Hey there! It’s Monday, and what a beautiful day for my allergies to act up. Here’s what you need to know today.
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1. R. Kelly found guilty
A federal jury in New York today found disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly guilty of leading a decadeslong scheme using bodyguards, assistants and others to recruit girls and young women for sex.
Kelly’s conviction in a Brooklyn federal courthouse does not mark the end of the singer’s legal reckoning for his alleged sexual crimes against women and underage girls.
Up next is the federal case in Kelly’s hometown of Chicago. A judge could set a trial date for that case at a scheduled hearing in October.
The federal cases in Chicago and New York are distinct and separate cases with no shared victims. But legal experts said the two cases have several overlapping elements, from potential witnesses to the type of alleged criminal behavior. And they said the verdict in New York, and the way the six-week trial played out, could have an impact on what happens inside the federal courthouse in Chicago. [WBEZ]
2. Pfizer begins studying an oral drug to prevent COVID-19
The pharmaceutical company today announced it has begun a large study to test a drug aimed at preventing infections among people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus.
The study includes up to 2,660 healthy participants ages 18 and over who will live in the same household as someone with a confirmed symptomatic infection. The drugmaker said early trials showed favorable results. [Reuters]
Meanwhile, the head of Pfizer says the company could soon ask for emergency authorization of its vaccine for some kids under the age of 12. [CNN]
President Joe Biden today received a booster shot of the Pfizer vaccine in front of reporters.
The news comes as the Biden administration recommends boosters for people 65 and over, adults with underlying health conditions and people with jobs that put them at a higher risk of infection. [Washington Post]
3. Murders soared by nearly 30% in the U.S. last year
Homicides rose at an unprecedented pace last year since nationwide tracking began in the 1960s, according to FBI data released today. There were an additional 4,901 homicides last year compared to 2019.
Some cities, like Milwaukee and Memphis, saw record highs. But in Chicago and other large cities, murders increased but did not surpass their worst years.
A total of 771 murders were reported in Chicago last year, up from about 500 in 2019. But that’s below the 939 homicides in 1992, The New York Times reports.
The newspaper reports that murders remain elevated nationally, and it’s not clear how long this wave of violence will last. [NYT]
4. Chicago Public Schools may no longer be the nation’s third largest schools district
Enrollment at Chicago’s public schools plunged by about 10,000 students this fall, and the school district’s total student population is expected to be less than 330,000, according to a WBEZ analysis of school records.
That could mean that Miami-Dade County Public Schools, which reported 334,000 students last year, could claim the title as the nation’s third largest school district away from Chicago Public Schools.
The major declines in enrollment come as some parents have voiced their dissatisfaction with how CPS has responded to the pandemic. The district has come under fire recently for its failure to get widespread COVID-19 testing off the ground as students returned to classrooms earlier this month. [WBEZ]
Meanwhile, WBEZ has created a guide that tracks the number of infections in schools across Illinois. [WBEZ]
5. Got a parking ticket in Chicago? So did a whole lotta people.
The city issued 853,906 parking tickets through June 30, an increase of 71% compared to the same time period last year, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
And when it comes to the Denver boot, the city locked down 27,656 vehicles in just six months, close to the total of 29,925 booted vehicles in all of 2020.
The Northwest Side’s 41st Ward, which includes O’Hare Airport, saw the most booting of the city’s 50 wards with 1,352. And unsurprisingly, downtown’s 42nd Ward had the most parking tickets — 90,190, down slightly from 91,573 during the same time period last year. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Here’s what else is happening
- Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s budget plan would steer millions to address homelessness, mental health and environmental issues. [WBEZ]
- A civil-rights group wants Gov. JB Pritzker to commute the sentences of 43 people whose mental health deteriorated in solitary confinement. [WBEZ]
- Cook County jurors began hearing the case of a former Northwestern professor accused of killing his boyfriend before fleeing the city. [Chicago Tribune]
- U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., says she was “wrong” to oppose same-sex marriage. [NPR]
Oh, and one more thing …
It turns out two co-hosts of ABC’s The View did not have COVID-19. The hosts, Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro, said today their results turned out to be false positives.
And they didn’t appreciate how the whole ordeal unfolded on live television just minutes before an in-studio interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
“It really was uncomfortable for my results to be released publicly before I even knew what was going on,” Hostin said. [AP]
Tell me something good …
What’s something funny that your pet has done?
My dog, Princess Leia, understands what the word “treat” means, so my husband started using “T” as a code word when asking me if I gave her a treat. But that didn’t last long.
My husband the other day asked me if I wanted tea, and Princess Leia went berserk and started barking at him because she thought she was getting a treat. So now we have to come up with a new code word for both “treat” and “tea.”
Feel free to email me at therundown@wbez.org or tweet me at @whuntah.
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