High school football returned to the state on Friday after a 15-month layoff. It was welcomed back with a bang in Frankfort.
Lincoln-Way East senior Jamal Johnson started things off with a 70-yard touchdown run on the Griffins’ first play from scrimmage. He burst untouched down the middle of the field.
“I just saw open daylight,” Johnson, a Bowling Green recruit, said. “My linemen did everything for me. We’ve been working on schemes all week and they got it done. I have to give it all to them.”
Johnson is replacing 2019 Sun-Times Player of the Year AJ Henning, who is now at Michigan. The immediate statement run showed the defending Class 8A champs still have a standout weapon.
“A lot of people have been talking like he’s gone and that will be our downfall,” Johnson said. “But we’re a team, a unit and we just get things done.”
Johnson had 22 carries for 234 yards and two touchdowns in No. 3 Lincoln-Way East’s 42-14 win against No. 12 Bolingbrook.
“Jamal is an animal,” Griffins senior Sevren Stuckey said. “He knew exactly what to do. That’s how you set the tone. First play, right up the middle. Touchdown. Six.”
Stuckey had a standout game with three interceptions. He recently switched positions from wide receiver to defensive back.
“He showed tonight that he took those offensive skills over to the defensive side,” Lincoln-Way East coach Rob Zvonar said. “He did a great job and I’m proud of him. He wanted to be a receiver but he didn’t pout, didn’t complain about moving. He picked it right up and he can keep playing there somewhere after this year.
Lincoln-Way East (1-0, 1-0 Southwest Suburban Blue) led 14-7 at halftime and the game stayed close for most of the third quarter until Johnson powered in for a three-yard touchdown with 6:19 left. Then quarterback Sean Walsh connected with junior Jack Tremblay for a 28-yard touchdown pass that put the Griffins ahead 28-7 heading into the fourth.
Walsh was 4-for-10 passing with two touchdowns and an interception. Senior Connor Kubik had eight carries for 41 yards and a touchdown for the Griffins.
“We struggled in every phase of the game at some point and we played well at every phase of the game at some point,” Zvonar said. “They say the biggest improvement is from Week 1 to Week 2.”
Bolingbrook quarterback Vincenzo Meschi, a transfer from Batavia, was 27-for-53 passing with one touchdown and six interceptions.
“As a corner you want the ball in the air,” Stuckey said. “Most teams like to run and counter and do all these fancy little trick plays. As a DB you want to be challenged. And Bolingbrook has some good receivers that challenged us but we made it happen.”
Meschi connected with six different receivers. His top two targets were senior Andrew McElroy, who had 12 catches for 148 yards and a touchdown, and freshman Kyan Berry-Johnson (nine catches for 82 yards).
Lincoln-Way East’s two toughest games of the short season come early. The Griffins host No. 8 Homewood-Flossmoor next week.
“There were some great individual efforts but there is a lot of improvement to do,” Zvonar said. “It’s going to be unfortunate because we’re going to get to week six and feel like we’re starting to hit our stride and it’s going to be over with. But that’s where we are at.”
Dressed in a light blue shirt, dark jacket and round glasses before Thursday’s Blackhawks game, Pius Suter looked like a doppelganger of his coach, Jeremy Colliton.
Suter and Colliton have similar minds, too. Like Colliton, for whom the traits are essential to his job, Suter has shown himself in interviews to be an astute, perceptive hockey analyst as well as player.
“He is an intelligent player,” Colliton said Friday. “It’s nice to work with those guys who, when you have a conversation about their game, are on the same wavelength with you.”
In his first NHL season after more than five years in the Swiss league, Suter has proven to be another smart pickup by the Hawks’ European scouting staff, tallying a respectable 13 points in 31 games while being deployed all over the lineup.
He wasn’t exactly an unknown commodity in Switzerland, earning league MVP honors in 2019-20 after scoring 53 points in 50 games. But only certain players are able to successfully make the Atlantic leap, no matter how successful they are in Europe, because the styles of hockey played on the two continents are significantly different.
The difference in rink size is well known. NHL rinks are 200 feet long and 85 feet wide, whereas European and Olympic rinks are slightly shorter (197 feet long) but substantially wider (98 feet wide).
The effects of that size difference are more nuanced, though. With less horizontal space available, carrying the puck into the offensive zone is more difficult in the NHL. But exiting the defensive zone with possession is also more difficult, making forechecking more effective. All told, that makes dump-ins more common than carry-ins in North America — even though the opposite is true in Europe.
Suter’s intelligence has allowed him to gradually adapt to that major tactical change.
“It’s a bit different game because of the size: it’s more chipping, more board battles,” he said. “You have to work on it a little bit and [I’m] getting used to it, that’s all.
“[To] just chip it down, you have to realize it’s a good play, too. You’re going to get it back. In Europe, you don’t chip as much; you try to carry it in all the time… Sometimes [dump-ins are] the right play to do.”
Suter has also noticed a number of things “on the referee’s side” that are enforced differently in the NHL.
