Note. The start of a new month seems like an apt time to test an experimental format for Chicago Public Square, based on months of research to determine what sort of presentation readers find most engaging. Let us know what you think.
Free gas, free CTA cards, free bikes. Guess how you can qualify for the $150 gas cards and $50 Ventra transit cards Mayor Lightfoot says Chicago’s going to offer.
■ Guess how many thousands of bicycles, helmets, locks and lights Chicago’s transportation commissioner says the city also will give away …
■ … and how many miles of bike and pedestrian trails it’s pledging to add.
■ Guess why Streetsblog Chicago co-editor John Greenfield considers the mayor’s plan “grossly inequitable.”
■ Guess why environmental groups aren’t satisfied by the Biden administration’s declaration today that new vehicles sold in the U.S. will have to get at least 40 miles per gallon by 2026.
■ Guess which major cable-TV company pledges to power its operations in Chicago and beyond by solar energy beginning in 2025.
‘Serious and disturbing.’ Guess which New Trier High School varsity team has been put on probation following a hazing incident earlier this month.
■ Guess why Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg figures schools don’t ban the Bible—a book that he declares “practically one long grindhouse movie.”
‘We are aware of an investigation …’ Guess which private security company has been embroiled in a federal probe of alleged ghost-payrolling by at least nine Cook County sheriff’s office employees.
■ Guess which developers have been identified by WTTW News as having donated to gubernatorial candidate and Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin and having received tens of millions of dollars in Aurora government incentives.
‘Incredibly welcome news.’ Guess why Your Local Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina is encouraged by a plunging COVID-19 daily death rate—but worried that older people may have “substantially changed their behavior after two years.”
■ Guess which ZIP code tops Axios’ list of Chicago’s highest COVID-19 rates.
‘Mostly false.’ Guess which of Illinois’ two U.S. senators gets that PolitiFact rating for overstating the results of a gender pay-gap study.
■ Guess how the Transportation Security Administration plans to cut the number of false alarms and pat-down screenings for transgender, gender-noncomforming and nonbinary air travelers.
■ Guess which new letter the U.S. State Department will let citizens use to indicate their gender on passport applications.
‘Nostra-dumbass.’ Guess which late-night host last night went to war with his own network, CBS, for hiring “this craven toady to a tyrant,” former Trump chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, as a political analyst.
■ Guess which three words self-proclaimed “The Late Show’s own media analyst Stephen Colbert” used to assess the decision.
■ Guess which White House press secretary is reportedly planning to jump ship for MSNBC.
■ Guess which reactionary news channel has hired Caitlyn Jenner—if you need a Jenner family scorecard, she’s the Olympic decathlete formerly known as Bruce and an unsuccessful California gubernatorial candidate last year—as a contributor.
‘It’s you.’ Guess why Men Yell at Me columnist Lyz Lenz bestows her Dingus of the Week honor on … all of us.
April jewels. Guess how much it’ll cost you to get one of these Square T-shirts.
■ Guess which reader wearing one of these shirts—some of which have begun arriving in today’s mail—will be first to send a photo to T-photos@ChicagoPublicSquare.com.
42 years ago tonight.