Hey there! It’s Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know today.

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1. What the Derek Chauvin verdict doesn’t change

The conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd sparked celebratory gatherings across the nation, but WBEZ’s Alden Loury writes that his sense of relief was short-lived.

“I’m still a Black man,” Loury says. “I still live in Chicago, my hometown. And Black men in America, particularly in Chicago, are more likely to be killed by police than anyone else — and far more likely than their white counterparts.”

Loury writes the “real fight is against systemic racism across practically every facet of life, and it involves all of us. Systemic racism dwells in policing, but it also festers in education, housing, the economy and other areas that increase police interactions in Black communities.” [WBEZ]

Chauvin’s conviction carried profound meaning for Black Chicagoans who have lost a family member, such as Ashunda Harris, an aunt of Aaron Harrison, 18, who was shot and killed by a Chicago police officer on the West Side in 2007.

“This is justice for Aaron, Sandra Bland, George Floyd,” said Harris, weeping when WBEZ reached her. “Today is a day that their spirits are rejoicing.” [WBEZ]

2. Justice Department announces sweeping investigation into policing practices in Minneapolis

Attorney General Merrick Garland today announced an investigation into possible patterns of discrimination and excessive force at the Minneapolis Police Department.

The “pattern or practice” investigation is similar to a federal probe conducted in Chicago following the police killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.

Garland said the investigation in Minneapolis will look at the use of excessive force, including during protests, and examine the department’s accountability systems. [NPR]

3. Chicago Public Schools will offer full-time, in-person learning in the fall

The nation’s third largest school district will give all students the option of returning to classrooms full-time in the fall, the Chicago Sun-Times reports, adding that it’s “the largest step yet toward the resumption of pre-pandemic schooling.”

Families that are uneasy about sending students back to schools can stick with remote-learning, the newspaper reports. [Chicago Sun-Times]

The news comes as the number of new coronavirus cases appear to be declining. City officials are reporting a seven-day average of 640 cases per day, down 10% from last week’s average. The positivity rate has also dropped to 5.4% compared to last week’s 5.7%. [COVID Dashboard]

Meanwhile, more than half of U.S. adults have received at least one shot, and about 28 million vaccine doses are being delivered each week. To help make getting vaccinations easier for Americans, President Joe Biden today announced a tax credit for businesses that provide paid leave for employees getting a shot. [AP]

4. Hospitals are filling up in central and northwest Illinois

While the state is seeing some progress in containing the recent surge in cases, several hospitals in northwest and central Illinois are almost at capacity, reports the Chicago Tribune.

“About a half dozen Illinois hospitals operated by OSF HealthCare had at least 90% of their beds filled Tuesday,” the newspaper reports. [Chicago Tribune]

The state is reporting an average of nearly 3,000 cases per day, reports The Washington Post. That’s down 12.2% from last week. [WaPo]

5. The fight against HIV/AIDS may have taken a blow during the pandemic, health experts warn

The pandemic has “caused profound disruptions in almost every aspect” in the fight against HIV/AIDS, from grounding outreach teams to diverting critical staff away from laboratories and medical centers, reports NPR.

“This is a major derailing,” says Dr. Carlos del Rio, a professor of medicine at Emory University in Atlanta and head of the Emory AIDS International Training and Research Program. “There will be damage. The question is, how much?”

Health experts are particularly concerned about the risks in Southern states, which are now the epicenter of the nation’s HIV crisis. [NPR]

Here’s what else is happening

• Federal prosecutors say they caught Chicago Ald. Ed Burke making anti-Semitic remarks on a wiretap. [WBEZ]
  
• The Manhattan district attorney’s office will stop prosecuting prostitution as a movement grows to change the criminal justice system’s approach to sex work. [New York Times]
• Governors from a dozen states are pressing President Biden to ban the sale of cars and light trucks that emit greenhouse gases by 2035. [NPR]
• About $200 for a Lego R2-D2? Sure, why not? [Hollywood Reporter]

Oh, and one more thing …

Thirty-five years ago today, millions of people turned on their TVs to watch Geraldo Rivera and an excavation team blast through a concrete wall in search of a hidden vault used by Al Capone. But they famously found a few empty bottles instead of piles of treasure amassed by the infamous gangster.

The Chicago Tribune revisits the bizarre TV moment and spoke with people who worked on the creation of the two-hour special, The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults.

“The whole idea of the live opening of the vault didn’t really sink in, I guess. I was more concerned with how much I was going to get paid,” Rivera said. [Chicago Tribune]

Tell me something good …

What’s something that made you smile this week?

Barbara writes:

“Night after night my cat lies on her back on the bed with a look of intense concentration on her little face as she stares at her twitching tail as if it didn’t belong to her. She tries to catch it in her teeth and I think, how hard can it be, it’s your tail?!! But most of the time she misses, with occasional success.Yay! Eventually she falls off the bed. It really is so funny and does indeed make me smile.”

And Lena writes:

“What made me smile this week? To finally be back downtown and give an architecture walking tour for Chicago Architecture Center.”

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

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