Obama’s big win. A federal judge has refused to block construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park, setting the stage for construction to begin mid-month …
■ … unless opponents, who contend reviews of the center’s impact on the environment were faulty, appeal.
■ National Review: “Few symbols are more emblematic of … ‘late republic nonsense’ than the Obama Presidential Center, which … would actually be about ten stories taller than Napoleon’s Paris monument.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ Speaking of presidents: PolitiFact calls lulkoek on a pro-capitalist quote misattributed—by, among others, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush—to Abe Lincoln.
Whoops. A Republican candidate for Illinois governor attacked Gov. Pritzker’s schools mask mandate—but got the facts wrong on a study that he said deprecated masks’ value.
■ Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is requiring his employees to get vaxxed or undergo biweekly testing for COVID-19.
■ Illinois’ daily caseload has hit its highest level since May 7.
■ President Biden’s reportedly considering cutting off federal funding to institutions that don’t require vaccinations for employees.
■ United Airlines is on board.
■ In one of the first such actions by a major U.S. company, CNN has fired three employees who entered an office without having been vaccinated.
Awkward. A South Carolina Republican congressman suing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over fines for not wearing masks on the House floor has contracted COVID-19.
■ A Texas Republican leader who contracted the coronavirus is dead just days after mocking the vaccine on Facebook.
■ USA Today: The pandemic’s fourth wave “is threatening to overwhelm” regions with large swaths of the unvaccinated—especially Texas and Florida.
■ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg on why mask resistance is such a big deal in the old Confederacy: “These are the same people who felt the need to break away from the United States if staying meant they couldn’t keep slaves.”
Hey, kids! Vaccines! But until then: Masks! A Mayo Clinic infectious disease specialist sees COVID-19 vaccines for young children “around the corner.”
■ The Conversation: How parents can address kids’ back-to-school anxiety.
Cop charged. A police officer who shot an unarmed man in the back at a downtown CTA station is the first Chicago cop in about five years to face criminal charges stemming from using a weapon on duty.
■ The victim’s lawyer calls the charges “the first step in ensuring … justice.”
■ The incident was caught in video recorded by a man who said he felt “a responsibility … to at least bear witness” (March 2020 link).
■ Mayor Lightfoot says she wants to apply the “whole of government” methodology used against COVID-19 to address what she calls Chicago’s “pandemic of violence.”
Freeze warning. A new study warns that global warming threatens the collapse of ocean currents in the Atlantic—which could trigger the onset of rapid and irreversible extreme cold across North America.
■ If that reminds you of the 2004 eco-disaster film The Day After Tomorrow—well, yeah (2019 link).
■ Safety advocates want more rescue flotation devices and expanded lifeguard hours along Chicago’s lakefront.
■ Those are just some of the readers who’ve most recently kicked in (sometimes more than) a few nickels and dimes to help keep Chicago Public Square coming and growing. You can find the full list of Square supporters* here.
■ If your name’s not there but should be, drop us a line.
■ Thanks to Eric Zorn for making this edition better.
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* At least, of contributors who’ve asked that their names be published.
* At least, of contributors who’ve asked that their names be published.