Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
“Moody’s Analytics has a different take on the state of the state of Illinois than the one Gov. Bruce Rauner [offered Wednesday],” Tom Kacich reports for the Champaign News-Gazette.
“Its newly released economic forecast for the state, delivered in dry, nonpolitical tones, doesn’t demonize organized labor or state employees for the poor financial condition of the state government.
Posted on February 5, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
I know everyone is frustrated about unplowed side streets, but my God, can y’all stop whining?
This is Chicago. It’s winter. We just had the fifth-highest snowfall in our city’s history – ever.
It might take a little time to get it cleared away.
People here like to think they’re tough, but I rarely see evidence of that. Mostly, I see a city of cowards willing – and wanting – to be bullied by their mayors and taken by the rest of the political class. I see a city full of people so insecure to be here and not in New York or LA that they have to convince the planet we are “world-class.” I see a city of weaklings cowering from potholes and snow drifts, unable to handle hot or cold.
Posted on February 4, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
“A baby, a bozo, a jerk, a firebrand and a stiff,” Neil Steinberg wrote on Friday.
“Or, if you prefer, Willie Wilson, Bob Fioretti, Rahm Emanuel, William ‘Dock’ Walls and Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia.”
Or, if you prefer, Neil Steinberg, ’cause he’s pretty much all those things.
Posted on February 3, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
“As another storm flung snow at Chicago, Alexandra Clark wondered how she’d get to work. Like an increasing number of snowbound city dwellers, she had a ready tool at hand: an app that tracks hundreds of city snowplows in close to real time,” AP reported last month.
But something seemed out of whack.
“Plow tracker said my street was plowed an hour ago – Pull the other leg,” the 31-year-old video producer tweeted to the mayor’s office, including a photo of her snowed-in street.
Longtime readers know I think the city’s Plow Tracker is useless, despite the media’s unquestioning love for it. Even the headline of this story is “Snowplow Tracking Apps Hold Cities Accountable For Cleanup,” despite the conclusion of the reporting, which is just the opposite.
Posted on February 1, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
This Year’s Super Bowl Is Peak NFL | Beyond the Square Pool: The Game, The Bets & The Depravity. On The Beachwood Radio Hour #36 with Jim “Coach” Coffman and our man on the odds Tom Chambers.
Both Jim and Tom are all in, deeply, on the Seahawks, by the way.
Also on the show: As The Bulls Turn & Finally Appreciating Ernie Banks.
Posted on January 31, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
“While criticizing state spending and state worker salaries as too high, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is paying top members of his administration significantly more than their predecessors in Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration, a review by The Associated Press has found.
“An AP review of state payroll records found nine of ten top administrative posts paying more under Rauner, who took office earlier this month. On an annual basis, those Rauner staffers will make more than the equivalent Quinn staffers by nearly 36 percent, or roughly $380,000.”
Posted on January 30, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
“Mayoral challenger Willie Wilson bought himself instant credibility – and TV time to introduce himself to Chicago voters – by lending his campaign $1 million of his own money,” Fran Spielman writes for the Sun-Times.
Credibility with who? Oh, right, the media.
See, a rich person is instantly credible no matter how wacky, uninformed, inexperienced or unknown.
A person of ordinary wealth with a world of experience, knowledge and ideas is not instantly credible, and will, in fact, find it hard to become credible because, without a bushelful of money, the media won’t be interested.
Posted on January 29, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
In the Sun-Times, the mayor went on the attack Tuesday.
In the Tribune, he was on the defensive, though in a measured way.
I’d say the Trib got it right. For some reason, Fran Spielman insisted on reporting the debate from Rahm’s viewpoint. The truth is, Rahm mostly controlled the debate – and mostly remained in control.
“The 90-minute forum Tuesday before the Chicago Tribune editorial board saw many questions proffered but few politically realistic answers provided by the five candidates who are vying on Feb. 24 to run an economically struggling city facing a host of severe financial problems.”
That’s about right.
You can see my real-time commentary on our Twitter feed; use the hashtag #tribdebate.
Posted on January 28, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
“Chicago’s five mayoral candidates are set to answer questions as a group for the first time Tuesday morning at the Chicago Tribune editorial board’s endorsement session,” the paper reports.
Only one of the candidates has a chummy relationship with the editorial page editor.
Will the challengers get a Trib Nation event of their own before Election Day?
Maybe the Better Government Association should call for better media coverage of governing. Oops.
Posted on January 27, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
“State prison officials hold close to 1,250 inmates beyond their release dates every year – not because they pose a threat to the public but because they cannot find a place to live that parole officers find suitable, according to court papers and interviews,” the Tribune reports.
Well, that seems downright unconstitutional.
Posted on January 26, 2015
