News
Friday, May 24, 2013
Did You Read __________? News Did you read about masturbation, Billy Joel, and Ronald McDonald?
Posted by Reader staff on 05.24.13 at 11:25 AM
- Rick Diamond/Getty Images
- Billy Joel, still drinking after all these years
Hey, did you read:
• Jane Mayer's look at billionaire David Koch's chilling effect on public television and Daily Kos's follow-up report? (The latter, btw, appears to get some of the basic facts wrong.) —Kate Schmidt
• How masturbation is at the heart of many of our social and political divisions? —Mick Dumke
• The full-page last-ditch "Save Prentice" ad in this morning's Tribune and on the NUFORPRENTICE Facebook page? —Deanna Isaacs
• That Ronald McDonald got his own WSJ hedcut and it's terrifying? —Gwynedd Stuart
• About cat bearding? —Tony Adler
• Bryan Curtis's profile of Richard Simmons? ("'Absolutely no farting,' Simmons said as he marched to the front of the room. 'People eat fucking Mexican food and I have to suffer.' He put on 'It's Raining Men' and we got moving.") —Tal Rosenberg
• About White House press secretary Jay Carney's love of Guided by Voices? —John Dunlevy
• The great headline/photo combo for this NYT piece on Billy Joel? —Gwynedd Stuart
Politics News Mayor Rahm's school board takes a big stand!
Posted by Ben Joravsky on 05.24.13 at 07:37 AM
- AP Photo/M. Spencer Green
- Chicago Board of Education President David Vitale, center, listens to opponents of proposed school closures at a packed board meeting Wednesday, May 22.
As you know, the board voted yesterday to close those schools on the grounds that the system's too broke to keep them open.
And yet the school system's not so broke it can't afford to contribute about $28 million of the $55 million in property tax dollars that Mayor Rahm wants to spend on the hotel and DePaul basketball arena.
It's even worse. The hotel/b-ball arena project will wind up costing the schools money. Because by buying the land, Mayor Emanuel will make it tax exempt, and the schools will no longer be able to tax it.
So they'll have to raise the taxes on everyone else's property to compensate. Lucky us!
In short, the mayor's proposing to spend $55 million on a project that will cost the schools money and raise our property taxes.
As I may have explained once before—right here.
And will undoubtedly explain again. In the hopes, faint though they are, that someone in a position of power will gather up the courage to tell the mayor, "Uh, you know, boss, maybe it's not a good idea to spend $55 million in property taxes on a venture that will lose money for the schools."
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Education Politics News During school-closing vote, Mayor Emanuel is heard but not seen
Posted by Mick Dumke on 05.23.13 at 03:31 PM
- Sun-Times Media
- Mayor Rahm Emanuel: see you sometime?
Journalists, meanwhile, tried to figure out if any of the shifting explanations for the plan were actually based in fact, since it was originally presented as a way to save money, then to improve school performance, then to cut the dropout rate. The answer: not exactly.
Meanwhile, Mayor Rahm Emanuel didn't attend any of the public hearings and was on a ski vacation when the closing list was released in March. Most recently, in the days leading up to the final decision, he largely avoided the public and the media.
In case you missed it, here's the schedule he kept in the week before the board's vote:
Did You Read __________? News Did you read about food stamps, Stockholm, and Girls Gone Wild?
Posted by Reader staff on 05.23.13 at 11:22 AM
- Arild Vågen/Wikimedia Commons
- Stockholm, whose suburbs are still being rioted
Hey, did you read:
• About "Why Food Stamp Use in Illinois Has Exploded"? —John Dunlevy
• That shootings cost each Chicago household an average of $2,500 a year? —Mick Dumke
• About the nine-year-old boy who ethered Rahm Emanuel earlier this week? —Tal Rosenberg
• That riots in the suburbs of Stockholm—prompted largely by poverty, youth unemployment, and police harassment—are now in their fifth day? —Kate Schmidt
• About the Reddit user who attempted to mock a Sikh woman's appearance and actually apologized? —Gwynedd Stuart
• About how BYU has one of the country's top computer-animation programs? —Aimee Levitt
• The Hollywood Reporter's profile of Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis, which almost makes him seem pitiable? —Ben Sachs
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Media News Tribune sued over Red Plum/Local Values
Posted by Michael Miner on 05.22.13 at 04:16 PM
- AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
- Chicagoans who don't want Red Plum/Local Values but get it anyway are suing the Chicago Tribune.
The 25 plaintiffs, represented by Logan Square attorney Michael Jaskula, filed suit this month in circuit court against the throwaway's codistributors, the Tribune and Valassis Communications of Michigan. Jaskula told Tribune reporter Robert Channick, "Our neighborhood gets flooded with these damn papers every week. It's ridiculous it had to come to this, but we need to get their attention to stop the distribution of this thing to people who don't want it."
One of the plaintiffs is Jaskula's wife, Diane Stoneman.
