More shots. Chicago’s expanding COVID-19 vaccine eligibility as of March 29. Here’s who’s in the city’s group 1c.
■ Outside Chicago, Illinois is doing the same April 12—for residents 16 and over.
■ A mass vaccination site opens Friday in Batavia.
■ All Chicago Public Schools employees—and vendors who work in the schools—can sign up now.
■ The Tribune asks: Why aren’t Walgreens stores consistently vaccinating people with qualifying underlying health conditions?
■ FiveThirtyEight: Why vaccination programs have left doctors out.
■ Mayor Lightfoot on improper vaccinations at Chicago’s Trump Tower*: “This …absolutely can never be repeated.”
■ Chicago Public Square one year ago: “A vaccine to keep people from contracting the infection isn’t coming soon.”
■ Public health deans offer four steps to make July 4th more independent of pandemic restrictions.
Ghost trains. Metra reports its ridership has dropped more than 90 percent in the pandemic.
■ Free parking is coming to an end near one Chicago beach.
■ Navy Pier’s mostly still closed, but its first hotel opens today.
Pandemic lost and found. The Trib has rounded up a list of more than 350 Chicago businesses that have closed during the pandemic …
■ … and profiles five that launched.
■ A WGN Radio interview a year ago tonight puzzled: “What does it mean to ‘shelter in place?’”
■ Chicago’s housing market is hot, hot, hot—partly because of the pandemic.
■ The Conversation: The pandemic drove the biggest drop ever in carbon emissions.
Tax reprieve. The IRS is giving you an extra month—until May 17—to file federal tax returns …
■ … but state governments will make their own decisions on whether to push back their tax deadlines.
‘This white accused mass murderer already has a cover story. Surprise, surprise.’ Trib columnist Rex Huppke mourns the “whitewashing” of a shooting spree that left eight people—six of them women of Asian descent—dead at three Atlanta-area massage parlors.
■ A Facebook page linked to a police spokesman who said the suspect had “a really bad day” promoted racist language about China and the coronavirus. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ Mayor Lightfoot pledges a stronger police presence in Chicago’s Asian American communities.
■ The FBI has released more video of people sought in attacks on police officers during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
‘White privilege to the max.’ After the latest arrest of Marilyn Hartman, a self-described “old white woman” who’s serially boarded airplanes without a ticket, Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell asks: “Do you really think a Black man or a Middle Eastern woman would have gotten past TSA once, let alone repeatedly?”
■ The FAA is extending beyond March its “zero tolerance” policy for passengers who refuse to wear masks.
| Tip Chicago Public Square $1. |
Fin. Former Ravinia music director James Levine is dead at 77, a little more than three years after his dismissal from New York’s Metropolitan Opera over sexual improprieties.
■ Longtime WLS-TV director of community services and public affairs host Bill Campbell died Wednesday after a long illness.
Who makes how much? You can search a Better Government Association database to find out how much anyone working in Illinois state government is getting paid.
■ In sharp contrast to his sphinx-like predecessor, Illinois’ new House speaker is talking to the public—a lot.
_____
* Sorry about that. Yesterday’s Chicago Public Square included a photo to which it had not secured rights—showing Eric Trump and Loretto Hospital’s COO. Apologies to the great team at Block Club Chicago …
■ … but also congratulations—for taking coveted top honors in the Reader’s Best of Chicago poll for Best Newsletter and Best Blog.
■ Thanks to all who voted for Square.
■ Also thanks again to Pam Spiegel for making this edition better.