chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 2,295 new known COVID-19 cases reported — the most since late May —

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 2,295 new known COVID-19 cases reported — the most since late May — as FDA gives emergency use authorization for U. of I. saliva test

Thermo Fisher ’ s test is one of the standard tools used to screen for COVID-19 , run on large @ @ @ @ @ many U.S. hospitals and laboratories .
The FDA flagged two separate issues that could potentially @ @ @ @ @ the chemical mixing process and computer software that runs on the company ’ s machine @ @ @ @ @ new instructions for mixing .
And a software update fixes the second problem , the @ @ @

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)
The Illinois Department of Public Health on Wednesday announced 2,295 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus, the highest daily case tally since May 24. The state has approached the late May number several times in recent weeks amid an uptick in statewide case counts and other coronavirus metrics compared with June and early July.
Officials also said more than 50,000 tests had been conducted during the previous 24 hours. That’s roughly twice the number that were being conducted in late May. As of Tuesday, the seven-day statewide average positivity rate was 4.4%, up from 3.9% two weeks earlier and 2.9% on July 18.
Advertisement
Later on Wednesday, state officials said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved an emergency use authorization for a University of Illinois-developed saliva test for COVID-19, which they characterized as a potential “game-changer” for surveillance testing.
The saliva test, which is being used at University of Illinois campuses for students and faculty members who are attending in-person classes, is less expensive, faster and requires “significantly less” raw materials than other tests, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a news briefing in Chicago with university officials.
Advertisement
Here’s what’s happening Wednesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
8:20 p.m.: Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren says the decision to postpone fall sports ‘will not be revisited’
Facing criticism in the wake of the Big Ten postponing the fall sports season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Commissioner Kevin Warren released a statement Wednesday reiterating the conference’s decision was based on medical advice.
Warren also confirmed presidents and chancellors of Big Ten institutions voted “overwhelmingly in support” of a postponement and said the decision would “not be revisited.”
Big Ten football players’ parents have been particularly vocal in their disappointment about the lack of transparency since the conference announced the decision Aug. 11. Some planned a Friday “rally” outside the Big Ten offices in Rosemont and parents from Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio State and Illinois have written open letters to Warren demanding more answers.
Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour cast doubt on the decision-making process earlier this week, telling reporters it was “unclear to me whether or not there was a vote.” Many presidents and chancellors, including Illinois chancellor Robert Jones, have not responded to media requests for comments about the voting process.
The Big Ten had declined to elaborate since the announcement made it the first FBS program to postpone its fall season, and Warren had not had media availability.
Read more here. —Shannon Ryan
6 p.m.: Mary, Seat of Wisdom in Park Ridge delays school reopening after administrator becomes ill with COVID-19
A Chicago-area Catholic school has delayed the start of its school year after an administrator tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Advertisement
Mary, Seat of Wisdom School in Park Ridge was scheduled to open Aug. 25, but will now begin the school year on Sept. 8, according to the archdiocese. The administrator has not been at the school since early last week, and parents and staff members have been notified, the archdiocese said in a statement.
“The archdiocese takes the COVID-19 pandemic seriously, making our students’ and employees’ lives our top priority and being transparent with families and staff,” the statement read. “In conformance with public health guidance and out of an abundance of caution, we will perform a thorough cleaning and disinfecting of the school building.”
The news comes as educators try to figure out how best to proceed with in-person and remote learning amid a pandemic. Unlike most public school systems in the Chicago area, which have decided to continue with remote learning this fall or open their buildings for limited in-person classes, schools in the Chicago Archdiocese will open full-time, with safety measures in place and remote learning options for parents who choose them.
Read more here. —Javonte Anderson and Jennifer Johnson
5 p.m.: Dart urges Pritzker to extend eviction moratorium: ‘It would be incredibly harmful to proceed’
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart urged Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday to extend the state’s eviction moratorium that’s been in place during the coronavirus pandemic, citing concerns that households need more time to catch up with rent while assistance fund applications are pending.
In a letter to Pritzker and Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans, Dart urged the current Aug. 22 expiration date be postponed until all city and county rent relief grants are dispersed.
Advertisement
“Like you, I have been tremendously concerned about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, not just on the health and safety of residents, but on the economic future of the entire community,” Dart wrote. “Obviously, it would be incredibly harmful to proceed with evictions when these funds are on their way to rescue so many tenants and landlords.”
Dart, whose office is in charge of enforcing evictions in Cook County, said while the current pause in evictions has helped, struggling renters remain anxious that the looming deadline on the moratorium is too soon. He wrote that waiting until the money is paid out will stop hundreds of thousands of Cook County residents from being pushed out of their apartments.
A Pritzker spokeswoman did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The governor has previously extended the moratorium.
A spokeswoman for Evans said the chief judge intends to keep the deadline of the county’s eviction moratorium in line with the state’s end dates.
—Alice Yin
4:45 p.m.: Short-term rentals like Airbnb banned indefinitely in Naperville so stricter guidelines can be drafted
Naperville City Council members Tuesday voted to indefinitely ban short-term rentals like Airbnb from operating in the city until stricter guidelines can be put in place.
Advertisement
The ban goes into effect Sept. 1 with a 60-day grace period for rentals booked prior to Aug. 19 and scheduled to occur through Oct. 20. Those who try to skirt the ban will be fined $1,000 for the first violation and $2,500 for each subsequent violation.
The ban comes after the council discussed an ordinance earlier this month to regulate short-term rentals by making owners register their properties with the city, cap visitors at 20 people, ensure house parties are not held or advertised, and require owners to live in the residence as a permanent home for more than six months a year.
When questions were raised and opposition voiced about the proposal, council members opted instead for a ban in order to provide the time needed to come up with a regulations that satisfy residents, short-term rental property owners and elected officials.
Read more here. —Erin Hegarty
3:50 p.m.: Metra falling further behind budget amid COVID-19 ridership decline, with cost cuts coming down the line
As the pandemic persists and people stay home in droves, Metra is falling further behind its revenue schedule.
The Chicago area’s commuter rail system upped its projected two-year budget deficit to $682.5 million at a virtual monthly board Wednesday, and warned that it will have to start cutting costs more aggressively without additional federal aid like the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act passed in March.
Advertisement
“CARES funds won’t last forever,” Thomas Farmer, Metra’s chief financial officer, said during the meeting. “We must adjust costs if ridership doesn’t return soon.”
Read more here. —Robert Channick
2:40 p.m.: State says FDA has given emergency use authorization for U. of I. COVID-19 saliva test
State officials said Wednesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved an emergency use authorization for a University of Illinois-developed saliva test for COVID-19, which they characterized as a potential “game-changer” for surveillance testing.
The saliva test, which is being used at University of Illinois campuses for students and faculty members who are attending in-person classes, is less expensive, faster and requires “significantly less” raw materials than other tests, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a news briefing in Chicago with university officials.
Work is currently underway to make the test more widely available, including on other public university campuses and in K-12 schools, Pritzker said.
Nasal swabs have been the primary method for conducting coronavirus tests.
Advertisement
The state set a new record for tests conducted during a 24-hour period on Wednesday, with more than 50,000 tests conducted.
A day after the first Illinois region was sent backward in its reopening, Pritzker said another pair of counties are showing “troubling trends” in their COVID-19 metrics.
The state imposed additional rules for bars, restaurants and gathering sizes Tuesday in the Metro East region outside St. Louis after the region surpassed a state-set threshold for reopening.
The region that includes Kankakee and Will counties, as well as the southern Illinois region, are the two Pritzker highlighted Wednesday as those with “troubling trends,” though the majority of the state’s 11 regions as defined in Pritzker’s reopening plan have seen increasing test positivity rates.
—Jamie Munks
2:35 p.m.: Time Out Market Chicago re-opens next week for first time since March
Time Out Market food hall in the West Loop announced that it plans to reopen next Wednesday, joining a trickle of bars and restaurants around the city attempting to restart service.
Advertisement
Time Out becomes the city’s third food hall to open since March — joining Wells St. Market, which reopened after closing for the pandemic, and Dr. Murphy’s, a new venture — when the Illinois state guidelines required across-the-board shutdowns due to the pandemic. Given the multi-vendor set-up and high level of social interactivity in food hall’s business models, the shutdown seemed like it could have a dramatic effect on these types of operations.
