Chicago Public Square will take Wednesday off to join the Local Media Fest. Back Thursday.
Dead last. In the aftermath of funeral home scandals, WBEZ reports that, compared to other states, Illinois is lousy at oversight of the industry—the only state without an agency monitoring such businesses at their physical locations.
■ The Tribune (gift link): Police say that, two years before corpses were found decaying at South Side funeral home, the owners left bodies decomposing in a van.
What took so long? Axios reports that Chicago’s Northeastern Illinois University on Chicago’s North Side is now the state’s first public university to offer an artificial intelligence major …
■ … even as Chicago School Board candidates split on AI’s role in the classroom.
■ TidBITS columnist Adam Engst: “AI is democratizing development again.”
■ Anti-data center activists on the South Side are not reassured by Mayor Johnson’s executive order regarding construction of those facilities in Chicago.
■ PolitiFact: “Most of your daily online activities rely on data centers.”
■ Columnist and ex-Republican political strategist Rick Wilson finds the Flock surveillance camera company CEO’s mea culpa last week unconvincing: “Flock’s spy system has to die.”
‘Defamatory.’ The Chicago Teachers Union is suing the Republican-aligned Illinois Policy Institute over what it calls a “deliberate campaign” to hurt the union’s reputation.
■ Illinois’ suburban teachers union is backing Gov. Pritzker’s reelection.
■ On strike: Some Cook County Forest Preserves workers …
■ … but the preserves remain open.
‘The story of our lives.’ Journalism watchdog Mark Jacob says news outlets are downplaying the danger of a looming dictatorship.
■ Escalating its fight with the Donald Trump-controlled Federal Communications Commission, Disney-owned ABC is suing …
■ … contending the FCC’s accelerated review of its broadcast licenses—including Chicago’s ABC 7—violates the First Amendment.
■ It says the FCC’s retaliating for Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes.
■ Caught trafficking in plagiarism and lies since launch in May, more than 200 AI-generated “local news” sites have gone away.
‘A new level of Trumpian evil.’ Columnist and Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman: “North Korea is the worst government on Earth; Trump prefers it to the prosperous democracy next door.”
■ The Atlantic (gift link): “Trump is putting his face on everything.”
■ Pod Save America cohost Dan Pfeiffer: “Trump is giving your money to his corporate backers.”
■ Also from The Atlantic, a first-person account: “The Trump White House needed me—until the fact that I am trans became public.”
■ A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from moving the FBI headquarters to a D.C. office building.
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: “Trump continued … flooding of social media with fantasies that he is smart, beloved, and powerful.”
■ It’s primary Election Day today in four states.
■ The Onion: “Todd Blanche Vows To Remain Fully Independent Of The Law.”
Trump’s ‘Natalie’ feud. Georgia Sen. and potential presidential candidate Jon Ossoff has ticked Trump off with a reference to presidential aide Natalie Harp …
■ … who Wonkette’s Evan Hurst says is “the one who goes everyyyyyyywhere with him, to the point that there are lots of rumors and questions about what exactly is happening.”
■ Jeff Tiedrich: “Ossoff mentioned diaper nurse Natalie, and every Republican completely lost their shit.”
■ Columnist Eric Zorn: “It’s early, yes, but I’m excited about Jon Ossoff for 2028.”
‘America is looking for a few good Marines who can kill ruthlessly and shave comfortably.’ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst role-plays as a Trump-compliant gunnery sergeant.
■ In a move that The Daily Beast says will anger the president, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s visit to Iowa in his “personal capacity” looks like the start of a presidential campaign.
Powerless for a week. Seven days after storms ravaged NIPSCO’s network, Indiana residents—many in Gary—are still without electricity.
■ NIPSCO: Assume every downed wire is energized.
■ Afflicted residents may qualify for $5,000 in state aid.
■ Some DuPage County tornado sirens early this morning sounded accidentally.
Suburban mayor wounded. Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant reportedly was at a Harold’s chicken restaurant when he was grazed by a bullet …
■ … fired by a man who was then shot and killed by a security guard.
Know Your Rights: The comic book. Columnist and comics veteran Mike Gold celebrates New York City Public Schools’ publication of what, for some immigrant kids, “might be the most important comic book they will ever possess.”
■ The digital version, which Gold says “is completely useful throughout the United States of America,” is free to download here.
■ Public Notice: “DHS’s abuse of power in Minnesota was even worse than we knew. It’s the stuff of East Germany.”
Legendary acceptance. Disney’s welcomed a new class of creators into its “Legends” Hall of Fame …
■ …including Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose acceptance speech might bring a tear to your eye.
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