The city of Chicago is on pace to begin cautiously reopening and ease restrictions on certain activities in early June, with outdoor dining at restaurants, barber shops, non-lakefront park buildings and libraries slated to resume limited business, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Friday.
If safety measures can be put in place, Lightfoot also said the city could potentially reopen summer programs and allow private camps, religious services, gyms, museums and the lakefront later on in the summer. Schools, playgrounds, bars, stadiums and music venues will remain closed for now, she said.
Lightfoot also rejected President Donald Trump’s call for the reopening of churches across the country, saying he’s “pandering to a base” while running for re-election. Later in the afternoon, Gov. J.B. Pritzker also did not seem inclined to follow Trump’s call.
Additionally on Friday, state health officials announced 2,758 new known infections of COVID-19 in Illinois and 110 additional confirmed deaths. That brings the statewide total to 105,444 cases and the death toll to 4,715 since the beginning of the outbreak.
Here’s what’s happening Friday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
8 p.m.: Illinois stops providing historical data on COVID-19 in nursing homes, instead disclosing current outbreaks only
The state has stopped providing total numbers of novel coronavirus cases and deaths linked to long-term care facilities in Illinois, instead disclosing information only on homes with newer outbreaks.
The Illinois Department of Public Health changed its reporting criteria Friday to highlight nursing homes and other facilities that have had at least one new coronavirus case in the last 28 days. Information about homes that struggled with an outbreak earlier in the pandemic but haven’t had recent new cases no longer is being published.
For example, the Tribune reported May 15 that, for the first time, a nursing home outside the Chicago area had reported at least 20 deaths. That was Villa East in Sangamon County, which had 21 workers and residents die of the coronavirus.
But because Villa East had no new cases recently, it was excluded from this week’s reporting and those 21 deaths have disappeared from the public-facing data. The only downstate nursing home listed with 20 deaths now is Edwardsville Care Center in Madison County near St. Louis. It had one new COVID-19 case since the last public data release on May 15.
“Our priority is to focus on those facilities currently experiencing an outbreak, and also to provide to the public the current status of COVID-19 in Illinois,” department spokeswoman Melaney Arnold wrote in an email to reporters.
It’s at least the second significant change to the way the health department makes COVID-19 data related to long-term care facilities available to the public. Last Friday, the department stopped publicly reporting probable cases of COVID-19 tied to the facilities and counted only cases that had been confirmed in labs. Read more here. —Jennifer Smith Richards and Robert McCoppin
7:48 p.m.: Department of Justice declares its support of lawsuit challenging Pritzker’s stay-at-home order
The Department of Justice intervened Friday in support of a challenge to Illinois’ stay-at-home coronavirus order, calling for the case to be transferred back to state court.
The U.S. attorney general’s office filed a statement of interest in the case of Downstate Republican state Rep. Darren Bailey, writing, “Plaintiff has set forth a strong case that the Orders exceed the authority granted to the Governor by the Illinois legislature.”
Bailey had won an initial ruling last month to be freed from Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s executive order shutting down most businesses and churches and requiring people to stay home except under limited circumstances. When Bailey asked to broaden that ruling to invalidate the order for all citizens statewide, the Illinois attorney general Thursday transferred the case to federal court, citing constitutional issues such as freedom of religion and due process.
The state was expected to have a better shot of protecting its lockdown order in federal court, where judges have ruled in several cases in favor of maintaining such orders in Illinois and elsewhere.
The case should be sent back to state court, the feds argued, because it raises claims only under state law, not the U.S. Constitution. Read more here. —Robert McCoppin
5:10 p.m.: Chicago, you’re probably not getting that haircut May 29
The coronavirus pandemic has been filled with uncertainty from the get-go. We didn’t know anything about this virus and quickly learned it’s safest to just stay at home. Almost three months into the stay-at-home-order, we still don’t have all of the answers.
According to phase three of Gov. J.B Pritzker’s plan to reopen the state, which is on track to happen at the end of next week, nonessential businesses, including hair salons, may open with capacity limits.
In a press conference Friday afternoon, however, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Chicago is on track to carefully reopen in early June. The city will be providing guidelines early next week for businesses reopening, Lightfoot said.
