Good Tuesday morning, Evanston!
Above, Paul Schneider cleans sand off his feet after dunking them in the water Sunday morning at South Boulevard Beach. “I come down to the beach every morning,” he said. “I do a personal ritual. … I just speak certain words. About gratitude and that sort of thing. It helps me keep grounded and centered.” (Photo by Richard Cahan)
Hope you can take time to enjoy life next to Lake Michigan this week. Two Evanston beaches are open for swimming through Labor Day, but all of the city’s lakefront is available for contemplation and walks along the water. Now, on to the news.
A new kindergarten student at Willard Elementary School was critically injured in a Chicago shooting on Sunday, Superintendent Devon Horton told district families in a Monday email. The 5-year-old boy was shot in the head while in a vehicle in the Rogers Park neighborhood and taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, according to the Chicago Police Department.
The severe thunderstorms that rolled through Monday afternoon brought down large branches and whole trees across Evanston, and temporarily knocked out power for more than 1,600 ComEd customers. Public Works crews were out the rest of the day clearing debris, and the Evanston Fire Department reported only minor fires and no injuries due to downed power lines.
Education consultant Ann Cummins Bogan was hired to strengthen partnerships between the union representing District 65 teachers and the central administration as well as school principals and assistant principals. On Monday, she reported to the board about her progress. Also at the meeting, board members unanimously elected Soo La Kim as their vice president.
COVID-19 by the numbers: Two new cases and zero new deaths were reported Sunday, Aug. 28, the last day the city updated totals. The seven-day average is 7.4 cases per day.
In case you missed it
City government 101: Boards, commissions and committees. The City of Evanston has more than 40 boards, commissions and committees; it can be difficult to keep track! To help out, the RoundTable has a City Government 101 to cover everything you need to know about the city’s numerous BCCs, now including a new interactive graphic at the end with information on each and every panel.
Elsewhere on the RoundTable website
Peggy Tarr: Sharp tongues. Columnist Peggy Tarr recalls when she challenged a coworker who could dish harshly critical comments to others, but couldn’t take them herself. She also reveals one of her favorite sayings uttered by the late comedian Joey Adams.
BOOKS: Indulge your architectural and interior design fantasies with ‘At Home in Chicago.’ This luscious coffee table book, written by Patrick F. Cannon and photographed by James Caulfield (copyright 2021, CityFiles Press) is a wonderful addition to any library, but especially if the book owner has an interest in architecture, Chicago architectural styles, Chicago history or interior design.
Picturing Evanston. Photographer Joerg Metzner captures a mural at the Canal Shores Golf Course, art created in 2017.
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Around the web
Northwestern researchers develop dissolvable implant for drug-free pain relief post-surgery. A professor of biomedical engineering at Northwestern explains how the new implant may reduce the need for pain-relief medication.
Staffing crunch hits Cook County Health. The county’s health system has around 5,550 employees, but is looking to fill some 2,000 vacancies. Recruitment can’t keep up, as the system is losing more workers to retirements, resignations and “discharges” than it can add to the payroll, records show.
Chicago Fire could start construction on $80 million Near West Side training facility, headquarters this winter. The soccer club launched efforts in January to build the complex on 26 acres of vacant land, a former public housing site.
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