Hey there! It’s Friday, and I’ll be out next week for four glorious days. Someone else will be doing the newsletter while I drink vodka sodas with my husband and write a teen drama about Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s “Prince years.” Here’s what you need to know today.

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1. At least 77 people have been shot in downtown Chicago this year, a nearly 220% rise since 2019

That’s the top line in a new analysis from the Chicago Sun-Times that raises significant questions about how an increase in violence will impact the city’s economic and cultural hub, which is still recovering from the pandemic.

“I think we’re at the tipping point right now,” said Ald. Brian Hopkins, whose 2nd Ward includes parts of the downtown area. “People are fed up. I’m fed up.”

The stakes are particularly high for Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Critics say not only is the city’s image on the line, but the downtown area generates a lot of tax dollars that help fund services throughout the city. [Sun-Times]

But sending more police resources to the downtown area is a politically thorny issue, as activists have long accused city leaders of prioritizing the area over neighborhoods with greater needs. As the Sun-Times reports in another analysis, the rise in crime has widened the “safety gap” among neighborhoods.

“West Garfield Park, the city’s most dangerous community area, has seen a rate of shootings nearly 20 times higher than downtown,” the newspaper reports. [S-T]

2. Mental health illnesses are added to conditions that likely lead to severe illness from COVID-19

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly added several mental health illnesses, from depression to schizophrenia, to its list of conditions that present a high risk for COVID-19.

As The New York Times reports: “The change, which the agency’s website registered as having occurred on Oct. 14, makes about 85 percent of the adult U.S. population eligible for booster shots, said Dr. Paul Offit, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory panel.” [NYT]

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration today authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. [NYT]

In Chicago, an effort to overturn Mayor Lightfoot’s vaccine mandate for all city workers failed in the City Council. [WBEZ]

3. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a vocal Trump critic within the GOP, announces he will not seek reelection

Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois announced this morning he will not seek reelection in 2022 after recently approved congressional maps would have pitted him against Rep. Darin LaHood, a pro-Trump Republican.

But Kinzinger said he is not permanently exiting politics.

“This isn’t the end of my political future, but the beginning,” he said in a video message posted on social media. [WBEZ]

Kinzinger’s announcement comes just hours after Illinois Democrats approved a new set of congressional boundaries that seeks to expand the party’s power.

If Democrats win next year in the districts that historically have trended their way in Illinois, they would wind up with a three-seat net gain in Washington, a small but nonetheless important contribution to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bid to stay in power. [WBEZ]

4. Former Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville resigns from the Florida Panthers

Joel Quenneville, the once-revered Chicago Blackhawks coach who led the team to three Stanley Cup titles, resigned as head coach of the Florida Panthers yesterday, the latest in a burgeoning sexual-misconduct scandal from nearly a decade ago involving a former assistant on his Chicago coaching staff, reports WBEZ’s Tony Arnold and Dave McKinney.

Quenneville stepped down after a Blackhawks-commissioned investigation by the Chicago-based Jenner & Block law firm revealed his role in suppressing the 2010 sex-abuse allegations by ex-Blackhawk Kyle Beach. [WBEZ]

Meanwhile, the Blackhawks have requested to remove the name of Bradley Aldrich, the former assistant coach at the center of the abuse allegations, from the Stanley Cup. [Chicago Sun-Times]

5. Student test scores in Illinois plummet, offering first broad measure of the pandemic’s impact

Data released today by the Illinois State Board of Education shows significantly fewer Illinois students met English and math standards on state tests this year, providing the first broad look at the pandemic’s effect on academics, reports WBEZ’s Susie An.

Nearly 18% fewer students met grade-level standards in math than they did two years ago. For English, nearly 17% fewer students performed at grade level than two years ago. Black, Latino and low-income students showed the greatest academic losses.

Public school enrollment statewide dropped by 3.6% this year, significantly higher than what the state expected. Given the historic declining enrollment trend in Illinois, state education anticipated a 1.1% decrease. [WBEZ]

Here’s what else is happening

• President Joe Biden said Pope Francis told him he should continue to receive Communion. [AP]
• Here are four charts showing the high stakes facing world leaders at the UN climate summit. [NPR]
• U.S. wages saw their largest increase in 20 years. [AP]
• Confused about Facebook’s ambitions of creating a metaverse? Here’s a good explainer. [AP]

Oh, and one more thing …

Actor Brian Cox, who plays the Machiavellian family patriarch in HBO’s Succession, goes off on Hollywood in his new memoir, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, targeting Steven Seagal, Johnny Depp, David Bowie and others.

On Quentin Tarantino, Cox writes, “I find his work meretricious. It’s all surface. Plot mechanics in place of depth. Style where there should be substance. I walked out of Pulp Fiction … That said, if the phone rang, I’d do it.”

When it comes to Bowie, Cox writes, “A skinny kid, and not a particularly good actor. He made a better pop star, that much is for certain.”

But Cox had good things to say about some of his colleagues, like Keanu Reeves, who has “actually become rather good over the years.” And to be honest, I’d watch the John Wick movies with Cox. [The Big Issue]

Tell me something good …

What are your plans for Halloween this year?

Jessie writes:

“For Halloween this year, the children’s department of the library where I work will be decorating the entire department, head to toe, with spooky bats, skeletons, jack-o-lanterns, etc. We’ve never gone this all-out for Halloween before, and I’m very excited!”

And Tracy writes:

“For Halloween this year, we will be hanging out by the bonfire in our backyard with a sign on the front door saying. ‘For treats, go to the back. If you dare!’ ”

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

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