Good morning, Chicago.
As an alternative to new federal vaccine recommendations, the Itasca-based American Academy of Pediatrics released its own childhood vaccine schedule today with the backing of a dozen of the nation’s most prominent medical groups and associations.
The American Academy of Pediatrics’ vaccine schedule differs from the new federal one in a number of ways, largely sticking to previous recommendations. For example, it continues to recommend routine flu vaccinations, hepatitis B vaccinations for all infants and COVID-19 vaccines for all children from the ages of 6 to 23 months, whereas the new federal schedule does not, instead leaving it up to parents and doctors whether to vaccinate individual children, in most cases.
“The recommendations from the CDC, I think, are confusing for parents and for pediatricians,” said Dr. Adam Ratner, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and a member of the Academy’s committee on infectious diseases. “These recommendations … are very different from what CDC recommended a year ago or two years ago or five years ago. It’s not that the science has changed. It’s that the people running CDC have changed.”
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Lisa Schencker.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: what’s in the weather forecast this week, how a church community sustained a Chicago-area family through ICE detention and celebrating Derrick Rose’s Chicago legacy as the Bulls retire his No. 1 jersey.
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Judge set to hear arguments on Minnesota’s immigration crackdown after fatal shootings
A federal judge will hear arguments today on whether she should at least temporarily halt the immigration crackdown in Minnesota that has led to the fatal shootings of two people by government officers.
The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month, five days after Renee Good was shot by an Immigration and Customs officer. Saturday’s shooting by a Border Patrol officer of Alex Pretti has only added urgency to the case.
- Donald Trump, unbowed by backlash to Minneapolis shooting, blames Democrats for ‘chaos’
- Republican calls are growing for a deeper investigation into the fatal Minneapolis shooting
Activists and politicians call for abolition of ICE at downtown protest following fatal shooting of Alex Pretti
Thousands of protesters faced snow and below-freezing temperatures in the Loop yesterday afternoon to protest ongoing violence in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota.
After snowstorm, bitter cold will grip Chicago again, weather officials warn
On the tail end of a polar blast followed by a massive winter storm that has hit over 200 million people across the country and covered the Chicago area with several inches of snow, officials warn that the extreme weather won’t let up, even if the snowflakes stop falling as forecast by early yesterday evening.
Between midnight and noon today, Cook County will again experience “dangerously cold” windchills as low as minus 20 degrees, and even colder away from the lake.
Can school climate solve chronic absenteeism? Ask these principals.
Attendance at Chalmers STEAM Elementary rebounded after the pandemic, even as other schools struggled across Chicago and Illinois. During the 2021-22 school year, nearly half of Chalmers students were chronically absent, missing at least two days of class per month. Last year, that figure had fallen to fewer than 1 in 6 students, or about 17%.
It’s a rare bright spot for CPS: The districtwide chronic absenteeism rate was 40% last year. That’s a significant jump from 2019, when the rate was 24%. Experts warn that the stubborn metric has long-term implications for learning.
As Obama center opening approaches, foundation is touting short-term rentals
As former President Barack Obama’s namesake foundation prepares to roll out the welcome mat to huge crowds of tourists flocking to the South Side when the Obama Presidential Center opens its doors in a few months, it is promoting Airbnb, a company with close ties to the Obama family that has faced international protests for its impact on local rents and housing supply.
A mother’s way home: How a church community sustained a Chicago-area family through ICE detention
Before choir practice on a Saturday morning, Marina Lopez rushed her three children to get ready. They were running late.
“Andenles, ya apaguen la tele y ponganse la chamarra. Hurry, turn off the TV, put on your jacket,” she told them.
Her youngest daughter, Sofia, ran toward her mother so that she could tie her hair into a braid. Lopez smiled. She had dreamed of mornings like this. There was a time she worried she would never be able to braid her daughter’s long, brown hair again. Or even see her again.
Great Lakes ice resurges this winter, but unpredictable shifts threaten businesses and ecosystem
On a brisk January day with windchills plunging to minus 25 degrees, Paul “Blade” Bloedorn stood out on nearly 2 feet of ice on Lake Michigan’s Little Bay de Noc.
Last weekend, more than 400 shacks speckled the frozen bay, Bloedorn recalled, as ice anglers flocked to the Upper Peninsula to take advantage of perfect ice conditions.
This winter, Bloedorn and Great Lakes experts say lake conditions are shaping up well for ice fishing, a welcome shift for coastal communities that have endured recent winters with little ice.
‘In extreme pain’: Workers injured at Michigan City’s Project Maize data center site
For about five weeks, Michael Grace has been without an income source. He’s watched his funds deplete as his needs continue to grow, struggling to pay for cat food, laundry detergent and his phone bill.
Grace can’t work, and he doesn’t know when he will work next.
Chicago Bears roster breakdown: How the offensive players fared in 2025 — and their contract statuses for 2026
Bears general manager Ryan Poles and coach Ben Johnson have some big decisions to make this offseason.
Year 1 with Johnson at the helm was an overwhelming success. But as the coach said himself, it’s a new year and the Bears are “back to square one.” They will have plenty to discuss in the coming weeks and months.
Derrick Rose celebrates his Chicago legacy as Bulls retire his No. 1 jersey: ‘It was always meant to be’
Derrick Rose knew he was going to cry.
It took two minutes for Rose to take off his glasses, bowing his head at center court of the United Center, pressing his hand to his eyes as tears leaked out onto the hardwood. Former teammate Taj Gibson was forced to pause as well, voice cracking as he attempted to articulate what Rose meant to him, to the Bulls, to Chicago.
- Derrick Rose jersey retirement: 9 dates that define the Bulls great’s iconic career
- Photos: Bulls retire Derrick Rose’s No. 1 jersey
Review: ‘Birds of North America’ at A Red Orchid Theatre offers autumnal balm for a cold winter night
As inviting theatrical titles go, “Birds of North America” is one only an ornithologist could love. But Tribune critic Chris Jones writes that the new show at Red Orchid Theatre turns out to be a gorgeous little 90-minute two-hander, a beautifully acted and directed father-daughter play capable of transporting you away from the frozen tundra and back to when leaves were just beginning to fall and birds still sang from the trees.