chicagotribune--2020-05-06--Union files lawsuit to halt United’s plan to reduce 15,000 airport workers’ hours as coronavirus cos

Union files lawsuit to halt United’s plan to reduce 15,000 airport workers’ hours as coronavirus cost cuts continue

“ We continue to employ 100 % of our workforce and continue to pay the contractually required pay rates .
@ @ @ @ @ proactive , cost-cutting measure we have taken to offset an unprecedented drop in travel demand @ @ @ @ @ to preserve as much financial flexibility now so we can not only survive this crisis @ @ @ @ @ is behind us , ” the airline said in a statement .

United Airlines plans to slash 15,000 airport workers’ hours to part-time, the latest cost-cutting move for the airline amid a dramatic decline in travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Full-time baggage handlers, customer service agents and reservations agents will work 30 hours a week, rather than 40 hours a week, as of May 24, said Greg Hart, United’s executive vice president and chief operations officer, in a letter to employees Friday.
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On Tuesday, the union representing those workers filed a lawsuit asking a New York federal court to halt the airline’s move, saying it believes the reduction violates the terms of an agreement with the federal government giving United $5 billion in financial assistance to keep workers on the payroll.
“For United to obtain federal funds under the false pretense that it would protect its workers through September and then turn around and do this to their most loyal workforce struggling to survive during this pandemic is unconscionable,“ Mike Klemm, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District Lodge 141, said in a news release.
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The union represents about 27,000 United employees. Delta Air Lines and JetBlue also reduced work hours, according to the union.
United said the lawsuit is “meritless.”
Although the federal funding, part of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package, was meant to keep workers on the payroll through Sept. 30, it prohibits involuntary layoffs and reductions in employees’ pay rate, not the number of hours worked, according to the airline.
“We continue to employ 100% of our workforce and continue to pay the contractually required pay rates. This action is the latest proactive, cost-cutting measure we have taken to offset an unprecedented drop in travel demand. Our overall goal remains to preserve as much financial flexibility now so we can not only survive this crisis, but thrive once it is behind us,” the airline said in a statement.
In the letter to employees, Hart said the union’s contract would have allowed the airline to cut employees to 20 hours per week and that the airline made the decision after failing to negotiate “a consensual, more favorable agreement” with the union’s leadership.
“This was a very difficult decision and one we didn’t take lightly,” he said.
United employees aren’t the only airline workers facing fewer hours and reduced pay.Passenger numbers at U.S. airports are down roughly 95% from the same period last year, according to the Transportation Security Administration. United has slashed about 90% of its flying capacity in May and expects to operate a similar schedule in June.
With so few people flying, “tens of thousands” of employees are facing reductions in hours and, therefore, take-home pay, United president Scott Kirby said during a call with analysts Friday.
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Hart’s letter said the airline was making similar changes for management employees, and more than 20,000 workers already have taken voluntary unpaid leave or separation options. Kirby and CEO Oscar Munoz won’t receive their base salary through at least June 30 and corporate officers’ base salaries have been cut by half.
The $5 billion aid package gives United time to see whether demand for travel starts to recover by fall, but if it doesn’t, layoffs could follow in October, executives said.
United’s stock fell 5.1% Monday after billionaire investor Warren Buffett said he sold all of Berkshire Hathaway’s stock in United, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines in April. The shares were worth roughly $6.5 billion.
Buffett, speaking at Berkshire Hathaway’s online annual meeting on Saturday, said he had made a mistake in how he valued airlines.
The other three major U.S. airlines saw shares fall between 5.7% and 7.7%.
The New York Times reported that Buffett said because of the coronavirus, “the airline business — and I may be wrong, and I hope I’m wrong — but I think it, it changed in a very major way.”
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Associated Press contributed.
lzumbach@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-05--More than 200 died of COVID-19 in immediate north and west suburbs; Des Plaines reports highest numb

More than 200 died of COVID-19 in immediate north and west suburbs; Des Plaines reports highest number of deaths with 40, followed by Niles with 39

The number of people dying of COVID-19 in local suburbs continued to grow this week .
Seventeen north and west @ @ @ @ @ reported a total of 229 deaths related to COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March @ @ @ @ @ the Cook County Department of Public Health and the county Medical Examiner ’ s Office @

The number of people dying of COVID-19 in local suburbs continued to grow this week. Seventeen north and west suburbs (listed below) reported a total of 229 deaths related to COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March, according to data from the Cook County Department of Public Health and the county Medical Examiner’s Office.
Greater Des Plaines had the highest number of COVID-19 deaths, with 40 reported as of May 5. The village of Niles followed with 39 deaths, according to county data.
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Des Plaines had the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the area as well, with 874 reported as of May 5, according to the health department.
Des Plaines numbers include residents of unincorporated areas in Maine Township and Elk Grove Township that have Des Plaines addresses, the Cook County Department of Public Health said.
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Cicero remained the Cook County suburb with the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, jumping from 899 on April 28 to 1,325 on May 5, according to the Cook County Health Department.
There were 27 deaths reported in the west suburb, the department said.
The following shows the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases within 17 North and West suburban Cook County communities as of May 5, with a comparison to the cases reported a week earlier on April 28:
• Des Plaines: 874, up from 666; 40 deaths
• Skokie: 523, up from 419; 20 deaths
• Niles: 450, up from 277; 39 deaths.
• Evanston: 397, up from 324; 11 deaths.
• Glenview: 304, up from 257; 24 deaths
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• Elmwood Park: 242, up from 160; 12 deaths.
• Oak Park: 191, up from 156; 12 deaths
• Franklin Park, 179, up from 111; 6 deaths.
• Park Ridge: 172, up from 149; 21 deaths.
• Morton Grove: 158, up from 127; 7 deaths.
• Norridge: 124, up from 86; 13 deaths.
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• Lincolnwood: 114, up from 95; 19 deaths.
• Northlake: 108, up from 84; 0 deaths.
• Harwood Heights: 73, up from 49; 4 deaths.
• River Grove: 56, up from 46; 2 deaths.
• River Forest: 35, up from 25; 0 deaths.
• Rosemont: 33, up from 30; 0 deaths.
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Updated Cook County health department data can be found at ccdphcd.shinyapps.io/covid19.
jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune


chicagotribune--2020-05-06--2 drivers without insurance crash on South Shore Metra tracks

A 28-year-old woman behind the wheel of a Chevrolet was eastbound on 76th Street and plowed into another Chevrolet driven @ @ @ @ @ was southbound on Exchange , said Officer Steve Rusanov , a police spokesman .

A two-vehicle crash at the railroad crossing at 76th Street and Exchange Avenue in Chicago caused delays May 6, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
A two-car collision between people with no insurance at the Metra tracks delayed service and left two cars demolished on Wednesday afternoon on the South Side.
No one was hurt during the wreck, which happened shortly before 4 p.m. in the 7600 block of South Exchange Avenue, in the South Shore neighborhood.
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“Trains are back moving again,'' Metra spokesman Tom Miller said about 6:20 p.m.
Miller added the situation briefly affected the South Chicago branch along the Metra Electric Line.
A 28-year-old woman behind the wheel of a Chevrolet was eastbound on 76th Street and plowed into another Chevrolet driven by a 34-year-old man that was southbound on Exchange, said Officer Steve Rusanov, a police spokesman.
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The wreck happened on the tracks, but no trains were involved.
The woman was cited with no insurance, failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident and damage to city property, Rusanov said.
Neither the woman nor the man, who was also given a ticket for not having insurance, were injured, Rusanov said.
rsobol@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-06--Shooting victim who survived Markham double homicide was fugitive wanted on attempted murder charges

“ He would also be at a higher risk , not only for the gunshot wound , but also for @ @ @ @ @ the situation in the jails for COVID-19 , ” she said , according to the @ @

A Country Club Hills man who survived a deadly shootout in Markham last month that killed two of his associates was a fugitive who had skipped bail six months earlier in an attempted murder case, court records show.
Brandon Sims, 28, had been on the lam since failing to appear for court in November, about the same time he was identified as a “possible subject” in another shooting, police said.
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Brandon J. Sims (Cook County Sheriff's Office)
Sims was apprehended late last month after being shot multiple times in what a witness told police was a shootout between vehicles on 159th Street in Markham, according to a police report obtained by the Daily Southtown.
He was found April 19 in the backseat of a black Lexus NX200t that was resting in a field off of 159th Street, riddled with bullet holes, and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
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Two other men who had been in the vehicle with Sims were killed.
One man was found unresponsive in the driver’s seat and another was found unresponsive on the ground outside the vehicle, according to the police report.
Police recovered two guns from inside the vehicle and one from the grass outside the driver’s side door, according to the report. Officers also found illegal drugs inside the vehicle, city spokesman Michael Taylor said.
Sims provided Markham police a fake name, according to the report, but was later identified following an informant’s tip and determined to be a suspect in an April 2019 Country Club Hills shooting.
Court records show he was charged last May in that case, bonded out a couple days later and had not attended a court appearance since mid-September. A judge issued a bond forfeiture warrant for Sims in January.
After a Country Club Hills detective working the attempted murder case identified Sims at the hospital April 21, he was placed in the custody of the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, according to a police report.
Sims attended a hearing the following day on his failure to appear for the attempted murder case.
At the hearing, a prosecutor detailed the circumstances of that case, in which Sims allegedly drove one of two vehicles that pursued an SUV through Country Club Hills while his passenger sprayed the fleeing vehicle with bullets, according to a transcript of the proceedings.
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He was later recorded discussing the shooting “at length” on a phone call with a Cook County Jail detainee and subsequently picked out of a lineup by the victim, prosecutors said.
While in custody last May on a separate matter, Sims gave police a statement indicating that he had been driving one of the vehicles during the Country Club Hills shooting and said he made the jailhouse phone call that authorities intercepted, according to prosecutors.
Based on his involvement in this case and his prior criminal history of allegedly possessing guns, “we believe that he poses a threat to public safety,” assistant state’s attorney Torrie Corbin told the judge at Sims’ failure to appear hearing.
She said Sims had no prior felony convictions, but did have three misdemeanor convictions and had twice been charged with unlawful use of a weapon. He also had two prior bond forfeitures, Corbin said.
The public defender representing Sims at the hearing asked the judge to release him on account of his being a recent gunshot victim who had just been released from the hospital, according to a court transcript.
“He would also be at a higher risk, not only for the gunshot wound, but also for his asthma, based on the situation in the jails for COVID-19,” she said, according to the transcript.
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Judge Daniel Maloney said he appreciated those concerns, but had to factor in Sims’ failure to appear in court for almost six months on a Class X felony and set his bond at $100,000.
“You can’t do it lower?” Sims asked the judge, according to the court transcript. “You can’t go lower?”
Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >
Maloney did not respond.
Despite his protestations over the bond, Sims quickly obtained the $10,000 necessary to secure his release and bonded out of Cook County Jail the next day, records show. He’s due back in court July 1.
When asked about Sims’ bond amount, a spokesman for the chief judge’s office said he could not comment on cases pending before the court.
Country Club Hills Public Safety Director William Brown offered no opinion on Sims’ bond or his release from custody.
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“We have to accept what the court renders as the bond,” he said in a statement. “And if the individual fails to appear for his/her hearing, we start over again, investigate, arrest and turn over to the courts.”
zkoeske@tribpub.com
Twitter @ZakKoeske


