Showing posts sorted by relevance for query “Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.”. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query “Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.”. Sort by date Show all posts

Who’s on 2nd? / Shared passion / Math is Hard Dept.

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Who’s on 2nd? Mayor Lightfoot’s hint that she might not run for a second term has set political tongues wagging.
■ But if she were to run, her sophomore term might dodge another round of police contract negotiations.
■ Lightfoot says she has no second thoughts about letting Lollapalooza proceed in Chicago this week …

Mask up. The CDC was set to recommend this afternoon that even vaccinated people should wear masks indoors under some circumstances.
■ The American Public Transportation Association says the CTA and its president were tops in North America through the pandemic …
■  … but ex-Ald. Bob Fioretti says he believes he caught the coronavirus on a CTA bus and later infected his wife.

But isn’t it nice when two people share a passion for destroying democracy? The feds have arrested a Crest Hill couple on misdemeanor charges in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
■ Keys to their arrest: A YouTube video and a plumbers union jacket.
■ Read the full complaint here.
■ That makes more than a dozen Illinoisans nabbed in the search for perpetrators.
■ Updating coverage: The Democratic-selected committee to investigate the attack has begun its hearings. Watch live here.
■ (Most) Republicans planned to boycott the proceedings …
■  … and four, including Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, planned a counterprotest on behalf of “Jan. 6 prisoners.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor, again.)
■ Gaetz’s future sister-in-law calls him “a literal pedophile.”

Air pollution + sunlight = … Lousy air quality for the Chicago area.
■ A new Target warehouse in Little Village is the focus for activists alarmed about a disproportionate number of shipping and warehouse facilities on the South and West sides—and the traffic and pollution they concentrate there.
■ A Colorado State University professor explains that, in hot and dry weather, snow can disappear straight into the atmosphere.
■ A lesson from the Ice Age: Small climate changes can trigger catastrophes.

Math is Hard Dept. Crain Communications plans to move its offices at 150 N. Michigan Ave. across the street to a space roughly half as big in One Prudential Plaza—a decision the company’s CEO describes as “doubling down on our commitment to the city of Chicago” (sixth item in Robert Feder’s column).
■ On a new Chicago Public Square / Rivet360 podcast, Block Club Chicago editor-in-chief Shamus Toomey accentuates the positive in discussing conservative billionaire Joe Ricketts, who pulled the plug on Block Club predecessor DNAinfo Chicago: “I choose to remember how much money he put into journalism.”

On borrowed time? TV critic Aaron Barnhart doesn’t see a future for James Corden’s Late Late Show: “Why is CBS continuing to invest in a second hour of late-night TV when there are cheaper ways of creating viral videos?”
■ PBS’ American Masters tonight traces the life of Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy.

Biles bails. U.S. Olympics light Simone Biles is out—maybe.
■ The Conversation: Swimming gives your brain a bigger boost than other aerobic activity—but scientists don’t know why.

Chicago’s climate crisis / Local elections matter / ‘A historic moment’

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Chicago’s climate crisis. A massive New York Times piece explores the challenges facing a city “built on a shaky prospect—the idea that … Lake Michigan’s shoreline will remain in essentially the same place it’s been for the past 300 years.”
■ City Cast Chicago boils it down: Global warming is behind extremely high and low Lake Michigan water levels.
■ Critic Nina Metz recommends the 2019 documentary about Chicago’s catastrophic 1995 heatwave, Cooked: Survival by ZIP Code, “as a key to understanding our reality going forward.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ The body of a Loyola University graduate has been found in the rubble of the Surfside, Florida, condo that collapsed.
■ Confronting a drought, California’s governor is asking residents to cut their water use by 15%.

