Good morning, Chicago. We have an international news-heavy commentary section for you today. For two of our writers, it’s personal. Iranian American Talla Mountjoy tells us about the WhatsApp group chat she and her family members are using to communicate about the protests in Iran. Her relatives who are in the country have fallen silent because Iranian leaders have instituted an internet and communications blackout. Even so, her family has hope that these protests may lead to an important turning point.

Iranian scholar Pegah Banihashemi, also based in Chicago, educates us on the news that is managing to get through thanks to people using Starlink. The images coming out of Iran are stark and gut-wrenching. The regime is cracking down hard on the dissenters. Her op-ed offers a valuable lay of the land from someone who is intimately connected to the events there.

Foreign affairs columnist Daniel DePetris explains how Venezuela is catching up to the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a fickle ally.

In editorials, the Tribune Editorial Board highlights a disturbing report from the Chicago Board of Education inspector general about sexual misconduct cases in Chicago Public Schools. And the board has a message for President Donald Trump: Leave Fed Chair Jerome Powell alone. Let the Fed be independent.

Our letters offer more reaction to the killing of Renee Nicole Good by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis. We appreciate the range of views our writers offer.

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

— Colleen Kujawa, opinion editor

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