chicagotribune--2020-05-06--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: As statewide death toll nears 3,000, Pritzker says Latino Illinoisa

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: As statewide death toll nears 3,000, Pritzker says Latino Illinoisans test positive at higher rate than any other demographic group

“ Unprecedented ” never sings , it always feels lazy .
It ’ s not that unlike those protest signs @ @ @ @ @ the ones angrily insisting that the state reopen immediately .
The pandemic became a “ @ @ @ @ @ himself was not “ ESSENTIAL.
” Peter Sokolowski , editor-in-chief of the Merriam-Webster dictionary , @ @ @ @ @ haven ’ t found yet is the one word or phrase to encapsulate the moment @ @ @ @ @ like we ’ re looking for a word to capture what is scientifically defined yet @ @ @ @ @ across ‘ Do I have toilet paper ?
‘ and ‘ What happens if I @ @ @ @ @ '' Read more here .
—Christopher Borrelli

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday that Latino Illinoisans are testing positive for the new coronavirus at a higher rate than any other demographic group. About 60% of those screened for the virus who’ve identified as Hispanic have tested positive, nearly three times the statewide average, Pritzker said.
“Decades of institutional inequities and obstacles for members of our Latinx communities are now amplified in this pandemic,” the governor said.
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Officials also announced 2,270 new known cases of COVID-19 and 136 more fatalities, bringing the total case count to 68,232 and the statewide death toll to 2,974 since the pandemic began. After dipping to a two-week low on Monday, the number of daily deaths has topped 100 for the past two day, including a record high of 176 reported Tuesday.
A day earlier, Pritzker announced a five-phase plan to reopen Illinois based on public health data and regional health care availability. Republican lawmakers in the Illinois House on Wednesday gave scathing reviews to plan, saying it “does not work.” Here are three charts breaking down Pritzker’s plan.
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[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
[ As the coronavirus spreads, the Tribune is tracking Illinois cases here ]
[ Coronavirus testing sites in Illinois: Search our map for one near you ]
Here’s a recap of what happened May 6 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
8:10 p.m.: Chicago can’t reopen without decrease in the number of coronavirus cases, Lightfoot says
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city can’t reopen without a decrease in the number of coronavirus cases, “which we have not seen yet at all.”
Though the city has seen progress in reducing the number of COVID-19 cases, Lightfoot said, challenges remain.
Lightfoot was asked about the city’s plans to reopen during a Wednesday news conference about spiking COVID-19 cases among Latinos. Lightfoot said she’s going to be proposing guidelines for the city that are separate from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s, but added that she understands people’s anxiety and businesses’ concern.
“I worry a lot, particularly about our micro-businesses and the workers that are affected and employed by those businesses,” Lightfoot said. “If there’s not a solution soon, they’re never coming back. They’ve already been devastated.”
Lightfoot said she wants to open the city, “But we have to do it safely, and we have to do it at a time when we see there is actually a decline in cases.”
“It’s ironic that we’re having this conversation in this moment when we’re talking about a surge in cases in the Latinx community,” Lightfoot added. “We are not where we need to be yet. We hope that we’re getting there.” Read more here. —Gregory Pratt
6:40 p.m.: Family members among group calling for stricter nursing home regulations
A Cook County commissioner on Wednesday called for additional related protections for nursing home residents across Illinois to help during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
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Brandon Johnson, a Chicago Democrat, outlined a “Save our Seniors” crisis plan, which, among other things, would free up additional federal money for nursing homes and require more certified workers at such facilities throughout the state.
“The regulatory practices that this state is governed by are just not strong enough," Johnson said. "… We need the governor to think beyond the limitations of our own imaginations.”
Statewide, long-term care facilities have become a tinderbox for the coronavirus to spread. As of Friday, 1,082 of Illinois’ 2,457 COVID-19-related deaths were linked to nursing homes, assisted living centers and other long-term care facilities, according to Illinois Department of Public Health data. At least 7,500 residents at 348 facilities across the state have tested positive.
Johnson spoke at a news conference on Wednesday held outside the Westchester Health and Rehabilitation Center, which had 47 COVID-19 cases reported there, including 12 people who died from the virus, according to IDPH data.
Carrie Claybon was a resident at the facility who died from the coronavirus, her daughter said.
Claybon was known as “Mom” to all her neighbors in west suburban Berkeley, and though the 83-year-old had seven children, those familiar with her warm personality also saw her as a matriarch figure, her daughter Glenda Harris said. She wasn’t with her loved ones in the final two months of her life before she died on March 30.
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“Now, my mom is deceased," Harris said Wednesday. "So now all I got is a memory.” —Alice Yin
6:19 p.m.: Businessman Willie Wilson moves 5-million face mask giveaway to Chicago churches
Former mayoral candidate Willie Wilson will donate up to five million disposable face masks at three South and West side churches on Saturday after the United Center backed out of the giveaway event, he said.
Wilson reached out to Mayor Lori Lightfoot via text on Tuesday to see if she wanted to appear at a Wednesday news conference to promote the event, he said. The mayor responded with questions about whether he had adequate security, he said.
On Wednesday morning, Wilson said United Center representatives called him and said they no longer wanted to hold the mask giveaway.
Lightfoot on Wednesday was asked whether she told the United Center to kibosh Wilson’s plan, and said she merely raised some questions about it with Wilson.
“I received some notification yesterday from Dr. Wilson about something he planned in the future,” Lightfoot said. “I asked a series of questions, which you would expect me to ask, which was ‘Do you have a permit? What’s the security plan?’ And when you talk about five million masks, that’s a lot of people coming together, and probably, my concern was, violating the state stay-at-home order.”
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“God bless Willie Wilson for his generous heart,” Lightfoot added. She said anybody making contributions has to do it “in a way that puts public health and public safety first and foremost.”
The timing of the cancellation struck Wilson as peculiar. “We were ready to go, and then suddenly they canceled after I reached out to the mayor,” he said.
United Center spokespeople could not be reached for comment.
Instead, Wilson said the Saturday mask giveaways will take place at the House of Hope and Apostolic Church of God churches on the South Side and the Mt. Vernon Baptist Church on the West Side. —John Byrne
5:51 p.m.: United backs off plan to cut 15,000 workers’ hours to part-time after union files lawsuit
United Airlines backtracked on a plan to reduce 15,000 employees’ hours to part-time after the union representing the workers filed a lawsuit asking a judge to halt the cuts.
In the lawsuit, filed Tuesday, the union alleged the move violated the terms of United’s agreement giving the airline $5 billion in federal financial assistance to keep workers on the payroll.
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United said the lawsuit was “meritless” and that plans to reduce full-time workers’ hours from 40 per week to 30 later this month complied with its obligations linked to the financial assistance and its collective bargaining agreement with the union.
But on Wednesday, the airline said it would ask the workers, including baggage handlers, customer service agents and reservations agents, to volunteer for reductions in hours. Full-time workers would go from 40 hours per week to 30 and part-time workers would go from 20 hours per week to 10, said Greg Hart, executive vice president and chief operations officer, in a memo to affected employees. Read more here. —Lauren Zumbach
5:50 p.m.: Here’s what Chicago offices might look like after the shutdown
Masked workers walk through an entrance-only door into the office high-rise, where their temperatures are taken while passing through security.
Lines form in lobbies as elevators bring small groups of workers — each facing a different wall — to their floors.
Touchless doors open into corporate offices, which have been reconfigured to limit close, face-to-face encounters.
Building extras like restaurants, if they’re open, only offer carry-out. Fitness centers and lounges are closed.
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The offices that people will return to post-pandemic are a sharp contrast from the collaborative work spaces and amenity filled workplaces they walked out of in mid-March to begin working from home.
Indeed, Chicago’s return to the office is expected to usher in the most dramatic changes in big commercial buildings in nearly two decades. Read more here. —Ryan Ori
5:32 p.m.: Pritzker’s plan to reopen Illinois leaves convention industry in limbo. ‘We’re in no man’s land right now.’
Before Illinoisans were working from home, before restaurants had shut down, and before the stay-at-home order was in place, the coronavirus pandemic was already ravaging the state’s convention business.
Now, it appears the industry that sustained the pandemic’s first economic blows might be one of the last to recover.
Under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s five-phase plan to reopen the state, conventions cannot be held until the final phase of recovery. To reach that phase, a vaccine must be developed, a treatment option must be readily available, or no new cases must arise over a sustained period.
There’s no telling how long it might take to reach the fifth phase, and increases in cases or hospitalizations could hamper progress. As a result, organizations are unsure whether they should cancel events later this year that would bring tens of thousands of people to the Chicago area, staying in hotels, taking cabs and ride-share vehicles and using their expense accounts to dine in the best restaurants. Read more here. —Ally Marotti, Lori Rackl and Mary Wisniewski
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4:10 p.m.: Can Illinois moviegoing survive Pritzker’s COVID-19 reopening strategy?
Nobody knows when. But when Illinois arrives at Phase 4 of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s five-step reopening of the COVID-19 pandemic economy, will the majority of the state’s movie theaters survive long enough to see Phase 5?
The prognosis is wary at best among several Chicago area theater owners and operators.
Responding to the governor’s May 5 unveiling of what some call an inconsistent set of reopening criteria, exhibitors whose venues have been dark for nearly two months now wonder if there’s room for negotiation regarding the proposed seating capacity guidelines.
Pritzker’s “revitalization" phase, which could arrive this summer but could arrive later than that, allows for a movie theater seating capacity of 50.
"This hard-and-fast number 50 is the wrong way to go,” argues Ryan Oestreich, manager of the Music Box Theatre. For one thing, he says, "we need clarity: “Is that 50 per building or 50 per (individual) auditorium?”
At the Music Box, the larger of the two venues seats nearly 1,000. A venue’s square footage should be taken into account when determining customer capacity, says Oestreich. In its larger venue, he argues, the Music Box can social-distance the daylights out of a movie screening while safely accommodating 200 or more patrons.
