An ‘unsafe and truly pathetic act’ / Supreme opportunity / Out of Jeopardy!

An ‘unsafe and truly pathetic act.’ Tribune columnist Rex Huppke addresses anti-mask suburbanites “who have decided librarian-menacing is a good behavior to model.”

The St. Charles Public Library remained closed to in-person visits because of a “heightened threat to health and safety.”
Forget “the wall”: Time says “the anti-vax movement is taking over the right.”

Shady COVID business. Two more Chicago-based testing companies are under investigation by the state …
 … one of which has gotten more than $186 million from the feds.
So Chicago’s health department is opening more official government testing sites for those now struggling to find places to get checked.
The Better Government Association reports that COVID-19 is sweeping through Illinois’ prisons—again.

Supreme opportunity. Now that aging and liberal Justice Stephen Breyer has agreed to retire, acceding to what Fox News portrays as relentless bullying by the left, President Biden will get his first chance to fill an opening on the court.
Given his pledge to appoint a black woman, here’s someone a lot of people are giving the inside track.
 … partly because, as BuzzFeed News notes, Democrats have “shown they can rally behind Biden’s judicial nominees time and time again” …
 … but Esquire’s Charlie Pierce foresees “a ferocious partisan affair.”
Poynter’s Tom Jones: “Breyer’s retirement won’t shift the balance of the Supreme Court. … Conservatives will still hold a 6-3 advantage.”
A Northern Illinois University political science professor raises the prospect of term limits for Breyer’s successors.
The Onion jokes: “Feckless Coward Refuses To Die In Office.”

If you’re keeping score … BuzzFeed News is tracking all the people who’ve pleaded guilty in last year’s Jan. 6 insurrection …
 … a database soon to include a guy who wore a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt to the festivities.
The Conversation: “Behind the 11 Oath Keepers charged with sedition are many more … trained by the U.S. military.”

‘You were a victim too.’ The mother of an 8-year-old girl shot and killed in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood says she recognizes that the teenager charged in the murder was also failed by the community.
The City Council’s approved the iconic Little Village arch over 26th Street as an official city landmark.

‘The head of a major city agency owes it to … taxpayers … to be in the room when $26 million is at stake.’ A Sun-Times editorial slams the CTA’s president for failing to show up.
Reporter Fran Spielman: “Things got hairy” at yesterday’s City Council meeting …

‘Letting Neil Young go is a no-brainer. But long term?’ Music industry analyst Bob Lefsetz says Spotify’s decision to cut Neil Young’s music—as he demanded if the company didn’t dump anti-vax misinformer Joe Rogan’s podcast—puts founder Daniel Ek “at the bleeding edge of the civil war.”
Pandora’s capitalizing.
It’s not Young’s first middle finger to corporate culture …
 … but, The Daily Beast recalls, he has his own history of spreading scientific misinformation.
Eric Zorn reviews “The week in ‘stupid.’” (Link corrected.)

Out of Jeopardy! Amy Schneider’s astonishing run as reigning champ is over …
 … ended by—to bring this edition of Chicago Public Square full circle—a Chicago librarian.

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