Be nice to your fellow Chicagoans. One of them is the winner of yesterday’s first $1 million prize in Illinois’ vaccination lottery.
■ The Tribune: COVID-19 has hospitalized more than 500 fully vaccinated Illinoisans …
■  … but The Atlantic says that shouldn’t be surprising.
■ COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise again in Illinois—because Missouri.
■ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch drove two hours to go “inside the bizarre political philosophy of America’s unvaccinated.”
■ Loyola Medicine is among the first Chicago hospital systems to require shots for all employees.
■ Pfizer and BioNTech are seeking emergency approval for a third—booster—shot to protect people from “all currently known variants” of COVID-19.

Local elections matter. Center for Media Engagement researchers and a journalism professor warn that QAnon has pivoted its exiled online movement to the real world, with a focus on local elections—especially school boards.
■ The AP: “QAnon has receded from social media—but it’s just hiding.”
■ Columnist Irv Leavitt: The principal aim of a suburban Chicago library’s new conservative majority “is to gut its budget.”
■ Acknowledging that its campaign contributions to members of Congress who opposed certification of Joe Biden’s election “troubled some stakeholders,” Toyota says it’ll stop doing that.
■ Columnist Lyz Lenz’s “Dingus of the Week”: National Review, for giving a University of London professor a forum “to bemoan the fact that women simply do not want to sleep with Trump supporters.”

‘Chicago is not the murder capital of the country. … Is that comforting? It shouldn’t be.’ But Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg sees futility in tracking shootings like a box score.
■ A 28-year-old man’s been charged in the shooting of a Chicago cop and two federal agents.
■ The Trace: Over the last decade in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood, more than 1,200 people have been shot.
■ A Chicago Public Schools official says a principal who, along with her daughter, was shot over the weekend will recover fully.
■ A Sun-Times editorial praises the New York governor’s approach to gun violence.
■ A Chicago inspector general’s report concludes the Chicago Police Department’s hiring process rejects a disproportionately high number of Black and female candidates.

Divvy’s coming. Chicago’s expanding the presence of the nation’s largest bike-share system in the Northwest and Southwest Sides.
■ CTA ridership is on the rebound.
■ GM is recalling almost half a million pickup trucks whose airbags can explode without warning.

‘A historic moment in the years-long right-to-repair movement.’ Motherboard hails President Biden’s move to end manufacturers’ power to keep you from fixing—or from paying independent repairers to fix—cellphones and other electronic devices you’ve bought.
■ The executive order is a boon to farmers …
■  … and people who want cheap hearing aids.
■ Also coming from the White House: New limits on the detention and arrest of pregnant immigrants in the U.S.

‘As more and more paywalls protect … expensive-to-produce news, more casual consumers end up reading … hyper-partisan and hateful content.’ Spotlighting a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign journalism professor’s new book, CNN’s Brian Stelter explores the downside of a world where the best journalism is available only to the wealthy.
■ Nieman’s Joshua Benton: “USA Today has officially joined the paywall party.”
■ Reader columnist Ben Joravsky’s relationship with the shrinking Trib is … complicated: “I despise what the new owner—Alden Global Capital—is doing,” but “I don’t want the paper to die.”
■ NewsNation, the formerly Tribune Co.-owned cable channel that used to be known as WGN America, is rearranging its deck chairs again.

‘It fits perfect!
It is black!
It has a red label on it for favorite news source!
It was meant for me!
I am one happy girl!’
That’s Chicago Public Square reader JoBeth Halpin’s reaction after receiving one of these limited-edition caps. Until 11:59 Central time tonight, everyone who chips in at least $75 to help keep Square coming—paywall-free!—will get one. Here’s where to pledge.
■ Thanks to Bob Ness, Mark Wukas and Mike Braden for making this edition better.

Hugs? Some. Travel? Meh. / Water Target Place? / We’re No. 1

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Hugs? Some. Travel? Meh. New CDC guidelines for those fully vaccinated against COVID-19 clear inoculated grandparents to hug unvaccinated adult children and grandchildren.

