Stories by Patty Wetli

Just because a baby animal is spotted on its own doesn’t mean it’s been abandoned or orphaned. Before “rescuing” the critter, call the experts.

Experts say the vaccines are alike on what matters most: preventing hospitalizations and deaths.

Suburban Cook County residents ages 16 and older will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine beginning Monday, and while eligibility in Chicago doesn’t expand until April 19, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said adults in Chicago are also “absolutely welcome” to sign up at any state-run mass vaccination site starting Monday.

Chicago police have yet to release footage of the March 29 police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, but his death has spurred calls for changes to the Chicago Police Department’s policy on foot pursuits like the one during which Toledo was shot. We get reaction from the Fraternal Order of Police.

Plans to get CPS high school students back to class stall. A study on who the January 6th Capitol rioters are. Why COVID-19 vaccines may not be as effective for immunocompromised individuals and more.

Public art has become synonymous with Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. A new mural on 18th Street is using the medium to preserve the community’s history, and to memorialize dozens of its residents. 

President Joe Biden said all adults in the U.S. should be eligible for the coronavirus vaccine by April 19. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city will follow suit. Our politics team takes on that story and more in this week’s roundtable.

The mental and emotional health of Chicago children has been hit hard by the pandemic, according to researchers at Lurie Children’s Hospital, who surveyed more than 1,500 parents across the city—including all 77 community areas—about the impact of the pandemic on their child’s behavior.

A preliminary study from Johns Hopkins University finds that fewer than 20% of organ transplant patients generated an antibody response to their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The research raises questions about vaccine protection for those patients and others with weakened immune systems.

A new analysis from the University of Chicago looked at the demographics of the 377 individuals arrested for the Jan. 6 attack. The study’s author said he had expected to discover something about the economic conditions of the rioters but was surprised that the data told a very different story.

The Chicago Teachers Union is asking Chicago Public Schools to delay its target reopening date for high schools by one week in order to allow more time to learn about coronavirus variants and current transmission rates.

Steve Waithe, 28, of Chicago, is accused of creating fake social media accounts to contact track and field athletes and offering to help get rid of compromising photos of them he claimed to have found online. 

Officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s  neck — and was bearing down with most of his weight — the entire 9 1/2 minutes the Black man lay facedown with his hands cuffed behind his back, a use-of-force expert testified Wednesday at Chauvin’s murder trial. 

Illinois’ ban on evictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic has been extended amid a steady increase in confirmed cases and hospitalizations that has complicated efforts to lift restrictions designed to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Suburban Cook County health officials are extremely concerned with the rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations but are holding off on reimposing mitigations to curb the spread of the virus, at least for now.

President Joe Biden drew a red line on his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan Wednesday, saying he is open to compromise on how to pay for the package but inaction is unacceptable.

Conservationists are celebrating a big win for wildlife along Chicago’s lakefront, where the expansion of a “treasured” natural area will give more room to some high-profile occupants: a pair of endangered Great Lake piping plovers, Monty and Rose.

A group of Amazon employees walked out of the mega-retailer’s Gage Park distribution center Wednesday morning, calling on the company to stop understaffing the facility and to provide accommodations for people working a 10.5-hour overnight “megacycle” shift.

More than 20 colleges and universities across the country are looking for students to enroll in a clinical trial to see if the COVID-19 vaccine prevents infection and spread of the virus among them.

The new $7.5 million Chicago Public Library branch in Altgeld Gardens will open from 1-5 p.m. on Sundays starting April 18 along with branches in Mount Greenwood, South Shore, Back of the Yards, Chinatown, Merlo, Edgewater, Independence, Richard M. Daley and Austin, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced.

Vice President Harris in town, getting vaccine equity, Congress members on the fate of the infrastructure bill, the future of public transit, and the redevelopment of the Michael Reese Hospital site.

Chicago will make all residents ages 16 and older eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine on April 19, meeting a deadline announced Tuesday by President Joe Biden, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced hours later. The city needs more vaccine to meet the sky-high demand for the life-saving shots, Lightfoot said. 

With an appeal to think big, President Joe Biden is promoting his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan directly to Americans, summoning public support to push past the Republicans lining up against the massive effort they sum up as big taxes, big spending and big government.

The Department of Streets and Sanitation is turning a page on its beleaguered Blue Cart recycling program, issuing the first new collection contract in nearly a decade. Recycling advocates are cautiously optimistic about the change.

The Chicago Plan Commission approved a $3.8 billion effort earlier this year to overhaul the former Michael Reese Hospital site in Bronzeville, just west of the lakefront on 31st Street. The team behind the development is thinking big and working toward community buy-in.

In recent months, the percentage of Black and Latino Chicagoans who have gotten the COVID-19 vaccine has increased significantly, in part through the city’s priority zip code program. But hurdles remain in getting shots to every community, especially as COVID-19 cases are once again on the rise.