Biden’s Obama headache. The Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet says plans for hundreds of people to gather at ex-President Obama’s 60th birthday party Saturday on Martha’s Vineyard have put the Biden administration on the defensive in the pandemic.
■ The Week correspondent Samuel Goldman: “You’re paying Obama to party like a rockstar.”
■ Critic Richard Roeper calls HBO’s new three-part Obama documentary “compelling and fascinating.”
■ An organizer against plans to put the Obama Presidential Library in Jackson Park tells Politico, “The Obama bubble inhibits people from speaking out.”
‘Wouldn’t it make sense for the mayor of Chicago to know the origin of the number before she held it up as impressive?’ Columnist Rex Huppke isn’t buying assertions that 90% of those who attended Lollapalooza were vaccinated against COVID-19.
Hungry? Get vaxxed. A growing number of Chicago restaurants are requiring proof of vaccination.
■ New York is the first big city requiring vaccination to enter indoor restaurants, gyms and performances.
■ Need a ride to get jabbed? Cook County’s offering ’em free.
■ The nation’s belatedly reached the White House goal of vaccinating 70% of American adults.
■ But Florida is a sh__show.
■ A Naples doc: “It’s the worst it’s ever been.”
CTA ‘stabbing epidemic.’ Streetsblog Chicago’s John Greenfield spotlights a disturbing trend.
■ Also in Streetsblog: A Chicago cop who reportedly ran a stop sign in his pickup truck, striking and killing a 9-year-old on a bike, had previously been suspended for getting drunk, threatening to kill himself and firing his gun—and went on to be one of the force’s highest overtime earners.
■ Loud cars and motorcycle caravans bugging you? You’re not alone.
Gun law reforms. Gov. Pritzker’s signed a bill designed to plug big holes in Illinois’ 50-year-old Firearm Owners Identification card system …
■ … expanding background checks on gun buyers …
■ … and giving state police more resources to take guns from those whose ownership licenses have been revoked.
A ‘tsunami of evictions.’ With the expiration of pandemic-spurred government moratoriums, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is encouraging tenants and landlords to seek help.
■ Across the country, the AP reports, eviction cases are jamming the courts.
■ Eviction Help Illinois offers free legal assistance to renters … and to landlords not represented by a lawyer.
■ Popular Information: “What is the federal government doing to prevent this humanitarian catastrophe? So far … a lot of finger-pointing.”
‘It’s one of the most stressful jobs.’ The Guardian spotlights poor working conditions for Cigna health insurance call center workers, who’ve grappled with pressure-cooker conditions through the pandemic.
■ The deadline’s Aug. 15 for free or reduced-price health insurance through the federal marketplace.
‘It’s unreal.’ The mother of an aspiring college student who’s been working the summer at a suburban country club is flabbergasted a firm running the place got a pandemic payroll loan and then bounced employees’ checks.
■ 20 million Americans could lose unemployment benefits next month.
9 things. The Better Government Association and the Tribune list concrete steps Chicago could take to keep people safe from firetrap buildings …
■ … a problem an April investigation pegged to at least 61 deaths since 2014 in buildings where city officials knew of fire safety problems—sometimes for years.
■ The Conversation: A century of preventing forest fires has primed forests for the Western megafires of today.
■ New research confirms climate change is disrupting U.S. forests and coasts.
Chicago Public Square loses a reader. Someone who signed up in June has unsubscribed: “I was hoping it would be an alternative to the mainstream news but … I found it just more of the same propaganda.”
■ So that’s one guy who doesn’t consider Square worth even 15¢ an issue ($3 a month). How about you?
■ Thanks to reader Mike Braden for making this edition better.