Afternoon Edition: Dec. 16, 2020

Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.

Just in time for the holidays, we got some snow in Chicago today. It continues this afternoon, which will see a high around 33 degrees. Tonight’s low will be near 29 degrees. Tomorrow, there’s a chance of snow showers and freezing drizzle; the high will be around 36 degrees.

Top story

77,000 kids — 37% of eligible students — plan to return for in-person learning, CPS says

About 77,000 Chicago Public Schools students plan to return to classrooms once schools reopen in the new year, accounting for 37% of K-8, preschool and special education cluster program students who will initially be eligible for in-person learning, district CEO Janice Jackson announced today.

In a presentation at the monthly Board of Education meeting, district officials revealed that a disproportionate number of families sending their children back to schools are white, while Black families were more likely to decline the opportunity to return, matching a trend seen in other large urban school systems nationwide.

That reality raises questions about the argument that has been made for weeks by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS officials that reopening schools will help reduce racial inequity gaps caused by remote learning — though the district repeated that belief in its announcement today,

“When we talk about offering more options for parents, we’re serving a large swath of our families who believe this is the best choice for their students,” Jackson said. “And we believe we have a moral obligation to do so.”

The 77,000 children are out of 191,000 elementary school students who were eligible to return Feb. 1, and 16,900 kids who are in pre-K or have complex disabilities that could have come back Jan. 11. The actual number of students who return could end up lower because families who opted in have the option of changing their minds. Those who decided to stay home are required to do so until April.

Of the students who said they might return, 23.4% are white, 30.2% are Black, 38.9% are Latino and 4.4% are Asian American. District enrollment consists of 10.8% white students, 35.9% Black, 46.6% Latino and 4.2% Asian American.

The long-awaited news of how many students may return to CPS classrooms came as the Chicago Teachers Union made its boldest comments to date in its ongoing impasse with the district over a safe reopening of schools during the pandemic. The union has said it doesn’t trust CPS to implement the protocols it’s promising and doesn’t agree with the fact that no case number or test positivity rate has been identified as a threshold for reopening schools.

“Our union will have to have an internal discussion about what to do next if we can’t reach agreements on how to make our schools safe for everyone,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey told the school board tosday. “When we have those discussions, all options are going to be on the table.”

Sharkey said the lack of a clear public health metric and mechanisms to enforce health and safety protocols “is going to make our union campaign in a way which is going to have very real consequences in this whole city.”

Jackson said data around the country and in Illinois has shown that schools can safely reopen as long as proper mitigation protocols are in place to prevent or at least slow the spread of COVID-19 inside school walls.

Read Nader Issa’s full report here.

More news you need

1. Ald. Stephanie Coleman said today the City Council’s Black Caucus wants an investigation into why Chicago police officers incorrectly raided a social worker’s Near West Side home last year while she stood naked inside. “Justice has to be served. Not only for Ms. [Anjanette] Young but for any other woman in the city of Chicago,” Coleman said.
2. The coronavirus has killed another 146 Illinois residents and spread to 7,123 more, public health officials announced today. The new cases were diagnosed among 93,278 tests submitted to the Illinois Department of Public Health, lowering the state’s average positivity rate to 8.5%.
3. The number of detainees testing positive for the coronavirus at the Cook County Jail has soared to levels not seen since cases there last peaked in the spring, when it saw one of the largest outbreaks of confirmed cases of any location in the country. Last week, 370 detainees tested positive for the virus, according to data from the sheriff’s office.
4. Shawn Kimbrough told authorities he “does stupid stuff when he drinks” before he was arrested for firing a collapsible rifle on a Metra train platform at McCormick Place, Cook County prosecutors said. No one was injured in the Dec. 1 incident, but the 40-year-old’s alleged actions were more than stupid, Judge Mary Marubio said.
5. Following through on promises to restrict development that displaces lower-income residents, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has proposed ordinances to preserve multiunit buildings in parts of Pilsen and on some blocks along the 606 trail on the North Side. The ordinances aim to discourage developers who replace small apartment buildings with single-family homes, whether through renovation or demolition, followed by new construction.

A bright one

Local restaurants offering Christmas, NYE and New Year’s Day take-out meal options

Some of our holiday dinners might look a little different this year, with fewer people seated at the table — or maybe just a single place setting as you stay home to help protect your loved ones from the coronavirus.

If you’re looking to let someone else do the cooking for Christmas or New Year’s Eve, while also helping support many of the restaurants hit hard during the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve got just the thing.

Provided

Many local restaurants are offering special meal packages, boxes or cook-at-home kits for you or your quarantine pod, and we rounded up some of our favorites.

Lots of cheffy selections are available if you’re feeling fancy. For the ultimate carryout feast, Maple & Ash offers wood-fired filet mignon, black truffle potato puree, shrimp cocktail, chestnut stuffing and chocolate bourbon pecan pie from Aya Pastry.

There are also options if you’re craving something specific, like Greek food. Avli Taverna has turkey breast, oven-roasted lamb, lentil and chickpea salad, whipped potatoes with feta, among other tasty choices. You can also get more classic Greek grub, like spanakopita, pastichio and Baklava.

We have plenty of other suggestions in our roundup. Check them out here.

From the press box

The Blackhawks, who fired longtime president John McDonough earlier this year, solidified their new front office today: Jaime Faulkner enters as president of business operations while Stan Bowman elevates to president of hockey operations.

And the Bears delayed the start of today’s practice by four hours. While the team did not give an explanation why, the delay is similar to what the team has done this year when players have produced positive coronavirus tests.

Your daily question ☕

If you’re cooking, what do you plan on making for Christmas dinner this year, and how will it differ from years past?

Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you: How do you feel knowing that Chicago’s first COVID-19 vaccinations have been administered? Here’s what some of you said…

“I’m psyched! After working in the COVID ICU and ER for 10 months, I’m more than ready for a light at the end of the tunnel. I’m very comfortable with the science of it. I literally signed up for the first appointment on the first day that it’s available to me (today)! All of my colleagues are amped to get it too.” — Heather Dhamo

“It means I can breathe a sigh of relief that maybe I can have just a little bit of normalcy back, that we are going to come out the other side of this that as a healthcare worker I can feel a little bit safer.” — Michelle Lynn

“I don’t care. I already had COVID and I lost my mom because of COVID. It’s not going to make things better for me.” — Vanessa Ramirez

“Protection for all the health care workers, first responders, firemen, police and for all persons who have pre-existing conditions (like my wife who has M.S.)” — John Kimball

“I feel encouraged, and a little bit jealous, though I agree health care workers and the most vulnerable should go first. Crazy times when all you want for Christmas is a vaccine.” — Dale Johnson

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