Blame Canada. Or, more accurately, blame the warming global climate responsible for the more than 1,000 Canadian wildfires whose smoke has triggered another Air Pollution Action Day for Chicago …
■ … whose air as a consequence is again ranking among the world’s most polluted.
■ Even if you think you’re not at risk, someone you know almost surely is.
■ The Conversation: Freshwater megafish are dying off.
■ Economist Umair Haque: Welcome to the Pyrocene Era—“the summer the planet started burning.”
■ Heated reports from Comic-Con: Jamie Lee Curtis’ new graphic novel “gives a face, name, and story to the ultimate comic book villain: Fossil fuel companies.”
■ Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow’s take at The Nib begins this way:
Cop shot. A Chicago police officer was reported in “good spirits” after he was wounded by gunfire during a South Side traffic stop last night.
■ The department was reviewing body cam video of the incident.
■ A 10-year-old boy who allegedly grabbed a gun from his mom’s purse fired at police yesterday—but didn’t hurt anyone.
■ The family of a man shot and killed by a Chicago officer asks a federal judge to revive their suit against the city.
■ A new survey exposes widespread burnout and staff shortages at 911 call centers across the country.
■ A new survey exposes widespread burnout and staff shortages at 911 call centers across the country.
‘A questionable statement.’ Streetsblog Chicago has some doubts about CTA communication on travel delays imposed by the rebuild of the Blue Line’s Forest Park branch.
■ One rider to WGN-TV: “People are a little bit confused.”
‘A hotbed of brand misinformation.’ NewsGuard analyzes the torrent of TikTok videos spreading falsehoods about companies including Target, Kohl’s, Anheuser-Busch, Barilla, Bud Light, Chick-fil-A, Heineken and Hobby Lobby.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “Twitter by any other name is still my favorite social media cesspool.”
■ CNN’s Oliver Darcy: Elon Musk “has done to Twitter what Donald Trump did to the Republican Party.”
■ Casey Newton at Platformer: Musk’s takeover is “best understood not as a money-making endeavor, but as an extended act of cultural vandalism.”
(Illustration: Arlen Schumer.)
‘Carmakers are making their products less attractive, less reliable, less safe and less resilient by stuffing them full of microchips.’ Author and tech watchdog Cory Doctorow details the auto industry’s—to use his word—enshittification.
■ Hear him here, in a 2019 Chicago Public Square podcast.
‘You better bring our cart back if you ever want to see your quarter again, buddy.’ Columnist Neil Steinberg is taken aback by the penny-pinching milieu at a new Aldi store.
■ Aldi sibling Trader Joe’s is recalling cookies because they may contain rocks.
■ In a promotion for another chain over the weekend, David Letterman ate food off a store floor.
■ Major Chicago unions were set today to sign a pledge not to strike during next year’s Democratic National Convention.
Disney’s magical content purge. The Lever explains that streaming services are yanking shows and movies to avoid paying creators—and to position themselves to claim tax breaks.
■ Variety media analyst Andrew Wallenstein’s open letter to Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos: How about you being Hollywood’s savior?
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