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“A very tough pill to swallow”: That’s how Downers Grove-based Classic Cinemas CEO Chris Johnson characterizes the 50-seat limit. He’s especially daunted by Pritzker’s Phase 5, a more or less full reopening of the economy. The final phase, regulations subject to change, can come only when there’s a vaccine or a comparable, easily available treatment for COVID-19. Read more here. —Michael Phillips
3:56 p.m.: Illinois heath director’s suggestion for Mother’s Day? Virtual hugs.
With Mother’s Day coming Sunday, the state’s top health official said virtual hugs remain “the order of the day.”
While many might be looking forward to real human contact after nearly two months of staying at home, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said widening quarantine circles to include extended family only increase the risk of spreading the coronavirus.
“Expanding your circle will increase your risk of infection. It’s that simple,” Ezike said. “The more people you’re around, the higher the risk of contracting the virus from someone in this new expanded circle.
“So, again, we are trying to minimize the risk for everyone. That’s why staying at home with that nuclear, established cell that you’ve had is the best way forward.” —Dan Petrella
3:40 p.m.: Unprecedented! Sham-demic! Coronavirus cliches are spreading and there’s no flattening the curve
Talking to my three-year-old daughter about the pandemic, I find that words fail me. I try explaining that this is an unprecedented moment, in an uncertain time, and we are all in this together, attempting to flatten the curve. When Gov. J.B. Pritzker describes the pandemic as “an unprecedented public health challenge,” he comes across like every other email I seem to be receiving from businesses these days, all of them explaining that, “despite these unprecedented times,” our world will endure. “Unprecedented” always makes an appearance, then washes past my eyes.
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“Unprecedented” never sings, it always feels lazy. It’s not that unlike those protest signs in the Loop recently, the ones angrily insisting that the state reopen immediately. The pandemic became a “SHAM-demic,” the governor himself was not “ESSENTIAL.” Peter Sokolowski, editor-in-chief of the Merriam-Webster dictionary, said that the word we haven’t found yet is the one word or phrase to encapsulate the moment. “It’s like we’re looking for a word to capture what is scientifically defined yet vague, something that gets across ‘Do I have toilet paper?‘ and ‘What happens if I touch that doorknob?'" Read more here. —Christopher Borrelli
3:05 p.m.: Pritzker says Latino Illinoisans test positive at higher rate than any other demographic group
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday that Latino Illinoisans are testing positive for the new coronavirus at a higher rate than any other demographic group.
About 60% of those screened for the virus who’ve identified as Hispanic have tested positive, nearly three times the statewide average, Pritzker said.
“Decades of institutional inequities and obstacles for members of our Latinx communities are now amplified in this pandemic,” the governor said.
Pritzker and Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike highlighted resources available to help members of the Latino community, including free testing available at participating federally qualified health centers, regardless of insurance coverage or citizenship status.
Officials announced 2,270 new known cases of COVID-19 and 136 more fatalities, bringing the total case count to 68,232 and the statewide death toll to 2,974 since the pandemic began.
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After dipping to a two-week low on Monday, the number of daily deaths has topped 100 for the past two day, including a record high of 176 reported Tuesday.
Nearly 15,000 tests were conducted in the previous 24 hours, meaning the statewide rate for positive tests was about 15%. Under the reopening plan Pritzker released Tuesday, the positivity rate in any of the plan’s four regions must be at or under 20% and increase no more than 10 percentage points over a 14-day period, among other criteria, in order to move to the next phase. —Dan Petrella
2:40 p.m.: Illinois death toll nears 3,000
Officials on Wednesday reported 2,270 new known cases of COVID-19 and an additional 136 deaths. That brings the statewide total to 68,232 known cases, as well as a death toll totaling 2,974 since the outbreak began.
2:36 p.m.: Lightfoot sends teams to address ‘breathtaking’ number of coronavirus cases in Chicago’s Latino community
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot will create teams to address a “breathtaking” spike in coronavirus cases among the city’s Latino population, she said in a Wednesday news conference.
Lightfoot unveiled several measures to address COVID-19 in Latino communities, including a plan to host virtual town halls to raise awareness, expanding the city’s so-called Rapid Response Racial Equity Team to further target areas with high case rates, and working with unions to reach Latino workers in hard-hit industries.
Recent data on coronavirus-related deaths is opening a window into how hard the pandemic is hitting Latino communities. Across Illinois, Latino-majority areas have the highest number of confirmed cases, and on average, tests in those areas come back positive 41% of the time.
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As of Tuesday, a ZIP code in South Lawndale, which includes Little Village, had the highest number of cases in the state, 1,596, the Tribune previously reported.
Lightfoot and public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Latinos in the city accounted for 14% of COVID-19 cases and 19% of deaths four weeks ago. Today, 37% of cases and 25% of deaths are Latinos.
“We have reached another critical moment for our city, confronting the impact of COVID-19 on Chicago’s Latinx community,” Lightfoot said, using a gender-neutral term for Latino. “With increasing testing, improved reporting and the continued spread of this terrible virus, we are seeing a surge in cases among our Latinx cases. This demands we dig down deeper and work harder to confront this reality.”
It’s hard to count the number of Latinos who have died of the new coronavirus because the medical examiner hasn’t until recently been labeling cases with that identifier. But by Tuesday, ZIP codes that include Little Village, with 50 deaths, and Belmont Cragin, with 40, in Latino majority-areas, were among the city neighborhoods with the greatest number of fatalities. Read more here. —Gregory Pratt and Elvia Malagon
2:32 p.m.: Skokie synagogue dedicated to deaf people may have to close its doors. ‘Right now is not a good time to be asking people for money’
Since its creation in 1972, Bene Shalom has been a Reform Jewish congregation committed to providing an inclusive environment to experience God and understand Jewish heritage. It is the only full-service synagogue in the nation devoted to the deaf community. Unfortunately the synagogue is on the cusp of closure, according to temple President Laura Schwartz. Over the years, she said, the temple has lost funding sources as church members have died.
Schwartz said the synagogue’s rabbis have already taken pay cuts, the temple put a donation button on the top right of its website and a Gofundme campaign is in place. According to Rabbi Douglas Goldhamer, the annual budget is $300,000, and they still need $150,000 to remain open until January 2021.
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“We’re struggling, but right now is not a good time to be asking people for money,” Schwartz said. “We’re hoping once this coronavirus situation dies down, hopefully in the fall, we’ll renew our fundraising efforts.”
Goldhamer said that if Bene Shalom shutters, its food pantry will close and the synagogue’s help for families in the community will end for deaf members as well as those who are not hard of hearing.
“We need to share money with people who need food, who need clothes,” Goldhamer, 75, said. “I do believe strongly God has inspired me to do this work because I was sharing with the people a new way of seeing God through the American Sign Language — translating the ancient Hebrew and Aramaic characters through American Sign Language. ... Imagine going to your church and seeing prayers signed — it’s as if the prayers are dancing before you.” Read more here. —Darcel Rockett
1:20 p.m.: Indiana Dunes closing Porter Beach due to crowds, park officials say
The Indiana Dunes National Park is temporarily closing Porter Beach due to crowds until at least the end of May, officials said Wednesday.
“This closure includes both the national park beach and associated parking lots due to unsafe health conditions related to overcrowding, unsafe sanitation practices and lack of social distancing pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic,” National Park Service spokesman Bruce Rowe said in a release.
Park rangers will be patrolling and anyone on the beach could later face criminal charges, he said. A picture on social media Saturday appeared to show long lines at the entrance to the Indiana Dunes State Park in Chesterton.
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All other trails and most other beaches at the Indiana Dunes National Park are still open, Rowe said. While the Dunes is being heavily used right now, he asked visitors to use another area of the park if a parking lot is full. Read more here. —Meredith Colias-Pete
1 p.m.: Child abuse cases spike in Kane County during COVID-19 stay-at-home order
While misdemeanor and felony cases in Kane County have decreased during the coronavirus pandemic, abuse and neglect cases against children have gone up, Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said.
“It is alarming on a number of different levels,” McMahon said. “Families are more isolated, so there are a lot of contributing factors that kind of go into the home environment.”
The number of felony cases in Kane County dropped 15% in March and April of this year compared with the same two months in 2019, and misdemeanor cases were down 34% over the same time frame, McMahon said during his monthly media briefing this week.
However, cases involving abuse or neglect of children are up. The majority of the cases are referred to the Department of Child and Family Services by teachers, counselors, social workers and daycare providers. Despite educators and other service providers not seeing children in-person because of the COVID-19 stay-at-home order, the number of cases involving children has increased, McMahon said. Read more here. –Megan Jones
12:40 p.m.: New community college program will train people to be contagious disease contact tracers
Oakton Community College has unveiled a new training program for contact tracing, a workforce Illinois will need to expand in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus as distancing measures are relaxed.
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Oakton will begin offering online classes to an initial group of 60 students starting May 26, according to Jesse Ivory, dean of the Skokie campus and adult and continuing education.
The classes can be completed remotely in four weeks, will train students on how to track down people recently diagnosed with COVID-19 and inform others about potential exposure. During a virtual news conference Wednesday morning, Ivory said the program can help people who might have lost employment during the pandemic find another opportunity to serve the community.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has identified the need for a robust contact tracing program as the state begins to lift restrictions. In his five-phase plan released Tuesday, he said that contact tracing should be done for more than 90% of newly diagnosed cases within 24 hours in order for states to move into the “revitalization” phase, when schools and restaurants can reopen.
Previously, Pritzker estimated that rolling out a contact tracing program will cost about $80 million, and his health officials said the state will need up to 3,800 tracers. –Elyssa Cherney
