7 email included in the filing , the school saw positive tests among 10 students who participated in Lake Zurich sports camps , along with one parent who was hospitalized .
Jesse Ruiz , Pritzker ’ s deputy governor for education , sent IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson a note the next day , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would now require all sports participants to wear masks — it was later clarified that the measure doesn ’ t apply to people outside following social distancing — and would ban any physical contact among athletes .
5:35 p.m. : Why the pandemic might be an opportune time for millennials to buy a home Hayk Ghazaryanwas eager to purchase his first rental property and start his real estate portfolio .
The 28-year-old senior mortgage broker began his house hunt in February , and a month later , he bought a diamond-in-the-rough studio in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was to “ fix it up ” and lease the unit .
He put down $ 5,000 in earnest money , a percentage of his 25 % down payment that solidified he would follow through with the purchase , he said .
“ What if I lose my job security ?
What if I get furloughed ?
What if I don ’ t have income coming in ?
” he said he thought at the time .
“ And then I also bought this to make it a rental .
So my next @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I going to find a tenant , and how am I going to look for a tenant ?
How do I know their job is going to be secure in the coming months ?
” It was too late to back out .
He went through with the purchase , renovated the unit and put it back on the market .
It sold on June 30 , he said .
He didn ’ t make a profit .
Ghazaryan , who owns the apartment he lives in , is among the group of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ property during the coronavirus pandemic .
But unlike many of his peers , Ghazaryan didn ’ t receive help for the biggest hurdle facing millennials in property purchasing : a down payment .
He emptied his savings instead .
4:35 p.m. : OPRF to offer e-learning this fall , with more rigorous classes than last spring When students “ return ” to Oak Park and River Forest High School next month , they will again be engaged in virtual learning .
However , administrators are promising a much different curriculum this time around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the school abruptly shifted to online learning for students in mid-March to finish out the school year .
Administrators said during the July 9 school board meeting that virtual courses and interaction will continue when classes resume Aug. 17 .
“ We know people are looking at how remote learning was in the spring when we were thrust into that , ” superintendent Joylynn Pruitt-Adams said .
“ We learned from that and this is an entirely different plan .
The remote instruction we propose for this fall will be very different from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proposed for the fall 2020 e-learning curriculum include a set schedule of class periods , mandatory student attendance , weekly minimum and maximum time requirements for courses to meet online , issuing letter grades and providing academic support services .
3:45 p.m. : Alinea ’ s rooftop popup cancels two dinners after employee tests positive for COVID-19 ; plans to reopen Wednesday “ We are sorry to inform you that AIR — Alinea in Residence — will be closed for service on July 11th and 12th , ” the email read .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the standard of service we require and you respect.
” The email went on to detail rebooking or refund options , and apologized for the short notice .
In a letter on her 34th Ward Website , Austin said she has been “ stricken by COVID-19″ and is “ currently progressing toward full recovery.
” Austin , who then-Mayor Richard Daley appointed to the City Council in 1994 to succeed her husband after his death , did not return calls seeking comment about her diagnosis .
Currently the council ’ s longest-serving Black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the City Council meeting last month .
She is the first city elected official to announce having gotten the virus .
FBI agents raided Austin ’ s Far South Side ward office in June .
According to a subpoena obtained by the Chicago Tribune , federal agents had been looking into the circumstances surrounding the construction and sale of a West Pullman home to Austin by a developer in the ward .
For years under Daley and Mayor Rahm Emanuel , Austin chaired the powerful City Council Budget Committee .
Mayor Lori @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she took office last year , but created a new Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity and put her in charge of that .
Read more here .
— John Byrne 3:33 p.m. ( updated at 5:51 p.m. ) : Illinois health officials report 883 new known COVID-19 cases , 6 more fatalities State health officials reported 883 new known cases of the coronavirus Monday , the first time in six days that fewer than 900 cases were confirmed .
Officials also reported six additional fatalities , bringing the death toll from COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In all , there have been 154,799 known cases across all 102 counties in Illinois .
The daily figures for new cases and deaths tend to be lower on Mondays because of how the data are reported , officials have said .
Last week , Illinois saw the daily number of new cases surpass 1,000 for three straight days for the first time since late May , when the state was coming off a peak of virus transmission .
Illinois officials have noted that many more tests for the virus are being conducted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with more than 2 million screenings conducted overall , including more than 30,000 reported Monday .
But officials they say they are watching the data closely as other states grapple with new surges .
Florida , for example , reported 15,300 new cases in a single day on Sunday , far surpassing the previous record of 12,274 cases reported on April 4 in New York .
California on Monday rolled back major portions of its reopening statewide as cases there continue to rise .
” We remain concerned that cases are rising @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Illinois Gov .
J.B. Pritzker wrote on Twitter on Sunday .
“ Now more than ever , we must rely on what the science is telling us .
Wearing a face covering is an effective tool in the fight against # covid19 .
Join me.
” Indeed , the positivity rate — the percentage of tests that detect the presence of the new coronavirus — has been creeping up in recent days .
The seven-day average for the period ending Sunday was 3 % , up from 2.5 % a week earlier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ low as 2 % as recently as the week ending June 22 .
The rolling seven-day average of new cases in Illinois , which officials say is a more reliable indicator than the daily total because it smooths out day-to-day fluctuations , also is on the rise , hitting 991 on Monday , up from 772 a week earlier , according to an analysis of preliminary Illinois Department of Public Health data .
The measure hit a post-peak low point of 596 for the week ending June 18 .
Illinois moved into phase @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Restore Illinois ” reopening plan on June 26 , which allowed limited indoor services to resume at restaurants and bars , among other loosened restrictions .
Pritzker has said would tighten restrictions once again if the virus resurges .
— Dan Petrella 3:06 p.m. : Respiratory health is vital to fight off COVID-19 .
Here ’ s how to keep your lungs healthy on low-quality air days .
In the midst of a pandemic that affects the respiratory system , the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classified Chicago ’ s air quality for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unhealthy ” or “ unhealthy for sensitive groups.
” With more days of poor air quality on the horizon , experts say it ’ s important to remember that healthy lungs can help fend off COVID-19 .
“ If your respiratory system — your nose , esophagus , lungs — aren ’ t healthy , you can ’ t fight against the pandemic .
And you need everything you have to fight against COVID-19 , ” said Angela Tin , national senior director of the American Lung Association .
Read more here .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ attorney general , universities challenge new visa rule on foreign students that could keep them out of the U.S. Several Illinois-based universities are joining dozens of others from across the country in a legal challenge of a new immigration rule they say could keep international students from attending their schools .
They cite a DePaul University student who they say was denied entry into the U.S. from South Korea last week .
Separately , Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has announced he is joining another lawsuit that also takes aim at the new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ University Chicago will be mostly online this fall , school announces A few exceptions will be made for classes , labs and research that require face-to-face interaction , according to a letter from released Monday by President Jo Ann Rooney and Provost Norberto Grzywacz .
The announcement comes as the daily number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Illinois has seen a recent uptick , with 954 new confirmed cases reported Sunday .
Loyola had previously announced a plan for both on-campus and virtual instruction depending on a student ’ s preference , with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ numbers of students on campus down .
University officials also announced students on campus would be housed under a single-occupancy plan , and officials were creating lists of students who would need to quarantine when arriving on campus in the fall .
With its change of plans made public Monday , the university also said both domestic and international students would be taught in-person if necessary , an announcement that comes on the heels of ICE ’ s new policy requiring international students taking online courses to leave America and banning visas for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prevent COVID-19 exposure , the university plans to implement precautionary measures including frequent testing for the virus , contact tracing , staggered work schedules , reduced class sizes , restricted gathering spaces and mask and social distancing requirements .
School officials launched a Return to Campus website Monday delineating more guidelines for community members returning to campus .
Mayor Lori Lightfoot ’ s administration closed a West Loop bar and cited a handful of other venues over the weekend for flouting COVID-19 capacity or social distancing rules , part of her promised crackdown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of coronavirus cases throughout the city .
Wise Owl Drinkery & Cookhouse was shut down because it was over capacity and groups of patrons weren ’ t at least 6 feet away from each other , wearing masks or seated , according to the city Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection .
In all , six businesses were issued citations for failing to meet the city ’ s current guidelines to operate during the pandemic .
New York & Company could close many — if not all — stores in bankruptcy Women @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Company expects to close many , if not all , of its stores after parent company RTW Retailwinds filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday .
RTW Retailwinds has started a store closing and liquidation process and is “ evaluating any and all strategic alternatives , ” including selling its online business , the company said in a news release Monday .
New York & Company has 16 stores in Illinois and one in Merrillville , Indiana .
Stores will continue to operate as usual in the short term , and some stores @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reopen , the company said .
1 p.m. : The Chicago Marathon , scheduled for Oct. 11 , is canceled for just the 2nd time in its history For the second time in its history , the Chicago Marathon has been canceled before runners cross the starting line .
Organizers Monday announced the 43rd running of the race , scheduled for Oct. 11 , will not proceed because of the coronavirus pandemic .
The Bank of America Chicago Marathon typically draws about 45,000 runners and wheelchair athletes to the city , with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than 100 countries in 2019 .
Organizers estimate about 1.7 million spectators annually line the 26.2-mile course that starts and ends near Grant Park and travels as far north as Wrigleyville and as far south as Bridgeport .
Registered participants can receive a refund for their race entry or defer their place and entry fee to a Chicago Marathon in 2021 , 2022 or 2023 .
Registered runners for the International Chicago 5K will have the same options .
11:50 a.m. : Millennials and boomers : Coronavirus pandemic has smacked America ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time in their lives Sometimes at odds , America 's two largest generations now have something to agree on : The coronavirus pandemic has smacked many of them at a pivotal time in their lives .
For baby boomers , named for the post-World War II surge of births , that means those who are retired or are nearing retirement are seeing their 401 ( k ) accounts and IRAs looking unreliable while their health is at high risk .
Millennials , who became young adults in this century , are getting socked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recover after what a Census researcher found were the Great Recession ’ s hardest hits to jobs and pay .
“ The long-lasting effects of the Great Recession on millennials , that was kind of scarring , ” said Gray Kimbrough , a millennial and an economist at American University in Washington .
“ And now when the economy had finally clawed back to where we were before the Great Recession , then this hit at a particularly bad time as well for millennials in particular.
” In a memo to distributors and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chief Marketing Officer Michelle St. Jacques said “ the effects of the coronavirus on our industry caused an immediate loss of momentum for the brand.
” At the same time , the company said it is increasing investment in hard seltzer brands like Vizzy and its Blue Moon LightSky ale .
Molson Coors also is focusing on the national launch of its Coors Seltzer brand later this year .
Molson Coors , the nation ’ s second largest beer company , began introducing Saint Archer Gold to other markets earlier this year to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after initially launching in four test markets last year .
10:13 a.m. : Black mental health patients hit hard by COVID-19 , social injustice : ‘ We were already at a breaking point ’ Dr. Brandi Jackson , a psychiatrist at Rush University Medical Center , said the COVID-19 pandemic has been her most difficult period as a psychiatrist .
With an uptick in anxiety and depression in her primarily Black clientele , she ’ s seeing patients who have been clean for years relapsing on drugs — and citing the coronavirus as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disparities were prevalent in the Black community before COVID-19 .
Life expectancy for residents on the North Shore was 30 years longer , on average , than that for residents of Englewood .
Suicide attempts that were self-reported by Black teens have spiked since 1991 , even as their peers in other groups have experienced a downward trend or remained unchanged , according to a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics .
Another study found that Black teens experience several forms of racial discrimination each day , which can lead to short-term @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before the pandemic .
Now with COVID-19 hitting Black communities extra hard and the added stressor of social injustice ( George Floyd , police brutality , et al . )
, Jackson believes we ’ re only seeing a small fraction of what the real mental health fallout will be , especially in the Black community .
7:30 a.m. : As COVID-19 cases surge nationwide , we asked Chicagoans : Why are you getting tested ?
Some patients felt sick , nervously ticking off potential COVID-19 symptoms .
Some cited possible exposure to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there out of an abundance of caution .
All had made an appointment for a test Friday at Heartland Health Centers on Devon Avenue in the Rogers Park neighborhood .
In interviews , they expressed common fears of becoming ill or unwittingly spreading the new coronavirus , which has already sickened more than 150,000 and killed more than 7,000 statewide .
Illinois on Sunday set a new daily testing record , with 38,894 COVID-19 tests performed .
7:30 a.m. : The NBA is considering a 2nd bubble in Chicago for its bottom 8 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mayor ’ s office is on board — but Illinois ’ recent COVID-19 uptick is only 1 potential hurdle .
During a conference call with reporters shortly after the Chicago Bulls ’ 2019-20 season ended abruptly last month , executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas expressed both concern about his new team facing a near nine-month layoff between games and confidence that the NBA would find a way for the eight teams not invited to Orlando , Fla. , to participate in some sort of basketball activities .
That idea began @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reports surfaced that the league was in advanced considerations about creating a “ second bubble ” in Chicago for those eight teams , with Wintrust Arena emerging as the favorite to host the event because it is connected to a hotel .
It would allow the teams left out of the league ’ s official restart to create a summer-league-style environment with training camps and scrimmages against other teams .
7:15 a.m. : A neighborhood photographer gives a voice to Latino essential workers during the pandemic : ‘ We need to tell our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Chicago area , Mateo Zapata was worried .
Not necessarily for himself , but for the people in his community .
He knew “ that Black and brown people would be left behind.
” For many Latinos , staying home was never an option .
Some live paycheck to paycheck and many more have jobs that are considered essential .
But Zapata saw a lack of focus from the government and mainstream media on Latinos ’ stories , even after COVID-19 cases began to spike in majority-Latino neighborhoods throughout the country .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood near Pilsen , wanted to make sure the lives of his neighbors and fellow Latinos become a part of history by being “ genuinely ” documented , allowing their voices to be elevated , he said .
So he put on his face mask and gloves , grabbed his camera and began to document “ the experience of Latinos during the pandemic .
”