The 53,000-square-foot Time Out Market will reopen with new safety guidelines to handle COVID-19, plus eight returning concepts/chefs: Arami, Chef Bill Kim (Urbanbelly), Chef Brian Fisher (Entente), Dos Urban Cantina, Duck Inn Dogs, Lost Larson, Mini Mott and Pretty Cool Ice Cream. The food hall’s two bars will also be open in full.
Read more here. —Adam Lukach
1 p.m. Glenview library’s Youth Services Department closed after staff member tests positive for COVID-19
The Youth Services Department of the Glenview Pubic Library will be closed until further notice due to a positive coronavirus case, but the rest of the library will remain open.
Library officials announced the department closure Tuesday, saying a staff member working in the Youth Services Department recently reported testing positive for COVID-19 and that a second staff member is reporting symptoms.
“While this is unfortunate news, we are thankful that both individuals are reporting mild symptoms,” officials posted on the library website.
Advertisement
The staff member with an official diagnosis last worked in the library Aug. 6 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Officials said they will not release employee names or personal information due to confidentiality laws.
Library officials do not believe any patrons had “close contact” with either of the individuals, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC defines close contact as being within 6 feet of someone for at least 15 minutes, with varying factors.
Still, officials recommend that anyone who has recently visited the Youth Services Department and may be feeling symptoms get tested.
Read more here. —Kaitlin Edquist
12:05 p.m. (updated at 1:20 p.m.): 2,295 new known COVID-19 cases and 25 more deaths reported
The Illinois Department of Public Health on Wednesday announced 2,295 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus, the highest daily case tally since May 24.
The state has approached the late May number several times in recent weeks amid an uptick in statewide case counts and other coronavirus metrics compared with June and early July.
Advertisement
The state also said more than 50,000 tests had been conducted during the previous 24 hours. That’s roughly twice the number that were being conducted in late May.
The state reported a total of 3,489,571 tests conducted.
As of Tuesday, the seven-day statewide average positivity rate was 4.4%, up from 3.9% two weeks earlier and 2.9% on July 18.
The state health department also announced 25 additional deaths of people with COVID-19, raising the statewide death toll to 7,806. There have been 211,889 known cases of COVID-19 in Illinois over the course of the pandemic.
As of Tuesday night, 1,519 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized in the state, with 334 of them in intensive care units and 144 patients on ventilators.
—Jamie Munks
Advertisement
10:25 a.m.: Remote work can continue forever, consulting firm Sikich tells employees months into the coronavirus pandemic
Professional services firm Sikich will allow employees to work from home permanently and plans to shrink the size of its offices in one of the most dramatic responses to the coronavirus pandemic in Chicago.
CEO Chris Geier recently told the Chicago-based company’s more than 1,000 employees that remote work can continue “indefinitely,” as part of a reduction in real estate already envisioned before offices all but shut down in March because of COVID-19. Sikich has 307 Chicago-area employees.
In the near term, employees have been told to stay away from the office unless absolutely necessary, Geier said.
Over the next few years, Sikich plans to replace its current 14 offices throughout the country with about 30 “micro offices” that the firm’s consultants and other employees can use when they’re not working at client offices or from home, Geier said.
“This was a path we were already going down,” Geier said. “The pandemic is just accelerating it.”
Companies of all sizes are grappling with the short-term impacts of the pandemic while trying to form long-term workforce strategies. Because many leasing decisions are made months or even years before a move, the coronavirus has added a level of complexity, said Savills office tenant broker Joe Learner, who is not involved in Sikich’s plans.
Advertisement
Read more here. —Ryan Ori
8:25 a.m.: Target’s online sales surge 195%, in-store sales up 24.3%
Target reported recorded-setting sales growth online and at established stores over the past three months, more evidence that big-box retailers have become essential points of supply during the pandemic.
Online sales surged 195% and same-store sales spiked 10.9%, second-quarter growth that is unprecedented in the company’s 58-year history.
Walmart, Home Depot and now Target have reported eye-popping sales over the past three months as Americans limit their supply runs to fewer stores and do more cooking and do-it-yourself projects at home.
The shift in behavior is reshaping the retail landscape at the expense of mall-based retailers and other stores forced to close this year. Many were struggling before the pandemic because of what Americans buy and where they buy it.
The pandemic has put those retailers in further in peril.
Advertisement
Read more here. —Associated Press
7:40 a.m.: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris take to virtual stage on night 3 of Democratic National Convention
Democrats hoping to create a surge of enthusiasm behind Joe Biden’s presidential bid will look to Wednesday’s convention headliners to broaden the party’s focus from a multipart rebuke of President Donald Trump to a message of change.
Former President Barack Obama, a transformational figure for the Democratic Party who picked Biden as his running mate a dozen years ago, has top billing for the third night of the all-virtual Democratic National Convention, starting at 9 p.m. EDT.
Before Obama tries to tap into the broad coalition that elected him as the country’s first Black president, the lineup is set for America to hear from Sen. Kamala Harris in her first prime-time appearance as Biden’s history-making running mate. Hillary Clinton, another barrier breaker as the first female presidential nominee of any major party, will also speak.
What to watch on the third night of the convention. —The Associated Press
7:35 a.m.: More south suburban schools abandon, for now, plans to bring students back to classroom
More south and southwest suburban school districts are dropping plans, at least for the foreseeable future, to try to bring students into the classroom based on new guidance from state health officials.
Advertisement
Elementary schools including Kirby District 140 in Tinley Park, Tinley Park District 146 and Homewood District 153 say they will now shelve hybrid learning plans that mixed in-person and remote teaching.
School officials have used terms such as “unsustainable” and “untenable” in describing updated guidelines rolled out last week by the Illinois Department of Public Health which could have students and staff exhibiting just one symptom of COVID-19 being sent home.
In a message to families Tuesday, leadership in District 153 said the “new guidelines are unattainable at this time,” and that remote learning would continue “until such time that we can meet the revised safety measures and ensure it is safe for staff and students to return to our buildings.”
Read more here. —Mike Nolan, Daily Southtown
6:50 a.m.: ‘Dear tooth fairy, you may already know this but there is a national coin shortage’
One of the side effects of the pandemic is a shortage of coins across the United States. Quarters, dimes and nickels aren’t circulating as freely as they usually do because many businesses have been closed and consumers aren’t out spending as much.
The problem weighed especially heavy on the 10-year-old daughter of Jen Vicker from Bollingbrook. The girl woke up with a loose tooth recently and worried the tooth fairy wouldn’t be able to pay because of the shortage.
Advertisement
So she wrote a note: “Dear tooth fairy, you may already know this but there is a national coin shortage in America. You usually leave me dollar coins, but until this situation is resolved, I would like cash for my teeth. I apologize for the inconvenience.”
There was no immediate word from the tooth fairy.
—The Associated Press
6:45 a.m.: Coronavirus test used by hospitals and laboratories under scrutiny by federal health officials
A widely used coronavirus test is under scrutiny after federal health officials warned it could deliver inaccurate results if laboratory technicians don’t follow the the latest updates from the manufacturer.
The Food and Drug Administration’s warning over Thermo Fisher’s TaqPath test underscores the complexity of COVID-19 tests and how easily they can be skewed by faulty processing and equipment. The FDA action follows a report last month by Connecticut public health officials that the test resulted in at least 90 people receiving false positive results for the coronavirus.
Thermo Fisher’s test is one of the standard tools used to screen for COVID-19, run on large, automated machines found in many U.S. hospitals and laboratories. The FDA flagged two separate issues that could potentially result in false results: the chemical mixing process and computer software that runs on the company’s machine. Thermo Fisher has provided new instructions for mixing. And a software update fixes the second problem, the FDA said.
Advertisement
For all positive results, FDA said labs should review the instrument settings.
Thermo Fisher said in a statement that its data shows the issues are rare and most users get accurate results by following company directions.
—The Associated Press
6:30 a.m.: CPS fall plan includes full days of remote and live learning, but still prompts union grievance
Chicago Public Schools had barely released its fall remote learning plan Tuesday when the Chicago Teachers Union announced it had filed grievance over the guidance that union President Jesse Sharkey said was made “without imagination or input from teachers.”
The fall plan has a stricter structure and more accountability measures than the spring, when schools were suddenly forced to figure out remote learning amid an evolving pandemic.
Under the fall framework, students in kindergarten through 12th grade will get at least three hours of live instruction from their teacher. Between that, small group activities with classmates and independent learning, the district is expecting students to “be engaged” for the entire length of a typical school day, Monday through Friday. Other expectations include daily attendance and graded assignments.
Advertisement
But CTU leaders said the district has not done enough to meet students’ needs and that CPS didn’t spend enough time on their remote learning plan because they so badly wanted to include in-person classes.
Read more here. —Hannah Leone
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
Here are five things that happened Tuesday related to COVID-19.


