Disaster? Good luck / Snap judgment / Ketchup caper

[Note: Chicago Public Square is taking Thursday and Friday off. See ya Monday.]

DISASTER? GOOD LUCK. Since the 1980s, the federal government has been responsible for most of the bill when a state declares a disaster.

But as the number of climate-related disasters rises, the Pew Charitable Trusts reports, that could change.
For Chicago-area flooding victims, more trouble ahead. (Photo: Pew.)
The Republicans’ budget plan would cut overall spending—including Medicaid and Medicare—by $5.4 trillion over 10 years, but would increase defense spending.
The Wall Street Journal: The U.S. is paying more than $130,000 a month to lease space in Trump Tower for a military office, even though the president hasn’t spent a night there since becoming president.

‘EVENTUALLY WE’RE GOING TO GET SOMETHING DONE.’ President Trump’s pledge at the White House and its display on Fox News triggered widespread mockery.
A Trump family friend tells People Donald Trump Jr. is “miserable” and “can’t wait for these four years to be over.”

HEALTH CARE’S FATE. NBC News: “While Trump says he’ll ‘let’ Obamacare fail, it’s more accurate to say he has the power to make Obamacare fail.”
Three Republican women doomed the Senate’s Affordable Care Act repeal effort.
BuzzFeed: Trump is showing the world what a weak U.S. presidency looks like.
National Journal’s political editor: Trump’s presidency is fueling conservatism’s decline.
Los Angeles Times D.C. bureau chief David Lauter: The president “remains more focused on undoing his predecessor’s work than building something of his own.”
Neil Steinberg: Trump is doing exactly what his supporters expect him to do.
President Obama’s civil rights chief warns: “The Trump administration will undertake its enormous voter suppression campaign through voter purges.”
Keegan-Michael Key resurrects Obama’s “anger translator,” Luther.

SNAP JUDGMENT. That guy fired Monday as Gov. Rauner’s personal assistant (“body man”) after discovery of his homophobic and racially insensitive tweets had been interviewed by the governor personally just three days before.
The richest guys in the gubernatorial campaign are spending $120,000 a day—but one of the lesser-known Democrats had the most outside contributions.

CELLPHONE PRIVACY PUSH. One of Chicago’s most influential aldermen is recommending protections that would, among other things, require phone stores to post signs warning customers of threats to their privacy.
Chicago’s going to use traffic cams to ID graffiti vandals.
The Tribune’s John Kass on Mayor Emanuel’s European junket: “If you were mayor, wouldn’t you rather be somewhere else?
Meet the Chicagoan who owns the Illinois license plate that reads CLOUT.

‘IT’S A POLICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATING ITSELF AND IT’S WORTHLESS.’ A lawyer for the family of a Naperville teen who killed himself after police questioned him about a potential sex video on his phone dismisses a department report clearing the officer involved.
A Chicago neighborhood displays its anguish at a vigil for the 10-year-old boy killed Friday as he rode in a car targeted by gunfire.

‘THAT’S GOING TO BLOW UP THIS ORGANIZATION LIKE NOTHING IN THE HISTORY OF CNN.’
A CNN employee warns Vanity Fair about rumors President Trump will press for the ouster of CNN’s CEO, Jeff Zucker, as a condition for support of the merger of its parent company, Time Warner, with AT&T.

THEY’RE BUYING AMERICAN. The National Association of Realtors says sales of U.S. real estate to foreign buyers and recent immigrants over the last year hit their highest level since record-keeping began in 2009.
 Minutes after Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios Tuesday defended his office’s methods of figuring property value, the Sun-Times’ Sam Charles reports, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced a review of property tax assessment methodology.
Chicago plans to locate mixed-income housing with libraries in three new developments.

KETCHUP CAPER. Tweaking Chicagoans’ classic aversion to ketchup on hot dogs, Heinz is honoring National Hot Dog Day with limited rebranding of its signature product as “Chicago Dog Sauce.” (Photo: Heinz.)
… Triggering resistance on Twitter and Facebook.
Today’s Chicago-area hot dog deals.
Sox and Cubs ballpark food compared.

CORRECTION. The emailed edition of yesterday’s Square misidentified the father of a City of Chicago employee who used city email to describe African-Americans as “wild animals.” The father is a former alderman.

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