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The Fulton Market area of Chicago is no longer the ghost town it was during the depths of the COVID-19 virus pandemic shutdown. As restrictions on restaurants are eased, a worker takes a woman's temperature before she can enter Federales restaurant on Morgan Street on July 1, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
For the second time in its history, the Chicago Marathon has been canceled before runners cross the starting line. Organizers Monday announced the 43rd running of the race, scheduled for Oct. 11, will not proceed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Also on Monday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration closed a West Loop bar and cited a handful of other venues over the weekend for flouting COVID-19 capacity or social distancing rules, part of her promised crackdown on violators aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus cases throughout the city.
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The state announced 883 new known cases of COVID-19 on Monday, as well as 6 additional fatalities. The tally brought the total number of confirmed cases in Illinois to 154,799 and the death toll to 7,193 since the beginning of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, debate over the risks the virus poses, and how best to fight it, were spotlighted in Florida after it shattered the record among U.S. states for the largest single-day increase, with more than 15,000 newly confirmed cases.
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[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
[ Illinois is in phase 4 of its reopening plan. Here’s a guide to what’s allowed. ]
[ 20 questions about assessing your COVID-19 risk at restaurants, gyms, the office and more ]
[ Remembering the lives of those in Illinois who died from coronavirus ]
Here’s what’s happening Monday regarding COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
8:07 p.m.: 5.4 million Americans have lost health insurance in coronavirus-driven recession, analysis finds
The coronavirus pandemic stripped an estimated 5.4 million American workers of their health insurance between February and May, a stretch in which more adults became uninsured because of job losses than have ever lost coverage in a single year, according to a new analysis.
The study, to be announced Tuesday by the nonpartisan consumer advocacy group Families USA, found that the estimated increase in uninsured workers from February to May was nearly 40% higher than the highest previous increase, which occurred during the recession of 2008 and 2009, when 3.9 million adults lost insurance.
“We knew these numbers would be big,” said Stan Dorn, who directs the group’s National Center for Coverage Innovation and wrote the study. “This is the worst economic downturn since World War II. It dwarfs the Great Recession. So it’s not surprising that we would also see the worst increase in the uninsured.”
Families USA is one of a number of groups trying to estimate the number of people who have lost insurance during the pandemic; definitive data will not become available until mid- to late 2021, when the federal government publishes health insurance estimates for 2020. The analyses vary, but all reach the same grim conclusion: More people lack insurance than ever before.
Read more here. —The New York Times
7:27 p.m.: Lawsuit aims to lift IHSA’s pandemic-related restrictions on high school sports
A southern Illinois lawyer who has tangled with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration over pandemic-related shutdown measures is suing the Illinois High School Association, claiming the group exceeded its authority by placing new limits on sports participation.
Thomas DeVore, who practices in the St. Louis area, sued on behalf of his two children, athletes who will be seniors in Hillsboro Community School District No. 3. He claims they will be irreparably harmed by participation rules the IHSA introduced this month.
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The organization announced July 3 that athletes could return to summer practice and competition if schools followed a detailed plan of social distancing and sanitizing. But less than a week later, it announced drastic changes it said the Pritzker administration had required, including an end to scrimmages in basketball, football, lacrosse, soccer, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.
The lawsuit claims that change came after a COVID-19 outbreak at Lake Zurich High School.
According to a July 7 email included in the filing, the school saw positive tests among 10 students who participated in Lake Zurich sports camps, along with one parent who was hospitalized.
Jesse Ruiz, Pritzker’s deputy governor for education, sent IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson a note the next day, saying the Illinois Department of Public Health would now require all sports participants to wear masks — it was later clarified that the measure doesn’t apply to people outside following social distancing — and would ban any physical contact among athletes.
Read more here. —John Keilman
5:35 p.m.: Why the pandemic might be an opportune time for millennials to buy a home
Hayk Ghazaryanwas eager to purchase his first rental property and start his real estate portfolio. The 28-year-old senior mortgage broker began his house hunt in February, and a month later, he bought a diamond-in-the-rough studio in a Buena Park mid-rise.
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His goal was to “fix it up” and lease the unit. He put down $5,000 in earnest money, a percentage of his 25% down payment that solidified he would follow through with the purchase, he said.
Shortly after, Illinois started moving closer to a total shutdown, and Ghazaryan started to “freak out.”
“What if I lose my job security? What if I get furloughed? What if I don’t have income coming in?” he said he thought at the time. “And then I also bought this to make it a rental. So my next question to myself was, ‘Am I going to find a tenant, and how am I going to look for a tenant? How do I know their job is going to be secure in the coming months?”
It was too late to back out. He went through with the purchase, renovated the unit and put it back on the market. It sold on June 30, he said. He didn’t make a profit.
“I’d rather not have any losses,” Ghazaryan said. “It was a stressful moment.”
Ghazaryan, who owns the apartment he lives in, is among the group of millennials and first-time homebuyers looking to buy property during the coronavirus pandemic. But unlike many of his peers, Ghazaryan didn’t receive help for the biggest hurdle facing millennials in property purchasing: a down payment. He emptied his savings instead.
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Read more here. —Christen A. Johnson
4:35 p.m.: OPRF to offer e-learning this fall, with more rigorous classes than last spring
When students “return” to Oak Park and River Forest High School next month, they will again be engaged in virtual learning. However, administrators are promising a much different curriculum this time around.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the school abruptly shifted to online learning for students in mid-March to finish out the school year. Administrators said during the July 9 school board meeting that virtual courses and interaction will continue when classes resume Aug. 17.
“We know people are looking at how remote learning was in the spring when we were thrust into that,” superintendent Joylynn Pruitt-Adams said. “We learned from that and this is an entirely different plan. The remote instruction we propose for this fall will be very different from the spring experience.”
Among the changes proposed for the fall 2020 e-learning curriculum include a set schedule of class periods, mandatory student attendance, weekly minimum and maximum time requirements for courses to meet online, issuing letter grades and providing academic support services.
Read more here. —Steve Schering
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3:45 p.m.: Alinea’s rooftop popup cancels two dinners after employee tests positive for COVID-19; plans to reopen Wednesday
For those diners hoping to dine at Alinea’s temporary outdoor popup — dubbed AIR, for “Alinea in Residence” — the email marked URGENT delivered bad news.
“We are sorry to inform you that AIR — Alinea in Residence — will be closed for service on July 11th and 12th,” the email read. “Unfortunately, we are unable to meet the standard of service we require and you respect.”
The email went on to detail rebooking or refund options, and apologized for the short notice.
So what happened? Read more here. — Phil Vettel
3:44 p.m.: Veteran Chicago alderman announces she has coronavirus
Veteran Far South Side Ald. Carrie Austin has contracted the coronavirus, she announced Monday.
In a letter on her 34th Ward Website, Austin said she has been “stricken by COVID-19″ and is “currently progressing toward full recovery.”
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Austin, who then-Mayor Richard Daley appointed to the City Council in 1994 to succeed her husband after his death, did not return calls seeking comment about her diagnosis.
Currently the council’s longest-serving Black alderman, Austin did not take part in the City Council meeting last month. She is the first city elected official to announce having gotten the virus.
FBI agents raided Austin’s Far South Side ward office in June. According to a subpoena obtained by the Chicago Tribune, federal agents had been looking into the circumstances surrounding the construction and sale of a West Pullman home to Austin by a developer in the ward.
Austin, 71, has not been charged with wrongdoing.
For years under Daley and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Austin chaired the powerful City Council Budget Committee. Mayor Lori Lightfoot removed her from that post after she took office last year, but created a new Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity and put her in charge of that. Read more here. — John Byrne
3:33 p.m. (updated at 5:51 p.m.): Illinois health officials report 883 new known COVID-19 cases, 6 more fatalities
State health officials reported 883 new known cases of the coronavirus Monday, the first time in six days that fewer than 900 cases were confirmed.
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Officials also reported six additional fatalities, bringing the death toll from COVID-19 to 7,193 since the pandemic began. In all, there have been 154,799 known cases across all 102 counties in Illinois.
The daily figures for new cases and deaths tend to be lower on Mondays because of how the data are reported, officials have said.
Last week, Illinois saw the daily number of new cases surpass 1,000 for three straight days for the first time since late May, when the state was coming off a peak of virus transmission.
Illinois officials have noted that many more tests for the virus are being conducted each day than earlier in the outbreak, with more than 2 million screenings conducted overall, including more than 30,000 reported Monday. But officials they say they are watching the data closely as other states grapple with new surges.
Florida, for example, reported 15,300 new cases in a single day on Sunday, far surpassing the previous record of 12,274 cases reported on April 4 in New York. California on Monday rolled back major portions of its reopening statewide as cases there continue to rise.
”We remain concerned that cases are rising and positivity rates are inching up,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “Now more than ever, we must rely on what the science is telling us. Wearing a face covering is an effective tool in the fight against #covid19. Join me.”
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We remain concerned that cases are rising and positivity rates are inching up. Now more than ever, we must rely on what the science is telling us. Wearing a face covering is an effective tool in the fight against #covid19. Join me.
📷: Anthony Vazquez, @suntimes #AllInIllinois pic.twitter.com/fKfi4SfUyN — Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) July 12, 2020
Indeed, the positivity rate — the percentage of tests that detect the presence of the new coronavirus — has been creeping up in recent days. The seven-day average for the period ending Sunday was 3%, up from 2.5% a week earlier. The seven-day average had been as low as 2% as recently as the week ending June 22.
The rolling seven-day average of new cases in Illinois, which officials say is a more reliable indicator than the daily total because it smooths out day-to-day fluctuations, also is on the rise, hitting 991 on Monday, up from 772 a week earlier, according to an analysis of preliminary Illinois Department of Public Health data. The measure hit a post-peak low point of 596 for the week ending June 18.
