The [Tuesday] Papers

1. I have a new podcast in the hopper - on the Laquan McDonald e-mails - but I'm still working on the Show Notes.

The Beachwood Radio Hour #70: What The Laquan McDonald E-Mails Really Show.

First and foremost, the e-mails show how Rahm's media shop manipulates outwitted reporters. Also: How City Hall spun settlement negotiations over the release of the infamous video, and allegations of witness coercion. With Show Notes.

2. #ConfessYourUnpopularOpinion: I was not a huge Bowie fan.

3. Our very own Jim "Coach" Coffman does not like the Bears' offensive coordinator hire.

4. "Chicago aldermen emboldened by a once-powerful but now wounded Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday questioned just about everything on the agenda of the City Council's Finance Committee," the Sun-Times reports.

"Routine matters that once sailed through without a whimper were placed under the microscope - and it wasn't limited to the protracted debate over Emanuel's plan to borrow a record $3 billion. No issue was too small for the laser-like focus."

I dunno. I want it to be true, but it sounds like the aldermen doing the questioning were the same (few) aldermen who usually do the questioning. I could be wrong, but it's one thing to say independent aldermen are emboldened and another to say the whole council - largely put in place and kept there by the mayor - is emboldened.

Still, this is good.

"A plan to use tax-increment-financing to build a $2 million park at 21st and Prairie near the Marriott Marquis Hotel being built with a $55 million TIF subsidy was placed on hold.

"So was a request for $2.6 million in fee waivers for the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which is building a new DePaul basketball arena that will double as an event center for McCormick Place. Emanuel's original plan called for the $55 million TIF subsidy to be used to build the stadium. But the subsidy was switched to the hotel after the arena became a symbol of what critics called the mayor's misplaced priorities."

Really? Then who is paying for the stadium - Marriott?

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Also, you have to wonder if the stadium was in some way cover for expanding McCormick. And if that expansion is being done with the eventual demolition of the Lakeside Center in mind, as has often been rumored, possibly to be replaced by a casino.

But I digress:

"Aldermen Scott Waguespack (32nd), Brendan Reilly (42nd) and John Arena (45th) demanded to know why the park wasn't being bankrolled by the Marriott hotel chain."

Maybe Marriott can't afford it.

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But if it's going to be a public park, why would Marriott bankroll it?

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"A proposal to reimburse the cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools for an already built, $4.7 million artificial turf athletic field for Jones College Prep also raised eyebrows.

"Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10th) demanded to know why aldermen were being asked to approve the project after the fact."

Forgive Garza, she's in her first term.

5. "Three-hundred sixty-five days into his first term as governor, Republican Bruce Rauner has yet to sign a state budget, is in a political standoff with House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) and is battling with the state government's largest labor union, whose members are working without a contract," the Sun-Times reports.

"But despite those problems, Rauner says the ideas in his controversial - and, to date, politically paralyzing - 'turnaround agenda' are resonating not only with his Republican counterparts, but also with Chicago Democrats, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

"Many members of the General Assembly, in private, along with the mayor of Chicago, in private, agree that much of our agenda makes sense," Rauner told the Chicago Sun-Times Monday, the day before the first anniversary of his taking his oath of office.

It wouldn't surprise me if Rahm was saying that in private, but that's a pretty big claim to make insofar as the implication that the mayor is saying something different in public. Or does it square: Rahm has probably said in public that Rauner has some ideas that make sense - along with some that don't.

Later, he said, "Frankly, if the mayor and the [Senate] President [John Cullerton] were willing to do in public what they talk about in private, I think we'd have worked something out by now. But they are afraid to buck the speaker."

Oh.

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On the other hand, Rauner's been known to make shit up, like meetings that never happened.

But here's the real humdinger:

When asked to name the names of other Democrats in his corner, Rauner sidestepped the question.

"There are many . . . " he said before pausing briefly. "Publicly?" he then asked.

The governor then continued: "There are, I'll say, many in the Legislature - in private - and there are many business Democrats in Chicago who are very supportive of us. And they're saying 'Stay strong. Don't back down.' People know we need change."

Perhaps Rauner has a list.

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I mean, really, that's the kind of game a child plays. It's like having a girlfriend in Canada.

5. IPRA vs. Oprah.

Book club vs. old boys' club.

6. T.J. Hooker: The Chicago Connection.

"One of the most bizarre episodes of T.J. Hooker ever filmed."

7. The Adler's Reel Science.

Warp drive, destroying planets and time travel.

8. The Weekend In Chicago Rock.

Featuring: The Vulgar Boatmen, The Great Ache, Arkham, Zoned Out, Snake Eyes, IshDarr, Trapo, Webb Wilder, Chris Medina, Color Morale, Feed Me to Monsters, and Face The Fire.

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BeachBook

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TweetWood
A sampling.

Area TV Station Doesn't Understand Statistics, Hypes Most Commonly Drawn #Powerball Numbers: https://t.co/9oeYMiseqX | #chicago

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) January 12, 2016

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Funny to see Rahm's former press courtiers put a finger in the air and shamelessly transform themselves into tough guys.

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) January 12, 2016

Rahm's horrid, but his administration is far less corrupt than Daley's. (And where was everyone then?) Rahm's crimes are mostly political.

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) January 12, 2016

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.@BeachwoodReport Also, the rules aren't unwritten. Go to journalism school. First day stuff.

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) January 12, 2016

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The Beachwood Tip Line: Unwritten.

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