Trump warned. As Donald Trump was arraigned yesterday, accused of leading a conspiracy to derail the 2020 election, the federal magistrate overseeing the proceeding told him not to talk to, bribe or influence witnesses—a thing that The Associated Press explains could be a problem.
■ Law prof and former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance: “This new indictment is the moment where those who’ve said they just can’t follow the news should … reconnect.”
■ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch (try an incognito browser window if you hit a paywall): “It’s justice that Trump, who wanted to toss Black votes, gets charged under a KKK Act.”
■ Columnist Robert Reich speculates on Trump’s plan to avoid jail.
■ Developing at Chicago Public Square’s email deadline: Trump’s abandoning his lawsuit against a Georgia district attorney investigating him for election interference—and against the judge who oversaw an associated grand jury.
‘Everyone was cheering.’ Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petrie (gift link to you, courtesy of Square) projects how the arraignment played out in Trump’s head …
■ … which, as it turns out, isn’t much different from the take on Fox.
■ Public Notice: “Mike Pence is an object lesson; choosing Donald Trump leads to humiliation.”
■ Cue Men Yell at Me columnist Lyz Lenz, who names Pence her Dingus of the Week.
■ But Pence is capitalizing on his split from Trump—with merch.
■ The Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet: Except for three of ’em, Illinois Republican leaders were mum about Trump’s plight.
Bad cops underreported. Chicago’s inspector general says Police Department rules requiring officers to flag colleagues’ misbehavior are confusing and under-enforced—perpetuating a “code of silence.”
■ Read the report here.
Watermelon, man. Escalating the racial overtones to Northwestern University’s athletics scandal, lawsuits filed by two former football players allege Black players were forced into watermelon-eating contests …
■ … that were embraced by fired ex-coach Pat Fitzgerald.
A place of death. Venturing where few have gone since Valentine’s Day 2018, a congressional delegation today toured the blood-stained and bullet-scarred Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
■ As part of a lawsuit against a former sheriff’s deputy who stayed outside during the massacre, 140 live rounds were to be fired inside the building today.
■ Gov. Pritzker’s signed a law requiring Illinois schools to develop ways to identify childhood trauma exposure—and catch early signs of mental illness and suicidal behavior.
‘A right we currently take for granted that may soon disappear.’ Platformer’s Casey Newton says anti-speech laws spreading from the states to Congress may cost you “the ability to browse and post to most websites anonymously.”
■ The Literary Activism newsletter: Book bans may bring the return of child-free libraries.
Talk about endangered! The Endangered Species Act is, to use the word of one defender, starving.
■ Columnist Rex Huppke: “Climate change may be causing our faces to melt off … but there’s a far more pressing issue most Americans are missing: Chinese man-bears.”
■ The Heated newsletter catches up with the original “Climate Barbie,” Canada’s former Minister of the Environment and Climate Change.
■ Economist Umair Haque: Why this feels like an age where everything’s going wrong.
‘It wasn’t a rant. I went to … Aldi, for the … first time, and wrote, in a quiet measured way, about my experience there.’ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg, who was unhappy with Chicago Public Square’s July 28 characterization of his July 25 grocery store critique—a post that he declared “the most-read thing I’ve written over the past 12 months” and that was in fact the most-tapped item in last Friday’s Square—has had a change of heart:
■ “I hereby renounce the sin of being critical of Aldi, and pledge myself to shop there from now until eternity.”
US Cellular, um, fielding offers. The phone company whose name was for a time synonymous with the White Sox is looking into “strategic alternatives.”
■ Apple may have an iPhone sales problem.
‘The word jazz was used to describe music for the first time … in Chicago in 1915.’ That’s what journalist Robert Loerzel’s fresh research suggests.
■ See Mayor Johnson introduce headliner Billie Eilish at Lollapalooza’s opening night.
The sometime Chicagoan who shared atomic bomb secrets. Critic Richard Roeper reviews a documentary profile of Manhattan Project physicist Ted Hall—the latest from filmmaker Steve James …
■ … interviewed in a 2018 Chicago Public Square podcast.
Perfect challenge. Can you match your Chicago Public Square columnist’s 100% score on this week’s news quiz?
■ After you give it a shot, take a survey about the quiz itself.
The city stands corrected. Thanks to a note to Square from reader Michael Rosenbaum, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events has updated its Taste of Chicago website—linked from yesterday’s Square—to show that, no, Taste did not happen in July.
End pledge tyranny. Many email newsletters insist readers support them in fixed amounts. But Chicago Public Square lets you decide what to chip in. Choose any amount—as little as $1, one-time or recurring—to help keep this service coming.