chicagotribune--2020-04-27--Higher prices, fewer options for meat lovers as coronavirus closes more Illinois meatpacking plants

“ Our nation is going to suffer with higher food prices because our government is sitting on their thumbs when @ @ @ @ @ workers , ” Lauritsen said .
“ They deemed them essential , they need to @ @ @ @ @ PPE , and they need to take care of them with proper testing , so @ @ @ @ @ operating .
”

Piglets in one of the two barns at Leman Farms in Eureka, Illinois, on April 24, 2020. Farmer Chad Leman has seen a 75% drop in demand for his hogs since meat processing plants have started to close because of worker COVID-19 illnesses. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Chad Leman, a third-generation hog farmer in Eureka, Illinois, thinks he can hold out for two more weeks before he resorts to once-unthinkable measures.
With some of the nation’s largest slaughterhouses closed due to worker outbreaks of COVID-19, he can’t sell most of his market-ready hogs. But freshly weaned piglets continue to arrive, crowding his barns. He’s been shuffling pigs around, but there’s just not enough space.
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“We can do this for a couple weeks yet, but then we’re going to have some tough decisions," Leman said. "We are going to have to euthanize baby pigs because there will be nowhere for them to go.”
Hog farmer Chad Leman, third-generation owner of Leman Farms in Eureka, Illinois, with a piglet on April 24, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)
Outbreaks of COVID-19 among workers at major meatpacking plants are causing ripple effects across the supply chain, creating a backlog of livestock at farms in central Illinois and threatening to hike meat prices at supermarkets in Chicago.
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Smithfield on Friday announced that it will indefinitely shutter its pork plant in Monmouth, Illinois, after a “small portion” of its 1,700 employees there tested positive for COVID-19. The plant represents about 3% of U.S. fresh pork supplies, said the company, which nearly two weeks ago also closed its giant hog harvesting facility in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which accounts for another 4% to 5% of the nation’s pork production.
Separately on Friday, the Kane County Health Department ordered the temporary shutdown of Smithfield’s meat processing plant in St. Charles, which employs 325 people, due to COVID-19 concerns. The closure allows the department to “work with the company in mitigation efforts as well as providing education relative to social distancing and employee safety relative to personal protective equipment (PPEs),” the health department said in a statement.
About a quarter of U.S. beef and pork production has been affected by slaughterhouse closures and slowed processing speeds, said Christine McCracken, animal protein analyst at Rabobank, an agricultural lender. Some factories have reduced capacity because of worker absenteeism or to create distance between workers on crowded production lines.
[ Meat inspectors are terrified their job is a coronavirus ‘death sentence’ ]
The shoulder-to-shoulder work involved in cutting and disassembling carcasses, designed to maximize efficiency, made workers vulnerable to catching and spreading the highly contagious coronavirus. According to United Food and Commercial Workers International, a union representing 200,000 food production workers, some 5,000 of its members at unionized meatpacking plants have tested positive for COVID-19 or been exposed to someone who tested positive, and 10 members have died.
At food processing facilities, another 1,500 of its members have become sick and three have died, the union said.
Consumers won’t find a shortage of meat at grocery stores, but they may not find all the cuts they are accustomed to as meat processors concentrate on certain lines, given the limited labor force.
“In these conditions you focus on your main products and try to put all resources into the products that are in the greatest demand,” said Peter Goldsmith, director of the food and agribusiness program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Shoppers seeking boneless chicken thighs may be able to find only whole bone-in chicken legs, McCracken said. Or “you may go and just find a bag of chicken,” she said.
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With meat production down by about 20% compared with normal times, tight supply also is likely to drive up wholesale prices of meat, McCracken said. Retailers often absorb the cost rather than pass it on to customers, but some items that are particularly popular right now, such as ground beef, are likely to become more expensive, she said.
At Pete’s Fresh Market, Chief Operating Officer Joe Kolavo says wholesale meat prices have risen 15% to 20% just in the past week, and customers may see prices at the store inch up as a result. Vendors are telling him supply is down 50% from normal, with beef and pork particularly tight.
That’s a big shift from the start of the state’s stay-at-home order, when excess supply destined for restaurants, cafeterias and other food service establishments that could no longer operate drove prices down. Now with the plant closures, meat will be available but “very limited, and some of the variety may be difficult to maintain” through May and perhaps into June, Kolavo said.
That could mean fewer types of ground beef to choose from, or customers may have to wait a day or two to get a certain cut of pork, he said, so for consumers it’s not a crisis.
“There is no reason to panic buy and freeze,” Kolavo said. “It will help everybody if people don’t panic buy on these products.”
Some farmers, however, are facing financial devastation as slowed or halted production at slaughterhouses leave them without a market for their livestock.
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The pork industry is getting hit particularly hard as a flurry of pork plant closures disrupt the precise rhythm of hog farming. Illinois is the fourth-biggest pork producer in the country, sending 12 million hogs to slaughter every year at plants across the Midwest.
A Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Waterloo, Iowa. On Friday, April 17, 2020, more than a dozen Iowa elected officials asked Tyson to close the pork processing plant because of the spread of the coronavirus among its workforce of nearly 3,000. (Jeff Reinitz/AP)
A car with a sign calling for a safe and healthy workplace drives past Smithfield Foods Inc. in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, during a protest, April 9, 2020, on behalf of employees after many workers complained of unsafe working conditions due to the COVID-19 outbreak. (Erin Bormett/The Argus Leader)
Tyson Fresh Meats on Wednesday announced indefinite closures at its pork processing plants in Waterloo, Iowa, and Logansport, Indiana, which together employ 5,000 people, while workers undergo testing. The announcement came a day after the company reopened its pork plant in Columbus Junction, Iowa, on a limited basis after a two-week suspension. Two workers from that plant died of COVID-19.
Tyson, based in Springdale, Arkansas, said a combination of COVID-19 cases, worker absenteeism and community concerns drove its decision to close, and the timing of reopening will depend on test results.The company said it has been trying to balance its responsibilities to its workers and to the nation’s food supply.
“The closure has significant ramifications beyond our company, since the plant is part of a larger supply chain that includes hundreds of independent farmers, truckers, distributors and customers, including grocers,” Steve Stouffer, group president of Tyson Fresh Meats, said in a statement announcing the Waterloo closure. “It means the loss of a vital market outlet for farmers and further contributes to the disruption of the nation’s pork supply.”
JBS USA on Monday announced the indefinite closure of its pork plant in Worthington, Minnesota, which employs more than 2,000 people. Smithfield’s Sioux Falls facility, where more than 780 of its 3,700 employees have been diagnosed with COVID-19, on Thursday received guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on steps to take before it can reopen, including staggering shifts, physical spacing and better communication with workers, who speak 40 different languages.
