The Soapbox: Daily Herald editors offer brief thoughts on suburban topics in the news.

A shot in the arm

Shout-out to the welcome pop-up COVID-19 vaccination event Wednesday at the Schaumburg Convention Center. To register, residents 65 and older from the village and 10 other area towns simply had to be available that day and also April 7 (for a second Pfizer dose). Such pop-ups provide real relief for those trying hard to get the vaccine.

Factory workers get their shots:

Our thanks go to the state lawmakers and advocates who pushed to get a vaccination clinic at the Jel Sert Co. factory in West Chicago. As a result of their efforts, more than 600 employees of the food and beverage manufacturer received COVID-19 vaccines.

I-L-L

I-N-I!

If you think we have it bad

If you think the vaccination process in the suburbs and Illinois is a mess, at least we're not in Europe, where many countries are resuming lockdowns or never really got out of them as variants spread ­- and there's plenty of bureaucracy over their vaccines, even in usually well-organized Germany. Let's hope we don't replicate those troubles.

Little creek, big effort to rename it

Salute to the board of the drainage district for a 17-mile creek that drains into Long Lake in northwestern Lake County. The three volunteers are focusing on the creek because its name is a slur for Indigenous North American women. A Native American just recruited to the board has helped the cause. The board should get support.

Similar effort at Wheaton College

Wheaton College is also acting to remove offensive language. A sign honoring missionaries killed in Ecuador used a pejorative word for Indigenous peoples. Now the college is assembling a task force for a rewrite so the plaque can be reposted and with wording that reflects "the full dignity of human beings made in the image of God."

Congrats!

Kudos and good luck to Franco Catalano, a custodian at Peacock Middle School in Itasca who has been named a finalist in the national 2021 Custodian of the Year contest sponsored by Cintas Corp. Cleaning up after kids and keeping sidewalks clear of snow and ice is hard work, so the recognition is well earned.

You go, Sister ...

Loyola's biggest fan, Sister Jean, was cleared for travel to see her Ramblers play in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Indianapolis. The 101-year-old team chaplain called in to the locker room for the pregame prayer and good-luck wishes. "I really wanted to go badly," she said.

You go, Cameron ...

If you need any other reasons for Loyola Ramblers pride, how about Cameron Krutwig, senior center from Jacobs High School in Algonquin, closing out a college career that included starring for the 2018 Final Four team? And this week he was named a third-team All-American by The AP.

And you go too, Tom ...

Congratulations also to forward Tom Welch, a Naperville North grad who is getting his first taste of the NCAA tournament after coming off the bench for the Ramblers as a sophomore this year.

Let's not forget

All of this talk about the Ramblers of Loyola has those of us who attended the University of Illinois wondering where is the Illini love? We guess that comes with being an odds-on favorite to win it all.

This week's Clippable Quote

"When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest." - Ernest Hemingway