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Mary, Seat of Wisdom in Park Ridge delays school  reopening after administrator becomes ill with COV

Mary, Seat of Wisdom in Park Ridge delays school  reopening after administrator becomes ill with COVID-19

The news comes as educators try to figure out how best to proceed with in-person and remote learning amid a @ @ @ @ @ school systems in the Chicago area , which have decided to continue with remote learning @ @ @ @ @ buildings for limited in-person classes , schools in the Chicago Archdiocese will open full time @ @ @ @ @ place and remote learning options for parents who choose them .

A Chicago-area Catholic school has delayed the start of its school year after an administrator tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Mary, Seat of Wisdom School in Park Ridge was scheduled to open Aug. 25, but will now begin the school year on Sept. 8, according to the archdiocese. The administrator has not been at the school since early last week, and parents and staff members have been notified, the archdiocese said in a statement.
Advertisement
“The archdiocese takes the COVID-19 pandemic seriously, making our students’ and employees’ lives our top priority and being transparent with families and staff,” the statement read. “In conformance with public health guidance and out of an abundance of caution, we will perform a thorough cleaning and disinfecting of the school building."
The news comes as educators try to figure out how best to proceed with in-person and remote learning amid a pandemic. Unlike most public school systems in the Chicago area, which have decided to continue with remote learning this fall or open their buildings for limited in-person classes, schools in the Chicago Archdiocese will open full time, with safety measures in place and remote learning options for parents who choose them.
Advertisement
None of the other schools in the archdiocese have delayed the start of classes, officials said.
In an email to families Tuesday, the Mary, Seat of Wisdom church pastor, the Rev. Derek Ho, said parish leaders learned that day that the administrator had tested positive for COVID-19 after falling ill last week. The administrator was exposed to the virus through a “family relationship, not from someone at our school,” Ho wrote.
The administrator was last inside the school on Aug. 10, parents were told. Two other administrators who had been in “prolonged, close contact” with the administrator were advised to self-quarantine for 14 days, Ho said.
Teachers had already returned to the school building to prepare for the new school year when it was closed Tuesday.
Ho and Assistant Principal Robert Potempa referred all questions to the Archdiocese of Chicago.


Corrections and clarifications

Publishing information quickly and accurately is a central part of the Chicago Tribune ’ s news responsibility and a value @ @ @ @ @ .
Our editorial code of principles governs professional behavior and journalism standards .
Everyone in @ @ @ @ @ live up to this code of conduct .
Download the file .

· A letter to the editor in Wednesday’s newspaper incorrectly identified Mark Geragos. The defense attorney represents Jussie Smollett.
The Tribune regrets the error.
Advertisement
Publishing information quickly and accurately is a central part of the Chicago Tribune’s news responsibility and a value shared in all our publications. Our editorial code of principles governs professional behavior and journalism standards. Everyone in our newsroom must agree to live up to this code of conduct. Download the file.
To report an error, fill out this form.


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--4 Chicago aldermen want to force special City Council meeting on looting, call for National Guard he

4 Chicago aldermen want to force special City Council meeting on looting, call for National Guard help

Late Wednesday , though , it was unclear whether the meeting would take place or if all four aldermen would @ @ @ @ @ .
Hairston said she might pull herself off the filing to set a meeting for @ @ @ @ @ ’ s concerned that a quorum won ’ t be met so the issues wouldn @ @ @ @ @ and would like to be sure that the City Council will meet to address the @ @

Four Chicago aldermen have filed notice to force a special meeting of the City Council later this week to address looting and call for the National Guard to be deployed.
The group also wants regular monthly meetings to discuss public safety issues.
Advertisement
The filing by South Side Ald. Leslie Hairston, 5th, South Side Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, Southwest Side Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, and Northwest Side Ald. Anthony Napolitano, 41st, would set an emergency City Council meeting on Friday via Zoom.
Late Wednesday, though, it was unclear whether the meeting would take place or if all four aldermen would try and force the issue. Hairston said she might pull herself off the filing to set a meeting for Friday. She said she’s concerned that a quorum won’t be met so the issues wouldn’t be discussed, and would like to be sure that the City Council will meet to address the issues.
Advertisement
Hairston also said she was working with the Lightfoot administration on an ordinance she backs that would require the Police Department to give arrestees a list of free legal services so they can have legal representation.
State law allows aldermen to force a City Council meeting, though the tactic is rarely used. The council is on its traditional August recess. While aldermen can force a meeting, a majority of the City Council members would need to be present to go forward.
“Losing Chicago’s downtown and business districts should have never happened,” Napolitano said in a news release. “We need to suppress all looting and rioting the minute it begins but we cannot do so at the expense and safety of other districts and neighborhoods. The time to act is now.”
Asked about the aldermen at an unrelated news conference Wednesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said it’s been “a very difficult and challenging time” in the city and officials need to focus on ways to reach common ground.
In an apparent reference to Beale and Lopez, who are frequent critics of her administration, Lightfoot said two of the aldermen who made the filing have a “history of grandstanding.”
“This isn’t the way you get things done,” she said.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
The request for the Guard to be called in is unlikely to receive an enthusiastic response from the Illinois National Guard, whose commander has repeatedly said he is uncomfortable with using uniformed soldiers as law enforcement officers and the potential perception of his troops going to war with other citizens.
Advertisement
Lightfoot had asked Gov. J.B. Pritzker to send the Guard to help quell the violence amid unrest following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. The move marked the first time the city has made such a request since Mayor Richard J. Daley brought troops in to police the Democratic National Convention in 1968.
At the time, Air Force Brig. Gen. Richard Neely, the Illinois adjutant general, called the mission one of the most “distasteful” assignments the citizen-soldiers can receive.
Troops secured street closures, controlled traffic flow and guarded malls and other infrastructure while working closely with the Illinois State Police. Besides Chicago, the Guard assisted in suburbs like Aurora and Naperville and other parts of the state.
It had explicit orders not to interfere with peaceful protesters.
“We’re not law enforcement officers,” Neely told the Tribune after the Guard’s mission ended earlier this summer without incident. “As guardsmen, we’re military. We go to war and we do not need to go to war in our cities. ... It was important to me (troops) were not putting their hands on civilians. So we didn’t do riot control and some of those other missions. We focused on supporting law enforcement, allowing them to do the things they’re best trained to do.”
At an unrelated news conference, Pritzker said the National Guard is always available if the mayor ever wants to call for it.
Advertisement
“National Guard is something that we have done, and can do, as perimeter security and they did that around the Loop during, again, May and June and they’re on call and, again, need to coordinate with the city in doing that,” Pritzker said. “And I’ve called the mayor and spoke with her a number of times to make sure that she knows and her command group knows that (the) National Guard is always available.”
gpratt@chicagotribune.com
sstclair@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Police in Chicago Public Schools will get more training and oversight in reforms announced by Mayor

Police in Chicago Public Schools will get more training and oversight in reforms announced by Mayor Lori Lightfoot