■ Want to gather with others who’ve been vaccinated? Party on!
■ But even those who’ve had their shots are encouraged to stick close to home.
■ CNN’s Stephen Collinson: “The glimpse of post-vaccination liberation could offer a new incentive to buckle down.”

Watch ball! Chicago’s cleared the Cubs and the Sox to host some in-stadium fans for Opening Day …
■  … which could make for some of the most memorable start to a season games since Aug. 8, 1988.
■ Here’s the deal on tickets.
■ The Tribune’s Rex Huppke: “Will my saying, ‘Sorry, I’m allergic to people who wear pants and talk to each other’ be enough to get me out of going to a game?” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)

Middle milestone. With middle school students’ return Monday, all Chicago elementary school grades are open citywide—more or less.
■ More than a dozen people are in quarantine after a COVID-19 positive test at a Northwest Side elementary school.
■ Gov. Pritzker’s signed a bill designed to “change the face of education” in Illinois …
■  … hailed by Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford as “a step toward ridding Illinois of the damaging policies and procedures … that have created deep inequities and opportunity gaps in education for Black students.”

A ‘damaging double standard.’ The ACLU welcomes President Biden’s order for a review of the sex-discrimination policies adopted under Donald Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos …
■  … including rules governing the handling of college campus sexual assaults.

Water Target Place? Target is in talks to replace Macy’s at Water Tower Place …

A blues museum for Chicago. A joint plan with the Oak Park Regional Housing Center would turn a former bank building on the West Side into a museum, cafe, business incubator and, yes, a bank branch.

‘Irresponsible neighbors.’ A Sun-Times editorial says states considering undermining federal gun laws—to become “Second Amendment sanctuaries”—put Illinois at risk.
■ The Illinois State Rifle Association—a National Rifle Association affiliate—is suing the state, demanding speedier issuance of Concealed Carry Licenses.

We’re No. 1. A new report ranks the Eisenhower Expressway between downtown and the Tri-State as the United States’ most congested road.
■ Overall, Chicago’s traffic is the nation’s third worst …
■ But, hey, at least we’re not Ground Zero for this year’s crop of Brood X cicadas.

And to think you won’t see ’em on book checkout sheets. Now that Dr. Seuss Enterprises has flagged six Seuss books as portraying “people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” the Chicago Public Library is at least temporarily yanking them from circulation.
■ Fact check: A meme comparing Seuss’ work to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s WAP is off the mark.

Graham Crackers is a Chicago Public Square advertiser.
■ Thanks to reader Mike Braden for making this edition better.

'No bars, no restaurants' / The B-word / Ice to know

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Thanks. Just reading Chicago Public Square each day helps Square grow. But special gratitude goes to those who kick in their support for a few cents a day—including Jeffrey Langer, Jeffery Angevine, Jeff Weissglass and Jeff Hanneman. You can join them here. And now the news:

‘No bars, no restaurants.’ The Illinois General Assembly has OK’d a “cleanup” bill for Illinois’ legalization of marijuana, clarifying that public consumption will be allowed “only in a dispensary or retail tobacco store.”
■ Gov. Pritzker hails a “monumental” victory for taxpayers: A bill to consolidate hundreds of suburban and downstate police and fire pension funds.

Lightfoot retreats. The mayor’s backing off from her charge that Uber was offering a “payoff” to black ministers in the company’s campaign to kill her proposed congestion fee on shared rides.
■ A Sun-Times editorial: “Lightfoot put her foot in her mouth, but we’re still wary of Uber.”

‘Marriage equality, abolished the death penalty …’ Citing some of the accomplishments of which he’s most proud, Illinois Senate President John Cullerton says he’ll retire in January—after almost 40 years in the General Assembly …
■ … setting off the maneuvering to replace him.
■ Chicago’s longest-serving alderman, the indicted Ed Burke, faces a challenge to his role as a Democratic Party committeeman.

‘Corrupt as f_____________ck.’ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst has been translating today’s impeachment proceedings into the common tongue.
■ The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine told Congress President Trump’s removal of her played into the dangerous intentions of bad players around the world.

