Worming out. A woman who sued a suburban hospital demanding her COVID-positive mom be treated with the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin has abandoned the suit.
■ Experts tell the AP that even though the Delta variant is more contagious than earlier versions among kids, there’s no strong evidence it makes them sicker.
■ In the face of surging emergency room visits, Chicago-area children’s hospitals are encouraging parents to avoid ERs for all but life-threatening matters.
Reasons to be cheerful. New analysis suggests that, under the most likely of four scenarios—with children cleared for vaccination and no new highly contagious variant emerging—the worst of the pandemic may be over.
■ The FDA has backed booster shots for those 65 and older—but that’s not the final word.
■ Llama antibodies may provide a missing llink in the war on COVID.
Hail, holidays. Chicago’s planning to revive in-person celebrations of fall and winter holidays—beginning with Halloween and continuing through a Christmas tree lighting.
■ Rising cargo shipments add pressure to do your holiday shopping early.
■ Mayor Lightfoot’s standing by her Oct. 15 deadline for city workers to get vaccinated.
‘That’s reprehensible.’ A Cook County commissioner condemns AT&T’s financial support of Texas lawmakers who supported that state’s crackdown on abortion—and he’s proposing the county see if it can cut its ties to such companies.
■ Popular Information: “Texas’ draconian abortion ban is headed to Florida.”
■ Touting itself as the nation’s “only women-founded, women-owned and women-led commercial bank,” First Women’s Bank is open in Chicago.
‘Rahm Emanuel keeps failing up.’ Patch columnist Mark Konkol comments on the ex-mayor’s ability to transform “his public-policy advocacy into big-time paychecks” …
■ … a thing made manifest by Emanuel’s financial disclosures in anticipation of an ambassadorship to Japan.
■ President Biden’s envoy to Haiti is quitting, protesting the United States’ “inhumane” expulsions of Haitian migrants back to their homeland.
■ New to Chicago: Dozens of unaccompanied minor refugees from Afghanistan.
‘I don’t want to die.’ Jimmy Kimmel was one of seven TV hosts who teamed up last night to devote their shows to the climate crisis.
■ Chicago’s network of bike lanes is in line for a massive expansion: 100 miles of new paths.
■ The Biden administration’s first new climate rule: Tight limits on hydrofluorocarbons, widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners.
Jumping ship. Donald Trump’s top lawyers are bailing …
■ … which may help explain Trump’s string of what The Daily Beast calls “three increasingly furious late-night statements in 77 minutes.”
‘Indefensible government snooping.’ A Sun-Times editorial cheers on a bill that would limit the federal government’s purchase of citizens’ personal information from private companies.
■ The Intercept takes you inside a social media surveillance program that it says can watch your every move.
‘Manipulative, cynical and creepy.’ Movie critic Richard Roeper doesn’t think much of Dear Evan Hansen.
■ Chicago-born Black cinema pioneer Melvin Van Peebles is dead at 89.
■ Thanks to ex-Tribune colleague and fellow email newsletter proprietor Eric Zorn for his shoutout to Square (“diligently curated, impressively thorough”).
■ ProPublica founder Richard Tofel’s thought of the day: “News organizations should stop sponsoring polls.”