chicagotribune--2020-12-01--Watchdog group says 2011 smart grid legislation cited in federal bribery case put ComEd interests ov

Watchdog group says 2011 smart grid legislation cited in federal bribery case put ComEd interests over public good

Last year alone , the lobbying team for ComEd and parent company Exelon included nine former Democratic lawmakers , including @ @ @ @ @ ’ s leadership team and the daughter of a former Cook County Democratic chairman .
@ @ @ @ @ a former Madigan political director and two of the speaker ’ s former legal counsels @ @ @ @ @ have now parted ways with ComEd .

Legislation at the heart of the bribery scandal that has ensnared House Speaker Michael Madigan as well as former Commonwealth Edison executives enhanced the utility’s bottom line but failed to produce promised benefits for consumers, according to a report released Tuesday by Illinois PIRG, a public interest advocacy group.
The watchdog report contends the 2011 smart grid legislation, which lawmakers enacted over then-Gov. Pat Quinn’s veto and then-Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s opposition, marked the “beginning of ComEd’s illegal scheme to increase its power and influence, in service of (parent company) Exelon’s interests over the interests of its customers and the people of Illinois.”
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ComEd’s efforts to woo Madigan began when then-Senate President Emil Jones, a longtime ally of the utility decided to retire in 2008, the report says.
Before that, then-CEO John Rowe viewed Madigan as a foe of the company, and the utility had reached a compromise on 2007 electric power legislation only because Jones fought to prevent Madigan from calling all the shots, the report said.
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A ComEd headquarters building in the 3400 block of North California Avenue in Chicago in 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Jones’ departure put ComEd in a politically precarious position, the report said. So the utility “set in motion a campaign to build political power and win over Speaker Madigan,” a move that contributed to the passage of the 2011 smart grid legislation, the report said.
“We now know that one reason this campaign was successful was because it involved an illegal and corrupt bribery scheme to influence the speaker and his associates,” the report concluded.
ComEd agreed this summer to pay a $200 million fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors for engaging in a “yearslong scheme” to influence Madigan by offering jobs and favors to allies.
On Monday, ComEd spokeswoman Shannon Breymaier said in a statement that the agreement with prosecutors “does not contain any allegations that consumers were harmed by legislation passed in Illinois.”
Breymaier also said that energy legislation passed over the past decade, including the 2011 law, “resulted in substantial benefits for ComEd’s customers, including reliability that has improved more than 70% since 2012 to record levels,” in addition to enhanced energy efficiency programs since the law took effect.
The 2011 law, known officially as the Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act, allowed ComEd and Ameren, Downstate’s major power company, to establish reliability standards and smart grid investments to improve delivery to customers.
But PIRG, in effect, charged that ComEd’s political clout helped influence legislation that ultimately made the measuring sticks for utility reliability too weak and the ability to make money too easy.
ComEd built an “unparalleled political influence operation” to pass smart grid legislation and repeatedly used it to “gain further windfalls” through legislative victories for ComEd and its parent company, Exelon, the watchdog report said.
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In 2016, for example, ComEd, Exelon and a coalition of environmental and consumer advocates joined with nuclear plant workers to push through subsidies footed by consumers that helped keep open two Exelon plants.
Last year alone, the lobbying team for ComEd and parent company Exelon included nine former Democratic lawmakers, including two recent members of Madigan’s leadership team and the daughter of a former Cook County Democratic chairman. Also on the list was a former Madigan political director and two of the speaker’s former legal counsels. Several of those lobbyists have now parted ways with ComEd.
The report also took issue with ComEd’s contention that customers were not harmed by the smart grid law.
“ComEd’s authorized annual revenue, the amount it collects through the delivery portion of customer bills, increased 37 percent between 2012 and 2020, from an annualized rate of $1.95 to $2.68 billion, or more than $700 million,” the report said. “This 37 percent increase has unquestionably had, and will continue to have, a significant effect on customer bills.”
The PIRG report also takes issue with “formula rates,” which it contends have provided ComEd with “guaranteed, record profits” while also shielding the company’s investments from “meaningful scrutiny.”
In an energy agenda he rolled out earlier this year, Gov. J.B. Pritzker called for phasing out formula rates, which allow utilities to set annual rates based on anticipated costs. The governor’s plan contends formula rates have allowed utility providers to raise their delivery costs and their profits, “with little cost control.”
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Madigan’s longest and closest confidant, Michael McClain, a retired ComEd and Exelon lobbyist, and former ComEd and Exelon executive Anne Pramaggiore, face federal indictments, as do two other lobbyists, for the alleged bribery scam that provided Madigan allies with contracts, jobs and other financial benefits, in some cases for little or no work.
Madigan has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.
rlong@chicagotribune.com
jmunks@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-01--Man shot near University of Chicago Law School on what is ‘usually a quiet street’

The shooting occurred about one block south of the University of Chicago Law School and across the street from a @ @ @ @ @ at the corner of 62nd and Ellis , a sign of continued redevelopment in the @ @ @ @ @ that will house former President Barack Obama ’ s presidential center .

A 25-year-old man was shot around 7 p.m. Monday in the 1000 block of East 62nd Street in Woodlawn, according to Chicago police.
Officers responded to a call of a person shot and found the man lying in the driveway leading into an alley with three bags of groceries scattered nearby, police said. He was bleeding from a gunshot wound to the neck and stomach. Neighbors reported hearing five to six gunshots.
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“Is he dead?” one of the neighbors asked a police officer from an apartment building lobby next to the crime scene.
“It ain’t looking good for him,” the sergeant responded.
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An ambulance took him to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, police said.
Blood stained the curb running into the alley as officers used flashlights to look through the grocery bags in the grass along a nearby sidewalk. The small stretch of 62nd Street between Greenwood and Ellis avenues was blocked off as officers searched for shell casings.
The shooting occurred about one block south of the University of Chicago Law School and across the street from a new housing development under construction at the corner of 62nd and Ellis, a sign of continued redevelopment in the north end of the neighborhood that will house former President Barack Obama’s presidential center.
“This is usually a real quiet street,” said one neighbor who declined to give her name. “This just hurts my heart to see this.”
Reporter Paige Fry contributed to this report.


chicagotribune--2020-11-30--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened Nov. 30 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

She ’ s frustrated by the mayor , the governor and the president , the first of whom she plans @ @ @ @ @ letter ” later Monday .
It costs Formento ’ s $ 4,500 a month to @ @ @ @ @ up , and the graffiti made them eyesores that could potentially turn away customers willing @ @ @ @ @ to dine in , she said .
She walked outside into the gloomy weather to @ @ @ @ @ take a real look at what was written on the tents , which she said @ @ @

