If you’re reading this edition of Chicago Public Square for free, thank readers who’ve provided financial support to keep Square going and growing—including Kelly O’Brien, Tom O’Malley of Multipath Data, Reed Pence and Jim Peterson. Please consider joining them here. And now the Election Day news:
■ Politico’s Charles Mahtesian: Downstate Illinois will play an outsized role.
■ Updates through the day on the Tribune website.
■ CNN: What to watch for tonight, hour-by-hour.
■ BuzzFeed News: “It’s pretty likely we’ll know by [8:30 p.m. Central time] if we’re looking at a major wave election or not.”
■ The New York Times’ predictive needle—the one whose Clinton-to-Trump whiplash caused heads to explode two years ago—will be back tonight.
■ Live from the left: The Intercept and Democracy Now are teaming up for continuous video coverage.
Take a break. Odds are good your boss has to give you time off to vote …
■ … but don’t post a photo of your ballot …
■ … and if people tell you you can’t vote, show ’em this.
■ Most-clicked item so far in this morning’s special early Square voter guide email? This.
If you don’t vote … Trib columnist Rex Huppke says, “your chances of being eaten by a bear increase 12,000 percent.”
■ An excerpt from Neil Steinberg’s Election Day prayer: “Free those who still care about American freedoms / From the chains of Trumpian demagoguery. / And towel-gnawing imbecility of his followers.”
■ Facebook: Yeah, looks like more foreign meddling this time out.
■ Guardian columnist Rebecca Solnit: “The American civil war didn’t end. And Trump is a Confederate president.”
■ The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins: Trump wins, regardless—because “his mission to remake the Republican Party in his own image has been an unequivocal success.”
■ But he’s already lost this one.
And it only took 24 months. Cook County Board President—and Chicago mayoral candidate—Toni Preckwinkle has fired her head of security, two years after he was linked to a county-owned SUV abandoned in a suburban ditch.
■ Acknowledging the burden of parking and automated-camera tickets is falling disproportionately on the poor, Chicago aldermen are advancing a plan to grant amnesty to some motorists who haven’t bought city stickers, and to create a four-month sticker for those who can’t afford the full year’s fee at once.
■ Mayor Emanuel’s final budget is moving ahead—including some increases in the city’s ride-sharing fees.
Spanks for the memories. The American Academy of Pediatrics says the practice of spanking children should be abandoned—because it’s bad for kids.
■ The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has agreed to an outside investigation of a Chicago psychiatric hospital accused of abusing and assaulting kids.
Qs in the news.
■ The Blackhawks have given Coach Q the cue to leave—and to take his assistants with him.
■ Amazon reportedly is close to adding two new HQ cities—neither of them Chicago—but the city’s not giving up yet.
‘We need someone who understands that meaningful journalism isn’t accomplished … by disregard and greed.’ The union representing Chicago Tribune employees is pleading with corporate leadership to choose a buyer with care—and not just go with the highest bidder.
■ The parent company has at least three bids so far.
■ The Sun-Times is relenting—bringing back TV listings to its print edition.
Winter is coming.
Snow could hit Chicago by the end of the week.