chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Unborn twins die after woman’s boyfriend drags her out of car, kicks her during Chatham fight

It happened about 9 a.m. Sunday in the 8400 block of South Wabash Avenue on the South Side when the @ @ @ @ @ with twins , and her 2-year-old daughter were riding in the Cadillac with the 31-year-old @ @ @ @ @ been dating on and off for about three years , police said .

A fight between a 24-year-old woman and her on-again, off-again boyfriend left her two unborn twins dead earlier this week in the Chatham neighborhood, authorities said.
After the fight, the man kicked the woman and her 2-year-old daughter out of a 2011 Cadillac, took the little girl’s shoes, which he bought her, and left the mother and daughter on the roadside, police said.
Advertisement
It happened about 9 a.m. Sunday in the 8400 block of South Wabash Avenue on the South Side when the woman, two months along with twins, and her 2-year-old daughter were riding in the Cadillac with the 31-year-old man, whom she had been dating on and off for about three years, police said.
They argued first, but the dispute escalated and the man began punching the woman in the side of the head, causing bruising and a cut to her mouth.
Advertisement
He dragged her by the hair across the driver’s seat and onto the pavement outside, were he kicked her abdomen multiple times.
He then plucked the little girl from the back passenger’s seat and made her sit on the curb as he took off her shoes, police said.
He got back into the black Cadillac and sped away while the woman called 911.
She was taken to Roseland Community Hospital, where she was treated and given an ultrasound. Doctors could not save the twins, who were pronounced dead at 11:49 a.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The remains, which have not yet arrived at the medical examiner’s office, will be examined or autopsied to determine the cause and manner of their death, a spokeswoman said.
The man has not been arrested, and police were looking for witnesses and any video surveillance of the incident.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services was also contacted.
rsobol@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--With COVID-19 surging anew, alarms sound again for Cook County’s incarcerated

“ Detention centers are by and large terrible places for children , ” said Joshua Rovner , senior advocacy associate @ @ @ @ @ which promotes criminal justice reform .
“ Educational outcomes are terrible .
Given the experience @ @ @ @ @ facilities I think it is naïve to say the children are more safe inside than @ @ @ @ @ ... To take away their support system , what chance do they have to get @ @ @

People rally outside the Cook County Jail on Nov. 6, 2020, as they demand the release of inmates and detainees who are at risk from COVID-19. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
The renewed nationwide surge of COVID-19 has hit Cook County lockups with force this fall, causing officials to reevaluate the safeguards put in place earlier this year to blunt the spread of the deadly infection behind bars.
More than 20 residents of the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center have tested positive in the past month, a dramatic increase over the numbers reported at the end of spring and early summer. The staff numbers are alarming as well, with more than 70 people who work at the near West Side facility now reported to have tested positive during the entire pandemic.
Advertisement
“It is just shocking,” Deputy Cook County Public Defender Peter Parry said Wednesday, adding that people working in and around the facility were “very concerned.”
The numbers at Cook County Jail, where thousands of adult detainees are housed, have spiked too. Over the summer, the number of positive cases were in the double digits, but as of Thursday, 153 detainees had tested positive, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office. Three had been hospitalized.
Advertisement
The first death of a COVID-positive patient since May was reported this week when an 85-year-old detainee died after being transported to Stroger Hospital.
And the jail’s population has risen significantly since efforts in the spring to release detainees to allow for social distancing. There were 5,529 people in custody Thursday — nearly back to pre-pandemic levels.
From the start, congregate settings like jails and prisons have posed a special concern for officials who had to both contain outbreaks within their walls and also monitor the constant churn of newly admitted detainees for signs of the virus.
Officials called meetings last week to decide how to respond, and Cook County state’s attorneys and public defenders are already meeting to see if they can, once again, work to expedite releases of detainees.
Fall surge among juveniles
The reports of juvenile detainees testing positive started trickling in over the past few weeks.
So far in November, 16 have had a positive test — the same amount for all of April and May combined, according to figures provided by the office of Chief Judge Timothy Evans.
As of Friday, Evans’ office reported that 62 residents and 73 staff members had tested positive for the virus over the course of the entire pandemic.
Of those 62 residents, most were newly admitted youths who are kept away from general population for their first two weeks in detention as a precaution. But 25 were in the general population.
Advertisement
A daily breakdown of where the virus is detected is important, Parry said, to understanding how risky the situation is getting for residents, staff assigned to the building and court officers who handle juvenile cases.
Because youth are tested and quarantined, if needed, at intake, Parry said he is more concerned about kids testing positive in the general population.
Parry said public defender staff planned to meet with Evans’ office to get a breakdown so they can instruct public defenders on whether they need to push harder to release kids, as they had in the spring when the pandemic started.
“I don’t know if we need to return to the idea of these mass (releases),” he said. “We will if we have to.”
As of this month, 157 youth were detained, down from an average 221 in early March.
Early complaints that Juvenile Division Presiding Judge Michael Toomin was inappropriately blocking releases were assuaged after Evans stepped in. Though progressive juvenile advocates launched an extensive campaign to kick Toomin off the bench this fall, he barely cleared the 60% of votes necessary to keep his seat.
Advertisement
When defense attorneys want to release youths, they can face opposition from prosecutors, and ultimately it is the judge who decides.
A statement from the Cook County state’s attorney’s office called the recent increase in COVID numbers at the detention center concerning, and said they would continue to “consider all juvenile cases individually when asking the court to hold a minor in custody — based on the facts of the case which indicate whether the minor is a danger to the community or likely to flee the jurisdiction of the court.”
A lower population at the juvenile center has meant that achieving social distancing is less of a worry, when it comes to the spread of the virus.
But that distancing is a major concern for advocates, who say this kind of isolation from others is damaging to youths who are already showing signs of distress. In addition, most programming has gone virtual, meaning children do not get face-to-face visits with their parents.
“Detention centers are by and large terrible places for children,” said Joshua Rovner, senior advocacy associate at The Sentencing Project, which promotes criminal justice reform. “Educational outcomes are terrible. Given the experience of what happens inside these facilities I think it is naïve to say the children are more safe inside than they are at home. ... To take away their support system, what chance do they have to get better?”
Alarms at the jail
When the pandemic started making its way through Cook County Jail in the spring, several efforts launched to knock it back from troublesome levels that drew national attention.
Advertisement
While judges are meant to set bail in part to ensure public safety — keeping potentially dangerous defendants behind bars — the pandemic changed those calculations radically. With the jail emerging as a potential public-health threat, safety precautions suddenly required a much emptier jail.
Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli’s office worked with Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to prioritize the large-scale releases with a flurry of coordinated filings that were expedited. Though court operations had shut down, Evans opened two courtrooms dedicated to handling the requests.
Release efforts got the jail’s numbers to historic lows.
At the same time, Sheriff Tom Dart and Dr. Connie Mennella, who oversees medical care at the jail, created safety and testing protocols that included single cells for detainees, and opening long-shuttered buildings and the county boot camp to create more housing options and space for medical care. Officials shut down most programming and created mandatory quarantines for newly arrived detainees, who were tested upon entry.
Civil rights attorneys also filed a federal lawsuit to ensure proper safety protections were in place.
In July, a paper authored by medical officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and various county and city offices concluded the jail had successfully beat back its outbreak of COVID-19 even as the virus spread dramatically outside its walls.
Advertisement
But some four months later, the situation has shifted significantly, officials said.
Along with a new spike in cases there, the test positivity rate at the jail jumped from 2.97% to 6.7% over the past week, a level that alarmed many even though it is well below the citywide rate in Chicago.
Campanelli and Foxx are once again working on coordinated releases, according to both offices. Campanelli said she is also looking for cases that can be resolved quickly, perhaps with a plea.
On Monday, Evans’ office said that in light of the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases, his office formalized the review process by ordering defense lawyers and prosecutors to review their cases and see whether releases are appropriate.
Foxx’s office also acknowledged the delicate balance she and others must strike as they weigh whom to release, saying they are seeking to “identify detainees within the current jail population who pose a low risk to public safety and could be released on bail, often with conditions such as electronic monitoring or curfew.”
Advertisement
“We are working as quickly as we can to be thoughtful in this process,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, the jail has suspended in-person visits, which had been reinstituted at the start of summer when the numbers dropped. The boot camp area has since reopened as isolation housing, with 24-hour medical care.
But jail officials told the Tribune that some safety measures, such as keeping to one detainee per cell, are impossible as the population climbs. In June, more than 60% of detainees were “single-celled,” but this month it was only about 44%.
The state of Illinois has also once again suspended transfers from local jails to safeguard its own corrections system, which also happened in the spring. Currently, there are more than 300 detainees in Cook County Jail who otherwise would have been transferred, officials said.
With numbers on the rise, critics have begun making renewed calls for bond reform to thin the jail’s numbers. Medical experts have repeatedly said when it comes to the jail and the coronavirus, population density is the enemy.
Campanelli agreed it’s time for significant steps to be taken, noting the loss of the detainee last week, who was one of her office’s clients.
Advertisement
“This is a crisis,” she said.


