Amazon has settled complaints that it illegally disciplined or retaliated against employees who staged job actions last year over COVID-19 safety procedures at a former distribution center on the Lower West Side.
In an agreement filed with the National Labor Relations Board, Amazon promised not to interfere with or interrogate workers involved in “concerted activity” to promote their interests, including organizing as a union. Management also agreed not to photograph participants in peaceful demonstrations.
The settlement stems from walkouts workers staged in April 2020. Workers charged that conditions at the warehouse, 2801 S. Western Ave., left them vulnerable to the virus. The location has since been closed and some workers were transferred to a Gage Park facility, 3507 W. 51st St., where there was a brief strike three weeks ago over pay and working conditions.
Employees said that during the walkouts last year, managers called people in individually to question them about the activities. Some were disciplined for not properly checking in to the facility to deliver petitions demanding changes, workers said.
The practical effect of the agreement is unclear because it applies only to the Western Avenue site that has been closed. Ted Miin, an Amazon employee who filed a complaint, said he submitted another complaint protesting the limited scope.
The online retailer has agreed to email the settlement terms to people who are employed at Western Avenue. A company spokeswoman could not be reached for comment Friday. In the past, the company has said it respects its workers’ rights to speak out without fear of reprisals.
But Miin said during last year’s walkouts, supervisors took cellphone photos of those who took part. He said the company also invoked a rule barring workers from company property more than 15 minutes before or after their shift.
In its settlement with the NLRB, Amazon agreed that the rule doesn’t apply to nonworking areas such as a parking lot. Miin said supervisors tried to invoke it during the recent protests in Gage Park.
Miin and another Amazon worker, Bekim Mehmedi, said the company has improved its response to COVID-19. They said their workplace is better equipped with masks and hand sanitizer but that social distancing is enforced inconsistently.
“It’s pretty much the same rules followed the same way. When it applies to managers, it doesn’t matter. When it applies to us, it’s the end of the world,” Mehmedi said.
Both are assigned to Gage Park and are active in Amazonians United Chicagoland. It is an independent group, unconnected to a union, that wants Amazon to raise wages by $2 an hour and to make schedules more flexible as it implements work shifts that are 10.5 hours long.
While Amazon insists it respects workers’ rights, the NLRB has ruled it illegally fired two workers at its Seattle headquarters for speaking out about the company’s carbon footprint and treatment of warehouse employees.
Almost a third of all Illinois residents are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — but the number of people signing up for shots each day has dipped by almost a third over the past three weeks.
Residents were racing to snatch up the coveted shot appointments a month ago, and just as they’ve become readily available statewide, “there are just fewer people that are seeking it out,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday.
The latest challenge in the pandemic of falling vaccine demand is one the governor’s health team anticipated, and now must zero in on to bring the state closer to herd immunity.
“It’s a national trend, as we’ve reached somewhere in the 50-60% range of vaccinations among our 16-plus population,” Pritzker said during a news conference in downstate Centreville, near East St. Louis.
4:30 p.m. Marriage ceremonies in Cook County can be conducted on Zoom starting Monday
Couples looking to tie the knot before a Cook County judge can do so starting Monday via a live-streamed Zoom ceremony, Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ office announced Friday.
Ceremonies conducted via telephone are also an option for couples without access to Zoom.
Couples can also get married in person, but they might have to wait since ceremonies are currently booked through May.
3:40 p.m. Brazil backs away from the virus brink as deaths top 400,000
RIO DE JANEIRO — For most of this month, intensive care units across Brazil were at or near capacity amid a crush of COVID-19 patients, and sedatives needed to intubate patients dwindled. The nation’s biggest cemetery had so many corpses to bury that gravediggers worked hours past sundown.
But Brazil has stepped back from the edge — at least for now — as burial and hospital services no longer face collapse. It has ceased to be the virus’ global epicenter, as its death toll ebbed and was overtaken by India’s surge. Experts warn, however, that the situation remains precarious, and caution is warranted.
The number of states with ICU capacity above 90% has slipped to 10, from 17 a month ago, according to data from the state-run Fiocruz medical research institute. And nighttime burials at Vila Formosa and three other cemeteries in Sao Paulo were suspended Thursday, after two weeks of declining deaths.
2:50 p.m.March US incomes surge as relief rolls out, spending jumps
WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer spending rose at the fastest pace in nine months while incomes soared by a record amount in March, reflecting billions of dollars in government support payments aimed at putting the country firmly on the road to recovery.
Consumer spending rose 4.2% last month, the Commerce Department said Friday, the best showing since a 6.5% spending increase in June. Spending had fallen 1% in February as frigid winter weather disrupted sales.
Incomes surged by a record-breaking 21.1% in March after having fallen 7% in February. The big gain reflected delivery of billions of dollars in relief payments with individuals getting up to $1,400 payments from the $1.9 trillion support package President Joe Biden pushed through Congress last month.
2 p.m. US to restrict travel from India over COVID starting Tuesday
WASHINGTON — The U.S. will restrict travel from India starting on May 4, the White House said Friday, citing a devastating rise in COVID-19 cases in the country and the emergence of potentially dangerous variants of the coronavirus.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden’s administration made the determination on the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
1:05 p.m. US closes in on 100 million Americans fully vaccinated
Disneyland reopened on Friday and New York’s mayor predicted the big city will be up and running again at full strength by July 1, as the number of Americans fully vaccinated against COVID-19 closed in on 100 million.
Visitors cheered and screamed with delight as the Southern California theme park swung open its gates for the first time in 13 months in a powerful symbol of the U.S. rebound, even though the self-proclaimed Happiest Place on Earth is allowing only in-state guests for now and operating at just 25% capacity.
The reopening and similar steps elsewhere around the country reflect increasing optimism as COVID-19 deaths tumble and the ranks of the vaccinated grow — a stark contrast to the worsening disaster in India and Brazil and the scant availability of vaccines in many poor parts of the world.
While the overall number of lives lost to COVID-19 in the U.S. has eclipsed 575,000, deaths have plummeted to an average of about 670 per day from a peak of around 3,400 in mid-January.
