Welcome back. Let’s dive into what’s news now:
Don’t vote dumb. After a delay to remove a judicial candidate’s name from ballots, early voting for the March 19 primary resumes Wednesday in Chicago …
■ … which means it’s time again for Chicago Public Square’s (newly and more forthrightly rebranded) Voter Guide Guide.
‘Putin-enabling fools.’ A Tribune editorial condemns the reaction of the Republican Party’s “pro-Putin wing”—including “Donald Trump the helpful narcissist and Tucker Carlson the useful clown”—to the death of Russian rebel Alexei Navalny.
■ Ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “What does Putin have on … Trump that he always has to be beholden to him, his buddy in vileness?”
■ In his second go-round back at The Daily Show anchor desk, Jon Stewart rejected those critics—including Trump’s niece Mary—contending that his “both-sides bullshit about President Biden’s age” is helping Trump (Feb. 13 link): “It was 20 minutes! I did 20 minutes of one [bleep]ing show!”
■ Journalism critic Mark Jacob slams New York Times coverage of the presidential campaign: “The Times seems to make the defense of democracy a lower priority than appearing ‘balanced’ on Democrats vs. Republicans.”
■ The new golden sneakers Trump’s selling—in the words of USA Today’s Rex Huppke—“look exactly like the kind of sneaker you’d expect from a man who created a fake university named after himself and then had to pay $25 million to settle lawsuits accusing him of fraud.”
‘From the beginning of the day to the end … there was screaming.’ Chicago doctors who’ve been treating patients in Gaza tell the Sun-Times conditions there resemble a “post-apocalyptic movie.”
■ The U.S. planned to kill a United Nations resolution calling for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
‘It just sounded … like bang!’ Sun-Times watchdog Stephanie Zimmermann documents the problem of Honda HR-V rear windows suddenly shattering.
■ Honda’s planning a fix later this year, but Consumer Reports—one of whose test cars suffered the same fate—is calling for a formal government recall.
■ You can read hundreds of motorist complaints about this car here …
■ … and report your vehicle’s safety issues here.
Oops! Popular Information assesses Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ concession that his book-banning crusade has gone too far.
■ In a moving edition of his Doonesbury comic strip, Garry Trudeau imagines the classroom of a courageous Florida teacher.
■ Modeling an Illinois law, Maryland lawmakers are pushing a “Freedom to Read Act.”
■ Chalkbeat Chicago: Five school bills to watch in this session of the Illinois General Assembly.
■ Also up in Springfield: Legislation clearing doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs for the terminally ill.
Big Deals Dept.
■ Probably not great news for Chicago-area employment: Capital One aims to acquire Riverwoods-based Discover—once part of the Sears empire.
■ In an acquisition seemingly aimed at Roku—and grabbing a bigger share of the smart-TV ad biz—Walmart plans to buy TV maker Vizio.
■ Expatriate Chicagoan Mike Gold is giddy over a Wicker Park Walgreens’ transformation into a bookstore.
‘For revealing secret, lavish and highly questionable gifts that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has received for decades from wealthy benefactors …’ ProPublica’s won a prestigious George Polk Award.
■ HBO’s John Oliver’s offering Thomas $1 million a year for life—also tossing in a $2 million tour bus—if he quits the court …
■ … but the deal expires in a month.
■ If you’ve gotten used to seeing Oliver’s show free on YouTube—and in Chicago Public Square—the next day, sorry about this.
■ … and the paper then asked the DALL-E AI image generator for an illustration:
■ Compare and contrast: Here’s what Gemini whipped out in response to the prompt “Summarize Sunday’s Chicago news in the style of ChicagoPublicSquare.com.”
■ The Onion: “Can You Tell Which Of These Tinder Bios Are AI-Generated?”
A Square classified ad
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