Election upheavals / 'I am furious' / Naperville, again

Election upheavals.
For the first time in more than two decades, Democrats have taken full control of the Virginia legislature …
 … and, despite President Trump’s Monday plea to Kentucky voters—“You can’t let that happen to me!”—Democrats are claiming victory in that state’s gubernatorial race …
 … although, at Chicago Public Square’s publication deadline, AP considered the race too close to call.
Kentucky has elected its first black attorney general—which CNN’s Chris Cillizza explains may be reason for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to smile.

The AP says the results are symptomatic of a “suburban revolt” against which Trump’s Republican Party looks impotent.
MSNBC host and ex-Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough: “Trump has gutted Republican support in suburbs.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
Chicago’s Trump Tower is a struggling enterprise.

‘I am furious.’ Gov. Pritzker is vowing to introduce a series of ethics reforms to address scandalous practices that have let “public officials—some from our own party—betray the public trust.”
New York City voters have approved a switch to ranked-choice voting—under which citizens get to pick their top five candidates in order of preference.

Blue sunset. Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson reportedly plans to announce his retirement.
Trib columnist John Kass: “He was going to be gone regardless.”
WBEZ: Johnson’s replacement may be another cop who’s already retired once.
A man wrongly sent to prison for 26 years is suing Chicago police and the city.
Why are Chicago taxpayers still funding police protection for ex-Mayors Daley and Emanuel?

Less time for which to give thanks. Chicago Public Schools’ plan to make up for time lost to teachers’ strike includes cutting a vacation day on the day before Thanksgiving.
Reader columnist Ben Joravsky: The teachers’ new contract is “just a first step—albeit an important one—in the long march for the kind of justice Dr. King was talking about back in 1963.”

Naperville, again. The incident in which Buffalo Wild Wings staff asked a group of families to move because another customer objected to the color of their skin is just the latest in a series of racial fiascoes in that city—emblematic of what one scholar calls a “backlash of everyday racism.”
One of the parents who were there told a news conference, “I called my mother and I couldn’t even speak. … It was dead silence, right? It’s me with tears.”
The Tribune’s Dahleen Glanton: “Trump may have emboldened symbolic white guys in red T-shirts, but they were here long before he was elected president. … They will be here long after he leaves.”
The customer whose racism the restaurant indulged has been banned from all Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants for life (PDF download).
From 2016: A black man’s viral Facebook post on the challenges of growing up black in Naperville.
In Chicago, a lawyer is filing suit accusing cops of wrongly raiding the wrong home: “These wrong raids have been going on for decades in Chicago’s communities of color, and people have just accepted them as a fact of life.”

Headstrong. The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending all 50 states require bicyclists wear helmets.
A bike-riding woman died this morning after being hit by a truck in Chicago’s Old Irving Park neighborhood.
Mayor Lightfoot’s team is pushing hard for her plan to cut downtown congestion—and boost the city’s budget—with the nation’s highest ride-hailing fee.
More than 11,000 scientists have declared Earth faces “a climate emergency” that threatens “untold suffering.”

AT&T giveth. If you had an “unlimited” data plan on your cell phone account, you’re in for an automatic refund.
Wired: “Unless you’re an emergency worker on a special first-responder plan, there’s no such thing as truly unlimited mobile data.”

‘Year of Chicago Music.’ That’s 2020.
The movie Del & Charna will dramatize what Deadline calls “the unlikely pairing and tumultuous 19-year relationship” of Chicago improv gurus Charna Halpern and the late Del Close.
Chicago’s Christkindlmarket is bringing back its iconic boot mugs.

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