‘MY JURISDICTION WAS ONCE ALL OF ILLINOIS. NOW I HAVE TWO HALLWAYS TO CLEAN.’ In one of his first two interviews with reporters since his imprisonment on corruption charges, disgraced ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich tells Chicago Magazine, “I feel like I was a very good governor, and now I feel like I’m doing a pretty good job on those floors.”
■ A Tribune editorial advises politicians to heed Blago’s words: “How much are a few years with your family worth? Is an ethical lapse here and there an acceptable risk? A contract for a crony? A vacation on a donor’s dime? A kickback?” (Photo: Rod Blagojevich, for Chicago Magazine.)
EQUIF--KED. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says the massive Equifax data breach exposed the personal financial information of 5.4 million Illinois residents, and she’s demanding the company pay for your credit report freezes at all three major bureaus.
■ NBC News notes the downside of credit freezes: “When it comes time to get a mortgage or an auto loan, consumers sometimes don’t remember the procedure to ‘thaw’ their reports.”
■ Equifax faces at least 23 class-action suits and a U.S. Senate inquiry.
FREEZER DEATH FACEBOOK LEAD. A social media video seems to show a young woman at a Rosemont hotel in the hours before she was found dead in the hotel’s walk-in freezer.
■ The story is drawing attention from around the country, including Washington and Atlanta.
HURRICANE SURVIVORS PONDER ‘WHAT NOW?’ For some residents of areas hit by Irma and Harvey, it may be time to move.
■ NASA images show Irma wiped out so much greenery, entire islands changed color.
■ Consumer Reports’ Consumerist website: “Pizza Hut is sorry-ish that store stopped workers from fleeing Florida.”
TED CRUZ’ TWITTER TROUBLE. The official account of the Texas senator, long a champion of conservative family values, “liked” a porn tweet.
■ Snark from Wired writer Ashley Feinberg: “If you … are ted cruz’s intern who is about to get fired over the porn fav … pls email me.”
■ The New York Daily News from 2016: “Great moments in Ted Cruz’s history of making his family deeply uncomfortable.”
■ A Colorado baker is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to protect his right to refuse to make cakes for same-sex weddings.
■ Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg told a Chicago audience last night she has no plans to quit: “There is still work to be done.”
‘YES, I’M SERIOUS.’ The president of the “Crime Prevention Research Center,” John R. Lott—who has persistently criticized the notion of background checks for gun buyers—is set to suggest President Trump’s commission on voter fraud endorse just such a system to “check if the right people are voting.”
■ His commentary published in the Tribune today: “If Democrats really believe that the National Instant Criminal Background Check System doesn’t interfere ‘in any way’ with people’s constitutional rights to own a gun, doesn’t it follow that the same system would not constitute an infringement on people’s right to vote?”
■ A note from 2003 on Lott’s credibility: He pretended to be his own student.
PALOS PROTESTS. For the third month in a row, dozens of people packed a suburban township board meeting, objecting to a trustee’s complaints about the area’s increase in Muslim immigrants.
■ President Trump still hasn’t retracted the false claim he saw Muslims cheering after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
LET AMAZON ‘POACH THE BEST WORKERS.’ A University of Chicago law prof says Illinois can take an easy step to make itself more appealing for Amazon’s new second headquarters: “Ban the noncompete agreements in employment contracts.”
■ Amazon’s potential to move here puts Chicago CEOs in a tough spot.
■ You can watch Apple’s big product “event” today, live at noon Central. But you need an Apple device or Microsoft’s Edge browser to do so.
■ Cops may not like what they see.
POP TAX WAR. A spokesman for nutrition-minded billionaire media magnate and ex-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says Bloomberg’s ready to spend “whatever it takes” to defend backers of the Cook County sweetened-drink tax from defeat in next year’s election.
■ A Sun-Times editorial tells Bloomberg, “You’re here, and you’re aboveboard and honorable in your intentions, even if you’re wrong.”
CORRECTIONS. Yesterday’s emailed edition of Square was missing a preposition in the lead sentence and included a wrong link for the account by a woman who says her friends snubbed the guy leaving Chicago. Thanks to reader Susan Keaton for catching those mistakes, which have been fixed on the website.
■ If you spot a goof in Square, no matter how trivial—we love trivial—email YaDummy@ChicagoPublicSquare.com and see your name in hyperlinked glory right hereabouts.