12:10 p.m. Scarred by pandemic, labor and allies mourn, then mobilize
As May Day 2021 approached, registered nurse Kathy Haff thought about the trials she and co-workers have faced over the past year and was moved to speak out.
Haff, who works at Community First Medical Center in Portage Park, wrote down her thoughts about three co-workers who succumbed to COVID-19. She touched on their humor, professionalism and generosity.
In a local observation of the International Workers’ Memorial Day, Haff talked Wednesday about her late colleagues during an online prayer service memorializing those who have died. Her point wasn’t to elevate them above others being remembered but to address the grief and sense of injustice that inhabits many workplaces because of the pandemic.
Haff told the Chicago Sun-Times the deaths shook the small hospital’s staff, where workers have organized with the National Nurses United union and pressed administrators to provide more personal protective equipment. “We finally have a voice with the union and the hospital isn’t happy because we’re airing their dirty laundry. They’re oblivious,” she said.
11:30 a.m. Response to coronavirus outbreak ‘inefficient and chaotic’ at LaSalle Veterans’ Home where 36 died, report finds
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Consistent statewide procedures and ongoing drills that target infection response and other emergencies will be routine at Illinois veterans’ homes after COVID-19 caught the LaSalle Veterans’ Home unprepared and claimed 36 lives last fall, the state’s newly appointed director said.
Terry Prince, a 31-year Navy veteran and former senior adviser to the U.S. Surgeon General, has issued a six-point plan for improving readiness at the state’s veterans’ homes in Anna, Manteno, Quincy and LaSalle. The plan follows a blistering investigative report that laid out a string of miscommunications, lax policy and missed opportunities when the pandemic hit the home in LaSalle, 94 miles west of Chicago.
The report by the inspector general of the Illinois Department of Human Services, released Friday, noted that despite escaping all traces of the deadly respiratory illness for eight months after it entered Illinois, there was little done to devise protocols for preventing or managing infections. After the first four cases were reported Nov. 1, the virus spread to 60 residents and 43 employees as confused staff operated in an environment that was “inefficient, reactive and chaotic,” the report said.
Four players in the Blackhawks’ lineup Thursday have never played in front of fans at the United Center.
Four others have never done so as a member of the Hawks. Another three have done so only once. That adds up to 11 players — more than half the team.
But come May 9 and 10 against the Stars, the last two games of the regular season, that will change. The City of Chicago announced Thursday the UC can be filled to 25% capacity starting with the Bulls’ May 7 game, although Hawks spokesperson said the Hawks would actually have around 20% capacity — approximately 4,000 fans.
9:15 a.m. State Senate sends Pritzker COVID-19 relief bill designed to ‘keep people in the state of Illinois in their homes’
SPRINGFIELD — A bill distributing $1.4 billion of federal relief to those in need of COVID-19 emergency housing assistance was sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk on Thursday over Republican objections that the measure does not target those who are in real need of help.
“This bill essentially is trying to keep people in the state of Illinois in their homes,” said state Sen. Omar Aquino, the bill’s sponsor. “It tries to prioritize and surgically utilize the one-time money that we’re getting from the federal government to assist those people that truly need it the most.”
The bill “prioritizes disproportionately affected areas” based on “positive COVID-19 cases” or by “a history of homelessness,” according to the Near Northwest Side Democrat.
But state Sen. Jason Barickman said the money does not go to those who need it the most because it prioritizes “not based on their individual circumstances but based on the ZIP code in which they live.”
8 a.m. Fans allowed at Bulls, Blackhawks games as Chicago continues to ease restrictions
With two million vaccine doses administered and health metrics improving, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is reopening Chicago a little bit more — this time to let restaurants and theaters serve more patrons and allow fans inside the United Center for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
The new Phase Four rules, effective immediately, allow the Bulls and Blackhawks to close their seasons before roughly 5,250 fans per game — 25% of the United Center’s capacity.
The Blackhawks play at home Thursday and Saturday against the Florida Panthers, then finish their regular-season home schedule with two games in May. The Bulls have a home game Friday, the first of six regular-season games left.
That 25% rule also applies to Wrigley Field, Guaranteed Rate Field and Soldier Field, an increase from the current 20%. The 25% also includes churches, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship.
Restaurants and bars can increase indoor capacity to 50% or 100 people, whichever is less. The cap had been 50% or 50 people.
Meetings, conferences and conventions held at large indoor venues like McCormick Place now can operate at 25% capacity or 250 people, whichever is less.
Festivals and, what the city calls “general admission outdoor spectator events” get the green light to welcome 15 people for every 1,000 square feet.
The same rules apply to flea markets, which can operate at 25% capacity.
7:15 a.m. Shot, please! Preckwinkle pushes vaccinations for restaurant workers as indoor capacity expands
Public health officials in Cook County are serving up COVID-19 vaccines to bar and restaurant workers as the suburbs follow in lockstep with Chicago’s latest round of eased coronavirus restrictions.
Mondays in May will be designated “restaurant days” at the county’s six suburban mass vaccination sites, Cook County Board Presidents Toni Preckwinkle announced Thursday.
Anyone can sign up for an appointment or walk up to the six sites in Tinley Park, Matteson, River Grove, South Holland, Des Plaines or Forest Park. But officials want to vaccinate as many of the “essential heroes” in the hospitality industry as possible with indoor capacity expanding to the lesser of 50% or 100 people per room.
“Restaurant staff people worked tirelessly, even as they were asked to pivot to new roles to meet new demands, even as hours were cut, doors were closed, and their own life livelihoods were in jeopardy,” Preckwinkle said. “Now we’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and people are returning toward cafes and restaurants for a sense of normal normalcy and camaraderie that we all have craved.”
An estimated 20% of restaurants statewide won’t survive the pandemic, according to Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia, shuttering about 5,000 businesses and leaving more than 100,000 out of work.
A total of 3,394 new cases of COVID-19 and 38 additional deaths were reported by Illinois health officials Thursday.
The latest cases were among 89,057 specimens tested over the last 24 hours, bringing the state’s positivity rate to 4%, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
A total of 107,689 vaccine doses were administered in the state Thursday, health officials said. An average of 97,434 vaccine doses have been administered per day over the last week.
