By Steve Rhodes

“In the latest Ventra snafu, CTA customers are rolling through turnstiles despite having negative balances on their Ventra cards,” the Sun-Times reports.
You know, I like the way the Sun-Times’s morning newsletter put it better:
“We congratulate Ventra on the nearly 23 hours it didn’t have a scandal. Alas, the streak is broken. This meltdown involves the head of the CTA rail union showing reporters a photo of a negative balance of $272.50.”
More like that, please.

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Posted on November 22, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

“For all the hullabaloo surrounding food stamps, one might think they’re a worthwhile investment,” Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute writes in an Op-Ed for Crain’s.
“Unfortunately, no one is really sure about that. In fact, the Government Accountability Office found that ‘the literature is inconclusive regarding whether SNAP alleviates hunger and malnutrition for low-income households.'”
Really? How could this be? I found this claim quite stunning. How could food stamps not alleviate hunger? Given that the GAO is a pretty credible source, I decided to follow up.
Guess what? It’s not true.

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Posted on November 21, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

1. Trust Me, It’s For The Kids.
See also: The [Tuesday] Papers for essential background.
2. RTA Launching Ventra Probe.
“The Regional Transportation Authority is launching an inquiry into snafus surrounding the CTA’s launch of its Ventra fare card, officials said today.
“RTA Chairman John Gates Jr. asked the RTA’s chief auditor to review the Ventra rollout, saying an independent analysis of the problems was needed.

“This has morphed into far more than a computer glitch,” Gates said.

See also: The [Friday] Papers for essential background.
Related: Song of the Moment: V.E.N.T.R.A.

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Posted on November 20, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

“Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pitching the $70 million he expects to collect from speed camera tickets next year as a way to help children – spending the windfall on a mix of after-school programs, early childhood education, summer jobs, violence reduction, crossing guards, police outside schools and other efforts,” the Tribune reports.

“I promised that the revenue from new speed camera enforcement in children’s safety zones would go to keeping our children safe, and this budget does exactly that,” Emanuel said as he presented his spending plan last month. “We will be creating a Children’s Fund to ensure that this . . . new money is dedicated to keeping our kids learning and safe.”

Of course, there’s a catch. A huge one.
“There is no children’s fund in the proposed city budget. Instead, the money from speed camera fines will go straight into the city’s $3.3 billion general fund to spend as the mayor and City Council see fit.”
Um, wow? What a great story.
Unfortunately, the Trib mucks it up the rest of the way.

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Posted on November 19, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

So it turns out I chose a really bad time to upgrade my operating system this morning because it took way longer to install than I imagined. Now it’s afternoon and I have to move on to other pressing duties, so I can’t do a column today. I can offer some other posts on the site, however, and I’ll scrape the weekend’s highlights from the Beachwood Twitter feed to at least offer something for those who aren’t already following it. Which you should do.

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Posted on November 18, 2013

By Natasha Julius

Tough week to be a well-known brand from Michigan.
Market Update
It doesn’t matter how fair and transparent you try to make it, when you Divvy things up, someone always feels like they’re getting screwed.

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Posted on November 16, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

“A new Ventra problem emerged Thursday in connection with the commuter benefits program, which offers tax advantages to employers and their employees to pay for transit fares using pretax income. Employees who formerly had their pretax money loaded onto Chicago Cards are now being transitioned to Ventra cards,” Jon Hilkevitch reports for the Tribune reports.
“But Thursday’s debut of the Ventra commuter benefits website included instances of employees being associated with the wrong employers, several company administrators told the Tribune.

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Posted on November 15, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

“U.S. agencies collected and shared the personal information of thousands of Americans in an attempt to root out untrustworthy federal workers that ended up scrutinizing people who had no direct ties to the U.S. government and simply had purchased certain books,” McClatchy reports.
“Federal officials gathered the information from the customer records of two men who were under criminal investigation for purportedly teaching people how to pass lie detector tests. The officials then distributed a list of 4,904 people – along with many of their Social Security numbers, addresses and professions – to nearly 30 federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, the CIA, the National Security Agency and the Food and Drug Administration.

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Posted on November 14, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

“What have you searched for today? This week? This year? Some law enforcement agency somewhere may love to know,” ArsTechnica reports.
“On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union announced that it had filed a formal request (PDF) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), asking various federal judicial agencies what ‘policies, procedures, and practices [are] followed to obtain search queries from search engine operators for law enforcement purposes.’ The ACLU also asked if a warrant or another legal process is required to make requests and if requests can be intercepted in real time.
“Specifically, the FOIA request applies to a number of federal agencies, including the United States Department of Justice, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Office of Legal Counsel, and the executive offices of a number of United States Attorneys, including those in California, Massachusetts, Texas, and other places.”

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Posted on November 13, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

1. One World Trade Center Is Ruled Tallest Building in U.S.
Chicago’s Hurt Feelings Named Most Insecure In U.S.
2. Smokey Bear.
“On Wednesday, former Cowboys and Bears receiver Sam Hurd will likely be sentenced to life in prison for drug trafficking,” Michael McKnight writes for MMQB.
“Is he the cocaine kingpin the government has made him out to be, or the victim of an overzealous prosecution and excessively harsh narcotics laws? An exclusive 22-month investigation reveals how it all went wrong for one of the NFL’s most promising and well-liked young talents – and why there’s more to Hurd’s downfall than we’ve been led to believe.”

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Posted on November 12, 2013