Chicago daily roundup: Victim of John Wayne Gacy ID'd decades later, Chicago police protest vaccine mandate, and more

(CHICAGO) Welcome to the daily roundup for Tuesday, October 26. The rain has stopped and the sun is shining. It's time to see what's going on in the news today.

Francis Wayne Alexander was identified as a victim of serial killer, John Wayne Gacy, four decades after his death. Chicago police officers plan to protest the vaccine mandate outside police headquarters today. Pritzker announced his plans for vaccinating children in Illinois. And finally, why are so many parents in Chicago Public Schools not opting in for vaccine testing?

How genealogy search and DNA helped identify latest John Wayne Gacy victim

John Wayne Gacy, mug shot(Леонид Сиб, CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons)

John Wayne Gacy, also known as the Killer Clown, was convicted of murdering 33 young men and boys in the 1970s in the Chicago suburbs.

Until recently, six bodies found at his house were unidentified. Using DNA samples and genealogy, investigators were able to identify Francis Wayne Alexander, originally from North Carolina, and living in Chicago at the time of his death.

"We have five remaining victims. We are going to continue pressing ahead with that. We're going to utilize all these different tools that we have utilized on this," Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said during a news conference.

Chicago police officers refusing to report vaccine status expected to protest outside police headquarters Tuesday

Chicago Fraternal Order of Police president John Catanzara has encouraged officers who do not want to report their vaccine status to show up at the Chicago Public Headquarters today to go on no-pay status.

As of today, 70% of officers have complied by reporting their vaccine status, leaving 3,735 officers that have not.

Pritzker rolls out plan for vaccinating children ages 5 to 11, expecting shipment of nearly half a million ‘kid-sized doses’

(Volodymyr Hryshchenko/Unsplash)

Children as young as five are expected to be eligible to receive the Covid vaccine in the coming weeks. Pritzker laid out his plan for vaccinating Illinois children once the vaccine becomes available.

“In just a few days’ time, millions of parents all across the United States should be able to breathe a sigh of relief that they’ve been holding in for over 18 months now,” Pritzker said at a news conference. “I will do everything in my power to continue to follow the science and keep our kids safe.”

Why few Chicago parents may be signing children up for school-based COVID testing

pisquels.com

Although Covid testing in schools is meant to be a key mitigation effort for reopening safely, it's had a rough start including a complicated opt-in process, failed deadlines, and staffing shortages with the testing vendor.

So far, only 7% of students are enrolled in the program, falling far behind other cities such as New York with a 35% opt-in rate and 50% for Detroit.

Want NewsBreak stories delivered directly to your phone? Download the NewsBreak App here. (Full disclosure: I do get a small commission if you click my referral links.)