■ As she testified, Trump smeared her on Twitter—something House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff labeled “witness intimidation.”
■ The Atlantic’s Peter Nicholas sees Trump surrounded: “The president thrives on having an opponent to villainize. With impeachment, there are too many to choose from.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ Updating coverage: Real-time analysis from The New York Times.

The B-word. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now using the word bribery to describe Trump’s actions with regard to Ukraine …
■ … a significant shift in Democrats’ rhetoric.
■ And she trolled the president as she did it.
■ The Tribune’s Eric Zorn: Democrats need to get serious about forcing testimony from witnesses close to Trump.
■ Esquire’s Charlie Pierce tags “the most intriguing sucker in the middle of this mess,” European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland, whose cellphone chat with the president from a restaurant “of course, the Russians picked up.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor again.)
■ The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg reluctantly praises impeachment proceedings: “It is good for Americans clinging to our cherished values to see decent, patriotic … witnesses, in contrast with the contemptuous band of toadies, bootlickers and lackeys the Republicans sent to try to discredit them.”
■ The Trib’s Mary Schmich’s channels Trump’s view of impeachment through poetry: “You know the show I’d like to watch? What wouldn’t leave me bored? / That whistleblower tarred and flayed / Then crucified and gored.”
■ The Times surveys talk radio’s take on impeachment in Chicago and other cities.

Hospital secrecy’s end? The Trump administration has released a rule requiring hospitals to post their standard charges for services—including the cheaper prices they’re willing to accept from patients paying cash.
■ A similar rule for health insurance companies is on deck.

‘Instead of botching one incident, the Naperville restaurant tolerated this customer over time.’ The Beachwood Reporter’s Steve Rhodes reviews fresh details in a racist incident at a Buffalo Wild Wings.
■ A racist video triggered a fight at a suburban high school.

Ice to know. Skating returns to Millennium Park today—and it’s free if you bring skates.
■ A guide to the holidays at the park.

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Chicago’s ‘stark reminder’ / ‘Abysmal’ / Trust issues

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Chicago’s ‘stark reminder.’ The discovery of a laser-scope-equipped rifle in a hotel room overlooking a downtown Chicago beach is ratcheting up concern over hospitality industry security, the Tribune reports—particularly as Lollapalooza and big crowds head back to Grant Park.
■ Mayor Lightfoot’s launched a million-dollar fund for tips on illegal guns. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ The mayor says violent crime on the South and West Sides has prompted her to adjust her agenda: “People are scared.”

Yeah, it’s apparently been cool until this. Gov. Pritzker’s signed a first-in-the-nation law forbidding police from lying to underage kids being interrogated …
■  … a practice long associated with false confessions and wrongful confessions convictions …
■  … but cops may be able to get away with it through Jan. 1.
■ The City Council’s poised to offer $1.2 million to the family of a 16-year-old who police shot and killed in a foot chase five years ago.

‘Abysmal.’ That’s how the ACLU describes the Chicago police record on respecting personal privacy as it goes to court demanding the city reveal more about cops’ monitoring of social media.
■ The family of a 19-year-old found dead in the trunk of a burning car had trouble getting answers from the police—until the Sun-Times got involved.
■ The Chicago Police Board has fired a veteran cop for a 2017 crash that killed an off-duty officer and another driver.
■ Guess which ex-mayoral candidate has been acting as an unpaid member of the police union’s contract negotiations team?

And now they can go back to being empty Kmart (etc.) stores. Cook County is closing its last three mass COVID-19 vaccination sites, to focus instead on a “hyperlocal” approach to getting shots in people’s arms.
■ Acknowledging that Chicago pandemic caseloads are trending upward, the city’s top doc says at least “they’re moving slowly.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ As a pandemic ban on Illinois evictions approaches its end, the Chicago City Council is moving toward approval of some permanent protections for tenants.
■ A University of Pennsylvania pediatrics professor explains why kids need their own, separate trials for a COVID-19 vaccine …
■  … which a Food and Drug Administration official says probably won’t win authorization before winter.

