Good afternoon! It’s Tuesday, which is news to me because I woke up thinking it was Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know today.

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1. Lollapalooza’s return is good news for Chicago

Lollapalooza will return to Chicago’s Grant Park at full capacity from July 29 to Aug. 1. In a tweet, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said festival-goers must be fully vaccinated or test negative for COVID-19. [Chicago Tribune]

It’s really hard to understate the impact of today’s news. The return of Lollapalooza is another sign that we’re getting closer to something that looks like pre-pandemic life as city officials continue to report declining coronavirus cases.

And the music festival’s impact extends well beyond Grant Park. Lollapalooza created 2,494 jobs and had an economic impact of $247 million in 2019, according to a report prepared for the festival last year. [AngelouEconomics]

Meanwhile, Hollywood is gearing up for a big blockbuster movie season that is welcome news for beleaguered movie theaters. [AP]

2. Chicago’s Black Caucus endorses civilian police oversight plan opposed by Lightfoot

The Chicago City Council’s Black Caucus has decided to back a plan that will allow voters in the 2022 primary to decide how much power to give a civilian police oversight commission, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

The ballot referendum would be binding, and it would ask voters if the commission should have the authority to hire and fire the police superintendent, set the department’s budget and negotiate union contracts. The commission would have 11 members, nine of whom are elected. The other two would be appointed by the mayor.

As the Chicago Sun-Times points out, this plan has already been endorsed by the council’s Hispanic and Progressive caucuses. That means the council may have enough votes to override a possible veto from Mayor Lightfoot, who opposes the plan because it will “outsource” responsibility of the Police Department. [Chicago Sun-Times]

3. Humanitarian crisis intensifies in Gaza as calls grow for a cease-fire

Fighting between Hamas and Israel entered its ninth straight day today as international pressure mounts for a cease-fire.

At least 213 Palestinians have been killed in airstrikes, including 61 children, with more than 1,440 people wounded, according to officials in Gaza. In Israel, at least 12 people, including a 5-year-old boy, have been killed in rocket attacks.

As NPR reports, Gaza officials say there is a severe shortage of water and electricity from Israeli airstrikes aimed at demolishing Hamas infrastructure, such as tunnels used to move weapons. Small businesses and roads have also been targeted, raising concerns about how to get humanitarian aid to the area. [NPR]

President Joe Biden said he supports a cease-fire as Egyptian negotiators try to hammer out a truce between Hamas and Israel.

“Right now, the sense of possibility on both sides is probably at its low point,” said Ambassador Dennis Ross, who served as an envoy to the Middle East for presidents from both parties. [NPR]

The New York Times created a map showing the devastation caused by the warlike violence. [NYT]

4. Women bore the brunt of the pandemic and its recession. What happens now as the nation begins reopening?

Millions of women in the U.S. left their jobs to take care of children or other family members when the pandemic upended life as we knew it. And as the nation gets closer to something that resembles the “before times,” economists and policy experts are focusing on how to get more women back into the workforce.

WBEZ talked to officials from several local organizations about how employers can make the workplace more sustainable and equitable for women, such as providing child care subsidies. [WBEZ]

Meanwhile, The New York Times interviewed 15 mothers in Los Angeles County who highlight the “costs when society relies on mothers to be the backup plan.” [NYT]

5. Tokyo Olympics should be canceled, doctors urge

The Tokyo Medical Practitioners Association is calling for the cancellation of the games over concerns that Japan’s health-care system cannot accommodate the needs of athletes and coaches while also combating a surge of coronavirus cases.

“We strongly request that the authorities convince the IOC (International Olympic Committee) that holding the Olympics is difficult and obtain its decision to cancel the Games,” the association wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga that was publicly released this week.

The Tokyo Olympics begin in 66 days, and organizers have adopted a number of safety measures to keep the already delayed games on track. But a recent rise in infections has caused the Japanese government to extend a state of emergency on Tokyo and other prefectures until May 31. [NPR]

Here’s what else is happening

• House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he will not support a bipartisan plan to create a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack. [NPR]
• Bidding wars for homes are sending prices soaring as demand outpaces supply. [NPR]
• Indiana was removed from Chicago’s emergency travel list. [Chicago Tribune]
• UFOs are going mainstream. [Washington Post]

Oh, and one more thing …

Last week’s episode of The Handmaid’s Tale, set in a war-torn Chicago, almost included a bombed out Cloud Gate, aka The Bean.

“We had actually designed a portion of The Bean. We didn’t start building it because it had been taken out of the script by the time we were ready to start building,” Elisabeth Williams, the show’s Emmy-winning production designer, told the Chicago Tribune. “But we had actually designed, basically, the interior structure of The Bean. The reflective material had fallen off because a bomb had fallen on it.” [Chicago Tribune]

Tell me something good …

I need a podcast to listen to because I’m taking a road trip soon. Got any recommendations?

J. writes:

“I subscribe to more than a hundred podcasts, but the best I’ve ever heard is Mystery Show. In each episode, host Starlee Kine takes a request to solve a mystery that is superficially mundane yet ultimately fascinating. Only six episodes, and each one is gold.”

And Steve writes:

“For your road trip, I recommend Slow Burn Season 4 about the rise and fall of David Duke; it is stunningly relevant. For something lighter, I’ve been enjoying I Spy from Foreign Policy. The show tells stories from intelligence operatives around the world and will simultaneously make you want to be a spy and also so grateful that you are not. Or are you?”

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

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