This one counts. Message Box columnist Dan Pfeiffer says tonight’s vice-presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance could matter more than most.
■ Politico lays out the stakes.
■ Here’s how and when to watch.
■ USA Today columnist Rex Huppke: CBS News has given Vance license to lie tonight …
■ … but a Tribune editorial says the network was right to insist the candidates fact-check one another.
■ CBS will be fact-checking on a blog.
■ Rachel Maddow lays out Vance’s “entire adult life being financially supported by eccentric right-wing tech billionaires”—and tracks their political lineage back to Chicago drugstore magnate Charles Walgreen.
■ Public Notice: “The ‘vetting’ of JD Vance was a spectacular failure.”
■ It’s a big fundraising night for Illinois political parties.
■ Jimmy Kimmel’s found his Tim Walz: Columbia College graduate Andy Richter.
‘What the actual f#@k?’ Jon Stewart last night took a hatchet graph to pundits’ lame claims that Vice President Harris’ policy statements have been less specific than Donald Trump’s policy word salads.
■ The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin: “Harris is reimagining Democrats’ approach to immigration.”
■ The Editorial Board: “Like Biden’s, Harris’ policies are serious. Unlike his, hers are popular.”
■ The Editorial Board: “Like Biden’s, Harris’ policies are serious. Unlike his, hers are popular.”
■ Writing in Vanity Fair, the daughter of ex-New York Mayor and now Trump lickspittle Rudy Giuliani endorses Kamala Harris for president: “Trump destroys everything he touches. I saw it happen to my family.”
Journalists in jeopardy. A new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists spells out the threats reporters will face if Donald Trump wins a second term in the White House.
■ A Trib editorial condemns as “morally reprehensible” Trump’s call for “one rough hour” of police brutality.
■ Kimmel last night: “Trump wants The Purge while his staff wishes he would reenact A Quiet Place.”
■ Jimmy Fallon: “Good news: He stopped talking about Hannibal Lecter.”
■ Popular Information: Hundreds of citizens have been wrongly stripped of voting rights in a “botched effort to legitimize Trump’s conspiracy theory.”
‘No dogs or cats were eaten during the making of this program.’ The cast of Veep’s live table read Sunday night raised $735,000 for the Harris campaign in Wisconsin.
■ It’s available online for anyone who donates any amount.
■ The satiric Americans for Prosparody is embracing AI to sway voters away from scandal-scarred North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson.
Lying again. Trump’s been spreading falsehoods about the federal response to Hurricane Helene …
■ … which experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say dumped a stunning, unheard-of, “astronomical” 40 trillion gallons of rain on the Southeast U.S.
■ Among Illinoisans who’ve rushed to help out in the recovery, one emergency responder describes “sheer devastation and destruction” everywhere.
■ With electricity and mobile phone networks dead, walkie-talkies are back in style.
■ Some Chicagoans got a sense of that plight when Verizon phones stopped working, here and across the country.
This one could hurt. The nation’s dockworkers are on strike …
■ … and, as Quartz explains, that’s “bad news for farmers, furniture stores—and just about everyone else.”
‘Searing.’ That’s how historian Heather Cox Richardson (end of column) describes a judge’s decision striking down Georgia’s ban on abortions after six weeks.
■ Read it here: “Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property the disposition of which is decided by majority vote.”
Today in suburban corruption. Ford Heights has a new acting mayor, replacing one who quit after his conviction for theft and other misconduct.
■ The comically embattled mayor of Dolton and her live-in boyfriend face eviction.
Well, it only took 103 years. The Justice Department’s opened a civil rights review of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre—one of the worst single acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history.
■ If you first learned of that horrific assault via HBO’s comics-inspired series Watchmen, you’re not alone (2019 link).
■ Speaking of comics, here’s audio of a newly unearthed 1968 interview of Stan Lee by Dick Cavett.
CVS breakup? The company’s reportedly considering splitting its retail and health insurance operations.
■ Byline Bank, Chicago’s largest community bank, is merging with the Wirtz (think Blackhawks) family’s First Security Bancorp.
■ The Trib asks: “With plans for an aggressive expansion and an activist investor onboard, can Portillo’s grow while staying true to its roots?”
Peeping pleasures. The Trib rounds up a list of Illinois’ best spots for admiring fall foliage …
■ … but it says a changing climate may dull the chances for bright colors across the region.
■ Chicago’s CBS 2 is the first in town to put its meteorologists in the middle of a “green room,” enabling a 3-D view of weather imagery.
Plastic on the run. The Chicago Marathon and Culligan International are teaming up to replace single-use plastic water bottles with “infinitely recyclable” aluminum bottles.
■ Italy-based—but Chicago-present—candymaker Ferrero has opened a $214 million plant in Bloomington to make its chocolate-coated Kinder Bueno bars.
‘Vibrant and utterly real.’ Critic Richard Roeper praises “the slice-of-real-life comedy/drama” Another Happy Day, about the life of a new Chicago mom.
■ Roeper colleague Catey Sullivan gives 3 1/2 stars to American Blues Theater’s production of Stephen King’s Misery.
‘Your hateful bias is getting worse each day.’ Barry Virshbo, a Chicago Public Square subscriber since 2022, writes: “Get with it! Be journalists and not hateful a-holes,” explaining in a follow-up email: “An occasional nice word regarding Donald Trump would be a start.”
■ He adds: “Short videos of Donald Trump doing good deeds through the years, with little or no accompanying publicity, are always becoming available, usually on Twitter (X).”
■ His examples include this one.
’Square is free for all because of generous support from readers. You can join them with a one-time tip (nice!) or an ongoing pledge (nicer!) …
■ … but if you can’t chip in now, no guilt: You help Square grow simply by opening and reading each day. Or by sharing it with a friend. Thanks to all.
■ Amy Reynaldo made this edition better.