WBEZ’s Rundown Of Today’s Top News: City Doubles Down On Pressing Ahead With Lolla

Lollapalooza 2019
Festival goers attend on day three of Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019, in Chicago. Amy Harris/Invision/AP
Lollapalooza 2019
Festival goers attend on day three of Lollapalooza in Grant Park on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019, in Chicago. Amy Harris/Invision/AP

WBEZ’s Rundown Of Today’s Top News: City Doubles Down On Pressing Ahead With Lolla

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Good afternoon! It’s Tuesday, and I’m putting my face masks back together after I repurposed them into tube tops for the beach. Here’s what you need to know today.

(By the way, if you’d like this emailed to your inbox, you can sign up here.)

1. Chicago is on track to see a mask mandate and more restrictions, but Lollapalooza is still on

As the massive Lollapalooza music festival is just days away, the city’s top doctor said Chicago is on pace to hit 200 cases per day, a benchmark that could see the return of a mask mandate and other restrictions.

“I expect that we will pass the 200-mark and move into moderate risk probably within the next few days,” said Dr. Allison Arwady, the city’s commissioner of public health.

Arwady also today expanded the city’s travel advisory, which now includes a total of 14 states. [Chicago Tribune]

City officials are reporting an average of 165 cases per day as of July 22. That’s a 76% increase from the previous week. The positivity rate has jumped to 2.6%, and hospitalizations are also rising. [COVID Dashboard]

Lollapalooza begins on Thursday, and organizers for the massive music festival lowered their COVID-19 precautions. [Chicago Tribune]

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected today to recommend that vaccinated people wear masks indoors in areas with high infection rates.

The move would be a significant turnaround for one of the country’s premier health agencies, which just two months ago advised masks were not necessary indoors for fully vaccinated Americans. [NPR]

2. “This is how I’m going to die”: Officers testify about defending the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6

The special House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection heard testimony today from four police officers about the attacks they faced as a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol.

“My fellow officers and I were punched, pushed, kicked, shoved, sprayed with chemical irritants and even blinded with eye-damaging lasers by a violent mob who apparently saw us law enforcement officers, dedicated to ironically protecting them as U.S. citizens, as an impediment in their attempted insurrection,” said Sgt. Aquilino Gonell of the U.S. Capitol Police.

In gripping and emotional detail, Gonell told House investigators about feeling crushed by the rioters.

“I could feel myself losing oxygen and recall thinking to myself, ‘This is how I’m going to die, trampled defending this entrance,’ ” he said. [NPR]

3. Majority of Republicans believe Biden was illegally elected, poll finds

About 66% of Republicans continue to believe former President Donald Trump’s false claim that he illegally lost the 2020 election, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

More than 80 judges, including ones appointed by Republicans and Democrats, have rejected more than 60 lawsuits filed in state and federal courts seeking to overturn election results. And Bill Barr, Trump’s attorney general, said a federal investigation did not uncover wide-spread voting fraud that would have swayed the election.

The poll also found that fewer than half of Republicans, 41%, are optimistic about the party’s future. About a third say they are pessimistic. As the AP reports, the lagging enthusiasm may be a result of Trump’s absence from the top of the ballot, and it could complicate the GOP’s effort to retake control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections.

Another take could be that Trump’s persistent and false claims of election fraud is shooting the party in the foot, as was the case in Georgia’s Senate runoffs in January, when many conservative voters stayed home. [AP]

4. Big players in the casino industry say Chicago isn’t a great bet

Two major players in the gambling biz, MGM and Wynn, have “folded their hands” on pursuing a Chicago casino, reports the Chicago Sun-Times, and the news comes as industry analysts say Illinois doesn’t have room from another casino.

“The casinos in the state have been in nothing but a downward spiral for a decade, except for Rivers [Casino in Des Plaines],” Alan Woinski, president of the consulting firm Gaming USA, told the newspaper. “There’s no reason to believe that if you add a casino downtown that you’ll do anything but cannibalize the others, including Rivers. It’s kind of a zero-sum game and everybody loses.”

The newspaper also reports that the city’s preference to create a resort-style casino, which could require an investment surpassing $1 billion, isn’t helping the situation. [Chicago Sun-Times]

5. Simone Biles’ withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics puts a spotlight on mental health

Simone Biles withdrew from the women’s gymnastics team final today to focus on her mental health, saying the stress of being the best gymnast in the world was putting her in the wrong headspace to carry out complicated and sometimes dangerous feats.

“I can’t risk a medal for the team, so I need to call it. And you usually don’t hear me say things like that because I usually persevere and push through things,” she said, adding that her coaches and team doctor took her words seriously.

Biles also said it’s not clear if she’ll compete again at the Games. The women’s all-around competition is slated for Thursday, and the vault and uneven bars kick off the individual competitions on Sunday. [NPR]

Meanwhile, Tokyo officials said the city hit its highest daily count of COVID-19 cases today. [NPR]

Here’s what else is happening

  • The man accused of killing eight people at Atlanta-area spas earlier this year plead guilty today to four counts of murder. [AP]
  • Instagram unveiled a new safety feature for young users. [NPR]
  • The maker of Cards Against Humanity wants to sell and is seeking to be valued at about $500 million. [Crain’s Chicago Business]
  • A posthumous album from Prince will soon be released. [NPR]

Oh, and one more thing …

Chicago Party Aunt, one of the city’s biggest celebrities on Twitter, is heading to Netflix for an animated 16-episode series that begins on Sept. 17, reports Variety.

If you’re not familiar, Chicago Party Aunt is a foul-mouthed parody of a middle-aged, hard-partying woman who is the quintessential product of Chicago.

“Holy shit! Netflix just bought the rights to my life! Anybody have a password I can borrow?” wrote Chicago Party Aunt on Twitter.

The person behind the account has long been a mystery, but today’s Netflix announcement revealed the creator is actor and comedian Chris Witaske, known for his role in the streaming service’s rom-com Love. [Variety]

Tell me something good …

What is your favorite summertime memory?

Michele Danza writes:

“My favorite summer memory — I lived away from Chicago for 16 years, in Florida and North Carolina — returning in August of 2000. The first weekend back, I went to an exhibition at Navy Pier. I took a break from the exhibits, went on Navy Pier’s walkway and looked out at the city’s skyline. I thought, ‘I’m home,’ and almost cried, overcome by Chicago’s beauty. Like that philosopher, Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, said, there’s no place like home.”

Feel free to email me at therundown@wbez.org or tweet me at @whuntah.

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