Texas trauma. Police were preparing to arrest the hospitalized driver of an SUV that plowed into a crowd of people awaiting a bus outside a Brownsville migrant shelter, killing eight—mostly Venezuelan men.
■ CNN identifies the eight victims dead in a gunman’s assault on an Allen, Texas, mall.
■ The shooter, killed by police, wore a patch that read “RWDS,” an acronym popular among white supremacy groups.
■ Your Local Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina: Yeah, Texas has a lot of guns and a lot of mass shootings.
Violence rising. The Associated Press counts the highest number of mass-killing deaths this early in the year since at least 2006.
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones: “What doesn’t change is the eerily familiar weapons—semi-automatic rifles capable of massive destruction in mere moments.”
■ President Biden’s calling for a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
■ Raging debate: Should social media allow images of the dead?
Cop’s killer hunted. Chicago police were seeking the gunman who killed an officer as she returned home early Saturday.
■ She was days away from a Masters of Jurisprudence degree at Loyola's School of Law.
■ A Chicago cop answering a burglary call was wounded in a knife attack.
Funny thing. A day after Injustice Watch interviewed Cook County Circuit Court Associate Judge Gregory P. Vazquez about his appearance in police raid video with the owner of a Brookfield massage parlor known for unlawful sex work, the judge filed paperwork to retire.
■ Two (identical) 2022 Google reviews under his name gave the parlor five stars.
Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink. The Tribune reports that, after an Illinois law required schools to test water for lead, they found it all over the state.
■ How’d your school fare? Type it in here.
‘Pragmatic progressive.’ Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman’s analysis of Mayor-elect Johnson’s early appointments suggests he’s focused more on “getting things done than he is about staying true to ultra-liberal principles.”
■ Johnson’s plan to reorganize the new City Council shrinks its number of committees from 28 to 20—and hands a big prize to one of his key campaign supporters.
Tick, tock. Thursday brings the end of guaranteed free at-home COVID-19 tests, so now’s the time to stock up.
■ Some insurance companies might continue to cover the cost after that.
■ The feds’ll get ya four free—if you haven’t used this page since Dec. 15.
■ Chicago city officials promise that, as long as their supply of federally purchased COVID-19 vaccines lasts, shots will be free—regardless of insurance coverage.
■ Katelyn Jetelina again, on the World Health Organization’s declaration that the COVID “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” is over: “This doesn’t mean that we can go back to pre-pandemic times.”
■ The Chicago-based Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: “Warning signs that the country is ill-prepared for the next big thing are piling up.”
10 books considered pornography in Florida. Brace yourself for outrage as you read a list obtained by Popular Information.
■ USA Today’s Rex Huppke: “It all makes perfect sense if you have … too few functioning brain cells to process the meaning of the word hypocrisy.”
A Chicago Public Square advertiser
Looking for gifts for the moms and mother figures in your life? Check out the MCA Store for gifts designed by moms, for moms! From May 5–14, MCA Members save 20% in the MCA Store and online.
Looking for gifts for the moms and mother figures in your life? Check out the MCA Store for gifts designed by moms, for moms! From May 5–14, MCA Members save 20% in the MCA Store and online.
Thanks. Mike Braden made this edition better.