Hey there! It’s Thursday, and the Chicago area is only expected to get up to 4 inches of snow, down from yesterday’s forecast of 7 inches. Here’s what you need to know today.
1. Illinois schools could soon have more clarity over whether a statewide mask mandate should be enforced
An appeals court could decide — as soon as today — whether to overturn a temporary restraining order that has created mass confusion over a statewide mask mandate for schools.
Earlier this month, a downstate judge issued the restraining order, saying Gov. JB Pritzker overstepped his authority by imposing COVID-19 safety protocols for schools.
As a result, some districts have abandoned mask requirements while others, like Chicago Public Schools, say the order does not impact them.
Adding another layer to the confusion: A bipartisan committee of state lawmakers this week rejected an emergency rule from Pritzker that sought to bring back mask requirements to schools.
That has caused the appeals court to ask for more information from attorneys over whether the committee’s decision affects their case. [WBEZ]
2. Confusion over COVID-19 mandates raises the question: What’s the roadmap?
Let’s just look at Illinois for a second: At the same time politicians are arguing for mask mandates in classrooms, they are preparing to relax similar requirements for businesses on Feb. 28.
But that may or may not happen in Chicago. Mayor Lori Lightfoot this week signaled the business mandates may last longer, saying she would not set an “artificial date.” But the next day, the city’s top public health official essentially said, sure, it could happen.
It all adds up to a dizzying array of different rules for different places that are determined by different officials — creating mixed messages.
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a University of Pennsylvania professor who has advised Democratic administrations on health care, told NPR that Americans need a “roadmap” for when they’ll be able to return to a sense of normalcy, and the Biden administration needs to provide better guidance. [NPR]
Meanwhile, an estimated 73% of Americans are immune to the omicron variant, and that could increase to 80% in March, according to a model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. [AP]
But as officials relax some pandemic safety measures, an estimated 7 million immunocompromised Americans who are highly vulnerable to COVID-19 will have to remain even more vigilant, reports The Atlantic. [Atlantic]
3. A Russian invasion of Ukraine could happen “in the next several days,” Biden says
President Joe Biden today said there is a “very high” risk that Russia will attack Ukraine in the coming days.
“They have not moved any of their troops out. They’ve moved more troops in,” Biden told reporters. “We have reason to believe they are engaged in a false flag operation,” which would provide “an excuse to go in,” he said.
Russia claimed it was pulling back some of the estimated 150,000 troops around Ukraine’s border. But U.S. officials say as many as 7,000 troops have been added.
Meanwhile, Russia expelled the second-ranking U.S. diplomat in Moscow. The U.S. is calling the expulsion “escalatory” and “unprovoked.” [NPR]
Also today, Ukraine and Russia traded accusations for an artillery strike that hit a kindergarten. No children were reported injured. [Washington Post]
4. Florida lawmakers seek to ban abortions after 15 weeks
Florida is preparing to pass a ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, including in cases of incest or rape.
As NPR reports, the law in Florida is modeled after a Mississippi abortion law that is now being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that could determine the future of Roe v. Wade.
Florida is poised to join other states, like Texas, where Republicans have passed ultra restrictive abortion laws.
Florida currently allows abortions until 24 weeks of pregnancy. Only about 3.5% of abortions there happen after 15 weeks, but that is still thousands of pregnancies, NPR reports. [NPR]
5. Don’t read this if you don’t want to know what happened at the Winter Olympics
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva unraveled today during the women’s individual program at the Beijing Winter Olympic.
Valieva, who is competing under the cloud of a doping scandal, landed her first quad jump. But after nailing the difficult maneuver, she stumbled multiple times and fell at one point. When she finished her program, she waved her hand in disgust. And as she awaited her score, she broke down into tears.
Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova, both with the Russian Olympic Committee, won gold and silver medals, respectively. [NPR]
Meanwhile, Canada defeated the U.S. and won the gold medal in women’s hockey. [NPR]
Here’s what else is happening
- New York’s attorney general can question former President Donald Trump and his two eldest children, a judge ruled. [NPR]
- Police in Ottawa appear to be prepared to clamp down on truckers protesting vaccine mandates and other pandemic measures. [AP]
- AT&T, the mammoth telecommunications provider, is now a focus of the same federal investigation that has involved former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and Commonwealth Edison. [WBEZ]
- Nearly three years into the pandemic, Chicago Public Schools still struggles to get ahead of the virus. [WBEZ]
Oh, and one more thing …
Stranger Things will end with season 5, Netflix announced today.
The streamer also gave a timeline for when season 4 will air, which is great because I’m getting into the “should I rewatch Breaking Bad?” point of my pandemic-era TV consumption.
Season 4 will be split into two, with the first part coming out May 27 and the second debuting on July 1, a much different strategy than dumping all the episodes out on day 1. [Hollywood Reporter]
Tell me something good …
What movie or TV show actually scared you, either now or as a kid?
Peter Moxley writes:
“My mom took my brother and I to see Jumanji (OG Jumanji). I was 5, and we went to one of the last epic single screen theaters in San Francisco to see it, the Coronet.
“I didn’t last 15 minutes into the movie. The kid getting sucked into the game and the bats flying out the fireplace sent me (and only me) screaming from the theater. I remember my brother and mom came out to collect me and convince me to go back in the theater. Then I got terrified of the puppet spider scene.”
Sheila writes:
“My grown children laugh at the fact that their 60-something father won’t watch The Wizard of Oz because the flying monkeys freak him out. Maybe that’s why we have a cairn terrier; Toto will protect him.”
And Monica writes:
“I saw It and Killer Klowns from Outer Space right after each other one night when I was way too young to see them (and everyone else was asleep) and they freaked me out. I feel very uncomfortable around clowns as a result.”
Feel free to email me at therundown@wbez.org or tweet me at @whuntah, and your responses might be shared here this week.
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