Stay home, students. In the face of concern from parents and a strike threat from teachers, Chicago Public Schools will start the school year Sept. 8 with all-remote learning.
■ That leaves New York City as the only major U.S. school system planning in-person classes this fall.
■ Add Puerto Rico to the list of departure points from which Chicago visitors must quarantine.
Hey, what’s a few kids? U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, a first-term Republican from Indiana, urges schools and parents to “take a little risk” and reopen schools amid the pandemic …
■ … following the examples of “enterprises” like Purdue and Notre Dame universities.
■ The University of Connecticut is the first Football Bowl Subdivision school to cancel its entire 2020 season.
■ The Onion: “Knowledge That It Could Kill Him Actually Making Man Appreciate Day At Disney World A Lot More.”
Rap retaliation? Chicago police theorize 26-year-old Carlton Weekly—a.k.a. rapper FBG Duck—may have been gunned down in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood after making a derogatory video about rival gang members.
■ “FBG” stands for “Fly Boy Gang” …
■ … and his best-known song may be 2018’s Slide.
■ Former Illinois House Deputy Majority Leader Arthur Turner Sr., 69, was flabbergasted over the weekend when he was detained by two cops who mistook him for a 36-year-old with the same name.
■ For the fourth time in a week, a Chicago cop was shot and wounded.
Lies, falsehoods and more lies. PolitiFact digs into the hooey President Trump shoveled out in an interview with Axios.
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones was gobsmacked by the number of “jaw-dropping, head-scratching, he-can’t-be-serious” moments in the interview.
■ Newsday calls it “a self-demolition derby.”
■ CNN: Axios’ Jonathan Swan showed how to expose Trump: Basic follow-up questions.
■ The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin: “If one reporter can demolish Trump, where are the rest?”
■ An American University professor of public health details the price of the huge U.S. COVID-19 testing undercount.
■ Contradicting the president, U.S. Defense Department officials say they have no indication a massive explosion that killed dozens and wounded thousands in Beirut was—as the president contended—an “attack.”
■ What exploded was ammonium nitrate.
■ A Stanford political science prof: “It is totally plausible the president could order an attack that would be illegal, and the military is bound by the law and trained not to follow a patently illegal order.”
Not-So-Open House Chicago. The annual free celebration of the city’s architecture is still on for October—but don’t expect to get inside the buildings featured.
■ Chicago’s historic Cook County Hospital building is back as a hotel complex and food court.
You must be overdue for a cleaning, too. Readers of yesterday’s Chicago Public Square tapped this link close to 50% more than the next-most-popular link.
■ New studies: Smoking marijuana is not good for your heart.
And, in the end … Our latest Square supporter salute enters its finale with a round of thanks to generous readers who keep this thing coming, including Reginald F. Davis, Michael Esposito, Ellen Mrazek, Marc Blesoff, Les Nelson, Judy Sherr, Susy Schultz, John Messina, Janean Bowersmith, Ken Davis, Beth Messina, Jeff Weissglass, Julia Winn and Rob Christopher. If you’d like to make a final rollcall for this go-round, sign up for a one-time tip (stupendous) or an ongoing pledge (stupendouser). And if you can’t chip in now, no guilt: You help Square grow simply by opening and reading each day. Or by sharing it with a friend, which is always free. Thanks to all.
(All in Illinois gets today’s Chicago Public Square public service ad.)