In Illinois, Hormel’s Rochelle Foods plant, which makes bacon and deli hams but is not a slaughterhouse, was ordered closed by the Ogle County Health Department after the agency linked 24 COVID-19 illnesses to the facility. Testing of workers is finding additional positive cases, according to local authorities. The plant, which employs more than 800 people, agreed to suspend operations until May 4.
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Employees from Hormel’s Rochelle Foods are tested for COVID-19 at the plant on April 23, 2020, by KSB and Rochelle Community Hospital, in conjunction with the Ogle County Health Department, in Rochelle. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)
Two of Illinois’ largest pork packing plants — JBS in Beardstown and Rantoul Foods in Rantoul — have not shut down due to the coronavirus, said Jennifer Tirey, executive director of the Illinois Pork Producers Association, which represents 1,600 hog farmers in the state.
But the closures of packing plants in other states are creating a backup of livestock across markets as everyone tries to move their animals to those that remain open, she said.
The situation is creating a crisis for Leman, whose farm typically sends 90,000 to 100,000 hogs to market a year. Tyson, his main customer, canceled orders for 2,000 of his hogs over the past two weeks.
That doesn’t just create a cash flow problem, but a litany of logistical hurdles. Those market-ready hogs, grown for six months to weigh 280 to 300 pounds, now have to maintain their weights so that they don’t get too heavy for the meat processing equipment, which would reduce their market value. Leman has been working with veterinarians to create low-calorie, low-energy diets to slow their growth.
Meanwhile, the baby pigs that normally arrive to take the place of the departed hogs are sharing a barn with them, which throws off the disinfection schedule for the barn and isn’t ideal for either set of animals because they have different temperature requirements. Unlike cattle, hogs can’t be put out to pasture.
Leman is considering options he hopes to avoid, including a plan to haul piglets off-site to gas them with carbon dioxide if the markets for his hogs don’t improve.
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“I can’t imagine a happy ending to this as I sit here today,” he said. “I don’t see how we get through this backlog of pigs unless something miraculous occurs.”
Piglets in one of the two piglet-only barns at Leman Farms in Eureka, Illinois. The barns have a total capacity of 2,000 piglets. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
The federal government promised $9.6 billion in direct payments to the livestock industry to cover some of their losses, with $1.6 billion designated for pork producers.
Tirey said the pork industry is “very disappointed” with the final payments and is lobbying for more.
Even before the processing plant closures, Illinois hog farmers were losing $30 million a month because of the drop in the demand for pork from the food service industry, which had represented half of the pork business, Tirey said. Rising demand from individuals cooking at home is not making up for the big trays of bacon served at hotel breakfast buffets.
“Some producers may go out of business,” Tirey said. "They just can’t afford to continue to lose money for so long.”
Cattle farmers have been affected as well, as their costs rise to feed cows they can’t sell, though they don’t face the same space and weight constraints as hog farmers. JBS’ large beef plant in Greeley, Colorado, which has more than 6,000 workers, opened Friday after a two-week closure and Tyson has announced the temporary closure of a beef plant in Pasco, Washington, that it says makes enough beef in one day to feed 4 million people.
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In Illinois, Aurora Packing, in North Aurora, shut down for two weeks earlier this month and Tyson’s beef facility in Joslin closed for five days, said Jill Johnson, executive vice president of the Illinois Beef Association.
Both reopened the week after Easter with new safety measures, including fewer people on the production line to create more distancing and plastic barriers to separate them, which has reduced capacity, she said.
The UFCW, on a conference call Thursday with reporters, commended employers for instituting a range of safety measures at processing plants, including the clear plastic barriers on production lines and at cafeteria tables. Some companies are checking workers’ temperatures, supplying and mandating face masks and staggering shifts and breaks to ease crowding. Others are awarding temporary bonuses as high as $5 an hour to those who continue to work through the pandemic.
It’s difficult to know if meat companies adjusted safety protocols fast enough once they understood the contagious nature of the virus, but they will be more prepared going forward, said Goldsmith of the University of Illinois
“It’s hard on the fly to get it right the first time,” Goldsmith said. “In hindsight it seems very obvious, but in foresight you wouldn’t already know.”
The union wants the federal government to do more to set national safety standards for food plants, including mandating social distancing. It is calling on state and federal authorities to prioritize food production workers for COVID-19 testing and access to personal protective equipment such as masks, which for months were difficult for the industry to acquire.
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The union, in a letter Thursday to Vice President Mike Pence, also said it wants the U.S. Department of Agriculture to stop issuing line speed waivers that allow plants to increase the pace of production. The agency has issued more waivers in the last two weeks than in all of 2019, the union said.
“Anytime the pace of production increases and you have to put more workers on that line, it can’t do anything but add to the ability for the virus to move about the plant,” said Mark Lauritsen, UFCW’s vice president for meatpacking.
On Monday, Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth joined 32 fellow Democratic senators in sending a letter to Pence, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue and other administration officials, calling for plans to protect food supply chain workers, including farmworkers, to ensure the stability of the food supply. They also introduced legislation that would require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue a temporary legal obligation for all workplaces to implement comprehensive infectious disease exposure control plans to keep workers safe during the pandemic.
The CDC has issued guidelines, not requirements. A federal lawsuit filed Thursday by a workers rights group seeks an injunction to require Smithfield to comply with CDC guidelines at a pork plant in Milan, Missouri, where the suit alleges workers aren’t given sufficient opportunities to wash their hands and aren’t scheduled in such a way that they can distance.
Some meat processing plants continue to operate, despite mounting COVID-19 cases. A JBS beef facility in Green Bay is linked to 147 cases, including employees and relatives who live with them, according to Brown County officials, but the union is pushing for the plant to get proper PPE and proper testing rather than shut down.
“Our nation is going to suffer with higher food prices because our government is sitting on their thumbs when it comes to these essential workers,” Lauritsen said. “They deemed them essential, they need to take care of them with PPE, and they need to take care of them with proper testing, so we can keep these plants operating.”
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aelejalderuiz@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-04-27--Tracking Chicago homicide victims

Tracking Chicago homicide victims

Though there are homicides recorded throughout the city they are most concentrated in the South and West sides .

