'An army of officers' / 'A nine-alarm fire for American democracy' / Fresca case solved

‘Police pushing, shoving, pepper spraying, kicking, and beating young people … in an entirely nonviolent protest.’ Photographer Paul Goyette offers a first-person account of aggression by “an army of officers” in Saturday’s Chicago police confrontation with protesters, which he says “ended with some of the brightest and most compelling young organizers I’ve known being beaten and arrested.” (Photo: Paul Goyette.)
■ One organizer says she and others were left “running for our lives. … As we tried to leave, they wouldn’t let us.”
■ Mayor Lightfoot told CBS’ Face the Nation, “People … have embedded themselves in these seemingly peaceful protests and come for a fight” …
■ … and she insisted “our police department is resolved to make sure that we protect peaceful protests.”
■ Hours before Saturday’s downtown march, Bronzeville neighbors told organizers of a smaller peaceful demonstration to go away.

‘Let’s make a change, and let’s not be scared of the change.’ The Sun-Times profiles a cohort of young activists reimagining Chicago’s future, “from how we name our parks to law enforcement agencies.”
■ Chalkbeat: Why most Chicago schools voted to keep police on campus.

‘A nine-alarm fire for American democracy.’ Columnist Will Bunch sees the handicapping of the U.S. Postal Service by President Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy—during a pandemic that’s made voting by mail essential for many Americans—as a coup by mail.

■ The Washington Post’s Margaret Sullivan on journalists’ challenge: “How do you deal with a scandal when the president himself has no shame about admitting to it?” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ NBC News has assembled a state-by-state guide to voting by mail and early in-person voting.
■ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling the House back from vacation to address USPS meddling.
■ Columnist Jason Sattler: “The Republican president, utilizing the unqualified immunity he has been given by the Republican Senate, has a plan to swipe this election. And it’s not at all clear that Democrats have a plan to stop him.”
■ John Oliver: “It’s frankly amazing how slow Trump is to respond to so many things—like, I don’t know, public health crises—yet when it comes to amplifying racist conspiracy theories, suddenly he’s the f—king Flash on cocaine.”

Losing millions by degrees. Illinois’ colleges and universities are bleeding big bucks as they go without room and board fees from students learning remotely and incur new costs for protecting those who show up.
■ As COVID-19 cases surge Downstate, Gov. Pritzker is imposing new restrictions on Illinois counties near St. Louis.
■ Professors of law and biology make the ethical case for medical trials that deliberately infect humans with COVID-19.
■ Add this to your End Times vocabulary: Twindemic.

Fresca case solved. The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg gleefully updates the mystery of a soft drink that went missing in the pandemic.
■ The Associated Press: Airlines are desperately trying to persuade the public that flying is safe, but “it isn’t working.”

She speaks for the trees. Openlands vice president Daniella Pereira says last week’s storm devastation of Chicago—7,300 or so trees lost—justifies creation of an Urban Forestry Advisory Board.
■ Environmental groups are sounding the alarm about today’s Trump administration approval of a program to drill for oil and gas within Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
■ Melting permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere threatens the revival of long-gone diseases.

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Shop safely / How much for you? / They will rock you

Because stuff keeps happening, get updates between editions by following Chicago Public Square first on Facebook. And now, the (today, at least, Trump-free) news:

Shop safely. Consumer Reports details the precautions you should take when buying groceries in-store and online during the COVID-19 pandemic …
■ … and offers plenty of other advice, including how to stay safe when you absolutely must go out—for instance, to get gas.

■ It also sings the praises of simple soap and water. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ Chicago’s voice of viral reason, Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady, is in.

‘Terrifying.’ An emergency physician tells CNN the full extent of human suffering under the virus has yet to be conveyed by TV news.
■ Patients are making videos to let people know the virus “wants to kill you.”
■ A 27-year-old general medicine resident at a New York City hospital describes the wave of illness and death threatening to overwhelm that city’s health care system as “apocalyptic.”
■ Inside a Brooklyn hospital, health workers are beginning the day with prayer.
■ Doctors are drawing up their wills.
■ Early signs suggest the disease’s spread is slowing in New York …
■ … but not so much elsewhere—witness divergent trends correlated with state political orientation as noted by statistician Nate Silver.
■ Mardi Gras—Feb. 25—created what Louisiana State University’s health care services chief calls “the perfect storm,” making New Orleans the likely next coronavirus epicenter.
■ Updating coverage: Worldwide, COVID-19 infections are near the half-million mark; U.S. deaths are near 1,000—and rising.
■ Bloomberg’s Drew Armstrong: “It’s going to get worse soon.”
■ And a second wave is likely to follow.
■ Chicago funeral homes have begun livestreaming services.

How much for you? A Washington Post calculator purports to help figure how much you’ll get from the coronavirus aid plan nearing approval in Congress.
■ The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits nationwide last week was the largest ever—four times the previous peak.
■ Lots of workers are getting laid off via Zoom.
■ Tensions are on the rise between companies and workers who don’t feel safe.

Eggxit. McDonald’s all-day breakfast menu is a casualty of the slowdown.
■ The Michaels craft store chain has told employees they’re “essential” and must show up for work.
■ Guitar Center, too.
■ Massachusetts’ attorney general has written a letter to Amazon and Whole Foods pleading for them to offer their workers paid sick leave—a lack of which, she says, puts “other employees, their customers, and the public at large at significant risk of exposure to COVID-19” (PDF download).

Lakefront barricades. To discourage crowds from gathering near Lake Michigan, Chicago police yesterday closed off parts of the city’s parks and trails. (Update, 10:17 a.m.: Today, too.)
■ Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown: “Oh, God. Please don’t let it come to that. Please, please, please.”
■ Chicago streets may not get swept for a while.
■ Injustice Watch: To reduce the toll of a COVID-19 outbreak at Cook County Jail, at least 300 people have been freed this week—but another 180 were booked.