“ LSCs share our commitment to listening to the communities they serve and acting in their best interests , ” @ @ @ @ @ applaud them for stepping up to generate the change they want to see and look @ @ @ @ @ as we continue to create an optimal school environment .
”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, right, is joined by Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson to announce reforms to the school police program. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Public Schools and Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday announced reforms to the controversial program that places Chicago Police Department officers in the city’s schools, adding more specific commitments around training, oversight and student involvement.
As the district’s current $33 million agreement with CPD expires this month, the Board of Education is expected to vote on a new police contract reflecting the changes on Aug. 26.
Advertisement
The reforms call for CPD computer terminals to be removed from schools and will restrict school officers’ access to the “criminal enterprise information system,” the latest iteration of the gang database. School officers will be explicitly prohibited from entering student information into the system, said CPS chief of safety and security Jadine Chou.
Also, complaints against school officers will be reviewed by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, a measure CPS officials said will also ensure they are tracked.
Advertisement
Officers will be ineligible to work in schools if they have sustained allegations within the past five years involving verbal or physical interactions with youth or excessive force, or have open complaints in either category for which discipline is probable.
Principals can interview officer candidates for their schools, but a high-ranking CPD official will also verify eligibility.
School and police officials will meet with an independent monitor every month, and CPS officials said they will make a quarterly report to the Board of Education.
The reforms come after Local School Councils at 17 schools voted to remove their police officers, and 55 others voted to keep them.
“LSCs share our commitment to listening to the communities they serve and acting in their best interests,” Lightfoot said. “I applaud them for stepping up to generate the change they want to see and look forward to working with them as we continue to create an optimal school environment.”
For the schools removing officers, CPS is planning to develop alternative safety plans involving emergency response agencies, families and community members.
CPS’ new proposed budget would cut spending for officers by more than half, the result of fewer buildings with officers, remote learning continuing at least until November and CPS no longer funding a mobile school patrol unit.
Advertisement
Students who have been organizing to get police out of their schools were not satisfied with the reforms. Voices of Youth in Chicago Education issued a statement calling on the Board of Education to end the CPD contract and reinvest those dollars in supports for students’ mental health.
“What students need most is support, not criminalization,” said Derrianna Ford, a youth leader with the group. “... We cannot expect the same police officers who brutalize us on the streets to be our mental health workers inside our schools.”
Nodding to the students’ efforts, CPS CEO Janice Jackson said the reforms “are the direct result of their tenacious spirit. The activism that has been demonstrated among our students gives me hope for the future."
The Mikva Challenge Youth Safety Advisory Council, whose members have asked that youth have a voice in training if officers remain in schools, will work with CPS on that. They and other youth organizations will help create a monitoring system to assess the training process, Jackson said.
Officers will start participating in school behavioral health teams trained through Lurie Children’s Hospital and will be required to complete training for working with LGBTQ students and on implicit bias, according to CPS. Officers will be required to follow the “welcoming” city and school ordinances to protect students who lack legal immigrant status, Jackson said.
Advertisement
The district is also getting help from the University of Chicago Crime and Education labs to analyze disparities in school arrests among student populations based on factors such as race and disabilities, and whether the outcomes are different for schools with police officers.
While announcing the reforms, CPS released data showing an 80% reduction in the number of students arrested at schools between the 2012 school year, when 3,320 students were arrested, and 2019.
However, Black students, who are arrested at disproportionately high rates, saw a smaller reduction than the other two largest student populations, 78% compared with 86% for Latino and 85% for white students.
“The rates of arrest among Black students remains unacceptably high,” Jackson said, adding that the district is committed to further reducing arrests and inequities.
hleone@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart urges Gov. J.B. Pritzker to extend eviction moratorium: ‘It would be in

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart urges Gov. J.B. Pritzker to extend eviction moratorium: ‘It would be incredibly harmful to proceed’

“ Like you , I have been tremendously concerned about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic , not just on @ @ @ @ @ residents , but on the economic future of the entire community , ” Dart wrote @ @ @ @ @ would be incredibly harmful to proceed with evictions when these funds are on their way @ @ @ @ @ and landlords .
”

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart urged Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday to extend the state’s eviction moratorium that’s been in place during the coronavirus pandemic, citing concerns that households need more time to catch up with rent while assistance fund applications are pending.
In a letter to Pritzker and Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans, Dart urged the current Saturday expiration date be postponed until all city and county rent relief grants are dispersed.
Advertisement
“Like you, I have been tremendously concerned about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, not just on the health and safety of residents, but on the economic future of the entire community,” Dart wrote. “Obviously, it would be incredibly harmful to proceed with evictions when these funds are on their way to rescue so many tenants and landlords.”
Dart, whose office is in charge of enforcing evictions in Cook County, said while the current pause in evictions has helped, struggling renters remain anxious that the looming deadline on the moratorium is too soon. He wrote that waiting until the money is paid out will stop hundreds of thousands of Cook County residents from being pushed out of their apartments.
Advertisement
A Pritzker spokeswoman did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The governor has previously extended the moratorium.
A spokeswoman for Evans said the chief judge intends to keep the deadline of the county’s eviction moratorium in line with the state’s end dates.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
The city’s $33 million rental assistance application opened at the end of July, while the county’s $20 million version for suburban residents launched earlier this month.
“Both groups are suffering unprecedented hardships,” Dart wrote about landlords and tenants. “Ultimately everyone will be better served by assistance funds that compensate landlords rather than just proceeding with evictions that endanger the health of vulnerable tenants and threaten the fabric of entire communities.”
In his letter, Dart also noted the risk to public health if the eviction moratorium ends as scheduled. He said that many people will crowd with family or friends or end up in shelters or on the streets after being pushed out of their apartments, thus increasing exposure to the virus.
Dart also warned Pritzker that the three renter programs “only scratch the surface of ultimate need” and pressed the governor to explore all avenues for financial relief as the nation continues to grapple with the economic fallout from the pandemic.
“A continued evictions moratorium coupled with aggressive pursuit of every possible avenue for financial relief for both property owners and renters provides the best opportunity for helping Cook County residents weather this unprecedented financial calamity,” Dart wrote.
Advertisement
ayin@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--As detectives seek public’s help in last week’s shooting of 12-year-old boy, another child and his m

As detectives seek public’s help in last week’s shooting of 12-year-old boy, another child and his mother are shot on the West Side

The shooting happened in a commercial area with clothing shops and restaurants , and numerous people were on the street @ @ @ @ @ shooting , police said .
The area also has several private and city-owned cameras that @ @ @ @ @ gunmen , according to Chicago police Superintendent David Brown .

Rosemary Sobol, William Lee, Annie Sweeney, Sophie Sherry

Police officers process a crime scene in the 300 block of North Central Avenue in Chicago, where two people were shot Aug. 19, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
A 9-year-old boy and his mother were shot Wednesday afternoon on the West Side when two gunmen got out of a car and opened fire at a group of men nearby, hitting them instead, according to Chicago police.
Both the boy and the woman, 27, were wounded in the lower back about 1:15 p.m. near the intersection of Lake Street and Central Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood, police said.
Advertisement
Both were taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital, where they were stabilized, according to police and fire officials. An infant from another family fell out of a stroller during the attack and suffered minor injuries, police said.
Police officers investigate a shooting in the 300 block of North Central Avenue in Chicago, where two people were shot Aug. 19, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
The mother and son were passing by when a dark-colored car pulled up, and two people got out and fired at several men standing near a breezeway on the east side of the street, police said.
Advertisement
The shooting happened in a commercial area with clothing shops and restaurants, and numerous people were on the street at the time of the shooting, police said. The area also has several private and city-owned cameras that could lead police to the gunmen, according to Chicago police Superintendent David Brown.
Calling the attack “cowardly,” Brown asked for the public’s help in finding the gunmen.
“Please come forward with information. The police and the community can render a neighborhood safer,” Brown told reporters on Central Avenue near Fulton Street.
Traffic on Central remained closed as detectives and police evidence technicians worked the scene between Fulton and Lake Street.
On Monday, a 9-year-old boy suffered a graze wound to the head as he rode in a car on the South Side, according to police and fire officials.
The boy was wounded just after 2 p.m. when someone fired shots at the car in the first block of West 87th Street in the Chatham neighborhood. He was hit near the ear and was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, police said.
As the scene unfolded at Lake and Central avenues Wednesday, Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan was 15 miles away, asking the public for help in solving the shooting of yet another little boy.
Deenihan stood in front of a basketball court in the 6300 block of South Ellis Avenue, where on Aug. 14, just after 8 p.m., a 12-year-old boy playing basketball with family members was shot in the legs.
Advertisement
“Once again, we are here to ask for your help,” Deenihan said at the news conference, which was scheduled ahead of the latest shooting of a child.
Chicago has seen a dramatic increase in violent crime this summer, and children have not been spared. As of the first week of August, the number of shooting victims younger than 10 years old was three times what it was last year, according to Tribune data.
In announcing that detectives had secured video of the Aug. 14 shooting, Deenihan said the child and his family were not the targets. “It’s the wrong group of people,” he said.
In the footage released by the department, several men can be seen filing out of a gangway onto the street. As a basketball arcs in the air, they open fire toward the court.
Deenihan briefly outlined some of the other recent shootings involving children that have resulted in charges, including the fatal shootings of 9-year-old Janari Ricks, 7-year-old Natalia Wallace and 10-year-old Lena Nunez.
“We need the community’s input to solve the case,” Deenihan said of the 12-year-old. “The video technology with the witness cooperation is what brings these cases to a conclusion.”


