Read on for your chance to support Chicago Public Square in two ways. 1. Nominate Square in the Chicago Reader Best of Chicago poll. 2. Get one of those brand-new Square hoodies.
■ But first, the news:
Radio’s role. The wife of a Plainfield man charged with the stabbing death of a 6-year-old Muslim tenant and the wounding of the boy’s mother allegedly has told prosecutors the suspect became obsessed with the war between Israel and Hamas after listening “to conservative talk radio on a regular basis.”
■ Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Johnson joined thousands yesterday to mourn little Wadea Al-Fayoume …
■ … as his mother, who left the West Bank 12 years ago in search of a better life in the U.S., remained in the hospital.
■ The Council on American Islamic Relations warns against more violence targeting Muslims and Palestinians.
‘A child murdered in Illinois is not a casualty of war.’ Columnist Michael Rosenbaum writes of a headline about Wadea’s death in yesterday’s Square: “Not to be a scold, or maybe exactly to be a scold, but … he and his mother are casualties of religious intolerance and anger. The killer is not a soldier, not an avenging hero, just a murderous beast.”
■ The Sun-Times: Crimes like that and the Israel-Hamas war itself complicate a federal judge’s decision about whether to admit ex-Ald. Ed Burke’s antisemitic remarks as evidence in Burke’s corruption trial.
‘Israel bombed areas of southern Gaza where it had told Palestinians to flee.’ The Associated Press provides live updates on war in the Mideast.
■ The UN human rights office says Israel’s evacuation order for Gaza may constitute “a forcible transfer of civilians in breach of international law.”
■ The Conversation: Decades of underfunding have weakened Gaza’s health system, and the siege has pushed it into abject crisis.
■ Your Local Epidemiologist offers suggestions for managing the sadness, stress and vicarious trauma with which coverage of the war can afflict people a world away.
Doubly gagged. Law professor and former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance explains a judge’s crackdown on Donald Trump’s loose lips …
■ … in CNN’s words, “likely the biggest limit on the former president’s speech he has ever been handed.”
■ USA Today’s Rex Huppke: “Trump … is not above the law. But at least now he has some new material to work with.”
Home is where his part is. Mayor Johnson’s abandoned plans for a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border to learn about the nation’s migrant challenge—and instead will send a delegation led by one of his deputies.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: Johnson’s “proving an inartful dodger of direct questions.”
‘No known reason.’ That’s the CTA’s most common categorization of people who’ve risked their lives to climb down onto train tracks in the first eight months of this year.
■ A Chicago City Council member wants to fine—and require family counseling for—the parents of kids caught endangering public safety with things like street takeovers and drag racing.
Waste not. Chicago’s launched its first citywide scrap drop-off—composting—program …
■ … but the city would like you to watch a training video before signing up to participate.
Crime wave? What crime wave? Popular Information says fresh FBI numbers suggest that 2023 could feature one of modern history’s most dramatic declines in violent crime.
■ Slow Boring columnist Matthew Yglesias: “In a country where the overall state of crime data is bad, the shoplifting data is really bad.”
‘100 buildings razed in the delirium of urban renewal, which valued expressways and development deals over architecture and neighborhoods.’ Booklist celebrates Chicagoans Rich Cahan and Michael Williams’ new book, Lost in America: Photographing the Last Days of Our Architectural Treasures.
■ CNN explains what’s ailing the nation’s drugstore business.
‘I should at least have something new, like COVID-23.’ Stephen Colbert is back to hosting his show virtually—because he has COVID-19 again.
■ He blames his attendance at the new Taylor Swift movie: “I sang, I laughed, I screamed along with my fellow Swifties who were so excited that they came to the theater despite their high fevers, loss of taste and smell.”
■ The Bulwark’s Jonathan V. Last celebrates Swift: “In a business full of sharks and bullies, she beat the house. And her success has turned out to be good for all of us.”
Votes! More votes! The nomination race is on for the new Chicago Reader Best of Chicago poll, and Chicago Public Square humbly seeks your nod for Best Email Newsletter and Best Independent Website.
■ Cast your ballot privacy to the wind, email a screenshot of your Square nominations to Bestof@ChicagoPublicSquare.com—as readers including Matthew Tarpy, Jim Burns, Diane Hohmann, Jim Parks, LJ in Arkansas, Gary Strokosch and Ruth Hroncich have done—and see your name in this space tomorrow.
■ Special offer: Become a new Square supporter at the Enthusiast level or better and get a hoodie free. (Emailed instructions will follow your confirmatory email.)