Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Tuesday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

“Protesters blocked traffic on Congress Parkway at LaSalle Street for more than an hour Tuesday morning to protest immigration policies, resulting in about 12 arrests,” the Tribune reports.
For background, read the exclusive Reuters report we’re carrying today: Immigrants Arrested In U.S. Raids Say They Were Misled On Right To Counsel.


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Also, WBEZ reports:
“The Obama administration’s aggressive new deportation effort recently snatched up one family from a tight-knit church in Schaumburg, prompting an awakening – nobody imagined what would unfold.”
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But all of Obama’s pretty words when he was in Springfield!
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Re-Engineering CPS Finances
“Most people in Chicago’s City Hall probably recall a moment of clarity, a little voice whispering, this can’t last,” Elizabeth Campbell writes for Bloomberg.
“Maybe it came in 1979, when the city’s schools nearly went broke. Maybe it came in the late 1990s, when no one funded the teachers’ pensions. Or maybe, finally, it came this month, when the nation’s third-largest public school district, with almost 400,000 students, once again slid toward the brink.
“Today the Chicago public schools are in such dire straits that officials from the Illinois governor down wonder aloud about its solvency. Yes, a few other big-city systems, like Detroit’s, are in worse shape. But nowhere else in American public education have local mismanagement and Wall Street engineering collided so spectacularly.”
Emphasis mine because that’s exactly right – and not everyone gets the second part of the equation.
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“Chicago embraced financial derivatives that were supposed to protect its school system against an abrupt rise in interest rates.
The district sold $1 billion of auction-rate securities that were mostly tied to interest-rate swaps from 2003 to 2007, pushed by officials including David Vitale, chief administrative officer of the schools under Daley and later board president under Emanuel. As outlined in a three-part series by the Chicago Tribune, units of Bank of America and the Royal Bank of Canada enjoyed hefty interest payments from the schools’ bonds even as the market unraveled.
“When rates plummeted during the financial crisis, Chicago’s wrong-way bet drove the system even deeper into trouble. In the last year alone, exiting the swaps has cost the district hundreds of millions of dollars. Similar deals helped drive Jefferson Country, Alabama, into bankruptcy and exacerbated the problems in Detroit.”
That’s why it would be nice – if not moral and responsible – if Wall Street could be part of the short-term solution, while our local mismanagers work on a long-term solution which inevitably will have to include a reliable and adequate funding stream. Hey, here’s an idea that sort of combines both, though not perfectly (the local exchanges aren’t totally the same thing as Wall Street, but close enough for government work): A financial transactions fee with revenues dedicated to CPS.
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Also, a David Vitale dunk tank.
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I know I’ve used that line before, and also one using Rahm, but I feel like it’s still underappreciated – and effective.
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Charter Divide
“Charter schools present the most controversial and divisive issue I’ve encountered in 36 years of education reporting,” Linda Lenz writes for Catalyst, in introducing a special examination of the Noble charter network.
I haven’t made my way through it all, but from what I’ve glanced at and gleaned so far, it’s well worth checking out.
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Chinese Stock Exchange
“Groupon shares jumped on news that Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Holding Group has bought a 5.6 percent stake in the Chicago-based deals site,” the Tribune reports.
Perhaps we could interest Alibaba in a school system . . .
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I was originally gonna say “The Chinese will save us all.”
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China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, you know. So it’s all coming together.
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Yes, I know, not China per se, but a Chinese business. Still, they must be used to governmental transaction taxes, no?
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Yes, I know the transaction tax would be charged to the individuals and firms making the transactions, not the exchange itself. (At least I think I understand that.) Stop making this so difficult.
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Motorcycles For Days!
Crazy bikes, wacky stunts and an 11-year-old racer-bro in the making. In our selected highlights from the Chicago Motorcycle Show.
The Incoherence Of Antonin Scalia
The utter sophistry of textualism. Two must-reads, including one by federal appeals court judge Richard Posner, that explain Scalia – and why he was so, so wrong.
What We Can Learn From Liverpool Fans
How to take your team back from greedy owners. You have the power!
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Note: Jim “Coach” Coffman is in Comcast hell, like so many others, so his SportsMonday column may or may not appear some day this week.
Bad Girls Club vs. PBS Kids
“I think parents should let kids watch TV, because how [else] would they get rewarded for doing their homework?” says the adorable Harmony Pitts in this Free Spirit Media news report.
Dear Music Education: Diversify!
“Music curriculum can be an ideal place to start culturally responsive teaching,” DePaul music professor Jacqueline Kelly-McHale writes. “Music crosses cultures and is an experience that can be considered universal.”
Bonus points for her inclusion of the Flat Duo Jets in this piece.
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BeachBook
Valentine’s Day special.

Posted by The Beachwood Reporter on Tuesday, February 16, 2016

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See also: Federal Appeals Court Confirms: Kevin Trudeau Is A Big Fat Contumacious Liar, which is built around a decision written by judge Diana Sykes, whom Donald Trump just named as someone he would consider appointing to the U.S. Supreme Court, should he get the chance. It’s all coming together!

Posted by The Beachwood Reporter on Tuesday, February 16, 2016

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TweetWood


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The Beachwood Tip Line: Crazy hazy daze.

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Posted on February 16, 2016