No Chicago Public Square Tuesday. Back Wednesday.*
■ Pritzker crows: “Illinois is back.” (Image: Pritzker’s Twitter page.)
■ Politico’s Shia Kapos: “$40B budget: PASSED — $45B capital plan, CASINOS: PASSED — WEED: PASSED” …
■ … and even Republicans had a few things their way …
■ … but reform of the state’s distorted property tax system didn’t make it.
■ PolitiFact rates False the claim that graduated income tax rates of the sort Pritzker’s championing drove the wealthy from New York State.
‘Maybe. We’ll see about that.’ In one of her more incisive post-inaugural interviews—speaking with journalist Ken Davis on the final edition of his Chicago Newsroom talk show—Mayor Lightfoot expressed cynicism about plans for a Tiger Woods-designed golf course on Chicago’s South Side.
■ Lightfoot introduced her new Chicago School Board this morning.
■ Political science professor, former alderman and Lightfoot adviser Dick Simpson: The Democratic political machine “is not ‘dead, dead, dead.’”
‘A man slaughtering his colleagues shouldn’t have to worry about hearing loss.’ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg mocks the “Hearing Protection Act,” legislation designed to end federal regulation of firearm silencers—one of which may have added to the death toll in Friday’s Virginia Beach massacre.
■ Chicago’s most violent weekend of the year: At least 52 shot, 8 fatally.
■ Mayor Lightfoot, in that Chicago Newsroom interview, on rumors cops might have been encouraged to “just lay back, do nothing” about violence: “I hope to God that wasn’t true, because—man, oh man—if that happened, there’s gonna be a reckoning.” (Update, June 10: PolitFact rates Lightfoot’s suggestion false.)
■ Coming to the Showtime channel: A documentary about the Chicago police shooting of Laquan McDonald.
Trump’s royal adventure. The president managed to overshadow his encounter with Queen Elizabeth by picking a fight with London’s mayor …
■ … and with CNN’s owner, AT&T.
■ The formerly Fox News-owned and U.K.-based Sky News mocked the president’s arrival with an image of that Baby Trump balloon. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ In a Fox News town hall, Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand declared herself “the leading presidential candidate on women’s rights.”
Jeopardy! spoiler. [Updated item.] A video clip leaked from an episode to air this afternoon in Chicago reveals what happens at a climactic moment in Naperville native James Holzhauer’s epic run.
■ Watch this [link corrected] only if you find suspense unpleasant.
■ Holzhauer tweeted yesterday: “My kid cried about the possibility of her dad losing, so I told her we could have a party the day after it inevitably happens. Now she cries when I win.”
Signs of trouble in Evanston. Aldermen are poised tonight to crack down on protest placards at City Council meetings.
■ Neighbors are alarmed at Northwestern University’s proposal to host pro sports events on campus.
■ Anti-gentrification graffiti in Logan Square: “F__k you,” “You don’t belong here.”
Illinois’ coyote problem. The Washington Post says the state’s growing population is a consequence of what now seems to have been “a colossal mistake”: Government policies encouraging virtual elimination of red and gray wolves.
■ Penn State professors: “You can’t save the climate by going vegan. Corporate polluters must be held accountable.”
Goops! Google’s role in, well, darned near everything digital meant an outage yesterday left some people unable to unlock doors or turn on air conditioning …
■ … and won’t help the company against a reported antitrust probe coming its way.
■ Apple’s rumored to unveil a batch of new initiatives today. You can watch live on the web at noon Chicago time.
■ Tribune Publishing’s
Chicago Public Square is always free to everyone.
But it costs money to produce. So thanks to people including Michele Kurlander, John Iltis, Sherry Kent, Jeff Hanneman, Beth Botts, Jim Prescott, Meghan Strubel, Andy Buchanan, Susan Kumler, Gil Arias, Mena Boulanger, Jill Chukerman, Susy Schultz, Doug Strubel, Matt Baron, Ted Cox, Jane Hirt, Kevin Lampe, Beth Martin, Joan Berman, Michael Kelly, Suzy Carlson, Paul Clark, Marc Magliari, Ralph Sherman, the Skubish family, David Weindling, Susan Benloucif, Barbara Heskett, Fredric Stein, Martha Intrieri, Joseph Lynn, Chris Handzlik, David A. Jones, Jennifer Packheiser, Marj Halperin, Joe Hass, Aaron Barnhart, Scott Tindale, David Boulanger, Stephan Benzkofer, Beth Messina, Clif Wilson, Susan Swords Steffen, Kate Arias and Michael Romain, whose support keeps Square available to all.
■ And thanks to reader Pam Spiegel for proofreading help this issue.
* Square won’t appear Tuesday so your publisher can attend a Radio & Internet News Summit. Because, you know: Chicago Public Square podcasts.