Scandal at the doorstep. Dissecting what’s behind the latest round of indictments in the Commonwealth Edison bribery scheme, the Sun-Times’ Mark Brown sees “a major step toward securing … potential witnesses” against House Speaker Michael Madigan.
■ Politico Illinois: The goal seems to be “getting one of the defendants to connect the dots.”
■ ComEd’s ex-CEO—the first woman to hold the job—“rejects the government’s charges that she engaged in unlawful behavior.”
Tax hike looms. Mayor Lightfoot’s plan to increase Chicago property taxes has leapt a major hurdle.
■ Crain’s Chicago Business: Cook County’s likely to cut property taxpayers another payment deadline extension.
Towed in Chicago? A federal judge has granted class-action status to a lawsuit filed by a woman who accuses the city of illegally towing and then selling her car—meaning thousands more could benefit if she wins.
■ A Sun-Times editorial: “Lightfoot could do some real good” by killing a polluting metal-shredding operation’s move to the city’s Southeast Side.
Inhumanity to man. A wrongful death lawsuit alleges the manager of a Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Iowa organized a winner-take-all betting pool for supervisors and managers to guess how many plant employees would test positive for COVID-19.
■ The New York Times: Where’s the hazard pay for retail workers?
■ The Associated Press: As the nation’s nursing homes struggle with the pandemic, tens of thousands of residents have died of non-COVID causes, “often because overburdened workers haven’t been able to give them the care they need.”
■ The Conversation: “COVID-19 is triggering more end-of-life planning—and young people want in on the discussions.”
‘Just because you’re with people you know doesn’t mean you’re safe from the coronavirus.’ A Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing epidemiologist says masks make sense even with family at Thanksgiving.
■ COVID-19 is now Illinois’ third-leading cause of death …
■ … and Gov. Pritzker says it could kill another 45,000 by March if people don’t follow the state’s new rules.
■ The pandemic has pushed U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to their lowest level in three decades—inadvertently keeping the nation in compliance with the Paris climate agreement President Trump abandoned.
‘Dcccf Rex zzz.’ The first public statement in days from the Trump administration official whose department has blocked President-elect Joe Biden’s transition was a gibberish tweet.
■ People close to her say she feels she’s in a no-win spot— and facing death threats to boot.
■ Two Michigan Republicans who gave up their initial attempt to forestall Biden’s crushing win in a Michigan Democratic stronghold are back at it again.
■ The CEO of the U.S. fricking Chamber of Commerce—long a Republican presidential confidant—tells Axios Biden won and Trump “should not delay the transition a moment longer.”
■ Ethics experts are calling for an investigation into whether Sen. Lindsey Graham “threatened anyone with a Senate investigation of the Georgia vote tally” …
■ ABC News analysis: Trump’s legal challenges to the election results are no longer intended to change the outcome but to “raise doubts and thus keep questions lingering … in perpetuity.”
■ The AP: “Chaos and confusion is the strategy.”
■ Disturbing new details in the plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor: Plan C was burning down the state house, leaving no survivors.
■ Stephen Colbert: “Bad news first: the president is actively working to undermine our democracy. … Good news: He’s really bad at it.”
‘The voters have spoken.’ Democratic U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood has formally claimed victory in her tight race against milk magnate Jim Oberweis.
■ She did it in a congressional district designed—by Democrats—as a Republican stronghold.
Snack succor. Chicago-based Garrett Popcorn Shops has begun selling its wares in grocery stores.
■ The day after Thanksgiving is Black Shop Friday in Chicago.
■ A Chicago restaurant is letting people pay what they can.
‘Unlike anything you’ve imagined outside of your dreams.’ Media critic Robert Feder previews a WTTW special premiering tonight, Chicago From the Air—featuring footage from drone cameras that “glide over the city and suburbs with … almost hypnotic beauty.”
■ PBS will liberate the Charlie Brown holiday specials from behind the Apple TV+ paywall.
Vote early. Balloting’s begun for the Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago poll—in which you can help Chicago Public Square defend its titles. Here’s how.
