WBEZ28%
Salvaging dumpsters of books outside schools: The Rundown 7%
By Bianca Cseke27%
8/5/2026, 1:45:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 4 faulty reasoning types, including Self-Serving Bias, Framing Effect, and Biased Writer Voice, with Anecdotal as the most egregious example at 10.5% saturation with 165 hits. Analysis detected 351 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,566 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 15.3% and a BS Rank of 7% (28,650 of 30,584 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 93.70% of the article peer group.
Good afternoon!
It’s Wednesday, and my umbrella will once again get some use this evening, as more thunderstorms are possible.
Here’s what else you need to know today.
1.
Parents and teachers worked to salvage dumpsters full of books outside former Acero schools
The online posts about the supplies outside Fuentes Elementary in Avondale and Santiago Elementary in Ukrainian Village drew the ire of parents, who accused Chicago Public Schools of wasting school supplies when inflation has pushed up costs for families and the district is asking the state for more money to stave off classroom cuts.
CPS officials said the materials were supposed to be recycled or donated and were not meant for the trash, my colleague Emmanuel Camarillo reports for the Chicago Sun-Times.
The district took over management of Fuentes, Santiago and three other former Acero schools in July.
Acero announced it would close seven of its campuses in 2024 due to declining enrollment and financial troubles.
It’s unclear if all the former Acero schools discarded materials in the same way.
In a statement, a CPS spokesperson said staff “have had to quickly remove materials left behind” by Acero “to ensure a smooth transition,” adding that “textbooks that do not meet approved learning standards for CPS classrooms were placed in disposal bins meant for recycling or donations.”
The dumpsters did contain some math, science and technology textbooks.
But there were also many Spanish and English children’s storybooks, along with watercolors, science beakers and toys.
Some of the titles visible in the dumpsters viewed by the Sun-Times include “A Movie in My Pillow,” “Salta, Ranita, Salta,” “Under the Mambo Moon” and “Dan Gets a Cat.”
[ Chicago Sun-Times ]
2.
Gov.
JB Pritzker says there’s ‘more to learn’ about the Benton harassment case before judging Speaker Chris Welch
Springfield’s latest sexual harassment scandal has revealed “holes in the system,” according to Pritzker — but not necessarily any missteps by Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch in responding to allegations of misconduct by a now-disgraced former state representative.
At least not yet, the governor said yesterday, asserting “there is more to learn here, I think, before … anybody’s calling for” a change in House leadership.
His comments followed a legislative watchdog’s report that Welch’s office knew of a complaint against former Rep.
Harry Benton nearly three years before the one that led to Benton’s resignation.
The report, released Friday by Legislative Inspector General Mike McCuskey, established a “pattern and practice of sexual harassment” by Benton, starting with a 2023 complaint from a former staffer in the Plainfield Democrat’s district office alleging a series of inappropriate comments.
Welch’s then-chief of staff encouraged the woman to consider filing a complaint with the inspector general but took no further action, while the speaker’s political operation went on to pump some $1.4 million into Benton’s reelection campaign.
Benton was also accused of harassing a legislative district director at a Springfield bar last year, and in January, a lobbyist reported that Benton made lewd comments to her at a River North bar.
He denied wrongdoing.
Welch has exiled Benton from the House Democratic Caucus, referred the case to McCuskey’s office and ultimately demanded Benton’s resignation, which he tendered last month.
[ Chicago Sun-Times ]
3.
Boutros acknowledged mistakes in the ‘Broadview 6’ case but said sanctions and a special counsel aren’t needed
Chicago U.S.
Attorney Andrew Boutros argued it’s unnecessary to appoint an outside lawyer to probe for misconduct or potentially impose sanctions in the tainted “Broadview Six” case that has created a lasting credibility crisis for his office.
In a 52-page court filing, Boutros pushed back on motions by four of the six Operation Midway Blitz protesters urging U.S.
District Judge April Perry to hold a hearing, open criminal contempt proceedings or appoint a special counsel to investigate the apparent prosecutorial misconduct that tanked the case.
Boutros said steps have already been taken to address longtime Assistant U.S.
Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg’s conduct before the grand jury that handed up indictments against the six Broadview defendants.
He noted that his office has dropped their charges and agreed to cover attorneys’ fees, implemented “robust root-cause changes” and started the process of reviewing over 1,000 grand jury minutes “to determine that similar errors do not exist in other cases.”
During the May hearing where Boutros announced the permanent dismissal of charges against the four remaining Broadview defendants, Perry said she had “never seen the types of prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that I saw in those transcripts.”
