‘You could smell the rot.’ The Cook County medical examiner’s office reports dozens of human remains “improperly stored” at a Chicago funeral home.
■ Neighbors tell the Sun-Times the foul odors date back to the winter.
ICE vs. sheriff. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is threatening criminal charges against Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart if he doesn’t turn over inmates in its sights.
■ It’s also pressing the Twin Cities’ sheriff.
■ Despite a Supreme Court smackdown, President Trump’s still trying to limit birthright citizenship.
■ The ACLU says it’s ready to fight him again.
■ Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman: “This is an administration of lying liars. … The new information is how much this administration lies to itself.”
Blanche stanch? Trump’s nomination of his sycophant Todd Blanche (April link) to become attorney general was looking iffy after Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski said she’d vote no.
■ In states like South Dakota, Nebraska and Idaho, “where the Democratic brand is trash,” Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch (gift link, corrected) sees a stealth plan to end Republicans’ Senate majority.
■ USA Today’s Rex Huppke channels a Republican legislator: “I am rendered powerless before the awesome strength of a lame-duck president with a 32% approval rating. My party might control both houses of Congress, and our job description might technically include reining in the executive branch, but still, it’s just not a thing we can do. His gaze alone makes our brains seize up.”
■ The Onion: “New DNC Fundraising Email Urges Voters To Find Something Better To Do With Their Money.”
Registered to vote? Law prof Joyce Vance says, “If you aren’t … the time to get that fixed is now!”
■ Columnist and MS NOW contributor Brian Tyler Cohen: Almost 60 of Trump’s confirmed judicial nominees have refused to say Joe Biden won the 2020 election—“and they’re about to have real power over the 2026 midterms.”
‘A crude political stunt.’ That’s how a lawyer for former federal COVID fighter Anthony Fauci describes a Senate committee’s vote to hold him in contempt.
■ Columnist and AI-assisted cartoon concocter Jan Kodner sees Republicans “salivating at the prospect of a criminal prosecution of this 85-year-old lifelong public servant … for the crime of reasonably helping America get through a worldwide killer pandemic through science rather than bleach drinking.”
McConnell on the move. Headlines say missing-in-action Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell “says” he’s left a rehab center to return home …
■ … but columnist Jeff Tiedrich reminds you that it was just a statement from his office: “Who’s more brain-dead, Mitch McConnell or the press covering him?”
‘Unlawful on its face.’ That’s the assessment of the one dissenting Democratic Federal Communications Commissioner on yesterday’s FCC vote to eliminate a nationwide cap on TV station ownership …
■ … a victory for WGN-TV and Radio owner Nexstar.
■ Award-winning former radio reporter turned media critic Rob Archer: “Radio licenses used to be worth millions. Cumulus [owner of four Chicago stations] just gave one back.”
■ The Cumulus Podcast Network’s on the ropes, too.
‘What are the kids up to?’ That’s the unifying theme for this week’s challenge from The Conversation’s quizmaster, past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel.
Chicago, busy. Axios rounds up all the fun things likely to cause traffic jams through the weekend.
■ … including the Bud Billiken Parade’s 97th year.
■ Now surrounding a 1902 monument to George Washington on the South Side: A tribute to “Other Washingtons.”
Square mailbag.
■ Dean Martin, in response to the lead item in yesterday’s Square: “No one should be profiting from this war, but there is some hypocrisy going on here. [Gov. Pritzker] didn’t return the money the state made off the sales tax from high gas prices. He used it to balance his budget.”
■ Alan Hoffstadter: “I love the fact that you print every contributor’s name! … It gives me great comfort to see how many of them there are! Thank you so much for what must be a tedious task.” Not tedious! An honor and a privilege to thank all the readers who’ve made clear with their financial support that they find value in this service—including, as we wrap up this roll call, Pamela Jameson, David Henkhaus (again!), Mark Hanover, H. Evan Williams (again!), Randy Young (again!), Christopher Giorno, Ted Naron, Heather Kenny, Brian Cassidy, Jan Kodner, Julie Martin, Peter Fuller, Mary Cronin, Mark Edwards, Michael Conway, Marc Morency, Justin Walker, Timothy Baffoe, Jim Parks, Clifford Johnson, Athene C, Michael Weiland, Amy Carlton, Susan Yessne, Shara Miller, Sheila Wolfe, Nancy Hess, Jim Owens, Deborah Montgomery, Avis Rudner, Alexander Domanskis, Eric Reinert, Ryan Bird, Orin Day, Leo Bonnie Dohogne, Bill Herbert, Gail Frost, Ken Hooker, John Gilardi, Daniel Parker, Sherry Kent, Eileen O’Loughlin and Mike Cramer.
■ Join them anytime, for any amount, and see your name in lights here. (Or not, if you prefer anonymity.)
