chicagotribune--2020-06-29--Skydeck Chicago to reopen Friday with timed tickets and a new floor to explore

The observation deck , which sits atop the city ’ s tallest skyscraper and normally has a capacity of 600 @ @ @ @ @ to 50 visitors at a time , as will the building ’ s 99th floor @ @ @ @ @ usually rented out for special events .
People will move through the spaces in a @ @ @ @ @ window bays on both floors will be open to only one party at a time @

Brynn Lofties, 6, of Memphis, Tennessee, does a backbend on The Ledge at Skydeck Chicago in 2017. (Alexandra Wimley / Chicago Tribune)
One of Chicago’s biggest tourism attractions, Skydeck Chicago, will reopen Friday with new measures aimed at facilitating social distancing and a timed ticketing system designed to limit how many people can take in Chicago’s views at one time.
The observation deck, which has had about 1.4 million visitors annually in each of the last several years, closed its doors March 14, a week before Gov. J.B. Pritzker put the state under a coronavirus-related stay-at-home order.
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The attraction, located on the 103rd floor of Willis Tower, reopens the same day as the Shedd Aquarium. Chicago’s Riverwalk, Navy Pier, and many of the architecture boat cruises restarted earlier this month. 360 Chicago, the observation deck in the former John Hancock Center, opens Wednesday.
The Skydeck initially will be open three days a week, Friday through Sunday.
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“We’ve been focused on it,” general manager Randy Stancik said of the Skydeck’s reopening plan. “We’ve been itching for the day.”
The observation deck, which sits atop the city’s tallest skyscraper and normally has a capacity of 600 people, will be open to 50 visitors at a time, as will the building’s 99th floor, a space that is usually rented out for special events. People will move through the spaces in a one-way direction, and the window bays on both floors will be open to only one party at a time.
The Ledge, the glass box that allows thrill-seekers to step out over the city, will be open to one party at a time. Between groups, employees will wipe down every surface of The Ledge that was touched, Stancik said.
The 1,353-foot-high Skydeck is using a timed-ticketing system with reservations available in 30-minute increments. Expedited and early bird admissions, both of which cost extra, still will be available.
The tourism attraction, which appeared last year on a TripAdvisor list of the 10 most sought-after tourist attractions in the world, has increased its cleaning practices and adjusted floor plans to adhere to social distancing requirements.
Fewer people will be allowed at one time in elevators, which will be cleaned every hour and deep-cleaned at the end of each day, Stancik said.
Floor markings and signs will encourage visitors to remain 6 feet apart. Face masks will be required and will be available for purchase if visitors don’t have their own. Touch-free hand sanitizer stations have been installed.
The Skydeck will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday. Beginning next week, operating hours are Fridays from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Advance online ticket purchases are recommended.


chicagotribune--2020-06-29--Mayor Lori Lightfoot announces $11 million in grants to community groups on South and West sides

“ Set against the background of both COVID-19 and the issues of racial disparities brought to the forefront in the @ @ @ @ @ George Floyd , this project represents a critical extension of Sinai ’ s legacy of @ @ @ @ @ walls to provide much-needed resources to our community , ” Teitelbaum said .

Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks to reporters at City Hall in Chicago on June 15, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Two community groups on the South and West sides will receive $11 million in grant funding as part of a broader neighborhood rebuilding effort, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced on Monday.
The Auburn Gresham Healthy Lifestyle Hub will receive $4 million, while Mount Sinai Hospital’s North Lawndale Surgical and Ambulatory Care Center will get $7 million, Lightfoot said.
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“Both great institutions, both community-focused and community-led, both Chicago Prize finalists, and both will serve the health care deserts in those and surrounding communities,” Lightfoot said.
Lightfoot touted the grants as part of her Invest South/West program, a plan that city officials said will distribute $750 million in existing city funds over the next three years with a priority on 10 areas on the South and West sides: Auburn Gresham, North Lawndale, Austin, Englewood, Humboldt Park, Quad Communities, New City, Roseland, South Chicago and South Shore
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The Auburn Gresham Healthy Lifestyle Hub is at 839 W. 79th St. and is in the process of renovating “a long-vacant, highly visible building into a community hub that will free up hospital capacity and provide health care options to residents.”
The North Lawndale Surgical and Ambulatory Care Center is building a 30,000-square-foot surgical center.
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At the news conference announcing the grants, Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corp. CEO Carlos Nelson spoke about the neighborhood’s past as a thriving bungalow community before it was damaged by white flight and redlining.
Karen Teitelbaum, President and CEO of Sinai Health System, in a statement linked the surgical and ambulatory care center with broader social issues.
“Set against the background of both COVID-19 and the issues of racial disparities brought to the forefront in the wake of the death of George Floyd, this project represents a critical extension of Sinai’s legacy of reaching beyond our own hospital walls to provide much-needed resources to our community,” Teitelbaum said.
gpratt@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-29--Naperville man arrested on charges he went into woman’s bedroom armed with ‘edged weapon,' police sa

Naperville man arrested on charges he went into woman’s bedroom armed with ‘edged weapon,' police say

The 19-year-old victim told police she woke to find a man , whom she recognized , in her room armed @ @ @ @ @ Chief Jason Arres said .
The suspect , who lives about three-quarters of a mile @ @ @ @ @ off and was found a short distance away by police .

Peter W. Purduski, 18, of the 800 block of Webster Street in Naperville, was arrested Sunday on one count of felony home invasion, Naperville police said. (DuPage County Jail)
An 18-year-old Naperville man has been charged with home invasion after he allegedly went into an unlocked house early Sunday morning and was discovered at the foot of a woman’s bed holding an “edged weapon,” Naperville police said.
Peter W. Purduski, of the 800 block of Webster Street, was taken into custody shortly after the 3:16 a.m. incident in the 300 block of Spring Avenue, a police department news release said.
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The 19-year-old victim told police she woke to find a man, whom she recognized, in her room armed with a weapon, Deputy Chief Jason Arres said. The suspect, who lives about three-quarters of a mile from the house, ran off and was found a short distance away by police.
The suspect accessed the house through an unlocked door, prompting police to remind residents to secure their homes and vehicles before going to bed at night.
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Purduski is a 2019 graduate of Naperville North High School, where he played football. He is being held at the DuPage County jail in lieu of $150,000 bail.
Anyone with additional information on the case is asked to call the police department’s Investigations Division at 630-420-6666.
subaker@tribpub.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-29--Calumet City man dies after being struck by vehicle

Police responded to 500 block of Douglas Avenue at about 2:15 a.m. and found a 29-year-old man lying in the @ @ @ @ @ severe head trauma , according to a police statement .

A Calumet City man was fatally struck by a vehicle early Monday morning on the block where he lived, officials said.
Police responded to 500 block of Douglas Avenue at about 2:15 a.m. and found a 29-year-old man lying in the middle of the street with severe head trauma, according to a police statement.
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The man, identified as Carlos Suncin, was pronounced dead about a half-hour later at Franciscan Health in Hammond, Indiana, the Lake County, Indiana coroner’s office said in a statement.
The cause and manner of his death are pending.
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Police did not immediately say whether the vehicle that struck Suncin did so intentionally or remained at the scene after the crash.
Calumet City police and the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force are investigating Suncin’s death.
Calumet City police ask anyone with information to call the department at 708-868-2500.
zkoeske@tribpub.com
Twitter @ZakKoeske


chicagotribune--2020-06-29--Police: Woman shot dead inside Far Northwest Side motel

The woman , identified as Sarah J. Donohue , of Louisville , Ky. , was later pronounced dead at the @ @ @ @ @ Cook County medical examiner ’ s office .
The agency had previously provided a different @ @ @ @ @ autopsy confirmed that Donohue died from the gunshot wound to the head and her death @ @ @ @ @ according to the medical examiner ’ s office .

Chicago police are investigating a report of room ransacked and woman found dead with gunshot wound to the head in a room at the Esquire Motel, in Chicago on June 29, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
A gunman fatally shot a Kentucky woman inside a motel room Monday morning on the city’s Far Northwest Side, according to Chicago police.
The shooting happened just after 11 a.m. at the Esquire Motel in the 6100 block of North Elston Avenue in the Norwood Park East neighborhood about a mile north of the Kennedy Expressway, authorities said.
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A 64-year-old man told police that he was with the 36-year-old female victim inside a room when an unknown man knocked on the door and entered, police said. The man pulled a handgun and shot the victim in the head, authorities said.
The woman, identified as Sarah J. Donohue, of Louisville, Ky., was later pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The agency had previously provided a different name to victim. An autopsy confirmed that Donohue died from the gunshot wound to the head and her death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.
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No arrests had been made, as Grand Central Area detectives conducted a homicide investigation, according to police. Police didn’t release a description of the gunman, but a department spokeswoman said authorities were expected to examine the hotel’s surveillance video.
Police did not give the relationship between the victim and the witness.


chicagotribune--2020-06-29--East Chicago boy, 17, found gunned down in alley: police

The young man , identified on Monday as Nicholas Pisani , of the 1200 block of W.150th St. , by @ @ @ @ @ s office , suffered at least one gun shot to the chest , Rivera said @ @ @ @ @ at the scene .

