$1.89? Hah. Try $29.89. As respiratory illness rises among Chicago-area kids, children’s amoxicillin—the pink stuff—is increasingly scarce and expensive.
■ U.S. COVID-related hospital admissions are rising—especially among older adults.
■ Across the country, mask mandates are making a comeback.
■ The Conversation: China’s largely successful and strict COVID-19 policies have ironically “likely left the country very susceptible to a large outbreak.”
‘An infinite source of clean energy’? The U.S. Energy Department reportedly was poised to announce a first: A nuclear fusion reaction that created more energy than it consumed.
■ New Scientist: “If the experimental results are confirmed, it will prove that fusion is a viable way to meet the planet’s growing energy demands by replicating the reaction that has been occurring at the heart of our sun for billions of years.”
‘The chief concern is keeping this out of the press.’ ProPublica lifts the curtain on Google’s controversial—and, it hoped, secret—quest for access to “a priceless trove of veterans’ skin samples, tumor biopsies and slices of organs.”
■ Twitter overlord Elon Musk says he’s “open to the idea” of buying email newsletter platform Substack.
■ The Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel: “If there’s one tweet that will tell you everything you need to know about Elon Musk, it’s this one.”
■ After a series of clusterfracks, Musk’s planning to relaunch Twitter’s $8/month premium service …
■ … but it’ll cost $11 for those who sign up through an iPhone or iPad—a surcharge Apple users can dodge if they sign up on the web.
Got ’im. The U.S. now has custody of a Libyan intelligence official accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988—killing 259 people on board and 11 on the ground.
■ A bomb threat forced the evacuation and cancellation of a Christmas concert by Patti LaBelle Saturday in Milwaukee.
‘Libraries have more than a little poison in them.’ Popular Information interviews a conservative activist who’s pushing to remove more than 3,600 books from Florida schools.
■ Illinois’ state librarian—retiring Secretary of State Jesse White—grants an exit interview to the Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg.
Twinkly trouble. A growing body of research suggests that those cherished outdoor holiday lights—especially blue and white ones—may do wildlife no good …
■ … which makes this excerpt from cartoonist Gemma Correll’s roundup of “Holiday Songs for Late Stage Capitalism” all the more timely.
■ … almost seven months after he was set on fire as he slept on Lower Wabash.
■ Acclaimed Chicago radio and TV host and announcer Floyd Brown is dead at 92.
■ WGN Radio has posted clips from Brown’s time there.
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The Found’s Chicago Pigeon Pin is just one of the many gift ideas from local artists and designers at the MCA Store. Your purchase at the MCA Store sustains Chicago’s creative ecosystem and supports the museum’s programs and exhibitions as well. Visit in-person and check out the newly opened Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today, or shop online now.