How to stay home. The Tribune breaks down what Chicago and Cook County stay-home orders really mean—including: “Cancel that big Thanksgiving meal.”
■ The University of Wisconsin-Madison health system’s chief quality officer warns college students returning home for Thanksgiving: A negative coronavirus test “doesn’t give you a free pass.” (Image: Sabrina Ripke / Pixabay.)
■ Vox explains why “America needs to close down.”
■ Chicago’s rushing to scrutinize its poo and pee.
‘Take immediate action to protect students.’ Illinois’ largest teachers union is pressing Gov. Pritzker to set clear guidelines for when local officials should close school buildings in the pandemic.
■ Hallmark is giving away a million thank-you cards grateful families can send to teachers.
‘Pritzker keeps getting in his own way.’ Patch columnist Mark Konkol slams the governor for acknowledging he may visit his family estate in Florida at Thanksgiving—even though he’s urged Illinoisans to travel only if necessary.
■ Illinois U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos—chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee—has tested positive for COVID-19.
■ A Texas town is literally rallying around a 5-year-old boy whose parents died of the coronavirus four months apart.
Who’s on first? Chicago Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady says that, as COVID-19 vaccines roll out, the initial doses will go to the city’s health care workers.
■ An expert panel advising the federal government is also leaning toward prioritizing (link corrected) people with certain medical conditions and those 65 and older.
■ Chicago researchers are excited about the successful results for a vaccine tested here …
■ … but, two biology professors warn in The Conversation: The virus could evolve, undermining vaccines’ effectiveness.
■ Amazon’s getting into the pharmacy business.
‘An organization full of impressionable young boys … was … a magnet for abusive adults.’ And yet columnist Charlie Madigan recalls his time in the Boy Scouts of America fondly: “There was nothing there but scorched shoes, bad food, long hikes, the approval of an actual drill sergeant and the firm knowledge that I will never be lost in the woods.”
■ Ahead of a Monday deadline in the Scouts’ bankruptcy case, almost 90,000 sexual abuse claims had been submitted against the organization.
Mancow overboard. Chicago radio blowhard Erich Mancow Muller departs WLS-AM a week from tomorrow.
■ Two “titans” of Illinois political reporting are on the way out at Springfield’s State Journal-Register.
■ The New York Times: As funding from conservative moneybags—including a wealthy Illinois couple who contracted COVID-19 after one called it “overhyped”—has increased, a popular website about politics has made a sharp turn to the right.
■ HotPod: “Old right-wing talk radio [is] making its way into new podcasting.”
‘Incomprehensible.’ Critic Aaron Barnhart is appalled that, although ABC has set its new series Big Sky during the pandemic, “nobody wears a mask.”
■ The Hollywood Reporter flags Big Sky as “one of the worst shows of the year.”
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