Some salons have booked and rebooked clients throughout the stay-at-home order. But clients shouldn’t assume they will be going to a Chicago salon starting May 29, even if they have an appointment.
As we’ve seen in the past few weeks, policies can rapidly change, and nothing is set in stone in the state until we get closer to May 29 and see how the COVID-19 numbers look. Read more here. —Hannah Herrera Greenspan
5:05 p.m.: 8 residents, 6 employees of Juvenile Temporary Detention Center test positive for COVID-19, officials say
Eight residents of the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center have tested positive this week for COVID-19, officials announced Friday. Six employees of the detention center have tested positive as well, according to a release from the Office of the Chief Judge.
Five of the residents who tested positive live in the same housing pod in the detention center’s general population, officials said. This is the first time positive tests have been reported in that residential group.
The other three residents who tested positive were housed in a 14-day separation area for juveniles who are just arriving for detention at the facility.
Consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, any juvenile in custody who tests positive is placed in medical isolation for 14 days in the medical unit, officials said.
A total of 21 employees and 14 residents have now tested positive for COVID-19 at the detention center. Officials have said any employee who tests positive must be medically cleared before returning to work.
With today’s announcement, there are a total of 38 employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 who work under the Office of the Chief Judge, according to the release.
4:15 p.m.: State unemployment office notifying more than 32,000 gig workers whose personal information was possibly exposed
The state’s unemployment insurance office said Friday it would start more than 32,000 gig workers whose personal information may have been viewed during a security breach.
The breach in the system built for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance payments was revealed last week, when a claimant reported that she had stumbled upon personal information for thousands of applicants on the state’s website, including names, addresses and Social Security numbers. The claimant told her state representative, Terri Bryant, a Murphysboro Republican, who reported it to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
After working with Deloitte Consulting to investigate a glitch in the system, the state will send notices to people whose information may have been “unintentionally viewed” by a single individual. The state had hired Deloitte to help it deal with the large number of unemployment insurance claims — more than a million since the March stay-at-home order closed nonessential businesses and sent people home.
The department said that computer records confirm that no one else viewed the personal information and there is no sign that any personal information “was, or will be, improperly used.”
“Out of an abundance of caution, the Department will notify 32,483 claimants whose information could have been possibly viewed to ensure full transparency,” the department said.
Claimants who get the notice will have the option to enroll in 12 months of free credit monitoring, a service offered by Deloitte, the state said. Read more here. —Mary Wisniewski
3:44 p.m.: Another Illinois prisoner has died from a COVID-19-related illness
Another Illinois prisoner has died from a COVID-19-related illness, marking the 13th inmate death statewide and the first fatality outside Stateville Correctional Center, officials confirmed Friday.
An elderly prisoner at Pontiac Correctional Center in downstate Livingston County died late Wednesday at an area hospital. The name of the man, in his 70s, was not immediately available Friday.
All but one of the 13 deaths were inmates at Stateville, near Joliet, the source of the main outbreak.
The Illinois Department of Corrections has confirmed nonfatal virus cases in about 20 of its nearly four dozen facilities statewide since the pandemic began.
The problem at Stateville is particularly grim. The vast majority of the 167 staff and 212 inmates who have been infected statewide in Illinois prisons are located there.
All state prisons are under quarantine. But prison reform advocates have file lawsuits arguing the state has been too slow to respond, putting inmates and staff at further risk.
At Pontiac, seven staff members and two inmates, including the man who died Wednesday, have tested positive. Aside from him, another inmate in his 20s also is infected but his symptoms have not required hospitalization, officials said Friday. —Christy Gutowski
3:32 p.m.: Senate approves expanded voting-by-mail bill for Nov. 3 election, which now heads to the governor
The Illinois Senate voted along party lines Friday to approve a measure aimed at expanding voting by mail in November amid ongoing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
The measure, which was approved by the House on Thursday, would create an enhanced vote-by-mail plan for the Nov. 3 general election. The Senate approved the bill on a 37-19 vote, with all Republican members in opposition.
It is now headed to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who has said he’ll sign it.
The legislation would have vote-by-mail applications sent to everyone who voted in either the 2018 general election, the 2019 municipal election or this year’s March 17 primary, as well as to voters newly registered since the primary or who changed their addresses.
