Musical chairs. The likely new Illinois congressional map has triggered a dominoes-like chain of political shifts and speculation:
■ The Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet says squeezed-out anti-Trump Rep. Adam Kinzinger doesn’t seem inclined to run for governor or senator.
■ Politico: Democratic Rep. Marie Newman says she’ll run against fellow Dem Sean Casten—even though she doesn’t live in the same newly drawn district.
COVID at the White House. President Biden’s press secretary has it.
■ The reported global death toll has topped 5 million—and the U.S. has lost more than any other nation.
■ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg: The pandemic makes today’s Day of the Dead observance “a bigger deal.”
‘If you put a gun to my head, I couldn’t get you a Nike shirt.’ Global constipation of the supply chain is causing grief for Chicago-area business owners.
■ A new offer to striking Deere & Co. workers would bring them raises of 10% the first year—with more to come after that. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
Abortion showdown. Updating coverage: The U.S. Supreme Court has been considering arguments on the law that has forbidden almost all abortions in Texas.
■ At the heart of the case: Whether Texas can empower private citizens to enforce the ban.
■ Hear the proceedings live or afterward here.
Let’s go, Southwest. Southwest Airlines is investigating a pilot who broadcast a Joe Biden insult to his passengers …
■ … a flight on which an Associated Press reporter who’d filed a story about that phrase—“Let’s go, Brandon!”—happened to be a passenger.
■ A special report from The Washington Post documents how Donald Trump watched his supporters attack the U.S. Capitol for 187 minutes on Jan. 6 without lifting a finger to stop them.
Stage left. A Chicago Public Schools theater teacher has been suspended and a play canceled after students complained of the play’s offensive scenes and the teacher’s odious behavior.
■ A suburban high school is presenting its plays in separate English and Spanish performances.
■ Prisoners at an Illinois correctional center for women are sharing performances exploring domestic violence …
■ … and you can see them on the web.
‘Stop being dicks.’ John Oliver calls on America to overhaul its perspective on homelessness …
■ … and that is, in the words of AV Club’s Dennis Perkins, “punishing those most in need of … a safe place to take a shit.”
■ See the whole segment here.
■ And don’t forget that Chicagoans who need a place to dump don’t have a lot of options.
‘A huge, huge, huge, huge, huge, huge, huge problem.’ BuzzFeed News explains that the world is on track to blow past a collective limit on global warming …
■ Britain’s prime minister opened the UN climate summit today with a James Bond reference.
Chicago Public Square mailbag. Reader and author Stephan Benzkofer writes about a Sun-Times story about downtown shootings linked from Friday’s edition: “A 200% increase from a low number is still a low number. It shows change but it doesn’t reflect any nuance; worse, it obliterates it. The downtown area is still the fourth or fifth safest area by wide margins. (And they’re also total numbers, not per capita or by area.) I’m not saying the rising crime isn’t an issue the city should be addressing, and I understand why residents are concerned, but the 200% stat is bullshit.”
■ CWBChicago: A Bucktown dad was carjacked at gunpoint while loading a child into the family car—and it was caught on video.
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