Not being allowed to change lines after icings or when goalies cover the puck on shots from beyond the red line were two initially startling rule differences. He discovered faceoffs are officiated less strictly, too.
“You get to use your skates way more” during NHL faceoffs, he said. “You don’t necessarily have to go for the puck. Sometimes you can just tie up [your opponent]. Some guys kind of box you out. You couldn’t do that at home. It was [about] stick quickness, just getting the stick in and trying to get it back. That’s just an interpretation of the rules.”
Those faceoff differences have been tougher for Suter than the dump-ins. Like most of the Hawks’ centers, he has struggled on draws, winning just 43.1% of his 341 this season.
But the fact Suter has even played center consistently this season is impressive in itself. To smoothly make the Europe-to-North America jump is challenging; to immediately handle a center’s diverse responsibilities demonstrates a great mind for hockey.
“It is an adjustment, but he’s done very well,” Colliton said. “I don’t think we necessarily expected him to jump in and play top-six minutes as a centerman. Coming into this season, with [Jonathan Toews and Kirby Dach] out…we wanted to try him at center in camp and early on.
“But we’ve got to be pleased with how he’s adjusted to that role. [He has] been a big part of the success we’ve been able to have.”
The president and CEO of Loretto Hospital, who authorized vaccinations for workers at Trump Tower, where a fellow executive owns a unit, is now under fire for providing vaccinations to more than 200 members of his southwest suburban church.
The vaccinations were provided in February to congregants of Valley Kingdom Ministries International in southwest suburban Oak Forest, according to hospital spokeswoman Bonni Pear.
Pear said hospital President and CEO George Miller reached out directly to the Chicago Department of Public Health to ask about the church vaccinations before they took place.
“CDPH informed Mr. Miller that as long as the recipients lived, worked or received medical care in the city and were 1B-eligible they could be vaccinated. At the time the church vaccinations occurred, the mandate from CDPH was to vaccinate as many 1A and 1B-eligible Chicagoans as possible,” Pear said.
The hospital’s primary mission has been to vaccinate people who live in and around the predominantly black community in the Austin neighborhood where its located.
5:45 p.m. City snuffs out smokers, says they won’t have priority for vaccine
Being a regular visitor to Flavor Country might get you to the front of the line for a COVID-19 shot in most of Illinois and beyond, but not in Chicago.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised eyebrows when it included smokers on the list of people who should be prioritized for vaccination because of increased vulnerability to the coronavirus due to underlying health conditions.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker followed suit when he expanded the state’s pool of eligible vaccine recipients last month. So did officials in suburban Cook County, which will start inoculating people 16 and older with chronic conditions beginning Monday.
But Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady have snuffed out eligibility for smokers when registration opens to more residents with the city’s launch of vaccination Phase 1C on March 29.
4 p.m. Cook County to prioritize vaccinations in 32 suburbs
Cook County health officials will prioritize coronavirus vaccine appointments in more than two dozen of the hardest-hit suburbs to ensure equal access to the life-saving shots.
The 32 suburbs given high priority for shots were predominantly communities of color in the west and south suburbs, the Cook County Department of Public Health announced Friday.
3:15 p.m. 73% of students who opted in now showing up for in-person classes, CPS says — but vast majority remain home
Chicago Public Schools on Friday released the most comprehensive figures to date on school attendance since in-person learning resumed in February, with the administration saying they are “encouraged” by the numbers although the vast majority of students remain remote.
For the week of March 8 through 12 — the first week when all elementary grade levels were allowed back in classrooms — about three quarters, or 73 percent, of those students who were expected to show up actually did, according to CPS.
The district also said in-person attendance increased the longer schools have been open, pointing to the 55 percent of pre-K and students enrolled in cluster programs who attended in person on Feb. 11, increasing to 69 percent on March 12.
That group was the first to return to in-person learning following the district-wide closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, with K-5 students returning March 1 and grades 6-8 coming back March 8.
2:30 p.m. AstraZeneca vaccinations resume in Europe after clot scare
WARSAW, Poland — Countries across Europe resumed vaccinations with the AstraZeneca shot on Friday, as leaders sought to reassure their populations it is safe following brief suspensions that cast doubt on a vaccine that is critical to ending the coronavirus pandemic.
France’s prime minister rolled up his sleeve to get the vaccine and Britain’s planned to, as did a handful of other senior politicians across the continent where inoculation drives have repeatedly stumbled and several countries are now reimposing lockdowns as infections rise in many places.
Britain is a notable exception: The outbreak there is receding, and the country has been widely praised for its vaccination campaign, though this week it announced that it, too, would be hit by supply shortages. European Union countries, by contrast, have struggled to quickly roll out vaccines, and the pause of the AstraZeneca shot by many this week only added to those troubles.
1:20 p.m. What in-person school could look like for CPS high schoolers who opt in
CPS high school students have until Friday to decide whether to return for in-person classes this year — even though they have little idea what things will look like if they go back.
