Next year in Chicago. Politico goes behind the scenes to explain how the city landed the Democrats’ 2024 presidential convention.
■ The AP: The Democrats’ pick of Chicago and Republicans’ choice of Milwaukee spotlights the Midwest’s political clout.
■ WBEZ takes a look at what it could mean for Chicago.
■ Businesses, residents and City Council members are psyched.
■ For Chicago, this is hardly unprecedented.
■ The Sun-Times: Ex-Chicago cops are looking back to lessons learned during Chicago’s 2012 NATO summit …
■ … when, as this radio report attests, protesters were kept well at bay.
■ Gov. Pritzker promises President Biden—who made the call—“a huge party.”
■ Columnist Lauren Martinchek: “There is absolutely no reason … Biden should be running again.”
But first … Chicago has to survive NASCAR’s disruption of this summer in the city—with an event a Sun-Times editorial says “feels like a lemon.”
■ NASCAR has pledged to take community questions at a virtual meeting this evening at 6 p.m.
Charged up. The EPA is proposing new pollution limits that would require as many as two-thirds of the new vehicles sold in the United States to be electric within nine years …
■ … a goal that Politico says portends a fight with the oil industry and Republican governors.
■ Semafor: “Republicans still say they won’t buy electric cars. They might not have much choice.”
■ A Tribune editorial calls for Chicago to look to Detroit as it rethinks DuSable Lake Shore Drive—among other things, to consider science-fictiony ideas for recharging electric vehicles as they move along the road.
■ Climate change newsletter Cipher takes a critical look at the rush to figure out how to gather and store hydrogen in the push for renewable energy sources.
Walmart bails. Citing “tens of millions” of dollars in losses each year, the company’s closing four Chicago stores—by Sunday.
■ Mayor Lightfoot says she’s “incredibly disappointed.”
■ Slow Boring columnist Matt Yglesias, who’s “spending a lot of time in Chicago this month,” observes that “a city can be capacious enough to support a lot of construction activity in the West Loop, even while significant swathes of the South Side look a lot like Cleveland.”
■ Axios: State and local governments’ efforts across the country to address housing shortages with denser development are sparking backlash from current homeowners—who like their neighborhoods the way they are.
Wildfire alert. With high winds and temperatures near 80, the Chicago region—rife with dry vegetation after a relatively mild winter—is at risk of “the rapid spread of wildfires.”
■ If you’re one of those schmucks who thoughtlessly toss away cigarette butts, this means you.
‘Kid Rock shot his Bud Light, so I shot mine.’ USA Today’s Rex Huppke mocks those upset that “Anheuser-Busch has gone woke … by partnering with … ‘a transgender social media influencer.’”
■ Popular Information: “While the company may be perceived as an LGBTQ ally, its corporate PAC activities suggest otherwise.”
■ The Reader’s Ben Joravsky on Tennessee Republicans’ expulsion of two gun-protesting Democrats: “Man, these little snowflakes wouldn’t last a day in Chicago.”
NPR out. The network’s quitting Twitter in protest of its “government-funded” label.
■ Substack’s Notes feature—whose development sparked a war with Twitter—has launched for the general public.
■ Substack says Notes isn’t a Twitter rival.
■ Here’s where you can sign up free.
■ Even though Chicago Public Square isn’t a Substack publication, you can find and follow your Square columnist on Notes here.
40 years ago today. Harold Washington was elected as Chicago’s first Black mayor.
■ Here’s how WXRT covered the news.
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