‘Welcome to the Middle Ages’ / Get vaxxed, get $100 / His ‘biggest mistake’

Chicago Public Square will take Monday off to mark Labor Day. Back Tuesday.

‘Welcome to the Middle Ages.’ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg on Texas’ effective ban on abortion: It’s “just religion doing what it does best.”

■ A Tribune editorial calls the law “lousy.”

■ The Atlantic’s David Frum: “Texas Republicans got what they wanted. They might regret it.”

■ Meanwhile, Illinois can expect company. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)

■ Protocol: The Texas law will challenge the tech industry—from, for instance, Facebook getting a subpoena targeting an abortion-rights group, to Google pressed for info on an advertiser helping Texas women get an abortion, to an Uber driver taking a woman to a clinic.

■ Trib columnist Rex Huppke says Texas lawmakers missed the nation’s greatest threat: “Witches who try to control other people’s bodies.”

■ The Onion: “New Texas Law Allows Private Citizens To Hold Pregnant Women Hostage Until Birth.”

Fatal weather. Dozens of people across five states are dead as a consequence of Hurricane Ida’s remnants—which, in the words of The Associated Press, overwhelmed “urban drainage systems never meant to handle so much rain in such a short time.”

■ The AP recounts the stories of the victims—and the survivors.

■ A Columbia University geophysicist says cities need to step up flood protection for subways. (Cartoon: A Keith J. Taylor double-header.)

■ A climatologist explains how Ida did so much damage long after its winds had subsided.

■ A drought across the American West is crippling food and water production and setting the stage for more wildfires.

■ The Conversation: Arctic warming can trigger North America cold waves.

‘So many communities that are heavily Black and African American find themselves in the way of some of the worst impacts.’ A new EPA report concludes climate change will disproportionately hurt U.S. racial minorities.

■ Mayor Lightfoot set a goal of replacing 650 toxic lead pipes across Chicago in 2021. The total so far, the Trib reports: Three.

Get vaxxed, get $100. Chicago’s offering gift cards to those who get COVID-19 vaccinations from the health department beginning tomorrow.

■ You’ll need proof of vaccination—or proof of a negative test—to get into Bulls and Blackhawks games.

■ Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week: Anyone taking horse dewormer.

■ Injustice Watch: “No one knows how many Chicago cops are vaccinated against COVID-19.”

■ McSweeney’s: “Oh My F**king God, Get the F**king Vaccine Already, You F**king F**ks.”

‘It’s not about COVID, or their children, or freedom.’ Political analyst Lauren Martinchek on right-wingers disrupting school board meetings across the country over mask rules: “Ultimately, taking over the school boards is the goal.”

■ Remember Chicago Public Schools’ pledge for large-scale, weekly COVID tests for students and staff? Not so fast.

■ The district is urging parents not to take kids out of Illinois for the Labor Day weekend—but it says kids who do skip the state should stay home for seven days.

His ‘biggest mistake.’ A suburban man who’s Illinois’ 14th person charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection says he “would not do it again if I could go back.”

■ Republican Rep. Liz Cheney—the former vice president’s daughter, on the outs with the Republican establishment over her insistence that Donald Trump was a loser—will be No. 2 on the Democrats’ committee investigating the events of that day.

Chicagoans (allegedly) behaving badly.

■ Chicago Ald. Scott Waguespack is demanding an apology from Ald. Jim Gardiner for using profane language to refer to Waguespack’s chief of staff and another alderman in texts to an aide.

■ A new CDC report ties a University of Chicago COVID outbreak to students on spring break—some of whom lied about their travels.

■ A Chicago police officer has been arrested, accused of shoving a flashlight between a teenage boy’s buttocks during a February arrest.

■ He’s the fourth city cop since August to appear in court on felony charges.

‘One of the worst movies of 2021.’ Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper would like to speak to the manager about Karen.

■ Correction: Yesterday’s Square got the date wrong for Michael Moore’s free online screening of Fahrenheit 9/11. It’s next Friday night.

End-of-issue advisory for people who skip top-of-issue advisories. Chicago Public Square will take Monday off. Back Tuesday.

■ What keeps Square coming back after vacations? Your support.

■ Thanks to Sue Stevens and Ron Schwartz for making this edition better.