‘Dead people everywhere.’ Updating coverage: A witness describes the scene at one of two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, where at least 49 people are dead and one man has been charged with murder in what seems to have been a thoroughly plotted and racially motivated attack.
■ Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have been challenged in dealing with horrific footage that seems to show the attack as it happened …
■ … and that reminds viewers to subscribe to Nazi-friendly YouTuber PewDiePie.
■ A manifesto linked to the shooting credits President Trump and conservative political activist Candace Owens …
■ … who responded on Twitter: “LOL!”
■ Columnist Charlie Warzel in The New York Times: This massacre “feels different, in part due to its perpetrator’s apparent familiarity with the darkest corners of the internet.”
■ Trump has condemned “the horrible massacre.”
Yes, that’s the same Trump who threatened … “It would be very bad, very bad” if his supporters got tough …
■ … and amplified the comment in a tweet he deleted after the New Zealand massacre.
■ A former Fox News reporter plans to tell Congress how, during the 2016 presidential campaign, her bosses killed her story about the Trump team’s Stormy Daniels payoffs.
■ The lawyer who founded one of the nation’s flagship civil rights organizations, the Southern Poverty Law Center, is out—fired without formal explanation…
■ … but the organization says it’ll be reviewing its workplace practices.
■ Meanwhile, the nonprofit Unicorn Collective has been leaking white nationalist groups’ internal communications.
‘So that’s why my boys didn’t get into Harvard.’ Neil Steinberg on the “Operation Varsity Blues” college admissions scam.
■ Two students who didn’t get into Stanford are suing.
■ The Trib’s Heidi Stevens: A lesson for the kids.
■ A Yale law prof: “Wealthy and famous institutions of higher learning … are hurting themselves with their clumsiness and overconfidence.”
■ Arrested actress Lori Loughlin is out at The Hallmark Channel, and Sephora and TRESemmé are splitting with her daughter Olivia Jade …
■ … who, along with her sister, reportedly won’t be returning to the USC campus after spring break.
■ The guy at the center of the story is a Chicago native.
■ CNN: How the feds stumbled into the case.
‘All she had to say was, It’s under investigation. I can’t have this conversation.’ The Trib’s John Kass condemns Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx for “Omg” texting with an Obama and Emanuel family friend in the case of scandalized scandal-scarred actor Jussie Smollett.
■ See video of Smollett’s not-guilty plea to more than a dozen felony counts.
■ Ratings for the first post-Smollett episode of Fox’s Empire tanked.
CTA worker stabbed. Police are hunting three suspects who’d chased a man onto a Red Line platform early this morning.
■ They say the man used the worker as a “human shield” in the fight.
■ The Sun-Times: Mayor Emanuel may be leaving bucks—and bikes—on the table with a Lyft-Divvy deal.
■ Emanuel’s task force to address transportation issues confronting the city recommends the next mayor appoint a mobility czar.
Early voting dawns. You can begin casting ballots for Chicago’s runoff election Monday.
■ Lori Lightfoot has gained a key aldermanic backer.
■ Toni Preckwinkle has the Teamsters on her side.
■ Coming next week: The updated Chicago Public Square voter guide.
Are your feet wet? That’s one of the questions that come into play when figuring out whether you can walk along Lake Michigan beaches in Illinois and other states.
■ A new report from the Friends of the Chicago River says “developing the Chicago River system as a blue/green corridor” would pay a nice dividend.
■ In Chicago and around the world, students were going on strike today to demand action on climate change.
Stand Pat. A guide to Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities.
■ Expect extra security.
Your kids on Google Docs. The Atlantic says Google’s you-thought-it-was-just-for-work document-sharing service has become modern students’ go-to replacement for “passing notes” in class.
■ A Chicago-born app helps crowdsource bail money for people stuck in jail because of a lack of cash.
As this month’s Chicago Public Square pledge drive nears a close … Thanks to all who keep this thing going—including Jan Czarnik, Mike Dessimoz, Mike Janowski, Fredric Stein, Mark Mueller, David Weindling, Sandy Ridolfi, Michael Kelly, Paul Clark and Kelly O’Brien. You can join them here for a few pennies a day.