Cold, cold, cold. Chicago’s headed into a multi-day temperature plunge that could prove the city’s worst in two years.
■ But first: More snow.
■ Block Club Chicago: What you can do to help the homeless with shelter and supplies through the dangerous weather.
■ The Heated newsletter on 2021’s initial U.S. Senate hearing about global warming: “Bring in the climate clowns.”
Pandemic relief plans. The Washington Post says the latest Democratic blueprint would send $1,400 to individuals earning under $50,000 and $2,800 to married couples earning less than $100,000.
■ The Intercept: “Democrats Actually Learned From the Failures of 2009.”
■ Axios on the president’s position: “Power matters. And Biden holds all of it.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ The Associated Press says that, even as Catholic dioceses across the country sat on $10 billion in cash and other available funds, they sucked up at least $1.5 billion of taxpayer money from the last round of relief.
■ Illinois’ gig and self-employed workers are in line for another 11 weeks of unemployment benefits—but there’ll be more paperwork.
Masks missing. Getting CTA riders to comply with the new federal COVID-19 mandate is proving a challenge.
■ Patch columnist Mark Konkol takes issue with Gov. Pritzker’s assertion that Illinois is “actually doing quite well” in the vaccine rollout.■ CNN: That second shot can be more painful than the first—but that’s a good thing.
■ Some shots unused by Illinois’ long-term care facilities are headed to frontline workers and those over 65.
It’s coming from inside the Zoom! Wired explains why it’s so tough to stop the trollish “Zoom bombs” that have disrupted remote education.
■ Chicago schools have canceled in-person classes for the rest of the week.
■ The new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says schools can open safely even if teachers aren’t vaccinated.
Carjacking correctives. Chicago police hope more license-tracking cameras along Lake Shore Drive will catch more vehicular thieves.
■ A Facebook group of citizen sleuths claims to have helped recover more than 200 jacked cars.
Whoops. Prosecutors admitted they’ve lost track of teenaged Kenosha gunman Kyle Rittenhouse’s whereabouts …
■ … so they want a federal judge to issue a new warrant for his arrest.
‘Unleashed hell.’ Politico Illinois cites a source close to the action as saying Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger let House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy have it for defending demented Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene—even as Republicans in Kinzinger’s home district condemned him “for acting contrary to the values” of his constituents.
■ Mother Jones: Greene moderated a Facebook group rife with death threats and racist memes.
■ PolitiFact recaps what Greene has said about election fraud, QAnon and other conspiracy theories.
■ Updating coverage: House Democrats were set to force Republicans today to defend or rebuke Greene on the record.
Durbin’s prize. Senior Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin has landed the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
■ The star of Sen. Ted Cruz’s favorite movie has labeled Cruz a Rodent of Unusual Size.
White House tradition restored. Biden’s press secretary has brought back a longstanding practice at news briefings …
■ … a ritual led for years by a friend of your Square publisher’s family (1997 interview).
‘Even a trip to the bathroom during halftime … was fraught.’ A Sun-Times sports reporter who was a cheerleader in high school and college shares the experience’s dark side.
■ A Northwestern cheerleader suing the university on grounds it forced her to interact with creeps tells Inside Edition: “Never did I think that I would be interacting with adults that are my father’s age, my grandfather’s age, and I would be told to say ‘Go, ’Cats’ after they sexually touched me.”
■ Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts, who led the Trump reelection fundraising drive, is signing on for another run as Republican National Committee finance chair.
One of ‘the greatest Chicago writers.’
Four days to go. Time’s almost up to vote for Chicago Public Square in the Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago poll. Go for it.
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