McCAIN’S MOMENT. To the shock of Republicans and cheers from Democrats, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain killed President Trump’s health care overhaul plan. (The link to this lead item has been corrected.)
■ The NBC politics team: McCain saved Republicans from themselves.
■ Five key moments from a dramatic night.
■ Vox: “It became clear something was amiss when McCain spoke briefly with the top Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer, and Schumer seemed elated.”
■ Politico: How Democrats won the health care war.
■ Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell: “It is time to move on.”
■ Daily Kos: “This was a massive slap in the face to McConnell’s unprecedented short-circuiting of Senate process.”
■ The New Yorker: “The collapse reflects a failure of the Republican Party and its president.”
■ But it may reflect a reset for bipartisanship.
■ The co-owner of the Chicago-area Anderson’s Bookshops aims to unseat Republican Congressman Peter Roskam.
‘I’M ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, THE MOOCH. I’M A FRONT STABBER. I’M HERE TO FIRE EVERYBODY. BE NICE TO ME!’ Stephen Colbert and other TV hosts had a field… um, night …with the new White House communications director.
■ The Onion fact-checks Scaramucci’s New Yorker interview: “True: The Mooch is hot, baby! Sizzling! Nobody can stop this kid!”
■ Daily Beast: Scaramucci hasn’t helped White House-FBI relations.
■ ProPublica: Scores of federal law enforcement agencies are failing to submit statistics to the FBI’s national hate crimes database.
■ A gun store reports a changing customer profile in the age of Trump: “More women and more people of color.”
SCOUTS’ DISHONOR. The chief executive of the Boy Scouts of America regrets a presidential speech that overshadowed the good Scouting does. But the White House is unapologetic.
■ Eugene Robinson on Trump in the Washington Post: “The mad king is girding for war.”
■ Financial disclosure forms suggest Ivanka Trump is making millions off her dad’s administration.
■ Trump Organization plans for a Scottish golf course have run afoul of environmental agencies.
■ Plans for pig balloons to fly in front of Chicago’s Trump Tower have been grounded—for now.
‘IT’S HIGHLY LIKELY COOK COUNTY’S WEALTH-BASED APPROACH TO PRETRIAL RELEASE VIOLATES THE U.S. AND ILLINOIS CONSTITUTIONS AS WELL AS STATE LAW.’ And so former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is joining Cook County Public Defender Amy J. Campanelli—pro bono—to review the county’s bail bond practices.
■ Present Attorney General Jeff Sessions on his relationship with Trump: “It hasn’t been my best week.”
THE GOOD NEWS ON FOXCONN. Tribune columnist Robert Reed cautions those (including his own paper’s editorial board) who see Wisconsin’s landing a big new electronics assembly plant as a defeat for Illinois: “The $10 billion facility will become a font of jobs, supplier contracts, construction projects and other commercial possibilities for the Chicago area and northern Illinois … without having to spend a penny.”
■ Flooding along the Chain O’ Lakes has been “catastrophic“ for businesses.
■ Three teens have been rescued from Lake Michigan near the Indiana Dunes.
WHAT COULD GO WRONG? A Chicago alderman is proposing to deputize citizens to free pets left in hot cars—without penalty “for damage to the vehicle.”
■ Another alderman wants steeper penalties for gas stations whose pumps don’t stop pumping.
‘ERIC & KATHY’ SPLITSVILLE? Robert Feder says the clock’s run out on Kathy Hart’s AWOL disappearance from WTMX-FM’s top-rated morning show.
■ WGN-TV insiders say they’re “worried that all the success that they have achieved lately will be wiped … very quickly” if Tribune Media is acquired by conservative Sinclair.
NOT AMUSED. After a deadly accident at the Ohio State Fair, Illinois has shut down similar rides at county fairs and carnivals.
■ The Ohio victim had just joined the Marines.
POKEMON STOP. A California man is going to court in Chicago, saying the organizers of the Pokemon Go Fest knew—or should have known—about the problems that foiled the event.
■ Downtown streets have already been closed in anticipation of next week’s Lollapalooza fest.