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Feds say more than 60 defendants in Chicago charged with gun, drug offenses in Operation Legend’s fi

Feds say more than 60 defendants in Chicago charged with gun, drug offenses in Operation Legend’s first four weeks

The trend led to some confusion among county prosecutors .
On July 25 , just two days after Trump ’ @ @ @ @ @ an email sent by a high-ranking prosecutor to attorneys in the Felony Review Unit said @ @ @ @ @ all gun arrests to federal agents first , giving them the right of first refusal @ @ @ @ @ charges .

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch announces charges in a significant federal gang investigation, during an outdoor news conference at the Chicago police 7th District station on July 29, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
More than 60 people arrested in Chicago have been hit with federal charges under Operation Legend since the U.S. Department of Justice launched the program here four weeks ago, the city’s top federal prosecutor said Wednesday.
In 49 criminal cases brought through Operation Legend since July 22, more than 30 defendants are facing a firearms-related charge, while 25 others were charged with drug trafficking, according to a release from U.S. Attorney John Lausch’s office.
Advertisement
Among them: A man with a lengthy criminal history charged with possessing ammunition that had been loaded in a personally manufactured firearm, also known as a “ghost gun”; a man who allegedly purchased guns in Indiana with the intent to sell them on the streets in Chicago; and a convicted felon arrested at a hotel room in downtown Chicago with a gun, ammunition, 17.5 kilograms of marijuana and $1,400 in cash.
““We will continue to use these additional resources to investigate and prosecute trigger-pullers, drug traffickers, carjackers, and those who illegally traffic, use, and possess firearms,” Lausch said in a statement.
Advertisement
Operation Legend was named in honor of 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, fatally shot while he slept early in the morning of June 29 in Kansas City. The initiative has also expanded to Albuquerque, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Memphis, Tennessee, and Indianapolis.
The program landed in Chicago amid an alarming spike in gun violence to levels not seen in years, claiming victims as young as 1 year old. In July, a shooting outside a funeral home saw 15 people wounded — the worst mass shooting in recent Chicago memory.
Earlier this month, the Chicago Tribune reported there had been a concerted push for more federal cases, including many brought by Chicago police directly to the feds instead of the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, which has historically handled the vast majority of Chicago gun felonies.
The trend led to some confusion among county prosecutors. On July 25, just two days after Trump’s Operation Legend announcement, an email sent by a high-ranking prosecutor to attorneys in the Felony Review Unit said Chicago police would be taking all gun arrests to federal agents first, giving them the right of first refusal in deciding whether to bring charges.
But the strict policy was apparently never put into place. A statement from State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office said they “considered a change in how gun cases would be reviewed” but ultimately changed nothing.
The U.S. attorney’s office said Wednesday that “several” of the cases brought via the Legend initiative were charged directly in federal court after agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives worked side by side with Chicago police.
In others, the news release said, federal prosecutors worked with Foxx’s office “to determine the best forum in which to bring a prosecution.”
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Column: Trump will NOT hurt the Postal Service or get help from Russia — as long as we let him win t

Column: Trump will NOT hurt the Postal Service or get help from Russia — as long as we let him win the election

Anyway , this whole Postal Service kerfuffle is over now .
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy , who got the job @ @ @ @ @ his bootstraps then pulling millions of dollars out of his boots and giving them to @ @ @ @ @ released a statement this week saying there will be no more sorting-machine or mailbox removal @ @ @ @ @ the appearance of any impact on election mail , I am suspending these initiatives until @ @ @ @ @ .
”

President Donald Trump arrives to speak to a crowd of supporters at Yuma International Airport on Aug. 18, 2020, in Yuma, Ariz. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Hello, I am with the Republican Party and would like to reassure all real (Trump-supporting) Americans that the U.S. Postal Service is just fine and you have no reason to worry about the security of the upcoming election.
As I reassure you that our mail system is not being tampered with in any way, I hope you’ll excuse the noise in the background. We’re melting down recently removed mailboxes and patriotically transitioning them into statutes of President Donald Trump that every city in America will be required to install.
Advertisement
There have been widespread concerns about the U.S. Postal Service due to a slowdown in mail delivery and the removal of mail-sorting machines in advance of the 2020 presidential election. Allow me to distract you from those concerns with several outlandish comments that strain credulity.
First off, we know from President Trump’s own words that: Mail-in voting is guaranteed to lead to a “rigged election”; is a fraudulent system, except when he and other Republicans do it; and must be stopped, unless Trump supporters want to do it, in which case it’s fine.
Advertisement
While radical-left Democrat demon spawn will tell you “mail-ballot fraud is exceedingly rare,” they’re sneakily basing that claim on the fact that there is no evidence of significant mail-ballot fraud.
CNN host Jake Tapper tried this grounded-in-truth line recently on White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, sparking this exchange:
Tapper: “But there’s no evidence of widespread voter fraud.”
Meadows: “There’s no evidence that there’s not either. That’s the definition of fraud, Jake.”
HUM A FEW BARS OF THAT, FAKE-NEWS TAPPER!
Granted, Meadows’ standard for establishing truth is so simplistic that Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and several Hobbits were willed into existence moments after the words left his mouth, but who cares? Bigfoot is awesome.
Now let me get back to my effort to reassure you that the willful dismantling of an essential government service that delivers prescriptions to veterans and Social Security checks to retirees is a perfectly reasonable thing for a president seeking reelection to do. And please watch your step as we pass these disassembled mail-sorting machines.
(It was cute, recently a tiny girl in a MAGA hat named Cindy Lou Defund-the-WHO asked President Trump why he was taking the sorting machines away, and he said: “Why, my sweet little tot, there’s a light on these Marxist sorting machines that won’t light on one side. So I’m taking it home to my workshop, my dear. I’ll fix it up there, then I’ll bring it back here. Shortly after the election.”)
Advertisement
Anyway, this whole Postal Service kerfuffle is over now. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who got the job by lifting himself up by his bootstraps then pulling millions of dollars out of his boots and giving them to Trump and the GOP, released a statement this week saying there will be no more sorting-machine or mailbox removal: “To avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail, I am suspending these initiatives until after the election is concluded.”
That makes perfect sense. It reminds me of the time in high school when I whacked a kid from a rival high school in the kneecap with a sledgehammer and then announced: “To avoid even the appearance of any impact on the upcoming track meet, I am suspending kneecap-whacking until after the track meet is concluded.” It all worked out fine, and I won.
Which is basically the point here. As long as President Trump wins the election, everything is fine.
As he said this week at a campaign stop in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.: “The only way we’re going to lose this election is if this election is rigged.”
Are we clear? First, meddling with the Postal Service to deter people from voting during a pandemic that has already killed 170,000 Americans is good because it prevents fraud, which there is no evidence of, and that lack of evidence proves it exists. Also, nobody is meddling with the Postal Service. (Please put on your rain parkas. We’re now dropping several loads of decommissioned mail-sorting machines into the sea and you might be in the splash zone.)
Second, you don’t have to worry about Russia interfering with the election. Yes, a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report released Tuesday found that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s business partner was a Russian intelligence operative and that Manafort was so receptive to Russian outreach that it presented a “grave counterintelligence threat.”
Advertisement
And yes, that report found that Trump and others in his campaign likely lied to special counsel Robert Mueller, did all they could to obstruct his investigation and freely accepted Russian assistance in the election.
But that report contains a lot of words, and it’s much easier to just say, “Hoax!”
Besides, I guarantee President Trump would promise never to accept election help from a foreign power. The only reason he hasn’t done that is to trigger the libs, and because he is busy dismantling the Postal Service, because if he doesn’t and loses, the election will have been rigged.
Just another step in the process of Making America Great Again!
Now if any of you left-wing radicals take issue with this column, feel free to let me know. You can send your concerns through the totally smooth-running Postal Service: Rex Huppke, 160 N. Stetson Ave. Chicago, IL 60601.


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Lawyers for indicted Ald. Edward Burke to challenge evidence against him, but some detail expected t

Lawyers for indicted Ald. Edward Burke to challenge evidence against him, but some detail expected to be sealed

Among the protected material , according to Burke ’ s attorneys , are some details of the government ’ s @ @ @ @ @ that allowed the FBI to tap Burke ’ s cellphone .
The motions will also @ @ @ @ @ and other sensitive evidence that should be kept from public view , according to Burke @ @ @ @ @ the entirety of the motions are not expected to be kept from the public .

Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, right, gets applause after his farewell speech on his last day as alderman at the City Council meeting, April 19, 2023. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
After months on the back burner, the bribery case against Chicago Ald. Edward Burke is expected to heat up Thursday when his lawyers file long-awaited motions challenging the government’s wiretaps and other evidence.
How much of the material will be made public, however, remains to be seen.
Advertisement
In a filing Tuesday, Burke’s attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Robert Dow for permission to redact key portions of their motions or file them as sealed exhibits.
Among the protected material, according to Burke’s attorneys, are some details of the government’s 87-page Title III wiretap application that allowed the FBI to tap Burke’s cellphone. The motions will also include discussions of witness statements and other sensitive evidence that should be kept from public view, according to Burke’s attorneys, though the entirety of the motions are not expected to be kept from the public.
Advertisement
“In order to avoid the unnecessary disclosure of these sensitive materials, counsel respectfully seek leave of court to publicly file these motions with redactions, and file unredacted versions under seal,” Burke’s attorneys wrote.
Dow granted the request in a minute order Wednesday. A status hearing in the case is set for Sept. 2.
Government wiretap applications are always filed in secret, and it’s not unusual for details contained in the applications — or specific conversations later recorded by law enforcement — to be kept hidden from the public as a case is awaiting trial.
Federal court records show that in Burke’s case, the FBI had the alderman’s cellphone tapped over at least an eight-month period, listening in on thousands of calls made or received. Only snippets of a few of those conversations have so far been made public in the indictment.
The wiretap was approved after prosecutors secured the cooperation of then-Ald. Daniel Solis, a longtime Burke ally, who began working with federal investigators in 2016 after he was himself secretly recorded by a developer. Solis, who abruptly announced his retirement in late 2018, has not been charged with wrongdoing.
Burke and his two co-defendants — longtime 14th Ward political operative Peter J. Andrews and real estate developer Charles Cui — are currently scheduled to go to trial sometime in mid-2021. It’s unclear, however, if the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down jury trials for more than four months at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, will cause further delay.
Burke, 76, a Democratic stalwart and onetime dean of the City Council, was originally charged in a criminal complaint in January 2019. He was indicted four months later on 14 counts including racketeering, federal program bribery, attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion and using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity.
Meanwhile, Burke easily won reelection in February 2019 despite the cloud of the charges hanging over his campaign. He would be up for reelection in 2023.
Advertisement
The 59-page indictment outlined a series of schemes in which Burke allegedly tried to muscle developers into hiring his law firm, Klafter & Burke, to appeal their property taxes. Among the projects Burke tried to capitalize on was the massive $800 million renovation of the old main Chicago post office in the West Loop, according to the charges.
Andrews was accused of assisting the alderman in attempting to shake down two businessmen seeking to renovate a Burger King restaurant in the 14th Ward.
The indictment also accused Cui of hiring Burke’s law firm in exchange for the alderman’s help with a sign permit and financing deal for a project in the Portage Park neighborhood.
All three have pleaded not guilty.
In addition to their motion to suppress the wiretap, Burke’s attorneys said Tuesday they will file motions challenging the federal bribery statutes charged in the indictment.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Metra is falling further behind budget amid COVID-19 ridership decline. Transit agency now projects

Metra is falling further behind budget amid COVID-19 ridership decline. Transit agency now projects $682M in lost revenue.

“ Ridership may never recover to 2019 levels , certainly not soon , ” Farmer said .
“ We had @ @ @ @ @ Day we were going to see kids back in school and we were going to @ @ @ @ @ workplaces opening up .
All three of those are progressing much more slowly than we @ @ @ @ @

Commuters exit the 5:36 train at the Des Plaines Metra station on Aug. 19, 2020, in Des Plaines. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
As the pandemic persists and people stay home in droves, Metra is falling further behind its revenue schedule.
The Chicago area’s commuter rail system upped its projected two-year budget deficit to $682.5 million at a virtual monthly board meeting Wednesday, and warned that it will have to start cutting costs more aggressively without additional federal aid like the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act passed in March.
Advertisement
“CARES funds won’t last forever,” Thomas Farmer, Metra’s chief financial officer, said during the meeting. “We must adjust costs if ridership doesn’t return soon.”
Metra, which operates 11 rail lines across six counties, has seen ridership plunge to about 10% of its pre-COVID-19 level, as remote working and school remain the norm for many commuters. Train cars are still “largely empty” despite cutting daily service by more than half, Farmer said.
Advertisement
Metra’s annual operating budget is funded equally by ridership fares and a regional sales tax. It is getting about $480 million in federal CARES Act funding, leaving a projected $200 million revenue gap through the end of 2021.
Metra has twice increased the projected revenue shortfall since April, as more optimistic pandemic reopening scenarios fall by the wayside. The rail system is looking to reach 30% of normal ridership levels by the end of the year, but that recovery schedule is in doubt.
“Ridership may never recover to 2019 levels, certainly not soon,” Farmer said. “We had big hopes that after Labor Day we were going to see kids back in school and we were going to see unemployment down and the workplaces opening up. All three of those are progressing much more slowly than we had hoped for.”
Service cuts have reduced operating expenses by about $7 million a month.
While personnel costs represent about two-thirds of Metra’s operating expenses, it has yet to lay off or furlough any of its 2,300 employees, even as service has been reduced.
“We have no plans to make any furloughs or layoffs at this time,” Metra spokesman Michael Gillis said Wednesday.
Those employees may, however, be redeployed in the coming months as Metra formulates its 2021 budget, Farmer said during the meeting.
“We will use capital work as we can to keep people productively employed,” Farmer said. “We are planning for a future when CARES money runs out, because at that time, expenses are going to have to equal revenues.”
Advertisement
rchannick@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Woman arrested after confrontation with Black man over whether he could be on Winnetka pier, police

Woman arrested after confrontation with Black man over whether he could be on Winnetka pier, police say

“ She decides to take it upon herself and come over to me and our group and ask , ‘ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ” Campbell said .
“ We ’ re like , ‘ What are you @ @ @ @ @ ’ t even know who you are .
You ’ re not a staff member.
@ @

Irene Donoshaytis, 65, of Northfield, was charged with battery in Winnetka. (Winnetka Police Department)
A Northfield woman was charged with battery after a confrontation in Winnetka Sunday over whether a Black man and two women were allowed to be on the pier, police said.
Winnetka police arrested Irene Donoshaytis, 65, of Northfield, after they responded about 7:35 p.m. near the Winnetka Pier, 720 Tower Road, said Dep. Chief Brian O’Connell.
Advertisement
“A verbal dispute turned physical over what appeared to be a disagreement of the need for a Winnetka beach pass,” O’Connell said.
Donoshaytis could not be reached for comment.
Advertisement
The dispute started after Donoshaytis approached Otis Campbell, 25, of Skokie, who was ending a 15-mile bicycle ride at the pier with his cousin and a friend, Campbell said Wednesday.
“It’s not a short ride. We were exhausted,” Campbell said.
Donoshaytis approached the group after they coasted down the hill, finished their ride and sat down at the bottom of the pier to rest, Campbell said.
“She decides to take it upon herself and come over to me and our group and ask, ‘Where are your passes?’” Campbell said. “We’re like, ‘What are you talking about? We don’t even know who you are. You’re not a staff member.‘”
Campbell said Donoshaytis questioned the group’s right to access the pier.
“She says, ‘This is America. This is America, you can’t do this. I’m from Winnetka. You need to go back where you’re from,‘” Campbell said.
Campbell is a first-generation U.S. citizen born to immigrant parents and a graduate of Niles North High School in Skokie, he said. His mom is from Belize and his dad from Jamaica.
Donoshaytis then walked over to a Winnetka Park District attendant monitoring the beach, Campbell said.
Advertisement
“In my head, something clicked. This is how people get in trouble,” said Campbell.
So, he also walked over to the attendant and began recording the encounter with his phone.
In the video posted to Twitter, where it has been widely shared, Donoshaytis is seen approaching the park district employee to complain about Campbell and his group.
The employee explains that where the three cyclists were sitting is public property and a beach pass is not required.
“To walk up and down this driveway and onto the pier, you don’t need a pass,” the employee said.
Donoshaytis disagreed.
Advertisement
“It’s not public. For people who live in Winnetka and we pay for it,” she is heard saying in the video.
Campbell can be heard laughing on the video and Donoshaytis then turns back to him.
“Are you crazy? What, you want to kill me? No? It feels like it,” she is recorded as saying.
“Why would I want to kill you? Is it because I’m Black?” Campbell replies.
“Yes,” Donoshaytis said.
At this point, the employee offered to get her supervisor.
Advertisement
Donoshaytis then is seen moving quickly toward Campbell’s phone, and the video shakes and cuts off.
Campbell said she hit his arm twice, leaving a bruise.
Winnetka police responded soon thereafter and Donoshaytis later was arrested.
O’Connell confirmed Wednesday that Campbell and his group were on public property and not in a place that required beach passes.
Also, because the group was on bicycles, they did not require a parking pass, either, O’Connell said.
Campbell said he plans to attend Donoshaytis’ next court date and believes that, based on the comments she made toward him, the charges should include hate crimes.
Advertisement
O’Connell declined to comment on the racial aspects of the encounter.
Campbell said he was disappointed that responding officers didn’t approach him first but instead went up to Donoshaytis to see if she needed help. Otherwise, he was pleased with how the situation was handled by police.
“It’s not saying that they didn’t do their job right. It’s just showing the world that this is an extremely toxic place when it comes to race,” he said.
Campbell said Donoshaytis is “probably a great person” but the encounter was still distressing.
Advertisement
“She just needs to get educated on the fact that everyone is not what you think. I’m not going to hurt you if i’m sitting here on the pier,” Campbell said.
Donoshaytis was released on bond Sunday evening and is next set to appear in court Aug. 31, O’Connell said.
gbookwalter@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Four shot Wednesday in attacks on West, South sides

