‘Feverish planet.’ A fresh report from the European climate agency concludes that Earth last year smashed global annual heat records.
■ The Washington Post: “Scientists knew 2023’s heat would be historic—but not by this much.”
■ That doesn’t mean we’re through with giant winter storm systems like the one that was menacing Chicago and that has wrought havoc with heavy snow through the Midwest and tornadic winds in the South …
■ … but, not inconsistent with the notion of a warming world, Chicago today seemed more likely just to get a lot of rain.
■ More than 500 migrants at the city’s “landing zone” are grappling with what one arrival calls “the cold, the sickness.”
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Is Donald Trump bulletproof? In arguments that the AP says carry “enormous ramifications both for the landmark criminal case against Trump and for the broader … question of whether an ex-president can be prosecuted for acts committed in the White House,” a federal appeals court today considered whether he’s immune from prosecution on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election.
■ Hear audio of the proceedings here.
■ Need help tracking all the cases against Trump? Here you go.
Mind the bollards. A Chicago City Council member is pushing the installation of barriers in the North Michigan Avenue shopping district—to keep cars from smashing into upscale stores to commit robberies …
■ … like yesterday’s early-morning attempt that left a Chicago cop wounded and a suspect with a long criminal record in custody.
■ Want to serve on Chicago’s new civilian police oversight commission? You have a month to apply here.
Computers lost. The Chicago Public Schools inspector general says at least 77,000 laptop computers and other tech equipment went missing during the 2021-22 school year.
■ That annual report also shares tales of a Chicago-area family that lied to get their kids into a top city school …
■ … and at least eight substantiated cases of adult-on-student sexual abuse.
Happy birthday to ChicagoPublicSquare.com. That domain made its debut seven years ago today.
Real trouble. In the latest sign of continuing chaos at the Chicago-based National Association of Realtors, its president is stepping down—complaining she was threatened with blackmail …
■ … regarding “a past personal, non-financial matter.”
■ Y’know how yesterday’s Chicago Public Square joked that the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 blowout wasn’t Chicago’s problem—because Boeing isn’t headquartered here anymore? Well, um, United Airlines is—and it has a Boeing problem, too.
■ A Tribune editorial sounds an alarm about United’s “playing footsie with Denver” over a headquarters move.
‘Whole lot of sickness out there.’ Your Local Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina surveys the post-holiday health landscape.
■ A Sun-Times editorial pleads, “It’s not a big ask: Mask up when possible.”
■ The Onion: “Nation’s Strangers Announce Plans To Stand Near You.”
‘Dentists are bad.’ Columnist Matthew Yglesias says the profession is “a field full of scams, with incomes propped up by irrational regulation.”
■ Popular Information: More than 200,000 workers across the country are owed $163.3 million in back pay …
■ … and people should check a federal website to see if they have any of that cash coming.
Mmmmm. Plastic. Researchers at Columbia and Rutgers universities say the average liter of bottled water has nearly a quarter-million nearly undetectable bits of microplastic waste …
■ … maybe reason to avoid that at Chicago’s newly announced run of this summer’s festivals.
Nazis begone. Embattled email newsletter platform Substack’s agreed to remove at least some publications that support Nazi ideology.
■ But “some” apparently means just five.
‘Hamster-brained.’ In the first seven minutes of his first show of the new year, late night host Jimmy Kimmel pummeled benighted quarterback Aaron Rodgers for falsely linking him to dead financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
■ Watch here.
■ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar compares Rodgers to “a leaky metal drum filled with toxic waste that’s been dumped into the cultural lake where the kids swim.”
Happy birthday to ChicagoPublicSquare.com. That domain made its debut seven years ago today.
■ Celebrate by supporting Square for Best Email Newsletter and Best Independent Website in the final days of voting for the Reader’s Best of Chicago poll.
■ And you can join the roughly 1 in 5 readers whose financial support covers things like domain registration fees.
A Square public service announcement