Rockford rampage. At least four people are dead and seven injured after a man went on a stabbing spree.
■ A suspect was due in court this afternoon.
■ The Trace does a deep dive into the facts about gun injuries and deaths in the U.S.: “You’re more likely to be shot in Selma than in Chicago.”
‘A council war.’ That’s how Politico describes the situation at Chicago City Hall after a group of council members joined forces to demand Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez be censured and stripped of his committee chairmanship after speaking at a rally where a U.S. flag was burned.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “Sigcho-Lopez’ fellow alders ought to be much more concerned with the promotion of street brawls by the group he’s aligning himself with, and less concerned with the feckless symbolism of flag burning.”
‘Ronnaghazi.’ Puck’s Dylan Byers goes waaaay behind the scenes to detail the clusterf*ck that was NBC’s aborted hiring of former Republican National Committee chair Ronna (Romney) McDaniel. (Gift link, paid for with your support for Chicago Public Square.)
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg compares McDaniel’s political scarlet letter to the fate of a Nazi in the movie Inglourious Basterds: “A little somethin’ you can’t take off” …
■ … or, as former Labor Secretary Robert Reich dubs it, “The Trump integrity trap.”
■ Stephen Colbert: “In case you’re unfamiliar with McDaniel, she is … terrible.”
■ Columnist Dan Pfeiffer: “NBC’s decision was … indicative of a larger disease plaguing political media in the Trump era.”
■ CNN’s Oliver Darcy: The affair has “touched off an all-out civil war … which has sent the organization into a tailspin.”
■ A Tribune editorial: “Good luck to NBC in finding others to represent the viewpoints it wanted McDaniel to provide.”
‘The people who did Jan. 6 are trying to get back in power. If they lose, they’ll do Jan. 6 again. If they win … they’ll probably still do Jan. 6 again, just for old time’s sake.’ The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper cautions against thinking the insurrection will stay in the rearview mirror.
■ Popular Information lists 50 companies that’ve donated more than $23 million to election-denying politicians since Jan. 6, 2021.
■ Law prof Joyce Vance: An Alabama election surprise gives Democrats reason “to never give up.”
‘Who’s in charge of Chicago’s lakefront?’ A Sun-Times editorial says the Bears’ attempt “to set a sweeping agenda for the future of one of the world’s most iconic water frontages” exposes big holes in government authority.
■ Naturalists are condemning an emerging plan to make Chicago’s buildings safer for migrating birds.
■ In a declaration of confidence in the city’s economy, Chicago Water Taxi is going back to seven-day-a-week service for the first time since the pandemic shut things down.
‘We’ve made frustratingly little progress in figuring out how to do better.’ Columnist Matthew Ygelsias shares 17 thoughts four years after COVID.
■ Cartoon columnist Jen Sorensen: “Hard choices that were made to prevent even more death and suffering are now, ludicrously, seen as mistakes.” (Illustration: Opening to a longer cartoon at Sorensen’s blog.)
■ Chicago Public Square, March 30, 2020: “Ignoring social distancing advice, a Washington State choir held a rehearsal. Now dozens of its members have COVID-19 and at least two have died.”
‘Pants on fire!’ PolitFact’s Truth-O-Meter debunks false claims about the Baltimore bridge collapse.
■ NewsGuard: Russia, China and Iran are spinning news of a terror attack at a Moscow concert venue to spread disinformation about the West.
■ Wired: The White House has put new guardrails around U.S. government use of artificial intelligence.
■ Also from Wired: Coordinates collected by a controversial data broker reveal sensitive information about visitors to an island once owned by now-dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Eclipse emergency! Anticipating trouble as hundreds of thousands flock to see the April 8 total solar eclipse, Indiana’s governor has declared “a statewide disaster emergency.” 
■ Those visitors will include Capt. Kirk himself, William Shatner, and astronaut Mae Jemison.
■ Here’s City Cast Chicago’s guide to seeing the eclipse in Illinois—even though it’ll be just partial in Chicago.
■ Warby Parker stores are giving away eclipse glasses—while supplies last.
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