Illinois on edge. As a grand jury nears a decision on the death in Louisville of Breonna Taylor—shot and killed at her home in March as police executed a no-knock warrant—Gov. Pritzker has put the Illinois National Guard into a “state of readiness” should that decision trigger unrest here.
■ The University of Chicago Crime Lab is studying how Chicago can deploy cops more effectively across the city.
■ After that protest ride down the Dan Ryan Expressway, police have charged the city’s “Dreadhead Cowboy” with animal cruelty, asserting his horse collapsed afterward.
‘Cindy can have Sleepy Joe.’ President Trump is shrugging off the endorsement of Joe Biden by Cindy McCain, widow of former Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
■ The New York Times: Biden’s gaining support in suburbs across the country—but not Milwaukee’s.
■ The Atlantic: “If the vote is close, Donald Trump could easily throw the election into chaos and subvert the result. Who will stop him?” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ Almost a quarter-million ballots will be in the mail to Chicagoans beginning Thursday.
‘Think twice about going to Wisconsin right now.’ Chicago’s public health commissioner is putting the Badger State back on the city’s naughty list—an emergency travel order directing arriving travelers to quarantine for 14 days.
■ Wisconsin’s governor has extended the statewide mask mandate through late November.
■ Johnson & Johnson today launches a final 60,000-volunteer round in its study of a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine.
■ The Conversation: How will we know a vaccine is safe?
■ Satire from The Onion: “CDC Announces Children Will Be Last To Receive COVID Vaccine Because What Are Those Little Twerps Going To Do About It.”
Lightfoot’s power power. Under contract pressure from Mayor Lightfoot, ComEd has agreed not to shut off electricity to homes through the winter …
■ … but that’s not all the mayor’s demanding.
■ Even as the mayor presses ComEd for more minority hiring, her top lawyer is pushing back against aldermen demanding minority participation in city contracts.
‘This is the one chance that we have.’ The coauthor of a new report from an environmental think tank says the pandemic has given the world an opportunity to make progress against the climate crisis—and the world is blowing it.
■ Expect a warmer-than-usual fall in Chicago.
■ Applying takes only a couple of minutes here.
■ Facebook is getting ready to shut it all down if the Nov. 3 election descends into civil unrest and violence.
■ BuzzFeed News: “Victims Of Violence During The Kenosha Protests Are Suing Facebook.”
With great marketing power comes great responsibility. The Uncle Ben’s rice brand name is getting a new name. (Link corrected.)
■ Chicago Bears legend Gale Sayers, a Black player whose friendship with white teammate Brian Piccolo became the stuff of legend, is dead after a long fight against dementia—which his wife blamed in part on his football career.
Trump vs. journalists. For the second time in a week, the president celebrated police attacks on reporters.
■ MSNBC host Joe Scarborough: “It’s … the language of fascists.”
■ One of Trump’s Supreme Court candidates—Chicago-based federal judge Amy Coney Barrett—has been linked to a group that inspired Margaret Atwood’s dystopian The Handmaid’s Tale. (Clarification, Sept. 26, from Vox: “They’re not actually connected. But the story spread anyway.”)
■ If the new WGN America NewsNation broadcast’s big “get” interview with Trump yesterday broke news or brought substantial skepticism to bear on the president, it was well hidden.
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■ Thanks to reader John Robinson for flagging the bad link above and to Pam Spiegel for additional clarity on wording for that item.