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It's best not to comment on specific mistaken remarks made by Mayor Brandon Johnson — the air is already thick with criticism, and once started, where does one stop? But there is one statement he says repeatedly that is almost Rahmesque in its misguided pretension:"Chicago is a world-class city."Yes, there is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Art Institute, Margie's Candies and a few other first-rate institutions that might embolden a person to imagine Chicago is right up there with London and Paris and the other global big boys. Opinion bug Opinion But the truth remains: Chicago is not a world-class city. It can't be. We don't have any public toilets. A survey by Nationwide Waste Service lists 21 cities. Kansas City is first, with 30 public toilets per 100,000 residents, while Chicago is dead last, with less than half, 14 per 100,000.And those are not actual public toilets but toilets accessible to the public, theoretically, in libraries and hotels and restaurants that turn a blind eye to those in need. While a few city-run facilities no doubt lurk in remote park district field houses and other public buildings, this woeful sentence was published by the Sun-Times this week:"The city’s sole public bathroom appeared near the CTA Blue Line station in the Polish Triangle at Division Street and Ashland and Milwaukee Avenues in West Town."The structure appeared, that is. Not yet open. Almost there. After decades of dithering. Chicago is about to open one sleek self-cleaning public bathroom. In Wicker Park. How many of those are found in Paris? A city of 2 million residents, or three-quarters the population of Chicago?Answer: 435Any idea how embarrassing this is? How bad for our reputation? Flip open a guide book."Public toilets are non-existent on the streets of Chicago," a Frommer's guide chides.How long was this humiliation in the making? (pardoning the mild pun; we journalists love punning on this topic; doing so relieves — whoops — reduces our discomfort.)"Pitch for public toilets fails to flush out City Hall backing," a Tribune headline snickered in 1992, noting that JCDecaux — the same French company currently constructing the Wicker Park loo, which at the time had built 4,000 public toilet kiosks in 400 European cities and was also trying them in New York — made a presentation to obdurate Chicago administrators, who were unmoved."There are a lot of questions," said the city's director of central planning — cost, number, "clutter on Chicago sidewalks."Alas, one question few bothered with — then or now — is: Where are people supposed to go to the bathroom?"Why is this? Why in this age of issues and era of special interests is the public toilet a taboo topic?" the Trib's urban affairs columnist marveled, also in 1992. "It makes a lot of people embarrassed and unsettled."Does it ever. Here I thought Americans were horrified at the prospect of using a bathroom where a person of indeterminate gender might be applying their lip gloss. Turns out, we're just horrified at the thought of bathrooms, period.To be fair, Chicago does have all those alleys. And public bathrooms have a tendency to be colonized by the homeless and drug addicts — Starbucks in Europe lit their bathrooms with blue light, to prevent intravenous drug users from finding a vein. But unsavory interlopers camping out are also a problem with 24-hour ATM lobbies downtown, but one that seems mostly overcome.We don't have public bathrooms because we don't live in a society where we recognize the duty of government to help people live decent lives. If government provided toilets, what's next? Health care?As with health care, bathrooms represent another human necessity offloaded to private industry. Asked if Chicago needed public toilets in 1996, the president of the Oak Street Council merchants group said, "Unequivocally no. I don't think we need public toilets in Chicago. I don't think anything more is necessary to obstruct the beauty of the city. There are enough garages and hotels and restaurants around so that people can have their pick of just about any facility."That's nonsense. Striding into Petterino's, staring down the maitre d', making a hard right and heading directly to the bathroom takes a level of moxie that most tourists with three gotta-go-now! children won't muster.If I were looking for the bright spot, I might say: At least the pension crisis isn't the only grim Chicago reality coming home to roost after years of neglect. We spend millions urging out-of-towners to come to Chicago and explore this lovely city. And almost nothing to help them find a toilet once they get here. That doesn't scream "world class" to me.

