Austin Weekly News 122320

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Vol. 34 No.52

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Group gives tips on keeping utilities on this winter,

December 23, 2020

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Meet Rev. Walter l Jones, PAGE 6

There’s a vaccine, now what?

A primer on the basics of the new COVID-19 vaccine, along with the latest case data

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

On Tuesday, the city administered its first doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to healthcare workers at Loretto Hospital in Austin, 645 S. Central Ave. in Austin.

For many medical professionals and public health experts, these initial inoculations have presented signs of hope, but they added that it could be a year before the vaccine is prevalent enough throughout the population to effectively put an end to the pandemic.

Considering recent developments, we’ve put together a helpful FAQ for our readers who may be interested in the current status of the COVID-19 pandemic and some next steps with respect to the vaccine.

Most of the information presented was pulled from public data compiled by the city of Chicago and a COVID-19 Vaccine Town Hall hosted virtually on Dec. 17 by Dr. Allison Arwady, the director of the Chicago Department of Public Health.

How many COVID-19 cases are we talking about?

Between March 1 and Dec. 17 in Chicago, there have been 187,416 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 2,181,367 tests performed and 3,850 deaths, according to public data available at the city’s COVID Dashboard.

During that time, the virus has disproportionately affected Black and Brown Chicagoans.

Blacks comprised 32,695 confirmed cases, 352,992 tests and 1,527 deaths. Meaning, Blacks comprised roughly 40 percent of the city’s total COSee VACCINE on page 9

Photo by Davon Clark

LEFT IN THE DARK: A portrait of Joseph Wilson sent to his mother by a friend t the Stateville Correctional Center. Wilson, an Austin native, died while he was incarcerated. His mother has questions for the state’s corrections department that have yet to be answered. Read the story by Injustice Watch on page 3.

Austin supermarket closes, residents stunned

Save A Lot was one of the last affordable grocery stores in the area, residents say

By PASCAL SABINO Block Club Chicago

Some West Side residents said they feel abandoned after a discount supermarket chain announced it would close a store

serving North Austin, cutting off a primary option for fresh food in the area.

Save A Lot, 5555 W. North Ave., is set to close permanently last weekend.

The move has left regular shoppers scrambling and frustrated West Side elected officials, who said the company could have sought their help to keep the location open.

Resident Linda Toles said the shelves have already been cleared out.

“We’re already a food desert. So they’re

going to close one of the stores? Their prices are lower than the other stores. So I don’t know why they’re closing,” Toles said.

Like much of the West Side, some parts of Austin are considered to be a food desert, where residents must travel miles to reach healthy, affordable food. A lack of healthy options is considered to be among the social conditions driving chronic See SAVE A LOT on page 9

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Austin Weekly News, December 23, 2020

Thank you to all of our readers Dear Readers, We’re excited to share that we met our NewsMatch goal, our Board Match goal, and now our Match Maker goal! These funds are absolutely critical to maintaining our Independent community newsrooms and will enable us to continue reporting across our seven neighborhoods.

To all of you who have already contributed: YOU made this happen and we are so grateful.

To those who have not yet given: There is still time to help out -- we’re not done yet! We’re introducing a stretch goal of $10,000, which will: • Cover costs of reporting this spring’s local elections, school and business re-openings, vaccine rollouts, and more across our Austin Weekly News, Forest Park Review, Riverside-Brookfield Landmark and Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest • Sustain our hyperlocal reporting as our local businesses recover from the effects of COVID-19 • Help us launch in early 2021 new, reader-friendly websites and newsletters to better serve readers in our seven communities We’re excited about our 2021 plans and know that, with your help, we can make them happen. Here’s how: We challenge you to ask just one friend — someone who values journalism like ours — to match the donation you made to the Weekly, the Journal, the Review and the Landmark! Ask them to go to [flag specific donation link] or give them the donation envelope in this week’s paper. But don’t delay: we have until Dec. 31 to meet this goal!

We thank all of you. We wish you all safe and joyful holidays. And join us with hope and optimism for the New Year!

With deep gratitude, Dan Haley Editor and Publisher Growing Community Media

To donate, visit www.growingcommunitymedia.com/donate

Austin Weekly News, December 23, 2020

Covid-19 hospitalizations at Illinois corrections department leave incarcerated peoples’ loved ones with unanswered questions

Left in the dark

By EMMA LUBITSCH Injustice Watch

This story was originally published by Injustice Watch. Sign up for Injustice Watch’s weekly email newsletter, here.

Cynthia McDonald’s son Joseph Wilson contracted Covid-19 in late March while serving a life sentence for first-degree murder and attempted robbery at the Stateville Correctional Center, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago. McDonald said she found out that he had been taken away from the prison in an ambulance when she received a phone call from her nephew, who’d been contacted by a prison guard who was a friend of Wilson’s.

But the mother, who lives in the Auburn Gresham community on Chicago’s South Side, said prison officials never formally notified her that Wilson had been hospitalized with the deadly virus. She also has alleged that corrections officials kept her in the dark as his health waned.

“It seems like they don’t care,” she said.