12:30 p.m.: ‘This plan does not work’: House Republicans pan Pritzker’s reopening plan
Republican lawmakers in the Illinois House on Wednesday gave scathing reviews to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s regional five-phase plan to reopen the state’s economy.
“This plan does not work,” House GOP leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs said on a video conference.
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“This plan presumes that the governor shall rule the state for the upcoming months — and possibly much longer — if the vaccination is not available,” Durkin said. “I took an oath of office to faithfully discharge my duties in the co-equal branch of government called the legislature. I did not abdicate nor relinquish my elected responsibilities to the executive branch.”
Durkin said he appreciated Pritzker incorporating some suggestions from him and other members of his caucus in the modified stay-at-home order that went into effect Friday. But he said the General Assembly needs to have a greater role in determining how and when businesses are allowed to reopen.
Pritzker on Tuesday laid out a road map for reopening businesses, schools and other facilities based on metrics such as the rate of new infections and available hospital capacity in each of four regions. He said the plan was based, in part, on input from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Read more here. –Dan Petrella
11:35 a.m.: Hinsdale to close downtown street so restaurants can have more space for outdoor dining
As a way to help the village’s restaurants and still abide by social distancing rules, Hinsdale plans to close a block of First Street in its downtown and allow the restaurants there to set out tables for outdoor dining on the street.
“If we can think of creative ways to save our businesses that fall within what’s allowed by the state, let’s go for it,” Village President Thomas Cauley, Jr., said.
The Hinsdale village trustees, meeting remotely Tuesday, unanimously supported the idea.
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“We have businesses in Hinsdale that are closed and I’m very concerned that those businesses will not reopen, unless we get back to normal soon,” Cauley said.
Restaurants on First Street, including il Poggiolo and Fuller House, already set tables on the sidewalk for al fresco dining during the summer, but this will allow them to serve more customers outdoors.Currently, Illinois restaurants cannot seat and serve people indoors. Read more here. –Kimberly Fornek
11:30 a.m.: Fermilab physicists help design low-cost ventilator to fight COVID-19
Particle physics and medical device manufacturing may have little in common, but in the middle of a global health emergency scientists at Fermilab found they had a lot to offer the effort to meet demand for ventilators to treat COVID-19 patients.
Working with colleagues in Italy and Canada, as well as scientists in France, Spain and few other places, the group has designed a portable, low-cost ventilator that still is capable of the most precise functions that bulkier, costlier machines provide, said Stephen Brice, a particle physicist who heads Fermilab’s Neutrino Division.
The machine won fast-tracked approval on May 1 from the Food and Drug Administration for use in the United States. It will be made by an Italian manufacturer, Elemaster. Read more here. –David Heinzmann
10:45 a.m.: Cars.com lays off 170 employees to cut costs during COVID-19 pandemic
Cars.com, the Chicago-based car shopping website, has laid off 170 employees to cut costs during COVID-19 pandemic.
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The layoffs, which took effect May 1, reduced the size of the Cars.com workforce by about 10%, and were part of “significant” measures the company has taken since COVID-related business restrictions imposed in mid-March curtailed revenue for the auto industry broadly.
“We proactively worked with our customers to help them manage through the crisis, while also taking immediate measures within the company, including a 250-person furlough of our workforce, and from that furlough a permanent reduction of 170 people,” Alex Vetter, CEO and president of Cars.com, said in a news release Wednesday.
Vetter said the company also reduced compensation for remaining employees. The furloughs were implemented on April 1. Read more here. –Robert Channick
10:15 a.m.: Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago canceled due to coronavirus
The Pitchfork Music Festival, scheduled for July 17-19 in Union Park, has been canceled because of the novel coronavirus, organizers announced Wednesday.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Run the Jewels and the National were slated to headline the 15th anniversary celebration. Forty-two acts were set to play across three stages.
Organizers said ticket holders will be contacted via email with refund information. Full refunds are being offered. Some 18,000 music fans typically attend Pitchfork for each of its three days.
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“It can be pretty daunting to think about the future of live music right now, but know that we are fully committed to bringing Pitchfork Music Festival back in 2021 if the public health situation allows for it,” organizers said in a statement. Read more here. –Tracy Swartz
10:10 a.m.: Former CPS head Barbara Byrd-Bennett, convicted of corruption, moved from prison to Ohio halfway house as part of COVID-19 program
Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the former head of Chicago Public Schools convicted of pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks, has been moved from federal prison to an Ohio halfway house, records show.
Byrd-Bennett, 70, was transferred Tuesday to a home managed by RRM Cincinnati. She had been jailed at Alderson Federal Prison Camp, a minimum-security facility in West Virginia nicknamed “Camp Cupcake” where Martha Stewart served time for lying to the FBI about alleged insider trading in 2005.
Byrd-Bennett has a little more than a year left on her 4½-year sentence. She is expected to remain in federal custody until June 2021, according to Emery Nelson, a spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons.Byrd-Bennett was freed as part of an initiative announced last month by Attorney General William Barr to release inmates who are near the end of their sentences and, due to age or medical issues, were at elevated risk for contracting the coronavirus. Read more here. –Jason Meisner & Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas
6:40 a.m.: Cardinal Cupich to read ‘Goodnight Moon’ for Chicago Public Library’s daily story time Wednesday morning
Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Chicago, was scheduled to be the Chicago Public Library’s featured guest reader for an online story hour Wednesday morning, according to the library system.
Cupich will read the children’s book “Goodnight Moon,” by Margaret Wise Brown, on Facebook Live at 10 a.m. Wednesday as part of the library system’s “Live from the Library” daily story hour, according to a news release.
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The library system, whose buildings are closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is having librarians and prominent Chicagoans read for the daily story hour.
The library system, whose buildings are closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is having librarians and prominent Chicagoans read for the daily story hour. For more information on the story hour, check the libraries’ Facebook page. — Chicago Tribune staff
6 a.m.: Coronavirus pandemic could cause $560 million in Illinois gas tax revenue losses this year, possibly delaying some road and rail plans: report
Illinois could lose close to $560 million in gas tax revenue this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, which may delay some big state road and rail projects, according to a new report.
Last year, the Illinois legislature passed a six-year, $45 billion infrastructure package that provided $33 billion in funding for transportation, including road repairs around the state, train line extensions, new locomotives and other equipment. The legislation came after a 10-year drought in funding for transportation projects.
The bill included money for Amtrak service to Rockford, Metra service to Kendall County, an expansion of a busy portion of Interstate 80 and repairs to the CTA Green Line’s Cottage Grove station. The transportation projects are being paid for primarily through a doubling of the state’s 19-cent-per gallon motor fuel tax, which started last July.
But the report from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit think tank, found that with road travel down by almost half, the state could lose $296 million to $559 million this year alone, depending on different scenarios. Read more here. — Mary Wisniewski
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6 a.m.: ‘Mommy’s not coming back.’ Another Chicago-area nurse dies of COVID-19.
Five months ago, Krist Angielen Guzman gave birth to her third child.
She named the boy Leandro after her maternal grandfather and an uncle, a renowned pediatric surgeon in the Philippines whom she idolized. He had fueled her passion for medicine at a young age and inspired Guzman to fulfill it by becoming a nurse.
In a cruel coincidence, one month and thousands of miles apart, Guzman and her uncle both died after contracting COVID-19 while working on the pandemic’s medical front lines.
Guzman, 35, died May 2 after a short battle with the disease. She is one of at least 25 medical professionals across Illinois who have died of complications related to the virus. Nearly 5,000 have tested positive, said state public health officials, who acknowledge the exact figure is unknown and likely higher. Read more here. — Christy Gutowski
6 a.m.: Latino communities in Illinois see uptick in COVID-19 confirmed cases: ‘Physical distancing is a privilege’
Data on cases and coronavirus-related deaths is opening a window into how hard the pandemic is hitting Latino communities. Across Illinois, Latino-majority areas have the highest number of confirmed cases, and on average, tests in those areas come back positive 41% of the time. As of Tuesday, a ZIP code in South Lawndale, which includes Little Village, had the highest number of cases in the state, 1,596.
It’s harder to count the number of Latinos who have died of the new coronavirus because the medical examiner hasn’t until recently been labeling cases with that identifier. But by Tuesday, ZIP codes that include Little Village, with 50 deaths, and Belmont Cragin, with 40, Latino majority-areas, were among the city neighborhoods with the greatest number of fatalities.
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Two-thirds of the patients in the COVID-19 unit at Mount Sinai Hospital, on the city’s West Side, are Latinos, said Dr. Sunita Mohapatra, the infectious disease chief at the hospital. A lack of private insurance along with the likelihood of having preexisting conditions could be factoring into the high numbers, she said.
“They’re coming into the hospital when they are already a lot more sick,” she said. “A lot of people are still working, and they are working these jobs that are putting them at risk.” Read more here. — Elvia Malagón, Hal Dardick, Cecilia Reyes and Jessica Villagomez
6 a.m.: For National Nurses Week, we asked Chicago-area nurses what their new norm looks like. Here’s what they had to say.
Poignant, heart-wrenching stories from the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic have flooded our inbox over the past few days, as the Tribune asked Chicago-area nurses one question: “How are you living through this new norm?”
For National Nurses Week, May 6-12, more than 60 of them told us how they make it through each day, and about the hardest challenges they’re facing. Some brought smiles to our faces. Others offered words of caution and hopes for the future. Read more here. — Ariel Cheung
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
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chicagotribune--2020-05-06--The Spin:  House GOP Leader Durkin blasts Gov. Pritzker’s plan to reopen Illinois | Mayor Lightfoot,

