Hey there! It’s Friday, and this video from NPR’s Planet Money is one of the best explanations of the GameStop saga you’ll find. 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. Will Chicago’s public schools reopen on Monday?

Leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union say negotiations will continue through the weekend over reopening schools on Monday to 62,000 K-8 students and about 10,000 teachers.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that one of the big sticking points is “whether teachers who have medically vulnerable relatives at home should receive accommodations for remote work and which conditions would qualify.”

Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson yesterday told WBEZ’s Reset that the district is “prepared to compromise and give up on things that we were dug in on. But the one thing we all have to agree on is that students belong in school, and that every parent should have an option.” [Chicago Sun-Times]

The debate over reopening classrooms comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its school guidance this week. Scientists now say that it is safe to reopen schools if local officials revive some restrictions, like closing indoor dining, in order to keep infection rates down. [Business Insider]

Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration last week gave Chicago and Cook County the OK to resume indoor dining at bars and restaurants. That move came about a week after Chicago officials reported the city’s first known case of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus that was first discovered in the U.K. last month.

Earlier this week, state officials announced they identified eight other known cases of the variant. [WGN]

2. Democrats, wanting bipartisan support on stimulus plan, are preparing to do it alone

As early as next week, congressional Democrats could begin moving forward with President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief package, which would provide another round of stimulus payments to Americans, beef up unemployment benefits and give aid to struggling businesses.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are looking to pass Biden’s plan through a process known as budget reconciliation, which means all they need is a simple 51-vote majority in the Senate instead of 60 votes.

Republicans proposed chopping Biden’s plan into smaller pieces, but Democrats rejected the idea. Republican lawmakers, who largely abandoned their concerns over the national deficit during the Trump presidency, are questioning the plan’s overall price tag. [AP]

3. Johnson & Johnson vaccine may not be as effective on virus variants

A huge study released today illustrates the threats that new coronavirus variants pose as nations race to distribute vaccines.

A study of a COVID-19 vaccine created by Johnson & Johnson found that it was more effective in the U.S. than in South Africa, where a highly contagious variant was discovered. In the U.S., the vaccine was 72% effective in preventing disease. In South Africa, it was 57% effective.

The news comes as officials in South Carolina yesterday reported the first U.S. cases of the variant from South Africa. The two cases do not appear to be connected, and neither person had a history of travel, suggesting the variant is more widespread in the country than previously believed. [NPR]

Meanwhile, the way the U.S. evacuated Americans from Wuhan last year may have increased the spread of the virus, according to federal reports. [Washington Post]

4. GOP ignored warnings about Marjorie Taylor Greene

House GOP leaders have suffered several embarrassments this week thanks to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. — and they were reportedly warned.

Greene has promoted QAnon and other bizarre conspiracy theories, such as one involving Hillary Clinton murdering a child. This week, CNN reported on a video showing her berating a survivor of the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla., which she has falsely suggested was staged. CNN also reported that Greene floated the idea of executing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for treason.

According to Axios, Reps. Steve Scalise and Liz Cheney, the No. 2 and No. 3 Republicans in the House, raised concerns about Greene last summer. But House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy did little to stop her. [Axios]

McCarthy now faces pressure to sanction Greene. Pelosi this week blasted House GOP leaders and questioned why they put Greene on the House Education Committee. [NPR]

Greene and other Republican lawmakers have ties to extremist groups that played a role in the attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol this month, reports The New York Times. [NYT]

5. How the GameStop saga could end

Did you watch the video at the top of this newsletter? Or listen to this week’s Nerdette? I’ll wait a minute if you haven’t. … OK, so we now all understand the background of this am-I-hallucinating story? Great!

So what will happen next? The value of GameStop stocks will eventually drop as rapidly as it soared, and some amateur investors will get burned, Wall Street analysts told CNBC. At some point the cycle that fueled the stock’s rise will break down, and investors will try to get out before they lose all their money, which is a real possibility for latecomers. [CNBC]

But an even more interesting question is: What are the long-term effects of this crazy chapter on Wall Street?

Hedge funds that bet on losing stocks may be more cautious, and “investors will learn that stock manias, like memes, disappear as quickly as they go viral,” according to this analysis from The Atlantic.

But the magazine also notes this may be the beginning of something entirely new. [Atlantic]

Here’s what else is happening

• Authorities recovered video footage of a suspect planting pipe bombs near the U.S. Capitol the night before the insurrection. [Washington Post]
• A federal judge ordered the release of an Illinois man accused of fighting members of the National Guard during the Capitol riot. [Chicago Sun-Times]
• Half a foot of snow may fall on Chicago tomorrow. [WTTW]
• Amanda Gorman, the country’s first National Youth Poet Laureate, will be at the Super Bowl. [NPR]

Oh, and one more thing …

Signs were posted downtown urging residents to call the cops on … Chicago’s bucket boys, the kids who use drumsticks to play on 5-gallon buckets for tips.

WBEZ’s Natalie Moore reports the signs sparked outrage, causing some people to head downtown and take them down.

As Moore writes, “it’s the decision to call police in response to such non-threatening situations that strikes a chord for many Black folks who view those moments as a reflection of unreasonable fears of Black people. Those situations also carry an ominous tone for Black Americans who know how interactions with police can sometimes end in tragedy.” [WBEZ]

Tell me something good …

Do you have a favorite Super Bowl commercial?

@nublanca tweets:

“My favorite superbowl ad: the owner of WeatherTech featured U of Wisconsin’s School of Vet Med, my alma mater, to thank the veterinarians who were treating his golden retriever, Scout, who had cancer, and to encourage viewers to donate to further cancer research.”

Thanks for all the responses this week. I’m sorry I couldn’t get to them all, but it was nice hearing from y’all.

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