Hellhole or not? Axios Chicago is surveying readers about Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey’s characterization of the city.
■ Breaking-news T-shirt maker Raygun* has been quick to capitalize on Bailey’s condemnation.
■ Would stuff like this happen in a hellhole? A kid caught on camera dropping his hot dog at a White Sox game got an all-you-can-eat party at Wiener’s Circle …
■ … and Chicagoans were wowed over the weekend by the Air and Water Show—caught in awesome photos by Block Club’s Colin Boyle.
Then again … A Chicago police officer and Republican party leader behind homophobic Facebook posts is getting off with a slap on the wrist.
■ CWBChicago surveys sentences judges have given people convicted of violent crimes on the Chicago Transit Authority.
■ To deter catalytic converter thieves—by making stolen ones harder to resell—cops in one Chicago police district next month will spray-paint residents’ converters pink.
Put on your walking shoes. The Tribune reports that Chicago election officials are planning to cut the number of voting precincts in the city by 40% for November’s balloting.
■ Trib columnist Laura Washington sounds an alert about “the Willie Wilsonization” of Chicago politics—“blatant pandering” to voters with political giveaways.
‘One of the district’s best years yet.’ Chalkbeat Chicago lists things to watch to see if that pledge from Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez comes true for the school year that began today.
■ May’s massacre in Uvalde, Texas, casts a nationwide shadow over the return to classrooms.
‘Carbon offsets are bullshit.’ HBO’s John Oliver (see it free here) exposes a shady practice by which corporations claim to be saving the world …
■ … and to prove it, he set up his own phoney-baloney offset scheme.
■ Protocol reports that the same kind of shady practices threaten the next big thing: Carbon dioxide removal.
■ Got hazardous waste? Hold onto it for now, because the Illinois EPA is suspending collection of the stuff statewide after a fire at the state’s current disposal facility in Ohio.
■ University of Colorado engineers who’ve run the numbers conclude that turning the air conditioning off when you’re not home for eight hours or more will probably save energy.
‘A sad day for CNN.’ Journalism watchdog Tom Jones reflects on the end of the channel’s show and newsletter about the media, Reliable Sources.
■ Acknowledging a “super strange situation” for him to be allowed a final appearance after the announcement of his dismissal and the show’s cancellation, the show’s host for nine years, Brian Stelter, called on the network to “be strong” and the audience to hold CNN accountable.
■ Signing off from her media criticism column for The Washington Post, Margaret Sullivan says she’s “encouraged one day, despairing the next” about news coverage of threats to democracy.
■ PolitFact is marking 15 years of “PANTS ON FIRE” ratings.
■ Join Chicago Public Square and Rivet360 live on YouTube today at 1 p.m. for a Chicago Media Talks podcast about the news biz with Axios Chicago’s Justin Kaufmann and Monica Eng.
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■ If you’re a Square fan, you might like Radiogirl podcaster Margaret Larkin’s latest episode. (Note: “Digital domination” is her phrase.)
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* Which also makes those snazzy Chicago Public Square T-shirts.
** See, Mark? No Oxford comma.