Illinois moved into phase four of Pritzker’s five-phase “Restore Illinois” reopening plan on June 26, which allowed limited indoor services to resume at restaurants and bars, among other loosened restrictions. Pritzker has said would tighten restrictions once again if the virus resurges. — Dan Petrella
3:06 p.m.: Respiratory health is vital to fight off COVID-19. Here’s how to keep your lungs healthy on low-quality air days.
In the midst of a pandemic that affects the respiratory system, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classified Chicago’s air quality for the first nine days of July as “unhealthy” or “unhealthy for sensitive groups.” With more days of poor air quality on the horizon, experts say it’s important to remember that healthy lungs can help fend off COVID-19.
“If your respiratory system — your nose, esophagus, lungs — aren’t healthy, you can’t fight against the pandemic. And you need everything you have to fight against COVID-19,” said Angela Tin, national senior director of the American Lung Association. Read more here. — Lauren Leazenby
2:55 p.m.: Illinois attorney general, universities challenge new visa rule on foreign students that could keep them out of the U.S.
Several Illinois-based universities are joining dozens of others from across the country in a legal challenge of a new immigration rule they say could keep international students from attending their schools.
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They cite a DePaul University student who they say was denied entry into the U.S. from South Korea last week.
Separately, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has announced he is joining another lawsuit that also takes aim at the new ICE rule.
Read more here. —Elyssa Cherney
1:48 p.m.: Loyola University Chicago will be mostly online this fall, school announces
Loyola University Chicago announced Monday that most classes for the upcoming fall semester will be online.
A few exceptions will be made for classes, labs and research that require face-to-face interaction, according to a letter from released Monday by President Jo Ann Rooney and Provost Norberto Grzywacz.
The announcement comes as the daily number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Illinois has seen a recent uptick, with 954 new confirmed cases reported Sunday.
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Loyola had previously announced a plan for both on-campus and virtual instruction depending on a student’s preference, with only some online courses to keep the numbers of students on campus down. University officials also announced students on campus would be housed under a single-occupancy plan, and officials were creating lists of students who would need to quarantine when arriving on campus in the fall.
With its change of plans made public Monday, the university also said both domestic and international students would be taught in-person if necessary, an announcement that comes on the heels of ICE’s new policy requiring international students taking online courses to leave America and banning visas for new students under virtual instruction.
To prevent COVID-19 exposure, the university plans to implement precautionary measures including frequent testing for the virus, contact tracing, staggered work schedules, reduced class sizes, restricted gathering spaces and mask and social distancing requirements. School officials launched a Return to Campus website Monday delineating more guidelines for community members returning to campus.
The release said more details would be announced in the coming weeks.
—Kelli Smith
1:02 p.m.: City closes West Loop bar for violating Chicago’s coronavirus crowding rules
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration closed a West Loop bar and cited a handful of other venues over the weekend for flouting COVID-19 capacity or social distancing rules, part of her promised crackdown on violators aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus cases throughout the city.
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Wise Owl Drinkery & Cookhouse was shut down because it was over capacity and groups of patrons weren’t at least 6 feet away from each other, wearing masks or seated, according to the city Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.
In all, six businesses were issued citations for failing to meet the city’s current guidelines to operate during the pandemic.
Read more here. —John Byrne and Louisa Chu
New York & Company could close many — if not all — stores in bankruptcy
Women’s apparel chain New York & Company expects to close many, if not all, of its stores after parent company RTW Retailwinds filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday.
RTW Retailwinds has started a store closing and liquidation process and is “evaluating any and all strategic alternatives,” including selling its online business, the company said in a news release Monday.
New York & Company has 16 stores in Illinois and one in Merrillville, Indiana. Stores will continue to operate as usual in the short term, and some stores that temporarily closed during the pandemic will reopen, the company said.
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Read more here. —Lauren Zumbach
1 p.m.: The Chicago Marathon, scheduled for Oct. 11, is canceled for just the 2nd time in its history
For the second time in its history, the Chicago Marathon has been canceled before runners cross the starting line.
Organizers Monday announced the 43rd running of the race, scheduled for Oct. 11, will not proceed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Bank of America Chicago Marathon typically draws about 45,000 runners and wheelchair athletes to the city, with a record 45,786 finishers from 50 states and more than 100 countries in 2019. Organizers estimate about 1.7 million spectators annually line the 26.2-mile course that starts and ends near Grant Park and travels as far north as Wrigleyville and as far south as Bridgeport.
Registered participants can receive a refund for their race entry or defer their place and entry fee to a Chicago Marathon in 2021, 2022 or 2023. Registered runners for the International Chicago 5K will have the same options.
Read more here. —Shannon Ryan and Colleen Kane
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11:50 a.m.: Millennials and boomers: Coronavirus pandemic has smacked America’s two largest generations at a pivotal time in their lives
Millennials, you’re taking a big hit — again. And you’re not OK, either, boomers.
Sometimes at odds, America's two largest generations now have something to agree on: The coronavirus pandemic has smacked many of them at a pivotal time in their lives.
For baby boomers, named for the post-World War II surge of births, that means those who are retired or are nearing retirement are seeing their 401(k) accounts and IRAs looking unreliable while their health is at high risk.
Millennials, who became young adults in this century, are getting socked again just as they were beginning to recover after what a Census researcher found were the Great Recession’s hardest hits to jobs and pay.
“The long-lasting effects of the Great Recession on millennials, that was kind of scarring,” said Gray Kimbrough, a millennial and an economist at American University in Washington. “And now when the economy had finally clawed back to where we were before the Great Recession, then this hit at a particularly bad time as well for millennials in particular.”
Read more here. —Associated Press
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11:37 a.m.: Molson Coors stops production of Saint Archer Gold light lager after pandemic disrupts rollout
Brewer Molson Coors said it will stop production of its light craft lager Saint Archer Gold, which began rolling out nationwide earlier this year, due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
In a memo to distributors and employees sent July 10, Molson Coors Chief Marketing Officer Michelle St. Jacques said “the effects of the coronavirus on our industry caused an immediate loss of momentum for the brand.”
At the same time, the company said it is increasing investment in hard seltzer brands like Vizzy and its Blue Moon LightSky ale. Molson Coors also is focusing on the national launch of its Coors Seltzer brand later this year.
Molson Coors, the nation’s second largest beer company, began introducing Saint Archer Gold to other markets earlier this year to compete with Anheuser-Busch’s Michelob Ultra after initially launching in four test markets last year.
Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez
10:13 a.m.: Black mental health patients hit hard by COVID-19, social injustice: ‘We were already at a breaking point’
Dr. Brandi Jackson, a psychiatrist at Rush University Medical Center, said the COVID-19 pandemic has been her most difficult period as a psychiatrist. With an uptick in anxiety and depression in her primarily Black clientele, she’s seeing patients who have been clean for years relapsing on drugs — and citing the coronavirus as pushing them over the line.
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Health disparities were prevalent in the Black community before COVID-19. Life expectancy for residents on the North Shore was 30 years longer, on average, than that for residents of Englewood.
Suicide attempts that were self-reported by Black teens have spiked since 1991, even as their peers in other groups have experienced a downward trend or remained unchanged, according to a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Another study found that Black teens experience several forms of racial discrimination each day, which can lead to short-term depression. All this research was conducted before the pandemic.
Now with COVID-19 hitting Black communities extra hard and the added stressor of social injustice (George Floyd, police brutality, et al.), Jackson believes we’re only seeing a small fraction of what the real mental health fallout will be, especially in the Black community.
Read more here. —Darcel Rockett
7:30 a.m.: As COVID-19 cases surge nationwide, we asked Chicagoans: Why are you getting tested?
Some patients felt sick, nervously ticking off potential COVID-19 symptoms. Some cited possible exposure to the highly contagious disease. Others were there out of an abundance of caution.
All had made an appointment for a test Friday at Heartland Health Centers on Devon Avenue in the Rogers Park neighborhood. In interviews, they expressed common fears of becoming ill or unwittingly spreading the new coronavirus, which has already sickened more than 150,000 and killed more than 7,000 statewide. Illinois on Sunday set a new daily testing record, with 38,894 COVID-19 tests performed.
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Read more here. —Angie Leventis Lourgos
7:30 a.m.: The NBA is considering a 2nd bubble in Chicago for its bottom 8 teams, including the Bulls. The mayor’s office is on board — but Illinois’ recent COVID-19 uptick is only 1 potential hurdle.
During a conference call with reporters shortly after the Chicago Bulls’ 2019-20 season ended abruptly last month, executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas expressed both concern about his new team facing a near nine-month layoff between games and confidence that the NBA would find a way for the eight teams not invited to Orlando, Fla., to participate in some sort of basketball activities.
That idea began to take shape last week, when reports surfaced that the league was in advanced considerations about creating a “second bubble” in Chicago for those eight teams, with Wintrust Arena emerging as the favorite to host the event because it is connected to a hotel. It would allow the teams left out of the league’s official restart to create a summer-league-style environment with training camps and scrimmages against other teams.
Read more here. —Jamal Collier
7:15 a.m.: A neighborhood photographer gives a voice to Latino essential workers during the pandemic: ‘We need to tell our own stories’
When the pandemic hit the Chicago area, Mateo Zapata was worried. Not necessarily for himself, but for the people in his community. He knew “that Black and brown people would be left behind.”
For many Latinos, staying home was never an option. Some live paycheck to paycheck and many more have jobs that are considered essential. But Zapata saw a lack of focus from the government and mainstream media on Latinos’ stories, even after COVID-19 cases began to spike in majority-Latino neighborhoods throughout the country.
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Zapata, a freelance photographer who lives in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood near Pilsen, wanted to make sure the lives of his neighbors and fellow Latinos become a part of history by being “genuinely” documented, allowing their voices to be elevated, he said. So he put on his face mask and gloves, grabbed his camera and began to document “the experience of Latinos during the pandemic.”
Read more here. —Laura Rodríguez Presa