Robert Eyler got infected by Covid-19 in August. His mother, Terry Zahn, told Injustice Watch that she first found out when a nurse called as a favor to Eyler after prison officials hospitalized him. He had been serving a nine-year sentence at the Jacksonville Correctional Center in Morgan County for the manufacturing of methamphetamine.

“They could have at least had the decency to call me to tell me that he had gone to the hospital,” she said of prison officials. “It’s just not right.”

McDonald and Zahn eventually lost their sons to the virus.

Covid-19 has created incredible barriers for people navigating the final moments of a loved one’s life. McDonald and Zahn had the added burden of navigating Illinois’ embattled prison health care system during a pandemic. Their accounts highlight a long-standing problem of Illinois prison officials failing to inform families when their loved ones are hospitalized or fall ill. Advocates said the pandemic has made matters worse, as prison officials deal with an increased number of inmate deaths compared to last year.

The Illinois Department of Corrections has confirmed almost 9,000 cases of Covid-19 among staff and inmates to date. Fifty-two inmates have died from Covid-19 between March 29 and December 8. More than half of those deaths have come since the beginning of October.

Injustice Watch made numerous attempts to contact David Gomez, the warden at Stateville, where more inmates have died during the pandemic than at any other Illinois prison. Gomez would not agree to be interviewed about the family notification issues that McDonald faced. Instead, a member of Gomez’s staff directed Injustice Watch’s questions to state prison spokesperson Lindsey Hess.

Jacksonville Warden Gregg Scott answered the phone. But he declined to discuss policies or details about Zahn’s son’s case and also referred questions to Hess.

Injustice Watch sent Hess a list of detailed questions about the mothers’ allegations.

However, she did not answer specific questions about what McDonald and Zahn went through leading up to their sons’ final moments. We also asked Hess about the agency’s policies and procedures for informing family members that their loved ones in custody were sick or dying.

In an emailed statement, Hess said the agency has adopted a policy during the pandemic that directs either wardens, assistant wardens or a designee at prisons to notify the closest relative of an incarcerated person when the inmate is hospitalized.

However, both mothers interviewed by Injustice Watch said they heard about their sons’ hospitalizations from someone other than department officials. This kind of notification is not uncommon, said Corene Kendrick, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project.

“The things that I’ve seen happen most commonly is either compassionate hospital staff will contact the family, or the cellmates or friends of the incarcerated person will get in touch,” she said. “Rarely do we see families being contacted directly by a prison bureau.”

Sarah Grady, head of the Prisoners’ Rights Project at Loevy and Loevy, a Chicago-based civil rights law firm, sees this as a pervasive issue. “Frankly,” she said, “this is something we run into with almost every case, and this is not just isolated to the Covid context.”

The notification issues are “an age-old problem,” said Alan Mills, executive director of the Uptown People’s Law Center. Mills has represented thousands of Illinois prisoners in lawsuits against the corrections department.

He said that, while the corrections department typically does a sufficient job of notifying family members when a loved one dies, the department is not required by law to inform them when the incarcerated individual experienced severe, even life-threatening illness.

Several experts on prison litigation and corrections interviewed by Injustice Watch said corrections department officials typically cite medical privacy or security concerns when they withhold information from families.

Authorities’ failure to notify incarcerated people’s families is not isolated to prisons in

Illinois. Media reports from Maryland, Indiana and North Carolina have spotlighted the problem in other state prison systems amid the pandemic and prior to it.

Steve Martin, a leading corrections expert currently overseeing reforms at the Rikers Island prison complex in New York City, has examined prisons for nearly 50 years. He said the health notification concerns in Illinois are part of a broader pattern of failure across U.S. prison systems.

“It’s such a basic act of humanity that should be done by any governmental agency that is charged with managing confi ned persons,” he said. Martin said the problem is exacerbated by “a void in terms of standards and requirements on this issue.”

Neither the National Commission on Correctional Health Care nor the American Correctional Association offers any official guidance on how prison officials should communicate with sick inmates’ families.

‘They’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing’ Robert Eyler’s family knew him as “Bobby,” his mother said. He was born and raised in downstate Quincy, Illinois, and loved NASCAR. He had been serving time at the Jacksonville prison for a 2017 conviction for the possession and manufacture of methamphetamine drugs, court records show. When he died in custody at age 51, three years before his scheduled release date, he left behind four adult children and three grandchildren, including an 8-year-old granddaughter and two grandsons ages 2 and 6.

Zahn said she and her son were close. The pair spoke regularly, sometimes twice a day.

But in early August, Eyler called Zahn from the Jacksonville prison, terrified by the prison’s Covid-19 response, she said. “’They’re going to kill us,’” Zahn recalls him saying. “’They’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing.’”

His mother said he complained that guards weren’t wearing masks at the prison, and that inmates were only given the disposable face coverings once per week.

In an amended complaint filed in the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois’ eastern division in May, several incarcerated people at the Jacksonville prison complained that the corrections department was not enforcing Covid-19 protocols strictly enough, and that guards were often unmasked on duty. The lawsuit, originally filed in April, calls for improved conditions in Illinois prisons and the release of medically vulnerable individuals. Two attorneys interviewed for this article, Grady and Mills, are among the lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the suit.

