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Abreu sacrifice fly, Eaton homer make difference in three-run eighth

Jose Abreu drove in the go-ahead with a sacrifice fly to left field, and Adam Eaton tacked on a two-run homer as the White Sox defeated the Indians 8-6 in the first game of a doubleheader Monday for their fifth win in a row.

In the eighth inning of a game scheduled for seven, Abreu knocked in Billy Hamilton, the free runner at second who stole third base. Eaton, playing for the first time after missing the Sox’ four-game sweep of the Orioles over the weekend, homered against righty James Karinchak.

Sox manager Tony La Russa called Abreu’s at-bat, in the shadows against tough right-hander James Karinchak, one of the “greatest” he’s seen in that type of situation.

“I’ll never forget it, and our fans will never forget it,” La Russa said.

Indians right-hander Triston McKenzie struck out 10 Sox, including a club record eight in a row, but allowed five runs on four hits and two walks. The major league record for strikeouts in a row is 10.

The Indians (28-24) are in second place behind the AL Central leading Sox, who won for the seventh time in eight games and 17th time in 24.

Sox left-hander Carlos Rodon, who threw a no-hitter against the Indians on April 14, battled through six innings, allowing a season high five runs that raised his ERA to 1.98. Cesar Hernandez and Armed Rosario homered to start the first inning against Rodon, and Hernandez homered again in the third inning. Rodon, who threw 85 pitches, struck out Hernandez with a 99-mph fastball, his final pitch, with the go-ahead run on third and a runner at second.

“I just knew, probably at the end of the last pitch of the game for me I was going to give it all I had on that fastball,” Rodon said. “Wanted to challenge him. Because he hadn’t seen one like that yet.”

“That was a whole eight innings of character,” La Russa said. “Rodon gets in there and it’s forest fire right away. You saw what McKenzie was capable of . Everybody that pitched and played showed character to match their talent.”

The Sox (33-20) scored four in the second on a two-run double by Zack Collins, with a third run (Leury Garcia) scoring when second baseman Hernandez bobble a relay. Collins scored from third when Tim Anderson was picked off and in a botched rundown between first and second, crossing the plate before Anderson was tagged out.

The Sox led 5-4 when Yoan Moncada singled leading off the sixth, advanced to third on two wild pitches and scored on Yermin Mercedes’ fielder’s choice ground ball to Hernandez, who back hand flip trying to force Abreu hit the Sox first baseman’s helmet.

The Indians tied it against Rodo the sixth when Bradley Zimmer beat out a roller to Anderson at short with Josh Naylor on third.

Codi Heuer (4-1) pitched a scoreless seventh and Aaron Bummer pitched the eighth for his first save. Close Liam Hendriks was not available after a heavy workload against the Orioles.

Rodon allowed nine hits and a walk.

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“He really just made life so fun. What I’m going to miss most are those little moments,” Mr. Weldon’s daughter Treacy Weldon O’Keefe said. “Just being around him was a gift.”

Paul J. Weldon’s company made starter drivers, but at home he also dabbled in lamination.

Treacy Weldon O’Keefe remembered her father printing and cutting out clippings of his children’s sports achievements, laminating them and putting them up in their kitchen.

“He was the most vibrant, loving, supportive dad to us growing up. When my mom passed away, he took the role of being mom and dad, and he truly never skipped a beat,” she said.

Mr. Weldon, 64, third-generation owner of the oldest U.S. manufacturers of starter drives, died May 24 from complications of multiple myeloma.

Born in River Forest, Mr. Weldon attended St. Luke School and Roosevelt Middle School in River Forest before graduating from Fenwick High School in Oak Park. He later earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Loyola University Chicago and an MBA from Roosevelt University.

Mr. Weldon had led the 102-year-old Van Bergen & Greener, Inc. in Maywood since his father died in 1988.

“And like my father, he was greatly respected as an ethical man who was true to his word and was highly respected by clients, customers and all his employees,” said Mr. Weldon’s younger sister Michele Weldon.

Before his cancer diagnosis in 2016, Mr. Weldon would call her on his morning drives to work with a joke or some advice.

“In the last year, when he was ill, I made him soup every Saturday. That was a way for us to just talk and be candid. He was still giving me advice as only he could,” Michele Weldon said.

Mr. Weldon married Bernadette Treacy in 1985. The couple raised their three children Matthew, Treacy and Marirose in River Forest before moving to Oak Brook.

