By Steve Rhodes

I could really use a managing editor or a deputy editor or an assistant editor of some sort, especially going forward with some Beachwood projects we’re working on. Similarly, as I have in the past, I’ll put out a call for section editors. A few other roles we could fill, too. Inquire if interested.
1. On Sound Opinions this weekend:
“Video may have killed the radio star, but it can’t kill our love of the medium. Jim and Greg discuss the impact of radio on the music industry and their lives and play their favorite radio-inspired tracks.”

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Posted on March 5, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

No column today, but if you are anything like me you will immensely enjoy the two new pieces we have elsewhere on the site:
* Rockonomics: Bon Scott vs. Brian Johnson.
* Why Milwaukee Rules.
See you in this space tomorrow.

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Posted on March 4, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

“A recent federal audit of stimulus spending in Illinois schools calls for improvement in state oversight, noting that two of the three districts examined by auditors – including Chicago – did not track any spending of so-called State Fiscal Stabilization Funds,” Catalyst reports.
Oy.
*
“In an unusual effort to solicit public input on the budget, Gov. Pat Quinn yesterday proposed $2 billion in cuts to education along with grim revenue estimates for a state awash in $13 billion of red ink,” Catalyst also reports.
“Notably missing from revenues are some $3 billion in federal stimulus funds sent to schools since 2009, a loss that is part of what national observers call a ‘stimulus funding cliff’ that threatens school districts across the country. In Chicago, where Quinn’s cuts would mean perhaps a $200 million shortfall, it’s unclear how well officials have prepared.”
*
Sigh.
Does it ever get better? Do people ever learn? Why must we keep watching the same movie over and over again? It’s not hard to be competent, is it? To do the right thing? Just do it!
*
Sheesh.

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Posted on March 3, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

1. “Cook County’s post-Sept. 11 security initiative, dubbed Project Shield, which has come under fire for being sharply over budget and years behind schedule, is proving to be an even bigger drain on taxpayers,” the Sun-Times and NBC5 report. “And in the end, it will provide a more porous security net than envisioned.”
The county has already spent at least $43 million in federal funds on Project Shield.
I would have done it for $42 million, but I missed the application deadline.

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Posted on March 2, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

It was a wonderful Winter Olympics.
And now Vancouver faces the reckoning.
“Security costs, first estimated at $165 million, are now headed toward $1 billion,” the New York Times reported last week.
“Still, organizers insist the operating budget will break even. But that forecast includes $423 million in emergency money from the International Olympic Committee, and detailed financial information will not appear until after the Games are over.
“As for Vancouver’s municipal government and the taxpayers, the bad news is already in. The immediate Olympic legacy for this city of 580,000 people is a nearly $1 billion debt from bailing out the Olympic Village development. Beyond that, people in Vancouver and British Columbia have already seen cuts in services like education, health care and arts financing from their provincial government, which is stuck with many other Olympics-related costs. Many people, including Mrs. Lombardi, expect that more will follow.”
You’d think a pouting local media that has lamented that “there will be no Chicago Olympics to create jobs” and how we have to adjust now that we’ll be missing the “bonanza of federal funding, jobs and contracts that an Olympics would have provided” would be paying attention to the bill coming due in Vancouver, but then again, why should they start caring about facts now?

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Posted on March 1, 2010

By Natasha Julius

We’re not going to comment on why we’ve cancelled our vacation. Point is we’re here.
Market Update
The crisis of confidence in Europe continued this week as both Iceland and Greece grappled with credit bail-out options. Meanwhile, Finland and Russia saw their credibility ratings sharply curbed.

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Posted on February 27, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

“Just getting in the race to take on a Chicago alderman in next year’s election could get tougher if a change proposed by a lawmaker from the Cook County Democratic establishment becomes law,” the Tribune reports.
Uh-oh.
“To secure a ballot spot, aldermanic candidates would have to gather at least 500 valid voter signatures – the same number now required of state representatives, whose districts have nearly twice the number of residents as city wards – under legislation making its way through the Illinois House.”

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Posted on February 26, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

How totally stoked are you for today’s televised health care summit?
That’s what I thought.
I’d rather watch a high school play. At least the actors would be sincere.

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Posted on February 25, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

“They do have a license to steal,” Robert Scheer writes today at Truthdig. “There is no other way to read Tuesday’s report from the New York state comptroller that bonuses for Wall Street financiers rose 17 percent to $20.3 billion in 2009. Of course that is less than the $32.9 billion for bonus rewards back in 2007, when those hotshots could still pretend that they were running sound businesses.”
Meanwhile, the State of Illinois has a $12.8 billion deficit.
Hey, I’ve got an idea . . . there would even be money left over.

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Posted on February 24, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

“E. Duke McNeil, a well-known Chicago civil rights attorney who used his commanding voice to captivate audiences in the courtroom and on the airwaves as host of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s weekly forum, died Sunday, Feb. 21,” the Tribune reports. “He was 74.
“Mr. McNeil died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack, his daughter J. Rita McNeil-Danish said.
“Every Saturday morning for more than 20 years, Mr. McNeil’s deep bass resonated on Rainbow PUSH broadcasts heard across the nation.”

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Posted on February 23, 2010