Mum’s their word / More WGN layoffs / Quiz / Final calls

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Chicago Public Square’ll take Monday off … for a talk to 7th and 8th graders about the state of the news business. We’ll meet again in your inbox Tuesday.
■ Until then, get your news-and-opinion fix from the Square account on Bluesky.

Mum’s their word. A WBEZ survey of 46 congressional candidates in four key Chicago-area Democratic primaries finds that those getting American Israel Public Affairs Committee cash refused to answer a question about putting strict conditions on U.S. military aid to Israel.
■ The Tribune (gift link) finds the Chicago area’s 8th District contest wide open.
■ Ready to cast your ballot? Check the Chicago Public Square Voter Guide Guide.

‘Not only is it illegal, it could backfire.’ That’s Dan Rather on “Trump’s plan to steal the midterms.”
■ Lawyer Robert Hubbell: “He cannot ban mail ballots or require a national voter ID by executive order. True, he can try. But courts can, will, and already have invalidated Trump’s efforts.”
■ Columnist Steven Beschloss says “we cannot be complacent” in the face of Trump’s “plotting to deny the people’s will.”

The IRS-ICE connection. A federal judge says the Internal Revenue Service broke the law by sharing confidential taxpayer info more than 42,000 times with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
■ A federal judge is vowing to end the Trump administration’s noncompliance “one way or another.”
■ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch (gift link): Border Patrol left a blind, disabled man for dead in frigid Buffalo.

Bill’s up. Updating coverage: It’s ex-President Clinton’s turn to testify to Congress about Donald Trump’s dead sex-offender pal, Jeffrey Epstein.
■ Jimmy Kimmel on yesterday’s interrogation: “Of all the people mixed up in this thing … they drag Hillary Clinton out of the woods to testify under oath, even though there is no evidence that Hillary Clinton has ever met Jeffrey Epstein. But why not harass the woman while you have the chance?”
■ USA Today’s Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke: “Is it suspicious that the Republican-led House committee wanted this … in a closed setting, even though the Clintons asked for it to be public? SHUT UP, I’M BUSY ENVISIONING HER GETTING LOCKED UP!”

‘Panic at CNN.’ With Netflix backing out of the tug-of-war for control of parent Warner Bros. Discover, an insider tells Status (which, sadly, requires your email address up-front) that journalists at the cable news channel are “off the charts” anxious.
■ … which would find itself under the same management as withering CBS.
■ Trump-supplicant Paramount’s in position to take over an entertainment empire that also controls Superman, Barbie and Harry Potter.
■ Yet, media watcher Simon Owens notes, it could prove a pyrrhic victory: Netflix is “effectively allowing rich failson David Ellison to overpay for Warner … a move that will saddle one of Netflix’s biggest competitors with enormous debt. … [and] he has to write Netflix a $2.8 billion check just to cover the breakup fee.”
■ Sure enough, Netflix’s stock popped.
■ Jimmy Kimmel is trolling FCC boss Brendan Carr, who’s pressing broadcasters to create patriotic stuff, with a series of subversive “This Day in American History” features.

More WGN-TV layoffs. Among those out: A producer whose October confrontation with immigration agents took on symbolic significance.
■ New research: Podcast listening has passed AM and FM talk-radio listening.

Chicago’s ‘black hole’ for help. A new report from the city’s inspector general finds the 311 system for addressing nonemergency complaints riddled with problems.

Jesse Jackson’s long farewell. Cross-country memorial services for the civil rights crusader have begun in Chicago.
■ Axios’ Monica Eng counsels patience and warm clothes if you plan to go today: “I was 350th in line, and it took 65 minutes to get to the front.”

See it now. An iconic Chicago dry cleaner business—which has no landmark protection—featured in film and music video is set to close today after almost 70 years.
■ R.I.P., DePaul Art Museum—shuttering in June.

‘My fellow Americans, we are richer than ever before. Well, you aren’t, but we are.’ McSweeney’s satirizes this week’s State of the Union address …
■ … whose ratings tanked as Stephen Colbert’s increased: “Trump is really dragging down broadcast television. If I were CBS, I’d cancel him.”

Manosphere’s ‘second thoughts.’ Public Notice columnist Aaron Rupar: “Pod-fluencers … who helped persuade millions of young men to go full MAGA in 2024 are now confronting the realities of Trump’s 2025/26 Retribution Tour.”
■ Scouting USA has reportedly caved—altering its policies to suck up to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

‘What was shouted? What was the ruling? What went in the doggie bag?’ So The Conversation’s quizmaster, past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel, goads you to take this week’s edition …
■ … on which your Square columnist scored a disappointing 5/8 correct.
■ Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week? Not the Olympic hockey player who complained that “everything is so political” and who then “went to Washington and let the president trot them out like show ponies, which is arguably one of the most political things an athlete can do.”

Tech resistance. More than 100 Google employees are urging the company not to let its Gemini AI be put to military use …
■ … paralleling tension at AI rival Anthropic …
■ … which columnist and former Illinois U.S. Rep. Marie Newman says faces a “Sophie’s choice.”
■ UMass Boston researchers: “The greatest risk of AI in higher education isn’t cheating—it’s the erosion of learning itself.”

