‘The war has changed.’ An internal CDC presentation escalates concern about the coronavirus delta variant, warning that it’s potentially as contagious as chickenpox and spreads more easily than smallpox, the common cold and the 1918 flu.
■ A July 4 outbreak on Cape Cod—wherein test samples from vaccinated and unvaccinated people showed nearly the same amount of virus—has added to the government’s concern.
■ See the CDC document here.
■ See the CDC document here.
■ The AP: President Biden’s vaccination requirement for federal workers has triggered uncomfortable discussions across government agencies and in the private sector.
■ Mayor Lightfoot was on the fence over whether to require vaccinations for city workers.
Yeah, but watch out for that other 10%. Lollapalooza organizers say 90% of Thursday’s attendees showed proof of vaccination.
■ Cook County was poised to join the list of those requiring masks indoors. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
‘Pussies.’ That’s the word that sources tell The Daily Beast President Trump has used to describe some of the police officers who defended the Capitol Jan. 6.
■ Haven’t watched officers’ testimony to Congress earlier this week? You should.
■ Mic: Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a member of the House select committee, “outed his fellow Republicans as a bunch of cowardly phonies.”
■ Kinzinger’s fellow Illinois Rep. Mary Miller appeared with Republicans calling for kicking Kinzinger out of the party.
■ PolitiFact: Defendants jailed in the Jan. 6 attack aren’t “political prisoners.”
■ Google has partly cut off ad revenue to a lie-strewn website that directed readers to travel to Washington that day.
Republicans vs. abortion rights. The vast majority of Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate are calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the historic Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
■ They include all five Illinois congressional Republicans.
Your schools, your vote. Gov. Pritzker’s signed a law giving Chicagoans a right most Illinois communities take for granted: The power to pick their school board members …
■ … but it leaves several issues—including regulation of campaign donations—unresolved.
Burger burn. The Burger King franchisee at the heart of a City Council scandal (2019 link) is on the hook for close to half a million dollars for paid sick leave it refused almost 2,500 workers.
■ The Illinois attorney general’s office says it didn’t pay ransom for a hacker attack, but it spent $2.5 million to address the crisis.
Plastics! Crain’s explores (paywall-free, for a change) microplastics pollution threatening the Great Lakes …
■ … explains that “You’re eating plastic. No, really” …
■ … and gives the Shedd Aquarium’s senior policy director a forum for calling on Chicago and Illinois to adopt “smart plastic prevention policies.”
■ The Conversation: Environmental toxins could explain a drop in male fertility.
A less-local Tribune.* Media watchdog Robert Feder notes the Trib’s shrinkage under orders from new owner Alden Global Capital to cut local and feature pages by 20%.
■ Alden’s shut one of its newly acquired weekly papers.
■ In an essay for Time that begins “I sat 10 feet behind the man who plotted to murder me,” the former editor of the Capital Gazette newspaper fears for its survival under Alden.
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* Where your Square columnist worked for 11 years (2009 link).