Dog bites Iowa. Republicans at the state’s caucuses gave Donald Trump an easy win.
■ He was, to quote CNN, “unusually magnanimous” in victory.
■ Axios: Nikki Haley “stopped Trump from sweeping all 99 counties by a margin of just one vote in Johnson County (home to the University of Iowa).”
■ The AP called the race while some Iowans were still caucusing.
■ Daily Beast columnist Matt Lewis: “Trump’s Iowa victory makes the argument that this whole primary process has been a huge waste of time” …
■ … but Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer says the results reveal Trump’s “general election weaknesses.”
■ The Conversation: “One good thing about the Iowa caucuses, and three that are really troubling.”
■ He’s dropping out and backing Trump.
■ Chicago-based columnist Parker Molloy: “We really don’t have to ‘understand’ Trump voters anymore. … We know who they are.”
No school today. Not even remote learning sessions for Chicago Public Schools, which canceled classes, citing dangerous cold.
■ The deep freeze is exposing electric vehicles’ Achilles’ heel.
■ WTTW: A midweek “warmup” won’t last.
Who’s screwing Chicago now? The city’s inspector general has released her fourth-quarter roundup of “ethics ordinance violations, theft, misuse of resources and more.”
■ Dig deeper here.
‘Arrant bullshit of the first degree.’ Esquire’s Charlie Pierce notes that Illinois-spawned reactionary Charlie Kirk has a new mission—to “discredit Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
■ Federal prosecutors are seeking a year in prison for a Chicago cop who, with his sister, joined the mob at the Capitol in January 2021.
■ Journalism critic Mark Jacob: “Media amnesia” is “helping would-be fascists get away with their treachery as they plot to commit more.”
‘Famine with … incredible speed.’ The UN’s emergency relief chief says Israel’s war in Gaza has left the “great majority” of 400,000 people starving there.
■ The death toll in Gaza—in a war triggered by the death of about 1,200 in Israel—has now topped 24,000.
Taxpayer money at work. The repressive, book-banning Moms for Liberty group plans to launch its own public charter school in South Carolina.
■ Kareem Abdul-Jabar on a school district’s removal of dictionaries that define words such as sex: “Floridians have to draw the line now and insist, ‘No more!’”
■ Literary Activism offers a resource guide for embattled library workers and supporters.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn’s readers tackle the question, “What is the value of an education at a prestige college?”
Back on track. The CTA’s Orange Line was running again after a derailment early Monday.
■ No injuries, but 20 people were evacuated.
Chicago’s big Emmys night. The Chicago-set restaurant series The Bear won big last night.
■ Second City-trained Quinta Brunson of Abbott Elementary became the first Black woman in more than 40 years to win the Emmy for best lead actress in a comedy …
■ … but Berwyn-born Bob Odenkirk’s Better Call Saul struck out in its final bid to win even one Emmy.
■ Critic Chris Bennion is outraged: “Why did three shows win everything?”
■ By network, HBO led the pack.
■ Here’s the full list.
■ Apple’s updating the software for its wireless “Magic Keyboards” to keep unscrupulous types from remotely monitoring what users are typing.
What you missed. If you don’t follow Chicago Public Square on Facebook—it’s free and visible even to non-members—here’s a sample of what you’d’ve seen there over the long weekend:
■ Wired: “The Boeing 737 Max crisis reignites arguments over infant safety on planes.”
■ CNN: The wealth of the world’s five richest men has more than doubled since 2020.
■ Columnist Michael Hiltzik: A legal loophole lets antiabortion prosecutors obtain women’s secret health data.
■ Trump’s under orders to pay almost $400,000 in legal fees over his failed lawsuit against The New York Times.
■ Law prof Joyce Vance: “Nothing good happens when you bend the rules for Trump. We saw that play out, again, in a Manhattan courtroom.”
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■ Mike Braden made this edition better.
■ Mike Braden made this edition better.