Heat record broken. Chicago’s 96 yesterday topped the 95 reached on June 15, 1994.
■ City pools set to open next week may not because of the lifeguard shortage …
■ … that even the lure of $500 bonuses seems not to have ameliorated.
Too bad they couldn’t hold it. Chicago’s newest tourism slogan: “When you go you know.”
■ Axios Chicago’s Monica Eng: “I am afraid the pee jokes are going to start flowing.”
■ Reactions on her Twitter and Facebook pages include “This is ‘funny’ given how difficult finding a bathroom was in 2020 in Chicago,” “The ‘go’ had to be in yellow?” and “Chicago—urine for a treat.”
■ Shuttered by fire and looting in 2020, Chicago’s celebrated Central Camera is open again.
Pence in jeopardy. Today’s round of the House’s Jan. 6 hearings was set to reveal new evidence about the danger the vice president faced as a mob stormed the Capitol in 2021.
■ One committee member tells CNN the public didn’t know how close a call Pence had.
■ NPR previews what to expect when the hearings resume at noon Chicago time today.
■ Public television stations—many of which built their reputations in the ’70s for airing Watergate hearings—are skipping these on their over-the-air channels in favor of kiddie shows.
■ Chicago’s WTTW, too.
‘These are OUR buildings.’ A court document lays out a plan that day to occupy the Supreme Court, House and Senate office buildings and CNN.
■ Sources tell The Washington Post that efforts by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife, Ginni, to overturn the 2020 presidential election “were more extensive than previously known.”
■ Funny thing: Republicans who’ve been whining about election fraud have gone quiet about that after winning their primaries.
Fauci has it. The leader of the U.S. response to the pandemic has caught COVID-19 himself.
■ Shots for kids under 5 are a step closer to approval—maybe as soon as next week.
‘A seemingly bottomless gift bag of giveaways.’ The Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman says an avalanche of federal stimulus cash has helped Gov. Pritzker, Cook County Board President Preckwinkle and Mayor Lightfoot goose their reelection odds with freebies for voters.
■ Reader columnist Ben Joravsky: “The casino may actually be worse for Chicago than the dreaded parking meter deal.”
■ Ready to vote? The Chicago Public Square election guide is here.
Bike lane blocked? A Chicago alderman encourages citizens to snap a pic and send it to the city, but the city says it won’t ticket offenders.
‘He took them away from me because he knew it would hurt me.’ The estranged wife of a suburban father reflects on murder charges filed against him in the drowning deaths of their three children, ages 5, 3 and 2.
■ He allegedly left a note: “If I can’t have them, neither can you.”
‘People in power discriminating against Black children.’ That’s the way a teen ticketed at a Naperville high school for a theft she says didn’t happen perceives charges that she’s been fighting for years.
■ Cops are getting rarer at Chicago Public Schools.
But will the charges stick? A downtown Chicago Starbucks store closed yesterday morning …
■ … after a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals protest live-streamed on Facebook …
■ … in which two men opposed to higher charges for plant-based milk superglued their hands to a countertop before they were charged with criminal trespassing.
What’s In A Name? Dept.
■ The World Health Organization wants to retire the appellation “monkeypox.”
■ Washington, D.C., has trolled Saudi Arabia by renaming the street in front of the Saudi embassy in honor of a journalist allegedly killed at the direction of the nation’s Prince Mohammed bin Salman …
■ … with whom President Biden plans a widely criticized meeting next month.
Thanks. Chris Koenig and Julie Ross made this edition better.
■ You can help keep Chicago Public Square coming with a tip of as little as $1.