The Spin:  House GOP Leader Durkin blasts Gov. Pritzker’s plan to reopen Illinois | Mayor Lightfoot, U.S. Rep. Garcia focus on COVID-19 spike in Latino communities | State’s top health official calls for 'virtual’ Mother’s Day hugs

Today , House Speaker Michael Madigan , who also heads the state ’ s Democratic Party , issued a statement @ @ @ @ @ happen soon : “ While the governor ’ s actions have reduced the curve and @ @ @ @ @ s clear that Illinois is not out of the woods .
Just yesterday , Illinois @ @ @ @ @ deaths , and it was recently announced that another 136 people died today … ( @ @ @ @ @ for a return to Springfield must have the health and safety of all those involved @ @ @ @ @ And officials announced this afternoon that the number of total cases to date stands at @ @ @ @ @ with the statewide death toll from COVID-19 at 2,974 .
More details here .

Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, visits with Illinois House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, and Illinois Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker prior to to the inauguration ceremony for the Illinois House of Representatives for the 101st General Assembly at the University of Illinois Springfield's Sangamon Auditorium, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019, in Springfield, Ill. (Justin L. Fowler/AP)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said today that Latino Illinoisans are testing positive for the new coronavirus at a higher rate than any other demographic group, while Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she’s creating teams to address a similar “breathtaking” spike in the city.
Republican lawmakers in the Illinois House, meanwhile, gave scathing reviews to Democratic Pritzker’s plan for a phased-in reopening of the state’s economy, my Tribune colleague Dan Petrella writes. House GOP leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs said this morning: “This plan does not work."
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Durkin and other Republicans have been saying that Democrats leading both chambers of the General Assembly need to chart a course for holding a legislative session so lawmakers have a say in the state’s response to COVID-19. The legislature has not met since the stay-at-home order took effect last month.
On the same day disgraced ex-Chicago Public Schools boss Barbara Byrd-Bennett was sprung from prison, former President Barack Obama paid tribute to CPS educators during this national Teachers Appreciation Week, sharing snippets of video calls he made to three CPS instructors that you can read about here and watch here.
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It prompted me to shoot a note to my third grade teacher — still my favorite year in school. Her reading of “Charlotte’s Web” remains a vivid tribute to the power of story. Her live-the-lessons-of-the-Catholic-church on the playground and at home are still a refrain. And her early example is a reminder of how to live life: Once the bell rings, open the windows, crank up “Stairway to Heaven” and clean the chalkboard.
Welcome to The Spin.
State Representative Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) at a press conference announcing ethics reforms in response to federal investigations at James R. Thompson in Chicago on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)
During a video conference with reporters this morning Durkin said: “This plan presumes that the governor shall rule the state for the upcoming months — and possibly much longer — if the vaccination is not available,” Durkin said. “I took an oath of office to faithfully discharge my duties in the co-equal branch of government called the legislature. I did not abdicate nor relinquish my elected responsibilities to the executive branch.”
Durkin said he appreciated Pritzker incorporating some suggestions from him and other members of his caucus in the modified stay-at-home order that went into effect on Friday. But, he said the General Assembly needs to have a greater role in determining how and when businesses are allowed to reopen.
Pritzker on Tuesday laid out a road map for reopening businesses, schools and other facilities based on metrics such as the rate of new infections and available hospital capacity in each of four regions. He said the plan was based, in part, on input from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Read Petrella’s full story here.
As some GOP lawmakers have called for creating a roadmap to convene the General Assembly, Pritzker has said it’s not his place as the head of the executive branch – rather it’s something for leaders in the legislative branch.
Today, House Speaker Michael Madigan, who also heads the state’s Democratic Party, issued a statement suggesting it won’t happen soon: “While the governor’s actions have reduced the curve and saved lives, it’s clear that Illinois is not out of the woods. Just yesterday, Illinois saw an all-time high in deaths, and it was recently announced that another 136 people died today … (A)nd any plan for a return to Springfield must have the health and safety of all those involved as a top priority.” And officials announced this afternoon that the number of total cases to date stands at 68,232 diagnosed with the virus with the statewide death toll from COVID-19 at 2,974. More details here.
How fast are Midwest states reopening economies amid the coronavirus pandemic? With a wide range of strategies, driven by public health concerns, population count, economic worries and politics, the Tribune’s Kori Rumore and Bill Ruthhart break it down here.
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Mayor Lightfoot told reporters today she’ll be releasing a city plan to reopen the economy, but cautioned: "It’s ironic that we’re having this conversation in this moment when we’re having a surge in cases in the Latinx community. We are not where we need to be yet. We hope we’re getting there.” More about what’s happening in the Latino community below.
Hinsdale to close downtown street so restaurants can have more space for outdoor dining: Kimberly Fornek with the Pioneer Press has the details here.
Indiana Dunes closing Porter Beach due to crowds, park officials say: The Post-Tribune’s Meredith Colias-Pete has the story here.
Mother’s Day is not canceled, but state’s top health official said virtual hugs remain “the order of the day”: My Tribune colleague has the details here.
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Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on the nomination of Judge Justin Walker to be a U.S. Circuit Court judge for the District of Columbia Circuit on May 6, 2020. (JONATHAN ERNST/AP)
Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin criticized GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell today for summoning lawmakers to Washington amid a COVID-19 shutdown order in Illinois and in the nation’s capital.
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“When we heard that Senator McConnell was summoning us back to Washington, D.C. after five or six weeks where most of us were sheltering-in-place at home, I was waiting to hear the agenda. I knew what America was focused on – a ‘national emergency’ in the words of President Trump, a public health care crisis that we hear about every minute of every day that has literally changed the lives of so many people across America, and as of this moment, claimed at least 70,000 Americans lives,” Durbin said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today.
“Instead, we are considering the nomination of a 37-year-old family friend of Senator McConnell’s to the second highest court in the land — a nominee who has a record, ironically, of stridently opposing the Affordable Care Act.”
He was referring to Justin Walker, a protege of McConnell and conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who's nominated to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. You can listen to Durbin’s comments here. The Judiciary committee gave Walker’s nomination first-round approval. Read the Associated Press account, in which Walker defends criticism of the ACA and says he can be objective should a case come before the apeals court, here.
No masks: Durbin was among the few Democrats who attended the hearing in person. Most were connected to the meeting through a video link, the AP reports. None of the senators wore masks, and Walker’s face was uncovered throughout the hearing, which lasted 2 1/2 hours.
Duckworth steps up as Biden surrogate: U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth stepped into the role of surrogate today for presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, saying he’ll protect the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Duckworth said that law is especially needed as people fall ill amid the pandemic and lose their jobs because of the economic downturn triggered by the virus.
During a news conference today with California U.S. Rep. Ami Bera, and Biden for President Policy Director Stef Feldman, Illinois’ junior senator, who hails from Hoffman Estates, blasted President Trump, who will face off with Biden in November, for asking the Supreme Court to outlaw the ACA. The Trump administration has argued that insurance premiums under Obamacare are too expensive and restrict patients with high-risk conditions from going to the doctors and hospitals they need.
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“To quote the next president of the United States, this law is a Bravo Foxtrot Delta – and y’all can figure out what that means,” said a laughing Duckworth. The onetime U.S. Army pilot was using the NATO phonetic alphabet for a cleaner version of a decade-old comment then-Vice President Biden made to President Obama at a ceremony to sign into law a health-care reform measure.
Duckworth, whose name has been in the mix of possible vice presidental candidates, was asked whether she’s being vetted to be Biden’s running mate, but said only “I have every trust that Joe Biden will pick the right person to be his partner in serving this great country of ours and that he’ll make the right decision based on the ability to lead this country.”
Gun-control group backs U.S. Rep. Sean Casten: The Downers Grove Democrat won the endorsement of Giffords, the gun violence-prevention organization founded by former Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot while meeting with constituents back in 2011.
Casten, a Democrat is facing former GOP state lawmaker Jeanne Ives, of Wheaton, in the race for Illinois’ 6th Congressional District seat this fall. The west suburban district had been held by Republicans for more than 40 years until 2018.
In a statement, the Giffords organization praised Casten for introducing “legislation to address trafficking by requiring the reporting of lost and stolen firearms. He has also been a consistent vote for gun safety, supporting measures to enact universal background checks and keep guns away from domestic abusers.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and U.S. Rep. "Chuy" Garcia walk down 26th Street with others during an immigrant rights rally and march July 14, 2019, in the Little Village neighborhood. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Some 50 elected officials and medical professionals making up the Illinois Latino COVID-19 Initiative have started to push for changes to the state’s response, as Latino-majority areas have the highest number of confirmed cases, my Tribune colleagues are reporting. The Tribune’s Elvia Malagon, Hal Dardick, Cecilia Reyes and Jessica Villagomez take a closer look at the data and how politicians say they are pivoting here.
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Mayor Lightfoot unveiled several measures today aimed at addressing the spike, including a plan to host virtual town halls to raise awareness, expanding the city’s so-called Rapid Response Racial Equity Team to further target areas with high case rates, and working with unions to reach Latino workers in hard-hit industries, the Tribune’s Gregory Pratt, Elvia Malagon and Daniel Petrella note in this piece.
Cook County officials are setting up testing sites at county health centers. One will be at the North Riverside Health Center, which serves communities such as Cicero, Berwyn and Melrose Park that have majority Latino populations. In the Chicago suburbs, the highest percentage of cases as of Tuesday were in Cicero, 89% Latino, according to county data.
Gov. Pritzker and Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike highlighted resources available to help members of the Latino community, including free screenings available at more than 200 public testing sites, regardless of insurance coverage or citizenship status.
And U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a Chicago Democrat who resides in Little Village — part of Chicago’s South Lawndale community, which had the highest number of cases in the state as of yesterday — is pushing for a host of actions on the federal front, while also talking to state officials to see where gaps can be filled if the federal government does not act.
Cook County searching for overlooked COVID-19 deaths dating back to November: The Chicago Sun-Times’ Rachel Hinton has the details here.
Sandy Goldsmith of Oak Park, who is filling her tank at the Shell station in Hinsdale in July 2019, says the hike in the state's gas tax is the result of Illinois' dire finances and growing pension costs. (Kimberly Fornek / Pioneer Press)
“(A new) report from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank, found that with road travel down by almost half, the state could lose $296 million to $559 million this year alone, depending on different scenarios,” the Tribune’s Mary Wisniewski writes.
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While it doesn’t sound like the road construction industry is terribly concerned about, say, the big Illinois Department of Transportation projects now — most of those deals have been inked and money is seemingly available, again, for now. Read her full story here.
State gas pump inspectors called back to work despite COVID-19 concerns: Mark Maxwell, the Capitol Bureau chief for Champaign CBS affiliate WCIA, has the story here.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot wears a mask as she prepares to speak about the coronavirus economic recovery plan Thursday, April 23, 2020, at the Historic Water Tower. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
From the Tribune’s Gregory Pratt: “Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is selling ‘stay home, save lives’ shirts and stickers to benefit COVID-19 charities, her political director announced.” Read the story here.
The mayor’s merchandise plays off popular internet memes that depict her enforcing stay-at-home orders, Pratt notes. While the money is going to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, there’s no doubt that this is an organic way to build her political brand. Walk through a Chicago neighborhood and you can see a cutout of a stern-faced Lightfoot taped to the picture window of a home — or carefully nestled into a flower pot of spring pansies.
Thanks for reading The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Have a tip? Email host Lisa Donovan at ldonovan@chicagotribune.com.
Twitter @byldonovan


