‘There is now a landslide about to happen … and the idiots in our decimated media just don’t have a clue.’ Author and documentarian Michael Moore, who predicted Donald Trump’s 2016 victory when mainstream media had the election pegged for Hillary Clinton, sees “anti-Democratic forces … going to go down in a bonfire of defeat” in November.
■ Republican Rep. Liz Cheney—daughter of a former Republican vice president—says she’s ready to campaign for Democrats.
■ NBC News: Even as President Biden portrays the election as a battle against “MAGA Republicans,” he’s been quiet about Democrats across the country—including Gov. Pritzker in Illinois—spending big to help election-deniers win primaries.
■ Pritzker’s challenger, Darren Bailey—who won Trump’s endorsement in the primary—is mostly avoiding questions about Trump.
■ After Daily Herald parent company Paddock Publications cut ties with pink-slime publisher LGIS, the governor says he will indeed attend a Herald-hosted gubernatorial forum Friday.
■ In what the soon-to-launch news platform Semafor calls “an unexpected turn to one of the highest-stakes legal actions to come out of Donald Trump’s failed effort to stay in power,” the Justice Department is investigating whether voting machine company Smartmatic engaged in corrupt business practices in the Philippines.
‘An end to citizens … having full access to … what police are doing.’ The Tribune reviews the pros and cons of the Chicago Police Department’s move to digitally encrypted radio channels by the end of the year.
■ A Sun-Times editorial calls for more controls on the “shady business” of police-ordered business shutdowns.
■ Want to serve on one of Chicago’s 22 new local Police District Councils? You have until Nov. 28 to get on the ballot.
■ City Cast Chicago reports that some familiar faces are already in the running.
■ Chicago’s weekend shootings toll: Seven dead, more than 30 wounded.
■ The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin notes a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn Illinois’ ban on the carrying of firearms on public transportation.
■ 3-year-old Josiah Brown, allegedly pushed into Lake Michigan off Navy Pier by his aunt last week, is dead.
‘Striketober’ redux? The Guardian sees thousands of workers across the country striking or threatening to strike heading into the new month.
■ Columnist and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich: “Corporate greed, not wages, is behind inflation. It’s time for price controls.” (Cartoon: Excerpt from longer commentary at The Nib by Joey Alison Sayers.)
■ Journalist Steve Hendershot questions whether Chicago has the tech workforce to satisfy Google’s growth plans here.
■ Chicago’s offering tax incentives for developers who want to convert buildings along La Salle Street’s “strictly business” corridor for residential use—including affordable housing.
Bye-bye, bikes. With little explanation, Chicago’s closing Millennium Park’s 18-year-old bicycle parking station.
■ A Tribune editorial pleads with Pritzker: Don’t follow California’s lead in banning the sale of gas-powered cars.
■ The Associated Press: “Lights out, ovens off: Europe preps for winter energy crisis.”
Jim Post remembered. An acclaimed folk singer and Mark Twain portrayer who first came to acclaim in Chicago half a century ago is dead at 82.
■ Roseland, Chicago: 1972 looks back at Post’s early days here.
■ The New York Times: Although the lyrics to his only hit “say ‘Reach out in the darkness,’ an executive of Verve Forecast Records … gave it the title Reach Out of the Darkness.”
Politically and athletically correct. The Cleveland Guardians beat the White Sox for their first American League Central title since changing their name from the Indians …
■ … but a photo taken in Chicago suggests the team has a way to go before achieving full enlightenment.
The Museum of Contemporary Art is a Chicago Public Square advertiser.
Quiz revision. If you took Friday’s news quiz and got No. 6 wrong, you may want to adjust your score or take it again. That question’s been reworded—twice—after factual concerns were raised by Square readers Janet Holden and Larry Rand.
■ Thanks, as ever, for reading, playing and taking the time to let us know about mistakes.
■ Tom Alexander made this edition better.
Ever wonder where this thing came from? A new YouTube video details the origin of Chicago Public Square in about 19 minutes (9 1/2 if you watch at double speed).
■ Or read a rough transcript.