‘Avoid this area if at all possible.’ Citing social media posts, police are warning about the possibility Saturday of a large gathering at a west suburban mall “much like … the City of Chicago last weekend.”
■ Reports that Chicago cops drove past a couple under attack Saturday night are under investigation by the police department.
■ A witness tells the Tribune: “It terrifies me that people are either asleep at the wheel or that they’re willfully blind.”
■ Last weekend’s mayhem was a key topic of discussion at a South Side meeting yesterday on the search for a new police superintendent.
‘A mandate to … address the root causes of violence.’ That’s Mayor-elect Johnson yesterday in his premiere address to the Illinois General Assembly.
■ See the speech here.
■ A Trib editorial implores Johnson to build on Mayor Lightfoot’s LaSalle Street revival plans: “Chicago must take care of its beating heart.”
‘You’ve done more than any other mayor in this city.’ Lightfoot’s final City Council meeting brought her unrestrained praise, even from her critics.
■ Sun-Times City Hall veteran Fran Spielman: “You’d never have known … Lightfoot’s relationship with alderpersons had been so contentious.”
‘If I have failed during these past 54 years … please permit me to apologize.’ That’s about as close as Ald. Ed Burke’s farewell speech came to acknowledging the corruption indictment clouding his departure from the City Council.
■ The Sun-Times and WBEZ: “Add the Chicago Park District to the list of government agencies with employees accused of defrauding federal COVID-19 relief programs.”
‘America is simply a homicidal maniac.’ Esquire’s Charlie Pierce laments that “every shooting in America ‘comes on the heels of’ another one.”
■ Washington State lawmakers have approved a ban on semi-automatic rifles.
■ The Onion: “Office Shooting Makes Man Nostalgic For Elementary School.”
‘Ruth Bader Feinstein.’ Columnist Eric Zorn concedes he’s not the first to apply that phrase to inert California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose refusal to retire has crippled Democrats’ ability to confirm judicial nominees: “You’re not as critical to success as you think you are. Pass the baton.”
■ At least 15 judicial nominations—including three for Illinois—remain stalled in her absence.
■ Activists have already begun requesting permits for what the Sun-Times calls “massive demonstrations across the city” during next year’s Democratic National Convention.
‘One or more Fox personalities … will exit.’ Fox-watcher Brian Stelter predicts further fallout from the channel’s settlement of the “staggering” settlement of defamation charges— “though it will be done delicately, so that no one can definitively say that the dismissals were due to Dominion.”
■ Jimmy Kimmel on Fox News’ failure to report on the suit: “Man, oh, man, is Rupert Murdoch going to be mad when he finds out about this!”
■ The Lever: Fox expects a tax break for its $787 million payout.
■ The Associated Press explains how the deal went down.
‘Somebody was unhappy with the reporting.’ Student journalists and their adviser at DePaul University’s student newspaper complain that university workers confiscated copies of last week’s edition …
■ … which detailed the university’s $56.5 million budget hole.
Weather powderkeg. Severe Chicago-area storms were possible at almost any time through the day today.
■ Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa had already seen a raft of tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings—with at least two deaths.
■ Climate scientists predict Earth’s average temperature could reach a record this year or next.
■ The Chicago City Council’s agreed to send Lake Michigan water to Joliet for 100 years.
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