Reasons to be cheerful. Or at least not cheerless.
■ Software developers plan a weekend hackathon to science the shit out of the pandemic.
■ Stat: Progress against COVID-19 “has been amazing in some respects.”
■ Millions of coronavirus tests will be produced in Abbott’s Chicago-area facilities.
■ The Chicago Public School system is moving to buy computers for kids stuck home through at least April 21.
■ The United Center is back in action.
■ The Illinois income tax filing deadline’s been extended to July.

They will rock you. At 8 p.m. Friday, classic rock WDRV 97.1-FM will host a community singalong—encouraging Chicagoans to open their windows or step out on their porches to sing The Star-Spangled Banner followed by Queen’s We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions.
■ Elton John hosts a TV special to benefit health care workers and first responders Sunday night.
■ A Tribune editorial: Grateful for health care workers? Then stay home.

‘15. Check whether Amazon delivers alligators (for moat).’ The Trib’s Rex Huppke offers “30 Steps to Surviving the Coronavirus Pandemic From Home (with only a little cannibalism).”
■ Neil Steinberg: “There are things to do in every household, and why not pull yourself away from this social media thing and do them? That’s an order.”

Readers are engaging with Chicago Public Square more than ever during this time of crisis. If you’re an advertiser looking to get the word out, you can do so now at a 25% discount. Tap here.

Thanks to ever-vigilant reader Mike Braden for spotting a couple of misplaced commas in this edition.

Pritzker vs. Trump / 'Kind of hell' / How to feel better

Before we get to the really important stuff, here’s a calculator to help you determine how long your toilet paper supply will last. Now on with the show:

Pritzker vs. Trump. Illinois’ governor hasn’t been pulling his punches against the president.
■ New York’s governor is taking a different tack.

■ Axios: “Trump and some of his senior officials are losing patience with the doctors’ orders” on the coronavirus crisis. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ The administration’s scientific voice of reason, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has his hands full: “I’m sort of exhausted. But … I haven’t been fired.”
■ CNN counts at least 33 false claims from Trump about the virus in the first two weeks of March.
■ Ezra Klein writes in Vox, “It’s hard to decide which are scarier: the conversations I’m having with epidemiologists or the conversations I’m having with economists.”
■ Worldwide, more than 1.5 billion people are under “stay-home” advisories.

Congress’ creeping contagion. At least three U.S. lawmakers have tested positive for COVID-19 …
■ … including Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul …
■ … whose daddy, ex-presidential candidate Ron Paul, 17 days ago spouted this jiggery-pokery …
■ … which PolitiFact rates False.
■ The diagnoses complicate the vote on coronavirus relief legislation.
■ A Consumer Reports online petition demands that any legislative pandemic response put people—not corporations—first.

Jail alert. A Cook County Jail officer has tested positive for COVID-19.
■ A police chief’s plea to the president: “Stop testing NBA players and start testing our first responders” …
■ … several of whom in Chicago and Illinois have now tested positive.
■ BuzzFeed News: Doctors are worried the shortage of coronavirus tests is leaving black communities behind.

How ready is your hospital? A ProPublica project lets you check your area’s capacity to handle the coronavirus under various scenarios from bad to horrific.
■ Chicago hospitals are already feeling the strain “at every level.”
■ Among COVID-19 deaths: Chicago’s first transportation commissioner.

‘Kind of hell.’ A 50-year-old Chicagoan describes his fight against the virus.
■ And yet, virus rebels are still holding parties in Chicago.
■ A suburban religious school [updated, 11:26 a.m.] that had been refusing to close is moving to e-learning after all.
■ Fresh music from parodist Randy Rainbow explores the pain of social distancing.
■ Tips to stop touching your face.

Census counting on trouble. Displaced college students and contagion fears complicate this year’s essential job of figuring out who lives where in the United States.
■ A Sun-Times editorial: A poor count could cost Illinois two seats in Congress.

Can you catch it from newspapers and mail? An expert answers questions about the coronavirus.
■ A Trader Joe’s employee is among those who shared with the Tribune their logs of a day in the (coronavirus) life.
■ Reuters: Grocery clerks have become the nation’s “unlikely heroes.”
■ How to get Illinois unemployment benefits and rent help.

Pregnancy in a pandemic, revisited. More on a subject raised in Friday’s Square:
■ The Washington Post: “Pregnant women are opting for home births as hospitals prepare for coronavirus.”
■ NPR surveys experts on how to make delivery contingency plans.

Working from home? Counsel on how to look and sound better when you’re video conferencing.
■ Remember when stuff like this (from just 10 days ago) was among big workplace problems?

How to feel better. The Tribune’s Mary Schmich lists things it’s OK to do.
■ Conservative blogger and AIDS plague survivor Andrew Sullivan: “Plague living dispenses with the unnecessary, lays bare whom you can trust and … reveals what matters.”
■ Traffic and pollution are way down.
■ Time is making its Time for Kids digital library free for the rest of the school year.
■ Chicago journalism veteran Mike Fourcher recommends creating a family pandemic video diary.
■ Want to read a book to a kid via the internet? Here’s how to avoid backward text on your screen.
■ The crisis is reuniting old radio partners, like these guys and these guys.

Sounds of the shutdown. NPR has rounded up a list of live virtual concerts to watch on the internet.
■ The guy who bought FitzGerald’s Nightclub just before stuff hit the fan is finding “an odd joy in, you know, problem-solving and taking what comes your way.”

Stuff keeps happening. So check the Square Facebook page for news between editions.

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Thanks for link suggestions from readers Teresa Powell and Chris Koenig.