“He was most proud of his relationships with his children and his family,” Michele Weldon said.

Mr. Weldon’s first wife died in 2004 from a brain tumor.

“His children lost their mother at a young age,” said Mr. Weldon’s older sister Madeleine Weldon-Linne. “The youngest was only 9. But they grew up to be fair and driven and kept their faith in God.”

In 2015, Mr. Weldon married Diane Schikora Tentler. She survives.

Mr. Weldon was active in Catholic charities, as well as the Lumen Christi Institute, an organization that promotes the Catholic intellectual tradition in schools.

“He felt it was his responsibility to give back because my mother would always say, ‘To whom much is given, much is expected,’ and he lived that mantra,” Michele Weldon said.

Aside from his dedication to business and family, Mr. Weldon was also an entertainer and prankster, breaking into exaggerated dance moves and imitations at family gatherings, she said.

“When he was about 3 years old, he used to always put a T-shirt over his dirty shirt so at the end of the day he had about 10 shirts on. And we made fun of him for that forever,” Weldon-Linne said.

“He was in a cooking group once, but he never cooked anything. He only bought carry out to every potluck. But all my friends really really enjoyed and appreciated him,” Michele Weldon said.

“He really just made life so fun. What I’m going to miss most are those little moments,” Weldon O’Keefe said. “Just being around him was a gift.”

Mr. Weldon’s youngest daughter Marirose Weldon moved back to Chicago from Los Angeles in March 2020, supporting her father in his final months and helping with the business.

“I was very happy to be there because he could trust me, and I was able to learn a lot. And he was still working up until about a month ago,” said Marirose Weldon. “My dad was very supportive and outrageously generous.”

She said she will miss her father’s humor.

Mr. Weldon could often be seen in his neighborhood driving his 2000 red Corvette with the license plate, “OOH YAH.”

Other survivors include Mr. Weldon’s other three siblings, Mary Pat Woitas, Maureen Weldon and Bill Weldon; stepchildren Robert, David and Julie Tentler; and 27 nieces and nephews.

Services have been held.

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The Cubs will play 13 games against the Padres, Giants and Dodgers in June after going 19-8 in May. Each team has a top-3 record in the National League.

Who are the Chicago Cubs?

Over the course of the first two months of the season there have been two answers to that question. During April, the Cubs didn’t look like a team that was going to be playing meaningful baseball late in the season as they stumbled out of the gate.

But after a scorching May where they went 19-8 with a resurgence on offense and improved starting pitching despite a crazy run of injuries, and currently sit atop the National League Central, they’ve shown they aren’t looking to roll over any time soon.

“I think we knew we had a good team starting the season and I think when you get to prove your beliefs and have a really good month like we just had, it’s always encouraging,” manager David Ross said.

June will offer a new challenge for the Cubs and after digging themselves out of an early hole, they begin a long stretch against some of baseball’s best. After their three game set against the Padres at Wrigley Field, the Cubs embark on a West Coast trip with series against the Giants, Padres and Dodgers later in the month – each has a top-3 record in the NL.

“I think anytime a team goes out to the West Coast, it’s challenging,” Cubs president Jed Hoyer said. “Just like it’s challenging for a West Coast team to come East. We do that twice in the next month and it’s a real challenge for any team. It’s a real challenge for us. I think we’ll learn a lot about this team over the month of June.

“To go out there and have success, that’s certainly a mark of a team that has a chance to compete in the postseason. That’s the kind of environment you have to play in the postseason, you have to go to the West Coast. Right now, those three teams in the West are certainly in the cream of the crop in the National League so far.”

The Cubs have been playing their best baseball of the season over the last month and continued to play that way in Monday’s 7-2 win over the Padres. The Cubs are currently 12-9 against teams with winning records this season and will have to keep that level of play going with 13 games against NL West opponents in June.

“When you play against the best, it’s incredible what it does,” hitting coach Anthony Iapoce said. Competition really brings the best out when trying to beat the best. … I think the guys enjoy it when they look at the lineup card and see who they’re facing and they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be a good one.”

It’s difficult for any team to try to compete with a big portion of the roster unavailable, but that’s now the Cubs reality with 12 players currently on the injured list.

As Jason Heyward, Jake Marisnick, Nico Hoerner, and most recently Anthony Rizzo and Trevor Williams work their way back from various injuries, things are not going to get any easier, at least for the foreseeable future.

