Newsletter: NYT Correction Fuels Debate Over Kavanaugh Story

Brett Kavanaugh
New misconduct allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh have reignited a mostly partisan debate. Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via AP, Pool
Brett Kavanaugh
New misconduct allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh have reignited a mostly partisan debate. Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via AP, Pool

Newsletter: NYT Correction Fuels Debate Over Kavanaugh Story

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

Good afternoon, it’s Monday! And there’s a Jurassic World short film that involves the worst camping trip ever. Here’s what you need to know today. (PS: You can have this delivered to your inbox by subscribing here.)


1. New York Times issues correction on new Brett Kavanaugh allegations

The New York Times over the weekend published an excerpt of an upcoming book, The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation, which includes new sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was a student at Yale.

The book reported that a student saw Kavanaugh “with his pants down at a different drunken dorm party, where friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student.”

But the newspaper later updated the story with an editor’s note saying that some information from the book was left out of the published excerpt. The note states, “The book reports that the female student declined to be interviewed and friends say that she does not recall the incident.” [CNBC]

While the correction adds more fuel to the partisan debate over Kavanaugh, the upcoming book raises questions about how thoroughly the FBI investigated the allegations.

A Democratic senator told the FBI last fall about the misconduct claims against then-Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh, but investigators reportedly didn’t look into the claims that are now public in The Education of Brett Kavanaugh. [Washington Post]

And Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross spoke with the authors of the new book on Kavanaugh in an interview out today. [NPR]

2. A whodunnit in Saudi Arabia

The Saudis claim that Iranian weaponry was used during weekend strikes that disrupted the kingdom’s oil production. Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the aerial attacks, but the U.S. is blaming Iran.

Neither Saudi Arabia nor the U.S. have publicly presented evidence to back up claims that Iran was directly involved in the attacks. But President Donald Trump said the U.S. is “locked and loaded” to respond depending on verification.

Tehran denies it was involved in the weekend strikes. [NPR]

3. Amazon will double its Chicago workforce

The tech giant announced today that it will add 400 jobs in Chicago, positions which will focus on cloud computing, advertising and business development.

Amazon will also hold a “career day” event tomorrow to discuss its Chicago Tech Hub with job seekers, who can register here. The company says it has added more than 11,000 full-time jobs in Illinois. [Chicago Sun-Times]

The news comes as Amazon and other tech giants received letters last week from a House antitrust panel that seeks a host of documents from the companies.

The antitrust investigations into big tech firms have sparked a debate among the faculty at the University of Chicago, the birthplace of antitrust policy. Some faculty are questioning whether the university’s thinking has a blind spot when it comes to big tech. [New York Times]

4. OxyContin maker files for bankruptcy as it faces opioid lawsuits

Purdue Pharma, which makes OxyContin, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a move aimed at shielding the company and its wealthy owners from some federal and state lawsuits over Purdue’s alleged role in the opioid epidemic.

The move comes after the Sackler family, who owns the company, was accused of wiring nearly $1 billion to Swiss bank accounts.

Purdue has settled some lawsuits that are valued at $10 billion and is expected to include $3 billion from the Sackler family’s personal wealth. But 26 states oppose the deal and have vowed to take the Sacklers to court. [NPR]

5. Can pot shops help reduce crime?

A new study says crime fell dramatically in areas where marijuana dispensaries are located. As the Chicago Sun-Times reports, the findings add a wrinkle to claims from critics that pot shops attract crime.

The study analyzed crime data from Denver between January 2013, a year before Colorado legalized recreational pot, to December 2016. The study said that neighborhoods that added a dispensary saw “a reduction of 17 crimes per month per 10,000 residents, which corresponds to roughly a 19 percent decline relative to the average crime rate over the sample period.” [Chicago Sun-Times]

Meanwhile, some folks are worried that recent health concerns over vaping could impact Illinois’ emerging recreational marijuana industry. They say a deadly lung illness linked to vaping could cause folks to quit vaping altogether. [Crain’s Chicago Business]

Here’s what else is happening

  • Mayor Lori Lightfoot hired an anti-violence advocate to head the Mayor’s Office of Public Safety. [WBEZ]

  • A disgraced former Chicago alderman is collecting nearly $95,000 in annual taxpayer-funded pension payments. [Chicago Tribune]

  • Will climate change cause Lake Michigan to overtake Chicago? [Curious City]

  • Here’s a trailer for Motive, an upcoming podcast from WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times about a teenager who was wrongfully convicted of murder and later created his own gang. [WBEZ]

Oh, and one more thing …

Do you enjoy apple picking this time of the year? Well, you might want to put the pedal to the metal and go sooner rather than later, because some nearby orchards say the pickings are slim thanks to climate change.

The Chicago Tribune reports that this year’s extreme weather, from the polar vortex to spring’s record rainfall, has disrupted apple tree growth, causing some orchards to open late, close early or not open at all.

“We have no Jonagolds, Braeburns, Jonathans, Empires,” said Don Burda, co-owner of At Homestead Orchard in Woodstock. “This is my 20th year and this is the first we won’t have (October) apples to sell.” [Chicago Tribune]

Tell me something good …

Some people say I’m an old soul. I like to think I’m just into AARP cosplay. That’s because I am not into going to bars on the weekend like I used to be. Instead, I play a ton of games. So I’d like to know what games you enjoy playing, either board games or video games or anything else!

Me? I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m kind of a big deal when it comes to the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.

You get to make up your own fantasy character to go on adventures with, and I love creating new characters. I’m currently playing a druid named Dr. Buddy Feilgüd, who is into “alternative healing.” I also created a warrior this weekend named Glowstick, the Raver Barbarian, whose battle song is “Born Slippy” by Underworld.

What are your favorite games? Feel free to email at therundown@wbez.org or tweet me at @whuntah.

Have a nice night! I’ll see you tomorrow. And if you like what you just read, you can subscribe to the newsletter here and have it delivered to your inbox.