It would also make the day of the election, Nov. 3, a government and school holiday so schools can be used as polling places without risks to students and teachers. Read more here. —Jamie Munks and Dan Petrella
3:30 p.m.: Northwestern chemists working on antiviral treatment for face masks
Chemists at Northwestern University say they are working on a way to make any mask — no matter how simple the fabric — an effective virus-killing shield against the spread of the new coronavirus.
A fabric-treatment technology the university first developed with the Department of Defense to protect soldiers from deadly nerve agents — such as VX and sarin gases — may be useful in catching and killing viral cells when they contact a mask, said Omar Farha, a chemistry professor affiliated with Northwestern’s International Institute for Nanotechnology.
The university received a $200,000 rapid response research grant from the National Science Foundation to further develop and test the technology to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Chemists have used metal-organic frameworks to create “programmable sponges” that can screen viral cells while letting air pass through so the wearer can still breathe normally. The composite material would include an active ingredient to kill the virus, Farha said.
The result could be a dip coating treatment that could be used to make any mask protective against coronavirus or any other virus that may emerge in the future, he said. “That’s the whole idea,” Farha said. “We want to make a material that is not just COVID-sensitive and not just COVID-specific.” —David Heinzmann
3 p.m.: Pritzker responds to Trump’s call for churches to be allowed to reopen
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday did not seem inclined to follow President Donald Trump’s call for churches to be allowed to reopen as essential businesses.
“We’re going to continue to operate on the basis of science and data,” Pritzker said. “I’m as anxious as anybody to make sure that our churches or mosques or synagogues open back to where they were before COVID-19 came along. We’re gradually moving in that direction, but there’s no doubt, the most important thing is we do not want parishioners to get ill.” —Bill Ruthhart
2:54 p.m.: Pritzker says all child care facilities in Illinois will be allowed to reopen as soon next week
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday that all child care facilities in Illinois will be allowed to reopen as soon next week, when all regions of the state are expected to move into the next phase of reopening businesses.
To date, the state has been operating at roughly 15% of its child care capacity with 2,500 day care homes and 700 centers allowed open as emergency providers for essential workers.
When the state is expected to move into the next reopening phase next Friday, Pritzker said some 5,500 child care providers that are not currently operating will be asked to reopen.
Operators will be limited to no more than 10 children per classroom. Smaller home-based day care facilities will be allowed to operate at their standard capacities.
Once day care facilities are able to operate safely for four weeks and get acclimated to new requirements, they will be allowed to expand to larger group sizes but not their full capacities, Pritzker said. Those new larger groups would be roughly 30% of capacity for most facilities.
“All of Illinois appears to be on track to move into phase three of ‘Restore Illinois’ next Friday, allowing hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans to go back to work in the industries that are eligible to reopen in the weeks ahead. But we can’t have a conversation about going back to work without talking about child care,” Pritzker said. “If we don’t have childcare, a large portion of the work force, especially women who too often bear a disproportionate burden, will be without any way to move forward without caring for their child themselves.” —Bill Ruthhart
2:44 p.m.: Lightfoot says Lake Michigan’s ‘The Playpen’ not opening this summer
Chicago’s infamous Lake Michigan party spot “The Playpen” will not be opening this summer, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.
At a news conference announcing the city’s likely move into phase 3 of its reopening plan early next month, Lightfoot said the city lakefront will eventually reopen but wouldn’t give a date. She also laid out specific industries that will be allowed to open next month, including outdoor dining at restaurants and barbershops.
But she cast doubt on a big party spot.
“Sorry folks the playpen will not be open this summer,” Lightfoot said. —Gregory Pratt
2:32 p.m.: 2,758 new known COVID-19 infections and 110 additional deaths
State health officials announced on Friday 2,758 new known infections of COVID-19 in Illinois and 110 additional confirmed deaths. That brings the statewide total to 105,444 cases and the death toll to 4,715 since the beginning of the outbreak.
2:23 p.m.: Sam Toia of the Illinois Restaurant Association is a Chicago guy who gets Chicago things done. Is he pushing too hard on reopening?
