Good afternoon! It’s Monday, and it looks like our national attempt at roleplaying as shut-ins is entering the beginning of the end. Now is probably a good time to start weaning yourself off of sweatpants. Here’s what you need to know today.

1. The U.S. begins an ambitious COVID-19 vaccination campaign

The country entered a new phase today in its fight against COVID-19, which has killed more than 300,000 people in the U.S., more than any other country in the world.

“I feel like healing is coming,” said Sandra Lindsay, a critical care nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center who is believed to be one of the first Americans to receive the vaccine. “I hope this marks the beginning to the end of a very painful time in our history.”

About 145 sites nationwide will receive doses today, and another 425 sites will get shipments tomorrow. Federal officials say they plan to distribute tens of millions of doses between now and the early 2021. [NPR]

In Illinois, officials today reported another 103 deaths and 7,214 new cases. Over the past seven days, Illinois has seen an average of 150 deaths per day, up 44% from the average two weeks ago. [WBEZ]

2. Biden to deliver address tonight after the Electoral College formally votes

The Electoral College started voting today and is expected to officially designate Joe Biden as the president-elect. The vote is usually an uneventful affair, but President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the election results have made every election step into big news.

In Michigan, electors cast their votes in a closed down capitol building due to a “security issue,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said.

Biden is expected to surpass the 270 threshold for winning when California’s 55 electors vote, which could happen any minute now. [NPR]

Meanwhile, Biden is expected to address the nation tonight around 6:30 p.m. CT. WBEZ will provide live coverage on 91.5 FM, online and on smartspeaker devices.

Meanwhile, Trump’s allies in Congress are planning one final challenge to the election results. The effort is likely to fail, but it could put Vice President Mike Pence in an uncomfortable position. [New York Times]

3. Bipartisan group will unveil new stimulus plan

After months of impasse, Congress is staring down a Friday deadline to deliver much needed relief to Americans and businesses hammered by the economic crisis spawned by the pandemic.

A bipartisan group of senators could unveil a new $908 billion plan as early as today. The plan is divided in two parts, a move that could ensure some relief is passed by the end of the week.

One part would include proposals that have wide support, such as enhanced jobless benefits, aid to small businesses and increased funding for vaccine distribution and testing. This part of the plan carries a $748 million price tag.

Meanwhile, liability protections for businesses and aid to states and local governments — two of the biggest issues between Republicans and Democrats — will be dumped in a separate part that will cost $160 billion. [Politico]

The GOP has largely criticized aid to local governments as a “blue state bailout,” but five Republican governors say they need federal relief. [AP]

4. Lightfoot personally connected a campaign donor with CPS, and the district gave him a $1.6 million contract

A donor to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s campaign received a no-bid contract from Chicago Public Schools to provide used computers, laptops and iPads, but some of the devices didn’t work for virtual learning, reports the Better Government Association and Chalkbeat Chicago. More than a third of the computers are also sitting in a warehouse as backups.

The story begins in the spring when schools were preparing to switch to remote learning. Mark Aistrope, the CEO of Chicago-based Meeting Tomorrow, emailed Lightfoot in late March and said his company could provide tens of thousands of computers. Aistrope contributed nearly $30,000 to Lightfoot’s mayoral bid.

Lightfoot the next day told CPS CEO Janice Jackson in an email that Aistrope “is a really good guy.”

“I met him during my campaign and he is truly genuine and very generous. If he can help you, he will,” Lightfoot wrote as she forwarded Aistrope’s email.

District officials the next month bought the computers in a $1.6 million no-bid deal. Lightfoot’s office defended the decision as it quickly responded to the growing pandemic. But a former CPS inspector general said the deal “warrants a deeper review.” [BGA]

5. Violent crime on the CTA trains and platforms has more than doubled this year

As ridership on the Chicago Transit Authority’s “L” system has plummeted during the pandemic, violent crimes have more than doubled this year, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis of city data. That means that a rider’s chances of becoming a victim have jumped.

From Jan. 1 to the end of September, there were about six violent crimes per 1 million train rides, the newspaper reports. Nonviolent crimes saw a slight increase, with about nine crimes per 1 million rides. Ridership, meanwhile, is down 61% through September compared to the same time last year.

“The people that are driving the crime never left the system,” said Matthew Cline, the Chicago Police Department’s commander of public transportation. [Chicago Tribune]

Here’s what else is happening

Government agencies received an emergency directive to review their computer systems after hackers broke into the departments of Treasury and Commerce. [NPR]

An undercover team working for Russia’s Federal Security Service trailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny before he was poisoned. [BBC]

Google suffered a rare, worldwide outage. [Guardian]

You can send me Champagne, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before I do a “Zoom scavenger hunt.” [Chicago Tribune]

Oh, and one more thing …

More than 900 customers “paid it forward” at a Dairy Queen drive-thru in Minnesota that lasted for two and a half days.

“I’ve seen ‘pay it forward’ chains that went on for about 20 cars, but never anything like this,” said general manager Tina Jensen, who added that the chain raked in $10,000 in sales. [CNN]

I had a friend who recently went to a Starbucks drive-thru and the car ahead of her paid for her order. So she asked how much the order was for the car behind her, and the cashier said $45. She was like, “What? How do you pay that much money at Starbucks?” And the cashier was like, “Well, that’s judgey.”

Tell me something good …

What’s the first thing you’re going to do after you get the COVID-19 vaccine?

Me? Aside from seeing my grandparents, I plan on going to the Granville Anvil in Edgewater. Like, imagine if director David Lynch opened a gay bar, and you’ve got the Anvil. One time when I was there, an elder twink was watching choreography videos on a laptop at the bar and dancing to himself.

What will you do when you get the vaccine? Feel free to email at therundown@wbez.org or tweet to @whuntah.

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