Thanks for coming / A Sun-Times first / Quiz / Things that suck

Chicago Public Square’s taking a few days off. We’ll meet back in your inbox next Thursday. Here’s news to usher in the weekend:


Thanks for coming. Texas Democrats who fled to Illinois and other states to block Republican redrawing of the state’s election maps say they’re ready to return home—on a couple of conditions …
 … but not before joining the Millennium Park observance of Saturday’s “Fight the Trump Takeover National Day of Action” …
 … one of about 200 events in at least 34 states.
 Law professor Joyce Vance celebrates Democrats’ decision to “finally bring a gun to the gun fight.”
 The American Prospect’s David Dayen credits California.
 At the Illinois State Fair yesterday, Politico’s Shia Kapos reports, “Republicans pledged loyalty to Donald Trump, his agenda and his Texas allies’ plan for redistricting”—but “there were some cracks in the show of unity” …
 … ahead of what Axios’ Justin Kaufmann expects will be one of Illinois’ “most active and competitive election seasons in recent history” …
 Gov. Pritzker’s signed a couple of laws that he says will enhance worker protections under attack by the Trump administration.
 The American Prospect: Trump’s war on workers’ rights has surpassed Ronald Reagan’s.

‘An affront to the dignity and autonomy of the 700,000 Americans who call D.C. home.’ Washington’s attorney general is challenging Trump’s takeover of its police department …
 … including Attorney General Pam Bondi’s naming of the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration as the capital’s “emergency police commissioner.”
 The Washington Post (gift link, courtesy of Chicago Public Square supporters): Bondi’s seeking to roll back D.C. police policies on immigration …
 … and she’s fired a Justice Department worker accused of tossing a sandwich at a federal officer patrolling Washington.
 The AP: “Trump’s ‘safe and beautiful’ move against D.C. homeless camps looks like ugliness to those targeted.”
 Columnist Ryan Cooper explains “Why Republicans are terrified of nonexistent crime: They need an excuse to violently subjugate liberal cities.”
 The Post again (another gift link): In a “highly unusual arrangement,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is living free of charge at a Coast Guard commandant’s home.

Oligarch reunion. With the fate of Ukraine on the line, Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin were to meet today in Alaska for their first summit in four years.
 The Onion:Fun Getaway With Murderous Dictator Just What Exhausted Trump Been Needing.”

Nice work if you can get it—and he did. But then he quit. NBC 5: Illinois’ highest-paid public school district superintendent—Dr. Kevin J. Nohelty, who was earning more than half a million bucks a year—has resigned amid repeated lawsuits and complaints of unpaid bills.
 Cook County’s public health chief is out after having failed to renew his medical license.

A Sun-Times first. Pulitzer winner Kimbriell Kelly is the new editor-in-chief at the combined WBEZ-Sun-Times newsroom—the first Black person to hold that role at the paper.
 She succeeds Jennifer Kho—who in 2022 became the first woman and first person of color in that job.

Look! Up in the sky! The Chicago Air & Water Show returns Saturday—but the teams were to be practicing overhead today.
 A decade ago, Louise McLoughlin—then of Rivet News Radio*—fearlessly took to the skies with the world’s largest formation flying aerobatics team. Here’s what it sounded like.
 McLoughlin’s since gone on to greater professional heights—including the creation of a gripping podcast series, You Look Like Me, documenting her quest as a “sperm-donor conceived journalist” to meet her half-siblings.

‘A browser that actually does your work for you.’ Neuron’s impressed by a new artificially intelligent web browser, Comet.

For the second week in a row … Question No. 3 of The Conversation’s weekly news quiz—devised by past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel—was the only one to stump your Chicago Public Square columnist.
 Congrats to The Conversation—as of last month, the nation’s No. 1 nonprofit news site as ranked by estimated monthly visits …
 … and to Chicago’s Block Club and the Reader, Nos. 7 and 12 respectively.

