By Steve Rhodes

“The Illinois attorney general has asked Peabody Energy in a letter to explain how it would cover $92 million in future cleanup costs in the state if the company sought bankruptcy protection,” Reuters reports.
“Peabody, the country’s largest coal producer, said in a regulatory filing last week that it may have to seek bankruptcy protection, citing poor economies in countries that import coal and other factors weighing on the coal industry.”
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Madigan is right to question Peabody. From the Beachwood vault:

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Posted on March 22, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

Here we go . . .

“I will support the Republican Party’s nominee,” says Rauner, even if it’s @realDonaldTrump

— Ted Cox (@tedcoxchicago) March 21, 2016

What if it’s David Duke? I mean, what’s the difference?

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Posted on March 21, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“Teenage sexual assault cases at St. Paul’s Prep School, in Maryville, Missouri, and in Steubenville, Ohio, have captured national attention, but it’s not an extraordinary situation for a high school to deal with. Sexual assault happens at similar rates in high schools as in colleges – impacting around 1 in 5 female students,” the Huffington Post reports.
“For all the national scrutiny of colleges mishandling rape cases, advocates working on the issue frequently say high schools ‘are in the dark ages’ in comparison, and federal officials are taking notice.”
HuffPo’s deep dive includes a south suburban Chicago case:

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Posted on March 19, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

Here we go again . . .
“Chicago police officer who fatally shot a baseball bat-wielding college student and accidentally killed his neighbor in December did not initially tell investigators that the teen had swung the bat at his head, police reports obtained by the Tribune show.”
“It wasn’t until Officer Robert Rialmo was re-interviewed two days after the Dec. 26 shooting that he first alleged 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier had twice tried to hit him with the aluminum bat – once with a downward swing and again with a backward swipe – before the officer opened fire, according to a detective’s supplemental report.
“In an earlier statement the morning of the shooting, Rialmo had said only that LeGrier had the bat raised over his head and refused commands to drop it.”
It is simply inconceivable that when being interviewed, the first thing out of an officer’s mouth wouldn’t be “He swung the bat at me.” Especially in the post-Laquan McDonald environment Rialmo was operating in.

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Posted on March 18, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

A colleague sent me an e-mail this morning asking for my thoughts about the way the New York Times was found to have edited a story about Bernie Sanders’ legislative strategies after it had been posted in a way that diminished his successes.
My response:

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Posted on March 17, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

Honestly, I expected Foxx-Alvarez and Dunkin-Stratton to go down to the wire. I even joked on Twitter that the latter would be decided in court. I thought the whole night would go that way, with Bernie Sanders eking out a win over Hillary Clinton. Nope. (Although in the delegate count, which Clinton’s people emphasized over states won before results came in, Hillary merely beat Bernie by one.)
But overall, I think the night can best be summed up this way:

Has Bruce Rauner called to concede to Michael Madigan yet?

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) March 16, 2016

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Posted on March 16, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“Bernie Sanders on Monday told NBC’s Chuck Todd that he ran as a Democrat to get more media coverage,” Politico reports.
“During a town hall-style event in Columbus, Ohio, the independent Vermont senator said, ‘In terms of media coverage, you have to run within the Democratic Party.’ He then took a dig at MNSBC, telling Todd, the network ‘would not have me on his program’ if he ran as an independent.”
True. Consider the implications. The media treated Sanders – and Donald Trump – as non-serious candidates for a long time. Trump got tons of coverage anyway; Sanders barely got any. If Sanders had run as an independent, he wouldn’t have gotten any coverage at all.
But the more Americans are exposed to him, the more many of them like him. Sadly, the same seems to be true of Trump (and in equal parts, the more Americans are exposed to him, the more many hate him), but it speaks to the power of media as gatekeepers in a way that should force a reconsideration of how that role is handled.

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Posted on March 15, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

The Papers will be delayed today – or possibly not appear at all – because I did a shit-ton over the weekend. See:
* Michael Ferro Is Killing Chicago Journalism.
My latest Op-Ed for Crain’s. Feel free to share and/or comment there.
(See also Michael Miner’s Reader post about how Tribune editor Bruce Dold delivered the bad news and why senior Chicago writer Bryan Smith ought to be worried.)
* The Beachwood Radio Hour #74: Smells Like Free Speech Spirit
Talkin’ #TrumpRallyChi. Including: Now You’re Trump; Obama Has Been A FOIA Disaster; and Hillary (And Obama) vs. Trump.

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Posted on March 14, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

Due to a shitload of unforeseen circumstances, there was no Friday papers column. The Weekend Desk Report will post in this space on Saturday.
In the meantime, enjoy this:

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And here it is . . .
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The Weekend Desk Report
I’m thinking about dealing with Friday night’s Trump rally in The Beachwood Radio Hour #74, which has been in pre-production for a couple weeks now and keeps getting away from me – thus, it’s content is ever-changing!
Like millions of others, I have some thoughts on the free speech issues raised last night as well as ancillary issues of protesting and political strategy. I think some of what I have to say might actually be fresh – there’s a lot of easy, emotional groupthink out there amidst both pro- and anti-Trump forces that needs examination and, maybe, a little more smarter thinking. I’d like to talk through this instead of – or along with – writing about it, in part because, well, it’s easier, and I have a lot on my plate this weekend. But the moment seems to demand it. We’ll see.

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Posted on March 11, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“A federal judge again chided City Hall lawyers Wednesday for not moving quickly enough to turn documents over to the advocacy group whose lawsuit is blocking construction of movie mogul George Lucas’ proposed $400 million lakefront museum,” the Sun-Times reports.
“Those lawyers want U.S. District Judge John Darrah to lift an order barring construction from beginning at the site – a parking lot south of Soldier Field. But a lawyer for Friends of the Parks complained the group can’t respond to the city’s request and doesn’t know when the city will turn documents over.

“Why don’t you just turn it all over?” Darrah asked the city. “What’s the secret?”

Well . . . there’s one tiny vulnerability in the blueprints we don’t want anybody to see.

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Posted on March 10, 2016