Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
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Thursday, April 18
I hope this doesn't provoke a batch of psychosomatic scratching amongst Gapers Block's readership, but the Illinois Department of Public Health reports on a hundred or so cases of folks with tiny, itchy red bites. It might be an outbreak of tree-dwelling Pyemotes herfsi, better known as the itch mite, but officials won't know for sure until after they set up and inspect sticky traps in area parks.