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Judge race flips winners: certified Cook County election results show Fallon got 502 more votes than

Judge race flips winners: certified Cook County election results show Fallon got 502 more votes than DiFranco, who was thought to have won

“ It was a very close race , obviously , ” Fallon said Nov. 25 after declaring victory .
“ @ @ @ @ @ from the mail-in vote , as did many other candidates in the general election .
@ @ @ @ @ and I know many other Democratic candidates as well — encouraged people to vote by @ @ @ @ @ ( due to the pandemic ) .
”

A candidate for Cook County judge who was leading his opponent in the weeks following the Nov. 3 election appears to have now lost the race, according to certified election results.
Frank DiFranco, a defense attorney from Park Ridge and the Republican candidate for the 12th Cook County subcircuit, received 502 fewer votes than his Democratic opponent Patricia Fallon, the Cook County Clerk’s Office reported on Nov. 24, the day election results were certified by the county.
Advertisement
DiFranco initially led Fallon, who currently holds the 12th judicial subcircuit seat, by a sizable margin in the days immediately following the election, but as vote counting continued, his lead began to shrink.
Fallon attributed this to a large number of mail-in votes, which were still being counted.
Advertisement
“It was a very close race, obviously,” Fallon said Nov. 25 after declaring victory. “I think that I benefited from the mail-in vote, as did many other candidates in the general election. Most of our team — and I know many other Democratic candidates as well — encouraged people to vote by mail to keep people safe (due to the pandemic).”
Mail-in votes put Democratic U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood ahead over her 14th Congressional District opponent, Republican Jim Oberweis, after Oberweis declared victory the day following the election.
DiFranco did not respond to messages from a Pioneer Press/Chicago Tribune reporter Wednesday, but, speaking to a CBS 2 News reporter, DiFranco alleged “some type of fraud” was involved in the election. He also claimed votes were added to the race after the Nov. 17 deadline for mail-in and absentee votes to be received by the clerk’s office.
“There were no ballots counted that were not received by Nov. 17, pursuant to statute,” the Cook County Clerk’s Office said in a Nov. 25 statement to Pioneer Press, responding to DiFranco’s claims.
Judge Patricia Fallon (Patricia Fallon / HANDOUT)
The office also said that a Cook County judge “denied the DiFranco campaign a temporary restraining order (from certifying the vote totals) and dismissed any and all allegations of fraud in this race.”
The certified vote totals show that Fallon received 50.15% of the vote to DiFranco’s 49.85%. A total of 165,450 votes were cast in the race, according to the county.
Fallon, of Glenview, has served as judge of the 12th subcircuit since her appointment in July 2019 to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Kay Hanlon. She previously worked for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Fallon acknowledged that the large number of mail-in votes did create confusion in the 12th subcircuit race, as well as other area races, when vote margins shifted as the votes were tallied.
Advertisement
“I did benefit from mail-in votes, but I also campaigned very hard,” Fallon said.
“I’m extremely pleased with my win and I’m thrilled to retain my position and continue to serve the citizens of Cook County,” she added.
The 12th subcircuit includes portions of Maine, Northfield, New Trier, Wheeling, and Elk Grove Townships.
jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--State and city officials make one last plea: Skip the traditional Thanksgiving gatherings

“ The safest thing we can do for one another is stay within our own households , ” Gov .
@ @ @ @ @ But if you are hellbent on gathering with others outside your own home , please @ @ @ @ @ few people .
And , importantly , this is not the year to have everybody @ @ @ @ @ house .
”

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
A day before Thanksgiving, state and city officials painted a dire picture of what could happen if residents don’t skip the holiday’s traditional gatherings amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“We don’t want anybody’s Thanksgiving dinner to turn into a COVID-19 superspreader event,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said during the state’s daily coronavirus briefing. “Our goal is to protect and not infect those that we love and care for.”
Advertisement
Ezike said the first sign of a post-Thanksgiving wave of coronavirus infections would arise in cases within the next week or two. That could be followed by a new surge in hospitalizations and, ultimately, deaths, she said.
Thanksgiving travelers walk through Terminal 3 on Nov. 25, 2020, at O'Hare International Airport. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
“The safest thing we can do for one another is stay within our own households,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. “But if you are hellbent on gathering with others outside your own home, please do it with just a few people. And, importantly, this is not the year to have everybody over at grandma’s house.”
Advertisement
State officials are encouraging those who do ignore the warnings against mixed household gatherings to get tested for the coronavirus a week later, or sooner if symptoms develop.
The holiday comes at a precarious time for Chicago and Illinois in the battle against the virus, although increases in both new cases and positivity rates have leveled off in recent days after rapid gains throughout October and early November.
State health officials on Wednesday reported 11,378 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 after two days in a row with fewer than 10,000 cases. Over the past week, the state is averaging 11,242 cases per day. In all, there have been 685,467 cases since the pandemic began.
With 155 more fatalities also reported Wednesday, the statewide death toll stood at 11,832. The state is averaging 118 deaths per day over the past week, matching the highest seven-day average seen during the first wave of the pandemic in mid-May. A week ago, the average was 83 daily deaths, and a month ago it was 42.
The share of coronavirus cases out of all tests conducted reached a statewide average of 10.6% for the week ending Tuesday, a slight uptick from the previous day, but still down from the 11.9% case positivity rate reported a week earlier.
Results from 114,233 coronavirus tests were reported in the previous 24 hours, pushing the total number of tests in Illinois since the start of the pandemic past 10 million.
As of Tuesday night, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals statewide was relatively stable from the day before, another sign of a welcome trend after an exponential surge in hospitalizations in recent weeks.
Earlier Wednesday, Chicago officials shared similar concerns to those expressed by Pritzker and Ezike.
Advertisement
Dr. Allison Arwady, the city’s public health commissioner, said the Canadian Thanksgiving last month led to a dramatic spike in cases, upping Chicago officials’ concern. Arwady cited an internet meme to encourage people to stay home with just members of their household: “It’s better to have a Zoom Thanksgiving than an ICU Christmas.”
About 50 million Americans are expected to travel, so people need to double down on precautions to avoid spikes in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.
The city couldn’t provide reliable projections for how many passengers were traveling through O’Hare International and Midway airports ahead of the holiday.
“COVID-19 is being spread by people being close together in enclosed spaces,” Lightfoot said.
gpratt@chicagotribune.com
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Second suspect arrested in killing of Gurnee-area man

Police say that on the night of the shooting , Wilson and Donterrance Nixon , 22 , of Waukegan , @ @ @ @ @ on the pretense of selling him some marijuana .
But once there , authorities say @ @ @ @ @ money and began to drive away .
Jones tried to open a car door to @ @ @ @ @ someone inside the vehicle shot him , police said .

A second suspect has been arrested in the June homicide of a Gurnee-area man who was shot to death outside his home during a robbery, Lake County sheriff’s police said Wednesday.
Jordae Wilson, 19, of Waukegan, was arrested Sunday night in Kenosha, Wis. after police pulled him over and found a firearm in his car, the Sheriff’s Office said. Wilson had been charged previously with first-degree murder in the death of Elliot Jones, 21, of the 36900 block of North Grandwood Avenue.
Advertisement
Jones was shot to death around 9:50 p.m. on May 29 outside his residence during what police say was a robbery attempt.
Donterrance Nixon, 22, of Waukegan. - Original Credit: News-Sun (Lake County Sheriffs Office / HANDOUT)
Police say that on the night of the shooting, Wilson and Donterrance Nixon, 22, of Waukegan, drove to Jones’ residence on the pretense of selling him some marijuana. But once there, authorities say, they took Jones’ money and began to drive away. Jones tried to open a car door to retrieve his money, but someone inside the vehicle shot him, police said.
Advertisement
Nixon and the victim were acquaintances, police said.
Wilson was charged two months ago in the Jones slaying, but had apparently left the area. Police said they developed information that he was in the Atlanta area. He is being held in Kenosha County awaiting extradition to Lake County, police said.
Nixon was arrested June 8 after a traffic stop and charged in Jones’ killing, authorities said. He is being held in the county jail in lieu of $3 million bail as he awaits trial.


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Column: From Vista Tower to St. Regis Chicago — another Chicago case of naming rights whiplash

As much as they seem like human-made mountains , as sturdy and unshakable as the Rock of Gibraltar , skyscrapers @ @ @ @ @ , ever-changing demands of the marketplace , which wear on them as inexorably as the @ @ @ @ @ the howling of the wind .