chicagotribune--2020-05-06--Businessman Willie Wilson moves 5 million face mask giveaway to Chicago churches

“ I received some notification yesterday from Dr. Wilson about something he planned in the future , ” Lightfoot said @ @ @ @ @ series of questions , which you would expect me to ask , which was ‘ @ @ @ @ @ ?
What ’ s the security plan ?
’ And when you talk about 5 @ @ @ @ @ s a lot of people coming together , and probably , my concern was , @ @ @ @ @ .
”

Willie Wilson arrives at the Cook County Jail to pay bail for and give masks to detainees who have been charged with nonviolent misdemeanors amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Chicago on April 30, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)
Former mayoral candidate Willie Wilson will donate up to 5 million disposable face masks at three South and West side churches on Saturday after the United Center backed out of the giveaway event, he said.
Wilson reached out to Mayor Lori Lightfoot via text on Tuesday to see if she wanted to appear at a Wednesday news conference to promote the event, he said. The mayor responded with questions about whether he had adequate security, he said.
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On Wednesday morning, Wilson said United Center representatives called him and said they no longer wanted to hold the mask giveaway.
Lightfoot on Wednesday was asked whether she told the United Center to kibosh Wilson’s plan and said she merely raised some questions about it with Wilson.
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“I received some notification yesterday from Dr. Wilson about something he planned in the future,” Lightfoot said. “I asked a series of questions, which you would expect me to ask, which was: ‘Do you have a permit? What’s the security plan?’ And when you talk about 5 million masks, that’s a lot of people coming together, and probably, my concern was, violating the state stay-at-home order.”
“God bless Willie Wilson for his generous heart,” Lightfoot added. She said anybody making contributions has to do it “in a way that puts public health and public safety first and foremost.”
The timing of the cancellation struck Wilson as peculiar. “We were ready to go, and then suddenly they canceled after I reached out to the mayor,” he said.
But the United Center’s chief operating officer, Terry Savarise, released a statement saying officials reviewed Wilson’s proposal and decided it simply didn’t meet the facility’s “critically important safety guidelines.”
“While we appreciate what Dr. Wilson is doing for our community, we have the utmost responsibility to protect the United Center personnel working on behalf of the same community,” Savarise’s statement reads in part.
Instead, Wilson said the Saturday mask giveaways will take place at the House of Hope and Apostolic Church of God churches on the South Side and the Mount Vernon Baptist Church on the West Side.
The mask question has become an increasing point of contention between the mayor and Wilson, a business owner who distributes medical supplies and who had a falling-out with Lightfoot after she took office.
Last month, Lightfoot accused Wilson of requesting millions of dollars from the city in upfront cash to help buy protective masks from him. “Millions of dollars in cash is not something I’m ever going to do with taxpayer dollars," Lightfoot said then.
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In response, Wilson denied wanting the money in cash and said the city didn’t get back to him about his proposal.
Then Far South Side Ald. Anthony Beale called on Lightfoot to allow aldermen to use local infrastructure funds to buy masks from Wilson, an idea the mayor has not embraced. Wilson subsequently gave away thousands of masks to aldermen at an event at the Thompson Center across the street from City Hall.
Lightfoot then sent a letter to aldermen saying she would be sending out a request for proposals to try to find companies to make reusable cloth masks for the city, to be distributed to residents to help them comply with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order requiring people to wear a face covering or mask while inside stores and other places where they can’t maintain safe social distancing.
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @_johnbyrne


chicagotribune--2020-05-06--2 dead, 3 wounded in shootings on North, South sides

The latest fatal shooting happened about 4 p.m. in the Rogers Park neighborhood in the 1600 block of West Jonquil @ @ @ @ @ 22-year-old man was on the sidewalk when a vehicle approached and someone opened fire , @ @ @ @ @ .
He was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston where he was pronounced dead @ @ @ @

Two men are dead, and three others were wounded in shootings since late Wednesday morning on the South and North sides, Chicago police said.
The latest fatal shooting happened about 4 p.m. in the Rogers Park neighborhood in the 1600 block of West Jonquil Avenue. Police said a 22-year-old man was on the sidewalk when a vehicle approached and someone opened fire, striking the victim multiple times. He was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston where he was pronounced dead, police said.
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Earlier Wednesday, shortly before 11:30 a.m., a man believed to be in his 20s, was found shot dead in a vacant lot in the Washington Park neighborhood in the 5500 block of South block Indiana Avenue.
Officers responding to ShotSpotter technology found the victim in a vacant lot with gunshot wounds to the right wrist and right armpit area. The victim was dead at the scene, police said.
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In other shootings:
About 3:44 p.m., a 30-year-old man was in the 700 block of West 95th Street in the Brainerd neighborhood when he heard shots and felt pain. He suffered a wound to the back and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where his condition was stabilized, police said.
About 1:10 p.m., a 34-year-old man was in the 5500 block of South Wabash Avenue, also in the Washington Park neighborhood, when he was approached by someone who pulled out a handgun and began firing, striking him in the groin, police said. The man was taken in critical condition to the University of Chicago Medical Center.
About 12:45 p.m., a 21-year-old man was wounded in the 11300 block of South Calumet Avenue in the Roseland neighborhood.Police said the man was walking in an alley when someone shot at him, then fled on foot. The victim ran back to his house where he called 911, police said. The victim was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn with a gunshot wound to the lower back.
Detectives were investigating, and no one was in custody for any of the shootings.


chicagotribune--2020-05-06--United backs off plan to cut 15,000 workers’ hours to part-time after union files lawsuit

But on Wednesday , the airline said it would ask the workers , including baggage handlers , customer service agents @ @ @ @ @ volunteer for reductions in hours .
Full-time workers would go from 40 hours per week @ @ @ @ @ would go from 20 hours per week to 10 , said Greg Hart , executive @ @ @ @ @ officer , in a memo to affected employees .

