Aaaand they’re off / Man Bites Dog Dept. / ‘Secret’ radio

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Aaaand they’re off. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin’s announcement that he’s retiring at the end of his present term has “at least a dozen” politicians eyeing campaigns to replace him …
■ … including Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton …
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “Only a fool” at this point would predict Durbin’s successor—so Zorn does just that.
‘I don’t want to wait too long and test fate.’ Durbin—who’s 80 and would be 88 by the end of another term—broke the news to WBEZ.
■ He also posted an almost two-minute declaration on YouTube.

‘The most decisive act of leadership of any Democrat since Donald Trump was elected.’ That’s how investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein sees Durbin’s announcement.
■ Progress Report columnist Jordan Zakarin, who—in his own words—has called Durbin “a useless coward,” nevertheless praises the senator for deciding to pass the torch to a new generation.
■ A Tribune editorial thanks Durbin for pioneering legislation that outlawed smoking on airlines.

Another ‘80 and out’? Octogenarian Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s also reportedly ready to hang it up …
■ … potentially creating a path to Congress for Kat Abughazaleh, described by The American Prospect as a 26-year-old “pigeonholed into being a younger voice,” but “really running against a culture of complacency and apathy in the Democratic Party.”
■ Meanwhile, The Associated Press reports, Trump’s aiming to use a little-known federal agency to overhaul U.S. elections.

Highland Park shooter’s sentencing. 2022 Fourth of July killer Robert E. Crimo III could learn his fate today—after victims and survivors have their final say.
■ Jurors in the bribery trial of Illinois State Sen. Emil Jones III may be deadlocked.

‘Nothing says we’re broke like spending nearly $1M on ads to tell everyone you’re broke.’ Illinois State Rep. Kam Buckner mocks the RTA’s campaign to “beg Springfield for more money” …
■ … in part via a website encouraging riders to press lawmakers to “Save Transit Now.”

■ Meanwhile, CBS News reports, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s ordered a makeup studio installed at the Pentagon.
■ Columnist and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich: Hegseth’s “a walking disaster.”
■ ProPublica shares a previously untold story: “Ed Martin ghostwrote online attacks against a judge—and still became a top Trump prosecutor.”

Spotted in Illinois. The state’s confirmed its first modern-day case of measles here—well, in far southern Illinois, anyway.
■ Wonkette: Health and Human Services Secretary “RFK Jr. Pretty Sure Anything He Didn’t Know About As A Kid Is Not Real.”

‘They are absolutely trying to bring back segregation.’ That’s influential tech blogger Mike Masnick’s take on one of Trump’s executive orders.
■ Law professor and former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance sees First Amendment danger in Trump’s dismantling of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
■ The New York Times (gift link): In what looked at first like a scam, the Trump administration texted dozens of current and former university employees with a text message asking if they’re Jewish.
■ The TRiiBE: Chicagoans now can apply to join the city’s Reparations Task Force—via this form.

‘The billionaire who has been busy ruining the U.S. government is sad and it’s all your fault.’ USA Today’s Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke reflects on Tesla profits’ fall from grace.
■ Jimmy Kimmel: Elon Musk “says that he will dial back his work with the government so that he can spend more time with all 10 of his families.”
■ The official website for Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” has seemingly pulled $5 billion in taxpayer savings out of its—well, Popular Information says “thin air.”
■ A.V. Club: Meta’s Oversight Board—which manages decisions governing the removal of Meta content—“sounds pretty blindsided” by (link corrected) Mark Zuckerberg’s decree ending fact-checking.
■ Wired: Google’s AI Overviews is delivering “credible-sounding explanations for completely made-up idioms.”

■ Riot Fest has released its 20th anniversary lineup for Douglass Park in September …

‘Secret’ radio. With local news in decline on commercial airwaves, Nieman Lab turns a spotlight on audio information services where—every day, around the clock, across the country—hundreds of volunteers read local, national and international news—and books and magazines, too.
■ In Chicago, it’s CRIS.

Thanks. Patrick Olsen made this edition better.

A Square public service announcement
Saturday is Independent Bookstore Day. More than 50 Chicago-area shops challenge you to join a Bookstore Crawl—with full-year discounts for those who visit at least 10 stores that day.

