🌱 Saving Lakeview Trees + YMCA Offers Help During School Closure

Happy Friday, Lakeview! Let's catch up on the latest local news ahead of the weekend.

First, today's weather: Bitterly cold with some sun. High: 16 Low: 10.

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Here are the top 5 stories today in Lakeview:

1. Chicago parents are “fed up” with the fight between the city’s public school district and teachers union over COVID-19 mitigations, according to a Block Club report. Classes were canceled Wednesday and Thursday over union members’ demand for better protection against COVID-19 in the classroom. (Block Club)

2. Lakeview residents are continuing their fight to save more than 20 trees from being cut down next week to make room for water main improvements. The West Lakeview Trees group will meet with the city water department this week to discuss “alternate plans or a delay.” (Axios)

3. A downtown Starbucks became the first Midwest location to sign union cards this week, following the lead of other franchises in the nation asking for “better wages, a better distribution of labor, and security.” The news comes as an Andersonville Starbucks closed this week due to staff shortages. (Eater)

4. New video shows a 69-year-old man being brutally beaten in the Uptown neighborhood on Dec. 26. No one is in custody for the attack in the 4900 block of Kenmore. (ABC)

5. While canceled classes continue, Lakeview YMCA is offering its “Schools Day Out” program for students ages 6-12. Social distancing and masks are required for the all-day program, which includes STEAM activities, arts and crafts, sports and games. (YMCA)

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Today in Lakeview:

• Kids under six can paint Big Bird at KidCreate Studio Lakeview. (9:30 a.m.)
• Chicago Public Library hosts an online creative writing workshop. (10 a.m.)
• “Parallel Mothers” opens at the Landmark. (1:15 p.m.)
• Orangetheory Fitness opens its new Lincoln Park location. (4 p.m.)
  
• See the “One-Man Star Wars Trilogy” at Apollo Theater. (8 p.m.)

From my notebook:

• Bears quarterback Justin Fields has entered the NFL’s COVID-19 protocol. (Patch)
• WTTW is answering Chicagoans' frequently asked questions about the city's new proof of vaccine rules. (WTTW)
• Registration is open for StoryStudio Chicago’s February “Pub Crawl,” an online publishing intensive. (StoryStudio)
• The American Writers Museum will close temporarily due to COVID-19. (AWM)
• The Brown Elephant locations in Andersonville, Lakeview and Oak Park will also close temporarily because of the pandemic. (HBH)

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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.