By Steve Rhodes
“Budget cuts that are often cited as a reason for failures by the state agency charged with protecting children have fallen disproportionately on front-line child abuse and neglect workers, a Tribune analysis has found,” the paper reports.
“In examining staffing, spending and funding at the Department of Children and Family Services from 2006 to 2011, the Tribune found that the agency cut its investigators and caseworkers at a higher rate than administrative positions, such as accountants and human resources workers.”
What’s Wrong With Junior?
Now his camp is denying a suicide attempt. If he doesn’t clear this up by the end of the week he’ll have to fend off rumors of alien abduction.
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The suicide rumor was reported by WLS-AM on its Roe & Roeper show. I don’t know if the hosts did the reporting – anyone? – but Politico says the station identified its sourcing as “two high-ranking people on the Democratic side of the aisle, in both fundraising and in the legislative branch.”
Also from Politico:
“I don’t think he’s coming back until at least September, if he comes back at all,” said a Democratic source close to the situation. “I think it’s all up in the air.”
ABC News also reported that Jackson “will likely not return to Congress until after Labor Day,” citing an unnamed source.
Feeling Moody’s
“Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday downgraded Chicago Public Schools’ bond rating after the cash-strapped district proposed a budget that would deplete its financial reserves,” the Tribune reports.
“Moody’s lowered its outlook for the district from stable to negative, citing its $5.9 billion in general obligation bond debt. The agency’s lowered rating means it will cost more for the CPS to issue bonds.”
Reminds me of that old saying: Banks only lend money to people who can prove they don’t need it.
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“Today’s decision underscores the grave fiscal situation facing the Chicago Public Schools,” said CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll. “Despite cutting more than a half-billion dollars over the last year alone, it’s not enough to undo years of revenue losses and misplaced priorities that landed the district in the financial quandary it’s in today.”
I don’t necessarily disagree, but I’d like to see reporters pin Carroll down on just whose misplaced priorities she’s blaming.
Arne Duncan, after all, is the U.S. Secretary of Education. Is he to blame?
And if so, should Barack Obama really have rewarded him with a Cabinet position when he left CPS a wreck?
Or was Duncan just carrying out the orders of Richard M. Daley?
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Of course, local officials aren’t solely to blame – and perhaps not even mostly to blame. The fraudulently induced global financial crisis continues to take its toll on everyone but those who caused it in the first place.
Today’s Worst Person In Chicago
“A medical sales representative who bolted out of town for a business trip while serving on a federal jury was spared jail today by a federal judge,” the Tribune reports.
“U.S. District Chief Judge James Holderman fined Scott Enke the maximum $1,000 and ordered him to attend a legal symposium on jury service and to write up a statement about what happened that the court can use to educate the public.”
The public doesn’t need to be educated; Enke is the only person in the universe who thinks it’s okay to leave the state for business while sitting on a jury. Instead, how ’bout sentencing him to jury duty?
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Would you buy a medical device from this man?
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The trial was for alleged Medicare fraud.
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Enke has a bachelor’s degree in history/political science from the University of Iowa.
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Here’s Enke leaving the courthouse.
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According to the Sun-Times’s account, Enke offered to write the essay. “He told the judge that he was a ‘good writer’ and planned to ‘grab’ the readers’ attention by starting off the piece on legal repercussions he faced” for leaving the trial.
I’m sure Enke’s essay will become required reading . . . for no one.
Financial Fraud Filing
“The PFGBest firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in federal court in Chicago,” the Sun-Times reports.
“The filing Tuesday night for liquidation of the Chicago firm comes on the heels of an announcement that the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission is accusing Peregrine Financial and its founder, Russell Wasendorf Sr., of fraud.”
I haven’t caught up with the details of this saga, but it’s not pretty.
“With more than 40 years of experience, the elder Wasendorf has been an ambassador for trading financial futures. He has authored or co-authored six books about trading strategies and organized conferences and charitable drives within the industry.
“But he now lies in a hospital in Iowa City, Iowa, after what his company and police there say was an attempted suicide Monday morning.”
White Flight Fight
Residency scandal at Lincoln Park school.
Sucker Free Scene Report
Snapshots from a moment.
Global City
How the Voice of Russia sees it:
Two scandals linked with the corruption of officials have recently shaken the US. Or, probably, it would be better to say that they didn’t come as a big shock, because the US public is already almost accustomed to such cases.
The fist scandal took place in San Diego. There, two border guards, whose duty was to stop illegal migrants, were found themselves transferring illegal migrants to the US territory in their police cars.
The second occurred in Chicago, which is, by the way, Barack Obama’s native city. There, 5 businessmen and 2 officials have been arrested for bribes.
There is even a joke among Chicago journalists: “News that yet another official has been arrested for bribes is no sensation. A real sensation is when no one has been arrested for bribes within a whole week.” Sad as it may sound, Chicago has a reputation of the most corrupt city in the US.
Bah, just propaganda.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Sucker free.
Posted on July 11, 2012