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
For the latest updates, click here for Tuesday’s live blog.
Illinois health officials on Monday announced 6,190 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 85 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 726,304 and the statewide death toll to 12,278 since the start of the pandemic.
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Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations across Illinois has begun to bend downward after weeks of sharp growth, state data shows, but public health advocates have expressed unease that infections from the Thanksgiving holiday may undo any improvements.
The same downward trend is starting to be seen, though not as strongly, for the subset of patients in intensive care units — where there are deeper concerns about hospitals becoming overwhelmed.
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The case numbers, lower than in recent weeks, don’t necessarily mean that the spread of coronavirus is slowing. Health experts have warned that because over the Thanksgiving weekend, fewer people likely got tested and many testing sites curtailed their hours.
Here’s what’s happening Monday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
5:45 p.m.: Chicago officials shut down 300-person party in Wicker Park over the weekend
Officials enforcing coronavirus orders shut down a party attended by about 300 people in Wicker Park over the weekend and cited a business for hosting a party with more than 600 attendees, the city of Chicago said in a news release.
Since restrictions on indoor service at restaurants and bars and tighter crowd limits went into effect on Oct. 30, the city said it has shut down five businesses for one day and closed four others until they have a reopening plan in place. In addition, the city said it has issued 20 citations and 54 “orders to correct” to bars, restaurants and other businesses.
Read more here. —Gregory Pratt
5:35 p.m.: New Trier High School to consider expansion of in-person instruction
Encouraged by the early success of a new $1.3 million COVID-19 saliva screening program, officials at New Trier High School are considering an expansion of their in-person student instruction plan.
The school board on Tuesday will vote on the timeline for an expanded reopening plan that would increase from the current model of one “track” of students attending classes in-person each day, to two tracks, New Trier spokeswoman Niki Dizon said Monday.
While each track is divided into roughly a quarter of the students who opted into hybrid learning, the actual attendance numbers have fallen below 25%, and officials estimate the same will hold true with two tracks being less than 50%, Dizon said.
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The proposal to expand the amount of in-person student instruction at the high school’s campuses in Winnetka and Northfield has been embraced by some parents, who have been pushing for more classroom learning since the start of the school year, with some suggesting that all students should attend a half day of school each day.
But potentially doubling the number of students in the building each day over the current hybrid model has prompted alarm from educators and others who say officials should not be bringing more students on campus during the latest virus surge.
Read more here. —Karen Ann Cullotta
2:42 p.m.: Americans face strict new COVID-19 restrictions around the country after Thanksgiving as health experts brace for out-of-control surge to worsen
Americans returning home from Thanksgiving break faced strict new coronavirus measures around the country Monday as health officials brace for a disastrous worsening of the out-of-control surge because of holiday gatherings over the long weekend.
Los Angeles County imposed a stay-at-home order for its 10 million residents, and Santa Clara County, in the heart of Silicon Valley, banned high school, college and professional sports and decreed a quarantine for those who have traveled more than 150 miles outside the county.
In Hawaii, the mayor of Hawaii County said trans-Pacific travelers arriving without a negative COVID-19 test must quarantine for 14 days, and even those who have tested virus-free may be randomly selected for another test upon arrival. New Jersey is suspending all youth sports.
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The outbreak in Santa Clara County “is like a high-speed train,” health officer Dr. Sara Cody said.
Read more here. —Associated Press
2:34 p.m.: COVID-19 relief package a long-shot in lame-duck Congress session
After months of shadowboxing amid a tense and toxic campaign, Capitol Hill’s main players are returning for one final, perhaps futile, attempt at deal-making on a challenging menu of year-end business.
COVID-19 relief, a $1.4 trillion catchall spending package, and defense policy — and a final burst of judicial nominees — dominate a truncated two- or three-week session occurring as the coronavirus pandemic rockets out of control in President Donald Trump’s final weeks in office.
Read more here. —Associated Press
1:27 p.m.: Vandals strike outdoor dining tents in Chicago’s West Loop
Formento’s was one of a few West Loop restaurants hit by graffiti over the holiday weekend. Vandals spray-painted graffiti on outdoor tents used to shelter patrons dining outdoors in the cold weather, an attempt to keep business going while restaurant dining rooms remain closed due to the coronavirus pandemic shutdown. For partner Nancy Bruni, it was the latest in a long string of struggles she’s had to face during the pandemic.
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”I was in tears,” Bruni said Monday morning. “It’s all so much.”
She’s frustrated by the mayor, the governor and the president, the first of whom she plans on writing a “nasty letter” later Monday. It costs Formento’s $4,500 a month to have the outdoor dining tents up, and the graffiti made them eyesores that could potentially turn away customers willing to brave the cold weather to dine in, she said. She walked outside into the gloomy weather to snap a few photos and take a real look at what was written on the tents, which she said was gibberish.
One of her managers filed an online police report Sunday afternoon that was still pending approval as of Monday afternoon. Another restaurant on Randolph Street, Bar Siena, had tents also hit with graffiti over the weekend, according to a report by NBC.
Bruni said the city sent a crew on Monday to clean up the graffiti. But overall she said the incident is just more proof that people don’t care about restaurants, whether they’re a public official or a layperson.
”I’m just so sad for humanity,” she said. “Instead of coming together during the virus, it just feels like we’re getting screwed.”
She repeated her pleas that she shared during a press conference on Nov. 11: Give restaurants aid or at the very least, give them transparency and a voice when making decisions about their livelihoods.
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”No one is giving us any answers and we are left in limbo here,” she said. “When it gets really cold, realistically, do you think people are going to be trudging through the snow and ice to eat in an igloo or a tent?”
—Grace Wong
1:23 p.m.: When will kids get a COVID-19 vaccine? Experts say it may be long after adults.
The U.S. may be weeks away from getting its first coronavirus vaccine approved for adults, but many parents and doctors wonder when children will be able to benefit from the protection it offers.
Experts have said that adults in the general public likely won’t get vaccinated until spring, and kids might have to wait even longer — possibly till the end of 2021.
That’s because kids weren’t involved in COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials until two months ago, when pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its partner BioNTech recruited 16 and 17-year-olds. In October, the companies received approval to enroll kids between 12 and 15-years-old.
Read more here. —McClatchy Washington Bureau
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1:07 p.m.: Glenview, Northbrook offer early retirement to village staffers as suburbs look to cut costs during COVID-19 pandemic
As Northbrook and Glenview continue to deal with the financial fallout of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the villages will experience several staff departures in the coming year.
Both villages are working to save money by reducing expenses and deferring non-essential projects. Another way they hope to save money is by offering voluntary separation programs. These programs serve as a type of incentivized early retirement or buyout plan for eligible staff.
”By reducing the employee count and restructuring job functions through privatization or job consolidations as opportunities present themselves, an employer can contain personnel costs and manage future costs,” reads a report from Sarah Schillerstrom, Glenview’s assistant village manager.
Particularly in Northbrook, the exits of several department heads, as well as the village manager and elected village president, will create a year of significant turnover.
Read more here. —Kaitlin Edquist, Northbrook Star
1:03 p.m.: Lake County’s COVID-19 numbers improve, but health officials wary of Thanksgiving impact
Amid slightly improved coronavirus pandemic statistics in Lake County, concern remains as the Illinois Department of Public Health plans to operate more mobile testing sites starting nine days after Thanksgiving to continue curbing the spread of COVID-19.
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Testing will be offered between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday and Dec. 14 at the College of Lake County, 19351 West Washington St., Grayslake; as well as Sunday at Grant Community High School, 285 Grand Ave. Fox Lake.
Hannah Goering, the marketing and communications manager for the Lake County Health Department, said in an email testing is a key component of reducing the spread of the disease. Anyone feeling at all ill should get a test immediately.
”When we can identify cases through testing, we can have those who are infected isolate and have their close contacts quarantine,” she said. “This is a very targeted approach to slow the spread of the virus.”
Read more here. —Steve Sadin, Lake County News-Sun
12:30 p.m.: Ellen DeGeneres features U of C nurses on her show
Ellen DeGeneres thanked University of Chicago Medical Center nurses with several gifts, including a $200 weighted blanket, a $550 cookware set and a variety of gift cards, on Monday’s episode of her daytime show.
DeGeneres has been dedicating her 12 Days of Giveaways program to first responders during the coronavirus pandemic. Monday was Day 4. DeGeneres’ show airs at 3 p.m. weekdays on WMAQ-Ch. 5.
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Watch here. —Tracy Swartz
12:03 p.m.: 6,190 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 85 additional deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Monday announced 6,190 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 85 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 726,304 and the statewide death toll to 12,278 since the start of the pandemic. Officials also reported 66,980 new tests in the last 24 hours.
The seven-day statewide rolling positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 10.2% for the period ending Friday.
—Chicago Tribune staff
11:25 a.m.: A good sign, for now: Hospitalization numbers have been declining
The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations across Illinois has begun to bend downward after weeks of sharp growth, state data shows, but public health advocates have expressed unease that infections from the Thanksgiving holiday may undo any improvements.
As of Sunday night — the most recent data available — 5,849 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized across the state. That number marked the seventh daily drop in hospitalizations in nine days, collectively amounting to a 5% decrease from a high of 6,175 on Nov. 20.
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The same downward trend is starting to be seen, though not as strongly, for the subset of patients in intensive care units – where there are deeper concerns about hospitals becoming overwhelmed.
Read more here. —Joe Mahr and Dan Petrella
6:54 a.m.: Merriam-Webster’s top word of 2020 not a shocker: pandemic
If you were to choose a word that rose above most in 2020, which word would it be?
Ding, ding, ding: Merriam-Webster on Monday announced “pandemic” as its 2020 word of the year.
“That probably isn’t a big shock,” Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster, told The Associated Press.
“Often the big news story has a technical word that’s associated with it and in this case, the word pandemic is not just technical but has become general. It’s probably the word by which we’ll refer to this period in the future,” he said.
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Read more here. —Associated Press
6:38 a.m.: Oak Park to fund business marketing plan, studying winter outdoor dining options for restaurants
To assist local businesses and restaurants, the village of Oak Park has authorized creation of a “shop local” campaign while also studying outdoor dining concepts for use this winter.
During the village board’s meeting last week, trustees unanimously approved a $30,000 contract with an agency called a5 to work with the village and various stakeholders to promote and support small businesses..
The proposal includes consolidating existing programs, such as the Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce’s digital gift card program and a local “save our restaurants” campaign, and building a digital marketing and social media campaign.
The village’s business recovery task force reviewed multiple proposals, and came to a consensus to recommend a contract with a5 to the village board.
Read more here. — Steve Schering, Pioneer Press
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6:15 a.m.: Moderna to seek OK for emergency use of its coronavirus vaccine in US, Europe
Moderna Inc. said it would ask U.S. and European regulators Monday to allow emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine as new study results confirm the shots offer strong protection — ramping up the race to begin limited vaccinations as the coronavirus rampage worsens.
Multiple vaccine candidates must succeed for the world to stamp out the pandemic, which has been on the upswing in the U.S. and Europe. U.S. hospitals have been stretched to the limit as the nation has seen more than 160,000 new cases per day and more than 1,400 daily deaths. Since first emerging nearly a year ago in China, the virus has killed more than 1.4 million people worldwide.
Moderna is just behind Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech in seeking to begin vaccinations in the U.S. in December. Across the Atlantic, British regulators also are assessing the Pfizer shot and another from AstraZeneca.
Read more here. —Associated Press
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chicagotribune--2020-12-02--Blueprint for change or another blow to North Lawndale? A call to close 3 schools and open another h

Blueprint for change or another blow to North Lawndale? A call to close 3 schools and open another has split a Chicago community in need of rebuilding.