“It’s what this season kind of has in store for Major League Baseball,” Ross said. “It’s never fun. You want to cry uncle sometimes, but it is what we’re dealing with … I’m not going to complain about it, just move through it. We’ve got some guys that are out there … that I don’t think are too far away [from returning].”

“I feel like everybody’s pulling on the same end of the rope. Not to be cliche, but it does feel like everybody has continued to next man up [mentality] and done a nice job and going out there and competing and trying to win baseball games and you feel that from our dugout.”

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Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open on Monday and wrote on Twitter that she would be taking a break from competition, a dramatic turn of events for a four-time Grand Slam champion who said she has “suffered long bouts of depression.”

Osaka’s agent, Stuart Duguid, confirmed in an email to The Associated Press that the world’s No. 2-ranked tennis player was pulling out before her second-round match at the clay-court tournament in Paris.

The stunning move came a day after Osaka, a 23-year-old born in Japan and now based in the U.S., was fined $15,000 for skipping the postmatch news conference after her first-round victory at the French Open. She also was threatened by all four Grand Slam tournaments with possible additional punishment, including disqualification or suspension, if she continued with her intention — which Osaka revealed last week on Twitter — to not “do any press during Roland Garros.”

She framed the matter as a mental health issue, saying that it can create self-doubt to have to answer questions after a loss.

“First and foremost we are sorry and sad for Naomi Osaka. The outcome of Naomi withdrawing from Roland Garros is unfortunate,” French tennis federation president Gilles Moretton said Monday. “We wish her the best and the quickest possible recovery. And we look forward to having Naomi in our tournament next year.”

Moretton said the four major tournaments, and the professional tennis tours, “remain very committed to all athletes’ well-being and to continually improving every aspect of players’ experience in our tournament, including with the media, like we always have.”

In Monday’s post, Osaka spoke about dealing with depression since the 2018 U.S. Open, which she won by beating Serena Williams in a final filled with controversy.

“I would never trivialize mental health or use the term lightly,” Osaka wrote.

She also said speaking with the media makes her anxious.

“I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris,” Osaka wrote. “I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer.”

She continued: “Anyone that knows me knows I’m introverted, and anyone that has seen me at the tournaments will notice that I’m often wearing headphones as that helps dull my social anxiety. … I am not a natural public speaker and get huge waves of anxiety before I speak to the world’s media.”

Osaka has never been past the third round on the French Open’s red clay. It takes seven victories to win a Grand Slam title, which she has done four times at hard-court tournaments: the U.S. Open in 2018 and 2020; the Australian Open in 2019 and this February.

“Here in Paris I was already feeling vulnerable and anxious so I thought it was better to exercise self-care and skip the press conferences,” she wrote.

Tennis players are required to attend news conferences if requested to do so. The maximum fine of $20,000 is not a big deal to Osaka, the world’s highest-earning female athlete thanks to endorsement contracts totaling tens of millions of dollars.

Other players, notably 13-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal and No. 1-ranked Ash Barty, have said they respect Osaka’s right to take a stance but explained that they consider speaking to reporters part of the job.

After Osaka’s post Monday, several athletes in tennis and other sports tweeted their support.

Martina Navratilova, an 18-time Grand Slam champion, wrote: “I am so sad about Naomi Osaka. I truly hope she will be ok. As athletes we are taught to take care of our body, and perhaps the mental & emotional aspect gets short shrift. This is about more than doing or not doing a press conference. Good luck Naomi- we are all pulling for you!”

Two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry wrote that it was “impressive taking the high road when the powers that be dont protect their own. major respect.”

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The most danger Douglas Lindt said he faced as an Air Force musician in the late 1960s “was breaking drumsticks and getting a splinter.”

“Someone needed to do it,” the Elk Grove Village man said of his stint in the Air Force Academy Band Squadron’s Drum and Bugle Corps Unit.

On Monday, Lindt used his musical skills to play the 24-note “Taps” on his trumpet along with thousands of others across the country participating in this year’s Taps Across America event.

“I have the greatest respect for Vietnam vets and all vets,” said 73-year-old Lindt, who is primarily a drummer. “I believe everyone in my generation knows someone who died in Vietnam.”

Taps Across America participants played the bugle call simultaneously in observance of The National Moment of Remembrance — the one minute pause many Americans take at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day to remember those who died while serving in the military.

