Stormy weather. Prosecutors have called adult film star Stormy Daniels to the stand in Donald Trump’s criminal trial.
■ The judge agreed with Trump’s lawyers that she has some credibility issues, but he cleared prosecutors to establish that the two had sex—with caveats that “we don’t need to know the details,” such as “descriptions of genitalia.”
■ Live updates through the day here.
■ Daily Show host Jordan Klepper on Trump’s latest—10th—measly contempt-of-court fine: “Donald Trump has the mind of a toddler. If there’s one thing a toddler understands, it’s that when mom and dad start counting like, ‘Nine… nine-and-a-half… nine-and-three-quarters…,’ the brat has already won.”
■ Columnist and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich: “Judge Merchan must jail Trump, Biden must stop sending weapons to Netanyahu.”
UChicago climax. Cops today began dismantling an anti-war encampment in Hyde Park …
■ … as protesters chanted “the whole world’s watching” …
■ … less than a day after more than 120 faculty members called on the administration to negotiate with the demonstrators.
■ Columnist and former Intercept reporter Ken Klippenstein: “Attending Gaza protests? The feds are watching.”
■ Author and documentarian Michael Moore: “I say more nonviolent civil disobedience! More tent encampments! More sit-ins. More citizens taking to the streets. It’s a proud and time-honored America tradition! We wouldn’t have the rights and freedoms we now enjoy without an entire history of it!”
■ Politico: “A national pro-Jewish college alumni group is launching a six-figure ad campaign calling for the firing of Northwestern University President Michael Schill” over his settlement with campus protesters.
■ Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow channels a cop on protest duty at Columbia University: “We’re outside. And you kids are starting to agitate me. So you know what that makes you?”
■ The Onion: “Israel Accuses Al Jazeera Of Being Mouthpiece For Journalism.”
Cop swap. Gov. Pritzker tells Bloomberg Television that Chicago, hosting the Democratic National Convention, and Milwaukee, hosting the Republicans, will share police forces during each event.
■ Sen. Bernie Sanders says Gaza may be President Biden’s Vietnam, but “that doesn’t mean you can vote for somebody else who could be the most dangerous person in American history.”
■ Trump niece Mary L. Trump shares “the positive news I really needed”: A prominent Republican in a swing state’s backing Biden’s reelection.
‘Doomsday weapon.’ NOTUS says Congress is alert to reports Russia’s developing an anti-satellite device with nuclear capabilities—a threat to a host of modern-day essentials: GPS, banking, military operations, intelligence gathering and communications systems.
■ Ukraine says it foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Zelenskyy.
Proof: Birds are dinosaurs. Meet the Field Museum’s Chicago Archaeopteryx—the fossilized remains of the oldest known bird dinosaur …
■ … which means we’re still in, um, the Age of Dinosaurs. (Illustration: Field Museum of Natural History.)
■ Speaking of dinosaurs: Law professor and former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance shares a recollection from Donald Trump’s first social media manager, who compares his realization that Trump could tweet for himself “to the moment in Jurassic Park when Dr. Grant realized that velociraptors could open doors. I was like, ‘Oh no.’”
Your tax dollars at work. Chicago’s agreed to pay $5.8 million to a dozen Black city employees who reported decades of racial discrimination in the city’s Water Department …
■ … but the City Council needs to provide a final sign-off.
■ Almost 100 men and women who were housed at Illinois juvenile detention centers have filed a lawsuit complaining of pervasive, systemic child sexual abuse in their time there.
Chicago’s Pulitzers. City Bureau and the Invisible Institute were honored for a series of reports on shortcomings in Chicago police handling of missing person cases …
■ … Invisible Institute, with USG Audio, for a podcast revisiting a 1997 South Side hate crime …
■ … Invisible Institute, with USG Audio, for a podcast revisiting a 1997 South Side hate crime …
■ … and Jonathan Eig for his biography of Martin Luther King Jr.
■ Here’s a full list of this year’s winners.
■ Here’s Invisible Institute founder Jamie Kalven interviewed in a 2021 Chicago Public Square podcast.
■ It wasn’t a typical year for the Pulitzers—normally, but not this year, presented on the Columbia campus.
‘Different Chicagos in the multiverse.’ Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper gives three stars to Apple TV+’s new SF show.
■ Newcity’s Ray Pride: “The series does well by its Logan Square.”
Meanwhile, in this universe … The Thompson Center’s transformation into Google’s new Chicago home is underway …
■ … a new book, Lost in America: Photographing the Last Days of Our Architectural Treasures, spotlights buildings lost in Chicago and elsewhere …
■ … and Chicago Magazine revisits Chicago’s first murder—committed by a man after whom a downtown street’s been named.
The most popular music app you’re not using—but that kids you know probably are. Wired introduces you to Musi—a free streaming service that it says 80 percent of the students in one Chicago high school class said they use …
■ … even though, so far, it’s available just on Apple devices.
‘Is there a reason why you … sometimes link to Tribune content through MSN.com or yahoo.com?’ Square addresses that question from one of Eric Zorn’s readers.
■ Politico’s corrected a report linked from yesterday’s Square (bottom of that page).
Square wouldn’t be here without you. If you find it useful, consider pitching in to cover the cost of its production and distribution—as little as $1, once—via credit card, PayPal or even an old-school check.
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg recounts how “getting my mother’s paper delivered to her new address” led to his help raising thousands to support the Sun-Times.
A Square public service announcement
Know a senior at risk of scam? Hear how to prevent ID theft, credit card fraud and more in a presentation from representatives of, among others, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. May 14, 9:30-11:30 a.m. at the Oak Park Public Library. Sign up by email: RegisterAWNProgram@gmail.com.