Good afternoon! I’m in the final month of my 30s. (Scorpios say “haaay!”) It was a great decade. I got in trouble at work a bunch, was punished by being given a daily newsletter, fell in love, got married and survived a pandemic. Here’s what you need to know today.

1. Signs emerge that Chicago may see another surge of COVID-19 this winter

Health officials had hoped to avoid another wave of infections this year thanks to updated COVID-19 vaccines, but that optimism may be starting to fade with the changing seasons.

Only about 144,000 Chicago residents have rolled up their sleeves for new vaccines that have been reformulated to better tackle omicron subvariants, reports my colleague Courtney Kueppers.

That’s less than 10% of the 2 million residents eligible for the doses.

“I’m concerned that especially in Latinx and Black communities, we’re seeing lagging vaccine uptake, which means if we get a notable surge this winter, it’s more likely to hit harder in those communities,” warned Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago’s top public health official. [WBEZ]

2. The Chicago Bears want a megaplex. Recent history highlights the risks to taxpayers.

The Chicago Bears are expected to make the pivotal decision next year whether to move from the city to Arlington Heights.

The decision comes as NFL teams and other sports franchises are exploring ways to generate more money outside of the game, looking toward giant complexes featuring retail, restaurants and entertainment, reports Mark Guarino for WBEZ.

But these real estate projects “also often share the risk with public taxpayers, whether it’s a partnership with the municipality, county or state where these new complexes are built,” Guarino writes.

“And it’s a risk some in Arlington Heights don’t want the village to take.” [WBEZ]

3. It’s highly unlikely there will be fentanyl in Halloween candy

Another Halloween, another panic over poisoned candy.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in recent weeks raised alarms that Mexican cartels and street dealers are marketing bright-colored fentanyl pills to children and young people.

But drug policy experts contacted by NPR say there is no new fentanyl threat this Halloween. These experts say it doesn’t make sense for drug traffickers, who are driven by profits, to deliberately target children. [NPR]

Despite the amount of news coverage such acts receive, it is extremely rare to find substantiated claims of drugged or poisoned Halloween candy, reports The New York Times. Many claims lack evidence or would later be revealed as a hoax. [NYT]

4. The National Women’s Soccer League faces a reckoning amid abuse allegations against a former Chicago Red Stars coach

Chicago Red Stars players are calling for the removal of majority owner Arnim Whisler after a recent independent investigation into abuse and harassment within the National Women’s Soccer League.

The investigation, conducted by former U.S. Attorney Sally Yates, found Whisler failed to protect players against former coach Rory Dames, who is accused of emotionally and verbally abusing players for years.

“Women’s sports are facing a larger issue, one that’s reflective of society as a whole: the conditioning of women to accept abuse,” writes sports reporter Annie Costabile for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Costabile writes that removing Whisler as chairman of the team’s board of directors is a start, but “it’s not enough. The voices at the top need to mirror the league itself. Without more representation from women and marginalized voices, abuse will continue.” [Chicago Sun-Times]

5. Feeling stressed out? Dogs can tell.

Thanks to their keen sense of smell, dogs can find bombs, drugs and human remains. And apparently stress, according to a new study.

Researchers found that our canine friends can identify chemical odors people release when they’re stressed out.

These findings provide “deeper knowledge of the human-dog relationship and adds to our understanding of how dogs perceive and interact with human psychological states,” said Clara Wilson, one of the study’s authors and a doctoral student in the Queen’s University Belfast school of psychology.

The research could help better train dogs for therapeutic reasons and better service people struggling with anxiety or recovering from trauma. [Washington Post]

Here’s what else is happening

• After Russia launched airstrikes at civilian targets in Ukraine, the leaders of the Group of 7 nations today vowed to impose further economic sanctions on Moscow. [BBC]
• A Biden administration proposal could make it more likely for gig workers to be classified as employees instead of independent contractors. [New York Times]
• Key Senate races are tightening amid a wave of Republican campaign spending. [NPR]
• Actor Angela Lansbury from Murder She Wrote and Beauty and the Beast died today at age 96. [NBC News]

Oh, and one more thing …

Wait, Chicago has a castle? And you can check it out this weekend as part of Open House Chicago?

Yes and yes. Open House Chicago, which is this weekend, is that magical time of the year when you can snoop — for free — around cool places throughout the city.

But this year, the event is focusing on the city’s neighborhoods and the “amazing community work going on,” said Hallie Rosen, Chicago Architecture Center’s director of program operations.

My colleague David Struett over at the Sun-Times highlights some of the many neat places you can check out this year. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Tell me something good …

I am completely in the Halloween spirit right now, and I’ve been watching horror movies every chance I can get. What are some of your favorite horror movies?

Tom Greensfelder has some good ones. He writes:

“A really good horror film is the original Let the Right One In.

“But the scariest (and most disturbing), but not horror in the traditional sense, would be Dancer in the Dark. Oh, one other, if you like Carpenter (in this case his protégé, Kathryn Bigelow) would be Near Dark.”

And Elaine Newton writes:

“Some might say, ‘How can a black-and-white horror movie from 1963 — with no visible evil force or being — be scary?’ Well I suggest you watch The Haunting. It truly plays with your mind without resorting to over the top special effects. Give it a try this Halloween.”

Feel free to email or tweet me, and your response might be shared in the newsletter this week.