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chicagotribune--2020-04-28--Daywatch: Lawmaker wins shutdown lawsuit, homeowner cited for crowded party and inside the Culter-Ca

Daywatch: Lawmaker wins shutdown lawsuit, homeowner cited for crowded party and inside the Culter-Cavallari divorce case

El Milagro has closed its tortilla plant on the city ’ s Lower West Side for two weeks to sanitize @ @ @ @ @ died and others tested positive for the new coronavirus .
The company said it was @ @ @ @ @ employee died due to complications from COVID-19 , the disease caused by the virus .
@ @ @ @ @ at work since April 9 .

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Good morning, Chicago. Here’s the coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
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Illinois officials announced 1,980 new known cases of COVID-19 Monday, including 50 additional deaths, bringing the statewide total to 45,883 known cases and 1,983 fatalities
In the U.S., more than 987,000 infections have been recorded and over 56,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University on Monday
Worldwide, the death toll topped 210,000 and more than 3 million cases have been confirmed, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University on Monday
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
Rep. Darren Bailey talks on the House floor at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Feb. 20, 2019. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Political divisions over Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s statewide stay-at-home order were on full display Monday, as a downstate judge issued a temporary injunction allowing Republican state Rep. Darren Bailey to disregard the order, a decision Pritzker quickly denounced while forcefully defending his actions to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
The ruling by Clay County Circuit Court Judge Michael McHaney came in a lawsuit filed by Bailey, a Republican from the small town of Xenia, which challenged Pritzker’s authority to issue extended stay-at-home orders under the state’s Emergency Management Act.
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CDC adds six COVID-19 symptoms to its list, but many doctors, hospitals already were using them
Mayor Lori Lightfoot wears a face mask while addressing police supervisors on April 24, 2020, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago police said they cited a Northwest Side homeowner with disorderly conduct on Monday following a crowded weekend house party that drew nationwide condemnation after video surfaced of attendees packed shoulder to shoulder in violation of social distancing rules.
The citation came on the same day as Mayor Lori Lightfoot blasted the large party, which to her looked like “hundreds” of people standing “literally cheek to jowl.”
People wait in line outside Tortilleria El Milagro on 26th Street in Chicago on March 20, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
El Milagro has closed its tortilla plant on the city’s Lower West Side for two weeks to sanitize the facility after one worker died and others tested positive for the new coronavirus. The company said it was notified that a longtime sanitation employee died due to complications from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. The employee had not been at work since April 9.
College campuses like the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, shown in January before coronavirus-related shutdowns, are trying to figure out if, and how, to reopen in the fall. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Crowded lecture halls and shared dormitories have come to define the college experience, but those campus activities might be on the chopping block next year even if students can return. Whether campuses can fully reopen in the fall remains the central — and elusive — question.
Jay Cutler and Kristin Cavallari arrive at the NASCAR Cup Series Awards Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn. (Mark Humphrey/AP)
Jewelry designer Kristin Cavallari said “irreconcilable differences” and “inappropriate marital conduct” led to the demise of her six-year marriage to former Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, according to paperwork filed Friday in a Tennessee court.


chicagotribune--2020-04-28--Will college campuses reopen in the fall? If they do, expect changes: ‘All of this is in uncharted w

Will college campuses reopen in the fall? If they do, expect changes: ‘All of this is in uncharted waters’

“ All of this is in uncharted waters , and so we ’ re doing our best to try to @ @ @ @ @ semester , ” said Larry Dietz , president of Illinois State University .
“ For @ @ @ @ @ looking at several scenarios .
...
I think all of us know that ( campus @ @ @ @ @ to be as open as it was in the fall of 2019 , before we @ @ @ @ @ .
”