chicagotribune--2020-07-13--Trump EPA brushes aside public health experts, fails to tighten national standard for lung-damaging

Trump EPA brushes aside public health experts, fails to tighten national standard for lung-damaging smog

Though the new group concluded the existing smog standard should be retained , it included an attachment in a February @ @ @ @ @ legitimate questions about whether the current standard provides an adequate margin of safety for people @ @ @ @

The Chicago skyline is seen on a muggy, hot and humid afternoon on July 9, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)
Despite evidence that dirty air still endangers millions of Americans with asthma and other respiratory diseases, the Trump administration on Monday declined to tighten national standards for lung-damaging smog.
The decision to retain an Obama-era regulation came less than a week after the Chicago area suffered its longest streak of bad air days in more than a decade.
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Business groups lobbied the administration for months to keep in place the latest federal limit on smog concentrations — after saying just five years ago it would bankrupt the U.S. economy.
“Current scientific information continues to support the conclusion that the primary standard established in 2015 protects public health,” Andrew Wheeler, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said during a brief conference call with reporters.
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The announcement marked the second time this year that Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, rejected pleas from public health experts to redouble the nation’s fight against air pollution.
In April, the Trump political appointee disregarded scientific advice to require more rigorous control of industrial soot emissions, which researchers have determined can trigger respiratory problems, cause heart disease and prompt early deaths.
Wheeler opted to leave current smog and soot standards unchanged after his predecessor, Scott Pruitt, fired the EPA’s independent scientific advisers and replaced them with a panel dominated by industry-backed researchers.
Though the new group concluded the existing smog standard should be retained, it included an attachment in a February letter to Wheeler acknowledging “legitimate questions about whether the current standard provides an adequate margin of safety for people with asthma.”
“I think this will be troubling to federal courts,” one of the fired advisers, H. Christopher Frey, said in an email.
Frey, a civil and environmental engineering professor at North Carolina State University, chaired a group that advised the Obama EPA before the agency adopted its latest smog standard in 2015.
Research since then shows more clearly how air pollution triggers asthma attacks, Frey said, suggesting that keeping the current standard in place violates the federal Clean Air Act.
“The law uses the term ‘protect public health,’ which is understood to err on the side of protection when there are uncertainties,” Frey said. “Administrator Wheeler has used uncertainty as an excuse to do nothing.”
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Smog, also known as ground-level ozone, is created when the sun’s heat bakes a mixture of chemicals emitted mostly by car tailpipes, diesel engines and the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants.
Regulating sources of smog-forming pollution is supposed to be grounded in science. But politics often play a role.
President George W. Bush was told in 2007 that the strictest standard under consideration by the EPA would have reduced smog-related deaths by 75%. His administration favored a far less stringent limit, significantly reducing the number of counties required to adopt smog-fighting measures.
A year later, candidate Barack Obama vowed to update the Bush-era standard, then blocked the EPA’s efforts to follow through on that promise as the White House shifted its focus to President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.
Trump, meanwhile, has spent the past three years attempting to roll back regulations intended to improve air quality across the nation.
Nearly 214 million people nationwide and 10 million in Illinois live in counties where average smog levels exceed 60 parts per billion — the strictest standard EPA officials have considered, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis of federal monitoring data.
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Tightening the standard from the current 70 ppb limit would require Chicago and other big cities to clamp down harder on polluters.
Dozens of smaller cities, mostly in the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast, would be forced to adopt smog-fighting measures for the first time. Many are election-year battlegrounds where the air is considered relatively clean, at least according to the EPA.
“The EPA is ensuring millions of people will repeatedly be told the air is healthy when the agency knows it’s not,” said Brian Urbaszewski, director of environmental health policy at the Chicago-based Respiratory Health Association. “It won’t be protecting at-risk groups like children living with asthma, needlessly causing families more trauma, emergency room visits and hospital stays.”
Like many other Trump-era regulatory decisions, the smog standard almost assuredly will end up in the courts. Even if judges determine the EPA failed to follow the law, it will take years to reach that point, effectively delaying new requirements for industry.


chicagotribune--2020-07-13--After another weekend of children shot in Chicago, top cop asks for more time for his ‘community pol

After another weekend of children shot in Chicago, top cop asks for more time for his ‘community policing on steroids’

The superintendent did not say when the unit would begin its work , saying officers were still being recruited to @ @ @ @ @ more than 200 cops .
An internal memo obtained by the Tribune indicates it will @ @ @ @ @ Team and will operate out of the Englewood police district on the South Side and @ @ @ @ @ West Side .

