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Confederacy of dunces. People who want an end to Illinois’ stay-home edict during the COVID-19 pandemic plan rallies Friday in Chicago and Springfield.
■ A second lawsuit says Gov. Pritzker has “exceeded his authority under the law by taking emergency action for longer than 30 days.”
■ This challenge has been filed by a Republican state representative who co-chaired Donald Trump’s 2016 Illinois campaign.
■ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases chief Anthony Fauci warns states that don’t have “the capability of identifying, isolating and contact tracing individuals” against “tempting a rebound” of the pandemic.
■ A new analysis concludes the virus has probably killed hundreds more Illinoisans than the state has counted.
■ California’s governor was set today to announce closure of his state’s beaches.
■ Politico’s John F. Harris: “Admit it: You are willing to let people die to end the shutdown.”
‘I’ve been really remorseful.’ The man who threw a big party on Chicago’s Northwest Side says he regrets it and hopes he can “make up with my mother” …
■ … who has some problems of her own.
■ The Triibe: The party “exposes the disconnect between young black residents … and the news.”
■ Police say they’ll also issue a citation for a large Rogers Park wedding party last week.
■ Mayor Lightfoot’s making no apology for a controversial Chicago police “surge strategy,” shifting officers from low-crime to high-crime neighborhoods.
‘A drug that works.’ A University of Illinois at Chicago doctor is upbeat about remdesivir’s “really good results” as treatment for the new coronavirus.
■ Fauci: “The data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery.”
Biden’s ‘uncomfortable bind.’ The Associated Press says an ex-Senate staffer’s sexual assault complaint against Joe Biden—and his failure (as of Square’s email publication deadline) to say anything about it—puts his Democratic allies in “an awkward position.”
■ A former neighbor of Biden’s accuser tells The Washington Post the accuser related the incident during a conversation in the mid-’90s.
■ CNN’s Chris Cillizza: The Biden campaign’s response to the charges “is twisting a New York Times story.”
■ Assessing the story’s arc of coverage, a Democratic strategist tells Politico: “Jumping from Daily Caller to CNN seems like a worrying trend.”
■ USA Today recaps the details so far.
■ Trump’s campaign strategy is taking shape: Attacks on Biden’s mental fitness.
■ For sale in the White House gift shop: COVID-19 commemorative coins.
■ The ACLU has launched a petition demanding Congress make remote and early voting easier.
Carbon dated. The International Energy Agency reports a “staggering” drop in demand for coal, oil and gas and could mean time’s up for the fossil fuel industry.
■ The pandemic has driven carbon dioxide emissions to levels last seen 10 years ago.
■ Climate activist Greta Thunberg is sending $100,000 to a campaign targeted at children affected by the pandemic, which she calls a child-rights crisis.
Chicago wronged. A new Netflix movie ostensibly set in Chicago does a lousy job of it.
■ Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper calls a new Amazon Prime science fiction comedy series from a creator of The Office and Parks and Recreation profound but “funny as hell.”
■ Chicago’s theater community is connecting with audiences in a host of new ways online.
Zoom, meet Meet. Google is making its Zoom video conferencing alternative, Meet, free to all.
■ Want to break up with Facebook? It’ll now let you move your photos and video to Google.
■ Twitter has opened its data to researchers studying the spread of COVID-19—and misinformation about it.
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Thanks, Barry Koehler and Chris Koenig, for making this issue more rewarding.