College campuses such as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, shown in January before coronavirus-related shutdowns, are trying to figure out if, and how, to reopen in the fall. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
Crowded lecture halls and shared dormitories have come to define the college experience, but those campus activities might be on the chopping block next year even if students can return.
Whether campuses can fully reopen in the fall remains the central — and elusive — question.
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While some Illinois schools say they hope to make a determination in June or July, the outcome will largely hinge on how public health experts evaluate the threat of the coronavirus. The decision will also depend on when Gov. J.B. Pritzker lifts the state’s stay-at-home order. On Thursday, he extended the order for a second time, so it won’t expire until at least the end of May.
“All of this is in uncharted waters, and so we’re doing our best to try to plan for an uncertain fall semester,” said Larry Dietz, president of Illinois State University. “For fall, we’re looking at several scenarios. ... I think all of us know that (campus) is probably not going to be as open as it was in the fall of 2019, before we even knew the term coronavirus.”
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At ISU, which serves about 18,000 students at its campus in Normal, Dietz said he is exploring how to enhance the cleaning of facilities and whether the school can provide masks for faculty and students who come back.
Social distancing measures are also being floated for residence halls, where about 6,000 students typically live during the school year, Dietz said. To reduce potential crowding, the school is considering capping the number of students approved for the dorms, which make up the bulk of its housing stock, and trying to place more in apartments, some of which are university owned.
“If we in fact decide to downscale that a little bit, we have a lot of landlords in the area who have good facilities, and I know they would work with us on that," Dietz said. “It may be a temporary thing that we want to spread the population out.”
Colleges and universities nationwide are grappling with how to approach the fall semester, while also worrying that fewer students will want to attend and pay for tuition if classes need to remain online. The American Council on Education, an organization that represents the higher education community, estimated that college enrollment will drop by 15% next year, with a 25% decline for international students, based on discussions among schools.
It’s difficult to assess how the numbers are shaping up because many schools have delayed their decision and deposit deadlines until the summer. Though some, particularly the highly selective institutions, are still requiring students to make their choices by May 1, others are providing more flexibility to accommodate families struggling with finances due to the pandemic.
Timothy Killeen, president of the University of Illinois System, said he hopes the school’s decision to cover tuition increases for new in-state undergraduates at its campuses in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield will encourage students to attend. The Chicago and Springfield schools changed the May 1 deadline but its flagship downstate did not.
U. of I., which has a total enrollment of about 89,000 students this year, also convened a task force to consider what protocols will be needed to transition to the fall semester. All classes have already moved online for the summer term.
In a recent move, administrators at the Urbana-Champaign campus informed admitted students they can begin classes online in August if they can’t make it to campus, and sign up for in-person classes at a later date. Admitted students can also defer enrollment for up to two semesters because of unforeseen events such as COVID-19. The campus “is planning for in-person classes to begin as scheduled,” and will communicate more details about fall instruction in mid-June, officials said.
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Still, Killeen indicated that students should brace themselves for additional changes that could create a “different feel to the campus,” even if they do come back. In that case, there might be a need for smaller groups and social distancing in certain settings, such as the dining halls, Killeen said.
“We’re confident that our doors will be open and that we’ll be teaching and educating many tens of thousands of students. Will it look exactly as it did last year? Probably not,” Killeen said.
At Purdue University in Indiana, President Mitchell Daniels Jr. addressed the question head-on in a message to the campus last week. Daniels listed a variety of options that could allow the university of about 43,000 to reopen in the fall, as long as the government consents.
Things being considered, he wrote, “include spreading out classes across days and times to reduce their size, more use of online instruction for on-campus students, virtualizing laboratory work and similar steps.”
Though Daniels also mentioned an idea to test students and staff for infection and antibodies before they rejoin campus, it’s not clear whether that will be possible given widespread shortages of testing materials.
Brown University President Christina Paxson also tied the reopening of campuses to testing students in a recent New York Times opinion piece, saying it’s an “absolute prerequisite” before schools can get back to normal. She wrote that colleges must also utilize technology based contact tracing, such as mobile apps, and provide adequate space for those who test positive to complete a strict 14-day quarantine if they want to welcome students in the fall.
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While most major universities are publicly discussing their options for the fall, many are waiting to make a final decision. In the meantime, they are trying to actively recruit students for next year and working to issue room and board refunds for those who left campus early. The cost of providing millions of dollars in refunds, losing revenue from canceled sports events and concerts, and purchasing new remote learning technology has plunged some universities into financial crisis.
Cal State Fullerton, a public university with about 40,000 students, is perhaps the largest school planning to keep remote learning in place for the beginning of next school year. Though no other public university in California has announced such steps, Cal State Fullerton said in a statement last week that "we are asking our faculty to be prepared to start the semester teaching virtually.”
Schools that operate on the quarter system might benefit from having more time before classes resume. While fall semester usually begins in August, schools on the quarter system, such as the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, have summer break until late September.
At U. of C., while “planning for the autumn quarter is under active discussion, taking a variety of possibilities into account,” no final decisions had been made yet, according to a statement from a spokesman.
For smaller colleges with a strong base of commuter students, adapting to social distancing in the fall could come more easily.
At Dominican University in suburban River Forest, about 75% of the school’s 3,000 students live away from campus and commute to classes, according to university data. President Donna Carroll also noted that classes are intimate, with more than half having fewer than 20 students.
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While Carroll explores ways to adjust dorms for the hundreds students who do reside on campus, such as placing everyone in a single instead of assigning roommates, she predicts some students might prefer to live at home and travel to classes if the virus is not contained by fall.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if more students chose to commute, at least initially,” she said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if more of our local community, students who perhaps were thinking of going away, might postpone that and perhaps go to college more locally."
To that end, Carroll said Dominican is exploring whether some students can take classes in the flesh while others simultaneously log on with their home computers.
Whatever the outcome, Carroll said the challenge of planning for the fall is not lost on her. Since her school relies predominantly on tuition to operate, a sharp drop in enrollment could be devastating.
“You’re trying to balance giving students, families and faculty confidence that we’ll be opening face to face in the fall, which is our hope and our intent, and at the same time, planning for contingencies,” Carroll said. “So you’re really operating in two different conversations and everything in between.”
echerney@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-04-28--You can learn math and English online, but how about pottery? Hands-on education challenged after CO

You can learn math and English online, but how about pottery? Hands-on education challenged after COVID-19 closes schools

“ A big part of baking is how things look and how they feel , ” she said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ how heavy a batter should look , what temperature something has to be .
When @ @ @ @ @ , a lot of what I do is ask , ‘ Chef , does this @ @ @ @ @ Not having that guidance on site is what I would consider the most difficult part @ @ @ @

