Capitol riot anniversary marked by 4th day of House speaker voting – Chicago Tribune newstrendslive

Good morning, Chicago.

Today marks the two-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The nation’s legislative branch is again paralyzed — not by violence this time but by a tortuous struggle among Republicans over who should lead them, and the House itself, as speaker.

Lawmakers are expected to reconvene Friday to continue the fourth day of voting to elect the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Divided Republicans kept the speaker’s chair sitting empty Thursday, as party leader Kevin McCarthy failed again and again to win enough votes to seize the chamber’s gavel. McCarthy lost a historic 11 rounds of voting, surpassing the number 100 years ago, in a prolonged fight to choose a speaker in a disputed election.

But it wasn’t all bad. Lawmakers were treated to something sweet (and a taste of Chicago) to mark the occasion.

Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Robin Kelly, D-Ill., brought their colleagues Garrett Popcorn for the first day of the 118th Congress on Tuesday to celebrate the new members of the House of Representatives, and as a way to spark joy in anticipation of the long hours ahead.

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Critics remain concerned by the Chicago Police Department’s impending relaunch of its much-criticized “gang database,” a tool intended to identify people with connections to street gangs, even after the process to revamp it was paused last fall at the behest of the city’s new police oversight committee.

The department’s prior version of the database was widely criticized by community groups, the city’s inspector general and targeted in a federal lawsuit for allegedly being unconstitutional and racially biased, with Blacks and Latinos making up the majority of those on the list.

Chicago native Sydney Blakely drove up to her Bridgeport restaurant Wednesday morning ready to open for the day, but instead called police after finding the outside of her business had been vandalized with graffiti and hate speech.

Blakely said she “couldn’t believe it” at first when she saw all the hateful damage. Once the police arrived, she said they told her if and when they find the person or people responsible, they would be charged with a hate crime rather than a misdemeanor of vandalism.

Protesters gathered Thursday to oppose the transformation of the former Wadsworth Elementary School into temporary housing for migrants. The opponents argued their already-struggling community could not take on more of those in need.

Amid such community pushback, the city decided to press pause on the Woodlawn migrant shelter, Ald. Jeanette Taylor, 20th, told the Tribune. A meeting will be held next week with the mayor’s office, Taylor, constituents and Chicago police to determine the fate of the building.

An independent watchdog has singled out more Cook County employees who fraudulently applied for pandemic relief, recommending firings in each case for violation of county rules around conduct and reporting of outside jobs.

It’s the latest in an ongoing investigation by the county’s Office of the Independent Inspector General to determine whether county workers who applied for federal Paycheck Protection Program loans were violating any personnel rules.

Matt Eberflus’ Bears are among the worst ever in Chicago, though they are only the second team to play a 17-game season. But what about other measuring sticks? Where do these Bears fit in the spectrum of bad Bears teams?

Here’s a look at the worst of the Bears, from record to point differential to takeaways to general dysfunction.

A cluster of espionage dramas have premiered over the last few weeks — with “The Recruit” and “Treason” on Netflix, Season 3 of “Jack Ryan” on Amazon and Season 2 of “Slow Horses” on Apple TV+, writes Nina Metz. It’s a genre that typically works best when the ratio of “piecing things together” to “there will be blood” is weighted toward the brainier side of things.

The best of these, “Slow Horses” and “The Recruit,” mix wry humor, serpentining plots, whip smart characters and compelling stakes to produce something captivating. Both prove that the main attraction of spy shows is the thinking and squinting and figuring out where allegiances lie.