TRUMP vs. FREEDOM. The president’s threats against broadcasters have triggered outrage among defenders of free speech.
■ Insiders quote Trump telling his security chief: “I hate everyone in the White House!”
‘MINORITIES WANT POLICE PROTECTION MORE THAN ANYBODY.’ On Fox News last night, Trump denounced crime in Chicago and other big cities and laid the problem at the feet of Democrats, who he says have “ruled the inner cities for 100 years.”
■ Chicago’s Latino aldermen are calling for more city jobs and resources.
■ A black Chicago alderman wants hearings into the Water Department’s “racist” culture.
HEALTH CARE PUNT. Developing story: Unable to get substantive change through Congress, Trump today was set to use his executive authority to remake parts of the U.S. health insurance landscape.
UP IN SMOKE. Among the losses in California’s wildfires: Wineries and marijuana farms.
■ The devastation in California is “like an atom bomb hit.”
■ Trump warns Puerto Rico hurricane relief can’t last “forever.”
■ Senate Democratic leader Schumer to Trump: “Why do you continue to treat Puerto Ricans differently than other Americans when it comes to natural disasters?”
■ National Geographic: If the supervolcano underneath Yellowstone erupts again, it may give far less advance warning than previously thought.
■ Trump’s pick for Homeland Security secretary triggers concern among Democrats “about her past work in the Bush administration during its botched response to Hurricane Katrina.”
CHICAGO’S SPREADING SKYLINE. The Tribune’s Ryan Ori rounds up the projects that’ll be scraping the sky north and west of downtown—and the factors behind the pushes upward.
■ A 51-story building is in the works for the West Loop’s Fulton Market district.
WOMEN’S MARCH SEQUEL. The organizers of the massive demonstration in Chicago last January are planning the follow-up Jan. 20, 2018: The “March to the Polls.” (Photo: erikccooper.)
■ After the Boy Scouts of America’s announcement that it would begin to admit girls, the Girl Scouts fired back.
■ Embattled movie exec Harvey Weinstein, reportedly “suicidal and depressed” in the aftermath of serial sex assault accusations, told reporters, “I gotta get help, guys.”
■ After tweets accusing Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, among others, of complicity in Weinstein’s behavior, actress Rose McGowan’s been blocked on Twitter.
■ Huffington Post: NBC execs quashed the Weinstein story for months.
HISTORIC SPACE PHOTOS FOR SALE. Hundreds of original prints taken by astronauts are up for auction beginning today.
■ A Union of Concerned Scientists campaign protests Trump’s nomination of a congressman “with no formal science or engineering training” to head NASA.
FACEBOOK REFORMS. The company’s overhauling its approach to political ads, maybe before the next election.
■ The iPhone’s incessant password demands pose a security threat.
■ An Amazon-Walgreens showdown looms.
PERSONAL NOTE. I’m honored to be returning as Your Announcer Speaking for the fifth annual installment in Oak Park Festival Theatre’s tremendously fun series of radio-style plays. Rest assured I’ll be the least talented person on stage. Your tickets support a great theater company—to which I donate my compensation.
CORRECTIONS. Ace proofreader (proofsubscriber?) Mike Braden noted a couple of errors in yesterday’s emailed edition of Chicago Public Square—now corrected on the website: An extra word and an errant parenthesis.