Since the pandemic began, over 1.3 million people in Illinois have tested positive for COVID-19 and 21,927 have died, officials said.
Analysis & Commentary
2 p.m. The birds have been helping us through this pandemic. Let’s help them
During the COVID-19 pandemic, birds enriched the lives of many Illinoisans who saw them out their windows or when going for a walk
Now Illinois should do something to help the birds.
Last month, Virginia became the first state to restore protections for migratory birds from unintended but predictable killings resulting from human activities. Such so-called “incidental take” will be banned under a regulation approved by the state’s Department of Wildlife Resources.
Woof! Chicago is full of places and activities that welcome four-legged friends. Hit the streets of Chi-town and you’ll likely find doggie daycares, dog parks, bakeries, spas, and even Fido-friendly restaurants and hotels. So if you’re looking to add a pupper to your family, check out these top dog breeders near Chicago!
Wait, what’s a goldendoodle!? These friendly doggos are a mix between a golden retriever and a poodle. Erica’s Doodles is fully licensed by the state of Illinois and less than an hour away from downtown Chicago. When you buy one of her puppies, you’ll also get shots, toys, collar, leash, food, tick and heartworm prevention. Plus peace of mind: Erica provides a 3-year health guarantee on any of her dogs.
Owner James started Ethical Frenchie a few years ago in New York as a small family French Bulldog breeding program that focused on health, temperament and socialization. From there, the group expanded to Chicago with more breeders. After you take home a puppy, you are put in direct contact with the original breeder and can send them updates, ask questions, and build a relationship.
About 95 miles west of Chicago on 40 acres, Shoreland Kennel has been actively involved in the sport of dogs for over 35 years as an exhibitor, competitor, breeder, and AKC/ASCA judge. Their puppies are well socialized by visitors, other animals, and their grandkids who love spending time with them. To start the adoption process, you’ll first need to fill a questionnaire. If your home is a good fit, you’ll get added to a waiting list!
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Koji, a Primrose and Tru baby ♥️Photo credit: Nick Pho Nguyen
Located in Raymond, IL on a large family farm, Thomas Acres has a lovely little pack of Corgis that are extensions of the family. Owners Tawny and Adam Thomas raise a few litters per year of quality purebred Pembroke Welsh Corgis. They pour a lot of love and time into their puppies to make sure they are prepared to be successful additions to their future families. Placing socialized, healthy puppies in loving homes and maintaining relationships with all of our puppy parents is very important to the couple.
Based out of Flat Rock, IL, this family-owned breeder of AKC Champion Bernese Mountain Dogs and puppies focuses on producing champion stock. They breed Bernies for quality, genetic health, personality, and beauty. All of their puppies are AKC registered and will be vet-checked and up-to-date on shots, and come with a one-year guarantee!
Dog Breeders Chicago Featured Image Credit: Ethical Frenchie
CINCINNATI – The Cubs early-season injuries and struggles on offense has forced the team to find out exactly what they have from their bench and one player who has already taken advantage of the playing time is veteran infielder Matt Duffy.
Duffy, who’s in his first season in Chicago, was a surprise addition to the Cubs roster coming out of spring training, but has started to show the decision to add him on the roster was the right one.
“I’ve played in just about every role you could play in my career,” Duffy said in a recent interview. “So I’m pretty comfortable with whatever I’m asked to do. It’s obviously great for me personally, to be getting more of an opportunity. But it comes at a cost and we have some guys that are banged up right now. So just trying to fill in as best I can and show them that I’m capable of taking big at-bats as well.”
Getting back to being a significant contributor in the big leagues has been something Duffy has had to work for after a litany of injuries changed the course of his career. He didn’t appear in the Majors last season as he played at the Yankees’ alternate site.
But for Duffy, he’s learned to be comfortable being uncomfortable. He feels that mindset has helped him adjust to the variety of roles he now has with the Cubs this season.
“I feel like I’ve learned so much about my body just from trying to search out reasons why things happened, and how to fix this, how to prevent that,” he said. “I feel like it’ll make me a healthier person in the long run. Whether that’s in my career or just life after baseball. Just like any situation, there’s pros and cons to [what you go through], depending on how you want to look at it.
“I believe that I can play at the highest level. I believe that I belong on the field with the best players in the game, but at the same time, I think that doing whatever you can for the team, is, if everybody does that, like the results will speak for themselves and you’re going to be a better team.”
Duffy has shown defensive versatility playing first base, second base and third base this season, but what has stood out early has been his offense, specifically his ability to get on-base. Entering Friday, the 30-year-old infielder is hitting .286 with seven walks and a robust .432 OPS in 20 games this season.
Outside of Kris Bryant and Willson Contreras, Duffy has had some of the most consistent at-bats and that’s caught the attention of manager David Ross. Ross has moved him to third in the lineup over the last two games.
“What has impressed me about Matt Duffy is his professionalism and his ability to embrace a role,” Ross said. His work ethic, his baseball IQ, his approach, his contact ability, the ability to stay ready with timing when he doesn’t get those starts and still be ready to do a lot of things. … He’s done a really good job at that. Very impressive young man and I’m happy he’s on our team.”
Chicago’s most important news of the day, delivered every weekday afternoon. Plus, a bonus issue on Saturdays that dives into the city’s storied history.
This afternoon will be sunny with a high near 54 degrees. Tonight’s low will be around 45 degrees. This weekend will feel like summer: Tomorrow will be sunny and windy with a high near 82 degrees and Sunday’s high will be near 80 degrees.
A Chinese money launderer was about to pick up Mexican drug cartel cash in Chicago, federal authorities say, when his plans suddenly changed.
They say the suspected launderer got a call from a man he thought was a Mexican money courier who told him they needed to change their meeting place because he’d spotted a cop.
“You Asian, I’m Mexican — not a good look,” the courier said in the 2017 phone call, court records show.
So they picked a different address to meet. They described their cars to each other. And when they met on the Southwest Side, they had a way to identify each other, authorities say: The money-launderer handed the courier a $1 bill. The men had agreed earlier that the serial number on the bill — G5915410C — would confirm the Chinese man’s identity. Authorities say that’s common in the world of drug trafficking.