One of the men , 19 , was shot in the left foot , right arm and right knee .
@ @ @ @ @ , suffered wounds to the left arm , upper right thigh and a graze wound @ @ @ @ @ victims were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition , police @ @

A 9-year-old boy was among four people who were wounded in shootings Wednesday on the West and South sides, Chicago police said.
The latest shooting happened shortly after 1:15 p.m. in the Austin neighborhood in the 300 block of North Central Avenue. Police said a boy and a 27-year-old woman were on the sidewalk when a dark-colored vehicle pulled up, two people jumped out and opened fire on them both. The gunmen then fled north on Central Avenue, police said.
Advertisement
The woman was shot in the lower back, as well as the 9-year-old boy. Both were taken to Stroger Hospital where their conditions were stabilized, police said.
Shortly after 9 a.m., two victims were standing outside in the 7400 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue when a gold sedan pulled up, and three people jumped out and opened fire, police said. The gunmen then fled south in the sedan.
Advertisement
One of the men, 19, was shot in the left foot, right arm and right knee. The other victim, 25, suffered wounds to the left arm, upper right thigh and a graze wound to the forehead. Both victims were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition, police said.
No one was in custody.


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Time Out Market Chicago re-opens next week for first time since March with smaller lineup and safety

Time Out Market Chicago re-opens next week for first time since March with smaller lineup and safety measures

New arrangements include expanded outdoor space for both the first floor patio areas , as well as the rooftop bar @ @ @ @ @ at vendors and the bars — will have plexiglass partitions separating workers from customers .
@ @ @ @ @ feet apart .
Each table will also be adorned with a partition , separating larger @ @ @ @ @ , safely distanced parties , and there will also be partitions between smaller tables for @ @ @

Time Out Market Chicago is seen March 15, 2020 as the food hall announced plans to close "indefinitely." It will reopen Aug. 26, after being closed more than five months. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Time Out Market food hall in the West Loop announced that it plans to reopen next Wednesday, joining a trickle of bars and restaurants around the city attempting to restart service.
Time Out becomes the city’s third food hall to open since March — joining Wells St. Market, which reopened after closing for the pandemic, and Dr. Murphy’s, a new venture — when the Illinois state guidelines required across-the-board shutdowns due to the pandemic. Given the multi-vendor set-up and high level of social interactivity in food hall’s business models, the shutdown seemed like it could have a dramatic effect on these types of operations.
Advertisement
The 53,000-square-foot Time Out Market will reopen with new safety guidelines to handle COVID-19, plus eight returning concepts/chefs: Arami, Chef Bill Kim (Urbanbelly), Chef Brian Fisher (Entente), Dos Urban Cantina, Duck Inn Dogs, Lost Larson, Mini Mott and Pretty Cool Ice Cream. The food hall’s rooftop and first-floor bars will also be open in full.
Some vendors that were part of the market’s original lineup in November 2019 are absent from the initial reopening group, including chefs Jimmy Bannos Jr. (Purple Pig), Abe Conlon (Fat Rice), Thai Dang (HaiSous), John Manion (El Che Steakhouse), Zoe Schor (Split-Rail) and Erick Williams (Virtue), plus the Art of Pizza, FARE and Secret Sound cocktail bar.
Advertisement
The reopening schedule includes dinner service and a special “welcome back” happy hour from 4-7 p.m. daily.
New arrangements include expanded outdoor space for both the first floor patio areas, as well as the rooftop bar. Every counter area — at vendors and the bars — will have plexiglass partitions separating workers from customers. All tables are spaced 6 feet apart. Each table will also be adorned with a partition, separating larger tables into sections for smaller, safely distanced parties, and there will also be partitions between smaller tables for additional spacing.
Extra employees will be dedicated to sanitizing surfaces, and all workers will be outfitted with PPE. Customers can also use new sanitation stations positioned throughout the food hall. Time Out Market, which already used a digital payment system, has now moved entirely to contactless ordering and payment methods using its own mobile app.
New vendors will be added to the market’s lineup in the coming weeks. Vendors are being welcomed back in staggered phases in order to maintain safety distancing and other guidelines, according to a press release, with existing occupants given first priority.
Stay tuned for new additions to the food hall’s reopening lineup.
916 W. Fulton Market, 312-637-3888, timeoutmarket.com/chicago


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Watch live: Gov. J.B. Pritzker provides update on COVID-19 in Illinois

Illinois Gov .
J.B. Pritzker is expected to provide an update on the state ’ s coronavirus response at 2 @ @ @ @ @ latest updates on COVID-19 in Illinois here .

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


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital da

COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital data in your area

Among the metrics ( see below ) tracked under guidelines set by Gov .
J.B. Pritzker are the percentage of @ @ @ @ @ , the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19-like illnesses , and the capacity of hospitals @ @ @ @ @ state will decide how much or how little to restrict activities based on these metrics @

Note: With Chicago and Illinois moving into phase 5, the Tribune is no longer updating this data. If the state moves back into bridge phase, the Tribune we reassess. Daily metrics on COVID-19, like cases, deaths and hospitalizations, can be found here. And Daily metrics on the vaccination effort can be found here. More on where the coronavirus stands nationally and around the world can be found here.
To assess how different parts of Illinois are handling the COVID-19 pandemic, officials look at the state through the 11 regions of Emergency Medical Services. The city of Chicago is one region, for example, and the rest of Cook County is another.
Among the metrics (see below) tracked under guidelines set by Gov. J.B. Pritzker are the percentage of coronavirus tests that return positive, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19-like illnesses, and the capacity of hospitals to take in new patients.The state will decide how much or how little to restrict activities based on these metrics. (Cases, deaths and tests data is as of Dec. 31).
• Check out the Tribune’s coronavirus coverage.
• Remembering the lives of those in Illinois who died from coronavirus.
• Other Chicago, suburbs and Illinois COVID-19 metrics.
• See how the governor’s plan to manage the regions works.
Source: Illinois Department of Public Health
Created by the Chicago Tribune dataviz team. On Twitter @chitribgraphics


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood

Search below by street address , ZIP code or city , then click on the map to see the number @ @ @ @ @ state is not providing data for any ZIP code with five cases or fewer .

Note: With Chicago and Illinois moving into phase 5, the Tribune is no longer updating this data. If the state moves back into bridge phase, the Tribune we reassess. Daily metrics on COVID-19, like cases, deaths and hospitalizations, can be found here. And Daily metrics on the vaccination effort can be found here. More on where the coronavirus stands nationally and around the world can be found here.
Illinois releases the number of positive COVID-19 cases by ZIP code daily. The map below shows the cumulative cases for each area as well as other analysis of the data.
• Check out the Tribune’s coronavirus coverage.
• Tracking daily Illinois coronavirus deaths, cases and tests.
Search below by street address, ZIP code or city, then click on the map to see the number of confirmed and probable cases. The state is not providing data for any ZIP code with five cases or fewer.
Data as of June 10.
The map search tool above works best in Chrome or Firefox and may not perform consistently in Internet Explorer.
Note: Because of a coding error this map was displaying the incorrect rates for new cases in the last 7 days per 100,000 people — the issue should now be resolved.. The Tribune adjusted the data shown on the map below to focus on new cases, those the state tracked in the last 7 seven days. The totals for the entire pandemic are still available, but in the pop-up after tapping or clicking on a ZIP.


