Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
“Megabus.com, the first low-cost, intercity express bus service with fares from $1 via the Internet, [Wednesday] increased the number of trips between Chicago and Madison, Milwaukee and Minneapolis,” the company announced.
“Megabus.com now offers eight daily departures between Chicago and Minneapolis, four trips between Chicago and Milwaukee and up to 13 daily trips between Chicago and Madison.”
Posted on June 30, 2011
By Steve Rhodes
“Rod Blagojevich may be our villain of the moment – and a 100 percent worthy villain, to be sure – but corruption in Illinois politics is not and has never been the exclusive province of one political party,” the Springfield Journal-Register says in an editorial today.
“We find it entirely appropriate, and not one bit ironic, that the nexus of Republican and Democratic bad players – embodied by Stuart Levine – helped both facilitate and expose what now ranks as arguably the greatest chain of political scandals in state history.”
Posted on June 29, 2011
By Steve Rhodes
Rod Blagojevich is going to the pokey.
For how long?
George Ryan is serving a six-and-a-half year term, but I’m reluctant to set that as the Over/Under because I’m not sure I would get any Under action.
See: Experts Weigh In On Possible Prison Term.
Posted on June 28, 2011
By Steve Rhodes
“The jury deciding the fate of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich has reached a verdict on 18 of 20 counts, Judge James Zagel just announced in court,” the Tribune (and others) reports.
“‘The jury has come to a unanimous decision on 18 of 20 counts . . . We are confident that we will not able to come to agreement on the two counts even with further deliberation,’ the note from the jury read.
“The judge said he expects the verdict to be announced in his courtroom between 1 and 2 p.m.”
Posted on June 27, 2011
By Natasha Julius
Unlike some people there’s no question whether we’ll work this Sunday.
Market Update
Cup Heroics saw its value decrease significantly this week.
Posted on June 25, 2011
By Steve Rhodes
Okay, let’s try to sort this out:
“The 911 tapes from North Avenue Beach released to the Tribune by Chicago police include reports of stolen bikes, dehydrated patrons and people walking in traffic on North Avenue and Lake Shore Drive. But they do not describe any violence or threats.”
*
But WLS reports that “[T]he 911 calls include complaints about fights involving dozens of people at Oak Street Beach and North Avenue Beach.”
Posted on June 24, 2011
By Steve Rhodes
“Illinois has been deeply involved in the war in Afghanistan – thousands of soldiers from the state have served there and dozens have died,” AP reports.
*
“In all, 71 Illinois troops have died in the war in Afghanistan, including 19 National Guard members and 52 from the other military branches.”
Posted on June 23, 2011
By Steve Rhodes
“Newly installed Chicago School Board members Wednesday will be asked to approve six-figure salaries for new Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard and four other new top executives that represent raises over what their predecessors were paid,” the Sun-Times reports.
“The vote on whether to boost executive Chicago Public School salaries comes only a week after the same board members, in their first official action, found the deficit-ridden system did not have enough money to pay for 4 percent raises to teachers and other unionized school workers worth $100 million.”
Posted on June 22, 2011
By Steve Rhodes
I don’t necessarily disagree with Rich Miller’s take on legalizing drugs and gambling, but it’s not the morality of those who partake that concerns me, it’s the morality of those doing the selling.
When it comes to casinos, for example, the house makes its huge profits largely based on deception. If regulators required that the true odds of each game be posted at every table, along with a description of the built-in house edge, then I’d have far less of a problem putting casinos anywhere anyone (but not government; I’ll get to that) wanted.
Casinos employ a variety of psychological techniques to induce patrons to gamble and gamble more, be it the free drinks (thought not as prevalent as they used to be) at many venues which most of us enjoy but which also loosen our judgement; the absence of clocks; claims about “loose slots”; and even more pernicious practices like LED towers tracking previous roulette results – as if a pattern can be detected.
Unfortunately, that little silver ball doesn’t remember (as statisticians say) where it landed the time before or the time before that. It certainly doesn’t remember its last 20 rolls. Each play is a fresh start.
Posted on June 21, 2011
By Steve Rhodes
“The fine print in a contract between Illinois and Motorola Mobility indicates that the smartphone company can maintain a smaller workforce than the one it employs today and still qualify for more than $110 million in financial incentives designed to keep the company’s workers in the state,” the Tribune reports.
Wait, what?
Posted on June 20, 2011
