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Daywatch: Jan. 17 dedicated to both Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhammad Ali | Death of a nursing home resident | An ode to the Jucy Lucy

Chicago Tribune - 1/17/2022

Good morning, Chicago.

From the outside, there’s nothing to suggest the fire station often is left unstaffed.

That’s one of myriad reasons, experts said, that the person who left a baby boy in a duffel bag outside a Near North fire station around 5 a.m. Saturday should have tried the buzzer and made sure to speak with someone inside. It’s possible doing so could have saved the infant’s life and, ironically, would have meant a “no questions asked” policy.

“This is a building that’s used for air maintenance and air supply,” said Larry Langford, a Chicago Fire Department spokesman. “This is not a regular-man firehouse, and often there is nobody there at all.”

The biological parents now potentially face arrest and charges for abandoning the baby, officials said.

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Death of a nursing home resident: Complaints about long-term care in Illinois are usually dismissed. One woman’s case sheds light on how system works

One morning in March 2021, at a nursing home in Evanston, resident Velta Saint registered an alarmingly low 44% oxygen level in her blood. Normal levels range from 95% to 100%, and one study recommends hospitalization for any patient with a reading below 90%.

Medical workers tried to improve Saint’s respiration, then sent her to a hospital — which sent her back to the nursing home, before she was returned to the hospital, where she died. Saint’s ordeal came after her daughter, a registered nurse, said the home had been slow, in her opinion, to diagnose her condition and failed to treat it aggressively. The daughter, Marlene Bryan, filed a complaint over her mother’s treatment with the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“What gets me is, I told them,” Bryan said. “There were so many things that are so wrong. If somebody had said, ‘This is not right,’ my mom would still be alive today.”

Why the NFL’s ‘socialistic enterprise’ means the Chicago Bears win at the bank — even when they lose on the field

When the Chicago Bears lowered the lid on another disappointing season, it was easy to view them as an NFL franchise in disarray. The head coach hadn’t panned out, the general manager was a flop and the news conference put on Monday by Chairman George McCaskey and CEO Ted Phillips got the worst reviews since “Police Academy 4.”

But when you look at things another way, the Bears are doing just fine.

Two different holidays, one shared mission : In Illinois today is dedicated to both Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhammad Ali

For the past 36 years, the third Monday in January has been dedicated to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. In Illinois, professional boxer and civic leader Muhammad Ali will be observed for the first time on Jan. 17, his birthday.

This year, both leaders will be celebrated on the same day — today.

Chicago-area college students cope with the return to remote instruction

Class is back in session for many college students across Illinois, and for some, the start of 2022 has felt eerily reminiscent of the spring of 2020.

Cases of COVID-19 have continued to surge and break records — the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 37,048 cases on Thursday — and many schools like DePaul University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University and the University of Chicago have opted to temporarily shift to remote instruction.

An ode to the Jucy Lucy (or Juicy Lucy) of Minneapolis, which may be the best cheeseburger in America

The Jucy Lucy may be the best burger in America. Also known as the Juicy Lucy, the cheese-stuffed burger was invented in Minneapolis nearly 70 years ago.

It’s an ideal convergence of beef and cheese. Yet the iconic cheeseburger remains relatively unknown. Untouched, the burger appears modest by modern standards, no toppings stacked sky high. Yet it belongs in the culinary realm of Chinese xiaolongbao soup dumplings and even the Chicago-style stuffed pizza (on the rare occasions when the latter is done right).

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