After another weekend when children were among dozens of shooting victims in Chicago, police Superintendent David Brown repeatedly asked for more time Monday to deploy his strategy of “community policing on steroids” to bring down the nearly unprecedented level of violence.
Unlike at past Monday news conferences, Brown did not hurl insults at gunmen or complain that not enough people are being locked up. Instead, he once again insisted that the drug trade is the “pipeline to the criminal justice system” and doubled down on his belief that community outreach is a solution.
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Brown noted that a specialized unit he announced last week would both respond to flare-ups and perform service work in neighborhoods. He also wants cops on tactical and gun teams doing community service every day, and said he believes in street outreach and violence-interruption efforts.
But he said these programs take time to produce results. “Don’t judge it on the short term. It’s just the beginnings of it,” Brown said. “As it matures and grows to a larger capacity, not just geographic capacity but more people doing it. ... I think we’ll likely see great results.”
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Brown announced the special unit after an especially violent July Fourth weekend that saw about 90 people shot, at least 17 of them fatally, including 7-year-old Natalia Wallace on the West Side and 14-year-old Vernado Jones Jr. on the South Side.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 29 A shooting victim is transported after being shot in the abdomen in the 600 block of E. 40th Street in the Bronzeville neighborhood, July 5, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
This past weekend, at least 64 people were shot and 11 of them died. The youngest victim was a 15-year-old boy on the Far South Side, blocks from where his older brother was fatally shot in April. As Sunday drew to a close, a 15-year-old girl was shot while standing on a West Side street, just half an hour after two teenage boys were wounded while sitting in a car at a South Side gas station.
The level of violence was similar to the same weekends in 2016 and 2017, the worst years for shootings in Chicago since the 1990s. More than 1,900 people have been shot in Chicago this year, 550 more than at this point last year, according to data kept by the Tribune.
The superintendent did not say when the unit would begin its work, saying officers were still being recruited to reach the full deployment of more than 200 cops. An internal memo obtained by the Tribune indicates it will be called the Community Safety Team and will operate out of the Englewood police district on the South Side and the training academy on the West Side.
“When it is created, we want it to be a community-oriented, policing-first citywide unit, and that’s different, that’s not your father’s citywide unit,” Brown promised, referring to similar attempts in the past. “That’s not something that’s been done with a citywide unit, from what I understand. … They’ll still be getting guns off the street, arresting violent offenders, but we can walk and chew gum at the same time.”
Chicago police canvass the 1100 block of North Lawndale Avenue on Sunday, July 12, 2020, after an overnight shooting injured five people, killing one, in Humboldt Park. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Jasmine McKinney, left, with the help of friend Netta Jones, sets up a memorial for Kearra Thomas on July 12, 2020, in Avalon Park. Thomas was shot and killed in the 8000 block of South Woodlawn Avenue while attending a memorial gathering Saturday evening. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Brown was asked why he thinks the unit will work this time. He chided the reporter, telling her not to be “so jaded” and to “have some optimism.” But he acknowledged that police cannot do the job alone — a message both he and Mayor Lori Lightfoot have driven home over the last several weeks.
“This is a complex, nuanced problem that will take more than just the police,” Brown said. “This is about a lack of opportunity, that’s not a policing issue. This is about social inequality, that’s not police. This is about education opportunities, job opportunities, job training opportunities. That’s not the police, and yet, you only ask me the questions.”
Brown urged a “deeper understanding of the trauma and violent conditions many Chicagoans living in these areas experience.” He talked about a conversation he had with a 25-year-old on the West Side who claimed to have seen 54 of his friends killed.
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He discussed systemic issues in the community leading to crime, especially the lack of job opportunities for young people on the South and West sides. Brown said the lack of investment has led people to see the drug market as the only way to make a livelihood.
“They need an opportunity to have a job, participate in the American Dream, see a future,” he said. “And not just this menial job that really doesn’t provide a living wage. They need a real opportunity to learn a trade, to be a part of the capitalist market.”
Also last week, Brown announced a new program requiring summer patrol units to engage in community service projects every week. One alderman dismissed the initiative as “fluff,” but Brown said his plans have been well received by community residents he’s talked with.
“People were on the porch of their homes, out excited about this interaction with the police,” he said. “I think there is a healthy appetite for collaboration with the police in these challenging neighborhoods.”
Shameka Turner, who lives in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side and is the founder of the Resident Association of the Westside, listened to the press briefing and told the Tribune she was not impressed with Brown’s comments.
She said she doesn’t trust the department to pull off a community-oriented approach.
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“I’m here in the community, every time I show up to a community meeting, they always bring a Black police officer to say, ‘Oh, community policing,’” Turner said. “As an Austin person, when I call the police or when I’ve been pulled over, guess what, they’ll never look like me on the West Side.
“It’s staged, so that you’re like, ‘Oh community policing, they have Black police officers.’ They have two, and they’re too busy going to meetings,” she said. “It’s the other ones that don’t look like us pulling us over and doing all other kinds of stuff that the people don’t trust.”
pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-07-13--The Spin: Politics and Chicago’s hazardous air pollution | Ald. Carrie Austin says she has COVID-19

The Spin: Politics and Chicago’s hazardous air pollution | Ald. Carrie Austin says she has COVID-19 | Trump threatens to ‘take over’ American cities troubled by gun violence

Eyeball Gov .
J.B. Pritzker ’ s Twitter feed and it ’ s clear his administration is hammering home similar @ @ @ @ @ weekend , “ I know everyone wants to get back to normal , but we @ @ @ @ @ the virus or pretend the pandemic is over .
It ’ s not .
We @ @ @ @ @ part ” as well as “ We remain concerned cases are rising and positivity rates @ @ @ @ @ more than ever , we must rely on what the science is telling us .
@ @ @ @ @ an effective tool in the fight against # covid19 .
”

