9,900 problems. Public records requests have surfaced at least that many emails sent to Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges staffers by Mayor Lightfoot’s campaign—an effort that Lightfoot herself has called a “bad mistake” and that ethics experts say runs afoul of city law.
■ The Tribune: Although challenger Paul Vallas has promoted his educational leadership, “a deeper look … shows a leader who has faced questions about the results he has left behind.”
■ Axios Chicago profiles five aldermanic races to watch.
■ Politico: A huge vote-by-mail turnout—close to triple that of four years ago—may delay election night returns.
■ Voting by mail? Tomorrow’s the deadline to apply.
■ The election’s less than a week away, so now’s the time to consult the Chicago Public Square voter guide.
Naperville pulls the trigger. Cleared to do so by a federal judge, the city’s moving to enforce its new ban on the sale of assault rifles …
■ … although its police chief says, “we have to figure out what that looks like.”
■ Columnist Will Bunch: “We’ve stopped teens from driving drunk, having babies. Let’s get serious on guns.”
‘I am currently embarrassed.’ A Florida high school student is among those dismayed by a school board’s decision to ban three books at the request of an allegedly racist and homophobic teacher.
■ Among them: A sexual-content-free true story of two male penguins who build a nest together and raise an adopted penguin.
Congressional groundbreaker. Yesterday’s special election gave Virginia its first Black female U.S. representative.
■ Sen. Mitt Romney calls it “insanity.”
‘Kevin McCarthy has turned over the security of the Capitol to Tucker Carlson.’ U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, a chief counsel during Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, is among those concerned that the House speaker has given thousands of hours of Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol surveillance footage exclusively to Fox’s nighttime fabulist.
■ Stephen Colbert warned that “41,000 hours of footage can be edited to say whatever you want it to,” before demonstrating in satiric fashion.
■ Columbia Journalism Review’s Bill Grueskin says those internal Fox documents uncovered in a lawsuit reveal “not so much a finely tuned business as a Fortune 500 clown car.”
Solar energy’s ‘unstoppable’ rise. Vox: In just the year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, renewable energy has overtaken energy from oil and gas in Europe—and the U.S. isn’t that far behind.
■ Pandemic legacy: The Washington Post says a four-day workweek pilot proved so successful that most firms say they won’t go back—and 15% of the workers who participated said “no amount of money” would convince them to go back.
South Side out. HBO Max has killed a Chicago-set series that launched on Comedy Central in 2019, shot on location in Englewood.
■ The canceled Judge Mathis show will come back as a new series—but in Los Angeles, not Chicago.
■ CNN’s foot-in-mouth morning show co-host Don Lemon was back today after backlash over a sexist, ageist comment—but he didn’t mention that …
■ The Onion: “Lemon Clarifies A Woman’s Relevance Is Not Defined By Age, But Conventional Attractiveness.”
McCartney + the Stones. In a development that might have shocked those who remember the Beatles/Rolling Stones schism of the ’60s, Paul McCartney’s recorded a new song with Mick Jagger’s band.
■ George Harrison’s solo music has a new corporate home.
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Thank people who’ve stepped up over the past five years to keep it that way—including Charles C. Allen II, Dawn Haney, David Mendell, Ken Hildreth, Jim Kelly, Teresa Powell, Martha Intrieri, Julia Gray, Mary M. Jeans, Dave Tan, Julie Ross, Joel Hood & Sherry Skalko, Robert Clifford, Carmie Callobre, Sam Hochberg, Andrew Mitran, Deborah Barragan-White, Jayson Hansen, Bill Weldon, Jason Sherman, Joe Hass, Janet Holden, Jean Remsen, Jerry Wolin, Bob Ely, Allan Hippensteel, Alice Cottingham, Larry Dahlke, Daniela Dolak, Stephen Brown, John Gehron, Randall Kulat, Fredric Stein, Mary Gannon Pittman, Melanie Minnix, Pavlo Berko, Aris Georgiadis, Ed McDevitt, Ken Davis, Alan Hommerding, Jan Kodner, Richard Milne, Carolyn Potts, Jennifer McGeary, Susan Beach, Holly Wallace, Susan Karol, Mike Gold, Stephanie Zimmermann, Stephen Brenner, Dave Aron, Bernard Schoenburg, Jim Prescott, Jeff Hanneman, John Ayers, Kathy Catrambone, the Skubish family, Martha Swisher, Mark Miller, Valerie Denney, Bridget Hatch and Chicago Public Square Supporter No. 1, Mark Wukas.
■ Just $1, once, will get your name here tomorrow.
■ Pam Spiegel made this edition better.
There’s no business like show business. Here’s how it went as your Square publisher took the stage Thursday as moderator at a forum featuring the candidates for the Oak Park and River Forest High School Board.