The new Vista Tower nears completion along the Chicago River across from the former Spire site on Nov. 9, 2020. The building designed by Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang has been renamed the St. Regis Chicago since these photos were taken. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Holy Sears Tower!
Advertisement
Names clearly are not forever on Chicago skyscrapers, unlike the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building and even One World Trade Center in New York City.
Sears Tower morphed into Willis Tower. The John Hancock Center became 875 North Michigan Avenue. The Standard Oil Building was the Amoco Building, then the Aon Center. Of Chicago’s five skyline giants, only the Trump International Hotel & Hotel Chicago retains its original name.
Advertisement
Money talks and names walk. There’s no room for sentimental attachment to names. Everything is for sale.
Were the owners of the nearly complete Vista Tower, Chicago-based Magellan Development Group, so desperate to snag a hotel for their 101-story, Jeanne Gang-designed hotel and condominium skyscraper that they were willing to give up a name they had promoted for years?
Apparently so.
The change, revealed Wednesday by the Tribune’s Ryan Ori, reminds me of the whiplash-inducing renaming of the world’s tallest building in Dubai, known as the Burj Dubai before it opened in 2010. The new name, Burj Khalifa, paid tribute to the ruler of oil-rich Abu Dhabi, the neighboring emirate that bailed Dubai out of a financial crisis.
“Vista” had an appealingly simple quality to it, rather like the noble simplicity of the curving, three-tiered tower itself. It suggested views, both of and from the tower.
In contrast, “The St. Regis Chicago” is just another brand name. And it’s not exactly fresh.
It’s at least the second Chicago hotel with “Saint” in its name, following the nearby St. Jane Hotel, which was previously the Hard Rock Hotel and, originally, the Carbide and Carbon Building. The St. Jane name, however, is reportedly going away.
True, there’s no storied history to the name Vista Tower, unlike Sears Tower, which was around for 25 years before Willis Group Holdings, a London-based insurance brokerage, cut a deal in 2009 that slapped its name on the 110-story high-rise, once the world’s tallest.
Advertisement
Also, Vista Tower was the second name of blue-green glass tower at 363 E. Wacker Drive. It was initially “Wanda Vista,” recognizing its majority equity investor, China’s Dalian Wanda Group. Dalian Wanda, which had been expected to operate the skyscraper’s hotel, announced in July it would sell its stake to Magellan. That forced Magellan to find a new operator, no easy thing at a time when COVID-19 has dramatically reduced travel.
In an email Wednesday, Gang expressed pleasure that Magellan got a high-quality hotel to anchor the tower and signed the acclaimed Alinea Group to run its restaurants. “It’s really a wonderful combination! So the new name is welcome!” she wrote.
Activity inside the tower will make it an everyday part of urban life, not just a skyline symbol. Nevertheless, with its first condo owners about to move in, The St. Regis Chicago is giving me a bad case of naming rights whiplash.
Advertisement
Chicago Tribune Opinion Weekdays Read the latest editorials and commentary curated by the Tribune Opinion team. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >
As much as they seem like human-made mountains, as sturdy and unshakable as the Rock of Gibraltar, skyscrapers are subject to the relentless, ever-changing demands of the marketplace, which wear on them as inexorably as the beating of the sun and the howling of the wind.
In a telling example of that shifting identity, the Prudential Insurance Company of America demanded in court this year that its name and signs come off its namesake Chicago tower, whose facade includes a carving of the company’s iconic Rock of Gibraltar logo.
The erasure of the short-lived Vista Tower name offers the latest reminder that the names of our skyline giants are anything but permanent.
Blair Kamin is a Tribune critic.
bkamin@chicagotribune.com
Advertisement
Twitter @BlairKamin


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Chicago police officer found dead in his home with no ‘obvious signs of trauma,’ autopsy inconclusiv

Chicago police officer found dead in his home with no ‘obvious signs of trauma,’ autopsy inconclusive, authorities say

Titus Moore , 46 , who lived in the residence in which he was found , subsequently was pronounced dead @ @ @ @ @ to the Cook County medical examiner ’ s office .
The cause and manner of @ @ @ @ @ a Wednesday autopsy , the results of which were marked as pending further studies .

A Chicago police officer was found dead in his West Chesterfield home Tuesday, prompting his department to launch a death investigation to rule out the possibility of foul play, officials said.
Authorities first were called to the 9400 block of South Wabash Avenue on the South Side shortly after 11 a.m., according to a statement from Chicago police. Inside a residence, they located a man who was unresponsive, it said. It wasn’t immediately clear if they had to force entry into the home.
Advertisement
Titus Moore, 46, who lived in the residence in which he was found, subsequently was pronounced dead at 11:46 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The cause and manner of death were not determined following a Wednesday autopsy, the results of which were marked as pending further studies.
Moore was “an active CPD officer who was found unresponsive with no signs of trauma,” according to police. He served in the Calumet District, according to a statement from Superintendent David Brown.
Advertisement
“It is with a heavy heart that the Chicago Police Department learned (Tuesday) that an active department member passed away. I ask that you keep his family in your prayers, and I offer my sincerest condolences to his loved ones and co-workers,” Brown wrote.
Details on Moore’s assignment and length of service were not immediately available. A police spokeswoman did not answer questions about what prompted officers to check the home, such as whether he missed work or a concerned party requested a well-being check.
“While the cause of death has not yet been determined, I promise we will get through these difficult times together,” Brown said.
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--President McKinley statue vandalized as someone tries to topple it

About 4 a.m. , `` a citizen flagged down officers to let them know someone was vandalizing the statue , @ @ @ @ @ Road in McKinley Park , said Sally Bown , a police spokeswoman .
She explained @ @ @ @ @ topple it , someone had thrown a rope around the bronze statue , which had @ @ @ @ @ honor four years after he was assassinated in 1901 , during his second term .

Chicago Park District security and Chicago police officers investigate the area around the statue of President William McKinley that was vandalized near the 3700 block of South Archer Avenue in Chicago on Nov. 25, 2020. An unknown individual or individuals vandalized the statue with spray paint, and a rope was thrown around it in an attempt to bring it down. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago police are investigating after a statue of President William McKinley that stands in the park named for him, and for whom the surrounding city neighborhood also is named, was defaced early Wednesday.
About 4 a.m., "a citizen flagged down officers to let them know someone was vandalizing the statue," at 2210 W. Pershing Road in McKinley Park, said Sally Bown, a police spokeswoman. She explained that in an attempt to topple it, someone had thrown a rope around the bronze statue, which had been erected in McKinley's honor four years after he was assassinated in 1901, during his second term.
Advertisement
"Yes, the rope was still on the statue," Bown wrote in an email. Officials think the vandal or vandals attached the other end of the rope to a vehicle's tow hitch, hoping to generate enough force to send it crashing down. "There's no indication that the statue moved at all."
Bown said there is a city pod camera near the William McKinley Memorial, which according to the Park District was designed by artist Charles Mulligan and installed in 1905 in the 71-acre McKinley Park — so large that it’s bordered by Pershing Road, Western Boulevard, Archer Avenue, Damen Avenue and 37th Street. Officers are reviewing the camera footage, but as of Wednesday morning Bown said it remained unclear how many people were involved in the property destruction.
Advertisement
The statue also was defaced with spray paint. Bown said she did not know what color paint was used and said words were legible, but she refused to say what was written on the statue. It wasn’t immediately clear how extensive the damage was.
The Police Department “would not be the agency to determine the financial estimate of the damage or the methods needed to make any repairs,” she said.
Other statues were vandalized this summer, although the circumstances varied.
During a violent clash between protesters and Chicago police, at least 18 officers were injured and at least a dozen arrests were made when protesters from a rally supporting Black and Indigenous people marched to the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park and tried to topple it.
“Columbus was a murderer. Columbus was a thief,” many in the crowd of about 1,000 protesters chanted.
According to the Park District, the statue of Columbus that Mayor Lori Lightfoot had removed from Grant Park in 2020 wasn’t the first time a statue of the Italian explorer was removed from that park for that reason — the same thing happened in 1901 when McKinley was assassinated.
It said to commission the statue of McKinley to be erected in the park, also newly named in the slain president’s honor, a member of the South Park Board of Commissioners named Daniel Crilly organized a committee of some 35 members, including no less than Marshall Field and Charles Dawes, who would become vice president more than two decades later.
"As part of the fund-raising effort, the South Park Commissioners agreed to melt down an old, universally disliked, bronze statue of Christopher Columbus which had been located in Grant Park. By reusing the bronze, the cost of the new sculpture was reduced by $2,500," according to the Park District's description of the McKinley Memorial.
Advertisement
That was the statue vandalized early Wednesday.


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Watch live: Gov. J.B. Pritzker gives a COVID-19 update

Gov .
J.B. Pritzker will give an update on the state ’ s response to the coronavirus in a briefing @ @ @ @ @ the latest updates on COVID-19 in Illinois here .

This website stores data such as cookies to enable essential site functionality, as well as marketing, personalization, and analytics. By remaining on this website, you indicate your consent.


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Man suffers ‘life-threatening’ injuries when hit by car in Lincolnwood

The man was believed to have been crossing the street on the north side of Devon Avenue when a car @ @ @ @ @ hit him , said Charles Meyer , assistant manager of the village of Lincolnwood .

A 46-year-old man was critically injured Wednesday morning after being hit by a car in Lincolnwood, according to village officials.
The man was believed to have been crossing the street on the north side of Devon Avenue when a car traveling north on McCormick Boulevard hit him, said Charles Meyer, assistant manager of the village of Lincolnwood.
Advertisement
The pedestrian was taken to AMITA Health Saint Francis Hospital with potentially life-threatening injuries, Meyer said.
The driver, a 21-year-old woman from Chicago, was not injured and has been cooperating with police, Meyer added.
Advertisement
The crash triggered a road closure on McCormick Boulevard between West Pratt Avenue and West Devon Avenue as police investigated.
Lincolnwood officials are asking any witnesses to the crash to call police at 847-673-2167.


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Boy, 15, charged in Wisconsin mall shooting that injured 8 people denied GPS monitoring by judge

The teen fled and was arrested Sunday in a car with Illinois plates , with a packed bag and the @ @ @ @ @ in the shooting , the petition says .
Police have said two others were also @ @ @ @ @ their roles in the shooting .

