Good morning, Chicago.
As the city marks the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, the pandemic remains a top concern.
The omicron variant has been discovered in suburban Cook County, and Chicago Public Schools says it will distribute about 150,000 take-home COVID-19 test kits amid what an official called a “wicked post-Thanksgiving COVID surge.”
And demand is growing for a COVID-19 treatment — called monoclonal antibodies — that’s been shown to help keep high-risk people out of the hospital, the Tribune’s Lisa Schencker reports, but the latest surge has left some Chicago-area hospital systems and clinics unable to keep up with the number of people who want or need the treatment.
— Paul Day, audience editor
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
COVID-19 tracker | More newsletters | Puzzles & Games | Daily horoscope | Ask Amy | Today’s eNewspaper edition
The state of Illinois is in final negotiations to sell the James R. Thompson Center for $70 million to a developer who would spare one of the Loop’s most iconic — and controversial — buildings from the wrecking ball, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Wednesday.
But the deal, which the Pritzker administration expects to finalize by spring, would see the state buy back a third of the renovated building for about $148 million, a net cost to the state of roughly $78 million, officials clarified at a briefing following the governor’s announcement.
Anjanette Young will collect a $2.9 million settlement for the botched raid Chicago police carried out on her home when they acted on a bad tip and made her stand naked and handcuffed as she repeatedly insisted they had the wrong place.
The City Council unanimously approved the deal Wednesday, closing the contentious negotiations that turned into an embarrassment for Mayor Lori Lightfoot after city lawyers tried to dismiss the case and said Young’s lawsuit “failed to establish a legal wrong.”
CTA President Dorval Carter is set to get a pay raise as the agency contends with steep drops in fare revenue and ridership has yet to return to prepandemic levels.
Chicago Transit Board members on Wednesday approved a 33% pay raise, bringing Carter’s salary up to $350,000 from $262,731.
Sports betting at Chicago stadiums gets the go-ahead
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot got the City Council Wednesday to greenlight sports betting at Wrigley Field, Soldier Field and other Chicago stadiums, despite criticism from some aldermen convinced doing so will hurt tax revenue from a planned city casino.
The council approved the measure with eight aldermen voting against it.
As a cold front moved into the Chicago area from the west, wind gusts as strong as 74 mph were recorded overnight, according to meteorologists at the National Weather Service.
Meteorologists from the weather service also warned of the smell of smoke in the Chicago area early Thursday. Forecasters said on social media there were no fires in the immediate area, but the wind had carried smoke all the way from Kansas, 600 miles away, on the “strong southwest winds.”
