The [Wednesday] Papers

"Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. began three months of home detention Monday and proclaimed it a 'great day' to be with family and friends," the Tribune reports.

"Jackson is now confined to his Victorian-style townhouse near Washington's Dupont Circle until September. The home was up for sale briefly in 2012 with an asking price of $2.5 million. A real estate listing at that time said the 1921 property has four bedrooms, three full baths, two half baths, five fireplaces, a gourmet kitchen, a sunroom and a rooftop deck with a Jacuzzi."

That doesn't sound like much of a hardship.

"Inmates on home detention may not consume alcohol."

Oh. What is this, Russia?

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"[Attorney Alan Elis] thinks Jackson Jr.'s job prospects are good, saying he might find work as a paralegal, consultant or a lobbyist. 'He's got connections, he has skills and white-collar offenders, they pretty much land on their feet,' he said."

Ya think? Do we really need a lawyer to tell us that? I don't think it breaks the bounds of objectivity for the reporter to write that Jackson is likely to have numerous opportunities for money-making - if that's even necessary.

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"You can't go out to a fancy restaurant, but you can have a party at home," he said. "There (are) no restrictions on the number of pizzas you can have delivered."

I wouldn't call that a party, exactly, but with Sandi set to report to prison herself in the fall, football Sundays at the Jackson house could become a thing.

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I feel like that item is kind of weak. I just just struck by the "no alcohol" thing and built everything around it.

Also: "He had about three months cut from the term because he completed a substance-abuse program in prison."

So maybe the point is moot - though some us are kind of suspicious about the sincerity of that.

But I digress - mostly because I really don't want to write about CPS and the Illinois House today. So I won't.

Toni Stroger
"Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on Tuesday defended her proposal to increase the sales tax by a penny on the dollar, saying the move is necessary to prevent even greater financial difficulties in coming years," the Tribune reports.

Geez, I feel like I'm really taking the easy way out today.

Anyway . . .

"It does bring some vindication," Stroger said Tuesday. "And I really think if they hadn't made a fight about the money, the government would be in better shape now - I should say more efficient, and they wouldn't need as much money."

First, Stroger raised that tax seven years ago. A dollar today is worth about nine cents less than it was then. It's not an entirely unreasonable move.

Second, the biggest problem with Stroger's tax was the Stroger part, not the tax part. He simply hadn't taken all the steps necessary to make county government more efficient - and in fact, had made it less efficient in part by hiring his pals and in part simply being incompetent - to engender such trust with our money. Third, the idea that county government would be better now if we had just followed his prescription then is so laughable as to make us want to confine him to his home without alcohol.

Accretive Accountability
"Accretive Health reported a $79.6 million loss last year, its fourth unprofitable year in the last five years, as the company struggles to bounce back from legal and accounting troubles," the Tribune reports.

I always thought Rahm got off extremely easy early in his first term when he wrote this letter on behalf of Accretive to the Minnesota attorney general.

As a reminder:

"Accretive Health, one of the nation's largest collectors of medical debt, has agreed to pay $2.5 million to the Minnesota state attorney general's office to settle accusations that it violated a federal law requiring hospitals to provide emergency care, even if patients cannot afford to pay.

In April, Lori Swanson, the Minnesota attorney general, disclosed hundreds of Accretive's internal documents that outlined aggressive collection tactics, including embedding debt collectors in emergency rooms and pressuring patients to pay before receiving treatment.

Carol Wall, a 53-year-old Minnesota resident, said "a woman with a computer cart" told her she owed $300 as she was "vaginally hemorrhaging large amounts of blood" at an Accretive-affiliated emergency room in January, according to court records.

Another patient, Terry Mackel, 50, said he was asked to pay $363.55 at another Accretive-affiliated emergency room in Minnesota as he waited "alone, groggy and hooked up to an IV" waiting to see an emergency room doctor, according to court documents. Fearing that it was the only way to see a doctor, both patients paid.

Sounds like the same tactics Rahm used to kill 50 schools on life support.

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I'm not sure that line makes much sense, but just consider the extraordinary step Rahm took on behalf of a company that did very bad things. What kind of person is that?

Fucking Golden
"A former Illinois Department of Public Health aide has been sentenced to eight years in prison for her part in a kickback scheme that defrauded the state of millions of dollars," reports say.

"Quinshaunta Golden pleaded guilty in April 2014 to bribery, theft and obstruction of justice in the kickback scheme. She was accused of issuing more than $11 million in falsified grants in exchange for kickbacks."

Previously in Quinshaunta Golden:
* Golden (D-Davis) To Whitaker Via Obama To Rezko.

* Whitaker Praises Golden.

* Obama Friend Whitaker Declared Hostile Witness.

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BeachBook
* Rahm's Clinton White House Files Due Out.

* Chicago Art Professor Creates Self-Portraits From Emojis And Selfie Stick.

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TweetWood
A sampling.

Thanks Chicago and Blackhawks fans for amazing season. On route back to Canada and still some how Im stuck in traffic in Chicago. #3amwakeup

— Bryan Bickell (@bbicks29) June 24, 2015

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We should commemorate June 22, 2015 as the day America informed the South that the Civil War is over. Like Juneteenth, but for White people.

— Propane Jane (@docrocktex26) June 23, 2015

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"MLK led marches through the all-white neighborhoods of Gage Park & Marquette Park, where he was greeted by Confederate-flag waving whites..

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) June 23, 2015

... chanting, "Two, four, six, eight, we don't want to integrate!" http://t.co/db95tKKAtx | #chicago

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) June 23, 2015

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Photo of the Year contender ... https://t.co/4bhthEa5pW

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) June 23, 2015

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