‘Shooting like crazy.’ A witness tells the Sun-Times a mass shooting late last night near Chicago Avenue and State Street began with a fight outside a McDonald’s restaurant.
■ The gunfire left two dead and eight wounded.
■ The McDonald’s was open this morning, despite its shattered windows.
■ Block Club: A Chicago cop on Wednesday night shot and wounded an unarmed 13-year-old boy fleeing from a car sought in an Oak Park carjacking …
■ … that involved an SUV with a 3-year-old inside.
■ … and Chicago’s top cop has shed remarkably little light on how the shooting happened.
■ A court filing on behalf of civic, business and religious leaders accuses the City of Chicago of a “two-faced” strategy: Publicly acknowledging a history of police brutality “but then denying the existence of that same pattern when confronted with civil rights claims.”
■ All of Englewood is invited to a birthday party Saturday for a one-year-old critically injured in a mass shooting last July.
Keep out. Mayor Lightfoot’s new rules forbidding unaccompanied kids under 18 from Millennium Park after 6 p.m. weekends took effect last night.
■ Today, an ordinance codifying the mayor’s adjustment to the citywide curfew for minors from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m. was to go before the Public Safety Committee.
■ Patch columnist Mark Konkol on Chicago’s ward remapping: “Black people … have been clamoring for city officials to deliver them a local grocery store, and they got a white alderwoman instead.”
Paper rout. State election officials across the country are confronting a paper shortage that could cause polling place problems.
■ Appearing before the Tribune editorial board, Democratic candidates for Illinois’ top election job—the secretary of state—butted heads over ethics, but all pledged to drag the office into the 21st century.
‘Largest population ever.’ The U.S. Census Bureau concedes that it undercounted Illinois’ population—which actually grew by a quarter-million humans.
■ Politico: The boost means more federal funding for Illinois and “may change the narrative that there’s an exodus from the state.”
‘Monkeypox 101.’ Your Local Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina: “It’s too early to tell if we should be worried, but we are confident the current outbreak will be nothing close to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
■ And yet, The Associated Press reports, scientists are baffled by its recent spread in North America and Europe.
■ Poynter’s Al Tompkins sees no need for monkeypanic …
■ … but The Daily Beast says a twist could make it a serious problem.
■ … but The Daily Beast says a twist could make it a serious problem.
Having had it isn’t enough. CNN says celebrities who’ve caught COVID-19 more than once provide a lesson for the rest of us.
■ The CDC says kids 5 to 11 should get a booster vaccine, just like those 12 and up.
Trump’s real scorecard. Taking a critical look at how candidates backed by the ex-president have fared in 2022’s primaries, Politico finds his record “not nearly as good” as his acolytes would have you believe.
■ The Onion jokes: “Trump Urges Dr. Oz To Declare Victory Against Biden In 2020 Election.”
Not all readers who’ve supported Chicago Public Square want their names published. But those who do include Bernard Schoenburg, Susy Schultz, Sarah Hoban, Anna Tarkov, Nina Ovryn, Susan Benloucif, Joan Berman, Valerie Denney, Jayson Hansen, David Kindler, Scott Watson, Christine Aronson, Lizzie Schiffman Tufano, Marianne Matthews and Betsy Blew-Ochoa.
■ Thanks, one and all.
■ You can join their ranks—for any amount you choose, one-time or recurring—and get $5 off a Square T-shirt here.
■ Act quickly and you’ll see your name here Monday.