The [Tuesday] Papers

We have some new features here at the Beachwood that I've never properly introduced, so here we go:

* I Shot the Band is the brainchild of our music guru Don Jacobson, who is now reviewing amateur videos of mostly local bands. He has three in the can so far:

- Company of Thieves at Welles Park.

- Funhouse at the Kankakee Fish Fry.

- Lady Tramaine Hawkins at the Millennium Park.

* TV Notes is sort of a companion to our popular What I Watched Last Night feature. A new TV Notes is up today.

* Citizen Kate is citizen journalism Beachwood-style, in conjunction with the Citizen Kate TV folks.

* Big in Japan is the debut feature from the Beachwood's foreign affairs desk. In the latest installment, correspondent Dan Simon writes about corruption in Tokyo.

And of course, all your old favorites are still here. New contributors are always welcome, as are cash donations, ill-gotten gains and money that needs laundering.

Nor A Wife-Beater
Marking a new low.

"A Blagojevich spokeswoman responded to the Chicago Tribune: 'He's not a sociopath'."

Rod Elia
Just catching up with the governor's recent freak-out.

First the Lady?
The parlor game among political insiders right now is if Patti will be indicted before Rod.

School Rules
"Malia and Sasha Obama attend the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, where Michelle Obama is on the board."

Two more liberals committed to public schools - for everyone else.

Peas in a Pod
Add two more: Rod and Patti Blagojevich.

"When Gov. Blagojevich declined to move his family from Chicago to the Executive Mansion in Springfield, a big reason was his daughter's private school. 'She's comfortable there and likes it there and has her friends there,' Blagojevich explained after winning office in November 2002," the Sun-Times reported last month.

"Since then, the governor has helped give his daughter, and now her younger sister, more reason to like Rogers Park Montessori School. His administration assisted the school's leaders in building a new, state-of-the-art facility, with 17 classrooms, a high-school-sized gymnasium and foliage-covered roof."

Well, that could just be coincidence.

"State records show the governor personally signed off on the borrowing plan at the same time his wife, Patti Blagojevich, sat on the school's board."

Well, that could just be coincidence.

"Blagojevich wrote a letter signing off on the borrowing deal on Sept. 27, 2004, at the same time his wife was one of the school's 12 board members. The Finance Authority's board - picked by Blagojevich - unanimously approved the lending plan in November 2004."

I'm sure the Finance Authority's board was full of upstanding people who would never do the governor a favor.

"The agency's chief at that time was Ali D. Ata."

Oh. Well, at least the governor's not a sociopath.

Style Icon
Is she Chicago's It Girl?

I Love the Internet Pt. 384762
Sites spotted in the news recently:

* tankonempty.com
* coolstandings.com
* downforeveryoneorjustme.com

Old Media
The Tribune published its annual features on bike messengers and the city's odors today.

Campaign Comedy
"The funniest line out of the presidential campaign so far: Barack Obama is demanding more preconditions for debates with John McCain than he is for a meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."

- Steve Huntley, "Can Bush's Iraq Policy Rescue Obama?"

Kelly Girl
Catching up with the R. Kelly verdict.

* "After R. Kelly was able to avoid trial for six years, few people believed he would be convicted on child pornography charges," Mary Mitchell wrote.

"For that to happen, prosecutors would have had to keep all black people off the jury."

Um, what?

* "'Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus,' Kelly whispered as each not guilty verdict was read."

As Kathy Griffin might say, no one had less to do with that verdict than Jesus.

* Jim DeRogatis says it all.

* And don't forget how Kelly avoided prosecution in Florida.

Orange Country
My first newspaper job after college was at The Ledger in Lakeland. I worked for six months in the Winter Haven bureau, then was a police reporter in Lakeland for a year. Here is their current crime map.

Of course, we were more interested in reporting on how the law enforcement agencies in the area did their jobs than random crime events. But I did see my first dead body there. It was stiff.

Play Nice
"We're less than two weeks from the Pitchfork Music Festival," Chicagoist reminds us, "which means it's time to get your Hipster Bingo cards printed."

The Beachwood Tip Line: Now with one free side.

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