Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
“Over the next month, some Chicago aldermen are expected to argue Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed $588 million property tax increase could be largely avoided by closing down the city’s tax increment financing (TIF) districts,” Mark Brown writes for the Sun-Times.
“Ald. Danny Solis (25th) will not be one of them . . . As Exhibit A, Solis points to the Pilsen Industrial Corridor TIF district in his ward.
Posted on September 29, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
This is tonight and I’ll be there helping out. Hope to see some Beachwood readers!
Join us at Revolution Brewery for the release of our ground breaking new website dedicated to making Chicago’s police…
Posted by Chicago Justice Project on Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Posted on September 28, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
“After a public flameout on the Chicago River last year, the organizers of the Great Chicago Fire Festival will attempt to hold a fire spectacle Saturday that’s smaller in scope and in a less-prominent location,” the Tribune reports.
“An estimated 30,000 onlookers witnessed Redmoon Theater having trouble igniting three model houses on the river last year to bombastically repurpose the Chicago Fire of 1871 before concluding the evening with a fireworks display. Redmoon executive artistic director Jim Lasko blamed soggy conditions and logistical difficulties with the electronic trigger system while one alderman dubbed the inaugural festival a ‘fiasco’ and questioned the use of city funding.
“On Saturday, the free festival will be held from 5-9 p.m. at Northerly Island in a space with a capacity for 10,000 attendees. There will be various dance and music performances and an artisan bazaar before the finale: The burning of one mansion sculpture larger than last year’s model homes.”
Rauner’s mansion? ‘Cause that’s the only way I’m interested.
Posted on September 26, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
Thoughts on the latest twists and turns in the Patrick Kane case coming up.
Meanwhile . . .
Posted on September 25, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
Wednesday’s column went up a bit late yesterday, so if you missed it, here’s some Patrick Kane stuff.
Also recommended: @JulieDiCaro.
Posted on September 24, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
Given the press conference held today by the lawyer for Patrick Kane’s accuser, now would be a good time to listen to the new edition of The Beachwood Radio Hour, posted late Tuesday, about how the media has blown covering the case.
There’s also some fun stuff, so let me know what you think.
Posted on September 23, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
“The new boss of the Chicago FBI has not only investigated his fair share of public corruption but also has literally written the agency’s book on it,” the Tribune reports.
“In 2003, while supervising investigations into public corruption and government fraud for the Washington field office, Michael Anderson rewrote the bureau’s Public Corruption Field Guide, the operations manual for running a corruption probe. In his climb up the ranks, the 20-year FBI veteran has led investigations into super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and government fraud surrounding that city’s reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina.
“Anderson, 48, will take over as special agent in charge of the Chicago FBI in mid-October after serving three years as the head of the bureau’s New Orleans division, according to the FBI. He succeeds Robert Holley, who retired last month after less than two years in the post.”
Yeah, that seemed like a weird deal having been on the job for such a relatively short period of time, but I think he had reached the FBI’s mandatory retirement age of 57, though it doesn’t appear it was ever reported that way.
Which also means it makes sense that Holley only retired from the FBI, not from work.
“Holley has accepted a position at Discover Financial Services and will be a part of its Global Security Team,” the Tribune reported just last month.
Posted on September 22, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
I’m not going to get to a column today, but here’s a bunch of other stuff you should read:
Posted on September 21, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
Here’s what I wrote in an e-mail exchange on Friday:
“The Buffalo prosecutors can charge the case with or without the accused – though the DA there is known to be exceedingly cautious and is also, I think, running for judge. So his political calculation, because apparently he’s a political animal, is whether he’d alienate more women voters by prosecuting than Pat Kane fanboys.
“HOWEVER, it really isn’t up to him in that it’s going before a grand jury. If the grand jury doesn’t indict, it will only be because the prosecutor has purposely presented the weakest version of the case . . . because, as you know, a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich if the prosecutor tells it too.
“I don’t know what to think of settlement talks. My gut tells me the talks are going on and the Kane lawyer is lying . . . or somehow playing semantics. And my guess is that the prosecutor delayed the grand jury to let settlement talks proceed – even though one doesn’t have to have anything to do with the other. A political dance is going on right now, and I haven’t seen a single reporter really do a good job on this. The Buffalo News reporters are horrible, and the Trib just did that story about settlement talks that I found unsatisfying.
“In the podcast, I think Coach is wrong when he guesses that the Blackhawks must know something we don’t. No. The likelihood of that is near zero. But the Blackhawks are all in now on Kane’s innocence, in my view, given what they’ve said, what they’ve allowed, and what captain Johnny Toews is saying.
“Truly, I don’t think I can watch that team anymore. At first, it would just have been Kane. Now the whole team is dirty to me. Even if Kane is innocent.”
Posted on September 19, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
Well, if you want to know what I think about the Patrick Kane press conference fiasco, it’s up on The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #69: Worst Press Conference In Chicago Sports History. I can’t say I said anything different there than what everyone else is saying; the unanimity of thought regarding how embarrassing, offensive and tone-deaf it was is remarkable. Of course, Jim “Coach” Coffman weighs in, too.
Posted on September 18, 2015
