Six prongs. The AP counts that many in President Biden’s address on the pandemic this afternoon—including a requirement that employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government get the shot.
■ CNN producer Ben Tinker suggests questions he’d like the president to take after that speech.
■ Illinois coronavirus deaths reported Wednesday passed a mark not seen since Feb. 19.
■ The Chicago Teachers Union says the school system’s COVID-19 tracker “is not accurate.”
■ All the (other) states are now on Chicago’s pandemic travel advisory.
■ The Conversation: The emergence of new, more contagious variants isn’t driven by vaccines.
Under the microscope. The Illinois attorney general’s office is investigating Joliet’s police department for a pattern of civil rights abuses …
■ … including traffic and pedestrian stops.
■ Streetsblog Chicago: Chicago motorist stops have spiked, with far more Black drivers detained.
■ The Chicago Police Department admits it’s failed to meet court deadlines for reforms but says it’s “doubling down” on those efforts.
■ A Brennan Center for Justice inquiry finds Los Angeles cops have been told to collect social media and email IDs from every civilian they stop.
Shot down. Reservations among a few Senate Democrats—and all the Republicans—have prompted the Biden administration to scrap its nomination of David Chipman to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
■ Politico: Republicans were up in arms over a Chipman interview “in which he said new gun owners who have no training should only bring their guns out ‘if the zombies start to appear.’”
■ The Biden administration has purged U.S. military academy boards of 18 appointees named by Donald Trump on his way out …
■ … including Dancing with the Stars alumnus Sean Spicer, who’s not taking the news well.
‘It was a mistake.’ A relative says a Lincoln Park woman filed a bogus bomb threat at a Florida airport because she didn’t want her son to miss school after her family missed the flight.
■ A monarch butterfly raised by an Orland Park woman made it to central Mexico.
‘The South did rise again … and then was immediately lowered into the parking lot.’ Stephen Colbert on the removal of a Virginia statue honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee: “Why do they have to take down his horse, Traveller? The horse didn’t do anything!”
■ A new time capsule will replace the 133-year-old one at the statue’s base.
‘TikTok can learn your most hidden interests.’ A Wall Street Journal investigation—creating accounts for fake users aged 13 to 15—explains how the service sucks kids and others into watching sex and drug videos.
■ ProPublica’s retired president, Richard Tofel, reflects on the decline of “youth media brand” Vice.
‘I have two goals.’ Columnist Eric Zorn, who quit the Tribune in June, is back with a free email newsletter.
■ Media newsletter author Simon Owens: “The market for daily news digests is getting saturated.”
Thanks to readers Aaron Barnhart and Chris Koenig for making this edition better.