Thanks … for not traveling. As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asks—for a time, a headline from the staid Associated Press used the word “begs”—Americans to stay home for Thanksgiving and not to spend the holiday with people from outside their households.
■ Illinois’ top doc: “A negative test does not give you a free pass to celebrate Thanksgiving in person.”
■ The Tribune’s Mary Schmich offers tips for enjoying Thanksgiving alone— and for helping someone who’s alone enjoy it.
■ Illinois yesterday reported its highest coronavirus death toll since May.
■ The Atlantic: “America’s Best-Prepared Hospital Is Nearly Overwhelmed.”
‘How did you catch it? I truly don’t know.’ Columnist Heidi Stevens answers reader questions about her hospitalization with COVID-19.
■ In an achingly personal account of her ongoing quarantine, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow pleaded with her viewers to “do whatever you can to keep from getting it.”
■ The Conversation: A dozen things you can do to stop the pandemic’s spread. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
A vaccine for Christmas? Pfizer is seeking federal approval to administer its COVID-19 shots as early as next month.
■ A University of Chicago professor warns that the medical community faces an uphill battle persuading the Black community a vaccine is safe.
■ A University of Virginia professor explains how vaccines developed in record time can nevertheless be safe.
‘The time has come.’ Gov. Pritzker says if scandal-scarred Illinois Rep. Michael Madigan isn’t “willing to stand in front of the press and the people and answer every last question to their satisfaction,” he should quit his role as speaker of the House.
■ A growing group of House Democrats is calling for Madigan to step down.
■ Patch columnist Mark Konkol: The ComEd scandal has claimed a “Democratic insider you’ve probably never heard of,” but who has been “beloved by Madigan, Gov. Pritzker and Rahm Emanuel.”
■ … as do his legal moves, which the AP describes as “increasingly frantic.”
■ The Trib’s Eric Zorn on Trump’s enduring support among Republicans: “Unless he goes to prison …he’ll be … the front-runner for its presidential nomination in 2024.”
■ The Onion: “‘Your Honor, I’m Ready To Present,’ Says Giuliani Pulling Rotted Melon, Stray Cat Out Of Old Burlap Sack.”
■ The Onion: “‘Your Honor, I’m Ready To Present,’ Says Giuliani Pulling Rotted Melon, Stray Cat Out Of Old Burlap Sack.”
‘Brutal, violent and unconstitutional.’ Sixty people are suing Chicago police and the city over treatment they received in May protests against police brutality.
■ A Loyola University study concludes Cook County’s 2017 reform of onerous bail requirements didn’t fuel an increase in violent crime.
■ Chicago’s close to breaking a 22-year-old record for murders in a single year.
‘A step toward environmental justice.’ Illinois’ attorney general hails a $370,000 settlement with the company whose botched smokestack implosion blanketed Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood in a cloud of dust.
■ Over community objections, Amazon has won Chicago Plan Commission approval for a shipping and logistics center on the South Side.
Facebook deadline nears. Want a piece of Facebook’s $650 million settlement of a lawsuit alleging it broke Illinois law by storing users’ facial data? Monday’s the deadline.
■ Filing here takes just a minute or three.
Shopping calls. Consumer Reports surveys what it considers the best Black Friday deals on electronics, tech gifts under $100, home and kitchen products, and home gifts under $100.
■ In the hunt for a new phone? Here’s a roundup of reviews of Apple’s latest.
