Shootings and homicides are down in Chicago

Plus, the challenges for the new school year. Here's what you need to know today.

To view this email as a web page, click here. Today's Rundown is brought to you by WBEZ members and   by Hunter Clauss   Good afternoon! It’s Monday, and I was at the beach yesterday with my nephews. At one point they overpowered me in the lake, so I looked up at the 5-year-old as I tried staying above the water, asking him to help me. And he just looked down and whispered, “Never.” Anyway, here’s what you need to know today. 1. Shootings and homicides in Chicago are down compared to last year, but overall crime is up   Those are the big takeaways from police data released today, giving a sense of cautious optimism that the worst may be behind the city after 2021 marked the deadliest year in decades. Still, the loss of life remains staggering.  Through July, there were 379 homicides, down 16% compared to the same time last year, reports my colleague Tom Schuba at the Chicago Sun-Times. The number of people shot has dropped 20%, down to 1,969 from 2,455 during the same period last year. But “those numbers are still far higher than 2019,” Schuba reports. And “data posted last week showed a 35% increase in reported crimes this year. Robberies, burglaries, thefts and motor vehicle thefts have all risen significantly.” [Chicago Sun-Times] 2. The challenges for the new school year   Students throughout the Chicago area are preparing to return to classrooms this month as school districts wrestle with a host of problems. One of them is teacher burnout that has resulted in a shortage of educators in other states. As my colleague Susie An reports, Illinois has largely avoided a labor shortage. But a closer look reveals a tremendous amount of churn and burnout, and educators say support for both old and new teachers is key to really making life in the classroom work. [WBEZ] Meanwhile, the upcoming school year coincides with a rise in COVID-19 cases. But educators say they are cautiously optimistic they’ll be able to avoid pandemic-related disruptions. [Chicago Tribune] 3. Chicago is expected to get just over 33,000 more monkeypox vaccine doses as cases continue to rise   Those 33,000 doses will come from the nearly 800,000 doses that were cleared by the Biden administration last week. A spokesman for the Chicago Department of Public Health tells me the additional doses will begin arriving in the city over the next few weeks. The news comes as the department has an online dashboard that tracks the spread of monkeypox. It shows a total of 330 cases have been reported in the city since Thursday. Of those cases, 14 resulted in hospitalizations, but there have been no deaths reported. The number of cases has jumped in recent weeks, and health officials say they expect those numbers will continue rising as testing becomes more widely available. The data also illustrates why health officials are particularly concerned about one high-risk group — men who have sex with other men. Anyone can get monkeypox, but the virus’s spread has been largely seen in gay and bisexual men, causing scientists to race to understand what is going on. [CDPH] 4. Another decade of Lollapalooza in Chicago   Ahead of J-Hope’s headlining performance to close out the weekend festival, Mayor Lori Lightfoot took the stage to announce Lollapalooza will stay at Grant Park for at least another 10 years. Under the new deal, the Chicago Park District will “rake in 5% to 20% of revenue, depending on how much the festival makes,” reports the Chicago Sun-Times. “The city will make at least $2 million for a four-day festival, $1.5 million for a three-day fest, and $750,000 if it’s canceled.” There’s also an option to extend the deal for five additional years, and the attendance cap would be bumped up to 115,000 from 100,000. [Sun-Times] 5. Nope, I didn’t win the Mega Millions   But the $1.34 billion lottery ticket was purchased at a Des Plaines gas station, causing customers to wonder if they’ve bumped into the winner, reports Emmanuel Camarillo at the Chicago Sun-Times. The winner’s identity still remains unknown, and the gas station’s customers say it’s better if it stays that way. “I’ve read reports that people who came forward previously who’ve won, people starting stalking them, and in some cases it hasn’t gone well for them,” said Mohammad Shafi. Officials said the winner had not come forward as of last night to claim the biggest lottery prize in state history and the second biggest ever in the U.S. [Sun-Times] SPONSORED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO HARRIS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY MASTERCLASS SERIES Engage with UChicago experts and the Harris School of Public Policy in our Masterclass series. You'll hear from world-renowned UChicago faculty and instructors as they provide insight into their areas of expertise.   Learn more and register here. Miss a class? Complete this form to receive access to past Harris Masterclasses.   Here's what else is happening Darren Bailey struggles to unite Illinois Republicans in his bid for governor. [WBEZ] As rents increase in Chicago, some residents are forming tenant unions and pushing for rent control. [Block Club Chicago] Here’s a look at how an Illinois abortion clinic on the Wisconsin border is a window into the post-Roe America. [WBEZ] U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush asked President Joe Biden to pardon former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife, Sandi Jackson. [Chicago Tribune] Oh, and one more thing... Lately it feels like everywhere I turn, there’s someone talking about FX’s The Bear, a dark comedy following a fine dining chef who comes home to Chicago to run his family’s sandwich shop. Lead actor Jeremy Allen White recently joined WBEZ’s Reset to discuss what it was like to create The Bear, what he’d like to explore with his character and more. “Before the show, I was really useless in the kitchen,” he says. “So my first job when I accepted the role was to get to work, so I went to culinary school in Pasadena for a couple of weeks and learned a lot there — the basics.  “Then I spent a lot of time at a restaurant called Pasjoli in Santa Monica, with Chef Dave Beran, who’s a really tremendous chef who actually was here in Chicago for a long time. So he was really generous with his time. I did prep with them some days. I was kind of a fly on the wall sometimes, just really trying to watch like the movement of choreography of a kitchen and try to figure out the communication aspect. And then I got shoved on the line, so at a certain point I was actually preparing foods that was being served to customers.” [WBEZ] Tell me something good I finally saw Jordan Peele’s Nope, and I’d like to know what is a scary movie, TV or book that really got you? UFO stories always freaked me out when I was a kid, and yet I couldn’t resist them, like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The X-Files and Fire in the Sky.  I think it’s because my grandparents lived on a remote farm in Arkansas. And every time my family visited them, I’d scare myself into thinking someone would definitely get abducted by aliens during the trip. Feel free to email or tweet me, and your responses might be shared in the newsletter this week. therundown@wbez.org | @whuntah Thanks for reading and have a nice night! I’ll see you tomorrow. — Hunter Clauss P.S. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up to receive The Rundown in your inbox. 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