Rauner on defense / 'Between the urinal and the sink' / A year of this

Rauner on defense. Before the Tribune editorial board, Illinois’ embattled governor today faces his primary challenger, Rep. Jeanne Ives, in their (so far) only head-to-head match. See it live on the web here at 11 a.m.
Cook County Board presidential candidate Bob Fioretti faces charges of not paying a campaign worker—again.

She did it again. 63-year-old serial airline stowaway Marilyn Hartman was arrested again yesterday at O’Hare International Airport.
The Pentagon is reviewing security practices after the revelation that a fitness tracking app may have spilled the beans on soldiers working out at secret locations around the world.

‘He caught me between the urinal and the sink.’ The seemingly never-ending battle over the University of Illinois’ offensive (but formally retired) mascot, Chief Illiniwek, has taken another twist. (2006 photo: soundfromwayout.)
Michigan State University’s sex-abuse sports scandal has now embroiled ex-U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.
American Bar Association Journal: A gymnast-turned-lawyer helped bring Michigan State’s perverted team physician Larry Nassar to justice.
Eight times between 1997 and 2015 Nassar could have been stopped.

‘It is underestimated as a danger.’ A public health science professor reflects on Illinois’ consistent showing in the top five states for cold-related deaths.
Mother Jones: President Trump is making it easier for oil companies to get away with killing migratory birds.
A former EPA chief and a former U.S. prosecutor say it’s time to turn some until-now informal rules governing the presidency into law.

‘What if Donald Trump were smart?’ Leonard Pitts on Trump’s first year: “All this … has been done to us by someone who is not smart. What do you suppose might be done to us by someone who was?”
Ezra Klein in Vox: There are two Trump presidencies—and at least one of them is winning.
What to expect in Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night.
An ex-presidential speechwriter sets a low bar: If he “gets through the hour without putting a fork in somebody’s eye he will be praised as the most presidential president since the most presidential president.”
Not so long ago, the notion of a president setting foot in Congress was considered unthinkable.

Hillary Clinton’s cameo. Her bit on the Grammy awards last night is getting the brush-off from the White House today.
Across the country, women are running for office in record numbers.
The latest in a series of #MeToo-driven shifts: Ex-Chicago Sun-Times editor and publisher Jim Kirk is the new editor of the Tribune’s troubled sibling, The Los Angeles Times.

‘He was a member of the worst Nazi party.’ The past haunted Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, who died Saturday.
… which makes this satire timely again.

A year of this. Today marks completion of the first year of Chicago Public Square’s public existence—originally revealed in an interview with WGN Radio’s Justin Kaufmann on Jan. 27, 2017, and then formally launched the following Monday with this issue. Thanks for being here.
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Corrections to Friday’s Square.
Reader Mike Braden caught the word “on” missing a reference to Eric Zorn’s column about gubernatorial candidate Chris Kennedy.
Reader Chris Koenig noted that “the U.S. Olympic Committee” has no s after Olympic.
Reader Jim Lemon caught a redundant word, “board,” in the same item.

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