He’s in. Ex-Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas* is officially a candidate for mayor.
■ He finished ninth out of 14 candidates in 2019.
■ He tells the Sun-Times his constituency is “anyone who feels that the city is becoming increasingly unsafe.”
■ Mayoral candidate Kam Buckner pledges to create an “Internet Intelligence Unit” to monitor crimes planned online.
■ Patch columnist Mark Konkol accuses Buckner of “magical thinking … at a time when police departments across the country … are struggling to recruit and retain officers.”
■ Chicago cops seized 11 guns at a North Avenue Beach party on Memorial Day.
■ The Onion mockingly surveys gun laws in every state.
When is a ‘bloodbath’ not a bloodbath? Even though more people were shot in Chicago over the holiday weekend than during the same period two years ago—a period Mayor Lightfoot back then condemned as a “bloodbath”—the mayor’s office says the city this past weekend “safely returned to a series of fantastic events that define summertime in our city.”
‘One additional straw ... on the camel’s back.’ A political science professor is among those sounding conflict-of-interest concerns about Aurora Mayor and Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin’s quiet launch of a consulting firm with a top aide and two others—who then got a city contract under his administration.
■ All six Republicans running for governor meet in a one-hour debate Thursday night on ABC 7.
■ A Tribune editorial backs Toni Preckwinkle for reelection to the Cook County Board presidency.
■ Are you a newspaper endorsement fan? The Trib’s pretty much now the only game in town Chicago (April 30 link) …
■ … but other guidance is out there, as the Chicago Public Square primary election guide makes clear.
■ Politico flags Republican plans for “an army” of party-trained volunteers to challenge voters at swing states’ Democratic-majority polling places.
‘Out of nowhere … I caught COVID.’ And it sent Reader columnist Ben Joravsky down a rabbit hole.
■ A Chicago Public Health Department medical director reports the fewest COVID-19-related deaths for the longest period of time since the pandemic’s onset: “From now on we … see nothing but better news.”
Taste this. Taste of Chicago returns to Grant Park July 8-10—with some twists:
■ No more tickets; just cash or credit …
■ … and three follow-up run-up mini-fests, June 11 in Austin, June 18 in Pullman and June 25 in Little Village.
25 years ago. This month marks the anniversary of the launch for the now-defunct AOL Instant Messenger, and Wired’s Lauren Goode still misses one of its key features.
■ An AIM room dubbed “Newsrats chat” was a key in turn-of-the-millennium digital efforts to meld the then-co-owned newsrooms for ChicagoTribune.com, all-news CLTV, and WGN-TV and radio. (T-shirt design: Mike Wean.)
A true thing. Square wouldn’t have lasted into this, its sixth year, if not for the financial support of readers who help keep it free for all …
■ … including Michael Brooks, Mike Chamernik, Sherry Kent, Marc Magliari, Michael Johnson, Laurie Huget, Cynde Seegers, Annemarie Kill, Janean Bowersmith, James Haglund, Beth Martin, Michael Weiland, Kathy Wyman & Doug Waco, Jeanne Mcinerney, Jennifer Packheiser, Jan Menaker Brock, Jerry Role, Michael Romain, David Weindling, Jan Czarnik, Keelin Wyman, Meredith Schacht, Ralph Sherman, Judee Barone, Bruce Dold, Anne Costello, Garry, Stephanie Textor, Elizabeth Meisterling, Jean Remsen, Martin Berg, Shel Lustig, Marj Halperin, Pavlo Berko, Deb Humiston, Joe Hass, Mary Dedinsky, Anthony Caciopo, Charlene Thomas, Aaron Barnhart, Stephanie Zimmermann, Lucy Smith, Mike Cramer, Gary Colabuono, Edward Witt, Mario Greco, Myrel Cooke, LJ in Arkansas and Deborah Montgomery.
■ You can join them—for any amount you choose—here …
■ … and then you get $5 off a Square T-shirt.
■ Reader Jan Kieckhefer made this edition better.
_____
* Like your Square columnist—but older—a graduate of Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park.