Speaking at the Board of Ed meeting this month , a Sumner student said bringing the Frazier students in “ @ @ @ @ @ at the time , but it caused quarrels among the children .
We weren ’ @ @ @ @ @ as far as learning and it slowed down class time .
... Now we are @ @ @ @ @ schools with three different types of neighborhoods , three different types of children , three @ @ @ @ @ .
They won ’ t equal each other .
”

From her family’s home in North Lawndale, a young Rochelle Jackson saw her Chicago neighborhood burn during the 1968 riots sparked by the assassination of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.
“Our neighborhood was decimated, because people were upset,” Jackson said. “I watched the fires from my back porch as a little girl. I remember what the neighborhood used to look like.”
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She remembers, too, what it was like to walk to a school where each classroom was filled with students, first at Mason Elementary and later Farragut High. Then how it felt to realize disinvestment was occurring in her neighborhood, which more than 50 years later has yet to recover from the riots.
She wants to see her community thrive, and has faith in a proposal that would close three elementary schools and consolidate their students into one new school with modern facilities, cutting-edge academic programs and resources for families.
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The Lawndale Community Academy building at 3500 W. Douglas Blvd. in Chicago is one of three schools that could close and be consolidated in a new so-called STEAM school. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Two North Lawndale groups, the Community Coordinating Council and Community Action Council, submitted a proposal this month to Chicago Public Schools for a new, “state-of-the-art” STEAM elementary school to serve 650 to 700 students. The STEAM model adds social studies and arts programs to STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
The proposal is billed as the product of a community-led process for the next step of the North Lawndale quality-of-life plan launched by NLCCC in 2018.
But not everyone in the community supports the idea, and some were taken aback by their neighbors’ intent to close Lawndale Community Academy and Sumner Math and Science Community Academy in Lawndale, as well as Crown Community Academy of Fine Arts near the border of Lawndale and Little Village.
Many parents, students and staff believe shutting the schools would dismantle three distinct communities and put children in harm’s way by sending them through gang activity or violence to get to school. The North Lawndale Parent and Community Coalition is petitioning CPS not to consider the proposal.
While dissenters prefer investment in existing facilities and question if a new building will really prove less costly, proponents say there simply aren’t enough students at the three schools, which are each less than a third full, and children would be best served by combining resources.
The proposal’s authors contend that closing those schools is “inevitable,” and that their plan presents “an excellent opportunity for children to receive an altogether new educational experience.”
This tension has drawn interest from local and state lawmakers, with Ald. Michael Scott, Cook County Commissioner Dennis Deer, state Sen. Patricia Van Pelt and U.S. Rep. Danny Davis among those supporting the proposal.
But state Rep. Lakesia Collins asked the Board of Education this month to “slow down this process and make sure that the parents, the staff and the students have say-so in what happens in their community.”
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“I’ve been hearing from both sides,” Collins said. “...It seems to be that they both want the same thing, they want to both lift up North Lawndale, but they’re looking at this through two different lenses.”
Though organizers have been holding community meetings for more than four years, project director Betty Allen-Green said Wednesday that the leadership team might ask CPS to pause the process until the pandemic is over and they can gather more feedback in person, particularly from parents at schools directly affected.
Haunted by school closings past
When the North Lawndale Community Action Council formed “as a vehicle of empowerment for families and community members to impact change and improve local schools,” its vision was for every North Lawndale student to get a rigorous, quality education. Under the umbrella of CPS, CACs work on strategic plans for education in their neighborhoods. The community coordinating council, or “N-L-Triple C” as it’s known colloquially, includes local groups, business owners, elected officials, educators and neighbors who want to help guide comprehensive planning.
Corporate, nonprofit, government and higher education partners have provided money and expertise to the proposal, which includes ideas such as Shedd Aquarium educators leading a marine biology lab at the new school and the Black Ensemble Theater helping teachers educate through theater arts, among other examples.
Though the CPS network chief for the area is on the leadership team for the proposal, the district has been neutral, outlining a process that would require public hearings and a vote by the Board of Education.
Shavon Coleman, right, a teacher assistant at Lawndale Community Academy in Chicago, and a small group of community activists hold a rally and news conference outside Crown Community Academy of Fine Arts on Dec. 1, 2020. They oppose a plan to consolidate the schools. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
“CPS believes that parents and community members must be the catalyst for any potential school transformation,” district spokesman Michael Passman said in a statement. “We have committed to listening to members of the North Lawndale community who are seeking to strengthen their schools, and we will consider moving forward only if their proposal gains significant parent and stakeholder support and they demonstrate a credible path to improved student outcomes.”
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During a recent public meeting on the proposal, conducted via Zoom, CPS chief portfolio officer Bing Howell commended principals at Crown, Lawndale and Sumner and said he understood the strong connection many people have to their schools.
Howell, who was involved in the closure of Frazier Preparatory Academy last school year but was not at CPS during notorious mass closures, said he wanted “to acknowledge that because of school closures in the past and how they were done, conversations like these are even more challenging.”
For some children, it could mean the second time they will have to find a new school. After CPS closed Frazier, citing the charter school’s poor performance, its students scattered to dozens of buildings, Lawndale, Crown and Sumner among them.
Speaking at the Board of Ed meeting this month, a Sumner student said bringing the Frazier students in “seemed like a good idea at the time, but it caused quarrels among the children. We weren’t on the same level as far as learning and it slowed down class time. ... Now we are trying to combine three different schools with three different types of neighborhoods, three different types of children, three different types of teaching styles. They won’t equal each other.”
Schools three quarters empty
Even after taking in Frazier students, the three schools are woefully empty. Last school year, Crown was at 31% capacity, Lawndale 24% and Sumner 20%, according to CPS.Enrollment has continued to dwindle. Though highly rated, Sumner has only 235 students in a building meant for 1,380. Lawndale has 207 students and Crown just 178.
Under the proposal, one of Lawndale’s buildings would be demolished to make space for the new school, a location chosen for its proximity to transportation routes and Douglass Park. Lawndale and Crown, two lower performing schools, would merge with Sumner, whose principal would lead the new school.
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Leaders of the theoretical new school would be tasked with implementing a new curriculum, blending three school cultures and absorbing students who have been performing below standards. “This final task is perhaps the most daunting, and will likely require several years before STEAM Partnership Academy students meet CPS Academic Goals,” the proposal states.
It recommends that CPS provide job security to all staff from the consolidated schools and encourage them to apply for positions at the new school, but also suggests a broader recruiting strategy.
More than two decades after she graduated from Lawndale, Shavon Coleman returned in 2005 as a teacher assistant. That was shortly after the death of her grandfather, who taught physical education there for 41 years and was familiar in the community as “Grandpa” or “Pops.”
Shanija Coleman, 17, and her sister Chayna Dixon, 11, kiss their mother Shavon Coleman. Shavon graduated from Lawndale school and now works there. She's skeptical of the school consolidation plan that would close her school. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
“Are you telling me that in a community where I was born and raised and I’ve decided in my adult life that I need to give back to, who made me who I am, you’re telling me I have to reapply to do that?” said Coleman, who opposed the consolidation plan.
The drop in students over the years “really is disheartening, but the enrollment is the way it is due to disinvestment in our school,” Coleman said.
“It would be great if they want to rebuild the schools, but who are they building it for? Who do they consider the community? Are they going to displace people? We don’t trust them,” Coleman said. “We shouldn’t have to close schools to invest in the Black neighborhoods.”
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The last time Lawndale was threatened with closure, Brandy McMahan’s daughter was in eighth grade and her son in prekindergarten. Now a seventh-grader, David Green said it didn’t feel good when he heard about the proposal from his mom. David said he gets along well with his teachers and classmates and “Lawndale is the only school I’ve known.”
The Lawndale Community Academy building at 3500 W. Douglas Blvd. was constructed in the 1920s. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
One of more than 100 schools considered for closure in 2013 under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Lawndale was spared after a series of protests.
“We fought a good fight that time,” said McMahan, who remains firmly against closing any school. Instead, she thinks each school deserves support. Lawndale has a theater and a pool that could use updates, and it already has science and computer labs, she said.
Among those who joined the “Save Our Schools” movement seven years ago were Betty Allen-Green and Leonard Moore, two former CPS principals now in leadership roles with NLCCC.
“I was on the front line fighting to help keep those schools open,” Allen-Green said. “The utilization rate was much better than what it is now and parents weren’t moving out of the community as rapidly as they are now, so we felt, keep the schools open.”
But their efforts could not preserve the local Henson or Pope elementary schools, among 50 citywide ultimately included in that round of closures.
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Losing Pope was difficult for former student Areulia Davis. Her high school, Harrison in South Lawndale, closed in 1983.
“I was very upset,” Davis said. “When people ask me where did I go to school, I really have no alma maters. My elementary school was closed down. My high school was closed down.”
Yet she supports the proposal, because the schools that would close would be replaced with North Lawndale’s first new school in nearly 60 years, according to the proposal.
“It’s basically about bringing a quality education to a neighborhood where there are children. I don’t care if they have it in the back of a Jewel parking lot.”
Proponents like Moore say they “believe in the schools in North Lawndale. We have great principals, we have great teachers. We just felt that this time, having a declining enrollment ... we should have a new school.”
Roughly half of CPS schools are classified as underutilized, according to an analysis of CPS data. Mason, where Rochelle Jackson spent her elementary years, now has one of the lowest utilization rates in the city, lower than any school targeted by the proposal, with 94 classrooms for barely 300 students.
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When Allen-Green became principal at Herzl Elementary, she had about 1,300 students. When she retired in 2007, she had 800. Now there are 471.
Much of the continued enrollment loss is tied to people leaving the city. But in North Lawndale, an increasing number of youths also attend schools in other parts of the city, and neighborhood schools have been further drained by the proliferation of charter schools.
Of all the city’s community areas, North Lawndale has the most charter campuses and highest percentage of students enrolled in charter schools, according to NLCCC.
North Lawndale and four other community areas — Austin, Garfield Park, Pilsen and Little Village-Marshall Square — make up CPS’ West Side region. Last school year, there were 37,444 students enrolled but 30,743 empty seats in the region, where enrollment loss outpaced the trend districtwide and where less than 30% of students attended their zoned schools.
“This exceptionally high percentage of students seeking better educational options underscores the need for a new, compelling, and highly relevant school option,” the proposal states.
A neighborhood’s long decline
Once part of Cicero Township, North Lawndale was annexed by Chicago in the late 1800s and became a Jewish enclave. Industry flourished and its population grew throughout the Great Migration, though many white families left. When the population peaked in 1960 at 125,000, 90% of residents were African American, and it remains a predominantly Black neighborhood.
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Yet disinvestment and racist housing practices began to take a toll, neighbors recall. Property damaged in the 1968 riots was not a priority for city leaders for a long time, Jackson said. The International Harvester plant, where 14,000 people once worked, closed in 1969, followed by other big employers including Homan Square’s Sears, Roebuck & Co. — the retail giant’s headquarters before it moved to the Sears Tower. Residents sought prosperity elsewhere, and today only 33,000 remain, more than 40% living below the poverty threshold. A quarter of residents did not graduate high school.
“We kept saying in another year they’re going to come back and somebody will help us rebuild,” Jackson said. “Nobody ever came for us so, 50 years later, here we are.”
In 2000, with the redevelopment of Homan Square underway, Mayor Richard M. Daley declared a $4.2 million YMCA center marked “the rebirth of North Lawndale.” Then came the 2008 recession, and the 2013 school closures, along with rising violence and fracturing gang structures.
North Lawndale is in the Chicago Police Department’s 10th District, where 237 shootings have been reported and 55 people have been killed so far this year. That’s more than 2016, which had been the city’s deadliest year since the 1990s.
McMahan has watched the relentless violence drive neighbors out of state.
“We are living in violence. It is very important to keep our kids in their own community,” McMahan said. “A lot of dads, uncles, brothers are involved in kids’ lives. That’s how, if you make a kid’s brother have to cross in different gang territories, they get caught in crossfire.”
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Already, danger surrounds the schools. People have been shot within a block of school buildings multiple times in just the past two weeks. A question posed on district surveys — “Do students feel safe in and around the school building and traveling to and from school?” — earned a safety rating of “weak” for Lawndale and “very weak” for Crown and Sumner.
About 11:30 a.m. Nov. 12, a man was critically wounded in a drive-by shooting while on a sidewalk near Lawndale Community Academy. The spray of bullets damaged a window at the school and two cars nearby, police confirmed. If it weren’t for remote learning, children may have been inside.
“The STEAM school shouldn’t go there. Nobody’s welcome over there. They’re killing each other,” said Katina McNulty.
McNulty, who has a fifth-grade son, cares for a handful of Sumner students during the day and said it would take at least a half-hour for many to walk to Lawndale.
The plan proposes that transportation would be provided to students who live more than five blocks from the new school. McNulty worries that the greater distance could make it difficult for parents without cars to visit the school or provide a backup for students who miss the bus.
“It’s so easy for people this does not impact at all,” she said. “It directly impacts my child, my children in day care.”
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At the Nov. 18 Board of Education meeting, parents who oppose the plan said many of their neighbors weren’t even aware of it.
NLCCC members described ongoing outreach efforts and said they sincerely want the whole community to be part of the process.
Jackson, who sits on a steering committee for the quality-of-life-plan, said it’s taken time to line up supporters.
“We still have naysayers in the neighborhood who don’t believe we can rebuild the community without us getting pushed aside,” she said. “I get that. At the end of the day it’s about these kids ... and they deserve to have a new school in the neighborhood, they deserve everything children on the North Shore get.”
hleone@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-02--The Spin: Chicago could get vaccines in December | Support for Madigan continues to wane | Pilsen la