United Airlines backtracked on a plan to reduce 15,000 employees’ hours to part-time after the union representing the workers filed a lawsuit asking a judge to halt the cuts.
In the lawsuit, filed Tuesday, the union alleged the move violated the terms of an agreement United struck with the federal goverment giving the airline $5 billion in financial assistance to keep workers on the payroll.
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United said the lawsuit was “meritless” and that plans to reduce full-time workers’ hours from 40 per week to 30 later this month complied with its obligations linked to the financial assistance and its collective bargaining agreement with the union.
But on Wednesday, the airline said it would ask the workers, including baggage handlers, customer service agents and reservations agents, to volunteer for reductions in hours. Full-time workers would go from 40 hours per week to 30 and part-time workers would go from 20 hours per week to 10, said Greg Hart, executive vice president and chief operations officer, in a memo to affected employees.
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Full-time employees who volunteer would retain their status as full-time, allowing them to continue accruing benefits as if they were still working 40 hours per week.
Hart warned the revised plan would only work if enough employees volunteer.
“Without a high level of participation, we will have no choice but to reconsider a mandatory reduction to 30 hours for our full-time employees,” he wrote in the memo.
In a statement, union leaders said they would monitor United’s actions to see whether further legal action was necessary.
“While today it appears that, thanks to your hard work and solidarity, we have won an important battle, we have not yet won the war,” Sito Pantoja, general vice president of transportation at the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said in a statement.
United and other major U.S. airlines receiving financial assistance through the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package agreed to avoid involuntary furloughs or pay rate cuts through Sept. 30. Still, United has said the funds won’t fully cover employee pay and benefits during that period.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought passenger travel to a near-halt and United has said it expects to spend billions more than it earns in the coming months.
The airline is cutting costs by dramatically reducing its schedule of flights, parking jets and halting real estate projects. It’s also trying to slash payroll costs.
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More than 20,000 workers have already taken unpaid leave and the airline has told other employee groups it expects to offer additional leave and voluntary separation options in the coming months.
Earlier this week, United announced plans to eliminate more than 3,400 management and administrative positions Oct. 1. Many of those cuts would likely be felt at its Chicago headquarters.
Executives have also received pay cuts. United CEO Oscar Munoz and President Scott Kirby won’t receive their base salary through at least June 30, and corporate officers’ base salaries have been cut by half.
lzumbach@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-06--‘This plan does not work’: Illinois House Republicans pan Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reopening road map

“ But we can ’ t send people back to work , we can ’ t open up our city @ @ @ @ @ t see a decrease in the cases which we have not seen yet at all @ @ @ @ @ t see a sustained decline in hospitalizations , ICU beds , all of those things @ @ @ @ @ data has to drive what we do from a public policy standpoint , ” she @ @

Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Facing harsh reviews from Republican lawmakers and some business leaders, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday sought to deflect criticism over his five-phase plan to reopen the state by saying it was dictated by science and data, not by himself.
“I’m not the one holding the economy back from stage five; the COVID-19 virus is,” Pritzker said at this daily news briefing. “That’s the thing that’s been causing the very high infection rates, the hospitalizations and the deaths.”
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Pritzker’s plan breaks the state down into four regions, each of which could reopen on its own timeline based on coronavirus infection rates, hospitalizations and other measures. None of the regions would fully reopen, however, until there’s a vaccine or effective, widely available treatment.
As he has throughout the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, Pritzker said he will continue to be guided by the advice of scientists and medical experts.
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“We are listening to the scientists, the epidemiologists and the doctors about what’s best for the people who live in our state," he said.
[ How will Illinois reopen? Here are three charts breaking down Gov. Pritzker’s plan ]
Earlier Wednesday, Illinois House Republicans held a videoconference to denounce Pritzker’s reopening plan, dubbed “Restore Illinois,” and called for the legislature to play a greater role in shaping plans for the state to reopen.
“This plan does not work,” House GOP leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs said.
“This plan presumes that the governor shall rule the state for the upcoming months — and possibly much longer — if the vaccination is not available,” Durkin said. “I took an oath of office to faithfully discharge my duties in the coequal branch of government called the legislature. I did not abdicate nor relinquish my elected responsibilities to the executive branch.”
Durkin said he appreciated Pritzker incorporating some suggestions from him and other members of his caucus in the modified stay-at-home order. But he said the General Assembly needs to have a greater role in determining how and when businesses are allowed to reopen. Senate Republican leader Bill Brady of Bloomington also has called for lawmakers to reconvene.
House GOP leader Jim Durkin, shown Jan. 29, 2020, is criticizing Gov. J.B. Pritzker's five-phase plan to reopen the state amid the coronavirus pandemic. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Asked at his news conference about the response from House Republicans, Pritzker dismissed the criticisms as “kind of crazy,” saying he’s had discussion with the GOP leaders as well as their rank-and-file members and uses some of their ideas.
Republicans had been pushing for weeks to allow different regions of the state to reopen on different schedules based on local data.
“I don’t want to be in the position that I’ve been in, which is to put in emergency orders,” Pritzker said. “But I’ll say that we’re going to work through this together."
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"I’ll work with the legislature in any way that they’d like to work together,” he added.
Bolstering Pritzker’s argument, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike said that while the state’s actions so far have helped slow the spread of the virus, “we really aren’t that far from where we were a month ago or before we started the stay-at-home order."
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
Officials on Wednesday announced 2,270 new known cases of COVID-19 and 136 more fatalities, bringing the total case count to 68,232 and the statewide death toll to 2,974 since the pandemic began.
After dipping to a two-week low on Monday, the number of daily deaths has topped 100 for the past two days, including a record high of 176 reported Tuesday.
Nearly 15,000 tests were conducted in the previous 24 hours, officials reported Wednesday, meaning the statewide rate for positive tests was about 15%. Under the reopening plan Pritzker released Tuesday, the positivity rate in any of the plan’s four regions must be at or under 20% and increase no more than 10 percentage points over a 14-day period, among other criteria, in order to move to the next phase.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks during the daily press briefing regarding the coronavirus pandemic Sunday, May 3, 2020, at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Durkin called on House Speaker Michael Madigan to reconvene the House under safety guidelines prepared by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
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“Speaker Madigan, you set the calendar,” Durkin said. “Mr. Speaker and the House Democrats, get back into the game. Get your head out of the sand, and let’s go back to work.”
In a statement, Madigan didn’t commit to anything, saying "we need to ensure the health and safety of members, staff and the general public is considered at all times when thinking about a return to Springfield.
“While the governor’s actions have reduced the curve and saved lives, it’s clear that Illinois is not out of the woods. Just yesterday, Illinois saw an all-time high in deaths, and it was recently announced that another 136 people died today.”
All the GOP House members on Wednesday’s call said they supported the governor’s stay-at-home order and appreciated the changes made in the new version that went into effect Friday — now labeled Phase 2 of the governor’s reopening plan.
But they said the four regions in the plan are arbitrary and that decisions about when to reopen should be evaluated on a more local level.
“We have some real input to offer, some guidance about how things might be done different,” said Rep. Tom Demmer, a Dixon Republican. “Just because we have disagreements over how a specific plan is structured doesn’t mean we’re ignoring the science that’s driving these decisions.”
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Pritzker said that his plan breaks the state down into four regions based on hospital availability to make the system “more manageable."
“No matter how we drew these lines, there were going to be people who might complain, but remember why they were drawn,” he said. “They were drawn because we want to make sure that there is health care availability.”
Durkin said the prolonged shutdown envisioned in the governor’s plan would be devastating to many of the state’s businesses, particularly in the restaurant industry, which wouldn’t be allowed to reopen for dine-in service until late June at the earliest.
“Without a smart, well-thought-out plan to reopen, there might not be anything left to reopen,” he said.
Some business groups also are bristling at the governor’s road map.
“The business community is happy that there is a plan, but they’re not happy that this is the plan,” Illinois Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Todd Maisch said. He predicted Pritzker would make changes in the coming days.
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“While we respect his devotion to public health, he’s increasingly ignoring the economic crisis that is at hand,” Maisch said.
Particularly troubling to some business owners was that gatherings of up to 50 people won’t be allowed until the fourth phase of Pritzker’s plan, and it won’t be until the fifth phase that crowd restrictions are dropped. One movie theater chain operator called that “a very tough pill to swallow.”
In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she’s going to be proposing guidelines for the city that are separate from Pritzker’s but added that she understands people’s anxiety and businesses’ concern.
“I worry a lot, particularly about our microbusinesses and the workers that are affected and employed by those businesses,” Lightfoot said. “If there’s not a solution soon, they’re never coming back. They’ve already been devastated.”
Lightfoot said she wants to open the city, “but we have to do it safely and we have to do it at a time when we see there is actually a decline in cases.”
“But we can’t send people back to work, we can’t open up our city yet when we don’t see a decrease in the cases which we have not seen yet at all and when we don’t see a sustained decline in hospitalizations, ICU beds, all of those things are really important and the data has to drive what we do from a public policy standpoint,” she added.
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Chicago Tribune’s Antonia Ayres-Brown and Rick Pearson contributed.
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com
gpratt@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-06--Pritzker’s plan to reopen Illinois leaves convention industry in limbo. ‘We’re in no man’s land righ

Pritzker’s plan to reopen Illinois leaves convention industry in limbo. ‘We’re in no man’s land right now.’

There ’ s no telling how long it might take to reach the fifth phase , and increases in cases @ @ @ @ @ .
As a result , organizations are unsure whether they should cancel events later this @ @ @ @ @ of thousands of people to the Chicago area , staying in hotels , taking cabs @ @ @ @ @ their expense accounts to dine in the best restaurants .

