Lightfoot’s election math problem

Plus, a strange detail in Elon Musk's bid for Twitter. Here's what you need to know today.

To view this email as a web page, click here. Today's Rundown is brought to you by WBEZ members and   by Hunter Clauss   Hey there, it’s Thursday! And I partied a little too hard last night for my husband’s birthday. Here’s what you need to know today. 1. Lightfoot is polling ‘particularly poorly’ with white and Latino voters   That’s according to the Chicago Tribune, citing sources familiar with the polling, in an analysis that looks at the challenges facing Mayor Lori Lightfoot as she prepares to run for reelection. It’s not clear how badly Lightfoot is doing with these voters, but she’s going to need them if she wants a second term. As the Trib explains, the city’s “17 majority-white wards accounted for 44% of the vote in the first round 2019 election.” Adding two majority-Hispanic wards boosts that number to 19 wards, representing “roughly half of the city’s vote.”  This dynamic makes local businessman Willie Wilson a potentially serious threat to Lightfoot. Wilson won most majority-Black wards in 2019, and his endorsement of Lightfoot in the runoff election helped her campaign on the South and West sides. [Chicago Tribune] Speaking of Wilson, Crain’s Chicago Business reports that 18 gas station owners who participated in his recent giveaway had donated money to one of Wilson’s political advisers who is running for Cook County board president. [Crain’s] 2. Cook County’s top prosecutor vows to not ‘cut corners’ amid a spike in crime   Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx this week cited the county’s “long and sordid history with wrongful convictions” as she pushes back against critics who say she’s not tackling crime hard enough. “It is also not lost on me that a significant portion of the wrongful convictions that we have seen … occurred in the 1980s and ’90s when we were dealing with incredibly, stubbornly high instances of violence,” Foxx recently told the editorial board for the Chicago Sun-Times. Illinois leads the nation in the number of wrongful convictions overturned since 1989, with 467, mostly from Cook County, according to the National Registry of Exonerations maintained by the University of Michigan. [Sun-Times] 3. Ukraine says it badly damaged a Russian warship   Ukrainian officials said they hit the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet with missiles. But Russia said there was no attack and a fire broke out on the warship. As The Associated Press reports, the loss of the warship “would be a major military and symbolic defeat for Moscow as its troops regroup for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine after retreating from much of the north, including the capital.” [AP] Meanwhile, European officials are drafting an embargo on Russian oil products, The New York Times reports. Such a move had previously seemed unlikely because Germany relies on Russia for energy.  The news “underscores the extent to which Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has unified the world’s biggest trading bloc against Russian aggression,” the Times reports. [NYT] 4. Florida becomes the latest state to restrict access to abortions   Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis today signed a bill that bans most abortions after 15 weeks, which is modeled after a Mississippi law that is being challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court. The new Florida law takes effect July 1 and does not make exceptions for cases of incest, rape or human trafficking. It will replace a previous law that allowed abortions until 24 weeks of pregnancy. Red states have increasingly moved forward with restricting access to abortions now that there is a solid conservative majority on the Supreme Court, which could decide in the coming months to limit access to the procedure nationwide. [NPR] 5. A really bizarre detail in Elon Musk’s bid to take over Twitter   By now you’ve probably heard that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, wants to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share, which would put the company’s value at $43 billion. I didn’t notice it at first, but The Washington Post points out the price of the takeover may be a veiled reference to 420, or April 20, the unofficial pot-smoking holiday. “In 2018 Musk tweeted that he had secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 a share ― a possible reference to the holiday,” the newspaper reports. “He later paid a $20 million fine and resigned as board chairman following an SEC lawsuit.” [WaPo] What plans does Musk have if he successfully takes over Twitter? He recently posted (on Twitter) an idea for a subscription-based model.  “Price should probably be ~$2/month, but paid 12 months up front,” he wrote. [NYT] SPONSORED BY THE MAGIC PARLOUR Magic Parlour Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary Award-winning and third-generation magician Dennis Watkins celebrates 10 years of The Magic Parlour at the Palmer House Hilton with 5 shows weekly! Offering up a truly remarkable evening of joy and childlike wonder, Watkins presents an intimate performance of close-up magic and mind-reading that puts the 50-person audience at the center of the experience: your thoughts, your choices, and your imagination create your unforgettable evening. For those looking to extend the magic, 12 guests can pull up a seat with Dennis after the main show for The Encore Room VIP Experience and have the chance to enjoy additional sleight-of-hand amazement and a Q&A. So don't wait — join us today.   Here's what else is happening A lawsuit argues Chicago’s infamous parking meter lease violates antitrust laws and wants the city to consider competitors. [Reuters] The Republican National Committee voted unanimously today to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates. [Axios] Federal COVID-19 funds are helping low-income Illinois schools catch up, but for how long? [WBEZ] Some uninsured patients face massive hospital bills from private doctors. [WBEZ] Oh, and one more thing... Are y’all watching Severance on Apple TV+? It’s one of the best shows out right now, and I’ve been trying to figure out all of the mysteries since last week’s season finale. If you’re not familiar, the show follows a bunch of workers who got a procedure that divides their memories, so they don’t remember what happens at work and vice versa. But there’s a lot going on, with digs at “workplace culture.”  This opinion piece in The New York Times had me LOLing as it examines what the show “gets right about infantilizing office perks.”  “I’ve come to think of these corporate toys and rewards as the work equivalent of the cheap prizes you win at a carnival after emptying your wallet to play the games,” writes Elizabeth Spiers, the editor in chief of The New York Observer and the founding editor of Gawker. “The difference is that the point of the carnival is to have fun, and the prizes are incidental. In the workplace, this is just a laughably terrible trade-off. Who wants to give up the two hours a day they gain by not commuting for a coffee mug?” [NYT] Tell me something good I worked out of a tattoo shop this week, and it really has me second guessing my career choice. So I’d like to know: If you could do it all over again, what job would you do? Kim writes:  “I have already had a couple of career transitions in my life. My latest in the horticultural field — which I love.   “But if I had to do it all over again and could start fresh, I would love to go back in time and be a muppet creator.   “I remember once telling my friends and family of this idea when I was young, and they all reacted like that was the craziest thing they ever heard. So, of course, I have moved on to other things. But, can you imagine creating something so simple, lovely, and impactful as Kermit, Grover, or Oscar the Grouch?” Feel free to email or tweet me, and your response might be shared here this week. therundown@wbez.org | @whuntah Thanks for reading and have a nice night! I'll see you tomorrow. — Hunter Clauss P.S. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up to receive The Rundown in your inbox. VIEW OUR BROADCAST SCHEDULE ©Chicago Public Media Inc 848 East Grand Ave, Navy Pier Chicago, IL 60611 Please do not reply to this email. If you need assistance, you may contact us here. 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