The first Taps Across America was created last year during the coronavirus pandemic. Over 4,000 musicians registered to play “Taps” this year with trumpets, flutes, bugles and trombones, officials said.

Lindt, who also participated in the event last year, said he often thinks of those who died during the Vietnam War who could’ve “sat next to us in math class or history class in high school.”

“We lost touch, they went to ‘Nam and came home in a box,” he said.

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The Padres are one of the best offenses in baseball, but the Cubs were up for the challenge and had their power hitting shoes on to face the National League West’s best.

The Cubs closed the month of May with a bang, using four homers to carry them to a 7-2 win over the Padres at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs trailed 1-0 early, but got the lead right back in the third inning. After Kris Bryant kept the inning alive with a two-out triple, shortstop Javy Baez got every bit of 3-2 changeup from Chris Paddack, blasting a 455-foot homer to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead.

The Cubs’ shortstop had an encore in the seventh inning as he homered again. It was the ninth multi-homer game of his career.

Baez wasn’t the only one to have a big day at the plate as third baseman Patrick Wisdom got in on the action.

The Cubs have had to find production from different places with several players on the shelf with injuries. Third baseman Patrick Wisdom has gotten an opportunity to make a name for himself and had a big day at the plate in Monday’s win.

Wisdom did damage against the Padres, launching a 423-foot solo shot in the fourth inning helping to pad the Cubs’ lead. But he wasn’t done there, Wisdom crushed a second solo home run in the sixth to make it a 6-2 game.

It was the first multi-homer game of his career. Bryant added a two-run shot of his own in the fifth inning.

Appendicitis sends Williams to the IL, Stewart shines in his place

The Cubs put starter Trevor Williams on the 10-day injured list before Monday’s win with appendicitis. Williams underwent an emergency appendectomy on Sunday and will have a follow-up with doctors on Thursday, according to Ross.

Right-hander Kohl Stewart took Williams’ place on the 26-man roster and on short notice gave the Cubs exactly what they needed.

Stewart was strong against a formidable lineup and didn’t allow San Diego to get anything going offensively. going five innings and allowed just one unearned run on three hits in his first win since July 21, 2019.

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Firefighters responded early Monday and found a family member who escaped the fire and said a man was trapped inside.

A man died after a fire broke out early Monday in southwest suburban Lemont.

Firefighters responded about 1 a.m. to the 700 block of Czacki Street and found a family member who escaped the fire and said a man was trapped inside, the Lemont Fire Department said in a statement.

The man, 64, was found dead in the rear of the home, the department said. His name hasn’t been released.

The fire was extinguished within 30 minutes and no other injuries were reported.

A resident in the home used oxygen, which may have accelerated the fire, according to Lemont police Commander Thad Mezyk. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

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In preparation for the historically violent weekend, the Chicago Police Department canceled days off and put officers on 12-hour shifts while community groups fanned out across the city to draw people out of the line of fire.

Two people have been killed and at least 28 others wounded in shootings across Chicago over Memorial Day weekend.

In preparation for the historically violent weekend, the Chicago Police Department canceled days off and put officers on 12-hour shifts. Meanwhile, community groups fanned out across the city to draw people out of the line of fire.

“This is our city that we love, and there is loss of life, and it should make us weep and roll up our sleeves,” said John Fuder of Chicagoland United in Prayer, whose group is sponsoring prayer marches across the city this weekend.

Shootings are up 36% this year compared to the same period in 2020, according to Sun-Times data. Homicides are spiking in areas long afflicted with gun violence.

Last year, Memorial Day weekend saw 10 people shot dead and 39 others wounded — the deadliest Memorial Day weekend since 2015.

Logan Square homicide

In the most recent fatal attack, a 29-year-old man was killed Saturday night in a shooting in Logan Square on the Northwest Side.

Mike Alicea was on the sidewalk about 9 p.m. when someone got out of a vehicle in the 3700 block of West McLean Avenue and began shooting, according to Chicago Police.

He was struck in the arm and leg and taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Residents in the block watched investigators work from their porches and windows.

“I can’t say I’m shocked,” a woman who was returning home with her husband said. “As soon as it gets warm the shooters come outside.”

“We usually hear about shootings about a block away from here, or in the alleys a block away; it has never made it to our front yard like this,” her husband added.

Lawndale murder

Hours earlier, a 26-year-old man was fatally shot while driving in Lawndale on the West Side.

