Chicago’s
‘I got COVID twice.’ Bloomberg’s Chris Bourke, who caught it vaccinated and unvaccinated, offers “a cautionary tale for the anti-vaxxers.”
■ The Atlantic sees “a real upside” if the omicron variant ends up causing milder symptoms than delta. But there’s also a worst-case scenario.
■ The World Health Organization: What worked against delta should work against omicron.
■ A microbiologist says updating the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines—if necessary—could happen in less than four months.
■ University of Illinois computer science professor Sheldon H. Jacobson: Airport vaccination requirements aren’t enough, so add on-site testing.
Thanks, Thanksgiving. Illinois COVID-19 cases have hit their highest levels since before vaccines’ availability—with some outbreaks traced to holiday gatherings.
■ Chicago’s watchdog agency says the city’s closed privacy loopholes in its pandemic contact-tracing program.
Thanks, Facebook. CNN reports that Facebook collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from companies that have—among other malarkey—promoted anti-vaccine messages and compared COVID-19 vaccines with the Nazi Holocaust.
■ A U.K.-based think tank condemns Facebook for empowering the quacky World Doctors Alliance.
‘The police knew. The prosecutors knew. The judges knew. Yet no one has put a stop to it.’ The Better Government Association and the Sun-Times lay out the devastating costs of jailing tens of thousands of Chicagoans—mostly Black men—over the last two decades on drug charges that were never going to stick.
■ One of those caught in “an unending cycle” of drug arrests: Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s ex-trainer.
■ Oregon’s become the first state in the nation to simply ticket narcotics users, but that’s not going especially well, either.
■ A Cook County Circuit Court judge arrested for driving under the influence in Hinsdale has been assigned to “judges’ jail.”
■ Pulitzer winner Jamie Kalven*: “A full public reckoning is inexorably approaching” for Mayor Lightfoot on Chicago’s police accountability problem.
‘I got arrested for supporting Trump.’ Another Illinois guy’s been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection.
■ Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin wants the federal prisons chief appointed under Donald Trump removed for doing nothing to reform a system plagued by “corruption, chronic understaffing, and misconduct.”
‘Just as Roe v. Wade did not introduce legal abortion, so its overturning, should that happen, will not slam the door completely.’ The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg delivers one of his trademark gloomy reassurances ahead of the next Supreme Court decision on the matter.
■ A law professor explains how abortion limits could hurt the economy.
■ Looking back to the 1990s, columnist Matthew Yglesias sees public opinion—and Bill Clinton’s presidency in particular—as very conservative.
■ Men Yell at Me proprietor Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week: The Supreme Court.
‘Supervisors prey on younger females.’ Evanston RoundTable’s Freedom of Information Act request has unearthed a year’s worth of email documenting complaints about—and lackluster government response to—complaints of sexual abuse within its lifeguard program.
■ The RoundTable wants to hear from current or former Evanston lifeguards.
A latte trouble. Starbucks is opposing creation of what could become the first unions in its 50-year history.
■ And, heck, while you’re at it, go ahead and nominate more of your favorite things.
Thanks, Squarians. You wouldn’t be seeing this email daily if not for the support of readers such as Stephen Nidetz, Daniel Horvath, Kathleen Howlett, Randall Volz, William Wheelhouse, Nancy Burns, Timothy Jackson, Lawrence Weiland, Leslie Sutphen, Andrew Nord, Ellen Cutter, Christine Aronson, Karen Kring, Chris Ruys, Melisa Goh, Ben Segedin, Eric Hochstein, Mark Miller, Norma Gilich, Elan Long, Teresa Powell, Joe Germuska, Don Kumler, Joe Hallissey, Bridget Hatch, Keelin Wyman, Michael Wilson, Barbara Powers, Robert Izral, Anna Tarkov, Cynde Seegers, Michael Collins, Pavlo Berko, Robert Clifford, Lisa Krimen, Anne Costello, Bob Konold and Richard Milne. Joining them is easy and cheap.
_____
* A guest earlier this year in a Square podcast.