WAUWATOSA, Wis. — A 15-year-old boy faces multiple charges in a shooting at a Wisconsin mall that left eight people injured, and he has been ordered held in secure juvenile detention rather than being released to his parents.
Court Commissioner J.C. Moore on Tuesday denied a defense request to allow the teen to be released to house arrest with GPS monitoring, saying Friday’s shooting at the Mayfair Mall in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa was “an incredibly dangerous series of events.”
Advertisement
“This was a shooting in a crowded mall a week before the start of the holiday shopping season. Eight people were shot because of some altercation” the teen was allegedly involved in, Moore said. “I can’t imagine a more dangerous set of circumstances.”
No one was killed in the shooting.
Advertisement
FBI officials and police stand outside the Mayfair Mall after a shooting on Nov. 20, 2020, in Wauwatosa, Wis. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)
In a petition for juvenile delinquency, the teen faces eight felony counts of first-degree reckless injury, and one misdemeanor count of possessing a firearm while under 18, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The Associated Press is not naming the teen because he is charged as a juvenile.
His attorney, Assistant Public Defender Paul Rifelj, said the petition contains “a small sliver, the smallest iota or fraction” of the evidence in the case.
According to the petition, the teen and a friend were in the mall Friday when the friend confronted a group of people descending an escalator, yelling then punching one person in the group. Witnesses told police the teen was farther back and “took a shooter’s stance.” He began firing with a handgun drawn from his waistband, the petition says.
The teen fled and was arrested Sunday in a car with Illinois plates, with a packed bag and the handgun police said was used in the shooting, the petition says. Police have said two others were also arrested but have not described their roles in the shooting.
A plea date has been set for Dec. 3.


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Man accused of firing 19 shots at police officers at South Side park held without bail

Prosecutors alleged that Pleasant , while on probation for a gun-related conviction , went to Fernwood Park to go “ @ @ @ @ @ and then fired 19 shots at officers who responded to try to prevent the shooting @ @ @ @ @ people were involved in the shooting , prosecutors said : the 17-year-old , a getaway @ @ @ @ @ charged and a fourth person who is at large .
The 17-year-old appeared in juvenile @ @ @ @ @ also ordered held in custody .

A judge Tuesday ordered a man accused of firing more than a dozen shots at Chicago police officers to be held without bail, saying the officers “truly put their lives on the line” when they found themselves in a barrage of gunfire in a park on the Far South Side over the weekend.
Kamari Pleasant, 22, is facing charges of attempted first-degree murder and a slew of other felonies in connection with the attack about Saturday night in the 10400 block of South Union Avenue in the Fernwood neighborhood. A 17-year-old boy whose name has not been released because he is a juvenile also faces charges in the shooting.
Advertisement
Pleasant’s attorney said he does not have much money for bail and asked that he be released on electronic monitoring, but Judge John Lyke Jr. responded bluntly: “He won’t need any money for bond.”
Prosecutors alleged that Pleasant, while on probation for a gun-related conviction, went to Fernwood Park to go “shoot up rivals,” and then fired 19 shots at officers who responded to try to prevent the shooting. At least three other people were involved in the shooting, prosecutors said: the 17-year-old, a getaway driver who has not been charged and a fourth person who is at large. The 17-year-old appeared in juvenile court on Monday and was also ordered held in custody.
Advertisement
Shortly after 10:10 p.m., three officers received a message that three males were exiting a red Nissan Maxima and heading toward the park to “do a shooting,” prosecutors said.
The officers found the Nissan and its driver near the park, and saw three more people exit the park. The officers made eye contact with the people, prosecutors said, and activated their emergency equipment. The three people then ran back into the park.
Kamari Pleasant, 22, and a 17-year-old boy, whose name police did not release because of his age, were taken into custody after at least one person fired shots toward officers around 10:10 p.m. Saturday in the 10400 block of South Union Avenue in the Fernwood neighborhood, police said. (Chicago Police Department)
At that point, one of the officers began chasing them, and then was fired upon by all three people, prosecutors said. The first officer took cover, while another officer also began chasing the people. The third officer drove to pick up the other two officers, who were trying to avoid the gunshots.
Now in a squad car, the officers stopped the Nissan and detained the driver, prosecutors said. After a grid search, police arrested Pleasant and the 17-year-old. The third gunman got away.
The driver identified Pleasant and the 17-year-old, but only supplied a nickname for the third person who got away, prosecutors said.
Officers found Pleasant hiding under a car and a pile of leaves, prosecutors said. They found a .40-caliber Glock that had been converted to an automatic weapon nearby. Pleasant was found to have gunshot residue on his hands, according to prosecutors.
The 17-year-old was found lying in a stairwell beneath a porch, with another weapon found in the vicinity.
The officers did not return fire, Chicago police said, and no one was hit.
Advertisement
Investigators collected 19 shell casings that matched the gun found beside Pleasant, prosecutors alleged. They also found six shell casings from a different weapon.
Court records show Pleasant was on a 24-month probation following a conviction Nov. 2 on a felony charge of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in a vehicle and without a state firearms card. Pleasant was arrested about 1:50 a.m. March 10 on Albany Avenue just north of Madison Street, initially on suspicion of unlawful possession of a handgun, according to records.
Lyke said the officers pursued the armed attackers Saturday, despite feeling “bullets whizzing past them.”
“At that point, (the officers) didn’t do what most human beings would do and get the heck out of there,” he said. “These are the real heroes.”
mabuckley@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Daywatch: How contact tracing is helping Pritzker, Lightfoot’s ‘pandemic budget’ passes and what to

Daywatch: How contact tracing is helping Pritzker, Lightfoot’s ‘pandemic budget’ passes and what to know about Green Wednesday

Contact tracing for COVID-19 has gotten off to a slow start in Illinois , with the state still short of @ @ @ @ @ people doing that work .
And now , with infections soaring , caseloads are overwhelming @ @ @ @ @ the spread of the virus by tracking down contacts and getting them to quarantine .

Good morning, Chicago. On Tuesday, Illinois health officials announced 9,469 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 125 additional fatalities. In Chicago, the positivity rate ticked up to 13.7%.
Meanwhile, with cases on the rise and winter approaching, do you have new questions about COVID-19? The Tribune is partnering with the University of Chicago to answer readers’ questions with a Facebook Live event Dec. 2.
Advertisement
Here’s more coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
For your smart speaker | Holiday gift guide | Experts answer your COVID questions | More newsletters | Puzzles & Games
Advertisement
Outreach specialist Kendall Granberry prepares a COVID-19 testing area Nov. 23, 2020 at The Village, a clinic run by the Chicago Center for HIV Elimination, that also has been doing COVID-19 testing. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Contact tracing for COVID-19 has gotten off to a slow start in Illinois, with the state still short of its initial goal of 3,800 people doing that work. And now, with infections soaring, caseloads are overwhelming tracers’ ability to slow the spread of the virus by tracking down contacts and getting them to quarantine.
But the information gleaned by contact tracers is proving useful in another way: It is feeding a growing database that Gov. J.B. Pritzker has cited as a guide in making decisions about pandemic restrictions.
A speed camera clocks cars on Western Avenue near Addison Street in the Roscoe Village neighborhood on Oct. 26, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago aldermen on Tuesday narrowly approved Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s $12.8 billion “pandemic budget” for 2021, a package that will fund city government through the next fiscal year while closing a projected $1.2 billion budget deficit spurred by coronavirus pandemic-driven revenue losses to municipal coffers.
The Vista Tower nears completion on Nov. 9, 2020. Chicago's newest skyscraper now has a new name. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Vista Tower is getting a new name, just weeks before the first residents move into Chicago’s third-tallest skyscraper. The project’s new moniker, The St. Regis Chicago, comes as the project’s developer brings aboard a new luxury hotel brand and one of Chicago’s best-known restaurant operators to the 1,191-foot-tall building designed by Jeanne Gang.
Read Blair Kamin’s review of Jeanne Gang’s tower
General manager Gregory Zeman organizes packaged edible cannabis products for display on Nov. 24, 2020, as Rise Dispensaries in Niles prepares for "Green Wednesday" sale. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Shoppers mourning the demise of Black Friday can celebrate the birth of another shopping holiday: Green Wednesday, when the legal weed industry offers discounts on everything from joints to edibles to cannabis-infused taco seasoning for the stoner who has everything.
Green Wednesday, which takes place the day before Thanksgiving, has been around for several years in other states but is making its debut in Illinois during the state’s first year of legal recreational marijuana sales.
Toy expert Shara Phillips, left, checks out shopper Edward Hazboun who shopped for holiday presents for his three nieces at Timeless Toys in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood on Nov. 23, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Black Friday, the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season, used to draw swarms of deal-hunting shoppers to stores. This year is going to look different — so here’s everything you need to know about shopping this week.


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Have a question about COVID-19? University of Chicago’s Dr. Emily Landon will answer readers’ questi

Have a question about COVID-19? University of Chicago’s Dr. Emily Landon will answer readers’ questions Dec. 2 on Facebook Live.

That ’ s why the Chicago Tribune is partnering with the University of Chicago to answer readers ’ questions with @ @ @ @ @ 2 .
I ’ ll be asking readers ’ questions to University of Chicago Medicine @ @ @ @ @ Landon in hopes of quelling some of those concerns .
If you have a question @ @ @ @ @ able to find an answer to , now is your chance to be heard .
@ @ @ @ @ pandemic , Landon has routinely spoken about COVID-19 at press events and has advised businesses @ @ @ @ @ to best respond to the global crisis .
She was adamant about safety when we @ @ @ @ @ Illinois reopened and , now , when new cases are surging .

