Developing at Square’s email deadline: One of Gov. Pritzker’s staffers has tested positive for the coronavirus, so the governor and his close contacts are going into quarantine for 14 days.
‘All hell has broken out.’ Politico reports emotions running high on the Facebook page of Naperville’s very Republican mayor after his endorsement of Joe Biden for president.
■ His post Friday: “The state Democratic party has a serious character and ethics problem AND at the national level, the Republican party has a serious character and ethics problem.”
■ Sample comment: “Felons want Biden, Illegals want Biden and the Mayor of Naperville wants Biden.”
‘Are we sure about that?’ Politico’s John Harris questions The New York Times’ assertion that its reporting on President Trump’s finances tells “a story fundamentally different than the one he has told the public.”
■ Mayor Lightfoot: If the reporting is accurate, Trump “needs to apologize” for not paying his fair share. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ A Sun-Times editorial suggests questions for tonight’s presidential debate: “Mr. Trump, a barista at Starbucks who earns $20,000 a year pays $760 in federal income taxes. Why did you pay $10 a year less in 2016 and 2017?”
■ Beachwood Reporter founder Steve Rhodes: Media organizations focusing on Trump’s relatively small $750 tax bills are missing the point: “Who doesn’t try to pay as little as possible? … The story is how he arrived at that number.”
■ Meanwhile, at Fox News: “Trump taxes: Why it’s not a campaign bombshell.”
‘He shouldn’t be underestimated.’ After “watching hours of Trump’s debates from 2015 and 2016,” Politico’s Ryan Lizza concludes Trump is a better debater than you remember.
■ The AP sees tonight’s event as a last chance for Trump to define Biden.
■ It’ll air and stream pretty much everywhere.
■ CNN’s Oliver Darcy: The debate could be “the most-watched political event of all time.”
■ Don’t count on fact-checking by moderator Chris Wallace …
■ … whom the president does not like.
■ And keep an ear out for one of those historic debate putdowns.
Meet the postal resistance. As Trump’s postmaster general has overseen delays in mail—and mail-in ballot—delivery, The Washington Post reports some USPS workers are quietly undercutting those directives.
■ Speaker Nancy Pelosi is prepping for the possibility the House may have to decide the election outcome.
■ A philosophy prof explains why there’s no ethical reason not to vote.
■ One of the most-clicked items in yesterday’s Chicago Public Square was a guide to ratings of all those judicial candidates on the ballot*. So here’s another one.
One of these is The Onion, the other The Atlantic. Guess which is which:
You can drink to this. Hailing a drop in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Chicago, Mayor Lightfoot is clearing Chicago bars to serve customers indoors again Thursday …
■ … when restaurants, health and fitness centers, personal services and non-essential retail businesses can also bump up operations to 40 percent indoor capacity—still with a limit of 50 customers per room.
■ Chicago police report more than 900 officers so far have tested positive for COVID-19.
‘Our City, Our Safety.’ That’s the banner for a multiyear, multifaceted anti-violence plan Mayor Lightfoot was set to roll out today …
■ … but, WBEZ reports, the push to find jobs “for those most likely to shoot or be shot in the city’s poorest neighborhoods” is up against big financial hurdles before it even launches.
Guilty … um … as charged? ComEd’s former in-house lobbyist was set to enter a plea at noon today to federal charges tied to what WBEZ calls the company’s “bribery-stained lobbying efforts” targeting House Speaker Michael Madigan …
■ More from WBEZ: “Madigan tried to get state jobs last year for a half-dozen people with close ties to the chairman” of that committee.
‘Dreadful cowboy.’ Horse racing correspondent Tom Chambers says Adam Hollingsworth, also known as “the Dreadhead Cowboy,” is “a grandstanding maniacal egotist” who “absolutely cannot love horses, if he knows anything about horses.”
■ Mayor Lightfoot says Hollingsworth’s horse, NuNu, is improving but would probably have died had the city not interrupted the publicity stunt.
■ Chicago rescuers of 15 French bulldogs allegedly neglected at an O’Hare warehouse are defying government demands to turn the puppies in for deporting to the Middle East.
‘You should run a $7.50 deal: For 1/100th of what Trump pays in federal taxes, you can be more informed than the president every day.’ When readers like Paul Clark speak, Chicago Public Square listens. So you can now chip in a special commemorative one-time $7.50 tip (great) or a monthly $7.50 pledge (greater) to help keep Square coming.
■ Thanks to Matt Baron and Pam Spiegel for some typographic improvements above.
* One of whom is married to your Square publisher.