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Meanwhile, the Big Ten became the latest conference to tweak its forfeit policy, joining the other Power Five conferences, the Big East and most others. The Big Ten said games won’t automatically be forfeited if a team or teams are unable to participate because of COVID-19. Instead, games can be rescheduled, declared a no contest or a forfeiture.

Alexa Ruiz, 10, gets her temperature taken by healthcare worker Jessica Gonzalez at the Epsperanza Health Centers’ drive-thru COVID-19 testing pod on Dec. 20, 2021 in Chicago. The Ruiz family was there getting tested as a precaution following exposure to a classmate in CPS who tested positive. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

The CDC recommends that people should not travel if they are not fully vaccinated, and, regardless of vaccine status, should stay home if they have recovered from COVID-19 within the past 90 days, have tested positive for COVID-19 and have not yet ended isolation, or are awaiting results of COVID-19 tests.

Looking back at more than 135 years of local weather data, Chicago has experienced its first measurable snow as early as October 12 (in 2006) and as late as December 20 (in 2012). That’s why Nov. 17 is the date of the average first significant snowfall in Chicago. Remember, measurable snowfall is one-tenth of an inch or more on the ground, while anything less is considered a trace amount. The chart below shows the date of the first measurable snowfall for each year since 1885. Amounts are available, by year, beginning in 1905.

On Jan. 1, the Chicago Police Department, as well as the Cook, DuPage, Will, Kane and Lake county sheriff’s departments, will have to meet the requirement. When contacted by the Tribune, all six departments said they would be able to comply with the law.

Sara Heymann, a member of the neighborhood group Únete La Villita, said the group helped about 50 tenants in Little Village fill out paperwork for rental assistance through the city of Chicago. But after getting the payments, a lot of landlords still filed for evictions or declined to renew leases, she said, making the experience bittersweet.

Chicago resident and Southwest Airlines flight attendant Corliss King, center, was determined to expand Illinois’ paid leave law to cover Illinois airline workers after her employer denied her request to use sick leave to care for her critically ill husband, Terrance Hale, who died in 2020. King is with daughters Nayla Hale, left, and Adurah Hale near the South Shore Cultural Center on Dec. 22, 2021. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

“Unfortunately, it took the AIDS epidemic for a lot of people to come out and say, ‘Hey, we deserve rights,’” Tunney said. Whether it’s marriage rights, health, rights, equity rights, access to public health … This is the educational part of it. We really want this epidemic to end.”

“IEPA (the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency), not the governor, is authorized to act on permit applications such as this,” Jordan Abudayyeh, Pritzker’s chief spokeswoman, said about the proposed Lincoln Land gas plant. “In doing so, the IEPA must follow applicable statutory and regulatory provisions governing that process.”

“With Frank right now, it’s a matter of testing and getting those negative tests in,” said Lakers assistant coach David Fizdale, who is running the team in Vogel’s absence. “But he’s doing well healthwise. His spirit’s right. Obviously, he’s chomping at the bit to get back and start competing.”