The East Chicago Police Department continues to ask for the public’s help in solving the late-afternoon shooting death of a 17-year-old boy Sunday.
Officers responded around 5:41 p.m. June 28 to the 1200 block of West 150th Street Sunday regarding a man down in the alley, Deputy Police Chief Jose Rivera said in a release. They found the body of a young man lying face down there, Rivera said.
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The young man, identified on Monday as Nicholas Pisani, of the 1200 block of W.150th St., by the Lake County Coroner’s office, suffered at least one gun shot to the chest, Rivera said. Pisani was pronounced dead at the scene.
Rivera said in a subsequent email that the investigation is ongoing, but anyone with information is urged to contact East Chicago Detective Luis Semidei 219-391-8318 or email him at lsemidei@eastchicago.com. People can leave anonymous tips at the East Chicago Tip Line 219-391-8500.
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The Lake County CSI assisted.
--Michelle L. Quinn


chicagotribune--2020-06-29--Driver in custody after 13-year-old boy riding bike killed in hit-and-run on Southwest Side, police

Driver in custody after 13-year-old boy riding bike killed in hit-and-run on Southwest Side, police say

Authorities first were called to the 8300 block of South Lawndale Avenue in Ashburn about 6:50 p.m. for a report @ @ @ @ @ The boy was riding his bicycle south on Lawndale in the bike lane when a @ @ @ @ @ ” also headed south , struck him , police said .
The driver of the @ @ @ @ @

Chicago police arrested the driver of a van after they say he hit and fatally injured a 13-year-old boy riding a bike Sunday night before driving off without helping the teen, officials said.
Authorities first were called to the 8300 block of South Lawndale Avenue in Ashburn about 6:50 p.m. for a report of the hit-and-run crash. The boy was riding his bicycle south on Lawndale in the bike lane when a “Ford work van,” also headed south, struck him, police said. The driver of the van did not stop.
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The teen was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died. He later was identified as Isaac Martinez, of the 7800 block of South Kilpatrick Avenue, according to information released by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Officers reviewed surveillance footage of the fatal collision, and the images led them to the 3600 block of West 85th Place, where they arrested the driver of the van, according to police. It wasn’t clear whether the cameras were private or city-operated.
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Sally Bown, a police spokeswoman, said the report didn’t say if the driver was the registered owner of the van. The report also did not say whether the 13-year-old was wearing a helmet at the time, Bown said.
The man had not been charged as of Monday morning but charges were pending, authorities said.
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-06-29--Rosalie Clark, for years City Hall’s host for Chicago, dies at 95

James “ Skinny ” Sheahan worked closely with Clark when he was the city ’ s director of special events @ @ @ @ @ later as chief of external relations at McCormick Place .
He says , “ Rosalie @ @ @ @ @ any event or accession .
There was nothing she couldn ’ t handle , and @ @ @ @ @ She also never blew her own horn , content to stay in the background .
@ @ @ @ @ smart but also street smart , able to easily handle all the nuttiness of City @ @ @

Rosalie Clark, the City of Chicago's director of protocol, speaks in her office at City Hall before her retirement in 1998. (Carl Wagner / Chicago Tribune)
For a woman who rubbed shoulders with a vast and colorful array of celebrities and politicians, Rosalie Clark remained a model of self-effacing charm and unruffled professionalism.
As Chicago’s director of protocol for nearly two decades, she was always aware of presenting the city’s best face, once telling a Tribune reporter, “We get many noted visitors, from actors to ambassadors and prime ministers, and I love it when they say what a wonderful city Chicago is, and how friendly the people are.”
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Clark, 95, died of cancer Friday at her home in Wilmette.
“She was sharp and clear almost to the very end,” said daughter Merrilee Redmond. “And she was almost constantly surrounded by family and friends.”
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Clark was a child of the South Side, born April 16, 1925, to parents Monica (Birches) and John Locatis, both immigrants from Lithuania. She had an older sister, the late Genevieve Remaks, and attended St. Casimir Academy-Maria High School before enrolling in Mount Mary University in Milwaukee.
She was working as a volunteer for the American Red Cross when she went on a blind date with William G. Clark, who had recently served in the Army and was attending law school at DePaul University. He had deep Chicago roots as the son and grandson of Chicago politicians and had grown up on the West Side. Love came quickly and they were engaged in April 1946 and married that Thanksgiving at the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The couple settled into a home on the West Side and began a family that would eventually include four sons and a daughter. “You can imagine that the house was wild with all of the kids,” her daughter said. “But my parents were so fun-loving and filled with such a sense of adventure that they kept us busy, at home and traveling.”
After five years in private practice, William Clark was appointed by Gov. Adlai Stevenson in 1952 to the post of attorney for the Cook County public administrator. Two years later he began a political career that would see him elected state representative, state senator, Illinois attorney general and named justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. When he died in 2001 of complications from diabetes, his obituary in the Tribune noted that he was “considered by many to be the only politician to serve with distinction in all three branches of state government.”
While raising five children, Rosalie Clark took to the role of politician’s wife, which included talking to reporters, hosting fundraising parties and accompanying her husband to all manner of events. Among the many guests she met on these occasions was Jane Byrne, an ambitious City Hall fixture as the city’s commissioner of consumer sales.
After Byrne’s improbable defeat of incumbent Mayor Michael Bilandic in the 1979 Democratic primary, Byrne became mayor, winning the general election against Republican Wallace Johnson. As Byrne began to clean house at City Hall, she asked Clark to join the many new faces there.
“The first state dinner I was invited to was the occasion of Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Chicago in 1959,” she told a Tribune reporter years later. “I didn’t dream then that in 1980 I would come to City Hall to help plan receptions and events hosted by the city’s mayors.” And so began a professional life that would last through five mayors over nearly two decades. In her job she acted as the liaison to the city’s consulates, arranged for red carpet arrivals for heads of state, or dinners for overseas dignitaries.
These responsibilities involved such tasks as buying a winter coat for Polish statesman Lech Walesa; arranging for former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to visit the Hard Rock Cafe, where he posed for photos with waitresses and had a beer or two; traveling with the Chicago Bears when they played in London and New Orleans; squiring around town such dignitaries as the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu (“so warm and outgoing,” she would recall); helping orchestrate some of the post-championship celebrations for the Chicago Bulls and … it is a long, almost endless list.
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James “Skinny” Sheahan worked closely with Clark when he was the city’s director of special events for nearly a decade and later as chief of external relations at McCormick Place. He says, “Rosalie was my go-to person for any event or accession. There was nothing she couldn’t handle, and she was never ruffled. She also never blew her own horn, content to stay in the background. She was really, really smart but also street smart, able to easily handle all the nuttiness of City Hall.”
During her most active years, she also found time to serve on the boards of Illinois Federation of Democratic Women, Marillac House, Misericordia and Illinois State Museum. When she retired in 1998, her staff and colleagues presented her with a picture-heavy scrapbook in the form of a magazine playfully titled called “Rosalie Clark Leaving,” a parody of Martha Stewart Living.
She was back to work quickly when then Cultural Affairs commissioner, the late Lois Weisberg, convinced her to help orchestrate the city’s ambitious plans to celebration the millennium by, among many events, having Chicagoans invite guests from every country on Earth to an international dinner.
“Rosalie was one of a kind,” said Anne Rashford, currently a development director at the Museum of Science and Industry. She was the assistant director of protocol to Clark for many years. “I was so lucky to work with her, grateful to start my career learning so much. She had such a zest for life, a seize-the-day mentality. And she was such a young soul, which enabled her to work so well with a young staff and inspire us all.”
In her later years, Clark took some writing classes and started to write stories based on her life and career. She also enjoyed family time with a growing pack of grandchildren. She spent winters at Marco Island, Florida, and parts of every summer at Duck Lake in Michigan, where her family said she took great pride in being the only water skiing grandmother on that lake.
In addition to her daughter, she is survived by four sons William Jr., John, Donald, and Robert; and 11 grandchildren. Funeral arrangements will be private.
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rkogan@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-06-29--Teen injured after falling about 25 feet through skylight of former school building in Deerfield, po

Teen injured after falling about 25 feet through skylight of former school building in Deerfield, police say

According to a news release , police were called about 10:20 p.m. to the now-closed Holy Cross Catholic School at @ @ @ @ @ north suburb .
Police determined that the 18-year-old had fallen about 25 feet through the @ @

An 18-year-old suffered non-life-threatening injuries Sunday night when he fell through a skylight atop a former school in Deerfield, police said.
According to a news release, police were called about 10:20 p.m. to the now-closed Holy Cross Catholic School at 720 Elder Lane in the north suburb. Police determined that the 18-year-old had fallen about 25 feet through the skylight.
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The teen was taken to Highland Park Hospital by the Deerfield Bannockburn Fire Department, police said.
Police were still investigating “the injured subject’s intentions,” according to the news release.
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The school, which is adjacent to Holy Cross Church, closed in 2018 because of low enrollment and financial constraints.
Check back for updates.


chicagotribune--2020-06-29--‘Chicago’s an example. It’s, like, worse than Afghanistan.’ When Trump talks about Chicago, we track

‘Chicago’s an example. It’s, like, worse than Afghanistan.’ When Trump talks about Chicago, we track it.

