Life after the ‘Broadview 6’: Oak Park Village Trustee Brian Straw and his lawyer, Chris Parente

The collapse of the indictment of six people who in the fall of 2025 were protesting the Trump administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” immigration crackdown created problem after problem for the feds—and in particular for the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago.

As you’re about to hear, that case might’ve gone quite differently if not for a fateful connection between two dads who met on the fields of Oak Park Youth Baseball: One of the defendants, Oak Park Village Trustee Brian Straw, and the man who would become his lawyer, Chris Parente.

In a Wednesday Journal / Chicago Public Square podcast, recorded at Oak Park’s historic 19th Century Club, Straw and Parente explain how it went down, what it means for the nation … and what a movie about the case should look like.

Hear them in conversation June 25, 2026—after an introduction from Journal founder Dan Haley.

Listen here, or hear this and other Square podcasts on Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, Amazon’s Alexa-powered speakers or Apple Podcasts.

If you prefer watching to just listening, here’s video of the session, produced by John Roberts and Edward Pitts of Absolute Streaming.

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Photos, left to right: Meyerson, Straw, Parente.
Photographer: Todd Bannor.

R.I.P., junk fees / Apple’s big bite / Quiz / ‘Radio’s biggest lie’

R.I.P., junk fees. Gov. Pritzker’s signed a package of laws aimed at eliminating sticker shock when people buy Illinois concert, sporting event or other tickets, or order food or hotel rooms …

■ … so the price you first see when shopping online is the price you pay.

■ Other new laws on the way next week include expansion of the state’s “cyberbullying” rules to include the posting of unauthorized AI images of children, and the permanent extension of a pandemic-era law allowing the delivery of cocktails.

■ Illinois Policy bitterly reminds you that Illinois is one of just three states that ban the use and sale of consumer fireworks.

‘Were you apoplectic when you guys bought it?’ City Council members were not encouraging yesterday as they questioned the managing director of a New York investment firm trying to acquire Chicago’s parking meters …

■ … a firm that also owns an airline that Mother Jones reports “shackled passengers on long-haul ICE flights to Africa and Asia.”

■ Florida’s governor says the widely denounced “Alligator Alcatraz” immigrant concentration camp is closed.

■ The feds’ first felony conviction in the “Operation Midway Blitz” immigration crackdown here is falling apart …

■ … coincidentally—or not—because the indictment in that case came from the same grand jury that on the same day indicted the “Broadview Six” in a case that also collapsed.

Trump’s literal ‘water-gate.’ Former Politico editor Garrett Graff says this is a funny time for Vice President Vance to be defending Richard Nixon …

■ … as President Trump’s being driven mad by that Reflecting Pool algal bloom …

■ … which CNN’s Brian Stelter suggests constitutes the summer’s best TV drama …

■ … and which some have cleverly dubbed “The Strait of Warm Ooze.”

■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “Nixon’s mistake was presidenting during an era when there was no corrupt and compliant Supreme Court willing to declare him a Very Special Boy Who Gets To Crime All He Wants.”

■ A Tribune editorial: “Trump is a troll. But he’s correct that lots of killing is going on in Chicago.”

‘The Cold War called. It wants its anxiety back.’ Columnist and former U.S. Rep. Marie Newman says Democrats need to get over their aversion to the concept of “democratic socialism.”

■ Politico: “Illinois Democrats are … helping fellow Democrats around the country navigate the party’s increasingly fraught politics around Israel.”

Apple’s big bite. Blaming a memory chip shortage fueled by the AI boom, the company’s raising prices on the order of 20% for Macintosh computers and iPads—but not iPhones … yet.

■ On the environmental upside, a Trib editorial (gift link) suggests, “folks are much more likely now … to repair them rather than trade them in for something new.”

‘Meta culpa.’ Business Insider: After years of mass layoffs, restructuring and overbearing management, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg acknowledges a collapse in employee trust and morale.

■ Oligarch Watch: “Why Zuck sucked up to Trump.”

Practically perfect in every ___. For a refreshing change of pace, your Chicago Public Square columnist nailed all eight answers to this week’s fill-in-the-blank news quiz from past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel.

‘Radio’s biggest lie.’ Barrett Media news editor Garrett Searight says the massive layoffs at iHeartMedia stations across the country expose the hypocrisy of the industry’s mantra that “content is king.”

■ Radio Ink columnist Erik Cudd sees an opportunity for locally owned radio stations to step up their game …

■ … which brings to mind a memo from your Square columnist back in 1998.

■ Journalism professor Jeff Jarvis: “California is about to hand out $20 million … to news organizations, and it is … sending too many checks to the hedge funds that have ruined news.”

‘A man who co-opted Black culture and who stole an iconic bass line from Queen and David Bowie.’ Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week is Vanilla Ice …

■ … the subject of what she calls “a really stupid” profile in The Atlantic (gift link).

‘Babies are an important source of adults, without whom the economy cannot function.’ Pulitzer winner Dave Barry sounds an alarm about the “baby drought.”

■ According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Illinois’ fertility rate dropped from 68% to 54% between 2007 and 2020.

■ Columnist Elizabeth Austin declares: “I am sick to death of people poking fun at Trump’s allegedly small, mushroom-shaped penis as a symbol of his unfitness for office.”

‘Dislike the AI cartoon!’ Jessica Knobbe was among a handful of readers turning thumbs down on an artificial-intelligence-generated illustration in yesterday’s Square: “It just seems to be a medium that steals from actual illustrators.”

■ ChatGPT’s “art director” for that picture, Jan Kodner, responds: “I understand that AI is a hot button for some. … I can’t draw at all. … Without AI imaging (under my supervision and direction), I wouldn’t have been able to help create … effective messaging in these dark times.”

■ So Jan’s back with a different approach—his ChatGPT-assisted perspective on this story:

■ What do you think? Email AI@ChicagoPublicSquare.com.