Daywatch: Chicago ups vaccine incentives as variant spreads, Bears get serious about suburbs, and stranger brings hope and pizza to Naperville

Nicole Stock, Chicago Tribune
·3 min read

Good morning, Chicago.

Yesterday, health officials said there have been 84 cases of the Delta coronavirus variant detected in Illinois, with at least 70 of those here in Chicago. With this more contagious variant taking root in the city — and primarily affecting unvaccinated people — city officials launched new incentives to get the shot. They expanded the at-home inoculations to include people ages 12 and up, and are also dangling $50 GrubHub gift cards as a reward.

Meanwhile, now we’re in phase 5, fewer businesses are requiring masks and fewer people are wearing them. But some residents have chosen to keep the protective layers on their faces. Here’s why.

Are you still wearing a mask? How do you feel about it now that the state has reopened? Send me an email and let me know.

— Nicole Stock, audience editor

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National Weather Service working to ‘solve the puzzle’ of Sunday’s storm. 3 tornadoes confirmed, but officials study possibility of at least one more.

Meteorologists with Chicago’s National Weather Service generally spend their days sitting in their Romeoville office, looking ahead — analyzing data and trends to warn some 10 million area residents what conditions to expect in the future.

Since Sunday night’s devastating thunderstorms, however, roughly half or more of the 14 meteorologists who work in the office have spent their shifts in the field, working on damage-surveying teams in Naperville, Woodridge, Darien, Burr Ridge and Willow Springs. They are trying to quantify past events to answer lingering questions about the strongest, most devastating tornado to hit the Chicago area in at least six years.

Chicago Bears’ offer to move is serious, Arlington Heights mayor says, as village bans certain uses for race track site but keeps it open to football, racing and gambling

The Chicago Bears’ bid to move to Arlington Heights seems legitimate, and not a bluff, the village mayor said Tuesday, after local officials acted to prohibit certain uses but allow a football stadium.

“I don’t think this is a negotiating tactic,” Mayor Tom Hayes said. “I do think the Bears are serious about this. It may not come to fruition, but I think they’re seriously considering this.”

Possible deal to rename Chicago’s LSD ‘DuSable Lake Shore Drive’ in the works

A possible late City Council compromise would name Chicago’s iconic lakefront roadway for the city’s Black founder, Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, but keep the beloved “Lake Shore Drive” moniker as well.

It’s a mouthful, but Mayor Lori Lightfoot and aldermen were considering Tuesday an idea to dub the street “DuSable Lake Shore Drive” in a bid to avoid another racially tinged City Council floor fight Wednesday.

State agencies expected to oppose adding Helmut Jahn’s Thompson Center to National Register of Historic Places

Preservationists fear two Illinois agencies will oppose having the James R. Thompson Center added to the National Register of Historic Places, which the groups see as a key to saving the Helmut Jahn-designed building in the Loop.

After the tornado, a stranger came to town with a red pickup, a wood-fired oven and a message of hope: Free, hand-tossed pizzas for everyone

Brian Rock has a vision: He wants to make pizzas for people at natural disaster sites.

So when Rock, of Merrillville, Indiana, heard about the tornado that tore through the Naperville area Sunday night, he packed up his dough, sauce and cheese, and headed toward the wreckage.