Daywatch: Illinois prepares for omicron variant, but delta remains top COVID-19 concern | Text from Jussie Smollett a focus on second day of trial | An extraordinary family reunion
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Good morning, Chicago.
The Supreme Court is preparing to hear arguments today in the most important abortion rights case in decades. The justices will weigh whether to uphold a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks and overrule the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
In Chicago, with a little less at stake, Tribune reporters Jason Meisner and Megan Crepeau are covering the Jussie Smollett trial. A focus during Tuesday’s testimony: As rumors of a hoax were swirling around Smollett’s claim he was the victim of a hate crime attack, the “Empire” actor allegedly sent a text to one of the two acquaintances being questioned by police.
And December is here, the time of year when Chicago drivers need to think twice about claiming that open spot on the street.
— Paul Day, audience editor
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Illinois prepares for ‘likely’ arrival of omicron variant, but for now delta remains top COVID-19 concern
Chicago’s top public health official said Tuesday she’s more concerned about the delta variant of the coronavirus than omicron, which has not yet been detected in the United States, because “delta is doing a job on Chicago and on the upper Midwest.”
Dr. Allison Arwady said she expects the omicron variant to be formally detected in the U.S. “in days or weeks.”
Once-a-decade Chicago ward remap still in flux; city has yet to release a favored proposal despite Wednesday deadline
The fight over Chicago’s new ward map entered a chaotic new phase Tuesday, as a deadline loomed for aldermen to agree on ward boundaries they design themselves and thereby avoid potentially turning the process over to voters.
The City Council Rules Committee appeared set Tuesday to unveil a 50-ward map along the lines of the Black Caucus’ aim to create 17 predominantly Black wards and 14 majority Latino wards. But the meeting was canceled shortly before it was set to kick off.
Barry White, the Chicken Lady and the long road home: How a Cook County sheriff’s initiative reunited a missing man with his family
A tollway oasis might sound like a strange setting in which to begin a story of a family reunion, but it was there, two years ago, that outreach workers for the Cook County sheriff’s office encountered a man with a hard-to-believe name and a profound array of challenges.
His name was Barry White and he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Eight months earlier, he had gone off his medication and left his family behind in Memphis, Tennessee, wandering the country in an odyssey whose chapters usually ended in an encounter with the police, a short stay in a shelter and a bus ticket out of town.
As MLB teams spend more than $1.5 billion ahead of an expected lockout, the Cubs have stayed largely on the sidelines
While Major League Baseball has seen more than $1.5 billion worth of contracts agreed to in the last three days, the Chicago Cubs have been largely uninvolved in free-agent transactions — which should not come as a surprise.
They telegraphed their approach weeks ago, outlining a vision since late in the season when president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer expressed a desire to spend wisely.
Column: The Insult-A-Columnist Holiday Food Drive is back, with a shot at celebrity Zoom chats — to help with a lot of need
Nothing says “It’s the holidays!” quite like a chance to publicly humiliate someone while also helping people in need.
In this case, the “someone” is Tribune columnist Rex Huppke, and the opportunity to help people comes via the fourth annual Insult-A-Columnist Holiday Food Drive benefiting the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
