‘Whatever it takes.’ That’s Gov. Pritzker on last night’s Late Show with Stephen Colbert—refusing to rule out the possibility that Illinois could redraw its own congressional map if Republicans do the same to add a prospective five seats for their party in Texas.
■ Colbert challenged Pritzker on the state of maps here: “You already have some crazy districts in Illinois. … It’s like the stinger on a scorpion down here” …
■ … a complaint Pritzker deflected with a joke before asserting that the problem with Texas Republicans’ plan is that they’re redrawing the map between census counts instead of waiting for the next one.
■ The Wall Street Journal calls Illinois “a gerrymandering hot spot” …
■ … recalling Pritzker’s 2021 retreat from his support for an independent commission to draw Illinois’ legislative map.
■ Texas’ governor is asking his state’s Supreme Court to remove from office the Texas House Democratic leader—one of several huddling in Illinois to forestall a vote on the new map.
■ Colbert’s show opened with a musical tribute to his ol’ home, Chicago—ending with a cut of Pritzker doing a shot of Malört.
Forward—to the past. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is canceling $500 million in funding for vaccine development.
■ Trump’s administration is restoring and replacing a couple of Washington statues honoring the Confederacy.
■ Mother Jones: “Right-wing activists have long warned of the coming federal invasion. Where are they now?”
‘Big Balls’ beaten. One of the most prominent members of the Trump/Musk “Department of Government Efficiency,” Edward Coristine, was reportedly attacked in a Washington carjacking attempt …
■ … prompting Trump to threaten a federal takeover of D.C.
■ Popular Information: The federal immigration crackdown could cripple local law enforcement.
‘Trump’s economy is telling you a story the president doesn’t want you to hear.’ USA Today’s Chris Brennan sums up the president’s approach: “Everything his opponents do is designed to destroy it, and only he can fix it.”
■ Satirist Andy Borowitz, in a post that he insists is “100% factual”: Trump’s a math dunce. (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
■ Flashback to 1981: Meet [then-future Pulitzer winner] Jack Ohman—at 19, the youngest syndicated U.S. editorial cartoonist, ever.
‘A nightmare.’ The founder of a small nonprofit that investigates civil rights violations tells ProPublica Trump’s war on Big Law has made it tougher to find help challenging the administration on a range of issues.
■ Law professor Joyce Vance: Trump’s desecrating the Justice Department.
■ The Better Government Association’s Illinois Answers Project: Medicaid managed care organizations are seeing billions in profits as small clinics and hospitals drown in denied and delayed claims—and as some stop accepting Medicaid altogether.
‘You cheated the very thing you put a face to at the City Club of Chicago.’ A federal judge has sentenced longtime Chicago lobbyist and City Club chief Jay Doherty to prison for his role in a scheme to bribe (also convicted) former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan.
■ The judge said Doherty’s contrition came “too late in the process.”
‘The situation in Gaza involves people being deliberately starved.’ Columnist, former U.S. Rep. and “wife and mother of Jewish Americans” Marie Newman: “It is time for Americans to stand up and demand peace.”
■ The AP: In what would be a major escalation of the war, Israel’s considering reoccupying Gaza.
■ The Guardian: Israel’s relying on Microsoft services to play back cellular communications—“a million calls an hour”—made by ordinary Palestinian civilians.
What ChatGPT’s telling kids. New research—including hours of audio interactions between the AI entity and researchers posing as teens—delivers what the AP calls “startlingly detailed and personalized plans for drug use … or self-injury.”
■ On a road trip to Michigan, Tribune columnist Laura Washington sees a pattern in all the billboards hawking marijuana shops and personal injury attorneys—and little else.
If you’re counting on ESPN for objective coverage of pro football, count again. The NFL’s selling most of its media businesses to Disney—in exchange for 10% of ESPN …
■ … making life tougher for ESPN reporters.
■ Disney’s CEO says ESPN’s journalism won’t change. (But he would say that, right?)
■ The Hulu app’s time is near its end.
■ If the season premiere of South Park grabbed your attention, check out Episode 2 tonight.
Public radio’s online strength. As federal funding evaporates, Nieman Lab’s Joshua Benton is launching a monthly ranking of NPR stations’ website audiences.
■ WBEZ’s No. 21.
■ College of DuPage-owned blues-and-jazz-oriented WDCB’s launched its own app.
Thank you. Readers including Randy Kulat, Kathy O’Brien, Steven Yandel, Conrad Wayne, Kathy Catrambone, Deb Abrahamson, Jennifer Packheiser, Ted Slowik, Leigh Behrens, Cecelia Kafer, Ralph Culloden, Keri Lynch, Aya A, Daniel Parker, Carolyn Roberta Berg, Ann Johnson Arellano, Arlene Johnson, Laura Putre, James Gardner, Kathy Downing, Chris Mcintosh, Mike Trenary, Karen Gray-Keeler, Deb Humiston, Patricia Skaja, Jennifer Thiele, Lloyd Sachs, Sarah Hoban, Sue Omanson, Charlene Thomas, Tony Recktenwald, Cynthia Farenga, Joe Lynn, Bill Utter, Ira Pilchen, Lynne Stiefel and William Wheelhouse have—over the last 7 1/2 years of Chicago Public Square’s 8 1/2-year existence—pitched in to cover the cost of its production and distribution, keeping it free for all to read.
■ Join their ranks—for as little as $1, just once—and see your name atop tomorrow’s contributor roll call.
■ Jeffrey L. Wiseman made this edition better.