‘Largest one-day political protest in U.S. history.’ That’s what columnist Dan Froomkin anticipates for Saturday’s No Kings rallies across the country.
■ Find out where they’ll be near you.
■ Here’s the deal for Chicago.
■ Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin to Rachel Maddow: “The day after No Kings, democracy won’t suddenly be saved. … So we need to build.”
■ Shia Kapos at Politico: As Democrats continue to overperform in legislative races across the country, Illinois Republicans are getting the chills.
Thanks, war. Beginning next month, the U.S. Postal Service will slap an Iran war-driven 8% “fuel surcharge” on package delivery.
■ The AP: At a Pentagon Christian service, Defense Secretary Hegseth prayed for “overwhelming violence … against those who deserve no mercy.”
■ States Newsroom: As the war drives up fuel prices, the EPA will let gas stations to sell a blended fuel containing 15% ethanol—usually barred in many Midwest states over the summer to cut smog.
■ The Tribune: A new global survey concludes that wildfires, dust storms and traffic made Chicago the nation’s third-most polluted major U.S. city last year.
‘A gift of grift.’ It’s a soft landing for former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russian ties.
■ Former AP D.C. bureau chief Ron Fournier: “Trump pardoned Flynn as part of the bogus claim that the Department of Justice’s investigation into Russia’s attempt to manipulate the 2016 election was a hoax. Now, for his self-inflicted trouble, Flynn will receive $1.2 million from the Trump administration.”
Social media’s ‘Big Tobacco’ moment. That’s how The New York Times (gift link) sees a pair of jury verdicts against Facebook parent Meta and Google’s YouTube for harms to kids using their services.
■ David Dayen at The American Prospect: “Their goodwill with the public has dissipated; their ability to buy off public officials has limited reach; and their attempts to transfer the fortunes they made on their platforms to the next generation of technology may become mired in a sea of litigation.”
■ The verdicts were victories for parents who contend the companies failed to protect young users. (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
■ Columnist Jill Filipovic: “Meta and YouTube went into this case believing they would easily win. They did not read the room.”
■ Columnist and lawyer Mitch Jackson sees it as just a wrist slap: “Meta and YouTube were found negligent for addicting a child to their platforms. A jury made them pay $6 million, which is about what Meta earns every 11 minutes.”■ Coming to YouTube: A Jeopardy! spinoff.
R.I.P., ‘Metaverse.’ Facebook’s laid off 700 workers at Facebook and its virtual reality division.
■ ChatGPT parent OpenAI is pulling the plug on its text-to-video creation app Sora—billed as “the most powerful imagination engine ever built”—and walking away from a billion-dollar deal with Disney.
■ Popular Information: “Companies are using AI to pay workers as little as possible.”
Hospital down. Oak Park’s West Suburban Medical Center is closing “temporarily,” amid what it calls a financial “crisis.”
■ A hospital employee tells the Sun-Times: “We are having patients coming in and saying, ‘What do I do?’ … I don’t have anything to tell them.”
‘We will fight to preserve the raises of tipped workers.’ Mayor Johnson’s vetoed a City Council plan to cancel an increase in the minimum wage for those employees …
■ … but, as restaurant owners complain that increase is hurting business, the council’s considering a veto override.
‘A terrible blow at a time when anti-Jewish hate is on the rise.’ A council member mourns the resignation of a member of the city’s human relations commission …
■ … amid what the Sun-Times calls concerns that Johnson’s team tried “to whitewash a long-awaited report that was supposed to focus solely on antisemitism.”
■ H Kapp-Klote at The Chicago 312 newsletter: Rahm Emanuel’s top donor and Obama Foundation board member Michael Sacks “would like you to know he’s the real victim here.”
‘The central question remains: Where did the gunfire originate?’ As the White Sox launch another baseball season, the Tribune says the end may be near for a legal fight over a shooting in the team’s bleachers.
■ Two people were in custody in connection with the Tuesday afternoon shooting and killing near the United Center of a longtime developer and contractor with offices in the neighborhood.
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “Can we extract meaning from the horrible, heartbreaking murder on the lakefront? Immigration hawks say yes, but the answers are not clear.”
Hail, baseball! Chicago’s forecast today raised the prospect of tornadoes and a fresh batch of large hail …
■ … which could make Opening Day for the Cubs, um, interesting.
■ But, hey, Chicago’s new “Abolish ICE” snowplow’s ready for action.
Not the worst thing that ever happened to Abe. Artifacts that a historian and collector of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia sold to Illinois’ Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum are seemingly now on the auction block—again.
■ See ’em here.
Robots’ bad week. Make that two food delivery robots that have smashed into Chicago bus shelters this week.
■ A City Council member: “It’s hard for this technology to operate safely in the city of Chicago.”
■ General Motors has begun testing self-driving “eyes-off” cars in Michigan and California.
Need an internet router? Good luck upgrading your setup now that the Trump administration has banned imports of foreign-made, consumer-level devices to share a single internet connection with all your wired and wireless gadgets.
■ Since that’s just about all of them, The Verge’s Sean Hollister sees this as another goof by “Brendan Carr, known dummy and anti-consumer FCC chairperson.”
■ Apple’s out with upgrades for its things’ operating systems.
How’re we lookin’? We’ve been messing around under the hood of the Chicago Public Square website coding. Poke around and holler if anything’s amiss.
■ Your suggestions for improvement of Square’s look and feel—on the web or in email—are always welcome here.
■ Mike Braden made this edition better.