‘A very valuable GANG OF NEGROES’ / Dingus of the Week / Are you smarter than an AI?

Chicago Public Square will take off Monday. See you Tuesday.

‘A very valuable GANG OF NEGROES.’ ProPublica explains how a South Carolina grad student discovered evidence of the largest known slave auction in the U.S.

■ Ahead of Juneteenth on Monday, a new Washington Post-Ipsos poll finds Black Americans more upbeat—but wary of increased racism.

Fired. The Chicago Police Board has voted to discharge the cop in charge of officers’ mistaken 2019 raid of the home of a social worker, whom they then handcuffed naked.

■ Two other cops accused of killing an armed man without justification in 2018 will get off with just suspension.

■ Injustice Watch is suing the police department, demanding access to its handling of undocumented crime victims’ requests for a special visa to gain legal status.

‘Corruption cornucopia.’ That’s how the Tribune’s Jason Meisner describes the charges against businessman James Weiss, convicted of—among other things—attempting to pay off two state lawmakers.

■ He’s a son-in-law of scandal-scarred (2021 link) former Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios.

Whew. One of Chicago’s oldest homes—one that predates the Great Chicago Fire—survived a fire early yesterday.

■ Most of the buildings at the former Oak Forest Hospital campus, whose origins trace back to 1853, face demolition.

‘She should recuse herself.’ Noting “her meager track record for presiding over criminal trials,” a Trib editorial calls on the judge overseeing the indictment of Donald Trump to step aside.

■ The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg: “Calling Trump a fascist is not an insult, but a dry factual description.”

■ The Onion: “Trump Secretly Hopeful That If He Goes To Prison He Can Meet The Joker.”

■ Also: “Nikki Haley Announces She Will Marry Trump If Elected President.”

Dingus of the Week. Columnist Lyz Lenz honors Republican U.S. senators who can’t—or won’t—read the Trump indictment.

■ Journalist James Fallows commends an hour of TV on Fox: Sean Hannity’s interview of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, “more informative about today’s politics than 99% of what you’ll read or hear about Donald Trump.”

‘Your suburb could be home to a professional football team.’ Columnist Paul Sullivan says “the Bears’ pursuit of a new state-of-the-art stadium to replace Soldier Field has gone off the rails.”

■ Here’s a list of the contenders so far.

■ And don’t count Chicago out yet.

■ Remember Chicago’s doomed pursuit of Amazon’s new headquarters complex? It’s now open in Virginia.

Dry spell. Parts of the Chicago area’s drought conditions are now in the National Weather Service’s “severe” category …

■  … worse than any in 11 years.

‘There seems to finally be global alignment.’ Your Local Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina previews the FDA’s fall COVID-19 vaccination plans.

■ The FDA’s vaccine chief foresees reason for concern this winter.

Ticket sticker shock’s end? Signaling progress in the White House campaign fueled by Taylor Swift fans’ outrage, LiveNation and SeatGeek have pledged to show full prices up-front.

■ BGR’s Andy Meek is not impressed: “What incentive does Ticketmaster have to stop itself from now ‘hiding’ more add-on fees inside that overall price tag?”

Acclaimed guitarist hospitalized. Gary’s Donald Kinsey has been in intensive care since a car crash last week.

■ He played Chicago’s Blues Fest eight days ago.

Are you smarter than an AI? This week’s news quiz, conceived by The Conversation’s quizmaster, past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel, brings a special challenge: The wrong answers to each question were cooked up by the Google Bard and ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbots.

■ Can you beat your Chicago Public Square columnist’s 7/8 score?

■ A rules change for the Grammys: “Only human creators are eligible.”

■ Also from The Conversation: Copyright law isn't prepared for the AI revolution.

■ Author and journalist Cory Doctorow explains how Google’s making millions on paid abortion disinformation.

‘He has a heroic moment when he invents Spider-Man.’ Variety’s Owen Gleiberman reviews a new Disney+ documentary about the late Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee …

■  … a movie that Looper’s Reuben Baron says skips “many stranger and sadder chapters” in Lee’s life.

■ Not a Disney+ subscriber? Revisit your Chicago Public Square columnist’s encounters with Lee over the decades—in 1975, 1976, 1998, 2017 … and a postmortem with two of his biographers in 2021.

■ The incidental appearance of a “Protect Trans Lives” poster apparently prompted the United Arab Emirates to ban the new movie Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

‘Fantastically funny and razor-sharp social satire.’ The Sun-Times’ Richard Roeper gives 3 1/2 stars to The Blackening …

■  … a movie that the Trib’s Michael Phillips calls “shrewd … on the endlessly fruitful topic of being Black in America” …

■  … and that grew out of a Second City sketch in Chicago.

‘The Trek series we really deserve.’ USA Today’s Kelly Lawler gives 3 1/2 stars to the new season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount+ …

■  … and Cord Cutter Weekly proprietor Jared Newman updates his guide to getting Paramount+ for free.

… and those 47 include Chicago Public Square.

Thanks. Jim Parks made this edition better.