Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Thursday, October 20, 2016.
- Weather: Temperatures cool down to the 50s
Thursday will be much cooler, with a high of 58 and a low of 43. There’s a good chance of rain in the morning, but it will clear up by the afternoon and evening. [AccuWeather]
- Illinois Democrats spend big on anti-Rauner ads
Illinois Democrats have spent more than $3 million on radio and TV ads opposing Governor Bruce Rauner in just a week, according to the Sun-Times. Super PAC Leading Illinois for Tomorrow (LIFT) is behind the three ads. Two of the spots link Rauner to controversial GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, but the ad running downstate doesn’t, because the reality-TV star is popular outside the Chicago area. [Sun-Times]
- Chicago-based Geofeedia reportedly helped police track protests in Baltimore and Ferguson via social media
Geofeedia, a local “location-based analytics platform,” helped 500 different law enforcement agencies with surveillance by using data from Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, according to a new report from the ACLU. The company also allegedly tracked high-profile protests in Baltimore and Ferguson for police. “The social media companies cut off Geofeedia’s access to the streams of user data in recent weeks after the ACLU discovered them and alerted the companies about looming public exposure,” according to the Washington Post. [Washington Post]
- Hundreds of park water fountains test positive for high lead levels
Hundreds of drinking fountains in city parks have high levels of lead, according to a recent wave of testing. The Chicago Park District conducted 2,435 tests at 479 parks, more than 200 of which had water sources with lead levels above Environmental Protection Agency standards. “In response to the testing, 14 of 544 indoor drinking water sources (fountains and sinks) and 445 of 1,891 outdoor fountains were disabled, as they were found to have levels higher than the EPA drinking water standard of 15 ppb,” district officials said in a statement. “These fountains will undergo further testing, and will be removed, repaired or replaced, as necessary.” [WBEZ]
- Artist Kerry James Marshall: “Making artwork is fairly unremarkable”
The New York Times‘s T Magazine brought together Chicago artists Theaster Gates and Kerry James Marshall for a fascinating three-minute video conversation. Among other provocative statements, Marshall tells Gates that “Making artwork is fairly unremarkable”—humans have been making art for 30,000 years. Why? Artists are striving for attention, says Marshall. “We all want attention. We want people to know we’re here.” [T Magazine]
- UBS Tower transforms itself into the Cubs Tower, temporarily
To celebrate the Cubs’ playoff run, the UBS Tower in the Loop now looks like it’s the CUBS Tower: the building has added the Cubs’ “C” logo to its “UBS” sign. [DNAinfo Chicago]