SMALL ELECTIONS, BIG DEAL. Eric Zorn on why tomorrow’s local elections are important.
■ Daily Southtown editorial: “If you don’t vote … you are saying that you believe everything is just fine …. Don’t expect your elected officials to read the results any other way.”
■ Policy analyst Sean McElwee in Salon: Restoring felons’ voting rights after they leave prison is better for society. (Photo credit: me.)
‘BECAUSE HIS OFFENSES … ARE SO GRAVE … MOCKING HIS TINY HANDS JUST SEEMS TRIVIAL.’ Neil Steinberg says he’s uncomfortable insulting the president for his physical appearance.
■ ProPublica: “Trump Can Pull Money From His Businesses Whenever He Wants—Without Ever Telling Us.”
■ The Sun-Times has found 15 companies with Chicago ties expressing interest in building Trump’s wall.
■ Ex-Trump staffers are in the hunt for foreign lobbying work.
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REACH SMART PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT CHICAGO AND THE WORLD. And who open and click in these dispatches at more than double MailChimp’s “media and publishing” industry averages. Advertise in Chicago Public Square.
‘EVEN IF YOU ARE ACTING COMPLETELY LEGALLY ACCORDING TO YOUR STATE, YOU MAY STILL BE IN SERIOUS JEOPARDY.’ On HBO last night, John Oliver took a critical look at the confused state of the law regarding marijuana in the U.S.
■ A Trump adviser recommends the president reject his attorney general’s “outmoded thinking on marijuana.”
■ Justin Breen in DNAinfo: One of Chicago’s oldest buildings could anchor a new city park.
■ Mayor Emanuel announces millions of dollars in improvements for Chicago parks facilities. (Photo: Zol87.)
‘BY THE WAY … THE AIR IN CHICAGO IS RATED BETTER THAN THE AIR IN DENVER.’ Columnist John McCarron lists plenty of good reasons not to leave Illinois.
■ And yet, Indiana’s predicting more defectors.
■ A climatologist tells the Tribune global warming could bring the region some good, “with lower heating and less home damage … fewer car accidents, fewer repairs on the road and less expense on salting.” Effects underwater, though, may not be so positive.
■ Cook County’s setting up co-ops to help homeowners go solar.
‘CORPSES BURNT AND DISMEMBERED TO STOP THEM WALKING FROM THEIR GRAVES.’ A new account in The Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports cites what researchers are calling the first evidence of that practice in medieval England.
■ Spoiler alerts: Walking Dead season finale recaps here and here.
Chicago’s veteran horror-movie host, Svengoolie (Rich Koz, in a role originated by the late Jerry G. Bishop), later this month begins a guest shot in the Dick Tracy comic strip. Writer Mike Curtis tells Square the adventure arose from his decision to set a story against a cosplay competition like those “Sven” has judged in real life. (Image: Tribune Content Agency.)
A suggestion from reader Christine Badowski Koenig.