What’s more, the apparent misconduct had been redacted out of the transcripts given to her by Boutros’ office, Perry said.
[ Chicago Sun-Times ]
4.
Ownership of West Suburban and Weiss hospitals would change in a potential settlement
Lawyers for one of the owners of West Suburban Medical Center and Weiss Memorial Hospital are pushing to sell the hospitals for $1 to Insight Health Systems and demote the other owner and CEO into a temporary consulting position.
As my colleague Kaitlin Washburn reports, that change in ownership is a part of a potential settlement in the ongoing legal battle for control of the hospitals between the two owners: Resilience Healthcare CEO Manoj Prasad and the hospitals’ landlord, Rathnakar Reddy Patlola.
Under the draft settlement filed Friday, Prasad would step down as CEO, something he has resisted and the communities surrounding West Suburban and Weiss have been pleading for.
[ Chicago Sun-Times ]
5.
Despite disinvestment, a longtime West Sider has stayed put with the help of block clubs
As WBEZ’s Curious City reports, block clubs are coalitions of neighbors who volunteer to improve the physical and social conditions of their block.
That can range from planting flowers on the parkway to buying abandoned homes in order to increase the neighborhood’s market value.
These clubs differ from homeowners associations because they are not legally mandated for residents to participate in or pay fees toward.
The history of block clubs in Chicago go back to the Great Migration.
According to Amanda Seligman, author of “Chicago’s Block Clubs: How Neighbors Shape the City,” block clubs likely originated in Atlanta.
In 1908, Lugenia Burns Hope started the Atlanta Neighborhood Union, where she and a team of mothers worked to bring education and health programs to African American families.
It’s often credited as the roadmap for the Civil Rights movements and block clubs.
“[Block clubs] really grew to their mature form in Chicago, especially thanks to the work of the Chicago Urban League,” said Seligman, a professor of history and urban studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
[ WBEZ ]
Here’s what else is happening
Progressives notched major wins in Michigan’s primary elections.
[ NPR ]
New images of the sun show its surface in the finest detail yet.
[ AP ]
A backlog created by a delivery driver shortage has caused thousands of Chicago Public Library books to pile up at branches across the city.
[ Block Club Chicago ]
Review: Ariana Grande opened up about “endless, ongoing public scrutiny” during her Chicago concert.
[ Chicago Sun-Times ]
Oh, and one more thing …
Wishbone Chicago is closing its doors after 36 years, the restaurant’s owners announced this week.
“There is no easy way to say goodbye to something that has been such a large part of our lives for so long,” Joel and Julie Nickson said in an Instagram announcement.
“To our many loyal customers and to the generations of staff members who helped make Wishbone what it became, thank you.”
The restaurant near the West Loop, at 161 N.
Jefferson St., plans to remain open through the end of the month, Joel Nickson told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“It is sad, but I can’t complain.
We had a good, long run.”
Nickson said labor costs are the “No. 1 problem for restaurants now,” on top of other rising expenses.
Meanwhile, Wishbone’s business didn’t recover after the COVID-19 pandemic, when offices shifted to remote work.
[ Chicago Sun-Times ]
Tell me something good …
What’s a vacation you’ve been on that didn’t go according to plan but ended up being better than expected?
“In 2015 my partner and I visited Ireland and stayed with locals instead of at hotels.
Prior to the trip, we communicated with each host and had formed particularly high expectations of our outgoing, musical host in Galway.
However, upon arrival in Galway, we were greeted by a peculiarly disheveled lady in a bathrobe who showed us to our Harry Potter-esque broom closet accommodations and then briskly left us to fend for ourselves.
Earlier in our trip, we had purchased handcrafted jewelry that needed resizing, so at the suggestion of the silversmith, we had the finished items mailed to our Galway host’s address.
Turns out that she didn’t like this arrangement and, after handing over the package, promptly told us to leave (in hindsight, we probably should have asked first).
Luckily it was our final day in Galway, and after having a big Irish breakfast, we laughed the incident off.
It has since become an essential part to the retelling of our unforgettable Irish vacation!”
Feel free to email me, and your response may be included in the newsletter this week.
Correction: Yesterday’s Rundown incorrectly referred to Ann Sather at Broadway and Roscoe as a “flagship.”
In addition, Tom Tunney is the former alderperson of the 44th Ward.
Speakers
15speakers50%attributed speech787writer words
Selected voice
55%flagged-word coverageAndrew Boutros
170 attributed words22% of attributed speech28% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
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Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.