Good afternoon! It’s Monday, and I can’t stop looking at these amazing, technicolor quilts from artist Bisa Butler that celebrate Black life. You can check them out in person at the Art Institute of Chicago. Here’s what else you need to know today.

1. Chicago’s Latino community is poised to expand its political power

Latino community leaders begin this week energized after the 2020 U.S. Census found Latinos are the second largest racial or enthic group in Chicago, surpassing the Black population.

“I think before the decade is over there will be a Latina or Latino mayor in Chicago,” Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a former mayoral candidate, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Attention now shifts to the City Council, where the once-in-a-decade process of redrawing ward maps kicks off. The council’s Latino Caucus will make the case for expanding the number of Latino-majority wards, currently at 13. As the newspaper reports, that number could grow by at least two.

And tensions could erupt with the Black Caucus, which aims to maintain the current number of 18 Black-majority wards. Census data showed Chicago’s Black population dropped by 181,453 people over the last decade. [Chicago Sun-Times]

2. Chicago Park District disciplines two managers after probe into lifeguard abuse

Days after a young female whistleblower criticized Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfooot and Park District CEO Michael Kelly, the parks boss announced today that two officials who oversaw public beaches and pools have been suspended in connection with a sexual misconduct scandal involving lifeguards.

The news comes as Kelly faces criticism for not immediately notifying the district’s top investigator after receiving an 11-page complaint last year from a young woman who was 17 at the time.

The woman, who has requested to remain anonymous, told WBEZ last week she is disappointed with Kelly and Lightfoot.

“The mayor and the park district are supposed to be protecting employees, and making sure we’re OK, but they’re not taking this seriously,” she said. [WBEZ]

3. Debate over Columbus statue in Chicago draws attention from the Proud Boys

The extremist, far-right group known as the Proud Boys attended a July rally in support of a Christopher Columbus statue that was removed in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood last year.

And the presence of the group, which is tied to the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, is another example of how far-right groups are increasingly targeting the city as the debate over controversial statues provide them with opportunities to expand their support, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

“Jan. 6 was not the end,” David Goldenberg, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Midwest office, told the newspaper. “It was just the end of the beginning.” [Sun-Times]

4. Biden defends decision to remove troops in Afghanistan

President Joe Biden today said he stands “squarely behind” his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan as the Taliban’s takeover creates panic and chaos in the country.

Biden said the collapse of the Afghan government happened much quicker than expected, but he doesn’t want U.S. troops in the country for possibly a “third decade” of war. Evacuations will continue as the U.S. begins diplomatic talks.

Earlier in the day, seven people died as thousands of desperate Afghans stormed into Kabul’s airport in hopes of escaping the Taliban. As The Associated Press reports, some people “held onto a military jet as it took off and plunged to their deaths.”

All commercial and military flights were halted until civilians could be cleared from the runway. But “hundreds of people remained trapped between American forces trying to push them out of the airport and Taliban forces trying to keep them in,” the AP reports. [AP]

5. Tropical storm could threaten rescue efforts of earthquake victims in Haiti

Rescue crews are scrambling to save victims of a powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake as Tropical Depression Grace is expected to hit Haiti later today.

“We really need help, yesterday I was helping at the hospital and things were out of control,” a rescue volunteer told CNN yesterday.

At least 1,297 people have died and more than 5,700 are injured from Saturday’s earthquake, which caused more than 13,000 homes to collapse. [CNN]

Haiti is prone to earthquakes because it’s near the intersection of two tectonic plates, and yet many homes are designed to withstand hurricanes, not earthquakes. [AP]

Here’s what else is happening

• Treatment for infertility wasn’t deemed essential during the pandemic. Now, doctors see the return of old patients — and a long list of new ones. [WBEZ]
• Chicago police officers ratified a new contract that, if approved by the City Council, will put taxpayers on the hook for $377.6 million for four years of backpay. [Chicago Sun-Times]
• Federal regulators are investigating Tesla after at least 11 cars crashed while using Autopilot. [NPR]
• “The Art of Banksy” is now open at Chicago’s Museum of Broadcast Communications. [Chicago Tribune]

Oh, and one more thing …

Science fiction is undergoing yet another revolution, writes NPR critic Jason Sheehan in this review of authors who are “causing trouble and changing science fiction for the better.”

One of the authors featured may come as no surprise to some Rundown readers: N.K. Jemisin.

In his review of “The Ones Who Stay And Fight” from the short-story collection How Long ‘Til Black Future Month, Sheehan writes that “for all of those out there who’d like to see the privileged white libertarianism knocked out of Heinlein or the stain of active racism scrubbed from the Cthulu mythos, Jemisin’s story was a harbinger of how it might be done.” [NPR]

Tell me something good …

Speaking of books, I’ve been blowing through a lot lately and need some recommendations. What did you read this summer that you really enjoyed?

I’ve got two.

I Alone Can Fix It is one of the best books so far about President Donald Trump’s final year in office. It’s written by two well-respected reporters at The Washington Post, and Gov. JB Pritzker pops up in a few parts.

And bad boi alert: I love comic books. And one of the most endearing ones I’ve read recently is Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? It’s a madcap adventure featuring some of the more absurdly wonderful elements of comic books, and a great reminder that friends can be found in unexpected places and make a world of difference.

Feel free to email me at therundown@wbez.org or tweet me at @whuntah.

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