The Spin: Chicago could get vaccines in December | Support for Madigan continues to wane | Pilsen landmark designation voted down in committee

“ The alderman said he hopes to introduce an ordinance in January to make it harder for developers to convert @ @ @ @ @ for families into warrens of fancier studio and one-bedroom apartments .
And he wants to @ @ @ @ @ certain amounts of affordable housing in new developments to cover more of the ward.
” @ @ @ @ @ story here .

Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, gives an update about the COVID-19 pandemic city travel order at City Hall on Dec. 1, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
City and state officials are preparing for the initial rollout of coronavirus vaccines later this month — and the plan is for health care workers to be first in line.
Support for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to maintain control of the Democratic-led chamber continues to wane.
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And, two plans designed to slow the destruction of buildings in parts of Chicago’s fast-gentrifying Pilsen neighborhood failed in committee today.
Welcome to The Spin.
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Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, gives an update about the COVID-19 vaccines and other pandemic news at City Hall on Dec. 1, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
“In the most promising update yet on plans for an eventual return to normalcy, Chicago officials said Tuesday they expect to begin rolling out coronavirus vaccines for health care workers later this month and could provide them to lower-risk residents in the spring and children by summer.
“The plan is contingent on federal approval of the first set of vaccines later this month, and residents likely will still be under some form of activity restriction well into next year, Chicago public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Tuesday.
“But the countdown to a return to a pre-COVID-19 way a life could start before Christmas, when Chicago would begin deploying its first batch of vaccines if they are approved, Arwady said.
“‘I’m confident this is the way that we will get past this, and that it will happen in 2021,’ Arwady said. ‘But it’s going to be a combination of rolling vaccines out quickly and effectively, which I’m confident we have good plans to do, (and) seeing good uptake of the vaccine.’
“State officials continue to receive widely varying estimates from the federal government for how many doses of a coronavirus vaccine will be in the initial shipment to Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday at his daily COVID-19 briefing.
“The most recent estimate is an initial shipment to Illinois with 109,000 doses, or enough to cover 54,500 people, Pritzker said, cautioning that number could change.” Read the rest from Alice Yin, Gregory Pratt and Jamie Munks here.
* From Alice Yin: 8 states including Ohio added to ‘red’ category in Chicago’s travel quarantine order
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* From The Associated Press: CDC to shorten guidance for quarantining after COVID-19 exposure to 10 days, 7 with a negative test
Buildings along 18th Street in Pilsen on Dec. 1, 2020. An ordinance to create a landmark district along this stretch of 18th and adjacent streets in the Near South Side neighborhood fell unanimously in the Zoning Committee on Tuesday. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
From Laura Rodríguez Presa and John Byrne: “An ordinance to create a landmark district along a stretch of 18th Street and adjacent streets in the Near South Side neighborhood fell unanimously in the Zoning Committee after Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, spoke against it.
“The landmark proposal has drawn stiff resistance for months from working-class Latino residents worried the rules to protect historic buildings would make it expensive and difficult for them to perform repairs on their homes.
“With the writing on the wall that Sigcho-Lopez’s colleagues were going to support him in opposing the landmark district, city Planning Commissioner Maurice Cox washed his hands of it at the beginning of the meeting. Cox noted the landmark proposal predated his hiring, and that the community opposed it at a series of meetings.
“Sigcho-Lopez called the Zoning Committee decision a victory for residents despite the defeat of his demolition moratorium, saying it was most important to stop the landmark designation.
“The alderman said he hopes to introduce an ordinance in January to make it harder for developers to convert buildings with apartments big enough for families into warrens of fancier studio and one-bedroom apartments. And he wants to expand a pilot program requiring certain amounts of affordable housing in new developments to cover more of the ward.” Read the rest of the story here.
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Mayor Lori Lightfoot arrives for a news conference in July 2019. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
The Tribune’s Gregory Pratt reports: “The city of Chicago dismissed the majority of tickets issued to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s security detail by red-light and speed cameras, including some that were recorded at times when the mayor was scheduled to be attending non-city events, records show.
“Since Lightfoot became mayor in May 2019, the police security detail assigned to her protection has received 13 tickets for speed and red-light camera violations, and 10 of those have been dismissed, records show.
“Though city officials did not address specific questions about her whereabouts at the time each ticket was issued, listings in her official calendar show some were given at times when her calendar suggests she was on the way home from a personal event or en route to a ‘non-city breakfast.’
“Four were issued at a time when her official calendar doesn’t note her scheduled whereabouts or indicates ‘rest,’ and another says she was supposed to be attending a virtual gala.
“A city spokeswoman defended dismissing the tickets, saying cops are allowed to run red lights under certain circumstances.” Read the rest here.
* From the Tribune’s Jeremy Gorner: Chicago police Superintendent David Brown in rare disagreement with oversight agency on two police discipline cases
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Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan talks to news media after a House Democratic caucus meeting on Nov. 12, 2019, at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
“House Speaker Michael Madigan’s chances of remaining in power were dealt another serious blow Tuesday when a member of his Democratic leadership team said she will not support him for another term leading the chamber.
“State Rep. Kathleen Willis of Addison, the majority conference chairperson, joins 18 rank-and-file Democrats in publicly opposing another term for the nation’s longest-serving state House speaker. Madigan, who’s been tied to a federal bribery investigation, is now facing opposition from more than one-quarter of his members.
“Even before Willis’ announcement, Madigan was short of the 60 votes he needs to win another two years as speaker. Despite the opposition, Madigan has showed no sign of giving up his 36-year hold on the speaker’s gavel, vowing last month to remain a candidate and claiming “significant support.” Read the rest of Dan Petrella’s story here.
* From the Daily Southtown’s Ted Slowik — Column: Crash claims life of U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski’s policy adviser Zac Plantz, 27. ‘He was going to ... change the world.’
Attorney General William Barr speaks during a roundtable discussion on Operation Legend, a federal program to help cities combat violent crime in St. Louis, on Oct. 15, 2020. Barr said Dec. 1 that the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud and has seen nothing that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. (Jeff Roberson/AP)
The Associated Press reports: “Attorney General William Barr declared Tuesday the U.S. Justice Department has uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election, disputing President Donald Trump’s persistent, baseless claims.
“Barr’s comments, in an interview with the The Associated Press, contradict the concerted effort by Trump, his boss, to subvert the results of last month’s voting and block President-elect Joe Biden from taking his place in the White House.
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“Barr told the AP that U.S. attorneys and FBI agents have been working to follow up specific complaints and information they’ve received, but ‘to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.’
“The comments, which drew immediate criticism from Trump attorneys, were especially notable coming from Barr, who has been one of the president’s most ardent allies. Before the election, he had repeatedly raised the notion that mail-in voting could be especially vulnerable to fraud during the coronavirus pandemic as Americans feared going to polls and instead chose to vote by mail.
“More to Trump’s liking, Barr revealed in the AP interview that in October he had appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham as a special counsel, giving the prosecutor the authority to continue to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe after Biden takes over and making it difficult to fire him. Biden hasn’t said what he might do with the investigation, and his transition team didn’t comment Tuesday.” Read the rest here.
* From the AP: Wisconsin election results: Trump files lawsuit seeking to disqualify hundreds of thousands of ballots
* Also from the AP: Georgia elections official urges Trump to rein in supporters: ‘Someone’s going to get hurt. Someone’s going to get shot.’
Thanks for reading The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Host Lisa Donovan is on vacation this week. If you have a tip, email her at ldonovan@chicagotribune.com.