They say the courier then turned over a Menards shopping bag stuffed with nearly $200,000 in cash to Huazhi Han, who later was charged with money laundering.
But the courier was no courier. He was an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
DEA agents arrested Han and say they found a gun in his van.
They also searched the Riverside home where he was living and seized about $1.2 million they found hidden in the ceiling there, according to court documents.
Han’s now awaiting trial on money laundering charges in Chicago.
A former Catholic school teacher in the southwest suburbs has been charged after a video surfaced showing him “engaged in inappropriate communication with a minor.” Jeremy M. Hylka was charged with traveling to meet a child and grooming, according to Joliet police. A warrant was issued for his arrest.
A short walk from the Morgan L stop is another addition to the flourishing art scene in Chicago’s West Loop: It’s a new, popup gallery, called Artopia: The Immersive Art Experience, that includes murals by street artists and other works spread through a 32,000-square-foot warehouse. Unlike actual street art, you have to pay for admission here.
If you drive anywhere in the Chicago area near lakes, ponds or marshes, there’s a good chance turtles might be lurking nearby.
And starting around this time of year, they’re more active. So drivers are being warned to be on the lookout for turtles crossing roads in search of food, water, mates or nests.
Crossings of females increase from mid-May to mid-July as they make their way to and from nesting sites.
“Some turtles must travel up to a mile to find the right conditions,” says Dan Thompson, an ecologist with the DuPage County Forest Preserve District.
You know why the turtle wants to cross the road — so watch out, or you’ll run it over. DuPage County Forest Preserve District
Accidentally running down an adult turtle can have a significant impact, Thompson says, because at least 90% of adults must survive each year to sustain a population.
And unlike some animals that you can scare out of your way, “Car horns and flashing lights will have no effect on turtles,” Thompson says. “They simply can’t move any faster to get out of the way. Drivers need to pay attention and do what they can to avoid hitting these animals.”
Bears reporters Lieser, Patrick Finley and Mark Potash discuss what selecting Fields means for the Bears in the latest Halas Intrigue podcast. And Lieser has a preview of the second and third rounds of the NFL Draft.
Outside of Bears news, Vaughn Pemberton became a success story for this year’s strange high school football season. He climbed from fourth-string running back at Loyola in his junior year to become the Sun-Times High School Football Player of the Year as a senior.
Your daily question ?
How do you feel about the Bears trading up to draft Ohio State QB Justin Fields?
Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday, we asked you: What would you like to see the Bears do with their first-round pick tonight? Here’s what some of you said…
“Someone who can play football at the professional level.” — Scott Hume
“Not embarrass themselves or their fans. Unfortunately, that’s a pretty tall order.” — Mike Maloney Sr.
“I would love to see Rashod Bateman, to put him together with Robinson and Mooney would be a good group of WRs.” — Matthew Suszek
“Just get the best player available of need. Do not mortgage future draft capital to move up to get one of the five QBs. Draft [Kellen] Mond from Texas A&M in second or third round.” — Scott Gard
“Pick the highest-rated offensive lineman left on the board.” — Jeff Hornstein
Thanks for reading the Chicago Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
Have you heard the one about the doctor, the car mechanic and the barber?
Well, you haven’t heard this one because I’m making it up as I go.
But it’s no joke. It’s about what happens when you last long enough in this world that the people you rely on to take care of you call it quits, through retirement or more unpleasant outcomes.
You might very well have depended upon them for decades. But, when they go, they go and never look back.
And you are left with the task of finding somebody new to provide a service on which you might very much depend.
Our discussion here today isn’t about missing them. That would be crying over spilled milk. The issue is: Which of them is the most difficult to replace, the greater loss, so to speak?
The doctor, of course, you might be thinking. After all, who could be more important than the person who looks after your health?
True, very important. But is it really that difficult to replace your doctor? There are a lot of competent doctors out there.
It’s been a few years now since my own doctor retired. He didn’t send out any notices. I knew nothing about it until I needed a prescription refill and tried to make an appointment and learned he was gone.
They automatically reassigned me to his former partner.
Maybe I should have used the occasion to shop for a new doctor, but I’m one of those path-of-least-resistance people. I’ve never changed banks, but my bank has changed me, over and over and over through mergers.
I didn’t really have much of a relationship with the old doctor, can’t even remember how he got to be my doctor in the first place except he had an office on Wabash near the old Chicago Sun-Times building.
I liked him well enough, but he needed the chart to remember even vaguely who I was. After his practice was bought up by one of the big hospitals, he was too hurried for even that to be of much help.
My new doctor, his partner, is more thorough. But I’m not sure how much longer he’s staying in the business either, so I’m not getting attached.
I’ve had better luck with car mechanics. Found a great guy many years ago in the suburbs and stuck with him even after I moved back to the city.
He fixes what needs to be fixed, charges a reasonable price and never tries to up-sell me.
He lets me know if I can get another 5,000 miles out of my tires and when it’s time to consider unloading the car. When he tells me I need to get some work done, then I know I’d better do it.
That’s a valuable commodity you don’t want to lose. Fortunately for me, he handed off the garage to his son, who doesn’t have his old man’s gift for gab but conducts his business with the same honesty and reliability. I’m in good hands there.
Which brings us to the barber.
This is where you’re thinking: Why does a bald guy need a barber?
Little known fact: Even people you might describe as bald need a haircut every now and then.
My old barber — maybe I should call him a barber/stylist — retired to Florida a few years ago. Actually, most of his clients were women, so he really probably was more of a hairdresser, but it sounds weird to say I went to a hairdresser when I have so little hair.
The guy who cut my hair always kept the conversation interesting, made me look better and charged me a bald-guy discount price because it didn’t take him much time to do that.
Since he left town, I’ve been going to one of the barbershop chains, the one that’s rock ‘n’ roll-themed instead of the one of that’s sports-themed.
Since going there, I don’t think I’ve had the same person cut my hair twice in a row. They’re all pretty competent. So it’s not like I ever get a bad haircut. But it’s rare that I come away thinking I got a good one.
An old guy like me probably belongs in an old guy barbershop, but I wouldn’t know where to start.