Time’s up at 60 Minutes / Mayor vs. mayor / Happy birthday, YouTube

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Time’s up at 60 Minutes. Asserting that “I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right,” the show’s executive producer, Bill Owens, is quitting.
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones: Owens’ departure comes as the show and CBS parent Paramount face a $20 billion lawsuit from Trump …
■ … and more than two months after Owens reportedly vowed in the face of a settlement, “I will not apologize for anything we have done.”
■ Press Watch columnist Dan Froomkin: “The Trump regime should be covered as a criminal enterprise.”
■ The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Will Bunch flags “the stunning grift of Trump’s inaugural fund”—and the people and organizations that have contributed.

Today’s mindbender. Acknowledging that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “is, of course, a dumbass,” investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein suggests that Hegseth’s “being … drummed out of office by the uniformed military,” undermining “the very principle of civilian control.”
■ USA Today’s Rex Huppke: “Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender became the fifth—count ’em, the FIFTH!—IRS head since Trump took office Jan. 20. If this keeps up, the president is on pace to go through roughly 80 IRS commissioners in his four-year term.”

Mayor vs. mayor. Mayor Johnson delivered a rare slam by name at his predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, accusing Emanuel of following a “new-liberal” agenda that Johnson says has become a playbook for Donald Trump.
■ Johnson elaborated: “The shutting of schools. The firing of Black women. Privatizing our public education system.”
■ Political strategist James Carville came to Emanuel’s defense: “Incompetent people are jealous of competent people.”
■ Everyone Is Entitled to My Own Opinion opinionator Jeff Tiedrich this past Saturday: “Could James Carville please fuck all the way off?”

Trump’s ‘war on children.’ ProPublica: The administration is quietly putting kids at risk by cutting funds and staffing for investigating child abuse, enforcing child support payments, providing child care and more.
■ Ex-Illinois Rep. and former Head Start project volunteer Marie Newman: “Lost amidst the urgent and ongoing horror of vanishing people and deporting people illegally, was Trump’s decision to kill … the highly effective preschool funding program primarily used in rural areas and low-income urban areas to provide quality preschool.”
■ Mother Jones: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Health and Human Services Department plans to eliminate services for LGBTQ youth who call the national suicide and crisis hotline.
■ The Bulwark: Trump’s turned COVID.gov into “MAGA fan service.”
■ ProPublica founder Dick Tofel: The Trump administration’s trashing of federal data collection programs creates new opportunities for journalism.

‘I dream I’m still in there.’ In his first media interview since spending 10 days in a detention facility for undocumented immigrants, a U.S. citizen tells Popular Information the Trump administration’s lying.
■ The AP: International students stripped of legal status in the U.S. are racking up court victories.

‘A disaster for ordinary people.’ Illinoisans seeking help from the increasingly understaffed Social Security Administration are struggling.
■ Beginning May 5, the Trump administration aims to start clawing back federal student loans from those in default.

Breathe uneasy. A new American Lung Association report ranks Chicago’s air among the nation’s worst.
■ Check your air quality by ZIP code here.
■ The American Prospect: “The Trump administration is objectively pro-cancer.”

Murderer to be sentenced. Updating coverage: After pleading guilty to the shooting that left seven people dead and more than 40 injured at Highland Park’s 2022 Fourth of July parade, Robert E. Crimo III today faced the prospect of life in prison without parole …
■ … after survivors and relatives of the dead get their say in court.
■ Doorbell camera footage caught gunmen robbing a Glenview couple as they arrived home from dinner.

■ … posted by one of two co-founders who hail from the University of Illinois.
■ One of YouTube’s early musical successes, OK Go, returns to its Chicago roots Friday.

Sign here, please. As journalism faces unprecedented assault from the Trump administration, Chicago Public Square has joined the Press Freedom United campaign—a national community of journalists and concerned citizens sending an open letter to Congress and the White House demanding immediate action to uphold the First Amendment.
■ We invite you to sign by next Wednesday at noon for delivery May 1.

Are you public? Are you Square? You know who is? Author Mark Wukas—who happens to be Chicago Public Squarian No. 1—and who can be seen in a new Tribune profile wearing a Square T-shirt …
■ … one of which can be yours, free, if you pitch in to help underwrite the cost of producing this newsletter.
■ Donna Rigsbee made this edition better.

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