Sun-Times colleague Lynn Sweet is reporting that columnist/pundit Robert Novak has lost his battle with brain cancer and passed away early this morning at the age of 78. Novak, a Joliet native, had been with the Sun-Times since 1966. Novak’s wife, Geraldine, told Sweet, “He was someone who loved being a journalist, love journalism and loved his country and loved his family."
Lynn Sweet reports that U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk's office is saying he's running for a state-wide office...but tsk tsk, they won't tell us which state office until his formal announcement on Monday. Of course, we can look past this little tease and know almost for certain that it's going to be for the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Sen. Roland Burris. With state GOP head Andy McKenna yielding the right of way to Kirk on this office, it seems a pretty sure thing we'll be reading about "Kirk For Senate" come Monday afternoon.
In a surprise move, it seems state Attorney General Lisa Madigan will not be running for either the U.S. Senate or Illinois Governor come next year, according to Sun-Times political analyst Lynn Sweet. Instead, Madigan will look to stay put by running again for Attorney General.
President Obama has been in office 100 days. What has he done? What hasn't he done? With all the talk of the economic stimulus package, it's easy to over look other promises he's kept (stem cell research, closing Guantanamo) and ones he hasn't yet (income taxes for seniors). The Sun-Times Lynn Sweet has a helpful chart that breaks down what promises The South Side President has kept and which ones he hasn't after his first 100 days.
In an interview with the Sun-Times's Lynn Sweet on Tuesday, Governor Pat Quinn affirmed that he'll run for re-election in 2010. "I have no reason not to run," Quinn said. "I think I am doing a good job today. I anticipate I will continue to do that. Stabilizing the ship of Illinois is vitally necessary. I think even in the first three-and-a-half weeks we've done a decent job of turning a page in an unhappy chapter in the state's history," he told her.
It's the morning after and we're still somewhat shocked at the chutzpah of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. With all the protest from Congressional Democrats, will Roland Burris ever be seated as a U.S. Senator? As we pointed out yesterday, officials across the spectrum are chiming in to denounce the appointment, including President-Elect Barack Obama, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, and State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias. So what happens next?
AP Photo/Mark Carlson
For the first time since being elected, Sen. Barack Obama addressed the press on economic issues from a downtown Chicago hotel this afternoon and then took questions from reporters for a short time. Obama was quick to make sure he didn't step on the toes of the current administration, saying:
The United States has only one government and one President, and until January 20th of next year, that government is the current Administration. I have spoken to President Bush, and I appreciate his commitment to ensuring that his economic policy team keeps us fully informed as developments unfold.He then outlined his economic concerns that will be facing the Obamistration. Following the statement, he fielded a few questions from reporters, nothing particularly hard-hitting, though he did seem to make an instant celebrity of the Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet who discussed with the President-Elect an injury she sustained at Obamapalooza. Check out the entire conference after the jump. And if that's not enough Obama for you, WTTW is replaying the Bob Sirott interview with Obama from 2004 tonight at 7:30 p.m.
Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Sweet reports that Robert Novak has announced his immediate retirement in the wake of his brain tumor diagnosis, which Novak says is "dire."
While Lynn Sweet live blogs Barack Obama's World Tour from O-Force One, we're saving up our pennies for a nifty Dare to Hope shirt!
Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the death of Harold Washington. The Chicago of 1983 was very different from the Chicago of 2007: factories were shutting down, and white middle-class homeowners were leaving the city in droves, taking their property taxes and urban stability with them. An alarming upswing in crime and drugs, coupled with escalating racial tensions left many Chicagoans nervous about the future. Richard J. Daley had been dead for seven years, and...
File this one under "Color Us Surprised": Obama was interested in girls, drank alcohol and experimented with drugs in high school. Obama made a campaign stop at a study hall in Manchester New Hampshire yesterday and answered students' questions. Prior to meeting with the students, Obama unveiled an $18 billion plan that would expand public education from pre-school through 12th grade. He also criticized No Child Left Behind. To their credit, the high schoolers had...
The internets are in a tizzy with with a new ad making the rounds on YouTube. Our gal in the trenches, Lynn Sweet, called it "riveting", and Matt Drudge helped blow it up even further after San Francisco Chronicle writer Carla Marinucci blogged about it. In fact, it seems that everyone has weighed in on this piece of viral political film-making, including the irrepressible Tucker Carlson, who referred to Hillary as "castrating" (ouch!) Even...
