Rockford rampage / ‘Ronnaghazi’ / Eclipse emergency!

Rockford rampage. At least four people are dead and seven injured after a man went on a stabbing spree.
A suspect was due in court this afternoon.
The Trace does a deep dive into the facts about gun injuries and deaths in the U.S.: “You’re more likely to be shot in Selma than in Chicago.”

‘A council war.’ That’s how Politico describes the situation at Chicago City Hall after a group of council members joined forces to demand Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez be censured and stripped of his committee chairmanship after speaking at a rally where a U.S. flag was burned.
Columnist Eric Zorn: “Sigcho-Lopez’ fellow alders ought to be much more concerned with the promotion of street brawls by the group he’s aligning himself with, and less concerned with the feckless symbolism of flag burning.”

‘Ronnaghazi.’ Puck’s Dylan Byers goes waaaay behind the scenes to detail the clusterf*ck that was NBC’s aborted hiring of former Republican National Committee chair Ronna (Romney) McDaniel. (Gift link, paid for with your support for Chicago Public Square.)
Columnist Neil Steinberg compares McDaniels political scarlet letter to the fate of a Nazi in the movie Inglourious Basterds:A little somethin’ you can’t take off” …
 … or, as former Labor Secretary Robert Reich dubs it, “The Trump integrity trap.”
Stephen Colbert: “In case you’re unfamiliar with McDaniel, she is … terrible.”
Columnist Dan Pfeiffer: “NBC’s decision was … indicative of a larger disease plaguing political media in the Trump era.”
CNN’s Oliver Darcy: The affair has “touched off an all-out civil war … which has sent the organization into a tailspin.”
A Tribune editorial: “Good luck to NBC in finding others to represent the viewpoints it wanted McDaniel to provide.”

‘The people who did Jan. 6 are trying to get back in power. If they lose, they’ll do Jan. 6 again. If they win … they’ll probably still do Jan. 6 again, just for old time’s sake.’ The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper cautions against thinking the insurrection will stay in the rearview mirror.
Popular Information lists 50 companies that’ve donated more than $23 million to election-denying politicians since Jan. 6, 2021.
Law prof Joyce Vance: An Alabama election surprise gives Democrats reason “to never give up.”

‘Who’s in charge of Chicago’s lakefront?’ A Sun-Times editorial says the Bears’ attempt “to set a sweeping agenda for the future of one of the world’s most iconic water frontages” exposes big holes in government authority.
In a declaration of confidence in the city’s economy, Chicago Water Taxi is going back to seven-day-a-week service for the first time since the pandemic shut things down.

‘We’ve made frustratingly little progress in figuring out how to do better.’ Columnist Matthew Ygelsias shares 17 thoughts four years after COVID.
Cartoon columnist Jen Sorensen: “Hard choices that were made to prevent even more death and suffering are now, ludicrously, seen as mistakes.” (Illustration: Opening to a longer cartoon at Sorensen’s blog.)
Chicago Public Square, March 30, 2020: “Ignoring social distancing advice, a Washington State choir held a rehearsal. Now dozens of its members have COVID-19 and at least two have died.”

‘Pants on fire!’ PolitFact’s Truth-O-Meter debunks false claims about the Baltimore bridge collapse.
NewsGuard: Russia, China and Iran are spinning news of a terror attack at a Moscow concert venue to spread disinformation about the West.
Wired: The White House has put new guardrails around U.S. government use of artificial intelligence.
Also from Wired: Coordinates collected by a controversial data broker reveal sensitive information about visitors to an island once owned by now-dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Eclipse emergency! Anticipating trouble as hundreds of thousands flock to see the April 8 total solar eclipse, Indiana’s governor has declared “a statewide disaster emergency.”
Here’s City Cast Chicago’s guide to seeing the eclipse in Illinois—even though it’ll be just partial in Chicago.

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Presumed dead / Gag reflex / Smashing Trumpkins

Presumed dead. Updating coverage: At least six workers were missing after a cargo ship’s disastrous collision with Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.
 The ship’s warning that it had lost steering capacity gave police about 90 seconds to stop traffic onto the bridge.
 A veteran ship’s officer tells The Conversation, Thank God it happened at night.”
 The Washington Post: The tragedy “shines a light on the scale and status of American infrastructure.”

