Demanding answers. Mayor Lightfoot reportedly used her weekly meeting with Chicago police leadership to press for explanations of what went wrong over the weekend in efforts to contain downtown mayhem.
■ NBC 5 Chicago: Downtown businesses recount how they locked doors and escorted customers to safety during the worst of it.
■ A week after a shooting in Austin, a 14-year-old girl is dead.
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg: “Crime is not the main problem facing Chicago, which … has more systemic woes, like people not going into offices to work.”
■ Illinois’ assault weapons ban has withstood another round in federal court.
Out with the old. Lightfoot was set to preside over her final City Council meeting today …
■ … also ending a 54-year run for indicted Ald. Ed Burke.
■ She leaves incoming Mayor Brandon Johnson a smaller-than-expected budget hole.
■ Illinois campaign finance records show Johnson beat Paul Vallas even though Vallas outspent him nearly 2-to-1.
‘I wanted to see Rupert Murdoch put his hand on the Bible and burst into flames!’ Count Stephen Colbert among those disappointed that Fox settled the defamation suit filed against it by the Dominion voting machine company.
■ Media watcher Tom Jones says Fox
“should be humiliated” by the reported $787.5 million payout …
“should be humiliated” by the reported $787.5 million payout …
■ … but Politico’s Jack Shafer sees it as a win for Rupert Murdoch’s gang: “Fox viewers who lost faith in the network over the election lies will … return to the network because it so brilliantly stimulates their fears and grievances.”
■ Jimmy Kimmel: “Fox issued a statement that said, ‘This settlement reflects Fox’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.’ They’re already lying in their statement about lying.”
■ Esquire’s Charlie Pierce: “The statement … was so laughable that CNN’s Jake Tapper literally burst out laughing while trying to read it.”
■ CNN analysis: “It’s impossible to put a price on damaged trust in U.S. democracy.”
‘There’s simply no other option for a lot of people.’ A new report sounds an alarm about the possible closing of Chicago’s downtown Greyhound bus station.
■ Opening soon along the CTA’s Green Line: A 10-story building with housing for low-income residents.
‘As the Midwest burns …’ The Lever: “Biden ignores plastic waste dangers.”
■ The Conversation: Intensification of fire danger in the high mountains is “bad news for humans.”
‘The buckets of tears just roll down his eyes.’ The mother of a Black teen allegedly shot in Kansas City by a white guy after going to the wrong house to pick up his brothers tells CBS, “there’s nothing you can say to him.”
■ The AP tackles the question “Can a doorbell ring justify a ‘stand your ground’ shooting?”
■ The Onion again: “Missouri Now Requiring All Residents To Have License, Permit To Operate Doorbell.”
‘The goose died, too.’ Columnist Irv Leavitt asks, “What kind of world rewards a man trying to save a goose’s life by running him over with a truck?” …
■ … a sad tale that unfolded yesterday morning in Elgin Township.
Eras end. Netflix is officially getting out of the DVD rental business …
■ … that owed its early success in part to the 1998 Bill Clinton impeachment scandal (2020 link).
■ Also gone, after almost half a century, America’s last two (print) computer magazines.
Join your fellow Chicago Public Square readers and your Square columnist for dinner. Readers who sign up to support Square at the quarterly Booster level or better by Friday get a seat and a meal at the Chicago Headline Club Lisagor Awards May 12 (a $100 value).
■ Already a supporter at that level? Or want to level up from another plan? Email Lisagors@ChicagoPublicSquare.com.
A Square public service announcement
Don’t miss the 2023 Spring Music Festival at Frank Lloyd Wright’s stunning UNESCO World Heritage-designated Unity Temple in Oak Park, Saturday, April 29, at 7 p.m. Get your tickets here.