Company’s coming. If that leaked Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade foreshadows the actual ruling, Illinois abortion providers tell the Tribune they expect tens of thousands more patients from out of state every year …
■ … because abortion rights here are protected by what one lawmaker calls a “force field” …
■ … which Axios Chicago says has cast Gov. Pritzker as one of the main faces of abortion rights.
■ Pritzker challenger Richard Irvin remained notably mum on the issue.
■ Route Fifty: If the court does leave abortion policy up to individual states, expect interstate legal battles …
■ … and elections for state and local lawmakers will become more important than ever.
‘Congratulations, ladies, your decisions are being made by four dudes and a woman who thinks The Handmaid’s Tale is a rom-com.’ Stephen Colbert suggests those justices committed perjury during their confirmation hearings.
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg: “It might be news to you that women occupy a degraded, second-tier position, still, in 2022 America. But they do.”
■ City Cast: How to support abortion rights in Chicago.
Tech’s ‘legal nightmare.’ Protocol: If Roe is overturned, companies may be compelled to turn over data identifying people seeking abortions.
■ Add Amazon to the corporations pledging to cover employee travel expenses for medical treatments including abortion.
■ Popular Information: Amazon and Google are among 13 corporations that have sent $15 million to anti-abortion politicians since 2016.
Politico’s security worries. Acknowledging that its leak of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion has enraged some, the company is taking precautions to protect staffers.
■ Politico media writer Jack Shafer says his colleagues “did the nation a service by ignoring the magic fairy dust that envelops the court.”
■ Ian Millhiser at Vox: “Diminished public trust in the Court is a good thing. This institution has not served the American people well, and it’s time to start treating it that way.”
■ Trevor Noah sympathized sarcastically on last night’s Daily Show: “The conservative majority on this court has a fundamental right to choose when they want to release a decision into the world. Imagine having some random person violate that privacy and make that choice for you. Who would do such a thing?”
■ The Onion: “Nation Forced To Seek Human Rights From Back-Alley Supreme Court.”
Welcome to ‘medium.’ Chicago’s top doc expects the city’s COVID-19 risk level to return to “medium” by the end of the week …
Chicago now slightly less wild. Police have arrested three teenagers in connection with a string of CTA robberies—including an attack that put Wild Chicago and Wild Travels host Will Clinger in intensive care.
■ One of the suspects—a 15-year-old girl—has also been charged with separate robberies of a 74-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman.
College debt relief? President Biden’s press secretary confirms the administration is considering “steps to help people making less than $125,000 a year.”
■ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch: “1960s protests convinced politicians to make college expensive. America is still paying the price.”
Or you could just, you know, go to the sink. As part of its tourism campaign, Chicago’s offering its tap water in cans—under the brand “Chicagwa.”
■ The Natural Resources Defense Council isn’t buying it: “We need less Chicagwa and more political will to get the lead out of our drinking water.”
‘Creepy and disturbingly effective.’ Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper gives three stars to “Sam Raimi’s often bat-bleep crazy Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”
■ Variety calls it “entertaining and exhausting.”
■ Insider: Seven Marvel movies and shows to watch before you see Multiverse …
■ … or just read The Hollywood Reporter’s cheatsheet.
‘The only streaming TV guide you’ll ever need.’ That’s how media watcher Robert Feder describes a new book from veteran TV critic and back-in-Evanston resident Aaron Barnhart.
■ You can draw a line to Chicago Public Square from Barnhart’s pioneering email newsletter in the ’90s.
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