She’s gone. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein—a politician who broke gender barrier after gender barrier—is dead at 90 …
■ … resolving a monthslong debate over whether she was well enough to continue serving …
■ … and setting the stage for Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom to name her replacement (updated link).
‘Nihilistic destructiveness.’ With the U.S. at the brink of a shutdown, former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich warns, “I’ve been directly involved in two government shutdowns, and this is much worse.”
■ Politico’s Michael Schaffer: “What if the government shut down and no one noticed?”
■ The Onion: “Government Shutdown Could Imperil Hundreds Of Americans Currently At Top Of Federally Funded Ferris Wheels.”
‘An epic takedown.’ At Republicans’ first hearing on allegations of corruption at the Biden White House, Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett stirringly turned the spotlight back to the indictment of Donald Trump.
■ See the video: “These are our national secrets—looks like in the shitter to me.”
Let’s get quizzical. Time again for a new news quiz from The Conversation, courtesy of past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel.
■ Mark (“Luke Skywalker”) Hamill approved.
■ The Republicans’ star witness—a Fox legal analyst—said outright: “I do not believe that the current evidence would support articles of impeachment.”
■ The Bulwark’s Charlie Sykes rates the hearing a disaster.
‘He has never been … more impassioned.’ Historian Heather Cox Richardson hails President Biden’s clarion call for Americans to take political arms against those threatening to overturn U.S. democracy.
■ Heckled during that speech by a climate protester, Biden told the guy to “shush up.”
‘Seven dunces … trying to talk over each other.’ Analyzing Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate, the Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg perceived the need for a new political glossary explaining the candidates’ invocation of words like agenda, elites and … Chicago.
■ Washington Post satirist Alexandra Petri has rewritten that night for you: “Do you want to hear these seven people yell unintelligibly over one another for two hours of your life that you will never get back? Then boy, do we have an evening for you!” (Gift link, courtesy of supporters of Chicago Public Square.)
Tent tension. Gov. Pritzker says he’d prefer Chicago use existing, unoccupied buildings to house migrant refugees …
■ … instead of the tent encampments that Mayor Johnson’s deputy chief of staff says will provide “the dignity, the respect and the humanity that these individuals absolutely deserve.”
■ Police are investigating reports of a break-in at a Gage Park shelter for women migrants.
‘No Chicagoan should ever have to go through what I experienced.’ A man who says Chicago Ald. Jim Gardiner had him falsely arrested is getting $100,000 from the city.
■ Two Chicago cops who shot an unarmed man have been found not guilty.
■ Police reported a 10-year-old girl in serious condition after she was struck in a South Side home’s bedroom by gunfire that came from outside the house.
Called out. On his last day in office, Chicago’s departing interim police superintendent demoted the commander overseeing White Sox security the day a woman was shot in the park.
■ She tells ABC7 she didn’t even realize she’d been shot until someone reported finding a bullet a couple of rows down.
‘Have this in mind before you hand over your data.’ A new privacy policy takes effect today at Twitter X, and Mashable says the upshot is that “the company will now collect a lot more personal data and use it in new ways” (August link).
■ Casey Newton at Platformer: “Between ChatGPT’s surprisingly human voice and Meta’s AI characters, our feeds may be about to change forever.”
■ The Supreme Court’s agreed to decide whether state laws limiting social media platforms such as X, Facebook and TikTok are constitutional.
Signed off. The iconic romantic dinner destination at the former Hancock Center, the Signature Room, closed with little notice yesterday, pleading “economic issues.”
■ A new California law sets the minimum wage for fast-food workers at $20/hour.
■ A Chicago City Council member says he’s fed up with the city’s “filthy” dollar stores.
‘Cancel your streaming services.’ Tech columnist Jared Newman says that, by bailing now, you’ll be in a position to grab deals for “new and returning subscribers” when services launch their holiday promotions.
■ Disney+ is gearing up for a crackdown on password sharing.
Rebugttal. Asserting that “not everything is as horrible as it appears,” reader Laurel Saltzman takes issue with the Illinois Agriculture Department’s encouragement (noted in yesterday’s Chicago Public Square) that people kill the invasive lanternfly …
■ … sharing a piece from earlier this month by naturalist Nancy Lawson, who says “lanternflies have not lived up to their foreshadowed reputation.”
‘AI … will, unless prevented, largely take over the news business.’ Columnist Irv Leavitt says, “Cutting journalism budgets to the quick is not a new concept.”
■ The Gannett newspaper chain’s posting of jobs covering Taylor Swift and Beyoncé has reportedly generated almost a thousand applications.
■ Coming Sunday Saturday to Oak Park’s Unity Temple: A live presentation from NPR’s Radiolab explores the wonders of the cassette tape.
■ If your score exceeds 75% [Update, after addition of a ninth question: 7/9 correct], you’re a better quiz-taker than your Square columnist.
■ A reminder that, like Square, The Conversation provides its content for free—because of support from readers such as you.
■ Angela Mullins made this edition better.