When Hillcrest High School began the school year online, woodshop teacher Marty Coyle noticed several of his students sitting on their bed, couches or even the floor during classes. To ensure every student has a dedicated workspace for at-home learning, Coyle began making desks with the leftover woodshop materials from the previous school year. 

Coyle, who has been teaching at Hillcrest High School for the past three years, wanted to give back to his community. He shared a photo of his desks on Facebook, saying, “Turns out lots of students do not have desks to work at during E-Learning.....So I figured I might as well build some."

The FDA just approved Abbott Laboratories’ rapid COVID-19 test, which will provide results in just 15 minutes. The size of a credit card, this test is 97% accurate and works similarly to a pregnancy test. However, it is still to be administered by a health care provider, rather than at home.

Governor J.B. Pritzker announced Wednesday, Aug. 26 that Illinois will be home to two of the five new National Quantum Information Science Research Centers led by Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in affiliation with the University of Chicago.

Another Chicago hospital – Rush University Medical Center – has cracked U.S. News & World Report’s list of the top 20 hospitals in the country, joining Northwestern Memorial Hospital, who has been ranked the top hospital in the state for the ninth consecutive year.

The Home Run Inn—a pizzeria chain headquartered in Woodridge—began building up their inventory of frozen pizzas at the very beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, but they still found themselves unprepared when shoppers began stocking up on shelf-stable goods ahead of the Stay at Home Order.

Although the company has been slinging dough since 1947, Nick Perrino, who heads up the frozen pizza division for Home Run Inn, says they have never seen demand like this.

“It was absolutely crazy,” said Perrino of the pre-pandemic shopping rush. “The pandemic had people stocking up on frozen pizza, making sure they had product, just like with toilet paper.”