Good afternoon! At the risk of sounding like that nerd who does their weekend homework on a Friday night, I want to mention early voting begins on Monday for Chicago’s runoff election. You can find voting sites in this link. Anyway, here’s what you need to know today.

1. Chicago will enforce overnight checkpoints at O’Hare to prevent the homeless from sheltering at the airport

People arriving at O’Hare International Airport via a CTA train will have to show “proof of airport business” to police officers between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., city officials announced this week.

Those without proof — which includes boarding passes — will be turned away. The city’s Aviation Department emphasized that this policy has been in place since 2020.

But the overnight checkpoints come as O’Hare and the Chicago Transit Authority have become focal points in the city’s homeless crisis. [Chicago Sun-Times]

My colleague Anna Savchenko recently reported on how crackdowns at O’Hare have forced more unhoused people to seek shelter on public trains and buses.

But the core problem is the city does not have enough shelter beds, Savchenko reports. [WBEZ]

2. Chuy endorses Brandon Johnson, hoping to unite progressives and cut into Latino support for Paul Vallas

U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García today endorsed Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson for mayor, a huge get for the self-styled progressive candidate in the April 4 runoff election.

As my colleague Fran Spielman reports, García’s endorsement could accomplish two things: reunite the city’s fractured family of progressives and potentially dig into Latino support for Paul Vallas.

“Political strategists have said Vallas needs roughly half the Hispanic vote to win the April 4 runoff,” Spielmen reports. “García’s support for Johnson could make that more difficult for Vallas.” [Chicago Sun-Times]

Meanwhile, Vallas went on the offensive during an ABC7 debate last night, while Johnson continued to distance himself from the “defund the police” movement. The debate took place as polls show the race is tightening. [Chicago Sun-Times]

3. A new clue into the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic

An international team of scientists say they’ve found genetic data linking the coronavirus to raccoon dogs that were being sold at a market in Wuhan, China, reports The New York Times.

The news does not prove the virus was passed to humans from a raccoon dog. But scientists say the data strengthen the scenario that the virus came from wild animals.

In recent weeks, a debate has reignited over the pandemic’s origins, with an intelligence assessment from the U.S. Department of Energy giving more credence to the so-called lab leak theory. [New York Times]

Meanwhile, doctors in Chicago and elsewhere are trying to unlock the mysteries of long COVID. [Chicago Sun-Times]

4. How much of your life would you win back from a four-day workweek?

Longtime readers know I’m a big fan of, uh, how do I say this knowing my boss may be reading?

AH! Work-life balance. Yes. That.

Anyway, the four-day workweek appears to be gaining some momentum lately, with a large experiment in the U.K. showing improvements to the mental health of employees, among other benefits.

The Washington Post created a calculator showing how much time you’d get back from a four-day workweek.

For me, at age 40 and working 8 hours a day, I’d get back 9,984 hours — or 416 days. [Washington Post]

5. The Cure frontman Robert Smith took on Ticketmaster

Before we get into it, let’s just have a round of applause for goths.

The Cure frontman Robert Smith this week said he was “sickened” by “unduly high” Ticketmaster fees, and he convinced the ticketing giant to provide refunds to fans.

“In some cases, fans say the fees more than doubled their ticket price, with one social media user sharing that they paid over $90 in fees for a $80 ticket,” NPR reports.

Ticketmaster has been under increasing scrutiny after the debacle over Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Last November, Swift fans waited hours, paid high fees and experienced outages on the Ticketmaster website as they tried to score tickets to the tour. [NPR]

Here’s what else is happening

• Dr. Allison Arwady said she would continue serving as Chicago’s top public health official if the next mayor wants her. [Chicago Sun-Times]
• Learning loss during the pandemic and teachers shortages are among the big challenges facing Illinois’ new education chief. [WBEZ]
• The Chicago Transit Authority will begin rebuilding more stops along the north branch of the Red Line. [Block Club Chicago]
• Scientists at the Field Museum discovered a rare gold-throated hummingbird hybrid. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Oh, and one more thing …

Special shout-out to Lucy Holloway, a sixth-grader from Buffalo Grove who won a student art contest and now has her work featured as a giant mural on the Salt Shed entertainment venue.

“It was kind of crazy seeing it that big,” Lucy told the Chicago Sun-Times, which sponsored the contest along with WBEZ and Vocalo.

Lucy said she figured “there’s no way I’m going to win, or anything, but, like, I’ll do it anyway because it’s just fun to make art.” [Chicago Sun-Times]

Tell me something good …

What’s something small you’ve come to love and appreciate?

Lisa Duchek writes:

“Something small I’ve come to love is watching my dog’s morning routine. She does her downward dog stretch and then proceeds to stretch out on her back and rolls around getting her back scratchies in. Watching her gangly legs flail around as she rolls all over makes me laugh every single day!”

Norma writes:

“Our granddaughters live in Washington State. Occasionally we’ll get a FaceTime call asking, ‘Can I read my book to you and Bop?’ So nice to be thought of in spite of the miles between us.”

And Bill Kuczek writes:

“My partner and I just rescued a dog from Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico. In the three months we’ve had him, it’s my pure joy in the mornings to see Cruz’s face, as he starts his day with a long stretch and big yawn. It just warms my heart.”

Thanks for all the emails this week. I’m sorry I couldn’t share them all, but it was nice hearing from y’all!