Daywatch: About one in every dozen CPS students contracted COVID-19 this school year – Chicago Tribune

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Tornado sirens in downtown Chicago signaled an evening of wild weather last night that will usher in temperatures in the upper 90s today.

Damage reports were being tallied Monday evening after heavy rains and high winds hit the Chicago area, forecasters said. Castro said there were reports of 84 mph wind gusts at OHare International Airport and a structural collapse in Bellwood.

Heat indexes are expected to top 105 degrees for two consecutive days on Tuesday and Wednesday, a benchmark that triggered a National Weather Service heat advisory.

And at Wrigley Field, Tribune photographer Brian Cassella captured some striking images of Monday nights storm.

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Chicago Public School Kenwood Academy High School students return to school, Jan. 12, 2022, after five days off for COVID-19 protocol discussions between CPS and CTU. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

About one in every dozen Chicago Public Schools students contracted COVID-19 this school year, the districts first year of full-time, in-person learning since the pandemic began. With CPS closing out the school year Tuesday, the district is reporting nearly 22,500 cases among 272,000 students from the first week of school in August through last week.

Each case represents an individual report of COVID-19, so a student reinfected with the virus would count as two cases. The data doesnt include CPS charter, contract and alternative learning students, of which there are 58,000.

This was supposed to be a recovery year for CPS, but thats not the way it unfolded.

Carmen Navarro Gercone, a longtime official in the sheriff's office pictured in February, has lost her bid to stay on the June 28 primary ballot for Cook County sheriff. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

The Democratic primary for Cook County sheriff will officially be a two-man contest this month after challenger Carmen Navarro Gercones last hope for getting back on the ballot was dashed.

The Illinois Supreme Court declined Monday to hear Navarro Gercones appeal in a case that started with incumbent Sheriff Tom Dart challenging her candidacy under a controversial new state law that requires all sheriff contenders to be certified law enforcement officers.

It was the final twist in a high-profile saga that saw Navarro Gercone, a former top aide to Dart who now works for the Circuit Court clerks office, get tossed from the ballot, reinstated and then removed once more.

Mayor Richard M. Daley chats with Ald. Ricardo Munoz in 2002. (NANCY STONE / CHICAGO TRIBUNE)

Former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has been released from the hospital and is now at a rehabilitation center after experiencing what his doctor called a neurological event.

Daley, 80, spent five nights at Northwestern Memorial Hospital after falling ill. His physician, Dr. Eric Terman, said in a news release Daley experienced a neurological event and is expected to recover fully.

Meta employees celebrate the 15th anniversary of the social media company in Chicago during an event at their new Loop offices, June 8, 2022. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

When Meta, the social media giant formerly known as Facebook, hosted the grand opening for its Fulton Market headquarters last week, it was a celebration delayed more than two years by the pandemic. Despite welcoming hundreds of cheering employees, the celebration, which also marked Metas 15th anniversary in Chicago, was muted by a hybrid return to office that could make the expansive new workplace a monument to the past.

Companies across Chicago are beginning to herd employees back into the office, but after two years of remote working and the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, it is a tentative process at best. Employees used to the flexibility of remote working are balking at a mandatory return, while hybrid work schedules turn the once busy office into a fortress of solitude.

The team behind Kasama walks the red carpet while attending the James Beard Foundation Awards at the Lyric Opera House, June 13, 2022 in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

The James Beard Foundation Awards returned to Chicago on Monday after a two-year hiatus, celebrating the best and brightest of the culinary world on a national scale. Prominent chefs and restaurateurs from across the country gathered at Lyrics Civic Opera Building for the award ceremony, which began just as sirens began to blare in downtown Chicago for a tornado warning.

Of the nine Chicago chefs, restaurants and bars up for six awards during the ceremony, only Virtue chef-owner Erick Williams took home an award, for the regional Best Chef: Great Lakes category, which pitted him against chefs in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

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Daywatch: About one in every dozen CPS students contracted COVID-19 this school year - Chicago Tribune