He was warned. The father of a Georgia high school student accused of shooting and killing two teachers and two students has been charged with murder and child cruelty.
■ After a hearing this morning, father and son will remain in jail.
■ The Daily Beast: How Colin Gray missed all the signs about his son.
■ Criminal justice professors, writing for The Conversation: This case illustrates how hard it can be for police to take action even after they see those warning signs.
■ Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson perceives cowardice in Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s predictable, weaselly reaction, “Today is not the day for politics or policy.”
■ In response to vice-presidential candidate JD Vance’s dismissal of school shootings as just “a fact of life,” USA Today’s Rex Huppke says Vance “can (expletive) right off.”
‘You can’t scorn and neglect your neighbors, then act surprised when someone shoots them.’ Columnist Neil Steinberg: The killings of four people on a CTA Blue Line train hold a mirror to society.
■ An Evanston-based shelter mourns one of the victims—a former resident.
■ University of Chicago academics say exclusionary zoning laws—keeping multifamily housing out of many neighborhoods—“raise housing costs throughout our state, excluding families with limited financial resources … quietly entrenching economic and racial segregation.”
‘Russia’s useful idiots don’t seem very upset about being Russia’s useful idiots.’ Columnist Evan Hurst surveys the field of MAGA media stars ensnared in the indictment of operatives accused of taking big cash to spread Russian propaganda among Donald Trump’s acolytes.
■ At the center of the case: Chicago high school dropout Tim Pool, the son of an ex-city firefighter, who became a reactionary social media star.
■ Columnist Marisa Kabas draws this conclusion: “There is enormous money in being a shithead, and pennies for people with a conscience.”
Full speed ahead. The federal judge overseeing an election interference case against Trump shot down his lawyers’ effort to stall things until after the November election.
■ Law professor Joyce Vance: “After months of watching Judge Aileen Cannon botch a simple, straightforward case, it was a relief to see Judge Tanya Chutkan in action.”
■ Evan Hurst again: “Chutkan reminds idiot Trump lawyers what real judges are like.”
■ Jimmy Kimmel on the prospect that former Trump officials could be called as witnesses: “Mr. Pence, show us on the doll where the former president wanted to hang you.”
‘Policy gibberish.’ That’s how HuffPost describes Trump’s answer yesterday to a question about what he’d do as president to address the rising cost of childcare …
■ MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell: “New York’s stupidest rich people clapped after Trump said ‘childcare is childcare.’”
■ Columnist Parker Molloy: “The press response to Trump’s word-salad answer on childcare is peak sanewashing.”
■ Bess Levin at Vanity Fair: “JD Vance says the solution to the childcare crisis is to have grandparents do it for free.”
House of Dingus. Columnist Lyz Lenz bestows her Dingus of the Week crown on undecided voters.
■ Sun-Times D.C. bureau chief Lynn Sweet: How Republican Rep. Liz Cheney’s endorsement—and its timing—helps Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.
Big money, big stakes. Two business-backed groups are pouring massive cash into Chicago’s first-ever school board elections.
■ The Tribune: “The often time-consuming and expensive objections process has squeezed multiple candidates without special interest backing off the ballot.”
Cops (allegedly) behaving badly. A deputy Chicago police chief and another officer have been arrested—accused of slashing civilian cars’ tires.
■ The deputy chief has a history of complaints against him.
■ The chief of the city’s independent police disciplinary agency faces complaints from 16 current or former employees.
■ Chicago cops report murders down, but shootings up in August.
‘Who does it better: Cats or dogs?’ Quizmaster and past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel lays down that challenge—and seven others—in a fresh edition of our weekly news quiz.
■ Surely you can beat your Chicago Public Square columnist’s unimpressive 5/8 score this go-round.
■ City Cast Chicago has a “Prove Your Chicago News Knowledge” quiz—on which Square delivered an embarrassing 1/5 correct.
The air that you breathe …
■ … was, for the summer, on average across the face of the planet, the warmest on record …
■ … and, maybe, in 120,000 years (July link).
‘I’m still waiting until Halloween.’ Your Local Epidemiologist updates guidance on COVID-19 and flu shots.
‘Job cuts … across the entire news industry over the next several months.’ That’s the portent media watcher Oliver Darcy perceives in word of layoffs at NBCU News Group.
■ Among the award-winners at the Local Independent Online News Publishers conference in Chicago last night: Block Club Chicago and Borderless …
■ … but another local publisher complains he was kicked out of the conference “for asking questions and raising issues.”
■ Crain’s Chicago Business (ironically, behind a reaaaaaallly hard paywall): “Sun-Times knocked down its paywall. Now it’s putting up fences.”