No Chicago Public Square Monday. Be here Tuesday. And now, news for your weekend:
‘They’re refugee camps.’ The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg asks, “Who does the city think it’s fooling, calling its … 2,000-person settlements ‘winterized base camps’?” But he concludes—whatever you call ’em—they may be “the best option we have.”
■ The company with which Chicago’s contracted for this project is among those accused in connection with the mistreatment of migrant kids at the border.
■ A Tribune editorial: “Why is FEMA not … shouldering the cost?”
‘A game-changing model.’ A nonprofit CEO hails Cook County government’s commitment of almost $14 million to turn hotels in Oak Park and Evanston into shelters for the homeless.
■ The latest new apartment tower for the booming Fulton Market district will commit 30% of its units to affordable housing.
■ R.I.P., “INVEST South/West”: Mayor Johnson’s administration is dismantling one of ex-Mayor Lightfoot’s signature development programs.
‘A slow creep toward unethical behavior.’ ProPublica’s fresh dirt on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas: He secretly helped fundraise for a network that has brought cases before the court …
■ … including a big one that this term could limit federal agencies’ power over environment, labor rights and consumer protections.
■ Critic Richard Roeper praises a four-part documentary, Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court, now on Paramount+/Showtime …
■ … which TechHive’s Jared Newman says you can still get for free.
‘A cardboard cutout of a party leader.’ That’s Semafor’s assessment of Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s “train wreck” of a week.
■ The AP: As hard-right Republicans push “dangerously closer to a disruptive federal shutdown,” McCarthy “faces an almost impossible task” trying to unite Republicans.
■ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch: “The longer that the UAW’s fight for a fair deal goes on, the more that those Americans with calluses on their hands are realizing that the frauds of the Republican Party are not on their side.” (If you hit a paywall, copy that link into an incognito browser window.)
■ And yet: Prosecutors have charged Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife with taking bribes—including $100,000 in gold bars.
‘The damage he did may last forever.’ Media critic Margaret Sullivan sees little to celebrate in the (possible) end of Rupert Murdoch’s reign at Fox News.
■ CNN’s Oliver Darcy: Murdoch’s is “a monstrous legacy.”
■ The Los Angeles Times’ Michael Hiltzik: “The DNA he injected into the American bloodstream is a hardy virus … its vectors among … not only Fox News, but The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page and the New York Post” …
■ … but one professor of journalism says Murdoch’s resignation extends President Biden’s good-luck streak with the media.
■ The Handbasket: Reactionary and scandal-scarred organization Project Veritas is “about to go kaput.”
■ The chief science adviser for the Match dating site says fewer people are willing to hook up across the political aisle.
Cubs in the strike zone. Concession workers at Wrigley Field have authorized union leadership to launch a walkout “at any moment.”
■ PolitiFact gives Sen. Bernie Sanders a “Mostly True” rating for his claim that “CEOs are now making 400 times more than their average worker.”
■ Chicago’s temporary top cop is taking the blame for not shutting down a White Sox game last month after two women were shot in the stands—blaming “miscommunication” that he says won’t happen again.
‘The end of civilization as we know it.’ Mockingly mourning the end of the Senate’s dress code, The Washington Post’s Alexandra Petri proposes new rules—including “Senators must wear full business attire at all times unless they are asleep or in the shower, and even then they are strongly encouraged to do so” (gift link, courtesy of Chicago Public Square supporters).
■ Dress codes are Men Yell at Me columnist Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week …
■ … with New York Times columnist David Brooks a close second.
Students against book bans. Literary Activism salutes kids across the country fighting for library liberation …
■ … including some in the suburb of Yorkville (Sept. 9 link).
‘Less Elon Musk and more climate questions.’ That’s what quizmaster and past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel promises in this week’s news quiz.
■ If you best your Square columnist’s mediocre 6/8 correct (75%), be one of the first five readers to send a screenshot of that score (at least 7 correct) and your mailing address to us.quiz@theconversation.com and get a free sticker from The Conversation to back up your bragging rights.
Hail the Frankmobile Wienermobile! Oscar Mayer’s changing back the name of its hot dog on wheels.
■ The New York Times (another gift link): “The world’s largest food and restaurant companies have not made progress on their goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Some are even producing more.”
‘I have spent hours arguing with my wife about whether to recycle plastic with a triangle with a number 4 on it.’ Satirist Joel Stein launches a new column for The Lever, offering advice for leading an ethical life in an unethical world.
■ Filmmaker Michael Moore hails a starstudded new anthology on Apple TV+, exploring “what life will be like over the next few decades on our planet as the climate catastrophe gets worse”—noting that Apple’s taken down its paywall through Monday night. (Update, Sept. 15: Moore apologizes: “I was not informed of the hoops the public would be asked to jump through—and if I had been, I would not have encouraged my audience to go through all of this.”)
Thanks. Mike Braden made this edition better.