Chicago -
By Natasha Julius
It seems unfair to pillory Paula Deen for her racial animus. It’s clear she hates everyone equally.
Market Update
Turns out the economy is just like any other four-year-old; if you try to take away its candy, it’ll melt down.
Posted on June 22, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“Metra CEO Alex Clifford, whose performance has been under review by the Metra board for months, resigned Friday,” the Sun-Times reports.
“Clifford will get at least $442,237 in a buyout.”
Just to put that in perspective, that’s about the same amount Walmart paid to settle nationwide harassment claims.
Or about $50,000 shy of what Anthony Rizzo will make from the Cubs this year.
Or in the range of draconian budget cuts at Chicago’s elementary schools.
Posted on June 21, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“Whitney Young Magnet High School, Michelle Obama’s alma mater, may have to charge students $500 to attend a seventh period because of nearly $1 million in budget cuts the school is facing,” DNAinfo Chicago reports.
“Under the proposal, all students at the high-powered magnet school at 211 S. Laflin would attend six periods, but students wanting to take a seventh would have to pony up $500, according to a letter sent Wednesday to faculty and parents by Whitney Young Principal Joyce Kenner.”
And don’t forget, Chicago’s schools are now BYOTP.
Posted on June 20, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“Michael Hastings, the fearless journalist whose reporting brought down the career of General Stanley McChrystal, has died in a car accident in Los Angeles, Rolling Stone has learned. He was 33.”
*
“Hastings’ hallmark as reporter was his refusal to cozy up to power.”
Shouldn’t that be the hallmark of every reporter – and thus, not a hallmark at all but standard operating procedure hardly worth noting?
The fact that it isn’t says more about the vast majority of those who work in this business than it does about Hastings.
Posted on June 19, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“Most of the [Patriot Act’s] provisions involve modest changes in existing law that are hardly novel in theory or in practice, and many of its most controversial provisions – such as the ability of investigators in terrorism cases to obtain library records after receiving judicial approval – have yet to be used,” former U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald wrote in the Tribune in 2003.
How quaint.
Posted on June 18, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“A clout-heavy Chicago real estate developer is set to land a long-term deal to provide aircraft storage, fueling and maintenance at Gary’s government-owned airport,” the Better Government Association reports.
“The deal with Elzie Higginbottom Jr.’s East Lake Management & Development comes after Higginbottom put $10,000 into Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson’s political fund in September 2011 – the first-term mayor’s biggest campaign contribution.
“Higginbottom is a longtime former chairman of the Cook County Housing Authority and was a major campaign fund-raiser for former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.”
Posted on June 17, 2013
By Natasha Julius
Geez, the greed and ambition of some people is downright transparent.
Market Update
Turns out teenagers aren’t entirely worthless. Some are just worth more than others.
Posted on June 15, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“The Chicago Teachers Union charged Thursday that school budgets for the coming school year are down between 10 percent and 25 percent compared to this year, and that new positions provided as part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s signature longer school day initiative will likely be the first to be cut,” Catalyst reports.
That’s okay. Rahm just wanted to issue the press release, make the announcement and get the headlines. Now it’s time to move forward, not look back.
Posted on June 14, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
The column will be delayed today and it has nothing to do with staying up late to watch the Blackhawks. If only! Business beckons.
In the meantime:
* At Least Half Of The Replacements Are Reuniting And Playing Chicago’s Riot Fest.
We’ve got the news plus highlights of the band’s previous and infamous visits to Chicago.
Posted on June 13, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“Cook County Inspector General Patrick Blanchard says Joe Berrios has been dodging a subpoena for nearly a year,” the Sun-Times reports.
“Now Blanchard is taking the Cook County Assessor to court. Blanchard’s office sued Berrios late last week, asking a Cook County judge to force Berrios to comply with Blanchard’s subpoena demanding records related to tax breaks on two properties owned by a Berrios office manager, Lewis Towers.
“He wants to know about homeowner’s exemptions on Towers’ homes in Chicago and Sauk Village. Residential property owners in Cook County may claim only one homeowner exemption – on the home where they live full-time.”
Posted on June 12, 2013