Hot air. PolitFact rates as False a widely shared Facebook post asserting that atmospheric carbon dioxide “is not a problem.”
■ The new chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the Chicago region is getting warmer faster than the rest of the planet.
■ Describing himself as “stunned” by the devastating floods that have left more than 100 people dead in Germany and Belgium, Germany’s president warns, “Only if we decisively take up the fight against climate change will we be able to limit the extreme weather conditions we are now experiencing.”
■ Columnist Lyz Lenz’s Dinguses of the Week are the billionaires in a space race, departing Earth “during a global extinction event that has killed and impoverished far more people than it needed to because of income inequality, a problem to which these men directly contribute.”

Trust issues. The Conversation takes a critical look at the consequences of Congress’ approval, 65 years ago this month, of “In God We Trust” as the United States’ national motto.
■ A University of Pennsylvania religious studies professor concludes that white, Trump-loving evangelical Christian leaders’ power is waning.
■ Politico: Ticket sales for a Trump stadium tour are slow.

‘Why haven’t you seen it yet?’ TV critic Aaron Barnhart says NBC/Peacock’s The Amber Ruffin Show is what late night needs.
■ Political analyst Lauren Martinchek: NBC’s parent company is funding the Republican Party.
■ As MSNBC turns 25—you’re officially old if you remember what the MS used to stand for—The Onion takes a satiric look back at the channel’s history.

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‘Oh, yeah … a creep’ / ‘We ask for your intercession …’ / Summery summary

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‘Oh, yeah … a creep.’ Female students at one of Chicago’s most celebrated high schools, Whitney Young, say it’s been an open secret for years that a coach and teacher was a guy to be avoided.
■ Now, after scathing social media posts by his estranged daughter, he’s been placed on leave.

Chicago’s ‘hard weekend.’ Mayor Lightfoot acknowledges the city’s most violent weekend of the year—with at least six of 48 gun victims dead.
■ A 15-year-old girl was shot and wounded yesterday while walking her dog in Washington Park on the South Side. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ In a rebuke of the mayor, the City Council’s Black Caucus is backing a plan to put an elected board of citizens in charge of the police department.

Defecation attestation. Two Illinois men face charges in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol …
■  … with a complaint alleging that, while they were there, they asked a cop to point them to the nearest bathroom.
■ A new Illinois Supreme Court site offers lawyers and non-lawyers, beginners and veterans, counsel on how to go to court.


‘We ask for your intercession …’ Politico reports Republican state lawmakers are asking Cubs and White Sox leadership not to separate vaccinated and unvaccinated fans.
■ Fully vaccinated? Gov. Pritzker says you don’t need to wear a mask—mostly.
■ He’s gradually clearing landlords to resume evictions—but also launching $1.5 billion in rental relief to ease the need for them to do that.
■ A multinational panel of professors has ranked the world’s five worst presidents and prime ministers through the pandemic—and don’t worry, one of our guys made it.
■ Vox: “COVID-19 proved bad indoor air quality makes us sick. We can fix that.”
■ Chicago Public Square one year ago today: Past pandemics have shaped American cities for the better.

Escalating warfare. Updating coverage: Israel destroyed a six-story Gaza building housing bookstores and educational centers, and a retaliatory strike from Gaza killed two workers in a southern Israel packaging plant.
■ Vox: How Israel’s U.S.-funded “Iron Dome” defense system has changed the conflict’s nature. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor, again.)
■ A Tribune editorial: In efforts to end the violence, President Biden’s “voice has been all too ineffective—and quiet.”

Summery summary. Chicago could find itself within shouting distance of 90 degrees by Saturday.
■ But first, rain may provide relief from the city’s driest spring on record.
■ The Pitchfork Music Festival returns in September.

