‘WLS is clearing the decks of people who think’ / Google cash incoming? / Last chance to see

(Trying LinkedIn’s newsletter feature as a new platform for Chicago Public Square—whose home base continues to be here.)

‘WLS is clearing the decks of people who think.’ Columnist Neil Steinberg mourns the departure of afternoon radio voice John Howell, reportedly because owner Cumulus Media aims to make the station the nation’s “most conservative.”

■ WLS’ Facebook page is all warm and fuzzy about it …

■ … but, as of Square’s deadline, the station website had yet to reflect the news.

■ As one Chicagoan—who coincidentally has been charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection (December 2021 link)—put it on Twitter: WLS “fired a President Trump hater.”

■ And, hey, speaking of Chicagoans at the Capitol that fateful day: Add an ex-Chicago Park District electrician and his brother from LaGrange to those who’ve been sentenced to prison for their actions then.

■ Columnist and CNN host S.E. Cupp: These benighted, destructive souls are Republicans’ heroes.

Prematurely sore loser. Ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee—you know, dad of the present child-labor-loving Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders—took to his Christian TV channel show to assert that, if Trump’s legal woes prevent his reelection, “it is going to be the last American election that will be decided by ballots rather than bullets.”

■ Law professor Joyce Vance: “It’s hard to imagine how Trump continues to function under the pressure of … all the losing.”

■ The Onion: “Court Upholds Congressional Map That Sealed Black Voters In Impenetrable Cube.”

‘People … mistreated by a few bored cops.’ Chicago police are investigating a complaint that, after officers were refused use of a coffee shop’s restroom, they retaliated by bringing homeless people into the store.

■ Chicago’s inspector general says cops are doing a poor job of tracking their response to emergencies: “More than half of the time … we don’t know how long it takes them to get there.”

■ Read the report here.

‘This is becoming a crisis.’ Streetsblog Chicago spotlights the problem of motor vehicles where they shouldn’t be: Along the supposedly car-free Lakefront Trail and on Promontory Point.

■ Contributing factor: Confusing map directions.

‘You’re being chicken sh*t.’ The mayor of Marion, Kansas, faced public criticism this week as residents challenged his plea of ignorance about a police raid on a newspaper—and on the home of the newspaper’s owners, one of whose death has been attributed to distress over the incident.

■ The paper’s lawyer says cops failed to follow their search warrant’s requirements.

■ The Kansas Press Association is selling T-shirts honoring the resilience of the paper, whose publisher is a former University of Illinois journalism professor.

Google cash incoming? Illinois and all 49 other states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have come to terms with the company over its alleged monopolistic control of apps on most of the world’s (non-Apple) phones.

■ Google’s going to require prominent disclosure for political ads whose sound or imagery has been created with artificial intelligence.

‘The fault in our patents.’ The Arm and a Leg podcast tracks celebrated author John Green’s fight over drug prices.

■ Your Local Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina offers parents a guide to keeping kids healthy into the fall.

Last chance to see. Over the next few days, Earthlings will have a chance to see a newly discovered comet that won’t come by here again for another 400 years.

■ Earlier this month, a solar storm ripped off its tail.

Thanks. Eric Zorn made this edition better …

■ … and not just by kindly introducing his readers to Chicago Public Square.

A Square public service announcement

■ Square columnist Charlie Meyerson will be one of the evening’s storytellers.

■ SPECIAL OFFER: Email your ticket purchase receipt to Farther@ChicagoPublicSquare.com and get a free Square cap or T-shirt (a $20 value!) that night—while supplies last.