So, for my money, the barber is the hardest to replace — as long as my car doesn’t break down on the way to the emergency room.
Almost a third of all Illinois residents are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — but the number of people signing up for shots each day has dipped by almost a third over the past three weeks.
Residents were racing to snatch up the coveted shot appointments a month ago, and just as they’ve become readily available statewide, “there are just fewer people that are seeking it out,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday.
The latest challenge in the pandemic of falling vaccine demand is one the governor’s health team anticipated, and now must zero in on to bring the state closer to herd immunity.
“It’s a national trend, as we’ve reached somewhere in the 50-60% range of vaccinations among our 16-plus population,” Pritzker said during a news conference in downstate Centreville, near East St. Louis.
3:40 p.m. Brazil backs away from the virus brink as deaths top 400,000
RIO DE JANEIRO — For most of this month, intensive care units across Brazil were at or near capacity amid a crush of COVID-19 patients, and sedatives needed to intubate patients dwindled. The nation’s biggest cemetery had so many corpses to bury that gravediggers worked hours past sundown.
But Brazil has stepped back from the edge — at least for now — as burial and hospital services no longer face collapse. It has ceased to be the virus’ global epicenter, as its death toll ebbed and was overtaken by India’s surge. Experts warn, however, that the situation remains precarious, and caution is warranted.
The number of states with ICU capacity above 90% has slipped to 10, from 17 a month ago, according to data from the state-run Fiocruz medical research institute. And nighttime burials at Vila Formosa and three other cemeteries in Sao Paulo were suspended Thursday, after two weeks of declining deaths.
2:50 p.m.March US incomes surge as relief rolls out, spending jumps
WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer spending rose at the fastest pace in nine months while incomes soared by a record amount in March, reflecting billions of dollars in government support payments aimed at putting the country firmly on the road to recovery.
Consumer spending rose 4.2% last month, the Commerce Department said Friday, the best showing since a 6.5% spending increase in June. Spending had fallen 1% in February as frigid winter weather disrupted sales.
Incomes surged by a record-breaking 21.1% in March after having fallen 7% in February. The big gain reflected delivery of billions of dollars in relief payments with individuals getting up to $1,400 payments from the $1.9 trillion support package President Joe Biden pushed through Congress last month.
2 p.m. US to restrict travel from India over COVID starting Tuesday
WASHINGTON — The U.S. will restrict travel from India starting on May 4, the White House said Friday, citing a devastating rise in COVID-19 cases in the country and the emergence of potentially dangerous variants of the coronavirus.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden’s administration made the determination on the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
1:05 p.m. US closes in on 100 million Americans fully vaccinated
Disneyland reopened on Friday and New York’s mayor predicted the big city will be up and running again at full strength by July 1, as the number of Americans fully vaccinated against COVID-19 closed in on 100 million.
Visitors cheered and screamed with delight as the Southern California theme park swung open its gates for the first time in 13 months in a powerful symbol of the U.S. rebound, even though the self-proclaimed Happiest Place on Earth is allowing only in-state guests for now and operating at just 25% capacity.
The reopening and similar steps elsewhere around the country reflect increasing optimism as COVID-19 deaths tumble and the ranks of the vaccinated grow — a stark contrast to the worsening disaster in India and Brazil and the scant availability of vaccines in many poor parts of the world.
While the overall number of lives lost to COVID-19 in the U.S. has eclipsed 575,000, deaths have plummeted to an average of about 670 per day from a peak of around 3,400 in mid-January.
12:10 p.m. Scarred by pandemic, labor and allies mourn, then mobilize
As May Day 2021 approached, registered nurse Kathy Haff thought about the trials she and co-workers have faced over the past year and was moved to speak out.
Haff, who works at Community First Medical Center in Portage Park, wrote down her thoughts about three co-workers who succumbed to COVID-19. She touched on their humor, professionalism and generosity.
In a local observation of the International Workers’ Memorial Day, Haff talked Wednesday about her late colleagues during an online prayer service memorializing those who have died. Her point wasn’t to elevate them above others being remembered but to address the grief and sense of injustice that inhabits many workplaces because of the pandemic.
Haff told the Chicago Sun-Times the deaths shook the small hospital’s staff, where workers have organized with the National Nurses United union and pressed administrators to provide more personal protective equipment. “We finally have a voice with the union and the hospital isn’t happy because we’re airing their dirty laundry. They’re oblivious,” she said.
11:30 a.m. Response to coronavirus outbreak ‘inefficient and chaotic’ at LaSalle Veterans’ Home where 36 died, report finds
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Consistent statewide procedures and ongoing drills that target infection response and other emergencies will be routine at Illinois veterans’ homes after COVID-19 caught the LaSalle Veterans’ Home unprepared and claimed 36 lives last fall, the state’s newly appointed director said.
Terry Prince, a 31-year Navy veteran and former senior adviser to the U.S. Surgeon General, has issued a six-point plan for improving readiness at the state’s veterans’ homes in Anna, Manteno, Quincy and LaSalle. The plan follows a blistering investigative report that laid out a string of miscommunications, lax policy and missed opportunities when the pandemic hit the home in LaSalle, 94 miles west of Chicago.
The report by the inspector general of the Illinois Department of Human Services, released Friday, noted that despite escaping all traces of the deadly respiratory illness for eight months after it entered Illinois, there was little done to devise protocols for preventing or managing infections. After the first four cases were reported Nov. 1, the virus spread to 60 residents and 43 employees as confused staff operated in an environment that was “inefficient, reactive and chaotic,” the report said.
Four players in the Blackhawks’ lineup Thursday have never played in front of fans at the United Center.
Four others have never done so as a member of the Hawks. Another three have done so only once. That adds up to 11 players — more than half the team.
But come May 9 and 10 against the Stars, the last two games of the regular season, that will change. The City of Chicago announced Thursday the UC can be filled to 25% capacity starting with the Bulls’ May 7 game, although Hawks spokesperson said the Hawks would actually have around 20% capacity — approximately 4,000 fans.
