Good afternoon! It’s Tuesday, and this is what my Dungeons & Dragons character the Twink Slayer, prince of twerking, looks like. And here’s what you need to know today.

1. Pritzker announces statewide business restrictions as holiday shopping season approaches

Gov. JB Pritzker today unveiled new restrictions that will place greater limits on how many people can be inside retail stores, reports WBEZ’s Dave McKinney and Tony Arnold.

The executive order encourages businesses to allow employees to work from home and advises against non-family, in-home gatherings.

Pritzker, a former businessman, said he wants to lower the current 50% capacity limit on retail stores to 25%. Grocery stores can still operate at 50% capacity. The new restrictions go into effect on Friday. [WBEZ]

Governors throughout the nation are reviving business restrictions as a record surge in coronavirus cases coincides with an economic recovery that appears to be in jeopardy.

Retail sales growth last month was worse than expected, rising just 0.3%, according to the Commerce Department. That weak number comes as the holiday shopping season approaches.

A survey from the National Retail Federation last month suggested that holiday shoppers will spend about $50 less this year than last year. And as NPR notes, two leading economic forecasts estimate holiday sales growth between 1% and 2% this year. For context, sales rose by 4% in each of the last two years. [NPR]

2. Chicago-area hospitals may soon be forced to make tough decisions

If the surge in new COVID-19 cases does not slow soon, many Chicago-area hospitals could have a shortage of beds in their intensive-care units, reports WBEZ’s Mariah Woelfel.

“Hospitals are extremely busy, doctors say, mostly with non-COVID patients,” reports Woelfel. “But there’s concern that if COVID-19 cases continue to surge at the current rate, people who need acute care due to a heart attack or a stroke, for instance, will be competing for an ICU bed with those who need acute care for COVID-19.” [WBEZ]

The dire warnings from hospitals come as Illinois officials today reported 12,601 new cases, the 12th day in a row when cases topped 10,000. Officials also said another 97 people died from COVID-19.

Over the last seven days, the state has seen an average of 12,365 cases per day, up 87% from the average two weeks ago. [WBEZ]

Citing the significant rise in cases, the head of the Chicago Department of Public Health today urged residents to stay home for Thanksgiving.

“The bottom line: You should not be traveling,”’ Dr. Allison Arwady said. “Please do cancel your traditional Thanksgiving plans.” [Chicago Sun-Times]

Nationally, many states are reviving business restrictions and adopting mask mandates as infections soar. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the U.S., today called for a national approach to containing the virus instead of using a “a disjointed” state-by-state response. [New York Times]

But some good news: A new study suggests that people who have recovered from the coronavirus may be immune for years and even decades. [New York Times]

3. Trump sought plans for attacking Iran

President Donald Trump last week asked senior advisers for options on attacking Iran as a way to halt its growing nuclear program, reports The New York Times, citing four unnamed current and former U.S. officials.

Several officials, including Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, talked the president out of considering a military strike because it could escalate into a larger conflict, the Times reports.

It’s not clear if Trump is still considering ways to strike Iran, either through missiles or cyber attacks. White House officials did not respond to requests for comment from the Times. [NYT]

As Trump reportedly considers what options he has for dealing with Iran, Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller today announced that thousands of troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan and Iraq. [AP]

4. Biden announces key aides as he builds an “administration that looks like America”

President-elect Joe Biden announced several key appointments to his senior White House staff as President Donald Trump continues to deny his election defeat.

Biden announced that Mike Donilon, who served as a chief strategist for his campaign, will become a senior adviser. Jen O’Malley Dillon, who was Biden’s campaign manager, will serve as deputy chief of staff. And Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond will serve as a senior adviser and also lead the Office of Public Engagement. [NPR]

NPR has created this handy tool where you can find information about who has been nominated for the incoming Biden administration so far. [NPR]

Meanwhile, how long can Trump deny the results of the election? Many key states will certify their results later this month. [Vox]

5. Facebook and Twitter CEOs defend their handling of election disinformation

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg today appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where a partisan divide has emerged over how tech companies handled misinformation.

Democrats on the panel generally praised the two CEOs for adopting safeguards against the proliferation of falsehoods on their social media platforms. But Republicans complained those measures amounted to censorship and an anti-conservative bias.

Dorsey and Zuckerberg vowed to continue taking action against misinformation, especially in Georgia’s two Senate runoff elections, which could determine which party holds a majority in the Senate.

Republicans and Democrats have signaled support for cracking down on giant tech companies by curbing some legal shields, but for different reasons. Democrats say they’re concerned about the spread of hate speech and extremism that could result in violence. The GOP, however, believes the companies have too much power over information. [AP]

Here’s what else is happening

• Republican leaders are becoming increasingly nervous about Georgia’s two Senate runoff elections. [Washington Post]
• Illinois schools put kids in seclusion more than 10,000 times during the 2017-2018 school year. [Chicago Tribune]
• Theo Epstein will step down as president of the Chicago Cubs on Friday. [AP]
• Twitter today unveiled a poorly named feature that allows messages to disappear. [The Verge]

Oh, and one more thing …

And now for some potty talk. This headline from the Chicago Tribune made me laugh this morning: “Every toilet flush reveals a clue in fight to stop COVID-19.”

The Tribune reports that the city is rushing to boost its ability to analyze human waste, which can help public health officials predict when an outbreak will occur.

“Signs of the novel coronavirus show up in sewers about a week before people surge into hospitals with symptoms of the disease,” reports the Trib. And a scientist at the University of Illinois at Chicago told the newspaper that testing wastewater in a neighborhood can tell you as much as testing 500 people. [Chicago Tribune]

Tell me something good …

I’ve been staying in my apartment a lot lately (and by “lately,” I mean “the last nine months”), and I’d like to know what is one of your most prized possessions.

@DaniMoralesK tweets:

“My prized possession these days is a milk frother that I was gifted in 2017 but didn’t make use of until recently. Sure, I can heat milk in the microwave, but this makes it fluffy. It also perfectly blends hot cocoa. (This day last year I was at a concert.)”

And Teresa Brolley writes:

“I lived in Manhattan for six years in the early ’80s, and, on a visit to the World Trade Center, I took a photo of the night sky buildings from the observatory wayyyyy above. After the tragedy of 9/11, that photo can’t be recreated and became one of my favorites ever taken.”

What’s one of your prized possessions? Feel free to email at therundown@wbez.org or tweet to @whuntah.

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