Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that she has appointed Ald. Michelle Harris (8) to chair a search committee to find new candidate for the appointment of 11th Ward alderman with the goal of confirming a candidate at the next City Council meeting on March 23. The search committee will also include attorney Salvador Cicero, Coalition for a Better Chinese Community director Grace Chan McKibben and radio host Jamie Trecker. The committee is charged with presenting a short list of candidates to Lightfoot so she can make the final pick. Interested candidates are asked to submit applications to [email protected] or mail applications to City Hall care of the 11th Ward Vacancy Committee by March 11.  

The Chicago Department of Public Health announced that it is taking Maryland off the city’s COVID-19 Travel Advisory, marking the first time this year every state and territory has not been on the list. Ohio, Puerto Rico, Nebraska, Nevada, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia are set to come off the list next week because their average daily new case counts have dipped below 15 per 100,000 residents. Chicago’s case count on Tuesday was 10.3 per 100,000 residents, and Illinois’ daily average was 13.5 cases per 100,000.