Minneapolis burning. In unrest over the death of a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white cop knelt on his neck, cheering protesters burned a Minneapolis police station.
■ Neighboring St. Paul’s not immune from the troubles, nor are cities across the country.
■ State police arrested a CNN crew broadcasting live from Minneapolis this morning …
■ CNN’s Brian Stelter: The arrest is an affront to the First Amendment.
■ Brown is ordering Chicago officers get trained in the dangers of asphyxiation.
■ WTF moment: Chicago’s new police union chief—known for uncompromising support of cops—is joining police across the country in condemning the officer seemingly responsible for George Floyd’s death.
■ Back when vice-presidential contender Amy Klobuchar was a county attorney, she declined to prosecute that same officer in a police shooting case.
■ An ex-cop-now-congresswoman addresses police: “What in the hell are you doing?”
■ A journalism professor says cellphone videos of black people’s deaths should, like lynching photos, be considered sacred.
Chicago rising. As Mayor Lightfoot lightens up on pandemic restrictions in Chicago, count her in on a push to have the city host half the NHL’s games in what’s left of a disrupted season.
■ The mayor’s set June 3 for the reopening of small stores, office buildings, salons, barbershops, child care centers, and restaurants and coffee shops—primarily outdoors.
■ And she’s ready this afternoon—in a news conference to stream on her Facebook page—to designate more streets as spacious routes for pedestrians and cyclists.
■ Reopenings move to a new level today in the suburbs and much of the rest of Illinois.
■ Woodfield Mall is back.
‘Additional teeth.’ Frustrated by some privately run nursing homes’ failure to cooperate in the state’s fight against COVID-19, Gov. Pritzker is giving the Illinois Department of Public Health more power to nudge them along.
■ Pritzker is giving some ground to places of worship.
■ At yesterday’s news conference, he punted on Chicago Public Square’s question about water safety in office buildings that’ve sat idle for months (52:56 in this video) …
■ … but it turns out the University of Illinois Sustainable Technology Center was already on the case.
■ Sun-Times columnist Marlen Garcia says the U. of I. is treating college athletes like essential workers, even though they don’t get paid.
■ Trump’s social media director took to Twitter to say “Twitter is full of shit.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ Trump says social media are censoring the right, but a Facebook-owned analytics firm says it’s just the reverse.
■ On a tour of Kentucky hospitals, Trump’s No. 1 Senate enabler, Mitch McConnell, tweaked Trump: “There should be no stigma attached to wearing a mask.”
Transit’s future. Coming to the CTA: Floor decals to encourage you to keep your distance and live video monitoring of platforms to avoid crowding.
■ On Metra: Hand sanitizer dispensers for all cars.
■ Tribune columnist Mary Schmich in praise of slow reopening: “It’s exciting to think of life opening up again, but the virus is still stalking us.”
■ The virus is on the march through plantationland …
■ … and it’s surging again in South Korea.
■ A biochem professor concedes antigen tests may be inaccurate, but says their speed and ease could nevertheless solve the testing problem.
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Thanks to Gretchen Winter for making this issue better.