Luis Poole was driving east on Ogden Avenue when he was shot in the face and chest, police said. The vehicle he was driving came to a rest after striking a light pole in the 3100 block West Ogden Avenue.

Poole was brought to Mt. Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

4 shot in restaurant parking lot in Grand Crossing

Four teens were shot Sunday night as they stood in the parking lot of a restaurant in Grand Crossing on the South Side.

The group was standing in the parking lot of a Subway, 6718 S. Stony Island Ave., when a dark-colored sedan drove by and someone inside fired shots, police said.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Two 19-year-old, struck in the legs and feet, were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition.

An 18-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy were struck in their legs, police said. They were also in good condition.

Belmont Cragin shooting

In nonfatal attacks, two men were wounded in a shooting early Monday in Belmont Cragin on the Northwest Side.

The pair were standing outside about 3:45 a.m. in the 5700 block of West Grand Avenue when the male suspect approached them and asked what gang they were affiliated with, police said.

The men responded that they were not a part of a gang, police said. The male suspect then pulled out a handgun and fired shots before leaving the scene.

One man, 33, was struck in the arm and torso and critically wounded, police said. The other, 31, was shot in the leg and in good condition.

Man shot in face on Lake Shore Drive

A man was wounded in a shooting on Lake Shore Drive early Sunday in the Near South Side. The 20-year-old was traveling south about 12:30 a.m. in the 1200 block of South Lake Shore Drive when he heard shots and felt pain, police and Chicago Fire officials said.

He was shot in the face and was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition was stable, police said.

12-year-old grazed

A 12-year-old boy was grazed by a bullet early Saturday in Great Crossing on the South Side. The boy was with a group of people about 1 a.m. when someone inside a black Dodge Charger fired shots in the 7100 block of South Dobson Avenue, police said.

A bullet grazed his leg and he was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in good condition, police said. He may not have been the intended target, according to police.

At least 20 others were wounded in citywide gun violence over Memorial Day weekend, which lasts from 5 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

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A pop-up clinic 60 miles east of Reno is one of 28 locations in the state where the Federal Emergency Management Agency has dispatched mobile vaccination units to ensure people in far-flung rural areas and one stop-light towns can get inoculated.

FALLON, Nev. — Pick-up truck drivers motor up to a white trailer in a parking lot on Fallon Paiute-Shoshone land in Nevada’s high desert and within a few moments they’re handed forms to sign, jabbed with coronavirus vaccine and sent on their way.

The pop-up clinic 60 miles east of Reno is one of 28 locations in the state where the Federal Emergency Management Agency has dispatched mobile vaccination units to ensure people in far-flung rural areas and one stop-light towns can get inoculated.

It’s one of the tactics health officials are using across the country to counter waning interest in vaccinations. In tiny towns, churches, ballparks, strip clubs and even marijuana dispensaries, officials are setting up shop and offering incentives to entice people as the nation struggles to reach herd immunity.

In Nevada, health officials acknowledge they’re unlikely to hit their initial goal of vaccinating 75% of the population believed necessary to reach herd immunity. Ironically, their push in northern Nevada is headquartered at the Reno Livestock Events Center, where 65-year-old Dan Lavely and others are showing up for shots.

Lavely said he teared up while thanking the nurses who vaccinated him.

“I told them I was just so thankful that they were volunteering their time to help get us back to normal so I can go shop at the mall or go to the beach at Lake Tahoe,” said Lavely, who works at a big box store in neighboring Sparks. Waiting to get vaccinated had nothing to do with safety concerns or distrust of the government, he said.

“It was a scheduling deal. Plus, my middle name is procrastinator,” Lavely said.

Two FEMA mobile trailers have meandered through Nevada to towns without pharmacies, clinics or other vaccination sites, giving doctors, nurses and National Guardsmen a first-hand look at rural and tribal communities where finding vaccinations has been difficult for residents.

“That’s our philosophy: it doesn’t make any difference if there are two (people) nor 200,” said Peggy Franklin, a volunteer nurse who has traveled alongside a FEMA trailer to Fallon, Alamo, Panaca and other towns

To preserve the vaccine, the trailers are equipped with ultra-cold refrigerators powered by generators-on-wheels. On Monday, the two mobile clinics completed six-week loops through Nevada that included returning to finish two-shot regimens in the state that covers an area that would stretch from Boston to Baltimore and Buffalo, N.Y.

