By Steve Rhodes
“The mosquito responsible for the West Nile virus flourished during the summer’s record heat and drought. Now, officials are concerned about emerging signs that a widespread outbreak may be on the horizon in Illinois,” the Tribune reports.
“Updated figures from the state Department of Public Health show extremely high numbers of the Culex pipiens species have tested positive for the disease – 71 percent in DuPage County and nearly 60 percent in Cook, the health department reported.
“Although the 27 cases of West Nile virus in Illinois don’t represent a particularly high number, experts start to get anxious when just 10 percent of samples of virus-carrying mosquitoes test positive.”
*
Curiously, the Tribune doesn’t mention that Lombard village president Bill Mueller just died from West Nile and Evergreen Park Mayor James Sexton has just been diagnosed with it.
The Speaker’s Son
Andrew Madigan at the center of many coincidences.
Blowing Smoke?
Okay, what’s the catch?
Evil Lurks
Beachwood contributor Andrew Kingsford points out that the Sun-Times lectured to Toni Preckwinkle that reasonable people can disagree without condemning each other just six days after splashing its end-of-war size headline FIRED MORGUE BOSS: PRECKWINKLE EVIL on its front page.
Mancow’s Madness
“Shock jock Mancow Muller will begin simulcasting his syndicated morning radio show on WPWR-Ch. 50 this fall, station executives confirmed Wednesday,” the Tribune reports.
This fall, Chicagoans will get a backstage pass into one of the most provocative radio programs in this market,” Mike Renda, vice president and general manager of the station, said in a statement. “Viewers will have unlimited access into Mancow’s madness, with a live, unedited simulcast that will bring this dynamic voice to life.”
Maybe Mancow will expand on his theory that Andrew Brietbart was murdered. I bet Obama did it.
Feds Kill Hastert Highway
“The federal government is withdrawing its approval of the controversial Prairie Parkway, a proposed far west suburban highway that would have cut through mostly farmland, officials said Thursday,” the Tribune reports.
“Critics who warned about uncontrolled growth and environmental harm labeled the parkway the ‘Hastert Highway’ because it was the pet project of longtime U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R, Ill., in whose then fast-growing district the parkway was to have been located . . .
“The parkway was estimated to cost more than $1 billion. It has languished for years due to lack of funding and opposition.
“Hastert resigned from Congress in 2008 after helping to secure a $207 million federal funding earmark through transportation legislation, to serve as seed money for the project. That same year, the Federal Highway Administration issued a record of decision approving the highway.
“Hastert was criticized for partnering with speculators who earned more than $3 million by buying and selling land near the Prairie Parkway route. In 2006 the Tribune chronicled how during his long career in public service, Hastert, who lives on a homestead near Plano, amassed a multi-million-dollar fortune through real estate holdings.”
It’s even worse than that.
See also: Hastert Highway Hijinks.
BP’s Bad Gas . . .
. . . made it into 200 Chicago area stations.
Meet Hannah Ford
Chicago drum goddess.
–
The Beachwood Tip Line: Try it, you’ll like it.
Posted on August 23, 2012