Donald Trump is profiled against his 92-story Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago during a news conference May 24, 2007, on construction progress. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)
With no COVID-19 vaccine or surefire treatment in sight, the Chicago Marathon has been canceled for the second time in its history.
It comes as Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot watch spikes in cases across the country and offer their own reminders that people should wear a mask and take other measures as we see a slow rise in new cases here.
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And we’re some 130 days away from the November election, but COVID-19 is already leaving its print on the ballot box in Chicago, where a record 121,000 voters have requested mail-in ballots.
And, if it makes any difference, Chicago’s Chance the Rapper is endorsing fellow Chicago musician and onetime MAGA-hat-wearing Kanye West’s long shot presidential bid.
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My colleague Michael Hawthorne examines how Chicago just notched its longest streak of lung-damaging, life-shortening high-pollution days in more than a decade. While the Trump administration has agreed, on some level, that dirty air is part of a domino effect of climate change, the White House also has, year after year, rolled back clear air regulations.
And with all this Trump shade coming out of Chicago, the president returned the favor. At a White House law enforcement roundtable today, Trump pledged to lower shooting statistics in American cities “even if we have to go in and take over,” overstated Chicago’s weekend violence numbers and again compared the city’s violence with Afghanistan’s. It’s a bit of a refrain.
Welcome to The Spin.
President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable with people positively affected by law enforcement July 13, 2020, in Washington, as Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Kamira Boyd listen. (Evan Vucci/AP)
President Donald Trump spoke at a White House roundtable on law enforcement today and threatened to bring down shooting numbers in American cities “even if we have to go in and take over.”
The president also again compared the violence seen in Chicago with Afghanistan and said it was worse here.
From the Tribune’s John Byrne: “During the event, he turned his attention to Chicago, one of his favorite targets.
“The president cited erroneous numbers, saying there were ‘I guess 20 people killed and many, many shootings’ in the city over the weekend.
“In fact, 10 people were killed in shootings over the weekend. Fifty other people were injured in shootings across Chicago.” Read the full story here.
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Smog rises in the city as vehicles travel south along Interstate 90 in Chicago on July 9, 2020. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
The Tribune’s Michael Hawthorne takes a look at that string of nine air-pollution days this month, writing: “Chronically dirty air is one of the consequences of extreme weather triggered by climate change.
“The Trump administration agrees, on paper at least. Its 2018 National Climate Assessment concluded that: ‘Midwestern populations are already experiencing adverse health impacts from climate change, and these impacts are expected to worsen in the future.‘”
Close to home: “The administration also overruled career EPA staff and trimmed the number of counties in the Chicago area required to adopt smog-fighting measures such as more stringent limits on industrial pollution, tailpipe-emissions monitoring and vapor controls on gasoline pumps,”
You can read more, including how a little clout may have helped northwest suburban McHenry County get its name taken off a list of smog violators, along with other political and legal challenges, here.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
A poll worker at the Su Nueva Lavanderia polling place uses rubber gloves as she enters a ballot in the ballot box March 17, 2020, in Chicago. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)
“Chicago election officials have received a record 121,000 applications for mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 general election, even before the rollout of a state-mandated effort to offer vote-by-mail to anyone who voted in recent elections,” the Tribune’s Rick Pearson writes.
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He adds: “The number of requests tops the 118,000 applications in advance of the March 17 primary as coronavirus restrictions were being put in place. It’s also higher than the number of requests made for the November 1944 election, when U.S. troops were fighting overseas in World War II.”
“Now, it’s just a matter of time before we see when Chicago voters may double, triple and maybe even quintuple those records from March 2020 and before that, November 1944 in World War II,” Chicago Board of Election Commissioners Executive Director Lance Gough said in a statement.
Mail-in ballots will start arriving at homes in late September. Chicago voters who provide an email when they apply for a mail-in ballot will receive updates on everything from when their application is processed to when the ballot is processed.
Like everything else, vote-by-mail — particularly efforts to expand it — has become part of the deep partisan divide across the country. While some Democrats have pushed to follow the lead of states that automatically mail out ballots to voters, an expensive prospect for some cash-strapped governments, some Republicans including President Donald Trump have raised concerns about voter fraud even though there’s little to back up that assertion. The president reiterated his concerns via Twitter last week.
....Absentee Ballots are fine because you have to go through a precise process to get your voting privilege. Not so with Mail-Ins. Rigged Election!!! 20% fraudulent ballots? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2020
Chicago connection: Chance the Rapper backs Kanye West’s presidential bid — The sort-of endorsement triggered a Twitter backlash, my Tribune colleague Lauren Leazenby writes. As reported last week, West announced he’s making a bid for the White House in a clear break from his onetime pal Trump. As the AP notes: West has already missed the deadline to qualify for the ballot in several states, and it’s unclear if he has the ability or willingness to collect the signatures required to qualify in others.
This isn’t the first time Chance the Rapper, whose given name is Chancelor Bennett, has offered endorsements in high-profile political races. Bennett initially backed Amara Enyia as his pick in the 2019 Chicago mayor’s race before throwing his support in the city’s runoff to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who lost to Lori Lightfoot.
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Speaking of the November election, Illinois Democratic Party leaders gather in Springfield for an in-person meeting — with social distancing requirements in place — to choose electors who become part of the 538 members of the Electoral College, which formally selects the president and vice president in December.
Illinois is allotted 20 electors, one for each of the 18 congressional districts, plus two at-large electors for each of its U.S. Senate seats.
The Republicans also pick 20, but in a winner-takes-all system, the party that prevails in the popular vote heads to the final round of voting in the Electoral College.
It’s a civics reminder that when we go to the polls and make our choice for president, we’re actually voting for a party slate.
The state party’s delegate selection plan can be found here. And read the list of Republican and Democratic electors from the 2016 election, courtesy of Illinois Public media, here.
Counting on people: Mayor Lightfoot trots out “census cowboy” to boost participation: Donning a 10ish-gallon hat, the mayor introduced the cowboy — on horseback, no less — and said he’ll be striding into the 10 neighborhoods where census response is the lowest. Right now, Lightfoot says the city’s response is at 55% ahead of the Halloween deadline and that it’s below 40% in some parts of the West and South sides.
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“It’s time to giddy-up - let’s do this Chicago,” she said.
The mayor reminded those assembled that a census count decides how much federal funding the city receives. It also determines how many seats in Congress the state has; right now, experts fear Illinois could lose as many as two seats. You can fill out the census form here.
“Chicago ranks relatively well among response rates compared to the nation’s other biggest cities,” Crain’s A.D. Quig writes. Read the full story here.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, second from left, along with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, center, and public health officials arrive to provide updated public guidance about the coronavirus pandemic Feb. 28, 2020, in Chicago. (Antonio Perez/AP)
The Tribune’s John Byrne and Luisa Chu write: “Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration closed a West Loop bar and cited a handful of other venues over the weekend for flouting COVID-19 capacity or social distancing rules, part of her promised crackdown on violators aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus cases throughout the city.
“With images of long lines of maskless patrons in Wrigleyville and other Chicago entertainment districts continuing to flood social media and the state announcing increases in recent days in the number of COVID-19 cases and the positivity rate, Lightfoot on Monday said she remains concerned Chicago might follow other hot spots around the country that have seen massive virus spikes.” Read the story here. And for the latest data and other news on COVID-19 in Chicago and across the state, read here.
Eyeball Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Twitter feed and it’s clear his administration is hammering home similar concerns, writing over the weekend, “I know everyone wants to get back to normal, but we can’t wish away the virus or pretend the pandemic is over. It’s not. We all have to do our part” as well as “We remain concerned cases are rising and positivity rates are inching up. Now more than ever, we must rely on what the science is telling us. Wearing a face covering is an effective tool in the fight against #covid19.”
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Veteran Chicago alderman announces she has coronavirus: Far South Side Ald. Carrie Austin wrote in a letter on her 34th Ward website that she has been “stricken by COVID-19″ and is “currently progressing toward full recovery.” Read John Byrne’s full story here.
COVID-19 mobile testing site in Lake Zurich this week following spike in youth cases: The Tribune’s Darcel Rockett has the story here.
We remain concerned that cases are rising and positivity rates are inching up. Now more than ever, we must rely on what the science is telling us. Wearing a face covering is an effective tool in the fight against #covid19. Join me.
📷: Anthony Vazquez, @suntimes #AllInIllinois pic.twitter.com/fKfi4SfUyN — Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) July 12, 2020
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul speaks Sept. 23, 2019, at the Michael A. Bilandic Building in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
From The Associated Press: Massachusetts and 17 other attorneys general, including Illinois’ Kwame Raoul, filed a federal suit today challenging the Trump administration’s new restrictions on international students.
The suit challenges a Trump administration directive that says international students cannot stay in the U.S. if they take all of their classes online this fall. In a statement from Raoul’s office, he and other attorneys general say the rule is a “cruel, abrupt, and unlawful action to expel international students amidst the pandemic that has wrought death and disruption across the United States.” The lawsuit seeks an injunction to stop the entire rule from taking effect.
“ICE’s arbitrary new rule harms both international students and the institutions where these students contribute to creating a diverse and culturally-vibrant academic environment. Announcing this rule in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic has created additional confusion and upheaval for students and universities already facing uncertainty caused by the pandemic,” Raoul is quoted as saying in a statement from his office. “As the son of immigrants and the state’s chief law enforcement officer, I am committed to fighting the administration’s anti-immigrant policies.”
Chicago connection: The AP also reports that last Wednesday, a DePaul University student was prevented from entering the country after arriving in San Francisco as a result of the directive, according to a legal briefing filed by nearly 60 universities.
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Twitter @byldonovan


chicagotribune--2020-07-13--Illinois universities join fight against a new visa rule they say targets international students and

Illinois universities join fight against a new visa rule they say targets international students and already stopped a DePaul student from entering the US

A spokeswoman for DePaul said she had “ no other public information to provide ” about the student who , @ @ @ @ @ , was denied entry after arriving on July 8 .
The student , the filing @ @ @ @ @ from entering the country at the San Francisco airport on the ground that he had @ @ @ @ @ — and thus could not establish that at least some of his coursework would be @ @ @

The University of Illinois is among dozens of schools that have signed a legal filing challenging a new immigration rule they say is unfair to international students. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
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A DePaul University student who arrived from South Korea was denied entry into the country last week because he could not show that he was in compliance with a controversial visa rule for international students, a consortium of universities say in a new court filing.
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The rule, announced July 6 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, requires international students to take some level of in-person classes in order to enter or remain in the country — even though many colleges are moving the bulk of courses online this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic. At the beginning of the outbreak, ICE temporarily lifted this requirement for international students.
The DePaul anecdote emerged in federal court documents filed Sunday as part of a lawsuit against ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In a separate legal challenge, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced Monday that he joined 17 other states seeking an injunction to block the rule revision from taking effect.
“ICE’s arbitrary new rule harms both international students and the institutions where these students contribute to creating a diverse and culturally-vibrant academic environment,” Raoul said in a statement. “Announcing this rule in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic has created additional confusion and upheaval for students and universities already facing uncertainty caused by the pandemic.”
About 40,000 international students travel to Illinois to take classes and live on college campuses every year, Raoul’s office said. Many have remained in the country because of difficulty flying home after classes abruptly shifted online this spring. But for newly admitted students and those trying to return from their home countries, the ICE directive poses a major hurdle.
A spokeswoman for DePaul said she had “no other public information to provide” about the student who, according to the court filing, was denied entry after arriving on July 8. The student, the filing said, “was prevented from entering the country at the San Francisco airport on the ground that he had not yet registered for classes — and thus could not establish that at least some of his coursework would be in-person.”
The filing, an amicus brief on behalf of 59 universities, included support from Northwestern University, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois. The lawsuit was initially brought by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on July 8.
Changes to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program announced last week caught universities and international students off-guard, inducing a wave of panic among schools that were finalizing their offerings for the fall. The new rules say international students taking exclusively online classes will have to leave the U.S., won’t be issued new visas and will be denied entry. Students can remain in the country if they transfer to a school and take classes that involve in-person learning.
Additionally, should schools need to revert to online teaching because of increased infections, international students would lose their visas and have to return home, the rules say.
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“Nonimmigrant students within the United States are not permitted to take a full course of study through online classes,” the ICE website says. “If students find themselves in this situation, they must leave the country or take alternative steps to maintain their nonimmigrant status such as a reduced course load or appropriate medical leave.”
Universities are supposed to inform the federal government by Wednesday if they will offer only online courses this fall, according to Raoul. By Aug. 4, schools are also required to certify whether each international student enrolled at their institution will have a course load that is in-person or a blend of online learning.
In a court filing, Northwestern’s associate provost for global affairs said many international students are feeling anxious about the upcoming term as they weigh their options. NU enrolled nearly 4,000 international students from 122 countries last school year, and the vast majority of NU’s 1,108 newly admitted international students are outside the U.S. and will need a visa to enter the country this fall.
“Many of these students face difficult or dangerous situations in their home countries, and many have built their lives and families in the United States,” professor Annelise Riles said in the filing.
At U. of C., Provost Ka Yee C. Lee wrote in a filing that 4,042 international students are enrolled as incoming and returning students this fall. The new ICE rules disrupt U. of C.‘s careful planning to reopen campus and it could take “hundreds of hours to provide the required certification” for international students, Lee wrote.
“The July 6 Directive does not provide specificity with regard to how much coursework must be taken in person, which has resulted in deep uncertainty and concern about whether students’ specific course selections will be sufficient to allow them to maintain their visa statuses,” she wrote.
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echerney@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-13--A year after elevated lead levels were detected, University Park residents still unable to consume w

