… aaaand we’re back:
Lawmaker raises. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker says one of the revelations of his rise to power has been “how hard these legislators are working,” so he’s going to sign a budget that gives them their first pay hike in 11 years.
■ Streetsblog Chicago’s John Greenfield says lawmakers have sent the governor lots of “good transportation stuff,” including millions for the CTA’s Green and Blue Lines.
■ The president was apparently up late bashing singer Bette
■ New analysis reported by Politico: Russia’s 2016 manipulation of Twitter was vaster than previously known.
‘They couldn’t have done it without President Donald Trump.’ ProPublica reveals that payday lenders spent $1 million at a Trump-owned joint to celebrate the death of a rule designed to protect their customers.
■ ProPublica again: “Chicken Farmers Thought Trump Was Going to Help Them. Then His Administration Did the Opposite.”
■ Bernie Sanders may shake things up at Walmart shareholders’ meeting today.
‘Do we want government officials to tell us who is and isn’t a journalist?’
The Tribune’s Clarence Page says the Trump administration’s moves “could ultimately set a dangerous precedent.”
‘Since the entire appointment process is secret, it’s impossible to know why.’ A critic of a former Cook County Circuit Court judge who was twice found to have committed ethical lapses is bewildered the judge was restored to the bench by recommendation of a committee appointed by Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke …
■ … whose husband, Chicago Ald. Ed Burke, yesterday pleaded not guilty to federal corruption charges …
■ … which the Sun-Times’ Mark Brown says leaves open the possibility Burke will keep blowing hot air in the City Council for months to come.
■ Steve Rhodes at The Beachwood Reporter: “If anyone says or writes that the only or real thing Burke is guilty of is not changing with the times, they are not worthy of publicly observing Chicago politics.”
Rahm’s big adventure. Chicago’s ex-Mayor Emanuel boasts on his Facebook page: “I just finished circling the entire Lake [Michigan] on a bicycle.”
■ Politico’s Shia Kapos says a “fair workweek” ordinance that stalled under Emanuel—requiring Chicago businesses give low-wage employees at least 10 days’ notice about schedule changes and additional compensation for last-minute shifts—is on track for City Council passage.
Summer dining picks. The Trib’s Phil Vettel’s annual Summer Eating List rounds up “the recently opened, about-to-open and opening-one-of-these-days restaurants that should be on your summer-dining radar.”
■ An Atlanta-based diner chain is opening its first Chicago place.
■ Eater Chicago: Where to eat at O’Hare.
■ New research: The average person eats at least 50,000 particles of microplastic pollution a year—and breathes about that much more.
■ The Sun-Times has a map of where you’ll (probably) be able to buy marijuana legally in the Chicago area beginning next year.
X-mess. Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper says the new X-Men movie, Dark Phoenix, lacks “emotional impact” and “settles instead for the destruction of cars and buildings.”
■ Variety’s Owen Gleiberman: “A functionally energized and rather bare-bones movie.”
A life ‘shaped by Jeopardy!’ Time profiles the University of Chicago librarian who dethroned Naperville native James Holzhauer as the show’s reigning champion.
■ She tells the Trib she didn’t know he’d won 32 games until just before their fateful match began.
■ She won again on Tuesday’s show.
Chicago Public Square comes to you free. Courtesy of The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians, which you can join here.
■ And thanks to Mike Braden for catching the misspelling of “Midler” above.