‘Illinois can build a shelter anywhere.’ So Mayor Johnson’s calling on Gov. Pritzker to accommodate more migrants outside Chicago.
■ A family that walked 3 1/2 months to make it to the U.S. and eventually Chicago is mourning the death of an 11-month-old baby in a car crash Friday along I-290.
■ Columnist Julie Vassilatos celebrates “what Chicagoans have been doing … for well over a year now … to help our new arrivals, in the face of utter randomness and persistent inhumanity.”
‘The killing has to stop.’ Add Johnson to the roster of those supporting a ceasefire in Gaza.
■ A Virginia-based self-described “conservative watchdog” group has spurred an Education Department investigation of antisemitism complaints at Northwestern University.
■ The Red Cross says Gaza faces a complete medical shutdown if the fighting doesn’t end.
Your tax dollars not at work. The Chicago City Council Office of Financial Analysis director’s getting paid $123,000 a year to do nothing.
■ Politico: Mayor Johnson, who talks a lot about transparency, buried a plan that would require more disclosure of how the city’s spending federal COVID relief cash.
Cop’s castigation. It’ll be three months of home detention and three years’ probation for Chicago Police Officer Karol Chwiesiuk, convicted of invading the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
■ In what the Tribune says is another example of the challenges prosecutors face in trying Chicago police officers for on-duty incidents, a couple of cops accused of beating a teenager are off the hook after the alleged victim stopped cooperating.
Warming winter syndrome. A University of Michigan climate professor explains how a shifting freezing line is bringing rain and ice to parts of America not prepared for it.
■ Hi, advection fog …
■ … which may be with us through the day.
Boeing boo-boos. The Lever: “Over the last three years, operators of Boeing’s troubled 737 Max planes have filed more than 1,800 service difficulty reports … warning government regulators about safety problems.”
■ One of Delta’s Boeing 757s lost a nose wheel while preparing for takeoff from Atlanta Saturday.
■ A computer science professor expert in risk-based decision-making sees some good news amid the bad: “More attention is now being paid to airplane fuselages.”
‘Cruel and experimental.’ Updating coverage: Alabama was prepared today to put an inmate to death with an unprecedented procedure: Nitrogen poisoning.
■ The prisoner—convicted of murdering the wife of a pastor at the pastor’s urging—has already been subject to a botched execution.
‘Far too many people still don’t appreciate how Trump will react to a loss.’ Law professor Joyce Vance sees “no excuses for missing the message” that guy is sending voters.
■ Columnist Robert Reich ventures to predict Trump’s running mate—a woman who “checks all the awful boxes.”
Daily Show fans rejoice. Media watcher Tom Jones says Jon Stewart’s return to the anchor desk—Mondays only, beginning Feb. 12—is “a big deal.”
■ The Hollywood Reporter digs into the top-secret plan that lured Stewart back.
■ CNN’s Oliver Darcy: “His voice may very well be more important than ever.”
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “Once a week will not be enough, but it will be something.”
■ Stephen Colbert to his old mentor: “Remember, this isn’t some Apple TV project. This is The Daily Show. So you’re gonna want to wear your cleanest gray t-shirt.”
‘Illinois is the only state in the United States that does this.’ A bill pending in the General Assembly would end the requirement that drivers older than 74 take a test to renew their licenses …
■… an issue of concern to Chicago Public Square readers for some time (bottom of the Dec. 11 edition).
‘Banks should be competing to provide better products at lower costs.’ For the second time in a month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing a crackdown on financial institutions’ “junk fees” when a transaction’s declined.
■ Read the plan here.
‘Alden just did something even worse than buying a paper: Selling The Baltimore Sun to the … chair of right-wing Sinclair, hater of news and newspapers.’ Industry visionary Jeff Jarvis says the newspaper, TV and commercial radio companies of today—including Alden, which also owns the Trib—aren’t up to the challenge of reinventing journalism for the 21st century and so it may be time to “give up on old news.”
■ And yet he sees hope in a newly released report that concludes, “More creative content is being produced than ever before. More people are able to create content than ever before, and more people are able to make money doing so.”
■ Want your name here tomorrow? Pitch in today.
Sorry about that. Yesterday’s Chicago Public Square erroneously included a link to a list of places where last year’s Oscar nominees could be screened. Here’s a 2024 list.
■ Thanks to reader Sydnye Cohen, first to note the goof.