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--Illinois coronavirus graphs: 7,806 deaths, 211,889 confirmed cases and 3.49 million tests

• How are Illinois regions doing ?
Check our daily charts on where each region stands on positivity rate and @ @ @ @ @ .

Johns Hopkins University & Medicine tracked coronavirus cases, deaths and test totals from Jan. 22, 2020 through March 10, 2023, but is no longer providing this data. These charts will no longer be updated.
Check the Illinois Department of Public Health for the most up-to-date data for Illinois.
[ Remembering the lives of those in Illinois who died from coronavirus ]
Can’t see these charts? Go here.


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--State panel votes to remove statues of Stephen Douglas and a former lieutenant governor from Capitol

State panel votes to remove statues of Stephen Douglas and a former lieutenant governor from Capitol grounds because  of their ties to slavery

The University of Chicago last month announced it removed two displays honoring Douglas from campus and relocated them to a @ @ @ @ @ said , “ Douglas profited from his wife ’ s ownership of a Mississippi plantation @ @ @ @ @ .
While it is critical to understand and address the ongoing legacy of slavery and @ @ @ @ @ Douglas does not deserve to be honored on our campus .
”

A statue of Stephen Douglas stands in front of the east entrance to the Illinois State Capitol on Aug. 19, 2020, in Springfield. A panel voted Wednesday to remove statues of Douglas and Pierre Menard from outside the Illinois Capitol. (Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register)
Springfield — Statues of two historical Illinois figures with ties to slavery, Stephen Douglas and Pierre Menard, are slated to be removed from the Illinois Capitol lawn after a panel voted Wednesday to have them taken down and to begin a comprehensive study of artwork on the Capitol complex.
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan last month called for the removal of the statues of Douglas, a staunch defender of slavery, and Menard, the state’s first lieutenant governor and a slaveholder.
Advertisement
Capitol architect Andrea Aggertt, whose office has control over statues on the Capitol grounds, said she anticipates the pair of statues can be removed from the Capitol grounds within two to three months.
A movement to remove memorials and artwork depicting historical figures with connections to slavery from public spaces gained momentum earlier this summer after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, which sparked nationwide protests against racism and police brutality against people of color.
Advertisement
Architect of the Capitol Andrea Aggertt discusses how the area around a statue of Stephen Douglas on the Illinois Capitol grounds will be re-sodded after its possible removal, during a meeting of the board of the Office of the Architect of the Capitol in the Stratton Building on Aug. 19, 2020, in Springfield. (Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register)
The four-member board of the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, which is comprised of the clerk and assistant clerk of the Illinois House and the secretary and assistant secretary of the state Senate, voted unanimously Wednesday for the removal and storage of the statues.
The board directed the office to pursue a rule change that would allow for a Martin Luther King Jr. statue that is currently across the street from the Capitol in Springfield to be moved onto the statehouse grounds.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
A statue of Douglas on the second floor of the Capitol was not included in Wednesday’s vote, in part due to additional challenges connected with removing and storing the indoor statue, said Clerk of the House John Hollman, who presented the statue removal proposal.
Scott Kaiser, a board member and the assistant secretary of the state Senate, called it an “inconsistency” to not remove the indoor Douglas statue along with the one on the lawn, noting that statue inside the Capitol “is in some ways even more prominent” than the one that’s slated for removal.
The office and the board will review artwork, including murals and statues located in public spaces inside the Capitol and on the grounds, through an update to its historic structures report. The study of the artifacts on the Capitol grounds will be “an opportunity to discuss what happens to these statues we’re decommissioning,” Hollman said.
Douglas represented Illinois in both chambers of the U.S. Congress, and famously took part in a series of debates with Abraham Lincoln during a U.S. Senate campaign. He lost the 1860 presidential election to Lincoln.
The University of Chicago last month announced it removed two displays honoring Douglas from campus and relocated them to a university collection. The university said, “Douglas profited from his wife’s ownership of a Mississippi plantation where Black people were enslaved. While it is critical to understand and address the ongoing legacy of slavery and oppression in this country, Douglas does not deserve to be honored on our campus.”
Advertisement
Madigan said in a statement last month he planned to introduce a resolution to authorize the removal of a portrait of Douglas that hangs in the House chamber when lawmakers return to Springfield. Madigan said the painting should be replaced with a portrait of former President Barack Obama.
The fall veto session is scheduled to begin Nov. 17.
jmunks@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-08-19--With new zoning approved, two businesses request city OK to sell recreational marijuana in Napervill

With new zoning approved, two businesses request city OK to sell recreational marijuana in Naperville

“ Green Thumb has had a great relationship with the city of Naperville since 2015 and we ’ ve been @ @ @ @ @ medical cannabis to many of its residents who are patients at 3C Naperville , ” @ @ @ @ @ issued after the city council vote .
“ We look forward to welcoming and serving @ @ @ @ @ .
”

Naperville City Council members voted 6-3 Tuesday night to approve a new zoning ordinance under which up to three recreational marijuana dispensaries can operate within city limits. (Erin Hegarty / Naperville Sun)
Three companies, Green Thumb Industries, ZenLeaf Naperville and PDI Medical, have submitted applications to sell recreational marijuana in Naperville under new zoning approved this week that allows up to three dispensaries to operate in the city.
Green Thumb Industries, which operates the city’s only medical cannabis dispensary 3C Naperville, has requested to add recreational marijuana sales to its existing location at 1700 Quincy Ave., company spokeswoman Linda Marsicano said.
Advertisement
The business is to be rebranded Rise Naperville, and recreational marijuana sales could start sometime this fall, Marsicano said.
“We care very much about our (medical) patients and will continue to serve them with minimal disruption during the remodel,” she said.
Advertisement
ZenLeaf Naperville’s application seeks to open a recreational marijuana dispensary at 1516 N. Naper Blvd., near Ogden Avenue, city spokeswoman Linda LaCloche said. The location would be less than a mile from Interstate 88.
PDI Medical is an affiliate of Cresco Labs and does business as Sunrise, LaCloche said. The location they are considering is at 2740 W. 75th St., just off Route 59 and close to the city’s border with Aurora.
The council voted 6-3 Tuesday to approve zoning that sets guidelines for recreational pot sales in Naperville.
Among the restrictions, retail stores cannot operate within one mile of an existing dispensary and must be at least 1,000 feet from primary or secondary schools and 250 feet from residences.
Additionally, they can only operate in areas zoned for business or for office, commercial and institutional space and in districts created for industrial, health services, and research and development uses.
“The very in-depth deliberation we’ve been through and the amount of shaping and forming of this ordinance we have made on virtually every category has been thoughtful and considerate of both sides of this vote,” Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico said.
Council members Kevin Coyne, Patty Gustin and Paul Hinterlong voted against the rule change, which reverses an earlier council decision to ban recreational marijuana sales in the city.
Green Thumb Industries was among the first Illinois medical dispensaries awarded a license to also sell recreational marijuana, which is why it was able to submit its application to the city so quickly.
Advertisement
3C Naperville opened in January 2016, after the sale of cannabis for medical purposes became legal. Rise is Green Thumb Industries’ brand of retail dispensary locations.
“Green Thumb has had a great relationship with the city of Naperville since 2015 and we’ve been honored to provide relief via medical cannabis to many of its residents who are patients at 3C Naperville,” Marsicano said in a statement issued after the city council vote. “We look forward to welcoming and serving new customers in the community.”
Initially the council voted to prohibit recreational pot stores before sales became legal in Illinois on Jan. 1. Council members later decided to gauge residents’ opinions on the matter in a nonbinding March referendum; a majority said they favored recreational pot being sold in the city.
Some residents and council members argued the city should require retailers to obtain a conditional use permit from the council before being allowed allowed to sell recreational marijuana. The extra step would create more transparency, proponents said.
Coyne made a motion Tuesday night to add that provision to the ordinance, but didn’t have enough support to pass it.
Chirico said the city has been told an Illinois cannabis market study indicates Naperville could collect as much as $1 million annually in sales tax from marijuana sales.
Advertisement
Almost $61 million in recreational pot was sold in Illinois in July alone and $300.1 million since sales became legal in January. Municipalities can collect up to a 3% tax on sales, which is the amount Naperville will assess.
ehegarty@tribpub.com