Fauci’s lie. Gizmodo accuses National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci of making the COVID-19 pandemic worse when he dissembled early on “about whether masks were helpful in slowing the spread of the virus.”
■ Fauci says he sees no need for a second round of lockdowns.
■ But he also says he would “of course not” attend one of President Trump’s pandemic-flouting rallies.
■ Vanity Fair: Trump and Vice President Pence have their hands full explaining coronavirus infection spikes.
■ Several prominent Republicans—including Trump’s ex-communications director—are launching a political action committee to recruit Republican voters for Joe Biden.
■ Mother Jones: “The Cruise Industry Is Donald Trump Personified.”
Virus in high places. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is the highest-ranking state official to test positive for COVID-19.
■ Politico contract contact-traces which other pols he’s been near recently …
■ Facing a separate federal suit, the governor’s relented on the ban of reporter Amy Jacobson from his news conferences—a decision Chicago Public Square questioned him about last month (link corrected).
COVID’s biggest mystery. The Washington Post updates scientists’ urgent quest to answer the riddle of why the virus kills some and spares others.
■ The Conversation: How to create a “quarantine bubble” around your friends and family.
Bathroom bind. The Tribune’s Mary Schmich reflects on the pandemic’s challenges for those who gotta go.
■ The Trib’s Blair Kamin: Time to reimagine biking to work in Chicago.
■ An Evanston business owner is the first to face coronavirus-related federal fraud charges in Chicago.
Defund showdown. Competing proposals to defund, re-fund and reform the Chicago Police Department are up at today’s City Council meeting …
■ … which you can witness on the web here.
■ Also on the table: Removal of cops from the city’s public schools.
■ Beachwood Reporter founder Steve Rhodes: “Horrid police union contracts didn’t write themselves—they were agreed to … by mayors and city councils.”
■ The Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet dissects Trump’s executive order on police reform, “an action unthinkable a month ago.”
■ Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says the Senate next week will take up federal police reform legislation.
‘Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over.’ iPhone users can set an automatic trigger to record an interaction with police—and notify a designated contact.
■ The ACLU explains how facial recognition tech is racist.
Unrelated developments.
■ Video shows a retired Cook County judge taking a swing at a man protesting near a Christopher Columbus statue Saturday.
■ The Chicago Reporter, by way of Block Club Chicago: Contrary to early claims, Chicago cops arrested more people for protesting than looting in the first days of unrest.
■ Chicago’s Riot Fest is off for this year.
WBEZ cuts. Facing pandemic-driven revenue shortfalls, the parent company of Chicago’s venerable public radio station has laid off 12.
■ Live from Here, the successor to public radio’s A Prairie Home Companion, is gone, too.
■ Poynter: The fate of the Chicago Tribune and its fellow Tribune Publishing newspapers across the country is on the line with a June 30 trigger date.
■ A Pittsburgh newspaper’s owners and journalists are at war.
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Farewell, Aunt Jemima. Pepsi-owned Quaker Oats says it’s retiring its offensive syrup and pancake mix brand.
■ The Onion, last Friday: “Quaker Oats Replaces Historically Racist Aunt Jemima Mascot With Black Female Lawyer [Sheila] Who Enjoys Pancakes Sometimes.”
■ A linguistics prof explains how the name “Karen” became a stand-in for white entitlement.
Juneteenth counts. Confronting worrisome response rates among Illinois’ Black residents, the state has declared Friday Black Census Day.
■ Gov. Pritzker has ordered state flags lowered to honor the day.
■ Where and how to mark Juneteenth in Chicago.
■ Virginia’s governor wants to make it a holiday.
Drive-in revival. One of Chicago’s most controversial developers (April 2019 link) is offering its Lincoln Yards space beginning later this month for a fundraising series of drive-in movies.
■ Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Blues Brothers will have to suffice for now, because this year’s Joffrey Ballet and Lyric Opera seasons are down for the
■ Blaming the pandemic, Amtrak is ending daily service to hundreds of stations—including several routes serving Chicago.
‘Hahahahahahahahahaha.’ The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg offers bitter sympathy to “religious fanatics” who’ve backed Trump so he’d pick “Supreme Court justices who will sprinkle juridical fairy dust over the United States and magically transport it back to the Mayberry 1958 of your imaginings”—only to see the court rule against “your God-given right to sack anybody whose sexual orientation or gender identity makes you feel well, nudged out of your safe happy place.”
■ Eric Zorn in the Trib: Time to stop playing the national anthem before sporting events.
Thanks, Mike Braden, Pam Spiegel and Reed Pence, for making this edition better.