Veronika Pesovic creates a three layer vanilla and strawberry cake at her home on April 24, 2020, in Grayslake. She's taking Patisserie 2 class at College of Lake County and is baking at home because the campus is closed. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Veronika Pesovic’s sponge cake looked and tasted fine, but she knew something was off. It was denser than it should have been, and she wasn’t sure how it ended up that way. Were the egg whites whipped properly? Was the oven too hot, or not hot enough?
Had the aspiring pastry chef been in her classroom at the College of Lake County, where she is enrolled in a patisserie course, she could have asked her teacher on the spot. But the campus is closed and Pesovic is confined to her Grayslake home, continuing her education in her own kitchen.
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“A big part of baking is how things look and how they feel,” she said. “We’re still learning how heavy a batter should look, what temperature something has to be. When we’re in class, a lot of what I do is ask, ‘Chef, does this look all right?’ Not having that guidance on site is what I would consider the most difficult part of it.”
As students and teachers across Illinois continue to adjust to the long-distance education prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the learning curve has been steepest for those in hands-on courses, where classroom conditions are impossible to simulate via email or video chats.
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That has forced educators and learners alike to become more resourceful and innovative, though in some cases, there is no substitute for what was left behind when their schools closed.
“They can read about it, but to be in a kitchen with a professional chef showing them what can go wrong, other ways to make their pastry or desserts, that part of it is missing,” said Pesovic’s teacher, baking and pastry instructor Teresa Novinska. “More of them are making more mistakes that I probably could have caught.”
She has tried to adjust by demonstrating techniques on Zoom and encouraging students to send photos and written summaries of the final result. But some recipes are no longer doable because of the specialized equipment or uncommon ingredients required, she said.
Joe Dusa, who is enrolled in Novinska’s chocolate and confections class, said he is now making his own ingredients, visiting websites to learn how to create inverted sugar and glucose syrup.
“If I’m given a challenge, I will try to find the answer,” said Dusa, who lives in Lake Villa. “You go online, you read directions, and if it doesn’t work out the first time, you do it again."
Such inventiveness has been essential for students trying to make the best of a bad situation. In the engineering class Joe Morales teaches at Bartlett High School, students were one week away from finishing their prototypes in a yearlong project when school closed.
Most were out of luck, their go-karts or air hockey tables put on hold for lack of proper equipment at home — “Only one student out of 150 had access to welding equipment,” Morales said — but seniors Garima Shah and Pooja Patel were determined to finish their creation: a pair of light-up high heels whose illumination is controlled by a cellphone.
The original plan was to attach the lights to the heels, but since neither had access to a soldering iron, they decided to wrap the lights around the sole and hide the electronics in a case tucked discreetly onto the shank.
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“In a way, an upside was that we had to learn to think on our feet and problem solve,” Shah said. “We had to adapt and find a way to get it done.”
But adaptability can go only so far. Sean Murrin’s automotive classes at Buffalo Grove High School have had to switch to webinars and online training modules since students no longer have access to a garage. Murrin said that could be a drawback for kids seeking to get professional certification right out of high school, though most of his seniors plan to continue their education in college or trade school.
He said it’s unfair to require students to work on vehicles on their own, since many don’t have the necessary tools or even a car. But some, he noted, have taken that task upon themselves.
“The kids who like working on their cars, it doesn’t matter if there’s 10 feet of snow or COVID-19,” he said. “They’re gear heads. Nothing’s going to stop them.”
Case in point is Brandon Bowers, a Buffalo Grove junior. He has put custom rims and rear struts on his brother’s Toyota and new sway bars on his dad’s Mercedes.
“Getting under the car isn’t easy (without a professional lift), but otherwise it’s been fairly easy for me,” he said. “It’s not my first time doing it at home.”
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When it comes to learning to drive a car, though, some limits can’t be overcome through ingenuity.
Brandon Bowers, 17, a junior at Buffalo Grove High School, switches out the sway bar links on his dad's car at home in his garage on April 23, 2020. Bowers is completing the work required for his auto diagnostics class on his father's 2011 Mercedes-Benz. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Buffalo Grove High School junior Brandon Bowers, 17, works on his dad's Mercedes-Benz in his family's Buffalo Grove garage on April 23, 2020. He's doing work required for his auto diagnostics class. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
The state requires 30 hours of classroom instruction and six hours of road time in driver’s education courses. While schools can continue with online learning, students must wait to finish their time behind the wheel until the government says it’s safe, said Brent Johnston of the Illinois High School and College Driver Education Association.
He said with up to 60,000 high school students taking the class every semester, along with another 10,000 to 15,000 who enroll over the summer, Illinois could see a glut of students needing road time and not enough instructors. His organization is asking the state for permission to allow retired teachers to provide that instruction in the summer and fall.
But Johnston said the loss of classroom time might be a greater issue. He said he uses in-person meetings to impress the importance of safety upon his students, sometimes bringing in guest speakers who have been injured in crashes.
“I teach kids how to drive behind the wheel, but I teach kids how to stay alive in the classroom,” he said.
The stakes aren’t quite so high for Marla Seibold, who teaches art at Evanston Township High School, but she, too, is operating in less than ideal conditions. She was able to supply her painting students before school closed, but those learning ceramics weren’t so lucky; without clay and other materials, they are planning their projects rather than actually executing them.
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Her Advanced Placement students, meanwhile, are essentially done with the portfolios they’ve worked on all year, and which can earn them college credit if a panel of educators score them high enough. But they’re still disappointed with how their senior year turned out, Seibold said, and generally conduct their Zoom conferences glumly wrapped in blankets.
“It’s better to be with our students,” she said. “This is not a replacement at all, in any way, shape or form.”
jkeilman@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @JohnKeilman


chicagotribune--2020-04-28--‘Let’s break down the barriers’: Donors come to rescue of Illinois school district struggling with d

‘Let’s break down the barriers’: Donors come to rescue of Illinois school district struggling with digital divide

BLIP is now installing publicly accessible Wi-Fi hot spots in each of the district ’ s six communities ; families @ @ @ @ @ sites and access the internet to do schoolwork or download or upload materials to online @ @ @ @ @ will be connected to the district ’ s network , so when students log into @ @ @ @ @ be directed to the district ’ s landing page .
Inappropriate material will be filtered @ @ @ @ @ is when the network is accessed from within the school buildings .