Chicago Public Schools officials have released few details about reopening plans, although they said earlier this week that April 19, the beginning of the fourth quarter, is the target date to restart. The district said it is eyeing a hybrid learning plan that would put students in classrooms two days each week, meaning students would have 18 days or so of in-person learning before school gets out in late June.
The district also said it hopes to keep students with the same teachers they currently have for remote learning.
It’s not just the district’s 74,000 high school students who have been given few details while CPS negotiates with the Chicago Teachers Union. High school principals are also waiting for more information.
12:30 p.m. Happiness Report: World shows resilience in face of COVID19
STOCKHOLM — The coronavirus brought a year of fear and anxiety, loneliness and lockdown, and illness and death, but an annual report on happiness around the world released Friday suggests the pandemic has not crushed people’s spirits.
The editors of the 2021 World Happiness Report found that while emotions changed as the pandemic set in, longer-term satisfaction with life was less affected.
“What we have found is that when people take the long view, they’ve shown a lot of resilience in this past year,” Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs, one of the report’s co-author, said from New York.
11:15 a.m. CDC changes school guidance, allowing desks to be closer
NEW YORK — Students can safely sit just 3 feet apart in the classroom as long as they wear masks but should be kept the usual 6 feet away from one another at sporting events, assemblies, lunch or chorus practice, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday in relaxing its COVID-19 guidelines.
The revised recommendations represent a turn away from the 6-foot standard that has sharply limited how many students some schools can accommodate. Some places have had to remove desks, stagger scheduling and take other steps to keep children apart.
Three feet “gives school districts greater flexibility to have more students in for a prolonged period of time,” said Kevin Quinn, director of maintenance and facilities at Mundelein High School in suburban Chicago.
In recent months, schools in some states have been disregarding the CDC guidelines, using 3 feet as their standard. Studies of what happened in some of them helped sway the agency, said Greta Massetti, who leads the CDC’s community interventions task force.
9:30 a.m. Uber offering drivers access to streamlined vaccination booking process through Walgreens
Illinois Uber drivers will now have access to a simpler process to schedule COVID-19 vaccination appointments through Walgreens.
The initiative stems from Uber and Walgreens’ partnership formed in early February to help COVID-19 vaccines become more accessible to underserved communities.
According to the Cook County Department of Public Health, ride-hailing service drivers are considered public transit workers and are eligible to be vaccinated in Phase 1B — which began Jan. 25 — along with first responders, educators, corrections workers, inmates and grocery store workers, among others.
Officials reported 1,655 new cases of the disease were diagnosed among 77,798 tests, decreasing Illinois’ average positivity rate slightly to 2.2%.
Analysis & Commentary
5 p.m. Loretto Hospital leaders deserve more than a ‘harsh reprimand’ for misuse of COVID shots
I was pleasantly surprised when Loretto Hospital, a small hospital in Austin, was chosen to kick off the city’s campaign to get Chicagoans vaccinated against the deadly COVID-19 virus.
The city’s honor did two things:
It pushed the issue of healthcare disparities from hand-wringing to action.
And it elevated the profile of a community hospital that desperately needed its own shot in the arm.
Sandwiched between the massive Loyola University Medical Center in nearby Maywood and the sprawling medical district to the east, Loretto has struggled to be recognized as a credible provider of care in an area that desperately needs access to quality healthcare.
Hospitals like Loretto have suffered because too often community residents with financial resources and good insurance choose to go elsewhere.
10:45 a.m. COVID-19, the Affordable Care Act and why America must tackle its health care disparities
One community at a time, the deadly coronavirus spread into every corner of the Chicago area last year, killing nearly 10,000 and sending thousands more to intensive care units at overwhelmed hospitals.
The harrowing story of COVID-19’s spread throughout Cook County, as told in a Sun-Times investigation by Kyra Senese and Eric Fan, drives home once again a powerful lesson about health care access:
America, much to its shame as the world’s richest nation, is a country beset by health care disparities that lead to enormous differences, based on race and income, in who lives, who dies and who can see a doctor when they get sick.
Those disparities, of course, were already clear to anyone who cared to look. They just became more glaring during a pandemic that swiftly killed the poor and vulnerable even as wealthier folks had the means to hunker down and avoid the virus.
7 a.m. Yup, got myself vaccinated, but won’t say how — oh, OK, I will
Yes, I got my first COVID vaccination on Monday. And no, I’m not going to tell you how it happened. In a manner embarrassing enough that I decided to never share the specifics. I didn’t lie. I didn’t body-check anybody out of line. Let’s leave it at that.
The moment I made this uncharacteristic decision — discreet silence not being my forte — my immediate qualm was, “So what do I say if people ask?”
And the fully formed thought instantly flashing into mind was:
“I’ll just say I got vaccinated at the synagogue with everybody else, in late 2019, just before the virus was released.”
