Expecting company? People visiting Chicago in August should beware hotel rates that the Sun-Times says have been skyrocketing because of demand associated with the Democratic National Convention.
■ Police are talking a good game about convention security: “This will not be 1968.”
■ Kohl’s is one of the few big Wisconsin companies declining to sponsor events related to the Republican convention in Milwaukee next month.
‘Policymakers ought to be cheering for more Loop action … rather than trying to discourage workers and visitors from coming downtown.’ A Tribune editorial turns thumbs down on the notion of congestion pricing—a surcharge on vehicles in crowded parts of Chicago …
■ … a concept that has hit a dead-end in New York City.
■ A new study by researchers from, among others, the University of Illinois at Chicago exposes racial bias in cops’ traffic stops—by comparing them with (race-blind) speed camera tickets.
■ In anticipation of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race do-over July 6 and 7, the city has begun closing streets around Grant Park.
‘When abortion is banned nationwide and contraception tightly controlled, they’ll set their sights on masturbation.’ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg says maybe Americans would be more concerned about the Republican Party’s priorities if it chose to dictate toothpaste choice instead of telling them when to have a baby.
■ The American Prospect’s Harold Meyerson (no relation) theorizes about how Republicans became “the Party of Precarious Manhood.”
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich on Republican criticism of President Biden’s visit to France: “If you interpret a basic call to fight fascism as a direct attack on Dear Convicted Leader, guess what: You’re on the wrong f**king side.”
■ Popular Information scrutinizes “The brazen GOP plan to launder cash to the nation’s most radical gubernatorial candidate.”
Wildcat walkout. Dozens of Northwestern University students bailed on commencement yesterday …
■ … accusing the university of complicity in the Israel-Hamas war.
■ Pro-Israel Political Update proprietor Steve Sheffey: “The worst, most dangerous antisemitism is … government-supported antisemitism. Our top priority should be keeping Donald ‘very fine people’/‘unified Reich’ Trump out of the White House.”
Good AirTag, bad AirTag.
■ One of Apple’s tracking devices led Chicago cops to three alleged carjackers.
■ A Glencoe woman found an AirTag mysteriously stuck to the underside of her car—possibly by a stalker.
■ Updating coverage: Apple was poised today to announce new artificial intelligence initiatives for its iPhones and other products.
■ If you have a high tolerance for Pavlovian applause, you may want to watch live here at noon Chicago time. (Update, 1:46 p.m.: OK, they skipped the live audience and slavish applause.)
Life savings gone in a blink. The Lever says the “epic meltdown” of Synapse Financial Technologies, which supported bank-like companies such as Juno, illustrates “the potential catastrophic consequences of … ‘banking-as-a-service’ companies.”
■ Route Fifty: Ahead of a “silver tsunami”—more Americans are about to be 65 years old than ever before—states and the federal government are scrambling to deal with a rising strain on health, housing and transportation systems.
■ Author and columnist Cory Doctorow—even on his best days, not a Little Mary Sunshine about tech and finance—uncharacteristically celebrates “the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s stunning, unbroken streak of major, muscular victories over the forces of corporate corruption, with the backing of the Supreme Court (yes, that Supreme Court), and which is only speeding up!”
Who’s $32.56 richer? Checks and electronic deposits have begun arriving in Illinoisans’ custody—payout from Instagram parent Meta for violating Illinois’ groundbreaking Biometric Information Privacy Act …
■ … for which, it’s worth remembering, you can thank a couple of disgraced Illinois politicians: Sen. Terry Link, who sponsored it (2020 link), and Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who signed it (2011 link).
■ Maybe you learned of the opportunity to file for that cash from Chicago Public Square in July 2023 …
■ … in which case this might be a good time to pitch in some of your gains to help keep this service coming?
‘The ruthless, truthless, and toothless.’ Press critic Mark Jacob names names as he surveys the field of prominent journalists attacking—or failing to defend—democracy.
■ Columnist Parker Molloy: If The Washington Post’s scandal-scarred new publisher doesn’t step down willingly, the paper’s owner, Amazon overlord Jeff Bezos, should fire him.
‘I actually understand why Johnson’s grooming bill is so expensive.’ Reader Kim Singletary, who’s working on a book about images of U.S. Blackness across global media, writes of Friday’s Chicago Public Square and its link to Sun-Times reporting about the Chicago mayor’s $30,000+ tab over the last year: “Professional makeup services aren’t cheap. If he showed up with a grown-out fade, people would call him unkempt (which harkens back to racial stereotypes that are still in circulation). So now, in addition to regular professional makeup, he’s got to get his hair touched up every two or three weeks because he’s constantly on camera. That’s not cheap no matter who’s giving that cut to you. I might also assume that he’s also probably paying the barber to close the shop or show up at crazy hours so he can get his hair cut in peace. When I got married, my hairdresser was ready at 6 a.m. I paid her for that time on top of the stellar job she did. If Johnson has a barber who is set to lose money so he can get his haircut, I’m sure his team is paying for the potential lost revenue.”