WBEZ’s Rundown Of Today’s Top News: Hold Onto Your Face Mask

Chicago face mask
A mother walks with her daughter wearing face masks in Chicago’s Henry C. Palmisano Nature Park, Friday, June 4, 2021. Shafkat Anowar / AP Photo
Chicago face mask
A mother walks with her daughter wearing face masks in Chicago’s Henry C. Palmisano Nature Park, Friday, June 4, 2021. Shafkat Anowar / AP Photo

WBEZ’s Rundown Of Today’s Top News: Hold Onto Your Face Mask

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Good afternoon! It’s Monday, and I watched one of the Jurassic Park movies with my 4-year-old nephew over the weekend. I asked him what one of the raptors was saying, and he said, confused, “I don’t know! I don’t speak raptor!” 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. Lightfoot says a mask mandate could return if Chicago tops 200 daily cases

Mayor Lori Lightfoot says a mask mandate — and other restrictions — may return if the city consistently reports a daily rate of more than 200 new COVID-19 cases. City officials are currently reporting an average of 130 cases per day.

“I hope we don’t get there. What we’re going to keep focusing on is pushing the vaccine. But my number one priority is to keep people safe,” Lightfoot said during an interview on Sway, a podcast from The New York Times.

Lightfoot’s comments come as the city is just days away from hosting the massive Lollapalooza music festival. Critics say if the mayor is serious about keeping people safe, she should postpone, if not cancel, the event.

And that debate could extend beyond Lollapalooza, as September will bring two more major music festivals: Riot Fest and Pitchfork. [Chicago Sun-Times]

The upswing in COVID-19 cases comes as Chicago Public Schools prepares for the new academic year. Some parents say they want the school district to provide greater access to remote learning. [WBEZ]

Meanwhile, all New York City municipal workers must be vaccinated before the new school year begins in September or face weekly testing, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today. [NYT]

2. An ambitious anti-violence plan didn’t help some of Chicago’s most dangerous neighborhoods

That’s according to a new analysis from the Chicago Sun-Times, which looked at the impact of a plan that was announced almost a year ago by Mayor Lightfoot.

The “Our City, Our Safety” plan called for flooding 15 neighborhoods with a wide range of resources, from violence prevention programs to employment aid. But despite those efforts, gun violence has risen in at least nine neighborhoods, the Sun-Times reports. [CST]

The news comes as the city suffered another violent weekend, with at least 73 people shot, 11 fatally. [CST]

3. Housing experts, worried about a wave of evictions, say Illinois is falling behind on delivering aid

The state has $2 billion available in rental assistance, but only 19% of applicants have received funds to help prevent them from being evicted, according to the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing, which has helped thousands of tenants during the pandemic.

“The message I’m hoping the governor, the courts, the elected leaders share is — landlords, just because you can file an eviction, doesn’t mean that you should if you have that emergency rental assistance application pending,” Michelle Gilbert, the legal director for the organization, told WBEZ’s Natalie Moore.

Illinois’ eviction moratorium will be phased out beginning next week, but enforcement of evictions has been postponed until the end of August.

Local groups that provide legal aid and other social services are on edge, as more than 100,000 Illinois residents said they are worried they could soon be evicted, according to recent census data. [WBEZ]

4. House committee will begin its probe of Jan. 6 insurrection

A special House committee tomorrow will begin its investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, hearing testimony from four police officers about the physical and verbal abuse they suffered as a pro-Trump mob stormed the building.

Illinois’ Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of the few Republicans to criticize former President Donald Trump, was appointed over the weekend by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve on the committee. Pelosi also selected Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who, like Kinzinger, voted to impeach Trump after the insurrection.

The appointments come as Republicans slam the committee as a partisan game ahead of next year’s midterm elections. But Democrats accuse Republicans of being disingenuous, saying they largely opposed a plan to create an independent, 9/11-style commission. [NPR]

WBEZ will air the committee’s hearing live tomorrow beginning at 8:30 a.m. CT.

5. Teens take home all three medals in women’s street skateboarding at Tokyo Olympics

Let’s hear it for Momiji Nishiya. The 13-year-old became Japan’s youngest-ever gold medal winner — and one of the youngest Olympic champions of all time — after competing in the women’s street skateboarding competition.

Brazil’s Rayssa Leal, a few months younger than Nishiya, took silver. And Japanese skateboarder Funa Nakayama, 16, won bronze. [NPR]

Meanwhile, Simone Biles says she is feeling the pressure of competition after the U.S. women’s gymnastics team posted lower-than-expected scores during qualifiers yesterday. [NPR]

And local Olympian Kevin McDowell of Geneva finished sixth place in the men’s triathlon, the best showing for the U.S. in that competition. [Chicago Tribune]

Here’s what else is happening

  • Climate scientists are meeting this week as wildfires, heat waves and other extreme weather events have erupted across the globe. [NPR]
  • French lawmakers approved a bill requiring special virus passes for all restaurants and domestic travel. [NPR]
  • The #FreeBritney movement, once laughed at, has become a major force in changing guardianship laws. [NPR]
  • LeVar Burton is finally hosting Jeopardy! this week. [NPR]

Oh, and one more thing …

Will Mayor Lightfoot run for re-election in 2023? During the same interview on the Sway podcast, Lightfoot raised the possibility that she’ll bow out after her term ends, saying re-election is “not a gimme.”

“The toxicity of the debate, the physical and emotional toll that it’s taking on all of us, those are serious issues,” Lightfoot said. “And we have to have a — my wife and I and my daughter and my close friends and my team, we have to have a serious conversation about why and what that would look like and what we believe that we would be able to accomplish.” [Crain’s]

Gregory Pratt, a Chicago Tribune reporter who covers City Hall, said on Twitter that Lightfoot’s future may be clearer in a year.

“If crime continues as is she might not have a choice,” he wrote. [Twitter]

Tell me something good …

It’s so hot that me and my dog, Princess Leia, are literally laying on the ground in front of a fan to keep cool while I type out this newsletter. So I’d like to know: What is your favorite summertime memory?

Mine was June 2019, when I proposed to my husband on my best friend’s couch during Pride and we ended up celebrating a little too hard, because I fell asleep in the bathroom.

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

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