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A long high. Projections released to the Sun-Times suggest that, although Illinois has reached a peak in the number of daily coronavirus deaths, that peak could last weeks.
■ Republican lawmakers are pushing Gov. Pritzker to loosen restrictions on things like state parks, elective surgery, car dealerships, golf courses, barbershops, hair salons and clothing stores.
■ Politico’s John F. Harris: “Stop looking on the bright side: We’ll be screwed by the pandemic for years.”
■ The Tribune’s Mary Schmich asks, “Who do you worry about most?”
The ‘B’ word. Pritzker was quick to reject U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s suggestion that states—including Illinois—might want to consider bankruptcy as a route out of the coronavirus collapse. But Politico’s Shia Kapos notes it’s worked out OK for other governments.
■ Washington Post columnist Paul Waldman: “Mitch McConnell to states: Drop dead.”
Eating … out. Block Club Chicago: Chicago stands to lose as many as 1,500 restaurants permanently.
■ A team of university professors explains why, in a time of need, farmers are dumping milk down the drain and letting produce rot in fields.
‘Not even close.’ Vox’s Aaron Rupar rips into President Trump’s continued lie that the U.S. has done more coronavirus testing than the rest of the world.
■ Trump, who’s encouraged people to demand “liberation” from stay-home orders, says he “disagreed strongly” with the Georgia governor’s plan to do just that.
■ The Post dissects Trump’s “tenuous relationship” with scientific experts: “Those who challenge the president’s erratic and often inaccurate coronavirus views will be punished—or made to atone.”
■ One of the government’s top vaccine experts says he was transferred in retaliation for questioning one of the president’s favorite—but increasingly questionable—COVID-19 treatment options.
■ He says he’ll file a whistleblower complaint.
■ Google and Apple have a contagion tracking system in the works—but it raises tough new questions about privacy.
‘The president doesn’t like me.’ In his first late-night interview since the pandemic’s onset—with The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah—New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said of his relationship with Trump, “It is unambiguous. It is honest. It is open.”
■ The interview is free on YouTube here.
■ A $2,800 donation from comedian Louis C.K., who’s been accused of sexual misconduct, has been rejected by the presidential campaign of Joe Biden—whose behavior is under a similar cloud.
Running scared. Chicago pedestrians and on-street exercisers are wrestling with the question, “How close is too close?”
■ Chicago’s Pride Parade is postponed until at least September.
Pandemic powers paused. Mayor Lightfoot has a Council War on her hands: Opponents have blocked—at least for a couple days—her plan to assume extraordinary spending power in the coronavirus crisis.
■ Lightfoot is pushing to expand Chicago’s sick-leave protections for workers facing termination or demotion in a public health crisis.
■ Chicago’s newly sworn-in Police Supt. David Brown: “Chicagoans deserve a moonshot: The lowest murders on record, the lowest numbers of shootings on record and the highest levels of trust in its officers from its residents.”
Yeah, he said it. Fox News talking head Sean Hannity on his radio show yesterday afternoon: “People want to get to work. They just—they’re dying to get back to work.”
■ When Goodman told Anderson Cooper on CNN, “This isn’t China. This is Las Vegas,” he responded, “Wow. That’s really ignorant.”
Remember department stores? Columnist Charlie Madigan does.
■ A Columbia University business professor on big stores’ future: “The genre is toast, and looking at the other side of this, there are very few who are likely to survive.”
■ But drive-in movie theaters may be poised for a comeback.
Lights on, Chicago. Downtown buildings will be illuminated in blue to honor essential workers and first responders.
■ Yeah, today is Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day.
Song of the day.
Here’s to the doctors and their healing work.
Here’s to the loved ones in their care.
— The Call, Let the Day Begin
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