Final calls. This weekend brings down the curtain on several offers in honor of Square’s ninth anniversary and its 2,000th regular edition:
■ A hoodie or T-shirt (your choice) for those who commit to continued support of as little as $1/week—which is to say $52/year.
■ A limited-edition Square cap for a one-time contribution of $100.
■ A T-shirt if you’ve contributed a total of at least $100 or more over the years (a nickel for each of those 2,000 editions!) and never gotten Square swag. Drop a note to 2000@chicagopublicsquare.com.
■ And please mark your calendars for March 12, this year’s ninth annual National Support Chicago Public Square Day—a great time to sport your Squarewear.

Correction. The link to one of the most-tapped items in Thursday’s Square—that Tribune editorial, “Fix your lousy shopping app, Jewel-Osco!”—was not, as promised, a gift link. Here it is.
■ Meanwhile, a recent Trib editorial cheering Vice President Vance and his wife as they expect a baby inspired one of the paper’s former editors, Mark Jacob, to revisit odd editorials in its past.

Thanks. Mike Braden made this edition better.

‘Your days may be numbered’ / ‘The WGN layoffs are disappointing’ / ‘Fix your lousy shopping app, Jewel-Osco!’

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‘Your days may be numbered.’ After Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appeared before the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee, Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez said she warned Noem that if she doesn’t quit, she’ll face impeachment proceedings.
■ ProPublica: Guards in Dilley, Texas, have taken away kids’ crayons, pencils and paper—with which they’ve been documenting their lives in the nation’s only detention facility for immigrant families. (Illustration: 13-year-old Gerson Lopéz Garcia, obtained by ProPublica.)
■ The FBI yesterday raided the home of Los Angeles schools’ superintendent—an immigrant who’s criticized the Trump administration’s oppressive tactics.
■ Pointing to a decade-old case involving Chicago cops, a West Virginia judge has condemned the feds’ use of masked agents and ordered the release of an El Salvadoran man arrested under such circumstances.

‘It is unclear why the materials are missing.’ The New York Times (gift link) reports that Justice Department documents briefly mention a woman’s accusation that Trump assaulted her when she was a minor—but the documents referenced aren’t included.
■ The story’s given new life to Trump’s 2006 chat with Howard Stern—in which that man who would be president indicated he’d be OK sleeping with girls as young as 13.
■ The department says it’s looking into whether it improperly withheld stuff.
■ Popular Information says Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s assertion last month that “We did not protect President Trump” turns out to have been untrue.
■ Stephen Colbert: “That the files are missing should be the biggest story in the world.”
■ Jimmy Kimmel: “The best thing for President Trump—who I’m sure did nothing wrong—is to order them to unredact his name and release all of the Trump-Epstein files, so he can prove how unbelievably innocent he is.”
■ Columnist Julie Roginsky: Get former Attorney General Bill Barr and former FBI Director Christopher Wray under oath now.
■ Another one bites the dust: Bill Clinton’s Treasury secretary, Larry Summers, is quitting his Harvard job following revelation of his ties to dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
■ Clinton and his wife were beginning two days of testimony about Epstein before a new generation of Democrats who’ve asserted no relation or loyalty to the Clintons.
■ Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has apologized to his foundation for his Epstein ties.

‘It appears Trump’s surgeon general nominee is insane.’ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst assesses her testimony yesterday before the Senate.
■ She began her remarks with the words “As a physician …” but The New York Times notes (gift link) that she doesn’t have an active medical license.
■ Columnist Christopher Armitage lists “198 things the Trump regime exposed, broke or burned down in 13 months.”
■ Also from Armitage: Publicly available evidence suggests that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas committed “a crime that could get him 5 years in a Virginia state penitentiary.”

‘Most of them are Black.’ A Tribune analysis exposes racial disparities in a little-known program that lets the CTA and Metra ban people accused of violence.
■ A jury’s awarded almost $6 million in damages to a family whose home Chicago cops raided by mistake—breaking down their door and pointing guns at the kids.

‘Who will you be representing if you get elected?’ A debate among some of the many candidates in the Chicago area’s 9th Congressional District Democratic primary revealed a common target for ’em all: Democrats now serving in the House.
■ See it here.
■ Bewildered by all your choices in the upcoming primary? The Chicago Public Square Voter Guide Guide’s been newly expanded.

‘The WGN layoffs are disappointing.’ But columnist Eric Zorn’s more troubled by online haters’ glee at the TV station’s cuts.
■ Former WGN news director Jennifer Schulze: WGN’s corporate parent, Nexstar, is joining “Trump’s effort to whitewash American history.”
■ The American Prospect: The Epstein files reveal Epstein’s role in the decline and fall of New York’s Daily News.
Time’s almost up for your chance at a $100 gift card. Take a few minutes before the week’s out for a survey to help news organizations working with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism better understand the public they serve—and show advertisers and other potential funders that the region’s journalists have substantial community backing.
‘Fix your lousy shopping app, Jewel-Osco!’ A Tribune editorial (gift link, now fixed) supports state legislation that would require retailers to offer in-store paper versions of all digital discounts.

‘Feb. 26 is a special day.’ Law professor Joyce Vance looks back to 1942, when Nazi-occupied Norway outlawed red top hats—making red stocking caps a resistance symbol.
■ Reminder: Chicago Public Square caps are back for a limited time.

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