Good morning, Chicago. Destructive teen takeovers have plagued downtown and several neighborhoods, stirring up a lot of public safety anxiety. A development last month in Hyde Park signaled a possible turning point, though. When police alerted residents of an impending takeover, school staffers and dozens of parents swarmed the area. When the teens showed up, they came face to face with people more intimidating to them than cops. 

“Mobs give people, whether teens or adults, the power of anonymity and encourage some of them to act in ways they never would if someone they knew could see them,” the Tribune Editorial Board writes today.

In its other piece, the board is alarmed by an Illinois State Board of Education proposal to switch from measuring “chronic absenteeism” in students to tracking “consistent attendance,” a change the board finds Orwellian.

In commentary, two op-eds present dueling arguments over whether a state law that disallows credit card swipe fees on tips and taxes is a savior or a bane. And foreign affairs columnist Daniel DePetris sees trouble brewing for U.S.-Mexico relations after the U.S. Justice Department indicted the governor of the Mexican state of Sinaloa, among other officials, on allegations he buddied up with drug traffickers for personal gain.

Also, be sure to check out our letters from readers, who have a lot to say about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Voting Rights Act-related ruling and gerrymandering.

Thank you as always for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow.

— Colleen Kujawa, opinion editor

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