Chicago Public Square will take Friday off. Back Monday.*
‘I know this moment is disappointing.’ But Mayor Lightfoot tells Chicagoans “disheartened and angry” about the early release from prison of killer cop Jason Van Dyke that his conviction “led to historic reforms.”
■ Protesters were planning to demand Van Dyke’s retrial in federal court …
■ … and wondering why the feds never charged him.
■ A Sun-Times editorial: “Charging an individual a second time because the original sentence doesn’t feel sufficient … is an option that is ripe for abuse.”
‘Illinois has some extra cash … and Gov. J.B. Pritzker would like to share some of it with y’all even if it rubs Republicans the wrong way.’ Politico Illinois reviews yesterday’s budget address …
■ … which included a call to suspend the state’s 1% tax on groceries.
■ A Tribune editorial: “We don’t begrudge Pritzker his 2022 budget celebration,” but his plans fail to address “tough choices that ruffle the feathers of some Pritzker supporters.”
■ The Reader’s Ben Joravsky: Republican gubernatorial candidate and Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin “still hasn’t mentioned the T word. That’s T as in Trump.”
■ The Better Government Association sorts out the struggle to redraw Chicago’s political map—which one alderman says could boil down to a $40 million legal fight over the fate of just one seat.
■ A Chicago alderman’s been trashing the junk people have used to claim street parking dibs.
■ WTTW: There is no Winter Storm Landon.
Fest zest. Pandemic be damned, the City of Chicago’s giving a green light to an almost-full schedule of summer festivals—including Jazz Fest, Blues Fest, and the Air and Water Show …
■ … but Taste of Chicago will be … restrained.
■ Hammond’s pinning tourism hopes on a sequel to A Christmas Story.
‘We need to start overreacting.’ Tribune columnist Rex Huppke issues a call to action against the rise of hate …
■ … exemplified by a Nazi threat to bomb a historically black university in Florida …
‘I want to apologize.’ Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz says he regrets flying off the handle at reporters who asked questions about the team’s sexual assault scandal.
■ Columnist Phil Thompson: “The Chicago Blackhawks promised transparency and accountability. … Wirtz’s belligerent outburst … showed neither.”
■ An ex-manager of the Blackhawks’ “Ice Crew” is under pressure to quit the Oak Park Board of Health because she refuses to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and has opposed vaccinations and masks.
‘Chris Cuomo knifed Zucker.’ That’s Vanity Fair media writer Joe Pompeo’s take on the sudden downfall of CNN president Jeff Zucker.
■ CNN’s media watcher, Brian Stelter: “Is another shoe about to drop?”
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones: “There is something wrong with the boss of a company having a relationship with someone at the same company and not, officially, revealing that relationship.”
■ The Conversation: “Even consensual office romances can cause problems.”
Following the money. Reviewing reports filed for the Federal Election Commission’s first deadline of 2022, Popular Information finds that nearly every corporation that last year maintained its commitment to withhold funds from Republican election objectors kept doing so.
■ Two judges walked off The Masked Singer stage in protest when one contestant was revealed to be Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani …
■ … who’s being sued by one of the star witnesses in Trump’s first impeachment.
Beastly oversight. Yesterday’s Chicago Public Square overstated The Daily Beast’s role in reporting that Illinois Rep. Marie Newman, who’s under investigation for agreeing—and then reneging—on a deal to hire someone who said he wouldn’t run against her in exchange for a position on her staff … actually wound up hiring him for her campaign. Sun-Times D.C. bureau chief Lynn Sweet and Rich Miller at Capitol Fax reported the hiring and payments in December. Sweet updated the ethics investigation of Newman last month—reporting additional salary paid to the staffer—and, just this week, detailed that staffer’s fundraising for his own congressional campaign.
■ Yesterday’s edition also bore a bad link to one of the most popular items of the day—about outrage among Whoopi Goldberg’s cohosts at ABC’s decision to suspend her.■ Thanks to the readers who were first to report these problems. Your help’s always welcome here.
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* By which time your Square columnist hopes to be able to better discern pink from orange and green from blue when playing Snail’s Pace Race.