By Steve Rhodes

“Facing a day of multiple deadlines, Illinois lawmakers return to the Capitol on Tuesday little closer to coming up with a new state budget or helping Chicago Public Schools deal with a deadline for a massive pension payment,” the Tribune reports.
“Tuesday is the final day of the state’s current budget year, and top officials turned to planning for a Wednesday in which Illinois government has limited authority to spend money. It’s also the day a cash-strapped CPS is due to make a $634 million pension payment.”

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Posted on June 30, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

“Gov. Bruce Rauner is offering to accelerate state grant payments to help cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools make a $634 million pension contribution, according to a summary of the proposal obtained by The Associated Press.”
However, because the money would not be disbursed by a CPS ATM, the school district would have to pay an out-of-network service fee of one eased workman’s comp rule, a clout pick to a school to be named later and a new $18 watch.

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Posted on June 29, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

Sure, the marriage equality ruling was huge news on Friday. But the media missed the bigger story: Justice Antonin Scalia thinks the Supreme Court has no role in a democracy and is subjugating the People! Congressional hearings, at least!
Or maybe Scalia ought to step down, if he thinks he’s participating in a tyrannical exercise.

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Posted on June 27, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

The news part of the Papers will be rolled into tomorrow’s Weekend Desk Report.
In the meantime . . .

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Posted on June 26, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

“When you’re on a roll, you’re on a roll. Or so it seems for Denver, which in its latest jobs coup has landed United Airlines’ global pilot training operations – beating out Chicago and Houston in the process,” the Denver Post editorial board writes.
“Given the catastrophic public pension and budgetary bind that afflicts the Land of Lincoln, it may not be surprising that a company is reluctant to expand operations in Chicago.”

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Posted on June 25, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

“Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. began three months of home detention Monday and proclaimed it a ‘great day’ to be with family and friends,” the Tribune reports.
“Jackson is now confined to his Victorian-style townhouse near Washington’s Dupont Circle until September. The home was up for sale briefly in 2012 with an asking price of $2.5 million. A real estate listing at that time said the 1921 property has four bedrooms, three full baths, two half baths, five fireplaces, a gourmet kitchen, a sunroom and a rooftop deck with a Jacuzzi.”
That doesn’t sound like much of a hardship.
“Inmates on home detention may not consume alcohol.”
Oh. What is this, Russia?

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Posted on June 24, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

“Coal City officials said Tuesday morning they believe it was a tornado that tore through the town overnight, hitting the high school as it came from the west, tearing up several homes and then heavily damaging a fire station as it left,” the Tribune reports.
“Several people were rescued from basements and crawl spaces and five people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, the officials said. They believe everyone has been accounted for in the town of 5,000 in Grundy County.”

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Posted on June 23, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

So Rahm Emanuel was booed quite lustily at the Blackhawks rally last Thursday.
This video doesn’t do it justice, according to people who were there.

I had this e-mail exchange with our very own Tim Willette after the event:
Steve: I heard about that. All I could wonder was, how the hell did he get re-elected then?
A) A bunch were suburbanites
B) A bunch didn’t vote
C) Even his own voters loathe him
Tim: All of the above.

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Posted on June 22, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

Last night was the last night of the Beachwood Inn. The sale of the greatest bar this world has known finally went through, and I sadly witnessed some of the final paperwork get signed on the pool table. I wish I could unsee that; I had to turn away during those proceedings. I was there because the outgoing owners, Bob and Jim Stepien, who changed many lives during their long, glorious run, invited the regulars to a private party for one final goodbye. We tried to drink all the remaining inventory just to punish the new owners, whom I suspect we will never meet (nor want to) and whose new establishment I suspect we will never patronize (nor want to). We didn’t quite make it – there was still plenty of booze on the shelf when I stumbled out of there – but then, the Beachwood has always been more about the dream than the execution. But what dreams we had.

Posted on June 18, 2015

By Steve Rhodes

“The rolling Stanley Cup party made its last stop for the night Tuesday at a River North bar, where several Blackhawks marked the occasion by spraying the crowd below with champagne and sometimes dropping whole bottles of the stuff down to them,” the Tribune reports.

“I saw the Cup! I touched Corey Crawford!” said Angela Filippin, soaking wet outside the Rockit Bar & Grill. “They didn’t want me to touch them, it was kind of weird, but I did it.”

For godsakes, if they don’t want you to touch them, don’t touch them!

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Posted on June 17, 2015