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Kelly Bauer Profile picture
Kelly Bauer
@BauerJournalism
@BlockClubChi senior editor. Tips: BauerJournalism@Gmail.com
May 13, 2024 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: Two Loretto executives worked together to steal nearly $500,000 from the safety-net hospital, which is meant to serve the poorest Chicagoans, according to a criminal complaint.

One of the execs now charged.

blockclubchicago.org/2024/05/13/for… The charges come amid an FBI investigation into Loretto after Block Club Chicago and the Better Government Association revealed questionable practices at the hospital — including the misuse of COVID-19 vaccines.

Read all the stories: blockclubchicago.org/loretto-vaccin…
Nov 9, 2022 • 25 tweets • 4 min read
Pritzker, set for victory: "Tonight, you made history. Four years ago, I told you that we would think big, that we'd write a new playbook, that we would put gov't back on the side of working families, that we would be bold. And we didn't waste any time. We raised the minimum ... "wage to a livable wage. We guaranteed a woman's right to choose. We balanced the budget, paid all our overdue bills and got six credit upgrades. ... And we legalized cannabis."
May 25, 2022 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
A reminder:

• ~60% of "crime guns" taken in by Chi police are bought in other states where laws are more lenient: chicago.gov/content/dam/ci…

• The feds "let some of the Chicago area’s most notorious gun sellers off the hook for serious violations": chicago.suntimes.com/2022/4/15/2302… • Though folks often say Chicago has the strictest gun laws, experts have said Chicago's laws are actually similar to those of other big cities.

It's hard to compare laws between cities, but NY and LA actually have some restrictions that are tougher than Chicago's.
Jan 20, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Arwady is going through a lot of the information she shared yesterday: We appear to be coming down from a peak, but our numbers remain high, etc. Arwady sharing data showing how hospitalizations remain high. Said she's particularly worried about folks 80+, who are seeing a lot of hospitalizations are not as vaccinated as she'd like.
Jan 20, 2022 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
NEW: The Center for COVID Control got $124 million from the feds — while telling workers to lie about results, keeping tests in unrefrigerated garbage bags around the office and processing tests late, ex-employees say.

READ: blockclubchicago.org/2022/01/20/cen… Former Center for COVID Control employees said the company couldn't keep up with tests, so it left them in garbage bags, unrefrigerated, around the office. Still processed them, eventually.

They worry that led to false negatives.

blockclubchicago.org/2022/01/20/cen…
Jan 20, 2022 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Was watching @WGNNews last night when I head @patrickelwood quote my Center for COVID Control stories — word for word at points — without providing any credit or reference to Block Club.

I've worked for WEEKS on these stories.

This is unacceptable. This is plagiarism. I am so disappointed in @WGNNews. Block Club is a small, nonprofit newsroom.

It is HARD for us to spare the resources needed for me to investigate this, but we do it because it's important.

To not provide credit and to steal entire sentences, facts, etc. is unacceptable.
Jan 19, 2022 • 21 tweets • 3 min read
Gov. JB Pritzker now giving a COVID-19 update for Illinois. Tweeting updates.

You can watch here: illinois.gov/LiveVideo Pritzker: "The Omicron surge has tested and proven, once again, that vaccines and masks are our best tools to keep most people safe from each variant of COVID-19." But it caused more COVID hospitalizations than ever before; the majority of them in unvaccinated people.
Jan 19, 2022 • 29 tweets • 4 min read
Dr. Allison Arwady says Chicago has officially passed its Omicron peak.

We're not out of the woods. It's really important over these next few weeks & months we continue to work hard on getting folks vaccinated, tested, wear masks, etc.

... "However, I'm really pleased to have seen this turnaround."

She says our cases are definitely decreasing, as is our positivity rate.
Jan 19, 2022 • 48 tweets • 6 min read
NEW: Minnesota Attorney General's Office has filed a lawsuit against two COVID-related companies that did testing there.

Announcement is 12:30. Check back for details.

Our reporting on pop-ups:

blockclubchicago.org/2021/12/29/cov…

blockclubchicago.org/2022/01/11/be-…

blockclubchicago.org/2022/01/13/cen… BREAKING: The Center For COVID Control faked test results, the Minnesota Attorney General says in a new lawsuit.

blockclubchicago.org/2022/01/19/cen…
Jan 18, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Arwady: Numbers are still "extremely high."

But we're seeing decline, and we're seeing cases *and* positivity go down. "You know things are getting better." Arwady: Testing has actually dropped down a bit, which goes along with fewer symptomatic people. But still at high levels.
Jan 13, 2022 • 13 tweets • 6 min read
EXCLUSIVE: The Center for COVID Control opened pop-up testing sites across the US.