9:15 a.m. State Senate sends Pritzker COVID-19 relief bill designed to ‘keep people in the state of Illinois in their homes’
SPRINGFIELD — A bill distributing $1.4 billion of federal relief to those in need of COVID-19 emergency housing assistance was sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk on Thursday over Republican objections that the measure does not target those who are in real need of help.
“This bill essentially is trying to keep people in the state of Illinois in their homes,” said state Sen. Omar Aquino, the bill’s sponsor. “It tries to prioritize and surgically utilize the one-time money that we’re getting from the federal government to assist those people that truly need it the most.”
The bill “prioritizes disproportionately affected areas” based on “positive COVID-19 cases” or by “a history of homelessness,” according to the Near Northwest Side Democrat.
But state Sen. Jason Barickman said the money does not go to those who need it the most because it prioritizes “not based on their individual circumstances but based on the ZIP code in which they live.”
8 a.m. Fans allowed at Bulls, Blackhawks games as Chicago continues to ease restrictions
With two million vaccine doses administered and health metrics improving, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is reopening Chicago a little bit more — this time to let restaurants and theaters serve more patrons and allow fans inside the United Center for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
The new Phase Four rules, effective immediately, allow the Bulls and Blackhawks to close their seasons before roughly 5,250 fans per game — 25% of the United Center’s capacity.
The Blackhawks play at home Thursday and Saturday against the Florida Panthers, then finish their regular-season home schedule with two games in May. The Bulls have a home game Friday, the first of six regular-season games left.
That 25% rule also applies to Wrigley Field, Guaranteed Rate Field and Soldier Field, an increase from the current 20%. The 25% also includes churches, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship.
Restaurants and bars can increase indoor capacity to 50% or 100 people, whichever is less. The cap had been 50% or 50 people.
Meetings, conferences and conventions held at large indoor venues like McCormick Place now can operate at 25% capacity or 250 people, whichever is less.
Festivals and, what the city calls “general admission outdoor spectator events” get the green light to welcome 15 people for every 1,000 square feet.
The same rules apply to flea markets, which can operate at 25% capacity.
7:15 a.m. Shot, please! Preckwinkle pushes vaccinations for restaurant workers as indoor capacity expands
Public health officials in Cook County are serving up COVID-19 vaccines to bar and restaurant workers as the suburbs follow in lockstep with Chicago’s latest round of eased coronavirus restrictions.
Mondays in May will be designated “restaurant days” at the county’s six suburban mass vaccination sites, Cook County Board Presidents Toni Preckwinkle announced Thursday.
Anyone can sign up for an appointment or walk up to the six sites in Tinley Park, Matteson, River Grove, South Holland, Des Plaines or Forest Park. But officials want to vaccinate as many of the “essential heroes” in the hospitality industry as possible with indoor capacity expanding to the lesser of 50% or 100 people per room.
“Restaurant staff people worked tirelessly, even as they were asked to pivot to new roles to meet new demands, even as hours were cut, doors were closed, and their own life livelihoods were in jeopardy,” Preckwinkle said. “Now we’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and people are returning toward cafes and restaurants for a sense of normal normalcy and camaraderie that we all have craved.”
An estimated 20% of restaurants statewide won’t survive the pandemic, according to Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia, shuttering about 5,000 businesses and leaving more than 100,000 out of work.
A total of 3,394 new cases of COVID-19 and 38 additional deaths were reported by Illinois health officials Thursday.
The latest cases were among 89,057 specimens tested over the last 24 hours, bringing the state’s positivity rate to 4%, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
A total of 107,689 vaccine doses were administered in the state Thursday, health officials said. An average of 97,434 vaccine doses have been administered per day over the last week.
Since the pandemic began, over 1.3 million people in Illinois have tested positive for COVID-19 and 21,927 have died, officials said.
NEW YORK — Hall of Fame second baseman Roberto Alomar has been fired as a consultant by Major League Baseball and placed on the league’s ineligible list after an investigation into an allegation of sexual misconduct.
Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the firing Friday, saying in a statement that a baseball industry employee reported an incident earlier this year involving Alomar from 2014. The league hired an external legal firm to investigate the matter.
“Having reviewed all of the available evidence from the now completed investigation, I have concluded that Mr. Alomar violated MLB’s policies, and that termination of his consultant contract and placement on MLB’s ineligible list are warranted,” Manfred said.
MLB said it would not provide further details on the investigation to protect the individual who came forward.
Alomar also lost his position as a special assistant with the Toronto Blue Jays. The club said in a statement it is severing ties with Alomar immediately, including removing him from their Level of Excellence and taking down his banner from Rogers Centre.
Alomar said on Twitter that he was “disappointed, surprised, and upset” by MLB’s decision.
“With the current social climate, I understand why Major League Baseball has taken the position they have,” he wrote. “My hope is that this allegation can be heard in a venue that will allow me to address the accusation directly. I will continue to spend my time helping kids pursue their baseball dreams. I will not be making any further comment at this time.”
Jane Forbes Clark, Chairman of the Board at the Hall of Fame, said the Hall was “shocked and saddened” by Alomar’s actions, but said his plaque will remain on display. Alomar was inducted in 2011.
“His enshrinement reflects his eligibility and the perspective of the BBWAA voters at that time,” she said in a statement.
The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum also said it would not revoke his status as an inductee, but it did ban him from future Hall events and said it would no longer be associated with him or his foundation.
Alomar was a 12-time All-Star over 17 seasons with the San Diego Padres, Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, New York Mets, White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks. He was known as a slick fielder, winning 10 Gold Gloves, and also for his temper — he infamously spat in umpire John Hirschbeck’s face, earning a five-game ban in 1996.
It was like a lot of other drug busts. The police served a warrant, found narcotics, made arrests. But, in a back room, they discovered something else.
“We found a little dog that was all burned up, burned on its back and sides,” former Lt. Russell Schaefer said. “This dog had been set on fire.”
It struggled to limp toward them.
“It was, like, ‘Thank God, you’re here,'” Schaefer said.
Another officer called over Nancy Lipman, a cop who’d rescued dozens of animals over the years. She cradled the puppy, then took it to a veterinarian.
After nursing her back to health, Ms. Lipman found a home for the dog, who was renamed Heidi.
“She wound up with our neighbors,” said her son Christopher. “Heidi had a great life.”