Costco’s retreat. Under pressure from reactionary religious types, the chain’s abandoning the sale of abortion pills.
 Abortion, Every Day: “Targeting pharmacies is just another way for Republicans to enact a back door ban: If they can’t make the pills illegal, they’ll make them impossible to get.”

Weird Al, interrupted. In the face of Trump’s power grab at the Smithsonian, Weird Al Yankovic has put on hold his plans to donate memorabilia to the institution.
 Meanwhile: The institution’s been collecting visitors’ hopes for the next 50 years.

Itsy-bitsy solar. Small solar panels—capable of fitting on a balcony or a deck—are on the rise …

Things that suck. The normally positive Consumer Reports spotlights “the vacuums that performed the worst in our lab tests.”
 Anticipating an educational TV vacuum as the feds defund public broadcasting, a right-wing “educational resource” aims to supplant PBS Kids.
 For the first time in years, Pulitzer-winning columnist Dave Barry brings back “Mister Language Person” … the only leading grammar authority to have been recognized by both Walmart and the American Society of English Teachers on Drugs.”

‘I have tried to go without your insightful updates and realized I really miss your newsletter.’ A Square reader returned to the fold this week—at no cost, of course, because this service is always free …
 … thanks to generous folk such as Christine Cooper, John Morath, David Kindler, John Greenwald, Clive Topol, Geraldine Delaney, Marianne Goss (again!), John Teets, Dave Tan (again!), Lee Rusch, Deborah Montgomery, Elizabeth Denius, Rupa Datta, Bill Weldon, Evan McKenzie, Daniel Horvath, Sallie Wolf, Lisa Fritz, Larry Baldacci, Paulette Cary, Stephen Brown, Gary Strokosch, Mike Salerno, Marjorie Isaacson, Joseph Sjostrom, Brian Rohr, Susan S. Stevens, Beth Botts, Valerie Morrow, Claire Barliant, Jim Parks, Robert Toon, Bernard Schoenburg, Reed Pence, Angela Mullins, Kristin Lems, Joyce Porter, Scott Tindale, Linda Baltikas, Robert Feder, Janice Marsh, David Mendell, Jennifer Fardy, Ben Goldgar, Susan Stucki, David Drew, Mary Ellen Nelligan, Geoff Anderson, Michael Weiland, Gail Frost, Keith Huizinga, Jane Williams, Sarah Williams, Kim Johnson, Ken Saydak, Marj Halperin, Fritz Mills, Dan Haley, Rob Breymaier, Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin, Reginald Davis, Shara Miller, Kathy Wyman and Doug Waco, Shayna Robinson, Stephanie Springsteen, Daniel Honigman, Sabrina Deitch, Donna Barrows, Ken Paulson, Kristina Zaremba, James Madigan, Robert Jaffe, Mary Paxson, Mike Leiderman, Roger Blickhan, Patrick Egan, Bruce Pfaff, Roy Plotnick, Tom Williamson, Janet Holden, Orin Day, Jean Remsen, Jan Rogatz, Ilene Siemer, Robert Clifford, Lisa Krimen, Susan Tyson, Arnie Weissmann, and Sherry and Margaret, in memory of Jack Helbig—people whose support over the last almost-2,000 editions (soon, soon) has underwritten production and distribution costs.
 Join them by kicking in as little as $1, just once, and see your name atop this roll call when Square returns next week.

* Whose successor, Rivet360, your Square columnist continues to serve as a vice president.

‘Stop surrendering’ / ‘The Tribune knocked’ / ‘Dump Spotify’

‘Stop surrendering when we need to fight.’ Gov. Pritzker’s calling on Democrats to shake off their political funk …
 … and on the national party to follow Illinois’ lead with “a renewed dedication to the needs and the wants of working families.”
With a nod to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and others, columnist and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich says Democrats should “ignore the carping of corporate and Wall Street Democrats and embrace … young progressives as the future of the party.”
An Illinois judge has rejected Texas’ request for the arrest of Democrats who fled here to derail a congressional remapping plan. (Tribune gift link, courtesy of those who underwrite the cost of producing Chicago Public Square.)

