[Chicago Public Square will take a few days off to honor summer’s last hurrah. Between now and Tuesday morning, get Square updates on Facebook and Twitter.]
This edition of Square is brought to you by the letter T—including members of The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians whose last names begin with T: Anna Tarkov and Scott Tindale. Join them here. And now the news:
■ The Washington Post: Tuesday’s winners include Democratic morale, with “alarm bells” for House Republicans.
■ The Hill: The Ohio race is “an ominous sign” for President Trump.
■ A shocking upset in the primary for the St. Louis prosecutor’s job is “a big victory for Black Lives Matter.”
■ In deep-red Missouri, voters rejected a Republican-backed plan to weaken labor unions.
■ Kansas has its first Native American and gay nominee for Congress.
■ In Michigan, a Democratic primary winner is positioned to become the first Muslim woman elected to Congress.
■ A New York Republican congressman surrendered to the FBI this morning to face securities fraud-related charges.
‘Blame the curse of racism.’ The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg cites discriminatory law enforcement as a key factor in the city’s murder plague. But, he asks: “Where did the police get their racism? The honest answer: from everywhere.”
■ Chicago’s black elected officials demand at least 10 percent of all government funding be spent in neighborhoods where at least 20 percent of the population has lived below the poverty line for the past 30 years.
■ Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker blames Gov. Rauner’s budget cuts for Chicago’s gun violence.
■ Mayor Emanuel pledges hundreds of additional cops will patrol the city’s streets this week, but he’s demanding neighborhood residents “speak up” to identify criminal suspects.
■ Tribune columnist John Kass quotes a West Side minister about the dangers of that: “You put yourself at risk. … Obviously, the police can’t protect you, and if somebody kills you, they can’t find out who did it.”
■ The Trib’s Mary Schmich visits a 12-year-old shot on his family’s West Side porch two years ago.
■ A state representative from Chicago’s West Side says Mayor Emanuel’s feud with President Trump shouldn’t keep the two of them from working together to end the city’s mayhem.
■ Presidential daughter Ivanka Trump is visiting Southern Illinois.
■ Updating coverage: After a grueling and humiliating stand yesterday, Manafort’s colleague Rick Gates is back for more testimony today.
‘Enemy of the people’? Sure. Poynter’s David Beard examines evidence the president’s winning his war on journalism.
■ Twitter’s CEO refuses to block conspiracy-theory champion Alex Jones, saying journalists need to “document, validate, and refute” Jones’ poppycock.
■ The Daily Beast: New York’s governor is waging an actual war on the press.
■ ProPublica is expanding its local reporting network to focus on state government accountability.
‘We have some questions.’ The Illinois attorney general’s office wants to know more about the foundation from which mayoral candidate Willie Wilson’s freely been handing voters cash.
■ Wells Fargo—yeah, that Wells Fargo—is offering $15,000 grants to low- and moderate-income Cook County homebuyers.
■ An ex-Willow Creek pastor calls the women accusing Hybels “Godly and credible.”
‘Essential’ Chicago restaurants. The Trib’s Phil Vettel updates his “Phil’s 50” list, with 11 newcomers.
■ A True or False quiz about Thursday’s live Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me! show in Millennium Park.
■ Can’t make it? Spend an hour with host Peter Sagal in this Chicago Public Square Podcast.