Ally Marotti, Mary Wisniewski, Lori Rackl

Before Illinoisans were working from home, before restaurants had shut down and before the stay-at-home order was in place, the coronavirus pandemic was already ravaging the state’s convention business.
Now it appears the industry that sustained the pandemic’s first economic blows might be one of the last to recover.
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Under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s five-phase plan to reopen the state, conventions cannot be held until the final phase of recovery. To reach that phase, a vaccine must be developed, a treatment option must be readily available or no new cases must arise over a sustained period.
There’s no telling how long it might take to reach the fifth phase, and increases in cases or hospitalizations could hamper progress. As a result, organizations are unsure whether they should cancel events later this year that would bring tens of thousands of people to the Chicago area, staying in hotels, taking cabs and ride-share vehicles and using their expense accounts to dine in the best restaurants.
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Pritzker’s plan, announced Tuesday, has put The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies in an impossible situation, said President and CEO Jim Pittas.
The group’s annual Pack Expo is scheduled for Nov. 8-11 at McCormick Place, and last year drew about 71,000 people. Pittas said he doubts a vaccine will be available by then, and is unsure what would constitute a readily available treatment option.
Pittas said he is worried that canceling without a specific mandate from the city or state might make it harder to file an insurance claim. “Right now, we can’t plan for a show and we can’t cancel it. We’re right in between with no clear direction," he said. “We’re in no man’s land right now.”
Between July and December, McCormick Place is scheduled to host 67 events with an expected attendance of 781,168 people, said spokeswoman Cynthia McCafferty. Those meetings and conventions translate to 585,199 nights in hotel rooms and generate $922.7 million in economic impact, including spending on food and entertainment.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 32 A mock patient room in Hall C of the McCormick Place coronavirus field hospital is shown April 17, 2020. (Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times)
McCormick Place had its first event cancellation related to the COVID-19 outbreak March 3. As of April 20, 65 events that would have drawn 656,668 attendees had been canceled or postponed at the facility, delivering an economic hit to the city of $897 million.
The economic ripple that follows an event cancellation weighs on Mark Watson, executive director of the Radiological Society of North America.
The Oak Brook-based society’s annual meeting is scheduled for Nov. 29-Dec. 4 at McCormick Place and in a normal year draws more than 50,000 attendees, Watson said.
“The biggest concern I have if we have to make the decision to not hold a physical meeting … (is) how many people this impacts throughout the city,” he said.
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With convention and trade show business on an indefinite pause, the forecast for an already beleaguered hotel industry looks even bleaker.
“It will certainly prolong the recovery much longer than we even thought," said Michael Jacobson, CEO and president of the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, which represents about 500 of the state’s 1,500 hotels.
The pandemic has caused demand for hotel rooms to hit historic lows, prompting many properties to go dark.
Among hotels still open in the city’s central business district, the occupancy rate was a paltry 13.4% for the week ending May 2, according to figures released Wednesday by the hospitality industry data firm STR.
At least 131,000 out of 292,000 hospitality jobs tied to the state’s hotel industry have been lost to layoffs and furloughs, Jacobson added, calling it a “fairly conservative” estimate.
Hotel bookings that result from conventions, trade shows and other large meetings make up a significant piece of the reservation pie. So-called group travel, which includes overnight lodging reservations tied to conventions and big meetings held at hotels, accounts for 30% of room nights in the city, Jacobson said, citing data from Choose Chicago, whose job is to bring business and leisure travelers to the city.
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But the economic impact of those overnight stays is even greater. Big conventions raise the rates for other people coming into the city, meaning group travel ultimately accounts for 50% of revenue in terms of average daily rate, Jacobson said.
He said he’s hopeful the timeline to restart convention business could move quicker based on scientific developments and new safety protocols. He’s concerned about being put in a position where other states are allowing conventions to take place while Illinois is not.
“Our biggest fear is that if we lose some of these conventions, we lose them for good,” he said. "Once a show leaves, it’s hard to convince them to come back to a host city.”
Chicago-based charter bus company Aries Charter Transportation also has taken a hit from the loss of convention center business, said sales and marketing manager Sam Trevino.
The company hasn’t had any private charters, group business or convention work since St. Patrick’s Day weekend, when the parade and river dyeing were canceled.
"That was really the last straw. That’s when everyone started putting their cancellations in,” he said. “It’s really a shame what’s going on.”
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Aries lost about $850,000 from cancellations this year, about $150,000 of which was convention work, Trevino said. The company had to furlough half of its roughly 100 employees.
The company has about 100 motor coaches and mini-buses. It is still handling contracts at O’Hare International Airport — they are among the buses replacing the People Mover, which is down for renovation, and they also carry Transportation Security Administration employees around the airport.
Christopher Stephens, executive director of Rosemont's Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, stands on the center's empty Hall A, May 6, 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
In Rosemont, the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center is focused on working with show organizers to either cancel or reschedule, said Executive Director Christopher Stephens. But without a firm reopening date from the state, it’s impossible to be certain when an event can happen, he said.
“This changes everything, because we’re back to wait and see again," he said. "The only thing you can really hope for I guess is the vaccine or the highly effective treatment.”
Stephens said clients will have a lot of questions. The main one: How do you encourage people to participate if it’s unclear whether the event will happen?
The convention center has rescheduled about 10 events for the fall, another eight to next year, and has lost one or two completely. At its conference center, it has deferred about 35 to 40 corporate events, meetings, banquets and proms and lost one event.
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Stephens said that if the center couldn’t do any more events this year, the financial impact would be “dramatic.” Even reaching phase four of Pritzker’s plan, which allows for gatherings up to 50 people, wouldn’t help much.
“Fifty people doesn’t allow you to do much," he said.
amarotti@chicagotribune.com
lrackl@chicagotribune.com
mwisniewski@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @AllyMarotti


chicagotribune--2020-05-06--Mayor Lori Lightfoot sends teams to address ‘breathtaking’ number of coronavirus cases in Chicago’s

Mayor Lori Lightfoot sends teams to address ‘breathtaking’ number of coronavirus cases in Chicago’s Latino community

In Little Village , a testing facility operated by Howard Brown Health and Project Vida had tested 1,175 people since @ @ @ @ @ majority — about 56 % — tested positive for COVID-19 , with almost all showing @ @ @ @ @ shown up so sick at the clinic that workers had to call for an ambulance @ @ @ @ @ waiting for the test , Howard Brown Health officials said .

Gregory Pratt, Elvia Malagón, Dan Petrella

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot will create teams to address a “breathtaking” spike in coronavirus cases among the city’s Latino population, she said in a Wednesday news conference.
Lightfoot unveiled several measures to address COVID-19 in Latino communities, including a plan to host virtual town halls to raise awareness, expanding the city’s so-called Rapid Response Racial Equity Team to further target areas with high case rates and working with unions to reach Latino workers in hard-hit industries.
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People, many with face masks, line up to purchase tortillas May 6, 2020, outside El Milagro tortillas on 26th Street in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood. As of May 5, a ZIP code in South Lawndale, which includes Little Village, had the highest number of cases in the state, 1,596, the Tribune previously reported. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Recent data on coronavirus-related deaths is opening a window into how hard the pandemic is hitting Latino communities. Across Illinois, Latino-majority areas have the highest number of confirmed cases, and on average, tests in those areas come back positive 41% of the time.
As of Tuesday, a ZIP code in South Lawndale, which includes Little Village, had the highest number of cases in the state, 1,596, the Tribune previously reported.
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Lightfoot and public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Latinos in the city accounted for 14% of COVID-19 cases and 19% of deaths four weeks ago. Today, 37% of cases and 25% of deaths are Latinos.
“We have reached another critical moment for our city, confronting the impact of COVID-19 on Chicago’s Latinx community,” Lightfoot said, using a gender-neutral term for Latino. “With increasing testing, improved reporting and the continued spread of this terrible virus, we are seeing a surge in cases among our Latinx cases. This demands we dig down deeper and work harder to confront this reality.”
It’s hard to count the number of Latinos who have died of the new coronavirus because the county medical examiner hasn’t until recently been labeling cases with that identifier. But by Tuesday, ZIP codes that include Little Village, with 50 deaths, and Belmont Cragin, with 40, in Latino-majority areas, were among the city neighborhoods with the greatest number of fatalities.
The toll on Latino communities is being seen across the city. At Mount Sinai Hospital, Latinos make up two-thirds of the patients in the COVID-19 unit, said Dr. Sunita Mohapatra, the infectious disease chief at the West Side hospital. On the Northwest Side, at least 19 residents of the Center Home for Hispanic Elderly have died of COVID-19-related complications.
A health care worker peers from a tent for coronavirus testing at the Vida Wellness Center in Little Village on May 6, 2020. Howard Brown Health/Vida has been performing COVID-19 tests for Little Village. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Medical staff and medical students meet before coronavirus testing at the Vida Wellness Center in Little Village on May 6, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
In Little Village, a testing facility operated by Howard Brown Health and Project Vida had tested 1,175 people since April 16, and a majority — about 56% — tested positive for COVID-19, with almost all showing multiple symptoms. Some have shown up so sick at the clinic that workers had to call for an ambulance after people passed out while waiting for the test, Howard Brown Health officials said.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday that Latino Illinoisans are testing positive for the new coronavirus at a higher rate than any other demographic group in the state. About 60% of people in Illinois screened for the virus who’ve identified as Hispanic have tested positive, nearly three times the statewide average, Pritzker said.
“Decades of institutional inequities and obstacles for members of our Latinx communities are now amplified in this pandemic,” the governor said.
Pritzker and Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike highlighted resources available to help members of the Latino community, including free screenings available at more than 200 public testing sites, regardless of insurance coverage or citizenship status. About one-third of the sites are in communities with significant Hispanic populations, according to the governor’s office.
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Dr. Marina Del Rios, an emergency room physician at University of Illinois in Chicago Medical Center, said she and her colleagues are seeing more Latino patients coming in who often have been sick for some time. She worries this could indicate that the death toll will start to rise among this community.
“Now, the question is, ‘Is this the new wave, the Latino wave?’” Del Rios said.
Experts and advocates say existing conditions for Latinos such as lack of private insurance and the likelihood of having preexisting conditions could all be factoring into the uptick. Advocates say more financial assistance is needed for these communities, particularly because some immigrants can’t get unemployment benefits or federal stimulus funds.
Cook County officials are setting up more testing sites at county health centers, including one that will serve Latino communities in Cicero, Berwyn and Melrose Park. The county also is working with community groups to provide services for those who need to quarantine, and to trace the contacts of infected people.
Carmen Vergara, chief operations officer of Esperanza Health Centers, said at Lightfoot’s news conference that her workers are testing 150 patients per day with supplemental supplies being provided by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
“Many of our patients are essential hourly workers who do not have the privilege to work from home," Vergara said.
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