Chicago Public Square will take Monday off. All up in your inbox again Tuesday.
Sanctimonious secrets. The Sun-Times reports that a Chicago-based Catholic order is suppressing information about its members credibly accused of child molestation around the country.
■ A Chicago church is catering to its parishioners’ Lenten obligations with a weekly fish-fry drive-thru.
■ Add President Biden to the list of Catholics at odds with the church’s opposition to in vitro fertilization.
‘These proceedings have been frozen for so long they legally count as children in Alabama.’ Stephen Colbert sees irony in the Supreme Court’s decision to hear Donald Trump’s claim that he’s immune from prosecution on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election: “Kind of weird that SCOTUS feels the need to consider whether or not laws exist.”
■ Law prof Joyce Vance: “We’re going to need more coffee.”
■ Trump niece Mary L. Trump sees reasons for hope “that justice is actually coming.”
■ Trump’s formally appealing that order dumping him from Illinois’ ballots.
No, because that’s a right reserved for American-born Trump supporters. Taking a deep dive into the process by which immigrants can become permanent residents of the U.S., columnist Neil Steinberg learns that one 20-page form asks if applicants worked with the Nazis or want to overthrow the government.
■ Noah Berlatsky at Public Notice: “Fox News’ ‘migrant crime’ hysteria is a sign of GOP weakness.”
■ The Onion again: “Mitch McConnell Donates Body To Lobbyists For Research.”
About those judicial candidates. Chicago and Illinois bar associations have released their guides for the March 19 primary …
■ … and you can find them linked in the Chicago Public Square Voter Guide Guide.
‘Yeah, we read it. And oh, my God.’ Diving deep into the transcript of the House Oversight Committee’s closed-door deposition of presidential son Hunter Biden, Wonkette’s Evan Hurst concludes that chair James Comer turned the session into “a real dick-stapling competition against himself.”
■ Read it for yourself here …
■ … and the AP’s, um, more reasoned take here.
‘Improve the democratic process in the City of Chicago.’ A trio of good-government groups—the Better Government Association, the Civic Federation and the League of Women Voters—is pushing Mayor Johnson and the City Council to change their confusing, opaque ways …
■ … which, in many ways, haven’t evolved much since this award-winning 1988 WXRT News series.
‘100% empty.’ A linchpin of plans to revive Chicago’s flagging downtown—the former State of Illinois Center—is ready for its makeover into Google’s Chicago HQ …
■ … an announcement that came at a meeting that brought Johnson an awkward moment.
‘Poster child for monopoly run amok.’ Science fiction author and tech watchdog Cory Doctorow, long a documenter of Amazon’s “enshittification,” observes that the company “can claim that it offers low-priced, high-quality goods … but it makes $38 billion per year pushing those good deals way, way down in its search results.”
■ Tesla and Twitter X overlord Elon Musk is suing OpenAI, complaining that the company has betrayed its goal to benefit humanity rather than chase profit.
■ Digital ad monitor Kyle Tharp: In violation of Facebook parent Meta’s stated policy on AI, Facebook advertisers spent $80,000 last week on ads using Trump’s likeness and Biden’s voice to sell merch and scam seniors.
‘Skilling has retired—along with winter.’ Chicago Magazine’s Ted McClelland observes the departure of WGN-TV meteorologist Tom Skilling.
■ See Skilling’s farewell broadcast here.
■ Chicago’s in for another creepily lovely winter weekend …
■ … as Texas grapples with the impact of the biggest wildfire in its history.
■ City Cast Chicago: A suburban therapist is helping people navigate climate anxiety.
Can we ask you a question? How ’bout 8? The new news quiz awaits you.
Dingus of the Week. Men Yell at Me bestows that honor on “scrambling ‘pro-IVF’ Republicans who didn’t see the Alabama Supreme Court ruling coming.”
■ Men Yell author Lyz Lenz—newly enshrined on The New York Times bestseller list—visits Chicago next week.
‘If you gather up a bunch of journalists and publishers for a Zoom session … and then you impose an aura of secrecy …’ Newcity says a meeting yesterday to announce the Chicago Independent Media Alliance’s transfer of its nonprofit oversight from the Reader Institute for Community Journalism to Public Narrative (maybe best known as sponsor of the Studs Terkel Awards) “got off to a rocky start.”
■ The alliance includes Chicago Public Square.
■ Poynter managing editor Ren LaForme assesses the impact of journalism’s more than a decade of existential dread.
Missing link found. Yesterday’s Chicago Public Square failed to provide an informative hyperlink for the item about Consumer Reports’ warning that some doorbell cameras let others spy on you.
■ It’s launched an online petition drive asking the Federal Trade Commission to cut off those products’ sales.
Thanks. Amy Reynaldo made this edition better.