How it started? A U.S. intelligence report lends credence to speculation the COVID-19 virus originated at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology.
■ The Wall Street Journal broke the story of three Wuhan researchers sick enough to seek hospital care in November 2019.
■ The Conversation: 578,555 people have died from COVID-19 in the U.S.—or maybe it’s 912,345.
■ Half of Chicago’s population and 64 percent of Illinois’ adults have gotten at least one vaccination against the coronavirus.
■ The latest CDC guidance says fully vaccinated people can mostly skip COVID-19 tests.
■ Saturday Night Live signed off from a season of living dangerously through the pandemic: “We’re more than just a cast—we’re a family. And, like a true family, we’re kind of sick of each other.”
Chicago’s weekend. At least 48 people were shot—10 killed—across the city.
■ Columnist Dahleen Glanton: “Those who engage in gang activity should have to … give up gang life or forfeit the ability to be a good dad.”
■ A Northwestern University researcher calls on Chicago police to abolish ShotSpotter technology, surveillance software that dispatches cops based on sound signals.
A Republican ‘bloodbath.’ Politico Illinois Playbook’s Shia Kapos says Illinois Democrats’ proposed General Assembly remaps under the new census would pit four sitting Republican state reps against one another.
■ Care to comment on the maps? Act quick— four hearings will be jammed into tomorrow and Wednesday.
A ‘predominantly white institution.’ The Tribune shines a light on racist Northwestern University policies evidently ignored by the man who this month quit after less than two weeks as NU’s athletic director.
■ Comedian and media magnate Byron Allen is suing McDonald’s for $10 billion over its “separate ‘African American’ tier” for ad spending.
■ See Allen’s full-page letter to McDonald’s in newspapers today.
■ The Sun-Times’ Laura Washington says Mayor Lightfoot’s disinvitation to white reporters “got our long-overdue attention.”
‘We strongly disapprove.’ More than 100 Associated Press journalists have signed a letter condemning and demanding clarity on the AP’s dismissal of a reporter under its social media policy.
■ The reporter tweeted her response over the weekend: “It’s enraging as a Jewish person … that I could be defamed as antisemitic and thrown under the bus.”
■ Poynter media writer Tom Jones: “Are journalists … expected to erase who they are for the sake of ‘appearing’ to be objective?”
■ The Onion: “AP Fires Journalist At Palestinian Civilians.”
■ Columnist Heidi Stevens on a CNN host’s ethical transgression: “Thanks for nothing, Chris Cuomo.”
■ HBO’s John Oliver tricked (by paying!) three local ABC-TV stations—in Texas, Colorado and Utah—into promoting a fake “sexual wellness blanket.”
■ He even set up a bogus website for the thing.
Reader Mike Braden made this edition better.