24/7 oppression. Donald Trump’s administration says federal agents will be patrolling Washington around the clock.
Cartoonist/columnist Jack Ohman: Don’t dismiss Trump’s D.C. takeover as just a distraction from his Jeffrey Epstein scandal: “U.S. troops could soon be coming to a blue state city near you.” (Cartoon: Ohman.)
Dan Froomkin at Heads Up News finds public resistance to Trump’s Washington military deployment “lackluster at best.”
HuffPost: A Homeland Security recruiting video uses a “disturbingly familiar … ‘Nazi-like’” font.
Columnist Neil Steinberg: “What if it's not about immigration? … What if it's really about … creating a faceless para-military force that follows no law, and is accountable to no one, except one man?

‘Fake science, faulty methods and misleading testimony.’ Injustice Watch: For eight years, a forensic toxicology lab at the University of Illinois Chicago relied on a host of shady tactics to get people convicted for driving high.
A Republican senator tells Fox News he doesn’t wear a seatbelt because he’s afraid he’ll get carjacked.

‘The right call.’ Columnist Eric Zorn approves Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s decision not to prosecute cops involved in last year’s fatal shooting of motorist Dexter Reed: “Reed fired first.”
The Illinois Answers Project and the Sun-Times: The Chicago police officer who shot and killed his partner during a foot pursuit earlier this year allegedly attacked a female officer late Sunday at a Wicker Park bar.

Classy. Popular Information: Trump’s plan to mark the nation’s 250th birthday next year with a UFC match on the White House lawn is consistent with his policy of leveraging his office’s power “to financially benefit himself, his family and his political allies.”
The snarky What Did Donald Trump Do Today? blog deconstructs the “gripes, grievances and whoppers” he delivered during “the nearly hour-long word salad” as he announced the 2025 Kennedy Center Honorees.
Reporter Em Luetkemeyer confirms all the members of KISS have agreed to accept.
Piano virtuoso Ben Folds explains why he quit the Kennedy Center.

‘The Tribune knocked … but heard nothing in response.’ So, yeah, can we get over the silly notion that there’s someone inside the city’s iconic Bean sculpture (officially, “Cloud Gate”) in Millennium Park?
But, for the record, former Trib photographer Alex Garcia has evidence there is indeed an office inside the Bean.”

Beware those bugs. Chicago’s Department of Public Health has upped the risk of catching the mosquito-borne West Nile virus to “high.”
The Centers for Disease Control details the symptoms.
Mercyhealth, which runs hospitals and clinics in Illinois and Wisconsin, has agreed to pay $1 million and reinstate workers fired for refusing to get COVID-19 shots during the pandemic.
Abortion, Every Day: A Texas district attorney who charged a woman with murder for self-managing an abortion apparently once paid for an abortion himself.

Happy(?) birthday, Social Security. RetirementRevised columnist Mark Miller says the program signed into law 90 years ago today is at a crossroads: “Financial solvency and customer service … both need attention.”
Historian Heather Cox Richardson revisits the life of the driving force behind the Social Security Act: Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, the first woman to hold a Cabinet job.

‘Time to dump Spotify.’ The Reader’s Leor Galil flags CEO Daniel Ek’s big investment in an AI weapons company …
 … an article your Chicago Public Square columnist unfortunately read after upping with Spotify for another year yesterday.
Tech companies’ investment in Trump is paying off: Public Citizen reports the administration has dropped a third of the misconduct and enforcement actions against the sector.

