Good morning, Chicago.
Citing the rising COVID-19 cases in the city, Chicago officials said yesterday that the indoor mask mandate is being reinstated. They also updated the city’s travel advisory with nine new locations — bringing the list up to 39 states and three territories.
My colleagues talked to business owners around the city yesterday about the new mask mandate. Their reactions ranged from relief and support to concerns about getting customers to cooperate with the new rules.
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How do you feel about the indoor mask requirement? Do you have any questions about it? Send me an email and let me know.
— Nicole Stock, audience editor
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Chicago officials announced Tuesday that an indoor mask mandate will return to the city, more than two months after most COVID-19 restrictions were lifted but as a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus drives a late summer surge.
Starting Friday, anyone age 2 and older will have to wear a face mask in indoor public spaces, regardless of vaccine status, Chicago public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said in a news conference. She cited the far more transmissible delta variant and its role in pushing the city into the higher risk category of more than 400 new daily COVID-19 cases — but she added that residents need not panic.
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Chicago pharmacist faces federal charges for allegedly selling COVID-19 vaccine cards
The parents of a man fatally shot during last summer’s violent demonstrations in Kenosha on Tuesday sued authorities alleging they incited the bloodshed by allowing Kyle Rittenhouse and other armed civilians who clashed with protesters to “mete out punishment as they saw fit.”
R Kelly’s federal conspiracy trial in New York set to get underway with opening statements Wednesday
In the years leading up to his last trial, R&B superstar R. Kelly toured nationally and sold countless records. The day of the verdict in 2008, he bowed his head, praised Jesus, and walked out of a Cook County courtroom acquitted of child pornography charges.
Thirteen years after that first acquittal, in a federal courtroom 800 miles away, the singer faces a drastically different landscape. Federal prosecutors in New York on Wednesday are slated to deliver opening statements in the sex-abuse case against Kelly. They have charged him under a racketeering law more commonly used for mob bosses
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, cartel kingpins and leaders of street gangs.A sex-abuse enterprise? Breaking down the unusual racketeering case against R. Kelly.
Cook County property tax increases hit Black and Latino suburbs the hardest, according to a report released by the treasurer’s office Tuesday.
Six of the 10 communities with the largest total residential tax increases were in majority Black or Latino areas, according to the treasurer’s office. For commercial property taxes, seven of the 10 communities with the highest increases were majority Black or Latino.
Dining around Chicago with the new indoor mask mandate: Here’s what you need to know.
Wasn’t this supposed to be the summer of dining out without any worries? Most hoped by now restaurants in Chicago would be able to mostly operate as they had before we ever learned about COVID-19.
Sadly, with vaccination rates lower than anticipated, the rise of the delta variant and now the new indoor mask mandate, it’s once again a confusing time to eat out in Chicago. What should you expect when going dining out right now? Here’s a quick guide to help.