Chicago Public Square’s taking next week off. But, as ever, you’ll find continual news updates on the Square Facebook page. And watch your email inbox for a Thanksgiving week news quiz. Now, the news:
A ‘chaotic scene.’ The Sun-Times recounts yesterday’s crash of a CTA Yellow Line train into a snowplow on the tracks near the Howard station …
■ … injuring at least 38 people …
■ … at least one of whom is suing.
■ The snowplow was reportedly out there for training purposes.
■ The driver of an SUV died yesterday after crashing into a CTA bus near the city’s Museum Campus …
■ … injuring at least three others.
Gas pain. The Illinois Commerce Commission’s OK’d a rate increase for Peoples Gas customers in Chicago …
■ … but—in a move the Sun-Times says left consumer advocates “stunned and jubilant,” the increase is less than the company sought, and it comes with a pause on a controversial and expensive pipeline replacement program.
This way out. Seared by a House Ethics Committee report whose findings he didn’t contest, lying Rep. George Santos (R-Balderdash) says he won’t seek reelection.
■ His colleagues might kick him out sooner.
■ Late Night host Seth Meyers: Santos has “the shopping list of a 98-year-old oil tycoon’s 20-year-old wife.”
■ Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week: Would-be congressional brawler Markwayne Mullin.
■ The man who attacked ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer has been convicted and faces up to 50 years in prison.
It’s a deal. President Biden’s signed the bill averting a government shutdown until at least January.
■ Public Notice columnist Noah Berlatsky: It’s just “a short break from Republicans’ forever tantrum.”
It’s happened before. The Conversation: Hamas isn’t the first military group to wage war while hiding behind civilians.
■ A communications blackout has prompted the UN to suspend food and supply delivery to Gaza.
■ Protesters demanding a cease-fire yesterday shut down bridges in Boston and San Francisco.
■ Politico: A D.C. protest of the war at Democratic headquarters has set off alarm bells in Chicago, set to host the party’s convention next year.
■ The New York Times’ poetry editor is quitting, she says, to protest “the Israeli state’s U.S.-backed war against the people of Gaza.”
■ CNN’s Oliver Darcy: War in the Middle East has pushed coverage of the war in Ukraine to the back burner.
‘It’s been a lot of trauma.’ A Chicago man whose wife and daughter were attacked and two of their cars stolen over the course of two weeks—allegedly by the same guys—talked to reporters after a judge ordered the suspects detained before trial.
■ The Illinois attorney general’s office tells a federal judge the Chicago police unit supposed to review officers’ use of force is “critically understaffed.”
Help on the way. Gov. Pritzker’s OK’d $160 million more in aid for Chicago’s care of migrants.
■ The Cook County Board’s unanimously approved a budget that includes another $100 million for asylum-seekers’ health care.
‘We’re now past whether Conyears-Ervin is fit to serve in Congress. It’s time to talk about whether she’s fit to remain in her present post.’ A Tribune editorial offers Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin her hat.
■ Earlier: The city’s ethics board finds probable cause she wrongfully fired two whistleblowers.
A Walgreens first. It’s closing most of its stores on Thanksgiving.
■ The Center for Public Integrity: In a move McDonald’s and franchise owners hate, the National Labor Relations Board’s made it easier for workers to organize.
■ Consumer Reports serves up its list of the best early Black Friday deals.
‘Protect monarchs.’ That’s the plea on newly available Illinois license plates …
■ … which you can order here.
■ Amazon’s opening its site to car sales by local dealers next year.
■ If you get more than 5/8 correct, you’re a better student of the news than your Square columnist.
He taught guitar to John Prine. Ray Tate, who ran Chicago’s storied Old Town School of Folk Music in the ’60s and ’70s, is dead at 86.
■ A funeral Saturday will honor former WNUA*, WVAZ, WGCI and WVON host Denise Jordan Walker.
‘An inappropriate remark.’ Departing White Sox announcer Jason Benetti, who has cerebral palsy, reportedly is leaving in part because someone in the organization compared him to “normal human beings.”
■ Northwestern University’s scandal-scarred football program has removed “interim” from head coach David Braun’s title.
■ Media writer Tom Jones is “truly stunned, flabbergasted, whatever the strongest word is for I can’t actually believe she said that!” by Amazon Prime and Fox Sports anchor Charissa Thompson’s confession that she just made shit up for her sideline reports.
‘Conservatives have truly turned the Constitution into a suicide pact.’ Reader Matthew Tarpy writes about yesterday’s Square: “I have a 14-year-old freshman at Evanston Township High School. There are about 4,400 kids that go to that school. I can’t tell you how terrified I am sometimes that one of those kids decides they’ve had it and shoots the school up. This is the legacy of the NRA, the fear that we as parents have to live with when we send our kids to f-cking school, which ought to be the safest place they’ll ever be.”
■ Your comments on the news are always welcome here.
‘Voice Cloning Challenge.’ The FTC’s offering a $25,000 prize to an innovator who can help protect the public from faked voices.
■ NewsGuard: An AI-generated website fueled a baseless narrative about a nonexistent psychiatrist for Israel’s prime minister.
■ A Northwestern University study concludes the U.S. has lost a third of its newspapers and two-thirds of its print journalists since 2005.
Thanks given. Continuing our random roll-call of Chicago Public Square supporters: All hail Ken Shiner, William Wheelhouse, Steve Nidetz (again!), Kevin Parzyck, Sabrina Deitch, JM, Ann Spittle, Christopher Comes, Ken Scott, Sharon Halperin, Shel Lustig, Crissy Kawamoto, Patrick Quinn, Sarah Hoban, Scott Baskin, Andy Mitran, Eric Hochstein, Bill Oakes, Avis Rudner, Amy Dixon-Kolar, the Skubish Family, Paul Kungl, Stephanie Springsteen, Zarine Weil, Carol Morency, Beth Botts, Deborah Montgomery, Jeanne Mcinerney, M. Braun, Joseph Sjostrom, Valerie Denney, Susy Schultz, Holly Wallace, Ann Fisher, Roy Plotnick, David Mendell, Ann Johnson Arellano, Collin Canright, Annemarie Kill, Aris Georgiadis, Jan Kodner, John Gehron, Stephanie Blatt, Stan Zoller, Laurel Saltzman, Jerry Wolin, Charles Pratt, Ricky Briasco and Jeff Hanneman.
■ Contribute any amount—even just $1, one time—and see your name in the next edition.
■ Donna Barrows made this edition better.
* Where she was a colleague to your Square columnist.