The high school football rumor mill was in overdrive last week. It's been a chaotic, unpredictable season, so almost everyone was willing to believe Mount Carmel hired former Providence coach Tyler Plantz as its defensive coordinator just days before the Caravan hosted the Celtics.Some Providence fans even scanned the Mount Carmel press box on Friday to see if they could find Plantz.Mount Carmel has not hired Plantz. That is straight from the mouth of Caravan AD Phil Segroves. So those rumors can be put to rest. It isn’t out of the realm of possibility that Plantz joins Mount Carmel at some point; he is friends with Jordan Lynch. But it has not happened.IC Catholic’s momentIC Catholic has been steadily climbing the Super 25 rankings all season. The Knights have been out of the spotlight a bit over the past three seasons, but they are a legitimate small-school powerhouse.Coach Bill Krefft has guided the Elmhurst school to four state championships, the most recent coming in 2023 in Class 3A. The Knights reached the 3A quarterfinals last season and returned many talented players this season.Senior Nate Lang is one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the Catholic League. Junior receiver Grant Bowen is one of the country's top prospects. He’s a top 50 player in the junior class according to 247Sports.com and has offers from Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame, among many others.IC Catholic knocked off Nazareth and St. Ignatius this season. Both schools are significantly larger than IC, but Friday's test against Loyola is a different animal.IC Catholic appears to have fewer than 200 boys enrolled. Loyola currently has 84 players listed on its varsity roster and could have 200 boys in its overall football program.The last time Loyola and IC Catholic played, in October of 2023, the Knights sat most of their star players, and both coaches agreed to a running clock at the start of the second quarter.It is anyone’s guess what IC Catholic has planned for Friday. The Knights had suffered a slew of injuries the week before the Loyola game in 2023. Hopefully they give it a real go on Friday against Loyola.Dukes defenseMost of the Super 25 is dominated by high-powered offenses. Even the traditional defense-oriented teams are putting up a ton of points this season. But one very solid defense looms just outside the Super 25. And it is another team in Elmhurst.York has allowed just 109 points this season, shut out two teams, and not allowed any team to score more than 27 points. The Dukes upset Downers Grove North 18-17 in overtime in Week 7.Downers Grove North has one of the best defenses in the state. The Trojans have allowed only 51 points this season and shut out three teams. The 18 points they gave up to York was a season high.Super 25 updatesDowners Grove North tumbles down to No. 19 after the upset loss to York. Lincoln-Way Central drops out of the rankings after getting dominated 42-0 against Lincoln-Way East at home. Lyons rejoins the Super 25 after a few weeks on the outside. The Lions have quality wins against Barrington, Wheaton-Warrenville South and Hinsdale Central.Super 25 high school football rankings for Week 8With record and last week's ranking1. Loyola (7-0) 1Won 38-7 vs. St. Ignatius.Next: Friday at No. 6 IC Catholic.2. Lincoln-Way East (7-0) 2Won 42-0 at Lincoln-Way Central.Next: Friday at Lockport.3. Brother Rice (5-2) 3Won 42-21 vs. Fenwick.Next: Friday at DePaul Prep.4. Mount Carmel (5-2) 4Won 49-14 vs. Providence.Next: Friday at Joliet Catholic.5. Hersey (7-0) 5Won 71-0 at Elk Grove.Next: Friday vs. Rolling Meadows.6. IC Catholic (7-0) 7Won 42-14 at Benet.Next: Friday vs. No. 1 Loyola.7. Bolingbrook (6-1) 9Won 42-0 at Joliet Central.Next: Friday vs. Plainfield North.8. Maine South (6-1) 8Won 49-8 at Vernon Hills.Next: Friday vs. Evanston.9. Oswego (6-1) 10Won 62-21 at Joliet West.Next: Friday vs. Minooka.10. Geneva (6-1) 11Won 62-35 vs. Glenbard North.Next: Friday vs. Wheaton North.11. Batavia (5-2) 12Won 28-21 at Wheaton North.Next: Friday at St. Charles East.12. Homewood-Flossmoor (5-2) 13Won 42-0 vs. Stagg.Next: Friday at Bradley-Bourbonnais.13. Prospect (7-0) 14Won 50-0 at Wheeling.Next: Friday at Buffalo Grove.14. St. Ignatius (5-2) 15Lost 38-7 at Loyola.Next: Friday vs. Leo.15. Sandburg (5-2) 16Won 20-9 at Lincoln-Way West.Friday vs. Stagg.16. St. Rita (4-3) 17Won 42-20 vs. Leo.Next: Friday vs. Benet.17. Montini (5-2) 18Won 56-7 at De La Salle.Next: Friday vs. Marmion.18. Providence (5-2) 19Lost 49-14 at Mount Carmel.Next: Friday vs. Marian Catholic.19. Downers Grove North (6-1) 6Lost 18-17 at York.Friday vs. No. 22 Lyons.20. Kankakee (6-1) 20Won 55-0 vs. Bloom.Next: Friday at Crete-Monee.21. Glenbard West (5-2) 21Won 42-24 vs. Hinsdale Central.Next: Saturday vs. York.22. Lyons (6-1) NRWon 34-10 vs. Oak Park.Next: Friday at No. 19 Downers Grove North.23. New Trier (6-1) 23Won 56-7 at Maine West.Next: Friday vs. Glenbrook South.24. Morris (7-0) 24Won 33-0 at Sycamore.Next: Friday at LaSalle-Peru.25. Huntley (7-0) 25Won 41-6 at Prairie Ridge.Next: Friday vs. Burlington Central.

A cyclist was killed by a driver in East Garfield Park Sunday morning, Chicago police said.The 33-year-old man was on a bike riding west on Lake Street around 6 a.m. when he crossed the intersection at the 200 block of North Homan Avenue and a driver in a black sedan hit him, according to police. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead.The male driver injured his hand but refused medical help, police said. Citations are pending.

An off-duty Chicago police officer shot a man during an argument early Sunday in the Little Village neighborhood, authorities said.The officer was driving in the 2600 block of West 24th Street when he stopped to talk with a group of people standing on the sidewalk around 12:45 a.m., according to a statement from Chicago police. A man from the group approached the officer's car and hit the officer in the face, police said. The cop then shot the man twice.The officer then drove a short distance away, got out of his car and fired more shots at the group, according to police.The man who was shot twice was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in fair condition. He was also arrested, police said. A second man was also injured and took himself to Mount Sinai in good condition. Police did not say if he was injured from a gunshot.The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is investigating the incident. The officer, who was taken to a nearby hospital with injuries from the incident, was put on administrative duties.

Five-time Pro Bowl safety Minkah Fitzpatrick will return to the Jets Sunday to play the Bears at Soldier Field. Fitzpatrick played six snaps in Week 1 before hurting his groin. The Dolphins dealt him to the Jets this offseason and the Jets gave him a three-year, $40 million deal. They hoped he'd be able to turn around their interception-less streak, which has reached 20 games and dates to the last game of the 2024 season.The Bears put left tackle Braxton Jones on injured reserve with a knee injury Saturday. On Sunday, they made the following players inactive: quarterback Caleb Williams, safety Cam Lewis, defensive end Jamree Kromah, tackle Ozzy Trapilo, defensive tackle Jayden Laving and defensive tackle James Lynch. Lynch had played 40% of the Bears' defensive snaps this year. Defensive lineman Marcus Davenport was promoted from the practice squad Saturday and will be active.The Bears had ruled out Williams and considered Lewis doubtful. Trapilo is still rehabbing a torn patellar tendon.Former Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright, who hasn't played a defensive snap for the Jets this year, is a healthy scratch. He led the NFL in takeaways last year.