Plastic, plastic, everywhere. The Tribune’s Michael Hawthorne details growing evidence that plastic tableware and food packaging—including food can linings and oil repellants—are putting toxic chemicals into humans’ bodies …
■ … among them 189 substances linked to breast cancer.
■ Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is among those pushing for state and federal action.
Free COVID-19 tests, now. After a few days’ delay, the feds are ready to take your order for four individual rapid antigen COVID-19 tests.
■ Filling out the request form at USPS.com takes less than a minute.
■ When you do test, help track COVID and flu by reporting your results—positive or negative—here.
‘Family newspapers do not use the words clusterfuck and shitshow, but I can, and will, for they are clearly les mots justes to describe what’s going on with Mayor Brandon Johnson.’ Columnist Eric Zorn minces no mots in assessing the mayor’s push to oust Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez.
■ Chicago’s Ted McClelland: “Johnson is in a corner, up a creek, on an island, out on a limb.”
■ A Trib editorial: The mayor’s made his “obedience” to the Chicago Teachers Union “nakedly clear.”
■ A Sun-Times editorial: Chicago needs Martinez.
■ WBEZ’s Sarah Karp: As the board prepared to meet today, it was considering a plan to keep Martinez on for six months even if his contract gets canned.
■ Longtime government watchdog Ralph Martire: The school board’s new strategic plan fits with “best practice” by investing in every school—and sets a collision course with longstanding “school choice” programs.
But hey, Chicago, it could be worse. Updating coverage: New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted by a grand jury on federal criminal charges—and federal agents today entered his official residence and seized his phone.
■ An indictment just unsealed at Chicago Public Square’s publication deadline accuses him of taking bribes from foreign sources.
Ready to vote? Illinoisans outside Cook County can do it now—and Chicagoans follow Oct. 3, with suburban Cook County to follow Oct. 9.
■ Pod Save America cohost Dan Pfeiffer offers tips for convincing friends to vote for Kamala Harris.
■ A Columbia College professor suggests ways to persuade young people to vote.
■ Columnist Ken Klippenstein calls President Biden’s final UN speech an “ode to perpetual war.”
‘It was light on the two things I demand out of a serious leader: Rambling stories that have nothing to do with the economy and rabid xenophobia.’ USA Today’s Rex Huppke feigns disappointment at Harris’ economic speech in Pittsburgh. (Missing link added.)
■ The American Prospect’s David Dayen: Harris’ speech was guarded, but a fact sheet issued by her campaign paints “a brighter picture.”
■ NOTUS: “It was likely the high-water mark for this vision, given that the best case scenario for it is to run into an intractable Congress and the worst case is for it to end up on the scrap heap because the close election goes to Donald Trump.”
■ Jeff Tiedrich at Everyone Is Entitled to My Own Opinion: In contrast to Trump, Harris “has a plan to actually protect women.”
‘This is going to happen again.’ A filmmaker who documented the insurrection of 2020 and 2021: “Exactly what they said they were going to do last time—they did it. They are telling you they are going to do it and they will do it again.”
■ A political science professor says the next round of post-election violence could be worse.
■ Columnist Edwin Eisendrath explores reasons Trump could win again.
‘Our self-imposed mandate here at The Late Show is to talk about what’s going on in the news. … I don’t really like to insert myself into it. But sometimes the news inserts itself into me.’ Stephen Colbert shot back last night at an attack from Trump.
■ The Daily Show’s Desi Lydic cooked up some mockery of Trump for his continued questioning of Harris’ service at McDonald’s.
■ Cartoonist/columnist Jack Ohman: “Trump really can’t get his story straight on abortion.”
■ Public Notice: VP candidate Vance “keeps gaffing by actually detailing Trump's policies.”
■ Popular Information debunks Trump’s assertion that America’s getting swamped by an unprecedented crime wave.
‘It's a relief to remember that there are still good, decent people here.’ Columnist Neil Steinberg—who a few days ago challenged readers to detail their fears about immigration to Chicago—excerpts the “lots and lots of pro-immigrant comments” he got instead.
■ The U.S. Senate’s passed a resolution honoring a Palestinian-American boy killed in an alleged hate crime in Chicago’s suburbs.
Fake churches getting tax breaks. A Notre Dame professor of nonprofit law says “groups that aren’t churches or associations of churches want to be designated that way to avoid the scrutiny being a charitable organization otherwise requires.”
■ Law Dork Chris Geidner updates a federal court case in which a lawyer for a Texas public library asserted that the government “has no constitutional obligation to provide libraries.”
■ The Onion lays out a timeline of U.S. book bans.
■ The Justice Department’s going at it with Visa—accusing the company of using “its size, scale, and centrality to the debit transaction ecosystem to penalize those who would switch to a different debit network or to companies that could develop alternative debit products.”
Used car shopping? Take care. CarFax says to beware up to 89,000 vehicles damaged in this summer’s flooding—with Illinois No. 8 on a list of top states with the most water-damaged cars.
■ Check to see if any used car was ever flagged for water or flood damage by plugging in its ID number here.
■ If your home suffered damage in the storms of July 13-16, look for Disaster Survivor Assistance teams in your area …
■ … and apply for federal recovery help here.
‘A pretty grim picture.’ Nieman Lab’s Joshua Benton assesses what the Trumpian Project 2025 would do for (or to) journalism.
■ ProPublica founder Dick Tofel delivers midterm grades on campaign ’24 reporting.
■ You can use PayPal if you prefer.
■ Mike Braden made this edition better.