Chicago Public Square wouldn’t be here without the support of The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians, including—beginning a pledge drive in reverse alphabetical order!—William Wheelhouse, Werner Huget and Wendy Greenhouse. You can help keep Square coming by joining them here for a few cents a day. And now the news:
Chicago story. The Washington Post connects the dots linking a case Chicago prosecutors have been working on for years and the arrest of two business associates of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, on charges they funneled foreign money into U.S. elections.
■ A suburban couple has filed a federal fraud suit against banker Stephen Calk, who also faces bribery charges for handing millions in high-risk loans to convicted Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
‘Then things got more strange.’ The AP recaps what we know about what the Trump administration’s top diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, told Congress yesterday.
■ … including five of what CNN calls “explosive lines” in (just) his public statement, which you can read in full here.
■ One Democrat on the House Oversight Committee calls it “the most powerful testimony we’ve heard.”
■ Vice President Pence slams career diplomats like Taylor: “An awful lot of the swamp has been caught up in the State Department bureaucracy and we’re just going to keep fighting it.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ Russia’s former foreign minister says it’s time to impeach Trump: “If Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, act to remove this president, a new powerful message would be sent to governments and people around the globe, just like the one that went out in 1974: Moral principles still matter in American politics and policy.”
■ In federal appeals court today: Trump’s lawyers have been fighting—in proceedings streamed over the web here—to block New York City prosecutors’ access to the president’s tax returns and company business records. (They’re appealing a lower court ruling that called the president’s position “repugnant.”)
‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ Chicago Rep. Bobby Rush was among the more blunt respondents to Trump’s comparison of the impeachment inquiry to a lynching.
■ The Onion’s mockery goes deep: “Trump Apologizes For Impeachment Comment After Learning Disturbing History Of 1918 Lynching Of German American Immigrant Robert Prager.”
‘The values of the people of Chicago are more important than what the president has to say.’ The Chicago Police Department’s spokesman says Supt. Eddie Johnson will be a no-show for President Trump’s speech Monday in Chicago to the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
■ Two Chicago cops have been found guilty of stealing drugs and cash—and trying to conceal the crimes.
■ News that the City Club of Chicago is under investigation as part of a federal corruption probe has prompted the Illinois Tollways chief to cancel his lunchtime appearance before the club today.
Stepping out. Teachers were planning to rally outside City Hall as Mayor Lightfoot was to deliver her first budget address to the City Council.—to be streamed on the web beginning at 10 a.m.
■ Critiquing reporting on the strike, Beachwood Reporter founder Steve Rhodes sees “a distorted media frame that posits it is still 2012 and Rahm Emanuel is mayor and his henchpeople are in charge of CPS.”
■ How families are coping: “Next week, that’s when I’ll start getting angry.”
Krispy Kreme redux. For the first time in 14 years, the doughnut chain has a retail store in downtown Chicago.
■ The DuPage County Board has voted to ban the sale of recreational pot in its unincorporated areas—but to slap an extra sales tax on pot’s sale within towns that do allow it.
■ Macy’s is getting out of the fur business.
■ Cards Against Humanity plans a board game cafe in Logan Square, with a restaurant, a bar and a basement escape room.
■ A Nobel prize winner says higher taxes don’t make Illinoisans more likely to leave the state.
Hospitals’ ailments.
■ Chicago’s Holy Cross hospital is cutting its bed count and suspending its labor and delivery services.
■ Ending a 114-year run, Blue Island’s MetroSouth Medical Center—formerly St. Francis—is down for the count.
■ But the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) market is looking healthier for next year—with more choices and lower prices.
‘Quantum supremacy.’ Google’s bragging today that it has devised a processor capable of completing in 200 seconds a calculation that would’ve taken the world’s most powerful supercomputer 10,000 years.
■ California next year becomes the first state to require all new homes draw at least some power from the sun.
‘A chilling effect with respect to speech online.’ Over the objections of the ACLU and Tribune columnist Eric Zorn, the House is sending the Senate legislation aimed at making it easier for online content creators to go after those who appropriate their work without permission.
■ A Society of Professional Journalists chapter has filed for a trademark on the term “fake news” and sent President Trump a cease-and-desist letter.
■ The Daily Beast: NBC News President Noah Oppenheim faces complaints of “disgusting” self-dealing from his own staffers.
Thanks …
■ … to Chris Koenig, a continuing source of great suggestions for Square links.
‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ Chicago Rep. Bobby Rush was among the more blunt respondents to Trump’s comparison of the impeachment inquiry to a lynching.
■ The Onion’s mockery goes deep: “Trump Apologizes For Impeachment Comment After Learning Disturbing History Of 1918 Lynching Of German American Immigrant Robert Prager.”
‘The values of the people of Chicago are more important than what the president has to say.’ The Chicago Police Department’s spokesman says Supt. Eddie Johnson will be a no-show for President Trump’s speech Monday in Chicago to the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
■ Two Chicago cops have been found guilty of stealing drugs and cash—and trying to conceal the crimes.
■ News that the City Club of Chicago is under investigation as part of a federal corruption probe has prompted the Illinois Tollways chief to cancel his lunchtime appearance before the club today.
Stepping out. Teachers were planning to rally outside City Hall as Mayor Lightfoot was to deliver her first budget address to the City Council.
■ Critiquing reporting on the strike, Beachwood Reporter founder Steve Rhodes sees “a distorted media frame that posits it is still 2012 and Rahm Emanuel is mayor and his henchpeople are in charge of CPS.”
■ How families are coping: “Next week, that’s when I’ll start getting angry.”
Krispy Kreme redux. For the first time in 14 years, the doughnut chain has a retail store in downtown Chicago.
■ The DuPage County Board has voted to ban the sale of recreational pot in its unincorporated areas—but to slap an extra sales tax on pot’s sale within towns that do allow it.
■ Macy’s is getting out of the fur business.
■ Cards Against Humanity plans a board game cafe in Logan Square, with a restaurant, a bar and a basement escape room.
■ A Nobel prize winner says higher taxes don’t make Illinoisans more likely to leave the state.
Hospitals’ ailments.
■ Chicago’s Holy Cross hospital is cutting its bed count and suspending its labor and delivery services.
■ Ending a 114-year run, Blue Island’s MetroSouth Medical Center—formerly St. Francis—is down for the count.
■ But the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) market is looking healthier for next year—with more choices and lower prices.
‘Quantum supremacy.’ Google’s bragging today that it has devised a processor capable of completing in 200 seconds a calculation that would’ve taken the world’s most powerful supercomputer 10,000 years.
■ California next year becomes the first state to require all new homes draw at least some power from the sun.
‘A chilling effect with respect to speech online.’ Over the objections of the ACLU and Tribune columnist Eric Zorn, the House is sending the Senate legislation aimed at making it easier for online content creators to go after those who appropriate their work without permission.
■ A Society of Professional Journalists chapter has filed for a trademark on the term “fake news” and sent President Trump a cease-and-desist letter.
■ The Daily Beast: NBC News President Noah Oppenheim faces complaints of “disgusting” self-dealing from his own staffers.
Thanks …
■ … to Chris Koenig, a continuing source of great suggestions for Square links.