Reason to be cheerful / Unrelated developments / Halloween getaways

Reason to be cheerful. The Chicago Teachers Union suggests a deal could end the strike by Monday …
 … even though some teachers say they were spat upon from above Wednesday as they protested outside the Board of Trade building. (Oct. 18 photo: Harry Carmichael in the Chicago Public Square Flickr group.)
Crain’s: How the Chicago Teachers Union has arrived at the head of a national labor movement.

‘Remarkable speed.’ In a report on questionable Chicago police stop-and-frisk practices, a retired federal judge gives high marks to Mayor Lightfoot’s administration for “fast-tracking” reform.
The police department is promising by next year to develop new street-stop protocols …
 … to address inequities like the report’s finding that roughly 70% of pedestrian stop-and-frisk patdowns have targeted African Americans.
The Chicago Reporter: The City Council is quietly moving toward decriminalizing psychedelic plants and fungi.

‘Congratulations, Mr. President.’ The New York Times’ David Leonhardt: “In America’s long history, Trump appears to be the president most deserving of impeachment as the founders envisioned it.”
Michael Tomasky in The Daily Beast: “Trump and the Republicans … are no longer merely lying. … What these people are doing … [is] a direct nuclear assault on the truth.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
The White House has ordered federal agencies to cancel their subscriptions to The New York Times and The Washington Post.
The New Yorker’s Susan B. Glasser: Trump’s invocation of the insult “human scum” puts him in rare company.
Axios: The president’s “created a de facto impeachment war room, with a chief goal of policing and solidifying Republican Senate support for acquittal.”
The Onion: Trump Ties Thousands Of Balloons To White House Roof In Attempt To Sail Away From Impeachment Inquiry.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate has confirmed another Trump judicial nominee rated “not qualified.”

Unrelated developments.
Politico: Trump’s plan to address police chiefs in downtown Chicago Monday stands to draw thousands of protesters.
CBS Chicago: “Rare Cosmic ‘Mudball’ Meteorite Arrives At Chicago’s Field Museum.”

Future not what it used to be.
The Census Bureau says that, by next year, no single race group will constitute more than half of U.S. children.
Cook County ballots will come in more languages beginning with the March primary.
The Trump administration has quietly shuttered a program to keep watch for dangerous animal viruses that could infect humans—the next Ebola.
A new report concludes the U.S. isn’t ready for a pandemic.

A ‘mantle of morbid fun.’ Columnist Neil Steinberg celebrates the career of ghastly cartoonist Gahan Wilson—an Evanston native now facing dementia—for whom a gofundme.com page is seeking support. (Cartoon: GahanWilson.net.)
Wednesday Journal: Oak Park to become dementia-friendly.”

Halloween getaways. Metra will run early trains out of downtown Thursday.
Thrillist lists the Chicago area’s most terrifying haunted houses.

Who doesn’t love it when a corruption investigation bears fruit?‬ Reuters: “Japan trade minister resigns amid melon donations scandal.”
The Sun-Times: “Suburbs that federal agents recently visited as part of a wide-ranging corruption investigation have been using an insurance company that employs Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s son.”
Missing in action from both his jobs since a federal raid at his home last month: Cook County Commissioner and McCook Mayor Jeff Tobolski.

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