‘A defeat for the ages.’ That’s how The Associated Press sees Russia’s failure to take down Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv.
■ Columnist Mary Schmich: “Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a hero.”
■ The New York Times gathers firsthand accounts of people who were trapped in the Russian siege of Mariupol: “I am on my knees in front of my terrified kids, who are crying and saying that they are afraid to die.”
■ The pope has condemned Russia’s assault on the Kyiv suburb of Bucha as a “massacre.”
■ Media writer Tom Jones recaps NBC News correspondent Richard Engel’s “absolutely chilling account” from Bucha.
■ Russian media are falsely claiming that the deaths in Bucha were faked.
■ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg: “Russian rhetoric … echoes Alex Jones, the toxic radio host.”
■ Popular Information: A nonprofit group run by right-wing billionaire Charles Koch—whose companies are among the U.S. concerns still operating in Russia—says the United States should hand Russia a partial “victory” in Ukraine.
■ Actor Sean Penn pulled off a rare media double-play last night—over two hours, appearing on politically disparate Fox News and MSNBC to call for support of Ukraine.
■ Updating coverage: NATO, Group of Seven and European Union diplomats were all poised to tighten the economic screws on Russia.
‘We are being governed by a bunch of children.’ In a searing two-minute video posted to Twitter, departing Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger blasts his Republican colleagues for criticizing Disney but having “shown Putin sympathy.”
■ A George Washington University professor of international affairs says the war in Ukraine is testing religious conservatives’ support for Putin.
Can you be over-boosted against COVID-19? Your Local Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina dives into the question of whether, as a Washington Post piece put it last fall, “repeatedly ‘training’ the immune system to fight the original virus could reduce the effectiveness of a variant-specific booster”—and she emerges with this conclusion: “If you’re eligible, go get your booster.”
■ COVID numbers are rising across Chicago’s general population and in the schools, but the city’s top doc sees “nothing alarming at this point.”
‘Our safety is neglected by the CTA.’ Citing the case of an operator pushed onto the Red Line tracks Monday night, a coalition of transit workers is demanding more protection on the job.
■ CWBChicago: Neiman-Marcus has deployed gun-sniffing dogs to patrol its Michigan Avenue store—and they apparently are doing the job.
■ The owner of the crime- and pandemic-hollowed Water Tower Place is giving up—turning the property over to its lender.
Hey, kids—and people who used to be kids but still have student loan debt long after growing up! President Biden is extending the pause on repayment of federal student loans through Aug. 31.
■ That’s not as long as some Democrats had hoped.
■ The National Consumer Law Center: The pause should last until the whole system’s been fixed.
Game on. Chicago has at least one candidate for mayor next year: Two-term Ald. Ray Lopez …
■ … who tweeted his candidacy at 6 a.m.
■ Politico: Lopez “sometimes aligns with the more conservative side of the council.”
■ The Sun-Times: Mayor Lightfoot, who has yet to declare whether she’ll run again, “has nowhere near the money she’ll need to stand even a chance of being re-elected.”
‘Post-Roe America is already here.’ Men Yell at Me columnist Lyz Lenz: “The landmark Supreme Court ruling that allowed women the right to an abortion … is being sold for parts.”
■ Oklahoma’s state legislature has signed off on a bill that would make abortion a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
■ Tennessee Republicans are pushing a bill that defines marriage as a union between “one man and one woman,” threatening marriage equality for same-sex partners …
■ … and that lacks age requirements for marriage, raising fears it would empower child-abusers.
■ As newspapers across the country struggle, Neiman Lab reports that the overall number of journalists covering U.S. statehouses is on the rise.
Eat up. Add four newcomers to Chicago’s list of (now 23) Michelin Guide starred restaurants.
■ Ending a century-long run, Chicago’s beloved Dinkel’s Bakery closes at the end of the month.
Unrelated developments.
■ Lincoln Park zookeepers are worried that a teenage gorilla is spending too much time looking at visitors’ phones.
■ A flute-playing monkey is at the heart of a dispute among neighbors in a Gold Coast co-op.
‘Part of the long line of distinguished CSO conductors—Danny Barenboim, George Solti, Bernie Haitink and Teddy Thomas.’ Reader Paul Clark was first to note a mystifying typo in yesterday’s Chicago Public Square: The anglicization of Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti’s name.
■ Corrections for Square’s mistakes are always welcome.
■ Reader Mike Braden, for instance, made this edition better.
■ You’ll find no typos on those new Square T-shirts.