Since becoming president Trump has returned the theme frequently bashing the city in Tweets and interviews .
It ’ s @ @ @ @ @ .
In a 2016 interview with Fox ’ s Sean Hannity Trump said : “ @ @ @ @ @ have big investments in Chicago , and I think it ’ s a great city @ @

Chicago and its violence have been a frequent subject of President Donald Trump’s attention. It was a common campaign thread Trump used to hammer Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama and now Joe Biden.
Since becoming president Trump has returned the theme frequently bashing the city in Tweets and interviews. It’s not all vinegar, though. In a 2016 interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity Trump said: “I love Chicago. I have big investments in Chicago, and I think it’s a great city.”
Here are Trump’s mentions of Chicago — and the state of Illinois — with annotations where appropriate.


chicagotribune--2020-07-02--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 828 new known COVID-19 cases and 30 additional deaths reported as s

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 828 new known COVID-19 cases and 30 additional deaths reported as some states and cities around the US begin pausing reopening plans

On the other end of the spectrum , the University of Chicago recently announced that it will not require any @ @ @ @ @ graduate students , to teach in person for the fall quarter , which begins Sept. @ @ @ @ @ In an update released Tuesday , U. of C. said a limited number of classes @ @ @ @ @ New students will be given priority to enroll in such courses so they can acclimate @ @ @ @ @