That’s a joke. I make jokes. It’s a twitch, a reflex, to cover unease at getting the life-saving shot that 88% of Illinoisans haven’t gotten yet. Is it a good joke? Well, it plays on the psycho conspiracy theories that millions of Americans lap up like kittens around a dish of cream. Certainly not as wild as Secret Jewish Space Lasers.
Nov 22, 2020; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Detroit Lions cornerback Desmond Trufant (23) reacts during the second half against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
The Chicago Bears prepared themselves on Friday for life without all-pro cornerback Kyle Fuller as the team agreed to a one-year deal with veteran cornerback Desmond Trufant.
It was reported on Thursday night that the Bears were preparing to release Fuller as a result of his $21 million cap hit for the 2021 season. The Bears had originally approached Fuller with a contract extension that would have seen his base salary cut in half and it is understandable why the two-time pro bowl cornerback turned that deal down.
While the Bears have not officially released Fuller yet, word is that the team is attempting a last-minute trade of the cornerback to prevent him from signing with division rival, the Green Bay Packers. One thing is clear, Fuller is not returning to the Bears in 2021.
With Fuller not in the picture for the Bears’ secondary in 2021, it was clear that the team had a significant hole at the cornerback position. While Jaylon Johnson showed flashes of being a shutdown cornerback during his rookie campaign, it is important to remember that he has been dealing with consistent shoulder injuries since his college days. Beyond Johnson, the Bears cornerback depth was bleak at best considering the release of Buster Skrine.
The Bears’ signing of Trufant provides the Bears with much needed depth at the cornerback position. Not only that but Trufant now will become the cornerback to replace Fuller in the Bears’ defense.
While Trufant has proven to be a dependable cornerback during his time with the Atlanta Falcons, since joining the Detroit Lions, the issue of health has surrounded him the past two seasons. Between the past two seasons, Trufant has only played 15 games with a majority of those games being in the 2019 season. It is worth noting that Trufant compiled 4 interceptions with the Lions during the 2019 season while opposing quarterbacks had a 65.8 completion percentage when throwing his way.
Trufant is no Kyle Fuller. That much is clear. But what Trufant does provide the Bears with is much needed depth. Without the signing of Trufant, it would have been pretty evident that the Bears would target the cornerback position in the early rounds of the 2021 NFL Draft. With Trufant now in the fold, the Bears can afford to address more pressing needs in the early rounds of the draft such as at the quarterback position or right tackle position.
Trufant may not be Fuller, but considering the position that Bears’ general manager Ryan Pace has put the team in, the former Lions’ cornerback was a much needed signing.
The president and CEO of Loretto Hospital, who authorized vaccinations for workers at Trump Tower, where a fellow executive owns a unit, is now under fire for providing vaccinations to more than 200 members of his southwest suburban church.
The vaccinations were provided in February to congregants of Valley Kingdom Ministries International in southwest suburban Oak Forest, according to hospital spokeswoman Bonni Pear.
Pear said hospital President and CEO George Miller reached out directly to the Chicago Department of Public Health to ask about the church vaccinations before they took place.
“CDPH informed Mr. Miller that as long as the recipients lived, worked or received medical care in the city and were 1B-eligible they could be vaccinated. At the time the church vaccinations occurred, the mandate from CDPH was to vaccinate as many 1A and 1B-eligible Chicagoans as possible,” Pear said.
The hospital’s primary mission has been to vaccinate people who live in and around the predominantly black community in the Austin neighborhood where its located.
3:15 p.m. 73% of students who opted in now showing up for in-person classes, CPS says — but vast majority remain home
Chicago Public Schools on Friday released the most comprehensive figures to date on school attendance since in-person learning resumed in February, with the administration saying they are “encouraged” by the numbers although the vast majority of students remain remote.
For the week of March 8 through 12 — the first week when all elementary grade levels were allowed back in classrooms — about three quarters, or 73 percent, of those students who were expected to show up actually did, according to CPS.
The district also said in-person attendance increased the longer schools have been open, pointing to the 55 percent of pre-K and students enrolled in cluster programs who attended in person on Feb. 11, increasing to 69 percent on March 12.
That group was the first to return to in-person learning following the district-wide closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, with K-5 students returning March 1 and grades 6-8 coming back March 8.
2:30 p.m. AstraZeneca vaccinations resume in Europe after clot scare
WARSAW, Poland — Countries across Europe resumed vaccinations with the AstraZeneca shot on Friday, as leaders sought to reassure their populations it is safe following brief suspensions that cast doubt on a vaccine that is critical to ending the coronavirus pandemic.
France’s prime minister rolled up his sleeve to get the vaccine and Britain’s planned to, as did a handful of other senior politicians across the continent where inoculation drives have repeatedly stumbled and several countries are now reimposing lockdowns as infections rise in many places.
Britain is a notable exception: The outbreak there is receding, and the country has been widely praised for its vaccination campaign, though this week it announced that it, too, would be hit by supply shortages. European Union countries, by contrast, have struggled to quickly roll out vaccines, and the pause of the AstraZeneca shot by many this week only added to those troubles.
