By Steve Rhodes

In no particular order.
1. Alleged Chinese Spy Was IIT Student In Chicago.
“A United States Army reservist from China was arrested Tuesday on allegations of secretly providing information about American defense contractor employees to a Chinese intelligence officer, law enforcement officials said. The Chinese government was trying to recruit them as informants, they said,” the New York Times reports.
“The suspect, Ji Chaoqun, 27, was arrested in Chicago, where he attended graduate school before joining the Army Reserves, and charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA . . .
“Mr. Ji arrived in the United States on a student visa in August 2013 to earn his master’s degree in electrical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.”

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Posted on September 26, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

This day has gotten away from me. See y’all tomorrow!

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Posted on September 25, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

1. Wendy’s Watching.
“A class-action lawsuit has been filed in Illinois against fast food restaurant chain Wendy’s accusing the company of breaking state laws in regards to the way it stores and handles employee fingerprints,” ZDNet reports.

The lawsuit was filed on September 11, in a Cook County court, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by ZDNet.
The complaint is centered around Wendy’s practice of using biometric clocks that scan employees’ fingerprints when they arrive at work, when they leave, and when they use the Point-Of-Sale and cash register systems.
Plaintiffs, represented by former Wendy’s employees Martinique Owens and Amelia Garcia, claim that Wendy’s breaks state law – the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) – because the company does not make employees aware of how the company handles their data.

*
Interlude:
Illinois has the toughest biometric law in the country, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, but it is seemingly under constant attack from the business lobby.

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Posted on September 24, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

For completists, there was no column on Friday.
1. Paging Elon Musk.
“The Navy Pier flyover, meant to connect Chicago’s north and south Lakefront trails, has hit another in a long string of delays that have pushed its completion to the end of 2019 at the earliest,” WBEZ reports.
“On Friday, the last day of summer, the project missed another target: The Chicago Department of Transportation failed to award a contract for the third and final phase of the project before the end of summer 2018.”

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Posted on September 23, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

“I was sad to learn of Jon Burge’s passing today,” Brandon Clark of Logan Square writes in a letter to the editor of the Sun-Times.
(Are these letters really to the editor? They’re really to readers, aren’t they? Why not label them as such – or just call them “Letters?” Or “Responses?” Or, stay with me here, “Comments.”)
Anyway . . .
“Not because I think he was a good man, although John Conroy, the man perhaps most responsible for Burge’s public disgrace, once admitted that despite knowing what Burge had done, he found him to be ‘likable.’
“Rather, I am sad because I don’t believe Burge was ever truly held accountable for the harm he caused this world, and now he never will be. Sure, he lost his job and was eventually convicted of perjury and sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison for it. But that occurred more than 15 years after it was plain to anyone who cared to know that he had presided over the systematic torture of dozens of detainees at Area 2 police headquarters – and even after serving his time, he kept his pension!”

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Posted on September 20, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

“The Chicago police officers clearly do not want to be in court testifying against a colleague accused of murder, with one of them so uncomfortable he couldn’t bring himself to point to the man on trial, something witnesses are routinely asked to do,” Don Babwin reports for AP.
“But one after another – whether they want to or not – officers at the scene the night of Oct. 20, 2014, when white officer Jason Van Dyke emptied his gun into black teenager Laquan McDonald are being called to testify, as prosecutors seek to chip away at the ‘blue wall of silence’ long associated with the city’s police force and other law enforcement agencies across the country.”
This is a remarkable report, reflecting the remarkable opening of the Van Dyke trial this week.

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Posted on September 18, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

“Chicago needs to join scores of other American cities and begin planning for the removal of toxic lead water pipes, according to a group of aldermen pushing for public hearings despite objections from Mayor Rahm Emanuel,” the Tribune reports.
“Nearly 400,000 single-family homes and small apartment complexes – 80 percent of all residential buildings in Chicago – get treated Lake Michigan water from lead service lines that the city required by law until Congress banned the practice in 1986.
“Emanuel administration officials have repeatedly said there is no cause for concern. But the Tribune first reported in April that lead was found in water samples drawn from nearly 70 percent of the 2,797 homes that returned free testing kits provided by the city during the past two years.”

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Posted on September 18, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

1. Oh My Gawd He’s In.

Bill Daley announces campaign slogan: Make Chicago Ours Again.

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) September 14, 2018

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Posted on September 17, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

1. City Animal Shelter Seeking Help With Influx Of Rescued Cats.
“The number of rescued cats at Chicago’s Animal Care and Control shelter reached a high of 300 earlier this week, leaving some at risk of being euthanized if temporary homes aren’t lined up quickly enough,” Chicago Tonight reports.
“The shelter’s cat population is the highest of the year but also normal for late summer, when mother cats are having their second or third (and final) litters of the season.”

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Posted on September 13, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

“McDonald’s fast-food restaurant workers have voted to stage a one-day strike at outlets in 10 US cities next week, in hopes of pressuring the company to take stronger steps against sexual harassment on the job,” AP reports.
“Organizers of the action say it will be the first multi-state strike in the U.S. specifically targeting sexual harassment and that they have been emboldened by the #MeToo movement against harassment and sexual assault.

Plans for the walkout – to start at lunchtime on September 18 – have been approved in recent days by committees of female employees at dozens of McDonald’s restaurants. Lead organizers include several women who filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in May, alleging pervasive harassment at some of the corporation’s franchise restaurants.

Chicago, naturally, is one of the target cities: 11 a.m. in front of the company’s new corporate headquarters at 1045 West Randolph Street.

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Posted on September 12, 2018