Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Monday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

“The number of new confirmed statewide COVID cases and the percentage of tests that come back positive now have climbed to levels last seen in May, when Illinoisans were pretty much told to stay home unless absolutely necessary,” Greg Hinz writes for Crain’s.


“Yesterday, for instance, another 1,467 cases were diagnosed in the state, way above the figures in the hundreds on some recent Sundays. Over the last week, totals are averaging well over 1,500 and, perhaps more significant, the positivity rate has crept from just above 2 percent to nearly 4 percent.
“It’s for reasons like that that Pritzker late last week described the state as ‘at a danger point’ that could follow many states in the South and West into rough territory unless something changes.”
Turn the car around, governor, and drive us back to the previous phase. We deserve it for misbehaving.
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Oh Fish!
“Nearly 60 different types of fish are swimming in the Chicago and Calumet Rivers these days, up from fewer than 10 during the early 1980s, according to a new study of sampling conducted by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District,” the Tribune reports.

Common carp are still the species found most frequently by district biologists during their annual monitoring of the rivers and connected channels. Last year they pulled a nearly 40-pound carp swollen with eggs out of the Little Calumet River.
But since 2001, biologists also have found 19 other species in the waterways for the first time, only one of which wasn’t native to the area, the study found.
Among those netted were bluegill, catfish, largemouth bass and yellow perch – species less tolerant to pollution than carp that European immigrants deliberately introduced across the nation during the 19th century.

Why all the new fish? You’ll have to click through – which I highly recommend!
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True-Up Blew Up
“The latest financial report by KPMG provides even more proof of what a great bit of business [the parking meter] deal was for the private investors, who hail from as far away as Abu Dhabi,” the Sun-Times reports.
Click through for the latest grisly details, but it’s really just more of the same – even in a global pandemic.
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No Mercy
“In the past year, the number of hospitals offering maternity service on the South Side of Chicago has dropped from seven to three, including two hospitals that suspended services temporarily to accommodate a crush of COVID-19 patients,” Curtis Black writes for the Chicago Reporter.
“And with news that Mercy Hospital plans to close next year, the situation has suddenly become even more dire.”
This is structural racism. The decision-makers (presumably) aren’t bigots, but the results of their actions have a racist effect – meaning it disproportionately harms people of color – because of the socioeconomic structure of our city, state and country.
To wit:
“Even before the pandemic, Black women in Illinois were six times more likely to die from pregnancy-related conditions than white women, according to a 2018 report from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The gap here is twice as large as the national average. While this is a national problem, it’s particularly acute in Chicago and Illinois. The vast majority of those deaths were preventable, according to the report.”
Structural racism kills, even more than personal bigotry. And Chicago is particularly structurally racist.
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See also: Detailed Explainer On How America Was Segregated By Design.
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New on the Beachwood . . .
How America Teaches (And Doesn’t) History
“Y’all don’t want to deal with the fucked-up shit your ancestors did.”
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Remembering Baseball’s Historic 2020 Season
A future grampa talks to a future grandkid.
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Suffering With Stoics & Cynics
Coping with the dark truth of our existence.
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ChicagoReddit

Can I break My Lease Due to Bed Bugs? from r/chicago


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ChicagoGram

View this post on Instagram

4945 S Halsted Ave. Back of the Yards

A post shared by Brick of Chicago (@brickofchicago) on


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ChicagoTube
Chicago Panthers vs. Texas Crush 60’s

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BeachBook
In 1906, The Bronx Zoo Put A Black Man On Display In The Primates’ House.
They JUST NOW apologized.

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Michael Phelps: ‘I Can’t See Any More Suicides.’

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The Sledding Team Trained Hard For Gold In 2010. Some Members Regret It.

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Sources Report Abuse At NBA China Academies.

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The War Frats.

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Scientists Just Proved That the Humanoid Lamb In The Ghent Altarpiece That Everyone Made Fun Of Is Supposed To Look Like That.

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Here Are 7 Delightful Stories Of Animals That Live (Or Work) In Museums, From A Dog Docent In Missouri To A Donkey Crew In New York.

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TweeWood
A sampling of the delight and disgust you can find @BeachwoodReport.


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The Beachwood McTipLine: Boneless.

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Posted on August 3, 2020