‘We’re about to get real real.’ Apparently securing the second spot in a runoff election for Chicago mayor, candidate Brandon Johnson wasted no time in going after the top vote-getter, Paul Vallas—“someone who is supported by the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.”
■ See Johnson’s speech.
■ Vallas: “Public safety … is the principal responsibility of government. … We will make Chicago the safest city in America.”
■ See his speech.
■ A Block Club map shows how your neighborhood voted for mayor.
It’s the crime, stupid. That’s New York Times columnist David Leonhardt’s take on the mayoral contest.
■ Tribune commentary from a lot of the candidates’ second choice for mayor, Kam Bucker: Whoever wins the runoff should be “a mayor who understands that no major city in the 21st century can thrive without a safe, reliable and affordable public transportation system, and we don’t need to return to George Wallace’s Alabama with armed K-9 patrol units on the CTA to get us there.”
‘Lightfoot should have gotten a second term.’ But columnist Mary Mitchell says the mayor was in a fight she couldn’t win.
■ Lightfoot’s the city’s first one-term mayor since Jane Byrne, 40 years ago.
■ Veteran City Hall reporter Fran Spielman: “Bad timing is too simple an explanation for Lightfoot’s stunning political downfall.”
■ See Lightfoot’s concession speech: “You don’t always win every battle. But you never regret taking on the powerful.”
■ The Trib’s Rick Pearson looks ahead to what’s next for yesterday’s other losers.
A Royko runoff. The son of iconic Chicago columnist Mike Royko seemed to have mustered just enough votes for an April matchup against incumbent Ald. Daniel La Spata …
■ … but with thousands of mail-in ballots still uncounted, several City Council races remained unresolved.
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg: “Chicago’s gerrymandered ward map is the forgotten participant in Tuesday’s City Council elections.”
■ Check the latest numbers here.
‘Whoever gets elected will be tasked with stemming a corporate exodus.’ That’s Morning Brew’s take on the mayoral race …
■ … but go figure: For the 10th year in a row, Chicago ranks No. 1 in Site Selection magazine’s ranking of top business relocations.
Insulin break. Under widespread criticism, Eli Lilly will cut prices for some older insulins and expand a cap on insured patients’ prescription costs …
■ … to $35 a month.
Fox’s ‘huge mess.’ Business ethics experts tell CNN the channel is vulnerable to shareholder lawsuits in the aftermath of legal filings demonstrating that the Fox corporate board failed to prevent its executives’ misconduct in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
■ Politico’s Jack Shafer: “Rupert Murdoch Rides the Trump Tiger—and Gets Eaten.”
■ Stephen Colbert: Murdoch “admitted under oath that election lies were knowingly endorsed by Fox hosts Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo—collectively known as dumb, dumber, dumbest and Sean Hannity.”
‘I would like to formally apologize for forcing Dilbert creator Scott Adams to be racist.’ Columnist Rex Huppke issues a modest concession: “I am actually racist against white people, even though I am, last I checked, white people.”
■ A new survey conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression finds 40 percent of liberal professors afraid they'll lose their jobs over a misunderstanding.
Foo feeder. Dave Grohl, the Chicago-spawned lead man of the Foo Fighters (2022 link) showed up at a homeless shelter during California’s big winter storm last week to barbecue for hundreds of needy people.
■ The shelter’s director: “He wanted no glory for it.”
■ Gregg Allman’s daughter on Twitter: “When the aliens get here and ask ‘Who’s in charge?’ I think we take them to Dave Grohl.”
Well, at least journalism is way down the list this time. Atop the New York Federal Reserve’s ranking of the least (financially) profitable college majors: Theology and religion.
■ Insider: Baby Boomers’ greed “destroyed the economy—and now millennials and Gen Z are paying the price.”
■ Ian Millhiser at Vox: A Republican-dominated Supreme Court means you probably won’t get any student loan relief.
■ The Onion: “Supreme Court Questions Whether President Legally Allowed To Improve Americans’ Lives.”
Columnists helping columnists helping readers. Expanding the teamwork that’s seen Chicago Public Square offering readers free trial subscriptions to Eric Zorn’s Picayune Sentinel and Zorn returning the favor for his readers, Square’s happy to do the same for Neil Steinberg’s Every goddamn day dispatches. Want Steinberg in your mailbox every, um, goddamn day—free? Click this link and we’ll make sure that happens.
■ Act quickly if you want to see this Saturday’s EGD, in which your Square columnist will pick a bone with Zorn’s guest shot last week.
Thank you. Square wouldn’t be free for all if not for the financial support of a relative few—including James Greenfield, Judy Davy, Linda Baltikas, Allen Matthews, Paul Zavagno, Suzanne Vestuto, Joan Pederson, Sara Burrows, John Jaramillo, Suzy Le Clair, Timothy Jackson, Edward White, Tom Mulcahy, Werner Huget, Keri Lynch, Gil Arias, Harlene Ellin, Joan Berman, Stephen Schlesinger, Jan Menaker Brock, Alex Riepl Broz, Steve Winner, Mena Boulanger, Mike Janowski, Katherine and Michael Raleigh, Ellen Cutter, Patrick Quinn, Michael Levin, Jennifer Packheiser, Ken Shiner, Sarah Russe, Janice Kieckhefer, Peter Chien, Ken Saydak, Ronald B. Schwartz, Barbara Miller, MJ Garnier, Sharon Halperin and Tom Petersen.
■ To see your name here tomorrow, join their ranks for any amount of cash …
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■ Janean Bowersmith made this edition better.