Harris’ choice. Officially now the Democrats’ presidential nominee, Kamala Harris has picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
■ The Bulwark credits “his quick ability to brand the Republican ticket as ‘weird’” and his “BigDadEnergy.”
■ The AP lists five things to know about him.
■ Jordan Zakarin at Progress Report: “Walz’s geniality, solidly working-middle class interests and tendencies, and enthusiastic empathy and progressive instincts are unique.”
■ Chalkbeat surveys what Walz, a former high school teacher, has done for education—including free meals for all schoolkids (2023 link).
■ The New York Times: He’s been a climate champion.
■ Political analyst Nate Silver: “Walz is a Minnesota Nice choice … inoffensive, unlikely to cause any harm.”
■ The American Prospect: “His recent activity in Minnesota really mirrors what Kamala Harris will face legislatively if she wins.”
■ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst: “This rushed running mate reality show taught us … that we have enough strong Democrats to keep beating the shit out of Republicans for generations upon generations.”
■ Satirist Andy Borowitz: “Trump Claims Walz Was Never White Before.”
‘Harris has broken Donald Trump.’ USA Today columnist Rex Huppke: She’s reduced Trump “to a quivering pile of hate and insults.”
■ The Daily Beast: “Trump’s new attack on ‘Kamabla’ Harris is literally gibberish.” (Cartoon: Jack Ohmann’s You Betcha newsletter.)
■ Trump niece Mary L. Trump: “No wonder Donald spent the weekend in Georgia throwing a temper tantrum.”
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson sees a parallel between Trump’s challenges and reality TV’s collapse.
■ Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow checks in with “the very normal super-hero duo—MAGA-Man and his youthful sidekick, Fertility Lad.”
■ The Onion: “Federated Union Of Bear Cub Carcass Dumpers Endorses RFK Jr.”
‘An opportunity on a platter.’ That’s what columnist and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich sees for Harris in a federal judge’s “stunner of a decision” that Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search.
■ The judge found Google’s practice of paying companies to be the default search engine raised competitors’ costs to impractical levels.
■ Here’s his 286-page ruling.
■ Columnist Matt Stoller: “This victory is not just for the public, it is in a sense by the public.”
■ The Washington Post: That’s just one step in a long fight—and the next one will be just as big.
■ Platformer’s Casey Newton: “Europe never found a remedy that increased search competition. Will the United States fare any better?”
‘Protest pickle.’ That’s how Politico’s Shia Kapos describes the situation approaching the Democratic National Convention in Chicago: “Protesters and city officials have yet to agree on a route for the largest demonstration.”
■ Chicago’s abortion providers are bracing for complications during the convention.
■ Abortion, Every Day columnist Jessica Valenti: Obstetrics and gynecology docs’ exodus from anti-abortion states is near a crisis point.
Damen debut. Green Line riders to and from the west will find their rides a bit longer now that the Damen station is open for business …
■ A Sun-Times editorial praises a federal decision to save a couple of landmark skyscrapers downtown, but mourns the restrictions the government’s put on their redevelopment.
■ Tribune columnist Rick Kogan: “Lollapalooza kids appreciate the river that runs through our city. So do I.”
■ Police report arrests at Lolla dropped for the fifth year in a row.
Tax treat. Gov. Pritzker’s signed a law eliminating the state’s 1% levy on groceries beginning Jan. 1, 2026 …
■ … but local governments can add it back.
■ Loop North News: Chicago apartment dwellers face double-digit rent hikes.
Got blood? The Sun-Times reports the national blood supply running low.
■ Find a blood drive near you.
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg shares “another day at the blood laundromat.”
■ Your Local Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina sees a substantial COVID-19 infection wave: “Wastewater levels—a good indicator of community spread—remain high and continue to increase.”
■ COVID’s sidelined Daily Show host Jon Stewart.
■ Injured and infected Saturday Night Live star Colin Jost’s run as an Olympics surfing correspondent has ended prematurely.
Apple may have $$ for you. The company’s begun sending payouts of up to $395 to owners of 2015 to 2019 MacBooks whose keyboards failed …
■ … but they’re going just to customers in Illinois and six other states.
Censorship, or protection? Axios Chicago dives into the debate over the pending Kids Online Safety Act.
■ You’d be forgiven for flashing back to the 1950s debate over kids and comic books.
‘Will local and news programming get lost in the transition?’ American Prospect executive editor David Dayen sees a journalistic downside to the move from cable to streaming bundles.
■ Bloomberg’s fired one reporter and disciplined others for breaking the embargo on last week’s historic U.S.-Russia prisoner swap.
■ Poynter’s Kelly McBride: Breaking embargoes “undermines the trustworthiness of you and your colleagues.”
‘I’m a newshound and do my best to keep up, but you … make me look like a slacker!’ That’s one reader’s generous praise for Chicago Public Square.
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