Chicago -
By Natasha Julius
No clever jokes here. Just some good, old-fashioned gloating.
Market Update
With market indices at all-time highs despite a profound international crisis, some analysts feel many stocks are arbitrarily overvalued. Oh well, it beats being arbitrarily undervalued.
Posted on March 30, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
I’ll be commentating on Twitter and Facebook throughout the weekend, as usual, but a column just isn’t going to happen today. Energy sapped.
So I’m gonna make like the Love Boat and cruise.
Make like a tree and leave.
Make like a baby and head out.
(If it’s a breach birth, butt out.)
(If it’s a cesarean, cut it out.)
Posted on March 29, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“If 61 percent of the city’s youth are graduating from high school, but among African-American adolescent males, it’s 44 percent, but you do nothing, what does that say?” Emanuel said. “Is that enlightened? Is that progressive?”
Is Rahm for real? So many questions.
Who is advocating doing nothing?
Teachers and parents have cried for even just a share of the resources that the University of Chicago Lab schools use to educate Rahm’s kids.
Is Rahm suggesting that Richard M. Daley did nothing all these years?
Rahm has been a close political ally of Daley for years. Did he ever say anything?
Posted on March 28, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“You might want to avoid the Loop this afternoon; the Chicago Teachers Union is planning to pack Daley Plaza with thousands of people, and shut down a number of streets as part of a protest of planned school closings,” CBS2 Chicago reports.
Or you might want to head to the Loop for the protest!
Isn’t it funny how the media defines thousands of Chicagoans as “them” and not “us.”
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But when it comes to Official Chicago it’s “we.”
Posted on March 27, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
I’ll get to the school closings reportage, please be patient. For today, a 10-fer.
1. Nobel Peace Prize Winner’s Drone Attacks On Innocent Children And Civilians In Pakistan Visualized.
Posted on March 26, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“Key documents from a manslaughter case involving a nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley that vanished from the Chicago Police Department and then mysteriously reappeared weren’t lost or misplaced – they were ‘removed’ without authorization, apparently by someone in the department,” the Sun-Times reports.
And just who that might be? Perhaps the same person who hired Angelo Torres: The Ghost of Daley’s Chicago. He knows when you are slacking, he knows when you’re on the take. He knows when you’ve been rat or good in a city on the make.
Posted on March 25, 2013
By The Weekend Desk B Team
Natasha Julius is at yoga camp. She returns next week.
Diva Diary
Hours Late, Rihanna Finally Arrives At Barrington High.
vs.
Days Late, Mayor Finally Arrives In Chicago.
“The mayor was on a skiing vacation when the decisions were announced but was expected to make a public appearance in Chicago on Saturday and answer questions about the school closings,” the Tribune reports.
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Breaking! The Beachwood has obtained this exclusive photo of Rahm announcing the school closures.
Posted on March 23, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“With Chicago Public Schools facing a financial meltdown, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration on Thursday targeted 61 school buildings for closing, unleashing a torrent of criticism from anxious parents, children and teachers as well as aldermen,” the Tribune reports.
Is CPS facing a financial meltdown? I’m not convinced.
Posted on March 22, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“Chicago Public Schools is expected to announce today the long-awaited list of schools it wants to close,” Linda Lutton reports.
“WBEZ has independently confirmed published reports that the district will propose shutting down more than 50 elementary schools – 11 percent of all grammar schools it runs.
“In addition, WBEZ has learned that another handful of schools will see their staffs completely dismissed, in an effort to address low performance.
“If approved, this would be the largest single round of school closings ever undertaken in the country, and 3.5 times more school shake-ups than Chicago has tried before in a single year.
“Nearly all of the thousands of affected students are African American and attend schools on the South or West Sides, or near former public housing developments.”
That pretty much sums it up.
Posted on March 21, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“Despite a $1 billion budget deficit projected by Chicago Public Schools for next year, district officials rolled out a list of investments they will be pouring into schools receiving students displaced by school closings,” the Tribune reports.
“District officials said they are closing a large number of schools, hoping to address the looming budget shortfall. They have not released how much it will cost to shut down schools, provide extra security and safety programs for students, and equip receiving schools with upgrades like science labs, libraries and air conditioning.
“Each welcoming school will have the things that parents, teachers and CPS agree students need, such as a library, air conditioning, dramatic computer and science technology upgrades, and counseling and social work support,” said school CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett in a press release issued shortly after midnight.
Shortly after midnight? Quick, check the roofs!
Posted on March 20, 2013