Zahn said Eyler also feared that the busloads of incarcerated people brought from jails around the state would spread the virus at Jacksonville, which as of early August, had seen very few cases of Covid-19. Illinois Continued on next page

AUSTIN WEEKLY

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Austin Weekly News, December 23, 2020

STILL MOURNING: Cynthia McDonald, the mother of Joseph Wilson, holds a remembrance card for her son.

Continued from previous page Gov. J.B. Pritzker lifted the moratorium on jail transfers to state correctional facilities at the end of July after a Logan County judge struck down the ban, clearing the way for about 2,000 detainees to be moved into Illinois prisons. Pritzker had originally implemented the ban to slow the spread of the virus in the state’s prisons.

Before Eyler’s hospitalization, Zahn remembers that he called her complaining about shortness of breath and fatigue. The next day, Zahn said the usual call that she had come to expect from her son never came.

Instead, Zahn said, a nurse at a Springfield hospital called her at Eyler’s request and said he had contracted Covid-19 and was being treated there.

Zahn recalled that she was in contact with the nursing staff at the hospital until a nurse told her to direct further inquiries to the Jacksonville prison. She then called the correctional facility’s nursing department, where staff relayed her requests to Scott, the warden.

Scott then granted Zahn permission to receive updates about Eyler’s condition directly from hospital staff, according to the mother. Zahn had power of attorney over Eyler, she said, allowing her access to her son’s medical records and updates about his condition through his monthlong hospital stay.

Zahn remembered a doctor at the hospital calling her Sept. 20 to say that her son’s condition was unstable, and that he would likely die. Eyler had been on a ventilator for 28 days, Zahn said.

Prison officials granted Zahn and her daughter permission to see Eyler at the hospital, according to the mother. When they arrived in the intensive care unit, Zahn said, the hospital staff provided them with paper gowns and masks, and they were able to spend Eyler’s final moments with him.

Zahn hosted a funeral for her son Oct. 3 with close family and friends in Quincy, Illinois. Eyler was buried in a NASCAR urn.

Zahn, laughing over the phone, remembered a country music song her family played at the funeral by Merle Haggard and recited the lyrics: “’Turned 21 in prison doing life without parole, no one could steer me right, but momma tried.’”

Davon Clark

“And I tried for Bobby,” she said. “I really did.”

“Nobody else’s family should have to go through what I went through and what Bobby went through,” she said.

‘There were so many unknowns that I just don’t have any closure’ Joseph Wilson grew up in the Austin community, on Chicago’s West Side. Wilson had two step-children and is also survived by a wife who lives in Ohio, and his mother, McDonald, who said she was close with her son and typically spoke with him at least once per week.

McDonald described him as “a happy-golucky person” and said she had received an outpouring of support from Wilson’s friends in prison since his death, one of whom sent her a hand-drawn portrait of Wilson, who was 44 when he died. Wilson had been in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections since his conviction in 1998 for the August 1995 shooting of William Burra during an armed robbery on the West Side. Wilson was 19 when prosecutors said he pulled the trigger, according to court records.

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The Stateville Correctional Center, where Wilson was serving a life sentence, was the site of the first major outbreak of Covid-19 in the state prison system. More people incarcerated at Stateville have died from the virus than any other Illinois prison, according to department data obtained by Injustice Watch.

McDonald said after a correctional officer at Stateville informally tipped off Wilson’s family that he was sick in late March, she called Stateville repeatedly, hoping to speak with a nurse or Gomez, the warden, to learn what hospital her son had been taken to and what condition he was in.

McDonald said staff at Stateville gave her the run-around when she called looking for answers. She alleged that she was bounced around from person to person without being given any substantive information for several days. McDonald recalled eventually finding out from his wife where her son was being treated, at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in nearby Joliet. But his wife also remembers having a hard time getting information.

Deborah Wilson, who was married to Wilson for 17 years before he died, said she was authorized to receive health information and notifications about her husband’s well-being from the Illinois Department of Corrections. But she alleged that the department never notified her of Wilson’s illness or hospitalization. Instead, Wilson said she found out from the wife of another inmate who called her to tell her the news.

McDonald and Deborah Wilson said they received news of Wilson’s eventual death from the staff at the hospital where he was being treated on April 13. McDonald remains suspicious of the circumstances around Wilson’s death, wondering whether anything more could have been done to help her son.

Coping with Wilson’s death has been especially hard for McDonald, she said, given how poorly prison officials communicated with his loved ones when he first got sick.

“I don’t think my son should be dead,” McDonald said. “There were so many un-

knowns that I just don’t have any closure.”

Losing a loved one can be even more challenging when people think that the deceased suffered before they died, according to experts on grief and bereavement. Dr. Katherine M. Shear, director of the Center for Complicated Grief at Columbia University’s School of Social Work, said, “losing a child, losing someone to Covid, and losing someone in a situation where you feel that there was an injustice” can put people at an increased risk of developing prolonged grief disorder.

In an emailed statement, department spokesperson Hess said the department “investigates any and all allegations” of facilities failing to follow policies for notifying families when their incarcerated loved one is hospitalized during the pandemic.

Corrections officials “welcome any information that would help ensure transparent communication is being provided to the families of men and women in custody,” according to the statement.