1:20 p.m. What in-person school could look like for CPS high schoolers who opt in
CPS high school students have until Friday to decide whether to return for in-person classes this year — even though they have little idea what things will look like if they go back.
Chicago Public Schools officials have released few details about reopening plans, although they said earlier this week that April 19, the beginning of the fourth quarter, is the target date to restart. The district said it is eyeing a hybrid learning plan that would put students in classrooms two days each week, meaning students would have 18 days or so of in-person learning before school gets out in late June.
The district also said it hopes to keep students with the same teachers they currently have for remote learning.
It’s not just the district’s 74,000 high school students who have been given few details while CPS negotiates with the Chicago Teachers Union. High school principals are also waiting for more information.
12:30 p.m. Happiness Report: World shows resilience in face of COVID19
STOCKHOLM — The coronavirus brought a year of fear and anxiety, loneliness and lockdown, and illness and death, but an annual report on happiness around the world released Friday suggests the pandemic has not crushed people’s spirits.
The editors of the 2021 World Happiness Report found that while emotions changed as the pandemic set in, longer-term satisfaction with life was less affected.
“What we have found is that when people take the long view, they’ve shown a lot of resilience in this past year,” Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs, one of the report’s co-author, said from New York.
11:15 a.m. CDC changes school guidance, allowing desks to be closer
NEW YORK — Students can safely sit just 3 feet apart in the classroom as long as they wear masks but should be kept the usual 6 feet away from one another at sporting events, assemblies, lunch or chorus practice, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday in relaxing its COVID-19 guidelines.
The revised recommendations represent a turn away from the 6-foot standard that has sharply limited how many students some schools can accommodate. Some places have had to remove desks, stagger scheduling and take other steps to keep children apart.
Three feet “gives school districts greater flexibility to have more students in for a prolonged period of time,” said Kevin Quinn, director of maintenance and facilities at Mundelein High School in suburban Chicago.
In recent months, schools in some states have been disregarding the CDC guidelines, using 3 feet as their standard. Studies of what happened in some of them helped sway the agency, said Greta Massetti, who leads the CDC’s community interventions task force.
9:30 a.m. Uber offering drivers access to streamlined vaccination booking process through Walgreens
Illinois Uber drivers will now have access to a simpler process to schedule COVID-19 vaccination appointments through Walgreens.
The initiative stems from Uber and Walgreens’ partnership formed in early February to help COVID-19 vaccines become more accessible to underserved communities.
According to the Cook County Department of Public Health, ride-hailing service drivers are considered public transit workers and are eligible to be vaccinated in Phase 1B — which began Jan. 25 — along with first responders, educators, corrections workers, inmates and grocery store workers, among others.
Officials reported 1,655 new cases of the disease were diagnosed among 77,798 tests, decreasing Illinois’ average positivity rate slightly to 2.2%.
Analysis & Commentary
10:45 a.m. COVID-19, the Affordable Care Act and why America must tackle its health care disparities
One community at a time, the deadly coronavirus spread into every corner of the Chicago area last year, killing nearly 10,000 and sending thousands more to intensive care units at overwhelmed hospitals.
The harrowing story of COVID-19’s spread throughout Cook County, as told in a Sun-Times investigation by Kyra Senese and Eric Fan, drives home once again a powerful lesson about health care access:
America, much to its shame as the world’s richest nation, is a country beset by health care disparities that lead to enormous differences, based on race and income, in who lives, who dies and who can see a doctor when they get sick.
Those disparities, of course, were already clear to anyone who cared to look. They just became more glaring during a pandemic that swiftly killed the poor and vulnerable even as wealthier folks had the means to hunker down and avoid the virus.
7 a.m. Yup, got myself vaccinated, but won’t say how — oh, OK, I will
Yes, I got my first COVID vaccination on Monday. And no, I’m not going to tell you how it happened. In a manner embarrassing enough that I decided to never share the specifics. I didn’t lie. I didn’t body-check anybody out of line. Let’s leave it at that.
The moment I made this uncharacteristic decision — discreet silence not being my forte — my immediate qualm was, “So what do I say if people ask?”
And the fully formed thought instantly flashing into mind was:
“I’ll just say I got vaccinated at the synagogue with everybody else, in late 2019, just before the virus was released.”
That’s a joke. I make jokes. It’s a twitch, a reflex, to cover unease at getting the life-saving shot that 88% of Illinoisans haven’t gotten yet. Is it a good joke? Well, it plays on the psycho conspiracy theories that millions of Americans lap up like kittens around a dish of cream. Certainly not as wild as Secret Jewish Space Lasers.
The president and CEO of Loretto Hospital, who authorized vaccinations for workers at Trump Tower, where a fellow executive owns a unit, is now under fire for providing vaccinations to more than 200 members of his southwest suburban church.
The vaccinations were provided in February to congregants of Valley Kingdom Ministries International in southwest suburban Oak Forest, according to hospital spokeswoman Bonni Pear.
