🌱 Community Health Meeting Planned + Mobile Shower Aids Homeless

Good morning, Oak Park and River Forest! Thanks for spending some of your Sunday with Patch.

If you enjoy receiving weekend editions of the Daily, feel free to drop me a note at georgi.presecky@patch.com! I really enjoy hearing from you, and I'm always seeking entries for our weekly featured photo, too! Now let's get to the news.

First, today's weather: A t-storm around in the p.m.. High: 80 Low: 70.

🏡 Attention, real estate pros in Oak Park-River Forest! We're now offering an exclusive sponsorship opportunity for an agent interested in attracting local clients and standing apart from the competition. Click here to learn more.

Here are the top 5 stories in Oak Park-River Forest today:

1. Cook County health officials are warning residents to stay vigilant about COVID-19 as omicron subvariants continue to mutate. The highly contagious BA.4 and BA.5 are fueling a surge in cases across Chicagoland. The county is now in the "high" transmission category for spreading the virus, with a "gradual" increase in hospitalizations expected. (NBC)

2. A 13-year-old was shot and wounded by police after an alleged Oak Park carjacking in May. Now his family is suing the Chicago Police Department arguing “the May 18 shooting was unjustified and that the boy had his hands up when he was shot.” (ABC)

3. The Oak Park Health Department is hosting a community meeting Tuesday to discuss its health improvement plan. The event will be held at 1 p.m. at the main branch of the Oak Park Public Library. (LHF)

4. A mobile shower was installed near the Blue Line Station in Forest Park earlier this summer. ShowerUp Chicago will park the shower in the parking lot every Thursday night to serve area homeless. (Forest Park Review)

5. The River Forest “West Side Stories” Walking Tour is set for Saturday. The annual house walk will begin on Edgewood Place and continue onto Thatcher Avenue, “demonstrating why these two streets are a living outdoor museum of architecture and village history.” (OPRF Museum)

Today in Oak Park-River Forest:

• Sunday Funday Yoga Brunch at Cheney Mansion. (1o a.m.)
• Make a multimedia sculpture at Dole Center. (1 p.m.)
• “Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank” opens at Lake Theatre. (12:15 p.m.)
• Learn about native scavengers at a Trailside Museum kids activity. (1:30 p.m.)
• Summer Drive performs a free concert in Scoville Park. (6 p.m.)
• It’s the last day to shop the Downtown Oak Park’s outdoor sale. (Hours vary)

From my notebook:

• A community blood drive will be held Tuesday at the Oak Park Township Senior Services Meeting Room. (CBC)
• Oak Park couple Stan and Teresa Noyszewski were featured in a recent New Yorker article on “The Secret Art of the Family Photo.” (New Yorker)
• The 2022 Biennial Hemingway Society Conference is underway this week in Wyoming and Montana. The 2016 conference was held here in the author’s hometown. (OPRF Museum)
• The Annual Animal Care League Mutt Strut fundraiser ends today. (OPRF Chamber)
• The Concordia University Band is seeking new members. Any adult instrumentalist is welcome. (Patch)

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That's all for today! See you tomorrow for another week of news.

— Georgi Presecky

About me: Georgi is a Chicago-based newsletter writer and partner content curator. She spent five years on the entertainment beat for FF2 Media covering film festivals across the U.S. 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 newspaper, she and her staff earned honors from the Associated Collegiate Press and American Scholastic Press Associations. She began working for Patch in 2019.