But Hess did not answer questions about McDonald’s and Zahn’s specific cases or say whether the department was investigating their allegations.

Camille Bennett, director of the Corrections Reform Project at the ACLU of Illinois, said it would take pressure on the Illinois Department of Corrections from state lawmakers to force the agency to better communicate with families when their incarcerated loved ones get sick.

“In order for us to see some change with the family contact issue, there needs to be some additional legislative action or a general outcry from the public,” she said.

Injustice Watch spoke with Illinois state Rep. Kelly Cassidy of Illinois’ 14th District about allegations that prison officials failed to promptly notify incarcerated people’s loved ones that the inmates had been hospitalized with Covid-19. Cassidy is a co-sponsor of a bill that would require the Illinois Department of Corrections to notify families about the cause of death when someone dies in state custody.

Cassidy said she was not familiar with the family contact issue as it pertains to hospitalizations. But she said the concerns raised might beg an important question about the state’s Covid-19 response: “What did we do to ensure that [incarcerated] people could remain connected to their families?”

“We’re going to have a lot of these conversations in our next session about what we’ve learned from the Covid-19 crisis and how it will help us operate more humanely moving forward,” she said when Injustice Watch asked whether she’d consider addressing the family notification problem via future legislation.

McDonald said she wants to see more urgency from elected officials.

“I think that there should have been something in place already,” she said. “People die and get sick in [prison] all the time. This shouldn’t be something that they’re just thinking about now because of Covid.”

CONTACT: michael@austinweeklynews.com

Garfield Park group gives residents tips to avoid cutoffs

Garfield Park Community Council teamed with Citizens Utility Board during Dec. 17 virtual forum on utility bill assistance

By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter

On Dec. 17, the Garfield Park Community Council and the Citizens Utility Board held a virtual forum letting residents know about resources that can help them pay their utility bills, a particularly important topic now that winter has set in.

The Citizens Utility Board is a nonprofit that was established by the Illinois General Assembly in 1984 to serve as consumer advocates.

Although Illinois has placed a moratorium on disconnections, Aimee Gendusa-English, the Utility Board’s lead service liaison, explained that, as soon as the moratorium is lifted, the utility companies will first go after

the customers who haven’t paid anything on their bills and recommended that customers try to pay as much on their bills as they can.

“If they haven’t gotten any payments, if they haven’t gotten any calls, you’re going to be on the top of the list for disconnections [once the moratorium is over],” GendusaEnglish said. “It’s what they do. They go after no-pays first.”

Gendusa-English added that, once the moratorium ends, energy company’s repayment plans may not be as generous as they are now.

Gendusa-English suggested that residents who need help with their energy bills apply for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), a federal program administered by the states. The program provides emergency financial assistance to low-income residents who need help paying bills. In response to the pandemic, the program’s income limits have been temporarily raised and the state is allowing residents to start applying online.

The tricky part about the process, Gendusa-English explained, is that while the state handles the pre-applications, it contracts with local administering agencies to help

distribute the funds.

For Cook County, that local administering agency is the Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County (CEDA), a nonprofit organization. The state website warns that, due to greater need during the pandemic, wait times are longer than usual.

The application requires proof of income, which means that some applicants may be required to submit more documents than others, Gendusa-English said, adding that while the utility companies set up bill payment assistance programs of their own in response to the pandemic, many of them require customers successfully apply for LIHEAP first.

If there are any issues with the utility companies, Gendusa-English recommended calling the Illinois Commerce Commission at (800) 524-0795. They can also call the Citizen Utility Board’s help line at (800) 669-5556.

One thing she would not advise is calling 3-1, saying that they would probably direct callers to the state or CEDA, anyway.

CONTACT: igorst3@hotmail.com

Season’s Greetings

COMMUNITY

Austin Weekly News, December 23, 2020

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Austin Weekly News, December 23, 2020

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West Side Lives

Rev. Walter Jones, tireless West Side advocate

By KELLY MILAN Contributing Reporter

Rev. Walter Jones Jr. is the associate minister at New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, 4301 W Washington Blvd., and executive director of Fathers Who Care. Rev. Jones is also the director and founder of the West Side and West Garfield Park Community Stakeholders, director and founder of the West Garfield Park Youth Council and chairman of the National FaithBased Prevention Alliance.

I recently spoke to Rev. Jones about the organizations he founded, his life on the West Side and other pressing issues, such as the community’s response to the COVID-19 vaccine.

How Fathers Who Care started

Proud to partner with Austin Talks

It started up as a think tank under Congressman Danny K. Davis.

Between 1998 and 2000, a group of men came together who were concerned about the images of Black men, particularly as fathers on the West Side of Chicago. Our fight at that time was to dispel negativity associated with being a father.

At that time, there was no program or services available for fathers. They were always dedicated to mothers and we don’t have a problem with that. Mothers are instrumental in the lives of their children, but we believed then, as we do now, that fathers are just as important in the lives of their children and can make an impact on their lives in the community.

tion in place of my dad. It has always been in my spirit. I wanted to do whatever I could for whoever needed the support and it really started out with men: empowered men, supported men, enlightened men, engaged men and that’s how it blossomed to where we are today.