This story is a collaboration between the Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois.
Since the March shutdown of schools across Illinois, teachers at one rural southwestern district have been stuffing 800 envelopes with learning packets and mailing them to students’ homes because many families in the area don’t have computers or high-speed internet.
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Trico District 176’s remote learning challenges were highlighted in a Tribune-ProPublica Illinois story last month that exposed a digital divide across Illinois as schools shifted to remote learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic. State agencies later released a map touting publicly accessible Wi-Fi hot spots at about 250 locations; none are in the 250 square miles that make up the Trico district.
That’s about to change. A local internet provider is installing Wi-Fi service to connect families to the district network. An anonymous donor pledged to donate a dozen hot spots. And a school district in Chicago’s suburbs said it would ship about 250 used Chromebooks to Trico when the computers are replaced after this school year.
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The Trico superintendent, Larry Lovel, said he’s been taken aback by the generosity of each donation.
The article “brought the issue that everyone knew about back to the forefront and exposed the inequities that people sometimes overlook,” Lovel said in an interview. “The gaps are so wide, it is like fissures. People saw we are still using (dated) Risograph copy machines and 7-year-old laptops.”
[ Remote learning in a rural Illinois district doesn’t include an internet option. School superintendent leans on paper, copy machine. ‘There is a huge inequity.’ ]
The inequities are personal to Lovel, who has three children in the Trico school system: a daughter in fifth grade and two sons, an eighth grader and a high school junior. His wife is a third-generation first-grade teacher in the district. Lovel recently arrived home from work to find her at the dining room table writing cards to her students: “Thank you so much for working hard on your schoolwork at home. I am proud of you,” she wrote to one.
When the district held its first remote board meeting this month, the board president had to travel to the school to log in because internet service is too unreliable at her home. No members of the public attended and a local reporter had difficulty hearing the reports, Lovel said.
Before the pandemic, the district’s network administrator, Justin Morgan, had been thinking about how to get connectivity to students living across the vast square mileage in Jackson, Perry and Randolph counties, where families mostly work in coal mining or agriculture. Within the district boundaries there are no supermarkets, one gas station and one major retail store, a Dollar General.
Last month, with attention focused on the area’s remote learning challenges, Morgan reached out to a small, local internet provider, BLIP Networks, to see if it could help. BLIP — the first letter of each of the owners’ names — said it could.
“Instead of thinking of barriers in our way, the conversation went to, ‘Let’s break down the barriers and move forward,’” Lovel said. “The pandemic caused them to expedite the brainstorming. ... There were no more excuses or waiting for someone else and it was awesome.”
[ In some Illinois towns, internet shortfalls and lack of computers putting students at a disadvantage during an extended period away from the classroom. ‘A poverty issue, pure and simple.’ ]
BLIP is now installing publicly accessible Wi-Fi hot spots in each of the district’s six communities; families can drive up to the sites and access the internet to do schoolwork or download or upload materials to online learning platforms. The Wi-Fi will be connected to the district’s network, so when students log into the Wi-Fi, they will be directed to the district’s landing page. Inappropriate material will be filtered out, just as it is when the network is accessed from within the school buildings.
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BLIP already has installed hot spots at the community parks in Ava and Campbell Hill. Others will be turned on soon at St. Ann Church in Raddle and at sites in the villages of Willisville and Cutler.
Ian Ellison, one of the BLIP owners, said the hot spots will solve only part of the digital access problem. “Until the schools issue Chromebooks for all the kids, we won’t be able to have as much uptake as we could,” Ellison said.
Most of Trico’s laptops are used machines donated through a program with the State Farm insurance company. But there aren’t enough computers for all students, and some are so old that a couple years after the donation the batteries no longer work.
Lovel said the Trico district expects to receive about $240,000 in federal coronavirus relief funds, which he will put toward additional Chromebooks and subscriptions to online curricula.
The superintendent of Fremont School District 79, six hours from Trico in north suburban Mundelein, offered to donate 250 to 300 of the district’s laptops when it gets new ones after this school year. The Trico district will need to purchase only the license to run Google Chrome on the machines.
“We wanted to do something to help,” Fremont Superintendent Bill Robertson said in a statement. “Instead of recycling these decommissioned Chromebooks as we normally would, we wanted to donate these devices to the Trico School District in order to help with their students’ educational experience.”
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A Chicago-area education lawyer who saw the story also reached out to Lovel. “What do you need?” she said she asked him.
“He was like, ‘We’re fine, we will get by just fine.’ I knew he would, because that’s what administrators do, but I was like, ‘We are going to figure this out,’” said Sara Boucek, the former general counsel for the Illinois Association of School Administrators.
Boucek made some calls and connected with someone who decided to donate 12 hot spots that students can use or that the district can put on buses and drive to various locations so students can log in. She is working to get new copy machines for the district too.
“She found a guardian angel,” Lovel said. “I can’t say it enough. One article matters.”
Jodi S. Cohen is a reporter for ProPublica Illinois. Jennifer Smith Richards is a Tribune reporter.
jrichards@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-04-28--Chicago police fired shots at man who pointed gun at them, police say

The incident occurred at 11:55 p.m. Monday in the 0-100 block of West 99th Street in the Fernwood neighborhood on @ @ @ @ @ police said .
The officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert in the area and were @ @ @ @ @ a man approached them .

A Chicago police officer fired shots at a man Monday night after the man pointed a gun at officers while they were talking to a witness, according to police.
The incident occurred at 11:55 p.m. Monday in the 0-100 block of West 99th Street in the Fernwood neighborhood on the Far South Side, police said. The officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert in the area and were talking to a witness when a man approached them.
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The man shouted obscenities and displayed a handgun, police said. When he pointed the gun at the officers, one fired shots at the man, but he was not hit by the gunfire
The man ran away and officers chased him, police said. He was caught and taken into custody. A weapon was found at the scene.
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An officer injured his or her hand on a fence during the chase but refused medical treatment, police said. No other injuries were reported.
The man’s name will be released when his charges are finalized, police said.
Check back for updates.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @paigexfry


chicagotribune--2020-04-28--Nursing home workers authorize May 8 strike at 40 Illinois facilities, most in Chicago area

The list of 40 homes targeted by workers could increase in the coming days , officials said .
Many of @ @ @ @ @ more than Chicago ’ s minimum wage of $ 13 an hour for “ backbreaking @ @ @ @ @ care of society ’ s most vulnerable members , said Shaba Andrich , vice president @ @ @ @ @ union is seeking at least $ 15 an hour across the board for the workers @ @ @ @ @ working during the coronavirus pandemic .

