Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Friday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

A bellwether of the dwindling interest in CNN’s Chicagoland is the decline in Twitter traffic; there wasn’t even a lot of hate-watching going on last night.
Still, we’ve got the best of it in Tweeting Chicagoland 4.
Tuffy and the Angry Aussie will also continue our weekly discussion of the show on our Saturday podcast.
Also on the podcast docket: This week’s decision by a National Labor Relations Board officer that Northwestern University football players are employees, and thus eligible to form a union.
The case, it turns out, was a slam dunk. So much for the pundits.


The Week In Juvey
From an unwanted Chicago gang initiation gone wrong to a United Nations panel searing the United States’ hypocrisy, with stops in Florida, Utah and Los Angeles in between.
Big Problem
“BP today more than doubled its maximum estimate of how much crude oil spilled into Lake Michigan earlier this week from its Whiting refinery in Northwest Indiana,” Michael Hawthorne reports for the Tribune.
“In a statement, the company said a malfunction in a new distillation unit forced up to 39 barrels or 1,638 gallons of oil into the lake just across the Illinois border. A day earlier, the company had estimated that 18 barrels at most had been spilled.”
By at most they meant at least.
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“Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have said the spill likely poses no long-term risks to Lake Michigan, the source of drinking water for 7 million people in Chicago and the suburbs.”
At least.
TribCare
Breaking news headline on the Tribune’s website this morning: “Public Gradually Warming To Obamacare: Polls.”
The story: “As Obamacare sign-ups hit the politically important threshold of 6 million this week, new polling has shown that the public has begun to warm a bit to the controversial law.”
AP’s “Big Story” this morning: “Poll: Obama Health Law Fails To Gain Support.”
The story: “Despite a late surge in sign-ups, support for President Barack Obama’s health care law is languishing at its lowest level since passage of the landmark legislation four years ago, according to a new poll.”
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Also noted: The “politically important threshold of 6 million” is only “politically important” because the White House revised its initial thresholds down until it got to a makeable goal that it could tout, though it is still far below what it originally estimated.
Doubling Down
“Tribune Co. closed out 2013, its first full year since emerging from bankruptcy, with a double-digit revenue decline during the fourth quarter,” the Tribune reports.
That’s okay – the company revised its politically important threshold to a triple-digit decline, so this is a win.
Exclusive Threshold
With Pat Quinn appearing before the Sun-Times editorial board, on Chicago Tonight, at Crain’s and probably in my front hallway right now, I’m wondering about the Sun-Times newsroom’s threshold for the word “exclusive.”
See also: Tweeting Quinn.
Code Blue Hoo Hoo 2
An observant reader who read the item “Code Blue Hoo Hoo” in Thursday’s column naming Melissa Stratton the day’s Worst Person In Chicago reminded me of this other recent appearance Stratton made in the news:
“A lawsuit filed by a veteran female police officer accuses the Chicago Police Department of protecting the bad guys and punishing the good ones,” Mary Mitchell reported for the Sun-Times
“Until two years ago, Laura Kubiak was assigned to the Chicago Police Department’s Office of News Affairs. Kubiak alleges she was abruptly reassigned to a beat patrol in retaliation for complaining that another officer assaulted her in the workplace.
“According to the lawsuit, Kubiak appealed to Melissa Stratton, who was then the director of news affairs, and to Lt. Maureen Biggane, Kubiak’s supervisor, about the alleged assault. Both women are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
“‘[I]t was clear’ the two women ‘did not want to discuss’ it and ‘did not want her to further report [the allegation],’ according to the lawsuit.
“In fact, Kubiak said Stratton warned her not to ’embarrass the Superintendent.'”
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Beachwood Photo Booth: Heartlight
A Jefferson Park kitchen.
The Week In Chicago Rock
Featuring: Julieta Venegas, Kraftwerk, CallActive, Johnny Blas & His Afro-Libre Orquestra, Son Lux, Consume The Divide, The Neighbourhood, Scott Stapp, and Children of Bodom.
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BeachBook
* Theo’s Plan Working; Ricketts Family Getting Richer.
* Lakeview Principal Wants New Survey Of Her Performance After Some Vanish.
* Divorce Averted As Downers Grove Couple Finds Misplaced Million-Dollar Lottery Ticket.
* University Of Chicago Raises Tuition By Another 4 Percent And They Don’t Even Have A Unionized Football Team.
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TweetWood


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The Beachwood Tip Line: Just like Tom Thumb’s blues.

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Posted on March 28, 2014