‘It is war.’ An ex-U.S. deputy assistant defense secretary says President Trump’s decision to kill a top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, leaves no doubt “the United States is now in a hot war with Iran.”
■ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Trump acted without congressional authorization for use of military force. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ Around the world, a political consensus that the world is now more dangerous.
■ Iran threatens a “harsh” response.
■ U.S. law enforcement around the world is on alert for retaliation.
■ Trump’s 2011 and 2012 tweets accusing President Obama of seeking war with Iran to help win reelection are coming back to haunt Trump.
■ A phrase to know: Wag the dog.
‘A murderer, responsible for the deaths of thousands, including hundreds of Americans.’ That’s how presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren describes Soleimani, but she says Trump’s actions increase “the likelihood of more deaths and new Middle East conflict.”
■ Democratic presidential candidates aren’t all on the same page.
■ Candidate Marianne Williamson has laid off campaign staff across the country.
■ BuzzFeed News editor-in-chief Ben Smith explains how Andrew Yang could win this thing.
‘They want the Supreme Court to effectively ban abortion.’ Chicago Congressman Dan Lipinski is taking heat as one of just two Democrats among 207 members of Congress asking the court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “I hope and predict that this will at last inspire voters in Illinois’ 3rd U.S. Congressional district to oust … Lipinski.”
City Hall hauls. An FBI document reveals the feds confiscated more than $51,000 in cash from McCook Mayor and Cook County Commissioner Jeff Tobolski’s home and another $60,000 from the home of Oakbrook Terrace Mayor Tony Ragucci.
■ Almost $3.2 million worth of legal pot was sold in Illinois
Is your school underused? A new report from Chicago Public Schools ranks campuses as “overcrowded,” “efficient” or “underutilized”—offering clues as to which may be next to close.
■ Sharing explicit texts he allegedly sent a student he’s accused of sexually assaulting, prosecutors have asked a judge to keep an ex-Chicago high school teacher in jail as he awaits trial.
■ A guy raised by Chicago political radicals is about to become San Francisco’s top prosecutor.
‘It is horrifying.’ But critic Sarah D. Bunting says the second season of the docuseries Surviving R. Kelly may be even more important than the first.
■ Chicago’s Museum of Broadcast Communications hosts a discussion of the show Tuesday with reporter Jim DeRogatis, who broke the Kelly story
Radio revivals.
■ Let go by WXRT, newscaster Mary Dixon is moving to WBEZ as local host of Morning Edition.
■ Bob Sirott on his takeover of the WGN Radio morning show: “Since I’m a hypochondriac, we’ll be doing a lot of health stories.”
‘It’s sad, but …’ Historic art from the headquarters of Chicago’s pioneering African American media empire, Johnson Publishing, goes on the auction block late this month.
■ See the auction website.
Reader Mike Braden noted an erroneous preposition and Pam Spiegel spotted a vestigial hyphen in “African American” above—feedback for which Square is eternally grateful.