‘Thomas was hiding a financial relationship.’ A legal ethics expert weighs in on ProPublica’s revelation of the first known instance of money flowing to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas from a Nazi-tchotchke-collecting billionaire.
■ Slate: “Thomas’ mom definitely still lives in the house the billionaire bought.”
■ Columnist John Stoehr: “It’s weird for the ‘close personal friend’ of a Supreme Court justice to become his elderly mother’s landlord.”
■ The Onion: “Thomas Receives New Friendship Bracelet From Harlan Crow.”
■ Mona Charen doesn’t see a crisis, but says Thomas “failed to live out the ideal that justices should avoid … the appearance of impropriety.”
■ Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week: “People who think owning Nazi memorabilia is defensible.”
■ Popular Information: The Tennessee House speaker who led the charge to expel two gun-protesting lawmakers secretly bought a $600,000 Nashville home.
‘Republicans are coming for the right to interstate travel.’ Public Notice takes a critical look at Idaho’s new law preventing people from leaving the state for an abortion.
■ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy …
■ … a point that occurs, in the words of White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, “before many women even know they’re pregnant.”
■ Planned Parenthood vows to provide as many abortions as possible right up to midnight on the day the new law kicks in.
■ The Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to preserve access to an abortion drug.
‘God, guns and war secrets.’ The Associated Press profiles the guy arrested yesterday, accused of disclosing dozens—maybe hundreds—of classified documents that reveal the U.S. spied on friends and enemies alike and that expose military intel about the war in Ukraine.
■ The Washington Post: Video shows the suspect “shouting racist and antisemitic slurs before firing a rifle.”
■ A magistrate’s ordered him held in jail at least through Wednesday.
90 days in the hole. A Chicago cop faces three months’ suspension, accused of using a baton to hit, um, the president of the Chicago Police Board.
■ Police were investigating the stabbing of a man on the Museum Campus last night around 7.
■ A pedestrian pronounced dead at the scene brought the outbound Dan Ryan to a halt at the start of the morning rush hour.
Facebook cash opportunity. Another settlement in a class action lawsuit over user privacy stands to send up to $725 million—the largest recovery ever in such a privacy action—to users whose personal data Facebook shared with third parties.
■ The longer you’ve used Facebook, the more you can expect to collect.
‘If Walmart leaves us, we will leave Walmart.’ Demanding the company reverse its plans to close four Chicago stores, firebrand Father Michael Pfleger threatens a subsequent demonstration big enough to shut down another Walmart.
■ Community leaders are demanding a meeting with the corporation’s leadership.
Not the CTA. Transit agencies across the country—but not Chicago’s—gave autistic kids the chance to deliver those recorded announcements like “Stand clear of the closing doors.”
■ The CTA’s mapping the first improvements in more than 40 years for the Brown Line’s Western station.
■ Your Square columnist’s score: 7/8.
■ Then try your hand at The Onion’s version of a practice test “to pass a history class in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Florida.”
After record heat: Snow. Chicago set a new high for April 13: 83 degrees …
■ … but Monday could bring back a touch of winter …
■ … which, this year, was wetter than average.
While the weather’s warm … Do you have your Chicago Public Square T-shirt yet?
■ Support Square and get $5 off one.
Thanks. Gene Daly made this edition better.
A Square public service announcement
Know an aspiring journalist? Spread this word from the Chicago Headline Club: Monday’s the deadline to apply for the Les Brownlee Memorial Scholarship. An undergrad attending a Chicago-area or Illinois institution can land $5,000.