Ms. Lipman, who rose from patrol officer to commander of the public transportation unit during a 30-year career with the Chicago Police Department, died of ovarian cancer April 11, according to her wife Johanne M. Kenol. She was 61 and lived in Beverly.
“It was a huge thing,” said Detective Jamie Richardson, president of the Lesbian Gay Police Association-Gay Officers Action League of Chicago. “Not too many bosses would be on the float.”
Nancy Lipman — holding Ben, one of her rescue dogs — with her wife Johanne M. Kenol.Provided
Young Nancy grew up on the South Side at 105th and Troy and went to Morgan Park High School.
“When she turned 16, she went to my grandfather and said she wanted to buy the car across the street,” her son said. “He said, ‘You don’t have the money.'”
She pulled out a shoebox filled with hundreds of dollars she’d saved from waitressing. Soon, she was driving her neighbor’s blue Plymouth.
At 18, Ms. Lipman became a mom during her first marriage, which ended in divorce.
“She still finished college, became a police commander,” her son said.
After graduating from St. Xavier University, she joined the department in the mid-1980s.
She told Windy City Times that, as a rookie, she “heard a lieutenant at roll call say we should go back to Germany and bring back the ovens to use on” — and then he used a slur for gays.
“I wondered whether the officers sitting around me experienced even a fraction of the horror that statement evoked in me,” she said.
In the eulogy he gave at her service April 24, her son said, “Think about what it was like in the 1980s to be a young, 20-something, single, gay police-officer mom.”
For years, Ms. Lipman worked in the old 21st District at 29th and Prairie, where she approached Schaefer about putting women on his tactical team.
Weeks later, he saw her at lunch.
“I walked up to her, and I said, ‘Do you mind if I join you?'” Schaefer said. “And she said, ‘Yes, I do. You can eat with me when you get a woman on your tac team.’ So I went and sat somewhere else.”
When there was an opening, he invited her to join the unit. He said other officers soon told him what he already knew: “She was a top-grade police officer.”
Over the years, she rescued many abused or abandoned animals. Once, she helped corral a dog and some puppies in a junkyard. But the mama dog wouldn’t get in the squad car and kept returning to the junkyard.
“Sure enough, there was one [more] puppy,” her son said.
She placed them in homes but kept one pup, naming her Gertie.
Nancy Lipman with her “little guy,” a dog named Remi she found in a park.Provided
Ms. Lipman found a dog she named Remi in a park.
“The dog just came running out of nowhere, and she opened her police car, and he jumped right in,” her wife said. “I was able to bring him to her room in hospice.”
In 2014, while commander of the public transportation unit, someone called her in the middle of the night saying an L train “went up the escalator” at O’Hare Airport, according to Kevin O’Donnell, a police chaplain. She hung up, thinking it was a prank. The caller tried again, explaining a Blue Line train had climbed the escalator after derailing. She headed to O’Hare.
Johanne M. Kenol and her wife Nancy Lipman (center) with Lipman’s son Christopher and wife Diana and their three children.Provided
Ms. Lipman loved spending time in South Haven, Michigan, with her wife, whom she met at a speed-dating event. They enjoyed taking her three grandchildren sledding and on bike rides. Her license plates said: “Gramma 43” — as in for three.
Ms. Lipman is also survived by her brother Daniel.
Nancy Lipman relaxing with her dogs Ben and Max on her lap and Gertie and Morgan — who was found on Morgan Avenue — at her feet. Her cat Millie perches above her.Provided
Almost a third of all Illinois residents are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — but the number of people signing up for shots each day has dipped by almost a third over the past three weeks.
Residents were racing to snatch up the coveted shot appointments a month ago, and just as they’ve become readily available statewide, “there are just fewer people that are seeking it out,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday.
The latest challenge in the pandemic of falling vaccine demand is one the governor’s health team anticipated, and now must zero in on to bring the state closer to herd immunity.
“It’s a national trend, as we’ve reached somewhere in the 50-60% range of vaccinations among our 16-plus population,” Pritzker said during a news conference in downstate Centreville, near East St. Louis.
2:50 p.m.March US incomes surge as relief rolls out, spending jumps
WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer spending rose at the fastest pace in nine months while incomes soared by a record amount in March, reflecting billions of dollars in government support payments aimed at putting the country firmly on the road to recovery.
Consumer spending rose 4.2% last month, the Commerce Department said Friday, the best showing since a 6.5% spending increase in June. Spending had fallen 1% in February as frigid winter weather disrupted sales.
Incomes surged by a record-breaking 21.1% in March after having fallen 7% in February. The big gain reflected delivery of billions of dollars in relief payments with individuals getting up to $1,400 payments from the $1.9 trillion support package President Joe Biden pushed through Congress last month.
2 p.m. US to restrict travel from India over COVID starting Tuesday
WASHINGTON — The U.S. will restrict travel from India starting on May 4, the White House said Friday, citing a devastating rise in COVID-19 cases in the country and the emergence of potentially dangerous variants of the coronavirus.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden’s administration made the determination on the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
1:05 p.m. US closes in on 100 million Americans fully vaccinated
Disneyland reopened on Friday and New York’s mayor predicted the big city will be up and running again at full strength by July 1, as the number of Americans fully vaccinated against COVID-19 closed in on 100 million.
Visitors cheered and screamed with delight as the Southern California theme park swung open its gates for the first time in 13 months in a powerful symbol of the U.S. rebound, even though the self-proclaimed Happiest Place on Earth is allowing only in-state guests for now and operating at just 25% capacity.
The reopening and similar steps elsewhere around the country reflect increasing optimism as COVID-19 deaths tumble and the ranks of the vaccinated grow — a stark contrast to the worsening disaster in India and Brazil and the scant availability of vaccines in many poor parts of the world.
While the overall number of lives lost to COVID-19 in the U.S. has eclipsed 575,000, deaths have plummeted to an average of about 670 per day from a peak of around 3,400 in mid-January.
12:10 p.m. Scarred by pandemic, labor and allies mourn, then mobilize
As May Day 2021 approached, registered nurse Kathy Haff thought about the trials she and co-workers have faced over the past year and was moved to speak out.
