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Good morning, Chicago.

As the conversation continues over who should get COVID-19 booster shots and when, the FDA yesterday authorized extra doses of the Pfizer vaccine for Americans over 65 and those who are at high risk from the virus. Here’s what we know.

Meanwhile, a surge in respiratory illnesses has left local children’s hospitals flooded with patients and unusually long wait times, my colleague Lisa Schencker reports. Chicago-area doctors are now pleading with parents not to bring their kids to hospital emergency rooms unless necessary.

— Nicole Stock, audience editor

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Chicago Teachers Union members rally for COVID-19 safety outside Benito Juarez Community Academy in August.
Chicago Teachers Union members rally for COVID-19 safety outside Benito Juarez Community Academy in August.

CPS has tallied nearly 500 COVID-19 cases, still has no safety agreement with teachers union; Arwady calls number ‘very low’

With COVID-19 cases and student quarantines rising in Chicago Public Schools, parents and teachers are continuing calls for faster contact tracing, more testing, improved safety protocols, increased transparency and broader remote learning for children too young to be vaccinated.

The CPS tracker reported 329 student and 142 adult cases as of Wednesday. Chicago’s lead public health doctor, Allison Arwady, on Tuesday called those “really low numbers” and “certainly not unexpected” in the context of a school system that has about 300,000 students and tens of thousands of employees.

More than 90% of CPS students showed up on the first day of school and the first full reopening since COVID-19 shutdown

A police officer outside Simeon Career Academy as students exit the school, Sept. 22, 2021, in Chicago.
A police officer outside Simeon Career Academy as students exit the school, Sept. 22, 2021, in Chicago.

Two 15-year-old Simeon students fatally shot hours apart — one a few blocks from school. ‘This is really sad and nobody is doing anything about it.’

In less than four hours on Tuesday, two 15-year-old students from Simeon Career Academy High School were fatally wounded in separate gun attacks, leaving friends and mentors to mourn the loss and students reeling as they left school Wednesday — many meeting up with concerned parents.

Members of the abortion rights group Reproaction demonstrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Sept. 9, 2021. A man in Arkansas and another in Illinois on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021, filed what appeared to be the first legal actions under a strict new abortion law in Texas that is enforced by ordinary citizens, regardless of where they live.
Members of the abortion rights group Reproaction demonstrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Sept. 9, 2021. A man in Arkansas and another in Illinois on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021, filed what appeared to be the first legal actions under a strict new abortion law in Texas that is enforced by ordinary citizens, regardless of where they live.

Former Chicago lawyer sues Texas doctor who violated the state’s abortion law

A former Chicago lawyer Felipe Gomez on Monday sued Dr. Alan Braid of Texas, who in a Washington Post column shared that he had violated the state’s abortion ban. The Texas law states that abortions will be banned at six weeks’ gestation or when a fetal heartbeat is detected. Any person who suspects that a medical professional has defied this law can sue for up to $10,000.

Can Cook County cut ties with companies that donated to Texas abortion ban backers? A county commissioner aims to find out.

Superior Shooters Supply owner Patricia Kukull in her store where the Glock 17 9 mm handgun was stolen on New Year's Day 2016.
Superior Shooters Supply owner Patricia Kukull in her store where the Glock 17 9 mm handgun was stolen on New Year’s Day 2016.

Four guns stolen in Wisconsin have been linked to dozens of shootings here. Authorities say it’s an example of how illegal guns end up on Chicago streets.

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Chicago police and experts have said gun thefts in neighboring states — along with straw purchases — are a source of the illegal guns that feed the city’s violence problem. The Tribune spent months examining hundreds of documents obtained through open records requests to outline and understand the fallout from just one such break-in.

A gun was stolen from a small shop in Wisconsin. Officials have linked it to 27 shootings in Chicago.

Chef Nemanja Milunovic prepares a sandwich Sept. 16, 2021, in the kitchen of Kiosk Balkan Street Food.
Chef Nemanja Milunovic prepares a sandwich Sept. 16, 2021, in the kitchen of Kiosk Balkan Street Food.

Cevapi sandwiches are part of Chicago’s latest Balkan food craze, and Kiosk Balkan Street Food makes a great one

Just holding the cevapi sandwich from Kiosk Balkan Street Food is a small marvel, Tribune food critic Nick Kindelsperger writes. Lured in by the aroma of freshly grilled sausages, one can’t help but be thrown by the somun, a traditional Balkan flatbread that proves simultaneously richly browned and potentially crunchy, yet incredibly soft to the touch.