On the impact of Fathers Who Care The impact we have brought about in our community is rather robust, to say the least.

You know we do believe that the absence of fathers contributes to substance abuse for young people and mental health issues for young people.

We have the West Side Community Stakeholders and we have the West Side Department Youth Council. We are out in the community every day with collaboration and with sector-partisan community stakeholders to bring about social change and community development.

For example, we have five Christmas events this week.

We have one on Friday, where we will be providing food to 200 fathers.

On Saturday, we are providing intervention and support, providing personal hygienics among other things, for women who have children who are formerly incarcerated.

Then, on Sunday, we are going to be out on the West Side of Chicago servicing homeless folks who are living under viaducts in tents.

We are going to bring out a mobile unit out there to assist the folks with medical issues, such as COVID-19 testing and to give out coats, hats, scarves and winter gear.

REV. WALTER JONES

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On growing up without a father I grew up on the West side of Chicago in West Garfield Park. My father passed when I was young. Unfortunately, at the age of 14, my father transitioned to be with the Lord.

There has always been a thorn on my side … and a void in my life [because of his father’s absence]. So, I sought to create an organiza-

On the COVID-19 vaccine We were actually part of the press conference on the West Side a couple of weeks ago trying to make sure that people of color, particularly on the West Side who have been strongly impacted by COVID-19, [get the vaccine]. So, I’ve been playing an instrumental role in trying to make sure we bring testing sites, contact tracing and vaccinations to the West Side of Chicago.

I am really thankful that Mayor Lightfoot and other folks involved were able to administer the first five doses to frontline workers at Loretto Hospital. I am part of the advisory group at Loretto. I am really excited that they were able to bring those resources into our community, because we desperately need them.

CONTACT: michael@austinweeklynews.com

Austin Weekly News, December 23, 2020

NEED TO REACH US?

Call Editor Michael Romain at 773-626-6332 michael@austinweeklynews.com

C

Merry COVID-free Christmas!

hristmas can’t come soon enough!

I’ve done all my shopping and just have a few gifts left to wrap. That is an amazing accomplishment for me because I am normally the wrapping-Christmas-morningperson.

One of the main reasons for this personal phenomenon is COVID-19. Shopping has been limited to only a few stores.

Several weeks ago I wrote about all the “Amazon return stores” that exist in the Chicagoland area. I have made a killing at those stores, even when the items were reduced to $0.50.

I’ve managed to find some really great things. I could literally budget $10 a person and have a minimum of 5-6 nice, useful gifts for the person.

This second wave of COVID-19 has hit closer to home than the first time around, way back in March. Several close family members caught it. Thankfully, they recovered. But it was scary to know that someone

in my immediate family had contracted it.

Several of my very close friends also had family members diagnosed with it. Thankfully, those individuals have recovered as well.

Even though I’ve gone through all my normal holiday motions, I really don’t feel a true Christmas spirit. I have my Santa’s elf hat and will soon switch to my red Santa hat. I have the reindeer ornaments on my car lit up with LED lights that run off the USB port in my car. I play my Nat King Cole Christmas Is For Children songs, but the magic that is Christmas is still eluding me.

I need a bit of snow on the ground to really feel like Christmas. There is something about the sound of the crunch of the frozen snow and the slush covering my feet that really says Christmas to me. Based on weather reports I’ve seen, this will not be a white Christmas.

I have a small electronic water globe shaped like a Christmas tree. I placed that

ARLENE JONES

on the mantle above the fireplace. I put a few decorations up around the house, but I didn’t go all out. One of the things I purposely do, is wish people a Merry Christmas. Since I haven’t been in the malls, and the stores that I shopped at really didn’t play Christmas music, it has been a missing feature in my shopping experience. Instead I’ve heard constant reminders of “Do not open the boxes.”

I stopped by my daughter’s house and can appreciate that she really has done up the house for my grandkids for Christmas. The live tree is up and many of my Christmas decorations have mysteriously appeared in her house. Seeing all she did shows that to get into the Christmas spirit, we have to do a lot of the physical things to bring about a Christmas-y environment. I’m again having to make the “next year I’ll do better” promise, but there is no guarantee.

One thing that will make Christmas very special is that after the Thanksgiving gatherings, there was no major surge in COVID-19. For once we can appreciate the experts being wrong.

So have a Merry COVID-19 Free Christmas!

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Austin Weekly News, December 23, 2020

A shroomery blooms on the West Side Windy City Mushroom offers tasty variety of flavorful fungus

By PASCAL SABINO Block Club Chicago

A new West Side shroom shop is working to bring a wider and tastier variety of flavorful fungus to Chicago.

After originally selling gourmet mushrooms only to local restaurants and chefs, Windy City Mushroom has opened up shop at 3125 W. Chicago Ave. to make its organic selection of mushrooms available directly to consumers.

“If you’re lucky, you can find these if you go foraging,” said Guy Furman, Windy City Mushroom founder. “You can get your hands on them. But most people definitely will never have bought these in the supermarket or at a restaurant before.”

Furman’s mushrooms have a range of flavors and satisfying textures, which makes them desirable even to people put off by the bland, Styrofoam-y button caps found in most supermarkets, he said.

