CTA station reborn / 'It made me cry' / David S. Pumpkins: An oral history

CTA STATION REBORN. Red Line riders are getting an improved stationhouse at Wilson today.

Even if Mayor Emanuel’s budget delivers a bump in taxes on Uber and Lyft fares, a Tribune analysis finds those rides would still be cheaper than taking a cab. (Rendering: CTA.)
A new survey finds Pace bus services for disabled riders are “unacceptably poor.”

HE’S (HOPING TO BE) BAAAAAACK. Gov. Bruce Rauner took to Twitter this morning to confirm his candidacy for reelection.
A Tribune investigation: After the privatization of an Illinois program to keep troubled families together, the deaths of children in that program have spiked.

‘I’VE HAD HANDS UP MY SKIRT. I’VE HAD MY HAIR PULLED.’ A woman who lobbies for an environmental group in Illinois is one of several who tell The Hill sexual harassment is rampant in state capitols across the U.S.
Disgraced Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly to New York Times reporters after he thought the mic was off: “This is crap, and you know it.”

‘WE CAN’T HAVE OUR VOTER REGISTRATIONS MANAGED BY SOMEONE WHO IS THAT PARTISAN.’ Civil rights advocates are demanding Illinois withdraw from a multistate voter registration database overseen by the Republican vice chairman of President Trump’s election fraud commission.
Mother Jones: Voter suppression threw Wisconsin to Trump. And possibly handed him the whole election.”

‘IT MADE ME CRY.’ The widow of a dead soldier calls a congresswoman’s account of a call from Trump “100 percent correct” and says the president left her “very angry” he “couldn’t remember” her husband’s name.
In a tweet, Trump insists his call was “very respectful.”

CHICAGO’S PUERTO RICAN CHALLENGE. At least a thousand refugees from Hurricane Maria’s devastation have relocated here, and, with potentially tens of thousands to follow, a Metropolitan Planning Council vice president is among those raising questions about their ability to find housing.
Vox: “Puerto Rico’s misery won’t end without power. The problem is that it isn’t getting any.”
Just back from Puerto Rico, the Sun-Times’ Mark Brown says locals report little help from the feds or the territorial government.

A ‘BET AGAINST COLLEGE.’ Axios reports the office-leasing company WeWork has acquired a private computer coding company, with an eye toward offering cheap vocational training as an alternative to expensive degrees.
More than 14,000 people have applied to join the Chicago Police force.

A PAYCHECK EVERY DAY. A new service gives companies the ability to pay employees daily instead of weekly, biweekly or monthly.
Target offers to take the disappointment—and the surprise—out of gift-giving.

DAVID S. PUMPKINS: AN ORAL HISTORY. A year after the debut of one of Saturday Night Live’s stupidest characters, Vulture talks to the bit’s creators.
The Daily Beast: New host Laura Ingraham is “already terrifying Fox News staffers—and her show hasn’t even aired yet.”

THE FIGHT AGAINST ‘FAKE NEWS.’ CNN has a new slogan.
A broadcaster at one of the few outlets for independent journalism in Russia—where independent journalists are often equated with traitors—was stabbed in the neck by an intruder.
One of the biggest sports media companies you’ve never heard of is out to be “the local sports page for every city in the country.”

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CORRECTION. The link in Friday’s Square to Robert Feder’s update on the fate of Chicago’s WGN-TV and Radio was wrong. Here’s the right one, with apologies to Feder and thanks to Liz Poppens Denius at the NIU Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

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