I advise Jaskula not to call me as a witness. I'm afraid the story I have to tell would weaken his hand. No one is impressed by hotheads who try to win their battles in court when it turns out more genteel forums are available.
Behind Our Scenes Do This Arts Music Food & Drink News What are you waiting for? Today's the last day to vote for Best of Chicago!
Posted by Tal Rosenberg on 05.22.13 at 01:49 PM
There's one category you won't find on the ballot. Like last year, we're asking you to vote for Chicago's Best Chicagoan to Follow on Twitter . . . on Twitter. Tweet your suggestions using the hashtag #boctwitterer. The deadline for that category is the same as the ballot, so tweet away!
Apropos of nothing, here's a 14-year-old girl owning Eddie Van Halen's solo on "Eruption."
Politics News Looks like Governor Quinn will have to save us from Mayor Rahm—again!
Posted by Ben Joravsky on 05.22.13 at 12:54 PM
- AP Photo/M. Spencer Green
- Governor Quinn and Mayor Emanuel look happy here, but supposedly they're not on speaking terms at the moment.
The governor recently revealed that tidbit in an interview with the Sun-Times editorial board.
My guess is that the mayor's in a snit 'cause the governor won't rubber-stamp his deal to set up a Chicago casino completely controlled by City Hall.
Just as the governor put the kibosh on the mayor's plans to shove public money at the Cubs to rebuild Wrigley Field.
And just as the governor might—if we're really, really lucky—block the mayor's cockamamy scheme to waste $55 million in property taxes building a basketball arena for DePaul University and hotel on the near-south side.
Did You Read __________? News Did you read about Anthony Weiner, the Obie Awards, and the Cleveland Cavaliers?
Posted by Reader staff on 05.22.13 at 11:10 AM
- AP Photo/Seth Wenig
- Anthony Weiner
Hey, did you read:
• That former sexting congressman Anthony Weiner has jumped into the New York City mayoral race? —Mick Dumke
• That between 2000 and '08, U.S. aquifers dropped at a rate three times higher than any recorded in the 20th century? —Kate Schmidt
• Dan P. Lee on the arrival of the "real space age"? —Sam Worley
• This really moving account of a Holocaust survivor's reaction to his son's college graduation? —Gwynedd Stuart
• That American soldiers in WWII France were total animals? —Aimee Levitt
• That this year's Obie Award ceremonies turned into a love fest for Michael Feingold, the longtime theater critic who was just fired by the Village Voice? —Tony Adler
• That the Cleveland Cavaliers took the top pick in the NBA draft lottery for the second time in three years? —Tal Rosenberg
• About the Baltimore motorist who used the downtime from his breakdown as a chance to warm up his drum chops? —Luca Cimarusti
• The oral history of the 2003 World Series of Poker, in which amateur Chris Moneymaker took the top prize and ignited the poker boom? —Tal Rosenberg
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Theater Arts Politics News ArtPlace America ignites Great Chicago Fire Festival with $250,000 grant
Posted by Deanna Isaacs on 05.21.13 at 01:33 PM
- Lin Ye
- A ritual burning is coming to Chicago.
There's no mention in the announcement of previously revealed plans to build, float, and burn effigies representing the thing each Chicago neighborhood most wants to get rid of.
Artplace America is "a collaboration of leading national and regional foundations, banks and federal agencies" that funds projects using art as a catalyst for community revitalization.
The Fire Festival grant is one of 134 Artplace is making this year.
Did You Read __________? News Did you read about the Oklahoma tornado, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Phil Jackson?
Posted by Reader staff on 05.21.13 at 11:01 AM
- AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
- Phil Jackson, 2003
Hey, did you read:
• That the Oklahoma tornado puts that state's senators in a sticky situation? —Tony Adler
• Farai Chideya writing in the Nation on how to solve journalism's class and color crisis? —Tal Rosenberg
• That Jann Wenner's 22-year-old son and recent Brown University graduate Gus Wenner is taking the reins of Rollingstone.com? (Talk about an extravagant graduation present.) —Leor Galil
• That a little-known mathematician has made a breakthrough on Twin Prime Conjecture? ("Just very suddenly, an idea came to my mind," Yitang Zhang said.) —Steve Bogira
• That there are big bucks to be made off female anxiety, whether about breast cancer (the test for the BRCA mutation now made famous by Angelina Jolie is $3,000) or fertility
(yet another freeze-your-eggs-now proselyte has popped up, urging all women over 35 to undergo the $9,000-$13,000 procedure)? (Of course, neither is covered by insurance.) —Kate Schmidt
• That a biopic may be in the works about a certain Hillary Rodham Clinton? —Mick Dumke
• About grocery shopping with Phil Jackson? —Aimee Levitt
• That the anchored putting stroke, used by the winners of four of the last six major championships, has been banned, effective 2016? (There goes my chance to break 80.) —Steve Bogira
• That NASA has finally decided to start 3-D printing pizza? Finally. —Kevin Warwick
