Hey there! Just a quick programming note: WBEZ will air special coverage on Monday for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. It’ll start shortly before 5 a.m. Here’s what you need to know today.

1. Scientists debate whether COVID-19 has become less lethal than the flu

As the U.S. heads toward another winter in the pandemic, scientists are debating how lethal COVID-19 remains now that many Americans are vaccinated, have had at least one bout with the infectious disease or both, reports NPR.

“We have all been questioning, ‘When does COVID look like influenza?’ ” says Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. “And, I would say, ‘Yes, we are there.’ ”

But Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, disagrees, citing that more than 125,000 additional COVID deaths could occur over the next year if deaths continue at that pace. That’s compared to about 50,000 people who die during a bad flu season. [NPR]

As that debate plays out, scientists are learning more about the long-term effects of COVID-19.

Using the health records of more than 6 million Americans, researchers found that people over the age of 65 who had COVID were at a greater risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease within a year. [Washington Post]

Meanwhile in Illinois, nearly 200,000 residents have received the updated COVID vaccine so far. [WBEZ]

2. Two Chicago police officers are charged after prosecutors said they lied about a shooting

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx today announced charges against an officer and a police sergeant in connection to a shooting in July that left two people wounded, one of them critically.

Officer Ruben Reynoso and Sgt. Christopher Liakopoulos said they were fired upon first when they stopped to investigate a group of people, but video evidence shows they fired first, Foxx said.

The two officers could face up to 30 years in prison after being charged with aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated discharge of a firearm and official misconduct.

“The officers did not have provocation or justification to shoot the unarmed victim,” Foxx said. “Evidence does not support use of deadly force.”

There is no police body-cam footage of the incident, Foxx said. [Chicago Sun-Times]

3. Northwestern University researchers say they’ve found a way to destroy many ‘forever chemicals’

“Forever chemicals” are as menacing as they sound: They’re an environmental nightmare that can cause serious health problems, from cancer to developmental issues in children.

And they are so widespread that it’s estimated every person in the world has some level of them in their bodies.

But there is some highly promising news: Northwestern professor William Dichtel and former doctoral student Brittany Trang found that “a combination of the widely used solvent dimethyl sulfoxide and sodium hydroxide — lye — heated to just above the boiling point of water can destroy many types,” reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

“It was so simple we can’t believe it was never known,” Dichtel said. [Sun-Times]

4. Flying for the holidays? It’s going to be pricier, and right now is a good time to book a flight

Prices for plane tickets are expected to hit their highest point in five years this Thanksgiving and Christmas, reports The Washington Post.

For Thanksgiving, a domestic round-trip flight on average could cost $350. And for Christmas, domestic flights may cost $463 on average.

Experts say right now is a good time to begin tracking prices, and travelers should book their flights no later than the week of Oct. 10 for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

It also may be cheaper to fly out the Monday before Thanksgiving or the day of the big feast, experts say. For Christmas, you may find some savings on the Monday or Tuesday before the holiday. [Washington Post]

5. It’s not ballet but Hiplet: Black ballerinas forge a path by dancing to their own tune

It’s a busy time for Homer Hans Bryant, the founder of Chicago’s Hiplet dance company that will perform this weekend at the University of Chicago Logan Center for the Arts.

Bryant for years has been reshaping the world of dance by “fusing white, Eurocentric ballet with Afrocentric dance styles, from hip-hop to African to Chicago footwork,” reports my colleague Cassie Walker Burke. “A dance that starts like Balanchine can end like Beyoncé.”

Bryant began calling his dance genre Hiplet in 2005 (pronounced hip-lay, as in ballet), had it trademarked, and since then his professional company has performed all over the world.

“He created (a company) for us, for Black and brown people — really anybody — but so we could have a place to get the same training that someone up North would,” said Brandy Ford, one of two mothers in the dance company. [WBEZ]

Here’s what else is happening

• Efforts to ban books in the U.S. have intensified this year. [AP]
• Former President Donald Trump openly embraces unfounded QAnon conspiracy theories. [AP]
• Mourners waited hours in a 5-mile line to say farewell to Queen Elizabeth II. [NPR]
• A Chicago animal shelter is seeing a surge in elderly pets being given up or abandoned. [Block Club Chicago]

Oh, and one more thing …

You may have a chance to win $5,000 this weekend — depending on where a cow relieves itself in a Catholic church’s parking lot.

This weekend, St. Faustina Kowalska parish is holding its annual cow pie drop to help raise money to repair part of the 68-year-old church in Garfield Ridge, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

“Thanks to the cow, we get to do some great projects,” said Steve Zacik, who organizes the event. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Tell me something good …

What books are you reading these days? I’m almost done with East of Eden by John Steinbeck and need something new.

Jill Devaney writes:

“After hearing them interviewed on the Rick Kogan show, I decided to check out South of Cermak, a collection of short stories by Paul Teodo and Tom Myers. The stories are well-crafted narratives of life on the South Side, each with unique voices and agendas. I found some heartwarming and some terrifying, but all a good read.”

And Mark Burlingame writes:

“The Seafarers: A Journey Among Birds, a memoir by Stephen Rutt of how he escaped a hectic and claustrophobic life in London to search for and help study the lives of seabirds ‘around the most remote and dramatic reaches’ of Great Britain.

“John Hoffman writes, ‘The Seafarers is a beautifully illuminating portrait of lives lived largely on the wing and at sea, or else seasonally tied to some of the most remote and stony outposts of the British archipelago. But it is also a moving meditation on the meaning of islands and the unique place they hold in the human heart.’ I couldn’t agree more.”

Thanks for all the book recommendations. I’m sorry I couldn’t share them all, but it was nice hearing from you.