■ Read the letter.
■ Block Club: As the city confronts a housing shortage, the Chicago Housing Authority is letting hundreds of empty homes decay.
■ With winter closing in, the city’s moving migrants to churches turned temporary shelters.
■ Add Oak Park to the roster of communities requiring that new construction rely on just electric power—no natural gas.
‘The stupidest … Hallmark Christmas movie ever.’ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst assesses a report that ex-Vice President Mike Pence agonized over whether to preside over the confirmation of Joe Biden’s presidential victory on Jan. 6, 2021.
■ Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney’s new book describes her fellow party members as “enablers and collaborators … willing to violate their oath to the Constitution out of political expediency and loyalty to Donald Trump.”
‘An epic humiliation.’ That’s how the top Democrat on the U.S. House Oversight Committee describes Republicans’ failure to embrace an offer from President Biden’s son Hunter to testify publicly about their probe of his actions.
■ They want to grill him in secret.
■ News watchdog Margaret Sullivan: “The press now needs to be ‘at war’ … for democracy itself.”
‘Liberal women should not marry Republican men.’ Columnist Lyz Lenz has a beef with last week’s Washington Post editorial attributing “the collapse of marriage” in part to “young women … discovering that they can’t find suitable male partners.”
■ The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Will Bunch explains what a flood of sex abuse cases against powerful men says about democracy.
■ Satire from The Onion: “Conservative Men Explain How They Are Raising Daughters.”
■ Popular Information explores the case of a mysterious woman who blames a Scholastic book for her addiction to pornography.
Some of your files (possibly) are missing. Google Drive users may have a problem.
■ Google plans to begin deleting old, unused accounts later this week—unless users take precautionary steps.
Advertising X’d. A little late, The Washington Post is backing away from Twitter X …
■ … tardily joining a trend of major advertisers quitting Elon Musk’s garbage fire.
■ Tech industry critic Cory Doctorow: “Forget Twitter: Amazon search is the poster-child for enshittification.”
■ Ignoring the letter’s questionable reputation, Amazon’s dubbed its AI-powered chatbot for businesses Q.
‘Unacceptable’ conduct. With little explanation, the Blackhawks are cutting veteran forward Corey Perry …
■ … amid a flurry of what the team’s general manager calls “wildly inaccurate” and “disgusting” rumors about his conduct.
‘I’m jumping back into local TV.’ Veteran Chicago and network news correspondent Jim Avila is coming out of retirement.
■ A new book by friend of Chicago Public Square Rick Kaempfer goes behind the scenes to detail the history of Chicago’s gone-but-not-forgotten radio station, WLUP, “The Loop.”
Cookies! The Tribune’s rolled out the winners in its annual holiday contest.
■ Here are the recipes.
Hot dogfight. A Square reader conflict that began with a complaint Monday about a rebranding of Illinois’ Secretary of State Driver Services evolved Tuesday into a discussion of Chicago-style pizza and hot dog condiment selections.
■ Former Trib dining critic and (jokingly) self-styled “beloved Chicago icon” Phil Vettel weighs in: “Ketchup on hot dog indicates an unrefined palate. This is why kids put ketchup on everything, and adults rarely use the stuff. Trump puts ketchup on his well-done steaks. And Uno Pizzeria opened in 1943.”
What’s Square worth to you? Chipping in any amount—even just $1—puts your name in this space tomorrow, added to the roster of Chicago Public Square supporters such as Sonya Booth, Doreen Rice (again!), Paul Wedeen (again!), k.h., Susan Tyson, Richard Milne, Charlie Pajor, Paul Buchbinder, Mike Janowski, Julie Martin, Maureen Kelly, Suzy Le Clair, Peggy Fogelman, David Boulanger, Paul Teodo, Alison Price, Evan McKenzie, Stephanie Zimmermann, Bill Herbert, Meredith Schacht, Jim Moriarty, MJ Garnier, Neela Marnell, Jim Haglund, Jim Holmes, Andrew Thackray, Dave Kraft and Christine Koenig.