The shop’s varieties of oyster mushrooms are a bestseller since they are the easiest mushrooms to work with and the type people tend to be familiar with, Furman said.

These mushrooms are often served on pizza, sautéed or cooked with pasta, he said.

“It’s got a good texture, but it’s absorbing all the flavor because it’s not thick and

Photos provided

FLAVORFUL: Specialty mushrooms grown by Windy City Mushrooms, a new shroom shop located at 3125 W. Chicago Ave. dense,” Furman said.

Furman’s chestnut mushrooms and pioppino mushrooms have small caps and long, fleshy stems with “totally unique flavors and textures” that make them excellent meat substitutes, he said.

Beneath the bizarre speckled appearance of the chestnut mushroom is a delicate earthy flavor and a crispness resembling the snap of a green bean.

Furman enjoys the pioppino mushrooms raw because of their unique spicy flavor.

“I don’t find that in any of the other mushrooms. That spice, I don’t want to cover that

up with sauces,” he said.

The lion’s mane mushroom can also be used as a meat substitute. The bulbous, hairy-looking cap of the lion’s mane resembles cauliflower, and it can be sliced up like medallions of steak.

“You get the best of both worlds. It tastes great, and it’s got these additional benefits, and can be a meat substitute. It’s so thick you can eat it like you’re eating pork or chicken,” Furman said.

The mushrooms showcase a previously untapped potential for mushrooms in Chicago’s food scene and in the kitchens of home cooks, Furman said.

“They all have kind of unique culinary properties. So, depending on what you’re looking for, … they all serve a purpose,” Furman said.

To bring these gourmet shrooms to the Chicago market, Windy City Mushroom had to overcome operational challenges with growing them at scale.

Most of the mushrooms take longer to colonize and need a more elaborate setup to

keep them safe, Furman said.

There are also relatively few commercial growers of specialty mushrooms. That means there are few playbooks from which to take a page for dealing with the unique needs of these gourmet mushrooms. It also means there aren’t many established techniques for growing them, and there are few suppliers for the necessary equipment.

“A lot of it is just do-it-yourself. And there’s always a learning curve and things go wrong and you got to fix things,” he said.

But the benefit to being one of the only commercial growers in the local market is Furman has “no competition in many of the products,” he said.

Furman hopes to make the specialty mushrooms available at local supermarkets like Whole Foods and Mariano’s in the future.

Pascal Sabino is a Report for America corps member covering Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park for Block Club Chicago.

CONTACT: pascal@blockclubchi.org

Austin Weekly News, December 23, 2020

VACCINE

Questions answered from page 1 VID-19 deaths.

Latinx people comprised 66,700 confirmed cases, 359,354 tests and 1,308 deaths, or roughly 34 percent of the city’s total COVID-19 deaths.

Non-Latinx whites comprised 32,239 confirmed cases, 443,141 tests and 797 deaths, or around 21 percent of the city’s total COVID-19 deaths.

The city has also released cumulative data by zip code. The four main zip codes that cover Austin, North Lawndale and West Garfield Park include: 60644, 60651, 60624 and 60612.

In 60644, between March 1 and Dec. 12, there were 2,879 confirmed cases, 33,239 tests performed and 102 deaths.

In 60651, there were 5,390 confirmed cases, 40,710 tests performed and 99 deaths during that time period.

In 60624, there were 2,262 confirmed cases, 21,965 tests performed and 46 deaths during that time period.

And In 60612, there were 2,441 confirmed cases, 34,185 tests performed and 47 deaths during that time period.

How full are hospital ICU’s near me?

The New York Times recently published an interactive map based on U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data that shows Intensive Care Unit capacity for hospitals across the country.

According to the data, Loretto Hospital in Austin has an ICU occupancy of 44 percent, with six COVID-19 patients and nine available ICU beds.

Mt. Sinai Health Hospital Medical Center in North Lawndale has an ICU occupancy of 100 percent, with 34 COVID-19 patients and no available ICU beds.

Saint Anthony Hospital in North Lawndale has an ICU occupancy of 57 percent, with 36 COVID-19 patients and 15 available ICU beds.

How many vaccine doses does Chicago have?

The city currently has 23,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which it will reserve for the city’s approximately health care workers. According to Arwady, the Moderna vaccine is currently being considered for approval.

Should I worry about getting an allergic reaction to the vaccine?

According to Arwady, there were two people in the United Kingdom and one person in Alaska who had severe allergic reactions after receiving the vaccine.

“That’s a big deal when that happens,” Arwady said. “People who have a history of severe allergic reactions often will carry an EpiPen [an epinephrine injection].”

Arwady recommended that people who have severe allergies should consult their doctor about the vaccine, but she emphasized that “there’s not been a recommendation that you should not get vaccinated” for those with only seasonal allergies or pet allergies.

9

Anyone who is vaccinated is typically monitored for 15 to 30 minutes. They’re also questioned and counseled about their medical history. Severe allergic reactions come within the first few minutes after the vaccine is administered, she said.

“We expect that to happen to” a small amount of people after vaccination, Arwady said, referencing allergic reactions. “It’s something we prepare for to be rare. It’s not a reason to be afraid of the vaccine.”

