‘What does going downtown do? Besides waste time and money.’ Columnist Neil Steinberg examines the state of the workplace: “People discovered they can work at home. … Deal with it.”
■ By Tuesday, getting downtown on the Kennedy Expressway won’t be quite so much of a pain.
Relieved of duty. A Chicago police officer is off the job after her car struck and killed a woman early yesterday on North State Street near the House of Blues …
■ A Tribune editorial praises a blueprint for improving State Street but asks, “How about getting cops out of their cars?”
■ Police were investigating the stabbing of a cabbie early today along North Michigan Avenue.
Hunter in prosecutors’ sights. President Biden’s son has been indicted on nine tax charges in California.
■ President Trump’s niece Mary offers “a list of other alleged crimes—many from my extended family—prosecutors need to take a look at.”
‘A scenario many Republicans are dreading.’ Dictator-in-waiting Trump could secure the party’s presidential nomination before he’s convicted, giving the nation what The Daily Beast calls “the first convicted criminal ever to run for president as a major party nominee.”
■ USA Today’s Rex Huppke: “Leaders in Trump’s MAGA movement sure are scared of Taylor Swift.”
‘Sometimes, you just can’t listen to it anymore.’ Political debate fan Lauren Martinchek explains why she didn’t watch this week’s Republican presidential candidate forum.
■ Seth Meyers on Late Night: “If there’s one service anyone can perform at these stupid debates, it’s tearing Vivek Ramaswamy to shreds.”
■ Charlamagne Tha God at The Daily Show: Ramaswamy’s “right about Jan. 6 being an inside job. … The whole thing was orchestrated by the president. You can’t get more inside than that.”
‘The released hostages are not OK.’ Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin deplores as “factually and morally ridiculous” reporting that Israelis freed after their capture by Hamas “looked well, did not require extensive hospitalization and were somehow fortunate to return in relatively good condition.” (Gift link, courtesy of Chicago Public Square supporters.)
■ After her refusal to tell Congress that calling for Jewish genocide would necessarily violate her campus’ code of conduct, the University of Pennsylvania’s president faces rising pressure to quit.
■ The Onion concocts politicians’ explanations for “Why Criticizing Israel Should Be Illegal.”
‘Absurdities rule the system.’ The Marshall Project’s spent the year investigating U.S. prison censorship—of books, computers and more.
■ The Lever: Private prison firms “are salivating over a proposal to electronically track millions of people caught up in the U.S. immigration system.”
‘Dubai is Andor.’ Reviewing his time at the climate conference there this week, Chicagoan Mike Fourcher says he’s gotten a glimpse of “the struggle of living in a fascist corporate-state with nothing at human scale.”
■ Dubai’s announced plans to cut its carbon emissions 50% by 2030.
‘Spectacular songs and a winning star.’ Critic Catey Sullivan gives Boop! The Musical three stars.
■ The Trib’s Chris Jones says this pre-Broadway tryout leaves “much more work still to be done.”
■ Cord Cutter Weekly: “Good news, everyone! Paramount+ coupon codes are working again, so you can get a free month.”
■ Get all eight questions right to match your Chicago Public Square columnist’s score.
Media biz blues. Chicago-based employment firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas counts more than 20,000 job cuts in the U.S. media industry this year—including close to 2,700 in the news sector alone—more than any year since 2020.
■ A one-day walkout at the Washington Post yesterday gave the world, in the words of CNN’s Oliver Darcy, “a glimpse of a world without the WaPo’s army of journalists.”
■ Post owner Jeff Bezos is Men Yell at Me columnist Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week (again).
■ Square is fortunate to have readers like you.