High art, west suburb. Opening Wednesday at Oakbrook Center: “Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition.”
■ Getting in will cost you $20.

Square mailbag. Reader Patrick Olsen responds to Monday’s mailbag: “Public officials should assume every email will one day be read. Whether in the press or in litigation, there’s nothing ‘private’ about the work email of public officials. We’ve certainly been taught in the corporate world to act as if every IM, text and email will one day be read aloud before the world. In addition, if reporters don’t make an effort to ascertain the contents of what public officials are thinking vs. what they are saying, then they very often are not held accountable.”
■ Send your thoughts on the news to Mailbag@ChicagoPublicSquare.com.

A ‘horrifying’ answer / Top cop slop / Taps for Tab

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A ‘horrifying’ answer. CNN’s Oliver Darcy says last night’s town hall session showed President Trump not only implausibly claiming ignorance of the QAnon conspiracy sham but also praising it.

■ In a simultaneous session, Joe Biden promised that, before the election, he’ll come down off the fence on whether to expand the Supreme Court.
■ Didn’t watch one or the other? Politico recaps and Politifact fact-checks both.
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones: “Who had the best night of all? NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie” …
■ … although Trump’s niece had a problem with one of Guthrie’s most talked-about moments.
■ A Trump campaign adviser tells The Daily Beast: “He didn’t spend the whole time yelling, he didn’t piss himself… so this was as best as we could have hoped for.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)

Trump trolled. Hours after Guthrie grilled Trump on his Twitter dependency, the president early today apparently earnestly retweeted a piece from the satirical Babylon Bee …
■ C-SPAN has suspended its political editor—who was to have moderated the presidential debate that didn’t happen last night—after he admitted lying about a tweet he sent.

‘What the heck were any of us thinking, that selling a TV-obsessed, narcissistic individual to the American people was a good idea?’ That’s Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, criticizing Trump early in the week on a phone call with constituents …
■ The daughter of presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani urges people to vote for Biden.
■ But the Tribune’s Eric Zorn warns, “Don’t for a second think this race is over.”
■ A coalition of House progressives, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is calling for a Biden administration not to give Senate-confirmed jobs to corporate executives or corporate lobbyists.
■ The Washington Post: Trump staffers are on edge about their job prospects if he loses.

No sleeping bag required. But. The Sun-Times’ Mark Brown: “It took me two hours and seven minutes to early vote this week … only five minutes of which involved actually filling out the ballot.”
■ Consumer Reports: How to vote safely in person, despite the pandemic … and the lies.

‘I hope you’ll forgive me for ignoring the hearing completely.’ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg anticipates confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett—and the potential end of abortion rights—would result in “furious Americans … finally getting the laws in place that should have been there all along.”
■ The disgraced creator of A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor, is under fire for a Facebook suggestion that Roe v. Wade isn’t “worth fighting for anymore.”

Top cop slop. The Sun-Times reports Chicago’s dishonored ex-Police Supt. Eddie Johnson took at least seven out-of-town taxpayer-funded business trips with a female bodyguard now accusing him of sexual assault.
■ A new report from the city’s inspector general condemns the department’s response to Johnson’s infamous night of drinking.
■ Better Government Association chief David Greising hails the Chicago City Council’s surprising vote in favor of ethics reform.

It’s still here. Chicago’s top health official sees reason for “grave concern” in a second surge of coronavirus cases.
■ Chicago plans to reopen school buildings to its youngest and most medically vulnerable students before the end of the year …
■ Chicago Public Schools reports a “stunning” drop in enrollment this year—the biggest in two decades.
■ Colleges in particular face a Thanksgiving break menace.

Taps for Tab. After almost 60 years, Coca-Cola is killing its original diet soda.
■ Also: R.I.P., Diet Coke Feisty Cherry.

