‘The guy really needs … psychotherapy.’ Mayor Lightfoot laid into Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara for his comparison of her vaccine mandate with the Holocaust …
■ … but a Sun-Times editorial concludes Lightfoot’s mandate is “ringing the dinner bell before the menu has been decided.”
‘We are running out of time.’ Sounding an alarm about dwindling hospital capacity with COVID-19 ascendant, Gov. Pritzker’s imposing an indoor mask mandate for all Illinois residents and a vaccine requirement for educational staff and students and most health care workers.
■ Reporter Lisa Schencker explains how they’ll work.
■ As Chicago students return to school Monday—some for the first time in 17 months—reporter Tracy Swartz tackles frequently asked questions.
■ Scarred by its COVID-19 vaccine distribution scandal, Loretto Hospital is under investigation by the Illinois attorney general’s office.
Biden’s ‘darkest day.’ Politico recaps “devastating” moments in the West Wing as details emerged from the deadliest U.S. casualty event in Afghanistan in a decade.
■ Biden’s oath to those responsible: “We will hunt you down and make you pay.”
■ The AP reports the attacks have given new urgency to U.S. evacuation flights out of Afghanistan.
Special K. Terrorism experts from West Point and George Washington University brief you on ISIS-K, the group claiming responsibility for the attack.
■ The UN says K was behind more than 77 attacks this year alone—including a car bomb that killed at least 85 people at a girls’ high school.
■ Men Yell at Me columnist Lyz Lenz’s Dinguses of the Week: Warmongering journalists.
‘A concerted effort … to cover up or minimize the hostile workplace culture.’ A Chicago Park District watchdog says he was fired without warning to block an investigation into sexual assault, harassment and abuse among lifeguards.
■ Four Chicago cops face dismissal over one officer’s choking of a suspect in a squad car.
■ Chicago Reader columnist Ben Joravsky says ex-Mayor Rahm Emanuel is undeserving of that ambassadorship to Japan, but the nomination at least gives the Senate a chance to “get him under oath and ask him what he knew and when he knew it about the shooting of Laquan McDonald.”
Finally, A Candidate For Voters Who Think More Words Should Be Capitalized. Republican Mark Curran, who lost to Sen. Dick Durbin in 2020, wants a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court—telling supporters in an email obtained by Politico that God wants him to take on “the Establishment, the Party Hacks, the Freemasons and those that could care less that Individual Liberty and Conscience Protection are no longer cherished.”
■ Also hunting a judiciary job: A Chicago alderman who used to be a cop.
Earth in anguish. A new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concludes that many gauges of the planet’s health are at their worst levels on record …
■ … and that the global slowdown driven by the pandemic brought little lasting relief from the climate crisis.
Fowl play. Consumer Reports investigative reporter Rachel Rabkin Peachman carves into the downsides of Costco’s beloved rotisserie chicken.
■ Beware Fratelli Beretta-brand prepackaged uncured antipasto trays.
■ Know who thinks the Chicago Park District’s placement of Amazon pickup lockers on public property is a great thing? An indicted Chicago alderman.
Chicago’s problem now. A former executive producer of ABC’s Good Morning America—a guy who now is the president of news at Chicago-based NewsNation (the former WGN America)—faces a lawsuit accusing him of sexually assaulting a colleague six years ago.
■ Inside ABC News, CNN reports, “staffers are angry, confused, and demanding answers.”
■ From NewsNation parent Nexstar: Crickets.
■ It’s farewell after 33 years for NBC 5 meteorologist Andy Avalos.
■ Of course, episodes are also still to be heard in any podcast player, via Spotify and Pandora, and on Apple Podcasts.
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■ End pledge tyranny. You can back Square—recurringly or with a one-time tip—in any dollar amount you choose. Check it out.