‘I decided that if I could subscribe to a bunch of streaming services to watch stupid TV at night, I could afford to support Public Square, which actually gives real value every single day.’ Those kind words arrived yesterday from a reader who’s generously helping underwrite the cost of producing and distributing this publication—joining the ranks of people including Sheila Wolfe, Tim Bannon, Susann Slinic, Debi Gordon, Theresa Rattenbury, KT Sullivan, Paul Colombo, John Robinson, Susan Gzesh, Irv Leavitt, Anne Rooney, Meghan Strubel, Harla Hutchinson, Edie Steiner, Bill Higgins, Ken Hooker, R Carney, Colette Verdun, Garry, John Jaramillo, Kiki Marie-Henri, Ryan Osborn, Chris Goldrick, Ann Keating, Susan Benloucif, Ken Trainor, Alec Bloyd-Peshkin, Marc Blesoff, Edward White, Michael Johnson, Stephen J. ONeil, Chris Ruys, Alison Price, Logan Aimone, E Larsen, Jim Moriarty, Mike Packard, Jack Ohman, Holly Wallace, J.J. Tindall, Cynthia Martin, Terri Lonier, Matt Griffin, Doreen Rice, Jack Bizot, Steve Newberger, Brent Brotine, Mana Ionescu, Annemarie Kill, Darryl Roberts, Diana Lauber, Sarah Russe, Martin Yeager, Jerry Wolin, Marc Magliari, Joanne Rosenbush, Annette Cade, Laurel Saltzman, Pat Albu, Sheila Flaherty, Chris Handzlik, Mike Cramer, Ricky Briasco, Mario Greco, Gene Kannenberg Jr., Judee Barone, Melanie Carter, Paula Donato, Sofia Marcovici, Stephanie Goldberg, Aaron Smith, Tim Ward, Jean Davis, Nannette Doetsch, Paul Wedeen, Robert A. Shipley, Mary Mearna, Cate Plys, Martin Gallas, Wendy Greenhouse, Al Hoyt, Mark Thurow, Alexander Domanskis, Anton Till, Paul Kungl, Avery Cohen, Jeff Hackett, Andrew Mitran, Sally Donatiello, Ed Nickow, Jim Walz, Another Debbie Becker, Sam Hochberg, Deborah J. Wess, Marjorie Huerta, Richard M. Bendix Jr., William Bork, Carol Lavoie Harper, Karen Conti, Margaret Meyer, Mollie Kramer, Sherry Kent, Tony Marturano, Craig Koslofsky, Paul Noble, Jeanne Peppler, Bruce Dold, Mary Szpur, Werner Huget, Tom Pritchett, Suzanne Vestuto, Meg Ross, Marge and Hank Arnold, Doug Berman, Molly McDonough, Riva Reed, Christopher Comes, Tina Birnbaum, Rich Gage, Carolyn Hosticka, Glenn Jeffers, Susy Schultz, Kevin Iverson, Peggy Fogelman, Ben Orzeske, Ann Fisher, Joseph Fedorko, Kate Arias, Mary Greenwald, Lizzie Schiffman Tufano, Fredric Stein, John Metz, Julie Ross, Gordon Hellwig, Richard Osa, Melissa Leeb, Matthew Pestine, Jean Johnson, Mike McDonagh, Bill Drudge, Jeff Weissglass, Mary M. Jeans, saknrad and Barb Powers. In memoriam: Marianne Matthews and Tom Petersen.
Pitch in as little as $1, once, and see your name atop tomorrow’s roll call.
Mike Braden made this edition better.

A Square public service announcement
A benefit for the Lin Brehmer Scholars Fund. A star-studded lineup of Chicago-based musicians—including Jon Langford, The Linburgers (Matt Spiegel and Curt Morrison of Tributosaurus), Michael McDermott, Heather Lynne Horton, Scott Lucas from Local H and Eddie “King” Roeser from Urge Overkill—gathers at Metro Aug. 21 in a concert to fund college scholarships for high school seniors who face adversity and yet embody the values of the late WXRT-FM morning man: Curiosity, kindness, generosity and joy.
Tickets here.

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