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
The Fulton Market area of Chicago is no longer the ghost town it was during the depths of the COVID-19 virus pandemic shutdown. As restrictions on restaurants are eased, a worker takes a woman's temperature before she can enter Federales restaurant on Morgan Street on July 1, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois health officials Wednesday reported 828 new known cases of COVID-19 and 30 additional confirmed fatalities, bringing the total number of known cases to 144,013 and the confirmed death toll to 6,951.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned the United States is “going in the wrong direction” as novel coronavirus cases surge across the country and said he “would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around.”
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The next day, some states and cities began pausing their reopening plans, including all of Indiana, as well as Madison, Wisconsin. California ordered a stop to indoor services at restaurants, movie theaters, museums and others in certain counties seeing an increased spread of COVID-19. New York City pulled back on resuming indoor dining Monday.
In Illinois, state health officials have now made it possible for residents to track weekly COVID-19 figures at the county level and watch for signs of concern, such as a rise in cases or more people testing positive.
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So how you stay safe when returning to work? Visiting a zoo? Working out at a gym? The Tribune talked to experts to get answers on how to assess the level of risk with which you are comfortable.
[ How to assess your COVID-19 risk when going out in public: Use this chart ]
[ Phase four of Illinois’s COVID-19 reopening: Settle in, folks, we may be here a while ]
[ Illinois enters phase 4 of reopening plan. Here’s a guide to what’s allowed. ]
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
Here’s what’s happening Wednesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
8:50 p.m.:McDonald’s plan to reopen dining rooms on hold as COVID-19 cases surge in parts of U.S.
McDonald’s is halting plans to reopen its dining rooms for three weeks as COVID-19 cases rise in more than half of U.S. states.
The announcement by the Chicago-based fast food giant comes as numerous states reimpose restrictions on bars, restaurants and other businesses just as consumers hoped to resume a sense of normalcy.
In a letter viewed by the Tribune, and first reported by the Wall Street Journal, McDonald’s said it is pausing dine-in reopening plans for 21 days. It cited a 65% increase in infections over the last two weeks and rising cases in 32 states over the last seven days.
The letter, dated Wednesday and addressed to the “McFamily,” was signed by McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger and National Franchisee Leadership Alliance Chair Mark Salebra.
The company is advising operators that have already reopened to review local and state guidance to determine whether they should revert to a takeout, delivery and drive-thru model. Owner/operators that wish to pull back even when local regulations don’t require it should consult with the franchisee leaders but can decide on their own how to proceed, the letter said. Read more here. — Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
5:27 p.m.: Taste of Chicago To-Go details announced — a much more modest Taste
The Taste of Chicago was among a host of popular summer events spiked by the city last month out of precaution for the novel coronavirus. On Wednesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events announced the schedule of events for this year’s stand-in, called “Taste of Chicago To-Go.”
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The Taste’s original schedule of July 8-12 remains intact, but gone are the dozens of vendors representing Chicago’s restaurants and thousands of customers eager for bites of rib tips, gator bites and Polish sausages. Instead, a more modest Taste To Go will feature a variety of virtual events in lieu of a real-life gathering and eating in Grant Park. Read more here. — Adam Lukach
5:11 p.m.: As other states reverse course amid COVID-19 surge, Illinois and Chicago officials watching metrics but say they have no plans to tighten restrictions
With neighboring Indiana and other states pausing their reopening plans or even moving backward as new cases of the coronavirus surge, officials in Chicago and Illinois said on Wednesday they have no plans to alter loosened rules that took effect statewide last week.
When Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced his “Restore Illinois” reopening plan in early May, he acknowledged that surges in hospitalizations or the percentage of people testing positive, or shortages of intensive-care unit beds or ventilators could lead him to tighten restrictions once again.
Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said in a statement Wednesday that the governor and medical experts at the Illinois Department of Public Health are watching the data closely to see whether the looser restrictions in the new phase have any effect on the state’s health care system.
”The governor has been clear that he will follow the guidance of medical experts and if they advise reinstituting previous mitigations he will not hesitate to do so,” Abudayyeh said.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city tracks its data closely and will “not hesitate” to take action if they see an upward swing. Read more here. — Dan Petrella and Gregory Pratt
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4:40 p.m.: Health officials urge coronavirus testing after demonstrator in McHenry tests positive
Health officials are urging anyone who attended a recent protest in McHenry to get checked for the coronavirus after a demonstrator there tested positive.
The demonstrator was asymptomatic, and took part in protest between 1 and 2:30 p.m. Saturday that began at Knox Park in the city of McHenry and ended at the McHenry Police Department, county health officials said.
A map with testing locations can be found here. Read more here. — Chicago Tribune Staff
4:29 p.m.: More companies are making masks to battle the ‘sweat factor’ this summer, but are they effective? Here’s what you need to know.
As a pastry chef who spends her workdays in a surgical-style mask next to hot ovens, Leigh Omilinsky is no stranger to the face mask “sweat factor.”
So she has little patience for those griping about muggy mouths now that Chicago’s weather has turned steamy.
“This has to be more comfortable than a ventilator,” said Omilinsky, 35, of Logan Square.
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When health officials began recommending people wear masks in public places to slow the spread of COVID-19, they turned to whatever was available, be it a hand-sewn fabric mask, cut up t-shirt or winter balaclava. Now they’re often required, in places where social distancing is a challenge. As Illinoisans cautiously return to more activities put on hold during the pandemic, some are looking for masks that are tolerable for more than a quick grocery run. Read more here. — Lauren Zumbach
4:13 p.m.: President Trump supports new round of direct coronavirus payments: ‘It has to be done properly’
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he supports a fresh round of government payments to individuals to help them weather the coronavirus pandemic but “it has to be done properly.”
Trump also said he wants payments larger than the $1,200 the government sent to most individuals earlier this year. He did not say how big he’d like the payments to be. Read more here. —Associated Press
4:09 p.m.: Well St Market reopening, becoming the first Chicago food hall to remerge during the coronavirus pandemic
Although food hall operators and chefs expressed much trepidation only a few months ago, Wells St Market announced Wednesday that it will re-open Monday, making it the first Chicago food hall to do so during the pandemic. But not all its vendors are included in its first phase.
Firecakes Donuts, Fry the Coop,Tabo Sushi and Grand Central Bar will offer online ordering and pickup as well as limited seating for now. Piggie Smalls, Dos Toros Taqueria, Tempesta, FARE and Flowers for Dreams may come later, but currently the food hall is focused on the operations that felt comfortable enough to return.
General Manager John Williamson noted that fewer tenants operating means fewer people in the space, which is outfitted with large windows that open to Wells Street.
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In addition to Firecakes, Fry the Coop and Tabo Sushi’s normal offerings, Grand Central Bar is working on to-go cocktails that are in compliance with the recently passed bill.
Health and safety regulations apply for both employees and visitors, who are required to wear masks and adhere to distancing guidelines with the help of floor decals. High-touch, non-food surfaces will receive increased sanitation and cashier stations have shields to separate guests and employees. The food hall will also be counting the number of people entering the space and patrons may have to line up outside during peak hours. Read more here. — Grace Wong
3:22 p.m.: Illinois to open more small business development centers, including 5 in Chicago, to help COVID-19 recovery
Illinois will invest $11.5 million to open seven small business development centers, including five in Chicago, to support businesses hurt by the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis and damaged during widespread civil unrest in early June.
The Chicago sites announced Wednesday will be located at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, South Shore Chamber of Commerce, the Build Bronzeville initiative through the Urban Juncture Foundation, Rogers Park Business Alliance and the Chinese Mutual Aid Association. Other locations are being managed by Joliet Junior College and Elgin Community College. Read more here. — Abdel Jimenez
3:19 p.m.: Brookfield Zoo reopens at reduced capacity — right now there may be more animals outside than people
Brookfield Zoo is reopening this week, albeit slowly, with lions and tigers and zoo members first. The zoo’s gates in the west suburbs swung open Wednesday for those holding seasonal memberships, with the general public to follow July 8.
Biggest change from before coronavirus-related closures shut down the zoo to visitors in late March: Tickets are being sold at reduced capacity, with timed admissions and only in advance. Read more here. — Doug George
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2:55 p.m.: United adding 25,000 flights in August despite spikes in COVID-19 cases
United Airlines plans to fly about three times more routes in August than it did last month as passengers slowly return to the skies, even as the number of new COVID-19 cases across the U.S. rises.
Chicago-based United will have about 60% fewer flights on its schedule in August compared with the same month last year. But travelers are slowly coming back, particularly when it comes to domestic flights, said Ankit Gupta, United’s vice president of domestic network planning.
The number of people passing through U.S. airport security checkpoints each day topped 600,000 on certain days in late June, down from 2.7 million people a year ago. Still, airports are busier than they’ve been since late March.
United is scheduling about 600 more domestic flights a day in August than July, including more flights between Hawaii and hubs including Chicago. The airline said it has seen interest in beach travel, suggesting passengers may be seeking outdoor vacation spots where social distancing could be easier.
Read more here. —Lauren Zumbach
2:40 p.m., (Updated 4:23 p.m.) : 828 new known COVID-19 cases, 30 additional deaths
Illinois health officials Wednesday reported 828 new known cases of COVID-19 and 30 additional confirmed fatalities, bringing the total number of known cases to 144,013 and the confirmed death toll to 6,951.
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Additionally, the expanded testing hit new record daily high with 33,090 new results.
—Chicago Tribune staff
2:38 p.m.: Health experts slam US deal for large supply of the only drug licensed so far to treat COVID-19
Public health experts on Wednesday criticized the U.S. for securing a large supply of the only drug licensed so far to treat COVID-19.
The U.S. government announced this week that it had an agreement with Gilead Sciences to make the bulk of their production of remdesivir available to Americans for the next three months. The Department of Health and Human Services said it had secured 500,000 treatments through September, which amounts to all but 10% of production in August and September.
Read more here. —Associated Press
2:30 p.m.: Indiana delays reopening plan, keeps capacity limits on restaurants, bars over coronavirus spike worries
Indiana will keep capacity limits in place for restaurants, bars and entertainment venues because of worries about a possible increase in coronavirus cases across the state, Gov. Eric Holcomb said Wednesday.
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The state’s reopening plan had called for those restrictions to be lifted this weekend, but Holcomb said he would keep them in place until at least July 18. The state will also continue its current 250-person limit on social gatherings.
Read more here. —Associated Press
1:52 p.m.: Coronavirus and unemployment: How bad is it? 5 key questions.
With the viral outbreak worsening and unemployment at Depression-era levels, the government on Thursday will issue what will almost surely be another remarkable jobs report.
Hiring in June might have reached the highest monthly total on record — 3 million. Yet so deep were the layoffs this spring that a gain that large would still leave tens of millions of Americans out of work and the unemployment rate in double digits. And even a jobless rate above 10% wouldn't fully capture the scope of the pandemic's damage to the job market and the economy.
On Wednesday a survey by payroll company ADP found that U.S. companies added nearly 2.4 million jobs in June, a large gain that still leaves total employment far below its pre-pandemic levels.
Read more here. —Associated Press
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12:57 p.m.: Madison health officials close indoor service at bars ahead of holiday weekend as COVID-19 cases rise in college town
Public health officials are closing indoor service at bars in Madison as the Fourth of July weekend approaches and as the number of reported coronavirus cases accelerate, many involving young people in Wisconsin’s largest college community.
The order from Public Health Madison & Dane County effective Thursday allows bars that have patios to keep them open and it limits the number of people who may eat inside restaurants to 25% capacity, the Journal Sentinel reported. Since June 13, 614 people have tested positive for coronavirus and half of them were between the ages of 18 and 29.
”For the past week, Dane County has seen a sustained, high number of cases. After consultation with our contact tracing team, gatherings and visits to bars and restaurants continue to be implicated in interviews with cases,” Janel Heinrich, the agency’s director said in a statement.
Bar owners are weighing a legal challenge. Tavern League of Wisconsin lobbyist Scott Stenger said public health officials are unfairly punishing bar owners and not taking into account what role recent protests over police brutality may have in the surge.
Read more here. —Associated Press
11:33 a.m.: A COVID-19 surge in your county? New Illinois website offers ways to check.
As Illinois shifts into phase four of its reopening plan, state health officials have now made it possible for residents to track weekly COVID-19 figures at the county level.
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Their new website includes a warning system to highlight instances where the latest numbers — such as a rise in cases or more people testing positive — signal trouble.
Score poorly overall and the county will show up as orange on a blue map of the state. (Only one has qualified thus far. More on that in a moment.)
“If your county is colored orange, that’s a caution or a warning that something is going on,” the department’s director, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, said last week at a briefing with reporters. “And our goal is that, with that caution, you will think twice of your own personal habits and activities.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health unveiled the site just before the state on Friday officially entered the latest phase of its reopening plan, which allows people more freedom to gather and move about.
Read more here. —Joe Mahr
11:32 a.m.: Online auction raises over $10,000 for immigrant restaurant workers
The online auction #AskChefsAnything raised $10,595 in June for immigrant workers in Chicago’s food industry.
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Organizers Gaeleen Quinn and Anna Polonsky, two consultants with extensive restaurant experience in New York, said they were moved to start the charity to help those most in need.
”We know a lot of chefs who have had to lay off employees, and many of those were immigrants,” says Quinn. She notes that undocumented immigrants haven’t received unemployment money or stimulus checks from the government. “We realized that they needed some support.”
To help, the two decided to organize an online auction in different cities across the country, where people could bid for the chance to chat with someone in the food world for 30 minutes, and, as the name makes clear, ask them anything.
According to Quinn and Polonsky, the winners take full advantage of the time.
“I witnessed one chef in St. Louis teaching a friend of mine to make St. Louis-style ribs,” says Quinn. “They had such a good time. Some ask for career advice or just about any random subject.”
The event in Chicago pulled together some of the biggest local chefs, including Stephanie Izard, Rick Bayless, Erick Williams and Lamar Moore, along with wine experts like Belinda Chang and Regine T. Rousseau.
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Since there is still no vaccine for the coronavirus, #AskChefsAnything is considering whether to return to cities like New York and Chicago for another auction. “
The work is not over,” says Quinn. “We do both have jobs that we have to fulfill, but it’s in my mind every day. We are super stressed out but hoping to make this long term.”
The next stop for #AskChefsAnything is San Francisco. You can bid here.
—Nick Kindelsperger
11:24 a.m.: Bad Hunter, the plant-based darling of Chicago food scene, closes permanently due to coronavirus
Bad Hunter and its second floor event venue The Herbarium are closing for good because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
”While several outliers factored into this decision, ultimately we could not continue to withstand the realities of operating this business during a global pandemic,” according to an Instagram post Tuesday.
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The West Loop restaurant, which survived a fire and re-opened in 2019, thanked patrons for their support and for celebrating major milestones with it. It also expressed gratitude to its staff, saying that they created “magic, day in and day out.”
Known for its vegetable-and-grains-forward menu, Bad Hunter was voted the Chicago restaurant with the best plant-based menu in the Chicago Tribune Readers’ Choice Dining Awards earlier this year.
And the restaurant was praised by critics not only for its playful name, but also tasty morsels like fried sunchoke in black garlic butter with a touch of Aleppo pepper-laced honey, maitake mushrooms with a lavender parsnip puree and butter dumplings filled with charred cabbage and shiitake mushrooms served with Asian pear and oyster kimshi. And carnivores weren’t forgotten on the menu, created by Dan Snowden. From chicken thigh skewers with preserved lemon yogurt to salmon crudo with garlic rice “cracklings,” there were exciting bites for everyone.
After the restaurant was forced to close in November 2018 because of a kitchen fire, Snowden moved over to Lone Wolf to create a takeout pizzeria that operated in the dive bar. Named Pizza Lobo, it has moved out of Randolph Row and into a standalone shop in Logan Square (3000 W. Fullerton Ave.) slated to open in late July. With a larger menu featuring pizzas with New York-style crust and duck fat chicken wings, the restaurant will be to-go only, although patrons are able to use its socially distanced patio space for carryout food sans service.
The rest of the staff was given notice late last week and Heisler Hospitality, the restaurant group that also operates Pub Royal, Estereo and Lone Wolf, said in a press release that its goal is to “rehome” as many employees as possible while continuing to pay health insurance costs through the end of July for those laid off.
”Having such a large shift happen at once is extremely bittersweet,” said Heisler Hospitality co-owner Matt Eisler in a press release. “It’s devastating to say goodbye to a place like Bad Hunter, especially when it’s not fully on our terms. But, it’s also the beginning of a new, really exciting chapter with Pizza Lobo.”
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—Grace Wong
10:56 a.m.: Little evidence that protests following George Floyd’s death spread coronavirus in US
There is little evidence that the protests that erupted after George Floyd’s death caused a significant increase in U.S. coronavirus infections, according to public health experts.
If the protests had driven an explosion in cases, experts say, the jumps would have started to become apparent within two weeks — and perhaps as early as five days. But that didn’t happen in many cities with the largest protests, including New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C.
In what’s considered the first systematic look at the question, a team of economists determined that only one of 13 cities involved in the earliest wave of protests after Memorial Day had an increase that would fit the pattern.
Read more here. —Associated Press
10:14 a.m.: 20 questions about assessing your COVID-19 risk at restaurants, gyms, the office and more
COVID-19 outbreaks in the south and west have added a layer of anxiety to how to think about the public activities now available to Illinoisans in phase four. Each person must now assess what level of risk they are comfortable with when it comes to activities such as dining out, working out or returning to the office.
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Read more here. —Kori Rumore
9:26 a.m.: Fighting over face masks becoming new normal as US workers now have to deal with conflict resolution on top of COVID-19 risks
Masks were already a political flash point, and months of mixed messages about their usefulness have contributed to the confusion. Now, they’re also fodder for viral videos.
A surge of reported cases of coronavirus in states like California, Texas and Florida has led authorities in those states to issue new guidance on masks. Evidence suggests masks can help prevent transmission of the virus even when worn by seemingly healthy people.
Early in the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said several times that those without symptoms did not have to wear masks. On April 3, the agency shifted, saying that masks should be worn in public.
But President Donald Trump, announcing the new guidance, said, “Somehow, I don’t see it for myself” and has continued to appear in public without a mask. On Sunday, after months of shunning a mask himself, Vice President Mike Pence urged Americans to wear them.
Orders regarding masks that carry the force of law have been left to individual states. And in states where altercations over masks have been reported, those orders have recently changed.
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Read more here. —The New York Times
6:55 a.m.: Chicago bringing back normal ticketing enforcement, starting with street sweeping violations Wednesday
After almost four months of suspending ticketing Chicago drivers for various types of code violations and debt collection for unpaid ticekts, refraining from booting vehicles and impounding cars, Chicago begins to return to its normal ways Wednesday.
Street sweeping tickets will be the first to be issued, starting Wednesday, followed Monday by booting of cars with multiple unpaid tickets, according to a news release from the mayor’s office.
On July 16, the city will start writing tickets to cars with expired city stickers and those parked in residential parking areas without a permit. Finally, the city will follow the state’s lead and not write tickets for expired Illinois vehicle registration stickers until Oct. 2.
“Now that the City has entered phase four of the reopening framework, debt collection and payment plan defaults will also resume,” according to the news release.
Anyone needing help with outstanding debt can visit the city’s New Start Chicago website here or set up a payment plan here. —Chicago Tribune staff
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6 a.m.: Colleges campuses are trying to reopen in the fall. The main source of opposition? The faculty.
Just because students might be returning to college campuses this fall doesn’t mean professors will be joining them.
Controversy over whether instructors need to be in the classroom during the fall term has erupted at campuses including the University of Notre Dame, where professors are pushing back, noting the dangers of face-to-face classes while the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage.
Notre Dame, however, is asking those with objections to in-person instruction to submit documentation of medical conditions and a formal request for accommodations. Those who taught remotely prior to the pandemic likely will not need to obtain special approval, said Paul Browne, a spokesman for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame’s position on in-person instruction is among the most rigid, showing how far universities are willing to go to compel professors to return to campuses after classes were abruptly moved online this spring.
On the other end of the spectrum, the University of Chicago recently announced that it will not require any of its instructors, including graduate students, to teach in person for the fall quarter, which begins Sept. 29 for most classes. In an update released Tuesday, U. of C. said a limited number of classes will be held in-person. New students will be given priority to enroll in such courses so they can acclimate to the university setting.
Read more here. —Elyssa Cherney
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6 a.m.: Are the Blue Men ever coming back? Chicago’s commercial theaters are in serious trouble
Indoor gatherings of more than 50 people remain banned in Illinois and there is still no discernible, let alone bankable, timeline for the return of large-scale live entertainment. COVID-19 has created a world of pain for all sectors of the Chicago theater.
Notably, the city’s commercial, for-profit operations are showing the most immediate and visible stress.
June, the cruelest month so far, saw L. Walter Stearns, the hardy and well-regarded owner of the Mercury Theater, his elegant two-theater venue in the Lakeview neighborhood, declare his intention to close up shop and sell his building. Charna Halpern, the owner of the iO improv theater in Lincoln Park, facing a tsunami of property taxes, running costs and internal criticism over the climate at her theater, also called it quits.
And on Monday in Canada, the venerable but now massively indebted Cirque du Soleil sought protection from its creditors, throwing into question the future of the Blue Man Group, a hugely popular show that has been running since 1997 — that’s 23 years — at the Briar Street Theatre on Chicago’s North Side, along with similar productions in Las Vegas and New York.
Read more here. —Chris Jones
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
Here are five things that happened Tuesday related to coronavirus in Illinois:


chicagotribune--2020-07-02--As other states reverse course amid COVID-19 surge, Illinois and Chicago officials watching metrics

As other states reverse course amid COVID-19 surge, Illinois and Chicago officials watching metrics but say they have no plans to tighten restrictions

The number of newly confirmed cases is largely a function of how many people are being tested for the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ vastly expanded its testing capacity since the early days of the pandemic .
When cases @ @ @ @ @ , fewer than 20,000 people were being tested per day on average .
Over the @ @ @ @ @ average has been nearly 30,000 per day .

With neighboring Indiana and other states pausing their reopening plans or even moving backward as new cases of the coronavirus surge, officials in Chicago and Illinois said Wednesday they have no plans to alter loosened rules that took effect statewide last week.
When Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced his “Restore Illinois” reopening plan in early May, he acknowledged that surges in hospitalizations or the percentage of people testing positive, or shortages of intensive-care unit beds or ventilators could lead him to tighten restrictions once again.
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Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said in a statement Wednesday that the governor and medical experts at the Illinois Department of Public Health are watching the data closely to see whether the looser restrictions in the new phase have any effect on the state’s health care system.
“The governor has been clear that he will follow the guidance of medical experts and if they advise reinstituting previous mitigations he will not hesitate to do so,” Abudayyeh said.
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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city tracks its data closely and will “not hesitate” to take action if they see an upward swing.
But, she said during an unrelated news conference, Chicago is in a good position right now.
“Every single day, we look at a very specific set of public health metrics. We look at hospitalizations. We look at ICU beds. We look at number of people on ventilators. We look at the amount of testing we’re doing, percent positivity,” Lightfoot said.
“These are the metrics we’ve now been talking about for weeks, and what we see in Chicago, and I can’t account for the rest of Illinois, is we continue to be on a downward trajectory day over day, week over week,” she said.
“If we weren’t,” Lightfoot added, “we wouldn’t be opening up. Now we’re looking at this literally every single day, multiple times a day. If we see that we’re heading in the wrong direction, I’m not going to hesitate to take action.”
As the pandemic nears the start of its fifth month, state officials on Wednesday announced 828 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 144,013 since the outbreak began. With 30 additional fatalities also announced, the death toll stands at 6,951, officials said.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases, which officials look at to smooth out day-to-day fluctuations in the numbers, was 782 as of Wednesday, according to an analysis of Department of Public Health data. That figure has been trending upward from a low point of 596 cases on June 18, but it remains well below the high point of 2,565 average daily cases on May 4 and 7.
The number of newly confirmed cases is largely a function of how many people are being tested for the coronavirus, and the state has vastly expanded its testing capacity since the early days of the pandemic. When cases were peaking in early May, fewer than 20,000 people were being tested per day on average. Over the past seven days, the average has been nearly 30,000 per day.
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Even as newly confirmed cases have ticked up over the past two weeks, the percentage of tests returning positive results — known as the positivity rate — has remained relatively stable, with the seven-day rolling average hovering between 2% and 3% statewide.
The state entered on Friday phase four of the plan, which allows restaurants and bars to open for limited indoor seating and in-person instruction to resume at schools in the fall, among other changes.
During her news conference, Lightfoot took exception to the question about the possibility of the state going backward, accusing reporters of scaring people.
“You can see this for yourself, real time, every day, just educate yourself and ask the right questions. The information is right there. … It’s not hard to figure out,” Lightfoot said. “But whipping people into a frenzy over speculation about other places when you’re not bothering to actually look at the data in Chicago, that’s not helpful.”
Asked last week about states that were seeing surges of new cases, Pritzker said those states had “opened things up completely or done it in a not measured fashion.”
“Of course when I look at states that are moving backward and at such a rapid pace, I always think, are we doing this right, are we handling this right, are we measured in our reopening? And I think we are measured in this reopening, we’re being careful,” Pritzker said.
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“You can’t turn on the television and see what’s happening in Arizona, Florida, Texas, South Carolina, etc., and not ask questions — are we getting it right?”
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com
gpratt@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-01--Tribune Publishing adds Alden co-founder to board while extending ownership standstill agreement

Launched in 2007 , the New York-based hedge fund turned its focus to newspapers during the Great Recession , buying @ @ @ @ @ declared bankruptcy such as MediaNews , Philadelphia Media Network and Journal Register .
It also @ @ @ @ @ Co. , the bankrupt former parent company of Tribune Publishing .

