Developing, 10:15 a.m.: The Justice Department says it has arrested at least one person in connection with the plague of mail bombs.
… and now on with this edition of Square as originally published:
All the president’s enemies. Every person known to have been targeted by this week’s mail attacks—as of Square’s publication deadline, anyway—has been on President Trump’s s__t list.
■ The Washington Post’s Margaret Sullivan: “The Trump effect is … a line that goes directly from disrespect to pipe bomb.”
■ On Twitter at 3 a.m., the president blasted CNN for “blaming me for the current spate of Bombs.”
■ At CNN, staffers are dealing with a scary new normal.
■ Target (corrected spelling) Robert De Niro: “There’s something more powerful than bombs, and that’s your vote.”
■ Updating coverage: Among the latest to get suspicious packages: A Democratic senator and President Obama’s national intelligence director.
■ Some evidence points to a post office in Florida.
Why governor matters. Regardless of how you swing politically, the Reader’s Ben Joravsky explains clearly the reasons not to skip a vote in the contest between Gov. Rauner and J.B. Pritzker.
■ The Tribune’s Eric Zorn: Rauner’s “desperate and edgy” commercial is a success.
■ The Trib: The Rauner and Trump administrations knew for months before telling the public about cancer risks posed by a company owned in part by Rauner’s former private equity firm.
‘A grave error.’ That embattled suburban Republican state representative who wrote a letter of support for a convicted child abuser in Arizona? He wants to take it back.
■ Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s coming to town to help Republican Rep. Peter Roskam.
■ The Independent Voters of Illinois’ endorsees are all Democrats—except one. (Bottom of this page.)
■ Ready to cast your ballot? Learn how and where from the Chicago Public Square voter guide.
‘It’s absolutely disgusting.’ A Chicago alderman wants to cut the city’s business ties with a Chicago bank whose executive dismissed chatter over the murder of a journalist at a Saudi consulate as “just noise.”
■ Changing its story again, Saudi Arabia concedes the murder was “premeditated.”
■ Turkey is pressing the Saudis: Where’s the body?
‘Can we hear from you a little bit about your career’ Does that seem like an “insulting” question to ask Chicago’s newly appointed fire commissioner? At least one alderman says it was.
■ In the final round of public input on Chicago police reforms, the typically belligerent head of the police union made a rare concession: “We are not perfect.”
■ Cops say two shootings that left 11 people wounded Monday and Wednesday were probably related.
Tax the rich to house the poor? Chicagoans may have a chance in February to back a new tax on the sale of expensive homes—funding support for the city’s homeless.
■ Mayor Emanuel’s launched a new task force to envision Chicago’s transportation future.
Moon over Chicago. If skies are clear, it’s a great few days for skywatching—particularly near the lakefront around 7 p.m.
■ CBS has given a green light to an animated Star Trek comedy series from one of the guys who brought you Rick and Morty.
Google’s ugly cover-up. The company whose corporate mantra used to be “Don’t Be Evil” gave a huge buyout to an Android creator accused by a woman of coercing her into performing oral sex.
■ Facebook has a fake-ad problem: Vice News was able to place advertisements “paid for” by Vice President Mike Pence and ISIS.
Dr. Seuss house reborn. The boyhood home on whose bedroom walls Theodor Seuss Geisel drew early version of his iconic characters will become an innovation center for teachers, students, writers and artists. Which reminds us …
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Correction. Yesterday’s Square was missing a t in the word at. Thanks to ever-vigilant reader Mike Braden for flagging the error. If you’re first to spot a typo or other mistake in Square, you can see your name here. Email Squerror@ChicagoPublicSquare.com.