Welcome back, masks. Philadelphia’s the first big U.S. city this spring to revive an indoor mask mandate …
■ … in the face of what Bloomberg calls “a stealth COVID wave” …
■ … a menace on the rise, ironically, just as Trevor Noah returned to his first studio audience for The Daily Show in more than two years.
■ First Aid Kit author Dan Weissmann: “I had COVID. Here’s what I learned.”
‘A hell of a mistake.’ Expressing regret he supported Lori Lightfoot for Chicago mayor in 2019, munificent business executive Willie Wilson* is running for mayor himself—again.
■ Lightfoot fired back in a fundraising letter to supporters: “This person also has a long track record of supporting far-right Republicans like Donald Trump and Bruce Rauner, who have brought serious harm to OUR communities.”
■ Wilson declined to say Joe Biden is the properly elected president of the United States.
‘Following threats made against the church …’ An Oak Park congregation that adopted a “fasting from whiteness” theme for Lent has taken its services virtual.
■ Two years after the murders of a married couple of prominent attorneys at their Oak Park home, police have little to report.
500 carjackings, 70 arrests. Axios updates the year’s tally by Chicago neighborhood.
■ Headed to the governor’s desk: A bill aimed at effectively banning home-assembled “ghost guns” by requiring serial numbers on all firearms.
■ Gun Owners of America—surprise!—says it’ll oppose a similar pending federal rule.
■ Developing coverage: At least five people were shot and 13 hurt at on a Brooklyn subway station train.
‘They just … lied.’ A tenant evicted from an Old Town high-rise development complains to the Better Government Association that Ald. Walter Burnett softened his stance on affordable housing requirements there after the developer bestowed thousands of dollars in lobbying fees on a Burnett friend, gave $36,000 to entities controlled by Burnett’s wife and helped sponsor a Burnett campaign fundraiser.
■ A Sun-Times editorial praises aldermen for improved (virtual) City Council attendance through the pandemic …
■ … although a new analysis concludes some of the city’s most powerful (and most indicted) aldermen show up the least.
■ Check out your rep’s attendance record here.
■ The City Council’s considering an ordinance that would ticket motorists who are caught on video parking, driving or idling in bike lanes.
‘Russians would have every reason to feel proud.’ A reporter who’s been watching Russian TV says citizens there are getting an “alternative reality” version of the war on Ukraine.
■ A Ukrainian woman tells the BBC in tears that Russian soldiers raped her and killed her husband.
■ The AP profiles children who’ve endured the war’s horrors.
‘I don’t use Etsy enough that anyone would notice my absence this week, but …’ Columnist Eric Zorn is staying off in solidarity with sellers disturbed by the company’s decision to increase transaction fees.
■ United Airlines is hiring at a Chicago job fair Wednesday.
Oh, shirt. Reader Gary Ashman is the latest to show off his spiffy new Chicago Public Squarewear.
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* Wilson’s not a doctor (2018 link).