A president accused of rape / M-Day / Terri Hemmert’s next move

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A president accused of rape. The communications director at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center theorizes about why the latest accusation against Donald Trump hasn’t gained so much traction in public discourse: “This is not information that some people find surprising or unexpected anymore.”

Time: Why Democratic presidential candidates aren’t focusing on the accusation.
Trump: “She’s not my type.”
Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian: If you believe Bill Clinton’s accuser, how can you believe Trump?
CNN: Why did the story disappear from Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post website?
 The New York Times admits it made a mistake in its coverage.

Police peace? The Chicago police union, against which Mayor Lightfoot has pulled few punches, calls a summit between the mayor and the union president “very productive.”
Lightfoot’s named a deputy mayor of public safety.
Police have released hundreds of files in the confounding case of an alleged—and seemingly staged—attack on actor Jussie Smollett.
Lightfoot sees opening the city’s libraries on Sundays as a priority.
Chicago Public Schools are providing free lunches all summer to kids under 18—and not just to public school students.

‘Man were we hoodwinked.’ Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell reacts to the sentencing of Ald. Willie Cochran—who got the paper’s endorsement in 2007.
Politico: Since Ald. Carrie Austin’s office was raided, she’s received $12,000 in donations.
The Cook County assessor’s office has revoked a request for help from county board staffers after the county’s inspector general raised legal questions about the notion.

M-Day. Updating coverage: Gov. Pritzker planned to sign [updated, 11:24 a.m.] has signed into law a bill legalizing the recreational use of marijuana in Illinois—making this the first state to do so through legislation.
The bill comes with help baked in for communities that the Illinois Justice Program says have been “ravaged by violence and … disproportionately impacted by historical economic disinvestment.”
The Tribune takes you backstage at one of the state’s marijuana dispensaries.

Scoot and run. Block Club Chicago:Scooter Rider Takes Off After Crashing Into Bicyclist, Leaving Him Badly Injured.”
The director of Chicago’s bike-oriented Active Transportation Alliance explains why he’s leaving to work for Lyft. (A PDF download.)

‘Outrageous and idiotic.’ Iran’s president calls President Trump’s latest sanctions on Iran symptomatic of “mental retardation.”
Trump’s also issued a health care transparency order that could force the industry to open the books on secret price negotiations
… but that The New York Times says could also drive prices higher.

Terri Hemmert’s next move. WXRT’s Radio Hall of Famer* is ending a 45-year run as a daily fixture on the station
 … but she’s not leaving altogether.

Paywall problems? Frustrated by media organizations’ pay-or-get-out subscription barriers? A forthcoming version of Google’s Chrome browser may bring relief.
The Washington Redskins aren’t FUCT, but they both are winners before the Supreme Court.
The New Republic has sheepishly retreated from a plan to offer no benefits to the part-timer it hires as an “inequality editor.”

‘I wouldn’t claim that we could prevent a crazy loony from shooting people.’ But the CEO of a Dutch company planning to open a Chicago office this year is pushing “aggression detection” technology already used in hundreds of schools, health care facilities, banks, stores and prisons around the world.
A Tribune editorial warns Chicago against “travel rage” at O’Hare.

You care. You really care. This was the most-clicked item in yesterday’s Chicago Public Square.

* On whose morning show your Square publisher delivered the news for the better part of the 1980s.

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