By Steve Rhodes

“Newt Gingrich might feel like Rocky Balboa when he takes the stage at campaign events to Survivor’s 1982 hit ‘Eye of the Tiger,”‘ but it’s the co-writer of the song who is ready for a fight,” the Sun-Times reports.
“Chicago-born Frankie Sullivan sued Gingrich in federal court Monday, saying the Republican presidential candidate is using his Rocky III anthem in his campaign without permission.
“Sullivan, who has a home in the northwest suburbs, insisted it’s not about politics. It’s about someone who should know better using his copyright material for free.”

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Posted on January 31, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

“By his 28th birthday, Michael A. Alvarez – whose family is close to influential Chicago Ald. Richard Mell – already had worked for three powerful politicians: Richard M. Daley, Rod R. Blagojevich and Barack Obama,” the Sun-Times reports
Now, at 31, Alvarez’s political connections are helping provide him with an annual income topping $200,000 from three separate jobs in or involving government:

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Posted on January 30, 2012

By Natasha Julius

Super-Bore Sunday Edition, 2012
What’s worse than the void at the end of football season? The void just before it. We bring you our annual list of suggestions for coping.

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Posted on January 28, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

“Faith-based groups that have become the face of community support for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s controversial plans to lengthen the school day and close failing schools also receive millions of dollars in grants from his administration,” the Tribune reports.
“City Hall has long enjoyed the support of church leaders who receive grants to run after-school programs and other social services, but that relationship is coming under new scrutiny in response to complaints that some groups paid people to testify in support of Emanuel reforms at recent public hearings.”
Rich Miller has a roundup of that fiasco on his Capitol Fax Blog; I also wrote about it yesterday.

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Posted on January 27, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

“The Chicago Public Schools inspector general said Wednesday he is investigating reports that bused protesters were paid to carry signs or read scripts at school closing hearings,” the Sun-Times reports.
“News of the probe came as Mayor Rahm Emanuel sloughed off questions about whether the practice was appropriate.”
Sloughed off, indeed.

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Posted on January 26, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

To me the real point of these unemployment charts featured by Rich Miller on his Capitol Fax Blog this morning is the remarkable degree to which state – and I dare say local – economies are tied to the fortune’s of the national (and as we’ve been seeing in recent years, global) economy.
In the 90s there were an awful lot of genius governors and mayors deemed rising stars who were somehow so much smarter than their 80s counterparts. Now, not so much. Get it?
So while sleazy governing and mismanagement in Springfield have certainly exacerbated the problems with our state economy, they are not the direct cause. For that, we can blame Washington and Wall Street. And after three years, a certain former Illinois legislator whose slight experience here learning how to vote present hardly prepared him to lead a world power.

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Posted on January 25, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

“Without mentioning Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) by name, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday offered thinly veiled criticism of the South Side alderman for the legislative scholarship awarded to Beale’s daughter,” the Sun-Times reports.
Rahm only mentions your name if you’re a teacher or librarian.
“A joint investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times and the Better Government Association disclosed this week that State Rep. Robert Rita (D-Blue Island) – a friend and political ally of Beale who employs the alderman’s wife – gave Beale’s daughter a four-year, tuition-free ride to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Posted on January 24, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

“In state Rep. Robert Rita’s legislative district – which covers a swath of Chicago’s south suburbs and part of the city’s far South Side – just one out of 10 people has a college degree,” the Sun-Times reports with assistance from the Better Government Association. “The daughter of Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) – a friend and political ally of Rita – is being given the chance to buck those odds and earn a degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign tuition-free courtesy of a coveted ‘legislative scholarship’ handed to her by Rita.”
Another Cubbie Occurrence. Er, I mean, Chicago Coincidence.

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Posted on January 23, 2012

By Natasha Julius

The Beachwood Reporter Weekend Desk: the third time’s definitely not the charm.
Market Update
Good Ideas took a tumble this week when top rating agency S&P determined most of them are actually incredibly bad ideas.

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Posted on January 21, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

“Starting in 2015, tens of thousands of Chicagoans will find themselves in new wards with a different alderman under a remap adopted by a 41-8 vote and no public hearing,” the Tribune reports.
In other words: The City Council Just Secretly Redrew Your Ward.

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Posted on January 20, 2012