Trump’s ‘ugly plan.’ CNN’s Stephen Collinson analyzes the president’s “unrestrained demagoguery” in presiding over a crowd chanting about an American Muslim congresswoman: “Send her back! Send her back!”
■ Fox News’ Howard Kurtz condemns Trump for demonizing dissent: “I don’t agree with some of the rhetoric coming from the so-called Squad. … But they are U.S. citizens and duly elected members of Congress.”
■ Present Illinois Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger: “Chants like ‘Send her back’ … would send chills down the spines of our Founding Fathers.”
■ On the other hand, longtime critics concede Trump’s hateful tactics may prove effective.
■ The president’s ex-press secretary, Anthony Scaramucci, has been disinvited from a Florida Republican fundraiser after criticizing the president’s racist remarks.
■ Unrelated development: An all-white creature in Maine has been identified as a rare albino porcupine.
Not yet. A move Wednesday to impeach the president ran aground in the U.S. House.
■ Trumpwatcher Daniel Dale has identified one word that signals the president’s telling a lie.
This island Chicago. At the threshold of a record-nearing heat wave—on the heels of a stormy morning—the Tribune’s Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas explains how an “urban heat island” effect shapes Chicago’s weather.
■ The National Weather Service’s “excessive heat warning” was set to take effect at noon.
■ Two-thirds of the nation faces dangerously hot weather through the weekend.
‘This is far from over.’ A community group is dissatisfied with a settlement that clears a Willowbrook facility of the Sterigenics company to reopen …
■ … after installing new controls over its emissions of cancer-causing ethylene oxide.
Casino locales. Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s picked five potential spots for the Chicago casino newly authorized by the state …
■ … and they’re all on the South and West Sides …
■ … surprising several aldermen …
■ … and ignoring the counsel of urban planning expert Ed Zotti, who concludes the best place for a Chicago casino would be Michigan Avenue at Lake Street.
■ A key City Council committee has approved reforms aimed at abuses attributed to indicted Ald. Ed Burke.
‘It’s infuriating.’ Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is demanding that Lightfoot and top cop Eddie Johnson stop blaming Chicago’s gun violence on county judges and prosecutors’ failure to keep suspects behind bars.
■ Politico’s Shia Kapos calls the letter’s timing “curious.”
■ The chief of the county’s forest preserve cops is quitting after disappearing a parking ticket issued to a politician’s pal.
■ Illinois State Police and the attorney general are targets of an Illinois State Rifle Association lawsuit challenging a new law cracking down on gun dealers.
Gator’s new home. Chicago’s celebrated “Chance the Snapper” is off to “a life of luxury” in Florida …
■ … after his tear-inducing capture in Chicago’s Humboldt Park …
■ … which once was home to L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz …
■ … a Chicago Shakespeare stage version of which is getting rave reviews.
‘You die!’ A screaming man burst into a Japanese anime studio, setting it aflame and killing at least 33 people.
■ The creator of that “Storm Area 51” Facebook group concedes his joke may have gotten out of hand.
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