‘Trumpish fear’ / ‘What scares me’ / Tribune tug-of-war

‘Trumpish fear.’ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg samples “the politics of grievance” roiling tomorrow’s local elections across Illinois.

■ The Tribune analyzes the proliferation of obscure political parties throughout the suburbs.

■ Find out where to vote and what’s on your ballot in suburban Cook County Tuesday.

■ Get background on your local choices at BallotReady.

‘I could get used to a Wrigley at 25 percent capacity.’ Midway Minute’s Kevin Kaduk on what it was like to watch the Cubs in person over the weekend.

■ As COVID-19 cases surge in Chicago and Cook County, two new mass-vax sites open today near Wrigley and at Chicago State.

■ The Atlantic: Vaccine “cheat days” are adding up—just when vigilance really matters.

■ The New York Times: “White Evangelicals’ Vaccine Refusal Could Prolong the Pandemic.”

■ Bloomberg: Next-gen vaccines—including some you can inhale instead of getting a shot—are in the pipeline.

‘What scares me.’ Tribune columnist Dahleen Glanton explains why, “four weeks since I received my second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine,” she’s rethinking plans to ride a bus again …
■  … even as the Sun-Times’ Laura Washington calls for people to “get on the L or a bus.”

■ The Daily Line: Even with a massive infusion of federal cash, “mass transit’s recovery from COVID-19 is likely to be a multi-year process.”

■ Clean-energy journalist David Roberts rounds up “the coolest parts of Biden’s expansive infrastructure plan.”

■ A Sun-Times editorial calls on Illinois to spend $89 million it got from a settlement with Volkswagen: “We can’t think of a better use … than to speed up the state’s conversion to electric vehicles.”

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Tribune tug-of-war. Big-bucks bidders have come up with a surprise offer to snatch the Chicago Tribune’s parent company* from the clutches of the “destroyer of newspapers,” Alden Global Capital.

■ Tribune Publishing, which rejected an earlier offer, acknowledges the new bid may be “superior” to Alden’s.

■ Coming to PBS—and the web—tonight: Ken Burns’ new documentary about Oak Park-born newspaper writer (etc.) Ernest Hemingway.

Companies behaving badly. A new report from Public Citizen concludes that, since 2015, corporations have shoveled $50 million to state lawmakers pushing voter suppression legislation.

■ Top of the list: AT&T.

■ Journalist Judd Legum offers an explanation for AT&T’s equivocal stance on voting rights: “Look who is in charge of @ATT’s ‘legislative strategy.’”

■ Legum’s Popular Information: “Facebook pledged to suspend political donations, then quietly funneled $50,000 to GOP group pushing voter suppression laws.”

‘Imagine being the one white man on Earth that Tucker Carlson won’t defend.’ Last Week Tonight host John Oliver on the sex-trafficking scandal enveloping Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz—and also tainting a Fox News host.

■ The Daily Beast’s Erin Ryan: “If you’re a member of Congress of either party who witnessed Matt Gaetz flashing nudes on the floor of the House, you’re involved.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)

■ The Onion: “Gaetz Claims Sex Trafficking Allegations Stem From Powerful Enemies In Ms. Bassman’s Geometry Class.”

‘I thought even … racists knew the I identify as _______ trope is hack, you … racist.’ Comedian Patton Oswalt is among those piling on ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee—father of ex-White House press secretary and Arkansas gubernatorial candidate Sarah Huckabee Sanders—for a hateful tweet.

■ Poynter’s senior media writer, Tom Jones: “What in the world was Mike Huckabee thinking?”

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* Former employer of your Square columnist (2009 link).