Sorry we’re late. Chicago Public Square today arrives about an hour later than usual. Look for tomorrow’s edition again around 10 a.m. Central.
Milton, sadly. A hurricane that Time dubs “a meteorological monster” continues to confound weathercasters struggling to convey just how dangerous it is.
■ One who lost it on the air explains: “With climate-driven extremes putting us in a place that we haven’t been before, it’s very difficult to stay cool, calm, and collected.”
■ Heated: How fossil fuels mutated Milton.
■ Updating coverage from the AP: “Residents urged to flee.”
■ Medical facilities are bracing for the worst.
■ For just the 11th time in its history, Disney World’s shutting down.
■ … among other ways, by donating blood.
■ The Lever: Even as Milton menaces their state, Florida Republicans aim to block a climate emergency declaration.
■ The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper: “Every red state governor said that Biden is competently helping them. It’s clear what’s happening here. Either [convicted felon Donald] Trump has been lying, or every governor has been seduced by the sexual power of Joe Biden’s slow, confused smile.”
‘Why aren’t the American people your first friend?’ Joining Stephen Colbert last night, Vice President Harris questioned then-President Trump’s decision to prioritize Vladimir Putin’s pandemic needs over those of Trump’s own countryfolk.
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “Trump is once again the Kremlin’s Employee of the Month.”
■ Gerontology professors explore Harris’ proposal—outlined on ABC’s The View—to allow Medicare to expand home healthcare coverage for older Americans.
■ Business Insider: “The podcaster is the new politics power broker.”
■ Trump’s niece, Mary L. Trump: “Because Kamala Harris refuses to kiss the rings of … corporate media masters … they seek to tear her down.”
■ An econ prof explains: So you don’t like Trump or Harris? It’s still best to vote for one.
‘Not qualified.’ As Illinois bar associations’ ratings of judicial candidates seeking retention on the November ballot continue to trickle in, the Chicago Council of Lawyers turns thumbs-down on four.
■ Also newly posted: Evaluations from the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association.
■ Early voting is on for suburban Cook County voters …
■ … who now can more easily update their signatures on the voter rolls.
■ More at the Chicago Public Square Voter Guide Guide.
First Amendment? Hah. Popular Information: “Florida threatens TV executive with jail time for airing ad in support of abortion rights.”
■ Politico’s Shia Kapos: Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is the national honorary co-chair of Men4Choice.
■ Men Yell at Me columnist Lyz Lenz: “Why is JD Vance obsessed with your uterus?”
‘Fighting words.’ Giannoulias’ office has revoked five personalized license plates bearing variations of the date “Oct. 7”—one of them secured by a frame reading “FREE PALESTINE.”
■ Chicago cops arrested one person after finding a gun in a room at Trump Tower.
‘Brandon Johnson’s public spectacle of grievance is getting old.’ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg suggests reporters covering the mayor “start framing their queries in elaborate, rococo signs of respect: ‘O great one … allow a question from this miserable worm …’”
■ A Tribune editorial: Johnson’s “hitting new lows, one news conference at a time.”
■ Scrambling to cut the budget, the mayor’s cut two months of police academy classes.
■ The chief of the city’s police accountability agency tells WBEZ says she’d like peace with cops, but truth is more important.
‘Wikipedia is at least for now better than other major internet services at detecting and filtering out misleading AI-generated content.’ 404 Media: Meet the editors protecting the site from AI hoaxes.
Chicago Public Square commentbag. Reader and home inspector Steve Nations posts about yesterday’s edition: “Regarding the Biden administration's EPA requiring Chicago to speed up replacement of lead pipes: Please don't forget that Chicago didn't just allow but required lead water service pipes into homes until 1986. You can find many opinions and even plenty of scholarly articles that contend the reason for this is political pressure from a powerful plumbers’ union and mayors and alderpeople too cowardly to stand up to them. Absolutely despicable. And it didn't end because Chicagoans finally came to their senses. It ended when a federal law finally put a stop to it.”
■ Chicago’s getting a later deadline because it’s far more screwed up than other cities.
■ Almost three years later, WTTW News has failed to correct an erroneous report on that matter.
■ Meanwhile: Rabid bats at the Salt Shed.
Corrections. Yesterday’s Square got journalist Jeff Kamen’s resume wrong.
■ Also: It’s the Voter Guide Guide, not the Election Guide Guide.