A wall of the Chicago Tribune newsroom is seen June 12, 2018, at One Prudential Plaza in Chicago. Tribune Publishing, the newspaper's parent company, has called a special meeting of its board of directors for July 1, 2020, hours after the expiration of a standstill agreement with Alden Global Capital. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Tribune Publishing has struck a deal with its largest shareholder, Alden Global Capital, that adds the hedge fund’s co-founder, Randall Smith, to the newspaper company’s board, while extending an ownership standstill agreement until next year.
The addition of Smith as a director, approved at a special board meeting Wednesday, gives Alden three seats on the now seven-member board.
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The standstill agreement keeps Alden’s stake capped at 33% until after Tribune Publishing’s next annual shareholder meeting, which can take place no later than June 15, 2021, Tribune Publishing spokesman Max Reinsdorf said.
The agreement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, Reinsdorf said.
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Alden representatives could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Smith’s influence at Tribune Publishing has been felt since Alden bought former nonexecutive chairman Michael Ferro’s holdings in November, consulting with top executives during the course of this year, a source close to the situation said.
Smith, 77, made his fortune and built his reputation by investing in distressed companies, so-called vulture investing. Heath Freeman, 40, a Duke University graduate and the son of an investment banker who represented unions, joined Alden as president at its inception.
Launched in 2007, the New York-based hedge fund turned its focus to newspapers during the Great Recession, buying stakes in companies that had declared bankruptcy such as MediaNews, Philadelphia Media Network and Journal Register. It also had a stake in Tribune Co., the bankrupt former parent company of Tribune Publishing.
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Alden now owns about 200 publications through an operating company known as MediaNews Group, formerly Digital First Media. Its larger newspapers include the Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. It has a track record of sweeping layoffs at its newspaper properties.
Alden took a 32% stake in Tribune Publishing in November, but was restricted from buying additional shares through June 30.
In December, Alden added two representatives to Tribune Publishing’s board, expanding it to eight members as part of the standstill agreement. The two Alden directors were elected at the company’s annual meeting in May as the board reverted to six members.
In addition to the Chicago Tribune, Tribune Publishing also owns the Baltimore Sun; Hartford Courant; Orlando Sentinel; South Florida Sun Sentinel; New York Daily News; the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland; The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania; the Daily Press in Newport News, Virginia; and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia.
Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, Tribune Publishing’s second-largest shareholder with a 24% stake of the company, also was bound by a standstill agreement through June 30. Soon-Shiong did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-01--4 wounded in shootings Wednesday on West, South sides

Late Wednesday morning , a 43-year-old man was shot on the Near West Side in the 1200 block of West @ @ @ @ @ was involved in an argument when he was shot in the right forearm .
He @ @ @ @ @ to Stroger Hospital after being taken to the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences @ @ @ @ @

At least five people were wounded in separate shootings on the West and South sides, Chicago police said.
The latest shooting happened shortly before 5 p.m. in the Lawndale neighborhood in the 1800 block of West St. Louis Avenue. Police said three people were wounded.
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A 16-year-old boy suffered a graze wound to the left leg, and a 20-year-old man was shot an ankle. Both of those victims were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition, police said. A third victim who police said shot was only injured.
About 1:20 p.m., a 39-year-old man was shot in the 6400 block of South Racine Avenue. The victim, who suffered wounds to the face and hand, was taken in serious condition to the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said.
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Late Wednesday morning, a 43-year-old man was shot on the Near West Side in the 1200 block of West Hastings Street. The man was involved in an argument when he was shot in the right forearm. He was expected to be transferred to Stroger Hospital after being taken to the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System, police said.
No one was in custody, and police were investigating.


chicagotribune--2020-07-01--Orland Park police Chief Tim McCarthy, the Secret Service agent shot while protecting President Reag

Orland Park police Chief Tim McCarthy, the Secret Service agent shot while protecting President Reagan, to retire after 26 years

Jim Brady , the president ’ s press secretary , was the first to be hit by gunfire , and @ @ @ @ @ police Officer Thomas Delahanty .
McCarthy was hit by the third bullet after putting himself @ @ @ @ @ president , and a fifth bullet ricocheted off the limousine and hit Reagan under the @ @ @ @ @ Service agent Jerry Parr pulled the president inside .

Longtime Orland Park police Chief Tim McCarthy, who as a Secret Service agent suffered a gunshot wound protecting then-President Ronald Reagan, is retiring Aug. 1, according to the village.
McCarthy has served as chief since 1994.
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He was the first recipient, in 2016, of the Chief of Police of the Year award from the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police.
McCarthy was part of the Secret Service detail protecting Reagan when he left the Washington Hilton Hotel on March 30, 1981, and John Hinckley Jr. opened fire.
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Orland Park police Chief Tim McCarthy in 2011. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Reagan was wounded as were three others, including McCarthy, who was credited with saving the president’s life and remained friends with him and his wife, Nancy.
McCarthy said he had made the decision about a month ago to retire and spend more time with his family, which includes his wife of 47 years, three children and seven grandchildren.
“This has been absolutely a great run,” the 71-year-old McCarthy said. “Time catches up to you. Sometimes you have to turn to family, and it’s time.”
The village, in a news release, said that Joseph Mitchell, the department’s deputy chief, will be appointed interim police chief once McCarthy retires.
The village noted that during McCarthy’s tenure the department has engaged in a more collaborative approach to villagewide initiatives, such as the implementation of the department’s Crisis Intervention Team focusing on police response to mental health-related incidents.
Mayor Keith Pekau said in the release that McCarthy, a longtime Orland Park resident, “has provided steadfast and dependable leadership to the men and women of the Orland Park Police Department throughout this entire period.”
McCarthy said the size of the department has grown by more than 30 sworn officers during his time and that the department has been able to implement technological advancements to aid in responding to and investigating crimes.
“Our officers rely on technology a lot,” he said.
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Dozens of community policing programs have been instituted to give residents a pipeline for bringing concerns to the police, and department cookouts of hamburgers and hot dogs at village parks have been another way for residents to interact with officers, he said.
A village resident for 30 years, McCarthy said that residents often contact him directly with concerns.
Orland Park was the first municipal police agency in the state to receive Federal Aviation Administration approval for use of a drone, and was among the first departments in the south suburbs to equip officers with the drug naloxone to counter the effects of an opioid overdose.
While many police and fire departments now carry the drug, it was met with resistance from some in the public as tacitly condoning drug use.
“Our job as police is to preserve the sanctity of life,” McCarthy said. “Everyone of those people who overdoses is someone’s son or daughter.”
McCarthy worked to establish and lead the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force, which assists area departments with homicide investigations, and he also served for a time as Orland Park’s acting village manager.
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Ed Wojcicki, executive director of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, called McCarthy “an icon in Illinois law enforcement and a highly respected leader regionally and in the state.”
He noted that under McCarthy’s watch, Orland Park began adding in-car camera systems some 20 years ago, before they became more common equipment.
“For all the right reasons, he commands attention when he speaks, and people pay attention to what he says and what he does,” Wojcicki said.
McCarthy’s career in law enforcement spans nearly a half-century, including 22 years with the Secret Service.
In the assassination attempt, Reagan had left the hotel after giving a speech and was walking toward his limousine when Hinckley stepped from the crowd and aimed a .22-caliber pistol at the president.
Jim Brady, the president’s press secretary, was the first to be hit by gunfire, and then Washington, D.C., police Officer Thomas Delahanty. McCarthy was hit by the third bullet after putting himself between the shooter and the president, and a fifth bullet ricocheted off the limousine and hit Reagan under the arm, moments after Secret Service agent Jerry Parr pulled the president inside.
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Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy, foreground, Washington police Officer Thomas Delahanty, center, and presidential press secretary James Brady, background, lie wounded on a street outside a Washington hotel after shots were fired at President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981. (RON EDMONDS / AP)
McCarthy, who was 32 at the time, was hospitalized in critical condition and returned to service months later.
In a 2016 interview with the Daily Southtown, after a judge had approved Hinckley’s release from a government psychiatric hospital to live with his mother, McCarthy recalled that day.
The president had addressed the Building and Construction Workers Union of the AFL-CIO, speaking at a union convention at the hotel.
“We just about got to the car and everyone is yelling, ‘Mr. President, Mr. President,’ like they always do,” McCarthy said.
He and other agents had not been notified that the president would briefly walk a rope line, greeting onlookers, and McCarthy said he was quickly scanning the crowd for any signs of a potential threat.
“All of a sudden, John Hinckley pushed himself forward” and began shooting, McCarthy said. “I turned toward the direction the shots were coming from.”
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Parr, who died in 2015 of congestive heart failure at 85, in a previous interview suggested that if not for McCarthy stopping the path of that third round from Hinckley’s gun, Reagan’s wounds could have been much more serious.
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“If (Tim’s) not there, I’m sure that either I or the president would have been hit that day,” he said. “The only thing between the president and this guy was McCarthy’s big Irish body.”
McCarthy downplayed the notion in his interview with the Southtown that bravery had much to do with what he did. He credited the training he received as an agent, drilled into him through repetition and simulations of responding to a threat or attack.
“The theory is cover and evacuate,” he said of agents trained to use their body as a shield for safeguarding whoever they’re assigned to protect. “It was training. No more than that.”
He served eight years with the Secret Service’s Presidential Protective Division and 14 years as a criminal investigator.
McCarthy retired from the Secret Service in October 1993 as the special agent in charge of the Chicago field office, and was named Orland Park’s chief the following May.
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A graduate of Chicago’s Leo Catholic High School, McCarthy has a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as well as a master’s in criminal and social justice from Lewis University.
mnolan@tribpub.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-01--Taste of Chicago To-Go details announced — a much more modest Taste