Pear said hospital President and CEO George Miller reached out directly to the Chicago Department of Public Health to ask about the church vaccinations before they took place.
“CDPH informed Mr. Miller that as long as the recipients lived, worked or received medical care in the city and were 1B-eligible they could be vaccinated. At the time the church vaccinations occurred, the mandate from CDPH was to vaccinate as many 1A and 1B-eligible Chicagoans as possible,” Pear said.
The hospital’s primary mission has been to vaccinate people who live in and around the predominantly black community in the Austin neighborhood where its located.
2:30 p.m. AstraZeneca vaccinations resume in Europe after clot scare
WARSAW, Poland — Countries across Europe resumed vaccinations with the AstraZeneca shot on Friday, as leaders sought to reassure their populations it is safe following brief suspensions that cast doubt on a vaccine that is critical to ending the coronavirus pandemic.
France’s prime minister rolled up his sleeve to get the vaccine and Britain’s planned to, as did a handful of other senior politicians across the continent where inoculation drives have repeatedly stumbled and several countries are now reimposing lockdowns as infections rise in many places.
Britain is a notable exception: The outbreak there is receding, and the country has been widely praised for its vaccination campaign, though this week it announced that it, too, would be hit by supply shortages. European Union countries, by contrast, have struggled to quickly roll out vaccines, and the pause of the AstraZeneca shot by many this week only added to those troubles.
1:20 p.m. What in-person school could look like for CPS high schoolers who opt in
CPS high school students have until Friday to decide whether to return for in-person classes this year — even though they have little idea what things will look like if they go back.
Chicago Public Schools officials have released few details about reopening plans, although they said earlier this week that April 19, the beginning of the fourth quarter, is the target date to restart. The district said it is eyeing a hybrid learning plan that would put students in classrooms two days each week, meaning students would have 18 days or so of in-person learning before school gets out in late June.
The district also said it hopes to keep students with the same teachers they currently have for remote learning.
It’s not just the district’s 74,000 high school students who have been given few details while CPS negotiates with the Chicago Teachers Union. High school principals are also waiting for more information.
12:30 p.m. Happiness Report: World shows resilience in face of COVID19
STOCKHOLM — The coronavirus brought a year of fear and anxiety, loneliness and lockdown, and illness and death, but an annual report on happiness around the world released Friday suggests the pandemic has not crushed people’s spirits.
The editors of the 2021 World Happiness Report found that while emotions changed as the pandemic set in, longer-term satisfaction with life was less affected.
“What we have found is that when people take the long view, they’ve shown a lot of resilience in this past year,” Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs, one of the report’s co-author, said from New York.
11:15 a.m. CDC changes school guidance, allowing desks to be closer
NEW YORK — Students can safely sit just 3 feet apart in the classroom as long as they wear masks but should be kept the usual 6 feet away from one another at sporting events, assemblies, lunch or chorus practice, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday in relaxing its COVID-19 guidelines.
The revised recommendations represent a turn away from the 6-foot standard that has sharply limited how many students some schools can accommodate. Some places have had to remove desks, stagger scheduling and take other steps to keep children apart.
Three feet “gives school districts greater flexibility to have more students in for a prolonged period of time,” said Kevin Quinn, director of maintenance and facilities at Mundelein High School in suburban Chicago.
In recent months, schools in some states have been disregarding the CDC guidelines, using 3 feet as their standard. Studies of what happened in some of them helped sway the agency, said Greta Massetti, who leads the CDC’s community interventions task force.
9:30 a.m. Uber offering drivers access to streamlined vaccination booking process through Walgreens
Illinois Uber drivers will now have access to a simpler process to schedule COVID-19 vaccination appointments through Walgreens.
The initiative stems from Uber and Walgreens’ partnership formed in early February to help COVID-19 vaccines become more accessible to underserved communities.
According to the Cook County Department of Public Health, ride-hailing service drivers are considered public transit workers and are eligible to be vaccinated in Phase 1B — which began Jan. 25 — along with first responders, educators, corrections workers, inmates and grocery store workers, among others.
Officials reported 1,655 new cases of the disease were diagnosed among 77,798 tests, decreasing Illinois’ average positivity rate slightly to 2.2%.
Analysis & Commentary
10:45 a.m. COVID-19, the Affordable Care Act and why America must tackle its health care disparities
One community at a time, the deadly coronavirus spread into every corner of the Chicago area last year, killing nearly 10,000 and sending thousands more to intensive care units at overwhelmed hospitals.
The harrowing story of COVID-19’s spread throughout Cook County, as told in a Sun-Times investigation by Kyra Senese and Eric Fan, drives home once again a powerful lesson about health care access:
America, much to its shame as the world’s richest nation, is a country beset by health care disparities that lead to enormous differences, based on race and income, in who lives, who dies and who can see a doctor when they get sick.
Those disparities, of course, were already clear to anyone who cared to look. They just became more glaring during a pandemic that swiftly killed the poor and vulnerable even as wealthier folks had the means to hunker down and avoid the virus.
