‘L’ STATION’S DEBUT. Chicago’s first new downtown elevated train stop in 20 years—a gateway to Millennium Park—opens tomorrow. The Tribune’s architecture critic, Blair Kamin, calls it “a considerable achievement.”
■ Cops have been questioning a man in connection with an Aug. 17 shooting at a Red Line subway station.
■ The Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman: Why Mayor Emanuel changed his tune on police reform.
SCHOOL REFORM’S COST. The widely hailed educational funding bill Gov. Rauner says he’ll sign Thursday won’t come cheap: It gives the Chicago school board—which isn’t elected—power to impose a property tax hike without any action by the City Council.
■ A Sun-Times editorial: “We have a suggestion: Tax the rich.”
■ Mark Brown reads the deal’s fine print: A student can, for instance, win a tax credit scholarship from a Catholic organization and use it to attend a Jewish school.
■ Developing: Rauner launches a “victory lap.”
‘THE VAN JUST WENT UNDERWATER AND WAS GONE.’ The Washington Post shares the tragic account of a family swept away—and presumed dead—in the floodwaters of Harvey.
■ Time: A Texas mother died saving her daughter from drowning.
■ And now even the shelters are flooded.
■ Home video shows alligators swimming in a woman’s backyard.
■ More than 30 Chicago radio stations unite at 4:29 this afternoon to promote hurricane relief donations to the Red Cross.
■ … But Facebook has been bypassing the often-criticized Red Cross to funnel donations to a smaller, less-well-known charity.
■ The congressional fight to come over Harvey relief money, explained by Vox.
■ New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie accuses Texas Sen. Ted Cruz of “an absolute falsehood” about Hurricane Sandy relief.
■ Harvey’s the most extreme multi-day rain event in continental U.S. history.
■ Charlie Pierce in Esquire: Factor in Houston’s “local chemical and energy industries … and you’ve got a nightmarish scenario for residents, and for whatever’s left of the EPA after this administration gets through with it.”
■ The nation’s largest oil refinery is closed until the waters recede.
■ The Houston Chronicle in 2005: “Models show ‘massive devastation’ in Houston.”
■ And it’s not just Texas. The heaviest rains in years over India, Nepal and Bangladesh have left more than 1,200 dead.
‘HE JUST DOESN’T UNDERSTAND.’ President Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod*, calls President Trump’s guest shot in Houston an “exercise in praise-claiming.”
■ The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah is defending Melania Trump’s choice of shoes in Houston.
■ Megapastor Joel Osteen’s church is taking in refugees and defending itself against charges it wasn’t.
■ Snopes strikes down fake reports Osteen sailed a luxury yacht through Houston to pass out copies of his book.
COSTCO CALLS IT OFF. After a USA Today investigation, Costco has stopped doing business with a California trucking company accused of trapping drivers in debt and then using their plight to force them to work overtime.
■ Ford and Domino’s are teaming up to test delivery of pizza via driverless cars.
■ Mechanics have ended their strike at some Chicago-area auto dealers.
■ Comcast is laying off 200 suburban Chicago workers.
■ A celebrated restaurant in Chicago’s Noble Square neighborhood is closing after seven years.
CHICAGO’S NEW DINO. Sue, the Field Museum’s most complete T. rex skeleton ever found, is moving upstairs—to be replaced by a cast of the world’s biggest dinosaur skeleton. (Image: Steveoc 86.)
■ Ravinia has clearance to build a “music experience center.”
■ As Washington’s journalism museum, the Newseum, faces financial trouble, media critic Jack Shafer says it deserves to die.
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