The Taste ’ s original schedule of July 8-12 remains intact , but gone are the dozens of vendors representing @ @ @ @ @ thousands of customers eager for bites of rib tips , gator bites and Polish sausages @ @ @ @ @ modest Taste To Go will feature a variety of virtual events in lieu of a @ @ @ @ @ Grant Park .
All events will be broadcast on the DCASE YouTube page .
Offerings @ @

The Taste of Chicago was among a host of popular summer events spiked by the city last month out of precaution for the novel coronavirus. On Wednesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events announced the schedule of events for this year’s stand-in, called “Taste of Chicago To-Go.”
The Taste’s original schedule of July 8-12 remains intact, but gone are the dozens of vendors representing Chicago’s restaurants and thousands of customers eager for bites of rib tips, gator bites and Polish sausages. Instead, a more modest Taste To Go will feature a variety of virtual events in lieu of a real-life gathering and eating in Grant Park. All events will be broadcast on the DCASE YouTube page. Offerings include:
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Cooking demonstrations: Chicago chefs including Carlos Gaytan of Tzuco, Maya-Camille Broussard of Justice of the Pie, Jessica Romanowski of Care Kitchen Chicago, Darnell Reed of Luella’s Southern Kitchen and Sarah Grueneberg of Monteverde will each share how to make a favorite at-home recipe. Noon daily.
SummerDance in Place: Instead of dancing in the park, the city will broadcast “Bollywood & Bhangra,” a 30-minute dance lesson from Bollywood Groove followed by a performance by DJ iLLEST, so that people can have their own dance parties at home. Also broadcast on WTTW Prime, channel 11.2. 5:30 p.m. July 8.
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Millennium Park at Home: It’s not a live stage, but musicians The Braided Janes and Jon Langford will be putting on a show all the same. 6-7:30 p.m. July 9.
Food Truck Procession: Food trucks, a key element of Taste since they were introduced a few years ago, will have a place in the To-Go version. Participating trucks will from a convoy from downtown to various locations around Chicago.
The Taste will also continue its Community Eats meal program, which “encourages Taste of Chicago eateries to host a free, community meal from July 8 to 12 for neighborhood first-responders and community organizations.” 25 restaurants will participate. The series debuted last summer.
The complete list of participating restaurants that will still be commemorating the Taste weekend is available on the Taste of Chicago website.
Details: July 8-12, Taste of Chicago To Go 2020 homepage


Corrections and clarifications

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· A story Wednesday about nursing homes resuming visits after the coronavirus shutdown should have referred to Pat Comstock, executive director of the Health Care Council of Illinois, as “she” instead of “he.”
The Tribune regrets the error.
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Publishing information quickly and accurately is a central part of the Chicago Tribune’s news responsibility and a value shared in all our publications. Our editorial code of principles governs professional behavior and journalism standards. Everyone in our newsroom must agree to live up to this code of conduct. Download the file.
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chicagotribune--2020-07-01--The Spin: As Gov. Pritzker, Mayor Lightfoot deal with pandemic-battered government coffers, casinos

The Spin: As Gov. Pritzker, Mayor Lightfoot deal with pandemic-battered government coffers, casinos reopen and city, county pot taxes kick in today

Black students , alums call out racist culture at Chicago ’ s elite private schools in the city : Injustice @ @ @ @ @ talks to some current and former students of the Latin School of Chicago — the @ @ @ @ @ have seen a variety of politicos or members of their families , including Nancy Reagan @ @ @ @ @ .
Bruce Rauner and billionaire Gov .
J.B. Pritzker — about their experiences .
He @ @ @ @ @ that have become a sounding board for those who say they ’ ve experienced racism @ @ @ @ @ Parker School , St. Ignatius College Prep and Marist High School .
Read the full @ @ @ @ @ a letter sent out to Latin School parents regarding the complaints , here .