Haff, who works at Community First Medical Center in Portage Park, wrote down her thoughts about three co-workers who succumbed to COVID-19. She touched on their humor, professionalism and generosity.
In a local observation of the International Workers’ Memorial Day, Haff talked Wednesday about her late colleagues during an online prayer service memorializing those who have died. Her point wasn’t to elevate them above others being remembered but to address the grief and sense of injustice that inhabits many workplaces because of the pandemic.
Haff told the Chicago Sun-Times the deaths shook the small hospital’s staff, where workers have organized with the National Nurses United union and pressed administrators to provide more personal protective equipment. “We finally have a voice with the union and the hospital isn’t happy because we’re airing their dirty laundry. They’re oblivious,” she said.
11:30 a.m. Response to coronavirus outbreak ‘inefficient and chaotic’ at LaSalle Veterans’ Home where 36 died, report finds
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Consistent statewide procedures and ongoing drills that target infection response and other emergencies will be routine at Illinois veterans’ homes after COVID-19 caught the LaSalle Veterans’ Home unprepared and claimed 36 lives last fall, the state’s newly appointed director said.
Terry Prince, a 31-year Navy veteran and former senior adviser to the U.S. Surgeon General, has issued a six-point plan for improving readiness at the state’s veterans’ homes in Anna, Manteno, Quincy and LaSalle. The plan follows a blistering investigative report that laid out a string of miscommunications, lax policy and missed opportunities when the pandemic hit the home in LaSalle, 94 miles west of Chicago.
The report by the inspector general of the Illinois Department of Human Services, released Friday, noted that despite escaping all traces of the deadly respiratory illness for eight months after it entered Illinois, there was little done to devise protocols for preventing or managing infections. After the first four cases were reported Nov. 1, the virus spread to 60 residents and 43 employees as confused staff operated in an environment that was “inefficient, reactive and chaotic,” the report said.
Four players in the Blackhawks’ lineup Thursday have never played in front of fans at the United Center.
Four others have never done so as a member of the Hawks. Another three have done so only once. That adds up to 11 players — more than half the team.
But come May 9 and 10 against the Stars, the last two games of the regular season, that will change. The City of Chicago announced Thursday the UC can be filled to 25% capacity starting with the Bulls’ May 7 game, although Hawks spokesperson said the Hawks would actually have around 20% capacity — approximately 4,000 fans.
9:15 a.m. State Senate sends Pritzker COVID-19 relief bill designed to ‘keep people in the state of Illinois in their homes’
SPRINGFIELD — A bill distributing $1.4 billion of federal relief to those in need of COVID-19 emergency housing assistance was sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk on Thursday over Republican objections that the measure does not target those who are in real need of help.
“This bill essentially is trying to keep people in the state of Illinois in their homes,” said state Sen. Omar Aquino, the bill’s sponsor. “It tries to prioritize and surgically utilize the one-time money that we’re getting from the federal government to assist those people that truly need it the most.”
The bill “prioritizes disproportionately affected areas” based on “positive COVID-19 cases” or by “a history of homelessness,” according to the Near Northwest Side Democrat.
But state Sen. Jason Barickman said the money does not go to those who need it the most because it prioritizes “not based on their individual circumstances but based on the ZIP code in which they live.”
8 a.m. Fans allowed at Bulls, Blackhawks games as Chicago continues to ease restrictions
With two million vaccine doses administered and health metrics improving, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is reopening Chicago a little bit more — this time to let restaurants and theaters serve more patrons and allow fans inside the United Center for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
The new Phase Four rules, effective immediately, allow the Bulls and Blackhawks to close their seasons before roughly 5,250 fans per game — 25% of the United Center’s capacity.
The Blackhawks play at home Thursday and Saturday against the Florida Panthers, then finish their regular-season home schedule with two games in May. The Bulls have a home game Friday, the first of six regular-season games left.
That 25% rule also applies to Wrigley Field, Guaranteed Rate Field and Soldier Field, an increase from the current 20%. The 25% also includes churches, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship.
Restaurants and bars can increase indoor capacity to 50% or 100 people, whichever is less. The cap had been 50% or 50 people.
Meetings, conferences and conventions held at large indoor venues like McCormick Place now can operate at 25% capacity or 250 people, whichever is less.
Festivals and, what the city calls “general admission outdoor spectator events” get the green light to welcome 15 people for every 1,000 square feet.
The same rules apply to flea markets, which can operate at 25% capacity.
7:15 a.m. Shot, please! Preckwinkle pushes vaccinations for restaurant workers as indoor capacity expands
Public health officials in Cook County are serving up COVID-19 vaccines to bar and restaurant workers as the suburbs follow in lockstep with Chicago’s latest round of eased coronavirus restrictions.
Mondays in May will be designated “restaurant days” at the county’s six suburban mass vaccination sites, Cook County Board Presidents Toni Preckwinkle announced Thursday.
Anyone can sign up for an appointment or walk up to the six sites in Tinley Park, Matteson, River Grove, South Holland, Des Plaines or Forest Park. But officials want to vaccinate as many of the “essential heroes” in the hospitality industry as possible with indoor capacity expanding to the lesser of 50% or 100 people per room.
“Restaurant staff people worked tirelessly, even as they were asked to pivot to new roles to meet new demands, even as hours were cut, doors were closed, and their own life livelihoods were in jeopardy,” Preckwinkle said. “Now we’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and people are returning toward cafes and restaurants for a sense of normal normalcy and camaraderie that we all have craved.”
An estimated 20% of restaurants statewide won’t survive the pandemic, according to Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia, shuttering about 5,000 businesses and leaving more than 100,000 out of work.
A total of 3,394 new cases of COVID-19 and 38 additional deaths were reported by Illinois health officials Thursday.
The latest cases were among 89,057 specimens tested over the last 24 hours, bringing the state’s positivity rate to 4%, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
A total of 107,689 vaccine doses were administered in the state Thursday, health officials said. An average of 97,434 vaccine doses have been administered per day over the last week.
Since the pandemic began, over 1.3 million people in Illinois have tested positive for COVID-19 and 21,927 have died, officials said.
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Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times file
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