chicagotribune--2020-12-02--CPS reopening plan so far: What you need to know about when and how Chicago schools will welcome stu

CPS reopening plan so far: What you need to know about when and how Chicago schools will welcome students back

In addition to grouping children in pods , as well as providing face masks to students and staff and requiring @ @ @ @ @ , such as eating , drinking and medical exemptions , CPS has taken steps to @ @ @ @ @ and mitigate coronavirus outbreaks .
Those include symptom and temperature screening ; supplies of soap @ @ @ @ @ disinfectant sprays for each school ; and the installation of air filters , sneeze guards @ @ @ @ @ has also hired dedicated contact tracers and plans to bring in an additional 400 custodians @ @ @ @ @ “ facilitate access ” to free COVID-19 testing for students and staff who show symptoms @ @ @ @ @ with an infected person , and is planning surveillance testing of school-based staff .

In the new year, Chicago Public Schools plans to start reopening schools, beginning with students in prekindergarten and special education clusters and phasing in upper elementary grades. The district released a reopening guide just before the Thanksgiving holiday. Here’s how it addresses some common questions.
Which students go back first, and when?
Students in prekindergarten and moderate and severe special education cluster programs may return Jan. 11. Other students in kindergarten through eighth grade who are enrolled in elementary schools may return in a hybrid model Feb. 1.
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What about high school students, as well as middle-grade students who attend high schools?
Schools with both upper and lower grades have until Jan. 18 to tell families if they’ll offer in-person classes to students in seventh and eighth grades. Students in grades nine through 12, along with middle-grade students who attend academic centers housed in high schools, will all continue learning from home, but district leaders have said they’ll “continue to evaluate options” to bring those students back to classrooms.
What if I’m not ready for my child to return to in-person learning?
“We will have an option for everybody,” including remote learning, CPS CEO Janice Jackson said Monday in an interview on WBEZ’s “Reset” program. CPS sent intent-to-return forms to teachers and opt-in forms to eligible students last week, all due next Monday.
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When CPS sent similar forms in October for 16,704 students in pre-K and cluster programs, about one-third opted to return to classrooms. About 58% chose to continue remote learning, and 9% did not respond. White families opted for in-person schooling at the highest rate, nearly 52%.
Families that already submitted a response don’t need to do it again unless their preference has changed. Once CPS provides schools with the results, they can move forward with figuring out schedules, pods and staffing.
Remote learning will still involve an hour of live instruction and 90 minutes of independent learning for pre-K students. Kindergartners through eighth grade students will receive 150 to 180 minutes of live instruction and 180 to 210 minutes of independent learning, with the greater amounts of live classwork on Wednesdays when all students are remote. Students in cluster programs will get 150 minutes of live instruction and 210 minutes of independent learning.
Jackson cited disparities evident in remote learning attendance and engagement data as reasons for reopening. “We have a moral obligation to get our kids back in school so they don’t lose more ground than they’ve already lost,” she said.
What will the in-person and hybrid schedules be like?
Schedules may vary by factors such as grade level and school. Full-day and half-day prekindergarten, along with elementary cluster programs, will meet five days per week for the usual amount of time. High school cluster programs will also meet five days per week, but daily minutes may vary.
Kindergarten through eighth grade students will each meet twice a week for full school days, with three remote learning days, in two groups on alternate schedules. One shift will meet in person Monday and Tuesday, the other shift Thursday and Friday. CPS is asking schools to put students from the same household on the same shifts.
Will my child be in the same class whether we choose in-person or remote learning?
Class assignments could depend on how many students and teachers decide to return in person and whether a particular teacher has both in-person and remote students and is required to teach them all at the same time. Beyond the guidelines compiled by CPS, each school is tasked with creating its own plan. Jackson said the district will provide teachers with professional development and support, but that the simultaneous model is doable.
“We have made clear it will be a simultaneous teaching model,” Jackson said. “... Our teachers will rise to the occasion, as they have done.”
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On Dec. 18, CPS expects schools to share teaching assignments and rosters with pre-K and cluster teachers and classroom assignments with parents. For kindergarten through eighth grade, teachers are supposed to find out their assignments and rosters by Jan. 11, and parents should have classroom assignments and hybrid days by Jan. 18, according to the reopening guide.
What protections will be in place to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus?
In addition to grouping children in pods, as well as providing face masks to students and staff and requiring their use with minimal exceptions, such as eating, drinking and medical exemptions, CPS has taken steps to comply with public health guidance and mitigate coronavirus outbreaks. Those include symptom and temperature screening; supplies of soap, sanitizer, wipes and disinfectant sprays for each school; and the installation of air filters, sneeze guards and distancing signs. CPS has also hired dedicated contact tracers and plans to bring in an additional 400 custodians. The district will also “facilitate access” to free COVID-19 testing for students and staff who show symptoms or have had close contact with an infected person, and is planning surveillance testing of school-based staff.
How will CPS enforce rules around mask wearing and social distancing?
Enforcement mechanisms haven’t been made clear, and the district’s approach involves educating students about the importance of wearing a mask. Parents or guardians can request accommodations to exempt their child from wearing a face covering if they have certain medical conditions. Those requests “will be evaluated individually to assure the needs of all students are met,” according to the reopening guide, which doesn’t say whether families would be notified if a student in their child’s class has a mask exemption.
“Making sure the right PPE and other protocols are in place to protect our students and staff is something we take seriously,” Jackson said.
Will schools still open if the current COVID-19 surge isn’t over by Jan. 11?
In order to proceed with its phased-in reopening plan, CPS has set a case-doubling time of 18 days as the primary metric to watch, with the Chicago Department of Public Health finding it a good indicator of community spread stabilizing.
But if the doubling time hasn’t improved, schools cannot reopen, public health officials have said.
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Jackson said CPS took the winter holidays into consideration when setting reopening dates. Winter break for CPS begins Dec. 21, with classes resuming remotely on Jan. 4.
“We believe this gives us enough time for families to celebrate and for us also to identify any patterns that may be troubling and preclude us from starting school,” she said, adding, “People should assume we are going to open our doors on Jan. 11 unless it’s unsafe to do so.”
Is the Chicago Teachers Union on board?
After Jackson said on WBEZ that one thing CPS and the union agreed on was that kids needed to go back to school, CTU countered on Twitter: “The CPS CEO doesn’t speak for us.”
Many teachers and union leaders have expressed concerns that the plans, particularly the expectation of teaching simultaneously to students in classrooms and online, seem impossible and would not provide equitable instruction to all students.
“The mayor and CPS have announced their plan to force students and educators in January and February to return to unsafe in-person learning, without spending the time or energy to make necessary improvements,” reads a CTU announcement sent Tuesday.
The CTU filed an unfair labor practice charge last month, accusing CPS of illegally refusing to bargain over reopening and safety protocols.
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Jackson said the union “gives a lot of good feedback and pushback on items, and we make adjustments as a result.”
hleone@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-02--Pilsen faces gentrification pressures

Pilsen faces gentrification pressures

Treja Kelley had been hesitant to come forward after witnessing the murder of her 17-year-old cousin .
But she found @ @ @ @ @ stand last year and helped secure a guilty verdict .
Her testimony , though , @ @ @ @ @ head , prosecutors said .
Just a few months after testifying , Kelley was shot @ @ @ @ @ not far from where her cousin had been slain .
She was 18 and pregnant @

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 12 Historic buildings along 18th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood are reflected in the storefront of Ochoa Sporting Goods on Dec. 1, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Pilsen residents face gentrification pressures that have intensified in the neighborhood in recent years. An ordinance to create a landmark district along a stretch of 18th Street and adjacent streets fell unanimously in the Zoning Committee. The proposal drew stiff resistance from working-class Latino residents worried the rules to protect historic buildings would make it expensive and difficult for them to perform repairs on their homes.


chicagotribune--2020-12-02--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Chicago could get vaccines for health care workers in December as 1

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Chicago could get vaccines for health care workers in December as 12,542 new cases and 125 more deaths reported Tuesday

Soon they couldn ’ t keep up with the deliveries , so they set up a table every day from @ @ @ @ @ filled it with meals for people to come by and pick up .
Their goal @ @ @ @ @ free lunches a day — no small task for a restaurant with a dwindling bottom @ @ @ @ @ Castro and Sanchez to help with the cooking and assembly .