Mayor Lori Lightfoot joins Gov. J.B. Pritzker, far left, to provide an update on COVID-19 at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications in Chicago on March 11, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois casinos and lucrative video gambling operations reopened today, three months after they were shuttered like the rest of the state as the pandemic took hold.
And with little fanfare, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced via news release that he signed legislation that Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said she believes will make it more attractive for an investor to open Chicago’s first gambling hall.
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It’s all about the revenues, especially now as Lightfoot and Pritzker and officials at every level deal with pandemic-battered government budgets. Chicago’s take of casino tax revenues would go toward the city’s underfunded police and fire pensions while the state’s take would be directed to the governor’s $45 billion “Rebuild Illinois” infrastructure program.
Speaking of taxes, starting today the city and county officially get their cut from Chicago-area cannabis dispensaries. The Chicago City Council and the Cook County Board each approved a 3% tax, the maximum allowed under state law, on recreational pot sales that kick in today. That’s on top of state excise taxes, based on levels of THC - the component in pot that gets you high - as well as the regular sales taxes.
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And a violent June in Chicago ended last night with a 3-year-old shot in the chest apparently - unfathomable, really - in retaliation for the shooting of a 15-year-old earlier in the night, my Tribune colleagues are reporting. Now Mayor Lightfoot’s hand-picked top cop David Brown, under pressure to stem a spike in gun violence this year, is staring at his first long Fourth of July weekend in Chicago, a holiday that has been marred by violence in the past.
Welcome to The Spin.
An image of police officers lounging about in U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush's office is shown between Mayor Lori Lightfoot and police Superintendent David Brown during a news conference at City Hall on June 11, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
From the Tribune’s Morgan Greene, Alice Yin and Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas: “A 3-year-old girl was shot in the chest outside her home in West Englewood Tuesday night when a gunman opened fire into a yard filled with children, apparently in retaliation for a shooting minutes earlier six blocks away that wounded a 15-year-old boy, according to Chicago police.
“The shooting continues one of the worst stretches of gun violence against children in Chicago. This past weekend a 20-month-old boy was killed, a 10-year-old girl was fatally shot and an 8-year-old suffered a graze wound to the head. A week earlier, five children were shot and killed in Chicago, including a 3-year-old boy.” Read the full story here.
“As the number of murders in Chicago soared in June, there was a huge slowdown of police activity that the police union blames on rock-bottom morale and distrust of Mayor Lori Lightfoot,” the Sun-Times Fran Spielman and Frank Main write.
The city has reportedly exceeded 300 homicides for the year: Police Superintendent Brown has set a goal of capping homicides at 300 for the year. Roughly one-third of those killings, to date, happened over a 28-day stretch in June. The Tribune’s Jeremy Gorner examined the spike in homicides this year in a story published over the weekend.
With Fourth of July approaching in violent summer, Mayor Lori Lightfoot defends police plan to get young people off drug corners: The Tribune’s John Byrne has the details here.
Lightfoot resists calls to release city watchdog report on incident that led to firing of then-top cop Eddie Johnson: The Lightfoot administration earlier this week released police video and other records from the October 2019 night when officers were summoned to a South Side intersection and discovered then-police Superintendent Eddie Johnson was asleep at the wheel, the Tribune’s John Byrne and Gregory Pratt write. Read the full story here.
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But Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s report on the matter remains sealed, despite pressure from a good government group and at least one alderman to make it public as well as the mayor’s earlier push to get the City Council to approve a law allowing the public release of certain IG reports that involve a death or that are “or may be” a felony, and are “of a compelling public interest.”
Kathleen Fieweger, the Law Department’s spokeswoman, defended withholding the report on Johnson, disputing that there was any conduct rising to a felony.
Lightfoot, who campaigned on a vow of making government more transparent, pulled a trick from President Donald Trump’s playbook and blamed the media for all the grumbling over her office not releasing the report. She said during an unrelated news conference today that she won’t bend the law just because reporters want to get their hands on the report.
Top prosecutor Foxx: Drop misdemeanor charges related to recent peaceful protests — Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office instructed front-line prosecutors to lean toward dropping certain misdemeanors and even some felonies tied to recent protests against police brutality, the Tribune’s Megan Crepeau writes. Foxx, who is up for reelection in the fall, is talking about things along the line of curfew violations. But, as Crepeau points out, “Rank-and-file prosecutors tend to bristle at such top-down policy changes, saying they remove individual prosecutors’ discretion to treat each case on its unique merits.” Read the full story here.
Orland Park police Chief Tim McCarthy, the Secret Service agent shot while protecting President Reagan, to retire after 26 years: The Daily Southtown’s Mike Nolan has the details here.
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On the second day of legal recreational cannabis sales, a customer pays for her cannabis products with $100 and $20 bills at the Midway Dispensary store, 5648 S. Archer Ave., in Chicago on Jan. 2, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Cook County government’s 3% Cannabis Retailers’ Occupation Tax on recreational weed kicked in today, as did a similar 3% tax imposed by the city.
What it means: “People who buy marijuana in Chicago will pay 6% local sales tax in addition to the state” taxes, Crain’s John Pletz and A.D. Quig noted in a story late last year.
The breakdown: The county and city taxes are on top of Illinois’ recreational cannabis taxes, which range from 10% to 25% depending on the product’s potency. Read the refresher course in the Tribune here.
Workers tend to plants at Cresco Labs in Joliet on Dec. 17, 2019. Cresco Labs is one of the largest cannabis companies in the state and recently expanded its marijuana growing facilities. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)
While some elected leaders have heralded the legalization of recreational marijuana as a break with old laws that targeted people of color, the latest executive order on the law threatens efforts to diversify the largely white industry, the Tribune’s Ally Marotti writes.
Gov. Pritzker’s order delays the awarding of “more than 80 marijuana licenses meant to expand the industry, following setbacks in the application process brought on by the coronavirus pandemic,” the Tribune’s Ally Marotti writes.
Background: The state’s recreational marijuana law laid out specific social equity rules, meant to foster opportunities for entrepreneurs of color to break into the industry. Social equity applicants must either have a marijuana-related arrest on their record, live in an area disproportionately affected by the war on drugs or meet another qualification.
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Chicago awards 32 businesses $5.4 million for construction and rehab projects: The Tribune’s Abdel Jimenez reports that 90% of the businesses awarded the grants are minority owned and half are located on the South and West sides. The money comes from the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, which supports projects in underserved city neighborhoods and is bankrolled by fees developers pay to build high-density downtown buildings, Jimenez notes. Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel created the program in 2016. Read the full story here.
Victoria Furlow, paramedic with Cermak Health Services, administers a COVID-19 test to detainee at the intake area of Cook County Jail in Chicago on May 20, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
From the Tribune’s Hal Dardick: “Northwestern University scientists will be asking Chicagoans to prick their fingers and send in a dried blood sample as part of an effort to figure out why some parts of the city are hit so much harder by COVID-19 than others nearby — research they hope could help control future disease flare-ups.”
A closer look: “For example, the study is comparing the 60612 ZIP code, which includes the Near West Side and had an infection rate exceeding 1,000 cases per 100,000 people, to 60622, which includes Ukrainian Village and had an infection rate below 644 per 100,000,” Dardick notes. “Researchers will also collect web-based surveys of the participants and analyze other data.”
The aim is to get a better understanding, Dardick writes, of the “known disparities in COVID-19 infection and mortality for different groups, particularly among Black Chicagoans, who are dying of COVID-19 at higher rates than any other ethnic or racial group, and Latinos, who have the highest infection rates in the city and state.” Read the full story here.
Also: State board OKs Northwestern Medicine’s $100 million-plus expansion of downtown, suburban facilities, despite concerns minority workers, patients are being left behind: SEIU Healthcare Illinois, a union representing about 1,200 workers at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, including housekeepers, certified nursing assistants and dietary workers, is pushing Northwestern to use funding to treat more patients on Medicaid, a state and federally funded health insurance program for the poor and disabled, the Tribune’s Lisa Schencker reports. The union also wants to see Northwestern build facilities to care for patients on the city’s West and South sides, rather than in affluent suburbs, and pay its employees more. Read the full story, including Northwestern’s response, here.
New Illinois website offers ways to monitor COVID-19 cases in your county: As Illinois shifts into phase four of its reopening plan, state health officials have now made it possible for residents to track weekly COVID-19 figures at the county level. The new website includes a warning system to highlight instances where the latest numbers — such as a rise in cases or more people testing positive — signal trouble.
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Senate extends Paycheck Protection Program as coronavirus cases spike — Associated Press dispatch: “Democrats drove a temporary extension of a popular subsidy program for small businesses through the GOP-controlled Senate late Tuesday, an unexpected development that came as spikes in coronavirus cases in many states are causing renewed shutdowns of bars and other businesses.” Read the story here.
The Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin contributes millions annually for grants that Kane County administers. (Gloria Casas/The Courier-News)
Illinois’ 10 casinos and thousands of video gaming operations reopened today, more than three months after operations were suspended as the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a statewide stay-at-home order for everything but essential businesses. The Tribune’s Robert Channick details the social distancing and limited capacity rules here.
As the Sun-Times’ Mitchell Armentrout writes, the reopenings are “welcome news for casino executives eager to get the slots rolling again — and for the Democratic governor to jump-start gaming revenue for a COVID-19-riddled budget.” But the big money, Armentrout notes, comes from the “36,000-plus video slots that sit in almost 7,300 bars, restaurants and rest stops, and now make up the state’s top gaming revenue source outside the Illinois Lottery.”
Between the casinos and the video slots, the state collected more than $250 million in revenues between March and June 2019, the Sun-Times notes. Read that story here.
Chicago bringing back normal ticketing enforcement: My Tribune colleagues report that street sweeping tickets will be the first to be issued, starting Wednesday, followed Monday by booting of cars with multiple unpaid tickets, according to a news release from the mayor’s office. Read more here.
College campuses are trying to reopen in the fall. The main source of opposition? The faculty: The Tribune’s Elyssa Cherney has the details here.
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Even as businesses and schools reopen, some events that bring large crowds together are being canceled.
Bud Billiken Parade canceled amid pandemic but televised special, scholarships go on: Read the Tribune story here.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood to moderate “virtual conversation,” fundraiser with former Dem presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Pete Buttigieg: The July 16 event will benefit former U.S. Secretary of State Clinton’s “Onward Together” Political Action Committee aimed at expanding vote by mail and former South Bend Mayor Buttigieg’s “Win the Era” PAC created after he exited the presidential race to back candidates in downballot races. Ticket prices range from $50 to $2,500 and above. For more details, click here.
Underwood, a Naperville Democrat and freshman lawmaker who rode into office amid a national blue wave in 2018, is running for a second term in the suburban and exurban 14th Congressional District against Sugar Grove state Sen. Jim Oberweis. H/T Bill Ruthhart.
Other news: After delays from pandemic, census outreach door-knockers slated to start visiting households in August - The Tribune’s Alice Yin has the details here.
Black students, alums call out racist culture at Chicago’s elite private schools in the city: Injustice Watch’s Adeshina Emmanuel talks to some current and former students of the Latin School of Chicago — the Gold Coast school whose hallways have seen a variety of politicos or members of their families, including Nancy Reagan and relatives of former Gov. Bruce Rauner and billionaire Gov. J.B. Pritzker — about their experiences. He also examines social media accounts that have become a sounding board for those who say they’ve experienced racism and anti-Blackness at Francis W. Parker School, St. Ignatius College Prep among others. Read the full story, including details about a letter sent out to Latin School parents regarding the complaints, here.
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iHeartMedia launches national radio news outlet for Black community led by Chicago-based radio veteran — The Tribune’s Abdel Jimenez reports: The Black Information Network went live yesterday on 15 radio stations and serves as a full-time national and local news network that aims to be an objective, accurate and trusted source of news coverage with a Black voice and perspective, according to Texas-based iHeartMedia. Tony Coles, president of BIN, has been in the radio industry for more than 35 years, and oversees 21 radio markets as division president for iHeartMedia in Chicago.
Update: An Injustice Watch story referenced above incorrectly listed Marist High School as one of the schools where students and alums had complained to the outlet or on social media about racism.
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chicagotribune--2020-07-01--McHenry officials urge testing after demonstrator tests positive for coronavirus

Some community-based testing sites in Rockford , Rolling Meadows , Waukegan and elsewhere offer free testing and are open to @ @ @ @ @ they have symptoms .
Private testing locations have various requirements that an individual must meet @ @ @ @ @ as a referral from a physician .

Health officials are urging anyone who attended a recent protest in McHenry to get checked for the coronavirus after a demonstrator there tested positive.
The demonstrator was asymptomatic, and took part in a protest between 1 and 2:30 p.m. Saturday that began at Knox Park in the city of McHenry and ended at the McHenry Police Department, county health officials said.
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That protest was for Black Lives Matter, while a motorcycle protest to support the police called the Back the Blue Ride also passed through McHenry that day.
Some community-based testing sites in Rockford, Rolling Meadows, Waukegan and elsewhere offer free testing and are open to all, regardless of whether they have symptoms. Private testing locations have various requirements that an individual must meet to receive testing, such as a referral from a physician.
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A map with testing locations can be found here. With the 4th of July holiday weekend approaching, officials urged people attending gatherings to wear masks, keep at least 6 feet apart and get tested.