Sorry about ‘hellhole,’ Chicago. In a new campaign video, Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey admits he “said something dumb” about the city in his last campaign …
■ … and then proceeds to hit the town.
‘The court has declared the Trump administration’s unlawful orders defunct.’ Illinois’ attorney general hails a federal judge’s decision to toss a lawsuit over President Trump’s plans to send the National Guard into Chicago—because the plan’s not in effect anymore.
■ Gov. Pritzker: “Trump’s deployment … was a reckless and illegal abuse of power.”
■ Nevertheless, immigration enforcement fears have prompted Chicago to cancel its Cinco de Mayo parade for the second successive year.
‘She is beholden to law enforcement.’ A coalition of elected officials, clergy, journalists and lawyers seeking a special prosecutor to investigate “Operation Midway Blitz” has uncovered emails that it says show Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has failed to challenge the Trump administration’s immigration actions for fear of compromising her office’s “excellent working relationships with … federal partners.”
■ Investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein: “The Department of Homeland Security is developing specialized smart glasses that will allow federal agents on American streets to automatically identify ‘illegal aliens’ from a distance.”
‘You've disgraced yourself and a great department.’ Columnist and ex-U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich to resigning Trump Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer: “Goodbye and good riddance.”
■ She’s leaving after what the AP describes as “multiple allegations of abusing her position’s power, including having an affair with a subordinate and drinking alcohol on the job.”
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “Donny is in way over his head, overmatched and totally unaware of just how horribly everything is going.”
‘Here’s how stupid it is.’ Political analyst Rachel Hurley has read FBI Director Kash Patel’s lawsuit against The Atlantic about his problematic behavior: “Let’s start with the typos …”
■ Popular Information: The suit “puts Trump in a difficult position. If Trump fires Patel now … it effectively confirms The Atlantic’s reporting”—which you can read here in a gift link.
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones: “That the story was still prominent on its website … tells you all you need to know about The Atlantic’s confidence in its reporting.”
■ Columnist Neil Steinberg says the only question remaining is “which is shitcanned first, the lawsuit or Patel.”
■ An independent news ratings site is cautiously celebrating “a big win against government censorship. … The FTC dropped its investigation of NewsGuard. Now it’s organizing a boycott instead.”
Trump vs. English. The U.S. Education Department is dissolving the office supporting the teaching of English to public school students for whom it’s not the native language (Washington Post gift link).
■ Education columnist Jan Resseger calls that move “disturbing” …
■ … but it ups the chances for parody as Trump was slated to appear in a video reading a passage from the Bible.
CTA double-dipper? WTTW reports that a former Chicago Public Schools employee declared ineligible for rehiring after allegedly defrauding the district through a dual-employment scheme now has a six-figure job at the Chicago Transit Authority.
■ The CTA’s fired a company that had been providing unarmed security guards, pledging to redirect that money to paying actual Chicago and Cook County cops.
‘We’ll build this into a bigger comedy network.’ The Chicago-based Onion has a new plan to take over conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars by the end of the month.
■ Although a Texas judge has yet to approve the deal, The Onion’s make-believe CEO sounds optimistic: “Nothing can stop us now that we’re in charge of a website” …
■ … and it’s already designed a new logo:
■ The company’s hired Cartoon Network “Adult Swim” alumnus Tim Heidecker to run the new Infowars …
■ … even as Jones vows to keep spewing the same crap under the banner Alex Jones Show.
⌘-Shift. Apple’s getting a new CEO—the guy who’s been overseeing iPhones’ design.
■ Journalism critic Margaret Sullivan is “baffled by the [New York] Times’ decision to devote its entire Sunday business cover to a fluffy feature story on [Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ spouse] Lauren Sánchez Bezos, who professes how much fun it is to be rich.”
‘Implications are vast, exciting and troubling.’ Columnist Eric Zorn assesses “the hilarious, ominous trailer … for Pi Hard, a movie not coming soon to a theater near you.”
■ YouTube’s offering actors, athletes, creators and musicians at risk of seeing their likenesses co-opted a proprietary detection tool to identify and request removal of deepfakes on its platform.
Chicago Public Square mailbag. Reader Benjy Blenner writes: “Trump is clearly not running the country. Who is? And why is that not a bigger story?”
■ Related: Stop the Presses columnist Mark Jacob writes, “More than a year into Trump’s second term … journalists— even lazy journalists—can’t miss this authoritarian rot. It’s not cluelessness anymore. It’s cowardice and complicity. And it’s inexcusable.”
■ Recapping this month’s Illinois Local Media Summit, Chicago Media Journal proprietor Igor Studenkov writes, “It was a good concept, and it had some interesting discussion—but I have some notes.”
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