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
After several days of lower COVID-19 infections during the holiday weekend, Illinois saw a significant jump Tuesday as health officials announced 12,542 newly confirmed and probable cases.
They also reported 125 additional deaths. That brings the state’s total since the pandemic began to 738,846 new and probable cases and 12,403 fatalities.
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Later on Tuesday, Dr. Allison Arwady said the city of Chicago expects to begin rolling out vaccines for health care workers later this month and could provide them to lower-risk residents in spring and children by summer.
The first distribution of vaccines will go toward Chicago hospitals and health care workers, possibly by the third week of December, Arwady said. The city’s also working with long-term care facilities in the city on vaccines, she said.
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Here’s what’s happening Tuesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7 p.m.: What you need to know about when and how Chicago schools will welcome students back
In the new year, Chicago Public Schools plans to start reopening schools, beginning with students in prekindergarten and special education clusters and phasing in upper elementary grades. The district released a reopening guide just before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Here’s how it addresses some common questions. —Hannah Leone
5:55 p.m.: CDC to shorten guidance for quarantining after COVID-19 exposure to 10 days, 7 with a negative test
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to shorten the recommended length of quarantine after exposure to someone who is positive for COVID-19, as the virus rages across the nation.
According to a senior administration official, the new guidelines, which are set to be released as soon as Tuesday evening, will allow people who have come in contact to someone infected with the virus to resume normal activity after 10 days, or 7 days if they receive a negative test result. That’s down from the 14-day period recommended since the onset of the pandemic.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the announcement, said the policy change has been discussed for some time, as scientists have studied the incubation period for the virus. It was discussed Tuesday at a White House coronavirus task force meeting.
Read more here. —Associated Press
5:10 p.m.: US panel says 1st COVID-19 vaccine shots go to health care workers, nursing homes
Health care workers and nursing home residents should be at the front of the line when the first coronavirus vaccine shots become available, an influential government advisory panel said Tuesday.
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The panel voted 13-1 to recommend priority be given to those groups in the first days of any coming vaccination program, when doses are expected to be very limited. The two groups encompass about 24 million Americans out of a U.S. population of about 330 million.
Read more here. —Associated Press
5 p.m. (updated): McConnell now says he’s sticking with scaled-back COVID relief bill
Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he’s largely sticking with a partisan, scaled-back COVID-19 relief bill that has already failed twice this fall, even as Democratic leaders and a bipartisan group of moderates offered concessions in hopes of passing pandemic aid before Congress adjourns for the year.
The Kentucky Republican made the announcement after President-elect Joe Biden called upon lawmakers to pass a downpayment relief bill now with more to come next year. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi resumed talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin about a year-end spending package that could include COVID relief provisions. Key Senate moderates rallied behind a scaled-back framework.
It’s not clear whether the flurry of activity will lead to actual progress. Time is running out on Congress’ lame-duck session and Donald Trump’s presidency, many Republicans won’t even acknowledge that Trump has lost the election and good faith between the two parties remains in short supply.
McConnell said his bill, which only modestly tweaks an earlier plan blocked by Democrats, would be signed by Trump and that additional legislation could pass next year. But his initiative fell flat with Democrats and a key GOP moderate.
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“If it’s identical to what (McConnell) brought forth this summer then it’s going to be a partisan bill that is not going to become law,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who joined moderates in unveiling a $908 billion bipartisan package only hours earlier. “And I want a bill that will become law.”
Democrats declined to release details of their concessions to McConnell.
Read more here. —Associated Press
4:45 p.m.: How to get a fast, affordable COVID-19 test in Chicago area
As many as one in five Americans traveled for the Thanksgiving holiday, and all of them should be tested for COVID-19, according to top U.S. health officials.
That has some Chicago-area testing centers expecting larger crowds this week.
“We’re watching closely and believe that today will be busy,” Heather Keirnan, a nurse and vice president of operations for Northwestern Medicine Immediate Care, said Tuesday.
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So how can you navigate an already stressed system — and get the most convenient, affordable and reliable COVID test possible?
If you have a primary care doctor, start there, Keirnan said.
Read more here. —Nara Schoenberg
4:38 p.m.: Known for never closing, Omega Restaurant in Niles shuts down temporarily due to COVID-19 pandemic
The ongoing pandemic has shut down — temporarily — a popular Niles restaurant known for never closing.
Omega Restaurant, which offered 24-hour service seven days a week at 9100 W. Golf Road, locked its doors Nov. 29 and will remain closed until February, owner Tom Konstantopoulos said.
“The reason we closed was so we can be here next year, so we can minimize the losses,” he explained. “We’re not closing for good, we’re not going anywhere. We had our best year last year in 2019 and we were doing great, but then the pandemic came and kept chopping away at us.”
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Unable to provide indoor dining due to the state’s current restrictions, Konstantopoulos said staying open for carryout and delivery “doesn’t make sense” financially. A message shared with customers on the restaurant’s Facebook page stated, “the reality is that we cannot maintain operations, compensate our employees what they deserve and survive without indoor seating.”
Government assistance helped the restaurant survive the first indoor dining shut-down in the spring, Konstantopoulos said, but this fall, there has not been a second COVID-19 relief package approved by the federal government.
Read more here. —Jennifer Johnson
2:25 p.m.: 8 states including Ohio added to ‘red’ category in Chicago’s travel quarantine order
More of the country will be under Chicago’s most severe category for its travel quarantine order, city officials announced Tuesday while bracing for a post-Thanksgiving surge.
The same 46 states and Puerto Rico remain under Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s travel quarantine order for those returning to Chicago, but as of Friday, eight of them will be bumped up to the “red” classification that mandates a two-week quarantine. Only travelers from Maine, Vermont and Hawaii have no additional safety requirements.
Those added to the red category on Friday will be Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma and Rhode Island. They will join Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming to make a total of 19 red states.
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Twenty-seven states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico are in the next level, orange, while the lowest stage, yellow, has three states.
Chicagoans should still avoid travel to any of the red or orange states, public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady reiterated in a Tuesday press conference. She had urged residents to avoid Thanksgiving travel and other traditional plans during her last travel order update two weeks ago, around when the city was seeing as many as one in 15 people with active COVID-19 infections.
Read more here. —Alice Yin
1:50 p.m.: Chicago could get vaccines in December, give to lower-risk residents and children by next spring and summer
The city of Chicago expects to begin rolling out vaccines for health care workers later this month and could provide them to lower-risk residents in spring and children by summer, public health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Tuesday.
The first distribution of vaccines will go toward Chicago hospitals and health care workers, possibly by the third week of December, Arwady said. The city’s also working with long-term care facilities in the city on vaccines, she said.
Two companies have produced vaccines that look to be more than 90% protective, Arwady noted, and federal officials will consider approving them later this month.
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The city anticipates initially getting between 20,000 to 25,000 doses of vaccine and continuing to get regular allotments from the government, she said.
“We are ready to accept whatever amount of vaccine we receive,” Arwady said.
Pharmacies will be doing “strike teams” to help deliver vaccines to long-term care facilities, she said.
Arwady also said it’ll likely be “later in the spring” when the city will be able to more broadly spread vaccines to people who are at lower-risk, and the summer for children, but that is up in the air depending on vaccine production and how well trials do.
But she noted, at the start, there won’t be enough for all health care workers to get immediate vaccinations.
Read more here. —Alice Yin and Gregory Pratt
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1:15 p.m. (updated): Illinois coronavirus daily case tally jumps back above 12,000, with 125 more deaths also reported
Illinois public health officials on Tuesday announced 12,542 newly confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, a significant jump after several days of lower numbers.
Officials have voiced cautious optimism over the past week about a flattening of statewide coronavirus numbers after weeks of steady growth, and the higher number of cases reported on Tuesday is likely due, at least in part, to a testing lag over the holiday weekend.
The daily case count was last above 10,000 on Thanksgiving Day and has been below 8,000 since Friday.
The state also reported 125 deaths of people with COVID-19 on Tuesday, raising the statewide death toll to 12,403. The state has reported 738,846 known and probable cases throughout the course of the pandemic.
