Reopenings. Gov. Pritzker’s administration is openly discussing moves toward a post-pandemic economy in which all sectors are open again and “conventions, festivals, and large events can take place” …
■ … but not without masks.
■ Reflecting on the pandemic one year in, Pritzker told WTTW-TV: “If I knew then what I know now we might have done some things differently.”
■ The governor’s putting off his vaccination: “I didn’t want to jump the line.”
No beefing, please. Chicago’s celebrated Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen is doing its part—offering a day of free sandwiches if staffers make it 30 days without having to remind a single customer to wear a mask.
■ A coalition of Chicago restaurants is asking the city to prioritize vaccines for at least a few employees per eatery.
■ Guess which former president’s Chicago tower staff got vaccinations—even though they weren’t eligible.
■ An online tracker lets Chicagoans see how many COVID-19 cases have shown up in individual schools—and when.
Spring broken. Colleges nationwide canceled spring vacations, but students hit the road anyway.
■ The Conversation: The U.S. could save tens of thousands of lives and tens of billions of dollars with three weeks of strict COVID-19 measures. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
Vaccine hotline. Illinois has launched a hotline staffed by about 500 people to help Illinois residents land a shot.
■ Questions about the safety of AstraZeneca’s vaccine have created a bind for governments trying to overcome “vaccine hesitancy.”
■ But its shot still hasn’t been approved in the U.S.
■ Experts explain how mRNA vaccines—like Moderna’s and Pfizer’s—work and why they require two doses.
Two cops, two days. At least two Chicago police officers were shot in separate incidents Sunday and Monday.
■ One has been released, and the other was reported doing well after surgery.
‘We’re really relying on agencies that have failed.’ Environmental groups aren’t among fans of Mayor Lightfoot’s plan to add new restrictions on where industrial polluters can conduct business in Chicago.
■ The city’s put the brakes on plans to move a polluting metal scrapping operation from Lincoln Park to the Southeast Side.
‘This ‘tip line’ appears to have operated more like a garbage chute.’ A U.S. senator is asking the Justice Department to investigate the possibility the FBI’s background check of Supreme Court nominee—now Justice—Brett Kavanaugh was “fake.”
■ The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has scrubbed its website of unscientific Trump-era crap.
Oops Dept.
■ The Washington Post has corrected a story that misquoted Donald Trump in a conversation with a Georgia elections investigator.
■ … but the AP and other news organizations somehow confirmed the reporting the Post now disowns …
■ … all of which plays into Trump’s griping about media slant.
The Academy Awards’ chance to be ‘alive to our particular historical moment.’ Critic Michael Phillips: “The Oscars can either build on last year’s Parasite triumph. Or it can settle for Trial of the Chicago 7.”
■ Chicago showed up at the Grammys …
■ … but columnist Irv Leavitt laments: “The Grammys were bad for women.”
Takeout Awards. The Tribune’s annual Critics’ Choice Dining Awards have evolved to mark a full year of the pandemic shutdown—among other things, replacing the Chef of the Year honor with a Person of the Year: “The essential hospitality worker.”
■ And now the polls are open in the Trib’s rebranded Readers’ Choice Takeout Awards.
Readers lost. Three subscribers quit Chicago Public Square yesterday—one declaring yesterday’s edition “spammy content”; another decrying “all left wing anti US garbage”*; and, from a third, “Your publication still seems to be in the ‘neanderthal’ (pun intended) era with your left wing leaning libtard loon prose.”
■ Help replenish the ranks by recommending Square to a friend.
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*But that one came back today—after requesting and getting evidence Square has “been skeptical about Biden or Pritzker.”