Dilbert’s downfall. Cartoonist Scott Adams’ racist remarks have cost him his syndication deal.
■ That followed announcements that hundreds of papers including the Tribune, The New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times were going to drop the strip anyway.
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones: “Was Adams a victim of cancel culture? Actually, I would suggest this is consequence culture.”
■ Tedium editor Ernie Smith: “The funny part … is that all of Scott Adams’ actions over the past half-decade have proven that his personification in the comic is actually Dogbert.”
■ Twitter overlord Elon Musk condemns the media as “racist against white people.”
■ Keith Olbermann on Twitter: “You can take the @elonmusk out of apartheid South Africa, but you can’t take the apartheid South Africa out of @elonmusk.”
■ Twitter’s reportedly laid off another 10% of its remaining staff.
Nine on deadline. The campaign for Chicago mayor is drawing to a close with a historic scenario: No clear front-runner, and little likelihood any one will get more than 50% of the vote to clinch the job.
■ But lots more’s on the ballot tomorrow—including a remarkable number of open aldermanic seats and the city’s first Police District Council elections, so you’ll want to bone up now with the Chicago Public Square election guide.
Renters, rejoice. Insider reports: “Your rent is about to fall. Tenants are finally gaining power in the housing market.”
■ Block Club Chicago: A plan to convert vacant downtown office buildings into housing gets a virtual public airing Thursday night …
■ … and you can register for that session here.
‘Democrats should make them put their votes where their mouths are.’ Public Notice’s Noah Berlatsky and Aaron Rupar say Democrats should call Republicans’ bluff on tougher environmental and rail safety regulations after the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment.
■ The feds have begun going door-to-door to offer residents help.
It’s worse over by there. Rainy though Chicago’s been today …
■ … the region has somehow managed to dodge terrible weather elsewhere in the nation.
‘Jimmy, we love you.’ Filmmaker and author Michael Moore bids farewell to President Carter.
■ A University of Georgia journalism professor: All presidents avoid reporters, but Joe Biden’s press avoidance may set a record.
‘There were a lot of reasons to dislike Sauron, and his physical appearance or the condition of his eyes was the least of them.’ The Post’s Alexandra Petri offers other classics the Roald Dahl edit.
■ Yielding to protest of its plans to update Dahl’s books with more sensitive language, Puffin says it’ll re-release a separate, unrevised “Dahl Classic Collection.”
■ Who knew that Netflix bought Dahl’s catalog in 2021?
■ Popular Information: Florida’s governor is now pushing a ban on gender studies at the state’s colleges and universities.
‘I can’t talk about it or write about it.’ Fox media industry reporter Howard Kurtz says management—overseeing a team routinely outraged over censorship—has ordered him not to cover Dominion Voting Systems’ embarrassing lawsuit against the company.
■ Semafor spotlights WGN-TV and Radio owner Nexstar’s moves to build a new cable network starring scandal-scarred anchor Chris Cuomo: “And it doesn’t care what you think about that.”
■ Rolling Stone: The Trump White House pressured Disney to censor … Jimmy Kimmel.
Take a bow, Chicago. Among the locally linked winners at last night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards: Second City-trained Quinta Brunson’s Abbott Elementary and the Chicago-set The Bear.
■ Taking a 10-mile walk along Belmont Avenue through Chicago, Ted McClelland stumbled on a filming location for The Bear.
SquareActionLine update. Remember the reader who wrote last month about a headache getting an auto dealer to take care of an airbag recall for her aging parents? Good news: “We had the car serviced at another dealer—I called at 9 a.m. on a Friday, and the car was serviced (and my grocery shopping was done) by 11:30 the same day! … Without you … I would not have known that I could take the car to another dealer.”
■ Further, this reader offers to pay the help forward: “If another reader … ever has a gnarly workplace question, that’s my thing.”
■ If that’s you—or if you need other help getting a business to live up to expectations—write to SquareActionLine@ChicagoPublicSquare.com.
Five years ago today … Chicago Public Square launched a program under which readers could chip in to help cover the costs of keeping this service going.
■ Since then, almost one in six readers have contributed something to underwrite Square’s production—and many have additionally granted permission to publish their names …
■ … including Dawn Haney (again!), Joan Richmond, Cynthia Martin, Mike Fainman, Len Jaster, Ann Keating, Ricky Briasco, Jen Purrenhage, Jeanette Mancusi, Cynthia Farenga, Gregory Dudzienski, Thom Clark, Andrew Thackray, Maureen Kennedy, Laurie Huget, David Weindling, Janet Grimes, Mary T. Davison, Deb Humiston, Tim Ward, Stephanie Springsteen, Jeff Weissglass, Anna Tarkov, Stephanie Blatt, Paul Kubina, Kevin Lampe, Paul Clark, Paul Wedeen, Stephan Benzkofer, Logan Aimone, Denise Mattson, Peter Kuttner, Virginia Mann, Rosemary Caruk, Clyde Simpson, Chris Handzlik, Alan Solomon, Elizabeth Denius, Andrew Nord, Rick Blankenbaker, Edward Witt and Molly McDonough.
■ Join their ranks for as little as $1—just $1, once—and see your name here tomorrow.
■ Mike Braden made this edition better.
A Square public service announcement
Know a newsroom that could use an intern? The Chicago Headline Club and the Chicago Headline Club Foundation are accepting applications for grants to support internship programs. Nonprofit Chicago-area print, broadcast and online news organizations can apply here.