INCLUSION

JEA announced the hiring of its first director of diversity, equity and inclusion Thursday.

For much of his life, Timothy Rohrer, a now-young adult who was diagnosed with autism as a second-grader, has dealt with exclusion from his peers.

EXCLUSIVE: “All of this lack of economic inclusion, it’s giving a pathway to the other issues in our community,” Allen tells theGrio. Byron Allen’s $10 billion lawsuit against McDonald’s is one of accountability and the desire to create economic inclusion for the Black community. The media mogul — whose Entertainment Studios is the parent company of theGrio — put the fast-food giant on notice recently by filing suit for alleged racial discrimination.

In DuPage and Kane counties, the seven-day average for the test positivity rate was 13.7% as of Friday, up from 9.5% when the prohibition on indoor service at restaurants and bars took effect Oct. 23. In Will and Kankakee counties, the positivity rate was 16.4%, up from 9.3% on Oct. 23. Southern Illinois was faring slightly better, with a positivity rate of 11.5% as of Friday, up from 8.7% when tighter restrictions went into effect Oct. 22.