🌱 Mass Vaccination Site To Reopen + Festival Theatre Looks Ahead

Georgi Presecky
Updated ·4 min read

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First, today's weather: Breezy in the afternoon. High: 42 Low: 28.

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Here are the top stories today in Oak Park-River Forest:

1. A 24-year-old man was shot and killed Saturday afternoon in Austin. He was found unresponsive on the sidewalk in the 1600 block of North Mayfield Avenue. (FOX)

2. Forest Park’s mass vaccination site will reopen this week due to the omicron surge. “Physicians’ offices and pharmacies are not staffed to accommodate the significant demand,” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said. (Paid source: Tribune)

3. The West Side Heroin Task Force will be distributing overdose reversal medication in Austin today, “no questions asked.” Soon the nasal spray form of naloxone will be available in wall-mounted boxes at all Austin libraries, thanks to a new Chicago Department of Public Health program. (AustinTalks)

4. Oak Park Festival Theatre is planning productions for summer and fall, despite losing countless items in a November fire on Lake Street. Water damage destroyed “a lot of stuff that’s not replaceable… a lot of the memories of Oak Park Festival Theatre being there for nearly 50 years,” Managing Director Bryan Wakefield said. (Paid source: Oak Leaves)

5. Oak Park and River Forest High School English teacher Peter Kahn will retire after more than 20 years at the school. Students spoke to CBS about the impact of Kahn’s spoken-word poetry program, which is documented in the upcoming book “Respect the Mic: Celebrating 20 Years of Poetry from a Chicagoland High School.” (CBS)

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Today in Oak Park-River Forest:

  • The Forest Preserves of Cook County host a winter photography walk in Thatcher Woods. (9 a.m.)

  • Oak Park physician Dr. Bhansali of Duly Health and Care gives a presentation on medication management for seniors. (1 p.m.)

  • McCormick Theological Seminary professor Reggie Williams will give a free online presentation on the 6th National Day of Racial Healing. (4 p.m.)

  • Children 5-12 can take a magic class at Dole Center. (6:45 p.m.)

  • Join the Oak Park Art League for a “Knot a Problem” night of knitting and fiber art. (7 p.m.)

  • River Forest’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Group meets at Dominican University. (7 p.m.)

From my notebook:

  • Residents will have the opportunity to hear from village manager candidates this Sunday at a virtual forum. (Paid source: Oak Leaves)

  • Forest Park nonprofits are seeing a similar decline in volunteerism as Oak Park, according to Pioneer Press. (Forest Park Review)

  • Brookfield company Boxless Media is helping funeral homes live-stream services during the pandemic. (Landmark)

  • Several suburbs are adding a 464 area code to new phone lines established this year. (CBS)

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That's all for today, OPRF! See you tomorrow for more local stories.

— Georgi Presecky

This article originally appeared on the Oak Park-River Forest Patch