‘This is not journalism.’ News media watchdog Dan Froomkin rips New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker a new one for his ho-hum treatment of the latest charges against Donald Trump …
■ … who’d vowed to hold a news conference to address the case against him in Georgia but now says his lawyers tell him that’s not such a good idea.
■ Former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger mocks: “What a coward!”
‘Giuliani is approaching dingularity.’ Lyz Lenz bestows her Dingus of the Week award on Trump’s easily ridiculed lawyer.
■ The Daily Beast: “Rudy’s RICO origin story is as fake as his hair color.”
■ The Bulwark team is astonished by “one of the most WTF leaks in memory”—from a Ron DeSantis super political action committee.
■ Whoops: The Beast introduces us to a pro-Trump Senate candidate who failed to scrub all of his anti-Trump tweets.
■ Illinois Republicans’ theme at Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair yesterday: Donald who? …
■ … with one notable exception.
‘Using sirens would have sent people running into the fire is a weird excuse.’ Wonkette is unsurprised that the head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency has quit, citing “health reasons” …
■ … after saying he had no regrets about not sounding alarms as flames consumed Lahaina.
■ New research says global warming increases the odds of hurricanes making landfall along U.S. coasts …
■ … like Hurricane Hilary, which was menacing California …
■ … with the prospect of as much as a year’s worth of rainfall in a single day.
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg checks in from Phoenix: 111 degrees in the shade.
‘No constitutional right to a stable climate.’ Court records reviewed by The Lever reveal the Biden administration’s response to a landmark climate lawsuit filed on behalf of children.
■ The Conversation: A changing climate, growing human populations and widespread fires contributed to the last major extinction event.
■ The Guardian: The EPA’s new definition of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) could omit thousands of “forever chemicals.”
‘I don’t want this to turn into a horror story.’ The Sun-Times flags safety threats posed by a growing summer phenomenon at Montrose Harbor: Friday Morning Swim Club, which has been drawing hundreds of swimmers—but no lifeguards.
■ Here comes the Chicago Air and Water Show.
‘Three key personnel moves and three … telling results.’ Better Government Association chief David Greising says Mayor Johnson’s batting .667.
■ Approaching his 100th day in office, the mayor tells the Sun-Times he’s more concerned about building consensus than he is about checking boxes on his list of campaign promises.
■ Axios: Johnson will be the first Chicago mayor in recent memory to send his kids to public school.
COVID rising. As kids head back to school, Chicago’s caseload is on the increase.
■ PolitiFact: Fox is wrong—Ivermectin still isn’t an approved COVID-19 treatment.
■ Bloomberg’s Lisa Pham, dealing with long COVID, reviews the gadgets helping her avoid COVID crashes.
Curtains for Chicago theaters. Tribune critic Chris Jones turns a harsh spotlight on the post-pandemic challenges—including the rise of streaming TV—facing the city’s long-celebrated but now struggling theater culture.
■ TechHive’s Jared Newman: “Naysayers continue to get the cost of cord-cutting all wrong. … No, cable isn’t cheaper.”
■ Longtime Chicago TV news anchor Corey McPherrin signs off tonight, wrapping up a 46-year career.
■ Ahead of a weekend celebrating the birthday of the late WXRT DJ Lin Brehmer, the station’s selling commemorative T-shirts to benefit a charity created on his behalf.
College to high school. Northwestern University’s sexual-harassment-scandal-scarrred ex-football coach, Pat Fitzgerald, is now helping out with the football team at a suburban Catholic high school …
■ … where two of his sons play.
■ The Trib looks back: “The prestigious university has been grappling with hazing for well more than a century.”
‘Freako for RICO? Bananas for Montana?’ Quizmaster and past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel invites you to try your hand at this week’s news quiz.
■ Can you beat your Chicago Public Square columnist’s score, 5/8?
Want an early shot at the quiz? Square supporters at the Advocate level or better get Thursday access to each week’s challenge.
■ But contributions of as little as $1 are cool, too.
■ Thanks to Rick Kaempfer for a lovely endorsement at the bottom of his latest roundup of Chicago media news.