The number of COVID-19 cases is rising, along with worries and concerns: Am I doing all that I can to stay safe from the coronavirus? Why did I test positive if I wore a mask and isolated? I haven’t been infected though I’m not taking any precautions, so is this even real? It can be hard to keep up with the news with so many new developments.
That’s why the Chicago Tribune is partnering with the University of Chicago to answer readers’ questions with a Facebook Live event Dec. 2. I’ll be asking readers’ questions to University of Chicago Medicine infectious diseases expert Dr. Emily Landon in hopes of quelling some of those concerns. If you have a question you haven’t been able to find an answer to, now is your chance to be heard. Since the start of the pandemic, Landon has routinely spoken about COVID-19 at press events and has advised businesses and government officials on how to best respond to the global crisis. She was adamant about safety when we sheltered in place, when Illinois reopened and, now, when new cases are surging.
Advertisement
Landon leads the University of Chicago’s academic health system’s infection control and prevention efforts. As the medical specialist for the High-Consequence Pathogen Preparedness Program, she has helped steer University of Chicago Medicine, the University of Chicago and its affiliates through the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to her current pandemic work, Landon is a medical ethicist at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics and a researcher who focuses on the appropriate use of antibiotics and other antimicrobials, as well as the best ways to protect patients from health care-associated infections. She is also a national expert on the automated monitoring of hand hygiene.
The link to the Facebook Live stream will go live on our Facebook page Dec. 2 at 12:30 p.m. Also, our written Q&A is continuously updated, so if you have a question that we haven’t answered yet there, send it to the Tribune here.
Advertisement
drockett@chicagotribune.com
Chicago Tribune senior journalist Darcel Rockett is a features reporter covering lifestyles, entertainment, health, real estate, fashion and books. She writes about pop culture and tells many stories from the Black and brown communities.


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Contact tracing in Illinois may not slow the coronavirus much. But the data is helping guide state d

Contact tracing in Illinois may not slow the coronavirus much. But the data is helping guide state decisions.

He also noted the high count of exposures at restaurants and bars and cited a Centers for Disease Control and @ @ @ @ @ infected with coronavirus were about twice as likely to have dined at a restaurant in @ @ @ @ @ than those who were not infected with the virus .
And he noted that eating @ @ @ @ @ one ’ s mask while being in a place with others for extended periods of @ @

Since the start of the pandemic, Dr. John Schneider has interviewed more than 100 people with COVID-19, and in nearly all cases he managed to pin down how they got infected.
“I think there’s one person I’ve had who said, ‘I don’t know how I got it,’” said Schneider, an infectious disease specialist affiliated with the University of Chicago who is director of the 55th Street Howard Brown Clinic, where he also does case investigations and contact tracing. Schneider says the man did visit a barbershop, so they are checking to see if that might be the source.
“But everyone else is like, ‘Oh yeah, so-and-so and so-and-so is sick now too.’ Or ‘so-and-so got tested and they were positive too,’” Schneider continued. “They all know how they got it. They got it from someone in their friendship, or in their household network, who got it from work or some other mechanism.”
Outreach specialist Kendall Granberry prepares a COVID-19 testing area on Nov. 23, 2020, at The Village, a clinic run by the Chicago Center for HIV Elimination, which also has been doing COVID-19 testing. University of Chicago Medicine operates the clinic and Dr. John Schneider is co-director. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Contact tracing for COVID-19 has gotten off to a slow start in Illinois, with the state still short of its initial goal of 3,800 people doing that work. And now, with infections soaring, caseloads are overwhelming tracers’ ability to slow the spread of the virus by tracking down contacts and getting them to quarantine.
But the information gleaned by Schneider and other contact tracers is proving useful in another way: It is feeding a growing database that Gov. J.B. Pritzker has cited as a guide in making decisions about pandemic restrictions. The governor singled out the data, along with scholarly studies, when defending his late October decision to shut down indoor dining.
Experts on contact tracing say that using contact tracing data in this way is valid and part of the reason contact tracing is done in the first place, particularly when cases are surging.
When case levels are higher, “understanding where people have gotten infected is going to help us understand what are the risky places or risky activities that can inform what kind of response we want to do,” said Jaline Gerardin, assistant professor of preventive medicine at McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University.
Dr. John Schneider, an infectious disease expert at University of Chicago, at a Howard Brown Heath clinic in Chicago in April. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
There are limitations. Sometimes, despite Schneider’s experience on the South Side, it’s hard to pin down where and how a person was infected, making it difficult to identify outbreaks. Tracers also gather information on places visited by infected people — so-called exposure data — but whether those places are truly unsafe can be a matter of interpretation.
And in Illinois, the data is far from complete, both because the state’s system for tracking the data is still developing and because some populous areas of the state aren’t even close to conducting contact tracing on every case.
For example, the state is getting only rudimentary contact-tracing information from Schneider’s work at Howard Brown at this point because of the limitations of Chicago’s own database, Schneider said. The city and state databases are not collecting all the same information and aren’t yet fully communicating, officials confirmed.
Across Illinois, less than half of people with COVID-19 diagnoses were interviewed by case investigators from Aug. 1 to Nov. 21%, according to state data. The lowest interview rates were in Chicago, which was at 16%, and Cook County, with only 12% of infected people interviewed.
Crystal Watson, a contact tracing expert who’s a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said that although “the data is not going to be perfect” amid a case surge, it’s still useful in informing government decisions.
“I think contact tracing and case investigation are really important in understanding where people are getting the virus,” Watson said. “Where there are clusters of cases (or) large transmission events (that can help) inform decisions by public health agencies about where to allocate resources and what policies to put in place to reduce transmission.”
The data so far
The state first posted some contact tracing data on Nov. 6, showing what percentage of infected people case investigators tried to reach and the percentage they actually did reach, broken down by regions of the state and also its 97 public health departments. The information, kept by the Illinois Department of Public Health, is updated each Friday.
In all, case investigators — the workers who reach out to infected people in the first step of the contact tracing process — tried to contact 58% of the 461,500 people who contracted COVID-19 between Aug. 1 and Nov. 14. They actually talked to 44% of them.
The data also shows that contact tracers reached out to 75% of the 301,333 people who were identified through case investigation as having prolonged, close contact with infected people. In the end, they talked to 64% of the contacts, the data indicates.
The posted data includes information on outbreak locations, or places at which five or more infected people from different households had been within a 14-day period. Those cases cannot be linked to another source of infection.
The top five outbreak locations since July 1 — when Pritzker lifted many early pandemic restrictions — were factories, group homes, community events, correctional facilities and colleges. In the past 30 days, the top five were group homes, correctional facilities, factories, senior or supportive living facilities and business or retail locations. The specific locations are not identified.
Also listed are potential exposure locations, or places infected people said they were in the 14 days before experiencing symptoms or receiving positive test results. That data includes this caveat: “Locations provided by cases should be interpreted as locations where COVID-19 exposure may have occurred, not that these are definitive exposure or outbreak locations.”
The top exposure location in the 30 days ending Nov. 13 was schools, followed by hospitals and clinics, business or retail locations, “other” — which includes travel and vacations — and restaurants or bars.
The state also posted separate data from Chicago showing that, of 1,090 infected people interviewed in the city who said they had been to public places in the 14 days before symptoms or a positive test, more than half reported visiting restaurants and more than 1 in 10 said they went to a bar, based on interviews conducted between July 15 and Sept. 15.
Other data posted includes school outbreaks, or specific schools that reported five or more cases from different households “who may have shared exposure on school grounds” — whether during class hours or before- and after-school activities — during the previous 30 days. As of Nov. 27, it identified 16 school districts with outbreaks among students, staff or both.
And finally, the data also lists 811 schools outside the Chicago Public Schools system where potential exposures occurred in the 30 days before Nov. 27.
Separate data from Chicago Public Schools, meanwhile, shows case numbers among adults going to CPS locations soared in the month before Nov. 14 — though there was a big decline in the week after that.
Setting restrictions
When Pritzker announced the release of the data on Nov. 6, he was under some political fire for shutting down indoor dining a week earlier. Restaurant owners struggling to save their businesses from COVID-19-related financial collapse said the data didn’t prove restaurants were dangerous.
The most recent data, on tracing conducted since July 1, ranks bars 11th on the list of outbreak locations with 24 counted, while restaurants are 12th on the list with 23 outbreaks listed. By comparison, factories and manufacturers were at the top of the list, with 74 locations across the state reporting outbreaks.
During the 30 days ending Nov. 27, bars and restaurants were 12th and 13th on the list, each with three outbreaks. At the top were group homes, with 20.
But restaurants and bars, categorized together, were fifth on the latest list of exposure locations, based on data for the 30 days ending Nov. 21. There were 2,000 potential exposures identified at bars and restaurants, behind schools with 4,142 potential exposures; hospitals and clinics with 2,478; business and retail locations with 2,289; and “other,” with 2,105.
Pritzker discussed bars and restaurants when announcing the new database, making a case that the exposure data was a better guide than outbreak data for these businesses.
He cited bars and restaurants as the biggest location for exposures other than the catchall category of “other,” which includes things like vacations, family gatherings, weddings and college parties. The period of time he cited covered Aug. 1 through Sept. 29, not the most recent available statistics.
“The location of an outbreak is more difficult to identify than the location of an exposure,” Pritzker said. “While certain settings like a college campus, a factory or a group home may make it easier to determine an outbreak, most establishments that are frequented by the public like restaurants or grocery stores are not easily determined as the setting of an outbreak.
“Much more useful for identifying regular locations that amplify the spread of the virus is exposure data,” Pritzker added. “Exposure data is going to give you a sense of where you’re at the greatest risk for catching COVID-19 and particularly when we see community transmission as high as it is around the state.”
He also noted the high count of exposures at restaurants and bars and cited a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that showed people infected with coronavirus were about twice as likely to have dined at a restaurant in the two weeks before diagnosis than those who were not infected with the virus. And he noted that eating at a restaurant required removing one’s mask while being in a place with others for extended periods of time.
But the restaurant industry disputes Pritzker’s conclusion, underscoring that relatively few outbreaks have been linked to restaurants and that exposures don’t necessarily mean the identified location is the source of virus transmission.
Sam Toia, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association, also noted that factories are higher on the exposure list but weren’t shut down. And he maintained that stopping indoor dining with strict COVID-19 protocols would only push people into unregulated private gatherings where people would be less safe.
“We know how to do this right: social distancing, wearing your mask, diners in seats, possibly curfew, nobody standing, nobody standing behind bars,” Toia said. “We get all that.”
He maintained that lowering capacities, as suggested in a study by Northwestern and Stanford universities that was published in the journal Nature, would tamp down disease spread while allowing businesses to keep their heads above water.
Schneider, the physician and contact tracer, said he is skeptical that diners are being infected at restaurants by workers or by other people they don’t know, even though scientists suspect infectious aerosols could linger in enclosed spaces. It’s more likely, he said — and in keeping with what he has gleaned from interviews — that people are getting the virus from their own dining companions.
“Someone in their group has it, or had it, and was asymptomatic and didn’t know,” Schneider said. “People are going to restaurants with friends, or their extended families, or people they haven’t seen, and someone was infected. I think that’s pretty clear.”
But he said he also has interviewed restaurant staff members who appear to have contracted the disease at work, which he suspects is the result of working in bustling spaces like kitchens.
Nevertheless, Schneider was not critical of Pritzker for taking “a conservative approach” by stopping indoor dining.
“These are difficult decisions that policymakers have to make — I get it,” he said. “I think at the current rates we’re seeing right now, I definitely get it. ... Now it kind of makes sense to try to limit any activities because of the way cases are going. But can we pin this on restaurants? I would say no.”
Northwestern University’s Gerardin, who was one of the authors of the Nature study on limiting capacities, said the number of exposures found at restaurants is “a warning. ... The contact tracing is giving you red flags that are telling you where to look, and then you should follow up to figure out is it truly a risky place or just a coincidence? What is going on?”
Watson, at Johns Hopkins, said Pritzker’s decision was warranted.
“In addition to the data they are looking at in Illinois, we have lots of other evidence from other states, other countries, to corroborate that indoor dining and bars and gyms ... are the kinds of environments where transmission happens much more readily,” Watson said. “And so I completely agree with the policy decision to shut down those locations, especially in the midst of a very severe surge of cases.”
What about schools?
Although Pritzker pointed to exposure data, along with the CDC study, to defend his shutdown of indoor dining, he downplayed the relatively large number of potential exposures related to schools.
“Anyone who goes into a school building regularly would have likely reported school as a place they went before they became a confirmed positive,” Pritzker said. “That doesn’t at all mean that school is where they contracted the disease originally, and remember that masks are required in school and are not intended to be removed for extended periods of time.”
Jordan Abudayyeh, Pritzker’s press secretary, said in response to Tribune questions that Pritzker’s decisions are guided by both contact tracing data and scientific studies. Indeed, when Pritzker made his announcement, he also cited research on the efficacy of face masks, good ventilation and physical distancing.
“Schools are environments where masking and distancing guidelines are enforced compared to other indoor activities where the motive isn’t educating students safely, but instead profit,” Abudayyeh said in an email. “I’d also note that we only have about 169,000 students in full in-person instruction. As positivity rates around the state grew, school districts have amended their learning plans to keep students and teachers safe.”
Decisions about whether to keep schools open, like those surrounding restaurants, are some of the most controversial the governor must make. In many areas of the state, parent coalitions are fighting to keep schools open or open them up, while many teachers unions contend it’s safer to conduct remote learning.
School opening and closing decisions also are fraught with other considerations. Some educators say students not equipped for remote learning could be falling further behind.
Watson said disease can spread at schools, but added that deciding whether to keep them open should be a much higher priority than making a call about bars.
“That’s a decision that has to be made by the leaders,” she added. “I don’t think schools are exempt from clusters of transmission, but it is a priority decision.”
hdardick@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Thanksgiving weather in Chicago: What to expect tomorrow and the warmest, coldest, snowiest and wett