Are there differences between the Pfizer and Modern vaccines?

“There are a few differences between these vaccines, but not very big ones … based on what I’ve read,” Arwady said. Federal and local health experts are constantly reviewing the vaccines, she said, “but at the highest level, they’re very similar.”

The main difference, she explained, is how the vaccines are stored. The two companies figured out ways to put the essential molecule that’s key to the vaccine stable.

“The Pfizer vaccine has to be kept in ultracold temperatures, whereas the Moderna vaccine … has to be frozen, but not ultra-cold, and that’s very good news,” she said. “So, we expect to use the Moderna vaccine in Chicago in our long-term care facilities and outpatient facilities that are less likely to have ultra-cold [equipment] and the Pfizer vaccine” will be primarily in facilities with ultra-cold equipment.

“The other major difference is, in the trials, the Pfizer vaccine requires two doses 21 days apart and the Moderna vaccine requires two doses 28 days apart,” she said. “It will be important that people get their second dose of vaccine with the same manufacturer.”

If you have asthma, can you take the vaccine?

And what are some of the side effects?

“The answer is yes,” Arwady said, adding that the vaccine “doesn’t have any COVID-19 virus in it.”

The most side-effects have been a sore arm while some people have reported flu-like symptoms, such as chills and muscle aches.

“That is the process of your immune system learning what COVID looks like and learning how to protect you against COVID without ever making you sick,” she said.

“In the trials,” she said, there were people who had underlying medical conditions, but the vaccine had similar effectiveness across people with and without underlying conditions and “across race and ethnicity groups, and across age groups.”

Arwady added that she recommends someone with asthma or other underlying conditions take the vaccine to improve the risk-benefit ratio. So, for someone with underlying conditions, it’s riskier not to get the vaccine than to get it, she explained.

How long will the vaccine stay effective?

“We don’t know yet, is the bottom line,” Arwady said. In the trials, people were followed for only two months, but added that vaccine experts are hopeful that it has “fairly longlasting immunity.”

CONTACT: michael@austinweeklynews.com

XXXXX/Contributor

ABANDONED: The closure of Save A Lot leaves Austin, a community of roughly 100,000 people, with one less grocery store in an area that is already a food desert.

SAVE A LOT Closing from page 1 health disparities that shorten the average life expectancy for Black Chicagoans by almost nine years compared to white residents.

There is a Food-4-Less a mile west on North Avenue, an Aldi in neighboring Belmont Cragin and several supermarkets in the surrounding affluent suburbs. But the closure will force many residents to leave their immediate neighborhood to get food, which will be especially hard for families for families without a car who relied on the convenient location of the Save A Lot, Toles said.

“It’s going to be rough,” Toles said. “And it’s on a main street where people can get there … they got bus stops right there.”

Resident Maretta Brown-Miller frequents the Save A Lot to pick up groceries in between bigger shopping trips to her preferred supermarket farther away. She worries the closure will most significantly impact seniors in the neighborhood, who benefitted from having a store within walking distance.

“You have to understand that some people don’t have vehicles. And then the older people, it’s just a little walk,” BrownMiller said.

Austin is one of the most populated neighborhoods in Chicago, with nearly 100,000 residents — that’s more than enough people in need of food “to sustain a grocery store,” Brown-Miller said.

Save A Lot spokeswoman Sarah Griffin did not give any explanation for why the chain closed its Austin location. She said the company “regularly [reviews] our stores on a number of factors.”

Local elected officials also are criticizing the company for closing a store in the middle of a pandemic that has hit area residents disproportionately hard.

During the George Floyd protests over the summer, State Rep. La Shawn Ford saw just how impactful the loss of a food

resource can be when several local supermarkets shut down temporarily after being looted.

“It’s definitely going to be very difficult for folks who don’t have access to transportation,” Ford said.

The closing supermarket is indicative of a larger problem with national chains profiting from Black communities, but showing no loyalty to residents when times get tough, Ford said.

“The commitment to the people in Austin has gone away. It starts with someone coming in and having a commitment to the community. We see that is not the case when you have a place like Save A Lot close down,” he said.

Ford recommends Chicagoans support small, local businesses “that care about the neighborhood” rather than national chains.

The state has dedicated resources for helping struggling businesses in communities in dire need, and could have explored offering public money to help keep the Save A Lot open, Ford said. But Save A Lot’s leadership never contacted Ford to seek assistance from the state government, he said.

“I believe the state could help. I believe the city could help,” Ford said. “If they really cared about the community, they would have had a community meeting to say, here’s what we need.”

Ald. Emma Mitts (37th) also lamented that the grocery chain, which owns 1,300 stores across 36 states, never made any effort to reach out to her.

“I’ve attempted to arrange meetings with their store management team to explore possible intervention options, but as of today, have received little response,” Mitts said. “The last thing we need now is to lose a local grocery serving areas already challenged as food deserts right before the holidays.”

Pascal Sabino is a Report for America corps member covering Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park for Block Club Chicago.