Workers at 40 nursing homes in Illinois, nearly all in the Chicago area, said Monday they have set a strike date for May 8, as contract negotiations come to a head while coronavirus cases are hitting a peak.
SEIU Healthcare Illinois stated that it represents more than 10,000 workers at 100 nursing homes. The workers do not include doctors or nurses, but encompass certified nursing assistants and other support staff. They are negotiating with the Illinois Association of Healthcare Facilities on a new contract to succeed the current one, which expires April 30.
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The list of 40 homes targeted by workers could increase in the coming days, officials said. Many of the workers are making little more than Chicago’s minimum wage of $13 an hour for “backbreaking,” essential work taking care of society’s most vulnerable members, said Shaba Andrich, vice president for nursing homes. The union is seeking at least $15 an hour across the board for the workers, plus hazard pay for working during the coronavirus pandemic.
“They were already struggling to take care of their families,” Andrich said. “We’re asking nursing homes to step up and do what’s right.”
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Members of the SEIU Healthcare Illinois union cheer as a motorist honks during their news conference outside the Alden Wentworth nursing home on West 69th Street in Chicago on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Workers also demanded improved staffing, better training and more personal protective equipment to guard against COVID-19, all of which, they said, have been sadly lacking. Some workers said they were forced to use one mask for an entire eight-hour shift, instead of multiple masks recommended under health guidelines.
The association announced that it offered an 11% one-year pay hike, stable employee health insurance contributions, earlier access to sick days, paid sick time during the pandemic in addition to contractual sick leave, creation of a training fund, and more for certified nursing assistants, dietary, activity, laundry and housekeeping employees.
In a letter to state lawmakers, Bob Molitor, CEO of the Alden Network of nursing homes and an association board member, described the homes’ offer as fair and equitable. “We sincerely hope the union is not using this once-in-a-lifetime crisis to incite a walk-out and put our seniors at even greater risk,” he wrote.
The state released figures over the weekend that showed a dramatic jump in deaths of people who live or work at long-term care facilities — to 625, more than double what was reported a week ago.
The latest figures compiled by the state showed that, as of Friday, at least 278 facilities had 4,298 cases of residents or workers testing positive.
The workers also asked for a 50% increase in pay for hazardous duty during the pandemic, an additional 80 hours off and continued health insurance for COVID-19 related illness, and access to testing and any emergency benefits for essential workers.
Greg Kelley, president of SEIU Healthcare Illinois, said the number of nursing homes targeted by the strike will continue to grow in coming days. He said the 2,300 potentially striking members were putting their lives on the line to care for residents, but were not willing to die for minimum wages.
The facilities targeted for a potential strike include 10 in the Alden Network, seven under the Aperion Care umbrella and four Symphony Care Network facilities.
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“We believe that this is a public health crisis,” Kelley said. “It isn’t enough to simply say they are heroes. We need to show them that they are heroes.”
Tainika Somerville said she was a certified nursing assistant at the Bridgeview Healthcare Center in the southwest suburbs, until she was fired this month after asking for hazard pay and complaining about a lack of adequate staffing and protective equipment.
“We’re at the point where we have to strike to save lives,” she said.
Martha Peck, the administrator of the Bridgeview home, responded in an email that she would not comment on employment matters, but said officials there have not disciplined or terminated anyone “due to PPE use or COVID-19 concerns in the community.”
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The home has had appropriate protective equipment or CDC-approved substitutes, and is offering extra pay for nurses and assistants, she added.
“We are adhering to the directions of the CDC and health care professionals,” she wrote, “to maintain a safe environment for all.”
Last week, state lawmakers sent a letter to the Illinois Association of Healthcare Facilities, noting that last year the General Assembly increased reimbursement rates for nursing homes by $240 million, with assurances that much of the money would be spent on direct care staff.
The lawmakers wrote that they are still waiting for that to happen, even as the nursing home industry is asking for millions more dollars during the spread of the coronavirus.
“Workers deserve respect and dignity,” stated the letter, which was signed by 20 state senators and 36 representatives. “This starts with adequate personal protective equipment, a level of paid sick time that you would expect for yourself, and wages that don’t keep employees living in poverty.”
In response, the nursing home association wrote in a letter that the rate increase allowed some of its members to increase pay and staffing.
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“We have done everything in our power to secure scarce but necessary PPE,” Molitor wrote, adding that a strike would “jeopardize” the state’s most vulnerable people.
In 2017, a strike at 53 Chicago-area nursing homes was averted hours before it was set to begin. At that time, officials at SEIU, which stands for Service Employees International Union, said they “won” the dispute, with raises of up to 40% or 50% from an average of $11 an hour. The nursing homes agreed that the contract provided significant wage and staff increases.
The nursing homes had plans in place to have nurses perform duties typically done by nursing assistants, such as bathing or turning bedridden patients, and having management fill in or move employees between locations.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported that the state has about 1,200 long-term care facilities serving more than 100,000 residents, from the young to the elderly.
rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @RobertMcCoppin


chicagotribune--2020-04-28--Southern Illinois judge temporarily blocks Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order from applying to

Southern Illinois judge temporarily blocks Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order from applying to Republican state lawmaker who sued

“ We want to know the decision-making process for releasing people , ” said state Rep. Avery Bourne , a @ @ @ @ @ Illinois .
“ Our concern ( is ) that the governor and IDOC are using @ @ @ @ @ to push their political agenda of releasing inmates rather than actually looking out for the @ @ @ @ @ ”

