By Steve Rhodes
Today’s Teachers Strike Notebook is Rahm Hates Research.
And now, the rest of the news . . .
1. How Bad Did The Bears Suck? Let America Tweet The Ways.
2. The Week in Chicago Rock: Bob Mould, Melanie Fiona, Sexfist, Alabama Shakes, Mary J. Blige, Robbie Fulks and the Scavengers, and the Clams.
3. “A Chicago lawyer pleaded guilty Thursday to helping wealthy clients dodge tens of millions of dollars in taxes in what prosecutors have called the largest tax fraud prosecution in history,” AP reports.
“Donna Guerin, 52, entered the plea in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax evasion, charges that carry a total of up to 10 years in prison. Sentencing for the Elmhurst resident was set for Jan. 11. She agreed to forfeit $1.6 million.
“Guerin was one of two lawyers awaiting a retrial. The other, Paul M. Daugerdas, of Wilmette, was described by prosecutors at trial as the mastermind of the tax scheme.”
4. “In 2006, months before a Walmart store was opened in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago’s West Side, researchers counted 306 businesses in the surrounding area,” Nate Berg writes for Atlantic Cities.
“Two years after the Walmart opened, 82 of those businesses had closed.
“That some businesses, particularly small businesses, would close after a large retailer moves into the neighborhood is to be expected. But, as the researchers found, the pattern and severity of those closures was far from typical. The closer a business was to the new Walmart store, the more likely it was to close.
“‘No matter which direction you go from Walmart, there’s a very high rate of business closures in the immediate vicinity, and the further away you get there’s less and less,’ says University of Illinois Chicago economics professor Joe Persky, one of the authors of the study, which was just published in Economic Development Quarterly.”
5. “Suburban Congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth assures the business community that she is ready to respond to their needs,” CBS2 Chicago reports.
I call Tammy Buckworth in the nickname pool.
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“As WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports, Duckworth, a Democrat, says manufacturers in the 8th Congressional District tell her most Democrats demonize them – criticizing them for buying parts overseas, but not praising them for the jobs they keep here.
“Duckworth says they’re right, and deserve a break.”
No wonder Rahm likes her so much.
6. Why not just use aldermen?
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The Beachwood Tip Line: For your protection only.
Posted on September 14, 2012