‘Complete terror.’ Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar tells HuffPost ICE agents are on “almost every single block,” operating as “an occupying force” in her Minneapolis community.
■ The Chicago law firm that represented the family of George Floyd, who was killed by a Minneapolis cop in 2020, is now representing the family of Renee Nicole Macklin Good, who was killed by an ICE officer last week.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “Sorry, wing nuts, but Renee Good was straight up murdered by ICE.”
■ About 4 1/2 miles from where she died, another federal officer yesterday shot a man in the leg.
■ Democrats across the country are proposing state laws to restrain federal immigration agents.
■ Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appeals to citizens: “If you see ICE in your neighborhood, take out that phone and hit record.”
■ LateNighter reviews the fun late-night hosts have been having with “ICE Ice Capades” video …
■ … and yet, ICE is reportedly headed to another cold-weather state, Maine.
Trump’s threat. Whining that “professional agitators and insurrectionists” are “attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job,” the president today (again) raised the possibiliy he’ll invoke the Insurrection Act …
■ … which the Brennan Center for Justice has ranked among the most “outdated and dangerous” antiquated laws from the 1700s and 1800s.
■ Investigative reporter Ken Klippenstein: Leaked documents reveal 21 secret programs and detail the dizzying scope of ICE operations.
■ Columnist/lawyer Robert Hubbell: “Mass protests are the last line of defense against ICE's assault on our peace, safety and security.”
■ After fizzling out before the Supreme Court, Justice Department lawyers tell a federal judge in Chicago they hope to settle a suit over Trump’s National Guard deployment efforts here.
‘No regrets whatsoever.’ A Michigan auto worker suspended after calling Trump a “pedophile protector” during the president’s tour Tuesday—prompting Trump to mouth “f--- you” and raise his middle finger—has the United Auto Workers’ support.
■ Stephen Colbert addressed the president directly: “You signed a law mandating that you would have to release the Epstein files by the middle of last month, but you still haven’t. It kind of makes you seem like a, what’s the phrase? Pedophile protector!”
■ Coming back to the suburbs after an eviction threat last year: The MAGA-themed “Trump Truth Store.”
A ‘difficult meeting.’ That’s how the AP characterizes U.S., Danish and Greenlandic officials’ face-to-face to discuss Trump’s coveting of Greenland.
■ The New York Times (gift link): “The fate of the world’s largest island has outsize importance for billions of people on the planet, because as the climate warms, Greenland is losing ice.”
■ A Senate bill that would have clamped down on Trump’s power to attack Venezuela further flopped yesterday after two Republican senators caved. (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “Once again, smack dab in the middle of a meeting—with cameras rolling, surrounded by people—Sundowning Grandpa Befuddlepants closed his weary eyes and drifted off to slumberland.”
Quick retreat. Hours after telling thousands of public service organizations nationwide that federal cash for treatment of substance abuse and mental health issues was about to disappear, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Health and Human Services Department reversed that decision.
■ Chicago-area leaders were among the cancellation’s loudest critics.
Snow fun. Brace for more wintry weather over the next few days.
■ Chicagoans who don’t shovel their walks could face fines of at least $50/day.
Apparently untroubled. Popular Information calls out at least 37 major brands—including Amazon, Google, Chipotle, Apple, Gatorade and the NFL—that’ve been advertising on Twitter X even as its chatbot ground out sexualized images of kids.
■ The Current offers guides for keeping your TV from spying on you and your internet router from sharing your Wi-Fi with strangers—on your dime.
Passages.
■ Chicago gay-rights champion Rick Garcia—who championed groundbreaking laws at the city, county and state levels—has died at 69.
■ The daughter of the founder of Chicago’s Harold’s Chicken chain—its CEO, Kristen Pierce-Sherrod—is dead at 55.
■ After seven years, Fulton Market’s Time Out Market food hall will close next week.
The Score on FM. As of Feb. 2, Chicago’s premier AM sports-talk radio station will begin simulcasting on WBMX-FM, which has been known as 104.3 Jams …
■ … a shift eerily foreshadowed by a 1980 TV commercial for a station that used those call letters to identify as Chicago’s “Black Music Experience.”
Dangerous line crossed. Poynter media writer Tom Jones says the FBI’s raid on a Washington Post reporter’s home stands to “intimidate sources and chill journalists’ ability to … hold the government accountable.”
■ A Post editorial vows that the raid “won’t stop reporters from continuing their important work.”
Reading Chicago Public Square for free? Thank those whose support—even just $1, just once—keeps it coming, paywall-free.
■ Pitch in yourself and see your name in lights here.