No Chicago Public Square Friday. Back Monday.
Gasoline’s death knell? California’s move to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars and trucks by 2035 could, in the AP’s words, “force U.S. automakers to shift their zero-emission efforts into overdrive.”
■ Bloomberg: Gov. Newsom’s order starts the clock ticking toward a future of “dealerships full of nothing but zero-emissions cars.”
■ Politico: As California goes on fuel economy, so often has gone the nation …
■ … but, a White House spokesman says, “President Trump won’t stand for it.”
■ Guess why more hurricanes are disastrously stalling over land.
■ A new report concludes Chicago’s wetlands—“the kidneys of the region, absorbing and cleaning a whole lot of water”—shrank by 40% during the 20th century.He may not go peacefully. Trump has declined to commit to a civil transfer of power if he loses the election.
■ More than 200 retired generals and admirals are endorsing Biden.
■ HuffPost: Kamala Harris’online fan club has a toxic side.
QAnon in Illinois. The Tribune editorial board sounds an alarm about two “hoax-stokers” on the ballot for Congress.
■ One Illinois weighs in on the proposed Illinois Fair Tax Amendment, debunking the notion that “low taxes for the wealthy means prosperity for all.”
■ Ready to vote early and in-person? Illinoisans outside Chicago and Cook County can as of today.
■ In-person voting begins in Chicago Oct. 1 and suburban Cook County Oct. 7.
‘There will be no justice for Breonna Taylor.’ Tribune columnist Dahleen Glanton says Kentucky’s attorney general “made sure of that” in the case of Louisville police officers who burst into Taylor’s apartment and “began firing wildly.”
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones: “A young Black woman was asleep in her bed when Louisville police … shot and killed her. And no one is going to be held accountable for that.”
■ Dismay and anger over the verdict sent hundreds of demonstrators into the streets of Chicago and other cities across the country.
■ Chicago’s Rev. Michael Pfleger: “March after march. Protest after protest. And nothing changes in America.”
■ One protester in Woodlawn: “A piece of wall … has more rights than a Black woman.”
Today in irony. Missouri’s anti-mask-mandate governor and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19.
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg: “My apologies, Wisconsin, for underestimating you.”
■ MSNBC’s Steve Benen: Dr. Anthony Fauci “has heard just about enough from Rand Paul.”
■ The Washington Post: Fauci “seemed to reach his breaking point” in the face of Sen. Paul’s lousy pandemic math.
Driver’s license reprieve. The pandemic has prompted Illinois to extend until Feb. 1 the expiration date for motorists and others whose state ID renewals were scheduled through January.
■ The Red Cross is giving the green light nationwide to blood and platelet donations by those who’ve recovered from COVID-19.
‘Boystown’ no more. In a gesture toward gender inclusiveness, a coalition of Lakeview businesses has agreed to abandon that neighborhood nickname in favor of “Northalsted,” with the accompanying slogan “Chicago’s Proudest Neighborhood.”
■ As the baseball season creaks toward an end, Wrigleyville bar owners are fretting about business through a pandemic winter.
■ In a Chicago sports rarity, the Cubs and the Sox have landed postseason berths.
‘Insulting and tone-deaf.’ The Chicago Tribune Guild, representing the paper’s staffers, has condemned and won an apology for a companywide Tribune Publishing email that seemed to offer bonuses but that really was an internally concocted email security test.
■ Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton: “It was a terrible premise for such a test because no one would ever believe we were getting big bonuses from this company anyway.”
■ Tribune critic Steve Johnson on WGN America’s misfire of an interview with Trump: “You’re not doing your job if [you] just sit there and let Trump say … he has been ‘all for masks.’”
■ Thanks to reader Roy Plotnick for making this edition better.
■ Correction: Yesterday’s emailed edition of Square came with a defective link to a story about a new name for the Uncle Ben’s rice brand. Here’s the right one—with thanks to reader John Robinson, first of many to note the problem. Square welcomes all corrections, large and small.
■ Thanks to Pam Spiegel for a batch of those above.