A year after elevated lead levels were detected, University Park residents still unable to consume water without restrictions

“ I got a household down the street from me , ” said the mayor , whose own home remains @ @ @ @ @ “ Two kids left and usage is down so why should they have to be @ @ @ @ @ when there were more people in the house ?
It ’ s just an unfair @ @ @

A court order requires utility Aqua Illinois to continue providing bottled water and water filters to University Park residents affected by elevated lead levels in the village's water supply. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune) (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
When University Park’s water supplier notified residents in June 2019 that elevated lead levels had been detected in samples taken from some of their homes, the company cautioned it might be “a few weeks” before they could safely consume tap water without restrictions.
More than a year later, roughly 1,500 Aqua Illinois customers remain under the lead advisory and the company’s progress eradicating the contamination appears to have stalled.
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According to company data released Friday, elevated lead levels persist in 30% of the University Park homes where water was sampled last month — a proportion comparable to what was seen nine months ago.
Aqua must reduce that proportion to 10% or lower in order to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard for drinking water.
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Company officials did not directly respond to questions about what may account for the discouraging results, but touted overall reductions in lead levels over the past 13 months and said the company was committed to ensuring it was on the “optimal treatment path.”
“While the data illustrate that overall water quality has improved significantly, water chemistry is complicated, and lead concentrations continue to show some variability in impacted homes,” Aqua Illinois spokeswoman Kim Morreale said in a statement. “This is to be expected as the piping continues to adjust to the treatment.”
The company initially detected elevated lead levels at 14 village properties in mid-June 2019, shortly after making an adjustment to its treatment process, and issued a “do not consume” advisory for about 2,400 customers.
An investigation ruled out the company’s distribution system, service lines and water source as causes of the contamination and identified “water chemistry interacting with lead solder” in the internal plumbing of homes built prior to 1990, as the likely culprit.
After saying initially that the treatment adjustment was likely responsible for changing the water chemistry and causing lead in older homes’ pipes to leach into the water, the company now says it cannot definitively establish that the treatment adjustment contributed to the issue.
Since detecting elevated lead levels last summer, Aqua has used a chemical treatment called orthophosphate to coat customers’ pipes and prevent lead from leaching into their water.
The first few months of treatment delivered promising results and the company appeared to be on its way to meeting the EPA’s lead standards for drinking water before hitting a plateau last November.
Since then, progress has halted and the proportion of customers with elevated levels of lead in their water has actually increased.
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When asked whether Aqua had modified or planned to modify its treatment methods in light of its stalled progress, officials said the company continues to use the same orthophosphate treatment.
Aqua has, however, stepped up its calls for affected customers to run their taps more frequently in an effort to enhance the treatment’s impact.
“The data show that water use is critical for the treatment to work,” Morreale said. “So at this time we are asking impacted customers to run cold tap water from their kitchen faucets for an extra 30 minutes every day.”
Aqua officials said 84% of University Park homes that used more than 3,600 gallons of water a month over a four-month period last year had “low” lead levels compared to only 63% of homes that used less than that amount.
The company has waived water bills for affected customers since the lead crisis began, but has angered University Park’s mayor by not doing the same for sewage bills, which also are impacted by water usage.
“You encourage residents to run water, then you come back and charge them for water going out for sewage,” said Mayor Joseph Roudez, who harshly criticized the practice.
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He said Aqua had asked him numerous times to encourage residents to run their taps more frequently, but that he had refused because the company would not agree to zero residents’ sewage bills.
“Their main concern is regarding their economics,” Roudez said.
Aqua said in response to the mayor’s critique that sewer bills had been capped based on past usage and that no customers were being charged more for sewage than they had been prior to the lead advisory.
Roudez countered that capping sewage charges based on prior use failed to account for situations in which households had lost members in the past year and would otherwise have experienced a reduction in water usage were it not for needing to repeatedly flush the water.
“I got a household down the street from me,” said the mayor, whose own home remains under the lead advisory. “Two kids left and usage is down so why should they have to be paying something from last year when there were more people in the house? It’s just an unfair tactic.”
Roudez said he also remains skeptical of the safety of consuming tap water, even though Aqua has repeatedly advised affected customers that they may safely drink and cook with the water as long as they’ve flushed it for two to three minutes and filtered it first.
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The mayor challenged Aqua’s president to drink his tap water and said that “99.9%” of residents still don’t feel comfortable consuming what comes out of their faucets.
Roudez said having to rely on bottled water — 12 gallons of which Aqua provides weekly to affected customers — has been extremely challenging for his family and others over the past 13 months, but that he’d been impressed by the community’s resolve amid a water crisis that has coincided with a global pandemic and a national reckoning over racial injustice.
“I want to compliment the residents and say what a resilient, determined group of people we have in our community,” he said.
Aqua, which has said its customers’ health and safety are its top priorities, also expressed gratitude for residents’ patience as they continue to work through the lead contamination problem.
As of June 30, the company said it had distributed 808,611 gallons on bottled water, 5,380 pitcher and faucet filters and 6,205 filter replacements.
zkoeske@tribpub.com
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Twitter @ZakKoeske


chicagotribune--2020-07-13--Car sliced in two, but no fatalities reported in high-speed, six-vehicle crash at Park Ridge-Niles b

Car sliced in two, but no fatalities reported in high-speed, six-vehicle crash at Park Ridge-Niles border

The GMC , driven by a 49-year-old Morton Grove woman and containing two child passengers , was forced back into @ @ @ @ @ driven by a 39-year-old Niles woman , Scipione said .
The Jetta then veered off @ @ @ @ @ black 2007 Toyota Camry driven by a 60-year-old woman from Des Plaines , followed by @ @ @ @ @ and a white 2014 Nissan driven by a 72-year-old Skokie woman , Scipione said .

A 2016 Volkswagen Jetta, right, was split in two pieces after causing a multi-vehicle, chain reaction crash near the intersection of Oakton Street and Prospect Avenue at the Niles-Park Ridge border on July 10, Niles police said. No fatalities or life-threatening injuries were reported, according to police. - Original Credit: Niles Fire Department (Niles Fire Department / HANDOUT)
A black Volkswagen Jetta was split in two and seven people were sent to hospitals in a multi-car crash that shut down a stretch of Oakton Street between Niles and Park Ridge Friday evening, police and fire officials said.
Anthony J. Capra, 34, of Des Plaines, is facing a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving and citations for improper lane usage, driving without insurance and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident in connection with the July 10 chain reaction crash that involved a total of six vehicles, said Niles Police Cmdr. Anthony Scipione.
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According to a report provided by the Niles Police Department, Capra’s 2016 Volkswagen Jetta was headed west on Oakton Street at a “high rate of speed” shortly after 6 p.m. when it entered the eastbound lanes near Prospect Avenue, striking a white 2010 GMC Yukon SUV head-on just east of the intersection
The GMC, driven by a 49-year-old Morton Grove woman and containing two child passengers, was forced back into a black 2017 Dodge Caravan driven by a 39-year-old Niles woman, Scipione said. The Jetta then veered off the road and hit a black 2007 Toyota Camry driven by a 60-year-old woman from Des Plaines, followed by a black 2005 Honda Fit and a white 2014 Nissan driven by a 72-year-old Skokie woman, Scipione said.
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The final collision with the Nissan split the Volkswagen Jetta in two pieces and sent the Nissan into a utility pole, the police report said.
Debris and heavily damaged cars littered the roadway, but no fatalities resulted and injuries sustained in the crash were described by Scipione and Niles Fire Chief Marty Feld as non-life-threatening.
“It’s surprising that no one was seriously injured,” Feld noted.
Seven people, including the driver of the Jetta, were taken to the hospital for treatment of the injuries they sustained, according to the police report. Park Ridge and Des Plaines paramedics assisted in the transports, Feld said.
The drivers of the Dodge Caravan, Honda Fit and Toyota Camry refused transport to a hospital, police said.
Capra was given an Aug. 14 court date.
Scipione said the investigation into the crash remains open. The speed at which the Jetta was traveling was not immediately determined, he said.
Six cars sustained damage in a crash near the intersection of Oakton Street and Prospect Avenue at the Park Ridge-Niles border on July 10. - Original Credit: Niles Fire Department (Niles Fire Department / HANDOUT)
jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter: @Jen_Tribune


chicagotribune--2020-07-13--Veteran Chicago alderman announces she has coronavirus

For years under Daley and Mayor Rahm Emanuel , Austin chaired the powerful City Council Budget Committee .
Lightfoot removed @ @ @ @ @ she took office last year , but created a new Committee on Contracting Oversight and @ @ @ @ @ charge of that .