‘Flag burning is free speech.’ The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg comes to the defense of 25th Ward Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, who faces censure “for showing up at a protest where someone did something without his knowledge” …
 … specifically, an Afghanistan veteran’s burning of a U.S. flag to condemn the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza.
 Illinois’ lackluster approach to write-in votes obscures how much of a protest voters registered last week by writing in “Gaza” for the Democratic presidential primary.

‘Do you support or oppose the Chicago Bears or Chicago White Sox receiving state or local taxpayer subsidies in order to build a new stadium or real estate development?’ That’s a question ex-Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn aims to get on Chicagoans’ ballot this fall.
 The Democratic race for Cook County state’s attorney remained hanging from a cliff.

Almost shot. ProPublica finds the gun industry and Republicans on the verge of killing the City of Gary’s nearly quarter-century-old lawsuit against illicit gun sales that contribute to violence in the Chicago region.
 The director of the University of Chicago Trauma Center challenges gunmakers: “Can they make a gun that cannot be modified into a weapon of war?”
 The Tribune reports at least two Illinois towns have canceled police training classes offered by a private firm whose practices one suburb’s chief calls “extremely disturbing.”

Gag reflex. A New York judge is the latest to order Donald Trump not to comment publicly on witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors—in this case, for Trump’s hush-money trial set to begin April 15.
 Trump’s niece Mary rejoices: This time is different because it comes with a real threat of jail.

And then you can look up this quote: ‘As for the scoundrel—his devices are evil.’ Trump’s latest fundraising scheme: Selling custom-branded copies of the Bible.
 Jordan Klepper on The Daily Show: How does that thing not burst into flames immediately?
 The Bulwark’s flummoxed by “the insane civil-religious chutzpah of literally putting the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the lyrics to ‘God Bless the USA’ in the Bible.”
 Stephen Colbert dissects Trump’s Truth Social “pump-and-dump” scheme: “The name of the company Trump merged with is the completely innocent sounding Digital World Acquisition Corp. I forget: Are they the bad guys in Robocop or Terminator?

‘A lot of things I’ve kept buried in my notebook have become newly relevant.’ Puck’s Theodore Schleifer shares five years of intel on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s choice for vice president, Nicole Shanahan. (That’s a gift link, paid for by financial support from Chicago Public Square readers.)

‘One of the worst corporate public relations calamities in recent memory.’ CNN’s Oliver Darcy delivers an autopsy of NBC’s decision to dump Ronna (Romney) McDaniel as a paid contributor—just 80 hours after announcing the deal …
 … following what Poynter’s Tom Jones and Rick Edmonds call “a conga line of harsh, on-air criticism.”
 Press skeptic Mark Jacob mocks: “MSNBC’s anchors are guilty of causing irreparable damage to Ronna McDaniel’s reputation by telling the truth about her.”
 Guardian columnist Margaret Sullivan: “The network has badly damaged its reputation and credibility” …
 … but ex-Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik says NBC “might actually have done the nation a favor.”
 Politico: “McDaniel expects to be fully paid out for her contract, two years at $300,000 annually …meaning that her single, not-quite-20-minute interview Sunday could cost the Peacock … $500 per second.”
 Actually, I’m a Very Nice Person columnist Julia Gray has begun a list of entities who might hire McDaniel.

Smashing Trumpkins. Billy Corgan is getting his own podcast in a new network launched by HBO and CNN host Bill Maher, who pledges to “do everything I can” to make sure Trump doesn’t become president again.
 Critic Richard Roeper gives 3 1/2 stars to a “double feature of great, very different documentaries” about Steve Martin, coming to Apple TV+ Friday.
 For sale: The Onion.

‘I won’t be going far.’ After almost 20 years ago at WTTW, beginning as a college intern, Chicago Tonight co-anchor Paris Schutz is leaving for a “new adventure.
 His partner, Brandis Friedman, will remain as solo host.
 Here they were in an August 2021 Chicago Public Square podcast talking about their then-new roles at the station.

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