Thanksgiving weather in Chicago: What to expect tomorrow and the warmest, coldest, snowiest and wettest since 1872

But at least a little bit of rain tends to fall on Thanksgiving — precipitation ranging from a trace to @ @ @ @ @ fallen in more than half of the almost 150 years on record .

Since Thanksgiving doesn’t occur on the same date each year, the temperature and precipitation values can vary dramatically.
Here’s a look back at the warmest, coldest, wettest and snowiest Thanksgiving holidays in Chicago, going back to 1872. Data is from the National Weather Service and was measured at the city’s official recording site, which has been O’Hare International Airport since Jan. 17, 1980. For almost a century prior to that, sites around downtown Chicago, the University of Chicago and Midway International Airport were used to gather definitive weather data.
Advertisement
Warmest
Chicago experienced its warmest Thanksgiving on Nov. 24, 1966, when it was 69 degrees.
In 2022, the high was 54 degrees.
Advertisement
Coldest
Chicago experienced its lowest low Thanksgiving temperature on Nov. 23, 1950, when it was -1 degrees.
In 2022, the low was 35 degrees.
Photos and story about the -1 degree low temperature on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23, 1950. As published in the Nov. 24, 1950, edition of the Chicago Tribune. (Chicago Tribune Archives)
Wettest
Rain accumulating in more than 1 inch of precipitation has occurred once since 1872, according to the National Weather Service.
But at least a little bit of rain tends to fall on Thanksgiving — precipitation ranging from a trace to more than an inch has fallen in more than half of the almost 150 years on record.
Snowiest
Since 1872, snowfall of more than a trace has been recorded just 17 times on Thanksgiving.
A record snowfall of 3 inches fell at O’Hare airport on Nov. 27, 1980.
Chicago Tribune, Nov. 28, 1980. (Chicago Tribune Archives)
Sources: National Weather Service Chicago; Tribune archives and reporting


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Best friend doctors fight COVID-19

Best friend doctors fight COVID-19

Dr. Khalilah Gates and Dr. Michelle Prickett are both doctors who work in the COVID ICU .
They are also @ @ @ @ @ has sustained them during this time , when they are both facing the same exposure @ @ @ @ @ are pulmonary and critical care specialists .
Prickett sees how the virus impacts the working-class @ @ @ @ @ and Gates sees how the virus impacts communities of color on the West Side .
@ @ @ @ @ worry about their families .

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 8 Doctors Khalilah Gates, left, and Michelle Prickett talk to colleagues while walking to the COVID-19 ICU, Nov. 19, 2020, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Dr. Khalilah Gates and Dr. Michelle Prickett are both doctors who work in the COVID ICU. They are also best friends. Their friendship has sustained them during this time, when they are both facing the same exposure and yearlong hardship. Both are pulmonary and critical care specialists. Prickett sees how the virus impacts the working-class community on the North Side and Gates sees how the virus impacts communities of color on the West Side. Both have children, and worry about their families.


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened Nov. 24

“ We are not at the point where we are going to have anybody just flailing in the hallway because @ @ @ @ @ them a bed ... ( but ) that is a real possibility , ” Dr. @ @ @ @ @ .
“ That has happened in other parts of this country , in other parts @ @ @ @ @ ’ re not going to let that happen in Illinois , but it takes all @ @ @ @ @ that that doesn ’ t happen .
”