Sam Toia, based on appearances alone, looks more Lex Luthor than Superman. The guy is bald, bald, bald, rarely the tallest one in the room, though also baldly persistent, and full of charisma, able to leap tall bureaucracies in a relatively short period of time. But not without stumbles, of course. Toia is president and CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association, and this week, after weeks of arguing that Gov. J.B. Pritzker was mishandling restaurant reopening, dooming the state’s largest private-sector employer, Toia stood on a podium beside his old friend and glumly pointed to “a glimmer of light.”
He’s not the type to hide dissatisfaction, to maintain a plastered smile. To slow the coronavirus, the governor wants our restaurants to reopen slowly, to offer just outdoor seating at first; a day later, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot paused even that baby step.
Toia wants to move faster.
Too fast, some say.
Those who know and have worked with him, describe Sam Toia — who likely first came to the attention of many Chicagoans during the governor’s daily update on Wednesday and a press conference with Lightfoot May 8 — as the ball of energy, the consummate fixer, tirelessly tenacious, politically connected.
In other words, a classic Chicago character. Read more here. —Chris Borrelli
2:16 p.m.: Lightfoot rejects President Trump’s call to open churches
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday rejected President Donald Trump’s call for the reopening of churches across the country, saying he’s “pandering to a base” while running for re-election.
Lightfoot’s comments came a day after Trump said he considered churches essential and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be issuing guidance Friday for church openings.
“I think we have to realize that virtually everything he says has a political undertone and basis for it,” Lightfoot said. “Look, we are working with our faith community, just like we’re working with businesses to set up very specific guidelines to help them to be able to reopen safely.”
The mayor noted Trump has had to “walk back” various proclamations he has made during the coronavirus crisis.
“He has said so many dangerous and foolish things. Add this to the list,” Lightfoot added.
Lightfoot in recent days has toughened her stance against churches in Chicago that are flouting Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 stay-at-home order, which prohibits in-person worshiping at this point. The city fined three Chicago houses of worship $500 each this week after they held services last weekend. Read more here. —John Byrne
2:06 p.m.: Legislators OK bill that gives ‘essential’ workers stricken with COVID-19 better access to worker’s compensation
In a bipartisan effort aimed at helping workers who become infected with COVID-19, the Illinois House on Friday overwhelmingly approved a measure that would increase access to worker’s compensation benefits.
The House voted 113-2 in favor of the legislation, which reflects a deal agreed to by organized labor and business groups. The bill workers considered “essential” under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s statewide stay-at-home order who contract the new coronavirus to qualify for worker’s compensation benefits with the assumption that the virus was contracted on the job.
Employers could contest the claims by showing evidence an employee contracted the virus somewhere other than the workplace or that the employer was following state and federal public health guidelines.
“If you’re doing the right thing, that presumption would be rebutted,” Democratic Rep. Jay Hoffman said Friday of the presumption the virus was contracted on the job.
The Senate approved the bill Thursday, and it now goes to Pritzker. Read more here. —Jamie Munks
1:41 p.m.: Lightfoot says decision on Lollapalooza music festival expected next week
The city of Chicago will be making an announcement about Lollapalooza next week, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.
The mayor again was asked about the popular summer festival during a news conference on Friday and said a decision would be announced sometime next week.
Last month, Lightfoot said it’s too soon to talk about July and August events. But she has canceled Gospel Fest and Memorial Day events set for May and June. Lollapalooza is scheduled for July 30-Aug. 2.
The coronavirus pandemic has upended most plans for the foreseeable future, though officials are starting to ease up rules/ Read more here. —Gregory Pratt
1:15 p.m.: President Trump calls on governors to reopen churches, declares them essential services
President Donald Trump on Friday said he has deemed churches and other houses of worship “essential” and called on governors to allow them to reopen this weekend despite the threat of the coronavirus.
“Today I’m identifying houses of worship — churches, synagogues and mosques — as essential places that provide essential services,” Trump said during a hastily arranged press conference Friday. He said if governors don’t abide by his request, he will “override” them, though it’s unclear what authority he has to do so. Read more here. —Associated Press
1 p.m.: Chicago will cautiously reopen in early June, begin easing restrictions on some businesses and activities, Lightfoot says
The city of Chicago is on pace to begin cautiously reopening and ease restrictions on certain activities in early June, with outdoor dining at restaurants, barber shops, non-lakefront park buildings and libraries slated to resume limited business, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Friday.
