Chicago-area Shooting Mars US Independence Day Celebrations 
Six killed in shooting at July Fourth parade, dozens more injured 
This year's celebrations mark a return to normal activities in most locations after more than two years of coronavirus restrictions and precautions. Events that had been canceled for the past two years resumed this year, including Independence Day celebrations in Baltimore, Maryland, and a hot dog eating contest in Brooklyn's Coney Island neighborhood, a long-standing July Fourth tradition for New Yorkers. Americans also returned to traveling in large numbers. The automobile association AAA predicted 47.9 million people would drive 80 kilometers or more from home over the holiday weekend. The group also forecast that 3.55 million Americans would fly during the holiday weekend. The mass of flyers is testing airlines and airports, which have struggled to keep up with demand all season long, leading to flight cancellations. U.S. President Joe Biden tweeted Monday that "the Fourth of July is a sacred day in our country — it's a time to celebrate the goodness of our nation, the only nation on Earth founded based on an idea: that all people are created equal." The Declaration of Independence includes the famous passage "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." While the country's founders fought for those rights, they did not apply at the time to Black people, who had to wait until the adoption of the 13th amendment in 1865, when slavery was abolished. Biden and first lady Jill Biden hosted a Fourth of July barbecue for military families on the South Lawn of the White House Monday afternoon. In the evening, they are expected to watch the fireworks display at the National Mall, considered one of the country's largest.