‘One of the most feared and powerful voices on the web.’ Meet a guy Los Angeles Magazine describes as “an openly gay Iranian American convert to Catholicism who … sends out an average of 60 tweets a day—a manic jumble of jokes, news bites, and gossipy commentary about politics, media, aviation safety, the royal family, Scientology, gay heartthrobs, wildlife preservation, and bath linens”—and who grew up in Oak Park.
■ Longtime Chicago broadcaster Roe Conn (WGN-AM, WLS-AM and -TV) is joining the Cook County sheriff’s office.
■ Stephen Colbert is joining the board of his alma mater, Chicago’s Second City.
‘This officer’s still out there.’ A Chicago alderman’s not satisfied with a five-day suspension for a Chicago cop linked to the far-right Proud Boys group.
■ Families of people killed by Chicago police say the department’s new limits on foot chases fall far short.
■ Someone scrawled the word “propaganda” across a billboard memorializing a Chicago cop killed on duty.
■ Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell finds little to applaud in a viral video of three women twerking atop a Chicago police SUV.
‘The beating heart of Chicago.’ Mayor Lightfoot hails plans for a redesign of the State and Lake CTA station.
■ See the extremely cool renderings here.
Is it safe? Consumer Reports offers guidance on when and where you can confidently vacation, dine out, and go without a mask.
■ Illinois’ COVID-19 positivity rate has hit a new record low …
■ … but beware a highly contagious variant now detected in Illinois.
■ Bloomberg: “Not a single study has shown that the clear plastic barriers actually control the virus.”
Night at the museums. To mark Illinois’ official post-pandemic reopening, five major Chicago tourist attractions will stay open late tomorrow night.
■ The Tribune and The Daily Herald survey Chicago-area residents about what they’re most looking forward to as Illinois gets back to (a new) normal.
■ “Now that the Plague has dialed back,” columnist Neil Steinberg is exploring parts of Chicago he doesn’t know well—including a landmark officially designated “the best- surviving example in Chicago of the buildings built by the White Castle System of Eating Houses.”
■ Live entertainment returning to the Chicago Theatre includes comedians Patton Oswalt, Hasan Minhaj and Randy Rainbow.
‘Due to government handouts, no one wants to work anymore.’ The owner of the Aurelio’s Pizza chain has ordered that sign removed from one of its locations.
■ Axios: Half of the pandemic’s unemployment money may have been stolen. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ The Daily Beast’s Erin Ryan: “The Mega Rich Are Laughing at Us From Their Escape Pods.”
■ From the Square mailbag. In an email note cross-posted to LinkedIn, Charlie Pajor responds to yesterday’s roundup of ProPublica’s reporting on the income taxes of the rich and famous: “The underlying premise and comparison of percent tax rate paid is a logical fallacy. … The rich should pay a lot in taxes but on what they have earned, not the potential value of an investment.”
‘Crybabies.’ Reader columnist Ben Joravsky has little sympathy for Illinois Republicans’ complaints about new legislative maps signed into law by Gov. Pritzker: “They’re shedding tears of the crocodile persuasion.”
■ Republicans are suing, complaining citizens were “robbed” of a chance for a transparent mapmaking process.
‘The narrative we thought we knew was not the reality.’ NBC News reporter Ken Dilanian reacts to a government watchdog report that concludes U.S. Park Police didn’t clear protests from Washington’s Lafayette Park to let Donald Trump walk to a Bible-wielding photo opportunity …
■ … at which, no, Trump didn’t hold the Bible upside-down (September link).
■ The June 6, 2020, edition of Chicago Public Square has been updated.
■ A guy who took a sawed-off shotgun to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol admits he plotted to bomb Amazon data centers in a scheme to kill the internet.
… and that includes Chicago Public Square!