If safety measures can be put in place, Lightfoot also said the city could potentially reopen summer programs and allow private camps, religious services, gyms, museums and the lakefront later on in the summer.
Schools, playgrounds, bars, stadiums and music venues will remain closed for now, she said.
Though the city announced a general timeline, officials said they will be releasing more information next week about industry-specific rules and regulations for reopening.
Still, the news is likely to be a welcome relief for restive residents and business owners who want to return to some degree of normalcy, even with restrictions.
Under Lightfoot’s reopening timeline, childcare centers, park facilities outside of the lakefront, libraries, office-based jobs, professional and real estate services, hotels and outdoor attractions including some boating and non-lakefront golf courses will be allowed to open, the city said.
Non-essential retail stores, hair salons, barbershops and tattoo parlors also will be able to open.
Social gatherings will still be limited to fewer than 10 people, however, and the city still encourages residents to stay 6 feet apart and wear a face covering.
On Thursday, Lightfoot said restaurants won’t be allowed to reopen as soon as next week but she expects it to have outdoor seating. Lightfoot also wants restaurants to have indoor dining options, which she acknowledged would need approval from the state.
“No restaurant I know of is going to be able to survive dependent upon what the weather is going to be like on a particular day in Chicago,” Lightfoot said. “I think having the opportunity to do it and dine alfresco on a larger scale, which is what we certainly are talking about, is important, but they also need to be able to be inside as well, or economically I don’t think the numbers work.” Read more here. —Gregory Pratt
11:37 a.m.: With Park District planting hampered by COVID-19, nonprofit supporting Garfield Park Conservatory sells surplus flowers in fundraiser
The Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance was selling flowers this week originally meant to be planted in Chicago parks that couldn’t be used because of a lack of seasonal employees due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Five days before the online sale was supposed to end, most individual flowers were already sold out, according to the website for the alliance, a nonprofit that supports the conservatory.
“Each year, Chicago Park District staff and contractors grow flowers over the winter to plant in gardens throughout the city,” the park district said on the alliance’s website. “In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are unable to hire the seasonal staff and contractors that would normally plant and care for these flowers in the summer.”
The sale was scheduled to go through Wednesday, with scheduled in-person pickup of flowers from Thursday through May 31, according to the park district.Information about the sale is on the nonprofit’s website. —Chicago Tribune staff
9:40 a.m.: Hydroxychloroquine linked to deaths, heart risks in COVID study
Antimalaria drugs that President Donald Trump has touted for treatment of COVID-19 were linked to an increased risk of death and heart ailments in a study.
Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine didn’t benefit patients with the coronavirus, either alone or in combination with an antibiotic, according to the study published Friday by The Lancet medical journal.
Researchers are searching through available options to treat the coronavirus, which has killed more than 330,000 people, including drugs like the antimalarials that are also already approved to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Trump’s endorsement has led many people to take the medications without scientific proof of their benefit.
The study looked at the records of 15,000 people who had been treated with the antimalarials and one of two antibiotics that have sometimes been paired with them. Treatment with any combination of the four drugs was associated with a higher risk of death than seen in 81,000 patients who didn’t receive them. Read more here. —Bloomberg News
9:10 a.m.: How to make a living in Chicago sex work amid a pandemic? More hours, less pay and a good internet connection.
Like a lot of people in these months of quarantine, E.B. Cotenord is having a tough time making ends meet. COVID-19 has made it too risky to pursue her profession as she normally does, so she’s working from home, putting in crazy hours and making a fraction of her former earnings.
What’s different about Cotenord is her job.
She is a full-service sex worker, otherwise known as an escort, whose services normally command $500 an hour. She stopped seeing clients shortly after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the first stay-at-home order in March, switching her business model almost overnight to subscription video and phone sex. Read more here. —John Keilman
6:55 a.m.: Chicago officials to release updated information on ‘reopening framework’ for city
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and city Health Commissioner Dr Allison Arwady were scheduled to release an update on Chicago’s “reopening framework” Friday afternoon, according to the mayor’s office.
