Events

Following up on last week, Ask the Pilot weighs in on exactly why the heat in Phoenix is grounding airplanes: Extreme heat affects planes in a few different ways. First, there are aerodynamic repercussions. Hotter air is less dense than cooler air, so a wing produces less lift. This is compounded by reduced engine output. Jet engines don’t like low-density air either, and don’t perform as well in hot weather. Together, this means higher takeoff and landing speeds — which, in turn, increases the amount...

Dug through more Pride photos. Here's Mayor Emanuel: And U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth: Not to mention, this message to pretty much all politicians from the Star Wars part of the parade:

Yesterday was our annual Pride Parade, with perfect spring-like weather and about 150 participating groups. I have 834 photos to go through, so it'll take a while to get through them. Here's the first, of Grand Marshall Lea DeLaria:

Red wing blackbirds continue to menace people in Lincoln Park: "Red-winged blackbirds are protecting their nests, and they can be pretty mean about it," said Kate Golemblewski, spokeswoman for the Field Museum. "They don't get aggressive until they are well into the breeding season and have a nest to protect. They are highly territorial, aggressive to almost anything that comes too close, especially things that are bigger than they are and that they see as a threat, including hawks, crows, cats and...

Sears, which CEO Eddie Lampert has very nearly murdered, will have only one retail store left in its home town Chicago this fall: Sears Holdings Corp. is closing 20 more stores, including a Sears in Chicago's Galewood neighborhood, in mid-September. Those closings — including 18 Sears and two Kmart stores — follow 150 stores Hoffman Estates-based Sears shuttered in the first quarter of this year and another 66 expected to close by early September. The latest 20 are among the 235 locations Sears sold to...

Nor, it seems, do they like the middle class. Krugman rips into their proposal for repealing the ACA: In the past, laws that would take from the poor and working class while giving to the rich came with excuses. Tax cuts, their sponsors declared, would unleash market dynamism and make everyone more prosperous. Deregulation would increase efficiency and lower prices. It was all voodoo; the promises never came true. But at least there was some pretense of working for the common good. Now we have none of...

I really need some sleep. And some time to read all of these: Mark Bowden, writing in the latest issue of The Atlantic, explains why North Korea is the "worst problem on Earth". Jeet Heer writes in defense of Nancy Pelosi. Josh Marshall says the President's actions around the Russia probe are prima facie evidence of criminal acts. The Crain's editorial board tells the Wall Street Journal to bugger off and quit making the stalemate in Springfield worse. CityLab's Feargus O'Sullivan bemoans London's...

Crain's asks, Who wants to move to Chicago? A major Chicago company, we hear, is having a harder time persuading recruits to move here. Full employment, especially among the well-compensated professionals it's hiring, might seem to blame. But the company isn't struggling to attract talent in markets where jobless rates are even lower than metro Chicago's most recent rate of 4.3 percent. What's the problem then? It's the candidates' fear that Chicago and Illinois generally have become risky places in...

Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and Bruce Reed, who together engineered the Democratic mid-term victory in 2006, have some advice for the party in 2018: In the last 60 years, control of the U.S. House of Representatives has changed hands just three times, always in midterm elections, with control shifting away from the president’s party. The 1994 and 2010 campaigns were dominated by attacks against the incumbent president and his party over health care; 2006 became a referendum over the ruling party’s...

Phoenix hit a record high temperature yesterday of 48°C, and it's already that hot again today. And right now, it's 50°C in Needles, Calif. In fact, it's too hot for airplanes to take off: As the Capital Weather Gang reported, the Southwest is experiencing its worst heat wave in decades. Excessive heat warnings have been in effect from Arizona to California and will be for the remainder of the week. And it was so hot that dozens of flights have been canceled this week at Phoenix Sky Harbor International...