Maskback. Illinois’ pandemic requirement for face coverings indoors is back statewide today.
■ As Chicago’s new school year returns students to fully functional classrooms for the first time in 500+ days, Chalkbeat runs down what parents need to know.
■ Divorce lawyers expect a flood of fights over whether children in custody disputes should or shouldn’t get the shot. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ China’s limiting kids’ video game time to three hours a week: An hour on Fridays and weekends—and Monday through Thursday, squat.
Three’s a trend. A third conservative radio host—a guy who billed himself as “Mr. Anti-Vax”—is dead of COVID-19.
■ The National Religious Broadcasters association of Bible-thumpers has fired its chief spokesperson after he endorsed vaccination.
■ A couple of law professors explore the unsettled law around vaccine card forgery.
■ A biotech professor: Vaccines could shape the coronavirus’ evolution, but that’s no reason not to get the shot.
■ The European Union was poised to restore limits on U.S. tourism because we can’t have nice things.
Off the grid. All of New Orleans and much of Louisiana—more than a million customers—were without electricity in the wake of Hurricane Ida …
■ … which also crippled 911 systems.
■ The AP documents the plight of the poor as the storm struck: “Our bank account is empty. We can’t afford to leave.”
■ CNN’s Brian Stelter on security and doorbell cameras as sources of Ida coverage: “We are getting close-up views of extreme weather in ways that were hard to imagine a generation ago.”
■ The Conversation details climate change’s role in New Orleans’ hurricane risk.
‘An obvious case of racial profiling.’ An attorney for a Black woman seemingly assaulted by a white Chicago cop early Saturday as she walked her dog along North Avenue Beach—seen in video that went viral—is demanding a full investigation.
■ The Sun-Times: “It’s been a month since Alexis Wilson was killed by Dolton Police, and major questions remain about the chaotic final moments.”
■ Chicago’s weekend: At least 48 shot, five fatally.
‘We would be deeply saddened …’ Updating coverage: A spokesman for the American military’s Central Command did not refute a Taliban report that a U.S. drone strike targeting suicide bombers in Afghanistan also killed at least three children.
■ A Penn State law prof warns: “The Taliban reportedly have control of U.S. biometric devices—a lesson in life-and-death consequences of data privacy.”
■ The Intercept: “For two decades, Americans have told each other one lie after another about the war in Afghanistan.”
■ A Sun-Times editorial: “Refugees from Afghanistan are expected to be resettled in Chicago, and … they will only make our city stronger.”
‘He studied journalism at the University of Chicago until a professor told him there was little money to be made in the profession.’ The AP reports that Ed Asner, maybe most famous for his role as newsman Lou Grant in two TV series, is dead at 91.
■ After his U. of C. days and a stint in the Army, performing for troops in Europe, he joined a predecessor of Chicago’s Second City.
■ Filmmaker and columnist Michael Moore remembers Asner: “He once told me, ‘Look, it’s never been easy in this country to speak out against the status quo. I’m not going to stop now.’ He never did and I loved him for it.”
■ Asner was also a comic book fan—and a member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
‘How could we forget?’ Bemoaning Chicago’s fresh embrace of Kanye West “in all his self-obsessed, manically maniacal glory,” Sun-Times columnist Laura Washington recalls his “starring role in Trump World.”
■ Entertainment Weekly concludes his new album is largely about Kim Kardashian.
■ Tomorrow night in Joliet: The Illinois Rock & Roll Museum Hall of Fame holds its first induction ceremony …
■ … honoring, among others, the late “Superjock” Larry Lujack, who in a 1994 interview declared, “There isn’t anything … I miss” about being on the radio.
Challenge accepted. In Friday’s edition of their podcast, Reader columnist Ben Joravsky and producer Dennis Schetter asked—no, begged—Chicago Public Square to find out what happened last week to their favorite state climatologist, Illinois’ Trent Ford. Here, straight from the climatologist’s mouth—well, his keyboard, anyway—is the tale: “I just took a long weekend vacation and Todd Gleason filled in for me. I’ll be back this week. … Good to hear my two or three fans are so passionate.”
■ Climate reporter Emily Atkin: “The New York Times made history by becoming one of the first major newspapers to ban cigarette advertising. … So what’s standing in the way of the Times applying the same logic for fossil fuel ads?”
■ Better weather’s ahead for Chicago this week.
Behold the Chicago Public Square tip jar. Not everyone can make an ongoing commitment to help keep this service coming. So this joint is always open. Thanks for reading.
■ And thanks to reader Deborah J. Wess for making this edition better.