State officials have said that every region of Illinois carved out under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order is on track to move to the next phase of reopening at the end of next week, Phase 3, under which nonessential retail businesses can reopen with capacity limits. But until Pritzker announced a softening of restrictions on restaurants that would allow them to reopen for outdoor dining, restaurants weren’t included in that phase of the plan.
And, with the state law allowing cities to restrict reopening further, Lightfoot said Thursday that Chicago restaurants won’t be reopening as early as establishments in the rest of the state.
Details of the updated Chicago plan were expected to be released in a news conference Friday afternoon. —Chicago Tribune staff
5 a.m.: ‘Our residents are in crisis’: In state-run homes for adults with disabilities, COVID-19 spread quickly
While much of the attention related to COVID-19’s impact on vulnerable populations has focused on deaths at nursing homes, infection rates are remarkably high in another kind of residential setting: state-operated centers for adults with cognitive or behavioral disabilities.
As of Thursday, more than 1 in 5 people living in these developmental centers had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, state data shows. That’s more than double the infection rate seen in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, where confirmed cases account for about 7% of residents, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Of about 1,650 people who live in the seven developmental centers, which are scattered throughout the state, at least 355 have tested positive, or 21.5%. Eight residents have died, as have four workers. Read the full story, a collaboration between the Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois, here. —Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen
5 a.m.: Salons, gyms desperate to reopen navigate complexities of Pritzker’s Illinois stay-at-home order
Depending on whom you ask, salons that offer hair extensions can open in Illinois despite Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order. Those that don’t, can’t. Similarly, gyms in hotels can open, while independent ones aren’t supposed to yet, although at least five already have.
Tom DeVore, a downstate lawyer who has filed several lawsuits against the governor over the stay-at-home order, advised the owner of a Springfield hair salon to reopen despite what he calls intimidation tactics by the state. Although the executive order provides broad strokes about what’s essential, what businesses may open often is determined by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
A spokeswoman for Pritzker said hair salons should not reopen until phase three of the reopening plan, “which all of Illinois is on track to meet in just over a week,” but a department spokeswoman clarified that hair restoration and extension providers may open. Read more here. —Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas
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May 21
Here are five things that happened Thursday that you need to know:
Chicago restaurants won’t be ready to open on pace with rest of Illinois, Mayor Lori Lightfoot says
Illinois hits highest total for number of COVID-19 tests administered in a single day, officials say
Illinois House expands vote-by-mail but pandemic-era budget plan awaits final day of session
Preckwinkle “profoundly disappointed” after Cook County Board OKs sharing COVID-19-positive addresses with first responders
“The grind is a lot harder”: Sex workers struggle to make a living as COVID-19 batters their industry
May 20
Here are five things that happened Wednesday that you need to know:
Illinois restaurants and bars can go al fresco as soon as next Friday as Gov. J.B. Pritzker nods to reopening pressure
Pritzker backs down, unmasked lawmaker escorted out: First day of legislature’s special pandemic session a mix of political drama and showmanship
Mayor Lori Lightfoot introduces new tenant rules, advocates say they don’t do enough to protect Chicago renters
Lightfoot says Chicago reopening “on the horizon” but warned against ignoring stay-at-home order
Three Floyds closes legendary brewpub indefinitely due to coronavirus, even as Indiana moves to reopen businesses
May 19
Here are five things that happened Tuesday that you need to know:
Gov. J.B. Pritzker preaches patience, expresses optimism as Illinois coronavirus metrics improve
Rent relief in Illinois could be on its way, as state legislators rush to pass bills during three-day session
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s first year in office was filled with big moments and tough decisions. Then the coronavirus “changed everything.”
Fearful of a winter coronavirus resurgence, colleges including Notre Dame and Marquette will start fall classes early and shorten breaks
Mariano’s parent Kroger will not seek repayment from workers it overpaid during COVID-19 outbreak
May 18
Here are five things that happened Monday that you need to know:
Business owners now face misdemeanor charge if they reopen in spite of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says city will fine churches that violated social distancing rules
“Our movement man,” a fixture at Chicago protests, loses life to COVID-19
Uber laying off another 3,000 workers, raising more questions about the company’s future in Chicago
With a new, stricter grading system — plus warmer weather — Cook County is now getting a D on social distancing