Early voting dawns. As of today, Chicagoans can vote in-person downtown, at 191 N. Clark Street.
■ Suburban Cook County: Not yet.
■ Statewide, more than 2 million Illinoisans have asked for mail-in ballots.
■ And a growing number of residents have time to ponder their vote: More than 27,000 unemployment claims were filed in the state during the last full week of September. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ Injustice Watch and The TRiiBE: Six things to know about voting in Chicago.
‘Failure of imagination.’ CNN’s Brian Stelter says moderator Chris Wallace’s humiliating experience in Tuesday’s debate is an object lesson for everyone in the Age of Trump—“not to assume the worst, but to prepare for all eventualities.”
■ In an interview with The New York Times, “Wallace conceded that he had been slow to recognize that the president was not going to cease flouting the debate’s rules.”
■ Next time, the Commission on Presidential Debates says, moderators will (finally) have the power to cut off the mic of a candidate breaking the rules.
■ The debate has left social media companies scrambling—foreshadowing what The Washington Post calls “a rocky ride” for the rest of the election season.
‘Dear Wisconsin …’ A Sun-Times editorial appeals to voters north of the border: Donald Trump “is everything bad that you are not.”
■ Wisconsin’s racist “Proud Boys” outpost has tweeted, “We’re going to have some fun discussing our President’s upcoming orders.”
■ Under the radar, the German American population has been big for Trump.
■ Satire from The Onion: “Stunned Pundits Criticize Trump For Refusing To Denounce His Base.”
■ Loyola University’s multicultural recruitment director has quit, complaining of a “toxic atmosphere of hostility, intimidation, fear and manipulation … especially pertaining to people of color.”
I-L-L … Despite groundbreaking COVID-19 testing on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the region faces the prospect of tightened pandemic restrictions …
■ … but Chicago’s loosening up a bit today.
■ A Cook County commissioner has tested positive.
■ ProPublica shares a glimpse into the life of an Illinois pandemic contact tracer.
■ The Conversation: How pandemics have triggered massive societal change—including the Renaissance.
Halloween in Illinois. The state’s pandemic guidelines for the holiday don’t forbid neighborhood trick-or-treating, but they suggest it be a lot different.
■ Oct. 31 also brings a virtual Girls Summit for young women, trans and non-binary people between 13 and 24.
A challenger appears. Illinois’ uniquely powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan will face an opponent for that job in January: State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit of Oswego.
■ One Illinois’ “Daily Debunk” dismantles arguments that Illinois’ “decades-long history of fiscal mismanagement” constitutes a reason to vote against the “Fair Tax Amendment.”
Theater al fresco. The Goodman Theatre has set a schedule for the final eight performances of its acclaimed “free socially-distanced” touring outdoor show, Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak On It! …
■ … beginning tonight at Austin Town Hall Park.
Journalism reborn. Welcome, The Record North Shore—a new nonprofit local news serving Wilmette, Winnetka, Northfield, Kenilworth and Glencoe—rising from the ashes of the deceased 22nd Century Media newspaper chain.
■ Sign up for its free email news roundup here.
