MAN AT WORK. Illinois Republican Rep. John Shimkus is catching flak on social media for asking during congressional hearings on the Republicans’ health care plan why the Affordable Care Act has required men to purchase prenatal care.
■ The Tribune’s Heidi Stevens’ answer: “Because lots of men have sex with women.”
■ Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood on what seems like her foresight: “I cannot tell you how strange this feels. I wrote the book hoping to fend it off.”
■ The new boss at the EPA says human activity isn’t “a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.” His agency’s website says otherwise.
‘TRUMP’S PRESIDENCY IS RUINING MY PERSONAL BRAND.’ River Clegg explains in The New Yorker.
■ Nate Silver in FiveThirtyEight: “There really was a liberal media bubble.”
‘THAT AGENDA IS B.S.’ Gubernatorial candidate Chris Kennedy spared little tact as he criticized Gov. Rauner’s continued assertion that companies are “worried about coming to Illinois because of … tort reform or workers’ comp or term limits.”
■ PolitiFact: Rauner’s budget-balancing claim doesn’t come close to adding up.
ARMED TO BE ARMED. The number of Chicago residents who have a state permit to own a gun jumped 63 percent from 2015 to 2016, according to numbers obtained by DNAinfo.
■ Tribune editorial: “Want to reduce shootings and killings in Chicago? Pass this bill.”
‘YOU SHIFT EVERYONE SOUTH TO A FACILITY THAT IS BASICALLY A PRISON.’ Immigration lawyers are protesting a sudden move of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center 70 miles further from the Chicago area.
‘DON’T GIVE ME ANY OF THAT JEW BUTTER.’ The Tribune’s Ron Grossman recalls the casual and widespread antisemitism of his youth.
‘JUST AS BLOOMBERG DOESN’T COVER BLOOMBERG, WE DON’T PLAN TO COVER JOE RICKETTS.’ The co-founder of Gothamist and Chicagoist explains why stories critical of new owner (and DNAinfo owner and Trump supporter and Cubs co-owner) Joe Ricketts have suddenly disappeared from the sites. But, as Jezebel notes, “Bloomberg frequently covers Bloomberg.”
■ Bookstores are becoming a hub of resistance to the Trump presidency.
COMMUNITY CHEST THE RAPPER. Chicago Public Schools are getting another $90,000 from Chance the Rapper, less than a week after he chipped in $1 million. (Credit for Monopoly joke to @BeachwoodReporter.)
■ How Chance, who’s 23, gets his money—when he gives his music away free.
RADIOSHACK SHUTTERINGS. Another 187 stores across the country will be closing this month as the chain enters its second bankruptcy in two years.
■ Business Insider: We visited a RadioShack in NYC and saw why.
■ Meijer grocery stores will fight back against Amazon with delivery service.
‘ONE IMPORTANT THING IS TO LIKE REPORTERS.’ Visionary Chicago journalist and spokesman—and, more recently, Burning Man media relations chief—Tom LaPorte is dead at 63.
■ Acclaimed Chicago TV reporter Frank Mathie will sign off 50 years to the day after he started.