Pritzker's 'nightmare' / Ives' 'troubling views' / L.A. goodbye

Pritzker’s ‘nightmare.’ The Sun-Times’ Mark Brown examines the prospects confronting J.B. Pritzker’s Democratic campaign for governor—including “a campaign commercial in which he is heard on an FBI wiretap (obtained by the Tribune) repeating after former Gov. Rod Blagojevich: ‘God Damn America.’”

Former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, dissed by Pritzker in that recording, isn’t buying Pritzker’s apology: “Those tapes show you … what he really thinks about black folks.”

How he did it. The Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet explains how Nazi Arthur Jones “snuck in” to the Republican primary for Congress representing Chicago’s southwest suburbs.
Neil Steinberg: The Holocaust is the rare inconvenient topic Republicans aren’t denying.

Ives’ ‘troubling views.’ A Tribune editorial condemns Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeanne Ives for “a television commercial that disturbed a lot of people.”
But columnist Eric Zorn says outrage the ad has triggered “is a feature, not a bug” of the Ives campaign.
A trans lawyer who Ives says inspired one of the commercial’s most controversial portrayals: “She’s only a short way away from the Nazi Party in 1930s Germany.”
Gov. Rauner’s reelection campaign is pivoting to attack Ives, a backer of Donald Trump—to whom Rauner says he’s not “particularly close.”
The Cook County Republican organization is sticking with Rauner.

Charged with sexual assault, sexual abuse and kidnapping—but still a school board member. The Sun-Times’ Phil Kadner explores a Chicago suburb’s puzzling lack of outrage.
A Chicago cop faces charges he sexually assaulted a suspect who was in police custody.
The lawyer in charge of the Chicago Law Department’s civil rights litigation division is out after a federal judge condemned the division’s failure to turn over evidence in police misconduct cases.
BuzzFeed News: When a teenager accused on-duty New York cops of rape, she had no idea the law might protect them.

Unrelated developments.
Disgraced by charges he pressured employees for sex, casino mogul Steve Wynn is quitting the company he built.
A woman says she found something unexpected in store-bought romaine lettuce.

‘The greatest publicity stunt we’ve seen in a long time.’ The Verge’s Vlad Savov calls Elon Musk’s launch of a Tesla into space “the perfect implement for making science sexy.”
But it missed its Mars target and now is headed to the Asteroid Belt.

Trumparade. The president’s call for a big Washington parade celebrating the nation’s military poses a dilemma for Democrats.
Remember the last big U.S. military parade, 17 27 years ago?
NBC News: Republicans plan to make the 2018 elections about House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.

L.A. goodbye. Ending a star-crossed romance that began 18 years ago, the Chicago-based company that owns the Tribune, Tronc, is selling off the biggest paper in its stable, The Los Angeles Times.
The guy taking over the Times has been sued by Cher.
What’s left of Tronc is reinstating Times publisher Ross Levinsohn after an investigation into an alleged pattern of sexual misconduct.
Facebook’s plan to certify trusted news sources has a problem.
Fundraising for plans to launch Block Club Chicago, successor to the shuttered DNAinfo Chicago news site, is off to a grand start after Day One on Kickstarter.
Announcements.
Yesterday’s Square misspelled the word “stomp.” Birthday boy Jim Lemon was the first (of several) to report the problem.
A hat-tip to Craig Newman’s daily email news roundup for inspiration today.

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