Morning, #nerdland. We’ll start the MHP Daily with the AP’s series of reporting on the evolving gang culture in Chicago, and its effect on the city’s murder rate. It is a must-see. The first installment is above; here’s the second, about what it’s like to live in these gang-infested neighborhoods. (The third and final one is still to come. We’ll share it here once it is available.)
From their print report:
Maybe it is the splintering of established drug gangs that has young men grabbing the tools of their trade — handguns — to jockey for position? Or it is that rival gangs, once miles apart in different public housing complexes, suddenly finding themselves sharing the same street corner?
Whatever the reasons, Chicago has seen a spike in its homicide rate — with eight killed and at least 35 wounded in a spasm of gunfire last weekend alone — that has authorities scrambling to put more police on the street and some frightened residents retreating deep into their homes.
Gabrielle Giffords’ House seat remained under Democratic control, won by her former aide in a special election yesterday.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has apparently forgotten about the billions in federal funding that supports firefighters, cops, and teachers. (The Obama campaign has launched a Tumblr, “Dear Mitt Romney,” designed to remind him.)
Mother Jones has a primer detailing how those spending “dark money” in our elections avoid tax penalties.
“If President Obama is so anti-business—if he’s engineering a hostile government takeover of the entire economy—he’s hiding it very, very well,” said guest host Ezra Klein on last night’s edition of “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
The rumors of Hosni Mubarak’s death are exaggerated, but no less frequent.
JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will surely be asked about his company’s (at least) $3 billion derivatives loss when he testifies before the Senate Banking Committee this morning. David Dayen on Firedoglake will be live-blogging it here; The New York Times here.
George Zimmerman’s wife was arrested on perjury charges yesterday.
New York City’s mayor may be about to put 43,000 people on the street.
Will the influx of new weapons bring about civil war in Syria? A newly-released gay-parenting study has its faults, according to New Yorker senior editor Amy Davidson. The recent claim in The New York Times that men invented the internet is also coming under fire. A white student who mistakenly received a scholarship mean for black students is returning the award. Burger King has a summertime special: a bacon sundae. No, I’m not linking to that. And to conclude, erstwhile presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was a guest on last night’s “Politics Nation with Al Sharpton.” Behold the magic, below the jump.
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