Chicago Public Square comes to you daily courtesy of supporters including Theresa Jabaley, Mike Gold, Judy Hoffman and Mark Mueller. Joining them would feel so good, wouldn’t it? (Especially on World Press Freedom Day?) And now the news:
He just cares too much. Continuing his farewell tour yesterday at a City Club of Chicago luncheon, Mayor Emanuel addressed criticism he’s been a lousy collaborator: “I am at fault for being impatient.”
■ Mayor-elect Lightfoot tells the developer planning a massive project near Soldier Field: “We’re not gonna ram through anything.”
■ Better Government Association president David Greising: Want to know what kind of mayor Lightfoot will be? Watch her first City Council meeting.
‘He killed two people, and you’re holding a raffle where people can win a gun?’ A lawyer for a man who was killed—along with an innocent bystander—by a Chicago cop who faces firing is disgusted by the police union’s choice of prizes in a fundraiser to help the officer.
■ Newly released video documents a Chicago police chase that led to a crash that killed a 2-year-old girl in March.
■ The Chicago Reporter: The union’s stonewalling reforms that are standard at big-city departments across the country.
■ Police say someone fired at Chicago cops last night.
Scooter scare. A major government study of electric scooters’ safety found an alarming injury rate —especially among those taking their first e-scooter ride.
■ They’re set to show up on Chicago’s West Side next month.
‘A very dumb letter.’ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst guts a memo about the Mueller report from President Trump’s lawyer: “When we say ‘dumb,’ we mean that all of Legal Twitter is making fun of it.”
■ Attorney General Bill Barr is under fire—and at risk of being found in contempt by the House—for serving not as the nation’s chief law enforcer but as the president’s defense lawyer. (Cartoon: Keith Taylor.)
■ A new study concludes major news outlets’ Twitter accounts are failing to fact-check the president’s tweeted lies.
‘Dangerous.’ Facebook is banning Chicago’s racist Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, right-wing blowhard Alex Jones and other jerks from its platforms …
■ … but, hey, there’s still Twitter.
■ Commentary from “an ancient Mesopotamian” in The Onion: “I miss the days when people didn’t turn to their tablets every time they had a question about grain prices, astronomical events, or which deities are owed which offerings.”
Fake meat stake. Beyond Meat, a company that makes plant-based meat substitutes, had a good first day on the steak—uh, make that stock—market.
■ Beyond’s rival, Impossible Foods, is running short on its meatless Impossible Burger patties.
■ An AP fact-check: Yes, cows fart. But their belches are worse for the world’s climate.
Newsradio tension. With a contract set to expire Monday, union workers at Chicago’s all-news radio station are going public to press management to raise pay, especially for workers making minimum wage.
■ A former WFLD-Ch. 32 morning show producer is going to steer two live-action Marvel TV shows.
Thanks, Al Green. His music provided the soundtrack for preparation of today’s Chicago Public Square.
■ He plays the Chicago Theatre Tuesday. (Photo: John Mathew Smith.)
■ That time President Obama sang Let’s Stay Together.
Thanks … to readers Joe Hass, Julie Meyerson Ross (yes, relation) and Mike Braden for pre-deadline copyediting.