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Good morning, Chicago. On Wednesday, state health officials reported 2,273 new known coronavirus cases and 35 additional confirmed deaths. You can search for COVID-19 cases in your neighborhood here.
Are you starting to plan for the spooky season? The Illinois Department of Public Health released their guidelines for Halloween on Wednesday. Here’s what they say about trick-or-treating, passing out candy and more.
Also, early voting for Chicago voters is set to begin today at the Loop location. If you’re voting by mail, here’s where you can securely drop off your mail-in ballot in Chicago and the suburbs.
Here are some of the top stories you need to know to start your day.
Kim Foxx said “no” this week to a debate against her Republican opponent in the Cook County state’s attorney’s race and will not sit on a stage with him at all as she campaigns for reelection. The incumbent is bowing out of debates because of past editorial board interviews in which each candidate argued their case to be Cook County’s top prosecutor, Foxx’s spokeswoman Alex Sims wrote in a statement.
Sims said Pat O’Brien, Foxx’s challenger, opted for “Trump-like name calling and fear mongering” during these interviews. Thus, there will be no debates between them for now, Sims said, pointing to the chaos of Tuesday night’s debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Tinley Park has not fared well in its dealings with video gambling operator Rick Heidner over the last year. First, the southwest suburb signed onto Heidner’s plan to build a horse racing track and casino on state-owned land, only to have Gov. J.B. Pritzker derail the project after a Tribune investigation revealed Heidner’s long-standing business ties to people connected to organized crime.
Now, the Tribune has learned that Tinley Park officials have been secretly negotiating a real estate deal that would provide Heidner a $2.5 million windfall on land he purchased less than a year ago as a possible alternate casino site.
Food pantries for months have relied on a government-sponsored food box program to serve a spike in needy families during the pandemic. But the latest batch of boxes includes an item some find unpalatable as the election nears: a letter signed by President Donald Trump.
As medical experts and scientists grapple to understand the new virus, some patients are reporting a great variety of symptoms that fall outside the official lists issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other major health authorities.
All the Chicago insults on the new Netflix series ‘Emily in Paris’
It’s amazing Emily Cooper survived so long in Chicago, considering our disgusting food, fat residents and basic accessories. Actress Lily Collins plays Cooper, a Chicago marketing executive who gets a one-year assignment with a French luxury marketing company, on the Netflix series “Emily in Paris,” due out Friday.
