Bernie + Brandon. Put Sen. Bernie Sanders down in the column of supporters of Brandon Johnson’s campaign for mayor.
■ Paul Vallas has landed backing from a team of Black aldermen.
■ NBC 5’s tracking who’s endorsing whom.
■ The Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman on last night’s debate: Vallas “put Johnson on the spot for his past support for the idea of defunding police.”
■ See the encounter here.
■ Block Club: “Tempers flare as supporters of mayoral candidates clash over Paul Vallas’ education record.”
■ Better Government Association president David Greising: Both candidates are overlooking the problem of Chicago’s fatal fires.
‘The guy’s gonna be a continuing problem.’ Indicted ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s voice was played in court for the first time yesterday—as jurors in the bribery trial of four of his associates heard him press for a fellow lawmaker’s resignation.
■ You can hear that audio here.
‘The longer you cry, the longer I will hit you.’ A teacher at a Chicago Public School faces a lawsuit filed on behalf of disabled students to whom she allegedly “administered harmful, physical and violent corporal punishment.”
■ A federally funded report finds teenagers at Cook County’s Juvenile Temporary Detention Center face a host of civil rights abuses—including excessive force and extreme isolation.
■ Charlie Pierce at Esquire: “In Oklahoma, they’re making sure students with special needs can still get corporal punishment.”
■ An ex-chief of staff for Chicago schools is getting off easy for taking bribes.
Not-so-friendly skies. Chicago’s crackdown on the homeless sheltering at O’Hare overnight will require people to show “proof of airport business” between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.
■ Now—at least temporarily—in charge of the Chicago Police Department: First Deputy Supt. Eric Carter, the city’s second-in-command for almost three years.
‘I just lost half my money to this banking thing.’ Add Oscar-nominated Sharon Stone to the list of banking crisis victims.
■ Insider goes backstage in the scramble to avert what one tech industry leader called “an extinction-level event for startups.”
■ Columnist Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week: Venture capitalists.
■ The Onion: “Financial Experts Recommend Investing In Businesses Government Will Bail Out Anytime They Fuck Up.”
‘We are now in for a wave of historic, massive, earth-shaking financial crises. How could we not be? Our planet is dying.’ Economist Umair Haque: “We’re already in one—we just don’t recognize it yet.”
■ Popular Information: Florida Gov. and potential presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is pushing legislation to stop banks from considering things such as carbon emissions, worker pay and executive diversity when deciding where to invest.
■ Climate change has claimed hundreds of acres of strawberries that won’t be on store shelves this summer.
■ Chicago magazine’s Ted McClelland to residents of the American Southwest struggling with water shortages: “We have plenty of empty space in the Midwest these days. We also have plenty of water. … Go back to living by the water.”
■ The Conversation: Getting “forever chemicals” out of U.S. drinking water could cost $400 billion.
‘Solving hunger is not hard if you believe it’s not really a thing.’ USA Today columnist Rex Huppke salutes a Minnesota Republican state senator “for having the guts to stand up and show nanny-state Democrats … that child hunger is only a problem if you’re dumb enough to meet a hungry child.”
■ The last holdout among three of the world’s biggest insulin manufacturers has agreed to cut prices dramatically.
COVID’s cradle? A new genetic analysis links the pandemic’s origin to … um … raccoon dogs …
■ … which are more closely related to foxes than raccoons.
■ A nasal vaccine could cut the risk of COVID infections and new variants.
‘The TV business has passed yet another inflection point. … So, I’m done.’ Veteran critic Aaron Barnhart is calling it quits.
■ Barnhart’s pioneering email newsletter was an early inspiration for Chicago Public Square.
■ YouTube TV’s raising its monthly subscription fee.
■ Cord Cutter Weekly proprietor Jared Newman’s advice: “Drop these bloated bundles entirely.”
■ YouTube (the free service) is letting Donald Trump back on.
A quiz is born. The new one’s here, ready to test your mettle …
■ Can you beat your Square columnist’s 7/8 score?
Foodies, vote! The Tribune’s launched its annual Readers’ Choice Food Awards.
■ Cast your ballot for Best New Restaurant, Best Sandwich, Best Suburban Restaurant and more here.