By Steve Rhodes
Lightning data confirms cloud to ground strike over N side of #Chicago, corroborating #thundersnow reports from Lakeview/Wrigleyville. #ilwx
— NWS Chicago (@NWSChicago) April 2, 2016
Posted on April 2, 2016
The [Friday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
Today in Top Cop:
BREAKING: Rahm Emanuel Names Himself To All Nine Seats Of #Chicago Police Board, Then Goes Into Executive Session.
— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) March 31, 2016
Posted on April 1, 2016
The [Thursday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
“Federal officials announced on Wednesday that a sweeping settlement had been reached to reform the Newark Police Department after a three-year investigation uncovered a pattern of unconstitutional practices, including improper searches and stops and excessive use of force,” the New York Times reports.
“The proposed reforms, which must be approved by a judge, include putting cameras on officers and in police vehicles, increasing training, and revamping department policies on the use of force and search-and-seizure practices.
“The agreement also calls for the installation of a monitor to oversee the department’s compliance with the terms of the settlement and the creation of a civilian oversight committee, which the city, New Jersey’s largest, has already taken steps toward putting into place.”
Posted on March 31, 2016
The [Wednesday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
Today in #TopCop:
New Police Chief Chosen By Mayor On End-Run Around Proscribed Process Focuses On Trust. https://t.co/dndw8qr0eL
— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) March 30, 2016
New Interim Supt. Johnson Says He’s Never Witnessed Police Misconduct In 27 Years With CPD: https://t.co/FOhulBgV4q
— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) March 30, 2016
More commentary/analysis at @BeachwoodReport – I went on a bit of a tweetstorm last night.
Posted on March 30, 2016
The [Tuesday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
I think I can best sum up the police chief fiasco this way:
In Bid To Restore Public Trust, #Chicago Mayor Subverts Process To Name New Police Chief After First Choice Withdraws For Being Disrespected
— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) March 29, 2016
Posted on March 29, 2016
The [Monday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
I’m making my way through #TopCop coverage. All I can offer for now is what I said on Thursday on Ken Davis’s Chicago Newsroom, before the mess (lightly edited for clarity):
Steve: If he gets this wrong, if it doesn’t work out, if there are problems in the first few months or the first year of a new police chief, I mean what more could Rahm withstand?
There’s a couple of questions – one is, who wants to work for Rahm Emanuel as a police chief? It’s hard enough to work for the guy in any position, but as police chief, he called Garry McCarthy every morning, I don’t know 6 or 7 in the morning or whatever to find out what went on overnight, and he probably was on the phone with McCarthy three or four times a day and he was probably berating him over and over.
And you know, one of the things I said even a couple of years ago is that one of the problems with Rahm Emanuel is he has three jobs. He’s the mayor, the police chief and the schools’ chief, right, you know. And so if you take a job like this, because I think applications were down from what you might expect . . .
Posted on March 28, 2016
The Weekend Desk Report
By Steve Rhodes
“As they enter the third round of the NCAA basketball tournament this weekend, the University of Connecticut Huskies have won 71 consecutive games. Seventy-one! And they won national championships in 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2015 – that’s 10 times in the last 21 years, and nine times in the last 15. Now, that’s major news. Only it isn’t . . . because this is the UConn women’s team,” sports economist Andrew Zimbalist writes Saturday in a New York Times Op-Ed.
“Even if this year’s Huskies win the tournament, the NCAA will pretty much ignore them, too. Certainly it will neglect them financially. Over at the men’s tournament, the NCAA pays for success: Each game a team plays (not including the championship) earns the team’s conference roughly $260,000 this year plus $260,000 each of the five following years. So the total value of a victory in the men’s tournament is approximately $1.56 million. By contrast, a win in the women’s tournament brings a reward of exactly zero dollars. That’s right, zero dollars.”
Posted on March 26, 2016
The [Friday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
The Tribune’s Bill Ruthhart writes today about how Rahm Emanuel coped with another bad week, concluding:
“The political spin lesson in Emanuel’s strategy: When bad financial news abounds, the teachers are talking walkout and a policing scandal continues to drag on, try to change the subject to two things everyone likes – kids and parks.”
Posted on March 25, 2016
The [Thursday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
I have a busy day scheduled so the Papers will return on Friday.
In the meantime, the rest of the site is chock full of groovy stuff . . .
Posted on March 24, 2016
The [Wednesday] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
“As predictably as the first blossoms of Spring, the lineup for the 25th anniversary edition of Lollapalooza has arrived, though the connection between what will happen in Grant Park from July 28 to 31 and the scrappy, daylong touring alternative-rock festival that started a quarter of a century ago is merely a matter of corporate branding at these points,” Jim DeRogatis writes for WBEZ.
“This year, 170 bands will somehow squeeze into Grant Park between the countless companies tirelessly marketing themselves to the snookered demographic of (mostly) young, privileged, and horny drunks for an expanded four days of Walmart on the Lake. The headliners – and you’re forgiven for thinking you’ve heard this before, because you have, today and in years past- include Radiohead, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, LCD Soundsystem (back after a brief five-year “retirement”), and Lana Del Rey, to which I respond with a resounding: YAWN.”
Posted on March 23, 2016