‘A bad idea.’ Count the American Civil Liberties Union among those opposing a Chicago City Council member’s plan to let cops work security at bars and liquor stores.
■ The city’s police oversight board has voted to kill the department’s error-riddled gang database.
■ ProPublica: “He fled a traffic stop in Louisiana. Now he’s in prison for life.”
A private matter. The president of Chicago’s (public school) teachers union faces criticism for sending her son to a Catholic high school.
■ The Tribune: Less than an hour after Chicago Public Schools disclosed multiple violations of state law in its physical restraint of students, parents’ complaints began pouring in.
Mayor’s ‘head-turning moment.’ Politico’s Shia Kapos ironically notes Brandon Johnson’s remark last night at an Economic Club of Chicago dinner—that he’ll consider his administration successful “when people are not living in tents” …
■ … odd timing, considering that he’d announced plans earlier in the day to move hundreds of migrants out of police stations and into “base camps”—under big tents.
■ The Sun-Times surveys how other cities are handling the crisis.
■ A Tribune editorial accuses Johnson of using race to preempt legitimate criticism.
Guilty, guilty. Donald Trump’s White House lackey Peter Navarro has been convicted on two contempt of Congress charges.
■ His post-verdict news conference spiraled down when an anti-Trump protester accused a Trump supporter of assault: “He stuck a flagpole in between my legs!”
■ Navarro makes The Bulwark columnist Charlie Sykes’ new list of deplorables.
‘Unprecedented.’ Historian Heather Cox Richardson assesses a statement from U.S. presidential foundations and centers for thirteen presidents expressing concern about the health of American democracy.
■ Politico’s Jack Shafer: Trump has destroyed “horse race journalism.”
■ Press Watch critic Dan Froomkin watches the TV network newscasts so you don’t have to—and finds them neglecting “their responsibility to inform the know-nothings.”
‘Cable, networks: Stop holding us hostage!’ Consumer Reports has launched an online petition demanding cable companies refund customers when channels get blocked in standoffs with content companies.
■ Cord-Cutter Confidential’s Jared Newman: “The cable bundle in its current form is a bad deal … and restructuring it would benefit everyone.”
■ Also: “TV networks have always fought putting sports on pricier packages … but they may have little choice in the streaming world, where customers can walk away if the price gets too high.”
■ Hours after Rolling Stone exposed culture problems at The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon apologized to his staff.
Update iPhones ‘immediately.’ Researchers who discovered a spyware flaw in Apple’s operating system say owners should not hesitate to adopt the new iOS version.
■ Google’s given the Chrome browser a big update for its 15th birthday—with, in Ars Technica’s words, “pastel colors, a longer menu, and not a single sharp corner.”
■ Author and tech activist Cory Doctorow, writing for Locus*: “I found myself accidentally using … an ‘AI’ chatbot. … [and] surprised when I found myself impressed by what it wrote.”
Walmart’s wage retreat. The company’s cutting hourly pay for some new employees.
■ For the second time in two months, environmental activists have defaced Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie’s superyacht.
■ A climate protester yesterday glued his bare feet to a concrete floor, delaying U.S. Open tennis play for 50 minutes.
■ Can you match your Chicago Public Square columnist’s 100% score?
Scooting away. At least one company has yanked all 1,000 of its scooters out of Chicago.
■ Streetsblog Chicago spotlights a series of “free, ten-miles-or-fewer, generally kid-friendly” group bike rides scheduled across Illinois beginning this weekend.
Food for thought—and your mouth. This weekend brings Chicago a belated Taste of Chicago …
■ … and the 38th Printers Row Lit Fest.
■ Here’s the full schedule.
* A science fiction newsletter that your Square columnist once upon a time, long ago, helped illustrate.