CONTACT: pascal@blockclubchi.org

10

Austin Weekly News, December 23, 2020

deadline: 9:30 am Monday office hours: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Monday – Friday

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LEGAL NOTICE STATE OF ILLINOIS) COUNTY OF COOK )ss Circuit Court of Cook County, County Department, Domestic Relations Division.

The requisite affidavit for publication having been filed, notice is hereby given to you, the above named Respondent, that a Petition has been filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, by the Petitioner, for Dissolution of Marriage and for other relief; and that said suit is now pending.

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PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y20005307 on December 4, 2020 Under the Assumed Business Name of TRINKETS with the business located at: 401 N LAWLER, CHICAGO, IL 60644.

The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/ partner(s) is: LAVERN HERRON 401 N LAWLER, CHICAGO, IL 60644, USA.

In re the marriage of MELODY JACKSON, Petitioner and JOHN W. JACKSON JR., Respondent, Case No. 2105 D 430340.

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Now, therefore, unless you, the said Respondent, file your response to said Petition or otherwise make your appearance therein, in the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Room 802, Richard J. Daley Center, 50 West Washington Street, in the City of Chicago, Illinois, on or before January 22, 2021, default may be entered against you at any time after that day, and a judgment for Dissolution of Marriage entered in accordance with the prayer of said Petition.

DOROTHY A. BROWN, Clerk.

Published in Austin Weekly News 12/23, 12/30/2020, 1/6/2021

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REAL ESTATE FOR SALE IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY, AS TRUSTEE FOR GSAMP TRUST 2006-HE1 Plaintiff, -v.JERMAINE BEARD, CITY OF CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF WATER, HARRIS N.A., CITY OF CHICAGO, NHS REDEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, UNKNOWN OWNERS AND CLAIMANTS Defendants 18 CH 09518 1049 S. MAYFIELD AVENUE CHICAGO, IL 60644 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on January 16, 2020, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on January 14, 2021, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 1049 S. MAYFIELD AVENUE, CHICAGO, IL 60644 Property Index No. 16-17-407-0160000 The real estate is improved with a single family residence.

The judgment amount was $250,909.08.

Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial Sale fee for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/ or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court.

Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale.

The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information.

If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required

by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4).

If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1).

IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales.

For information, Alexander Potestivo, POTESTIVO & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Plaintiff’s Attorneys, 223 WEST JACKSON BLVD, STE 610, Chicago, IL, 60606 (312) 263-0003.

Please refer to file number 111928.

THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales.

POTESTIVO & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 223 WEST JACKSON BLVD, STE 610 Chicago IL, 60606 312-263-0003 E-Mail: ilpleadings@potestivolaw. com Attorney File No. 111928 Attorney Code. 43932 Case Number: 18 CH 09518 TJSC#: 40-368 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Case # 18 CH 09518 I3155750

OF AMERICA - DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, UNKNOWN HEIRS AND LEGATEES OF ROSIE L. WILLIAMS, UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS, JULIE FOX, AS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR ROSIE L. WILLIAMS (DECEASED) Defendants 2019CH11669 5442 W KAMERLING AVENUE CHICAGO, IL 60651 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on November 12, 2020, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on January 13, 2021, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 5442 W KAMERLING AVENUE, CHICAGO, IL 60651 Property Index No. 16-04-117-0280000 The real estate is improved with a single family residence.

Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial Sale fee for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/ or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours. No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition. The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court.

Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale.

Where a sale of real estate is made to satisfy a lien prior to that of the United States, the United States shall have one year from the date of sale within which to redeem, except that with respect to a lien arising under the internal revenue laws the period shall be 120 days or the period allowable for redemption under State law, whichever is longer, and in any case in which, under the provisions of section 505 of the Housing Act of 1950, as amended (12 U.S.C. 1701k), and subsection (d) of section 3720 of title 38 of the United States Code, the right to redeem does not arise, there shall be no right of redemption.

The property will NOT be open for inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION AMERICAN ADVISORS GROUP Plaintiff, -v.A B WILLIAMS, UNITED STATES

Austin Weekly News, December 23, 2020

(773) 626-6332 | FAX: (708) 467-9066 | E-MAIL: CLASSIFIEDS@AUSTINWEEKLYNEWS.COM

Public Notice: Your right to know

CLASSIFIEDS

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• In print • Online • Available 24 /7/365 AustinWeekly News.com PublicNotice Illinois.com REAL ESTATE FOR SALE verify all information.

If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required

by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4).

If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1).

IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales.

For information, examine the court file, CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Plaintiff’s Attorneys, 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100, BURR RIDGE, IL, 60527 (630) 794-9876 THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales.

CODILIS & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 15W030 NORTH FRONTAGE ROAD, SUITE 100 BURR RIDGE IL, 60527 630-794-5300 E-Mail: pleadings@il.cslegal.com Attorney File No. 14-19-08710 Attorney ARDC No. 00468002 Attorney Code. 21762 Case Number: 2019CH11669 TJSC#: 40-2442 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Case # 2019CH11669 I3161385

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12

Austin Weekly News, December 23, 2020

Merry Christmas, Seasons Greetings & A Safe, Happy New Year!

best wishes to all!

“Unity in the Community”

Alderman Emma Mitts, 37th Ward

S W NE

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H S A FL

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