Driving for City Hall. Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias has gone public: He’s running for mayor of Chicago…
■ … even as he also runs for reelection as secretary of state.
■ See his announcement here.
■ A Tribune editorial (gift link) calls on all the candidates to tell it straight: “What cuts they’re open to, how they plan to bring the reluctant along and what reforms they are ready to put in place. Quickly.”
Cop-outs. A Trib report (gift link) finds that, as hundreds of Chicago police officers await resolution of serious misconduct charges against them, prosecutors have disqualified them from testifying in criminal cases.
■ John Oliver last night dragged police surveillance technology through the mud.
■ As the cyclosporiasis outbreak rages on, Oliver also helpfully (or not) offered a disclaimer commercial for Taco Bell.
‘Creepy.’ That’s how Politico’s Shia Kapos says an unnamed legislative staffer describes scandal-scarred and ousted Illinois State Rep. Harry Benton’s behavior …
■ … in a legislative inspector general’s report finally released to the public.
Your voter info safe—for now. A federal judge has rejected the Trump administration’s demand for data on Illinois’ registered voters.
■ If Democrats take the House and Senate in November, columnist and former U.S. Rep. Marie Newman has a list of “what needs to be reversed, restored and rebuilt immediately.”
Pool coverage. The Justice Department’s abandonment of criminal charges against a former Olympian for touching the algae-blemished Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool isn’t sitting well with the president …
■ … who then laid into his U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: The case fits a pattern of Donald Trump’s Justice Department “repeatedly misleading grand juries or committing misconduct in getting indictments.”
■ Columnist Steven Beschloss: “This should be enough evidence that this man has abandoned the rule of law … and should be removed from office.”
Slush flushed? In a move aimed at securing his confirmation, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has formally ordered abortion of Trump’s plan for a $1.8 billion slush fund to pay off his political allies …
■ … but that document also keeps in place a deal giving the president and his family immunity from tax audits over past behavior.
‘Why all this war is bad talk? I’m making a fortune!’ USA Today’s Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke mocks oil companies’ Iran war profits.
■ Phildelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch (gift link): “The smell of death surrounds Donald Trump’s regime from Guatemala to Pittsburgh.”
Hey, Google: Pay up. Tech columnist Kim Komando: If you owned a Google or Nest thing or used Assistant between May 2016 and March 2026, the company may owe you up to $56—to settle complaints you were recorded without saying the devices’ “wake words.”
■ You can file here.
■ Your notice, including a unique ID and PIN, may have gone to Spam. (Hey, that’s what happened to your Chicago Public Square columnist.) Search for “GoogleAssistantPrivacyLitigation.com”—although you can also file without those things.
■ They don’t make it easy. You’ll need receipts and device serial numbers—which you may find here.
Bash bashes RFK Jr. Poynter media writer Tom Jones on yesterday’s State of the Union on CNN: “Dana Bash did her job—and RFK Jr. didn’t handle it well.”
■ Former New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan: “Adam O’Neal … at the command of Jeff Bezos … wrecked the Washington Post opinion section but at least he’s out.”
■ Award-winning former radio reporter turned media critic Rob Archer worries about “what happens if mainstream news media goes the way of Blockbuster Video.”
WSJ regrets. The Wall Street Journal has corrected a story highlighted in Friday’s Chicago Public Square (gift link): “Chicago’s new bike lanes spark a rebellion from businesses” …
■ … after Streetsblog Chicago complained.
How about $1—Is $1 good for you? Friday’s reminder that you can support Square for just a buck a month seems to have resonated with a number of readers who signed up over the weekend to underwrite the cost of this newsletter’s production and distribution.
■ Join their ranks today and see your name atop tomorrow’s supporter roll call—like Craig Cheslog, Wendy Bennett, Terri Reardon, Clif Wilson, Steven Yandel (again!), Sherry Kent (again!), Julie Johnson (again!), Teresa Powell, Jordan Wilkerson, Mark Miller, Angela Mullins, Roger Blickhan, KT Sullivan, Jim Kelly, Marc Magliari, Mary Meegan, Daniel Forden, Bob Tucker, Barbara Hayskar, Heather Foote, Eric Hochstein, Lucy Smith, Carol Hirschtick, Griz Alger, Bill and Lynne Higgins, Thom Clark, Tom Barnes, Philip Prale, Sheila Flaherty, William Bork, Gary Kochanek, Tim Smith, Ryan Ver Berkmoes, Christopher Comes, Ginny Lee-Herrmann, Paul Clark, Jenny Wittner, Ann James, Barbara Heskett, Sue Zablocki, Jeanne Loshbough, Sherry Nordstrom, Patty Wallenberg, Molly McDonough, Eileen Larsen, Another Debbie Becker, Mark Thurow, Craig Koslofsky, David Boulanger, Lisa Price, Tom Revord, Beth Bales Olson, Christine Cupaiuolo and Jan Kieckhefer.
■ Mike Braden made this edition better.