The cases reported Tuesday came out of a batch of 116,081 tests conducted over a 24-hour period. The seven-day statewide positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 10.4% for the period ending Monday.
Read more here. —Jamie Munks
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1:05 p.m.: Indiana’s COVID-19 deaths nearly double during November
The number of COVID-19 deaths in Indiana has nearly doubled for November from a month earlier as health officials continue adding to those reports and the state’s coronavirus-related hospitalizations remain at their highest point during the pandemic.
The Indiana State Department of Health added 142 deaths to the statewide toll with its daily update on Tuesday. Most of those deaths occurred over the past week with a reporting lull from local officials over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Locally, Lake County has reported 475 fatalities including six new deaths in Tuesday’s reporting. While Porter County showed one new fatality Tuesday, the state dashboard shows a total of 91.
Marion County shows the most deaths with 15 new ones for a total of 885, according to the state.
Those boost Indiana’s coronavirus deaths during November to at least 1,416 people — surpassing the previous monthly peak during April by nearly 400 and almost double October’s total of 732 deaths.
Gov. Eric Holcomb on Tuesday also signed an extension of the state’s public health emergency through Dec. 31. Under authority from that emergency, the governor has issued the statewide mask order and limits on crowd sizes based on the county risk level of coronavirus spread.
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Read more here. —Associated Press
12:35 p.m. (updated): Bipartisan group of lawmakers pitch $908 billion bill as Biden urges Congress to pass down payment on COVID-19 relief
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is putting pressure on congressional leaders to accept a split-the-difference solution to the protracted impasse over COVID-19 relief in a last-gasp effort to ship overdue help to a hurting nation before Congress adjourns for the holidays.
The group includes Senate centrists such as Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, who hope to exert greater influence in a closely divided Congress during the incoming Biden administration.
In Wilmington, Delaware, President-elect Joe Biden called on lawmakers to approve a down payment on COVID relief, though he cautioned that “any package passed in lame-duck session is — at best -- just a start.”
The proposal hit the scales at $908 billion, including $228 billion to extend and upgrade “paycheck protection” subsidies for businesses for a second round of relief to hard-hit businesses like restaurants. It would revive a special jobless benefit, but at a reduced level of $300 per week rather than the $600 benefit enacted in March. State and local governments would receive $160 billion, and there is also money for vaccines. It does not include a second round of stimulus checks, the New York Times reported.
Earlier, larger versions of the proposal — a framework with only limited detail — were rejected by top leaders such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. But pressure is building as lawmakers face the prospect of heading home for Christmas and New Year’s without delivering aid to people in need.
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Read more here. —Associated Press
11:53 a.m.: Column: A parting love letter to City Lit, my favorite bookstore in Chicago, on its final day of business
On a chilly Thursday evening in 2017, City Lit bookstore in Logan Square transformed itself into an apothecary.
Sales associates were bibliotherapists, tasked with prescribing literature to heal what ails us — lovesickness, loneliness, a sense of impending doom. Local writers (including me) were invited to read passages from books they found curative. (I chose “The Interestings,” by Meg Wolitzer.) A portion of the sales that night went to 826CHI, a nonprofit that supports creative writing programs for Chicago students.
It was a small and unforgettable evening, the sort of quiet magic that only happens, really, in a bookstore. People talking and laughing and wondering about stories, ideas, history, fate.
A neighborhood bookstore is a gift, and City Lit was an incomparable one — small enough to remain intimate, large enough to hold both standards and surprises; staffed by generous experts; filled with cross-legged kids during weekend storytimes and curious grown-ups during evening author readings. It has been my favorite bookstore in Chicago.
And now it’s closed. Tuesday is the last official day of business, though its doors haven’t been open for browsing or events since March 14.
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Read more here. —Heidi Stevens
11:33 a.m.: Giving Tuesday and holiday donations can bring scammers; the pandemic makes it worse.
It’s officially the season to be jolly, and for many people, that involves giving back through monetary donations.
Most people tend to give a bulk of their donations between now and the end of the year, with days like Giving Tuesday being a big one for charities. But these days often bring higher chances of charity fraud, especially while in the midst of a pandemic.
“Charities get about 30% of their revenue from (Giving Tuesday) and end of the year,” said Steve Bernas, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Chicago and Northern Illinois. “Everybody is trying to make their donations before the end of the year for tax purposes — and the scammer knows that. … There’s always an increase of charity fraud this time of year because there’s also an increase in consumers donating to charities.”
The pandemic has only exacerbated the likelihood of becoming a victim of charity fraud. In his 33 years at the bureau, Bernas said scams have never been as rampant as they are now.
“With the pandemic, everybody’s trying to help as much as they possibly can; they know people are in need. Unfortunately, with COVID-19, it forces everybody online and the scammer goes toward where the money’s at as well,” said Bernas. “For scammers, this is a field day for them.”
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Diligently researching an organization before deciding to donate to it can be integral to wading off charity fraud, said Bernas. Ask for information on where the money goes, and don’t wait until the last minute; be proactive in your giving and find an organization meaningful to you, he said.
Read more here. —Christen A. Johnson
8:44 a.m.: Esports arena for professional video game competitions planned for Chicago’s Near South Side
Professional video game players could compete in front of large crowds on the Near South Side if a local real estate developer’s unique, post-pandemic vision comes to fruition.
Scott Greenberg, best known for Chicago hotels such as the Wit in the Loop and the EMC2 hotel in Streeterville, wants to build a $30 million esports venue called Surge near the Stevenson Expressway.
The 106,000-square-foot venue at 2500 S. Wabash Ave. would serve food and drinks from three large kitchens, and include an arena large enough for 800 spectators to watch top players compete, Greenberg said.
“What we’re doing is not like anything else in the world, as far as esports stadiums,” said Greenberg, president of Lincolnshire-based ECD Co.
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ECD’s partner on the project is Chicago-based virtual reality company MassVR, which had a smaller esports venue in Old Orchard shopping mall in Skokie before it closed during the coronavirus pandemic.
During COVID-19, video games mostly have been limited to players’ homes, creating a boom for the industry. But the development of vaccines is bringing hope that large gatherings can safely resume in 2021.
Read more here. —Ryan Ori
6:15 a.m.: Evanston students auction time and talents to save Gyros Planet, a struggling restaurant feeding thousands of hungry families
A group of Evanston Township High School students and alums is rallying around a family business near their school in the sort of gesture that lights the way for all of us.
Gyros Planet and Taqueria, down the block from ETHS, has been a gathering spot for students and neighborhood families since wife-and-husband team Erika Castro and Pablo Sanchez bought the storefront from its previous owners and reopened it in March 2019.
In April, shortly after the restaurant’s one-year anniversary, Castro and Sanchez started handing out a few dozen free meals each day, hoping to fill the hunger gap caused by the coronavirus pandemic. At first, they took turns packing and delivering free food to their customers — customers they’d known and loved for months — who would call and tell them about their needs. (Sick family members. Furloughs. Layoffs. No health insurance.)
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Soon they couldn’t keep up with the deliveries, so they set up a table every day from 11 a.m. to noon and filled it with meals for people to come by and pick up. Their goal was to give away 100 free lunches a day — no small task for a restaurant with a dwindling bottom line and no employees besides Castro and Sanchez to help with the cooking and assembly.
Read more here. —Heidi Stevens
6 a.m.: Chicago Park District to approve smaller budget for 2021 amid $100 million loss in revenue during the pandemic
The Chicago Park District will vote Wednesday on its 2021 budget, as it attempts to keep its head above water after a $100 million loss in revenue during the pandemic and an ongoing pension crisis.
The proposed $481.8 million budget is a drop from last year’s $487 million budget, which included a modest tax increase for homeowners and followed a new labor agreement for the district’s workers.
At last month’s Park District meeting, Superintendent Michael Kelly addressed challenges posed by the “daunting circumstances” of the pandemic in a video recorded at Gately Park, the new 139,000-square-foot track and field facility on the South Side.
“In prior years, the annual budget would highlight program expansion, it would detail plans for new and renovated facilities, and the overall growth of opportunities,” Kelly said. “The glaring difference in 2021 over previous years are the extreme mitigation efforts that we will implement to remain on sound financial footing.”
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Kelly highlighted the Park District’s quick pivot to online programming as one way the district has met the challenges of the pandemic. He also said the district was able to keep necessary capital projects on track, including shoreline protection work after severe storm damage, and construction projects like the beach house at the South Shore Cultural Center and the Gately facility.
But the district suffered a $100 million loss in revenue in the last year, Kelly said, in part from program fees and special events disappearing.
Read more here. —Morgan Greene
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chicagotribune--2020-12-02--John Panaligan, suspect in 2016 Northbrook murder, added to US Marshals Most Wanted list

