America ‘on fire’ / Blackhawks’ ‘institutional failure’ / War on grubs

America ‘on fire.’ The AP reports that an internal Facebook analysis last year concluded President Trump’s social media posts about looting in Minneapolis were “rapidly” followed by hateful and violent Facebook posts.
Ahead of next week’s trial for Illinois teenager Kyle Rittenhouse—accused of murder during the unrest that ensued in Kenosha—city residents worry that, whatever the outcome, “We’re going to have another riot.”
The judge in the case says lawyers can call the men Rittenhouse shot “rioters,” “looters” and “arsonists.”

‘I want you gone. Dead.’ That was one of the threatening messages Fox News host Neil Cavuto says he received when, after contracting COVID-19, he urged viewers to get vaccinated.

‘Cops can’t help you. Heads on spikes.’ That’s just one of a stream of death threats that election officials from across the country shared with the U.S. Senate.
A Tribune editorial concludes that Illinois’ legislative remapping process is empowering the powerful, not citizens.

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Blackhawks’ ‘institutional failure.’ Midway Minute’s Kevin Haduk on the team’s scandalous inaction after a player’s complaint of sexual assault by a coach in 2010: “It’s crushing to see decades of money and attention repaid with such a violation of our trust.”
Ex-Hawks coach Joel Quenneville’s job with the Florida Panthers is also now in shadow.
Read the full report here.

Surprise. The head of Chicago’s most prominent taxpayer watchdog group tells the Sun-Times the city should go all-out to keep the Bears from skipping town.
The City Council was set today to approve a budget with an automatic property tax hike that exceeds the Chicago area’s cost-of-living increase by about 55%.

War on grubs. The Chicago Park District is moving to wipe out a freak infestation of beetle grubs that turned a Lincoln Square park into a slimy, squishy mess …
 … and shut down youth sports there at least until next summer.
The Conversation: Climate change is muting fall colors.

Abortion ‘hand-wringing.’ After what Politico’s Shia Kapos calls lengthy and heated debate, the Illinois Senate has voted to repeal a law requiring girls to notify parents before getting an abortion—but it’s not a slam-dunk in the House.
The ACLU: “This has always been about deterring young people from access to abortion.”

You’ve got disruption. America Online founder Steve Case and Apple founder Steve Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, are teaming up on a plan to shatter broadband internet monopolies across the country.
Vox: President Biden’s plan to make internet service cheaper and better is a step closer to reality.
A U.S. Senate hearing yesterday put YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok execs on the hot seat over their impact on young children.

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