By Sidney Madden | @sidney_madden_

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⚖️ THE MAN AGAINST MASKS

A week after the city and state lifted mask mandates, we’re finding ourselves in an increasingly maskless world. But who’s helped push us here? 

Downstate attorney Tom DeVore has been involved in several COVID-19 lawsuits since the start of the pandemic — with mixed outcomes.

But DeVore scored a big legal win last month when a Springfield judge put a temporary restraining order on Gov. JB Pritzker’s mask mandate in schools, which led to lifting mask rules across the state, WBEZ reported. 

Inspired by that lawsuit, DeVore is now running as a Republican for Illinois Attorney General, according to the State Journal-Register. 

And he’s still determined to overturn the mandate in one of the few school districts that still has a universal masking policy: CPS.

The Greenville attorney is headed to a hearing Thursday after filing a motion to block required masking in CPS.

So will he be successful again? We’ll see. District leaders have already said the rule would be lifted in the near future. But the Chicago Teachers Union warned that there would be consequences if CPS doesn’t honor the masking clause of its reopening agreement, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

🎧 From downtown to Uptown, the City Cast team was out and about during the city’s first maskless weekend. Hear about it on the podcast.

🦠 COVID THEN & NOW

The last normal thing Erin Vickers did before COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020 was go to dinner for her birthday and a bridal shower for her future sister-in-law. 

The then–Ohio resident took off work March 13 and set an away message saying she’d return to the office Monday. Except the company started working from home that week. 

“A coworker emailed me in June [2020] to let me know she called my office extension and it still had the ‘returning March 16’ voicemail message. I assume it finally got erased when I transferred to Chicago in August 2020.” 

Now, she’s a hybrid worker, her brother is finally married, she’s learned to love the cold, and she’s coming up on a third COVID birthday.

❓ Tell us the last normal thing you did before COVID-19 shutdowns. Eat out? Go shopping? Are you back at it? Email chicago@citycast.fm, or text/call (773) 780-0246, and we might feature your response here.

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📰 NEWSFEED

▪️ Outgoing Illinois Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike could lead Chicago’s largest private safety-net hospital system next. [Crain’s Chicago]

▪️ The Ricketts family could soon own the Chelsea Football Club as well as the Chicago Cubs. Russian businessman Roman Abramovich put the club up for sale following public calls for sanctions on him in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [CBS Sports]

▪️ Take a closer look at the wedding venue on the second season of “Love is Blind.” This Homewood country club is 🤯 [The Tab]

▪️ Nostalgic for butter cookies straight from the CPS cafeterias? Here’s a recipe. [Food.com]

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🇵🇱 PULASKI DAY

Grow up getting the first Monday in March off to honor Casimir Pulaski?

You did in Illinois — and you might not anymore. 

The Polish soldier is best known for saving George Washington’s life, and he never set foot in Illinois. 

But Chicago’s Polish community pushed for recognition of Pulaski for much of the 20th century before Illinois adopted the holiday in the ‘70s, according to WBEZ. 

Few school districts opt to take it off anymore, but city offices, libraries, and county courts are closed today.

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