Initially, the goal was to vaccinate 250 people a day at each stop. But the numbers have varied, as vaccine supply has increased and demand has fallen.

“Just a month ago, people were still having a hard time finding vaccination sites. That’s really changed in the last three or four weeks and now we’re trying to find people that are more vaccine-hesitant,” said Marc Reynolds, a doctor from Fallon who has volunteered at the mobile clinic in his hometown and the state prison in Lovelock.

The clinics have delivered 7,600 shots during two tours of Nevada and have also been used in Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky and other states. Nevada Division of Emergency Management Chief Dave Fogerson said people in the remote communities of the state “probably would not have got it any other way.”

Gerlach, for example, is 100 miles from the closest pharmacy in Reno-Sparks. With just 34 people, it was once home to a booming gypsum mine on the edge of the desert that hosts 80,000 visitors each year for the Burning Man Festival. The desolate landscape was featured in this year’s Academy Award-winning movie, “Nomadland.”

Nearly half of Nevada’s eligible population has had at least an initial vaccination against COVID-19. But rates have varied geographically.

In Clark and Washoe counties, home to Las Vegas and Reno, respectively, about half of those eligible have gotten at least one dose, the state reported. The rate has been about half of that in Eureka and Elko counties, while Storey County has seen just a 15% rate.

As infection rates drop and the state moves further away from the height of the pandemic, officials acknowledge persuading the vaccine-hesitant to get shots won’t get easier. As a result, on the heels of the FEMA effort, officials have been preparing similar pop-up events in urban centers, suburban neighborhoods and unconventional venues ranging from a Las Vegas strip club to a Sparks truck stop along an interstate that runs to Utah.

“It’s important that the people running the vaccination events look like the community,” said Jeanne Freeman of Carson City Health and Human Services. “Comfort levels are important. Sometimes just being in a familiar location.”

Nevada has long struggled with some of the nation’s worst vaccination rates. It improved to fifth-worst last year with 42% of adults vaccinated against the flu, according to the CDC. Part of the current outreach effort targets the 340,000 people who got those flu shots but have not yet gotten a COVID-19 vaccination.

Nevada is refining its messaging based on a growing understanding of why some people remain reluctant to get shots. Much of the focus so far has been on cultural and historical barriers that make certain groups less open to vaccinations, but for many, it may come down to simple convenience.

“A lot of individuals are not opposed to getting vaccinated, it’s just not fitting well in their daily life,” said Karissa Loper, chief of Nevada’s Bureau of Child, Family and Community Wellness. “That’s truly what we’re moving to work on now with all of our partners, to do those mobile and pop-up clinics.”

Jackie Shelton, a vice president with the public relations firm that Nevada hired to help promote vaccine equity and outreach, said the latest ad campaign intends to “show people who look like you — peers who are getting the vaccine and why.”

“People don’t want to be told what to do but they love to see their friends and others talking about why they are doing it,” she said. “It’s all about empathy. And reminding people what they have missed during the pandemic and what they can get back.”

Future promotional ideas include raffles open to residents who are fully vaccinated by July 4. Colorado, Maryland, Ohio, New York and Oregon are among several states already enticing people with lottery prizes approaching $5 million.

Immunize Nevada is planning vaccination pop-ups at breweries, churches and parks — complete with swag like water bottles — and scheduling them to coincide with holidays such as Juneteenth to target specific populations.

In Reno, shots are offered at minor league baseball games, and the Medical Social Justice League at the University of Nevada’s School of Medicine was set to co-host a clinic Saturday at a Catholic church with a large Latino congregation.

“We need to meet them where they are and where they feel safe,” Diana Sande, spokeswoman for the university’s School of Community Health Sciences, said about outreach efforts to the Latino community.

Kyra Morgan, Nevada’s chief biostatistician, has suggested it may not be possible for the state to reach its initial goal of vaccinating 75% of the population.

Still, communities may be able to return to normalcy even if they don’t reach the threshold needed for herd immunity, added Dr. Nancy Diao, division director for epidemiology and public health preparedness in Washoe County.

“If we can reach a high enough population level, say maybe 60% or 70%, that might also just be good enough for our community to bring the numbers drastically down,” she said, “and we can have this virus live with us in an equilibrium like we do with so many other diseases.”

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Sonner reported from Reno. Metz is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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