In this file photo, Chicago Ald. Carrie Austin speaks during the City Council meeting at City Hall on Nov. 26, 2019. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Veteran Far South Side Ald. Carrie Austin has contracted the coronavirus, she announced Monday.
In a letter on her 34th Ward website, Austin said she has been “stricken by COVID-19″ and is “currently progressing toward full recovery.”
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Austin, who was appointed by then-Mayor Richard M. Daley to the City Council in 1994 to succeed her husband after his death, did not return calls seeking comment about her diagnosis.
Currently the council’s longest-serving Black alderman, Austin did not take part in the City Council meeting last month. She is Chicago’s first elected city official to announce having gotten the virus.
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Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday tweeted out her support: “Keeping Alderman Carrie Austin and the rest of her family in my prayers. Alderman Austin is a fighter and I’m hoping for her to have a swift recovery.”
Keeping Alderman Carrie Austin and the rest of her family in my prayers. Alderman Austin is a fighter and I'm hoping for her to have a swift recovery. — Mayor Lori Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) July 13, 2020
FBI agents raided Austin’s Far South Side ward office in June. According to a subpoena obtained by the Chicago Tribune, federal agents had been looking into the circumstances surrounding the construction and sale of a West Pullman home to Austin by a developer in the ward.
Austin, 71, has not been charged with wrongdoing.
For years under Daley and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Austin chaired the powerful City Council Budget Committee. Lightfoot removed her from that post after she took office last year, but created a new Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity and put her in charge of that.
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @_johnbyrne


chicagotribune--2020-07-13--President Donald Trump says he will bring down Chicago violence even if he has to ‘go in and take ov

President Donald Trump says he will bring down Chicago violence even if he has to ‘go in and take over’

“ Numbers are going to be coming down even if we have to go in and take over cities because @ @ @ @ @ that happen .
When you have 20 people killed , 22 people killed in one @ @ @ @ @ you have 88 shootings , it ’ s not even conceivable , ” Trump said @ @ @ @ @ worse than Afghanistan , I hate to say it .
That ’ s worse than @ @ @ @ @ ’ re in by a lot .
It makes them look like tame places by @ @ @

Chicago police canvass the 1100 block of North Lawndale Avenue on Sunday, July 12, 2020, after an overnight shooting injured five people, killing one, in Humboldt Park. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
President Donald Trump on Monday pledged to bring down shooting numbers in Chicago and other American cities “even if we have to go in and take over.”
Trump was speaking at a law enforcement round table at the White House, where he touted his record as “pro-safety, pro-police and anti-crime.”
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During the event, he turned his attention to Chicago, one of his favorite targets, and again compared the city with Afghanistan, which he has done repeatedly in the past.
The president cited erroneous numbers, saying there were “I guess 20 people killed and many, many shootings” in the city over the weekend.
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In fact, 10 people were killed in shootings over the weekend. Fifty other people were injured in shootings across Chicago.
“Numbers are going to be coming down even if we have to go in and take over cities because we can’t let that happen. When you have 20 people killed, 22 people killed in one weekend in Chicago. When you have 88 shootings, it’s not even conceivable,” Trump said. “That’s worse than Afghanistan, I hate to say it. That’s worse than any war zone that we’re in by a lot. It makes them look like tame places by comparison.”
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“So we’re not going to let it go on,” he added. “We’re not supposed to … uh supposed to wait for them to call, but they don’t call. We’ve asked Chicago, ‘Would you like us to go in and help?’ and they don’t want to say anything. And we’ve called many of the cities, ‘Would you like us to go and help?‘”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot has relished attacking Trump, frequently ripping him as a divisive leader who demonizes Democratic cities like Chicago solely for political gain. But she did not immediately respond Monday to the president’s latest remarks.
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @_johnbyrne


chicagotribune--2020-07-13--Oak Park and River Forest High School to offer e-learning this fall, with more rigorous classes than

Oak Park and River Forest High School to offer e-learning this fall, with more rigorous classes than last spring

“ Not all students will have the symptoms , ” Pruitt-Adams said .
“ The concern is when you get @ @ @ @ @ then you may have one kid who is a carrier and they may not know @ @ @ @ @ a congregate site like a nursing home is a congregate site .
The reality is @ @ @ @ @ , we are almost definitely going to have to close again and revert back to @ @ @ @ @ know multiple changes in the lives of kids can be traumatic .
”

When classes resume at Oak Park and River Forest High School this fall, students will still be taking virtual classes as officials say the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will not allow for safe in-person learning. (Steve Schering / Pioneer Press)
When students “return” to Oak Park and River Forest High School next month, they will again be engaged in virtual learning. However, administrators are promising a much different curriculum this time around.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the school abruptly shifted to online learning for students in mid-March to finish out the school year. Administrators said during the July 9 school board meeting that virtual courses and interaction will continue when classes resume Aug. 17.
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“We know people are looking at how remote learning was in the spring when we were thrust into that,” superintendent Joylynn Pruitt-Adams said. “We learned from that and this is an entirely different plan. The remote instruction we propose for this fall will be very different from the spring experience.”
Among the changes proposed for the fall 2020 e-learning curriculum include a set schedule of class periods, mandatory student attendance, weekly minimum and maximum time requirements for courses to meet online, issuing letter grades and providing academic support services.
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[ Illinois schools reopening updates: What suburban Chicago districts plan for fall ]
Each student’s schedule would be broken up into “A” days and “B” days, with periods 1, 3, 5 and 7 occurring on A days and periods 2, 4, 6, and 8 taking place on B days. Monday and Thursday would be A days while Tuesday and Friday would be for B day classes, officials said.
Wednesdays would be set up for student support and advisory time, as well as teacher collaboration.
“This plan allows for the greatest amount of flexibility not just for instruction, but for contact time outside of class,” Pruitt-Adams said. “It also avoids the overload of students with screen time and allows more collaboration when you have the entire class interacting on Zoom instead of just [a limited number of] students in a classroom.”
While the state’s phase four of its Restore Illinois plan would allow for limited attendance, administrators said social distancing requirements would likely allow only seven to eight students per classroom. Requiring temperature checks and screening for 3,400 students each school day would also be problematic and time consuming, officials said.
“Not all students will have the symptoms,” Pruitt-Adams said. “The concern is when you get them into the building, then you may have one kid who is a carrier and they may not know it. Then we become a congregate site like a nursing home is a congregate site. The reality is if we open in-person learning, we are almost definitely going to have to close again and revert back to remote learning. We all know multiple changes in the lives of kids can be traumatic.”
Pruitt-Adams also said students receiving special education services or those who absolutely require in-person instruction would likely be allowed inside the building.
“I do appreciate the added rigor and focus on student engagement,” board member Ralph Martire said. “I did have a graduating senior and her experience [with remote learning] was not ideal. I think a lot of the issues she confronted in that very awkward and rushed approach to do distance learning were really addressed thoughtfully here.”
While largely supportive of the plan, some on the board wished there was a way to ensure all students received some productive time inside the building. School officials, however, said any in-person learning occurring in the near term would look nothing like it did prior to the pandemic.
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“When I think of my own classroom, my kids are always in cooperative groups,” OPRF teacher and faculty senate chair Sheila Hardin said. “I can’t do that in any plan we would bring forth. Full remote learning will give students the most rigor, the most time and, as a classroom teacher, will give me the most face-to-face experience with my students while keeping them and the staff safe.”
Board member Gina Harris said she appreciated the thoughtfulness of the plan, especially the time carved out each week for student support, but asked what would be done for families who may not be able to connect online.
Officials said students who do not have Wi-Fi would be provided a hotspot by the school, while accommodations would be made in an effort to reach each of the school’s 3,400 students.
“The building can accept some students in some conditions with proper social distancing and safety protocols,” director of student services Lynda Parker said. “We’re going to investigate what that needs to look like so no student would have to be at home struggling with no wifi if we can offer that in the building. We will put all those together to make sure no student is just hanging out there and not being supported.”
Others asked how families would be supported, with board president Sara Dixon Spivy expressing concerns for working families and parents of high-needs students.
“If you recall in the plan there’s a space we’re going to offer a parent café,” Pruitt-Adams said. “That will serve as support for our parents and have strategies they can use on their kids. We’re going to put support in place for our students and for our families.”
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Pruitt-Adams said she is hopeful the school board will approve a resolution charging administration to implement the new learning plan and make any “needed and necessary” changes throughout its implementation. School officials are also expected to host a virtual town hall with families to discuss the plan and answer questions. Both are expected to take place before the start of the 2020-21 school year.
Plans for the spring semester will be addressed at a later date, officials said.
sschering@pioneerlocal.com
Twitter: @steveschering