It’s Chicago Public Square’s ninth birthday. Read all about it at the end of today’s edition.
Are you striking? Demanding “ICE out of everywhere,” civil rights activists across the nation have declared this a day of “no work, no school, no shopping” …
■ … especially, some organizers say, Minneapolis-based Target.
■ At least seven people were arrested last night outside Chicago’s West Loop Target, where they were demanding the company stop cooperating with ICE.
■ Several small Chicago businesses are voluntarily closed.
■ Robyn Pennacchia at Wonkette: “White Minnesota Ladies Protesting ICE Really Throwing A Wrench In Right Wing Propaganda Machine.”
■ Add Billy Bragg to the roster of those releasing anti-ICE protest songs.
■ My Morning Jacket has released a digital album, the proceeds from which will benefit civil and human rights organizations.
‘Could killing Renee Good and Alex Pretti be the last straw? Spoiler alert: No, it’s not.’ The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg pours water on hopes that “we’ve turned a corner.”
■ Columnist Steven Beschloss: “Don’t believe the momentary softening rhetoric toward Minneapolis. It’s only meant to quiet the opposition.”
■ Jeff Tiedrich: “Minneapolis is still a war zone, because Tommy Cash-Bags wants it that way.”
■ The Washington Post (gift link): The handling of the Pretti investigation has some prosecutors ready to quit.
■ A federal judge questions why the Justice Department keeps calling a woman shot by a Border Patrol agent in Chicago a “domestic terrorist.”
■ Gov. Pritzker’s asking his Illinois Accountability Commission to investigate key officials of Donald Trump’s administration.
‘A moral surrender.’ That’s what Julie Roginsky at Salty Politics calls Democrats’ potential budget deal with Trump to separate Homeland Security from a broader spending bill—funding the department for another couple of weeks as they debate its long-term fate.
■ Columnist and former U.S. Rep. Marie Newman spells out how Democrats can push for “the seemingly impossible”: Dismantle and transform Homeland Security, ICE and Border Patrol into “a new modernized, humane and effective organization.”
■ The American Prospect traces “the Border Patrol’s legacy of violence” back to 1924, when the Ku Klux Klan was in its heyday.
‘The most important question in 2026 is whether the midterm elections will be free and fair. And these developments go to the heart of that.’ Law professor Joyce Vance sounds an alarm about the FBI’s search warrant for the Fulton County, Georgia, Elections Operation Center …
■ … in a reflection of what the AP calls “pursuit of Trump’s 2020 election grievance.”
‘Things that simply are not true.’ Poynter surveys another of Trump’s social media posting frenzies.
■ Popular Information: “Silicon Valley was once viewed as a tool for liberation. Now … it is helping the White House suppress dissent.”
‘Not since The Terminator has there been this much excitement for a movie about a European cyborg.’ Jimmy Kimmel mocked the new movie about Melania Trump …
■ … the [Trump] Kennedy Center premiere of which Amazon blocked mainstream media from watching last night.
■ Desi Lydic at The Daily Show: “Why would [Amazon founder] Jeff Bezos, a billionaire who has tons of business with a government run by a famously corrupt president known for loving bribes, overpay [$40 million] for a Melania documentary? Hmm …”
■ USA Today’s Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke: Mocking the documentary “is an act of patriotism. … And there is plenty to mock, none of which requires you to shell out money to see whatever bloviating bilge Amazon is foisting on the American public” …
■ … even as Amazon cuts tens of thousands of jobs …
■ … reportedly including the last of what’s left of its digital comics purveyor, Comixology.
Paging Mayor Emanuel. A federal judge has ordered Chicago’s former chief executive—and will-he-won’t-he potential presidential candidate (New York Times gift link)—to testify next week about Chicago police officers’ “code of silence” in connection with a 2018 raid that violated the civil rights of a family with four kids.
■ Records obtained by the Tribune show Chicago cops’ murder clearance rate is higher than it’s been for more than a decade.
■ A former Illinois deputy’s been sentenced to 20 years in prison for shooting and killing a Black woman who’d called police to report a prowler near her home.
Reporter arrested. CNN alumnus Don Lemon was taken into custody today in connection with his coverage of an immigration-enforcement protest that disrupted services at a Minnesota church that lists an ICE field office leader as one of its pastors.
■ Lemon’s asserted that he was reporting, not demonstrating.
■ CNN says the arrest “raises profoundly concerning questions about press freedom and the First Amendment.”
■ Former Sun-Times political editor Basil Talbott Jr. is dead at 89.
■ After publishing a far-right, conspiracy theory-laden essay on former Trib political columnist John Kass’ website, a Cook County Circuit Court judge has been yanked from the bench.
Do it for Chicago journalists—or do it for the chance at a $100 gift card. Take a few minutes for a survey to help news organizations working with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism better understand the public they serve.
‘Several rounds of snow.’ Winter’s not done with us yet …
■ … ah, but let your mind wander ahead to Chicago’s summer festivals—the schedule for which has been unveiled.
■ Pulitzer winner and veteran Winter Olympics “credentialed media person” Dave Barry offers “a comprehensively comprehensive preview” of the 2026 festivities: “If I had to describe, in one word, the fun and excitement of … the winter games, that word would be ‘unpleasant bus rides.’”
Can you dig it? Past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel serves up a Groundhog Week edition of The Conversation’s news quiz …
■ … on which your Square columnist got three of eight wrong—including one that should have been easy.
■ But: 4/5 here on City Cast’s Chicago-centric news quiz …
■ … and 6/10 on Axios’ quiz on Chicago’s 2016.
Nine years! Unlikely as it seemed on this date in 2017—especially considering experimental content like this—today marks the ninth anniversary of Square’s public debut after a few trial editions and three days after its existence was revealed on WGN Radio.
■ Also tough to predict: That the news then would seem so much like the news of today:
■ Needless to say, Square would have disappeared long ago if not for continuing voluntary reader support …
■ … and its longevity might even be attributed in part to this service’s detractors, whose unsubscribe notes have inspired memorable out-of-print T-shirts like this …
■ … which, to mark this anniversary, are back in stock—in new colors …
■ … and which continuing supporters can get at a discount—or free. (Photo: Square supporters Susan Buchanan and Gary Strokosch by Jim Polaski.)
■ Limited offer: Through the end of February, those who support Square in any amount—even just $1, just once—get a special anniversary code good for $9 off the purchase of any Squarewear. (But if you’re striking today, wait until tomorrow.)
■ And stay tuned next month for Square’s 2,000th edition.
Thanks. Chris Koenig and Mike Braden made this edition better.