Now, it's temporarily closing amid federal+state investigations & mounting complaints.

I got a copy of the federal report. It says the chain wasted 40,000 tests — & more: blockclubchicago.org/2022/01/13/cen… People going to Center for COVID Control sites have reported getting negatives — only to get a positive elsewhere. Others have never gotten results, or gotten them so late the test was useless. Some people who didn’t even test were still sent results.

blockclubchicago.org/2022/01/13/cen…
Jan 12, 2022 • 17 tweets • 3 min read
Gov. JB Pritzker has a COVID-19 update for Illinois at 1:30 p.m. I'll follow.

Follow for updates and let me know if you have questions.

Yesterday's update for Chicago: blockclubchicago.org/2022/01/11/has… Pritzker: With record hospitalizations, priority is making vaccinations, boosters and masks widely available.
Jan 11, 2022 • 30 tweets • 5 min read
Dr. Allison Arwady, head of Chicago's health department, is giving a COVID update at 1 p.m. I'll live tweet.

Follow for updates and let me know if you have questions.

Yesterday's numbers: blockclubchicago.org/2022/01/10/som… You can watch here:
Jan 11, 2022 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
Arwady: "There are some signs of promise in terms of the Omicron surge here. ... I want to be very clear here that we need to see signs of progress for a number of days here." Arwady: "I continue to see signs of progress here, but it is too soon to be clearly saying that we're turning around. However, let us celebrate good news where we see it, which is that we are averaging 4,793 cases a day right now, which is down 8% from last week."
Dec 23, 2021 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
• 5,200+ COVID-19 cases detected in Chicago in the past 24 hours — a new record.

• Nearly 19,000 cases found in Illinois in the past 24 hours — also a new record.

• Chicago's positivity rate was at 4.9% Monday. Now, it's at 8.6%.

blockclubchicago.org/2021/12/23/eve… We're firmly in a fifth wave of COVID-19 in Chicago, and it is one that has seen cases and positivity rates rapidly increase at a time when hospitalizations and deaths *were already up* due to a post-Thanksgiving surge.

blockclubchicago.org/2021/12/23/eve…
Dec 23, 2021 • 23 tweets • 3 min read
Arwady: "I am very worried about the hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans who have not" gotten vaccinated yet. Arwady: There is vaccine. You might not be able to get an appointment today because of the holidays, but there are vaccine doses available and you can get your shorts.
Dec 23, 2021 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
I have discovered a cookbook my grandma had from 1954. The contents are a crime against humanity.

This ... is liverwurst pineapple.

With stuffed olives. (The recipe, for you foodies.)
Dec 22, 2021 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
A fifth wave of COVID-19 is hitting Chicago.

• City just reported most cases EVER detected in 24 hours: 4,641.

• Illinois just hit 2 million+ confirmed cases.

• Officials expect post-Christmas/NYE surge in cases on top of this from people gathering.

blockclubchicago.org/2021/12/22/omi… • COVID-19 deaths are up: COVID-19 is killing an average of nine Chicagoans daily. Illinois as a whole reported 66 COVID-19 deaths in past 24 hours.

• Hospitalizations up — and majority of patients are unvaccinated. Hospitals fear being overwhelmed.

blockclubchicago.org/2021/12/22/chi…
Dec 21, 2021 • 101 tweets • 14 min read
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Dr. Allison Arwady will have a news conference and COVID-19 update t 1:30 p.m.

I'll live tweet. Follow for updates and let me know if you have questions. You'll be able to watch here:
Dec 21, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
COVID-19 vaccines will be required at all indoor Chicago businesses in the new year, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is expected to announce today. buff.ly/3spch5Z

Her news conference is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Check back here for live tweets and updates. • Average daily COVID-19 cases are up 79% in the past week in Chicago, hitting 1,776/day.

• City's positivity rate is at 7.3%, up from 4.1% a week ago.

• Chicago averaging 10 residents dying per day from COVID-19. Highest since last winter's surge.

buff.ly/3spch5Z
Nov 5, 2021 • 43 tweets • 6 min read
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Dr. Allison Arwady and CPS CEO Pedro Martinez will have a COVID-19 update at 9:15 a.m. I'll live tweet.

Follow for updates and let me know if you have questions.

blockclubchicago.org/2021/11/04/chi… Waiting on this to begin, but looks like it'll start soon.

You'll be able to watch here: