‘A new chapter in … workers’ rights.’ The AP has declared passage of an amendment to the Illinois constitution guaranteeing employees the authority to bargain collectively.
■ It outlaws private sector right-to-work laws, which let workers decline to pay union dues as a condition of employment. (AI-generated image by DALL-E.)
■ Backers tell Block Club Chicago it creates the strongest worker protections in the nation.
■ Add the Field Museum to a growing roster of Chicago cultural institutions whose workers are seeking to unionize.
Chicago’s ‘repopulation phase.’ That’s what Mayor Lightfoot calls the next step in the city’s efforts to rebuild wasting West and South Side commercial districts.
■ Lightfoot’s launching the first TV ads of her reelection campaign …
■ … as bicycling advocates complain that her car caravan blocked a bike lane so she could get doughnuts.
■ Axios Chicago digs into those long-delayed Chicago property tax bills to unearth some sad truths …
■ … but, hey, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is gifting $50 million to Chicago Public Schools—no strings attached.
Pity for a grave defacer. A man whose parents are buried at a suburban Jewish cemetery where someone spray-painted swastikas on headstones expresses sympathy for the vandal: “I feel sorry for him, or them, for having this much hate.”
■ Seen on at least one of the headstones: “Kanye was rite.”
■ Dave Chappelle’s antisemitic-tinged episode of Saturday Night Live gave the show season-high ratings.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a Square advertiser.
To the moon and back. Delayed for months by technical problems, NASA launched its most powerful rocket ever yesterday, carrying three mannequins on a three-week trip around the moon before splashing down in the Pacific.
■ Also along for the ride: A bunch of “mementos for educational engagement and posterity”—including some Lego figures.
‘Ugly, ongoing history.’ The Tribune’s Chris Borrelli interviews science writer David Quammen about his new National Book Award contender documenting the race against COVID-19.
■ In a 1996 interview with your Square columnist, Quammen flagged the importance of extinctions as a gauge of Earth’s environmental health.
‘A warm double helping of Christmas nostalgia.’ Critic Richard Roeper gives three stars to the Chicago-set sequel A Christmas Story Christmas, which debuts on HBO Max tomorrow.
■ An upcoming Marvel TV series, Ironheart, was filmed and will be set in Chicago.
‘Agent of chaos’ defeated. Republican ex-TV anchor Kari Lake has lost her bid to become Arizona governor.
■ Trevor Noah: “Let’s give her some space as she goes through the five stages of Republican grief: Denial, Denial, Pooping in Nancy Pelosi’s office—and Denial.”
■ Columnist Clarence Page: “Michael Moore got the last laugh this Election Day.”
■ Esquire’s Charlie Pierce on the Republicans’ congressional leadership quest: “Imagine wanting to try to lead this passel of nincompoops.”
■ Men Yell at Me columnist Lyz Lenz shares what happened after she created a fake Twitter account for Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley: “Been dead 4 years.”
In other news … Donald Trump is still running for president again.
■ Jimmy Kimmel: “The moment none of us have been waiting for.”
■ Daughter Ivanka wasn’t there.
■ USA Today columnist Rex Huppke: “Noted political loser Donald Trump announces plan to lose presidential race again.”
■ The Daily Beast: “His donors are already exhausted.”
■ CNN compares coverage of last night’s announcement across the media landscape …
■ … including an editorial in the conservative National Review headlined simply: “No.”
■ A Harvard professor prescribes a cure for the news media’s Trump fever.
■ An Arizona State law prof says indictment wouldn’t necessarily end Trump’s run: “He could even campaign or serve from a jail cell.”
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