The [Wednesday] Papers

"More city leaders and activists are deciding to reject an invitation from the mayor's office to attend the city's 29th Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Breakfast," NBC Chicago reports.

Bishop James Dukes will also not be attending, saying: "I don't think that it's time for us to have this Kumbaya breakfast without having a sit-down talk."

"We're not entertaining any of the mayor's efforts to pacify," said activist Jedidiah Brown, who also turned down the invitation. "We don't want breakfast, we want justice. We don't want pancakes and eggs we want resources."

The mayor has even lost one of his biggest campaign endorsers:

Tired of MLK being "pimped", Rev. @MichaelPfleger won't attend @RahmEmanuel's prayer breakfast Monday. #ouch

— Charles Thomas (@CThomasABC7) January 13, 2016

UPDATE 11:31 A.M.: Pfleger says he decided he wouldn't participate a year ago, not in response to current calls for boycotting the breakfast.

Also adding:

CTU has MLK Breakfast same time as #Rahm Friday, will be interesting who shows up

— Mary Ann Ahern (@MaryAnnAhernNBC) January 13, 2016

*

Here's the NBC Chicago report.

-

Cop Shop
"The Chicago police officer who fatally shot a teen who allegedly swung a bat at him and the 55-year-old neighbor mistakenly caught up in the incident was a rookie cop just three years ago, the Tribune has learned.

At his graduation ceremony from the police academy in March 2013, Robert Rialmo told the Tribune he didn't know what to expect with his first assignment on foot patrol in the Austin police district.

"I really don't know what to expect," said the fresh-faced officer, then 23. "I'm really anxious, I'm nervous, I'm excited, all of the above."

See, it turns out the cop was quoted in a Trib article three years ago, so they give you the quotes. What they don't do is provide a link to the damn thing. Here. I've been doing this for 10 years. Christ.

*

There's apparently accompanying video of Rialmo, but it doesn't show up for me and the link for that alone has been moved.

*

Is it ethical to name the officer at this juncture? Generally I'm opposed to naming suspects before or until they are charged. However, in the case of Jason Van Dyke, for example, the Tribune learned last April that he had a history of citizen complaints. That's legit. Not sure we've learned anything useful about Rialmo here, though.

-

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.

-

CPD Systems Fail
"Like many law enforcement agencies, the Chicago Police Department has an early intervention system that is supposed to flag officers at risk of serious misconduct and provide them with training and support to get on the right track," the Chicago Reporter found last month. (I'm just catching up with this now.)

"But of 162 Chicago police officers with 10 or more misconduct complaints in the past four years, just one was enrolled in the department's program as of October, according to a Chicago Reporter analysis of data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request."

Sometimes the systems are in place, but the will is not.

"Overall, there were just 11 officers enrolled in CPD's two primary early intervention programs, out of more than 12,000 sworn officers in the department - the nation's second-largest law enforcement agency.

"Those numbers defy belief," said Samuel Walker, an emeritus professor at the University of Nebraska, and a leading national expert on police early intervention systems. "It says the system isn't working and is designed not to work."

Other problems: the FOP contract (natch) and data collection. Go read the whole thing.

-

St. Louis Fans Rammed (Again)
City loses its football team for second time. Fans pissed.

Showmen's Rest & The 1918 Hammond Circus Train Wreck
In suburban Forest Park, a burial plot for clowns, trapeze artists, strongmen, bareback riders, acrobats, roustabouts - and the victims of one of the most tragic circus disasters in history.

-

BeachBook

*

*

-

TweetWood
Today in hate-reads.

My story on the emotional struggle of moving from the city to the suburbs: https://t.co/jimk49jZWs

— Alison Bowen (@byalisonbowen) January 12, 2016

What about my emotional struggle to avoid throwing my laptop at the wall? https://t.co/Vb8KbZttMG

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) January 12, 2016

@BeachwoodReport "The company's sole purpose is helping families transition from, for example, Lincoln Park to Lake Forest." 😣

— Jennifer Reft (@reftpt) January 12, 2016

@BeachwoodReport "Our job is literally 98 percent therapy and not real estate." She needs therapy because she might have to drive to brunch?

— Ben Tollberg (@tollberg) January 12, 2016

-

The Beachwood Tip Line: Wholesale therapy.

© 2006 - 2019, The Beachwood Media Company