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago’s City Council on Tuesday approved Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s $12.8 billion “pandemic budget” for 2021. Aldermen voted 28-22 in support of Lightfoot’s $94 million property tax increase. Lightfoot’s budget also passed 29-21.
Earlier on Tuesday, Illinois health officials announced 9,469 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 125 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 674,089 and the statewide confirmed death toll to 11,677 since the start of the pandemic.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, as COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen to unprecedented levels in Illinois and other states, the same questions from the spring surge are reemerging: Will Illinois hospitals run out of beds? And if they do, where and when?
Last week, the Pritzker administration released projections from two sets of researchers that estimated the future number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, including those in intensive care units. These models don’t directly address when beds might run out, but a Tribune analysis of the more pessimistic projections suggests that, if trends don’t improve, all of the state’s currently available ICU beds could be in use by early December.
Advertisement
Here’s what’s happening Tuesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
8 p.m. (update): Chicago City Council approves Lightfoot’s ‘pandemic budget’ and $94 million property tax hike
Mayor Lori Lightfoot scored a relatively narrow but important victory Tuesday as the City Council adopted her $12.8 billion budget for 2021 that relies on a property tax hike and controversial debt refinancing to help close a massive deficit.
Aldermen voted 28-22 in support of Lightfoot’s $94 million property tax increase. The mayor’s full budget also passed 29-21.
It wasn’t as decisive a margin as her 2020 spending plan got, to say nothing of the overwhelming budget wins enjoyed most years by her predecessors.
But given the unusually bad financial forecast for the city during the COVID-19 pandemic and her combative relationship with many aldermen, Lightfoot happily accepted it, saying she would celebrate like last year with a scotch, a cigar and a steak.
Read more here. —John Byrne and Gregory Pratt
5:30 p.m.: COVID-19 prompts Lake County Board to approve smaller budget, no property tax levy increase
The Lake County Board approved the budget for the 2021 fiscal year earlier this month and, for the second consecutive year, no increase to the property tax levy was included.
The $559 million spending plan is $13.4 million lower than the 2020 budget in order to make up for anticipated revenue loss caused by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to officials.
Advertisement
Read more here. —Yadira Sanchez Olson
5:05 p.m.: 5 things to know about Lightfoot’s ‘pandemic budget’
Chicago aldermen on Tuesday narrowly approved Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s $12.8 billion “pandemic budget” for 2021, a package that will fund city government through the next fiscal year while closing a projected $1.2 billion budget deficit spurred by coronavirus pandemic-driven revenue losses to municipal coffers.
Among other things, the package includes a $94 million property tax hike, as well as increases in fees and fines. Aldermen voted 28-22 in support of Lightfoot’s property tax increase and 29-21 to pass her budget.
Here are five things to know. —Chicago Tribune staff
3:40 p.m.: Black Friday is going to look different. Here’s what to expect if you’re shopping this week.
Black Friday, the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season, used to draw swarms of deal-hunting shoppers to stores. This year is going to look different.
With COVID-19 cases surging, Chicago and Cook County have issued stay-at-home advisories, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended shopping online for Black Friday deals and using curbside pickup.
Advertisement
Retailers began offering discounts earlier than ever, and several big chains say none of their deals require a trip to the store.
While 66% of consumers have already started holiday shopping, 20% plan to start during the long weekend, according to a consumer survey by Adobe Analytics.
Online sales in November are already up 32% compared with last year and online sales on Black Friday are expected to hit $10.3 billion, up nearly 40% from last year, Adobe said.
Communities also have urged consumers to support local businesses, hit especially hard during the pandemic.
Here’s what to expect at stores in the coming days. —Lauren Zumbach
3:15 p.m.: New Lenox imposes mandatory face covering law for public places
The New Lenox Village Board passed an ordinance Monday mandating face coverings in public places and laying out guidelines for indoor dining at restaurants.
Advertisement
The ordinance sets a minimum $100 fine for violations, though village trustees said they don’t expect police officers to be out on the lookout for people not wearing face coverings. But trustees are hopeful the ordinance will give business owners something to show customers or patrons who refuse to wear face masks.
“We are supporting businesses. Now they can blame it on us,” Mayor Tim Baldermann said.
Businesses that may be reluctant to confront customers who aren’t following regulations on face masks can show customers the ordinance and say the village requires it and violators can be fined, Baldermann said.
Baldermann, who said he doesn’t enjoy wearing a face mask, pointed to scientific studies noting face masks can help curb the spread of COVID-19. He also said the region’s numbers continue to increase and hospitals such as Silver Cross Hospital continue to see an influx of COVID-19 patients.
Read more here. —Alicia Fabbre
3:10 p.m.: Walmart shifts 6 drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites in Chicago area to curbside pickup as winter approaches
Walmart is changing six Chicago-area drive-thru coronavirus testing sites to curbside pickup in time for colder weather.
Advertisement
Patients have been self-administering the nasal swab tests inside their vehicle with guidance of a pharmacist. Now, patients are required to make an appointment online to pick up test kits to perform at home and ship to a Quest Diagnostics lab, which screens and processes the results.
One of the main purposes for drive-thru testing sites is to reduce interaction between those administering the test and people who may have COVID-19.
With the onset of winter and the possibility of near zero-degree weather, some health systems have said they plan to move their COVID-19 testing sites indoors to keep workers warm. Others have said they plan to add heaters to their outdoor drive-thru testing locations.
Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez
1:45 p.m.: Chicago City Council approves Lightfoot’s ‘pandemic budget’
Chicago’s City Council approved Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s $12.8 billion budget for next year.
Aldermen voted 28-22 in support of Lightfoot’s $94 million property tax increase. Lighfoot’s budget also passed 29-21.
Advertisement
Lightfoot’s spending plan includes a $94 million property tax hike with a provision to raise property taxes annually by an amount tied to the consumer price index. It also includes a 3-cent gas tax hike and relies on an increase in fines and fees collection, including a plan to boost revenue by ticketing residents who are caught going 6 mph over the limit by speed cameras.
In addition, Lightfoot is asking to refinance $501 million in city debt for the 2021 budget, which would provide a jolt of new revenue next year but likely cost taxpayers more down the road. Similar borrowing tactics under Mayors Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel drew deep criticism, but the Lightfoot administration said the city’s current financial disaster makes such a move appropriate.
Lightfoot has spent weeks lining up the 26 votes needed to pass what she calls her “pandemic budget” through the City Council, with aldermen pushing back hardest on the property tax increase.
Read more here. —John Byrne and Gregory Pratt
1:05 p.m.: Some Catholic schools in the Chicago area will shift to remote learning after Thanksgiving
After a fall surge of coronavirus infections, more Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic schools will temporarily transition to e-learning next week.
Catholic elementary schools were scheduled to shift to remote learning for two weeks at the beginning of next year, but “escalating COVID-19 rates within the general population” prompted the Office of Catholic Schools to modify its original plan, spokesman Manuel Gonzalez said.
Advertisement
The decision also comes after the archdiocese surveyed stakeholders at all 162 schools in Cook and Lake counties to measure their comfort with in-person learning during the holiday season.
The survey measured parent satisfaction, preference for in-person or remote learning, and stress and workload considerations among teachers, Gonzalez said.
“The results were that 80% of the schools needed no, or minimal, alteration of our current procedures,” he said. “The other 20% were candidates for more extensive adjustments, and it is for those schools we will be constructing individual (virtual learning) plans.”
Read more here. —Javonte Anderson
12:45 p.m.: Illinois VA launches investigation of deadly coronavirus outbreak in LaSalle ahead of Senate committee hearing
The Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs is launching an independent investigation of a coronavirus outbreak that has torn through the state-run veterans home in LaSalle this month, infecting dozens of residents and staff members and resulting in the deaths of more than two dozen veterans.
The announcement of the probe came less than two hours before a state Senate committee was set to begin a hearing on the outbreak, which appears to have slowed over the past few days.
Advertisement
As of Monday, 105 residents and 95 employees at the veterans home, located just a few miles from Starved Rock State Park, had tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began. All but a handful of the cases were part of the current outbreak, which was first reported to residents and families Nov. 1 when a resident who was hospitalized tested positive.
As of Tuesday, 27 veterans have died. To date, 38 residents and 76 staff have recovered, according to the state.
The coronavirus has been raging in LaSalle County outside the veterans home. As of Nov. 15, the most recent date for which figures were available, the county had 961 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents, up from 390 cases per 100,000 residents on Nov. 1.
Read more here. —Dan Petrella
12:25 p.m.: As these Chicago doctors do battle in a COVID-19 unit, their friendship has become a lifeline
A few things keep Dr. Khalilah Gates and Dr. Michelle Prickett walking into Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s intensive care unit, where they treat severely ill COVID-19 patients.
A sense of duty. A passion for their profession. And their friendship, honed over more than a decade and which they’ve always counted on for shared humor that punctuates hectic, hard days in their work as pulmonary and critical care specialists.
Advertisement
“You dig deep and you face the ICU for another day,” Gates said, “knowing that you’ve got Prickett.”
These ICU doctors’ friendship has always been strong. But this year, it’s been a lifeline, as they work to keep each other safe and sane while treating COVID-19 patients.
Gates and Prickett share a get-it-done, no-drama mentality. Their bond was solidified by sharing stories of being born and raised in Chicago and how they chose to stay here, raise families here and practice medicine here.
Read more here. —Alison Bowen
12:05 p.m.: 9,469 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases, 125 additional deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Tuesday announced 9,469 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 125 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 674,089 and the statewide death toll to 11,677 since the start of the pandemic. Officials also reported 97,323 new tests in the last 24 hours.
—Chicago Tribune staff
Advertisement
11:10 a.m.: Cubs owners would get to defer infrastructure payment under city proposal
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Wrigleyville’s alderman on Tuesday proposed letting the Chicago Cubs put off the team’s annual $250,000 payment into a fund to pay for infrastructure upgrades around their historic North Side ballpark because the team played without fans in the seats this year due to the pandemic.
The “CubFund Project” payment would instead be made in 2024 under the ordinance Lightfoot introduced to the City Council.”
We understand they played without fans, and lots of businesses are suffering,” Ald. Tom Tunney said. “But they still have to make the payment. Instead of this year, it will be made in 2024.”
The payments are part of a 2013 deal when the Ricketts family was asking for City Council approval to undertake massive renovations around Wrigley Field.
Read more here. —John Byrne
10:45 a.m.: Our Lady of Guadalupe festival canceled because of COVID-19
Citing concerns with COVID-19, the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Tuesday cancelled its winter pilgrimage that every year prompted thousands in the Chicago area to brave the December cold and walk by foot to Des Plaines to pay homage to a Mexico icon of Catholicism.
Advertisement
The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Shrine was originally scheduled for Dec. 11 and 12 and typically involves the participation of more than 200,000 devotees from different Chicago churches, making this area the largest celebration after Mexico City’s.
But with COVID-19 surging across Illinois, officials from the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe determined keeping devotees safe wouldn’t be possible this year. Instead, they’ll be live streaming services and are encouraging people to celebrate the feast day from their own homes or their home parishes.
Read more and see a slide show of past festivals here. —Kelli Smith
10:42 a.m.: Lightfoot proposes delay of business licenses, sidewalk cafe permits expirations to help offset COVID-19 hits
The city of Chicago will delay business license and sidewalk cafe expirations and allow expanded outdoor service to continue into next year as part of a plan Mayor Lori Lightfoot introduced Tuesday to give businesses a boost during COVID-19.
Lightfoot is proposing expanding a program allowing every business and public vehicle license with expiration dates between March 15, 2020, and June 15, 2021, to extend until 2021, without the hassle of a license renewal, her office said.
Lightfoot also is proposing to allow all sidewalk cafe permits issued in 2021 the option to extend in front of a neighboring establishment and receive a 75% reduction in permit fee. Sidewalk cafe permits that are set to expire in February 2021 will be extended until June 1 without needing to renew, the mayor’s office said.
Advertisement
In addition, Lightfoot’s proposal will continue allowing outdoor service for bars and restaurants in private parking lots, on the sidewalk or in closed streets as part of her Expanded Outdoor Dining Program.
Read more here. —Gregory Pratt
9:05 a.m.: An early coronavirus mutation may have made the pandemic more difficult to stop, new evidence suggests
As the coronavirus swept across the world, it picked up random alterations to its genetic sequence. Like meaningless typos in a script, most of those mutations made no difference in how the virus behaved.
But one mutation near the beginning of the pandemic did make a difference, multiple new findings suggest, helping the virus spread more easily from person to person and making the pandemic harder to stop.
The mutation, known as 614G, was first spotted in eastern China in January and then spread quickly throughout Europe and New York City. Within months, the variant took over much of the world, displacing other variants.
For months, scientists have been fiercely debating why. Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory argued in May that the variant had probably evolved the ability to infect people more efficiently. Many were skeptical, arguing that the variant may have been simply lucky, appearing more often by chance in large epidemics, like Northern Italy’s, that seeded outbreaks elsewhere.
Advertisement
But a host of new research — including close genetic analysis of outbreaks and lab work with hamsters and human lung tissue — has supported the view that the mutated virus did in fact have a distinct advantage, infecting people more easily than the original variant detected in Wuhan, China.
Read more here. —The New York Times
9:03 a.m.: Waukegan factory churns out germ-zapping robots that kill COVID-19 virus in hospitals, hotels and on ‘Chicago Med’
In the ongoing battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, add the names of Mark, Rowan, Dorian and Jabba to the list of front-line heroes quietly toiling away to vanquish the virus.
The four are germ-zapping robots, recruited by Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights to do one job: kill the virus and other pathogens by sweeping rooms with pulsating beams of high-intensity UV light.
Last month, the 3½-foot-tall robots, which bear a striking resemblance to R2-D2, the plucky droid from “Star Wars,” disinfected nearly 700 rooms at the hospital.
“Every COVID room gets treated when the patient is discharged,” said Kris York, director of hospitality services at the hospital. “The robots didn’t get much of a break.”
Advertisement
The four are part of a growing army of LightStrike robots, $125,000-a-pop machines that fire powerful UV blasts at surfaces where SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may be lurking.
There is such great demand for their services that Xenex, the Texas-based company behind the robots, announced a $20 million deal last month with aerospace manufacturer Astronics to build hundreds of them at a Waukegan factory.
Read more here. —Robert Channick
9 a.m.: Starting next year, international flyers may need proof of COVID-19 vaccinations
International air travel could come booming back next year but with a new rule: Travelers to certain countries must be vaccinated against the coronavirus before they can fly.
Encouraging news about vaccine development has given airlines and nations hope they may soon be able to revive suspended flight routes and dust off lucrative tourism plans. But countries in Asia and the Pacific, in particular, are determined not to let their hard-won gains against the virus evaporate.
In Australia, the boss of Qantas, the country’s largest airline, said that once a virus vaccine becomes widely available, his carrier will likely require passengers use it before they can travel abroad or land in Australia.
Advertisement
Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said he’s been talking to his counterparts at other airlines around the world about the possibility of a “vaccination passport” for international travelers.
Read more here. —Associated Press
7:15 a.m.: Lightfoot to introduce measures to extend COVID-19 regulation changes
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration planned to introduce measures at Tuesday’s City Council meeting to “extend critical regulatory relief measures for businesses” affected by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a release from the mayor’s office.
The City Council was scheduled Tuesday to vote on Lightfoot’s $12.8 billion “pandemic budget,” which includes a $94 million property tax increase.
Among the measures being introduced are " delaying business and public vehicle license expiration dates until July 15, 2021, expanding critical sidewalk café reforms to last throughout the 2021 café season and extending” the city’s expanded outdoor dining program through the end of 2021, according to a news release from the mayor’s office.
Monday, the City Council capped “third-party delivery fees,” holding fees for delivery at 10 percent of purchase prices and total fees to restaurants at 15 percent, according to the release. — Chicago Tribune staff
Advertisement
6 a.m.: Will Illinois run out of hospital beds? Available data suggests a grim winter if trends don’t change.
The city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, briefly ran out of intensive care beds earlier this month. For a time, just 11 ICU beds were free across all of North Dakota. And last week, availability in some parts of Minnesota was down to single digits.
In Illinois, the state health director warned last week that some hospitals have already reported running low on beds amid the state’s second massive COVID-19 surge.
“We are not at the point where we are going to have anybody just flailing in the hallway because we can’t get them a bed ... (but) that is a real possibility,” Dr. Ngozi Ezike told reporters Friday. “That has happened in other parts of this country, in other parts of this world. We’re not going to let that happen in Illinois, but it takes all of us to make sure that that doesn’t happen.”
As COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen to unprecedented levels in Illinois and other states, the same questions from the spring surge are reemerging: Will Illinois hospitals run out of beds? And if they do, where and when?
Last week, the Pritzker administration released projections from two sets of researchers that estimated the future number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, including those in intensive care units. These models don’t directly address when beds might run out, but a Tribune analysis of the more pessimistic projections suggests that, if trends don’t improve, all of the state’s currently available ICU beds could be in use by early December.
Read more here. —Joe Mahr, Lisa Schencker
Advertisement
6 a.m.: Local chefs have been cooking for those in need since the pandemic began. Now with holidays approaching, donations are down.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began last spring, Evanston area chefs answered the call to feed those who were suddenly low on money or food as a result of the economic hardships that came with the quickly-spreading disease.
As cases surge again this fall, those same organizations said they are answering more and more calls for help. But this time, the money that previously sustained their efforts is drying up.
That leaves many organizations planning Thanksgiving dinners, but wondering what will happen after the holiday ends.
“In the past two weeks we have picked up a substantial amount of seniors and families,” said Evanston’s Chef Q. Ibraheem, who owns her own catering business. “I don’t know what happened in the past 12 days. But every single day my phone, especially seniors, my phone has just been ringing.”
Since March, she has served more than 20,000 meals to those in need, free of charge. Her efforts, however, have run into an unpleasant reality. On Nov. 13, “I found out that my funding was cut 50%,” Ibraheem said.
Ibraheem, whose meals especially cater to healthy food for intergenerational families with school-age children, is not the only organization taking a hit.
Advertisement
At Evanston-based Meals on Wheels Northeastern Illinois, Executive Director Debi Morganfield said they’re experiencing the same spike in demand, but without the additional donations that aided the organization when COVID-19 first struck.
Read more here. —Genevieve Bookwalter
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
In case you missed it
Here are some recent stories related to COVID-19:


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Woman, service dog found dead in Edgewater Beach apartment after high-rise fire that began on her st

Woman, service dog found dead in Edgewater Beach apartment after high-rise fire that began on her stove

Sally Bown , a spokeswoman for police , said she could not say why police were initially called to the @ @ @ @ @ evacuate the building .
She said the service dog belonged to the woman but would @ @ @ @ @ the woman needed a service animal or whether there was anyone else living in the @ @ @ @ @ time of the fire .

Chicago Fire Department vehicles outside of a building in the 5200 block of North Kenmore Avenue where there was a fatal fire on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
A woman and her service dog were found dead in her living room after a fire that authorities say originated on her stove in a North Side high-rise apartment Tuesday morning.
The woman was identified as Linda Collins, 58, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Advertisement
Chicago firefighters were sent to a building in the 5200 block of North Kenmore Avenue in Edgewater Beach about 9:20 a.m. after a report of a fire on the seventh floor, according to Larry Merritt, a spokesman for the Fire Department.
At least six ambulances also were dispatched to the building, which Merritt said was not because anyone was injured, but because it is standard protocol when there’s a fire in a high-rise building.
Advertisement
He initially said no one was reported injured in the fire, which was put out about 40 minutes later at 10 a.m.
Chicago police said once the fire was extinguished, however, a woman “was found unresponsive on her living room floor.”
Merritt and other fire officials could not be reached for additional comment.
Sally Bown, a spokeswoman for police, said she could not say why police were initially called to the high-rise or whether they helped evacuate the building. She said the service dog belonged to the woman but would not say for which condition the woman needed a service animal or whether there was anyone else living in the apartment or visiting at the time of the fire.
Police in a statement said, “The fire originated in the kitchen on the stove.” The statement also said “other apartments in the area have water damage,” but Bown would not say how many or if that meant the fire was contained to the woman’s apartment. No damage estimate was released.
Check back for updates.
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Advertisement
Twitter @312BreakingNews