‘Democrats are gleeful.’ That’s Shia Kapos at Politico, assessing news that the Illinois Republican Party chair’s quitting—complaining of “Republicans who would rather fight other Republicans than engage in … defeating incumbent Democrats.”
■ Undercover reporter Lauren Windsor’s released a fresh round of secret recordings—this time of self-described Republican “dirty trickster” Roger Stone, spelling out plans to win or steal the November election.
■ Law prof Joyce Vance: “Stone was convicted of obstructing a congressional investigation, making false statements to Congress and tampering with a witness. The only reason he didn’t serve his sentence was because Donald Trump pardoned him.”
■ Popular Information exposes 25 rainbow-flag-waving companies—hi, AT&T, Comcast, Deloitte, CVS and more—that have donated $18 million to anti-gay politicians since the last election.
‘Time for entire media to stop saying otherwise.’ That’s Wonkette’s Evan Hurst, assessing a new Fox News poll showing “President Biden is the frontrunner in a hypothetical matchup against former President Trump” …
■ … a conclusion Fox buried under the headline “Biden-Trump matchup tilts toward one candidate.”
■ One of the findings: “Among double-haters (those having an unfavorable view of both Biden and Trump), Biden is ahead by 11 points.”
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “Gas and grocery prices are down, as are violent crime, unemployment and the rate of inflation. The stock market is soaring, wage growth is up … And yet it is mourning in America for Republicans.”
■ Trump’s ticked off at Fox again.
‘Treat violent crime as a crisis.’ A Tribune editorial says there’s no higher priority for Mayor Johnson than addressing that plague.
■ Police were seeking a suspect in a 31st Street Beach shooting that left a woman dead.
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg interviews a cop who joined a suburban force after getting shot in Chicago—and who says he’d never return to the Chicago Police Department: “Working every day. No days off. Then the shootings, shootings, shootings.”
■ CWBChicago: Boys ages 15 and 16 stand charged with robbing a CTA passenger of his shoes.
Hey, kids! Thou shalt not commit adultery! In a move clearly at odds with the First Amendment, Louisiana has become the first state in the union to require the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom …
■ … a law that columnist Andy Borowitz jokes will help students track “how many Commandments they have broken so they can better follow Trump’s example.”
■ Eric Zorn: “Making graven images may or may not be a good idea, but unless I misread my Constitution, we’re all free to do so and risk the consequences.”
Columbus out, RBG in. Chicago’s rebranding three more schools with problematic names.
■ CNN investigates “a nationwide effort to transform American education by sapping money from public schools.”
Congress goes nuclear. The Senate’s sending Biden a bill relaxing barriers to nuclear power plant construction …
■ … with the catchy name “Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act.”
■ The Chicago-based watchdog Nuclear Energy Information Service credits “nuclear fetishists” for a measure that “quite literally takes the lid off of the nuclear safety box.”
Long trains runnin’. The Lever: “New data show longer freight trains are significantly increasing the risk of derailments across the country.”
■ ProPublica: “The world is drowning in plastic. … The plastics industry is peddling a ‘solution’ that works like magic. Don’t be fooled.”
This means war. A Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post associate editor has taken to Facebook with a broadside against the paper’s owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and his scandal-scarred pick to run the paper.
■ CNN’s Oliver Darcy says Bezos needs to stop dodging questions such as “Can the WaPo newsroom effectively function ahead of one of the nation’s most high-stakes elections when their leader is ensnared in such drama?”
Ticket run. Did you manage to get your request in for tickets to Jon Stewart’s Daily Show and Stephen Colbert’s Late Show Chicago performances during the Democratic National Convention before Stewart’s team closed registration and Colbert’s declared waitlist-only applications?
■ If you learned of those opportunities from Chicago Public Square, now’d be a fine time to kick in a buck or three to help keep this service coming.
Thanks. Mark Jacob made this edition better.