Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Why Gutierrez Isn’t Running for Mayor
From the Sun-Times: Convicted political fixer Tony Rezko gave U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez free upgrades on a riverfront town house after the congressman asked for them, Gutierrez told the FBI, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. Gutierrez’s comments to federal agents in a previously undisclosed 2008 interview contradict what the congressman told the Sun-Times in 2006…
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More Crime Nonsense
Let’s start with the premise: Chicago police officials reported today that October crime statistics continued a drop in violent and property crime for the 22nd consecutive month.Total crime dropped by 3.7 percent compared to the same time last year while property crime dropped by 2 percent and violent crimes dropped by 9.8 percent, police said.…
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Subpoenas Deny Hendon
Ooops. State Sen. Rickey Hendon today took himself out of the race for Chicago mayor, a week after revelations that a federal grand jury has issued subpoenas for records on dozens of state grants, some of which he sponsored. (Full story here.) Well another one bites-the-dust. My guess is that if Lisa Madigan had been…
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CPS Changing For the Worst
Under the headline “Changes may ease admissions to elite CPS schools” we’re told that CPS is now going to reward student who attended failing schools by letting them go to the best high schools in the city. Using U.S. Census data, the district began evaluating all 874 census tracts in the city on five indicators:…
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The Chicago Way
With the election now behind us I’d like to pause on a great little story in the Trib. today. Cook County voters Tuesday narrowly retained four Circuit Court judges who had been deemed unqualified to continue on the bench by several legal groups. Jim Ryan and Susan McDunn each garnered about 63 percent of the…
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Daley: Fewer Police Next Year
Even on the way out Mayor Daley cannot be straight with us. After weeks and weeks of hammering away telling us that crime is down — when anyone west of the lake knows it’s not — along comes this half-truth. The city at the end of this year will have about 950 vacant police officer…
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Illinois Schools Screw it Up
Thousands of Illinois schools are like mediocre students: Most of their pupils are passing — but not distinguishing themselves — on state achievement exams. Illinois Standards Achievement Test results set to be released Friday reveal that pushing students to think and perform at higher levels has been elusive for the vast majority of public schools,…
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SECOND WARD ALDERMAN
The decision has been made: I’m throwing my hat into the ring for Second Ward Alderman. There are other candidates running I highly respect and believe would make excellent public representatives. However, I believe that I can and will, simply, do better. I will begin revealing details about my campaign and how I plan to…
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State Borrows Another $3.4 Billion
Clout Street is carrying a short story about Quinn standing at the bond counter selling your future and mine. As of today the State of Illinois is about $120 Billion in debt. That’s around $9,400 for every man, woman, and child in the state. And the Governor’s passing out paper making the whole situation worse. I’m…
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CPD May Scrap Entrance Exam
Local NBC is running with this story that the Chicago Police Dept. may Scrap Entrance Exam. Hello insanity my old friend. Dropping the exam would bolster minority hiring and avert legal battles, according to one source, while others confirm that the exam could be scrapped to open the process to as many people as possible. I’m…
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