As you watch Aaron Sorkin’s Chicago 7 movie … The Trib’s Mary Schmich hopes you’ll remember one of the jurors for the trial revisited by an acclaimed show arriving today on Netflix.
■ From the archives: Your Square proprietor’s 1994 interview with Chicago 7 defense attorney—and self-described “radical lawyer”—William Kunstler.
■ Ready to move to a TV streaming device? Consumer Reports surveys the newest models.

Media Curious is a Chicago Public Square advertiser.

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■ Thanks to Pam Spiegel for some capital help correcting this edition.

Tribune shakeup / #MAGA / Chicago TV's 'first lady'

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Tribune shakeup. A massive leadership change at the Chicago Tribune: Publisher Bruce Dold and managing editor Peter Kendall are on the way out. Colin McMahon will becomes editor-in-chief.*
■ Update: Dold tells the staff in a note, “I love the Chicago Tribune.”
■ The Tampa Bay Times is cutting full-time staffers’ pay by 10 percent for the next few months.

Coronavirus’ bright side. The chairman of the company that now owns WGN-TV and Radio is upbeat: “If you’re quarantined in your home and one of the few things you can do is watch television, I think advertisers see the benefit in that.”

■ In a move that reportedly blindsided the Health and Human Services secretary, President Trump has handed leadership of the government’s coronavirus response to Vice President Pence, who enabled an HIV outbreak in Indiana. (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ Trump’s challenge in a health crisis: His huge credibility gap.
■ A proposed Interior Department rule could limit the scientific studies the department can consider.

Milwaukee in mourning. Six people are dead—including the gunman—after a shooting massacre yesterday at the Molson Coors complex, one of the nation’s biggest breweries.
■ What we know: It was a 51-year-old employee.
■ Hours before, Wisconsin’s Republican Senate leader made clear he wouldn’t support legal changes to keep guns away from dangerous people.

Democrats’ brewing storm. New York Times interviews with dozens of Democratic Party leaders suggest they’re “willing to risk intraparty damage” at the national convention in July to stop Bernie Sanders’ nomination.
■ Cultural critic Bob Lefsetz: “Obama … had some of the worst coattails of all time, losing both houses of Congress and many statehouses. … Yup, that’s what we want.”
■ The Guardian: “Bloomberg’s campaign is polluting the internet.”
■ Ready to decide? Check the Chicago Public Square voter guide.

#MAGA. The Marine Corps’ top general has ordered the removal of all Confederate paraphernalia from Marine installations worldwide.
■ In a nationwide sweep, the Justice Department has arrested members of the Nazi group Atomwaffen.
■ The House has approved a bill sponsored by Chicago Rep. Bobby Rush to designate lynching a federal hate crime. (Another Keith J. Taylor cartoon.)
■ In Chicago Public Schools, “Columbus Day” is no more …
■ … and racist murals will get a critical review.
■ An architect has set out to document every slave house still standing.

‘Destroying lives.’ A federal class-action lawsuit contends Chicago’s policy of towing cars and then selling them when drivers can’t pay up is unconstitutional.
■ Mayor Lightfoot’s “poverty summit” last week has triggered a round of complaints from progressive groups.
■ The American Medical Association and six hospitals have pledged $6 million to close “the vast life expectancy gap” separating residents of the West Side from those in downtown neighborhoods.

The Stephen Hawking question. The late brilliant British physicist who suffered from Lou Gehrig’s disease and used a wheelchair came up yesterday in a federal appeals court hearing in Chicago weighing Trump administration rules to limit immigration.
■ A New York appeals court has ruled the administration can withhold millions of dollars to force states to cooperate with immigration enforcers.
■ A case the Supreme Court hears next week could dismantle consumer protections built in response to the 2008 financial crisis—and fundamentally shift the balance of power between the president and “independent” federal agencies.

Chicago TV’s ‘first lady.’ Lee Phillip Bell, a talk-show host who went on to create two of network television’s longest-running soap operas, is dead at 91.
■ She began as a Chicago broadcast journalist.

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