Brown out. Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown says she won’t seek reelection …
■ … but she says she could have won again despite federal investigations that have cast a shadow over her nearly-two-decade tenure (April link) …
■ … although her revelation follows news her campaign fund was running on empty. (2015 photo.)
Crap out. A study of five potential locations for a Chicago casino—none centrally located—finds them all unfeasible, partly because they wouldn’t be profitable for operators.
■ David Roeder in the Sun-Times: The report “came down decisively on the side of downtown” …
■ … which lends further credence to journalist Ed Zotti’s July conclusion: “The best place in Chicago to put a casino? Michigan Avenue and Lake Street.”
■ Columnist Mark Brown: “Our political leaders were so eager to solve the state’s and city’s financial problems on the backs of gamblers that they failed to take into account that casino owners need to make a profit, too.”
■ A Tribune editorial: Lawmakers “set up this project to fail and likely have to rewrite their legislation.”
The rifle was stolen. The man accused of opening fire at a Chicago hospital Monday has a long criminal history …
■ … and ABC7 reports he and his weapon traveled about 200 miles to do it.
■ After a 75-year-old licensed concealed-carry gun owner shot and killed a 14-year-old Chicago boy, the five kids who were with the victim have been charged with murder.
■ A Sun-Times editorial: “We can’t agree with critics who want … to take down the city’s recently unveiled Gun Offender Dashboard.”
‘Needs to be repealed.’ Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren says she’d reverse one of candidate Joe Biden’s signature achievements: The 1994 crime bill that ratcheted up tough-on-crime measures, sentencing guidelines and the war on drugs.
■ Forbes: What the Democratic presidential candidates are worth.
Incoming. New Trump administration policies under legal assault:
■ A plan to relax rules on coal-burning power plants, challenged by Illinois and 21 other states.
■ A plan to deny immigration permits to those who use public benefits, challenged by two California counties.
Juul lawsuit. A suburban state’s attorney is suing the company, complaining its e-cigarette marketing aimed to hook kids.
■ Recreational cannabis companies are eyeing pricey Michigan Avenue retail spots.
■ Illinois is now the first state to require health insurance companies to cover EpiPen injectors for kids.
Need to scoot? Chicago’s experimental Lime scooters will show up on the Google Maps app—for Android phones now, iPhones later this month.
■ CBS 2: Crime on the CTA rose more than 60% from June to July.
‘You’ve never seen anything this black in the New York Times.’ That’s Times Magazine reporter Ida Bae Wells encouraging people to follow a new series: “The 1619 Project”—named for the arrival in America, 400 years ago this month, of enslaved Africans.
■ The Times says the series will demonstrate that “nearly everything that has made America exceptional grew out of slavery.”
■ A Times deputy editor has been “been demoted and will no longer be overseeing the team that covers Congress or be active on social media.”
■ New York City itself is becoming the target of racist hate.
Thanks to reader Pam Spiegel for reporting redundant—and repetitive!—verbiage above.
[This edition of Chicago Public Square comes to you an hour earlier than usual. Tomorrow’s will be back at the usual 10 a.m. (or so) publication time.]