‘I’m wearing a mask again.’ The Atlantic’s fully vaccinated science writer Katherine J. Wu details four reasons to get back into the habit—because “our vaccines … need all the help they can get.”
■ Chicago Public Schools will require everyone to wear masks inside schools.
Scabby’s salvation. The National Labor Relations Board says the Chicago-spawned giant inflatable rat that labor activists have deployed to protest non-union businesses is protected speech.
■ With Illinois’ new COVID-19 cases doubling over nine days, Gov. Pritzker isn’t ruling out the prospect the state may resurrect a mask mandate …
■ … but he says, despite the surge, he plans to attend Lollapalooza.
Birth control, easier. Pritzker has signed a law clearing Illinoisans to buy contraceptives over the counter …
■ … but Illinois isn’t the first Midwest state to do so.
‘Fix Daley’s blunder.’ A Sun-Times editorial celebrates City Council approval of a mega-development in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood—a site “wrecked under Mayor Richard M. Daley, who gambled millions and lost in hopes the cleared land could help the city snag the 2016 Summer Olympics.”
■ Daley’s nephew, Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson, faces an October trial—accused of filing false tax returns and lying to federal officials about cash he got from a since-failed bank.
Indians ➔ Guardians. The Cleveland Indians are changing their name to the Cleveland Guardians.
■ Salon on “America’s history wars”: Texas Republicans are pushing to scrub Martin Luther King Jr. and “whitewash” the Ku Klux Klan from the state’s school curriculum requirements. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
‘The most consequential murder in Chicago’s history.’ A lawyer led fundraising for a grave marker to be dedicated Saturday, honoring the first victim of the city’s 1919 race riots.
■ Robert Loerzel’s 2019 Chicago magazine piece inspired the campaign.
■ The Tribune, also in 2019: “How a black teen’s drifting raft triggered a deadly week of riots.”
Excessive heat. The weather could feel like close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the Chicago area this weekend.
■ The Pacific Northwest’s record heatwave has, in The Guardian’s words, “put a torch to a comforting bromide that the region would be a mild, safe haven from the ravages of the climate crisis.”
■ CNN: Climate change is giving the U.S. infrastructure a beating.
■ A Colorado State University atmospheric science professor: “The more coal, oil and gas are burned … the more likely it will be for any given location to experience heat waves … far outside anything they’ve experienced.”
■ The Sun-Times’ winning headline: “Scabby the Rat survives labor board blowup.” (2013 photo: John W. Iwanski.)
‘Spreading death sprinkled with a dash of sexism, racism, and ableism.’ The Olympics is columnist Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week.
■ One in six of the U.S. athletes competing at the Olympics is unvaccinated against COVID-19.
■ … and: “Opening Ceremony Depicts Olympics’ Time-Honored Tradition Of Destroying Local Communities.”
■ But … but … surfing!
Car-wash counsel. Consumer Reports offers guidance on—and which extras to get—when your vehicle needs cleaning …
■ … or how to do it yourself.
■ GM is recalling Chevy Bolts—for the second time in a year—because they can catch fire.
Thanks.
Chicago Public Square comes to you courtesy of support from readers including Jim Kelly, Clif Wilson, Barbara Heskett, Jeryl T. Smith, Joel Hood & Sherry Skalko, JoBeth Halpin, Jane Hirt, Mary Beth Nevulis, Doug Freedman, Donna Renneke, David Mendell, Susan Beach, Judy Hoffman, Stephanie Kiesling, William Wheelhouse, Susy Schultz, Beth Kujawski, Elizabeth Meisterling, Ralph Sherman, Mark Thurow, Sandy Ridolfi, Ellen Cutter, Jennifer Packheiser, Edward White, Ken Trainor, Jude Feld, Barbara Miller, Elizabeth Denius, Lora Engdahl and Neil Parker. Kick in a buck or two to join them, won’t you?