Thoughts & Musings
We’re Number One… in corruption that is.
A former Chicago alderman turned political science professor/corruption fighter has found that Chicago is the most corrupt city in the country. He cites data from the U.S. Department of Justice to prove his case. And, he says, Illinois is third-most corrupt state in...
Sun Times Editorial Board = Morons
I came across this while looking for something else: Some critics have said this won’t make as much of a dent in pedestrian fatalities as Emanuel suggests, and they may be right. Citing statistics from a city pedestrian study, the Chicago Tribune found that more than...
Aldermen Push For What?
This is just insane: On Sunday, Aldermen Deborah Graham (29th), Robert Fioretti (2nd), and Toni Foulkes (15th) joined members of the Chicago Teachers Union, Action Now, and a group of parents and community safety advocates for a press conference urging Mayor Rahm...
No Tax Refund if You Owe Parking Tickets
Really? Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday referred to people and businesses with unpaid city debts as "the deadbeats and the delinquents" after winning City Council approval to intercept their state income tax refunds to collect millions of dollars. ... At every level...
New Ward Map Confusing? Try Getting a Garbage Can
Excellent points raised by Greg Hinz over at Crain's. Ask folks at City Hall whether new or old wards apply for purposes of voting, zoning and distribution of services and the like and, after a couple of shrugs, you'll get a multipart answer fit for an SAT test. ......
Athens Burns
[B]uildings burned across central Athens and violence spread around the country. Cinemas, cafes, shops and banks were set ablaze in central Athens as black-masked protesters fought riot police outside parliament. State television reported the violence spread to the...
Athens: Our Future?
BBC News has a few shots of Athens. On one of the photos there's an interesting quote by on of the protesters. "Even if they eat the flesh of the people, bankruptcy will not stop. It will just get worse. That is why we support a write off of the whole debt and to...
Himalayan Glaciers Lost No Ice in 10 Years
The authors of the U.N.’s climate policy guide were red-faced two years ago when it was revealed that they had inaccurately forecast that the Himalayan glaciers would melt completely in 25 years, vanishing by the year 2035. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the U.N.'s...
Rahm Wants Handgun Registry
Stupidity in human form. Mayor Rahm Emanuel today said he wants state lawmakers to approve a statewide handgun registry. ... Rep. Brandon Phelps, who has championed efforts to pass a concealed weapons bill in Illinois, said the mayor’s office called him Thursday...
Traveling to Mexico?
"Gunbattles have occurred in broad daylight on streets and in other public venues, such as restaurants and clubs. During some of these incidents, U.S. citizens have been trapped and temporarily prevented from leaving the area," the travel advisory said. ... More than...
Speed Cameras Save Children
Quinn pulls out an old line: Gov. Pat Quinn gave Mayor Rahm Emanuel something he wanted Monday: the power to use cameras across nearly half of Chicago to nab speeding drivers and fine them as much as $100. Questions linger about the effectiveness and scope of the...
Picketers Demand Local (Union) Labor at Costco
Seems like the Gazette's missing the real story here: A group of unemployed tradespeople, many with union cards, have been picketing Near West Side construction sites for more than a month, demanding that community workers get a share of both local building jobs as...
Peoria Illinois Carp Hunters
My throat hurts from laughing. http://youtu.be/Yhfd9dIkXEk
FOID Card Requests Sink Police
Illinois has so many requests for Firearm Owner’s Identification cards that state police can’t process them in a timely manner. In addition, people calling the state police to ask why they haven’t received their FOID cards are put on hold for as long as 35 minutes,...
Team Crane Unveil Turnaround Plan
Crane is not a school; it's voluntary daytime detainment for youth. It can't die soon enough. If only parents had a real choice of schools they would never send their children to Crane. But some refuse to let it die. A coalition of Crane teachers, students, parents...
Your Water Bill Doubles For What?
God bless Ben Joravsky. All summer long, in press conferences and at public hearings, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's budget refrain remained the same: no more accounting gimmicks and no new taxes. "We have been doing smoke and mirrors on the budget and avoided taking control of...
Taxpayers Pay for Political Payback
Kudos to Crains on this unbelievable story: Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan cost taxpayers nearly half-a-billion dollars by blocking repeated efforts to restructure McCormick Place bonds and finance a much-needed second hotel at the convention center, a Crain's...
Ward Map Gerrymandered
Really? We didn't know. Residents in this area had hoped Chicago’s new ward map would put homogeneous communities in the same ward. Those hopes were dashed on Jan. 19 when the Chicago City Council passed one of the most gerrymandered maps in its history. Second Ward...
1 Block Away 2 Arrested
The wife and daughter head over to the Walgreens about 3 blocks away. The daughter wants to walk; the wife insists on driving -- smart move. Two men have been arrested in connection with the robbery of a man's iPhone outside a dry cleaning business in the Wicker Park...
Let’s all Welcome ThyssenKrupp to Chicago
As ThyssenKrupp plans to dramatically increase its presence in Chicago it's finding out just what life here is really like: ... [T]he German-based ThyssenKrupp manufacturing company is facing allegations that company supervisors in the city created a hostile and...