Chicago Public Square will take a few days off. Back Tuesday, Feb. 18.
Biden’s ‘doomsday scenario.’ A political action committee allied with Joe Biden warns of trouble for the Democrats if Biden’s not the nominee.
■ “Can Biden avoid collapse?” is one of NBC News’ five things to watch in today’s New Hampshire vote.
■ Biden’s dismissal of voters who question him—including the inscrutable “lying dog-faced pony soldier” he bestowed on a college student Sunday—has late-night comedians scratching their heads.
■ After Iowa’s caucusterf__k, New Hampshire voters today get a chance to reset the Democratic contest.
■ BuzzFeed News: Democrat Tulsi Gabbard has “put everything on New Hampshire.”
■ She tells Fox News she supports President Trump’s decision to dump two impeachment witnesses against him.
■ The five(!) residents of tiny Dixville Notch, N.H., gave the win to Mike Bloomberg.
■ The Onion: “Increasingly Unhinged Centrists Announce Plan To Round Up Nation Into Camps To Force Them To Engage In Meaningful Dialogue.”
‘Lipinski … has never distinguished himself in Washington.’ In a round of congressional endorsements, the Sun-Times reverses its 2018 position and backs a challenger to U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski.
■ Illinois voters will get to replace an ex-Bear on the state Supreme Court.
■ U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is celebrated in a new Illinois Holocaust Museum exhibit.
■ Ginsburg says the Equal Rights Amendment’s ratification deadline has passed and backers should start over from the beginning.
Net loss. President Trump’s proposed budget would cut a range of “safety net” programs, including student loan help, affordable housing and food stamp programs—while boosting spending on the military and, yes, a border wall …
■ Trump got suckered by Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David.
■ The Washington Post blows the lid off one of “the most closely guarded secrets of the Cold War”: A company “governments all over the world trusted to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and diplomats secret … was secretly owned by the CIA.”
Newly historic. Two Chicago sites and five in the suburbs have joined the National Register of Historic Places.
■ Enterprising Girl Scouts have taken to selling cookies outside a Chicago marijuana dispensary.
Forward to the past. A state representative is proposing to make work by requiring all gas station pumping in Illinois be done by paid attendants.
■ Plans to extend the CTA’s Red Line are getting real with an infusion of $38 million for an environmental impact study.
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Chicago’s ‘climate emergency.’ A City Council committee is sending the full council a resolution sounding an alarm about “catastrophic lakefront erosion” and other environmental crises.
■ Tribune columnist Rex Huppke: “Lake Michigan is trying to kill us and it must be stopped.”
■ Most-clicked link—by far—in yesterday’s Chicago Public Square: A University of Chicago law prof’s plan to sell some of the lake’s excess water.
■ A chronic Chicago polluter granted frequent passes under Mayor Emanuel’s administration isn’t proving so lucky under Mayor Lightfoot.
■ A bill headed to Congress would make companies that manufacture plastic responsible for the waste they create.
■ Forecast for Thursday: The coldest weather Chicago’s seen since last year’s polar vortex.
Fatal February. This last weekend was the month’s deadliest for Chicago in 18 years.
■ An ex-Chicago cop is jailbound for killing an unarmed man three years ago.
■ Taxpayers will foot the bill for a $10 million settlement with a young man crippled for life when Chicago cops shot him in the back more than seven years ago.
Boogie? Check. Trailblazing Chicago rock disc jockey John Records Landecker is headed into the National Association of Broadcasters’ Hall of Fame.
■ Hear Landecker spend an hour talking to college students in 2016 about the history of radio.
An honor to be invited. Chicago Public Square will take a seat on the stage at Feb. 23’s Chicago Journalism Town Hall, for which you can sign up free.
■ Square comes to you courtesy of supporters whose roster we’re recapping in the order in which they pledged: Today, it’s Leslie Sutphen, Sarah Russe, Sandy Kaczmarski, Cate Plys, Stephen Schlesinger, Suzy Carlson, Reed Pence and Susy Schultz. Join them here.
Jack Hafferkamp is a Chicago Public Square advertiser.