7 a.m. Yup, got myself vaccinated, but won’t say how — oh, OK, I will
Yes, I got my first COVID vaccination on Monday. And no, I’m not going to tell you how it happened. In a manner embarrassing enough that I decided to never share the specifics. I didn’t lie. I didn’t body-check anybody out of line. Let’s leave it at that.
The moment I made this uncharacteristic decision — discreet silence not being my forte — my immediate qualm was, “So what do I say if people ask?”
And the fully formed thought instantly flashing into mind was:
“I’ll just say I got vaccinated at the synagogue with everybody else, in late 2019, just before the virus was released.”
That’s a joke. I make jokes. It’s a twitch, a reflex, to cover unease at getting the life-saving shot that 88% of Illinoisans haven’t gotten yet. Is it a good joke? Well, it plays on the psycho conspiracy theories that millions of Americans lap up like kittens around a dish of cream. Certainly not as wild as Secret Jewish Space Lasers.
Chicago Restaurant Week is back in Chicago! But, with all that is happening in the world, there are a few changes. The event now runs March 19th through April 4th. The number of participating restaurants has also changed. In 2020, there were more than 430 venues and this year there are only 250. But, have no fear, you’ll still be able to find some awesome deals. In the past, Chicago Restaurant Week has been all about increasing on-site customers, but with the restrictions on capacity, they have expanded to delivery and takeout. Now to me that’s good news! If you’re not comfortable going out but still want to participate in the deals, you still can!
Located in the West Loop and part of Lettuce Entertain You, Aba boasts a comprehensive menu of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes. Unlike some of the restaurants participating in Restaurant Week, Aba didn’t skimp on their menu. They are offering both brunch and dinner deals! Brunch will be $25, including two courses plus a cocktail, wine or beer, and dinner is $55 that includes two courses, dessert and cocktail, wine, or beer.
Remember how I said that some restaurants are offering delivery and takeout for Restaurant Week? Well, although Galit is participating in the deals, they are only open for delivery and takeout. But, don’t be concerned, they are still offering their $55 dinner deal that includes four courses and dessert! Enjoy four courses of Middle Eastern cuisine.
Girl & the Goat is one of Chicago’s best known restaurants thanks to the Top Chef champion, Stephanie Izard and is located on the Randolph Restaurant Row. This is the first year that they are participating in Chicago Restaurant Week and they certainly won’t disappoint. You can enjoy a four course meal PLUS dessert for $55. Though the items are picked from their regular menu, this is the perfect time to explore the newest addition to Restaurant Week.
This Alpine-inspired restaurant has been quite a reliable spot for Chicago Restaurant Week. It’s dinner menu ($39 for three courses) offers plenty of value. Plus, if you head over to their Instagram, you can see they are offering a limited number of (half) Amish chickens each night during Restaurant Week. And although centered around meats, vegetarians are welcome! Table, Donkey & Stick offers a one of a kind entree of confit radish tagliatelle. The menu is available for dine-in, takeout, and delivery.
ROOH has introduced a new era of modern Indian fine dining in Chicago. They are offering dinner for $55 with three courses and desert. And if you are a vegetarian you will have a lot to choose from. From cauliflower to paneer, ROOH has a wide variety of dishes whether you’re vegetarian or not.
Bringing you American Southern Cuisine, Virtue is a must for Restaurant Week. Like most of the restaurants participating, their menu is specialized for the occasion and is $55 per person. The menu includes three courses (including desert) and your pick of wine or spirits.
As part of Restaurant Week, HaiSous is offering two options for their dinners. You can choose from the $39 or $55 picks. But, they are a family style restaurant so be sure to grab your mom, your friend, or your partner because you’ll definitely need help finishing it all! You will experience two courses with a palette cleanser dessert at the end. And if you are gluten intolerant, have no fear, their whole menu is GLUTEN FREE!
Chicago Restaurant Week is a good excuse to grab a table and dig into a $39 dinner menu made up of three courses—plus dessert! Fans of Cajun cuisine will love the crawfish beignets or shrimp and grits before a main course of salmon en papillote or pan seared rainbow trout. And finally you will end with a delicious buttermilk pie!
After a one-year hiatus from the sporting world the NCAA Tournament returns to our lives this March with the 68-team tournament tipping off officially Thursday, March 18th and the first round of games on March 19th. As the most popular sporting event in the world gears up for its triumphant return, Chicago’s bars will open their doors even wider to fans and alumni of each of the represented teams.
Loyola-Chicago will be largely represented with watering holes in Rogers Park, and all of nine Big Ten schools in the tournament have their colors flying in numerous locations around Chicagoland. We deliver to you the best Big Ten bars in Chicago to watch your favorite Big Ten team on the opening weekend of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
There are a plethora of Wisconsin Badgers bars in Chicago, especially on the North Side but none more iconic than Will’s Northwoods Inn. So grab a pint and some cheese curds and head north on Racine to watch the Badgers square off against the North Carolina Tar Heels on Friday night.
