Loop’s final farewell. As WLUP-FM prepares to depart the airwaves, its signature host through the years, Steve Dahl, will get the last word.
■ But, as media columnist Robert Feder notes, other Chicago stations will also pay tribute to The Loop today.
Student protests set. Next Wednesday, at 10 a.m., a month after the shootings in Parkland, Fla., students are planning a walkout from many Chicago-area high schools.
■ In Chicago’s most violent neighborhoods, students say they’re inspired and energized.
Eye to the universe closing. For much of the 20th Century, Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wis., was the heart of modern astrophysics. Its photography was a staple of science books. Now, its technology in eclipse, the University of Chicago is closing it. (Photo: A 1902 image taken at Yerkes.)
■ Mediocre reviews greet the astrophysics-inspired movie A Wrinkle in Time.
OpenTable’s ‘rogue.’ The online reservation system says it’s fired a worker who used a competing service to make hundreds of fake reservations at Chicago restaurants.
■ Spoiler: Which Chicago finalist won last night’s Top Chef?
■ Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan is closing his tea shop.
‘None of them will be drawing a salary when I’m assessor.’ In a swipe at the nepotistic tendencies of Joe Berrios, who holds the job now, Cook County assessor candidate Fritz Kaegi pledges not to hire his three kids—who are 7, 9 and 10.
■ Kaegi’s speech to the City Club last night.
An underground train for O’Hare? Crain’s Chicago Business dissects airport overhaul plans.
■ … But American Airlines ain’t preboarding yet.
What Trump should say about Stormy Daniels. The Tribune’s Eric Zorn drafts a speech the president should give: “I misled you about this at first because I didn’t think you could handle it, but now I know you can …”
■ Daniels has cut a 60 Minutes interview. (Photo: Luke Ford.)
■ USA Today: Her lawsuit indicates the Trump campaign broke election laws and
■ Meanwhile, his plan to meet with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, sets the table for what CNN calls “the most mind-boggling diplomatic summit in modern history.”
Steely comeback. U.S. Steel cites Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on imported steel for its decision to restart steelmaking operations in southern Illinois.
■ … but the tariffs’ final details remain in flux, as Trump moves to—in the words of New York’s Eric Levitz—”scale back his trade war into an extortion racket.”
■ Toys R Us is getting ready to close all its U.S. stores.
Daylight saving, year-round. Florida lawmakers are sending the governor a bill that would mean, after people there push their clocks ahead an hour Sunday, they’d never have to go back.
■ A ridiculously complex guide to making the switch. (Image: Daniel FR. Corrected, Friday 3:19 p.m., because the arrow was pointing the wrong way.)
Obama TV. The former president is reportedly in talks to create programming for Netflix.
■ Wall Street has consistently underestimated Netflix.
■ Amazon has figured out why Alexa has been laughing at people.
Correction. In accordance with common journalistic style, yesterday’s Chicago Public Square removed the final comma from the title of a Mother Jones article: “The Very Strange Case of Two Russian Gun Lovers, the NRA, and Donald Trump.” But, as reader Mark Wukas noted, the so-called Oxford comma was necessary in this case—to avoid the tantalizing but unsubstantiated implication that the NRA and Donald Trump are Russian gun lovers. Square regrets the error but is weirdly fascinated by it, too.
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