Chicago -
By Natasha Julius
Thank goodness the great and mighty Wheel of Life just keeps on a-turnin’.
Market Update
Markets are understandably jittery about the impending sequestration cuts. After all, the last high-profile sequester didn’t turn out all that well.
Posted on February 23, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“Moments after screaming in court, ‘I did not kill Kathleen,’ Drew Peterson was sentenced to 38 years in prison for the 2004 murder of his third wife Kathleen Savio,” the Tribune reports.
“Peterson had faced as much as 60 years, but Judge Edward Burmila said he gave Peterson some consideration for his years as a police officer and his service in the military.”
Shouldn’t the fact that Peterson committed his crime[s] while working as a cop have worked against him instead of being a mitigating factor? And wasn’t it Peterson’s status as a police officer that shielded him from scrutiny for years? C’mon, judge!
Posted on February 22, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
Here’s one thing I’d like to know about the Jesse Jackson Jr. saga:
What was that first conversation like when he and Sandi decided to go down this road? I mean, were they sitting at their kitchen table one evening going over their bills when one of them said, “Um, I have an idea . . . what about all that money in the campaign fund?”
I mean, they actively planned and perpetrated the scheme together.
Posted on February 21, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“Taste of Chicago lost $1.3 million last year, leaving it deeper in the red after Mayor Rahm Emanuel raised the expectation that the venerable summer ode to overindulgence would begin to break even or turn a profit,” the Tribune reports.
D’oh!
“The losses came despite Emanuel’s moves to raise more money at Taste 2012 by charging attendees at the nightly concerts at the Petrillo Music Shell $25 for reserved seats and adding $40 daily gourmet meals prepared by local chefs alongside the traditional ribs-and-ice cream fare that has made the festival synonymous with Chicago summer for decades. The mayor also cut Taste from 10 days to five and moved it away from July 4.
“In 2011, Taste lost about $1 million, and afterward Emanuel said he wanted to plot a course toward profitability.”
Posted on February 20, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
Two for Tuesday. Times three.
1. “The areas with the most possible school closures are almost a 1:1 match against communities with the most distressed real estate,” WBEZ reports.
That sentence is packed with so much meaning it should be the subject of an entire presidential campaign to the exclusion of anything else.
Posted on February 19, 2013
By Natasha Julius
The state of our union? Eh, could be worse.
$1,200 Mink Reversible Parka
Jesus’ representative on Earth resigned for the first time since Avignon because he just wasn’t feeling it anymore and that’s still not the most bizarre story of the week.
Posted on February 16, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
Sorry, events have intervened, this will be all for today:
* QT: Rubio, Bieber & Nugent.
* The Week in Chicago Rock.
The [Thursday] Papers
“After trimming the number of schools that could be closed to 129, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s school administration has entered the latest and what is likely to be the most intense phase so far in trying to determine which schools should be shut,” the Tribune reports.
“In the past, political clout has played a role in the district’s final decisions. Already this year, several aldermen have spoken out on behalf of schools in their wards.
Posted on February 15, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“After trimming the number of schools that could be closed to 129, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s school administration has entered the latest and what is likely to be the most intense phase so far in trying to determine which schools should be shut,” the Tribune reports.
“In the past, political clout has played a role in the district’s final decisions. Already this year, several aldermen have spoken out on behalf of schools in their wards.
Posted on February 14, 2013
By Steve Rhodes
“The No. 2 executive of the United Neighborhood Organization quit Tuesday, eight days after the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the politically influential charter school operator paid state grant money to companies owned by two of his brothers,” the paper reports.
“Miguel d’Escoto, who was UNO’s senior vice president of operations, resigned ‘by mutual agreement’ in a letter submitted Tuesday evening, said the group’s CEO, Juan Rangel.”
It’s deja vu all over again.
Posted on February 13, 2013
