CTA’s pledge. Speaking to the City Club, Chicago Transit Authority President Dorval Carter promised service improvements—but he said Job No. 1 will be to hire more workers.
■ Meanwhile, he says, the agency is reworking its schedules to match the actual rides it can provide.
■ Streetsblog Chicago: “He made it clear that the transit agency got the message … from everyone … fed up with unreliable and unpredictable service.”
■ See his speech here.
■ Read the plan for “Transforming CTA’s Post-Pandemic Future” here.
■ CWBChicago: Chicago police are diverting officers from neighborhood patrols to protect film sets around town.
Well, they agree on this much. Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland have both now requested the unsealing of the warrant the FBI used to search Trump’s Florida estate Monday.
■ Esquire’s Charlie Pierce: “Garland stepped out of character long enough to make a killer chess move.”
■ The Washington Post reports that the classified documents the FBI was after were related to nuclear weapons.
■ Trump denies it …
■ … but, you know, he lies (2021 link).
‘Be ready for combat.’ The social media account of an armed man who allegedly tried to breach the FBI’s Cincinnati office—before he was shot and killed by law enforcement officers—had issued a “call to arms” after the Mar-a-Lago raid.
■ In what Rolling Stone calls “a rare moment of sanity on Fox,” host Steve Doocy pressed Republican Rep. Steve Scalise about the party’s failure to support law enforcement in Trump’s case.
■ Men Yell at Me columnist Lyz Lenz bestows her “Dingus of the Week” honor on has-been presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who, in her words, “warned that enforcing the laws of our country would make Trump look like a victim.”
■ The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg sees a different lesson: “Don’t fuck with librarians.”
‘The Tribune could have reported this more responsibly.’A Chicago Public Square reader flags Thursday’s print edition, concerned that it gave “free advertising to Trump. The big picture on the front page … with Trump raising his fist in the air seems like just the sort of image his supporters will latch on to. … Don’t the media have a responsibility to report the news … without enabling a wannabe demagogue and authoritarian? Do you think the picture on the front page was irresponsible?”
■ Chicago Public Square’s reply: Yes.
Reasons to be cheerful.
■ The CDC is easing up on COVID-19 precautions: No more need for 6-foot social distancing or for quarantining after contact with the infected.
■ For the first time in more than five months, the AAA says the national average price for a gallon of gas has fallen below $4.
■ The biggest-ever U.S. investment in the fight against climate change and a cap on prescription drug costs was poised for final legislative approval in the House.
But …
■ The speed with which the Arctic is warming is accelerating.
■ The U.S. Postal Service is raising rates for the holidays …
■ … and it says “the holidays” begin Oct. 2 and run through Jan. 22 …
■ … a period 33% longer than last year’s.
Museums in the news.
■ Newly released records show the top three executives overseeing Chicago’s Obama Presidential Center—which has yet to open—each were paid more than $500,000 last year.
■ The body of Brookfield Zoo’s late gorilla JoJo is off to the Field Museum.
Almost that time. The periodic roll call of Square supporters resumes soon. Want to be listed among those luminaries? A buck’ll do it.
■ Chris Koenig made this edition better.