National abortion ban. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has introduced federal legislation to forbid most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy …
■ … which, The Washington Post notes, would “disproportionately affect patients with fetal anomalies.”
■ BuzzFeed News: Five weeks ago, Graham said he opposed any federal abortion ban.
■ Lawyer and author Jill Filipovic: “So much for ‘states’ rights.’”
■ CNN: “Graham’s bill … has no chance of passing in a Democratic-controlled Senate” …
■ … and even a bunch of Republicans were quick to trash the notion.
■ Popular Information lists corporations backing Graham and other sponsors of the national ban. (Hi, AT&T, Comcast, Google and more!)
■ Columnist Rex Huppke: “Who better to make decisions like this than an unmarried South Carolina man with no children?”
■ Politico: Graham did President Biden a big favor.
■ Another burst of optimism from typically downbeat economist Umair Haque: “Dark Brandon—and Joe Biden—are turning the tables on American fascism.”
What Republicans would do. Vox dissects the party’s agenda if it retakes control of Congress.
■ The Lever: Meet “the leading right-wing pugilist against ‘critical race theory’ … backed by Wall Street execs whose financial crisis crushed communities of color.”
■ Politico: Across the country, conservatives aim to sweep state school superintendent elections.
Another Jan. 6 notch for Illinois. A Glen Carbon man has been sentenced to three weeks in jail for his actions at the Capitol in 2021.
■ Insider is tracking those who’ve pleaded guilty in the insurrection so far.
Hellhole, sweet hellhole. News that Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey has rented an apartment in the Hancock building for the campaign—making a temporary home in the city he’s decried as “a hellhole”—has prompted columnist Neil Steinberg to offer to show Bailey around.
■ Bailey has a fresh load of trouble with Jews.
Lightfoots in the news.
■ Mayor Lightfoot has lost a legal fight to keep the Tribune from getting its hands on secret documents related to alleged employee misconduct.
■ An Illinois man named Michael Lightfoot (no apparent relation) is fighting for release from a life sentence because he was caught with 6 grams of cocaine.
After three-plus months, surely, he’ll be a good cop, right? The Chicago Police Department has handed a 100-day suspension to an officer who failed to properly activate his bodycam and kicked a handcuffed suspect in the head.
■ A mass shooting in Washington Park last night left at least two dead and seven hurt …
■ … after an incident that police described as a “personal altercation.”
‘We cannot accept this reality.’ Condemning the “largely preventable” loss of about 400 Americans a day to the COVID-19 pandemic, Your Local Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina concludes: “The more vaccine doses one has, the more that person is protected from death.”
■ The Tribune’s Robert Channick surveys Chicago companies’ new downtown offices for a glimpse of the post-pandemic workplace.
‘Why do so many kids need glasses now?’ An ophthalmology professor tells The Atlantic’s Sarah Zhang that a surge in bespectacled kids foretells “an epidemic of blindness” decades from now.
■ The Glencoe News shares the nearly-forgotten tale of the dentist who replaced Queen Elizabeth’s filling during her 1959 Chicago visit.
Thanks. Pam Spiegel made this edition better.