Well, another week has descended upon the city by the lake, and the politicians, like the rest of us, are frolicking in this wonderful spring weather like cowboys at the beach. Let's take all the newsy tidbits that came across our desk this week and rustle them up, like the spring cattle they want to be. Who knows? Maybe one of these stories will fatten up into a vitriol-filled post we can use as a...
All kinds of nonsense has happened politically, so lets take a look back at the week so far: In case you live in a cave and missed the biggest news story so far this week, the FBI arrested 20th Ward Alderman Arenda Troutman on charges that she took bribes. “Well, the thing is, most alderman, most politicians are hos.” Lynn Sweet continues to think she's a blogger. We like her better when she dishes on...
Howdy little doggies, the Roundup got in late yesterday as our wagontrain kept crashing. But not to worry, we're here with the best of the rest this week. Let's all snuggle up around the Firefox while yer Uncle Chicagoist tells y'all a story! Lynn Sweet is practically a political blogger, hopping on whatever Obama bandwagon is coming along at the moment. Flogging Obama's "drug use" is sure to be something that the bottom-feeder columnists will...
The Chicagoist offices were abuzz yesterday with the petition that Illinois' senior senator, Dick Durbin e-mailed to his supporters, urging Barack Obama to run for President in 2008. Although Durbin's press secretary was unavailable for comment when we contacted his office, CBS 2 scored an interview with Durbin, and he pretty much denied any coordination with Obama & Co. on this, claiming "I didn't tell him in advance I was gonna do it." Obama's press...
It’s official. Barack Obama is a rock star. The senator has already won a Grammy, but he’ll soon have something possibly even more coveted – a portrait by Annie Leibovitz. Leibovitz will photograph Obama for a Men’s Vogue piece due out in October, about the same time his new book, “The Audacity of Hope,” will hit shelves. If you don’t recognize Leibovitz’s name, and we’re not sure how you couldn’t, you’ve probably seen her celebrity...
It's less than two years until the 2006 gubernatorial elections, and the playing field is beginning to shape up for the big race. Already we know two facts: Republican Illinois Treasurer Judy Barr Topinka is going to run, and Governor Rod Blagojevich is going to have a buckets of money to spend. It all came to light in the Lynn Sweet's Sun Times column today when Sweet published the results of a poll Topinka conducted....
Because Chicagoist takes its job of repeating what is already printed in the newspapers very seriously, we thought it was important to mention last Friday's big news of six new people indicted in the Hired Truck Scandal. The charges are more of the same, shaking down trucking company owners for bribes. Probably the most interesting news is that one, there are so many people people charged -- twenty-three -- and two, that Don Tomczak, the...
There's a whole lotta hoopla starting in our nation's capital today. There's gala balls, parades, a big speech, and probably at least one or two beer bashes. Our compadres in Washington, DCist, have the whole coverage, but here's the meager Illinois angle: Basically, Chicago Democrats have all come home, or gone elsewhere. Chicagoist has spotted a number of Chicago Congressmen in Chicago this week, and we've heard stories of more than a few elected Illinois...
Erstwhile Beleaguered Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Jack Ryan didn't resign last night, in fact he held a press conference where he came out swinging. When asked about numerous GOP leaders turning their backs on him, including the Cook County Republican Party, Ryan said, "If former Governor Edgar and speaker Hastert say, Jack, we'd like you to get out of the race, what do you do? I am in the race to win in November and...
By now everyone in Illinois has heard the "avant-garde" Parisian club allegations made in Jack and Jeri Ryan's divorce proceedings (also check out the Smoking Gun). The shock is still rippling through the state, and is now reaching the Beltway. The next few days will be precious for Jack Ryan, since how he manages the damage control will make or break his damaged campaign's future. Chicagoist sees two important points in how Ryan is dealing...
Foodie Rant - Properly Sauced? Try Properly Ripped Off.
Oprah-geddon: Winfrey To Quit Show In 2011
Daley Blames - Who Else? - The Media For Oprah-geddon
NYT Preps For Chicago Edition
Chicago Gets Googled
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
tweet this
add to facebook
