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Cicada sex. The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg sees parallels to the human experience—and is not amused …
One juror. As deliberations begin in Donald Trump’s criminal trial, The Guardian’s Cameron Joseph reflects: “Trump has been charged with falsifying business records. If Trump’s team can convince at least one juror that never happened … he won’t be convicted” …
■ … and one juror’s been spotted making “friendly eye contact with Trump.”
■ Liz Dye at Public Notice rounds up what you should know about yesterday’s closing arguments.
■ Live updates: Today’s proceedings began with the judge telling jurors how to judge the truth.
■ Actually, I’m a very nice person columnist Julia Gray praises actor Robert DeNiro’s “glorious” news conference for the Biden campaign outside the courthouse yesterday—and spotlights Trump’s “major tantrum” in response.
■ The Guardian: What kind of punishment can Trump expect if he’s convicted?
■ Law professor and former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance: Whatever the jury decides, “We have … a terminally unsuitable candidate to keep out of office.”
■ Greg Sargent at The New Republic: “When Trump elevates one of his supporters for celebrating the idea that a second term will result in ‘blowjob liberals’ being ‘done’ and ‘gone’ … Trump is plainly talking about you and me.”
■ Meanwhile in Florida: Popular Information reports that the state education department’s civics training links “cancel culture” to mass murder.
This may take the edge off. To skirt a quirk in Ohio election law, the Democratic National Committee will renominate President Joe Biden virtually—before the convention here in August.
■ The Onion mockingly lists “Everything Chicago Is Doing Ahead Of The DNC.”
‘President Pritzker?’ Chicago magazine’s Ted McClelland: Whatever November’s outcome, “the Democratic Party will need a new candidate next time around. And our governor is already positioning himself for a run.”
■The General Assembly early today pinched out a budget that closely matches Pritzker’s blueprint from February.
Who started it? Digging deeper into a display of seeming insurrectionist sympathy at Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito’s home, The New York Times reviews a recording of a call to police from a young couple claiming they were being harassed by Alito’s wife.
■ More from the Times: Martha-Ann Alito’s managed to avoid the spotlight—until now.
■ The New Republic’s David Masciotra: “Ted Kennedy warned us about Samuel Alito. He was ignored.”
Victim’s last moments. The Sun-Times reports that surveillance video shows the victim of an attack trying to flag down a police car Monday night just before he’s stabbed in the middle of Cicero Avenue.
■ And it says separate video shows an off-duty officer—now the subject of a federal lawsuit—last month shooting and killing a resident’s dog at point-blank range after it had gotten into a skirmish with the cop’s dog.
■ The chief of Chicago’s police oversight agency is asking why the four cops involved in a gunfight that left Dexter Reed dead after 96 shots in 41 seconds still have their police powers.
■ PolitiFact: “Biden is correct that violent crime is near a 50-year low” …
■ … but columnist Lyz Lenz isn’t buying Democrats’ line about the nation’s economic strength: “The exhaustive election-year booster-club yelling hasn’t done anything to materially change the fact that existing in America has gotten eye-wateringly expensive and it isn’t getting better.”
Air bag alert. Nissan’s warning owners of some of its 2002 through 2006 models to stop driving them—because the air bags can prove deadly.
■ Carfax: Ten years after a federal recall of those Takata air bags, more than 6.4 million affected vehicles—167,000 in Illinois—are still on the road, unrepaired.
Google oops. Thousands of pages of the company’s “secret sauce”—internal documentation about how its search engine works—have reportedly leaked out.
■ Will Oremus at The Washington Post: Google’s weird AI answers suggest a fundamental problem.
■ Advisorator offers three steps to fix Google search on your device.
Pets in peril. With 669 animals put to death over the first four months of this year, WTTW reports Chicago’s animal shelter is set to top last year’s record euthanasia pace.
■ The shelter’s launched a “Doggie Day Out” program, giving the pet-curious a chance to check out long-term dogs for the day—and giving the animals some time out in the world.
Cicada sex. The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg sees parallels to the human experience—and is not amused …
■ … even as his paper offers “Cicada Watch” caps as a donor perk.
■ Block Club’s asking your help mapping where cicadas are to be seen in Chicago.
■ WTTW: Experts are divided on the ethics of eating ’em.
■ The Tribune reports a cicada-fueled boom for local artists and entrepreneurs.
Where do you get your news? A new Northwestern University survey that dives deep into how Chicago-area people learn what’s going on concludes a majority think local news should be free—and have no idea that local newsrooms are struggling.
■ The Daily Beast is planning major cuts—to begin, through buyouts.
■ BuzzFeed co-founder Jonah Peretti is dumping water on right-wing radical investor Vivek Ramaswamy’s push to overhaul the company: “We’re definitely not going to issue an apology for our Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism.”
‘They could have blamed it on the owners. Instead they went for the shrimp joke.’ Reader columnist Ben Joravsky invited your Square columnist onto his podcast to discuss, among many other things, reader reaction to news organizations’ coverage of Red Lobster’s bankruptcy.