What did Trump say? A Washington Post story asserts a whistleblower complaint that has triggered a showdown between Congress and the intelligence community involves something Donald Trump promised a foreign leader.
■ Here’s the Post’s timeline of events leading up to and following the complaint.
■ CNN is tracking reaction minute by minute.
They like us. They really like us. Because—for a change—next year’s Illinois presidential primary may make a difference for the Democratic candidates, they’re paying more attention to the state’s voters than traditionally is the case.
■ Dropout candidate and eco-champion Jay Inslee is “particularly pleased” with Elizabeth Warren’s environmental plans.
■ Candidate Pete Buttigieg’s health plan: Medicare for all who want it, but not for those who prefer private insurance.
■ Vox: How the GM strike makes the case for Bernie Sanders’s Medicare-for-all plan.
■ The University of Chicago Medical Center is bracing for a strike by nurses Friday morning.
■ Headed to Congress: A plan to make home health care work an actual career.
Off the murder hook. The Lake County state’s attorney has dropped widely condemned murder charges against five teens whose friend was killed by a homeowner during what the killer said was a car burglary.
■ Despite thousands of new security cameras on the CTA train system, a Tribune analysis finds reports of serious “L”-related crimes have more than doubled since 2015, even as the arrest rate for those crimes has dropped.
■ Mayor Lightfoot says cutting fares on Metra trains serving the Far South Side and the south suburbs could hurt CTA ridership.
Suburban rebellion. A huge crowd—mostly opponents—prompted postponement of a hearing on a plan to turn a struggling Holiday Inn into an addiction treatment center.
■ Politico’s Shia Kapos: Lightfoot faced her biggest public faceoff so far with critical members of the Chicago City Council.
■ Speaking of photos: Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s “pissed off” at himself for having worn brownface years ago, when he was 29 …
■ … even as video showing yet another instance of his having done that surfaces, further complicating his reelection campaign.
Oops. The Chicago Public Schools system says a high school principal’s use of the word “bittersweet” to describe the departure of a theater teacher accused of criminal sexual assault was “inappropriate.”
■ Wheaton College students stopped from evangelizing in Millennium Park are suing the city.
■ White anti-vaccine advocates are draping themselves in the mantle of the civil rights movement.
Climate strike consequences. Chicago kids who walk out Friday to support a global protest will get an administrative slap on the wrist.
■ Facebook won’t offer single-use plastic water bottles in its new offices around the world.