Fireplace Inn is much more than a watering hole for Purdue fans, it’s a bar you can comfortably watch the entire tournament at. However, for the Boilermakers’ opening round game against North Texas, this Old Town place will be ground zero for an intense 4-13 matchup Friday night.
In terms of things Chicago “Best Of’s…” you take to your grave, Bird’s Nest having the best wings in Chicago is one of them. It’s also an Illinois bar that prides itself on repping the home state vibrantly. Illinois begins their journey to the Final Four on Friday afternoon against Drexel.
The Michigan Wolverines have a legitimate shot at a National Title with Juwan Howard on the sideline. They’ll begin their tournament against Texas Southern on Saturday afternoon with the hopes of cutting down the nets for the first time since Howard was there as a player.
Maryland enters the tournament as a 10-seed after being bounced by Michigan in the Big Ten tournament. Those looking to enjoy Terps basketball in Chicago can head to George Street Pub and get as rowdy as Mark Turgeon when he’s losing while watching Maryland vs the UConn Huskies.
Clover is great because if you want a few beers before a nice dinner at La Scarola, or The Dawson, or Piccolo Sogno; then Clover is for you. A great atmosphere with darts and multiple bar areas to watch your Iowa Hawkeyes right in the heart of River West.
When it comes to Big Ten schools Rutgers is still the stepchild people don’t fully accept into the fraternity. However, Derno’s on Diversey is the go-to spot for any Scarlet Knights fan to watch outside of Piscataway.
Ohio State has a massive alumni presence in Chicago but the Lincoln Park tavern that houses the Buckeyes faithful stands above the rest. McGee’s on Websters down the street from DePaul is an Irish spot with deep Ohio State roots and a ton of TVs to watch the games.
Whether you’re planning for a holiday, a special event, or an office celebration — or even if you want to create a new tradition in your office, hosting an office potluck can be a great way to get the party started. Sharing food with those around you is a great way to connect and build social interactions between co-workers, no matter the purpose.
But if you’ve never hosted a potluck before — especially an office potluck — you might be feeling a bit overwhelmed with the responsibility of coordinating and hosting everything.
But there’s no need to worry. Everyone hosts parties differently, and potlucks at the office are no exception. You can put your own spin on things, all while following a few specific guidelines to ensure everything is organized and seamless.
Once you learn the ropes, everything will become a little easier, and you’ll be serving up the party like never before. If you’re ready to get into planning the perfect office pot luck, stick around for these handy tips that can help you out in a pinch.
1. Coordinate Early
While pot lucks are often meant to feel spontaneous — with everyone contributing their own dishes and coming together to share them — potlucks are also about planning.
Make sure you know what you need before you start planning by making lists, but still leave some wiggle room for creative ideas. Ideally, getting started on the planning a few weeks ahead of time can save you a lot of stress.
2. Make a Sign-Up Sheet
Speaking of planning, the sign-up sheet might just be your key to a well-organized bash. Laying out categories such as mains, snacks, fruits, drinks, and desserts can allow everyone to sign up for specific things, all while you keep an eye on the areas that are lacking.
While you should leave room for creativity, you can also get specific if you need certain items — such as soda or juice.
3. Bring Enough for Everyone
If you’re stumped on how much food you’ll actually need, it can be helpful to have at least an idea of what the food breakdown per-person will likely be.
Remember — if you don’t make enough, you might run out. But if you make more than enough, you can leave leftovers in the office fridge for the week ahead. So it’s better to be safe than sorry.
In general, foods like burgers or hotdogs for a cookout go two per person, one bag of chips can be split between four or five people, and small dessert items can go around two per person. However, every party is different.
4. Remember Physical Goods
Sure, most people will remember the basics of plates, forks, and cups when planning for a potluck or party. But there are a lot of other physical goods that can fall by the wayside.
From sturdier serving utensils for heavier dishes like lasagna or casseroles to paper towels, condiments, and tablecloths, physical goods are some of the most important things to bring to a potluck.
Make sure the need for those items is detailed clearly on any sign-up sheet you put out. That way, people can contribute those, too.
5. Ask for Feedback
If you plan to make your office potluck a reccurring event, it can be helpful to ask people for feedback when all is said and done. Some people might request more vegan or gluten-free options, some people might even have food allergies, or you may find requests for logistical changes like the time of the event or the seating arrangements.
You never know until you ask. And when you ask, you can improve your event each time.
Hosting an Office Potluck
Potlucks can be the perfect merging of planning and spontaneity. By planning one in your office, you can give your employees the opportunity to connect over food and participate themselves, while not placing too much responsibility on any one person.
While there might seem to be a lot of moving parts, it gets easier the more organized you are. What’s your favorite dish to bring to a potluck party?
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22382958/Screen_Shot_2021_03_19_at_11.57.15_AM.png)
Sun-Times file
Leave a comment