New Year’s nightmare. In a move that The Associated Press says risks drawing Iran’s Arab neighbors into the war directly, Israel pounded Tehran with airstrikes today, the Persian New Year.
■ More from the AP: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Christian rhetoric is drawing fresh scrutiny as the war winds on.
■ Evan Hurst at Wonkette: “The world is far more dangerous because of what Trump and Hegseth have done.”
■ The American Prospect’s Ryan Cooper: “Trump has really stepped in it this time.”
■ The Onion: “Trump Threatens Airstrikes On U.S. Gas Stations.”
Trump’s Pearl Harbor punchline. The president stunned a White House audience into silence yesterday during a meeting with Japan’s prime minister.
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “Why didn’t Japan tell him about Pearl Harbor? How about because it happened five years before he was born?”
■ Jimmy Kimmel: “I guess we should be grateful he didn’t do an accent?”
■ John Gruber at Daring Fireball: “As Trump sinks further into dementia … his administration, in a sick way, gets funnier and funnier.”
So much courage. The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation is awarding a 2026 Profile in Courage Award to “The People of the Twin Cities, Minnesota” …
■ …“for risking their lives to protect their neighbors and immigrant community members from an unprecedented federal law enforcement operation, peacefully defending … values that serve as the foundation of our Constitutional democracy.”
■ The Onion: “DHS: ICE Can Enter Homes Without Pants.”
Croke squeaks in. Gov. Pritzker’s choice for Illinois comptroller, State Rep. Margaret Croke, has narrowly landed the Democratic nomination.
■ Contrarian editor-in-chief Jen Rubin: “In winning the Democratic nomination in the IL-9 House race, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss showed us how to … beat back dark money.”
■ Injustice Watch: Judicial primary voters rejected three appointed judges …
■ … as a couple of judicial cliffhangers linger on.
‘Charter operators cannot play fast and loose with their money or with students’ lives.’ Chicago Teachers Union leadership supports a school board decision to cut ties and support for the financially troubled Aspira charter network.
■ Planned Parenthood of Illinois has agreed to pay half a million dollars to settle a government investigation into charges of discrimination tied to the organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
■ A federal judge in Oregon says the Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. overreached when he declared puberty blockers and other transgender health care treatments unsafe and ineffective.
R.I.P., CBS News Radio. The latest round of cuts at CBS include the shuttering of the network’s nearly 100-year-old radio news network, serving 700 stations across the country—including Chicago’s all-news WBBM.
■ The Trump-controlled Federal Communications Commission has OK’d creation of the nation’s largest local TV operator—through the merger of the Trump-friendly Nexstar Media Group, owner of Chicago’s WGN Radio and TV, with the Tegna chain …
■ … even as Democratic-led states, including Illinois, seek to block the deal.
■ Media watchdog Tom Jones: The Trump administration can’t stop complaining about the media.
■ Jorie Lueloff, Chicago TV’s first female news anchor, is dead at 85.
Quiz perfection. Your Chicago Public Square proprietor rarely gets all the right answers on The Conversation’s weekly news quiz …
■ … but this week is, um, a little special.
■ With no such advantage on City Cast’s primary election quiz, your columnist nevertheless nailed all five of five questions there.
■ The Onion: “Trump Adds Name To Kennedy Center Again.”
‘Freedom of speech! Right on!’ Grammy-nominated rapper Afroman (“Because I Got High”) is celebrating his acquittal in a defamation lawsuit filed by sheriff’s deputies whose raid of his home he mocked in music videos …
■ … earning those deputies Lyz Lenz’s Dingus of the Week honors.
■ Watch The Daily Show’s laugh-out-loud, feel-good breakdown of the case here.
■ Stephen Colbert’s selling “Last Show” T-shirts for charity.
Tarnished Reputations Dept.
■ New charges of sexual abuse by the late, iconic United Farm Workers co-founder Cesar Chavez have Chicagoans reconsidering all the ways his name and face have been honored around town.
■ ABC’s canceled The Bachelorette’s season after release of video in which she can be seen punching, kicking and throwing chairs at her former partner as her young daughter cries.
■ Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s $70 billion “Horizon Worlds” virtual social and gaming network? It’s outta here.
‘When should I use a semicolon?’ Donning his “Ask Mister Language Person” hat, Pulitzer winner Dave Barry tackles that question and others …
■ … including “What is the correct spelling of hemorrhoid?”
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■ Welcome, a bunch of new readers joining Square today from The Conversation’s quiz!
■ Mike Braden made this edition better.