This edition of Chicago Public Square comes to you courtesy of supporters including The Skubish Family, Sherry Nordstrom, Sherry Kent, Shel Lustig, Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin, Scott Tindale and Sarah Hoban. Join them here, won’t you? And now the news:
‘Conspicuously menacing.’ The Tribune’s Dahleen Glanton says the invitation by police chiefs from around the world for Donald Trump to speak in Chicago today—his first visit as president—is a slap in the face to the city.
■ Politico: Trump’s set to sign an executive order creating a commission to study crime’s roots.
■ The Sun-Times’ Laura Washington: “Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to converge on Trump Tower. … Their message: Your hateful rhetoric and cynical race-baiting won’t kill their dreams for a better Chicago.”
■ A Sun-Times editorial: “Trump has been lousy for Chicago.”
■ Updating coverage: The Trib’s live blog of Trump’s visit …
■ … including a $4 million fundraiser co-hosted by Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts.
■ Satire from a new Chicago website, The Machine: “Racist Old Man on Blue Line Turns Out to be President of the United States.”
‘When you give a green light to an authoritarian, terrible things can happen—and terrible things very much did.’ John Oliver [link replaced] dissects Trump’s account of the killing of ISIS’ leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi …
■ … details of which remain much in doubt.
■ Trump’s boastful Sunday news conference was laden with lies …
■ … but, The New York Times says, it gave Trump “the kind of made-for-television presidential moment he has long craved.”
■ CNN analysis: The 41 most shocking lines from Trump’s Baghdadi announcement, which The Washington Post has annotated here.
■ A veteran Republican senator tells The Post the impeachment process “feels like a horror movie.”
‘I fully support you.’ Chance the Rapper gave a shoutout to striking Chicago teachers and the city itself in his second go-round as Saturday Night Live host. (See the full monologue here.)
■ Steve Rhodes in The Beachwood Reporter: “Are both sides digging in, or is one side dug in and, in the mayor’s words, refusing to take yes for an answer?”
■ In teachers’ absence, Chicago Public School alumni are pitching in to help edit kids’ college application essays.
Suburban ‘transit holes.’ The Trib’s Mary Wisniewski surveys efforts to fill travel gaps that stick some workers with two-hour commutes between the city and suburbs.
■ Milwaukee Avenue’s bike lanes have gotten an upgrade.
Wanna sell pot (legally)? If you have the right Illinois ZIP code, you can jump ahead in line. (Find out by entering your address here.)
■ Happy National Chocolate Day.
Album hawk. A new documentary tells the stories of Chicagoans who’ve decided to change their lives and sell their record collections.
■ One of Chicago’s few remaining video stores is close to the end.
Thanks to Pam Spiegel for typographical polishing on this edition of Square