Results tagged “markbrown”

George Ryan starts his prison sentence today, and the Sun-Times and Trib have helpfully chronicled every move the former governor has made since last night. You know what that means: time for a Ryan Round Up! Olé! Yesterday, the 73-year-old released this statement to the public, again claiming innocence and thanking his family and legal team. At 5:50 this morning, Ryan left his home in Kankakee in a van driven by his son, George Ryan...

Rep. Dan Lipinski, who is hoping for a third term in the 3rd Congressional District, is facing a tough challenge from Assistant State's Attorney Mark Pera. Lipinski's critics are unhappy with his opposition to abortion rights and stem cell research, and his siding with moderate Republicans on the war in Iraq and domestic spying. Besides his voting record, they also don't like how he came to congress: If you don't remember the 2004 general election,...

We've been having some fun here with this series of photos featuring Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. practicing martial arts. After Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown wrote about the photos in today's paper, they're now officially more than an Internet phenomenon. The photos make a nice sidebar to an argument last week between Jackson and Nebraska's Congressman Lee Terry after a debate on an agriculture appropriations bill was tabled for the day. Name calling ensued, prompting Terry...

Lawyers offered opening statements in the Conrad Black trial yesterday, and they did not disappoint. Fresh off the day when Black's wife, Barbara Amiel, called a Canadian TV producer a slut in the elevator at the federal building, the attorneys provided their own colorful descriptions of Lord Black and his cronies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Cramer (hang on to that job, dude) said Black was a villain, thief, and a liar, giving a blow by blow account of his alleged misdeeds while calling the government's star witness, Black's former right-hand man David Radler a liar as well. Radler cut a deal with the prosecution in return for his testimony.

Another Friday, another edition of "Your Friday Food Buffet." This week, we'll try to avoid outright mentioning St. Patrick's Day. We will talk about corn (dogs) and green (as in sustainability). So let's cut the crap and hook up right now. "Eighty? You Don't Look a Day Over 72.": Italian Village turns 80 this year, and the Sun-Times ran an article Monday trying to uncover the secrets behind the Loop mainstay's longevity. It also suggests...

Just so you know, there's going to be a big rally in Chicago tomorrow—and it's not about the war. In a relatively under-reported effort for its expected size, people will be taking to the streets for the March for Immigrant Rights.

Berghoff Bidders

When Chicagoist was a young'un our family took sort of a "free love" approach to religion. The closest we came to Catholicism was the Missouri Synod version of the Lutheran Church. As an adult we find ourselves living in a neighborhood - if not a city itself - that's heavily informed by Catholicism. While for some the sight of scores of ashy foreheads hark the start of the lenten season, we look for the arrival...

This week the Chicago Police Department continued their move into techno-big brother territory (see gunshot monitors, streetcams, and crime databases) by announcing they are posting pictures on the web of johns apprehended during prostitution busts. The Sun-Times' Mark Brown says it is a mere dent in the real problem of prostitution in Chicago, and Gapers' Block calls it just one more way to shame people. The pictures have been up for a couple of...

We think it could be an interesting case, especially because it seems that it may be difficult for Calabrese to prove that the Trib published the photo maliciously, with reckless disregard for the truth, as the correction is now ALL OVER the news.

What an opportunity to talk about our favorite topics! Recycling and Big Brother! In case you haven't heard, Chicago's Blue Bag recycling program is teetering on total failure. Not only is barely anyone participating, the material is getting blended into the rest of the trash, and getting plowed into an Indiana field. Meanwhile, City Council has approved a pilot curbside pickup program.

James Duff, a Chicago "dealmaker" and man about City Hall, pled guilty Monday for 33 federal counts of defrauding the city. Mostly because his businesses claimed to be minority and woman-owned businesses, so he could get special dispensations. You'd think the city would want to cut ties with a guy like that, right? But yesterday the Sun Times found that he still had a sub-contract to truck salt for the city.

It's official, the Alderman Dick Mell (33rd) and Governor Rod Blagojevich family feud is offically an overblown soap opera. Or is it?

The Big News is that details of the allegations made by the U.S. Attorney against former Republican Governor George Ryan have been released (actual documents can be found here). It's a long, 114-page detailing of alleged corruption in the Secretary of State's office when Ryan held that job. The seemingly endless filing (called a "Santiago proffer", not to be confused with a "Dirty Sanchez") details kickbacks, payoffs, course language, and the trinkets of an allegedly corrupt public official and his best buddy, lobbyist Larry Warner.

There's a phrase that raises the neck hairs of every car owner: "Your car has been towed." The result is never good. Always a mad scramble to find where the car is impounded. Always an expensive taxi fare or long bus ride to the pound. And always, always, a huge fee to reclaim your wheels from the towing company.

It's big. Very big.