🌱 Major Overhaul For Lakeview CTA + Wind Chill Advisory

Good morning, Lakeview! Let's get you all caught up to start this day off on an informed note. These are the most important things going on today in Lakeview.

First, today's weather: Sunny and bitterly cold. High: 11 Low: 7.

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Here are the top 5 stories today in Lakeview:

1. Work will begin next month on the CTA’s North Belmont Red-Purple Reconstruction project, which is expected to take three years to complete. According to ABC News, the transit authority plans to “demolish, rebuild and realign the 100-year-old Red and Purple Line tracks between the Belmont station and West Cornelia Avenue.” (ABC)

2. Cook County and surrounding areas will see the coldest temperatures of the winter today. A wind chill advisory is in effect until noon from the National Weather Service. (Patch)

3. Visits to Lakeview Pantry are up more than 50 percent since before the pandemic, CEO Kellie O’Connell told the Tribune. Pantries nationwide are seeing higher need and increased costs due to inflation. (Paid source: Tribune)

4. More than 66 percent of students in Lakeview and Lincoln Park are fully-vaccinated, according to a WBEZ report. Citywide, about 53 percent of high schoolers are vaccinated, as opposed to only 25 percent in elementary schools. (WBEZ)

5. Chicago marked two years since its first confirmed case of COVID-19. The city’s first case was reported on Jan. 24, 2020. More than 2,873,000 cases have been recorded in Illinois since; 30,155 people have died. (NBC)

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Today in Lakeview:

• Catch “The Velvet Queen” at Music Box Theatre. (4:45 p.m.)
• Unabridged Bookstore hosts a Queer Book Club. (7:30 p.m.)
• See “Chicago’s Best Stand-up” at the Laugh Factory. (8 p.m.)

From my notebook:

• It's the final week of the Lakeview Roscoe Village Chamber of Commerce's Winter Wellness initiative. (Chamber)
• An ice-sculpting event will be held this weekend in Lakeview. (Block Club)
• St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church is joining religious leaders across the U.S. in a day of prayer for peace in Ukraine. (Facebook)
• Shattered Globe Theatre has postponed its upcoming production due to the COVID-19 surge. (Broadway World)
• Bright Horizons will host a hiring event Feb. 1. (Bright Horizons)

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That's all for today, Lakeview! See you tomorrow for more neighborhood news.

— Georgi Presecky

About me: Georgi is a Chicago-based reporter with seven years of experience writing for entertainment-based publications. She represented FF2 Media for five years at film festivals across the U.S., from Sundance to Austin. Her feature articles have been recognized with awards from the Illinois Women's Press Association and National Federation of Press Women. As Editor-in-Chief of the Lewis University campus newspaper, she earned honors from The Associated Collegiate Press Association and American Scholastic Press Association. She began working for Patch in 2019.