By Steve Rhodes

“Friday was supposed to be Chuy’s Big Day,” the Tribune editorial board opined on March 13th.

Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, the man who forced Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to defend himself in an April 7 runoff election, had promised to release his fiscal blueprint. With scarcely three weeks left in the campaign, Garcia was finally prepared to spell out his plan to rescue the city’s finances while somehow sparing its taxpayers.
It turns out he doesn’t have one.
At a testy news event that lasted less than 30 minutes, Garcia provided no specifics about where he’d find the money to balance the city’s budget, much less to pay for all the new spending he’s promised.
He didn’t explain how he’d pay down the $27 billion debt owed by the city and its schools, or how he’d address unfunded pension obligations totaling nearly $30 billion. Instead, he said he’d name a working committee to start looking for solutions and report back 90 days after the election.

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Posted on August 24, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

Vortex Report
“Chicagoans will see a portion of their electricity bills rise in coming years because of new electric grid rules tied to the polar vortex, according to power auction results that were made public Friday,” the Tribune reports.
Meanwhile, the financial crisis at CPS has now been tied to a bipolar vortex.
The universe, however, is not a vortex.
Therefore, bad governance is not universal.

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Posted on August 22, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

“Legendary Chicago Bull Michael Jordan served up a side of super nice at C Chicago, the city’s new and hip seafood eatery Sunday night,” Sneed “reports.”

Jordan, who has kept it low-key since fighting began in an endorsement infringement case at the federal courthouse last week, sent eatery patrons into overdrive when he showed up in a front-row seat.
“Celebrities usually request private rooms at odd hours,” said C Chicago owner David Flom.
“But not Michael Jordan. He didn’t want a private dining room. His manager called earlier in the day and ordered up a window seat in full view of everybody,” Flom added.

Not Michael Jordan! He’s just a regular guy! At least just this once – in full view of everybody!

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Posted on August 21, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

“Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich will seek justice from the U.S. Supreme Court after losing his bid Wednesday for the full 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago to reconsider its refusal to overturn his conviction and 14-year prison sentence,” the Tribune reports.
Why not just say he will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court? The way it’s written now presumes he didn’t get justice at the appellate level, when indeed justice appears to have been done.
Anyway . . .

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Posted on August 20, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

After all these years in the business, I can still be naive. When a friend asked me a couple days ago if Kristen McQueary would be fired for her now-infamous Hurricane Katrina column, I said I wasn’t sure it would come to that, but that the Tribune bigwigs were undoubtedly huddled together trying to figure out how to address McQueary, her editor/s, the column and the PR disaster it wrought.
Now I don’t believe they were huddled at all. I don’t think it even registered at Trib Tower. After all, this is what editorial page editor Bruce Dold had to say in a (chicken-shit) statement e-mailed to WGN-TV:

“McQueary’s column credits the resilience and ingenuity of the people of New Orleans and pleads for dramatic change in Chicago, which has not faced up to its financial crisis. That is her point. Her use of Hurricane Katrina as metaphor has unfortunately been misconstrued.”

When paired with McQueary’s non-apology, in which she was “horrified” at the way the rest of the world outside of the Trib’s editorial boardroom read her words, it’s clear that the paper is standing by the column – and blaming the outrage on everybody’s poor reading comprehension.

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Posted on August 18, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

“The Obama Foundation is conducting intensive economic development studies to help determine if the Obama Presidential Center should be located in Chicago’s Washington Park or Jackson Park, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.”
By “has learned,” we can fairly assume “was spoon-fed.”

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Posted on August 18, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

So the hard drive on my Macbook is basically full. I have an external drive that is also basically full. I have a couple of thumb drives that are full. So this morning I figured out how to clear some space on my external hard drive so I could clear some space on my laptop hard drive and the whole exercise took a lot longer than I expected – a couple hours! That set me way back.
So (this is the third time I’ve used “so” in this column) let me just get these basics out and then I’ve got some other posts and a fresh column that will appear later today or tomorrow. Sorry.

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Posted on August 17, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

PROGRAMMING NOTE: There will be no Weekend Desk Report this weekend.
–
The [Friday] Papers
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Chicago journalist get pummeled (figuratively) as much as Tribune editorial writer and columnist Kristen McQueary has been pummeled since her column praying for a Katrina-like hurricane to strike Chicago was posted Thursday. Deservedly so.
And not just in Chicago – McQueary was trending on Twitter in New Orleans last night.
McQueary’s column was wrongheaded – to put it politely – on several levels, most of which have been discussed at length elsewhere.
I would encourage you to also catch up on Twitter if you are behind.
I’ll make just a few points, and try not to be repetitive.

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Posted on August 14, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

“For lifelong Chicagoan Ron Hall, a bite into a Maurice Lenell cookie brings flashbacks to his younger days – from grade school field trips to the former cookie factory on Harlem Avenue in Norridge to walking his beat as a police officer while snacking on the sweets,” the Tribune reports.
“But soon, Hall and other Maurice Lenell fans will have to find other ways to satisfy their nostalgic cookie cravings. The company that has been producing a limited supply of the cookies since the Maurice Lenell Cooky Company went bankrupt in 2008 has pulled the plug on pinwheels, jelly stars and other sentimental favorites.

“We don’t want to be the bad guy that discontinued the tradition and legacy,” said Roy Jasper, vice president of sales and marketing for private labels at Ohio-based Consolidated Biscuit, which took over production seven years ago. “It just didn’t make sense for us anymore.”

Too bad, Roy, you’re the bad guy!

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Posted on August 13, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

There most likely will be a column today. Sorting through a bunch of things – the departure of managing editor Craig Newman from the Sun-Times, the return of the NFL draft to Chicago, layoffs at Kraft-Heinz . . . and the usual suspects: CPS, Homan Square, Governor Raunervich. If not today, I’ll blast a bunch of stuff out tomorrow.
In the meantime:

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Posted on August 12, 2015