“ This senseless crime took the life of a man who was a husband and a father to two small @ @ @ @ @ Marshals Service Director Donald Washington said in the release .
“ The U.S .
Marshals @ @ @ @ @ and local law enforcement partners will use every available resource to bring John Panaligan to @ @ @ @ @ allegations involving the murder of Victor Jigar Patel .
”

John Panaligan, shown in this 2017 photo, is wanted in the murder of Northbrook attorney Victor Jigar Patel, who was found strangled to death in his law office on Dec. 7, 2016. (U.S. Marshals Service)
A manhunt that has lasted almost four years received renewed attention recently when a man wanted in connection with a Northbrook murder was named to the country’s 15 Most Wanted list.
Federal officials are also offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information directly leading to the man’s arrest.
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John Panaligan, 54, is wanted in the killing of attorney Victor Jigar Patel, who was found strangled in his Northbrook office Dec. 7, 2016, according to a recent news release from the United States Marshals.
“This senseless crime took the life of a man who was a husband and a father to two small children,” U.S. Marshals Service Director Donald Washington said in the release. “The U.S. Marshals and our federal, state and local law enforcement partners will use every available resource to bring John Panaligan to face justice for the heinous allegations involving the murder of Victor Jigar Patel.”
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Patel, 36, had been representing plaintiffs suing Panaligan in civil court at the time of his death, officials said. The victim’s widow, Amy Patel, told the Chicago Tribune in 2017 that she believed her husband had damaging information about Panaligan’s business dealings.
According to authorities, Panaligan showed up to Patel’s law office wearing a disguise, which was shown on nearby security cameras, and killed Patel there. He had allegedly lured Patel to his office by scheduling an appointment using an alias, officials said.
In January 2017, police released pictures of the footage showing a man who was wearing a trench coat, surgical mask and hat, and carrying a cane, entering the building at 1363 Shermer Road, according to previous reporting.
Northbrook police released photos in 2017 from security videos on Dec. 7, 2016, depicting a "person of interest" in the Jigar K. Patel murder case. John Panaligan was recently named one of the 15 Most Wanted by the U.S. Marshals. (Northbrook Police Department / HANDOUT)
Panaligan’s last known address at that time was in the 2200 block of Boxford Court in Aurora, according to police.
Two days after the murder, Panaligan was detained at the Canadian border for allegedly smuggling a gun into Canada. Authorities found an undeclared .40-caliber handgun in his car as he attempted to cross the border from North Dakota, the Canada Border Services Agency reported at the time.
Panaligan was eventually allowed to return to the U.S. where Northbrook police interviewed him in relation to Patel’s death, and authorities executed multiple search warrants of his belongings and property.
Evidence collected during that investigation eventually led authorities to believe Panaligan was the prime suspect in the murder, but he fled to Mexico before he could be arrested, officials said.
An arrest warrant for first-degree murder was issued for Panaligan on Feb. 8, 2017. The U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force took over the investigation from the Northbrook Police Department at that point.
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“We are absolutely resolute in our commitment to bringing Panaligan to justice” Task Force Commander Diego Grimaldo said. “With our law enforcement partners, both here and abroad, we will leave no stone unturned until he is behind bars.”
Though they no longer head the investigation, Northbrook police officials said they are still “relentless in the pursuit of justice” for Panaligan, who they said “must answer for this crime that widowed a spouse, and deprived two young children of their father.”
Panaligan has international ties and dual citizenship in the U.S. and the Republic of the Philippines, authorities said, so they believe he could be anywhere and “may be receiving assistance from family and friends to elude capture.”
He is now one of the nation’s 15 most wanted fugitives. He is of Asian descent and has black hair and brown eyes. He stands 5-foot-5-inches tall and weighs about 150 pounds, and might go by the alias Reynaldo Cabrera, according to authorities.
The U.S. Marshals are offering up to $25,000 as a reward for information leading directly to Panaligan’s arrest. Anyone with information should notify the agency at the nearest U.S. Marshals office, the Communications Center at 1-877-WANTED-2 or online at www.usmarshals.gov/tips.
kedquist@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter: @kaitlinedquist


chicagotribune--2020-12-02--Chicago could get vaccines in December, give to lower-risk residents and children by next spring and

Chicago could get vaccines in December, give to lower-risk residents and children by next spring and summer

It ’ s not known whether individuals will need to be re-immunized over time , she said .
There will @ @ @ @ @ vaccine , the second to be taken at 21 or 28 days , but further @ @ @ @ @ on whether it needs to be given out annually .

Chicago Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady gives an update about the COVID-19 vaccines and other pandemic news at City Hall, Dec. 1, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
In the most promising update yet on plans for an eventual return to normalcy, Chicago officials said Tuesday they expect to begin rolling out coronavirus vaccines for health care workers later this month and could provide them to lower-risk residents in the spring and children by summer.
The plan is contingent on federal approval of the first set of vaccines later this month, and residents likely will still be under some form of activity restriction well into next year, Chicago public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Tuesday.
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But the countdown to a return to a pre-COVID-19 way a life could start before Christmas, when Chicago would begin deploying its first batch of vaccines if they are approved, Arwady said.
“I’m confident this is the way that we will get past this, and that it will happen in 2021,” Arwady said. “But it’s going to be a combination of rolling vaccines out quickly and effectively, which I’m confident we have good plans to do, (and) seeing good uptake of the vaccine.”
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State officials continue to receive widely varying estimates from the federal government for how many doses of a coronavirus vaccine will be in the initial shipment to Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday at his daily COVID-19 briefing.
The most recent estimate is an initial shipment to Illinois with 109,000 doses, or enough to cover 54,500 people, Pritzker said, cautioning that number could change.
“I am hoping that we’ll get more, I’m hoping that number doesn’t change, but we are at the whim of the FDA and the CDC and the federal government as far as those first shipments,” Pritzker said.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker gives a coronavirus update from the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago on Dec. 1, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Arwady said the chances of federal approval of a vaccine are high. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is meeting on Dec. 10 to consider emergency use authorization of the Pfizer vaccine, while the Moderna version is set for another decision a week later. Both have been shown in trials to be more than 90% effective.
The city, which because of its size gets its own shipment of vaccine, anticipates initially getting enough to vaccinate 20,000 to 25,000 people, followed by weekly allotments from the government, all free of charge, Arwady said.
Both city and state will follow federal guidelines on vaccine distribution. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel that will likely influence Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on vaccine distribution, voted Tuesday afternoon to recommend health care workers and nursing home residents should go first. The next groups will be decided by the panel later.
The Trump administration has indicated it will allow states to decide who gets vaccinated first after health care workers. It’s not known if that will change after President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
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In Chicago, the first distribution is expected to go to health care workers at hospitals, possibly by the third week of December, Arwady said. Then residents in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes can expect to see vaccine supplies. Pharmacies will be using “strike teams” to help deliver vaccines to those facilities, she said.
After that, other groups in line could be other essential workers including first responders, people with underlying conditions and people over 65.
The state released its plan for distributing a coronavirus vaccine in October, giving front-line health care workers top priority. Pritzker acknowledged Tuesday that depending on how large the first shipment actually is, it may not be enough to distribute to all of those health care workers.
“Those vaccines, because of the limited numbers of them, will go almost all to health care workers, and if there are enough then next to those in long-term care facilities, the staff and the residents,” Pritzker said.
“But our anticipation at the moment is the numbers are small enough so that we won’t go beyond those two populations and may not even get to all health care workers, at least not in that very first shipment that we receive,” he said.
In addition to front-line workers, both city and state officials expect to prioritize people with underlying health conditions and those over 65.
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Arwady said it’ll likely be “later in the spring” when the city will be able to more broadly spread vaccines to people who are at lower risk, and the summer for children, but that is up in the air depending on vaccine production and how well trials do.
The state plan calls for an equitable distribution throughout the state, and groups or geographic areas that have been hardest hit may receive priority as the vaccine rollout continues, state public health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Tuesday.
“I don’t even think it means that this person is more important than this person, but just understanding and appreciating that there are some really high-risk groups that we need to focus on giving it first,” Ezike said.
Arwady said the city anticipates priorities won’t be made by neighborhood but by population risk. But the city will do outreach in harder-hit neighborhoods to ensure people are aware of vaccine availability and can trust in its efficacy, and many communities bearing the brunt of the virus may get more vaccines because they also have higher populations of essential workers, she said.
In the early stages next year, the general population will not be required to take the vaccine, Arwady said.
“In this early stage where it’s still under emergency use authorization, and where it’s just not widely available, we would not anticipate vaccine mandates in any setting,” Arwady said. “I think time will tell as more vaccine becomes available on decisions that are made in that regard.”
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Part of the challenge with the vaccines slated for approval is they need to be refrigerated at very cold temperatures. But Arwady said city officials have the capacity to handle more than 130,000 doses of the vaccine at a time using a new storage facility and have plans to distribute them to hospitals.
“Most of our hospitals don’t have ultracold capacity, and we have absolutely committed at CDPH to ensuring that all hospitals are able to get that vaccine really approximately at the same time,” Arwady said.
It’s not known whether individuals will need to be re-immunized over time, she said. There will be two doses of the vaccine, the second to be taken at 21 or 28 days, but further study needs to be done on whether it needs to be given out annually.
“We are just at the beginning of getting started,” Arwady said. “We really just don’t know yet, and if I’ve learned anything from COVID is that things continue to change month by month. So we’re planning for all eventualities here.”
Statewide, the number of daily COVID-19 cases jumped after several days below 10,000. Officials announced 12,542 newly confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, and another 125 deaths.
State officials have voiced cautious optimism over the past week about a flattening of statewide coronavirus numbers after weeks of steady growth, and the higher daily number of cases reported on Tuesday is likely due, at least in part, to a testing lag over the holiday weekend.
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Officials have repeatedly warned of a potential surge following Thanksgiving gatherings. Pritzker attributed the jump in daily case tallies to a mixture of significantly more tests conducted than over the holiday weekend, “and people coming back and maybe having some symptoms.”
The cases reported Tuesday came out of a batch of 116,081 tests conducted over a 24-hour period. The seven-day statewide positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 10.4% for the period ending Monday.
“We will begin to see the effect here five to seven to 10 days from Thanksgiving, and that’s coming up just in the next few days,” Pritzker said. “We’ll start to see whether there’s an effect from Thanksgiving, and whether that effect, if there is an uptick, continues on an upward trend.”
The statewide death toll is now at 12,403, and the state has reported 738,846 known and probable cases throughout the course of the pandemic.
As of Monday night, 5,835 people were in the hospital with COVID-19 across the state, with 1,195 patients in intensive care units and 721 on ventilators. While hospitalizations have come down slightly after reaching above 6,000 last month, the statewide number remains higher than the statewide peak during the initial coronavirus surge in the spring.
ayin@chicagotribune.com
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