Political divisions over Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s statewide stay-at-home restrictions were on full display Monday, as a judge issued a temporary injunction allowing a Republican legislator to disregard the order, a decision Pritzker quickly denounced while forcefully defending his actions to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
[ Update: Gov. J.B. Pritzker calls state representative’s lawsuit over stay-at-home order a ‘cheap political stunt’ and decries judge’s ruling as ‘absurd’ ]
The ruling by Clay County Circuit Court Judge Michael McHaney came in a lawsuit filed by Rep. Darren Bailey that challenged Pritzker’s authority to extend his stay-at-home order beyond the initial 30 days under the state’s Emergency Management Act.
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While the ruling applied only to Bailey, it could open the door for other Illinois residents to seek similar relief from the stay-at-home order, with McHaney’s injunction as a justification.
In seeking the injunction, Bailey said he is “irreparably harmed each day he is subjected to” Pritzker’s executive order, and asked the judge to enjoin the governor or anyone under his authority from enforcing it against him.
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McHaney’s ruling said Pritzker was prohibited “from in any way enforcing the March 20 executive order against Darren Bailey forcing him to isolate and quarantine in his home,” or any subsequent orders that would do the same.
[ Pritzker’s stay-at-home order will remain in place through May 30. But changes are coming. Here’s what you need to know. ]
Rep. Darren Bailey talks on the House floor at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield on Feb. 20, 2019. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
At his daily coronavirus news briefing, Pritzker vigorously attacked Bailey, accusing him of acting for political reasons and ignoring the medical threat of the virus. Pritzker promised a quick appeal of the judge’s ruling and said he would carry the fight “to the furthest extent possible.”
“People are in danger as a result of this ruling, of the judge’s ruling of the suit that was brought by Darren Bailey,” Pritzker said.
“We certainly are going to act in a swift fashion to try to have this ruling overturned, certainly put a stay in place,” the governor said. “I mean it’s, frankly, it’s insulting, it’s dangerous, and people’s safety and health has now been put at risk. There may be people who contract coronavirus as a result of what Darren Bailey has done now.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot also slammed the judge’s ruling, which she called “troubling,” and said it could give “the wrong impression that we have beaten the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“Nothing about today’s ruling will change the city’s intention to continue imposing the stay at home restrictions,” she said in a statement.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office is “reviewing the order and considering our options for appeal in consultation with the governor’s office,” spokeswoman Annie Thompson said.
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
Illinois has been under a statewide stay-at-home order since March 21, placing broad restrictions on residents and businesses the order deems “nonessential,” aimed at curbing the spread of highly contagious COVID-19. Illinois was the second state to announce such a far-reaching statewide action, though the majority of states have since followed suit and instituted some statewide restrictions.
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Pritzker announced last week he would extend the stay-at-home order through May 30, with some modifications due to take effect Friday.
Pritzker on Monday encouraged municipal leaders and residents across the state “to follow the advice of our scientists here in Illinois and across the nation,” and continue obeying the directives set out in the stay-at-home order.
“History will remember those who put politics aside to come together to keep people safe. It will also remember those who, so blindly devoted to ideology and the pursuit of personal celebrity, that they made an enemy of science, and of reason,” Pritzker said Monday.
In an interview later Monday afternoon, Bailey said he believes the judge’s ruling should apply to everyone in the state and encouraged others to take legal action similar to his own.
“If people want to, if anyone wants to file any kind of similar suit in their home county or in their circuit, they can certainly do that," Bailey said. "What I’m doing is challenging the constitutionality of the governor, of what he’s been doing.”
[ From closing schools to stay-at-home order, here's how Illinois' coronavirus response compares with other states ]
Bailey said his office has been flooded with calls from people in his downstate district who are “overwhelmed, scared to death, not of the COVID-19 virus, but of their livelihoods.”
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“Still today, we’re getting calls of people that cannot get through to unemployment, and that’s what’s taking a toll in some of these more rural districts,” Bailey said. “That’s what the governor needs to be focused on.”
The flare-up over the stay-at-home order came as state officials announced 1,980 new known cases of COVID-19 Monday, including 50 additional deaths. The statewide total of known cases now stands at 45,883 in 96 counties, and the statewide death toll is 1,983.
Bailey’s lawsuit shows how government’s regulatory response to the coronavirus has inflamed already heightened regional tensions between rural areas and the Chicago area.
Pritzker contended Bailey was attempting to use the coronavirus restrictions to play to his rural constituency.
“I’m hoping that this doesn’t evolve into the politics that I think often people at the federal level like to make it — and obviously you can see there are legislators who don’t understand this, who think everything is fodder for the political world,” the Democratic governor said in a pointed reference to Bailey’s lawsuit.
[ From closing schools to stay-at-home order, here's how Illinois' coronavirus response compares with other states » ]
The stay-at-home order has drawn protests at the statehouse in Springfield the past two weekends, with protesters gathering to urge for the state to reopen and chanting “Recall Pritzker.” Those have followed a wave of protests at state capitols across the nation protesting similar actions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 that have had brutal effects on state economies and have left many out of work.
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Pritzker on Monday appealed to people who think the new coronavirus “is just a Chicago or a Cook County problem, and that downstate Illinois is immune or doesn’t need restrictions.” The illness “has played a role in the deaths of Illinoisans” in 42 of the state’s 102 counties, Pritzker said, singling out Jasper and Monroe counties for having the highest per capita death rates.
“It’s true that there are a much larger number of cases and deaths in the metropolitan area around Chicago, but it’s also home to nearly 2 of every 3 Illinoisans, and it’s home to much of the overall hospital capacity that’s needed if there’s another surge of the virus,” Pritzker said.
Legislative leaders on Monday urged residents to continue following public health guidance.
“This virus isn’t paying attention to judicial orders,” Senate President Don Harmon said in a statement. “Please, be patient, recognize the dangers and keep following the advice of our medical professionals and public health experts.”
In a statement Monday, Senate Republican leader Bill Brady said residents should “continue to follow the recommended public health precautions to help contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. In the meantime, Senate Republicans remain ready to return to Springfield in order to take up those critical issues that need to be addressed in a timely manner.”
House Speaker Michael Madigan called the lawsuit “extremely reckless, at a time we can least afford it.”
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But in a further sign of partisan divisions over the state’s COVID-19 response, a group of Downstate Republican lawmakers held a videoconference Monday morning to criticize the Pritzker administration for not answering their requests for information about prisoners who’ve been released from the Illinois Department of Corrections over coronavirus concerns.
“We want to know the decision-making process for releasing people,” said state Rep. Avery Bourne, a Republican from Morrisonville in central Illinois. “Our concern (is) that the governor and IDOC are using this pandemic as a way to push their political agenda of releasing inmates rather than actually looking out for the public safety and health.”
Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said the department, “after an individualized review and with an emphasis on maintaining public safety, is utilizing its statutory authority to place offenders on electronic detention or award earned discretionary sentencing credit.” The names of those who’ve been released are listed on the department’s website, she said.
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